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Q: Access controller scope from directive of nested directive please see my fiddle and help me find a way to access function myAlert from nested directive "choice". A found some solutions where was shared some properties of scope like this: http://jsfiddle.net/zbD95/6/ but I need use functions and properties from scope together.
Thanks!!!
Here is duplicate of my fiddle:
HTML part of fiddle:
<!doctype html>
<html ng-app="plunker" >
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>AngularJS Plunker</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
</head>
<body ng-controller="MainCtrl">
<choice-tree ng-model="myTree"></choice-tree>
<hr />
<!--$scope.myTree = {{myTree | json}}-->
</body>
</html>
JS part of fiddle:
var app = angular.module('plunker', []);
function Choice(name, children) {
this.name = name;
this.checked = false;
this.children = children || [];
}
var apparel = new Choice('Apparel', [
new Choice('Mens Shirts', [
new Choice('Mens Special Shirts'),
]),
new Choice('Womens Shirts'),
new Choice('Pants')
]);
var boats = new Choice('Boats');
app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope) {
$scope.name = 'World';
$scope.myTree = [apparel, boats];
$scope.myAlert = function(ev){
alert('ad');
};
});
app.directive('choiceTree', function() {
return {
template: '<ul><choice ng-repeat="choice in tree"></choice></ul>',
replace: true,
transclude: true,
restrict: 'E',
scope: {
tree: '=ngModel'
}
};
});
app.directive('choice', function($compile) {
return {
restrict: 'E',
transclude: true,
//In the template, we do the thing with the span so you can click the
//text or the checkbox itself to toggle the check
template: '<li>' +
'<span ng-click="myAlert(choice)">' +
'<input type="checkbox" ng-checked="choice.checked"> {{choice.name}} - {{name}}' +
'</span>' +
'</li>',
link: function (scope, elm, attrs) {
//Add children by $compiling and doing a new choice directive
if (scope.choice.children.length > 0) {
var childChoice = $compile('<choice-tree ng-model="choice.children"></choice-tree>')(scope)
elm.append(childChoice);
}
}
};
});
A: Use the '&' syntax to allow your isolated scope to call a method defined on the parent scope. Also, you don't need any transclusion for these directives.
HTML:
<choice-tree ng-model="myTree" my-alert="myAlert()"></choice-tree>
Directives:
app.directive('choiceTree', function () {
return {
template: '<ul><choice ng-repeat="choice in tree"></choice></ul>',
replace: true,
//transclude: true,
restrict: 'E',
scope: {
tree: '=ngModel',
myAlert: '&'
},
};
});
app.directive('choice', function ($compile) {
return {
restrict: 'E',
//transclude: true,
template: '<li>' +
'<span ng-click="myAlert()">' +
'<input type="checkbox" ng-checked="choice.checked"> {{choice.name}} - {{name}}' +
'</span>' +
'</li>',
link: function (scope, elm, attrs) {
//Add children by $compiling and doing a new choice directive
if (scope.choice.children.length > 0) {
var childChoice = $compile('<choice-tree ng-model="choice.children" my-alert="myAlert()"></choice-tree>')(scope)
elm.append(childChoice);
}
}
};
});
Fiddle.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaStackExchange"
}
| 36
|
\section{Introduction}
Characterising tiling spaces through topological invariance can provide a systematic way of distinguishing tiling
spaces. In particular, tiling spaces with non-isomorphic (\v{C}ech) cohomology groups are necessarily inequivalent.
The converse though is not true in general, as can be seen in the case of the classical Thue-Morse and
period-doubling sequences, which form two inequivalent tiling spaces with isomorphic cohomology groups. However,
for tiling spaces related by a factor map (regarding the spaces as topological dynamical systems), a relative
version of the tiling cohomology can be used to tell the spaces apart. Barge and Sadun \cite{bs11} introduced the
concept of \emph{quotient cohomology}, which is a topological invariant that distinguishes factors of tiling spaces.
In this paper, we present the quotient cohomologies for the families of generalised Thue-Morse sequences and
generalised chair tilings. In recomputing the quotient cohomologies of the generalised chair tilings, we find
some discrepancies with \cite{bs11}, which we address below.
\subsection{Preliminaries}
A primitive (tiling) \emph{substitution rule} is a recipe of constructing tilings of $\ensuremath{\mathbb{R}}^d$ using only a finite set
of tile types, called prototiles. The rule prescribes on how each prototile is scaled linearly (by a fixed inflation
factor) and then is subdivided into a collection of smaller tiles called a {supertile} (of order 1), all of
which are translate copies of some prototiles. Applying the substitution rule to any (proto)tile $k$ times produces a
supertile of order $k$, and the limit of the process produces a tiling of $\ensuremath{\mathbb{R}}^d$, called a \emph{substitution tiling}.
A tiling $T$ of $\ensuremath{\mathbb{R}}^d$ arising from a substitution rule $\omega$ defines a \emph{substitution tiling space} as
its \emph{hull}. The hull of $T$, denoted by $\Omega_T$, is the closure of its translation orbit under a metric,
where two tilings are ``$\epsilon$-close'' if they agree on a ball of radius $\epsilon^{-1}$ around the origin,
after a translation of at most $\epsilon$ in any direction. Two tilings $T$ and $T'$ arising from the same
substitution rule $\omega$ define the same hull, and so the tiling space is instead associated with
a substitution rule rather than a particular substitution tiling, i.e., $\Omega_\omega := \Omega_T = \Omega_{T'}$.
A substitution tiling space can be represented as an inverse limit of simpler spaces called approximants, relative
to a continuous bonding map induced by the substitution rule $\omega$, see \cite{ap98, sa08} for more details. When
the prototiles in $\Omega_\omega$ are homeomorphic to a disk in $\ensuremath{\mathbb{R}}^d$, then the approximants are $d$-dimensional
CW complexes, which are also known as the Anderson-Putnam complexes. The cohomology of $\Omega_\omega$ is then
computed as the direct limit of the cohomologies of the approximants under the homomorphism induced by $\omega$.
Substitution tiling spaces are minimal dynamical systems, and factor maps between these spaces are surjective
and generally not injective. (And so the relative cohomology is not immediately available.) A factor map
$f: \Omega_X \rightarrow \Omega_Y$ induces a quotient map (denoted by the same symbol) on the level of approximants
that is also surjective and generally not injective. This motivates the following definition of the quotient
cohomology \cite{bs11}.
\begin{defn}\label{def:quotcoh}
Let $f: X \rightarrow Y$ be a quotient map such that $f^*$ is injective on cochains. Also, let
$C^k_Q(X,Y) := C^k(X)/f^*(C^k(Y))$ be the quotient cochain groups and take
$\delta_k : C^k_Q(X,Y) \rightarrow C_Q^{k+1}(X,Y)$ to be the usual coboundary operator. The ($k$th)
\emph{quotient cohomology} is defined as $H^k_Q(X,Y) := \ker \delta_k / \im\delta_{k-1}.$
\end{defn}
\noindent By the snake lemma, the short exact sequence of cochain complexes
$$0 \longrightarrow C^k(Y) \xlongrightarrow{f^*} C^k(X) \longrightarrow C^k_Q(X, Y) \longrightarrow 0$$
induces a long exact sequence
\begin{equation}\label{eq:longseq}
\begin{gathered}
\cdots \longrightarrow H^{k-1}_Q(X,Y) \longrightarrow H^k(Y) \xlongrightarrow{f^*_k} \\
H^k(X) \longrightarrow H^k_Q(X,Y)\longrightarrow \cdots
\end{gathered}
\end{equation}
that relates the cohomologies of $X$ and $Y$ to $H^*_Q(X,Y)$.
\begin{lem} \label{lem:quotcohom}
Let $f: X \rightarrow Y$ be a quotient map, whose pullback $f^*$ is injective on the cochains. If $H^{n+1}(Y) = 0$,
then $H^n_Q(X,Y) = H^n(X)/f^*_n(H^n(Y))$. For $X$ and $Y$ being approximant spaces for substitution tiling spaces,
$H^0_Q(X,Y) = 0$ if and only if $f^*_1: H^1(Y) \rightarrow H^1(X)$ is injective.
\end{lem}
\begin{proof}
If $X$ and $Y$ are approximant spaces for substitution tiling spaces, then
$H^0(X) = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}} = \langle\sum x'_i\rangle = \langle\sum f^*(y'_j)\rangle =f^*_0(H^0(Y)) = f^*_0(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}})$, where the
$x'_i$'s and $y'_j$'s are the duals to the $0$-cells in $X$ and $Y$ respectively. Thus $f^*_0$ is surjective, and so
is an isomorphism. Further, the map from $H^0(X)$ to $H^0_Q(X,Y)$ in \eqref{eq:longseq} must be a zero map and so
the map from $H^0_Q(X,Y)$ to $H^1(Y)$ must be injective. If $f^*_1$ is injective, then the map from $H^0_Q(X,Y)$ to
$H^1(Y)$ must be a zero map as well, which is already shown to be injective, forcing $H^0_Q(X,Y) = 0$. Conversely,
if $H^0_Q(X,Y)=0$, then $f_1^*$ must be injective since the sequence in \eqref{eq:longseq} is exact. Meanwhile,
$H^{n+1}(Y)=0$ implies that the map $H^n(X)$ to $H^n_Q(X,Y)$ is surjective, and so it follows that
$H^n_Q(X,Y) = H^n(X)/f^*_n(H^n(Y))$.
\end{proof}
All substitution tiling spaces considered in this work yield $H^0_Q = 0$.
\section{Generalised Thue-Morse sequences}
For any $k, \ell \in \ensuremath{\mathbb{N}}$, the substitution rules
\begin{equation}\label{eq:TMpdsubsitutionrules}
\begin{array}{ll}
\varrho^{TM}_{k,\ell}&:=\left\{\begin{array}{rcl} 1 & \longmapsto & 1^k \, \bar{1}^\ell \\
\bar{1} & \longmapsto & \bar{1}^k \, 1^\ell
\end{array}\right.
\\ \\[-7pt]
\varrho^{pd}_{k,\ell}&:=\left\{\begin{array}{rcl} a & \longmapsto & b^{k-1} \, a \, b^{\ell-1} \, b \\
b & \longmapsto & b^{k-1} \, a \, b^{\ell-1} \, a
\end{array}\right.
\end{array}
\end{equation}
define the hulls $\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{TM}_{k,\ell}$ (generalised Thue-Morse) and $\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{pd}_{k,\ell}$ (generalised period doubling)
respectively. The case $k=\ell=1$ yields the classic Thue-Morse and period doubling sequences. For a detailed
exposition on the spectral and topological properties of the generalised Thue-Morse sequences, we refer the readers
to \cite{bgg12}.
Each letter in \eqref{eq:TMpdsubsitutionrules} becomes a tile in $\ensuremath{\mathbb{R}}$ by assigning the same constant length to any
one of them, so that a letter becomes a closed interval in $\ensuremath{\mathbb{R}}$. In turn, every bi-infinite sequence arising from
\eqref{eq:TMpdsubsitutionrules} tiles $\ensuremath{\mathbb{R}}$ in an obvious way. We also consider the 1-dimensional solenoid
$\S_{k+\ell}$, which can be viewed as the inverse limit of 1-dimensional tori under the bonding maps that uniformly
wrap a torus $k+\ell$ times around its predecessor. The solenoid $\S_{k+\ell}$ may be realised as the inverse limit
of the substitution $s \longmapsto s^{k+\ell}$, though strictly speaking, the solenoid is not a tiling space because
tilings generated by this substitution are all periodic. The solenoid has as additional information the partitioning
of these tilings into supertiles of all orders. For convenience, we may nevertheless use the term `tiling space'
even for solenoids in the following.
The three spaces are related via the factor maps $\phi$ and $\psi$, namely
\begin{equation*}\label{eq:gtmfactormaps}
\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{TM}_{k,\ell} \xlongrightarrow{\phi} \ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{pd}_{k,\ell} \xlongrightarrow{\psi} \S^{}_{k+\ell},
\end{equation*}
where $\phi$ is a sliding block map that identifies $\{1\bar{1}, \bar{1}1\}$ with $a$, and $\{11, \bar{1}\bar{1}\}$
with $b$; while $\psi$ simply identifies $a$ and $b$ with $s$. Note that $\phi$ is uniformly 2-to-1, whereas $\psi$
is a surjection that is 1-to-1 almost everywhere. Each of these factor maps induces a pullback on their respective
cohomologies given by
\begin{equation*}
H^*(\S^{}_{k+\ell}) \xlongrightarrow{\psi^*} H^*(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{pd}_{k,\ell}) \xlongrightarrow{\phi^*} H^*(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{TM}_{k,\ell}).
\end{equation*}
As computed in \cite{bgg12}, the cohomologies of the three tiling spaces are: $H^0 = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}$ and
\begin{gather*}
H^1(\S^{}_{k+\ell}) = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{k+\ell}], \quad H^1(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{pd}_{k,\ell}) = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{k+\ell}] \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}, \\
H^1(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{TM}_{k,\ell}) = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{k+\ell}] \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}} \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{|k-\ell|}],
\end{gather*}
where $\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{0}] := 0$ by an abuse of notation.
\begin{thm} For any $k,\ell \in \ensuremath{\mathbb{N}}$, $H^0_Q = 0$. Further,
\begin{align*}
H^1_Q(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}_{k,\ell}^{pd},\S^{}_{k+\ell}) &= \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}, \\
H^1_{Q}(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}_{k,\ell}^{TM},\S^{}_{k+\ell}) &= \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}} [\tfrac{1}{|k-\ell|}] \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}, \\
H^1_{Q}(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}_{k,\ell}^{TM},\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}_{k,\ell}^{pd}) &= \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}_2 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}} [\tfrac{1}{|k-\ell|}],
\end{align*}
where $\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{0}] := 0$ by an abuse of notation.
\end{thm}
\begin{proof}
The map $\psi^*$ embeds $H^1(\S_{k+\ell}) = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{k+\ell}]$ isomorphically onto the same summand in
$H^1(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{pd}_{k,\ell})$, which the map $\phi^*$ also embeds isomorphically onto the same summand in
$H^1(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{TM}_{k,\ell})$. Thus, $\varphi^* := \phi^*\circ\psi^*$ also embeds
$H^1(\S_{k+\ell}) = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{k+\ell}]$ isomorphically onto $\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{k+\ell}]$ in $H^1(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{TM}_{k,\ell})$.
Furthermore, $\phi^*$ maps the summand $\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}$ in $H^1(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{pd}_{k,\ell})$ onto $2\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}$ in $H^1(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{TM}_{k,\ell})$ (see
\cite{bgg12}). Thus, the maps $\psi^*_1$, $\phi^*_1$ and $\varphi^*_1$ are all injective maps, and so $H^0_Q = 0$
for all spaces using Lemma \ref{lem:quotcohom}. By the same lemma, we get
$H^1_{Q}(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}_{k,\ell}^{TM},\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}_{k,\ell}^{pd}) = H^1(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{TM}_{k,\ell})/\phi^*_1(H^1(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}_{k,\ell}^{pd}))
= \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}_2 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}} [\tfrac{1}{|k-\ell|}]$. The rest of the results follow similarly.
\end{proof}%
The three non-trivial quotient cohomologies are related via the short exact sequence
\begin{gather*}
0 \longrightarrow H^1_Q(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{pd}_{k,\ell}, \S^{}_{k+\ell}) \xlongrightarrow{\times 2} H^1_Q(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{TM}_{k,\ell},
\S^{}_{k+\ell}) \longrightarrow \\ H^1_Q(\ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{TM}_{k,\ell}, \ensuremath{\mathbb{Y}}^{pd}_{k,\ell}) \longrightarrow 0.
\end{gather*}
\section{Generalised chair tilings}
The hull of the classic chair tiling, c.f. \cite{rob99}, (also called triomino tiling \cite{ap98})
defined by the substitution rule
$$\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=1]
\draw (0,0.5) -| (1,1) -| (0.5,1.5) -| (0,0.5);
\draw [|->] (1.5,1) -- +(0.5, 0);
\draw (2.5,0) -| (4.5,1) -| (3.5,2) -| (2.5,0);
\draw (3.5,1.5) -| (3,0.5) -| (4,1);
\draw (2.5,1) -| (3,0.5) -| (3.5,0);
\end{tikzpicture}$$
belongs to a family of substitution tiling spaces called the \emph{generalised chair tilings}, which Barge and Sadun
introduced and analysed in \cite{bs11}. Using decorated square tiles as prototiles, the most intricate of them
defines the tiling space $\Omega_{X,+}$ through the substitution rule
\begin{equation}\label{eq:chairsubstirule}
\begin{tikzpicture}[baseline=(current bounding box.center)
\def0{0}
\def0{0}
\def\x+4.16{0+4.16}
\def\y-2.5{0-2.5}
\cT{0}{0}{w}{y}{x}{z}{\nwarrow}
\draw [|->] (0+1.1,0+0.5) -- +(0.5, 0);
\cT{0+1.7}{0+0.5}{w}{y}{1}{1}{\nwarrow}
\cT{0+2.7}{0+0.5}{0}{y}{x}{0}{\swarrow}
\cT{0+2.7}{0-0.5}{1}{1}{x}{z}{\nwarrow}
\cT{0+1.7}{0-0.5}{w}{0}{0}{z}{\nearrow}
\cT{0}{\y-2.5}{w}{y}{x}{z}{\swarrow}
\draw [|->] (0+1.1,\y-2.5+0.5) -- +(0.5, 0);
\cT{0+1.7}{\y-2.5-0.5}{w}{y}{0}{0}{\searrow}
\cT{0+2.7}{\y-2.5-0.5}{1}{y}{x}{1}{\swarrow}
\cT{0+2.7}{\y-2.5+0.5}{0}{0}{x}{z}{\nwarrow}
\cT{0+1.7}{\y-2.5+0.5}{w}{1}{1}{z}{\swarrow}
\cT{\x+4.16}{0}{w}{y}{x}{z}{\nearrow}
\draw [|->] (\x+4.16+1.1,0+0.5) -- +(0.5, 0);
\cT{\x+4.16+1.7}{0+0.5}{w}{y}{0}{0}{\searrow}
\cT{\x+4.16+2.7}{0+0.5}{1}{y}{x}{1}{\nearrow}
\cT{\x+4.16+2.7}{0-0.5}{0}{0}{x}{z}{\nwarrow}
\cT{\x+4.16+1.7}{0-0.5}{w}{1}{1}{z}{\nearrow}
\cT{\x+4.16}{\y-2.5}{w}{y}{x}{z}{\searrow}
\draw [|->] (\x+4.16+1.1,\y-2.5+0.5) -- +(0.5, 0);
\cT{\x+4.16+1.7}{\y-2.5-0.5}{w}{y}{1}{1}{\searrow}
\cT{\x+4.16+2.7}{\y-2.5-0.5}{0}{y}{x}{0}{\swarrow}
\cT{\x+4.16+2.7}{\y-2.5+0.5}{1}{1}{x}{z}{\searrow}
\cT{\x+4.16+1.7}{\y-2.5+0.5}{w}{0}{0}{z}{\nearrow}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{equation}
where $w,x,y,z \in \{0,1\}$ and with the two labels adjacent to the head of an arrow being the same.
Factors of $\Omega_{X,+}$ can be defined by removing and/or identifying certain decorations on the square tiles to
which the general substitution rule \eqref{eq:chairsubstirule} applies. Tiling spaces $\Omega_{a,b}$, with $a \in
\{X, /, 0\}$ and $b \in \{+, -, 0\}$, are defined through the following:
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{|c|c|p{6.5cm}|}
\hline
\multicolumn{2}{|c|}{Index} & Description \\ \hline
$a$ & $X$ & The four arrows on the square tiles remain. \\
& $/$ & Only the arrows pointing northeast or southwest remain, i.e., arrowheads pointing to other directions
are identified. \\
& $0$ & All arrows are identified/removed. \\ \hline
$b$ & $+$ & All four labels remain. \\
& $-$ & Only the labels to the left or to the right remain, i.e., the top and bottom labels are identified. \\
& $0$ & All labels are identified/removed. \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\smallskip
\noindent In particular, $\Omega_{X,0}$ is (equivalent to) the chair tiling space and $\Omega_{0,0}$ is the
2-dimensional dyadic solenoid $\S_2 \times \S_2$. The scheme above yields nine tiling spaces that are related as
follows:
\begin{equation}\label{eq:9models}\begin{CD}
\Omega_{X,+} @>A>> \Omega_{/,+} @>A>> \Omega_{0,+} \\
@VVBV @VVBV @VVBV \\
\Omega_{X,-} @>A>> \Omega_{/,-} @>A>> \Omega_{0,-} \\
@VV{A}V @VV{A}V @VVCV \\
\Omega_{X,0} @>A>> \Omega_{/,0} @>C>> \Omega_{0,0} \\
\end{CD}\end{equation}
\noindent Barge and Sadun beautifully computed the quotient cohomology between adjacent tiling spaces appearing in
\eqref{eq:9models}, using a framework discussed in \cite{bs11}. The quotient cohomologies are given by:
\begin{equation} \label{eq:BSadjacentcohomology}
\begin{aligned}
A &: & H^0_Q &= 0, & H^1_Q & = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}, & H^2_Q &= \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}], \\
B &: & H^0_Q &= 0, & H^1_Q & = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}, & H^2_Q &= \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}] \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}, \\
C &: & H^0_Q &= 0, & H^1_Q & = 0, & H^2_Q &= \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}] \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}.
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
Tracing a path in \eqref{eq:9models} pertains to a factor map from one tiling space (starting point) to another
tiling space (ending point). As such, paths having identical starting and ending points pertain to equivalent factor
maps. In this sense, we say that the diagram commutes. We generalise the results in \eqref{eq:BSadjacentcohomology}
by giving the quotient cohomology between tiling spaces in \eqref{eq:9models}, depending on the factor map between
them as obtained by tracing an arbitrary path. We formalise this as the following theorem, whose calculation is
straightforward.
\begin{thm}\label{thm:generalisedchair}
The quotient cohomologies between adjacent tiling spaces in \eqref{eq:9models} are given in
\eqref{eq:BSadjacentcohomology}; for the remaining pairs of tiling spaces, we have:
\begin{align*}
AA &: & H^0_Q &= 0, & H^1_Q & = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}^2, & H^2_Q &= \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^2, \\
AB &: & H^0_Q &= 0, & H^1_Q & = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}^2, & H^2_Q &= \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^2 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}, \\
AAB &: & H^0_Q &= 0, & H^1_Q & = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}^3, & H^2_Q &= \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^3 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}, \\
BC &: & H^0_Q &= 0, & H^1_Q & = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}, & H^2_Q &= \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^2 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}^2, \\
AC &: & H^0_Q &= 0, & H^1_Q & = 0, & H^2_Q &= \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}_3 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^2, \\
AAC &: & H^0_Q &= 0, & H^1_Q & = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}, & H^2_Q &= \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}_3 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^3, \\
BAC &: & H^0_Q &= 0, & H^1_Q & = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}, & H^2_Q &= \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}_3 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^3 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}, \\
ABAC &: & H^0_Q &= 0, & H^1_Q & = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}^2, & H^2_Q &= \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}_3 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^4 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}.
\end{align*} \qed
\end{thm}
\noindent Note that the quotient cohomology depends only on the type of path, and not necessarily on particular
tiling spaces. Also, the quotient cohomology groups sum up whenever factor maps are composed. The only exception is
when composing $A$ and $C$ which produces the torsion component $\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}_3$. For the rest of the compositions, the
operation is associative and commutative.
The following propositions already appear in \cite{bs11} as Theorems 6 and 7, although with some errors. The
absolute and quotient cohomologies have been recalculated and the corrected results appear in the following. The
particular corrections are boxed for easier identification. Proposition \ref{prop:thm7} may also be read off of
Theorem \ref{thm:generalisedchair}.
\begin{prop}[{cf. \cite[Theorem 6]{bs11}}] \label{prop:thm6}
The absolute cohomologies of the nine tiling spaces in \eqref{eq:9models} are given as follows. All spaces have
$H^0 = \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}$. The first cohomology is given by
$$\begin{CD}
\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}]^2 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}^2 @<A^*<< \boxed{\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^2 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}} @<A^*<< \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}]^2 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}} \\
@AAB^*A @AAB^*A @AAB^*A \\
\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}]^2 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}} @<A^*<< \boxed{\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^2} @<A^*<< \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}]^2 \\
@AA{A^*}A @AA{A^*}A @AAC^*A \\
\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}]^2 @<A^*<< \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}]^2 @<C^*<< \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}]^2 \\
\end{CD}$$ %
The second cohomology is given by
$$\begin{CD}
\begin{gathered}\tfrac{1}{3}\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{4}] \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^4 \\[-8pt] \oplus \, \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}} \end{gathered}
@<A^*<<
\boxed{\begin{gathered}\tfrac{1}{3}\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{4}] \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^3 \\[-8pt] \oplus \, \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}} \end{gathered}}
@<A^*<<
\begin{gathered}\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{4}] \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^2 \\[-8pt] \oplus \, \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}^2 \end{gathered}
\\
@AAB^*A @AAB^*A @AAB^*A
\\
\frac{1}{3}\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{4}] \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}]^3
@<A^*<<
\boxed{\tfrac{1}{3}\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{4}]\oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^2}
@<A^*<<
\begin{gathered}\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{4}] \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}] \\[-8pt] \oplus \, \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}} \end{gathered}
\\
@AA{A^*}A @AA{A^*}A @AAC^*A
\\
\frac{1}{3}\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{4}]\oplus\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}]^2
@<A^*<<
\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{4}]\oplus\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}]\oplus\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}
@<C^*<<
\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{4}]
\\
\end{CD}$$ \qed
\end{prop}
\begin{prop}[{cf. \cite[Theorem 7]{bs11}}] \label{prop:thm7}
The quotient cohomologies of the nine tiling spaces in \eqref{eq:9models}, relative to the solenoid $\Omega_{0,0}$,
are given as follows. For all spaces, $H^0_Q=0$. The first quotient cohomology is given by
$$\begin{CD}
\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}^2 @<A^*<< \boxed{\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}} @<A^*<< \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}} \\
@AAB^*A @AAB^*A @AAB^*A \\
\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}} @<A^*<< \boxed{0} @<A^*<< 0 \\
@AA{A^*}A @AA{A^*}A @AAC^*A \\
0 @<A^*<< 0 @<C^*<< 0 \\
\end{CD}$$ %
The second quotient cohomology is given by
$$\begin{CD}
\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}_3 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}]^4 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}} @<A^*<< \boxed{\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}_3 \oplus
\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^3 \oplus\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}} @<A^*<< \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}]^2 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}^2 \\
@AAB^*A @AAB^*A @AAB^*A \\
\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}_3 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}]^3 @<A^*<< \boxed{\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}_3 \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\tfrac{1}{2}]^2} @<A^*<<
\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}] \oplus \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}} \\
@AA{A^*}A @AA{A^*}A @AAC^*A \\
\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}_3\oplus\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}]^2 @<A^*<< \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}[\frac{1}{2}]\oplus\ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}} @<C^*<< 0 \\
\end{CD}$$ \qed
\end{prop}
\section{Discussion and conclusion}
Determining the quotient cohomologies between 1-dimensional substitution tiling spaces is rather straightforward
because of Lemma \ref{lem:quotcohom}. In particular, it suffices to know $f^*_1$ to be able to compute both $H^0_Q$
and $H^1_Q$.
In higher dimensions, a first challenge is in the enumeration of inequivalent factors and the factor maps between them
before one can study their quotient cohomologies. In the case of the generalised chair tilings, there are two
more substitution tiling spaces between $\Omega_{X,-}$ and $\Omega_{0,0}$, which are inequivalent to any of those
already enumerated, but are impossible to obtain through the identification rules considered earlier.
A similar analysis as above has also been carried out for the Squiral \cite{bgg13} and Chacon \cite{fra08}
substitution tiling spaces, which are both 2-dimensional.
\section*{Acknowledgement}
This work is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) via the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 701) at
Bielefeld University.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaArXiv"
}
| 6,876
|
Q: Queries executing very slowly I have an sql... It's a "SELECT". I can't show it, but it has 5 unions and a lot of joins (inner and left). I have also created all the necessary indexes. On the local machine it takes less then a second (~ 0.5 s) to get the results. But on the server it executes very-very long time.
Databases on the local machine and on the server are identical. I've recently dumped the server database and restore it on the local machine.
About 35 minutes ago I launched an "EXPLAIN" of this sql and it is still running. Also I see "Copying to tmp table" label for that explain in the process list.
All the tables are optimized.
I tested with MyISAM and InnoDB engines.
The server load average is less than 1, MySQL is not under load too.
It might be important - server on a cloud service. I have no access to the cloud statistics - just use the server.
What can you suggest me?
A: I found out the reason.
As I said before (in the comments) I did EXPLAINs for every subqueries and noticed some differences with the same EXPLAINs on the local machine (for 2 of 5 subqueries).
It solved by creating additional indexes.
Different machines - different results. I expected that it would be some differences, but I could not even did the EXPLAIN. That's a strange. Helped only the partial EXPALINs.
Thanks for all.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaStackExchange"
}
| 3,964
|
Q: Content Security Policy directive: "default-src 'self'". Note that 'frame-src' was not explicitly set, so 'default-src' is used as a fallback I have integrated the single-sign-on in our application using WsFedration(ADFS)
after the sign-out, it's redirecting to the page as successfully log out and back to the login page.
this follow is working correctly after hosting in the windows server, but after the hosting, to the Nginx server I'm having a problem, it's not redirecting to the login page, console error says,
Refused to frame 'https://xxx-yyy.zzz.rr/' because it violates the following Content Security Policy directive: "default-src 'self'". Note that 'frame-src' was not explicitly set, so 'default-src' is used as a fallback
then I search regarding this and added the Content Security Policy (CSP) to the Nginx config file like below.
add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff" always;
add_header X-Frame-Options SAMEORIGIN always;
add_header X-XSS-Protection "1; mode=block" always;
add_header Content-Security-Policy "style-src-elem 'unsafe-inline' 'self' https://netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.0.0/css/bootstrap-glyphicons.css https://fonts.googleapis.com/css";
add_header Content-Security-Policy "style-src 'unsafe-inline' 'self' https://netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.0.0/css/bootstrap-glyphicons.css https://fonts.googleapis.com/css";
add_header Content-Security-Policy "frame-src 'unsafe-inline' 'self' none";
add_header Content-Security-Policy "default-src 'unsafe-inline' 'self'; https://netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.0.0/css/bootstrap-glyphicons.css https://fonts.googleapis.com/css ";
add_header Content-Security-Policy "frame-ancestors 'self' 'unsafe-inline' none";
add_header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains" always;
add_header Content-Security-Policy "font-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' https://netdna.bootstrapcdn.com https://fonts.gstatic.com";
I tried several ways, but I couldn't figure it out , if anyone can help me to fix this issue much appreciated.
thanks in advance.
A: *
*You publish a several CSPs at the same time, they work not as you think. If multiple CSP published, they are combined with logical 'AND'.
But you trickely use unique directives in each CSP, therefore the whole set would work as intended if not the default-src directive. If it's issued in a separate CSP, the default-src overrides all other fallback-directives. As result you have 'unsafe-inline' 'self' rule for all directives.
You have to place all directives in the one add_header Content-Security-Policy.
*You have some errors in rules, for example:
*
*https://fonts.googleapis.com/css source should have trailing /, because it;s a folder name, not file name.
*none token should be single quoted - 'none', and it will be ignored if it's combined with the other sources.
*"frame-src 'unsafe-inline' 'self' none" - the frame-src is not support 'unsafe-inline' token.
*"frame-ancestors 'self' 'unsafe-inline' none" - the frame-ancestors is not support 'unsafe-inline' token.
*"font-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' https://netdna.bootstrapcdn.com https://fonts.gstatic.com" - the font-src is not support 'unsafe-inline' token.
*"default-src 'unsafe-inline' 'self'; https://netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.0.0/css/bootstrap-glyphicons.css https://fonts.googleapis.com/css " - the ;(semicolon) after 'self' does finish the default-src rules set, therefore https://netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.0.0/css/bootstrap-glyphicons.css is counted as directive name.
Here your rules:
add_header Content-Security-Policy " \
default-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' https://netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.0.0/css/bootstrap-glyphicons.css https://fonts.googleapis.com/css/; \
font-src 'self' https://netdna.bootstrapcdn.com https://fonts.gstatic.com; \
frame-ancestors 'self'; \
frame-src 'self'; \
style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline' https://netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.0.0/css/bootstrap-glyphicons.css https://fonts.googleapis.com/css/; \
style-src-elem 'self' 'unsafe-inline' https://netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.0.0/css/bootstrap-glyphicons.css https://fonts.googleapis.com/css/; \
"
A: In my case I follow the tip of @granty about first topic
You publish a several CSPs at the same time, they work not as you think. If multiple CSP published, they are combined with logical 'AND'.
And I "remove" the Header in my Nginx configuration:
add_header X-Frame-Options "";
In my Keycloak the Headers of Security Defenses are:
X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
Content-Security-Policy: frame-src 'self'; frame-ancestors 'self'; object-src 'none';
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaStackExchange"
}
| 782
|
Qingda is an abbreviation of:
National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan (國立清華大學; abbreviated 清大, Qīngdà)
Qingdao University in Qingdao, Shandong, China (青岛大学; abbreviated 青大, Qīngdà)
See also
Tsinghua University in Beijing, China (清华大学)
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaWikipedia"
}
| 5,931
|
package com.sjl.dsl4xml.support;
import com.sjl.dsl4xml.Context;
import com.sjl.dsl4xml.Converter;
import com.sjl.dsl4xml.Name;
import com.sjl.dsl4xml.ParsingException;
import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
// TODO - extract to dsl4 support
public class ReflectiveBuilder<T> implements Builder<T> {
private Name name;
private Class<T> target;
private Class<?> intermediate;
private Converter<Object,T> converter;
private Reflector reflector;
private List<Builder<?>> nested;
private Map<String,String> aliases;
private boolean array;
public ReflectiveBuilder(
Name aName, Class<T> aTarget, Class<?> anIntermediate, Converter<Object,T> aConverter,
Reflector aReflector, List<Builder<?>> aNested, boolean anIsArray) {
if (aName == null)
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Must supply a name");
if (aTarget == null)
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Must supply a target type");
if (aReflector == null)
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Must supply a reflector");
name = aName;
target = aTarget;
intermediate = (anIntermediate == null) ? aTarget : anIntermediate;
converter = aConverter;
reflector = aReflector;
nested = aNested;
array = anIsArray;
if (nested != null)
{
aliases = new HashMap<String,String>();
for (Builder<?> _b : nested)
aliases.put(_b.getName().getName(), _b.getName().getAlias());
}
}
@Override
public Name getName() {
return name;
}
@Override
public boolean isArray() {
return array;
}
@Override
public Class<T> getTargetType() {
return target;
}
@Override
public Builder<?> moveDown(String aName) {
for (Builder<?> _b : nested) {
if ((aName.equals(_b.getName().getName())) ||
(_b.getName().equals(Name.MISSING) && nested.size()==1)) {
return _b;
}
}
return null;
}
@Override
public void prepare(Context aContext) {
aContext.push(reflector.newInstance(intermediate));
}
@Override
public void setValue(Context aContext, String aName, Object aValue) {
String _propertyName = aliases.get(aName);
if ((_propertyName == null) || ("".equals(_propertyName))) _propertyName = aName;
Method _m = reflector.getMutator(intermediate, _propertyName, aValue);
if (_m == null)
throw new IllegalStateException(
"No mutator method found for '" + _propertyName + "' of type " +
aValue.getClass().getName() + " in target " + intermediate);
// if (!_m.getDeclaringClass().equals(intermediate))
// {
// throw new IllegalArgumentException(
// "cannot invoke " + _m.getName() + " on " + intermediate.getName() + " - it is not the declaring class!");
// }
try {
T _ctx = aContext.peek();
if (intermediate.isAssignableFrom(_ctx.getClass())) {
switch (_m.getParameterTypes().length) {
case 1 :
_m.invoke(aContext.peek(), aValue);
break;
case 2 :
_m.invoke(aContext.peek(), _propertyName, aValue);
break;
default:
throw new NoSuitableMethodException(
"Don't know how to deal with mutator method " + _m.getName() +
" of " + aContext.getClass().getName() + " which requires " +
_m.getParameterTypes().length + " parameters");
}
} else {
throw new ParsingException("Expected " + _propertyName + " to be a " + intermediate.getName() + " but got a " + _ctx.getClass().getName());
}
} catch (IllegalAccessException anExc) {
throw new ParsingException("Not allowed to invoke " + _m.getName() + " on " + intermediate.getName(), anExc);
} catch (InvocationTargetException anExc) {
throw new ParsingException("Problem while invoking " + _m.getName() + " on " + intermediate.getName(), anExc);
}
}
@Override
public T build(Context aContext) {
if (converter != null)
return converter.convert(aContext.pop());
else {
return aContext.pop();
}
}
}
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaGithub"
}
| 8,089
|
Q: Product of integers in list without libraries Let's say I'm not allowed to use libraries.
How do I go about calculating the product of indexes in a list.
Let's assume none of the integers are 0 or less.
The problem gets harder as I'm trying to calculate the indexes vertically.
bigList = [[1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]]
With numpy the solution for my problem would be:
import numpy as np
print([np.prod(l) for l in zip(*bigList)])
[1, 32, 243, 1024, 3125]
However without it my solution is much more chaotic:
rotateY = [l for l in zip(*bigList)]
productList = [1]* len(bigList)
count = 0
for l in rotateY:
for i in l:
productList[count] *= i
count += 1
print(productList)
[1, 32, 243, 1024, 3125]
A: You can iterate over each row getting each row's n-th element, and multiplying each element together:
>>> from functools import reduce
>>>
>>> def mul_lst(lst):
return reduce(lambda x, y: x * y, lst)
>>>
>>> bigList = [[1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5],
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]]
>>>
>>> [mul_lst([row[i] for row in bigList]) for i in range(len(bigList))]
[1, 32, 243, 1024, 3125]
If you cannot use any libraries, including functools, you can write the logic for the mul_lst function manually:
>>> def mul_lst(lst):
product = lst[0]
for el in lst[1:]:
product *= el
return product
>>> mul_lst([3, 3])
9
>>> mul_lst([2, 2, 2, 2, 2])
32
A: And why not simply:
productList = []
for i in range(len(bigList[0]):
p = 1
for row in bigList:
p *= row[i]
productList.append(p)
Alternatively, a small improvement over your solution:
productList = [1]* len(bigList[0])
for row in bigList:
for i, c in enumerate(row):
productList[i] *= c
A: We can transpose the nested list and then use reduce (a Python built-in) in Python 2.x on each element (list) for a one-liner -
>>> [reduce(lambda a,b: a*b, i) for i in map(list, zip(*bigList))]
[1, 32, 243, 1024, 3125]
A: Here's a quick recursive solution
def prod(x):
""" Recursive approach with behavior of np.prod over axis 0 """
if len(x) is 1:
return x
for i, a_ in enumerate(x.pop()):
x[0][i] *= a_
return prod(x)
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaStackExchange"
}
| 6,237
|
class A {
inline def getInline: String = {
class Local {
private val y: Int = 1
}
val a = scala.reflect.classTag[Integer]
println(new Local)
val x = 1
x.toString
}
}
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaGithub"
}
| 5,173
|
Q: How can I see all the options that can be passed to git-bash.exe? I can see that from the start menu shortcut the git-bash.exe command starts with --cd-to-home option. What other options can be passed to it, and how can I list them?
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaStackExchange"
}
| 6,053
|
\section{Introduction}\label{section0}
In the plasma frequency, a collective oscillation of the electron gas
in the positive ionic background occurs, which is fundamental
to understand the electromagnetic properties of conductors.
Below the plasma frequency the conductor reflects the incident
electromagnetic radiation and, above it becomes transparent thus allowing
a propagative mode.
For metals the plasma frequency is typically found in the ultraviolet
region ($10^{15}-10^{16}\; Hz$)\cite{PINES}.
A well-known feature of superconductors is the existence of a gap,
the energy required to break a Cooper pair in the ground state condensate.
Typically the frequency associated to the gap for conventional
superconductors is in the $10^{11}\;Hz$ range, whereas
for the new high-Tc superconductors is one order magnitude higher
\cite{BEASLEY}.
The question whether the superconductor can support collective modes
{\it without} inducing pair breaking effects
is an old one and has been discussed since the early days of the
theory of superconductivity \cite{MARTIN,ANDERSON}.
Apart from the so-called Carlson-Goldman mode,
which happens under special circumstances \cite{CARLSON,ARTEMENKO}, any other
attempt to excite collective modes in isotropic {\it bulk} superconductors
leads to the destruction of the superconducting state.
This follows the well-known argument\cite{ANDERSON} that the Coulomb
interaction shifts the frequency of such oscillations, the plasma frequency,
to above the gap frequency.
However, it was recently shown that highly anisotropic
superconductors do display a plasma oscillation below the superconducting gap
\cite{TAMASAKU}.
This oscillation, specially to the layered structure, is due to the
Josephson coupling between the superconducting planes.
Plasma modes in superconductors, isotropic or not, has been recently
revisited from another point of view.
Plasma modes below the gap are possible without destroying the superconducting
state, as long as, they propagate in the interface between the superconductor
and a non-conducting bounding medium of very high dieletric constant.
This is the so-called superficial plasma mode \cite{RITCHIE,STERN},
which is made possible by the charges located at the interface of the
superconductor and the dieletric medium, responsible for the creation of an
electric field concentrated mainly outside the superconductor.
In a thin film, the coupling between the two superficial plasma modes
yields two possible branches, a symmetric and a anti-symmetric,
similarly to metals\cite{BOERSCH,FUKUI,SARID} and semiconductors\cite{UL}.
The film thickness must be smaller
than the London penetration depth in order to produce this coupling.
Oscillations between the kinetic energy of the superelectrons
and the electrical field energy take place in these modes and for this reason
they are called {\it plasma modes}.
The lower frequency branch was predicted for superconductors
\cite{MOOIJ,MISHONOV,MIRHASHEN} some time ago
and observed in thin granular aluminium films,
in the hundreds of $MHz$ range\cite{BUISSON},
and in thin $YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-x}$ films\cite{DUNMORE}, in the
higher frequency range of hundreds of $GHz$.
The highest frequency branch is predicted to be within
experimental observation range for the high Tc materials\cite{DPB}.
In case of highly anisotropic superconducting materials,
measurements of such upper and lower branches are expected to
give information on the transverse and the longitudinal London penetration
depths, respectively\cite{DPB}.
In conclusion, plasma modes in superconducting films can be an important tool
for the probe of many intrinsic properties of superconductors.
Long ago Gittleman and Rosenblum\cite{GITTLEMAN}
have studied the effects of an applied
external current at the radio and microwave frequency range into
pinned vortices and obtained the surface impedance.
For an $AC$ applied magnetic field and in the weak pinning regime,
Campbell\cite{CAMPBELL} showed that the effect of vortices can
be described by a new $AC$ London penetration depth, whose square is
the original London penetration depth squared plus a new term describing
the elastic interaction of vortices with the pinning centers.
A few years ago these models were generalized to convey the effects of
creep\cite{COFFEY} and to provide a more detailed description of the
elastic properties of the vortex lattice near a surface\cite{BRANDT}.
In this paper we study the effects of a constant uniform magnetic field,
applied perpendicularly to the thin film, into the thin film propagative
mode.
A sufficiently large magnetic field allows the thermodynamic stability
of a vortex system, which influences the collective oscilations,
affecting considerably the above modes.
The vortices are induced into an oscillatory dissipative motion around
their pinning centers.
This motion couples to the electromagnetic fields resulting either into an
underdamped or an overdamped regime.
This paper is developed in the context of independent
vortex and superelectron degrees of freedom.
We understand by superelectron current, any supercurrent other than
that one necessary to bring the thermodynamic equilibrium of vortices.
The vortex degree of freedom, described by its position in space, also
represents its intrinsic current.
In this framework arises the question whether the superelectron
or the vortex contribution dominates the propagative mode behavior.
Hereafter, by plasma mode we refer to the limit where superelectron
contribution is the largest.
So, pure plasma modes are found in the complete absence of an applied
magnetic field.
In this paper we discuss conditions that render the modes underdamped and
vortex dominated.
This is the case of interest because the attenuated oscillations can be regarded
as taking place between the vortex pinning energy and the
electrical field energy.
The present work is done in the simplest possible
theoretical framework, essentially a generalization
of the Gittleman-Rosenblum\cite{FIORY,KOSHELEV},
such that vortices and superelectrons are independently
coupled to Maxwell's theory.
Here we are mainly interested in the low temperature regime and
therefore, ignore the contribution of normal electrons to the problem.
Thus, wave damping is only due to the vortex dissipative motion.
We consider here an anisotropic
superconductor with its uniaxial direction (c-axis) orthogonal to
the film surfaces: the two London penetration depths,
transverse ($\lambda_{\perp}$) and longitudinal ($\lambda_{\parallel}$)
to the surfaces give an anisotropy such that
$\lambda_{\perp}/\lambda_{\parallel}>1 $ .
There are two dielectric constants, the non-conducting medium and the
superconductor ones, $\tilde \varepsilon$ and $\varepsilon_s$, respectively.
Thus we are assigning to the superconductor a frequency independent dielectric
constant. We refer to the speed of light in the dielectric as
$v = c/\sqrt{\tilde \varepsilon}$.
The uniform static applied magnetic field is $H_0$.
For each individual vortex, the viscous drag coefficient is $\eta_0$
and the elastic restoring force constant (Labusch parameter) is $\alpha_0$.
Their ratio, $\omega_0 \equiv \alpha_0/\eta_0$, is the so-called
depinning frequency, above which dissipation becomes dominant
in the vortex motion.
To have coupling between the two surfaces the film thickness, $d$,
must be smaller than $\lambda_{\parallel}$.
The choice of a nonconducting bounding medium of very high dieletric constant
is crucial to lower the frequency range of the modes to below
the gap frequency.
For this reason we take $SrTiO_3$ as the bounding media, whose dieletric
constant is known to be high up to the $GHz$ frequency \cite{BUISSON}
at low temperatures: $\tilde \varepsilon \approx 2.0\;10^{4}$.
Then the speed of light in the dielectric, $v=2.1\,10^6\; m s^{-1}$, is
substantially smaller than $c$.
Our work is restricted to identical top and bottom dielectric
media, which does not imply lack of generality.
Similar conclusions should also apply to the general asymmetric case.
This paper is organized as follows.
In the next section(\ref{section1})
we introduce the major equations describing the film
mode in the presence of vortices.
Its dispersion relation is analytically derived under some justifiable
approximation.
In section \ref{section2} we apply our model
to the high-Tc superconductor $YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta}$,
investigating a range of parameters such
that the lowest energy film mode is mostly associated to the vortex
dynamics, but yet remains underdamped.
Finally, in section \ref{section3}, we summarize our major
results.
\section{ Propagating Modes in Superconducting Films with Perpendicular
Magnetic Field} \label{section1}
In this section we introduce the basic equations governing
wave propagation in
a superconducting film sandwiched between two identical
non-conducting dielectric media and subjected to an uniform static
magnetic field perpendicularly applied to the film surface.
An external electromagnetic wave of
angular frequency $\omega$ and vacuum wavenumber $k \equiv \omega/c$
is inserted in the dielectric bounded film.
We determine the dispersion relation of
the lowest energy film mode, whose imaginary part reveals the
attenuation behavior.
Phenomenological theories, such as the present one, only describe the
superconductor in a energy range much lower than the pair breaking threshold.
The electromagnetic dynamics of fields and superelectrons
is described by the Maxwell's equations,
\begin{eqnarray}
{\bf \nabla} \cdot \;\vec{D} &=& e\; (n_s-\bar{n}_s) \\
{\bf \nabla} \cdot\; \vec{H} &=& 0\\
{\bf \nabla} \times \;\vec{E} &=& -
\mu_0 {{\partial\vec{H}}\over{\partial t}}\\
{\bf \nabla} \times \; \vec{H} &=& \vec{J} +
{{\partial\vec{D}}\over{\partial t}} \\
\end{eqnarray}
and consequently by the continuity equation,
\begin{eqnarray}
{\bf \nabla} \cdot \;\vec{J} + e\;{{\partial n_s}\over{\partial t}} = 0
\end{eqnarray}
where $n_s$ represents the space and time dependent charge density,
$\bar{n}_s$ is its equilibrium value and $e$ stands for the electron charge.
The distinction between $n_s$ and $\bar{n}_s$ is necessary because,
propagation through the system disrupts
the neutrality, as seen from Gauss' law ($n_s-\bar{n}_s=0$),
and the local charge density is no longer constant.
As previously noticed the contribution of vortices and of superelectrons
are independent in the present model.
The field $\vec{J}$, the superelectron current density involved in net
macroscopic transport, and the field $\vec{u}$, the vortex displacement from
its equilibrium position are independent in the present model.
Hence the supercurrent density $\vec{J}$ corresponds to a macroscopic
average of the total superelectron motion, where the supercurrent
necessary to establish each vortex averages to zero.
This approximation, valid for the present purposes, cannot give any
information on the supercurrent distribution surrounding each vortex line.
The simplest possible model that treats the response of
the vortices to the presence of a supercurrent external to them is
the harmonic approximation of Gittleman and
Rosenblum\cite{GITTLEMAN},
\begin{eqnarray}
\eta_0 {{\partial \vec{u} }\over{\partial t}} + \alpha_0 \vec{u} =
\Phi_0 (\vec{J} \times \hat n) \label{greq}
\end{eqnarray}
where $\hat n$ is a unit vector parallel to the flux lines mean direction.
>From its turn, the displacements of vortices from their equilibrium
positions affect the propagating electromagnetic wave.
Fiory and Hebard\cite{FIORY} have considered this question and
found that besides the kinetic inductance due to the superelectrons,
the moving vortices also contribute, producing an electric
field inside the superconductor.
\begin{eqnarray}
\vec{E} = \mu_0 \lambda^2 \cdot {{\partial\vec{J} }\over{\partial t}} -
\mu_0 H_0 ( {{\partial \vec{u} }\over{\partial t}} \times \hat n)
\label{fheq}
\end{eqnarray}
The assumption of anisotropy yields a tensorial
London penetration depth.
\begin{eqnarray}
{\bf \lambda} =
\pmatrix{ \lambda_{\perp} & 0 & 0 \cr 0 & \lambda_{\parallel}& 0
\cr 0 & 0 & \lambda_{\parallel} \cr } \quad
\lambda_{\perp} = \sqrt{{ {m_{\perp}}\over{\mu_0 \bar{n}_s e^2}}} \quad
\lambda_{\parallel} = \sqrt{{ {m_{\parallel}}\over{\mu_0 \bar{n}_s e^2}}}
\end{eqnarray}
We pick a coordinate system where the two plane parallel surfaces
separating the superconducting film from the dielectric medium are
at $x=d/2$ and $x=-d/2$, such that $\hat n \equiv \hat x$ and propagation
is along the $z$ axis.
Vortex displacement is described by a vector field parallel to the surfaces,
$ \vec{u} = u_y \hat y \,+\, u_z \hat z$, with no orthogonal components
to them ($u_x=0$).
According to symmetry arguments,
all fields for the present geometry can be expressed as
$F_i(x)\; \exp{[-\imath (q\,z-\omega\,t)]}$, where the wave number $q$
have yet to be determined.
Because vortex motion is dissipative,
the wave's amplitude decays exponentially with distance,
and one obtains for the fields's expression
$F_i(x)\; \exp{(q''\,z)}\;\exp{[-\imath (q'\,z-\omega\,t)]}$.
Then wave number is a complex number, $q=q'+\imath q''$.
Solving Maxwell's equations for the chosen geometry
gives two independent sets of field components,
the transverse electric (TE) and the
transverse magnetic (TM) propagating modes.
In the former the non-zero electromagnetic field components are
$H_x$, $E_y$ and $H_z$, the non-vanishing supercurrent is $J_y$ and the
vortex displacement is along the
direction of wave propagation ($u_z$).
This is an extremely high frequency mode in the present theory,
and so not interesting because it lies above the gap.
For the latter, the non-zero electromagnetic field components are
$E_x$, $H_y$ and $E_z$, the non-vanishing supercurrent components are
$J_x$ and $J_z$ and the propagating wave displaces the vortices
perpendicularly to its direction of propagation ($u_y$).
This is a very interesting mode because it
supports low frequency propagating waves.
The major difference between TE and TM modes is that
the latter displays superficial charge densities at
the film-dielectric interfaces and the former does not.
Such superficial charge densities stem from the
supercurrent component orthogonal to the film surface,
$J_x$, which is discontinuous at the interfaces, thus rendering a
strong coupling between the superconducting film and the bounding media.
Introducing the time dependence $\exp{(\imath\;\omega\;t)}$
into Eq.(\ref{greq}) and Eq.(\ref{fheq}) results in a change of the
penetration depth parallel to the surfaces
due to the vortex contribution\cite{BRANDT,CAMPBELL}.
\begin{eqnarray}
\imath \;\omega\;\mu_0 \lambda_{\perp}^2 \, J_x = E_x , \qquad
\imath \;\omega\;\mu_0 \bar \lambda_{\parallel}^2 \, J_z = E_z \\
\bar \lambda_{\parallel}^2 = \lambda_{\parallel}^2 +
\big( {{B_0\;\Phi_0}\over{\mu_0\;\alpha_0}} \big)
{{1}\over{1+ \imath (\omega / \omega_0)}} \label{lbar}
\end{eqnarray}
This equation shows that vortices and superelectrons contribute
additively to the parallel penetration depth.
Notice the depinning frequency $\omega_0$ establishes two distinct
physical regions for the vortices response.
For $ \omega \ll \omega_0 $ dissipation is weak and
$\bar \lambda_{\parallel}$ is essentially a real number.
For $ \omega \geq \omega_0 $ and a sufficiently large magnetic field,
dissipation dominates the vortices response because
$\bar \lambda_{\parallel}$ is complex.
The superconductor's dielectric constant is
tensorial, $\vec{D} = \epsilon_{0}\varepsilon_{s} \vec{E} -\imath \vec{J}/\omega =
\epsilon_0 {\bf \varepsilon} \cdot \vec{E} $ and for the TM mode we have
that
\begin{eqnarray}
\varepsilon_{x}= \varepsilon_{s}- {1 \over {(k\lambda_{\perp})^2}} , \quad
\varepsilon_{z}=\varepsilon_{s}-{1\over {(k\bar \lambda_{\parallel})^2}},
\quad k \equiv {{\omega}\over{c}}
\end{eqnarray}
The TM field equations for the dielectric medium,
($x \ge d/2$ and $x\le -d/2$), are given bellow:
\begin{eqnarray}
E_x = \imath {{q} \over {\tilde \tau^2 }}
\;{{\partial E_z}\over{\partial x}}, \quad
H_y = \imath \,\epsilon_0\,{{\omega\, \tilde \varepsilon}\over{\tilde \tau^2}} \;
{{\partial E_z}\over{\partial x}}, \quad
{{\partial^2 E_z}\over{\partial x^2}} - {\tilde \tau}^2\, E_z = 0 ,
\quad {\tilde \tau}^2 = q^2 - k^2 \tilde \varepsilon \label{eqdie}
\end{eqnarray}
and the ones for the superconducting film ($ -d/2 \le x \le d/2$) follow.
\begin{eqnarray}
E_x = \imath{{q \, \varepsilon_z } \over
{\tau^2 \, \varepsilon_x }} \;{{\partial E_z}\over{\partial x}}, \quad
H_y = \imath \, \epsilon_0\,{{\omega\, \varepsilon_z}\over{\tau^2}} \;
{{\partial E_z}\over{\partial x}}, \quad
{{\partial^2 E_z}\over{\partial x^2}} - \tau^2\, E_z = 0
\quad \tau^2 = {{ \varepsilon_z}\over{\varepsilon_x}}q^2
- k^2 \varepsilon_{z} \label{eqsuc}
\end{eqnarray}
The dispersion relations follow from the continuity of the
ratio $H_y/E_z$ at a single interface, say $x=d/2$, once
assumed the longitudinal field $E_z$ has a definite symmetry.
It happens in this way because, the superconductor film is bounded by the same
dielectric medium in both sides.
Solving Eq.(\ref{eqdie}) one gets that
above the film ($x \ge d/2 $),
\begin{eqnarray}
E_z = \tilde E_o \exp{(-\tilde \tau\;x)} \quad and \quad
{{\tilde H_y}\over{\tilde E_z}}|_{x=d/2} = -\imath {{\omega \epsilon_0
\tilde \varepsilon}\over{\tilde \tau}}
\label{ex}
\end{eqnarray}
>From Eq.(\ref{eqsuc}) we learn that for the superconducting film
($ -d/2 \le x \le d/2$) there are two
possible states, symmetrical and anti-symmetrical,
where the longitudinal field is expressed by
$E_z = E_o \cosh{(\tau\; x)}$ and
$E_z = E_o \sinh{(\tau\; x)}$, respectively.
As discussed earlier, we shall only consider the symmetric branch,
the lowest mode in energy.
So the ratio of the tangential fields becomes
$H_y/ E_z|_{x=d/2} = \imath \omega \epsilon_0
\tilde \varepsilon_z \tanh{(\tau d/2)}/ \tau $.
Continuity of this ratio across the interface gives
the following implicit relation.
\begin{eqnarray}
{{\tau\;\tilde\varepsilon}\over{\tilde\tau\;\varepsilon_{z}}}
= -\tanh{(\tau\;{d\over 2})} \label{tab1}
\end{eqnarray}
To find the dispersion relation we must solve Eq.(\ref{tab1}).
Here we use an approximate method to analytically solve it.
This approximation amounts to replace the function
$(\tanh{z})/z$ in Eq.(\ref{tab1}), by another function,
$1/\sqrt{1+(2/3)z^2}$, which has an extremely close behavior.
For $ z \ll 1$ both functions coincide up to the second order term
in the Taylor series expansion: $1-(1/3)z^2+\dots$.
As all our results are derived in the range $z \ll 1$ thus, we replace
Eq.(\ref{tab1}) by the following approximate dispersion relation.
\begin{eqnarray}
{{\tilde \varepsilon}\over{\tilde \tau}} \approx - {{d \varepsilon_z}\over{2}}
{{1}\over{ \sqrt{1+{2\over3}\big( {{\tau d}\over{2}} \big)^2}}}
\label{drap1}
\end{eqnarray}
Squaring the above expression, one obtains a linear equation for $q^2$:
\begin{eqnarray}
q^2 = \big( {{\omega}\over{v}}\big)^2 {{
1 + \big({{2\omega \bar\lambda_{\parallel} }\over{d v}} \big)^2
\lbrack \bar\lambda_{\parallel}^2+ {{d^2}\over{6}} \rbrack}\over{
1 - {2\over 3}\big({{\omega}\over{v}} \big)^4
\bar\lambda_{\parallel}^2 \lambda_{\perp}^2}}
\label{drap2}
\end{eqnarray}
The term proportional to $d^2/6$ in the numerator is irrelevant,
assuming the film much thinner than the penetration
depth ($\lambda_{\parallel} \gg d$).
We restrict the present study to frequencies much below the
assymptotic frequency ($({{\omega}\over{v}} \big)^4 \bar\lambda_{\parallel}^2
\lambda_{\perp}^2 \ll 1$), thus obtaining the following
dispersion relation:
\begin{eqnarray}
q^2 = \big( {{\omega}\over{v}}\big)^2
(1 + \big({{2\omega \bar\lambda_{\parallel}^2} \over{d v }}\big)^2)
\label{drap3}
\end{eqnarray}
In the absence of an applied uniform magnetic
field ($H_0=0$), consequently with no vortices,
there is no dissipation and $q''=0$.
In this case we retrieve the well-known dispersion relation of plasma modes
taking into account the retardation effect \cite{MIRHASHEN,BUISSON}.
Next we study two different behaviors of the dispersion relation
in the presence of vortices.
\vskip0.5truecm
\par \noindent $\underline{optical \quad mode}$ \quad
At low frequencies the mode is, in leading order,
a plane wave travelling in the dielectric medium,
$q' \approx \omega /v$,
with no attenuation along the direction of propagation,
($q'' \approx 0$).
Perpendicularly to the film, the amplitude shows no attenuation,
because $\tilde \tau \approx 0$, according to Eq.(\ref{ex}).
We obtain, from the Taylor expansion of Eq.(\ref{drap2}),
the lowest order corrections in $\omega$ to the
above description of the optical regime.
\begin{eqnarray}
q' &=& {{\omega}\over{v}} \lbrace
1+ {1\over 2} \lbrack {{2\omega\big(
\lambda_{\parallel}^2 +
{{B_0\;\Phi_0}\over{\mu_0\;\alpha_0}}
\big)}\over{d v}} \rbrack^2 \rbrace + \cdots \label{Kop} \\
q'' &=& - {{ 4 \omega^4 {{B_0\;\Phi_0}\over{\mu_0\;\alpha_0}} \big(
\lambda_{\parallel}^2 +
{{B_0\;\Phi_0}\over{\mu_0\;\alpha_0}} \big) }
\over{ v^3 d^2 \omega_0
}} + \cdots \label{Lop}
\end{eqnarray}
\vskip0.5truecm
\par \noindent $\underline{coupled \quad mode }$ \quad
For sufficiently large frequencies,
Eq.(\ref{drap3}) no more describes a linear response.
In this range the superconducting film and the dieletric media
are effectively coupled, which implies in a reduction of
the mode propagation speed ($(\omega/q')/v \ll 1$).
This is the most interesting regime since film and dielectric
produce a low energy mode.
Far-way from the linear regime,
and provided that the asymptotic frequency is still out of range,
Eq.(\ref{drap3}) is approximately described
by its second term, resulting into the dispersion relation
$ q \approx (2/ d) [\omega /(v \bar \lambda_{\parallel})]^2 $.
>From this, we obtain its wavevector and attenuation:
\begin{eqnarray}
q'(\omega) &=& {{2\;\omega^2}\over{d\;v^2}} \; \lbrack
\lambda_{\parallel}^2 + {{B_0\;\Phi_0}\over{\mu_0\;\alpha_0}}\;
{{1}\over{1+ \big(\omega/\omega_0\big)^2}} \rbrack \label{Kcoup}\\
q''(\omega) &=& - {{B_0\;\Phi_0}\over{\mu_0\;\alpha_0}}
{{\omega^3/\big(\omega_0 v^2 d\big)}\over
{1+ \big(\omega/\omega_0\big)^2}}\label{cap}
\end{eqnarray}
In the frequency range where the above dispersion relation is a valid
approximation,
the ratio between the real and the imaginary
parts of the London penetration depth,
determines whether the mode is overdamped or
underdamped:
$q'/q'' = - Re(\bar \lambda_{\parallel}^2)/ Im(\bar \lambda_{\parallel}^2)$.
The cross-over magnetic field,
\begin{eqnarray}
B_1 \equiv {{ \lambda_{\parallel}^2 \;\ \mu_0\;\alpha_0}\over{\Phi_0}}
\end{eqnarray}
splits the regimes of superelectron
($B_0 \ll B_1$), and vortex ($B_0 \gg B_1$) dominance.
In these limits Eq.(\ref{lbar}) can be replaced by
approximated expressions,
$\bar \lambda_{\parallel}^2 \approx \lambda_{\parallel}^2$, and
$\bar \lambda_{\parallel}^2 \approx (B_0\;\Phi_0 /
\mu_0\;\alpha_0) / (1+\imath(\omega / \omega_0)) $, respectively.
Recall the assumption of the present model that the superelectron
contribution is never dissipative.
If in addition to an applied magnetic field much larger than
$B_1$, we choose a frequency range $\omega<\omega_0$, then $q''<q'$ and
the mode is underdamped.
The dispersion relation follows a square root dependence, and becomes,
\begin{eqnarray}
\omega^2 \approx {{d v^2 \mu_0 \alpha_0} \over{2 B_0 \phi_0}} q' \label{cap2}
\end{eqnarray}
In this interesting limit the mode energy shows many
oscillations between vortex and electric field energies before dissipation
dominates.
At higher frequency ($\omega>\omega_0$) this is no longer possible,
since the mode becomes
overdamped due to the large dissipation of vortices above the depinning
frequency.
The frequency $\omega_0$ coarsely defines a cross-over region
between the underdamped and the overdamped regimes.
In the next section, using experimental parameters measured on $YBCO$,
we search for favorable conditions in frequency and magnetic field
to observe underdamped coupled modes on a thin film.
\section{YBCO Thin Film}\label{section2}
In this section a
$YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta}$ thin film is taken,
as an example, to
determine a frequency and magnetic field window
where the mode is coupled, underdamped
and vortex dominated.
The wave must be underdamped in order to travel over many wavelengths before its
amplitude is completely attenuated.
For this high-Tc superconductor the anisotropy
($\lambda_{\perp}/\lambda_{\parallel}=5$) and the zero-temperature
London penetration depth along the $CuO_2$ planes are well-known.
\cite{BLATTER,BRANDT2}.
At very low temperature several experiments
\cite{GOLOSOVSKY} have determined the viscosity and
the Labusch constant, all giving the same numbers,
which are summarized in table I.
Such parameters have a temperature dependence\cite{ANLAGE},
not taken into account here
because we only consider a fixed low temperature, namely, $4\;K$.
The magnetic field dependence of the Labusch constant, known to
exist for high-Tc materials\cite{HANAGURI} and low-Tc ones\cite{KOBER},
is not considered either.
For this discussion we choose the film thickness $d=10\; nm$.
\vskip 1.0truecm
\begin{center}
Table I~: Properties of the high-Tc material $YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta}$ at
T = $4\,K $ \\
\vspace{0.5cm}
\begin{tabular}{||c|c|c|c|c||}
$\alpha_0$ ($N/m^2$) & $\eta_0$ ($N\,s/m^2$)
& $\omega_0={{\alpha_0}\over{\eta_0}}$ ($10^9\quad rad/s$) &
$\lambda_{\parallel}$ ($\mu m$)
& $B_1$ ($T$) \\
\hline \hline
$3.0\;10^5$
& $1.2\; 10^{-6}$ & $250$ & $0.15$ & $4.1$
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\vskip 1.0truecm
Fig.\ref{fig1} provides
a pictorial intuitive view of the wave propagation inside the superconducting
film for the TM symmetric propagating mode.
Dimensions are out of proportion in order to enhance
some of the most relevant features.
Only the electric field lines
inside the superconducting film
are shown.
The superficial charges are also shown and, represents
the sources of this propagating electric field.
The electric field lines
show a very important feature of this wave\cite{DPB},
namely, the supercurrent component along the wave propagation direction,
$J_z$, is dominant over $J_x$.
A magnetic field perpendicularly applied to the film surfaces produces
vortices, pictorially represented at the top surface.
The oscillatory displacement suffered by vortices, because of the
driving Lorentz force caused by $J_z$ (Eq.(\ref{greq})),
is also shown in this figure.
As previously discussed, the adequate choice of frequency and magnetic field
windows is fundamental to observe the lower energy mode.
We can distinguish several different regions within the
$B_0$ vs. $\omega $ diagram.
Fig.\ref{fig2} shows such regions for $YBCO$,
according to the above parameters.
Two cross-over lines separate this diagram in three different regions:
the optical regime, the underdamped coupled regime and the
overdamped coupled regime.
The lower line in Fig.\ref{fig2}, called $\omega_{cr}$,
separates the optical region from the coupled regions.
This cross-over line is defined through Eq.(\ref{Kop}),
using as conditon that the second term becomes a non negligible
fraction $\chi_1$ of the first term and so can no longer be ignored,
\begin{eqnarray}
\omega_{cr} = \sqrt{\chi_1 \over 2} {{d v} \over { \lambda_{\parallel}^2 +
{{B_0\;\Phi_0}\over{\mu_0\;\alpha_0}} }} \label{omcr}
\end{eqnarray}
We have arbitrarily chosen ten percent ($\chi_1=0.1$)
as our criterion for the optical mode boundary.
The upper line in Fig.\ref{fig2}, called $\omega_{d\pm}$,
is related to the dissipation and separates
the underdamped to the overdamped regimes.
The criterion for dissipation is the ratio $q'/q''$,
which for the coupled regime, is approximately given by
the ratio between the real and the imaginary part of the squared
penetration depth $\bar \lambda_{\parallel}^2$ (Eq.(\ref{lbar})),
according to Eq.(\ref{cap}).
Thus our second cross-over line is defined by
$Im (\bar \lambda_{\parallel}^2) = \chi_2 Re (\bar \lambda_{\parallel}^2)$
where $\chi_2$ is an arbitrary factor.
This condition gives a second degree equation for $\omega/\omega_0$,
$\chi_2 \lambda_{\parallel}^2 (\omega/\omega_0)^2 -
(B_0\Phi_0/\alpha_0\mu_0)(\omega/\omega_0) +
\chi_2 ( \lambda_{\parallel}^2 + B_0\Phi_0/\alpha_0\mu_0 ) = 0$,
whose solutions, $\omega_{d\pm}(B_0)$,
form the upper and lower branches of a single curve that encircles
the overdamped regime area.
\begin{eqnarray}
{{\omega_{d\pm}}\over{\omega_0}} = {{B_0}\over{2\chi_2 B_1}} \pm
\sqrt{\big({{B_0}\over{2\chi_2 B_1}}\big)^2 -{{B_0}\over{B_1}}-1}
\label{ompm}
\end{eqnarray}
Therefore, the dissipative region demands a minimum applied field
$B_2$ to exist, defined by the vanishing of the above square root:
\begin{eqnarray}
B_2 = 2\chi_2(\chi_2+\sqrt{1+\chi_2^2})B_1
\label{b2}
\end{eqnarray}
Hence the two curves $\omega_{+}$ and $\omega_{-}$
have a common start at $(B_2,\omega_2)$,
where $\omega_2= (\chi_2+\sqrt{1+\chi_2^2}) \omega_0$,
and approach the asymptotic lines
$(\omega_0/\chi_2)(B_0 /B_1)$ and $\omega_0 \chi_2 $, respectively.
For the diagram in Fig.\ref{fig2}, we have taken $\chi_2=0.5$ thus,
obtaining that $B_2 \approx 6.64 \; T$ and
$\omega_2 \approx 4,05\;10^{11}\; rad/s$.
The asymptotic lines become $\omega_{d+}/\omega_0 \rightarrow 2 (B_0/B_1)$
and $\omega_{d-}/\omega_0 \rightarrow 0.5$.
As indicated by the $B_0$ vs. $\omega$ Fig.\ref{fig2} diagram,
the modes are optical for frequencies below the $\omega_{cr}$ line where
they are weakly affected by the superconductor properties and the vortex
dynamics.
In this region and for $ B_0 \ll B_1$
the superelectron dominates over the vortex response
and, effectively, there are plasma modes.
For $ B_0 \gg B_1$, the $\omega_{cr}$ line
decreases inversely proportional to $B_0$.
Above the $\omega_{d-}$ line, and, at large magnetic fields, $B > B_2$,
the modes become overdamped.
Thus the interesting region lies above the $\omega_{cr}$ line
and below the $\omega_{d-}$ line,
where the modes are underdamped coupled and vortex dominated.
In this intermediate region, dissipation should be small enough ($q' > q''$)
to allow wave propagation over some wavelengths before attenuation sets in.
All Figures discussed below were obtained using
Eq.(\ref{drap3}) expression. The complex
wave number $q$ is then easily derived as a function of $\omega$.
Fig.\ref{fig3} shows the dispersion relation $\omega$ vs. $q'$ for
$B_0 = 0 T$ and $B_0 = 20 T$.
In case of zero magnetic field,
The frequency window considered in this figure is
below the zero magnetic field optical-coupled crossover
($\omega_{cr} \approx 2,10\; 10^{11}\; rad/s$).
Indeed, the $B_0 = 0 T$ mode shows a quasi linear dependence.
However for a magnetic field $B_0 = 20 T$ , the presence of vortices
changes dramatically the dispersion relation.
The frequency $\omega_{cr}$ has droped substantially,
according to this figure.
Below the mode is optical, similarly to the zero magnetic field case,
and above the mode
is slow in comparison to the zero field one.
This effect clearly comes from the vortex overwhelming contribution
at this large magnetic field value.
In this frequency window, the mode is
underdamped until the frequency $\omega_{d-}$ is reached.
Above it turns to be overdamped.
In order to better estimate the attenuation,
we have plotted the ratio $q'/q''$ for the same
frequency window (Fig.\ref{fig4}).
Notice that $q'/q''$, obtained from Eq.(\ref{drap3}) and shown here,
gives directly the mode attenuation, whereas Eq.(\ref{cap})
just provides an approximate criterion, used to define the dissipative
curve $\omega_{d\pm}$ of Fig.\ref{fig2}.
Fig.\ref{fig4} shows that for $\omega_{cr}<\omega<\omega_{d-}$
the mode propagates over various wavelengths before
its amplitude goes to zero.
According to Fig.\ref{fig4} $q'/q''$
diverges for low frequencies within the optical regime.
This behavior is explained recalling that
all losses are caused by vortices and disappear at zero frequency.
The reduced speed, defined as
the ratio between the phase velocity and the speed of light in the dielectric,
$(\omega/q')/v$ is plotted in Fig.\ref{fig5}.
In the optical regime this ratio is essentially equal to one.
This is quite verifiable at zero magnetic field but not at $20 T$, where
the modes are strongly slowered by the presence
of vortices.
\section{Conclusion}\label{section3}
In this paper we have studied superficial coupled modes in
a superconducting film surrounded by two
identical dielectric media with an applied magnetic field
perpendicular to the surface.
The superconductor is anisotropic and its uniaxial
direction (c-axis) is perpendicular to the interfaces
with the dielectric medium.
The choice of non-conducting media of high dielectric constant
helps to lower the propagating wave frequency range much below
the gap frequency.
We consider a static magnetic field above the lowest critical field,
that allows for the existence of pinned and dissipative vortices.
In the present approach superelectrons and vortices
contribute additively to the impedance.
Vortices and superelectrons interact with each other through
the Lorentz force and through an electric field, created by vortex
motion and superelectrons acceleration.
Here we have studied how the lowest energy branch,
the TM symmetric mode, is affected by vortices.
Under a justifiable approximation, we obtain an analytical expression
for this dispersion relation, which can describe simultaneously
the three different possible behaviors for a propagating mode
in a superconducting film subjected to an exterior magnetic field,
namely, optical regime, underdamped coupled regime and overdamped
coupled regime.
We find that in very high magnetic field, vortices
dominate over the superelectrons response.
The modes are well described by the vortex oscillations around their
pinning centers where, their energy oscillates
between the pinning energy and the electrical one.
We have studied the $B_0$ vs. $\omega$ diagram
for a very thin superconducting
film, made of the high-Tc material $YBCO$.
We find three different regions:
optical, underdamped coupled and overdamped modes.
Nested between the optical and the overdamped regions, and above a certain
critical magnetic field cross-over, is
the region of interest.
There exist, in this frequency and magnetic field window,
underdamped propagative modes,
whose behavior is determined by the vortex response,
and not by the superelectrons.
This work was done under a CNRS(France)-CNPq(Brasil) collaboration
program.
\newpage
\newpage
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaArXiv"
}
| 5,955
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{"url":"http:\/\/www.zora.uzh.ch\/id\/eprint\/128369\/","text":"# M\u00f6bius rigidity of invariant metrics in boundaries of symmetric spaces of rank-1\n\nPlatis, I D; Schroeder, V (2017). M\u00f6bius rigidity of invariant metrics in boundaries of symmetric spaces of rank-1. Monatshefte fuer Mathematik, 183(2):357-373.\n\n## Abstract\n\nLet $\\mathbf{H}^{\\mathit{n}}_{K}$ denote the symmetric space of rank-1 and of non-compact type and let $\\mathit{d}_\\mathfrak{H}$ be the Kor\u00e1nyi metric defined on its boundary. We prove that if $\\mathit{d}$ is a metric on $\\partial\\mathbf{H}^{\\mathit{n}}_{K}$ such that all Heisenberg similarities are $\\mathit{d}$-M\u00f6bius maps, then under a topological condition d is a constant multiple of a power of $\\mathit{d}_\\mathfrak{H}$.\n\n## Abstract\n\nLet $\\mathbf{H}^{\\mathit{n}}_{K}$ denote the symmetric space of rank-1 and of non-compact type and let $\\mathit{d}_\\mathfrak{H}$ be the Kor\u00e1nyi metric defined on its boundary. We prove that if $\\mathit{d}$ is a metric on $\\partial\\mathbf{H}^{\\mathit{n}}_{K}$ such that all Heisenberg similarities are $\\mathit{d}$-M\u00f6bius maps, then under a topological condition d is a constant multiple of a power of $\\mathit{d}_\\mathfrak{H}$.\n\n## Statistics\n\n### Downloads\n\n0 downloads since deposited on 15 Feb 2017\n0 downloads since 12 months\n\n## Additional indexing\n\nItem Type: Journal Article, refereed, original work 07 Faculty of Science > Institute of Mathematics 510 Mathematics English 2017 15 Feb 2017 08:01 29 Apr 2017 01:01 Springer 0026-9255 https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s00605-016-0982-1\n\n## Download\n\nContent: Accepted Version\nLanguage: English\nFiletype: PDF - Registered users only until 12 October 2017\nSize: 196kB\nView at publisher\nEmbargo till: 2017-10-12\n\n## TrendTerms\n\nTrendTerms displays relevant terms of the abstract of this publication and related documents on a map. The terms and their relations were extracted from ZORA using word statistics. Their timelines are taken from ZORA as well. The bubble size of a term is proportional to the number of documents where the term occurs. Red, orange, yellow and green colors are used for terms that occur in the current document; red indicates high interlinkedness of a term with other terms, orange, yellow and green decreasing interlinkedness. Blue is used for terms that have a relation with the terms in this document, but occur in other documents.\nYou can navigate and zoom the map. Mouse-hovering a term displays its timeline, clicking it yields the associated documents.","date":"2017-08-18 09:11:28","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": true, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 0, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 0, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.8295044898986816, \"perplexity\": 1603.5311002176713}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": true, \"markdown_code\": true, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 10, \"end_threshold\": 15, \"enable\": false}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2017-34\/segments\/1502886104631.25\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20170818082911-20170818102911-00208.warc.gz\"}"}
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{"url":"https:\/\/cs.stackexchange.com\/questions\/4761\/difference-between-regular-expressions-01-and-01","text":"# Difference between regular expressions: $(0^*1^*)^*$ and $(0+1)^*$\n\nCan anyone tell me what is the difference between the following regular expressions: $(0^*1^*)^*$ and $(0+1)^*$ ? To me they look like generating the same string.\n\n\u2022 They do generate the same strings. The real question is how to prove it. Sep 27 '12 at 14:20\n\nThe language of both regular expressions is the same, $L((0+1)^*)=L((0^*1^*)^*)$. This follows from the following three claims:\n\n### Claim 1:\n\nif $L_1 \\subseteq L_2$, then $L_1^* \\subseteq L_2^*$.\n\n### Claim 2:\n\n$L(0+1) \\subseteq L(0^*1^*)$\n\n### Claim 3:\n\n$(0^*1^*)^* \\subseteq (0+1)^* \\equiv \\Sigma^*$\n\nThe 2nd and 3rd claims are trivial. Prove the first claim and you're done.\n\nNote however, that the two regular expressions are not the same (ie., they are different!). They are equivalent in the sense of the language they generate. They are different in the way they generate it.\n\n\u2022 The string \"1\" is in the second language. Is it in the first? Maybe I'm misunderstanding the \"+\" notation.\n\u2013\u00a0Joe\nSep 27 '12 at 19:28\n\u2022 @Joe the + sign is OR, sometimes it is written as | (like in: wikipedia). So $0+1$ means $0$ or $1$, and the string 1 is in the language. Sep 27 '12 at 19:47\n\u2022 Thanks for the clarification, since \"+\" can also mean \"1 or more\" in many implementations of regular expressions. en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Regular_expression#Basic_concepts\n\u2013\u00a0Joe\nSep 27 '12 at 21:33\n\u2022 @joe right, there is a kleene-plus, defined as $0^+ \\equiv 00^*$. While the kleene-plus is a unary operator, the \"or\" sign is a binary operator. I agree this can be confusing. Sep 27 '12 at 21:43\n\u2022 Wouldn't it be better to write it $(\\{0\\} \\cup \\{1\\})^*$? Sep 30 '12 at 22:27\n\nThey are not the same. When we say $0+1$ it signifies a union operation, which is \"either or\". So either $0$ or $1$ can be present and the ${}^*$ indicates that it can be present any number of times.\n\nOn the other hand, $01$ is a concatenation of the symbols $0$ and $1$. So $(0^*1^*)$ means $0$ can occur any number of times followed by $1$ occurring any number of times and the outer asterisk denotes that such a sequence can occur in the string $n$ times.\n\n\u2022 I'm not sure what your answer adds. It's already been established that the two regular expressions, while textually different, describe the same language (viz. $\\{0,1\\}^*$). Your answer doesn't even make clear that they do describe the same language: in fact, I can't even tell if you're trying to say, incorrectly, that the regular expressions match different languages. $X^*$ doesn't mean that a specific sequence matching $X$ \"occurs in the string $n$ times\": it means that the string can be broken into an arbitrary number of blocks, which may be different but each must match $X$. Nov 5 '14 at 12:28","date":"2021-10-25 14:51:24","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": true, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 0, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 1, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.6656253933906555, \"perplexity\": 335.8060282582516}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": true, \"markdown_code\": true, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 10, \"end_threshold\": 15, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2021-43\/segments\/1634323587711.69\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20211025123123-20211025153123-00699.warc.gz\"}"}
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As the official camouflage of the NWTF, Mossy Oak presents the best new turkey hunting fear for 2019. We explored the NWTF National Convention in February to look at new product offerings for turkey hunters. There is a lot of exciting, new turkey gear in Mossy Oak Obsession and Bottomland, two favorite camo patterns for the turkey obsessed.
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{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
}
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Diamond back rattlesnake square toe cowboy boot from Cowtown Boots. Handmade in El Paso Texas. Black 10" leather top with fancy stitch, leather lined, and leather sole. 1.5" dogger heel. This exotic western boot is sure to attract attention with whatever you wear.
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{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
}
| 2,515
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Produced by Don Kostuch
[Transcriber's notes]
This text is derived from
http://www.archive.org/details/catholicworld03pauluoft
Although square brackets [] usually designate footnotes or
transcriber's notes, they do appear in the original text.
This text includes Volume III;
Number 1--April 1866
Number 2--May 1866
Number 3--June 1866
Number 4--July 1866
Number 5--August 1866
Number 6--September 1866
[End Transcriber's notes]
THE CATHOLIC WORLD.
_Monthly Magazine_
of
GENERAL LITERATURE AND SCIENCE.
VOL. III.
APRIL TO SEPTEMBER, 1866.
NEW YORK:
LAWRENCE KEHOE, PUBLISHER,
145 Nassau Street.
1866.
CONTENTS.
All-Hallow Eve; or The Test of Futurity, 97, 241.
Abbey, Glastonbury, 150.
Animal Life, Curiosities of, 232.
Alexandria, Christian Schools of, 354, 484.
Abbeville, a Day at, 590.
Asses, Dogs, Cats, etc., 688.
A Celtic Legend, 810.
Benedictines, Rise of, 150.
Buried Alive, 805.
Curiosities of Animal Life, 232.
Catholic Publication Society, The, 278.
Christian Schools of Alexandria, The, 354, 484.
Cuckoo and Nightingale, The, 543.
Cardinal Tosti, 851.
Dr. Spring, Reminiscences of, 129.
Dreamers and Workers, 418.
De Guerin, Eugenie, Letters from Paris, 474.
Eirenicon, Reply to, by Very Rev. Dr. Newman, 46.
Eirenicon, Pamphlets on the, 217.
Eve de la Tour d'Adam, 366.
Ecce <DW25>, 618.
Episcopal Church, Doctrine on Ordination, 721.
France, Two Pictures of Life in, 411.
Franciscan Missions on the Nile, 768.
Glastonbury Abbey, 150.
Gerbet, l'Abbe, 308.
God Bless You, 593.
Gipsies, The, 702.
Haven't Time, 92.
Huerter, Frederick, 115.
Heaven, Nearest Place to, 433.
Ireland and the Informers of 1798, 122.
Irish Folk Books of the Last Century, 679.
Jenifer's Prayer, 17, 183, 318.
Kilkenny, a Month in, 301.
Legend, a Celtic, 810.
Miscellany, 137, 421, 570, 853.
Madeira, Tinted Sketches in, 265.
Newman, Very Rev. Dr., Saints of the Desert, 16, 170, 334.
Newman, Very Rev. Dr., Reply to Dr. Pusey's Eirenicon, 46.
New York; Religion in, 381.
Necklace, the Pearl, 693.
Nile, Franciscan Missions on the, 768.
Nile, Solution of the Problem of the, 828.
Old Thorneley's Heirs, 404, 443, 599, 738.
Our Ancestors, Industrial Arts of, 549, 780.
Patriarchate of Constantinople, Present State of, 1.
Prayer, Jenifer's, 17, 183, 318.
Problems of the Age, 145, 289, 518, 577, 758.
Perico the Sad, 497, 660, 787.
Perreyve, Henri, 845.
Reminiscences of Dr. Spring, 129.
Religion In New York, 381.
Reading, Use and Abuse of, 463.
Rome the Civilizer of Nations, 638.
Saints of the Desert, The, 16, 170, 334
Steam-Engine, Proposed Substitutes for, 29.
St. Paul, Youth of, 531.
Sealskins and Copperskins, 557.
The Age, Problems of, 145, 289, 518, 577, 758.
Turkestan, A Pretended Dervish in, 198, 370.
Two Pictures of Life In France before 1848, 411.
Three Women of our Time, 834.
Tosti, Cardinal, 851.
Unconvicted, 404, 443, 599, 738.
Use and Abuse of Reading, 463.
Virtue, Statistics of, 731.
Weddings, East Indian, 635.
--------
POETRY.
Bury the Dead, 379.
Banned and Blessed, 306.
Christine, 32, 171, 335.
Claims, 556.
Carols from Cancionero, 692.
Christian Crown, The, 736.
D"y-Dreams, 483.
Hymn, 548.
Holy Saturday, 634.
Lockharts, Legend of the, 127.
Lost for Gold, 826.
Mater Divinae Gratiae, 216
May Breeze, 442.
Our Neighbor, 317.
Our Mother's Call, 462.
Poor and Rich, 240.
Peace, 410.
Requiem AEternam, 263.
Shell, Song of the, 96.
Sapphics, 517.
Sacrilege, the Curse of, 656.
Sonnet, 850.
The King and the Bishop, 528.
Therein, 597.
The Martyr, 617.
Thy Will be Done, 778.
Words of Wisdom, 121
------
{iv}
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
Archbishop Hughes, Life of, 140.
Apostleship of Prayer, 428.
Agnes, 431.
Appleton's Annual Cyclopaedia, 719.
Army of the Potomac, Medical Recollections of, 854.
Biology, Spencer's Principles of, 425.
Blessed Virgin, Devotion to in North America, 574.
Biographical Dictionary, 574
Books for Young People, 720.
Criterion, Tuckerman's, 143.
Christ the Light of the World, 144.
Christus Judex, 288.
Christian Examiner, 427.
Christine,717.
Cosas de Espana, 858.
Dictionary, Webster's, 143.
Draper's Text Books of Chemistry, etc, 576.
Darras' Church History, 719.
Eirenicon, Dr. Pusey's, 283.
Eugenie de Guerin, Letters of, 859.
English Language, Practical Grammar of, 860.
Faber's New Book, 287.
Froude's History of England, 718.
Grahams, The, 288.
Grant, Headley's Life of, 575.
Hughes, Archbishop, Life of, 140.
Holy Childhood, Report of, 573.
Headley's Life of Grant, 575.
Homes without Hands, 860.
Kennett, Story of, 431.
Keating's Ireland, 432.
Mount Hope Trial, 430.
Marshall's Missions, 430.
May Carols, De Vere's, 432.
Marcy's Army Life, 716.
New-Englander, The, 855.
Prayer, Apostleship of, 428.
Priest and People, Good Thoughts for, 431.
Poetry of the Civil War, 576.
Queen's English, A Plea for the, 857.
as
Spencer's Principles of Biology, 425.
Spalding's Miscellanea, 571.
Shakespeare on Insanity, 860.
Wyoming, Valley of, 859.
------
{1}
THE CATHOLIC WORLD.
VOL. III., NO. 1.--APRIL, 1866.
[ORIGINAL.]
THE PRESENT STATE OF THE
PATRIARCHATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE. [Footnote 1]
[Footnote 1: "L'Eglise Orientale, par Jaques G. Pitzipios, Fondateur
de la Societe Chretienne Orientale." Rome: Imprimerie de la
Propagande, 1855.]
In the year 1841, the bishops of the Protestant Episcopal dioceses of
Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Missouri, Maryland,
and Pennsylvania, professing to speak in the name of their church in
the United States, addressed the following language to the
schismatical Patriarch of Constantinople, whom they style "the
venerable and right reverend father in God the _Patriarch of the Greek
Church,_resident at Constantinople:"
"The church in the United States of America, therefore, looking to the
triune God for his blessings upon its efforts for unity in the body of
Christ, turn with hope to the Patriarch of Constantinople, _the
spiritual head of the ancient and venerable Oriental Church._"
[Footnote 2]
[Footnote 2: Quoted in the "Memoir of Rev. F.A. Baker," p. 47.]
This is by no means the only instance of overtures of this kind,
looking toward a union between Protestant Episcopalians and Eastern
schismatics, with the view of concentrating the opposition to the
Roman See under a rival Oriental primacy. The Non-jurors, who were
ejected from their sees at the overthrow of the Stuarts, proposed to
the Synod of Bethlehem to establish the primacy in the patriarchate of
Jerusalem; but their proposal was met by a decidedly freezing refusal.
The American bishops who signed the letter from which the foregoing
extract is taken show a remarkable desire to bow down before some
ecclesiastical power more ancient and venerable than themselves; and
in their extreme eagerness to propitiate the Eastern prelates, they
acknowledge without scruple the most arrogant titles usurped by the
Patriarch of Constantinople, although from their want of familiarity
with the ecclesiastical language, they do it in a very unusual and
peculiar style. Whatever may be at present the particular views of
those who are seeking to bring about a union between the Protestant
Episcopal churches and the Easterns, in regard to the order of
hierarchical organization, they are evidently disposed to pay court to
the successor of Photius and Michael Cerularius, and to espouse {2}
warmly his quarrel against Rome. His figure is the foremost one in the
dispute, and there is every disposition to take advantage as far as
possible of the rank which the See of Constantinople has held since
the fifth century, first by usurpation and afterward by the concession
of Rome, as second to the Apostolic See of St. Peter. We do not accuse
all those who are concerned in the union movement of being animated by
a spirit of enmity against Rome. Some of them, we believe, are seeking
for the healing of the schisms of Christendom in a truly Catholic
spirit, although not fully enlightened concerning the necessary means
for doing so. We may cherish the same hope concerning some of the
Oriental prelates and clergy also, especially those who have
manifested a determination not to compromise a single point of
Catholic dogma for the sake of union with Protestants. We are quite
sure, however, that the loudest advocates of union in the Protestant
ranks, and their most earnest and hearty sympathizers in the East, are
thoroughly heretical and schismatical in their spirit and intentions,
and are aiming at the overthrow of the Roman Church, and a revolution
in the orthodox Eastern communion, as their dearest object. While,
therefore, we disclaim any hostile attitude toward men like Dr. Pusey
and other unionists of his spirit, and would never use any language
toward them which is not kind and respectful, we are compelled to
brand the use which other ecclesiastics in high position have sought
to make of this Greek question as entirely unprincipled. Their
cringing and bowing before the miserable, effete form of Christianity
at Constantinople, dictated as it is chiefly by hatred against Rome,
is something unworthy of honest Christians and intelligent Englishmen
and Americans. Many very sincere and well-disposed persons are no
doubt misled by their artful misrepresentations. On that account it is
very necessary to bring out as clearly as possible the true state of
the case, as regards Oriental Christendom, that it may be seen how
little support Anglicanism or any kind of Protestantism can draw from
that quarter; and how strongly the entire system of Catholic dogma is
sustained by the history and traditions of the Eastern Church.
We may possibly hereafter discuss more at large some of these
important subjects relating to the Eastern Church and the schism which
has desolated its fairest portions for so many centuries. On this
occasion we intend merely to throw a little light on the present
actual condition of the patriarchate of Constantinople, in order to
dissipate any illusion that may have been created by high-sounding
words, and to show how little reason there is to "turn with hope to
the spiritual head of the Oriental Church" for any enlightening or
sanctifying influences upon the souls which are astray from the fold
of St. Peter. We waive, for the time, all consideration of past
events, anterior to the period of Turkish domination, and all
discussion of the remote circumstances which have brought the See of
Constantinople into its present state of degradation, and of obstinate
secession from the unity of the Church.
We take it as we find it, under the Mohammedan dominion, and will
endeavor to show how it stands in relation to other churches of the
East, and what are its claims on the respect and honor of Western
Christians.
The Patriarch of Constantinople is not the Patriarch of the "Greek
Church." There is no designation of this kind known in the East. The
style there used is, the "Holy Eastern Church." The Greek rite, or
form of celebrating mass and administering the sacraments in the Greek
language, is only one of the rites sanctioned by the Catholic Church
which are in use among those Christians who are not under the Latin
rite. What is usually called in the West the Greek Church has several
independent organizations. {3} The Patriarch of Constantinople, who
very early subjugated the patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and
Jerusalem to his dominion, now rules over the same patriarchates,
which have dwindled to very insignificant dimensions, and over all the
separated orthodox Christians of the Turkish empire. The Russian
Church, which was erected into a distinct patriarchate by Ivan III.,
is under the supreme jurisdiction of the imperial governing synod. The
Patriarch of Constantinople is treated with respect and honor, and
referred to for advice and counsel, by the Russian authorities; but he
has no more jurisdiction in Russia than the Archbishop of Baltimore
has in the province of New York. The Church of Greece not only threw
off all dependence on the See of Constantinople after the revolution,
but renounced all communication with it, for reasons to be mentioned
hereafter. The separated Greek Christians of the Austrian empire are
governed by the Patriarch of Carlovitz, and there is at least one
other separate jurisdiction in the Montenegrine provinces. The
Patriarch of Constantinople possesses, therefore, an actual
jurisdiction over a fraction only of the Eastern Church. Within the
proper limits of his own patriarchate this jurisdiction is absolute,
both in ecclesiastical and civil matters, subject only to the supreme
authority of the sultan. Immediately after the capture of
Constantinople by the Turks, the Sultan Mahomet II. conferred upon the
Patriarch Grennadius the character of _Milet-bachi_, or chief of a
nationality, giving him investiture by the pastoral staff and mantle
with his own hands. The reason of his doing so was, that the
Mohammedan law recognizes only Mohammedans as members of a Mohammedan
nationality. In more recent times, the sultans, disgusted by the venal
and tyrannical conduct of the patriarchs, have refused to confer this
investiture in person, and it is now done by the grand vizier. Eight
metropolitans, namely, those of Chalcedon, Ephesus, Derendah,
Heraclea, Cyzicus, Nicomedia, Caesarea, and Adrianople, form the
supreme council of the patriarchate, and, with the patriarch,
administer the ecclesiastical and civil government of the Christians
of their communion throughout the Ottoman empire. They have the
control of the common chest or treasury of the Oriental rite in
Turkey, and of that of the provinces; two great funds established
originally for helping poor Christians to pay the exactions levied on
them by the Mussulmans, but at present diverted to quite other uses by
their faithless and rapacious guardians. They are also exclusively
privileged to act as ephori or financial agents and bankers for the
other one hundred and thirty-four bishops of the Turkish provinces,
each one of them having as many of these episcopal clients as he can
get.
Possessed of such an amount of ecclesiastical and civil power as the
patriarchate of Constantinople has been within the Ottoman empire for
several centuries, it is plain that it might have become the centre of
an incalculable influence for the spiritual, moral, and social good of
its subjects. Everything would seem to have combined to throw into the
hands of the patriarch and his subordinate bishops the power of being
truly the protectors and fathers of their people, and to furnish them
with the most powerful motives for being faithful to their trust. The
oppressed, despised, and impoverished condition of their poor,
miserable people, slaves of a fanatical, barbarous, anti-Christian
despotism, was enough to have awakened every noble and disinterested
emotion in their bosoms, had they been men; and to have aroused the
most devoted, self-sacrificing charity and zeal in their hearts, had
they been Christians worthy of the name or true Christian pastors.
Moreover, if they had been true patriots, and really devoted to the
interests of Christianity and the church, there was every inducement
to avail themselves of their position {4} and to watch the opportunity
of cultivating unity and harmony with the Catholic Church and the
powerful Christian nations of the West, in order to secure their
eventual deliverance from the detestable Moslem usurpation, and the
restoration of religion among them to its ancient glory. All causes of
misunderstanding and dissension had been done away at the Council of
Florence. The perfect dogmatic agreement between the East and the West
had been fully established. The Greek and other Oriental rites, and
the local laws and customs, had been sanctioned. The patriarchs and
hierarchy had been confirmed in their privileges. The Patriarch of
Constantinople was even tacitly permitted to retain his high-sounding
but unmeaning title of ecumenical patriarch without rebuke, and
allowed to exercise all the jurisdiction which other patriarchs or
metropolitans were willing to concede to him, subject to the universal
supremacy of Rome. The remembrance of the gallant warfare of the Latin
Christians against their common Moslem enemy, and especially of the
heroic devotion of the cardinal legate and his three hundred
followers, who had buried themselves under the walls of Constantinople
at its capture, ought to have effaced the memory of former wrongs
[Footnote 3] and subdued the stupid, fanatical, unchristian sentiment
of national antipathy against Christians of another race. Everything
concurred to invite them to play a noble and glorious part toward
their own Christian countrymen and toward Christendom in general. We
are compelled, however, to say, with shame and pain, that they have
proved so recreant to every one of these trusts and opportunities,
their career has been one of such unparalleled infamy and perfidy, as
to cover the Christian name with ignominy, and to merit for themselves
the character of apostates from Christianity--seducers, corruptors,
oppressors, and robbers of their own people.
[Footnote 3: The Crusaders undoubtedly committed some great
outrages, in revenge far the treachery of the Byzantines, and some
Latin missionaries imprudently attacked the Oriental rites and
customs, but these acts were always disapproved and condemned by the
Popes.]
We will first give a sketch of the line of conduct they have pursued
in relation to ecclesiastical matters, and afterward of their
administration of their civil authority.
It is notorious that the schismatical bishops and clergy of Turkey
neglect almost entirely the duty of preaching the word of God and
giving good Christian instruction to their people. The sacraments are
administered in the most careless and perfunctory manner, and real
practical Christian piety and morality are in a very low state both
among clergy and laity. The clergy themselves are grossly ignorant and
unfit for the exercise of their office, taken from the lowest class of
the people, without instruction or preparation for orders, and treated
by their superiors as menial servants. The bishops and higher clergy
do not trouble themselves to remedy this gross incapacity of their
inferiors, or to supply it by their own efforts. Consequently, the
common Christian people of their charge have fallen into a state of
moral degradation below that of the Turks themselves, by whom they are
despised as the outcasts of society. The striking contrast between the
schismatical clergy, monasteries, and people, and the Catholic, is
proverbial among the Turks, and an object of remark even by Protestant
travellers. It is probable that there have been many exceptions to the
general rule of incompetence and supine neglect; but, viewing the case
as a whole, it must be said that the patriarchs of Constantinople and
their subordinate prelates have completely failed to do their duty as
pastors of their people and their instructors and guides in religion
and virtue. Their unfortunate position furnishes no adequate excuse,
as will be seen when we examine a little further into the enterprises
they have actually been engaged in, and see how well {5} they have
succeeded in accomplishing what they have really desired and
undertaken, which is nothing else than their own selfish
aggrandizement. Look at the contrast between their conduct and that of
the Catholic hierarchies of Russia, Poland, and Ireland under similar
circumstances of oppression, and every shadow of excuse will vanish.
No doubt there were many causes making it difficult to elevate the
character of the ordinary clergy and the people, and tending to keep
them down to a low level of intelligence and knowledge. This would
furnish an excuse for a great deal, if there had been an evident
struggle of the hierarchy to do their best in remedying the evil.
Instead of doing this, they are the principal causes of the
perpetuation and aggravation of this degraded state. Since the decay
of the Ottoman power commenced, the clergy have had it in their power
to bid defiance in great measure to the Turkish government. They have
been able to control immense sums of money and to wield a great
commercial and financial influence. They might have employed the
intervention of Christian powers, and especially of Russia, if they
had been governed by enlightened and Christian motives, in order to
gain just rights and the means of improvement for their people. The
Ottoman government, itself, has come to a more just and liberal
policy, in which it would have welcomed the aid of the Christian
hierarchy, had there been one worthy of the name. Their complete
apathy at all times to everything which concerns the spiritual and
moral welfare of their subjects will warrant no other conclusion than
that they have practically apostatized from the faith and church of
Christ, and are mere intruders into the fold which they lay waste and
ravage.
In their attitude toward the Catholic Church and the Holy See, the
hierarchy of the patriaichate are ignorantly, violently, and
obstinately schismatical, and even heretical. The public and official
teaching of the Eastern Church is orthodox, and therefore no one is
adjudged to be a heretic simply because he adheres to that communion.
One who intelligently and obstinately adheres to a schism as a state
of permanent separation from the See of St. Peter, is, however, at
least a constructive heretic, and is very likely to be a formal
heretic, on several doctrines which have been defined by the Catholic
Church. The nature of the opposition of the clergy of Constantinople
to the Roman Church, the grounds on which they defend their
contumacious rebellion, and the dogmatic arguments which they employ
in the controversy, are such as to place them in the position of the
most unreasonable and contumacious schismatics, and as it appears to
our judgment, in submission to that of more learned theologians, of
heretics also. So far as their influence extends, and it is very
great, they are chiefly accountable for the isolated condition of the
entire non-united Eastern Church. As the ambition of the Patriarch of
Constantinople was the original cause of the schism, so now the
ignorant and violent obstinacy of the clergy of the patriarchate, and
their supreme devotion to their own selfish and narrow personal and
party interests, is, in connection with a similar though less odious
spirit in the chief Muscovite clergy, and the worldly policy of the
Russian czar, the chief cause of its perpetuation.
The clergy of Constantinople have not hesitated to resort to forgery
in order to do away with the legal and binding force of the act of
their own predecessors in subscribing and promulgating throughout
their entire jurisdiction the act of union established at the Council
of Florence. Gennadius, the first patriarch elected after the Turkish
conquest, was one of the prelates who signed the decree of the Council
of Florence, a learned and virtuous man, and is believed to have lived
and died in the {6} communion of the Holy See. Actual communication
between Constantinople and Rome was, however, rendered absolutely
impossible by the deadly hostility of the conquerors to their
principal and most dangerous foe. The slightest attempt at any
intercourse with the Latin Christians would have caused the
extermination of all the Christian subjects of the Ottoman empire. It
is difficult to discover, therefore, when and how it was that the
supremacy of the Roman Church, whose actual exercise was thus at first
impeded by the necessity of the case, was again formally repudiated by
the patriarchs. There is a letter extant, written in the year 1584 by
the Patriarch Jeremiah to Pope Gregory XIII., in which he says that
"it belonged to him, as the head of the Catholic Church, to indicate
the measures to be employed against the Protestants," and requests him
in virtue of this office to point out what measures can be taken to
arrest the advance of Protestantism. This is the last official act of
the kind of which there is any record. The patriarchs and their
associates have relapsed into an attitude toward the Holy See which is
equally schismatical and arrogant, though through their degraded
condition far more ridiculous than that which was assumed by their
predecessors before the Council of Florence. In order to nullify, as
far as possible, the legal force of the act of union promulgated by
that council, they have resorted to a forgery, and have published the
acts of a pretended council under a patriarch who never existed and
whom they call Athanasius. There is no precise date attached to these
forged acts, but they are so arranged as to appear to have been
promulgated soon after the return of the emperor and prelates from
Italy, and before the Turkish conquest; and in them, some of the
principal prelates what signed the decrees of the Council of Florence
are represented as abjuring and begging pardon for what they had done.
They are said to have been moved to this by the indignation of their
people and a sedition in Constantinople in which the rejection of the
act of union was demanded. The forgery is too transparent to be worthy
of refutation, and could never have been executed and palmed off as
genuine in any other place than in Constantinople. They have also put
out a book called the "Pedalium," in which they revive all the
frivolous pretexts on account of which the infamous Michael Cerularius
and his ignorant ecclesiastical clique of the _Bas Empire_ pretended
to prove the apostacy of the Bishop of Rome and all Western
Christendom from the faith and communion of the Catholic Church, and
the consequent succession of the Bishop of Constantinople to the
universal primacy. The clergy of the patriarchate have taken the
position that the Catholic Church at present is confined to the limits
of what we call the Greek Church. They claim for themselves,
therefore, that place which they acknowledge formerly belonged to the
See of Rome, and thus seek to justify and carry out the usurpation of
supreme and universal authority indicated by the title of ecumenical
patriarch. The absurdity of this is evident, from the very grounds on
which the title was originally assumed, and the traditional maxims
which directed the policy of the ambitions Byzantine prelates
throughout the entire period of the Greek empire. The original and
only claim of the bishops of Constantinople, who were merely
suffragans of the Metropolitan of Heraclea before their city was made
the capital of the empire, to the patriarchal dignity, was the
political importance of the city. Because Constantinople was new Rome,
therefore the Bishop of Constantinople ought to be second to the
Bishop of ancient Rome; and not only this, but he ought to rule over
the whole East with a supremacy like that which the Bishop of Rome had
always exercised over the whole {7} world. This false and schismatical
principle is contrary to the fundamental principle of Catholic church
organization, viz., that the subordination of episcopal sees springs
from the divine institution of the primacy in the See of St. Peter,
and is regulated by ecclesiastical canons on spiritual grounds, which
are superior to all considerations of a temporal nature. The Patriarch
of Constantinople has long ago lost all claim to precedence or
authority based on the civil dignity of the city as the seat of an
empire. According to the principles of his predecessors, the primacy
ought to have been transferred to the Patriarch of Moscow, when the
Russian patriarchate was established by Ivan III. Nevertheless, he
still continues to style himself ecumenical patriarch, and the eight
metropolitans who form his permanent synod continue to keep the
precedence over all other bishops of the patriarchate, although their
sees have dwindled into insignificance, and other episcopal towns far
exceed them in civil importance. In point of fact, the baselessness of
his claim to universal jurisdiction has been recognized by the Eastern
Church. His real authority is confined to the Turkish empire, where it
is sustained by the civil power. Russia has long been independent of
him. The Church of Greece has completely severed her connection with
him. The schismatical Greeks of the Austrian empire, and those of the
neighboring provinces, are severally independent. The false principle
that produced the Eastern schism in the first place thus continues to
work out its legitimate effect of disintegration in the Eastern
communion itself, by separating the national churches from the
principal church of Constantinople, which would itself crumble to
pieces if the support of the Ottoman power were removed. The
privileges of the See of Constantinople have now no valid claim to
respect, except that derived from ecclesiastical canons ratified by
time, general consent, and the sanction of the Roman Church. The
instinct of self-preservation ought to compel its rulers to fall back
on Catholic principles, and submit themselves to the legitimate
authority of the Roman Pontiff as the head of the Catholic Church
throughout the world. They are following, however, the contrary
impulse of self-destruction, to which they are abandoned by a just God
as a punishment for their treason to Jesus Christ and his Vicar, and
in every way seeking to strengthen and extend the barrier which
separates them from the Roman Church.
This policy has led them to do all in their power to establish a
dogmatic difference between the Oriental Church and the Church of
Rome. Not only do they represent the difference in regard to the
procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son, as expressed by the
"Filioque" of the Creed, which was fully proved at the Council of
Florence to be a mere verbal difference, as a difference in regard to
an essential dogma, but they have brought in others to swell their
list of Latin heresies. The principal dogmatic differences on which
they insist are three: the doctrine of purgatory, the quality of the
bread used in the holy eucharist, and the mode of administering
baptism. Only the most deplorable ignorance and factiousness could
base a pretence of dogmatic difference on such a foundation. In regard
to purgatory, the Roman Church has defined or required nothing beyond
that which is taught by the doctrinal standards of the Eastern Church.
The difference in regard to the use of leavened or unleavened bread,
and the mode of baptism, is a mere difference of rite. In regard to
the last-mentioned rite, however, the clergy of Constantinople have
even surpassed their usual amount of ignorance and effrontery. They
pretend that no baptism except that by trine immersion is valid, and
consequently that the vast majority of Western Christians are
unbaptized. This position of theirs, which will no doubt be {8} very
satisfactory to our Baptist brethren, makes sweeping work, not only
with the Latin Church, but with Protestant Christendom. Where there is
no baptism, there is no ordination, no sacrament whatever, no church.
What will our Anglican friends say to this? The clergy of
Constantinople rebaptize unconditionally every one who applies to be
received into their communion, whether he be Catholic or Protestant,
clergyman or layman. It would be folly to argue against this
sacrilegious absurdity on Catholic grounds. It is enough to show their
inconsistency with themselves, by mentioning the fact that the Russian
Church allows the validity of baptism by aspersion, and that even
their own book of canons permits it in case of necessity. But why look
for any manifestation of the learning, wisdom, or Christian principle
which ought to characterize prelates from men who have bought their
places for gold, and who sell every episcopal see to the highest
bidder? The simony and bribery which have been openly and unblushingly
practised by the ruling clerical faction of the Turkish empire since
the time when the monk Simeon bought the patriarchal dignity from the
sultan, make this page of ecclesiastical history one of the blackest
and most infamous in character. As we might expect under such a
system, virtuous and worthy men are put aside, and the episcopate and
priesthood filled up from the creatures and servile followers of the
ruling clique. Such men naturally disgrace their holy character by
their immoral lives, and bring opprobrium on the Christian name. The
history of the patriarchate of Constantinople, therefore, since the
period of Gennadius and the first few successors who followed his
worthy example, has been stained with blood and crime, and darkened by
scenes of tragic infamy and horror. We will relate one of the most
recent of these, as a sufficient proof and illustration of the heavy
indictment we have made against the patriarchal clergy.
At the time of the Greek revolution, the patriarch and principal
clergy of Constantinople received orders from the sultan to use their
power in suppressing all co-operation on the part of the Christians in
Turkey with their brethren in Greece, and to denounce to the Ottoman
government all who were suspected of conniving at the insurrection.
Their political position no doubt required of them to remain passive
in the matter, to refrain from positively aiding the revolutionists,
and also to suppress all overt acts of the Christians under their
jurisdiction against the government. Nevertheless, as a people
unjustly enslaved by a barbarous, anti-Christian despotism, they owed
nothing more to their masters than this exterior obedience to the
letter of the law. They could not be expected to enter with a hearty
and zealous sympathy into the measures of the government for
suppressing the revolution; and, indeed, every genuine and noble
sentiment of Christianity and patriotism forbade their doing so, and
exacted of them a deep, interior sympathy with their cruelly oppressed
brethren who were so nobly struggling to free their country from the
hated yoke of the Moslem conqueror. The really high-minded Greeks of
the empire did thus sympathize with their brethren. The ruling clergy,
however, manifested a zeal for the interests of the Ottoman court so
_outre_ and so scandalous that it not only outraged the feelings of
their own subjects, but, as we shall see, aroused the suspicions of
the tyrants before whom they so basely cringed, and brought
destruction on their own heads. They accused a great number of
Christians of complicity in the insurrection, seizing the opportunity
of denouncing every one who had incurred their hatred for any reason
whatever, so that the prisons were soon crowded with their unfortunate
victims, all of whom suffered the penalty of death. The patriarch
pronounced a sentence of major excommunication against Prince
Ypsilanti, and all the Greeks who {9} took part in the revolt. A few
days afterward, on the first Sunday of Lent, during the solemnities of
the pontifical mass, the patriarch, his eight chief metropolitans, and
fifteen other bishops, pronounced the same sentence of
excommunication, together with the sentence of deposition and
degradation, against seven bishops of Greece, partisans of Prince
Ypsilanti, and all their adherents, signing the decree on the altar of
the cathedral church. Such a storm of indignation was raised by this
nefarious act, that the prelates were obliged to pacify their people
by pretending that they had acted under the compulsion of the
government. A few days after, the patriarch and the majority of the
bishops who had signed the decree were condemned to death and
executed, on the charge of participating in the revolution. Even after
the great powers of Europe had acknowledged the independence of
Greece, the ruling clergy of Constantinople endeavored to curry favor
at court by sending a commission, under the presidency of the
metropolitan of Chalcedon, to recommend to the Greeks a return to the
Turkish dominion! It is needless to say that this invitation was
declined, although we cannot but admire the self-control of the Greek
princes and prelates when we are told that it was declined, and the
ambassadors dismissed, _in the most polite manner_.
One more intrigue, the last one they have been left the opportunity of
trying, closes the history of their relations with the Church of
Greece. The clergy and people of the new kingdom were equally
determined to throw off completely and for ever the ecclesiastical
tyranny of Constantinople. At the same time they were disposed to act
with diplomatic formality and ecclesiastical courtesy, as well as in
conformity with the laws and principle of the orthodox church of the
East. The second article of the constitutional chart of the kingdom
defines in a precise and dignified manner the position of the national
church. "The orthodox Church of Greece, acknowledging our Lord Jesus
Christ as its head, is perpetually united in dogma with the great
Church of Constantinople and every other church holding the same
dogmas, preserving, as they do, immutably the holy canons of the
apostles and councils, and the sacred traditions. Nevertheless, it is
autocephalous, exercising independently of every other church its
rights of jurisdiction, and is administered by a sacred college of
bishops." This article was established in 1844. In 1850, the clergy
obtained from the government the appointment of a commission, composed
of one clergyman, the archimandrite Michael Apostolides, professor of
theology in the University of Athens, and one layman, Peter
Deligianni, _charge d'affaires_ at Constantinople, to establish
concordats with the patriarchate and the governing synod of Russia, on
the basis of the above cited article of the Greek constitution. In
lieu of this proposed concordat, the Greek commissioners were duped by
the patriarchal synod into signing a synodal act, in which the
Patriarch of Constantinople, qualifying his see as the vine of which
other churches are the branches, and styling himself and his
associates [Greek text]--"Watchful shepherds and scrupulous guardians
of the canons of the church"--pretends by his own authority to grant
independent jurisdiction to the Church of Greece as a privilege. At
the same time he designates the Archbishop of Athens as the perpetual
president of the synod, ordains that the holy chrism shall always be
brought from Constantinople, and imposes other obligations intended to
serve as signs of dependence on the Patriarchal Church. The Greek
parliament, however, annulled this concordat, and the synod of Greek
bishops at Athens determined that henceforth there should be no
relation between the Church of Greece and that of Constantinople,
subsequently even forbidding priests ordained out of {10} the kingdom
to officiate in the priesthood. Although the Greek clergy had shown
themselves so forbearing and patient, it seems that the arrogance and
perfidy of the clergy of Constantinople had at last roused their just
indignation. The learned archimandrite Pharmacides published a book
against the synodal act and the policy of the Constantinopolitan
clergy, entitled "Antitomos; or, Concerning the Truth," in which he
ridicules the pompous pretensions which they make to pastoral
vigilance and fidelity in these words:
"Since you obtained the sacerdotal dignity by purchase, if you had
really the intention in becoming bishops to watch and to fatigue
yourselves by guarding the Church, no one of you would be a bishop;
for you would not have spent your money in buying vigils and labors."
Such being the nature of the solicitude of these watchful pastors and
scrupulous guardians of the canons for the welfare of those over whom
they claim a patriarchal authority, we need not be surprised at any
amount of reckless contempt which they may show for the general
interests of Christendom, and the admonitions they from time to time
receive from the veritable pastor of the flock of Christ.
Nevertheless, we cannot but wonder that the respectable portion of the
Oriental episcopate should permit themselves to be compromised by an
act which seems to cap the climax of even Byzantine stupidity and
effrontery. We refer to the reply to the noble and paternal encyclical
of Pius IX. to the Oriental bishops, put forth by Anthimus, the late
patriarch. Anthimus himself was notorious throughout the city for his
habits of drunkenness, which were so gross as to incapacitate him from
all business and expose him to the most ignominious insults even from
his own subordinates. The letter which he and several of his bishops
subscribed and sent to the Holy Father was written by the monk
Constantine OEconomus, and, in answer to the earnest and affectionate
appeals of the Holy Father to return to the unity of the Catholic
Church, makes the following astounding statement:
"The three other patriarchs, in difficult questions, demand the
fraternal counsels of the one of Constantinople, _because that city is
the imperial residence_, and this patriarch has the synodal primacy.
If the question can be settled by his fraternal co-operation, very
well. But if not, the matter is _referred to the government_ (_i.e._,
Ottoman), _according to the established laws_."
We think that the reason of the grave charge of schism, heresy, and
apostacy from the fundamental, constitutive principles of the Catholic
Church, which we have made against the higher clergy of
Constantinople, will now be apparent to every candid reader. The
history of their action in relation to the Church of Greece proves
that their principles and policy tend to disintegrate within itself
still more that portion of Christendom which they have alienated from
the communion of Rome and the West, and thus to increase the force of
the movement of decentralization, and to augment the number of
separate, local, mutually independent, and hostile communions. That
the natural tendency of this principle is to produce dogmatic
dissensions, and to efface the idea of Catholic unity, is too evident
from past history to need proof. It is only neutralized in the East by
the stagnation of thought, and the consequent immobility of the
Oriental mind from its old, long established traditions. The
essentially schismatical _virus_ of the principle is in the
subordination of organic, hierarchical unity to the temporal power and
the civil constitution of states, or the church-and-state principle in
its most odious form, which was never more grossly expressed than in
the letter above cited of Anthimus. This principle not only tends to
increase disintegration in the church, but to bar the way to a
reintegration in unity, and to destroy all desire of a return to
unity, as is also amply proved by the acts of the clergy of
Constantinople. A schismatical principle held {11} and acted on in
such a way as to make schism a perpetual condition, and thus not
merely to interrupt communion for a time but to destroy the idea of
Catholic unity, becomes heretical. Moreover, when doctrinal forms of
expressing dogmas of faith, or particular forms of administering the
rites of religion, are without authority set forth as essential
conditions of orthodoxy, and made the basis of a judgment of heresy
against other churches, those who make this false dogmatic standard
are guilty of heresy. This is the case with the clergy of
Constantinople, who make the difference respecting the use of
"Filioque" in the Creed the pretext for accusing the Latin Church of
heresy, and who deal similarly with the doctrine of purgatory, and the
questions respecting unleavened bread in the eucharist and immersion
in baptism. They have constantly persisted in their effort to
establish an essential dogmatic difference between the Latin and Greek
Churches and to make the peculiarities of the Greek rite essential
terms of Catholic communion, in order to widen and perpetuate the
breach between the East and West, and to maintain their own usurped
principality. They have been the authors of the schism, its obstinate
promoters, the principal cause of thrusting it upon the other parts of
the Eastern Church, and the chief instrument of thwarting the
charitable efforts of the Holy See for the spiritual good of the
Oriental Christians. They have done it in spite of the best and most
ample opportunities of knowing the utter falsehood of all the grounds
on which their schism is based, in the face of the example and the
writings of the best and most learned of their own predecessors, and
with a recklessness of consequences, and a disregard of the interests
of their own people and of religion itself, which merits for them the
name not only of heretics, but of apostates from all but the name and
outward profession of Christianity.
This last portion of the case against them we must now prosecute a
little further, by showing what has been their conduct in the exercise
of their temporal power over their fellow-Christians in Turkey.
The reasons and extent of the civil authority conferred upon the
Patriarch Gennadius by Mahomet II. have already been exposed. It is
obvious that although this authority would have enabled the governing
clergy to succor and console their unhappy people in their condition
of miserable slavery, if they had been possessed of truly apostolic
virtue, it opened the way to the most frightful tyranny and
oppression, by presenting to the worst and most ambitious men a strong
motive to aspire to the highest offices in the church. No form of
government can be worse than that of privileged slaves of a despot
over their fellow-slaves. Accordingly, but a short time elapsed before
the unhappy Christians of Turkey began to suffer from the effects of
this terrible system. Simoniacal bishops who bought their own dignity
by bribing the sultans and their favorites, and sold all the inferior
offices in their gift to the highest bidder; who were careless and
faithless in the discharge of their spiritual duties; and who had
apostatized from the communion of the Catholic Church, would, of
course, exercise their civil functions in the same spirit and
according to the same policy. They associated themselves intimately
with the Janissaries, on whom they relied for the maintenance of their
power; gave their system of policy the name of the "System of
_Cara-Casan_," that is, "Ecclesiastical Janissary System;" enrolled
themselves as members of the _Ortas_ or Janissary companies, and bore
their distinguishing marks tattooed on their arms. This redoubtable
body found its most powerful ally in the clergy up to the time of its
destruction by Mahmoud II. The author of the work whose title is
placed at the head of this article, James G. Pitzipios, is a native
Christian subject of the Sultan of Turkey, and was the secretary of an
imperial commission appointed to examine into the {12} civil and
financial administration of the Christian communities, as well as to
hear their complaints against their rulers. His position and
circumstances, therefore, have enabled him to investigate the matter
thoroughly. His estimate of the civil administration of the clergy of
the patriarchate from the time of Mahomet II. to that of Mahmoud II.--
that is, from the Turkish conquest to the projected reformation in the
Ottoman government--is expressed in these words:
"We have seen why it was that the Sultan Mahomet II. delegated the
entire temporal power over his Christian subjects to the Patriarch
Gennadius and his successors; gave to the religious head of the
Christians of his empire the title of _Milet-bachi_, and rendered
him the absolute master of the lot of all his co-religionists, as
well as responsible for their conduct and for their fulfilment of
all duties and obligations toward the government. Such an
arrangement was calculated to produce in its commencement some
alleviations and even some advantages to these unfortunate
Christians, as in point of fact it actually happened. But it was
sure to degenerate sooner or later into a frightful tyranny, such as
is naturally that of privileged slaves placed over those of their
own race. Accordingly, as we have stated in several places already,
the clergy of Constantinople made use of all the means of
oppression, of vexation, and of pillage of which the cunning, the
depraved conscience, and the rapacity of slaves in authority are
capable. The clergy of Constantinople having become in this way the
absolute arbiters of the goods, the conscience, the social rights,
and indirectly even of the lives of all their Eastern
co-religionists, continued to abuse this temporal power not only
during the period of the old regime, but even after the destruction
of the Janissaries, and, again, after the reform in Turkey, and up
to the present moment" [Footnote 4] (1855).
[Footnote 4: "L'Eglise Orientale," p. iv., pp. 17, 18.]
The allusion to the reform in the lost clause of this extract requires
a fuller explanation, and this explanation will furnish the most
conclusive evidence of the degradation of the patriarchate, by showing
that not only have its clergy submitted to be the tools of the Ottoman
government when it was disposed to oppress the Christians in the worst
manner, but that they have even resisted and thwarted the efforts of
that government itself, when it was disposed to emancipate the
Christians from a part of their bondage.
The Sultan Mahmoud I I., a man of superior genius and enlightened
views, devoted all the energies of his great mind to the effort of
restoring his empire, rapidly verging toward dissolution, to
prosperity and splendor. He devised for this end a gigantic scheme of
political reformation, one part of which was the abolition of all
civil distinction between his subjects of different religions. He was
unable to do more, during his lifetime, than barely to commence the
execution of his grand project. His son and successor, Abdul-Medjid,
continued to prosecute the same work, and, at the beginning of his
reign, published a decree called the _Tinzimat_, enjoining certain
reformations in the manner of administering law and justice in the
provinces. The Christian inhabitants of Turkey were the ones who ought
to have profited most by this decree. On the contrary, the very
privileges which it accorded them, by withdrawing them in great
measure from the authority of the local Mussulman tribunals, deprived
them of their only resource against the oppressions and exactions of
their own clergy, and rendered their condition worse. The bishops
succeeded in getting a more exclusive control than ever over all cases
of jurisdiction relating to Christians, and made use of their power to
fleece their people more unmercifully than they had ever done before.
Encouraged by the publication of die Tinzimat, these unhappy Christian
communities ventured to send remonstrances to the Ottoman {13}
government against their cruel and mercenary pastors. In consequence
of these remonstrances, the Porte addressed the following official
note, dated Feb. 4, 1850, to the Patriarch of Constantinople:
"Since, according to the Christian religion, the bishops are the
pastors of the people, they ought to guide them in the right way,
protect them, and console them, but never oppress them. As, however,
many metropolitans and bishops commit actions in the provinces
_which even the most despicable of men would not dare to
perpetrate_, the Christian populations, crushed under this
oppression, address themselves continually to the government,
supplicating it to grant them its assistance and protection.
Consequently, as the government cannot refuse to take into
consideration these just complaints of its own subjects, it wills
absolutely that these disorders cease. It invites, therefore, the
patriarch to convoke an assembly of bishops and of the principal
laymen of his religion, and, in concert with them, to consider
fraternally of the means of doing away with these oppressions and
the just complaints in regard to them, by regulating their
ecclesiastical and communal administration in conformity with the
precepts of their own religion and with the instructions the
Tinzimat." [Footnote 5]
[Footnote 5: Ibid., p. iii., p. 144.]
A very edifying sermon this, from a Mohammedan minister of state to
the "spiritual head of the ancient and venerable Oriental Church!"
Like many other sermons, however, it did not produce a result
corresponding to its excellence. The good advice it contained was
followed up by levying a new tax. The patriarch sent immediately to
all the bishops a circular in which he prescribed to them "to admonish
the people, that since the government had imposed upon the church the
obligation of conforming to the demands of certain dioceses, and
applying everywhere the system of giving fixed salaries to the
bishops, the most holy patriarch is obliged to conform himself to the
orders of the government and to put them in execution as soon as
possible. But since both the general commune of Constantinople and the
particular ones of the several dioceses are burdened with debts which
amount to about 7,000,000 of piastres, it is just that the people
should previously pay off these debts; the bishops are, therefore,
ordered to proceed immediately to an exact enumeration of all the
Christian inhabitants of the cities, towns, and villages, without
excepting either widows or unmarried persons. In this way the
patriarchate, taking the census as its guide, can assign to each
Christian the sum which he is bound to pay for the pre-extinction of
the communal debts, and afterward apply the system of fixed episcopal
revenues." [Footnote 6]
[Footnote 6: Ibid., p. 144., p. 145.]
The poor people, terrified by this enormous tax, and by the
persecution which overtook the prime movers in the remonstrance, as
the secretary of the commission on the Tinzimat informs us, "swallowed
painfully their grievances and no longer dared to continue their just
reclamations to the government." The Ottoman government, intimidated
by the threats of the ecclesiastical Janissaries of the Cara-Casan,
"was obliged to yield to the force of circumstances, as they were used
to do in the time of their terrible _confreres_, and abandoned the
question completely."
The Greek revolution has also in one way aggravated the lot of the
Christians of Turkey, by causing the compulsory or voluntary removal
from the capital of the principal merchants and other Christians of
superior station and influence, who formed the greatest check upon the
unworthy clerical rulers. Under the name of "primates of the nation,"
they had a share in the management of ecclesiastical finances and
other temporal affairs, and as their compatriot, Mr. Pitzipios,
affirms, "these good citizens, inspired by their charitable {14}
sentiments, and encouraged by the influence which they had with the
Ottoman government, repressed greatly the abuses of the clergy, and
moderated, as far as they were able, the vexations of the people."
[Footnote 7] The men of this class who remained in Constantinople were
removed by the government, as foreigners, from all share in the
administration of Christian' affairs, and their places filled with the
creatures of the patriarchal clique, men of the lowest rank and
character, who were ready tools for every nefarious work.
[Footnote 7: Ibid., p. 147.]
As a natural consequence of the faithless abuse of the sacred
religious and civil trust committed to the higher clergy, they and
their inferior clergy are detested and despised by their people, who
are held in subjection to them only by physical coercion. Mr.
Pitzipios assures us that there is among them a very strong
predisposition to Protestantism. A form of deism, introduced by
Theophilus Cairy, a Greek priest, who died in prison in the year 1851,
made great progress before it was suppressed by the civil power, and
is now secretly working with great activity in Greece and Turkey.
We cannot but think that the last and most degraded phase of the
Byzantine _Bas Empire_, impersonated in the schismatical patriarchate
of Constantinople, is destined soon to pass away. We hope and expect
soon to see the end of the Ottoman power, which alone sustains this
odious ecclesiastico-political tyranny. The signs of the political
horizon appear to indicate that Russia is destined to gain possession
of the ancient seat of the Greek empire. However this may be, if the
Church of Constantinople, and the other far more ancient churches
within her sphere of jurisdiction, are ever to be restored to a
healthy Christian vitality, and made to reflourish as of old, it must
be by a thorough ecclesiastical reformation, which shall sweep away
the present dominant clique in the clergy and the whole policy which
they have established.
The beginning of this reformation has already been inaugurated in the
kingdom of Greece. The bishops of that kingdom, in recovering freedom
from the odious yoke of Constantinople, have recovered the character
of Christian prelates and pastors. The severe remarks which we have
made respecting the Oriental hierarchy must be understood as
applicable only to that particular clique who have heretofore made
themselves dominant through intrigue and violence. There no doubt have
been, and are, among the higher clergy of the Turkish empire, some
exceptions to the general rule of incompetence and moral unworthiness.
The Greek bishops themselves who were established in their sees under
the old regime, manifested by their open or tacit concurrence in the
revolution that virtue had not completely died out under the pressure
of a long slavery. Since the establishment of Grecian independence,
the measures they have taken, in concert with the other members of the
higher secular and monastic clergy and the government, for the
amelioration of religion, are such as to reflect honor on themselves,
and to give great promise for the future. They live in a simple and
frugal manner, and some of them, instead of leaving millions of
piastres to their relatives, like their Turkish brethren, have not
left behind them enough money to defray their own funeral expenses.
They endeavor to select the best subjects for ordination to the
priesthood and to give them a good theological and religious training.
Professorships of theological science are established in the
University of Athens. The catechism is carefully taught to the young
people and children, and every year ten of the most competent among
the clergy are sent at the public expense to preach throughout all the
towns and villages of the kingdom. Such is the happy result of the
successful effort of these noble Greeks, so endeared to every lover of
learning, valor, and {15} religion for the memories of their glorious
antiquity, to shake off the yoke of the sultans and the patriarchs of
Constantinople. It is this miserable amalgam of Moslem despotism, and
usurped or abused spiritual power in the hands of a degenerate clergy
at Constantinople, which is the great obstacle in the way of the
regeneration of the East. We have already seen that the ecclesiastical
tyranny of the patriarchate is now confined to the one hundred and
forty-two small bishoprics, and the few millions of people included in
them, which are situated in Turkey. Nevertheless, the political views
of the Russian emperors, and the traditional reverence of the Russian
clergy, still maintain the patriarch and his synod in a modified
spiritual supremacy over the Russian Church, to which two-thirds of
the Oriental rite belong. If Constantinople should fall into the hands
of any of the great powers of Western Christendom, of course the
Cara-Casan, or system of mixed ecclesiastical and civil despotism,
will be overturned, the patriarch will become a mere primate among the
other metropolitans of the nation, and the patriarchate be reduced to
a simply honorary dignity like that of the Western patriarchs of
Venice and Lisbon. If the Czar becomes the master of European Turkey,
the same result will take place, with this only exception, that the
See of Constantinople will become the primatial see of the Russian
empire, and the Russian hierarchy will take the place of the effete
Byzantine clergy, which they are far more worthy, from their learning
and strict morality, to occupy.
What is to be the political and ecclesiastical destiny of the East,
and Russia, its gigantic infant, who can foretell, without prophetic
gifts? If the Russian emperors prove that they are destined and are
worthy to begin anew and to fulfil the grand design of Constantine,
Theodosius, Justinian, Pulcheria, and Irene, by creating a thoroughly
Christian empire of the East, we shall rejoice to see them enthroned
in Constantinople. If they are destined to restore the cross to the
dome of St. Sophia, and to renovate the ancient glory of that temple,
desecrated by Christian infamy more than by the Moslem crescent, we
shall exult in their achievement. If new Chrysostoms and Gregories
shall rise up to efface the dishonor of their predecessors, we will
forget the past, and give them the homage due to true and worthy
successors of the saints. We have no desire to see the Church of
Constantinople degraded, or the Eastern Church humiliated. The
Oriental Church is orthodox and catholic in its faith, and its several
great rites are fully sanctioned and protected by the Holy See. The
heresies which are found among a portion of its clergy are personal
heresies, and have never been established by any great synod, or
incorporated into their received doctrinal standards. We do not
condemn the great body of its people of even formal schism, but rather
compassionate them as suffering from a state of schism which has been
forced on them by a designing and unworthy faction, and is perpetuated
in great part through misunderstanding, prejudice, and national
antipathies. The causes and grounds of this unnatural state must
necessarily come up among them very soon for a more thorough
investigation. Study, thought, discussion, and contact with Western
Catholicism, as well as Western Protestantism and rationalism, will
compel them to place themselves face to face with their own hereditary
and traditional dogmas; and either to be consistent with themselves,
and submit to the supremacy of the Roman See, or to give up their
orthodoxy and open the doors to a religious revolution. We cannot deny
that the latter alternative is possible, although we are sure that Dr.
Pusey, and men like-minded with him, would deplore it as a great
calamity. We trust it will be otherwise. The Easter morning of
resurrection, which {16} we are now celebrating, dawned for us in _the
East_. It is the land, of Christ and his apostles, the birth-place of
our religion. We hope the day of resurrection for its decayed and
languishing churches may not be far distant.
------
From The Month.
SAINTS OF THE DESERT.
BY THE REV. J. H. NEWMAN, D.D.
1. Abbot Antony pointed out to a brother a stone, and said to him,
"Revile that stone, and beat it soundly."
When he had done so, Antony said, "Did the stone say anything?" He
answered, "No."
Then said Antony: "Unto this perfection shalt thou one day come."
2. When Abbot Arsenius was ill, they laid him on a mat, and put a pillow
under his head, and a brother was scandalized.
Then said his attendant to the brother: "What were you before you were
a monk?" He answered, "A shepherd." Then he asked again, "And do you
live a harder or an easier life now than then?" He replied, "I have
more comforts now." Then said the other, "Seest thou this abbot? When
he was in the world he was the father of emperors. A thousand slaves
with golden girdles and tippets of velvet waited on him, and rich
carpets were spread under him. _Thou_ hast gained by the change which
has made thee a monk; it is thou who art now encompassed with
comforts, but he is afflicted."
3. When Abbot Agatho was near his end, he remained for three days with
his eyes open and steadily fixed.
His brethren shook him, sayings "Abbot, where are you?"
He replied, "I stand before the judgment seat."
They said, "What, father! do you you too fear? think of your works."
He made answer: "I have no confidence till I shall have met my God."
4. Abbot Pastor was asked, "Is it good to cloak a brother's fault?"
He answered: "As often as we hide a brother's sin, God hides one of
ours, but he tells ours in that hour in which we tell our brother's."
5. The Abbot Alonius said: "Unless a man says in his heart, I and my
God are the only two in the world, he will not have rest."
6. Abbot Pambo, being summoned by St. Athanasius to Alexandria, met an
actress, and forthwith began to weep. "I weep," he said, "because I do
not strive to please my God as she strives to please the impure."
7. An old monk fell sick and for many days could not eat, and his
novice made him some pudding. There was a vessel of honey, and there
was another vessel of linseed oil for the lamp, good for nothing else,
for it was rancid. The novice mistook, and mixed up the oil in the
pudding. The old man said not a word, but ate it.
The novice pressed him, and helped him a second time, and the old man
ate again.
When he offered it the third time, the old man said, "I have had
enough;" but the novice cried, "Indeed, it is very good. I will eat
some with you."
When he had tasted it, he fell on his face and said: "Father, I shall
be the death of you! Why didn't you speak?"
The old man answered: "Had it been God's will that I should eat honey,
honey thou wouldst have given me."
{17}
From The Literary Workman.
JENIFER'S PRAYER.
BY OLIVER CRANE.
IN THREE PARTS.
I.
He and she stood in a room in an inn in the town of Hull--and how she
wept! Crying as a child cries, with a woman's feelings joining
exquisite pain to those tears; which tears, in a way wonderful and
peculiar to beautiful women, scarcely disordered her face, or gave
anything worse to her countenance than an indescribably pathetic
tenderness.
He was older than she was by full ten years. He only watched her. And
if the most acute of my readers had watched _him_, they would have
been no wiser for their scrutiny.
At last she left the room; he had opened the door and offered his hand
to her. It was night; and she changed her chamber-candle from her
right hand to her left, and gave that right hand to him. He held it,
while he said: "I spoke because I dread the influence of the house we
are going to, and of those whom you will meet there."
"Thank you. Good night" And so she got to a great dark bed-room, and
knelt down, like a good girl as she was, and cried no more, but was in
bed and asleep before he had left the place he had taken by the side
of the sitting-room fire, leaning thoughtfully against the
mantel-shelf, when her absence had made the room lonely.
Then he ran down stairs and rushed out into the streets of the kingly
Hull--Kingston of the day of Edward I. The man we speak of was no
antiquary, and he troubled himself neither with the Kingston of the
royal Edward nor the _Vaccaria_ of the abbot from whom the place was
bought; he walked at a quick pace through streets dim and streets
lighted, toward the ships, or among the houses; to where he could see
the great headland of Holderness, or behold nothing at all but the
brick wall that prevented his going further, and told him by strong
facts that he had lost his way. So he wandered, walking fast
often--again, walking slowly; his head bowed down, his features
working, and his eyes flashing--clenched hands, or hands clasped on
his breast, as if to keep down the surging waves of memory, which
carried on their crests many things which now he could only gnash his
teeth at in withering vexation.
He and she had come from Scotland. I have said that she was
beautiful--she was English, too; but he was Scotch born and bred, and
not dark and stem, or really wild or poetic, as a Scotchman in a story
ought to be. He was simply a strong, well-formed man, of dark, ruddy
complexion, and fine, thick, waving brown hair. He might have been a
nobleman, or a royal descendant of Hull's own king. He looked it all,
without being downright handsome. But he was, in fact, only one of the
many men who have come into a thousand a year too soon for the
preservation of prudence. Between sixteen, when he succeeded to it,
and twenty-one, when he could spend it, he had committed many follies,
and found friends who turned out worse than declared enemies--since
twenty-one he had fallen {18} in love more than once. He had been
praised, blamed, accused, acquitted. But whether or not this man was
good or bad, no living soul could tell. He was well off, well looking,
well read, and in good company. He re-entered the inn at Hull that
April night, stood by the fire smoking, asked for a cup of strong
coffee, went to bed.
The next morning the two met at breakfast They were going south. No
matter where. Whether to the dreamy vales of Devonshire, to verdant
Somersetshire, or the gardens of Hampshire--no matter. They were going
to what the north Britons call the south. And it did not mean Algeria.
Railways were not everywhere then as railways are now. They had to
travel nearly all day, then to "coach it" to a great town, in whose
history coaches have now long been of the past. Then to get on a
second day by the old "fast four-horse," and to arrive about five
o'clock at a little quiet country town, where a carriage would take
them to the friends and the house whose influence he dreaded.
In fact, that night, in the inn sitting-room, he had offered marriage
to the girl whom he had in charge for safe guardianship on so long a
journey to her far-off home where he was to be a guest. She had felt
that he had abused his trust and taken an unfair advantage of her;
also, she was in that peculiarly feminine state of mind which is
neither expressed by _no_ nor by _yes_. She had upbraided him. He,
pleading guilty in his soul, was in a horror at the thought of losing
her; losing her in that way too, because he had done wrong. Being
miserable, he had shown his misery as a strong man may. He spoke, and
self-reproachfully; but, as he pleaded, he betrayed all he felt. The
girl saw his clasped hands, his bent form, as he leaned down from the
chair on which he sat in the straggling attitude which expressed a
disordered mind. He spoke, looking at the carpet, not loud nor long,
but with a terrible earnestness that frightened the girl, and then she
cried all the more, and seemed to shrink away as if in alarm, and yet
almost angrily. Why would he speak so fiercely--why had he taken this
advantage of her?
Then he had risen up quickly, and said, "Well, you know all now. We
will talk of something else." But she only shook her head and moved
away, and, as we have seen, went to bed.
The next morning they met calmly enough. On his side it was done with
an effort; on hers without effort, yet with a little trembling fear,
which went when she saw his calm, and she poured out tea, and he drank
it, and only a rather extraordinary silence told of too much having
being said the night before.
Now, why was all this? Why were this man and this young English girl
travelling thus to the sweet south coast, and to expecting friends?
While they are travelling on their way, we, you and I, dear reader,
will not only get on before them, but also turn back the pages of
life's story, and read its secrets.
They were going to a great house in a fine park, where fern waved its
tall, mounted feathers of green, and hid the dappled deer from sight--
where great ancestral oaks spread protecting branches; where hawthorn
trees, that it had taken three generations of men to make, stood,
large, thick, knotted, twisted--strange, dark, stunted looking trees
they looked, till spring came, and no green was like their green, and
the glory of their flower-wreaths people made pilgrimages to see. The
place was called Beremouth.
A mile and a half off was a town; one of those odd little old places
which tell of days and fashions past away. A very respectable place.
There had lived in Marston the dowager ladies of old country families,
in houses which had no pretensions to grandeur as you passed them in
the extremely quiet street, but which on the other side broke out into
bay windows, garden fronts, charming conservatories, and a {19} good
many other things which help to make life pleasant. So the inhabitants
of Marston were not all mere country-town's people. They knew
themselves to be _somebodies_ and they never forgot it.
Now, in this town dwelt a certain widow lady; poor she was, but she
had a pedigree and two beautiful daughters. Mary and Lucia Morier were
not two commonly, or even uncommonly, pretty girls; they were
wonderfully beautiful, people said, and nothing less. So lovers came a
courting. One married a Scotchman, a Mr. Erskine. They liked each
other quite well enough, Lucia thought, when she made her promises,
and received his; and so they did. They lived happily; did good;
wished for children but never had any, and so adopted Mr. Erskine's
orphan nephew--namely, the very man who behaved with such strange
imprudence in the inn at Hull. Mr. Erskine the uncle was twenty years
older than Mrs. Erskine the aunt. Mr. Erskine the younger was but a
child when they adopted him. But he was their heir, as well as the
inheritor of his father's' fortune, and they loved and cared for him.
Mary Morier did differently. She married at twenty, her younger sister
having married the month before at eighteen. Mary did differently, for
she did imprudently. They had had a brother who was an agent for
certain mines thirty miles off; and there he lived; but he came home
often enough, and made the house in the old town gay. A year before
the sister married, in fact while that sister was away on a visit to
friends in Scotland, the brother came home ill. He was ill for six
months. It is wonderful how much expense is incurred by a mother in
six months for a son who is sick. It made life very difficult. The
money to pay for Lucia's journey home had to be thought of. To be
sure, she was not there to eat and drink, but then her extra finery
had cost something. George had only earned one hundred a year. It had
not been more than enough to keep him. He came home ill with ten
pounds in his pocket, beside his half-year's rent, which would be due
the next month--certainly money at this time was wanted, for our
friends were sadly pinched. But the one most exemplary friend and
servant Jenifer was paid her wages, and tea and sugar money to the
day; and the doctor got so many guineas that he grew desperate and
suddenly refused to come--then repented, and made a Christian-like
bargain, that he would go on coming on condition that he never saw
another piece of any kind of money.
Mary and her mother looked each other in the face one day, and that
look told all. There was some plate, and they had watches, and a
little fine old-fashioned jewelry--yes, they must go. They were
reduced to poverty at last--this was more than "limited means"--hard
penury had them with a desperate grasp.
Fortune comes in many shapes, and not often openly, and with a
flourish of trumpets--neither did she come in that way now; but
shamefacedly, sneakingly, and ringing the door-bell with a meek, not
to say tremulous pull; and her shape was that of a broad-built, short,
wide-jawed, lanky-haired, pig-eyed, elderly man, with a curious
quantity of waistcoat showing, yet, generally, well dressed. "Your
mistress at home?" "Yes, Mr. Brewer." "Mr. George better?" "No. Never
will be, sir." "Bless me! I beg your pardon!" "Granted before 'tis
asked, sir." "Ah! yes; I have a little business to transact with your
mistress. Can I see her alone?" Mr. Brewer was shown by Jenifer into
the little right-hand parlor. He gravely took out a huge pocket-book,
and then a small parchment-covered account-book appeared. I believe he
had persuaded himself that he was really going to transact business,
and not to perform the neatest piece of deception that a {20}
respectable gentleman ever attempted. A lady entered the room. "Madam,
jour son has been my agent for mines three years--my mine _and land_
agent since Christmas. He takes the additional work at seventy-five
pounds a year extra. The half of that is now due to him. I pay _that_
myself. I have brought it" And thirty-seven pounds ten shillings Mr.
Brewer put on the table, saying, "I will take your receipt, madam.
Don't trouble Georges's head about business; for when you _do_ speak
of that you will have, I am sorry to say, to inform him that in _both_
his places I have had to put another man. I have to give George three
months' payment at the rate of one hundred and seventy pounds a year,
as I gave him no quarter's warning. That is business, do you
understand?" asked Mr. Brewer. "It is for my son to discharge himself,
sir--since he cannot"--the mother's voice faltered. "Ah--only he
didn't, and I did," said Mr. Brewer. "Your receipt? When your son
recovers, let him apply to me. I am sorry to end our connexion so
abruptly. But it is business. Business, you know"--and there Mr.
Brewer stopped, for Mary Morier was in the room, and her beauty filled
it, or seemed to do so. And Mr. Brewer departed muttering, as he had
muttered before often, "the most beautiful girl in the world." Still,
he had an uncomfortable sensation, for he felt he was an underhand
sneak, and that Mary had found him out; and so she had. She knew that
her brother had been "discharged" only to afford a pretext for giving
the quarter's money; and she was sure that his being land agent, at an
additional seventy-five pounds a year, was a pure unadulterated
fiction.
Mr. Brewer was an extraordinary man. He had a turn for the
supernatural. He would have liked above all things to have worked
miracles. He did do odd things, such as we have seen, which he made,
by means of the poetic quality that characterized him, a purely
natural act. He was praising George for a saving, prudent, industrious
young man, who had never drawn the whole of his last year's salary,
before an hour was over. And his story looked so like truth that he
believed it himself.
Mr. Brewer was what people call "a risen man." But then his father had
been rising--and, for the matter of that, his grandfather too. All
their fortunes had flowed into the life of the man who has got into
this story; and he, having had a tide of prosperity exceeding all
others, in height, and strength, and riches, had found himself
stranded on the great shore of society, at forty years of age, with
more thousands a year than he liked to be generally known. Could he
have transformed himself into a benignant fairy he would have been
very happy, and acts of mercy would have abounded on the earth. But
no--Mr. Brewer was Mr. Brewer, and anything less poetic to look
at--more impossible as to wands, and wings, and good fairy appendages,
it is difficult to imagine. Mr. Brewer was a middle-aged man, with
hands in his pockets; plain truth is always respectable. There it is.
But there was a Mrs. Brewer. Now Mrs. Brewer was an excellent woman,
but not excellent after the manner of her husband. She was three years
older. They had not been in love. They had married at an epoch in Mr.
Brewer's life when public affairs occupied his time so entirely as to
make it desirable to have what people call a "missus;" we are afraid
that Mr. Brewer himself so called the article, a "missus, at home."
Mrs. Brewer had been "a widow lady--young--of a sociable and domestic
disposition" who "desired to be housekeeper--to be treated
confidentially, and as one of the family--to a widower--with or
without children." On inquiry, it was found that young Mrs. Smith had
not irrevocably determined that the owner of the house that she was to
keep should have been the husband of one wife, undoubtedly {21} dead;
the widower was an expression only, a sort of modest way of putting
the plain fact of a single man, or a man capable of matrimony--the
expression meant all that; and when Mrs. Smith entered on the
housekeeping, she acted up to the meaning of the advertisement, and
married Mr. Brewer. Neither had ever repented. Let that be understood.
Only, Mr. Brewer, when he knew he could live in a great house, dine
off silver, keep a four-in-hand, or a pack of hounds, or enter on any
other legitimate mode of spending money, did none of them; but eased
his mind and his pocket by such contrivances as we have seen resorted
to in the presence of the beautiful Mary Morier. He tried curious
experiments of what a man would do with ten pounds. He had dangerous
notions as to people addicted to certain villanies being cured of
their moral diseases by the administration of a hundred a year. In
some round-about ways he had put the idea to the proof, and not always
with satisfactory results. He held as an article of faith--nobody
could guess where he found it--that there were people in the world who
could go straighter in prosperity than in adversity. He never would
believe that adversity was a thing to be suffered. He had replied to a
Protestant divine on that subject, illustrated in the case of a
starving family, that that might be, only it was no concern of his,
and he would not act upon the theory. And the result was a thriving,
thankful family in Australia, to whom Mr. Brewer was always, ever
after, sending valuable commodities, and receiving flower-seeds and
skins of gaudy feathered birds in return.
Mr. Brewer had a daughter, Claudia was her name. "A Bible name," said
Mr. Brewer, and bowed his head, and felt he had done his duty by the
girl. What more could he do? She went to school, and was at school
when he was paying money in Mrs. Morier's parlor. She was then ten
years old; and being a clever child, she had, in the holidays just
over, chosen to talk French, and nothing else, to a friend whom she
had been allowed to bring with her. A thing that had caused great
perturbation in the soul of her honest father, who prayed in a
wordless, but real anxiety, that the Bible name might not be thrown
away on the glib-tongued little gipsy. It will be perceived that
Claudia was a difficulty.
Now, when Mr. Brewer was gone out of Mrs. Morier's house, the mother
took up the money, wiped her eyes, and said, "What a good boy George
was." And Mary said "_Yes;_" and knew in her heart that if there had
been any chance of George living, Mr. Brewer would never have done
_that_.
George died. There was money, just enough for all wants. Lucia came
home engaged to the married to Mr. Erskine. And when she was gone
there went with her a certain seven hundred pounds, her fortune,
settled--what a silly mockery Mr. Erskine thought it--on her children.
The loss made the two who were left very poor. Lucia sent her mother
gifts, but the regular and to be reckoned on eight-and-twenty pounds a
year were gone. She who had eaten, drank, and dressed was gone
too--but still it was a loss; and Mary and her mother were poor. Also,
Mary had long been engaged to be married to the son of a younger
branch of a great county family house, Lansdowne Lorimer by name. He
was in an attorney's office in Marston. In that old-world place, the
attorney, himself of a county family, was a great man. It was hard to
see Lucia marry a man of money and land, young Lorimer thought, so he
advised Mary to assert their independence of all earthly
considerations, and marry too. And they did so.
The young man had no father or mother. He had angry uncles and
insolent aunts, and family friends, all to be respected, and prophets
of evil, every one of them. He had, also, a place in the office, a
clear head, a determined will, a handsome {22} person, a good
pedigree, and a beautiful wife. She, also, had her eight-and-twenty
pounds a year. But they gave it back regularly to Mrs. Morier; for,
you know, they, the young people, _were_ young, and they could work.
Mrs. Morier never spent this money. She and Jenifer, the prime
minister of that court of loyal love, put it by, against the evil day,
and they had just enough for themselves and the cat to live upon
without it.
The county families asked their imprudent kinsman to visit them with
his bride. How they flouted her. How they advised her. How they
congratulated her that she had always been poor. How they assured her
that she would be poor for ever. How, too, they feared that Lansdowne
would never bear hard work, nor anxiety, nor any other of those
troubles which were so very sure to happen. How surprised they were at
the three pretty silk dresses, the one plain white muslin, and the
smart best white net. How they scorned when they heard that she and
Jenifer, and her mother, and a girl at eightpence a day, had made them
all. And, then, how they sunned themselves in her wonderful beauty,
and accepted the world's praises of it, and kept the triumph
themselves, and handed over to her the gravest warnings of its being a
dangerous gift.
Dangerous, indeed! it was the pride of Lorimer's life. And Mary was
accomplished, far more really accomplished than the lazy, half-taught
creatures who had never said to themselves that they might have to
play and sing, and speak French and Italian, for their or their
children's bread. Mary had said it to herself many a time since her
heart had been given to the man who was her husband. A true, brave,
loving heart it was, and that which her common sense had whispered to
it that heart was strong to do, and would be found doing if the day of
necessity ever came. So, at that Castle Dangerous where the bride and
bridegroom were staying, Mary outshone others, and was not the
better loved for that; and one old Lady Caroline crowned the triumph
by ordering a piano-forte for the new home at Marston, with a savage
"Keep up what you know, child; you may be glad of it one day." Old
Lady Caroline was generally considered as a high-bred privileged
savage. But that was the only savage thing she ever said to Mary. She
told Lorimer that he was a selfish, unprincipled brute for marrying
anybody so perfect and so pretty. And Lorimer bore her
misrepresentations with remarkable patience, only making her a
ceremonious bow, and saying in a low voice, "You know better." "I know
you will starve," and she walked off without an answer.
They did not starve. In fact, they prospered, till one sad day when
Lorimer caught cold--and again and again caught cold--cough, pain,
symptoms of consumption--a short, sad story; and then the great end,
death. Mary was a widow three years after her wedding day, with a
child of two years of age at her side, and an income from a life
insurance made by her husband of one hundred a year. We have seen the
child--grown to a beautiful girl of seventeen--we have seen her in the
room with Mr. Erskine, at the inn at Hull.
Mrs. Lorimer went back to live with her mother, Jenifer, and the great
white cat.
The year after this great change, Mrs. Brewer died, and Claudia at
thirteen was a greater difficulty than ever. The first holidays after
the departure of the good mother, the puzzled father had written to
the two Miss Gainsboroughs to bring the child to Marston and stay at
his house during the holidays. He entertained them for a week, and
then went off on a tour through Holland. The next holidays he proposed
that they should take a house at Brighton, and that he should pay all
expenses. This, too, was done, and Mr. Brewer went to a hotel and
there made friends with his precocious daughter in a way that
surprised and pleased {23} him. He visited the young lady, and she
entertained him. He hired horses, and they rode together. He took
boxes at the theatre, and they made parties and went together. He gave
the girl jewelry and fine clothes, and they really got to know each
other, and to enjoy life together as could never have been the case
had they not been thus left to their own way. The child no longer felt
herself of a different world from that of her parents--the father had
a companion in the child who could grace his position, and keep her
own. They parted with love and anxious lookings forward to the summer
meeting. They were both in possession of a new happiness. When Mr.
Brewer got back to Marston, he led a dull, dreamy life--a year and a
half of widowhood passed--then he went to Mrs. Morier's, saw Mary, and
asked her to be his wife. It is not easy to declare why Mary Lorimer
said--after some weeks of wondering-mindedness--why she said "Yes."
She knew all Mr. Brewer's goodness. She preferred, no doubt, not to
wound a heart that had so often sympathized with the wounded. She
never, in her life, could have borne to see him vexed without great
vexation herself. She liked that he should be rewarded. She was
interested in Claudia. She liked the thought of two hundred a year
settled on her mother. She liked to feel that her own little Mary
might be brought up as grandly as any of those little saucy "county
family" damsels, her cousins, who already looked down on her, and
scorned her pink spotted calico frock.
Mary and Mr. Brewer walked quietly to church; Mrs. Morier still in
astonishment, and Jenifer "dazed;" bat all the working people loved
Mr. Brewer. And they walked back, man and wife, to her mother's house,
and had a quiet substantial breakfast before they started for London.
And when there Mr. Brewer told her that they were not to return to the
respectable stone-fronted house facing the market-place in Marston,
but that he had bought Lord Byland's property--and that Beremouth was
theirs. Beremouth, with its spreading park, and river, and lake, its
miles of old pasture-land, its waving ferns, and dappled deer;
Beremouth, with its forest and gardens, royal oaks and twisted
hawthorn trees; Beremouth, the finest place in the county. And all
that Mary felt was, that he who had kept this secret, had had a true
hero's delicacy, and had never thought to bribe her, or to get her by
purchase into his home. I think she almost loved him then.
In due time, after perhaps six months of wandering, and of
preparation, Mr. and Mrs. Brewer arrived at their new home, made
glorious by all that taste and art could do, with London energy
working with the power of gold. With them came Claudia. The child
loved her new mother with an abandonment of heart and a perfect
approval. She was still too young to argue, but she was not too young
to feel. The mother she had now got, though not much more than ten
years older than herself, was the mother to love, admire, delight
in--is the mother who could understand her.
Then Beremouth just suited this young lady's idea of what was worth
having in this world; and without any evil thought of the homely
mother who had gone, there was a thought that "Mother-Mary," as Mrs.
Brewer was called by her step-daughter, looked right at Beremouth, and
that another class of person would have looked wrong there--so wrong
that her father under such circumstances would never have put himself
in the position of trying the experiment.
Minnie Lorimer was very happy in her great play-ground; for all the
world, and all life, was play to little Minnie. She loved her new
sister; and the new sister patronized and petted her, so all seemed
right. It was, indeed, a great happiness for Claudia that her father
had chosen Mary Lorimer. Claudia was a vixenish, little handsome
gipsy; very clever, very {24} high-spirited, full of life, health, and
fun--a girl who could have yielded to very few, and who brought the
homage of heart and mind to "Mother-Mary," and rejoiced in doing it.
These two grew to be great friends, and when after three years Claudia
came home and came out, all parties were happy.
In the meantime Mr. Brewer's way in the world had been straight,
plain, and rapidly travelled. The county was at his feet. Mary was no
longer congratulated on having been brought up to poverty. Behind her
back there were plenty of people to say that Mr. Brewer was happy in
having for his wife a well connected gentlewoman. Her pedigree was
told, her poverty forgotten. Her singing and playing, dancing and
drawing, were none the worse for unknown thousands a year. And people
wondered less openly at the splendor of velvets and diamonds than they
had at the new muslin gown. To Mary herself life was very different in
every way. Daily, more and more, she admired her husband, and approved
of him. It was the awakening into life of a new set of feelings. She
knew none of the love and devotion she had felt for her first husband.
Mr. Brewer never expected any of it. But he intended that she should,
in some other indescribable manner, fall in love with him, and she was
doing it every day--which thing her husband saw, and welcomed life
with great satisfaction in consequence.
It was when Claudia came out that the man we have seen, Horace
Erskine, first came to them. He was just of age. Mary did not like
him. She could give no reason for it. Her sister had always praised
him--but Mary _could_ not like him. He came to them for a series of
gay doings, and Mr. Brewer admired him, and Claudia--poor little
Claudia! She gave him that strong heart of hers; that spirit that
could break sooner than bend was quite enslaved--she loved him, and he
had asked for her love, and vowed a hundred times that he could never
be happy without it. He asked her of her father, and Mr. Brewer
consented. It was not for Mary to say no; but her heart went cold in
its fear, and she was very sorry.
The Erskines in Scotland were delighted--all deemed doing well. But
when Horace Erskine talked to Mr. Brewer about money, he was told that
Claudia would have on her marriage five thousand pounds; and ten
thousand more if she survived him would be forthcoming on his death--
that was all. "Enough for a woman," said Mr. Brewer; and Erskine was
silent. It went on for a few weeks, Horace, being flighty and odd,
Claudia, for the first time in her life, humble and endearing. Then he
told her that to him money was necessary; then he asked her to appeal
to her father for more; then she treated the request lightly, and, at
last, positively refused. If she had not enough, he could leave her.
If he left her, would she take the blame on herself? It would injure
him in his future hopes and prospects to have it supposed to be _his_
doing if they parted? Yes, she said. It was the easiest thing in the
world. Who cared?--not he of course--and, certainly, not Claudia
Brewer. It broke her heart to find him vile. But she was too
discerning not to see the truth; her great thought now was to hide it.
To hide too from every one, even from "Mother-Mary," that her heart
felt death-struck--that the whole place was poisoned to her--that life
at Beremouth was loathsome.
She took a strange way of hiding it.
A county election was going on. The man whom Mr. Brewer hoped to see
elected was a guest at Beremouth. An old, grey-haired, worldly,
statesmanlike man. A man who petted Claudia, and admired her; and who
suddenly woke up one day to a thought--a question--a species of
amusing suggestion, which grew into a {25} profound wonder, and then
even warmed into a hope--surely that pretty bright young heiress liked
him, had a fancy to be the second Lady Greystock. It was a droll
thought at first, and he played with it; a flattering fancy, and he
encouraged it. He was an honest man. He knew that he was great,
clever, learned. Was there anything so wonderful in a woman loving
him? He settled the question by asking Claudia. And she promised to be
his wife with a real and undisguised gladness. Her spirit and her
determination were treading the life out of her heart. She was sincere
in her gladness. She thought she could welcome any duties that took
her away from life at Beremouth, and gave her place and position
elsewhere.
Mary suspected much, and feared everything. But Claudia felt and knew
too much to speak one word of the world of hope and joy and love that
had gone away from her. She declared that she liked her old love, and
gloried in his grey hairs, and in the great heart that had stooped to
ask for hers.
Now what are we to say of Horace Erskine? Was he wholly bad? First, he
had never loved Claudia with a real devotion. He had admired her; she
had loved him. He had gambled--green turf and green cloth--gambled
and recklessly indulged himself till he had got upon the way to ruin,
and had begun the downward path, and was glad to be stopped in that
slippery descent by a marriage with an heiress. There was a sparkle,
an originality, about Claudia. It was impossible not to be taken with
her. But Claudia with only _that_ fortune was of no use to him. He
knew she was brave and true-hearted; so he boldly asked her to guard
his name--in fact, to give him up, and not injure his next chance with
a better heiress by telling the truth. _He_ told _her_ the truth; that
he wanted money, and money he must have. She would not tell him that
the worst part of her trial was the loss of her idol. It was despising
him that broke her heart. But because he had been her idol she would
never injure him--never tell.
So the day came, and at Marston church she married Sir Geoffrey
Greystock, "Mother-Mary" wondering; Mr. Brewer believing, in the
innocence of his heart, that the fancy for Horace Erskine had been a
bit of the old wilfulness. "The last bit--the last," he said, as he
spoke of it to her that very day, making her chilled heart knock
against her side as he spoke, and kissed her, and sent her with
blessings from the Beremouth that she had married to get away from.
_To get away_--it had more to do with her marrying than any other
thought. To get away from the house, the spreading pastures, the
bright garden, and above all from the _old deer pond_ in the park--the
most beautiful of all the many lovely spots that nature and art, and
time and taste, had joined to create and adorn Beremouth. The old deer
pond in the park! Sheltered by ancient oak; backed by interlacing
boughs of old hawthorn trees; shadowed by tall, shining, dark dense
holly, that glowed through the winter with its red berries, and
contrasted with the long fair wreaths of hawthorn flowers in the sweet
smiling spring. There, in this now dreaded place, Horace Erskine had
first spoken of love; and there how often had he promised her the
happiness that had gone out of her life--for ever. In the terrible
nights, when her broken-hearted pains were strongest, this deer pond
in the park had been before her closed eyes like a vision. In its
waters she saw in her sleep her face and his, so happy, so loving, so
trusting, so true. Then the picture in that water changed, and she
watched it in her feverish dreams with horror, but yet was obliged to
gaze, and the truth went out of his face, and the terror came into
hers. And, worse and worse, he grew threatening--he was cold--he had
never loved--he was killing her; and she fell, fell from her height of
happiness; no protecting {26} arm stayed her, and the dark waters
opened, and she heard the rushing sound of their deadly waves closing
over her, as she sunk--sunk--again and again, night after night Oh, to
get away, to get away! And she blessed Sir Geoffrey, and when he said
he was too old to wait for a wife she was glad, for she had no wish to
wait. Change, absence, another home, another life, another
world--these things she wanted, and they had come. Is it any wonder
that she took them as the man who is dying of thirst takes the
longed-for draught, and drains the cup of mercy to the dregs?
It was a happy day to marry. Mr. Brewer had not only an excuse, but a
positively undeniable reason for being bountiful and kind. For once he
could openly, and as a matter of duty, make the sad hearts in
Marston--and elsewhere--sing for joy. His blessings flowed so
liberally that he had to apologize. It was only for once--he begged
everybody's pardon, but it could never happen again; he had but this
one child, and she was a bride, and so if they would forgive
everything this once! And many a new life of gladness was begun that
day; many a burden then lost its weight; many a record went up to the
Eternal memory to meet that man at the inevitable hour.
Little Mary was the loveliest bridesmaid the world ever saw; standing
alone like an angel by her dark sister's side. She was the only thing
that Claudia grieved to leave. She was glad to flee away from
"Mother-Mary." She dreaded lest those sweet wistful eyes should read
her heart one day; and she could not help rejoicing to get away from
that honest, open-hearted father's sight. Her poor, wrecked, shrunken
heart--her withered life, could not bear the contrast with his free,
kind, bounteous spirit that gave such measure of love, pressed down
and running over, to all who wanted it. Her old husband, Sir Geoffrey,
resembled that great good heart in whose love she had learnt to think
all men true, more than did her young lover Horace Erskine--she could
be humble and thankful to Sir Geoffrey; a well-placed approval was a
better thing than an ill-placed love. So with that little vision of
beauty, Minnie Lorimer, by her side, Claudia became Sir Geoffrey's
wife.
Four months past, the bride and bridegroom were entertaining a grand
party at their fine ancestral home, and Mr. Brewer was the father of a
son and heir. Horace Erskine read both announcements in the paper one
morning, and ground his teeth with vexation. He went to his desk and
took out three letters, a long lock of silky hair, a small
miniature--these things he had begged to keep. Laughing, he had argued
that he was almost a relation. His uncle had married "Mother-Mary's"
sister. She had had no strength to debate with him. She had chosen to
wear the mask of indifference, too, to him. He now made these things
into a parcel and sent them to Sir Geoffrey Greystock without one word
of explanation. When they were gone he wrote to his uncle, begged for
some money, got it, and started for Vienna. The money met him in
London, and he crossed to France the same day.
In the midst of great happiness the strong heart of good Sir Geoffrey
stood still. His wife sought him. She found him in his chair in a fit.
On a little table by his side was the parcel just received. Claudia
knew all. She took the parcel into the room close by, called her
dressing room, rung for help, but in an hour Sir Geoffrey was dead;
and Claudia had burnt the letters and the lock of silky hair.
The business of parliament, the excitement attendant on his marriage
with that beautiful girl, the entertainment of that great house full
of company--these reasons the world reckoned up, and found sufficient
to answer the questions and the wonderings on Sir Geoffrey's death.
But when those solemn walls no longer knew their master, Claudia, into
whose new life the new things held but an {27} unsteady place, grew
ill. First of all, sleepless nights: how could she sleep with the
sound of those waters by the deer pond in her ears? How could she help
gazing perpetually at the picture on the pond's still surface: Horace
and Sir Geoffrey, and herself not able to turn aside the death-stroke,
but standing, fettered by she knew not what, in powerless misery, only
obliged to see the changing face of her husband till the dead seemed
to be again before her, and Horace melted out of sight, and she woke,
dreading fever and praying against delirium? She was overcome at last.
Terrible hours came, and "Mother-Mary's" sweet face mingling with some
strong, subduing, life-endangering dream, was the first thing that
seemed to bring her back to better things, and to restore her to
herself.
In fact, Claudia had had brain fever, and whether or not she was ever
to know real health again was a problem to be worked out by time.
Would she come back to her father's house? No! The very name of
Beremouth was to be avoided. Would she go abroad? Oh, no; there was a
dread of separation upon her. "Somewhere where you can easily hear of
me, and I of you; where you can come and see me, for I shall never see
Beremouth again." It was her own thought, and so, about five miles
from Beremouth, in the house of a Doctor Rankin, who took ladies out
of health into his family, Claudia determined to go. It was every way
the best thing that could be done, for every day showed more strongly
than the last that Claudia would never be what is emphatically called
"herself" again. So people said.
Dr. Rankin was kind, learned, and wise; Mrs. Rankin warm-hearted and
friendly. Other patients beside Lady Greystock were there. It was not
a private asylum, and Claudia was not mad; it was really what it
called itself, a home which the sick might share, with medical
attendance, cheerful company, and out-door recreations in a well-kept
garden and extensive grounds of considerable beauty. Claudia had known
Dr. and Mrs. Rankin, and had called with her father at Blagden, where
they lived. And there her father and "Mother-Mary" took her three
months after her husband's death, looking really aged, feeble, and
strangely sad.
After a time--it was a long time--Claudia was said to be well.
"Perfectly recovered," said Dr. Rankin, "and in really satisfactory
health." So she was when Minnie Lorimer stood in the room at the inn
in Hull, talking to that very Horace Erskine, who was bringing her
home from her aunt's in Scotland to her mother at Beremouth.
"Sweet seventeen!" Very sweet and beautiful, pleasing the eye,
gratifying the mind, filling the heart with hope, and setting
imagination at play--Minnie Lorimer was beautiful, and with all that
peculiar beauty about her that belongs to "a spoilt child" who has not
been spoilt after all.
Claudia--how old she looked! Claudia, with that one only shadow on her
once bright face, was still living with Dr. and Mrs. Rankin. It was
Lady Greystock's pleasure to live with them. She said she had grown
out of the position of a patient, and into their hearts as a friend.
"Was it not so?" she asked. It was impossible to deny that which
really brought happiness to everybody. "Well, then, I shall build on a
few rooms to the house, and I shall call them mine, and I shall add to
the coach-house, and hire a cottage for my groom and his wife--I shall
live here. Why not? You will take care of me, and feed me, and scold
me, and find me a good guidable creature. You know I shall be ill if
you refuse."
It all happened as she chose. Hers was the prettiest carriage in the
county, the best horses, the most perfectly appointed little
household--for she had her own servants. Among her most devoted
friends were the good doctor and his wife. Lady Greystock was as
positive and as much given to {28} govern as the clever little Claudia
in school-girl days. But the arrangement was a success, and
"Mother-Mary," who saw her constantly, was very glad. Only one trouble
survived; Claudia would never go and stay at Beremouth. She would
drive her ponies merrily to the door, and even spend an hour or two
within the house, but never would she stay there--never! She used to
say to herself that she dared not trust herself with the things that
had witnessed her love, her sorrow, her marriage--with the things that
told her of him who had ruined everything like a murderer--as he was.
And so, to save appearances, she used to say that she never stayed
away from Blagden for a single night, and she never left off black. It
was not that she wore a widow's dress, or covered up the glories of
her beautiful hair. She was but twenty-nine at the moment recorded in
the first page of this story. She was very thin and pale, but she was
a strong woman, and one who required no more care than any other
person; but she had determined never again to see Horace Erskine. What
he had done had become known to her, as we have seen. She only
bargained with life, as it were, in this way, that _that_ man should
be out of it for ever. And for this it was that she made her
resolution and kept it.
Horace Erskine had been abroad for some years; but though she had felt
safe in that fact, she had looked into the future and kept her
resolution. And so she lived on at Blagden, doing good, blessing the
poor, comforting the afflicted, visiting the sick, and beautifying all
things, and adorning all places that came within her reach. Certain
things she was young enough to enjoy greatly; the chief of these was
the contemplation of Frederick Brewer, her half-brother, a fine boy of
nine years old, for nine years of widowhood had been passed, and
through all that time this boy, her dear father's son, had been Lady
Greystock's delight. She loved "Mother-Mary" all the better for having
given him to her father, and she felt a strong, unutterable
thanksgiving that, his birth having been expected, the test of whether
or not Horace Erskine loved her for herself had been applied before
she had become chained to so terrible a destiny as that of being wife
to a thankless, disappointed man. Terrible as her great trial had
been, she might have suffered that which, to one of her temper, would
have been far worse. So Fred Brewer would ride over to see his sister.
Day after day the boy's bright face would be laid beside her own, and
to him, and only to him, would she talk of Sir Geoffrey. Then they
would ride together down to Marston to see Mrs. Morier and Jenifer,
who was a true friend, and lived on those terms with the lady who
loved her well; then to the market-place where the old home stood, now
turned into an almshouse of an eccentric sort, with all rules included
under one head, that the dear old souls were to have just whatever
they wanted. Did Martha Gannet keep three parrots, and did they eat as
much as a young heifer? and scream, too? ah, that was their
nature--never go against a dumb creature's nature, Mr. Brewer said
there was always cruelty in that--and did they smell, and give
trouble, and would they be mischievous, and tear Mrs. Betty's cap?
Indeed. Mr. Brewer was delighted. An excellent excuse for giving new
caps to all the inmates, and to look up all troubles, and mend
everybody's griefs--such an excellent thing it was that the fact of
three parrots should lead to the discovery of so many disgraceful
neglects that Mr. Brewer begged leave to apologize very heartily and
sincerely while he diligently repaired them. It was a very odd school
to bring up young Freddy in. But we are obliged to say that he was not
at all the worse for it.
And here we must say what we have not said before. Mr. Brewer was a
Catholic. He and Jenifer were {29} Catholics; Mrs. Brewer had not been
a Catholic; and Claudia had been left to her mother's teaching. When
Freddy was born, Mr. Brewer considered his ways. And what he saw in
his life we may see shortly. He had been born of a Catholic mother who
had died, and made his Protestant father promise to send him to a
Catholic school. He had stood alone in the world, he had always stood
alone in the world. He seemed to see nothing else. Three miles from
Marston was a little dirty sea-port, also a sort of fishing place. A
place that bore a bad character in a good many ways. Some people would
have finished that character by saying that there were <DW7>s there.
To that place every Sunday Mr. Brewer went to mass. Many and many a
lift he had given to Jenifer on those days. How much Jenifer's talk
assisted his choice of Mary for his wife, we may guess. When Freddy
was born Jenifer said her first words on the subject of religion to
Mr. Brewer: "You will have him properly baptized:" "Of course." "Order
me the pony cart, and I'll go to Father Daniels." "I must tell Mrs.
Brewer." "Leave that to me--just send for the cart." It _was_ left to
Jenifer. By night the priest had come and gone. It had not been his
first visit. He had been there many times, and had known that he was
welcome. The Clayton mission had felt the blessing of Mr. Brewer's
gold. He had seldom been at the house in the market-place in Marston,
but at Beremouth Mary had plucked her finest flowers, and sent them
back in the old gentleman's gig, and he had been always made welcome
in her husband's house with a pretty grace and many pleasant
attentions. Now, when Freddy was baptized, Mr. Brewer went to his wife
and bent over her, and said solemnly, "Mary--my dear wife; Mary--I
thank thee, darling. I thank thee, my love." And the single tear that
fell on her cheek she never forgot.
Then Mr. Brewer met Jenifer at his wife's door. "It's like a new life,
Jenifer." And the steady-mannered woman looked in his bright eyes and
saw how true his words were.
"It's a steady life of doing good to everybody that you have ever led,
sir. It was a lonely life once, no doubt. I was dazed when she married
you. But, eh, master; I have _that_ to think about, and _that_ to pray
for, that a'most makes me believe in anything happening to _you_ for
good, when so much is asked for, day and night, in my own prayer."
"Put _us_ into it; let me and mine be in Jenifer's prayer," he said,
and passed on.
TO BE CONTINUED.
----
From The Month.
PROPOSED SUBSTITUTES FOR THE STEAM-ENGINE.
The present year has been remarkable for the large number of machines
invented for the purpose of superseding steam, in at least some of its
lighter tasks. Many of these are due to French engineers; being
further proofs, if any were required, of the great activity now
displayed in France in all matters of mechanical invention.
Two of these new engines are especially interesting as illustrating
that all-important law in modern physics, the correlation or
convertibility of forces. By this is meant that the forces of
inanimate nature, such as light, heat, electricity--nay, even the
muscular and nerve forces of living beings--have such a mutual
dependence and connection that each one is only produced or called
into action by another, and only ceases to be manifest when it has
given birth to a fresh force in its turn. Thus motion (in the {30}
shape of friction) produces heat, electricity, or light; heat produces
light or electricity; electricity, magnetism; and so on in an endless
chain, which links together all the phenomena of this visible
universe.
As a metaphysical principle, this is as old as Aristotle, and may be
found dimly foreshadowed in the forcible lines of Lucretius:
"--Pereunt imbres, ubi eos pater aether
In gremium matris terrai praecipitavit;
At nitidae surgunt fruges, ramique virescunt,
Arboribus crescunt ipsae, fetuque gravautur,
Hinc alitar porro nostrum genus atque ferarum.
* * * * * *
Haud igitur penitus pereunt quaecumque videntur,
Quando aliud ex alio reflcit natura, nec ullam
Rem gigni patitur, nisi morte adjuta aliena." [Footnote 8]
[Footnote 8: Lucret. lib. i. 250-65.]
But the rediscovery of this law, as a result of experiment, is due to
English physicists of our own day; and it is so invariably true, and
the produced force is always so perfectly proportioned to the force
producing it, that some [Footnote 9] have gone so far as to revive a
very old hypothesis in philosophy, supposing that all the forces of
nature are but differently expressed forms of the Divine Will.
[Footnote 9: Dr. Carpenter, Philos. Trans. 1840, vol. ii. ]
As a corollary to this law, it follows that many a force of nature,
hitherto neglected because of its position or intractability, may be
turned to practical account by using it to produce some new power,
which may be either stored up or transmitted to a distance, and so can
be employed wherever and whenever it is required. Thus, in the first
machine we propose to notice, a M. Cazal has just hit upon a plan by
which to use the power of falling water at a considerable distance. He
employs a water-wheel to turn a magneto-electric machine (of the kind
used for medical purposes, on a very large scale), and the electric
force so obtained may be conveyed to any distance, and employed there
as a motive power. In this way a mountain stream in the Alps or
Pyrenees may turn a lathe, or set a loom in motion, in a workshop in
Paris or Lyons; or even (as has been remarked), if a wire were laid
across the Atlantic, the whole force of Niagara would be at our
disposal.
The idea is at present quite in its infancy; but we are told that the
few experiments hitherto made show that such an engine is not only
very ingenious but perfectly feasible, and (most important of all)
economical.
The second engine gave promise of considerable success when first
brought out in Paris about eight months ago. It was invented by a M.
Tellier, and proceeds on the principle of storing up force, to be used
when wanted. It has long been well known to chemists that a certain
number of gases (as chlorine, carbonic acid, ammonia, and sulphuretted
hydrogen) can be condensed into liquids by cold or pressure, or both
combined. Of all these gases, ammonia is the most easily liquefied,
requiring for this purpose, at ordinary temperatures, a pressure only
six and a half times greater than that of the atmosphere. A supply of
liquid ammonia obtained in this manner is kept by M. Tellier in a
closed vessel, and surrounded with a freezing mixture, so that it has
but little tendency to return to the gaseous state. A small quantity
is allowed to escape from this reservoir under the piston of the
engine, and, the temperature there being higher than in the reservoir,
the ammonia becomes at once converted into gas, increasing thereby to
more than twelve hundred times its previous bulk, and so driving the
piston with great force to the top of the cylinder. A little water is
now admitted, which entirely dissolves the ammonia, a vacuum being
thus created, and the piston driven down again by the pressure of the
air without. M. Tellier employs three such cylinders, which work in
succession; and the only apparent limit to the power to be obtained
from this machine is the amount of liquid ammonia which would have to
be used, about three gallons (or twenty-two pounds) being required for
each horse-power per hour. There is no waste of material; for the
water which has dissolved {31} the gas is saved, and the ammonia
recovered from it by evaporation, and afterwards condensed into a
liquid. M. Tellier proposed to use his engine for propelling omnibuses
and other vehicles; but it would appear that it is too expensive and
too cumbrous to be practically useful; there can, however, be very
little doubt that the principle will be used with success in some new
form. A patent has quite recently been taken out for such an engine in
England. It will be perceived at once how the ammonia engine
illustrates the law of storing up force. It originates no power of its
own, but simply gives out by degrees the mechanical force which had
been previously employed to change the ammonia from a gas to a liquid.
Lenoir's "gas-engine" has been more successful; for, although but a
few months old, it has been already largely adopted in Parisian
hotels, schools, and other large establishments, for raising lifts,
making ices, and even--for what is not done now-a-days by
machinery?--cleaning boots. In London, it was lately exhibited in
Cranbourne Street, and is now used for turning lathes and for other
light work.
This engine, like the ammonia-engine, is provided with an ordinary
cylinder, into which coal-gas and air are admitted, under the piston,
in the proportions of eleven parts of the latter to one of the former.
The mixture is then exploded by the electric spark, and the remaining
air, being greatly expanded, drives up the piston. When the top is
reached the gas and air are again admitted, but this time above the
piston, and the explosion is repeated, so that the piston is driven
down again. The most ingenious part of the whole thing is the
mechanism by which the electric spark is directed alternately to the
upper and lower ends of the cylinder. This cannot be satisfactorily
explained without a diagram, but is brought about (roughly speaking)
by connecting either end of the cylinder with a semicircle of brass,
which is touched by the "rotary crank" in the course of its
revolution. The crank is already charged with electricity, and so
communicates the electric spark to each of the semicircles in turn.
The cylinder is kept plunged in water, so that there is no fear of its
overheating by the constant explosions.
This engine has cheapness for its main recommendation. A
half-horsepower gas-engine (the commonest power made) costs, when
complete, L65, and consumes twopence worth of gas per hour; while the
cost of keeping the battery active is about fourpence per week.
An engineer of Lyons, M. Millon, has since proposed to use, instead of
coal-gas, the gases produced by passing steam over red-hot coke. These
gases are found to explode rather more quickly than coal-gas, when
mixed with common air, and fired by the electric spark. They will
probably be found cheaper and more efficient when they can be
obtained; but in many cases coal-gas will be the only material
available.
A M. Jules Gros has recently invented an engine in which gun-cotton is
exploded in a strong reservoir and air compressed in another, the
compressed air being afterward employed to move the pistons of the
machine. This sounds more dangerous than it perhaps really is, since
gun-cotton is now known to be more tractable than gunpowder, when
properly used; but we very much doubt whether the machine can be
regular or economical enough to be more than a curiosity.
To close the list of French inventions of this kind, we may state that
Count de Molin has lately patented an electro-magnetic machine, which,
he states, will be more powerful than any previously made. It is too
complicated for a mere verbal description to be of any use; but is
apparently not free from the fault of all electro-magnetic engines, of
costing too much to be of practical value.
{32}
[ORIGINAL]
CHRISTINE.
A TROUBADOUR'S SONG,
IN FIVE CANTOS,
BY GEORGE H. MILES. [Footnote 10]
[Footnote 10: Copyright secured.]
PRELUDE.
The Queen hath built her a fairy Bower
In the shadow of the Accursed Tower,
For the Moslem hath left his blood-stained lair,
And the banner of England waveth there.
Thither she lureth the Lion King
To hear a wandering Trovere sing;
For well she knew the Joyous Art
Was surest path to Richard's heart.
But the Monarch's glance was on the sea--
Sooth, he was scarce in minstrel mood,
For Philip's triremes homeward stood
With all the Gallic chivalry.
And as he watched the filmy sail
Upon the furthest billow fail,
He muttered, "Richard ill can spare
Thee and thy Templars, false and fair;
Yet God hath willed it--home to thee,
Death or Jerusalem for me!"
Then pressing with a knightly kiss
The peerless hand that slept in his,
"Ah, would our own Blondel were here
To try a measure I wove last e'en.
What songster hast thou caught, my Queen,
Whose harp may soothe a Monarch's ear?"
She beckoned, and the Trovere bowed
To many a Lord and Ladye fair
That gathered round the royal pair;
But most his simple song was vowed
To a sweet shape with dark brown hair,
Half hidden in the gentle crowd;
Pale as a spirit, sharply slender.
In maiden beauty's crescent splendor.
And never yet bent Minstrel knee
To Mistress lovelier than she.
{33}
THE FIRST SONG.
I.
Ye have heard of the Castle of Miolan
And how it hath stood since time began,
Midway to yon mountain's brow,
Guarding the beautiful valley below:
Its crest the clouds, its ancient feet
Where the Arc and the Isere murmuring meet
Earth hath few lovelier scenes to show
Than Miolan with its hundred halls,
Its massive towers and bannered walls,
Looming out through the vines and walnut woods
That gladden its stately solitudes.
And there might ye hear but yestermorn
The loud halloo and the hunter's horn,
The laugh of mailed men at play.
The drinking bout and the roundelay.
But now all is sternest silence there.
Save the bell that calls to vesper prayer;
Save the ceaseless surge of a father's wail,
And, hark! ye may hear the Baron's Tale.
II.
"Come hither. Hermit!--Yestermorn
I had an only son,
A gallant fair as e'er was born,
A knight whose spurs were won
In the red tide by Godfrey's side
At Ascalon.
{34}
"But yestermorn he came to me
For blessing on his lance,
And death and danger seemed to flee
The joyaunce of his glance,
For he would ride to win his Bride,
Christine of France.
"All sparkling in the sun he stood
In mail of Milan dressed,
A scarf, the gift of her he wooed,
Lay lightly o'er his breast.
As, with a clang, to horse he sprang
With nodding crest
"Gaily he grasped the stirrup cup
Afoam with spicy ale,
But as he took the goblet up
Methought his cheek grew pale.
And a shudder ran through the iron man
And through his mail.
"Oft had I seen him breast the shock
Of squire or crowned king,
His front was firm as rooted rock
When spears were shivering:
I knew no blow could shake him so
From living thing.
"'Twas something near akin to death
That blanched and froze his cheek,
Yet 'twas not death, for he had breath,
And when I bade him speak,
Unto his breast his hand he pressed
With one wild shriek.
"The hand thus clasped upon his heart
So sharply curbed the rein,
Grey Caliph, rearing with a start,
Went bounding o'er the plain
Away, away with echoing neigh
And streaming mane.
"After him sped the menial throng;
I stirred not in my fear;
Perchance I swooned, for it seemed not long
Ere the race did reappear,
And my son still led on his desert-bred.
Grasping his spear.
{35}
"Unchanged in look or limb, he came.
He and his barb so fleet,
His hand still on his heart, the same
Stem bearing in his seat,
And wheeling round with sudden bound
Stopped at my feet.
"And soon as ceased that wildering tramp
'What ails thee, boy?' I cried--
Taking his hand all chill and damp--
'What means this fearful ride?
Alight, alight, for lips so white
Would scare a Bride!'
"But sternly to his steed clove he,
And answer made he none,
I clasped him by his barbed knee
And there I made my moan;
While icily he stared at me,
At me alone.
"A strange, unmeaning stare was that,
And a page beside me said,
'If ever corse in saddle sat,
Our lord is certes sped!'
But I smote the lad, for it drove me mad
To think him dead.
"What! dead so young, what! lost so soon,
My beautiful, my brave!
Sooner the sun should find at noon
In central heaven a grave!
Sweet Jesu, no, it is not so
When Thou canst save!
"For was he dead and was he sped,
When he could ride so well,
So bravely bear his plumed head?
Or, was't some spirit fell
In causeless wrath had crossed his path
With fiendish spell?
"Oh. Hermit, 'twas a cruel sight.
And He, who loves to bless,
Ne'er sent on son such bitter blight.
On sire such sore distress,
Such piteous pass, and I, alas,
So powerless!
{36}
"They would have ta'en him from his horse
The while I wept and prayed,
They would have lain him like a corse
Upon a litter made
Of traversed spear and martial gear.
But I forbade.
"I gazed into his face again,
I chafed his hand once more,
I summoned him to speak, in vain--
He sat there as before,
While the gallant Grey in dumb dismay
His rider bore.
"Full well, full well Grey Caliph then
The horror seemed to know.
E'en deeper than my mailed men
Methought he felt our woe;
For the barbed head of the desert-bred
Was drooping low.
"Amazed, aghast, he gazed at me,
That mourner true and good.
Then backward at my boy looted he.
As if a word he sued.
And like sculptured pile in abbey aisle
The train there stood.
"I took the rein: the frozen one
Still fast in saddle sate.
As tremblingly I led him on
Toward the great castle gate.
O walls mine own, why have ye grown
So desolate?--
"I led them to the castle gate
And paused before the shrine
Where throned in state from earliest date,
Protectress of our line.
Madonna pressed close to her breast
The Babe Divine.
"And kneeling lowly at her feet,
I begged the Mother mild
That she would sue her Jesu sweet
To aid my stricken child;
And the meek stone face flashed full of grace
As if she smiled.
{37}
"And methought the eyes of the Full of Grace
Upon my darling shone,
Till living seemed that marble face
And the living man seemed stone,
While a halo played round the Mother Maid
And round her Son.
"And there was radiance everywhere
Surpassing light of day,
On man and horse, on shield and spear
Burned the bright, blinding ray;
But most it shone on my only one
And his gallant Grey.
"A sudden clang of armor rang,
My boy lay on the sward.
Up high in air Grey Caliph sprang,
An instant fiercely pawed.
Then trembling stood aghast and viewed
His fallen lord.
"Then with the flash of fire away
Like sunbeam o'er the plain,
Away, away with echoing neigh
And wildly waving mane.
Away he sped, loose from his head
The flying rein.
"I watched the steed from pass to pass
Unto the welkin's rim,
I feared to turn my eyes, alas,
To trust a look at him;
And when I turned, my temples burned
And all grew dim.
"Sweet if such swoon could endless be,
Yet speedily I woke
And missed my boy: they showed him me
Full length on bed of oak.
Clad as 'twas meet in mail complete
And sable cloak.
"All of our race upon that bier
Had rested one by one,
I had seen my father lying there,
And now there lay my son!
Ah! my sick soul bled the while it said--
'Thy will be done!'
{38}
"Bright glanced the crest, bright gleamed the spur,
That well had played their part,
His lance still clasped, nor could they stir
His left hand from his heart;
There fast it clove, nor would it move
With all their art
"I found no voice, I shed no tear.
They thought me well resigned.
All else who stood around the bier
With weeping much were blind;
And a mourning voice went through the house
Like a low wind.
"And there was sob of aged man
And woman's wailing cry,
All cheeks were wan, all eyes o'erran,
Yon fair-haired maidens sigh.
And one apart with breaking heart
Weeps bitterly.
"But sharper than spear-thrust, I trow,
Their wailing through me went;
Stem silence suited best my woe,
And, howe'er well the intent.
Their menial din seemed half akin
To merriment
"For oh, such grief was mock to mine
Whose days were all undone.
The last of all this ancient line
To share whose grief was none!
Straight from the hall I barred them all
And stood alone.
"'Receive me now, thou bed of oak!'
I fell upon the bier.
And, Hermit, when this morning broke
It found me clinging there.
O maddening morn! That day dare dawn
On such a pair!
"I sent for thee, thou man of God,
To watch with me to-night;
My boy still liveth, by the rood,
Nor shall be funeral rite!--
But, Hermit, come: this is the room:
There lies the Knight!"
{39}
III.
But she apart
With breaking heart?--
That very yestermorn she stood
In the deepest shade of the walnut wood,
As a Knight rode by on his raven steed,
Crying, "Daughter mine, hast thou done the deed?
I gave thee the venom, I gave thee the spell,
A jealous heart might use them well."
But she waved her white arms and only said,
"On oaken bier is Miolan laid!"
"Dead!" laughed the Knight. "Then round Pilate's Peak
Let the red light burn and the eagle shriek.
When Miolan? heir lies on the bier,
Low is the only lance I fear:
I ride, I ride to win my Bride,
Ho, Eblis, to thy servant's side.
Thou hast sworn no foe
Shall lay me low
Till the dead in arms against me ride!"
------
THE SECOND SONG.
I.
They passed into an ancient hall
With oaken arches spanned.
Full many a shield hung on the wall,
Full many a broken brand.
And barbed spear and scimetar
From Holy Land.
And scarfs of dames of high degree
With gold and jewels rich,
And many a mouldered effigy
In many a mouldering niche,
Like grey sea shells whose crumbling cells
Bestrew the beach.
{40}
The sacred dead possessed the place,
The silent cobweb wreathed
The tombs where slept that warrior race,
With swords for ever sheathed:
You seemed to share the very air
Which they had breathed.
Oh, darksome was that funeral room,
Those oaken arches dim,
The torchlight, struggling through the gloom,
Fell faint on effige grim,
On dragon dread and carved head
Of Cherubim.
Of Cherubim fast by a shrine
Whereon the last sad rite
Was wont for all that ancient line,
For dame and belted knight--
A shrine of Moan which death alone
Did ever light.
But light not now that altar stone
While hope of life remain,
Though darksome be that altar lone,
Unlit that funeral fane,
Save by the rays cast by the blaze
Of torches twain.
Of torches twain at head and heel
Of him who seemeth dead,
Who sleepeth so well in his coat of steel.
His cloak around him spread--
The young Knight fair, who lieth there
On oaken bed.
One hand still fastened to his heart.
The other on his lance,
While through his eyelids, half apart.
Life seemeth half to glance.
"Sweet youth awake, for Jesu's sake,
From this strange trance!"
But heed or answer there is none.
Then knelt that Hermit old;
To Mother Mary and her Son
Full many a prayer he told,
Whose wondrous words the Church records
In lettered gold:
{41}
And many a precious litany
And many a pious vow,
Then rising said, "If fiend it be,
That fiend shall leave thee now!"
And traced the sign of the Cross divine
On lips and brow.
As well expect yon cherub's wings
To wave at matin bell!
Not all the relics of the kings
Could break that iron spell.
"Pray for the dead, let mass be said,
Toll forth the knell!"
"Not yet!" the Baron gasped and sank
As if beneath a blow,
With lips all writhing as they drank
The dregs of deepest woe;
With eyes aglare, and scattered hair
Tossed to and fro.
So swings the leaf that lingers last
When wintry tempests sweep,
So reels when storms have stripped the mast
The galley on the deep,
So nods the snow on Eigher's brow
Before the leap.
Uncertain 'mid his tangled hair
His palsied fingers stray,
He smileth in his dumb despair
Like a sick child at play.
Though wet, I trow, with tears eno'
That beard so grey.
Oh, Hermit, lift him to your breast,
There best his heart may bleed;
Since none but heaven can give him rest,
Heaven's priest must meet his need:
Dry that white beard, now wet and weird
As pale sea-weed.
Uprising slowly from the ground,
With short and frequent breath.
In aimless circles, round and round,
The Baron tottereth
With trailing feet, a mourner meet
For house of death.
{42}
Till, pausing by the shrine of Moan,
He said, the while he wept,
"Here, Hermit, here mine only one,
When all the castle slept,
As maiden knight, o'er armor bright,
His first watch kept.
"This is the casque that first he wore,
And this his virgin shield.
This lance to his first tilt he bore,
With this first took the field--
How light, how lache to that huge ash
He now doth wield!
"This blade hath levelled at a blow
The she-wolf in her den.
With this red falchion he laid low
The slippery Saracen.
God! will that hand, so near his brand,
Ne'er strike again?
"Frown not on him, ye men of old.
Whose glorious race is run;
Frown not on him, my fathers bold.
Though many the field ye won:
His name and los may mate with yours
Though but begun!
"Receive him, ye departed brave,
Unlock the gates of light.
And range yourselves about his grave
To hail a brother knight.
Who never erred in deed or word
Against the right!
"But is he dead and is he sped
Withouten scathe or scar?
Why, Hermit, he hath often bled
From sword and scimetar--
I've seen him ride, wounds gaping wide,
From war to war.
"And hath a silent, viewless thing
Laid danger's darling low,
When youth and hope were on the wing
And life in morning glow?
Not yonder worm in winter's storm
Perisheth so!
{43}
"Oh, Hermit, thou hast heard, I ween,
Of trances long and deep,
But, Hermit, hast thou ever seen
That grim and stony sleep.
And canst thou tell how long a spell
Such slumbers keep?
"Oh, be there naught to break the charm,
To thaw this icy chain;
Has Mother Church no word to warm
These freezing lips again;
Be holy prayer and balsams rare
Alike in vain? . . . .
"A curse on thy ill-omened head;
Man, bid me not despair;
Churl, say not that a Knight is dead
When he can couch his spear;
When he can ride--Monk, thou hast lied.
He lives, I swear!
"Up from that bier! Boy, to thy feet!
Know'st not thy father's voice?
Thou ne'er hast disobeyed . . . is't meet
A sire should summon thrice?
By these grey hairs, by these salt tears,
Awake, arise!
"Ho, lover, to thy ladye flee,
Dig deep the crimson spur;
Sleep not 'twixt this lean monk and me
When thou shouldst kneel to her!
Oh 'tis a sin, Christine to win
And thou not stir!
"Ho, laggard, hear yon trumpet's note
Go sounding to the skies,
The lists are set, the banners float.
Yon loud-mouthed herald cries,
'Ride, gallant knights, Christine invites.
Herself the prize!'
"Ho, craven, shun'st thou the melee,
When she expects thy brand
To prove to-day in fair tourney
A title to her hand?
Up, dullard base, or by the mass
I'll make thee stand!" . . . .
{44}
Thrice strove he then to wrench apart
Those fingers from the spear.
Thrice strove to sever from the heart
The hand that rested there.
Thrice strove in vain with frantic strain
That shook the bier.
Thrice with the dead the living strove,
Their armor rang a peal,
The sleeping knight he would not move
Although the sire did reel:
That stately corse defied all force,
Stubborn as steel.
"Ay, dead, dead, dead!" the Baron cried;
"Dear Hermit, I did rave.
O were we sleeping side by side! . .
Good monk, I penance crave
For all I said .... Ay, he is dead,
Pray heaven to save!
"Betake thee to thy crucifix,
And let me while I may
Rain kisses on these frozen cheeks
Before they know decay.
Leave me to weep and watch and keep
The worm at bay.
"Thou wilt not spare thy prayers, I trust;
But name not now the grave--
I'll watch him to the very dust! ....
So, Hermit, to thy cave.
Whilst here I cling lest creeping thing
Insult the brave!"
------
Why starts the Hermit to his feet,
why springs he to the bier,
Why calleth he on Jesu sweet,
Staying the starting tear.
What whispereth he half trustfully
And half in fear?
{45}
"Sir Knight, thy ring hath razed his flesh--
'Twas in thy frenzy done;
Lo, from his wrist how fast and fresh
The blood-drops trickling run;
Heaven yet may wake, for Mary's sake,
Thy warrior son.
"Heap ashes on thy head, Sir Knight,
In sackcloth gird thee well,
The shrine of Moan must blaze in light,
The morning mass must swell;
Arouse from sleep the castle keep,
Sound every bell!"
They come, pale maid and mailed man
They throng into the hall,
The watcher from the barbican,
The warder from the wall.
And she apart, with breaking heart,
The last of all.
"__Introibo! _Introibo!_"
The morning mass begins;
"_Mea culpa! mea culpa!_"
Forgive us all our sins;
And the rapt Hermit chaunts with streaming eyes,
That seem to enter Paradise,
"_Gloria! Gloria!_"
The shrine of Moan had never known
That gladdest of all hymns.
------
II.
The fair-haired maiden standeth apart
In the chapel gloom, with breaking heart.
But a smile broke over her face as she said,
"The draught was well measured, I ween;
He liveth, thank Allah, but not to wed
His beautiful Christine.
No lance hath Miolan couched to-day:
Let the bride for the bridegroom watch, and pray.
Till the lists shall hear the shriek
Of the Dauphin's daughter borne away
By the Knight of Pilate's Peak."
TO BE CONTINUED.
{46}
A LETTER TO THE REV. E. B. PUSEY, D.D.,
ON HIS RECENT EIRENICON.
BY JOHN HENRY NEWMAN, D.D.,
OF THE ORATORY.
Veni, Domine, et noli tardare,
relaxa facinora plebi tuae;
et rovoca dispersos in terram suam.
No one who desires the union of
Christendom, after its many and
long-standing divisions, can have any other
feeling than joy, my dear Pusey, at
finding from your recent volume that
you see your way to make definite
proposals to us for effecting that
great object, and are able to lay down
the basis and conditions on which you
could co-operate in advancing it. It
is not necessary that we should concur
in the details of your scheme, or
in the principles which it involves, in
order to welcome the important fact
that, with your personal knowledge of the Anglican body, and your
experience of its composition and tendencies, you consider the time to
be come when you and your friends may, without imprudence, turn your
minds to the contemplation of such an enterprise. Even were you an
individual member of that church, a watchman upon a high tower in a
metropolis of religious opinion, we should naturally listen with
interest to what you had to report of the state of the sky and the
progress of the night, what stars were mounting up or what clouds
gathering; what were the prospects of the three great parties which
Anglicanism contains within it, and what was just now the action upon
them respectively of the politics and science of the time. You do not
go into these matters; but the step you have taken is evidently the
measure and the issue of the view which you have formed of them all.
However, you are not a mere individual; from early youth you have
devoted yourself to the Established Church, and after between forty
and fifty years of unremitting labor in its service, your roots and
your branches stretch out through every portion of its large
territory. You, more than any one else alive, have been the present
and untiring agent by whom a great work has been effected in it; and,
far more than is usual, you have received in your lifetime, as well as
merited, the confidence of your brethren. You cannot speak merely for
yourself; your antecedents, your existing influence, are a pledge to
us that what you may determine will be the determination of a
multitude. Numbers, too, for whom you cannot properly be said to
speak, will be moved by your authority or your arguments; and numbers,
again, who are of a school more recent than your own, and who are only
not your followers because they have outstripped you in their free
speeches and demonstrative acts in our behalf, will, for the occasion,
accept you as their spokesman. There is no one anywhere--among
ourselves, in your own body, or, I suppose, in the Greek Church--who
can affect so vast a circle of men, so virtuous, so able, so learned,
so zealous, as come, more or less, under your influence; and I cannot
pay them all a greater compliment, than to tell them they ought all to
be Catholics, nor do them a more affectionate service than to pray
that they may one day become such. Nor can I address myself to an act
more pleasing, as I trust, to the Divine Lord of the church, and more
loyal and dutiful to his Vicar on earth, than to attempt, however,
feebly, to promote so great a consummation.
{47}
I know the joy it would give those conscientious men of whom I am
speaking to be one with ourselves. I know how their hearts spring up
with a spontaneous transport at the very thought of union; and what
yearning is theirs after that great privilege, which they have not,
communion with the See of Peter and its present, past, and future. I
conjecture it by what I used to feel myself, while yet in the Anglican
Church. I recollect well what an outcast I seemed to myself when I
took down from the shelves of my library the volumes of St. Athanasius
or St. Basil, and set myself to study them; and how, on the contrary,
when at length I was brought into Catholicism, I kissed them with
delight, with a feeling that in them I had more than all that I had
lost, and, as though I were directly addressing the glorious saints
who bequeathed them to the Church, I said to the inanimate pages, "You
are now mine, and I am now yours, beyond any mistake." Such, I
conceive, would be the joy of the persons I speak of, if they could
wake up one morning and find themselves possessed by right of Catholic
traditions and hopes, without violence to their own sense of duty;
and, certainly, I am the last man to say that such violence is in any
case lawful, that the claims of conscience are not paramount, or that
any one may overleap what he deliberately holds to be God's command,
in order to make his path easier for him or his heart lighter.
I am the last man to quarrel with this jealous deference to the voice
of our conscience, whatever judgment others may form of us in
consequence, for this reason--because their case, as it at present
stands, has, as you know, been my own. You recollect well what hard
things were said against us twenty-five years ago, which we knew in
our hearts we did not deserve. Hence, I am now in the position of the
fugitive queen in the well-known passage, who, "haud ignara mali"
herself, had learned to sympathize with those who were inheritors of
her past wanderings. There were priests, good men, whose zeal
outstripped their knowledge, and who in consequence spoke confidently,
when they would have been wiser had they suspended their adverse
judgment of those whom they had soon to welcome as brethren in
communion. We at that time were in worse plight than your friends are
now, for our opponents put their very hardest thoughts of us into
print. One of them wrote thus in a letter addressed to one of the
Catholic bishops:
"That this Oxford crisis is a real progress to Catholicism, I have
all along considered a perfect delusion. ... I look upon Mr. Newman,
Dr. Pusey, and their associates as wily and crafty, though
unskilful, guides. . . . The embrace of Mr. Newman is the kiss that
would betray us. . . . But--what is the most striking feature in the
rancorous malignity of these men--their calumnies are often lavished
upon us, when we should be led to think that the subject-matter of
their treatises closed every avenue against their vituperation. The
three last volumes [of the Tracts] have opened my eyes to the
craftiness and the cunning, as well as the malice, of the members of
the Oxford convention. . . . If the Puseyites are to be the new
apostles of Great Britain, my hopes for my country are lowering and
gloomy. . . . I would never have consented to enter the lists
against this strange confraternity ... if I did not feel that my own
prelate was opposed to the guile and treachery of these men. . . . .
I impeach Dr. Pusey and his friends of a deadly hatred of our
religion. . . . . What, my lord, would the Holy See think of the
works of these Puseyites? . . ."
Another priest, himself a convert, wrote:
"As we approach toward Catholicity our love and respect increases,
and our violence dies away; but the bulk of these men become more
rabid as they become like Rome, a plain proof of their designs. ...
I do not believe that they are any nearer the portals of the
Catholic Church than the most prejudiced Methodist and Evangelical
preacher. . . . Such, rev. sir, is an outline of my views on the
Oxford movement."
{48}
I do not say that such a view of us was unnatural; and, for myself, I
readily confess that I had used about the church such language that I
had no claim on Catholics for any mercy. But, after all, and in fact,
they were wrong in their anticipations--nor did their brethren agree
with them at the time. Especially Dr. Wiseman (as he was then) took a
larger and more generous view of us; nor did the Holy See interfere,
though the writer of one of these passages invoked its judgment. The
event showed that the more cautious line of conduct was the more
prudent; and one of the bishops, who had taken part against us, with a
supererogation of charity, sent me on his death-bed an expression of
his sorrow for having in past years mistrusted me. A faulty
conscience, faithfully obeyed, through God's mercy, had in the long
run brought me right.
Fully, then, do I recognize the rights of conscience in this matter. I
find no fault in your stating, as clearly and completely as you can,
the difficulties which stand in the way of your joining us. I cannot
wonder that you begin with stipulating conditions of union, though I
do not concur in them myself, and think that in the event you yourself
would be content to let them drop. Such representations as yours are
necessary to open the subject in debate; they ascertain how the land
lies, and serve to clear the ground. Thus I begin; but, after allowing
as much as this, I am obliged in honesty to say what I fear, my dear
Pusey, will pain you. Yet I am confident, my very dear friend, that at
least you will not be angry with me if I say, what I must say, or say
nothing at all, that there is much both in the matter and in the
manner of your volume calculated to wound those who love you well, but
love truth more. So it is; with the best motives and kindest
intentions, "Caedimur, et totidem plagis consumimus hostem." We give
you a sharp cut, and you return it. You complain of our being "dry,
hard, and unsympathizing;" and we answer that you are unfair and
irritating. But we at least have not professed to be composing an
Irenicon, when we treated you as foes. There was one of old time who
wreathed his sword in myrtle; excuse me--you discharge your
olive-branch as if from a catapult.
Do not think I am not serious; if I spoke seriously, I should seem to
speak harshly. Who will venture to assert that the hundred pages which
you have devoted to the Blessed Virgin give other than a one-sided
view of our teaching about her, little suited to win us? It may be a
salutary castigation, if any of us have fairly provoked it, but it is
not making the best of matters; it is not smoothing the way for an
understanding or a compromise. It leads a writer in the most moderate
and liberal Anglican newspaper of the day, the "Guardian," to turn
away from your representation of us with horror. "It is language,"
says your reviewer, "which, after having often heard it, we still can
only hear with horror. We had rather not quote any of it, or of the
comments upon it." What could an Exeter Hall orator, what could a
Scotch commentator on the Apocalypse, do more for his own side of the
controversy by the picture he drew of us? You may be sure that what
creates horror on one side will be answered by indignation on the
other, and these are not the most favorable dispositions for a peace
conference. I had been accustomed to think that you, who in times past
were ever less declamatory in controversy than myself, now that years
had gone on, and circumstances changed, had come to look on our old
warfare against Rome as cruel and inexpedient. Indeed, I know that it
was a chief objection urged against me only last year by persons who
agreed with you in deprecating an oratory at Oxford, which at that
time was in prospect, that such an undertaking would be the signal for
the rekindling of that fierce style of polemics which is now out of
date. I had fancied you shared in that opinion; but now, as if {49} to
show how imperative you deem its renewal, you actually bring to life
one of my own strong sayings in 1841, which had long been in the
grave--that "the Roman Church comes as near to idolatry as can be
supposed in a church, of which it said, 'The idols he shall utterly
abolish,'" p. 111.
I know, indeed, and feel deeply, that your frequent references in your
volume to what I have lately or formerly written are caused by your
strong desire to be still one with me as far as you can, and by that
true affection which takes pleasure in dwelling on such sayings of
mine as you can still accept with the full approbation of your
judgment. I trust I am not ungrateful or irresponsive to you in this
respect; but other considerations have an imperative claim to be taken
into account. Pleasant as it is to agree with you, I am bound to
explain myself in cases in which I have changed my mind, or have given
a wrong impression of my meaning, or have been wrongly reported; and,
while I trust that I have better than such personal motives for
addressing you in print, yet it will serve to introduce my main
subject, and give me an opportunity for remarks which bear upon it
indirectly, if I dwell for a page or two on such matters contained in
your volume as concern myself.
1. The mistake which I have principally in view is the belief, which
is widely spread, that I have publicly spoken of the Anglican Church
as "the great bulwark against infidelity in this land." In a pamphlet
of yours, a year old, you spoke of "a very earnest body of Roman
Catholics" who "rejoice in all the workings of God the Holy Ghost in
the Church of England (whatever they think of her), and are saddened
by what weakens her who is, in God's hands, the great bulwark against
infidelity in this land." The concluding words you were thought to
quote from my "Apologia." In consequence, Dr. Manning, now our
archbishop, replied to you, asserting, as you say, "the contradictory
of that statement." In that counter-assertion he was at the time
generally considered (rightly or wrongly, as it may be), though
writing to you, to be really correcting statements in my "Apologia,"
without introducing my name. Further, in the volume which you have now
published, you recur to the saying, and you speak of its author in
terms which, did I not know your partial kindness for me, would hinder
me from identifying him with myself. You say, "The saying was not
mine, but that of one of the deepest thinkers and observers in the
Roman communion," p. 7. A friend has suggested to me that, perhaps,
you mean De Maistre; and, from an anonymous letter which I have
received from Dublin, I find it is certain that the very words in
question were once used by Archbishop Murray; but you speak of the
author of them as if now alive. At length a reviewer of your volume,
in the "Weekly Register," distinctly attributes them to me by name,
and gives me the first opportunity I have had of disowning them; and
this I now do. What, at some time or other, I may have said in
conversation or private letter, of course, I cannot tell; but I have
never, I am sure, used the word "bulwark" of the Anglican Church
deliberately. What I said in my "Apologia" was this: That that church
was "a serviceable breakwater against errors more fundamental than its
own." A bulwark is an integral part of the thing it defends; whereas
the words "serviceable" and "breakwater" imply a kind of protection
which is accidental and _de facto_. Again, in saying that the Anglican
Church is a defence against "errors more fundamental than its own," I
imply that it has errors, and those fundamental.
2. There is another passage in your volume, at p. 337, which it may be
right to observe upon. You have made a collection of passages from the
fathers, as witnesses in behalf of your doctrine that the whole
Christian faith is contained in Scripture, as if, in your sense of the
words. Catholics contradicted you here. {50} And you refer to my notes
on St. Athanasius as contributing passages to your list; but, after
all, neither do you, nor do I in my notes, affirm any doctrine which
Rome denies. Those notes also make frequent reference to a traditional
teaching, which (be the faith ever so certainly contained in
Scripture) still is necessary as a Regula Fidei, for showing us that
it is contained there--_vid_. pp. 283, 344--and this tradition, I
know, you uphold as fully as I do in the notes in question. In
consequence, you allow that there is a twofold rule. Scripture and
tradition; and this is all that Catholics say. How, then, do Anglicans
differ from Rome here? I believe the difference is merely one of
words; and I shall be doing, so far, the work of an Irenicon, if I
make clear what this verbal difference is. Catholics and Anglicans (I
do not say Protestants) attach different meanings to the word "proof,"
in the controversy whether the whole faith is, or is not, contained in
Scripture. We mean that not every article of faith is so contained
there, that it may thence be logically proved, _independently_ of the
teaching and authority of the tradition; but Anglicans mean that every
article of faith is so contained there, that it may thence be proved,
_provided_ there be added the illustrations and compensations of the
tradition. And it is in this latter sense, I conceive, the fathers
also speak in the passages which you quote from them. I am sure at
least that St. Athanasius frequently adduces passages as proofs of
points in controversy which no one would see to be proofs unless
apostolical tradition were taken into account, first as suggesting,
then as authoritatively ruling, their meaning. Thus, _you_ do not deny
that the whole is not in Scripture in such sense that pure unaided
logic can draw it from the sacred text; nor do _we_ deny that the
faith is in Scripture, in an improper sense, in the sense that
_tradition_ is able to recognize and determine it there. You do not
profess to dispense with tradition; nor do we forbid the idea of
probable, secondary, symbolical, connotative senses of Scripture, over
and above those which properly belong to the wording and context. I
hope you will agree with me in this.
3. Nor is it only in isolated passages that you give me a place in
your volume. A considerable portion of it is written with reference to
two publications of mine, one of which you name and defend, the other
you tacitly protest against: "Tract 90," and the "Essay on Doctrinal
Development," As to "Tract 90," you have from the first, as all the
world knows, boldly stood up for it, in spite of the obloquy which it
brought upon you, and have done me a great service. You are now
republishing it with my cordial concurrence; but I take this
opportunity of noticing, lest there should be any mistake on the part
of the public, that you do so with a different object from that which
I had when I wrote it. Its original purpose was simply that of
justifying myself and others in subscribing to the Thirty-nine
Articles while professing many tenets which had popularly been
considered distinctive of the Roman faith. I considered that my
interpretation of the Articles, as I gave it in that Tract, would
stand, provided the parties imposing them allowed it, otherwise I
thought it could not stand; and, when in the event the bishops and
public opinion did not allow it, I gave up my living, as having no
right to retain it. My feeling about the interpretation is expressed
in a passage in "Loss and Gain," which runs thus:
"'Is it,' asked Reding, 'a received view?' 'No view is received,'
said the other; 'the Articles themselves are received, but there is
no authoritative interpretation of them at all.' 'Well,' said
Reding, 'is it a tolerated view?' 'It certainly has been strongly
opposed,' answered Bateman; 'but it has never been condemned.' 'That
is no answer,' said Charles. 'Does any one bishop hold it? Did any
one bishop ever hold it? Has it ever been formally admitted as
tenable by any one bishop? Is it a view got up to meet existing
difficulties, or has it an historical existence?' Bateman could give
only one answer to {51} these questions, as they were successively
put to him. 'I thought so,' said Charles; 'the view is specious
certainly. I don't we why it might not have done, had it been
tolerably sanctioned; but you have no sanction to show me. As it
stands, it is a mere theory struck out by individuals. Our church
_might_ have adopted this mode of interpreting the Articles; but,
from what you tell me, it certainly has not done so.'"--Ch. 15.
However, the Tract did not carry its object and conditions on its
face, and necessarily lay open to interpretations very far from the
true one. Dr. Wiseman (as he then was), in particular, with the keen
apprehension which was his characteristic, at once saw in it a basis
of accommodation between Anglicanism and Rome. He suggested broadly
that the decrees of the Council of Trent should be made the rule of
interpretation for the Thirty-nine Articles, a proceeding of which
Sancta Clara, I think, had set the example; and, as you have observed,
published a letter to Lord Shrewsbury on the subject, of which the
following are extracts:
"We Catholics must necessarily deplore [England's] separation as a
deep moral evil--as state of schism of which nothing can justify the
continuance. Many members of the Anglican Church view it in the same
light as to the first point--its sad evil; though they excuse their
individual position in it as an unavoidable misfortune. . . . We may
depend upon a willing, an able, and a most zealous co-operation with
any effort which we may make toward bringing her into her rightful
position, in Catholic unity with the Holy See and the churches of
its obedience--in other words, with the church Catholic. Is this a
visionary idea? Is it merely the expression of strong desire? I know
that many will so judge it; and, perhaps, were I to consult my own
quiet, I would not venture to express it. But I will, in simplicity
of heart, cling to hopefulness, cheered, as I feel it, by so many
promising appearances. . . .
"A natural question here presents itself--what facilities appear in
the present state of things for bringing about so happy a
consummation as the reunion of England to the Catholic Church,
beyond what have before existed, and particularly under Archbishops
Laud or Wake? It strikes me, many. First, etc. . . . A still more
promising circumstance I think your lordship will with me consider
the _plan_ which the eventful 'Tract No. 90' has pursued, and in
which Mr. Ward, Mr. Oakeley, and even Dr. Pusey have agreed. I
allude to the method of _bringing their doctrines into accordance
with ours by explanation._ A foreign priest has pointed out to us a
valuable document for our consideration--'Bossuet's Reply to the
Pope,' when consulted on the best method of reconciling the
followers of the Augsburg Confession with the Holy See. The learned
bishop observes, that Providence had allowed so much Catholic truth
to be preserved in that Confession that full advantage should be
taken of the circumstance; that no retractations should be demanded,
but an explanation of the Confession in accordance with Catholic
doctrines. Now, for such a method as this, the way is in part
prepared by the demonstration that such interpretation may be given
of the most difficult Articles as will strip them of all
contradiction to the decrees of the Tridentine Synod. The same
method may be pursued on other points; and much pain may thus be
spared to individuals, and much difficulty to the church."--Pp. 11,
35, 38.
This use of my Tract, so different from my own, but sanctioned by the
great name of our cardinal, you are now reviving; and I gather from
your doing so, that your bishops and the opinion of the public are
likely now, or in prospect, to admit what twenty-five years ago they
refused. On this point, much as it rejoices me to know your
anticipation, of course I cannot have an opinion.
4. So much for "Tract 90." On the other hand, as to my "Essay on
Doctrinal Development," I am sorry to find you do not look upon it
with friendly eyes; though how, without its aid, you can maintain the
doctrines of the Holy Trinity and incarnation, and others which you
hold, I cannot understand. You consider my principle may be the means,
in time to come, of introducing into our Creed, as portions of the
necessary Catholic faith, the infallibility of the Pope, and various
opinions, pious or profane, as it may be, about our Blessed Lady. I
hope to remove your anxiety as to these consequences, before I bring
my {52} observations to an end; at present I notice it as my apology
for interfering in a controversy which at first sight is no business
of mine.
5. I have another reason for writing; and that is, unless it is rude
in me to say so, because you seem to think writing does not become me.
I do not like silently to acquiesce in such a judgment You say at p.
98:
"Nothing can be more unpractical than for an individual to throw
himself into the Roman Church because he could accept the _letter_
of the Council of Trent. Those who were born Roman Catholics have a
liberty which, in the nature of things, a person could not have who
left another system to embrace that of Rome. I cannot imagine how
any faith could stand the shock of leaving one system, criticising
_it_, and cast himself into another system, criticising _it_. For
myself, I have always felt that had (which God of his mercy avert
hereafter also) the English Church, by accepting heresy, driven me
out of it, I could have gone in no other way than that of closing my
eyes, and accepting whatever was put before me. But a liberty which
individuals could not use, and explanations which, so long as they
remain individual, must be unauthoritative, might be formally made
by the Church of Rome to the Church of England as the basis of
reunion."
And again, p. 210:
"It seems to me to be a psychological impossibility for one who has
already exchanged one system for another to make those distinctions.
One who, by his own act, places himself under authority, cannot make
conditions about his submission. But definite explanations of our
Articles have, before now, been at least tentatively offered to us,
on the Roman and Greek side, as sufficient to restore communion; and
the Roman explanations too were, in most cases, mere supplements to
our Articles, on points upon which our Church had not spoken."
Now passages such as these seem almost a challenge to me to speak, and
to keep silence would be to assent to the justice of them. At the
cost, then, of speaking about myself, of which I feel there has been
too much of late, I observe upon them as follows: Of course, as you
say, a convert comes to learn, and not to pick and choose. He comes in
simplicity and confidence, and it does not occur to him to weigh and
measure every proceeding, every practice which he meets with among
those whom he has joined. He comes to Catholicism as to a living
system, with a living teaching, and not to a mere collection of
decrees and canons, which by themselves are of course but the
framework, not the body and substance, of the church. And this is a
truth which concerns, which binds, those also who never knew any other
religion, not only the convert. By the Catholic system I mean that
rule of life and those practices of devotion for which we shall look
in vain in the Creed of Pope Pius. The convert comes, not only to
believe the church, but also to trust and obey her priests, and to
conform himself in charity to her people. It would never do for him to
resolve that he never would say a Hail Mary, never avail himself of an
indulgence, never kiss a crucifix, never accept the Lent
dispensations, never mention a venial sin in confession. All this
would not only be unreal, but dangerous, too, as arguing a wrong state
of mind, which could not look to receive the divine blessing.
Moreover, he comes to the ceremonial, and the moral theology, and the
ecclesiastical regulations which he finds on the spot where his lot is
cast. And again, as regards matters of politics, of education, of
general expedience, of taste, he does not criticise or controvert. And
thus surrendering himself to the influences of his new religion, and
not losing what is revealed truth by attempting by his own private
rule to discriminate every moment its substance from its accidents, he
is gradually so indoctrinated in Catholicism as at length to have a
right to speak as well as to hear. Also, in course of time, a new
generation rises round him; and there is no reason why he should not
know as much, and decide questions with as true an instinct, as those
who perhaps number fewer years than he does Easter communions. {53} He
has mastered the fact and the nature of the differences of theologian
from theologian, school from school, nation from nation, era from era.
He knows that there is much of what may be called fashion in opinions
and practices, according to the circumstances of time and place,
according to current politics, the character of the Pope of the day,
or the chief prelates of a particular country, and that fashions
change. His experience tells him, that sometimes what is denounced in
one place as a great offence, or preached up as a first principle, has
in another nation been immemorially regarded in just a contrary sense,
or has made no sensation at all, one way or the other, when brought
before public opinion; and that loud talkers, in the church as
elsewhere, are apt to carry all before them, while quiet and
conscientious persons commonly have to give way. He perceives that, in
matters which happen to be in debate, ecclesiastical authority watches
the state of opinion and the direction and course of controversy, and
decides accordingly; so that in certain cases to keep back his own
judgment on a point is to be disloyal to his superiors.
So far generally; now in particular as to myself. After twenty years
of Catholic life, I feel no delicacy in giving my opinion on any point
when there is a call for me, and the only reason why I have not done
so sooner, or more often than I have, is that there has been no call.
I have now reluctantly come to the conclusion that your volume _is_ a
call. Certainly, in many instances in which theologian differs from
theologian, and country from country, I have a definite judgment of my
own; I can say so without offence to any one, for the very reason that
from the nature of the case it is impossible to agree with all of
them. I prefer English habits of belief and devotion to foreign, from
the same causes, and by the same right, which justify foreigners in
preferring their own. In following those of my people, I show less
singularity and create less disturbance than if I made a flourish with
what is novel and exotic. And in this line of conduct I am but
availing myself of the teaching which I fell in with on becoming a
Catholic; and it is a pleasure to me to think that what I hold now,
and would transmit after me if I could, is only what I received then.
The utmost delicacy was observed on all hands in giving me advice;
only one warning remains on my mind, and it came from Dr. Griffiths,
the late vicar-apostolic of the London district. He warned me against
books of devotion of the Italian school, which were just at that time
coming into England; and when I asked him what books he recommended as
safe guides, he bade me get the works of Bishop Hay. By this I did not
understand that he was jealous of all Italian books, or made himself
responsible for all that Dr. Hay happens to have said; but I took him
to caution me against a character and tone of religion, excellent in
its place, not suited for England. When I went to Rome, though it may
seem strange to you to say it, even there I learned nothing
inconsistent with this judgment. Local influences do not supply an
atmosphere for its institutions and colleges, which are Catholic in
teaching as well as in name. I recollect one saying among others of my
confessor, a Jesuit father, one of the holiest, most prudent men I
ever knew. He said that we could not love the Blessed Virgin too much,
if we loved our Lord a great deal more. When I returned to England,
the first expression of theological opinion which came in my way was
_apropos_ of the series of translated saints' lives which the late Dr.
Faber originated. That expression proceeded from a wise prelate, who
was properly anxious as to the line which might be taken by the Oxford
converts, then for the first time coming into work. According as I
recollect his opinion, he was apprehensive of the effect of Italian
{54} compositions, as unsuited to this country, and suggested that the
lives should be original works, drawn up by ourselves and our friends
from Italian sources. If at that time I was betrayed into any acts
which were of a more extreme character than I should approve now, the
responsibility of course is mine; but the impulse came not from old
Catholics or superiors, but from men whom I loved and trusted who were
younger than myself. But to whatever extent I might be carried away,
and I cannot recollect any tangible instances, my mind in no long time
fell back to what seems to me a safer and more practical course.
Though I am a convert, then, I think I have a right to speak out; and
that the more because other converts have spoken for a long time,
while I have not spoken; and with still more reason may I speak
without offence in the case of your present criticisms of us,
considering that, in the charges you bring, the only two English
writers you quote in evidence are both of them converts, younger in
age than myself. I put aside the archbishop, of course, because of his
office. These two authors are worthy of all consideration, at once
from their character and from their ability. In their respective lines
they are perhaps without equals at this particular time; and they
deserve the influence they possess. One is still in the vigor of his
powers; the other has departed amid the tears of hundreds. It is
pleasant to praise them for their real qualifications; but why do you
rest on them as authorities? Because the one was "a popular writer;"
but is there not sufficient reason for this in the fact of his
remarkable gifts, of his poetical fancy, his engaging frankness, his
playful wit, his affectionateness, his sensitive piety, without
supposing that the wide diffusion of his works arises out of his
particular sentiments about the Blessed Virgin? And as to our other
friend, do not his energy, acuteness, and theological reading,
displayed on the vantage ground of the historic "Dublin Review," fully
account for the sensation he has produced, without supposing that any
great number of our body go his lengths in their view of the Pope's
infallibility? Our silence as regards their writings is very
intelligible: it is not agreeable to protest, in the sight of the
world, against the writings of men in our own communion whom we love
and respect. But the plain fact is this--they came to the Church, and
have thereby saved their souls; but they are in no sense spokesmen for
English Catholics, and they must not stand in the place of those who
have a real title to such an office. The chief authors of the passing
generation, some of them still alive, others gone to their reward, are
Cardinal Wiseman, Dr. Ullathorne, Dr. Lingard, Mr. Tierney, Dr.
Oliver, Dr. Rock, Dr. Waterworth, Dr. Husenbeth, and Mr. Flanagan;
which of these ecclesiastics has said anything extreme about the
prerogatives of the Blessed Virgin or the infallibility of the Pope?
I cannot, then, without remonstrance, allow you to identify the
doctrine of our Oxford friends in question, on the two subjects I have
mentioned, with the present spirit or the prospective creed of
Catholics; or to assume, as you do, that, because they are
thorough-going and relentless in their statements, therefore they are
the harbingers of a new age, when to show a deference for antiquity
will be thought little else than a mistake. For myself, hopeless as
you consider it, I am not ashamed still to take my stand upon the
fathers, and do not mean to budge. The history of their times is not
yet an old almanac to me. Of course I maintain the value and authority
of the "Schola," as one of the _loci theologici;_ still I sympathize
with Petavius in preferring to its "contentious and subtle theology"
that {55} "more elegant and fruitful teaching which is moulded after
the image of erudite antiquity." The fathers made me a Catholic, and I
am not going to kick down the ladder by which I ascended into the
church. It is a ladder quite as serviceable for that purpose now as it
was twenty years ago. Though I hold, as you remark, a process of
development in apostolic truth as time goes on, such development does
not supersede the fathers, but explains and completes them. And, in
particular, as regards our teaching concerning the Blessed Virgin,
with the fathers I am content; and to the subject of that teaching I
mean to address myself at once. I do so because you say, as I myself
have said in former years, that "that vast system as to the Blessed
Virgin . . . . to all of us has been the special _crux_ of the Roman
system," p. 101. Here, I say, as on other points, the fathers are
enough for me. I do not wish to say more than they, and will not say
less. You, I know, will profess the same; and thus we can join issue
on a clear and broad principle, and may hope to come to some
intelligible result. We are to have a treatise on the subject of our
Lady soon from the pen of the most reverend prelate; but that cannot
interfere with such a mere argument from the fathers as that to which
I shall confine myself here. Nor indeed, as regards that argument
itself, do I profess to be offering you any new matter, any facts
which have not been used by others--by great divines, as Petavius, by
living writers, nay, by myself on other occasions; I write afresh
nevertheless, and that for three reasons: first, because I wish to
contribute to the accurate statement and the full exposition of the
argument in question; next, because I may gain a more patient hearing
than has sometimes been granted to better men than myself; lastly,
because there just now seems a call on me, under my circumstances, to
avow plainly what I do and what I do not hold about the Blessed
Virgin, that others may know, did they come to stand where I stand,
what they would and what they would not be bound to hold concerning
her.
I begin by making a distinction which will go far to remove good part
of the difficulty of my undertaking, as it presents itself to ordinary
inquirers--the distinction between faith and devotion. I fully grant
that _devotion_ toward the Blessed Virgin has increased among
Catholics with the progress of centuries; I do not allow that the
_doctrine_ concerning her has undergone a growth, for I believe that
it has been in substance one and the same from the beginning.
By "faith" I mean the Creed and the acceptance of the Creed; by
"devotion" I mean such religious honors as belong to the objecis of
our faith, and the payment of those honors. Faith and devotion are as
distinct in fact as they are in idea. We cannot, indeed, be devout
without faith, but we may believe without feeling devotion. Of this
phenomenon every one has experience both in himself and in others; and
we express it as often as we speak of realizing a truth or not
realizing it. It may be illustrated, with more or less exactness, by
matters which come before us in the world. For instance, a great
author, or public man, may be acknowledged as such for a course of
years; yet there may be an increase, an ebb and flow, and a fashion,
in his popularity. And if he takes a lasting place in the minds of his
countrymen, he may gradually grow into it, or suddenly be raised to
it. The idea of Shakespeare as a great poet has existed from a very
early date in public opinion; and there were at least individuals then
who understood him as well, and honored him as much, as the English
people can honor him now; yet, I think, there is a national devotion
to him in this day such as never has been before. This has happened
because, as education spreads in the country, there are more men able
to enter into his {56} poetical genius, and, among these, more
capacity again for deeply and critically understanding him; and yet,
from the first, he has exerted a great insensible influence over the
nation, as is seen in the circumstance that his phrases and sentences,
more than can be numbered, have become almost proverbs among us. And
so again in philosophy, and in the arts and sciences, great truths and
principles have sometimes been known and acknowledged for a course of
years; but, whether from feebleness of intellectual power in the
recipients, or external circumstances of an accidental kind, they have
not been turned to account. Thus, the Chinese are said to have known
of the properties of the magnet from time immemorial, and to have used
it for land expeditions, yet not on the sea. Again, the ancients knew
of the principle that water finds its own level, but seem to have made
little application of their knowledge. And Aristotle was familiar with
the principle of induction; yet it was left for Bacon to develop it
into an experimental philosophy. Illustrations such as these, though
not altogether apposite, serve to convey that distinction between
faith and devotion on which I am insisting. It is like the distinction
between objective and subjective truth. The sun in the springtime will
have to shine many days before he is able to melt the frost, open the
soil, and bring out the leaves; yet he shines out from the first,
notwithstanding, though he makes his power felt but gradually. It is
one and the same sun, though his influence day by day becomes greater;
and so in the Catholic Church, it is the one Virgin Mother, one and
the same from first to last, and Catholics may acknowledge her; and
yet, in spite of that acknowledgment, their devotion to her may be
scanty in one time and place and overflowing in another.
This distinction is forcibly brought home to a convert, as a
peculiarity of the Catholic religion, on his first introduction to its
worship. The faith is everywhere one and the same; but a large liberty
is accorded to private judgment and inclination in matters of
devotion. Any large church, with its collections and groups of people,
will illustrate this. The fabric itself is dedicated to Almighty God,
and that under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin, or some
particular saint; or again, of some mystery belonging to the Divine
name, or to the incarnation, or of some mystery associated with the
Blessed Virgin. Perhaps there are seven altars or more in it, and
these again have their several saints. Then there is the feast proper
to the particular day; and, during the celebration of mass, of all the
worshippers who crowd around the priest each has his own particular
devotions, with which he follows the rite. No one interferes with his
neighbor; agreeing, as it were, to differ, they pursue independently a
common end, and by paths, distinct but converging, present themselves
before God. Then there are confraternities attached to the church: of
the sacred heart, or the precious blood; associations of prayer for a
good death, or the repose of departed souls, or the conversion of the
heathen: devotions connected with the brown, blue, or red scapular;
not to speak of the great ordinary ritual through the four seasons,
the constant presence of the blessed sacrament, its ever recurring
rite of benediction, and its extraordinary forty hours' exposition.
Or, again, look through some such manual of prayers as the _Raccolta_,
and you at once will see both the number and the variety of devotions
which are open to individual Catholics to choose from, according to
their religious taste and prospect of personal edification.
Now these diversified modes of honoring God did not come to us in a
day, or only from the apostles; they are the accumulations of
centuries; and, as in the course of years some of them spring up, so
others decline and die Some are local, in memory of some particular
saint who happens to be the evangelist, or patron, or pride of the
{57} nation, or who is entombed in the church, or in the city where it
stands; and these, necessarily, cannot have an earlier date than the
saint's day of death or interment there. The first of such sacred
observances, long before these national memories, were the devotions
paid to the apostles, then those which were paid to the martyrs; yet
there were saints nearer to our Lord than either martyrs or apostles;
but, as if these had been lost in the effulgence of his glory, and
because they were not manifested in external works separate from him,
it happened that for a long while they were less thought of. However,
in process of time the apostles, and then the martyrs, exerted less
influence than before over the popular mind, and the local saints, new
creations of God's power, took their place, or again, the saints of
some religious order here or there established. Then, as comparatively
quiet times succeeded, the religious meditations of holy men and their
secret intercourse with heaven gradually exerted an influence out of
doors, and permeated the Christian populace, by the instrumentality of
preaching and by the ceremonial of the church. Then those luminous
stars rose in the ecclesiastical heavens which were of more august
dignity than any which had preceded them, and were late in rising for
the very reason that they were so specially glorious. Those names, I
say, which at first sight might have been expected to enter soon into
the devotions of the faithful, with better reason might have been
looked for at a later date, and actually were late in their coming.
St. Joseph furnishes the most striking instance of this remark; here
is the clearest of instances of the distinction between doctrine and
devotion. Who, from his prerogatives and the testimony on which they
come to us, had a greater claim to receive an early recognition among
the faithful? A saint of Scripture, the foster-father of our Lord, was
an object of the universal and absolute faith of the Christian world
from the first, yet the devotion to him is comparatively of late date.
When once it began, men seemed surprised that it had not been thought
of before; and now they hold him next to the Blessed Virgin in their
religious affection and veneration.
As regards the Blessed Virgin, I shall postpone the question of
devotion for a while, and inquire first into the doctrine of the
undivided church (to use your controversial phrase) on the subject of
her prerogatives.
What is the great rudimental teaching of antiquity from its earliest
date concerning her? By "rudimental teaching" I mean the _prima facie_
view of her person and office, the broad outline laid down of her, the
aspect under which she comes to us in the writings of the fathers. She
is the second Eve. [Footnote 11] Now let us consider what this
implies. Eve had a definite, essential position in the first covenant.
The fate of the human race lay with Adam; he it was who represented
us. It was in Adam that we fell; though Eve had fallen, still, if Adam
had stood, we should not have lost those supernatural privileges which
were bestowed upon him as our first father. Yet though Eve was not the
head of the race, still, even as regards the race, she had a place of
her own; for Adam, to whom was divinely committed the naming of all
things, entitled her "the mother of all the living;" a name surely
expressive not of a fact only but of a dignity; but further, as she
thus had her own general relation to the human race, so again had she
her own special place, as regards its trial and its fall in Adam. In
those primeval events, Eve had an integral share. "The woman, being
seduced, was in the transgression." She listened to the evil angel;
she offered the fruit to her husband, and he ate of it. She
co-operated not as an irresponsible instrument, but intimately and
personally in the sin; she brought it about. As the history stands,
she was a _sine qua non_, a positive, active cause of it. {58} And she
had her share in its punishment; in the sentence pronounced on her,
she was recognized as a real agent in the temptation and its issue,
and she suffered accordingly. In that awful transaction there were
three parties concerned--the serpent, the woman, and the man; and at
the time of their sentence an event was announced for the future, in
which the three same parties were to meet again, the serpent, the
woman, and the man; but it was to be a second Adam and a second Eve,
and the new Eve was to be the mother of the new Adam. "I will put
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed."
The seed of the woman is the word incarnate, and the woman whose seed
or son he is is his mother Mary. This interpretation and the
parallelism it involves seem to me undeniable; but, at all events (and
this is my point), the parallelism is the doctrine of the fathers,
from the earliest times; and, this being established, by the position
and office of Eve in our fall, we are able to determine the position
and office of Mary in our restoration.
[Footnote 11: _Vid_. "Essay on Development of Doctrine," 1845, p.
384, etc.]
I shall adduce passages from their writings, with their respective
countries and dates; and the dates shall extend from their births or
conversions to their deaths, since what they propound is at once the
doctrine which they had received from the generation before them, and
the doctrine which was accepted and recognized as true by the
generation to whom they transmitted it.
First, then, St. Justin Martyr (A.D. 120-165), St. Irenaeus (120-200),
and Tertullian (160-240). Of these Tertullian represents Africa and
Rome, St. Justin represents Palestine, and St. Irenaeus Asia Minor and
Gaul--or rather he represents St. John the Evangelist, for he had been
taught by the martyr St. Polycarp, who was the intimate associate, as
of St. John, 60 of the other apostles.
1. St. Justin: [Footnote 12]
[Footnote 12: I have attempted to translate literally without caring
to write English. ]
"We know that he, before all creatures proceeded from the Father by
his power and will, . . . and by means of the Virgin became man,
that by what way the disobedience arising from the serpent had its
beginning, by that way also it might have an undoing. For Eve, being
a virgin and undefiled, conceiving the word that was from the
serpent, brought forth disobedience and death; but the Virgin Mary,
taking faith and joy, when the angel told her the good tidings, that
the Spirit of the Lord should come upon her and the power of the
highest overshadow her, and therefore the holy one that was born of
her was Son of God, answered. Be it to me according to thy
word."--_Tryph_. 100.
2. Tertullian:
"God recovered his image and likeness, which the devil had seized,
by a rival operation. For into Eve, as yet a virgin, had crept the
word which was the framer of death. Equally into a virgin was to be
introduced the Word of God which was the builder-up of life; that,
what by that sex had gone into perdition, by the same sex might be
brought back to salvation. Eve had believed the serpent; Mary
believed Gabriel; the fault which the one committed by believing,
the other by believing has blotted out."--_De Carn. Christ_, 17.
3. St Irenaeus:
"With a fitness, Mary the Virgin is found obedient, saying, 'Behold
thy handmaid, O Lord; be it to me according to thy word.' But Eve
was disobedient; for she obeyed not, while she was yet a virgin. As
she, having indeed Adam for a husband, but as yet being a virgin,
. . . becoming disobedient, became the cause of death both to herself
and to the whole human race, so also Mary, having the predestined
man, and being yet a virgin, being obedient, became both to herself
and to the whole human race the cause of salvation. . . . And on
account of this the Lord said, that the first would be last and the
last first. And the prophet signifies the same, saying, 'Instead of
fathers you have children.' For, whereas the Lord, when born, was
the first begotten of the dead, and received into his bosom the
primitive fathers, he regenerated them into the life of God, he
himself becoming the beginning of the living, since Adam became the
beginning of the dying. Therefore also Luke, commencing the lines of
generations from the Lord, referred it back to Adam, signifying that
he regenerated the old fathers, not they him, into the gospel of
life. And so the knot {59} of Eve's disobedience received its
unloosing through the obedience of Mary; for what Eve, a virgin,
bound by incredulity, that Mary, a virgin, unloosed by faith."--
_Adv. Haer_, iii. 22. 34.
And again:
"As Eve by the speech of an angel was seduced, so as to flee God,
transgressing his word, so also Mary received the good tidings by
means of the angel's speech, so as to bear God within her, being
obedient to his word. And, though the one had disobeyed God, yet the
other was drawn to obey God; that of the virgin Eve the virgin Mary
might become the advocate. And, as by a virgin the human race had
been bound to death, by a virgin it is saved, the balance being
preserved, a virgin's disobedience by a virgin's obedience."
--_Ibid_. v. 19.
Now, what is especially noticeable in these three writers is, that
they do not speak of the Blessed Virgin as the physical instrument of
our Lord's taking flesh, but as an intelligent, responsible cause of
it; her faith and obedience being accessories to the incarnation, and
gaining it as her reward. As Eve failed in these virtues, and thereby
brought on the fall of the race in Adam, so Mary by means of them had
a part in its restoration. You imply, pp. 255, 256, that the Blessed
Virgin was only a physical instrument in our redemption; "what has
been said of her by the fathers as the chosen _vessel_ of the
incarnation, was applied _personally_ to her" (that is, by Catholics),
p. 151; and again, "The fathers speak of the Blessed Virgin as the
_instrument_ of our salvation, _in that_ she gave birth to the
Redeemer," pp. 155, 156; whereas St. Augustine, in well-known
passages, speaks of her as more exalted by her sanctity than by her
relationship to our Lord. [Footnote 13] However, not to go beyond the
doctrine of the three fathers, they unanimously declare that she was
not a mere instrument in the incarnation, such as David, or Judah, may
be considered; they declare she co-operated in our salvation, not
merely by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon her body, but by specific
holy acts, the effect of the Holy Ghost upon her soul; that, as Eve
forfeited privileges by sin, so Mary earned privileges by the fruits
of grace; that, as Eve was disobedient and unbelieving, so Mary was
obedient and believing; that, as Eve was a cause of ruin to all, Mary
was a cause of salvation to all; that, as Eve made room for Adam's
fall, so Mary made room for our Lord's reparation of it; and thus,
whereas the free gift was not as the offence, but much greater, it
follows that, as Eve co-operated in effecting a great evil, Mary
co-operated in effecting a much greater good.
[Footnote 13: Opp., t. 8, p. 2, col. 369, t. 6, col. 342.]
And, beside the run of the argument, which reminds the reader of St.
Paul's antithetical sentences in tracing the analogy between Adam's
work and our Lord's work, it is well to observe the particular words
under which the Blessed Virgin's office is described. Tertullian says
that Mary "blotted out" Eve's fault, and "brought back the female
sex," or "the human race, to salvation;" and St. Irenaeus says that
"by obedience she was the cause or occasion" (whatever was the
original Greek word) "of salvation to herself and the whole human
race;" that by her the human race is saved; that by her Eve's
complication is disentangled; and that she is Eve's advocate, or
friend in need. It is supposed by critics, Protestant as well as
Catholic, that the Greek word for advocate in the original was
paraclete; it should be borne in mind, then, when we are accused of
giving our Lady the titles and offices of her Son, that St. Irenaeus
bestows on her the special name and office proper to the Holy Ghost.
So much as to the nature of this triple testimony; now as to the worth
of it. For a moment put aside St. Irenaeus, and put together St.
Justin in the East with Tertullian in the West. I think I may assume
that the doctrine of these two fathers about the Blessed Virgin was
the received doctrine of their own {60} respective times and places;
for writers after all are but witnesses of facts and beliefs, and as
such they are treated by all parties in controversial discussion.
Moreover, the coincidence of doctrine which they exhibit, and, again,
the antithetical completeness of it, show that they themselves did not
originate it. The next question is, Who did? For from one definite
organ or source, place or person, it must have come. Then we must
inquire, what length of time would it take for such a doctrine to have
extended, and to be received, in the second century over so wide an
area; that is, to be received before the year 200 in Palestine,
Africa, and Rome? Can we refer the common source of these local
traditions to a date later than that of the apostles, St. John dying
within thirty or forty years of St. Justin's conversion and
Tertullian's birth? Make what allowance you will for whatever possible
exceptions can be taken to this representation; and then, after doing
so, add to the concordant testimony of these two fathers the evidence
of St. Irenaeus, which is so close upon the school of St. John himself
in Asia Minor. "A three-fold cord," as the wise man says, "is not
quickly broken." Only suppose there were so early and so broad a
testimony to the effect that our Lord was a mere man, the son of
Joseph; should we be able to insist upon the faith of the Holy Trinity
as necessary to salvation? Or supposing three such witnesses could be
brought to the fact that a consistory of elders governed the local
churches, or that each local congregation was an independent church,
or that the Christian community was without priests, could Anglicans
maintain their doctrine that the rule of episcopal succession is
necessary to constitute a church? And recollect that the Anglican
Church especially appeals to the ante-Nicene centuries, and taunts us
with having superseded their testimony.
Having then adduced these three fathers of the second century, I have
at least got so far as this, viz., no one, who acknowledges the force
of early testimony in determining Christian truth, can wonder, no one
can complain, can object, that we Catholics should hold a very high
doctrine concerning the Blessed Virgin, unless indeed stronger
statements can be brought for a contrary conception of her, either of
as early, or at least of a later date. But, as far as I know, no
statements can be brought from the ante-Nicene literature to
invalidate the testimony of the three fathers concerning her; and
little can be brought against it from the fourth century, while in
that fourth century the current of testimony in her behalf is as
strong as in the second; and, as to the fifth, it is far stronger than
in any former time, both in its fulness and its authority. This will
to some extent be seen as I proceed.
4. St Cyril, of Jerusalem (315-386), speaks for Palestine:
"Since through Eve, a virgin, came death, it behoved that through a
virgin, or rather from a virgin, should life appear; that, as the
serpent had deceived the one, so to the other Gabriel might bring
good tidings."--_Cat_. xii. 15.
5. St. Ephrem Syrus (lie died 378) is a witness for the Syrians proper
and the neighboring Orientals, in contrast to the Graeco-Syrians. A
native of Nisibis, on the farther side of the Euphrates, he knew no
language but Syriac:
"Through Eve the beautiful and desirable glory of men was
extinguished; but it has revived through Mary."--_Opp. Syr._, ii. p.
318.
Again:
"In the beginning, by the sin of our first parents, death passed
upon all men; to-day, through Mary, we are translated from death
unto life. In the beginning, the serpent filled the ears of Eve, and
the poison spread thence over the whole body; to-day, Mary from her
ears received the {61} champion of eternal happiness; what,
therefore, was an instrument of death, was an instrument of life
also."--iii. p. 607.
I have already referred to St. Paul's contrast between Adam and our
Lord in his Epistle to the Romans, as also in his first Epistle to the
Corinthians. Some writers attempt to say that there is no doctrinal
truth, but a mere rhetorical display, in those passages. It is quite
as easy to say so as to attempt so to dispose of this received
comparison, in the writings of the fathers, between Eve and Mary.
6. St. Epiphanius (320-400) speaks for Egypt, Palestine, and Cyprus:
"She it is who is signified by Eve, enigmatically receiving the
appellation of the mother of the living. . . . It was a wonder that
after the fall she had this great epithet. And, according to what is
material, from that Eve all the race of men on earth is generated.
But thus in truth from Mary the Life itself was born in the world,
that Mary might bear living things and become the mother of living
things. Therefore, enigmatically, Mary is called the mother of
living things. . . Also, there is another thing to consider as to
these women, and wonderful--as to Eve and Mary. Eve became a cause
of death to man . . . and Mary a cause of life; . . . that life
might be instead of death, life excluding death which came from the
woman, viz., he who through the woman has become our life."
--_Haer_. 78. 18.
7. By the time of St. Jerome (331-420), the contrast between Eve and
Mary had almost passed into a proverb. He says (Ep. xxii. 21, ad
Eustoch.), "Death by Eve, life by Mary." Nor let it be supposed that
he, any more than the preceding fathers, considered the Blessed Virgin
a mere physical instrument of giving birth to our Lord, who is the
life. So far from it, in the epistle from which I have quoted, he is
only adding another virtue to that crown which gained for Mary her
divine maternity. They have spoken of faith, joy, and obedience; St.
Jerome adds, what they had only suggested, virginity. After the manner
of the fathers in his own day, he is setting forth the Blessed Mary to
the high-born Roman lady whom he is addressing as the model of the
virginal life; and his argument in its behalf is, that it is higher
than the marriage state, not in itself, viewed in any mere natural
respect, but as being the free act of self-consecration to God, and
from the personal religious purpose which it involves:
"Higher wage," he says, "is due to that which is not a compulsion,
but an offering; for, were virginity commanded, marriage would seem
to be put out of the question; and it would be most cruel to force
men against nature, and to extort from them an angel's life."--20.
I do not know whose testimony is more important than St. Jerome's, the
friend of Pope Damasus at Rome, the pupil of St. Gregory Nazianzen at
Constantinople, and of Didymus in Alexandria, a native of Dalmatia,
yet an inhabitant, at different times of his life, of Gaul, Syria, and
Palestine.
8. St. Jerome speaks for the whole world, except Africa; and for
Africa in the fourth century, if we must limit so world-wide an
authority to place, witnesses St. Augustine (354-430). He repeats the
words as if a proverb; "By a woman death, by a woman life" (Opp. t. v.
Serm. 233); elsewhere he enlarges on the idea conveyed in it. In one
place he quotes St. Irenaeus's words as cited above (adv. Julian i.
4). In another he speaks as follows:
"It is a great sacrament that, whereas through woman death became
our portion, so life was born to us by woman; that, in the case of
both sexes, male and female, the baffled devil should be tormented,
when on the overthrow of both sexes he was rejoicing; whose
punishment had been small, if both sexes had been liberated in us,
without our being liberated through both."--_Opp. t. vi. De Agon,
Christ_, c. 24.
{62}
9. St. Peter Chrysologus (400-450), Bishop of Ravenna, and one of the
chief authorities in the fourth General Council:
"Blessed art thou among women; for among women, on whose womb Eve,
who was cursed, brought punishment, Mary, being blest, rejoices, is
honored, and is looked up to. And woman now is truly made through
grace the mother of the living, who had been by nature the mother of
the dying. . . . Heaven feels awe of God, angels tremble at him, the
creature sustains him not, nature sufficeth not, and yet one maiden
so takes, receives, entertains him, as a guest within her breast,
that, for the very hire of her home, and as the price of her womb,
she asks, she obtains, peace for the earth, glory for the heavens,
salvation for the lost, life for the dead, a heavenly parentage for
the earthly, the union of God himself with human flesh."--_Serm._
140.
It is difficult to express more explicitly, though in oratorical
language, that the Blessed Virgin had a real, meritorious
co-operation, a share which had a "hire" and a "price" in the reversal
of the fall.
10. St. Fulgentius, Bishop of Ruspe in Africa (468-533). The homily
which contains the following passage is placed by Ceillier (t. xvi. p.
127) among his genuine works:
"In the wife of the first man, the wickedness of the devil depraved
her seduced mind; in the mother of the second Man, the grace of God
preserved both her mind inviolate and her flesh. On her mind he
conferred the most firm faith; from her flesh he took away lust
altogether. Since then man was in a miserable way condemned for sin,
therefore without sin was in a marvellous way born the God
man."--_Serm_. 2, p. 124, _De Dupl. Nativ._
Accordingly, in the sermon which follows (if it is his), he continues,
illustrating her office of universal mother, as ascribed to her by St.
Epiphanius:
"Come ye virgins to a virgin, come ye who conceive to her who
conceived, ye who bear to one who bore, mothers to a mother, ye that
suckle to one who suckled, young girls to the young girl. It is for
this reason that the Virgin Mary has taken on her in our Lord Jesus
Christ all these divisions of nature, that to all women who have
recourse to her she may be a succor, and so restore the whole race
of women who come to her, being the new Eve, by keeping virginity,
as the new Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, recovers the whole race of
men."
Such is the rudimental view, as I have called it, which the fathers
have given us of Mary, as the second Eve, the mother of the living. I
have cited ten authors. I could cite more were it necessary. Except
the two last, they write gravely and without any rhetoric. I allow
that the two last write in a different style, since the extracts I
have made are from their sermons; but I do not see that the coloring
conceals the outline. And, after all, men use oratory on great
subjects, not on small; nor would they, and other fathers whom I might
quote, have lavished their high language upon the Blessed Virgin, such
as they gave to no one else, unless they knew well that no one else
had such claims as she had on their love and veneration.
And now I proceed to dwell for a while upon two inferences, which it
is obvious to draw from the rudimental doctrine itself; the first
relates to the sanctity of the Blessed Virgin, the second to her
greatness.
1. Her _sanctity_. She holds, as the fathers teach us, that office in
our restoration which Eve held in our fall. Now, in the first place,
what were Eve's endowments to enable her to enter upon her trial? She
could not have stood against the wiles of the devil, though she was
innocent and sinless, without the grant of a large grace. And this she
had--a heavenly gift, which was over and above and additional to that
nature of hers, which she received from Adam, as Adam before her had
also received the same gift, at the very time (as it is commonly held)
of his original creation. This is Anglican doctrine as well as
Catholic; it is the doctrine of Bishop Bull. He has written a
dissertation on the point. He speaks of the doctrine which "many of
the schoolmen affirm, that Adam was created {63} in grace--that is,
received a principle of grace and divine life from his very creation,
or in the moment of the infusion of his soul; of which," he says, "for
my own part I have little doubt." Again, he says: "It is abundantly
manifest, from the many testimonies alleged, that the ancient doctors
of the church did, with a general consent, acknowledge that our first
parents, in the state of integrity, had in them something more than
nature--that is, were endowed with the divine principle of the
Spirit, in order to a supernatural felicity."
Now, taking this for granted, because I know that you and those who
agree with you maintain it as well as we do, I ask, Was not Mary as
fully endowed as Eve? is it any violent inference that she, who was to
co-operate in the redemption of the world, at least was not less
endowed with power from on high, than she who, given as a helpmate to
her husband, did in the event but co-operate with him for its ruin? If
Eve was raised above human nature by that indwelling moral gift which
we call grace, is it rash to say that Mary had a greater grace? And
this consideration gives significance to the angel's salutation of her
as "full of grace"--an interpretation of the original word which is
undoubtedly the right one, as soon as we resist the common Protestant
assumption that grace is a mere external approbation or acceptance,
answering to the word "favor;" whereas it is, as the fathers teach, a
real inward condition or superadded quality of soul. And if Eve had
this supernatural inward gift given her from the moment of her
personal existence, is it possible to deny that Mary too had this gift
from the very first moment of her personal existence? I do not know
how to resist this inference--well, this is simply and literally the
doctrine of the immaculate conception. I say the doctrine of the
immaculate conception is in its substance this, and nothing more or
less than this (putting aside the question of degrees of grace); and
it really does seem to me bound up in that doctrine of the fathers,
that Mary is the second Eve.
It is to me a most strange phenomenon that so many learned and devout
men stumble at this doctrine, and I can only account for it by
supposing that, in matter of fact, they do not know what we mean by
the immaculate conception; and your volume (may I say it?) bears out
my suspicion. It is a great consolation to have reason for thinking
so--for believing that in some sort the persons in question are in the
position of those great saints in former times who are said to have
hesitated about it, when they would not have hesitated at all if the
word "conception" had been clearly explained in that sense in which
now it is universally received. I do not see how any one who holds
with Bull the Catholic doctrine of the supernatural endowments of our
first parents, has fair reason for doubting our doctrine about the
Blessed Virgin. It has no reference whatever to her parents, but
simply to her own person; it does but affirm that, together with the
nature which she inherited from her parents, that is, her own nature,
she had a superadded fulness of grace, and that from the first moment
of her existence. Suppose Eve had stood the trial, and not lost her
first grace, and suppose she had eventually had children, those
children from the first moment of their existence would, through
divine bounty, have received the same privilege that she had ever had;
that is, as she was taken from Adam's side, in a garment, so to say,
of grace, so they in turn would have received what may be called an
immaculate conception. They would have been conceived in grace, as in
fact they are conceived in sin. What is there difficult in this
doctrine? What is there unnatural? Mary may be called a daughter of
Eve unfallen. You believe with us that St. John Baptist had grace
given to him three months before his birth, at the time {64} that the
Blessed Virgin visited his mother. He accordingly was not immaculately
conceived, because he was alive before grace came to him; but our
Lady's case only differs from his in this respect, that to her grace
came not three months merely before her birth, but from the first
moment of her being, as it had been given to Eve.
But it may be said, How does this enable us to say that she was
conceived without _original sin_? If Anglicans knew what we mean by
original sin, they would not ask the question. Our doctrine of
original sin is not the same as the Protestant doctrine. "Original
sin," with us, cannot be called sin in the ordinary sense of the word
"sin;" it is a term denoting the _imputation_ of Adam's sin, or the
state to which Adam's sin reduces his children; but by Protestants it
is understood to be sin in the same sense as actual sin. We, with the
fathers, think of it as something negative; Protestants as something
positive. Protestants hold that it is a disease, a change of nature, a
poison internally corrupting the soul, and propagated from father to
son, after the manner of a bad constitution; and they fancy that we
ascribe a different nature from ours to the Blessed Virgin, different
from that of her parents, and from that of fallen Adam. We hold
nothing of the kind; we consider that in Adam she died, as others;
that she was included, together with the whole race, in Adam's
sentence; that she incurred his debt, as we do; but that, for the sake
of him who was to redeem her and us upon the cross, to her the debt
was remitted by anticipation; on her the sentence was not carried out,
except indeed as regards her natural death, for she died when her time
came, as others. All this we teach, but we deny that she had original
sin; for by original sin we mean, as I have already said, something
negative, viz., this only, the _deprivation_ of that supernatural
unmerited grace which Adam and Eve had on their creation--deprivation
and the consequences of deprivation. Mary could not merit, any more
than they, the restoration of that grace; but it was restored to her
by God's free bounty from the very first moment of her existence, and
thereby, in fact, she never came under the original curse, which
consisted in the loss of it. And she had this special privilege in
order to fit her to become the mother of her and our Redeemer, to fit
her mentally, spiritually, for it; so that, by the aid of the first
grace, she might so grow in grace that when the angel came, and her
Lord was at hand, she might be "full of grace," prepared, as far as a
creature could be prepared, to receive him into her bosom.
I have drawn the doctrine of the immaculate conception, as an
immediate inference, from the primitive doctrine that Mary is the
second Eve. The argument seems to me conclusive; and, if it has not
been universally taken as such, this has come to pass because there
has not been a clear understanding among Catholics what exactly was
meant by the immaculate conception. To many it seemed to imply that
the Blessed Virgin did not die in Adam, that she did not come under
the penalty of the fall, that she was not redeemed; that she was
conceived in some way inconsistent with the verse in the _Miserere_
psalm. If controversy had in earlier days so cleared the subject as to
make it plain to all that the doctrine meant nothing else than that,
in fact, in her case the general sentence on mankind was not carried
out, and that by means of the indwelling in her of divine grace from
the first moment of her being (and this is all the decree of 1854 has
declared), I cannot believe that the doctrine would have ever been
opposed; for an instinctive sentiment has led Christians jealously to
put the Blessed Mary aside when sin comes into discussion. This is
expressed in the well-known words of St. Augustine. All have sinned
"except the holy Virgin Mary, {65} concerning whom, for the honor of
the Lord, I wish no question to be raised at all, when we are treating
of sins" (de Nat. et Grat. 42); words which, whatever St. Augustine's
actual occasion of using them (to which you refer, p. 176), certainly,
in the spirit which they breathe, are well adapted to convey the
notion that, apart from her relation to her parents, she had not
personally any part in sin whatever. It is true that several great
fathers of the fourth century do imply or assert that on one or two
occasions she did sin venially or showed infirmity. This is the only
real objection which I know of; and, as I do not wish to pass it over
lightly, I propose to consider it at the end of this letter.
2. Now, secondly, her _greatness_. Here let us suppose that our first
parents had overcome in their trial, and had gained for their
descendants for ever the full possession, as if by right, of the
privileges which were promised to their obedience--grace here and
glory hereafter. Is it possible that those descendants, pious and
happy from age to age in their temporal homes, would have forgotten
their benefactors? Would they not have followed them in thought into
the heavens, and gratefully commemorated them on earth? The history of
the temptation, the craft of the serpent, their steadfastness in
obedience--the loyal vigilance, the sensitive purity of Eve--the great
issue, salvation wrought out for all generations--would have been
never from their minds, ever welcome to their ears. This would have
taken place from the necessity of our nature. Every nation has its
mythical hymns and epics about its first fathers and its heroes. The
great deeds of Charlemagne, Alfred, Coeur de Lion, Wallace, Louis the
Ninth, do not die; and though their persons are gone from us, we make
much of their names. Milton's Adam, after his fall, understands the
force of this law, and shrinks from the prospect of its operation:
"Who of all ages to succeed but, feeling
The evil on him brought by me, will curse
My head? Ill fare our ancestor impure;
For this we may thank Adam."
If this anticipation has not been fulfilled in the event, it is owing
to the needs of our penal life, our state of perpetual change, and the
ignorance and unbelief incurred by the fall; also because, fallen as
we are, from the hopefulness of our nature we feel more pride in our
national great men than dejection at our national misfortunes. Much
more then in the great kingdom and people of God--the saints are ever
in our sight, and not as mere ineffectual ghosts, but as if present
bodily in their past selves. It is said of them, "Their works do
follow them;" what they were here, such are they in heaven and in the
church. As we call them by their earthly names, so we contemplate them
in their earthly characters and histories. Their acts, callings, and
relations below are types and anticipations of their mission above.
Even in the case of our Lord himself, whose native home is the eternal
heavens, it is said of him in his state of glory, that he is a "priest
for ever;" and when he comes again he will be recognized, by those who
pierced him, as being the very same that he was on earth. The only
question is, whether the Blessed Virgin had a part, a real part, in
the economy of grace, whether, when she was on earth, she secured by
her deeds any claim on our memories; for, if she did, it is impossible
we should put her away from us, merely because she is gone hence, and
not look at her still, according to the measure of her earthly
history, with gratitude and expectation. If, as St. Irenaeus says, she
did the part of an advocate, a friend in need, even in her mortal
life, if, as St. Jerome and St. Ambrose say, she was on earth the
great pattern of virgins, if she had a meritorious share in bringing
about our redemption, if her maternity was earned by her faith and
obedience, if her divine Son was subject to her, and if she stood by
the {66} cross with a mother's heart and drank in to the full those
sufferings which it was her portion to gaze upon, it is impossible
that we should not associate these characteristics of her life on
earth with her present state of blessedness; and this surely she
anticipated, when she said in her hymn that "all generations shall
call her blessed."
I am aware that, in thus speaking, I am following a line of thought
which is rather a meditation than an argument in controversy, and I
shall not carry it further; but still, in turning to other topics, it
is to the point to inquire whether the popular astonishment, excited
by our belief in the Blessed Virgin's present dignity, does not arise
from the circumstance that the bulk of men, engaged in matters of the
world, have never calmly considered her historical position in the
gospels so as rightly to realize (if I may use the word a second time)
what that position imports. I do not claim for the generality of
Catholics any greater powers of reflection upon the objects of their
faith than Protestants commonly have, but there is a sufficient number
of religious men among Catholics who, instead of expending their
devotional energies (as so many serious Protestants do) on abstract
doctrines, such as justification by faith only, or the sufficiency of
holy Scripture, employ themselves in the contemplation of Scripture
facts, and bring out in a tangible form the doctrines involved in
them, and give such a substance and color to the sacred history as to
influence their brethren, who, though superficial themselves, are
drawn by their Catholic instinct to accept conclusions which they
could not indeed themselves have elicited, but which, when elicited,
they feel to be true. However, it would be out of place to pursue this
course of reasoning here; and instead of doing so, I shall take what
perhaps you may think a very bold step--I shall find the doctrine of
our Lady's present exaltation in Scripture.
I mean to find it in the vision of the woman and child in the twelfth
chapter of the Apocalypse. [Footnote 14] Now here two objections will
be made to me at once: first, that such an interpretation is but
poorly supported by the fathers; and secondly, that in ascribing such
a picture of the Madonna (as it may be called) to the apostolic age, I
am committing an anachronism.
[Footnote 14: _Vid_. "Essay on Doctr. Development," p. 384, and
Bishop Ullathorne's work on the "Immaculate Conception," p. 77.]
As to the former of these objections, I answer as follows: Christians
have never gone to Scripture for proofs of their doctrines till there
was actual need from the pressure of controversy. If in those times
the Blessed Virgin's dignity were unchallenged on all hands as a
matter of doctrine, Scripture, as far as its argumentative matter was
concerned, was likely to remain a sealed book to them. Thus, to take
an instance in point, the Catholic party in the English Church (say
the Non-jurors), unable by their theory of religion simply to take
their stand on tradition, and distressed for proof of their doctrines,
had their eyes sharpened to scrutinize and to understand the letter of
holy Scripture, which to others brought no instruction. And the
peculiarity of their interpretations is this--that they have in
themselves great logical cogency, yet are but faintly supported by
patristical commentators. Such is the use of the word [Greek text] or
_facere_ in our Lord's institution of the holy eucharist, which, by a
reference to the old Testament, is found to be a word of sacrifice.
Such again is [Greek text] in the passage in the Acts, "As they
_ministered_ to the Lord and fasted," which again is a sacerdotal
term. And such the passage in Rom. xv. 16, in which several terms are
used which have an allusion to the sacrificial eucharistic rite. Such,
too, is St. Paul's repeated message to the _household_ of Onesiphorus,
with no mention of Onesiphorus himself, but in one place, with the
addition of a prayer that "he might find mercy of the Lord" in the day
of {67} judgment, which, taking into account its wording and the known
usage of the first centuries, we can hardly deny is a prayer for his
soul. Other texts there are which ought to find a place in ancient
controversies, and the omission of which by the fathers affords matter
for more surprise; those, for instance, which, according to
Middleton's rule, are real proofs of our Lord's divinity, and yet are
passed over by Catholic disputants; for these bear upon a then
existing controversy of the first moment and of the most urgent
exigency.
As to the second objection which I have supposed, so far from allowing
it, I consider that it is built upon a mere imaginary fact, and that
the truth of the matter lies in the very contrary direction. The
Virgin and Child is _not_ a mere modern idea; on the contrary, it is
represented again and again, as every visitor to Rome is aware, in the
paintings of the Catacombs. Mary is there drawn with the Divine Infant
in her lap, she with hands extended in prayer, he with his hand in the
attitude of blessing. No representation can more forcibly convey the
doctrine of the high dignity of the mother, and, I will add, of her
power over her Son. Why should the memory of his time of subjection be
so dear to Christians, and so carefully preserved? The only question
to be determined, is the precise date of these remarkable monuments of
the first age of Christianity. That they belong to the centuries of
what Anglicans call the "undivided church" is certain; but lately
investigations have been pursued which place some of them at an
earlier date than any one anticipated as possible. I am not in a
position to quote largely from the works of the Cavaliere de Rossi,
who has thrown so much light upon the subject; but I have his "Imagini
Scelte," published in 1863, and they are sufficient for my purpose. In
this work he has given us from the Catacombs various representations
of the Virgin and Child; the latest of these belong to the early part
of the fourth century, but the earliest he believes to be referable to
the very age of the apostles. He comes to this conclusion from the
style and the skill of the composition, and from the history,
locality, and existing inscriptions of the subterranean in which it is
found. However, he does not go so far as to insist upon so early a
date; yet the utmost liberty he grants is to refer the painting to the
era of the first Antonines--that is, to a date within half a century
of the death of St. John. I consider then that, as you fairly use, in
controversy with Protestants, the traditional doctrine of the church
in early times, as an explanation of the Scripture text, or at least
as a suggestion, or as a defence, of the sense which you may wish to
put on it, quite apart from the question whether your interpretation
itself is traditional, so it is lawful for me, though I have not the
positive words of the fathers on my side, to shelter my own
interpretation of the apostle's vision under the fact of the extant
pictures of Mother and Child in the Roman Catacombs. There is another
principle of Scripture interpretation which we should hold with
you--when we speak of a doctrine being contained in Scripture, we do
not necessarily mean that it is contained there in direct categorical
terms, but that there is no other satisfactory way of accounting for
the language and expressions of the sacred writers, concerning the
subject-matter in question, than to suppose that they held upon it the
opinions which we hold; that they would not have spoken as they have
spoken _unless_ they held it. For myself I have ever felt the truth of
this principle, as regards the Scripture proof of the Holy Trinity; I
should not have found out that doctrine in the sacred text without
previous traditional teaching; but when once it is suggested from
without, it commends itself as the one true interpretation, from its
appositeness, because no other view of doctrine, which can be ascribed
to the inspired writers, so happily {68} solves the obscurities and
seeming inconsistencies of their teaching. And now to apply what I
have said to the passage in the Apocalypse.
If there is an apostle on whom, _a priori_, our eyes would be fixed,
as likely to teach us about the Blessed Virgin, it is St. John, to
whom she was committed by our Lord on the cross--with whom, as
tradition goes, she lived at Ephesus till she was taken away. This
anticipation is confirmed _a posteriori_; for, as I have said above,
one of the earliest and fullest of our informants concerning her
dignity, as being the second Eve, is Irenaeus, who came to Lyons from
Asia Minor, and had been taught by the immediate disciples of St.
John. The apostle's vision is as follows:
"A great sign appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and
the moon under her feet; and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And
being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be
delivered. And there was seen another sign in heaven; and behold a
great red dragon . . . And the dragon stood before the woman who was
ready to be delivered, that, when she should be delivered, he might
devour her son. And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all
nations with an iron rod; and her son was taken up to God and to his
throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness." Now I do not deny, of
course, that, under the image of the woman, the church is signified;
but what I would maintain is this, that the holy apostle would not
have spoken of the church under this particular image _unless_ there
had existed a Blessed Virgin Mary, who was exalted on high, and the
object of veneration to all the faithful.
No one doubts that the "man-child" spoken of is an allusion to our
Lord; why, then, is not "the woman" an allusion to his mother? This
surely is the obvious sense of the words; of course it has a further
sense also, which is the scope of the image; doubtless the child
represents the children of the church, and doubtless the woman
represents the church; this, I grant, is the real or direct sense, but
what is the sense of the symbol? _who_ are the woman and the child? I
answer, They are not personifications but persons. This is true of the
child, therefore it is true of the woman.
But again: not only mother and child, but a serpent, is introduced
into the vision. Such a meeting of man, woman, and serpent has not
been found in Scripture, since the beginning of Scripture, and now it
is found in its end. Moreover, in the passage in the Apocalypse, as if
to supply, before Scripture came to an end, what was wanting in its
beginning, we are told, and for the first time, that the serpent in
Paradise was the evil spirit. If the dragon of St. John is the same as
the serpent of Moses, and the man-child is "the seed of the woman,"
why is not the woman herself she whose seed the man-child is? And, if
the first woman is not an allegory, why is the second? if the first
woman is Eve, why is not the second Mary?
But this is not all. The image of the woman, according to Scripture
usage, is too bold and prominent for a mere personification. Scripture
is not fond of allegories. We have indeed frequent figures there, as
when the sacred writers speak of the arm or sword of the Lord; and so
too when they speak of Jerusalem or Samaria in the feminine; or of the
mountains leaping for joy, or of the church as a bride or as a vine;
but they are not much given to dressing up abstract ideas or
generalizations in personal attributes. This is the classical rather
than the Scripture style. Xenophon places Hercules between Virtue and
Vice, represented as women; AEschylus introduces into his drama Force
and Violence; Virgil gives personality to public rumor or Fame, and
Plautus to Poverty. So on monuments done in the classical style, we
{69} see virtues, vices, rivers, renown, death, and the like, turned
into human figures of men and women. I do not say there are no
instances at all of this method in Scripture, but I say that such
poetical compositions are strikingly unlike its usual method. Thus we
at once feel its difference from Scripture, when we betake ourselves
to the Pastor of Hermes, and find the church a woman, to St.
Methodius, and find Virtue a woman, and to St. Gregory's poem, and
find Virginity again a woman. Scripture deals with types rather than
personifications. Israel stands for the chosen people, David for
Christ, Jerusalem for heaven. Consider the remarkable representations,
dramatic I may call them, in Jeremiah, Ezechiel, and Hosea;
predictions, threatenings, and promises are acted out by those
prophets. Ezechiel is commanded to shave his head, and to divide and
scatter his hair; and Ahias tears his garment, and gives ten out of
twelve parts of it to Jeroboam. So, too, the structure of the imagery
in the Apocalypse is not a mere allegorical creation, but is founded
on the Jewish ritual. In like manner our Lord's bodily cures are
visible types of the power of his grace upon the soul; and his
prophecy of the last day is conveyed under that of the fall of
Jerusalem. Even his parables are not simply ideal, but relations of
occurrences which did or might take place, under which was conveyed a
spiritual meaning. The description of Wisdom in the Proverbs, and
other sacred books, has brought out the instinct of commentators in
this respect. They felt that Wisdom could not be a mere
personification, and they determined that it was our Lord; and the
later of these books, by their own more definite language, warranted
that interpretation. Then, when it was found that the Arians used it
in derogation of our Lord's divinity, still, unable to tolerate the
notion of a mere allegory, commentators applied the description to the
Blessed Virgin. Coming back then to the Apocalyptic vision, I ask, If
the woman must be some real person, who can it be whom the apostle
saw, and intends, and delineates, but that same great mother to whom
the chapters in the Proverbs are accommodated? And let it be observed,
moreover, that in this passage, from the allusion in it to the history
of the fall, she may be said still to be represented under the
character of the second Eve. I make a further remark; it is sometimes
asked, Why do not the sacred writers mention our Lady's greatness? I
answer, she was, or may have been, alive when the apostles and
evangelists wrote; there was just one book of Scripture certainly
written after her death, and that book does (if I may so speak)
canonize her.
But if all this be so, if it is really the Blessed Virgin whom
Scripture represents as clothed with the sun, crowned with the stars
of heaven, and with the moon as her footstool, what height of glory
may we not attribute to her? and what are we to say of those who,
through ignorance, run counter to the voice of Scripture, to the
testimony of the fathers, to the traditions of East and West, and
speak and act contemptuously toward her whom her Lord delighteth to
honor?
Now I have said all I mean to say on what I have called the rudimental
teaching of antiquity about the Blessed Virgin; but, after all, I have
not insisted on the highest view of her prerogatives which the fathers
have taught us. You, my dear friend, who know so well the ancient
controversies and councils, may have been surprised why I should not
have yet spoken of her as the Theotocos; but I wished to show on how
broad a basis her greatness rests, independent of that wonderful
title; and again, I have been loth to enlarge upon the force of a
word, which is rather matter for devotional thought than for polemical
dispute. However, I might as well not {70} write on my subject at all
as altogether be silent upon it.
It is, then, an integral portion of the faith fixed by ecumenical
council, a portion of it which you hold as well as I, that the Blessed
Virgin is Theotocos, Deipara, or Mother of God; and this word, when
thus used, carries with it no admixture of rhetoric, no taint of
extravagant affection; it has nothing else but a well-weighed, grave,
dogmatic sense, which corresponds and is adequate to its sound. It
intends to express that God is her Son, as truly as any one of us is
the son of his own mother. If this be so, what can be said of any
creature whatever which may not be said of her? what can be said too
much, so that it does not compromise the attributes of the Creator?
He, indeed, might have created a being more perfect, more admirable,
than she is; he might have endued that being, so created, with a
richer grant of grace, of power, of blessedness; but in one respect
she surpasses all even possible creations, viz., that she is Mother of
her Creator. It is this awful title, which both illustrates and
connects together the two prerogatives of Mary, on which I have been
lately enlarging, her sanctity and her greatness. It is the issue of
her sanctity; it is the source of her greatness. What dignity can be
too great to attribute to her who is as closely bound up, as
intimately one, with the Eternal Word, as a mother is with a son? What
outfit of sanctity, what fulness and redundance of grace, what
exuberance of merits must have been hers, on the supposition, which
the fathers justify, that her Maker regarded them at all, and took
them into account, when he condescended "not to abhor the Virgin's
womb?" Is it surprising, then, that on the one hand she should be
immaculate in her conception? or on the other that she should be
exalted as a queen, with a crown of twelve stars? Men sometimes wonder
that we call her mother of life, of mercy, of salvation; what are all
these titles compared to that one name, Mother of God?
I shall say no more about this title here. It is scarcely possible to
write of it without diverging into a style of composition unsuited to
a letter; so I proceed to the history of its use.
The title of _Theotocos_ [Footnote 15] begins with ecclesiastical
writers of a date hardly later than that at which we read of her as
the second Eve. It first occurs in the works of Origen (185-254); but
he, witnessing for Egypt and Palestine, witnesses also that it was in
use before his time; for, as Socrates informs us, he "interpreted how
it was to be used, and discussed the question at length" (Hist. vii.
32). Within two centuries (431), in the general council held against
Nestorius, it was made part of the formal dogmatic teaching of the
church. At that time Theodoret, who from his party connections might
have been supposed disinclined to its solemn recognition, owned that
"the ancient and more than ancient heralds of the orthodox faith
taught the use of the term according to the apostolic tradition." At
the same date John of Antioch, who for a while sheltered Nestorius,
whose heresy lay in the rejection of the term, said, "This title no
ecclesiastical teacher has put aside. Those who have used it are many
and eminent, and those who have not used it have not attacked those
who did." Alexander again, one of the fiercest partisans of Nestorius,
allows the use of the word, though he considers it dangerous. "That in
festive solemnities," he says, "or in preaching or teaching,
_theotocos_ should be unguardedly said by the orthodox without
explanation is no blame, because such statements were not dogmatic,
nor said with evil meaning." If we look for those, in the interval
between Origen and the council, to whom Alexander refers, we find it
used again and again by the fathers in such of their works as are
extant: by {71} Archelans of Mesopotamia, Eusebius of Palestine,
Alexander of Egypt, in the third century; in the fourth, by Athanasius
many times with emphasis, by Cyril of Palestine, Gregory Nyssen of
Cappadocia, Gregory Nazianzen of Cappadocia, Antiochus of Syria, and
Ammonius of Thrace; not to speak of the Emperor Julian, who, having no
local or ecclesiastical domicile, speaks for the whole of Christendom.
Another and earlier emperor, Constantine, in his speech before the
assembled bishops at Nicaea, uses the still more explicit title of
"the Virgin Mother of God;" which is also used by Ambrose of Milan,
and by Vincent and Cassian in the south of France, and then by St.
Leo.
[Footnote 15: _Vid_. "translation of St. Athanasius," pp. 420, 440,
447.]
So much for the term; it would be tedious to produce the passages of
authors who, using or not using the term, convey the idea. "Our God
was carried in the womb of Mary," says Ignatius, who was martyred A.D.
106. "The word of God," says Hippolytus, "was carried in that virgin
frame." "The Maker of all," says Amphilochius, "is born of a virgin."
"She did compass without circumscribing the Sun of justice--the
Everlasting is born," says Chrysostom. "God dwelt in the womb," says
Proclus. "When thou hearest that God speaks from the bush," asks
Theodotus, "in the bush seest thou not the Virgin?" Cassian says,
"Mary bore her Author." "The one God only-begotten," says Hilary, "is
introduced into the womb of a virgin." "The Everlasting," says
Ambrose, "came into the Virgin him." "The closed gate," says Jerome,
"by which alone the Lord God of Israel enters, is the Virgin Mary."
"That man from heaven," says Capriolus, "is God conceived in the
womb." "He is made in thee," says Augustine, "who made thee."
This being the faith of the fathers about the Blessed Virgin, we need
not wonder that it should in no long time be transmuted into devotion.
No wonder if their language should be unmeasured, when so great a term
as "Mother of God" had been formally set down as the safe limit of it.
No wonder if it became stronger and stronger as time went on, since
only in a long period could the fulness of its import be exhausted.
And in matter of fact, and as might be anticipated (with the few
exceptions which I have noted above, and which I am to treat of
below), the current of thought in those early ages did uniformly tend
to make much of the Blessed Virgin and to increase her honors, not to
circumscribe them. Little jealousy was shown of her in those times;
but, when any such niggardness of devotion occurred, then one father
or other fell upon the offender, with zeal, not to say with
fierceness. Thus St. Jerome inveighs against Helvidius; thus St.
Epiphanius denounces Apollinaris, St. Cyril Nestorius, and St. Ambrose
Bonosus; on the other hand, each successive insult offered to her by
individual adversaries did but bring out more fully the intimate
sacred affection with which Christendom regarded her. "She was alone,
and wrought the world's salvation and conceived the redemption of
all," says Ambrose; [Footnote 16] "she had so great grace, as not
only to preserve virginity herself, but to confer it upon those whom
she visited." "The rod out of the stem of Jesse," says Jerome, "and
the eastern gate through which the high priest alone goes in and out,
yet is ever shut" "The wise woman," says Nilus, who "hath clad
believers, from the fleece of the Lamb born of her, with the clothing
of incorruption, and delivered them from their spiritual nakedness."
"The mother of life, of beauty, of majesty, the morning star,"
according to Antiochus. "The mystical new heavens," "the heavens
carrying the Divinity," "the fruitful vine," "by whom we are
translated from death to life," according to St. Ephrem. "The manna
which is delicate, bright, sweet, and virgin, {72} which, as though
coming from heaven, has poured down on all the people of the churches
a food pleasanter than honey," according to St. Maximus.
[Footnote 16: "Essay on Doctr. Dev.," p. 408]
Proclus calls her "the unsullied shell which contains the pearl of
price," "the church's diadem," "the expression of orthodoxy." "Run
through all creation in your thought," he says, "and see if there be
one equal or superior to the Holy Virgin, Mother of God." "Hail,
mother, clad in light, of the light which sets not," says Theodotus,
or some one else at Ephesus--"hail, all-undefiled mother of holiness;
hail, most pellucid fountain of the life-giving stream." And St. Cyril
too at Ephesus, "Hail, Mary, Mother of God, majestic common-treasure
of the whole world, the lamp unquenchable, the crown of virginity, the
staff of orthodoxy, the indissoluble temple, the dwelling of the
illimitable, mother and virgin, through whom he in the holy gospels is
called blessed who cometh in the name of the Lord, .... through whom
the Holy Trinity is sanctified, through whom angels and archangels
rejoice, devils are put to flight, .... and the fallen creature is
received up into the heavens, etc, etc." [Footnote 17] Such is but a
portion of the panegyrical language which St. Cyril used in the third
ecumenical council.
[Footnote 17: Opp., t. 6, p. 355. ]
I must not close my review of the Catholic doctrine concerning the
Blessed Virgin without directly speaking of her intercessory power,
though I have incidentally made mention of it already. It is the
immediate result of two truths, neither of which you dispute: first,
that "it is good and useful," as the Council of Trent says,
"suppliantly to invoke the saints and to have recourse to their
prayers;" and secondly, that the Blessed Mary is singularly dear to
her Son and singularly exalted in sanctity and glory. However, at the
risk of becoming didactic, I will state somewhat more fully the
grounds on which it rests.
To a candid pagan it must have been one of the most remarkable points
of Christianity, on its first appearance, that the observance of
prayer formed so vital a part of its organization; and that, though
its members were scattered all over the world, and its rulers and
subjects had so little opportunity of correlative action, yet they,
one and all, found the solace of a spiritual intercourse, and a real
bond of union, in the practice of mutual intercession. Prayer, indeed,
is the very essence of religion; but in the heathen religions it was
either public or personal; it was a state ordinance, or a selfish
expedient, for the attainment of certain tangible, temporal goods.
Very different from this was its exercise among Christians, who were
thereby knit together in one body, different as they were in races,
ranks, and habits, distant from each other in country, and helpless
amid hostile populations. Yet it proved sufficient for its purpose.
Christians could not correspond; they could not combine; but they
could pray one for another. Even their public prayers partook of this
character of intercession; for to pray for the welfare of the whole
church was really a prayer for all classes of men, and all the
individuals of which it was composed. It was in prayer that the church
was founded. For ten days all the apostles "persevered with one mind
in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the Mother of
Jesus, and with his brethren." Then again at Pentecost "they were all
with one mind in one place;" and the converts then made are said to
have "persevered in prayer." And when, after a while, St. Peter was
seized and put in prison with a view to his being put to death,
"prayer was made without ceasing" by the church of God for him; and,
when the angel released him, he took refuge in a house "where many
were gathered together in prayer."
{73}
We are so accustomed to these passages as hardly to be able to do
justice to their singular significance; and they are followed up by
various passages of the apostolic epistles. St. Paul enjoins his
brethren to '"pray with all prayer and supplication at all times in
the Spirit, with all instance and supplication for all saints," to
"pray in every place," "to make supplication, prayers, intercessions,
giving of thanks for all men." And in his own person he "ceases not to
give thanks for them, commemorating them in his prayers," and "always
in all his prayers making supplication for them all with joy."
Now, was this spiritual bond to cease with life? or had Christians
similar duties to their brethren departed? From the witness of the
early ages of the church, it appears that they had; and you, and those
who agree with you, would be the last to deny that they were then in
the practice of praying, as for the living, so for those also who had
passed into the intermediate state between earth and heaven. Did the
sacred communion extend further still, on to the inhabitants of heaven
itself? Here too you agree with us, for you have adopted in your
volume the words of the Council of Trent which I have quoted above.
But now we are brought to a higher order of thoughts.
It would be preposterous to pray for those who are already in glory;
but at least they can pray for us, and we can ask their prayers, and
in the Apocalypse at least angels are introduced both sending us their
blessing and presenting our prayers before the divine Presence. We
read there of an angel who "came and stood before the altar, having a
golden censer;" and "there was given to him much incense, that he
should offer of the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which
is before the throne of God." On this occasion, surely, the angel
Michael, as the prayer in mass considers him, performed the part of a
great intercessor or mediator above for the children of the church
militant below. Again, in the beginning of the same book, the sacred
writer goes so far as to speak of "grace and peace" being sent us, not
only from the Almighty, but "from the seven spirits that are before
his throne," thus associating the Eternal with the ministers of his
mercies; and this carries us on to the remarkable passage of St.
Justin, one of the earliest fathers, who, in his "Apology," says, "To
him (God), and his Son who came from him, and taught us these things,
and the host of the other good angels who follow and resemble them,
and the prophetic Spirit, we pay veneration and homage." Further, in
the Epistle to the Hebrews, St. Paul introduces, not only angels, but
"the spirits of the just" into the sacred communion: "Ye have come to
Mount Sion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to myriads of angels, to God,
the Judge of all, to the spirits of the just made perfect, and to
Jesus, the Mediator of the New Testament." What can be meant by having
"come to the spirits of the just," unless in some way or other they do
us good, whether by blessing or by aiding us? that is, in a word, to
speak correctly, by praying for us; for it is by prayer alone that the
creature above can bless or aid the creature below.
Intercession thus being the first principle of the church's life, next
it is certain again that the vital principle of that intercession, as
an availing power, is, according to the will of God, sanctity. This
seems to be suggested by a passage of St. Paul, in which the supreme
intercessor is said to be "the Spirit:" "The Spirit himself maketh
intercession for us; he maketh intercession for the saints according
to God." However, the truth thus implied is expressly brought out in
other parts of Scripture, in the form both of doctrine and of example.
The words of the man born blind speak the common sense of nature: "If
any man be a worshipper of God, him he heareth." {74} And apostles
confirm them: "The prayer of a just man availeth much," and "whatever
we ask we receive, because we keep his commandments." Then, as for
examples, we read of Abraham and Moses as having the divine purpose of
judgment revealed to them beforehand, in order that they might
deprecate its execution. To the friends of Job it was said, "My
servant Job shall pray for you; his face I will accept." Elias by his
prayer shut and opened the heavens. Elsewhere we read of "Jeremias,
Moses, and Samuel," and of "Noe, Daniel, and Job," as being great
mediators between God and his people. One instance is given us, which
testifies the continuance of so high an office beyond this life.
Lazarus, in the parable, is seen in Abraham's bosom. It is usual to
pass over this striking passage with the remark that it is a Jewish
expression; whereas, Jewish belief or not, it is recognized and
sanctioned by our Lord himself. What do we teach about the Blessed
Virgin more wonderful than this? Let us suppose that, at the hour of
death, the faithful are committed to her arms; but if Abraham, not yet
ascended on high, had charge of Lazarus, what offence is it to affirm
the like of her, who was not merely "the friend," but the very "Mother
of God?"
It may be added that, though it availed nothing for influence with our
Lord to be one of his company if sanctity was wanting, still, as the
gospel shows, he on various occasions allowed those who were near him
to be the means by which supplicants were brought to him, or miracles
gained from him, as in the instance of the miracle of the loaves; and
if on one occasion he seems to repel his mother when she told him that
wine was wanting for the guests at the marriage feast, it is obvious
to remark on it that, by saying that she was then separated from him
_because_ his hour was not yet come, he implied that, when that hour
was come, such separation would be at an end. Moreover, in fact, he
did, at her intercession, work the miracle which she desired.
I consider it impossible, then, for those who believe the church to be
one vast body in heaven and on earth, in which every holy creature of
God has his place, and of which prayer is the life, when once they
recognize the sanctity and greatness of the Blessed Virgin, not to
perceive immediately that her office above is one of perpetual
intercession for the faithful militant, and that our very relation to
her must be that of clients to a patron, and that, in the eternal
enmity which exists between the woman and the serpent, while the
serpent's strength is that of being the tempter, the weapon of the
second Eve and Mother of God is prayer.
As then these ideas of her sanctity and greatness gradually penetrated
the mind of Christendom, so did her intercessory power follow close
upon and with them. From the earliest times that mediation is
symbolized in those representations of her with uplifted hands, which,
whether in plaster or in glass, are still extant in Rome--that
church, as St. Irenaeus says, with which "every church, that is, the
faithful from every side, must agree, because of its more powerful
principality;" "into which," as Tertullian adds, "the apostles poured
out, together with their blood, their whole doctrines." As far,
indeed, as existing documents are concerned, I know of no instance to
my purpose earlier than A.D. 234, but it is a very remarkable one;
and, though it has been often quoted in the controversy, an argument
is not the weaker for frequent use.
St. Gregory Nyssen, [Footnote 18] a native of Cappadocia in the
fourth century, relates that his namesake, Bishop of Neo-Caesarea,
surnamed Thaumaturgus, in the century preceding, shortly before he was
called to the priesthood, received in a vision a creed, which is still
extant, from the Blessed Mary at the hands of St. John.
[Footnote 18: _Vid_. "Essay on Doctr. Dev." p. 386.]
{75}
The account runs thus: He was deeply pondering theological doctrine,
which the heretics of the day depraved. "In such thoughts," says his
namesake of Nyssa, "he was passing the night, when one appeared, as if
in human form, aged in appearance, saintly in the fashion of his
garments, and very venerable both in grace of countenance and general
mien. Amazed at the sight, he started from his bed, and asked who it
was, and why he came; but, on the other calming the perturbation of
his mind with his gentle voice, and saying he had appeared to him by
divine command on account of his doubts, in order that the truth of
the orthodox faith might be revealed to him, he took courage at the
word, and regarded him with a mixture of joy and fright. Then, on his
stretching his hand straight forward and pointing with his fingers at
something on one side, he followed with his eyes the extended hand,
and saw another appearance opposite to the former, in the shape of a
woman, but more than human. . . . When his eyes could not, bear the
apparition, he heard them conversing together on the subject of his
doubts; and thereby not only gained a true knowledge of the faith, but
learned their names, as they addressed each other by their respective
appellations. And thus he is said to have heard the person in woman's
shape bid 'John the Evangelist' disclose to the young man the mystery
of godliness; and he answered that he was ready to comply in this
matter with the wish of 'the Mother of the Lord,' and enunciated a
formulary, well turned and complete, and so vanished. He, on the other
hand, immediately committed to writing that divine teaching of his
mystagogue, and henceforth preached in the church according to that
form, and bequeathed to posterity, as an inheritance, that heavenly
teaching, by means of which his people are instructed down to this
day, being preserved from all heretical evil." He proceeds to rehearse
the creed thus given, "There is one God, father of a living Word,"
etc. Bull, after quoting it in his work upon the Nicene faith, alludes
to this history of its origin, and adds, "No one should think it
incredible that such a providence should befal a man whose whole life
was conspicuous for revelations and miracles, as all ecclesiastical
writers who have mentioned him (and who has not?) witness with one
voice."
Here she is represented as rescuing a holy soul from intellectual
error. This leads me to a further reflection. You seem, in one place
in your volume, to object to the antiphon, in which it is said of her,
"All heresies thou hast destroyed alone." Surely the truth of it is
verified in this age, as in former times, and especially by the
doctrine concerning her on which I have been dwelling. She is the
great exemplar of prayer in a generation which emphatically denies the
power of prayer _in toto_, which determines that fatal laws govern the
universe, that there cannot be any direct communication between earth
and heaven, that God cannot visit his earth, and that man cannot
influence his providence.
I cannot help hoping that your own reading of the fathers will on the
whole bear me out in the above account of their teaching concerning
the Blessed Virgin. Anglicans seem to me to overlook the strength of
the argument adducible from their works in our favor, and they open
the attack upon our mediaeval and modern writers, careless of leaving
a host of primitive opponents in their rear. I do not include you
among such Anglicans; you know what the fathers assert; but, if so,
have you not, my dear friend, been unjust to yourself in your recent
volume, and made far too much of the differences which exist between
Anglicans and us on this particular point? It is the office of an
Irenicon to smooth difficulties; I shall be pleased if I succeed in
removing some of yours. Let the public judge between us here. Had you
{76} happened in your volume to introduce your notice of our teaching
about the Blessed Virgin with a notice of the teaching of the fathers
concerning her, ordinary men would have considered that there was not
much to choose between you and us. Though you appealed ever so much to
the authority of the "undivided church," they certainly would have
said that you, who had such high notions of the Blessed Mary, were one
of the last men who had a right to accuse us of quasi-idolatry. When
they found you calling her by the titles of Mother of God, Second Eve,
and Mother of all Living, the Mother of life, the Morning Star, the
Stay of Believers, the Expression of Orthodoxy, the All-undefiled
Mother of Holiness, and the like, they would have deemed it a poor
compensation for such language that you protested against her being
called a co-redemptress or a priestess. And, if they were violent
Protestants, they would not have read you with that relish and
gratitude with which, as it is, they have perhaps accepted your
testimony against us. Not that they would have been altogether right
in their view of you;--on the contrary, I think there is a real
difference between what you protest against and what with the fathers
you hold; but unread men and men of the world form a broad practical
judgment of the things which come before them, and they would have
felt in this case that they had the same right to be shocked at you as
you have to be shocked at us;--and further, which is the point to
which I am coming, they would have said that, granting some of our
modern writers go beyond the fathers in this matter, still the line
cannot be logically drawn between the teaching of the fathers
concerning the Blessed Virgin and our own. This view of the matter
seems to me true and important; I do not think the line _can_ be
satisfactorily drawn, and to this point I shall now direct my
attention. It is impossible, I say, in a doctrine like this, to draw
the line cleanly between truth and error, right and wrong. This is
ever the case in concrete matters, which have life. Life in this world
is motion, and involves a continual process of change. Living things
grow into their perfection, into their decline, into their death. No
rule of art will suffice to stop the operation of this natural law,
whether in the material world or in the human mind. We can indeed
encounter disorders, when they occur, by external antagonisms and
remedies; but we cannot eradicate the process itself out of which they
arise. Life has the same right to decay as it has to wax strong. This
is specially the case with great ideas. You may stifle them; or you
may refuse them elbow-room; or you may torment them with your
continual meddling; or you may let them have free course and range,
and be content, instead of anticipating their excesses, to expose and
restrain those excesses after they have occurred. But you have only
this alternative; and for myself, I prefer much, wherever it is
possible, to be first generous and then just; to grant full liberty of
thought, and to call it to account when abused.
If what I have been saying be true of energetic ideas generally, much
more is it the case in matters of religion. Religion acts on the
affections; who is to hinder these, when once roused, from gathering
in their strength and running wild? They are not gifted with any
connatural principle within them which renders them self-governing and
self-adjusting. They hurry right on to their object, and often in
their case it is, more haste and worse speed. Their object engrosses
them, and they see nothing else. And of all passions love is the most
unmanageable; nay, more, I would not give much for that love which is
never extravagant, which always observes the proprieties, and can move
about in perfect good taste, under all emergencies. What mother, what
husband or wife, what youth or maiden in love, {77} but says a
thousand foolish things, in the way of endearment, which the speaker
would be sorry for strangers to hear; yet they were not on that
account unwelcome to the parties to whom they are addressed. Sometimes
by bad luck they are written down, sometimes they get into the
newspapers; and what might be even graceful, when it was fresh from
the heart, and interpreted by the voice and the countenance, presents
but a melancholy exhibition when served up cold for the public eye. So
it is with devotional feelings. Burning thoughts and words are as open
to criticism as they are beyond it. What is abstractedly extravagant,
may in religions persons be becoming and beautiful, and only fall
under blame when it is found in others who imitate them. When it is
formalized into meditations or exercises, it is as repulsive as
love-letters in a police report. Moreover, even holy minds readily
adopt and become familiar with language which they would never have
originated themselves, when it proceeds from a writer who has the same
objects of devotion as they have; and, if they find a stranger
ridicule or reprobate supplication or praise which has come to them so
recommended, they feel as keenly as if a direct insult were offered to
those to whom that homage is addressed. In the next place, what has
power to stir holy and refined souls is potent also with the
multitude; and the religion of the multitude is ever vulgar and
abnormal; it ever will be tinctured with fanaticism and superstition
while men are what they are. A people's religion is ever a corrupt
religion. If you are to have a Catholic Church, you must put up with
fish of every kind, guests good and bad, vessels of gold, vessels of
earth. You may beat religion out of men, if you will, and then their
excesses will take a different direction; but if you make use of
religion to improve them, they will make use of religion to corrupt
it. And then you will have effected that compromise of which our
countrymen report so unfavorably from abroad:--a high grand faith and
worship which compel their admiration, and puerile absurdities among
the people which excite their contempt.
Nor is it any safeguard against these excesses in a religious system
that the religion is based upon reason, and develops into a theology.
Theology both uses logic and baffles it; and thus logic acts both as a
protection and as the perversion of religion. Theology is occupied
with supernatural matters, and is ever running into mysteries which
reason can neither explain nor adjust. Its lines of thought come to an
abrupt termination, and to pursue them or to complete them is to
plunge down the abyss. But logic blunders on, forcing its way, as it
can, through thick darkness and ethereal mediums. The Arians went
ahead with logic for their directing principle, and so lost the truth;
on the other hand, St. Augustine, in his treatise on the Holy Trinity,
seems to show that, if we attempt to find and tie together the ends of
lines which run into infinity, we shall only succeed in contradicting
ourselves; that for instance it is difficult to find the logical
reason for not speaking of three Gods as well as of one, and of one
person in the Godhead as well as of three. I do not mean to say that
logic cannot be used to set right its own error, or that in the hands
of an able disputant the balance of truth may not be restored. This
was done at the Councils of Antioch and Nicaea, in the instances of
Paulus and Arius. But such a process is circuitous and elaborate; and
is conducted by means of minute subtleties which will give it the
appearance of a game of skill in the case of matters too grave and
practical to deserve a mere scholastic treatment. Accordingly, St.
Augustine simply lays it down that the statements in question are
heretical, for the former is trltheism and the latter Sabellianism.
That is, good sense and a large {78} view of truth are the correctives
of his logic. And thus we have arrived at the final resolution of the
whole matter; for good sense and a large view of truth are rare gifts;
whereas all men are bound to be devout, and most men think they can
argue and conclude.
Now let me apply what I have been saying to the teaching of the church
on the subject of the Blessed Virgin. I have to recur to a subject of
so sacred a nature, that, writing as I am for publication, I need the
apology of my object for venturing to pursue it. I say then, when once
we have mastered the idea that Mary bore, suckled, and handled the
Eternal in the form of a child, what limit is conceivable to the rush
and flood of thoughts which such a doctrine involves? What awe and
surprise must attend upon the knowledge that a creature has been
brought so close to the Divine Essence? It was the creation of a new
idea and a new sympathy, a new faith and worship, when the holy
apostles announced that God bad become incarnate; and a supreme love
and devotion to him became possible which seemed hopeless before that
revelation. But beside this, a second range of thoughts was opened on
mankind, unknown before, and unlike any other, as soon as it was
understood that that incarnate God had a mother. The second idea is
perfectly distinct from the former, the one does not interfere with
the other. He is God made low, she is a woman made high. I scarcely
like to use a familiar illustration on such a subject, but it will
serve to explain what I mean when I ask you to consider the difference
of feeling with which we read the respective histories of Maria
Theresa and the Maid of Orleans; or with which the middle and lower
classes of a nation regard a first minister of the day who has come of
an aristocratic house and one who has risen from the ranks. May God's
mercy keep me from the shadow of a thought dimming the light or
blunting the keenness of that love of him which is our sole happiness
and our sole salvation! But surely, when he became man he brought home
to us his incommunicable attributes with a distinctiveness which
precludes the possibility of our lowering him by exalting a creature.
He alone has an entrance into our soul, reads our secret thoughts,
speaks to our heart, applies to us spiritual pardon and strength. On
him we solely depend. He alone is our inward life; he not only
regenerates us, but (to allude to a higher mystery) _semper gignit;_
he is ever renewing our new birth and our heavenly sonship. In this
sense he may be called, as in nature, so in grace, our real father.
Mary is only our adopted mother, given us from the cross; her presence
is above, not on earth; her office is external, not within us. Her
name is not heard in the administration of the sacraments. Her work is
not one of ministration toward us; her power is indirect. It is her
prayers that avail, and they are effectual by the _fiat_ of him who is
our all in all. Nor does she hear us by any innate power, or any
personal gift; but by his manifestation to her of the prayers which we
make her. When Moses was on the Mount, the Almighty told him of the
idolatry of his people at the foot of it, in order that he might
intercede for them; and thus it is the Divine presence which is the
intermediating power by which we reach her and she reaches us.
Woe is me, if even by a breath I sully these ineffable truths! but
still, without prejudice to them, there is, I say, another range of
thought quite distinct from them, incommensurate with them, of which
the Blessed Virgin is the centre. If we placed our Lord in that
centre, we should only be degrading him from his throne, and making
him an Arian kind of a God; that is, no God at all. He who charges us
with marking Mary a divinity, is thereby denying the divinity of
Jesus. Such a man does not know what divinity is. Our Lord cannot {79}
pray for us, as a creature, as Mary prays; he cannot inspire those
feelings which a creature inspires. To her belongs, as being a
creature, a natural claim on our sympathy and familiarity, in that she
is nothing else than our fellow. She is our pride,--in the poet's
words, "Our tainted nature's solitary boast." We look to her without
any fear, any remorse, any consciousness that she is able to read us,
judge us, punish us. Our heart yearns toward that pure virgin, that
gentle mother, and our congratulations follow her, as she rises from
Nazareth and Ephesus, through the choirs of angels, to her throne on
high. So weak, yet so strong; so delicate, yet so glory-laden; so
modest, yet so mighty. She has sketched for us her own portrait in the
magnificat. "He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaid; for
behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. He hath
put down the mighty from their seat; and hath exalted the humble. He
hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent
empty away." I recollect the strange emotion which took by surprise
men and women, young and old, when, at the coronation of our present
queen, they gazed on the figure of one so like a child, so small, so
tender, so shrinking, who had been exalted to so great an inheritance
and so vast a rule, who was such a contrast in her own person to the
solemn pageant which centred in her. Could it be otherwise with the
spectators, if they had human affection? And did not the All-wise know
the human heart when he took to himself a mother? did he not
anticipate our emotion at the sight of such an exaltation? If he had
not meant her to exert that wonderful influence in his church which
she has in the event exerted, I will use a bold word, he it is who has
perverted us. If she is not to attract our homage, why did he make her
solitary in her greatness amid his vast creation? If it be idolatry in
us to let our affections respond to our faith, he would not have made
her what she is, or he would not have told us that he had so made her;
but, far from this, he has sent his prophet to announce to us, "A
virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name
Emmanuel," and we have the same warrant for hailing her as God's
Mother, as we have for adoring him as God.
Christianity is eminently an objective religion. For the most part it
tells us of persons and facts in simple words, and leaves the
announcement to produce its effect on such hearts as are prepared to
receive it. This at least is its general character; and Butler
recognizes it as such in his "Analogy" when speaking of the Second and
Third Persons of the Holy Trinity: "The internal worship," he says,
"to the Son and Holy Ghost is no further matter of pure revealed
command than as the relations they stand in to us are matters of pure
revelation; for the relations being known, the obligations to such
internal worship are _obligations of reason arising out of those
relations themselves_." [Footnote 19]
[Footnote 19: _Vid_. "Essay on Doctr. Dev.," p. 50.]
It is in this way that the revealed doctrine of the incarnation
exerted a stronger and a broader influence on Christians, as they more
and more apprehended and mastered its meaning and its bearings. It is
contained in the brief and simple declaration of St John, "The Word
was made flesh;" but it required century after century to spread it
out in its fulness and to imprint it energetically on the worship and
practice of the Catholic people as well as on their faith. Athanasius
was the first and the great teacher of it. He collected together the
inspired notices scattered through David, Isaias, St. Paul, and St.
John, and he engraved indelibly upon the imaginations of the faithful,
as had never been before, that man is God, and God is man, that in
Mary they meet, and that in this sense Mary {80} is the centre of all
things. He added nothing to what was known before, nothing to the
popular and zealous faith that her Son was God; he has left behind him
in his works no such definite passages about her as those of St.
Irenaeus or St. Epiphanius; but he brought the circumstances of the
incarnation home to men's minds by the manifold evolutions of his
analysis, and secured it for ever from perversion. Still, however,
there was much to be done; we have no proof that Athanasius himself
had any special devotion to the Blessed Virgin; but he laid the
foundations on which that devotion was to rest, and thus noiselessly
and without strife, as the first temple in the holy city, she grew up
into her inheritance, and was "established in Sion and her power was
in Jerusalem." Such was the origin of that august _cultus_ which has
been paid to the Blessed Mary for so many centuries in the East and in
the West. That in times and places it has fallen into abuse, that it
has even become a superstition, I do not care to deny; for, as I have
said above, the same process which brings to maturity carries on to
decay, and things that do not admit of abuse have very little life in
them. This of course does not excuse such excesses, or justify us in
making light of them, when they occur. I have no intention of doing so
as regards the particular instances which you bring against us, though
but a few words will suffice for what I need say about them:--before
doing so, however, I am obliged to make three or four introductory
remarks.
1. I have almost anticipated my first remark already. It is this: that
the height of our offending in our devotion to the Blessed Virgin
would not look so great in your volume as it does, had you not placed
yourself on lower ground than your own feelings toward her would have
spontaneously prompted you to take. I have no doubt you had some good
reason for adopting this course, but I do not know it. What I do know
is that, for the fathers' sake, who so exalt her, you really do love
and venerate her, though you do not evidence it in your book. I am
glad, then, in this place, to insist on a fact which will lead those
among us who know you not to love you from their love of her, in spite
of what you refuse to give her; and Anglicans, on the other hand, who
do know you, to think better of us, who refuse her nothing, when they
reflect that you do not actually go against us, but merely come short
of us in your devotion to her.
2. As you revere the fathers, so you revere the Greek Church; and here
again we have a witness on our behalf of which you must be aware as
fully as we are, and of which you must really mean to give us the
benefit. In proportion as this remarkable fact is understood, it will
take off the edge of the surprise of Anglicans at the sight of our
devotions to our Lady. It must weigh with them when they discover that
we can enlist on our side in this controversy those seventy millions
(I think they so consider them) of Orientals who are separated from
our communion. Is it not a very pregnant fact that the Eastern
churches, so independent of us, so long separated from the West, so
jealous of antiquity, should even surpass us in their exaltation of
the Blessed Virgin? That they go further than we do is sometimes
denied, on the ground that the Western devotion toward her is brought
out into system, and the Eastern is not; yet this only means really
that the Latins have more mental activity, more strength of intellect,
less of routine, less of mechanical worship among them, than the
Greeks. We are able, better than they, to give an account of what we
do; and we seem to be more extreme merely because we are more
definite. But, after all, what have the Latins done so bold as that
substitution of the name of Mary for the name of Jesus at the end of
the collects and petitions in the breviary, nay, in the ritual and
liturgy? Not {81} merely in local or popular, and in semi-authorized
devotions, which are the kind of sources that supplies you with your
matter of accusation against us, but in the formal prayers of the
Greek eucharistic service, petitions are offered, not "in the name of
Jesus Christ," but "of the Theotocos." Such a phenomenon, in such a
quarter, I think, ought to make Anglicans merciful toward those
writers among ourselves who have been excessive in singing the praises
of the Deipara. To make a rule of substituting Mary with all saints
for Jesus in the public service, has more "Mariolatry" in it than to
alter the Te Deum to her honor in private devotion.
3. And thus I am brought to a third remark supplemental to your
accusation of us. Two large views, as I have said above, are opened
upon our devotional thoughts in Christianity; the one centring in the
Son of Mary, the other in the Mother of Jesus. Neither need obscure
the other; and in the Catholic Church, as a matter of fact, neither
does. I wish you had either frankly allowed this in your volume, or
proved the contrary. I wish, when you report that "a certain
proportion, it has been ascertained by those who have inquired, do
stop short in her," p. 107, that you had added your belief, that the
case was far otherwise with the great bulk of Catholics. Might I not
have expected it? May I not, without sensitiveness, be somewhat pained
at the omission? From mere Protestants, indeed, I expect nothing
better. They content themselves with saying that our devotions to our
Lady _must necessarily_ throw our Lord into the shade, and thereby
they relieve themselves of a great deal of trouble. Then they catch at
any stray fact which countenances or seems to countenance their
prejudice. Now I say plainly I never will defend or screen any one
from your just rebuke who, through false devotion to Mary, forgets
Jesus. But I should like the fact to be proved first; I cannot hastily
admit it. There is this broad fact the other way: that if we look
through Europe we shall find, on the whole, that just those nations
and countries have lost their faith in the divinity of Christ who have
given up devotion to his Mother, and that those, on the other hand,
who have been foremost in her honor, have retained their orthodoxy.
Contrast, for instance, the Calvinists with the Greeks, or France with
the north of Germany, or the Protestant and Catholic communions in
Ireland. As to England, it is scarcely doubtful what would be the
state of its Established Church if the Liturgy and Articles were not
an integral part of its establishment; and when men bring so grave a
charge against us as is implied in your volume, they cannot be
surprised if we in turn say hard things of Anglicanism. [Footnote 20]
In the Catholic Church Mary has shown herself, not the rival, but the
minister of her Son. She has protected him, as in his infancy, so in
the whole history of the religion. There is, then, a plain historical
truth in Dr. Fisher's words which you quote to condemn: "Jesus is
obscured, because Mary is kept in the background."
[Footnote 20: I have spoken more more on this subject in my "Essay
on Development," p. 438. "Nor does it avail to object, that, in this
contrast of devotional exercises, the human is sure to supplant the
divine, from the infirmity of out nature; for, I repeat, the
question is one of fact, whether it has done so. And next, it must
be asked, _whether the character of Protestant devotion toward our
Lord has been that of worship at all:_ and not rather such as we pay
to an excellent human being? . . . Carnal minds will ever create a
carnal worship for themselves; and to forbid them the service of the
saints will have no tendency to teach them the worship of God.
Moreover. . . . great and constant as is the devotion which the
Catholic pays to St. Mary, it has a special province, and _has far
more connection with the public services and the festive aspect of
Christianity,_ and with certain extraordinary offices which she
holds, _than with what is strictly personal and primary_ in
religion." Our late cardinal, on my reception, singled out to me
this last sentence for the expression of his especial approbation.]
This truth, exemplified in history, might also be abundantly
illustrated, did my space admit, from the lives and writings of holy
men in modern times. Two of them, St. Alfonso Liguori and the Blessed
Paul of the Cross, for all their notorious devotion {82} to the
Mother, have shown their supreme love of her divine Son in the names
which a have given to their respective congregations, viz, "of the
Redeemer," and "of the Cross and Passion." However, I will do no more
than refer to an apposite passage in the Italian translation of the
work of a French Jesuit, Fr. Nepveu, "Christian Thoughts for every Day
in the Year," which was recommended to the friend who went with me to
Rome by the same Jesuit father there with whom, as I have already
said, I stood myself in such intimate relations; I believe it is a
fair specimen of the teaching of our spiritual books:
"The love of Jesus Christ is the most sure pledge of our future
happiness, and the most infallible token of our predestination.
Mercy toward the poor, devotion to the Holy Virgin, are very
sensible tokens of predestination; nevertheless they are not
absolutely infallible; but one cannot have a sincere and constant
love of Jesus Christ without being predestinated. . . . The
destroying angel which bereaved the houses of the Egyptians of their
first-born, had respect to all the houses which were marked with the
blood of the Lamb."
And it is also exemplified, as I verily believe, not only in formal
and distinctive confessions, not only in books intended for the
educated class, but also in the personal religion of the Catholic
populations. When strangers are so unfavorably impressed with us,
because they see images of our Lady in our churches, and crowds
flocking about her, they forget that there is a Presence within the
sacred walls, infinitely more awful, which claims and obtains from us
a worship transcendently different from any devotion we pay to her.
That devotion might indeed tend to idolatry if it were encouraged in
Protestant churches, where there is nothing higher than it to attract
the worshipper; but all the images that a Catholic church ever
contained, all the crucifixes at its altars brought together, do not
so affect its frequenters as the lamp which betokens the presence or
absence there of the blessed sacrament. Is not this so certain, so
notorious, that on some occasions it has been even brought as a charge
against us, that we are irreverent in church, when what seemed to the
objector to be irreverence was but the necessary change of feeling
which came over those who were there on their knowing that their Lord
was away?
The mass again conveys to us the same lesson of the sovereignty of the
incarnate Son; it is a return to Calvary, and Mary is scarcely named
in it. Hostile visitors enter our churches on Sunday at mid-day, the
time of the Anglican service. They are surprised to see the high mass
perhaps poorly attended, and a body of worshippers leaving the music
and the mixed multitude who may be lazily fulfilling their obligation,
for the silent or the informal devotions which are offered at an image
of the Blessed Virgin. They may be tempted, with one of your
informants, to call such a temple not a "Jesus Church," but a "Mary
Church." But, if they understood our ways, they would know that we
begin the day with our Lord and then go on to his mother. It is early
in the morning that religious persons go to mass and communion. The
high mass, on the other hand, is the festive celebration of the day,
not the special devotional service; nor is there any reason why those
who have been at a low mass already, should not at that hour proceed
to ask the intercession of the Blessed Virgin for themselves and all
that is dear to them.
Communion, again, which is given in the morning, is a solemn,
unequivocal act of faith in the incarnate God, if any can be such; and
the most gracious of admonitions, did we need one, of his sovereign
and sole right to possess us. I knew a lady who on her death-bed was
visited by an excellent Protestant friend. She, with great tenderness
for her soul's welfare, asked her whether her prayers to the {83}
Blessed Virgin did not, at that awful hour, lead to forgetfulness of
her Saviour. "Forget him!" she replied with surprise; "why, he has
just been here." She had been receiving him in communion. When, then,
my dear Pusey, you read anything extravagant in praise of our Lady, is
it not charitable to ask, even while you condemn it in itself, did the
author write nothing else? Did he write on the blessed sacrament? Had
he given up "all for Jesus?" I recollect some lines, the happiest, I
think, which that author wrote, which bring out strikingly the
reciprocity, which I am dwelling on, of the respective devotions to
Mother and Son:
"But scornful men have coldly said
Thy love was leading me from God;
And yet in this I did but tread
The very path my Savior trod.
"They know but little of thy worth
Who speak these heartless words to me;
For what did Jesus love on earth
One half so tenderly as thee?
"Get me the grace to love thee more;
Jesus will give, if thou wilt plead;
And, Mother, when life's cares are o'er,
Oh, I shall love thee then indeed.
"Jesus, when his three hours were run,
Bequeathed thee from the cross to me;
And oh I how can I love thy Son,
Sweet Mother, if I love not thee?"
4. Thus we are brought from the consideration of the sentiments
themselves, of which you complain, to the persons who wrote, and the
places where they wrote them. I wish you had been led, in this part of
your work, to that sort of careful labor which you have employed in so
masterly a way in your investigation of the circumstances of the
definition of the immaculate conception. In the latter case you have
catalogued the bishops who wrote to the Holy See, and analyzed their
answers. Had you in like manner discriminated and located the Marian
writers, as you call them, and observed the times, places, and
circumstances of their works, I think they would not, when brought
together, have had their present startling effect on the reader. As it
is, they inflict a vague alarm upon the mind, as when one hears a
noise, and does not know whence it comes and what it means. Some of
your authors, I know, are saints; all, I suppose, are spiritual
writers and holy men; but the majority are of no great celebrity, even
if they have any kind of weight. Suarez has no business among them at
all, for, when he says that no one is saved without the Blessed
Virgin, he is speaking not of devotion to her, but of her
intercession. The greatest name is St. Alfonso Liguori; but it never
surprises me to read anything unusual in the devotions of a saint.
Such men are on a level very different from our own, and we cannot
understand them. I hold this to be an important canon in the lives of
the saints, according to the words of the apostle, "The spiritual man
judges all things, and he himself is judged of no one." But we may
refrain from judging, without proceeding to imitate. I hope it is not
disrespectful to so great a servant of God to say, that I never read
his "Glories of Mary;" but here I am speaking generally of all saints,
whether I know them or not; and I say that they are beyond us, and
that we must use them as patterns, not as copies. As to his practical
directions, St. Alfonso wrote them for Neapolitans, whom he knew, and
we do not know. Other writers whom you quote, as De Salazar, are too
ruthlessly logical to be safe or pleasant guides in the delicate
matters of devotion. As to De Montford and Oswald, I never even met
with their names, till I saw them in your book; the bulk of our laity,
not to say of our clergy, perhaps know them little better than I do.
Nor did I know till I learnt it from your volume that there were two
Bernardines. St. Bernardine, of Sienna, I knew of course, and knew too
that he had a burning love for our Lord. But about the other,
"Bernardine de Bustis," I was quite at fault. I find from the
Protestant Cave that he, as well as his name-sake, made himself
conspicuous also for his zeal for the holy name, {84} which is much to
the point here. "With such devotion was he carried away," says Cave,
"for the bare name of Jesus (which, by a new device of Bernardine, of
Sienna, had lately began to receive divine honors), that he was urgent
with Innocent VIII. to assign it a day and rite in the calendar."
One thing, however, is clear about all these writers; that not one of
them is an Englishman. I have gone through your book, and do not find
one English name among the various authors to whom you refer, except,
of course, the name of that author whose lines I have been quoting,
and who, great as are his merits, cannot, for the reasons I have given
in the opening of my letter, be considered a representative of English
Catholic devotion. Whatever these writers may have said or not said,
whatever they may have said harshly, and whatever capable of fair
explanation, still they are foreigners; we are not answerable for
their particular devotions; and as to themselves, I am glad to be able
to quote the beautiful words which you use about them in your letter
to the "Weekly Register" of November 25th last. "I do not presume,"
you say, "to prescribe to Italians or Spaniards what they shall hold,
or how they shall express their pious opinions; and least of all did I
think of imputing to any of the writers whom I quoted that they took
from our Lord any of the love which they gave to his Mother." In these
last words, too, you have supplied one of the omissions in your volume
which I noticed above.
5. Now, then, we come to England itself, which after all, in the
matter of devotion, alone concerns you and me; for though doctrine is
one and the same everywhere, devotions, as I have already said, are
matters of the particular time and the particular country. I suppose
we owe it to the national good sense that English Catholics have been
protected from the extravagances which are elsewhere to be found. And
we owe it, also, to the wisdom and moderation of the Holy See, which
in giving us the pattern for our devotion, as well as the rule of our
faith, has never indulged in those curiosities of thought which are
both so attractive to undisciplined imaginations and so dangerous to
grovelling hearts. In the case of our own common people I think such a
forced style of devotion would be simply unintelligible; as to the
educated, I doubt whether it can have more than an occasional or
temporary influence. If the Catholic faith spreads in England, these
peculiarities will not spread with it. There is a healthy devotion to
the Blessed Mary, and there is an artificial; it is possible to love
her as a Mother, to honor her as a Virgin, to seek her as a Patron,
and to exalt her as a Queen, without any injury to solid piety and
Christian good sense: I cannot help calling this the English style. I
wonder whether you find anything to displease you in the "Garden of
the Soul," the "Key of Heaven," the "Vade Mecum," the "Golden Manual,"
or the "Crown of Jesus?" These are the books to which Anglicans ought
to appeal who would be fair to us in this matter. I do not observe
anything in them which goes beyond the teaching of the fathers, except
so far as devotion goes beyond doctrine.
There is one collection of devotions, beside, of the highest
authority, which has been introduced from abroad of late years. It
consists of prayers of various kinds which have been indulgenced by
the popes; and it commonly goes by the name of the "Raccolta." As that
word suggests, the language of many of the prayers is Italian, while
others are in Latin. This circumstance is unfavorable to a
translation, which, however skilful, must ever savor of the words and
idioms of the original; but, passing over this necessary disadvantage,
I consider there is hardly a clause in the good-sized volume in
question which even the sensitiveness of English Catholicism would
wish changed. Its anxious observance of doctrinal exactness is almost
a fault. {85} It seems afraid of using the words "give me," "make me,"
in its addresses to the Blessed Virgin, which are as natural to adopt
as in addressing a parent or friend. Surely we do not disparage divine
Providence when we say that we are indebted to our parents for our
life, or when we ask their blessing; we do not show any atheistical
leanings because we say that a man's recovery must be left to nature,
or that nature supplies brute animals with instincts. In like manner
it seems to me a simple purism to insist upon minute accuracy of
expression in devotional and popular writings. However, the
"Raccolta," as coming from responsible authority, for the most part
observes it. It commonly uses the phrases, "gain for us by thy
prayers," "obtain for us," "pray to Jesus for me," "speak for me,
Mary," "carry thou our prayers," "ask for us grace," "intercede for
the people of God," and the like, marking thereby with great emphasis
that she is nothing more than an advocate, and not a source of mercy.
Nor do I recollect in this book more than one or two ideas to which
you would be likely to raise an objection. The strongest of these is
found in the novena before her nativity, in which, _apropos_ of her
birth, we pray that she "would come down again and be re-born
spiritually in our souls;" but it will occur to you that St. Paul
speaks of his wish to impart to his converts, '"not only the gospel,
but his own soul;" and writing to the Corinthians, he says he has
"begotten them by the gospel," and to Philemon, that he had "begotten
Onesimus in his bonds;" whereas St. James, with greater accuracy of
expression, says "of his own will hath God begotten us with the word
of truth." Again we find the petitioner saying to the Blessed Mary,
"In thee I place all my hope;" but this is explained in another
passage, "Thou art my best hope after Jesus." Again, we read
elsewhere, "I would I had a greater love for thee, since to love thee
is a great mark of predestination;" but the prayer goes on, "Thy Son
deserves of us an immeasurable love; pray that I may have this grace
--a great love for Jesus;" and further on, "I covet no good of the
earth, but to love my God alone."
Then, again, as to the lessons which our Catholics receive, whether by
catechizing or instruction, you would find nothing in our received
manuals to which you would not assent, I am quite sure. Again, as to
preaching, a standard book was drawn up three centuries ago, to supply
matter for the purpose to the parochial clergy. You incidentally
mention, p. 153, that the comment of Cornelius a Lapide on Scripture
is "a repertorium for sermons;" but I never heard of this work being
used, nor indeed can it, because of its size. The work provided for
the purpose by the church is the "Catechism of the Council of Trent,"
and nothing extreme about our Blessed Lady is propounded there. On the
whole, I am sanguine that you will come to the conclusion that
Anglicans may safely trust themselves to us English Catholics as
regards any devotions to the Blessed Virgin which might be required of
them, over and above the rule of the Council of Trent.
6. And, now at length coming to the statements, not English, but
foreign, which offend you in works written in her honor, I will
frankly say that I read some of those which you quote with grief and
almost anger; for they seemed to me to ascribe to the Blessed Virgin a
power of "searching the reins and hearts" which is the attribute of
God alone; and I said to myself, how can we any more prove our Lord's
divinity from Scripture, if those cardinal passages which invest him
with divine prerogatives after all invest him with nothing beyond what
his Mother shares with him? And how, again, is there anything of
incommunicable greatness in his death and passion, if he who was alone
in the garden, alone upon the cross, alone in the resurrection, after
{86} all is not alone, but shared his solitary work with his Blessed
Mother--with her to whom, when he entered on his ministry, he said for
our instruction, not as grudging her her proper glory, "Woman, what
have I to do with thee?" And then again, if I hate those perverse
sayings so much, how much more must she, in proportion to her love of
him? And how do we show our love for her, by wounding her in the very
apple of her eye? This I said and say; but then, on the other hand, I
have to observe that these strange words after all are but few in
number, out of the many passages you cite; that most of them exemplify
what I said above about the difficulty of determining the exact point
where truth passes into error, and that they are allowable in one
sense or connection, and false in another. Thus to say that prayer
(and the Blessed Virgin's prayer) is omnipotent, is a harsh expression
in everyday prose; but, if it is explained to mean that there is
nothing which prayer may not obtain from God, it is nothing else than
the very promise made us in Scripture. Again, to say that Mary is the
centre of all being, sounds inflated and profane; yet after all it is
only one way, and a natural way, of saying that the Creator and the
creature met together, and became one in her womb; and as such, I have
used the expression above. Again, it is at first sight a paradox to
say that "Jesus is obscured, because Mary is kept in the background;"
yet there is a sense, as I have shown above, in which it is a simple
truth.
And so again certain statements may be true, under circumstances and
in a particular time and place, which are abstractedly false; and
hence it may be very unfair in a controversialist to interpret by an
English or a modern rule whatever may have been asserted by a foreign
or mediaeval author. To say, for instance, dogmatically, that no one
can be saved without personal devotion to the Blessed Virgin, would be
an untenable proposition: yet it might be true of this man or that, or
of this or that country at this or that date; and if the very
statement has ever been made by any writer of consideration (and this
has to be ascertained), then perhaps it was made precisely under these
exceptional circumstances. If an Italian preacher made it, I should
feel no disposition to doubt him, at least as regards Italian youths
and Italian maidens.
Then I think you have not always made your quotations with that
consideration and kindness which is your rule. At p. 106 you say, "It
is commonly said, that if any Roman Catholic acknowledges that 'it is
good and useful to pray to the saints,' he is not bound himself to do
so. Were the above teaching true, it would be cruelty to say so;
because, according to it, he would be forfeiting what is morally
necessary to his salvation." But now, as to the fact, where is it said
that to pray to our Lady and the saints is necessary to salvation? The
proposition of St. Alfonso is, that "God gives no grace except through
Mary;" that is, through her intercession. But intercession is one
thing, devotion is another. And Suarez says, "It is the universal
sentiment that the intercession of Mary is not only useful, but also
in a certain manner necessary;" but still it is the question of her
intercession, not of our invocation of her, not of devotion to her. If
it were so, no Protestant could be saved; if it were so, there would
be grave reasons for doubting of the salvation of St. Chrysostom or
St. Athanasius, or of the primitive martyrs; nay, I should like to
know whether St. Augustine, in all his voluminous writings, invokes
her once. Our Lord died for those heathens who did not know him; and
his mother intercedes for those Christians who do not know her; and
she intercedes according to his will, and, when he wills to save a
particular soul, she at once prays for it. {87} I say, he wills indeed
according to her prayer, but then she prays according, to his will.
Though then it is natural and prudent for those to have recourse to
her who, from the church's teaching, know her power, yet it cannot be
said that devotion to her is a _sine qua non_ of salvation. Some
indeed of the authors whom you quote go further; they do speak of
devotion; but even then they do not enunciate the general proposition
which I have been disallowing. For instance, they say, "It is morally
impossible for those to be saved who _neglect_ the devotion to the
Blessed Virgin;" but a simple omission is one thing, and neglect
another. "It is impossible for any to be saved who _turns away_ from
her;" yes; but to "turn away" is to offer some positive disrespect or
insult toward her, and that with sufficient knowledge; and I certainly
think it would be a very grave act if, in a Catholic country (and of
such the writers were speaking, for they knew of no other), with
ave-marias sounding in the air, and images of the Madonna at every
street and road, a Catholic broke off or gave up a practice that was
universal, and in which he was brought up, and deliberately put her
name out of his thoughts.
7. Though, then, common sense may determine for us that the line of
prudence and propriety has been certainly passed in the instance of
certain statements about the Blessed Virgin, it is often not easy to
prove the point logically; and in such cases authority, if it attempt
to act, would be in the position which so often happens in our courts
of law, when the commission of an offence is morally certain, but the
government prosecutor cannot find legal evidence sufficient to insure
conviction. I am not denying the right of sacred congregations, at
their will, to act peremptorily, and without assigning reasons for the
judgment they pass upon writers; but, when they have found it
inexpedient to take this severe course, perhaps it may happen from the
circumstances of the case that there is no other that they can take,
even if they would. It is wiser then for the most part to leave these
excesses to the gradual operation of public opinion--that is, to the
opinion of educated and sober Catholics; and this seems to me the
healthiest way of putting them down. Yet in matter of fact I believe
the Holy See has interfered from time to time, when devotion seemed
running into superstition; and not so long ago. I recollect hearing in
Gregory the XVI.'s time of books about the Blessed Virgin which had
been suppressed by authority; and in particular of a representation of
the immaculate conception which he had forbidden, and of measures
taken against the shocking notion that the Blessed Mary is present in
the holy eucharist in the sense in which our Lord is present; but I
have no means of verifying the information I received.
Nor have I time, any more than you have had, to ascertain how far
great theologians have made protests against those various
extravagances of which you so rightly complain. Passages, however,
from three well-known Jesuit fathers have opportunely come in my way,
and in one of them is introduced, in confirmation, the name of the
great Gerson. They are Canisius, Petavius, and Raynaudus; and as they
speak very appositely, and you do not seem to know them, I will here
make some extracts from them:
(1.) Canisius:
"We confess that in the _cultus_ of Mary it has been and is possible
for corruptions to creep in; and we have a more than ordinary desire
that the pastors of the Church should be carefully vigilant here,
and give no place to Satan, whose characteristic office it has ever
been, while men sleep, to sow the cockle amid the Lord's wheat. . .
. For this purpose it is his wont gladly to avail himself of the aid
of heretics, fanatics, and false Catholics, as may be seen in the
instance of this _Marianus cultus_. This _cultus_, heretics,
suborned by Satan, attack with hostility Thus, too, certain mad
heads are so {88} demented by Satan, as to embrace superstitions and
idolatries instead of the true _cultus_ and neglect altogether the
due measures whether in respect to God or to Mary. Such indeed were
the Collyridians of old. . . . Such that German herdsman a hundred
years ago, who gave out publicly that he was a new prophet and had
had a vision of the Deipara, and told the people in her name to pay
no more tributes and taxes to princes. .... Moreover, how many
Catholics does one see who, by great and shocking negligence, have
neither care nor regard for her _cultus_, but, given to profane and
secular objects, scarce once a year raise their earthly minds to
sing her praises or to venerate her!"--_De Maria Deipara_, p. 518.
(2.) Father Petau says, when discussing the teaching of the fathers
about the Blessed Virgin (de Incarn. xiv. 8):
"I will venture to give this advice to all who would be devout and
panegyrical toward the Holy Virgin, viz., not to exceed in their
piety and devotion to her, but to be content with true and solid
praises, and to cast aside what is otherwise. The latter kind of
idolatry, lurking, as St. Augustine says, nay implanted, in human
hearts, is greatly abhorrent from theology, that is from the gravity
of heavenly wisdom, which never thinks or asserts anything but what
is measured by certain and accurate rules. What that rule should be,
and what caution is to be used in our present subject, I will not
determine of myself, but according to the mind of a most weighty and
most learned theologian, John Gerson, who in one of his epistles
proposes certain canons, which he calls truths, by means of which
are to be measured the assertions of theologians concerning the
incarnation. . . By these truly golden precepts Gerson brings within
bounds the immoderate license of praising the Blessed Virgin, and
restrains it within the measure of sober and healthy piety. And from
these it is evident that that sort of reasoning is frivolous and
nugatory in which so many indulge, in order to assign any sort of
grace they please, however unusual, to the Blessed Virgin. For they
argue thus: 'Whatever the Son of God could bestow for the glory of
his mother, that it became him in fact to furnish;' or again,
'Whatever honors or ornaments he has poured out on other saints,
those all together hath he heaped upon his mother;' whence they draw
their chain of reasoning to their desired conclusion; a mode of
argumentation which Gerson treats with contempt as captious and
sophistical."
He adds, what of course we all should say, that, in thus speaking, he
has no intention to curtail the liberty of pious persons in such
meditations and conjectures, on the mysteries of faith, sacred
histories, and the Scripture text, as are of the nature of comments,
supplements, and the like.
(3.) Raynaud is an author full of devotion, if any one is so, to the
Blessed Virgin; yet, in the work which he has composed in her honor
("Diptycha Mariana"), he says more than I can quote here to the same
purpose as Petau. I abridge some portions of his text:
"Let this be taken for granted, that no praises of ours can come up
to the praises due to the Virgin Mother. But we must not make up for
our inability to reach her true praise by a supply of lying
embellishment and false honors. For there are some whose affection
for religious objects is so imprudent and lawless, that they
transgress the due limits even toward the saints. This Origen has
excellently observed upon in the case of the Baptist, for very many,
instead of observing the measure of charity, consider whether he
might not be the Christ"--p. 9. ". . . St. Anselm, the first, or
one of the first, champions of the public celebration of the Blessed
Virgin's immaculate conception, says (de Excell. Virg.) that the
church considers it indecent, that anything that admits of doubt
should be said in her praise, when the things which are certainly
true of her supply such large materials for laudation. It is right
so to interpret St. Epiphanius also, when he says that human tongues
should not pronounce anything lightly of the Deipara; and who is
more justly to be charged with speaking lightly of the most holy
Mother of God, than he who, as if what is certain and evident did
not suffice for her full investiture, is wiser than the aged, and
obtrudes on us the toadstools of his own mind, and devotions unheard
of by those holy fathers who loved her best? Plainly as St. Anselm
says that she is the Mother of God, this by itself exceeds every
elevation which can be named or imagined, short of God. About so
sublime a majesty we should not speak hastily from prurience of wit,
or flimsy pretext of promoting piety; but with great maturity of
thought; and, whenever the maxims of the church and the oracles of
{89} faith do not suffice, then not without the suffrages of the
doctors. . . . Those who are subject to this prurience of
innovation, do not perceive how broad is the difference between
subjects of human science and heavenly things. All novelty
concerning the objects of our faith is to be put far away; except so
far as by diligent investigation of God's word, written and
unwritten, and a well founded inference from what is thence to be
elicited, something is brought to light which, though already indeed
there, had not hitherto been recognized. The innovations which we
condemn are those which rest neither on the written nor unwritten
word, nor on conclusions from it, nor on the judgment of ancient
sages, nor sufficient basis of reason, but on the sole color and
pretext of doing more honor to the Deipara."--p. 10.
In another portion of the same work, he speaks in particular of one of
those imaginations to which you especially refer, and for which,
without strict necessity (as it seems to me), you allege the authority
of a Lapide:
"Nor is that honor of the Deipara to be offered, viz., that the
elements of the body of Christ, which the Blessed Virgin supplied to
it, remain perpetually unaltered in Christ, and thereby are found
also in the eucharist. . . . This solicitude for the Virgin's glory
must, I consider, be discarded; since, if rightly considered, it
involves an injury toward Christ, and such honors the Virgin loveth
not. And first, dismissing philosophical bagatelles about the
animation of blood, milk, etc., who can endure the proposition that
a good portion of the substance of Christ in the eucharist should be
worshipped with a _cultus_ less than _latria_? viz., by the inferior
_cultus_ of _hyperdulia?_ The preferable class of theologians
contend that not even the humanity of Christ is to be materially
abstracted from the Word of God, and worshipped by itself; how then
shall we introduce a _cultus_ of the Deipara in Christ, which is
inferior to the _cultus_ proper to him? How is this other than
casting down of the substance of Christ from his royal throne, and a
degradation of it to some inferior sitting-place? Is is nothing to
the purpose to refer to such fathers as say that the flesh of Christ
is the flesh of Mary, for they speak of its origin. What will
hinder, if this doctrine be admitted, our also admitting that there
is something in Christ which is detestable? for, as the first
elements of a body which were communicated by the Virgin to Christ
have (as these authors say) remained perpetually in Christ, so the
same _materia_, at least in part, which belonged originally to the
ancestors of Christ, came down to the Virgin from her father,
unchanged, and taken from her grandfather, and so on. And thus,
since it is not unlikely that some of these ancestors were
reprobate, there would now be something actually in Christ which had
belonged to a reprobate and worthy of detestation."--p. 237.
8. After such explanations, and with such authorities, to clear my
path, I put away from me, as you would wish, without any hesitation,
as matters in which my heart and reason have no part (when taken in
their literal and absolute sense, as any Protestant would naturally
take them, and as the writers doubtless did not use them), such
sentences, and phrases, as these: that the mercy of Mary is infinite;
that God has resigned into her hands his omnipotence; that
(unconditionally) it is safer to seek her than her Son; that the
Blessed Virgin is superior to God; that he is (simply) subject to her
command; that our Lord is now of the same disposition as his Father
toward sinners, viz., a disposition to reject them, while Mary takes
his place as an advocate with Father and Son; that the saints are more
ready to intercede with Jesus than Jesus with the Father; that Mary is
the only refuge of those with whom God is angry; that Mary alone can
obtain a Protestant's conversion; that it would have sufficed for the
salvation of men if our Lord had died not to obey his Father, but to
defer to the decree of his mother; that she rivals our Lord in being
God's daughter, not by adoption, but by a kind of nature; that Christ
fulfilled the office of Saviour by imitating her virtues; that, as the
incarnate God bore the image of his Father, so he bore the image of
his mother; that redemption derived from Christ indeed its
sufficiency, but from Mary its beauty and loveliness; that us we are
clothed with the merits of Christ, so we are clothed with {90} the
merits of Mary; that, as he is priest, in like manner is she
priestess; that his body and blood in the eucharist are truly hers and
appertain to her; that as he is present and received therein, so is
she present and received therein; that priests are ministers, as of
Christ, so of Mary; that elect souls are born of God and Mary; that
the Holy Ghost brings into fruitfulness his action by her, producing
in her and by her Jesus Christ in his members; that the kingdom of God
in our souls, as our Lord speaks, is really the kingdom of Mary in the
soul--and she and the Holy Ghost produce in the soul extraordinary
things--and when the Holy Ghost finds Mary in a soul he flies there.
Sentiments such as these I never knew of till I read your book, nor,
as I think, do the vast minority of English Catholics know them. They
seem to me like a bad dream. I could not have conceived them to be
said. I know not to what authority to go for them, to Scripture, or to
the fathers, or to the decrees of councils, or to the consent of
schools, or to the tradition of the faithful, or to the Holy See, or
to reason. They defy all the _loci theologici_. There is nothing of
them in the Missal, in the Roman Catechism, in the Roman '"Raccolta,"
in the "Imitation of Christ," in Gother, Challoner, Milner, or
Wiseman, as far as I am aware. They do but scare and confuse me. I
should not be holier, more spiritual, more sure of perseverance, if I
twisted my moral being into the reception of them; I should but be
guilty of fulsome, frigid flattery toward the most upright and noble
of God's creatures if I professed them, and of stupid flattery too;
for it would be like the compliment of painting up a young and
beautiful princess with the brow of a Plato and the muscle of an
Achilles. And I should expect her to tell one of her people in waiting
to turn me off her service without warning. Whether thus to feel be
the _scandalum parvulorum_ in my case, or the _scandalum
Pharisaeorum_, I leave others to decide; but I will say plainly that I
had rather believe (which is impossible) that there is no God at all,
than that Mary is greater than God. I will have nothing to do with
statements which can only be explained by being explained away. I do
not, however, speak of these statements as they are found in their
authors, for I know nothing of the originals, and cannot believe that
they have meant what you say; but I take them as they lie in your
pages. Were any of them the sayings of saints in ecstasy, I should
know they had a good meaning; still, I should not repeat them myself;
but I am looking at them not as spoken by the tongues of angels, but
according to that literal sense which they bear in the mouths of
English men and English women. And, as spoken by man to man, in
England, in the nineteenth century, I consider them calculated to
prejudice inquirers, to frighten the unlearned, to unsettle
consciences, to provoke blasphemy, and to work the loss of souls.
9. And now, after having said so much as this, bear with me, my dear
friend, if I end with an expostulation. Have you not been touching us
on a very tender point in a very rude way? Is not the effect of what
you have said to expose her to scorn and obloquy who is dearer to us
than any other creature? Have you even hinted that our love for her is
anything else than an abuse? Have you thrown her one kind word
yourself all through your book? I trust so, but I have not lighted
upon one. And yet I know you love her well. Can you wonder, then--can
I complain much, much as I grieve--that men should utterly misconceive
of you, and are blind to the fact that you have put the whole argument
between you and us on a new footing; and that, whereas it was said
twenty-five years ago in the "British Critic," "Till Rome ceases to be
what practically she is, union is _impossible_ between her and
England," you declare, on the contrary, "It is _possible_ as soon as
Italy and England, {91} haying the same faith and the same centre of
unity, are allowed to hold severally their own theological opinions?"
They have not done you justice here because, in truth, the honor of
our Lady is dearer to them than the conversion of England.
Take a parallel case, and consider how you would decide it yourself.
Supposing an opponent of a doctrine for which you so earnestly
contend, the eternity of punishment, instead of meeting you with
direct arguments against it, heaped together a number of extravagant
descriptions of the place, mode, and circumstances of its infliction,
quoted Tertullian as a witness for the primitive fathers, and the
Covenanters and Ranters for these last centuries; brought passages
from the "Inferno" of Dante, and from the sermons of Whitfield; nay,
supposing he confined himself to the chapters on the subject in Jeremy
Taylor's work on "The State of Man," would you think this a fair and
becoming method of reasoning? and if he avowed that he should ever
consider the Anglican Church committed to all these accessories of the
doctrine till its authorities formally denounced Taylor and Whitfield,
and a hundred others, would you think this an equitable determination,
or the procedure of a theologian?
So far concerning the Blessed Virgin, the chief but not the only
subject of your volume. And now, when I could wish to proceed, she
seems to stop me, for the Feast of her Immaculate Conception is upon
us; and close upon its octave, which is kept with special solemnities
in the churches of this town, come the great antiphons, the heralds of
Christmas. That joyful season, joyful for all of us, while it centres
in him who then came on earth, also brings before us in peculiar
prominence that Virgin Mother who bore and nursed him. Here she is not
in the background, as at Eastertide, but she brings him to us in her
arms. Two great festivals, dedicated to her honor, to-morrow's and the
Purification, mark out and keep the ground, and, like the towers of
David, open the way to and fro for the high holiday season of the
Prince of Peace. And all along it her image is upon it, such as we see
it in the typical representation of the Catacombs. May the sacred
influences of this time bring us all together in unity! May it destroy
all bitterness on your side and ours! May it quench all jealous, sour,
proud, fierce antagonism on our side; and dissipate all captious,
carping, fastidious refinements of reasoning on yours! May that bright
and gentle lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, overcome you with her
sweetness, and revenge herself on her foes by interceding effectually
for their conversion!
I am, yours, most affectionately,
John H. Newman.
THE ORATORY, BIRMINGHAM,
_In fest. S. Ambrosii_, 1865.
{92}
From The Sixpenny Magazine.
HAVEN'T TIME
A CHAPTER FOR PARENTS.
"That boy needs more attention," said Mr. Green, referring to his
eldest son, a lad whose wayward temper and inclination to vice
demanded a steady, consistent, wise, and ever-present exercise of
parental watchfulness and authority.
"You may well say that," returned the mother of the boy, for to her
the remark had been made. "He is getting entirely beyond me."
"If I only had the time to look after him?" Mr. Green sighed as he
uttered these words.
"I think you ought to take more time for a purpose like this," said
Mrs. Green.
"More time!" Mr. Green spoke with marked impatience. "What time have I
to attend to him, Margaret? Am I not entirely absorbed in business?
Even now I should be at the counting-house, and am only kept away by
your late breakfast."
Just then the breakfast bell rang, and Mr. and Mrs. Green, accompanied
by their children, repaired to the dining-room. John, the boy about
whom the parents had been talking, was among the number. As they took
their places at the table he exhibited certain disorderly movements,
and a disposition to annoy his younger brothers and sisters. But these
were checked, instantly, by his father, of whom John stood in some
fear.
Before the children had finished eating, Mr. Green laid his knife and
fork side by side on his plate, pushed his chair back, and was in the
act of rising, when his wife said:
"Don't go yet. Just wait until John is through with his breakfast. He
acts dreadfully the moment your back is turned."
Mr. Green turned a quick, lowering glance upon the boy, whose eyes
shrank beneath his angry glance, saying as ho did so:
"I haven't time to stay a moment longer; I ought to have been at my
business an hour ago, But see here, my lad," addressing himself to
John, "there has been enough of this work. Not a day passes that I am
not worried with complaints about you. Now, mark me! I shall inquire
particularly as to your conduct when I come home at dinner-time; and,
if you have given your mother any trouble, or acted in any way
improperly, I will take you severely to account. It's outrageous that
the whole family should be kept in constant trouble by you. Now, be on
your guard!"
A moment or two Mr. Green stood frowning upon the boy, and then
retired.
Scarcely had the sound of the closing street-door, which marked the
fact of Mr. Green's departure, ceased to echo through the house, ere
John began to act as was his custom when his father was out of the
way. His mother's remonstrances were of no avail; and, when she
finally compelled him to leave the table, he obeyed with a most
provoking and insolent manner.
All this would have been prevented if Mr. Green had taken from
business just ten minutes, and conscientiously devoted that time to
{93} the government of his wayward boy and the protection of the
family from his annoyances.
On arriving at his counting-house, Mr. Green found two or three
persons waiting, and but a single clerk in attendance. He had felt
some doubts as to the correctness of his conduct in leaving home so
abruptly, under the circumstances; but the presence of the customers
satisfied him that he had done right. Business, in his mind, was
paramount to everything else; and his highest duty to his family he
felt to be discharged when he was devoting himself most assiduously to
the work of procuring for them the means of external comfort, ease,
and luxury. Worldly well-doing was a cardinal virtue in his eyes.
Mr. Green was the gainer, perhaps, of two shillings in the way of
profit on sales, by being at his counting-house ten minutes earlier
than would have been the case had he remained with his family until
the completion of their morning meal. What was lost to his boy by the
opportunity thus afforded for an indulgence in a perverse and
disobedient temper it is hard to say. Something was, undoubtedly,
lost--something, the valuation of which, in money, it would be
difficult to make.
Mrs. Green did not complain of John's conduct to his father at
dinner-time. She was so often forced to complain that she avoided the
task whenever she felt justified in doing so; and that was, perhaps,
far too often. Mr. Green asked no questions; for he knew, by
experience, to what results such questions would lead, and he was in
no mood for unpleasant intelligence. So John escaped, as he had
escaped hundreds of times before, and felt encouraged to indulge his
bad propensities at will, to his own injury and the annoyance of all
around him.
If Mr. Green had no time in the morning or through the day to attend
to his children, the evening, one might think, would afford
opportunity for conference with them, supervision of their studies,
and an earnest inquiry into their conduct and moral and intellectual
progress. But such was not the case. Mr. Green was too much wearied
with the occupation of the day to bear the annoyance of the children;
or his thoughts were too busy with business matters, or schemes of
profit, to attend to the thousand and one questions they were ready to
pour in upon him from all sides; or he had a political club to attend,
an engagement with some merchant for the discussion of a matter
connected with trade, or felt obliged to be present at the meeting of
some society of which he was a member. So he either left home
immediately after tea, or the children were sent to bed in order that
he might have a quiet evening for rest, business reflection, or the
enjoyment of a new book.
Mr. Green had so much to do and so much to think about that he had no
time to attend to his children; and this neglect was daily leaving
upon them ineffaceable impressions that would inevitably mar the
happiness of their after lives. This was particularly the case with
John. Better off in the world was Mr. Green becoming every day--better
off as it regarded money; but poorer in another sense--poorer in
respect to home affections and home treasures. His children were not
growing up to love him intensely, to confide in him implicitly, and to
respect him as their father and friend. He had no time to attend to
them, and rather pushed them away than drew them toward him with the
strong cords of affection. To his wife he left their government, and
she was not equal to the task.
"I don't believe," said Mrs. Green, one day, "that John is learning
much at the school where he goes. I think you ought to see after him a
little. He never studies a lesson at home."
"Mr. Elden has the reputation of being one of our best teachers. His
school stands high," replied Mr. Green. {94} "That may happen," said
Mrs. Green. "Still, I really think you ought to know, for yourself,
how John is getting along. Of one thing I am certain, he does not
improve in good manners nor good temper in the least. And he is never
in the house between school-hours, except to get his meals. I wish you
would require him to be at your counting-house during the afternoons.
School is dismissed at four o'clock, and he ranges the streets with
other boys, and goes where he pleases from that time until night.
"That's very bad,"--Mr. Green spoke in a concerned voice,--"very bad.
And it must be broken up. But as to having him with me, that is out of
the question. He would be into everything, and keep me in hot water
all the while. He'd like to come well enough, I do not doubt; but I
can't have him there."
"Couldn't you set him to do something?"
"I might. But I haven't time to attend to him, Margaret. Business is
business, and cannot be interrupted."
Mrs. Green sighed, and then remarked:
"I wish you would call on Mr. Elden and have a talk with him about
John."
"I will, if you think it best."
"Do so, by all means. And beside, I would give more time to John in
the evenings. If, for instance, you devoted an evening to him once a
week, it would enable you to understand how he is progressing, and
give you a control over him not now possessed."
"You are right in this, no doubt, Margaret."
But reform went not beyond this acknowledgment. Mr. Green could never
find time to see John's teacher, nor feel himself sufficiently at
leisure, or in the right mood of mind, to devote to the boy even a
single evening.
And thus it went on from day to day, from month to month, and from
year to year, until, finally, John was sent home from school by Mr.
Elden with a note to his father, in which idleness, disorderly
conduct, and vicious habits were charged upon him in the broadest
terms.
The unhappy Mr. Green called immediately upon the teacher, who gave
him a more particular account of his son's bad conduct, and concluded
by saying that he was unwilling to receive him back into his school.
Strange as it may seem, it was four months before Mr. Green "found
time" to see about another school, and to get John entered therein;
during which long period the boy had full liberty to go pretty much
where he pleased, and to associate with whom he liked. It is hardly to
be supposed that he grew any better for this.
By the time John was seventeen years of age, Mr. Green's business had
become greatly enlarged, and his mind more absorbed therein. With him
gain was the primary thing; and, as a consequence, his family held a
secondary place in his thoughts. If money were needed, he was ever
ready to supply the demand; that done, he felt that his duty to them
was, mainly, discharged. To the mother of his children he left the
work of their wise direction in the paths of life--their government
and education; but she was inadequate to the task imposed.
From the second school at which John was entered he was dismissed
within three months, for bad conduct. He was then sent to school in a
distant city, where, removed from all parental restraint and
admonition, he made viler associates than any he had hitherto known,
and took thus a lower step in vice. He was just seventeen, when a
letter from the principal of this school conveyed to Mr. Green such
unhappy intelligence of his son that he immediately resolved, as a
last resort, to send him to sea, before the mast--and this was done,
spite of all the mother's tearful remonstrances, and the boy's threats
that he would {95} escape from the vessel on the very first
opportunity.
And yet, for all this sad result of parental neglect, Mr. Green
devoted no more time nor care to his children. Business absorbed the
whole man. He was a merchant, both body and soul. His responsibilities
were not felt as extending beyond his counting-house, further than to
provide for the worldly well-being of his family. Is it any cause of
wonder that, with his views and practice, it should not turn out well
with his children; or, at least, with some of them?
At the end of a year John came home from sea, a rough, cigar-smoking,
dram-drinking, overgrown boy of eighteen, with all his sensual desires
and animal passions more active than when he went away, while his
intellectual faculties and moral feelings were in a worse condition
than at his separation from home. Grief at the change oppressed the
hearts of his parents; but their grief was unavailing. Various efforts
were made to get him into some business, but he remained only a short
time in any of the places where his father had him introduced.
Finally, he was sent to sea again. But he never returned to his
friends. In a drunken street-brawl, that occurred while on shore at
Valparaiso, he was stabbed by a Spaniard, and died shortly afterward.
On the very day this tragic event took place, Mr. Green was rejoicing
over a successful speculation, from which he had come out the gainer
by two thousand pounds. In the pleasure this circumstance occasioned,
all thoughts of the absent one, ruined by his neglect, were swallowed
up.
Several months elapsed. Mr. Green had returned home, well satisfied
with his day's business. In his pocket was the afternoon paper, which,
after the younger children were in bed, and the older ones out of his
way, he sat down to read. His eyes turned to the foreign intelligence,
and almost the first sentence he read was the intelligence of his
son's death. The paper dropped from his hands, while he uttered an
expression of surprise and grief that caused the cheeks of his wife,
who was in the room, to turn deadly pale. She had not power to ask the
cause of her husband's sudden exclamation; but her heart, that ever
yearned toward her absent boy, instinctively divined the truth.
"John is dead!" said Mr. Green, at length, speaking in a tremulous
tone of voice.
There was from the mother no wild burst of anguish. The boy had been
dying to her daily for years, and she had suffered for him worse than
the pangs of death. Burying her face in her hands, she wept silently,
yet hopelessly.
"If we were only blameless of the poor child's death!" said Mrs.
Green, lifting her tearful eyes, after the lapse of nearly ten
minutes, and speaking in a sad, self-rebuking tone of voice.
When those with whom we are in close relationship die, how quickly is
that page in memory's book turned on which lies the record of
unkindness or neglect! Already had this page been turned for Mr.
Green, and conscience was sweeping therefrom the dust that well-nigh
obscured the handwriting. He inwardly trembled as he read the
condemning sentences that charged him with his son's ruin.
"If we were only blameless of the poor child's death!"
How these words of the grieving mother smote upon his heart. He did
not respond to them. How could he do so at that moment?
"Where is Edward?" he inquired, at length.
"I don't know," sobbed the mother. "He is out somewhere almost every
evening. Oh! I wish you would look to him a little more closely. He is
past my control."
"I must do so," returned Mr. Green, speaking from a strong conviction
of the necessity of doing as his wife suggested; "if I only had a
little more time----"
{96}
He checked himself. It was the old excuse--the rock upon which all his
best hopes for his first-born had been fearfully wrecked. His lips
closed, his head was bowed, and, in the bitterness of unavailing
sorrow, he mused on the past, while every moment the conviction of
wrong toward his child, now irreparable, grew stronger and stronger.
After that, Mr. Green made an effort to exercise more control over his
children; but he had left the reins loose so long that his tighter
grasp produced restiveness and rebellion. He persevered, however; and,
though Edward followed too closely the footsteps of John, yet the
younger children were brought under salutary restraints. The old
excuse--want of time--was frequently used by Mr. Green to justify
neglect of parental duties; but a recurrence of his thoughts to the
sad ruin of his eldest boy had, in most cases, the right effect; and
in the end he ceased to give utterance to the words--"I haven't time."
However, frequently he fell into neglect, from believing that business
demanded his undivided attention.
------
[ORIGINAL.]
THE SONG OF THE SHELL.
WRITTEN ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE.
There's a music aloft in the air
As if devils were singing a song;
There's a shriek like the shriek of despair.
And a crash which the echoes prolong.
There's a voice like the voice of the gale,
When it strikes a tall ship on the sea;
There's a rift like the rent of her sail.
As she helplessly drifts to the lee.
There's a rush like the rushing of fiends.
Compelled by an horrible spell;
There's a flame like the flaming of brands,
Snatched in rage from the furnace of hell.
There's a wreath like the foam on the wave,
There's a silence unbroke by a breath;
There's a thud like the clod in a grave,
There are writhings, and moanings, and death!
------
{97}
From The Lamp.
ALL-HALLOW EVE; OR, THE TEST OF FUTURITY.
BY ROBERT CURTIS.
CHAPTER XXVI.
The chief was well aware of the reputation which the priest had
obtained through the parish for medical skill, and was himself
convinced of how well he deserved it. Indeed, had the alternative
rested in any case between Father Farrell and the dispensary doctor,
there was not a parishioner who would not have preferred his pastor's
medical as well as spiritual aid.
The chief, instead of ordering off the dispensary doctor to see young
Lennon upon a rumor that he was worse, went quietly to Father Farrell,
who must know the truth, and be able to give good advice as to what
steps, if any, were necessary to adopt.
The matter turned out to be another black-crow story. Father Farrell
had also heard it in its exaggerated form, and had not lost a moment
in proceeding to the spot. Young Lennon had gone out to assist his
father in planting some potatoes--so far the rumor was correct. But he
had been premature in his own opinion of his convalescence. The very
first stoop he made he felt quite giddy; and although he did not fall
forward on his face, he was obliged to lean upon his father for
support for a few moments. This little experiment served to keep him
quiet for a while longer; but Father Farrell assured the chief that
matters were no worse than they had been--he might make his mind easy;
there was no injury beyond the flesh, which, of course, had become
much sorer, and must do so for a few days still.
The chief, however, suggested the prudence, if not the necessity, of
having a medical man to see him. "Not," said he, "but that I have as
much, if not more, confidence in your own skill and experience than in
any which is available in this wild district."
"That is rather an equivocal compliment; but perhaps it is fully as
much as I deserve," said the priest.
"Well, I don't mean it as such, Father Farrell; but you know a great
responsibility would rest upon me, should anything unfortunate occur."
"I see. It would not do in a court of justice to put a priest upon the
table in a medical position. I certainly could not produce a diploma.
You are quite right, my dear sir; you would be held responsible.
However, I can go the length to assure you that at present there is
not the slightest necessity for medical aid, particularly--between you
and me--under existing circumstances, which I understand very well.
The matter was a mere accident I am fully persuaded. Bat, supposing
for a moment that it was not, I know young Lennon since he was a child
running to school in his bare feet, with 'his turf and his
read-a-ma-daisy;' and I am convinced that no power on earth would
induce him to prosecute Tom Murdock."
"Why? are they such friends?"
"No; quite the reverse, and that is the very reason. But ask me no
more about it. Another objection I see to calling in the dispensary
doctor is this--that I am aware of an ill-feeling existing between him
and Tom {98} Murdock about a prize at a coursing-match, which the
doctor thinks was unfairly given to Tom Murdock through his influence
with the judge; and the doctor was heard to say in reference to it,
'that it was a long lane that had no turning.' Now here would be an
open for the doctor to put a turn on the lane, however straight it
might be in fact. He would not certify that Lennon's life was out of
danger--you would have to arrest Tom Murdock; young Lennon would go
distracted, and the two parishes would be in an uproar. Ill-will would
be engendered between all the young men of opposite sides, and all for
nothing; for young Lennon will be as well as ever he was in ten days.
These are my views of the case. But if your official responsibility
obliges you to differ with me, I am ready to hear you further."
This was a great oration of Father Farrell's, but it was both sensible
and true from beginning to end, and it convinced the chief of the
propriety of "resting on his oars" for a few days longer at all
events.
The result proved at least that there was more luck in leisure than
danger in delay. Emon-a-knock grew better; but it was by degrees. He
could not yet venture to attend to his usual daily labor, by which he
so materially contributed to the support of the family. The weather
was fine, and "the spring business" was going forward rapidly in all
directions. Poor Emon fretted that he was not able to add his
accustomed portion to the weekly earnings; but Father Farrell watched
him too closely. Once or twice he stole out to do some of their own
work, and let his father earn some of the high wages which was just
then to be had; but his own good sense told him that he was still
unable for the effort. At the end of an hour's work the old idea
haunted him that an attempt had been made to murder him, and if he had
been made a merchant-prince for it, he could not recollect how it had
happened. The only thing he did recollect distinctly about it was,
that Shanvilla won the day, and that he had been sent home in Winny
Cavana's cart and jennet--_that_, if he were in a raging fever, he
could never forget.
But it was a sad loss to the family, Emon's incapacity to work. He had
been now three weeks ill; and although the wound in his head was in a
fair way of being healed, there was still a confused idea in his mind
about the whole affair which he could not get rid of. At times, as he
endeavored to review the matter as it had actually occurred, he could
not persuade himself but that it was really an accident; and while
under this impression he felt quite well, and able for his ordinary
labor. But there were moments when a sudden thought would cross his
mind that it had been a secret and premeditated attempt upon his life;
and then it was that the confusion ensued which rendered him unable to
recollect. What if it were really this attempt--supposing that
positive proof could be adduced of the fact--what then? Would he
prosecute Tom Murdock? Oh, no. Father Farrell was right; but he had
not formed his opinion upon the true foundation. Emon-a-knock would
not prosecute, even if he could do so to conviction. He would deal
with Tom Murdock himself if ever a fair opportunity should arise; and
if not, he might yet be in a position more thoroughly to despise him.
In the meantime Lennon's family had not been improving in
circumstances. Emon was losing all the high wages of the spring's
work. Upon one or two occasions, when he stealthily endeavored to do a
little on his own land, while his father was catching the ready penny
abroad, he found, before he was two hours at work, the haunting idea
press upon his brain; and he returned to the house and threw himself
upon the bed confused and sad. In spite of this, however, the wound in
his head was now progressing more favorably, and {99} returning
strength renewed a more cheerful spirit within him. He fought hard
against the idea which at times forced itself upon him. The priest,
who was a constant visitor, saw that all was not yet right. He took
Emon kindly by the hand and said: "My dear young friend, do you not
feel as well as your outward condition would indicate that you ought
to be?"
"Yes, Father Farrell, I thank God I feel my strength almost perfectly
restored. I shall be able, I hope, to give my poor father the usual
help in a few days. The worst of it is that the throng of the spring
work is over, and wages are now down a third from what they were a
month or three weeks ago."
"If _that_ be all that is fretting you, Emon, cheer up, for there is
plenty of work still to be had; and if the wages are not quite so high
as they were a while back, you shall have constant work for some time,
which will be better than high wages for a start. I can myself afford
to make up for some of the loss this unfortunate blow has caused you.
You must accept of this." And he pulled a pound-note from his breeches
pocket.
If occasionally there were moments when Emon's ideas were somewhat
confused, they were never clearer or sharper than as Father Farrell
said this. It so happened that he was thinking of Winny Cavana at the
moment; indeed, it would be hard to hit upon the moment when he was
not. Shanvilla was proverbially a poor parish; and Father Farrell's
continual and expressed regret was, that he was not able personally to
do more for the poor of his flock. Emon was sharp enough, and stout
enough, to speak his mind even to his priest, when he found it
necessary.
He looked inquiringly into Father Farrell's face. "No, Father Farrell,
you _cannot_ afford it," he said. "It is your kindness leads you to
say so; and if you could afford it there are--and no man knows it
better than you do--many still poorer families than ours in the parish
requiring your aid. But under no circumstances shall I touch _that_
pound."
The priest was found out, and became disconcerted; but the matter was
coming to a point, and he might as well have it out.
"Why do you lay such an emphasis upon the word _that_?" said he. "It
is a very good one," he added, laughing.
"Well, Father Farrell, I am always ready and willing to answer you any
questions you may choose to ask me, for you are always discreet and
considerate. Of course I must always answer any questions you have a
right to ask; but you have no right to probe me now."
"Certainly not, Emon, but you know a counsel's no command."
"Your counsel, Father Farrell, is always good, and almost amounts to a
command. I beg your pardon, if I have spoken hastily."
"Emon, my good young friend, and I will add, my dear young friend, I
do not wish to probe you upon any subject you are not bound to give me
your confidence upon; but why did you lay such an emphasis just now on
the word _that_? If you do not wish to answer me, you need not do so.
But you must take _this_ pound-note. You see I can lay an emphasis as
well as you when I think it is required."
"No, Father Farrell. If the note was your own, I might take the loan
of it, and work it in with you, or pay you when I earned it. But I do
not think it is: there is the truth for you, Father Farrell."
"I see how it is, Emon, and you are very proud. However, the truth is,
the pound was sent to me anonymously for you from a friend."
"She might as well have signed her name in full," said Emon, sadly,
"for any loss that I can be at upon the subject--or perhaps you
yourself, Father Farrell."
"Well, I was at no loss, I confess. But you were to know nothing about
it, Emon; only you were so sharp. {100} There is no fear that your
intellects have been injured by the blow, at all events. It was meant
kindly, Emon, and I think you ought to take it--here."
"You think so, Father Farrell?"
"I do; indeed I do, Emon."
"Give it me, then," he said, taking it; and before Father Farrell's
face he pressed it to his lips. He then got a pen and ink, and wrote
something upon it. It was nothing but the date; he wanted no
memorandum of anything else respecting it. But he would hardly have
written even that, had he intended to make use of it.
The priest stood up to leave. He knew more than he chose to tell
Emon-a-knock. But there was an amicable smile upon his lips as he held
out his hand to bid him goodby.
Oh, the suspicion of a heart that loves!
"Father Farrell," he said, still holding the priest's hand, "is this
the note, the very note, the identical note, she sent me?"
"Yes, Emon; I would not deceive you about it. It is the very note;
which, I fear," he added, "is not likely to be of much use to you."
"Why do you say that, Father Farrell? You shall one day see the
contrary."
"Because you seem to me rather inclined to 'huxter it up,' as we say,
than to make use of it. Believe me, that was not the intention it was
sent with; oh, no, Emon; it was sent with the hope that it might be of
some use, and not to be hoarded up through any morbid sentimentality."
"Give me one instead of it. Father Farrell, and keep this one until I
can redeem it."
"I have not got another, Emon; pounds are not so plenty with me."
"And yet you would have persuaded me just now that it was your own and
that you could afford to bestow it upon me!"
"Pardon me, Emon, I would not have persuaded you; I was merely silent
upon the subject until your suspicions made you cross-examine me. I
was then plain enough with you. I used no deceit; and I now tell you
plainly that if you take this pound-note, you ought to use it;
otherwise you will give her who sent it very just cause for
annoyance."
"Then it shall be as she wishes and as you advise, Father Farrell. I
cannot err under your guidance. I shall use it freely and with
gratitude; but you need not tell her that I know who sent it."
"Do you think that I am an _aumadhawn_, Emon? The very thing she was
anxious to avoid herself. I shall never speak to her, perhaps, upon
the subject."
The priest then left him with a genuine and hearty blessing, which
could not fail of a beneficial influence.
CHAPTER XXVII.
The priest had been a true prophet and a good doctor, and perhaps it
was well for all parties concerned that the dispensary M.D. had been
dispensed with. Emon now recovered his strength every day more and
more. The wound in his head had completely healed. There was scarcely
a mark left of where it had been, unless you blew his beautiful soft
hair aside, when a slight hard ridge was just perceptible. Father
Farrell had procured him a permanent job of some weeks, at rather an
increase of wages from what was "going" at the time, for the spring
business was now over and work was slack. But a gentleman who had
recently purchased a small property in that part of the country, and
intended to reside, had commenced alterations in the laying-out of the
grounds about his "mansion;" and meeting Father Farrell one day, asked
him if he could recommend a smart, handy man for a tolerably long job.
There would be a good deal of "skinning" and cutting of sods, {101}
levelling hillocks, and filling up hollows, and wheeling of clay. For
the latter portion of the work, the man should have help. What he
wanted was a tasty, handy fellow, who would understand quickly what
was required as it was explained to him.
Father Farrell, as the gentleman said all this, thought that he must
have actually had Emon-a-knock in his mind's eye. He was the very man
on every account, and the priest at once recommended him. This job
would soon make up for all the time poor Emon had lost with his broken
head. And for his intelligence and taste Father Farrell had gone bail.
Thus it was that Emon after all had not broken the pound-note, but, in
spite of the priest, had hoarded it as a trophy of Winny's love.
Emon would have had a rather long walk every morning to his work, and
the same in the evening after it was over. But Mr. D---- on the very
first interview with young Lennon, was sharp enough to find out his
value as a rural engineer, and, for his own sake as well as Lennon's,
he made arrangements that he should stop at a tenant's house, not far
from the scene of his landscape-gardening, which was likely to last
for some time. Mr. D---- was not a man who measured a day's work by
its external extent. He looked rather to the manner of its
accomplishment, and would not allow the thing to be "run over." He did
not care for the expense; what he wanted was to have the thing well
done; and he gave Father Farrell great credit for his choice in a
workman. If he liked the job when it was finished, he did not say but
that he would give Lennon a permanent situation, as overseer, at a
fixed salary. But up to this time he had not seen, nor even heard of,
Winny Cavana, except what had been implied to his heart by the
priest's pound-note. He was further now from Rathcash chapel than
ever; nevertheless he would show himself there, "God willing," next
Sunday. What was Tom Murdock's surprise and chagrin on the following
Sunday to observe "that confounded whelp" on the road before him, as
he went to prayers--looking, too, better dressed, and as well and
handsome as ever! He thought he had "put a spoke in his wheel" for the
whole summer at the least; and before that was over, he had determined
to have matters irrevocably _clinched_ if not _settled_ with Miss
Winifred Cavana.
After what manner this was to be accomplished was only known to
himself and three others, associates in his villany.
The matter had been already discussed in all its bearings. All the
arguments in favor of, and opposed to, its success had been exhausted,
and the final result was, that the thing should be done, and was only
waiting a favorable opportunity to be put in practice. Some matters of
detail, however, had to be arranged, which would take some time; but
as the business was kept "dark" there was no hurry. Tom Murdock's
secret was safe in the keeping of his coadjutors, whose "oath of
brotherhood" bound them not only to inviolable silence, but to their
assistance in carrying out his nefarious designs.
The sight of young Lennon once more upon the scene gave a spur to
Tom's plans and determination. He had hoped that that "accidental tip"
which he had given him would at least have had the effect of reducing
him in circumstances and appearance, and have kept him in his own
parish. He knew that Lennon was depending upon his day's wages for
even the sustenance of life; that there was a family of at least four
beside himself to support; and he gloated himself over the idea that a
month or six weeks' sick idleness, recovering at best when there was
no work to be had, would have left "that whelp" in a condition almost
unpresentable even at his own parish chapel. What was his
mortification, therefore, when he now beheld young Lennon before him
on the road!
{102}
"By the table of war," he said in his heart, "this must hasten my
plans! I cannot permit an intimacy to be renewed in that quarter. I
must see my friends at once."
Winny Cavana, although she had not seen Emon-a-knock since the
accident, had taken care to learn through her peculiar resources how
"the poor fellow was getting on." Her friend Kate Mulvey was one of
these resources.
Although it has not yet oozed out in this story, it is necessary that
it should now do so: Phil M'Dermott, then, was a great admirer of Kate
Mulvey. He was one of those who advocated an interchange of
parishioners in the courting line. He did not think it fair that
"exclusive dealing" should be observed in such cases.
Now, useless as it was, and forlorn as had been hitherto the hope,
Phil M'Dermott, like all true lovers, could not keep away from his
cold-hearted Kate. It was a satisfaction to him at all events "to be
looking at her;" and somehow since Emon's accident she seemed more
friendly and condescending in her manner to poor Phil. It will be
remembered that Phil M'Dermott was a great friend of Emon-a-knock's,
and it may now be said that he was a near neighbor. It was natural,
then, that Kate Mulvey should find out all about Emon from him, and
"have word" for Winny when they met. This was one resource, and Father
Farrell, as he sometimes passed Kate's door, was another. Father
Farrell could guess very well, notwithstanding Kate's careless manner
of asking, that his information would not rest in her own breast, and
gave it as fully and satisfactorily as he could.
Kate Mulvey, however, "would not for the world" say a word to either
Phil M'Dermott or Father Farrell which could be construed as coming
from Winny Cavana to Emon-a-knock; she had Winny's strict orders to
that effect. But Kate felt quite at liberty to make any remarks she
chose, as coming from herself.
Poor Emon, upon this his first occasion of, it may be said, appearing
in public after his accident, was greeted, after prayers were over,
with a genuine cordiality by the Rathcash boys, and several times
interfered with in his object of "getting speech" of Winny Cavana, who
was some distance in advance, in consequence of these delays.
But Winny was not the girl to be frustrated by any unnecessary prudery
on such an occasion.
"Father," she said, "there's Emon at our chapel to-day for the first
time since he was hurt. Let us not be behindhand with the neighbors to
congratulate him on his recovery. I see all the Rathcash people are
glad to see him."
"And so they ought, Winny; I'm glad you told me he was here, for I did
not happen to see him. Stand where you are until he comes up." And the
old man stood patiently for some minutes while Emon's friends were
expressing their pleasure at his reappearance.
Winny had kept as clear as possible of Tom Murdock since the accident
at the hurling match; so much so that he could not but know it was
intentional.
Tom had remarked during prayers that Winny's countenance had
brightened up wonderfully when young Lennon came into the chapel, and
took a quiet place not far inside the door; for he had been kept
outside by the kind inquiries of his friends until the congregation
had become pretty throng. He had observed too, for he was on the
watch, that Winny's eyes had often wandered in the direction of the
door up to the time when "that whelp" had entered; but from that
moment, when he had observed the bright smile light up her face, she
had never turned them from the officiating priest and the altar.
Tom had not ventured to walk home with Winny from the chapel for some
Sundays past, nor would he to-day. What puzzled him not a little was
what his line of conduct ought to be with respect to Lennon, whom he
had not seen since the accident. His course {103} was, however, taken
after a few moments' reflection. He did not forget that on the
occasion of the blow he had exhibited much sympathy with the sufferer,
and had declared it to have been purely accidental. He should keep up
that character of the affair now, or make a liar of himself, both as
to the past and his feelings.
"Beside," thought he, "I may so delay him that Miss Winifred cannot
have the face to delay for him so long."
Just then, as Emon had emancipated himself from the cordiality of
three or four young men, and was about to step out quickly to where he
saw Winny and her father standing on the road, Tom came up.
"Ah, Lennon!" he said, stretching out his hand, "I am glad to see you
in this part of the country again. I hope you are quite recovered."
"Quite, thank God," said Emon, pushing by without taking his hand.
"But I see Winny and her father waiting on the road, and I cannot stop
to talk to you;" and he strode on. Emon left out the "Cavana" in the
above sentence on purpose, because he knew the familiarity its
omission created would vex Tom Murdock.
"Bad luck to your impudence, you conceited cub, you!" was Murdock's
mental ejaculation as he watched the cordial greeting between him and
Winny Cavana, to say nothing of her father, who appeared equally glad
to see him.
Phil M'Dermott had come for company that day with Emon, and had
managed to join Kate Mulvey as they came out of chapel. She had her
eyes about her, and saw very well how matters had gone so far. For the
first time in her life she noticed the scowl on Tom Murdock's brow as
she came toward him.
"God between us and harm, but he looks wicked this morning!" thought
she; and she was almost not sorry when he turned suddenly round and
walked off without waiting for her so much as to "bid him the time of
day."
"That's more of it," said Tom to himself. "There is that one now
taking up with that tinker."
He felt something like the little boy who said, "What! will nobody
come and play with me?" But Tom did not, like him, become a good boy
after that.
He watched the Cavanas and Lennon, who had not left the spot where
Lennon came up with them until they were joined by Kate And Phil
M'Dermott, when they all walked on together, chatting and laughing as
if nobody in the world was wicked or unhappy.
He dodged them at some distance, and was not a little surprised to see
the whole party-"the whelp," "the tinker," and all--turn up the lane
and go into Cavana's house.
"_That will do_," said he; "I must see my friends this very night, and
before this day fortnight we'll see who will win the trick."
Emon-a-knock and Phil M'Dermott actually paid a visit to old Ned
Cavana's that Sunday. Tom Murdock had seen them going in, and he
minuted them by his silver hunting-watch--for he had one. His eye
wandered from the door to his watch, and from his watch to the door,
as if he were feeling the pulse of their visit. He thought he had
never seen Kate Mulvey looking so handsome, or Phil M'Dermott so clean
or so well-dressed.
But it mattered not. If Kate was a Venus, Tom will carry out his plans
with respect to Winny, and let Phil M'Dermott work his own point in
that other quarter. Not that he cared much for Winny herself, but he
wanted her farm, and he _hated "that whelp Lennon."_
They remained just twenty-five minutes in old Cavana's; this for Kate
Mulvey was nothing very wonderful, but for two young men--neither of
whom had ever darkened his doors before--Tom thought it rather a long
visit.
{104}
There they were now, going down the lane together, laughing and
chatting, all three seemingly in good humor.
Cranky and out of temper as he was, Tom's observation was correct in
more matters than one, Phil M'Dermott was particularly well-dressed on
this occasion, his first visit to Rathcash chapel. Perhaps after
to-day he may be oftener there than at his own.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Perhaps there was nothing extraordinary, after the encouragement which
Emon had met with upon his first appearance at Rathcash chapel after
"the accident," if he found it pleasanter to "overtake mass" there
than to come in quietly at Shanvilla. The walk did him good. Be this
as it may, he was now a regular attendant at a chapel which was a mile
and a half further from his home than his own.
Two Sundays had now come round since Tom Murdock had seen the
reception which "that whelp" had met with from the Cavanas, not only
as he came out of the chapel, but in asking him up to the house, and,
he supposed, giving him luncheon; for the visits had been repeated
each successive Sunday. Then that fellow M'Dermott had also come to
their chapel, and he and Kate Mulvey had also gone up with the
Cavanas. This was now the third Sunday on which this had taken place;
and not only Winny herself, but her father seemed to acquiesce in
bringing it about.
Tom's fortnight had passed by, and he had not "won the trick," as he
had threatened to do. "Well," thought he, "it cannot be done in a
minute. I have been dealing the cards, and, contrary to custom, the
dealer shall lead beside; and that soon."
Winny's happy smile was now so continuous and so gratifying to her
father's heart, that if he had not become altogether reconciled to an
increased intimacy with Edward Lennon, he had at all events become a
convert to her dislike to Tom Murdock, and no mistake.
In spite of all his caution, one or two matters had crept out as to
his doings, and had come to old Ned's ears in such a way that no doubt
could remain on his mind of their veracity. He began to give Winny
credit for more sharpness than he had been inclined to do; and it
crossed his mind once that, if Winny was not mistaken about Tom
Murdock's villany, she might not be mistaken either about _anybody
else's worth_. The thought had not individualized itself as yet. In
the meantime young Lennon's quiet and natural manner, his unvarying
attention and respect for the old man himself, and his apparent
carelessness for Winny's private company, grew upon old Ned
insensibly; and it was now almost as a fixed rule that he paid a
Sunday visit after mass at Rathcash, the old man putting his hand upon
his shoulder, and facing him toward the house at the end of the lane,
saying, "Come, Edward Lennon, the murphys will be teemed by the time
we get up, and no one can fault our bacon or our butter."
"_My_ butter, Emon," said Winny on one occasion, at a venture.
Her father looked at her. But there was never another word about it.
All this was anything but pleasing to Tom Murdock, who always sulkily
dogged them at some distance behind.
Now we shall not believe that Emon-a-knock was such a muff, or Winny
Cavana such a prude, as to suppose that no little opportunity was
seized upon for a kind soft word between them _unknownt_. Nor shall we
suppose that Kate Mulvey, who was always of the party, was such a
marplot as to obstruct such a happy casualty, should it occur,
particularly if Phil was to the fore.
Emon's careless, loud laugh along the road, as he escorted Kate to her
own door, gave evidence that his heart was light and that (as Kate
thought, though she did not question him) {105} matters were on the
right road for him. Winny, too, when they met, was so happy, and so
different from what for a while she had been, that Kate, although she
did not question her either, guessed that all was right with her too.
Matters, as they now seemed to progress, and he watched them close,
were daggers to Tom Murdock's heart. He had seen Winny Cavana, on more
than one evening, leave the house and take the turn toward Kate
Mulvey's. On these occasions he had the meanness and want of spirit to
watch her movements; and although he could not satisfy himself that
young Lennon came to meet her, he was not quite satisfied that he did
not.
Winny invariably turned into Kate Mulvey's, and remained for a long
visit. Might not "that hound" be there?--Tom sometimes varied his
epithets--might it not be a place of assignation? This was but the
suspicion of a low, mean mind like Tom Murdock's.
The fact is, since Tom's threat about "winning the trick" he had been
rather idle. His game was not one which could be played out by
correspondence--he was too cunning for that--and the means which he
would be obliged to adopt were not exactly ready at his hand. He saw
that matters were not pressing in another quarter yet, if ever they
should press, and he would "ride a waiting race," and win
unexpectedly. Thus the simile of Tom's thoughts still took their tone
from the race-course, and he would "hold hard" for another bit.
Circumstances, however, soon occurred which made him "push forward
toward the front" if he had any hope "to come in first."
Edward Lennon having finished his "landscape gardening" at Mr. D----s,
and the overseership being held over for the present, had got another
rather long job, on the far part of Ned Cavana's farm, in laying out
and cutting drains, where the land required reclaiming. He had shown
so much taste and intelligence, in both planning and performing, that
old Ned was quite delighted with him, and began to regret "that he had
not known his value as an agricultural laborer long before." There was
one other at least--if not two--who sympathized in that regret. At all
events, there he was now every day up to his hips in dirty red clay,
scooping it up from the bottom of little drains more than three feet
deep, in a long iron scoop with a crooked handle. This job was at the
far end of Ned's farm, and, in coming to his work, Lennon need hardly
come within sight of the house, for the work lay in the direction of
Shanvilla. Emon did not "quit work" until it was late; he was then in
anything but visiting trim, if such a thing were even possible. He,
therefore, saw no more of Winny on account of the job than if he had
been at work on the Giant's Causeway. But a grand object had been
attained, nevertheless--he was working for Ned Cavana, and had given
him more than satisfaction in the performance of the job, and on one
occasion old Ned had called him "Emon-a-wochal," a term of great
familiarity. This was a great change for the better. If young Lennon
had been as well acquainted with racing phraseology as Tom Murdock, he
also would have thought that he would "make a waiting race of it." But
the expression of _his_ thoughts was that he "would bide his time."
The Sundays, however, were still available, and Emon did not lose the
chance. He now because so regular an attendant at Rathcash chapel, and
went up so regularly with old Ned and his daughter after prayers, that
it was no wonder if people began to talk.
"I donna what Tom Murdock says to all this, Bill," said Tim Fahy to a
neighbor, on the road from the chapel.
"The sorra wan of me knows, Tim, but I hear he isn't over-well
plaised."
"Arrah, what id he be plaised at? Is it to see a Shanvilla boy,
without a cross, intherlopin' betune him an' his bachelor?"
"Well, they say he needn't be a bit afeared, Lennon is a very good
workman, {106} and undherstan's dhrainin', an' ould Ned's cute enough
to get a job well done; but he'd no more give his daughter with her
fine fortin' to that chap, than he'd throw her an' it into the
say--b'lieve you me."
"There's some very heavy cloud upon Tom this while back, any way; and
though he keeps it very close, there's people thinks it's what she
refused him."
"The sorra fear iv her, Tim; she has more sinse nor that."
"Well, riddle me this, Bill. What brings that chap here Sunda' afther
Sunda', and what takes him up to ould Ned Cavana's every Sunda' afther
mass? He is a very good-lookin' young fellow, an' knows a sheep's head
from a sow's ear, or Tim Fahy's a fool."
"_Och badhershin_, doesn't he go up to walk home wid Kate Mulvey, for
she's always iv the party?"
"And _badhershin_ yourself, Bill, isn't Phil M'Dermott always to the
fore for Kate?--another intherloper from Shanvilla. I donna what the
sorra the Rathcash boys are about."
Other confabs of a similar nature were carried on by different sets as
they returned from prayers, and saw the Cavanas with their company
turn up the lane toward the house. The young girls of the district,
too, had their chats upon the subject; but they were so voluble, and
some of them so ill-natured, that I forbear to give the reader any
specimen of their remarks. One or two intimate associates of Tom
ventured to quiz him upon the state of affairs. Now none but an
intimate friend, indeed, of Tom's should have ventured, under the
circumstances, to have touched upon so sore a subject, and those who
did, intimate as they were, did not venture to repeat the joke. No, it
was no joke; and that they soon found out. To one friend who had
quizzed him privately he said, "Suspend your judgment, Denis; and if I
don't prove myself more than a match for that half-bred _kiout_, then
condemn me."
But to another, who had quizzed him before some bystanders in rather a
ridiculous point of view, he turned like a bull-terrier, while his
face assumed a scowl of a peculiarly unpleasant character.
"It is no business of yours," he said, "and I advise you to mind your
own affairs, or perhaps I'll make you."
The man drew in his horns, and sneaked off, of course; and from that
moment they all guessed that the business had gone against Tom, and
they left off quizzing.
Tom felt that he had been wrong, and had only helped to betray
himself. His game now was to prevent, if possible, any talk about the
matter, one way or the other, until his plans should be matured, when
he doubted not that success would gain him the approbation of every
one, no matter what the means.
The preface to his plans was, to spread a report that he had gone back
to Armagh to get married to a girl with an immense fortune, and he
endorsed the report by the fact of his leaving home; but whether to
Armagh or not, was never clearly known.
Young Lennon went on with his job, at which old Ned told him "to take
his time, an' do it well. It was not," he said, "like digging a plot,
which had to be dug every year, or maybe twice. When it was wance
finished and covered up, there it was; worse nor the first day, if it
was not done right; so don't hurry it over, Emon-a-wochal. I don't
mind the expense; ground can't be dhrained for nothin', an' it id be a
bad job if we were obliged to be openin' any of the dhrains a second
time, an' maybe not know where the stoppage lay; so take your time,
and don't blame me if you botch it."
"You need not fear, sir," said Lennon. (He always said "sir" as yet.)
"You need not fear; if every drain of them does not run like the
stream from Tubbernaltha, never give me a day's work again."
{107}
"As far as you have gone, Emon, I think they are complate; we'll have
forty carts of stones in afore Saturda' night. I hope you have help
enough, boy."
"Plenty, sir, until we begin to cover in."
"Wouldn't you be able for that yourself? or couldn't you bring your
father with you? I'd wish to put whatever I could in your way."
"Thank you, sir, very much. I will do so if I want more help; but for
the lucre of keeping up his wages and mine, I would not recommend you
to lose this fine weather in covering in the drains."
"You are an honest boy, Emon, and I like your way of talkin', as well
as workin'; plaise God we won't see you or your father idle."
Up to this it will be seen that Emon was not idle in any sense of the
word. He was ingratiating himself, but honestly, into the good graces
of old Ned; "if he was not fishing, he was mending his nets;" and the
above conversation will show that he was not a dance at that same.
It happened, upon one or two occasions, that old Ned was with Emon at
leaving off work in the evening, and he asked him to "cum' up to the
house and have a dhrink of beer, or whiskey-and-wather, his choice."
But Emon excused himself, saying he was no fit figure to go into any
decent man's parlor in that trim, and indeed his appearance did not
belie his words; for he was spotted and striped with yellow clay, from
his head and face to his feet, and the clothes he brought to the work
were worth nothing.
"Well, you'll not be always so, Emon, when you're done wid the
scoopin'," said old Ned; and he added, laughing, "The divil a wan o'
me'd know you to be the same boy I seen cumin' out o' mass a Sunda'."
Emon had heard, as everybody else had heard, that Tom Murdock had left
home, and he felt as if an incubus had been lifted off his heart. Not
that he feared Tom in any one way; but he knew that his absence would
be a relief to Winny, and, as such, a relief to himself.
Emon was now as happy as his position and his hopes permitted him to
be; and there can be little doubt but this happiness arose from an
understanding between himself and Winny; but how, when, or where that
understanding had been confirmed, it would be hard to say.
Old Ned's remarks to his daughter respecting young Lennon were nuts
and apples to her. She knew the day would come, and perhaps at no far
distant time, when she must openly avow, not only a preference for
Emon, but declare an absolute determination to cast her lot with his,
and ask her father's blessing upon them. She was aware that this could
not, that it ought not to, be hurried. She hoped--oh, how fervently
she hoped!--that the report of Tom Murdock's marriage might be true:
that of his absence from home she knew to be so. In the meantime it
kept the happy smile for ever on her lips to know that Emon was daily
creeping into the good opinion of her father. Oh! how could Emon, her
own Emon, fail, not only to creep but to rush into the good opinion,
the very heart, of all who knew him? Poor enthusiastic Winny! But she
was right. With the solitary exception of Tom Murdock, there was not a
human being who knew him who did not love Edward Lennon. But where is
the man with Tom Murdock's heart, and in Tom Murdock's place, who
would not have hated him as he did?
CHAPTER XXIX.
Tom Murdock, seeing that his hopes by fair means were completely at an
end, and that matters were likely to progress in another quarter at a
rate which made it advisable not to let the leading horse get too far
ahead, {108} determined to make a rush to the front, no matter whether
he went the wrong side of a post or not--let that be settled after.
He had left home, and left a report behind him, which he took care to
have industriously circulated, that he had gone to Armagh, and was
about to be married to "a young lady" with a large fortune, and that
he would visit the metropolis, Fermanagh, and perhaps Sligo, before he
returned. But he did not go further than an obscure public-house in a
small village in the lower part of the county of Cavan. There he met
the materials for carrying out his plan. The object of it was shortly
this--to carry away Winny Cavana by force, and bring her to a
_friend's_ house in the mountains behind the village adverted to. Here
he was to have an old buckle-beggar at hand to marry them the moment
Winny's spirit was broken to consent. This man, a degraded clergyman,
as the report went, wandered about the country in green spectacles and
a short, black cloak, always ready and willing to perform such a job;
doubly willing and ready for this particular one from the reward which
Tom had promised him. If even the marriage ceremony should fail,
either through Winny's obstinacy or the clergyman's want of spirit to
go through with it in the face of opposition, still he would keep her
for ten days or a fortnight at this _friend's_ house, stopping there
himself too; and at the end of that time, should he fail in obtaining
her consent, he would quit the country for a while, and allow her to
return home "so blasted in character" that even "that whelp" would
disown her. There was a pretty specimen of a lover--a husband!
It was now the end of June. The weather had been dry for some time,
and the nights were clear and mild; the stars shone brightly, and the
early dawn would soon present a heavy dew hanging on the bushes and
the grass. The moon was on the wane; but at a late hour of the night
it was conspicuous in the heavens, adding a stronger light to that
given by the clearness of the sky and the brilliancy of the stars.
Rathcash and Rathcashmore were sunk in still repose; and if silence
could be echoed, it was echoed by the stillness of the mountains
behind Shanvilla and beyond them. The inhabitants of the whole
district had long since retired to rest, and now lay buried in sleep,
some of them in confused dreams of pleasure and delight.
The angel of the dawn was scarcely yet awake, or he might have heard
the sound of muffled horses' feet and muffled wheels creeping along
the road toward the lane turning up to Rathcash house, about two hours
before day; and he must have seen a man with a dark mask mounted on
another muffled horse at a little distance from the cart.
Presently Tom Murdock--there is no use in simulating mystery where
none exists--took charge of the horse and cart to prevent them from
moving, while three men stole up toward the house. Ay, there is
Bully-dhu's deep bark, and they are already at the door.
"That dog! he'll betray us, boys," said one of the men.
"I'd blow his brains out if this pistol was loaded," said another;
"and I wanted Tom to give me a cartridge."
"He wouldn't let any one load but himself, and he was right; a shot
would be twiste as bad as the dog; beside, he's in the back yard, and
cannot get out. Never heed him, but to work as fast as possible."
Old Ned Cavana and Winny heard not only the dog, but the voices.
Winny's heart foretold the whole thing in a moment, and she braced her
nerves for the scene.
The door was now smashed in, and the three men entered. By this time
old Ned had drawn on his trousers; and as he was throwing his coat
over his head to got his arms into the sleeves he was seized, and ere
you could count ten he was pinioned, with his arms behind him and his
legs tied {109} at the ankles, and a handkerchief tied across his
mouth. Thus rendered perfectly powerless, he was thrown back upon the
bed, and the room-door locked. Jamesy Doyle, who slept in the barn,
had heard the crash of the door, and dressed himself in "less than no
time," let Bully-dhu out of the yard, and brought him to the front
door, in at which he rushed like a tiger. But Jamesy Doyle did not go
in. That was not his game; but he peeped in at the window. No light
had been struck, so he could make nothing of the state of affairs
inside, except from the voices; and from what he heard he could make
no mistake as to the object of this attack. He could not tell whether
Tom Murdock was in the house or not, but he did not hear his voice.
One man said, "Come, now, be quick, Larry; the sooner we're off with
her the better."
Jamesy waited for no more; he turned to the lane as the shortest way,
but at a glance he saw the horse and cart and the man on horseback on
the road outside; and turning again he darted off across the fields as
fast as his legs could carry him.
Bully-dhu, having gained access to the house, showed no disposition to
compromise the matter. "No quarter!" was his cry, as he flew at the
nearest man to him, and seizing him by the throat, brought him to the
ground with a _sough_, where in spite of his struggles, he held him
fast with a silent, deadly grip. He had learned this much, at least,
by his encounter with the mastiff on New Year's day.
Careless of their companion's strait, who they thought ought to be
able to defend himself, the other two fellows--and powerful fellows
they were--proceeded to the bed-room to their left; they had locked
the door to their right, leaving poor old Ned tied and insensible on
the bed. Winny was now dressed and met them at the door.
"Are you come to commit murder?" she cried, as they stopped her in the
doorway; "or have you done it already? Let me to my father's room."
"The sorra harm on him, miss, nor the sorra take the hair of his head
well hurt no more nor your own. Come, put on your bonnet an' cloak,
an' come along wid us; them's our ordhers."
"You have a master, then. Where is he? where is Tom Murdock?--I knew
Tom _Murder_ should have been his name. Where is he, I say?"
"Come, come, no talk; but on wid your bonnet and cloak at wanst."
"Never; nor shall I ever leave this house except torn from it by the
most brutal force. Where is your master, I say? Is he afraid of the
rope himself which he would thus put round your necks?"
"Come, come, on wid your bonnet an' cloak, or, be the powers, we'll
take you away as you are."
"Never; where is your master, I say?"
"Come, Larry, we won't put up wid any more of her pillaver; out wid
the worsted."
Here Biddy Murtagh rushed in to her mistress's aid; but she was soon
overpowered and tied "neck and heels," as they called it, and thrown
upon Winny's bed. They had the precaution to gag her also with a
handkerchief, that she might not give the alarm, and they locked the
door like that at the other end of the house.
Larry, whoever he was, then pulled a couple of skeins of coarse
worsted from his pocket, while his companion seized Winny round the
waist, outside her arms; and the other fellow, who seemed expert, soon
tied her feet together, and then her hands. A thick handkerchief was
then tied across her mouth.
"Take care to lave plenty of braithin' room out iv her nose, Larry,"
said the other ruffian; and, thus rendered unable to move or scream,
they carried her to the road and laid her on the car. The horseman in
the mask asked them where the third man was, and they replied that he
must have {110} "made off" from the dog, for that they neither saw nor
heard him after the dog flew at him.
This was likely enough. He was the only man of the party in whom Tom
Murdock could not place the most unbounded confidence.
"The cowardly rascal," he said. "We must do without him."
But he had _not_ made off from the dog.
The cart was well provided--_to do Tom Murdock justice_--with a
feather-bed over plenty of straw, and plenty of good covering to keep
out the night air. They started at a brisk trot, still keeping the
horses' feet and the wheels muffled; and they passed down the road
where the reader was once caught at a dog-fight.
But to return, for a few minutes, to Rathcash house. Bully-dhu was
worth a score of old Ned Cavana, even supposing him to have been at
liberty, and free of the cords by which he was bound. The poor old man
had worked the handkerchief by which he had been gagged off his mouth,
by rubbing it against the bed-post. He had then rolled himself to the
door; but further than that he was powerless, except to ascertain, by
placing his chin to the thumb-latch, for he had got upon his feet,
that it was fastened outside. He then set up a lamentable demand for
help--upon Winny, upon Biddy Murtagh, and upon Bully-dhu. The dog was
the only one who answered him, with a smothered growl, for he still
held fast by the grip he had taken of the man's throat. Poor Bully!
you need not have been so pertinacious of that grip--the man has been
_dead_ for the last ten minutes! Finding that it was indeed so, from
the perfect stillness of the man, Bully-dhu released his hold, and lay
licking his paws and keeping up an angry growl, in answer to the old
man's cries.
We must leave them and follow Jamesy Doyle across the fields, and see
if it was cowardice that made him run so fast from the scene of
danger. Ah, no! Jamesy was not that sort of a chap at all. He was
plucky as well as true to the heart's core. Nor was his intelligence
and judgment at fault for a moment as to the best course for him to
adopt. Seeing the fearful odds of three stout men against him, he knew
that he could do better than to remain there, to be tied "neck and
crop" like the poor old man and Biddy. So, having brought Bully-dhu
round and given him 'his cue, he started off, and never drew breath
until he found himself outside Emon-a-knock's window at Shanvilla, on
his way to the nearest police station.
"Are you there, Emon?" said he, tapping at it.
"Yes," Emon replied from his bed; "who are you, or what do you want?"
"Jamesy Doyle from Rathcash house. Get up at wanst! They have taken
away Miss Winny."
"Great heaven I do you say so? Here, father, get up in a jiffy and
dress yourself. They have taken away Winny Cavana, and we must be off
to the rescue like a shot. Come in, Jamesy, my boy." And while they
were "drawing on" their clothes, they questioned him as to the
particulars.
But Jamesy had few such to give them, as the reader knows; for, like a
sensible boy, he was off for help without waiting for particulars.
The principal point, however, was to know what road they had taken.
Upon this Jamesy was able to answer with some certainty, for ere he
had started finally off, he had watched them, and he had seen the cart
move on under the smothered cries of Winny; and he heard the horseman
say, "Now, boys, through the pass between 'the sisters.'"
"They took the road to the left from the end of the lane, that's all I
know; so let you cut across the country as fast as you can, an' you'll
be at Boher before them. Don't delay me now, for I must go on to the
police station an' hurry out the sargent {111} and his men; if you can
clog them at the bridge till I cam' up with the police, all will be
rights an' we'll have her back wid us. I know very well if I had a
word wid Miss Winny unknown to the men, she would have sent me for the
police; but I took you in my way--it wasn't twenty perch of a round."
"Thank you, Jamesy, a thousand times! There, be off to the sergeant as
fast as you can; tell him you called here, and that I have calculated
everything in my mind, and for him and his men to make for
Boher-na-Milthiogue bridge as fast as possible. There, be off, Jamesy,
and I'll give you a pound-note if the police are at the bridge before
Tom Murdock comes through the pass with the cart."
"You may keep your pound, man! I'd do more nor that for Miss Winny."
And he was out of sight in a moment.
The father and son were now dressed, and, arming themselves with two
stout sticks, they did not "let the grass grow under their feet." They
hurried on until they came to the road turning down to where we have
indicated that our readers were once caught at a dog-fight. Here Emon
examined the road as well as he could by the dim light which
prevailed, and found the fresh marks of wheels. He could scarcely
understand them. They were not like the tracks of any wheels he had
ever seen before, and there were no tracks of horses' feet at all,
although Jamesy had said there was a horseman beside the horse and
cart.
Emon soon put down these unusual appearances--and he could not well
define them for want of light--to some cunning device of Tom Murdock;
and how right he was!
"Come on, father," said he. "I am quite certain they have gone down
here. I know Tom Murdock has plenty of associates in the county Cavan,
and the pass between 'the sisters' is the shortest way he can take.
Beside, Jamesy heard him say the words. Our plan must be to cut across
the country and get to Milthiogue bridge before they get through the
pass and so escape us. What say you, father--are you able and willing
to push on, and to stand by me? Recollect the odds that are against
us, and count the cost."
"Emon, I'll count nothing; but I'll--
"Here, father, in here at this gap, and across by the point of Mullagh
hill beyond; we must get to Boher before them."
"I'll count no cost, Emon, I was going to tell you. I'm both able and
willing, thank God, to stand by you. You deserve it well of me, and so
do the Cavanas. God forbid I should renuage my duty to you and them!
Aren't ye all as wan as the same thing to me now?"
Emon now knew that his father knew all about Winny and him.
"Father," said he, "that is a desperate man, and he'll stop at
nothing."
"Is it sthrivin' to cow me you are, Emon?"
"No, father; but you saw the state my mother was in as we left."
"Yes, I did, and why wouldn't she? But shure that should not stop us
when we have right on our side; an' God knows what hoult, or distress,
that poor girl is in, or what that villain may do to her; an' what
state would your mother be in if you were left a desolate madman all
your life through that man's wickedness?"
These were stout words of his father, and almost assured Emon that all
would be well.
"Father," he continued, "if we get to the bridge before them, and can
hold it for half an hour, or less, the police will be up with Jamesy
Doyle, and we shall be all right."
The conversation was now so frequently interrupted in getting over
ditches and through hedges, and they had said so much of what they had
to say, that they were nearly quite silent for the rest of the way,
except where Emon pointed out to his father the easiest place to get
over a ditch, or through a hedge, or up the face of a {112} hill. Both
their hearts were evidently in their journey. No less the father's
than the son's: the will made the way.
The dappled specks of red had still an hour to slumber ere the dawn
awoke, and they had reached the spot; there was the bridge, the
Boher-na-Milthiogue of our first chapter, within a stone's throw of
them. They crept to the battlement and peered into the pass. As yet no
sound of horse or cart, or whispered word, reached their ears.
"They must be some distance off yet, father," said Emon; "thank God!
The police will have the more time to be up."
"Should we not hide, Emon?"
"Certainly; and if the police come up before they do, they should hide
also. That villain is mounted; and if a strong defence of the pass was
shown too soon, he would turn and put spurs to his horse."
As he spoke a distant noise was heard of horses' feet and unmuffled
wheels. The muffling had all been taken off as soon as they had
reached the far end of the pass between the mountains, and they were
now hastening their speed.
"The odds will be fearfully against us, father," said Emon, who now
felt more than ever the dangerous position he had placed his father
in, and the fearful desolation his loss would cause in his mother's
heart and in his home. He felt no fear for himself. "You had better
leave Tom himself to me, father. I know he will be the man on
horseback. Let you lay hold of the horse's head under the cart, and
knock one of the men, or both, down like lightning, if you can. You
have your knife ready to cut the cords that tie her?"
"I have, Emon; and don't you fear me; one of them shall tumble at all
events, almost before they know that we are on them. I hope I may kill
him out an' out; we might then be able for the other two. Do you think
Tom is armed?" he added, turning pale. But it was so dark Emon did not
see it.
"I am not sure, but I think not He cannot have expected any
opposition."
"God grant it, Emon! I don't want to hould you back, but don't be
'fool-hardy,' dear boy."
"Do you want to cow me, father, as you said yourself, just now?"
"No, Emon. But stoop, stoop, here they are."
Crouching behind the battlements of the bridge, these two resolute men
waited the approach of the cavalcade. As they came to the mouth of the
pass the elder Lennon sprang to the head of the horse under the cart,
and, seizing him with his left hand, struck the man who drove such a
blow as felled him from the shaft upon which he sat. Emon had already
seized the bridle of the horseman who still wore the mask, and pushing
the horse backward on his haunches, he made a fierce blow at the
rider's head with his stick. But he had darted his heels--spurs he
had none--into his horse's sides, which made him plunge forward,
rolling Emon on the ground. Forward to the cart the rider then rushed,
crying out, "On, on with the cart!" But Lennon's father was still
fastened on the horse's head with his left hand, while with his right
he was alternately defending himself against the two men, for the
first had somewhat recovered, who were in charge of it.
Tom Murdock would have ridden him down also, and turned the battle in
favor of a passage through; but Emon had regained his feet, and was
again fastened in the horse's bridle, pushing him back on his
haunches, hoping to get at the rider's head, for hitherto his blows
had only fallen upon his arms and chest. Here Tom Murdock felt the
want of the spurs, for his horse did not spring forward with life and
force enough upon his assailant.
A fearful struggle now ensued between them. The men at the cart had
not yet cleared their way from the {113} desperate opposition given
them by old Lennon, who defendant himself ably, and at the same time
attacked them furiously. He had not time, however, to cut the cords by
which Winny was bound. A single pause in the use of his stick for that
purpose would have been fatal. Neither had he been successful in
getting beyond his first position at the horse's head. During the
whole of this confused attack and defence, poor Winny Cavana, who had
managed to shove herself up into a sitting posture in the cart,
continued to cry out, "Oh, Tom Murdock, Tom Murdock! even now give me
up to these friends and be gone, and I swear there shall never be a
word more about it."
But Tom Murdock was not the man either to yield to entreaties, or to
be baffled in his purpose. He had waled Edward Lennon with the butt
end of his whip about the head and shoulders as well as he could
across his horse's head, which Lennon had judiciously kept between
them, at times making a jump up and striking at Tom with his stick.
Matters had now been interrupted too long to please Tom Murdock, and
darting his heels once more into his horse's sides, he sprang forward,
rolling young Lennon on the road again.
"All right now, lads!" he cried; "on, on with the cart!" and he rode
at old Lennon, who still held his ground against both his antagonists
manfully.
But all was not right. A cry of "The police, the police!" issued from
one of the men at the cart, and Jamesy Doyle with four policemen were
seen hurrying up the boreen from the lower road.
Perhaps it would be unjust to accuse Tom Murdock of cowardice even
then--it was not one of his faults--if upon seeing an accession of
four armed policemen he turned to fly, leaving his companions in for
it. One of them fled too; but Pat Lennon held the other fast.
As Tom turned to traverse the mountain pass back again at full speed,
Lennon, who had recovered himself, sprang like a tiger once more at
the horse's head. Now or never he must stay his progress.
Tom Murdock tore the mask from his face, and, pulling a loaded pistol
from his breast, he said: "Lennon, it was not my intention to injure
you when I saw you first spring up from the bridge to-night; nor will
I do so now, if your own obstinacy and foolhardy madness does not
bring your doom upon yourself. Let go my horse, or by hell I'll blow
your brains out! this shall be no mere tip of the hurl, mind you." And
he levelled the pistol at his head, not more than a foot from his
face.
"Never, with life!" cried Lennon; and he aimed a blow at Tom's
pistol-arm. Ah, fatal and unhappy chance! His stick had been raised to
strike Tom Murdock down, and he had not time to alter its direction.
Had he struck the pistol-arm upward, it might have been otherwise; but
the blow of necessity descended. Tom Murdock fired at the same moment,
and the only difference it made was, that instead of his brains having
been blown out, the ball entered a little to one side of his left
breast.
Lennon jumped three feet from the ground, with a short, sudden shout,
and rolled convulsively upon the road, where soon a pool of bloody mud
attested the murderous work which had been done.
The angel of the dawn now awoke, as he heard the report of the pistol
echoing and reverberating through every recess in the many hearts of
Slieve-dhu and Slieve-bawn. Tom Murdock fled at full gallop; and the
hearts of the policemen fell as they heard the clattering of his
horse's feet dying away in quadruple regularity through the mountain
pass.
Jamesy Doyle, who was light of foot and without shoe or stocking,
rushed forward, saying, "Sergeant, I'll follow him to the end of the
pass, {114} an' see what road he'll take." And he sped onward like a
deer.
"Come, Maher," said the sergeant, "we'll pursue, however hopeless.
Cotter, let you stop with the prisoner we have and the Young woman;
and let Donovan stop with the wounded man, and stop the blood if he
can."
Sergeant Driscol and Maher then started at the top of their speed, in
the track of Jamesy Doyle, in full pursuit.
There were many turns and twists in the pass between the mountains. It
was like a dozen large letter S's strung together.
Driscol stopped for a moment to listen. Jamesy was beyond their ken,
round one or two of the turns, and they could not hear the horse
galloping now.
"All's lost," said the sergeant; "he's clean gone. Let us hasten on
until we meet the boy; perhaps he knows which road he took."
Jamesy had been stooping now and then, and peering into the coming
lights to keep well in view the man whom he pursued. Ay, there he was,
sure enough; he saw him, almost plainly, galloping at the top of his
speed. Suddenly he' heard a crash, and horse and rider rolled upon
the ground.
"He's down, thank God!" cried Jamesy, still rushing forward with some
hope, and peering into the distance. Presently he saw the horse trot
on with his head and tail in the air, without his rider, while a dark
mass lay in the centre of the road.
"You couldn't have betther luck, you bloodthirsty ruffian, you!" said
Jamesy, who thought that it was heaven's lightning that, in justice,
had struck down Tom Murdock; and he maintained the same opinion ever
afterward. At present, however, he had not time to philosophize upon
the thought, but rushed on.
Soon he came to the dark mass upon the road. It was Tom Murdock who
lay there stunned and insensible, but not seriously hurt by the fall.
There was nothing of heaven's lightning in the matter at all. It was
the common come-down of a stumbling horse upon a bad mountain road;
but the result was the same.
Jamesy was proceeding to thank God again, and to tie his legs, when
Tom came to.
Jamesy was sorry the man's _thrance_ did not last a little longer,
that he might have tied him, legs and arms. With his own handkerchief
and suspenders. But he was late now, and not quite sure that Tom
Murdock would not murder him also, and "make off afoot."
Here Jamesy thought he heard the hurried step of the police coming
round the last turn toward him, and as Tom was struggling to his feet,
a bright thought struck him. He "whipt" out a penknife he had in his
pocket, and, before Tom had sufficiently recovered to know what he was
about, he had cut his suspenders, and given the waist-band of his
trousers a _slip_ of the knife, opening it more than a foot down the
back.
Tom had now sufficiently recovered to understand what had happened,
and to know the strait he was in. He had a short time before seen a
man named Wolff play Richard III. in a barn in C.O.S.; and if he did
not roar lustily, "A horse, a horse! my kingdom for a horse!" he
thought it. But his horse was nearly half a mile away, where a green
spot upon the roadside tempted him to delay a little his journey home.
Tom was not yet aware of the approach of the police. He made a
desperate swipe of his whip, which he still held in his hand, at the
boy, and sprung to his feet. But Jamesy avoided the blow by a side
jump, and kept roaring, "Police, police!" at the top of his voice. Tom
now found that he had been outwitted by this young boy. He was so
hampered by his loose trousers about his heels that he could make no
run for it, and soon became the prisoner of Sergeant Driscol and his
companion. Well done, Jamesy!
TO BE CONTINUED.
{115}
Translated from Le Monde Catholique.
FREDERICK HURTER.
Frederick Hurter, the illustrious historian of Pope Innocent III.,
died on the 27th of August, 1865, in Gratz, Austria, in the
sevens-eighth year of his age. Of all the great Catholic characters
which we have lost during the past year, there were undoubtedly very
few who have shed a greater brilliancy on our era, and still our loss
has, comparatively, passed unnoticed. Germany has certainly paid some
homage to the memory of that great Christian; but outside that country
almost general silence has enshrouded his tomb. In France, for
example, not more than three or four religious newspapers have devoted
to him even a few lines, and these all derived from a common source,
and we should not be surprised if many of our own readers should now
learn for the first time, from this notice, the death of a man so
justly celebrated.
To what, then, have we to ascribe this forgetfulness or indifference?
Perhaps a simple comparison of dates will account for it. Hurter died,
as we have stated, in the latter part of August, and La Moriciere in
the early part of the following month. It is therefore natural to
conjecture that the memory of the great historian was almost
forgotten, or for the time absorbed, in the midst of the extraordinary
manifestations and triumphal funeral ceremonies which have honored the
remains of the immortal vanquished of Castelfidardo. It must be
admitted, however, that such was not just; it would have been better
to allow to each his legitimate share of respect, and, without
derogating from the glory of La Moriciere, render also to Hurter the
honor to which he was so justly entitled. Beside, their names were
destined to be associated, for both have fought under the same flag,
although in a different manner. Both have been the champions of the
Papal See, one with his brave sword and the other with his not less
brave pen; and both have left magnificent footprints in the religious
annals of the nineteenth century.
Another explanation of this apparent neglect, more natural and perhaps
more truthful, might be found in the character of Frederick Hurter
itself, and in that of his last writings. A long time previous to his
death he had achieved the zenith of his fame; the latter part of his
long life being devoted to learned studies of undoubted merit and
immense advantage, but which have not had the same general attraction
as his earlier productions, particularly with the French people. We
freely acknowledge that this fact does but little credit to the
Catholic mind of France, but it is nevertheless undeniable. A kind of
comparative obscurity has covered with us the latter portion of
Hurter's life, and this, in our opinion, is the principal reason that
the news of his death has not created a deeper sensation in this
country.
In order to repair, as far as it lies in our power, this injustice
which the Catholics of Germany might well consider unfair or
ungrateful, we would like to render, in these few pages, at least a
feeble homage to the illustrious dead. We desire to gather together a
few of the glorious remembrances which are associated with his name,
and, above all, to point out that insatiable love of truth and justice
which {116} was the distinguishing feature of his character and which
seems to have pervaded his whole being under all circumstances and at
all times.
Frederick Emmanuel Hurter was born of Protestant parents on the 19th
of May, 1787, in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. His father was prefect of
Lugano; his mother remarkable for her intellect as well as for her
decision of character, having sprung from the noble family of the
Zieglers. When scarcely six years old, the child was deeply moved at
hearing an account of the execution of Louis the Sixteenth, and before
he had attained the age of twelve years he had conceived such a
distaste for the excesses of the revolutionary spirit then prevailing
that it seems never to have forsaken him. At this early age he was an
eager student of the "History of the Seven Years' War," and declared
himself in favor of Maria Theresa and against the King of Prussia. Two
years afterward a discussion having arisen between himself, his
school-fellows, and his teacher, on the relative merits of Pompey and
Caesar, he promptly and energetically took the part of the former,
believing that in the character of the latter was to be seen the
personification of the revolutionary spirit. These were the first
germs of that admirable sense of right which distinguished him on all
occasions. There could even then be foreseen in that child the future
man destined at some day to be the defender of the most august power
in the world.
From his youth upward, and doubtless from the same feeling of being
right, he applied himself with marked attention to ascertain the true
history of that most misrepresented epoch, the middle ages, its
monastic institutions, and its great pontiffs. Of the latter St.
Gregory VII. seemed to have most attracted him, and his youthful mind
seems to have delighted in comparing him with the great men of ancient
Rome.
Having finished his preliminary studies in his native town, Hurter
studied in the different classes of theology at the University of
Goettingen, whence he obtained his diploma, and, having been first
appointed pastor of an obscure village, was soon removed to
Schaffhausen.
In 1824 he was appointed chancellor of the consistory; but neither his
theological studies nor the duties of his office as pastor, a calling
he had embraced through deference for his father rather than from
personal inclination, diverted him from the object of his early
predilections. Thus, while at Goettingen he found leisure to write a
"History of Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths." It was his first essay
as historian, being at the time only twenty years old.
Later he wrote a book on the following subject, proposed by the
National Institute of France: "The Civil State during the Government
of the Goths, and the Fundamental Principles of the Legislation of
Theodoric and his Successors." But this work remained among his
manuscripts unpublished. It was at Schaffhausen that he resumed his
favorite studies on the middle ages, and completed them. His great
attraction was not, as might be expected, Gregory VII., but Innocent
III., probably on account of a collection of letters written by that
great pontiff, published by Baluze, and which he had formerly bought
at public sale at Goettingen. He certainly had not then the remotest
idea that that book would at some future day form the foundation of
his fame, and the means of a radical change in his Christian and
social life. He commenced his book on Innocent III. in 1818, but it
was not until 1833 that the first volume appeared. The second was
published the year following. In 1835 he became president of the
consistory, an office which placed him at the head of the clergy of
his district, and which he resigned after fulfilling its duties for
six years. He published the third volume of his "History of Pope
Innocent" in the meantime, and in {117} 1842 the fourth and last
volume was given to the press.
This "History" was not only a great literary success, it was more. It
produced a decided revolution in historical science. The effect of it
in Switzerland, Germany, and in fact the whole of Europe, was immense.
The extraordinary part enacted by that great Pope was seen for the
first time in its proper light. By the irresistible logic of facts,
Hurler demonstrated how the august institutions of the papacy
accomplished its mission with a success which, up to his time, had
never been conjectured. Every one became convinced that it was the
papacy alone that had mastered and tempered the overwhelming forces of
the half-civilized nations of Europe, in order to more eternal and
spiritual ends. "Since then," says Hurter himself, in his preface to
the third German edition of his first volume, page 21, "a great number
of inveterate errors were corrected, many traditional prejudices
dissipated, many doubts removed; certain minds drew light therefrom,
others found a guide in it, and others attained _conviction_ from its
pages. Comparing the present with the past, people became more
circumspect in their judgments and less inconsistent in their
conclusions, and at last an answer was found to the famous question of
the Roman governor, "What is truth?" (_Quid est veritas?_) "Truth is
what is based on the indisputable proofs of history and agrees with
the nature of all things." Sebastian Brunner, a distinguished German
writer, after reading the "History of Innocent III.," gave the
following opinion of its author: "I hold Mr. Hurter to be the greatest
of historians; no one previous to him embraces a whole century in so
admirable a picture. Hurter is the apostolic historian of the
nineteenth century." This apostleship of Frederick Hurter was the more
efficient, being exercised by a Protestant, and, what was more, by the
president of a consistory. And beside, who would not yield to the
testimony of a man whose loyalty and integrity were above all
suspicion, and who had made it the rule of his life to observe the
most rigid impartiality in all his own views; to seek nothing but the
truth, and to honor virtue and merit wherever met, without excepting
those who differed from him, so as to neglect nothing in the
accomplishment of his task in the most perfect possible manner? His
indeed were admirable qualities, particularly when we consider how
history was written in those times by writers looked upon as models
and masters. But let us not enlarge on this topic; the "History of
Innocent" is found in every library; let us rather show how that book
earned for its author a reward far greater than mere worldly
reputation.
His literary success, and, what was more, the undeniable services he
had rendered to the Catholic cause, could not but excite the jealousy
and dislike of his fellow Protestants. His "Excursion to Vienna and
Presburg," which was published soon after he visited Austria, in 1839,
excited their anger to the highest degree. Blinded by their passions,
they resolved to put him on trial, so as to find him guilty and so
depose him. In his "Expose of the Motives of his Conversion" he states
that they put him the unfair question, "Are you a Protestant at
heart?" "This question," he continues, "had no relation whatever with
the alleged facts bearing on my public office, but only with my
'History of Innocent III.' and with a visit to Vienna. I refused to
answer, because they wanted rather to discover what I disbelieved than
what I believed." This refusal excited a violent storm of indignation
against him. After trying many times to avert it, and after suffering
the most unworthy attacks with patience and fortitude, he seized his
pen and fulminated his defense under the following title, "President
Hurter and his Pretended Colleagues."
More painful trials still awaited him. Two of his daughters, one
immediately after the other, became afflicted with {118} a malady
which was soon to deprive him of them, and, while prayers for their
recovery were being offered up in all the Catholic convents of
Switzerland, his puritanical opponents exhibited the most uncharitable
joy, thrusting the dagger of grief still further into a parent's
heart. A less energetic character would doubtless have succumbed to
such cruel wounds, but Hurter remained true to the maxim of the poet:
"Justum et tenacem propositi virum
Non civium ardor, prava jubentium,
Non vultus instantis _tyranni_
Mente quatit solida. . ."
"The race of those tyrants is not yet extinct," he somewhere says. "I
find still men who desire every one to bow before them, and that
everything they do against those who dare discard such a miserable
servitude should be commended." [Footnote 21] Hurter did better than
to imitate the ancient philosopher; he accepted his trials with truly
Christian resignation, perceiving in them the call of God to newer and
higher duties. "I discovered in them," he writes, "the means of my
salvation and my sanctification. I look upon the storm which has burst
over me as a signal on the road I have to follow. At the same time I
received the deep conviction that no peace was to be expected with
such people. My choice was therefore made. I threw off titles,
offices, and incomes, and went back to private life because I was
disgusted with a sect which, through rationalism, upset all Christian
dogmas, and, through pietism, tramples morals under foot." [Footnote
22] What hearty frankness, what Noble feelings, and what a true sense
of justice!
[Footnote 21: Third ed., 1st vol. (Pref. P. V.)]
[Footnote 22: "Life of Fr. Hurter," by A. de Saint Cheron, p. 120.
Some of the details of this article are extracted from this work, as
well as from an article published in "Le Catholique" of Mayence, of
September, 1865.]
Justice he demanded as well for others as for himself; therefore he
did not fear to defend the Catholic cause in his books. In his work on
the "Convents of Argovia and their Accusers" (1841), and on the
"Persecutions of the Catholic Church in Switzerland" (1843), he
denounces the tyranny of his Protestant compatriots in unmeasured
terms. For this reason, also, he went to Paris in 1843 to plead,
although in vain, the cause of the Catholics in Switzerland.
Having, as we have seen, resigned his position, he had ample leisure
to devote himself to the more profound study of the Catholic doctrine,
the dogmas of which he had already inwardly admitted. The "Symbolism"
of Moehler he found of great utility, and the "Exposition of the Holy
Mass," by Innocent III., served greatly to strengthen his religious
convictions.
Hurter, however, was not precipitate. He desired that in taking so
important a step conviction should be preceded by mature deliberation.
About this time he writes: "He would certainly be mistaken who should
think that I entered the _interior_ of the Catholic Church because I
was solely led away by its external forms. I was neither a wanderer
nor hair-brained. Undoubtedly the exterior impressed me; but I was
not, however, therefore relieved from examining its fundamental
principles with due care, or from studying the interior with proper
caution. I entered it first through curiosity, a mere visitor, as it
were, and I examined everything that I saw like one who, wanting to
purchase a house, first looks closely at every part of it before
closing the bargain. In that way I think I acquired, on many points,
truer and more complete ideas than the frequenters of the house, and
those who have spent their lives in it. I have too long postponed my
free decision not to have earned the right to be able to decide
whether the house suits me or not, or if any changes be required."
It is interesting to see, in his "Exposition of Motives," the
narration of all the doubts under which he labored previous to making
a final decision; how his mind gradually approached to a knowledge of
the truth as he progressed in his investigation; how a thousand
external circumstances, designed by Providence, powerfully {119}
contributed to shake his will, and finally how his conversion was less
his own work than the effect of that divine favor solicited by
Catholic charity, of which he speaks so feelingly in his "Geburt und
Wiedergebart."
The struggle was at last over. On the 16th of June, the feast of St.
Francis Regis, he formally made his abjuration before Cardinal Ostini,
formerly nuncio in Switzerland, at the Roman college, and five days
afterward, on the feast of St. Louis de Gonzaga, he received the
blessed sacrament in the presence of an immense congregation of the
faithful. The prophetic words of Gregory XVI. were then confirmed:
"_Spero che lei sera mio figlio_" (I hope that one day you will be my
son). The church and her head numbered one child more. God had thus
rewarded by his grace the perfect sincerity which the humble penitent
had ever made the rule of his life. We may also be allowed to believe
that the sweet protection of the Mother of God had efficaciously
operated in his favor, for even while a Protestant he had many times
pleaded her cause with his brethren.
The news of his conversion created quite different feelings. If the
great Catholic family rejoiced, and with unanimous voice thanked God
for having favorably heard their prayers, Protestantism felt wounded
to the very heart. The reason is easily understood. The edifying
example of humility exhibited by a man like Hurter was necessary to
win over a great number of souls until then irresolute and wavering,
as some planets attract their satellites in space.
As to him, full of gratitude toward God, his soul replete with light
and peace, his head high and serene, he went back to his native town
to resume his literary labors in retirement, as well as to undergo a
series of new persecutions, the last consecration of the Christian. "I
am not so narrow-minded," he wrote some time afterward, "that I did
not expect wicked judgments, base calumnies, and every kind of insult.
Facts have, however, far exceeded my anticipations, and I must confess
that I did not think those men capable of going so far in their
wickedness." Finally it became impossible for Hurter to remain longer
at Schaffhausen, and, beside, a new and better career was soon opened
for him. He received from Vienna an invitation to become the
historiographer of the empire. He accepted the appointment and entered
upon the fulfilment of its duties. Safe from the interruptions caused
by the troubles of 1848, he soon after accepted the position, of privy
councillor and the patent of nobility which were tendered him.
The last portion of his life was devoted to the practice of Christian
virtues and to the completion of his great work on Ferdinand II. To
this book he devoted twenty years' arduous labor, and was fortunate
enough to complete it one year previous to his death.
In commencing this work Hurter collected all his powerful faculties,
intending to display in its composition all that remarkable mental
energy with which he had been gifted by nature. With incredible
patience he examined one after another thousands of documents of all
kinds long buried in the archives of the empire, and most of which
were utterly unknown even to the learned. He could not understand to
be history that which was not supported by undeniable documents. _Quod
non est in actis, non est in mundo_, was his maxim--a maxim, alas!
which is too often neglected by the generality of our modern
historians. Nothing excelled his perseverance, I might almost say his
rapture, when he desired to throw light on an obscure fact, to fill a
hiatus, or to discover any historical truth. Never, perhaps, were
scruples of accuracy, and at the same time independence of thought and
courage in expression, carried to greater limits. Let us add, that
when composing the "History of Ferdinand II." he was filled with a
strong sympathy for his subject, and {120} in his admiration for that
great man he could, like Tacitus, console himself with the sight of
like grievances, and say with the Roman historian: _Ego hoc quoque
laboris praemium petam, ut me a conspectu malorum, quae nostra tot per
annos vidit aetas, tantisper, aum prisca illa tota mente repeto,
avertam, omnis expers curae quae scribentis animum, etsi non flectere
a vero, sollicitum tamen efficere possit._
This work of Hurter's consists of eleven volumes. The first seven
comprise the history of events from the reign of Archduke Charles,
father of Ferdinand II., to the coronation of the latter prince; the
remaining four being exclusively devoted to the reign of Ferdinand. In
this comprehensive review of the events of that epoch the illustrious
author has shown, by the light of true history, the great emperor and
all the principal personages by whom he was surrounded, or in any way
connected; particularly portraying the Archduke Charles, the
Archduchess Maria, that splendid model of a Christian mother, Gustavus
Adolphus of Sweden, Tilly, and Wallenstein. Hurter studied the
character of the latter with particular zeal, first in his sketch of
the "Material to be used for the History of Wallenstein" (1855), and
then in the more elaborate monography, "The last Four Years of
Wallenstein" (1862), and finally in the "History of Ferdinand" itself.
He arrives at the conclusion that the Duke of Friedland had really
been guilty of treason, and that his tragic end is in no way to be
attributed to Ferdinand. At the same time he does full justice to the
great qualities of Wallenstein, acknowledging in him great capacity
for organization, wonderful activity, and almost regal liberality; nor
does he hesitate to class him among not only the greatest men of his
age, but of all time.
But, as may be well understood, his great central figure was
Ferdinand, whom he considers a most admirable and accomplished type of
all the virtues surrounding royalty, notwithstanding his memory has
been burthened with such foul calumnies by Protestant historians and
their copyists. To relieve his name from these unjust aspersions was a
task worthy of the genius of the historian of Innocent III. Having
shown in the life of that pontiff the true embodiment of the Christian
principles of the supreme priesthood, should he not also point out a
temporal prince as the personification of genuine Catholic royalty?
We would desire to reproduce here the incomparable portrait of
Ferdinand as it has been drawn by Hurter in his last volume, but,
unfortunately, the limits of this article do not permit it. What
compensates us, in some measure, for being able to give only so feeble
an idea of that great work is, that we hope soon to see the _studies_
undertaken to speak of it more fully. We hope also that a competent
translator will be soon found to give to France that work which, with
the "History of Innocent III.," will immortalize the name of Hurter.
Yes, the great historian shall live in his writings, in which he has
shown a soul so strong, so firm, so just, so humble, and yet so proud;
so earnestly devoted to truth and so deeply adverse to falsehood,
meanness, and hypocrisy. He will live in those countless works of
charity of which he was the ever efficient author. He will live in the
remembrance of so many hearts he has edified by his pious example,
strengthened by his advice, and brought back to the true path by his
admonitions. He will live, also, in the perpetual and grateful regard
of a company, always so dear to him, to which he has given one of his
sons, and whose motto he was proud to quote on the frontispiece of his
great work. _Ad majorem Dei gloriam_.
We will end this sketch by repeating the words which an apostolic
missionary, now a cardinal, once applied to the great historian; they
cannot be {121} better or more happily chosen to sum up his whole
life. Twenty years ago, after being a witness to his conversion, the
Abbe de Bonnechose, writing from Rome, says of him: "_Justum deduxit
Dominus per vias rectas et ostendit illi regnum Dei, et dedit illi
scientiam sanctorum; honestavit illum in laboribus et complevit
labores illius_" (Sap. x.) Yes, Hurter's mind was right, and God led
him by the hand. He has shown him his kingdom on earth, the church of
Christ, and the chair of Peter, where his authority sits enthroned,
where he speaks and governs in the person of his vicar. It was he who
endowed him with a knowledge of the science and philosophy of his
doctrine and of the divine mysteries of the faith, and inspired in him
those noble ideas the end and aim of which ought always to be the
worship and exaltation of the true church, and the defence of the
pontificate when calumniated. He has blessed the labors which have
been conducted with such success, filling them with spirit and energy,
to the end that they may bear the fruits of immortality! _Honestavit
illum in laboribus et complevit labores illius._
J. MARTINOF.
------
WORDS OF WISDOM.
TRANSLATED FROM THE CHINESE BY DR. BOWRING.
To seek relief from doubt in doubt,
From woe in woe, from sin in sin--
Is but to drive a tiger out,
And let a hungry wolf come in.
Who helps a knave in knavery.
But aids an ape to climb a tree!
On an ape's head a crown you fling;
Say--Will that make the ape a king?
Know you why the lark's sweet lay
Man's divinest nature reaches?
He is up at break of day
Learning all that nature teaches.
The record of past history brings
Wisdom of sages, saints, and kings;
The more we read those reverend pages
The more we honor bygone ages!
Whate'er befit--whate'er befal.
One general law commandeth all:
There's no confusion in the springs
That move all sublunary things.
All harmony is heaven's vast plan--
All discord is the work of man!
{122}
From The Sixpenny Magazine.
IRELAND AND THE INFORMERS OF 1798.
There has lately issued from the press a work under the title which
heads our article, and which is amusing and instructive in the highest
degree. Were it not written by a man whose ability and character are
pledges for his veracity, we should rank it with Harrison Ainsworth's
efforts, and designate it as an almost impossible romance. It has, as
we think, appeared at a very opportune and timely juncture, and, in
our opinion, Mr. Fitzpatrick is entitled to great praise for the
talent, industry, and research evidenced in his volume.
Francis Higgins, the hero of Mr. Fitzpatrick's remarkable biographical
sketch, and familiarly known by the title of "The Sham Squire," was
born nobody exactly knows where, and reared nobody knows how. He
commenced his career, however, in stirring times, and when great
events were in their parturition, during which the history of Ireland
presents a series of panoramic images--a mixture of light and
shadow--instances of devoted fidelity and abounding rascality--
groupings of mistaken enthusiasm, selfish venality, and the most
abhorrent domestic treason--such as we in vain look for in the annals
of any other country or any other age. It is supposed that Higgins was
born in a Dublin cellar, and while yet of tender years became
successively "errand-boy, shoeblack, and waiter in a
public-house"--improving trades for one of so ripe a spirit, but which
he soon left, directed by a vaulting ambition, in order to become a
writing-clerk in an attorney's office. While in this position, he
commenced practice on his own account, by rejecting popery as
unfashionable and impolitic, and by forging a series of legal
documents purporting to show to all "inquiring friends" that he was a
man of property and a government official. He had an object in this,
as he was by this time to appear in a new character, as the lover of
Miss Mary Anne Archer, who possessed a tolerable fortune and a foolish
old father. Miss Archer happened to be a Roman Catholic, and was
strong in her faith; but this was only a trifle to Higgins, who again
forsook the new creed for the old, and proved thereby, like Richard,
"a thriving wooer." They were married, and the Archer _pere_ did at
last what he ought to have done at first, ferreted out the real
antecedents of his precious son-in-law, and discovered that he had a
very clever fellow to deal with; while his daughter, finding, after a
short time, that her husband was "by no means a desirable one," fled
back to her bamboozled parent, who straightway indicted the pretender.
Higgins was found guilty and imprisoned for a year, and it was during
Judge Robinson's charge to the jury that he fastened the name of the
"Sham Squire" on the prisoner, a sobriquet which stuck to him
persistently during the remainder of his life, and proved a greater
infliction to his vanity than an apparently heavier penalty would have
been. This was in 1767. "Poor Mary Anne" died of a broken heart, and
her parents survived her for only a short lime; while the widower, in
order to make his prison life endurable, paid his addresses to the
daughter of the gaoler and eventually married her, as her father was
pretty well to do in the world, the situation being a {123}
money-making one, as the order of that day was, as proved before the
Irish House of Commons, that "persons were unlawfully kept in prison
and loaded with irons, although not duly committed by a magistrate,
until they had complied with the most exorbitant demands." When the
Sham's term of a year's imprisonment ended, he had life to begin anew,
and for some years we find him exercising many vocations, such as
"setter" for excise officers, billiard-marker, hosier, etc. For an
assault as a "setter," he was again tried and again convicted; but
nothing daunted, as his old webs were broken, he proceeded in the
construction of new. In 1775, we not only find him "a hosier," but
president of the Guild of Hosiers; and in 1780 his services were
engaged by Mr. David Gibbal, conductor of the "Freeman's Journal,"
then, as now, one of the most popular and well-conducted papers in
Ireland. But from the period of the Sham Squire's connection with it,
it seems to have degenerated, as in April, 1784, the journals of the
Irish House of Commons show an "order" that "Francis Higgins, one of
the conductors of the 'Freeman's Journal,' do attend this house
to-morrow morning." He did so, and escaped with a reproof. Having
gained some knowledge of law in the solicitor's office, we now find
him anxious to become an attorney, which end he accomplished by the
aid and influence of his friend and patron John Scott, afterward
chief-justice, and elevated to the peerage as Lord Clonmel, rather for
his political talents than his professional ones. From 1784 to 1787
Higgins also acted as deputy coroner for Dublin. By a series of
manoeuvres he became the sole proprietor of the "Freeman's Journal,"
and became at once what is called in Ireland "a castle hack." Both as
attorney and editor, the Sham Squire was now a man of importance, and
many called in on him. Shrewd, sharp, and clever, with a glib tongue
and a facile pen, no business was either too difficult or too dirty
for him. He was made a justice of the peace by Lord Carhampton, who,
as Colonel Luttrell, was designated by Grattan as "a clever bravo,
ready to give an insult, and perhaps capable of bearing one;" in fact,
the last allusion was deserved, as Luttrell had been called "vile and
infamous" by Scott without resenting it. Lord Carhampton became
commander-in-chief in Ireland, and during the outbreak of '98 was a
merciless foe to the rebels who fell into his hands. Higgins, by this
time, had become a great man, and lived in St. Stephen's Green, in
magnificent style, keeping his coach and entertaining the nobility. He
was a loyalist of the rosiest hue, and thought no mission too
derogatory by which he might show his zeal. He attended divine service
regularly, and that over, proceeded to "Crane Lane," in order to count
over and receive his share of the gains in a gambling house of which
he was principal proprietor, and which his influence with the police
magistrates prevented the suppression of--then to his editorial
duties, which were to uphold the measures of government and its
officials, and to lampoon, cajole, or threaten all who dared to oppose
them.
It was in the disastrous period of '98, however, that the Sham
Squire's most sterling qualities came into active requisition, as
evidenced by the following extract of a letter written by the
Secretary Cooke to Lord Cornwallis, then lord lieutenant of Ireland.
"Francis Higgins," he writes, "proprietor of the 'Freeman's Journal,'
was the person who procured for me all the intelligence respecting
Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and got--to set him, and has given me
otherwise much information--L300;" meaning thereby that his
excellency should sanction that annual amount for "secret service,"
out of a sum of L15,000, specially laid aside for that purpose. Beside
this, however, a lump sum of L1000 was given to Higgins on the 20th of
June, 1798, for the betrayal of his friend; and, independent of this,
a confederate of his named Francis Magan, a barrister, {124} and a
close ally of Lord Edward, and who positively "set" the unfortunate
nobleman at Higgins's instigation, received L600 and a pension of L200
per annum for the worthy deed. Probably the most startling of all
these revelations of domestic treachery was the conduct of Leonard
McNally, barrister at law, and selected "for his ability, truth, zeal,
and sterling honesty," as Curran's assistant in defending the
prisoners implicated in the rebellion. This fellow seems to have
outsoared even Higgins and Magan in his duplicity, since not alone did
he keep government duly informed of the movements of the suspected,
but when on their trial he exhibited the greatest activity in
suggesting points for their defence, seconding his celebrated leader
in his unwearied endeavors to save them, although he had previously
made known to the law officers what course the accused men's counsel
meant to take for the day, so that Curran and his legal friends were
puzzled and surprised at having their best-concocted measures
anticipated and baffled, although not a man of them ever thought of
looking to "honest Mac" as the cause. For this and other services
McNally received some thousands, and was gratified, in addition, with
a pension of L300 per annum. Singularly enough, the terrible secrets
of Magan and McNally were well kept until long after their deaths, and
until the publication of the "Cornwallis Papers" enabled inquirers to
strike on the true vein. Both these men are said to have been
corrupted by the Sham Squire, who seems to have been the
Mephistopheles of his time; but a still more notorious "informer,"
because an open one, was Reynolds--Tom Reynolds--who was promised a
pension of L2000 a year and a seat in parliament for his services, but
did not receive quite so much. In 1798, however, he received L5000 and
a pension of L1000 a year; and as his demands were always importunate,
it is known that during the remainder of his life he extracted L45,740
from his employers. Reynolds went abroad and died there, as Ireland
would hardly have been for him either a safe or a pleasant residence;
but Magan and McNally lived at home for many a goodly year, and were
looked upon as honest men and sterling patriots to the last. Higgins
did not long survive his victims; he died suddenly, in 1802, worth
L20,000, a greater part of which, strange to say, he left for
charitable purposes!
In reviewing thus the history of this Irish Jonathan Wild and his
detestable comrogues, our object must, we hope, be evident. Their
lives and actions are instructive in many ways, and never promised to
be more so than now. What happened then may happen again; treason will
be dogged by traitors to the end. Fear and avarice are omnipotent
counsellors, and, when coupled with talent and ingenuity, marvellous
indeed are the misery they can cause and the wide-spread devastation
that travels in their track. That a needy and unscrupulous vagabond
like Higgins should hunt his dearest friends to the scaffold is not to
be wondered at; but that men of position and education like Reynolds,
McNally, and Magan should join in the chase, and for years after look
honest men in the face, evinces a hardihood of disposition and a
callosity of conscience which, as a lesson, is instructive, and, as an
utter disregard of remorseful feeling, appears all but impossible. No
doubt such miscreants excuse their crimes on a plea of loyalty, and
the plea would be all-sufficient had they not stipulated for the
price, and had they not exulted in receiving it. There is something
especially abhorrent to our natures in those wretches who voluntarily
plunge into the ranks of anarchy and disaffection at one time, and
then, when cowardice or cupidity overcomes them, overleap all the
boundaries of honor and faith, and trade on the blood or suffering of
the unfortunate men who placed their liberties or lives in their
safe-keeping.
{125}
In the notes which Mr. Fitzpatrick has appended to his biography of
the "Sham Squire" as "addenda" we have some well-authenticated and
racy revelations of many of the singular Irish characters who
flourished during the last thirty or forty years of the last century,
and in the first few years of the beginning of this. Ireland appears
to have been the "paradise of adventurers" in that day, as the times
appear to have been out of joint, and the habits and general _morale_
of the upper and middle ranks were to the last degree loose and
irregular. As the manners and modes of action of a people are in a
considerable degree fashioned and influenced by the example set them
by those who are placed in authority over them, it is not too much to
assert that a great deal of the lax morality, unscrupulous spirit, and
general demoralization were produced by some of the occupants of the
vice-regal throne, and their "courts," the character and course of
life of whom are painted by our author in anything but a seductive
way. Brilliancy, show, pleasure, wit, and extravagance were the order
of the day; lords-lieutenant were either dissipated _roues_, or
incompetent imbeciles, and in either case they were sure to be coerced
or cajoled by a mercenary tribe of political adventurers, who directed
their actions and influenced their minds. We at once see by the
wholesale corruption practised to bring about the Union, how utterly
depraved must have been the men who openly or covertly prostituted
themselves, when it was in contemplation; and never was political
profligacy more open and more daring in its violation of honor,
probity, and principle than in the abject submission of the Irish
parliament, and its unhesitating anxiety to sell themselves, souls and
bodies, to those who tempted them, and who had studied them far too
accurately not to be sure of their prey. Amongst those who consented
to accept the remuneration thus profusely offered them the lawyers
bore a very prominent part; in fact, government could hardly have
succeeded without their aid; of these, Fitzgibbon, afterward Lord
Clare and chancellor, was the most forward and efficient. There was
never a man better adapted for the work he had to do. Bold, active,
astute, and unscrupulous, he could be all things to all men; those
whom he could not cajole, he frightened; equally ready with the pen,
the pistol, and the tongue, he was neither to be daunted nor silenced;
terrible in his vengeance, no windings of his victims could escape
him; and extravagant in his generosity (when the public purse had to
bear the blunt), his jackals and partisans felt that their reward was
sure, and therefore never hesitated to comply with his most exact
demands. Few men had a larger number of followers, therefore, and no
man ever made a more unscrupulous use of them. He had nothing of the
recusant about him, however, and first and last he was consistent to
his party and to the Protestant creed which he had adopted in early
life, for he had been born and partly reared in the Roman Catholic
faith. In his personal demeanor he was a lion-hearted man; when hissed
in the streets by the populace he calmly produced his pistols; and
once, on hearing that a political meeting against the Union was being
held, he rushed into the middle of the assembled mass, commanded the
high-sheriff to quit the chair, and so closed the meeting. On the
bench he was equally fearless, and when recommended to beware of
treachery, his answer was, "They dare not; I have made them as tame as
cats." "If I live," he said, "to see the Union completed, to my latest
hour I shall feel an honorable pride in reflecting on the share I had
in contributing to effect it." He did live to see it, and to take his
seat in the British parliament; but matters were altogether altered
there. In his maiden effort he was rebuked by Lord Suffolk, called to
order by the lord chancellor, while the Duke of Bedford indignantly
snubbed him by {126} exclaiming, "We would not bear such insults from
our _equals_, and shall we, my lords, tolerate them at the hands of
mushroom nobility?" while, to cap the climax, Pitt, after hearing him,
turned to Wilberforce, and said loud enough to be heard by Lord Clare,
"Good G--d! did you ever, in all your life, listen to so
thorough-paced a scoundrel as that!" Disappointed and despairing, he
returned to Ireland, and died of a broken heart, while almost the last
words he uttered to a friend were, "Only to think of it! I that had
all Ireland at my disposal cannot now procure the nomination of a
single gauger!"
John Scott, afterward Lord Chief-Justice Clonmel, was another
prominent actor in those busy times. His birth was lowly, but his
talents were considerable; he was light and flippant rather than
profound, and he felt to the last a terrible mortification that his
claims had been postponed to those of Lord Clare. He had neither the
grasp of mind, nor the unhesitating manner of the chancellor, however;
he was apt to surround himself with companions, like the "Sham
Squire," for instance, who might be pleasant but were by no means
reputable. Beside, his character for probity was distrusted; his first
uprise in life was his wholesale appropriation of the property of a
Catholic friend which he held in trust, as Catholics, at that time,
could not retain property in their hands, and which he refused to
disgorge. He was both venal and vindictive, and but too often
prostituted his authority in pursuit of his passions. On one occasion,
however, he was signally discomfited. A man of the name of Magee, who
owned and edited the "Evening Post," had frequently come under the
lash, and was treated with no mercy. Magee's vengeance took a curious
form. Lord Clonmel was an ardent lover of horticulture, and had spent
many thousand pounds in making his suburban villa a "model." Magee
knew this, and as the chief demesne was skirted by an open common from
which a thick hedge alone separated it, the journalist proclaimed a
rural _fete_, on an enormous scale, to be held on the vacant ground,
and to which the whole Dublin population, gentle and simple, were
invited. Meats and liquors were given to an unlimited extent, and, in
the evening, when the "roughs" were primed with whiskey, several pigs
(shaved and with their tails well soaped) were let out as part of the
amusement of the day. By preconcert, the affrighted animals were
driven against Lord Clonmel's inclosure, which they speedily
over-leaped, followed by the mob. Trees, shrubs, flowers, vases, and
statues were in a wonderfully short time demolished in the "fun,"
while, to make the matter still more deplorable, the owner of the
property thus wantonly devoted to revenge stood on the steps of his
own hall-door, and with alternate fits of imprecation and entreaty
besought the spoilers to desist, but in vain. Toward the close of his
life, Lord Clonmel became a hypochondriac, and, supposing himself to
be a tea-pot, hardly ventured to stir abroad lest he should be broken.
On one occasion, his great forensic antagonist, Curran, was told that
Clonmel was going to die at last, and was asked if he believed it. "I
believe," was the reply, "that he is scoundrel enough to live or die
_just as it meets his convenience_." Shortly before his death he said
to Lord Cloncurry, "My dear Val, I have been a fortunate man, or what
the world calls so; I am chief-justice and an earl; but were I to
begin life again, I would rather be a chimney-sweeper, than consent to
be connected with the Irish government."
Another "celebrity" was John Taler, "bully, butcher, and buffoon," who
was afterward a peer and a judge. He was a bravo in the house and a
despot on the bench. He jested with the wretched he condemned, and
seemed never so happy as when {127} the scaffold was before his eyes.
He was ignorant but ferocious, and when he could not conquer an
opponent he would browbeat him.
"Give me a long day, my lord," said a culprit, whom he had just
doomed.
"I am sorry to say I can't oblige you, my friend," replied Lord
Norbury, smiling; "but I promise you a strong rope, which I suppose
will answer your purpose as well."
When he died, and was about to be lowered into the grave himself, the
tackle was rather short.
"Tare-an-agers, boys, don't spare the _rope_ on his lordship; don't
you know he was always fond of it?" said one of the standers-by.
"I never saw a human face that so closely resembles that of a
bull-dog!" remarked one barrister to another in court.
"Let him get a grip of your throat, and you will find the resemblance
still closer," was the reply.
These and a hundred others, their equals, instruments, and
subordinates, may be supposed to represent the Irish "turnspit"
element; it must be acknowledged, however, that in contradistinction
to them, there were sounding examples of men of a different and far
superior class, such as the Leinsters, Charlemonts, Plunketts,
Currans, Ponsonbys, and so forth, who would have adorned any country,
and who certainly contributed to relieve their own from the almost
intolerable odium which the wholesale venal profligacy of a large
number had brought upon it.
------
From Once a Week.
THE LEGEND OF THE LOCKHARTS.
I.
King Robert on his death-bed lay, wasted in every limb,
The priests had left, Black Douglas now alone was watching him;
The earl had wept to hear those words, "When I am gone to doom,
Take thou my heart and bear it straight unto the Holy Tomb."
II.
Douglas shed bitter tears of grief--he loved the buried man.
He bade farewell to home and wife, to brother and to clan;
And soon the Bruce's heart embalm'd, in silver casket lock'd,
Within a galley, white with sails, upon the blue waves rock'd.
III.
In Spain they rested, there the king besought the Scottish earl
To drive the Saracens from Spain, his galley sails to furl;
It was the brave knight's eagerness to quell the Paynim brood.
That made him then forget the oath he'd sworn upon the rood.
IV.
That was his sin; good angels frown'd upon him as he went
With vizor down and spear in rest, lips closed, and black brow bent:
Upon the turbans, fierce he spurr'd, the charger he bestrode
Was splash'd with blood, the robes and flags he trampled on the road.
{128}
V.
The Moors came fast with cymbal clash and tossing javelin,
Ten thousand horsemen, at the least, on Castille closing in;
Quick as the deer's foot snaps the ice, the Douglas thundered through,
And struck with sword and smote with axe among the heathen crew.
VI.
The horse-tail banners beaten down, the mounted archers fled--
There came full many an Arab curse from faces smear'd with red,
The vizor fell, a Scottish spear had struck him on the breast;
Many a Moslem's frighten'd horse was bleeding head and chest.
VII.
But suddenly the caitiffs turn'd and gathered like a net,
In closed the tossing sabres fast, and they were crimson wet,
Steel jarr'd on steel--the hammers smote on helmet and on sword,
But Douglas never ceased to charge upon that heathen horde.
VIII.
Till all at once his eager eye discerned amid the fight
St. Clair of Roslyn, Bruce's friend, a brave and trusty knight.
Beset with Moors who hew'd at him with sabres dripping blood--
Twas in a rice-field where he stood close to an orange wood.
IX.
Then to the rescue of St. Clair Black Douglas spurred amain,
The Moslems circled him around, and shouting charged again;
Then took he from his neck the heart, and as the case he threw,
"Pass first in fight," he cried aloud, "as thou wert wont to do."
X.
They found him ere the sun had set upon that fatal day,
His body was above the case, that closely guarded lay.
His swarthy face was grim in death, his sable hair was stain'd
With the life-blood of a felon Moor, whom he had struck and brain*d.
XI.
Sir Simon Lockhart, knight of Lee, bore home the silver case.
To shrine it in a stately grave and in a holy place,
The Douglas deep in Spanish ground they left in royal tomb.
To wait in hope and patient trust the trumpet of the doom.
{129}
[ORIGINAL.]
REMINISCENCES OF DR. SPRING. [Footnote 23]
[Footnote 23: "Personal Reminiscences of the Life and Times of
Gardiner Spring, Pastor of the Brick Presbyterian Church in the City
of New York." 2 vols. 12mo. New York: Charles Scribner & Company.]
Few persons who have lived much in New York during the last quarter of
a century are not familiar with the dignified, resolute, yet kindly
countenance of the pastor of the Brick Presbyterian church. Fewer
still are ignorant of his reputation as a leading and representative
man in his denomination; a keen polemic; a great promoter of
missionary, tract, and Bible societies; and, we may add, a very
determined enemy of the Pope of Rome and all his aiders and abettors.
For more than fifty-five years he has preached to the same
congregation which gave him a call when he was first licensed as a
minister. During his career thirteen Presidents of the United States,
from Washington to Lincoln, have died; three Kings of England have
been laid in their graves; the horrors of the Reign of Terror, the
execution of Louis XVI., the rise and fall of the first Napoleon, the
shifting scenes of the Restoration, the Orleans rule, the second
Republic and the second Empire, have hurried each other across the
stage of French history. He has long passed the scriptural term of the
life of man; and now, at the almost patriarchal age of eighty-one, he
gives us a collection of reminiscences of what he has seen and done
during this protracted and eventful career.
It would be natural to suppose that such a book by such a man must be
full of interest. As one of the recognized leaders of a rich and
influential religious denomination, and one of the oldest and most
respectable citizens of the first city of America, how many historical
characters must he have met! to how many important events must he have
been a witness! But any one who takes up these volumes in the hope of
obtaining through them a clearer view of persons and times gone by,
will be disappointed. They are interesting, it is true, but not, we
will venture to say, in the way their author meant them to be. They
cause us to wonder that the doctor should have seen so much and
remembered so little. Yet as a picture of the life of a representative
Presbyterian preacher and a complete exposure of the utter emptiness
of the Presbyterian religion, these garrulous and random
"Reminiscences" are the most entertaining pages we have read for many
a month. We propose to cull for our readers a few of the most
interesting passages.
Dr. Spring was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Feb. 24, 1785. His
father was a minister, of whom the son says that "he would not shave
his face on the Lord's day, nor allow his wife to sew a button on her
son's vest; and on one occasion, when his nephew, the late Adolphus
Spring, Esq., arrived in haste on a Saturday evening with the message
that his father was on his bed of death, he would not mount his horse
for the journey of seventy miles until the Sabbath sun had gone down."
Though young Gardiner used to wonder, when a boy, why he was not
allowed to participate in the customary sports of children, he seems
to have preserved a warm affection for both his parents, of whom he
speaks in a loving and reverential tone which we cannot too carefully
respect. The thought that most affected him on their death was {130}
"_that he had lost their prayers._" Gardiner was sent to Yale College
at the age of fifteen, and during "a remarkable outpouring of the
Spirit" upon that rather unregenerate institution, in the year 1803,
he became, for a season, "hopefully pious." He had been uneasy for
some time about the state of his soul, and one afternoon he resolved
to pray, several hours, if necessary, until his sins were forgiven.
"There," he says, "in the south entry of the old college, back side,
middle room, third story, I wrestled with God as I had never wrestled
before." The result of this spiritual struggle we do not profess to
understand. He says that he rose from his knees without any hope that
he had found mercy, yet feeling considerably relieved. For several
weeks he went about, peaceful and happy, when, unluckily, the Fourth
of July came, with its speeches and fireworks, and his "religious
hopes and impressions all vanished as a morning cloud, and as the
early dew." It was five or six years before they came back again.
When he graduated his father came to hear him speak, and at the close
of the exercises gave him his blessing and told him to shift for
himself. So, there he was, twenty years old, with four dollars in his
pocket and a profession yet to be acquired. He borrowed two hundred
and fifty dollars from a generous friend, obtained a situation as
precentor in a church, opened a singing school, and applied himself
zealously to the study of law. Before long he married a young lady as
poor as himself, and went with her in 1806 to Bermuda, where he taught
school for some time very successfully; but rumors of war between this
country and Great Britain drove him back to the United States, and in
his twenty-fourth year he entered upon the practice of the law at New
Haven.
In the meanwhile those uneasy feelings of the soul, which he seems
unable to analyze (though we warrant a good confessor would quickly
have solved his perplexities) had not left him at peace. He writes to
his father from Bermuda upon the state of his interior man:
"I should wish to go to heaven, because I should be pleased, with
its employment. Were all my sins mortified and I rendered perfectly
holy, I think I should the happy. . . . . Sometimes I can say, Lord,
I believe; help thou mine unbelief. .... I am avaricious; and in the
present state of my family, make money my god. I strain honesty _as
far as I can_ to gain a little."
This was certainly not a satisfactory condition of things. The lust
for mammon seems strong enough, but the aspirations for heaven might
well have been rather more ardent. He goes to church and sings and
weeps, and the minister and elders crowd around him to see what is the
matter. He goes to prayer-meeting at last in New Haven, and there the
conversion--such as it is--is effected: "As the exercises closed and
the crowded worshippers rose to sing the doxology, I felt that I could
'praise God from whom all blessings flow.' Praise! praise! It was
delightful to praise him! On the 24th of April following, I united
with the visible church under Mr. Stuart's pastorate, and began to be
an active Christian."
We must say that this seems to be a very simple and easy process of
getting out of the power of the devil. Conversion, according to Dr.
Spring's idea, is simply an emotion of the mind, a spasm of sentiment.
It includes neither satisfaction for the past, nor the performance of
any definite religious duty in the present or the future. Any one who
can excite himself into the belief that he is regenerate, or tickle
his mind into the pleasant state indicated by the man who, when asked,
"How it felt to get religion?" replied that "it was just like having
warm water poured down your back"--any such one, we say, may rest
assured of his eternal safety. Dr. Spring is no more exacting with
other candidates for conversion than he was with himself. To a sick
man who inquires "what he shall do?" he answers: "Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
{131}
"But will you not tell me _how_ I shall go to him?"
"Yes, I can tell you; you must not go in your own strength; for your
strength is weakness. You must not go in your own righteousness, for
you have none. You must feel your need of Christ, and see that he is
just the Saviour adapted to your wants. You must adore, and love, and
trust him. . . . . Commit to him your entire salvation, and in all
holy 'obedience live devoted to his service.'" Now in all this there
is just one practical suggestion, namely, to "live devoted to God's
service"--and that the man could not follow because he was dying. Let
our readers contrast Dr. Spring's death-bed ministrations with what a
Catholic priest would have said and done in similar circumstances. The
priest would have given definite instruction and divine sacraments;
the preacher has nothing better to offer than a few commonplace
generalities from his last Sunday's sermon.
But we must return to the reverend doctor's biography. Close upon the
heels of his conversion came the resolution to be a minister. The
pecuniary difficulties in the way of this change of profession were
soon obviated by the generosity of a rich widow of Salem. There was
another obstacle, however, of a more serious nature. This was Mrs.
Spring. She was "not a professed Christian." She was "a worldly
woman." She sought the honors of the world. She did not want to be a
minister's wife. The doctor had a great respect for her. He was afraid
to tell her of his resolution. We must let him describe in his own
words how he got out of the difficulty:
"I then began a course of conduct which I have ever since pursued,
and that was, in all cases where my own duty was plain, and my
resolution formed, quietly to carry my resolution into effect, and
meet the storm afterward. I did so in the present instance, though
there was no other storm than a plentiful shower of tears. I said
nothing to my wife; nothing to any one except Mr. Evarts. I sent my
wife on a visit to my only sister, the wife of the Hon. Bezaleel
Taft, at Uxbridge, the native place of my father, where I engaged in
a few weeks to meet her, and make a further visit to Newburyport.
She had no suspicion of my views, and left me with the confident
expectation that she would return to New Haven.
"In the meantime, after she left me, I was busily employed in
arranging my affairs for my removal to Andover. I announced my
purpose to the church at the next prayer-meeting, and received a
fresh impulse from their prayers and benedictions. Mr. Evarts took
my office and my business, and closed up my unsettled accounts with
his accustomed accuracy, and my ledger now records them. Mr. Smith,
my old teacher, laughed at me; Judge Daggett was silent. Judge
Rossiter said to me, 'Mr. Spring, the pulpit is your place; you were
formed for the pulpit rather than the bar.' My business in New Haven
was closed; my debts paid; my household furniture, small as it was,
was carefully stowed away; my law library, worth about four hundred
dollars, was disposed of, and I was on my way to Uxbridge,
Newburyport, Salem, and Andover.
"When I reached Uxbridge, and was once more in the bosom of my
little family, I felt that the trial had come. I could not at once
disclose my plans to my wife, and was saved that painful interview
by the suspicions of Mr. Taft, who told her that he believed I was
going to be a clergyman! She laughed at him; but she saw a change in
my deportment, and began to suspect it herself. I told her all. She
went to her chamber and wept for a long time. But she came down,
subdued indeed, but placid as a lamb, and simply said, 'It is all
over now; I am ready.' Oh, how kindly has God watched over me! It
seems as though the promise was fulfilled, 'Return unto thy country
and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee.' Some day or two
before we left Uxbridge, Mr. Taft said to me, 'Brother Spring, I
have a case before Justice Adams this morning; you are still a
lawyer, and I want you to go and argue it with me.' The thought
struck me pleasantly, and I resolved to go; but instead of assisting
him, without his knowledge I engaged myself to what I thought the
weaker party; and my last effort at the bar was in battling with my
sister's husband, and in the place of my father's nativity."
{132}
After eight months devoted to the study of theology at the Andover
seminary, Mr. Spring was licensed to preach and received a call from
the Brick church in New York. As a preliminary to his ordination, it
was necessary for him to preach a trial sermon before the presbytery,
and to submit to an examination as to his orthodoxy. In this latter
test he did not give unqualified satisfaction, nevertheless they
passed him, and he was duly ordained to the pastorship. As a salve, we
suppose, for their consciences, the presbytery deputed the Rev. Dr.
Milledollar, one of their number, to talk with the young minister, and
try to reason him out of certain heterodox opinions which he
entertained upon the subject of human ability. The result of the
interview was that, in Dr. Milledollar's judgment, "the best way of
curing a man of such views was to dip his head in cold water."
It was but a dismal religion of which he now became the minister.
Tears, gloom, discomfort, and brokenness of heart were the
characteristics of the spiritual life, and peace of mind was an
alarming symptom of the dominion of the devil. "Newark is again highly
favored," writes the minister to his parents: "there are not less than
five hundred persons _very solemn_." "My people appear solemn; they
were so at the lecture on Thursday evening." "I preached on Monday to
a very solemn audience at my own house." "The state of things in the
congregation, notwithstanding the war, is looking up. Our public
meetings and our social gatherings are more full and more solemn." He
visits Paris, and there passes an evening with a small party of his
countrymen: "We could not refrain from weeping during the whole time
we were together." The quantity of tears shed in the course of the
book is positively appalling. Of course there is nothing that remotely
resembles the gift of tears with which Almighty God sometimes rewards
and consoles his saints. It is merely a perpetual gush of mawkish
sentimentality, and we defy anybody to read these "Reminiscences"
without having before him an image of the whole Brick church with
chronic redness of the eyes. A member of the congregation went to the
doctor once with a request that he would baptize a child. He was not
one of the weepers, or, as Dr. Spring expresses it, "not a religious
man." The opportunity was too good to be lost. The doctor labored with
him, preached at him, probably wept at him, tried to impress him with
the solemnity and privilege of the transaction, did not baptize his
child, but finally prayed with him and urged him to come again. The
result of the exhortation is a good commentary upon the whole system
of sentimental spasmodic religion: "He went away," says Dr. Spring,
"and being requested by his wife to have another interview with me,
replied, 'No; _you will not catch me there again_.'" We suppose that
the child was not baptized; but that, according to Dr. Spring, and in
spite of the Bible, makes very little difference. It was his rule "to
baptize only those children, one of whose parents was a professed
Christian"--that is to say, a member of the church; and except in one
instance he has never varied from this strict practice. "That," he
says, "was in the case of a sick and dying grandchild, whose father
was a man of prayer, but not a communicant, and I myself professed to
stand _in loco parentis_, I now look upon the whole transaction as
wrong."
Dr. Spring has done a great deal of theological fighting in his day;
but his foes have been chiefly those of his own household. Now and
then he has carried the war into foreign countries, as at the time of
the famous School Question in New York, when he had a tilt with Bishop
Hughes before the Common Council, and got decidedly the worst of it;
but for the most part he has devoted himself to intestine feuds. The
controversy between Hopkinsians {133} and Calvinists in the
Presbyterian denomination; the disputes in the American Bible Society;
the schism in the Young Men's Missionary Society of New York; the
effort to create a division in the American Home Missionary Society;
the controversies about the New Haven school of theology and the
exscinding acts of the General Assembly;--these and many other
religious quarrels took up a great deal of the doctor's time, and he
still writes about them with no little acrimony and personal feeling.
We subjoin a few extracts:
"The wrath of the Philadelphia Synod is praising the Lord. We shall
have a battle in the spring, and lay a heavy hand upon that report.
I shall not hesitate to take my life in my hand if Providence allows
me to go to the Assembly."--_vol. i., p._70.
"The Rev. Ezra Stiles Ely had published his celebrated work,
entitled 'The Contrast,' the object of which is to show the points
of difference between the views of Hopkinsian and Calvinistic
theology. It was addressed to prejudice and ignorance, and was aimed
at the youthful pastor of the Brick church."--_Vol. i., p._ 129.
"I find my heart strangely _suspicious_. Sometimes I am resolved to
withdraw from the Missionary and Education cause, because I foresee
they will be scenes of contention. But then, again, I know they are
exposed to evils, and the church is exposed to evils, through the
mismanagement of these excellent institutions, which perhaps I may
prevent."--_Vol ii., p_. 78.
We doubt whether Dr. Spring's clerical brethren like the following
passage; but anyhow, there is a great deal of truth in it:
"There have been spurious revivals in my day, and the means of
promoting them are the index of their character. In such seasons of
excitement, great dependence is placed on the way and means of
_getting them up_, and little of the impression [sic] that not a
soul will be converted unless it be accomplished by the power of
God. Whatever the words of the leaders may profess, their conduct
proclaims, 'Mine own arm hath done this!' There is a familiarity, a
boldness, an irreverence in their prayers, which ill becomes worms
of the dust in approaching him before whom angels veil their faces.
A pious and poor woman, in coming out from a religious service thus
conducted, once said, 'I cannot think what it is that makes our
ministers _swear_ so in their prayers.' They count their converts,
and when they survey their work, there is a triumph, a self-reliant
exultation over it, which looks like the triumph of the pagan
monarch, when he exclaimed, 'Is not this great Babylon which I have
built!' And hence it is that so many of the subjects of such a work,
after the excitement is over, find that their own hearts have
deceived them, that they are no longer affected by solemn preaching
and solemn prayers, that _their past emotions were nothing more than
the operations of nature, and that when these natural causes have
exhausted their power there is no religion left."--Vol. i., p_. 219.
Dr. Spring gives a curious illustration of the length to which
excitement sometimes carries the poor victims of the revivalists, in
the case of a Mrs. Pierson, "around whose lifeless body her husband
assembled a company of _believers_, with the assurance that if they
prayed in faith, she would be restored to life. Their feelings were
greatly excited, their impressions of their success peculiar and
strong. They prayed and prayed again, and prayed _in faith_, but they
were disappointed," vol. i., p. 229.
He is rather free sometimes in his criticisms upon his brother
ministers. He listens to a sermon from the Rev. Mr. Finney, a noted
revivalist, and says that there was nothing exceptionable in it
"except a vulgarity that indicated a want of culture, and a coarseness
unbecoming the Christian pulpit." He hears a Mr. Broadway preach at
sea, and thus records his impressions: "I must say he is a _John Bull_
of a preacher. What a pity that men who need to be taught what are the
first principles of the oracles of God, should undertake to teach
others!" We dare say Dr. Spring's judgment of both these gentlemen was
sound; but we see no propriety in printing it.
He made several voyages to Europe, and travelled through France,
Germany, and Great Britain. Respecting the state of Protestantism in
France, he makes some significant admissions:
"Protestantism in France is not what I have been in the habit of
considering it. {134} I knew it was in a measure corrupt, but not to
the extent in which I actually find it. I do not think that the
Romanists, as a body, have much confidence in the Roman religion.
But the mischief is that when thinking men throw off the bonds of
Romanism, _they relapse into infidelity_. . . . .
True religion in France _finds its most bitter and unwearied enemies
in Protestants themselves_. The Protestants of this country are high
Arians, if not absolute Socinians. There are now [1835] three
hundred and fifty-eight Protestant pastors in France, beside their
few vacant churches. _But there are comparatively few among them all
who love and obey the truth."--Vol, ii., pp._ 260, 361.
The pages devoted to his European tours are remarkable
exemplifications of the truth of the old adage, that _coelum, non
animum, mutant qui trans mare currunt_. Wherever he goes, his breadth
of vision seems bounded by his own pulpit. The venerable cathedrals of
Europe, rich with the noblest memories, and the great historic places
haunted by the grandest associations of the past, fill him with no
thoughts more elevated than those awakened by the Brick church. He
sees everything distorted through the medium of his own inveterate
prejudices. If he visits a religious shrine, he can think of nothing
but the abominations of the scarlet woman of Babylon. If he sees a
convent, he tells us a cock-and-bull story about subterranean passages
paved with the bones of infants. If he witnesses some grand and
imposing ceremonial, he throws up his eyes, rushes out of the church,
and, while he shakes the dust off his feet, groans over the wickedness
of the Romish priests and their blasphemous mummeries, farcical shows,
and hypocritical disguises. One Sunday, while at Paris, he went with
the well-known missionary. Dr. Jonas King, and some other American
friends, to visit a hill called Mont Calvaire, near the city, to which
numbers of pilgrims were then resorting. They filled their pockets
with tracts, which they distributed, right and left, among the
thousands that were going up and down the mountain. They even
interrupted kneeling worshippers at their prayers to give them tracts.
These valuable gifts were received with avidity, for, as the narrator
elsewhere explains, our respectable parsons were mistaken for Catholic
missionaries. A few days afterward they made another excursion of the
same sort to Mont Calvaire. We give the conclusion of the adventure in
the words of Dr. King, from whose journal Dr. Spring copies it:
"Mr. and Mrs. Wilder, and Miss Bertau, and Mr. Storrow's children,
had gone to Mount Calvary to distribute tracts and Testaments. Dr.
Spring and myself, having filled our pockets, and hats, and hands,
with tracts and Testaments, set off with the hope to find them. Just
as we began to ascend the mountain, we met them coming at a
distance. On meeting them, they informed us that they had been
stopped by the Commissary of the Police, and that a gendarme, by
order of the missionaries (Rom. C. M.), had taken away their tracts
and Testaments, and prohibited them in the name of the law to
distribute any more on Mount Calvary. Mr. W. advised us not to
proceed with the intention of distributing those which we had. We
however, went, giving to every one we met, till we came in sight of
the _gendarmes_, when we ceased giving, but occasionally let some
fall from our pockets, which the wind, which was very high,
scattered in all directions, and were gathered up by the crowd. At
length we arrived at the top of the mountain, took our stand on the
highest elevation near the cross, and there, in our own language,
offered up, each of us, a prayer to the God of heaven for direction,
and to have mercy on those tens of thousands that we saw around us,
bowing before graven images. _I then felt in some degree
strengthened to go on, and, taking a tract from my pocket, presented
it to a lady who stood near me, and who appeared to be a lady of
some distinction._ She received it with thanks, and I was not
noticed by the _gendarmes_. Dr. S. let some fall from his pocket,
and we made our way down to one of the stations. There he laid some
on the charity-box, while I stood before him, to hide what he did.
We then went to another station, and I gave ten or twelve to a lady,
whom I charged to distribute them."
The heroism of these Presbyterian missionaries, who go up and down
hill, dropping divine truth from their coat-tails, reminds us of a
crazy old lady {135}so in New York, whose will was lately contested
before our courts. She had peculiar ideas of her own on the subject of
politics and the war, and used to inscribe her thoughts on great paper
kites, and give them to little boys to fly in the Central Park, in the
belief that the words would somehow or another be disseminated through
the city. Imagine St. Francis Xavier setting sail for the Indies with
his hat, and pockets, and hands full of tracts, scattering them
broad-cast along the inhospitable shores, or trusting them to the
breezes, like those charitable Buddhists Father Huc tells of, who go
up a high mountain on windy days, and throw into the air little paper
horses, which being blown away are, as they believe, miraculously
changed into real horses for the benefit of belated travellers.
Suppose Father Matthew, instead of preaching a crusade against
drunkenness, had contented himself with sneaking into shibeens and
taverns, and, behind the friendly shelter of a companion's back, had
deposited little bundles of temperance tracts on the top of every
barrel of whiskey, as if he expected them to explode like a torpedo,
and fill the air with virtue. Or what would Dr. Spring think if some
Sunday, in the midst of his prayer, two or three Catholic priests
should march into the Brick church and distribute Challoner's
Catechisms up and down the aisles, making the "solemn" Presbyterians
get up from their knees to receive them? It would not be a bit more
outrageous than the doctor's behavior during the mission on Mont
Calvaire.
American travellers in Europe, especially of the fanatical sort, are
but too apt to disgrace themselves and their country by their conduct
in sacred places. Here is another extract from Dr. Spring's book which
no respectable American can read without blushing. The incident
occurred in the famous cathedral of Rouen, built by William the
Conqueror, and reckoned the finest specimen of Gothic architecture in
France:
"A little circumstance occurred here that was somewhat amusing. [!]
Mr. Van Rensallear, in order to procure some little relic of the
place, instead of gathering some flowers, broke off the _nose_ of
one of the marble saints! He hoped to escape the detection of the
guide, but unfortunately, on leaving the cathedral, we had to pass
the mutilated statue, and were charged with the sacrilege. It was a
lady saint whose sanctity our gallantry had thus violated, and we
had to meet the most terrific volleys of abuse. A few glittering
coins, however, obtained absolution for us, but neither entreaty nor
cash could obtain the _nose_."
That must have been a funny scene one Sunday in crossing the ocean,
when the doctor and his wife, and the rest of the passengers, held
service under difficulties:
"We assembled for praise and prayer. Susan was quite sea-sick, yet
she came on deck. The day was cold, and she sat with _a hot potato
in each hand to keep her warm_."
This is certainly the oddest preparation for approaching the throne of
grace that we ever heard of.
Mrs. Spring is a prominent figure all through the book, giving her
reverend husband advice and comfort, and helping him in the work of
the ministry, especially with regard to the women of the flock. He
laments in his introductory chapter that the death of his "beloved
Mrs. Spring must leave a vacuum in these pages which nothing can
fill." In the second volume he gives a long and detailed account of
her sufferings in child-bed when she "became the mother of a lovely
daughter." When she died in 1860, he wrote in his diary as follows:
"I have been her husband and she my wife for four-and-fifty years;
our attachment has been mutual, and strong and sweet to the end. I
had no friend on earth in whom I had such reliance; no counsellor so
wise; no comforter so precious. For the last thirty years we have
rarely differed in opinion; when we did, I generally found she was
right and I was was wrong; and when I persevered in my {136}
judgment she knew how to yield her wishes to mine, and would
sometimes say with a smile, 'God has set the man above the woman.
You are _king_, my husband; but I am the queen!' In all my ministry,
in sickness and in health, at home and abroad, by night and by day,
I never knew her own convenience, comfort, or pleasure take the
place of my duty to the people of my charge. . . . . I bless God
that I had such a wife--that I had her at all, and that I had her so
long. . . . My darling wife, I give you joy: but what shall I do
without you?"
This last question is soon answered in an unexpected manner. Only
eight pages further on, Dr. Spring, aged eighty, records the following
passage:
"_April 13th,_ 1865.--My sweet wife was too valuable a woman ever to
be forgotten. The preceding sketch furnishes but the outline of her
excellences, which I have presented more at large at the close of
the sermon commemorative of one who was my first love. I never
thought I could love another. But I was advanced beyond my
threescore years and ten, partially blind, and needed a helper
fitted to my age and condition; no one needs such a helper more than
a man in my advanced years. I sought, and God gave me another wife.
A few days only more than a year after the death of Mrs. Spring, on
the 14th of August, 1861, I was married to Abba Grosvenor Williams,
the only surviving child of the late Elisha Williams, Esq., a
distinguished member of the bar. She is the heiress of a large
Property, and retains it in her own hands. She is intent on her duty
as a wife, watchful of my wants, takes good care of me, is an
excellent housekeeper, and instead of adding to the expenses of my
household, shares them with her husband."--Vol. ii., pp. 91, 92.
With this extract, Dr. Spring may be left to the charity of our
readers. We have said nothing of the vanity which allows him freely to
quote the commendations of his friends on his efforts in the pulpit
and his publications through the press; because, inconsistent as it
may be with a very elevated piety, it is a weakness that might be
pardoned in such an old man. But we cannot help remarking how on every
page he gives evidence of the utter baselessness of the thing he calls
religion; the unsubstantial, unsatisfying character of those human
emotions which he perpetually mistakes for the operations of the Holy
Ghost; and the strangely unreal, unsanctified nature of the fit of
mental perturbation which he denotes conversion and labors so hard to
produce. The conclusion to which every unprejudiced person must come,
on closing the volumes, is that Dr. Spring has lived in vain.
------
{137}
MISCELLANY.
_Arabian Laughing Plant_.--In Palgrave's "Central and Eastern Arabia"
some particulars are given in regard to a carious narcotic plant. Its
seeds, in which the active principal seems chiefly to reside, when
pounded and administered in a small dose, produce effects much like
those ascribed to Sir Humphrey Davy's laughing gas; the patient
dances, sings, and performs a thousand extravagances, till after an
hour of great excitement to himself and amusement to the bystanders,
he falls asleep, and on awaking has lost all memory of what he did or
said while under the influence of the drug. To put a pinch of this
powder into the coffee of some unexpecting individual is not an
uncommon joke, nor is it said that it was ever followed by serious
consequences, though an over quantity might perhaps be dangerous. The
author tried it on two individuals, but in proportions if not
absolutely homoeopathic, still sufficiently minute to keep on the safe
side, and witnessed its operation, laughable enough but very harmless.
The plant that hears these berries hardly attains in Kaseem the height
of six inches above the ground, but in Oman were seen bushes of it
three or four feet in growth, and wide-spreading. The stems are woody,
and of a yellow tinge when barked; the leaf of a dark green color, and
pinnated with about twenty leaflets on either side; the stalks smooth
and shining; the flowers are yellow, and grow in tufts, the anthers
numerous, the fruit is a capsule, stuffed with greenish padding, in
which lie imbedded two or three black seeds, in size and shape much
like French beans; their taste sweetish, but with a peculiar opiate
flavor; the smell heavy and almost sickly.
_The Congelation of Animals_.--It is generally supposed that certain
animals cannot be frozen without the production of fatal results, and
that others can tolerate any degree of congelation. Both these views
have been shown to be incorrect in a paper read before the French
Academy, by M. Pouchet. The writer arrives at the following
conclusions: (1.) The first effect produced by the application of cold
is contraction of the capillary blood-vessels. This may be observed
with the microscope. The vessels become so reduced in calibre that the
blood-globules are unable to enter them. (2.) The second effect is the
alteration in form and structure of the blood-globules themselves.
These alterations are of three kinds: (_a_) the nucleus bursts from
the surrounding envelope; (_b_) the nucleus undergoes alteration of
form; (_c_) the borders of the globule become crenated, and assume a
deeper color than usual. (3.) When an animal is completely frozen, and
when, consequently, its blood-globules have become disorganized, it is
dead--nothing can then re-animate it. (4.) When the congelation is
partial, those organs which have been completely frozen become
gangrenous and are destroyed. (5.) If the partial congelation takes
place to a very slight extent, there are not many altered globules
sent into the general circulation; and hence life is not compromised.
(6.) If, on the contrary, it is extensive, the quantity of altered
globules is so great that the animal perishes. (7.) On this account an
animal which is partially frozen may live a long time if the
congelation is maintained, the altered globules not entering into the
general circulation; but, on the contrary, it dies if heat be suddenly
applied, owing to the blood becoming charged with altered globules.
(8.) In all cases of fatal congelation the animal dies from
decomposition or alteration of the blood-globules, and not from
stupefaction of the nervous system.
_Ordnance and Targets_.--The Admiralty having erected a new target,
representing a portion of the side of the _Hercules_, experiments were
made at Shoeburyness which proved that a thickness of armor casing had
been attained which afforded perfect security against even the largest
guns recently constructed. The target has a facing of {138} 9-inch
armor-plates, and contains altogether eleven inches thickness of iron.
Against this three 12-ton shunt guns were fired, at a distance of only
200 yards, with charges varying from 45 lbs. to 60 lbs. of powder. One
steel shot, of 300 lbs. weight, 10-1/2 inches in diameter, fired with
60 lbs. of powder, at a velocity of 1,450 feet per second, barely
broke through the armor, without injuring the backing. Sir William
Armstrong has expressed his conviction, in the _Times_, that the
600-pounder gun will be unable to penetrate this target, and that it
will, in fact, require a gun carrying 120 lbs. of powder and steel
shot to pierce this massive shield. Mr. W. C. Unwin has pointed out,
in a letter to the _Engineer_, that for similar guns with shot of
similar form, and charges in a constant ratio to the weight of the
shot, the velocity is nearly constant. Then, assuming the resistance
of the plates to be as the squares of their thicknesses, it follows
that when the diameter of the shot increases, as well as the thickness
of the armor, the maximum thickness perforated will (by theory) vary
as the cube root of the weight of the shot, or, in other words, as the
calibre of the gun; and the weight of the shot necessary to penetrate
different thicknesses of armor will be as the cubes of those
thicknesses. The ratio deduced from the Shoeburyness experiments is
somewhat less than this, being as the 2.5 power and the 5.2 power
respectively. Practical formula deduced from experiments are given,
which agree with Sir William Armstrong's conclusion, and prove that a
gun which can effectively burn a charge of at least 100 lbs. of powder
will be required to effectually penetrate the side of the _Hercules_.
_The Moa's Egg_.--Since our last issue a splendid specimen of the egg
of the Dinornis has been exhibited in this country, put up to auction,
and "bought in" by the proprietors for L125. Some interesting details
concerning the history of gigantic birds' eggs have been supplied by a
contemporary, and we quote them for our readers: In 1854, M. Geoffroy
de St. Hilaire exhibited to the French Academy some eggs of the
Epyornis, a bird which formerly lived in Madagascar. The larger of
these was 12.1 inches long, and 11.8 inches wide; the smaller one was
slightly less than this. The Museum d'Histoire Naturelle at Paris also
contains two eggs, both of which are larger than the one recently put
up for sale, the longer axis of which measures 10 inches, and the
shorter 7 inches. In the discussion which followed the reading of M.
de St. Hilaire's paper, M. Valenciennes stated it was quite impossible
to judge of the size of a bird by the size of its egg, and gave
several instances in point. Mr. Strickland, in some "Notices of the
Dodo and its Kindred," published in the "Annals of Natural History"
for November, 1849, says that in the previous year a Mr. Dumarele, a
highly respectable French merchant at Bourbon, saw at Port Leven,
Madagascar, an enormous egg, which held "_thirteen wine quart bottles
of fluid_." The natives stated that the egg was found in the jungle,
and "observed that such eggs were _very, very rarely_ met with." Mr.
Strickland appears to doubt this, but there seems no reason to do so.
Allowing a pint and a half to each of the so-called "quarts," the egg
would hold 19-1/2 pints. Now, the larger egg exhibited by St. Hilaire
held 17-1/2 pints, as he himself proved. The difference is not so very
great. A word or two about the nests of such gigantic birds. Captain
Cook found, on an island near the north-east coast of New Holland, a
nest "of a most enormous size. It was built with sticks upon the
ground, and was no less than six-and-twenty feet in circumference, and
two feet eight inches high." (Kerr's "Collection of Voyages and
Travels," xiii. 318.) Captain Flinders found two similar nests on the
south coasts of New Holland, in King George's Bay. In his "Voyage,
etc.," London, 1818, he says: "They were built upon the ground, from
which they rose above two feet, and were of vast circumference and
great interior capacity; the branches of trees and other matter of
which each nest was composed being enough to fill a cart."--_The
Reader_.
_The Birds of Siberia_.--In an important treatise, published under the
patronage of the Imperial Geographical Society of St. Petersburg, and
which is the second of a series intended to be issued on Siberian
zoology, the author, Herr Radde, not only records the species, but
gives an account of the period of the migration of Siberian birds. He
{139} gives a list of 368 species, which he refers to the following
orders: Rapaces, 36; Scansores, 19; Oscines, 140; Gallinaceae, 18;
Grallatores, 74; and Natatores, 81. Concerning the migration of
birds, Herr Radde confirms the result arrived at by Von Middendorf in
his learned memoir, "Die Isepiptesen Russlands;" the most important of
them being, (1) that the high table-land of Asia and the bordering
ranges of the Altai, Sajan, and Dauria <DW44> the arrival of the
migratory birds; (2) eastward of the upper Lena, toward the east
coast of Siberia, a considerable retardation of migrants is again
noticeable; and (8) the times of arrival at the northern edge of the
Mongolian high steppes are altogether earlier than those of the same
species on the Amoor.
_Plants within Plants_.--In one of the recent numbers of the "Comptes
Rendus," N. Trecul gives an account of some curious observations,
showing that plants sometimes are formed within the cells of existing
ones. He considers that the organic matter of certain vegetable cells
can, when undergoing putrefaction, transform itself into new species,
which differ entirely from the species in which they are produced. In
the bark of the elder, and in plants of the potato and stone-crop
order, he found vesicles full of small tetrahedral bodies containing
starchy matter, and he has seen them gradually transformed into minute
plants by the elongation of one of their angles.
_The Extract of Meat_.--Baron Liebig, who has favored us with some
admirable samples of this excellent preparation, has also forwarded to
us a letter in which he very clearly explains what is the exact
nutritive value of the _extractum carnis_: "The meat," says the baron,
"as it comes from the butcher, contains two different series of
compounds. The first consists of the so-called albuminous principles
(albumen, fibrin) and of glue-forming membrane. Of these, fibrin and
albumen have a high nutritive power, although not if taken by
themselves. The second series consists of crystallizable substances,
viz., creatin, creatinin, sarcin, which are exclusively to be found in
meat; further, of non-crystallizable organic principles and salts
(phosphate and chloride of potassium), which are not to be found
elsewhere. All of these together are called the extractives of meat.
To the second series of substances beef-tea owes its flavor and
efficacy, the same being the case with the _extractum carnis_, which
is, in fact, nothing but solid beef-tea--that is, beef-tea from which
the water has been evaporated. Beside the substances already
mentioned, meat contains, as a non-essential constituent, a varying
amount of fat. Now neither fibrin nor albumen is to be found in the
_extractum carnis_ which bears my name, and gelatine (glue) and fat
are purposely excluded from it. In the preparation of the extract the
albuminous principles are left in the residue. This residue, by the
separation of all soluble principles, which are taken up in the
extract, loses its nutritive power, and cannot be made _an article of
trade_ in any palatable form. Were it possible to furnish the market
at a reasonable price with a preparation of meat containing both the
albuminous and extractive principles, such a preparation would have to
be preferred to the _extractum carnis_, for it would contain all the
nutritive constituents of the meat. But there is, I think, no prospect
of this being realized." These remarks show very clearly the actual
value of the extract. It is, in fact, concentrated beef-tea; but it is
neither the equivalent of flesh on the one hand, nor an imperfectly
nutritive substance on the other. It is, nevertheless, a most valuable
preparation, and now commands an extensive sale in these countries and
abroad; and it is, furthermore, the only valuable form in which the
carcases of South American cattle (heretofore thrown away as
valueless) can be utilized.--_Popular Science Review_.
------
{140}
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
LIFE OF THE MOST REVEREND JOHN HUGHES,
D.D., First Archbishop of New York.
With Extracts from his Private Correspondence. By John R.
G. Hassard. Pp. 519. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1866.
Mr. Hassard is one of our most promising writers. He contributed
several excellent articles to "Appleton's Cyclopaedia," edited "The
Catholic World" with judgment and good taste for several months at its
first establishment, and since that time has occupied the position of
editor of the Chicago "Republican." This is his first literary essay
of serious magnitude, and a more delicate or difficult task could not
well have been confided to his hands. He has fulfilled it with care,
thoroughness, and impartiality. The style in which it is written is
remarkably correct and scholarly, and exhibits a thorough acquaintance
with the English language as well as a pure and discriminating taste
in the choice of words. It is a kind of style which attracts no
attention to itself or to the author, but is simply a medium through
which the subject-matter of the work is presented to the reader's
mind; and this, in our view, is no small merit. The subject-matter
itself is prepared and arranged in a methodical, accurate, and
complete manner, which leaves nothing in that regard to be desired.
The work belongs to that class of historical compositions which
chronicle particular events and incidents, relate facts and
occurrences as they happened, and leave them, for the most part, to
make their own impression. The author has endeavored to take
photographs of his illustrious subject, and of the scenes of his
private and public life, but not to paint a picture or his character
and his times. Those who are already familiar with the scenes, the
persons, and the circumstances brought into view in connection with
the personal history of the archbishop, and who were personally
acquainted with himself, could ask for no more than is furnished in
this biography. We have thought, however, in reading it, that other
readers would miss that filling up and those illuminating touches from
the author's pen which would make the history as vivid and real to
their minds as it is made to our own by memory. A graphic and complete
view of the history of the Catholic Church, so far as Archbishop
Hughes was a principal actor in it, and of the results of his labors
in the priesthood and episcopate, is necessary to a just estimate of
his ecclesiastical career, is still a _desideratum_. In saying this,
we do not intend to find fault with Mr. Hassard for not supplying it.
He has accomplished the task which he undertook in a competent manner,
and produced a work of sterling merit and lasting value. We could wish
that the biographies of several other distinguished prelates, of the
same period, might be written with the same minuteness and fidelity,
and, above all others, those of Bishop England and Archbishop Kenrick.
Very few men could endure the ordeal of passing through the hands of a
biographer so coldly impartial as Mr. Hassard. But those who are able
to pass through it, and who still appear to be great men, and to have
lived a life of great public service, may be certain that their
genuine, intrinsic worth will be recognized after their death, and not
be thought to be the coinage of an interested advocate, or the
furbished counterfeit whose glitter disappears in the crucible.
Moreover, the reader of history will be satisfied that he gets at the
reality of things, and the writer of history that he has authentic
data and materials on which to base his judgments of men and events.
No doubt this species of history would disclose many defects and
weaknesses, many human infirmities and errors, in the individuals who
figure in it, and lay bare much that is unsightly and repulsive in the
state of things as described. This is true of all ecclesiastical
history. Truth dissipates many romantic and poetic illusions of the
imagination, which loves to picture to itself an ideal state of
perfection and ideal heroes far different from the real world and real
men. Nevertheless, it manifests more clearly the heroic and divine
element really existing and working in the world and in men, and
manifesting itself especially in the Catholic Church. {141} We
believe, therefore, that the divinity of the Catholic religion would
only be more clearly exhibited, the more thoroughly its history in the
United States was brought to light. We believe, also, that the
character and works of its valiant and loyal champions will be the
more fully vindicated the more dispassionately and impartially they
are tried and judged.
A calm consideration of the condition of Catholicity, thirty-five or
forty years ago in this country, in contrast with its present state,
will enable us to judge of the work accomplished by the men who have
been the principal agents in bringing about the change. Let us reflect
for a moment what a difference it would have made in the history of
the Catholic religion here, if some eight or ten of the principal
Catholic champions had not lived; and we may then estimate the power
and influence they have exerted. Leaving aside the numerical and
material extension of the Catholic Church under the administration of
its prelates and the clergy of the second order, we look at the change
in public sentiment alone, and the vindication of the Catholic cause
by argument at the bar of common reason, where it has gained a signal
argumentative triumph over Protestantism and prejudice, through the
ability and courage of its advocates and the soundness of their cause.
The principal men among the first champions of the Catholic faith who
began this warfare were, in the Atlantic states, Dr. Cheverus, Dr.
England, Dr. Hughes, and Dr. Power. We speak from an intimate and
perfect knowledge of the common Protestant sentiment on this matter,
and with a distinct remembrance of the dread which these last three
names, and the veneration which the first of them, inspired. Every one
who knows what the almost universal sentiment of the Protestant
community respecting the Catholic religion and its hierarchy was, is
well aware that it was a sentiment of intense abhorrence mingled with
fear. It was looked upon as a system of preternatural wickedness and
might, and yet, by a strange inconsistency, as a system of utter folly
and absurdity, which no reasonable and conscientious man could
intelligently and honestly embrace. The priesthood were regarded as a
species of human demons, and those among them who possessed
extraordinary ability, were believe to have a diabolical power to make
the worse appear the better reason and the devil an angel of light.
Those whose sanctity was so evident that it broke down all prejudice,
as Bishop Cheverus, were supposed not to be initiated into the
mysteries of the Catholic religion, but to be at heart really
Protestants, blinded to the errors of their system by education, and
duped by their more cunning associates, like "Father Clement" in the
well-known tale of that name. The Catholic clergy were shunned and
ostracised, looked on as outlaws and public enemies, worthy of no
courtesy and no mercy. Their religion was regarded as unworthy of a
hearing, a thing to be scouted and denounced, trampled upon like a
noxious serpent and crushed, _if possible_. _Contempt_ would be the
proper word to express the common estimation of it, if there had not
been too much fear and hatred to make contempt possible. Its
antagonists wished and tried to despise it and its advocates, but
could not. Every sort of calumny and vituperation was showered upon
them by the preachers, the lecturers, and the writers for the press
who made Catholicity their theme. Some, perhaps many, honorable
exceptions, which were always multiplying with time, must be
understood, particularly in Boston, Baltimore, and Charleston. John
Hughes, the poor Irish lad, who had knelt behind the hay-rick on his
father's farm to pray to God and the Blessed Virgin to make him a
priest, who had come to this country with no implement to clear his
way to greatness but the pick and shovel which he manfully grasped,
was one of those who were chosen to lead the van in the assault
against this rampart of prejudice. That he vanquished his proud and
scornful antagonists is an undoubted fact. Beginning his studies, as a
favor reluctantly conceded to him on account of his importunity, at a
later period than usual, with a grammar in one hand and a spade in the
other, he was first a priest, faithful to his duty among many
faithless, courageous and enterprising among many who were timid,
strong among many weak, staunch and unflinching in a time of schism,
scandal, and disaster, and bold enough not only to lay new foundations
for the church of Philadelphia, which others have since built upon,
while the old ones were half crumbled, and to repress mutiny and
disorder in the ranks of his own people, but to {142} attack,
single-handed, the enemies who were exulting over the discord and
feebleness which they thought foreboded the disruption of the Catholic
body. This, too, almost without encouragement, and with no hearty
support from those who were older and more thoroughly trained and
equipped in the service than himself. He became the coadjutor and
successor of the very man who had refused his first application to be
allowed to purchase the privilege of studying under him, by his daily
labor. He died the metropolitan of a province embracing all New York,
New Jersey, and New England, and including eight suffragan bishoprics
with more than a million of Catholics; confessedly the most
conspicuous man among his fellow-bishops in the view of Catholics and
Protestants alike, one of the most trusted and honored of his compeers
at the See of Rome, well known throughout Catholic Christendom, a
confidential adviser and a powerful supporter of the United States
government, a recognized illustrious citizen of the American republic
as well as one of the ornaments of his native country, with all the
signs and tributes of universal honor and respect at his funeral
obsequies which are accorded to distinguished personal character or
official station. Let the most severe and impartial critic apply his
mind to separate, in this distinguished and useful career, the
personal and individual force impelling the man through it, from the
concurrence of Divine Providence, the aid of favorable circumstances
and high position, the supernatural power of the character with which
he was marked, and of the system which he administered, and the
strength and volume of the current of events on which he was borne,
and, if we mistake not, he will find something strong enough to stand
all his tests. An ordinary man might have worked his way into the
priesthood, fulfilled its duties with zeal and success, attained the
episcopal and metropolitan dignity, won respect by his administration,
and left a flourishing diocese to his successor. But an ordinary man
could never have gained the power and influence possessed by
Archbishop Hughes. Our early and original impressions of his
remarkable power of intellect and will have been strengthened and
fixed by reading his biography, and the greatness of the influence
which he exerted in behalf of the Catholic religion is, to our mind,
established beyond a doubt. His chivalrous and valiant combat with
John Breckinridge, at Philadelphia, was a victory not only decisive
but full of results. We know, from a distinct remembrance of the
opinions expressed at the time, that Mr. Breckinridge was generally
thought, by Protestants, to have been discomfited. We have heard him
speak himself of the affair with the tone of one who had exposed
himself to a dangerous encounter with an enemy superior to himself,
for the public good, and barely escaped with his life. We remember
taking up the book containing the controversy, from a sentiment of
curiosity to know what plausible argument could possibly be offered
for the Catholic religion, and undergoing, in the perusal, a
revolution of opinion, which rendered a return to the old state of
mind inherited from a Puritan education impossible. This we believe is
but an instance exemplifying the general effect of the controversy
upon candid and thinking minds, not hopelessly enslaved to prejudice.
We remember hearing him preach in the full vigor of his intellectual
and physical manhood, in the cathedral of New York, soon after his
consecration, and the impression of his whole attitude, countenance,
manner of delivery, and cast of thought is still vivid and _unique_.
Those who have seen the archbishop only during the last fifteen years,
have seen a breaking-down, enfeebled, almost worn-out man, incapable
of steady, vigorous exertion, and oppressed by a weight of care and
responsibility which was too great for him. To judge of his ability
fairly it is necessary to have seen and heard him in his prime, before
ill-health had sapped his vigor. And to appreciate the best and most
genial qualities and dispositions of the man, it is necessary to have
met him in familiar, unrestrained intercourse, apart from any official
relation and away from his diocese--or, at least, in those times when
all official anxieties and cares of government were put aside and his
mind relaxed in purely friendly conversation. That he was a great man,
a true Christian prelate, and accomplished a great work in the service
of the church, of his native countrymen, and of the country of his
adoption, is, we believe, the just verdict of the most competent
judges and of the public at large upon the facts of his life. He will
not be forgotten, for his life and acts are too closely {143}
interwoven with public history and his influence has been too marked
to make that possible. We trust that those who enjoy the blessings of
a securely and peacefully established Catholic Church will not be
disposed to forget the men who, in more troubled times, have won by
their valor the heritage upon which we have entered. The record of
their lives and labors is of great value, and this one, in particular,
is worthy of the perusal of every Catholic and every American, and has
in it a kind of romantic charm and dramatic grouping which does not
belong to the life of one who has been more confined to the seclusion
of study or the ordinary pastoral routine.
We regret the mention made of Dr. Forbes's defection, and the
publicity which is again given to painful matters which had become
buried in oblivion. It appears to us that, as Dr. Forbes has not
publicly assailed either the church or the late archbishop, it was
unnecessary to allude to him in any way, and it would have been more
generous to have suppressed the remarks made in the archbishop's
private correspondence. The mechanical execution of the work is in
good style, and we recommend it to our readers as necessary to every
Catholic library.
AN AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
By Noah Webster, LL.D. Thoroughly Revised and Greatly Enlarged and
Improved, by Chauncey A. Goodrich, D.D., Late Professor of Rhetoric
and Oratory, and also Professor of the Pastoral Charge in Yale
College, and Noah Porter, D.D., Clark Professor of Moral Philosophy
and Metaphysics in Yale College. Royal quarto, pp. 1840. Springfield,
Mass.: G. & C. Meiriam. 1866.
There have been published, within the last twenty-five years, several
editions of "Webster's Dictionary," but the present one, the title of
which is given above, seems to be the crowning effort of dictionary
making. It surpasses all other editions of the same work both in its
typography, its illustrations--some 3,000 in number--and its
philological completeness. "Webster's Dictionary" has always been of
high authority in this country, and is now held in great repute in
England, where it is accepted by several writers as the best authority
in defining the English language. The present edition is a most
beautiful one, and contains all the modern words which custom has
engrafted upon our language. It also contains, in its pronouncing
table of Scripture proper names, a supplementary list of the names
found in the Douay Bible, but not in King James's version. In fact,
care has been taken to make this edition as free as possible from
partisan and theological differences in regard to the definitions of
certain words which heretofore got a peculiarly Protestant twitch when
being defined. The publishers deserve great praise for the manner in
which they have done their portion of the work; it is a credit and an
honor to the American press.
THE CRITERION; OR, THE TEST OF TALK ABOUT FAMILIAR THINGS:
A Series of Essays. By Henry T. Tuckerman. 12mo., pp. 377. New York:
Hurd & Houghton. 1866.
Mr. H. T. Tuckerman is a man of letters, and we thought he would not
be likely to put his name to anything discreditable to an enlightened
author; but, to judge from many things in the above production, we
think he has missed his vocation, and would find more appropriate
employment as a contributor to the publications of the American Tract
Society, or the magazine put forth, monthly, by the "Foreign and
Christian Union." Else, why is every pope "shrewd," every priest an
"incarnation of fiery zeal?" why "the lonely existence and the subtle
eye of the Catholic?" why "the medical Jesuit, who, like his religious
prototype, operates through the female branches, and thus controls the
heads of families, regulating their domestic arrangements, etc.?" why
"Bloody Mary" and "Rom_ish?_" why is "superstition the usual trait of
Romanists?" and this: "One may pace the chaste aisles of the
Madeleine, and feel his devotion stirred, perhaps, by the dark
catafalque awaiting the dead in the centre of the spacious floor; and
then what to him is the doctrine of transubstantiation?" (!) We are
truly sorry to see these indications of a spirit with which we think
the author will find very little sympathy outside the clique of
benighted readers of the publications above quoted.
{144}
CHRIST THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
By C. J. Vaughan, D.D., Vicar of Doncaster. 18mo., pp. 269. Alexander
Strahan, London and New York. 1865.
This beautiful little volume contains twelve sermons, or rather
religious essays, written in a pleasing style, but altogether too
lengthy and too exhaustive in character. We have no doubt but that the
author is a good preacher, and if these essays were ever preached by
him as sermons, they were listened to with pleasure. But in their
present shape, enlarged, systematized, and--shall we say--almost too
carefully prepared for the press, they are a little tiresome. One
feels in reading them how much the naturalness, as well as the
elegance of diction, is marred by the vague evangelical phraseology,
"coming to Christ," "laying hold on Christ," etc., which occurs so
constantly in these pages. The author, being a Low Evangelical
Churchman, gives us, of course, "justification by faith" and the
Calvinistic view of the Fall. Yet, in the latter half of the volume he
seems to speak more like one who imagines that man has something to do
for his own justification, and takes a higher and nobler view of
humanity. We give the following passage from the last sermon, entitled
"Cast out and found," as a good specimen of what we should call
practical preaching. "When Jesus found him, he said unto him. Dost
thou believe on the Son of God? 'Thou!' The word is emphatic in the
original, 'Thou--believest thou?' We are glad to escape into the
crowd, and shelter ourselves behind a church's confession. But a day
is coming, in which nothing but an individual faith will carry with it
either strength or comfort. It will be idle to say in a moment of keen
personal distress, such as probably lies before us in life and
certainly in death and in judgment, 'Every one believes--all around
us believe--the world itself believes in the Son of God:' there is no
strength and no help there: the very object of Christ's finding thee
and speaking to thee is to bring the question home, 'Dost _thou_
believe?' A trying, a fearful moment, when Christ, face to face with
man's soul, proposes that question! Perhaps that moment has not yet
come to you. You have been fighting it off. You do not wish to come to
these close quarters with it. The world does not press you with it.
The world is willing enough that you should answer it in the general;
and even if you ever say, 'I believe in Jesus Christ his only Son our
Lord,' it shall be in a chorus of voices, almost robbing the
individual of personality, and making 'I' sound like 'we.' But if ever
your religion is to be a real thing, if ever it is to enable you to do
battle with a sin, or to face a mortal risk, if ever it is to be a
religion for the hour of death, or for the day of judgment, you must
have had that question put to you by yourself, and you must have
answered it from the heart in one way. Then you will be a real
Christian, not before!"
The book is elegantly got up in the style and care for which the
publisher is noted.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
From P. O'Shea, 27 Barclay street. New York:
Nos. 18, 19, and 20 of Darras' History of the Church.
From P. Donahoe, Boston: The Peep o' Day; or,
John Doe, and the Last Baron of Crana. By
the O'Hara Family. 12mo., pp. 204 and 243.
From Hon. Wm. H. Seward. Secretary of State,
Washington, his speech on the "Restoration
of the Union," delivered in New York, Feb. 22, 1866.
From Peter F. Cunningham, Philadelphia: The Life of Blessed John
Berchmans, of the Society of Jesus. Translated from the French. With
an Appendix, giving an account of the Miracles after Death which have
been approved by the Holy See. From the Italian of Father Boreo, S.J.
1 vol. 12mo., pp. 358.
From John Murphy & Co., Baltimore: The Apostleship of Prayer. A Holy
League of Christian Hearts united with the Heart of Jesus, to obtain
the Triumph of the Church and the Salvation of Souls. Preceded by a
Brief of the Sovereign Pontiff Plus IX., the approbation of several
Archbishops and Bishops and Superiors of Religious Congregations. By
the Rev. H. Ramiero, of the Society of Jesus. Translated from the
latest French Edition, and Revised by a Father of the Society. With
the approbation of the Most Rev. Archbishop Spalding. 12mo., pp. 393.
From Kelly & Piet, Baltimore: Life in the Cloister; or, Faithful and
True. By the author of "The World and Cloister." 12mo., pp. 224.
------
{145}
THE CATHOLIC WORLD
VOL. III., NO. 14--MAY, 1866.
[ORIGINAL.]
PROBLEMS OF THE AGE.
INTRODUCTION.
We wish to state distinctly and openly, at the outset of this work,
that the solution given of the problems therein discussed is a
solution derived from the Catholic faith. Its sole object will be to
make an exposition of the doctrines of the Catholic faith bearing on
these problems. By an exposition, is not meant a mere expansion or
paraphrase of the articles of the Creed, but such a statement as shall
include an exhibition of their positive, objective truth, or
conformity to the real order of being and existence; and of their
reasonableness or analogy to the special part of that universal order
lying within the reach of rational knowledge. In doing this we choose
what appears to us the best and simplest method. It differs, however,
in certain respects, from the one most in vogue, and therefore
requires a few preliminary words of explanation.
The usual method is, to proceed as far as possible in the analysis of
the religious truths provable by reason, to introduce afterward the
evidences of revealed religion, and finally to proceed to an
exposition of revealed doctrines. We have no wish to decry the many
valuable works constructed on this plan, but simply to vindicate the
propriety of following another, which is better suited to our special
purpose. We conceive it not to be necessary to follow the first method
in explaining the faith of a Christian mind, because the Christian
mind itself does not actually attain to faith by this method. We do
not proceed by a course of reasoning through natural theology and
evidences of revelation to our Christian belief. We begin by
submitting to instruction, and receiving all it imparts at once,
without preliminaries. The Christian child begins by saying "Credo in
Unum Deum." This is the first article of his faith. It is proposed to
him, by an authority which he reveres as divine, as the first and
principal {146} article of a series of revealed truths. If that act is
right and rational, it can be justified on rational grounds. It can be
shown to be in conformity to the real order. If it is in conformity to
the real order, it is in conformity also to the logical order. The
exposition of the real order of things is the exposition of truth, and
is, therefore, sound philosophy. A child who has attained the full use
of his reason and received competent instruction, either has, or has
not, a faith; not merely objectively certain, but subjectively also,
as certain and as capable of being rationally accounted for, though
not by his own reflection, as that of a theologian. If he has this
subjective certitude, a simple explication of the creditive act in his
mind will show the nature and ground of it in the clearest manner. If
he has not, children and simple persons who are children in science,
_i.e._, the majority of mankind, are incapable of faith--a conclusion
which oversets theology.
We have now indirectly made known what our own method will be; namely,
to present the credible object in contact or relation with the
creditive subject, as it really is when the child makes the first
complete act of faith. Instead of inviting the reader to begin at the
viewing point of a sceptic or atheist, and reason gradually up from
certain postulates of natural reason, through natural theology, to the
Catholic faith, we invite him to begin at once at the viewing point of
a Catholic believer, and endeavor to get the view which one brought up
in the church takes of divine truth. We do not mean to ask him to take
anything for granted. We will endeavor to show the internal coherence
of Catholic doctrine, and its correspondence with the primitive
judgments of reason. We cannot pretend to exhibit systematically the
evidence sustaining each portion of this vast system. It would only be
doing over again a work already admirably done. We must suppose it to
be known or within the reach of the knowledge of our readers, and in
varying degrees admitted by different classes of them, contenting
ourselves with indicating rather than completing the line of argument
on special topics.
The Catholic reader will see in this exposition of the Catholic idea
only that which he already believes, stated perhaps in such a way as
to aid his intellectual conception of it. The Protestant reader,
accordingly as he believes less or more of the Catholic Creed, will
see in it less or more to accept without argument, together with much
which he does not accept, but which is proposed to his consideration
as necessary to complete the Christian idea. The unbeliever will find
an affirmation of the necessary truths of pure reason, together with
an attempt to show the legitimate union between the primitive ideal
formula and the revealed or Christian formula, binding them into one
synthesis, philosophically coherent and complete.
II.
RELATION OF THE CREDIBLE OBJECT
AND THE CREDITIVE SUBJECT.
Let us begin with a child, or a simple, uneducated adult, who is in a
state of perpetual childhood as regards scientific knowledge. Let us
take him as a creditive subject or Christian believer, with the
credible object or Catholic faith in contact with his reason from its
earliest dawn. Before proceeding formally to analyze his creditive
act, we will illustrate it by a supposed case.
Let us suppose that, when our Lord Jesus Christ was upon earth, he
went to visit a pagan in order to instruct him in the truths of
religion. We will suppose him to be intelligent, upright, and sincere,
with as much knowledge of religious truth as was ordinarily attainable
through the heathen tradition. Let us suppose him to receive the
instructions of Christ with faith, to be baptized, and to remain ever
after a firm and undoubting {147} believer in the Christian doctrine.
Now by what process does he attain a rational certitude of the truth
of the revelation made by the lips of Christ?
In the first place, the human wisdom and virtue of our Lord are
intelligible to him by the human nature common to both, and in
proportion to his own personal wisdom and goodness. Having in himself,
by virtue of his human nature, the essential type of human goodness,
he is able to recognize the excellence of one in whom it is carried to
its highest possible perfection. The human perfection visible in Jesus
Christ predisposes him to believe his testimony. The testimony that
Jesus Christ bears of himself is that he is the Son of God. This
declaration includes two propositions. The chief term of the first
proposition is "God." The chief term of the second proposition is
"Jesus Christ." The first term includes all that can be understood by
the light of reason concerning the Creator and his creative act. The
second term includes all that can be apprehended by the light of faith
concerning the interior relations of God, the incarnation of the Son,
or Word, the entire supernatural order included in it, and the entire
doctrine revealed by Christ. The idea expressed by the first term is
already in the mind of the pagan, as the first and constitutive
principle of his reason. His reflective consciousness of this idea and
his ability to make a correct and complete explication of its contents
are very imperfect. But when the distinct affirmation and explication
of the idea of God are made to him by one who possesses a perfect
knowledge of God, he has an immediate and certain perception of the
truth of the conception thus acquired by his intelligence. God has
already affirmed himself to his reason, and Christ, in affirming God
to his intellect, has only repeated and manifested by sensible images,
and in distinct, unerring language, this original affirmation.
It is otherwise with the affirmation which Christ makes respecting the
second term. God does not affirm to his reason by the creative act the
internal relations of Father and Son, completed by the third, or Holy
Spirit, and therefore, although it is a necessary truth, and in itself
intelligible as such, it is not intelligible as a necessary truth to
his intellect. The incarnation, redemption, and other mysteries
affirmed to him by Christ, are not in themselves necessary truths, but
only necessary on the supposition that they have been decreed by God.
The certitude of belief in all this second order of truths rests,
therefore, entirely on the veracity of God, authenticating the
affirmation of his own divine mission made by Jesus Christ. We must,
therefore, suppose that this affirmation is made to the mind of the
pagan with such clear and unmistakable evidence of the fact that the
veracity of God is pledged to its truth, that it would be irrational
to doubt it. Catholic doctrine also requires us to suppose that Christ
imparts to him a supernatural grace, as the principle of a divine
faith and a divine life based upon it. The nature and effect of this
grace must be left for future consideration.
These truths received on the faith of the testimony of the Son of God
by the pagan are not, however, entirely unintelligible to his natural
reason. We can suppose our Lord removing his difficulties and
misapprehensions, showing him that these truths do not contradict
reason, but harmonize with it as far as it goes, and pointing out to
him certain analogies in the natural order which render them partially
apprehensible by his intellect. Thus, while his mind cannot penetrate
into the substance of these mysteries, or grasp the intrinsic reason
of them after the mode of natural knowledge, it can nevertheless see
them indirectly, as reflected in the natural order, and by
resemblance, and rests its undoubting belief of them on the revelation
made by Jesus Christ, attested by the veracity of God.
{148}
In this supposed case, the pagan has the Son of God actually before
his eyes, and with his own ears can hear his words. This is the
credible object. He is made inwardly certain that he is the Son of God
by convincing evidence and the illustration of divine grace. This is
the creditive subject, in contact with the credible object. It
exemplifies the process by which God has instructed the human race
from the beginning, a process carried on in the most perfect and
successful manner in the instance we are about to examine of a child
brought up in the Catholic Church.
The mind of the child has no prejudices and no imperfect conceptions
derived from a perverted and defective instruction to be rectified.
Its soul is in the normal and natural condition. The grace of faith is
imparted to it in baptism, so that the rational faculties unfold under
its elevating and strengthening influence with a full capacity to
elicit the creditive act as soon as they are brought in contact with
the credible object. This credible object, in the case of the child,
as in that of the pagan, is Christ revealing himself and the Father.
He reveals himself, however, not by his visible form to the eye, or
his audible word to the ear, but by his mystical body the church,
which is a continuation and amplification of his incarnation. The
church is visible and audible to the child as soon as his faculties
begin to open. At first this is only in an imperfect way, as Jesus
Christ was at first only known in an imperfect way to the pagan above
described. As he merely knew Christ at first as a man, and in a purely
human way, so the child receives the instruction of his parents,
teachers, and pastors, in whom the church is represented, in regard to
the truths of faith, just as he does in regard to common matters. He
begins with a human faith, founded in the trusting instincts of
nature, which incline the young to believe and obey their superiors.
As soon as his reason is capable of understanding the instruction
given him, he is able to discover the strong probability of its truth.
He sees this dimly at first, but more and more clearly as his mind
unfolds, and the conception of the Catholic Church comes before it
more distinctly. Some will admit that even a probability furnishes a
sufficient motive for eliciting an act of perfect faith. This is the
doctrine of Cardinal de Lugo, and it has been more recently propounded
by that extremely acute and brilliant writer, Dr. John Henry Newman.
[Footnote 24]
[Footnote 24: Since the above was written the author has seen reason
to suspect that he misunderstood Dr. Newman. The point will be more
fully discussed hereafter.]
According to their theory, the undoubting firmness of the act of faith
is caused by an imperate act of the will determining the intellect to
adhere firmly to the doctrine proposed, as revealed by God. There are
many, however, who will not be satisfied with this, and we acknowledge
that we are of the number. It appears to us that the mind must have
indubitable certitude that God has revealed the truth in order to a
perfect act of faith. Therefore we believe that the mind of the child
proceeds from the first apprehension of the probability that God has
revealed the doctrines of faith to a certitude of the fact, and that,
until it reaches that point, its faith is a human faith, or an
inchoate faith, merely. The ground and nature of that certitude will
be discussed hereafter. In the meantime, it is sufficient to remark
that the child or other ignorant person apprehends the very same
ground of certitude in faith with the mature and educated adult, only
more implicitly and obscurely, and with less power to reflect on his
own acts. Just as the child has the same certainty of facts in the
natural order with an adult, so it has the same certainty of facts in
the supernatural order. When we have once established the proper
ground of human faith in testimony in general, and of the certitude of
our rational judgments, we have no need of a particular application to
the case of {149} children. It is plain enough that, so soon as their
rational powers are sufficiently developed, they must act according to
this universal law. So in regard to faith. When we have established in
general its constitutive principles, it is plain that the mind of the
child, just as soon as it is capable of eliciting an act of faith,
must do it according to these principles.
The length of lime, and the number of preparatory acts requisite,
before the mind of a child is fully capable of eliciting a perfect act
of faith, cannot be accurately determined, and may vary indefinitely.
It may require years, months, or only a few weeks, days, or hours.
Whenever it does elicit this perfect act, the intelligible basis of
the creditive act may be expressed by the formula, _Christus creat
ecclesiam_, [Footnote 25] In the church, which is the work of Christ
and his medium or instrument for manifesting himself, the person and
the doctrine of Christ are disclosed. In the first term of the
formula, _Christus_, is included another proposition, viz., _Christus
est Filius Dei_. [Footnote 26] Finally, in the last term of the
second proposition is included a third, _Deus est creator mundi_.
[Footnote 27] The whole may be combined into one formula, which is
only the first one explicated, _Christus, Filius Dei, qui est creator
mundi, creat ecclesiam._[Footnote 28]
[Footnote 25: Christ creates the Church.]
[Footnote 26: Christ Is the Son of God.]
[Footnote 27: God is the creator of the world.]
[Footnote 28: Christ, the Son of God, who is the creator of the
world, creates the Church.]
In this formula we have the synthesis of reason and faith, of
philosophy and theology, of nature and grace. It is the formula of the
natural and supernatural worlds, or rather of the natural universe,
elevated into a supernatural order and directed to a supernatural end.
In the order of instruction, _Ecclesia_ comes first, as the medium of
teaching correct conceptions concerning God, Christ, and the relations
in which they stand toward the human race. These conceptions may be
communicated in positive instruction in any order that is convenient.
When they are arranged in their proper logical relation, the first in
order is _Deus creat mundum_, including all our rational knowledge
concerning God. The second is _Christus est Filius Dei_, which
discloses God in a relation above our natural cognition, revealing
himself in his Son, as the supernatural author and the term of final
beatitude. Lastly comes _Christus creat ecclesiam_, in which the
church, at first simply a medium for communicating the conceptions of
God and Christ, is reflexively considered and explained, embracing all
the means and institutions ordained by Christ for the instruction and
sanctification of the human race, in order to the attainment of its
final end. In the conception of God the Creator, we have the natural
or intelligible order and the rational basis of revelation. In the
conception of the Son, or Word, we have the super-intelligible order
in its connection with the intelligible, in which alone we can
apprehend it. God reveals himself and his purposes by his Word, and we
believe on the sole ground of his veracity. The remaining conceptions
are but the complement of the second.
All this is expressed in the Apostles' Creed. In the first place, by
its very nature, it is a symbol of instruction, presupposing a
teacher. The same is expressed in the first word, "Credo," explicitly
declaring the credence given to a message sent from God. The first
article is a confession of God the Father, followed by the confession
of the Son and the Holy Ghost. After this comes "Sanctam Ecclesiam
Catholicam," with the other articles depending on it, and lastly the
ultimate term of all the relations of God to man, expressed in the
words "Vitam aeternam."
Having described the actual attitude of the mind toward the Creed at
the time when its reasoning faculty is developed, and the method by
which {150} instruction in religious doctrines is communicated to it,
we will go over these doctrines in detail, in order to explain and
verify them singly and as a whole. The doctrine first in order is that
which relates to God, and this will accordingly be first treated of,
in the ensuing number.
------
From The Dublin University Magazine
GLASTONBURY ABBEY, PAST AND PRESENT,
THE RISE OF THE BENEDICTINES. [Footnote 29]
[Footnote 29: Authorities.--Acta Sanctoram: Butler's Lives of the
Saints; Gregory's Dialogues; Mabillon Acta Sanct.; Ord; Benedicti;
Zeigelbauer's Hist. Rei Liter.; Fosbrooke and Dugdale.]
As Glastonbury Abbey was one of the chief ornaments of the Benedictine
Order; as that order was one of the greatest influences, next to
Christianity itself, ever brought to bear upon humanity; as the
founder of that order and sole compiler of the rule upon which it was
based must have been a legislator, a leader, a great, wise, and good
man, such as the world seldom sees, one who, unaided, without example
or precedent, compiled a code which has ruled millions of beings and
made them a motive-power in the history of humanity; as the work done
by that order has left traces in every country in Europe--lives and
acts now in the literature, arts, sciences, and social life of nearly
every civilized community--it becomes imperatively necessary that we
should at this point investigate these three matters--the man, the
rule, and the work:--the man, St. Benedict, from whose brain issued
the idea of monastic organization; the rule by which it was worked,
which contains a system of legislation as comprehensive as the
gradually compiled laws of centuries of growth; and the work done by
those who were subject to its power, followed out its spirit, lived
under its influence, and carried it into every country where the
gospel was preached.
Far away in olden times, at the close of the fifth century, when the
gorgeous splendor of the Roman day was waning and the shades of that
long, dark night of the middle ages were closing in upon the earth;
just at that period when, as if impelled by some instinct or led by
some mysterious hand, there came pouring down from the wilds of
Scandinavia hordes of ferocious barbarians who threatened, as they
rolled on like a dark flood, to obliterate all traces of civilization
in Europe--when the martial spirit of the Roman was rapidly
degenerating into the venal valor of the mercenary--when the western
empire had fallen, after being the tragic theatre of scenes to which
there is no parallel in the history of mankind--when men, aghast at
human crime and writhing under the persecutions of those whom history
has branded as the "Scourge of God," sought in vain for some shelter
against their kind--when human nature, after that struggle between
refined corruption and barbarian ruthlessness, lay awaiting the night
of troubles which was to fall upon it as a long penance for human
crime--just at this critical period in the world's history appeared
the man who was destined to rescue from the general destruction of
Roman life the elements of a future civilization; to provide an asylum
to which art might flee with her choicest treasures, where science
might labor in safety, where {151} learning might perpetuate and
multiplied its stores, where the oracles of religion might rest
secure, and where man might retire from the woe and wickedness of a
world given up to destruction, live out his life in quiet, and make
his peace with his God.
That man was St. Benedict, who was born of noble parents about the
year 480, at Norcia, a town in the Duchy of Spoleto; his father's name
was Eutropius, his grandfather's Justinian. Although the glory of Rome
was on the decline, her schools were still crowded with young
disciples of all nations, and to Rome the future saint was sent to
study literature and science. The poets of this declining age have
left behind them a graphic picture of the profligacy and dissipation
of Roman life---the nobles had given themselves up to voluptuous and
enervating pleasures, the martial spirit which had once found vent in
deeds with whose fame the world has ever since rung, had degenerated
into the softer bravery which dares the milder dangers of a love
intrigue, or into the tipsy valor loudest in the midnight brawl. The
sons of those heroes who in their youth had gone out into the world,
subdued kingdoms, and had been drawn by captive monarchs through the
streets of Rome in triumph, now squandered the wealth and disgraced
the name of their fathers over the dice-box and the drinking cup.
Roman society was corrupt to its core, the leaders were sinking into
the imbecility of licentiousness, the people were following their
steps with that impetuosity so characteristic of a demoralized
populace, whilst far up in the rude, bleak North the barbarian, with
the keen instinct of the wild beast, sat watching from his lonely
wilds the tottering towers of Roman glory--the decaying energies of
the emasculated giant--until the moment came when he sallied forth and
with one hardy blow shattered the mighty fabric and laid the victors
of the world in abject slavery at his feet. Into this society came the
youthful Benedict, with all the fresh innocence of rustic purity, and
a soul already yearning after the great mysteries of religion;
admitted into the wild revelry of student life, that prototype of
modern Bohemianism, he was at once disgusted with the general
profligacy around him. The instincts of his youthful purity sickened
at the fetid life of Rome, but in his case time, instead of
reconciling him to the ways of his fellows, and transforming, as it so
often does, the trembling horror of natural innocence into the wild
intrepidity of reckless license, only strengthened his disgust for
what he saw, and the timid, thoughtful, pensive student shrank from
the noisy revelry, and sought shelter among his books.
About this time, too, the idea of penitential seclusion was prevalent
in the West, stimulated by the writings and opinions of St. Augustine
and St. Jerome. It has been suggested that the doctrine of asceticism
was founded upon the words of Christ, "If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." [Footnote
30] St. Gregory himself dwells with peculiar emphasis upon this
passage, which he expounds thus, "Let us listen to what he said in
this passage--let him who will follow me deny himself; in another
place it is said that we should forego our possessions; here it is
said that we should deny _ourselves_, and perhaps it is not laborious
to a man to relinquish his possessions, but it is very laborious to
relinquish _himself_. For it is a light thing to abandon what one has,
but a much greater thing to abandon what _one is_." [Footnote 31]
Fired by the notion of self-mortification imparted to these words of
Christ by their own material interpretation, these men forsook the
world and retired to caves, rocks, forests, anywhere out of sight of
{152} their fellow-mortals--lived on bitter herbs and putrid water,
exposed themselves to the inclemency of the winter and the burning
heats of summer.
[Footnote 30: Matt. xvi. 24.]
[Footnote 31: St. Greg. Hom, 32 in Evangel.]
Such was the rise and working of asceticism, which brought out so many
anchorites and hermits. Few things in the history of human suffering
can parallel the lives of these men.
As regards conventual life, that is, the assemblage of those who
ministered in the church under one roof, sharing all things in common,
that may be traced back to the apostles and their disciples, who were
constrained to live in this way, and, therefore, we find that wherever
they established a church, there they also established a sort of
college, or common residence, for the priests of that church. This is
evident from the epistles of Ignatius, nearly all, of which conclude
with a salutation addressed to this congregation of disciples,
dwelling together, and styled a "collegium." His epistle to the Church
at Antioch concludes thus, "I salute the sacred College of Presbyters"
(Saluto Sanctum Presbyterorum Collegium). The Epistle ad Philippenses,
"Saluto S. Episcopum et sacrum Presbyterorum Collegium"--so also the
epistles to the Philadelphians, the Church at Smyrna, to the
Ephesians, and to the Trallians.
But when St. Benedict was sent as a lad to Rome, the inclination
toward the severer form of ascetic life, that of anchorites and
hermits, had received an impulse by the works of the great fathers of
the church, already alluded to; and the pensive student, buried in
these more congenial studies, became imbued with their spirit, and was
soon fired with a romantic longing for a hermit life. At the tender
age of fifteen, unable to endure any longer the dissonance between his
desires and his surroundings, he flood from Rome, and took refuge in a
wild, cavernous spot in the neighboring country. As he left the city
he was followed by a faithful nurse, Cyrilla by name, who had brought
him up from childhood, had tended him in his sojourn at Rome, and now,
though lamenting his mental derangement, as she regarded it, resolved
not to leave her youthful charge to himself, but to watch over him and
wait upon him in his chosen seclusion. For some time this life went
on, St. Benedict becoming more and more attached to his hermitage, and
the nurse, despairing of any change, begged his food from day to day,
prepared it for him, and watched over him with a mother's tenderness.
A change then came over the young enthusiast, and he began to feel
uneasy under her loving care. It was not the true hermit life, not the
realization of that grand idea of solitude with which his soul was
filled; and under the impulse of this new emotion he secretly fled
from the protection of his foster-mother, and, without leaving behind
him the slightest clue to his pursuit, hid himself among the rocks of
Subiaco, or, as it was then called, Sublaqueum, about forty miles
distant from Rome. At this spot, which was a range of bleak, rocky
mountains with a river and lake below in the valley, he fell in with
one Romanus, a monk, who gave him a monastic dress, with a hair shirt,
led him to a part on the mountains where there was a deep, narrow
cavern, into which the sun never penetrated, and here the young
anchorite took up his abode, subsisting upon bread and water, or the
scanty provisions which Romanus could spare him from his own frugal
repasts; these provisions the monk used to let down to him by a rope,
ringing a bell first to call his attention. For three years he pursued
this life, unknown to his friends, and cut off from all communication
with the world; but neither the darkness of his cavern nor the
scantiness of his fare could preserve him from troubles. He was
assailed by many sore temptations.
One day that solitude was disturbed by the appearance of a man in the
{153} garb of a priest, who approached his cave and began to address
him; but Benedict would hold no conversation with the stranger until
they had prayed together, after which they discoursed for a long time
upon sacred subjects, when the priest told him of the cause of his
coming. The day happened to be Easter Sunday, and as the priest was
preparing his dinner, he heard a voice saying, "You are preparing a
banquet for yourself, whilst my servant Benedict is starving;" that he
thereupon set out upon his journey, found the anchorite's cave, and
then producing the dinner, begged St. Benedict to share it with him,
after which they parted. A number of shepherds, too, saw him near his
cave, and as he was dressed in goat-skins, took him at first for some
strange animal; but when they found he was a hermit, they paid their
respects to him humbly, brought him food, and implored his blessing in
return.
The fame of the recluse of Subiaco spread itself abroad from that time
through the neighboring country; many left the world and followed his
example; the peasantry brought their sick to him to be healed,
emulated each other in their contributions to his personal
necessities, and undertook long journeys simply to gaze upon his
countenance and receive his benediction. Not far from his cave were
gathered together in a sort of association a number of hermits, and
when the fame of this youthful saint reached them they sent a
deputation to ask him to come among them and take up his position as
their superior. It appears that this brotherhood had become rather lax
in discipline, and, knowing this, St. Benedict at first refused, but
subsequently, either from some presentiment of his future destiny, or
actuated simply by the hope of reforming them, he consented, left his
lonely cell, and took up his abode with them as their head.
In a very short time, however, the hermits began to tire of his
discipline and to envy him for his superior godliness. An event then
occurred which forms the second cognizance by which the figure of St.
Benedict may be recognized in the fine arts. Endeavors had been made
to induce him to relax his discipline, but to no purpose; therefore
they resolved upon getting rid of him, and on a certain day, when the
saint called out for some wine to refresh himself after a long
journey, one of the brethren offered him a poisoned goblet. St.
Benedict took the wine, and, as was his custom before eating or
drinking anything, blessed it, when the glass suddenly fell from his
hands and broke in pieces. This incident is immortalized in
stained-glass windows, in paintings, and frescoes, where the saint is
either made to carry a broken goblet, or it is to be seen lying at his
feet. Disgusted with their obstinacy he left them, voluntarily
returned to his cavern at Subiaco, and dwelt there alone. But the
fates conspired against his solitude, and a change came gradually over
the scene. Numbers were drawn toward the spot by the fame of his
sanctity, and by-and-bye huts sprang up around him; the desert was no
longer a desert, but a colony waiting only to be organized to form a
strong community. Yielding at length to repeated entreaties, he
divided this scattered settlement into twelve establishments, with
twelve monks and a superior in each, and the monasteries were soon
after recognized, talked about, and proved a sufficient attraction to
draw men from all quarters, even from the riotous gaieties of
declining Rome.
We will mention one or two incidents related of St. Benedict, which
claim attention, more especially as being the key to the artistic
mysteries of Benedictine pictures. It was one of the customs in this
early Benedictine community for the brethren not to leave the church
immediately after the divine office was concluded, but to remain for
some time in silent mental prayer. One of the brethren, however, took
no delight in this holy {154} exercise, and to the scandal of the
whole community used to walk coolly out of the church as soon as the
psalmody was over. The superior remonstrated, threatened, but to no
purpose; the unruly brother persisted in his conduct. St. Benedict was
appealed to, and when he heard the circumstances of the case, said he
would see the brother himself. Accordingly, he attended the church,
and at the conclusion of the divine office, not only saw the brother
walk out, but saw also what was invisible to every one else--a _black
boy_ leading him by the hand. The saint then struck at the phantom
with his staff, and from that time the monk was no longer troubled,
but remained after the service with the rest.
St. Gregory also relates an incident to the effect that one day as a
Gothic monk was engaged on the border of the lake cutting down
thistles, he let the iron part of his sickle, which was loose, fall
into the water. St. Maur, one of Benedict's disciples--of whom we
shall presently speak--happened to be standing by, and, taking the
wooden handle from the man, he held it to the water, when the iron
swam to it in miraculous obedience.
As we have said, the monasteries grew daily in number of members and
reputation; people came from far and near, some belonging to the
highest classes, and left their children at the monastery to be
trained up under St. Benedict's protection. Amongst this number, in
the year 522, came two wealthy Roman senators, Equitius and Tertullus,
bringing with them their sons, Maurus, then twelve years of age, and
Placidus, only five. They begged earnestly that St. Benedict would
take charge of them, which he did, treated them as if they had been
his own sons, and ultimately they became monks under his rule, lived
with him all his life, and after his death became the first
missionaries of his order in foreign countries, where Placidus won the
crown of martyrdom. Again, St. Benedict nearly fell a victim to
jealousy. A priest named Florentius, envying his fame, endeavored to
poison him with a loaf of bread, but failed. Benedict once more left
his charge in disgust; but Florentius, being killed by the sudden fall
of a gallery, Maurus sent a messenger after him to beg him to return,
which he did, and not only wept over the fate of his fallen enemy, but
imposed a severe penance upon Maurus for testifying joy at the
judgment which had befallen him. The incident of the poisoned loaf is
the third artistic badge by which St. Benedict is to be known in art,
being generally painted as a loaf with a serpent coiled round it.
These artistic attributes form a very important feature in monastic
painting, and in some instances become the only guide to the
recognition him the subject. St. Benedict is sometimes represented
with all these accompaniments--the broken goblet, the loaf with the
serpent, and in the background the figure rolling in the briers. St.
Bernard, who wrote much and powerfully against heresy, is represented
with the accompanying incident in the background of demons chained to
a rock, or being led away captive, to indicate his triumphs over
heretics for the faith. Demons placed at the feet indicate Satan and
the world overcome. Great preachers generally carry the crucifix, or,
if a renowned missionary, the standard and cross. Martyrs carry the
palm. A king who has resigned his dignity and entered a monastery has
a crown lying at his feet. A book held in the hand represents the
gospel, unless it be accompanied by pen and ink-horn, when it implies
that the subject was an author, as in the case of Anselm, who is
represented as holding in his hands his work on the incarnation, with
the title inscribed, "_Cur Deus Homo_," or it may relate to an
incident in the life, as the blood-stained book, which St. Boniface
holds, entitled "De Bono Mortis," a work he was devotedly fond of,
always {155} carried about with him, and which was found after his
murder in the folds of his dress stained with his blood. But the
highest honor was the stigmata or wounds of Christ impressed upon the
hands, feet, and side. This artistic pre-eminence is accorded to St.
Francis, the founder of the order which bears his name, and to St.
Catharine, of Siena. A whole world of history lies wrapped up in these
artistic symbols, as they appear in the marvellous paintings
illustrative of the hagiology of the monastic orders which are
cherished in half the picture galleries and sacred edifices of Europe,
and form as it were a living testimony and a splendid confirmation of
the written history and traditions of the church.
Although, at the period when we left St. Benedict reinstalled in his
office as superior, Christianity was rapidly being established in the
country, yet there were still lurking about in remote districts of
Italy the remains of her ancient paganism. Near the spot now called
Monte Cassino was a consecrated grove in which stood a temple
dedicated to Apollo. St. Benedict resolved upon clearing away this
relic of heathendom, and, fired with holy seal, went amongst the
people, preached the gospel of Christ to them, persuaded them at
length to break the statue of the god and pull down the altar; he then
burned the grove and built two chapels there--the one dedicated to St.
John the Baptist and the other to St. Martin. Higher up upon the
mountain he laid the foundation of his celebrated monastery, which
still bears his name, and here he not only gathered together a
powerful brotherhood, but elaborated that system which infused new
vigor into the monastic life, cleared it of its impurities,
established it upon a firm and healthy basis, and elevated it, as
regards his own order, into a mighty power, which was to exert an
influence over the destinies of humanity inferior only to that of
Christianity itself. St. Benedict, with the keen perception of genius,
saw in the monasticism of his time, crude as it was, the elements of a
great system. For five centuries it had existed and vainly endeavored
to develop itself into something like an institution, but the grand
idea had never yet been struck out--that idea which was to give it
permanence and strength. Hitherto the monk had retired from the world
to work out his own salvation, caring little about anything else,
subsisting on what the devotion of the wealthy offered him from
motives of charity; then, as time advanced, they acquired possessions
and wealth, which tended only to make them more idle and selfish. St.
Benedict detected in all this the signs of decay, and resolved on
revivifying its languishing existence by starting a new system, based
upon a rule of life more in accordance with the dictates of reason. He
was one of those who held as a belief that to live in this world a man
must do something--that life which consumes, but produces not, is a
morbid life, in fact, an impossible life, a life that must decay, and
therefore, imbued with the importance of this fact, he made labor,
continuous and daily labor, the great foundation of his rule. His vows
were like those of other institutions--poverty, chastity, and
obedience--but he added labor, and in that addition, as we shall
endeavor presently to show, lay the whole secret of the wondrous
success of the Benedictine Order. To every applicant for admission,
these conditions were read, and the following words added, which were
subsequently adopted as a formula: "This is the law under which thou
art to live and to strive for salvation; if thou canst observe it,
enter; if not, go in peace, thou art free." No sooner was his
monastery established than it was filled by men who, attracted by his
fame and the charm of the new mode of life, came and eagerly implored
permission to submit themselves to his rule. Maurus and Placidus, his
favorite disciples, still {156} remained with him, and the tenor of
his life flowed on evenly.
After Belisarius, the emperor's general, had been recalled, a number
of men totally incapacitated for their duties were sent in his place.
Totila, who had recently ascended the Gothic throne, at once invaded
and plundered Italy; and in the year 542, when on his triumphant
march, after defeating the Byzantine army, he was seized with a strong
desire to pay a visit to the renowned Abbot Benedict, who was known
amongst them as a great prophet. He therefore sent word to Monte
Cassino to announce his intended visit, to which St. Benedict replied
that he would be happy to receive him. On receiving the answer he
resolved to employ a stratagem to test the real prophetic powers of
the abbot, and accordingly, instead of going himself, he caused the
captain of the guard to dress himself in the imperial robes, and,
accompanied by three lords of the court and a numerous retinue, to
present himself to the abbot as the kingly visitor. However, as soon
as they entered into his presence, the abbot detected the fraud, and,
addressing the counterfeit king, bid him put off a dress which did not
belong to him. In the utmost alarm they all fled back to Totila and
related the result of their interview; the unbelieving Goth, now
thoroughly convinced, went in proper person to Monte Cassino, and, on
perceiving the abbot seated waiting to receive him, he was overcome
with terror, could go no further, and prostrated himself to the
ground. [Footnote 32] St. Benedict bid him rise, but as he seemed
unable, assisted him himself. A long conversation ensued, during which
St. Benedict reproved him for his many acts of violence, and concluded
with this prophetic declaration: "You have done much evil, and
continue to do so; you will enter Rome; you will cross the sea; you
will reign nine years longer, but death will overtake you on the
tenth, when you will be arraigned before a just God to give an account
of your deeds." Totila trembled at this sentence, besought the prayers
of the abbot, and took his leave. The prediction was marvellously
fulfilled; in any case the interview wrought a change in the manner of
this Gothic warrior little short of miraculous, for from that time he
treated those whom he had conquered with gentleness. When he took
Rome, as St. Benedict had predicted he should, he forbade all carnage,
and insisted on protecting women from insult; stranger still, in the
year 552, only a little beyond the time allotted him by the
prediction, he fell in a battle which he fought against Narses, the
eunuch general of the Greco-Roman army. St. Benedict's sister,
Scholastica, who had become a nun, discovered the whereabouts of her
lost brother, came to Monte Cassino, took up her residence near him,
and founded a convent upon the principles of his rule. She was,
therefore, the first Benedictine nun, and is often represented in
paintings, prominent in that well-known group composed of herself, St.
Benedict, and the two disciples, Maurus and Placidus.
[Footnote 32: "Quem cum a longe sedentem cerneret, non ausus
accedero sese in terram dedit."--St. Greg. Dial., lib. ii., c. 14.]
It appears that her brother was in the habit of paying her a visit
every year, and upon one occasion stayed until late in the evening, so
late that Scholastica pressed him not to leave; but he persisting, she
offered a prayer that heaven might interpose and prevent his going,
when suddenly a tempest came on so fierce and furious that he was
compelled to remain until it was over, when he returned to his
monastery. Two days after this occurrence, as he was praying in his
cell, he beheld the soul of his beloved sister ascending to heaven in
the form of a dove, and the same day intelligence was brought him of
her death. This vision forms the subject of many of the pictures in
Benedictine nunneries. One short month after the decease of this
affectionate sister, St. {157} Benedict, through visiting and
attending to the sick and poor in his neighborhood, contracted a fever
which prostrated him; he immediately foretold his death, and ordered
the tomb in which his sister lay in the church to be opened. On the
sixth day of his illness he asked to be carried to it, where he
remained for some time in silent, prayerful contemplation; he then
begged to be removed to the steps of the high alter, where, having
received the holy viaticum, he suddenly stretched out his arms to
heaven and fell back dead. This event took place on Saturday, the 21st
March, 543, in the 63d year of his age. He was buried by the side of
his sister Scholastica, on the very spot, it is said, where he threw
down the altar of Apollo. In the seventh century, however, some of his
remains were dug up, brought to France, and placed in the Abbey of
Fleury, from which circumstance it took the name of St. Benoit, on the
Loire. After his death his disciples spread themselves abroad over the
continent and founded monasteries of his name and rule. Placidus
became a martyr, and was canonized; Maurus founded a monastery in
France, was also introduced to England, and from his canonized name,
St. Maurus, springs one of the oldest English names--St. Maur,
Seymaur, or Seymour.
Divesting this narrative of its legendary accompaniments, and judging
of St. Benedict, the man, by the subsequent success of his work, and
the influence of his genius upon the whole mechanism of European
monasticism, and even upon the destinies of a later civilization, we
are compelled to admit that he must have been a man whose intellect
and character were far in advance of his age. By instituting the vow
of labor, that peculiarity in his rule which we shall presently
examine more fully, he struck at the root of the evils attending the
monasticism of his times, an evil which would have ruined it as an
institution in the fifth century had he not interposed, and an evil
which in the sixteenth century alone caused its downfall in England.
Before proceeding to examine the rule upon which all the greatness of
the Benedictine order was based, it will be necessary to mention the
two, earliest mission efforts of the order. The first was conducted
under the immediate direction of St. Benedict himself, who in the year
534 sent Placidus, with two others, Gordian and Donatus, into Sicily,
to erect a monastery upon land which Tertullus, the father of
Placidus, had given to St. Benedict. Shortly after the death of the
saint, Innocent, bishop of Mans, in France, sent Flodegarde, his
archdeacon, and Hardegarde, his steward, to ask for the assistance of
some monks of St. Benedict's monastery, for the purpose of introducing
the order into France. St. Maurus was selected for the mission, and,
accompanied by Simplicius, Constantinian, Antony, and Faustus, he set
out from Monte Cassino, and arrived in France the latter end of the
year 543; but to their great consternation, upon reaching Orleans,
they were told that the Bishop of Mans was dead, and another hostile
to their intentions had succeeded him. They then bent their steps
toward Anjou, where they founded the monastery of Glanfeuil, from
whose cloisters issued the founders of nearly all the Benedictine
institutions in France. From these two centres radiated that mighty
influence which we shall now proceed to examine.
As we have in a former paper sketched the internal structure of the
monastery, we will before going further fill each compartment with its
proper officers, people the whole monastery with its subjects, and
then examine the law which kept them together.
The abbot was, of course, the head and ruler of the little kingdom,
and when that officer died the interval between his death and the
installation {158} of his successor was beautifully called the
"widowhood of the monastery." The appointment was considered to rest
with the king, though the Benedictine rule enjoined a previous
election by the monks and then the royal sanction. This election was
conducted in the chapter-house: the prior who acted as abbot daring
the time the mitre was vacant summoned the monks at a certain hour,
the license to elect was then read, the hymn of the Holy Ghost sung,
all who were present and had no vote were ordered to leave, the
license was repeated--three scrutators took the votes separately, and
the chanter declared the result--the monks then lifted up the elect on
their shoulders, and, chanting the _Te Deum_, carried him to the high
altar in the church, where he lay whilst certain prayers were said
over him; they then carried him to the vacant apartments of the late
abbot, which were thrown open, and where he remained in strict
seclusion until the formal and magnificent ceremony of installation
was gone through. In the meantime the aspect of the monastery was
changed, the signs of mourning were laid aside, the bells which had
been silent were once more heard, the poor were again admitted and
received relief, and preparations were at once commenced for the
installation. Outside also there was a commotion, for the peasantry,
and in fact all the neighborhood, joined in the rejoicings. The
immense resources of the refectory were taxed to their utmost, for the
installation of the lord abbot was a feast, and to it were invited all
the nobility and gentry in the neighborhood. On the day of the
ceremony the gate of the great church was thrown open to admit all who
were to witness the solemn ceremony, and, as soon as the bells had
ceased, the procession began to move from the cloisters, headed by the
prior, who was immediately followed by the priest of the divine
office, clad in their gorgeous ceremonial robes; then followed the
monks, in scapulary and cowled tunic, and last of all the lay brethren
and servants; the newly elect and two others who were to officiate in
his installation remained behind, as they were not to appear until
later. The prior then proceeded to say mass, and just before the
gospel was read there was a pause, during which the organ broke out
into strains of triumphant music, and the newly chosen abbot with his
companions were seen to enter the church, and walk slowly up the aisle
toward the altar. As they approached they were met by the prior (or
the bishop, if the abbey were in the jurisdiction of one), who then
read the solemn profession, to which the future abbot responded; the
prior and the elect then prostrated themselves before the high altar,
in which position they remained whilst litanies and prayers were
chanted; after the litany the prior arose, stood on the highest step
of the altar, and whilst all were kneeling in silence pronounced the
words of the benediction; then all arose, and the abbot received from
the hands of the prior the rule of the order and the pastoral staff, a
hymn was sung, and, after the gospel, the abbot communicated, and
retired with his two attendants, to appear again in the formal
ceremony of introduction. During his absence the procession was
re-formed by the chanter, and, at a given signal, proceeded down the
choir to meet the new abbot, who reappeared at the opposite end
bare-footed, in token of humility, and clad no longer in the simple
habit of a monk, but with the abbot's rich dalmatic, the ring on his
finger, and a glittering mitre of silver, ornamented with gold, on his
brow. As soon as he had entered he knelt for a few moments in prayer
upon a carpet, spread on the upper step of the choir; when he arose he
was formally introduced as the lord high abbot, led to his stall, and
seated there with the pastoral staff in his hand. The monks then
advanced, according to {159} seniority, and, kneeling before him, gave
him the kiss of peace, first upon the hand, and afterward, when
rising, upon the month. When this ceremony was over, amid the strains
of the organ and the uplifted voices of the choir, the newly
proclaimed arose, marched through the choir in full robes, and,
carrying the pastoral staff, entered the vestiary, and then proceeded
to divest himself of the emblems of his office. The service was
concluded, the abbot returned to his apartments, the monks to the
cloisters, the guests to prepare for the feast, and the widowhood of
the abbey was over. The sway of the abbot was unlimited--they were all
sworn to obey him implicitly, and he had it in his power to punish
delinquents with penances, excommunication, imprisonment, and in
extreme cases with corporal punishment--he ranked as a peer, was
styled "My Lord Abbot," and in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
kept an equal state and lived as well as the king on the throne: some
of them had the power of conferring the honor of knighthood, and the
monarch himself could not enter the monastery without permission. The
next man in office to the abbot was the prior, [Footnote 33] who, in
the absence of his superior, was invested with full powers; but on
other occasions his jurisdiction was limited--in some monasteries he
was assisted by sub-priors, in proportion to the size of the
institution and number of its inmates.
[Footnote 33: Heads of priories were priors also, but they were
equally subject to their respective abbeys.]
After the prior in rank came the precentor or chanter, an office only
given to a monk who had been brought up in the monastery from a child.
He had the supervision of the choral service, the writing out the
tables of divine service for the monks, the correction of mistakes in
chanting, which he led off from his place in the centre of the choir;
he distributed the robes at festivals, and arranged processions. The
cellarer was intrusted with the food, drink, etc., of the monastery,
also with the mazers or drinking cups of the monks, and all other
vessels used in the cellar, kitchen, and refectory; he had to attend
at the refectory table, and collect the spoons after dinner. The
treasurer had charge of the documents, deeds, and moneys belonging to
the monastery; he received the rents, paid all the wages and expenses,
and kept the accounts. The sacristan's duties were connected with the
church; he had to attend to the altar, to carry a lantern before the
priest, as he went from the altar to the lecturn, to cause the bell to
be rung; he took charge of all the sacred vessels in use, prepared the
host, the wine, and the altar bread. The almoner's duty was to provide
the monks with mats or hassocks for their feet in the church, also
matting in the chapter-house, cloisters, and dormitory stairs; he was
to attend to the poor, and distribute alms amongst them, and in the
winter warm clothes and shoes. After the monks had retired from the
refectory, it was his duty to go round and collect any drink left in
the mazers to be given away to the poor. The kitchener was filled by a
different monk every week in turn, and he had to arrange what food was
to be cooked, go round to the infirmary, visit the sick and provide
for them, and superintend the labors of his assistants. The infirmarer
had care of the sick; it was his office to administer to their wants,
to give them their meals, to sprinkle holy water on their beds every
night after the service of complin. A person was generally appointed
to this duty who, in case of emergency, was competent to receive the
confession of a sick man. The porter was generally a grave monk of
mature age; he had an assistant to keep the gate when he delivered
messages, or was compelled to leave his post. The chamberlain's
business was to look after the beds, bedding, and shaving room, to
attend to the dormitory windows, and to have the chambers swept, and
the straw of the beds changed once every year, and under his {160}
supervision was the tailory, where clothes, etc., were made and
repaired. There were other offices connected with the monastery, but
these were the principal, and next to these came the monks who formed
the convent with the lay brethren and novices. If a child were
dedicated to God by being sent to a monastery, his parents were
required to swear that he would receive no portion of fortune,
directly or indirectly; if a mature man presented himself, he was
required to abandon all his possessions, either to his family or to
the monastery itself, and then to enter as a novitiate. In order to
make this as trying as possible, the Benedictine rule enjoined that no
attention should be at first paid to an applicant, that the door
should not be even opened to him for four or five days, to test his
perseverance. If he continued to knock, then he was to be admitted to
the guests' house, and after more delay to the novitiate, where he was
submitted to instruction and examination. Two months were allowed for
this test, and if satisfactory, the applicant had the rule read to
him, which reading was concluded with the words used by St. Benedict
himself, and already quoted: "This is the law under which thou art to
live, and to strive for salvation. If thou canst observe it, enter; if
not, go in peace, thou art free." The novitiate lasted one year, and
during this time the rule was read and the question put thrice. If at
the end of that time the novice remained firm, he was introduced to
the community in the church, made a declaration of his vows in
writing, placed it on the altar, threw himself at the feet of the
brethren, and from that moment was a monk. The rule which swayed this
mass of life, wherever it existed, in a Benedictine monastery, and
indirectly the monasteries of other orders, which are only
modifications of the Benedictine system, was sketched out by that
solitary hermit of Subiaco. It consists of seventy-three chapters,
which contain a code of laws regulating the duties between the abbot
and his monks, the mode conducting the divine services, the
administration of penalties and discipline, the duties of monks to
each other, and the internal economy of the monastery, the duties of
the institution toward the world outside, the distribution of charity,
the kindly reception of strangers, the laws to regulate the actions of
those who were compelled to be absent or to travel; in fine,
everything which could pertain to the administration of an institution
composed of an infinite variety of characters subjected to one
absolute ruler. It has elicited the admiration of the learned and good
of all subsequent ages. It begins with the simple sentence: "Listen, O
son, to the precepts of the master! Do not fear to receive the counsel
of a good father, and to fulfil it fully, that thy laborious obedience
may lead thee back to him from whom disobedience and weakness have
alienated thee. To thee, whoever thou art, who renouncest thine own
will to fight under the true King, the Lord Jesus Christ, and takest
in hand the valiant and glorious weapons of obedience, are my words at
this moment addressed." The first words, "Ausculta, O fili!" are often
to be seen inscribed on a book placed in the hands of St. Benedict, in
paintings and stained glass. The preamble contains the injunction of
the two leading principles of the rule; all the rest is detail,
marvellously thorough and comprehensive. These two grand principles
were obedience and labor--the former became absorbed in the latter,
for he speaks of that also as a species of labor--"Obedientiae
laborem;" but the latter was the genius, the master-spirit of the
whole code. There was to be labor, not only of contemplation, in the
shape of prayer, worship, and self-discipline, to nurture the soul,
but labor of action, vigorous, healthy, bodily labor, with the pen in
the scriptorium, with the spade in the fields, with the hatchet in the
forest, or with the trowel on the walls. Labor of some sort there must
be daily, but no idleness: that was branded as "the {161} enemy of the
soul"--"Otiositas inimica est animiae." It was enjoined with all the
earnestness of one thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the great
Master, who said, "Work whilst it is yet day, for the night cometh,
when no man shall work;" who would not allow the man he had restored
to come and remain with him--that is, to lead the life of religious
contemplation, but told him to "go home to thy friends, and tell them
how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion
on thee!" That is the life of religious activity. The error of the
early monasticism was the making it solely a life of contemplation.
Religious contemplation and religious activity must go together. In
the contemplation the Christian acquires strength, in the activity he
uses that strength for others; in the activity he is made to feel his
weakness and driven to seek for aid in contemplation and prayer.
But, beside being based upon divine authority and example, this
injunction of labor was formed upon a clear insight into and full
appreciation of one of the most subtle elements of our constitution.
It is this, that without labor no man can live; exist he may, but not
live. This is one of the great mysteries of life--its greatest
mystery; and its most emphatic lesson, which, if men would only learn,
it would be one great step toward happiness, or at least toward that
highest measure of happiness attainable below. If we can only realize
this fact in the profundity of its truth, we shall have at once the
key to half the miseries and anomalies which beset humanity. Passed
upon man, in the first instance, by the Almighty as a curse, yet it
carried in it the germ of a blessing; pronounced upon him as a
sentence of punishment, yet there lurked in the chastisement the
Father's love. Turn where we may, to the pages of bygone history or to
the unwritten page of everyday life, from the gilded saloons of the
noble to the hut of the peasant, we shall find this mysterious law
working out its results with the unerring precision of a fundamental
principle of nature. Where men obey that injunction of labor, no
matter what their station, there is in the act the element of
happiness, and wherever men avoid that injunction there is always the
shadow of the unfulfilled curse darkening their path. This is the
great clue to the balance of compensation between the rich and the
poor. The rich man has no urgent need to labor; his wealth provides
him with the means of escape from the injunction, and there is to be
found in that man's life, unless he, in some way, with his head or
with his hands, works out his measure of the universal task, a
dissonance and a discord, a something which, in spite of all his
wealth and all his luxury, corrupts and poisons his whole existence.
It is a truth which cannot be ignored--no man who has studied life
closely has failed to notice it, and no merely rich man lives who has
not felt it and would not confess to its truth, if the question were
pressed upon him. But in the case of the man who works, there is in
his daily life the element of happiness, cares flee before him, and
all the little caprices and longings of the imagination--those
gad-flies which torment the idle--are to him unknown. He fulfils the
measure of life; and whatever his condition, even if destitute in
worldly wealth, we may be assured that the poor man has great
compensations, and if he sat down with the rich man to count up
grievances would check off a less number than his wealthier brother.
Whatever his position, man should labor diligently; if poor he should
labor and he may become rich, and if rich he should labor still, that
all the evils attendant upon riches may disappear. Pure health steals
over the body, the mind becomes dear, and the little miseries of life,
the petty grievances, the fantastic wants, the morbid jealousies, the
wasting weariness, and the terrible sense of vacuity which haunt {162}
the life of one-half of the rich in the world, all flee before the
talisman of active labor; nor should we be discouraged by failure, for
it is better to fail in action than to do nothing. After all, what is
commonly called failure we shall find to be not altogether such if we
examine more closely. We set out upon some action or engagement, and
after infinite toil we miss the object of that action or engagement,
and they say we have failed; but there is consolation in this
incontrovertible fact, that although we may have missed the particular
object toward which our efforts have been directed, yet we have not
altogether failed. There are many collateral advantages attendant upon
exertion which may even be of greater importance than the attainment
of the immediate object of that exertion, so that it is quite possible
to fail wholly in achieving a certain object and yet make a glorious
success. Half the achievements of life are built up on failures, and
the greater the achievement, the greater evidence it is of persistent
combat with failure. The student devotes his days and nights to some
intellectual investigation, and though he may utterly fail in
attaining to the actual object of that search, yet he may be drawn
into some narrow diverging path in the wilderness of thought which may
lead him gradually away from his beaten track on to the broad open
light of discovery. The navigator goes out on the broad ocean in
search of unknown tracts of land, and though he may return, after long
and fruitless wanderings, yet in the voyages he has made he has
acquired experience, and may, perchance, have learned some fact or
thing which will prove the means of saving him in the hour of danger.
Those great luminaries of the intellectual firmament--men who devoted
their whole lives to investigate, search, study, and think for the
elevation and good of their fellows--have only succeeded after a long
discipline of failure, but by that discipline their powers have been
developed, their capacity of thought expanded, and the experience
gradually acquired which at length brought success. There is, then, no
total failure to honest exertion, for he who diligently labors must in
some way reap. It is a lesson often reiterated in apostolic teaching
that "whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth;" and the truth of that
lesson may be more fully appreciated by a closer contemplation of
life, more especially this phenomenon of life in which we see the
Father's love following close upon the heels of his chastisement. The
man who works lives, but he who works not lives but a dying and a
hopeless life.
That vow of labor infused new vitality into the monks, and instead of
living as they had hitherto done upon the charity of the public, they
soon began not only to support themselves, but to take the poor of
their neighborhood under their own especial protection. Whenever the
Benedictines resolved on building a monastery, they chose the most
barren, deserted spot they could find, often a piece of land long
regarded as useless, and therefore frequently given without a price,
then they set to work, cleared a space for their buildings, laid their
foundations deep in the earth, and by gradual but unceasing toil,
often with their own hands, alternating their labor with their
prayers, they reared up those stately abbeys which still defy the
ravages of age. In process of time the desert spot upon which they had
settled underwent a complete transformation--a little world populous
with busy life sprang up in its midst, and far and near in its
vicinity the briers were cleared away--the hard soil broken
up--gardens and fields laid out, and soon the land, cast aside by its
owners as useless, bore upon its fertile bosom flowers, fruit, corn,
in all the rich exuberance of heaven's blessing upon man's
toil--plenty and peace smiled upon the whole scene--its halls were
vocal with the voice of praise and the incense of charity arose {163}
to heaven from its altars. They came upon the scene poor and
friendless--they made themselves rich enough to become the guardians
of the poor and friendless; and the whole secret of their success, the
magic by which they worked these miracles, was none other than that
golden rule of labor instituted by the penetrating intellect of their
great founder; simple and only secret of all success in this world,
now and ever--work--absolute necessity to real life, and, united with
faith, one of the elements of salvation.
Before we advance to the consideration of the achievements of the
Benedictine order, we wish to call attention to a circumstance which
has seldom, if ever, been dwelt upon by historians, and which will
assist us in estimating the influence of monachism upon the embryo
civilization of Europe.
It is a remarkable fact that two great and renowned phases of life
existed in the world parallel to each other, and went out by natural
decay just at the same period: chivalry and monasticism. The latter
was of elder birth, but as in the reign of Henry VIII. England saw the
last of monasticism, so amid some laughter, mingled with a little
forced seriousness, did she see the man who was overturning that old
system vainly endeavoring to revive the worn-out paraphernalia of
chivalry. The jousts and tournaments of Henry's time were the sudden
flashing up of that once brilliant life, before its utter extinction.
Both had been great things in the world--both had done great things,
and both have left traces of their influence upon modern society and
modern refinement which have not yet been obliterated, and perhaps
never will be. It may then be interesting and instructive if we were
to endeavor to compare the value of each by the work it did in the
world. The origin of monasticism we have already traced; that of
chivalry requires a few comments. Those who go to novels and romances
for their history, have a notion that chivalry existed only in the
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, the periods chosen
for the incidents of those very highly romances which belong
to that order of writing. There is also a notion that it sprang out of
the Crusades, which, instead of being its origin, were rather the
result of the system itself. The real origin of chivalry may be fairly
traced to that period when the great empire of the West was broken up
and subdivided by the barbarians of the North. Upon the ruins of that
empire chivalry arose naturally. The feudal system was introduced,
each petty state had a certain number of vassals, commanded by
different chiefs, on whose estates they lived, and to whom they swore
fealty in return for their subsistence; these again looked up to the
king as head.
By-and-bye, as the new form of life fell into working order, it became
evident that these chiefs, with their vassals, were a power in
themselves, and by combination might interfere with, if not overthrow,
the authority of the king himself. Their continued quarrels amongst
themselves were the only protection the king had against them, but
gradually that ceased, and a time came when there was no occupation
for the superfluous valor of the country; retainers lay about
castleyards in all the mischief of idleness, drunken and clamorous;
the kings not yet firmly seated on their thrones looked about for some
current into which they might divert this dangerous spirit. The
condition of things in the states themselves was bad enough; the laws
were feebly administered; it was vain for injured innocence to appeal
against the violence of power; the sword was the only lawgiver, and
strength the only opinion. Women were violated with impunity, houses
burned, herds stolen, and even blood shed without any possibility of
redress for the injured. This state of things was the foundation of
chivalry. {164} Instinctively led, or insidiously directed to it,
strong men began to take upon themselves the honor of redressing
grievances, the injured woman found an armed liberator springing up in
her defence, captives were rescued by superior force, injuries
avenged, and the whole system--by the encouragement of the petty kings
who saw in this rising feeling a vent for the idle valor they so much
dreaded--soon consolidated itself, was embellished and made attractive
by the charm of gallantry, and the rewards accorded to the successful
by the fair ladies who graced the courts. Things went on well, and
that dangerous spirit which threatened to overturn royalty now became
its greatest ornament. In process of time it again outgrew its work,
and with all the advantages of organization and flatteries of success,
it once more became the tenor of the crowned heads of Europe. At this
crisis, however, an event occurred which, in all probability, though
it drained Europe of half her manhood, saved her from centuries of
bloodshed and anarchy; that event was the banishment of the Christians
and the taking of Jerusalem by the Saracens. Here was a grand field
for the display of chivalry. Priestly influence was brought to bear
upon the impetuous spirits of these chevaliers, religious fervor was
aroused, and the element of religious enthusiasm infused into the
whole organization; fair ladies bound the cross upon the breasts of
their champions, and bid them go and fight under the banners of the
Mother of God. The whole continent fired up under the preaching of
Peter the Hermit; all the rampant floating chivalry of Europe was
aroused, flocked to the standards of the church, and banded themselves
together in favor of this Holy War; whilst the Goth, the Vandal, and
the Lombard, sitting on their tottering thrones, encouraged by every
means in their power this diversion of the prowess they had so much
dreaded, and began to see in the troubles of Eastern Christianity a
fitting point upon which to concentrate the fighting material of
Europe out of their way until their own position was more thoroughly
consolidated. The Crusades, however, came to an end in time, and
Europe was once more deluged with bands of warriors who came trooping
home from Eastern climes changed with new ideas, new traditions, and
filled with martial ardor. But now the Goth, the Vandal, and the
Lombard had made their position secure, and the knights and chieftains
fell back naturally upon their old pursuit of chivalry, took up arms
once more in defence of the weak and injured against the strong and
oppressive. That valor which had fought foot to foot with the swarthy
Saracen, had braved the pestilence of Eastern climes and the horrors
of Eastern dungeons, soon enlisted itself in the more peaceable lists
of the joust and tournament, and went forth under the inspiration of a
mistress's love-knot to do that work which we material moderns consign
to the office of a magistrate and the arena of a quarter sessions.
It was in this later age of chivalry, when the religious element had
blended with it, and it was dignified with the traditions of religious
championship, that the deeds were supposed to be done which form the
subject of those wonderful romances;--that was more properly the
perfection of the institution; its origin lay, as we have seen, much
further back.
As regards the difference between the work and influence of chivalry
and monasticism, it is the same which always must exist between the
physical and the moral--the one was a material and the other was a
spiritual force. The orders of chivalry included all the physical
strength of the country, its active material; but the monastery
included all its spiritual power and thinking material. Chivalry was
the instrument by which mighty deeds were done, but the intellect
which guided, directed, and in {165} fact used that instrument was
developed and matured in the seclusion of the cloister. By the
adoption of a stringent code of honor as regards the plighted word,
and a gallant consideration toward the vanquished and weak, chivalry
did much toward the refinement of social intercommunication and
assuaging the atrocities of warfare. By the adoption, also, of a
gentle bearing and respectful demeanor toward the opposite sex, it
elevated woman from the obscurity in which she lay, and placed her in
a position where she could exercise her softening influence upon the
rude customs of a half-formed society; but we must not forget that the
gallantry of chivalry was, after all, but a glossing over with the
splendors of heroism the excrescences of a gross licentiousness--a
licentiousness which mounted to its crisis in the polished gallantry
of the court of Louis XIV. Monasticism did more for woman than
chivalry. It was all very well for _preux chevaliers_ to go out and
fight for the honor of a woman's name whom they had never seen; but we
find that when they were brought into contact with woman they behaved
with like ruthless violence to her whatever her station may have
been--no matter whether she was the pretty daughter of the herdsman,
or the wife of some neighboring baron, she was seized by violence,
carried off to some remote fortress, violated and abandoned.
Monasticism did something better, it provided her when she was no
longer safe, either in the house of her father or her husband, with an
impregnable shelter against the licentious pursuit of these _preux
chevaliers_; it gave her a position in the church equal to their own;
she might become the prioress or the lady abbess of her convent; she
was no longer the sport and victim of chivalrous licentiousness, but a
pure and spotless handmaiden of the Most High--a fellow-servant in the
church, where she was honored with equal position and rewarded with
equal dignities--a far better thing this than chivalry, which broke
skulls in honor of her name, whilst it openly violated the sanctity of
her person. It may be summed up in a sentence. Monasticism worked long
and silently at the foundation and superstructure of society, whilst
chivalry labored at its decoration.
When we mention the fact that the history of the mere literary
achievements of the Benedictine order fills four large quarto volumes,
printed in double columns, it will be readily understood how
impossible it is to give anything like an idea of its general work in
the world in the space of a short summary. That book, written by
Zeigelbauer, and called "Historia Rei Literariae Ordinis Sancti
Benedicti," contains a short biography of every monk belonging to that
order who had distinguished himself in the realms of literature,
science, and art. Then comes Don Johannes Mabillon with his ponderous
work, "Acta Sanctorum Ordinis Sancti Benedicti." These two authorities
gave a minute history of that marvellous institution, of whose glories
we can only offer a faint outline.
The Benedictines, after the death of their founder, steadily
prospered, and as they prospered, sent out missionaries to preach the
truth amongst the nations then plunged in the depths of paganism. It
has been estimated that they were the means of converting upwards of
thirty countries and provinces to the Christian faith. They were the
first to overturn the altars of the heathen deities in the north of
Europe; they carried the cross into Gaul, into Saxony and Belgium;
they placed that cross between the abject misery of serfdom and the
cruelty of feudal violation; between the beasts of burden and the
beasts of prey--they proclaimed the common kinship of humanity in
Christ the Elder Brother.
Strange to say, some of its most distinguished missionaries were
natives of our own country. It was a {166} Scottish monk, St. Ribanus,
who first preached the gospel in Franconia--it was an English monk,
St. Wilfred, who did the same in Friesland and Holland in the year
683, but with little success--it was an Englishman, St. Swibert, who
carried the cross to Saxony, and it was from the lips of another
Englishman, St. Ulfred, that Sweden first heard the gospel--it was an
Englishman and a Devonshire man, St. Boniface, who laid aside his
mitre, put on his monk's dress, converted Germany to the truth, and
then fell a victim to the fury of the heathen Frieslanders, who
slaughtered him in cold blood. Four Benedictine monks carried the
light of truth into Denmark, Sweden, and Gothland, sent there in the
ninth century by the Emperor Ludovicus Pius. Gascony, Hungary,
Lithuania, Russia, Pomerania, are all emblazoned on their banners as
victories won by them in the fight of faith; and it was to the
devotion of five martyr monks, who fell in the work, that Poland
traces the foundation of her church.
It is a remarkable fact in the history of Christianity, that in its
earliest stage--the first phase of its existence--its tendency was to
elevate peasants to the dignity of apostles, but in its second stage
it reversed its operations and brought kings from their thrones to the
seclusion of the cloister--humbled the great ones of the earth to the
dust of penitential humility. Up to the fourth century Christianity
was a terrible struggle against principalities and powers: then a time
came when principalities and powers humbled themselves at the foot of
that cross whose followers they had so cruelly persecuted. The
innumerable martyrdoms of the first four centuries of its career were
followed by a long succession of' royal humiliations, for, during the
sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, in addition to what took
place as regards other orders, no less than ten emperors and twenty
kings resigned their crowns and became monks of the Benedictine order
alone. Amongst this band of great ones the most conspicuous are the
Emperors Anastasius, Theodosius, Michael, Theophilus, and Ludovicus
Pius. Amongst the kings are Sigismund of Burgundy, Cassimir of Poland,
Bamba of Spain, Childeric and Theodoric of France, Sigisbert of
Northumberland, Ina of the West Saxons, Veremunde of Castille, Pepin
of Italy, and Pipin of Acquitaine. Adding to these their subsequent
acquisitions, the Benedictines claim up to the 14th. century the honor
of enrolling amongst their number twenty emperors and forty-seven
kings: twenty sons of emperors and forty-eight sons of kings--amongst
whom were Drogus, Pipin, and Hugh, sons of Charlemagne; Lothair and
Carlomen, sons of Charles; and Fredericq, son of Louis III. of France.
As nuns of their order they have had no less than ten empresses and
fifty queens, including the Empresses Zoa Euphrosyne, St. Cunegunda,
Agnes, Augusta, and Constantina; the Queens Batilda of France, Elfreda
of Northumberland, Sexburga of Kent, Ethelberga of the West Saxons,
Ethelreda of Mercia, Ferasia of Toledo, Maud of England. In the year
1290 the Empress Elizabeth took the veil with her daughters Agnes,
queen of Hungary, and the Countess Cueba; also Anne, queen of Poland,
and Cecily, her daughter. In the wake of these crowned heads follow
more than one hundred princesses, daughters of kings and emperors.
Five Benedictine nuns have attained literary distinction--Rosinda, St.
Elizabeth, St. Hildegardis, whose works were approved of by the
Council of Treves, St. Hiltrudis, and St. Metilda.
For the space of 239 years 1 month and 26 days the Benedictines
governed the church in the shape of 48 popes chosen from their order,
most prominent among whom was Gregory the Great, through whose means
the rule was introduced into England. Four of these pontiffs came from
the original {167} monastery of Monte Cassino, and three of them
quitted the throne and resumed the monastic life--Constantine II.,
Christopher I., and Gregory XII. Two hundred cardinals had been monks
in their cloisters--they produced 7,000 archbishops, 15,000 bishops,
fifteen of whom took off their mitres, resumed their monks' frock, and
died in seclusion; 15,000 abbots; 4,000 saints. They established in
different countries altogether 87,000 monasteries, which sent out into
the world upwards of 15,700 monks, all of whom attained distinction as
authors of books or scientific inventors. Rabanus established the
first school in Germany. Alcuin founded the University of Paris, where
30,000 students were educated at one time, and whence issued, to the
honor of England, St. Thomas a Becket, Robert of Melun, Robert White,
made cardinal by Celestine II., Nicholas Broakspear, the only
Englishman ever made Pope, who filled the chair under the title of
Adrian IV., and John of Salisbury, whose writings give us the best
description of the learning both of the university and the times.
Theodore and Adrian, two Benedictine monks, revived the University of
Oxford, which Bede, another of the order, considerably advanced. It
was in the obscurity of a Benedictine monastery that the musical scale
or gamut--the very alphabet of the greatest refinement of modern
life--was invented, and Guido d'Arezzo, who wrested this secret from
the realms of sound, was the first to found a school of music.
Sylvester invented the organ, and Dionysius Exiguus perfected the
ecclesiastical computation.
England in the early periods of her history contributed upwards of a
hundred sons to this band of immortals, the most distinguished of whom
we will just enumerate--St. Cuthbert, bishop of Lindisfarne, whose
life Bede has written, and whose "Ordinationes" and "De Vita
Monastica" have reached to our times. St. Benedict Biscop, the founder
of the monasteries of St. Peter and St. Paul, at Wearmouth and Jarrow,
a nobleman by birth, and a man of extraordinary learning and ability,
to whom England owes the training of the father of her ecclesiastical
history, the Venerable Bede. St. Aldhelm, nephew of King Ina, St.
Wilfrid, St Brithwald, a monk of Glastonbury, elevated to the dignity
of Archbishop of Canterbury, which he held over thirty-seven years.
His works which have come down to us are a "Life of St. Egwin, bishop
of Worcester," and the "Origin of the Monastery of Evesham." Tatwin,
who succeeded him in the archbishopric. Bede the Venerable, who was
skilled in all the learning of the times, and; in addition to Latin
and Greek, was versed in Hebrew; he wrote an immense number of works,
many of which are lost, but the best known are the greater portion of
the "Saxon Chronicle," which was continued after his death as a
national record; and his "Ecclesiastical History," which gives to
England a more compendious and valuable account of her early church
than has fallen to the lot of any other nation. He was also one of the
earliest translators of the Scriptures, and oven on his death-bed
dictated to a scribe almost up to the final moment; when the last
struggle came upon him he had reached as far as the words, "But what
are they among so many," in the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel,
and the ninth verse. St. Boniface, already alluded to as the apostle
of Germany, was a native of Devonshire. He was made Archbishop of
Mentz, but being possessed with an earnest longing to convert the
heathen Frieslanders, he retired from his archbishopric, and putting
on his monk's dress took with him no other treasure than a book he was
very fond of reading, called "De Bono Mortis," went amongst these
people, who cruelly beat him to death in the year 755; and the book
stained with his blood {168} was cherished as a sacred relic long
after. Alcuin, whom we have already mentioned as the founder of the
University of Paris, was a Yorkshireman, and was educated under Bede.
He lived to become the friend of Charlemagne, and next to his
venerable master was the greatest scholar and divine in Europe; he
died about the year 790. John Asser, a native of Pembrokeshire, is
another of these worthies. It is supposed that Alfred endowed Oxford
with professors, and settled stipends upon them, under his influence,
he being invited to the court of that monarch for his great learning.
He wrote a "Commentary" upon Boethius de Consolatione Philosophiae,
the "Life of King Alfred," and the "Annals of Great Britain." St.
Dunstan, a monk of Glastonbury, the best known of all these great
Englishmen, died Archbishop of Canterbury; but as we shall have much
to say of him hereafter we pass on to St. Ethelwold, his pupil, also a
monk at Glastonbury, distinguished for his learning and piety, for
which he was made abbot of the Monastery of Abingdon, where he died in
the year 984. Ingulphus, a native of London, was made Abbot of
Croyland, in Lincolnshire, in the year 1075. A history of the abbey
over which he presided has been attributed to him, but its
authenticity has been gravely disputed. Alfric, a noted grammarian.
Florence, of Worcester, was another great annalist, who in his
"Chronicon ex Chronici" brings the history down to the year 1119, that
in which he died; his book is chiefly valuable as a key to the "Saxon
Chronicle." William, the renowned monk of Malmesbury, the most elegant
of all the monastic Latinists, was born about the time of the Norman
Conquest. His history consists of two parts, the "Gesta Regum
Anglorum," in five books, including the period between the arrival of
the Saxons and the year 1120. The "Historia Novella," in three books,
brings it down to the year 1142. He ranks next to Bede as an historic
writer, most of the others being mere compilers and selectors from
extant chronicles. He also wrote a work on the history of the English
bishops, called "De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum," in which he speaks
out fearlessly and without sparing: also a treatise on the antiquity
of Glastonbury Abbey, "De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae;" his
style is most interesting, and he is supposed to have written
impartially, separating the improbable from the real, and gives us
what can readily be appreciated as a fair and real picture of the
state of things, more especially of the influence and policy of the
Norman court, and the opening of the struggle between the two races.
Eadmer was another contemporaneous celebrity with William of
Malmesbury; he was the author of a history of his own times, called
"Historia Novorum sive Sui Secula," which is spoken of very highly by
William of Malmesbury; it contains the reigns of William the Conqueror
and Rufus, and a portion of that of Henry I., embracing a period
extending from 1066 to 1122. Matthew Paris, another historian who
lived about the year 1259, closes our selection from the long list of
British worthies who were members of the Benedictine order.
When we reflect that all the other monastic systems, not only of the
past, but even of the present day, are but modifications of this same
rule, and that it emanated from the brain, and is the embodiment of
the genius of the solitary hermit of Monte Cassino, we are lost in
astonishment at the magnitude of the results which have sprung from so
simple an origin. That St. Benedict had any presentiment of the future
glory of his order, there is no sign in his rule or his life. He was a
great and good man, and he produced that comprehensive rule simply for
the guidance of his own immediate followers, without a thought beyond.
But it was blessed, {169} and grew and prospered mightily in the
world. He has been called the Moses of a favored people; and the
comparison is not inapt, for he lead his order on up to the very
borders of the promised country, and after his death, which, like that
of Moses, took place within sight of their goal, they fought their way
through the hostile wilds of barbarism, until those men who had
conquered the ancient civilizations of Europe lay at their feet, bound
in the fetters of spiritual subjection to the cross of Christ. The
wild races of Scandinavia came pouring down upon southern Europe in
one vast march of extermination, slaying and destroying as they
advanced, sending before them the terror of that doom which might be
seen in the desolation which lay behind them; but they fell,
vanquished by the power of the army of God, who sallied forth in turn
to reconquer the world, and fighting not with the weapons of fire and
sword, but, like Christian soldiers, girt about with truth, and having
on the breastplate of righteousness, they subdued these wild races,
who had crushed the conquerors of the earth, and rested not until they
had stormed the stronghold, and planted the cross triumphantly upon
the citadel of an ancient paganism. Time rolled on, and the gloom of a
long age of darkness fell upon a world whose glory lay buried under
Roman ruins. Science had gone, literature had vanished, art had flown,
and men groped about in vain in that dense darkness for one ray of
hope to cheer them in their sorrow. The castle of the powerful baron
rose gloomily above them, and with spacious moat, dense walls, and
battlemented towers, frowned ominously upon the world which lay abject
at its feet. In slavery men were born, and in slavery they lived. They
pandered to the licentiousness and violence of him who held their
lives in his hands, and fed them only to fight and fail at his
bidding. But far away from the castle there arose another building,
massive, solid, and strong, not frowning with battlemented towers, nor
isolated by broad moats; but with open gates, and a hearty welcome to
all comers, stood the monastery, where lay the hope of humanity, as in
a safe asylum. Behind its walls was the church, and clustered around
it the dwelling-places of those who had left the world, and devoted
their lives to the service of that church, and the salvation of their
souls. Far and near in its vicinity the land bore witness to assiduous
culture and diligent care, bearing on its fertile bosom the harvest
hope of those who had labored, which the heavens watered, the sun
smiled upon, and the winds played over, until the heart of man
rejoiced, and all nature was big with the promise of increase. This
was the refuge to which religion and art had fled. In the quiet
seclusion of its cloisters science labored at its problems and
perpetuated its results, uncheered by applause and stimulated only by
the pure love of the pursuit. Art toiled in the church, and whole
generations of busy fingers worked patiently at the decoration of the
temple of the Most High. The pale, thoughtful monk, upon whose brow
genius had set her mark, wandered into the calm retirement of the
library, threw back his cowl, buried himself in the study of
philosophy, history, or divinity, and transferred his thoughts to
vellum, which was to moulder and waste in darkness and obscurity, like
himself in his lonely monk's grave, and be read only when the spot
where he labored should be a heap of ruins, and his very name a
controversy amongst scholars.
We should never lose sight of this truth, that in this building, when
the world was given up to violence and darkness, was garnered up the
hope of humanity; and these men who dwelt there in contemplation and
obscurity were its faithful guardians--and this was more particularly
the case with that great order whose foundation we {170} have been
examining. The Benedictines were the depositaries of learning and the
arts; they gathered books together, and reproduced them in the silence
of their cells, and they preserved in this way not only the volumes of
sacred writ, but many of the works of classic lore. They started
Gothic architecture--that matchless union of nature with art--they
alone had the secrets of chemistry and medical science; they invented
many colors; they were the first architects, artists, glass-stainers,
carvers, and mosaic workers in mediaeval times. They were the original
illuminators of manuscripts, and the first transcribers of books; in
fine, they were the writers, thinkers, and workers of a dark age, who
wrote for no applause, thought with no encouragement, and worked for
no reward. Their power, too, waxed mighty; kings trembled before their
denunciations of tyranny, and in the hour of danger fled to their
altars for safety; and it was an English king who made a pilgrimage to
their shrines, and prostrate at the feet of five Benedictine monks,
bared his back, and submitted himself to be scourged as a penance to
his crimes.
Nearly fourteen hundred years have rolled by since the great man who
founded this noble order died; and he who in after years compiled the
"Saxon Chronicle" has recorded it in a simple sentence, which, amongst
the many records of that document, we may at least believe, and with
which we will conclude the chapter--"This year St. Benedict the Abbot,
father of all monks, went to heaven."
------
From The Month.
SAINTS OF THE DESERT,
BY THE REV. J. H. NEWMAN, D.D.
1. Some old men came to Abbot Antony, who, to try their spirits,
proposed to them a difficult passage of Scripture.
As each in turn did his best to explain it, Antony said: "You have not
hit it."
Till Abbot Joseph said: "I give it up."
Then cried Antony: "_He_ has hit it; for he owns he does not know it."
2. When the Abbot Arsenius was at the point of death, his brethren
noted that he wept. They said then: "Is it so? art thou too afraid, O
father?"
He answered: "It is so; and the fear that is now upon me has been with
me ever since I became a monk."
And so he went to sleep.
3. Abbot Pastor said: "We cannot keep out bad thoughts, as we cannot
stop the wind rushing through the door; but we can resist them when
they come."
4. Abbot Besarion said, when he was dying: "A monk ought to be all
eye, as the cherubim and seraphim."
5. They asked Abbot Macarius how they ought to pray.
The old man made answer: "No need to be voluble in prayer; but stretch
forth thy hands frequently, and say, 'Lord, as thou wilt, and as thou
knowest, have mercy on me.' And if war is coming on, say, 'Help!' And
he who himself knoweth what is expedient for thee, will show thee
mercy."
6. On a festival, when the monks were at table, one cried out to the
servers, "_I_ eat nothing dressed, so bring me some salt."
Blessed Theodore made reply: "My brother, better were it to have even
secretly eaten flesh in thy cell than thus loudly to have refused it."
7. An old man said: "A monk's cell is that golden Babylonian furnace
in which the Three Children found the Son of God."
------
{171}
[ORIGINAL]
CHRISTINE:
A TROUBADOUR'S SONG,
IN FIVE CANTOS.
BY GEORGE H. MILES. [Footnote 34]
[Footnote 34: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year
1886, by Lawrence Kehoe, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court
of the United States for the Southern District of New York.]
(Continued)
THE THIRD SONG.
I.
Fronting the vine-clad Hermitage,--
Its hoary turrets mossed with age,
Its walls with flowers and grass o'ergrown,--
A ruined Castle, throned so high
Its battlements invade the sky,
Looks down upon the rushing Rhone.
From its tall summits you may see
The sunward <DW72>s of Cote Rotie
With its red harvest's revelry;
While eastward, midway to the Alpine snows,
Soar the sad cloisters of the Grande Chartreuse.
And here, 'tis said, to hide his shame,
The thrice accursed Pilate came;
And here the very rock is shown.
Where, racked and riven with remorse,
Mad with the memory of the Cross,
He sprang and perished in the Rhone.
'Tis said that certain of his race
Made this tall peak their dwelling place.
And built them there this castle keep
To mark the spot of Pilate's leap.
{172}
Full many the tale of terror told
At eve, with changing cheek,
By maiden fair and stripling bold,
Of these dark keepers of the height
And, most of all, of the Wizard Knight,
The Knight of Pilate's Peak.
His was a name of terror known
And feared through all Provence;
Men breathed it in an undertone.
With quailing eye askance,
Till the good Dauphin of Vienne,
And Miolan's ancient Lord,
One midnight stormed the robber den
And gave them to the sword;
All save the Wizard Knight, who rose
In a flame-wreath from his dazzled foes;
All save a child, with golden hair.
Whom the Lord of Miolan deigned to spare
In ruth to womanhood,
And she, alas, is the maiden fair
Who wept in the walnut wood.
But who is he, with step of fate,
Goes gloomily through the castle gate
In me morning's virgin prime?
Why scattereth he with frenzied hand
The fierce flame of that burning brand,
Chaunting an ancient rhyme?
The eagle, scared from her blazing nest,
Whirls with a scream round his sable crest.
What muttereth he with demon smile.
Shaking his mailed hand the while
Toward the Chateau of La Sone,
Where champing steed and bannered tent
Gave token of goodly tournament,
And the Golden Dolphin shone?
"Woe to the last of the Dauphin's line,
When the eagle shrieks and the red lights shine
Bound the towers of Pilate's Peak!
Burn, beacon, burn!"--and as he spoke
From the ruined towers curled the pillared smoke,
As the light flame leapt from the ancient oak
And answered the eagle's shriek.
Man and horse down the hillside sprang
And a voice through the startled forest rang--
"I ride, I ride to win my bride.
Ho, Eblis! to thy servants side;
Thou hast sworn no foe
Shall lay me low
Till the dead in arms against me ride."
{173}
II.
Deliciously, deliciously
Cometh the dancing dawn,
Christine, Christine comes with it,
Leading in the morn.
Beautiful pair!
So cometh the fawn
Before the deer.
Christine is in her bower
Beside the swift Isere
Weaving a white flower
With her dark brown hair.
Never, O never,
Wandering river.
Though flowing for ever,
E'er shalt thou mirror
Maiden so fair!
Hail to thee, hail to thee,
Beautiful one;
Maiden to match thee,
On earth there is none.
And there is none to tell
How beautiful thou art:
Though oft the first Rudel
Has made the Princes start,
When he has strung his harp and sung
The Lily of Provence,
Till the high halls have rung
With clash of lifted lance
Vowed to the young
Christine of France.
Ah, true that he might paint
The blooming of thy cheek.
The blue vein's tender streak
On marble temple faint;
Lips in whose repose
Ruby weddeth rose.
Lips that parted show
Ambushed pearl below:
Or he may catch the subtle glow
Of smiles as rare as sweet,
May whisper of the drifted snow
Where throat and bosom meet.
And of the dark brown braids that flow
So grandly to thy feet.
Ah, true that he may sing
Thy wondrous mien.
{174}
Stately as befits a queen,
Yet light and lithe and all awing
As becometh Queen of air
Who glideth unstepping everywhere.
And he might number e'en
The charms that haunt the drapery--
Charms that, ever changing, cluster
Round thy milk-white mantle's lustre,--
Maiden mantle that is part of thee.
Maiden mantle that doth circle thee
With the snows of virgin grace;
Halo-like around thee wreathing,
Spirit-like about thee breathing
The glory of thy face.
But these dark eyes, Christine?
Peace, poet, peace,
Cease, minstrel, cease!
But these dear eyes, Christine?
Mute, O mute
Be voice and lute!
O dear dark eyes that seem to dwell
With holiest things invisible,
Who may read your oracle?
Earnest eyes that seem to rove
Empyrean heights above,
Yet aglow with human love.
Who may speak your spell?
Dear dark eyes that beam and bless,
In whose luminous caress
Nature weareth bridal dress,--
Eyes of voiceless Prophetess,
Your meanings who may tell!
O there is none!
Peace, poet, peace.
Cease, minstrel, cease,
For there is none!
O eyes of fire without desire,
O stars that lead the sun!
But minstrel cease,
Peace, poet, peace.
Tame Troubadour be still;
Voice and lute
Alike be mute,
It passeth all your skill!
Sooth thou art fair,
O ladye dear.
Yet one may see
The shadow of the east in thee;
{175}
Tinting to a riper flush
The faint vermilion of thy blush;
Deepening in thy dark brown hair
Till sunshine sleeps in starlight there.
For she had scarce seen summers ten,
When erst the Hermit's call
Sent all true Knights from bower and hall
Against the Saracen.
Young, motherless, and passing fair,
The Dauphin durst not leave her there,
Within his castle lone,
To kinsman's cold or casual care,
Not such as were his own:
And so the sweet Provencal maid
Shared with her sire the first Crusade.
And you may hear her oft,
In accents strangely soft.
Still singing of the rose's bloom
In Sharon,--of the long sunset
That gilds lamenting Olivet,
Of eglantines that grace the gloom
Of sad Gethsemane;
And of a young Knight ever seen
In evening walks along the green
That fringes feeble Siloe.
Young, beautiful, and passing fair--
The ancient Dauphin's only heir,
The fairest flower of France,--
Knights by sea and Knights by land
Came to claim the fair white hand,
With sigh and suppliant lance;
And many a shield
Displayed afield
The Lily of Provence.
Ladye love of prince and bard
Yet to one young Savoyard
Swerveless faith she gave--
To the young knight ever seen
When moonlight wandered o'er the green
That gleams o'er Siloe's wave.
And he, blest boy, where lingers he?
For the Dauphin hath given slow consent
That, after a joyous tournament,
The stately spousals shall be.
Christine is in her bower
That blooms by the swift Isere,
Twining a white flower
With her dark brown hair.
{176}
The skies of Provence
Are bright with her glance,
And nature's matin organ floods
The world with music from the myriad throats
Of the winged Troubadours, whose joyous notes
Brighten the rolling requiem of the woods.
With melody, flowers, and light
Hath the maiden come to play,
As fragile, fair, and bright
And lovelier than they?
O no, she has come to her bower
That blooms by the dark Isere
For the bridegroom who named the first hour
Of day-dawn to meet her there:
But the bridal morn on the hills is born
And the bridegroom is not here.
Hie thee hither, Savoyard,
On such an errand youth rides hard.
Never knight so dutiful
Maiden failed so beautiful:
And she in such sweet need,
And he so bold and true!--
She will watch by the long green avenue
Till it quakes to the tramp of his steed;
Till it echoes the neigh of the gallant Grey
Spurred to the top of his speed.
In the dark, green, lonely avenue
The Ladye her love-watch keepeth,
Listening so close that she can hear
The very dripping of the dew
Stirred by the worm as it creepeth;
Straining her ear
For her lover's coming
Till his steed seems near
In the bee's far humming.
She stands in the silent avenue,
Her back to a cypress tree;
O Savoyard once bold and true,
Late bridegroom, where canst thou be?
Hark! o'er the bridge that spans the river
There cometh a clattering tread,
Never was shaft from mortal quiver
Ever so swiftly sped.
Onward the sound,
Bound after, bound,
Leapeth along the tremulous ground.
{177}
From the nodding forest darting.
Leaves, like water, round them parting.
Up the long green avenue,
Horse and horseman buret in view.
Marry, what ails the bridegroom gay
That he strideth a coal black steed,
Why cometh he not on the gallant Grey
That never yet failed him at need?
Gone is the white plume, that clouded his crest,
And the love-scarf that lightly lay over his breast;
Dark is his shield as the raven's wing
To the funeral banquet hurrying.
Came ever knight in such sad array
On the merry morn of his bridal day?
The Ladye trembles, and well she may;
Saints, you would think him a fiend astray.
A plunge, a pause, and, fast beside her.
Stand the sable horse and rider.
Alas, Christine, this shape of wrath
In Palestine once crossed thy path;
His arm around thy waist, I trow,
To bear thee to his saddle-bow.
But thy Savoyard was there.
In time to save, tho' not to smite,
For the demon fled into the night
From Miolan's matchless heir.
Alas, Christine, that lance lies low--
Lies low on oaken bier!
Low bent the Wizard, till his plume
O'ershadowed her like falling doom:
She feels the cold casque touch her ear,
She hears the whisper, hollow, clear,--
"From Acre's strand, from Holy Land,
O'er mountain crag, through desert sand,
By land, by sea, I come for thee.
And mine ere sunset shalt thou be!
Dost know me, girl?"
The visor raises--
God, 'tis the Knight of Pilate's Peak!
As if in wildered dream she gazes,
Gazing as one who strives to shriek.
She cannot fly, or speak, or stir,
For that face of horror glares, at her
Like a phantom fresh from hell.
She gave no answer, she made no moan;
Mute as a statue overthrown.
Her fair face cold as carved stone,
Swooning the maiden fell.
{178}
The sun has climbed the golden hills
And danceth down with the mountain rills.
Over the meadow the swift beams run
Lifting the flowers, one by one,
Sipping their chalices dry as they pass,
And kissing the beads from the bending grass.
The Dauphin's chateau, grand and grey,
Glows merrily in the risen day;
His castle that seemeth ancient as earth,
Lights up like an old man in his mirth.
Through the forest old, the sunbeams bold
Their glittering revel keep,
Till, in arrowy gold, on the chequered wold
In glancing lines they sleep.
And one sweet beam hath found its way
To the violet bank where the Ladye lay.
O radiant touch! perchance so shone
The hand that woke the widow's son.
She sighs, she stirs; the death-swoon breaks;
Life slowly fires those pallid lips;
And feebly, painfully, she wakes,
Struggling through that dark eclipse.
Breathing fresh of Alpine snows,
Breathing sweets of summer rose.
Murmuring songs of soft repose,
The south wind on her bosom blows:
But she heeds it not, she hears it not;
Fast she sits with steady stare.
The dew-drops heavy on her hair,
Her fingers clasped in dumb despair,
Frozen to the spot:
While o'er her fierce and fixed as fate,
The fiend on his spectral war-horse sate.
A horrible smile through the visor broke,
And, quoth he,
"I but watched till my Ladye woke.
Get thee a flagon of Shiraz wine,
For the lips must be red that answer mine!"
Cleaving the woods, like the wind he went.
His face o'er his shoulder backward bent,
Crying thrice--"We shall meet at the Tournament!"
Clasping the cypress overhead,
Christine rose from her fragrant bed.
And a prayer to Mother Mary sped.
Hold not those gleaming skies for her
The same unfailing Comforter?
And those two white winged cherubim,
She once had seen, when Christmas hymn
Chimed with the midnight mass,
Scattering light through the chapel dim,
Alive in me stained glass--
{179}
What fiend could harm a hair of her.
While those arching-wings took care of her?
And our Ladye, Maid divine,
Mother round whose marble shrine
She wreathed the rose of Palestine
So many sinless years,
Will not heaven's maiden-mother Queen
Regard her daughter's tears!
Yes!--through the forest stepping slow,
Tranquil mistress of her woe,
Goeth the calm Christine;
And but for yonder spot of snow
Upon each temple, none may know
How stem a storm hath been.
For never dawned a brighter day,
And the Ladye smileth on her way,
Greeting the blue-eyed morn at play
With earth in her spangled green.
A single cloud
Stole like a shroud
Forth from the fading mists that hid
The crest of each Alpine pyramid;
Unmovingly it lingers over
The mountain castle of her lover;
While over Pilate's Peak
Hangs the grey pall of the sullen smoke,
Leaps the lithe flame of the ancient oak
And the eagle soars with a shriek.
Full well she knew the curse was near.
But that heart of hers had done with fear.
By St. Antoine, not steadier stands
Mont Blanc's white head in winter's whirl
Than that calm, fearless, smiling girl
With her bare brow upturned and firmly folded hands.
Back to her bower so fair
Christine her way, is wending;
Over the dark Isere
Silently she's bending,
Thus communing with the stream.
As one who whispers in a dream:
"Waters that at sunset ran
Round the Mount of Miolan;
Stream, that binds my love to me,
Whisper where that lover be;
Wavelets mine, what evil things
Mingle with your murmurings;
Tell me, ere ye glide away.
Wherefore doth the bridegroom stay?
Hath the fiend of Pilate's Peak
Met him, stayed him, slain him--speak!
{180}
Speak the worst a Bride may know,
God hath armed my soul for woe;
Touching heaven, the virgin snow
Is firmer than the rock below.
Lies my love upon his bier,
Answer, answer, dark Isere!
Hark, to the low voice of the river
Singing '_Thy love is lost for ever!_'
Weep with all thy icy fountains,
"Weep, ye cold, uncaring mountains,
I have not a tea!
Stream, that parts my love from me,
Bear this bridal rose with thee;
Bear it to the happy hearted,
Christine and all the flowers have parted!"
They are coming from the castle,
A bevy of bright-eyed girls,
Some with their long locks braided,
Some with loose golden curls.
Merrily 'mid the meadows
They win their wilful way;
Winding through sun and shadow,
Rivulets at play.
Brows with white rosebuds blowing,
Necks with white pearl entwined.
Gowns whose white folds imprison
Wafts of the wandering wind.
The boughs of the charmed woodland
Sing to the vision sweet.
The daisies that crouch in the clover
Nod to their twinkling feet.
They see Christine by the river,
And, deeming the bridegroom near,
They wave her a dewy rose-wreath
Fresh plucked for her dark brown hair.
Hand in hand tripping to meet her,
Birdlike they carol their joy.
Wedding soft Provencal numbers
To a dulcet old strain of Savoy.
{181}
THE GREETING.
Sister, standing at Love's golden gate.
Life's second door--
Fleet the maidentime is flying.
Friendship fast in love is dying,
Bridal fate doth separate
Friends evermore.
Pilgrim seeking with thy sandalled feet
The land of bliss;
Sire and sister tearless leaving,
To thy beckoning palmer cleaving--
Truant sweet, once more repeat
Our parting kiss.
Wanderer filling for enchanted isle
Thy dimpling sail;
Whither drifted, all uncaring.
So with faithful helmsman faring,
Stay and smile with us, awhile,
Before the gale.
Playmate, hark! for all that once was ours
Soon rings the knell:
Glade and thicket, glen and heather,
Whisper sacredly together;
Queen of ours, the very flowers
Sigh forth farewell.
Christine looked up, and smiling stood
Among the choral sisterhood:
But some who sprang to greet her, stayed
Tiptoe, with the speech unsaid;
And, each the other, none knew why.
Questioned with quick, wondering eye.
One by one, their smiles have flown.
No lip is laughing but her own;
And hers, the frozen smile that wears
The glittering of unshed tears.
"Ye nave sung for me, I will sing for ye,
My sisters fond and fair."
And she bent her head till the chaplet fell
Adown in the deep Isere.
THE REPLY.
Bring me no rose-wreath now:
But come when sunset's first tears fall.
When night-birds from the mountain call--
Then bind my brow,
Roses and lilies white--
But tarry till the glow-worms trail
Their gold-work o'er the spangled veil
Of falling night
{182}
Twine not your garland fair
Till I have fallen fast asleep;
Then to my silent pillow creep
And leave it there--
There in the chapel yard!--
Come with twilight's earliest hush,
Just as day's last purple flush
Forsakes the sward.
Stop where the white cross stands.
You'll find me in my wedding suit,
Lying motionless and mute,
With folded hands.
Tenderly to my side:
The bridegroom's form you may not see
In the dim eve, but he will be
Fast by his bride.
Soft with your chaplet move.
And lightly lay it on my head:
Be sure you wake not with rude tread
My jealous love.
Kiss me, then quick away;
And leave us, in unwatched repose,
With the lily and the rose
Waiting for day!
But hark! the cry of the clamorous horn
Breaks the bright stillness of the morn.
From moated wall, from festal hall
The banners beckon, the bugles call,
Already flames, in the lists unrolled
O'er the Dauphin's tent, the Dolphin gold.
A hundred knights in armor glancing.
Hurry afield with pennons dancing,
Each with a vow to splinter a lance
For Christine, the Lily of Provence.
"Haste!" cried Christine;
"Sisters, we tarry late.
Let not the tourney wait
For its Queen!"
And, toward the castle gate,
They take their silent way along the green.
TO BE CONTINUED
------
{183}
From The Literary Workman.
JENIFER'S PRAYER.
BY OLIVER CRANE.
IN THREE PARTS.
PART II.
Mary Lorimer returned in safety to Beremouth under Horace Erskine's
care, welcomed as may be supposed by the adopted father and her
mother. Not that "Mother Mary," as Lady Greystock in the old Claudia
Brewer days used to call her, could ever welcome Horace. She had never
liked him; she had always felt that there was some unknown wrong about
his seeking and his leaving Claudia; she had been glad that a long
absence abroad had kept him from them while her darling Mary had been
growing up; and it was with a spasm of fear that she heard of his
spending that autumn at her sister's. And yet she had consented to his
bringing Mary home. Yes, she had consented, for Mr. Brewer in his
overflowing hospitality had asked him to come to them--had regretted
that they had seen so little of him of late years--and had himself
suggested that he should come when Mary returned.
Nine years does a great deal; it may even pay people's debts
sometimes. But it had not paid Horace Erskine's debts: on the
contrary, it had added to them with all the bewildering peculiarities
that belong to calculations of interests and compound interests. He
had got to waiting for another man's death. How many have had to
become in heart death-dealers in this way! It was known that he would
be his uncle's heir, and his uncle added to what he supposed Horace
possessed a good sum yearly; making the man rich as he thought, and
causing occasionally a slight passing regret that Horace was so
saving. "He might do so much more if he liked on his good income," the
elder Mr. Erskine would say. But he did not know of the many sums for
ever paying to keep things quiet till death, the great paymaster,
should walk in and demand stern rights of himself, the elder, and pass
on the gold that we all must leave behind to the nephew, the younger
one.
But in the nine years that had passed since the coward took his
revenge on a brave woman by doing that which killed her husband, great
things had happened to pretty Minnie Lorimer. The "county people" had
been after her--those same old families who had flouted her mother,
and prophesied eternal poverty to her poor pet baby--fatherless, too!
a fact that finished the story of their faults with a note of peculiar
infamy.
That a man of good family should marry without money, become the
father of a lovely child, and _die_--that the mother should go back to
that old poverty-stricken home where that stiff-looking maid-servant
looked so steadily into the faces of all who stood and asked
admittance--that they should pretend to be happy!--altogether, it was
really too bad.
Why did not Mrs. Lorimer, widow, go out as a governess? Who was to
bring up that unfortunate child on a paltry one hundred a year? Of
course {184} she begged for help. Of course they were supported by Mr.
Erskines's charity. A pretty humiliation of Lorimer's friends and
relations!
Altogether, the whole of the great Lansdowne Lorimer connection had
pronounced that to have that young widow and her daughter belonging to
them was a trial very hard to bear. They had not done talking when
Mary made that quiet walk to church--no one but her mother and Jenifer
being in the secret--and reappeared in the county after a few months'
absence as mistress of Beremouth. Mr. Brewer had counted his money,
and had told the world what it amounted to. And this time he never
apologized, he only confessed himself a person scarcely deserving of
respect, because he had done so little good with the mammon of
unrighteousness. But Mary now would tell him how to manage. He did
perhaps take a little to the humble line. He hoped the world would
forget and forgive his former shortcomings; such conduct would
assuredly not now be persevered in; and that resolution was fulfilled
without any doubt. The splendors of Beremouth were something to talk
about, and the range of duties involved in a large hospitality were
admirably performed.
Old Lady Caroline, whose pianoforte survived in Mrs. Morier's house at
Marston, considered the matter without using quite as many words as
her neighbors. "That man will be giving money to Lorimer's child." She
was quite right. He had already invested five thousand pounds for
Minnie. Lady Caroline (what an odd pride hers was!) went to Beremouth,
and got upon business matter with "Mother Mary."
She would give that child five thousand pounds in her will if Mr.
Brewer would not give her anything. Alas! it was already given. Mr.
Brewer used to count among his faults that, with him, it was too much
a word and a blow, especially when a good action was in question, and
this curious unusual fault he had decidedly committed in the case of
Minnie Lorimer. The money was hers safe enough, invested in the hands
of trustees. "Safe enough," said Mr. Brewer exultingly; and then,
looking with a saddened air on Lady Caroline, he added, gravely, that
it couldn't be helped! "The man's a saint or a fool, I can't tell
which," was Lady Caroline's very cute remark. "The most unselfish
idiot that ever lived. Does Mary like him, or laugh at him, I wonder?"
But Lady Caroline cultivated Mr. Brewer's acquaintance. Not in an evil
way, but because she had been brought up to _use_ the world, and to
slave all mankind who would consent to such persecution. Not wickedly,
I repeat, but with a fixed intention she cultivated Mr. Brewer, and
she got money out of him.
Mr. Brewer still made experiments with ten pounds. He helped Lady
Caroline in her many charities, as long as her charities were confined
to food and clothing, so much a week to the poor, and getting good
nursing for the sick. But once Lady Caroline used that charity purse
for purposes of "souping"--it has become an English word, so I do not
stop to explain it--and then Mr. Brewer scolded her. Nobody had ever
disputed any point with Lady Caroline. But Mr. Brewer explained, with
a most unexpected lucidity, how it would be _right_ for him to make
her a Catholic, and yet _wrong_ for her to try her notions of
conversion on him.
Lady Caroline kept up the quarrel for two years. She upbraided him for
his neglect, on his own principles, of Claudia. She abused him for the
different conduct pursued about his son. Mr. Brewer confessed his
faults and stood by his rights at the same time. Two whole years Lady
Caroline quarrelled, and Mr. Brewer never left the field. And
afterward, some time after, when Lady Caroline was in her last
illness, she said: "I believe that man Brewer may be right after all."
When she was dead young Mary Lorimer had double the sum that had {185}
been originally offered, and Freddy her largest diamond ring.
But another thing had to come out of all this. Mrs. Brewer became a
Catholic; and that fact had made her recall her daughter to her
side--that fact had made Horace Erskine say, at the inn at Hull, that
he dreaded for the girl he, spoke to the influence of the home and the
people she was going to--that fact had brought that passion of tears
to Mary Lorimer's eyes, and had made her feel so angrily that he had
taken an advantage of her.
Here, then, we are back again to the time at which we began the story.
Mary got home and was welcomed.
The day after their arrival, if we leave Beremouth and its people, and
go into Marston to Mrs. Morier, "old Mrs. Morier" they called her now,
we shall see Jenifer walk into the pleasant upstairs drawing-room,
where the china glittered on comer-shelves, and large jars stood under
the long inlaid table, and say to her mistress: "Eleanor is come, if
you please, ma'am."
Mrs. Morier looked up from her knitting. She had been sitting by the
window, and the beautiful old lady looked like a picture, as Jenifer
often declared, as she turned the face shadowed by fine lace toward
her servant with a sweet, gentle air, and smiling said, "And so you
want to go to Clayton--and Eleanor is to stay till you come back?"
"Yes, ma'am--it's the anniversary." "Go, then," said the gentle lady.
"And you must not leave me out of your prayers, my good Jenifer; for
you may be sure that I respect and value them." "I'll be back in good
time," said Jenifer; and the door closed, and Mrs. Morier continued
her knitting.
Soon she saw from the window that incomparable Jenifer. Her brown
light stuff gown, the black velvet trimming looking what Jenifer
called _rich_ upon the same. Buttons as big as pennies all the way
down the front--the good black shawl with the handsome border that
had been Mr. Brewer's own present to her on the occasion of his
wedding; the fine straw bonnet and spotless white ribbon--the crowning
glory of the black lace veil--oh, Jenifer was _somebody_, I can tell
you, at Marston; and Jenifer looked it.
It was with nothing short of a loving smile that Mrs. Morier watched
her servant. Servant indeed, but true, tried, and trusty friend also;
and when the woman was out of sight, and Mrs. Morier turned her
thoughts to Jenifer's prayer, and what little she knew of it, she
sighed--the sigh came from deep down, and the sigh was lengthened, and
her whole thoughts seemed to rest upon it--it was breathed out, at
last, and when it died away Mrs. Morier sat doing nothing in peaceful
contemplation till the door opened, and she whom we have heard called
Eleanor came in with inquiries as to the proper time for tea.
I think that this Eleanor was perhaps about eight-and-twenty years of
age. She was strikingly beautiful. Perhaps few people have ever seen
anything more faultlessly handsome than this young woman's form and
face. She looked younger than she was. The perfectly smooth brow and
the extraordinary fair complexion made her look young. No one would
have thought, when looking at Eleanor, that she had ever _worked_. If
the finest and loveliest gentlewoman in the world had chosen to put on
a lilac cotton gown, and a white checked muslin apron, and bring up
Mrs. Morier's early tea, she would perhaps have looked a little like
Eleanor; provided her new employment had not endowed her with a
momentary awkwardness. But admiration, when looking at this woman, was
a little checked by a sort of atmosphere of pain--or perhaps it was
only patience--that surrounded the beautiful face, and showed in every
gesture and movement, and rested on the whole being, as it were.
{186}
Eleanor suffered. And it was the pain of the mind and heart, not of
the body--no one who had sufficient sensibility to see what I have
described could ever doubt that the inner woman, not the outer fleshly
form of beauty, suffered; and that the woe, whatever it was, had
written _patience_ on that too placid brow.
"And are they all well at Dr. Rankin's?" "Very well, ma'am, I believe.
I saw Lady Greystock in her own rooms an hour before I came away. I
said that I was coming here, and she said"--Eleanor smiled--"Lady
Greystock said, ma'am, 'My duty to grandmamma Morier--mind you give
the message right.'"
"Ah," said Mrs. Morier, "Lady Greystock is wonderfully well." "There
is nothing the matter with her, ma'am." "Except that she never goes to
Beremouth." What made the faint carnation mount to Eleanor's
face?--what made the woman pause to collect herself before she
spoke?--"Oh, ma'am, she is right not to try herself. She'll go there
one day." "I suppose you like being at Dr. Rankin's?" "Very much. My
place of wardrobe-woman is not hard, but it is responsible. It suits
me well. And Mrs. Rankin is very good to me. And I am near Lady
Greystock." "How fond you are of her!" "There is not anything I would
not do for her," said the woman with animation. "I hope, indeed Dr.
Rankin tells me to believe, that I have had a great deal to do with
Lady Greystock's cure. She has treated me like a sister; and I can
never feel for any one what I feel for her." "Lady Greystock always
speaks of you in a truly affectionate way. She says you have known
better days." "_Different_ days; I don't say _better_. I have nothing
to wish for. Ever since the time that Lady Greystock determined on
staying at Blagden, I have been quite happy." "You came just as she
came." "Only two months after." "And did you like her from the first?"
"Oh, Mrs. Morier, you know she was very ill when she came. I never
thought of love, but of every care and every attention that one woman
could show to another. Had it been life for life, I am sure she might
have had _my_ life--that was all that I _then_ thought. But when she
recovered and loved me for what I had done for her, then it was love
for love. Lady Greystock gave me a new life, and I will serve her as
long as I may for gratitude, and as a thanksgiving."
When Eleanor was gone, her pleasant manner, her beauty, the music of
her voice, and the indescribable grace that belonged to her remained
with Mrs. Morier as a pleasant memory, and dwelling on it, she
lingered over her early tea, and ate of hashed mutton, making
meditation on how Eleanor had got to be Jenifer's great friend; and
whether their both being Catholics was enough to account for it.
This while Jenifer walked on toward Clayton. She stood at last on the
top of a wide table-land, and looked from the short grass where the
wild thyme grew like green velvet, and the chamomile gave forth
fragrance as you trod it under foot, down a rugged precipice into the
little seaport that sheltered in the cove below. The roofs of the
strange, dirty, tumble-down houses were packed thickly below her. The
nature of the precipitous cliff was to lie in terraces, and here and
there goats and donkeys among the branching fern gave a picturesque
variety to the scene, and made the practical Jenifer say to herself
that Clayton Cove was not "that altogether abominable" when seen to
the best advantage on the afternoon of a rich autumn day. A zigzag
path, rather difficult to get upon on account of the steepness of the
broken edge and the rolling stones, led from Jenifer's feet down to
the terraces; short cuts of steps and sliding stones led from terrace
to terrace, and these paths ended, as it appeared to the eye, in a
chimney-top that sent up a volume of white smoke, and a {187} pleasant
scent of wood and burning turf. By the side of the house that owned
the chimney, which was whitewashed carefully, and had white blinds
inside the green painted wood-work of small sash windows, appeared
another roof, long, high, narrow, with a cross on the eastern gable,
and that was the Catholic chapel--the house Father Daniels lived in;
and after a moment's pause down the path went Jenifer with all the
speed that a proper respect for her personal safety permitted. When
the woman got to the last terrace, she opened a wicket gate, and was
in a sunny garden, still among <DW72>s and terraces, and loaded with
flowers. Common flowers no doubt, but who ever saw Father Daniels's
Canterbury bells and forgot them? There, safe in the bottom walk,
wide, and paved with pebbles from the beach, Jenifer turned not to the
right where the trellised back-door invited, but to the left, where
the west door of the chapel stood open--and she walked in. There was
no one there. She knelt down. After a while she rose, and kneeling
before the image of our Lady, said softly: "Mother, she had no mother!
Eleven years this day since that marriage by God's priest, and at his
holy altar--eleven years this day since that marriage which the laws
of the men of this country deny and deride. Mother, she had no mother!
Oh, mighty Mother! forget neither of them. Remember her for her
trouble, and him for his sin." Not for vengeance but for salvation,
she might have added; but Jenifer had never been accustomed to explain
her prayers. Then she knelt before the adorable Presence on the altar,
and her prayer was very brief--"My life, and all that is in it!"--was
it a vain repetition that she said it again and again? Again and
again, as she looked back and thought of what _it had been_; as she
thought of that which _it was_; and knew of the future that, blessed
by our Lady's prayers, she should take it, whatever it might be, as
the will of God. And so she said it; by so doing offering _herself_.
One great thing had all her life; had, to her, been _life_--
_her_ life; she, with that great shadow on the past, with the weight
of the cross on the present, with the fear of unknown ill on the
future, gathered together all prayer, all hope, all fear, and gave it
to God in those words of offering that were, on her lips, an earnest
prayer; the prayer of submission, of offering, of faith--"_My life,
and all that is in it_."
Jenifer could tell out her wishes to the Mother of God, and had told
them, in the words she had used, but it was this woman's way to have
no wishes when she knelt before God himself. "My life, and all that is
in it;" that was Jenifer's prayer.
After a time she left the chapel, putting pieces of money, many, into
the church box, and went into the house. She knew Mrs. Moore, the
priest's housekeeper, very well. She was shown into Father Daniels's
sitting-room. He was a venerable man of full seventy years of age, and
as she entered he put down the tools with which he was carving the
ornaments of a wooden altar, and said, "You are later than your note
promised. I have therefore been working by daylight, which I don't
often do." She looked at the work. It seemed to her to be very
beautiful. "It is fine and teak-wood," said Father Daniels; "part of a
wreck. They brought it to me for the church. We hope to get up a
little mariner's chapel on the south side of the church before long,
and I am getting ready the altar as far as I can with my own hands.
'Mary, star of the sea'--that will be our dedication. The faith
spreads here. Mistress Jenifer; and I hope we are a little better than
we used to be." And Father Daniels crossed himself and thanked God for
his grace that had blessed that wild little spot, and made many
Christians there. {188} Jenifer smiled, as the holy man spoke in a
playful tone, and she said, "It is the anniversary, father." "Of
Eleanor's marriage. Yes. I remembered her at mass. Has she heard
anything of him?" "Yes, father; she has heard his real name, she
thinks. She has always suspected, from the time that she first began
to suspect evil, that she had never known him by his real name--she
never believed his name to be Henry Evelyn, as he said when he married
her."
"And what is his real name?"
"Horace Erskine," said Jenifer.
"What!" exclaimed Father Daniels, with an unusual tone of alarm in his
voice. "The man who was talked of for Lady Greystock before she
married--the nephew of Mrs. Brewer's sister's husband!" "Yes, sir."
"Is she sure?" "No. She has not seen him. But she has traced him, she
thinks. Corny Nugent, who is her second cousin, and knew them both
when the marriage took place, went as a servant to the elder Mr.
Erskine, and knew Henry Evelyn, as they called him in Ireland, when he
came back from abroad. He _thought_ he knew him. Then Horace Erskine,
finding he was an Irishman, would joke him about his religion, and how
he was the only Catholic in the house, and how he was obliged to walk
five miles to mass. Time was when Mr. Erskine, the uncle, would not
have kept a Catholic servant. But since Mr. and Mrs. Brewer married,
he has been less bigoted. He took Corny Nugent in London. It was just
a one season's engagement. But when they were to return to Scotland
they proposed to keep him on, and he stayed. After a little Horace
Erskine asked him about Ireland; and even if he knew such and such
places; and then he came by degrees to the very place--the very
people--to his own knowledge of them. Corny gave crafty answers. But
he disliked the sight of the man, and the positions he put him into.
So he left. He left three months ago. And he found out Eleanor's
direction, and told her that surely--surely and certainly--her
husband, Henry Evelyn, was no other than his late master's nephew, who
had been trying to marry more than one, only always some unlooked-for
and unaccountable thing had happened to prevent it. Our Lady be
praised, for her prayers have kept off that last woe--I make no
doubt--thank God!"
"How many years is it since they married?" "Eleven, to-day. I keep the
anniversary. He is older than he looks. He is thirty-two, this year,
if he did not lie about his age, as well as everything else. He told
Father Power he was of age. He said, too--God forgive him--that he was
a Catholic."
"But when I followed Father Power at Rathcoyle," said the priest,
"there was no register of the marriage. I was sent for on the
afternoon of the marriage day. I found Father Power in a dying state.
He was an old man, and had long been infirm. The marriage was not
entered. It was known to have taken place. Your niece and her husband
were gone. I walked out that evening to your brother's farm. He knew
nothing of the marriage. He had received a note to say that Eleanor
was gone with her husband, and that they would hear from them when
they got to England. Why Father Power, who was a saintly man, married
them, I do not know. It was unlawful for him to marry a Catholic and a
Protestant. If your sister went through no other marriage, she has no
claim on her Protestant husband. If she could prove that he passed
himself off as a Catholic, she might have some ground against
him--but, can she?"
"No, sir; on the contrary, she knew that she was marrying a
Protestant; she had hopes of converting him; she learnt from {189}
himself, afterward, that he had deceived the priest. She had said to
him that she would many him if Father Power consented. He came back
and said that the consent had been given. He promised to marry her in
Dublin conformably to the license he had got there--or there he had
lived the proper time for getting one, so he declared. But I have
ceased to believe anything he said. Then my brother wrote the girl a
dreadful letter to the direction in Liverpool that she had sent to
him. Then, after some months, she wrote to me at Marston. She was
deserted, and left in the Isle of Man. She supported herself there for
more than a year. I told Mr. Brewer that I knew a sad story of the
daughter of a friend, and one of her letters, saying her last gold was
changed into silvery and that she was too ill and worn oat to win
more, was so dreadful, that I feared for her mind. So Mr. Brewer went
to Dr. Rankin, and got her taken in as a patient, at first, and when
she got well she was kept on as wardrobe-woman. She had got a tender
heart; when she heard of Lady Greystock's trial, she took to her. Dr.
Rankin says he could never have cured Lady Greystock so perfectly nor
so quickly, but for Eleanor."
"That is curious," said Father Daniels, musingly. "Have you been in
Ireland since the girl left it with her husband?"
"I never was there in my life. My mother was Irish, and she lived as a
servant in England. She married an Englishman, and she had two
daughters, my sister--Eleanor's mother--and myself. My mother went
back to Ireland a year after her husband's death, on a visit, and she
left my sister and me with my father's family. She married in Ireland
almost directly, and married well, a man with a good property, a
farmer. She died, and left one son. My sister and I were four and five
years older than this half-brother of ours. Then time wore on and my
sister Ellen went to Ireland, and she married there, and the fever
came to the place where they lived, and carried them both off, and she
left me a legacy--my niece Eleanor--oh, sir I with such a holy letter
of recommendation from her death-bed. Poor sister! Poor, holy soul!
Our half-brother asked to have Eleanor to stay with him when she knew
enough to be useful on the farm. He was a good Christian, and I let
him take the girl. She was very pretty, people said, and I wished her
to marry soon. Then there came--sent, he said, by a great rich English
nobleman--a man who called himself a gardener, or something of that
sort. He lodged close by; he made friends with my brother. He was
often off after rare bog-plants, and seemed to lead a busy if an easy
life. He would go to mass with them. But they knew he was a
Protestant. Eleanor knew that her uncle would not consent to her
marrying a Protestant. But, poor child, she gave her heart away to the
gentleman in disguise. He had had friends there--a fishing party. Sir,
he never intended honorably; but they were married by the priest, and
he got over the holy man, whom everybody loved and honored, with his
falseness, as he had got over the true-hearted and trusting woman whom
he had planned to desert."
"Well," said Father Daniels, "you know I succeeded this priest for a
short time at Rathcoyle. He died on that wedding day. I never
understood how it all happened. I left a record to save Eleanor's
honor; but she has no legal claim on her husband--it ought not to have
been done." Jenifer shrank beneath the plainness of that truth--"_My
life, and all that is in it,_" her heart said, sinking, as it were, at
the sorrow that had come on the girl whom her sister had left to her
with her dying breath.
"She ought not to have trusted a man who was a Protestant, and not
willing to marry her in the only way that is legal by the Irish
marriage-law." "_My life, and all that is in it._" {190} So hopelessly
fell on her heart every word that the priest spoke, that, but for that
offering of all things to God, poor Jenifer could scarcely have borne
her trial.
"And if this Henry Evelyn should turn out to be Horace Erskine, why,
he will marry some unhappy woman some time, of course, and the law of
the land will give him one wife, and by the law of God another woman
will claim him. Oh, if people would but obey holy church, and not try
to live under laws of their own inventing." "_My life, and all that is
in it!_" Again, only that could have made Jenifer bear the trials that
were presented to her.
"And if gossip spoke truth he was very near marrying Lady Greystock
once--Mr. Brewer, himself, thought it was going to be." One more great
act of submission--"_My life, and all that is in it!_"--came forth
from Jenifer's heart. She loved Mr. Brewer, with a faithful sort of
worship--if such a trial as that had come on him through her
trouble!--_that_ was over; _that_ had been turned aside; but the
thought gave rise to a question, even as she thanked God for the
averted woe.
'"Is it Eleanor's duty to find out if Henry Evelyn and Horace Erskine
are one?" "Yes," said the priest "Yes; it is. It is everybody's duty
to prevent mischief. It is her duty, as far as lies in her power, to
prevent sin."
"And if it proves true--that which Corny Nugent says, what then?"
"Be content for the present. It is a very difficult case to act in."
Poor Jenifer felt the priest to be sadly wanting in sympathy--she
turned again to him who knows all and feels all, and she offered up
the disappointment that _would_ grow up in her heart--"_My life, and
all that is in it!_"
She turned to go; and then Father Daniels spoke so kindly, so
solemnly, with such a depth of sympathy in the tone of his voice--"God
bless you, my child;" and the sign of the cross seemed to bless her
sensibly. "Thank you, father!" And, without lifting her eyes, she left
the room and the house; and still saying that prayer that had grown to
be her strength and her help, she went up the steep rugged path to the
spreading down; and then she turned round and looked on the great sea
heaving, lazily under the sunset rays, that painted it in the far
distance with gold and red, and a silvery light, till it touched the
ruby- sky, and received each separate ray of glory on its
breast just where earth and heaven seemed to meet--just where you
could fancy another world looking into the depths of the great sea
that flowed up into its gates. It seemed to do Jenifer good. The whole
scene was so glorious, and the glory was so far-spreading--all the
world seemed to rest around her bathed in warm light and basking in
the smile of heaven. She stood still and said again, in a sweet soft
voice: "_My life, and all that is in it!_"
Her great dread that day when Mr. Brewer had told her to put him and
his into her prayer, had been lest the punishment of sin should come
on the man who had deserted her dear girl, and lest that sin's effect
in a heart-broken disease should fall on the girl herself.
When Mr. Brewer said, "Put me and mine into that prayer, Jenifer," the
thought had risen that she would tell him of Eleanor. She had told
him, and he had helped her. But she had never thought that, by acting
on the impulse, the two women whose hearts Horace Erskine had crushed,
as a wilful child breaks his playthings when he has got tired or out
of temper, had been brought together under one roof, and made to love
each other. Yet so it had been. The woman who could do nothing but
pray _had_ prayed; and a thing had been done which no human
contrivance could have effected. And as Jenifer stood gazing on the
heavens that grew brighter and brighter, and on the water that
reflected every glory, and seemed to bask with a living motion in the
great magnificence that was poured upon it, she recollected how great
a pain had been {191} spared her; she thought how terrible it would
have been if Claudia Brewer had married Horace Erskine--Horace
Erskine, the husband of the deserted Eleanor; and she gave thanks to
God.
Now she drew her shawl tighter round her, and walked briskly on. She
got across the down, and over a stone stile in the fence that was its
boundary from the road. She turned toward Marston, and walked fast--it
was almost getting cold after that glorious sunset, and she increased
her pace and went on rapidly. She soon saw a carriage in the road
before her, driving slowly, and meeting her. When it came near enough
to recognize her, the lady who drove let her ponies go, and then
pulled up at Jenifer's side. "Now, Mistress Jenifer," said Lady
Greystock, looking bright and beautiful in the black hat, and long
streaming black feather, that people wore in those days, "here am I to
drive you home. I knew where you were going. Eleanor tells me her
secrets. Do you know that? This is an anniversary; and you give gifts
and say prayers. Are you comfortable? I am going to drive fast to
please the ponies; they like it, you know." And very true did Lady
Greystock's words seem; for the little creatures given their heads
went off at a pace that had in it every evidence of perfect good will.
"I came to drive you back, and to pick up Eleanor, and drive her to
Blagden after I had delivered you up safely to grandmamma Morier.
Mother Mary came to see me this afternoon. You had better go and see
Minnie soon. Jenifer"--Jenifer looked up surprised at a strange tone
in Lady Greystock's voice---"Jenifer," speaking very low, "if you can
pray for my father and his wife, and all he loves, pray now. It would
be hard for a man to be trapped by the greatness of his own good
heart."
"Is there anything wrong, my dear?" Jenifer spoke softly, and just as
she had been used to speak to the Claudia Brewer of old days.
"I can't say more," Lady Greystock replied; "here we are at Marston."
Then she talked of common things; and told James, the man-servant, to
drive the horses up and down the street while she bade Mrs. Morier
"Good night." And they went into the house, and half an hour after
Lady Greystock and Eleanor had got into the pony carriage, and were
driving away. The quiet street was empty once more. The little
excitement made by Lady Greystock and her ponies subsided. Good-byes
were spoken, and the quiet of night settled down on the streets and
houses of Marston.
Jenifer had wondered over Lady Greystock's words; and comforted
herself, and stilled her fears, and set her guesses all at rest by
those few long-used powerful words--"_My life, and all that is in
it!_" She offered life, and gave up its work and its trials to God;
and Jenifer, too, was at rest then.
But at Clayton things were not quite in the same peaceful state as in
that little old-fashioned inland town. Clayton was very busy; and
among the busy ones, though busy in his own way, was Father Daniels.
That morning a messenger had brought him a packet from Mrs. Brewer;
for "Mother Mary" since becoming a Catholic had wanted advice, and
wanted strength, and she had sought and found what she wanted, and now
she had sent to the same source for further help. As soon as Jenifer
was gone, Father Daniels put away his teak-wood and his carving tools,
and packed up his drawings and his pencils. He was a man of great
neatness, and his accuracy in all business, and his fruitful
recollection of every living soul's wants, as far as they had ever
been made known to him, were charming points of his character--
points, that is, natural gifts, that the great charity which belonged
to his priesthood adorned and made meritorious. {192} While he
"tidied away his things," as his housekeeper Mrs. Moore used to say,
bethought and he prayed--his mind foresaw great possible woe; he knew,
with the knowledge that is made up of faith and experience united,
that some things seem plainly to know no other master than prayer.
People are prayed out of troubles that no other power can touch. Every
now and then this fact seems to be imprinted in legible characters on
some particular woe, actual or threatened; and though Father Daniels,
like a holy priest, prayed always and habitually, he yet felt, as we
have said, with respect to the peculiar entanglements that the letter
from Mrs. Brewer in the morning and the revelation made by Jenifer in
the afternoon seemed to threaten. So, when he again sat down, it was
with Mrs. Brewer's letter before him on the table, and a lamp lighted,
and "the magnifiers," to quote Mrs. Moore again, put on to make the
deciphering of Mrs. Erskine's handwriting as easy as possible. Mrs.
Brewer's was larger, blacker, plainer--and her note was short. It only
said: "Read my sister's letter, which I have just received. It seems
so hard to give up the child; it would be much harder to see her less
happy than she has always been at home. I don't like Horace Erskine.
It is as if I was kept from liking him. I really have no reason for my
prejudice against him. Come and see me if you can, and send or bring
back the letter." Having put this aside. Father Daniels opened Mrs.
Erskine's letter. It must be given just as it was written to the
reader:
DEAREST MARY:
"You must guess how dreadful your becoming a Catholic is to us. I
cannot conceive why, when you had been happy so long--these thirteen
years--you should do this unaccountable thing now. There must have
been some strange influence exercised over you by Mr. Brewer. I
feared how it might be when, nine years ago, your boy was born, and
you gave him up so weakly. However, I think you will see plainly
that you have quite forfeited a mother's rights over Mary. She is
seventeen, and will not have a happy home with you now. Poor child,
she would turn Catholic to please you, and for peace sake, perhaps.
But you cannot _wish_ such a misery for her. She will, I suppose,
soon be the only Protestant in your house. I can't help blaming old
Lady Caroline, even after her death; for she certainly brought the
spirit of controversy into Beremouth, and stirred up Mr. Brewer to
think of his rights. Now, I write to propose what is simply an act
of justice on your part, though really, I must say, an act of great
grace on the part of my husband. Horace is in love with Mary. As to
the fancy he was supposed to have for Claudia, I _know_ that _that_
was only a fancy. He was taken with her wilful, spoilt-child
ways--you certainly did not train her properly--and he wanted her
money. Of course as you had been married four years without
children, he did not suspect anything about Freddy. It was an
entanglement well got rid of; and Claudia wanted no comforting, that
was plain enough. But it is different now. Horace _is_ in love
_now_. And if Mary is not made a Catholic by Mr. Brewer and you and
old Jenifer, she will say, 'Yes,' like a good child. We are
_extremely_ fond of her. And Mr. Erskine generously offers to make a
very handsome settlement on her. I consider a marriage, and a very
speedy one, with Horace the best thing; now that you have, by your
own act, made her home so homeless to her. I am sure you ought to be
very thankful for so obviously good an arrangement of difficulties.
Let me hear from you as soon as Horace arrives. He is going to speak
to you directly.
"Your affectionate sister,
"Lucia Erskine.
"P.S.--As Mr. Brewer has always said that, Mary being his adopted
child, he should pay her on her marriage the full interest of the
money which will be hers at twenty-one, {193} of course Horace
expects that, as we do. Lady Caroline's ten thousand, Mr. Brewer's
five thousand, and the hundred a year for which her father insured
his life, and which I find that you give to her, will, with Horace's
means, make a good income; and to this Mr. Erskine will, as Mary is
my niece, add very liberally. I cannot suppose that you can think of
objecting. L. E."
Father Daniels read this letter over very carefully. Then he placed
it, with Mrs. Brewer's note, in his pocket-book, and immediately
putting on his hat, and taking his stick, he walked into the kitchen.
"Where's your husband?" to Mrs. Moore.
"Mark is only just outside, sir."
"I shall be back soon. Tell him to saddle the cob." One of Mr.
Brewer's experiments had been to give Father Daniels a horse, and to
endow the horse with fifty pounds a year, for tax, keep, house-rent,
physic, saddles, shoes, clothing, and general attendance. It was, we
May say as we pass on, an experiment which answered to perfection. The
cob's turnpikes alone remained as a grievance in Mr. Brewer's mind. He
rather cherished the grievance. Somehow it did him good. It certainly
deprived him of all feeling of merit. All thought of his own
generosity was extinguished beneath the weight of a truth that could
not be denied--"that cob is a never-ending expense to Father Daniels!"
However, this time, without a thought of the never-ending turnpike's
tax, the cob was ordered; being late, much to Mr. and Mrs. Moore's
surprise; and Father Daniels walked briskly out of the garden, down
the village seaport, past the coal-wharves, where everything looked
black and dismal, and so pursued his way on the top of the low edge of
the cliff, to a few tidy-looking houses half a mile from Clayton,
which were railed in from the turfy cliff-side, and had painted on
their ends, "Good bathing here." The houses were in a row. He knocked
at the centre one, and it was opened by a man of generally a seafaring
cast. "Mr. Dawson in?" "Yes, your reverence. His reverence, Father
Dawson, is in the parlor;" and into the parlor walked Father Daniels.
It was a short visit made to ascertain if his invalid friend could say
mass for him the next morning at a later hour than usual--the hour for
the parish mass, in fact; and to tell him why. They were dear friends
and mutual advisers. They now talked over Mrs. Erskine's letter.
"There can be no reason in the world why Miss Lorimer should not marry
Horace Erskine if she likes him, provided he is not Henry Evelyn. He
stands charged with being Henry Evelyn, and of being the doer of Henry
Evelyn's deeds. You must tell Mrs. Brewer. It is better never to tell
suspicions, if you can, instead, tell facts. In so serious a matter
you may be obliged to tell suspicions, just to keep mischief away at
the beginning. Eleanor must see the man. As to claiming him, that's
useless. She acted the unwise woman's part, and she most bear the
unwise woman's recompense. He'll find somebody to marry him, no doubt;
but no woman ought to do it; no marriage of his can be right in God's
sight. So the course in the present instance is plain enough." Yes, it
was plain enough; so Father Daniels walked back to Clayton and mounted
the cob, and rode away through the soft sweet night air, and got to
Beremouth just after ten o'clock.
"I am come to say mass for you to-morrow," he said to Mr. Brewer, who
met him in the hall. "No, I won't go into the drawing-room. I won't
see any one to-night. I am going straight to the chapel."
{194}
"Ring for night prayers then in five minutes, will you?" said Mr.
Brewer. And Father Daniels, saying "Yes," walked on through the hall,
and up the great stair-case to his own room and the chapel, which,
were side by side. In five minutes the chapel bell was rung by the
priest. Mrs. Brewer looked toward her daughter. "Mary must do as she
likes;" said Mr. Brewer, in his open honest way driving his wife
before him out of the room. There stood Horace Erskine. It was as if
all in a moment the time for the great choice had come. They were at
the door--the girl stood still. They were gone, they were crossing the
hall; she could hear Mr. Brewer's shoes on the carpet--not too late
for her to follow. Her light step will catch theirs--they may go a
little further still before the very last moment comes. Her mother or
Horace? How dearly she loved her mother, how her child's heart went
after her, all trust and love--and Horace, _did_ she love him?--love
him well enough to stay _there--there_ and _then_, at a moment that
would weigh so very heavily in the scale of good and evil, right or
wrong? If he had not been there she might have stayed, if she stayed
now that he was there, should she not stay with him--more, leave her
mother and stay with him? Thought is quick. She stood by the table;
she looked toward the door, she listened--Horace held out his
hand--"With me, Mary--with _me_!" And she was gone. Gone even while he
spoke, across the hall, up the stairs and at that chapel door just as
this last of the servants, without knowing, closed it on her. Then
Mary went to her own room just at the head of the great stair-case,
and opened the doors softly, and knelt down, keeping it open, letting
the stair-case lamp stray into the darkness just enough to show her
where she was. There she knelt till the night prayers were over, and
when Mr. Brewer passed her door, she came out, a little glad to show
them that she had not been staying down stairs with Horace. He smiled,
and put his hand inside her arm and stopped her from going down. "My
dear child," he said, "I have had the great blessing of my life given
to me in the conversion of your mother. If God's great grace, for the
sake of his own blessed mother, should fall on you, you will not
quench it, my darling. Meanwhile, I shall never have a better time
than _this_ time to say, that I feel more than ever a father to you.
That if you will go on treating me with the childlike candor and trust
that I have loved to see in you, you will make me happier than you can
ever guess at, dear child." And then he kissed her, and Minnie eased
her heart by a few sobs and tears, and her head rested on his
shoulder, and she thanked him for his love. Then Father Daniels came
out of the chapel, and advanced to where they stood. Mary had long
known the holy man. He saw how it was in an instant. "Welcome home,
Mary; you see I come soon. And now--when I am saying mass to-morrow,
stay quietly in your own room, and pray to be taught to love God. Give
yourself to him. Don't trouble about questions. His you are. Rest on
the thought--and we will wait on what may come of it. I shall remember
you at mass to-morrow. Good-night. God bless you."
"I can't come down again. My eyes are red," said Mary, to Mr. Brewer,
when they were again alone. And he laughed at her. "I'll send mamma
up," he said. And Mary went into her room. But she had taken no part
_against_ her mother; so her heart said, and congratulated itself. She
had not left her, and stayed with Horace. She had had those few words
with her step-father. That was over, and very happily too. She had
seen Father Daniels again. It was getting speedily like the old
things, and the old times, before the long visit to Scotland, where
Horace Erskine was the sun of her {195} new world. Somehow she felt
that he was losing power every moment--also she felt, a little
resentfully, that there had been things said or thought, or
insinuated, about the dear home she was loving so well, which were
unjust, untrue, unkind; nay, more, cruel, shameful!--and so wrong to
unite _her_ to such ideas; to make her a party to such thoughts. In
the midst of her resentment, her mother came in. "Nobody ever was so
charming looking," was the first thought. "How young she looks--how
much younger and handsomer than Aunt Erskine. What a warm loving
atmosphere this house always had, and _has_." The last word with the
emphasis of a perfect conviction. "And so you have made your eyes red
on papa's coat--and I had to wipe the tears off with my
pocket-handkerchief. Oh, you darling, I am sure Horace Erskine thought
we had beaten you!" Then kisses, and laughter; not quite without a tear
or two on both, sides, however. "Now, my darling, Horace has told us
his love story--and so he is very fond of you?" "Mamma, mamma, I love
you better than all the earth." Kisses, laughter, and just one or two
tears, all over again.
"My darling child, you have been some months away from us--do you
think you can quite tell your own mind on a question which is
life-long in its results? I mean, that the thing that is pleasant in
one place may not be so altogether delightful in another. I should
like you to decide so great a question while in the full enjoyment of
your own rights _here_. This is your _home_. _This_ is what you will
have to exchange for something else when you marry. You are very young
to marry--not eighteen, remember. Whenever you decide that question, I
should like you to decide it on your own ground, and by your own
mother's side."
"I wonder whether you know how wise you are?" was the question that
came in answer. "Do you know, mother, that I cried like a baby at
Hull, because I felt all you have said, and even a little more, and
thought he was unkind to press me. You know Aunt Erskine had told me;
and Horace, too, in a way--and he said at Hull he dreaded the
influence of this place, and--and--" "But there is nothing for _you_
to dread. This home is yours; and its influence is good; and all the
love you command here is your safety." Mrs. Brewer spoke boldly, and
quite with the spirit of heroism. She was standing up for her rights.
But Mr. Brewer stood at the door. "The lover wants to smoke in the
park in the moonlight. Some information just to direct his thoughts,
you little witch," for his step-child had tried to stop his mouth with
a kiss--
"Papa, I am so happy. I won't, because I can't, plan to leave
everything I love best in the world just as I come back to it." "But
you must give Erskine some kind of an answer. The poor fellow is
really very much in earnest. Come and see him." "No, I won't," said
Mary, very much as the wilful Claudia might have uttered the words.
But Mary was thinking that there was a great contrast between the
genial benevolence she had come to, and the indescribable _something_
which was _not_ benevolence in which she had lived ever since her
mother had become a Catholic. Mr. Brewer almost started. "I mean,
papa, that I must live here unmolested at least one month before I can
find out whether I am not always going to love _you_ best of all
mankind. Don't you think you could send Horace off to Scotland again
immediately?" "Bless the child! Think of the letters that have
passed--you read them, or knew of them?" "_Knew_ of them," said Mary,
nodding her head confidentially, and looking extremely naughty. "Well;
and I asked him here!" "Yes; I know that." "And you now tell me to
send him away! {196} My dear!" exclaimed Mr. Brewer, looking
appealingly at his wife. "Dearest, you must tell Mr. Erskine that Mary
really would like to be left quiet for awhile. Say so now; and
to-morrow you can suggest his going soon, and returning in a few
weeks." "And to-morrow I can have a cold and lie in bed. Can't I?"
said Mary. But now they ceased talking, and heard Horace Erskine go
out of the door to the portico. "There! he's gone. And I am sure I can
smell a cigar--and I could hate smoking, couldn't I?" Mother and
father now scolded the saucy child, and condemned her to solitude and
sleep. And when they were gone the girl put her head out of the open
window, and gazed across the spreading park, so peaceful in its
far-stretching flat, just roughened in places by the fern that had
begun to get brown under the hot sun; and then she listened to the
sound of the wind that came up in earnest whispers from the woody
corners, and the far-off forests of oak. The sound rose and fell like
waves, and the silence between those low outpourings of mysterious
sound was loaded with solemnity.
Do the whispering woods praise him; and are their prayers in the tall
trees? She was full of fancies that night. But the words Father
Daniels had said to her seemed to her to come again on the
night-breeze, and then she was quiet and still. And yet--and
yet--though she _tried_ to forget, and _tried_ to keep her mind at
peace, the spirit within would rise from its rest, and say that she
had left an atmosphere of evil speaking and uncharitableness; that
malice and harsh judgment had been hard at work, and all to poison
_home_, and to win her from it.
And while she was trying to still these troublings of the mind, Mr.
Brewer, by her mother's side, was reading for the first time Mrs.
Erskine's letter, which Father Daniels had returned. "My dear, my
dear," said Mr. Brewer, "a very improper letter. I think Mary is a
very extraordinary girl not to have been prejudiced against me. I
shall always feel grateful to her. And as to this letter, which I call
a very painful letter, don't you think we had better burn it?" And so,
by the assistance of a lighted taper, Mr. Brewer cleared that evil
thing out of his path for ever.
"Eleanor," said Lady Greystock, "how lovely this evening is. The moon
is full, and how glorious! Shall we drive by a roundabout way to
Blagden? James," speaking to the man who occupied the seat behind,
"how far is it out of our way if we go through the drive in Beremouth
Park, and come out by the West Lodge into the Blagden turnpike road?"
"It will be two miles further, my lady. But the road is very good, and
the carriage will run very light over the gravelled road in the park."
"Then we'll go." So on getting to the bottom of the street in which
Mrs. Morier lived, Lady Greystock took the road to Beremouth; and the
ponies seemed to enjoy the change, and the whole world, except those
three who were passing so pleasantly through a portion of it, seemed
to sleep beneath the face of that great moon, wearing, as all full
moons do, a sweet grave look of watching on its face.
"Isn't it glorious? Isn't it grand, this great expanse and this
perfect calm? Ah, there goes a bat; and a droning beetle on the wing
just makes one know what silence we are passing through. How pure the
air feels. Oh, what blessings we have in life--how many more than we
know of. I think of that in the still evenings often. Do you,
Eleanor?"
"Yes, Lady Greystock." But Eleanor spoke in a very calm,
business-like, convinced sort of manner; not the least infected by the
tears of tenderness and the poetical feeling that Lady Greystock had
betrayed.
{197}
"Yes, Lady Greystock And when in great moments"--"Great moments! I
like that," said Claudia--"when I have those thoughts I think of
you." "Of me?" "Yes. And I am profoundly struck by the goodness of
God, who endowed the great interest of my life with so powerful an
attraction for me. I must have either liked or disliked you. I am so
glad to love you."
"Eleanor, I wish you would tell me the story of your life." They had
passed through the lodge gates now, and were driving through Beremouth
Park. "You were not always what you are now."
"You will know it one day," said Eleanor, softly. "Oh, see how the
moon comes out from behind that great fleecy cloud; just in time to
light us as we pass through the shadows which these grand oaks cast.
What lines of silver light lie on the road before us. It is a treat to
be out in such a place on such a night as this. Stay, stay, Lady
Greystock. What is that?"
Lady Greystock pulled up suddenly, and standing full in the moonlight,
on the turf at the side of the carriage, was a tall, strong-built man.
He took off his cap with a respectful air, and said, "I beg pardon. I
did not intend to stop you. But if you will allow me I will ask your
servant a question." He addressed Lady Greystock, and did not seem to
look at Eleanor, though she was nearest to him. Eleanor had suddenly
pulled a veil over her face; but Lady Greystock had taken hers from
her hat, and her uncovered face was turned toward the man with the
moonlight full upon it. He said to the servant, "Can you tell me where
a person called Eleanor Evelyn is to be found? Mrs. Evelyn she is
probably called. I want to know where she is." Before James, who had
long known the person by his mistress's side as Mrs. Evelyn, could
speak, or recover from his very natural surprise, Eleanor herself
spoke. "Yes," she said, "Mrs. Evelyn lives not far from Marston. I
should advise you to call on Mrs. Jenifer Stanton, who lives at
Marston with Mrs. Morier. She will tell you about her." "She who lives
with Madam Morier, of course?" said the man. "Yes; the same."
"Goodnight."
"Good night," said Lady Greystock in answer, and obeying Eleanor's
whispered "Drive on," she let the ponies, longing for their stable,
break into their own rapid pace, and, soon out of the shadows, they
were in the light--the broad, calm, silent light--once more.
TO BE CONTINUED
------
{198}
Translated from Le Correspondant
A PRETENDED DERVISH IN TURKESTAN. [Footnote 35]
BY EMILE JONVEAUX
[Footnote 35: "Herman Vambery's Travels In Central Asia." Original
German edition. Leipzic: Brockhaus,1865. Paris: Xavier. French
translation by M. Forgues. Paris: Hachette.]
A brilliant imagination, a sparkling and ready wit, an indomitable
energy, the happy gift of seeing and painting man and things in a
lively manner, such are the qualities which we remark at first in the
new explorer of central Asia. But he is not only a bold traveller, a
delightful story-teller, full of spirit and originality, we must
recognize also in him a learned orientalist, an eminent ethnologist
and linguist.
Born in 1832, in a small Hungarian town, he began at an early age to
study with passion the different dialects of Europe and Asia,
endeavoring to discover the relations between the idioms of the East
and West. Observing the strong affinity which exists between the
Hungarian and the Turco-Tartaric dialects, and resolved to return to
the cradle of the Altaic tongues, he went to Constantinople and
frequented the schools and libraries with an assiduity which in a few
years made of him a true effendi. But the nearer he approached the
desired end, the greater was his thirst for knowledge. Turkey began to
appear to his eyes only the vestibule of the Orient; he resolved to go
on, and to seek even in the depths of Asia the original roots of the
idioms and races of Europe. [Footnote 36] In vain his friends
represented to him the fatigues and perils of such a tour. Infirm as
he was (a wound had made him lame), could he endure a long march over
those plains of sand where he would be obliged to fight against the
terror of tempest, the tortures of thirst--where, in fine, he might
encounter death under a thousand forms? and then, how was he to force
his way among those savage and fanatic tribes, who are afraid of
travellers; and who a few years before had destroyed Moorcraft,
Conolly, and Stoddart? Nothing could shake the resolution of Vambery;
he felt strong enough to brave suffering, and as to the dangers which
threatened him from man, his bold and inventive spirit would furnish
him the means to avert them in calling to his assistance their very
superstitions. Was he not as well versed in the knowledge of the Koran
and the customs of Islam as the most devout disciple of the Prophet?
He would disguise himself in the costume of a pilgrim dervish, and so
would go through Asia, distributing everywhere benedictions, but
making secretly his scientific studies and remarks. His foreign
physiognomy might, it is true, raise against him some obstacles. But
he counted on his happy star, and, above all, on his presence of mind,
to succeed at last. These difficulties were renewed often in the
course of his adventurous tour; more than once the suspicious look of
some powerful tyrant was fixed upon him as if to say: "Your features
betray you; you are a European!" The extraordinary coolness, the
ingenious expedients to which Vambery had recourse in these
emergencies, give to the story of his travels an interest which
novelists and dramatists might envy. To this powerful charm, the work
of which we give a rapid sketch unites the merit of containing {199}
the most valuable notes on the social and political relations, the
manners and character, of the races which inhabit Central Asia.
[Footnote 36: The linguistic and ethnographical studies form a
separate volume, which the author proposes to publish very soon.]
I.
It was early in July, 1862, that Vambery, leaving Tabriz, began his
long and perilous journey. Persia, at this period of the year, does
not offer the enchanting spectacle which the enthusiastic descriptions
of poets lead us to imagine. This boasted country displays only to the
eye a heaven of fire, burning and desert plains, through the midst of
which sometimes advances slowly a caravan covered with dust, exhausted
by fatigue and heat. After a monotonous and painful march of fifteen
days, our traveller sees at last rising from the horizon the outlines
of a number of domes, half lost in a bluish fog. This is Teheran, the
celestial city, the seat of sovereignty, as the natives pompously call
it.
It was not easy to penetrate into this noble city; a compact crowd
filled the streets, asses, camels, mules laden with straw, barley, and
other marketable articles jostled each other in the strangest
confusion. "Take care! Take care!" vociferated the passers-by; each
one pressed, pushed, and blows of sticks and even of sabres were
distributed with surprising liberality. Vambery succeeded in getting
safe and sound out of this tumult; he repaired to the summer residence
of the Turkish ambassador, where all the effendis were assembled under
a magnificent silken tent. Haydar Effendi, who represented the sultan
at the court of the Shah, had known the Hungarian traveller in
Constantinople; he received him most cordially, and very soon the
guests, gathered round a splendid banquet, began to call up souvenirs
of Stamboul, of the Bosphorus, and their delightful landscapes, so
different from the arid plains of Persia.
The contrast of character is not less noticeable between the two
nations who divide the supremacy of the Mohammedan world. The Ottoman,
in consequence of his close relations with the West, is more and more
penetrated by European manners and civilization, and gains by this
contact an incontestable superiority. The Persian preserves more the
primitive type of the Orientals, his mind is more poetic, his
intelligence more prompt, his courtesy more refined; but proud of an
antiquity which loses itself in the night of time, he is deeply
hostile to our sciences and arts, of which he does not comprehend the
importance. Some choice spirits, indeed, have endeavored to rejuvenate
the worm-eaten institutions of Persia, and to lead their country in
the way of progress. The pressing solicitations of the minister
Ferrukh Khan engaged, some years ago, several nations of Europe,
Belgium, Prussia, Italy, to send ambassadors in the hope of forming
political and commercial relations with Iran; but their efforts were
checked, Persia not being ripe for this regeneration.
Thanks to the generous hospitality of Haydar Effendi, Vambery was
rested from his fatigues. Impatient to continue his journey, he wished
to take immediately the road to Herat; his friends dissuaded him from
it, because the hostilities just declared between the sultan of this
province and the sovereign of the Afghans rendered communications
impossible. The northern route was quite as impracticable; it would
have been necessary to cross during the winter months the vast deserts
of central Asia. The traveller was forced to await a more favorable
season. To remove gradually the obstacles which prevented the
realization of his plan, he began immediately to draw around him the
dervishes who every year pass through Teheran on their way to Turkey.
These pilgrims or hadjis never fail to address themselves to the
Ottoman embassy, for they are all _Sunnites_ and {200} recognize the
emperor of Constantinople as their spiritual head; Persia, on the
contrary, belongs to the sect of the _Shiites_, who may be called the
Protestants of Islam, with so profound a horror have they inspired the
faithful believers of Khiva, Bokhara, Samarcande, etc. Vambery, who
proposed to visit all these fanatic states, had then adopted the
character of a pious and zealous Sunnite. Very soon it was noised
abroad among the pilgrims that Reschid Effendi (_nom de guerre_ of our
traveller) treated the dervishes as brothers, and that he was no doubt
himself a dervish in disguise.
In the morning of the 20th of March, 1862, four hadjis presented
themselves before him whom they regarded as the devoted protector of
their sect. They came to complain of Persian officials who, on their
return from Mecca, had imposed upon them an abusive tax long since
abolished. "We do not demand the money of his excellency the
ambassador," said he who appeared to be the chief; "the only object of
our prayers is, that in future the Sunnites may be able to visit the
holy places without being forced to endure the exactions of the
infidel Shiites." Surprised at the disinterestedness of this language,
Vambery considered more attentively the austere countenances of his
guests. In spite of their miserable clothing, a native nobility
discovered itself in them; their words were frank, their looks
intelligent. The little caravan of which they made a part, composed in
all of twenty-four persons, was returning to Bokhara. The resolution
of the European was immediately taken; he said to the pilgrims that
for a long time he had had an extreme desire to visit Turkestan, this
hearth of Islamite piety, this holy land which contained the tombs of
so many saints. "Obedient to this sentiment," said he, "I have quitted
Turkey; for many months I have awaited in Persia a favorable
opportunity, and I thank God that have at last found companions with
whom I may be able to continue my journey and accomplish my purpose."
The Tartars were at first much astonished. How could an effendi,
accustomed to a life of luxury, resolve to encounter so many dangers,
to endure so many trials? The ardent faith of the pretended Sunnite
was hardly efficient to explain this prodigy, so the dervishes felt
themselves bound to enlighten him on the sad consequences to which
this excess of zeal might expose him. "We shall travel," they said,
"for whole weeks without encountering a single dwelling, without
finding the least rivulet where we can quench our thirst. More than
that, we shall run the risk of perishing by the robbers who infest the
desert, or of being swallowed up alive by tempests of sand. Reflect
again, seigneur effendi, we would not be the cause of your death."
These words were not without their effect, but, after coming so far,
Vambery was not easily discouraged. "I know," said he to the pilgrims,
"that this world is an inn where we sojourn for some days, and from
which we soon depart to give place to new travellers. I pity those
restless spirits who, not content with having thought of the present,
embrace in their solicitude a long future. Take me with you, my
friends; I am weary of this kingdom of error, and I long to leave it."
Perceiving in him so firm a resolve, the chiefs of the caravan
received the pretended Reschid as a travelling companion. A fraternal
embrace ratified this engagement, and the European felt not without
some repugnance the contact of these ragged garments which long use
had impregnated with a thousand offensive odors.
Following the advice of one of the dervishes, Hadji Bilal, who
entertained a particular friendship for him, the traveller cut his
hair, adopted the Bokhariot costume, and the better to play the part
of a pilgrim, an enemy of all worldly superfluity, he left behind his
bedding, his linen, everything, in {201} short, which in the eyes of
the Tartars had the least appearance of refinement or luxury. Some
days after, he rejoined his companions in the caravansery where the
hadjis had promised to meet him. There Vambery ascertained, to his
great surprise, that the miserable garments which had disgusted him so
much were the state robes of the dervishes; their travelling dress was
composed of numerous rags, arranged in the most picturesque manner and
fastened at the waist by a fragment of rope. Hadji Bilal, raising his
arms in the air, pronounced the prayer of departure, to which all the
assistants responded by the sacramental _amen_, placing the hand upon
the beard.
Vambery quitted Teheran not without sadness and misgiving. In this
city, placed on the frontiers of civilization, he had found devoted
friends; now, in the company of strangers, he was about to face at
once the perils of the desert and those, more to be feared, which
threatened him from the cruelty of the inhabitants of the cities. He
was roused from these reflections by joyous ballads sung by many of
the pilgrims, others related the adventures of their wandering life or
boasted of the charms of their native country, the fertile gardens of
Mergolan and Khokand. Sometimes their patriotic and religious
enthusiasm led them to intone verses from the Koran, in which Vambery
never failed to join with a zeal which did honor to the strength of
his lungs. He had then the satisfaction of observing the dervishes
look at one another and say, in an undertone, that Hadji Rescind was a
true believer, who, without doubt, thanks to the good examples before
his eyes, would soon walk in the steps of the saints.
At the end of five days the pilgrims reached the mountain of
Mazendran, the western <DW72> of which extends its base to the Caspian
sea. Here the sterility of the country yields to the freshest, the
richest vegetation; splendid forests, prairies covered with thick
grass, extend themselves everywhere before the charmed eye of the
traveller, and from time to time the murmur of a waterfall delights
his ear. The sight of this smiling country drove away all the sad
presentiments which had possessed the soul of Vambery; mounted upon a
gently-treading mule, he arrives full of confidence at Karatepe, where
he is to embark upon the Caspian sea. There an Afghan of high birth,
whom the pretended Reschid had met upon his journey, and who knew the
consideration which he enjoyed at the Ottoman embassy, offered him the
hospitality of his house. The news of the arrival of pilgrims had
collected a great number of visitors; squatted along the walls of the
houses, they fixed upon Vambery looks of mingled distrust and
curiosity. "He is not a dervish," said some, "you can see that by his
features and complexion." "The hadjis," replied others, "pretend that
he is a near relation of the Turkish ambassador." All then, shaking
their heads with a mysterious air, said in an undertone, "Only Allah
can know what this foreigner is after." During this time, Vambery
pretended to be plunged in a profound meditation; in which as a
Protestant, he committed a grave imprudence, for the Orientals, liars
and hypocrites themselves, cannot believe in frankness, and always
infer the contrary of whatever is told them. These suspicions,
moreover, had nearly frustrated at the outset the bold designs of the
European. The captain of the Afghan ship, employed in provisioning the
Russian garrison, had consented for a small sum to take all the hadjis
in his ship across the arm of the sea which divides Karatepe from
Ashourada. But learning the reports which were in circulation
regarding our traveller, he refused to permit him to embark; "his
attachment for the Russians not allowing him," he said, "to facilitate
the secret designs of an emissary of Turkey." In vain Hadji Bilal,
Hadji Salih, and others of the caravan endeavored to change his {202}
resolution. All was useless, and Vambery was doubting whether he
should not be forced to retrace his steps, when his companions
generously declared that they would not proceed without him.
Toward evening, the dervishes learned that a Turcoman named Yakaub
proposed from a religious motive, and without desiring any recompense,
to take them in his boat. The motive of this unexpected kindness was
very soon discovered. Yakaub, having drawn Vambery apart, confessed to
him in an embarrassed tone, which contrasted singularly with his wild
and energetic physiognomy, that he nourished a profound and hopeless
passion for a young girl of his tribe; a Jew, a renowned magician who
resided at Karatepe, had promised to prepare an infallible talisman if
the unhappy lover were able to procure for him thirty drops of essence
of rose direct from Mecca. "You hadjis," added the Tartar, casting
down his eyes, "never quit the holy places without bringing away some
perfume; and as you are the youngest of the caravan, I hope that you
will comprehend my vexation better than the others, and that you will
help me." The companions of Vambery had in fact several bottles of the
essence, of which they gave a part to the Turkoman, and this precious
gift threw the son of the desert into a genuine ecstasy.
The voyagers passed two days on a _keseboy_ a boat provided with a
mast and two unequal sails, which the Tartars use for the transport of
cargoes. It was almost night when Yakaub cast anchor before Ashourada,
the most southerly of the Russian possessions in Asia. The czar
maintains constantly on this coast steamers charged with repressing
the depredations of the Turkomen, which formerly inspired terror
throughout the province. All natives before approaching the port of
Ashourada must be provided with a regular passport, and must submit to
the inspection of the Russian functionaries. This visit caused Vambery
some alarm; would not the sight of his features, a little too
European, provoke from the Russian agent an indiscreet exclamation of
surprise? and would not his incognito be betrayed? Happily, on the day
of their arrival Easter was celebrated in the Greek Church, and, on
account of this solemnity, the examination was a mere formality. The
pilgrims continued their voyage, and landed the next day at
Gomushtepe, a distance of only three leagues from Ashourada.
II.
The hadjis were received by a chief named Khandjan, to whom they had
letters of recommendation. The noble Turkoman was a man of about forty
years; his fine figure, his dress of an austere simplicity, the long
beard which fell upon his breast, gave him a dignified and imposing
air. He advanced toward his guests, embraced them several times, and
led the way to his tent. The news of the arrival of dervishes had
already spread among the inhabitants; men, women, and children threw
themselves before the pilgrims, disputing with one another the honor
of touching their garments, believing that they thus obtained a share
in the merits of these saintly personages. "These first scenes of
Asiatic life," says Vambery, "astonished me so much that I was
constantly doubting whether I should first examine the singular
construction of their tents of felt, or admire the beauty of the
women, enveloped in their long silken tunics, or yield to the desire
manifested by the arms and hands extended toward me. Strange
spectacle! Young and old, without distinction of sex or rank, pressed
eagerly round these hadjis covered yet with the holy dust of Mecca.
Fancy my amazement when I saw women of great beauty, and even young
girls, rush through the crowd to embrace me. These demonstrations of
sympathy and respect, however, became fatiguing when we {203} arrived
at the tent of the chief _ishan_ (priest), where our little caravan
assembled. Then began a singular contest. Each one solicited as a
precious boon the right of receiving under his tent the poor
strangers. I had heard of the boasted hospitality of the nomad tribes
of Asia, but I never could have imagined the extent of it. Khandjan
put an end to the dispute by himself distributing among the
inhabitants his coveted guests. He reserved only Hadji Bilal and
myself, who were considered the chiefs of the caravan, and we followed
him to his _ooa_ (tent)."
A comfortable supper, of boiled fish and curdled milk, awaited the two
pilgrims. The touching kindness with which he had been received, the
comfort by which he was surrounded, filled Vambery with a joy which
accorded ill with the gravity of his assumed character of dervish. His
friend Hadji Bilal felt bound to advise him upon this subject. "You
have remarked already," said he, "that my companions and I distribute
_fatiha_ (blessings) to every one. You must follow our example. I know
it is not the custom in _Roum_ (Turkey), but the Turkomen expect it
and desire it. You will excite great surprise if, giving yourself out
for a dervish, you do not take completely the character of one. You
know the formula of this blessing; you must, then, put on a serious
face and bestow your benedictions. You can add to them _nefes_ (holy
breathings) when you are called to the sick; but do not forget to
extend at the same time your hand, for every one knows that the
dervishes subsist by the piety of the faithful, and they never leave a
tent without receiving some little present."
The Hungarian traveller profited so well by the advice of Hadji Bilal
that, five days after his arrival at Gomushtepe, a crowd of believers
and sick people besieged him from the moment that he rose, soliciting,
one his blessing, another his sacred breathing, a third the talisman
that was to cure him. Thanks to the complaisance and marvellous tact
which characterized him, Vambery henceforth identified himself
completely with the venerable personage of Hadji Reschid, and never
during a period of two years escaped him the smallest gesture or word
which could possibly betray him. His reputation for sanctity increased
every day, and procured for him numerous offerings, which he received
with a truly Mussulman gravity. This increasing confidence permitted
the European to form with the Turkomen frequent intimacies, of which
he profited to study the social relations of these tribes, to discover
the innumerable ramifications of which they are composed, and to form
an exact idea of the bonds which unite elements in appearance so
heterogeneous and confused. But he was obliged to exercise great
prudence; a dervish, wholly preoccupied with heavenly things, never
ought to ask the smallest question in regard to affairs purely
worldly. Fortunately, the Tartars, so terrible and so impetuous, when
they have completed their forays, pass the remainder of their time in
absolute idleness, and then they amuse themselves with interminable
political and moral discussions. Vambery, dropping his beads with an
exterior of pious revery, lent an attentive ear to all these
conversations, of which he never lost the slightest detail.
One thing which surprised him among the Turkomen was to see that if
all are too proud to obey, no one seems ambitious to command. "We are
a people without a head," they say; "and we wish no head. Every one is
king in our country," Yet, notwithstanding the absence of all
restraint, of all authority, these savage robbers, the terror of their
neighbors, live together amicably, and we find among them fewer
robberies and murders, and more morality than among the majority of
the Asiatic people. {204} This is explained by the action of an
all-powerful law, which exercises over the inhabitants of the desert
more empire than religion itself; we speak of the _Deb_, that is to
say, the custom, the traditions. An invisible sovereign, obeyed
everywhere, it sanctions robbery and slavery, and all the
prescriptions of Islam fall to the ground before it. "How," asked
Vambery one day of a Tartar famous for his robberies and his great
piety, "how can you sell your Sunnite brother, when the Prophet has
said expressly: Every Mussulman is free?" "Bah!" he replied, "the
Koran, this book of God, is more precious than a man, and yet you buy
and sell it; Joseph, the son of Jacob, was a prophet, and yet they
sold him, and was he ever the worse for it?" The influence of Deb
extends throughout central Asia; in converting themselves to the
worship of Mohammed, the nomad tribes have taken only the exterior
form; they adored formerly the sun, the fire, and other natural
phenomena--they personify them to-day under the name of Allah.
Many ancient and singular customs are found everywhere in central
Asia; marriage is accompanied by characteristic rites. The young girl,
in her rich bridal costume, bravely bestrides a furious courser, whom
she urges to his utmost speed; with one hand she holds the rein, with
the other she presses to her bosom a lamb just killed, which the
bridegroom, mounted also on a fast horse, endeavors to take from her.
All the young people of the tribe take a part in the eager pursuit,
and the sandy desert then becomes the theatre of this fantastic
contest.
The ceremonies prescribed for funerals are not less singular. When a
member of a Turkoman family dies, the mourners come every day for an
entire year, at the hour when the deceased expired, to utter sobs and
cries, in which the relations are bound to join. This custom seems to
prove that the Tartars, superior in this respect to civilized people,
consecrate to their dead a remembrance more profound and more durable;
but, in fact, one must abate a little of this praise; the tears and
prolonged mourning are only a matter of form, and Vambery often could
hardly suppress a smile when he saw the head of the family tranquilly
smoking his pipe or enjoying his repast, interrupting himself now and
then to join the noisy lamentations of the choir. It is the same with
the ladies; they cry, they weep in the most lugubrious fashion,
without ceasing to turn the wheel or rock the cradle. But what then?
is not human nature the same everywhere, and do the Turkoman ladies
differ so much from our inconsolable widows, to whom, as La Fontaine
says with good-natured malice, "mourning very soon becomes an
ornament."
Vambery, venerated as one of the elect of the prophet, often passed
his evenings among these Tartar families. Then, surrounded by a large
audience, the troubadour, accompanying himself upon the guitar,
chanted the poetry of Koroghi, of Aman Mollah, or more frequency of
Makhdumkuli, the Ossian of the desert, whom his compatriots regard as
a demigod. This holy personage, who had never studied in the colleges
of Bokhara, received the gift of all science by a divine inspiration.
He was one day transported in a dream to Mecca, in presence of the
Prophet and of the first caliphs. Seized with respect and fear at the
sight of this august assembly, he prostrated himself, and, throwing
around him a timid look, perceived Omar, the patron of the Turkomen,
who, with a benevolent air, signed him to approach. He received then
the benediction of the Prophet, a light blow on the forehead, which
awakened him. From this moment a celestial poesy flowed from his lips;
he composed heroic hymns which the Tartars regard to-day as the most
beautiful productions of the human mind.
{205}
About this time, a mollah having undertaken a trip to Atabeg and the
Goeklen, our traveller seized the occasion to examine the Greek ruins
which perpetuate among these savage people the remembrance of the
conquests of Alexander. He recognized the wall built by the Macedonian
hero to oppose a barrier to the menacing stream of the desert tribes.
The legend of the Turkomen shows how the oriental imagination clothes
the events of history with poetic and religious fiction. Alexander,
they say, was a profoundly religious Mussulman; and as the saints
exercise all power over the invisible world, he commanded the spirits
of darkness, and it was by his order that the genii built the sacred
wall.
Notwithstanding the generous hospitality of Khandjan, Vambery began to
get tired of his residence at Gomushtepe. The continual raids of the
Turkomen peopled their tents with a crowd of Persian slaves, whose
tortures revolted any one who had a spark of humanity. These unhappy
beings, surprised for the most part in a nocturnal attack, were
dragged from their families, and loaded with heavy chains which
betrayed the slightest movement and hindered every attempt at flight.
Khandjan himself possessed two young Iranians of eighteen and twenty
years, and, singularly enough, this man, so good and so hospitable,
overwhelmed these young men with injuries and insults on the slightest
pretext. Our traveller could not, without betraying himself, manifest
the least compassion for these poor slaves. Notwithstanding, the pity
which they sometimes surprised in his looks induced them to address
him. They begged him to write to their relatives, imploring them to
sell cattle, gardens, and dwellings in order to release them from this
frightful captivity; for the Turkomen often maltreat their prisoners
merely in the hope of obtaining a great ransom for them.
Vambery then learned with joy that the khan of Khiva, for whom the
physicians had prescribed the use of buffalo's milk, had sent his
chief of caravans to Gomushtepe to buy two pair of these animals, in
order to have them acclimated in his own country. To join an officer
who knew the invisible paths of the desert better than the most
experienced guides, was an unexpected good fortune for the pilgrims,
and Vambery urged Hadji Bilal to improve so good an opportunity; but
Hadji Bilal was surprised at the impatience of his friend, and
remarked that it was extremely childish. "It is of no use to be in a
hurry," said he; "you will remain on the banks of the Gorghen until
destiny shall decree that you quench your thirst at another river, and
it is impossible to tell when the will of Allah will be manifested."
This answer was not particularly satisfactory to Vambery; but he could
not attempt the desert alone; he was forced then to submit to the
oriental slowness of his companions.
The little caravan was to return to Etrek, the capital of a tribe of
warriors, to wait until the chief of caravans should join it. One of
the most renowned chiefs of this tribe came just at this time to
Gomushtepe. His name was Kulkhan-_le-Pir_ (chief). His sombre and wild
physiognomy, little calculated to inspire confidence, never brightened
at the sight of the pious pilgrims; nevertheless, out of regard for
Khandjan, he consented to take the hadjis under his protection,
recommending to them to be ready to start with him in two days, for he
awaited in order to return to his tent at Etrek only the arrival of
his son, who had gone on a raid. Kulkhan spoke of this expedition with
the paternal pride which makes the heart of a European beat in
learning that his son has covered himself with glory on the field of
battle. Some hours later, the young man, followed by seven Turkomen,
appeared on the banks of the Gorghen. A great crowd had gathered, and
admiration was painted upon every face when the proud cavaliers threw
themselves with their {206} prey, ten magnificent horses, into the
midst of the river, which they crossed swimming. They landed
immediately, and even Vambery, in spite of the contempt with which
these acts of pillage inspired him, could not take his eyes from these
bold warriors, who, in their short riding-habit, the chest covered
with their abundant curling hair, gaily laid down their arms.
About noon the next day the traveller quitted Gomushtepe, and was
escorted for a considerable distance by Khandjan, who wished to fulfil
punctually all the duties of hospitality. It was not without heartfelt
regret that he parted from this devoted host, from whom he had
received so many marks of interest. The pilgrims travelled toward the
north-east; their road, which led them from the coast, was bordered by
many mounds raised by the Turkomen in memory of their illustrious
dead. When a warrior dies, every man of his tribe is bound to throw at
least seven shovelsful of earth upon his grave. So these mausoleums
often appear like little hills. This custom must be very ancient among
the Asiatics; the Huns brought it into Europe, and we find traces of
it to-day in Hungary. Half a league from Gomushtepe the little caravan
reached magnificent prairies, the herbage of which, knee-high, exhaled
a delicious fragrance. But these blessings of nature are thrown away
upon the Turkomen, who, wholly occupied in robbery and pillage, never
dream of enriching themselves by peaceful, pastoral occupations.
"Alas!" thought our European, "what charming villages might shelter
themselves in this fertile and beautiful country. When will the busy
hum of life replace the silence of death which broods over these
regions?"
Approaching Etrek, the landscape suddenly changes. This lonely verdure
is exchanged for the salt lands of the desert, whose rank odor and
repulsive appearance seem to warn the traveller of the sufferings
which await him in these immense solitudes. Little by little Vambery
felt the ground become soft under foot; his camel slipped, buried
himself at each step, and gave such evident signs of intending to
throw him in the mud, that he thought it prudent to dismount without
waiting for a more pressing invitation. After tramping an hour and a
half in the mire the pilgrims reached Kara Sengher (black wall), where
rose the tent of their host, Kulkhan-le-Pir. The district of Etrek is,
to the populations of Mazendran and Taberistan, a by-word of terror
and malediction. "May you be carried to Etrek," is the most terrible
imprecation which fury can extort from a Persian. One cannot pass
before the tents of the Turkomen of Etrek without seeing the unhappy
Iranian slaves, wasted by fatigue and privations, and bent under the
weight of their chains. But the nomad tribes of Tartary offer a
singular mixture of vice and virtue, of justice and lawlessness, of
benevolence and cruelty. Vambery, in his character of dervish, made
frequent visits among the Tartars. He always returned loaded with
presents and penetrated with gratitude for their charitable
hospitality. To this sentiment succeeded a profound horror at the
barbarous treatment inflicted upon their slaves. At Gomushtepe such a
spectacle had already revolted him; and yet this city, compared to
Etrek, might be considered the _Ultima Thule_ of humanity and
civilization.
One day, returning to his dwelling, Vambery met one of the slaves of
Kulkhan, who, in a piteous tone, begged him to give him to drink. This
unfortunate being had labored ever since morning in a field of melons,
exposed to the heat of a burning sun, without any other food than salt
fish, and without a drop of water to quench his thirst. The sight of
this poor sufferer, and of the cheers which ran down over his thick
black beard, made Vambery forget the danger {207} to which an
imprudent compassion might expose himself. He gave his bottle to the
slave, who drank eagerly and fled, not without having passionately
thanked his benefactor.
Another time the European and Hadji Bilal called on a rich Tartar,
who, learning that Vambery was a disciple of the Grand Turk, cried,
with great glee, "I will show you a spectacle which will delight you;
we know how well the Russians and the Turks agree, and I will show you
one oL your enemies in chains." He then called a poor Muscovite slave,
whose pallid features and expression of profound sadness touched
Vambery to the heart. "Go and kiss the feet of this effendi," said the
Turkoman to the prisoner. The poor fellow was about to obey, but our
traveller stopped him by a gesture, saying that he had that morning
begun a great purification and that he did not wish to be defiled by
the touch of an infidel.
At last a messenger came to inform the pilgrims that the chief of
caravans was about to leave, and that he would meet them at noon the
next day on the shore opposite Etrek. The hadjis therefore began their
journey, escorted by Kulkhan-le-Pir, who, thanks to the introduction
of Kulkhan, neglected nothing for the security of his guests. Now, as
these districts are infested by brigands and very dangerous for
caravans, the protection of this _graybeard_ was very useful to the
travellers. Kulkhan was, in fact, the spiritual guide and grand
high-priest of these fierce robbers; he united to a character
naturally ferocious a consummate hypocrisy which made him a curious
type of the desert chiefs. One ought to have heard this renowned
bandit, who had ruined so many families, explaining to his assembled
disciples the rites prescribed for purifications, and telling them how
a good Mussulman ought to cut his moustache, etc. A sort of pious
ecstasy, a perfect serenity, the fruit of a good conscience, was
visible meanwhile upon the countenances of these men, as if they
already enjoyed a foretaste of the delight of Mohammed's paradise.
The chief of caravans now joined the pilgrims. Vambery desired very
much to win the good graces of so important a man, and was, therefore,
much alarmed when he saw that this dignitary, who had received the
other pilgrims with marks of great respect, treated him with great
coldness. Hadji Bilal eagerly undertook the defence of his friend.
"All this," he cried angrily, "is no doubt the work of that miserable
Mehemmed, who, even while we were in Etrek, tried to make us believe
that our Hadji Reschid, so holy and so learned in the Koran, was a
European in disguise! The Lord, pardon my sins!" This was the favorite
exclamation of the good dervish in his moments of greatest agitation.
"Be patient," he added, addressing his companion, "once arrived at
Khiva, I will set this opium-eater right." Mehemmed was an Afghan
merchant, born at Kandahar, who had frequently met Europeans. He
thought he discovered in Vambery a secret agent travelling, no doubt,
with great treasure, and he hoped, by frightening him, to extort from
him considerable sums; but the European was too cunning to be taken in
this trap, and he found a secure protection in his reputation for
sanctity and in the generous friendship of Hadji Bilal.
This incident had no immediate consequences. The chief of caravans,
who was now chief of the united caravans, ordered each pilgrim
carefully to fill his bottle, for they would travel now many days
without meeting any spring. Vambery followed the example of his
companions, but with a negligent air which Hadji Salih thought himself
bound to reprove. "You do not know yet," said he, "that in the desert
each drop of water becomes a drop of life. The thirsty traveller
watches over his bottle as a miser over his treasure; it is as
precious to him as his eye-sight."
They travelled the whole day over a sandy soil, at times slightly
undulating, but where it was impossible to discover the least trace of
a path. The sun alone indicated their course, and during the night the
_kervanbashi_ (chief of caravans) guided himself by the polar star,
called by the Turkomen the iron pin, because it is motionless.
Gradually the sand gave place to a hard and flinty soil, on which
through the silent night resounded the foot-fall of the camels. At
day-break the caravan stopped to take some hours of rest, and
presently Vambery perceived the kervanbashi engaged eagerly in
conversation with Hadji Bilal and Hadji Salih, the subject of which
their looks, constantly directed toward him, sufficiently indicated.
He pretended not to observe it, and occupied himself with renewed
earnestness in turning over the pages of the Koran. Some moments after
his friends came to him, and said "his foreign features excited the
distrust of the kervanbashi, for this man had already incurred the
anger of the king because he had some years before conducted to Khiva
a European, whom this single journey had enabled to put down on paper
with diabolical art all the peculiarities of the country, and he never
should be able to save his head if he committed another such blunder.
It is with great difficulty," added the dervishes, "that we have
persuaded him to take you with us, and he has made it a condition,
first, that you shall consent to be searched, and secondly, that you
will swear, by the tomb of the Prophet, that you will not carry about
you secretly a _wooden pen_ as these detestable Europeans always do."
These words, we may imagine, were not very agreeable to Vambery, but
he had too much self-control to permit his agitation to be seen.
Pretending to be very angry, he turned toward Hadji Salih, and, loud
enough to be heard by the chief of caravans, replied, "Hadji, you have
seen me in Teheran, and you know who I am; say to the kervanbashi that
an honest man ought not to listen to the gossip of an infidel." This
pretended indignation produced the desired effect; no one afterward
expressed a doubt in regard to the pilgrim. Vambery could not resolve
to keep his promise, and, whatever it might have cost him to deceive
his friends, he continued to make in secret some rapid notes. "Let one
imagine," says he, to excuse himself, "the latter disappointment of a
traveller who arriving at last, after long efforts and great peril,
before a spring for which he has eagerly sighed, finds himself
forbidden to moisten his parched lips."
The caravan advanced slowly through the desert; in compassion for the
camels, who suffered much from the sand, upon which they could hardly
walk, the pilgrims dismounted when the road became very bad. These
forced marches were a severe trial to Vambery on account of his
lameness; but he endeavored to forget, his fatigue and to take a part
in the noisy conversations of his companions. The nephew of the
kervanbashi, a Turkoman of Khiva, entertained a particular affection
for him; full of respect for his character as dervish, and won by the
benevolence of his looks, he took great pleasure in talking to him of
his _tent_, the only manner in which the prescriptions of the Prophet
permitted him to speak of the young wife whom he had left at home.
Separated for a whole year from the object of his tenderness, Khali
Mallah appealed to the science of the pretended hadji to pierce the
veil which absence had placed between himself and his family. Vambery
gravely took the Koran, pronounced some cabalistic words, closed his
eyes, and opened the book precisely at a passage in which women are
spoken of. He interpreted the sacred text so as to draw from it an
oracle sufficiently vague, at which the young Tartar was transported
with joy.
On the 27th of May the travellers reached the table-lands of
Korentaghi, a chain of mountains surrounded by vast valleys, to the
west of which extend ruins probably of Greek origin. {209} The nomads
who inhabit this district came in crowds to visit the caravan, and for
some hours the encampment had the appearance of a bazaar. The
merchants and drovers who accompanied the kervanbashi concluded
important bargains with the natives, mostly on credit; but Vambery was
surprised to see the debtor, instead of giving the note as a guarantee
to the creditor, tranquilly put it in his own pocket. Our European
could not refrain from speaking of this, and he received from one of
the merchants this answer of a patriarchal simplicity: "What should I
do with the paper? it would not do me any good; but the debtor
requires it in order to remind him of the amount of the debt and of
the time when it is to be paid."
Two days after a dark blue cloud appeared in the horizon toward the
north; this was Petit-Balkan, the elevation, the picturesque
landscapes, and the rich mineral resources of which are celebrated in
all Turkoman poetry. The travellers passed along the chain of
mountains, perceiving here and there green and fertile prairies, and
yet the profound solitude of these beautiful valleys filled the soul
with a vague sadness. Beyond commences the Great Desert, where the
traveller marches for many weeks without finding a drop of water to
quench his thirst, or a tree to shelter him from the rays of the sun.
In winter the cold is intense, in summer the heat; but the two seasons
present an equal danger, and frequent tempests swallow up whole
caravans under drifts of snow or whirlwinds of sand.
"In proportion," says Vambery, "as the outlines of Balkan disappear
from the horizon, the limitless desert shows itself, terrible and
majestic. I had often thought that imagination and enthusiasm enter
largely into the profound impression produced by the sight of these
immense solitudes. I deceived myself. In my own beloved country I have
often seen vast plains of sand; in Persia I have crossed the salt
desert; but how different were my feelings to-day! It is not
imagination, it is nature herself who lights the sacred torch of
inspiration. The interminable hills of sand, the utter absence of
life, the frightful calm of death, the purple tints of the sun at his
rising and setting, all warn us that we are in the Great Desert, all
fill our souls with an inexpressible emotion."
After travelling many days, the provision of water beginning to be
exhausted, Vambery knew for the first time the horrible tortures of
thirst. "Alas!" he thought, "saving and blessed water, the most
precious of all the elements, how little have I known your value! what
would I not give at this moment for a few drops of your divine
substance!" The unfortunate traveller had lost his appetite, he
experienced an excessive prostration, a devouring fire consumed his
veins, he sank upon the ground in a state of complete exhaustion.
Suddenly he heard resound the magic words, "Water! water!" He looked
up and saw the kervanbashi distribute to each of his companions two
glasses of the precious liquid. The good Turkoman had the habit
whenever he crossed the desert of hiding a certain quantity of water,
which he distributed to the members of his caravan when their
sufferings became intolerable. This unexpected succor revived the
strength of Vambery, and he acknowledged the justice of the Tartar
proverb: "The drop of water given in the desert to the traveller dying
of thirst, effaces a hundred, years of sin."
The next day numerous tracks of gazelles and wild asses announced to
the travellers that springs were to be found in the neighborhood;
thither they hastened to fill their bottles, and, relieved now from
all anxiety lest water should fail them before their arrival at Khiva,
they gave themselves up to transports of joyful enthusiasm. Toward
evening they reached the table-land of Kaflankir, an island {210} of
verdure in the midst of a sea of sand. Its fertile soil, covered with
luxuriant vegetation, gives asylum to a great number of animals; two
deep trenches surround this oasis, which the Turkomen say are ancient
branches of the Oxus. The caravan, instead of going directly to Khiva,
made a circuit to avoid a tribe of marauders; the first of June it
arrived within sight of the great Tartar city, which, with its domes,
its minarets, its smiling gardens, the luxuriant vegetation which
surrounds it, appeared to the travellers, worn by the monotony of the
desert, an epitome of the delights of nature and of civilization.
III.
On entering the city their admiration was somewhat lessened. Khiva is
composed of three or four thousand houses, constructed of earth,
scattered about in all directions and surrounded by a wall, also of
clay, ten feet high. But at every step the pious Khivites offered them
bread and dried fruits, begging their blessing. For a long time Khiva
had not received within its walls so great a number of hadjis; every
face expressed astonishment and admiration, and on all sides resounded
acclamations of welcome. Entering into the bazaar, Hadji Bilal intoned
a sacred canticle, in which his companions joined; the voice of
Vambery predominated; and his emotion was very great when he saw the
surrounding crowd rush toward him, to kiss his hands, his feet covered
with dust, and even the rags which composed his dress.
According to the usage of the country, the travellers returned
immediately to the caravan which served as custom-house. The principal
_mehrum_ (royal chamberlain) fulfilled the functions of director;
hardly had he addressed the usual questions to the kervanbashi when
the miserable Afghan before spoken of, furious at having been thwarted
in his avaricious designs, advancing, cried in a tone of raillery: "We
have brought to Khiva three interesting quadrupeds, and a biped who is
not less so." The first part of the expression, of course, alluded to
the buffaloes which had been brought from Gomushtepe; the second was
pointed at Vambery. Instantly all eyes were fixed upon him, and he
could distinguish among the murmurs of the crowd the words: "Spy,
European, Russian." Imagine his agitation! The khan of Khiva, a cruel
fanatic, had the reputation of reducing to slavery or destroying by
horrible tortures all suspected strangers. In this emergency Vambery
was not intimidated; often he had considered the possible consequences
of his bold enterprise, and looked death in the face.
The mehrum, lifting his brows, considered the foreign countenance of
the unknown, and rudely ordered him to approach. Vambery was about to
reply when Hadji Bilal, who did not know what was going on, eagerly
entered to introduce his friend to the Khivite officer; the exterior
of the Turkoman dervish inspired so much confidence that suspicions
were instantly changed into respectful excuses.
This peril avoided, Vambery could not deny that his European features
raised in his way every moment new difficulties; he must have a
powerful protector always ready to defend him. He presently remembered
that an important man, named Shukrullah Bay, who had been for ten
years ambassador to the sultan from the khan of Khiva, must know
Constantinople and every official of that city. Vambery thought he
should find in this dignitary the support which he desired, and he
repaired the same day to the _medusse_ (college) of Mohammed Emin
Khan, where he resided. Informed that an effendi, recently arrived
from Stamboul, wished to see him, the ex-minister immediately
appeared. His surprise, already very great, was not diminished when he
saw enter a mendicant covered with {211} rags and frightfully
disfigured; but after exchanging a few words with his strange visitor,
his distrust vanished; he addressed him question after question
regarding his friends whom he had left at Constantinople, and, from
the mere pleasure of hearing him speak of them, he forgot to raise a
doubt regarding the supposed quality of the traveller. "In the name of
God, my dear effendi," said he at last, "how could you quit such a
paradise as Stamboul to come into our frightful country?" The
pretended Reschid sighed deeply. "Ah, pir!" he replied, putting a hand
upon his eyes in sign of obedience. Shukrullah was too good a
Mussulman not to understand these words; he was persuaded that his
guest belonged to some order of dervishes, and had been charged by his
_pir_ (spiritual chief) with some mission which a disciple was bound
to accomplish even at the peril of his life. Without asking any
farther explanations, he merely inquired the name of the order to
which Vambery was attached. Vambery mentioned the Nakish bendi,
[Footnote 37] implying that Bokhara was the end of his pilgrimage, and
he retired, leaving the Khivite minister marvelling at his learning,
his wit, his sanctity, and his extensive acquaintance.
[Footnote 37: A celebrated order which originated in Bokhara, where
its principal establishment still exists.]
The khan, hearing of the arrival of a Turk, the first who had ever
come from Constantinople to Khiva, sent in all haste a _yasoul_
(officer of the court) to give the European a small present and inform
him that the _hazret_ (sovereign) would give him audience the same
evening, for he greatly desired to receive the blessing of a dervish
born in the holy land. Our voyager, therefore, accompanied by
Shukrullah Bay, who made it a point to present him, repaired to the
palace of the formidable monarch. We will leave Vambery to relate
himself this curious interview:
"It was the hour of public audience, and the principal entrance and
halls of the palace were filled with petitioners of every rank, sex,
and age. The crowd respectfully made way at our approach, and my ear
was agreeably tickled when I heard the women say to each other: 'See
the holy dervish from Constantinople; he comes to bless our khan, and
may Allah hear his prayer!' Shukrullah Bay had taken care to make it
known that I was very intimate with the highest dignitaries in
Stamboul, and that nothing should be omitted to render my reception
most solemn. After waiting a few moments, two yasouls came to take me
by the arm, and, with the most profound demonstrations of respect,
conducted me in the presence of Seid Mehemmed Khan.
"The prince was seated upon a sort of platform, his left arm resting
upon a velvet cushion, his right hand holding a golden sceptre.
According to the prescribed ceremonial, I raised my two hands, a
gesture which was immediately imitated by the khan and others present;
then I recited a verse from the Koran, followed by a prayer much used
beginning with the words: '_Allahuma Rabbina_.' I concluded with an
_amen_, which I pronounced with a resounding voice, holding my beard
with both hands. '_Kaboul bolgay!_' (may thy prayer be heard),
responded in unison all the assistants. Then I approached the
sovereign and exchanged with him the _mousafeha_, [Footnote 38] after
which I retired a few steps. The khan addressed me several questions
regarding the object of my journey, and my impressions in crossing the
Great Desert.
[Footnote 38: Salute prescribed by the Koran, during which the right
and left hand of each party are placed flatly one upon the other. ]
"'My sufferings have been great,' I replied, 'but my reward is greater
yet, since I am permitted to behold the splendor of your glorious
majesty. I return thanks to Allah for this favor, and I see in it a
good omen for the rest of my pilgrimage.'
{212}
"The king, evidently flattered, asked how long I proposed to remain at
Khiva, and if I were provided with the necessary funds for pursuing my
journey.
"'My intention,' I replied, 'is to visit before my departure the tombs
of the saints who repose in the vicinity of Khiva. As to the means of
pursuing my journey, I give myself no anxiety. We dervishes occupy
ourselves very little with such trifles. The sacred breathing which I
have received from the chief of my order suffices, moreover, to
sustain me four or five days without any other nourishment; therefore
the only prayer which I address to heaven is that your majesty may
live a hundred and twenty years.'
"My words had gained the good graces of the khan; he offered me twenty
ducats, and promised to make me a present of an ass. I declined the
first of these presents, because poverty is the necessary attribute of
a dervish; but I accepted the animal with gratitude, not without
piously remarking that the precept of the Prophet requires that a
white ass should be used for pilgrimages. The king assured me that I
should have one of this color, and he put an end to the interview,
begging me to accept at least during my short residence in his capital
two _tenghe_ (1 franc 50 centimes) a day for my maintenance.
"I retired joyfully, receiving at every step the respectful homage of
the crowd, and regained my own dwelling. Once alone, I uttered a sigh
of satisfaction, thinking of the danger which I had incurred, and the
happy manner in which I had escaped it. This dissolute khan, savage
and brutal tyrant, had treated me with unexampled kindness; I was now
free from all fear, and at liberty to go where I liked. During the
entire evening, the audience of the khan was present to my mind; I saw
again the Asiatic despot, with his pallid countenance, his eyes deeply
sunk in the orbits, his beard sprinkled with white, his white lips and
trembling voice. So, I thought, Providence has permitted that
fanaticism itself should serve as a bit to this suspicious and cruel
tyrant."
It was soon understood in Khiva that the dervish of Constantinople was
in great favor with the khan, therefore the notables of the city
delayed not to overwhelm him with visits and invitations; the
_oulemas_ especially, anxious to enlighten themselves with his light,
asked him a thousand questions regarding various religious
observances. Vambery, repressing his impatience, was obliged to spend
whole hours instructing these fervent disciples on the manner of
washing the feet, the hands, the face; explaining to them how, not to
violate any precept, the true believers ought to sit down, to rise, to
walk, sleep, etc. The pretended pilgrim, who was supposed to be a
native of Stamboul, venerated seat of religion, passed for an
infallible oracle, for the sultan of Constantinople and the grandees
of his court are regarded at Khiva as the most accomplished observers
of the law. They there represent the Turkish emperor as _coiffe_ in a
turban at least fifty or sixty yards long, wrapped in a long trailing
robe, and wearing a beard which falls to the girdle. To inform the
Khivites that this prince dresses like a European, and has his clothes
cut by Dusautoy, would only excite their pious indignation; any one
who would attempt to disabuse them on these points would pass for an
impostor, and would only risk his own life. Vambery was obliged to
answer the most ridiculous questions: one wished to know if in the
whole world there was any city to be compared to Khiva; another, if
the meals of the grand sultan were sent to him every day from Mecca,
and if it only took one minute for them to come from the Kaaba to the
palace at Constantinople. What would these pious enthusiasts say if
they could know with what honor _Chateau-Lafitte and Chateau-Margeaux_
figure upon the table of the actual successor of the Prophet?
{213}
The convent which gave asylum to the pilgrims served also as a public
square; it contained a mosque, the court of which, ornamented with a
piece of water surrounded with beautiful trees, was the favorite
lounge of all the idle people in town. The women came there to fill
the heavy jugs which they afterward carried to their dwellings. More
than one of these recalled to the European the daughters of his dear
Hungary; he took great pleasure in watching them, and never refused
them his blessing, his powder of life, or even his sacred breathing,
which had the power of curing all infirmities. On these occasions, the
sick person squatted upon the threshold of the door, the pretended
dervish, moving his lips as if in prayer, extended a hand over the
patient, then he breathed three times upon her and uttered a profound
sigh. Very often the innocent creatures fancied that they had
experienced immediate relief, so great is the power of the
imagination!
During the time that Vambery was at Khiva, a fair had assembled there
from twenty leagues round all the rich natives. Most of these came to
the markets not so much to buy and sell as to gratify that love of
display so inveterate among the Orientals; their purchases were often
limited to a few needles or similar trifles; but it was an excellent
occasion to parade their beautiful horses, to display their richest
clothes and their finest weapons. Khiva, moreover, is the centre of an
active commerce; beside the fruits, which enjoy great renown, and are
exported to Persia, Turkey, Russia, and China, the stalls of the fair
contain excellent manufactured articles. Beside the _urgendi
tchapani_, a kind of dressing robe made of woollen or silken stuffs of
two colors, are displayed the linens of Tash-hauz, the bronzes of
Khiva, muslins, calicoes, cloth, sugar, iron sent by Russia to be
exchanged for cotton, silk, and furs, which the caravans deliver in
the spring at the markets of Orenbourg, and in the autumn at those of
Astrakan. The transactions with Bokhara are equally important: they
export thither robes and linens, and receive in exchange tea, spices,
paper, and fancy articles.
Vambery, divided between the friendship of Hadji Bilal and his daily
increasing intimacy with Shukrullah Bay, led a very agreeable life at
Khiva. Unhappily this calm was troubled by the secret intrigues of the
mehter (minister of the interior), who was a personal enemy of the
Khivite ambassador. He persuaded the khan that our traveller was a
secret agent of the sultan of Bokhara, and Seid Mehemmed resolved to
have a second interview with the would-be dervish, and submit him to a
strict examination. Vambery, exhausted by the extreme heat, was taking
a siesta in his cell when he was warned by a messenger to report
himself to the sovereign. Surprised at this unexpected order, he
departed with some anxiety. In order to reach the palace he was
obliged to cross the grand square, where were assembled all the
prisoners taken in a recent war against the neighboring tribe of the
Tchandors, and the sight of these unfortunate beings impressed him
most painfully. The khan in company with the mehter awaited his
arrival; he overwhelmed him with artful questions, and said that,
knowing how thoroughly versed he was in the worldly sciences, he
should like very much to see him write some lines after the manner of
Stamboul. The necessary materials having been brought, Vambery wrote
the following epistle, when, under pompous flowers of rhetoric, he
slipped in a bit of raillery pointed at the mehter, who was extremely
vain of his own beautiful writing:
{214}
"Most majestic, powerful, terrible, and formidable monarch and
sovereign:
"Inundated with the royal favor, the poorest and most humble of your
servants has, until this day, consecrated little time to the study
of penmanship, for he remembers the Arab proverb: 'Those who have a
beautiful handwriting have ordinarily very little wit.' But he knows
also the Persian adage: 'Every defect which pleases a king becomes a
virtue.' This is why he ventures respectfully to present these
lines."
The khan, charmed with the pompous eloquence of our traveller, made
him sit beside him, offered him tea and bread, and had with him a long
political conversation, the subject of which had been agreed upon
beforehand. In his quality of dervish, the adroit European maintained
an austere silence. Seid Mehemmed drew from him with great difficulty
some sententious phrases, which offered not the slightest pretext to
the malicious designs of the mehter.
On leaving the royal audience, a yasoul conducted Vambery to the
treasurer to receive his daily allowance. He was obliged to cross a
vast court, where a horrible spectacle awaited him. Three hundred
Tchandors, covered with rags and wasted by hunger till they looked
like living skeletons, were expecting the sentence which was to decide
their fate. The younger ones, chained one to another by iron collars,
were to be sold as slaves or given as presents to the favorites of the
king. More cruel punishments were reserved for those whose age caused
them to be considered as chiefs. While some of them were conducted to
the block upon which already many heads had fallen, eight of these
unhappy old men were thrown upon the ground while the executioner tore
out their eyes. It is impossible to enter upon the frightful details
of these barbarous punishments. Arriving at the office of the
treasurer, Vambery found him singularly occupied in sorting silken
vestments of dazzling colors, covered with large golden embroidery.
These were the _khilat_, or robes of honor, which were to be sent to
the camp to recompense the services of the warriors; they were
designated as robes of four, twelve, twenty, or forty heads. This
singular mode of distinguishing them, which the designs upon the
tissue in no way explained, having excited the curiosity of Vambery,
he inquired the reason. "What!" was the reply, "have you never seen
similar ones in Turkey? In that case, come to-morrow to assist at the
distribution of these glorious emblems. The most beautiful of these
vestments are intended for those soldiers who have brought forty
enemies' heads, the most simple for those who have furnished only
four." In spite of the horror which this custom inspired, the European
could not without exciting suspicion refuse the invitation thus
extended to him. Accordingly, the next morning he saw arrive in the
principal square of Khiva a hundred cavaliers covered with dust; each
one of them led at least one prisoner fastened to the pommel of the
saddle, or to the tail of his horse; women and children bound in the
same manner making a part of the booty. Beside, all the soldiers
carried behind them large bags filled with heads cut off from the
vanquished. They delivered the captives to the officer in charge, and
then emptied their bags, rolling out the contents upon the ground with
as much indifference as if they had been potatoes. These noble
warriors received in exchange an attestation of their great exploits,
and this billet would give them a right after a few days to a
pecuniary recompense.
These barbarous customs are not peculiar to Khiva; they are found in
all central Asia. Tradition, law, and religion agree in sanctioning
them. During the first years of his reign, the khan of Khiva, wishing
to display his zeal for the Mussulman faith, proceeded with the utmost
rigor not only against the heretic Tchandors, but also against his own
subjects who were found guilty of the least infraction of the
commandments of the Prophet. The oulemas endeavored to moderate the
too ardent piety of the king; but, notwithstanding their intervention,
not a day passes without {215} some person admitted to audience of the
khan being dragged from the palace, after hearing the words,
equivalent to his death-warrant: "_Alib barin!_" (take him away).
Notwithstanding the cruelties by which Khiva is disgraced, it was in
this city that Vambery passed, under the costume of a dervish, the
most agreeable days of his journey. Whenever he appeared in public
places he was surrounded by a crowd of the faithful, who heaped
presents upon him. Thus, though he never accepted considerable sums,
and though he shared the offerings of the pious believers with his
brethren the hadjis, his situation was much improved; he was provided
with a well-lined purse, and a vigorous ass; in short, he was
perfectly equipped for his journey. His companions were very anxious
to arrive at Bokhara, fearing that the heat might render it
impracticable to cross the desert, and they urged Vambery to terminate
his preparations for departure. Before quitting Khiva our European
wished to bid adieu to the excellent protector to whose hospitable
reception he owed so much.
"I was deeply moved," he says, "to hear the arguments which the good
Shukrullah Bay employed to dissuade me from my enterprise. He painted
Bokhara under the most gloomy colors, the distrustful and hypocritical
emir, hostile to all strangers, and who had even treacherously put to
death a Turk sent to him by Reschid Pacha. The anxiety of this worthy
old man, so convinced at first of the reality of my sacred character,
surprised me extremely. I began to think that he had penetrated the
secret of my disguise, and perhaps divined who I was. Accustomed to
European ideas, Shukrullah Bay understood our ardor for scientific
researches, for in his youth he had passed many years in St.
Petersburg, and often also, during his residence in Constantinople, he
had formed affectionate intimacies with Europeans. Was it on this
account that he had manifested so warm a friendship for me? In parting
from him I saw a tear glisten in his eye; who can tell what sentiment
caused it to flow?"
Vambery gave the khan a last benediction. The prince recommended to
him on his return from Samarcande to pass through his capital, for he
wished to send with the pilgrim a representative, charged to receive
at Constantinople the investiture which the masters of Khiva wish to
obtain from every new sultan. This was by no means the plan of our
traveller. "_Kismet_," he replied, with his habitual presence of mind;
a word altogether in the spirit of his character, and which signifies
that one commits a grave sin when one counts upon the future.
------
{216}
From Aubrey De Vere's May Carols.
MATER DIVINAE GRATIAE.
The gifts a mother showers each day
Upon her softly-clamorous brood:
The gifts they value but for play,--
The graver gifts of clothes and food,--
Whence come they but from him who sows
With harder hand, and reaps, the soil;
The merit of his laboring brows,
The guerdon of his manly toil?
From him the grace: through her it stands
Adjusted, meted, and applied;
And ever, passing through her hands,
Enriched it seems, and beautified.
Love's mirror doubles love's caress:
Love's echo to love's voice is true:--
Their sire the children love not less
Because they clasp a mother too.
------
As children when, with heavy tread,
Men sad of face, unseen before,
Have borne away their mother dead--
So stand the nations thine no more.
From room to room those children roam,
Heart-stricken by the unwonted black:
Their house no longer seems their home:
They search; yet know not what they lack.
Years pass: self-will and passion strike
Their roots more deeply day by day;
Old servants weep; and "how unlike"
Is all the tender neighbors say.
And yet at moments, like a dream,
A mother's image o'er them flits:
Like hers their eyes a moment beam;
The voice grows soft; the brow unknits.
Such, Mary, are the realms once thine,
That know no more thy golden reign.
Bold forth from heaven thy Babe divine!
O make thine orphans thine again!
------
{217}
From The Month
PAMPHLETS ON THE EIRENICON.
The appearance of a work such as the "Eirenicon," from the pen of one
in so conspicuous a position as Dr. Pusey, was sure to attract general
attention, and to call forth a great number of comments and answers
more or less favorable to it or severe upon it. It gives an occasion
for, and indeed invites, the frankest discussion of a very wide range
of most important questions; and in doing so it has rendered a great
service to the cause of truth. Many of these questions are of that
kind which those whom the "Eirenicon" itself may be supposed more
particularly to represent have been in the habit of avoiding, at all
events in public, although their own ecclesiastical position depended
entirely upon them. It is a very great gain that these should now be
opened for discussion, at the invitation of one who has long passed as
a leader among Anglicans. Moreover, a book which handles so many
subjects and contains so many assertions has naturally raised
questions as to itself which require consideration. It is a
comparatively easy matter to look on it as a simple overture for
peace, or to speculate on the possibility of that "union by means of
explanations" which Dr. Pusey tells us is his dearest wish. Even here
we are directly met by the necessity of further investigations. Dr.
Pusey puts a certain face on the Thirty-nine Articles, and on Catholic
doctrines and statements with regard to the questions to which those
Articles refer. Is he right in his representation either of the
definitions of his own communion or of the support which those
definitions may receive from authorities external to it? Is it true
that the "Catholic" interpretation is the legitimate sense of the
Articles? Is it true that that interpretation is supported by Roman
and Greek authorities? Is there no statement, for instance, in the
Council of Trent about justification to which any in the Anglican
communion can object? It must be quite obvious that a great number of
sanguine assertions such as these require examination in detail; and
surely no one can complain if they are not admitted on Dr. Pusey's
word. Then again, unfortunately, he was not content with painting his
own communion in his own colors; he must needs give a description of
the Catholic system also. He has told us--and we are both willing and
bound to believe him--that he has not drawn this sketch in a hostile
spirit; perhaps he will some day acknowledge--which is much more to
the point--that he has drawn it in great and lamentable ignorance, the
consciousness of which ought to have deterred him from attempting it.
Surely there are some enterprises which are usually undertaken by none
but the dullest or the most presumptuous of men. Such an enterprise is
that of giving an account of a practical system which influences and
forms the hearts and minds of thousands of our fellow-creatures, when
we have ourselves lived all our days as entire strangers to it. If it
be something simply in the natural order, such as the polity or the
customs of a foreign nation, we do not feel so much surprise at the
blunders made by the {218} writer who undertakes to describe them, as
at his temerity in making the attempt. This is, of coarse, enhanced
greatly in proportion as we ascend into the higher spheres of the
spiritual and supernatural life. It is strange enough to see any
sensible man writing as if he could fairly characterize the devotional
sentiments and religious thoughts of men of a different belief; but it
becomes something more than strange when this venturesome critic
proceeds not only to characterize, but to condemn and to denounce in
the strongest language that which he might in all reason and modesty
have supposed himself, at least, not quite able fully to comprehend;
and this at the very time that he is proposing peace.
We are not, however, here concerned with this more painful view of the
subject. We are only pointing out that the elaborate chapter of
accusation against the Catholic Church which Dr. Pusey has drawn up
could not fail to be received with great indignation on the part of
Catholics, and that the overtures which accompany it cannot be fairly
dealt with until it has been thoroughly sifted by criticism as well as
by controversy. How can we explain a "system" which we deny to exist?
Of course, no Catholic will acknowledge Dr. Pusey's representation as
anything but a monstrous caricature. Of course, also, the chief heads
of accusation can be easily dealt with one by one, and positive
statements given as to what is really taught, thought, and felt by
Catholics with regard to them. But this leaves the book untouched. How
came these charges to be made? What grounds has Dr. Pusey for
asserting that to be true which we all know to be so false? Does he
quote rightly? Has he understood the books he cites, where he has read
them? And has he read them through? Are the authors whom he gives as
fair specimens of Catholic teaching acknowledged as writers of credit,
or are some of them even on the Index? Has he ever understood the
Catholic doctrines on which he is severe, such as the immaculate
conception and the papal infallibility, or the meaning of the Catholic
authorities whom he seems to set in some sort of opposition to others,
such as Bossuet and the bishops, whose answers he quotes from the
"Pareri?" It is true that questions like this are to some extent
personal; but Dr. Pusey makes it necessary to ask them, and he is the
one person in the world who ought to wish that they should be
thoroughly handled. We cannot believe that he approves of the tactics
of some Anglican critics, who speak as if the ark of their sanctuary
were rudely touched when it is said that he can be mistaken or
ignorant about anything. He has never shown any lack of controversial
courage. Up to the present time we are not aware of a single
publication of any note from the Catholic side of the question which
has not exposed some one or two distinct and important errors of fact,
quotation, historical statement, or some grave misconception of
doctrine on his part; and this, it is to be observed, has hitherto
only been done incidentally by writers who have not addressed
themselves to the systematic examination of the "Eirenicon" as a work
of learning.
Lastly, this miscellaneous work has occasioned a call which, also, we
are glad to feel sure, will be adequately answered; a call for calm
and learned statements from Catholic theologians on some of the chief
controversial questions touched on by Dr. Pusey. What is the real
unity of the church? What is the true doctrine of her infallibility
and of that of the Roman Pontiff? and how are the commonly alleged
(though so often refuted) objections--as, for instance, that about
what Dr. Pusey calls _formal heresy_ of Liberius--to the met? What is
really meant by the immaculate conception, and what was in truth the
history of the late definition? {219} These, and a few more
important matters--such as the doctrine of transubstantiation, and the
historical truth as to the cases of Meletius and the African
churches--will be treated at length in the forthcoming volume of
essays announced under the title of "Peace through the Truth." The
case of the Anglican ordinations has been incidentally raised by Dr.
Pusey; but it will be natural for Catholic critics to wait for a
volume on the subject which has been announced by Mr. F. G. Lee. As
far as the alleged sanction of those ordinations by Cardinal Pole is
concerned, Dr. Pusey does not seem inclined to raise the question
again.
We have thus a tolerably large promise of work for theological writers
and readers; and it cannot but be looked on as a good sign that so
strong an impulse to controversial activity should have been given by
one who has not hitherto been fond of inviting attention to the
difficulties of his own position. It is but natural that the more
solid and erudite works called forth by the "Eirenicon" should be the
last to appear; and any one who has read but a few pages of that work
will understand the difficulty which its writer has imposed on any
conscientious critic by a frequently loose way of quoting, and an
occasional habit of giving no authority at all for statements that
certainly require more proof than a bare assertion. But we have
already the beginning of a most valuable collection of publications by
men of the highest position, dealing either with detached portions of
Dr. Pusey's work or in a summary way with its general plan; and some
service has been done by letters in the papers, such as those of Canon
Estcourt and Mr. Rhodes. Father Gallwey's "Sermon" has been widely
circulated; Canon Oakeley has given us an interesting pamphlet on the
"Leading Topics of the Eirenicon;" Dr. Newman has written a letter to
its author, and is understood to be preparing a second; and his grace
the Archbishop of Westminster has dealt with several of Dr. Pusey's
assertions in his "Pastoral Letter on the Reunion of Christendom." We
propose now to deal shortly with some of these publications, which,
though they belong to the earlier and more incidental stage of the
controversy, are of the highest value in themselves and on account of
the position of their authors. [Footnote 39]
[Footnote 39: We have found it impossible to deal with so important
and authoritative a e as his Grace's "Letter" in our present paper.]
We must first, however, speak of a work put forth by Dr. Pusey as a
sequel or a companion to the "Eirenicon." This is a republication
(with leave of the author) of the celebrated Tract 90, preceded by an
historical preface from Dr Pusey's own pen, and followed by a letter
of Mr. Keble on "Catholic Subscription to the Articles," which was
widely circulated, though not published, in 1861. Of the tract itself
we need not, of course, speak. Dr. Pusey's preface, however, is open
to one or two obvious remarks. It is remarkable for the manner in
which he identifies himself with the Mr. Newman of the day, though it
appears that the proof of the tract in question was submitted to Mr.
Keble, and its publication urged by him, while Dr. Pusey himself was
only made aware of its existence by the clamor with which it was
received. Then, again, the remarkable difference of view between Dr.
Pusey and Mr. Newman as to the "Catholic" interpretation of the
Articles forces itself again upon our notice. From the tract itself
all through, and its explanations by its author at the time and since,
it is perfectly clear that nothing more was meant by it than to claim
such latitude of interpretation of the Thirty-nine Articles as would
admit the "Catholic" sense on equal terms, as it were, with the
anti-Catholic; and the same view is urged by Mr. Keble in his letter.
The writer of the tract supposes that the Anglican formularies were
drawn {220} up with designed ambiguity, in order to catch Catholic
subscriptions. He compares the tactics adopted by the framers of the
Articles to those which were followed by M. Thiers: "A French
minister, desirous of war, nevertheless, as a matter of policy, draws
up his state papers in such moderate language that his successor, who
is for peace, can act up to them without compromising his own
principles. . . . The Protestant confession was drawn up with the
purpose of including Catholics; and Catholics now will not be
excluded. What was an economy in the reformers is a protection to us"
(Tract 90, conclusion). This is a plain common-sense view of the
matter, and is abundantly supported by history. But it obviously
leaves a stain on the Anglican establishment, which will appear of
vital or of trifling importance according to the different views under
which that community is regarded. If it is looked upon as a political
and national organization, it was no doubt a stroke of prudence so to
frame the formularies as to include both sides. If it is considered as
a church of Christ, it can hardly be anything but discreditable that
it should thus compromise divine truth. But Dr. Pusey's view of the
"Catholic interpretation," as expressed both in his present preface
and in the "Eirenicon," claims for it the exclusive title of the
natural and legitimate sense. It may seem almost incredible that any
one should maintain this; but so it is. Dr. Pusey thus speaks of the
"Protestant" interpretations: "We had all been educated in a
traditional system, which had practically imported into the Articles a
good many principles _which were not contained in them nor suggested
by them;_ yet which were habitually identified with them. . . . . We
proposed no system to ourselves, but laid aside piece by piece the
system of ultra-Protestant interpretation, which had incrusted round
the Articles. This doubtless appeared in our writings from time to
time; but the expositions to which we were accustomed, and which were
to our minds the genuine expositions of the Articles, had never before
been brought into one focus, as they were in Tract 90. . . . Newman
explained that it was written solely against this system of
interpretation, which brought meanings into the Articles, not out of
them, and also why he wrote it at all" (Pref., v.-vii.) Yet the words
of Mr. Newman's explanation, which are quoted immediately after this
last passage, distinctly contradict the interpretation of the tract
put forward by Dr. Pusey. Mr. Newman says that the Anglican Church, as
well as the Roman, in his opinion, has a "traditionary system beyond
and beside the letter of its formularies. . . . . And this
traditionary system not only inculcates what I cannot conceive
(receive?), but would exclude any difference of belief from itself.
_To this exclusive modern system_ I desire to oppose myself; and it is
as doing this, doubtless, that I am incurring the censure of the four
gentlemen who have come before the public. _I want certain points to
be left open which they would close._. . . In thus maintaining that
we have open questions, or, as I have expressed it in the tract,
'ambiguous formularies,' I observe, first, that I am introducing no
novelty." He then gives an instance which shows that the principle is
admitted. Again, he says: "The tract is grounded on the belief that
the Articles _need_ not be so closed as the received methods of
teaching closes them, and _ought_ not to be for the sake of many
persons" (Letter to Dr. Jelf, quoted by Dr. Pusey, p. vii.)
It is obvious that the interpretations contained in the tract, however
admissible on the hypothesis of their author, become little less than
extravagant when they are considered in the light in which Dr. Pusey
now puts them forward; and it is but fair to Dr. Newman and others to
point out the change. Moreover, it is not {221} impossible that this
republication of the tract, together with the avowals made in the
"Eirenicon" as to the interpretation of the Articles, may be
considered as a kind of challenge thrown out on the part of Dr. Pusey
and his followers to the authorities of the establishment and the
parties within it that are most opposed to "Catholic" opinions. It may
be considered fairly enough that if this "claim to hold all Roman
doctrine"--as far as those well-used words apply to it--is allowed to
pass unnoticed, the position of the "Anglo-Catholic" clergy in the
establishment will be made as secure as silent toleration on the part
of authorities can make it. [Footnote 40] Be it so by all means; but
let it be understood that the claim now made is quite different from
that made by Mr. Newman in 1841; and that if it enjoys immunity from
censure, on account of the far greater latitude now allowed in the
establishment to extreme opinions of every color except one, it has
still to free itself from the charge of being one of the most
grotesque contortions of language that has ever been seriously
advocated as permissible by reasonable men. One of the Articles, for
instance--to take the case adduced by Canon Oakeley--says that
"transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of the bread and
wine) in the Supper of the Lord cannot be proved by Holy Writ; but is
repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of
a sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions." On the
other hand, let us place the Tridentine Canon: "If any one saith that
in the sacred and holy sacrament of the eucharist the substance of the
bread and wine remains conjointly with the body and blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and denieth that wonderful and singular conversion of
the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole
substance of the wine into the blood--the species only of the bread
and wine remaining--which conversion the Catholic Church most aptly
calls transubstantiation, let him be anathema." (Sess. xiii.) Not only
does Dr. Pusey assert that there is a sense in which the two
statements are compatible, but he maintains that such an
interpretation is the one single obvious grammatical and legitimate
interpretation of the words of the Anglican Article. We can only
imagine one process of reasoning by which this conclusion can be
maintained; and we have little doubt that if Dr. Pusey's argument were
drawn out it would come to this. The Articles must mean "Catholic"
doctrine, whether they seem to do so or not, because the Anglican
Church is a true and orthodox portion of the Catholic Church. And a
part of the proof that she is such a portion consists in the fact that
her formularies signify Catholic doctrine!
[Footnote 40: Canon Oakeley, in the pamphlet of which we shall
presently speak, says of Dr. Pusey's interpretation: "Dr. Pusey's
avowal, moreover, not merely involves the acceptance of that
interpretation of the Thirty-nine Articles for which Mr. Newman was
censured by nearly every bishop of the establishment, but goes
beyond that interpretation in a Catholic direction, inasmuch as it
comprehends the doctrine of transubstantiation, which Mr. Newman, I
believe, never thought to be included within the terms of the
Articles. It also goes beyond Mr. Newman's argument in his tract,
_in that it supports the Catholic sense of the Articles to be their
obvious and only true sense._ Instead of being merely one of the
senses which are compatible with honest subscription. And here I
must say, in passing, that I think Dr. Pusey somewhat unfair on Mr.
Ward in attributing to him the unpopularity of Tract 90, since, in
extending the interpretation of the tract to our doctrine of the
blessed eucharist. Dr. Pusey is in fact adopting Mr. Ward's
Construction of the Articles, and not Mr. Newman's" (p, 6).]
The other noticeable feature in Dr. Pusey's preface is an attempt to
throw the blame of the undoubted unpopularity of Tract 90 upon Mr.
Ward rather than on the tract itself. Mr. Ward was probably at one
time the best-abused person of all the followers of the tractarian
movement; and if powerful reasoning, keen logic, unflinching openness,
and courageous honesty are enough to make a person merit wholesale
abuse, Mr. Ward certainly deserved it. But to attribute the
unpopularity of No. 90 to him is simply to forget dates and distort
facts. {222} In 1841, when the clamor against No. 90 was at its
height, Mr. Ward, though well known in Oxford for his decided opinions
and thorough honesty in avowing them, and though highly influential
(as he could not fail to be) over those who came within his reach, was
hardly known in the country at large. Dr. Pusey's mistake has been
pointed out by Canon Oakeley in the appendix to his pamphlet, of which
we shall speak presently. He observes that the word "non-natural"--of
which he gives a very plain and simple explanation, which quite
vindicates it from the interpretation commonly put upon it--was not
used till the appearance of "The Ideal of a Christian Church" in 1844.
Canon Oakeley's pamphlet, like everything that he writes, is graceful
and courteous, lucid and cogent; and it ought to have all the greater
weight with Dr. Pusey from the evident disinclination of the author to
think or speak with severity. In fact, Dr. Pusey has already
[Footnote 41] had occasion to correct an over-sanguine conclusion as
to his own position which had been formed by Canon Oakeley in
consequence of certain explanations which he addressed to a Catholic
paper.
[Footnote 41: In his second letter to the "Weekly Register."]
We think that the fullest credit should be given to Dr. Pusey for
these explanations; but they must not be allowed to counterbalance
assertions which he has never withdrawn, and seems never to have meant
to withdraw. He has only negatively declared something about the
intention he had in making them. He says they were not meant to hurt
Catholics; he does not say that they were not meant to frighten
Anglicans. We refer, of course, to the large number of pages which he
has devoted to attacks on what he chooses to consider as the practical
system of Catholicism, chiefly with regard to the _cultus_ of our
Blessed Lady, and which no Catholic can read without intense
indignation. He has heaped up a number of extracts from books of very
little authority, and put forward as characteristics of the Catholic
system the pious contemplations of individuals, as well as tenets
which have been actually condemned. The charge is urged with all the
recklessness of an advocate, with eager rhetoric rather than calm
argument, with all the looseness of insinuation and inaccuracy of
quotation which mark the productions of a heated partizan. [Footnote
42]
[Footnote 42: A writer in the current number of "Macmillan's
Magazine" (Feb., 1866) observes: "We could scarcely transcribe all
that is here set forth without offending the religious taste of our
readers, and appearing to gloat over the degradation of a church
which, amidst all its aberrations and after all ita crimes, is a
part of Christendom. We may reasonably hope, also, that there is
something to be said upon the other side: for, without casting any
suspicion upon Dr. Pusey's honesty, we must remember that he is
personally under a strong temptation to scare the wavering members
of his party from defection to the Church of Rome" (p. 277). This is
the opinion of an intensely anti-Catholic writer; and it would be
easy to quote scores of similar criticisms. A letter from Oxford, in
the "London Review" of February 3, says: "It seems a gentle irony,
certainly, to call a book an 'Eirenicon' which most mercilessly
exposes the errors, perversions, and tendencies of those whom it
proposes to conciliate. A great portion of the book might have been
written by the most distinguished Papophobe--we will not say Dr.
Cumming, for the style does not remind us of his publications." The
writer in "Macmillan" adds an observation on another point which is
well worthy of Dr. Pusey's consideration: "Dr. Pusey's argument,
both against Mariolatry and Papal infallibility, _appeals to
principles essentially rationalistic_, which are capable, as we
conceive, of being turned with fatal effect against himself" (p.
230).]
No part of his book shows more earnestness than this. Such being the
case, it seems to us very strange that any one should expect Catholics
to be satisfied with a simple assurance from Dr. Pusey that "nothing
was further from my wish than to write anything which should be
painful to those in your communion." [Footnote 43]
[Footnote 43: Dr. Pusey to the "Weekly Register," Nov. 25, 1865.]
We suppose that if some one were to write a pamphlet of a hundred
pages full of the hardest and most vulgar insinuations against
something that Dr. Pusey holds dear and sacred, his opinion of it
would hardly be changed by the assurance, unaccompanied by a single
retraction, "I never meant to hurt your feelings." He would naturally
ask in what sort of atmosphere such a person had lived, to be able to
think that such things _could_ be said without being "painful." He
disclaims {223} all desire to "prescribe to Italians and Spaniards
what they shall hold, or how they shall express their pious opinions."
But he is not speaking of Spaniards or Italians only in many of the
most offensive passages of his work. He says, for instance, that it
"is a practical question, affecting our whole eternity: What shall I
do to be saved? The practical answer to the Roman Catholic seems to me
to be, Go to Mary, and you will be saved; in our dear Lord's own words
it is, Come unto me; in our own belief it is, Go to Jesus, and you
will be saved" (p. 182). Can anything be more shocking than the
contrast insinuated here? Or, again, when he says in another place,
"One sees not where there shall be any pause or bound, short of that
bold conception, 'that every prayer, both of individuals and of the
church, should be addressed to St. Mary?'" Dr. Pusey must be perfectly
aware of the effect of words like these from him upon the mass of his
readers. It is certainly no sufficient _withdrawal_ of them to write a
letter to a Catholic newspaper, of limited circulation, saying that he
"never thought of imputing to any of the writers whom he quoted that
they took from our Lord any of the love which they gave to his
mother." Whatever he may think about the writers themselves, he
certainly asserts in the face of the world that they teach others to
do this. He asserts that there is a "system" in the Catholic Church,
of which this is the effect. If he "had no thought of criticising holy
men who held it," he still will not take Catholic explanations of
their words, which show that they did _not_ hold it; and his own words
imply, or at all events admit of, a reservation, that such is the
tendency of the system, from which certain individuals escape in
consequence of their holiness. Now, it is this assertion about the
system of the church which offends Catholics. They care little about
their own "feelings;" they resent false charges against the church all
the more when they proceed from one who professes to be nearer to them
than others, and to be a lover of peace, and who might easily have
satisfied himself that his accusations were groundless. People have
not complained of Dr. Pusey's intention in saying these things, but of
his having said them. They willingly accept his statement as to his
intention; but misrepresentations retain their mischievous character
till they have been formally withdrawn, whatever may have been the
temper in which they have been put forward.
It is, moreover, obvious that this, which to ordinary eyes is the
prominent feature in Dr. Pusey's volume, must be taken into account in
all conclusions concerning the present state of mind among Anglicans
that are founded upon the reception which the "Eirenicon" has met with
among them. We think that there are but few among them, as there are
certainly very few among Catholics, who attach much practical
importance to the vague and dreamy ideas about corporate union by
means of mutual explanations which are put forward in other parts of
the work. It is perfectly clear that Dr. Pusey's account of the
Articles would be repudiated at once by all the Anglican authorities;
and equally clear that the points to which he still objects, such as
the papal infallibility and the dogma of the immaculate conception,
are among those which can never be conceded on the side of the church.
The proposals for union are not, therefore, generally looked upon as
matters for practical consideration; though, as Dr. Newman has
remarked, they may hereafter lead to results of the highest
importance. What has struck the Anglican public in the book is its
attack on Catholicism, which has, no doubt, surprised Protestants as
much as Catholics by its violence. We say, therefore, that to consider
Dr. Pusey's unrebuked declaration about the possibility of union as a
great sign of progress among Anglicans, without {224} taking into
consideration the other features of the work which he has put forth,
is to ignore the most essential circumstances of the case. Canon
Oakeley compares the outcry with which similar declarations were once
received on Mr. Ward's part and his own with the indifference and
absence of opposition now evinced toward Dr. Pusey. It is true that
the cases are in some respects parallel; but there is this vital
difference, that neither Mr. Ward nor Canon Oakeley accompanied their
declarations as to Roman doctrine with virulent abuse of Roman
practice; and we may feel pretty certain that the "Ideal of a
Christian Church" would never have been made the ground of an
academical condemnation of its author if it had contained the hundred
pages on the _cultus_ of the Blessed Virgin on which Dr. Pusey has
expended so much care, and which he has adorned with so much apparent
erudition. Englishmen judge roughly, and in the main fairly; and they
will look on the proposals for union as an amiable eccentricity in a
writer who has pandered so lovingly to their favorite prejudices.
Canon Oakeley has drawn out very clearly another very important
qualification, which must modify our feelings of joy at the apparent
progress of Anglicans in general toward greater tolerance of Catholic
opinions among themselves. He has shown that this seemingly good sign
is in reality only an indication of increasing indifference to
doctrine of every kind. It is the reflection on the broad mirror of
public opinion of the uniformly latitudinarian tendency of the
authorities of the establishment, as evinced in the succession of
judicial decisions of which we have all heard so much. It is not
wonderful that Puseyism should share in this universal indulgence. We
have also to thank Canon Oakeley for a calm and forcible vindication
of the Catholic devotion to our Blessed Lady, which has been made the
subject of so violent an attack by Dr. Pusey--perhaps more in the form
of an apology than was necessary--and for some very sensible remarks
on the dream of "corporate union."
There is one writer in England whose words on this subject will be
listened to with almost equal interest by Catholics and Protestants.
The conflict passes into a new phase with the appearance of Dr. Newman
upon the scene. It is "the great Achilles moving to the war." The
gleam of well-worn armor flashes on the eye, and the attention of both
armies is riveted on him as he lifts his spear. He cannot mutter his
favorite motto:
[Greek text]
for it is but lately that he struck down and kicked off the field a
swaggering bully from the opposite ranks hardly worthy of his steel.
It is different now. He will begin in Homeric fashion with a
complimentary harangue to the champion on the other side; but then
will come the time for blows--blows of immense force, dealt out with a
gentle affectionateness which enhances their effect tenfold. Dr.
Newman begins by a generous tribute to Dr. Pusey himself, and to those
whom he may be supposed to influence. No one can speak more strongly
on the paramount rights of conscience, which is not to be stifled for
the sake of making a path easy or removing a wearisome difficulty. Dr.
Pusey is allowed to have every right to mention the conditions on
which he proposes union, though Dr. Newman does not agree with them,
and thinks that he would himself not hold to them; he has also the
right to state what it is that he objects to, as requiring
explanation, in the Catholic system. But then the tone changes, and
business begins. Dr. Newman tells his old friend in the plainest way
that "there is much both in the matter and manner of his volume
calculated to wound those who love him well, but truth more;" and he
points out the {225} glaring inconsistency of "professing to be
composing an Irenicon while treating Catholics as foes;" and
characterizes, in his happy way, the proceeding of Dr. Pusey as
"discharging an olive branch as from a catapult." The hundred pages on
the subject of the Blessed Virgin which are contained in the
"Eirenicon" are so palpably "one-sided" that no one can venture to
deny it. Few have characterized them in stronger terms than Dr.
Newman. "What could an Exeter Hall orator, what could a Scotch
commentator on the Apocalypse, do more for his own side of the
controversy by the picture he drew of us?" Further on he pointedly
reminds Dr. Pusey that he all the time knew better. After a proof from
the fathers as to the doctrine in question, he says, "You know what
the fathers assert; but if so, have you not, my dear friend, been
unjust to yourself in your recent volume, and made far too much of the
differences which exist between Anglicans and us on this particular
point? It is the office of an Irenicon to smooth difficulties" (p.
83); and again, "As you revere the fathers, so you revere the Greek
Church; and here again we have a witness in our behalf, _of which you
must be aware as fully as we are_, and of which you must really mean
to give us the benefit" (p. 95); and again, "Then I think you have not
always made your quotations with that consideration and kindness which
is your rule" (p. 111). The calm gentleness of the language will
certainly not conceal from Dr. Pusey the gravity and severity of the
rebuke thus administered. Moreover, Dr. Newman has complaints of his
own to urge. With the most questionable taste Dr. Pusey has actually
brought "to life one of" Dr. Newman's "own strong sayings, in 1841,
about idolatry;" he has at least been understood to father upon him
the well-known saying, that "the establishment is the great bulwark
against infidelity in this land;" he has used some words from Dr.
Newman's notes to St. Athanasius in a collection of passages from the
fathers, the apparent purpose of which is to defend some Anglican
doctrine about the sufficiency of Holy Scripture against a supposed
Catholic contradiction. Dr. Newman also most clearly distinguishes his
own intention in publishing Tract 90 from that of Dr. Pusey in its
recent republication.
The introduction to the letter before us concludes with a passage of
singular interest, in which Dr. Newman vindicates the right of a
convert to speak freely about the system of the church to which he has
submitted. We must confess that we hardly understood the passages in
Dr. Pusey's work, to which reference is here made, as denying the
right of free comment to a convert, in the sense in which Dr. Newman
affirms it. Dr. Pusey has a standard and measure of his own (external
to the Anglican establishment), by which he criticises, approves, or
condemns this or that feature in it; and he distinctly contemplates at
least the possibility of his being driven to quit it by its formal
adoption of heresy. Certainly, to submit to the Catholic Church, and
yet retain the right of measuring her in such a way by an external
standard, would be a contradiction in terms. But this does not touch
the right of a convert either to choose freely, according to his own
tastes and leanings, among those varieties of devotion and practice
which the church expressly leaves to his choice, or to express his
opinion on such subjects (so that it be done with charity), or on any
other matters which fall within the wide and recognized range of open
questions. If Dr. Pusey meant to deny this right, he will be convinced
by the frank use made of it by Dr. Newman in the passage before us. No
one, certainly, will assail _him_ as unorthodox; yet he takes his
stand openly on one particular side with regard to some of the moot
questions of the day, as to which certainly a large {226} number of
English Catholics will be as ready to say that they do not altogether
agree with him as to acknowledge that he has a perfect right to the
opinions which he expresses. Perhaps we should rather say that they
will profess their admiration for the authors whom he so far at least
disavows as to question their right to be treated in controversy as
the legitimate and exclusive representatives of English Catholicism;
for we need not understand Dr. Newman's words about the late Father
Faber and the editor of the "Dublin Review" as meaning more than this;
and his point, as against Dr. Pusey, is fully secured by the
indisputable fact that those distinguished men have never considered
themselves, or let others consider them, as such representatives.
The greater part, however, of Dr. Newman's present letter is given to
an exquisite defence of Catholic doctrine and devotion as regards our
Blessed Lady. Its power and beauty are so great as to fill us with
inexpressible sadness at the thought that Dr. Newman has written
comparatively so little on similar subjects since he has been a
Catholic. This short and very condensed sketch on one particular point
has given him an opportunity of exercising, on however limited a
scale, those powers as to which he is simply unrivalled. There is the
keen penetration of the sense of Scripture, and of the relation
between different and distinct parts of the Holy Volume. After putting
forward the patristic view of our Blessed Lady as the second Eve, Dr.
Newman has occasion to defend that interpretation of the vision of the
woman in the Apocalypse which understands it of her. This has given
him occasion to explain how it is that this interpretation may be the
true one, although there is no great amount of positive testimony for
it in the fathers, and to refute from the general principles of
scriptural language that which looks upon the image as simply a
personification of the church. This passage is a real and great gain
in scriptural interpretation. Then, again, here is the masterly and
discriminating erudition, not dealing with the fathers as an
ill-arranged and incoherent mass of authorities, but giving to each
witness his due place and weight, pointing out what parts of the
church and what apostolical tradition he represents, and blending the
different sufferages into one harmonious statement. History is brought
in to trace the gradual development of devotion on points as to which
doctrine, on the other hand, was always uniform; and to give a natural
and simple explanation of the chronological order in which the heart,
as it were, of the church seems to have mastered the different
portions of the wonderful deposit which the apostles sowed in her
mind. The effect of Dr. Newman's explanation of the comparatively
later growth of certain devotions, which in themselves might have been
expected to precede others, is not only to remove the apparent
difficulty, but to make every other view appear more difficult than
that which he gives. Equally beautiful and convincing is his
explanation in the appendix of the historical account which may be
given of the strange sayings of certain fathers as to our Blessed Lady
having possibly fallen into faults of infirmity. Some most accurate
and delicate tests for the discernment of a real tradition are here
given, as well as reasons for the apparent absence of such a tradition
in a special case. Dr. Newman is one of the few writers who show us,
first, that they thoroughly understand a difficulty or an objection;
then, that they can make it even stronger; and then, that they can not
only say something against it, or crush it, but even unravel it, and
show that it was to be expected. In every one of these respects Dr.
Pusey is his exact contrary. Then again, Dr. Newman brings together a
series of passages from the fathers of the "undivided church"--to use
the now term invented, we believe, by Mr. Keble--of which, of course,
{227} Dr. Pusey was aware, but of which he has said nothing in his
"Eirenicon." These testify amply not only to the doctrine but to the
devotion of the fourth and fifth centuries as to our Blessed Lady. He
is, of course, sparing of quotations in a work like the present; but
he crowns his argument from authority by a number of passages not from
popular books of devotion among the Greeks, but from their liturgies
and authoritative formularies--on which Dr. Pusey would have founded
a strong argument to the effect that our Lady is elevated to the place
of our Lord, if he had been able to find them in circulation among
Catholics. In fact, a number of formal Greek devotions end with the
words, "through the Theotocos," instead of "per Dominum nostrum Jesum
Christum." The contrast between the cogency and appositeness of every
word of Dr. Newman's few quotations (almost universally given at
length), and the utter illusiveness and bewildering misapplication of
the clouds upon clouds of citations paraded in Dr. Pusey's volume, is
wonderfully striking. Nor, again, is the difference less great between
the two when a personal remark has to be made. Dr. Newman has no hard
words for any one. He does not shrink from pointing out faults, as we
have already said. He tells Dr. Pusey plainly enough that he does not
think that he even understands what the immaculate conception means;
and when he speaks of Anglicans being ignorant of the Catholic
doctrine of original sin, he seems carefully to omit exempting Dr.
Pusey from the general statement. He says again pointedly, "He who
charges us with making Mary a divinity is thereby denying the divinity
of Jesus. _Such a man does not know what divinity is._" He complains
of the unfairness--of which, we are sorry to say, Dr. Pusey seems
habitually guilty--of taking a strong and apparently objectionable
passage from an author who, either in the immediate context or
elsewhere, has qualified it by other statements, which any one but a
partizan writer would feel bound to take into consideration and to
place by its side, without giving the reader any intimation that such
qualifications exist. "When, then, my dear Pusey, you read anything
extravagant in praise of our Lady, is it not charitable to ask, even
while you condemn it in itself, Did the author write nothing else?"
(p. 101). He refuses to receive Dr. Pusey's collection of strong
passages as a fair representation of the minds of the authors from
whom they are quoted. He speaks of their "literal and absolute sense,
as any Protestant would naturally take them, and as the writers
doubtless did not use them" (p. 118). And again: "I know nothing of
the originals, and cannot believe that they have meant what you say"
(p. 120). But with all this strong and decisive language, which we may
be sure is the very gentlest that he can use, and implies an estimate
of the "Eirenicon" by no means in accordance with that of its
admirers, he is so uniformly calm and affectionate in manner that we
cannot but hope that Dr. Pusey and others who think with him will be
won over to think more seriously of the extreme gravity of their step
in casting forth upon the world of English readers so extremely
intemperate an accusation against the Catholic Church as that which
they have put in circulation. Nor can we abandon the hope that they
will listen to Dr. Newman's clear and unanswerable statement of the
doctrine of the fathers as to our Blessed Lady, and see how truly he
has pointed to the flaws and defects in their own thoughts with regard
to her. They will certainly be hardly able to deny that they have
misunderstood not only the immaculate conception, against which they
have talked so loudly, but even, it may be, original sin itself; nor
do we think that it can be questioned that he has put his finger upon
the fundamental error--not to say heresy---to which all their low
conceptions as to the Blessed Mother of God {228} are to be assigned
as their ultimate cause. Dr. Pusey, as Dr. Newman remarks, seems to
have no idea that our Blessed Lady had any other part or position in
the incarnation than as its _physical instrument_--much the same part,
as it were, that Juda or David may have had. The fathers, on the
contrary, from the very first, speak of her "as an intelligent,
responsible cause of our Lord's taking flesh;" "her faith and
obedience being accessories to the incarnation, and gaining it as her
reward" (p. 38). Dr. Newman insists on this vital and all-important
difference more than once, and seems to consider it the explanation of
the strange blindness of these students of antiquity. If they can once
gain a new and more Catholic idea as to that which is the foundation
alike of our Blessed Lady's greatness and the devotion of the church
to her--and certainly they must be very blind or very obstinate not to
see the reasons for such an idea in Dr. Newman's pages--then the
"Eirenicon" will have produced incidentally a far greater blessing to
themselves and others than if its strange interpretation of the
Anglican Articles had been allowed as legitimate in England, and there
had been half a score of Du Pins in France ready to enter into
negotiations with the Archbishop of Canterbury on the basis of its
propositions. These good men have in fact been living and teaching and
studying the fathers with one of the great seminal facts, so to speak,
of Christianity absent from their minds or entirely undeveloped in
them. "It was the creation of a new idea and a new sympathy, a new
faith and worship, when the holy apostles announced that God had
become incarnate; we a supreme love and devotion to him became
possible, which seemed hopeless before that revelation. _But beside
this, a second range of thoughts was opened on mankind, unknown
before, and unlike any other, as soon as it was understood that that
incarnate God had a mother. The second idea is perfectly distinct from
the former--the one does not interfere with the other."_ We conceive
that these words will fall strangely on the ears of Dr. Pusey, though
they might not perhaps do so on those of the author of the "Christian
Year" and the "Lyra Innocentium;" and if they do so, after the
incontestable proof which Dr. Newman has adduced from the early
fathers of their view of the position of our Blessed Lady in the
economy of the incarnation, it will only remain for Dr. Pusey either
to confute that proof or to acknowledge that he has been reasoning on
that great mystery without the guidance of the church, deaf to the
teaching of the fathers, and that he has incurred the usual fate of
men who so reason. May the prayers of the Blessed Mother, against
whose honor he has raised his voice so harshly, save him from closing
his eyes still more firmly!
It appears to be one of the characteristics of Dr. Newman to look at
particular questions and phases of opinion with regard to a wider and
more comprehensive range of thought than other men. Possibly his
retired position favors this habit of mind; but it is, of course, far
more naturally to be attributed to a loftier intellectual stature and
a wider knowledge of history than others possess. Such a man is
eminently fitted for a controversy like the present, in which the word
peace has been blurted forth in so uncouth a manner, while yet it is
not the less the expression of the real and powerful longings of a
thousand hearts. It is a most unpromising overture, but it is an
overture nevertheless. Dr. Newman is not only fitted to deal with it
on account of his tender and large sympathies, and of the affectionate
solicitude with which he has always treated his former friends; he is
able also not indeed to go to the very verge of Catholic doctrine for
their sakes, or to encourage delusive hopes of a compromise which
would patch up rather than unite, but to speak with calm {229}
accuracy, looking on his own times as a philosophical historian of the
church may look at them by-and-bye, and point out what may be
accidental, transient, local, in the features of the religion of the
present day. No one can be less inclined to exaggerate, for instance,
the differences between English and Italian devotion; and we have
seldom felt ourselves in a more Italian atmosphere, out of Italy, than
in the oratory at Edgbaston. But he is not afraid of giving full
weight to national differences of character, nor of avowing himself a
hearty Englishman. In the same way, without going into the question of
fact as to alleged extravagances--which, after all, is of no real
cogency in the argument--he is ready to admit that there may be such,
and puts forward a simple common-sense argument to show that such may
be expected in the living working of energetic ideas generally, and
especially of such ideas in matters of religion, which acts on the
affections. This is the true philosophical answer; and it by no means
excludes other answers that might be given to particular charges,
which might be proved to be false in fact, or to apply to matters so
grave as that the church would never be allowed to permit the alleged
corruption.
Dr. Newman never shrinks from allowing the full force of any principle
that he has laid down. Thus, he has distinguished between faith as to
our Blessed Lady's position in the kingdom of her Son and the devotion
to her founded upon that faith. The faith may have been from the
beginning, and actually was so, as he proves from the early fathers;
but the full devotion may not all at once have been developed; or
again, it may have been checked in particular countries at a
particular time, and so make no show in the writings of some fathers
of that age, in consequence of the baneful influence of a prevalent
heresy which cut at the faith itself. This, which is really almost
self-evident, enables him not only to explain the passages in St.
Chrysostom and St. Basil which are sometimes objected to, but to grant
that there are no certain traces of _devotion_, strictly so called, to
our Blessed Lady in the writings of others beside these. There need
not be, according to his principles. It must be remembered that all
these statements admit of great development and explanation; they are
germs of thought, and are only put forward most concisely in Dr.
Newman's present letter. It is more to our present purpose to observe
how ready he is to look through the cloud of charges, great and small,
which Dr. Pusey has blown in the face of Catholics, and to discern in
the book of his old friend a new and important turning-point in the
Anglican controversy. He thinks that the indignation of Catholics has
led them in consequence to misconceive Dr. Pusey, so as not, it would
seem, to give him credit for really pacific intentions. We think that
no one has denied--what, indeed, it does not become a critic to
question--the reality of a purpose distinctly avowed; but at the same
time we must repeat that it has never been denied by Dr. Pusey, nor do
we think it ever can be denied, that the book was written with a clear
and distinct intention so to represent Catholicism as to deter people
from submitting to it except on certain terms pointed out by the
author. Possibly Dr. Newman only means that Catholics have been more
alienated by Dr. Pusey's most unhandsome attack than attracted by his
professions of friendship; and certainly never was a friendly
expostulation, never was an earnest request for explanation on certain
points which appear to be difficulties in the way of a much-desired
union, proposed in a way less calculated to conciliate. Dr. Newman,
therefore, neither wonders nor complains at the strong feeling with
which the "Eirenicon" has been received; but he looks beyond the
present moment, and, recalling the former phases of opinion as to
{230} Catholicism which have prevailed among Anglicans, he sees in Dr.
Pusey's proceeding nothing less than the putting "the whole argument
between you and us on a new footing"--a footing which may really and
profitably be used by those who desire peace. No English Catholic but
will most heartily rejoice in this statement of Dr. Newman; and surely
one of our first feelings must be that of thankfulness that he is
among us at a time like this, and that circumstances will give him a
more patient hearing and a more ready acceptance, on the part of those
whose souls may be staked on the issue of this controversy, than he
might otherwise meet with. From him, at least, Anglicans will hear no
extreme or novel doctrine; him, at least, they will never accuse of
not loving everything that is English. He, if any one, may convince
them that no true child of the "undivided church" would be found at
the present day outside the communion of the Holy See; that the church
is the same now as she ever was, and as she ever will be; that she can
never compromise with her enemies, though she yearns with unutterable
love to take back every wanderer to her heart.
Experience has happily shown that the great Shepherd of souls leads
men on in a way they neither discern nor desire, when they have once
set themselves to wish and pray for greater light; and that prophecies
of ill and suspicions of sinister purposes, which have not lacked
ample foundation, have yet been often defeated in the indulgent
dispensations of grace. Nor, indeed, at the present time, are all the
signs of the sky evil. In its most disagreeable and inexcusable
features the "Eirenicon" is not, we are convinced, a fair
representation of the mind of a great number who might commonly be
supposed to sympathize with its author. He has put himself for the
moment at their head; and they are, of course, slow to repudiate his
assistance; but we do not believe that the earnest men who publish so
many Catholic devotions, and who, however mistakenly, attempt to
reproduce in their own churches the external honors paid by Catholics
to him whom they also think that they have with them, would willingly
make themselves responsible for the hundred pages with which Dr.
Newman's present pamphlet is engaged. The advance toward Catholicism
among the Anglicans has, in fact, left Dr. Pusey some way behind other
and younger men. Even as to himself, he is hardly further away than
others have been who are now within the church.
Only it must not be forgotten that the largest and most charitable
thoughts as to the meaning and intentions of individuals, and the most
hopeful anticipations as to the ultimate result of their movements, do
not exhaust the duties imposed upon Catholic writers at the present
moment. Let us see ever so much of good in demonstrations such as
this, and believe that there is a still greater amount of good which
we do not see. We may forbear to press men harshly, to point out
baldly the inconsistencies of their position; we may put up with the
rudeness of the language in which they propose peace. They may be
haughty and ungenerous now; but this is not much to bear for the sake
of that unity which those who know it love better than those who are
strangers to it. Let us be ready, as far as persons are concerned, to
be tender in exposing faults even wanton, and misconceptions which, as
we think, common industry and fairness might have obviated. For Dr.
Pusey himself we can wish no severer punishment than that he should be
able some day to look upon his own work with the eyes of a Catholic.
He has himself shown us, by the use which he has made of old
expressions of Dr. Newman and others, who have long since repudiated
them, that the retraction of charges against the Catholic Church by
their authors does not prevent {231} others from repeating them. We
are sorry to say--what we still believe will be acknowledged as true
by all who have been at the pains--pains not taken by some who have
written on this subject--of not merely considering the animus and
motives of Dr. Pusey, but of examining his book in detail, and taking
its measure as a work of erudition and controversy--that, unattractive
in style, rambling, incoherent, vague, and intentionally "loose" as it
is, it has one great quality, however unintentional--that of being a
perfect storehouse of misrepresentation. We speak simply as critics,
and we disclaim all attempts to account for the phenomenon. It
contains an almost unparalleled number of misstatements of every kind
and degree. Its author's reputation will give weight and currency to
these. Though never perhaps likely to be a popular book, it will still
take its place in Protestant libraries, and will be much used in
future controversies. No one can tell how often we shall have certain
extraordinary statements about the sanctification of the Blessed
Virgin, her active and passive conception, the protest of the Greek
Church against the doctrine, Bellarmine's assertion about general
councils, transubstantiation, extreme unction, and the like, brought
up against us; and the erroneous conclusions founded upon them cannot
be neglected by the defenders of Catholic truth. It is, therefore,
essential not that Dr. Pusey should be attacked in an unkindly spirit,
but that his book should be handled critically, and, as far as may be,
whatever it contains of misstatement, misquotation, unfair insinuation
and conclusion catalogued and exposed. It must be remembered that
there is a great demand for the materials of anti-Catholic
controversy. Dr. Pusey does not subscribe to the societies which
mostly hold their meetings in Exeter Hall in the month of May; but he
might well be made a life-governor of all of them in consideration of
this book. It will be used by the zealots who try to win the poor
peasants of Connaught to apostasy by means of food and clothing, and
by the more decorous "Anglo-Continentals," who are just now rubbing
their hands at the prospects of infidelity in Italy. Alas! it not only
teems with snares for the learned and conscientious, but it is full of
small insinuations for the ignobler herd of paid agents and
lecturers--"what the poorer people believe in Rome," what Catholic
churches are called in south India, what Cardinal Wiseman is reported
to have said of Archbishop Affre, "who died in recovering his people
at the barricades." These things may be passed by as simply faults of
taste; but the pretensions of the book to learning, and its historical
and doctrinal statements, cannot be admitted without sifting. Dr.
Pusey has imposed an unwelcome task on Catholic critics. At the very
time that they would be conciliating his followers, they are forced to
attack him. It has seemed to us indeed that ordinary care in examining
authorities, an attention to the common-sense rule that strangers
cannot understand a system from without, the use of the many means at
his disposal of ascertaining the Catholic meaning of Catholic
language, more self-restraint in assertion, in urging arguments that
appeared telling and conclusions that were welcome to himself, and
somewhat less of confidence in his own attainments as a theologian,
would have spared those who wish him well this painful undertaking at
a time when they would gladly say no word that may sound harsh to his
ears. But, after all, truth is more precious than peace, and peace can
only be had through the truth; and we can cordially return to Dr.
Pusey the assurance which he himself has proffered to Catholics, that
those engaged in the ungrateful task of subjecting his volume to the
analysis of criticism have no intention whatever of wounding his
feelings.
------
{232}
[ORIGINAL.]
CURIOSITIES OF ANIMAL LIFE.
There is an old aphorism which says that "all life comes from an
egg"--_omne vivum ex ovo_; but this, like a good many other old
aphorisms, is only a convenient and attractive way of stating a
falsehood. It is very true that almost all animals, from man down to
the mollusk, pass through the egg stage at an early period of their
existence; but we purpose to show our readers in this article that
there are others which appear to be sometimes exempted from the common
lot of their kind, and which indeed come into the world in such
curious fashions that we may almost say of them, in the words of
Topsey, that they "never were born; 'spect they _growed_."
To begin with, what is an egg? According to the popular idea, it is an
oval-shaped body, consisting of a hard, thin shell inclosing a whitish
substance called the albumen, within which is a yellowish matter
called the yolk; it is the embryo form of the young of birds and some
other animals, which finally emerge from the shell after the egg has
been acted upon for some time by the heat of the parent's body. Now
this definition may do well enough as a loose description of the more
familiar varieties of eggs, but it will not do for all. It will
perhaps surprise the unscientific reader to be told that every animal
whatever produces eggs. A "mare's nest" is the popular expression of a
myth, an absurdity; but _mare's eggs_ are no myths; they are just as
real as hen's eggs; only we never see them, because they are hatched
in the parent's body before the young colt is brought forth. The same
is true of the eggs of all the other quadrupeds and of viviparous
animals in general.
An egg, therefore, like the seed of a plant, is the germ from which
the embryo is developed. It may have a shell, or it may not; it may be
comparatively large, like birds' eggs, or it may be so small as to be
with difficulty discerned by the naked eye. When it is first formed it
is simply an aggregation of fluid matter, very minute in size, and
exceedingly simple in structure. By degrees this fluid is transformed
into the small particles or granules which form the yolk; the yolk
shapes itself into a multitude of _cells_--little microscopic bodies
consisting of an external membrane, or cell-wall, and of an inner
nucleus, which may be either solid or fluid; and in due process of
time a number of cells combine and form a living being. The albumen,
or "white," is, like the shell, an accessory. It performs important
functions in the development of the young from the germ, but we will
not stop to explain them here; the true egg is the yolk. In the lowest
forms of animal life the egg is a mere cell, with a light spot in one
part of it, and the creature which is developed from it is almost as
simple in structure as the egg itself.
The ordinary mode of reproduction, as we have already said, is by the
formation of an egg in the body of the parent, from which the young
may be hatched either before or after they are brought into the world.
But there are certain of the lower orders of animals which sometimes
multiply and {233} perpetuate their kind in other ways also. Professor
Henry James Clark, of Harvard University, has lately published an
interesting treatise [Footnote 44] on animal development, in which
he gives some curious instances of the phenomena to which we refer. We
have drawn a good deal of what we have just said about the structure
of eggs from his valuable work, and we purpose now to follow him in
his remarks upon the processes of reproduction by what is called
_budding_ and _division_.
[Footnote 44: "Mind in Nature; or, The Origin of Life and the Mode
of Development of Animals." 8vo. New York: D. Appleton & Co.]
Let us look first at that exceedingly beautiful and wonderful animal
commonly called the sea anemone, on account of the delicate fringed
flower so much loved by poets. You may often find it on our coasts
contracted into a lump of gelatinous substance looking like
whitish-brown jelly; [Footnote 45] watch it for a while, and you
will see the body rise slightly, while a delicate crown of tentacles,
or feelers, steals out at the top. The jelly-like mass continues to
increase in height, and the wreath of tentacles gradually expands.
Soon you will perceive that this graceful fringe surrounds a wide
opening; this is the animal's mouth. When expanded to its full size
the anemone is about three or four inches in height. The body consists
of a cylindrical gelatinous bag, the bottom of which is flat and
slightly spreading at the margin. The upper edge of this bag is turned
in, so as to form a sack within a sack; this is the stomach. The whole
summit of the body is crowned by the soft plumy fringes which give it
such a remarkable resemblance to a flower. At the base it has a set of
powerful muscles, by which it attaches itself to rocks and shells so
firmly that it can hardly be removed without injury. Another set of
muscles enables it to contract itself almost instantaneously into a
shapeless lump. It is extremely sensitive, not only shrinking from the
slightest touch, but even drawing in its tentacles if so much as a
dark cloud passes over it. Anemones may be found, say the authors of
"Sea-side Studies," "in any small pools about the rocks which are
flooded by the tide at high water. Their favorite haunts, however,
where they occur in greatest quantity, are more difficult to reach;
but the curious in such matters will be well rewarded, even at the
risk of wet feet and a slippery scramble over rocks covered with damp
sea-weed, by a glimpse into their more crowded abodes. Such a grotto
is to be found on the rocks of East Point at Nahant. It can only be
reached at low tide, and then one is obliged to creep on hands and
knees to its entrance in order to see through its entire length; but
its whole interior is studded with these animals, and as they are of
various hues, pink, brown, orange, purple, or pure white, the effect
is like that of brightly- mosaics set in the roof and walls.
When the sun strikes through from the opposite extremity of this
grotto, which is open at both ends, lighting up its living
mosaic-work, and showing the play of the soft fringes whenever the
animals are open, it would be difficult to find any artificial grotto
to compare with it in beauty. There is another of the same kind on
Saunders's ledge, formed by a large boulder resting on two rocky
ledges, leaving a little cave beneath, lined in the same way with
variously- sea anemones, so closely studded over its walls that
the surface of the rock is completely hidden. They are, however, to be
found in larger or smaller clusters, or scattered singly, in any rocky
fissures overhung by sea-weed and accessible to the tide at high
water."
[Footnote 45: "Sea-side Studies in Natural History." By Elizabeth
Alexander Agassiz. Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1865.]
Mr. Gosse, in his "History of British Sea Anemones and Corals,"
mentions the existence of a singular connection between a certain
variety of these animals and a species of hermit crab that lives in
the deserted {234} shell of a mollusk. An anemone is always found
attached to the shell which the crab inhabits, and is so placed that
its fringed month comes just below the mouth of the crab. Whatever
food comes within reach of either animal can, therefore, be shared in
common. The crab is so far from objecting to this community of goods
that he seems unhappy without his companion. Though he is a hermit, he
is not exempt from the common lot of housekeepers; he submits every
now and then to the trouble of _moving-day_.
Mr. Gosse observed one in the act of changing houses. No sooner had he
taken possession of the new shell than he began removing the anemone
from the old one, running his claw under it to separate it from the
shell, and then bringing it to the new house, where, having placed it
in its customary position, he held it down until it had attached
itself, and now and then pressed it closer, or gave it a pat to hasten
the process. In another instance, observed by Mr. Holdsworth, the
crab, after vainly trying for more than an hour to remove his
companion anemone, deserted his new quarters and went back to the old,
rather than submit to a separation.
The anemone, for all that it is so delicate and graceful in
appearance, is a gluttonous little beast, eats raw meat in the
aquarium, and when upon its native coast sucks mussels and cockles out
of their shells. Queer compound of plant and animal in appearance, its
natural kingdom seems still more doubtful than ever if we watch it
while it is undergoing certain processes of reproduction. It does
indeed generally produce its young by maternal gestation; eggs are
formed in the cavity that surrounds its stomach, and at the proper
time the young swim out of the parent's mouth. But it has other modes
of propagation, one of which is almost exactly like the process of
raising plants from suckers. Very often you may see, growing out of
the lower part of the body of the anemone, and as a general thing near
the edge of the basal disc by which it attaches itself to the shell or
rock, little rounded protuberances, like buds; well, they are
buds--the buds of young anemones. In a short time six small tentacles
make their appearance on the top of each bud. A minute oblong aperture
opens in the midst of them. A digestive cavity is formed. The curious
internal structure of the animal (which we have not space here to
describe) is gradually developed. The bud becomes elongated and
enlarged every way. The tentacles multiply; the small aperture grows
into a mouth; and finally the young anemone drops off from its parent
and floats away to shift for itself. Professor Clark has seen as many
as twenty thus detach themselves in the course of a single month. This
is the process of generation by _budding_ or _gemmation_, of which we
spoke on a previous page.
But we have not yet exhausted the list of wonders displayed by this
extraordinary plant-animal. We have seen that it has at least two ways
of being born; what will our readers say when we assure them that it
has not only two but _four?_ The remaining two both come under the
head of what is called _voluntary self-division_. One of them is
strikingly like the propagation of plants by cuttings. Little pieces
break off from the anemone at the base and float away. For a long time
they give no sign of life; but when they have recovered, so to speak,
from the shock of separation, they begin to shoot out their tentacles
and grow up into perfect individuals. The fourth method of generation
is still more wonderful. Now and then you find an anemone whose upper
disc is contracted in a peculiar manner at opposite sides. The
contraction increases until the disc loses its circular form and
presents the shape of the figure 8. The two halves of the 8 next
separate, and you {235} have an anemone with two mouths, each
surrounded by its own set of tentacles. Then the processes of
constriction and separation continue all down the body of the animal
from summit to base, and the result is two perfect anemones, each
complete in its organization. It is well that the lower orders of
creatures have none of the laws of inheritance and primo-geniture that
bother mankind, or such irregular methods of coming into the world
might breed a great deal of trouble among them. Here, for instance,
you have two anemones, which we will call A and B, formed by the
splitting asunder of a single individual; what relation are they to
each other? Are they brother and sister or parent and child? And if
the latter, how is any one to decide which is the parent? Then suppose
A raises offspring in the usual way from eggs, what relation are these
young to B? Are they sisters, or nieces, or grandchildren?
Let us now look at another animal, the stentor, or trumpet-animalcule.
This is a minute infusorian, very common in ponds and ditches, where
it forms colonies on the stems of water-weeds or submerged sticks and
stones. Some of the varieties have a deep blue color, and a settlement
of them looks very much like a patch of blue mould. The stentor is
shaped like a little tube, about one-sixteenth of an inch in length,
spread out at the upper end like a trumpet, and tapering at the lower
almost to a point. When it has fixed upon a place of abode, it
constructs a domicile, consisting of a gelatinous sheath, perhaps half
as high as itself. It lives inside this sheath, with its smaller
extremity attached to the bottom of it, and its wide, funnel-shaped
end projecting above the top. When disturbed it retreats into the
house and shrinks into a globular mass. The disc of the trumpet end is
not perfectly regular; on one side the edge turns inward so as to form
a notch, and curls upon itself in a spiral form. Within this spiral is
the mouth, and a long funnel-shaped throat reaches from it to the
digestive cavity. Opposite the mouth there is a globular cavity, from
which a tube extends to the lower extremity of the body. The cavity
seems to perform the functions of a heart, and the tube takes the
place of veins and arteries. Once in three-quarters of a minute this
heart-like organ contracts and forces the fluid which it contains into
the tube; the latter in its turn, after expanding very sensibly to
receive the flow, contracts and returns it to the heart.
The stentor propagates by budding, like the anemone. The first change
that takes place is a division of this contractile vesicle into two
distinct organs at about mid-height of the body, the lower portion
developing a globular cavity like the upper one. Soon after this a
shallow pit opens in the side of the stentor, in a line with the new
vesicle. This pit is the future mouth. A throat or oesophagus is next
fashioned; and all being ready for the accommodation of the new animal
the process of division begins, and goes on so rapidly that it is all
done in about two hours.
A still more curious animal, in some respects, than either of those we
have just mentioned is the hydra, one of the simplest of the
zoophytes. To all intents and purposes it is nothing but a narrow
sack, about half an inch in length, open at one end, where the mouth
is situated, and attaching itself by the other to pond-lilies,
duck-weeds, or stones on the margins of lakes. Around the mouth it has
from five to eight slender tentacles, which are used as feelers and
for the purpose of seizing the food. What it does with its food after
it has swallowed it is, strange as the statement may sound, a question
to which naturalists have not yet found a satisfactory answer; for the
hydra has no digestive organs, and its stomach is merely a pouch
formed by the folding in of the outer skin. It has no glands, no
mucous membrane, no appliances of any sort for the performance of the
chemical process {236} which we call digestion. You may turn a hydra
inside out and it will get along just as well as it did before, and
swallow its prey with just as good an appetite. The French naturalist
Trembley was the first to notice this remarkable fact. With the blunt
end of a small needle he pushed the bottom of the sack through the
body and out at the mouth, just as you would invert a stocking. He
found that the animal righted itself as soon as it was left alone; so
he repeated the operation, and this time made use of persuasion, in
the form of a bristle run crosswise through the body, to induce the
victim to remain inside out. In the course of a few days its interior
and exterior departments were thoroughly reorganized, and it ate as if
nothing had happened. Trembley next undertook to engraft one
individual upon another! For this purpose he crammed the tail of one
deep down into the cavity of another, and, in order to hold them in
their position, stuck a bristle through both. What was his surprise to
find them, some hours afterward, still spitted upon the bristle, but
hanging _side by side_ instead of one within the other! How they had
got into such a position he could not imagine. He arranged another
pair, and on watching them the mystery was solved. The inner one first
drew up its tail and pushed it out through the hole in the outer one's
side where the bristle entered. Then it pulled its head out after the
tail, and sliding along the spit completely freed itself from its
companion. This it repeated as often as the experiment was tried in
that way. It then occurred to M. Trembley that if the inner hydra were
turned inside out, so as to bring the stomachs of the two animals in
contact, union would take place more readily; and so it proved. The
little creatures seemed much pleased with the arrangement, and made no
attempt to escape. In a short time they were united as one body, and
enjoyed their food in common.
It was perhaps only natural to expect that animals which care so
little about their individuality that two specimens can be turned into
one, would be equally ready to multiply themselves by the simple
process of being cut to pieces. In other words, you may make one hydra
out of two, or two out of one, just as you please. M. Trembley divided
them in every conceivable manner. He cut them in two, and, instead of
dying, one half shot out a new head and the other developed a new
tail. He sliced them into thin rings, and each slice swam away, got
itself a set of tentacles, and grew into a perfectly formed
individual. He split them into thin longitudinal strips, and each
strip reproduced what was wanting to give it a complete body. Some he
split only part way down from the mouth, and the result was a hydra,
like the fabled monster, with many heads. The famous cat with nine
lives is nothing to these little zoophytes. They seem sublimely
indifferent not only to the most fearful wounds, but even to disease
and, we are tempted to add, decomposition itself. A part of the body
decays, and the hydra simply drops it off, like a worn-out garment,
and lives on as if it had lost nothing.
If it can do all this, we need not wonder that it can reproduce its
kind by budding. Indeed, after we have seen a living creature split
itself up into a dozen distinct individuals any other process of
generation must seem tame by comparison. At certain seasons of the
year very few hydras can be found which have not one, two, or three
young ones growing out of their bodies. The budding begins in the form
of a simple bulging from the side of the parent, something like a
wart. This is gradually elongated, and after a time tentacles sprout
from the free end, and a mouth is formed. The young is now in a
condition to seek its own prey. Its independence is finally
accomplished by a constriction of the base of the new body at the
point where it is attached to the old stock, until finally it cuts
itself off. Before {237} this separation takes place, however, it has
often begun to reproduce its own young, and so we sometimes see a
large colony of hydras all connected together, like minute branching
waterweed.
After all, you may say, it is not so very wonderful that a simple
animal like the hydra, which has no intestines, and scarcely any
special organs whatever, should be able to reproduce its lost parts,
or to multiply itself by the simple processes of growth and subsequent
division. Well, then, let us take a more complex creature, and we have
a remarkable example at hand in a certain marine worm called
_myrianida fasciata_. It is an inch or two in length, tapering off
gradually from the head. The body is marked with numerous rings or
joints, attached to which are oar-like appendages, serving not only as
instruments of propulsion but also as gills, or breathing organs. An
intestine extends from the head in a direct course to the posterior.
Blood-vessels are arranged about it like a net-work, and connect with
similar vessels in the gills. It has an organ which serves the purpose
of a heart, a nervous cord swollen at every joint into knots or
ganglions, and, in the head, one principal ganglion, which may be
considered as the brain. Its reproductive organs are situated only in
the posterior rings, and are located there in reference to the
peculiar mode of generation which we are about to describe. The young
worm begins to grow immediately in front of the parent's tail, that is
to say, between the last joint or ring and the next before the last,
and is formed by the successive growth of new rings. Before it is old
enough to be cast off another appears between its anterior end and the
next joint of the old stock; and so on until we have six worms at
once, all strung together behind the parent, and hanging, so to speak,
from one another's tails. They drop off separately, in the order of
their age. Now in this case, you will observe, there must be a
division of several organs--the intestine, the blood-vessels, and the
nervous cord; and each of the six young must develop a heart, a brain,
and a pair of eyes. An odd result of their method of growth (the first
one being formed, you will remember, not behind the parent but
_between_ her last two rings) is that the eldest offspring
appropriates the tail of his mother, while his five brothers and
sisters have to find tails of their own. We are here tempted to
indulge in a curious speculation: this first born produces its young
in the same way itself was produced, and passes on its inherited tail
to the next generation. The eldest born of that generation bequeaths
it to the next, and so on. What becomes of that ancestral tail in the
course of years? Does it at last wear out and drop off? Does the worm
that bears it die after a time without leaving any children? Or is it
possible that the process of entail has been going on without
interruption ever since the year one of the world, and that there may
be a _myrianida fasciata_ now living with a tail as old as creation?
Not very probable, certainly; but if any solution has been offered of
the great tail problem, we do not happen to have heard of it.
Professor Clark also tried various experiments upon the common flat
worm, or _planaria_, which may be found so readily in our ponds,
creeping over stones and aquatic plants, and is so easily recognized
by its opaque white color, and the liver- ramifications of its
intestine. He cut the creature in two, and immediately after the
operation the halves crawled away as if nothing had happened; the
anterior part preceding an ideal tail, and the posterior one following
an equally imaginary head and brain. He watched the pieces from day to
day, and found that each reproduced its missing half by a slow process
of budding and growth. This _planaria_ may be cut into several pieces,
and each will reproduce what is requisite to complete the mangled
organism. If the tail of a lizard be broken off, a {238} new one will
grow; and crabs, lobsters, spiders, etc., are known to replace their
amputated limbs. The instances we now and then meet with of what are
called _monsters_--two-headed dogs, calves with six legs, and, more
rarely, even double-headed human beings, are examples of the
phenomenon of budding--which is very common, by the way, among fishes;
and there is an animalcule called the _amoeba_ which shows a more
remarkable tenacity of life than any of the other creatures we have
mentioned, since you may divide and subdivide it until it is
physically impossible to reduce it to particles any smaller, and yet
each piece will live.
The discovery that animals may originate in so many ways independent
of maternal gestation naturally suggests the inquiry whether further
researches may not develop still other methods of reproduction, in
which the new-born creature shall have no connection whatever with any
previously existing individual. Thus we are brought back to the
question which was thought to have been settled long ago, whether
generation ever takes place spontaneously, as Aristotle and the old
physicists supposed it did. Later naturalists, following the Italian,
Redi, utterly rejected the supposition; but within the present century
it has found many reputable supporters, and Professor Clark is one of
them. When organic matter decays, numbers of _infusoria_, or
microscopic plants and animals, arise in it. Where do they come from?
Do the disorganized particles, set free by the process of
decomposition, combine into new forms, which are then endowed with
life by the direct action of Almighty power; or is the decaying
substance merely the _nest_ in which minute eggs or seeds, borne
thither upon the air, or dropped by insects, find conditions suitable
for their development in the ordinary natural way? The question is not
easily answered. Many of these germs are so excessively minute as to
defy detection. Some of the infusoria are no larger than the
twenty-four-thousandth of an inch in diameter, and it is estimated
that a drop of water might contain five hundred millions of them. It
is obvious that the germs of such little creatures must be invisible
even with the best microscope. The problem can only be solved by
placing a portion of the decomposing matter under such conditions that
any germs it may contain shall infallibly be killed and that none can
possibly reach it; then, if infusoria appear, we shall know that they
have been generated spontaneously. The great difficulty is in securing
these conditions. For the development of the living forms we require
both water and air. How are we to be certain that there are no living
germs in the organic matter before we begin the experiment? that there
are none in the water? that none are brought by the air? The action of
heat has been relied upon for the destruction of germs in the organic
matter and the water, and it has been sought to purify the air from
them by passing it through sulphuric add; but experience has shown
that sulphuric add does not kill the germs; so of course experiments
performed in that way prove nothing. Professor Clark quotes a series
of very delicate experiments tried by Professor Jeffries Wyman, of
Harvard University, which seem to us to come nearer to proving
spontaneous generation than any others with which we are acquainted.
He proceeded in three different methods, as follows:
1. The organic matter, consisting of a solution of beef or mutton
juice (or, in a few instances, vegetable matter), was placed in a
flask fitted with a cork through which passed a glass tube. The cork
was pushed deeply into the mouth of the flask, and the space above it
was filled with an adhesive cement, composed of resin, wax, and
varnish. The tube was drawn to a narrow neck a little way above the
cork, and bent at right angles, and {239} the end of it inserted in an
iron tube, where it was secured by a cement of plaster of Paris. The
rest of the iron tube was filled with wires, leaving only very narrow
passages between them. The solution in the flask was then boiled--in
some cases as long as two hours--in order to kill any germs which
might be enclosed, and to expel the air. The iron tube and wires at
the same time were heated to redness. When the boiling had continued
long enough the heat was withdrawn from beneath the flask, and the
steam was allowed slowly to condense. As it did so, air flowed in
between the red-hot wires, which had been kept at a temperature high
enough, it was supposed, to destroy any germs in the air that passed
through them. The flask was then hermetically sealed by fusing the
glass tube with the blow-pipe. When opened, several days afterward, it
was found to contain animal life.
2. A similar solution was placed in a flask the neck of which, instead
of being supplied with a cork and tube, was drawn out and bent at
right angles, and then fitted to the iron tube containing wires. The
experiment was performed as by method No. 1, and with the same result.
3. That there might be no suspicion of imperfectly sealed joints, a
solution was put into a flask with a narrow neck, and the neck itself
was then closed by fusing the glass. The whole flask was then immersed
in boiling water. At the expiration of a few days living infusoria
were found in two instances out of four.
Now these experiments undoubtedly prove that generation sometimes
occurs spontaneously, provided it be true, as Professor Clark assumes,
that there was no imperfection in the closing of the flasks (which we
see no reason to doubt), and that the infusorial germs are destroyed
by boiling. We confess that it is hard to believe they could have
survived such a heat as was applied to them in these cases; but is it
certain that they could not? A writer in an English review a few years
ago, whom we believe to have been Mr. G. H. Lewes, announced that he
had boiled certain germs _an hour and three-quarters_, and yet they
remained perfectly unaltered. At most, therefore, we can regard
spontaneous generation as a probable phenomenon.
Whether spontaneous generation, if it occurs at all, occurs by the
formation of an egg from which the animalcule is hatched, or by the
immediate formation of the adult, Professor Clark does not attempt to
say; but the French naturalist M. Pouchet, who is one of the foremost
advocates of the theory, holds that an egg is produced first. If this
is true we shall have a striking correlative to the proposition with
which we began this paper: not only can living creatures be developed
where no egg has been deposited, but eggs can be produced where there
is no animal to lay them. _Omne ovum e vivo_ will be no more true than
_Omne vivum ex ovo._
------
{240}
From Chambers's Journal
POOR AND RICH.
In a shattered old garret scarce roofed from the sky,
Near a window that shakes as the wind hurries by,
Without curtain to hinder the golden sun's shine,
Which reminds me of riches that never were mine--
I recline on a chair that is broken and old.
And enwrap my chilled limbs--now so aged and cold--
'Neath a shabby old coat, with the buttons all torn.
While I think of my youth that Time's footprints have worn.
And remember the comrades who've one and all fled,
And the dreams and the hopes that are dead with the dead.
But the cracked plastered walls are emblazoned and bright
With the dear blessed beams of the day's welcome light.
My old coat's a king's robe, my old chair is a throne,
And my thoughts are my courtiers that no king could own;
For the truths that they tell, as they whisper to me,
Are the echoes of pleasures that once used to be,
The glad throbbings of hearts that have now ceased to feel,
And the treasures of passions which Time cannot steal;
So, although I know well that my life is near spent,
Though I'll die without sorrow, I live with content.
Though my children's soft voices no music now lend;
Without wife's sweet embraces, or glance of a friend;
Yet my soul sees them still, as it peoples the air
With the spirits who crowd round my broken old chair.
If no wealth I have hoarded to trouble mine ease,
I admit that I doted on gems rich as these;
And when death snatched the casket that held each fair prize,
It flew to my heart where it happily lies;
So, 'tis there that the utt'rings of love now are said
By those dear ones, whom all but myself fancy dead.
So, though fetid the air of my poor room may be.
It still has all the odors of Eden for me.
For my Eve wanders here, and my cherubs here sing,
As though tempting my spirit like theirs to take wing.
Though my pillow be hard, where so well could I rest
As on that on which Amy's fair head has been pressed?
So let riches and honor feed Mammon's vain heart,
From my shattered old lodging I'll not wish to part;
And no coat shall I need save the one I've long worn.
Till the last thread be snapped, and the last rent be torn.
------
{241}
From The Lamp.
ALL-HALLOW EVE;
OR, THE TEST OF FUTURITY.
BY ROBERT CURTIS.
[CONCLUSION.]
CHAPTER XXX.
While the above exploits were being performed by Jamesy Doyle and the
police, a sad scene indeed was being enacted at the bridge. Winny
Cavana, whose bonds had been loosed, had rushed to where Emon lay with
his head in his father's lap, while the two policemen, Cotter and
Donovan, moved up with their prisoner. They not only handcuffed him,
but had tied his legs together, and threw him on the side of the road,
"to wait their convenience," while they rendered any assistance they
could to the wounded man.
The father had succeeded in stanching the blood, which at first had
poured freely from the wound. With the assistance of one of the
police, while the other was tying the prisoner, he had drawn his son
up into a sitting posture and leaned him against the bank at the side
of the road, and got his arm round him to sustain him. He was not shot
dead; but was evidently very badly wounded. He was now, however,
recovering strength and consciousness, as the blood ceased to flow.
"Open your eyes, Emon dear, if you are not dead, and look at your own
Winny," she said; "your mad Winny Cavana, who brought you here to be
murdered! Open your eyes, Emon, if you are not dead! I don't ask you
to speak."
Emon not only opened his eyes, but turned his face and looked upon
her. Oh, the ghastly smile he tried to hide!
"Don't speak, Emon; but tell me with your eyes that you are not dying.
No, no, Emon--Emon-a-knock! demon as he is, he could not murder you.
Heaven would not permit so much wickedness!"
Emon looked at her again. A faint but beautiful smile--beautiful now,
for the color had returned to his cheeks--beamed upon his lips as he
shook his head.
"Yes, yes, he has murdered him," sobbed the distracted father; "and I
pity you, Winny Cavana, as I hope you will pity his poor mother; to
say nothing of myself."
"No, no, do not say so! He will not die, he _shall_ not die!" And she
pressed her burning that's to his marble forehead. It was smooth as
alabaster, cold as ice.
"Win--ny Ca--va-na, good-by," he faintly breathed in her ear. "My
days, my hours, my very moments are numbered. I feel death trembling
in every vein, in every nerve. I could--could--have--lived for
you--Winny; but even--to--die for you--is--a blessing,
because--successful. One last request--Winny, my best beloved, is
--all--I have--to ask; spare me--a spot in Rathcash--chapel-yard, in
the space allotted to--the--Cavanas. I feel some wonderful strength
given me just now. It is a special mercy that I may speak with you
before I go. But, Winny, my own precious, dearest love, do not deceive
yourself. If I reach home to receive my mother's blessing before I
die, it is the most--" and he leaned his head against his father's
breast.
"No more delay!" cried Winny energetically, "Time is too precious to
be lost; bring the cart here, and let us take him home at once, and
send for {242} the doctor. Oh, policeman, one of you is enough to
remain with the prisoner here; do, like a good man, leave your gun and
belts here, and run off across the fields as fast as you can, and
bring Dr. Sweeney to Rathcash house."
"To Shanvilla," faintly murmured the wounded man; "and bring Father
Farrell."
"Yes, yes, to Shanvilla, to be sure," repeated Winny; "my selfish
heart had forgotten his poor mother."
Emon opened his eyes at the word mother, and smiled. It was a smile of
thanks; and he closed them again.
The policeman had obeyed her request in a moment; and, stripped of ail
incumbrances, he was clearing the hedges, ditches, and drains toward
Dr. Sweeney's.
They then placed Lennon, as gently as if he were made of wax, into the
cart, his head lying in Winny's lap, and his hand clasped in hers,
while the distracted father led the horse more like an automaton than
a human being. They proceeded at a very gentle pace, for the cart had
no springs, and Winny knew that a jolt might be fatal if the blood
burst forth afresh. The policeman followed with his prisoner at some
distance; and ere long, for the dawn had become clear, he saw his
comrades coming on behind him, a long way off. But there was evidently
a man beside themselves and Jamesy Doyle. He sat down by the side of
the road until they came up.
How matters stood was then explained to Sergeant Driscoll aside.
Cotter told him he had no hopes that ever Lennon would reach home
alive; that Donovan had gone off across the country for the doctor and
the priest, and his _carabine_ and belts were on the cart.
"We will take that prisoner from you, Cotter," said Driscoll, "and do
you get on to the cart as fast as you can; you may be of use. I don't
like to bring this villain Murdock in sight of them; you need not say
we have got him at all. We will go on straight to the barrack by the
lower road, and let you go up to Lennon's with the cart. But see here,
Cotter--do not speak to the wounded man at all, and don't let anybody
else speak to him either. We don't want a word from him; sure we all
saw it as plain as possible."
Cotter then hastened on, and soon overtook the cart. He merely said,
in explanation of being by himself, that his comrades had come up, and
that he had given his prisoner to them and hastened on to see if he
could be of any use.
Winny soon suggested a use for the kind-hearted man--to help poor Pat
Lennon into the cart, and to lead the horse. This was done without
stirring hand or foot of the poor sufferer; and the father lay at
Emon's other side scarcely less like death than he was himself.
When they came to the end of the road which turned to Rathcash and
Shanvilla, Winny, as was natural, could have wished to go to Rathcash.
She knew not how her poor father had been left, or what might be his
fate. She could not put any confidence in the assurance of such
ruffians, that a hair of his head should not be hurt; and did not one
of the villains remain in the house? Yes, Winny, one of them _did
remain_ in the house, but he _did no harm to your father_.
With all her affection and anxiety on her father's account, Winny
could not choose but to go on to Shanvilla. The less moving poor Emon
got the better, and to get from under his head now and settle him
afresh would be cruel, and might be fatal. Winny, therefore, sat
silent as Cotter turned the horse's head toward Shanvilla, where, ere
another half-hour had added to the increasing light, they had arrived.
Winny Cavana, who knew what a scene must ensue when they came to the
door, had sent on Cotter to the house; the father again taking his
place at the horse's head. He was to tell Mrs. Lennon that an accident
had happened--no, no, not _that_; but that {243} Emon had been hurt;
and that they were bringing him home quietly for fear of exciting him.
These precautions were of no use. Mrs. Lennon had waited but for the
word "hurt," which she understood at once as importing something
serious. She rushed from the house like a mad woman, and stood upon
the road gazing up and down. Fortunately Winny had the forethought to
stop the cart out of sight of the house to give Cotter time to execute
his mission, and calm Mrs. Lennon as much as possible. It was a lucky
thought, and Cotter, who was a very intelligent man, was equal to the
emergency.
As Mrs. Lennon looked round her in doubt, Cotter cried out, "Oh, don't
go that road, Mrs. Lennon, for God's sake!" and he pointed in the
direction in which the cart was not. It was enough; the ruse had
succeeded; and Mrs. Lennon started off at full speed, clapping her
hands and crying out: "Oh! Emon, Emon, have they killed you at last?
have they killed you? Oh! Emon, Emon, my boy, my boy!" And she clapped
her hands, and ran the faster. She was soon out of sight and hearing.
"Now is your time," said Cotter, running back to the cart; "she is
gone off in another direction, and we'll have him on his bed before
she comes back."
They then brought the cart to the door, and in the most gentle and
scientific manner lifted poor Emon into the house and laid him on his
bed.
"God bless you, Winny!" he said, stretching out his hand. "Don't, like
a good girl, stop here now. Return to your poor father, who must be
distracted about you. I'm better and stronger, thank God, and will be
able to see you again before I--"
"Whist, whist, Emon mavourneen, don't talk that way; you are better,
blessed be God! I must, indeed, go home, Emon, as you say, for my
heart is torn about my poor father. God bless you, Emon, my own Emon!"
And she stooped down and kissed his pale lips.
Cotter and she then left the house and made all the speed they could
toward Rathcash. They had not gone very far when Cotter heard Mrs.
Lennon coming back along the road, and they saw her turn in toward her
own house.
Bully-dhu having satisfied himself that nothing further was to be
apprehended from the senseless form of a man upon the kitchen floor,
and finding it impossible to burst open the door where his master was
confined, thought the next best thing that he could do was to bemoan
the state of affairs outside the house, in hope of drawing some help
to the spot. Accordingly he took his post immediately at the
house-door, still determined to be on the safe side, for fear the man
was scheming. Here he set up a long dismal and melancholy howl.
"My father is dead," said Winny; "there is the Banshee."
"Not at all, Miss Winny; that is a dog."
"It is all the same; Bully-dhu would not cry that way for nothing;
there is somebody dead, I'm sure."
"It is because he knew you were gone, Miss Winny, and he did not know
where to look for you; that's all, you may depend."
"Thank you, Cotter; the dog might indeed do that same. God grant it is
nothing worse!"
By this time they were at the door, and Cotter followed Bully-dhu into
the house. Winny, without looking right or left, rushed to her
father's room. She found it locked, but, quickly turning the key, she
burst in. It was now broad daylight, and she saw at a glance her
father stretched upon the bed, still bound hand and foot. She flew to
the table, and taking his razor cut the cords. The poor old man was
quite exhausted from suspense, excitement, and the fruitless physical
efforts he had been making to free himself.
"Thank God, father!" she exclaimed; "I hope you are not hurt."
{244}
"No, dear. Give me a sup of milk, or I will choke."
Poor Winny, in the ignorance of her past habits, called out to Biddy
to bring her some.
Biddy answered with a smothered cry from the inner room. Cotter flew
to the door and unlocked it. In another moment he had set her free
from her cords, and she darted across the kitchen to minister to the
old man's wants at Winny's direction.
Poor Bully-dhu then pointed out to Cotter the share he had taken in
the night's work, and it might almost be said quietly "gave himself
up." At least he showed no disposition to escape. He lay down at the
dead man's head, sweeping the floor with an odd wag of his bushy tail,
rather proud than frightened at what he had done. That it was his
work, Cotter could not for a moment doubt. The man's throat had by
this time turned almost black, and there were the marks of the dog's
teeth sunk deep at each side of the windpipe, where the choking grip
of death had prevailed.
Cotter then brought a quilt from the room where he had released Biddy
Murtagh, and spread it over the corpse, and was bringing Bully-dhu out
to the yard, when he met Jamesy Doyle at the door. Jamesy took charge
of him at once, and brought him round to the yard, where for the
present he shut him up in his wooden house; but he did not intend to
neglect him.
Jamesy told Cotter that Sergeant Driscoll and his men had taken their
prisoners safe to the barracks, and desired him to tell Cotter to join
them as soon as soon as possible.
"I cannot join them yet awhile, Jamesy; we have a corpse in the
house."
"God's mercy! an' shure it's not the poor ould masther?" said Jamesy.
"No; I don't know who he is. He must have been one of the
depredators."
"An' th' ould masther done for him!--God be praised? More power to his
elbow!"
"No, Jamesy, it was not the old master. It was Bully-dhu that choked
him--see here;" and he turned down the quilt.
"The divil a word of lie you're tellin', sir; dear me, but he gev' him
the tusks in style. Begorra, Bully, I'll give you my own dinner
to-day, an' tomorrow, an' next day for that. See, Mr. Cotter, how the
Lord overtakes the guilty at wanst, sometimes. Didn't he strike down
Tom Murdock wid lightning, an' he batin' me out a horseback? an I'd
never have cum up wid him only for that."
Cotter could not help smiling at Jamesy's enthusiasm.
"What are you laughin' at, Mr. Cotter? Maybe it's what you don't give
in to me; but I tell you I seen the flash of lightning take him down
ov the horse, as plain as the daylight. Where's Miss Winny?"
"Whist, whist, boy, don't be talking that way. Never heed Miss Winny;
she's with her father. I would not like her to see this dead man here;
don't be talking so loud. Is there any place we could draw him into,
until we find out who he is?"
"An' _I'd_ like to show him to Miss Winny, for Bully-dhu's sake. Will
I call her?"
"If you do, I'll stick you with this, Jamesy," said Cotter, getting
angry, and tapping his bayonet with his finger.
"Begorra, an' that's not the way to get me to do anything, I can tell
you; for I--"
"Well, there's a good boy, James; you have proved your cell one
tonight; and now for God's sake don't fret poor Miss Winny worse than
what she is already, and it would nearly kill her to see this dead man
here now--it would make her think of some one else dead,
Jamesy--_thigum thu_?
"_Thau_, begorra--you're right enough."
{245}
"Where can we bring him to? is there any outhouse or place?"
"To be sure there is; there's the barn where I sleep; cum out wid him
at wanst. I'll take him by the heels, an' let you dhraw him along the
floore by his shoulders."
There was a coolness and intrepidity about all Jamesy's acts and
expressions which surprised Cotter. With all his experience he had
never seen the same in so young a boy--except in a hardened villain;
and he had known Jamesy for the last four years to be the very
contrary. Cotter, however, was not philosopher enough to know that an
excess of principle, and a total want of it, might produce the same
intrepidity of character.
Cotter took the dead man under the shoulders and drew him along, while
Jamesy took him by the feet and pushed him.
Neither Winny, nor Biddy, nor the old man knew a word about this part
of the performance. Jamesy saw the propriety of keeping it to himself
for the present. Cotter locked the barn-door and took away the key
with him. He told Jamesy that he would find out from the other
prisoner "who the corpse was," and that he would call again with
instructions in the course of the day. He then hastened to the
barrack, and Jamesy went in to see Miss Winny and the ould masther.
The message which Cotter had sent her by Jamesy was this--"To keep up
her heart, and to hold herself in readiness for a visit from the
resident magistrate before the day was over."
CHAPTER XXXI.
It was still very early. The generality of the inhabitants were not
yet up, and Winny sighed at the long sad day which was before her. She
had first made her father tell her how the ruffians had served him,
and after hearing the particulars she detailed everything which had
befallen herself. She described the battle at the bridge, as well as
her sobs would permit her, from the moment that Lennon sprang up from
behind the battlement to their rescue until the fatal arrival of the
police, as she called it, upon the approach of whom "that demon fired
his pistol at my poor Emon as close as I am to you, father."
"Well, well; Winny, don't lave the blame upon the police; he would
have fired at Lennon whether they cum up or not, for Emon never would
have let go his holt."
"True enough, father. I do not lay it upon them at all. Emon would
have clung to his horse for miles if he had not shot him down."
"Beside, Jamesy says the police has him fast enough. Isn't that a
mercy at all events, Winny?"
"It is only the mercy of revenge, father, God forgive me for the
thought. The law will call it justice."
"And a just revenge is all fair an' right, Winny. He had no pity on an
innocent boy, an' why should you have pity on a guilty villain?"
"Pity! No, father, I have no pity for him. But I wish I did not feel
so vengeful."
"But how did the police hear of it, Winny, or find out which way they
went; an' what brought Jamesy Doyle up with them?"
"We must ask Jamesy himself about that, father," she said; and she
desired Biddy to call him in, for he was with Bully-dhu.
Jamesy was soon in attendance again, and they made him sit down, for
with all his pluck he looked weary and fatigued. They then asked him
to tell everything, from the moment he first heard the men smashing
the door.
Jamesy Doyle's description of the whole thing was short and decisive,
told in his own graphic style, with many "begorras," in spite of
Winny's remonstrances.
"Begorra, Miss Winny, I tould Bully-dhu what they were up to, an' I
let him in at the hall doore, an' {246} when I seen him tumble the
fust man he met, and stick in his windpipe without so much as a growl,
I knew there was one man wouldn't lave that easy, any way; an' I med
off for the polis as fast as my legs and feet could carry me."
"And how did--how--did--poor Emon hear of it?" sighed Winny.
"Arra blur-an-ages, Miss Winny, didn't I cut across by Shanvilla, an'
tould him every haporth? Why, miss, he'd murdher me af I let him lie
there dhramin', an' they carrin' you off, Miss Winny."
"Oh, Jamesy, why did you not go straight for the police, and never
mind Emon-a-knock?" she said.
"Ah! Winny dear," said her father, "remember that there was nearly
half-an-hour's battle at the bridge before the police came up; and had
your persecutor that half-hour's law, where and what would you be
now?"
"I did not care. I would have fought my battle alone against twenty
Tom Murdocks. They might have ill-used me, and then murdered me, but
what of that? Emon-a-knock would live, perhaps to avenge me; but
now--now--oh, father, father! I wish he had murdered me along with
Emon. But, God forgive me, indeed I am very sinful; I forgot you,
father dear. Here, Biddy, get the kettle boiling; we all want a cup of
tea;" and she put her handkerchief to her swimming eyes.
Jamesy had thrown himself in his clothes on some empty sacks in a
corner of the kitchen, saying, "Miss Winny, I'm tired enough to sleep
anywhere, an' I'll lie down here."
"Hadn't you better go to your own bed in the barn, Jamesy, where you
can take off your clothes? I am sure you would be more comfortable."
"No, Miss Winny, I'm sure I would not. Beside, the policeman tuck--"
Jamesy stopped himself. "What the mischief have I been saying?"
thought he.
"The policeman took what, Jamesy?" said Winny.
"He tuck the key, miss. He said no one should g'win there till he cum
back."
"Oh, very well, Jamesy; lie down, and let me throw this quilt over
you. But, God's mercy, if here is not a pool of blood! I wonder what
brought it here? Oh, am I doomed to sec nothing but blood--blood? What
is this, Jamesy, do you know?"
"I do, miss. It was Bully-dhu that cut one of the men when they cum
in; and no cure for him, Miss Winny!"
"Why, he must have cut him severely, James; the whole floor is covered
with blood."
"Cut him, is it? Begorra, Miss Winny, he kilt him out-an-out. I may as
well tell you the thruth at wanst."
"For heaven's sake, you do not mean to say that he actually killed
him, Jamesy?"
"That's just what I do mane. Miss Winny, an' I may as well tell you,
for Mr. Cotter will be here by-an-bye with the coroner and a jury to
hould an inquest. Isn't he lyin' there abroad in the barn as stiff as
a crowbar, an' as ugly as if he was bespoke, miss? Didn't I help Mr.
Cotter to carry him out, or rather to dhrag him? for begorra he was as
heavy as if he was made of lead!"
"Fie, fie, James, you should not talk that way of any poor
fellow-being--for shame!"
"An' a bad fellow-bein' he was, to cum here to carry you away. Miss
Winny, an' maybe to murdher you in the mountain, or maybe worse. My
blessin' on you, Bully-dhu!"
Winny was shocked at the cool manner in which Jamesy spoke of such a
frightful occurrence. She was afraid she would never make a Christian
of him.
Cotter and a comrade soon returned and took charge of the body until
the coroner should arrive. They had served summonses upon twelve or
fourteen of the most respectable neighbors--good men and true. They
had ascertained that the deceased was a man named John Fahy, from the
{247} county of Cavan, a reputed Ribbonman. The cart had belonged to
him, but of course there was no name upon it. The news of the whole
affair had already spread like fire the moment the people began to get
about; and two brothers of Fahy's arrived to claim the body before the
inquest was over.
Jamesy Doyle was the principal witness "before the fact." His evidence
was like himself all over. Having been sworn by the coroner, he did
not think that sufficient, but began his statement with another oath
of his own--the reader knows by this time what it was. The coroner
checked him, and reminded him that he was already on his solemn oath,
and that light swearing of that kind was very unseemly, and could not
be permitted. He advised him to be cautions.
Jamesy had sense enough to take his advice, although he seldom took
Winny's upon the same subject.
"When first I heerd the _rookawn_ I got up, an' dhrew on my clothes,
an' cum round the corner of the house. I seen three men stannin' at
the doore, an' I heerd wan of 'em ordher it to be bruck in. I knew
there was but two women an' wan ould man, the masther, in the house,
an' I knew there was no use in goin' in to be murdhered, an' that I
could be of more use a great dale outside. Bully-dhu was roarin' like
a lion in the back yard, an' couldn't get out. I knew Bully was well
able for wan of 'em, any way, if not for two, an' I let him out an'
brought him to the hall-doore. The minit ever I let him out iv the
yard he was as silent as the grave, an' I knew what that meant. Well,
I brought him to the doore, an' pointed to the deceased, for he was
the first man I seen in from me. Well, without with your lave or by
your lave, Bully had him tumbled on the floore, an' his four big teeth
stuck in his windpipe. 'That'll do,' says I, 'as far as wan of ye
goes, any way;' an' I med off for the police. I wasn' much out about
Bully, your worship, for the man never left that antil Mr. Cotter an'
I helped him out into the barn."
Cotter was then examined. His evidence was "that he had found the
deceased lying dead on the kitchen floor; that the dog on entering lay
down at his head and put his paw upon his breast, as if pointing out
what he had done." That was all he knew about it.
The doctor was then examined--surgeon, perhaps, we should call him on
this occasion--and swore "that he had carefully examined the deceased;
that he had been choked; and that the wounds in the throat indicated
that they had been inflicted by the teeth of a large, powerful dog; no
cat nor other animal known in this country could have done it."
This closed the evidence. The coroner made a short charge to the jury,
and the verdict was "that the deceased, John Fahy, as they believed
him to be, had come by his death by being suffocated _and choked_ by a
large black dog called Bully-dhu, belonging to one Edward Cavana, of
Rathcash, in the parish, etc., etc.; but that inasmuch as he, the said
deceased, was in the act of committing a felony at the time, for
which, if convicted in a court of law, he would have forfeited his
life, they would not recommend the dog to be destroyed."
The coroner said "he thought this was a very elaborate verdict upon so
simple a case; and disagreed with the jury upon the latter part of the
verdict. The dog could not have known that, and it was evident he was
a ferocious animal, and he thought he ought to be destroyed."
"He did know it, your honor," vociferated Jamesy Doyle. "Didn't I tell
him, and wasn't it I pointed out the deceased to him, and tould him to
hould him? If it was th' ould masther or myself kilt him, you couldn't
say a haporth to aidher of us, let alone the dog."
If this was not logic for the coroner, it was for the jury, who
refused to change their verdict. But the {248} tack to the verdict,
exonerating poor Bully-dhu, was almost unnecessary, where he had such
a friend in court as Jamesy Doyle; for he, anticipating some such
attempt, had provided for poor Bully's safety. His first act after
Cotter had left in the morning was to get a chum of his, who lived not
for off, to take the dog in his collar and strap to an uncle's son, a
first cousin of his, about seven miles away, to tell him what had
happened, and to take care of the dog until the thing "blew over," and
that "Miss Winny would never forget it to him."
Billy Brennan delivered the dog and the message safely; "he'd do more
nor that for Miss Winny;" or for that matter for the dog himself, for
they were great play-fellows in the dry grass of a summer's day. Now
it was a strange fact, and deserves to be recorded for the curious in
such things, that although Bully-dhu had never seen Jamesy's cousin in
his life, and that although he was a surly, distant dog to strangers,
he took up with young Barny Foley the moment he saw him. He never
stirred from his side, and did not appear inclined to leave the place.
Before the inquest had closed its proceedings the two brothers of the
deceased man adverted to had arrived to take away the dead body. It
was well for poor Bully-dhu, after all, that Jamesy had been so
thoughtful, although it was quite another source of danger he had
apprehended. The two Fahys searched high and low for the dog, one of
them armed secretly with a loaded pistol, but both openly with huge
crab-tree sticks to beat his brains out, in spite of coroner,
magistrate, police, or jury. But they searched in vain. They offered
Jamesy, not knowing the stuff he was made of, a pound-note "to show
them where the big black dog was." His answer, though mute, was just
like him. He put his left thumb to the tip of his nose, his right
thumb to the little finger of the left hand, and began to play the
bagpipes in the air with his fingers.
They pressed it upon him and he got vexed.
"Begorra," said be, "af ye cum here to-night after midnight to take
Miss Winny away, I'll show him to you, an' maybe it wouldn't be worth
the coroner's while to go home."
"He may stay where he is, for that matther," said one of the brothers.
"He'll have work enough tomorrow or next day at Shanvilla;" and they
turned away.
"Ay, and the hangman from the county of _Cavan_ will have something to
do soon afther," shouted Jamesy after them, who was never at a loss
for an answer. He had the last word here, and it was a sore one.
As the brothers Fahy failed in their search for Bully, they had
nothing further that they dare vent their grief and indignation upon.
It was no use in bemoaning the matter there amongst unsympathizing
strangers; so they fetched the cart to the barn-door and laid the
corpse into it, covering it with a white sheet which they had brought
for the purpose.
"Will I lind you a hand, boys?" said Jamesy, as they were struggling
with the weight of the dead man at the barn-door.
The scowl he got from one of the brothers would have discomfited a boy
less plucky or self-possessed than Jamesy Doyle; but he had not said
it in irony. No one there appeared inclined to give any help, and
Jamesy actually did get under the corpse, and "_helped_ him into the
cart," as he said himself.
The unfortunate men then left, walking one at each side of their dead
brother. And who is there, except perhaps Jamesy Doyle, who would not
pity them as they rumbled their melancholy way down the boreen to the
road?
{249}
CHAPTER XXXII.
About two hours later in the day "the chief" arrived to "visit the
scene," as he was bound to do before he made his report.
He was received courteously and with respect by Winny Cavana, who
showed him into the parlor. He considerately began by regretting the
unfortunate and melancholy occurrence which had taken place; but of
course added, the satisfaction it was to him, indeed that it must be
to every one, that the perpetrators had been secured, particularly the
principal mover in the sad event.
Winny made no remark, and "the chief" then requested her to state in
detail what had occurred from the time the men broke into the house
until the shot was fired which wounded the man. She seemed at first
disinclined to do so; but upon that gentleman explaining that she
would be required to do so on her oath, when the magistrate called to
take her information, she merely sighed, and said:
"I suppose so; indeed I do not see why I should not."
She then gave him a plain and succinct account as far as their conduct
to herself was concerned, and referred him to her father and the
servants for the share they had taken toward them.
He then obtained from old Cavana, Biddy Murtagh, and Jamesy Doyle what
they knew of the transaction; and thus fully primed and loaded for his
report, he left, telling Winny Cavana "the stipendiary magistrate had
left home the day before, but that he would be back the next day; and
she might expect an official visit from him, as he would make
arrangements with him that she should not be brought from her home,
when no doubt the prisoners would be remanded for the doctor's report
of the wounded man."
The morning after "the chief" had been at Rathcash house, Winny
Cavana, almost immediately after breakfast, told Jamesy Doyle to get
ready and come with her to Shanvilla. She was anxious to ascertain
from personal knowledge how poor Emon was going on. She was distracted
with the contradictory reports which Biddy Murtagh brought in from
time to time from the passers-by upon the road. Winny had little, if
any, hope at all that Edward Lennon would survive. She had been
assured by Father Farrell, in whose truth and experience she placed
the greatest confidence, that it was _impossible_, although he might
linger for a few days. The doctor, too, had pronounced the same solemn
doom. Her thoughts as she hastened toward Shanvilla were full of awe
and _determination_. She had spent the night, the entire night, for
she had never closed an eye, in laying down a broad short map of her
future life, and it was already engraven on her mind. She had been
clever in drawing such things at the school where she had him been
educated, and her thoughts now took that form.
Her poor father while he lived; herself before and after his death;
the Lennons one and all; Kate Mulvey, Phil M'Dermott, Jamesy Doyle,
Biddy Murtagh, and Bully-dhu were the only spots marked upon the map;
but they were conspicuous, like the capital towns of counties. There
was but one river on the map, and it could be traced by Winny's tears.
It was the great river of "the Past," and rose in the distant
mountains of her memory which hemmed in this map of her fancy. It
flowed first round old Ned and the Lennons, who were bounded by Winny
on the north, south, east, and west. It passed by Kate Mulvey and Phil
M'Dermott, and thence passing by Jamesy Doyle, Biddy Murtagh, and
Bully-dhu, it emptied itself into the Irish ocean of Winny's
affectionate heart.
Winny knew that she would meet Father Farrell at Emon's bedside; he
scarcely ever left it; and she knew {250} that he would not deceive
her as to his real state. She knew, too, that he would not refuse her
a sincere Christian advice and counsel upon the sudden resolve which
had taken possession of her heart.
Father Farrell saw her coming from Emon's window, and went to meet her
at the door. They stood in the kitchen alone. The poor father and
mother had been kept out of Emon's room by the priest, and were
bewailing their fate in their own room.
"I am glad you are come, Winny, dear," said he. "The poor fellow has
not ceased to speak of you and pray for you from the first, when he
does transgress his orders not to speak at all."
"How is he, oh, how is he, Father Farrell?"
"Stronger just now, but dying, Winny Cavana. Let nothing tempt you to
deceive yourself. He has been so much stronger for the last hour or so
that I was just going to send my gig for yon. He said it would soothe
his death-bed, which he knows he is on, Winny, to see you and have
your blessing."
"He shall have my blessing, and I shall claim every right to give it
to him. Father Farrell," she added, solemnly, but with a full,
untrembling tone, "will you marry me to Edward Lennon?"
The priest almost staggered back from her for a moment.
"Yes, Father Farrell, you have heard aright, and I solemnly and
sincerely repeat the question. Listen: You must know that never on
this earth will I wed any other. I shall devote myself and the greater
portion of any wealth I may possess to the church for charitable
purposes after Edward Lennon, my future husband--future here and
hereafter--is dead. I wish to call him husband by that precious right
which death will so soon rob me of. Even so, Father Farrell; give me
that right, short though it be. It will enable me legally to provide
for his honest, stout-hearted father and his broken-hearted mother,
without the lying lips of slander doubting the motive. Oh, Father
Farrell, it is the only consolation left me now to hope for, or in
your power to bestow."
The priest was struck dumb. Her eyes, her breath, pleaded almost more
than her words.
Father Farrell sat down upon a form.
"Winny Cavana," he said, "do not press me--that is, I mean, do not
hurry me. The matter admits of serious consideration, and may not be
altogether so unreasonable or extraordinary as it might at first
appear. But I say that it requires consideration. Walk abroad for a
few minutes and let me think."
"No, father. You may remain here for a few minutes and think. Let me
go in and see my poor Emon."
"Yes, yes, you shall; but I must go in along with you, Winny. I can
come out again if I find that more consideration is necessary."
Winny saw that she had gained her point. They then entered the room,
and Emon cast such a look of gratitude and love upon Winny as calmed
every doubt upon the priest's mind, for he was afraid that Emon
himself would object, and that the scene would injure him.
Winny was soon at Emon's side, with his hand clasped in hers.
"You are come, Winny dear, to bid me a final good-by--in this world,"
he murmured. "God bless you for your goodness and your love for me!"
"I am come, Emon dear, to fulfil that love in the presence of heaven,
and with Father Farrell's sanction--am I not, Father Farrell?"
"I never doubted it, Winny dear."
"And you shall not doubt it now. You shall die declaring it. Emon--
Emon, my own Emon-a-knock, I am come to claim the promise you gave me
to make me your wife."
"Great God, Winny I are you mad?--she not mad. Father Farrell?"
{251}
"No, Emon dear, she really is not mad. She will devote herself and her
whole future life to charity and the love of a better world than this.
She can do that not only as well, but better, in some respects, as
your widow than otherwise. I have considered the matter, and I cannot
see that there are any just reasons to deny her request."
"Then I shall die happy, though it be this very night. But oh, Winny,
Winny, think of what you are about; time will soften your grief, and
you may yet be happy with ano--"
"Stop, Emon dear--not another word; for here, before heaven and Father
Farrell, I swear never shall I marry any one in this world but you.
Here, Father Farrell, begin; here is a ring you gave me yourself,
Emon, and although not a wedding-ring it will do very well--we will
make one of it."
Father Farrell then brought in Emon's father and mother, and married
Winny Cavana to the dying man.
She stooped down and kissed his pallid lips. Big drops of sweat burst
out upon his forehead, and Father Farrell saw that the last moment was
at hand. Winny held his hand between both hers, and said, "Emon, you
are now mine--mine by divine right, and I resign you to the Lord." And
she looked up to heaven through the roof, while the big tears rolled
down her pale cheeks.
"Winny," said Emon, in a solemn but distinct voice, "I now die happy.
For this I have lived, and for this I die. I cannot count on even
hours now; my moments are numbered. I feel death trembling round my
heart. But you have calmed its approach, Winny dear. Your love and
devotion at a moment like this is the happiest pang that softens my
passage to the grave. I can now claim a right to what you promised me
as a favor--my portion of your space in Rathcash chapel-yard. God
bless you, Winny dear!--Good-by--my--wife!"
Yes, Emon had lived and had died for the love of her who was _now his
widow_.
As Emon had ceased to speak, a bright smile broke over his whole
countenance, and he rendered his last sigh into the safe-keeping of
his guardian angel, until the last great day.
Winny knew that he was dead, though his breath had passed so gently
forth that he might have been only falling asleep. She continued to
hold his hand, and to gaze upon his still features, while Father
Farrell's lips moved in silent prayer, more for the living than the
dead.
"Come, Winny," he at last said, "you cannot remain here just at
present. Come along with me, and I will bring you in my gig to your
father's house, where I will tell him all myself."
"Oh, thank you, thank you, Father Farrell," she said, turning
resignedly with him. "Tell poor Pat Lennon what has happened; their
pity for me as a companion in their grief may help to soften their
own. Tell him, of course, Father Farrell, that I shall take all the
arrangements of the funeral upon myself--God help them and me!"
As they came from the dead man's room they met Pat Lennon in the
kitchen, and Winny, throwing her arms round his neck, caught the big
salt tears which were rolling down his face upon her quivering lips.
"I have a right to call you father now," she exclaimed. "You have lost
a son, but I will be your daughter," and she kissed him again and
again.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
On their way to Rathcash, Winny in the first instance told the priest
that "of course her poor husband should be buried in Rathcash
chapel-yard, and, as a matter in which she could not interfere, by
Father Roche." Here she stopped, but the kind-hearted priest took her
up at once.
{252}
"Of course, my dear child," he said, "that will be quite right.
Indeed, Winny, I should not wish to be the person so soon to add that
sad ceremony to the still sadder one I was engaged in to-day."
"Before God or man, Father Farrell, you will never have cause to
regret that act. It was my own choosing after deliberate
consideration, and I was best judge of my own feelings. I _can_ be
happy now. I never _could_ be happy if it were otherwise."
"God grant it, my love," said the priest.
"But still, Father Farrell," she continued, "I have something more for
you to do for me. Will you not, like a good man, take all the
arrangement of the funeral upon yourself? I will pay every penny of
the expenses, and let them not be niggardly. Thank God, Father
Farrell, I can do so now without reproach."
The kind, sympathizing priest engaged to do everything which was
requisite in the most approved of manner. The more he reflected upon
what he had done, the less fault he had to find with himself. There
was a calm, resigned tone about all that Winny now said very different
from what he might have anticipated from his knowledge of her temper
and disposition, had the fatal moment taken place when the shot was
fired, or even subsequently before she became Edward Lennon's wife.
Bitter revenge, he thought, would have seized her soul toward the man
who had deprived her of all hope or source of happiness in this world.
Now the only time she trusted her tongue to speak of him was an
exclamation--"May God forgive him!"
They soon arrived at Rathcash house, where Father Farrell paid a long
visit to old Ned Cavana. His kindness quite gained upon the old man,
and, before he left, he acquainted him with the facts of his
daughter's position and the death of her husband.
The old man sat silent for some time after the truth had been made
known to him. Winny stood hoping for a look of encouragement and
forgiveness; but the old man gave it not. At length, with that
impatience habitual to her disposition, she rushed into his arms and
wept upon his breast.
"Oh, father!" she exclaimed, "I could never be the wife of any man
living after poor Emon's death in defence of my life; ay, more than my
life, of my honor."
"But oh, Winny, Winny! to sacrifice yourself for a man so near the
grave! There was no hope for him, I heerd."
"None, father. I was aware of that. Had there been, I should have
waited patiently. I told Father Farrell here my plans, and the same
thing as swore that I would not alter them. He will now tell them to
you, father dear; and I shall lie down for a couple of hours, for
indeed I want rest of both body and mind."
She then kissed her father again and again, and blessed him, or rather
she prayed God to do so, and went to her room.
Father Farrell then explained all Winny's views to her distracted
father, observing, as he had been enjoined to do, the tenderest love
and respect for the old man; taking nothing "for granted;" but at the
same time showing the utmost confidence that all matters would still
be arranged for his daughter in the same manner he had often explained
to her to be his intention. "One step she was determined on," Father
Farrell said; "and that was to join a religious sisterhood of charity
in the north. Nothing should ever tempt her to marry."
"I'll sell this place at wance," said old Ned. "It's not a month since
I had a rattlin' bid for it; but my landlord--and he's member for the
county, you know--tould me with his own lips, that if ever I had a
mind to part with it, he'd give me a hundred pounds more for it than
any one else."
"That was Winny's wish, Ned; and that you should remove with her to
the north, where she would settle you comfortably, and where she could
{253} see you almost every day in the week."
"Almost," repeated old Ned, sorrowfully.
"Well, perhaps every day, Ned, for that matter."
"Well, Father Farrell, I would not wish to stay here any longer afther
what has happened. I'll sell the place out an' out at wance. I have
nothing to do but to write to my landlord. I could not bear to be
lookin' across at Mick Murdock's afther what tuck place. I think my
poor Winny is right; an' that it was the Lord put it all into her
head. Athen, Father Farrell, maybe it was yourself laid it down for
the little girl?"
"No, Ned; she laid it all down for me. I was going to reason with her
at first, but she put her hand upon my mouth, and told me to stop;
that nothing should alter her plans. I considered her words, Ned, for
a while, and I gave in; not on account of her determination, but
because I thought she was right. And I think so still; even to the
marrying of Emon on his death-bed."
"Indeed, Father Farrell, you have aised my mind. Glory be to God that
guided her!"
"Amen," said the priest.
Father Farrell had now in the kindest manner dealt with old Ned
Cavana, according to Winny's wishes and instructions; so that it was
an easy matter for Winny herself on that evening, when she had joined
her father after a refreshing sleep, to explain more in detail her
intentions as regarded herself, and her wishes as regarded her
friends--those capitals of counties which were marked on the map of
her imagination.
Old Ned was like a child in her hands; and no mother ever handled her
first-born babe more fondly than Winny dealt with her poor old father.
"Ducks an' dhrakes iv it, Winny asthore; ducks an' dhrakes iv it,
Winny dear! Isn't it all your own; what do I want with it, mavrone,
but to see you happy? an' haven't you laid out a plan for both
yourself an' myself that can't be bet, Winny mavoureen?"
The old man was perfectly satisfied with the map, and studied it so
well that he had it by heart before he went to bed, and could have
told you the boundaries of all Winny's wishes to the breadth of a
hair, as he kissed her for the last time that night.
I will spare the reader a detail of the melancholy _cortege_ of poor
Emon-a-knock's funeral, which proceeded from Shanvilla to Rathcash
chapel-yard the day but one after.
Winny had expressed a wish to attend it, but had yielded to the joint
advice of Father Farrell and Father Roche to resist the impulse.
Emon-a-knock had been well and truly loved in life, and was now
sincerely regretted in death. Father Farrell, at the head of the
procession, was met by Father Roche bare-headed at the chapel-gate of
Rathcash, and the melancholy ceremony was performed amidst the silent
grief of the immense crowd around. Poor Emon's last wish was complied
with, and he now occupied his last resting-place with the Cavanas of
Rathcash.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
It was still about an hour after noon when Winny beheld from the
parlor window at which she stood a very exciting cavalcade upon the
road, slowly approaching the house. At once she became acquainted with
the whole concern. "The chief" had fore-warned her that she might
expect a visit from the magistrate the moment he returned; and her
intelligence at once recognized the addition of the police and
prisoners some distance in rear of the car.
Winny's heart beat quick and high as she saw them draw nigh and turn
up the lane. It would be mock heroism to say that it did not. She knew
{254} that Tom Murdock, the murderer of her husband, must be one of
the prisoners, but she did not know why they were bringing him
there--for the police had now made the turn. She thought the
magistrate might have spared her that fresh excitement--that renewal
of her hate. But the magistrate was one of those who had anticipated
the law by his sense of justice and his practice. He was one who gave
every one of his majesty's subjects fair play, and it was therefore
his habit to have the accused face to face with the accuser when
informations were taken and read.
Poor Winny was rather fluttered and disturbed when they entered,
notwithstanding "the chief" had considerately prepared her for the
visit. She did not lose her self-possession, however, so much as to
forget the respect and courtesy due to gentlemen, beside being
officers of the law. She asked them down into the parlor, and
requested of them to be seated. They accepted her civility in silence,
seeing enough in her manner to show them that she was greatly
distressed, and required a little time to compose herself'. She was,
however, the first to speak.
"I suppose, gentlemen, you are come respecting this sad affair. I told
this gentleman here all I knew about it yesterday."
"Yes, but matters are still worse today, although there was no hope
even then that they would be better. Of course it will relieve you so
far at once to tell you that we are aware of the position in which you
now stand toward the deceased."
"Yes, sir. It was with a wish that the world might know it I took the
step I did. I had Father Farrell's approval of it, and my own
parish-priest's as well; but subsequently--"
"My good girl, we did not come here to question the propriety or
otherwise of either your actions or your motives. Nor do I for one
hesitate to say that I believe both to have been unexceptionable. But
it will be necessary that you should make an information upon oath as
to what took place from the first moment the men came to the door,
until the shot was fired by which Edward Lennon came by his death."
"I suppose, sir, you must have much better evidence than mine as to
the firing of the shot. I can only swear to the fact of two men having
tied me up and carried me away on a cart, and that there was a third
man on horseback with a mask upon his face; that when we came to Boher
bridge, the deceased Edward Lennon and his father came to our rescue;
that there was a long and distracting struggle at the bridge, which
lasted with very doubtful hopes of success for my deliverance until
Jamesy Doyle, our servant-boy, came up with the police; that the man
on horseback with the mask, whom I verily believe to have been Thomas
Murdock, turned to fly; that the deceased Edward Lennon fastened in
his horse's bridle to prevent him; that a deadly struggle ensued
between them, and that the man on horseback fired at the deceased, who
fell, I may say, dead on the road. The sight left my eyes, sir, and
except that we brought the dying man home on the cart, I know no more
about it of my own knowledge, sir."
"A very plain, straightforward, honest story as I ever heard," said
the magistrate. "But it will be necessary for you, when upon your
oath, to state whether you know, that is, whether you recognized, the
man on horseback at time."
"I could not recognize his features, sir, on account of the mask he
wore; but I did recognize his voice as that of Tom Murdock, and I know
his figure and general appearance."
"That will do now, Mrs. Lennon. I shall only trouble you to repeat
slowly and distinctly what you have already said, so that I can write
it down."
The magistrate then unlocked his leather writing-case, took out the
necessary forms for informations, and was {255} not long embodying
what Winny had to say in premier shape.
He then went through the same form with old Ned, with Biddy Murtagh,
and with Jamesy Doyle.
When the magistrate had all the informations taken and arranged, he
directed Sergeant Driscoll to bring in the prisoners, that he might
read them over and swear the several informants in their presence.
Winny became very nervous and fidgety, and would have left the room,
but the magistrate assured her that it was absolutely necessary that
she should remain, at least while her own informations were being
read. He would read them first, and she might then retire. He
regretted very much that it was necessary, but he would not detain her
more than a couple of minutes at most.
Tom Murdock and the other prisoner were then brought in; and Winny
having identified the other man, her informations were read in a loud,
distinct voice by the magistrate, and she acknowledged herself bound,
etc, etc.
"You may now retire, Mrs. Lennon," said the magistrate; and she
hastened to leave the room.
Tom Murdock stood near the door out of which she must pass, his hands
crossed below his breast in consequence of the handcuffs. He knew that
there was no chance of escape, no hope of an alteration or mitigation
of his doom in this world. Everything was too plain against him. There
were several witnesses to his deed of death, and the damning words by
which it was accompanied, and he knew that the rope must be his end.
Well, he had purchased his revenge, and he was willing to pay for it.
He determined, therefore, to put on the bravado, and glut that revenge
upon his still surviving victim.
"Emon-a-knock is dead. Miss Cavana," said he, as Winny would have
passed him to the door, her eyes fastened on the ground; "but not
buried yet", he added, with a sardonic smile. "I wish I were free of
these manacles, that I might follow his _remains_ to Shanvilla
chapel-yard."
"You would go wrong," she calmly reply. "He is indeed dead, but not
buried yet. But he is my dead husband, and will lie with the Cavanas
in the chapel-yard of Rathcash, and rise again with them; and I would
rather be possessed of the inheritance of the six feet of grass upon
his grave than be mistress of Rathcash, and Rathcashmore to boot.
Where will you be buried, Tom Murdock? Within the precincts of--the
jail? To rise with-but no! I shall not condemn beyond the grave; may
God forgive you! I cannot."
Even Tom Murdock's stony heart was moved. "Winny Cavana, do you think
God can?" he said, turning toward her; but she had passed out of the
door.
The magistrate then read the informations of the other witnesses,
while Tom Murdock and the other prisoner, stood apparently listening,
though they heard not a word.
Jamesy Doyle's informations were word for word characteristic of
himself. He insisted upon having the flash of lightning inserted
therein, as an undoubted fact, "if ever he saw one knock a man down in
his life."
The magistrate and "the chief" had then some conversation with old Ned
and Winny, who had returned at their request to the parlor. It was of
a general character, but still respecting the melancholy occurrence,
or indeed occurrences, the magistrate said, for he had heard of the
death of the man who had been killed by the "watch-dog." Ere they left
they took Jamesy aside upon this subject, as the only person who knew
anything of this part of the business, and the magistrate requested
him to state distinctly what he knew of the transaction.
Jamesy was _distinct_ enough, as the reader will believe, from the
specimens he has already had of his style of communicating facts.
"Tell me, my good boy," said the magistrate, "did you _set_ the dog at
{256} the deceased?" laying a strong emphasis on the word.
"Beghorra, your honor, Bully-dhu didn't want any settin' at all. The
minnit he seen the man inside in the kitchen, he stuck in his thrapple
at wanst. I knew he'd hould him till I come back, an' I med off for
the police."
"Are you aware, my young champion, that if you set the dog at the
deceased you would be guilty of manslaughter at least, if not murder?"
"Of murdher, is id? Oh, tare anages, what's this for? Begorra, af that
be law it isn't justice. Didn't they tie th' ould masther neck an'
heels? Didn't they tie Miss Winny and carry her off to murdher her, or
maybe worse? Didn't they tie Biddy Murtagh? and wouldn't they ha' tied
me af they could get hoult of me? an' would you want Bully-dhu to sit
on his boss, lookin' on at all that, your honor?"
"That may be all true, Jamesy, but I do not think the law would
exonerate you, for all that, if you set the dog at the deceased man."
"Well, begorra, I pointed at the man, your honor; but I tell you
Bully-dhu wanted no settin' at him at all; af he did I'd have given it
to him; and I think the law would onerate me for that same. See here
now, your honor. Af th' ould masther had a double-barrel gun, an' shot
the two men as dead as mutton that was goin' to tie him up, wouldn't
the law be well plaised wid him? and if I had a pistol, an' shot every
man iv 'em, wouldn't your honor make a chief iv me at least, instead
of sending me to jail? and why wouldn't Bully-dhu, who had on'y a pair
of double-barrel tusks, do his part an' help us? I'm feedin' an'
taichin' that dog, your honor, since he was a whelp, an' he never
disappointed me yet--there now!"
There was certainly natural logic in all this, which the magistrate,
with all his experience of the law, found it difficult to contradict.
A notion had come into his head at one time that if Jamesy Doyle had
set the dog at John Fahy, he might be guilty of his death,
notwithstanding the said John Fahy had been committing a felony at the
time. But there was no proof that he had set the dog at the man beyond
his own admission, and the question had not been raised. Jamesy was
willing to avow his responsibility, as far as it went, in the most
open and candid manner, and not only that, but to _justify_ it, which
he had indeed done in a most extraordinary, clever manner. Then what
had been his conduct all through? Had it not been that of a
courageous, faithful boy, who had risked his own life in obstructing
the escape of the murderer? and was he not the most material witness
they had--the only one who had never lost sight of the man who had
shot Edward Lennon, until he himself had secured him for the police?
"No, no," reflected the magistrate; "it would be absurd to hold Jamesy
Doyle liable for anything, but the most qualified approbation of his
conduct from first to last."
"Well, Jamesy," said he, out of these thoughts, "we will take your own
opinion in favor of yourself for the present. There is no doubt of
your being forthcoming at the next assizes?"
"Begorra, your honor, I'll stick to the ould masther and Miss Winny,
an' I don't think they're likely to lave this."
"That will do, Jamesy. Come, Mr.----, I think we have taken up almost
enough of these poor people's time. We may be going."
A word or two about old Mick Murdock ere we close this chapter, as the
reader, not having seen or heard of him for some days, will no doubt
be curious to know what he had been doing, and how he comported
himself during so trying and exciting a scene.
During the period which Tom had spent in the obscure little
public-house {257} upon the mountain road in the county Cavan, his own
report that, he had gone to the north had done him no service; for the
addition which he had tacked to it, about "going to get married to a
rich young lady," was not believed by a single person for whose
deception it had been spread abroad. That sort of thing had been so
often repeated without fulfilment that people reversed the cry of the
wolf upon the subject.
There was nothing now for it with those to whom Tom was indebted but
to go to his father, in hopes of some arrangement being made to even
secure them in their money. Several bills of exchange--some overdue,
and some not yet at maturity--with his name across them, were brought
to old Mick for sums varying from ten to fifteen and twenty pounds.
Old Mick quietly pronounced them one and all to be _forgeries_. Tom
and he had had some very sharp words before he went away. He had
called the poor old man a "----old niggard" to his face, and he heard
the words "cannot lost very long," as Tom slapped the door behind him.
Old Mick would have only fretted at all this had his son returned in a
reasonable time to his home, and, as usual, made promises of
amendment, or had even written to him. It was the first time that ever
a forged acceptance had been presented to him for payment, and Tom's
prolonged absence without any preconcerted object to account for it
weighed heavily upon the old man's heart as to his son's real
character. Tom was all this time, as the reader is aware, planning a
bold stroke to secure Winny Cavana's fortune to pay off these
forgeries. But we have seen with what a miserable result.
It was impossible to hide the glaring fact of Tom Murdock's
apprehension and committal to jail upon the dreadful charge of murder
from his father. It rang from one end of the parish to the other. But
instead of rushing to meet his son, clapping his hands, and
exclaiming, "Oh! wiristhrue, wiristhrue! what's this for?" poor old
Mick was completely prostrated by the news; and there he lay in his
bed, unable to move hand or foot from the poignancy of his grief and
disgrace.
If Tom Murdock has broken his poor old father's heart, and he never
rises from that bed, it is only another item in his great account.
CHAPTER XXXV.
The reader will recollect that the incidents recorded in the two last
chapters took place toward the latter end of June. We will, therefore,
have time, before the assizes come on, to let him know how far Winny's
fancy map was perfected.
For herself, then, first. She had determined to become a member of a
convent in the north of Ireland, giving up the world with all its
vanities--she knew nothing of its pomps--and devoting her time, her
talents, and whatever money she might finally possess, to religious
and charitable purposes. She had not delayed long after the magistrate
and "the chief" had left, and she had experienced a refreshing sleep,
in taking her father into her confidence to the fullest extent of her
intuitions, not only as regarded herself, but with respect to those
friends whom she had set down upon the map to be provided for.
"Father," she said, continuing a conversation, "there is no use in
your moving such a thing to me. It is no matter at what time you
project it for me; my mind is made up beyond even the consideration of
the question. I will never marry. Do not, like a dear good father that
you have ever been, move it to me any more."
"Indeed, Winny, I could not add a word more than I have already sed;
an' if that fails to bring you round, {258} share I'm dumb, Winny
asthore. God's will be done! I'm dumb."
"It is his will I am seeking, father. What matter if we are the last
of the Cavanas, as you say? Beside, my children would not be Cavanas;
recollect that, father."
"I know that, Winny jewel; but they'd be of th' ould stock all the
same. Their grandfather would be a Cavana, if he lived to see them."
"Be thankful for what you have, father dear. There never was a large
clan of a name but some one of them brought grief to it."
"Ay, Winny asthore; but there is always wan that makes up for it by
their superior goodness. Look at me that never had but the wan, an'
wasn't she, an' isn't she, a threasure to me all the days of my life?
Look at that, Winny."
"And there is your next-door neighbor, father, never had but the one,
and instead of a treasure, has he not been a curse? Look you at that,
father."
Old Ned was silent for some moments, and Winny did not wish to
interrupt his thoughts. She hoped he was coming quite round to her way
of thinking with respect to her never "getting married;" and she was
right.
"Well, Winny asthore," he said, after a pause, "shure you're doin' a
good turn for your sowl hereafther at any rate; an' I'll be led an'
sed by your own sinse of goodness in the matther. For myself, Winny,
wheresomever you go I'll go, where I'll see you sometimes--as often as
you can, Winny. Be my time long or short, I know that you will never
see me worse, if not betther nor what I always was. But it isn't aisy
to lave this place, Winny asthore, where I'm livin' since I was the
hoith of your knee with your grandfather an' your grandmother--God
rest their sowls! There isn't a pebble in the long walk in the garden,
nor a pavin'-stone in the yard, that I couldn't place upon paper
forenent you there this minnit, and tell you the color of them every
wan. There's scarcely a blade of grass in the pasthure-fields that I
couldn't remember where it grows in my dhrames. There isn't a
furze-blossom in the big ditch but what I'd know it out iv the bud it
cum from. There isn't a thrush nor a blackbird about the place but
what I know themselves an' their whistles as well as I know your own
song from Biddy Murtagh's or Jamesy Doyle's. Not a robin-redbreast in
the garden, Winny, that doesn't know me as well as I know you; an' I
could tell you the difference between the very chaffinches--I could,
Winny, I could."
"I know all that, father dear, and I know it will not be easy to break
up all them happy thoughts in your mind. But then you know, father
dear, I could not stop here looking across at the house where that man
lived. God help me, father, I do not know what to do!"
Poor old Ned saw that she was distressed, and was sorry he had drawn
such a picture of his former happiness at Rathcash. The recollection
of these little matters had run upon his tongue, but it was not with
any intention of using them as an argument to change Winny's plans.
"Winny," he said, "I didn't mane to fret you; shure I know what you
say is all thrue. I could not stop here myself no more nor what you
could, Winny, afther what has happened. Dear me, Winny jewel, how soon
you seen through that fellow, an' how glad I am that you didn't give
in to me! But now, Winny asthore, let us quit talking of him, and
listen to what I have to say to you. 'Tis just this. My landlord, who
you know is member for the county, tould me any time I had a mind to
sell my intherest in Rathcash, that he'd give me a hundred pounds more
for it than any one else. I'll write to him tomorrow, plaise God,
about it. You know Jerry Carty? Well, he is afther offerin' me seven
hundred {259} pounds into my fist for my good-will of the place. As
good luck would have it, I did not put any price upon it when my
landlord spoke to me about sellin' it. I can tell him now that I have
a mind to sell it, an' I won't hide the raison aidher. I can let him
know what Carty is willin' to give me for it, an' he's sure to give me
eight hundred pounds. You know, Winny, that your six hundred pounds is
in the bank b'arin' intherest for you, an' what you don't dhraw is
added to it every half year. But that's naidher here nor there, Winny,
for it will be all your own the very moment this place is sould, an',
as I sed before, you may make ducks and dhrakes iv it. Shure I know,
Winny, that'll you never see me want for a haporth while I last, be it
long or short. But, Winny dear, let us live in the wan house; that's
all I ax, mavourneen macree."
"That will be about fourteen hundred pounds in all, father."
"A thrifle more nor that, I think, Winny. Maybe you did not know how
much or how little it was, when you laid it out the way you tould me."
"No, not exactly, father; but I knew I must have been very much within
the mark; I took care of that."
"Go over it again for me, Winny dear, af it wouldn't be too much
throuble."
"Not in the least, father. You know I took Kate Mulvey first, and
determined to settle three hundred pounds upon her for a fortune
against 'she meets with some young man,' as the song says. And I
believe, father, Phil M'Dermott, the whitesmith, will be about the
man. He is very fond of Kate, but he would not marry any woman until
he had saved enough of money to set up a house comfortly and decently
upon. Three hundred pounds fortune with Kate will set them up in good
style, and I shall see the best friend I ever had happy. Then, father,
there are the Lennons, my poor dear husband's parents, whom I shall
next consider. Pat Lennon, poor Emon's father, risked his life most
manfully in my defence. Were it not for his resolute attack upon the
two men with the cart, and the obstruction he gave them, they would
have carried me through the pass long before the police and Jamesy
Doyle came up; and the probability is that you would never have seen
your poor Winny again. I purpose purchasing the good-will of that
little farm and house from which the Murphys are about to emigrate,
and settle a small gratuity upon them during their lives."
"Annuity, I suppose you mane, Winny; but it's no matther. How much
will that take, Winny?"
"About two hundred pounds, father, including the--what is it you call
it, father?'
"Annuity, Winny, annuity; I didn't think you were so--"
"Annuity," she repeated before he had got the other word out, and he
was glad afterward.
"Well, Winny, that's only five hundred out of somethin' over six."
"Then I'll give Biddy Murtagh a hundred pounds, and she must live as
cook and house-maid with Kate; and I'll lodge twenty pounds in the
savings-bank for Jamesy Doyle. Perhaps I owe him more than the whole
of them put together."
"That will be the first duck, Winny."
"How is that, father?'
"Why, it's well beyant the six hundred, Winny, which was all you were
goin' upon at first; but you may now begin with whatever we get by the
sale of Rathcash."
"Well, father, I would only wish to suggest the distribution of that,
for you know I have no call to it, and God grant that it may be a long
day until I have."
"Faix, an' Winny, af that be so, you've left yourself bare enough. But
don't be talkin' nonsense, child. What would I want with it? Won't
{260} you take care iv me, Winny asthore? an' won't you want the most
iv it where you are agoin? an' didn't you tell me already that you'd
like me to let you give it to the charities of that religious
establishment? Shure, there's no use in my askin' you any more not to
go into it."
"None indeed, father, for I am resolved upon it. But you shall live in
the town with me, and I can take care of you the same as if I was in
the house with you. There shall be nothing that you can want or wish
for that you shall not have, and no day that it is possible that I
will not see you."
"What more had I here, Winny, except the crops coming round from the
seed to the harvest, an' the cattle, an' the grass, an' the birds in
the bushes? Dear, oh dear, yes! Hadn't I yourself, Winny asthore,
forenent me at breakust, dinner, an' supper; an' warn't you for ever
talkin' to me of an evenin', with your stitchin' or your knittin'
across your lap; an', Winny jewel, wasn't your light song curling
through the yard, an' the house, afore I was up in the mornin'? But
now--now--Winny--oh, Winny asthore, mavourneen macree! but your poor
old father will miss yourself, no matther how kind your plans may be
for his comfort. Shure, the very knowledge that you were asleep in the
house with me was a blessin'."
"Father," she said, "God bless you! I will be back with you in a few
minutes--do not fret;" and she left him, and shut herself up in her
room.
But he did fret; and he was no sooner alone than the big tears burst
uncontrollably forth into a pocket-handkerchief, which he continued to
sop against his face.
Winny had thrown herself upon her knees at the bedside, and prayed to
God to guide her. Her thoughts and prayers were too dignified and holy
for tears. But they had made a free course to the pinnacle of the
mercy-seat, and she rose with her soul refreshed by the glory which
had responded to her cry for guidance.
She returned to her father, a radiant smile of anticipated pleasure
playing round her beautiful lips. There was no sign of grief, or even
of emotion, on her cheeks.
"Father," she said, "I have been seeking guidance from the Almighty in
this matter; and the old saying that 'charity begins at home'--that is
moral charity in this instance--has been suggested to my heart. We
shall not part, father, even temporarily. Where you live, I shall
live. I have been told, father, just now, while upon my knees, that to
do all the good I have projected need not oblige me to join as an
actual member of any charitable or religious society. No, father, I
can carry out all my plans without the necessity of living apart from
you; we will therefore, father dear, still live together. But let us
remove when this place is sold to B----, where the establishment I
have spoken of is situated, and there, with my knitting or my
stitching on my lap before you in the evenings, I can carry on all my
plans in connection with the institution without being an actual
member, which might involve the necessity of my living in the house.
But, father dear, I hope you do not disapprove of any of them, or of
the distribution of the money, so far as I have laid it out."
It was then quietly and finally arranged between them that as soon as
Rathcash was sold, and the stock and furniture disposed of, they would
remove to B----, in a northern county. They there intended to take a
small house, either in the town or precincts--the latter old Ned
preferred--where Winny could join the Sisters of Charity, at least in
her acts, if not as a resident member. The money was to be disposed of
as Winny had laid out, and legal deeds were to be prepared and
perfected; and poor Winny, notwithstanding the sudden cloud which had
darkened the blue heaven of her {261} life, was to be as happy as the
day was long.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Within a month from the scene between Winny and her father described
above, Rathcash bad been purchased and paid for. There had been "a
great auction" of the stock, crops, and furniture. The house was shut
up, the door locked, and the windows bolted. No smoke curled from the
brick chimneys through the poplars. No sleek dark-red cows stood
swinging their tails and licking their noses, while a fragrant smell
of luscious milk rose through the air. No cock crew, no duck quacked,
no Turkey gobbled, and no goose gabbled. No dog bayed the moon by
night. Bully-dhu was at the flitting. The corn-stands and haggard were
naked and cold, and the grass was beginning to grow before the door.
The whole place seemed solitary and forlorn, awaiting a new tenant, or
whatever plans the proprietor might lay out for its future occupation.
Winny and her father had torn themselves from the spot hallowed to the
old man by years of uninterrupted happiness, and to the young girl by
the memory of a blissful childhood and the first sunshine of the
bright hope which is nearest to a woman's heart, until that fatal
night when vengeful crime broke in and snapt both spells asunder.
Rathcash and Rathcashmore had been a byword in the mouths of young and
old for the nine days limited for the wonder of such things.
If the goodness of his only child had broken the heart of one old man
from the reflection that her earthly happiness had been hopelessly
blighted, and his fond plans and prospects for her crushed for ever,
the villany and wickedness of another had not been less certain in a
similar result. Old Mick Murdock--ere his son stood before an earthly
tribunal to answer for his crimes--had been summoned before the court
of heaven.
The assizes came round, "the charge was prepared, the judge was
arrayed--a most _ter_rible show." Old Cavana and his daughter were, as
a matter of course, summoned by the crown for the prosecution, as were
also Pat Lennon, Jamesy Doyle, Biddy Murtagh, and the policemen who
had come to the rescue.
Old Ned was the first witness, Winny the second, Jamesy Doyle the
third. Then Biddy Murtagh and Pat Lennon, and finally, before the
doctor's medical evidence was given, the policemen who came to the
rescue, particularly he who had seen the shot fired and the man fall.
This closed the evidence for the Crown. There was no case, there could
be no case, for the prisoner, beyond the futile cross-examination of
the witnesses, by an able and tormenting counsellor, old Bob B----y,
whose experience in this instance was worse than useless.
The reader need hardly follow on to the result. Tom Murdock was
convicted and sentenced to death; and ere three weeks had elapsed he
had paid the penalty of an ungovernable temper and a revengeful
disposition upon the scaffold.
Poor Winny had pleaded hard with the counsel for the crown, and even
with the attorney-general himself--who prosecuted in person--that Tom
Murdock might be permitted to plead guilty to the abduction, and be
sentenced to transportation for life. But the attorney-general, who
had all the informations by heart, said that the animus had been
manifest all through, from even prior to the hurling-match, which was
alluded to by the prisoner himself as he fired the shot, and that he
would most certainly arraign the prisoner for the murder. And so he
was found guilty; and Winny, with her heart full of plans of peace and
charity, was obliged to forge the first link in a chain the {262}
succeeding ones of which dragged Tom Murdock to an ignominious grave.
Old Ned and Winny, accompanied by faithful Bully-dhu, had returned to
B----, where the old man read and loitered about, watching every
figure which approached, hoping to see his angel girl pass on some
mission of holy charity, dressed in her black hood and cape.
Accompanied by Bully-dhu, he picked up every occurrence in the street,
and compiled them in his memory, to amuse Winny in the evenings, in
return for her descriptions of this or that case of distress which she
had relieved. Thus they told story about, not very unlike tragedy and
farce!
A sufficient time had now elapsed, not only for the deeds to have been
perfected, but for the provisions which they set forth to have been
carried out. Pat Lennon had already removed to the comfortable cottage
upon the snug little farm which had been purchased for him by Winny,
and the "annuity" she had settled upon him was bearing interest in the
savings-bank at C. O. S.
Phil M'Dermott was one of the best to do men in that side of the
country, and his wife (if you can guess who she was) was the nicest
and the handsomest he (now that Winny was gone) that you'd meet with
in the congregation of the three chapels within four miles of where
she lived. Jamesy Doyle had been transferred--head, body, and
bones--to the establishment, where he excelled himself in everything
which was good and useful and--_handy_. Many a figary was got from
time to time after him in the forge, filed up bright and nice, and if
he does not "sorely belie" his abilities and aptitude, he will one day
become a "whitesmith" of no mean reputation.
Biddy Murtagh was to have gone as cook and thorough servant to _Mrs.
M'Dermott;_ but the hundred pounds which had been lodged to her credit
in the bank soon smoothed the way between her and Denis Murrican--a
Shanvilla boy, you will guess--who induced her to become cook, but not
thorough servant, I hope, to himself; so Kate M'Dermott--how strange
it seems not to write 'Kate Mulvey'!--was obliged to get somebody
else.
Poor Winny, blighted in her own hopes of this world's happiness, had
turned her thoughts to a surer and more abiding source. She had seen
her plans for the happiness of those she loved carried out to a
success almost beyond her hopes. Her poor old father, getting whiter
and whiter as the years rolled on, attained a ripe and good old age,
blessed in the fond society of the only being whom he loved on earth.
Winny herself found too large a field for individual charity and good
to think of joining any society, however estimable, during her
father's lifetime, and was emphatically _the_ Sister of Charity in the
singular number.
But poor old Ned has long since passed away from this scene of earthly
cares, and sleeps in peace in his own chapel-yard, between _two
tombs_. Long as the journey was, Winny had the courage and
self-control to come with her father's bier, and see his coffin laid
beside that of him who had been so rudely snatched away, and whom she
had so devotedly loved. Poor Bully-dhu was at the funeral, and gazed
into the fresh-made grave in silent, dying grief. When all was over,
and the last green sod slapped down upon the mound, he could nowhere
be found. He had suddenly eluded all observation. But ere a week had
passed by, he was found dead upon his master's grave, after the whole
neighborhood had been terrified by a night of the most dismal howling
which was ever heard.
Winny returned to the sphere of her usefulness and hope, where for
many years she continued to exercise a course of unselfish charity,
which made many a heart sing for joy.
{263}
But she, too, passed away, and was brought home to her last
resting-place in Rathcash chapel-yard, where the three tombs are still
to be seen. Were she now alive she would yet be a comparatively young
woman, not much past sixty-four or sixty-five years of age. But it
pleased God, in his inscrutable ways, to remove her from the circle of
all her bounty and her love. Had it not been so, this tale would not
have yet been written.
------
[ORIGINAL.]
"REQUIEM AETERNAM."
Lo! another pilgrim, weary
With his toils, hath reached the goal.
And we lift our "_Miserere_"
For the dear departed soul;
God of pity and of love!
May he reign with thee above!
By the pleasures he surrendered,
By the cross so meekly borne.
By the heart so early tendered.
By each sharp and secret thorn,
And by every holy deed--
For our brother's rest we plead!
'Mid the throng who rest contented,
Earth to him was but a waste.
And the sweets this life presented,
Were but wormwood to his taste.
Faith had taught him from the first
For the fount of life to thirst
Faith, the sun that rose to brighten
All his pathway from the font:
Then no phantom e'er could frighten,
Nor the sword of pain or want:
"For," he said, "though pain be strong,
Time shall vanquish it ere long."
When he spoke of things eternal,
How the transient seemed to fade!
And we saw the goods supernal
Stand revealed without a shade:
"Surely 'twas a spirit spoke,"
Was the thought his language woke.
{264}
Thought prophetic! _now_ a spirit
Speaketh from the world unseen:
And the faith we, too, inherit
Telleth what the tidings mean:
"Friend and stranger! oh, prepare--
Make the wedding garment fair."
Yet our brother's strength was mortal;
Bore he naught of earthly taint?
Did he pass the guarded portal
In the armor of a saint?
Lord of holiness! with dread
On this awful ground we tread.
He was merciful and tender
To the erring and the weak;
Therefore will thy pity render
Unto him the grace we seek.
Whilst we bring to mercy's fount
Pledges uttered on the Mount.
He remembered the departed
As we now remember him:
Bright, and true, and simple-hearted.
Till the lamp of life grew dim:
Friend was he of youth and age--
Now a child--and now a sage.
If those footsteps unreturning
Leave on earth no lasting trace:
If no kindred heart be yearning
Tearful in his vacant place:
If oblivion be his lot
Here below, we murmur not;
Only let his portion be
Evermore, dear Lord, _with thee!_
MARIE.
Beaver, PA.
------
{265}
From The Dublin University Magazine.
TINTED SKETCHES IN MADEIRA.
CHAPTER I.
Notwithstanding that Madeira enjoys an imperishable distinction for
its matchless scenery, its sunny skies, and its healthful climate, yet
the character of its inhabitants seems to have been but little
studied, and still less the singular usages and customs which indicate
their nationality. Impressed with the idea that to supply some
information on these particulars might heighten the interest
experienced for the Madeirans as an isolated little community, I have
compiled a few pages descriptive of their social and domestic life,
intending them, however, merely as supplementary to the valuable
information afforded by others.
Passing over the novel and amusing circumstance of landing at Funchal,
which has already been so often described, I find myself in a
boi-caro, or ox-car, traversing narrow and intricate streets; the
murmur of waters and soft strains of instrumental music saluting my
ear, while a faint perfumed breeze stirs the curtains of my caro. By
some travellers the boi-caro has been likened to the body of a caleche
placed on a sledge, but to me it neither had then, nor has it assumed
since, any other appearance than that of a four-post bed, curtained
with oil-cloth, lined with some bright- calico, and having
comfortably cushioned seats. It is made of light, strong timber,
secured on a frame shod with iron. A pair of fat, sleek oxen are yoked
to this odd-looking carriage, while from thongs passed through their
horns bits of carved ivory or bone hang on their foreheads to protect
them from the influence of Malochio or Evil-eye.
Half an hour brought me to my destination, No.--, Rua San Francisco.
This house in its structure resembles the generality of the better
class of houses in the island, the sleeping-rooms being sacrificed to
the magnificence of the reception-rooms, the vastness of which appears
to mock the ordinary wants of daily life. The walls are pure white,
lined with prints, paintings, and mirrors; the floors are either
covered with oil-cloth or highly polished; and the windows are shaded
by lace curtains and Venetian blinds; the furniture is modern, and of
English manufacture. I have been thus minute because the interiors of
all the superior dwellings have the same general character. I cannot,
however, say the same with regard to the tastes and habits of the
occupants. The British prince-merchant, with his spirit, his
intelligence, and his philanthropy, gives his days to the busy cares
of life, and his evenings to the quiet enjoyments of home; while the
Madeiran gentleman passes his days in luxurious indolence, and his
evenings in crowded rooms. The ladies present an equally strong
contrast, and yet, during one short period in each day, their tastes
and purposes seem to assimilate: when the brief and beautiful
twilight, with its freshness, its odors, and its music, induces even
the exclusive English-women to appear in the shaded balcony, and find
amusement in the passing scenes.
At this hour the peasantry may be seen returning to their homes in
little parties of four or five, each group being accompanied by a
musician playing on the national instrument, the machetes, or
guitarette, and singing some plaintive air in which, occasionally, all
join. No sooner has one group passed, than the sweet, soft intonations
of other songsters are heard {266} approaching. Sometimes two or even
more parties will enter the street at the same time, when they at once
take up alternate parts, and that with such perfect taste and harmony
that when the notes begin to die away in the distance the listener's
car is aching with attention. These songs are usually of their own
composition, and are improvised for the occasion. They have but few
national ballads, and of these the subjects are either the
mischief-loving Malochio, or Macham and the unhappy Lady Anna, or the
fable of Madeira's having been cast up by the sea covered with
magnificent forests of cedar, which afterward, catching fire from a
sun-beam, burned for seven years, and then from the heated soil
produced the luxuriant vegetation with which it is now clothed.
It must not be supposed, however, that the peasantry are of a
melancholy disposition because it is their custom to make choice of
plaintive music to time their footsteps when returning at the close of
a golden day to their homes by the sea or on the rugged mountain
heights. On the contrary, the character of their minds combines all
the variety of the scenes amongst which they were nurtured, though the
leading trait is a desire for the gay and fanciful, whether in dress
or amusement; While they regard neither money nor time in comparison
with the gratification of witnessing the numerous ceremonies and
pageants which every other day fill the streets with richly-dad trains
of ecclesiastics, flashing cavalcades, and troops of youths and
maidens in festive wreaths and gay attire. The season of Lent affords
them almost daily opportunities for the indulgence of this taste.
At an early hour of the Monday morning in the first week in Lent the
ordinary stillness of the town is interrupted by loud and clamorous
sounds, such as sometimes assail the ear in a European town, at
midnight, when bands of revellers are reeling toward their homes.
Laughter, song, instrumental music, and the unsteady tramp of a crowd
meet the startled ear, suggesting the idea of the proximity of a
disorderly multitude. Opening the window cautiously you look down into
the street, and behold bands of men in masks and habited in every
variety of strange and ridiculous costume. Some few, however, display
both taste and wealth in the choice of their disguises, but the
generality of the crowd in their tawdry attire and hideous masks
appear to have studied only effectual concealment. For some hours
party after party continue to pass through the street, and as they
knock loudly at the doors, and even call on the inhabitants by name,
you discover that a feeling of impatience to have the shops opened and
the ordinary routine of business commenced is common to all, and, if
not gratified, may manifest itself in some open act of aggression.
Slowly and with evident reluctance the houses are opened, while the
curious and amused faces of children and servants may be seen peeping
from the trellised balconies down on the noisy crowd. After a time a
few men in ordinary costume begin to appear in the street, trying to
look unconscious and unsuspicious of any danger, and hurrying forward
with the important pre-occupied air of men of business. But neither
their courage nor cunning avails them anything. A shower of stale eggs
breaking on the stalwart shoulders of one merchant reminds him that
the more grave and English-like is his demeanor, the more is he
regarded as the proper subject for mirth; while a plate of flour
thrown over another would send a dusty miller instead of a dandy
flying into some open door for shelter, followed by the derisive
laughter of the insolent crowd.
Amazed at such an exhibition of unchecked violence, the stranger
inquires the meaning of the scene, and learns that it is merely the
customary way of celebrating in Funchal the day known as Shrove
Tuesday, the people having from time immemorial {267} enjoyed an
established license to indulge on that day in such rude practical
jokes as are warranted by the usages of all carnival seasons.
I may here observe that the Madeirans reckon their days from noon to
noon, instead of from midnight to midnight, though their impatience
for frolic and mischief frequently leads them, as on the present
occasion, into the error of beginning the day some hours too soon.
When, however, celebrating religious festivals, or on days set apart
for fasting and invoking of their patron saints--Nossa Senhora do
Monte and Sant Jago Minor--they carefully adhere to the established
rule.
As the day advances the crowd becomes bolder, and no one, no matter
what his age, rank, or nation, is suffered to pass unmolested. These
coarse carnival jests are continued not only through the day but
through the night, and until noon the next day, when the firing of
cannon from the fort announces the cessation of the privilege of
outraging society with impunity. Although, however, practical joking
is prohibited from that moment until the next anniversary of the same
day, masquerading is allowed from Shrove Tuesday till the week after
Easter, the English being the chief, if not the only, objects for
raillery and ridicule.
In general the most amicable feelings exist between the Madeirans and
all foreigners, yet the lower classes of the natives appear to derive
the utmost satisfaction in being openly permitted to caricature the
English, and under favor of their privileged disguise to display
John's eccentricities and weaknesses in the most ludicrous light,
while the jealousy of the authorities prohibits on his part the most
distant approach to retaliation.
As the last echo of the warning gun died away amongst the hills, the
sun's position in the heavens indicated the hour of noon, and
instantly the musical peals of numerous bells came floating to the ear
from every direction, while above their sweet harmonious sounds is
heard the booming of cannon from the vessels anchored in the roads,
and the loud blasts of trumpets from the fort and the barracks. A
stranger might be excused for supposing that the people were about to
renew the carnival, whereas they were only announcing, in conformity
with ecclesiastical law, the commencement of the season of Lent. This
was the first day, or Ash Wednesday, though by our manner of computing
time it was still the noon of Tuesday. At one o'clock the roar of
artillery from the Loo Rock and the shipping was silent, the martial
strains ceased, but the bells at short intervals continued to ring out
their melodious summons, which was responded to by hundreds of persons
in ordinary costume, all moving in the direction of the se, or
cathedral, in the Praca Constitutionel. Mingling with this decorous
portion of the crowd were many of the most grotesquely attired masques
of the previous day, whose antics and buffoonery, jests and laughter,
formed the oddest contrast to the costume and bearing of the others.
Meanwhile, by one of those sudden changes so common in tropical
climates, the sky, which a short time before was so blue and serene,
began to show signs of a gathering storm. There was an ominous
stillness in the atmosphere, the dull leaden color overhead was
shedding its gloom everywhere, and I heard voices from the crowd
exclaiming, "Hasten forward there, the rain is coming--hasten!" A few
big drops just then fell with a plashing sound, and in a second or two
afterward down, with a terrific noise, poured the fierce wild rain,
coming on the streets with the noise of a waterfall, while on the
house-tops it fell with a sharp rattle, as if every drop was a
paving-stone.
In a few moments from the commencement of the rain the people had all
disappeared, the streets had assumed the appearance of rushing
streams, while the three fiumeras traversing the town kept up an {268}
unceasing roar, as the swollen waters rushed plunging toward the sea.
Formerly these fiumeras were uninclosed, and consequently after heavy
rains the torrents would enlarge their borders, spreading out on every
side and encompassing the town, until it assumed the appearance of
having been built in the midst of waves and currents. Now, however,
walls of strong masonry attest the wisdom and industry of the modern
Madeirans, and between these the rivers flow in shallow musical
streams in summer, or sweep on in deep, sullen floods during the rainy
seasons in spring and autumn. It sometimes, however, happens that,
though the rivers can no longer overleap their boundaries to career
round pillared edifices and lay bare their foundations, or, sweeping
up into their fierce embrace cottages and their inmates, inclosures
and their stalled cattle, hurry with them into the blue depths of the
bay of Funchal, they still, when increased by these mountain torrents,
which on leaving the heights are but whispering streamlets, gathering
depth and strength in their descent, will send boulders of many tons
weight over the high broad walls, followed by giant trees, planks of
timber, and jagged branches, as if from the heaving bosom of the angry
waters rocks and withered boughs are flung off with equal ease.
CHAPTER II.
From the period alluded to in the last chapter, namely, the beginning
of Lent, processions and public ceremonies become of such frequent
recurrence that I must either pass over a period of some weeks or fill
a volume in describing them. Believing the former course to be the
wisest, I shall pass on to the fourth Sunday in Lent. From an early
hour in the morning every bell-tower had been awakening the echoes
with its musical clamor, and every hamlet and village had responded to
the summons by sending forth crowds of hardy inhabitants in their best
attire, to join the gaily dressed multitudes thronging through the
narrow, angular streets of Funchal toward the Praca, in which, as I
have said, stands the se, or cathedral. This building is
quaint-looking and massive, proclaiming the liberality, if not the
taste, of its founders. It is somewhat more than three centuries old,
having been completed in the year 1514, and is only now beginning to
assume that mellow and sombre hue which comports so well with the
character of such piles. By the hour of noon the Praca presented a sea
of human faces. The long seats beneath the shade of trees had been
resigned to the children, while the platform in the centre of the
square, occupied on ordinary occasions by the military bands, now
presented a waving parterre of the smiling and observant faces of
peasant girls, who, notwithstanding their proverbial timidity and
gentleness, had managed to secure that elevated position. Meantime the
balconies were filling fast with the families of the English and
German residents, all intent on seeing the remarkable pageant of the
day known as the "Passo."
Having obtained a front seat in the balcony of the English
reading-room, I had a full view of the animated and picturesque scene
beneath, the latter feature being heightened by the striking contrasts
exhibited between the costumes of the peasant women and those of the
same grade residing in the town. As one looked at the latter it was
not difficult to imagine they had just come from Europe with the tail
of the fashions. Bonnets, feathers, flowers, ballooned dresses, all
were foreign importations; while the women who had come down from
those cottages on the heights, which, on looking up at, appear like
pensile nests hanging from the crags, wore dresses of masapuja--a
mixture of thread and bright wools manufactured by themselves--small
shawls woven {269} in bright stripes, and on their heads the graceful
looking lenco, or handkerchief, in some showy, becoming color. Others
from the fishing villages wore complete suits of blue cloth, of a
light texture, even to the head-dress, which was the carapuca, or
conical shaped cap, ending in a drooping horn and a golden tassel;
while a few wore cotton dresses, and covered their heads with the
barrettea, a knitted cap in shape like an elongated bowl, and having a
woollen tuft at the top glittering with gold beads. The elder women
covered their shoulders with large bright shawls, while the younger
wore tightly-fitting bodices, fastened with gold buttons, and over
these small capes with pointed collars. All, whether old or young,
wore their dresses full, and sufficiently short to display to
advantage their small and beautifully formed feet.
In singular contrast with this simplicity of taste in their apparel,
is their desire for a profusion of ornaments. Accordingly, you will
find adorning the persons of the peasant women of Madeira rings and
chains and brooches of intrinsic value and much beauty, such as in
other countries people of wealth assume the exclusive right to wear.
An instance of this ruling passion came under my notice a short time
since, which I may mention here.
Through a long life of toil and poverty a peasant woman had regularly
laid by, from her scanty earnings, a small sum weekly. Her neighbors
commended her forethought and prudence, not doubting but that the
little hoard so persistently gathered was meant to meet the
necessities of the days when the feeble hands would forget their
cunning. At length the sum amounted to some hundreds of testatoes, or
silver five-pences, and then the poor woman's life-secret was
discovered. With a step buoyant for her years, and a smile which for a
moment brought back the beauty of her youth, she entered a jeweller's
shop, and exchanged the contents of her purse for a pair of costly
earrings. Had she been remonstrated with, she would have betrayed not
only her own but the national feeling on the subject, by saying--"I
lose nothing by the indulgence. At any moment I can find a purchaser
for real jewelry."
An hour passed, and signs of impatience were becoming visible in the
crowd, when the sounds of distant music caused a sudden and deep
silence. A feeling of awe seemed to have fallen at once on the
multitude, and every bronze-<DW52> face was turned with a reverential
expression toward the street by which it was known the procession
would enter the Praca. Slowly the music drew near, now reaching us in
full strains, then seeming to die away in soft cadences. Meantime the
guns from the forts and shipping renewed their firing, and the bells
swung out their grandest peal. Curiosity was at its height, when the
foremost row of the procession met our view--four men walking abreast,
wearing violet- silk cassocks, with round capes reaching to the
girdles, and holding in their hands wax candles of an enormous size. A
long train, habited in the same way, followed these, and then came
four ecclesiastics in black silk gowns and Jesuits' caps, bearing
aloft a large and gorgeous purple banner, in the centre of which were
four letters in gold, "S.Q.P.R," being the initials of a sentence, the
translation of which is, "To the Senate and People of Rome."
After this followed another long line of men in violet, and then again
four clothed in black, carrying a wax image, large as life, on a
platform, meant to represent the garden of Gethsemane. Round the edge
were artificial trees about a foot and a half in height, having their
foliage and fruit richly gilt. The figure was clothed in a purple
robe, and on the brow was a crown of thorns. It was in a kneeling
position, and the face was bowed so low you could not distinguish the
features, but the attitude {270} gave you the impression that it was
making painful attempts to rise, which the weight of the huge cross on
the shoulders rendered ineffectual. Another train of candle-bearers
followed this, and then, in robes of rich black silk, and having on
their shoulders capes of finest lawn trimmed with costly lace, came
four priests holding up a gorgeous canopy, having curtains of white
silk and silver, which glittered and flashed as the faint breeze,
sweet with the perfume of flowers and fruit-trees, dallied amidst the
rich folds. From the centre of the canopy was suspended a silver dove,
its extended wings overshadowing the head of the bishop, who walked
beneath, robed in his most gorgeous sacerdotal habiliments. Between
his hands he carried the host, and as he passed along thousands of
prostrate forms craved his blessing. Following the canopy were more
men with tapers, and dressed in violet silk; then another purple
banner of even greater expansion than the first; then a lovely train
of little girls dressed to represent angels; then the band playing the
Miserere; and lastly a regiment of Portuguese soldiers. As soon as the
last of the men in violet had entered the cathedral, the door was
closed; the soldiers formed in lines on each side; the band was
silent; and, at the command of an officer, all uncovered their heads,
and stood in an attitude expressive of deep humiliation. This scene
was meant to represent that sorrowful yet glorious one enacted
eighteen centuries ago in the judgment hall of Pontius Pilate. The
little girls remained outside as well as the soldiery.
The dress of these children was tasteful and picturesque. They wore
violet-color velvet dresses, very short and full, and profusely
covered with silver spangles; white silk stockings and white satin or
kid shoes; rich white and silver wreaths, and bright, filmy, white
wings.
For an hour the cathedral door was kept closed, the soldiers remaining
all that time with bowed heads, motionless as statues. At length the
door was slowly opened, and one of the men wearing violet, having in
his hand a long wand, at the end of which appeared a small bright
flame, passed out, and proceeded to light up numerous tapers which had
been placed on the front of different houses in the Praca. As soon as
this was done, a command from an officer caused the men to resume
their caps and their upright attitude. Presently the rich, expressive
music of a full band was again heard playing the Miserere, and the
procession passed out between the glittering and bristling lines, its
numbers and its images increased.
Following close after the garden of Gethsemane, there was now an image
of the Virgin, attired in an ample purple robe and a long blue veil,
worked in silver. The exquisite taste and skill of the Madeiran
ladies, exerted upon the richest materials, had given to this figure a
lifelike appearance far surpassing that which usually distinguishes
other draped statues. Over the clasped hands the velvet seemed rather
to droop than lie in folds, while the expression of the attitude,
which was that of earnest supplication, as if craving sympathy for
some crushing woe, was heightened by the artistic arrangement of the
heavy plaits of the robe.
The men who carried this image, and those immediately preceding and
following it, wore blue instead of violet cassocks, while the little
angels who had brought up the van of the first procession were now
clustered about the bearers of the image of the Virgin.
From the cathedral the pageant passed on through the principal streets
into the country, the faint peal of the trumpets occasionally coming
back to the ear, mingled with the silvery sound of the bells, and the
deep boom of the minute-guns. At the foot of the Mount church,
however, various changes were effected. The little girls quietly
separated themselves from the crowd, and, being watched for by anxious
mothers and elder sisters, {271} were carried home. A deputy bishop
took the place of his superior beneath the canopy, other men relieved
the bearers of the banners and images, and other musicians released
those whose attendance had commenced with the dawn. All through the
day you could trace their course, only occasionally losing sight of
them, and all through the night too, by the light of the cedar-wood
torches borne by little boys, in snowy tunics, who had joined the
procession at the foot of the mount.
To understand how beautiful was the effect of this, you must look with
me on the unique and picturesque town of Funchal, running round the
blue waters of the bay, and rising up into the vineyards and groves
and gardens clothing the encircling hills. A golden light slumbers
over the whole scene, so pure and luminous that we can trace
distinctly every feature in the luxuriant landscape. The white houses
of the town crowned with terrinhas, or turrets, and having hanging
balconies glowing with flowers of rare beauty; the majestic palms
expanding their broad and beautiful heads over high garden walls; the
feathery banana waving gracefully on sunny <DW72>s, where clumps of the
bright pomegranates display their crimson pomp; the shady plane-trees
running in rows along the streets; the snowy quintas or villas on the
hills, becoming fewer and more scattered toward the summit; the
churches and nunneries on higher elevations; and still further up the
white cottages of the peasantry, with their vine-trellised porches and
their gardens of pears, peaches, and apricots; while above and around
all these, forming a sublime amphitheatre as they tower to nearly six
thousand feet above the level of the sea, are the Pico Ruivo and Pico
Grande. A wreath of purple mist lay that day, as it almost always
does, on their topmost peaks, giving now and again glimpses of their
picturesque outline, as, like a soft transparent veil, it was folded
and unfolded by the breeze roaming over the solitudes of scented broom
and heather. Through such scenes, in view of all, moved the long,
glittering pageant just described.
CHAPTER III.
Everywhere the grave declares its victory--in beautiful Madeira as
elsewhere. An old servant, whose business it was to cut up fire-wood
and carry it into the house, has performed his last earthly duty and
finished life's journey. He dwelt with his mother and sister in a
cottage at the extremity of the garden; and I was only apprised of the
circumstances of his death by hearing loud cries coming up from the
shady walks, and the exclamations: "Alas, my son, my son!" and "Oh, my
brother!" repeated over and over in accents of uncontrollable grief.
It is customary, as soon as a death occurs in the family of one of the
peasant class, for all the survivors to rush forth into the open air,
and, with cries and lamentations, to call on the dead by every
endearing epithet and implore of them to return once more. The
neighbors being thus made acquainted with what has occurred, gather
round the mourners, and try to steal away the bitterness of their
grief by reminding them that all living shall share the same fate, and
that one by one each shall depart in his turn to make his bed in the
silent chamber of the grave. By such simple consolations--untaught
nature's promptings--they induce the bereaved ones to re-enter the
house and prepare the body for interment.
The heat of the climate renders hasty burial necessary in Madeira, and
the authorities are strict in enforcing it. From ten to twelve hours
is the longest period allowed by law between death and the grave, and
the very poor seldom permit even so much time to elapse; they merely
wait to ascertain to a certainty that the hand of death has released
the imprisoned {272} soul before they wrap up the body and carry it
with hurrying feet to "breathless darkness and the narrow house."
In such instances coffins are rarely used, and when they are, they are
hired by the hour. The usual way is to roll the body up tightly in a
sere cloth, then place it in a "death hammock" (which resembles an
unbleached linen sheet, tied at the ends to an iron pole); and hurry
with it to an unhonored grave.
A few days subsequent to the death of the old servant, the remains of
a little girl were borne past; the sight was so singular I think it
worth describing.
Moving slowly and solemnly along the street were a number of men,
habited in deep blue home-made cloth, the two foremost of whom carried
a light iron bier, on which lay the body of a little girl, whose brief
period of life numbered not more than five summers. A robe of soft,
clear, snowy muslin enveloped the motionless form like a cloud; on the
tiny feet, crossed in rest at last, were white silk stockings and
white shoes; and her little hands, which must so lately have found
gleeful employment in scattering the fragments of broken toys, were
now meekly folded on her bosom over a bouquet of orange blossoms. A
heavy wreath of the same flowers, mingled with a few leaves of the
allegro campo, encircled her young brow, which, as may be supposed,
wore that lovely, calm expression described by poets as the impress of
"heaven's signet-ring."
In almost every one of the varied scenes of life orange blossoms are
made use of in Madeira, either as types or emblems. Wreaths of them
grace the bride's young head, as being emblematical of the beauty and
purity of her character; as typical of a grief which shall be ever
fresh, chaplets of them crown the pale brows of the dead. On the
anniversary of a birth-day they are presented to the aged as an
embodiment of the truth that they shall again renew their youth; while
the proud triumphal arch is adorned with their snowy bells, as an
assurance that the occasion for which it was erected shall be held in
ever-enduring remembrance.
The little child on the rude bier, who looked as fair in her
death-sleep as these fairest of flowers, was being carried to the
cemetery belonging to the resident Roman Catholics, and known as
Laranjeira. There a priest was awaiting its arrival. He was standing
by the open grave, and when the body was laid at his feet he read over
it in Latin a short burial service, placed some grains of dust on the
pulseless bosom, and departed. Being carefully wrapped in a sere doth,
it was then placed in a shallow grave (according to custom) and
lightly covered with three or four inches of earth.
Laranjeira is situated on the west of the town. Passing up the
Augustias Hill the stranger sees a large, handsome gate near the
empress's hospital; this is the entrance to the graveyard. Inside is a
small flower-garden, tastefully laid out and neatly kept, through
which you pass to the broad stone steps leading to the fine gravel
walk running quite through the cemetery. Another walk, also of
considerable width, leads round it, while several narrower ones,
shaded by hedges of geraniums, roses, and lavender, are cut through it
in different directions. Inclosing the whole is a high wall, studded
with monumental tablets, on some of which praise and grief are
charactered in deep, newly-cut letters, while from many others time
has either obliterated every trace of writing, or the pains and the
heat have washed and bleached them into meaningless, cloudy white
slabs. There are but few monuments or even tombstones of any
pretension, though many of the latter bear English inscriptions. Rows
of cypress trees border the centre walk, and almost every grave in the
inclosure is overshadowed by a weeping willow.
{273}
CHAPTER IV.
It was the last week in Lent, and, according to our manner of
computing time, it was eleven o'clock A.M. of the day known as "Holy
Thursday." Reckoning, however, as the Madeirans do, it was the last
hour of that day, and the next would be the first of Good Friday.
An unusual silence had reigned in the town since the first streaks of
purple light appeared in the east, as if to render more remarkable the
din which at the hour above-named assailed the ears of the inhabitants
of Funchal. Strains of military music filled the air, mingled with the
tolling of bells and the firing of guns, which found a hundred echoes
in the adjoining hills. These sounds were the signals to the people of
Madeira that the time was drawing near when the most imposing
ceremonial of their religion would be celebrated. With the first
trumpet-notes the streets began to fill, every house sending forth its
inmates, whether rich or poor, old or young, either to witness or take
part in the spectacles of the day. As on all like occasions, the
peasantry, in their best attire, poured in with astonishing rapidity;
while crowding in with them were ladies in hammocks, clad in robes of
rainbow hues, and partially concealed from curious eyes by silken
curtains of pink or blue, which were matched in color by the vests of
the bearers, and the ribbons with long floating ends adorning their
broad-brimmed straw hats; and gentlemen on horseback, whom you at once
would recognize as natives by their short stature, their bright vests,
neckties, and hat-ribbons, and their profusion of rich, showy
ornaments. Quietly making their way on foot through this throng were
the English merchants, with their wives and daughters, distinguished
from those by whom they were surrounded by an air of severe reserve
and a studied simplicity of dress. A few handsome wheeled carriages
also appeared on the scene, and one or two of the awkward looking
boi-cars. All were taking the same direction, the Praca da
Constitutionel, and the common object was to gain admission to the
cathedral. At every turn the crowd augmented, and even masquers joined
in considerable numbers--but these latter brought neither jest nor
laughter with their presence; the ceremonies of the day had subdued
even them, causing them to abandon the vacant gaiety appertaining to
their attire for a demeanor more fitting the time and occasion.
Arrived at the cathedral, each party, no matter how exalted their
rank, encountered a delay in obtaining an entrance. The throng around
the door was great, and it was in vain that the soldiers endeavored to
keep the general crowd at a distance. Trained as the Madeirans are to
habits of deference to both military and ecclesiastical authority,
they become, like other people, audacious and headstrong when
assembled in large multitudes, and, in spite of both church and state,
they now sought an entrance by the exertion of physical force, and
some hundreds succeeded.
While, however, the struggle and contention at the door remained
unabated, the ceremonial which all were so anxious to witness had been
enacted within. To describe it is needless. The hour when the God-man
poured forth his soul even unto death is a sad and awful memory
familiar to us all. Let us, therefore, look at the scene which the
cathedral presents at two o'clock on that day.
The windows are boarded up on the outside, and within are covered with
curtains of heavy black cloth. The walls all round are hung with fine
stuff of the same color, concealing the paintings and other ornaments,
and the altar is hidden behind drapery of black velvet with
ghastly-looking borders of silver. Between this gloomy vail and the
cancelli, or railings, you see a magnificent catafalque, and on it
{274} a coffin covered and lined with rich black velvet. A pale,
corpse-like figure, wearing a crown of thorns, lies within, blood
flowing from the wounded brow (or appearing to flow) and from the
hands which lie outside the winding-sheet of snowy linen. Numerous
tapers surround the catafalque, but from some cause they carry such
weak, glimmering flames, that a dim, uncertain light pervades the
immediate precincts of the altar, leaving the rest of the building in
deep shadow. Habited in close-fitting black silk robes, and with heads
bowed down as in unspeakable sorrow, several priests stand round the
coffin, while fitful wails and sobs from the multitude show that the
scene is not without its effect.
An hour passed thus, and was succeeded by a sudden and dismal silence,
as if the great heart of the multitude had become exhausted with
sorrow, when the melancholy cadences of the Miserere coming down from
the huge organ as if rolling from the clouds, awoke up anew the grief
of the people, and low cries and half-stifled groans mingled freely
with the long-drawn, plaintive notes. Meantime the bishop, habited in
his most simple sacerdotal robes, came from the sacristy and stood at
the foot of the coffin, while four priests raised it from the
catafalque by means of loops of black silk and silver cord. The bishop
then moved forward, the dense crowd opening a lane for him as he
passed slowly round the church, followed by the four priests carrying
the coffin, and by others bearing the dim tapers. As He returned
toward the altar the people's sorrow seemed to increase, and every
head was stretched forward to catch a last glimpse of the coffin, when
just as the procession got within the cancelli a heavy curtain was let
fall, shutting in altar, catafalque, and tapers, and leaving the
cathedral in utter darkness.
This scene was meant to represent the burial in the tomb of Joseph of
Arimathea, and while the greater portion of the congregation were
weeping aloud, a voice was heard proceeding from the pulpit, and
pronouncing that preliminary sentence to a sermon known as the
"blessing."
In an instant the sounds of grief were hushed, and the mute audience
seemed to suppress their very breathing while they anxiously listened
to the words of the preacher.
Spoken in a tongue with which few visitors to the island are
acquainted, the discourse took to the ears of strangers the shape of a
varied murmur, whose tones and cadences played on the very
heart-strings of the auditors, awakening at will feelings of fear,
agony, remorse, and repentance. As he proceeded, the passion and
pathos of his accents increased, and when he ceased to speak a
desolate stillness pervaded the whole multitude. Presently two men
entered from a side door bearing dim tapers, and at the same moment
the great door leading into the Praca was opened, and the congregation
poured like a tide into the open air, while low, soft sighs and
murmurs falling on the ear told of feelings of relief which words were
powerless to express.
For a moment the throng leaving the church mingled with the multitude
without. The solid mass swayed like a troubled sea, and then quietly
broke up and scattered widely. Men in trade turned their faces
homeward, the business of life being, in their judgment, of more
importance than any further participation in the day's proceedings.
Elderly men and women of the lower classes sought out those houses and
temporary sheds, over the doors of which the four golden letters,
"P.V.A.B.," served the same purpose as the less mysterious British
announcement of "entertainment for man and horse;" while the young
peasants and artisans, forming an immense concourse, went shouting
toward the Mount road, leaving the streets leading to the beach free
from all obstacles, a circumstance of which the more respectable and
even aristocratic {275} portion of the multitude eagerly availed
themselves. Mingling with all parties were ragged-looking vendors of
curiosities, clamorous old beggars, and younger ones whose brilliant,
laughing black eyes contradicted the earnest appeal of the lips.
Should our taste or curiosity lead us to follow the mob to the Mount
road we behold one of those singular exhibitions which excite almost
to frenzy--a hideous, straw-stuffed figure, or effigy, of Pontius
Pilate, tied on the back of a poor, miserable, lean donkey. Amidst the
wildest shouts and fiercest turmoil this creature is dragged forward,
every one taxing his inventive faculties to discover new indignities,
by which to express his feelings of horror and disgust for the
original. While the tumultuous throng thus parade through the
principal streets of the town, the bay is seen covered by hundreds of
boats, people of almost every nation in Europe reclining beneath their
awnings as they sweep slowly over the blue waves toward the Loo Rock,
or idly glide in front of that well-known point, beneath which on the
sands a gallows had been erected in the morning.
Some hours passed, however, and there was no occurrence either to
gratify the taste or arouse the attention of the pleasure seekers. The
sun was drawing near the verge of the horizon, and the sea, assuming
the most intense shades of crimson, gold, and purple, differed only
from the magnificent canopy which it mirrored in that it gleamed with
a more wondrous splendor, as if a veil of diamonds floated and
trembled over its broad expanse. Not alone the sea, however, but the
whole landscape was bathed in the rich amber and purple floods of
light which on that evening streamed down from the ever changing
firmament. The sublime mountains of Pico Ruivo and Pico Grande were
crowned with radiance, the graceful hills, with their unnumbered giant
flowers, their gardens and vineyards, their rivulets and waterfalls,
glowed in the lustrous beams, while the brown sands on the
semi-circular beach, reaching from the picturesque basalts of Garajao
to Ponta da Cruz, glittered as if a shower of diamond sparklets had
fallen on them.
At length loud and prolonged shouts, mingling with the music of
military bands, were heard approaching from the town, and immediately
after a riotous and excited crowd, amongst which appeared hundreds of
masquers, came pressing forward with extravagant gestures, and driving
before them toward the gallows the ill-used donkey and its foul and
hideous burthen.
A general movement at once took place among the boats, as the crew of
each sought to obtain the most favorable position for witnessing the
revolting spectacle of hanging the effigy, which was accomplished with
all the appalling ceremonies which might have been deemed necessary,
or which the law might have demanded, had the Governor of the Jews
been there in person.
The hatred of the exulting mob being at length satiated, the figure
was cut down and cast into the sea, calling forth a last volley of
execration as it rolled and floundered on the long blue swells, or
momentarily sunk out of sight in the troughs, while the ebbing tide
carried it out to the deep.
CHAPTER V.
It may appear strange, perhaps even incredible, that the lower classes
of Madeirans should have leisure, from their humble duties and the
labors required by their daily necessities, to attend at so many
festas and public ceremonies as we shall have occasion to describe,
and to indulge beside in their extravagant fancy for golden ornaments.
But the seeming enigma is easily solved. In the first place, the men
of the peasant class leave home for Demara every year, remaining away,
at high wages, from six to eight months, and then returning with money
sufficient to enable them to indulge {276} their families daring the
remainder of the year in their oriental taste for festas and finery.
Secondly, almost all the manual occupations connected with agriculture
devolve on the women, so that the absence of either husbands, sons, or
brothers neither <DW44>s nor diminishes the autumn fruits. Added to
this, they employ themselves during the evening hours, and at other
seasons when out-door labor is either impossible or unnecessary, in
those arts to which female faculties are particularly appropriate.
Nothing can exceed the exquisite beauty of the embroidery on cambric
and lace executed by some of the peasant women, and which comes from
their skilful fingers so perfectly white and pure that it is fit for
the wear of a princess the moment it is freed from the paper on which
the design had been traced, and over which it had been worked. Others,
not possessing such delicate taste as the embroiderers, exert their
ingenuity in knitting shawls, and veils, and pin-cushion covers, in
black or white thread, drawing on their own imaginations for new and
curious patterns; while some few devote their leisure time to netting
black silk shawls and scarfs, for which they also invent the designs.
The earnings of the women by the sale of these articles to strangers
are considerable, and so completely at their own disposal that they
can independently indulge, whenever opportunities offer, in their
taste for ornament and emotional spectacles. The wear and tear,
however, of such a mode of life deprive them at an early period of
their native beauty, leaving them at twenty-five little more than that
grace and freedom of attitude which they retain to the close of the
longest life.
The men also have their handicrafts, and the emoluments arising from
their exercise; and those of them who are either too old or too young,
or too indolent, or too sincerely attached to home to seek the toils
of labor and their reward in Demara, employ themselves in making
articles of inlaid wood, such as writing-desks, work-boxes,
paper-cutters, and pen-trays. The designs on many of these give
evidence of refined and skilful taste, while others only indicate a
fantastic ingenuity. The most perfect of these manufactures are
eagerly secured for the Portuguese market by agents, who generally
make an honest estimate of their value, while those of less merit are
set aside till some of the visitors to Madeira proportion their worth
by their own abundant wealth.
This digression has been so long that, instead of returning now to the
midnight wanderers mentioned at the close of the lost chapter, I shall
request my readers to imagine it ten o'clock A.M. on Saturday morning,
and, consequently, two hours before the commencement of the Sabbath of
the Madeirans. Once more the Praca da Constitutionel is filled with an
eager and picturesque throng--peasants, artisans, aristocrats,
merchants, masqueraders, beggars, and curiosity-venders all mingled
together, and all, either from motives of piety or inquisitiveness,
once more seeking admission to the cathedral, whose fine proportions
and gorgeous ornaments are still veiled in thick darkness.
By some magic influence the wealthier portion of the multitude have
all obtained entrance, and then, the cathedral being full, the door is
forcibly closed. Directly this occurs the crowd disperse, and while
strangers are still trying to unravel the mystery of such unusual
self-denial, troops of little children and young girls are entering
the Praca dressed in white, wearing silver-tissue wings, snowy festive
wreaths, and carrying on their arms beautiful baskets of cane-work
filled with ranunculuses and lilies. Boys in embroidered tunics and
carrying silver censers follow these, and presently numbers of these
men who had left that the children might take up their proper
positions, now return, having in the meantime provided themselves with
fire-arms and rockets.
{277}
While all these changes take place without, preachers are succeeding
each other every half hour in the pulpit within the cathedral. At
length one loud sonorous stroke on a gong, or some other metallic
substance, is heard from the sacristy, announcing the hour of noon,
and then in an instant, as if by magic, the wooden blinds without and
the black curtains within are gone from the windows, the veil which
had concealed the altar disappears, and a blaze of light fills the
edifice, displaying a scene resplendent with gold and gems, tapers and
flowers; while simultaneously with the pouring in of the light,
thrilling and enthusiastic voices singing, "Christ is risen! Christ is
risen!" join the peal which, like a roar of triumph, had burst from
the organ.
When the multitude have sufficiently recovered the stunning effects of
this scene to separate cause and effect, they perceive that every
pillar and column from pedestal to chapiter is enwreathed with
gorgeous ranunculuses and snowy lilies, mingled with the rich green
leaves of the allegro campo, that crowns and garlands of silver leaves
and artificial dew-drops are scattered profusely, yet with artistic
taste, over the high altar and the various side altars; while pendent
from that masterpiece of art--the sculptured ceiling of native
juniper--are rich chaplets of gold leaves and gems, seeming as if
ready to fall on and crown the heads of the worshippers.
After a short interval, the bishop, in dazzling robes, wearing his
jewelled mitre, and followed by a train of priests in gorgeous
vestments, is seen standing in front of the high altar, which on this
occasion is covered with a white satin cloth, worked in silver, while
huge candelabras, inlaid with precious stones, gleam in front of the
recesses known as the diaconicum and the prothesis. In the former are
kept the vessels belonging to the altar, and in the other the bread
and wine used at the celebration of the mass.
A short mass having been performed by priests and choir, the great
door is opened, and the people crowding into the Praca are met by the
little children and young girls strewing flowers over the streets, by
the graceful youths swinging silver censers and filling the ambient
air with light columns of costly incense; by bands playing the most
inspiriting airs; by masquers and others in ordinary costume sending
off rockets and Roman candles, and by hundreds of artisans bearing
fire-arms, the sharp report of which, mingling with the booming of
cannon, the braying of trumpets, and the soft chimes of bells, filled
the air with a most indescribable din.
In a few moments, however, a cloud overshadows the scene--a cloud
which comes not silently but with a whirring, joyful noise, and with
the beat of fleet pinions. Every one looks up, and behold, there are
the doves--doves in hundreds, sent off by nuns, and monks, and other
devotees, to proclaim in their broad-winged flight the welcome news
that "Christ is risen!"
Having witnessed all this, and while the joyful excitement is still
unabated, you enter your home, imagining that nothing of the peculiar
usages or customs of a place in which you are a stranger can follow
you there, save the sounds which float in through your shaded windows;
but an agreeable surprise awaits you. The Madeirans are too gentle and
affectionate in their dispositions to forget in a time of such
universal joy even the stranger who may differ from them in religion,
and, accordingly, you find awaiting you a little girl, neatly dressed,
and bearing in her hands a dish covered with a white lace veil. She
has been sent by the nuns, and delivers her present with a suitable
message.
Uncovering the dish you see a wreath of flowers round the edge, and in
the centre a little lamb made of sugar, lying amidst almond comfits of
{278} every delicate shade of Magenta, blue, and violet. A wreath of
sugar-flowers crowns the head of the lamb, and a similar one graces
its neck.
With this picturesque gift you may sometimes receive a present of
royal and heavenly bacon. These singularly-named dishes are composed
of eggs and sugar. The first is passed through a hair sieve, falling
in a heap of rings and curls on the dish; the other is made into thick
slices, and lies on the dish drowned in sweet syrup.
------
[ORIGINAL.]
THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY. [Footnote 46]
[Footnote 46: Prospectus of The Catholic Publication Society. Tract
No. 1, "Indifferentism in Religion and its Remedy." No. 2, "The Plea
of Sincerity." No. 3, "The Forlorn Hope." No. 4, "Prisoner of
Cayonne."]
Nothing in the history of the human mind can be more obvious, even to
a superficial observer, than the fact that every age has possessed
intellectual features peculiar to itself, growing out of its own
particular need. Thus we find the mental activity of one period
setting in a strong current toward moral and metaphysical speculation
and of another toward scientific discovery. When one has obtained
predominance, the other has been measurably neglected.
At the present time, however, the fact is otherwise. The diligence
heretofore manifested in the conquest of special subjects is now
diffused over a greater area; and the energies of the mind, instead of
being concentrated upon the profound and exhaustive knowledge of a few
branches of learning, are directed to the acquisition of a general
knowledge of many. Hence, popular instruction today, to be successful,
must be simplified and condensed, rendered suitable to popular
apprehension and fixed at a point demanding the least amount of mental
labor and promising immediate and tangible results.
It would need but little argument to show how these conditions of
knowledge have been brought about. The vast development and wonderful
discoveries of science within the last century, the increase of
commercial and mechanical industry, the settlement and growth of
America with its vast resources of wealth, are sufficient to account
for a material change in the intellectual status of Christendom.
Science by increasing the means of human enjoyment has increased the
extent of human wants; these, by the force of habit in one class and
the stimulus of ambition in another, have become in time absolute
necessities. Thus men engage in eager strife to attain what all unite
in esteeming essential to human happiness.
Now since our nature has moral and intellectual longings--however
subdued by the engrossing occupations of active life--which are still
absolute and imperative, up to a certain point, it would seem that
instruction to suit the exigency of the times must be conveyed in such
a manner and by such means as the opportunities and inclinations of
mankind require. You may easily gain attention to truth by a concise,
simple mode of addressing the intellect, demanding but little time and
not very severe thought, when you cannot secure it by presenting the
subject in a more profound way, by more elaborate proofs or by more
subtle and comprehensive views. If knowledge, therefore, cannot be
imparted in such a way as to suit both the capacity and convenience of
men, it can rarely be communicated at all. {279} What is deemed the
most important pursuit of a man's life is that to which he will pay
the greatest attention. If he cannot attain mental improvement by
means he considers easy and agreeable, the probabilities are that in a
great majority of cases he will neglect it. Here, however, there is
but little difficulty. Whenever a public necessity is fully
recognized, the means of supplying it will not be long wanting. Hence,
we see at the present time every art and science reduced to its
elementary principles and presented to the public mind in plain
rudimentary lessons, so that, while comparatively few are deeply
versed in any one subject, the great mass of thinkers are well
informed in the general outlines of many.
What has been said with regard to matters more strictly intellectual
may be affirmed with almost equal truth of such as are purely moral.
You may instruct a hundred men in their duty by means of a tract of
ten pages, setting forth incentives to virtue in a cogent argument or
forcible appeal, where you would scarcely be able to obtain a hearing
from one by means of an elaborate essay on ethics, however able or
convincing. Now, it is evident that a duty, carrying all the weight of
deep obligation, rests upon those who have the higher interests of
mankind at heart to provide for them the means of moral and
intellectual improvement; and not only so, but to furnish it in such a
shape as shall be most acceptable and productive of the most hopeful
and lasting results. That such an obligation exists, is apparent from
the general establishment of public and common schools and from the
numerous efforts constantly made to disseminate knowledge among the
masses. The ends here proposed, however, are animated by a sentiment
of general benevolence or political expediency. If, then, we owe to
society the moral and intellectual advancement of the people from
motives of public interest, surely our obligations are not diminished
by those higher considerations which readily suggest themselves to a
religious mind.
We are now prepared for the question, Are we doing our duty in this
matter? But to bring it nearer home and to address the more immediate
circle of our readers, Are we Catholic Christians doing what we know
to be required of us in the education of our people with sufficient
faithfulness to satisfy an enlightened conscience? Engrossed in more
selfish pursuits, have we not rather neglected this business and
turned it over to others who are only more responsible than ourselves?
We speak to Catholic laymen when we say it is greatly to be feared
that we are not wholly blameless. And here one word as regards the
relative positions of clergy and laity in the church and their mutual
want of co-operation in such things as may fairly come under the
charge of both.
Every one knows that among all sects of Protestants the laity perform
no inconsiderable amount of labor and share no little responsibility
with the pastor. As teachers and superintendents of Sunday-schools,
leaders of Bible classes, heads of missionary societies and the like,
their influence is much felt and their usefulness highly appreciated
by their co-religionists. Among Catholics, where the priests have
generally three times the ministerial duty of Protestants to perform,
the pastor of a church gets little or no aid from the laity. His
mission may extend over twenty miles of territory, and he is expected
not only to administer the sacraments to both sick and well, but to do
all that is necessary in the religious training of the children. In
fact, the instruction of the young is generally looked upon as
belonging peculiarly to his office. And yet it cannot be denied that
well-disposed laymen of moderate intelligence can at times, acting
under his advice and counsel, very materially assist the overworked
priest without trenching in the least upon his {280} vocation. The
benefit of such assistance could not but be sensibly felt in those
parishes which receive the services of a priest in common with others.
In the more thinly populated districts of our country the want of
priests is a crying necessity, known and felt by every prelate in the
land. It is morally impossible after mass said on Sunday morning, at
two points perhaps fifteen miles apart, that the priest can preach a
sermon and attend to other duties arising from the urgent and
imperative wants of his cure. He cannot administer holy baptism, hear
confessions, visit the sick, bury the dead, say mass, recite his
office, attend to church temporalities (no small affair in some
instances of itself) and yet find time to give the requisite
instruction to his people.
We can but be aware that regular pulpit instruction is a most
effectual mode of promoting piety and one of which we ought not to be
deprived. We require at least all the agencies for this purpose
enjoyed by others. The people, too, are eager for it. Mark the strict
attention with which Catholic congregations follow every word of the
preacher, and mark, too, the effect of an earnest and appropriate
sermon! It is plainly visible upon the faces of old and young. In
addition to this, the command given in Holy Scripture to preach is
imperative. Are we not, then, bound to more than ordinary exertion to
comply with it?
Such, unfortunately, is the proneness of men to forget their religious
duties that they require precept upon precept, often renewed and
diligently urged upon their minds. Surrounded by temptation,
forgetfulness of the great practical truths of religion is not strange
in the absence of direct spiritual teaching. The sacraments of the
church, especially the holy sacrifice of the altar, undoubtedly do
much to arrest spiritual decline in the people; but no one will deny
that frequent appeals to the conscience, and judicious instruction in
the principles of Catholic faith and morality, however conveyed to the
understanding, are valuable aids even to the worthy reception of the
sacraments.
It is to supply the deficiencies here aimed at that this enterprise,
with the hearty approbation of several prelates, has been undertaken,
which, if it shall receive the cordial support of the Catholic public,
will produce results the extent of which is not to be easily foreseen.
Those persons who have attempted the task are actuated with a settled
determination that it shall succeed; and it is not to be believed, in
a matter of so great moment, that they are to be left without the
substantial help of Catholics throughout the country. A society has
been formed, and its work has already begun, styled "The Catholic
Publication Society," to which the attention of our readers was called
in our last number. This society proposes to issue short tracts and
pamphlets conveying that species of instruction required by Catholics
in the most entertaining form, so as to engage the attention, affect
the hearts, and suit the wants of all classes. To none would such a
blessing be more welcome than to the poor, who are in an especial
manner, from their very defencelessness, under our protection. These,
though they may not read themselves, can listen to their children,
taught at school, who can read for them. Thus, in a simple narrative
or dialogue some important practical truths may be impressed upon the
mind which shall do good service in a moment of temptation. It is by
these means that other denominations are instructing their people and
producing an influence on many outside of their own communions.
The number of Catholics in this country, already large, is constantly
increasing, and unless we do something of the kind here suggested,
others will attempt it in our stead. Religious tracts from Protestant
societies are flying over the country like leaves before the autumn
wind, and it {281} would not be remarkable if our own people were
brought within the range of their influence.
Beside this, there is another field in which we have not only the
right to work, but which we cannot, or at least ought not to, neglect.
There are thousands of young men in the land of fair education who,
impelled by necessity or ambition, flock to the great commercial
centres. These, careless in matters of religion, having no settled
principles of faith, often called upon to confront great dangers and
temptations, seldom attend any place of worship; or if so, only to
relieve the ennui of Sunday. These are souls to be cared for. They
need instruction upon cardinal points of the Christian faith. They may
have received something akin to it in early youth, but it has been
forgotten. They are difficult to reach, and in no way can access to
them be gained more readily than by the publications of this society.
A few words of earnest advice, a hint as to the end of a vicious
career, or a warning of the uncertainty of life, may excite
reflection, and reflection is the first step toward reformation.
At a time like the present of vast intellectual activity, when myriads
of books are produced on all subjects embracing every description of
teaching, there must be abroad not only a great mass of error, but a
great number of unstable minds ready to receive it. Men imperfectly
educated, striving to master subjects far beyond their comprehension,
trained to no logical modes of thought, restrained by no respect for
authority, confounding scepticism with freedom of inquiry, are often
led by a dangerous curiosity to examine certain fundamental questions
which lie at the root of all knowledge, and which can only be safely
handled by the most learned and profound. Such is the class of persons
peculiarly to be benefited by Catholic teaching. A theology positive
and satisfying to the soul, that sets wholesome limits to human
knowledge, and is able to give adequate answers to great social and
moral problems, is best adapted to impress minds of this class. The
reading of three pages has before now convinced a man of the error of
his whole philosophical system, and may do it again.
The spirit of Catholic charity takes in all sorts and conditions of
men. The mission of the church is well defined, and may be summed up
in one word, namely, to convert the world to God; and as every day
brings its blessings upon labors that have been already undertaken to
secure this object, we have reason to hope that new efforts and fresh
zeal, well directed, will produce abundant fruits.
We cannot close this notice of the Catholic Publication Society
without adverting to one means of usefulness which we think it is
especially fitted to promote.
Such has been the virulence of hostility to the Catholic religion in
days gone by, such the monstrous credulity and unreasoning prejudice
of its foes, that it is not surprising to find a true knowledge of the
Catholic faith exceedingly rare. Within the last twenty years,
however, a great change has taken place. The general blamelessness of
life in those who honor their religion, fidelity to social and
political duties, and charity toward our enemies, have not been
without precious results. At the present moment religious bigotry can
no longer animate the hatred alike of wise and simple. One who comes
prepared to censure, must come prepared also for the conflict of
truth. Statements, facts, and opinions are closely scrutinized.
Everything is not now taken upon trust. The attitude of controversy
begets caution. Now, what advantages may we not hope to reap from this
one isolated fact? A fair hearing for the true exposition of Catholic
doctrine; not doctrine carefully prepared with exterior show of
fairness and then imputed to us for the purpose of being more easily
{282} destroyed; but of the truths of Christianity as taught by the
church for ages. When we can gain the unprejudiced ear of the world,
truly we may begin to hope for the day of Christian unity.
To disarm prejudice is of itself a work worthy of special effort. We
can hope to make no great progress in persuading men to listen to the
voice of Christian truth until we can convince them that our teaching
rests upon the basis of sound reason. Those who have been told that to
embrace Catholic doctrine is to surrender at discretion all the powers
of the mind, and even the evidence of the senses, must be undeceived
before they can be expected to make any progress in the impartial
investigation of it. But it is chiefly among Catholics themselves that
we predict the greatest success for this association. Of our own
people there are very many who need that instruction which hitherto we
have not had the adequate means of providing for them. We all feel how
important it is that every Catholic should be thoroughly intelligent
upon all that he is required to believe, and the reasons that exist
for requiring it. In every class of society Catholics are called upon
to render an account of the faith that is in them, to explain the
doctrines and ceremonies of their religion, and when unable to do so,
they both suffer the evil consequences of this ignorance themselves
and, by it, <DW44> the spread of the knowledge of the truth among
those whom the church is equally commissioned to enlighten, guide, and
save.
We have advocated the aims of the Catholic Publication Society at
greater length than we at first intended, but feel that in
consideration of their importance we have not said too much. It is
impossible to over-estimate the good this society may, with God's
blessing, be made to accomplish. To make it effective, its
organization throughout the United States should be co-extensive with
the church itself. Our work in this country is getting ahead of us.
The religious needs of our people are rapidly increasing. If we are
not up and doing in proper season, we shall find that during our
repose the enemy has been sowing tares among the wheat. The harvest is
great, but the laborers few. Let us all, then, as God gives us grace
to know our duty, take this matter earnestly to heart, and let us not
suffer under the reproach of denying to our fellow-Christians all the
spiritual food they are willing to receive.
What is here proposed is truly a missionary work. Efforts of this kind
can only be successful by zealous labor and generous support; and we
sincerely hope, as the plan by which funds are to be raised becomes
generally known, the Catholic public will not deny liberal aid to so
worthy a cause. Almost every one can lend a helping hand. It will be
seen by reference to the Society's Prospectus that the sum of five
dollars constitutes a member for one year. Parents could hardly
gratify their children more than by subscribing for them. It gives
young folks the idea that they amount to something in this world when
they find their own names enrolled on the books of a religious
society. The sum of thirty dollars constitutes a member for five years
and of fifty dollars a life member. Patrons of one hundred and five
hundred dollars will not be wanting amongst so many generous and
appreciative Catholics as there are in the country. A number of these
last have already come forward in the city of New York, and subscribed
that amount to constitute a fund to enable the society to accomplish
its missionary work, and we are sure that this call will elicit a
similar ready response from many in other cities and towns who wait
only to know what to do for the advancement of their holy faith in
order to do it. Your parish priest is willing to spend and be spent in
your service. Show your gratitude by making him a member of one of the
above classes. He will accept it from you as a beautiful testimonial
of {283} your esteem and respect. It has also been suggested by an
eminent prelate and patron of the society that it would greatly
promote its success if a clergyman should be appointed in each diocese
by the ecclesiastical authority, to take charge of the society's
interests, and to act as its agent.
We trust as the enterprise becomes more extensively known that
generous hearts will be found to feel a voluntary interest in this
work and prompted to aid it without further solicitation. Let it not
be forgotten that one of the objects of this society is to supply
religious reading to the inmates of hospitals, almshouses, asylums,
and prisons--a class of persons whose spiritual welfare requires to be
specially looked after. Benevolence has no more sacred field than
among this unfortunate class; and we hope that those who have so often
proved themselves worthy of their faith by relieving the physical
wants of their fellow-creatures, will not be found indifferent to the
spiritual. In short, what we desire of our fellow-Catholics is, that
an interest in this matter should become general throughout the
country; and that each one should assist as he is able, either alone
or in conjunction with his neighbors. Several prelates have already
become patrons of this society, and the venerable Archbishop of
Baltimore has honored it by contributing the first tract.
While treating of the practical part of this subject, we desire to say
that priests residing in the remote parts of the country can be
furnished with the society's publications on precisely the same terms
as those living near at hand. They will be supplied at prices _never
exceeding cost_, postage prepaid. All Catholics, in every section of
our land, have an equal interest in its success.
Upon the co-operation of the clergy we, of course, confidently rely.
To aid them in their arduous duties is one of the objects of the
society. It will be a most powerful auxiliary to the priesthood in
spreading instruction among our own people and the truths of the
Catholic faith among all classes of our community. If they should ask
us what we would have them do, we reply--"Reflect upon the immense
importance of this enterprise to the souls of men; and, when you have
comprehended what a vast work of usefulness lies before this society,
your own intelligence and good dispositions will best suggest the
manner in which you can most successfully lend your aid."
------
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND A PORTION OF CHRIST'S ONE HOLY
CATHOLIC CHURCH, AND A MEANS OF RESTORING VISIBLE UNITY.
An Eirenicon, in a Letter to the Author of "The Christian Year." By E.
B. Pusey, D.D., Regius Professor of Hebrew and Canon of Christ Church,
Oxford. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 1866. (Reprint from the English
edition.)
Dr. Pusey's "Eirenicon" has been extensively commented on by the
Catholic press both in England and on the Continent. Some of his
critics have regarded it with favorable eyes, as a sign of approach
toward the Catholic Church, and others with marked hostility, as an
evidence of determined opposition. We concur with the former class
most decidedly. The most remarkable of all the answers it has called
forth is that of Dr. Newman, republished in our April number, and
since then issued in a separate form, with all the notes, by Mr.
Kehoe. Dr. Newman confines himself to one point, however--the defence
of the {284} Catholic doctrine concerning the Blessed Virgin. The
"Dublin Review" has given a very able criticism on the portion which
relates to the attitude of the Church of England. An admirable article
has also appeared in the learned Jesuit periodical, "Etudes
Religieuses," published at Paris, which is especially valuable for its
exposition of the doctrinal authority of the Holy See. As a general
answer to Dr. Pusey's specific proposals concerning the way of
reconciliation with Rome, we consider P. Lockhart's article, in the
"Weekly Register," as the most judicious and satisfactory. The
following letter, from Dr. Pusey to the editor, shows how he himself
appreciated this answer:
LETTER FROM DR. PUSEY
ON HIS HOPES OF REUNION.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE WEEKLY REGISTER:
CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD, NOV. 22, 1865.
Sir: I thank you, with all my heart, for your kind-hearted and
appreciative review of my "Eirenicon." I am thankful that you have
brought out the main drift and objects of it, what, in my mind,
underlies the whole, to show that, in my conviction, there is no
insurmountable obstacle to the union of (you will forgive the terms,
though you must reject them) the Roman, Greek, and Anglican
communions. I have long been convinced that there is nothing in the
Council of Trent which could not be explained satisfactorily to us,
if it were explained _authoritatively--i.e._ by the Roman Church
itself, not by individual theologians only. This involves the
conviction, on my side, that there is nothing in our Articles which
cannot be explained rightly, as not contradicting any things held to
be _de fide_ in the Roman Church. The great body of the faith is
held alike by both; in those subjects referred to in our Art. XXII.
I believe (to use the language of a very eminent Italian nobleman)
"your [our] _maximum_ and our [your] _minimum_ might be found to
harmonize." In regard to details of explanation, it was not my
office, as being a priest only, invested with no authority, to draw
them out. But I wished to indicate their possibility. You are
relatively under the same circumstances. But I believe that the hope
which you have held out, that the authorities in the Roman communion
_might_ hold that "a reunion on the principles of Bossuet would be
better than a perpetual schism," will unlock many a pent-up
longing--pent-up on the ground of the apparent hopelessness that
Rome would accord to the English Church any terms which it could
accept.
May I add, that nothing was further from my wish than to write
anything which should be painful to those in your communion? A
defence, indeed, of necessity, involves some blame; since, in a
quarrel, the blame must be wholly on the one side or on the other,
or divided; and a defence implies that it is not wholly on the side
defended. But having smoothed down, as I believe honestly, every
difficulty I could, to my own people, I thought that it would not be
right toward them not to state where I conceive the real difficulty to
lie. Nor could your authorities meet our difficulties unless they knew
them. You will think it superfluous that I desired that none of this
system, which is now matter of "pious opinion," should, like the
doctrine of the immaculate conception be made _de fide_. But, in the
view of a hoped-for reunion, everything which you do affects us. Let
me say, too, that I did not write as a reformer, but on the
defensive. It is not for us to prescribe to Italians or Spaniards
what they shall hold, or how they shall express their pious
opinions. All which we wish is to have it made certain by authority
that we should not, in case of reunion, be obliged to hold them
ourselves. Least of all did I think of imputing to any of the
writers whom I quoted that they "took from our Lord any of the love
which they gave to his mother." I was intent only on describing the
system which I believe is the great obstacle to reunion. I had not
the least thought of criticising holy men who held it.
As it is of moment that I should not be misunderstood by my own
people, let me add that I have not intended to express any opinion
about a visible head of the church. _We readily acknowledge the
primary of the Bishop of Rome; the bearings of that primacy upon
other local churches we believe to be a matter of ecclesiastical,
not of divine law; but neither is there anything in the supremacy in
itself to which we should object._ Our only fear is that it should,
through the appointment of one bishop, involve the reception of that
practical _quasi_--authoritative system which is, I believe, alike
the cause and (forgive me) the justification in our eyes of our
remaining apart.
But, although I intended to be on the defensive, I thank you most
warmly for that tenderness which enabled you to see my aim and
objects throughout a long and necessarily miscellaneous work. And I
believe that the way in which you have treated this our _bonatell
you fide_ "endeavor to find a basis for reunion, on the principle
debated between Archbishop Wake and the Gallican divines two
centuries ago," will, by rekindling hope, give a strong {285}
impulse toward that reunion. Despair is still. If hope is revived in
the English mind that Christendom may again be united, rekindled
hope will ascend in the more fervent prayer to him who "maketh men
to be of one mind in an house," and our prayers will not return
unheard for want of love. Your obedient servant,
E. B. PUSEY.
This letter, with others which have appeared from time to time, and
the whole course of Dr. Pusey's conduct, prove, in our estimation,
that he is acting with sincere good faith and goodwill toward the
Catholic Church. The long list of objections and charges which his
book contains, and which has irritated some Catholics so much, proves
only that Dr. Pusey's mind is troubled and bewildered, but not that
his heart is malevolent. The doctor is a very learned man, and a very
deep thinker, but in the mystic or contemplative order. He is not
either rapid or clear in his intellectual conceptions, nor is he
precise and methodical in the arrangement of the subject of which he
treats. He represents the best school of English evangelical and
scriptural divines, with the addition of extremely high-church
doctrines. No one can question his devout and deeply religious spirit,
the extraordinary purity and goodness of his life, or the zeal and
ability with which he has labored for fifty years to propagate several
of the most fundamental Catholic dogmas. His essay on baptismal
regeneration is the most thorough and exhaustive one in our language,
and we have never met with anything equal to it in any other. It has
had an incalculable influence over the theological mind of the
Episcopalian communion in England and America, in laying the
foundation of a right belief in sacramental grace, and thus preparing
the way for the reception of the entire Catholic system. The same may
be said, in part, respecting the doctrine of the real presence, the
authority of tradition, and other points. We look on him as a kind of
_avant courier_ not only of high-churchmen, but of orthodox
Protestants generally, laboring his way with difficulty through
thickets and morasses back to the Catholic Church, by dint of study,
meditation, and prayer. That he has come so near, bringing with him
the sympathy of so large a number, is a sign that an extraordinary
grace of the Holy Spirit is drawing the most widely separated members
of the Christian family back to unity and integrity of faith and
communion. We request our readers to take note of the fact that Dr.
Pusey, boldly and without censure, maintains that the articles of his
church can and ought to be explained in conformity with the decrees of
the Council of Trent. He proposes these decrees as the basis of
reconciliation. That there should still remain certain difficulties,
prepossessions, and misconceptions in his mind, is not strange; and
while these exist as a bar to a complete and cordial reception of the
entire Catholic system, there is no other way for him to do but to
state them as strongly as possible, so as to bring them under
discussion. There are only two of these difficulties which are
formidable. One relates to the office of the Blessed Virgin as Mother
of the Incarnate Word and Queen of Saints; the other, to that of the
Pope as Vicar of Christ and supreme Bishop of the Catholic Church. A
critical notice gives no opportunity for discussing such great and
grave questions, which demand an elaborate volume. The prelates and
theologians of the church will no doubt give them the full and ample
treatment which they deserve. We simply note the fact that the whole
ground of discussion is reduced in fact, by Dr. Pusey, to the nature
and extent of the Papal supremacy, on which depends the definition of
the body actually constituting the _Ecclesia Docens_ or teaching
church, and the dogmatic value of the decisions made by the Roman
Church with the concurrence of the bishops in her communion. It is
evident that the concession of the supremacy claimed by the Roman
Church involves the admission of all the dogmatic decisions of the
councils ratified by the popes as ecumenical, from the Eighth Council
to the Council of Trent; together with the dogmatic definition of the
immaculate conception, and the condemnations of heretical propositions
which have issued from the Holy See and are universally acknowledged
and enforced by all bishops in her communion. There is but one point,
therefore, really in controversy with the party of Dr. Pusey, as there
is but one with the so-called Greek Church, viz.: the Papal supremacy.
It will be noticed by every attentive reader that Dr. Pusey partially
admits {286} this doctrine already, and shows himself open to argument
on the subject. On the other great question, respecting the
prerogatives of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he appears to show himself
also disposed to listen to explanations tending to remove his
misconceptions. In a letter to Dr. Wordsworth, published in the
"Weekly Register," of Jan. 27, Dr. Pusey says:
"In regard to 'the immaculate conception,' . . . I may, however,
take this opportunity of saying that I understand that Roman divines
hold that all which is defined is, that the soul of the Blessed
Virgin was infused pure into her body, and was preserved from both
guilt and taint of original sin for those merits of our Lord, by
whom she was redeemed, and that nothing is defined as to 'active
conception,' i.e., that of her body. In this case, the words, 'in
primo instanti conceptionis suae,' must be used in a different sense
from that in which St. Thomas uses it of our Lord. The
immaculateness of the conception would then differ in degree, not in
kind, from that of Jeremiah, who was sanctified in his mother's
womb."
It must be borne in mind that Dr. Pusey finds no fault with the
language of the Latin or Greek missals and breviaries respecting the
Blessed Virgin. Let the quotations from the Greek books in the notes
to Dr. Newman's letter be carefully examined, and it will be seen that
they fully sustain the common Catholic belief and practice. We have
been ourselves fully acquainted with the doctrine and practice of the
children of St. Alphonsus Liguori, who are considered as having
carried devotion to the Blessed Virgin to the greatest extreme. We
can, therefore, give our testimony that there is nothing in it which
is not identical in principle with the prescribed devotions of the
missal and breviary. The notion of there being a substitution of the
Blessed Virgin for Christ, or an overshadowing of the supreme worship
and love of God, anywhere in the Catholic Church, is a mere chimaera,
a spectral illusion of an alarmed imagination. We know what St.
Bernard, St. Alphonsus, and other approved writers have said. There is
nothing there beyond the language of St. Ephrem, the fathers of
Ephesus, the Greek liturgies, the _Salve Regina, Regina Coeli, Ave
Domina_, and litany of Loretto.
The array of quotations which Dr. Pusey has made from Catholic writers
will be found, on critical examination, to contain nothing formidable.
One of the works from which he quotes, that of Oswald, was placed on
the Index in 1855, and retracted by the author. Some of the other
passages are from works of a highly imaginative character, and contain
figurative or poetic expressions easily susceptible of an erroneous
sense when read by persons not intimately acquainted with the Catholic
religion. We think with Dr. Newman, with the late Archbishop Kenrick,
and with many other wise and holy men, that it is very ill-judged to
adopt such phraseology when it is sure to beget bewilderment and
misunderstanding. We have more need to teach the solid dogmas of faith
than to propagate pious opinions, and cultivate exotic, hot-house
flowers of piety. Dr. Newman has done more to establish a solid
devotion to the Blessed Virgin, by his brief theological essay, than
all the fanciful and rhetorical rhapsodies ever penned. We can forgave
Dr. Pusey for getting bewildered in perusing such a quantity of
poetry, accustomed as he is to Hebrew and other dry studies; but we
regret that he has displayed such an assortment of obscure and dark
sayings to bewilder others. We acquit him cheerfully of all blame for
it, but we nevertheless cannot help giving our deliberate judgment
that he has put forth one of the most mischievous books, to ordinary
and imperfectly informed minds, that has ever proceeded from the
English press. We cannot by any means recommend it to general perusal,
but those who do read it will do well to take its statements, on many
points, with great caution. We will conclude our remarks upon it with
noting some of its serious, albeit unintentional, misstatements:
1. The correspondence between Archbishop Wake and Du Pin was not a
_bona fide_ negotiation between that prelate and orthodox Gallicans,
but with Jansenists, in view of a coalition against the Roman Church.
2. There is no proof of any ratification ever having been made by Rome
of any ordinations according to the Anglican ordinal.
3. It is a mistake to say that extreme unction is given only to those
whose life is despaired of. It may be given {287} in all cases where a
probable danger of death is feared.
4. It is not admitted by Catholic writers that Russia was converted by
missionaries separated from the communion of the Roman Church.
5. It is a mistake to suppose that the prelates of the United States
gave no response to the Holy See respecting the definition of the
immaculate conception. The question was discussed in a full council,
and the judgment of' the prelates was transmitted to Rome in favor of
the definition. The Blessed Virgin, under the title of the Immaculate
Conception, was proclaimed, by a decree of the prelates, the patroness
of the Church of the United States, and the Sunday within the octave
of the feast has been made one of the principal solemnities of the
year.
Finally, a complete misconception of the whole question respecting
Papal infallibility and its limits underlies and vitiates all the
statements of the book on that subject. There is no dissension or
doubt existing in the Catholic episcopate in regard to any definition
of faith, or any doctrinal decisions whose acceptance is exacted by
the Holy See under pain of censure. The Pope and the bishops, as the
infallible _Ecclesia Docens_, are a unit. What one teaches and
requires to be believed, all teach alike. The unity of faith in the
episcopate was never so palpable a fact as it is at the present
moment. So far as relates to disciplinary authority over doctrinal
matters, the Roman Church is recognized in universal Catholic law as
the court of ultimate appeal, and all questions respecting the
interpretation of the definitions of the Council of Trent, which are
the great standard of orthodoxy, were expressly reserved to it by the
bull of confirmation, with the assent of the council itself, and by
the decree _De Recipiendis_, etc. There is no possibility, therefore,
of negotiating with the Catholic Church, or any portion of it, for
reconciliation, except through the head of the church. The conditions
of reconciliation are plain and distinct, and they will never be
modified so far as relates to doctrine or essential discipline.
Explanation, courtesy, benignant interpretation, full liberty in
regard to mere theological opinions, will be cheerfully accorded; but
no more.
It is vain to expect any propositions for reconciliation to come from
the hierarchy of the Protestant Episcopal Church of England or
America. We advise those who desire the reunion of Christendom to
consider, carefully, the claims of the Roman Church, and if they are
convinced of their validity to effect their own personal union with
the mother and mistress of churches. If they are not, we do not wish
them to come to us, either singly or in a body. Those who really
become Catholics will desire to become members of the Catholic Church
as she is, and not of a reformed body, conglomerated from the
Catholic, Russian, and Anglican churches, and will not thank us to
concede an iota of principle. Strict, dogmatic unity, and
unconditional submission to the supreme authority of the See of Peter,
is the only condition of union in ecclesiastical fellowship. The
Greeks themselves have exacted that the question of dogma should be
settled first, before any propositions of intercommunion with
Anglicans can be entertained; so that the hope of obtaining
recognition from them, with the question of dogma left open, has been
overthrown. Our other Protestant brethren have embroiled themselves
worse than ever over their projects for an anti-Catholic union of
sects. There is not the faintest chance of any reunion of Christians
except by a return to the centre of unity.
We are glad to see that Dr. Pusey has been passing some time with
Catholic bishops in France, and that there is a probability of his
going to Rome to confer with the Holy Father. We trust the learned and
venerable doctor will do so, and that he will find his doubts and
perplexities settled at the Seat of Truth, the chair of the Prince of
the Apostles, whence all unity takes its rise.
NOTES ON DOCTRINAL AND SPIRITUAL SUBJECTS.
By the late Frederick William Faber, D.D., etc. Vol. I. Mysteries and
Festivals. London; Richardson & Son, 1866. New York: Lawrence Kehoe.
Father Faber was a man of cultivated mind, rich imagination, high
poetic gifts, exuberant sensibility, and ardent devotion. His life was
rich in good works and his death deeply regretted. In a literary point
of view we consider his poetry as the best portion {288} of the
products of his fertile mind and pen. His spiritual works, however,
have attained a great popularity and a wide circulation, and no doubt
have done and will do great good to that large class who love and
require instructions deeply imbued with sentiment and emotion. The
present volume consists of sketches of instructions never finished,
and is intended as an aid in preparing sermons or conferences on
spiritual subjects. We are glad to see that F. Faber's life is in
preparation, and shall await its publication with interest. If well
done, it cannot fail to be one of the most attractive of biographies.
The life and writings of F. Faber are well suited to please and
benefit a large class of Protestants as well as Catholics. We have
heard not only Episcopalians and Unitarians speak in warm terms of the
pleasure they take in his books, but even an aged and venerable
Presbyterian clergyman recite his poetry with enthusiasm. We do not
consider his works to be beyond criticism, and, for those who are able
to bear it, we regard the more solid and plain food of F. Augustine
Baker and Father Lallemant as more wholesome. But every one has his
own proper gift, and that of Father Faber was evidently to make
spiritual doctrine sweet and palatable to a vast number of persons who
would not receive it except through the avenue of sensibility. His
works are a wilderness of flowers and foliage; nevertheless they
contain a doctrine which is substantially sound and useful, and their
general aim and tendency is to establish solid, practical piety and
virtue. The volume before us is replete with thoughts and conceptions
redolent with all the peculiar vividness and brilliancy of the
author's style, and exhibiting also extensive and profound knowledge
of theology. We con recommend it to clergymen who wish for a treasury
of choice materials wherewith to enrich and enliven their discourses,
as a more complete and suggestive manual than any we have in the
English language, and one which may be used to great advantage if used
judiciously. It would be a very unsafe experiment, however, to attempt
a close imitation of F. Faber's style, especially for young and
inexperienced preachers, who might meet the fate of Icarus attempting
to fly with waxen wings. We cannot, therefore, unreservedly recommend
this volume as containing the best _models_ for imitation, but only in
a qualified sense as extremely suggestive and quickening to thought
and sentiment, and thus furnishing the materials and ornaments for
discourses planned and constructed in a plainer and more sober style.
We think it likely to become a great favorite with a large class of
clergymen, especially those who are anxious to make their sermons as
attractive as possible, and well fitted to be of great service to them
in the way we have indicated.
THE GRAHAMES. By Mrs. Trafford
Whitehead. American News Company. 1 volume 12mo, pp. 382.
This is a commonplace, _fashionable_ novel, written in an inflated
style. Its sentiment is weak, its pathos twaddle, and its tone and
morality low and reprehensible. We hope none of our young people will
read it; but if they do that they will not imitate the heroine who
finds it her _mission_ to stay in a gentleman's house, in the capacity
of governess to a namby-pamby child, after she has discovered that the
lady is cold as ice, and the gentleman, whose eyes she cannot
understand, has _accidentally_ betrayed his penchant for herself.
The lady, as in duty bound, dies, and the governess, of course,
marries the gentleman.
CHRISTUS JUDEX: A Traveller's Tale.
By Edward Roth. 12mo, pp. 78. Philadelphia: F. Leypoldt. 1864.
This is a piece of composition full of beauty and marked by the most
refined taste. There is a chaste elegance, too, about the typography
and binding which is highly creditable to the publisher. It is just
such a book as one wishes to find to present as a gift to a friend. We
heartily recommend it to all our readers.
[Transcriber's note: This section was printed in small type; many
words are merely guesses.]
BOOKS RECEIVED.
From D. Appleton & Co., New York: The Temporal Mission of the Holy
Ghost; or Reason and Revelation, by Henry Edward, Archbishop of
Westminster 12mo, pp. 274.
F. W. Christ???, New York: Victor Hugo's Les Travalileurs de las Mer.
Edition special pour les Etats-Unis.
P. O'Shea, New York: Nos. 23, 24 and 25 of Darras' History of the
Church.
Brophy & Burch, Washington, D.C: Argument in the Supreme Court of
United States of America, by Alexander J. P. Careschi[?], in the case
of the Rev. Mr. Cummings, plaintiff in error, vs. the state of
Missouri, defendant in error.
{289}
THE CATHOLIC WORLD.
VOL. III., NO. 15.--JUNE, 1866.
[ORIGINAL]
PROBLEMS OF THE AGE.
III.
THE BELIEF IN GOD IS THE FIRST ARTICLE OF A RELIGIOUS CREED.
The first article of the Christian Creed is "Credo in Deum"--"I
believe in God." The Christian child receives this originally by
instruction before it attains the complete use of reason, and believes
it by a natural faith in the word of those who teach it. Afterward it
attains to a clearer and more distinct conception of its meaning and
truth. This conception, however, is still furnished to it by Christian
theology, and by theology itself is referred back to a revelation
whose beginning is coeval with the human race. The fact just stated in
regard to the belief of the Christian child is also true in regard to
the belief of mankind universally. Wherever the idea of God, as
exhibited by pure, theistic philosophy, is contained in the common
belief of the people, it is held as a portion of some religious system
purporting to be derived from revelation. It is learned from the
instruction of religious teachers, and transmitted by a sacred
tradition. We do not attain to the conception of God by the
spontaneous, unaided evolution of it in our individual reason. Those
nations which remain in the state of infancy, through a lack of the
civilizing and instructing power, do not attain to that conception.
The only way in which pure, theistic conceptions have ever been
communicated to any considerable number of persons previously
destitute of them, has been by the instruction of those who already
possessed them.
This tradition goes back to the original creation of the race. Mankind
was originally constituted by the Almighty in a state of civilized and
enlightened society, fully furnished with that sacred treasure which
tradition diffuses universally, and which constitutes {290} the
inherited capital on which all the precious gain and increase in
science, civilization, and every kind of intellectual and moral
wealth, are based. It is in this way that the conception of God, which
the founders of the human race received by immediate revelation, has
been preserved and transmitted by universal tradition. In the pure and
legitimate line of descent it has come down uncorrupted through the
line of patriarchs and prophets to Jesus Christ, who has promulgated
it anew in such a manner as to secure its inviolable preservation to
the end of time. Indirectly, and subject to various changes and
corruptions, it has descended through human language and law, through
civilization and science, through Gentile literature and mythology,
and through philosophy. Directly or indirectly, all the conceptions of
mankind respecting God, whether perfect or imperfect, crude or mature,
have been transmitted by tradition from the original and primitive
revelation made to the founders of the race.
The universal utterance of mankind is, and always has been, "Credo in
Deum." This is a common credence, possessed by the race from the
beginning, which the individual mind receives and acquiesces in with
more or less of intelligent belief and understanding, but never
totally eradicates from among its conceptions. It is a credence
perfectly enunciated in that divine revelation which the Christian
church possesses in its integrity, and communicates in the most
complete and explicit manner to all those who receive her
instructions.
Here may easily arise a misunderstanding. Some one will say: "You
appear to resolve all our knowledge of God into an act of faith in a
revelation handed down from the past. But the very conception of
revelation implies the previous conception of God, who makes the
revelation. Faith in a revealed doctrine is based on the veracity of
God, who reveals it. But in order that one may be able to make this
act of faith, he must previously know that God is, and that he is
veracious. Thus, we must believe that God is veracious because it is
revealed, and believe this revealed doctrine that he is veracious
because of his veracity. This is a vicious circle, and gives no basis
whatever for rational belief."
This objection has really been anticipated and obviated in the
preceding chapter. A full understanding of the answer to it will
require a careful reading of the present chapter entire, and perhaps
of the greater part of the succeeding ones. Just now, we simply reply
to the objector that we do not, as he imagines, resolve the evidence
of God's existence, and of other rational truths, into a tradition or
revelation. We hold firmly that these truths are provable by reason.
In speaking of revelation or tradition as our instructor in the
doctrine of God, what is meant is this: The correct and complete
formula, the divine word, or infallible speech, expressing in the
sensible signs of human language the explicit conception of that
divine idea which is constitutive of the soul's very rational
existence,--this _formula_ has been handed down by tradition from the
origin of the race. We do not propose this tradition as a mere
exterior authority to which the mind must submit blindly, from which
it must derive its rational activity, or in which it must locate its
criterion of rational certitude. We admit the obligation of proving
that this tradition is universal and divine. So far as the doctrines
it proposes are within the sphere of reason, we hold that reason
receives them because they are self-evident, or capable of being
deduced from that which is self-evident. Thus, for instance, in
proposing the veracity of God as the ground of faith in his
revelation, it is proposed as a truth evident by the light of reason.
Reason, however, is indebted to the instruction which comes by
tradition for that clear and distinct statement of the being and
attributes {291} of God, including his infinite and eternal veracity,
which brings the mind to a reflective consciousness of its own
primitive idea.
This may be illustrated by a comparison of the exterior word or
revelation with that interior word or revelation which creates the
soul and gives it the natural light of reason. The word of God spoken
in the creative act creates the rational soul, and affirms to it his
being and the existence of creatures, including that of the soul
itself. This is a revelation. All natural knowledge is a revelation
from God. Our belief in the reality of the outward world, and of our
own existence, is resolved into a belief in the reality of the
creative act of God, or of that spoken word by which he creates the
world. We see no difficulty here, because we see that the word of God,
in this case, enlightens the soul to see the truth of that which it
declares to it. We need not find any more difficulty in the case of
the exterior word. When this exterior, word declares plainly to an
ignorant mind the nature and attributes of God, and the obligation of
believing and obeying the truth revealed by him, this word also
enlightens that mind to perceive the truth of what it declares. It
illuminates the soul to see more distinctly the truths that are within
the sphere of reason by direct, rational perception; and to see
indirectly and indistinctly those truths which are above reason, in
the self-evident truth of God's veracity, and in the analogies and
correspondences which exist between these truths and those which are
directly apprehended by reason.
This is anticipating what is to be treated of expressly hereafter. We
trust it is now plain that we do not profess to derive the idea of God
in the human race, and in each individual mind, from a mere outward
tradition, or to prove its reality from a mere authoritative dictum of
revelation. What we really intend to do is, to exhibit the conception
of God contained in Christian theology, for the purpose of showing its
objective truth and reality by a rational method. In the first place,
we wish to bring out the conception itself as clearly as possible; to
describe a circle in language vast and perfect enough to include all
that is intelligible to human reason respecting God and his
perfections. In the second place, to review the different methods of
proving to reason the objective reality of this conception. And
finally, to propose what we believe to be the best and most complete
method of presenting to the reflective consciousness of the soul the
certitude of its positive judgment, affirming the being of God.
[Footnote 47]
[Footnote 47: In the actual treatment of the subject, this order has
been changed for the sake of convenience.]
A great task, certainly! Some may regard it as on evidence of
presumption to undertake it. Truly, if one should propose the
conception of the being of the infinite God as a mere hypothesis;
criticising and condemning the arguments of great men respecting it as
illogical and unsuccessful attempts to prove it; professing to have
discovered or invented some new process of demonstrating the problem,
and thus pretend to make that certain which has hitherto been doubtful
or probable, it would argue the height of arrogance and presumption.
We do not, however, propose any such thing. The idea of God
constitutes the very existence and life of the human soul. The
conception of God, more or less perfectly explicated, is the
possession of the human race universal, and in its completely
explicated form it is the possession of the church universal of all
ages. It is the treasure of universal theology and philosophy, handed
down by an universal and inviolable tradition not of mere dead words
and logical forms, but of the living thought and belief of all the
sages and saints of the earth. The truth that {292} God is, and is
infinitely perfect in his attributes, is the infallible and
irreversible judgment of the reason of mankind, whether naturally or
supernaturally enlightened. All that an individual can do is to
attempt to gain a distinct apprehension and a correct verbal
expression of the self-luminous idea which shines in all philosophy,
but especially in Christian Catholic philosophy. It is a mistake,
then, to consider an argument respecting the being of God as a mere
logical process, conducting from some known premises to an unknown
conclusion; a process in which any incorrectness in analysis or
deduction vitiates the result and leaves the unsolved problem to the
efforts of some new candidate for the honor of first discovering the
solution. The reflex conceptions of that infallible affirmation of God
to the soul which constitutes its rational existence must be
substantially correct. This is especially the case where revelation
furnishes a perfect and infallible outward expression of that inward
conception which the reflective reason is laboring to acquire.
Therefore we consider that there is a real agreement among all
theistic and Christian philosophers. All have true intellectual
conceptions of the idea of God. Yet there may be some of these
conceptions which, though true, are confused. Again, in the multiplied
reflex action of the mind upon itself and its own judgments and
conceptions, there may be some imperfections in the analysis or
critical examination of the component parts of the idea, in the
synthesis or construction of these component parts into an ideal
formula, and in the language by which verbal expression is given to
the conceptions of the mind. What is to be aimed at is, to obtain
intellectual conceptions which are clear and adequate to the idea, and
a verbal expression which is also clear and adequate to the mental
conception. In this direction lies the true path of progress in
Christian philosophy. It is a continual effort to apprehend more
clearly and adequately in the intelligence the conceptions given to
our reflective reason by revelation, and to express these conceptions
more clearly and intelligibly in language. Hence, so far as the
doctrine of God is concerned, philosophy can only strive after
formulas which express adequately the conception existing in every
mind which has brought the idea of God into reflective consciousness.
If this be true relatively to the common mind, it must be so much more
relatively to the instructed philosophic mind of the world, especially
the instructed theological mind of the church, where philosophy and
theology are developed in a scientific form. The individual may
reflect on that part of theology which his own intelligence has
appropriated and assimilated to itself, and may possibly advance
science by his reflections. But he cannot possibly cut himself off
from the intellectual tradition and the continuity of intellectual
life by which his reason lives and acts, without perpetrating
intellectual suicide. We despise and reject, therefore, all philosophy
or theology which severs itself from the great vital current and
pulsation of traditional wisdom and science. We despise also that
which merely repeats what it has learned, unless it has first made an
intelligent judgment that this is, in regard to whatever matter is
under discussion, the ultimatum that human reason can attain. One may
do some good by repeating and explaining to others what are, for him,
the last and most perfect words of wisdom which he has found in
studying the works of the great and wise teachers of men. This gives
him no claim to be honored as an original thinker or writer. He
diffuses but he does not advance science. It is better to do this than
to fall into error and folly, or at least to waste time and paper, by
vainly striving after originality for its own sake, or from a silly
motive of {293} vain-glory. Or one may really advance science by
original and valuable thoughts which are an elaboration of the truth
that has hitherto remained in a crude form; by a better analysis or
synthesis of common, universal conceptions; if nothing more, at least
by a better verbal expression and a more distinct and intelligible
method of exposition. For ourselves, we are satisfied to explain and
diffuse that wisdom which we have found in the writings of the
greatest and most profound thinkers, especially those who have created
or embellished Catholic theology. We strike out no new and unknown
path. We do not pretend even to push forward into any unexplored
region in the old one. All that is in this treatise may probably be
found elsewhere, and by many will be recognized as already familiar to
them. Although we do not choose to burden our pages with citations and
references, the reader may rely on it that in the main we follow the
common current of Catholic theology. If we sometimes deviate from it,
we are still, in most instances, following the steps of some one or
more of the giant pioneers who have gone on before, leaving a broad
trail to direct the weaker traveller in the path of science.
What has just been said is applicable to every subject treated in
these essays. In relation to the special subject now under
consideration, we are very anxious not to seem captious or rash in
criticising the common methods of argument employed by theologians. We
recognize the substantial solidity of the doctrine of God contained in
the best philosophers of all ages, so far as it agrees with
revelation; and the perfect soundness and completeness of the doctrine
as taught by Christian theologians. It is only the form and method
that we intend to criticise, so far as theological doctrine is
concerned; and, so far as relates to the purely human and rational
element of philosophy, only that which is peculiar to individuals,
schools, or periods, and not that which is common and universal. Let
us remember that we are not reasoning as sceptics, and, beginning from
a principle of philosophic doubt, ignoring all knowledge and belief,
and striving to work our way upward to something positive and certain.
Whether we are positively Christian in our belief or not, we are
taking the viewing-point of Christian faith, and making a survey of
the prospect visible to the eye from that point. It presents to us the
completely developed idea of God as always known and always believed
with certitude. What we are to do, then, is to find the most adequate
expression of that which faith has believed and reason been able to
understand during all time respecting God. We stand not alone, in the
ignorance of our isolated, individual minds, to create by a slow and
laborious task the truth and the belief of which our souls feel the
need. We stand in union with the human race, always in possession of
at least the elements of truth. We stand in union with that favored
portion of the human race which has always clearly and distinctly
believed in the absolute truth of the being and infinite perfection of
God, and in a distinct revelation from him. We are about to examine
this universal belief, and these intelligent judgments of cultivated
universal human reason, and to compare them with the principles and
judgments of our own reason. To ascertain what Christian Catholic
faith is, and how it is radicated in an intelligent indubitable
certitude of reason--this is what we are about to attempt; and the
first part of our task is to examine the Christian conception of God,
as expressed in theistic philosophy and Catholic theology. We intend
to prove that it is the original, permits have, constitutive idea of
human reason, brought, into distinct, reflective consciousness; made
intelligible to the understanding, so far as it is not immediately
intelligible in itself, by analogy; and correctly expressed by the
sensible signs of language.
{294}
IV.
DIFFERENT METHODS OF PROVING THE BEING OF GOD.
It is evident that we have no direct intellectual vision or beholding
of God. The goal is separated from him by an infinite and impassable
abyss. We cannot now take into account the person of Jesus Christ, or
of any who have been elevated to an intellectual condition different
from that which is proper to our present state on earth. Apart from
such exceptions, the soul even of the highest contemplative never
directly beholds God himself. In the words of St. Augustine; _"Videri
autem divinitas humano visu nullo modo potest; sed eo visu videtur,
quo jam qui vident, non homines sed ultra homines sunt."_ "The
divinity can in no way be seen by human vision: but it is seen by a
vision of such a kind that they who see by it are not men, but are
more than men." [Footnote 48] Neither have we the power to comprehend
the intrinsic necessity of God's being and the intimate reason and
nature of his self-existence. If we had a natural power of seeing God
immediately, we would be naturally beatified, and all error or sin
would be impossible. Moreover, we have not even a formed and developed
conception of God innate to our reason, such as that which the
instructed and educated reason can acquire. For, if we had, it would
be in all minds alike without exception; everywhere and under all
circumstances the same, without any need of previous reflection or
instruction. What, then, is the genesis of our rational conception and
belief of the divine being and attributes? How is it evident that God
really is?
[Footnote 48: De Trin. lib. ii. c. ii.]
The arguments employed by philosophers are usually divided into two
classes, those called _a priori_, and those called _a posteriori_.
An argument _a priori_ is one which deduces a truth from another truth
of a prior and more universal order. Therefore, to prove the being of
God _a priori_ we must go back to a truth either really and in itself
antecedent to his being, or antecedent in the primitive idea of
reason. That is to say, there must be an ideal world of truth
logically antecedent to God, and independent of him; an eternal nature
of things which is in itself necessary, and intelligible to our
reason, before it has any idea of God. Or else, the primitive,
constitutive idea of our reason must be an idea of some abstract being
of this nature which is not God, and which in the real order is not
antecedent to God, but only antecedent to him in the order of human
thought and knowledge. If the first is true, God is not the first
cause, the first principle, the infinite and eternal truth in himself,
the absolute essence, and the immediate object of his own
intelligence. The very conception of God which is sought to be proved
is destroyed and rendered unintelligible. This will appear more
clearly when we come to develop more fully hereafter the idea of God
and his attributes. In the order of real being there is and can be
nothing before God. There is no cause, no principle, no truth, no
intelligible idea more universal than God, and prior to him, from
which his being can be deduced as a consequence. In this sense, then,
an _a priori_ argument for the being of God is impossible.
If the second alternative is true, that we have a primitive idea of
something in our minds which is before the idea of God, the order of
ideas, of reason, of human thought, is not in harmony with the real
order. We apprehend the unreal and not the real. We see things as they
are not, and not as they are. The reason apprehends the abstract,
ideal universe, the eternal nature of things, the world of necessary
truth, as antecedent to God and independent of him, when it is not so.
If this were so, we could never attain to the true idea of God as
before all things and the principle of all. For reason most develop
{295} according to its primary and constitutive idea and its necessary
law of thought. If in this constitutive idea there is something before
God from which, as a prior principle, a more universal truth, the
being of God is deduced as a consequence and a secondary truth, we
must always look at things in this way, and can never directly behold
the real order of being as it is. Thus we can never attain the true
idea of God while we apprehend any intelligible object of thought as
prior to him who is really prior to all, and must be apprehended as
prior or else falsely apprehended.
An _a priori_ argument in this sense is, therefore, as impossible as
in the other.
Let us now examine more particularly some of the so-called _a priori_
arguments.
One is an argument from the conceptions, or, as they are commonly
called, the _ideas_, of space and time. It proceeds thus: We have an
idea of infinite space, and of infinite time, as necessary in the
eternal nature of things. Do what we will, we cannot banish these
ideas, or avoid thinking of space and time as necessary and eternal.
Therefore, there is an infinite, eternal being, of whose existence
space and time are the necessary effects.
This argument dazzles the mind by a certain splendor and overwhelms it
by a certain profundity and vastness of conception, but yet leaves it
confused and overpowered rather than convinced. It will not bear
analysis, as Leibnitz has successfully proved in his letters to Adam
Clarke, who defended it with all the acuteness and ingenuity which his
subtle and penetrating intellect could bring to bear on the question.
Nothing is, or can be, which is not either God or the creation of God.
Space and time, therefore, are either attributes of God, or created
entities, if they have any being or existence in themselves at all.
They are either identical with the essence of God, or they are
included within the creation and only coeval and co-extensive with it;
that is, bounded by finite and precise limits of succession and
extension. If the former, in perceiving them we perceive God directly.
This is not affirmed by the argument, which asserts that they are
effects of God's being and external to it. If the second, they are not
infinite; the idea of their infinity and necessity is an illusion, and
no argument can be derived from it. It is, beside, impossible to
conceive of space and time as entities, or existing things, distinct
and separate from other existences, and having certain defined limits.
The language used by those who distinguish them both from God and
creation, and call them necessary effects of the being of God, is
simply unintelligible. Their conception of infinite space and time is,
as Leibnitz calls it, a mere idol of the fancy, a phantasm
representing nothing real. There is no intelligible conception of
space and time as distinct both from God and creation. There is no
such thing in the order of reality or of thought as a _necessary_
effect of God's being, or any effect except that produced by his free
creative act. Into the idea of God nothing enters except God himself.
Supposing that God exists alone without having created, when we think
of God we think of all that can be thought as actual. His being fills
up his own intelligence, of which it is the only and complete object.
Into a true conception of that being our notions of space and time
cannot enter. Nevertheless, in apprehending space and time there must
be some real and intelligible idea which is apprehended. This idea is
the possibility of creation, which in God is necessary and infinite.
By his very essence, God has the power to create, and this power is
unlimited. The idea of a created universe necessarily includes the
idea of its existence in space and time. The possibility of space and
time are, therefore, included in the possibility of creation, and as
no limits can be placed to {296} the one, so none can be placed to the
other. Our apprehension of infinite space and time is an apprehension
of the infinite possibility of creation in God. We apprehend God under
the intuition of the infinite, the necessary, and the eternal. This
intuition of the infinite enters into all our thoughts. And therefore,
however much we may extend our conception of actual duration or
extension in regard to the created universe, we must always think the
possibility of that duration and extension being increased even to
infinity. Ideal space and time is that which we apprehend of real
space and time, with the thought of their possible extension to
infinity included. Real space and time are not entities distinct in
themselves, but relations of succession and co-existence among created
things. As in God alone, as distinct from creation, there is nothing
intelligible but the divine being, so in the creation there is nothing
intelligible but that which God has created. God and the existences
which God has made are all that the mind can think. Take away God and
finite, real things; nothing remains. Think of God as not creating,
and God is the sole object of thought. Add to this the thought of God
creating, and you have finite created entities. But you have nothing
more; and if you fancy there is anything more, such as space and time
in the abstract, you have a phantasm or idol of the imagination, which
is nothing. Real space and time must be relations of existing things,
and ideal space and time the possibility of relations among things
which might be; or they are nothing. Destroy real entities, and you
destroy all real relations. Deny the possibility of real entities, and
you destroy all ideal relations. This answers the puzzling question
sometimes asked, "Can God annihilate space?" He can annihilate real
space by annihilating the real universe from which it is inseparable.
He cannot annihilate ideal space, because it is in himself, as
included in his eternal idea of the possible creation, or of his own
infinite power to create. Our apprehensions of space and time are in
the intelligible and not in the sensible world. The sensible form
which they have results from the universal law that all intelligible
conceptions come to us through the sensible, and represented to us
through sensible signs. They must ultimately terminate in the idea of
God as pure spirit, without extension or successive duration. When we
think of extension in space we imagine a material figure, or an
atmosphere whose circumference we extend further and further in all
directions. When we think of duration in time, we think of a
succession of material or intellectual actions, whose series we extend
backward into the past or forward into the future. But, no matter how
far we carry these processes, a definite and limited extension and
duration is all that we reach. It is impossible that the idea of
infinite space and duration should be actually realized in the order
of finite and created things. The impossibility of placing any limit
to them which shall be final must, therefore, be referred to an idea
beyond all relations of space and time, and truly infinite, which we
imperfectly apprehend by analogy through these relations. This is the
idea of God as having an infinite power to create which is
inexhaustible by any actual creation, however vast. Only in this way
is the idea intelligible, and we must affirm God as real and infinite
being before we can correctly apprehend it.
It may be said that this is what is really meant by the argument from
space and time. We are willing to admit that it is what these eminent
writers really had in their minds. But it appears to us that they have
expressed it without sufficient clearness and precision, by reason of
the confusion which prevails in modern philosophy, and that it is not
really an _a priori_ argument, since it cannot be made {297}
intelligible without affirming the idea of God as prior to all other
ideas in the order of thought as well as in the order of being.
Another argument is derived from the possibility of conceiving that
there is a being absolutely perfect. We can conceive that there is a
being possessing all possible perfections. But actual existence is a
perfection. Therefore if we conceive of a being possessing _all_
perfection, we must conceive of him as having actual existence.
This amounts merely to saying that actual existence enters into our
conception of God. Where is the proof that that conception is not
merely in our mind? Does the fact that we are able to form a
conception of God prove that God really exists? Some will answer. Yes.
Because it is absurd to suppose that the mind can form an idea greater
than itself, and conceive of a possible order of being greater than
the real order. It is, indeed, absurd; but the absurdity cannot be
shown without at the same time showing the impossibility of finding
any principle of reason prior to the idea of God. Is that which the
reason perceives real being? Then the idea of the infinite is the
affirmation of an infinite being. It is impossible to conceive of a
possible being greater than the real being, because the real being is
directly affirmed as infinite in the idea of reason. The very idea we
are seeking to prove real presents itself as real to the reason before
we can even begin the process of proving it. It is itself prior to
every principle we are looking for as the most ultimate and the most
universal. There cannot be found anything from which we can reason _a
priori_ to that which is itself prior to all. We have began by
affirming our conclusion as the basis of our proof. At the end of our
argument we come back to our starting-point.
Is that which the reason perceives not real being? What, then, is it?
It will be said that it is an a idea. If so, this _a priori_ argument
proves only that the actual existence of God is conceivable, and that
it cannot be proved that there is no God. It may even make his real
existence appear to be probable, taken in connection with the other
arguments usually employed. At best, however, it leaves the idea of
God always under the form of an hypothesis, and affords no protection
against the corruption of the idea by pantheistic and materialistic
notions. Where is the passage from the abstract to the concrete, from
the mental conception to the objective reality? If our conceptions of
God lie in the order of an abstract world, and it is not the reality
which is the ultimate object of reason, how can we ever obtain
certitude that there is a real world corresponding to that abstract
world which exists in our own mind? Such is the reasoning of modern
materialism which is conducting vast numbers as near to absolute
atheism as the mind by its own nature is able to go. For the class of
men alluded to there are no realities except those of the sensible
world. The spiritual world of dogmatic truth, religious obligation,
and supernatural hopes, is ignored and neglected as merely abstract,
hypothetical, and having at best but a dubious claim on our attention;
one which may with safety and prudence be practically set aside for
the more obvious claims of the present life. The entire falsity of
this whole philosophy of the abstract, and the nullity of all
abstractions considered as self-subsisting objects of thought, will be
more directly shown hereafter. For the present we say no more on this
head, but proceed to consider another form in which the argument from
abstract, _a priori_ principles is presented.
We have an idea of the good, the beautiful, the true, as being
necessary, universal, and eternal. Therefore there must be a being in
whose mind these ideas exist, or of whom these qualities can be
affirmed. This argument has been answered in answering {298} the
foregoing one, with which it nearly coincides. Are these ideas
abstract, independent of reality, antecedent to the idea of real,
concrete being? Then they are forms of the mind, and leave it without
a direct perception of the existence of a real, concrete being,
infinitely good, beautiful, and true; or rather, the infinite
goodness, beauty, and truth in himself. Are these ideas immediate
affirmations of this real being? Then we have lost again our _a
priori_ principle, by finding that the conclusion is actually prior to
it. Either we affirm the intuition of the concrete, real object, from
which the abstract conception of the good, the beautiful, and the true
is derived, or we can prove only the existence of these conceptions in
the mind, and cannot argue from the conceptions to the reality, or in
any way perceive clearly the existence of the reality in an order
external to our own mind.
Let us pass now to the argument called _a posteriori_. This is a
method of reasoning exactly the reverse of the former; in which we
proceed from effects to their causes, and from particulars to the
universal. We endeavor to prove the existence of God from certain
facts which cannot be accounted for unless they are regarded as
effects of an absolute first cause.
We may consider this argument from two distinct points of view. First,
we may take it as an effort to deduce the existence of God from a
great number of facts, as the result of our knowledge of these
particular facts; an effort to prove by experiment and observation an
hypothesis which is proposed as a probable solution of the problem of
the universe. We suppose that we begin without the idea of God. We
acquire the knowledge of particular facts through sensation and
reflection. By noting a great number of facts, and reflecting upon
them, we ascend to general and abstract truths, and as a last result
arrive at the conception of the being of God as the most universal
truth, and the one which is the sum of all probabilities.
In the second place, we may take this argument as a method of
manifesting the way in which the action of the first cause is shown
forth in the universe. The idea of God is first affirmed, and the due
explication of the facts of the universe is then demonstrated to be
only an explication of the idea of God as first cause. The universe is
shown to be intelligible in its cause, and apart from it to be
unintelligible. Taken in this way the argument is identical with that
which we are about to propose a little later.
Taken in the former sense, it is not a demonstration of the existence
of God. Suppose that we can begin to reason without the idea of cause,
and we can never establish its necessity by induction. Eliminate the
idea of self-subsisting, necessary, eternal being, and suppose it
unknown, unimagined; we can never rise above the particular, isolated
sensations and perceptions of which we are conscious. If the facts
which are called effects are intelligible in themselves, they imply no
cause, and none can be proved from them. If they are not intelligible
in themselves, they are from the first intelligible only in their
cause, and the idea of cause is ultimate in the mind, antecedent to
all knowledge of particulars, the first premised of every conclusion.
It cannot then be proved as the conclusion of any syllogism; for all
arguments start from it as the primitive idea and first principle of
reason.
This method of argument belongs to that sceptical system of philosophy
which came in vogue with the theology of Protestantism, and has been
ever since working out its fatal results. It is the principle of
disintegration, doubt, and denial, transferred from the domain of
revealed dogma into the order of rational truths. Kant, the great
master of this philosophy, and one of the principal chiefs of modern
thought, carried out this philosophy to the denial of all possibility
of science, and therefore of all {299} Scientific knowledge of God,
immortality, and moral obligation. Having swept all natural and
revealed truths out of the domain of _pure_ reason, he made a feeble
attempt to establish their authority in the sphere of _practical_
reason. The individual man and the human race need the belief in God
to keep them in the order required for their well-being. Therefore we
may believe that there is a God. It is needless to say that these
dictates of practical reason are not respected by those who carry out
consistently and boldly the sceptical philosophy. The ravages made by
the principle of scepticism among those who have cast off all
traditional belief in Christianity are obvious to all eyes. But it is
not so generally acknowledged that the same philosophy has had a wide
and baneful influence over Christian theology. Some Christian writers
would avowedly sweep away science to give place to faith, not
reflecting that faith tumbles to the ground when its rational basis is
removed. Others follow the method of a philosophy constructed upon
that method, a method which is altogether unfit to be a medium of the
rational explanation of Christian dogmas. Hence, there is a schism
between theology and philosophy, leaving both these sciences in a
mutilated condition. The manifest inadequacy of the common
philosophical system brings it into contempt, and induces the effort
to transfer the seat of all certitude and all true science to
theology. Theology cannot make the first step without a basis of
rational certitude for faith and for conclusions drawn from premises
which are furnished by faith. Consequently her efforts to walk on air
result to her discredit, and theology falls into contempt. This ends
in adopting Kant's practical reason as the basis of religious belief.
Philosophy and theology, as sciences of the highest order, are
deserted. Religion is defended and explained on the ground of its
probability and its utility. We cannot have science or make our belief
intelligible. It is safe and prudent to follow on in the way the great
majority of the wise and good have walked. Let us do so, and silence
the questionings of the intellect. [Footnote 49] The language of
scepticism! This is the mental disease of our day. Scepticism in
regard to the doctrines of revelation; scepticism in regard to the
dictates of reason! No doubt, if faith had full sway, and no false
philosophy prevailed, theology would be sufficient by itself. For it
contains in solution the true philosophy; and the simple,
unsophisticated Christian intellect will take it up and absorb it
naturally without needing to have it administered in a separate state.
But where the mind has been sophisticated by false philosophy, it
cannot take theology until the antidote of true philosophy has been
given to it. Here is a lack in our English-speaking religious world.
And this lack is, perhaps, the reason why some of the best writers
speak so uncertainly of the rational basis of faith in revealed
truths, and even in the truth of God's existence. While they affirm
the certitude of their own inward belief, yet they acknowledge that
they can only construct an argument which in philosophy is probable.
That is to say, they have not a philosophy in which the ground of
their inward certitude is expressed in a distinct formula, and by
which they can make their readers conscious of a similar ground of
certitude in themselves. They have no philosophy corresponding to
their theology, and therefore, when they address the unbelieving or
doubting world, they are at a loss for a bridge to span the chasm
lying between it and themselves.
[Footnote 49: These remarks are not levelled against any approved
system of Catholic philosophy, but only against those which are in
vogue in the non-Catholic world, or among certain Catholic writers
of a modern date.]
There is at present a laudable and {300} encouraging desire manifested
by the leading thinkers and writers of different churches to bring out
the great fundamental truth that God is the author of nature and
revelation, in such a way as to stem the tide of scepticism. Guizot,
who is among the most eminent, if not the very first, of the modern
advocates of orthodox Protestantism, in the programme of a recent work
in defence of revealed religion which he has published, expresses the
opinion that the differences between his own co-religionists and
Catholics are of minor importance compared to the great pending
controversy with modern scepticism. This, with many other indications
of a growing cordiality in earnest Protestants toward Catholics who
are similarly earnest, makes us hope to receive from them as well as
from the members of our own communion a respectful and candid hearing
of what we have to say on this weighty subject.
And now, having done with the disagreeable task of criticism, we
entreat of our readers, if they have found the preliminary treatment
of the subject we are on abstruse and wearisome, to resume their
courage and push on a little further up the ascent toward the summit
of truth. The traveller, who struggles through thickets and over rocks
toward the top of a mountain is well rewarded by the landscape which
lies below and around him, lighted up by the radiance of the full orb
of day. So, gentle reader, whether you are believer or sceptic, there
is an eminence before us which we can attain, from which the fair
landscape of natural and supernatural truth is visible as far as the
outermost boundaries which fade away into the infinite. We wish to
lead you to this eminence, and to show you this landscape lighted up
with the radiance of the primal source of light, _the idea of God_,
the self-luminous centre of the universe of thought. We wish to show
you this idea of God in its absolute truth and certitude; clearly and
distinctly visible in that horizon which is within the scope of the
naked eye of reason, but whose boundaries are enlarged and its objects
magnified by the aid of that gigantic telescope called faith.
{301}
From Once a Week
A MONTH IN KILKENNY.
BY W. P. LENNOX.
There is little to attract the attention of the traveller between
Dublin and Kilkenny, except the fine range of mountains and the
Curragh of Kildare. The Newmarket of Ireland is a vast, unbroken,
bleak plain, consisting of 4,858 statute acres. It belongs to the
crown, and is appropriate to racing and coursing, the adjacent
proprietors having the privilege of grazing sheep thereon. The ranger
of the Curragh is appointed by the government, and has the entire
charge of this celebrated property. Of the race-meetings that take
place on this spot it is needless to speak, as they are recorded in
the newspapers of the day. Suffice it to say that the arrangements are
well carried out, the prizes considerable, the number of horses that
contend for them great, and the sport first-rate.
After changing trains at Kilkenny, I reached Parsonstown, where a
carriage awaited me, to convey me to Woodstock, the hospitable seat of
my brother-in-law, the Right Hon. William Tighe, and my sister, Lady
Louisa Tighe.
Inistioge, anciently called Inis-teoc, is a charmingly situated small
town overlooking the Nore, which is crossed by a picturesque bridge of
ten arches, ornamented on one side with Ionic pilasters. The town is
built in the form of a square, which being planted with lime-trees
gives it the appearance of a foreign town. In the centre of the square
is a small plain pillar, based on a pedestal of stone. This was the
shaft of an ancient stone cross, and bears an inscription to the
memory of David, Baron of Brownsfield, one of the Fitzgerald family,
who died in 1621. The emerald green turf, and the foliage of the
trees, in the square, give it a fresh appearance, and form an
agreeable contrast to the surrounding stone buildings. Inistioge was
once a royal borough, and famed for its religious establishments. It
also possessed a large Augustinian monastery. All that now remains of
it consists of two towers: one of them is incorporated with the parish
church; the other is square at the base and octagonal in the upper
stages. Of Woodstock itself, I will merely say that the house contains
a valuable library, some good paintings; the gardens can find no equal
in the United Kingdom; and the grounds, laid out with every diversity
that wood and water can bestow, are perfectly beautiful. At the back
rises a wooded hill, to the height of 900 feet, the summit crowned
with an ornamental tower; and as the demesne stretches for a
considerable distance along the Nore, there are some magnificent views
of
"The stubborne Nenvre, whose waters grey,
By fall Kilkenny and Rosseponte bend;"
which may be described in the words of the poet of the Thames--
"Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull:
Strong without rage; without o'erflowing fail."
One of our first excursions was to Kilkenny, on our way to which city
we stopped at Bennet's Bridge, to {302} witness the humors of a
horse-fair. This small town is famed as having been the place where
the Duke of Ormonde held a review in 1704, and which attracted such
hosts of visitors that an inn-keeper is said to have made as much by
his beds as paid his rent for seven years. I have attended many fairs
in England, Scotland, Wales, France, Holland, Germany, and Canada, but
never did I witness such an extraordinary sight as the one that
presented itself at Bennet's Bridge. The hamlet itself, and its
outskirts, were filled for more than a mile with horses, ponies, and
vehicles, attended by a mass of people consisting of dealers, farmers,
peasants, tramps, and beggars. There might be seen some "artful
dodger" trying to palm off to one less experienced than himself a
spicy-looking thorough-bred nag, whose legs showed evident marks of
many a hard gallop, declaring that for speed the animal was
unequalled, and that there was not a stone wall in the whole county
that could stop him; there might be noticed a gallant colonel of
hussars, attended by his "vet," selecting some clever three-year-olds,
with which to recruit the ranks of her majesty's service. "Bedad,
gineral," exclaims the vendor, "with such a regiment of horses you'd
ride over the whole French cavalry, with Napoleon at the head of it."
"A broth of a boy" may now be pointed out, charging a stone wall, with
a raw-boned brute that never attempts to rise at it, and who, turning
the animal round, and backing him strongly, makes an aperture, at the
same moment singing a snatch of an Irish song, most appropriate for
the occasion--"Brave Oliver Cromwell, he did them so pommel, that he
made a breach in her battlements." Next, a ragged urchin, without
shoes and stockings, with what might be termed "the original shocking
bad hat" and which--on the principle of exchange no robbery--I was
credibly informed he had taken from a field, set up to scare away the
crows. Then there was the usual number of idlers and lookers-on, and
an unusual amount of hallooing, shouting, screaming, and bellowing.
After devoting an hour to the humors of the fair, we proceeded to view
the remains of the abbey of Jerpoint, which was founded in 1180, by
Donogh, King of Ossory, for Cistercian monks. The monks, on the
arrival of the English, had interest sufficient with King John to get
a confirmation of all the lands bestowed on them by the King of
Ossory; and Edward III., in the thirty-fourth year of his reign, at
the instance of Phillip, then abbot, granted him a confirmation of
former charters. Oliver Grace, the last abbot, surrendered this abbey
on the 18th of March, the 31 Henry VIII. It then possessed about 1,500
acres of arable and pasture land, three rectories, the altarages and
tithes of thirteen other parishes; all these were granted in the reign
of Philip and Mary to James, Earl of Ormonde, and his heirs male, to
hold _in capite_, at the yearly rent of L49 3s. 9d. It is an
interesting ruin, and well worthy the attention of the antiquarian.
From Jerpoint we proceeded to Kilkenny Castle, the home of the
Ormondes.
Richard Strongbow, by his marriage with Eva, daughter of Dermot, King
of Leinster, came into possession of a great part of the province of
Leinster. Henry II. confirmed his right, with the reservation of the
maritime ports. On being appointed Lord Justice of Ireland in 1173, he
laid the foundation of a castle in Kilkenny, but it was scarcely
finished when it was demolished by the insurgent Irish. However,
William, Earl Marshal, descended from Strongbow, and also Lord
Justice, in 1195 began a noble pile on a more extensive scale, and on
the ancient site. A great part of this fine castle has survived the
convulsions of this distracted kingdom, and continues at this day a
conspicuous ornament of {303} the city of Kilkenny. A rising ground
was chosen, which on one side has a steep and abrupt descent to the
river Nore, which effectually protects it on that quarter by its rapid
stream; the other sides were secured by ramparts, walls, and towers,
and the entrance is through a lofty gate of marble of the Corinthian
order. Hugh Le DeSpenser, who obtained the castle by marriage, in
September, 1391, conveyed it and its dependencies to James, Earl of
Ormonde. In later days, the castle has been much improved; the
tapestry which adorns the walls of the entrance-hall and staircase
exhibits the history of Decius; it is admirably executed, and the
colors are fresh and lively. The ballroom, which is of great length,
contains a fine collection of portraits, landscapes, and
battle-pieces.
From the castle we visited the cathedral church of St. Canice, which
is the largest church in Ireland, with the exception of St. Patrick's
and Christ church, Dublin. There are a centre and two lateral aisles.
The roof of the nave is supported by five pillars, and a pilaster of
black marble on each side, upon which are formed five arches. Each
lateral aisle is lighted by four windows below, and the central aisle
by five above; they are in the shape of quatrefoils. The origin of
this beautiful structure is uncertain, but it is conjectured that it
was begun in 1180, when a small church was erected near the round
tower.
"Hugh Rufus laid the foundation of a noble edifice," say the old
writers, "and Bishop Mapilton, in 1233, and St. Leger, who succeeded
him, completed the fabric." In describing the church of St. Canice, I
cannot refrain from alluding to the extreme politeness of Father
Kavanagh, a Roman Catholic priest, who devoted his time to my party
and myself in pointing out the beauties of this venerable pile.
The Black Abbey was founded by William, Earl Marshal, about 1225, for
Dominican friars. The founder was interred here in 1231, and three
years after his brother Richard, who was slain in a battle with the
O'Mores and O'Conors on the Curragh of Kildare. Henry VIII. granted
this monastery to the burgesses and commonalty of the city of
Kilkenny. In the time of the elder James it served for a shire-house,
and in 1643 it was repaired, and a chapter of the order held in it.
Its towers are light and elegant, and some of the windows are most
artistically executed.
St. Mary's church contains some very interesting monuments, among them
one in memory of Sir Richard Shee, dated 1608, with its ten sculptured
figures at the base. There is one also to his brother, Elias Shee, of
whom Holinshed wrote that he was "a pleasant-conceited companion, full
of mirth without gall." On an unpretending tablet of black and white
marble appears the following inscription:
"FREDERICK GEORGE HOWARD,
SECOND SON OF THE EARL OF CARLISLE
CAPTAIN OF THE 90TH REGIMENT
DIED A.D. 1833, AET. 28.
"Within this hallowed aisle, mid grief sincere,
Friends, comrades, brothers late young Howard's bier;
Gentle and brave, his country's arms he bore
To Ganges' stream and Ava's hostile shore:
His God through war and shipwreck was his shield,
But stretched him lifeless on the peaceful field.
Thine are the times and ways, all-ruling Lord!
Thy will be done, acknowledged, and adored!"
The above lines are from the pen of the late Earl of Carlisle, who
never went near Kilkenny without paying a visit to the tomb of his
brother. Poor Howard was killed by leaping out of a curricle, which
was run away with between the barracks at Kilkenny and Newtownbarry,
where his regiment was quartered. Another monument attracted my
attention; it bore an inscription to the memory of Major-General Sir
Denis Pack, recording the military career of this distinguished
soldier. I knew the deceased officer well during the Belgian {304}
campaign, and a thousand recollections sprang up in my mind when I saw
the bust, by Chantrey, of as brave a man as ever served in the British
army. But to return.
Although the salmon fishing in Ireland has in many rivers sadly
degenerated within a few years, there is still excellent sport to be
had in many of the rivers and lakes. The Nore, which flows through the
county of Kilkenny, would be a first-rate river for salmon and trout
were it not for the number of weirs and the illegal destruction of the
fish by cross-lines and nets. At Mount Juliet, the romantic seat of
Lord Carrick, and Narlands, the river is partially preserved; and
here, as at Dunmore, the property of Lord Ormonde, the angling is
excellent. The general run of salmon flies suits the Nore; they should
be tied with dobbing of pig's wool, and a good deal of peacock in the
wing. For trout, the ordinary run of flies will be found to answer
well.
Among other fishing localities in Ireland may be mentioned Lough Ree,
a fine sheet of water about twenty miles in extent, studded with
numerous islands, around the shores of which, and on the shoals, trout
abound. The lake of Allua, about ten miles above Macroom, in the
county of Cork, was once famous for trout and salmon, which have of
late years diminished considerably, in consequence of the introduction
of pike, the tyrant of the waters. The lakes of Carvagh, in Kerry, of
Inchiquin, of Currana (near Derrynane), Lough Kittane (four miles from
Killarney), Lough Brin (in Kerry), Lough Atedaun, Lough Gill (in
Sligo), and Lough Erne, are well supplied with trout and salmon; while
the far-famed lakes of Killarney will furnish sport to those who seek
pastime, in addition to the enjoyment of witnessing the most beautiful
and romantic scenery that is to be found in the Emerald Isle. The
rivers, too, abound in fish. Among the best are the Liffey, Laune,
Tolka, Bann, Blackwater (in Cork), Suir, Annar, Nire (a mountain
stream rising in the Waterford mountains), Shannon, Lee, and Killaloe
(remarkable for its eels, as also for the gastronomic skill of the
inhabitants in dressing them).
I must now turn from the "gentle crafte" to otter-hunting, a sport
still carried on with spirit in Ould Ireland. The mephitic nature of
the otter renders him an easy prey to his pursuers, and his scent is
so strong that a good hound will at once challenge it. The lodging of
this subtle plunderer is called his _kennel_, or _couch_, and his
occasional lodgments and passages to and fro are called his _halts_.
So clever is he as an architect that he constructs his _couches_ at
different heights, so that, let the water rise or fall, he has a dry
tenement. Spring is the best season for otter-hunting, but it is
carried on during the summer in the Emerald Isle; and a day with the
amphibious tyrant of the finny tribe in the river Nore, which I
enjoyed last September, may not be uninteresting.
At about eleven o'clock on a bright sunny day, with a refreshing
breeze blowing on us from the south-east, we met at Coolmore, the seat
of Mr. P. Connellan. The harriers--belonging to my host, and
consisting of about six couple of handsome, well-sized hounds, about
seventeen inches high--met in a field close to the house, attended by
a whipper-in, admirably mounted. The pack seemed to possess all the
qualifications of good harriers--fine heads, ear-flaps thin, nostrils
open, chests deep, embraced by shoulders broad but light, and wen
thrown back; the fore-legs straight, clean, bony, terminated by round,
ball-like feet, the hind-legs being angular, and the thighs powerful.
The beauty of the day had attracted a large party of both sexes from
the neighborhood, some of whom, and one young lady in particular,
managed a cot so ably, that she drew forth the following complement
{305} from one of the bold peasantry: "Bedad, miss, you'd do honor to
Cleopatra's galley." The principal part of the sportsmen and
sports-women were on foot, although a few were mounted, and among the
fair equestrians was a young lady whose seat and hand were perfect,
and who evidently wished to emulate the prowess of the Thracian
huntress. This modern Harpalyce, combining courage with feminine
deportment, was prepared to fly like the wind across the country, had
an occasion presented itself by the accidental discovery of a fleet
hare. Arrived at the river's side, two Saxons with loaded guns kept a
good lookout for the lurking prey, while the hounds swam across to a
small island, where an otter had been tracked by his _seal_ Shortly a
hound was heard to challenge, but on the approach of the pack the
"goose-footed prowler," having been hunted before, left his couch, and
diving under the water made head up the stream. Now every eye on shore
is intent on watching his _ventings_; his muzzle appears above the
surface for a second; again it disappears; and he can be tracked alone
by the bubbles of air he throws out. The sport is now exciting. One of
the police, armed with a primitive spear, which he had taken from a
river poacher, consisting of a three-pronged fork fixed into the end
of a long pole, is ready to hurl the weapon which has proved so fatal
to many a salmon, should the otter appear in view, while the staunch
hounds are close on the scent. "Have a care there," cries a keen
sportsman to the preserver of the peace. "Don't strike too quickly, or
bedad you may transfix a hound instead of the marauding animal." But
he is not doomed to die so inglorious a death as that caused by a
rusty fork, for before the crude spear is hurled the hounds have
seized him, and, after a desperate struggle, in which many of the
gallant pack were bitten, shake the life out of the captured prey.
While enjoying the sport of the morning, my attention was attracted to
a young lady on the opposite bank of the river, who, wising to join
our party, entered a small cot, and gallantly paddled herself across
the fast-flowing stream. So admirably did this "guardian Naiad of the
strand" guide her fragile bark, that I could not fail to congratulate
her upon her prowess. My compliments, however, fell very short of one
uttered by a ragged boatman, who exclaimed:
"Ay, and sure, miss, you must be one of the queen's company. Bedad,
miss, you are worthy of taking a cot into the Meditherranean."
While upon the clever sayings of the Irish, I must give an anecdote
which was told me by Sir John Power, of Kilfane, than whom a finer
sportsman or more hospitable man never existed. It seems that the
complaints made against the vulpine race by owners of poultry are not
confined to England, and upon one occasion a genuine Irishman, "Pat
Driscoll by name," claimed compensation for damage done to a turkey
and duck. This was awarded to him, when a week afterward he waited
upon the owner of Kilfane, and asked him for compensation for "a
beautiful cow killed by that nasty varmen, a fox." "A fox kill a cow!"
said Sir John; "impossible!" "Fait and sure he did," continued Pat.
"I'll tell you how it was. My cow was feeding in the meadow close to
my garden, and was eating a turnip, when up jumped a baste of a fox,
and frightened her so much that bedad the poor creature choked
herself." The good-humored baronet could not fail to be amused at
Driscoll's ready wit, but declined paying for the loss of the animal,
upon which Pat, not at all taken aback, remarked, "Well, Sir John,
it's rather hard upon me; but in future, instead of advertising your
meets at Kilfane or Thomastown, perhaps you will name _Kilmacoy_"
(pronounced "Kilmycow") "as more appropriate to case."
{306}
Chapters could be filled with Irish sayings, but space prevents my
giving more than one, which was told to me by a friend in whose
veracity I have perfect confidence. An English gentleman dining in the
house of an Irish lady, was greatly surprised at hearing the Butler
ask, "please, ma'am, will I strip?" "Yes", was the reply; "all the
company arrived." Turning to a neighbor, he inquired the meaning of
the expression, when he found it applied to taking the covers off the
dishes, and was quite foreign to the usual acceptation of the word
"strip."
------
[ORIGINAL.]
BANNED AND BLESSED.
"And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth; . . . .
Cursed is the earth in thy work.
"And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us."
Bud out, glad earth, in beauty,
Ring out, glad earth, in song;
The funeral pall is lifted
That covered thee so long:
The heavy curse laid on thee
For Eden's primal wrong.
Long ages gone, the angels
Hailed thee with pure delight.
The blooming of thy day-time.
The radiance of thy night;
And e'en thy Maker named thee
As pleasant in his sight--
Soon lost that early joyance,
Brief worn that birth-day crown!
The very stars of heaven
Look sorrowfully down
On fairest flowers withered
Beneath man's sinful frown.
Blinded, and banned, and broken,
Along thy penance-path.
Thy vesture streamed over
With the torrents of man's wrath;
Thou treadest through the ether
A thing of shame and scath.
{307}
Lift up thy head, poor mourner,
Shake the ashes from thy brow;
Lay off thine age-worn sackcloth
And wear the purple now:
Amid the starry brethren,
Who honor hath, as thou?
The dust from off thy bosom
The Maker deigns to wear;
"The word made flesh," in heaven,
Hath given thee such share
No grandeur of thy brethren
With it can hold compare.
Blest art thou that his footsteps
Along thy pathways trod;
Blest art thou that his pillow
Has been thy grassy sod;
And blest the burial shelter
Thou gavest to thy God.
And for that little service,
Divine the meed shall be:
When "fervent heat" hath melted
The starry choirs and thee,
The moulded dust of Eden
Shall live eternally.
"The first-born of all creatures"
Doth wear it on his throne,
The vesture of humanity
By which he claims his own.
How infinite the pardon
That doth thy penance crown!
GENEVIEVE SALES.
March 22, 1806
------
{308}
Translated from French.
L'ABBE GERBET. [Footnote 50]
BY C. A. SAINTE-BEUVE.
[Footnote 50: "Considerations sur le Dogme Generateur de la Piete
Cathiolique." 4e edition, chez Vaton. 1859]
For a long time I have been reserving this subject for some feast-day,
for Corpus Christi or some festival of Mary, feeling that holiness
belongs to it; unction, grace mingled with science, and a reverential
smile. "But why," some of our readers will say,--"why does l'Abbe
Gerbet's name imply all this?" I shall try to show them the reason and
give some idea of one of the most learned, distinguished, and truly
amiable men that the church of France possesses, as well as one of our
best writers; and, without embarking on vexed or doubtful questions,
to delineate for them in soft tints the personality of the man and his
talent.
But in the first place, that I may connect with its true date this
modest name, which has rather courted oblivion than notoriety, let me
remind my readers that during the Restoration, about the year 1820,
when that regime, at first so unsettled, was beginning to enter into
complete possession of its powers, a movement arose on all sides among
the youthful spirits, ardently impelling them to literary culture and
philosophical ideas. In poetry Lamartine had given the signal of
revival, others gave it in history, others again in philosophy; and
among the young people there sprang up a universal spirit of
emulation, a unanimous determination to begin anew. It seemed as if,
like a fertile land, the French mind, after its compulsory rest of so
many years, were eagerly demanding every kind of cultivation. Yes, in
religion then, in theology, it was the same; a generation had sprung
up full of zeal and animation, who tried, not to renew what is in its
nature immutable, but to rejuvenate the forms of teaching and
demonstration, adapt them to the mental condition of the times, and
make the principle of Catholicity respected even by its opponents.
For, in the words of one of these young Levites in the beginning of
the movement, "to act upon the age, we must understand it."
I could cite the names of several men who, with shades of difference
known in the ecclesiastical world, had this in common, that they stood
at the head of the studious and intelligent young clergy: M. Gousset,
now cardinal archbishop of Rheims, and standing in the first rank of
theologians; Mgr. Affre, who met his death so gloriously as archbishop
of Paris; M. Douey, the present bishop of Montauban; and M. de
Salinis, bishop of Amiens. But at that time, between the years 1820
and 1822, one name alone among the clergy offered itself to men of the
world as a candidate for widespread fame. M. de Lamennais in his first
Catholic fame had enforced the attention of all by his "Essay on
Indifference," stirring a thousand thoughts even in the minds of the
astonished clergy.
And here for the first time we meet l'Abbe Gerbet. He was born in 1798
{309} at Poligny, in the Jura. After completing his first studies in
his native town, he passed through a course of philosophy in the
academy of Besancon; and in obedience to an instinctive vocation,
which awoke within him at the age of ten years, began his theological
studies in the same city. During the dangers of invasion, in
1814-1815, he went into the mountains to visit a curate, a relation or
friend of his family, and remained there to study. Thither came one
day a young student of the Normal School, Jouffroy, two years his
senior, who in going home to pass his vacation in the village of
Pontets, had paused a moment on the way. Jouffroy, though in the first
flush of youth and learning, and wearing the aureole upon his brow,
did not disdain to enter into discussion with the young provincial
seminarian. He combated the proofs of revelation, and especially
contested the age of the world, relying upon the testimony of the
famous Zodiac of Denderah, so often invoked in those days, and so soon
destroyed. The young seminarian, in the presence of this unknown
monument, could only answer: "Wait." These two young men never met
again, compatriots though they were, and from that day forth
adversaries; but l'Abbe Gerbet and Jouffroy, while carrying on a war,
pen in hand, never failed to do so in the most dignified terms of
controversy, and Jouffroy, whose heart was so good despite his
dogmatic language, always spoke of l'Abbe Gerbet, if I remember
rightly, with feelings of affectionate esteem.
On arriving in Paris at the close of the year 1818, l'Abbe Gerbet
entered the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, but his health, which was
already delicate, not allowing him to stay there long, he established
himself as a boarder in the House of Foreign Missions, where he
followed the rules of the seminarians. He was ordained priest in 1822
at the same time with l'Abbe do Salinis, whose inseparable friend he
has always remained.
A little later he was appointed assistant professor of the Holy
Scriptures in the Theological Faculty of Paris, and went to live in
the Sorbonne. Having no lectures to deliver, he soon began to assist
M. de Salinis, who had been made almoner in the college of Henry lV.,
and it was at this time that he first knew M. de Lamennais.
At twenty-four years of age, l'Abbe Gerbet had given evidence of
remarkable philosophical and literary talent, and had sustained a
Latin thesis with rare elegance in the Sorbonne. By nature he was
endowed with all the gifts of oratory, a sense of rhythmic movement,
measure, and choice of expression, and a graphic power which, in one
word, must become a talent for writing. To these endowments he added
an acute and elevated faculty for dialectics, fertile in distinctions,
which he sometimes took delight in multiplying, but without ever
losing himself among them. In the very beginning of his friendship
with M. de Lamennais, he felt, without perhaps acknowledging it to
himself, that that bold and vigorous genius, who was wont to open new
views and perspectives, as it were by main force, needed the
assistance of an auxiliary pen, more tempered, gentler and firm,--a
talent that could use evidence judiciously, fill up spaces, cover weak
points, and smooth away a look of menace and revolution from what was
simply intended as a broader expression and more accessible
development of Christianity. L'Abbe Gerbet clothed M. de Lamennais'
system as far as possible with the character of persuasion and
conciliation that belonged to it: to soften and graduate its
tendencies was properly the part he filled at this time of his youth.
Upon this system I shall touch in a few words that will suffice to
explain what I have to say of l'Abbe Gerbet's moral and literary
gifts. Instead of seeking the evidences of Christianity in such and
such texts of Scripture, or in a personal argument {310} addressed to
individual reason, M. de Lamennais maintained that it should, in the
first place, be sought in the universal tradition and historical
testimony of peoples, for he believed that even before the coming of
Jesus Christ and the establishment of Christianity a sort of testimony
was to be traced, confused certainly, but real and concordant, running
through the traditions of ancient races and discernible even in the
presentiments of ancient sages. It seemed to him demonstrable that
among all nations there had been ideas, more or less defined, of the
creation of man, of the fall and promised reparation, of the expiation
or expected redemption--in short, of all that should one day
constitute the treasures of Christian doctrine, and was then only the
scattered and persistent vestige of the primitive revelation. From
this he argued that the lights of ancient sages might be considered as
the dawn of faith, and that without, of course, being classed among
the fathers of the primitive church, Confucius, Zoroaster, Pythagoras,
Heraclitus, Socrates, and Plato should be considered up to a certain
point as preparers for the gospel, and not be numbered among the
accursed. They might almost be called, in the language of the ancient
fathers, primitive Christians--at least they were like so many Magi
travelling more or less directly toward the divine cradle. By this
single view of an anterior Christianity disseminated through the
world, by this voyage, as it were, in search of Catholic truths
floating about the universe, the teaching of theology would have been
wonderfully widened and enlarged, for it necessarily comprised the
history of philosophical ideas. M. de Lamennais' system, which is
especially attractive when developed historically by the pen of l'Abbe
Gerbet, has not since then been recognized by the church. It appeared
to be at least delusive, if not false; but perhaps, even from the
point of view of orthodoxy, it can only merit the reproach of having
claimed to be the sole method, to the exclusion of all others;
combined with other proofs, and presented simply, as a powerful
accessory consideration, I believe that it has never been rejected.
It may be understood, however, even without entering into the heart of
the matter, that in 1824, when l'Abbe Gerbet, in concert with M. de
Salinis, established a religious monthly magazine, entitled the
"Catholic Memorial," and began to develop his ideas therein with
modesty and moderation, but also with that fresh confidence and ardor
that youth bestows, there was, to speak merely of the external form of
the questions, a something about it that gave the signal for the
struggle of a new spirit against the stationary or backward spirit.
The old-fashioned theologians, whether formalist or rationalistic, who
found themselves attacked, resisted and took scandal at the name of
traditions which were not only Catholic but scholastic and classic.
But in l'Abbe Gerbet they had to deal with a man thoroughly well read
in the writings of the fathers, and possessed of their true
significance. He could bring forward, in his turn, texts drawn from
the fountain-head in support of this freer and more generous method;
among other quotations, he liked to cite this fine passage from
Vincent de Lerius: "Let posterity, thanks to your enlightenment,
rejoice in the _conception_ of that to which antiquity gave respectful
credence without understanding [its full meaning]; but remember to
teach the same things that have been transmitted to you, so that,
while presenting them in a new light, you do not invent new
doctrines." Thus, while maintaining fundamental immutability, he took
pleasure in remarking that, in spite of slight deviations, the order
of scientific explanation has followed a law of progress in the
church, and has been successively developed; a fact which he {311}
demonstrated by the history of Christianity.
"The Catholic Memorial," in its very infancy, stirred the emulation of
youthful writers in the philosophical camp. It was at first printed at
Lachevardiere's, where M. Pierre Leroux was proof-reader, and the
latter, on seeing the success of a magazine devoted to grave subjects,
concluded that a similar organ for the promotion of opinions shared by
himself and his friends might be established with even better results.
In that same year, 1824, "The Globe" began its career, and the two
periodicals often engaged in polemic discussions, like adversaries who
knew and respected each other while they clearly understood the point
of controversy. For the benefit of the curious, I note an article of
M. Gerbet's [Footnote 51] (signed X.) which represents many others,
and is entitled "Concerning the Present State of Doctrines;"--the
objections are especially addressed to MM. Damiron and Jouffroy. It
was the heyday then of this war of ideas.
[Footnote 51: 1825. Vol. 4th, p. 188. ]
L'Abbe Gerbet's life has been quite simple and uniform, marked by only
one considerable episode--his connection with l'Abbe de Lamennais, to
whom he lent or rather gave himself for years with an affectionate
devotion which had no term or limit except in the final revolt of that
proud and immoderate spirit. After fulfilling all the duties of a
religious friendship, after having waited and forborne and hoped,
Gerbet withdrew in silence. For a long time he had been all that
Nicole was to Arnauld--a moderator, softening asperities and averting
shocks as far as possible. He never grew weary until there was no
longer room for further effort, and then he returned completely to
himself. These ultra and exclusive methods are unsuited to his nature,
and he hastened to withdraw from them, and to forget what he would
never have allowed to break out and reach such a pass if he had been
acting alone. It needs but a word, but a breath, from the Vatican to
dissipate all that seems cloudy or obscure in l'Abbe Gerbet's
doctrines. His gentle clouds inclose no storm, and, in dispersing,
they reveal a depth of serene sky, lightly veiled here and there, but
pure and delicious.
I express the feeling that some of his writings leave upon the mind,
and especially the work that has just been reprinted, of which I will
say a few words. "Les Considerations sur le Dogme generateur de la
Piete Catholique," that is to say, Thoughts upon Communion and the
Eucharist, first appeared in 1829. It is, properly speaking, "neither
a dogmatic treatise nor a book of devotion, but something
intermediate." The author begins by an historical research into
general ideas, universally diffused throughout antiquity--ideas of
sacrifice and offering, as well as of the desire and necessity of
communication with an ever-present God, which have served as a
preparation and approach toward the mystery; but, mingled with
historical digressions and delicate or profound doctrinal
distinctions, we meet at every step sweet and beautiful words which
come from the soul and are the effusion of a loving faith. I will
quote a few, almost at hazard, without seeking their connection, for
they give us an insight into the soul of l'Abbe Gerbet. As, for
instance, concerning prayer:
"Prayer, in its fundamental essence, is but the sincere recognition
of this continual need (of drawing new strength from the source of
life) and an humble desire of constant assistance; it is the
confession of an indigence full of hope."
"Wherever God places intelligences capable of serving him, there we
find weakness, and there too hope."
And again:
"Christianity in its fulness is only a bountiful alms bestowed on
abject poverty."
{312}
"Is there not something divine in every benefit?"
"Charity enters not into the heart of man without combat; for it
meets an eternal adversary there--pride, the first-born of
selfishness, and the father of hatred."
"The gospel has made, in the full force of the term, a revolution in
the human soul, by changing the relative position of the two
feelings that divide its sway: fear has yielded the empire of the
heart to love."
L'Abbe Gerbet's book is full of golden words; but when we seek to
detach and isolate them, we see how closely they are woven into the
tissue.
The aim of the author is to prove that, from a Christian and Catholic
point of view, communion, accepted in its fulness with entire faith,
frequent communion reverently received, is the most certain,
efficacious, and vivid means of charity. In speaking of the excellent
book entitled "The Following of Christ," he says:
"The asceticism of the middle ages has left an inimitable monument,
which Catholics, Protestants, and philosophers are agreed in
admiring with the most beautiful admiration, that of the heart. It
is wonderful, this little book of mysticism, upon which the genius
of Leibnitz used to ponder, and which roused something like
enthusiasm even in the frigid Fontenelle. No one ever read a page of
the 'Following of Christ,' especially in time of trouble, without
saying as he laid the book down: 'That has done me good.' Setting
the Bible apart, this work is the sovereign friend of the soul. But
whence did the poor solitary who wrote it draw this inexhaustible
love? (for he spoke so effectively only because of his great love.)
He himself tells us the source in every line of his chapters on the
blessed sacrament: the fourth book explains the other three."
I could multiply quotations of this kind, if they were suited to these
pages, and if it were not better to recommend the book for the
solitary meditation of my readers; I would point out to be remembered
among the most beautiful and consoling pages belonging to our language
and religions literature, all the latter part of Chapter VIII. Nothing
is wanting to make this exquisite little book of l'Abbe Gerbet's more
generally appreciated than it now is but a less frequent combination
of dialectics with the expression of affectionate devotion. Generally
speaking, the tissue of l'Abbe Gerbet's style is too close; when he
has a beautiful thing to say, he does not give it room enough. His
talent is like a sacred wood, too thickly grown;--the temple,
repository, and altar in its depths are surrounded on all sides, and
we can reach them only by footpaths. I suppose that this is because he
has always lived too near his own thoughts, never having had the
opportunity to develop them in public. Feeble health, and a delicate
voice which needs the ear of a friend, have never allowed this rich
talent to unfold itself in teaching or in the pulpit. If at any time
he had been induced to speak in public, he would have been obliged to
clear up, disengage, and enlarge not his views, but the avenues that
lead to them.
In 1838, being troubled with an affection of the throat, he went to
Rome and, always intending to return home soon, remained there until
1848. It was there that in the leisure moments of a life of devotion
and study, in which, too, the most elevated friendship had its share,
he composed the first two volumes of the work entitled "A Sketch of
Christian Rome," designed to impart to all elevated souls the feeling
and idea of the Eternal City. "The fundamental thought in this book,"
he says, "is to concentrate the visible realities of Christian Rome
into a conception and, as it were, a portrait of its spiritual
essence. An excellent interpreter in the way he has chosen for
himself, he goes on to speak of the monuments not with the dry science
of a modern antiquary, {313} or with the _naif_ enthusiasm of a
believer of the middle ages, but with a reflective admiration which
unites philosophy to piety.
"The study of Rome in Rome," he says again, "leads us to the living
springs of Christianity. It refreshes all the good feelings of the
heart, and, in this age of storms, sheds a wonderful serenity over
the soul. We must not, of course, attach too much importance to the
charm which we find in certain studies, for books written with
pleasure to one's self run the risk of being written with less
charity. But none the less should we thank the Divine Goodness when
it harmonizes pleasure with duty."
In these volumes of l'Abbe Gerbet, introductions and dissertations
upon Christian symbolism and church history lead to observations full
of grace or grandeur, and to beautiful and touching pictures. The
Catacombs, which were the cradle and the asylum of Christianity during
the first three centuries, interested him especially, and inspired in
him thoughts of rare elevation. Here are some verses (for l'Abbe
Gerbet is a poet without pretending to be one) which give his first
impressions of them, and show the quality of his soul. The piece is
called "The Song of the Catacombs," and is intended to be sung.
[Footnote 52]
[Footnote 52: We translate "Le Chant des Catacombes" into prose,
that the noble ideas may be given with literal accuracy. The author
intended it to be sung to the air of "Le Fil de La Vierge" (Scudo).
We give one verse of the original:
"Hier j'ai visite les grandes Catacombes
Des temps anciens;
J'ai touche de mon front les immortelles tombes
Des vieux Chretiens:
Et ni l'astre du jour, ni les celestes spheres,
Lettres du feu,
Ne m'avaient mieux fait lire en profonds caracteres
Lo nom de Dieu."]
"Yesterday I visited the great Catacombs of ancient times. I touched
with my brow the immortal tombs of early Christians, and never did
the star of day, nor the celestial spheres with their letters of
fire, teach me more clearly to read in profound characters the name
of God.
"A black-frocked hermit, with blanched hair, walked on in front--
old door-keeper of time, old porter of life and death; and we
questioned him about these holy relics of the great fight, as one
listens to a veteran's tales of ancient exploits.
"A rock served as portico to the funeral vault; and on its fronton
some martyr artist, whose name is known, no doubt, to the angels,
had painted the face of Christ, with the fair hair, and the great
eyes whence streams a ray of deep gentleness like the heavens.
"Further on, I kissed many a symbol of holy parting upon the tombs.
And the palm, and the lighthouse, and the bird flying to God's
bosom; and Jonas, leaving the whale after three days, with songs, as
we leave this world after three days of trouble called time.
"Here it was that each one, standing beside his ready-made grave,
like a living spectre, wrestled the fight out, or laid his head down
in expectation! Here, that they might prepare a strong heart
beforehand for the great day of suffering, they tried their graves,
and tasted the first-fruits of death!
"I sounded with a glance their sacred dust, and felt that the soul
had left a breath of life lingering in these ashes; and that in this
human sand, which weighs so lightly in our hands, lie, awaiting the
great day, germs of the almost god-like forms of eternity.
"Sacred places, where love knew how to suffer purely for the soul's
good! In questioning you, I felt that its flame could never perish;
for to each being of a day who died to defend the truth, the Being
eternal and true, as the price of time, has given eternity.
"Here at each step we behold, as it were, a golden throne, and while
treading on tombs we seem to be on Mount Tabor. Go down, go down
into the deep Catacombs, into their lowest recesses--go down, and
your {314} heart shall rise and, looking up from these graves, see
heaven!"
Beside these verses, which are not found in the volumes of "Christian
Rome," and are only a first utterance, should be placed, as an
original picture full of meaning, his words concerning the slow and
gradual destruction of the human body in the Catacombs. We all know
Bossuet's _mot_ (after Tertullian) in speaking of a human corpse: "It
becomes a something unutterable," he exclaims, "which has no name in
any language." The following admirable page from l'Abbe Gerbet's book
is, as it were, a development and commentary of Bossuet's words. At
this first station of the Catacombs he confines himself to the study
of the nothingness of life: "the work I do not say of death, but of
what comes after death;" the idea of awakening and of future life
follows later. Listen:
"In your progress you review the various phases of destruction, as
one observes the development of vegetation in a botanic garden from
the imperceptible flower to large trees, rich with sap and crowned
with great blossoms. In a number of sepulchral niches that have been
opened at different periods one can follow, in a manner, step by
step, the successive forms, further and further removed from life,
through which _what is there_ passes before it approaches as closely
as possible to pure nothingness. Look, first, at this skeleton; if
it be well preserved in spite of centuries, it is probably because
the niche where it lies was hollowed out of damp earth. Humidity,
which dissolves all other things, hardens these bones by covering
them with a crust which gives them more consistency than they had
when they were members of a living body. But not the less is this
consistency a progress of destruction; these human bones are turning
to stone. A little further on is a grave where a struggle is going
on between the power that makes the skeleton and the power that
makes dust; the first defends itself, but the second is gaining
ground, though slowly. The combat between life and death that is
taking place in you, and will be over before this combat between one
death and another, is nearly ended. In the sepulchre near by, of all
that was a human frame nothing is left but a sort of cloth of dust,
a little tumbled and unfolded like a small whitish shroud, from
which a head comes out. Look, lastly, at this other niche; there is
evidently nothing there but simple dust, the color of which even is
a little doubtful from its slightly reddish tinge. There, you say,
is the consummation of destruction! Not yet. On looking closely, you
discern a human outline: this little heap, touching one of the
longitudinal extremities of the niche, is the head; these two heaps,
smaller and flatter, placed parallel to each other a little lower
down, are the shoulders; these two are the knees. The long bones are
represented by feeble trails, broken here and there. This last
sketch of man, this vague, rubbed-out form, barely imprinted on an
almost impalpable dust, which is volatile, nearly transparent, and
of a dull, uncertain white, can best give us an idea of what the
ancients called a _shade_. If, in order to see better, you put your
head into the sepulchre, take care; do not move or speak, hold your
breath. That form is frailer than a butterfly's wing, more swift to
vanish than a dewdrop hanging on a blade of grass in the sunshine; a
little air shaken by your hand, a breath, a tone, become here
powerful agents that can destroy in a second what seventeen
centuries, perhaps, of decay have spared. See, you breathed, and the
form has disappeared. So ends the history of man in this world."
This seems to me quite a beautiful view of death, and one that prompts
the Christian to rise at once to that which is above destruction and
escapes the catacomb--the immortal principle of life, love, sanctity,
and {315} sacrifice. I can only indicate these noble and interesting
considerations to those who are eager to study in material Rome the
higher city and its significance.
Among l'Abbe Gerbet's writings I will mention only one other, which
is, perhaps, his masterpiece, and is connected with a touching
incident that will be felt most deeply by practically religious
persons, but of which they will not be alone in their appreciation. It
was before the year 1838, previously to the abbe's long residence in
Rome, that he became intimate with the second son of M. de la
Ferronais, former minister of foreign affairs. Young Count Albert de
la Ferronais had married a young Russian lady, Mdlle. d'Alopeus, a
Lutheran in religion, whom he eagerly desired to lead to the faith. He
was dying of consumption at Paris in his twenty-fifth year, and his
end seemed to be drawing near, when the young wife, on the eve of
widowhood, decided to be of her husband's religion; and one night at
twelve o'clock, the hour of Christ's birth, they celebrated in his
room, beside the bed so soon to be a bed of death, the first communion
of one and the last communion of the other. (June 29, 1836.) L'Abbe
Gerbet was the consecrator and consoler in this scene of deep reality
and mournful pathos, but yet so full of holy joy to Christians. It was
the vivid interest of this incomparable and ideal death-bed which
inspired him to write a dialogue between Plato and Fenelon, in which
the latter reveals to the disciple of Socrates all needful knowledge
concerning the other world, and in which he describes, under a
half-lifted veil, a death according to Jesus Christ.
"O writer of Phaedon, and ever admirable painter of an immortal
death, why was it not given to you to be the witness of the things
which we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, and seize with the
inmost perceptions of the soul, when by a concurrence of
circumstances of God's making, by a rare complication of joy and
agony, the Christian soul, revealed in a new half-light, resembles
those wondrous evenings whose twilight has strange and nameless
tints! What pictures then and what apparitions! Shall I describe one
to you, Plato? Yes, in heaven's name, I will speak. I witnessed it a
few days ago, but at the end of a hundred years I should still call
it a few days. You will not understand the whole of what I tell you,
for I can only speak of these things in the new tongue which
Christianity has made; but still you will understand enough. Know,
then, that of two souls that had waited for each other on earth and
had met," etc.
Then follows the story, slightly veiled and, as it were, transfigured,
but without hiding the circumstances. "Plato as a Christian would have
spoken thus," said M. de Lamartine of this dialogue, and the eulogium
is only just.
L'Abbe Gerbet could, no doubt, have written more than one of these
admirable dialogues if he had wished to devote himself to the work, or
if his physical organization had enabled him to labor continuously. He
processes all that is needed to make him the man for Christian
_Tusculanes_. Three times in my life have I had the happiness of
seeing him in places entirely suited to him, and which seemed to make
a natural frame for him: at Juilly, in 1831, in the beautiful shades
that Malebranche used to frequent; in 1839, at Rome, beneath the
arches of solitary cloisters; and yesterday, again, in the episcopal
gardens of Amiens, where he lives, near his friend, M. de Salinis.
Everywhere he is the same. Imagine a slightly stooping figure, pacing
with long, slow steps a peaceful walk, where two can chat comfortably
together on the shady side, and where he often stops to talk. Observe
closely the delicate and affectionate smile, the benign countenance,
in which something reminds us of {316} Flechier and of Fenelon; listen
to the sagacious words, elevated and fertile in ideas, sometimes
interrupted by fatigue of voice, and by his pausing to take breath;
notice among doctrinal views, and comprehensive definitions that come
to life of themselves and prove their strength upon his lips, those
charming _mots_ and agreeable anecdotes, that talk strewn with
reiniscences and pleasantly adorned with amenity,--and do not ask if
it is any one else--it is he.
L'Abbe Gerbet has one of those natures which when standing alone are
not sufficient unto themselves, and need a friend; we may say that he
possesses his full strength only when thus leaning. For a long time he
seemed to have found in M. de Lamennais such a friend of firmer will
and purpose; but these strong wills often end, without meaning to do
so, by taking possession of us as a prey, and then casting us like a
slough. True friendship, as La Fontaine understood it, demands more
equality and more consideration. L'Abbe Gerbet has found a tender and
equal friend, quite suited to his beautiful and faithful nature, in M.
de Salinis; to praise one is to win the other's gratitude at once.
Will it be an indiscretion if I enter this charming household and
describe one day there, at least, in its clever and literary
attractions? L'Abbe Gerbet, like Flechier, whom I have named in
connection with him, has a society talent full of charm, sweetness,
and invention. He himself has forgotten the pretty verses, little
allegorical poems, and couplets appropriate to festivals or occasional
circumstances, which he has scattered here and there, in all the
places where he has lived and the countries he passed through. He is
one of those who can edify without being mournful, and make hours pass
gaily without dissipation. In his long life, into which an evil
thought never glided, and which escaped all turbulent passions, he has
preserved the first joy of a pure and beautiful soul. In him a
discreet spirituality is combined with cheerfulness. I have by me a
pretty little scene in verse which he wrote a few days ago for the
young pupils of the Sacred Heart at Amiens, in which there is a faint
suggestion of Esther, but of Esther enlivened by the neighborhood of
Gresset. The bishop of Amiens always receives them on Sunday evenings,
and they come gladly to his _salon_, where there is no strictness, and
where good society is naturally at home. They play a few games, and
have a lottery, and, in order that no one may draw a blank, l'Abbe
Gerbet makes verses for the loser, who is called, I think, _le nigaud_
(the ninny). These _nigauds_ of l'Abbe Gerbet are appropriate and full
of wit; he makes them _by obedience_, which saves him, he says, from
all blame and from all thought of ridicule. It is difficult to detach
these trifles from the associations of society that call them forth;
but here is one of the little _impromptus_ made for the use and
consolation "of the losers;" it is called the "Evening Game:"
"My children, to-day is our Lady's day;
Now tell me, I pray, in her dear name,
Should the hand that this morning a candle clasped,
Hold cards to-night in a childish game?
I would not with critical words condemn
A pastime the world holds innocent,
Let me but say that its levity
May veil a lesson of deep intent
Think at the drawing of each card
That every day is an idle game.
If at its close in the treasures of God
There is no prize answering to your name.
This evening game is an hour well passed
If God be the guardian of your sports;
And the day, closing as it dawned,
Shall rejoin this morning's holy thoughts.
I startle you all with my grave discourse;
You would laugh and I preach with words austere;
No worldly place this--'tis the bishop's house;
So pardon this sermon, my children dear."
This is the man who wrote the book upon the eucharist and the dialogue
between Plato and Fenelon, and who had a plan of writing the last
conference of {317} St. Anselm on the soul; this is he whom the French
clergy could oppose with honor to Jouffroy, and whom the most
sympathetic of Protestants could combat only while revering him and
recognizing him as a brother in heart and intelligence. L'Abbe Gerbet
unites to these elevated virtues, which I have merely been able to
glance at, a gentle gaiety, a natural and cultivated charm, which
reminds one even in holiday games of the playfulness of a Rapin, a
Bougeant, a Bonhours. There has been much dispute lately as to the
studies and the degree of literary merit authorized by the clergy;
many officious and clamorous persons have been brought forward, and it
is my desire to notice one who is as distinguished as he is modest.
For a long time I have said to myself, If we ever have to elect an
ecclesiastic to the French Academy, how well I know who will be my
choice! And what is more, I am quite sure that philosophy in the
person of M. Cousin, religion by the organ of M. de Montalembert, and
poetry by the lips of M. de Lamartine, would not oppose me.
Monday, Day after the Feast of Assumption,
Aug. 16, 1832.
[Since the above article was written, the Abbe Gerbet has had
conferred on the episcopal dignity. He died about one year ago.--Ed.
C. W.]
------
[ORIGINAL.]
OUR NEIGHBOR.
Set it down gently at the altar rail,
The faithful, aged dust, with honors meet;
Long have we seen that pious face so pale
Bowed meekly at her Saviour's blessed feet.
These many years her heart was hidden where
Nor moth nor rust nor craft of man could harm;
The blue eyes seldom lifted, save in prayer,
Beamed with her wished for heaven's celestial calm.
As innocent as childhood's was the face,
Though sorrow oft had touched that tender heart;
Each trouble came as winged by special grace
And resignation saved the wound from smart.
On bead and crucifix her fingers kept
Until the last, their fond, accustomed hold;
"My Jesus," breathed the lips; the raised eyes slept.
The placid brow, the gentle hand, grew cold.
The choicely ripening cluster lingering late
Into October on its shriveled vine
Wins mellow juices which in patience wait
Upon those long, long days of deep sunshine.
Then set it gently at the altar rail,
The faithful, aged dust, with honors meet;
How can we hope if such as she can fail
Before the eternal God's high judgment-seat?
------
{318}
From The Literary Workmen
JENIFER'S PRAYER.
BY OLIVER CRANE.
IN THREE PARTS.
[CONCLUSION.]
PART III.
Lady Greystock drove on briskly. They were out of the shadow of the
trees and again on the broad, white gleaming gravelled road that led
to the west lodge, and the turnpike road to Blagden. Not a word was
spoken. On went the ponies, who knew the dark shadows of the elms that
stood at intervals, in groups, two or three together, by the side of
the road, and threw their giant outlines across it, making the
moon-light seem brighter and brighter as it silvered the surface of
the broad carriage drive, and made the crushed granite sparkle--on
went the ponies, shaking their heads with mettlesome impatience when
the pulling of the reins offended them, not frightened at the whirling
of the great droning night insects, which flew out from the oak-trees
on the left, nor shying away from the shadows--on they went through
the sweet, still, soft, scented night air, and the broad, peaceful
light of the silent moon--on they went! Not one word mingled with the
sound of their ringing hoofs, not a breath was heard to answer to the
sighing of the leaves; the "good night" that had been spoken between
the stranger and themselves still seemed to live in the hearing of
those to whom he had spoken, and to keep them in a meditative and
painful silence.
At last the lodge was reached. The servant opened the gates; the
carriage was driven through; the high road was gained, and all
romantic mystery was over; the dream that had held those silent ones
was gone; and like one suddenly awoke, Lady Greystock said: "Eleanor!
how wonderful; you knew that man! Eleanor! he knew you; asked about
you; had been seeking you. Why was he there in the Beremouth
woods--appearing at this hour, among the ferns and grass, like a wild
creature risen from its lair? Eleanor! why don't you speak to me? Why,
when he spoke of you by your name, did you not answer for yourself?
Why did you send him to Jenifer? Oh! Eleanor; I feel there is
something terrible and strange in all this. I cannot keep it to
myself. I must tell my father. It can't be right. It cannot be for any
good that we met a man lurking about, and not owned by you, though he
is here to find you. Speak, Eleanor! Now that I am in the great high
road I feel as if I had gone through a terror, or escaped some strange
danger, or met a mystery face to face."
Lady Greystock spoke fast and in a low voice, and Eleanor, bending a
little toward her, heard every word.
"You _have_ met a mystery face to face," she said in a whisper, which,
however, was sufficiently audible. "I _did_ know that man. And I am
{319} not denying that he sought me, and that he had a right to seek
me. But many things have changed since those old days, when, if I had
obeyed him, I should have done better than I did. I know what he
wants; and Jenifer can give it to him. Here we are at Blagden; think
no more of it, Lady Greystock."
No answer was given to Eleanor's words; they met Dr. Blagden on the
steps at the door. "You are later than usual--all right?" "All quite
right," said Eleanor. "The beauty of the night tempted us to come home
through Beremouth," said Lady Greystock. "How lovely it would look on
such a sweet, peaceful night," said Mrs. Blagden, who now joined them;
and then Eleanor took the carriage wraps in her arms up stairs, and
Lady Greystock went into the drawing-room, and soon after the whole
household--all but Eleanor--were in bed.
Not Eleanor. She opened a box where she kept her letters, and many
small objects of value to her, and carefully shutting out the
moonlight, and trimming her lamp into brilliancy, she took out letter
after letter from Henry Evelyn calling her his beloved one, and his
wife; then the letter from Corny Nugent, saying that Henry Evelyn and
Horace Erskine were one; and the one thing that Corny Nugent had sent
to her as evidence--it seemed to be proof sufficient. It was a part of
a letter from Horace to his uncle, Mr. Erskine, which had been flung
into a waste-paper basket, and which, having the writer's signature,
Corny had kept, and sent to Eleanor. Not, as he said, that he knew the
man's handwriting, but that she did; and that, therefore, to her it
would have value as proving or disproving his own convictions.
Eleanor had never brought this evidence to the proof. She had laid by
Corny's letter, and the inclosure. She had put it all aside with the
weight of a great dread on her mind, and "Not yet, not yet," was all
she said as she locked away both the assertion and the proof.
But her husband was at Beremouth now. Yes; and on what errand? She
knew that too.
Mrs. Brewer had called that morning to see Lady Greystock. Mrs. Brewer
had come herself to tell Claudia that Mary would arrive, and that
Horace would bring her. She would not trust any one but herself to
give that information. She never let go the idea of Horace having
behaved in some wrong way to Claudia. She knew Claudia's disposition,
her bravery, her determination; and her guesses were very near the
truth. "Mother Mary" had those womanly instincts which jump at
conclusions; and the truths guessed at through the feelings are
truths, and remain truths for ever, though reason has never proved
them or investigation explained them.
Then, too, there was her sister's letter, which Mrs. Brewer had sent
to Father Daniels. There the passing fancy for Claudia had been spoken
of. In that letter the love of money had peeped out, and supplied the
motive; but Mrs. Brewer knew very well that Claudia's disposition was
not of a sort to have any acquaintance with passing fancies. If she
had loved Horace, she had loved with her whole heart; and if she had
been deceived in him, her whole heart had suffered, and her whole life
been overcast. "Mother Mary" had felt to some purpose; and now, only
herself should say to Lady Greystock that he was coming among them
again.
She had arrived at Blagden and she had told Claudia everything; what
Horace wished as to Mary, and what her sister and Mr. Erskine desired;
and she had not hidden her own unwillingness to lose her child, or her
own wish that Mary might have married, when she did marry, some one
more to her mother's mind, and nearer to her mother's {320} house. And
it was in remembrance of this conversation that Lady Greystock, when
she took Jenifer into the carriage, had said: "If you ever pray for my
father, and all he loves, pray _now_?"
Something of all this had been told by Lady Greystock to Eleanor. And
in the time that the aunt and niece had been together that day,
Eleanor had said to Jenifer, "He is down at the park wanting to marry
Miss Lorimer."
Jenifer's darling--Jenifer's darling's darling; how she loved "Mother
Mary," and Lansdowne Lorimer's child, only her own great and good
heart knew. What could she do but go to God, and his priest? What
human foresight could have prevented this? What human wisdom could set
things right? And after all, they did not _surely_ know that Eleanor's
husband and Claudia's lover were met in one man, and that man winning
the heart of lovely, innocent Mary Lorimer, and pressing marriage on
her. But for her prayer, Jenifer used to say, she should have gone out
of her mind. Oh, the comfort that grew out of the thought that GOD
KNEW! and that her life and all that was in it were given to him. Such
a shifting of responsibility--such a supporting sense of his never
allowing anything to be in that life that was not, in some way, for
his glory--such practical strength, such heart-sustaining power, grew
out of Jenifer's prayer that even Eleanor's numbed heart rested on it,
and she had learnt to be content to live, from hour to hour, a life of
submission and waiting.
But was the waiting to be over now?--was something coming? If so, she
must be prepared. And so, diligently, by the lamp-light, Eleanor
produced her own letters, and opened that torn sheet to compare the
writing. It was different in some things, yet the same. As she gazed,
and examined, and compared terminations, and matched the capital
letters together, she knew it was the same handwriting. Time had done
its work. The writing of the present was firmer, harder, done with a
worse pen, written at greater speed. But that was all the change. She
was convinced; and she put away her sorrow-laden store, locked them
safe from sight, said her night prayers, and went to bed. Not a sigh,
nor a tear. No vain regrets, no heart-easing groans. The time for such
consolations had long been passed with Eleanor. Within the last nine
years her life had as much changed as if she had died and risen again
into another world of intermediate trial. A very great change had been
wrought in her by Lady Greystock's friendship. Eleanor had become
educated. The clever, poetical girl, who had won Horace Erskine's
attention by her natural superiority to everything around her--even
when those surroundings had been of a comparatively high state of
cultivation, had hardened into the industrious and laborious woman.
When it pleased Lady Greystock to hear her sing, in her own sweet,
untaught way, the songs of her own country, she had sung them; and
then, when Lady Greystock had offered to cultivate the talent, she had
worked hard at improvement. She had been brought up by French nuns, at
a convent school, and had spoken their language from childhood; when
Lady Greystock got French books, it was Eleanor's delight to read
aloud; and she had made Mrs. Blagden's two little girls almost as
familiar with French as she was herself. Those things had given rise
to the idea that Mrs. Evelyn, as she was always called, had seen
better days; and no one had ever suspected her relationship to
Jenifer. Mr. Brewer alone knew of it. As to Mr. Brewer ever telling
anything that could be considered, in the telling, as a breach of
confidence, that was, of course, impossible.
That night--that night so important in our story, Jenifer, having done
all her duties by her mistress, which were really not a few, and
having seen that the girl who did the dirty {321} work was safe in the
darkness of a safely put out candle, opened her lattice to look on the
night. Her little room had a back view. That is, it looked over the
flagged kitchen court, and the walled-in flower garden, and beyond
toward the village of Blagden and the majestic woods at the back of
the house at Beremouth.
Jenifer had gone to bed, and had risen again, oppressed by a feeling
that something was, as she expressed it, "going on--something doing
somewhere--'something up,' as folks say, sir. I can't account for it.
I fancied I heard something--that I was wanted. And I thought at first
that some one was in my room. Then I went into mistress's room,
without my shoes, not to wake her. She was all right, sleeping like a
tender babe. Then I went to Peggy's room. The girl was asleep. I
sniffed up and down the passage, just to find if anything wrong in the
way of smoke or fire was about. No; all was pure and pleasant; and
then I went down stairs to make sure of the doors being locked.
Everything was right, sir"--such was Jenifer's account to Mr. Brewer;
who, when she paused at this point, asked: "What next did you do? Did
you go upstairs again to bed?" "I went upstairs," the woman answered,
"but not to bed. I sat at the window, and looked out over the garden,
and over the meadows beyond the old bridge, and on to Beremouth. And
the night was the brightest, fairest, loveliest night I ever beheld.
And so, sir, I said my prayers once more, and went again to bed; and
slept in bits and snatches, for still I was always thinking that
somebody wanted me, till the clock struck six; and then I got up."
"You don't usually get up at six, or before the girl gets up, do you?"
"No, sir; never, I may say. But I got up to ease my mind of its
burthens. And when Peggy had got up, and was down stairs, I started
off for the alms-house; I thought Mr. Dawson might be up to say mass
there, for it was St. Lawrence's Day." "Well?" "But there had been no
message about mass, and no priest was expected. And as I got back to
our door there was Mrs. Fell, the milk-woman. She had brought the milk
herself. I asked how that should be. She said they had had a cow like
to die in the night, and that their man had been up all night, and
that she was sparing him, for he had gone to lie down. Then I said,
'Why, I could never have heard any of you busy about the cattle in the
night'--you see they rent the meadows. But she said they were not in
the meadows; the beasts were all in the shed at the farm. 'But,' she
said, it's odd if you were disturbed, for a man came to our place just
before twelve o'clock, and asked for you.' 'For me!' I cried--'a man
at your place in the middle of the night, asking for me!' She said,
'Yes; and a decent-spoken body, too. But tired, and wet through and
through. He said he had fallen into the Beremouth deer pond, up in the
park. That is, he described the place clear enough, and we knew it was
the deer pond, for it could not be anywhere else!'" "And did you ask
where the man went to?" "No, sir. I lifted my eyes, and I saw him."
"And who was he?" "Oh, Mr. Brewer, it must all be suffered as he gives
it to me to suffer; but I am not clear about telling his name."
Mr. Brewer took out his watch and looked at it. "It is nearly ten
o'clock," he said. "Where's your mistress?"
"Settled to her work, sir."
Mr. Brewer held this long talk with Jenifer in that right-hand parlor
down stairs where he had paid that money to Mrs. Morier, when the
reader first made his acquaintance. He had great confidence in
Jenifer. He knew her goodness, and her patience, and her trust. He
knew something, too, of her trials, and also of her prayer; but he had
come there to investigate a very serious matter, and he was going
steadily through with it.
"Listen, Jenifer."
"Yes, sir."
{322}
"Last night, just after our night prayers, Father Daniels being in the
house, my friend, Mr. Erskine, who escorted my step-daughter, Mary
Lorimer, home, went out into the park, just, as was supposed, to have
a cigar before going to bed. Mrs. Brewer and I were in Mary's room
when we heard Mr. Erskine leave the house. He certainly lighted his
cigar. Mary's window was open, and we smelt the tobacco. Jenifer, he
never returned."
They were both standing and looking at each other. "My life, and all
that is in it!" Up went Jenifer's prayer, but voicelessly, to heaven.
"My life, and all that is in it!" But a strong faith that the one
terrible evil that her imagination pictured would not be in it, was
strong within her.
"He never returned. My man-servant woke me in my first sleep by
knocking at the bed-room door, and saying that Mr. Erskine had not
returned. I rose up and dressed myself. I collected the men and went
out into the park. We went to the south lodge, to ask if any one had
seen him. 'No,' they said. 'But the west lodge-keeper had been there
as late as near to ten o'clock, and he had said that a man had been in
their house asking a good many questions about Beremouth, and who we
had staying there, and if a Mr. Erskine was there, or ever had been
there, and inquiring what sort of looking man he was, whether he wore
a beard, or had any peculiarity? how he dressed, and if there had ever
been any report of his going to be married? They had answered his
questions, because they suspected nothing worse than a gossiping
curiosity; and they had given him a rest, and a cup of tea. He said
that a friend, a cousin of his, had lived as servant with Mr. Erskine;
and he also asked if Mr. Erskine would be likely to pass through that
lodge the next day, for that he had a great curiosity to see him. He
said that he had known him well once, and wanted greatly to see him
once more. He, after all this talking, asked the nearest way to
Marston. He was directed through the park, and he left them. Our
inquiries about Horace Erskine having been answered by this history
told by one lodge-keeper to the other, we could not help suspecting
that some one had been on the watch for the young man, and taking
Jones from the lodge, and his elder boy with us, we dispersed
ourselves over the park to seek for him, a good deal troubled by what
we had heard. We got to the deer pond, but we had sought many places
before we got there; it did not seem a likely place for a man to go to
in the summer night. We looked about--we went back to get
lanterns--they were necessary in the darkness made by the thick
foliage; one side was bright enough, and the pool was like a
looking-glass where it was open to the sloping turf, and the short
fern, which the deer trample down when they get there to drink; but
the side where the thorns, hollies, and yew-trees grow was as black as
night; and yet we thought we could see where the wild climbing plants
had been pulled away, and where some sort of struggle might have taken
place. As we searched, when we came back, we found strong evidence of
a desperate encounter; the branches of the great thorn-tree were
hanging split from the stem, and, holding the lantern, we saw the
marks of broken ground by the margin of the pond, as if some one had
been struggling at the very edge of it. Then, all at once, and I shall
never understand why we did not see it before--the moonbeams grew
brighter, I suppose--but there in the pond was the figure of a man;
not altogether in the water, but having struggled so far out as to get
his head against the bank, hid as it was with the grass and low
brush-wood, the ferns and large-leaved water-weeds; we laid bold of
the poor {323} fellow--it was Horace Erskine, Jenifer!"
"_My life, and all that is in it_." But the hope, the faith, rather,
was still alive, that that worst grief should not be in it--so she
prayed--so she felt--for Jenifer! "Master," she gasped, "not dead--not
dead--Mr. Brewer."
"Not dead!" he said gravely; "he would have been dead if we had not
found him when we did. He was bruised and wounded; such a sight of
ill-treatment as no eyes ever before beheld, I think. He must have
been more brutally used than I could have believed possible, if I had
not seen it. His clothes were torn; his face so disfigured that he
will scarcely ever recover the likeness of a man, and one arm is
broken." "But not dead?" "No; but he _may_ die; the doctor is in the
house, and the police are out after the man whom we suspect of this
horrible barbarity. Now, Jenifer, hearing some talk of a stranger who
seemed to know yon, I came here to ask you to tell me, in your own
honest way, your honest story."
But Jenifer seemed to have no desire to make confidences.
"Who told you of a stranger?"
"Have you not told me yourself, in answer to my first questions,
before giving you my reasons for inquiring?"
"No, sir; that won't do. I judge from what you said that you had heard
something of this stranger before you came here."
"I had, Jenifer." And Mr. Brewer looked steadily at her.
"Well, sir?"
"Jenifer, I have really come out of tenderness to you, and to those
who may belong to you."
"No one doubts your tenderness, sir; least of any could I doubt it.
Tell me who mentioned a stranger to you, so as to send you here to
me?"
"Lady Greystock's groom, coming to Beremouth early, and finding us in
great trouble, made a declaration as to a stranger who had appeared
and stopped his mistress as she was driving through the park last
night. He says this man asked if they could tell where Mrs. Evelyn
lived, and Mrs. Evelyn, immediately answering, said that she lived
somewhere in the neighborhood, and that he could learn by inquiring
for you. The groom says that the man evidently knew Mrs. Morier's
name, as well as year name; and that after speaking to him, Mrs.
Evelyn asked Lady Greystock to drive on, and that she drove rapidly,
and never spoke till they had almost got back to Blagden."
"It is quite true," said Jenifer. "He told me the same story this
day."
"Can you say where this man is? He will be found first or last; and it
is for the sake of justice that you should speak, Jenifer. The police
are on his track. Let me entreat you to give me every information.
Concealment is the worst thing that can be practised in such a case as
this--have you any idea where he is? I do not ask you who he is; you
will have to tell all, I fear, before a more powerful person than I
am. I only come as a friend, that you may not be induced to conceal
the evil-doer."
"The evil-doer," said Jenifer; "who says he did it?"
"I say he will be tried for doing it; and that a trial is good for the
innocent in such a case of terrible suspicion as this."
"May be," said Jenifer, "may be!"
Then, once more, that prayer, said, from her very heart, though
unspoken by her lips; and then these quiet words--"And as to the man
himself. He is my brother. My mother's child by her second husband."
"Your brother--he with whom Eleanor lived in Ireland?" "Yes, Mr.
Brewer; he of whom I told you when you saved Eleanor so {324} many
years ago. And as to where he is--step into the kitchen, sir, and you
may see him sleeping in a chair by the fire--any way, I left him
there, when I came to open the door to you."
Mr. Brewer had really come to Jenifer in a perfectly friendly way;
exactly as he had said--out of tenderness. He had known enough to send
him there, and to have those within call who would secure this
stranger, whoever he was, and wherever he was found. Now, known, he
walked straight into the kitchen, and there stopped to take a full
view of a man in a leathern easy chair, his arm resting on Jenifer's
tea-table, and sound asleep. A finer man eyes never saw. Strong in
figure, and in face of a remarkable beauty. He was sunburnt; having
pulled his neckcloth off, the skin of his neck showed in fair
contrast, and the chest heaved and fell as the strong breath of the
sleeper was drawn regularly and with healthy ease. It was a picture of
calm rest; it seemed like a pity to disturb it. There stood Mr. Brewer
safely contemplating one who was evidently in a state of blissful
unconsciousness as to danger to others or himself.
"Your brother?" repeated Mr. Brewer to Jenifer, who stood stiff and
upright by his side.
"My half-brother, James O'Keefe."
"There is some one at the front door; will you open it?"
Jenifer guessed at the personage to be found there. But she went
steadily through the front passage, and, opening the door, let the
policeman who had been waiting enter, and then she came back to the
kitchen without uttering a word. As the man entered Mr. Brewer laid
his hand on the sleeper's shoulder, and woke him. He opened his fine
grey eyes, and looked round surprised. "On suspicion of having
committed an assault on Mr. Horace Erskine last night, in the park at
Beremouth," said the policeman, and the stranger stood up a prisoner.
He began to speak; but the policeman stopped him. "It is a serious
case," he said. "It may turn out murder. You are warned that anything
you say will be used against you at your trial." "Are you a
magistrate, sir?" asked O'Keefe as he turned to Mr. Brewer. "Yea; I
am. I hope you will take the man's advice, and say nothing."
"But I may say I am innocent?" "Every word you say is at your own
risk." "I ran no risk in saying that I am innocent--that I never saw
this Horace Erskine last night--though if I had seen him--"
"I entreat you to be silent; you must have a legal adviser"--"I! Who
do I know?"' "You shall be well looked to, and well advised," said
Jenifer. "There are those in this town, in the office where Lansdowne
Lorimer worked, who will work for me."
It was very hard for Mr. Brewer not to promise on the spot that he
would pay all possible expenses. But the recollection of the
disfigured and perhaps dying guest in his own house rose to his mind,
and he had a painful feeling that he was retained on the other side.
However, he said to Jenifer that perfect truth and sober justice
anybody might labor for in any way. And with this sort of broad hint
he left the house, and Jenifer saw the stranger taken off in safe
custody, and, mounting his horse, rode toward Blagden. He asked for
his daughter; and he was instantly admitted, and shown upstairs into
her sitting-room--there he found Claudia, looking well and happy,
engaged in some busy work, in which Eleanor was helping her.
"Oh, my dear father!" and Lady Greystock threw the work aside, and
jumped up, and into the arms that waited for her.
It was always a sort of high holiday when Mr. Brewer come by himself
to visit his daughter. When the sound of the brown-topped boots was
{325} heard on the stairs, like a voice of music to Claudia's heart,
all human things gave way, for that gladness that her father's great
heart brought and gave away, all round him, to everybody,
everywhere--but _there_, there, where his daughter lived--there, among
the friends with whom she had recovered from a great illness and got
the better of a threatened, life-long woe--there Mr. Brewer felt some
strong influence making him _that_, which people excellently expressed
when they said of him--"he was more than ever himself that day."
Now Mr. Brewer's influence was to make those to whom he addressed
himself honest, open, and good. He was loved and trusted. It did not
generally enter into people's minds to deceive Mr. Brewer. Candor grew
and gained strength in his presence. Candor took to herself the
teachings of wisdom; candor listened to the advice of humility; candor
threw aside all vain-glorious garments when Mr. Brewer called for her
company, and candor put on, forthwith, the crown of truth. "My
darling!" said Mr. Brewer, as he kissed Claudia; "my darling!"
"Oh, my dear father--my father, my dear father!" so answered Claudia.
Then she pushed forward a chair; and then Eleanor made ready to leave
the room. "Yes, go; go for half an hour, Mrs. Evelyn. But don't be out
of the way; I have a fancy for a little chat with you, too, to-day." A
grave smile spread itself over Eleanor's placid face as she said she
should come back when Lady Greystock sent for her, and then she went
away. Once more, when she was gone, Mr. Brewer stood up and taking
Claudia's hand, kissed her. "My darling," he said, "I have something
to say, and I can only say it to you--I have some help to ask for, and
only you can help me. But are you strong enough to help me; are you
loving enough to trust me?"
"I will try to be all you want, father; I _am_ strong; I _can_
trust--but if you want to know how much I love you--why, you know I
can't tell you that--it is more than I can measure, I am afraid. Don't
look grave at me. It can't be anything very solemn, if _I_ can help
you; or anything of much importance, if my help is worth your having."
"Your help is absolutely necessary; at least necessary to my own
comfort--now, Claudia. Tell your father why you broke off your
engagement with Horace Erskine."
"_He_ did it"--she trembled. Her father took her little hand into the
grasp of his strong one, and held it with an eloquent pressure.
"He wanted more money, father. It came as a test. He was in debt. I
had loved him, as if--as if he had been what _you_ must have been in
your youth. You were my one idea of man. I had had no heart to study
but yours. I learnt that Horace Erskine was unworthy. He was a coward.
The pressure of his debts had crushed him into meanness. He asked me
to bear the trial, and to save him. I did. I did, father!"
"Yes, my darling."
He never looked at her. Only the strong fingers closed with powerful
love on the little hand within their grasp. "But you were fond of Sir
Geoffrey?"
"Yes; and glad, and grateful. I should have been very happy--but--"
"But he died," said her father, helping her.
"But Horace sent to Sir Geoffrey the miniature I had given
him--letters--and a lock of my poor curling hair--" How tight the
pressure of the strong hand grew. "I found the open packet on the
table"--she could not say another word. Then a grave, deep voice told
the rest for her--"And your honored husband's soul went up to God and
found the truth"--and the head of the poor memory-stricken daughter
found a refuge on her father's breast, and she wept there silently.
"And that made you ill, my darling; my dear darling Claudia--my own
{326} dear daughter! Thank you, my precious one. And you don't like
Beremouth now?"
"I love Beremouth, and everything about it," cried Lady Greystock,
raising her head, and gathering all her strength together for the
effort; "but I dare not see this man--and I would rather never look
again on the deer-pond in the park, because there he spoke: there he
promised--there I thought all life was to be as that still pool,
deep, and overflowing with the waters of happiness and their
never-ceasing music. We used to go there every day. I have not looked
on it since--I could not bear to listen to the rush of the stream
where it falls over the stones between the roots of the old trees,
between whose branches the tame deer would watch us, and where old
Dapple--the dear old beauty whose name I have never mentioned in all
these years---used to take biscuits from our hands. Does old Dapple
live, father? Dapple, who was called _'old'_ nine years ago?" And Lady
Greystock looked up, and took her hand from her father's grasp, and
wiped her eyes, and wetted her fair forehead from a bowl of water, and
tried by this question to get away from the misery that this sudden
return to the long past had brought to mind.
"Dapple lives," said Mr. Brewer. And then he kissed her again, and
thanked her, and said "they should love each other all the better for
the confidence he had asked and she had given."
"But why did you ask?"
"I want to have my luncheon at your early dinner," said Mr. Brewer,
not choosing to answer her. "You do dine early, don't you?"
"Yes, and to-day Eleanor was going to dine with me."
"Quite right. And I want to speak to her. Claudia, something has
happened. You most know all before long. Everybody will know. You had
better be in the room while I speak to Eleanor. Let us get it over.
But you had better take your choice. It is still about Horace that I
want to speak--to speak to Eleanor, I mean."
"I should wish to be present," said Claudia. And she rose and rang the
bell.
"Will you ask Mrs. Evelyn to come to us?" she said, when her servant
appeared. In a very few minutes in walked Eleanor.
"Mrs. Evelyn," said Mr. Brewer, "last night you directed a man to seek
Jenifer at Mrs. Morier's house. That man was James O'Keefe, Jenifer's
half-brother. You knew him?" "Yes, Mr. Brewer, I knew him." "But he
did not know you?" "No." "He asked about you. Why did you send him to
Marston?" "Because he could there learn all he wanted to know. I am
not going to bring the shadow of my troubles into this kind house."
"That was your motive?" "Yes. But I might have had more motives than
one. I think that was uppermost; and on that motive I believe that I
acted."
"That man was in the park. At the lodge-gate he had made inquiries
after my guest, Mr. Erskine. That man was at Mrs. Fell's, the
dairy-woman, at midnight. He was not through; he had, he said, fallen
into the water--he described the place, and they knew it to be the
deer-pond."
As Mr. Brewer went on in his plain, straightforward way, both women
listened to him with the most earnest interest; but as he proceeded
Eleanor Evelyn fixed her eye on him with an anxiety and a mingled
terror that had a visible effect on Mr. Brewer, who hesitated in his
story, and who seemed to be quite distracted by the manner of one
usually so very calm and so unfailingly self-processed.
"Now Mr. Erskine had gone out into the park late. Mr. Erskine, my dear
friends,--Mr. Erskine _never came back._" {327} He paused, and
collected his thoughts once more, in order to go on with his story.
"We went to seek for him. He was found at last, at the deer-pond,
surrounded by the evidences of a hard struggle having taken place
there, a struggle in which he had only just escaped with his life. He
has been ill-treated in a way that it is horrible to contemplate. He
is lying now in danger of death. And this morning I have assisted in
the capture of James O'Keefe, whom I found by Mrs. Morier's kitchen
fire, for this possible murder. I should tell you that Mr. Erskine is
just as likely to die as to live."
"Mr. Brewer," said Eleanor, rising up and taking no notice of Lady
Greystock's deathlike face,--"Mr. Brewer, is there any truth in a
report that has reached me from a man who was in the elder Mr.
Erskine's service in Scotland--a report to the effect that Mr. Horace
Erskine wished to propose marriage, or had proposed marriage, to Miss
Lorimer?"
"There _is_ truth in that report," said Mr. Brewer.
"Then I must see that man," said Mrs. Evelyn. "Before this terrible
affair can proceed, I must see Horace Erskine. If indeed it be true
that he has received this terrible punishment, I can supply a motive
for James O'Keefe's conduct that any jury ought to take into
consideration."
"But O'Keefe denies having ever seen him," said Mr. Brewer. "He does
not deny having inquired about him. He even said words before me that
would make me suppose that he had come into this neighborhood on
purpose to see him, and to take some vengeance upon him. Mr. Erskine
is found with the marks of the severest ill-usage about him, and you
say you can supply a motive for such a deed. O'Keefe, however, denies
all but the will to work evil; he confesses to the will to do the
deed, but denies having done it."
"I must see Mr. Erskine," was all that Eleanor answered. "I must see
Mr. Erskine. Whether he sees me or not, _I_ must see _him_."
The young woman was standing up--her face quite changed by the
expression of anxious earnestness that animated it.
"I must see Mr. Erskine. Mr. Brewer, you must so manage it that I must
see Mr. Erskine without delay."
"But you would do no good," said Mr. Brewer, in a very stern tone and
with an utter absence of all his natural sympathy. "The man is so
injured that his own mother could not identify him."
"Then may God have mercy on us!" cried Eleanor, sinking into a chair.
"If I could only have seen that man before this woe came upon us!"
And then that woman burst into one of those uncontrollable fits of
tears that are the offspring of despair. Lady Greystock looked at her
for a moment, and then rose from her chair. "Victories half won are
neither useful nor honorable," she said. "Wait, Eleanor, I will show
you what that man was."
She opened a large metal-bound desk, curiously inlaid, and with a look
of wondrous workmanship. She said, looking at her father, "I left this
at Beremouth, never intending to see it again, But it got sent here a
few years ago. It has never been opened since I locked it before my
wedding day." She opened it, and took out several packets and small
parcels. Then she opened one--it was a miniature case which matched
that one of herself which had been so cruelly sent to good, kind Sir
Geoffrey--she opened it "Who is that, Eleanor?" It was curious to see
how the eyes, blinded by tears, fastened on it "My husband--my
husband--Henry Evelyn. My husband, Mr. Brewer. Oh, Lady Greystock,
thank God that at any cost he did not run his soul still {328} farther
into sin by bringing on you and on himself the misery of a marriage
unrecognized by God."
"And because your unde, James O'Keefe, heard the report that got about
concerning that man and Miss Lorimer, he ran his own soul into a guilt
that may by this time have deepened into the crime of murder. Oh,
Eleanor! when shall we remember that 'vengeance is mine, saith the
Lord?'"
"_My life, and all that is in it!_" The words came forth softly, and
Mr. Brewer, turning round, saw Jenifer.
"He has been before the magistrates at Marston, Mr. Brewer. He has
denied all knowledge of everything about it. He is remanded on the
charge--waiting for more evidence--waiting to see whether Mr. Erskine
lives or dies. I hired a gig, and came off here to you as fast as I
could be driven. Mr. May, in the old office, says that if Mr. Erskine
dies, it will be hard to save him. But the doctor's man tells me Mr.
Erskine has neither had voice nor sight since he was found--I saw
Father Daniels in the street, and he, too, is evidence against the
poor creature. He knows of Corny Nugent's letter; and Corny wrote to
Jem also, so Jem told me, and he came off here to make sure that
Horace Erskine and Henry Evelyn were the same people. And he walked
from the Northend railway station, and asked his way to Beremouth, and
got a gossip with the gate-keeper, and settled to come on to Marston.
And he met Lady Greys took in the carriage, and asked where Eleanor
lived, and inquired his way. Did you know him, Eleanor?"
"Yes, I knew him directly; and it was partly because I knew him that I
directed him on to you."
"Then he lost his way, and took to getting out of the park by walking
straight away in the direction he knew Marston to be lying in. And he
got by what we call 'the threshetts,' sir--the water for keeping the
fishponds from shallowing--and there he must have fallen in, for he
says he climbed the hedge just after, and walked straight away through
the grass fields and meadows, and seeing the lights where the Fells
were tending the sick cow last night, he got in there, all dripping
wet, as the town-clock struck twelve. He does not deny to the
magistrates that if he had found Horace Erskine and Henry Evelyn to be
one and the same man, that he might have been tempted to evil; he does
not deny that. He says he felt sore tempted to go straight to
Beremouth House and have him out from sleep and bed, if to do so could
have been possible, and to have given him his punishment on the spot.
He says he wished as he wandered through the park that something might
send the man who had injured us all so sorely out to him, to meet him
in the way, that they might have come hand to hand, and face to face.
He says he has had more temptations since Corny Nugent's letter to
him, and more heart-stirrings in the long silent time before it came,
than he can reckon up; and that he has felt as if a dark spirit goaded
him to go round the world after that man, and never cease following
him till he had made his own false tongue declare to all the earth his
own false deeds--but something, he says, kept him back. Always kept
him back till now; till now, when Corny's last letter said that
Erskine was surely gone to Beremouth to be married. Then, he said, it
was as if something sent him--ah yes; and sent him _here_ to see the
man, to make sure who he was. To tell you, as a brother Catholic, the
whole truth--to keep from the dear convert mother the bitter grief of
seeing her child bound to a man whom she could never call that child's
husband. So {329} he came, Mr. Brewer. He came, and he was found
here--but he knows no more of the punishment of that poor man, that
poor girl's husband"--pointing to Eleanor--"than an unborn babe. As I
hear him speak, I trace the power of the prayer that I took up long
ago in my helplessness--when I could not manage my own troubles, my
own life, my own responsibilities, it came into my heart to offer all
to him. '_My life and all that is in it_.' You and yours have been in
it, Mr. Brewer. Your wife has been in it, her life, and her
child's--you, too, my dear," turning to Claudia,--"you whom I have
loved like one belonging to me--you have been in it; and that woman,
my sister's legacy to my poor helplessness. There were so many to care
for, to fear for, to suffer for, and to love--how could I put things
right, or keep off dangers? I could only give up all to the Father of
us all--'_My life, and all that is in it_.' And I tell you this, Mr.
Brewer--I tell it [to] you because my very soul seems to know it, and
my lips must utter it: In that life there will be no red-handed
punishment--no evil vengeance--no vile murder, nor death without
repentance. I cannot tell you, I cannot even guess, how that bad man
got into this trouble--I have no knowledge of whose hands he fell
into--but not into the hands of any one who belongs to me, or to that
life which has been so long given into God's keeping."
Jenifer stopped speaking. She had been listened to with a mute
attention. Her hearers could not help feeling convinced by her
earnestness. She had spoken gently, calmly, sensibly. The infection of
her entire faith in the providence of God seized them. They, too,
believed. Lady Greystock, the only one not a Catholic, said afterward
that she felt quite overpowered by the simple trust that Jenifer
showed, and the calm strength with which it endowed her. And Lady
Greystock was the first to answer her.
"It is no time for self-indulgence," she said. "Father, Eleanor and I
must both go to Beremouth. And we must stay there. We must be there on
the spot, to see how these things are accounted for--to know how
matters end--to help, as far as we may, to bring them right."
And so, before two hours were over, Jenifer was back in Mrs. Morier's
parlor, and Mary Lorimer was with her; sent there to stay; and Lady
Greystock and Mrs. Evelyn were at Beremouth.
There was silence in the house, that sort of woful silence that
belongs to the anxiety of a dreadful suspense. Toward evening there
were whispered hopes--Mr. Erskine was better, people thought. But the
severest injuries were about the neck and throat, the chest and
shoulders. His hair had been cut off in large patches where the head
wounds were--his face was disfigured with the bandages that the
treatment made necessary. He lay alive, and groaning. He was better.
When more was known about the injuries done to the throat and chest,
something less doubtful would be said as to his recovery. "If he can't
swallow, he'll die," said one nurse. "He can live long enough without
swallowing," said another. And still they waited.
At night, Eleanor and Lady Greystock stood in the room, with Mr.
Brewer, far off by the door, looking at him. There was no love in
either heart. The poor wife shrank away, almost wishing that the
period of desertion might last for ever.
A week passed, a terribly long week. He could swallow. He could speak.
He could see out of one eye. He had his senses. He had said something
about his arm. He would be ready in another week to give some account
of all he had gone {330} through. He would be able, perhaps, to
identify the man. In the meantime, James O'Keefe was safe in custody.
And Jenifer was saying her prayer--"_My life, and all that is in it;_"
still quite sure, with a strong, simple, never-failing faith, that the
great evil of a human and remorseless vengeance was not in it. And
yet, as time passed on, and, notwithstanding every effort made by the
police, backed by the influence of all that neighborhood, and by Mr.
Brewer himself, not a mark of suspicion was found against any one
else, it seemed to come home to every one's mind with the force of
certainty that James O'Keefe had tried to murder Horace Erskine--that
James O'Keefe had done this thing, and no one else.
Very slowly did Horace seem to mend--very slowly. When questions were
put to him in his speechless state, he seemed to grow so utterly
confused as to alarm his medical attendants. It was made a law at
Beremouth that he was to be kept in perfect quietness. James O'Keefe
was again brought before the magistrates, and again remanded; and
still this time of trial went on, and still, when it was thought
possible to speak to Horace on the subject of his injuries, he grew so
utterly confused that it was impossible to go on with the matter.
Was there to be no end to this misery? The waiting was almost
intolerable. The knowledge that now existed in that house of Horace
Erskine's life made it very easy to understand his confusion and
incoherency when spoken to of his injuries. But the lingering--the
weight of hope deferred--the long contemplation of the miserable
sufferer--the slowness of the passage of time, was an inexpressible
burthen to the inhabitants of Beremouth.
One sad evening, Lady Greystock and her father, on the terrace, talked
together. "Come with me to the deer-pond, Claudia." She shrank from
the proposal "Nay," he said, "come! You said at Blagden that half
victories were powerless things. You must not be less than your own
words. Come to the deer-pond--now." So she took his arm and they
walked away. It was the beginning of a sweet, soft night--the evening
breezes played about them, and they talked together in love and
confidence, as they crossed the open turf, and were lost in the
thickets that gathered round the gnarled oak and stunted yew that
marked the way to the pond.
It had been many years since Claudia had seen its peaceful waters;
terrible in dreams once; and now saddened by a history that would
belong to it for ever. They reached the spot, and stood there talking.
Suddenly they heard a sound, they started--a tearing aside of the
turning boughs--a sound, strong, positive, angry--then a gentle
rustling of the leaves, a soft movement of the feathery fern--and Lady
Greystock had let go her father's arm, and was standing with her hand
on the head, between the antlers, of a huge old deer--Dapple--"Don
Dapple," as the children had called him--and speaking to him
tenderly--"Oh, Dapple, do you know me? Oh, Dapple--alas! poor
beast--did you do it--that awful thing? Are you so fierce, poor
beast--were you the terrible avenger?" How her tears fell! How her
whole frame trembled! How the truth came on her as she looked into the
large, tearful eyes of the once tame buck, that had grown fanciful and
fierce in its age, and of whom even some of the keepers had declared
themselves afraid. Mr. Brewer took biscuit from his coat-pocket,
chance scraps from lunches, secreted from days before, when he had
been out on long rounds through the farms. These old Dapple nibbled,
and made royal gestures of satisfaction and approval--and there,
viewing his stately head in the water, where his spreading antlers
were mirrored, they left him to walk home, with one wonder out of
their hearts, and another--wondering awe at the thing that had
happened among them--to by their for ever.
{331}
They came back, they called the doctors, they examined the torn
clothes. They wondered they had never thought of the truth before.
Time went on. And at last, when Horace could speak, and they asked him
about the old deer at the pond, he said that it was so--it was as they
had thought. It had been an almost deadly struggle between man and
beast; and Horace was to bear the marks upon the face and form that
had been loved so well to his life's end. A broken-featured man, lame,
with a stiff arm, and a sightless eye--and the story of his ruined
life no longer a secret--known to all.
Lady Greystock and Mrs. Evelyn remained at Beremouth. Mary Lorimer was
left at her grandmother's under the care of the trusty Jenifer. James
O'Keefe had returned to Ireland, leaving his niece and her history in
good guardianship with Father Daniels and Mr. Brewer; and Freddy,
being at school, had been happily kept out of the knowledge of all but
the surface facts, which were no secrets from anybody, that a man who
had been seen in the park and was a stranger in the neighborhood had
been suspected of being the perpetrator of the injuries of which the
old deer had been guilty. Poor old deer--poor aged Dapple! It was with
a firm hand and an unflinching determination that the kindest man
living met the beast once more at the deer-pond, and shot him dead.
Mr. Brewer would trust his death to no hand but his own--and there in
the thicket where he loved to hide a grave was dug, and the monarch of
the place was buried in it.
Lady Greystock and Eleanor kept their own rooms, and lived together
much as they had done latterly at Blagden. When Horace Erskine was fit
to leave his bed-room, he used to sit in a room that had been called
"Mr. Brewer's." It was, in fact, a sort of writing-room, fitted up
with a small useful library and opening at the end into a bright
conservatory. He had seen Lady Greystock. He knew of Eleanor being in
the house. He knew also that his former relations with her were known,
and he never denied, or sought to deny, the fact of their Catholic
marriage.
No one ever spoke to him on the subject. The subject that was first in
all hearts was to see him well and strong, and able to act for
himself. One thing it was impossible to keep from him; and that was
the anger of Mr. Erskine, his unde, an anger which Lucia his wife did
not try to modify. Mrs. Brewer wrote to her sister; Mr. Brewer pleaded
with his brother-in-law. Not a thing could they do to pacify them.
Horace was everything that was evil in their eyes; his worst crime in
the past was his having made a Catholic marriage with a beautiful
Irish girl, and their great dread for the future was that he would
make this marriage valid by the English law. They blamed Mr. Brewer
for keeping Eleanor in the house; they were thankless to Mr. Brewer
for still giving to Horace care, kindness, and a home. Finally, the
one great dread that included all other dreads, and represented the
overpowering woe, was that contained in the thought that Horace might
repent, and become a <DW7>.
Mr. Brewer, when it came to that, set his all-conquering kindness
aside for the time, or, to adopt his wife's words when describing
these seeming changes in her husbands's character, "he clothed his
kindness in temporary armor, and went out to fight." He replied to Mr.
and Mrs. Erskine that for such a grace to fall on Horace would be the
answer of mercy to the prayer of a poor woman's faith--that he and all
his household joined in that prayer; that priests at the altar, and
nuns in their holy homes, were all praying for that great result; and
that for himself he would only say that for such a mercy to fall upon
his house would make him glad for ever.
There was no disputing with a man who could so openly take his stand
on {332} such a broad ground of hope and prayer in such direct
opposition to the wishes of his neighbors. The Erskines became silent,
and Mr. Brewer had gained all he hoped for; peace, peace at least for
the time.
At last Horace was well enough to move, and Freddy's holidays were
approaching, and there was an unexpressed feeling that Horace was not
to be at Beremouth when the boy came back. Mr. Brewer proposed that
Horace should go for change of air to the same house in which Father
Dawson was lodging, just beyond Clayton, where the sea air might
refresh him, and the changed scene amuse his mind; and where, too, he
could have the benefit of all those baths, and that superior
attendance, described in the great painted advertisement that covered
the end of the lodging-houses in so promising a manner. Horace
accepted the proposal gladly. He grew almost bright under the
expectation of the change, and when the day came he appeared to
revive, even under the fatigue of a drive so much longer than any that
he had been before allowed to venture upon.
Mr. Dawson was to be kind, and to watch over him a little; and Father
Daniels was to visit him, and write letters for him, and be his,
adviser and his friend. Before he left Beremouth he had asked to see
Lady Greystock. She went with her father to his room quite with the
old Claudia Brewer cheerfulness prettily mingling with woman's
strength and woman's experience. He rose up, and said, "I wished to
ask you to forgive me, Lady Greystock--to forgive me my many sins
toward you!" She trembled a little, and said, "Mr. Erskine, may God
forgive _me_ my pride, my anger, my evil thoughts, which have made me
say so often I could never see nor pardon you." It seemed to require
all her strength to carry out the resolution with which she had
entered that room. "Of course," she went on, "the personal trial that
you brought upon me, here, in my young days, I know now to have been a
great blessing in a grief's disguise. Though not--_not yet_--a
Catholic, I know you were then, as now, a married man." Horace Erskine
never moved; he was still standing, holding by the heavy
writing-table, and his eyes were fastened on the carpet. She went on:
"Since then your wife, a beautiful and even an accomplished woman, has
become my own dear friend. We are living together, and until she has a
home of her own, we shall probably go on living together. I have
nothing, therefore, to say more, except--except--" Here her voice
trembled, and changed, and she was only just able to articulate her
last words so as to be understood by her hearers, "Except about my
dear husband's death--better death than life under misapprehension.
That too was a blessing perhaps. Let us leave it to the Almighty
Judge. I forgive you; if you wish to hear those words from my poor
erring lips, you may remember that I have said them honestly,
submitting to the will of _him_ who loves us, and from whom I seek
mercy for myself."
She turned round to leave the room. "Stop, Lady Greystock; stop!"
cried Horace. "In this solemn moment of sincerity, tell me--do you
think Eleanor loves me now?" "I would rather not give any opinion."
"If you have ever formed an opinion, give it. I entreat you to tell me
what is, as far as you know, the truth. Does Eleanor love me?" "Must I
speak, father?" "So solemnly entreated, I should say, _yes_." "Does
Eleanor love me?" groaned Horace. "No," said Lady Greystock; and
turning round quickly, she left her father alone with Horace, and went
out of the room.
Five years passed by. Freddy was growing into manhood, enjoying home
by his bright sister Lady {333} Greystock's side, and paying visits to
his other sister, the happy bride, Mrs. Harrington, of
Harrington-leigh, the master of which place, "a recent convert," as
the newspapers said, "had lately married the convert step-daughter of
Mr. Brewer, of Beremouth." Lady Greystock always lived with her father
now, united to him in faith, and joining him in such a flood of good
works that all criticism, all wonderment, all lamentation and argument
at "such a step!" was simply run down, overpowered, deluged, drowned.
The strong flowing stream of charity was irresistible. The solemn
music of its deep waters swallowed up all the surrounding cackle of
inharmonious talk. Nothing was heard at Beremouth but prayer and
praise--evil tongues passed by that great good house to exercise
themselves elsewhere. Evil people found no fitting habitation for
their wandering spirits in that home of holy peace. And all his life
Mr. Brewer walked humbly, looking at Claudia, and calling her "my
crown!" She knew why. He had repented with a great sorrow of those
early days when he had left her to others' teaching. He had prayed
secretly, with strong resolutions, to be blessed with forgiveness. And
at last the mercy came--"crowned at last. All the mercies of my life
crowned by the great gift of Claudia's soul." So the good man went on
his way a penitent. Always in his own sight a penitent. Always
recommending himself to God in that one character--as a penitent.
Five years were passed, and Lady Greystock had been at Mary's wedding,
and was herself at Beremouth, still in youth and beauty, once more the
petted daughter of the house--but Eleanor was there no longer. Full
three years had passed since Eleanor had gone to London with Lady
Greystock, and elected not to return. They heard from her however,
frequently; and knew where she was. When these letters came Claudia
would drive off to Marston to see Grandmamma Morier, still enjoying
life under Jenifer's care. The letters would be read aloud upstairs in
the pretty drawing-room where the fine old china looked as gay and
bright as ever, and where not a single cup and saucer had changed its
place. Jenifer would listen. Taking careful note of every expression,
and whispering--sometimes in the voice of humble prayer, sometimes in
soft tones of triumphant thanksgiving--"My life, and all that is in
it!"
But now this five years' close had been marked by a great fact; the
death of Horace Erskine's uncle, and his great estate passing to his
nephew, whom he had never seen since their quarrel with him, but whom
he had so far forgiven as not to alter his will.
Horace Erskine was in London; and his Beremouth friends were going up
to town to welcome him home after four years of life on the continent.
London was at its fullest and gayest. Mr. Erskine had been well known
there, making his yearly visits, taking a great house, and attracting
round him all the talent of the day. A very rich man, thoroughly well
educated, with a fine place in Scotland, and his beautiful wife Lucia
by his side, he found himself welcome, and made others in their turn
welcome too. Now all this was past. For two seasons London had missed
Mr. Erskine, and he had been regretted and lamented over, as a
confirmed invalid. Now he was dead. And after a little brief wonder
and sorrow the attention of the world was fixed upon his heir, and
people of fashion, pleasure, and literature got ready their best
smiles for his approval.
Horace had been well enough known once. Never exactly sought {334}
after by heads of homes, for he was too much of a speculation. He was
known to be in debt; and all inquiries as to his uncle's property had
been quenched again and again by those telling words, "no entail." But
Horace had had his own world; and had been only too much of a hero in
it. That world, however, had lost him; and as the wheels of fashion's
chariot fly fast, the dust of the light road rises as a cloud and
hides the past, and the people that belonged to Horace Erskine had
been left behind and forgotten. Now, however, Memory was alive, and
brushing up her recollections; and Memory had found a tongue, and was
hoping and prophesying to the fullest extent of friend Gossip's
requirements, when the news came that Horace Erskine had arrived. "He
has taken that charming house looking on to the park. Mr. Tudor had
seen him. Nobody would know him. Broken nose, my dear! And he was so
handsome. He is lame, too--or if not lame, he has a stiff shoulder. I
forget which it is. He was nearly killed by some mad animal in the
park at Beremouth. He behaved with the most wonderful courage,
actually fought and conquered! But he was gored and trampled
on--nearly trampled to death. I heard all the particulars at the time.
His chest was injured, and he was sent to a warmer climate. And there
he turned <DW7>. He did, indeed! and his uncle never forgave him. But
I suspect it was a love affair. You know he has brought his wife home.
And she is lovely, everybody who has seen her says. She is so very
still--too quiet--too statuesque--that is her only fault in fact. But
all the world is talking of her, and if you have not yet seen her lose
no time in getting introduced; she is the wonder of the day."
And so ran the talk--and such was Eleanor's welcome as Horace
Erskine's wife. Her husband had really repented, and had sought her,
and won her heart all over again, and married her once more.
To have these great triumphs of joy and justice in her life was
granted to Jenifer's Prayer.
------
From The Month.
SAINTS OF THE DESERT.
BY VERY REV. J. H. NEWMAN, D.D.
1. Abbot Cyrus said to a brother: "If thou hadst no fight with bad
thoughts, it would be because thou didst bad actions; for they who do
bad actions are thereby rid of bad thoughts."
"But," said the other, "I have bad memories."
The abbot answered: "They are but ghosts; fear not the dead, but the
living."
2. When Agatho was dying, his brethren would have asked him some
matter of business. He said to them: "Do me this charity; speak no
more with me, for I am full of business already." And he died in joy.
3. An old man visited one of the fathers. The host boiled some
pot-herbs, and said: "First let us do the work of God, and then let us
eat."
------
{335}
[ORIGINAL.]
CHRISTINE:
A TROUBADOUR'S SONG,
IN FIVE CANTOS.
BY GEORGE H. MILES. [Footnote 53]
[Footnote 53: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year
1866, by Lawrence Kehoe, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court
of the United States for the Southern District of New York.]
(CONCLUDED.)
THE FOURTH SONG.
I.
Amid the gleam of princely war
Christine sat like the evening star,
Pale in the sunset's pageant bright,
A separate and sadder light.
O bitter task
To rear aloft that shining head,
While round thee, cruel whisperers ask--
"Marry, what aileth the Bridegroom gay?
The heralds have waited as long as they may.
Yet never a sign of the gallant Grey.
Is Miolan false or dead?"
II.
The Dauphin eyed Christine askance:
"We have tarried too long," quoth he;
"Doth the Savoyard fear the thrust of France?
By the Bride of Heaven, no laggard lance
Shall ever have guard of thee!"
{336}
You could see the depths of the dark eyes shine
And a glow on the marble cheek,
As she whispered, "Woe to the Dauphin's line
When the eagle shrieks and the red lights shine
Bound the towers of Pilate's Peak."
She levelled her white hand toward the west,
Where the omen beacon shone;
And he saw the flame on the castle crest.
And a livid glare light the mountain's breast
Even down to the rushing Rhone.
Never braver lord in all the land
Than that Dauphin true and tried;
But the rein half fell from his palsied hand
And his fingers worked at the jewelled brand
That shook in its sheath at his side.
For it came with a curse from earliest time,
It was carved on his father's halls,
It had haunted him ever from clime to clime,
And at last the red light of the ancient rhyme
Is burning on Pilate s walls!
Yet warrior-like beneath his feet
Trampling the sudden fear,
He cried, "Let thy lover's foot be fleet--
If thy Savoyard would wed thee, sweet.
By Saint Mask, he were better here!
"For I know by yon light there is danger near,
And I swear by the Holy Shrine,
Be it virgin spear or Miolan's heir.
The victor to-day shall win and wear
This menaced daughter of mine!"
The lists are aflame with the gold and steel
Of knights in their proud array,
And gong and tymbalon chiming peal
As forward the glittering squadrons wheel
To the jubilant courser's neigh.
The Dauphin springs to the maiden's side,
And thrice aloud cries he,
"Ride, gallants all, for beauty ride,
Christine herself is the victor's bride.
Whoever the victor be!"
{337}
And thrice the heralds cried it aloud,
While a wondering whisper ran
From the central lists to the circling crowd,
For all knew the virgin hand was vowed
To the heir of Miolan.
Quick at the Dauphin's plighted word
Full many an eve flashed fire,
Full many a knight took a truer sword,
Tried buckle and girth, and many a lord
Chose a stouter lance from his squire.
Back to the barrier's measured bound
Each gallant speedeth away;
Then, forward fast to the trumpet's sound,
A hundred horsemen shake the ground
And meet in the mad melee.
Crimson the spur and crimson the spear,
The blood of the brave flows fast;
But Christine is deaf to the dying prayer,
Blind to the dying eyes that glare
On her as they look their last.
She sees but a Black Knight striking so well
That the bravest shun his path;
His name or his nation none may tell,
But wherever he struck a victim fell
At the feet of that shape of wrath.
"'Fore God," quoth the Dauphin, "that unknown sword
Is making a merry day!"
But where, oh where is the Savoyard,
For low in the slime of that trampled sward
Lie the flower of the Dauphinee!
And the victor stranger rideth alone,
Wiping his bloody blade;
And now that to meet him there is none.
Now that the warrior work is done,
He moveth toward the maid.
Sternly, as if he came to kill,
Toward the damsel he turneth his rein;
His trumpet sounding a challenge shrill,
While the fatal lists of La Sone are still
As he paces the purple plain.
{338}
A hollow voice through the visor cried,
"Mount to the crupper with me.
Mount, Ladye, mount to thy master's side.
For 'tis said and 'tis sworn thou shalt be the Bride
Of the victor, whoever he be."
At sound of that voice a sudden flame
Shot out from the Dauphin's eyes,
And he said, "Sir Knight, ere we grant thy claim,
Let us see the face, let us hear the name,
Of the gallant who winneth the prize."
"'Tis a name you know and a face you fear,"
The Wizard Knight began;
"Or hast thou forgotten that midnight drear,
When my sleeping fathers felt the spear
Of Vienne and Miolan?
"Ay, quiver and quail in thy coat of mail,
For hark to the eagle's shriek;
See the red light burns for the coming bale!"
And all knew as he lifted his aventayle
The Knight of Pilate's Peak.
From the heart of the mass rose a cry of wrath
As they sprang at the shape abhorred,
But he swept the foremost from his path,
And the rest fell back from the fatal swath
Of that darkly dripping sword.
But uprose the Dauphin brave and bold,
And strode out upon the green,
And quoth he, "Foul fiend, if my purpose hold,
By my halidome, tho' I be passing old,
We'll splinter a lance for Christine.
"Since her lovers are low or recreant.
Her champion shall be her sire;
So get a fresh lance from yonder tent.
For though my vigor be something spent
I fear neither thee nor thy fire!"
Swift to the stirrup the Dauphin he sprang,
The bravest and best of his race:
No bugle blast for the combat rang;
Save the clattering hoof and the armor clang,
All was still as each rode to his place.
{339}
With the crash of an April avalanche
They meet in that merciless tilt;
Back went each steed with shivering haunch.
Back to the croup bent each rider staunch.
Shivered each spear to the hilt.
Thrice flies the Baron's battle-axe round
The Wizard's sable crest;
But the coal-black steed, with a sudden bound,
Hurled the old Crusader to the ground,
And stamped on his mailed breast.
Thrice by the vengeful war-horse spurned,
Lowly the Dauphin lies;
While the Black Knight laughed as again he turned
Toward the lost Christine, and his visor burned
As he gazed at his beautiful prize.
Her doom you might read in that gloating stare,
But no fear in the maid can you see;
Nor is it the calm of a dumb despair,
For hope sits aglow on her forehead fair.
And she murmurs, "At last--it is he!"
Proudly the maiden hath sprung from her seat,
Proudly she glanceth around,
One hand on her bosom to stay its beat,
For hark! there's a sound like the flying feet
Of a courser, bound after bound.
Clearing the lists with a leopard-like spring,
Plunging at top of his speed.
Swift o'er the ground as a bird on the wing.
There bursts, all afoam, through the wondering ring,
A gallant but riderless steed.
Arrow-like straight to the maiden he sped.
With a long, loud, tremulous neigh,
The rein flying loose round his glorious head.
While all whisper again, "Is the Savoyard dead?"
As they gaze at the riderless Grey.
One sharp, swift pang thro' the virgin heart,
One wildering cry of woe.
Then fleeter than dove to her calling nest,
Lighter than chamois to Malaval's crest
She leaps to the saddle bow.
{340}
"Away!" He knew the sweet voice; away,
With never a look behind;
Away, away, with echoing neigh
And streaming mane, goes the gallant Grey,
Like an eagle before the wind.
They have cleared the lists, they have passed her bower,
And still they are thundering on;
They are over the bridge--another hour,
A league behind them the Leaning Tower
And the spires of Saint Antoine.
Away, away in their wild career
Past the <DW72>s of Mont Surjeu;
Thrice have they swum the swift Isere,
And firm and clear in the purple air
Soars the Grand Som full in view.
Rough is their path and sternly steep,
Yet halting never a whit,
Onward the terrible pace they keep,
While the good Grey, breathing free and deep,
Steadily strains at the bit.
They have left the lands where the tall hemp springs,
Where the clover bends to the bee;
They have left the hills where the red vine flings
Her clustered curls of a thousand rings
Round the arms of the mulberry tree.
They have left the lands where the walnut lines
The roads, and the chestnuts blow;
Beneath them the thread of the cataract shines,
Around them the plumes of the warrior pines.
Above them the rock and the snow.
Thick on his shoulders the foam flakes lay.
Fast the big drops roll from his chest,
Yet on, ever on, goes the gallant Grey,
Bearing the maiden as smoothly as spray
Asleep on the ocean's breast.
Onward and upward, bound after bound,
By Bruno's Bridge he goes;
And now they are treading holy ground,
For the feet of her flying Caliph sound
By the cells of the Grand Chartreuse.
{341}
Around them the darkling cloisters frown,
The sun in the valley hath sunk;
When right in her path, lo! the long white gown,
The withered face and the shaven crown
And the shrivelled hand of a monk.
A light like a glittering halo played
Round the brow of the holy man;
With lifted finger her course he stayed,
"All is not well," the pale lips said,
"With the heir of Miolan.
"But in Chambery hangs a relic rare
Over the altar stone:
Take it, and speed to thy Bridegroom's bier;
If the Sacristan question who sent thee there,
Say, 'Bruno, the Monk of Cologne.'"
She bent to the mane while the cross he signed
Thrice o'er the suppliant head:
"Away with thee, child!" and away like the wind
She went, with a startled glance behind,
For she heard an ominous tread.
The moon is up, 'tis a glorious night,
They are leaving the rock and the snow,
Mont Blanc is before her, phantom white,
While the swift Isere, with its line of light,
Cleaves the heart of the valley below.
But hark to the challenge, "Who rideth alone?"--
"O warder, bid me not wait!--
My lover lies dead and the Dauphin o'erthrown--
A message I bear from the Monk of Cologne"--
And she swept thro' Chambery's gate.
The Sacristan kneeleth in midnight prayer
By Chamber's altar stone.
"What meaneth this haste, my daughter fair?"
She stooped and murmured in his ear
The name of the Monk of Cologne.
Slowly he took from its jewelled case
A kerchief that sparkled like snow.
And the Minster shone like a lighted vase
As the deacon unveiled the gleaming face
Of the Santo Sudario.
{342}
A prayer, a tear, and to saddle she springs,
Clasping the relic bright;
Away, away, for the fell hoof rings
Down the hillside behind her--God give her wings!
The fiend and his horse are in sight.
On, on, the gorge of the Doriat's won,
She is nearing her Savoyard's home,
By the grand old road where the warrior son
Of Hanno swept with his legions dun,
On his mission of hatred to Rome.
The ancient oaks seem to rock and reel
As the forest rushes by her,
But nearer cometh the clash of steel,
And nearer falleth the fatal heel,
With its flickering trail of fire.
Then first the brave young heart grew sick
'Neath its load of love and fear,
For the Grey is breathing faint and quick,
And his nostrils burn and the drops fall thick
From the point of each drooping ear.
His glorious neck hath lost its pride,
His back fails beneath her weight.
While steadily gaining, stride by stride,
The Black Knight thunders to her side--
Heaven, must she meet her fate?
She shook the loose rein o'er the trembling head,
She laid her soft hand on his mane,
She called him her Caliph, her desert-bred,
She named the sweet springs where the palm trees spread
Their arms o'er the burning plain.
But the Grey looked back and sadly scanned
The maid with his earnest eyes--
A moment more and her cheek is fanned
By the black steed's breath, and the demon hand
Stretches out for the virgin prize.
But she calls on Christ, and the kerchief white
Waves full in the face of her foe:
Back with an oath reeled the Wizard Knight
As his steed crouched low in the wondrous light
Of the Santo Sudario.
{343}
Blinded they halt while the maiden hies,
The murmuring Arc she can hear,
And, lo! like a cloud on the shining skies,
Atop of yon perilous precipice,
The castle of Miolan's Heir.
"Fail not, my steed!"--Round her Caliph's head
The relic shines like the sun:
Leap after leap up the spiral steep,
He speeds to his master's castle keep,
And his glorious race is won.
"Ho, warder!"--At sight of the gallant Grey
The drawbridge thundering falls:
Wide goes the gate at that jubilant neigh,
And, glory to God for his mercy to-day,
She is safe within Miolan's walls.
THE FIFTH SONG.
I.
In the dim grey dawn by Miolan's gate
The fiend on his wizard war-horse sate.
The fair-haired maid at his trumpet call
Creeps weeping and wan to the outer wall:
"My curse on thy venom, my curse on thy spell,
They have slain the master I loved too well.
Thou saidst he should wake when the joust was o'er,
But oh, he never will waken more!"
She tore her fair hair, while the demon laughed,
Saying, "Sound was the sleep that thy lover quaffed;
But bid the warder unbar the gate,
That the lost Christine may meet her fate."
II.
"Hither, hither thou mailed man
With those woman's tears in thine eyes,
With thy brawny cheek all wet and wan,
Show me the heir of Miolan,
Lead where my Bridegroom lies."
{344}
And he led her on with a sullen tread.
That fell like a muffled groan,
Through halls as silent as the dead,
'Neath long grey arches overhead,
Till they came to the shrine of Moan.
What greets her there by the torches' glare?
In vain hath the mass been said!
Low bends the sire in mute despair,
Low kneels the Hermit in silent prayer.
Between them the mighty dead.
No tear she shed, no word she spoke,
But gliding up to the bier,
She took her stand by the bed of oak
Where her Savoyard lay in his sable cloak,
His hand still fast on his spear.
She bent her burning cheek to his,
And rested it there awhile.
Then touched his lips with a lingering kiss,
And whispered him thrice, "My love, arise,
I have come for thee many a mile!"
The man of God and the ancient Knight
Arose in tremulous awe;
She was so beautiful, so bright,
So spirit-like in her bridal white,
It seemed in the dim funereal light
Twas an angel that they saw.
"Thro' forest fell, o'er mount and dell,
Like the falcon, hither I've flown.
For I knew that a fiend was loose from hell,
And I bear a token to break this spell
From Bruno, the Monk of Cologne.
"Dost thou know it, love? when fire and sword
Flamed round the Holy Shrine,
It was won by thee from the Paynim horde,
It was brought by thee to Bruno's guard,
A gift from Palestine.
"Wake, wake, my love! In the name of Grace,
That hath known our uttermost woe,
Lo! this thorn-bound brow on thine I place!"
And, once more revealed, shone the wondrous face
Of the Santo Sudario.
{345}
At once over all that ancient hall
There went a luminous beam;
Heaven's deepest radiance seemed to fall,
The helmets shine on the shining wall,
And the faded banners gleam.
And the chime of hidden cymbals rings
To the song of a cherub choir;
Each altar angel waves his wings,
And the flame of each altar taper springs
Aloft in a luminous spire.
And over the face of the youth there broke
A smile both stern and sweet;
Slowly he turned on the bed of oak,
And proudly folding his sable cloak
Around him, sprang to his feet.
Back shrank the sire, half terrified,
Both he and the Hermit, I ween;
But she--she is fast to her Savoyard's side,
A poet's dream, a warrior's bride,
His beautiful Christine.
Her hair's dark tangles all astray
Adown her back and breast;
The print of the rein on her hand still lay.
The foam-flakes of the gallant Grey
Scarce dry on her heaving breast.
She told the dark tale and how she spurred
From the Knight of Pilate's Peak;
You scarce would think the Bridegroom heard.
Save that the mighty lance-head stirred.
Save for the flush in his cheek;
Save that his gauntlet clasped her hair--
And oh, the look that swept
Between them!--all the radiant air
Grew holier--it was like a prayer--
And they who saw it wept.
E'en the lights on the altar brighter grew
In the gleam of that heavenly gaze;
The cherub music fell soft as dew,
The breath of the censer seemed sweeter too.
The torches mellowed their requiem hue,
And burnt with a bridal blaze.
{346}
And the Baron clasps his son with a cry
Of joy as his sorrows cease;
While the Hermit, wrapt in his Rosary,
Feels that the world beneath the sky
Hath yet its planet of peace.
But hark! by the drawbridge, shrill and clear,
A trumpet's challenge rude:
The heart of Christine grew faint with fear,
But the Savoyard shook his mighty spear,
And the blood in his forehead stood.
"Beware, beware, 'tis the Fiend!" quoth she:
"Whither now!" asks the ancient Knight,
"What meanest thou, boy?--Leave the knave to me:
Wizard, or fiend, or whatever he be,
By the bones of my fathers, he shall flee
Or ne'er look on morning light.
"What, thou just risen from the grave,
Atilt with an armed man?
Dost dream that youth alone is brave,
Dost deem these sinews too old to save
The honor of Miolan?"
But the youth he answered with gentlest tone,
"I know thee a warrior staunch.
But this meeting is meant for me alone.
Unhand me, my lord, have I woman grown?
Wouldst stop the rushing of the Rhone,
Or stay the avalanche?"
He broke from his sire as breaks the flash
From the soul of the circling storm:
You could hear the grasp of his gauntlet crash
On his quivering lance and the armor clash
Round that tall young warrior form.
"Be this thy shield?" the maiden cried,
Her hand on the kerchief of snow;
"If forth to the combat thou wilt ride,
Face to face be the Fiend defied
With the Santo Sudario!"
But the young Knight laid the relic rare
On the ancient altar-stone;
"Holy weapons to men of prayer.
Lance in rest and falchion bare
Must answer for Miolan's son."
{347}
Again the challenger's trumpet pealed
From the barbican, shrill and clear;
And the Savoyard reared his dinted shield,
Its motto, gold on an azure field--
"ALLES ZU GOTT UND IHR."
To horse!--From the hills the dawning day
Looks down on the sleeping plain;
In the court-yard waiteth the gallant Grey,
And the castle rings with a joyous neigh
As the Knight and his steed meet again.
And the coal-black charger answers him
From the space beyond the gate,
From the level space, where dark and dim
In the morning mists, like giant grim,
The Fiend on his war-horse sate.
Oh, the men at arms how they stared aghast
When the Heir of Miolan leapt
To saddle-bow sounding his bugle-blast;
How the startled warder breathless gasped.
How the hoary old seneschal wept!
And the fair-haired maid with a sob hath sprung
To the lifted bridle rein;
Fast to his knee her white arms clung,
While the waving gold of her fair hair hung
Mixed with Grey Caliph's mane.
"O Miolan's heir, O master mine,
O more than heaven adored,
Live to forget this slave of thine,
Wed the dark-eyed Maid of Palestine,
But dare not yon demon sword!"
But the Baron thundered, "Off with the slave!"
And they tore the white arms away,
"A woman 's a curse in the path of the brave;
Level thy lance and upon the knave,
For he laughs at this fool delay!
"But pledge me first in this beaker bright
Of foaming Cyprian wine;
Thou hast fasted, God wot, like an anchorite.
Thy cheeks and brow are a trifle white,
And, 'fore heaven, thou shall bear thee in this fight
As beseemeth son of mine!"
{348}
The youth drank deep of the burning juice
Of the mighty Maretel,
Then, waving his hand to his Ladye thrice,
Swifter than snow from the precipice,
Spurred full on the infidel.
"O Bridegroom bold, beware my brand!"
The Knight of Pilate cries,
"For 'tis written in blood by Eblis' hand,
No mortal might may mine withstand
Till the dead in arms arise."
"The dead are up, and in arms arrayed,
They have come at the call of fate:
Two days, two nights, as thou know'st, I've laid
On oaken bier"--and again there played
That halo light round the Mother Maid
In the niche by the castle gate.
Each warrior reared his shining targe,
Each plumed helmet bent.
Each lance thrown forward for the charge,
Each steed reined back to the very marge
Of the mountain's sheer descent.
The rock beneath them seemed to groan
And shudder as they met;
Away the splintered lance is thrown,
Each falchion in the morning shone,
One blade uncrimsoned yet
But the blood must flow and that blade must glow
E'er their deadly work be done;
Steel rang to steel, blow answered blow,
From dappled dawn till the Alpine snow
Grew red in the risen sun.
The Bridegroom's sword left a lurid trail,
So fiercely and fleetly it flew;
It rang like the rattling of the hail,
And wherever it fell the sable mail
Was wet with a ghastly dew.
The Baron, watching with stern delight,
Felt the heart in his bosom swell:
And quoth he, "By the mass, a gallant sight!
These old eyes have gazed on many a fight,
But, boy, as I live, never saw I knight
Who did his devoir so well!"
{349}
And oh, the flush o'er his face that broke,
The joy of his shining eyes,
When, backward beaten, stroke by stroke,
The wizard reeled, like a falling oak,
Toward the edge of the precipice.
On the trembling verge of that perilous steep
The demon stood at bay.
Calling with challenge stern and deep,
That startled the inmost castle keep,
"Daughter of mine, here's a dainty leap
We must take together to-day.
"Come, maiden, come!" Swift circling round,
Like bird in the serpent's gaze,
She sprang to his side with a single bound.
While the black steed trampled the flinty ground
To fire, his nostrils ablaze.
"Farewell!" went the fair-haired maiden's cry,
Shrilling from hill to hill;
"Farewell, farewell, it was I, 'twas I,
Who sinned in a jealous agony,
But I loved thee too well to kill!"
High reared the steed with the hapless pair,
A plunge, a pause, a shriek,
A black plume loose in the middle air,
A foaming plash in the dark Isere,--
Thus banished for ever the maiden fair
And the Knight of Pilate's Peak.
A mighty cheer shook the ancient halls,
A white hand waved in the sun,
The vassals all on the outer wall
Clashed their arms at the brave old Baron's call,
"To my arms, mine only one!"
But oh, what aileth the gallant Grey,
Why droopeth the barbed head?
Slowly he turned from that fell tourney
And proudly breathing a long, last neigh,
At the castle gate fell dead.
III.
Lost to all else, forgotten e'en
The dark eyes of his dear Christine,
His fleet foot from the stirrup freed,
The Knight knelt by his fallen steed.
{350}
Awhile with tone and touch of love
To cheer him to his feet he strove:
Awhile he shook the bridle-rein--
That glazing eye!--alas, in vain.
Bareheaded on that fatal field.
His gauntlet ringing on his shield,
His voice a torrent deep and strong,
The warrior's soul broke forth in song.
THE KNIGHT'S SONG
And art thou, _art_ thou dead,--
Thou with front that might defy
The gathered thunders of the sky.
Thou before whose fearless eye
All death and danger fled!
My Khalif, hast thou sped
Homeward where the palm-trees' feet
Bathe in hidden fountains sweet,
Where first we met as lovers meet,
My own, my desert-bred!
Thy back has been my home;
And, bending o'er thy flying neck,
Its white mane waving without speck,
I seemed to tread the galley's deck.
And cleave the ocean's foam.
Since first I felt thy heart
Proudly surging 'neath my knee,
As earthquakes heave beneath the sea,
Brothers in the field were we;
And must we, _can_ we part?
To match thee there was none!
The wind was laggard to thy speed:
O God, there is no deeper need
Than warrior's parted from his steed
When years have made them one.
And shall I never more
Answer thy laugh amid the clash
Of battle, see thee meet the flash
Of spears with the proud, pauseless dash
Of billows on the shore?
{351}
And all our victor war,
And all the honors men call mine,
Were thine, thou voiceless warrior, thine;
My task was but to touch the rein--
There needed nothing more.
Worst danger had no sting
For thee, and coward peace no charm;
Amid red havoc's worst alarm
Thy swoop as firm as through the storm
The eagle's iron wing.
O more than man to me!
Thy neigh outsoared the trumpet's tone.
Thy back was better than a throne,
There was no human thing save one
I loved as well as thee!
O Knighthood's truest friend!
Brave heart by every danger tried,
Proud crest by conquest glorified.
Swift saviour of my menaced Bride,
Is this, is _this_ the end?--
Thrice honored be thy grave!
Wherever knightly deed is sung.
Wherever minstrel harp is strung,
There too thy praise shall sound among
The beauteous and the brave.
And thou shalt slumber deep
Beneath our chapel's cypress sheen;
And there thy lord and his Christine
Full oft shall watch at morn and e'en
Around their Khalif's sleep.
There shalt thou wait for me
Until the funeral bell shall ring.
Until the funeral censer swing.
For I would ride to meet my King,
My stainless steed, with thee!
----
The song has ceased, and not an eye
'Mid all those mailed men is dry;
The brave old Baron turns aside
To crush the tear he cannot hide.
{352}
With stately step the Bridegroom went
To where, upon the battlement,
Christine herself, all weeping, leant.
Well might that crested warrior kneel
At such a shrine, well might he feel
As if the angel in her eyes
Gave all that hallows Paradise.
And when her white hands' tender spell
Upon his trembling shoulder fell.
Upward one reverent glance he cast,
Then, rising, murmured, "Mine at last!"
"Yes, thine at last!" Still stained with blood
The Dauphin's self beside them stood.
"Fast as mortal steed could flee,
My own Christine, I followed thee.
Saint George, but 'twas a gallant sight
That miscreant hurled from yonder height:
Brave boy, that single sword of thine,
Methinks, might hold all Palestine.
But see, from out the shrine of Moan
Cometh the good Monk of Cologne,
Bearing the relic rare that woke
Our warrior from his bed of oak.
See him pass with folded hands
To where the shaded chapel stands.
The Bridegroom well hath won the prize,
There stands the priest, and there the altar lies."
IV.
When the moon rose o'er lordly Miolan
That night, she wondered at those ancient walls:
Bright tapers flashing from a hundred halls
Lit all the mountain--liveried vassals ran
Trailing from bower to bower the wine-cup, wreathed
With festal roses--viewless music breathed
A minstrel melody, that fell as falls
The dew, less heard than felt; and maidens laughed.
Aiming their curls at swarthy men who quaffed
Brimmed beakers to the newly wed: while some
Old henchmen, lolling on the court-yard green
Over their squandered Cyprus, vowed between
Their cups, "there was no pair in Christendom
To match their Savoyard and his Christine?"
----
{353}
The Trovere ceased, none praised the lay,
Each waited to hear what the King would say.
But the grand blue eye was on the wave,
Little recked he of the tuneless stave:
He was watching a bark just anchored fast
With England's banner at her mast,
And quoth he to the Queen, "By my halidome,
I wager our Bard Blondel hath come!"
E'en as he spoke, a joyous cry
From the beach proclaimed the Master nigh;
But the merry cheer rose merrier yet
When the Monarch and his Minstrel met.
The Prince of Song and Plantagenet.
"A song!" cried the King. "Thou art just in time
To rid our ears of a vagrant's rhyme:
Prove how that recreant voice of thine
Hath thriven at Cyprus, bard of mine!"
The Minstrel played with his golden wrest,
And began the "_Fytte of the Bloody Vest_."
The vanquished Trovere stole away
Unmarked by lord or ladye gay:
Perchance one quick, kind glance he caught,
Perchance that glance was all he sought.
For when Blondel would pause to tune
His harp and supplicate the moon,
It seemed as tho' the laughing sea
Caught up the vagrant melody;
And far along the listening shore.
Till every wave the burthen bore,
In long, low echoes might you hear--
"Alles, Alles zu Gott und Ihr!"
------
{354}
From The Dublin Review.
THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS OF ALEXANDRIA.--ORIGEN.
_Origenis Opera Omnia_, Ed. De la Rue, accurante J. P. Migne.
Parisiis. _S. Gregorii Thaumaturgi_, Oratio Panegyrica in Origenem
(Opera Omnia), accurante J. P. Migne. Parisiis.
Last July we commenced a sketch of the history and labors of Origen.
We resume our notes on those twenty years (211-280) which he spent
with little interruption at Alexandria, engaged chiefly in the
instruction of the catechumens. We have already seen what he did for
the New Testament; let us now study his labors on the Old.
The authorship of that most famous Greek version of the Old Testament,
the Septuagint, seems destined to be a mystery in literature. The
gorgeous and circumstantial account of the Jew Aristeas, with all its
details of embassy and counter-embassy, of the seventy-two venerable
sages, the cells in the rock, the reverence of the Ptolemy, and the
wind-up of banquets, gifts, and all good things, seems, as Dom
Montfaucon says, to "savor of the fabulous." There is some little
difficulty about dates in the matter of Demetrius Phalerius, the
literary minister under whose auspices the event is placed. There is a
far more formidable difficulty in the elevation of Philadelphus, a
cruel, sensual despot, into a devout admirer of the law of Moses,
bowing seven times and weeping for joy in presence of the sacred
documents, and in the sudden conversion of all the cultivated Greeks
who are concerned in the story. The part of Aristeas's narration which
regards the separate cells, and the wonderful agreement of the
translations, is curtly set down by St. Jerome as a fiction. It seems
probable, moreover, that the translator of the Pentateuch was not the
same as the translate of the other parts of the Old Testament. In the
midst of uncertainties and probabilities, however, four things seem to
be tolerably clear; first, that the version called the LXX. was made
at Alexandria; secondly, that it was the work of different authors;
thirdly, that it was not inspired; fourthly, that it was a holy and
correct version, quoted by the apostles, always used in the Greek
church, and the basis of all the Latin editions before St Jerome's
Vulgate.
All the misfortunes that continual transcription, careless blundering,
and wilful corruption could combine to inflict upon a manuscript had
fallen to the lot of the Septuagint version at the time when it was
handed Origen to be used in the instruction of the faithful and the
refutation of Jew and Greek. This was only what might have been fully
expected from the fact that, since the Christian era, it had become
the court of appeal of two rival sets of controversialists--the
Christian and the Jew. Indeed, from the very beginning it had been
defective, and, if we may trust St. Jerome, designedly defective; for
the Septuagint translation of the prophetical books had purposely
omitted {355} passages of the Hebrew which its authors considered not
proper to be submitted to the sight of profane Greeks and Gentiles. Up
to the Christian era, however, we may suppose great discrepancies of
manuscript did not exist, and that those variations which did appear
were not much heeded in the comparatively rare transcription of the
text. The Hellenistic Jews and the Jews of Palestine used the LXX. in
the synagogues instead of the Hebrew. A few libraries of great cities
had copies, and a few learned Greeks had some idea of their existence.
Beyond this there was nothing to make its correctness of more
importance than that of a liturgy or psalm-book. But, soon after the
Christian era, its character and importance were completely changed.
The eunuch was reading the Septuagint version when Philip, by divine
inspiration, came up with him and showed him that the words he was
reading were verified in Jesus. This was prophetic of what was to
follow. The Christians used it to prove the divine mission of Jesus
Christ; the Jews made the most of it to confute the same. Thereupon,
somewhat suspiciously, there arose among the Jews a disposition to
underrate the LXX., and make much of the Hebrew original. Hebrew was
but little known, whereas all the intellectual commerce of the world
was carried on by means of that Hellenistic Greek which had been
diffused through the East by the conquests of Alexander. If,
therefore, the Jews could bar all appeals to the well-known Greek, and
remove the controversy to the inner courts of their own temple, the
decision, it might be expected, would not improbably turn out to be in
their own favor. Just before Origen's own time more than one Jew or
Judaizing heretic had attempted to produce Greek versions which should
supersede the Septuagint. Some ninety years before the period of which
we write, Aquila, a Jewish proselyte of Sinope, had issued what
professed to be a literal translation from the Hebrew. It was so
uncompromisingly literal that the reader sometimes found the Hebrew
word or phrase imported bodily into the Greek, with only the slight
alteration of new characters and a fresh ending. Its purpose was not
disavowed. It was to furnish the Greek-speaking Jews with a more exact
translation from the Hebrew, in order to fortify them in their
opposition to Christianity. Some five years later, Theodotion, an
Ebionite of Ephesus, made another version of the Septuagint; he did
not profess to re-translate it, but only to correct it where it
differed from the Hebrew. A little later, and yet another Ebionite
tried his hand on the Alexandrian version; this was Symmachus. His
translation was more readable than that of Aquila, as not being so
utterly barbarous in expression; but it was far from being elegant, or
even correct, Greek.
Of course Origen could never dream of substituting any of these
translations for the Septuagint, stamped as it was with the
approbation of the whole Eastern church. But still they might be made
very useful; indeed, notwithstanding the original sin of motive to
which they owed their existence, we have the authority of St. Jerome,
and of Origen himself, for saying that even the barbarous Aquila had
understood his work and executed it more fairly than might have been
expected. What Origen wanted was to get a pure Greek version. To do
this he must, of course, compare it with the Hebrew; but the Hebrew
itself might be corrupt, so he must seek help also elsewhere. Now
these Greek versions, made sixty, eighty, ninety years before, had
undoubtedly, he could see, been written with the Septuagint open
before their writers. Here, then, was a valuable means of testing how
far the present manuscripts of the Septuagint had been corrupted
during the last century at {356} least. He himself had collected some
such manuscripts, and the duties of his office made him acquainted
with many more. From the commencement of his career he had been
accustomed to compare and criticise them, and he had grown skilful, as
may be supposed, in distinguishing the valuable ones from those that
were worthless. We have said sufficient to show how the idea of the
"Hexapla" arose in his mind. The Hexapla was nothing less than a
complete transcription of the Septuagint side by side with the Hebrew
text, the agreement and divergence of the two illustrated by the
parallel transcription of the versions of Aquila, Theodotion, and
Symmachus; the remaining column containing the Hebrew text in Greek
letters. The whole of the Old Testament was thus transcribed sixfold
in parallel columns. These extra illustrations were furnished by the
partial use of three other Greek versions which Origen found or picked
up in his travels, and which he considered of sufficient importance to
be occasionally used in his great work. And Origen was not content
with the mere juxtaposition of the versions. The text of the
Septuagint given in the Hexapla was his own; that is to say, it was an
edition of the great authoritative translation completely revised and
corrected by the master himself. It was a great and a daring work. Of
its necessity there can be no doubt; but nothing except necessity
could have justified it; and it is certainly to the bold and
unprecedented character of the enterprise that we owe the shape that
he has given it in performance. To correct the Septuagint to his own
satisfaction was not enough; it must be corrected to the satisfaction
of jealous friends and, at least, reasonable enemies. Side by side,
therefore, with his amended text he gave the reasons and the proofs of
his corrections. He was scrupulously exact in pointing out where he
had altered by addition or subtraction. The Alexandrian critics had
invented a number of critical marks of varied shape and value, which
they industriously used on the works about which they exercised their
propensity to criticise. Origen, "Aristarchus sacer," as an admiring
author calls him, did not hesitate to avail himself of these profane
_notae_. There was the "asterisk," or star, which marked what he
himself had thought it proper to insert, and which, therefore, the
original authors of the Septuagint had apparently thought it proper to
leave out. Then there was the "obelus," or spit, the sign of
slaughter, as St. Jerome calls it; passages so marked were not in the
original Hebrew, and were thereby set down as doubtful and suspected
by sound criticism. Moreover, there was the "lemniscus," or pendent
ribbon, and its supplement, the "hypo-lemniscus;" what these marks
signified the learned cannot agree in stating. It seems certain,
however, that they were not of such a decided import as the first two,
but implied some minor degree of divergence from the Hebrew, as for
instance in those passages where the translators had given an elegant
periphrasis instead of the original word, or had volunteered an
explanation which a critic would have preferred to have had in the
margin. The "asterisk" and "obelus" still continue to figure in those
scraps of Origen's work that have come down to us; so, indeed, does
the lemniscus; but since the times of St. Epiphanius and St. Jerome no
MS. seems to make much distinction between it and the "asterisk." Of
the other marks, contractions, signs, and references which the MSS. of
Hexapla show, the greater part have been added by transcribers who had
various purposes in view. Some of these marks are easy to interpret,
others continue to exercise the acumen of the keenest critics.
The Hexapla, as may be easily supposed, was a gigantic work. The labor
of writing out the whole of the {357} Old Testament six times over,
not to mention those parts which were written seven, eight, or nine
times, was prodigious. First came the Hebrew text twice over, in
Hebrew characters in the first column, in Greek in the second.
Biblical scholars sigh to think of the utter loss of Origen's Hebrew
text, and of what would now be the state of textual criticism of the
Old Testament did we possess such a Hebrew version of a date anterior
to Masoretic additions. But among the scattered relics of the Hexapla
the Hebrew fragments are at once fewest in number and most disputable
in character. The two columns of Hebrew were followed by Aquila the
stiff, and be by Symmachus, so that the Jews could read their Hebrew
and their two favorite translations side by side. Next came the
Septuagint itself, pointed, marked, and noted by the master.
Theodotion closed the array, except where portions of the three extra
translations before mentioned had to be brought in. Beside these
formidable columns, which may be called the text of the Hexapla, space
had to be found for Origen's own marginal notes, consisting of
critical observations and explanations of proper names or difficult
words, with perhaps an occasional glance at the Syriac and Samaritan.
Fifty enormous _volumina_ would hardly have contained all this, when
we take into consideration that the characters were in no tiny Italian
hand, but in great broad uncial penmanship, such as befitted the text
and the occasion. The poverty and unprovidedness of Origen would never
have been able to carry such a work through had not that very poverty
brought him the command of money and means. It is always the detached
men who accomplish the really great things of the world. Origen had
converted from some form of heresy, probably from Valentinianism, a
rich Alexandrian named Ambrose. The convert was one of those zealous
and earnest men who, without possessing great powers themselves, are
always urging on and offering to assist those who have the right and
the ability to work, but perhaps not the means or the inclination. The
adamantine Origen required no one to keep him to his work; and yet the
grateful Ambrose thought he could make no better return for the gift
of the faith than to establish himself as prompter-in-chief to the man
that had converted him. He seems to have left his master very little
peace. He put all his wealth at his service, and it would appear that
he even forced him to lodge with him. He was continually urging Origen
to explain some passage of Scripture, or to rectify some doubtful
reading. During supper he had manuscripts on the table, and the two
criticised while they ate; and the same thing went on in their walks
and recreations. He sat beside him far into the night, prayed with him
when he left his books for prayer, and after prayer went back with him
to his books again. When the master looked round in his catechetical
lectures, doubtless the indefatigable Ambrose was there, note-book in
hand, and doubtless everything pertaining to the lectures was rigidly
discussed when they found themselves together again; for Ambrose was a
deacon of the church, and as such had great interest in its external
ministration. Origen calls him his [Greek text], or _work-presser_.
and in another place he says he is one of God's work-pressers. There
is little doubt that the Hexapla is in great measure owing to Ambrose.
Origen resisted long his friend's solicitations to undertake a
revision of the text; reverence for the sacred words, and for the
tradition of the ancients, held him back; but he was at length
prevailed upon. Ambrose, indeed, did a great deal more than advise and
exhort; he put at Origen's disposal seven short-hand writers, to take
down his dictations, and seven transcribers to write out fairly what
the others had taken down. And so the gigantic work was begun. When it
was finished we cannot exactly tell, but it cannot have been till near
the end of {358} his life, and it was probably completed at Tyre, just
before he suffered for the faith. After his death, the great work,
"opus Ecclesia," as it was termed, was placed in the library of
Caesarea of Palestine. Probably no copy of it was ever taken; the
labor was too great. It was seen, or at least quoted, by many; such as
Pamphylus the Martyr, Eusebius, St. Athanasius, Didymus, St. Hilary,
St. Eusebius of Vercelli, St. Epiphanius, St. Basil, St. Gregory
Nyssen, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and especially St. Jerome and
Theodoret. It perished in the sack of Caesarea by the Persians or the
Arabs, before the end of the seventh century. [Footnote 54]
[Footnote 54: A new edition of the fragments of the Hexapla is
announced, at we write, by Mr. Field, of Norwich. The first
instalment of this important work, for which there are now many more
materials than Dom Montfaucon had at command, may be expected almost
as we go to press. The editor's new sources are chiefly the recently
discovered Sinaitic MSS., and the Syro-Hexaplar version, part of
which he has lately re-translated into Greek in a very able manner,
by way of a specimen.]
We need not say much here about the Tetrapla. Its origin appears to
have been as follows: When the Hexapla was completed, or nearly
completed, it was evident that it was too bulky to be copied. Origen,
therefore, superintended the production of an abridgment of it. He
omitted the two columns of Hebrew, the great stumbling-block to
copyists, and suppressed some of his notes. He then transcribed
Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, putting his amended version of the
Septuagint, without the marks and signs, just before the last. The two
first answered the purposes of a Hebrew text, the last was a sort of
connecting link between it and the freedom of the Septuagint; and so,
for all practical purposes, he had a version that friends might put
their trust in, and that enemies could not dispute.
Such was the work that Origen did for the Bible. It was not all done
at once, in a year, or in ten years. It was begun almost without a
distinct conception of what it would one day grow to. It progressed
gradually, in the midst of many cares and much other labor, and it was
barely completed when its architect's busy life was drawing to a
close. Every one of those twenty years at Alexandria, which we are now
dwelling upon, must have seen the work going on. The seven short-hand
writers, and the seven young maidens who copied out, were Origen's
daily attendants, as he seems to say himself. But the catechetical
school was in full vigor all this time. Indeed, the critical fixing of
the Bible text, wonderful as it was, was only the material part of his
work. He had to preach the Bible, not merely to write it out. His
preaching will take us to a new scene and to new circumstances--to
Caesarea, where the greater part of his homilies were delivered. But,
before we accompany him thither, we must take a glance at his school
at Alexandria, and try to realize how he spoke and taught. We have
already described his manner of life, and the description of his
biblical labors will have given some idea of a very important part of
his daily work; what we have now to do is to supplement this by the
picture of him as the head of the great catechetical school.
One of the most striking characteristics of the career of Origen is
the way in which his work grew upon him. It is, indeed, a feature in
the lives of all the great geniuses who have served the church and
lived in her fold, that they have achieved greatness by an apparently
unconscious following of the path of duty rather than by any brilliant
excursion under the guidance of ambition. Origen was the very opposite
of a proud philosopher or self-appointed dogmatizer. He did not come
to his task with the consciousness that he was the man of his age, and
that he was born to set right the times. We have seen his birth and
bringing up, we have seen how he found himself in the important place
that he held, and we have seen how all his success {359} seemed to
come to him whilst he was merely bent on carrying through with the
utmost industry the affair that had been placed in his hands. We have
seen that, so far was he from trying to fit the gospel to the
exigencies of a cramped philosophy,--that he was brought up and passed
part of his youth without any special acquaintance with philosophy or
philosophers. He found, however, on resuming his duties as catechist,
that if he wished to do all the good that offered itself to his hand,
he must make himself more intimate with those great minds who, erring
as he knew them to be, yet influenced so much of what was good and
noble in heathenism. At that very time, a movement, perhaps a
resurrection, was taking place in Gentile philosophy. A teacher,
brilliant as Plato himself, and with secrets to develop that Plato had
only dreamt of, was in possession of the lecture-hall of the Museum.
Ammonius Saccas had landed at Alexandria as a common porter; nothing
but uncommon energy and extraordinary talents can have given him a
position in the university and a place in history, as the teacher of
the philosophic Trinity and the real founder of Neo-Platonism. Origen,
to whom the Museum had been strange ground in his early youth, saw
himself compelled to frequent it at the age of thirty. Saccas, to be
sure, was probably a Christian of some sort. At any rate, the
Christian teacher went and heard him, and made himself acquainted with
what it was that was charming the ears of his fellow-citizens, and
furnishing ground for half of the objections and difficulties that his
catechumens and would-be converts brought to him for solution. That
the influence of these studies is seen in his writings is not to be
denied. It would be impossible for any mind but the very dullest to
touch the spirit of Plato and not to be impressed and affected. The
writings of Origen at this period include three philosophical works.
There is first the "Notes on the Philosophers," which is entirely
lost. We may suppose it to have been the common-place book wherein was
entered what he learnt from his teacher, and what he thought of the
teacher and the doctrine. Then there is the "Stromata" (a work of the
same nature as the Stromata of his master, St. Clement), whose leading
idea was the great master-idea of Clement, that Plato and Aristotle
and the rest were all partially right, but had failed to see the whole
truth, which can only be known by revelation. This work, also, is
lost--all but a fragment or two. Thirdly, there is the celebrated
work, [Greek text], or, "De Principiis." Eusebius tells us expressly
that this work was written at Alexandria. Most unfortunately, we have
this treatise not in the original, but in two rival and contradictory
Latin versions, one by St. Jerome, the other by Ruffinus. Both profess
to be faithful renderings of a Greek original, and on the decision as
to which version is the genuine translation depends in great measure
the question of Origen's orthodoxy or heterodoxy. And yet this
treatise, "De Principiis," much as it has been abused, from Marcellus
of Ancyra down to the last French author who copied out Dom Ceillier,
and waiving the discussion of certain particular opinions that we may
have yet to advert to, seems to us to bear the stamp of Origen on
every page. It is such a work as a man would have written who had come
fresh from an exposition of deep heathen philosophy, and who felt,
with feelings too deep for expression, that all the beauty and depth
of the philosophy he had heard were overmatched a thousand times by
the philosophy of Jesus Christ. It is the first specimen, in Christian
literature, of a regular scientific treatise on the _principles_ of
Christianity. Every one knows that a discussion on the principles or
sources of the world, of man, of life, was one of the commonest shapes
of controversy between the {360} schools of philosophy; and at that
very time, the great Longinus, who probably sat beside Origen in the
school of Ammonius Saccas, was writing or thinking out a treatise with
the very title of that of Origen. It was a natural idea, therefore, to
show his scholars that he could give them better _principia_ than the
heathens. The treatise takes no notice, or next to none, of heathen
philosophy and its disputes; but it travels over well-known ground,
and what is more, it provokes comparison in a very significant manner.
For instance, the words wherewith it commences are words which Plato
introduces in the "Gorgias," and to those who knew that elaborate
dialogue, the sudden and unhesitating introduction of the name of
Christ, and the calm position that he and none else is the truth, and
that in him is the science of the good and happy life, must have been
quite as striking as its author probably intended it to be. The
treatise is not in the Platonic form--the dialogue; that form, which
was suitable to the days of the Sophists and the sharp-tongued
Athenians, had been superseded at Alexandria by the ornate monologue,
more suitable to an audience of novices and wonderers. Origen adopts
this form. One God made all things, himself a pure spirit; there is a
Trinity of divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; of the
rational creatures of God, some fell irremediably, others fell not at
all; others again--that is, the race of man--fell, but not
irremediably, having a mediator in Jesus Christ, being assisted by the
good angels and persecuted by the bad; the wonderful fact that the
Word was made flesh; man's free will, eternal punishment and eternal
reward; such are the heads of the subjects treated of in the "De
Principiis." The lame and disjointed condition of the present text is
evident on a very cursory examination; it is perfectly unworthy of the
"contra Celsum." But the reader who studies the text carefully, by the
light of contemporary thought, can hardly help thinking that materials
so solid and good must have been put together in a form as
satisfactory and as conclusive. A first attempt in any science is
always more admired for its genius than criticised for its faults.
This of Origen's was a first attempt toward a scientific theology. We
say a theology, not a philosophy; for, though philosophic in form, and
accepted as philosophy by his hearers, it is wholly theological in
matter, being founded on the continual word of Holy Scripture, and not
unfrequently undertaking to refute heresy. Christianity, as we have
before observed, was looked upon by strangers as a philosophy, and its
doctors rightly allowed them to think so, and even called it so
themselves. Now the "De Principiis" was Origen's philosophy of
Christianity. It did not prove so much as draw out into system. It
answered all the questions of the day. What is God? asked the
philosophers. He is the creator of all things, and a pure spirit,
answered the Christian catechist. Is not this Trinity a wonderful
idea? said the young students to each other, after hearing Saccas.
Christianity, said Origen, teaches a Trinity far more awful and
wonderful, and far more reasonable, too--a Trinity, not of ideas, but
of persons. The new school talked of the inferior gods that ruled the
lower world, and of the demons, good and bad, who executed their
behests. The Christian philosopher explained the great fact of
creation, and laid down the true doctrine of guardian angels and
tempting devils. The constitution of man was another puzzle; the
rebellion of the passions, the nature of sin, the question of
free-will. Plotinus, who listened to Saccas at the same time as
Origen, has left us the attempts at the solution of these difficulties
that were accepted in the school of his master; the answers of Origen
may be read in the "De Principiis." The earnest among the heathen
{361} philosophers were totally in the dark as to the state of soul
and of body after death. Some were ashamed of having a body at all,
and few of them could see of what use it was, or how it could subserve
the great end of arriving at union with God. Origen dwells with marked
emphasis, and with tender lingering, on the great key of mysteries,
the incarnation, and its consequences, the resurrection of the flesh;
and shows how the body is to be kept down in this life by the rational
will, that it too may have its glory in the life to come. The whole
effort and striving of Neo-Platonism was to enable the soul to be
united with the Divinity. Origen accepted this; it was the object of
the Christian philosophy as well; but he drew into prominence two
all-important facts--first, the necessity of the grace of God;
secondly, the moral and not physical nature of the purification of the
soul; together with the Christian dogma that it was only after death
that perfect union could take place. All this must have been perfectly
fitted to the time and the occasion. And yet there are evident signs
that it was not delivered or written as a manifesto to the frequenters
of the Museum; it was evidently meant as an instruction to the upper
class of the catechetical school. Its author's first idea was that he
was a Christian teacher, and he spoke to Christians who believed the
Holy Scriptures. What his words might do for others he was not
directly concerned with, but there is no doubt that the subjects
treated of in the "De Principiis" must have been discussed over and
over again with those students and philosophers from the university
who, as Eusebius tells us, flocked to hear him in such numbers, and
also with that large class of Christians who still retained their love
of scientific learning, though believing most firmly in the faith of
Jesus Christ.
Of the matter of his ordinary catechetical instructions we need say
little, because it is evident that it would be mainly the same as it
has been under the like circumstances in all ages. Those of St. Cyril
of Jerusalem, delivered a century later, may furnish us with a good
idea of them, saving where doctrinal distinctions are discussed which
had not arisen in the time of the elder teacher. It is rather
extra-ordinary that so little trace has reached us of any formal
catechetical discourse of Origen. We are inclined to think, however,
that the "De Principiis," in its _original_ form, must have been the
summary or embodiment of his periodical instructions. But we have
numerous hints at what he taught in the several works on Holy
Scripture, some lost, some still partly extant, which he composed
during these twenty years at Alexandria. It appears that he was in the
habit of writing three different kinds of commentary on the
Scriptures; first, brief comments or notices, such as he has left in
the Hexapla; secondly, scholia, or explanations of some length; and
thirdly, regular homilies. But his homilies belong to a later period.
At Alexandria he commented St. John's Gospel (a labor that occupied
him all his life), Genesis, several of the Psalms, and the "Canticle
of Canticles," a celebrated work, yet extant in a Latin version, of
which it has been said that whereas in his other commentaries he
excelled all other interpreters, in this he excelled himself. But the
whole interesting subject of his creation of Scripture-commenting must
be treated of when we follow him to Caesarea, and listen to him
preaching.
What we desire now, to complete our idea of his Alexandrian career,
and of what we may call the inner life of his teaching, is, that some
one--a contemporary and a scholar, if possible--should describe his
method and manner, and let us know how he treated his hearers and how
they liked him. Fortunately, the very witness and document that we
want is ready to our hands. One of the most famous of Origen's
scholars was St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, and the most {362} interesting
of the extant works of that father is undoubtedly the discourse and
panegyric which he pronounced upon his master, on the occasion of
bidding farewell to his school. Gregory, or, as he was then called,
Theodore, and his brother Athenodorus, were of a noble and wealthy
family of Cappadocia; that is to say, probably, descendants of Greek
colonists of the times of the Alexandrian conquests, though, no doubt,
with much Syrian blood in their veins. When Gregory was fourteen they
lost their father, and the two wealthy young orphans were left to the
care of their mother. Under her guidance they were educated according
to their birth and position, and in a few years began to study for the
profession of public speakers. As they would have plenty of money, it
mattered little what they took to; but the profession of an orator was
something like what the bar is now, and gave a man an education that
would be useful if he required it, and ornamental whether he required
it or not. The best judges pronounced that the young men would soon be
finished _rhetores_; St. Gregory tells us so, but will not say whether
he thinks their opinion right, and before proof could be made the two
youths had been persuaded by a master they were very fond of to take
up the study of Roman jurisprudence. Berytus, a city of Phoenicia,
better known to the modern world as Beyrout, had just then attained
that great eminence as a school for Roman law which it preserved for
nigh three centuries. Thither the young Cappadocians were to go. Their
master had taught them what he could, and wished either to accompany
them to the law university or to send them thither to be finished and
perfected. It does not appear, however, that they ever really got
there. Most biographies of St. Gregory say that they studied there;
what St. Gregory himself says is, that they were on their way thither,
but that, having to pass through Caesarea (of Palestine), they met
with Origen, to whom they took so great an affection that he converted
them to Christianity and kept them by him there and at Alexandria for
five years. The "Oratio Panegyrica" was delivered at Caesarea, and
after the date of Origen's twenty years as catechist at Alexandria;
but it will be readily understood that the whole spirit, and, indeed,
the whole details, of the composition are as applicable to Alexandria
as to Caesarea; for his teaching work was precisely of the same nature
at the latter city as at the former, with a trifling difference in his
position. The oration of St. Gregory is a formal and solemn effort of
rhetoric, spoken at some public meeting, perhaps in the school, in the
presence of learned men and of fellow-students, and of the master
himself. It is written very elegantly and eloquently, but it is in a
style that we should call young, did we not know that to make parade
of apophthegms and weighty sayings, to moralize rather too much, to
pursue metaphors unnecessarily, and to beat about a thing with words
so as to do everything but say it, was the characteristic of most
orators, old and young, from the days of Ptolemy Philadelphus till the
days when oratory, as a profession, expired before anarchy and the
barbarians. But its literary merits, though great, are the least of
its recommendations. Its value as a theological monument is shown by
the appeals made to it in the controversy against Arius; and in more
recent times Bishop Bull, for instance, has made great use of it in
his "Defensio Fidei Nicaenae." To us, at present, its most important
service is the light it sheds upon the teaching of Origen. We need
make no apology for making St. Gregory the type of the Alexandrian or
Caesarean scholar; they may not have been all like him, but one real
living specimen will tell us more than much abstract description.
First of all, then, the scholar was not of an emphatically philosophic
cast of mind. The Greek philosophers were absolutely unknown to him.
He was a rich and clever young {363} man, bade fair to be a good
speaker, studied the law not because he liked it, but because his
friends and his master wished it; thought the Latin language very
imperial, but _very_ difficult; and had a habit of taking up what
opinions he did adopt more after the manner of clothes that he could
change as he pleased than as immutable truths. He was of a warm and
affectionate disposition, and had a keen appreciation of physical and
moral beauty. He was not without leanings to Christianity, but he
leaned to it in an easy, off-hand sort of way, as he might have leaned
to a new school in poetry or a new style of dress. He had no idea that
there is such a thing as the absolutely right and the absolutely wrong
in ethics any more than in taste. He was confirmed in this state of
mind by the philosophic schools of the day, among whom it was
considered disreputable to change one's opinions, however good the
reasons for a change might be; which was to degrade philosophy from
truth to the mere spirit of party, and to make a philosopher not a
lover of wisdom but a volunteer of opinion. So prepared and
constituted, the scholar, on his way to Berytus, fell in with Origen,
not so much by accident as by the disposition of Providence and the
guidance of his angel guardian; so at least he thought himself. The
first process which he went through at the hands of the master is
compared by the scholar to the catching of a beast, or a bird, or a
fish, in a net. Philosophizing had small charms for the accomplished
young man; to philosophize was precisely what the master had
determined he should do. We must remember the meaning of the word
[Greek text]; it meant to think, act, and live as a man who seeks true
wisdom. All the sects acknowledge this theoretically; what Clement and
Origen wanted to show, among other things, was that only a Christian
was a true philosopher in practice. Hence the net he spread for
Theodore, a net of words, strong and not to be broken. "You are a fine
and clever young man," he seemed to say; "but to what purpose are your
accomplishments and your journeys hither and thither? you cannot
answer me the simple question, Who are you? You are going to study the
laws of Rome, but should you not first have some definite notion as to
your last end, as to what is real evil and what is real good? You are
looking forward to enjoyment from your wealth and honor from your
talents; why, so does every poor, sordid, creeping mortal on the
earth; so even do the brute beasts. Surely the divine gift of reason
was given you to help you to live to some higher end than this." The
scholar hesitated, the master insisted. The view was striking in
itself, but the teacher's personal gifts made it strike far more
effectually. "He was a mixture," says the scholar, "of geniality,
persuasiveness, and compulsion. I wanted to go away, but could not;
his words held me like a cord." The young man, unsettled as his mind
had been, yet had always at heart believed in some sort of Divine
Being. Origen completed the conquest of his intellect by showing him
that without philosophy, that is, without correct views on morality,
the worship of God, or _piety_, as it used to be called, is
impossible. And yet wisdom and eloquence might have been thrown away
here as in so many other cases had not another influence, imperious
and all-powerful, been all this time rising up in his heart. The
scholar began to love the master. It was not an ordinary love, the
love with which Origen inspired his hearers. It was an intense, almost
a fierce, love (we are almost translating the words of the original),
a fitting response to the genuineness and kindly spirit of one who
seemed to think no pains or kindness too great to win the young heart
to true morality, and thereby to the worship of the only God--"to that
saving word," says St. Gregory, in his lofty style, "which alone can
teach God-service, which to whomsoever it comes home {364} it makes a
conquest of them; and this gift God seems to have given to him, beyond
all men now in the world." To that sacred and lovely word, therefore,
and to the man who was its interpreter and its friend, sprang up in
the heart of the scholar a deep, inextinguishable love. For that the
abandoned pursuits and studies which he had hitherto considered
indispensable; for that he left the "grand" laws of Rome, and forsook
the friends he had left at home, and the friends that were then at his
side. "And the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David," quotes
the scholar, noting that the text speaks emphatically of the union of
the soul, which no earthly accidents can affect, and finding a
parallel to himself in Jonathan, to his master in David, the wise, the
holy, and the strong. And though the hour for parting had come, the
moment when these bonds of the soul should be severed would never
come!
The scholar was now completely in the hands of his teacher---"as a
land," he says, "empty, unproductive, and the reverse of fertile,
saline" (like the waste lands near the Nile), "burnt up, stony,
drifted with sand; yet not absolutely barren; nay, with qualities
which might be worth cultivating, but which had hitherto been left
without tillage or care, to be overgrown with thorn and thicket." He
can hardly make enough of this metaphor of land and cultivation to
show the nature of the work that the teacher had with his mind. We
have to read on for some time before we find out that all this
vigorous grubbing, ploughing, harrowing, and sowing represents the
dialectical training which Origen gave his pupils, such pupils, at
least, as those of whom Gregory Thaumaturgus was the type. In fact,
the dialectics of the Platonists and their off-shoots is very
inadequately represented by the modern use of the word logic. It seems
to have signified, as nearly as a short definition can express it, the
rectifying the ideas of the mind about itself, and about those things
most intimately connected with it. A modern student takes up his
manual of logic, or sits down in his class-room with his most
important ideas, either correct and settled, or else incorrect, beyond
the cure of logic. At Alexandria manuals were scarce, and the ideas of
the converts from heathenism were so utterly and fundamentally
confused, that the first lessons of the Christian teacher to an
educated Greek or Syrian necessarily took the shape of a Socratic
discussion, or a disquisition on principles. And so the scholar, not
without much amazement and ruffling of the feelings, found the field
of his mind unceremoniously cleared out, broken up, and freshly
planted. But, the process once complete, the result was worth the
inconvenience.
It was about this stage, also, that the master insisted on a special
training in natural history and mathematics. In his youth Origen had
been educated, as we have seen, by his father in the whole circle of
the sciences of the day. Such an education was possible then, though
impossible now, and the spirit of Alexandrian teaching was especially
attached to the sciences that regarded numbers, the figure of the
earth, and nature. The schools of the Greek philosophers had always
tolerated these sciences in their own precincts; nay, most of the
schools themselves had arisen from attempts made in the direction of
those very sciences, and few of them had attempted to distinguish
accurately between physics and metaphysics. Moreover, geography,
astronomy, and geometry, were the peculiar property of the Museum, for
Eratosthenes, Euclid, Ilipparchus, and Ptolemy himself, had observed
and taught within its walls. Origen, therefore, would not be likely to
undervalue those interesting sciences which he had studied with his
father, and which nine out of ten of his educated catechumens were
more or less {365} acquainted, and puzzled, or delighted, with. Happy
days when mathematics was little and chemistry in its infancy, when
astronomy lived shut up in a tower, clad in mystic vesture, and when
geology was yet in the womb of its mother earth! Enviable times, when
they all (such at least as were born) could be sufficiently attended
to and provided for in a casual paragraph of a theological
instruction, or brought into a philosophical discussion to be admired
and dismissed! Origen, however, had, as usual, a deeper motive for
bringing physics and mathematics into his system. We need not remind
the reader that, if Plato can be considered to have a weak part, that
part is where he goes into Pythagorean speculations about bodies,
numbers, and regular solids. His revivers, about the time we are
speaking of, had with the usual instinct of revivers found out his
weak part, and made the most of it, as if it had been the sublimest
evolution of his genius. We may guess what was taking place from what
afterward did take place, when even Porphyry fluctuated all his life
between pretensions to philosophy and what Saint Augustine calls
"sacrilegious curiosity," and when the whimsical triads of poor old
Proclus were powerless to stop the deluge of theurgy, incantations,
and all superstitions that finally swamped Neo-Platonism for ever.
With this view present to our minds the words of the scholar in this
place are very significant "By these two studies, geometry and
astronomy, he made us _a path toward heaven_," The three words that
Saint Gregory uses in the description of this part of the master's
teaching are worth noticing. The first is Geometry, which is taken to
mean everything that relates to the earth's surface. The second is
astronomy, which treats of the face of the heavens. The third is
physiology, which is the science of nature, or of all that comes
between heaven and earth. So that Origen's scientific teaching was
truly encyclopaedic. He was, moreover, an experimental philosopher,
and did not merely retail the theories of others. He analyzed things
and resolved them into their elements (their "very first" elements,
says the scholar); he descanted on the multiform changes and
conversions of things, partly from his own discoveries, and gave his
hearers a rational admiration for the sacredness and perfection of
nature, instead of a blind and stupid bewilderment; he "carved on
their minds geometry the unquestionable, so dear to all, and astronomy
that searches the upper air." What were the precise details of his
teachings on these subjects it would be unfair to ask, even if it were
possible to answer. We know that he thought diamonds and precious
stones were formed from dew, but this is no proof he was behind his
age; and his acquaintance with the literature of the subject proves he
was, if anything, before it. With regard to naphtha, the magnet, and
the looking-glass, it will be pleasing to know he was substantially
right. He was, perhaps, the first to make a spiritual use of the
accepted notion that the serpent was powerless against the stag; the
reason is, he says, that the stag is the type of Christ warring
against Anti-Christ. That he believed in griffins is unfortunate, but
natural in an Alexandrian, who had lived in an atmosphere d stories
brought down from the upper Nile by the ingenious sailors. As to his
"denying the existence of _the Tragelaphus_" we must remain ignorant
whether it redounds to his credit or otherwise, until modern
researches have exhausted the African continent.
TO BE CONTINUED.
------
{366}
Translated from the Revue Contemporaine.
EVE DE LA TOUR-D'ADAM.
BY G. DE LA LANDELLE.
I hate those pretentious and high-sounding Christian names which
certain upstarts inflict as a label of ridicule on their children;
but, though I should be accused of having two weights and two
measures, I should be pleased to see perpetuated in the descendants of
a noble race the most fantastic of those chosen by their ancestors. My
antipathy gives way before the religion of remembrance, before heroic
or knightly traditions. I love then even their oddity. I can pardon
even their triviality. I perceive only the old glory, the reflection
of which is preserved by these consecrated names.
Among the Roqueforts, who claim to have sprung from the Merovingians,
they have, even to our days, the names of Clodimir, Chilperie, or
Bathilde. Since the time of the Crusades, the youngest son of the Du
Maistres is always an Amaury. The Canluries of Gonneville owe their
names of Arosca and Essomerie to the discoveries of the celebrated
navigator, their ancestor, who brought from southern lands, in 1503,
the Prince Essomerie, son of the King Arosca, whom he adopted and
married later, in Normandy, to one of his relations. There is a family
in Brittany who never part with the names of Audren, Salomon, Grallow,
or Conau. The Correas, originally from Portugal, pride themselves on
seeing on their genealogical tree those of Caramuru and of
Paraguassus, which signify the _Man of Fire_ and _Great River_.
Chivalry, the Crusades, some semi-fabulous legend, some marvellous
chronicle, the grand adventures of a Tancred or a Bohemond, the
exploits of a Tannegry, finally, the great alliances, explain and
justify in certain families the privileged use of first names too
rare, or too commonplace, fantastic, romantic, strange, or old, to be
suitable except for them.
Now, it was thus that, in virtue of an old custom, the grand-daughter
of the Marquis de La Tour-d'Adam had received that of Eve at the
baptismal fonts of St. Sulpice.
In passing the Gorge d'Enfer, not far from the famous valley of
Roncevaux, you have perhaps remarked the ruins, still majestic, of a
tower which leans above a frightful precipice. The shepherds of the
country maintain that it was built by the fathers of the human race;
were I the most profound of archaeologists I should be very careful
not to contradict them. Who can prove that the Pyrenees did not rise
on the limits of Eden? In the fourteenth century was not all Europe
convinced that the terrestrial paradise, engulfed in the Atlantic,
rises partly above the water in the form of Saint Brandan's Isle, the
promised land of the saints, where Enoch and Elias await the last day?
In the same manner that the erudite La Tour d'Auvergne, as simple as
he was brave, has demonstrated in his "Origines Gauloises" that Adam
and Eve spoke Bas-Breton, in the same manner the Basque tongue
furnishes unexceptionable proofs of the antiquity {367} of the times
of Adam which the waters of the deluge respected.
Be this as it may, antediluvian or not, Punic or Roman, Gothic,
Saracen, or Spanish, the old tower was the cradle of an illustrious
family--illustrious on both sides of the Pyrenees. From time
immemorial the first-born was given the name of Adam or of Eve.
At the beginning of this simple history we have not the leisure to
recount how a royal Moorish prisoner, who, it is said, was called
Adam, escaped from the tower, carrying with him the heiress of the
castle. Nor can we stop from the wars in Palestine one of the warlike
ancestors of our Parisian heroine, a proud Crusader, who brought to
his domains an Oriental Eve, the beloved daughter of we know not what
Saladin.
These different traditions, which were not the only ones, made the
customs of their ancestors very dear to the family of La Tour-d'Adam;
but the young and merry companions of the grand-daughter of the last
marquis did not care to inquire into the cause of her unusual name.
They kept themselves in bounds in finding it tolerably ridiculous that
she should be called just like the ancestors of the human species.
"Really, I do not know who could have served as god-mother to our
beautiful friend," said Clarisse Dufresnois, biting her lips. "In my
days I would not consent to give so dangerous a name. When one hears
it one seems to have a too decided fancy for forbidden fruit."
"Oh! Clarisse, that is mean," murmured Leonore.
This charitable and timid observation received no response. Albertine,
Valerie, Suzanne, and several other young girls, who were chattering
together while waiting the opening of the ball, seemed by their smiles
to encourage the mocking spirit of Clarisse Dufresnois. They made a
charming group. Blondes and brunettes, red and white, adorned with
flowers and ribbons with delicate taste, they presented to the view an
adorable reunion of smiles and graces, as they said in the last
century. Youth, gaiety, freshness, beautiful black eyes, large blue
eyes, lovely figures, wilful airs, piquant countenances, enjoyment,
vivacity, delicacy--what then did they lack that the gentlemen
cavaliers should make them wait? Truly, we cannot say; but their
habitual delay contradicted the olden fame of French gallantry. These
gentlemen, without doubt, were a thousand times culpable for
Clarisse's little sarcasms.
"With the fortunate name of Eve," she continued, "should one not
always be the first to show herself?"
"If you would say, at least the first to arrive," interrupted Leonore.
"But it has a grand air to appear late; it produces a sensation; one
seats by her entrance all the most elegant dancers; one would be
watched for, desired, impatiently waited for."
"For that matter, I am sure," said Leonore quickly, "Eve thinks little
about all that; she is as simple as she is good."
"You see, girls," replied Clarisse, with equal vivacity, "that I have
said something evil of our dear Eve! Goodness! I love her with all my
heart. She is languid, cool, and sentimental; she has her little
eccentricities. Who of us has not? I said simply that she is always
the last to arrive; but, however, I do not think she is so much
occupied in varying her toilette. She is inevitably crowned with
artificial jasmine."
"Nothing becomes her better," said Leonore. "Beside, Eve is
sufficiently pretty to be charming in anything."
"Doubtless," replied Clarisse, a little piqued; "only I ask, how can
you tell what becomes her best when she has never worn anything else
for at least four years."
"Four!" cried nearly all the girls. "Four years! Why, that is an age!"
"Four years of jasmine!" said Valerie; "what constancy!"
{368}
"Bouquet, garland, crown, and I don't know what else," continued
Clarisse, "Eve always has jasmine in some shape."
"For me," said Suzanne, "I would not, for anything on earth, show
myself three times in succession with a branch or wreath of jasmine."
The word jasmine, repeated four or five times, made a young girl
tremble as she entered, and, not knowing any of the young ladies, seat
herself at a distance; but, as if drawn by the word which affected her
so singularly, Louise de Mirefont took her place nearest to Clarisse.
Louise was nineteen; she did not yield in natural grace to Suzanne nor
to Valerie; her color was equal in freshness to the charming
Albertine's; Lucienne had not such brilliant black hair, Leonore an
expression of gentleness not more sympathetic. A timidity acquired,
perhaps, by a sudden trouble veiled the looks of the new rival who now
disputed with all the palm of beauty; a lively carnation spread itself
over her features, which had a faultless purity. With her blushes and
her embarrassment was mingled a vague sentiment of sadness; but what
physiognomist would have been sufficiently skilful to explain the
impression which affected her?
Of all the merry young girls collected at the ball, Louise was the
simplest attired. She was beautiful enough to carry off any costume; a
simple white dress, a light, rose- ribbon around her waist,
that was all. All her companions had either flowers or pearls in their
hair; she alone had no other coiffure than her waving curls, which
rolled round her white shoulders. Each young girl had some rarity in
her toilette. Clarisse, for example, had admirable bracelets and
ear-rings, Lucienne, had a valuable cameo, Suzanne was distinguished
by a spencer of an original pattern, even Leonore by knots of ribbons
of exquisite taste, Albertine by bands of coral interwoven in the
tresses of her fair hair.
No borrowed ornament could have increased the value of Louise's
charms, whom if one could not without hesitation discern as the prize
of the concourse, at least as the most faithful lover of the Greek
type the model of which she presented in her classic perfection.
At the moment she approached, Leonore had said, indulgently: "Four
years! four winters!--without doubt Clarisse exaggerates."
"No, Miss Leonore, I do not exaggerate; I repeat that for four years
Eve has worn only jasmine."
Clarisse alone could call up the memories of four years; she was the
oldest of all her friends. Some of these had been only a few months
out of the convent, others had made their entrance into society only
the winter preceding. She was not even of the same age as Eve, who had
come out much earlier than any of them.
Clarisse had just passed the age of twenty-five. Having dreamed of six
or seven superb marriages, she had the grief of aspiring to a seventh
dream, and this was why her indulgence, at all times mediocre enough,
went decreasing in hope as hope deceived, or in inverse ratio to the
square of her age, to help ourselves for once, by chance, by the
algebraic style. Clarisse could have said, but she did not, that she
had seen Eve de La Tour-d'Adam, crowned with roses, the first time she
appeared at the house of the Comtesse de Peyrolles.
Four or five springs, at most, made a second crown of roses for the
brow of that maiden, who conducted an old septuagenary whose ideas and
decorations recounted the exploits of a generation almost extinct. Eve
advanced on the arm of the Marquis de La Tour-d'Adam, who had not been
seen for several years. Man of the world as he had been in his youth,
and was no longer, the marquis reserved to himself to introduce her
into society. {369} Eve was very young, but the weight of years was
heavy on the old man. The hour was advanced because he wished it so.
Their entrance made a great sensation; Clarisse remembered that it
made too much.
Fair, delicately pale, frail and slender as a wasp, the only and last
heiress of the Lords de La Tour-d'Adam, Eve, the child yet unknown,
attracted all eyes. Give life to one of those aerial vignettes to
which the English sculptors deny nothing, unless it is a soul; render
motion to those images of the saints which the simple and pious
workmen sculpture and _animate_ in some sort with their faith, for the
front of our temples; spread an expression of angelic sweetness and
infinite tenderness over the countenance of a virgin purer than the
azure of the sky; around this creation of your least profane thought
let there reign an atmosphere of generous sympathies, that hearts may
be touched, that souls may he captive, that men and women shall be
equally attracted by this undefined sentiment, commonly called of
interest, that this interest shall extend to every harmonious gesture,
to every movement, to every word of the fair young girl; take into
account the veneration inspired by the presence of the old gentleman,
her grandfather--and you will understand at once what was Eve, and the
effect of her first appearance at Madame de Peyrolles'.
Four years had passed since then. Eve now had entered her nineteenth
year. Had she grown old in one day, had she grown young again, or some
slow suffering, unknown phenomenon, some mysterious illness, was it,
that, without wasting the young girl, abruptly arrested her
development, up to that time so precocious? But, such as she was seen
at Madame de Peyrolles' four winters before, as such Eve reappeared in
the same drawing-room; only Clarisse Dufresnois had said enough about
it--the crown of roses was replaced by a branch of jasmine entwined in
her golden hair.
And, indeed, a branch of jasmine was placed on the front of the girl's
dress, when dressed for the ball, and, accompanied by Madame du
Castellet, her governess, she presented herself to her grandfather,
who awaited her in the west parlor of the mansion of La Tour-d'Adam
and welcomed her with a tender smile.
Eve came forward raising to him her sweet blue eyes, and, in melodious
accents:
"My father," she said, "I have obeyed you; you see I am ready; but why
will you oblige me to leave you again alone for all one long evening?'
"Child, I shall not be alone; I shall think that my Eve is amusing
herself, I shall see her as if I were there! Youth should have
innocent distractions. Oh! thou hast nobly loved me with all thy
heart, but the society of an old man like me does not suffice at thy
age."
"God knows I would renounce this ball with happiness, in order to give
you your evening reading."
"I do not doubt it, my child; but you have promised me that you will
go; go then, amuse yourself with your companions; dance, frolic,
receive the homage which is your due. I am not a miser who hides his
treasure, I wish that my diamond should shine for all eyes; your
triumphs are mine, and your gaiety is the joy of my life."
"My father, I am never gay except by your side."
The old man smiled, not without a little incredulity, but the young
girl's clear eyes were fixed on him with a touching expression of
veneration and filial love. Eve repeated with affecting candor that
the watch by her grandfather's side was to her a thousand times
preferable to the noisy pleasures of the world; she grew animated,
and, drawing yet nearer, she said:
{370}
"When I have passed the evening with you, I return joyously to my
room, my heart full of noble thoughts. Often you have recounted to us
some incidents of your life, and I am proud of being your child; I
wish for power to imitate your generous example; finally, I find an
inexpressible charm in your recollections and in your narratives. If
you have spoken to me of my father and my mother, whom I have never
known, I am still happy; my melancholy is sweet; I represent to myself
as my guardian angels those whom your words make me love more every
day."
The Marquis de La Tour-d'Adam felt himself touched; the young girl's
governess had seated herself. Eve added in a less firm tone:
"On the contrary, when I return from a ball, I feel an indefinable
sentiment of void and weariness; I do not know what it is that I want,
I am sad, discontented with myself."
"Childishness!" interrupted the old gentleman. "Off with us! A little
thoughtlessness and folly, I insist upon it! One is discontented with
oneself only when one has failed in some duty; you are good,
submissive, pious, charitable."
Eve blushed slightly, and while her grandfather was continuing his
eulogy she prepared him a cup of tea, drew the stool near, arranged
the cushion on which he rested his head, then, going to the piano, she
played an old battle air of which he was very fond.
Meanwhile the marquis addressed the governess.
"My cousin," he said (Madame du Castellet was a distant relative of
the Tour-d'Adams), "combat these tendencies, I implore you; pleasures
and distractions, they are the remedy! I do not understand why this
ball should sadden our darling Eve, why meeting her friends and her
partners should make her melancholy. Eve does not know how to be
untruthful, she hides nothing from us; but she is ignorant herself why
she suffers. Discover this secret, I implore you, that she may be
happy."
"Eve's happiness is my only desire," replied the governess. "You know
that I love her as my own daughter. I never contradict her; indeed,
she never desires anything that is not praiseworthy. She plans to do
good with an admirable perseverance and delicacy."
The old marquis at this moment recognized the martial air which Eve
was playing for him; he was deeply affected:
"She forgets nothing," he murmured.
Then noticing the flowers the young girl wore:
"Always jasmine," he said to the governess.
"She forgets nothing," said Madame du Castellet, in her turn.
"It is then impossible to overcome the pride of those unfortunate
Mirefonts?" replied the marquis.
"My nephew, Gaston, cannot get anything accepted," respondent the
governess; "but we will save them in spite of themselves."
"Heaven preserve me," said the marquis immediately, "from blaming
their susceptibility; unfortunately, the secret means which Eve has so
long employed scarcely suffice; it is necessary to do more."
"Gaston will aid us, I imagine," replied the governess in a low voice;
"but hush! my pupil will not pardon me if I betray her secrets."
Eve returned from the piano; the marquis and the governess exchanged a
glance of prudent intelligence.
"Off with us, young lady, to the ball, to the ball, the carriage is
waiting!" said the old gentleman gaily, kissing the young girl's
forehead.
Madame du Castellet dragged off Eve; the marquis, left alone, thought
tenderly of his dear grandchild, the bouquet of jasmine, the
unfortunate Mirefont family, of all that Eve had said or done with her
habitual grace, while the military march she had played still
resounded in his heart.
{371}
"The noble child!" he murmured; "they counselled me to be severe; how
could I be? I have been indulgent; I have repressed nothing, spoiled
nothing; her generous nature has freely developed itself; she has made
herself blessed even by those who do not know her. Happy, yes, happy,
will he be who shall be her husband."
The few words exchanged between the marquis and Eve's governess have
shown us that for some time, at least, the secret of one of the young
girl's good actions had been revealed to her grandfather. The old
gentleman would have thought little enough of the coiffures chosen by
Eve, or of her taste for such or such a flower; but Madame du
Castellet had been much surprised one day by her pupil's predilection
for bouquets and wreaths of jasmine. Questions followed each other;
Eve evaded them for a long time; the governess insisted. She blamed
the girl's extravagance, which did not cease to expend considerable
sums for the same flowers.
"I wish to know if this caprice has anything reasonable in it?" she
said finally, with firmness, even at the risk of displeasing the young
heiress.
Eve blushed; then in a suppliant tone--
"Be at least discreet," she said. "It is the matter of an honorable
family suddenly fallen into extreme poverty, whose only resource is
the sale of jasmine. People do not buy it, so it is that I buy so
much."
"But still," said Madame du Castellet, "without doubt you know the
name of the family."
"No, cousin. Fearing to wound worthy people, I have not asked it. Only
my artificial-flower seller told me that this jasmine was the work of
the only child of a poor knight of St. Louis, completely ruined by the
last revolution, and struck with incurable infirmities. His wife can
only take care of him and wait on him. I was much affected by the
story, and above all by the courage shown by this young girl, who
obtained a living for her father and mother by her work. I promised
often to buy jasmine on condition that my name should never be
mentioned; do not be surprised, cousin, that I keep my promise."
Madame du Castellet embraced Eve with fervor. But soon going to the
source, she knew that the family suffering from so many misfortunes
was that of the Mirefonts. The marquis was instructed. Various offers
of assistance were made, but proudly refused.
Eve continued to adorn herself with jasmine and to make liberal
presents of it to all her friends, which Clarisse Dufresnois
pleasantly laughed at.
"Do you love jasmine?" she said, smiling. "Apply to Eve. For a
lottery, a vase or a crown of jasmine; for a present, jasmine; for a
head-dress, jasmine. Madeline, who has penetrated into the delicious
boudoir of Mademoiselle de La Tour-d'Adam, saw only jasmine on every
side. Has she not given some to you also?"
"Eve has given me a charming bunch," said Leonore. "It was a
master-piece of its kind; a flower was never more perfectly imitated."
Nobody listened to Leonore.
"Jasmine is, then, Eve's adoration?" said Albertine.
"Perhaps," suggested Suzanne, "it is the emblem of a deep sentiment,
some memory."
"In any case, it is a passion, a mania."
"I do not know what to imagine," said Leonore; "but I would rather
believe it a work of charity."
"You hear Leonore, young ladies," cried Clarisse; "would it still be
wicked to find this abuse of jasmine monotonous?"
Louise de Mirefont had started several times, for she was the unknown
artist whose filial devotion created the bouquets and wreaths which
Eve had not ceased to buy.
For the second time in her life Louise penetrated into the
drawing-room of the Countess de Peyrolles, where she had been
presented the {372} preceding winter by Mlle. de Rouvray, an old
friend of her mother, and companion to the Countess. At the reiterated
requests of Mlle. de Rouvray, Louise's parents consented that their
daughter should go among the society in which her birth and education
called her to live, had not her entire want of fortune kept her away.
At the time of that single party, which occupied a large place in the
young girl's memory, she had remarked one of her masterpieces over the
brow of Eve de La Tour-d'Adam. She had blushed, not without an
innocent joy.
How different was her feeling now! Every mocking shaft of Clarisse
wounded her, the smiles of the other girls put her to torture; and
when Leonore, in her indulgent observations, which had consoled her a
little, innocently pronounced the word charity, she grew pale and felt
humbled. Pride brought to her eyes two tears, which vexation dried on
her eyelashes.
"Mlle. de La Tour-d'Adam has done me an act of charity," she thought
with a sort of wrath. "We have a disguised alms, and M. Gaston du
Castellet has failed in all his promises."
Such were, we are obliged to avow it, Louise de Mirefont's first
thoughts; pride rendered her unjust and ungrateful. Alas! as we have
been told many times, first thoughts in our weak nature are not always
the best. An angry suspicion, moreover, augmented the girl's
indignation.
The nephew of Eve's governess, Gaston du Castellet, introduced into
the family of Mirefont by Mlle. de Rouvray, had he, in an excess of
zeal, revealed the secret of a distress courageously concealed for
more than four years? Gaston was, himself, in a position of fortune
more than mediocre, he lived honorably, but in a very modest office.
He had been received with a noble simplicity; his tact, his delicacy,
rendered him worthy of such a reception, and he had also conquered the
good graces of M. and Mme, de Mirefont.
Louise, during her long is hours of work, often surprised herself
thinking of the amiable qualities, the distinction, the benevolence,
of Gaston du Castellet. While with a light hand she cut out or
adjusted the green leaves or white flowers on their stem, she could
not forbid herself to dream of the prudent attentions which Gaston
showed her. Together with her fairy fingers, her imagination, or
rather her heart, built a frail edifice of green leaves, hope, and
white flowers, like the innocence of her love. A word, a glance, a
smile of Gaston's, some mark of solicitude for her venerable parents,
a generous word pronounced with feeling, received with eagerness,
plunged her in long and sweet reveries. Her floral task was generally
finished before her dream.
"He wished to associate his efforts with mine to comfort my parents'
old age! With what eagerness he assisted my mother!" thought Louise,
trembling with emotion. "'Why can I not always replace you thus?' said
he. 'My presence will permit you to continue your pious work.' I
succeeded in finishing that evening the crown of jasmine for which my
employer waited so impatiently. And on Sunday, what could be greater
than Gaston's sincere goodness toward my father while my mother and I
had gone to pray for him? When we returned our prayers seemed to have
been heard: he suffered less, and attributed the amelioration of his
state to Gaston's cares, cordial gaiety, and conversation. Heavens!
what were they talking of in our absence?"
And Louise's mind lost itself in sweet and charming suppositions. Add
to this, that a year before Gaston had met Louise at a ball at Madame
de Peyrolles'; he had noticed her there; and a few days afterward was
presented to her parents by their old friend Mlle. de Rouvray. Gaston
was the only young man admitted to their intimacy. Six months had not
rolled away before he occupied a room in the same house with Louise.
{373}
Louise believed herself loved, and did not fear to speak without
disguise of the extreme trouble of her family. The young man had
already ventured various offers of assistance, he returned to the
charge; H. and Mme. de Mirefont constantly with a grateful dignity
refused them. Louise, whose delicious work was selling better and
better, positively forbade him to attempt any officious proceeding.
Gaston promised to make none, and very sincerely kept his word.
"But Gaston was the nephew of Eve de La Tour-d'Adam's governess. As
Clarisse Dufresnois said, Eve bought jasmine with devotion; according
to Leonore, it was without doubt from charity she did so. Well, then I
had Gaston broken his promise? his direct offers being refused, had he
employed indirect means? might he not be, finally, Eve de La
Tour-d'Adam's agent, her associate, her agent in good works?"
Louise loved Gaston. And you will pardon her injustice, her
ingratitude, her jealousy; for her second thought was a burst of
repentance; she reproached herself for her pride, she was ashamed of
herself for doubting Gaston, and, more than all, for being ungrateful
to her benefactress.
Eve entered; she entered crowned with jasmine.
A tear--but this was a tear of gratitude--bathed Louise's eyelashes,
and slowly descended down her burning cheeks. Her heart was already
refreshed. She no longer heard Clarisse's whispers, she did not see
the mocking smiles of Valerie, Albertine, and their companions; she
did not even perceive that several young men were coming toward her,
and asking her hand for a contra-dance; Eve had entered--she saw only
Eve.
"Oh! she is an angel! she murmured rapturously.
"You say truly, Miss Louise, she is an angel!" replied Gaston, taking
her hand.
Louise raised her head, dried her eyes, and permitted herself to be
carried off by her attentive cavalier, who had observed all, heard
all, and understood all, from the moment she had taken her place in
the circle of girls.
Eve, conducted by her partner, passed near them, and turning:
"Gaston," she said in a tone of affectionate familiarity, "will you be
our _vis-a-vis?_"
The young girls found themselves in each other's presence, their looks
met; Louise's ardent gratitude suddenly aroused Eva de La
Tour-d'Adam's sympathy.
"What a charming young girl! Do you know her, sir?"
"No, Miss Eve," answered Eve's partner, and his reply was not finished
without the compliment called forth by a natural term of comparison,
but the triumphant gentleman expended his eloquence for nothing.
"Does she know me?" said Louise to Gaston; "how she looks at me!"
"Eve does not know who you are; she will doubtless ask me your name;
well, in telling it, I shall not relate any of your family secrets."
"Oh! so much the better!" exclaimed Louise.
"Just now you were blushing and turning pale, I heard, I noticed--"
Louise lowered her eyes in embarrassment.
"You were wrong," continued Gaston. "The only indiscretion committed
has been by your employer, the flower-merchant. Eve is interested in
you, she loves you without knowing your name. Her sincere solicitude
goes back already for four years; it is only one, Louise, since I had
the happiness of first seeing you. It was here. The next day Mlle, de
Rouvray received a visit from me, and a few days afterward your
parents kindly admitted me to their house."
An expression of happiness lighted Louise's delicate features.
"Then, just now," she said after a moment's interruption, "you divined
my thoughts?"
{374}
"I heard Miss Clarisse Dufresnois. I suffered as you suffered. I
hastened to justify myself to you."
"Oh, Gaston, how much better is your beautiful cousin than I!"
They now passed in the contra-dance; Eve's hand was not slow in taking
Louise's; the two girls shivered at once.
Eve must have seemed singularly absent to her partner; she did not
cease to watch Louise and Gaston, she was troubled, and was conscious
of a strange uneasiness.
"Why this extreme emotion?" she asked herself; "oh! how my heart
beats! I tremble, I suffer, my eyes are growing dim! What is the
matter with me? Who is this young girl, and what is Gaston saying to
her? They pronounced my name, I believe!"
Gaston was talking enthusiastically to Louise.
"Eve is not of this earth!" he said. "She is a celestial being whom I
feel myself disposed to invoke on my knees; the respect with which she
inspires me prevents me from seeing even her beauty. I venerate her,
but you, Louise, you I love!"
Louise started.
"Oh! do not be vexed by this avowal; I am permitted to make it. During
your absence, on Sunday, M. de Mirefont yielded to my request. My
happiness, Louise, depends on you alone."
The young girl did not succeed in dissembling her joy, her smiles
crowned Gaston's wishes; he continued in a softened voice:
"Oh! it was not without trouble that I triumphed, dear Louise. For a
long time your father rejected me on account of his deplorable
position; he would not consent, he said, that I should bind my future
to the sad destinies of his family. I spoke of my love, he replied by
reciting his misfortunes. Permit, I said to him, a son to diminish by
his zeal your Louise's task. Would you repulse me if fortune favored
you? or do you find me unworthy to share your lot? Her filial virtues
even more than her charms have captivated me. If she were destined to
opulence like Mlle, de La Tour-d'Adam, for example, I should be insane
to dare to aspire to her hand. But your Louise is the companion
necessary for a poor, hard-working man like me. She is courageous and
devoted. I came to supplicate you to accept my devotion and my
courage. Finally, overcome by my insistance, he held out his hand to
me; I bathed it with my tears; then, opening his arms: 'Louise shall
pronounce,' he said. With what impatience I waited for you that
evening! Your mother by this time should be aware of my application,
and to-morrow, if you consent, it shall not be simply as a friend, but
as your _fiance_ that I shall enter under your parent's roof."
"Gaston--my _fiance_," murmured Louise. "O God! I am too happy."
Eve also was near succumbing under a strange emotion; but by a supreme
effort she succeeded in conquering it; but she was so pale she might
have been taken for an alabaster statue. She was faint when she seated
herself at some distance behind Mme. du Castellet and Mlle. Rouvray,
who, retired to one side apart, were talking in a low voice but with
animation.
Gaston's aunt and the countesses companion, drawn together by the
similarity of their positions, made part of that commendable variety
of aristocracy which we are permitted to call the poor of the great
world. Resigned, free from envy, devoted, body and soul, to the
families in which even their office increased the consideration and
the regard which they merited, such persons are always justly
respected. Their presence honors the houses which welcome them. They
lived in the highest sphere with an admirable abnegation; the firmness
of their principles equalled the amiability of their character: they
had espoused the interests which exclusively occupied them, and were
slaves to their duties.
{375}
Eve, still trembling, continued to watch Gaston and Louise, at the
same time that, as if her nervous excitement had given her the faculty
of hearing the feeblest sounds, she did not lose a word of the
conversation of the two old friends.
"You cannot believe how much this marriage contents me," said Madame
du Castellet, "I have always been afraid that my nephew was taken with
Eve. Eve is so beautiful, so tender, so generous: one cannot know her
without loving her. Gaston already loved her like a brother; they saw
each other continually in spite of all my skill. I did well, the old
marquis did not even suspect the danger. It would have been imprudent
to have hinted the possibility; I have lived on thorns for three or
four years. Eve and Gaston have known each other from childhood; a
formidable friendliness reigned between them; Eve was full of sisterly
attentions; I trembled for my poor nephew."
"It is certain that Mlle. de La Tour-d'Adam, with her name and her
immense fortune, can only make a grand marriage," said Mlle, de
Rouvray. "We can doubly felicitate ourselves on the success of our
effort. The old Chevalier de Mirefont was ten years younger this
evening, when he announced to me the regular request made by Gaston."
"It is scarcely any time since I said to the marquis how much I relied
on my nephew, but I did not know it was so advanced."
"It is a settled thing," said Mlle. de Rouvray, smiling, for Gaston
and Louise had been constantly observed by the two old friends.
"My nephew will soon be advanced," said Madame du Castellet, "he will
not lack a future, and moreover, he will not refuse the advantages of
which our good cousin will assure him by marriage contract. The
Mirefont family will soon find themselves in ease."
"Louise is worthy of this good fortune," said Mademoiselle de Rouvray.
"When I shall be permitted to tell Eve that her cousin is to marry her
interesting _protege_, oh! I am sure she will be transported with
joy."
Eve, at these words, thoroughly understood. Detaching from her
headdress a little branch of flowers, she contemplated it a moment.
Then she regarded Louise and Gaston, seated by each other, wrapped in
their happiness, oblivious of the world around them.
"How happy they are!" she thought
The ball was very animated, Albertine, Valerie, and Lucienne had
abandoned themselves to the gaiety of their age, but Clarisse, who
observed with secret envy sometimes Gaston and Louise, sometimes Eve,
pensive, refusing ten invitations,--Clarisse cried out all at once:
"Mademoiselle de La Tour-d'Adam is ill."
The musicians stopped playing. Gaston rushed to his cousin. Louise was
the first to take in hers Eve's ice-cold hands; she could not refrain
from pressing them to her lips.
Eve soon opened her eyes, saw Louise on her knees, Gaston at her side,
smiled on them with angelic sweetness, and addressing herself to the
young girl:
"You do not know me," she said, "but I wish you to be my friend. You
will come to see me, will you not?"
The little branch of jasmine which Eve had taken from her own forehead
remained in Louise's hands. Madame du Castellet, aided by her nephew,
carried away Eve de la Tour-d'Adam.
A few minutes after Louise was conducted home.
Clarisse Dufresnois did not fail to attribute Eve's fainting to the
desire of appearing interesting; this was at least the version which
she gave to the young ladies Suzanne, Valerie, Lucienne, and
Albertine, but the supposition which she expressed to the Vicomte de
la Perliere, the object of her seventh matrimonial dream, was less
inoffensive.
{376}
"Mademoiselle de La Tour-d'Adam," said she, "was taken ill of jealousy
and vexation, on remarking her cousin's attention to Mlle, de
Rouvray's _protege_."
She enlarged on this theme with so much wit, that the Vicomte de la
Perliere, a man of sense who did not lack heart, forgot at the end of
the winter to propose to her. The autumn following he asked and
obtained Leonore's hand, which did not prevent Clarisse from being
more witty than ever.
II.
Eve passed a frightful night, a prey to the delirium of fever; the
doctors, forced to reassure the old marquis and the governess, did not
conceal from Gaston that his cousin's case presented very alarming
symptoms. Gaston was uneasy, Louise shared his fears, but their
betrothal took place notwithstanding; the promise already made by M.
de Mirefont was confirmed in the family, but on account of Eve's
illness Madame du Castellet's absence was excused.
In the Castle de La Tour-d'Adam reigned a profound sadness.
Eve had recovered her ordinary calm and serenity, but her weakness and
pallor were extreme; the old marquis was conducted to her room.
"Eve, my dear child, when I think of all you said to me before going
to the ball, I reproach myself bitterly for having forced you to go."
"Do not regret it, grandfather, for I am delighted to have seen the
young girl who is going to marry my cousin Gaston. I wish her to be my
best friend."
"My child," said the marquis again, "is anything lacking that you
wish? Have confidence in me."
"What can I lack? you refuse me nothing."
"Doubtless, and for all," suggested the old man, with a real timidity,
"you fear to unveil for me the state of your heart! I hesitate to say
what I think, my dear daughter, but if you have a secret
inclination--"
Eve shuddered, and lowered her large eyes.
"Know well, at least, that I shall never be an obstacle to your
happiness; my Eve would not know how to make an unworthy choice."
The young girl bent her head and remained silent. Mme. du Castellet
observed her sadly.
"Eve," said she, "you answer nothing?"
"What can I answer?" murmured the heiress, "I ask myself," she said
with feeling. "My good father," she said again, "words are wanting to
express to you my gratitude and my tenderness."
"Then from what does she suffer?" the marquis asked himself in
despair.
As a flower scorched by the sun, Eve languished; the fever
disappeared, but her strength did not return. Her only pleasure was to
put on, one after another, the freshest of her jasmine wreaths.
The doctors understood nothing of her illness; the most skilful of all
interrogated the governess.
"I fear that this young girl is struck by a moral hurt; love, when it
is opposed, sometimes presents analogous symptoms."
"We have been beforehand with your question, doctor; Eve knows that
her choice would be approved; she made no response."
"Has she pronounced any name in her delirium?"
"None; she spoke only of the good works which constantly occupied
her."
Madame du Castellet had found that Eve knew the whole history of
Louise's filial devotion.
"Madame," replied the physician, "I persist in believing that Mlle, de
La Tour-d'Adam conceals her secret from you. A false shame, without
doubt, restrains her; send for her confessor, and have him, if
possible, oblige her to tell you the truth."
When the doctor had gone, Madame du Castellet burst into tears. Eve
was given up by science, because they {377} absolutely would have it
that her illness had a mysterious origin.
The confessor was called, although the governess hoped nothing from
his intervention. An emotion of profound piety was painted on the
features of the man of God when he came out of the invalid's chamber,
but Eve, calm and with pious recollection, was praying with her eyes
raised to heaven. The young girl made no confidence to Mme. du
Castellet, only several hours later--
"Cousin," she said, "Mlle. Louise de Mirefont and Gaston are slow in
coming to see me."
It was not the first time that Eve had expressed the same desire; the
governess ordered the carriage in order to go for Mlle. de Mirefont.
"Louise, generous Louise," murmured Eve, "I would that my soul could
be blended with yours!"
Her heart beat violently as she thought of Gaston's happiness; Eve did
not account to herself for her poignant emotion, but she prayed that
God would permit her to live for her noble grandfather.
"My loss would be too cruel for him," she murmured, weeping.
Then she interrogated herself with a simple severity:
"Would I then be culpable for not speaking of that of which I am
myself ignorant?"
Her conscience responded by a firm resolution not to carry trouble to
the hearts of all those who cherished her. "My duty, I feel, is to
rejoice at the happiness of Gaston and of Louise. Do I deceive myself?
My God! enlighten me, guide me!"
Eve was kneeling; the Marquis de La Tour-d'Adam, assisted by his
valet, entered, and in a reproachful tone--
"Why do you fatigue yourself thus?" said he; "Eve, I implore thee, be
careful of thy strength, if only out of pity for me."
Eve arose with difficulty.
"Forgive me," she said with a sweet smile, "I will not kneel again
until I am cured."
Then she sat by her grandfather's side. The marquis, frightened at her
mortal pallor, contemplated her with anguish.
"I saw her father perish in the flower of his age," he thought; "her
mother a few months after died in giving her life; she was an orphan
from her cradle. All my affections are concentrated in her; she has
never given me occasion for the least pain. Alas! I suffer to-day for
all the happiness she has given me."
"Do not distress yourself, my father," said Eve, who surprised a tear
in the old man's dry eyes; "I have asked of God to let me remain to
console the rest of your days; my prayer has been heard, it will be
granted. Oh, for pity, do not cry more."
The marquis took her hand and pressed it against his heart.
"My father," said Eve after several moments of silence, "our cousin
has gone for Gaston and his _fiancee_; my father, I have a request to
make of you."
"Tell it, tell it," said the old man ardently.
Eve bent, and said in a trembling voice:
"They are both of them generous and devoted; both of them have
suffered much: make them rich, I implore you, lest your wealth should
pass into avaricious hands."
"Oh! my God! you expect, then, to die! Eve, my darling daughter, is
this your secret?"
"No! I do not wish to die! no! I wish to live for you!"
"But I am old, very old!" the marquis replied, with hesitation,
"and--after me--"
"After you whom shall I love?" said Eve in a melodious voice. "Father,
I implore you, make Gaston and Louise's future sure, and you will have
crowned all my wishes."
Eve had scarcely finished when Mme. du Castellet entered; Louise and
Gaston followed her. The two lovers succeeded in wiping away their
tears, but their emotion was {378} redoubled when they saw themselves
between the young girl and her grandfather.
"Come to me," said Eve, "come, Louise! Do you not know that I loved
you before I knew you? See, all that surrounds me is your work. What
would I not give to have made, like you, one of these bouquets of
jasmine!
"Mademoiselle," murmured Louise, "I have known you and have loved you
only for a few days; but my gratitude and my affection for you are
boundless."
"Place them on Gaston: he is dear to me as a brother; and you, Louise,
call me henceforth your sister."
She held her one hand, with the other she drew Gaston forward; then,
addressing the marquis:
"Father," she said, "see them before you; bless them, I pray you."
The old gentleman, weeping, extended his hands, then with a voice
choked with sobs:
"Eve, my beloved child! Eve, thou wishest then to die?"
The young girl blushed slightly, a ray of sunlight which played
through the curtains crowned her with a luminous halo; she had risen,
her ethereal figure mingled with the white flowers which adorned her
room.
Gaston said in a low voice to Louise:
"You see plainly, my friend, that she is not of the earth."
They bent reverently; but Eve extended her arms: Louise found herself
pressed against her heart.
The marquis, seeing Eve so radiant, renewed his hope:
"She is saved!" he said to Madame du Castellet. "The presence of these
young lovers has done her good. Have them come often, I pray you. But
I should leave them together. Adieu, my children, adieu!"
He was carried back to the great hall. However, the governess
trembled; she saw at last the fatal truth. The heiress's great blue
eyes were fixed on hers; the old lady's trouble increased. Eve put her
finger on her lips, and drawing her to one side:
"Why are you still distressed, my good cousin," she said to her; "do
you not see how happy I am in their happiness?"
Gaston's aunt retired heart-broken, doubtful of her suppositions, not
daring to hope for the young girl's recovery.
Eve was seated between the two lovers:
"I demand a part in your joy, my friends, and I wish that my memory
may always live with you."
Then she recounted with simplicity the history of her four last years.
The praises which she gave to Louise's filial piety penetrated the
hearts of the two betrothed, who wished to prostrate themselves before
her, her words had so much purity, sweetness, and unction. Louise
reproached herself, as if it were a sacrilege, for the thought of
pride which she had felt at the ball. Gaston was under an indefinable
impression of tenderness and of gratitude. Eve addressed him with
noble and tender encouragement. Eve, with a pious ardor, made wishes
for the felicity of their union; finally, when they were retiring she
divided between them a branch of jasmine.
"Preserve this," she said, "in memory of me."
The sacrifice was accomplished. When they had gone, Eve sighed,
prayed, and felt herself weaker. She had expended in this interview
the little strength which remained to her.
A despairing cry soon resounded through the house where the young
girl's inexhaustible goodness had won all hearts.
"Mademoiselle is dying! Mademoiselle is going to die!"
The Marquis de La Tour-d'Adam, fulfilling his promise, went to add a
disposition to his will, in case the heiress should not attain her
majority. The pen fell from his hand, the chill of death ran through
his veins:
{379}
"Eve! Eve! who will take me to her?"
But Eve entered the room, for she, on her side, had prayed the
governess to have her conducted there.
The old man saw on her features the certain mark of death, and death
struck him. He murmured for the last time the name of Eve, then fell
back, cold, in his arm-chair.
However, Eve lived an entire day after her grandfather.
Her agony was slow and gentle. She asked for jasmine, her couch was
covered with white flowers, bathed in her tears whose filial love had
made them.
"May Louise be your daughter," said Eve to Madame du Castellet "Louise
will replace me with you."
Then, addressing Louise:
"My sister, make your husband happy. Love the poor and pray with them
for my parents, my grandfather, and myself. God be praised," she
murmured finally, "my father's father has preceded me, I go to join
him. Adieu, Gaston! my brother, adieu!"
Her voice failed, her heart ceased to beat, heaven counted one angel
more.
Madame du Castellet, Gaston, and Louise passed the night in prayers by
the two beds of death. Finally, the same hearse conducted to the same
tomb Adam, Marquis de La Tour-d'Adam, last of the name, and his
grandchild Eve, the last branch of an illustrious stock.
A sword which had never been drawn except in a just and holy cause
decorated the aged man's coffin, but that of the child cut down at the
threshold of life was covered with the white flowers which she had so
piously loved.
To-day the mansion of the Tour-d'Adams is inhabited by M. and Mme. de
Mirefont, Mme. du Castellet, her nephew Gaston, and her niece, Louise.
A room hung with crowns and wreaths of artificial jasmine serves as
the family oratory.
No one ever penetrates there except with recollection.
The servants call it the saints' chamber.
It is that whence rose toward heaven, as an agreeable perfume to God,
the soul of a maiden dying in all the purity of first innocence; dead
without knowing there existed a forbidden fruit; dead because she
loved with that celestial love which belongs only to the angels in
paradise.
------
From The Month.
BURY THE DEAD
"Give me a grave, that I made bury my dead
out of my sight."--Genesis xxiii.
Enwrapt in fair white shroud.
With fragrant flowers strewn.
With loving tears and holy prayers,
And wailing loud,
Shut out the light!
Bury the Dead, bury the Dead,
Out of my sight!
{380}
Corruption's touch will wrong
The sacred Dead too soon;
Then wreath the brow, the eyelids kiss;
Delay not long,
Behold the blight!
Bury the Dead, bury the Dead,
Out of our sight!
But there are other Dead
That will not buried be,
That walk about in glaring day
With noiseless tread.
And stalk at night;
Unburied Dead, unburied Dead,
Ever in sight.
Dear friendships snapt in twain.
Sweet confidence betrayed,
Old hopes forsworn, old loves worn out,
Vows pledged in vain.
There is no flight,
Ye living, unrelenting Dead,
Out of your sight.
Oh! for a grave where I
Might hide my Dead away!
That sacred bond, that holy trust,
How could it die?
Out of my sight!
O mocking Dead, unburied Dead,
Out of my sight!
O ever-living Dead,
Who cannot buried be;
In our heart's core your name is writ.
What though it bled?
The wound was slight
To eyes that loved no more, in death's
Remorseless night
O still beloved Dead,
No grave is found for you;
No friends weep with us o'er your bier.
No prayers are said;
For out of sight
We wail our Dead, our secret Dead,
Alone at night.
Give me a grave so deep
That they may rest with me;
For they shall lie with my dead heart
In healing sleep;
Till out of night
We shall all pass, O risen Dead,
Into God's sight!
------
{381}
[ORIGINAL.]
RELIGION IN NEW YORK.
The city of New York is supposed to contain about one million of
inhabitants. Of these, from 300,000 to 400,000 are Catholics, probably
60,000 Jews, and from 550,000 to 650,000 Protestants, or
Nothingarians.
We will first speak of the provision made for the religions
instruction of the non-Catholic majority of our population.
There are 280 churches of all descriptions, excluding the Catholic
churches. Of these, there are:
Episcopalian 61
Presbyterian 56
Methodist 48
Baptist 30
Jewish 25
Dutch Reformed 20
Lutheran 9
Congregational 4
Universalist 4
Unitarian 3
Friends 3
Miscellaneous 17
[Footnote 55]
[Footnote 55: These figures are taken from the last Directory. The
"Walk about New York" gives the number at 318.]
The number of communicants in Protestant churches is estimated as
64,800. If the churches were all of ample size and equally distributed
through the city, they would suffice tolerably well for the
accommodation of the people, should they be generally disposed to
attend public worship. A large proportion of them, however, are small,
and only 80 churches are situated below First street. The lower and
more populous portion of the city is therefore very destitute of
church accommodation, while the great majority of the churches,
especially the largest and finest, are in the upper part of the town,
among the residences of the more well-to-do classes of the community.
The Protestant population as a whole is, therefore, very poorly
provided with church accommodation.
A pamphlet, entitled "Startling Facts: a Tract for the Times, by
Philopsukon: Brinkerhoff, 48 Fulton street, 1864," gives a
considerable amount of information on this point. The estimates of
this gentleman are based on a supposed population of 950,000. For the
section of the city below Canal and Grand streets, including the first
seven wards, there are, according to him, 12 churches and 8 mission
chapels, capable of accommodating about 15,000 persons. The population
of this district is 185,000. Twenty Protestant congregations have
within the last twenty-five years abandoned their churches in this
district, and removed to new ones up town. One of the old churches
(St. George's) is retained as a mission chapel, and another, a very
fine one, the Rutgers street Presbyterian church, has been converted
into a Catholic church. These removals have reduced the church
accommodation from 18,000 to 20,000 sittings, while the population has
meanwhile doubled.
For the section between Canal and Fourteenth streets, including also
seven wards, there are 88 churches for a population of 262,000.
Fourteen churches have been abandoned within ten years. Of these 34
abandoned churches, 3 have been turned into livery stables, and the
remainder into public offices or stores and factories.
The upper section, extending to Sixty-first street, includes eight
wards, with a population of 418,000, and has 82 churches.
{382}
This gentlemen has counted only what he calls "Evangelical" churches,
in which he estimates the total sittings throughout the whole city at
126,600, but the actual attendance at only 84,400. A "Condensed
Statement" which we have in our bands, estimates the total Protestant
church accommodation at 200,000, and the number of communicants at
64,800. If we allow 150,000 for the ordinary or occasional attendants
at Protestant worship, and 25,000 for the Jewish synagogues, we shall
have then from 375,000 to 475,000 of the non-Catholic population who
attend no place of religious worship or instruction at all. [Footnote
56] The author of the "Startling Facts," who summarily hands over all
except the attendants at "Evangelical" churches to the devil, takes a
very gloomy view of the state of things, and considers that "865,600
out of the 950,000 pass to the judgment-seat of Christ WITHOUT THE
MEANS OF GRACE;" to be condemned, we are left to infer, because they
did not enjoy those means; while those who did enjoy them and failed
to provide for the wants of the remainder are to be rewarded.
[Footnote 56: "The Great Metropolis, a Condensed Statement," gives
the Protestant church accommodation at 200,000. "Walks about New
York, by the Secretary of the City Mission," estimates the number of
attendants at "Evangelical churches" at 324,000. Allowing 10,000
more for other Protestant congregations, and 25,000 for the Jewish
synagogues, this leaves 240,000 as the minimum number of the
non-Catholic population who attend no place of public worship. It
appears to us that it is a large calculation to allow 1,000
attendants to each church, which would give the total of 280,000
church-goers, leaving a remainder of 320,000. All the non-Catholic
churches together are capable of accommodating less than 225,000
persons at one time, leaving 375,000 who have not sufficient
church-room to accommodate them, if all were disposed to attend
regularly. Nevertheless, it does not appear that the majority of the
Protestant churches are over-crowded. The mass of the
non-church-goers are quite apathetic on the subject. They do not
wish to have churches, and probably would not frequent them if they
were built for them free of expense.]
It must be allowed, however, that he berates them handsomely for their
neglect of duty. He says:
"Nor is it intended in these few pages to canvass the question as to
the necessity or the expediency, etc., of what is called the
_up-town removal_ of so many of the churches (in all 36), first from
the lower, and now from the central section of the city. All that
can be done is to note the following facts, and leave others to draw
their own inference as to their practical effects.
"1. In every instance of such church removal, it has originated in
_the change of residence of a few of the wealthier families_ of said
church: this, of course, was followed by a diminution of the means
of support to the said church. Hence the plea of _necessity_ for its
removal; and, making no provision to retain the old church for
_missionary_ purposes, the effect has been to scatter by far the
larger portion both of the church members and of the congregation to
the four winds. For,
"2. The old church property having been sold, the new location has
been selected with a sole view to the accommodation of these
families of wealth, who left it for an up-town palatial residence,
and a costly church edifice has been erected (often largely beyond
their means) compatible with their tastes. The _result_ of this has
been,
3. To place the privileges of the church beyond the reach of the
_mediocre_ and _lower_ classes. And this has led to an _ignoring_ of
that divinely appointed law of God, "_the rich and the poor meet
together, the Lord being the maker of them all_" (Prov. xxiii. 12).
Hence the origin of _caste_ in the churches. _Money_ has been
erected into _the standard of personal respectability_, by which
every man is measured; and hence a courting of the favor of the
rich, and a despising of the poor.
"Thus the way is prepared _to account for the paucity_ of attendance
at many of these larger and wealthier churches. A consciousness of
_self-respect_ operates largely to deter those who might otherwise
repair to them. They shrink from an encounter, whether right or
wrong, from that _invidiousness_ to which the above principle of the
measurement of personal respectability subjects them; and taking
human nature as it is, it cannot be otherwise. Hence, finding
themselves thus "cut off" from the privileges of the churches, and
that by the act of the churches themselves, {383} they relapse into
a state of absolute "_neglect of the great salvation_." [Footnote 57]
[Footnote 57: How this is possible in the case of those who have
received the gift of infallible perseverance, it is difficult to see,
unless the "elect" are chiefly found among the _elite_ of society.]
"And when there is taken into the account _the neglect_ of these
wealthier churches to make provision for the populations in those
sections of the city formerly occupied by them, there is furnished
_an explanation of the vast disparity_ between the number of
churches compared with the immense population as a whole, which
remain unprovided for.
"True, in order to escape the imputation of neglecting _'the poor of
this world'_ altogether, some of the wealthier churches have
established _missionary Sabbath schools outside_ of their own
congregations. The principal denominations--the Episcopalians,
Methodists, Baptists, Reformed Dutch Church, and Presbyterians, are
also doing something in the way of supporting _missionary chapels
for the poor_; but none of them are making provisions for them in a
manner or to an extent at all commensurate either with their _duty_
or their _means_.
"Take, in illustration, a view of the amount of missionary work
being done in this city by the large and wealthy presbytery of New
York. True, the Brick church; the Fifth avenue church, corner
Twenty-first street; the Fifth avenue church, between Eleventh and
Twelfth streets; the Presbyterian church in University place, corner
Tenth street, and perhaps one or two others, each support,
independently of drawing upon the funds raised for domestic
missions, a _mission Sabbath school and chapel_. But out of the
moneys contributed annually by the churches connected with the
presbytery, amounting to from $12,000 to $15,000, there are only
_two regularly organized missionary churches_ connected with that
body. These are the German mission church in Monroe street, comer of
Montgomery, and the African mission church in the Seventh avenue,
each supported at an expense of $600 per annum. Nor are the
ecclesiastical judicatories of other churches doing much better.
"Is this, then, the way to _'continue in God's goodness?'_ Writing
on this subject, so long ago as 1847, the Rev. Dr. Hodge, the oldest
professor occupying a chair in the Princeton Theological Seminary,
and the learned and able editor of 'The Princeton Review,' had used
his pen in refuting the statement of those in the Presbyterian
Church who affirm that _'we have already more preachers than we know
what to do with,'_ etc.; and having disposed of that matter, he
passes to the subject of the _difference in the mode_ of sustaining
and extending the gospel in and by the Presbyterian Church. In
reference to the _policy_ adopted by said church to this end, he
says:
"'Our system, which requires the minister to rely for his support
_on the people_ to whom he preaches, has had the following
inevitable results: 1. In our cities _we have no churches to which
the poor can freely go and feel themselves at home_. No doubt, in
many of our city congregations there are places in the galleries in
which the poor may find seats free of charge; but, as a general
thing, _the churches are private property_. They belong to those who
build them, or who purchase or rent the pews after they are built.
They are intended and adapted for the cultivated and thriving
classes of the community. There may be exceptions to this remark,
but we are speaking of a general fact. _The mass of the people in
our cities are excluded from our churches._ The Presbyterian Church
is practically, in such places, _the church for the upper classes_
(we do not mean the worldly and the fashionable) _of society._" And
to this Dr. Hodge adds, as the _result_ of the working of 'our
system,' the following:
{384}
"'_The Presbyterian Church_ IS NOT A CHURCH FOR THE POOR. She has
precluded herself from that high vocation by adopting the principle
_that the support of the minister must be derived from the people to
whom he preaches._ If therefore, the people are too few, too sparse,
too poor, to sustain a minister, or too ignorant or wicked to
appreciate the gospel, THEY MUST GO WITHOUT IT.'"
Thus far the author of the tract and Dr. Hodge. The statements of the
latter are indorsed by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church. A Baptist clergyman, writing in the "Memorial Papers," a work
which was suppressed after publication, says: "The Church has no
conversions and no hold on the masses. The most successful church
building is that which excludes the poor by necessity." [Footnote
58]
[Footnote 58: A high price will be paid at this office for a copy
of "The Memorial Papers."]
We do not cite these statements in order to make a point against
Protestantism from the admissions of its advocates, or to exult over
these admissions. We respect our anonymous friend, and the learned and
accomplished Princeton divine, for their candor, honesty, and zeal for
the religious instruction of the poor. We have nothing in view except
an exposition of the real state of things in New York, and are anxious
to arrive at facts. Allowing for all errors and exaggerations, and
with a perfect willingness to admit everything which can be said to
extenuate the evil, we must admit the palpable, undeniable fact, that
some hundreds of thousands of our population are either unprovided
with the opportunity of attending any form of worship and religious
instruction, or are indifferent to the subject. Sunday is to them a
mere holiday from work (to many not even that), to be spent in
recreation and amusement, if not in something positively bad.
It appears especially that the lower section of the city has been
almost entirely given up by Protestants. [Footnote 59] There is one
very notable and very honorable exception, however, in Trinity church,
which has always been the best managed ecclesiastical corporation of
all the Protestant religious institutions in our country.
[Footnote 59: That is, except as a missionary ground.]
The educational and eleemosynary institutions of New York are on a
colossal scale. We will not go into extensive details on this subject,
as our topic is properly the religion of the city. It is estimated
that there are 144,000 children in New York, of whom 104000 are at
school, [Footnote 60] and 40,000 growing up without instruction. The
poverty, wretchedness, and indifference of parents is more to blame
for the condition of that portion not at school, than the want of
accommodation.
Hospitals, refuges, asylums of all kinds, abound in the city; as well
as dispensaries where medical assistance and medicine can be obtained
by the poor gratuitously. There is, beside, a gigantic system of
domestic relief and outdoor charity under the direction of the
municipal authorities. The number of individuals relieved in various
ways during the year by these public charities is about 57,000; 30,000
receive gratuitous medical attendance from the dispensaries. For
education, $1,000,000 a year is expended by the city, and for public
charity, $700,000. The collections made for local purposes of
benevolence are estimated at $500,000, and the other collections made
in Protesant churches at $500,000 more. The ecclesiastical expenses of
maintaining the various churches are estimated at $1,000,000. The
great Protestant societies whose headquarters are in New York, receive
about $2,700,000 annually. $6,000,000 were distributed among the
families of soldiers during the late war. Beside these rough estimates
of the vast sums expended by great public organizations, there is no
counting the amount of individual contributions, often on a large
scale, to colleges, etc., and the sums expended in benevolent works by
private societies or individuals.
[Footnote 60: This includes also Catholic schools and colleges. The
estimate is too small, however, and another gives 206,000 as the
number going to school.]
{385}
There can be no doubt that the people of New York, possessing means,
are a very liberal and philanthropic class. That there is still
remaining a great deal of "evangelical" religious zeal and activity is
also manifest. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that the influence of
the old, orthodox Protestant tradition has remarkably diminished, and
that the minority of nominal Protestants have lapsed into a state of
indifference to positive Christianity. We doubt if 25,000 men can be
found in the city who sincerely profess to believe the tenets common
to what are called the "evangelical" churches; and of these but a
small fraction adhere intelligently to the distinctive doctrines of
any one sect; _e.g._, the Protestant Episcopal, or Presbyterian. The
remainder have a general belief in the truth of Protestant
Christianity, more or less vague, with a great disposition to consider
positive doctrines as matters of indifference. Outside the communion
list of the different churches, we believe the general sentiment to
be, among the educated, that Christianity is a very useful, moral
institution, containing substantially all the truth which can be known
respecting ultra-mundane things, but without any final authority over
the reason, and completely subject to the criticism of science. Among
the uneducated, we believe that negative unbelief, and a supine
indifference to everything beside material interests, prevails. We
will not attempt to assign causes or reasons for it; but the fact is
evident. A vast mass of the population is completely outside of the
influence of any religious body, or any class of religious teachers
professing to expound revealed truths concerning God and the future
life. Moreover, the traditional belief in revealed truths is much
weaker in the young and rising generation, even of those brought up
under positive religious instruction, than it is in the present adult
generation. There appears to be no tangible, palpable reason for
thinking that Protestant Christianity, under any form, is in a
condition to revive its former sway; to keep what it retains, or to
recover what it has lost. The mere lack of church accommodation will
not account for this, and if at once this lack were remedied, it would
not change it materially. For, in those places which are furnished
with a superabundance of churches, the same undermining of religious
belief is going on. The fact that the most respectable Protestant
publishers make no scruple of republishing the works of such writers
as Renan and Colenso, and that these books are read with such avidity,
indicates the way the current is setting.
What the result of all this will be, is a matter for very serious
consideration. Our political, civil, and moral order is founded on
Christianity. The old Christian tradition has been the principle of
the interior life of the nation. Take away positive Christian belief,
and the moral principles which are universally acknowledged are still
only a residuum of the old religion. The spirit of Christianity
survives partly in civilization as its vital principle. How long a
certain political and social order may continue after faith has died
out, we cannot say. We cannot but think, however, that a
disintegrating principle begins to work as soon as religious belief
begins to die out. There is nothing, therefore, more destructive to
the temporal well-being of men, than the spread of sceptical and
infidel principles. Merely from this point of view, therefore, the
decay of religious belief and earnestness ought to be deplored as the
greatest of evils, and one for which no advance in physical science or
material prosperity can compensate. What the moral fruits already
produced by this decay are, and what the prospects are for the future
in this direction, we leave our readers to gather from the perusal of
the secular papers; and it may be estimated from the cry of alarm
which is from time to time forced from them, as new and startling
developments of the progress in vice and criminality are made.
{386}
We turn our attention now to the Catholic population of the city, and
the religious institutions under the control of the Catholic Church.
The Catholic population is variously estimated at from 300,000 to
400,000. As no census has been taken, all estimates must be merely
approximate. One way in which an estimate may be made, is by taking
the returns of the census giving the total population of foreign
birth, and getting the proportion of Catholics to non-Catholics among
the various nationalities. Some probable estimate of the native-born
Catholics must then be made and added to the number of foreign-born.
In 1860 the number of inhabitants of foreign birth was 383,717, out of
a total of 813,669. If we suppose that the foreign-born population has
increased to 460,000, it seems not improbable that the Catholic
proportion of it, with the home-born Catholics added, will reach the
total of 400,000.
Another basis of calculation is the ratio of baptisms to the whole
population. A register is kept with the utmost exactness in each
parish, and the result transmitted once a year to the chancery, where
it is entered in the diocesan record. We are furnished, therefore,
with an authentic census of births from Catholic parents each year,
and if the exact multiplier could be ascertained by which to multiply
this number, we should reach a certain result. It can only be
conjectured, however, with more or less probability, and varies in
different localities remarkably according to the character of the
population. The baptisms for one year are 18,000. Multiply the number
by 33, as is usually done in making the estimates of the general
census, and you have 594,000. This number is too large, however. If we
take 20, it gives us 360,000; 25, 450,000. We do not profess to come
any nearer than this to an estimate of the actual Catholic population.
The two conjectural calculations, compared with each other, appear to
settle the point that it is, as we have already stated, between
300,000 and 400,000.
The number of churches is 32, or one to from 10,000 to 12,000 people;
and the number of priests 93, or one to about 4,000 people. In the
lower section, embracing the first seven wards, there are five
churches: St. Peter's in the Third ward, St. James's in the Fourth,
St. Andrew's and Transfiguration in the Sixth, and St. Teresa's in the
Seventh. These churches furnish nearly three times as much
accommodation as the Protestant churches in the same district. It must
be remembered that the capacity of a Catholic church includes standing
room as well as sittings, and must be multiplied by the number of
masses. A church which will hold, when crowded, 2,000 persons, and
where four masses are celebrated, will accommodate 8,000 on one
Sunday; and, considering the causes which keep many from attending
church regularly, 12,000 different individuals who attend regularly or
occasionally. One of these churches, St. Teresa's, is a very fine
building of stone, which was purchased about four years ago from the
Presbyterians, and was called in former times the Rutgers street
Presbyterian church. No Catholic church in the lower part of the city
has ever been closed, or moved up town, with the exception of St.
Vincent de Paul's.
The middle district has nine churches: St. Alphonsus' in the Eighth
ward (German and English), St. Joseph's in the Ninth, St Bridget's in
the Eleventh, St. Mary's in the Thirteenth, St. Patrick's in the
Fourteenth, St. Ann's in the Fifteenth, Holy Redeemer (German), St.
Nicholas's (German), Nativity, in the Seventeenth.
Below Fourteenth street we have, therefore, fourteen churches, most of
them very large, surrounded by a dense Catholic population, and
crowded with overflowing congregations. A very large proportion of our
Catholic population is in this part of the city.
{387}
Between Fourteenth and Eighty-sixth streets we have fifteen churches:
St. Columba's and St. Vincent de Paul's (French) in the Sixteenth
ward, St. Francis Xavier's and the Immaculate Conception in the
Eighteenth, St. Francis's (German), St. John Baptist's (German), and
St. Michael's in the Twentieth, St. Stephen's and St. Gabriel's in the
Twenty-first, Holy Cross, Assumption (German), and St. Paul's in the
Twenty-second, St. Boniface's, St. John's, and St. Lawrence's in the
Nineteenth. Above Eighty-sixth street we have St. Paul's, Harlem, and
the Annunciation and St. Joseph's (German), Manhattanville. [Footnote
61]
[Footnote 61: Of these churches, St. Teresa's, Immaculate Conception
St. Michael's, St. Gabriel's, St. Boniface's, Assumption, St.
Paul's, and St. Joseph's (German), are comparatively new; and a very
large cathedral, capable of containing 10,000 persons is building.
St. Stephen's is also being enlarged to a capacity of 5,000, and a
church has been purchased for the Italians.]
After the old Catholic fashion of jamming and crowding, all these
churches might allow somewhere near 200,000 persons, or two-thirds of
the adult Catholic population, to hear mass on any one Sunday, if they
should all attempt to do so on the same day. Judging by the way
churches are crowded, we would suppose that more than two-thirds
attend occasionally; and of those who do not, the majority neglect it
through poverty, discouragement, indolence, and a careless habit, or
some other reason which does not imply loss of faith. As to
confessions and communions, they flow in a ceaseless stream throughout
the year, as if the paschal time were perpetual. In cachone of our
churches there are from 100 to 500 communions every week, and a much
greater number on the principal festivals. Probably the usual number
of communions in the city, on any Sunday taken at random, is not short
of 5,000. At least 8,000 children receive first communion and
confirmation every year; and from 40,000 to 50,000 are instructed
every week in the catechism, the Sunday schools varying in their
numbers from 500 to 2,500.
The Catholic population is increasing at the rate of at least 20,000 a
year. New York is now about the fourth city in the world in Catholic
population, and bids fair, in a few years, to rank next to Paris in
this respect.
The Catholic institutions for education, strictly within the city
limits, are:
1. Two colleges, St. Francis Xavier's and Manhattan colleges, the
first conducted by Jesuits, and the second by Christian Brothers.
2. Two academies for boys and twelve for girls.
3. Twenty-one parochial schools for boys, and twenty for girls, the
whole containing about 14,000 pupils.
There are other very large and fine establishments in the vicinity of
New York, practically belonging to the city, but not within its
limits.
There are 4 orphan asylums, a protectory for the reception of vagrant
children in two departments, male and female, which is out of town,
another for servant girls out of place, a very fine industrial school
for girls, 2 hospitals, 4 religious communities of men; and 11 of
women. The most numerous of these religious congregations are the
Jesuits and the Sisters of Charity; the former having in the diocese
39 fathers, beside numerous members of inferior grade, and the latter
333 sisters and 39 different establishments.
In every sense except as regards municipal government, Brooklyn, which
is on the other side of East River, is a part of New York; and there
we have another diocese of immense proportions, with another great
congeries of Catholic institutions. On the opposite side of the town,
and on the Jersey shore of the Hudson, the churches of Jersey City,
which is remarkably advanced in Catholic institutions, are plainly
visible.
Our object in this article has been to give a general idea of the
provision made for the religious wants of the mass of the population
in the city of New York.
{388}
In spite of the uncertainty of the estimates and statistics we have
given in regard to exact numbers, it is plain that this provision is
very inadequate; that a vast mass of our population is unprovided for
or totally indifferent; that the orthodox Protestant societies have
lost to a great extent their influence over the mass of the
population, and that a great body of practically heathen people has
been gradually forming and accumulating in the very bosom of our
social system.
Where are we to look for a remedy to this state of things? It is
necessary to our political and social well-being that crime and vice
should be restrained, that the mass of the people should be instructed
and formed in virtue, taught sobriety, chastity, honesty, obedience to
law, fidelity to their obligations, and universal morality. Soldiers,
policemen, prisons, poor-laws, and all extrinsic means of this kind
are insufficient preventives or remedies for the disorders caused by a
prevalence of vice and immorality. They will burst all these bonds,
and disrupt society, if not checked in their principle. Can liberal
Christians, philanthropists, philosophers, political economists, and
our wealthy, well-informed gentlemen of property, who have thrown away
their Bibles, and who sneer at all positive revelation, indicate to us
a remedy? Can they apply it? Is it in their power, by scientific
lectures, by elegant moral discourses, by material improvements, by
societies, by laws, by any means whatever, to tame, control, civilize,
reform, make gentle, virtuous, conscientious, this lawless multitude?
Can they give us incorruptible legislators, faithful magistrates,
honest men of business, a virtuous commonalty? Can they create truth,
honor, and magnanimity, patriotism, chastity, filial obedience,
domestic happiness, integrity? If not, then give them their way, let
their doctrines prevail, throw away faith in a positive revelation,
and they will not be safe in their houses. The rogues will hang the
honest men, and might will be the only right. One of the leaders of
the party has not hesitated to avow that the prevalence of his
principles would necessarily produce a social and moral chaos of
disorder, before mankind could learn in a rational way that their true
happiness lies in intellectual and moral cultivation. What has the
sect of the philosophers ever done yet to produce virtue and morality
in the mass of mankind? What can they do now? They cannot even
reproduce what was good in heathenism, for that was due to an
imperfect and corrupted tradition of the ancient revelation, and the
influence of the sophists tended to destroy even that. Our modern
sophists act on the same principle, and are busily at work to destroy
the Christian tradition of faith, and with it the principle which
vitalizes Christian civilization.
Can orthodox Protestantism recover its ancient sway, and reproduce a
state of religions belief and moral virtue equal to that which once
prevailed? We would like to have them prove their ability to do so,
and show that they have even made a fair beginning toward recovering
their lost ground. We leave them to do what they can, and to try out
their experiment to the end on the non-Catholic majority of our
population. If their intelligence, wealth, zeal, and prestige of
position were thrown into the defence of the common cause of Christian
revelation by union with the Catholic Church, the victory would be
certain. Unbelief and indifferentism could never make any stand
against a united Christianity, in a population so full of religions
reminiscences and predilections, and so susceptible to persuasive
logic and genuine eloquence, as our own. The Christian cause is
weakened by its divisions, and by the political and social schisms
which are bred by the schisms in religion. Not only those who are
separated from the common trunk of the Catholic Church suffer from the
separation, but the trunk itself suffers and is mutilated by the loss.
{389} The Catholic Church cannot do her work completely where the
majority of those who prefer Christianity are opposed to her,
especially when this majority includes the greater part of the more
elevated classes.
It is evident, nevertheless, that the Catholic Church in New York has
done a great work in our population, and has a great work to do. We
have much more than one-third of the whole population, and the
majority of the laboring class, and of the poor people, on our hands.
The Catholic clergy alone possess a powerful and extensive religions
sway over the masses of the people. The poor are emphatically here, as
they have been always and everywhere, our inheritance. Nearly all that
has been done, and is now doing, in an efficacious manner and on a
large scale, for the religions welfare of the populace, is the work of
our priesthood and their coadjutors. It is impossible to estimate the
benefit to society in a political, social, and moral point of view,
accruing from the influence and exertions of the Catholic clergy. This
is persistently denied by a certain class of writers, who never do
justice to the Catholic Church except under compulsion. One of them,
writing in one of our principal weeklies, recently qualified the
Catholic Church in the United States, whose growth and progress he
could not ignore, as a mere empty shell without any moral life or
power. He accused the Catholic clergy of not exercising that moral
influence in the country at large which they ought to exercise, and
have exercised in other times and places.
What a change of base this is! But now, the Catholic religion was a
kind of embodied spirit of evil, and her ministers had to vindicate
their title to the rank of men and Christians. Religion, morality,
liberty, happiness, would be swept from the country if they were not
exterminated! Now, forsooth, we are gravely asked why we do not exert
a greater influence for promoting the general well-being of the
country? The truth is, that the influence of the Catholic clergy on
the people at large has until now been a cipher. They have had no
recognized position, and have been counted for nothing, except so far
as certain individuals have commanded a personal respect. There is,
moreover, a great amount of sham and trumpet-blowing about the great
moral demonstrations of the day. The Catholic clergy have not chosen
to meddle with questions which were none of their business, or to
parade and speechify on platforms or at anniversaries. They have
enough to do in looking after the immediate and pressing spiritual and
temporal wants of their own people. And in doing this they prevent and
reform more vice, produce more solid morality, and work more
effectually for the well-being of their fellow-men, than could be done
by the best devised philanthropic schemes. One mission in a city
congregation, one paschal-time with its labor in the confessional,
will do more to uproot drunkenness, dishonesty, and licentiousness, or
to hinder these upas-trees from striking root in virgin soil, than our
amateur philanthropists could _describe_ if they were all to write and
lecture on the subject for a year.
The one great, palpable fact which confronts us on every side is, that
the religious and moral education of nearly one-half our population is
in the hands of the Catholic Church, and that the well-being of our
commonwealth depends, therefore, to a great degree on the thorough
fulfilment of this task. It is evident that we have enough to do in
making provision for our vast and increasing Catholic population, to
employ all the energies and resources which can possibly be brought
into play, both by the clergy and the laity.
------
{390}
Translated from Le Correspondant
A PRETENDED DERVISH IN TURKESTAN.
BY EMILE JONVEAUX.
IV.
The next day the hadjis assembled in the court of the monastery in
which they had resided since arriving in Khiva. The caravan, thanks to
the generosity of the faithful, presented a very different appearance
from that which it offered at its arrival. They were no more those
ragged beggars, covered with sand and dust, whose pious sufferings the
multitude had admired; every pilgrim had the head enveloped in a thick
turban as white as snow, the haversacks were full, and even the
poorest had a little ass for the journey.
"It was Monday, toward the close of the day," relates our traveller,
"that making an end of our benedictions, and tearing ourselves with
difficulty from the passionate embraces of the crowd, we left Khiva by
the gate Urgendi. Many devotees in the excess of their seal followed
us more than a league; they shed many tears, and cried despairingly,
'When will our city have the happiness again to shelter so many
saints?' Seated upon my donkey, I was overwhelmed with their too
lively demonstrations of sympathy, when happily for me, the animal,
fatigued by so many embraces, lost patience and started off at a grand
gallop. I did not think it proper at first to moderate his ardor; only
when at a considerable distance from my inconvenient admirers I
endeavored to slacken somewhat his pace. But my long-eared hippogriff
had taken a fancy to the course; my opposition only vexed him, and he
testified his ill-humor in noisy complaints which displayed the extent
and richness of his voice, but which I could have preferred to hear at
a distance."
The travellers, after a day's march, encamped on the bank of the Oxus,
which they wished to cross at this point. The river, swollen by the
melting of the snows, becomes so wide in the spring that one can
hardly see the opposite bank. The yellow waves, hurried rapidly along,
contrast with the verdure of the trees and cultivated lands which
extend as far as eye can reach. Toward the north, a
mountain--Oveis-Karaine--is defined like an immense cloud upon the
azure sky. The passage of the Oxus, begun in the morning, lasted till
sunset. It would not have required so long a time, but the current
carried the voyagers into the midst of little arms from which it was
necessary afterward to ascend or re-descend, and this accident
occurred every few paces. The transportation of the donkeys, which it
was necessary now to put upon land, and again to gather into the
boats, was, as one may imagine, a prodigious labor. "We were reduced,"
says our traveller, "to carry them in our arms like so many babies,
and I laugh yet when I think of the singular figure of one of our
companions, named Hadji Yakaub. He had taken his _monture_ upon his
back, and while he tenderly pressed the legs to his bosom, the poor
animal, all trembling, tried to hide his head upon the shoulder of the
pilgrim."
{391}
The caravan followed the banks of the Oxus for many days, or rather
during many nights, for the heat was so great that it was impossible
to travel until sunset. The pale light of the moon gave to the
landscape something fantastic; the long file of camels and travellers
extended itself in tortuous folds upon the flinty soil, the waters of
the river flowing slowly with a mournful noise, and beyond extended
afar the formidable desert of Tartary. This district, which bears the
name of Toyeboyun (camel's back), no doubt on account of the curves
described by the Oxus, is inhabited at certain seasons of the year by
the Kirghiz, a nomad people among the nomads. A woman to whom Vambery
made some remarks on the subject of this vagabond existence, replied
laughing, "Oh, certainly! one never sees us, like you other mollahs,
remain days and weeks sitting in the same place; man is made for
movement. See! the sun, the moon, the stars, the animals, the fish,
the birds, everything moves in this world; only death remains
motionless." As she finished these words, the cry was heard, "The
wolf! the wolf!" The shepherdess cut short her philosophical
dissertation to fly to the assistance of her flock, and made so good a
use of voice and gesture, that the ferocious beast took flight,
carrying with him only the beautiful fat tail of one of the sheep.
The Kirghiz are very numerous in central Asia; they inhabit the
immense prairies situated between Siberia, China, Turkestan, and the
Caspian sea; but it is difficult to compute their number. Ask them a
question on this subject, and they will reply emphatically, "Count
first the sands of the desert, then you will be able to number the
Kirghiz." Their wandering habits have secured them against all
authority, and Europeans are in an error when they believe them to be
subject to the government of Russia or that of the Celestial Empire.
None of these nations have ever exercised the least power over the
Kirghiz; they send, it is true, officers charged to left taxes among
them, but the nomads regard these functionaries as the chiefs of a
vast foray, and they only admire how, instead of despoiling them of
everything, they content themselves with levying upon them only a
slight tax. Revolutions have often changed the face of the world, the
inhabitants of the desert have remained the same for thousands of
years; singular types of savage virtue and vice, they offer today a
faithful image of the ancient Turani.
The pilgrims were anticipating with delight the end of their journey;
only six or eight stages remained, when one morning at break of day,
two men almost naked approached the caravan, crying in suppliant
tones: "A morsel of bread, for the love of God!" Every one hastened to
assist them, and when food had somewhat restored their strength, they
informed the dervishes that, surprised by a band of Cossacks, _ataman
Tekke_, they had lost baggage, clothes, provisions, and were only too
happy not to have lost their lives. The brigands, one hundred and
fifty in number, were planning a raid upon the troops of Kirghiz
camped upon the banks of the Oxus: "Fly, then, or hide yourselves,"
added the men, "or else you will meet them in a few hours, and in
spite of your sacred character, these bandits without faith or law
will abandon you in the Khalata, after robbing you of all you
possess." The kervanbashi, who had already been pillaged twice, no
sooner heard the words Tekke and ataman than he gave the order to beat
a retreat. Consequently after having rested the animals a short time
and filled their bottles, the hadjis, casting a look of inexpressible
regret upon the tranquil banks of the Oxus, made their way toward
those frightful solitudes which had already swallowed up so many
caravans. They advanced in perfect silence, not to arouse their
enemies; the step of the camels upon the dusty soil returned no sound,
and very soon the shades of night enveloped them.
{392}
Toward midnight all the pilgrims were obliged to dismount and walk,
because the animals buried themselves to the knees in the sand. It was
a severe trial for Vambery; his infirmity doubled the fatigue of a
tramp over a moving ground, in the midst of a continuous chain of
little hills, therefore he hailed with joy the point designated for
the morning station. The place, however, bore a name little calculated
to inspire confidence. _Adamkyrylgan_ (the place where men perish)
justified in appearance its sinister appellation. As far as the eye
could reach, extended only a sea of sand, which, on one side raising
itself in hills like furious waves, still bore the visible imprint of
the tempest, and on the other resembled a tranquil lake hardly ruffled
by a light breeze. Not a bird traversed the air, not an animal, not an
insect gave an appearance of life to this desolate spot. Far and near
were seen only the blanched bones of men and camels, frightful
witnesses of the disasters caused by the _Tebbad_ or fever-wind, which
from time to time poured upon the desert its burning breath.
The travellers were not pursued; the Tekkes themselves, bold
cavaliers, hesitated to penetrate the Khalata. According to the
calculation of the kervanbashi, six days' journey at most separated
the caravan from Bokhara; the bottles being well filled, the pilgrims
hoped they should not suffer from thirst; they had not counted upon
the burning sun of the dog-days, which evaporated the precious liquid.
In vain, to escape from this cursed region, they endeavored to double
the hours of march; many camel died of fatigue, and the water
diminished all the more rapidly. At last two hadjis, exhausted by
privations, became so ill that it was necessary to bind them upon
their donkeys with cords, for they were unable to hold themselves up.
"Water! Water!" they murmured in dying accents. Alas, their best
friends refused to sacrifice for them the least swallow of this
liquid, each drop of which represented an hour of life; so, on the
fourth day, when the pilgrims reached Medemin Bulag, one of these
unhappy men was released by death from the cruel tortures of thirst.
His palate had assumed a grayish tint, his tongue had become black,
the lips like parchment and the open mouth displaying the naked teeth.
Horrible to relate, the father hides from the son, brother from
brother, the provision of water which would relieve his torture! Under
any other proof, these men would, perhaps, have shown themselves
generous and devoted, but thirst drives from the heart every sentiment
of compassion.
Vambery soon experienced himself its terrible effects. He managed with
the parsimony of a miser the contents of his bottle, until he
perceived with fright a black point formed upon the middle of his
tongue. Then, blinking to save his life, he swallowed at once half the
water which he had left. The fire which devoured him became more
violent toward the morning of the fifth day, the pains in the head
increased, and he felt his strength failing him. Meanwhile, they
approached the mountains of Khalata, the sand became less deep, all
eyes eagerly sought the tracks of a flock, or the hut of a shepherd;
in this instant the kervanbashi called the attention of the pilgrims
to a cloud of dust which rose at the horizon, warning them to lose not
a moment in dismounting from their camels.
"The poor animals," relates Vambery, "felt the approach of the Tebbad.
Uttering a doleful cry, they threw themselves upon their knees,
extended their long necks upon the ground, and endeavored to hide
their heads in the sand. We sheltered ourselves near them as behind a
wall; hardly were we upon the ground when the tempest broke over us
with a sullen roar, leaving us the moment after, covered with a thick
coat of dust. When this rain of sand enveloped me, it seemed to me
burning like fire. If we had been attacked by this tempest two days
before in the midst of the desert, we must all have perished.
{393}
"The air had become of an overwhelming weight; I could not have
remounted my camel without the aid of my companions; I suffered
intolerable pains, of which no words can give the least idea. In face
of other perils, courage had now left me, but in this moment I felt
broken down, my head ached so that I could not think, and a heavy
sleep overcame me. On awaking, I found myself lying in a hut of clay,
surrounded by long-bearded men whom I recognized as Iranians."
They were, in fact, Persian slaves sent into the desert to watch the
flocks of their master; these brave fellows made Vambery swallow a
warm drink, and, soon after, a beverage composed of sour milk, water,
and salt, which soon restored his strength. Before quitting the
Sunnite pilgrims, in whom they must have recognized the bitterest
enemies of their race, the poor prisoners shared with them their
slender provision of water, an act of meritorious charity which
without doubt was regarded with complacency by the God of mercy who is
the Father of all.
The caravan at last reached Bokhara, the most important city of
central Asia, but which preserves to-day few traces of its ancient
grandeur. Still, it possesses fine monasteries and colleges which
rival those of Samarcand. These schools, founded at a great expense
and sustained by great sacrifices, have given Europeans a high idea of
Asiatic learning; but it must be remembered, they are controlled by a
blind fanaticism. The exclusive spirit of the Bokhariots restricts
singularly the circle of studies, all instruction turning upon the
precepts of the Koran and religious casuistry. We do not find to-day a
single disciple who occupies himself with history or poetry; if any
one were tempted to do it, he would be obliged to conceal it, for
attention given to subjects so frivolous would be considered a proof
of weakness of mind.
Vambery and his companions found asylum in a _Tekki_ or convent, a
vast square building, of which the forty cells opened upon a court
planted with fine trees. The _Khalfa_, or "reverend abbot," as our
Hungarian traveller calls him, was a man of agreeable exterior and
gentle and published manners. He received Vambery most graciously, and
the two interlocutors opened a pompous, subtle conversation, full of
reticence and mental reserves, which charmed the good Khalfa and gave
him also the highest opinion of his new guest; so from his arrival in
Bokhara, our traveller acquired a great reputation for learning and
sanctity.
The next day, accompanied by Hadji Bilal, he went out to see the city.
The streets and houses of this noble city are chiefly remarkable for
their slovenly appearance and ruinous condition. After having crossed
the public squares, where they went up to the ankles in a blackish
dust, the two friends arrived at the bazaar which was filled with a
noisy and busy crowd. These establishments by no means equal those of
Persia in extent and magnificence, but the mingling of races, of
costumes and habits, forms a bizarre spectacle which captivates the
eye of a stranger. Persians, their heads wrapped in their large blue
or white turbans, according to the class to which they belong, jostle
the savage Tartar, the Kirghiz with his slouching gait, the Indian
with his yellow and repulsive face, bearing upon the forehead the red
brand, and, finally, the Jew, who preserves here, more than anywhere
else, his distinctive type, his noble features, his deep-sunk eyes,
where an astute intelligence glitters. Here and there we meet also a
Turcoman, easily recognized by his proud mien and bold glance;
motionless before the shops of the merchants, they think perhaps of
the precious booty which the riches displayed before them will furnish
for their forays.
The pilgrims received everywhere marks of enthusiastic sympathy; the
foreign appearance of Vambery excited particular admiration. "What
{394} faith he must have," said one, "to come from Constantinople to
Bokhara, and endure the fatigue of a journey through the great
Desert, in order to meditate at the tomb of Baveddin!" [Footnote 62]
"Without doubt," replied another, "but we also go to Mecca, the holy
city by eminence, and in order to accomplish this pilgrimage we leave
our business, and endure, I should think, quite enough fatigue. These
people," and he pointed his finger at Vambery, "have no business to
occupy them; their whole life is consecrated to exercises of piety and
to visiting the tombs of the saints."--"Bravo, very well imagined!"
thought our traveller, while he cast glances which he tried to render
indifferent, upon the display of Russian and other European goods
exposed for sale; he often had great difficulty in repressing an
imprudent emotion when he saw articles of merchandise bearing the
stamp of Manchester or Birmingham. Quickly turning his head for fear
of betraying himself, he fixed his attention upon the products of the
soil and of native industry, examined a fine cotton fabric called
_Aladja_, where two colors alternate in narrow stripes, silken stuffs,
rich and various, from the elegant handkerchief as thin as the
lightest gauze, to the heavy _atres_, which falls in large luxurious
folds. Leathers play an important part in Bokharist manufactures, the
shoemakers of the country make of them long boots for both sexes; but
the shops towards which the people pressed most eagerly were those of
the clothes-merchant, where ready-made garments strike the eye by
their dazzling colors, for Bokhara is the Paris of central Asia,
regarded by the Turcomen as the centre of elegance.
[Footnote 62: An ascetic celebrated throughout Islam, founder of the
order of the Nakishbendi, to which the Hungarian traveller pretended
to belong.]
When he had sufficiently contemplated this curious tableau, Vambery
asked Hadji Bilal to take him to a place where he might rest and
refresh himself; and the two friends went together to a place called
_Lebi Hanz Divanbeghi_(quay of the reservoir of Divanbeghi), where all
the fashionables of the city collect. In the middle of the square is
a reservoir one hundred feet deep and eighty wide, bordered with cubic
stones forming a stair of eight steps to the water's edge. All around
magnificent elms shade the inevitable tea-shop, and the colossal
_samovar_, not less inevitable, invites every passer-by to take a cup
of the boiling liquid. On three sides of the square, little stalls,
sheltered by bamboo matting, display to the eye bread, fruits,
confectionery, hot and cold meats. The fourth side takes the form of a
terrace, and close by rises the mosque _Mesdjidi Divanbeghi_, Before
the doors are planted a number of trees, under which the dervishes and
_meddah_ (popular orators) recount to the wondering crowd, the
exploits of heroes, or the holy deeds of the prophets. Just as Vambery
arrived, the Nakishbendis crossed the square, making their daily
procession. "Never shall I forget," says our traveller, "the
impression which these wild enthusiasts made upon me: their heads
covered with pointed hats, with flowing hair, and long staves in their
hands, they danced a round like the orgies of witches, yelling sacred
songs, of which their chief, an old man with a gray beard, intoned
alone the first strophe."
The secret inquisition established in Bokhara began very soon to annoy
Vambery in spite of his reputation for sanctity. Spies sent by the
government came almost every day, upon one pretext or another, to open
with the stranger conversations which always turned upon Europeans,
their diabolical artifices, and the chastisements which had punished
the audacity of many of them. They hoped that some imprudent word
would drop to justify their suspicions, but the European was too much
on his guard to be caught; he listened at first with patience, and
then affecting an air of contemptuous indifference, "I left
Constantinople," said he, "to get away from these {395} cursed
Europeans, who, no doubt, owe their arts and sciences to the demon.
Now, Allah be praised! I am in Bokhara, and I don't want to be
troubled with thinking about them."
The emir was then absent; the minister who directed the inquest,
seeing that his emissaries were completely foiled, resolved to make
the stranger appear before a tribunal composed of onlemas, where his
orthodoxy would be scrupulously examined. He had, in fact, to sustain
a running fire of embarrassing questions which would be sure some day
to pierce his incognito. Fortunately, he perceived the snare in time,
and changing his character, took himself the part of questioner. Urged
by a pious zeal, he consulted the learned doctors on the most minute
cases of conscience, wished to know the differences, often
imperceptible, between the _Farz_ and the _Sunnet_, precepts of
obligation, and the _Tadjib_ and the _Mustahab_, simple religious
counsels. This artifice had complete success; many an obscure text
furnished material for an animated discussion, in which Vambery never
lost an occasion of making a pompous eulogium of the Bokharist
oulemas, and loudly proclaiming their superiority. Then the judges,
gained to his cause, told the minister that he had committed a grave
mistake. Hadji Reschid was a very distinguished mollah, well prepared
to receive the divine inspiration, precious heritage of the saints.
Vambery, free henceforth from all fear, could study at leisure the
character and aptitudes of the people of Bokhara. This city, which is,
according to him, the Home of Islam, since Mecca and Medina represent
Jerusalem, is not a little proud of its religious supremacy. Though it
recognizes the spiritual authority of the Sultan, it does not, like
Khiva, blindly submit to it, and it hardly pardons the emperor for
permitting himself to be corrupted by the detestable influence of
Europeans. Our traveller, in his supposed quality of Turk, was
frequently obliged to defend Constantinople from the reproaches
addressed to him: "Why," demanded, for example, the fervent
Bokharists,--"why does not the sultan put to death all the Europeans
who live in his states? why does he not ordain every year a holy war
against the unbelievers?" Or again: "Why do not the Turks wear the
turban and the long robe which the law prescribes? Is not this a
frightful sin? and also, why have they not the long beard and short
moustache which the Prophet wore?"
The emir Mozaffar ed Din watches carefully over the maintenance of the
sacred doctrines. Every city has its _Reis_ or guardian of religion,
who, whip in hand, runs through the streets and public squares,
interrogating every one he meets upon the precepts of Islam. Woe to
the unhappy passenger taken in the flagrant crime of ignorance: if it
were a gray-headed old man he is also, all business ceasing, sent for
a fortnight to the benches of the school. A discipline equally
rigorous, obliges every one to go to the mosques at the hour of
prayer. Finally, the espionage of the Reis does not stop at the
threshold of the private dwelling, and in the privacy of his family a
Bokharist takes care not to omit the least rite, or even to pronounce
the name of the emir without adding the sacramental formula, "May
Allah give him a hundred and twenty years of life!" It needs not to
say that all joy and gaiety are banished from social life, except the
momentary animation of the bazaar. Bokhara presents a sad and
monotonous aspect. During the day, every one fears perpetually to find
himself in the presence of a spy; in the evening, two hours after
sunset, the streets are deserted; no one ventures to visit a friend,
the sick may perish for want of help, for Mozaffar ed Din forbids any
one to go out under the most severe penalties.
Nevertheless, this prince is generally beloved by his subjects: he is
strictly faithful to the policy of his predecessors, but they cannot
reproach {396} him with any crime, or arbitrary or cruel act. A pious
and instructed Mussulman, he has taken for device the word "justice,"
and he conforms himself to it scrupulously. This Bokharist justice
might appear a little summary to Europeans, and the war against
Khokand, is not, as we shall see by-and-bye, just in the full
acceptation of the word, yet a prince of central Asia, educated in the
bosom of the most fiery fanaticism, must be judged with some
indulgence. It must be said in his praise, that if he is sometimes
lavish of the blood of his nobles, he spares at least that of the
poorer class, so that his people have surnamed him "the destroyer of
elephants, and the protector of, mice."
A declared enemy of all innovation, the emir applies himself
especially to maintain the austere manners of the ancient Bokhara. The
importation of articles of luxury is forbidden, very rigorous
sumptuary laws regulate not only dress, but even the structure and
furniture of the dwellings. Mozaffar ed Din gives the first example of
the contempt of all luxury; he has reduced by half the number of his
servants; and one vainly seeks in his palace the least appearance of
princely pomp. The same simplicity resigns in the harem, the oversight
of which is intrusted to the mother and grandmother of the sovereign;
the wise direction of these two princesses merits for this sanctuary a
high reputation for chastity. Its doors, carefully closed to laics,
open only to the mollahs, whose sacred breathings bring with them only
happiness and piety. The sultanas, four in number, are accustomed to
the exercise of domestic virtues; their table is frugal, their dress
modest; they make their own garments and sometimes those of the emir,
who exercises over all expenses a minute control.
Before quitting Bokhara, Vambery wished to visit the tomb of Baveddin,
the supposed end of his long pilgrimage.
This saint, the patron of Turkestan, is the object of profound
veneration throughout all Asia. They regard him as a second Mohammed;
and even from the heart of China, the faithful come in crowds to kiss
his relics. The sepulchre is in a little garden, near which they have
built a mosque; troops of blind, lame or paralytic beggars completely
obstruct the approach. In front of the mausoleum is found the famous
_Stone of Desire_, which has been much worn by the contact of the
foreheads of pilgrims; on the tomb are placed rams' horns, a banner,
and a broom sanctified by a long service in the temple of Mecca. Many
times they have tried to cover all with a dome, but Baveddin prefers
the open air, and always after three nights the buildings are thrown
down. At least such is the legend, related by the sheiks, descendants
of the saint.
V.
The two companions of Vambery, Hadji Salih and Hadji Bilal, were
impatient to quit Bokhara in order to reach before winter the distant
province where they lived. Our traveller proposed to accompany them to
Samarcand; he wished to see this celebrated city, and anticipating an
interview with the emir, he wished to secure for himself the support
of the pilgrims. The day of departure the caravan was already much
reduced, being contained entirely in two carts. The European,
sheltered from the sun by a hanging of mats, expected to repose
comfortably in his rustic carriage, but this illusion was soon broken.
The violent jolting of the vehicle threw the pilgrims every instant
here and there, now against each other, now against the heavy
wagon-frame; their heads were beaten about like billiard-balls. "For
the first few hours," adds Vambery, "I was literally sea-sick; I
suffered much more than when mounted upon the camel, the swaying of
which, {397} resembling the rolling of a ship, I had dreaded very
much."
The travellers followed, at first a monotonous road; short, stinted
pastures extended everywhere to the horizon, but nothing justified the
marvellous stories of the inhabitants of the charming villages and
enchanted gardens which lie between Bokhara and Samarcand. The caravan
crossed the little desert of _Chol Melik_, and reached the next day
the district of Kermineh; there the landscape suddenly changes,
beautiful hamlets, grouped near each other, offer to the eye their
inns, before which the gigantic _samovar_ makes the traveller dream of
solace and comfort; their farms, surrounded by rich harvests, by
prairies where magnificent cattle feed, and by farm-yards sheltering
their feathered population. Everything breathed life and abundance,
and Vambery could not contemplate without emotion this smiling
picture, which recalled his fertile Germany.
After a journey of five days the hadjis arrived within sight of
Samarcand. Thanks to the remembrances of the past, and the distance
which separates it from Europe, the ancient capital of Timour excites
a lively curiosity. We will permit the Hungarian traveller to
describe, himself, this famous city.
"Let the reader," says he, "take a seat beside me in my modest
carriage. He will perceive toward the east a high mountain, the
cupola-like summit of which is crowned by a small edifice; there
reposes Chobanata, the venerated patron of shepherds. Below extends
the city. Its circumference nearly equals that of Teheran, but it must
be much less populous, for the houses are much more scattered; on the
other hand its ruins and public monuments give it an air more grand
and imposing. The eye is first attracted by four lofty dome-like
buildings, which are the _midresses_ or colleges. Further on we
perceive a small, guttering dome, then toward the south another,
larger and more majestic; the first is the tomb, the second the mosque
of Timour. Just in front of us, at the extreme southwest of the city,
rises on a hill the citadel (_Ark_), itself surrounded by temples and
sepulchres, which define themselves against the blue sky. If now we
imagine all this intermingled with gardens of the most luxuriant
vegetation, we shall have an idea of Samarcand. A feeble and imperfect
idea, it is true, for the Persian proverb justly says 'It is one thing
to see and another to hear.'
"Alas! why must we add that in entering this city all this prestige
vanishes, and gives place to a bitter disappointment? We were obliged
to cross the cemetery before reaching the inhabited quarters, and in
spite of myself, this line of a Persian poet, which to-day seems
tinged with a cruel irony, came to my mind?
"Samarcand is the sun of the world."
The same evening Vambery and his companions were received in a house
very near the tomb of Timour. Our traveller was delighted to learn
that his host filled important functions near the Emir. The return of
this prince, who had just finished a victorious campaign in Khokand,
being expected very soon, Hadji Salih and Haji Bilal consented, out of
regard to their friend, to prolong their stay in Samarcand until
Vambery had obtained an audience of Mozaffar ed Din, and found a
caravan with which he might return to Persia. While waiting the
pilgrims visited the ancient monuments of the city, which, in spite of
its miserable appearance, is the richest city in Central Asia in
historical remembrances. The plan of this sketch does not permit us to
follow the author in the details which he gives of these remarkable
buildings. We only cite.
1. The summer palace of Timour, which preserves, even to-day, some
vestiges of its ancient magnificence. The apartment, to which we
ascend by a marble staircase of forty steps, {398} contains rich mural
paintings, made with bricks, and the pavement, entirely of
mosaic, preserves the freshness and brilliancy of the first day.
2. The citadel, where we admire in a vast apartment called "Timour's
audience-hall," the celebrated _Koektash_ (green stone) upon which was
placed the throne of the famous conqueror.
3. The tomb of Timour, surmounted by a very beautiful stone of deep
green, two spans and a half wide, ten long, and of the thickness of
six fingers. Not far from this a black stone shades the sepulchre of
_Mir Seid Berke_, the spiritual director of the emir, near whom the
powerful monarch wished to be buried. In the vaults of this mausoleum
is preserved a copy of the Koran written upon gazelle skin, by the
hand of Osman, the secretary and successor of Mohammed.
4. The _Midusses_, of which many, entirely abandoned, are falling into
ruin; others, yet flourishing, are maintained with care. The most
remarkable is that of Tillakair, so called from its golden ornaments.
The new city is much smaller than the ancient capital of Timour; it
has six gates, and several bazaars where they sell at a very low price
manufactured articles, confessedly of European workmanship. Vambery,
without thinking, like the Tartars, that "Samarcand resembles
Paradise," still found it quite superior to other Turcoman cities, by
the beauty of its situation, the splendor of its monuments, and the
richness of its vegetation.
Meanwhile, days passed and the emir did not arrive, the caravan which
was to take Vambery back prepared to start, when the conqueror of
Khokand at last made his triumphant entry. Mozaffar ed Din, following
the unscrupulous policy adopted in the east, had organized a vast
conspiracy against the sovereign of the rival khanat; then hired
assassins, by his orders, delivered him from his enemies; and
profiting by the confusion thus caused, Mozaffar succeeded in making
himself master of the capital. At this news Samarcand burst into
transports of joy, the people considered Mozaffar as a new Timour, who
was about to reduce successively under his dominion, China, Persia,
Afghanistan, India, and Europe; in their warlike ardor the Turcomen
saw already the world divided between their prince and the Sultan of
Constantinople. Nor must we be so much surprised that the taking of
Khokand had so greatly excited them; this city, four times as large,
they say, as Teheran, is the capital of a powerful khanat, which has
for a long time remained in a state of perpetual hostility to the
Bokharists. But one foresees that the Russian government will soon
establish peace between these two enemies, in assuming the part of the
judge in the fable. It slowly pursues its end, sows division, and
already its bayonets have subjected Tashkend, the most western city of
Khokand, and equally important in a commercial and military point of
view.
At the period when Vambery visited Samarcand, the intoxication of the
victory obtained by the emir dispelled all gloom; the Europeans and
their encroachments were forgotten in the noisy rejoicings. The happy
return of Mozaffar ed Din was celebrated by a national festival, in
which rice, mutton, tallow, and tea were distributed to the people
with royal prodigality; the next day, the emir having granted his
subjects a public audience, our traveller seized the occasion to be
presented. Accompanied by his friends the pilgrims, he was preparing
to enter the palace, when a Mehrem stopped him, saying that his
Majesty desired to see the hadji of Constantinople alone. "We were
extremely alarmed," relates Vambery; "this distinction seemed to us an
ill omen. Nevertheless, I followed the officer with a firm step. He
introduced me into a spacious hall, where I perceived the emir seated
upon an ottoman, and surrounded with books and manuscripts of all
sorts. I did not suffer myself to be intimidated by the cold and
severe air of the {399} prince, and after having recited a short
_sura_, followed by the habitual prayer for the sovereign, I seated
myself without asking permission near the royal person. He did not
appear offended, for my character of dervish authorized this conduct,
but he fixed upon me his great black eyes with a suspicious and
interrogatory air, as if he would read to the bottom of my soul.
Fortunately, for a long time I have lost the habit of blushing,
therefore I sustained this scrutiny with coolness.
"Hadji," at last the emir said to me, "you have come from Turkey, I
understand, to visit the tombs of Baveddin and the saints of
Turkestan?"
"'Yes, Takhsir' (Your Majesty), but I wished also to refresh myself
with the sight of your divine beauty.'
"'It is very strange! how, have you no other motive for undertaking so
long a journey?'
"'No, Takhsir; I have always had an ardent desire to behold the noble
Bokhara, the enchanting Samarcand, the sacred soil of which, according
to the remark of the sheikh Djilal, ought to be trodden with the head
rather than with the feet. I have beside no other business in this
world, and for a long time I have wandered about like a pilgrim of the
universe.'
"A pilgrim of the universe! you, with your lame leg!'
"'Remember, Takhsir, that your glorious ancestor Timour, [Footnote
63] peace be with him, had the same infirmity, which did not hinder
him from being the conqueror of the universe.'
[Footnote 63: This prince, from whom the emirs of Bokhara pretend to
descend, was lame, from whence came the surname of Timonr-leuk, or
Timour the lame, of which we make Tamerlan (Fr.), Tamerlane (Eng.) ]
"These words charmed the emir; he addressed to me various questions
relating to my journey, asking the impression which Bokhara and
Samarcand had made upon me. My answers, all wrapped in Persian
sentences and verses of the Koran, gained the confidence of the
prince. Before dismissing me, he gave an order to remit to me a
complete suit of clothes, and to count me out thirty tenghes."
Vambery, much elated, hastened to inform his friends of the result of
the interview; they advised him not to count too surely on the royal
protection, and not to defer his departure. It cost him much to quit
these good dervishes, generous and devoted hearts, the faithful
companions of his hours of suffering. The bold explorer, the witty and
sarcastic writer, full of pungent humor, here finds words which
indicate deep feeling "I cannot describe," says he, "the emotion with
which we parted. For six months, we had lived the same life, shared
the same perils; perils in the midst of the burning sands of the
desert, perils from the savage Turcomen, perils from the inclemency of
nature and the elements. Differences of age, of position, of
nationality, had disappeared; we were members of one family. Now we
were to separate, never to meet again; death could not have parted us
more widely, nor left in our souls a deeper grief. My heart
overflowed, and I sobbed aloud, when I thought that even in this
supreme hour, I could not confide to these men, my best, my dearest
friends, the secret of my disguise. I must deceive those to whom I
owed my life. This thought caused me a real remorse: I sought, but in
vain, an occasion for bringing out the dangerous confidence."
How, in fact, could he tell these pious pilgrims, zealous believers,
that the friend whose religious learning they had admired, whose faith
and virtue they respected, was an impostor, who, urged by the thirst
for secular learning, had surprised their confidence, profaned their
ministry, had trifled, in a word, with their dearest sentiments? Such
an avowal might not, perhaps, have broken the bonds of affection which
united him to the two dervishes, but what a bitter deception for these
fervent and sincere souls t {400} And why destroy an illusion so
sweet? Vambery retained the secret ready to escape him; his eyes
swimming in tears, he tore himself from the embraces of his friends.
"I see them always," he adds, "motionless in the place where I had
quitted them, the hands raised toward heaven, imploring the blessing
of Allah for my journey. Many times I turned my head to see them
again; at last they disappeared in the fog, and I could distinguish
only the domes of Samarcand, feebly lighted by the rays of the moon."
The journey home was marked by fewer dramatic incidents. Vambery had
to cross the country of Bokhara, but avoiding the capital, he arrived
after three days at Karshi, the second city of the khanat in extent
and commercial relations. It contains six caravansaries and a
well-supplied market, where are seen very remarkable articles of
native cutlery, which are largely exported into central Asia, Persia,
Arabia, and even into Turkey. These fine blades, richly damaskeened,
the handles covered with incrustations of gold and silver, are far
superior to the best products of Sheffield or Birmingham. Vambery's
new companions advised him to use such funds as he had left, in
purchasing knives, needles, and glass-ware, the exchange of which
would secure a pilgrim the means of existence among the nomad tribes.
Our traveller thought it best to follow this prudent counsel, and add,
as he gaily remarks, "the profession of merchant to that of antiquary,
hadji and mollah, without prejudice to a crowd of not less important
functions, such as bestowing benedictions, holy breathings, amulets,
and talismans."
The caravan passed through Bokhara without disturbance; the rigor with
which the emir enforces the police regulations rendering all the roads
from across the desert perfectly secure, not only for caravans, but
even for individual travellers. Vambery could hardly contain his joy
in crossing the frontier: at every step he approached the West; he was
about to revisit Persia, the first stage of civilization, the object
of his ardent desires. Other members of the caravan were not less
impatient, these were Iranian slaves, returning to their own country.
One of them, an old man, bent under the weight of years, had been to
Bokhara to pay the ransom of his son, the only support of his family,
the price demanded was fifty ducats, and the poor father had exhausted
his resources in the payment. "But," said he, "better to fear the
staff of the beggar than to leave my son in chains." Another of these
unhappy men greatly excited Vambery's compassion; his wasted features,
and hair prematurely white, proved sufficiently his sufferings, eight
years previous, a Turcoman raid had carried away his wife, his sister
and his six children; the unfortunate man pursued them, vainly sought
them in the two Khanats of Khiva and Bokhara; when at last he
discovered the place of their captivity, his wife, his sister and two
children had perished under the rigors of slavery. Of the four who
remained he was able to ransom only two; the others having become men,
their master exacted so heavy a ransom that the unhappy father was
unable to raise the sum.
These instances give but a faint idea of the scourge which has for
centuries depopulated the north of Persia and neighboring countries.
The Turcomen Tekkes number to-day more than fifteen thousand mounted
plunderers, whose only occupation consists in organizing a system of
vast brigandage, to decimate families and ravage hamlets. The
travellers crossed whole districts desolated by war and exactions of
all sorts; the laws are powerless to repress disorders, a bribe
suffices to exculpate one from the most odious crime; therefore every
one speaks with admiration of Bokhara, whose emir is regarded as a
model of justice and wisdom. An inhabitant of Audkuy acknowledged that
his compatriots envied the happiness of being {401} subject to the
sceptre of Mozaffar ed Din, and added that the Europeans would be
preferable to the present Mussulman chiefs.
Meanwhile, the journey was long, and Vambery saw with anxiety his
little package of merchandise diminish. He hoped to obtain assistance
at Herat; but unfortunately, when they arrived in this city, the key
of central Asia, it had just been put to sack by the Afghans. The
fortifications and houses were only a heap of ruins, the citadel
trembled, half demolished upon its crumbling base, some few
inhabitants here and there showed themselves, the celebrated bazaar,
which had stood so many sieges, alone offered some animation, but the
shops were opened timidly, the remembrance of the foray still
terrifying the people. Moreover, the custom-house system, established
by the rapacity of the Afghans, promises little prosperity either to
commerce or industry, an article of fur which has been purchased for 8
francs, pays 3 francs tax; they levy one franc upon a hat of the value
of two francs, and so of every thing else. When we add to that, for
articles brought from distant provinces, the rights already collected
in intermediate districts, we see how much the merchant must raise his
price in order to realize anything.
In a city so ravaged, the trade of a dervish is not lucrative; no one
asked Vambery for his holy breathing, his cutlery and pearls were
exhausted; his travelling companions, very different from Hadji Bilal,
lent him no help. Only one young man named Ishak, remained faithful to
him. Every morning he begged the food for the day, and prepared the
frugal repasts of our traveller, whom he regarded as his master, and
served with affectionate respect.
In order to neglect nothing which might enable him to continue his
journey, Vambery resolved to apply to the Viceroy of Herat, Serdar
Mehemmed Yakoub, the son of the King of Afghanistan. The halls of the
palace were filled with servants and soldiers; but the large turban of
the pretended dervish, and the hermit-like air which long fatigues had
given him, were letters of recommendation which opened all doors. The
prince, not more than sixteen years old, sate in a large easy chair,
surrounded by high dignitaries. Vambery, faithful to his character,
went directly to him, and sat by his side, pushing aside the vizier to
make himself a place. This behavior excited general hilarity. Serdar
Mehemmed regarded the stranger attentively, then rose suddenly, and
cried, half-laughing, half-bewildered: "You are an Englishman, I'll
take my oath!" He approached our traveller, clapping his hands like a
child who has made a happy discovery: "Say, say," added he, "are you
not an Englishman?" In the presence of this innocent joy, Vambery had
half a mind to discover himself, but remembering that the fanaticism
of the Afghans might yet expose him to great perils, he resolved not
to raise the mask which protected him. Taking, then, a serious air:
"That will do," said he to the prince, "have you then forgotten this
proverb--'He who even in joke treats a true believer as an infidel,
makes himself worse than an infidel?' Give me rather something for my
benediction, that I may have the means of pursuing my journey."
Vambery's look, and the maxim which he so appropriately recalled, put
the young viceroy out of countenance. He stammered some excuses,
alleging the singular physiognomy of the stranger, which was not of
the Bokhariot type. Vambery hastened to reply that he was a native of
Stamboul; he showed to Serdar Mehemmed and to the vizier his Turkish
passport, spoke of an Afghan prince residing in Constantinople, and
succeeded in completely effacing the impression which he had at first
made.
The 15th of November, 1868, the grand caravan which was going to
Meshed, left Herat, taking with it our traveller. It comprised not
less than two thousand persons, at least {402} half of whom were
Afghans, who, in spite of the most frightful misery, had undertaken,
with their families, a pilgrimage to the tombs of the Shiite saints.
In proportion as Vambery approached civilization, he let fall little
by little the veil of his incognito, and let it be understood that in
Meshed he should find powerful protectors, and financial resources
which would enable him to recompense the services of his companions.
The doubtful light which surrounded him furnished inexhaustible matter
for conjecture, and gave rise to some lively discussions, which very
much amused Vambery. At last, twelve days after leaving Herat, the
dome of the mosque, and the tomb of Iman-Riza, gilded by the first
rays of the sun, announced the approach to Meshed. The sight caused
the European deep emotion, his dangerous exploring expedition was
finished, and he had no further need of disguise. In passing the gates
of the city he forgot the Turcoman, the desert, the Tebbad, to think
of the happiness of seeing friendly faces, and of speaking at his ease
of Europe. He passed successively through Meshed, Teheran, and
Constantinople, where he bade adieu to Oriental life; then through
Pesth, where he left his Turcoman companion, the faithful Ishak, who
had followed him even to Europe, and the 9th of June, 1864, he arrived
in London.
Singular force of habit. Vambery had so identified himself with the
character of a learned effendi, he was so impregnated with Asiatic
manners and customs, that this son of Germany found himself ill at
ease in England. "It cost me," says he, "incredible difficulty to
accustom myself to my new life, so different from that which I had led
at Bokhara some months previous. Everything in London seemed strange
and novel; one would have said that the remembrances of my youth were
a dream; only my travels had left upon my mind a deep impression. Is
it astonishing that sometimes in Regent street or in the saloons of
the English aristocracy I felt myself as embarrassed as a child, and
that often I forgot everything around me to dream of the profound
solitudes of central Asia, of the tents of the Kirghiz and the
Turcomen?"
Vambery's book paints in vivid colors the real condition of central
Asia; it contains curious and characteristic details regarding the
three khanats of Turkestan (Khiva, Bokhara, and Khokand), on the
particular manners of each people, the commerce and industry of the
cities. We follow there the slow but continuous progress of the
Russian government, whose ambition is excited by the riches of these
fertile provinces. It advances with persevering obstinacy toward the
conquest of Turkestan, the only country which is wanting to-day to the
immense Asiatic kingdom dreamed of, four centuries ago, by Ivan
Vasilievitch. Since that period the czars have never lost an
opportunity to extend their influence in the Orient. Russia maintains
with the khanats regular and active commercial relations; her
exportations into central Asia were valued in 1850 at twenty-five
millions of francs, and her importations from thence at not less than
thirty-three millions. England, whose possessions in India approach
Turkestan, has not taken so deep root there, she understands less the
tastes, and submits less to the exigencies, of the Tartar populations.
At the same time, the protection which she gives the Afghans, the
declared enemies of the Khivites and Bokhariots, gives her a part to
play in the events which are preparing, and which the taking of
Tashkend by Russian troops will perhaps precipitate.
Central Asia is destined to be absorbed by one or other of the rival
powers which every day embrace her more closely. Will she be Russian
or English? that is the only form the question takes to-day.
{403}
Persia and Turkey, tottering themselves, cannot protect her. The grand
contest, commenced centuries ago, between the two hostile
civilizations, between the sword of Mohammed and the cross of Christ,
to-day touches its term. Of the different oriental tribes, these
endeavor to revive themselves by the contact of our arts and sciences,
those intrench themselves behind their mountains and their deserts;
but these powerless barriers cannot hinder European activity from
reaching them. They are, moreover, condemned to inevitable ruin by
barbarism, superstition, and fatalism, which form the basis of their
character and their creeds, the populations, bent under an implacable
despotism, consider even the encroachments of Europeans as a benefit,
their faith, moreover, delivers them without defence to misfortune, to
tyranny, to the joke of the stranger, for it persuades them that an
inflexible destiny, against which the will of man is powerless, rules
the lot of individuals and nations. "Who can prevail agamst the
Nasib?" said to Vambery an unfortunate man whose wife and children had
been carried off. "It was written!" replied the Mussulmans when their
most beautiful provinces were snatched from them.
The European race, on the contrary, energetic and indefatigable, makes
all obstacles yield before it; its science and industry transform
nature into a docile instrument; difficulties stimulate its courage:
"This sea I will cross," it cries; "I will level this mountain; this
people, reputed invincible, I will subjugate." From antiquity it had
raised upon its flag this proud device, which made the grandeur of the
Roman world: "Audaces fortuna juvat." Afterward, Christianity, in
elevating minds, and pouring upon all hearts sentiments of tenderness
and charity heretofore unknown, brought new elements to this expansive
force. It showed God respecting, even in their errors, the liberty of
men; it showed the sacrifice of Jesus, this Son of the Most High come
upon earth to suffer all griefs, yet voluntarily powerless to save man
without his concurrence and his own participation. This noble morality
not only regenerated consciences, it developed individual action, made
known the value of the hidden force which we call the will, and
contributed largely to the social and political progress of the
western nations. At the same time, it is true, the Christian dogma
preached resignation in sufferings, but this pious resignation
resembles as little the oriental indolence as the calm of death
resembles that of strength and health.
Such are the causes of European supremacy. The Asiatics, not less
gifted by nature, have stifled, under the double influence of fatalism
and a sensual morality, the germs of civilization which might have
given them a durable life and glory. To-day, as we learn from the
intrepid traveller who has penetrated into the very heart of Turkestan
and returned again safe and sound, everything among them is in decay;
their cities and institutions, alike, offer nothing but ruins.
------
{404}
From The Lamp,
UNCONVICTED; OR, OLD THORNELEY'S HEIRS.
CHAPTER I.
"Mr. Thorneley presents his compliments to Mr. John Kavanagh, and
would feel obliged if he would call in Wimpole street this evening
at seven o'clock. Mr. Thorneley wishes to have Mr. Kavanagh's
professional assistance in a matter of business.
"100 Wimpole street, Cavendish Square,
"Oct. 23, 185--"
The above note lay amidst a heap of letters awaiting my return from a
pleasant mountaineering tour among alps and glaciers, perpetual snows,
and ice-bound passes. Yes, it had been in every sense of the word a
delightful excursion, a real holiday to me,--me, a dusty, musty,
hard-working lawyer, living in chambers, poring over parchments, and
deeds, and matters dull and dry to all, save them whom those things
concerned,--me, a middle-aged bachelor, a solitary man, with little of
kith or kin left to surround my dying bed or follow my old bones to
their grave. It was a renewal of youth and early days to climb those
mountains, to face those majestic peaks, to scale those rugged passes,
and feel the fresh clear air fanning my brow as I raised it to God's
heaven above, whilst all that was of the world worldly seemed to lie
beneath my feet. My two months' holiday and repose from labor, when I
packed my modest portmanteau, locked up my papers, left my rooms to
the care of clerk and laundress, and took my ticket at London Bridge
for Dover or Boulogne, bound for Chamouni, Unterwalden, or the
Simplon,--these eight weeks of pure enjoyment were the oasis in the
desert of my life. But now, for this year at least, it was over. I was
back to busy life again; to work and daily duty; to my calf-bound
volumes, my inky table, my yellow sheets inscribed with the promises
of one said party to another said party--how soon to be broken, God
only knew--or the blue folio pages stating how this said man is to
bully that said fellow man, and how there is to be war between two
Christian beings, not to the knife, but to the bar, the judge, jury,
prison, and future ruin of one or the other fellow heir to the great
inheritance of a hereafter. I had returned to it all--this turmoil of
strife and struggle, out of which quagmire I got my daily bread, like
hundreds of others cruising in the same barque on the sea of life; and
my table was heaped with the business correspondence that once more
was to induct me into my ordinary avocations. There were
communications from old clients about affairs of long standing, and
familiar to me as my morning shave; and letters from new clients
promising fresh labor and new grist to the mill, but I scanned them
all with the same feeling of weariness and disgust--casting many a
regretful thought to the scenes I had left behind me,--inclined to
throw business, law, and clients wholesale and pell-mell into the Red
Sea. It was in this frame of mind that I opened the above note, but as
I read it, my ennui and lassitude gave place to the keenest interest
and curiosity. That old Thorneley should send for me professionally,
when I knew for certain that all his affairs were completely in the
hands, and he entirely under the thumbs, of my highly-respected
brother lawyers Smith and Walker, was enough to rouse one from a
mesmeric sleep. Old Thorneley; who {405} lived like a hermit, never
meddling with anything nor anybody; whose last intentions were
supposed amongst us in Lincoln's Inn to be hermetically sealed up in a
certain tin box, lodging at Messrs. Smith and Walker's; whose frugal
house-keeping and simple taste could involve him in no pecuniary
trouble,--what could he want with the professional advice of one who
was almost a stranger to him, whose standing in the law was of much
later date and whose clientage much less distinguished than that of
the firm above mentioned, and who had been his legal advisers during
his whole lifetime?
Again I referred to the note--"Oct. 23;"--the interview was asked for
that very evening I looked at my watch--it was half-past six, the hour
named, seven. Tired with travel and hungry as a hunter, I was little
inclined to leave my cosy fire, my tender steak, my fragrant cup of
bohea, my delicious plate of buttered toast, and face the raw air and
mizzling rain of an autumnal evening at the beck of a man whose hand I
had never shaken, at whose table I had never sat, and whose foot had
never crossed my threshold. But curiosity and interest prevailed at
last, and these were induced by two motives. 1. Thorneley was a
millionaire--a man whose name Rothschild had not scorned on 'Change,
and whose breath had once fluttered the money-markets of Europe. 2.
And a far more powerful one,--he was the uncle of Hugh Atherton. O
Hugh, best of friends, thou man of true and noble heart, if these
pages ever meet your eyes, and you look back through the dim vista of
intervening years, bear witness how mournfully I stand by the grave of
our buried affection, opened on this night, how tenderly I touch the
fragments of our wrecked friendship! and from your heart, O lost
comrade and brother, believe that, whatever of pain lay between us
two, severing our lives, no thought disloyal to you ever crossed my
soul or shook the fealty of my honor and reverence. Hastily I
despatched the meal, made a few changes in my dress, threw myself into
the first hansom, and knocked at 100 Wimpole street, at five minutes
past seven.
I was ushered at once into Mr. Thorneley's study--a
comfortably-furnished room, lined with well-stocked bookcases, and
hung with neatly-framed engravings of first-rate excellence. He was
sitting reading beside a cheery fire when I entered, and on a table
near him stood fruit, biscuits, and wine. I had not seen him for many
months; and as he rose to receive me, the light of the shaded gas lamp
falling upon his head and face revealed to me how aged and broken his
appearance had become in that period of time. Then I remembered him as
a hale, hearty old man, strong of limb, straight and square about the
shoulders, carrying himself with the air of an old soldier, gaunt,
upright, stern, unbending and unbent. Now, before me stood a bowed
infirm figure, with trembling hands and tottering feet, with thin
pinched features and sunken eyes. Little as I knew the man, and little
as I liked what I knew or had heard of him, I was touched to see what
a wreck he looked of his former outward self. Involuntarily I
stretched out my hand to him, and expressed my regret at seeing him
look so ill. He bowed, and touched my hand with the tips of his
fingers, which were clammy and cold. Then he motioned me in silence to
a chair on the opposite side of the fire to where he sat, and resumed
his own seat.
"You are somewhat late, sir," he said querulously, glancing at me from
beneath his shaggy brows; the same keen searching glance I remembered
of old--the glance of a man who has made money.
"But five minutes, Mr. Thorneley," I replied; "and that I think you
will excuse when I tell you I have crossed the Channel to-day, and
only arrived home about an hour ago."
"Have you dined? Allow the to order you something."
{406}
"Nothing, thanks. I took my usual meal after a journey--a meat tea;
and, though despatched in haste, it sufficed for mine requirements."
"At least," he said more courteously, "you will take a glass of wine!"
"With pleasure, sir, after we have finished the business in which I
understand you require my assistance."
He saw that I wished to come to the point at once; and drawing his
chair near to mine, he fixed his piercing gray eyes upon my
countenance. I returned his gaze steadily enough; and he then shifted
uneasily, so that his countenance was turned sideways to me.
"You are aware, Mr. Kavanagh, that my family solicitors have been, and
still are, Messrs. Smith and Walker, and no doubt you are surprised
why I should now require other professional aid than theirs. Your
curiosity and speculative faculties, if you possess such, must have
been on the _qui vive_ since you got my note. Eh, sir?"
There was a covert sarcasm in the old man's voice which vexed me.
"Every movement of Mr Thorneley's must be a matter of general
interest," I said, with equal satire.
"Ha, ha, ha! Very good--given me back in my own kind,--tit for tat.
Like you all the better for it, Mr. Kavanagh,--a sharp lawyer is a
good thing in its way. Well, you've not repudiated the curiosity, so
I'll satisfy it. I sent for you to make _my Will_;" and again he
turned on me those shrewd glittering eyes, as if enjoying the
amazement I could not entirely suppress.
"But I thought--" I stammered; "surely, sir, your own lawyers are the
fittest persons; it is against etiquette. Indeed, sir, I'd rather not
have any thing to do with it."
"You will be _paid_ sir," he said rudely.
"It is not a question of _payment_, Mr. Thorneley; simply, you place
me, I foresee, in an awkward position with regard to a firm with whom
I am on the most friendly terms. But of course they are acquainted
with your desire of having my services?"
"Of course they are nothing of the sort. If you are squeamish in the
matter, I can get another man to do my business, and they'll not be a
bit more enlightened on the subject. Whomsoever I employ must be bound
to inviolable secrecy during my lifetime. Let us understand each
other, Mr. Kavanagh: I sent for you because I knew you to be a
discreet man, on whose prudence after my death I could rely. But I do
not choose that Smith and Walker should know any thing of this
transaction. You can do as you please in the matter, but you must make
your decision now."
I gave a rapid glance at my position with all the care time would
allow; and one consideration outweighed every thing else,--I take
heaven to witness it!--the thought that Hugh Atherton's interests,
which I felt to be now involved, would be safer in my hands than in
those of any other man; and I replied, "So be it, Mr. Thorneley; you
may command my services." If I had known what was coming; if in mercy
one shadowy vision of that miserable future had been vouchsafed to me;
if but a ray of light had illumined my darkened sight, I had shaken
the dust off my feet, and left that doomed house never again to cross
its threshold.
Thorneley rose and pushed a small writing-table towards me, on which
was placed the printed form of a will to be filled in.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
"I am."
He bent forward, with his hand shading his rugged brow, his eyes fixed
intently on the fire and spoke in low distinct tones. I listened
almost breathlessly; and as I listened, I felt the cold sweat breaking
out upon my forehead. And then I made the will. Yes, God help me! I
made the will, for I saw it was inevitable.
{407}
"We must have witnesses," I said when it was finished.
Mr. Thorneley rang the bell. "Tell Thomas I want him here, and come
back yourself." The two men returned in a few moments,--coachman and
footman; and before those two, with unshaken hand, with a face of
rigid firmness, Gilbert Thorneley wrote his name; the servants affixed
their signatures, and the deed was done.
When we were alone I rose to depart, and bade him good-night. As I
left the room I looked back at the old man. He had sunk in his chair,
and his face was buried in his hands, bowed and bent beside the fire,
with his thin gray locks straying over his forehead, as if some bitter
blast had swept over him and left him desolate;--thus I saw him for
the last time on earth.
I left that house with a heavy secret locked in my breast, with a
weight on heart and brain, and heeded not the blinding, drizzling rain
as I bent my footsteps rapidly homeward, longing only to reach my
quiet chamber, where I might commune with myself and be still. I am
not an inveterate smoker; but when I want to think out a knotty point,
when I wish to obtain a clear view of any difficult question, I can
quite appreciate the aid which a good cigar affords one. This night I
was dazed, bewildered, and mechanically I sought my old friend in my
breast-pocket. I stopped beside the window of a large chemist's shop
at the comer of Vere street and Oxford street to strike a light, when
some one hastily passed out of the shop and ran full against me.
"Kavanagh!" "Atherton!" The man of all men in the world to meet _that_
night! What fatality was it that was hedging me in and fencing me
round, without any agency of my own?
"Who would have thought of seeing you here?" he exclaimed as he
grasped my hand. "I had no idea you had returned even."
"I came back this very evening."
"Only this evening! and whither away so soon, old fellow?"
I muttered something about business.
"Business! Come, I like that. You have changed your nature, John, if
you go after business the first evening of your return from
Switzerland. Why, I didn't suppose you would have stirred if my old
uncle yonder had sent for you to make his will, leaving me his sole
heir." And he laughed his old hearty joyous laugh, which had been
music to me from the time when I fought his first battle for him at
Rugby. Now it filled me with an unaccountable dread; now it fell on my
ear as the knell of times which were never more to come back. So near
the truth too as he had been, talking in his own thoughtless,
light-hearted way. What spell was over us all that fatal evening?
Perhaps--I think it must have been so--all the dark shadows which were
gathering over my soul revealed themselves in my countenance, for I
saw him look at me with the kind solicitous look that never became a
manly face better than his.
"I'll tell you what it is, dear old John," he said, putting his arm
within mine; "you are looking terribly hipped about something or
another, and any thing but the man you ought to look, after such a
jolly outing as you've just had. Come, I'll go home with you, and
we'll have a prime Manilla, a steaming tumbler, and a cosy chat
together; and if that doesn't send the blues back to the venerable old
party from which they are generally supposed by all good Christians to
come, why, as Mr. Peggotty hath it, 'I'm gormed!' "And again that
fatal influence stepped in, making me its agent to bring upon us the
inevitable _To be_; and putting his friendly hand from off my arm, I
said, '"No, Hugh, not to-night; I have need to be alone. Indeed I am
too tired to be good company even to you."
"Well, good-night then, my friend; I'll betake me to mine uncle, and
see {408} how the old man is getting along this damp weather. Lister
said he should look in, so we can tramp home together. But I won't be
shirked by you to-morrow, Master Jack,--don't think it; and I shall
bring somebody to fetch the Swiss toy I know you have got packed away
for her somewhere in your knapsack. Good-night, good-night."
We shook hands, and he turned down Vere street. An impulse,--blind,
unreasoning,--seized me a minute afterwards to call him back and ask
him to come home with me; and I followed quickly upon his footsteps.
The evening was very dark, and the rain beat blindingly in one's face,
so that it was difficult, with my near sight, to distinguish his
figure ahead amidst the numerous other foot-passengers. After a few
moments I gave up the chase, half angry with myself for haying been
the sport of a sudden fancy. As once more I turned round to retrace my
steps, a woman passed me at a hurried pace, and as she passed she
almost stopped and gazed intently at me. A thick veil prevented my
seeing her face, and in no way was her figure familiar to me; but the
gesture with which she stared at me was remarkable, and for a moment a
matter of wonder; then I forgot the circumstance, and rapidly made my
way home, thinking of the strange revelations I had just heard;
thinking of Hugh Atherton and our chance meeting; thinking of the days
past and the days to come,--of much and many things which belong to
the story I am telling,--of the time when I was a boy again at school,
senior in my form and umpire in all pitched battles and the petty
warfare boys wage with one another, when that little curly-headed,
blue-eyed fellow, with his cheeks all aglow and his nostrils big with
indignant wrath, had come to me, a great burly clumsy lad of sixteen,
and laid his plaint before me:
"Please, Kavanagh, the fellows say I'm a coward because I won't lick
Tom Overbury. Will you tell them to leave me in peace?--because I
_won't_ lick him."
"Why not, spooney?"
"Because I don't wish to."
"That won't go down here, you know, Atherton; you must give your
reasons."
"He's got something the matter with his right arm, and he can't hit
out. He'd have no chance against me. I know all about it, but the
other fellows don't, and they think he can't fight; he bade me not
tell any one. That's why they are always at him to make him pick
quarrels. They set him on at me; but I won't fight him, not for the
whole school, masters and all."
Such was Hugh Atherton as a boy; such was he as a man,--ever generous
and noble-hearted. I thought of him as then, I thought of him as now,
remembering all our long friendship, our close intimacy, with the
weight of that dread secret upon me, and with the indescribable sense
of coming evil clinging to me. I wished I had yielded to his request,
and allowed him to accompany me home; I wished I had persevered in
going after him; in short, I wished anything but what then was. Were
those desires troubling me a taste of the vain, futile, heart-bitter
wishes which the morrow was to bring forth? So, with the cold wind
whistling round me, and scattering the dead leaves across the desolate
square, where stood the house wherein I dwelt, the rain beating
against my face, and the sky above black and lowering, I reached my
home, wet and weary.
Methodical habits to a man brought up to the law, who has any pretence
of doing well in his profession, become like second nature; and when I
had divested myself of my wet garments, I took out my journal and made
an entry as usual of the date, object, etc., of my visit to Mr.
Thorneley; and then I wrote out a brief memorandum of the same, which
I addressed to Hugh Atherton in case of my death, and carefully locked
it up with some {409} very private papers of my own, about which he
already had my instructions. This done, I smoked a cigar, drank a
tumbler of hot brandy-and-water, and went to bed, thoroughly tired
out. But I could not sleep. For hours I tossed restlessly from side to
side; now and then catching a few moments' repose, which was disturbed
by the most horrible and distressing dreams. Toward morning, I
suppose, I must at last have fallen into a deep slumber--so profound
that I never heard the old laundress's hammering at the door, nor the
arrival of my clerk, nor the postman's knock.
At last I awoke, or rather was awakened. The day had advanced some
hours; all traces of last night's rain seemed to have vanished, and
the sun shown full and bright in at the windows. Beside my bed stood
Hardy, my old clerk.
"God bless you, sir, I thought you'd never wake!"
"I wish I never had, for I am awfully tired. How are you. Hardy? and
how is all going on?"
"Quite well, sir, thank you; and I hope you're the same. We've wanted
you badly enough. There's that Williams, he's been here almost every
day, teasing and tormenting about having his mortgage called in; and
Lady Ormskirk, she called twice, and seemed in some trouble. Then
there was a queer young chap from the country with a long case about
some inheritance; in short, sir, if you had been at home we might have
been no end busy--what with the old ones and what with the new;" and
Hardy cast a sigh after the possible tips and fees of which my absence
had deprived him.
"Well, I'll see to it all as soon as I have dressed and had some
breakfast. I suppose they've brought it up, and also the hot water?"
"Some time ago, sir; you slept so late that I ventured to come in."
"All right. I shall be ready directly."
Hardy still lingered, and I knew by his face there was some news
coming.
"There's a fine to-do at Smith and Walker's, sir, this morning. I just
met their head-clerk as I was coming here."
I sprang up in bed as if I had been shot, the old fancies and dread of
the previous night returning with full force.
"Smith and Walker's!" I cried; "what is the matter there?"
"Well, sir, I couldn't quite make out the particulars, he was in such
a hurry; but old Mr. Thorneley's been found dead in his room this
morning, and they suspect there has been foul play. Mr.
Griffiths--that's the clerk--was going off to Scotland Yard. It's a
terrible thing, an't it, sir, to be hurried off so quick? and none of
the best of lives too, if one may believe what folks say. It's shocked
you, sir, I see; and so it did me, for I thought of Mr. Atherton and
what a blow like it would be to him."
Whiter and whiter I felt my face was getting, and a feeling of dead
sickness seized me. The man whom I had seen and spoken with but such
few short hours since lay dead! the secret of whose life I possessed,
knowing what I now knew of him, and what had been left untold hanging
like a black shadow of doubt around me; he was gone from whence there
was no returning,--he was standing face to face with his Creator and
his Judge!
By this time Hardy had left the room, and I proceeded hastily to dress
myself, feeling that more was coming than I wotted of then, and that
the fearful storm which was gathering would quickly burst.
Scarcely was I dressed when I heard a loud double-knock at the
office-door, and directly after Hardy's voice demanding admittance. I
opened my door.
"Sir, there is a police-officer who wishes to see you immediately."
I went out into the sitting-room. A detective in plain clothes was
there; I had known the man in another business formerly.
"What do you want with me, Jones?"
{410}
"You have heard of Mr. Thorneley being found dead, sir?"
"Yes--my clerk has just told me. What did he die of?"
"He was poisoned, Mr. Kavanagh."
I felt the man's eyes were fixed on me as if he could read in my soul
and see the fearful dread therein. I could have hurled him from the
window.
"Who is suspected?" I asked as calmly as my parched tongue would let
me speak.
The man did not answer my question.
"You were with him last evening, sir, were you not?"
"Good heavens!" I exclaimed, completely thrown off my guard; "they
surely don't suspect _me!_"
"Not that I'm aware of, sir; but your evidence is necessary, since you
were _one_ of the last persons who saw him alive."
"But not the last," I said, still blind to the fact pointed at. "Mr.
Atherton, his nephew, was with him after I left. I met him going there
at the comer of Vere street."
There was a peculiar look on the man's countenance--of compassion for
me, I had almost said.
"Mr. Kavanagh, sir, I had rather have cut off my right hand than that
you should have told me that, for you've both been kind gentlemen to
me and mine. _Mr. Atherton is arrested on suspicion of having
administered the poison to his uncle._ When you remember _where_ you
met him, you can guess what your evidence will be against him.
Here--Mr. Hardy! Help!"
I remember nothing more, for I had fallen back insensible.
TO BE CONTINUED.
------
[Original.]
Peace.
"Not as the world giveth give I unto you."--St. John 14th.
Break not its sleep, the faithful grief, still tender;
God gives at length his own beloved rest;
How worn and the suffering brow! Yet these meek fingers
Still press the cross of patience to her breast.
Stir not the air with one sweet, lingering cadence
From life's fair prime of love and hope and song;
Serener airs, from martyr hosts celestial,
To that high trance of Conquered peace belong.
Hush mortal joy or wail, hush mortal paeans;
Ye cannot reach that Thabor height sublime
Where God's eternal joy, in tranquil vision,
Seems nearer than the sights and sounds of time.
------
{411}
[Original.]
TWO PICTURES OF LIFE IN FRANCE BEFORE 1848.
Those who are familiar with the Journal of Eugenie de Guerin, know
that in Languedoc, near the towns or villages of Andillac and Gaillac,
and not far from Toulouse, there is an ancient estate called Le Cayla;
but they know little more than this of the place where Maurice and
Eugenie de Guerin passed their youth in the quaint an beautiful
simplicity that stamped their genius with so marked and individuality.
The peasantry of that region are wedded to old habits and traditions,
and the ancient families are imbedded like rocks in the land, says
Lamartine, (from whose "Entretiens" many of these local details are
taken), and are nobles by common consent, because the chateau is
merely the largest ruin in the village, and every one goes there as to
a home to get whatever he needs in the way of advice, agricultural
tools, medicine or food.
Let us in the imagination visit the Chateau of like a lot, as it was
in the year 1837, four we must make our first acquaintance with it
when it is graced by the exquisite presence of those two, whose names
are fast becoming household words on both sides of the Atlantic
--Maurice and Eugenie de Guerin.
It is not like one's dream of an ancient _castel_, this spreading,
rectangular house, built of brick and stone after a fashion of Henry
the Fourth's time, and perched on the summit of a sharp declivity.
There is little to distinguish it from the great farms of the country
round, but a half ruined portico, projecting over the flight of stone
steps, a pointed current and the grooves of a drawbridge, over which
the ruthless hand of 1793 as effaced the ancient arms of the Guerins.
The great flagstones of the courtyard were loosened and uprooted long
ago by the drainage from the stables, and in the angles of the wall
grow holly and elder bushes, not too aristocratic to take root in such
a soil. These gates stand open always, admitting wayfarers who may
wish for a cup of water from the bucket hanging behind the door, or
for a plate of soup to eat, sitting in the sunshine on the broad steps
that lead down into the courtyard from the kitchen, an important
department in this venerable homestead.
Within doors blazes a goodly fire on the hearth, a whole tree,
standing on end, sending its smoke up a great chimney through which
daylight is visible, and ready to give a comfortable greeting to Jean,
or Gilles, or Romignieres, when they come to talk about corn or sheep
with the master, they sitting on the stone settles, built into the
wall, he on one of those walnut armchairs standing between the kitchen
table and the fireplace. See the great copper boilers standing around
the wall, and those immense soup-tureens, ornamented with coarse
painting, and the big dishes for the fish that they catch in the
mill-pond once in three years.
There--we have looked long enough; pass through this long smoke-dried
corridor to the dining-room, where masters and servants take their
meals together, excepting on state occasions, the menials standing or
sitting at the lower and of the unbleached cloth.
Now down this little flight of steps to the _salon_, which is all
white, with a large sofa, some straw chairs, and a table with books on
it. Yes--here {412} we pause--here are the objects of our search. In a
faded tapestry arm-chair sits Maurice reading and Eugenie is near
here. He looks but shadowy still, having just recovered from a fever,
but the outline of his face is beautiful as he bends slightly over the
book, the refined mouth, the expressive, drooping eyelids, the noble
brow declaring him the worthy descendent of a long line of knights and
gentlemen. One of these ancestors, Guerin de Montaigu, Grand Master of
the Knights of Malta, looks down upon us from the wall as we stand
behind Maurice's chair, glancing, by the way, over his shoulder at the
page he is reading, one of Barbey d'Aurevilly's brilliant articles.
And now he reads aloud a striking passage, and Eugenie lifts her eyes
and lets the work drop on her lap. What earnest, dovelike eyes they
are! See how softly the hair parts on her forehead, passing over the
pretty ear and falling in little curls at the back of her neck. The
dress looks old-fashioned to us now, with its half-high, baby waste,
and belt, and tucker, and her hair is dressed too high to be becoming;
but there is the air of a refined lady in everything about her, and
her face is like the face of a sweet, good little child.
The reading has stopped and their talk turns upon private matters,
something about Caroline, and hopes and fears for the future. We will
leave them to their conversation, and pass out through yonder door,
pausing for an instant to admire that picture of the Madonna and
child, presented to the family by the Queen, and to look through the
glass doors and arched window at the terrace, all green and blossoming
with roses and acacias.
Here we are in an M. de Guerin's room, with its table and chairs
loaded with books and with dust! That prie-Dieu was embroidered by
Mme. de Guerin and whose pensive look face looks out from the
pictures, hanging between the fireplace and the bed. There is the
cross presented by Christine Rognier, and the holy water vase, and the
picture of Calvary before which Eugenie used to kneel and pour out her
childish woes. One day she prayed that some spots might disappear from
her frock, and a disappeared--and again she begged that her doll might
have a soul, but that never came to pass. No doubt it was in this
great state bed that Madame de Guerin died at midnight on the second
of April, 1819. Eugenie had fallen asleep at her mother's feet, and as
the spirit passed away from the long suffering body, M. de Guerin
waked the little girl. "My God! I hear the priest, I see the lighted
candles and a pale face the in tears," she wrote sixteen years
afterwards. Poor little soul! She awoke to the double responsibility
of child and parent, for the little eight-year-old Maurice was her
mother's legacy to her.
Now a dark spiral staircase in the turret leads to a large hall on the
first story, and then winds on with several landing-places to the
upper part of the house where the servants sleep.
This hall is the grand reception-room for guests of distinction, and
has more and air of grandeur then the rest of the chateau. This
ornamented ceiling and deep wainscoting of carved wood, these
paintings set in the panels, and that huge chimney-piece supported on
stone caryatides, call up to our fancy the days when stately dames and
gentle couriers visited Le Cayla for the hunting season. But there is
a golden renown in store for this shattered, time-worn house, more
precious than that shed upon it by any Guerin of the seventeenth
century.
Suites of small rooms lead from the hall--here is the room that
Eugenie shares with her younger sister Marie, and near by is the
_chambrette_ where Maurice sleeps when he is at home. In his absence
it is her nest where she reads, writes, prays, or leans on the
window-sill to listen to the brook rippling below the terrace, two
doves, and nightingales and all the lovely {413} out-door sounds; or
to look over the corn-fields, groves, chestnut trees, and vineyards in
the valley, far away to the mountains where the friend, Louis de
Bayne, lives in a white chateau with a linden tree walk, in a country
of ravines and waterfalls;--but we have indulged long enough in this
summer dream of Le Cayla, and must turn to a picture full of sober
tints and shadows.
LA CHENAIE
In Brittany, within a few hours drive from Rennes, was the old family
place of the Lamennais, where about the year 1830 Hughes Filicite de
Lamennais drew about him several of the most promising intellects of
France, [Footnote 64] with the view of establishing a new religious
order, that should meet all the demands of that most grasping of
centuries, the nineteenth. Montalembert, Gerbert, Sainte-Beuve,
Lacordaire, Rohrbacher, Combalot, and many others of more or less
distinction, were inmates or frequent visitors in the old white house
with its peaked French roof, surrounded on every side by thick woods
that were full of beauty and song in summer, but in winter pressed
about it in dusky--brown monotony, while overhead on the grey, heavy
Breton sky.
[Footnote 64: The precise period at which La Chenaie became the
resort of the celebrated men we have been unable to ascertain.
The Lamennais were a commercial family in Bordeaux, ennobled during
the reign of Louis XVI. L'Abbe de Lamennais, the second son,
refusing to become a merchant, retired to La Chenaie, and prepared
himself for the priesthood.]
Here Lamennais passed through many of the struggles of his giant
nature, slow in its action, but never pausing until it had reached the
extreme result of any course of thought or feeling. Here, at fifteen
years of age, he took refuge with his brother, Jean de Lamennais, to
think out the perplexities that clouded his faith so persistently as
to prevent him from receiving his first communion until he was
twenty-two years old; and hither he came to labor over the task he had
proposed to himself, of procuring the banishment of tyranny and
suffering from the earth.
At the time Maurice de Guerin [Footnote 65] joined the little circle
at La Chenaie, Lamennais had reached the turning point in his career.
After preaching in his journal, with the assurance of a prophet, the
public union of Catholicity and democracy, he had suffered the
mortification of finding himself obliged to suspend the publication of
_L'Avenir_. A visit to Rome, where he was treated with the greatest
personal consideration, convinced him that there was no prospect of
support from the Holy See, and he returned home oppressed with
disappointment, and though apparently submissive to the decisions of
his superiors, already resolving in his mind, perhaps unconsciously,
plans to crush the power that had crushed him. Those around him feared
that he would die of grief. One day he said to his favorite pupil,
Elie de Kertauguy, when they were sitting together under one of the
Scotch pines behind the chapel, in the great spreading garden: "There
is the place where I wish to rest," marking out on the grass the form
of a grave with his stick: "But no tombstone over me--only a mound of
earth. Oh! I shall be well off there."
[Footnote 65: Vide M. Sainte-Beuve's "Notice sur Maurice de
Guerin."]
"If," says M. Sainte-Beuve, "he had died then, or in the following
months, if his heart had snapped in it's hidden struggle, what a fair,
unblemished memory he would have left, what fame as a faithful
believer (fidele) a hero--almost a martyr! What a mysterious subject
of meditation and revery to those who love to contemplate great
destinies thwarted!" And yet even then Lamennais' sufferings must have
proceeded more from wounded pride than from disappointed philanthropy,
for one can hardly imagine a sterner course of tyranny then that of
forcing dogmatically upon Catholic nations a theory of political
freedom that would have thrown half the civilized world into a state
of revolution.
{414}
A striking point in M. Sainte-Beuve's masterly analysis of the
character of his former friend is the strange contrast offered by the
double nature of Lamennais, who always leaned completely to one side
or the other, without any gradation, sometimes being possessed by what
Buffon calls, in speaking of beasts of prey, "a soul wrath;" and again
filled with a sweetness and tenderness that drew little children to
him, a truly fascinating mood; and from one humor to the other he
would pass in an instant.
To La Chenaie and to the influence of this wonderful being, this
compound a pathetic gentleness and combative obstinacy, of magnetism
and repulsion, Guerin came one afternoon early in the December of
1832. M. Feli, as Lamennais was called in his household, where
ceremony was laid aside, and the most charming relations existed
between old and young, received him very cordially in his little
private parlor, which was furnished with one chair and a chest of
drawers. The master had a way of letting the person he was conversing
with say everything that he had to say upon a subject without
interruption (and uncomfortable method, by the way, of convincing one
of the paucity of one's ideas), and then he would take up the matter
himself, and speak "gravely, profoundly, luminously." But on this
occasion he gave himself up freely to a chat upon all sorts of
subjects calculated to draw out the general intelligence of his new
pupil--the weather in Languedoc, Maurice's traveling companions, his
age, the high tides that Saint Malo, Calderon, oyster fishing,
Catholic poetry, Victor Hugo, the most remarkable fishes on the coast
of Brittany--all the while hurrying to and fro in the little room,
presenting a singular appearance with his small, slender figure clad
in grey from head to foot, his oblong head, pale complexion, grey
eyes, long nose, and brow furrowed with wrinkles.
The life at La Chenaie suited Guerin's taste admirably, excepting
perhaps the practice of rising at five o'clock, against which every
well-regulated mind must rebel. One of his great enjoyments was the
daily mass in the quiet little chapel below the terrace in the garden.
"At breakfast," he wrote to Eugenie, "we have butter, and bread which
we toast to make it more appetizing (toast was rather a luxury in
those days on the continent), butter plays an important part in the
meals. Dinner _tres confortable_, with coffee and _liqueurs_ when we
have company, is seasoned with a rolling fire of wit, generally coming
from M. Feli--whose _mots_ are charming--vivid, piercing, sparkling,
and innumerable. His genius escapes in this way when he is not at
work, and from sublime he becomes fascinating."
In studies, Maurice was thrown into modern languages, Catholic
philosophy, and the history of philosophy. Each pupil had a room to
himself, but they all studied in a common room sitting round a good
fire. Their recreations consisted in skating on a pond close by the
house, or taking walks in the woods, staff in hand, M. Feli marching
on ahead wearing a battered old straw hat such as great men love to
shelter their illustrious heads with. They had supper at eight o'clock
and then adjourned to the pleasant, quaint old parlor, where chess and
backgammon greeted the master's longing eyes, smoothing his brow and
putting him in genial mood. Then he would throw himself on the immense
sofa that stood under his grandmother's portrait, and become absorbed
into the threadbare crimson velvet, except the little head ever
rolling restlessly from side to side with eyes gleaming like
fire-flies.
"And then he would talk,
Ye gods! how he would talk!"--
What treasures of wit, humor, anecdote, analysis, and broad
generalization poured from that horn of plenty, {415} his mind stored
with the prints of nearly half a century of philosophic research and
observation of men and things! His voice varied with his words from
grave to gay, and now and then came long peals of shrill laughter,
more derisive perhaps than mirthful. "That is _our man!_" said Maurice
proudly, after describing such an evening; that evening perhaps when
his own attractions eclipsed the master's brilliancy in the estimation
of one who saw him for the first time--M. de Marzan, a former pupil of
Lamennais, who revisited La Chenaie on the 18th of December, 1832.
M. Feli was in one of his most delightful moods, recounting the
experiences of his late Italian journey, and drawing out in his genial
way the keen observations of the young men about him--of all excepting
poor Maurice, who stood silent among the hopeful, eager talkers,
painfully conscious of himself and distrustful of others, we must
confess, with all affectionate sympathy for our hero. But in his
reserved mien, in his expressive southern eyes and intellectual face,
there was a magnetism that won completely M. de Marzan's attention
from the delights of conversation, and as soon as the evening ended,
he obtained an introduction through Elie de Kertauguy, a handsome,
gifted youth from Lower Brittany, passionately devoted to Lamennais,
and compassionately attentive to Guerin, regarding him, as did most of
the inmates of La Chenaie, as a refined but very inefficient member of
their circle.
Not so Marzan, who in twenty-four hours had thawed Maurice's reserve,
won his confidence, seen his journal, heard the circumstances of his
unrequited love for Mlle. de Bayne, and laid the foundation of a
friendship that lasted unbroken to the day of Guerin's death. What
days, and nights too, of rapture these two young poets used to spend
together, guided by their older and more experienced friend, Hippolyte
de La Morvonnais (a frequent visitor at La Chenaie), who had been to
Grasmere to visit Wordsworth, and come home imbued with veneration for
"Les Lakistes". (The Lake Poets). There came to be a mania among the
three friends for describing in homely language the simplest domestic
details, which they considered it a triumph in art to be able to give
in a rhythm so dubious that none but the initiated could tell whether
it was meant for prose or verse.
Even at this early period, Guerin gave evidence of the peculiar
strength and weakness of his style, the vagueness and looseness of his
verse, the faultless harmony of his prose, which is as pure as air,
free from the least touch of provincialism or mannerism; and yet, in
the simple fervor of its revelations of the secrets that nature poured
into his attentive ear, we are reminded of the sweet pipings of the
Ettrick Shepherd, as dear old Christopher North interprets them to us.
Through him we see and hear trees wave and waters flow, birds sing and
winds sigh in the woods, and without being disturbed by moral
inferences and philosophical conclusions. And surely, when beauty
comes to us so pure and fresh and untarnished, she may be left to
teach her own lessons, which come to us so softly too from her lips.
The months that Maurice spent at La Chenaie were not especially
fruitful to him, except in the sad experiences that tended to develop
his moral strength. But for Morvonnais and Marzan, he would have
remained quite unappreciated, for Lamennais, who gave the tone to the
household, was too much "absorbed in his apocalyptic social visions"
[Footnote 66] to be conscious of the jewel that glittered before his
eyes. Lamennais was a logician, a philosopher, a passionate and
fanatical worker. Guerin was a man of {416} exquisite artistic
perceptions, but dreamy, undecided, deficient in vigor. Odin and
Apollo,--sledge-hammer and chisel,--thunderbolt and sunbeam, are not
more unlike in use and significance. M. Feli offered nothing but
pitying tenderness, which Maurice accepted in dumb veneration. No
wonder that, with the life at La Chenaie, all intimate intercourse
between them ceased.
[Footnote 66: Sainte-Beuve.]
But it is a matter for surprise that, with all his powers of
fascination, Lamennais inflicted (so far as we can learn the
circumstances of the case) no permanent injury upon the faith of any
one of his companions at La Chenaie. Lacordaire, Gerbet, Montalembert,
and Bohrbacher became renowned champions of the church. Combalot, who
had adored Lamennais, burst forth into a storm of invectives against
him (as is the wont of disappointed idolaters), and then exclaimed,
"Alas! I have wounded that heart into which I could have poured
torrents of love!" Morvonnais and Marzan were ardent believers; Elie
de Kertauguy and Guerin died Catholics. In short, Lamennais had
devoted the prime of life to the church, and in those years had
uttered words of wisdom never to be unsaid or forgotten. In spite of
himself he must always be an eloquent advocate of the faith he
deserted, a powerful enemy of the cause he espoused.
The time was already drawing near when the asylum should be closed to
Maurice where he had found, in spite of disappointment and frequent
depression, a happy, congenial home. On Easter Sunday, Lamennais
celebrated his last mass and gave communion to all the little circle.
"Who would have said" (we quote from Sainte-Beuve) "to those who
clustered round the master, that he who had just given them communion,
would never administer it again to anyone; that he would refuse it
forevermore; and that he would soon adopt for his too true device an
_oak shattered_ by the storm, with the proud motto: _I break but bend
not!_ A Titan's device, _a la Capanee!_"
Early in the autumn of 1833, the Bishop of Rennes ordered the
dissolution of Lamennais' religious community, and the pupils were
removed to Ploermel, where they continued their studies under the
supervision of M. Jean de Lamennais. M. Feli disbanded his little army
with the dignity of a defeated general, and then threw himself
single-handed again into the fight. He changed his patrician name to
F. Lamennais, and demanded of democracy (says one of his biographers),
as he had demanded of the church, a wand-stroke that should free the
world at once from suffering and oppression. His success may be judged
by the political history of France in the last sixteen years. In
religion he adopted "_Christianisme legislate,_" [Footnote 67]
whatever that may be. "If," said he, "men feel so irresistibly
impelled to unite themselves to God that they return to Christianity,
let no one suppose that it can be to that Christianity which presents
itself under the name of Catholicism."
[Footnote 67: Lamartine.]
In the revolution of '48 he thought he saw the birth of liberty; in
the "Coup d'Etat" he received its death-blow in his own person.
Baffled on every side, he betook himself to literature, and translated
the "Divina Commedia;" then "feeling within him no life-sustaining
thought," he died in his seventy-third year, after an illness of a few
weeks, leaving these words in his will: "I will be buried among the
poor, and like the poor. I will have nothing over my grave, not even a
stone; nor will I have my body carried into any church." They laid him
in Pere la Chaise, and no word of blessing was uttered over his grave.
Poor Lamennais! What magnificent possibilities were shattered in his
fall!
And Maurice, what were his emotions when the door of La Chenaie dosed
behind him?--the "little paradise" he called it, but then, poor soul,
{417} anything that had escaped him for ever seemed to have been
paradise. He suffered all that must be endured by those who have
mistaken personal influence for a divine attraction. The novitate on
which he had entered at La Chenaie with a certain reluctance, galled
him beyond endurance at Ploermel. "I would rather run the chance of a
life of adventure than be garrotted by a rule," he said, and so he
went out into the world again, feeling like a thing let loose in the
universe, and by the blessing of Providence was received into the home
of his unfailing friend, Hippolyte de la Morvonnais, who lived most
delightfully on the coast of Brittany, at a place called Le Val de
l'Arquenon.
Two months of simple country life, and of intercourse with Morvonnais,
and with his wife, who exercised over Maurice the noblest and sweetest
influence, gave him renewed strength to battle with life again. In the
following extract from his journal, describing the last walk at Le
Val, we see with what tenacity he clung to the past, and with what
sadness he encountered the future: "Ten o'clock in the evening. Last
walk, last visit to the sea, to the cliffs, to the whole grand scenery
that has enchanted me for two months. Winter is smiling upon us with
all the grace of spring, and giving us days that make birds sing and
leaves burst forth on the rose-bushes in the garden, on the eglantine
in the woods, on the honeysuckle climbing over rock and wall. About
two o'clock we took the path that winds so gracefully through
flowering broom and coarse cliff grass, skirting along wheat-fields,
bending toward ravines, twisting in and out between hedge-rows, and at
last boldly ascending the loftiest rocks. The object of our walk was a
promontory that commands the Bay of Quatre-Vaux. A hundred feet below
us shone the sea, breaking against the rocks with sounds that passed
through our souls as they mounted to heaven. Toward the horizon the
fishing-boats unfurled against the azure sky their dazzling sails, and
as our eyes turned from this little fleet to the more numerous one
that sailed singing nearer to us, an innumerable crowd of sea-birds
fishing gaily, and gladdening our eyes with the sight of their bright
plumage and graceful movements over the water--the birds, the sails,
the lovely day and universal peace gave to the sea a festal beauty
that filled my soul with glad enthusiasm in spite of the sad thoughts
I had brought with me to our promontory; and then I looked with all my
soul at headlands, rocks, and islands, trying to imprint them on my
memory and carry them away with me. Coming home I trod religiously,
and with regret at every step, the path that had so often led me to
such beautiful thoughts, in such sweet company. The path is so
charming when it reaches the coppice, and passes on among high hazel
trees, and a thick, bushy hedge of boxwood! Then the joy that nature
had bestowed upon me died away, and the melancholy of parting took
possession of me. Tomorrow will make of sea, and woods, and coast, and
all the charms I have enjoyed, a dream, a floating thought to me; and
so, that I might carry away from these dear places as much as
possible, and as if they could give themselves to me, I besought them
to engrave their images upon my soul, to give me something of
themselves that could never pass away; and I broke off branches of
boxwood, bushes, and luxurious thickets, plunging my head into their
depths to breathe in the wild perfumes they exhale, to penetrate into
their very essence, and speak as it were heart to heart.
"The evening passed as usual in talking and reading. We recalled the
happiness of past days; I traced a faint picture of them in this book,
and we looked at it sadly, as at some dear, beautiful, dead face."
One more passage from his journal and we will leave Maurice de Guerin
in Paris. Two years from the following date he was a fashionable man
of the world, capable of vieing in {418} conversation with those
marvels of wit and brilliancy, the talkers of Paris; but we have to do
with him only as the banished recluse, the exile from La Chenaie.
"Paris, Feb., 1834.
"O God! close my eyes, keep me from seeing all this multitude, whose
presence rouses in me thoughts so bitter and discouraging. As I pass
through it, let me be deaf to the sounds, inaccessible to the
impressions that overwhelm me when I am in the crowd; set before my
eyes some image, some vision of the things I love, a field, a
valley, a moor, Le Cayla, Le Val, something in nature; I will walk
with eyes fastened upon these dear forms, and pass on without a
sense of suffering."
------
From the Month.
OF DREAMERS AND WORKERS.
Nearly all men are born either dreamers or workers; not perhaps only
the one or only the other, but one of these two points is the centre
of their oscillation. Like a pendulum, they can move only so far
toward their opposite, some more, some less; but, like the pendulum,
they invariably return to their centre. Do we not all know some man
with abstracted eye, high, retreating forehead, rather refined and
often slightly attenuated frame and features, and placidly resolute in
demeanor, who has held the same position in the opinion of his
fellow-men, or, it may be, has occupied the same bench on the Sunday
quietly for twenty years or more? He is a specimen of the extreme type
of dreamers--venerative, mystical, and benevolent; but to all
appearance practically useless, helpless, and inert. Viewed
physiologically, these men are chiefly fair-haired and of the nervous
lymphatic temperament; sometimes this is combined with the bilious
temperament, and in such cases (to some of which we shall have more
particularly to allude) they become remarkable characters. It has been
said that the religion natural to dreamers is a mild form of Buddhism;
but this is probably because most Buddhists are dreamers and mystics
in the highest degree. One thing is certain, dreamers are in politics
either conservative or utopian, and in religion are little disposed
either to reject what they have been taught or to influence others to
do so. If they have been educated as Catholics, mild and devout
Catholics they live and die; if as Protestants, they are unusually
gentle and tolerant, and oppose alike reforms that would be
innovations, and innovations that would be reforms. A man who lives by
faith, thus resting on the invisible, has at times an apparent
resemblance to a dreamer. It is not our object in this paper to point
out the distinction, wide as it indeed is. Dreamers are the subject of
wonderful anecdotes about their absence of mind: it is related of them
that they forget their meals, start on a journey without their hats,
walk with their eyes wide open over precipices, ride on their
walking-sticks, and are surprised when toll is not demanded of them
for their charger. There is no occasion to believe all these
preposterous tales, but no doubt there are many very curious and
perfectly well-authenticated cases of abstraction of mind so entire as
to cause catastrophes both painful and ludicrous. To these men their
real life is their dream, their working-day is only their interruption
and annoyance. They are in heart mystics, and only need a certain
activity of brain and speech to proclaim themselves as such. They
possess great store of happiness within themselves, owing to their
peculiarity of caring less than others for those {419} substantial and
golden rewards which cause the unrest of the world. They love the
unseen and mysterious better than the visible and sensuous, and would
in general barter any amount of distinct and limited reality for
indefinite prospects; so that the single streak of wan and dying
light, which sleeps on the edge of the dark horizon, is more precious
to them, as suggesting Infinity, than any view which could be offered
of noble cities or fertile plains. Almost all things are to them
symbolical. No action is in their thought simply what it seems to be;
but there is about every deed performed, circumstance encountered, or
season passed, a secret sense of omen or prescience, of brightness or
of shadow. Light becomes a sentiment calling up images of
corresponding radiance and beauty, but especially perhaps that early
morning light which seems, while yet sleeping, to float in on the
world, as opposed to the fading colors of departing day. Darkness,
again, sometimes lends a sense of peril; but more often is peopled by
spirits--a realm of shadows and shadowy delights, all called into
being, moved, governed, and by the dreamer in his dream. The
many gradations between brightness and gloom have each their especial
fascination for dreamers, who are in this respect as discriminative
and fanciful as the Jews, who, in olden times, distinguished two kinds
of twilight: the doves' twilight, or crepusculum of the day, and
ravens' twilight, or the crepusculum of the night. In truth, their
tendency is to behold all actual things as illusions, and to consider
the spiritual and unseen world as the only true one: thus, in the
cloudy mantle of constant reverie they hide all the ills and
infirmities of humanity, and slumber in the "golden sleep of halcyon
quiet apart from the everlasting storms of life." For when a man can
sit calmly on an uncomfortable pole, like the Indian mystic, and say
"I am the Universe, and the Universe is me," he has attained to the
greatest conceivable height and perfection of dream-life. From the age
of Plato to our own times dreamers have been born perpetually among
the sons of men. St. John is claimed by them as being the most
profound and loving mystic ever given to the world. There have been
countless others; we need not add a list of names; those of
Swedenborg, Boehmen, and Irving, will occur to the memory as
representing one class of dreamers. These leaders are, as one might
predict, regarded with the extreme veneration characteristic of the
order. Indeed, of some it may be chronicled, as it was of the ancient
deities, Buddha, etc., "Once a man, now a God!" In general, dreamers
have tenanted our madhouses rather than filled our prisons; if,
however, they do commit crimes, they are serious ones. Religious and
political assassinations have been commonly the fruits of mad
dreamers. In the ranks have been numbered many holy men, and as a rule
they have influenced mankind rather by the example of their life and
the teaching of their pen than by busy practical action. Only certain
professions and occupations are suitable for dreamers. In the olden
times they were poets, shepherds, prophets, soothsayers, diviners,
alchemists, rhabdomantists. [Footnote 68] In these days they are by
rights clergymen, authors, poets, philanthropists, and, philosophers.
If they enter trade they commonly end in the _Gazette_; and placed in
positions of authority, where severity of discipline has to be
exercised, they are uniformly unsuccessful; in situations of trust,
they are invariably single-hearted and faithful, but in every place
and at all times they are the most frequent victims of fraudulent
representations and impudent imposture. A certain number of the
priesthood among all nations, gentle, speculative, and saintly men,
{420} have been of this order; weaving their work and their dreams
together into a fair fabric of many colors, which if it seems to
ordinary eyes shadowy and unsubstantial as the mist, is yet, like the
air, elastic, solid, and capable of resisting a very heavy pressure.
Idealists are, however, rarely formidable in action unless the bilious
is largely transfused in their temperament. They then become
missionaries and martyrs; patriots, revolutionists, fanatics; they
head revolutions, plan massacres, overthrow monarchies, and shatter
creeds. Peter the Hermit, John of Leyden, are examples of this order.
[Footnote 68: [Greek text], _a rod_; men who undertook, and in
certain unenlightened regions do still undertake, to discover wells
of water, veins of minerals, or hidden treasures of money and
jewels, by means of divining-rods. ]
The workers born into the world are widely different in temperament
and disposition, and antagonistic in principles, sentiment, and
action. They consist both of those who work with their hands alone,
and of those who work up into a practical form the reveries and
speculative schemes of the dreamers. Physiologically viewed, the
extreme type of the worker exhibits most frequently the bullet-shaped
head, square jaw, muscular, thick neck, large chest development, and
elemental hand, commonly also the sanguine, sanguine-nervous, or
sanguine-bilious temperament, They have an irresistible propensity to
do, to acquire, to conquer or invade; they are fertile in resource,
opulent in stratagem, full of quarrel, and essentially aggressive. A
contest is to them an occasion of inexplicable delight; and naturally
dedicated to action, they are as unable to conceive of disappointment
as the other class are to resist that which is or seems to be their
destiny. They become engineers, manufacturers, merchants, inventors,
mighty hunters, soldiers, sailors, pioneers, emigrants, rough-riders,
pugilists, smugglers, aeronauts, acrobats, and celebrated performers
in travelling circuses and menageries, lion-tamers, snake-charmers,
rat-catchers, burglars, thieves, and highwaymen. They are gamekeepers,
and devote their lives to circumvent and strive in mortal strife with
poachers; or they are poachers, and spend their days and nights in
plotting against and harassing and threatening the gamekeepers. As
clergymen they are most hard-working, zealous and excellent, but also
the most quarrelsome and intolerant. When they come on to the earth as
younger members of the aristocracy, who may neither dig, trade, nor
fight in the ring, and have not the wherewithal to keep racehorses and
hunters, they enter the army or navy, and there in times of peace,
when no legitimate outlet presents itself for the expenditure of these
energies, they form a very insubordinate and turbulent item of the
population. The lower classes of the workers who cannot get work, then
crusade against the upper classes, who are in the same predicament;
and we see the result in the perpetual placarding in some journals and
newspapers of "deplorable blackguardism in high life." Three parts out
of five, or even a larger proportion, of the Anglo-Saxon population
are composed of workers as opposed to dreamers; and the seething
unquiet mass of humanity known and described by some writers as our
"dangerous classes" is almost entirely recruited from their ranks.
Many centuries ago they were Vikings, pirates, and border robbers;
they scoured the seas, made raids, reived the cattle, and levied
black-mail; anon they were crusaders, for though Peter the Hermit was
a dreamer, his followers were workers; subsequently they destroyed
monasteries; and in these days they have made railroads and abolished
the corn-laws. But, nevertheless, the men who first built churches,
and dwelt in monasteries, and discovered the mysterious agency by
which the engine was to do its work, were not workers, but dreamers,
and were reviled in their day as visionaries and enthusiasts. Where a
dreamer would have been an alchemist, a modern worker finds his
mission to be a gold-digger; where one is a shepherd, the other will
be a hunter or trapper:--the first works that he may retire to dream.
{421} the second dreams how he shall arise and work.
The dreamers among men select as mates the workers among women, or are
(perhaps more often) selected by them, and _vice versa_. It is the old
eternal law of nature--the duality pervading all things, types, and
classes, man and woman, positive and negative, matter and spirit,
reason and faith; and, in spite of the gentle scorn which dreamers
cherish for workers, and the undisguised contempt with which workers
regard dreamers, so they will continue to exist side by side until the
day comes when the worker can work no more, and the dreamer shall have
dreamed for the last time.
--------
MISCELLANY.
_The Old Church at Chelsea, England_,--Mr. H. H. Burnell read a paper
before the British Archaeological Society lately, on the Old Church of
Chelsea. The chancel, with the chauntries north and south of it, are
the only portions of ancient work left. The north chauntry, called the
Manor Chauntry, once contained the monuments of the Brays, now in very
imperfect condition, having been destroyed or removed to make space
for those of the Gervoise family. There remains, however, an ancient
brass in the floor. Of the south, or More Chauntry, he stated that the
monument of Sir Thomas More was removed from it to the chancel; and
the chauntry had been occupied by the monuments of the Georges family,
now also removed, displaced, and destroyed. Mr. Blunt showed that,
notwithstanding the current contrary opinion, founded on Aubrey's
assertion, the More monument is the original one for which Sir Thomas
More himself dictated the epitaph. Mr. Burnell, the architect of the
improvements effected subsequently to 1857, spoke positively as to the
non-existence of a crypt which conjecture had placed under the More
Chauntry. The foundation of the west end of the church before it was
enlarged in 1666, he found west of Lord Dacre's tomb. On the north
side of the chancel an aumbrey, and on the south a piscina was found,
coeval with the chancel (early fourteenth century). The arch between
the More Chauntry and the chancel is a specimen of Italian
workmanship--dated 1528--a date confirmed by the objects represented
in the carved ornaments, those objects being connected with the Roman
Catholic ritual. It is a remarkably early instance of the use of
Italian architecture in this country. In a window of this chapel, then
partly bricked up, was found in the brickwork in 1858 remains of the
stained glass which once filled it. The body of Sir Thomas More was,
according to Aubrey, interred in this chapel, and his head, after an
exposure of fourteen days, testifying to the passers-by on London
Bridge the remorseless cruelty of Henry VIII. and his barbarous
insensibility, was consigned to a vault in St. Dunstan's Church,
Canterbury. It was seen and drawn in that vault in 1715.--_Reader_.
_New Artesian Well in Paris_,--A third artesian well is now being
added to the two which Paris' has already. Already the perforation has
reached the depth of eighty-two metres, being twenty metres below the
sea-level. Before reaching this point, considerable difficulties had
to be overcome in the shape of intermediate sheets of water, which
form a series of subterranean lakes. The first of these was kept in
its bed by means of a strong iron tube driven perpendicularly through
it; that which followed received wooden palings, and the subsequent
stratum being clay, the masonry was continued without difficulty to
about five metres above sea-level. But at this point a layer of
agglomerations was reached, which let a great deal of water escape. It
thus became necessary to have again recourse to pumps: those employed
were in the aggregate of 20 horse-power. Owing to the bad nature of
this stratum, it was resolved to protect the perforation by a
revetment of extraordinary thickness; and in order that the well might
preserve its diameter of two metres notwithstanding, the upper part
has had to be widened in proportion, so as to {422} give it the
enormous width of four metres at the top. After this labor the work of
perforation was continued through a stratum of pyrolithic limestone.
At the depth corresponding to the level of the sea, they reached a
layer of tubular chalk, all pierced with large holes, forming so many
spouts, as thick as a man's thigh, through which water poured into the
well with incredible velocity. While the pumps were at work to get rid
of this water, a cylindrical revetment of bricks was built on a sort
of wheel made of oak, and laid down flat at the bottom of the
perforation by way of a foundation, and the intermediate space between
this cylinder and the chalk stratum was filled with concrete, 47,000
kilos, of which were expended in this operation. As soon as the
concrete might be considered to have set, or attained sufficient
consistency, the brick cylinder was taken to pieces again, and the
perforation continued to the pressure point, where a new sheet of
water has been reached, requiring ingenious contrivances._--Artisan_.
_New Irish Coal Fossils_.--Through the labors of Professor Huxley, Dr.
E. P. Wright, and Mr. Brownrig, some very interesting fossils from the
Castlecomer coal-measures of Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, have been brought
under the notice of geologists. The specimens consist of fish,
insects, and amphibian reptiles. Three out of the five forms of these
amphibians are _undoubtedly new_ to science, and, in all probability,
the remaining two also. The first, and most remarkable genus,
Professor Huxley has named "_Ophiderpeton_," having reference to its
elongated, snake-like form, rudimentary limbs, peculiar head, and
compressed tail. In outward form _Ophiderpeton_ somewhat resembles
_Siren lacertina_ and _Amphiuma_, but the ventral surface appears
covered with an armature of minute, spindle-shaped plates, obliquely
adjusted together, as in _Archaegosaurus_ and _Pholidogaster_. The
second new form, which he names _Lepterpeton_, possesses an eel-like
body, with slender and pointed head, and singularly constructed
hourglass-shaped centra, as in _Thecodontosaurus_. The third genus,
which Professor Huxley names _Ichthyerpeton_, has also ventral armor,
composed of delicate rod-like ossicles; the hind limbs have three
short toes, and the tail was covered with small quadrate scutes, or
apparently horny scales. The fourth new amphibian Labyrinthodont he
appropriately names _Keraterpeton_, a singular salamandroid-looking
form, but minute as compared with the other associated genera. Its
highly ossified vertebral column, prolonged epiotic bones, and armor
of overlapping scutes, determine its character in a remarkable manner.
A paper has been read before the Royal Irish Academy upon the subject,
and, in the course of the discussion which followed, Professor
Haughton said he had Professor Huxley's authority for stating that the
coal-pit at Castlecomer had within a few months afforded more
important discoveries than all the other coal-pits of
Europe.--_Geological Magazine_.
_The Accommodation-Power of the Eye._--The manner in which the human
eye alters its focus for the perception of objects at various
distances has always been a difficult problem for physiologists and
physicists. The literature of medical science is full of dissertations
on this subject, yet very little, if anything, is positively known of
the exact means by which the alteration is achieved. There appears to
be now a tendency among ophthalmologists to believe that the effect
required is produced by an alteration of the form of the crystalline
lens of the eye, which becomes less or more convex as occasion
demands. This view has just received a rather strong condemnation by
the Rev. Professor Haughton, of Trinity College, Dublin, in some
remarks published in the "Dublin Quarterly Journal of Science."
Speaking of the alteration of form in the lens, he says:--"Even this
must take place on a far greater and more important scale than
anatomists have as yet suspected. The change amounts to the addition
of a double convex lens of crown glass having a radius of a third of
an inch. Anatomists have not as yet discovered a mechanism for
changing the shape of the lens sufficient to produce these results.
The lens should almost be turned into a sphere, and I know of no
ciliary muscles capable of effecting so great a change."--_Popular
Science Review_.
{423}
_Petroleum as a Substitute for Coal_.--Some recent experiments with
petroleum oil used for heating water, gave results from which it was
estimated that petroleum had more than three times the heating effect
of an equal weight of coal. Mr. Richardson's experiments at Woolwich,
however, gave an evaporation of 13.96 to 18.66 lb. of water, by one
pound of American petroleum; 9.7 lb. of petroleum being burnt per
square foot of grate per hour. With shale oil the evaporation was 10
to 10.5 lb. of water per pound of fuel. The evaporative power of good
coal may be taken, for comparison, at 8 to 8.5 lb. per pound of fuel.
Taking into account the saving of freight due to the better quality of
the fuel, and the saving of labor in stoking, it is possible that at
some future time mineral oil may supersede coal in some of our ocean
steamers.--
_Frith of Forth Bridge_.--Parliamentary sanction has been obtained for
a bridge over the Frith of Forth, of a magnitude which gives it great
scientific interest. It is to form part of a connecting-link between
the North British and Edinburgh and Glasgow Railways. Its total length
will be 11,755 feet, and it will be made up of the following spans,
commencing from the south shore:--First, fourteen openings of 100 feet
span, increasing in height from 63 to 77 ft. above high-water mark;
then six openings of 150 ft. span, varying from 71 ft. to 79 ft. above
high water level; and then six openings of 175 ft. span, of which the
height above high-water level varies from 76 to 83 ft. These are
succeeded by fifteen openings of 200 ft. span, and height increasing
from 80 ft. to 105 ft. Then come the four great openings of 500 ft.
span, which are placed at a clear height of 135 ft. above high-water
spring tides. The height of the bridge then decreases, the large spans
being followed by two openings of 200 ft., varying in height from 105
to 100 ft. above high-water; then four spans of 175 ft., decreasing
from 102 to 96 ft. in height; then four openings of 150 ft. span,
varying in height from 95 to 91 feet; and lastly seven openings of 100
ft. span, 97 to 93 feet in height. The piers occupy 1,005 feet in
aggregate width. The main girders are to be on the lattice principle,
built on shore, floated to their position, and raised by hydraulic
power. The total cost is estimated at L476,543.--_Engineering_, Jan.
5.
_Origin of the Diamond_.--Contrary to the usual opinion that the
diamond has been produced by the action of intense heat on carbon,
Herr Goeppert asserts that it owes its origin to aqueous agency. His
argument is based upon the fact that the diamond becomes black when
exposed to a very high temperature. He considers that its Neptunian
origin is proved by the fact that it has often on the surface
impressions of grains of sand, and sometimes of crystals, showing that
it has once been soft.
_The Purification of Coal-Gas_.--An important essay on this subject
has been written by Professor A. Anderson, of Queen's College,
Birmingham. It relates chiefly to the methods discovered by the author
for the successful removal of bisulphide of carbon and the
sulphuretted hydro-carbons by means of the sulphides of ammonium. By
washing the gas with this compound, a very large proportion (nearly 35
per cent.) of the sulphur impurities are removed, and the illuminating
power of the gas, so far from being diminished, becomes actually
increased. Professor Anderson records several carefully conducted
experiments, all of which prove the truth of the conclusions at which
he has arrived. His method is now in operation at the Taunton and
other local gas-works, and is highly spoken of by those who have given
it careful consideration.
_Paraffine in the Preservation of Frescoes_.--In _Dingler's Journal et
Bulletin de la Societe Chimique_ it is stated that paraffine may be
used with advantage for the above purpose. Vohl coats the picture with
a saturated solution of paraffine in benzole, and, when the solvent
has evaporated, washes the surface with a very soft brush. Paraffine
has this advantage over other greasy matters--it does not become
by time.
_Welsh Gold_.--During the year 1864, we learn from statistics only
recently published, there were five gold-mines working in
Merionethshire. In these 2,836 tons were crushed, from which 2,887
ozs. of gold, valued at L9,991, were obtained. This is in excess of
the quantity obtained in 1868, which was only 552 ozs.; but it is
considerably less than the production of 1862, when 5,299 ozs., having
a value of L20,390, were extracted.
{424}
_A New Train-Signaling Apparatus._--Sundry mechanical contrivances
and improvements in philosophical apparatus have been exhibited at the
scientific gatherings of the present season in London, attracting more
or less of attention, according to their merits and utility. Mr.
Preece's train-signalling apparatus for promoting the safety of
railway-travelling, can hardly fail of being interesting to everybody.
It is in use on the South-western Railway, and if properly used,
accidents from collision ought never to happen; it has the advantage
of being applicable to any number of stations, which is of importance,
considering how stations are multiplying in and around the metropolis.
Mr. Preece has a very simple and complete method of communication
between the signalman and switchman. The latter, on being informed
that trains are waiting to come in, operates on the lever-handles
before him, there being as many handles as lines of converging
railway; and these handles are so contrived, that on moving any one to
admit a train, it locks the others; so that if the switchman should
pull at any one of them by mistake, he cannot move it. He is thus
prevented from admitting two trains at the same time upon one line of
rails, and thus one of the most frequent occasions of railway accident
is avoided. And besides this, safety is further promoted by a series
of small signal-discs, which start up before the switchman's eyes at
the right moment, and give him demonstration that he has given the
right pull at the right handle.
_Action of Liquid Manure on certain Soils_.--Some recent researches on
this point, conducted by Professor Voelcker, were alluded to by Dr. G.
Calvert in his Canton lecture before the Society of Arts. In some
respects Dr. Voelcker's conclusions differ from those of Mr. Way. They
are briefly as follows: (1.) That calcareous, dry soils absorb about
six times as much ammonia from the liquid manure as the sterile, sandy
soil. (2.) That the liquid manure in contact with the calcareous soil
becomes much richer in lime, whilst during its passage through the
sandy soil it becomes much poorer in this substance. (3.) That the
calcareous soil absorbs much more potash than the sandy soil. (4) That
chloride of sodium is not absorbed to any considerable extent by
either soil, (5.) That both soils remove most of the phosphoric acid
from the liquid. (6.) That the liquid manure, in passing through the
calcareous soil, becomes poorer, and in passing through the sandy soil
becomes richer in silica.
_The Value of Sewage_.--This important question, which has been so
ably discussed by Baron Liebig in his various works upon Agricultural
Chemistry, had a paper devoted to it by Dr. Gilbert at a late meeting
(February 1st) of the Chemical Society. After entering into the
details of his subject, the author draws the following general
conclusions: 1st. It is only by the liberal use of water that the
refuse matters of large populations can be removed from their
dwellings without nuisance and injury to health. 2d. That the
discharge of town sewage into rivers renders them unfit as water
supplies to other towns, is destructive to fish, causes deposits which
injure the channel, and emanations which are injurious to health, is a
great waste of manurial matter, and should not be permitted. 3d. That
the proper mode of both purifying and utilizing sewage-water is to
apply it to land. 4th. That, considering the great dilution of town
sewage, its constant daily supply at all seasons, its greater amount
in wet weather, when the land can least bear, or least requires more
water, and the cost of distribution, it is best fitted for application
to grass, which alone can receive it the year round, though it may be
occasionally applied with advantage to other crops within easy reach
of the line or area laid down for the continuous application to grass.
6th. That the direct result of the general application of town sewage
to grass land would be an enormous increase in the production of milk
(butter and cheese) and meat, whilst by the consumption of the grass a
large amount of solid manure, applicable to arable land and crops
generally, would be produced. 6th. That the cost or profit to a town
of arrangements for the removal and utilization of its sewage must
vary greatly, according to its position and to the character of the
land to be irrigated; where the sewage can be conveyed by gravitation
and a sufficient tract of suitable land is available, the town may
realize a profit; but, under contrary conditions, it may have to
submit to a pecuniary loss to secure the necessary sanitary
advantages.
------
{425}
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THE PRINCIPLES OF BIOLOGY.
By Herbert Spencer. New York:
Appleton & Co. 1866, Vol. I. 12mo. Pp. 475.
We have omitted the long list of works of which Herbert Spencer is the
author, works of rare ability in their way, but essentially false in
the philosophical principles on which they are based. Mr. Herbert
Spencer is naturally one of the ablest men in Great Britain, far
superior to the much praised Buckle, and equalled, if not surpassed by
John Stuart Mill, now member of Parliament. We have heretofore
considered him as belonging to the positivist school of philosophy,
founded by Auguste Comte, and the ablest man of that school; able, and
less absurd than even M. Littre. But in a note in the work before us
he disclaims all affiliation with Positivism, declares that he does
not accept M. Comte's system, and says that the general principles in
which he agrees with that singular man, he has drawn not from him, but
from sources common to them both. This we can easily believe, for in
the little we have had the patience to read of M. Comte's unreadable
works we have found nothing original with him but his dryness,
dulness, and wearisomeness, in which if he is not original, he is at
least superior to most men. Yet we have not been able to detect any
essential difference of doctrine or principle between the Frenchman
and the Englishman, and to us who are not positivists, M. Comte, M.
Littre, George H. Lewes, Herbert Spencer, John Stuart Mill, Miss
Evans, and Harriet Martineau belong to one and the same school.
It is but simple justice to Herbert Spencer to say that he writes in
strong, manly, and for the most part classical English, and has made
himself master of the best philosophical style that we have met with
in any English or American writer. He understands, as far as a man can
with his principles, the philosophy of the English tongue, and writes
it with the freedom and ease of a master, though not always with
perfect purity. He must have been a hard student, and evidently is a
most laborious thinker and industrious writer. But here ends, we are
sorry to say, our commendation. It is the misfortune, perversity, or
folly of Herbert Spencer to spend his life in attempting to obtain or
at least to explain effects without causes, properties without
substance, and phenomena without noumena or being. In his _Principles
of Philosophy_, he divides the real and unreal into the knowable and
the unknowable, without explaining, however, how the human mind knows
there is an unknowable; and to the unknowable he relegates the
principles, origin, and causes of things; that is, in plain English,
the principles, origin, and causes of things, are unreal at least to
us, and are not only unknown, but absolutely unknowable, and should be
banished as subjects of investigation, inquiry, or thought. Hence the
knowable, that to which all science is restricted, includes only
phenomena, that is to say, the sensible or material world.
Biology, which is the subject of the volume before us, is the science
of life, but on the author's principles, is necessarily confined to
the statement, description, and classification of facts, or phenomena
of organic as distinguished from inorganic matter. He can admit on his
philosophy no vital principle, but must explain the vital phenomena
without it, by a combination, brought about nobody knows how, of
chemical, mechanical and electric changes, forces, action, and
reaction--as if there can be changes, forces, action, or reaction
where there is no relation of cause and effect! But after all his
labor, and it is immense, to show what chemical, mechanical, and
electric changes and combinations, binary, tertiary, etc., are
observed in a living subject, he explains nothing; for life, while it
lasts, is neither mechanical, chemical, nor electrical, but to a
certain extent resists and counteracts all these forces, and the human
body falls completely under their dominion only when it has ceased to
be a living body, when by chemical action it is decomposed, and
returns to the several elements from which it was formed. Mr. Spencer
describes very scientifically the entire {426} process of
assimilation; but what is that living power within that assimilates
the food we eat and converts it into chyle, blood, and flesh and bone?
You see here a principle operating of which no element is found in
mechanics, chemistry or electricity, or any possible combination of
them. The muscles of my arms and shoulder may operate on mechanical
principles in raising my arm when I will to raise it; but on what
mechanical, chemical, or electric principles do I will to raise it?
That I will to raise it, and in willing to do so perform an immaterial
act, I know better than you know that "percussion produces detonation
in sulphide of nitrogen," or that "explosion is a property of
nitro-mannite," or "of nitroglycerine."
The simple fact is that the physical sciences are all good and useful
in their place, and for purposes to which they are fitted; but they
are all secondary sciences, and without principles higher than
themselves to give dialectic validity to their inductions, they are no
sciences at all. There is no approach to the science of life in
Herbert Spencer's Biology; there is only a painfully elaborate
statement of the principal external facts which usually accompany it
and depend on it. Indeed, we had the impression that our most advanced
physiologists, while admitting in their place chemical and electric
forces as necessary to the phenomena of organic life, had abandoned
the attempt to expound the science of physiology on chemical, electric
or mechanical principles, or any possible combination of them. Even
Dr. Draper, if he makes no great use of it in his physiology,
recognizes a vital principle, even an immaterial soul, in man. We had
also the impression that the medical profession were abandoning the
chemical theory of medicine, so fashionable a few years ago. We may be
wrong, but as far as we have been able to keep pace with modern
science, Mr. Spencer is a quarter of a century behind his age.
The chapter on genesis, generation, multiplication, or reproduction,
is as unscientific as it is unchristian. We merely note that the
author insists on metagenesis as well as parthenogenesis, that is,
that the offspring may differ in kind from the parents, and that there
are virgin, or rather, sexless mothers. Some years ago, in conversing
with a scientific friend, I ventured to deny this alleged fact, on the
strength of the theological and scriptural doctrine that every kind
produces its like. He laughed in my face, and brought forward certain
well-known facts in the reproduction of the aphid or cabbage-louse. I
assured him that if he would take the pains to observe more closely he
would find that his metagenesis and parthenogenesis are only different
stages in the entire process of the reproduction of the aphid. Of
course he did not believe a word of it; but a few days afterwards he
came and informed me that he had seen his friend. Dr. Burnham of
Boston, a naturalist of rare sagacity, who told him that naturalists
were wrong in asserting metagenesis in the case of aphides. "I have,"
said he, "been making my observations for some years on these little
organisms, and I find that what we have taken for metagenesis is only
the different stages in the process of reproduction, for I have
discovered the young aphid properly formed and enveloped in the
so-called virgin or sexless mother." The naturalist is dead, but his
friend, my informant, is living.
We have no space to enter into any detailed review of this very
elaborate volume. It contains many curious materials of science, but
the author rejects creation, generation, formation, and emanation, and
adopts that of evolution. Life is evolved from various elements which
are reducible to gases, and, upon the whole, he gives us a gaseous
sort of life. His theory seems to be that of Topsy, who declared she
didn't come, but _growed_. We cannot perceive that Mr. Herbert Spencer
has made any serious advance on Topsy. The universe is evolution, and
evolution is growth, and he must say of himself with Topsy, "I didn't
come, I growed." At any rate, he must be classed with those old
philosophers who evolved all things from matter, some from fire, some
from air, and some from water, and made all things born from change or
corruption; or rather, with Epicurus, who evolved all from the
fortuitous motion, changes, and combination of atoms. Those old
philosophers were unjustly ridiculed by Hermias, or our recent
philosophers have less science than they imagine. Verily, there is
nothing new under the sun, and false science only traverses a narrow
{427} circle, constantly coming round to the absurdities of its
starting point. Yet Herbert Spencer's book has profited us. It has
made us feel more deeply than ever the utter impotence of the greatest
man to explain anything in nature, without recognizing God and
creation.
THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER. May, 1866.
The first volume of the new series of this periodical is completed in
the present number, and, we suppose, is a fair specimen of the way in
which we may expect to see its programme carried out. On the whole,
our expectations are quite well satisfied, particularly with the
present number. The first article, "The Unitarian Movement," is an
_expose_ of the view taken by the conductors of the influence which
the Unitarian movement is expected to exert upon the future destiny of
Christendom and the civilized world. The Unitarian movement is
supposed to represent the generally diffused and accepted theology of
the mass of thinking persons in the Protestant world, especially of
those who give tone to literature, and are most active in promoting
science, art, culture, civilization, and process in general. The
Catholic Church is a sect, because separated from the scientific and
progressive movement. The Unitarian denomination is a useful little
institution in a small way, but is not expected to absorb other bodies
into itself. Rather it and they are expected to coalesce into a more
universal form of organization, which will be the New Christendom or
Church of the Future.
The principal difficulty we find in the ingenious theories of our
Unitarian friends is, that they assume a great deal, and prove but
little. They assume to be in advance of all the world in intelligence,
science, liberality, etc., and quietly ignore the whole massive,
colossal fabric of Catholic theology. The truth is, the Unitarian
idea, so far as it is an idea, and in the way in which any
considerable class of Unitarians represent it, is not, and cannot
become, the dominant idea of that portion of the scientific or
civilized world which has disowned allegiance to the supreme authority
of divine revelation. Nor can it be shown that the Catholic idea will
not win again the control partially lost over the intellectual realm.
Either the human race has a purely natural destiny, or a supernatural
one. If the former, a Trinitarian or Unitarian Church, a Past,
Present, or Future Church, is not necessary. The State and Society are
the highest and all-sufficient organization of the race. If the
latter, there must be a divinely instituted organization, possessing
continuity of life and fixedness of laws, from the origin of the race.
Our friends must admit more or give up more. They are on a road now
which will infallibly bring them face to face with the Catholic
Church. We look with hope to see some of the boldest and most
consistent thinkers of the Unitarians come through into the Catholic
Church by this road, and interpret the genuine rationalism of
Christian doctrine to their own people much better than we can do it.
Dr. Brownson has really demonstrated the whole problem from their own
axioms and definitions, if they would but attend to him. But the good
Doctor, unfortunately for them, has travelled over the road in
seven-league boots, so fast and so far, that it will take at least
twenty-five years for his ancient compeers to come up with him.
In the review of "Tischendorff's Plea for the Genuineness of the
Gospels," Dr. Hedge has given us an essay marked with his sound and
solid scholarship. It is a valuable contribution to sacred literature,
and we would gladly see volumes of the same sort from his pen.
The sketch of that singular and gifted person, Francis Newman, the
brother of Dr. Newman, has great interest. It tells us something we
are very glad to know, and could not easily have found out without the
help of the writer. These are always the most interesting and valuable
articles in reviews. The author cannot help giving a few passing cuts
at Dr. Newman. Dr. Newman seems to annoy a great number of people very
much. They seem vexed that he should be a Catholic, and yet extort
from even the unwilling so much homage to his genius. The
"Independent" calls him renegade and apostate, and Bishop Coxe's very
inharmonious organ, misnamed the "Gospel Messenger," calls him
"detected thief," with similar epithets. The "Church Journal" tries to
make believe that his letter to Dr. Pusey is a "wail of despair." Our
Unitarian friend is too much of a gentleman to indulge in such boorish
{428} demeanor, but still he cannot suppress a well-bred sneer. "What
has Dr. Newman ever done for God's humanity? Has the oppression of the
English masses ever weighed upon his heart? Has he ever lifted up his
voice in behalf of our down-trodden little ones? Has he ever thought
of saving men from the great hell of ignorance and superstition, or
are these the safeguards of his precious faith? We have a right to
judge of that faith by its fairest fruit. _Ex pede Herculem_."
Dr. Newman's conversion seems, in the eyes of Protestants, to have
such a tremendous moral weight, and to carry such a force of argument
in it for the truth of the Catholic Church, that they are obliged to
deny in some plausible way either his intellectual or moral greatness,
in order to escape from it. Does not the author of these sentences
know well, that if the Catholic Church and her clergy were taken away
from the masses and the poor, they would perish in ignorance and vice
while he and his companions were discussing their plans and estimates
for the church of the paulo-post future? Does he not know that Dr.
Newman and a multitude of other gifted men like him are preaching and
working every day among the poorest of the people, while Unitarian
clergymen are ministering to select and intelligent congregations?
Does he know what St. Peter Claver did for the <DW64>s, and can he
point to any Protestant who has done the like? A little more of Dr.
Newman's own conscientiousness in speech would do no harm to some of
his critics.
The article on "Bushnell on Vicarious Sacrifice" is ably and fairly
written, and all the writer's positive views are compatible with
Catholic doctrine. He commits the great _faux pas_, however, of
ignoring all the post-reformation theology of the Catholic Church, and
speaking as if theological science were confined to Protestants. He
appears also to be unaware that Catholic theologians commonly teach,
after St. Augustine, that God was not bound by his justice to exact
condign satisfaction as the condition of pardoning sin, but was free
to pardon absolutely. It was more glorious both for God and man that
this pardon should be accorded as the fruit of the noblest and most
perfect act of merit possible, rather than given gratuitously.
"An American in the Cathedrals of Europe" is an article full of the
genuine and pure sentiment with which Mr. Alger's writings abound, and
without a word to mar the pleasure a Catholic would take in reading
it.
The notices of Dr. Hall and of the University of Michigan have each
their interest and value, and the literary criticisms are, as usual,
in good taste.
THE APOSTLESHIP OF PRAYER.
By the Rev. H. Ramiere, of the Society of Jesus. Translated from the
latest French edition and revised by a Father of the Society. 12mo,
pp. 393. John Murphy & Co., Baltimore. 1866.
A most excellent and thorough treatise on prayer. The spirit and
intention of the rev. author are best gained from a perusal of the
introduction, which warms one's heart and gives a new and stronger
impulse to every hope and desire which the Christian reader may have
for the greater glory of God. We cannot, however, entirely agree with
the gloomy and discouraging view which is taken of the success of
Christianity in the world. Christianity is not, nor has it ever been,
a failure; and it is something to which we cannot subscribe when the
author attributes "apparent barrenness" to the incarnation, and
"comparative uselessness" to the precious blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Neither do we think it suffices to answer the infidel, "Who
hath aided the Spirit of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor and
taught him?" when he points us to the great portion of the world yet
unchristianized. And if prayer be good, both individual and
associated; if it be absolutely necessary, as it is in the Christian
economy; if it be, as it were, the soul which gives life to every work
of the Christian; still we do not imagine that of all the means of
grace this alone deserves our earnest thought or demands our undivided
attention.
We are not called upon, in any sense, to apologize for Christianity.
It is not worthy of us as men of strong faith to treat of religion as
though it were a subject that needed to be excused in the face of the
unbeliever, or which humbly supplicates the notice of the philosopher
and the statesman. The truly great minds which have not professed
Christianity have sought rather {429} to excuse the world for not
submitting to the force of its arguments and to the charms of its
beauty. Christianity is no failure, if there be anything which
deserves the name of success. What other institutions can compare with
it for actual and permanent success? The propagation of the faith, its
preservation, and its enormous diffusion, may well put all past,
present, and future works of man to the blush. What else is it now,
but _the_ great FACT of the world's history and of the world's present
advanced and civilized state? We are not a petty, insignificant sect
of thinkers, nor a despicable school of philosophers, seeking a
momentary acknowledgment from the great unchristian world. On the
contrary, Christianity rules the world; and all that is great and
noble in humanity, all that has sanctified the past, sustains the
present, and inspires hope for the future; all that is free,
civilized, and enlightened in society, depends now for its life, as it
has received its seed, from the divine power and light of the
Christian faith. Truly, we must pray, and that "without ceasing," for
those who are not of the fold of Christ, and for the coming of the
kingdom of God upon earth; and any one who peruses the work before us
will feel the depth of this obligation; and if he has any real,
practical desire for the salvation and sanctification of man, will not
fail to be stimulated to constant and earnest prayer. But have we
reflected, as well as we might, that before men will pray to God they
must first believe in him? The man of enlightened faith prays
naturally; the ignorant and the superstitious are noted for their want
of confidence in prayer. Prayer is the union of the soul with God, and
the better God is known, the better is the heart of man prepared for
the influences of the Holy Spirit. "Whosoever shall call upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call on him in whom
they have not believed? Or how shall they believe him of whom they
have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" We may
urge our faithful Christians to pray for the conversion of the world,
and we may mourn that they do not pray for this end more than they do;
but whatsoever arms God has placed at our disposal for conquering the
world unto himself, we, like good soldiers of Jesus Christ, must use
them with alacrity, with zeal, and, above all, with that spirit of
sacrifice which our holy faith alone has the power to inspire. Whilst
we need not neglect the apostolic manner of preaching the word of God,
we should also lay to heart the oft-repeated and wise admonition of
the Holy Father to make diligent use of the providential means of the
press, to diffuse the knowledge of the Christian faith, and promulgate
the saving principles of strict Christian morality, and thus prevent
defection from the congregation of the just, and enlighten them that
sit in the darkness and in the shadow of death. The people need more
light, more instruction. The masses among non-Catholics are very
ignorant of religion. They are living upon only the poor remnants of
Catholic faith and tradition which have been left to them by the
ruthless hand of the despoiler. None have felt this more than the
clergy and enlightened laity of our own country, where religion is
thrown upon its own merits for support and progress, and where the
hold upon the ancient Christian tradition is so slight; and it is a
happy augury for the conversion of the American people that these
sentiments are beginning to have a practical and encouraging result.
We must make the truth known, for it is that which enlightens man. And
Christianity is truth. There is no form of truth so broad, so
exalting, so truly progressive, so noble and so tree. Men will accept
it when you make it known to them--accept it with joy, and a reverent
enthusiasm. The tone of our remarks must not be misunderstood as
attributing to the spirit of the work before us any want of
appreciation of the great needs of which we have spoken, or that we
think the rev. author displays a want of confidence in the power of
Christian truth. On the contrary, we have seldom met with a book so
urgent in earnestness and so fall of faith. We can only say, in
conclusion, God send the church many more such zealous souls as the
Pere Ramiere, now that the harvest is so full and the laborers are so
few.
{430}
REPORT OF THE TRIAL OF DR. W. H. STOKES, PHYSICIAN, AND MARY
BLENKINSOP, SISTER SUPERIOR, OF MOUNT HOPE INSTITUTION, BEFORE THE
CIRCUIT COURT FOR BALTIMORE COUNTY.
Reported by Eugene L. Didier. 8vo pamphlet, pp. 202. Baltimore: Kelly
& Piet. 1866.
The famous Mount Hope case, which was brought to trial in February
last, ended in a verdict for the defendants, and we have here a full
report of it. We trust the projectors of this magnificent _fiasco_ are
abundantly pleased with the fruits of their endeavors, although they
seem to have forgotten that, failing to sustain their indictment, the
odium they sought to fix upon others would be sure to recoil upon
themselves. Hence we think that popular judgment will incline to the
belief that the only conspiracy in the case (if there be any) was upon
the part of the prosecution. The fact that an attempt was made to
deprive the defendants of a plea secured to them by positive law would
rather favor this opinion. We should be happy to believe that
sectarian prejudice had nothing to do in founding this accusation; but
the animus which prompted it will soon be apparent to any one who will
take the trouble to read the charge. The estimable and pious ladies,
whose life of sacrifice in the interests of religion and humanity has
compelled the admiration of the world, are deemed unfit to undertake
their office of charity because they are women! because they are
religious and governed by a foreign priest! This tells the whole
story, and simply means that ladies of the Catholic religion, who
choose to unite in a religious order for the purpose of relieving
human suffering, are unworthy of public sympathy or confidence. We
strongly doubt if all the testimony sought to be introduced on the
trial, could it have been admitted, would have materially changed the
result. To say nothing of the equivocal character of that evidence, as
coming from persons but recently inmates of the institution, and whose
perfect competency to testify is far from certain, we know the
proneness of those living under the government and direction of others
to deem themselves the objects of harsh treatment and neglect. There
is not an establishment of such persons in the country, not even a
common boarding-school, against which similar charges are not
constantly made. The well-known character of these admirable sisters
and their unwearied efforts to do good--for the most part far removed
from human recognition or applause--afford a strong presumption that
the management of their asylum will stand the test of rigorous
scrutiny.
A case not wholly unlike the present, got up in a similar spirit, in
Boston, some years since, under the Know-Nothing regime, is doubtless
still fresh in public recollection. Affairs directed to the same end
as this of Mount Hope are got up from time to time, but they serve
only to arouse feelings which had much better lie dormant where they
cannot be eradicated, and invoke a spirit entirely opposed to the
plainest dictates of Christian charity.
The report of the trial appears to be very complete, and we commend it
to those who are at all acquainted with the circumstances of the case,
or have felt any interest in its result.
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS:
Their Agents and Their Results. By T. W. M. Marshall. 2 volumes. New
York: Sadliers, No. 31 Barclay street. Reprint from an English
edition.
It is somewhat late to notice this valuable work; but, as the
publishers have recently sent us a copy, we take the occasion to
recommend it to all who are desirous of knowing what has been
accomplished both by Catholic and Protestant missionaries.
Mr. Marshall's work has attained a high reputation abroad, and has
been translated into several European languages. It is very thorough,
and its statements are backed up by a vast array of citations, chiefly
from Protestant writers. Catholic missions form a beautiful and
attractive page of ecclesiastical history. Their great success and
abundant fruits are demonstrated beyond a cavil by the author, as they
have been many times before. The majority of Catholics are too
indifferent to the great work of missions, and ought to take a deeper
interest in them than they do.
The very signal failure of Protestant missions as a whole is also
proved, by Mr. Marshall, in such a way that their advocates cannot
rebut his evidence. Nevertheless, we think there is an unnecessary
amount of satire levelled at the missionaries themselves, and too dark
a shade given to the picture of their labors. Many of them are {431}
certainly men who, if they were Catholic missionaries, would honor
their calling, and who undertook their hopeless task from high and
worthy motives. They have accomplished but little, yet their labors
have not been altogether without results. The same may be said of the
Russian missions. The particular facts stated by Mr. Marshall
concerning the low state of a large part of the Russian clergy, the
violent means used for enforcing conformity to the Russian Church, and
the imperfect instruction given to the ostensible converts, are
indubitable. Yet we believe there are other facts also to be taken
into the account, which tell on the other side, and are necessary to a
perfectly correct view of the true state of the case. A perfectly just
balancing of all the accounts would prove most conclusively that the
Catholic Church alone is adequate to the task of successfully
propagating Christianity. Mr. Marshall has gone very far toward
success in his effort to make this balance, and has written with the
most perfect honesty of purpose. Some of his deductions may be open to
criticism, and his array of facts and testimonies may admit of further
completion; but the general result which he has reached cannot be
substantially set aside or altered. One particular portion of his work
is just now especially valuable, to wit, the estimate he has furnished
from Protestant writers of the vast superiority of Oriental
_Catholics_ over Oriental _Schismatics_ in the Levant.
We recommend this learned and excellent work to all intelligent
readers as the best and most complete of its kind which has yet
appeared.
THE STORY OF KENNETT.
By Bayard Taylor. 12mo., pp. 418. New York: Hurd & Houghton. 1866.
This is an American story as truly as the Waverley novels are Scotch.
It has done for Pennsylvania and the Quaker traditions what Hawthorne
has for Massachusetts and Puritan life and tradition, and Cooper for
Western New York and the fading reminiscences of Indian and frontier
life. The book is redolent with the sweet aroma of pastoral life, and
that healthy temper and character which are the certain fruit of
honest, independent, and successful frugality and toil.
We are grateful to the masters of poetry and romance who will seize
and perpetuate the fleeting memories of our beautiful and noble past,
and save for our children those traditions of danger, daring, labor,
love, and self-sacrifice which with mystery and beauty the
dreams and aspirations of our childhood. Mr. Taylor is a man of whom
we are proud. His experience as a traveller renders his writings more
distinctively American, while they are entirely free from any
narrowness or provincialism. He deserves the success which follows his
literary labors. The book is handsomely got up, as such a book ought
to be.
AGNES. A Novel. By Mrs. Oliphant. New York: Harper & Brothers.
This is an artistic, highly-finished story, intensely truthful to
nature, yet sufficiently idealized to give the mind the enjoyment of
appreciating a work of art. The authoress makes some very fine points.
The contemplation of the "Visitation" in the Pitti gallery by the
lonely young wife is a beautiful touch of nature, such as only a woman
could have made.
INSTRUCTION AND CATECHISM FOR CONFESSION.
To be used by children preparing to receive the Sacrament of Penance.
32mo., pp. 24. New York. D. & J. Sadlier & Co. 1866.
We are sure that this little book will prove as useful in every
respect as the rev. author could desire. There has been an undoubted
want of some such aid to the ordinary catechism, and every pastor
under whose notice it may come will not fail to welcome it and avail
himself of it. We like it because it is short, to the point, and
written in good plain English.
GOOD THOUGHTS FOR PRIEST AND PEOPLE. Translated from the German. By
Rev. Theodore Noethen. 12mo. Albany. Nos. 1 and 2.
These are the kind of books which we earnestly desire to see among the
good Catholic books which every family ought to have and read. The
clergy will also find these "Good Thoughts" admirably adapted to their
wants, as furnishing suggestive matter for {432} sermons and parochial
instructions. Its price, however, will, we fear, defeat its usefulness
in part by confining it to a comparatively limited circulation.
MAY CAROLS AND HYMNS AND POEMS.
By Aubrey de Vere. 1 vol., 32mo., pp. 232. New York: Lawrence Kehoe.
1866.
Of the two parts comprised in this welcome little volume, the longest,
and, to our taste, by all odds the best, is that originally published
in London under the title of "May Carols." It is a serial poem,
devoted partly to the praises of the Blessed Virgin, and in a
subordinate degree to the thoughts of natural beauty suggested by the
most joyous and poetical month of the young year. If it reminds us
frequently of "In Memoriam," the resemblance cannot be charged as a
plagiarism, and at most is only superficial. There is a Tennysonian
curtness of phrase, a pregnant significance and neatness of expression
in many of the lines, which are equally rare and refreshing in
devotional poetry. Charmingly delicate in execution, and profoundly
religious in sentiment, Mr. De Vere's "Carols" are a valuable addition
to Catholic literature, and will add no little renown to the author's
reputation as a poet. The "Hymns and Sacred Poems" have a value of
their own for the thoughts which they contain, though we cannot accord
them the same praise which we cheerfully render to the first and
larger portion of Mr. Kehoe's tastefully printed little volume.
IN MEMORIAM OF RT. REV. JOHN B. FITZPATRICK.
Boston: Patrick Donahoe. 1866.
A neatly executed pamphlet, containing an account of the funeral
obsequies of the late distinguished and beloved bishop of Boston, and
three funeral discourses: one by Archbishop McCloskey at the
interment, another by Bishop De Goesbriand at the Month's Mind, and a
third by the well-known and eloquent Father Haskins of Boston,
delivered in one of the parish churches. The friends of the deceased
prelate will find in it a valuable and pleasing memento of the
departed.
THE HISTORY OF IRELAND, FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD
TO THE ENGLISH INVASION.
By the Rev. Geoffrey Keating, D.D. Translated from the original
Gaelic, and copiously annotated by John O'Mahony, with a map showing
the location of the ancient clans, and a Topographical Appendix. 8vo.,
pp. 746. New York: James B. Kirker. 1866.
This is a new edition of a translation of Dr. Keating's History of
Ireland, published in this city a few years ago. The original work as
it came from the pen of Dr. Keating has met with both praise and
censure from Irish scholars. Some critics have thought the learned
author placed too much faith in the legends of the ancient Irish. The
work, even if a portion of it must be classified as "doubtful," is a
valuable record of the deeds of Ireland's chiefs when she was a
nation. The notes of the translator are voluminous and critical, and
help to throw much light upon passages which, to the ordinary reader,
are obscure.
We regret that the publisher has seen fit to leave out the "map
showing the location of the ancient clans" of Ireland, which appeared
in the first edition published by Mr. Haverty. From the wording of the
title-page, one would expect to find it in its proper place. But it is
not there.
MAXWELL DREWITT.
A Novel. By F. G. Trafford. Harper & Brothers.
This is an Irish tale, exceedingly well written, and just and manly in
its tone and sentiment.
L. Kehoe announces the early publication of "CHRISTINE, AND OTHER
POEMS," by George H. Miles, Esq. The volume will be brought out in a
superior style of binding and typography, worthy of the high merit of
the poetry.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
From JAMES O'KANE, New York. Betsey Jane Ward, (better half to
Artemus) her Book of Goaks with a hull Akkownt of the Coartship and
Maridge to A 4 Said Artemus, and Mister Ward's Cutting-up with the
Mormon fare Secks with Pikturs drawed by Mrs. B. Jane Ward. 12mo,
pp. 312.
[Verbatim;--Transcriber.]
FROM THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY.
Doctor Kemp. The Story of a life with a Blemish. 8vo, pamphlet.
From D. & J. SADLIER & CO., New York. Nos. 13,
14, 15, 16, and 17 of D'Artaud's Lives of the Popes.
From the office of the AVE MARIA, Notre Dame, Ind. Specimen sheet of
the Golden Wreath for the month of May, composed of daily
considerations on the Triple Crown of our Blessed Lady's joys,
sorrows, and glories. With Hymns set to Music for May devotions.
--------
{433}
THE CATHOLIC WORLD.
VOL. III, NO. 16-JULY, 1866.
[ORIGINAL.]
THE NEAREST PLACE TO HEAVEN.
There are some places in this world nearer to heaven than others. I
know of a place which I think is the nearest. Whether you may think so
I do not know, but I would like you to see it and judge for yourself.
Please to go to France, then to Paris; then take a walk a little
distance outside of the Barriere de Vaugirard, and you will come to a
small village called Issy. When you have walked about five minutes
along its narrow and straggling street, which is the continuation of
the Rue de Vaurigard, you win see on your left a high, ugly stone
wall, and if I did not ask you to pull the jangling bell at the
porter's lodge and enter, you might pass by and think there was
nothing worthy of your notice about the place. You say you have not
time to stop now, that you have an appointment to dine at the Hotel
des Princes, in Paris, but that some other time you will be most
happy, etc. Wait a moment, perhaps I may be able show you something
quite as good as a dinner, even at the Hotel des Princes. Ring the
bell. The sturdy oaken door seems to open itself with a click. That is
the way with French doors; but it is the porter's doing. When he hears
the bell, he pulls at a rope hanging in his lodge, which communicates
with the lock of the door. You are free to enter. Go in. But you
cannot pass beyond the porter's lodge without giving an account of
your self. You cannot get into this heavenly place without passing
through the porter's review, anymore than you can get into the real
heaven without passing the scrutiny of St. Peter. I hope you are able
to satisfy the "Eh; b'en, M'sieu'?" of good old pere Hanicq, who is
porter here. He is a _pere_, you understand, by the title of affection
and respect, and not by virtue of ordination. You may not think it
worth your while to be over humble and deferential in your deportment
towards porters as a general rule; but I think you may be so now; for,
if I do not mistake, you are speaking to a venerable old man who will
die in the odor of sanctity. Pere Hanicq is not paid for his services,
{434} troublesome and arduous as you would very soon find his to be if
you were porter even here. He is porter for the love of God. You see
he does not stop making the rosary, which is yet unfinished in his
hand, while he talks to you. He does not recompense himself by that
business either, as shoemaker porters, tailor porters, and the like
eke out their scanty salaries; but it enables him to find some
well-earned sous to give away to others poorer than himself. You say
this lodge is not a very comfortable place, with its cold brick floor.
It is not. Neither is that narrow roost up the step-ladder a very
luxurious bed. Right again, it is not. But the Pere Hanicq is not over
particular about these things. Besides, he is not worse off in this
respect than the hundred other people who live in this place nearest
to heaven. Indeed, most of them have a much narrower and drearier
apartment than his. Now that you have said a pleasant word to the good
old soul, (for he dearly loves a kindly salutation, and it is the only
imperfection I think he has,) you may pass the inner door, and you
observe that you are in a square courtyard, a three-story irregularly
shaped building occupying two sides of it; stables and outhouses a
third, and the street wall the fourth. Before you go further, I would
advise you to look into one of those tumble-down looking outhouses. It
looks something like a rag and bottle shop. It is a shop, and the
Almoner of the poor keeps it. Here the residents of these buildings
may find bargains in old odds and ends of second-hand, and it may be
seventy times seventh-hand furniture, either left or cast off by
former occupants. Here the Almoner,--that voluble and sweet tempered
young man in a long black cassock,--disposes of these articles of
trade, enhancing their value by all the superlatives he can remember,
for the benefit of certain old crones and hobbling <DW36>s, whom
perhaps you saw on the right of the courtyard receiving soup and other
food from another young man in a long black cassock, who is the
Almoner's assistant. You don't know it, perhaps, but I can tell you
that the Almoner's assistant, as he ladles out the soup and divides
the bread and meat, is mentally going down on his knees and kissing
the ragged and worn-out clothes of these old bodies whom he helps, for
the sake of Him whom they represent, and who will one day say to him:
"Because you did it unto the least of these my brethren, you did it
unto me."
Now you may go into the house, after you have been struck with the
fact how completely that high stone wall shuts out the noise of the
street. You say, however, that you hear a band playing. Yes; that
comes from an "Angel Guardian" house over the way, like Father
Haskins's house in Roxbury, Massachusetts (there ought to be angels,
you know, not far off from the nearest place to heaven), where the
"gamins," as the Parisians call them,--the "mudlarks" or "dock rats,"
as we call them,--are taken care of, fed, clothed, instructed, and
taught an honest trade, also for the love of Him who will one day say
to the Pere Bervanger and to Father Haskins what I have before said
about the Almoner's assistant.
Well, here is the house. This is the first story, half underground on
one side, and consequently a little damp and dingy. Here to the right
is the Prayer Hall. This has a wooden floor, (a rare exception,)
wooden seats fixed to the wainscoting, and here and there a few
benches made of plain oak slabs, which look as if they had lately come
out of one of our backwoods saw-mills. A large crucifix hangs on the
wall, and a table is near the door, at which the one who reads prayers
kneels. The ninety-nine others kneel down anywhere on the bare floor,
without choosing the softest spot, if there be any such. Those
portraits hanging around the walls represent the superiors of a
community of men who are entrusted {435} with the guardianship of this
place nearest to heaven. The most of those faces, as you see, are not
very handsome, as the world reckons handsome, but I assure you they
make up for that by the beauty of their souls. The morning prayers are
said here at half-past five the year round, followed by a half hour's
meditation, and the evening prayers at half-past eight. The hundred
residents come here too just before dinner, to read a chapter of the
New Testament on their knees, devoutly kissing the Word of God before
and after reading it; and then each one silently reviews the last
twenty-four hours, and enters into account with himself to see how
much he has advanced in that particular Christian virtue of which his
soul stands the most in need. It is a good preparation for dinner, and
I would advise you to try it, even if you cannot do it on your knees.
It is a perfect toilette for the soul. Here also you will find the
afore-mentioned hundred people at half-past six o'clock, just before
supper, listening to a short reading on some spiritual subject,
followed by a sort of conference given by the Superior, or head of the
house, so full of unction and sweet counsel that it fairly lifts the
heart above all earthly things, and seems to hallow the very place
where it is spoken.
Turn now to the left. That door in the corner opens into a chapel
dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi. Here the Pere Hanicq and the few
servants of the house hear mass every morning, and begin the day with
the best thought I know of, the thought of God. Keeping still to the
left you pass into the Recreation Hall; and if this be recreation day,
you will see congregated here the liveliest and happiest set of faces
that it has ever been your good fortune to meet in this world.
Billiards, backgammon, chess, chequers, and other games more simple
and amusing in their character, are here; and I can tell you that they
are like a group of merry children playing and amusing themselves
before their heavenly Father. You might pass the recreation days here
for many a year before you would hear an angry word, or a cutting
retort, or witness a jealous frown or a sad countenance. Notice that
smiling old gentleman with a bald head capped by the black calotte.
That is the Pere T----. He is very fond of a game of billiards, and I
know he loves to be on the winning side; the principal reason of
which, however, you may not divine, but I know: it gives him a chance
to pass his cue to some one who has been beaten, and obliged to
retire. And many learn by that good old father's example to do the
same kind and charitable act; and, take it all in all, I am inclined
to think this room is not much further off from heaven than many other
places about this dear old house.
Of course everybody is talking here, except the chess-players, and at
such a rate, that it is quite a din; but hark! a bell rings: all is
instantly silent, the games are stopped, the very half-finished
sentence is clipped in two, and each one departs to some assigned
duty. They are taught that the bell which regulates their daily
exercises is the voice of God, and that when he calls there is nothing
else worthy of attention. I have no doubt they are right: have you?
There is one other place to visit on this ground floor, the Refectory.
A long stone-floored hall with two rows of tables on either side, and
one at the upper end where sits the head of the house, a high
old-fashioned pulpit on one side, the large crucifix on the wall, and
that is the Refectory. It looks dark and cold, and so it is; dark,
because the windows are small and high; and cold, because there is no
stove or other heating apparatus--a want which may also be felt in
the other rooms you have visited; and as the windows are left open for
air some time before these rooms are occupied, it must be confessed
there is a rarity and keenness about the {436} atmosphere, and a
degree of temperature about the cold stones in mid-winter, which are
not pleasant to delicately nourished constitutions. No conversation
ever takes place in the refectory except on recreation days, or on the
occasion of a visit from the Archbishop of Paris. At all other times
there is reading going on from the pulpit, either from the Holy
Scripture or some religions book, which enables the listeners to free
their minds from too engrossing an attention to the more sensual
business of eating and drinking: not that their plain and frugal table
ever presents very strong temptations to gourmandize!
As you are American, and accustomed to your hot coffee or strong
English black tea, with toast, eggs, and beefsteak for breakfast, I
fear the meal which these hundred young men are making off a little
cold _vin ordinaire_, well tempered with colder water, and dry bread,
during the short space of twelve minutes, (except during Lent and on
other fast days, when they do not go to the refectory at all before
twelve o'clock,) will appear exceedingly frugal, not to say hasty. You
observe, doubtless, that short as is the time allotted to breakfast,
nearly every one is reading in a book while he is eating. Do you wish
to know the reason? I will tell you. It is not to pass away time, but
to make use of every moment of time that passes. None in the world are
more alive to the shortness and the value of time than the hundred
young men before you. Every moment of the day has its own allotted
duty; and when there is an extra moment, like this one at breakfast,
when two things can be done at once, they do not fail to make use of
it. They take turns with each other in the duty of waiting on the
tables, except on Good Friday, when the venerable Superior, and no
less venerable fathers, who are the teachers of these young men, don
the apron, and serve out the food proper in quantity and quality for
that day.
Now that you have seen the first story, you may "mount," as the French
say, to the second. If you have not been here before, I warn you to
obtain a guide, or amidst the odd stairways and rambling corridors you
may lose your way. This is the chapel for the daily Mass. It is both
plain and clean, and you will possibly notice nothing particular in it
save the painted beams of the ceiling, the only specimen of such
ornament, I think, in the whole house. It is there a long time, for
this is a very ancient building, having once been the country-seat of
Queen Margaret of Anjou; and this little chapel may have been one of
her royal reception-rooms for all you or I know.
Hither, as I have said, come the young Levites to assist at the daily
sacrifice. I believe I have not told you before that this is a house
of retreat from the world of prayer and of study for youthful
aspirants to the priesthood of the Holy Church. I do not know what
impression it makes upon you, but the sight of that kneeling crowd of
young men in their cassocks and winged surplices, absorbed in prayer
before the altar at the early dawn of day, when the ray of the rising
sun is just tinging the tops of the trees with a golden light, and the
open windows of the little chapel admit the sound of warbled music of
birds, and the sweet perfumes from the garden just below, enamelled
with flowers, is to me a scene higher than earth often reveals to us
of heaven's peace and rapt devotion in God. Mass is over now, and you
may go, leaving only those to pray another half hour who have this
morning received the Holy Communion.
All these rooms which you see here and there, to the right and to the
left, are the cells of the Seminarians, about eight by fifteen feet in
size, and large enough for their purposes, though certainly not equal
to your cosy study at home in America, or to the grand _salon_ you
have engaged at the Hotel des Princes. As you are a visitor, perhaps
you may go in and look at one. There is {437} no visiting each other's
rooms among the young men themselves at any time, save for charity's
sake when one is ill. An iron bedstead, with a straw bed, a table, a
chair, a crucifix, a vexing old clothes-press, whose drawers won't
open except by herculean efforts, and when open have an equally
stubborn fashion of refusing to be closed; a broom, a few books,
paper, pen and ink, a pious picture or statue, and you have the full
inventory of any of these rooms. As they need no more, they have no
more: a rule of life that might make many a one of us far happier than
we are, tortured by the care of a thousand and one things which
consume our time, worry the mind, and are not of the slightest
possible utility to ourselves, and the cause, it may be, of others'
envy and discomfort. I am aware that, as you pass along the corridors,
you think it is vacation time, or that every one is absent just now
from their rooms, all is so silent. But wait a moment. Ah! the bell
again. Presto! Every door flies open, and the corridor is alive with
numbers of the young men going off to a class or to prayers. Now that
they are gone, suppose you peep into one of the rooms again; that is,
if some newcomer, not yet having learned the rule to the contrary, has
left the key in his door. Ah! he was just writing as the bell rang;
the pen is yet wet with ink. Pardon! I do not intend that you shall
read what he has written, but you may see that he has actually left
his paper not only with an unfinished sentence, but even at a half
formed letter. That is obedience, my friend, to the voice of God,
which I have already told you is recognized in the first stroke of
that bell. I suppose you may read the inscription he has placed at the
foot of his crucifix, since it is in plain sight. "I sat down under
the shadow of my Well-Beloved, whom I desired, and his fruit was sweet
to my palate." (Cant, ii. 3.) Yes, you are right. It is a good motto
for one who has sacrificed every worldly enjoyment for the sake of
that higher and purer joy, the love of Jesus crucified. You are
noticing, I perceive, that everything looks very neat and clean, that
the bed is nicely made, and what there is, is in order. They have tidy
housekeepers, you say, here. So they have, and a large number of them,
too,--one to each room--the Seminarian himself.
I think you may "mount" another stairway now--when you find it--to the
third story. I just wish you to step into that door on the right. It
is the Chapel of St. Joseph; and if you happen to enter here after
night prayers you will see a few of the young men kneeling before the
altar, over which is a charming little painting representing the
Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph holding the Child Jesus by the hand.
They come to pay a short visit in spirit to the Holy Family before
retiring to rest. "Beautiful thought!" I believe you. I see your eyes
are a little dimmed by tears. What is the matter? "Oh! nothing; only I
was thinking that by coming up a few more steps in this house, one has
mounted a good many steps nearer heaven." Not ready to go Oh! I
understand, you wish to pay a little visit yourself to the Holy
Family. Good. Now, along this corridor, around this corner, down that
stairway which seems to lead nowhere,--take care of your
head!--through those doors, and you are in a much larger chapel. All
finished in polished oak, as you see, with a bright waxed floor. The
seminarians sit in those stalls which run along the whole length of
either side of the chapel. Here, on Sundays and festivals, they come
to celebrate the divine offices of the Church. I wish you could hear
them responding to each other in the solemn Gregorian chant. Listen;
they are singing, and only to and for the praise of God, for no
strangers are admitted, so there is no chance for the applause of men.
Possibly you may be sharp-eyed enough to note those mantling cheeks
and detect the thrill of emotion in their voices as the swelling
chorus fills the whole building with melody. Truly, {438} I wonder not
that you are moved, for the song of praise rises amid the clouds of
grateful incense from chaste lips, and from pure hearts given in the
flower and spring-time of life to God alone. I can tell you, that
whether their voices are singing the mournful cadence of the Kyrie,
the exultant sentences of the Gloria, the imposing chant of the Credo,
the awe-struck exclamations of the Sanctus, or the plaintive refrain
of the Agnus Dei; or whether they respond in cheerful notes to the
salutations of the sacrificing priest at the Altar, one other song
their hearts are always singing here: "Laetatus sum in his quae dicta
sunt mihi, in domum Domini ibimus"--I was glad when they said unto me,
we will go into the house of the Lord. A heavenly joy is filling their
ardent souls, moved by the grace of the Holy Ghost, and is reflected
from their countenances as the sunlight sparkles on the ripples of a
quiet, shaded lake, when its waters are gently stirred by a passing
zephyr wafted from the wings of God's unseen angel of the winds.
Now you may go out into the garden. A charming esplanade directly
behind the house you have visited. Well-kept gravelled walks stretch
here and there through a glittering parterre of flowers of every hue
and perfume. A pretty fountain sends its sparkling drops into the air
in the centre of a basin stocked with gold-fish, which are very fond
of being fed with bread-crumbs from the hand of saintly old Father
C----. You do not know the Pere C---- you say. Then you may envy me. I
know him. Shall I tell you what he said to me one day?
"Tenez, mon cher, on doit prier le, Bon Dieu toujours selon le premier
mot de l'office de None, 'Mirabilia,' et non pas selon le premier mot
de Tierce, 'Legem pone.'" God bless his dear old white head! it makes
my heart leap in my bosom to think of him. Where were you? Oh! yes,
beside the fountain. On each side of the garden is an avenue of trees
and in one corner a little maze, hiding a pretty statue of the Blessed
Virgin at whose feet that Almoner of the poor has placed a little
charity-box, thinking doubtless, and not without reason, that here,
hidden by the trees and close shrubbery, some one, you for instance,
might like to do something with a holy secrecy which shall one day
find its reward from the Heavenly Father of the poor, openly. So I
will just turn my head while you put in a donation fitting for an
American who has a suite of rooms at the Hotel des Princes. I know you
are loth to leave this pretty spot. I have had equal difficulty in
dragging you away from the other places to which I directed your
steps; but you have not seen all. Come along. Cross the garden. Here,
behind the large chapel is a curious grotto all inlaid with shells,
floor, walls and roof. This is the place where Bossuet, Fenelon and
Mr. Tronson held some conferences about a theological subject which
need not take up your time now. Turn up that winding walk to the left,
and you see a little shrine dedicated to Our Lady, to which the young
men go to celebrate the month of May; and it is a quiet little nook
where one may drop in a moment and forget the world. The world is not
worth remembering all the tune, you know. As you pass to the middle of
the garden again you notice a long archway, built under a high wall.
Before you enter it please first notice that fine terra-cotta statue
of the Virgin and Child near it, and take off your hat in passing, as
all do here. This archway passes under a road, which is screened from
view by high walls on either side, which also prevent the grounds you
are in from being seen from the road. I have often thought about that
high-walled road running through the middle of this place nearest to
heaven. How many of us pass along our way of life, stony, toilsome,
dry and dusty, like this road, and are often nearer heaven and
heavenly company than we think; and how many others there are we know
and love, whose road runs close beside, {439} if not at times directly
through the Paradise of the Church of God on earth, and know it not.
Oh! if they did but once suspect it, how quickly would they leap over
the wall!
Now you are through the archway. Directly before you is a magnificent
avenue of trees, all trimmed and clipped as it pleases this methodical
people, and here is a fine place for a walk in recreation. The
seminarians recreate themselves, as they do all other acts, as a duty
and by rule. One hour and a quarter after dinner, ten minutes at
half-past four, and an hour and a half after supper appears to
suffice, although I am afraid it is rather a short allowance. Silence
is the rule during the other twenty-one hours out of the twenty-four,
and broken only by duty or necessity. How do you like it? Be assured
it is profitable to those who are desirous of living near to God.
Recollect what Thomas a Kempis says in his "Imitation of Christ:" "In
silentio et quiete proficit anima devota"--In silence and quiet the
devout soul makes great progress. You observe also that the reverend
teachers of these young men are taking recreation with them. Yes; and
in this as in every other duty of this life of prayer and of study
they subject themselves to the same rule that they impose on others.
Example, example, my friend, is the master teacher, and succeeds where
words cannot. They have learned beforehand in their own school the
lessons of chastity, obedience, poverty, patience, meekness, humility
and charity, of silence, and every other Christian mortification of
our wayward senses which they are called upon to teach here. They have
a novitiate adjoining this house, called the "Solitude," and their
motto is inscribed over the little portal in the stone wall which
separates the two enclosures. This is it, "O beata Solitude! O sola
Beatitudo!" There is a short sentence, my friend, which will serve as a
subject of meditation for you, for a longer time than you imagine.
Look at the Pere M----, the reverend superior. What gentleness of soul
beams from that kindly countenance! It makes one think of St. Philip
Neri. Ah! and there is the Pere P----, with a face like St. Vincent of
Paul, and a body like nobody's but his own, all deformed as it is by
rheumatism. I don't ask you to kiss the hem of his cassock for
reverence sake, for that might wound his humility, and he might
moreover knock you down with his crooked elbow, but if you could see
what place the angels are getting ready for him up in heaven, I think
you would wish to do so. And all the others, old or young--bowed with
age or strong of arm and firm in step--you will find but little
difference in them. They are all cast in about the same mould, of a
shape which only a life, and a purpose of life such as theirs could
form. You would like to know what that young man is about, would you,
running from one knot of talkers and walkers to another, saluting
them, and saying something to each? Listen; he is repeating the
password of the house. The password? Even so. And is it secret? Yes,
and a secret too. It is the secret of a holy life, the holy life to be
led here, and not to be forgotten, where it is the most likely to be,
in the dissipation of recreation. Lay it up to heart, for it will do
you good. "Messieurs, Sursum corda!"
This building on your right as you come out of the archway is a
ball-court. If you will step into the "cuisine," as a sort of wire
cage is called, in which you can see without being in the way, and the
irregular roof of which serves admirably to cause the ball to come
down crooked, and "hard to take," you may see some good ball-playing;
and if you know anything about the game, I am sure all will offer at
once to vacate their places and give up the pleasure of playing to
please you. Somehow, these seminarians are always seeking to please
some one else. Fraternal charity, which prefers the happiness of
others to its own, is cultivated here to such a degree, that I tell
you again you will not find a place {440} nearer heaven; where charity
is made perfect and consummated in God.
Turn down now to the left for a few steps, and look to the right.
Another beautiful avenue. The trees branching from the ground rise up
and mingle together on all sides so as to form a complete arch. A
building at the end. Yes; that is the place of all places in this
lovely enclosure the most venerated by all who come to pass a part of
their lives in dear old Issy. It is the chapel of Lorette. Walk up the
avenue and examine it. It has a facade, as you see, of strict
architectural taste. I know that you, being an American, would very
soon scrape the weather-beaten stones, paint up the wood-work, and put
a new and more elegant window in front, if you were in charge. Perhaps
it might improve it, perhaps not. Standing as it does alone, out there
in the midst of extensive grounds, it makes you think of the Holy
House of Loretto in Italy, of which you know something, I suppose, and
of which, indeed, the little chapel inside is an exact copy, and hence
has obtained its name. Let me say a word about it before you go in,
for no one is expected to break the religious silence which the young
levites here are taught should reign about the tabernacle where
reposes the sacred and hidden presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy
Eucharist. It is this chapel, especially dedicated to his own dear and
blessed mother, that they have chosen for his dwelling-place among
them, as her home at Nazareth was also his. It is what you might
expect. The Mother and the Son go together. A childlike and tender
devotion to her whom he chose for the human source of his incarnate
life, through which we are elevated and born anew unto God, cannot be
separated from the profound act of adoration which humanity, nay, all
creation, must pay to him who is her Son, the first-born of all
creatures. His mysterious incarnate presence is with us always in the
Holy Eucharist, and will be, as he promised, unto the consummation of
the world; and the priest, by the power of his own divine word, is its
human source. You remember the saying of St. Augustine: "O venerable
dignity of the priest, in whose hands, as in the womb of the Virgin,
the Son of God is incarnate every day!"
Enter. On the wall to your left, just inside the outer door you see
this inscription:
"Ilic Verbum caro factam est, et habitavit in nobis." [Footnote 69]
[Footnote 69: "Here the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt amongst us."]
On the wall directly opposite, this:
Sta venerabundus,
Qui allunde ut stares veneris,
Lauretanam Deiparae domum admiraturus.
Angusta tota est,
Toto tamen Christiano orbe angusto,
FACTUS EST <DW25>.
Abbreviatum igitur aeterni patris verbum
Hocce in angulo cum angelis adora;
Silet hic et loquaci silentio:
Beatae quippe virginis matris sinus.
Cathedra docentis est.
Audi verbum absconditum, et quid sibi velit attende.
Venerare domum filii hominis,
Scholam Christi,
Cunabula Verbi. [Footnote 70]
[Footnote 70: "Stand in awe, ye who have come hither from afar to
admire the Lorettan house of the Mother of God. The whole is but
narrow and strait: however, the whole Christian world is but narrow
in which the God made man suffered straitness. Wherefore, adore with
the angels the straitened word of the Eternal Father. He is silent
here, but with an eloquent silence. For the bosom of the Blessed
Virgin Mother is the seat of Wisdom. Hear the Hidden Word, and
listen attentively to what he wills of thee. Venerate the house of
the Son of Man, the school of Christ, the cradle of the Word."]
The door on the right leads into the sacristy, where the priest puts
on his vestments. On the panel of this door you read:
"Sanctificamini omnes ministri altaris.
Munda sint omnia." [Footnote 71]
[Footnote 71: "Be ye holy, all ye ministers of the altar. Let all
things be pure and clean."]
On the wall over the door is this inscription around a heart:
"Quid volo nisi ut ardeat?--S. Luc. xii 49." [Footnote 72]
[Footnote 72: "What will I but that it burn?"]
Opposite the sacristy door is the door of the chapel, but I wish you
to read the other inscriptions on these walls before you enter there.
There are two more in this entry-way:
"Ilic Maria, Patris Sponsa, de Spiritu Sancto
concepit." [Footnote 73]
[Footnote 73: "Here Mary, the spouse of the Father, conceived of the
Holy Ghost." ]
{441}
"Sile;
Huc enim, dum omnia
silerent,
Omnipotens sermo
de regalibus
sedibus advenit;
Vel aeternum aeterni
Patris Verbum
Siluit;
Vel otioso Deum adorat silentio." [Footnote 74]
[Footnote 74: "Keep silence: for hither, while all things were in
silence, the Almighty Word leapt down from heaven from his royal
throne. Here the Eternal Word of the Eternal Father became silent,
and adores God in tranquil silence."]
In an adjoining room are several others, among which I think the
following are worthy of your notice:
"Signum magnum apparuit in terra.
Amabile commercium, admirabile mysterium,
JESUS VIVENS IN MARIA.
VENITE, VIDETE, ADORATE.
VENITE
Ad templum Domini, ad incarnationis verbi
cubiculum,
Ad sanctuarium ad quo habitat Dominus.
Et de quo, ut sponsus, procedit de thalamo suo.
VIDETE
Ancillam, Patris sponsam, Virginem Dei matrem,
Adae fillam, Spiritus Sancti sacellum,
Mariam totius Trinitatis domiciliam,
Angelo nuntiante effectam.
ADORATE
Jesum habitantem in Matre,
Ut imperatorem in regno, ut pontificem in templo,
Ut sponsum in thalamo.
Ilic requies, hic gloria, hic summa laus conditoris:
Hic habitabo quoniam elegi eam." [Footnote 75]
[Footnote 75: "A great sign appeared on the earth, a lovely union, a
wondrous mystery, Jesus living in Mary. Come, see, adore. Come to
the temple of the Lord, to the cradle of the incarnate Word, to the
sanctuary in which the Lord dwelleth. From which he goeth forth as a
spouse from his bridal chamber. See, by the annunciation of the
angel, a handmaiden made spouse of the Father, a virgin the Mother
of God, a daughter of Adam the shrine of the Holy Ghost, Mary, the
resting-place of the whole Trinity. Adore Jesus dwelling in his
mother, as an emperor on his throne, as a priest in the temple, as a
spouse in his chamber. Here is the rest, here the glory, here the
supreme praise of the Creator. Here will I dwell, because I have
chosen her."]
"Omnes
Famelici, accedite
ad escas:
Domus haec abundat
Punibus." [Footnote 76]
[Footnote 76: "O all ye of the family of God, draw near to the
banquet. This house is full of bread."]
"Hic
Sapientia
Miscuit Vinum,
Posuit mensam,
Paravit omnia.
Qui bibunt,
Non sitlent amplius;
Qui edunt,
Nunquam esurient;
Qui epulantur,
Vivent in aeternum.
Bibite ergo et inebriamini,
Comedite et saturabimini;
Effundite cum gaudio animas vestras
In voce confessionis et epulationis
Sonus est epulantis." [Footnote 77]
[Footnote 77: "Here the divine wisdom mingleth her wine, spreadeth
her table, and maketh all things ready. They who drink shall not
thirst any more. They who eat shall never hunger. They who feast
shall live for ever. Drink, therefore, and be inebriated. Eat and be
filled. Pour forth your souls with joy in the songs of thanksgiving
and rejoicing. There is a sound as of one feasting."]
"Omnes
Sitentes, venite
ad aquas;
Locus iste scaturit
Fontibus." [Footnote 78]
[Footnote 78: "All ye who thirst, come ye to the waters. This place
gushes with fountains."]
"Hic
Fons fontium,
Et acervus tritici,
CHRISTUS,
Unde sumunt angeli,
Replentur sancti.
Satiantur universi.
Ilic
Ager fertilis
Et congregatio aquarum,
MARIA,
Unde, velut de quodam
Divinitatis oceano.
Omnium emanant
Flumina gratiarum." [Footnote 79]
[Footnote 79: "Here is the fount of fountains, and heap of wheat,
Christ; of which the angels partake, the saints are replenished, and
the whole universe is satiated. Here is the fruitful field and
meeting of the waters, Mary; whence, as from a kind of ocean of
divinity, flow out the streams of all graces." ]
"Si
Tu es Christri bonus odor,
Accede;
Caminus Mariae
Altare thymiamatum est,
Caminus charitatis,
Cujus ostium
Hostes non excipit,
Sed hostias amoris.
Huc vota, huc corda, viatores.
Huc pectora." [Footnote 80]
[Footnote 80: "If thou art the good odor of Christ, draw near. This
chamber of Mary is the altar of incense, the home of charity, whose
door receiveth not enemies, but the victims of love. Hither, ye
wayfarers, bring your vows, your hearts, and your affections."]
Before you look at the real chapel for which this building was
erected, just step out of that door opposite to the one by which you
entered. A little cemetery. Here repose, in simple, humble graves, the
bodies of the deceased superiors and directors of the congregation of
St. Sulpice, in whom and whose seminary you have shown so much
interest during this visit under the guidance of your humble servant.
Here, in this little cemetery, beneath the shadow of the sacred chapel
they have loved so well, in the very home, as it were, where so many
holy souls have lived, and learned the lessons of perfection, and
where, God grant, many more such may yet live and learn the same, they
have laid themselves down to rest from their {442} labors, peacefully
resigning themselves to the common fate; yet privileged in this, that
their dust mingles with earth hallowed by the footsteps of saints. I
should like to write an inscription for the door of that cemetery. It
is this, "Et mors, et vita vestra absconditae sunt cum Christo in
Deo," for never in the history of Christianity, do I think, have men
realized like them, in their lives and in their death, so fully those
words of St. Paul.
Return now to the entry and pass within those gilded doors. This is
the chapel. The walls are frescoed, as you see, and in imitation of
the walls, now defaced, of the original chapel at Loretto. There is a
pretty marble altar and tabernacle where reposes the Holy of Holies;
and above the altar is a grating filling up the entire width of the
chapel, on which are attached a large number of silver and gilt
hearts, little remembrances left by the departing seminarians at their
beloved shrine of Jesus and Mary. Behind the grate you can discern the
statue made many hundred years ago, and sent to this chapel as a gift
from the Holy House at Loretto in 1855. I know that your American
taste will not be gratified by the appearance of either the statue or
its decorations; but--America is not all the world. Keep that in mind,
and it may save you a good deal of interior discomfort, whether you
journey in other lands, or never stir from home.
Now I leave you, for I know you are tired of sight-seeing and want a
moment of' repose--and, may I not also add, a little time to pray
here? The seminarians are coming in to make their daily visit, for it
is a quarter to five o'clock. Oh! sweetest moments of the Issian's
day! Here he comes and kneels at the feet of Jesus and Mary, and
drinks in those silent lessons which reveal truths to the heart that
no man can teach. Here the soul is ravished away for a while from
earth and all its carking cares, anxieties, temptations, and
afflictions, and reposes peacefully in the loving embrace of its God.
"Here," indeed, "is the home of charity, whose door receiveth not
enemies, but the victims of love. Hither you may bring your vows, your
hearts, and your affections." Remain you, then, and pray awhile with
them; for of a truth you are with the congregation of the just, and
not far off from heaven.
------
[ORIGINAL.]
A MAY BREEZE.
As fragrant blooms by blushing orchard shed,
When spring's advancing season ripens fast,
Oh! such the blossoms which the heart has fed
With all the dewy sweetness of the past.
But like those winds whose stormy passage sweeps
The wailing trees, yet leaves fair fruit behind,
Life's changing scenes, which man still hourly weeps.
Pledge fruit, than blooms more constant and more kind.
------
{443}
From the Lamp.
UNCONVICTED; OR, OLD THORNELEY'S HEIRS.
CHAPTER II.
WHICH IS ELUCIDATORY AND RETROSPECTIVE.
Before resuming the thread of my narrative I must needs go back a
little, and see in what relation the different people who are to play
the principal parts in this true history stand to one another.
I have said that Hugh Atherton and I had been friends from the time we
were boys at school, he being some five years my junior. He and Lister
Wilmot were nephews, on their mother's side, of old Gilbert Thorneley,
and, as every one supposed, his nearest relatives. They were both
orphans; both brought up and educated by their uncle, and both were
given to understand that they would equally inherit his immense
fortune at his death. But Thorneley had made his money by the sweat of
his brow,--beginning by sweeping his master's office, and ending by
being the possessor of some million of money,--and he did not choose,
as he said, to leave it to two idle dogs. He had worked, and so should
they: they might choose their own profession or business, and he would
do all that was requisite to forward them in life; but work in one way
or another they should. Hugh, guided very much by my advice, went to
college, and then read for the bar. His career at Oxford had not been
a brilliant one, but he had passed his "great go" very creditably, and
taken his bachelor's degree with fair honor to himself. Then he came
to London, took chambers in the Temple, and set himself down to read
with steady earnestness of purpose; after a while he was called to the
bar and his first brief was held for a client of mine. It was a
righteous cause, and he gained it by his straightforward grappling
with the evidence, his simple yet manly eloquence. At the time when
the events happened which are now recorded, and cast one great lasting
shadow over his life and mine, he was in very fair practice. But one
thing I ever noticed about him, and it was that he was almost
invariably retained for the defense. I don't think he could have
conducted a case for prosecution; I don't think he could have stood up
and pleaded for the conviction of any poor wretched miserable criminal
shivering at the bar, brought thither by what crushing amount of
degradation, want, or luring temptation to sin God only knew,--God
only, in His infinite mercy, would remember. Do you recollect that
portrait in one of Mr. Dickens's works of the barrister, who was
always retained at the Old Bailey by great criminals, and who never
refused to defend them, guilty or not guilty--that man, with the
unpoetical name of Jaggers, who used to wash his hands after coming
from the court or dismissing a client? Well, that man always reminded
me of Hugh Atherton; and when I read the book, I did homage to my
friend in his person. You don't see at first what Mr. Dickens is
driving at, nor the whole of his conception in the character of
Jaggers; but after a while it bursts upon you what a raft he must have
been for the poor drowning wretches going to their trial to catch at.
With a fund of good common-sense, a dear head, and sound judgment,
Atherton possessed what gave such a charm to him and won so many
hearts,--the boyish lightheartedness which clung to him; with his
genial manner, his kindly words and deeds. He had his faults--he was
passionate and hot-headed, obstinate in his likes and dislikes; but he
{444} had what few young men of his age could boast, a freedom from
vice, a guilelessness of soul, which in the midst of all the
corruption, the temptations, and snares of London life, carried him
through unscathed. I never knew but one other who was like him in that
respect,--though indeed I have heard that such have been, but are now
gone to their grave,--who, with the brave undaunted heart of a
thoroughly English youth, carried within him the mark of innocence,
and wore it stamped upon his open brow. He is thousands of miles away
now, and these lines may never reach him; but those who love him and
long for his return will recognize the son and brother whose worth,
perchance, we never fully knew until the parting came.
Of Lister Wilmot I had seen comparatively but very little. He was a
weak puny lad, unfit for roughing it in a public school, and had
therefore received his education from private tutors and governors.
Through his uncle's interest he obtained a civil appointment in one of
the government-offices, and though fond of dress and amusements, I
never heard much harm of him, beyond an inclination to extravagance,
which I imagined old Thorneley knew well how to keep in check. Yet, I
don't know how it was, I never liked Wilmot. Hugh was fond of him, and
very anxious that he and I should be friends; certainly it was not
Wilmot's fault that a greater amount of cordiality did not exist
between us. He was very agreeable, very civil, very amiable, very
attentive to me; but I could not bear him. I often took myself
severely to task for this unreasonable antipathy; and I decided it
could only be because he was such a contrast to Hugh in everything
that I did not take to him. Not that I pitched their relative
goodness, and drew conclusions against him; as I said before, I knew
no harm of him, but simply I did not like him. A story went about that
his mother (Thorneley's sister) had made a very unhappy marriage, and
died soon after her son's birth. What had become of his father no one
ever seemed to know; and if Wilmot did, he never named him.
About a year before the story opens Hugh Atherton was engaged to be
married. Let me relate all this very clearly, very calmly; it is
needful I should; and while I write, let me think only, as before
heaven I have ever tried to think, of the interests of two beings who
always were and always will be dearest to me on earth.
A client of mine left me at his death the joint guardianship with his
wife of an only daughter. She was heiress to a considerable fortune;
blest with a mother who was none of the wisest of guides for a young
girl who was beautiful, high-spirited, and gifted with no ordinary
intellect. I fulfilled my dead friend's trust with all the care,
vigilance, and tenderness in my power. I watched Ada Leslie grow up
into girlhood, and from girlhood into womanhood,--for I was a young
man in years when that charge was committed to me, though old in
character, and old and grim in looks,--I saw her beauty of face and
form unfold, her winning gracefulness become more graceful and more
winsome; I marked the powers of her mind and intellect develop, and
all the noble qualities of her heart reveal themselves in a thousand
ways. I watched her with the solicitude of a father, with the
affection of a brother; I never thought of myself in any other light
with regard to her; but her confidence in me became very precious, her
companionship very sweet.
One day I took Hugh Atherton with me to Mrs. Leslie's, and in that
first visit I foresaw how all would end; it was but the precursor of
many more visits, and after a while they both told me how things stood
between them. There was no difficulty. Money, in the mother's eye, was
all that was needed to make a good match, and Hugh was well enough off
now, and likely to be a rich man in the future; money was all that
Gilbert Thorneley required for his nephew's future bride, and Ada
Leslie's fortune was ample, even to his sordid mind. I knew _she_
could have {445} no worthier man for husband than Hugh Atherton. I
knew--ah, who should know better?--that _he_ could find no woman
worthier of his tenderest love and honor than my ward; and so I bade
God to bless them and sanctify their union. If for a while my life was
somewhat more lonely than it had seemed before; if a few years were
added to thought and feeling, and I began then more solemnly to
realize what a gray old bachelor I should appear to Hugh's little
children when they climbed about my knee,--well, it was but a
foolishness that was quickly buried down deep in my heart and would
never more rise to the surface. And Hugh's full tide of happiness and
_her_ deep but tender joy soon kindled bright again in the chambers of
my soul a light that for a time had been very dim; and I learnt the
best lesson life can teach us, and which in more ways than one is
intimated to us by the words, "It is more blessed to give than to
receive." They would have been married before this, but Ada's father
bad specified his wish that she should not marry until she was
twenty-one, unless her guardians judged it otherwise expedient, and
she was desirous of abiding by that decision. She would be of age the
third of this coming December, and after Christmas the wedding was to
take place.
I noticed there was something peculiar in their manner of mentioning
to me the day they had fixed on for their marriage. It was the day
before I started on this last trip to my favorite Swiss mountains; we
had all gone down to Kew by water, and we were strolling about the
gardens enjoying the cool of the evening air after a day of unusual
sultriness. Mrs. Leslie, Wilmot, and I, were walking together, whilst
the other two went away by themselves. We had not spoken very much--at
least I had not, for many thoughts were busy within me. Presently Ada
came back alone, and putting her arm in mine she drew me aside into a
little shady walk where the trees met overhead and the air was laden
with the perfume of the lime-blossom. In the last summer of my life,
at eventide I shall see that narrow pathway with its leafy covering,
and smell those fragrant trees; I shall hear the nightingale's note as
it sang to me (so I thought) the refrain of a simple ballad I had
often heard my mother sing in early childhood.
"Loyal je serai durant la vie."
"Dear friend," said Ada, looking up into my face with her soft, kind,
brown eyes, so truthful and sincere, "Hugh and I have been speaking of
the future;" and the bright warm color came into her cheek, and the
long golden lashes fell as she spoke.
"Yes, Ada, that is right. What says Hugh?"
"He says we had better settle when it is to be. You know I am of age
in December, and he thinks of after Christmas; and do you know he
wants it to be on the day but one after the Epiphany? because he
says--that funny old Hugh!--that it is _your_ birthday; or if it
isn't, that it ought to be; and insists on it. However, he has set his
mind on it. He wanted to come and ask you, for I said I would not have
it fixed until you had been asked. And then I thought I would rather
come myself."
The kind eyes were looking at me again, just a little anxiously, I
thought. For a moment there seemed to be a choking sensation in my
throat. I turned my head away, and the evening bird sang out once
more, clear and silvery in the calm still air,
"Loyal je serai durant la vie."
"Listen, Ada; do you hear what the nightingale is singing? She is
bidding me say 'God bless you both!' Let it be when Hugh thinks best.
Go and tell him so."
She took my hand and pressed it to her lips; there was a warm tear on
it when she let it go. I turned aside and walked away for a little
while by myself. Then I went back to them, and we left the gardens.
{446}
Hugh and I walked home together that night; and as we parted at his
door he told me all was settled between him and Ada, very gently, very
softly, as if he were breaking some news to me. There was no need. I
bade him God speed with my cheeriest voice, and told him the heartfelt
truth--that to no other man would I have trusted her with such
perfect trust.
I had happy letters from them both whilst I was abroad. Hugh had taken
a very pretty house some ten miles from town; workmen were busily
engaged in alterations, fittings-up, and decorations, whilst he and
Ada were full of the furniture and all those numerous etceteras which
help to make the home such a one as should be prepared to receive a
fair young bride. Mr. Thorneley had behaved very liberally to his
nephew, and given him _carte blanche_ in the matter of the
expenditure; if his nature were capable of loving any human being, I
think he was fond of Hugh Atherton, and I am quite sure that Hugh, in
his generous oversight of all that must have jarred upon and shocked
his mind, was sincerely and gratefully attached to his uncle, who, he
often said to me, had acted a father's part by him. Thus, amidst much
sunshine and little shade, all was hastening on toward the
consummation of their union, and as the new year tided round it was to
find them man and wife.
And now I must relate a circumstance which happened about a fortnight
before I started for the Continent. I had been dining at the house of
my married sister, who lived at Highgate. She was one of those ladies
who are very fond of collecting about them the heterogeneous society
of all the nondescripts, hangers-on, and adventurers who are only too
willing to frequent the houses of those gifted with a taste for such
companionship. With good-nature verging, I often told her, on absolute
idiotcy, she could not be made to see how eccentricity of manner,
person, or conversation was often but the veil thrown over a character
too stained or doubtful to be revealed in its proper light. It is true
that in many cases her hospitality was rewarded; equally true that in
the majority it was abused; and my brother-in-law, good man, suffered
severely for it in the matter of his pocket.
To return: amongst the various guests I met at dinner that evening was
one man who strangely riveted my attention, aided by the feeling so
well known to most people, that I had somewhere or other seen him
before, but in other guise, and when a much younger man. His manner
was quiet and reserved, but scarcely gentlemanlike; and I noticed that
in many of the little _convenances_ of society he was quite at a loss.
I judged him to be about fifty or fifty-five years of age, his hair
was grey, and he wore a thick beard and moustache; at first I took him
for a foreigner until I heard him speak, and then I perceived the
broad Irish accent betraying his nationality in a most unmistakable
manner.
"Who's your Irish friend, Elinor?" I asked of my sister when I got her
quietly in the drawing-room after dinner.
"Which one do you mean, John? There's the O'Callaghan of Callaghan,
who sat by me at dinner; and there's Mr. Burke, who writes those
spirited patriotic articles in the _Emerald-Green Gazette;_ and
there's Phelim O'Mara, the author of _Gems_---"
"I know them all, my dear."
"Then who can you mean, for there isn't another Irishman here? These
three wouldn't have been asked together--for they are all of different
politics, and I have been on thorns all the evening lest they should
get into a discussion--but I couldn't well avoid it; for you know--"
Again I was obliged to use a brother's delightful privilege and be
rude, for Elinor, though an excellent woman and a pattern wife, was
discursive in conversation, and I saw her husband trying to catch her
eye for some purpose; so I said:
{447}
"Yes, I know all about it--there's Henry looking for you. The man I
mean sat opposite to me; grey beard--there he is, standing by
Montague."
"Oh! _he?_ he is my last treasure-trove: he's not Irish, my dear; he's
half French and half English. An author, but very rich; has travelled
all over the world. Here," beckoning to him, "Mr. de Vos, allow me to
introduce you to my brother, Mr. Kavanagh."
O Elinor, you good blind soul, your Frenchman was no more French and
no more English than the man in the moon, though certainly I am not
acquainted with the nationality of that gentleman. I saw it in two
minutes. We talked commonplaces for a little, till some one came up
and asked me if it were true that Atherton was engaged to my ward,
Miss Leslie. I answered in the affirmative.
"You know Mr. Atherton very well then, I conclude," said De Vos.
"I have known him from a boy; no one knows him better than I."
"How very interesting!" he said; and I could not make out whether his
tone was earnest or satirical, for his face betrayed nothing. "I have
heard of Mr. Atherton from a friend of mine in Paris."
"Ah! that little enthusiastic Gireaud, I dare say," replied I; for I
knew all Hugh's friends, and he was the only one I could think of as
being in Paris.
"Yes, from Gireaud;" and he was turning away.
"How is he?" I asked, meaning Gireaud; "have you seen him lately?"
"No, not lately--that is, three or four months back."
This was strange; it was only a month since the Frenchman had left
England, only three months since we had first made his acquaintance,
and he had been in England all the time. I felt suspicious; I often
did towards my sister's friends, by reason of divers small sums
borrowed in past times by them from me, and kept _in memoriam_ I
suppose. I thought I would pursue the inquiry.
"Did you know M. Gireaud when he was in England?"
"No abroad--in Paris;" and he changed color and shifted uneasily on
his feet.
"Did he succeed in tracing out the evidence in that celebrated cause
he was conducting?" I continued pertinaciously.
"I really don't know; excuse me--how very warm this room is! I will
go into the balcony and see if it is possible to get a little air;"
and he turned on his heel and left me.
"So so," thought I, "you wanted to fasten yourself upon me with the
dodge of knowing my friends, did you? It won't do, my fine fellow;"
and I determined to give my brother-in-law a hint that his wife's
"last treasure-trove" would need watching. But I found no opportunity;
and when I inquired for Mr. de Vos later in the evening, I heard he
had gone away, feeling very unwell. Said I to myself, "He'll be worse
when he meets me again." I little recked the words then, or what they
might import.
It was a beautiful August night when our party broke up; and resisting
my sister's wish that I should sleep there, I determined to enjoy a
moonlight walk home, smoke a cigar, and think over a difficult case I
had just then in hand. My nearest way into town from Elinor's house
was down Swain's Lane and round by the cemetery; it was a lonely,
ghostly kind of walk, not tempting on a dark winter's night; but with
a brilliant harvest-moon overhead, a stout stick, and myself standing
six feet without shoes, I feared neither man nor ghost. The tombstones
looked white and ghastly enough in the bright moonlight, and the trees
cast their heavy shadows across my path, whilst their tops were
stirred by a gentle soughing breeze. I had passed the cemetery, and
was rapidly nearing the end of the lane, which turns into the
high-road by the Duke of St. Alban's public-house, of omnibus
notoriety, when I fancied I heard the sound of voices pitched high, as
if {448} in some angry dispute. I took out my watch; it was just upon
twelve o'clock. Drunken revellers, I thought, turned out of the inn.
Swain's Lane winds about until you are close upon the road, and then
there is a straight piece with fields upon either side. I looked ahead
as I came to this latter bit, but there was no one to be seen,
although the voices sounded closer and closer. I was walking on the
turf beside the road, so that my footsteps falling upon the soft grass
were inaudible. I passed a gate leading into a field, and then I
became aware that the voices were close to me on the other side of the
hedge. Not caring to be seen lest I should get drawn into some drunken
row, I stooped my head and shoulders, inconveniently high just then,
and was in the act of passing swiftly on when a name arrested me. "I
tell you Hugh Atherton never _shall_ marry that girl!"
"And I tell you he _will_! You let every chance slip by you, you poor
spiritless fool. He'll marry her, and come in for the best share, if
not the whole of Gil Thorneley's money."
There was no mistaking the brogue of my Irish Anglo-French
acquaintance of this evening--my sister's "last treasure-trove, the
talented author, the rich man." But the other voice, whose was it? It
sounded strange at first; then light began to dawn upon me. I knew
it--yes, surely I knew it. Ha, by Jove! Lister Wilmot!--it must be
Lister Wilmot's.
They were speaking again, quite unconscious of their auditor on the
other side of the hedge.
"You are the biggest fool, and a scoundrel too, coming here, dogging
my footsteps, and following me about just to bring ruin upon me with
your confounded interference; going _there_ too, and meeting the very
man you ought to avoid, that lawyer fellow, Kavanagh; why, he'll scent
you out in less than no time." (Much obliged to you, Mr. Wilmot,
thought I, for your involuntary tribute to my shrewdness: it has been
deserved this time at any rate.) "You must leave London at
once--to-morrow, do you hear?--or I'll whisper a certain affair
about, which may make this quarter of the world unpleasant to you."
"I'll not stir without that fifty pounds. You blow upon me, and I'll
blow upon you in a quarter you wouldn't care to have those small bits
of paper shown that I've got in my pocket-book here."
The remark seemed to have been untimely.
"Scoundrel!" shouted the other voice I believed to be Wilmot's, and I
heard them close together and struggle.
At the same moment I leaped the gate, determined to make sure of their
identity; but with singular ill-luck I caught my foot against the
topmost bar, and fell with no small force my whole length on the other
side. The noise and sight of me disturbed the combatants, and before I
could rise or recover myself, they had separated, and fled in opposite
directions across the field. Pursuit was a vain thought. I had twisted
my ankle in the fall, and for a few moments the pain was unbearable;
when I could put my foot to the ground both fugitives were out of
sight. There was nothing left for me but to hobble back, gain the
road, and seize upon the first empty cab returning to London to convey
me to my chambers.
I mentioned the adventure to Atherton on the following morning, and my
conviction that Lister Wilmot was one of the two men.
"It is impossible," replied Hugh; "Lister was with me last evening
till eleven o'clock, and then he went home to bed."
"Did you see him home?" I asked.
"Yes, and went in with him; saw him undressed, and ready to get into
bed. He was not well, poor fellow. One of his bad colds seemed to be
threatening him, and he was very out of spirits. I am afraid he's
exceeding his allowance, and getting into debt. He asked me to lend,
him twenty pounds for a month."
{449}
"Which of course you didn't do?"
"Which of course I did, and told him he was heartily welcome to it;
but I wished he'd draw in his expenses, for I was certain if Uncle
Gilbert heard of his being in difficulty, there would be no end to
pay. I'll get him to make a clean breast of it some day soon to me,
and see what I can do to help him and set him right."
So like Hugh, with his generous impulses ever ready to do a kindness.
"Well, but it is very odd. I could have sworn it was Lister in the
field; as for the other fellow, why there is not the smallest shadow
of a doubt about him. If I hadn't recognized his brogue, why, the
words of his companion pointed him out as the De Vos of the
dinner-party. Do you know such a man, Hugh?" and I gave a graphic
description of him.
Hugh shook his head.
"Don't know such a bird as that, Jack. Can't think who it can be, nor
what they both meant. The 'girl,' indeed! Did they mean Ada, forsooth?
I'd like to punch their skulls for daring to name her. I say, let's go
to Lister's at once and ask him if he knows a man answering to the
name De Vos."
We drove to Wilmot's lodgings in the Albany--he affected
aristocratic-bachelor neighborhoods--and found him over a late
breakfast, looking very pale and haggard. Hugh attacked him in his
straightforward blunt manner.
"What did you go up to Highgate for, last night. Lister, when I
thought you were going to bed?"
Wilmot's fork fell on the floor and he stooped to pick it up before
answering. Then he looked up with an air of the greatest astonishment.
"Go up to Highgate last night! I! Are you mad, Hugh?"
"I heard your voice last night in a field close by the Highgate Road,
or I never was more mistaken in my life," I said.
He turned his face to me: there was the most unaffected surprise and
bewilderment written on it as he stared at me.
"Are you out of your senses too?" he asked at last with a loud laugh.
"Why, Hugh saw me into bed almost. You must have been wandering, or
Mr. Craven's" (my brother-in-law) "wines were too potent for your
sober brain."
I was completely at a nonplus. "Do you know that Mr. de Vos is in
England?" I said, resolved to try another "dodge."
"Who is Mr. de Vos?" was the answer, given in the most unconcerned
tone.
Hugh broke in: "Tell him all about it, John."
I did so, relating word for word what I had heard, with my eye fixed
upon his face. He never flinched once, and there was not the smallest
embarrassment in his look or manner.
"You were of course entirely mistaken," he said; "I never left my room
last night after Hugh went away. Of this Mr. de Vos I know
nothing--not even by name."
There was nothing for it but to be satisfied, and yet somehow I was
not. I suppose my old dislike of Wilmot got the better of me and made
me distrustful. Then such dear--such precious interests had been
called in question--were perhaps in danger; and I could not rid myself
of the great anxiety which oppressed me.
The next move was after De Vos. He had utterly and totally disappeared
by the time I had obtained his address from my sister and hunted out
the wretched doubtful sort of lodgings he had inhabited near Leicester
Square. So the affair died a natural death, and I left England for the
Continent. Could I but have foreseen what my return would bring forth!
{450}
CHAPTER III.
THE DAY AFTER THE WEDDING.
It was all true--dreadfully, awfully true--and no hideous dream.
Gilbert Thorneley was dead--poisoned, murdered; and Hugh Atherton was
in the hands of justice, suspected, if not actually accused, of the
murder. When I came back, sick and giddy, to consciousness, there was
old Hardy bending over me with a face blanched almost as white as my
own must have been, and Jones the detective standing by, the deepest
concern written on his countenance. Do you know what it is, that
"coming to," as women express it, after a sudden mental blow has
prostrated you and hurled you into the dark oblivion of insensibility?
I daresay you do. You know what the return to life is; what the
realization of the stunning evil which has befallen you. But God help
you if you remember that your last words when conscious criminated the
friend you would willingly die to save. God help you if you know you
must be forced into admitting what you had rather cut out your tongue
than utter, and which in your inadvertence or brainless stupidity you
let pass your lips. I say again, heaven help you, for it is one of the
bitterest moments of your life.
As the physical indisposition wore off, and the whole situation of
affairs became clearer to my scattered senses, the remembrance of what
I had done was maddening.
"Oh, blind fool," I cried, "not to see, not to know what I was doing!
Jones and Hardy, I call you both to witness most solemnly that I
believe as firmly, as entirely in Mr. Atherton's innocence as I do in
an eternal life to come. I charge you both, that, whatever testimony
you may be forced to give, whatever miserable words have been wrung
from me--I charge you both, by all you hold most sacred, to give
evidence likewise that I believe him innocent."
"We will, sir," said the two men gravely.
Then a desperate idea seized me, and I motioned Hardy to leave the
room.
"Jones," I said, when the clerk was gone, "you are a poor man, I know,
and have many children to provide for. Get me off attending the
inquest, and I will write you a cheque on the spot for any sum in
reason you like to name."
"Bless your heart, sir, it an't in my power. Inspector Jackson has
been in Wimpole street investigating it all; and I know your name's
booked as one of the principal witnesses. You'll have your summons
this evening for to-morrow, as safe as I'm here."
"Where is Mr. Atherton?" I asked.
"Inspector Jackson took him to Marylebone street, sir. He'll go before
the magistrate at two o'clock. They won't get his committal, though, I
expect until after the inquest; there is not sufficient evidence; but
we're getting it as fast as we can."
"Yes," I said in the bitterness of my heart; "and if I had known your
errand _here_, I'd have flung you down the stairs before you should
have had access to my rooms."
"You can't be sorrier than I am, Mr. Kavanagh. I believe, like you,
that he's an innocent man: but everything looks against him at
present. The housekeeper's evidence is enough to hang him."
"The housekeeper! What, Mrs. Haag?"
"Yes, sir, that's her name, I believe. She's only half English, or
married a foreigner, or something of the sort. But I think she must be
foreign, for she has a mighty broad accent. Yes, indeed, sir; and if I
may make bold to say it,--I don't know what your friendship for Mr.
Atherton may lead you to do,--but it's of no use your not saying where
you saw him last night, for _she_ saw him go in and come out of _that
shop_, and she heard him address you, sir, by name."
A light flashed across me. That was _the woman_ I had met in Vere
Street. I didn't know the housekeeper by sight, but I had often heard
both Atherton and Wilmot speak of her. Wilmot!--another light.
{451}
"Did you know that Mr. Thorneley's other nephew was with him last
night? He met Mr. Atherton in Wimpole Street."
"Yes, sir, and left nearly an hour before Mr. Atherton went away."
"Still, why is he not suspected as much as the other?"
"_He_ had not been traced in and out of a chemist's shop; _he_ had no
dispute with his uncle; _he_ was not heard to make use of _threatening
words_. I can't tell you more, sir; and I must be going. I have done
what need be done here. Mr. Kavanagh, believe me I am acting only in
my official capacity; and I'd rather, sir, have been at the bottom of
the sea than engaged in this affair. But I mustn't forget the message,
sir."
"What message?"
"From Mr. Atherton. He wanted to write or to send for you to come; but
they wouldn't let him. You see, sir, we know you are an important
witness against him, and Jackson--he's a sharp one--wouldn't have him
communicating with you. Poor gentleman! he was stunned-like at first
when he was told. Then when he saw me, 'Jones,' said he, 'you go to
Mr. Kavanagh; tell him what has happened. Tell him I'm an innocent
man, so help me God! I wouldn't have hurt a gray hair of the old man's
head. But I was angry with him, I confess.' Then we warned him not to
say anything which might criminate himself, so he only bent his head
reverently, and said again, 'My God, Thou knowest I am innocent.' Then
he turned to me suddenly and caught my arm. 'Tell Mr. Kavanagh to go
at once to Mrs. Leslie's, and see that the news doesn't come upon them
too suddenly. Tell him I _trust to him_.' Those were his words, sir,
two or three times,--'Tell him I trust to him.'"
O Hugh! my poor Hugh; you might trust me then; you might have trusted
me always. But you didn't. A world of damning doubt and evidence rose
up between us, and it seemed to point at me as your worst enemy, and
never more again would you place confidence in me; never more would
the perfect trust of friendship draw us together, and make our
interests one.
Ay, and that too had been one of the despairing thoughts which rushed
across my mind as the truth of what had happened forced itself upon
me. Ada! What if such news were carried suddenly, inconsiderately to
her ears? What if such an awful, unlooked-for blow fell, crushing the
bright hopes and darkening the radiant happiness of her young life? I
tell all this in a bewildered way now; I was far more bewildered then.
I was mad. There was the remembrance of the last evening,--my
interview with Thorneley, the strange secret still ringing in my ears,
the chance meeting with Hugh, and what was to come of it; and the
present tidings,--the old man dead, Hugh arrested and accused of
murdering him; and I in my blindness had helped to corroborate the
worst testimony against him. All this was rushing through my brain;
and then, above all, the thought of Ada Leslie--and the last thought
roused me to action.
"Go back, Jones, to Mr. Atherton; tell him I am going off immediately
to Mrs. Leslie's, and that he may trust to me in _that_. And stay, has
he got legal assistance?"
"No, sir; I fancy he thought you'd see to all that. He didn't seem to
think how it might be with your having to give evidence."
"You'd better go to Smith and Walker's, and see one of the partners.
They must watch proceedings for him to-day."
"They can't, sir; they are to watch on the part of the Crown."
"On the part of the Crown!--whose management is that?"
"I believe they offered and wished it. They feel bound to discover the
murderer of their late client; they couldn't act _for_ the man accused
of murdering him."
"True--too true. I'll send Hardy to Mr. Merrivale; he is a great
friend {452} of his--I can trust him. Tell Mr. Atherton what I say,
and what has been done."
"Very good, sir;" and Jones withdrew.
It took me less than an hour to reach Hyde-Park Gardens, where Mrs.
Leslie and my ward dwelt; and on the road I resolved as well as I
could how to break the news. Pray Heaven only to give her strength to
bear it! I was shown into the dining-room, for I had asked to see Miss
Leslie alone. There were the sounds of music up-stairs, and I heard
Ada's clear thrilling voice singing one of the beautiful German songs
I knew, and that _he_ loved so well. Presently her light step was on
the threshold, and she burst gaily into the room.
"Oh, Hugh, how late you are!" and then she stopped suddenly, seeing it
was I--only I. But she came forward in a moment with a kind eager
welcome, a welcome back to England, laughing and blushing at her
mistake. "I heard the street-door open, and ran down at once; for Hugh
said he would come early to take me out this morning, and I thought it
was he. Oh, but I am so glad to see you, dear Mr. Kavanagh. But how
dreadfully ill you are looking--what is the matter?"
Perhaps she saw my own misery, and the unutterable pity and tenderness
for her which filled my heart, written in my face; but a change passed
over her countenance.
"What is the matter?" she repeated in a breathless sort of manner.
"Hugh sends his love," I said; hardly knowing, indeed, what words were
passing my lips, or that I was really "breaking it" to her;--"his dear
love; he is quite well, but something prevents him from coming to you
to-day."
"To-day!" She repeated the same word after me, still in a breathless
way; and her large eyes were fixed on me as in mute agonized appeal
against what was coming.
"Something very important--very painful--has happened to detain him.
Mr. Thorneley died very suddenly last night."
I stopped, and turned away. Heaven help me! I could not go on, with
those eyes upon me. There was one deep-drawn sigh of relief.
"Is that _all!_"
Was it not better to tell the truth to her at once? After all, he was
innocent. I acknowledged that with all the loyalty of my soul--so
would she; and that thought would bear her up. Yes, it would be best
to tell her. I took her hand, and led her to a chair.
"Ada, it is not all; can you bear the rest?" Her white trembling lips
moved as if assenting, but I could not hear the words. "Thorneley died
very suddenly--was found dead. It is thought he has been poisoned. I
don't know the particulars--I have only just heard of it. Hugh was
with him late last night; it is necessary he should be examined to-day
by a magistrate."
Again I paused, praying that the truth might dawn upon her--that I
might not have to stab her with the terrible revelation.
But--dreading, fearing, as I could see she was--no shadow of the
reality seemed to cross her mind.
"Where is Hugh now?" at last she asked with startling suddenness.
"O Ada, my poor child! try to bear it. Hugh is as innocent as you are
of this fearful crime; but he has been arrested."
The words were said--she knew all now. To my dying day I shall never
forget the awful change which passed over her face. She did not faint
or scream, but she sat there motionless, rigid, white as a marble
statue. I took her hand; it was icy cold, and lay passive in mine.
"Ada, for God's sake speak to me! Shall I call your mother to you?"
Her stillness was frightful. There was some water on the sideboard,
and I poured out some and brought it to her, almost forcing the glass
between her set teeth. At last she swallowed {453} some, and then
heavy sighs seemed to relieve both heart and brain.
"I must go to him," she said at last in a hoarse whisper.
"You cannot, Ada,--at least not today; they would not suffer it.
Besides, my dearest child, he has need of all his firmness and
presence of mind, and the sight of you would only unnerve him. Let him
hear how bravely you are bearing it; let him think of you as believing
that our Father who is in heaven will defend the innocent."
"I do, I do," she said, the hot tears slowly welling from her eyes,
and falling in burning drops upon my hand--and upon my heart. They
were blessed tears of relief. "But you too will do your utmost for
him. You are his dearest friend, and he would have full confidence in
whatever you did. Go to him at once!--why do you stay here?" she
continued more vehemently; "why are _you_ not with him, helping and
defending him?"
Could I tell her the truth now? Could I undeceive her and say I have
done as much and perhaps more to condemn him than any one--that I
should have to bear witness against him? Could I tell her this, with
her eyes looking into mine in such unutterable anguish, with her
little hand placed in mine so confidingly, and with the thought of him
before me? I could not. I said all should be done for him that was in
the power of mortal man to do, and I promised to send messengers
constantly to keep her fully informed during the day of all that
passed; Before going I asked her if I should tell her mother; but she
refused--she would rather do it herself.
"Tell him," were her last words, "that my heart is with him, and my
love--oh I my dearest love!"
"Write it, Ada," I said, "it is better he should have that message
direct from you."
So I left her, bearing her little note to him, poor fellow. How
precious it would be, that tiny missive, coming from her loving hand
and faithful heart.
It was just upon one o'clock when I arrived at my chambers, and at two
Atherton was to be taken before the magistrate. There was no fresh
news; so I decided upon going at once to Merrivale's office, and
seeing him if possible before he went to the police-court. I met him
on the stairs returning to his office.
"I have just been with poor Atherton," he said; and he looked very
grave. "Come in here; I was going to send for you. By the bye, have
you been to the Leslies? he is most anxious about that. I don't think
he'll be calm enough to think for himself until he knows all is right
in that quarter."
"I have a note from Miss Leslie for him,"
"All right. Give it to me; I'll enclose it, and send it at once."
Merrivale despatched the messenger, and then locked his room door.
"The case is dead against him," he said as he sat down, "and he knows
it now, poor fellow,--he knows it."
"He is innocent," I said; "I could swear he is innocent!"
"Yes, so I think, and so do others; but the evidence against him is
frightfully strong. That woman, Mrs. Haag, will make a most
criminating statement of what occurred last night."
"I don't know the particulars,--tell me what they are?"
"_You_ ought to be able to throw considerable light upon it," said
Merrivale, unheeding my question. "You were with poor old Thorneley
last night, it seems. Just tell me all that passed. In fact, I ought
to know _every thing_. I hear too that you are to be summoned as
witness against Atherton. How is that?"
I then related to him how I had gone to Wimpole street at Mr.
Thorneley's request about a matter of business; the hour I had left
him; my meeting with Hugh; his wish to come home with me, and my
refusal; the meeting also with the woman, and the conclusions which I
had drawn from it.
{454}
"What was the nature of the business with Mr. Thorneley?"
I replied that my word of honor was passed to keep it secret.
"Had it any bearing upon the unhappy catastrophe, either directly or
indirectly?"
"No; none that I could see."
"Would it affect Atherton or his prospects?"
I could not answer further, I replied; but in no way could it touch
him either for good or evil in the present unfortunate affair.
Merrivale was fairly at a nonplus.
"Now," said Mr. Merrivale, "I will tell you what passed after you went
away, as I learnt it from Atherton; and whatever further light you can
throw upon the mystery, which is my business now to sift to the
bottom, well, I think, Kavanagh, you are bound, by all the ties of
your long friendship with that poor fellow now under arrest, to speak
out openly to me."
I felt Merrivale's sharp searching eyes upon me; but the time to speak
had not come, and I could in no way serve Hugh by breaking silence--at
least I did not see that I could. After a short pause, Merrivale
continued:
"Atherton tells me that when he reached his uncle's house, he found
his cousin, Lister Wilmot, had just arrived; and they both went to
Thorneley's room together, Wilmot said to him on the way, 'I must get
some money to-night out of the governor, if possible, for I'm
dreadfully hard-up. I've had to dodge three duns to-day; and there'll
be a writ out against me to-morrow as sure as I'm alive, if he doesn't
fork out handsomely.' Atherton asked him what he called handsomely,
with a view, I imagine, to helping him himself if he could; but Wilmot
mentioned a sum so large that there could be no further thought of his
doing so. They found the old man unusually preoccupied and taciturn.
Nevertheless, in spite of unfavorable circumstances, Wilmot broached
the subject of his difficulties to him, and abruptly asked for 500_l_.
Thorneley was furious; and it seems, curiously enough, that he turned
his fury upon Atherton; accused him of leading Wilmot astray, of
teaching him to be extravagant; of making a tool of him for purposes
of his own; in short, making the most unheard-of accusations against
poor Atherton, and throwing the entire blame on him. Atherton says he
felt convinced that some one must have been carrying false stories to
his uncle, or in some way poisoning his mind against himself; but
knowing how broken in health he was, he tried at first to soothe him,
and quietly contradict his assertions, and Wilmot _indorsed all he
said_, distinctly stating that his cousin was entirely free from all
blame in the matter, and that it was his own extravagance which had
brought him into difficulties; and much more to the same effect. And
now comes the terrible part. Thorneley only waxed wrother and more
wroth; swore at Atherton, and told him he might pay his cousin's debts
for him; and if he couldn't out of his own money, he might get his
future wife's guardian to advance him some of hers; and that if Wilmot
had looked half-sharp he might have married the girl himself. As it
was, he dared say she would marry Kavanagh in the end. You may suppose
this vexed Atherton not a little; his blood was up, and he spoke out
hot and angrily to his uncle, telling him amongst other things that he
would _bitterly repent on the morrow what he had said last night_. He
tells me he distinctly remembers the words he used. In the heat of the
dispute--he thinks it must have been just at the moment he said
this--the housekeeper came in with the tray. It seems that Thorneley
always took bitter-ale the last thing at night, with hard biscuits.
Almost directly after he had spoken Atherton repented having got angry
with the old man, remembering what his temperament was; and as a sort
of propitiatory action, went and fetched him his glass of ale from the
table. Gilbert Thorneley took it from Atherton's hand, and--drank it.
_There was poison in that glass of ale!_"
{455}
I sat confronting Merrivale, dazed, sickened, dumbfounded. _Now_ I
knew the full weight of the evidence I should be forced to give. Now I
knew, when everything was revealed, the cry that would go up from
Hugh's heart against me. But I never swerved from my allegiance to
him; I never thought him guilty--no, not for the brief shadow of an
instant.
After a while Merrivale continued, "Whoever put in that fatal drug,
and whatever it was, the effects must have taken place subsequent to
Atherton's leaving Wimpole Street. He says that Wilmot went away very
shortly after his uncle drank the ale, receiving a very cold
good-night from the latter; and that after in vain trying to reason
with Mr. Thorneley, and bring him into good-humor again, he also left
him,--the old man utterly refusing to shake hands or to part friends.
The poor fellow seems to feel that bitterly; he is terribly cut up at
remembering that the last intercourse with his uncle should have been
unfriendly. No; I could venture my oath he is innocent; his sorrow at
Thorneley's death _cannot_ by put on. However, the end of it all is,
that Mr. Thorneley went to bed last night directly after Atherton went
away; and this morning when the servant went into his room as usual at
half-past six, to call him, and see whether he wanted anything before
getting up--he kept to his old early hours as much as possible, I
fancy--the man found him dead in his bed. The housekeeper was roused,
and they sent off directly for a doctor. When he came, he declared his
suspicion that he had died from the effects of poison, and demanded
what he had taken last. He had touched nothing since the bitter-ale;
the glass had not been washed, and traces of strychnine were found in
the few drops left in the tumbler. Smith and Walker have called in Dr.
Robinson since then; and he with this doctor who first saw the corpse
are making a _post-mortem_ examination now. The contents of the
stomach, to make sure of everything, are to be sent to Professor T----
for analysis. When the inspectors arrived from Scotland Yard, the
housekeeper immediately volunteered her evidence of what I have
related to you. Putting all these facts together," continued
Merrivale, looking over his notes, "coupled with the evidence you will
be forced to give of where you met him, I apprehend the whole case to
be dead against poor Atherton. Yes, the entire thing will turn upon
that visit to the chemist in Vere street; if we can dispose of that
satisfactorily, I shan't despair. At present it is the most
criminating to my mind, and will just damn him with the jury at the
inquest."
"What account does he give himself of going to the chemist's?"
"Simple enough, to any one who knows him as you and I do, and who
would believe a man who never yet lied,--who is, I think, incapable of
a lie to save his own life. He says he went in to purchase some
camphor; he has been taking it lately for headaches; the bottle was
found in his coat-pocket; but there was also found a small empty paper
labelled 'Strychnine,' _with the Vere-street chemist's name upon it_.
Of that paper he most solemnly denies all knowledge, and I believe
him; but how will the jury dispose of such circumstantial evidence?"
"No expense must be spared in defending him, Merrivale," I said; "draw
on me to the last farthing for whatever is wanted."
"None shall be spared. I have written to Sir Richard Mayne, whom I
know very well, asking for a certain detective officer whoso
experience I can rely on from past dealings; and if the dastardly
wretch lives who has done this deed, and thrown the brunt of it on
Atherton, he or she shall be hunted down and brought to justice. I
must be off now. The proceedings to-day will be but nominal. I will
come round by your office on my way back. What we have to do at
present is to gain time. For this we must {456} prepare all the
contrary evidence in our power against to-morrow. By the way, see
Wilmot as soon as you can, and bring him back with you."
I returned home; wrote a few words, as comforting and encouraging as I
could, to Ada, and despatched a messenger with the note; then I went
to the Albany and asked for Lister Wilmot. He was out; had been
summoned to the police-court to be present at the inquiry. I left my
card, with a pencilled injunction to come on to me the moment he
returned; and then, impelled by a horrible fascination, I took my way
toward Marylebone street, longing, yet dreading, to see and hear--my
heart aching for a sight of the manly form and noble face of him to
whom my soul had cleaved as to a brother.
There was a dense crowd outside the gates of the courtyard and round
the private door through which the magistrates enter, when I arrived
there. With my hat slouched over my brows, I made my way through with
difficulty to the door of the court where the proceedings were going
on,--the noise and din of the crowd buzzing about me, and scraps of
talk which goes on in such places and among such people as collect
there, reaching me in broken snatches.
"Who'd ha' thought he'd a done it? such a nice-looking chap as er is."
"Yer see, it's the money as he wanted. The old man was mortal rich;
they say the Bank of England couldn't 'old 'is money. Yes, the gowld
did it."
"Pisen! Ah, he'd be glad of pisen hisself now. What's that feller
sayin'? Oh, that's the lawyer wot's defending him. He'll have tough
work, he will."
"Remanded!--that's the way; why can't they commit him at once? Givin'
folks all the trouble to come twice afore they knows what to do with
un."
"'Ere he comes. Now, six-footer, who pisened the old man?"
And then came groans and hisses as the mob were made to open and
divide themselves, whilst policemen cleared the way for the
prisoner--yes, it had come to that--the prisoner!--to pass to the van
waiting for him. I looked up as he advanced,--we were almost of the
same height, he and I; taller perhaps by some inches than the majority
around, who were mostly women,--and our eyes met. O God! shall I ever
forget the look he gave me? Pale and calm and firm, he passed on--his
noble brow erect, his clear eyes shining with the light of conscious
innocence; with the whole expression of his countenance
subdued--hallowed, I might say--with the sorrow and trouble which had
befallen him. On he came, heedless of the hisses and jeers of the
fallen degraded herd who pressed round; heedless of the jibes and
groans uttered by the companions of those for whom, more then likely,
his genial voice had been raised in defence, in pleading against the
justice they deserved, but which he had never merited. On he came,
unmindful of everything that was going on about him, as if his spirit
were faraway, communing with that unseen Presence that was never
absent from his mind. I lifted my hat and stood bareheaded as he
passed into that dark dismal van that was polluted with the breath,
contaminated by the touch, of men whose hands were dyed by the
blackest crimes.
When it had driven off I turned away and hailed a passing cab. Just as
I was stepping into it I was arrested by the sound of a voice near me.
"He's safe to be condemned, as shure as yer name's Mike."
It was an Irish voice. I bounded back. Disappearing rapidly, threading
in and out of the now-dispersing crowd, were the high square
shoulders, the gray locks and beard, the swaggering air of Mr. de Vos,
the "treasure-trove," the hero of Swain's Lane. He was gone before I
was fully aware of his identity.
{457}
CHAPTER IV.
A GLIMMER OF LIGHT.
A popular writer of the day says there is this to be observed in the
physiology of every murder, "that before the coroner's inquest the
sole object of public curiosity is the murdered man; while immediately
after that judicial investigation the tide of feeling turns; the dead
man is hurried and forgotten, and the suspected murderer becomes the
hero of men's morbid imaginations." If this be true--as it is--in the
generality of cases, there are also exceptions in which just the
contrary takes place. So was it now. Amidst the hue and cry which
arose against Hugh Atherton, the suspected murderer of his uncle,
Gilbert Thorneley, the murdered man, was almost forgotten. The
announcement in the morning papers of the inquest to be held that same
day following the discovery of the murder was hailed but as an
acceleration of the justice which was to hunt him down to a felon's
death. Three executions had taken place during that summer in London,
and they had but whetted the public appetite. Like a wild beast that
had tasted blood, it ravened and hungered for more; it _could not_
sicken at the sight of a human creature, a fellow-man, strung up like
a dog, strangled like an animal; it _could not_ shudder to behold the
quivering limbs, the covered face, the convulsed form, as it swung
from the gibbet. They had become used to the sight, familiar with the
whole scene in its awful solemnity; but they were far from satiated;
and eagerly did the public voice clamor for another victim on whom to
gloat their inhuman eyes. Ah! that is a fearful responsibility which
England has taken upon herself in these public executions--in baring
to such a gaze as that which is fastened upon the small black-draped
platform outside the walls of Newgate the solemn, awful spectacle of a
creature going to meet his Creator, of an immortal soul passing into
the dread presence of its God! Much has been said for, much against,
those exhibitions of public justice; I doubt if a true view will ever
be arrived at until the question has been considered as one vitally
affecting England as a _Christian_ nation.
Hugh Atherton was a suspected man, and the press did its work well
that morning in trying to criminate him. Already in those brief
four-and-twenty hours his name--the name of one incapable of hurting
the tiniest insect that lay across his path--had become a byword and a
reproach in the mouths, not of many, but of multitudes, throughout the
length and breadth of the land.
Gilbert Thorneley had been a rich man--a notedly rich man--a
millionaire; and we may not touch the rich with impunity. He had not
been a good man nor a useful man, nor philanthropic; none had loved
him, not a few had hated him, many had disliked and dreaded him; but
he was rich--he had wealth untold, and it did wonders for him in the
eyes of the world after his death. Yet withal he was forgotten,
comparatively speaking, whilst the interest of the public was riveted
upon his supposed-to-be-criminal nephew. The scanty evidence elicited
at the police-court was twisted and turned against him by ingenious
compilers of leading-articles, and only one journal ventured to raise
a dissenting voice in his favor. It was a paper that had vindicated
many a man before; that had done for accused persons what perhaps
their poverty would not permit them to do for themselves,--in
ventilating facts and clearing up evidence with the care and eloquence
of a paid counsel. It was a paper hated by many in authority, by big
wigs and potentates, and was to many country magistrates a perfect
nightmare; nevertheless its influence told largely upon the public
mind and led to the rooting out of many an evil.
{458}
The inquest on Gilbert Thorneley was appointed for two o'clock, and I
was cited to appear as one of the witnesses. I had gone late the
evening before to Hyde-Park Gardens with all the tidings that could be
gathered, and left poor Ada more calm and composed than could almost
have been hoped for. Still, what her fearful grief and anxiety was,
heaven only knew; for her only thought seemed to be that Hugh should
hear she was keeping up bravely for his sake. After the inquest, I
promised to try and obtain that she should see him: But I went away,
haunted by her poor pale face, her heavy sleepless eyes, her look of
suppressed anguish; haunted by an overwhelming dread of the morrow;
haunted by the vision of a future laden with sorrow and suffering for
us all. And at last the morning dawned of the day which would bring
forth such important results, and affect the fate of Hugh Atherton so
very gravely. I went early to Merrivale's office, and found him full
of business and very anxious. Lister Wilmot had never appeared; and
repeated messengers sent to the Albany only brought back word that he
had not been home since he went to the police-court the preceding day.
He had neither dined nor slept at home.
Smith and Walker were savage and taciturn, refusing all information,
although their clerk let out that Wilmot had been there several times;
and Merrivale's hopes were all centred in the detective he was
employing, but who had not been seen since he had received his
instructions.
The hours wore round, and at twelve o'clock I was to be at the
Leslies'. As I left Mr. Merrivale's office in Lincoln's-Inn Square, a
man bowed to me in passing. It was Jones the detective. A sudden
thought struck me, and I turned back after him.
"Jones," I said, "do you happen to know a Mr. de Vos, who lodged some
two months ago at No. 13 Charles street, Leicester Square?"
"No, sir; not by that name. What is he like?"
I described him; but he shook his head.
"I don't recognize him, sir; but, if you'll allow me, I'll make a note
of it. Have you any particular reason for wishing to hear about him?"
"Yes; and I should be glad to know _anything_ you can gather
concerning the man."
"I'll be on the look-out, sir." And Jones touched his hat and went
off.
The old butler came to the door in Hyde-Park Gardens, and in answer to
my inquiries informed me that Miss Leslie was "very middling indeed,
and that Mr. Wilmot had just been there."
"Mr. Wilmot!"
"Yes, sir; he wished partiklar to see Miss Ada--which he did, sir, and
her ma too: very nice gentleman he seems, and terrible cut up about
his poor uncle and his cousin. A shocking thing, sir, for you to have
to witness _against_ Mr. Atherton."
Against Mr. Atherton! Then it had reached here--this news, these
tidings--that I was to help to condemn the man I loved best on earth!
What was known in the servants'-hall had no doubt been discussed in
the drawing-room, and Ada must now fully be aware of what I had found
no courage to tell her yesterday. How had she received the
intelligence? what was she thinking of it--of me? Reflecting thus, I
followed Kings into the library, and found Mrs. Leslie alone. Now that
lady and I never got on as amicably as we might have done; joint
guardians seldom do, especially when they are of opposite genders; and
this I say with no sort of reflection upon the fairer sex, simply
mentioning it as a fact which, during a long legal course of
experience, has come before me. _I_ considered Mrs. Leslie frivolous,
weak, and extravagant, very unlike her child, very far from fit to be
instrusted with the sole guidance of a mind such as Ada's. But I kept
my own counsel {459} on the subject, and tried by action rather than
words to counteract and shield Ada from evils arising from her
mother's foolish conduct. She thought _me_ very uncompromising, very
particular and rigid in my notions, often perhaps very crusty and
disagreeable, nor spared she any pains to conceal her thought. That I
did not mind; for Ada trusted me implicitly in all things, and it was
all I cared for. This morning there was a stiffness and less of
cordiality than ever in Mrs. Leslie's manner of receiving me.
"How is Ada?" I asked.
"She passed a very restless night, poor dear, very restless; and is
fit for nothing this morning. Indeed, I am almost in the same state
myself, I have been so terribly upset by this affair, and my nerves
are very delicate. Most trying too! I have had to put off our _reunion
musicale_ for next Thursday, and the Denison's dinner-party for
to-morrow. I can't think how Hugh came to do it--for of course he
_must_ have done it, though Ada won't hear a word against him."
"He did _not_ do it, Mrs. Leslie! Ada is right, as she always is."
"Ah! well, so Lister Wilmot tried to make me believe; but then he says
everything is against poor Hugh, and that even you feel obliged to
give evidence against him. I must say, John Kavanagh, that I think it
very strange of you to have volunteered to give evidence. Wilmot was
explaining it all to us, and said you couldn't help yourself; for the
first words you had said to the policeman when he came to you
criminated your friend."
A glimmer of light was beginning to dawn in my mind; but its ray was
very faint and dim as yet; and after all it might only prove a
will-o'-the-wisp. Still I would not lose it if possible.
"Wilmot told you that, did he? Does Ada know?"
"Yes; she was here when he came. He told us everything that had passed
all that had been said by his uncle the last evening he saw him alive.
He mentioned a great deal which had been kept back--purposely I
suppose, and for some motive we don't understand now, but which will
come out by and by, no doubt," said Mrs. Leslie with a burst of spite
in her voice.
"Would you have the goodness to send word to Ada that I am here?" I
said very stiffly.
"Oh! I forgot. She desired her kindest regards when you called, but
she could not see you this morning. She will write."
I looked at her, and something convinced me she was telling a lie. I
got up very quietly and rang the bell.
"Let Miss Leslie know I am here, Kings."
"Yes, sir."
Then Mrs. Leslie's anger broke forth. How dared I presume so far--
take such a liberty in her house! I forgot myself; I was no gentleman,
but a meddling, interfering man, disappointed and soured because I had
not secured Ada and her fortune for myself. _She had seen it all
along_. So she raved on--so I let her rave; and when she ceased I
answered her:
"If I have taken a liberty in giving an order under your roof and to
your servant, I beg your pardon. But this is no time to stop at
trifles or considerations of mere etiquette involving no real breach
of good breeding. So long as your daughter is a minor I shall hold
myself responsible for the trust her dead father confided to me
conjointly with yourself; and, so help me God, I will perform the
sacred duty to its utmost limits and regardless of human respect!
There is foul play going on around us, and some influence--I know not
yet whose--is at work to undermine the happiness of us all. There is
bitter need that no fatal misunderstanding should arise between my
ward and myself; that no subtle representations of interested persons
should shake the reliance upon my integrity and honor, which hitherto
Ada has placed in her father's friend. A life more precious to her
than her own, and {460} dear to me as a brother's, is at stake; and I
foresee, though dimly and darkly, that it imports far more than
perhaps we dream of now to keep everything clear between us in our
several relations with each other. At any rate I will allow no foolish
fancies, no weak pride, to stand between your daughter and myself, her
legal guardian and _sole trustee_."
I spoke very sternly, and purposely laid a stress upon my last words,
knowing the woman with whom I was dealing, and the full weight they
would have with her. Nor was I mistaken. She burst into a feeble
querulous fit of crying; and the servant returning at that moment with
a message from Ada asking me to go up-stairs, I left Mrs. Leslie to
her reflections.
My ward was in her little morning-room. She was writing at the table,
and the room was partially darkened, as if she could not bear the full
sunlight of that bright autumn day. There were birds and flowers and
music around her; but the birds had hushed their song, the flowers
drooped their heads, as if missing the careful hand that tended them;
and the music that generally greeted one there was silent. Oh! when
would she sing again? I felt something about my feet as I advanced
towards her, and heard a piteous whine I looked down; it was a little
rough shaggy terrier,--Hugh's dog. Poor Dandie! He recognized me, and
looked for one with whom he was so accustomed to see me.
"I sent for him," said Ada, lifting her weary wan face as I stood
beside her. "I fancied he would be happier here--less lonely; but he
is not--he wants _him_."
The dog seemed to understand her; for he came and, putting his
forepaws upon her knee, laid his head upon them, and looking toward me
whined again. She laid her cheek down upon his rough head and caressed
him.
"Not yet, Dandie,--not yet. We must be patient, doggie, and he will
come to us again."
It was a few moments before I could speak; but time was hastening on
apace. Whilst I stood by the fire thinking how best to begin the
subject I had at heart, Ada came and laid her hand on my arm.
"I have been wishing for you; I thought you would never come."
Then her mother had told a lie; but I said nothing.
"Lister Wilmot has been here this morning, talking a good deal." She
stopped and hesitated.
To help her, I said, "Yes; so your mother tells me."
She looked at me inquiringly. "Has she told all that passed--all that
he said?"
"She told me a great deal; but I would rather hear everything from
_you_. My child, don't hesitate to confide in me. You don't know how
it may help to clear matters up, which seem to be so fearfully
complicated now."
I think she understood me, for she sighed wearily, and I heard her
murmur to herself, "Poor mamma!"
"Lister was very kind this morning, and was in dreadful trouble about
--_him_. He said he had thought of me more than any one, and would
have come yesterday, but had so much to arrange and see to."
And then Ada went on to relate what passed, a great deal of which I
had gathered from Mrs. Leslie.
"There is one thing," she concluded, "which I did not and would not
believe. He says you have volunteered to give evidence against _him_,"
(it seemed as if she could not bring herself to mention Hugh by name;)
"but I said it could not be,--that there must have been a mistake.
What is the worst of all is, that since Lister was here, mamma
persists in saying _he_ is guilty; somehow, though his words defended,
his tone and manner implied he thought his cousin guilty."
"Ada, it is true I shall have to give evidence which may help to
criminate Hugh; but it is more than equally false that I ever
volunteered to bear {461} witness against him. You were right; _never
believe it_."
Then I told her how it was, and how I had shrunk from letting her know
it before.
"And now, my child, I must go. You know the inquest is to take place
this afternoon, and I have to be there; but first I must return to
Merrivale's, and settle many things with him."
"You will come back to me afterward."
"Surely; as soon as it is over."
"Do you think _he_ will be present?"
"I trust not, oh! I trust not! But perhaps he will wish to watch the
proceedings himself, as well as Merrivale. God be with you, Ada, and
good-bye!"
I was on the threshold of the door when she called me back.
"I am very foolish, guardian, not to have said it before; but I could
not--and yet I ought and must."
Her hand was resting on a well-worn morocco case. I knew it well--it
was Hugh's likeness, and a faint color tinged her white cheeks; but
she mastered the shy feeling, whatever it was, and looked clearly and
earnestly at me.
"Something was said by Lister Wilmot of what had dropped from poor Mr.
Thorneley the last night of his life about you and me. I don't know
why he should have repeated it; but as it is, I wanted to ask you not
to mind it; at least, not to notice what may be said by others--by my
mother. I only fear lest anything of the kind being said should come
between us, and destroy our confidence in one another, because we
understand each other so well--you and I and Hugh,"--how lingeringly
she spoke his name!--"and we have no secrets between us that all
three may not share. And I have feared lest this worse than
foolishness, dragged out publicly, should change anything in our
intercourse, or prevent you from acting, as hitherto, a parent's part
toward a fatherless girl."
"_Nothing_, Ada, can change me toward you; and when people think of
you and then of me, they will not heed the childish babble that may go
about."
"Thanks, guardian."
"Worse than foolishness!"--I said the words over to myself many times
as I drove back to Lincoln's Inn; and in the hazy distant future I saw
a weary wayworn pilgrim slowly toiling along life's lonely road, who,
looking back to this past year come and gone, would still repeat,
"Worse than foolishness!"
I found Merrivale in deep conference with a mean-looking little man
with a short stubbly head of hair that bristled up like a
scrubbing-brush, and of a melancholy cast of countenance, as if
accustomed to view life darkly, through the medium of duns and
such-like evils to which man is heir. His eyes were the only redeeming
point about him, and they really were two of the sharpest, most
intelligent orbs I ever saw in my life. They lighted upon me the
moment I entered the room, and seemed to take in my whole exterior and
interior person with a knowingness that was perfectly alarming.
"This is the gentleman, I suppose, sir, who was with the defunct party
the night of the murder," said a wonderfully soft voice.
"Yes; Mr. Kavanagh.--This is Inspector Keene, the very clever officer
I mentioned to you, Kavanagh."
I acknowledged Mr. Keene's salute with becoming deference.
"Have you any news?" I asked.
"Well, sir," with a quick cautious glance at Merrivale, "I have and I
have not. Before I say anything further, I should be glad to ask the
gentleman a few questions, Mr. Merrivale, if agreeable."
"By all means," I answered.
He put me through a sharp cross-questioning on every point with which
the reader is acquainted, making rapid notes of all my answers and
remarks. Then he sat silently scraping his chin and gnawing his nails
for some minutes. At last he looked up suddenly.
"The funeral, I understand, is fixed {462} for next Tuesday, and after
that is over _the Will is to be read_. Perhaps that may throw some
light on the subject."
I could not for the life of me repress a start, and Inspector Keene
made a mental note of it, I knew.
"Good-day, gentlemen. I will call on you, Mr. Merrivale, to-morrow. _I
think I am on the scent_."
"Come," said Merrivale, "we must be off, or we shall be late."
TO BE CONTINUED.
------
[ ORIGINAL. ]
OUR MOTHER'S CALL.
Come home, O weary wanderers, from error's tangled maze,
My mother-heart yearns sore for you in all your troubled ways.
I've rest, and food, and shelter, for all the earth can hold--
Then hasten, weary wanderers, home to the single fold.
I am the Master's gamer, which ever yieldeth more,
The more the needy millions receiving from my store;
No number's can exhaust me; no beggar at my gate
For rest and food and shelter, shall ever have to wait.
If in mine inner chamber the Master seems to sleep,
While fearful storm and peril are out upon the deep.
My lightest tone will call him to rescue of his own
For his dear children's haven I am, _and I alone_.
Almighty wisdom made me the home upon the rock--
The Saviour's fold of safety to all his ransomed flock.
My door is ever open, and they who enter in.
Find rest from all their wanderings, and cleansing from their sin.
One thing, and but one only, the Master doth demand.
That they who seek shall find him as he himself hath planned;
Beneath my lowly portal shall bow each haughty head,
And to my narrow pathway return each wandering tread.
_I cannot lift the lintel, nor widen out the posts,
For every stone was fashioned by him, the Lord of hosts_.
_My Master_, and thy Master if thou wilt hear his voice
And in his pleasant pastures for evermore rejoice.
Can human handcraft ever compete in skill with him,
Whose throne is in the heavens amid the cherubim?
Then cease your idle toiling another home to raise;
He on my fair proportions toiled all his mortal days.
{463}
When out of depths of darkness he called the glorious sun
In all its dazzling splendor, _he spoke_ and it was done;
His sweat and blood were both poured out that he might fashion me
His sun to souls in darkness till time no more shall be.
Hold it no light offending that you can turn aside,
And scorn in wilful blindness the Saviour's spotless bride.
He who hath full dominion unchecked o'er all the earth,
Made me the mighty mother of the blest second-birth.
Come, weigh ye well the value of his three and thirty years,
And number o'er the treasure of all his prayers and tears.
And count ye out the life-drops that flowed from his cleft side.
And learn the wondrous bounty with which he dowered his bride.
Rich-dowered for your salvation, ye dearly bought of earth!
By his dying, and my living, oh! weigh salvation's worth,
And in the single shelter his mighty love hath given.
Learn the dear will that maketh the blessedness of heaven.
GENEVIEVE SALES.
EASTERTIDE, 1866.
------
[ORIGINAL.]
USE AND ABUSE OF READING. [Footnote 81]
[Footnote 81: "Appel aux Consciences Chretiennes contre les abus et
les dangers de la lecture."' P. Toulemont. Etudes Religieuses,
Historiques et Literaires. Tome 8, N. S.]
We have been much interested in the grave and earnest essay on the
abuses and dangers of reading, by P. Toulemont, in that excellent
periodical, the "Etudes," so ably conducted by fathers of the Society
of Jesus, and we would translate and present it to the readers of the
Catholic World in its integrity, if some portions of it were not
better adapted to France than to the United States; yet much which we
shall advance in this article is inspired by it, and we shall make
free use of its ideas, facts, authorities, and arguments.
This is a reading age, and ours is to a great extent a reading
country. The public mind, taste, and morals are with us chiefly formed
by books, pamphlets, periodicals, and journals. The American people
sustain more journals or newspaper than all the world beside, and
probably devour more light literature, or fiction, or trashy novels
than any other nation. Reading of some sort is all but universal, and
the press is by far the most efficient government of the country. The
government itself practically is little else with us than public
sentiment, and public sentiment is both formed and echoed by the
press. Indeed, the press is not merely "a fourth estate," as it has
been called, but an estate which has well-nigh usurped the functions
of all the others, and taken the sole direction of the intellectual
and moral destinies of the civilized world.
The press, taken in its largest sense, is, after speech--which it
repeats, extends and perpetuates--the most powerful influence, whether
for good or for evil, that man wields or can wield; and however great
the evils which flow from its perversion, it could not be annihilated
or its freedom suppressed without the loss of a still greater good,
{464} that is, restrained by the public authorities. In this country
we have established the _regime_ of liberty, and that _regime_, with
its attendant good and evil, must be accepted in its principle, and in
all its logical consequences. If a free press becomes a fearful
instrument for evil in the hands of the heedless or ill-disposed, it
is no less an instrument for good in the hands of the enlightened,
honest, and capable. The free press in the modern world is needed to
defend the right, to advance the true, to maintain order, morality,
intelligence, civilization, and cannot be given up for the sake of
escaping the evils which flow from its abuse.
Yet these evils are neither few nor light, and are such as tend to
enlarge and perpetuate themselves. Not the least of the evils of
journalism, for instance, is the necessity it is under in order to
live, to get readers, and to get readers it must echo public opinion
or party feeling, defend causes that need no defence, and flatter
passions already too strong. Instead of correcting public sentiment
and laboring to form a sound public opinion or a correct moral
judgment, its conductors are constantly tempted to feel the public
pulse to discover what is for the moment popular, and then to echo it,
and to denounce all who dissent from it or fall not down and worship
it; forgetting if what is popular is erroneous or unjust, it is wrong
to echo it, and if true and just, it needs no special defence, for it
is already in the ascendant; and forgetting, also, that it is the
unpopular truth, the unpopular cause, the cause of the wronged and
oppressed, the poor and friendless, too feeble to make its own voice
heard, and which has no one to speak for it, that needs the support of
the journal. When John the Baptist sent two of his disciples to our
Lord to ask him, "Art thou he that is to come, or are we to look for
another?" our Lord said: "Go and tell John . . . that the blind see,
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise
again, the poor have the gospel preached to them." Here was the
evidence of his messiahship. "They that are whole need not a
physician, but they that are sick."
This is not all: needing to be always on the popular side, the press
not only plants itself on the lowest general average of intelligence
and virtue, but it tends constantly to lower that general average, and
hence becomes low and debasing in its influence. It grows ever more
and more corrupt and corrupting, till the public mind becomes so
vitiated and weakened that it will neither relish nor profit by the
sounder works needed as remedies.
In the moral and intellectual sciences we write introductions where we
once wrote treatises, because the publisher knows that the
introductions will sell, while the elaborate treatise will only
encumber his shelves, or go to the pastry-cook or the paper-maker. Not
only do the journals flatter popular passions, appeal to vitiated
tastes, or a low standard of morals, but books do the same, and often
in a far greater degree. The great mass of books written and published
in the more enlightened and advanced modern nations are immoral and
hostile not only to the soul hereafter, but to all the serious
interests of this life. A few years since the French government
appointed a commission to investigate the subject of colportage in
France and the commission reported after a conscientious examination
that of nine millions of works colported eight millions were more or
less immoral. Of the novels which circulate in the English-speaking
world, original or translated, one not immoral and possible to be read
without tainting the imagination or the heart is the rare exception.
Under pretence of _realism_ nature is oftener exhibited in her
unseemly than in her seemly moods, and the imagination of the young is
compelled to dwell on the grossest vices and corruptions of a moribund
society. Chastity of {465} thought, innocence of heart, purity of
imagination, cannot be preserved by a diligent reader even of the
better class of the light literature of the day. This literature so
vitiates the taste, so corrupts the imagination, and so sullies the
heart, that its readers can see no merit and find no relish in works
not highly spiced with vice, crime, or disorderly passion. The
literary stomach has been so weakened by vile stimulants that it
cannot bear a sound or a wholesome literature, and such works as a
Christian would write, and a Christian read, would find scarcely a
market, or readers sufficiently numerous to pay for its publication.
It is boasted that popular literature describes nature as it is, or
society as it is, and is therefore true, and truth is never immoral.
Truth truthfully told, and truthfully received, is indeed never
immoral, but even truth may be so told as to have the effect of a lie.
But these highly spiced novels--which one can hardly read without
feeling when he has finished them as if he had been spending a night
in dissipation or debauchery, and with which our English-speaking
world is inundated--are neither true to nature nor to society. They
give certain features of society, but really paint neither high life
nor low life, nor yet middle life as it is. They rarely give a real
touch of nature, and seldom come near enough to truth to caricature
it. They give us sometimes the sentiment, sometimes the affection of
love with a touch of truth--but, after all, only truth's surface or a
distant and distorted view of it. They paint better the vices of
nature, man's abuse or perversion of nature, than the virtues. Their
virtuous characters are usually insipid or unnatural; nature has
depths their plummets sound not, and heights to which they rise not.
There they forget that in the actual providence of God nature never
exists and operates alone, but either through demoniacal influence
descends below, or through divine grace rises above itself. They
either make nature viler than she is or nobler than she is. They never
hit the just medium, and the views of nature, society, and life the
young reader gets from them, are exaggerated, distorted, or totally
false. The constant reading of them renders the heart and soul morbid,
the mind weak and sickly, the affections capricious and fickle, the
whole man ill at ease, sighing for what he has not, and incapable of
being contented with any possible lot or state of life, or with any
real person or thing.
Beside books which the conscience of a pagan would pronounce immoral,
and which cannot be touched without defilement, there are others that
by their false and heretical doctrines tend to undermine faith and to
sap those moral convictions without which society cannot subsist, and
religion is an empty name or idle form. The country is flooded with a
literature which not only denies this or that Christian mystery, this
or that Catholic dogma, that not only rejects supernatural revelation,
but even natural reason itself. The tendency of what is regarded as
the advanced thought of the age is not only to eliminate Christian
faith from the intellect, Christian morality from the heart, Christian
love from the soul, but Christian civilization from society. The most
popular literature of the day recognizes no God, no Satan, no heaven,
no hell, and either preaches the worship of the soul, or of humanity.
Christian charity is resolved into the watery sentiment of
philanthropy, and the Catholic veneration of the Blessed Virgin
lapses, outside of the church, into an idolatrous worship of
femininity. The idea of duty is discarded, and we are gravely told
there is no merit in doing a thing because it is our duty; the merit
is only in doing it from love, and love, which, in the Christian
sense, is the fulfilling of the law, is defined to be a sentiment
without any relation to the understanding or the conscience. Not only
the authority of the church is rejected in the name of humanity {466}
by the graver part of popular literature, but the authority of the
state, the sacredness of law, the inviolability of marriage, and the
duty of obedience of children to their parents, are discarded as
remnants of social despotism now passing away. The tendency is in the
name of humanity to eliminate the church, the state, and the family,
and to make man a bigger word than God. In view of the anti-religious,
anti-moral, and anti-social doctrines which in some form or in some
guise or other permeate the greater part of what is looked upon as the
living literature of the age, and which seem to fetch an echo from the
heart of humanity, well might Pope Gregory XVI., of immortal memory,
in the grief of his paternal heart exclaim, "We are struck with horror
in seeing with what monstrous doctrines, or rather with what prodigies
of error we are inundated by this deluge of books, pamphlets, and
writings of every sort whose lamentable irruption has covered the
earth with maledictions!"
"There doubtless are men," as Pere Toulemont says, "who have very
little to fear from the most perfidious artifices of impiety, as,
prepared by a strong and masculine intellectual discipline, they are
able to easily detect the most subtle sophisms. No subtlety, no _tour
de metier_, if I may so speak, can escape them. At the first glance of
the eye they seize the false shade, the confusion of ideas or of
words; they redress at once the illusive perspective created by the
mirage of a lying style. The fascinations of error excite in them only
a smile of pity or of contempt.
"Yes, there are such men, but they are rare. Take even men of solid
character, with more than ordinary instruction, and deeply attached to
their faith, think you, that even they will be able always to rise
from the reading of this literature perfectly unaffected? I appeal to
the experience of more than one reader, if it is not true after having
run over certain pages written with perfidious art, that we find
ourselves troubled with an indescribable uneasiness, an incipient
vertigo or bewilderment? We need then, as it were, to give a shake to
the soul, to force it to throw off the impression it has received, and
if we neglect to assist it more or less vigorously, it soon deepens
and assumes alarming proportions. No doubt, unless in exceptional
circumstances, strong convictions are not sapped to their foundation
by a single blow, but one needs no long experience to be aware that
this sad result is likely to follow in the long run, and much more
rapidly than is commonly believed, even with persons who belong to the
aristocracy of intelligence.
"This will be still more the case if we descend to a lower social
stratum, to the middle classes who embody the great majority of
Christian readers. With these mental culture is very defective, and
sometimes we find in them an ignorance of the most elementary Catholic
instruction that is really astounding. What, at any rate, is
undeniable, is that their faith is not truly enlightened either in
relation to its object or its grounds. It ordinarily rests on
sentiment far more than on reason. They have not taken the trouble to
render to themselves an account of the arguments which sustain it;
much less still are they able to solve the difficulties which
unbelievers suggest against it. Add to this general absence of serious
intellectual instruction, the absence not less general of force and
independence of character, and the position becomes frightful. In our
days it must be confessed the energy of the moral temperament is
singularly enfeebled, and never perhaps was the assertion of the
prophet, _omne caput languidum_, the whole head is sick, more true
than now. Robust and masculine habits seem to have given place to a
sort of sybaritism of soul, which renders the soul adverse to all
personal effort, or individual labor. See, for example, that multitude
which devours so greedily the first books that come to hand. Takes it
any care to control the things which pass before its eyes, or to {467}
render to itself any account of them by serious reflection? Not at
all. The attention it gives to what it reads is very nearly null, or,
at best, it is engrossed far more with the form, the style, or the
term of the phrase, than with the substance, or ground of the ideas
expressed. The mind is rendered, so to say, wholly passive, ready to
receive without reflection any impression or submit to any influence."
The great body of the faithful in no country can read the immoral,
heretical, infidel, humanitarian, and socialistic literature of the
age without more or less injury to their moral and spiritual life, or
without some lesion even to their faith itself; although it be not
wholly subverted. Can a man touch pitch and not be defiled? It is
precisely the devouring of this literature as its daily intellectual
food, or as its literary pabulum, that produces that sybaritism of
soul, that feebleness of character, that aversion to all manly effort
or individual exertion without which robust and masculine virtue is
impossible.
There is certainly much strong faith in the Catholic population of the
United States, perhaps more in proportion to their numbers than in any
of the old Catholic nations of Europe; but this strong faith is found
chiefly amongst those who have read very little of the enervating
literature of the day. In the younger class in whom a taste for
reading has been cultivated, and who are great consumers of "yellow
covered literature," and the men who read only the secula and partisan
journals, we witness the same weakness of moral and religious
character, and the same feeble grasp of the great truths of the gospel
complained of by Pere Toulemont. To a great extent the reading of
non-Catholic literature, non-Catholic books, periodicals, novels and
journals, neutralizes in our sons and daughters the influence of
Catholic schools, academies, and colleges, and often effaces the good
impression received in them.
The prevalence of such a literature, so erroneous in doctrine, so
false in principle, and so debasing in tendency, must be deplored by
Catholics, not only as injurious to morals, and too often fatal to the
life of the soul, but as ruinous to modern civilization, which is
founded on the great principles of the Catholic religion, and has been
in great part created by the Catholic Church, chiefly by her supreme
pontiffs, and her bishops and clergy, regular and secular. The
tendency of modern literature, especially of journalism, a very modern
creation, is to reduce our civilization far below that of ancient
gentilism, and it seems hard that we who under God have civilized the
barbarians once should have to begin our work anew, and go through the
labor of civilizing them again. Our non-Catholic countrymen cannot
lose Christian civilization without our being compelled to suffer with
them. They drag us, as they sink down, after them. This country is our
home and is to be the home of our children and our children's
children, and we more than any other class of American citizens are
interested in its future. It is not, then, solely the injury we as
Catholics may receive from an irreligious and immoral literature that
moves us; but also the injury it does to those who are not as yet
within the pale of the church, but between whom and us there is a real
solidarity as men and citizens, and who cannot suffer without our
suffering, and civilization itself suffering, with them.
As men, as citizens, as Christians, and as Catholics, it becomes to us
a most grave question--What can be done to guard against the dangers
which threaten religion and civilization from an irreligious and
immoral literature? This question is, no doubt, primarily a question
for the pastors of the church, but it is, in submission to them, also
a question for the Catholic laity, for they have their part, and an
important part, in the work necessary to be done. There can be no
doubt that bad books and irreligious journals are dangerous
companions, and the {468} most dangerous of all companions, for their
evil influence is more genial and more lasting. Plato and most of the
pagan philosophers and legislators required the magistrates to
intervene and suppress all books judged to be immoral and dangerous
either to the individual or to society, and in all modern civilized
states the law professes either to prevent or to punish their
publication. Even John Milton, in his "Areopagitica," or plea for
unlicensed printing, says he denies not to magistrates the right to
take note how books demean themselves, and if they offend to punish
them as any other class of offenders. English and American law leaves
every one free to publish what he pleases, but holds the author and
publisher responsible for the abuse they may make of the liberty of
the press. In all European states there was formerly, and in some
continental states there is still, a preventive censorship, more or
less rigid, and more or less effective. Formerly the civil law
enforced the censures pronounced by the church, but there is hardly a
state in which this is the case now.
Whatever our views of the civil freedom of the press may be,
ecclesiastical censorship, or censorship addressed to the conscience
by the spiritual authority, is still possible, and both proper and
necessary. The act of writing and publishing a book or pamphlet, or
editing and publishing a periodical or journal, is an act of which the
law of God takes account as much as any other act a man can perform,
and is therefore as fully within the jurisdiction of the spiritual
authority. So also is the act of reading, and the spiritual director
has the same right to look after what books his penitent reads, as
after what company he keeps. The whole subject of writing, editing,
publishing, and reading books, pamphlets, tractates, periodicals, and
journals, comes within the scope of the spiritual authority, and is
rightly subjected to ecclesiastical discipline. In point of fact, it
is so treated in principle by heterodox communions, as well as by the
church. The Presbyterians are even more rigid in their discipline as
to writing and reading than Catholics are, though they may not always
avow it. The Methodists claim the right for their conferences to
prescribe to Methodist communicants what books they ought not to read,
and seldom will you find a strict Methodist or Presbyterian reading a
Catholic book. It is much the same with all Protestants who belong to
what they call the church as distinguished from the congregation--a
distinction which does not obtain among Catholics, for with us all
baptized persons, not excommunicated, belong to the church. There is
no reason why the church should not direct me in my reading as well as
in my associations, or discipline me for writing or publishing a lie
in a book or a newspaper as well as for telling a lie orally to my
neighbor or swearing to a falsehood in a court of justice.
But when the church, as with us, is not backed in her censures by the
civil law, when her canons and decrees have no civil effect, the
ecclesiastical authority becomes practically only an appeal to the
Catholic conscience, and while her censures indicate the law of
conscience in regard to the matters censured, they depend on our
conscience alone for their effectiveness. Hence our remedy, in the
last analysis, as Pere Toulemont implies, is in the appeal to
Christian consciences against the dangerous literature of the day; and
happily Catholics have a Christian conscience,--though sometimes in
now and then one it may be a little drowsy--that can be appealed to
with effect, for they have faith, do believe in the reality of the
invisible and the eternal, and know that it profiteth a man nothing to
gain the whole world and lose his own soil. The church declares by
divine constitution and assistance the law of God which governs
conscience, and when properly instructed by her, the Catholic has not
only a conscience, but an enlightened {469} conscience, and knows what
is right and what is wrong, what is useful and what is dangerous
reading, and can always act intelligently as well as conscientiously.
Pere Toulemont shows in his essay that it is not reading or literature
that the church discourages or condemns, but the abuse of literature
and its employment for purposes contrary to the law of God, or the
reading of vile, debasing, and corrupting books, periodicals, and
journals which can only taint the imagination, sully the purity of the
heart, weaken or disturb faith, and stunt the growth of the Christian
virtues. The conscience of every Christian tells him that to read
immoral books, to familiarize himself with a low, vile, corrupt and
corrupting literature, whatever may be the beauty of its form, the
seductions of its style, or the charms of its dictation, is morally
and religiously wrong.
Pere Toulemont shows by numerous references to their bulls and briefs
that the supreme pontiff have never from the earliest ages ceased to
warn the faithful against the writings of heretics and infidels, or to
prohibit the reading, writing, publishing, buying, selling, or even
keeping impure, immodest, or immoral books or publications of any sort
or form, as the civil law even with us prohibits obscene pictures and
spectacles. It was to guard the faithful against improper and
dangerous reading that St. Pius the Fifth established at Rome the
congregation of the Index; and that publications by whomsoever written
judged by the congregation to be unsafe, likely to corrupt faith or
morals, are still placed on the Index. Nothing is more evident than
that the church, while encouraging in all ages and countries
literature, science, and art, has never allowed her children the
indiscriminate reading of all manner of books, pamphlets, tractates,
and journals. There are writings the reading of which she prohibits as
the careful mother would prevent her innocent, thoughtless child from
swallowing poison. Her discipline in this respect is accepted and felt
to be wise and just by every man and woman in whom conscience is not
extinct or fast asleep. Even the pagan world felt its necessity as
does the modern Protestant world. The natural reason of every man
accepts the principle of this discipline, and asserts that there are
sorts of reading which no man, learned or unlearned, should permit
himself. The Christian conscience once awakened recoils with
instinctive horror from immoral books and publications, and no one who
really loves our Lord Jesus Christ can take pleasure in reading books,
periodicals, or journals that tend to weaken Christian faith and
corrupt Christian morals, any more than the pious son can take
pleasure in hearing his own father or mother traduced or calumniated;
and what such publications are, the Catholic, if his own instincts
fail to inform him, can always learn from the pastors of his church.
The first steps toward remedying the evils of the prevailing immoral
literature must be in an earnest appeal to all sincere Christians to
set their faces resolutely against all reading, whatever its form,
that tends to sap the great principles of revealed truths, to destroy
faith in the great mysteries of the Gospel, to subvert morality, to
substitute sentiment for reason, or feeling for rational conviction,
to ruin the family and the state, and thus undermine the foundations
of civilized society. This, if done, would erect the Christian
conscience into a real censorship of the press, and operate as a
corrective of its licentiousness, without in the least infringing on
its freedom. It would diminish the supply of bad literature by
lessening the demand. This would be much, and would create a Christian
literary public opinion, if I may so speak, which would become each
day stronger, more general, more effective, and which writers,
editors, publishers, and booksellers, would find themselves obliged to
respect, as politicians find themselves obliged to treat {470} the
Catholic religion with respect, whenever they wish to secure the votes
of Catholic citizens. Fidelity to conscience in those who have not yet
lost the faith, and in whom the spiritual life is not yet wholly
extinct, will go far toward remedying the evil, for the movement begun
will gather volume and momentum as it goes on.
The next step is for Catholics to regard it as a matter of conscience
to demand and sustain a pure and high-toned literature, or ample,
savory, and wholesome literary diet, for the public. Reading, in
modern civilized communities, has become in some sort a necessary of
life, a necessity, not a luxury, and when we take into consideration
the number of youth of both sexes which we send forth yearly from our
colleges, academies, private, parochial, conventual, and public
schools, we cannot fail to perceive that it is, and must be a growing
necessity in our Catholic community; and we may set this down as
certain, that when wholesome food is not to be had, people will feed
on unwholesome food, and die of that which they have taken to sustain
life. But if people, through indifference or negligence take no heed
whether the food be wholesome or unwholesome, or through a depraved
appetite prefer the unwholesome because more highly spiced, very
little wholesome food will be offered in the market. Many complaints
are heard from time to time of our Catholic press, because it does not
give us journals of a higher order, more really Catholic in principle,
of higher moral tone, and greater intellectual and literary merit.
Even supposing the facts to be as these complaints assume, the
complaints themselves are unjust. The editors and publishers of
Catholic journals edit and publish them as a lawful business, and very
naturally seek the widest circulation possible. To secure that, they
necessarily appeal to the broadest, and therefore the lowest average
of intelligence and virtue of the public they address. They who depend
on public sentiment or public opinion must study to conform to it, not
to redress or reform it. The journals of every country represent the
lowest average intelligence and virtue of the public for which they
are designed. The first condition of their existence is that they be
popular with their own public, party, sect, or denomination.
Complaints are also frequently heard of our Catholic publishers and
booksellers, for not supplying a general literature, scientific and
philosophical works, such as general readers, who though good
Catholics, are not particularly ascetic, and wish to have now and then
other than purely spiritual reading, and also such as scholars and
scientific men seek, in which the erudition and science proper are not
marred by theories and hypotheses, speculations and conjectures which
serve only to disturb faith and stunt the growth of the spiritual
life. But these complaints are also unjust. The publishers issue the
best books that the market will take up. There is no demand for other
or better books than they publish; and such books as are really
needed, aside from bibles, prayer-books, and books for spiritual
reading, they can publish only at their own expense. They are governed
by the same law that governs editors and publishers of newspapers or
journals, and naturally seek the broadest, and therefore in most
respects the lowest average, and issue works which tend constantly to
lower the standard instead of elevating it. The evil tendency, like
rumor, _crescit eundo_.
There is no redress but in the appeal to Christian consciences, since
the public now fills the place of patrons which was formerly filled by
princes and nobles, bishops and monastic or religious houses. The
matter cannot be left to regulate itself, for the public taste has not
been cultivated and formed to support the sort of reading demanded,
and will not do it from taste and inclination, or at all except from a
sense of duty. The great majority of the people of France are
Catholics, yet a few years ago there {471} were Parisian journals
hostile to Catholics, that circulated each from 40,000 to 60,000
copies daily, while the daily circulation of all the Catholic journals
and periodicals in all France did not exceed 25,000. It should be as
much a matter of conscience with Catholics to open a market for a
sound and healthy literature as to refrain from encouraging and
reading immoral and dangerous publications. We gain heaven not merely
by refraining from evil, but by doing good. The servant that wrapped
his talent in a clean napkin and hid it in the earth was condemned not
because he had lost or abused his talent, but because he had not used
it and put it out to usury. The church attaches indulgences to doing
good works, not to abstaining from bad works.
The taste of the age runs less to books than to reviews, magazines,
and especially to newspapers or the daily journals. People are too
busy, in too great a hurry, for works of long breath. Folios and
octavos frighten them, and they can hardly abide a duodecimo. Their
staple reading is the telegraphic despatches in the daily press. Long
elaborate articles in reviews are commended or censured by many more
persons than read them, and many more read than understand them, for
people nowadays think very little except about their business, their
pleasures, or the management of their party. Still the review or
magazine is the best compromise that can be made between the elaborate
treatise and the clever leader of the journal. It is the best literary
medium now within reach of the Catholic public, and can meet better
than any other form of publication our present literary wants, and
more effectively stimulate thought, cultivate the understanding and
the taste, and enable us to take our proper place in the literature
and science of the country. But here again conscience must be appealed
to, the principle of duty must come in. Few men can write and publish
at their own expense a magazine of high character, of pure literary
taste, sound morals, and sound theology, able in literary and
scientific merit, in genius, instruction, and amusement, to compete
successfully with the best magazines going, and there is at this
moment no public formed to hand large enough to sustain such
periodical, and even the men to write it have in some sort to be
created, or at least to be drawn out. It must be for a time supported
by men who do not want it as a luxury or to meet their own literary
tastes, but who appreciate its merits, are aware of the service it may
render in creating a taste for wholesome instead of unwholesome
reading. That is, it most be sustained by persons who, in purchasing
it, act not so much from inclination as from a sense of duty, which is
always a nobler, and in the long run, a stronger motive of action,
than devotion to interest or pleasure; for it is in harmony with all
that is true and good, and has on it the blessing of heaven. It is
precisely because Catholics can act from a sense of duty that we can
overcome the evil that is ruining society.
No doubt we are here pleading, to a certain extent, our own cause, but
we only ask others to act on the principle on which we ourselves are
acting. THE CATHOLIC WORLD is not published as a private speculation,
nor with the expectation of personal gain. Our cause is what we hold
to be here and now the Catholic cause, and it is from a sense of duty
that we devote ourselves to it. We are deeply conscious of the need
for us Catholics in the United States of a purer and more wholesome
literature than any which is accessible to the great majority, and
than any which can be produced outside of the Catholic community, or
by other than Catholics. We need it for ourselves as Catholics, we
need it for our country as a means of arresting the downward tendency
of popular literature, and of influencing for good those who are our
countrymen, though unhappily not within our communion. There is
nothing personal to us in the cause {472} we serve, and it is no more
_ours_ than it is that of every Catholic who has the ability to serve
it. If we plead for our magazine, it is only as it is identified with
the Catholic cause in our country, and we can be as disinterested in
so soliciting support for it as if it was in other hands, and we
solicit support for it no farther than it appeals to the Catholic
conscience. We have seen the danger to the country, and the
destruction to souls threatened by the popular literature of the day,
and we are doing what we can in our unpretending way to commence a
reaction against it, and give to our American public a taste for
something better than they now feed on. We cannot prevent our
Catholic youth who have a taste for reading from reading the vile and
debasing popular literature of the day, unless we give them something
as attractive and more wholesome in its place, and this cannot be done
without the hearty and conscientious cooperation of the Catholic
community with us.
Catholics are not a feeble and helpless colony in the United States.
We are a numerous body, the largest religious denomination in the
country. There are but two cities in the world that have a larger
Catholic population than this very city of New York, and there are
several Catholic nations holding a very respectable rank in the
Catholic world, that have not so large, and upon the whole so wealthy
a Catholic population as the United States. We are numerous enough,
and have means enough to found and sustain all the institutions,
religious, charitable, educational, literary, scientific, and artistic
needed by a Catholic nation, and there is no Catholic nation where
Catholic activity finds fewer "lets and hindrances" from the civil
government. We are free, and we have in proportion to our numbers our
full share of influence in public affairs, municipal, state, and
national; no part of the population partakes more largely of the
general prosperity of the country, and no part has suffered less from
the late lamentable civil war. We have our Church organized under a
regular hierarchy, with priests rapidly increasing in numbers,
churches springing up all over the land, and Catholic emigrants from
the old world pouring in by thousands and hundreds of thousands. We
are numerous enough and strong enough in all religious, literary, and
scientific matters, to suffice for ourselves. There is no reason in
the world, but our own spiritual indolence and the torpidity of our
consciences, why we should continue to feed on the unwholesome
literary garbage provided for us by the humanitarianism and pruriency
of the age. We are able to have a general literature of our own, the
production of genuine Catholic taste and genius, if we will it, and at
present are better able than the Catholics of any other nation; for
our means are ample, and the government and civil institutions place
no obstacles in our way, which can be said of Catholics nowhere else.
Our Catholic community is large enough, and contains readers enough,
to sustain as many periodicals as are needed, and to absorb large
editions enough of literary and scientific works of the highest
character to make it an object with the trade to publish them, as well
as with authors to write them. Works of imagination, what is called
light literature, if conceived in a true spirit, if they tend to give
nature a normal development, and to amuse without corrupting the
reader, ought to find with us a large public to welcome and profit by
them. What the people of any Catholic nation can do to provide for the
intellectual and aesthetic wants of a Catholic people, we Catholics in
the United States can do. If we are disposed to set ourselves
earnestly about it with the feeling that it is a matter of conscience.
And we must do it, if we mean to preserve our youth to the church, and
have them grow up with a robust faith, and strong and masculine
virtues, to keep them clear from the humanitarian sentimentality which
marks the {473} age and the country. Universal education, whether a
good or an evil, is the passion of modern society, and must be
accepted. Indeed, we are doing our best to educate all our children,
and the great mass of them are destined to grow up readers, and will
have reading of some sort. Education will prove no blessing to them,
however carefully or religiously trained while at school, if as soon
as they leave the school, they seek their mental nutriment in the
poisonous literature now so rife. No base companions or vicious
company could do so much to corrupt as the sensation novels, the
humanitarian, rationalistic, and immoral books, magazines, and
journals, which, as thick as the frogs of Egypt, now infest the
country. Our children and youth leave school at the most critical age,
and a single popular novel, or a single sophistical essay, may undo
the work of years of pious training in our colleges and conventual
schools. Parents have more to apprehend for their children when they
have finished their school terms than ever before, and it is precisely
when they have left school, when they come home and go out into
society, that the greatest dangers and temptations assail them. From
their leaving school to their settlement in life is the period for
which they most need ample intellectual and moral provision in
literature, and it is precisely for this period that little or no such
provision is made.
Hence the urgency of the appeal to Catholic consciences first to avoid
as much as possible the pernicious literature of the age, and second
to create and provide to the utmost of our ability, good and wholesome
literature for the mass of our people, such a literature as only they
who live in the communion with the saints, drink in the lessons of
divine wisdom, and feast their souls on celestial beauty, can
produce--a secular literature indeed, but a literature that embodies
all that is pure, free, beautiful and charming in nature, and is
informed with the spirit of Catholic love and truth--a robust and
manly literature, that cherishes all God's works, loves all things,
gentle and pure, noble and elevated, strong and enduring, and is not
ashamed to draw inspiration from the cross of Christ. It will require
much labor, many painful sacrifices to work our way up from the depths
to which we have descended, and our progress will be slow and for a
long time hardly perceptible, but Catholic faith, Catholic love,
Catholic conscience, has once succeeded when things were more
desperate, transformed the world, and can do so again. Nothing is
impossible to it. It is your faith that overcomes the world. Leo X.
said when the press was first made known, "The art of printing was
invented for the glory of God, for the propagation of our holy faith,
and the advancement of knowledge." [Footnote 82]
[Footnote 82: Decree of Leo X. Session 10 of the Council of
Latern.]
------
{474}
Translated from the French.
EUGENIE DE GUERIN'S LETTERS FROM PARIS.
In the following paper we propose to fill as far as possible the
hiatus which occurs between the seventh and eighth books of Mlle. de
Guerin's journal, giving such details from her letters as will satisfy
the curiosity that many of her readers must have felt concerning the
visit she made to Paris at the time of her brother's wedding.
In a letter to M. Paul Juemper, dated March 15, 1838, Guerin describes
his fiancee, with more accuracy perhaps than ardor, and yet there can
be no doubt that the marriage was one of love and congeniality. In the
latter part of his life Maurice appears to have concealed his deepest
emotions as successfully as he had revealed them in earlier years.
"I find myself on my return better in health, and full of hope for the
future. What does that mean? What novelty is this? Nothing but the
most common event in the world, one which takes place every day in
every country--namely marriage, here, in Paris, to a child who was
born for me, eighteen years ago, six thousand leagues from Paris, in
Batavia! She is named Caroline de Gervain, has great blue eyes that
light up her delicate face, a very slender figure, a foot of oriental
minuteness--in short (without any lover-like vanity), an exquisite and
refined _ensemble_, that will suit you very well. Her fortune is in
Indian trade: not large now, but with every prospect of development.
The contracts are drawn up and everything is in order; we are only
awaiting the arrival of some documents from Calcutta, indispensable to
the celebration of a marriage, to tie the last knot. If you leave in
May, you will be here in time to stand by the death-bed of my
bachelorhood, and to see me cross the Rubicon."
Mlle. de Gervain lived with her aunt, Mlle. Martin-Laforet, in a
_pavillion_ in the Rue Cherche-Midi, and it is from this charming
Indian house that Eugenie's first Parisian letter is dated.
TO M. DE GUERIN.
Paris, Oct. 8, 1838.
Oh! how I slept in the little pink bed beside Caroline! I wished to
write to you, dear papa, before going to bed, but they would not let
me, and they said too that the mail would not go out before this
morning, so that you would get the letter no sooner. I should have
written to you at each relay if it had been possible, for I said to
myself: "Now papa and Euphrasie, Mimi and Eran, are thinking of the
traveller." How I thought of you all! you followed me the whole way.
At last I am here, out of the way of dust, diligences and the
annoyances of travelling, and welcomed and cosseted enough to
compensate a thousand times over for the four long days of fatigue.
I should like to tell you everything, but there are so many, many
things;--how I left you, and bowled away towards Paris, and met them
all and fell into a dozen arms. Why weren't you on the Place Notre
Dame des Victoires when, just as I was driving off in a carriage
with Charles, I saw Maurice and Caro and Aunt running and calling
me, and kissing me, one through one window and another through the
other? Oh! it was so nice!
No one ever entered Paris more pleasantly. We went as fast as we
could to Rue du Cherche-Midi, talking, laughing and questioning.
"How is papa? and his leg? is he as well as he was last year?"
Maurice, poor fellow, cried as he looked at me, and talked of you
all, Mimi, Eran, everybody, they all love you and ask after you.
When I came down stairs, I distributed your letters, and then came
breakfast, which was very welcome to me. Half through breakfast,
Auguste entered, a little surprised that I had arrived so early, and
full of kind inquiries for you all . . .
{475}
I thought I should reach Paris ground to powder, and here I am as
fresh as if I had just stepped out of a bandbox. The dust was
suffocating during the thirty leagues of that tiresome Sologne, and
the rumbling was like thunder on the paved road from Orleans to
Paris. It was impossible to sleep that night, but during the others
I took naps, and even slept several hours--but oh! the difference of
sleeping in a rose- bed, and in a diligence, tossed and
jerked about! It was dreadful in the Sologne, where we went at a
snail's pace, but fortunately it did not rain--then the passengers
have to get out sometimes and push the wheels.
After breakfast I went to mass at St. Sulpice, and then to the
Tuileries when the king was absent. It was very grand and regal; the
throne is superb, and with "my mind's eye" I saw Louis XIV. and
Napoleon. There were a great many visitors, English people, and some
brothers from the Christian schools. A friend of Maurice's had got
us entrance tickets for yesterday, and as I don't often have a
chance to see palaces, I was glad to get the opportunity.
Good-by, dear papa; to-day I say only two words of greeting. Maurice
embraces you all as he embraced me yesterday. This is for Mimi and
Eran. I send much love to Euphrasie from myself and from Maurice,
who is delighted to know she is at Le Cayla. All sorts of kind
messages to the parsonage and above all to the gimblette
maker,--they were very welcome and every one liked them. They asked
me if Augustine had grown tall and if she was mischievous, and I
said yes and no;--yes for the height, you understand,--she is all
virtue since her first communion.
M. Angler came to bid me welcome, and we are already acquainted; he
looks good and is good. M. d'A. is coming this evening. I must leave
you, dear papa. Keep well,--take care of yourself; and don't be
uneasy you your traveller, who has but one trial, that she cannot
see you, and knows you are two hundred leagues away. Two hundred
leagues! but my thoughts ran every instant to Le Cayla. We are in
such a quiet place that I think myself in the country, and I slept
without waking once until six o'clock. Tell Jeanne-Marie and Miou
that everyone asks after them. My compliments to the whole household
and to all who are interested in me.
But this charming picture had its _wrong side_, only revealed by
Eugenie to Mlle. Louise de Bayne, and to the cousin with whom she
lived during part of her stay at Paris, Professor Auguste Raynaud.
There was a worm at the heart of the bud, and she knew too well that
it must wither without blooming. At the very meeting in the Place
Notre Dame des Victoires, which she described so gaily in the letter
to Le Cayla, the sight of Maurice's pallor aroused her anxiety, an
anxiety that increased daily and marred the pleasure to which she had
looked forward for months with ardent longing. "At the time of his
marriage," says M. Barbey d'Aurevilly, an intimate friend of both
brother and sister, "Maurice was already attacked with the disease of
which he died a short time after. He already felt its first
sufferings, its first illusions and early symptoms, which made his
style of beauty more than ever touching; for among imaginary heads he
had that beauty which we may attribute to the last of the
Abencerrages. Now what others did not see in the joy and excitement of
that day, she saw, with those sad, prophetic eyes that see everything
when they love!"
"I want for nothing, my friend," she wrote to Louise de Bayne; "they
love me and treat me most cordially at my future sister-in-law's,
and here my kind cousin and his wife vie with each other in friendly
attention. My sister-in-law gets my dresses, gives me a pink bed,
and a jewel of an oratory next my room, where one would pray for
mere pleasure. Oh! there is enough to make me happy, and yet I am
beginning to weary of it, and to say that happiness is nowhere.
Write to me; tell me what you are doing in the mountains. I am
waiting impatiently for news from Le Cayla. I long to hear about
them all, and to see them in thought. Write to Marie sometime, it
will please her, and papa too, who loves you, you know, but do not
speak of Maurice's health, for I say nothing to them on the subject,
thinking it useless to alarm them when the trouble may pass off."
{476}
This was the one uneasiness that disturbed her enjoyment in Paris,
"the drop of wormwood with which God wets the lips of his elect, that
they be robust in virtue and suffering," as d'Aurevilly said.
TO MME. DE MAISTRE.
Oct. 23.
I have seen many churches, new and old, and I prefer the old. Notre
Dame, Saint Eustache, Saint Roch, and others whose names I forget,
please me more than the Madeline with its pagan form, without belfry
or confessionals, expressive of an unbelieving age; and Notre Dame
de Lorette, pretty as a boudoir. I like churches that make one think
of God, with _vaulted roofs leading to contemplation_, where one
neither sees nor hears people. I am perfectly contented in
l'Abbaye-aux-Bois, a simple little church that reminds me of the one
at Andillac. I go there because it is in our parish, and then, too,
I've found an excellent priest there, gentle, devout, and
enlightened, a disciple of M. Dupanloup. I should have liked to go
to him, but they told me that he lived at a distance, and I must
have everything within my reach, for I am still like a bird just let
out of a cage, hardly daring to stir; I should have lost myself a
hundred times in one quarter if I had not always had a companion.
However, I have scoured Paris thoroughly in every direction; first
mounting the towers of Notre Dame, whence the eye reaches over the
immense city and takes in its general plan, after which they took me
to the Invalides, the Louvre, and the Bois de Boulogne. The dome of
the Invalides, Notre Dame, and the picture galleries, struck me
most. You ask for my impressions of Paris--it is all admirable, but
nothing astonishes me. At every step the eye and mind are arrested,
but in the country, too, I paused over flowers, grass, and wonderful
little creatures. Every place has its wonders--here those of man,
there those of God, which are very beautiful, and will not pass
away. Kings may see their palaces decay, but the ants will always
have their dwelling places. Having made these reflections I will
leave you, and work on a dress. . . .
TO MLLE. LOUISE DE BAYNE.
All Saints' Day, 1838.
. . . . I do not send you news. I ought to write to you of what goes
on within and around me, that you might know my life, and it would be
charming to write so, but time flies like a bird and carries me off
on its wings. In the morning: church, breakfast, a little work; in
the afternoon: a walk or drive, dinner at five o'clock,
conversation, music--the day is gone, and nine and ten o'clock come
to make us wonder where it went. We go to bed at ten, just like good
country folk. In that and many other things I follow my usual
habits, and live in Paris as if I were not there. Good by, the bell
is ringing.
Seven o'clock. Here I am, pen in hand, sitting by the fire, with the
piano sounding, people reading, Pitt (our Criquet) asleep, and
memories of you mingling with all these things in this Paris
_salon_. . . . It is not apropos, but I take my recollections of
things as they come, and I must not fail to tell you what pleasure
you gave me at the Spanish museum of painting where I met you. It
was you, Louise: a head full of life, oval face, arch expression,
and your eyes looking at me, your cheeks that I longed to kiss. I
was so charmed with the likeness that I passed by again to see my
dear Spanish maiden. Certainly there must be something Spanish about
you, for I see you in St. Theresa, and in this noble and beautiful
unknown.
The museum amused, or rather interested me extremely, for one does
not get amusement from beautiful things, or among wonderful works
with ascetic faces such as compose this museum of painting. And what
shall I tell you of the mummies, the thousand fantastic and
grotesque Egyptian gods--cats and crocodiles--a paradise of idolatry
that no one would care to enter? I looked long at some cloth four or
five thousand years old, and at a piece of muslin and a little skein
of thread, all framed under glass--how many ages have they been in
existence? I should never end if I were learned and could describe
these curiosities and antiquities by the thousand--Etruscan vases,
exquisite in form and color, that look as if they were made
yesterday. The ancients certainly possessed the secret of eternal
works.
This is my life, seeing and admiring, and then entering into myself,
or going in search of those I love to tell them all that I see and
feel. If I could I would write to you forever, which means very
often, and what should I not scribble? what do I not scribble? Know
that I am writing in the midst of musicians, under Maurice's eye as
he sits laughing over my journal, and adds for its embellishment the
expression of his homage to the ladies of Rayssac. It was he who
noticed that picture first and pointed it out to me. He knows what
gives me pleasure and leads me to it.
{477}
We always go out together when the weather is good, sometimes to the
Tuileries, sometimes to the Luxembourg; but I like the Tuileries
best with its pretty things-sculpture, flowers, children playing
about, swans in a basin, and looking down on it all the royal
chateau illuminated by the setting sun. I begin to know my way about
a little in the streets and gardens, and I look upon it as a great
triumph to be able to go to l'Abbaye-aux-Bois alone, which is a
great convenience, for I can go to week-day mass without troubling
any one, which was a restraint upon me. One can go about here as
safely as in Albi or Gaillac. They had frightened me about the
dangers of Paris, when there are really none except for imprudent or
crazy people. No one speaks to any person going about his own
business. In the evening it is different. I would not go out alone
then for the world, especially on the boulevards, where they say the
devil leads the dance. We pass through sometimes returning from Mme.
Raynaud's, and nothing has ever struck me except the illumination of
gas in the cafes, running along the streets like a thread of fire. I
annoyed a Parisian by saying that the glow-worms in our hedges were
quite as effective. "Mademoiselle, what an insult to Paris!" It made
us laugh, as one does laugh sometimes at nothing. Now I am going to
the concert; I want to know what music is, and tell you my
impressions.
------
TO M. DE GUERIN.
PARIS, NOV. 6, 1838.
Never was a day more charming, for it began with Grembert's arrival,
and it ends with a letter to you, my dear papa. . . The wedding day
is fixed for the 15th. Last Sunday the bans were published for the
last time at l'Abbaye-aux-Bois. . .
You ask if I have everything I need, and if I am satisfied in every
respect with my Parisian life. Yes, dear papa, in every sense, and
especially for this reason, that I admire the care and assistance
that Providence bestows upon us in all places. I have never been
struck so forcibly with the abundant aids to piety anywhere as in
Paris; every day there are sermons in one place or another,
associations and benedictions. If the devil reigns in Paris, perhaps
God is served there better than in other places. Good and evil find
here their utmost expression; it is Babylon and Jerusalem in one. In
the midst of all this, I lead my customary life, and find in my
Abbey everything I need. M. Legrand is a friend of l'Abbe de
Rivieres, holy and zealous like him, and full of kindness. He
provides me with books and with kind and gentle advice; it will not
be his fault if I don't improve very much. One can save one's soul
anywhere. . .
Our quarter of Cherche Midi is charming. M. d'Aurevilly calls it
_Trouve Bonheur_, an appropriate name so far Maurice is concerned.
He will be happy, as happy as he can be--at least everything looks
hopeful. He could not be allied to better souls. Caroline is an
angel; her pure, tender soul is full of piety. You will be pleased
with her, and with Maurice too, who only does things slowly, as his
fashion is; but there is much to thank God for in such conduct,
which is very rare among young Parisians. M. Buquet speaks very
highly of him; he will bless the marriage, much to our
gratification. The great day, which is to open a new life to our
Maurice, engrosses us in a thousand ways. He is the most peaceful
person concerned, and regards his future and all these affairs with
admirable _sang-froid_. M. Buquet says the fellowship is worth
nothing to him, and that he will find something else for him; so you
see he is established in the good nest Providence has provided for
him, without troubling yon.
Have I told you everything, and made you see thoughts, words, and
actions, just as you like? Eran is reading the paper and warming
himself. Everybody sends you kisses, and Caro her filial affection.
Yon would do well not to go to Rayseac when it is cold or rainy.
Advice given, and bulletin finished, I throw my arms around your
neck, and pass on to Mimi.
----
You dear Mimi, I thank you more than I can express for your night
letter, written in defiance of sleep. Poor Mimi, plagued and busy,
while I play the princess in Paris! This thought comes to me often
in the day, disturbing my repose a little, my _gentle quietude_. I
say to myself that our time is differently employed, but I help you
in my heart. We are as well as possible here and at Auguste's. Don't
let Euphrasie leave you, I beg and beseech; you would be too lonely
without her gaiety and kindness. I put both my arms around her to
keep her. M. le Cure is very good to come and amuse papa: it is an
act of friendly charity that I shall not forget Remember me to him
and to Mariette. Also to Augustine, Jeanne-Marie, the shepherd,
Paul, and Gilles, and thank them all for their compliments. Good-by,
with a kiss from Maurice, Caro and myself.
----
TO THE SAME.
Nov. 7, 1838
I shall write to you every day until I receive letters from home,
that you may see that I do not forget you, dear inhabitants of Le
Cayla. The whirlwind of Paris will not blow me away yet awhile. That
remark of papa's made me laugh, and showed me that he does not know
me yet. I am very sure that you, Mimi, had no such idea. I have told
you that I lead the same life here as at Le Cayla, and with this
{478} advantage, that there is nothing to worry me, for I have a
church within reach, and entire liberty. We are all busy with
spiritual matters now--our ladies with theirs and I with mine.
Maurice is consigned to Sunday, M. Buquet's only free day. All is
going on well in this respect, and Caroline is so edifying that she
seems to be following in Mimi's footsteps. In this too I admire the
workings of Providence in using this marriage as an occasion of
salvation.
It is beautiful to-day, one of those fine days so rare in Paris,
where the sky is almost always pale and cloudless. This struck me at
first, but now I am used to it as to other things that I see. I am
used to carriages, and am no more afraid of there running over me
than of Gilles' cart. We shall go in the sunshine to see Mme.
Lamarliere Auguste, and I don't know whom besides, for there is no
end to visits when one is once in train. In going to see our cousin
at M. Laville's, Erembert and Maurice met M. Lastic, who is living
in Paris. It is astonishing how many acquaintances one meets in the
great world where one thinks one's self unknown.
Indians visit here, Indians without end. A friend of Maurice's, H.
Le Fevre came to spend the evening; a nice little young man, who
looks very gentle and refined. He asked me when I was going to see
my good friend De Maistre; he is a friend of M. Adrien's, who is at
present wandering amid the snows of Norway, so that he can not come
to the wedding. We shall muster pretty strong, though only the
_indispensable_ will be there.
. . . 13th. We have just come from the Pantheon, a church passed
over from God to the Devil, from St. Genevieve to the heroes of
July, and to Voltaire and Rousseau. It is an admirable work of art,
however; the interior, the dome, and the crypts, gloomy, secluded,
buried beneath vaults and only lighted here and there with lamps,
are quite effective. The imagination would easily take fright in
this darkness of death, or of glory if you choose, for all the dead
are illustrious there, as in the Elysium of which Voltaire and
Rousseau are the gods. In the depths of the crypt stands the statue
of Voltaire, smiling apparently at the glory of his tomb, which is
decorated with magnificent emblems. That of Rousseau is more
severe--a sarcophagus, from which a hand is thrust forth, bearing a
torch, "that illumines and ever shall illumine the world," according
to our guide, who was a cicerone as brilliant as the lantern he
carried. The summit of the dome is at a prodigious elevation, twice
the height of the steeple of Ste. Cecile. Paris is seen beautifully
from there, but the picture needed sunlight and there was none.
Good-by; to-morrow at this time Maurice will be married at the
Mayoralty, and day after tomorrow in church.
16th. Yesterday was the grand and solemn day, the beautiful day for
Maurice, Caro and all of us. We only needed you, papa, and Mimi, to
complete our happiness, as we all said with sincere regret. You
would have been delighted to see this family festival, the most
beautiful I ever witnessed. Everything went smoothly, the weather
was soft and pleasant, and God seemed to smile on the marriage, so
suitably it was conducted, and in such a Christian manner. How
pretty Caro was in her bridal dress, and wreath of orange flowers
under her veil a la Bengali! and Maurice looked well too. H. Angler
was so charmed that he wanted to paint them in church, kneeling on
their crimson Prie-Dieu. The church displayed all its grandeur, and
the organ playing during mass was very good. M. Buquet blessed the
marriage, and said mass, assisted by M. Legrand. Many of the _beau
monde_ were present, and a dozen carriages stood before the church
doors. Soeur d'Yversen was to be there. M. Laurichais, confessor to
our ladies, in short all the friends and relations united their
prayers and good wishes during the ceremony. I send M. Buquet's
discourse, which every one thought perfect. Why can't I add to it
his kindly voice, and the look of joy and emotion with which he
spoke to Maurice, whom he loves sincerely.
You will like to know, papa, how everything passed off on the
memorable day, and I like very much to describe it, for it seems as
if you would be able to share our pleasure, and see your children in
church, at dinner and at the evening party. The dinner was charming,
like every thing else, each course served elegantly; fish, meats,
dessert and wines. The turkey, dressed with our truffles was king of
the feast. We drank freely and merrily of Madeira and Constance, and
it all seemed like the marriage of Cana. I sat between Auguste and
M. d'Aurevilly, very charming neighbors, and we talked and laughed
very pleasantly, though Auguste scolded me for having no poetry,
which he felt disposed to read, and we had never thought of writing;
there's something bettor for Caro, which comes from the heart and
will be unfailingly hers every day. How modest she was in church,
and how pretty she looked in the evening! She was quite the queen of
the occasion. A dozen ladies came, all very elegant, and I don't
know how many men, friends of Maurice's. They were very gracious,
and asked me to dance; yes--_dance!_ _M. le Cure_ had better take
holy water and exorcise me. I danced with my groomsman, Charles; it
was _de rigueur_, and I could not decline without being conspicuous,
and playing {479} the not very amusing part of wall-flower. Auguste
performed his paternal duties admirably. He begs me to say a word of
commendation for him, and I might well say a hundred in praise of
his friendship and devotion to us.
The friend referred to in the following letter, and with whom Mlle. de
Guerin left Paris early in the December of 1838, was the _Marie_ to
whom she wrote the two delightful letters, introduced into the sixth
and seventh books of her journal. Mme. la Baronne Henriette Marie de
Maistre was the sister of M. Adrien de Sainte Marie, a friend of
Guerin's, and her intimacy with Eugenie had its first foundation in
ceremonious notes written about Maurice when he was ill with a fever
at Le Cayla in 1837. Mme. de Maistre soon became endeared to Eugenie
by her fascinating powers of attraction, and also by her mental and
physical sufferings, for sufferers belonged to the "dove of Le Cayla"
by natural right.
TO MLLE. LOUISE DE BAYNE.
Paris, Dec. 1, 1838.
M. de Frigeville is the most gracious, amiable, and obliging of men.
At length I found out his address, and sent my parcel with a little
note, which he answered at once, and followed in person the next
day. The good man had taken infinite pains to find me and ended by
applying to the police--a last resource that amused us a good deal.
We cannot profit by the acquaintance even now, or by his offers of
politeness "for anything in his power," as he expressed himself to
our ladies, for I was out when he came,--the fates are against me.
Mlle. Laforet thought him very agreeable and exquisitely courteous.
I send this little notice of him for you, dear friend, and make use
of the chance to write to you up to the last moment.
I am going to the country, to another Rayssac, for Les Coynes is
among the mountains;--shall I find another Louise there? She is a
little like you, I think; but, my friend, you will always be my
friend. I will write to you from there if you like. Whom and what
shall I see? Everything looks very attractive, and yet I go forward
with timidity to meet these unknown and known. Pity my wandering
life, dragged from place to place;--no, do not pity me, for it is
the will of heaven, and all we have to do is to follow the hand that
leads us without reasoning: that alone sustains and consoles us,
teaching us to turn all things to account for heaven. I am less
attracted to the world than ever; there is more calmness and
happiness within Sister Clementine's door than in any place in the
world. I went to see her yesterday, but she was to be in retreat
until Monday, much to my regret, for I love to see and listen to
these good religious, these souls set apart from the world. . . I
should like to send you something charming and worthy of Paris, but
charming things are rare everywhere; so rare that I have none to
spare today. However, I did see the outside of Versailles;--the king
was expected, so they shut the gates on us. Did I tell you of this,
and of our _royal_ wrath? perhaps I did in my last letter.
I should have described the concert to you this morning, if Maurice,
who was to have been my escort, had not been taken ill just as we
were going;--pain instead of pleasure, no uncommon change in life.
His little wife, quite crimson with emotion, began to nurse him and
make much of him, and all grew calm under her gentle influence. I
hope Maurice will be happy with her,--I do not know any woman like
her in disposition, heart, or face. She is a foreigner, and I study
her, that I may adapt myself to her, and enter into her feelings if
she cannot into mine. There must be mutual concessions of taste and
ideas among us all, to ensure affection and family peace:--that you
see everywhere, but we shall have no difficulty with one so amiable
and generous. There is not a day when I do not receive proofs of
affection from my charming foreign sister. They always speak of her
to us as the Indian. Mme. Lamarliere thought her very
charming;--pretty and well dressed. Today a bulletin of the visit
and her _toilette_ is at Gaillac, and I am sure that it is all over
town by this time that the Indian wore a dress of _soie antique_, a
black satin shawl, trimmed with blond and lined with blue, a lace
collar, and a black velvet hat with ostrich plume, "overwhelming
heaven and earth," as Mme. Lamarliere says
Good-by, my dear. I kiss you and say love me, think of me, believe
me, write to me, talk of me. Love to you all.
One word more; I like to talk to you best because we seem to
understand each other. I will say good-by soon, for two o'clock is
striking and I have an appointment in my chapel at
l'Abbaye-aux-Bois, for I wish to put my conscience in order before
going away. I do not know to whom I shall have recourse in the
country, so far from any church. Fortunately, we {480} are to spend
Christmas at Nevers, and I shall try to grow calm, for I am not so
today. I tell you this because you are alone with Pulcherie, whom
nothing surprises. Pray in the chapel at Rayssac for your poor
friend, the Parisian, who will repay you as well as she can.
Good-by, good-by; till when? . . .
TO MLLE. DE BAYNE.
CHRISTMAS EVE, NEVERS, 1888.
I have only time to date my letter, dear friend, for the bells are
calling me to midnight mass. I listen to their clashing peals, and
think of the pretty little tinkle of the Andillac bell. Who would
have said last year that I should be so far away? but so God leads
us to things unforeseen. I'm going to the cathedral to pray for all
whom I love, and so for you.
Two days since those lines--two days of festival, prayer, offices,
and letters written and received, without preventing me from being
with you, my dearest. Our hearts can always be together before God,
and we cannot meet in a better way or in any other way for a long
time. I shall not be at Le Cayla before the fine weather comes, and
we can have flowers and sunshine to show our Indian; far enough we
are from that season, as I see by the white earth and pallid sky,
all snowy and cold.
How you would love my friend, dear Louise! She is so good, so
charming and attractive, and of such a high order of mind, that I
keep congratulating myself upon possessing her friendship and
affection. . .
Her father takes the best of care of me, and even comes to my room
to see if I have a good fire when I say my prayers. He is afraid
this cold climate may hurt me, and said laughing one very cold day,
"The southern flower will be frozen." Good, holy man! I love him
very much, and he makes me think of your father in his mode of
thought and culture. He has read everything, and he writes too; some
selections from his works, that he was kind enough to read to me,
might have been written by a Benedictine. He knows Carmelites,
Trappists, charitable orders, every one in short who is learned or
religious. Charles the Tenth loved him and saw him often; if he had
only listened to him!
Travellers from Goritz come here, among others a M. de Ch----, who
comes and goes for the exiles, from St. Petersburg to Vienna and
sometimes to Spain, from one court to another. He charms us with
stories of his adventures, and I never saw a man more agreeable,
handsome, witty or cultivated. He is a learned geologist, and
collects specimens, goes down into volcanoes and domesticates
himself among ruins.
He lived a week in Sallust's room at Pompeii, drove about the
streets in his carriage, entered the theatre, made excavations under
the very eyes of the Duchess of Berry, and saw a thief whom the lava
had caught while he was stealing a purse, at which we laughed, and
remarked that iniquity is sooner or later discovered. I have seen
his cabinets of natural history, mineralogy, and antiques, and also
the borders of Cicero's dining-hall exquisitely painted with a
delicacy inimitable or unimitated. To all these gifts, M. Ch----
unites those of a good Christian; he turns all his studies and
discoveries to advantage for the faith, and proves that science and
faith, geology and Genesis, are of one accord. If you think me very
learned, remember that I've seen Paris, and that Paris sharpens
one's wits; however, most of this I have acquired in the
neighborhood of Les Coques.
TO MLLE. MARIE DE GUERIN.
NEVERS JANUARY 12.
We return to Paris early in January, and shall be introduced to the
grandeurs of the world. Hitherto I have known only amiable, pretty
simplicity; now come baronesses, duchesses, princesses, and as many
clever people as I choose. It will amuse me like a picture-gallery,
for the heart finds no place among such scenes, far less the soul.
God and the world do not agree. Ah me! how little they think of
heaven amid all this rush and sparkle! So says my friend, who knows
the world and is detached from it.
M. d'Aurevilly, in his unpublished reminiscences of Mlle. de Guerin,
gives a graphic description of her as she appeared in the Parisian
world, where no doubt she was subjected to a close scrutiny as the
sister of the elegant and gifted Maurice de Guerin.
"We can affirm," he says, "that never did creature of worldly
attractions appear to us so sweet and lovely as this charming fawn,
reared like St. Genevieve among _pastours_. . . .
"Drawn from her country home, brought in state like a princess into
the intimidating light of lustres, she came without embarrassment or
awkwardness, with a chaste, patrician self-possession, that showed
in spite of fortune's wrongs for what class in society she was born.
Without ever having been there, she was _Faubourg Saint Germain_,
Byron tells us in his {481} memoir that he witnessed the
introduction of Miss Edgeworth into London society, and that she
made him think of Jeanie Deans. But the country girl of La Cayla was
the descendant of the fairest falcon-bearers who appear in the
mediaeval chronicles, gloved with buckskin, corseleted with ermine,
and wearing a train. . . . This was what we admired, this was what
impressed the world, astonished at her who did not wonder at them.
If, in speaking of such a woman, I dared to use an expression
debased to theatrical uses in our times, I should say that she had a
great success wherever she went. Women whispered together about her
genius for expression and the feeling revealed in her letters; but
no one offered her the prying importunities so coarsely mistaken
sometimes for homage. They did not call her interesting or amusing,
as the world says, patting a proud cheek with its awkward, familiar
hand. They respected her. The world treated her as a woman of the
world, for that is what it holds in highest esteem; but she knew
that she was not so. She knew that there was a second meaning in the
world's language that escaped her, as she said once _with her
accent_ in a letter, but what observer would have guessed it in
seeing her? Excepting now and then a charming swallow-glance,
piercing the tapestry and seeking the wall at Le Cayla covered with
honeysuckle and wall-wort, who would have doubted that this tranquil
maiden was a woman of the world, capable of pleasing it, and of
ruling it too, had she thought it worth her while?
Mlle. de Guerin had one of those imaginations that are easy to live
with. She did not offend common people, those sensitive, coarse souls
to whom the least distinction causes terrible pain, and who push their
way everywhere, even in the country. They handled with their rough
touch this divine opal with its vaporous shades, as indifferently as
the mock ivory counters on their card-tables. Though she did not
resemble a sphinx, this lovely maiden with her lingering smile, there
was perhaps in her placid regularity the immovability of the sphinx,
and immobility suits all things. It lends a mystery to nature, and
takes from human beings the puppet-like gesticulation that ever mars
the lofty _Sidera Vultum_.
And now we will return to Eugenie's letters, dated once more from
Paris, where she was staying with the Baroness de Maistre, and seeing
the world in a more brilliant light than in her visits to the Rue
Cherche-Midi, and at the house of "Auguste and Felicite;" but it never
dazzled her eyes, no matter how brightly it shone and glittered.
TO M. DE GUERIN.
Paris, Jan. 20, 1839.
You have had a line from me almost every day, dear papa, but I will
write more at length to-day.
The good General called here as soon as he heard of my return from
Nevers; but to tell the truth his visits are not entirely for me,
for he finds Caroline so pleasing, that I think our Indian has her
full share of the kind old gentleman's friendship. One day he came
when she was dressing a doll in Indian fashion, for the little De
Maistres, and he was so delighted that he insisted on working
himself, and wished to stay till the end of the toilette, which was
unluckily interrupted by visitors. The Marquis left us, but Caro
wrote to him the next day that the Indian lady was ready, and would
be charmed to be presented to him, so the good man came, passed the
afternoon with us, and offered to take us today to M. Aquado's
museum of painting. We shall go, for it is said to be very
beautiful, and afterward we are to see the interior of the Palais
Royal. There is nothing we may not expect of the good Marquis, and
we owe a great deal of pleasure to Palcherie, who has already
received my acknowledgments. I send a package to Rayssac with this
one.
We have no want of friends in Paris, dear papa. How can I say enough
of the perfect family I have just left, who are untiring in their
friendships and kindness! I am engaged, to go to-morrow, Saturday,
to a large and elegant party at M. de Neuville's, [Footnote 83] but
I shall give up my place to Eran, who will go with Mme. de Maistre.
There will be a sort of reunion of beauties of every
country--English, German, {482} Spanish, and the lovely ambassadress
from the United States.
[Footnote 83: Ex-Minister to Charles X.]
'Twill be a pretty sight for anyone who likes society, but I refuse
as often as possible. However, I cannot help going to M. de
Neuville's, for he has been so gracious to Erembert. I have seen the
Baroness de Vaux, Henry Vth's Joan of Arc, who, in 1830, asked an
officer of the Royal Guard to rout Philip, herself and her sword at
their head. She is a man-woman in figure and energy. Now she is
devoted to God, visiting prisons and exhorting those who are
condemned to death. With all this she has a charming simplicity. I
am to make other acquaintances, whom I shall describe to you. All
this does not prevent my thinking of Le Cayla very, very often, and
longing impatiently for the month of May,--I shall go with Erembert
at the beginning of Lent if I can. Mmes. de Maistre and de St. Marie
beg to be remembered to you. "They think Caro charming, as
fascinating as possible," said Henriette, and indeed she was radiant
the evening they saw her. She is prettier than before her marriage,
and she is an excellent little wife, as devoted to Maurice as he is
to her. They are happy, and Maurice is most exemplary; a hundred
times better than last year, as he says himself. His confidence in
me is unchanged and we talk very intimately;--he longs to see you,
and thinks very often of Mimi;--we shall all be glad to meet at Le
Cayla. Saturday I shall think of you, Mimi, at St. Thomas Aquinas',
where we are to hear l'Abbe Dupanloup, [Footnote 84] who is also
to give the Lenten instructions. There is no lack of teaching in
Paris, but the well taught are very rare;--the more one sees of the
world, the more glaring appears the ignorance of essential things.
Soeur d'Yversen comes now and then to see us; she has mentioned to
me Mme. L----, who would like to know us, but we know, so many
people already, that I've lost all desire for new acquaintances. Our
whole time slips away in dressing and receiving or making visits, so
that one can hardly read or work at all. The Lastics have been here,
Mme. Resaudiere, the Barrys, an English family who like Maurice very
much, and an infinity of other people whom I do not know even by
name. Then the De Maistres and the acquaintances they make for
me;--you see I have more than I need.
[Footnote 84: Now Mgr. Dupanloup, Bishop of Orleans.]
Oh! how I shall rest at Le Cayla. I shall feel the contrast so much,
passing from the whirlwind of Paris to the calm of the fields, from
the rolling of carriages to the little rumble of carts, from Paris
noises to the cackling of our hens;--it all seems to me very
charming without thinking of you and Mimi;--how I long to kiss you!
They treat me very well here, and I am spoiled by everybody. My
health is good, so don't be anxious about me. How does Winter treat
you in the new parlor? Better no doubt than it did in the hall. "Is
Wolff banished from the parquet?" Maurice asks. Passing from parlor
to kitchen, tell me how all our people are. I'm sorry about the
partridge.
May 9th.--We heard M. de Ravignan Sunday at Notre Dame. It is
curious to see this assemblage of men, a sea of people overflowing
the immense cathedral to listen to one voice--but such a voice! From
time to time some stricken soul, some young man in doubt or
conviction, seeks the orator as a confessor. Then too they rush to
see plays, and Mlle. Rachel draws at least as great a crowd to the
theatre as M. de R. does to the cathedral. I'm not surprised at the
enthusiasm of the Castrais about this young marvel. She is ugly,
though, at least so I am told by those who have seen her off the
stage. Alas! the profanity of my words in Lent!
TO H. DE GUERIN.
Paris; March and April, 1839.
This bit of a letter, will tell you, dear papa, that I am with my
poor invalid friend, waiting for M. Dupanloup, and that catching
sight of an ink-stand, I am going on with my writing at the expense
of the sacristy. But I will put a sous in the box for my ink, and my
paper too, as I mean to steal a sheet to go with these; if we are
left alone long enough. Now and then a peaceable abbe or sacristan
passes through, glancing at us, and looking rather astonished at my
office improvised in the sacristy. But M. D.'s name protects us, and
we need only mention him to get a safe-conduct. . . .
Never was there such a holy week--continual agitation and running
about. Andillac is better than Paris for recollection; but God is
everywhere and in all things, if we know how to find Him. Poor dear
papa, I have prayed well for you in these beautiful monuments of
Notre Dame, St. Roch, and others that we have visited. I thought of
yon in the simple little chapel of Andillac. I suppose they used the
new chapel for the tomb, or Paradise, as they call it here.
Was there ever such a piece of scribbling as this letter--begun,
left, begun again, in so many places? Now I am at Maurice's, after
sitting five hours for my portrait, which M. Angier kindly insists
on painting for you, and for your sake, I have submitted. Dear papa,
my painted self will go with Eran, who has had his likeness taken
too, and, happier than I am. {483} is to see you and kiss you, and
talk to you of Paris, and many, many other things.
My absence is to be prolonged more than I supposed, but how could I
refuse these good friends a request they had such a right to ask?
They will be grateful to you, I assure you.
I shall bring you the little book of poetry that you care for so
much;--it is now in the hands of Count Xavier, which will be its
greatest glory, I have been presented to this celebrated and
charming man, who was very kind and gracious; he loves his cousin,
and under her patronage I could not but be well received. We found
him alone in his room, reading the office of Holy Week;--he must be
religious, being a worthy brother of his Brother Joseph. Thus he is
consoled for his great griefs, for the death of his three children
at eighteen or twenty years of age.
The same evening, they took me to the great Valentino concert of
eighty musicians. I had been there once before. There is much more
to be seen here, but one might spend a thousand years in Paris, and
leave many things unseen. I value more the knowledge of persons than
of things.
I am uneasy about your health, however well Mimi may take care of
you; be very careful of yourself.
Good-by, dear papa, good-by, dear Mimi.
I have no time to write to you. Maurice sends to papa M. de Luzerne's
_reflections_ upon the Gospels. Good-by to all.
I send a waistcoat to Pierril and an apron to Jeanie; to you and all
everything that can reach your hearts. Thank M. Angler for his
kindness, when you write to Maurice. My portrait must be finished at
Le Cayla, for I found it impossible to have a sitting to-day. I do
not want to leave you, and yet good-by. I will write to you from
Nevers. Erembert will be much pleased to see you again; I see
already the happy day of arrival.
April 2d, in the evening.
And here we must leave Eugenie. Eight days later she resumed the
journal at Nevers and wrote that wonderful eighth book, so
pathetically expressive of the pain of waiting--fit prelude of the
coming tragedy.
------
From Once a Week.
DAY-DREAMS
Call them not vain and false day-dreams we see
With spirit-vision of our quicker youth;
Thoughts wiser in the world's esteem may be
Less near the truth.
When against some hard creed of life we raise
Our single cry for what more pure we deem,
'Tis oft the working out in later days
Of some old dream!
Dream of a world more pure than that we find
Sad is the wak'ning, but not dull despair,
While we can feel that we may leave behind
One bright ray there.
Let us work up then to our young ideal,
Nor weep the present nor regret the past,
Till the soul, struggling 'twixt earth's false and real,
Reach heaven at last.
------
{484}
From The Dublin Review.
THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS OF ALEXANDRIA--ORIGEN.
The scholar next comes to the more strictly ethical part of Origen's
teaching. The preliminary dialectics had cleared the ground, and to a
certain extent replanted it; physics made the process more easy,
pleasant, and complete; but the great end of a philosophic life was
ethics, that is, the making a man good. The making of a man good and
virtuous seems now-a-days a simple matter, as far as theory is
concerned, and so perhaps it is, if only theory and principles be
considered; though morality is an extensive science, and one that is
not mastered in an hour or a day. But in Origen's day a science of
Christian ethics did not exist. The teaching of the Scripture and the
voice of the pastors was sufficient, doubtless, for the guidance of
the faithful; but science is a different thing. Such a science is
shadowed out to us by the scholar in the record we are noticing. St.
Thomas, the great finisher of scientific Christian ethics, embraces
all virtues under two great classes, viz., the theological and the
cardinal. The whole science of morality treats only of the seven
virtues included under these two divisions. The master's teaching
comprehended, of course, faith, and hope, and charity; indeed, it
would be more correct to say that these three virtues were his whole
ultimate object; but the scholar says little of them in particular
just because of this very reason, and also because they were bound up
in that _piety_ which he mentions so often. But it is a most
interesting fact that the virtues, and the only virtues, mentioned in
the summary of Origen's moral teaching given by St. Gregory, are
precisely the four cardinal virtues, prudence, justice, fortitude, and
temperance. The classification dates, of course, from the Stoics, but
the circumstance that the framework laid down by a father in the
beginning of the third century was used and completed by another
father in the thirteenth, gives the early father an undoubted claim to
be considered the founder of Christian ethics. And here we lay our
hands on one of the earliest instances of heathen philosophy being
made to hew wood and carry water for Christian theology. The division
of virtues was a good one; all the schools pretended to teach it; but
the distinctive boast and triumph of the Christian teacher was that he
taught _true_ prudence, true justice, fortitude, and temperance, "not
such," says the scholar, "as the other philosophers teach, and
especially the moderns, who are strong and great in words; he not only
talked about the virtues, but exhorted us to practise them; and he
exhorted us by what he did far more than by what he said." And here
the scholar takes the opportunity of recording his opinion about "the
other" philosophers, now that he has had a course of Origen's
training. He first apologizes to them for hurting their feelings. He
says that, personally, he has no ill-will against them, but he plainly
tells them that things have come to such a pass, through their
conduct, that the very name of philosophy is laughed at. And he goes
on to develop what appeared to him the very essence of their faults,
viz., too much talk, and nothing but talk. Their teaching is like a
widely-extended morass; once set foot in it, and you can neither get
out nor go on, but stick fast till you perish. Or it is like a thick
forest; the traveller who once finds himself {485} in it has no chance
of ever getting back to the open fields and the light of day, but
gropes about backward and forward, first trying one path, then
another, and finding they all lead farther in, until at last, wearied
and desperate, he sits down and dwells in the forest, resolving that
the forest shall be his world, since all the world seems to be a
forest. This is, perhaps, one of the most graphic pictures ever given
of the state of mind, so artificial, so unsatisfied, and yet so
self-sufficient, brought about by a specious heathen philosophy, and
the effect of enlightened reason destitute of revelation. The scholar
cannot heighten the strength of his description by going on to compare
it, in the third place, to a labyrinth, but the comparison brings out
two striking features well worthy of notice. The first is, the
innocent and guileless look of the whole concern from the outside;
"the traveller sees the open door, and in he goes, suspecting
nothing." Once in, he sees a great deal to admire, (and this is the
second point in the labyrinth-simile;) he sees the very perfection of
art and arrangement, doors after doors, rooms within rooms, passages
leading most ingeniously and conveniently into other passages; he sees
all this art, admires the architect, and--thinks of going out. But
there is no going out for him; he is fast. All the artifice and
ingenuity he has been admiring have been expended for the express
purpose of keeping in for ever those foolish people who have been so
unwary as to come in at the open door. "For there is no labyrinth so
hard to thread," sums up the scholar, "no wood so deep and thick, no
bog so false and hopeless, as the language of some of these
philosophers." In this language we recognize another of of the
characteristic feelings of the day--the feeling of profound disgust
for the highest teachings of heathenism from the moment the soul
catches a ray of the light of the Gospel In Origen's school the
confines of the receding darkness skirted the advancing kingdom of
light, and those that sat in the darkness to-day saw it leaving them
to-morrow, and far behind them the morrow after that; and all the time
the great master had to be peering anxiously into the darkness to see
what souls were nearest the light, and to hold out his hand to win
them too into the company of those that were already sitting at his
feet. In such days as those, sharp comparisons between heathen wisdom
and the light of Christ must have been part of the atmosphere in which
the catechumens of the great school lived and breathed; there was a
reality and interest in them such as can never be again. And yet the
master was no bigot in his dealings with the Greek philosophies. "He
was the first and the only one," says his scholar, "that made me study
the philosophy of Greece." The scholar was to reject nothing, to
despise nothing, but make himself thoroughly acquainted with the whole
range of Greek philosophy and poetry; there was only one class of
writers he was to have nothing to do with, and those were the atheists
who denied God and God's providence; their books could only sully a
mind that was striving after piety. But his pupils were to attach
themselves to no school or party, as did the mob of those who
pretended to study philosophy. Under his guidance they were to take
what was true and good, and leave what was false and bad. He walked
beside them and in front of them through the labyrinth; he had studied
its windings and knew its turns; in his company, and with their eyes
on his "lofty and safe" teaching, his scholars need fear no danger.
This brief analysis of part of St. Gregory's remarkable oration will
serve to give us some idea of Origen's method of treating his more
learned and cultivated converts, of whom we know he had a very great
many. It will also have admitted us, in some sort, into the interior
of his school, {486} and let as hear the question in debate and the
matters that were of greatest interest in that most influential centre
of Christian teaching. It does not, of course, deal directly with
theology, or with those great controversies which Origen, in a manner,
rendered possible for his pupils and successors of the next century.
The scholar, indeed, does go on now to speak of his theological
teachings; but he describes rather his manner than his matter, and
rather the salient points of characteristic gifts than the details of
his dogmatic system. As this is precisely our own object in these
notes, we need only say that St. Gregory, in the concluding pages of
his farewell discourse, sufficiently proves that the great end and
object of all philosophic teaching and intellectual discipline in the
school of his master was faith and practical piety. To teach his
hearers the great first cause was his most careful and earnest task.
His instructions about God were so full of knowledge and so carefully
prepared that the scholar is at a loss how to describe them. His
explanations of the prophets, and of Holy Scripture generally, were so
wonderful that he seemed to be the friend and interpreter of the Word.
The soul that thirsted for knowledge went away from him refreshed, and
the hard of heart and the unbelieving could not listen to him without
both understanding, and believing, and making submission to God. "It
was no otherwise than by the communication of the Holy Ghost that he
spoke thus," says his disciple, "for the prophets and the interpreters
of the prophets have necessarily the same help from above, and none
can understand a prophet unless by the same spirit wherein the prophet
spoke. This greatest of gifts and this splendid destiny he seemed to
have received from God, that he should be the interpreter of God's
words to men, that he should understand the things of God, as though
he heard them from God's own mouth, and that through him men should be
brought to listen and obey." Two little indications of what we may
call the spirit of Origen are to be found in this address of his
pupil. The first is the great value he sets upon purity as the only
means of arriving at the knowledge and communion of God. We know what
a watchword this "union with God" was among the popular philosophers
of the day. To attain to it was the end of all the Neo-Platonic
asceticism. It was Origen's great end as well; but he taught that
purity alone and the subjugation of the passions by the grace of God
will avail to lead the soul thither, and that no amount of external
refinement or abstinence from gross sin will suffice to make the soul
pure in the sight of God. The second is, his devotion to the person of
the Son, the ever-blessed Word of God. The whole oration of the
scholar takes the form of a thanksgiving to "the Master and Saviour of
our souls, the firstborn Word, the maker and ruler of all things." He
never misses an opportunity all through it of bursting into eloquent
love to that "Prince of the universe;" he cannot praise his master
without first praising him, or ascribe anything to the powers of the
earthly teacher without referring it first of all to the heavenly
Giver. He had learned this from Origen, the predecessor, unconsciously
certainly, but in will and in spirit, of another Alexandrian, the
great Athanasius. And here again error was bringing out the truth, for
unless the Gnostics and the Neo-Platonists had been at that very time
theorizing about their demiurge and their emanations, we should
probably have missed the tender devotion and repeated homage to the
eternal Word which we find in the words of Origen and his disciple.
Theodore, or Gregory, as he had been named in baptism, had to thank
his master and to praise him, and he had, Moreover, to say how sorry
he was to leave him. He concludes his speech with the expression of
his regrets. He is afraid that all the grand teaching he has received
has been to {487} a great extent thrown away upon him. He is not yet
prudent, he is not just, he is not temperate, he has no fortitude,
alas, for his own native imbecility! But one gift the master has given
him he has made him love all these virtues with a love that knows no
bounds; and he has made him love, over and above them all, that virtue
which is alike their beginning and their consummation--the blessed
virtue of piety, the service and love of God. And now, in leaving him,
he seems to be leaving a garden full of useful trees and pleasant
fruits, full of green grass and cheering sunshine. And he thereupon
compares himself, at considerable length, to our first parents
banished from Paradise. "I am leaving the face of God and going back
to the earth from whence I came; and I shall eat earth all my days,
and till earth--an earth that will produce me nothing but thorn and
briers now that it is deprived of its good and excellent tending." He
goes on to liken himself to the prodigal son; and yet he finds himself
worse than he, for he is going away without receiving the "due portion
of substance," and leaving behind everything he loves and cares for.
Again, he seems to be one of that band of Jewish captives that hang up
their harps on the willows and wept beside the rivers of Babylon. "I
am going out from my Jerusalem," he says, "my holy city, where day and
night the holy law is being announced, where are hymns and canticles
and mystic speech; where a light brighter than the sun shines upon us
as we discuss the mysteries of God, and where our fancy brings back in
the night visions of what has occupied us in the day; I am leaving
this holy city, wherein God seems to breathe everywhere, and going
into a land of exile: there will be no singing for me; even the
mournful flute will not be my solace when my harp is hung on the
willows; but I shall be working by river-sides and making bricks; the
hymns I remember I shall not be allowed to sing; nay, it may be that
my very memory will play me false, and my hard work will make me
forget them." The youthful heart, that has left a cloistered retreat
of learning and piety, where masters have been loved, studies enjoyed,
and God tenderly served, will test these words by itself, and read in
their eloquent painting another proof that nature is the same to-day
as yesterday. Gregory the wonder-worker was truly a scholar to be
proud of, but the master's pride must have been obliterated in his
emotion when he listened to such a description of his school as this.
But the scholar, after all, will leave with a good heart. "There is
the Word, the sleepless guardian of all men." He puts his trust in
him, and in the good seed that his master has sown; perhaps he may
come back again and see him yet once more, when the seed shall have
sprung up and produced such fruits as can be expected from a nature
which is barren and evil, but which he prays God may never become
worse by his own fault. "And do thou, O my beloved master ([Greek
text]), arise and send us forth with thy prayer; thou hast been our
saviour by thy holy teachings whilst we were with thee; save us still
by thy prayers when we depart. Give us back, master, give us up into
the hands of him that sent us to thee, God; thank him for what has
befallen us; pray him that in the future he may ever be with us to
direct us, that he may keep his laws before our eyes and set in our
heart that best of teachers his divine fear. Away from thee, we shall
not obey him as freely as we obeyed him here. Keep praying that we may
find consolation in him for our loss of thee, that he may send us his
angel to go with us; and ask him to bring us back to thee once more;
no other consolation could be half so great." And so they depart, the
two brothers, never again to see their master more. They both became
great bishops, Gregory the greatest; we find Origen writing to him,
soon after his departure, a letter full of affection and good counsel;
and who can tell how much the teaching of the catechist of Alexandria
had to do with that wonderful life and never-dying reputation that
distinguish Gregory Thaumaturgus among all the saints of the church?
{488}
Origen presided at Alexandria for twenty years--that is to say, from
211 to 231. In the latter year he left it for ever. During this period
he had been temporarily absent more than once. The governor of the
Roman Arabia, or Arabia Petraea, had sent a special messenger to the
prefect of Alexandria and the patriarch, to beg that the catechist
might pay him a visit. What he wanted him for is not recorded; but
Petra, the capital of the Roman province, was not so far from the
great road between Alexandria and Palestine as to be out of the way of
Greek thought and civilization, and its interesting remains of art,
belonging to this very period, which startled modern travellers only a
short time past, prove that it was itself no inconsiderable centre of
intellectual cultivation. We may, therefore, conjecture that his
errand was philosophical, or, in other words, religious.
The second time that Origen was absent from Alexandria was for a
somewhat longer space. The emperor Caracalla, after murdering his
brother and indulging in indiscriminate slaughter, in all parts of the
world from Rome to Syria, had at last arrived, with his troubled
conscience and his well-bribed legions, at Alexandria. The
Alexandrians, it is well known, had an irresistible tendency to give
nicknames. Caracalla's career was open to a few epithets, and the
unfortunate "men of Macedon" made merry on some salient points in the
character of the emperor and his mother. They had better have held
their tongues, or plucked them out; for in a fury of vengeance he let
loose his bloodthirsty bands on the city. How many were slain in that
awful visitation no one ever knew; the dead were thrown into trenches,
and hastily covered up, uncounted and unrecorded. The spectre-haunted
emperor took special vengeance on the institutions and professors of
learning. It would seem that he destroyed a great part of the
buildings of the Museum, and put to death or banished the teachers. As
for the students, he had the whole youth of the city driven together
into the gymnasium, and ordered them to be formed into a "Macedonian
phalanx" for his army--a grim retort, in kind, for their pleasantries
at his expense. Origen fled before this storm. Had he remained, he was
far too well known now to have been safe for an hour. Doubtless
obedience made him conceal himself and escape. He took refuge in
Caesarea of Palestine, where the bishop, St. Theoctistus, received him
with the utmost honor; and, though he was yet only a layman, made him
preach in the church, which he had never done at Alexandria. When the
tempest in Egypt had gone by, Demetrius wrote for him to come back. He
returned, and resumed the duties of his post.
After this he took either one or two other journeys. He was sent into
Greece, and visited Athens, with letters from his bishop, to refute
heresy and confirm the Christian religion. He also stayed awhile at
the great central see of Antioch.
On his journey to Greece, he had been ordained priest at Caesarea, by
his friend St. Theoctistus. When he returned to Alexandria, about the
year 231, Demetrius, the patriarch, was pleased to be exceedingly
indignant at his ordination. We cannot go into the controversy here;
we need only say that a synod of bishops, summoned by the patriarch,
decreed that he must leave Alexandria, but retain his priesthood;
which seems to show that they thought he had better leave for the sake
of peace, though they could not recognize any canonical fault; for if
they had, they would have suspended or degraded him. Demetrius,
indeed, assembled another synod some time later, and did degrade and
excommunicate him. But by this time Origen had left Alexandria, never
to return {489} and was quietly living at Caesarea. We dare not
pronounce sentence in a cause that has occupied so many learned pens;
but we dare confidently say this, that it is impossible to prove
Origen to have been knowingly in the wrong. We must now follow him to
Caesarea.
If some Levantine merchantman, manned by swarthy Greeks or Syrians, in
trying to make Beyrout, should be driven by a north wind some fifty
miles further along the coast to the southwest, she might possibly
find herself, at break of day, in sight of a strange-looking harbor.
There would be a wide semi-circular sweep of buildings, or what had
once been buildings; there would be a southern promontory, crowned
with a tower in ruins; there would be the vestiges of a splendid pier;
and there would be rows of granite pillars lying as if a hurricane had
come off the land, and blown them bodily into the sea. An Arab or two,
in their white cotton clothes, would be grimly looking about them, on
some prostrate columns; and a stray jackal, caught by the rising sun,
would be scampering into some hole in the ruins. Our merchantman would
have come upon all that is left of Caesarea of Palestine. If she did
not immediately make all sail to Jaffa, or back to Beyrout, it would
not be because the place does not look ghostly and dismal enough. And
yet it was once the greatest port on that Mediterranean coast, and far
more important than either Jaffa, Acre, Sidon, or even Beyrout now. It
owed its celebrity to Herod the Great. Twelve years of labor, and the
expenditure of vast sums of money, made the ancient Turris Stratonis
worthy to be rechristened Caesarea, in honor of Caesar Augustus. Its
great pier, constructed of granite blocks of incredible size, afforded
at once dwelling-places and hostelries for the sailors and a splendid
columned promenade for the wealthy citizens. The half-circle of
buildings, all of polished granite, that embraced the sea and the
harbor, and terminated in a rocky promontory on either side, shone far
out to sea, and showed conspicuous in the midst the great temple of
Caesar, crowned with statues of Augustus and of the Roman city. An
agora, a praetorium, a circus looking out to sea, and a rock-hewn
theatre, were included in Herod's magnificent plans, and fittingly
adorned a city that was to become in a few years the capital of
Palestine. We see its importance even as early as the days immediately
after Pentecost. It was here that the Gentiles were called to the
faith, in the person of Cornelius the centurion, a commander of the
legionaries stationed at Caesarea. His house, three hundred years
later, was turned into a chapel by St. Paulo, and must therefore have
been recognizable at the time of which we write. It was here that
Herod Agrippa I. planned the apprehension of St. Peter and the
execution of St. James the Greater; and it was in the theatre here
that the beams of the sun shone upon his glittering apparel, and the
people saluted him as a god, only to see him smitten by the hand of
the true God, and carried to his palace in the agonies of mortal pain.
St. Paul was here several times, and last of all when he was brought
from Jerusalem by the fifty horsemen and the two hundred spearmen.
Here he was examined before Felix, and before Festus, in the presence
of King Agrippa, when he made his celebrated speech; and it was from
the harbor of Caesarea that he sailed for Rome to be heard before
Caesar. For many centuries, even into the times of the crusaders, it
continued to be a capital and haven of great importance. Between 195
and 198, it was the scene of one of the earliest councils of the
Eastern Church, and, as the see of Eusebius, the founder of church
history, and the site of a celebrated library, it must always be
interesting in ecclesiastical annals. But perhaps it would require
nothing more to make {490} it a place of note in our eyes than the
fact that when Origen was driven from Alexandria, in 231, he
transferred to Caesarea not the Alexandrian school, it is true, but
the teacher whose presence and spirit had contributed so much to make
it immortal.
Caesarea, indeed, was at that time a literary centre only second to
Alexandria or Antioch. It was in direct communication with Jerusalem
by an excellent military road, and with Alexandria by a road that was
longer, indeed, but in no way inferior. It was not far from Berytus
both by land and sea. Like Capharnaum and Ptolemais, but in a yet
higher degree, it was one of Herod the Great's model cities, in which
he had embodied his scheme of _Grecianizing_ his country by the
influence of splendid Greek art and overpowering Greek intellect. It
was also the metropolis of Palestine. St. Alexander, bishop of
Jerusalem, Origen's fellow-student, was the intimate friend of
Theoctistus, bishop of Caesarea; and it is clear that bishops, or
their messengers, from the cities all along the coast, as for as
Antioch, and even the distant Cappadocia and Pontus, were not
unfrequent visitors to this great rallying-point of the church and the
empire.
When Origen, therefore, left Alexandria and took up his abode in a
city that was in a manner the diminished counterpart of one he had
abandoned, he did not find himself in a strange land. St. Theoctistus
received him with delight. It was not long before he journeyed the
short distance to Jerusalem, to renew his acquaintance with St.
Alexander; and these two bishops were only too glad to put on his
shoulders all the charges that he would accept. "They referred to
him," says Eusebius, "on every occasion as their master; they
committed to him alone the charge of interpreting and teaching Holy
Scripture and everything connected with preaching the Word of God in
the church." From the way in which the historian joins the two bishops
together, it would appear that Caesarea was a common school for the
two dioceses, and a sort of ecclesiastical seminary whither the
clerics from Jerusalem came, as to a centre where learning and learned
men would abound more than in ruined and fallen AElia. It is certain,
however, that Origen, in a short time, was teaching and writing as
fast as at Alexandria. His name soon began to draw scholars.
Firmilian, bishop of so distant a see as Caesarea of Cappadocia, one
of the most stirring minds of his age, who had controversies on his
hands all round the sea-coast to Carthage in one direction, and Rome
in the other, was a friend of Theoctistus. It is possible that he knew
Origen also, perhaps from having seen him at Alexandria, but more
probably from having met him when Origen travelled into Greece. At any
rate, he conceived an enthusiastic liking for him. Nothing would serve
him but to make Origen travel to his own far-off province to teach and
stimulate pastors and people; and, not long afterward, we find himself
in Judaea, that is, at Caesarea, on a visit to Origen, with whom he is
stated to have remained "some time," for the sake of "bettering
himself" in divinity. And, as Eusebius sums up, "not only those who
lived in the same part of the world, but very many others from distant
lands, left their country and came flocking to listen to him." We need
not mention here again the names Gregory and Athenodorus.
The position now occupied by Origen at Caesarea was, therefore, one of
the highest importance. He was no longer a private teacher, or even an
authorized master teaching in private; he was no less than the
substitute for the bishop himself. In the Eastern Church, indeed, the
custom by which no one but the Bishop ever preached in the church was
not so strictly observed as it was in the West; but if a {491}
presbyter did received the commission of preaching, it was always with
the understanding that what he said was said on behalf of the pontiff,
whose presence in his chair was a guarantee for its orthodoxy. When
Origen, therefore, on the Lord's day, after the reading of the holy
Gospel, stood forward from his place in the presbytery, and began to
explain either the Gospel text itself or some passage in the Old
Testament which also had formed part of the liturgical service, it was
well understood that he was speaking with authority. And this is the
first light in which we should view his homilies.
It would be saying little to say that Origen's homilies and
commentaries (for we need not distinguish them here) marked an era in
the exposition of Scripture. They not only were the first of their
kind, but they may be said to have created the art, and not only to
have created it, but, in certain aspects, to have finished it and to
have become like Aristotle in some of his treatises, at once the model
and the quarry for future generations. It may be true, as of course it
is, that he was not absolutely the first to write expositions of
Scripture. The splendid eloquence of Theophilus of Antioch had already
been heard on the four Gospels, and his spirit of interpretation seems
to have had much more affinity for Origen's own spirit than for that
of the school of his own Antioch two centuries later. Melito had
written on the Apocalypse, but his direct labors on Scripture were
only an insignificant part of his voluminous works, if, indeed, they
were not all rather apologetic and hortatory than explanatory. The
Mosaic account of the creation had occupied a few fathers with its
defence against Gnostic and infidel. But we know from Origen's own
words that he had read and used "his predecessors," as he calls them.
And yet we may truly say that he is the first of commentators, not
only because no one before him had dared to undertake the whole
Scripture, but on account of his novel and regular method. He is
turned by one great authority, Sixtus Senensis, "almost self-taught,"
so little of what he says can he have gleaned from others. But in
estimating how much Origen owed to those before him, we should lose a
valuable hint towards understanding him if we forgot Clement of
Alexandria and the great body of tradition, oral and written, of which
the Alexandrian school was the headquarters. We know that the
Alexandrian Jew, Philo, two hundred years before Clement's time, had
written wonderful lucubrations on the mystical sense of Holy
Scripture. The Alexandrian catechetical teachers, catching and using
the spirit of the place, had always been Alexandrian in their
Scriptural teachings. Clement himself had commented on the whole of
the Scriptures in his book called the "Hypotyposes." Origen entered
into inheritance. We see the spirit of the time and place in those
questionings with which, in his early years, he used to puzzle his
father. The unrivalled industry that made him collect versions of the
sacred text from Syria, Asia, and even the shores of Greece, must have
scrupulously sought out and exhausted every source of information and
every extant document relating to Scripture exposition that was at
hand for him in his own city. So that Origen, though in one sense the
founder of a school, was really the culmination of a series of learned
men, and, by the influence of his name, made common to the universal
church that knowledge and method which before had been confined to the
pupils that had listened to the Catechisms.
Although, however, we may guess, we cannot be certain how
progressively or gradually a methodical and scientific exegesis had
been growing up at Alexandria; and we come upon the commentaries of
Origen with all the freshness of a discovery. Before him we have been
accustomed to writings like those of the apostolic fathers: we have
been reading apologies of the most wonderful eloquence, whose Greek
shames the rhetoricians, {492} or whose Latin has all the spirit,
earnestness, and tenderness of new language, but in which Holy
Scripture is at the most only summarized and held up to view. Or,
again, we have been listening to a venerable priest crushing the
heretics with the word of God, or to a philosopher confuting the Jews
out of their own mouth. Or, once more, we have heard the pagan
intellect of the world convinced that truth was nowhere to be found
but in Jesus, that the writings of the prophets were better than those
of the philosophers, and that the morality of the New Testament cast
far into the shade the sayings of Socrates. Splendid ideas, striking
applications, telling proofs, grand views, all these the early fathers
found in holy Scripture, and all these they used in the exhortations,
apologies, or refutations that were called for by the several
necessities of their times. But sustained, regular commentary, as
such, they have none, or, what is the same to us now, none has come
down. The explanation of words, the classification of meanings, the
distinction of senses, the answering of difficulties and the solution
of objections--all this, done, not for an odd portion of the text here
and there, but regularly through the whole Bible, is what
distinguishes the labors of Origen from those of all who have gone
before him, and makes them so important for all who shall come after
him. In making acquaintance with him we feel that we have come across
a master, with breadth of view enough to handle masses of materials in
a scientific way, and with learning enough never to be in want of
materials for his science. We see in his Scripture commentaries the
pressure of three forces of unequal strength, but each of them of
marked presence, the tradition of the church, the teachings of the
great school, and the needs of his own times. To understand him we
must understand this pressure under which he wrote. The first two
forces may be passed over as requiring no explanation. We must dwell a
little on the latter, for unless we vividly realize the necessities
under which the Christian teacher in his time lay, of meeting certain
enemies and withstanding certain views, we shall be led to join in the
cry of those who exclaim against Origen's Scripture exposition as
partly useless and partly dangerous.
These necessities arose from two phenomena that appeared almost with
the birth of Christianity, and which, with a somewhat wide
generalization, we may call the Ebionite and the Gnostic. No one can
have looked into early church history without being struck by the
difficulty the church seems to have had to free herself from the
trammels of Judaism. We need not allude to St. Paul, and his Epistles
to the Galatians and to the Romans, and his various contentions with
friend and foe for the freedom of the Gospel. The Epistle to the
Hebrews, with its thoroughness of dogmatic exposition and its grand
style, was also addressed to the Judaizants. Nay, if Ebion himself
ever had an existence, it is more than probable that he was teaching
at Jerusalem about the very time at which the Epistle seems to have
been written and sent, if sent, to the Christian Jews of that city. It
is certain, however, that Alexandria was one of the very earliest of
the churches which shook itself free, in a marked manner, from the
traditions of the law. The cosmopolitan spirit of the great city was a
powerful natural auxiliary in a development which was substantially
brought about by the Holy Ghost and the pastors of the patriarchal
see. The Hebrew element hardly ever had such a footing at Alexandria
as it had at Antioch. We can see in the writing of Justin Martyr,
(_circa_ 160,) whose wide experience of all the churches makes his
testimony especially valuable, a. picture of Christianity, young and
exuberant, with its face joyously set to its destined career, and with
the swathing-bands of the synagogue lying neglected behind it. Justin
had an {493} Alexandrian training, and among his many-sided gifts
shone pre-eminent that intellectual culture which was the most
effectual of the human weapons that beat off the spirit of Judaism.
And in Clement himself there is no trace of any narrow formalism, but,
on the contrary, a grand, world-embracing charity, that can recognize
the work of the Divine Logos in all the manifold varieties of human
wisdom and human beauty. So that long before the time that Origen
succeeded his master, the Alexandrian church was free from all
suspicion of clinging to what St. Paul calls the "yoke of bondage;"
and knew no distinction of Jew or Greek. But the party that had
troubled the Apostle, and spread itself through the churches almost as
soon as the churches were founded, was by no means extinct, even at
Alexandria. Since the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews had become
scattered all over the empire. The great towns, such as Antioch,
Caesarea, and Alexandria, each contained a strong Jewish community. At
Alexandria they were numerous enough to have a quarter to themselves.
Now, it is not too much to say that many so-called Jews and Christians
in such a city were neither Jews nor Christians, but Ebionites; that
is, they acknowledged the divine mission of Christ, which destroyed
their genuine Judaism, but denied his divinity, which was still more
fatal to their Christianity. The consequences of such a state of
things to the interpretation of Scripture are manifest. The law was
still good and binding. Jerusalem was still the holy city, the chosen
of God, and the spiritual and temporal capital of the world. St. Paul
was denounced as one who admitted heathen innovations and destroyed
the word of God. Everything in holy Scripture, that is, in the Old
Testament and in the scanty excerpts from the New, which they
admitted, was to be understood in a rigorously literal sense; and the
"Clementines," once falsely attributed to St. Clement of Rome, but now
considered to belong to the second century, and to be the work of an
Ebionite, are the only writings of the period in which the allegorical
sense is totally and peremptorily denied. Ebionism was not very
consistent with itself, and the Ebionites of St. Jerome's time would
hardly have saluted their sterner brethren of the apostolic age; but
the name may always be truly taken to typify those whose views led
them to hold to the "carnal letter" of the Old Testament. They carried
the old Jewish exclusiveness into Christianity. They considered the
historical parts of the Scripture to have been written merely because
their own history was so important in God's sight that he thought it
right to preserve its minutest record. The prophecies were only meant
to glorify, to warn, or to terrify themselves, and had no message for
the Gentiles. Even the parables and figures that occurred in the
imagery of the inspired writer were dragged down to the most absurd
and literal significations. The adherents of Ebionism were neither few
nor silent in the time of Origen.
But if the Ebionite party in Alexandria, and in the Church generally,
was strong and stirring, there was a party not less important,
perhaps, who, in their zeal for the freedom of Christianity against
the bonds of Judaism, were in danger of going quite as far wrong in a
different direction. It is always the case in a reaction, that the
returning force finds it difficult to stop at its due mark. So it had
been with the reaction against the Ebionites, and especially at
Alexandria. There was a body of advanced Christians who did not
content themselves with not observing the law, but went on to
depreciate it. It was not enough for them to see the Old Testament
fulfilled by Jesus Christ, but they must needs show that it never had
much claim to be even a preparation and a type. It was full of
frivolous details, useless records, and absurd narrations. {494} Who
cared for the _minutiae_ about Pharaoh's butler, Joseph's coat, or
Tobias's dog? Of what importance to the world were the marchings and
counter-marchings, the stupid obstinacy and the unsavory morality of a
few thousand Hebrews? Who was interested to hear how their prophets
scolded them, or their enemies destroyed them, or their kings
tyrannized over them? How could it edify Christians to know the number
and color of the skins of the tabernacles or the names of the masons
and blacksmiths that built the Temple, or the fact that the Jewish
people considerably varied their carnal piety by intervals of still
more carnal crime and idolatry? The state of things represented by the
Old Testament had passed away, and they were of no interest save as
ancient history; and therefore, it was absurd to treasure up the
Pentateuch and the Prophets as if they were anything more, and not
rather much less, than the rhapsodies of Homer and the travels of
Herodotus. In fact--and to this conclusion a considerable party came
before long--the Old Testament was certainly not divine at all; at any
rate, it was not the work of the Father of the Lord Jesus, but of some
other principle. And here the Gnostic interest was at hand with an
opportune idea. Who _could_ have written the Old Testament but the
Demiurge? That primary offshoot of the Divinity, just, but not good,
(this was their distinction,) can never have been more worthily
employed than in concocting a series of writings in which there was
some skill, some justice, and very little goodness. The Demiurge was
certainly a handy suggestion, and the consigning of the Old Testament
to his workmanship made all commentary thereon compressive into a very
brief space. Away with it all, for a farrago of nonsense, lies, and
nuisances!
Of course, neither of these parties, when extremely developed, could
lay any claim to Christianity. But the world of that day had in it
Ebionites and Gnostics of every degree and every changing hue of
error. They were not unrepresented in the very bosom of the Church.
Pious Christians might be found who, strong in filial feeling to their
Jewish great-grandfathers, would see in the records of the old
covenant nothing but a most interesting family history, with
delightfully long pedigrees and a great deal of strong language about
the glory and dignity of the descendants of Israel. On the other hand,
equally pious Christians, and among them a great majority, perhaps, of
the Gentile converts, would consider it an extravagant compliment to
read in the house of God the sayings and doings of such a very
unworthy set of people as the Hebrews. And the remarkable fact would
be, that both these sets of worthy Christians would begin with the
same fundamental error, though arriving at precisely opposite
conclusions. That the Old Testament had a literal meaning, _and no
other_ was the starting-point of both Ebionite and Gnostic The former
concluded, "therefore let us honor it, for we are a divine race;" the
latter, "therefore let us reject it, for what are the Jews to us?"
It would not require many sentences to prove, if our object in these
notes were proof of any sort, that Origen's leading idea in his
Scripture exposition is to look for the mystical sense. His very name
is a synonym for allegory, and he is perhaps as often blamed for it as
praised. But even blame, when outspoken and honest, is better than
feeble excuse; and and unfortunately not a few of the great
Alexandrian's critics have undertaken to excuse him for having such a
leaning to allegory. The Neo-Platonists, they say, dealt largely in
myths, and allegorized everything; somebody allegorized Homer just
about that time. Now Origen was a Platonist. We might answer, that
Origen was above all a Christian, and knew but very little of Plato
till he was thirty years old; and that the Greek allegories {495} were
invented by a more decorous generation for the purpose of veiling the
grossness of the popular mythology; whereas the Christian allegory, as
introduced by St Paul, or indeed by our Blessed Saviour, was a
spiritual and mysterious application of real facts. Others, again,
offer the excuse that Philo had allegorized very much, and Origen
admired Philo. This is saying that allegory was very usual at
Alexandria, as we have said ourselves when speaking of St. Clement.
But it is not saying why allegory was kept up so warmly in the school
of the Catechisms, or what was the radical cause that made its being
kept up there a necessity for the well-being of the Church. This we
have endeavored to state in the foregoing remarks.
When Origen, then, announces his grand principle of Scripture
commentary, in the fourth book of the De Principiis, we may be excused
if we see in it the statement of an important canon, whereby to
understand much that he has written. He says, "Wherefore, to those who
are convinced that the sacred books are not the utterances of man, but
were written and made over to us by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost,
by the will of God the Father of all through Jesus Christ, we will
endeavor to point out how they are to read them, keeping the rules of
the divine and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ." This is the key-note
of all his exposition, and derives its significance from the state of
opinions among those for whom he wrote; and a dispassionate
application of it to such passages as seem questionable or gratuitous
in his writings, will explain many a difficulty, and show how clearly
he apprehended the work he had to do. If the Old Testament be really
the word of the Holy Ghost, as, he says, all true Christians believe,
then nothing in it can be trivial, nothing useless, nothing false.
This he insists upon over and over again. And, descending more to
particulars, he states these three celebrated rules of interpretation,
which may be called, with their development, his contribution to
Scripture exposition. They are so plainly aimed at Ebionites and
Gnostics, that we need merely to state them to show the connection.
His first rule regards the old Law. The Law, he says, being abrogated
by Jesus Christ, the precepts and ordinances that are purely legal are
no longer to be taken and acted up to literally, but only in their
mystical sense. This seems rudimentary and evident nowadays; but at
that period it greatly needed to be clearly stated and enforced.
His second rule is about the history and prophecy relating to Jew or
Gentile that is found in the Old Testament. The Ebionite who kissed
the Pentateuch, and the Gnostic who tore it up, were both foolish
because both ignorant. These historic and prophetic details were
undoubtedly true in their letter; but their chief use to the Christian
Church, and the main object the Holy Spirit had in giving them to us,
was the mystical meaning that lies hidden under the letter. Thus the
earthly Pharaoh, the earthly Jerusalem, Babylon, or Egypt, are chiefly
of importance to the Church from the fact that they are the allegories
of heavenly truths.
Origen's third canon of scriptural exposition is this: "Whatever in
holy Scripture seems trivial, useless, or false," (the Gnostics could
not or would not see that parabolic narratives are most unjustly
called false,) "is by no means to be rejected, but its presence in the
divine record is to be explained by the fact that the divine Author
had a deeper and more important meaning in it than appears from the
letter. Such portions, therefore, must be taken and applied in a
spiritual and mystical sense, in which sense chiefly they were
dictated by Almighty God."
These three rules look simple now; they were all-important and not so
simple then. It was by means of them, {496} and in the spirit which
they indicate, that the great catechist led his hearers by the hand
through the flowery paths of God's word, and in his own easy, simple,
earnest style, so different from that of the rhetoricians, showed them
the true use of the Old Testament. We hope it is not a fanciful idea,
but it has struck us that, the difference of circumstances considered,
there are few writers so like each other in their handling of holy
Scripture as Origen and St. John of the Cross. Both treat of deep
truths, and in a phraseology that sounds uncommon--the one because his
hearers were intellectual Greeks, the other because he is professedly
treating of the very highest points of the spiritual life. Both use
holy Scripture in a fashion that is absolutely startling to those who
are accustomed to rationalistic Protestantism, or to what may be
called the domestic wife-and-children interpretation of the
Evangelicals. Both bring forward, in the most unhesitating manner, the
mystic sense of the inspired words to prove or illustrate their point,
and both mix up with their more abstruse disquisitions a large amount
of practical matter in the very plainest words. From communion with
both of them we rise full of a new sense of the presence and nearness
of the Spirit of God, and of reverence for the minutest details of his
Word. Finally, both the Greek father and the Spanish mystic interpret
the ceremonial prescriptions, the history, the allusions to physical
nature, and the incidents of domestic life that occur in the Old
Testament, as if all these, however important in their letter, had a
far deeper and more interesting signification addressed to the
spiritual sense of the spiritual Christian.
To illustrate Origen's principles of Scripture interpretation by
extracts from his works would exceed our present limits, however
interesting and satisfactory the task might be. Neither have we space
to notice his celebrated division of the meaning of the text into
literal, mystical, and moral, a division he was the first to insist
upon formally. To answer the objections of critics against both his
principles and his alleged practice would also be a distinct task of
great length. We must content ourselves with having briefly sketched
and indicated his spirit. There are grave theological controversies
too, as is well known, connected with his name; and on these we have
had no thought of entering. The purpose of this and the preceding
articles has not been dogmatical, but rather biographical. We have
attempted to set forth on the one hand the personal character of this
great man; on the other, the external circumstances by which that
character was influenced, and through which it exercised influence on
others.
------
{497}
Translated from the Spanish.
PERICO THE SAD; OR, THE FAMILY OF ALVAREDA.
CHAPTER I.
Following the curve formed by the ancient walls of Seville, encircling
it as with a girdle of stone, leaving on the right the river and Las
Delicias, we reach the gate of San Fernando. From this gate, in a
direct line across the plain, as far as the ridge of Buena Vista,
extends a road which passes the rill upon a bridge of stone, and
ascends the steep side of the hill. To the right of the road are seen
the ruins of a chapel. At a bird's-eye view this road looks like an
arm which Seville extends toward the ruins as if to call attention to
them; for though small, and without a vestige of artistic merit, they
form a religious and historic souvenir. They are an inheritance from
the great king, Fernando III., whose memory is so popular that he is
admired as a hero, venerated as a saint, and beloved as a king: thus
realizing, in one grand historic figure the ideal of the Spanish
people.
Having gained the summit, the road descends upon the opposite side
into a a little valley, through which runs a narrow stream, which has
washed its channel so clean that you will see in it only shining
pebbles and golden sand.
Fording this stream, the road touches on its right at a cheerful and
hospitable little inn, and salutes on its left a Moorish castle seated
so haughtily upon the height that it seems as though the ground had
risen solely to form a pedestal for it. This castle was given by Don
Pedro de Castilla to Dona Maria de Padilla, whose name it retains. The
estate and castle of Dona Maria passed in time, as a pious donation,
to the Cathedral of Seville, the chapter of which has, in our days,
sold it to a private gentleman. The associations passed for nothing,
since a little while afterward, the withered, old, and furrowed Dona
Maria appeared clothed in the whitest of lime, and adorned with
brilliants of crystal.
Let us follow the road which advances, opening its way through the
palmettos and evergreens of some pasture-lands, until it enters the
village of Dos-Hermanas, [Footnote 85] situated in the midst of a
sandy plain, two leagues from Seville.
[Footnote 85: Dos-Hermanas, two sisters. ]
One sees here neither river, nor lake, nor umbrageous trees, nor rural
houses with green blinds, nor arbors covered with twining plants, nor
peacocks and Guinea fowls picking the green turf, nor grand avenues of
trees in straight lines, like slaves holding parasols, to provide a
constant shade for those who walk beneath. All these are wanting here.
Sad it is to confess it! All is common, rude, and inelegant, but
instead, one meets good and contented faces, which prove how little
those things are needed to make happiness. One sees, beside, flowers
in the yards of the houses, and at their doors gay and healthy
children, even more numerous than the flowers, and finds that sweet
peace of the country, made up of silence and solitude, an atmosphere
of Eden and the sky of paradise.
The village consists of houses of a single story, arranged in long,
straight, though not parallel streets, which open upon the large,
sandy market-place, spread out like a yellow carpet before a fine
church, which lifts its lofty tower, surmounted by a cross, like a
soldier elevating his standard.
{498}
Behind the church we shall find the oasis of this desert. Supported by
the rear wall of the edifice is a gate, opening into a wide and vast
court, which leads to the chapel of Saint Anna, the patroness of the
place. Built against the side of the chapel is the small and humble
dwelling of the custodian, who is both singer and sacristan of the
church. In this enclosure we shall see century-old cypresses, thick
foliaged and sombre; the lilac, of stem so slight and rapid growth,
lavishing leaves, flowers, and perfumes upon the wind, as if conscious
that its life is short; the orange, that grand seigneur, that favorite
son of the soil of Andalusia, to whom it yields a life so sweet and
long. We shall see the vine, which, like a child, needs the help of
man to thrive and rise, and which spreads its broad leaves as if to
caress the trellis that supports it. For it is certain that even
plants have their individual characters from which we receive
different impressions. We can hardly see a cypress without sadness, a
lilac without tenderness, an orange-tree without admiration. Does not
the lavender suggest the thought of a neat and peaceful interior; and
the rosemary, perfume of holy night, does it not awaken the wholesome
and sacred thoughts of that season?
To the right and left of the place extend those interminable olive
plantations, which form the principal branch of the agriculture of
Andalusia. The trees being planted well apart from each other give a
cheerful air to these groves, but the ground underneath, kept so level
and free from other vegetation by the plough, renders them wearisomely
monotonous. At certain distances we encounter the groups of buildings
which belong to the estates. These are constructed without taste or
symmetry, and we may go all round them without finding the front.
There is nothing imposing about these great masses, or structures,
except the towers of their windmills, which rise above the olives as
if to count them. The most of these estates belong to the aristocracy
of Seville, but they are generally deserted because the ladies do not
like to live in the country, and are therefore as desolate and as
empty as barns, so that in these out-of-the-way places, the silence is
only broken by the crowing of the cock, while he vigilantly guards his
seraglio, or by the braying of some superannuated ass, that, turned
out by the overseer to take his ease, tires of his solitude.
At the close of a beautiful day in January, in the year 1810, might
have been heard the fresh voice of a youth of some twenty years, who,
with his musket upon his shoulder, was walking with a firm but light
step along one of the footpaths which are traced through the olive
groves. His figure was straight, tall, and slight. His person, his
air, his walk, had the ease, the grace, and the elegance which art
endeavors to create, and which nature herself lavishes upon the
Andalusians with generous hand. His head, covered with black curls, a
model of the beautiful Spanish type, he carried erect and proudly. His
large eyes were black and vivid; his look frank and full of
intelligence. His well-formed upper lip, shortened with an expression
of cheerful humor, showed his white and brilliant teeth. His whole
person breathed a superabundance of life, health, and strength. A
silver button fastened the snowy shirt at his brown throat. He wore a
short jacket of gray cloth, short trowsers, tied at the knee with
cords and tassels of silk, and a yellow silk girdle passed several
times around his waist. Leather shoes and gaiters of the same, finely
stitched, encased his well-formed feet and legs. A wide-brimmed
Portuguese hat, adorned with a velvet band and silk tassels, and
jauntily inclined toward the left side, completed the elegant
Andalusian dress.
This youth, noted for his active disposition, and for his impulsive
and daring character, was employed by the superintendent of one of the
estates to act as guard during the olive gathering. He sang as he went
along:
{499}
"The way is short, my step is light,
I loiter not, nor do I weary;
The path seems downward--easy trod,
When up the hill I climb to Mary.
"But long the road, and oh! how steep!
My lingering footsteps slow and weary;
The mountains seem before me piled
When down the hill I come from Mary."
Arriving at the paling which enclosed the plantation the guard sprang
over it without stopping to look for the gate, and found himself in a
road face to face with another youth a little older than himself, who
was also going toward the village. He was dressed in the same manner,
but he was neither so tall nor so erect as the former.
His eyes were gray, and not so vivid, and his glance was more
tranquil, his mouth was graver and his smile sweeter. Instead of a gun
he carried a spade upon his shoulder. An ass preceded him without
being driven, and he was followed by an enormous dog, with short thick
hair of a whitish yellow color, of the fine race of shepherd-dogs of
Estremadura.
"Halloo! Is this you, Perico? God bless you!" exclaimed the elegant
guard.
"And you, too, Ventura, are you coming to take a rest?"
"No," answered Ventura, "I come for supplies, and besides, it is eight
days--"
"Since you saw my sister, Elvira," interrupted Perico with his sweet
smile. "Very good, my friend, you are killing two birds with one
stone."
"You keep still, Perico, and I will. He whose house has a glass roof
shouldn't throw stones at his neighbor's," answered the guard.
"You are happy, Ventura," proceeded Perico with a sigh, "for you can
marry when you like, without opposition from any one."
"And what!" exclaimed Ventura, "who or what can oppose your getting
married?"
"The will of my mother," replied Perico.
"What are you saying?" asked Ventura, "and why? What fault can she
find with Rita, who is young, good-looking, and comes of a good stock,
since she is own cousin to you?"
"That is precisely the reason my mother alleges for not being in favor
of it."
"An old woman's scruples! Does she wish to change the custom of the
church, which permits it?"
"My mother's scruples," replied Perico, "are not religious ones. She
says that the union of such near relations is against nature, that the
same blood in both repels itself, and distaste is the result; that
sooner or later evils, misfortunes and weariness follow and overtake
them, and she gives a hundred examples to prove it."
"Don't mind her," said Ventura; "let her prophesy and sing evil like
an owl. Mothers have always something against their sons' marrying."
"No," answered Perico gravely, "no; without my mother's consent I will
never marry."
They walked along some instants in silence when Ventura said:
"The truth is, I am like the captain who embarked the passengers and
remained on shore himself, or like the preacher who used to say, 'Do
as I tell you and not as I do;' for, in fact, does not the will of my
father hold me, tied down like a lion with a woollen rope? Do you
think, Perico, that if it were not for my father, I would not now be
in Utrera, where the regiment of volunteers is enlisting to go and
fight the infamous traitors who steal across our frontier in the guise
of friends, to make themselves masters of the country and put a
foreign yoke upon our necks?"
"I am of the same mind," said Perico, "but how can I leave my mother
and sister who have only me to look to? But remember, if my mother
sets herself against my marrying, I'm not going to live so, and I
shall go with the other young men."
"And you will do right," said Ventura with energy. "As for me, the day
they least expect it, though they call me, I shall not answer, and you
may be sure, Perico, that on that day there will be a few less
Frenchmen on the soil of Spain."
{500}
"And Elvira?" questioned Perico.
"She will do like others, wait for me--or weep for me."
CHAPTER II.
The house of the family of Perico was spacious and neatly whitewashed,
both without and within. On each side of the door, built against the
wall, was a bench of mason work. In the entry hung a lantern before an
image of our Lord which was fixed upon the inner door, according to
the Catholic custom, which requires that a religious thought shall
precede everything, and puts all things under some holy patronage. In
the midst of the spacious court-yard an enormous orange-tree rose
luxuriantly upon its smooth and robust trunk. Its base was shielded by
a wooden frame. For numberless generations this beautiful tree had
been a source of enjoyment to this family. The deceased Juan Alvareda,
the father of Perico, claimed upon tradition, that its existence dated
as far back as the expulsion of the Moors, when, according to his
assertion, an Alvareda, a soldier of the royal saint, Fernando, had
planted it, and when the parish priest, who was his wife's brother,
would jest him upon the antiquity, and uninterrupted succession of his
lineage, or make light of it, he always answered, without being
disturbed or vacillating for an instant in his conviction, that all
the lineages of the world were ancient, and that, though the direct
line or succession of the rich might often be extinguished, such a
thing never happened with the poor.
The women of the family made of the leaves of the orange-tree tonics
for the stomach and soothing preparations for the nerves. The young
girls adorned themselves with its flowers and made confections of
them. The children regaled their palate and refreshed their blood with
its fruit. The birds had their quarters-general among its leaves, and
sung to it a thousand cheerful songs, while its possessors, who had
grown up under its shelter, watered it unweariedly in summer-time and
in winter cut away its withered twigs, as one pulls the gray hairs
from the head of the father he would never see grow old.
On opposite sides of the entry were two suites of rooms, or, according
to the expression of the province, _partidos_, both alike; consisting,
each, of a parlor having two small windows with gratings looking
toward the street, and two bedrooms forming an angle with the parlor,
and receiving light from the yard. At the end of the yard was a door
which opened into a large enclosure in which were the kitchen,
wash-house, and stables, and which paraded in its centre a large
fig-tree of so little pretension and self-esteem that it yielded
itself without complaint to the nightly roost of the hens, never
having bent its boughs under the inconvenient weight, even to play
them a trick by way of carnival.
The master of the house had been dead three years. When he felt his
end approaching, he called his son to him and said: "In your care I
leave your mother and sister; be guided by the one and watch over the
other. Live always in the holy fear of God, and think often of death,
so that you may see his approach without either surprise or fear.
Remember my end, that you may not dread your own. All the Alvaredas
have been honest men; in your veins flows the same Spanish blood and
in your heart exist the same Catholic principles that made them such.
Be like them, and you will live happily and die in peace!"
Anna, his widow, was a woman distinguished among her class, and she
would have been so in a more elevated one. Carefully brought up by her
brother the priest, her understanding was cultivated, her character
grave, her manners dignified, and her virtue instinctive. These
merits, united with {501} her easy circumstances, gave her a real
superiority over those who surrounded her, which she accepted without
misusing. Her son Perico, submissive, modest, and industrious, had
been her consolation, his love for his cousin Rita being the only
disquietude he had ever caused her.
Her daughter Elvira, who was three years younger than Perico, was a
malva in gentleness, a violet in modesty and a lily in purity.
Ill-health in childhood had given to her features, which closely
resembled those of her brother, a delicacy, and an expression of calm
resignation, which lent to her a singular attraction. From her infancy
she had clung to Ventura, the proud and handsome son of Uncle Pedro,
who had been the friend and gossip of the late Alvareda.
The wife of Pedro died in giving birth to a daughter, who from her
infancy had been confided to the care of her mother's sister, a
religious of Alcala. Separated thus from his daughter, Pedro had
concentrated all his affection upon his son, and with pride and
satisfaction had seen him become the handsomest, the bravest, and the
most gallant, of all the youths of the place.
Directly in front of the house of the Alvaredas stood the small
cottage of Maria, the mother of Rita. Maria was the widow of Anna's
brother, who had been superintendent of the neighboring _hacienda_ of
Quintos.
This woman was so good, so without gall, so candid and simple, that
she had never possessed enough force and energy to subdue the decided,
haughty, and imperious character which her daughter had manifested
from her childhood, and these evil dispositions had therefore
developed themselves without restraint. She was violent-tempered,
fickle, and cold-hearted. Her face, extraordinarily beautiful,
seductively expressive, piquant, lively, smiling, and mischievous,
formed a perfect contrast to that of her cousin Elvira.
The one might have been compared to a fresh rose armed with its
thorns; the other to one of those roses of passion, which lift above
their pale leaves a crown of thorns in token of endurance, while they
hide in the depths of their calix the sweetest honey.
In the delineation and classification of the members which composed
this family and those connected with them, we must not omit Melampo,
the dog we have already seen, lazily following Perico on his return
home. We must give him his place, for not all dogs are equal, even in
the eye of the law. Melampo was a grave and honorable dog, without
pretension, even to being a Hercules or an Alcides among his race,
notwithstanding his enormous strength. He seldom barked, and never
without good cause. He was sober and in nothing gluttonous. He never
caressed his masters, but never, upon any pretext, separated himself
from them. He had never, in all his life, bitten any person, and he
despised above all things the attacks of those curs that with stupid
hostility barked at his heels. But Melampo had killed six foxes and
three wolves; and one day had thrown himself upon a bull which was
pursuing his master, and obliged him to stop by seizing him by the
ear, as one might treat a bad child. With such certificates of
service, Melampo slept in the sun upon his laurels.
CHAPTER III.
When the two youths arrived, they found Elvira and Rita leaning each
against a side of the doorway, wrapped in their mantles of yellow
cloth, bordered with black velvet ribbon, such as were worn then by
the women of the country in place of the large shawls which they use
nowadays. They covered the lower part of the face, allowing only the
forehead and eyes to be seen. Having wished them good evening, Perico
said to his sister:
{502}
"Elvira, I warn you that this bird wants to fly; fasten the cage well
. . . He is beside himself to go and fight these _gabachos_ [Footnote
86] who are trying to pass through here like Pedro through his house."
[Footnote 86: _Gabachos_, a term of contempt for Frenchmen.]
"For they say," added Ventura, "that they are approaching Seville; and
must we stand looking on with our arms crossed, without so much as
saying this mouth is my own?"
"Ah goodness!" exclaimed Elvira, "I hope in God that this may not
happen! Do not even speak of it! O my protectress Saint Anna! I offer
thee what I prize so much, my hair, which I will tie up in a tress
with an azure ribbon and hang upon thy altar, if thou wilt save us
from this."
"And I," said Rita, "will offer the Saint two pots of pinks to adorn
her chapel, if it falls out so that you take yourselves off in haste
and do not come back soon."
"Don't say that, even in jest," exclaimed Elvira, distressed.
"Never mind, let her say it; the Saint is sure to prefer the beautiful
tress of your hair to her pinks," observed Ventura.
At this moment the good widow, Maria, approached. She was older than
her sister-in-law, and although hardly sixty years old, was so small
and thin that she appeared much older.
"Children," she cried, "the night is falling, what are you doing out
here, freezing yourselves?"
"How freezing ourselves?" answered Ventura, unbuttoning his collar,
"I'm too warm, the cold is in your bones, Aunt Maria."
"Do not play with your health, my son, nor trust in your youth, for
Death does not look at the record of baptism. This north wind cuts
like a knife, and you are more likely to get a consumption by waiting
here than an inheritance from the Indies."
So saying she passed into the house, all following her, except
Ventura, who went to discharge his commissions.
They found Anna seated before the brasier, the point of reunion round
which families gather m winter. The great copper frying-pan shone like
gold upon its low wooden bench. The floor of the spacious room was
covered with mattings of straw and hemp, around it were arranged rude
wooden chairs, high-backed and low-seated, a low pine table upon which
burned a large metal lamp, and a leathern arm-chair, like those seen
in the barbers' shops of the region, completed the simple furniture of
the room. In the alcove were seen a very high bed, over which was
spread a white counterpane with well starched ruffles; a very large
cedar chest, with supports underneath to preserve it from the dampness
of the floor; a small table of the same wood, upon which, in its case
of mahogany and glass, was a beautiful image of "Our Lady of Sorrows,"
some pious offerings, and the "Mystic Garland; or, Lives of the
Saints," by Father Baltasar Bosch Centellas.
As soon as they were all reunited, including Pedro, the neighbor and
friend of Anna, the latter began to recite the rosary. When the
prayers were finished Anna took up her distaff to spin, Elvira applied
herself to her knitting, and Pedro, who occupied the great chair,
employed himself in the preparation of a cigarette; Perico in roasting
chestnuts and acorns, which, when they were done, he gave to Rita, who
ate them.
"Did you ever!" said Perico, "how the rain holds off! The earth has
turned to stone and the sky to brass. Last year at this time it had
rained so much that the ground could not be seen for the grass that
covered it."
"It is true," said Uncle Pedro, "and now the flocks are perishing with
hunger, notwithstanding that last year their table was so well
spread."
"It appears to me," added Elvira, in her sweet voice, "that it is
going to rain soon. The river wore its black frown to-day, and the old
people say that these frowns are sleeping tempests, which, when the
winds awaken them, drench the world.'"
{503}
"Of course it is going to rain," said Rita; "I saw to-night the star
of the waters which the storm brings for a lantern."
"It is a-going to rain," confirmed Maria, aroused from her dose by the
abrupt and clear voice of her daughter; "my rheumatic pains announce
it to me. Indeed, wind and rain are the fruits of the season, and they
are needed. But I am sorry for the poor herdsmen who pass such nights
in the inn of the stars."
"Don't trouble yourself about them, Maria," said the jovial Uncle
Pedro, who had always a saying, a proverb, a story, or a something, to
bring in support of whatever he asserted. "In this world habit is
everything, and that which seems disagreeable to one, another finds
quite to his liking; custom makes all level as the sea, and gilds all
like the sun. There was once a shepherd that got married to a girl as
lovely as a rose, and as chance would have it, on the very night of
the wedding there arose such a tempest as if all the imps from beneath
had been abroad with thunder and lightning, hurricane and flood. It
was too much for the shepherd; he abandoned his bride and rushed to
the window exclaiming as he dashed it open, 'O blessed night I why am
I not out to enjoy thee!'"
"The bride might well be jealous of such a rival," said Rita, bursting
into a loud laugh.
The clock struck nine, they recited the "animas," and soon afterward
separated.
When the mother and her children were left alone Elvira spread a clean
cloth upon the table and placed upon it a dish of salad. Anna and her
daughter began to sup, but Perico remained seated with his head
inclined over the brasier, absently stirring with the shovel the few
coals which still glowed among the ashes.
"Are you not going to eat your supper, Perico?" said his sister,
extending toward him the fine white bread which she herself had
kneaded.
"I am not hungry," he answered, without lifting his head.
"Are you sick, my son?" asked Anna.
"No, mother," he replied.
The supper was finished in silence, and when Elvira had gone out,
carrying the plates, Perico abruptly said to his mother:
"Mother, I am going to Utrera tomorrow to enlist with the loyal
Spanish who are preparing to defend the country."
Anna was thunderstruck. Accustomed to the docile obedience of her son,
who had never failed to keep his word, she said to him:
"To the war? That is to say that you are going to abandon us. But it
cannot be! You must not do it! You ought not to leave your mother and
sister, and I will not give my consent."
"Mother," said the young man, exasperated, "it is seen that you always
have something to oppose to my desires; you have subjected my will,
and now you wish to fetter my arm; but mother," he proceeded, growing
excited, and impelled by the two greatest motives which can rule a
man--patriotism in all its purity, and love in all its ardor, "mother,
I am twenty-two years old, and I have besides strength enough and will
enough, to break away if you force me to it."
Anna, as much astonished as terrified, clapped her cold and trembling
hands in agony, exclaiming:
"What! is there no alternative between a marriage which will make you
wretched and the war which will cost you your life?"
"None, mother," said Perico, drawn out of his natural character, and
hardened by the dread that he should yield in the contest now fairly
entered upon. "Either I remain to marry, or I go to fulfil the duty of
every young Spaniard."
"Marry, then," said the mother in a grave voice. "Between two
misfortunes I choose the least bitter; but remember, Perico, what your
mother tells you to-day; Rita is vain and light {504} an indifferent
Christian, and an ungrateful daughter. A bad daughter makes a bad
wife--your blood and hers will repel each other. You will remember
what your mother now says, but it will be too late."
Saying these words, the noble woman rose and went into her room to
hide from her son the tears that choked her voice.
Perico, who regarded his mother with as much tenderness as veneration,
made a movement as if to retain her. He would have spoken, but his
timidity and the excitement of his mind confused his faculties. He
found no words, and after a moment of indecision rose suddenly, passed
his hand across his damp forehead, and went out.
During this time Rita, who waited in vain at the grating of her window
for Perico, was impatient and uneasy.
"I won't put up with this!" she said at last, spitefully, closing the
wooden shutter. "You may come now, but upon my life, you shall wait
longer than I have." At this instant a stone rolled against the foot
of the wall, This was the signal agreed upon between her and Perico to
announce his arrival.
"Now you may roll all the stones of Dos-Hermanas and I shall not open
the shutter," said Rita to herself. "Perhaps you think you have me at
your will and pleasure, like your old donkey, but this will never do,
my son."
Another stone came rolling, and bounded back from the wall with more
violence than Perico was accustomed to use.
"Ho!" said Rita, "he appears to be in a hurry; it is well to let him
know that waiting has not the flavor of caramels; I'm only sorry it
doesn't rain pitchforks." But, after a moment of reflection, she
added, "If we quarrel, the one to bathe in rose water will be my
hypocrite of an aunt; afterward Uncle Pedro's daughter, Saint Marcela,
that the old fox keeps shut up in the convent, like a sardine in
pickle, will be brought out to dance, so that she may trap his godson
Perico on the first opportunity. But they shall not see themselves in
that glass, for to frustrate their plans--"
And suddenly opening the window, she finished the sentence:
"I am here." Addressing herself to Perico, she continued with
asperity, "Look here, are you determined to throw down the wall? Why
did you wake me? When I am kept waiting I fall asleep, and when I am
asleep I do not thank anyone for disturbing me; so go back by the way
you came, or by another, it's all the same to me." And she made a
motion as if to shut the blind.
"Rita, Rita!" exclaimed Perico, "I have spoken to my mother."
"You!" said Rita, opening again the half-shut blind. "You don't say
it! Why, this is another miracle like that of Balaam's ass! and what
answer did this '_mater_' not '_amabilis_' give you?"
"She says, yes, that I may marry," answered Perico delightedly.
"Says yes!" mocked Rita. "Saint Quilindon help me! How often a key can
turn! But it belongs to the wise to change their minds. Go along with
you! To-morrow I will come over and condole with her. Perico, what if,
following the good example of your mother, as mine exhorts me to, I
also should change my mind and now say no?"
"Rita, Rita!" cried Perico, beside himself with joy, "you are going to
be my wife."
"That remains to be seen," she responded; "the idea is not like a
silver dollar, which, the oftener you turn it, the prettier it looks."
With these and other absurdities Rita blotted entirely from the mind
of Perico, the solemn impression his mother's words had left there.
{505}
CHAPTER IV.
On the following morning Anna was sitting alone, sad and depressed,
when Uncle Pedro entered. "Neighbor," he said, "here I am, because I
have come."
"May it be for good, neighbor?"
"But I have come because I have something to talk to you about."
"Talk on, neighbor, and the more the better."
"You must know, then, that my wind-mill of a Ventura has taken it into
his head to go and get his hide pierced by those French savages,
confound them!"
"Gently, gently, neighbor; kill an enemy in fair fight, but do not
curse him. Perico also was thinking of the same thing. It is bitter,
old friend, it is cruel for us, but it is natural."
"I do not say the contrary, my friend. _Bad luck to the traitors!_
but, in short, he is my only son, and I would not lose him; no, not
for all Spain. I have found but one means to keep him at home and am
come to tell you what that is."
As he spoke, Pedro was seating himself comfortably in the great
leathern arm-chair, gathering up the ends of his cloak, approaching
his feet to the fire, and settling himself at his ease generally.
"Neighbor," he said, at last, with that profusion of synonymous
phrases in which great talkers indulge, "I abhor preambles, which only
serve to waste the breath. Things ought to be arranged with few words,
and those to the point. One side or the other, and this is mine, that
which can be said in five minutes, why waste an hour talking about it?
that which can be done to-day, why leave it until tomorrow? Of all
roads the shortest is the best, but to come to the point, for I
neither like circumlocution nor--"
"Really," said Anna, interrupting him, "you give occasion to suppose
the contrary. _Do_ come to the point, for you have kept me in suspense
ever since you entered."
"Patience, patience! I can't fire myself off like a musket; by talking
folks come to an understanding. What is there to hurry us? Good
gracious! neighbor, if you are not all fire and tow, and as sudden as
a flash. I was saying, Mrs. Gunpowder, that I had found only one
method of keeping this skyrocket of mine from going off; and that is
to take a step which sooner or later I should have taken; in a word,
and to end the matter, I have come to ask of you your Elvira for my
Ventura, hoping the son I offer you may be as much to your liking as
the daughter I ask you for is to mine."
Anna did not attempt to hide the satisfaction she felt at the prospect
of a union so suitable and equal in every respect, a union that had
been foreseen by the parents, and was as much desired by them as by
their children. Therefore, like the sensible people they were, they
began at once to discuss the conditions of the contract.
"Neighbor," said Anna, "you know what we have as well as I do. The
only question is how to divide it. This house has always gone to the
oldest son; the vineyard belongs to Perico by right, because he has
improved it, and has newly planted the greater part of it; my cows I
give to him, because he has me to support while I live. The ass he
needs."
"Would you tell me, companion of my sins," interrupted Pedro, "what
remains to Elvira? for according to these dispositions, it appears to
me she is coming from your hands as our mother Eve, may she rest in
peace, came from those of the Creator."
"Elvira will have the olive-yard," answered Anna.
"That _is_ the patrimony of a princess," exclaimed Uncle Pedro. "Go
along! an olive-yard the size of a pocket handkerchief, which hardly
yields oil enough for the lamp of the blessed sacrament."
"Twenty years ago it yielded _more than_ a hundred _arrobos_,"
[Footnote 87] observed Anna.
[Footnote 87: _Arroba_ of liquids, 32 pints; of solids, 29 pounds of
16 ounces to the pound.]
"Neighbor," said Pedro, "that which was and is not, is the same as if
it had never been; twenty years ago the girls were dying for me."
{506}
"Forty years ago, you mean," Anna remarked.
"How very exact you are, neighbor," pursued Pedro. "Let us come to the
point. Trees are as scarce in that yard as hairs on the head of Saint
Peter, and those which remain are so dry that they look like church
candlesticks."
"It is plain, my friend, that you have not seen them in a long time.
Since Perico has known that the oliveyard was to be his sister's, the
trees have been taken care of like rose-bushes in pots; each tree
would shade a parade ground. Elvira will have, besides, the fields
that skirt and that are watered by the brook which runs through them."
"And that are so parched and thirsty, you will take notice, because
the brook is one half the year dry and the other half without water,"
added Pedro. "Let us understand each other. I like bread, bread, and
wine, wine; neither bran in the one nor water in the other. Those
fields, neighbor, are poor and unproductive; of no use, except for the
asses to wallow in. But, since no one overhears us, did you not sell
last year two fat hogs, each weighing fifteen _arrobas_, at a shilling
a pound--calculate it, a hundred bushels of barley at fifteen
shillings a bushel, a hundred skins of wine, and fifty of vinegar? Now
this cat which you must have, shut up in a chest, without room to
breathe, what better occasion could there be to give it the air? When
his majesty, Charles V., came to Jerez (so the story goes) they
offered him a rich wine. But such a wine! rather better than that of
your grace's vineyard, and his majesty appears to have been a judge,
for he praised the wine greatly. 'Sir,' said the Alcalde, so puffed up
that his skin could scarce contain him, for you must know that the
people of Jerez are more vain of their wine than I am of my son,
'permit me to inform your majesty that we have a wine even better than
that.' 'Yes?' said the king; 'keep it then for a better occasion;' and
this, neighbor, is the letter I write to you; it is for you to make
the application."
"Which is," said Anna, "that all this money, and somewhat more, I have
saved and put together for the daughter of my heart."
"That's what I call talking," exclaimed Pedro. "Upon my word,
neighbor, you are worth a Peru. As for my Ventura, all I have is his,
since Marcela wishes to take the veil, and you may be sure that he is
not shirtless. He will have my house."
"A mere crib," said Anna.
"My asses."
"They are old"
"My goats."
"That do not make up to you in milk, cheeses, and kids, what they cost
you in fines, they are so vicious."
"And my orchard," continued Pedro, without replying to the raillery
with which Anna revenged herself for his jests.
In such discussion they arranged the preliminaries of the contract,
remaining afterward, as they were before, the best friends in the
world.
When Pedro had gone, Anna put on her woollen mantle, and repressing
her grief, and hiding the extreme repugnance she felt, went to the
house of her sister-in-law.
Maria, who professed for Anna, who was very kind to her, as much love
as gratitude, and as much respect as veneration, received her with
loquacious pleasure.
"It does one's eyes good to see you in this house," she exclaimed, as
Anna entered. "What good thought has brought you, sister?"
And she hastened to place a chair for her guest.
Anna sat down, and made known the object of her visit.
The proposition so filled the poor woman with joy, that she could not
find words to express herself.
"O my sister!" she exclaimed in broken sentences, "what good fortune!
Perico! son of my heart! It is to Saint Antonio that I owe this good
{507} fortune! And you, Anna, are you satisfied? Look here, sister:
Rita, although forward, is really a good-hearted girl. She is wilful,
but that is my fault. If I had brought her up as well as you have
Elvira, she would be different. She is giddy, but you will see (with
years and married life) how steady she will become. All these things
are the effects of my spoiling and of her youth. Rita! Rita!" she
cried, "come, make haste: here is your aunt--what do I say? your
mother, she wishes to become, by marrying you to Perico."
Rita entered with the self-possession of a banker, and the composure
of a diplomatist.
"What do you say, daughter?" cried the delighted mother.
"That I knew it," replied Rita.
"Go along," said the mother in an undertone, "if you are not as calm
as if you were used to it, and cooler than a fresh lettuce."
"And what would you have me do--dance a fandango, because I am going
to be married?" answered Rita, raising her voice.
Anna rose and went out. Maria, extremely mortified by her daughter's
rudeness, went with her sister-in-law as far as the street, lavishing
upon her a thousand expressions of endearment and gratitude.
CHAPTER V.
Preparations were being made for the weddings. That of Elvira and
Ventura was to take place before that of Rita and Perico, as the
former had not to wait for a dispensation from Rome.
Pedro wished his daughter Marcela to assist at her brother's marriage,
before commencing her novitiate, and determined to go to Alcala to
bring her. Maria had a debt to collect there, and needing all her
funds for the expected event, took advantage of her old friend's going
to make the trip in company.
The ancient pair, mounted upon their respective asses, set out on
their journey, crossing themselves, and Maria, the Christian soul,
making a prayer to the holy archangel, Saint Raphael, patron of all
travellers, from Tobias down to herself.
Maria, comfortably seated upon the the cushions of her saddle, dressed
in a wide chintz skirt, which was plaited at the waist, a jacket of
black woollen cloth, of which the closely fitting sleeves were
fastened at the wrist by a row of silver buttons, and round her neck,
a white muslin kerchief, pinned down at the back to keep it from
touching her hair, looked like a burlesque, anticipated, upon the mode
which was to rule among the fashionables thirty years later. A little
shawl covered her head, the ends being tied under her chin.
Pedro wore, with some slight difference, the dress we have already
described in speaking of his son. The cloth was coarser, the bolt
black, as became a widower, his clothes all fitted more loosely, and
his hat had a broader brim, and was without ornament.
"It is a day of flowers!" said Maria, "the fields are smiling, and the
sun seems as if he were telling them to be gay."
"Yes," said Pedro, "the yellow-haired appears to have washed his face,
and sharpened his rays, for they prick like pins."
He took out a little rabbit-skin bag, in which was tobacco, and began
to make a cigarette.
"Maria," said he, when he had finished it, "my opinion is, that, you
will come back from Alcala with your hands as empty as they go. But,
Christian woman, who the deuce tempted you to lend money to that
vagabond? You knew that he had not so much as a place whereon to fall
dead, and nothing in expectation but alternate rations of hunger and
necessity."
"But," said Maria, "to whom shall we lend if not to the poor? the rich
have no need to borrow."
{508}
"And don't you know, big innocent, that 'he who lends to a friend,
loses both the money and the friend!' But you, Maria, are always so
credulous, and I tell you now that this man will pay you in three
instalments: 'badly, late, and never.'"
"You always think the worst, Pedro."
"That is the reason why I always hit the mark; think ill, and you will
think the truth," said the crafty Pedro.
Presently he commenced droning a ballad, of which the interminable
text is as follows:
In my house I heard at night,
Sounds that roused me in affright;
Quick unsheathed my rapier bright,
Stole upstairs with footsteps light.
Searched the dwelling all around,
From the rooftree to the ground,
Listening for the faintest sound--
Nothing heard I, nothing found.
And my story, being new,
I'll repeat it o'er to you.
In my house, etc., etc.
Maria said nothing, nor did she think much more. Rocked by the quiet
pace of her animal, she yielded herself to the indolence which the
balmy spring day induced, and went along sleeping.
Half the road being passed, they came to a small inn. When they
arrived some soldiers were lounging upon the brick seats which were
fixed on each side of the door under the projecting roof. As soon as
they perceived the approach of our venerable couple, they began to
attack them with facetious sayings, burlesque provocations, and
railleries, such as are usual among the country folk, and especially
among the soldiers.
"Uncle," said one, "where are you going with that ancient relic?"
"Aunty," cried another "is the church where you were christened still
standing?"
"Aunt," said another, "does your grace retain any recollection of the
day you were married?"
"Uncle," asked the fourth, "are you going with this maiden to Alcala
to have the bans published?"
"No," answered Pedro, lazily dismounting, "I shall wait for that until
I am of age, and the girl has her growth."
"Aunt," continued the soldiers, "shall we help you down from that gay
colt?"
"It is the best thing you can do, my sons," responded the good woman.
The soldiers approached, and with kindly attention assisted her to
alight.
Pedro found some acquaintances in the tavern who immediately asked him
to drink with them. He did not wait to be urged, and having drank said
to them:
"It is my turn now, and since I have accepted your treat, you, my
friends, and these gentlemen, whom I know only to serve, will do me
the favor to drink a small glass of _anisete_ to my health."
"Uncle Pedro," said a young muleteer of Dos-Hermanas, "tell us a
story; and I in the mean while will take care to keep your glass
filled so that your throat don't get dry."
"Ah me!" exclaimed Aunt Maria, who after having drank her little glass
of _anisette_ [Footnote 88] had seated herself upon some bags of
wheat, "have mercy on us, for if Pedro lets loose his boneless member,
we shall not get back to our place to-night, at least, not without the
miracle of Joshua."
[Footnote 88: Liquor distilled from anise-seed.]
"There is no danger, Maria," answered Pedro, "but you will sit on
those sacks till the corn sprouts."
"Is it true, Uncle Pedro, what my mother says," asked the muleteer,
"that in old times, when you were young, you were a lover of Maria's?"
"It is indeed, and I feel honored in saying it," answered Uncle Pedro.
"What a story!" exclaimed Aunt Maria, "it is a lie as big as a house.
Go along with you, Pedro, for a boaster. I never had a lover in my
life except my husband, 'may he rest in peace.'"
"O Mrs. Maria, Mrs. Maria!" said Pedro, "how very poor is your grace's
memory! for you know the song--
{509}
"Though you take from him the sceptre,
Robes of state, and signet rings,
Still remains unto the monarch
This--that he was once a king."
"It is true," Maria answered, "that he made love to me one day at my
cousin's wedding, and that he came one night to my window; but he got
such a fright there that he left me planted, and ran away as if fear
had lent wings to his feet; and I believe he never stopped until he
ran his nose against the end of the world."
"How is that?" exclaimed the audience, laughing heartily; "is that the
way you show your heels when you are frightened, Uncle Pedro?"
"I neither boast of my courage," replied the latter composedly, "nor
do I wish to gain the palm from _Francisco Esteban_."
"That is being more afraid than ashamed," said Aunt Maria, who was
becoming impatient.
"You see, sirs," said Uncle Pedro, slyly winking, "that she has not
yet forgiven me, which proves, does it not, that she was fond of me?
But I should like to know," he proceeded, "which of you is the _Cid
Campeador_ that would like to have to do with beings of the other
world; with supernatural things?"
"There was nothing more supernatural than your fears," interrupted
Maria, "and they had no more cause than the rolling of a stone from
the roof, by some cat that was keeping vigil."
"Tell us about it. Uncle Pedro, tell us how it happened," cried the
audience.
"You must know then, sirs," began Uncle Pedro, "that the window Maria
indicated to me, was at the back of the house. The house was in a
lonesome place on the outskirts of the town; near by was a picture of
purgatory, with a lamp burning before it. As I looked at the light,
something which happened there a short time before came into mind. A
milkman used to pass by the picture every night as he went out of
town, carrying the empty skins which he brought in at sunrise every
morning, filled with milk. When he came to this place, he did not
scruple to lower the consecrated lamp to light his cigarette. One
night, it was the eve of All Souls, when he had taken the lamp down,
as was his custom, it went out, and he could not light his cigarette.
He found it strange, for the wind slept, and the night was clear. But,
what was his astonishment when a moment after, turning to look back,
he saw the lamp lighted, and burning more brightly than ever.
Recognizing in this a solemn warning from God--touched, and repenting
of the profanation he had done--he made a vow to punish himself by
never smoking another cigarette in his life; and, sirs," added Pedro,
in a grave voice, "he has kept it."
Pedro paused, and for a moment all remained silent.
"This is an occasion," presently said Maria, "to apply the saying,
that when a whole company is silent at once, an angel has passed by,
and the breath of his wings has touched them with awe."
"Come, Uncle Pedro," said the muleteers, "let us hear the rest of the
story."
"Well, sirs," proceeded Pedro, in his former jocose tone, "you must
know that the lamp inspired me with great respect, mingled with not a
little fear. Is it well, I said to myself, to come here and trifle
under the very beards of the blessed souls that in suffering are
expiating their sins? And I assure you, that light which was an
offering to the Lord--which appeared to watch and to record--and
seemed to be looking at me and rebuking me, was an object to impose
respect. Sometimes it was sad and weeping like the _De Profundis_, at
others immovable like the eye of the dead fixed upon me, and then the
flame rose, and bent, and flickered, like a threatening finger of fire
admonishing me.
{510}
"One night, when its regards appeared more threatening than ever
before, a stone, thrown by an invisible hand, struck me on the head
with such force that it left me stupefied; and when I started to run,
though I was, as you might say, in open field, it happened with me as
with that '<DW64> of evil fortune' who, where there were three doors to
go out at, could not find one; and so, running as fast as I could,
instead of coming to my house, I came to a quarry and fell in."
"I have always heard of that <DW64> of evil fortune," said one of the
listeners, "but could never find out how he came to be called so. Can
you tell me?"
"I should think so!" answered Uncle Pedro.
"There was once a very rich <DW64> who lived in front of the house of a
fine young woman, with whom he fell in love. The young woman, vexed by
the soft attentions and endearments of the fellow, laid the matter
before her husband, who told her to make an appointment with the <DW64>
for that evening. She did so, and he came, bringing a world of
presents. She received him in a drawing-room that had three doors.
There she had a grand supper prepared for him. But they were hardly
seated at the table when the light was put out, and the husband came
in with a cowhide, with which he began to lash the <DW64>'s shoulders.
The latter was so confounded that he could not find a door to escape
through, and kept exclaiming as he danced under the blows:
"Poor little <DW64>, what evil fortune!
Where there are three doors, he cannot find one.'
"At last, he chanced upon one, and rushed out like the wind. But the
husband was after him, and gave him a push that sent him from the top
of the stairs to the bottom. A servant hearing the noise he made, ran
to ask the cause. 'What would it be,' answered the black, 'but that I
went up on my tiptoes and came down on my ribs?'
"Que he subido de puntillas.
The bajado de costillas."
"Uncle Pedro," asked the muleteer, laughing, "was that the cause of
your remaining estranged?"
"No," said Pedro, "eight days afterwards, I armed myself with courage
and returned to the grating, but Maria would not open the window."
"Aunt Maria did not want you to be stoned to death like Saint
Stephen," said the muleteer.
"It was not that, boy; the truth is, that Miguel Ortiz, who had just
completed his term, returned to the place, and it suited Maria to
forsake one and take up with another who----"
"Was not afraid," interrupted Maria, "to talk, with good intentions,
to a girl in the neighborhood of a _consecrated object_; for, do you
suppose that all those souls were spinsters?"
"I think so, Maria, because the married pass their purgatory in this
world--the men, because their wives torment them, and the women,
through what their children cause them to suffer. Well, sirs, I took
the matter so to heart that I could not stay in Dos-Hermanas when the
wedding was celebrated, and I went to Alcala."
"Where he remembered me so well, that he came back married to
another."
"It is true, for I have always thought it best 'when one king is dead,
to set up another.'"
"Ah Pedro! everlasting talker," said Maria getting up, "let us go."
"Yes, let us go; for the sun is as hot as if he were flying away from
the clouds, and I think it will rain."
"God forbid!" exclaimed Maria, "give us the sun and wasps though they
sting!"
"Why should it rain, since we are in March?" put in the muleteer.
"And don't you know, Jose" replied Uncle Pedro, "that January promised
a lamb to March, but when March arrived the lambs were so fat and fine
that January would not fulfil the promise? Then March was vexed and
said to him,
'With three days left me of my own.
And three friend April will me loan,
I'll pat your sheep in such a state,
You'll wish you'd paid me when too late.'
{511}
"And so let us be off. Good-by, gentlemen."
"What a hurry you are in, Aunt Maria!" said the muleteer. "Are you
afraid you shall take root?"
"No, but these asses of ours do not go like yours, Jose."
"That is so," said Pedro as he assisted Maria to mount; "with us, all
is old--the horsewoman, her squire, and the steeds. My ass is so
judicious that she cannot make up her mind upon which foot to limp,
and therefore limps on all four; and that of Maria so old, that, if
she could speak, she would say 'thee and thou' to us all. Well,
gentlemen, your commands."
"Health and dimes to you, Uncle Pedro."
Our travellers took the road again, and when they reached Alcala,
separated to attend to their respective affairs.
An hour afterward they rejoined each other. Pedro came accompanied by
his daughter, who threw herself upon Maria's neck with that tender
sentimentality of young girls whose hearts have not been bruised,
wounded, or chilled, by contact with the world.
"You have collected your money?" questioned Pedro, as though he
doubted it.
"They offered me half now," answered Maria, "or the whole after
harvest; and, as I am in want of my dimes, I preferred the former."
"Not Solomon, Maria! not even Solomon! could have acted more wisely;
for, 'blessed is he that possesses,' and 'one bird in the hand is
worth a hundred on the wing.'"
Pedro took his daughter up behind him, and they set out--Maria taking
care of her money; Marcela of the flowers, spices, cakes, and
sweetmeats she had bought as gifts; and Pedro looking after them both.
CHAPTER VI.
The arrival of Marcela caused great joy to all except Rita, who
neither wished nor tried to hide the ill-humor she felt in the
presence of one who had been destined by both families to be the wife
of Perico.
This hostile disposition, and the cold reserve which Rita imposed upon
Perico in his intercourse with Marcela, were the first frosts which
had ever fallen upon the springtime of that pure spirit.
Marcela was far from suspecting the base and bitter sentiments of
Rita, and besides, she would not have understood them; for, though a
young woman, she had the soul of a child. Having lived in the convent
from her birth, she had created for herself a sweet existence, which
could not be enlarged by the interests and passions of life, except at
the cost of innocence and happiness. She loved her good religious, her
garden, her gentle and peaceful duties. She was attached to her
devotions, to her church, and to her blessed images. She wished to be
a nun, not from spiritual exaltation, but because she liked the life;
not from misanthropy, but with joy of heart; not because she was
without convenient place or position in the world, which many believe
to be a motive for taking the veil, but because her position, her
place, she found--and preferred it--in the convent.
This is what many do not, or pretend not to comprehend. Everything can
be understood in this world; all vices; all irregularities; all the
most atrocious inclinations; even the propensity of the Anthropophagi;
but that the desire for a tranquil and retired life, without care for
the present, or thought for the future, can exist, is denied, is
incomprehensible.
In the world everything is believed in--the masculine woman, the
morality of stealing, the philanthropy of the guillotine, in the
inhabitants of the moon, and other humbugs, as the English say; or
_canards_, as our neighbors have it; or _bubbles_ and _fables_, as we
call them. The satirical sceptic, called the world, has a throat {512}
down which all these can pass, for there is nothing so credulous as
incredulity, nor so superstitious as irreligion. But it does not
believe in the instincts of purity, in modest desires, in humble
hearts, and in religious sentiments. No indeed; the existence of these
is all humbug, a _bubble_ which it cannot receive. This monster has
not a throat wide enough for these.
Marcela, accompanied by Anna and Elvira, made her first visit to the
church, and to the chapel of Saint Anna, into which the good wife of
the sacristan hastened to lead them.
The chapel is deep and narrow; at the extremity is an altar and the
effigy of the saint. In a crystal urn, inserted into the altar, is
seen a wooden cross and a small bell. The effigy of Saint Anna is very
ancient; its lower part widens in the form of a bell, upon its breast
it bears an image of the Blessed Virgin, which in the same manner
bears that of the child Jesus. The remote origin stamped upon this
effigy, uniting antiquity of idea with age of material, gives, as it
were, wings to the devotion it inspires with which to rise and free
itself from all present surroundings. On the wall, at the right hand,
hang two large pictures. In one is seen an angel, appearing to two
girls, and in the other the same girls, in a wild and solitary place,
with a man who is digging a hole in the earth.
On the left hand an iron railing surrounds the entrance to a cave, the
descent into which is by a narrow stairway.
Marcela and her companions having performed their devotions, seated
themselves in some low chairs which the sacristan's wife placed for
them under the arbor in the court-yard, and Marcela asked the obliging
and kindly woman to explain to them the two pictures which they had
seen in the chapel. The good creature, who loved to tell the story,
began it very far back, and related it in the following words.
POPULAR TRADITION OF DOS-HERMANAS.
"In times the memory of which is almost lost, a wicked king, Don
Rodrigo, ruled in Spain. It was then customary for the nobles of the
realm to send their daughters to court, and therefore the noble count,
Don Julian, sent his fair daughter Florinda, known as _La Cava_. When
the king saw her he was inflamed with passion, but she being virtuous,
the king obtained by violence that which he could not by consent. When
the beautiful Florinda saw herself dishonored, she wrote to the
Count--with blood and tears she wrote it, in these words:
"'Father, your honor and mine are blemished; more to your renown would
it have been, and better for me, if you had killed me, instead of
bringing me here. Come and avenge me.'
"When the Count, Don Julian, read the letter, he fell down in a swoon,
and when he came to himself he swore, upon the cross of his sword, to
take a vengeance the like of which had never been heard of, and one
proportioned to the offence.
"With this intention, he treated with the Moors and gave up to them
Tarifa and Algeciras, and like a swollen river which breaks its
embankments they inundated Andalusia. They reached Seville, known in
those times as _Hispalis_, and this place, then called _Oripo_. The
Christians, before they fled, buried deep in the earth the venerated
image of their patroness Saint Anna. And there it remained five
hundred years, until the good king Fernando, having made himself
master of the surrounding country, invested Seville. Here, however,
the Moors made such a stubborn resistance that the spirit of the
monarch began to fail him. Then, in the tower of _Herveras_, now
fallen to ruin, Our Blessed Mother appeared to him in a dream,
animating his valor, and promising him victory. The good king returned
to his camp at Alcala with renewed courage. He summoned all the
artificers that could {513} be found, and commanded them to make an
image, as nearly as possible in the likeness of his vision, but to his
great chagrin no one succeeded.
"There then presented themselves, two beautiful youths, dressed like
pilgrims, offering to make an image in every particular like the form
the good king had seen in his vision. They were conducted to a
workshop in which they found prepared for them everything necessary
for their work. The following day, when the king, stimulated by his
impatience, went in to see how the work was progressing, the pilgrims
had disappeared. The materials were lying on the floor untouched, and
upon an altar was an image of our Lady, just as she had appeared to
him in his sleep. The king, recognizing the intervention of the
angels, knelt weeping before the image he had wished for so much, and
which, by the hands of angels, their Queen herself had sent him.
"Afterward, when the pious chief had reduced Seville, he caused this
image to be placed in a triumphal car drawn by six white horses, his
majesty walking behind with naked feet, and deposited in the cathedral
of Seville, where it is still venerated, and where it will continue to
be venerated until the end of time, under the invocation of our Lady
of Kings. In her chapel, at her feet, lies the body of the sainted
monarch--relics, of the possessions of which all Spain may well envy
Seville.
"Soon after the appearance of the vision, the king with great
confidence in the help of God prepared to make another attack. He
posted himself upon the neighboring heights of Buena Vista: the two
wings of his brave army extending on both sides, like two arms ready
to do his will. But the troops were so weary, and so faint from heat
and thirst, that they had neither strength nor spirit left. In this
strait, the good king built up an altar of arms, upon which he placed
an image of the Blessed Virgin which he always carried with him,
calling upon her in these words, 'Aid me! aid me! Holy Mother, for if
by thy help I set up the cross to-day in Seville, I promise to build
thee a chapel in this very spot, in which thou shalt be venerated, and
I will deposit in it the standards under which the city shall be
gained.' As he prayed, a beautiful spring began to flow at the foot of
the ridge, sending forth in different directions seven streams. It
flows still, and bears the name of The King's Fountain.
"Men and horses refreshed themselves, and recovered strength and
courage. Seville was won, and the Moorish King Aixa came bearing the
keys of the city upon a golden salver, and presented them to the pious
conqueror. They are kept with other precious relics in the treasury of
the cathedral.
"In those times," proceeded the narrator, "there lived in the province
of Leon two devout sisters, named Elvia and Estefania, to whom an
angel appeared and told them to set out for the purpose of finding an
image of Our Lady which the Christians had hidden under the earth. The
father of the devout maidens, Gomez Mazereno, who was as pious as they
were, wished to go with them. But on setting out they were in great
trouble, not knowing what direction to take. Then they heard the sound
of a bell in the air. They saw no bell, but followed the ringing until
they came to this place, where it seemed to go down into the ground at
their feet. This was then an uncultivated waste of matted thorns and
briers, and was called 'The Invincible Thicket,' because the Moors,
who had all these lands under cultivation could never cut it down;
for, unseen by them, an angel guarded it with a drawn sword in his
hand. They began zealously to dig, and digging came to a large flat
stone, which being lifted, they discovered the entrance to a cave--the
same that you saw in the chapel. In it they found the image of the
saint, a cross, the {514} small bell, which, like the star of the
eastern kings had led them here, and a lamp still burning--the very
lamp that lights the saint now, for it hangs in the chapel before her
altar! For more than a thousand years it has burned in veneration of
our patroness. They took up her image and raised this chapel in her
name. Houses were built and clustered together round it, until this
village, which takes the name of Dos-Hermanas from its founders, was
formed under its shelter. See," continued the good woman, rising and
reentering the chapel, "see here the image which nothing has been able
to injure; neither the dampness of the earth, nor dust of the air, nor
the canker of time. In these two pictures are the portraits of the
devout sisters." A great quantity of offerings were seen hanging on
both sides of altar. Of these seven little silver legs, tied together
and suspended by a rose- ribbon, attracted Marcela's attention.
"What is the meaning of that offering?" she asked of the sacristan's
wife.
"Marcos, the blacksmith, brought them here. It happened, one day, that
the poor fellow was seized with such violent pains in his legs, that
it seemed as though he could neither live nor die.
"His wife having administered to him without effect all the remedies
that were ordered, took him, stretched upon a cart, to Seville. But
neither could the doctors there do anything to relieve him. One day,
after the unfortunate man had spent all he possessed in remedies, made
desperate by his suffering, and by the cries of his children for the
bread which he had not to give them, he lifted his broken heart to
God, claiming as his intercessor our blessed patroness Saint Anna,
praying with fervor to be made well until such time as his children
should no longer need him; adding: When my children are grown up I
will die without murmuring. And if, until then, I regain my health, I
promise, Blessed Saint, to hang, every year, a little silver leg upon
thy altar, in attestation of the miracle.' The next day Marcos came on
foot to give thanks to God. Years passed. The sons of Marcos had grown
up and were earning their living. There remained with him only a young
daughter. She had a lover who asked her of her father. The wedding was
gay, only Marcos seemed to be in deep thought On the following day he
took his bed, from which he never rose. What he asked had been
granted. His task was done."
"And these ears of grain?" said Marcela, seeing a bunch of wheat tied
with a blue ribbon.
"They were brought by Petrola, the wife of Gomez. These poor people
had only the daily wages of the father for the support of eight
children. They had begged the use of a small field to sow with wheat,
and in it were sown also their hopes. With what pleasure they watched
it, and with what satisfaction! for it repaid their care, growing so
luxuriantly that it looked as if they sprinkled it every morning with
blessed water. One day a neighbor came from the field and told the
poor woman that the locust was in her wheat. The locust! One of the
plagues of Egypt! It was as if a bolt from heaven had struck her.
Leaving her house and her little ones, she rushed out wildly, with her
arms extended and not knowing what she did. 'Saint Anna,' she cried,
'my children's bread! my children's bread!' She reached the field and
saw in one corner the track of the locust. This insect destroys the
blades from the foot without leaving a sign. But between its track and
the rest of the field an invisible wall had been raised to protect the
wheat of the pious mother who invoked the saint, and the locust had
disappeared. You can imagine the delight and gratitude of the good
woman, who was so poor that she testified it by the gift of these few
blades of the precious grain."
{515}
Anna, Elvira, and Marcela listened with softened and fervent hearts,
and eyes moistened with tears. With the same emotions the relation has
been transmitted to paper. God grant that it may be read in like
spirit!
CHAPTER VII.
May smiled. Golden with sunlight, noisy with the song of its birds and
the murmur of its insects; odorous with its flowers, laughing, and
happy to be the month, of all others, dedicated to Mary.
The wedding day of Ventura and Elvira had arrived, and the sun, like a
friend that hastened to be the first to give them joy, rose radiant.
They were ready to set out for the church. Anna pressed to her heart
the child of her love, the gentle Elvira, so humble and thoughtful in
her gladness that she stood with drooping head and eyes cast down, as
if oppressed and dazzled by so much joy. Uncle Pedro, who had never
been so glad in all his life, exceeded even himself in jokes, hints,
and facetious sayings. Maria, transported with her own delight, and
that of others, shed tears continually--tears, like the rain drops,
which sometimes fall from a clear sky when the sun is bright.
As his rays shine through those drops, so shone Maria's smile through
her tears.
"Dear sister," said Marcela to Elvira, "next to mine, my sweet Jesus,
your bridegroom is the best and most perfect. See my Ventura, how well
he appears; if he had only a spray of lilies in his hand, he would
look like Saint Joseph in 'The Espousals.'"
And she had reason to praise her brother, for Ventura, neatly and
richly dressed, more animated and gallant than ever, hurrying the
others to set out, was the type a sculptor would have chosen for a
statue of Achilles.
Perico forgot even Rita. His large, soft brown eyes were fixed upon
his sister with a look of deep and inexplicable tenderness. Rita only
was indifferent and petulant.
They were leaving the house when a strange sound reached their ears. A
sound which seemed to be made up of the bellowing of the enraged bull,
the lamentations of the wounded bird, and the growl of the lion
surprised in his sleep.
It was the cry of alarm and rage of the flocks of fugitives that were
arriving, and the exclamations of astonishment and indignation of the
people of the village that were preparing to imitate them.
The French had entered Seville with giant strides, and were hurrying
on in their devastating march toward Cadiz.
Perico having foreseen this event, had prepared a place of refuge for
his family, in a solitary farm-house, far apart from any public way,
and had horses standing in the stables ready against surprise.
While the men rushed into the yard to prepare the animals, the women,
wild with fear, gathered and tied together the clothes and whatever
else they could carry with them in the panniers.
"What a sad omen!" said Elvira to Ventura; "the day which should join
us together separates us."
"Nothing can separate us, Elvira," answered Ventura; "I defy the whole
world to do it. Go without fear. We are going to prepare ourselves,
and shall overtake you on the road."
Ventura saw them depart under the protection of Perico, and watched
them until they were out of sight.
But now was heard at the entrance of the village the fatal sound of
drums, which announced the arrival of the terrible phalanx that threw
itself upon that poor unarmed people, taken by surprise, and treated
without mercy.
{516}
It came in the name of an iniquitous usurpation of which the
precedents belong to barbarous times, as the resistance it met with
belongs to the days of heroism--a resistance against which it dashed
and was broken, fighting without glory and yielding without shame.
"Follow me, father," said Ventura. "Sister, come; we must fly!"
"It is too late," replied Pedro, "they are already here. Ventura, hide
your sister; when night comes we will escape, but now hide
yourselves."
"And you, father?" said Ventura, hesitating between necessity and the
repugnance he felt to being obliged to hide himself.
"I," answered Pedro, "remain here. What can they do to a poor old man
like me? Go, I tell you! Hide yourselves! Marcela, what are you doing
there, poor child, as cold and fixed as a statue? Ventura, what are
you thinking of that you do not move? Do you wish to be lost? Do you
wish to lose your sister? Ventura! dear son, do you wish to kill me?"
His father's cry of anguish roused Ventura from the stupor into which
he had been thrown by fear, uncertainty, and rage.
"It is necessary," he murmured, with clenched hands, and set teeth.
"Father, father! to hide myself like a woman! while I live I shall
never get over the shame of it!" and taking a ladder, he lifted it to
an opening in the ceiling, which formed the entrance to a sort of loft
or garret, where they kept seeds, and worn-out and useless household
articles, helped his sister to mount, went up himself, and drew the
ladder after him.
It was time, for there was a knocking at the door. Pedro opened it,
and a French soldier entered.
"Prepare me," he said in his jargon, "food and drink: give me your
money, unless you want me to take it, and call your daughters, if you
do not wish me to look them up."
The blood of the honorable and haughty Spaniard rose to his face, but
he answered with moderation,
"I have nothing that you ask me for."
"Which means that you have nothing, you thief? Do you know whom you
are talking to, and that I am hungry and thirsty?"
Pedro, who had expected to pass the whole of this long wished-for day
of his son's marriage in Anna's house, and had therefore nothing
prepared, approached the door which communicated with the interior of
the house, and pointing to the extinguished hearth, repeated, "As I
have already told you, there is nothing to eat in the house, except
bread."
"You lie!" shouted the Frenchman in a rage; "it is because you do not
mean to give it to me."
Pedro fixed his eyes upon the grenadier, and in them burned, for an
instant all the indignation, all the rage, all the resentment he
harbored in his soul; but a second thought, at which he shuddered,
caused him to lower them, and say in a conciliating tone:
"Satisfy yourself that I have told you the truth."
On hearing this continued refusal, the soldier, already exasperated by
the glance Pedro had cast at him, approached the old man and said;
"You dare to face me; you refuse to comply with your obligation to
supply me. Ha! and worse than all, you insult me with your tranquil
contempt. Upon my life, I will make you as pliant as a glove!" and
raising his hand, there resounded through the house, dry and distinct,
a blow on the face.
Like an eagle darting upon its prey, Ventura dropped down, threw
himself upon the Frenchman, forced the sword from his hand, and ran it
through his body. The soldier fell heavily, a lifeless bulk.
"Boy, boy, what have you done?" exclaimed the old man, forgetting the
affront in the peril of his son.
"My duty, father."
"You are lost!"
"And you are avenged."
"Go, save yourself! do not lose an instant."
{517}
"First, let me take away this debtor, whose account is settled. If
they find him here, you will have to suffer, father."
"Never mind, never mind," exclaimed the father, "save yourself, that
is the first thing to be thought of."
Without listening to his father. Ventura took the corpse upon his
shoulder, threw it into the well, turned to the old man, who followed
him in an agony of distress, asked for his blessing, sprang with one
bound, upon the wall which surrounded the yard, and to the ground on
the other side. The poor father, mounted upon the trunk of a fig-tree,
holding on by its branches, with bursting heart, and straining eyes,
and breath suspended, saw his son, the idol of his soul, pass with the
lightness of a deer, the space which separated the village from an
olive plantation, and disappear among the trees.
TO BE CONTINUED.
------
[ORIGINAL.]
SAPPHICS.
SUGGESTED BY "THE QUIP" OF GEORGE HERBERT
Stratus in terram meditans jacebam;
Saeculum molle et petulans procaxqae,
Asseclas tristem stimulabat acri
Laedere lusu.
Pulchra, quam tinxit Cytherea, rosa,
"Cujus, quaeso," inquit, "manus, infaceta
Carpere inaudax?" Tibi linquo causam,
Victor Iesu!
Tinnitans argentum: "Melos istud audi:
Musicae nostine modes suaves?"
Inquit et fugit. Tibi linquo causam,
Victor Iesu!
Gloria tunc tollens caput et coruscans,
Sericis filis crepitans, me figit
Oculis limis. Tibi linquo causam,
Victor Iesu!
Gestiit scomma sceleratis aptum,
Callida lingua acuisse Ira;
Conticescat jam. Tibi linquo causam,
Victor Iesu!
Attamen cum Tu, die constituto,
Eligisti quos Tibi vindicassis,
Audiam o, dextro lateri statatus,
"Euge fidelis"
Sti. Lodoiel, in Ascensione Domini, 1866.
R. A. B.
------
{518}
[ ORIGINAL.]
PROBLEMS OF THE AGE.
IV.
THE REVELATION OF GOD IN THE CREED
DEMONSTRATED IN THE CONSTITUTIVE
IDEA OF REASON.
As soon as we open the eye of reason we become spectators of the
creation. The word creation in this proposition is to be understood
not in a loose and popular sense, but in a strict and scientific one.
We intend to say, not merely that we behold certain existing objects,
but that we behold them in their relation to their first and supreme
cause. We are witnesses of the creative act by which the Creator and
his work are simultaneously disclosed to the mind. This is the
original constitutive principle of reason, its primal light preceding
all knowledge and thought, and being their condition. It is the idea
which contains in itself, radically and in principle, all possible
development of thought and knowledge, according to the law of growth
connatural to the human intelligence. It includes--God with all his
attributes: the work of God or the created universe; and the relation
between the two, that is, the relation of God to the universe as first
cause in the order of creation, and final cause in the order of the
ultimate end and destination of things. The different portions of this
idea are inseparable from each other. That is, our reason cannot
affirm God separately from the affirmation of the creative act, or
affirm the creative act separately from the affirmation of God. The
being of God is disclosed to us only by the creation, and the creation
is intelligible to us only in the light given by the idea of God.
[Footnote 89] God reveals himself to our reason as creator, and by
means of the creative act. This is the limit of our natural light, and
beyond it we cannot see anything by a natural mode, either in God, or
in the universe.
[Footnote 89: A careful attention to the succeeding argument will
show that by the idea of God given to intuition, is not meant the
evolved idea, but the idea capable of evolution, or the idea of
infinite, necessary being, which is shown to be the Idea of God by
demonstration.]
The idea of God must not be confounded with that distinct and explicit
conception which a philosopher or well-instructed Christian possesses.
If the human mind possessed this knowledge by an original intuition,
every human being would have it, without instruction, from the very
first moment of the complete use of reason, and could never lose it.
The idea of God is the affirmation of himself as pure, eternal,
necessary being, the original and first principle of all existence,
which he makes to the reason in creating it, and which constitutes the
rational light and life of the soul. This constitutive, ideal
principle of the soul's intelligence exists at first in a kind of
embryonic state. The soul is more in a state of potentiality to
intelligence, than intelligence in act. The idea of God is obscurely
enwrapped and enfolded in the substance of the soul, imperfectly
evolved in its most primitive acts of rational consciousness, and
implicitly contained but not actually explicated in every thought that
it thinks, even the most simple and rudimental. The intelligence must
be educated, in order to bring out this obscure and implicit idea of
God into a distinct conception in the reflective consciousness. This
education begins with the action of the material, sensible world on
the soul through the body, and specifically through the brain. The
human soul was not created to exist and act under the simple
conditions of pure spirit; but as is incorporated in a material body.
The body is not a temporary habitation, like the envelope of a larva,
but an integral part of man. The {519} intelligence is awakened to
activity through the senses, and all its perceptions of the
intelligible are through the medium of the sensible. The sensible
world is a grand system of outward and visible signs representing the
spiritual and intelligible world. Language is the science and art of
subsidiary signs, the equivalents of the phenomena of the sensible
world and of all that we apprehend through them; and forming the
medium for communicating thought among men. For this reason, all
language so far as it represents the conceptions of men concerning the
spiritual word is metaphorical; and even the word _spirit_ is a figure
taken from the sensible world.
When the obscure idea is completely evolved, and the soul educated,
through these outward and sensible media, the reflective consciousness
attains to the distinct conception of God. This education may be
imperfect, and the reflective consciousness may have but an incomplete
conception expressed in language by an inadequate formula; but the
idea is indestructible, and the mental conception of it can never be
totally corrupted. This would be equivalent to the cessation of all
thought, the annihilation of all conception of being and truth, and
the extinction of all rational life in the soul. It is a mere negation
of thought, which cannot be thought at all, and a mere non-entity.
There is no such thing as absolute scepticism. Partial scepticism is
possible. Revelation may be denied as to its complete conception, but
the idea expressed in revelation cannot be utterly denied. The being
of God may be denied, as to its complete conception, but not
completely as to the idea itself. No sceptic or atheist can make any
statement of his doubt or disbelief, which does not contain an
affirmation of that ultimate idea under the conception of real and
necessary being and truth. Much less can he enunciate any scientific
formulas respecting philosophy, history, or any positive object,
without doing so. Vast numbers of men are ignorant of the true and
formed conception of God, but every one of them affirms the idea in
every distinct thought which he thinks; and every human language,
however rude, embodies and perpetuates it under forms and conceptions
which are remotely derived from the original and infallible speech of
the primitive revelation. Although the mass of mankind cannot evolve
the idea of God into a distinct conception, and even gentile
philosophy failed to enunciate this conception in an adequate form,
yet when this conception is clearly and perfectly enunciated by pure
theistic and Christian philosophy, reason is able to recognize it as
the expression of its own primitive and ultimate idea. It perceives
that the object which it has always beheld by an obscure intuition, is
God, as proposed in the first article of the Christian formula. The
Christian church, in instructing the uninstructed or partially
instructed mind in pure theism, interprets to it, and explicates for
it, its own obscure intuition. Thus it is able to see the truth of the
being of God; not as a new, hitherto unknown idea, received on pure
authority, or by a long deduction from more ultimate truths, or as the
result of a number of probabilities; but as a truth which constitutes
the ultimate ground of its own rational existence, and is only
unfolded and disclosed to it in its own consciousness by the word and
teaching of the instructor, who gives distinct voice to its own
inarticulate or defectively uttered affirmation of God. So it is, that
God affirms himself to the reason originally by the creative act which
is first apprehended by the reason through the medium of the sensible,
and interpreted by the sensible signs of language to the uninstructed.
Thus we know God by creation, and the creation comes into the most
immediate contact with us on its sensible side.
It has been said above, that we cannot separate the creative act from
God in the primitive idea of reason. It is not meant by this that
reason has {520} an intuition of God as necessarily a creator. What is
meant is, that the idea of God present to an intelligent mind distinct
from God, presupposes the creative act affirming to it an object
distinct from itself, and itself as distinct from the object. When the
subject is conscious of this truth, "God affirms himself to me," there
are two terms in the formula, "God," and "Me;" involving the third
uniting term of the creative act. The perception of other existences
is simultaneous with the perception of himself, but logically prior to
it; and his first rational act apprehends the existence of contingent,
created substances, as well as the being of the absolute, uncreated
essence. The elements of God and creation are in the most ultimate and
primitive act of reason, and therefore in its constitutive idea. The
creation is the idea of finite essences in God externized by the Word
who speaks them into existence. By the same Word, the intelligent,
rational portion of creation is enlightened with the knowledge of this
idea. It beholds God, as he expresses this idea in the creative act,
and in no otherwise. It cannot see immediately, the necessity of his
being, or, so to speak, the cause why God is and must be, but only the
affirmation of this necessity in the creative act. But this
affirmation is necessarily in conformity with the truth. It presents
being as absolute, and creation as contingent, and therefore not
necessary. False conceptions may not discriminate accurately between
the two terms, being and existence; but when these false conceptions
are corrected, and the idea brought fully into light, the very terms
in which it is expressed clearly indicate God as alone necessary,
creation as contingent, and the creative act as proceeding from the
free will of the Creator.
God, and creation, are thus simultaneously affirmed in the creative
act constituting the soul; although God is affirmed as first and
creation second, in the logical order: God as cause and creation as
effect; and although creation may be first distinctly perceived and
reflected on, as being more connatural to the reflecting subject
himself, and more directly in contact with his senses and reflecting
faculties. The knowledge of God is limited to that which he expresses
by the similitude of himself exhibited in the creation. Our positive
conceptions of God in the reflective order are therefore derived from
the imitations, or representations of the divine attributes in the
world of created existences. An infinite, and, to natural powers,
impassable abyss, separates us from the immediate intuition of the
Divine Essence. The highest contemplative cannot cross this chasm; and
the ultimatum of mystic theology is no more than the confession that
the essence of God is unseen and invisible to any merely human
intuition, unknown and unknowable by the natural power of any finite
intelligence. We know _ut Deus sit, sed non quid sit Deus--that _God
is, but not _what_ he is. We know that God is, by the affirmation of
his being to reason. [Footnote 90] We form conceptions that enable
our reflective faculties to grasp this affirmation, by means of the
created objects in which he manifests his attributes, and through
which, as through signs and symbols, images and pictures, he
represents his perfections.
[Footnote 90: That is, after we have demonstrated that which is
involved in the idea of being.]
This is the doctrine of St. Paul, the great father of Christian
theology.
"Quis enim hominum, scit quae sunt hominis, nisi spiritus hominis
qui in ipso est? Ita, et quae Dei sunt, nemo cognovit, nisi Spiritus
Dei."
"For what man knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit of man which
is in him? So the things also that are of God, no one knoweth but the
Spirit of God."
We understand this to mean, that God alone has naturally the immediate
intuition of his own essence and of the interior life and activity of
his own being within himself.
{521}
"Quod notum est Dei manifestum est in illis, Deus enim illis
manifestavit. Invisibilia enim ipsius, a creatura mundi, per ea quae
facta sunt intellecta, conspiciuntar; sempiterna quoqne ejus virtus et
divinitas." "That which is known of God is manifest in them. For God
hath manifested it to them. For the invisible things of him, from the
creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made; his eternal power also and divinity."
That is, God affirms himself distinctly to the reason by the creative
act, and simultaneously with the showing which he makes of his works.
"Videmus nunc per speculum in enigmate."
"We see now through a glass in an obscure manner, or more literally,
in a riddle, parable, or allegory." [Footnote 91]
[Footnote 91: 1 Cor. ii. 11; Rom. i. 19, 20; 1 Cor. xiii. 12.]
That is, we understand the attributes and interior relations of God as
these are made intelligible to our minds by analogies derived from
created things, in which, as in a mirror, the image of God is
reflected. The original and obscure idea of God given to reason in its
constitution--but given only on that side of it which faces creation,
including therefore in itself creation and its relation to the
creator--may be represented in various forms. It must be distinctly
borne in mind that our natural intuition is not an intuition of the
substance or essence of the divine being, or an intuition of God by
that uncreated light in which he sees himself and his works. God
presents himself to the natural reason as Idea, or the first principle
of intelligence and the intelligible, by the intelligibility which he
gives to the creation. He does not disclose himself in his personality
to the intellectual vision, but affirms himself to reason by a divine
judgment. Our natural knowledge of God is therefore exclusively in the
ideal order. The intuition from which this knowledge is derived may be
called the intuition of the infinite, the eternal, the absolute the
necessary, the true, the beautiful, the good, the first cause, the
ultimate reason of things, etc. Real and necessary being, considered
as the ground of the contingent and as facing the created intellect,
adequately embraces and represents all. This intuition enters into all
thought and is inseparable from the activity of the intelligent mind.
The intellect always does and must apprehend, the real, which is
identical with the ideal, in its thought; and when this reality or
verity which it apprehends is reflected on, it always yields up two
elements, the necessary and the contingent, the infinite and the
finite, the absolute and the conditioned. In apprehending God, we
necessarily apprehend that the soul which apprehends and the creation
by which it apprehends him, must exists. In apprehending creation, we
apprehend that God must be in order that the creation may have
existence. If we could suppose reason to begin with the idea of God,
pure and simple, we could not show how it could arrive at any idea of
the creature. Neither could we, beginning with the exclusive idea of
the conditioned, deduce the idea of the absolute and necessary. We can
never arrive by discursive reasoning, by reflection, by logic, by
deduction or induction, at any truth, not included in the principles
or intuitions with which we start. Demonstration discovers no new
truth, but only discloses what is contained in the intuitions of
reason. It explicates, but does not create. All that we know therefore
about being and existences is contained implicitly in our original
intuition.
Real being is the immediate object apprehended by reason, as St.
Thomas teaches, after Aristotle. "Ens namque est objectum intellectus
primum, cum nihil sciri possit, nisi ipsum quod est ens in actu, ut
dicitur in 9 Met. Unde nec oppositum ejus intelligere potest
intellectus, non ens." "For being is the primary object of the
intellect, since nothing can be known but that which is being in act,
as it is said in the 9 Met. Wherefore the intellect cannot {522}
apprehend its opposite or not being." [Footnote 92] This appears to
be plain. Either the intelligible which the intelligence apprehends is
real or unreal, actual being or not being, entity or nonentity,
something or nothing. If the intelligence apprehends the unreal, not
being, not entity, no thing; it is not intelligence, it does not
apprehend. These very terms are unstatable except as negations of a
positive idea. I must have the idea of the real, or of being in act,
before I can deny it. I must have the idea of my own existence before
I can deny I existed a century ago. If I deny or question my present
existence, I must affirm it first, before I deny it, by making myself
the subject of a certain predicate, non-existence, or dubious
existence.
[Footnote 92: Opus. cxiii. c. 1.]
There is only one door of escape open, which is the affirmation of an
intuition of possible being. But what is the intuition of the possible
without the intuition of the actual? How can I affirm that being is
possible, unless I have an intuition of a cause or reason situated in
the very idea of being which makes it possible, and if possible
necessary and actual? The very notion of absolute being which is
possible only, that is, reducible to act but not reduced to act, is
absurd. For it is not reducible to act except by a prior cause which
is then itself actual, necessary being, and ultimate cause.
Potentiality or possibility belongs only to the contingent, and is
mere creability [sic] or reducibility to act through an efficient
cause. Wherefore we cannot apprehend possible existence except in the
apprehension of an ultimate, creative cause. All that is intelligible
is either necessary being, or contingent existence having its cause in
necessary being. The abstract or logical world is only a shadow or
reflection of the real in our own minds, and instead of preceding and
conditioning intuition, it is its product.
The real object apprehended by reason has various aspects, but they
are aspects of the same object. The intuition of one aspect of being
is called the intuition of truth or of the true, including truth both
in the absolute and the contingent order. Truth, in regard to finite
things, is the correspondence of a conception to an objective reality.
This finite reality cannot be apprehended as true without a
simultaneous apprehension of necessary and eternal truth as its ground
and reason. The mathematical truths, for instance, in their
application to existing things, express the relations of finite
numbers and quantities. They are, however, apprehended as necessarily
and eternally true in an order of being independent of time, space,
and all contingent existences; which order of being is absolute: the
type of all existing things, the ultimate ground of truth, the
intelligible _in se_.
The intuition of the beautiful, which is "the splendor of the true,"
is the intuition of a certain type and the conformity of existing
things to it, causing a peculiar complacency in the intellect. This
complacency is grounded on a judgment of the eternal fitness and
harmony of things, that is, of an absolute and necessary reason of
their order in eternal truth, that is, in absolute being.
The intuition of the good is an intuition of being considered as the
necessary object of volition, and of existences as having in their
essence a ground of desirableness or an aptitude to terminate an act
of the will. Hence good and being are convertible terms. The absolute
good is absolute being, and created good is a created existence
conformed to the type of the good which is necessary and eternal.
The intuition of the infinite reduces itself in like manner to the
intuition of absolute being accompanied by the intuition of the finite
or relative with which it is compared. The absolute is being in its
plenitude, the intelligible as comprehended by intelligence in its
ultimate act, neither admitting of any increase. The finite is that
which can be thought as capable of increase, but, increased
indefinitely, never reaches {523} the infinite. The term infinite, as
Fenelon well observes, though negative in form--expressing the denial
of limitation--is the expression of a positive idea. Herbert Spencer
proves the same in a luminous and cogent manner, even from the
admissions of philosophers of the sceptical school of Kant. [Footnote
93] The intuition of the infinite gives us that which is not referable
to an idea of a higher order, but is itself that idea to which all
others are referred as the ultimate of thought and being. This
intuition of the infinite always presents itself behind every
conception, and makes itself the first element of every thought.
[Footnote 93: First Principles of a New System of Philosophy.]
This is clearly seen in the conceptions, commonly called the ideas, of
space and time. The intuition of the infinite will never permit us to
fix any definite, unpassable limits to these conceptions, but forces
us to endeavor perpetually to grasp infinity and eternity under an
adequate mental representation, which we cannot do. We must, however,
if we are faithful to reason, recognize behind these conceptions of
space that cannot be bounded and time that cannot be terminated either
by beginning or end, the idea of being infinite as regards both, the
reason of the possibility of finite things bearing to each other the
relations of co-existence and successive duration.
The same intuition is at the root of the conception of the
impossibility of limiting the divisibility of mathematical quantity.
Whichever way we turn, the idea of the infinite presents itself. We
can never reach the boundary of multiplicability, nor can we reach the
boundary of divisibility, which is only another form of
multiplicability. The conception of ideal space and number is rooted
in the idea of the infinite power of God to create existences which
have mathematical relations to each other. The positive multiplication
or division of lines and numbers must always have a limit, but the
radical possibility must always remain infinite, because it is
included in the idea of God, which transcends all categories of
space, time or limitation.
The intuition of cause is in the same order of thought. Necessary
being and contingent existence cannot be apprehended in the same idea,
without the connecting link of the principle of causation. It has been
fully proved by Hume and Kant, that we cannot certainly conclude the
principle of causation from any induction of particular facts. We
always assume it, before we begin to make the induction. It is an _a
priori_ judgment that everything which exists must have a cause, and
that all finite causes, receive their causality from a first cause or
_causa causarum_. For every finite cause has a beginning, which comes
from a prior cause, and an infinite series of finite causes being
absurd, the idea of causation necessarily includes first cause, and is
incapable of being thought or stated without it. Existence is not
intelligible in itself, but in its cause, absolute being. Absolute
being, though intelligible in itself, is not intelligible to human
reason, except by the causative act terminated in existences, and
making them intelligible. That is, being and existence, in the
relation of cause and effect, are presented, and affirmed to reason,
as the one complex object of its original intuition, and its
constitutive idea.
This is the point of co-incidence of the _a priori_ and _a posteriori_
arguments, demonstrating the Christian theistic conception. They
analyze the synthetic judgment of reason, and show its contents. The
argument, _a priori_ analyzes it on the side of being, showing what is
contained in being, or _ens_. The argument _a posteriori_ analyzes it
on the side of existence, _existentia_. But either argument implicitly
contains the other. It is impossible to reason on either the first or
last term of the synthetic judgment, without taking in the middle term
of causation, which implies the third term, existence, if you begin
{524} with being, and the first term, being, if you begin with
existence. The theistic conception is God Creator. The theologian who
begins to prove the proposition, God creates the world, cannot deduce
creation by showing what is contained in the pure and simple idea of
necessary, self-existing being. The idea of God includes the creative
power, but not the creative act, which is free, and cannot be deduced
from the primitive intuition, unless God affirms it to the reason in
that intuition; and even the creative power, or the possibility of
creation, cannot be deduced by human reason from the idea of necessary
being. Thus, the argument _a priori_ really does not conclude the
effect, that is, creation, by demonstrating it from the nature of the
cause alone, but assumes it as known from the beginning.
In like manner, the theologian, who argues from the creation up to the
creator, or from effect to cause, assumes that the creation is really
created, and the effect of a cause exterior to itself; otherwise, the
term existence could never conduct him to the term being.
We cannot demonstrate beyond what is given us in intuition, for all
demonstration is a simple unfolding of the intuitive idea. The idea
presents to us the creative act. If we reflect the causative or
creative principle, whatever we logically explicate from it is
indubitably true, because in conformity with the idea of first cause.
If we reflect the terminus of the causative act, or creation, whatever
we logically explicate from it respecting the nature of eminent cause
is indubitably true, for the same reason. In both cases we reason
validly, and demonstrate all that is demonstrable in the case. In the
first instance, we demonstrate what is really contained in the idea of
necessary being, and bring this idea--under the form of a distinct
conception--face to face with the reflective reason. In the second
instance, we demonstrate the order of the universe, and the
manifestation in it of divine power, wisdom and goodness. We
demonstrate that the theistic conception, or the conception of God and
his attributes, contained in Christian Theology, is that which we know
intuitively in the light of the primitive idea, logically explicated
and represented by analogy in language. What we do not demonstrate, is
the objective reality of the idea; for this is indemonstrable, as
being the first principle of all demonstration. The idea is
intelligible in itself, and illuminates the reason with intelligence.
The office of logic and reasoning is to inspect and scrutinize the
idea, to represent in reflection that which is intelligible. By this
process the idea of necessary being evolves itself, necessarily, into
the complete theistic conception of God, as is shown most amply in the
treatises of theologians and religious writers. [Footnote 94] We will
endeavor to sum up their results in as brief and universal a synopsis
as possible.
[Footnote 94: It will be seen, therefore, that the arguments _a
priori_ and _a posteriori_ demonstrating the Christian doctrine of
God, as stated by the great Catholic Theologians, have not been
impugned, but, on the contrary, vindicated from the
misrepresentation of a more modern and less profound school of
philosophers.]
Beginning at this point, real necessary being is in itself the
intelligible; we lay down first that which is most radical and
ultimate in the conception of the living, personal God and Creator;
namely, absolute, infinite _intelligence_.
The absolute intelligible being must be absolute intelligent being.
The intelligible is only intelligible to intelligence. What is the
idea, or ideal truth or being, without an intelligent subject? What is
infinite idea, or infinite object of thought, without infinite
intelligent subject? That which is intelligible in itself necessarily,
absolutely, and infinitely, must necessarily be the terminating object
of intelligence equal to itself, that is infinite. This intelligence
cannot be created, for then it would be finite. It must be included in
absolute being. {525} Being includes in itself all that is. It
therefore includes intelligence. It contains in itself all that is
necessary to its own perfection. Its perfection as intelligible
requires its perfection as intelligent. Absolute being is therefore
infinitely intelligible and intelligent in its own nature and idea. It
is the intelligible being which is intelligent being, and only
intelligent spirit, which is in its very essence intelligence, can be
necessarily and infinitely intelligible; for only self-existent
infinite spirit has the absolute infinite activity necessary to
irradiate the light of the intelligible. The light of the intelligible
irradiates our created intelligence by an act which constitutes it
rational spirit. This act must be the act of supreme, absolute,
infinite intelligence. Whatever is in the creature, must be infinite
in the creator. The world of finite, intelligent spirits can only
proceed from an infinite, intelligent spirit, as first and eminent
cause. The sensible and physical world also is apprehended by our
reason as intelligible, and is intelligible, only in intelligent
cause; which throws open the vast and magnificent field of
demonstration from the order and harmony of nature. The intelligible
in the order of the finite, is a reflection of the intelligible in the
order of the infinite. The intelligible in the order of the infinite,
is the adequate object of infinite intelligence. The intelligible _in
se_ is identical with being in its plenitude; and being in plenitude
is necessarily infinite, intelligent spirit. [Footnote 95]
[Footnote 95: Because, if we conceive of any essence that it is not
spiritual, we can conceive of one that is more perfect, namely, that
which has these two attributes; and if we conceive of one that is
finite in intelligence, we can conceive of one that is superior, or
has greater plenitude of being, until we reach the infinite. The
very conception of being in plenitude is being that excludes the
conception of the possibility of that which is greater than itself.]
From this point the way is clear and easy to verify all that
theologians teach respecting the essential attributes of God. We have
merely to explicate the idea of intelligent spirit possessing being in
its plenitude. All that has being--that is, every kind of good and
perfection that the mind can apprehend in the divine essence by means
of creatures--must be attributed to God in the absolute and infinite
sense. We cannot grasp plenitude of being fully under one aspect or
form. We are obliged to discriminate and distinguish qualities or
attributes of being in God. But this is not by the way of addition or
composition of these attributes with the idea of the simple essence of
God. It is by the way of identification. Thus, being is identified
with the intelligible and with intelligence. All the attributes of God
are identified with each other and with his being.
This is what is meant by saying that God is most simple being, _ens
simplicissimum_. The pure and simple idea of being contains in itself
every possible predicate: hence we can predicate nothing of it that
can add to it, or combine with it, to make a composite idea greater
than the idea of being in its simplicity. It comes to the same, when
we say that God is most pure act, _actus purissimus_, which merely
ascribes to him actual being in eternity to the utmost limit of
possibility, or to the ultimate comprehensibility of the idea of being
by the infinite intelligence of God.
In the first place, then, we demonstrate the unity of God. There can
be but one infinite being. For the intelligible being of God is the
adequate object of his intelligence. Therefore there is no other
infinite, intelligible object of infinite intelligence.
God is absolutely good. For his own being is the adequate object of
his volition, and the definition of good is adequate object of
volition, so that being is identical with good.
God is all-powerful. For there is no intelligible idea of power, which
transcends the knowledge God has of his own being as including the
ability to create.
God is infinitely holy. For the intellect and the will of God
terminate upon the same object, that is, upon his {526} own being, and
consequently agree with each other; and the very notion of the
sanctity of God is the perfect harmony of his intellect and will in
infinite good.
God is immutable. For any change or progression implies a movement
toward the absolute plenitude of being, and is inconsistent with the
necessary and eternal possession of this plenitude.
God is infinite and eternal; above all categories of limitation,
succession, time or space; for this is only to say that he is most
simple being, and most pure act.
God is absolute truth and beauty, for these are identical with being.
He is infinite love, for he is the infinite object of his own
intelligence comprehended as the term of his own volition.
For the same reason, he is infinite beatitude, since beatitude simply
expresses the repose and complacency of intelligence and will in their
adequate object and is identical with love.
God is an ocean of boundless, unfathomable good and perfection, to
whom everything must be attributed that can increase our mental
conception of his infinite being. We can go on indefinitely,
explicating this conception, and every proposition we can make which
contains the statement of anything positive and intelligible, is
self-evident; requiring no separate proof, but merely verification as
truly identifying something with the idea of being. "We shall say much
and yet shall want words; but the sum of our words is, HE IS ALL."
[Footnote 96] Nevertheless, our reason is not brought face to face
with God by any direct intuition or vision of his intimate, personal
essence. Every word, every conception, every thought expressing the
most complete and vivid act of the reflective consciousness on the
idea of God is derived from the creation, and gives only a speculative
and enigmatical representation of the being of God itself, as mirrored
in the perfections of created, contingent existences. Though we see
all things by its light, the sun itself, the original source of
intelligible light, is not within our rational horizon. The creation
is illuminated by it with the light of intelligibility, and by this
light we become spectators of the creative act of God.
[Footnote 96: Ecclus. xiiii. 99.]
The creative act is not a transient effort of power, but a durable,
continuous, ever-present act, by which God is always creating the
universe. The creation has its being not in itself but in God. All
that we witness therefore and come in contact with, is but the
radiation of light, life, truth, beauty, happiness; physical, mental,
and spiritual existence; from God, the source of being. We see the
architecture which proceeds from his mighty designs; we behold the
infinitely varied and ever shifting pictures and sculptures in which
he embodies his infinite idea of his own beauty. We hear the harmonies
that echo his eternal blessedness; the colossal machinery of worlds
plays regularly and resistlessly by the force which he communicates
around us; his signs, emblems, and hieroglyphics are impressed on our
senses; the perpetual affirmation of his being is always making itself
heard in the depth of our reason. The perpetual influx of creative
force from him is every instant giving life and existence to our body.
We breathe in it, and see by it, and move through its energy. It is
every instant creating our soul. When our soul first came out of
nothing into existence, it was created by a whisper of the divine
word, which simultaneously gave it existence and the faculty of
apprehending that whisper, by which it was made. God whispered in the
soul the affirmation of his own being as the author of all existence.
This whisper is perpetual, like the creative act. It constitutes our
rational life and activity. By its virtue we think and are conscious.
It concurs with every intellectual act. When the soul is stillest and
its contemplation of truth the most profound, then it is most
distinctly heard; but it cannot be drowned by any {527} tumult or
clamor. "In God we live, and move, and have our being." We float in
the divine idea as in an ocean. It meets us everywhere we turn. We
cannot soar above it, dive beneath it, or sail in sight of its coasts.
It is our rational element, in which our rational existence was
created, in which it was made to live, and we recognize it in the same
act in which we recognize our own existence. It is necessary to the
original act of self-consciousness, and enters into the indestructible
essence of the soul, as immortal spirit.
The Creed, therefore, when it proposes its first article to a child
who is capable of a complete rational act, only brings him face to
face with himself, or with the idea of his own reason. It gives him a
distinct image or reflection of that idea, a sign of it, a verbal
expression for it, a formula by which his reflective faculty can work
it out into a distinct conception. As soon as it is fairly
apprehended, he perceives its truth with a rational certitude which
reposes in the intimate depths of his own consciousness. It is true
that he cannot arrange and express his conceptions, or distinctly
analyze for himself the operations of his own mind, in the manner
given above. This can only be done by one who is instructed in
theology. But although he is no theologian or philosopher, he has
nevertheless the substance of philosophy or _sapientia_, and of
theology, in his intellect; deeper, broader and more sublime than all
the measurements and signs of metaphysicians can express. We have
taken the child as creditive subject in this exposition, in order to
exhibit the ultimate rational basis of faith in its simplest act, and,
so to speak, to show its _genesis_. But we do not profess to stop with
this simple act which initiates the reason in its childhood into the
order of rational intelligence and faith; rather we take it as only
the terminus of starting in the prosecution of a thorough
investigation of the complete development which the intelligent faith
unfolds in the adult and instructed reason of a Christian fully
educated in theological science. Hence we have given the conception
God in its scientific form, but as the scientific form of that which
is certainly and indubitably apprehended in its essential substance by
every mind capable of making an explicit and complete act of rational
faith in God as the creator of the world. In the language of
Wordsworth, "The child is father of the man." A complete rational act
in a child has in it the germ of all science. He is as certain that
two and two make four, as is the consummate mathematician. A complete
act of faith in a child is as infallible as the faith of a theologian,
and has in it the germ of all theology. He is able to say "Credo in
Deum" with a perfect rational certitude; and this conclusion is the
goal toward which the whole preceding argument has been tending.
But here we are met with a difficulty. The principle of faith cannot
itself fall under the dominion of faith, or be classed with the
_credenda_, which we believed on the veracity of God. How then can
_Credo_ govern _Deum_. The necessity for an intelligible basis for
faith has been established, and this basis located in the idea of God
evolved into a conception demonstrable to reason from its own
constitutive principles. It would therefore seem that instead of
saying "I believe in God," we ought to say "I know that God is, and is
the infinite truth in himself, therefore I believe," etc. only on you.
This formula does really express a process of thought contained in the
act of faith, and implied in the signification of _Credo_. _Credo_
includes in itself _intelligo_. Divine faith presupposes, and
incorporates into itself, human intelligence and human faith, on that
side of them which is an inchoate capacity for receiving its divine,
elevating influence. Hence the propriety of using the word _Credo_,
leaving _intelligo_ understood but not expressed. The symbol of faith
is not intended to express any object of our knowledge, {528} except
as united to the object of faith. For this reason it does not
discriminate in the proposition of the verity of the being of God,
that which is the direct object of intelligence, but presents it under
one term with those propositions concerning God which are only the
indirect object of intelligence through the medium of divine
revelation. When we say _Credo in Deum_, if we consider in _Deum_ only
that which is demonstrable by reason concerning God, the full sense of
_Credo_ is suspended, until the revelation of the superintellible
[sic] s introduced in the succeeding articles. The term _Deum_
terminates _Credo_, only inasmuch as it is qualified by the succeeding
terms; that is, inasmuch as we profess our belief in God as the
revealer of the truths contained in the subsequent articles.
The foregoing statement applies to the use of the word _Credo_ in
relation with _Deum_ in the first article of the Creed, taking _Credo_
in its strictest and most exclusive sense of belief in revealed truths
which are above the sphere of natural reason. In addition to this, it
can be shown that there is a secondary and subordinate reason on
account of which the mental apprehension of that which is naturally
intelligible in God is included under the term faith, taken in a wider
and more extensive sense.
This intelligible order of truth, or natural theology, was actually
communicated to mankind in the beginning, together with the primitive
revelation. We are, therefore, instructed in it, by the way of faith.
The conception of God, and the words which communicate to us that
conception, and enable us to grasp it, come to us through tradition,
and are received by the mind before its faculties are fully developed.
We believe first, and understand afterward; and the greater part of
men never actually attain to the full understanding of that which is
in itself intelligible, but hold it confusedly, accepting with
implicit trust in authority, many truths which the wise possess as
science. Moreover, the term faith is often used to denote belief in
any reality which lies in an order superior to nature and removed from
the sphere of the sensible, although that reality may be demonstrable
from rational principles. In a certain sense we may say that this
region of truth is a common domain of faith and reason. But we have
now approached that boundary line where the proper and peculiar empire
of faith begins, and like Dante, left by his human guide on the coasts
of the celestial world, we must endeavor under heavenly protection to
ascend to this higher sphere of thought.
------
From Once a Week.
THE KING AND THE BISHOP.
Before Roskilde's sacred fane,
(The first the land has known.)
Attended by his courtier train,
And decked, as on his throne,
In costly raiment, glittering gay
Beneath the noon-day sun;
All fresh and fair, as though the day
Had seen no slaughter done--
{529}
As though the all-beholding eye
Of that Omniscient Deity,
Whom, turning from the downward way
His heathen fathers trod,
He guided by a purer ray,
Hath chosen for his God--
Had seen no darker, dreader sight,
Twixt yester morn and yester night,
Beheld by his approving eye,
Who, now, would draw his altar nigh;
Ay, fresh and fair as to his soul
No taint of blood did cling,
As though in heart and conscience whole,
Stands Swend, the warrior-king.
On his, as on a maiden's cheek,
(Though bearded and a knight,)
The royal hues of Denmark speak [Footnote 97]--
The crimson and the white;
But mark ye how the angry hue
Keeps deepening, as he stands,
And mark ye, too, the courtly crew,
With lifted eyes and hands!
[Footnote 97: The Danish king, Swend, soon after his entrance into
the Christian church, slew some of his "jaris" without a trial,
and, on presenting himself, after the commission of this crime, at
the portal of the newly-built cathedral of Roskilde, in Zealand,
found it barred by the pastoral staff of the English missionary
and bishop who had converted him. After receiving the rebuke given
in the poem, and forbidding his attendants to molest the bishop,
he returned whence he came, and shortly after, made his
reappearance in the garb of a penitent, when he was received by
the prelate, and, after a certain time of penance, absolved; after
which they became fast friends.]
Across the portal, low and wide,
A slender bar from side to side.
The bishop's staff is seen;
And holding it, with reverent hands
And head erect, the prelate stands,
A man of stately mien.
"Go back!" he cries, and fronts the king.
Whilst clear and bold his accents ring
Throughout the sacred fane--
And Echo seems their sound to bring
Triumphant back again--
"Go back, nor dare, with impious tread,
Into the presence pure and dread.
Thy guilty soul to bring,
Impenitent--O thou, who art
A murderer, though a king!"
A murmur, deepening to a roar,
'Mid those who were clust'ring round the door:
A few disjointed but eager words--
A sudden glimmer of naked swords;
And the bishop raised his longing eyes,
In speechless praise, to the distant skies;
{530}
For he thought his labor would soon be o'er.
And his bark at rest, on the peaceful shore;
And he pictured the crown, the martyrs wear,
Floating slowly down, on the voiceless air;
Till he almost fancied he felt its weight
On his brows--as he stood, and blessed his fate.
With a calm, sweet smile on his face, he bowed
His reverend head to the raging crowd--
(Oh! the sight was fair to see!)
And "Strike!" he cried, whilst they held their breath.
To hear his words; "For I fear not death
For him who has died for me!"
King Swend looked up, with an angry glare,
At the dauntless prelate, who braved him there,
Though he deemed his hour near;
And he saw, with one glance of his eagle eye.
That that beaming smile and that bearing high
Were never the mask of fear!
Right against might had won the day;--
And he bade them sheathe their swords; then turned,
Whilst an angry spot on his cheek still burned,
From the house of God away.
Ere the hour had winged its flight, once more,
Behold! there stood, at the temple door,
A suppliant form, with its head bowed down.
And ashes were there, for the kingly crown;
And the costly robes, which had made erewhile
So gallant a show in the sunbeams' smile.
Had been cast aside, ere its glow was spent,
For the sackcloth worn by the penitent!
The bishop came down the crowded nave;
His smile was bright, though his face was grave,
He paused at the portal, and raised his eyes.
Yet another time to those sapphire skies,
But he thought not now, that the look he cast
To that radiant heaven would be his last;
And he thanked his Master again--but not
For the martyrdom that should bless his lot;
For the close to the day of life, whose sun
Was to set in blood, on his rest was won:
Far other than this was his theme of praise,
As he murmured: "O thou, in thy works and ways
As wonderful now as when Israel went
Through the sea, which is Pharaoh's monument:
Though I pictured death in the flashing steel,
And I looked for the glory it should reveal,
Yet oh! if it be, as it seems to be,
Thy will, that I stay to glorify thee,
To add to thy jewels, one by one;
Then, Father in heaven, that will be done!"
{531}
Then on the monarch's humbled brow
The kiss of peace he pressed.
And led him, as a brother, now,
A little from the rest--
"Here, as is meet, thy penance do,
And as thy penitence is true,
So God will make it light!
Then mayst thou work with me, that thus
The light that he hath given us
May rise on Denmark's night!"
M. T. F.
------
Translated from Le Correspondant
THE YOUTH OF SAINT PAUL.
By L'ABBE LOUIS BAUNARD.
At the time when Jesus Christ came into this world, the Jews were
scattered over the whole surface of the earth. From the narrow valley
in which their religious law had confined them for the designs of God,
these people of little territory had overflowed into all the provinces
of the Roman empire. Captivity had been the beginning of their
dispersion. Numerous Israelitish colonists, who had formerly settled
in the land of their exile, were still existing in Babylon, in Media,
even in Persia; others had pushed their way further on to the extreme
east, even as far as China. Finally, under the reign of Augustus, they
are found everywhere. [Footnote 98]
[Footnote 98: V. Remond "Histoire de la Propagation du Judaisme,"
Leipzig, 1789 Grost, "De Migrationibus Hebr. extra patriam," 1817.
Jost, "Histoire des Israelites depuis les Machabees," etc.]
It was the solemn hour in which, according to the parable of the
gospel, the Father had gone forth to sow the seed. The field, "that is
the world," was filled with it already, and the time was not far
distant when the Lord, "seeing the countries ripe for the harvest,"
would send out his journeymen to reap, and gather the wheat into his
barns.
One of these families "_of the dispersion_," as they were styled,
inhabited the city of Tarsus in Cilicia. Of this once famous city
nothing now remains but a few ruins, and the modern Tarsous falls
vastly short of that high rank which the ancient Tarsus held among the
cities of the East. Even at present, however, it is called the capital
city of Caramania. Situated on a small eminence covered over with
laurels and myrtles, at a distance of about ten miles from the
Mediterranean sea, it is washed by the rapid and cold waters of the
Kara-sou, and its population during winter amounts to more than thirty
thousand souls. In summer it is almost a desert. Chased away by the
burning heats which prevail at this season from the sea-coast, men,
women and children abandon their homes and emigrate to the surrounding
heights, where they fix their camp under lofty cedars, which afford
them shelter, shade, and coolness. [Footnote 99]
[Footnote 99: P. Belon, "Voyages"--cite dans Malte-Brun.]
{532}
It were difficult to draw, from what it is at present, an exact
picture of the ancient Tarsus. Instead of the sad, disconsolate look
of a Turkish city, there was then in it the movement, the ardor, the
splendor of the Greek city, proud of her politeness and her
recollections. According to Strabo, Tarsus was a colony of Argos. As a
proof of the high state of its culture, the Greeks related that the
companions of Triptolemus, perambulating the earth in search of Io,
stopped at that place, charmed by its richness and beauty. Others
traced its origin further back, to the old kings of Assyria. At one of
the gates of Tarsus there had been seen for a long time the tomb of
Sardanapalus with the following inscription under his statue: "I,
Sardanapalus, have built Tarsus in one day. Passenger, eat, drink, and
give thyself a good time; the rest is nothing." [Footnote 100]
History, however, has written there other remembrances. It was not far
from Tarsus that the intrepid Alexander had nearly perished in the icy
waters of the Cydnus. It was there upon the sea, at the entrance of
the river, that the memorable interview and the fatal alliance of
Antony and Cleopatra had just taken place in the midst of voluptuous
feasts. The wise providence that provides reparations for all our
pollutions, had chosen the city of a Sardanapalus and of an Antony to
be the cradle of St. Paul.
[Footnote 100: Strabo, liv, xvi.]
For the rest, Tarsus was a city perfectly well built and of remarkable
beauty. From the fertile hill on which she rested, she could
contemplate the direction toward the north and west of an undulating
line, which traced rather than hid the horizon. This was the outline
of the first ascending grades, of the mountains of Cilicia. At a short
distance from the city the waters of numerous living springs met
together and formed a rapid river, deeply enchased, which soon reached
and refreshed that portion of her which the historians call the
Gymnasium, and we would name the "Quarter of the schools." Further on
there was a harbor of peculiar and distinctly marked outline.
Philostratus has described in a striking and picturesque manner the
different habitudes of the men of traffic and of the literary class,
representing "the former as slaves to avarice, the latter to
voluptuousness. All their talk," says he, "consisted in reviling,
taunting, and railing at each other with sharp-biting words: whence
one might have easily seen that it was only in their dress they
pretended to imitate the Athenians, but not in prudence and
praiseworthy habits. They did nothing else all day but walk up and
down on the banks of the river Cydnus, which runs across this city, as
if they were so many aquatic birds, passing their time in frolicsome
levities, inebriated, so to speak, with the pleasing delectation of
those sweet-flowing waters." [Footnote 101]
[Footnote 101: Philostrate, "De la Vie d'Apollonius Thyanean
traduction de Blaise de Vigenere," liv. iv. ch. ix. p. 103,104.
Paris, 1611.]
Such, then, was the city in which a vast multitude of young men,
elegant, voluptuous and witty, crowded and pressed each other like a
swarm of bees, for Tarsus was the most brilliant intellectual focus of
that time and country. The following is the description of it, given
by Strabo: "She carries to such a height the culture of arts and
sciences, that she surpasses even Athens and Alexandria. The
difference between Tarsus and these two cities is, that in the former
the learned are almost all indigenous. Few strangers come hither; and
even those who belong to the country do not sojourn here long. As soon
as they have completed the course of their studies in the liberal
arts, they emigrate to some other place, and very few of them return
to Tarsus afterward."
The best masters regarded it as an honor to teach in the schools of
this city of arts. There were in it such grammarians as Artemidorus
and Diodorus; such brilliant poets and professors {533} of eloquence
as Plutiades and Diogenes; such philosophers of the sect of the stoics
as the two Athenodori; of whom the first had been Cato's friend in
life, and his companion in death, and the second had been the
instructor of Augustus, who, in token of gratitude, appointed him
governor of Tarsus. For, it was the fate of this learned city to be
under the administration of men of letters, and of philosophers. She
had been ruled by the poet Boethus, the favorite of Antony. Nestor,
the Platonic philosopher, had also governed her. It is easily seen,
however, that such men are better prepared for speculations in
science, than for the administration of public affairs, so that, in
their hands, Tarsus felt more than once those intestine commotions, of
which cities of schools have never ceased to be the theatre.
It was in this city, and under these circumstances, almost upon the
frontiers of Europe and Asia, in the very heart of a great
civilization, that St. Paul was born, about the twenty-eighth year of
Augustus' reign, two years before the birth of Christ. [Footnote 102]
He himself informs us that he was a _Jew_ of the tribe of Juda,
[Footnote 103] born in the _Greek_ city of Tarsus, and a _Roman_
citizen: so that by parentage, by education, and by privilege, he
belonged to the three great nations who bore rule over the realm of
thought and of action. The grave historian [Footnote 104] who
exhausts the catalogue of the illustrious men of Tarsus, never
suspected what man--very differently illustrious--had just appeared
there, and of what a revolution he was to become the zealous defender
as well as the martyr.
[Footnote 102: This would be so, if St. Paul lived to the age of
sixty-eight years, as is stated in a Homily of St. John Chrysostom,
vol. vi. of his complete works.]
[Footnote 103: Benjamin. See Rom. xi 1.--Ep. C. W.]
[Footnote 104: Strabo, liv. xiv]
The Jewish origin of the Doctor of Nations was, as is easily
understood, of vast importance for fulfilment of the designs of God.
The religion of Jesus Christ proceeds from Judaism, continues and
perfects it. It was, therefore, well worthy of the wisdom of God that
his apostles should belong to the one as well as to the other
covenant, and that he should thus extend his hand to all ages, as he
was to extend it to all men.
This purity of origin was so considerable a privilege, that it is by
it one may account to one's self for the rage and fury with which the
Ebionite Jews in the first age of our era labored to deprive him of
it. Adhering to the last rubbish of the law of Moses, and, for this
reason, irreconcilable enemies to the great apostle of the Gentiles,
these sectarians maliciously invented the following fable, according
to the relation of St. Epiphanius. [Footnote 105] "They say that he
was a Greek, that his father was a Greek as well as his mother. Having
come to Jerusalem in his youth, he had sojourned there for a certain
time. Having there known the daughter of the high priest, he had
desired to have her for his wife; and to this end he had become a
Jewish proselyte. As he could not, however, obtain the young maiden
even at that price, he had conceived a burning resentment, and
commenced to write against the circumcision, the sabbath, and the
law." It seems to me that St. Epiphanius confers too great an honor
upon this romance, by merely exposing and refuting it.
[Footnote 105: "Adv. Haeret" liv. ii. t. i. p. 140, No. xvi.]
I know on what foundation St. Jerome affirms, on the contrary, that
St. Paul was a Jew not only by descent, but also by the place of his
birth. According to him, St. Paul's parents dwelt in the small town of
Girchala in Juda, when the Roman invasion compelled them to seek for
themselves a home somewhere else. Therefore they took their son, yet
an infant, with them, and fled to Tarsus, where they remained, waiting
for better days. [Footnote 106]
[Footnote 106: "De Viris Illustrib. Catalog. Script. Eccles." t. i.
p.849]
The declaration of St. Paul himself, however, allows no doubt to be
{534} entertained as to his origin. Born in Tarsus, he was circumcised
there on the eighth day after his birth, and received the name of
Saul, which he exchanged afterward for that of Paul, probably at the
time when Sergius Paulus had been converted by him to the Christian
faith.
His parents failed not to instruct him in the law; for, how distant
soever from their mother country might have been the place in which
they lived, the Jews did not cease to render to the God of their
fathers worship, more or less pure, but faithful. Like all other great
cities of the Roman empire, Tarsus had her synagogue where the Law was
read, and where the religious interests of the Israelitic people were
discussed. It was there that prayers were solemnly made with the face
turned toward the holy city: for there was no temple anywhere but in
Jerusalem, whither numerous and pious caravans from all the countries
of Asia went every year to celebrate in Sion the great festivals of
the Passover and Pentecost, to pay there the double devotion, and
present their victims. The bond of union was thus fastened more firmly
than ever between the colonies and the metropolis, in which great
things were soon expected to take place. Jerusalem was not only the
country of memorials, but to Jewish hearts she was also the land of
hope, and every eye was turned toward the mountain whence salvation
was to come.
Saul grew up in Tarsus. We must not seek in the youth of Saul for
those signs which reveal in advance a great man. In individuals of
this sort, devoted to the work of God, all greatness is from him, the
instrument disappearing in the hand of the divine artificer. Whatever
illusion iconography may have impressed us with upon the point, Saul
did not carry, either in stature of body or in beauty of features, the
reflection of his great soul, and at first sight the world saw in him
only an insignificant person, as he himself testifies, "_aspectus
corporis infirmus_," Beside, he was a man of low condition, exercising
a trade, and earning his daily bread by the sweat of his face. The
rabbinical maxims said that, "not to teach one's son to work, was the
same thing as to teach him to steal." Saul was, therefore, a workman,
and everything leads us to believe that he, who was to carry light to
nations, passed, like his master, the whole of his obscure youth in
hard work. He made tents for the military camps and for travellers.
This was an extensive industry in the East; and a great trade in these
textures was carried on in Tarsus with the caravans starting from the
ports of Cilicia and journeying though Armenia, Persia, the whole of
Asia Major, and beyond. [Footnote 107]
[Footnote 107: These conjectures and regard to St. Paul's birth and
parentage are not founded on any solid basis, but on the contrary
appear to be quite improbable. The author's citation from the
Rabbinical maxims overturns the argument which he derives from the
fact that St. Paul practised a handicraft. All Jews, whatever their
birth or wealth, learned a trade. St. Paul's knowledge of the
tent-maker's trade, therefore, does not prove that he was of low
birth, or belonged to the class of artisans. On the contrary, his
possession of the privileges of Roman citizenship, which he must
have inherited, and which could only have been conferred on account
of some great service rendered to the state by one of his ancestors,
together with his thorough education, go to show that he belonged to
one of the most eminent Jewish families of Tarsus.--Ed. C.W.]
Manual occupation, however, did not absorb the whole time, nor the
whole soul of the young Israelite; since the tradition of the fathers
points to him as frequenting the schools of Tarsus, and joining that
studious swarm of young civilians who crowded there to attend the
lectures delivered by the professors of science and literature.
[Footnote 108] His Epistles retain some traces of these his first
studies. In these he quotes now and then words of the ancient poets,
Menander, Aratus, Epimenides. He expressed himself with equal facility
in the three great languages of the civilized world, the Hebrew, the
Greek, and the Latin; and it is manifest that he knew the secrets of
the art of eloquence, for which he {535} retained in later times only
a magnanimous contempt. He was also initiated in philosophy, under the
teachers whom I have named already. Besides Stoicism, whose patrons
and success in Tarsus I have mentioned, Platonism flourished there
under the protection of Nestor, a man of great distinction, who had
been the preceptor of that illustrious youth Marullus, who was sung by
Virgil, and bewailed by Augustus. Is it not, at this period, that a
young man of Tyana, himself destined to acquire a strange celebrity,
came to Tarsus in his fourteenth year, and passionately embraced there
the precepts of Pythagorean doctrine? The uncertainties of the
history, which was written by Philostratus afterward, do not permit us
to say anything definite upon this point; but one cannot help thinking
that it is from the same place, and at the same time, that those two
extremes of the power of good and of the power of evil have set
out--Apollonius of Tyana, and Saint Paul.
[Footnote 108: Sancte Hieronymi, t. vi. 322.--"Comm. Epist. ad
Galat."]
Finally, not far from there the oriental doctrines drove to their
several beliefs respectively the multitudes of Asia, and invaded also
the Greek cities of Asia Minor and the Islands. Thus Parsism on the
one hand, and Hellenism on the other, met in Tarsus with Judaism. By
its position, as well as by its commerce, the birthplace of St. Paul
was the point of confluence of the two currents of ideas, which shared
the world between themselves. From this centre the future apostle was
able to embrace in one view all those different sorts of minds which
he was to embrace in his zeal afterwards.
Such were his beginnings. In them Saul plays an insignificant part;
but God a great one; God does not act openly as yet; he prepares. But
what preparation! What a concurrence of circumstances manifestly
providential! What greatness even in this obscurity! The seal of
predestination is visibly impressed upon that soul appointed to
regenerate the world by the faith. The place, the time, the means,
everything seems disposed, consecrated in advance, as it were, for a
great scene. God incarnate was to fill it, but he had chosen Saul of
Tarsus to be in it the actor most worthy of him.
II.
The second education of Saul took place in Jerusalem. He was yet young
when his parents, yielding to that instinct which recalled the Jews to
their native country, sent him, or, perhaps, went and took him with
themselves, to the holy city, in order to fix their residence there.
There occur in history some solemn epochs; but that in which Saul
arrived at Jerusalem possesses a consecration which cannot belong to
any but to itself alone: it was what St. Paul called, afterward, "the
fulness of the times." The seventy weeks determined by Daniel, entered
then into the last phasis of their accomplishment. The sceptre had
been taken away from Judah, and, at a few steps from the temple, a
centurion, with the vine-stock in his hand, quietly walked around the
residence of a Roman proconsul. People were waiting to see from what
point the star of Jacob was to appear. It had risen already, and the
young workman of Tarsus, while going to Jerusalem, might have met on
his way with a workman like himself, who, sitting at the foot of some
unknown hill, preached in parables to the people of his own country
and of his condition. This was in fact taking place under the second
Herod. Saul was then twenty-nine years old, and the Word made flesh
dwelt among us full of grace and truth.
Did Saul have the happiness to see his divine Master during his mortal
life? Grave historians formally affirm it, [Footnote 109] and some
passages in the Epistles allow us to believe it. Others think {536}
that what they refer to is only the vision on the road to Damascus.
[Footnote 109: Alzog, "Histoire Universelle de l'Eglise," t. i. p. 157.]
But, whatever may be the difference of opinions upon this point, it
appears impossible that the fame of Jesus' teaching and miracles did
not reach the ears of Saul, while living in Judea: it is even probable
that Saul might have endeavored to see him. "We have known the Christ
according to the flesh," he himself wrote to the Corinthians.
[Footnote 110] This last testimony leaves yet some doubt as to the
interpretation; but, when one reflects on the repeated utterance of
these expressions, as well as upon the coincidence of dates and names,
one cannot help starting at the thought, that on some unknown hour the
God and the apostle must have met, and that Jesus, piercing into the
future, bestowed on the youth that deep and tender look which he gave
the young man spoken of in the Gospel; and that the Pharisee, who was
to become a vessel of election, then condemned himself to the regret
of having that day neglected and mistaken the blessed God, of whom he
was afterward to say in that language invented by love, "_Mihi vivere
Christus est_," "For me to live, is Christ."
[Footnote 110: 1 Cor. ix. 1 and 2 Cor. v. 16]
When Saul entered Jerusalem for the first time, the pious Israelite
must doubtless have been astonished and saddened at the same time.
Herod the Ascalonite had rendered her, according to Pliny's testimony,
the most magnificent city of the East; but by the profane character of
her embellishments, she had lost much of her holy originality. The
prince courtier had erected near by a circus and a theatre, where
festivals in honor of Augustus were celebrated every fifth year. He
had repaired and transformed the temple, but also profaned it; and
over the principal gate of the holy place one saw the glitter of the
golden eagle of Rome and of Jupiter, a double insult to religion and
liberty. Jerusalem was likely to become a Roman city; her part was on
the point of being played out; her priesthood was expiring, she began
to cast off its insignia, and one saw the line gradually disappear
which separated her from the cities of paganism.
Beside, Saul found her torn in pieces by religious sects which had in
these latter times fastened to the body of Judaism, as parasitical
plants stick to the trunk of an old tree. Religious opinion was
divided between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. I speak not of the
Herodians, for in the order of ideas flatteries are not taken into
account, for this reason--because to flatter is not to dogmatize.
Sadduceeism, a sort of Jewish Protestantism, rejected all tradition;
would admit of nothing but the text of the Pentateuch; denied an
after-life because it was not found formally enough inculcated by
Moses, and consequently endeavored to make this present one as
comfortable as possible. It was Epicureanism under the mask of
religion. Pharisaism, on the contrary, was the double reaction both in
religion and nationality. In order to enhance the law, it multiplied
practices and rites; in order to save the dogma, it burdened it with
an oral tradition, to serve as a commentary, an interpreter, and a
supplement to the law. Under the name of Mishna, this tradition
proceeded, according to her account, from secret instructions of Moses
himself, and composed a kind of sacred science, of which the doctors
only possessed the key.
The sect of the Pharisees was, on the other hand, the great political
as well as doctrinal power of the nation. The people venerated them,
the inces [sic] treated them with regard, and Josephus informs us that
Alexander Jannacus, being at the point of death, spoke of them to his
wife in the following manner: "Allow the Pharisees a greater liberty
than usual; for they," he told her, "would, for the favor conferred on
them, reconcile the nation to her interest; that they had a powerful
influence over the Jews, and were in {537} a capacity to prejudice
those they hated and serve those they loved." [Footnote 111]
[Footnote 111: "Antiq.," liv. xili. eh, xv. p. 565.]
The Young Saul enrolled himself with the Pharisees: among them,
however, he chose his school. Being sensible of the fact that foreign
ideas were insinuating themselves into the bosom of Judaism, some
choice minds were at this epoch in search of I know not what
compromise between Moses's doctrine and philosophy, in which
compromise the two elements might be fused together, and thus form a
religion at the same time rational and mystic. This fusion is one of
the signs by which this period is distinguished. Uneasy and attentive,
every mind was laboring under the want of a universality and unity of
belief, whose painful child-birth, twenty times miscarried, was yet
submitted to without relaxation. One hundred and fifty years before
the epoch we are now in, Aristobulus had attempted this eclecticism,
and Philo was soon after to reduce it to system in Alexandria and give
it a widely spread popularity in Egypt. Another man, however, took
upon himself the business of planting it in the very heart of
Palestine.
This man was the famous rabbi Gamaliel, the beloved teacher of Saint
Paul. It must be admitted that no man could be better qualified to
render it acceptable than he was, on account of his position and
character. He was the grandson of Doctor Hillel, whose science as well
as his consideration and holiness he had inherited. He was the oracle
of his time, and "on his death," the Talmud says, "the light of the
law was extinguished in Israel." The Talmudists add that he had been
vested with the title of _Nasi_, or chief of the council, and the
Gospel agrees with the Jewish authors, recognizing in him a just man,
wise, moderate, impartial, an enemy to violence, and ruling the
different parties by a moral greatness, which secured to him the
confidence of all and the unanimity of their regards. He was the first
who caused the text of the Bible to be read in Greek at Jerusalem.
This innovation was of itself an immense progress, as it removed that
barrier which Pharisaism had raised between the _Hellenist_ and the
_Judaizing_ Jews. He dreamed not, however, of transforming Moses into
a Socrates. He gave up nothing of pure Judaism. But, having a thorough
knowledge of the Greek, Oriental and Egyptian philosophies, he held
them all in check; he took out of each of them what could be
reconciled with the law of God, enriched with it the inheritance of
tradition, and boldly applying to ideas that generous and
accommodating toleration which he made use of in social life, he
allowed them entrance into the Synagogue. [Footnote 112]
[Footnote 112: Niemeyer, "Characteristik der Bibel," p. 638.]
Gamaliel, it seems, kept in Jerusalem what certain authors call an
academy. It was frequented, for men of such a character possess a
great power of attraction. Young Israelites brought to his feet, and
placed at his disposal, for the service of his and their ideas, the
intemperate zeal and warm convictions of their age--Christian
tradition acquaints us with the names of some of them; among others,
of Stephen and Barnabas, whom we shall soon see disciples of a greater
master. [Footnote 113] But the most ardent of them all was, without
contradiction, the young Saul of Tarsus. Proud, fiery, enthusiastic,
he seems to have been passionately fond of the Pharisaism of Gamaliel,
but mixing with the zeal a violent asperity which, certainly, he had
not from his master. No man could be more attached, than he was, to
the ancient traditions; it is himself who says so, adding that his
proficiency in the interpretation of the law placed him at the head of
the men of his time. [Footnote 114]
[Footnote 113: Cornel. a Lapide, in Act. v. 34.]
[Footnote 140: See Epist. to the Galatians, i. 14.]
These Jewish as well as these Greek studies were not lost time in the
education of the apostle. They {538} made Saul sensible of the
pressing need of a revealer which the world was then laboring under;
and they caused those groanings to reach his ears from all parts,
which he himself called the groaning of creation in childbed of her
redeemer. They did also reveal to him, seeing the inability of sects
for it, that redemption could not be the work of man, and they left in
his mind that haughty contempt of human wisdom, which would be
despair, if God had not come to reveal a better one possessing the
promises both of this world and of the next.
Now, whilst young Saul and the Jewish rabbins were agitating these
questions in the dust of schools and synagogue, our Lord Jesus Christ
was giving the solution of them in his own life and by his death. His
death was even more fruitful than his life, and when the Pharisees
believed they had put an end to his doctrine, as they had to his life,
it was a great surprise to them to see twelve fishermen, wholly
unknown the day before, suddenly appear, preaching that the Son of God
had risen from the dead, that they had seen him gloriously ascending
into heaven, and that, in order to give testimony of it to the world,
they were ready and would be happy to die. Their miracles, their
doctrine, the conversions which they wrought by multitudes, their
baptism conferred on thousands of disciples, the enthusiasm of some,
the perplexity of others, the hatred of many, stirred up the
politicians and the magistrates. The great council met under these
circumstances. It seems that there was held in it a decisive
deliberation, in which the destinies of Christianity were solemnly
discussed. The question was to know, whether the new religion should
be drowned in blood, or whether it should be allowed the liberty and
time of dying by a natural death. It did not occur to any one's
thought that it could live; and much less that it could be true: and
it is remarkable that not a word was said on the doctrinal question,
the most important of all! Thus some of them advised to put those men
to death, others feared lest violence should excite a sedition, and
there was division of counsel in the assembly, when Gamaliel rose up
in it. Silence followed, the Scripture relates, because he was the
sage of the nation. He made no speech. He cited only the names of some
seditious men very well known in the city, the false prophet Theodas,
and Judas of Galilee, who, after a little noise, had left no trace
behind them. Hence he concluded that the new religion would have the
same fortune if it was from man, and that if it was, on the contrary,
the work of God, it would prove invincible against all human efforts.
His advice appeared for a moment to prevail, on account of its wisdom;
and the apostles, confiding in the future, readily accepted the
challenge.
God had other designs in regard to his church, and it was not peace
but war that he had come to bring with him. Wisdom had decided;
passion executed. After reciting the advice of Gamaliel, the Scripture
adds that, before being dismissed, the Apostles were scourged, and
that "they went from the presence of the council rejoicing that they
were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus." The
signal had thus been given, and a pure victim was about to open the
era of the martyrs.
We have thus far related only the human history of St. Paul. We now
begin to enter into his supernatural and divine history.
Saul had put himself at the head of those who persecuted the
Christians. Hence it is that the Scripture represents him to us as
laying everything waste, like a rapacious wolf, spreading
consternation amidst the flock. His very name was terror to the newly
born church; above all the others, however, one Christian roused his
jealous rancor.
It was a young man whose name I have already mentioned, and who is
believed to have been of the same {539} country with Saul, and his
relative. [Footnote 115] He was called Stephanos, which we have
modified into Stephen.
[Footnote 115: Corn. a Lapide, in Act. Apost. vi. 18.]
Stephen, as everything indicates, was a Greek, and of the number of
those who were then called Hellenistic Jews. In all probability, he
belonged to that synagogue of Cilicians of which Saul, his friend and
countryman, must likewise have been a member. Some of the ancients
have even believed that he also belonged to the school of Gamaliel;
and this is confirmed by the old tradition, which makes the remains of
the great rabbin and those of the first martyr rest in the same grave.
[Footnote 116] All these relations between Stephen and Saul, who
persecuted him, are worthy of being taken into account. They throw a
great light over those events, and define with precision the
circumstances of which they give the key.
[Footnote 116: "Inventio Corporis S. Stephani, Visio S. Luciani,"
viii. te ix.]
The same tradition has taken a pleasure in surrounding the young
neophyte with every gift and accomplishment that could make him a most
precious victim. The memory which the fathers have preserved of
Stephen is that of a youth of rare beauty, in the flower of his age,
endowed with wonderful eloquence, and with a candor of soul yet more
charming.
"He was a virgin," St. Augustine says of him, "and this purity of
heart reflecting upon his features imparted to his face an angelic
expression." St. John Damascene speaks in the same strain of that
excellent nature which "made the light of grace shine with more
brilliant lustre." Such souls are very near to Christianity. Stephen
had become a Christian. St. Epiphanius affirms that he was such during
the life of Jesus Christ, and that he was one of the seventy-two
disciples. [Footnote 117] St. Augustine doubts of it. [Footnote 118]
[Footnote 117: "Haer." 21.]
[Footnote 118: Sermo xciv. "De Diversis."]
What we are informed of in the Book of the Acts concerning this point
is, that moved by "a murmuring of the Greeks against the Hebrews for
that their widows were neglected in the daily ministration," the
apostles caused seven men of that nation to be chosen, whom they
"appointed over that business." The first named (and perhaps the most
preeminent) among them was Stephen, characterized by the inspired
historian as "a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost."
This conversion raised storms in the bosom of the synagogue; and as
St. Paul, according to his own account, occupied a preeminent rank
among the young men of that time, it was easy for him no doubt to
breathe his own burning flame into them.
Besides, everything announced a violent crisis, and the whole city
experienced that agitation and anxiety which, in troubled times,
precede and portend a near commotion and a desperate struggle. As the
disciples had not yet been outlawed, as they did not even have any
peculiar name which distinguished them from the rest of the people,
and their religious belief enjoyed as yet its freedom, they joined
everywhere the Jewish assemblies, instilled there their doctrine,
taught even in the temple, where they went to pray like the rest. But
a deep-rooted dissension, pregnant with tempests, was growing in the
heart of every synagogue. These were most numerous at Jerusalem, as it
is said that well-nigh five hundred different ones were there in
existence, each people possessing their own, about in the same manner
as now in the city of Rome every Catholic nation possesses her proper
church, for her own use, and in her own name. The synagogue of the
Cilicians, is expressly mentioned in the holy Scripture and signalized
as one of the most disturbed, and most opposed to the new sect.
[Footnote 119] Interpreters are of opinion that it was there Saul and
the deacon Stephen met together in the midst of other Asiatic Jews,
their countrymen, {540} hot-headed and subtle, as are all of that
country. [Footnote 120] They were of the same age, according to
computations made for the purpose, and of equal learning; but
Stephen's eloquence had no rival! It was, the Acts say, something at
once sweet and powerful, that attracted by its grace, and bore away
the soul by its force. One felt in it a higher spirit, it is said, and
it was in vain that disputants from all the synagogues arose against
Christ and his faith; none could resist that word, "full of wisdom and
of the Holy Ghost." Some Greek copies add that he "reprehended the
Jews with such an assurance that it was impossible not to see the
truths which he announced."
[Footnote 119: Act. vi. 9]
[Footnote 120: Dom Calmet, "Comm. sur les Actes," vi. 9.]
His words gave displeasure on account of this freedom; as they could
not refute him they soon resolved to calumniate him, waiting for a
pretext to get rid of him. Witnesses were found; they are found
everywhere. Stephen had preached that a more perfect worship was about
to take the place of the worship of Moses, that the glory and the
reign of the temple were soon to have an end, and that a better
Jerusalem of larger destinies, was on the point of being built. It was
but too easy to turn these words from their spiritual meaning, and
convert them into threats against the city and the people. A purely
moral and peaceful revolution was a thing, on the other hand, so
entirely novel in the history of the world, that one would have
naturally persisted in confounding it with a political and civil
revolution. It was this gross and voluntary mistake that had furnished
the text to the pretended lawsuit against our Lord Jesus Christ; it
was equally the foundation of that which his disciples have been
subjected to. To these accusations they took care to add that Stephen
intended to change the ancient traditions, which thing in the eyes of
the Pharisees was decisive.
The young deacon was therefore brought before the high-priest, that
same Caiaphas by whom Jesus had suffered. When the accusers had been
heard, the pontiff requested Stephen to answer them: "Are these things
so?"
He rose up, and as soon as he could be seen, the book of the Acts
observes, all the eyes in the assembly were fixed on him. Did he have
already a glimpse of the martyr's crown, and did this vision
transfigure him in advance? I know not, but it is said that his face
appeared to their eyes as the face of on angel. "It was," says St.
Hilary of Aries, "the flame of his heart overspreading itself upon his
forehead; the candor of his soul was reflected on his features in a
perfect beauty; and the Holy Ghost residing in Stephen's heart threw
upon his face a jet of supernatural light."
The speech of Stephen was simple, but peremptory. To those who charged
him with breaking off from the religion of his fathers, he opposed at
the very beginning a long profession of faith from the books of Moses.
But the question relating to the temple, whose fall he had foretold,
was more serious. He viewed it firmly. He did not retract himself; but
presently rising from the region of facts to that of superior
principles which facts obey, he began to demonstrate that a material
temple is nowise necessary to the honor of God. As a proof of this he
pointed back to the times in which the patriarchs made their prayers
on the top of the high places; when the Lord manifested his presence
in a flame of fire in a bush; and when the Hebrew people carried
through the desert the tabernacle, which was the sanctuary and the
altar at the same time. When he had come to the time of the first
temple he concluded, and his discourse suddenly assumed the character
of a vivid and eloquent exaltation. Elevating himself from the
imperfection of a national worship to the ideal of a universal and
spiritual one, which would {541} have its sanctuary chiefly within
man's soul, he said: "Yet the Most High dwelleth not in houses made by
hands, as the prophet saith: 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth my
footstool; what house will you build me, saith the Lord, or what is
the place of my resting? Hath not my hand made all these things?"
Such a harangue was a manifesto. He did not abolish every temple, nor
every worship, as some people are pleased to insinuate; but he erased
at a single stroke the exclusive privilege of the temple of Jerusalem,
he extended it's boundaries, and for the old Jewish monopoly
substituted the catholicity of a new church, as large as the world.
The Jews understood him too well. They were already trembling with
rage against him, when, from the accused becoming the accuser, Stephen
charged them with the murder of the prophets, and principally with
that of the God, our Saviour, whom they had crucified. "You have
received the law by the disposition of angels," he said to them, "and
have not kept it." On hearing these words, their rage, incapable of
longer restraint, burst out; "they were cut to the heart, and they
gnashed with their teeth at him," as the Acts relate. Stephen felt
that his last hour was at hand.
The Holy Ghost filled him as it were with a holy rapture. He looked
steadfastly to heaven, where the glory of God began to shine on him,
and there, in the midst of that glory, recognizing and saluting Jesus
Christ, who extended his hand to him, "Behold," he exclaimed, "I see
the heavens opened, the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God."
These words sealed his doom. On hearing him, the Jews, shaking with
horror, "cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and with one
accord ran violently upon him," as wild beasts do on their prey.
No judgment was passed on him. A text in the book of Deuteronomy
allowed any one to be put to death, who enticed the people into
idolatry. This summary justice sometimes tolerated by the Roman
pro-consul, was termed the _judgment of zeal_. To apply this
_judgment_ to the young deacon, was found more convenient than to go
through the formalities of a regular sentence; and they seized him to
put him to death. By a last relic of Pharisaism, however, they took
care to observe the practices of the law, even in such an arbitrary
and cruel deed. To the end, therefore, that the holy city should not
be stained with blood, the innocent victim was "cast forth without"
the walls of Jerusalem.
They went out by the northern gate along that side which leads to
country of Kedar. At the west of the valley crossed by the Kedron, on
a desolate places and at the right of the distant mountains of Galaad,
the crowd stopped. The witnesses began by raising their hands over the
head of Stephen, which was the rite of devoting a victim to death;
then stones innumerable, as thick as hail, fell upon him. The
atrocious deed went on with unrelenting fury, and the body of the
heroic martyr was now noting but a wound; but he held his eyes
immovably fixed on that celestial vision, and as life was gradually
receding from his breast, he was ever "invoking and saying, Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit!"
The Acts of the Apostles conclude this narrative, with giving us the
name of the person who was the most noted accomplice in this murder:
"_Saulus autem erat consentiens neci ejus_."
St. Luke, the disciple of St. Paul, says nothing further concerning
his master in this business. But St. Paul came afterward, who, humbly
giving a public testimony of his cruel error, denounced himself as the
instigator of that iniquity. "When the blood of Stephen was shed," he
said one day to the Jews, "I was the first, and over the others,"
_Super ad stabam_. [Footnote 121] It is the sense of the Greek text.
Had {542} he for such a thing a mandate of the Sanhedrim, as we shall
soon see him vested with full powers against the brethren of Damascus?
Everything would make one believe so. The fathers and commentators
say, it was for this reason that he kept the garments of those men of
blood: and they, in fact, show us those murderers as going the one
after the other, deferentially to lay their garments at the feet of
Saul, as an homage, so to speak, paid to him, from whom they had the
power and the command to strike.
[Footnote 121: Act. xxii. 20.]
Stephen saw him, and revenged himself in his way--the divine way. At
the point of death, covered with blood, he lowered his eyes to the
earth for the last time, and sadly resting them on his persecutors,
perhaps he saw through their impious crowd one of them apart, more
furious than the rest. He was moved to compassion for his soul; and
then it was that "falling on his knees, he cried with a loud voice,"
not of anger, but of grace, and said: "Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge." He rose no more, and so saying, Stephen "fell asleep in the
Lord."
He could sleep in peace, indeed, for he had just made a magnificent
conquest. "If Stephen had not prayed," St. Augustine says, "the church
had not won St Paul; the martyr fell, the Apostle rose." [Footnote
122] These substitutions are the most mysterious secrets of
Providence. By an admirable law of a bond _in solido_, of fraternity
and of love, God has willed that we, like himself, can, at the price
of a little blood, or even of some tears, pay the ransom of souls, and
secure to them a future for which they are indebted to us. He has
permitted that the life and the death of Christians, like those of
their Master, should be a redemption, completing the great redemption
of Calvary, according to the saying of St. Paul himself. Coloss. i. 24
[Footnote 122: St. Aug. Sermo 1. "De Sanctis."]
It was meant that this should be the first apostleship of all, and the
most fruitful. In the midst of scaffolds, ever full of victims, and
the catacombs which incessantly recruited new children of God,
Tertullian proclaimed that "the blood of the martyrs was a seed of
Christians." He gave thus form to a beautiful law, which the blood of
Stephen, after the blood of God himself, had before inaugurated. The
soul of Saul, therefore, was that day a conquered soul. It is in vain
that on the road to Damascus he struggles and "kicks against the
goad:" he is under the yoke of God; he carries a mark of blood on him
which points him out, and which saves him; and Jesus, whenever he
will, has only to show himself to throw him down and make him obey.
This is admirable. Moses had written in the book of Leviticus, "The
priest shall command him that is to be purified to offer for himself
two living sparrows which it is lawful to eat, . . . . and he shall
command one of the sparrows to be immolated, . . . . but the other
that is alive he shall dip . . . . in the blood of the sparrow that is
immolated; . . . . and he shall let go the living sparrow, that it may
fly into the field." (Levit xiv. 4-7.) It was according to this rite
that the transaction was accomplished. Stephen had been the chosen
victim; and when Saul had covered himself with his redeeming blood,
that blood set him free: he had no more to do but to spread his wings,
and to start on his flight.
------
{543}
From Chambers's Journal
THE CUCKOO AND THE NIGHTINGALE.
Our oldest poet, and almost our best, unites in one sweet song the
cuckoo and the nightingale--the former to be chidden, and spoken of
despitefully; the latter to be made the theme of fervent praise, as
the singer and harbinger of love. Taken altogether, the cuckoo, in
fact, is far from being an attractive bird. Somehow, it has in all
countries been regarded as a symbol of matrimonial infidelity,
probably because it introduces itself into and defiles the nests of
other, birds. Shakespeare, who loved to make eternal the fancies and
prejudices of mankind, exclaims:
"Cuckoo! cuckoo! O word of fear!
Unpleasing to a married ear!"
Loved or hated, however, it is a creature about which we know less
than any other winged animal. It comes and goes in mystery, no one
being able to decide what is its original country, how far it extends
its travels, to what peculiarity in its structure or constitution it
owes its restless propensity, or why, almost as soon as born, it
becomes a sort of feathered Cain, murdering its foster-brethren, and,
according to some, devouring the very dam that fed it. Wide, indeed,
are its wanderings. It is heard on the banks of the Niger and the
Senegal in the heart of Africa; it is familiar to the dwellers on the
Obi and the Irtish; it flies screaming forth its harsh dissyllables
over the Baltic surge; it repeats them untiringly in the perfumed air
of Andalusia and Granada, among the ruins of the Alhambra and the
Generaliffe; it startles the woodman in the forests of France; it
amuses the school-boy in the green vales of Kent, of Gloucestershire,
and of Devonshire.
Our associations with the cuckoo are, in some cases, pleasant; it
comes to us with the first of those peregrinating birds that usher in
the summer; its cry is redolent of sunshine, of the scent of
primroses, of lindens, of oaks, and elms, of solitary pathways, of the
lilied banks of streams. Occasionally, we know not why, it flies early
in the morning over the skirts of great cities, as if to invite their
inmates to shake off drowsiness, and look forth upon the loveliness of
the young day. Not many weeks ago, we heard it in London, just as the
clouds were parting in the east to make way for the first beams of
dawn. Many summers back, we heard the self-same notes echoing among
the pinnacles of the Alps, before the morning-star had faded from
behind the Jungfrau. The cuckoo is a sort of familiar chronicler, that
gathers up the events of our lives, and brings them to our memory by
his well-known voice. As he shouts over our heads, we call to mind the
many summers the sweet scents of which we have inhaled, the rambles we
have taken in the woods, our idolatry of nature, our innocent
pleasures.
The cuckoo and the nightingale constitute the opposite poles of the
ornithological world; one the representative of eternal monotony, the
other of infinite variety. Among men, there are cuckoos and
nightingales--individuals whose ideas are few, who think invariably
after the same pattern, who repeat day after day the formulas of the
nursery and the school-room, who, from their swaddling-bands to their
shrouds, never break away from the social catechism dinned into them
at the outset; while there are others who seem, at least in their
range of thought, to know no limit but that of creation, to generate
fresh swarms of ideas every moment, now to hover among the nebulas on
the extreme verge of the {544} universe, and now to nestle in the
chalice of the violet, where even Ariel could scarcely find room for
the tip of his pinion. Naturalists may be fanciful, like poets; and if
this liberty be ever allowable, it is surely so when they speak of the
nightingale. The organization of this winged miracle, whose whole
weight does not exceed an ounce, may in truth be looked upon as one of
the most remarkable in the whole scale of animal life. The roar of the
gorilla can, it is said, be heard a full mile. But the gorilla is a
colossus, equalling in stature one of the sons of Anak; while
Philomela, not exceeding in bulk the forejoint of the monster's thumb,
is able at night, when all the woods are still, to cause the liquid
melody of her notes to be heard at an equal distance. Consider the
organ, measure the length of country, and the ecstacy of the listening
ear, and you will perhaps acknowledge that there are few phenomena
familiar to our experience more astonishing than this. We have stood
at midnight on a mountain in the south of France, and at a distance
quite as great, we think, as that mentioned above, have heard the
notes of the songstress of darkness borne up to us, on the breeze from
the depths of an unwooded valley. Faintly and gently they came through
the hushed air, but there could be no mistake about their identity; no
other mortal mixture of earth's mould than her throat could have given
forth such sounds, crisp, clear, long-drawn, melancholy, as if she
were still lamenting the sad hap that overtook her amid die solitudes
of Hellas. The French, down even to the peasants, love the
nightingale; and wild country girls, who in their whole lives never
read a page of poetry, will sit out half the night on a hillside to
listen to their favorite bird. A priest once invited us to pass a week
with him in his village _presbytere_, and in enumerating the
inducements, mentioned first that there were nightingales in the
neighborhood. His home was in the valley of Mortagne, in the Bocages
of Normandy, where these birds are in fact as plentiful as sparrows.
In Italy, especially in Tuscany and the Venetian states, the
nightingale trills her notes with more than ordinary beauty. The great
Roman naturalist who perished amid the lava-floods of Vesuvius, often,
we may be sure, enjoyed her song from his nephew's garden in this part
of the peninsula. No description of the wonders she achieves can
approach the one he has left us for truth or eloquence, and it was
written in all likelihood by the light of some antique lamp between
the prolonged gushes of her music. Unhappily, it is true, as he says,
that the nightingale's song can only be heard in perfection during
fifteen out of the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year. The
female bird is then sitting in her nest, imparting vital heat to the
musicians of future years; and her lover, fully impressed with the
importance of her duty, intoxicates her with his voice, to dispel the
tedium of confinement. In spite of natural history, however, poetry
transfers to the mute female the singing powers of her lord:
"Nightly she sings from yon, pomegranate-tree."
Pliny, too, after stating the fact, that it is the male that sings,
immediately avails himself of the aid supplied by metonymy, and
changes the sex of the musician. Let us take his description, as
honest Philemon Holland supplies it in the language of Elizabeth's
time: "Is it not a wonder," he says, "that so loud and clear a voice
should come from so little a body? Is it not as strange that she
should hold her breath so long, and continue with it as she doth?
Moreover, she alone in her song keepeth time and measure truly; she
riseth and falleth in her note just with the rules of music and
perfect harmonic: for one while in one entire breath she draweth out
her tune at length treatable; another while she quavereth, and goeth
away as fast in her running points; sometimes she maketh stops and
short cuts in her notes, another time she gathereth in {545} her
breath and singeth descant between the plain song; she fetcheth her
breath again, and then you shall have her in her catches and
divisions; anon, all on a sudden, before a man would think it, she
drowneth her voice, that one can scarce hear her; now and then she
seemeth to record to herself; and then she breaketh out to sing
voluntarie. In some she varieth and altereth her voice to all keys;
one while full of her larges, longs, briefs, semibriefs, and minims;
another while in her crotchets, quavers, semiquavers, and double
semiquavers, for at one time you shall hear her voice full and loud,
another time as low; and anon shrill and on high: thick and short when
she list; drawn out at leisure again when she is disposed; and then
(if she be so pleased) she riseth and mounteth up aloft, as it were
with a wind-organ. Thus she altereth from one to another, and singeth
all parts, the treble, the meane, and the base. To conclude; there is
not a pipe or instrument again in the world (devised with all the art
and cunning of man so exquisitely as possibly might be) that can
afford more music than this pretty bird doth out of that little throat
of hers."
We have persons here in England who earn their livelihood by catching
nightingales. It is the same in most other countries. Near Cairo,
there is, or used to be, a pretty grove of mingled mimosas, palms, and
sycamores, where the netters of nightingales station themselves at
night, in the proper season, to take the bird when in full song.
According to their report, which there is no reason to discredit, the
male bird becomes so intoxicated by the scented air, by love, and by
his own music, that the cap-net, fixed at at the summit of a long
reed, may be raised and closed about him before he is sensible of his
danger. From the free woods he is then transferred to a cage, where in
nine cases out of ten, he dies of nostalgia. Nor is this all. The
female bird, accustomed not only to be cheered by his song, but
likewise fed by his industry, pines and perishes with all her brood.
The wren, the swallow, the titlark intermit the business of
incubation, and leave their nests for a minute or a minute and a half
to help themselves while they are sitting, or to assist the male in
feeding the young after the eggs are hatched: but the female
nightingale used, like an eastern sultana, to be provided for entirely
by her lord, feels her utter helplessness when she is deserted, and
leaning her little head and neck over the edge of the nest, with her
eyes fixed in the direction in which he used to come, dies in that
attitude of expectancy. The reason is, that the instinct of pairing,
which is strong in many other birds, reaches its culminating point in
the nightingale--the same males and females keeping together for years
without ever seeking other mates.
The cuckoo, as we have said, offers the most striking contrast in the
development of its instincts. It does not pair at all, and as there
are more males than females, we may often see two or three of the
former sex following one of the latter, and fighting for her favors.
As the parents care not for one another, neither do they care for
their young. It was long supposed that the cuckoo laid only one egg in
the season; but this has been found to be an error, for though they
leave no more than one egg in one nest--we mean generally--they have
been observed to make deposits in various nests, and then fly away to
a distant part of the country, or even to other lands. In the female
cuckoo, therefore, the maternal instinct is entirely wanting, which,
though it acts in obedience to an imperious law of nature, makes it a
hateful bird. As soon as it quits the shell, it begins to exhibit its
odious qualities. When the cuckoo's egg is placed in the nest of the
hedge-sparrow, for example, the deluded mother perceives no difference
between the alien production and her own. She sits, therefore, on what
she finds, and having no idea of numbers, of course never thinks of
counting the eggs. {546} When hatching-time arrives, however, she is
made the witness of an extraordinary scene. The villainous young
cuckoo, which often escapes from the shell a whole day before the
others, immediately begins to clear the nest by pitching out the
unhatched eggs; or if the young ones have made their appearance, forth
they are thrown in like manner. Nature has fabricated the little
monster with a view to this ungrateful proceeding, for in its back
there is a hollow depression, in which egg or chick may be placed
while he is rising to shunt it over the battlements. The process is
extremely curious: the young assassin, putting shoulder and elbow to
the work, keeps continually thrusting against his victim till he gets
it on his back; he then rises, and placing his back aslant, tumbles it
out into empty space. This done, and finding that he has all the
dwelling to himself, he subsides quietly into his place, and waits
with ever-open bill for the dole which the foolish sparrow wears
itself almost to death in providing for the faithless wretch. When the
nest happens to be situated in a high hedge, you may often see the
young sparrows spiked alive on the thorns, or the eggs still
palpitating with living birds lying unbroken on the soft grass below.
This inspires naturalists with no pity; they observe that neither the
eggs nor the young birds are thrown away, since various reptiles that
feed on such substances make a comfortable meal of what is thus placed
within their reach.
As the cuckoo does nothing in life but eat, scream, and lay eggs for
other birds to hatch, it needs no education, and receives none. On the
other hand, the nightingale, having to perform the highest functions
allotted to the class _aves_, requires much training and discipline,
study and preparation. The young nightingale does not sing by mere
instinct. If taken from the nest soon after it is hatched, and brought
up among inferior creatures, it is incapable of performing its lofty
mission, and deals in vulgar twittering like them; just as a baby, if
removed from the society of speech-gifted mortals, and entrusted to
the care of dumb persons, will lack that divine quality of expressing
ideas which distinguishes man from the brute. The nightingale needs
and receives a classical education. When the grass is dewy--when the
leaves are green and fresh--when the soft breath of the morning steals
over the woods like incense, the old bird takes forth the young ones,
before it is quite light, and placing them on some bough, with strict
injunctions to listen, goes a little way off, and begins his song. In
this he commences with the easier notes, and is careful to keep the
whole in a comparatively narrow compass. He then pauses to watch the
result of his first instructions. After a brief delay, during which
they are turning over the notes in their minds, the young ones take up
the lay one by one, and go through it, as our neighbors say, _tant
bien que mal_. The teacher watches their efforts with attention;
applauds them when right; chides them when they have done amiss; and
goes on day by day reiterating his lessons till he considers his
pupils quite equal to the high duties they have to perform. Mankind,
of course, imagine that those duties consist in soothing their ears,
and driving away melancholy. But _apropos_ of the performances of
another bird, our philosophic poet inquires:
"Is it for thee the lark ascends and sings?"
And replies:
"Joy tunes his voice, joy animates his wings."
So with the nightingale--
"Loves of his own and raptures swell the note."
Some one speaking of our own species, says:
"We think, we toil, we war, we rove.
And all we ask is--woman's love."
It is to win the love of Philomela that the male nightingale studies,
watches, and pours forth his soul in song. He had much rather that men
did not listen; he is a shy, solitary, and timid bird, and takes his
love away into {547} the forests, where, undisturbed by the sounds of
vulgar life, he ravishes her ears with music. It is a question much
discussed by poets and naturalists, whether the nightingale's song be
joyous or melancholy. It probably derives its character from the frame
of mind in which the listener happens to be--to the joyous it is
mirthful, to the sorrowful it is sad--but in its real nature it is
what Milton suggests--
"She all night long her amorous descant sung."
Still it must be owned that they who discover melancholy in her long,
low, meltingly sweet notes, seem to approach nearer the truth than
they who describe her as a merry bird. It is superstition, perhaps,
that attributes to her the strange philosophy which makes anguish the
well-spring of pleasure. When desirous, it is said, of reaching the
sublimest heights of song, she leans her breast against a thorn, in
order that the sense of pain may tone down her impetuous rapture into
sympathy with human sorrow.
Another strange notion is, that the nightingale fixes her eyes--
"Her bright, bright eyes; her eyes both bright and full"--
on some particular star, from which she never withdraws them till her
song is concluded, unless she be alarmed by the approach of some
footstep, or other sound indicative of danger. We remember once, in
Kent, going forth to spend a night in the fields to enjoy the strange
delight imparted by the nightingale's notes. We placed ourselves on a
little eminence overlooking a valley, covered at intervals by
scattered woods. It was the dead watch and middle of the night;
silence the most absolute brooded over the earth. We stood still in
high expectation. Presently, one lordly nightingale flung forth at no
great distance from the summit of a lofty tree his music on the night.
The lay was not protracted, but a rich, short, defiant burst of
melody; he then, like the Roman orator, paused for a reply. The reply
came, not close at hand, but, as it seemed, from some copse or thicket
far down in the valley. If one might presume to judge on the spur of
the moment, the second songster did really outdo the first. The notes
came forth bubbling, gushing, quivering, palpitating, as it were, with
soul, for nothing material ever resembled it. He went over a broad
area of song, with a sort of wilderness of melody; his notes followed
each other so rapidly, high, low, linked, broken--now sweeping away
like a torrent, now sinking till it sounded like the scarcely audible
murmur of a distant bee. He then stopped abruptly, confident that he
had given his rival something to reflect upon. We now waited to hear
that rival's answer, but he appeared to consider himself defeated, and
remained silent. Another champion now stepped forward, and took up the
challenge. He must surely have been the prince of his race. From a
tree on the <DW72> of a height, not far to the right of our position,
he gave us a new specimen of the poetry of his race. The former two,
evidently younger and more inexperienced, had been in a hurry. He took
up his parable at leisure, beginning with a few light flourishes by
way of preface, after which he plunged into his epic, seeming to carry
on the subject from the epoch of Deucalion and Pyrrha, down to that
moment, displaying all the resources of art, and presenting us with
every form into which music could be moulded. What he might have
achieved at last, or to what pitch he might have raised our ecstasy,
must remain a mystery, for before he had concluded his song, a
thundering railway train, belching forth fire and smoke as it
advanced, seemed to be on the very point of annihilating the
songsters; so they all took to flight, or at least remained
obstinately silent. We waited hour after hour, now pacing in one
direction, now in another; stopping short, pausing in our talk,
listening till the streaky dawn, climbing slowly up the eastern hills,
revealed to us the inutility of further hope.
{548}
The first time we heard the nightingale was from the deck of a vessel
in the Avon, near Lee Woods. It was a starlight night; we were leaning
on the bulwarks, speculating on the reception we were to meet with in
England--in which we had that day arrived for the first time. As we
were chewing the cud of sweet and bitter fancy, from an indenture in
the woods, called, as we have since learned, Nightingale Valley, there
burst forth at once a flood of sound, the strangest, the sweetest, the
most intoxicating we had ever heard--it must be, it was the voice of
the nightingale---
To the land of my fathers that welcomed me back.
Years not a few have rolled by since then, but we remember as
distinctly as if it were yesternight the pleasure of that exquisite
surprise. We heard the nightingale in England before the cuckoo--a
circumstance which, according to Chaucer, should portend good-luck;
and so it did--good-luck and happy days.
Perhaps much of the pleasure tasted in such cases is derived from the
time of year--for both the cuckoo and the nightingale belong to the
spring--when the air is full of balm, when the foliage is thick, when
the grass is green and young--and when, especially in the morning,
delicate odors ascend from the earth, which produce a wonderful effect
upon the animal spirits. Through these scents, the cry of one bird and
the song of the other invariably come to us: the one flitting at early
dawn over the summits of woods, the other in loneliest covert hid,
making night lovely, and smoothing the raven down of darkness till it
smiles.
------
[ORIGINAL.]
HYMN.
Spirit of God, thyself the Lord,
Out of the depths I call on thee.
Above, I view thy gleaming sword.
Around, thy works of love I see.
Spirit of God, that hovering high
Didst watch the primal waters roll,
Brood o'er my heart, and verify
The turbid chaos of my soul!
Spirit of God, oh! bid me fear,
That blessed fear thy love can calm;
Transfix me with thy shining spear
And heal me with thy holy balm!
Spirit of God, oh! fill my breast,
And sear me with the sign of heaven.
The glorious brand of sin confessed,
The glorious seal of sin forgiven.
F.A.R.
------
{549}
From the Irish Industrial Magazine
THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS OF OUR ANCESTORS.
BY M. HAVERTY, ESQ.
That the early inhabitants of Ireland possessed sundry kinds of
manufacture is a point that can scarcely be disputed; for, besides
frequent passages in ancient and authentic historical documents
referring to the matter, we have satisfactory evidence in those
specimens of the manufactured articles themselves which have been
preserved to the present day, and which bear testimony to the skill
and industry that produced them.
A visit to the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy must convince us of
the excellent workmanship of the ancient Irish bronze swords, and
other weapons, and of certain ancient gold ornaments--both bronze and
gold articles belonging to a date anterior to the introduction of
Christianity into Ireland. From the early Christian ages we have
received many of the old ecclesiastical ornaments that have been
preserved; and some of them exhibit that peculiar and exquisite kind
of interlaced ornamentation which began at a remote period to be known
as _opus Hibernicum_, or the Irish style.
We know that the ancient Irish were skilled in the manufacture of
their musical instruments, as well as in the use of them; and in the
preparation of parchment, as well as in the almost unrivalled beauty
of penmanship of which that parchment has preserved so many specimens.
Then we must return to much more ancient times for the manufacture of
gold and silver goblets, and, above all, for those beautiful fibulae,
or brooches, which have afforded models for some of the most graceful
and costly articles of female decoration at the present day. We may
very naturally conclude that these charming fibular were not employed
to hold together mantles of the coarsest possible manufacture, or,
rather, that there was some proportion between the texture of the
cloth and the beautiful workmanship of the brooch which clasped it
round the person of the wearer; and, in a word, we are justified in
presuming that some manufactures, besides those of which specimens
were durable enough to have been preserved to the present day, existed
in the country.
The incessant warfare of the Danish period, and of the centuries
following the Anglo-Norman invasion, must have been destructive to the
industrial arts; yet we meet occasionally with some external evidence
of their existence even then. Some eighty years ago, the Earl of
Charlemont lighted on a curious passage relating to the subject in an
Italian poem of the fourteenth century. From this and other
authorities he was able to show, in a paper published in the first
volume of the "Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy," that Ireland
produced a fine woollen fabric called serge, which enjoyed an European
reputation at the very time the Flemish weavers were brought over by
Edward III. to establish the woollen manufacture in England, and
consequently before it could have been introduced here from the latter
country. The investigation of such scattered facts as these would be
interesting, and no doubt would flatter national vanity. It may,
perhaps, occupy us on some future occasion; but for the present we
shall confine our inquiry to a somewhat more modern epoch, and more
tangible evidences.
Strangely enough, the first writer we have had on the natural history
and industrial resources of Ireland happens {550} to have been a
Dutchman. Dr. Gerard Boate--a resident of London, though by birth, it
appears, a Hollander--obtained the post of state physician in Ireland
from the Commonwealth, in 1649 and having purchased, as an adventurer,
a few years earlier, some of the forfeited lands in Leinster and
Ulster, applied himself to the subject of his book, with a view
originally to the improvement of his own property. His information,
however, was obtained, not from personal experience, but from Irish
gentlemen whom he had met in London, such as Sir William and Sir
Richard Parsons; and from his brother, Dr. Arnold Boate, who had
practiced as a physician in Dublin for many years; but he himself,
unfortunately, died a few months after his arrival in Ireland to enter
on the duties of his office, before he was able to carry out more than
half the original design of his work, which, though written in 1645,
was not published until some years after his death. He collected his
information and wrote while the great civil war was still raging, and
when all his feelings and interests must have been strongly enlisted
against the native race, so that we are not to be surprised at the
acerbity of some of his expressions about them. Our concern is, not
with his feelings or opinions, but with the facts which he relates,
and the descriptions and statistics which he supplies.
On the state of metallurgy in Ireland in his time, Dr. Boate gives us
some very curious information. He denies any knowledge of the subject
on the part of the native Irish, and asserts that all the mines in
Ireland were discovered by the "New English." "The Old English in
Ireland," he says, "that is, those who are come in from the time of
the first conquest until the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign,
have been so plagued with wars from time to time--one while intestine
among themselves, and another while with the Irish--that they could
scarce ever find the opportunity of seeking for mines. . . . . . And
the Irish themselves, as being one of the most barbarous nations of
the whole earth, have at all times been so far from seeking out any,
that even in these last years, and since the English have begun to
discover some, none of them all, great or small, at any time hath
applied himself to that business, or in the least manner furthered it;
so that all the mines which to this day are found out in Ireland, have
been discovered (at least, as far to make any use of them) by the New
English, that is, such as are come in during and since the reign of
Queen Elizabeth." (_Thom's Collection of Tracts and Treatises_, vol.
i. 102.)
He adds, that several iron mines had been discovered in various parts
of the kingdom, and also some of lead and silver, during the forty
years' peace, from the death of Elizabeth to the outbreak of the great
rebellion--the longest peace, he remarks, that Ireland ever enjoyed,
either before or after the coming of the English. The great extent to
which smelting was carried on during a portion of that time may be
concluded from the almost incredible destruction of the Irish woods,
to make charcoal for the purpose. This Dr. Boate describes in a
preceding chapter; "As long as the land was in the full possession of
the Irish themselves," he says, and we know the fact from many other
sources, "all Ireland was very full of woods on every side;" but the
English cleared away a great deal of these, both to destroy the
lurking places of their foes, and to convert the land into tillage and
pasture. Besides the woods cleared for these purposes, a vast amount
of timber was felled, as Boate tells us, for merchandise, and to make
charcoal for the iron works. The timber comprised under the former
head does not appear to have been for building, but simply for pipe
staves and the like, of which, he says, great quantities were exported
even in former times; "and," he adds, "during the last peace a mighty
trade was driven in them, and whole shiploads sent into foreign
countries yearly;" while, "as for the charcoal," he {551} continues,
"it is incredible what quantity thereof is consumed by one iron work
in a year . . . so that it was necessary from time to time to fell an
infinite number of trees, all the loppings and windfalls being not
sufficient for it in the least manner." The result of all this was,
that even in Boate's time, that is, over 200 years ago, the greater
part of Ireland was left totally bare of woods; the inhabitants could
obtain no wood for building, or even for firing; and in some parts one
might travel whole days without seeing any trees, except a few about
gentlemen's houses. For a distance of over three score miles from
north to south, in the counties of Louth and Dublin, "one doth not
come near any woods worth speaking of; and in some parts thereof you
shall not see so much as one tree in many miles. For the great woods
which the maps do represent unto us upon the mountains, between
Dundalk and Nurie, are quite vanished, there being nothing left of
them these many years since but one only tree, standing close by the
highway, at the very top of one of the mountains, so far as it may be
seen a great way off, and therefore serveth travellers for a mark."
At that period iron mines were worked extensively near Tallow, on the
borders of Cork and Waterford, by the famous Earl of Cork; in the
county of Clare, some six miles from Limerick; at a place called
Desert, in the King's County, by Sergeant-Major Pigott; at Mountrath
and Mountmellick, in the Queen's County; on the shores of Lough Allen,
both on the Roscommon and Leitrim sides--the mountains of
Slieve-an-ieran, or the Iron Mountain, in the latter county, having
obtained its name, in the remotest ages, from the presence of that
metal; on the shores of Lough Erne, in Fermanagh; in Cavan; at Lissan,
on the borders of Tyrone and Londonderry, where the works were carried
on by Sir Thomas Staples, the owner of the soil; at the foot of Slieve
Gallen, in the county of Derry; and in several other places. Iron
smelting works and foundries were erected, not only in the vicinity of
the mines, but in other places on the coast, and elsewhere, where the
convenience of water carriage and the supplies of charcoal afforded
inducements. To some of these works on the sea-coast, the ore was
brought even from England; but the principal iron works appear to have
been those belonging to the Earl of Cork, in Munster; to Sir Charles
Coote, at Mountrath, and in Roscommon and Leitrim; to the Earl of
Londonderry, in his own county; to Lord Chancellor Loftus, ancestor of
the Marquis of Ely, at Mountmellick; to Sir John Dunbar, in Fermanagh;
Sir Leonard Blennerhassett, on Lough Erne; and a company of London
merchants in Clare. We are not told whether these last were the
representatives of the London Mining Company, to which Queen Elizabeth
granted the royalties of the precious metals that might be discovered
within the English Pale. Mr. Christopher Wandsworth, who had been
Master of the Rolls for Ireland, and acted as Lord Deputy under the
Earl of Strafford, erected a foundry in the county of Carlow, where
ordnance were cast, and also a kind of small round furnaces, pots, and
other articles made.
It was estimated that the owners of the iron works--we do not here
refer to the mines--made a profit of forty per cent in the year; and
Boate was assured, by persons who were particularly well informed on
the subject, that the Earl of Cork cleared L100,000 by his iron works.
Sir Charles Coote--"that zealous and famous warriour in this present
warre against the Irish rebells," in the first year of which war he
fell--appears to have been quite as famous as an iron-master as he was
as a warrior, and his iron-works at Mountrath were a model at that
time. A ton of the ore called rock mine cost him, at the furnace head,
5s. 6d.; and a ton of white mine, or ore dug from a mountain, 7s. The
two ores were mixed in the {552} proportion of one of rock mine to two
of white mine, and three tons of the mixed ore yielded one ton of good
bar iron, which was conveyed in rude, small boats called cots, on the
River Nore to Waterford, and thence shipped to London, where it was
sold for L16, and sometimes for L17, or even L17 10s.; the whole cost
of the iron to Sir Charles Coote, including that of digging it out of
the mine and every expense until it reached the London market, Custom
House duty included, being between L10 and L11 per ton. In most places
the cost of the ore at the furnace varied from 5s. to 6s. per ton; and
when the ore was particularly rich, 2-1/2 tons produced one ton of
good iron; but Boate tells us that few of the iron smelters carried on
their work as profitably as Sir Charles Coote.
In Boate's time, only three lead and silver mines appear to have been
known in Ireland. One of these was in the county of Antrim, and was
very rich, yielding 1 lb. of silver to 30 lbs. of lead; another was
situated in Cony Island, at Sligo; and the third, the only one which
was worked, was the famous silver mines of the barony of Upper Ormond,
in Tipperary, about twelve miles from Limerick. This mine had been
discovered about forty years before, and was at first supposed to be
merely a lead mine; some of the first lead it produced being used by
the Earl of Thomond to roof his house at Bunratty. It was worked in
the shape of open pits, several fathoms deep, but still sloping so
gradually, that the ore was carried to the surface in wheelbarrows.
Each ton of ore at this mine yielded 3 lbs. of pure silver; but our
authority does not inform us how much lead. The silver was sold in
Dublin for 5s. 2d. per oz., and the lead for L11 per ton, though it is
stated to have brought L12 in Limerick; and the royalty, or king's
share, was a sixth part of the silver, and a tenth of the lead. The
rest was the property of those who farmed the mine, and who cleared an
estimated profit of L2000 per annum. The works at this mine, and in
general all the smelting works which we have mentioned throughout the
country, were of course destroyed in the civil war.
So much for the practical metallurgy of Ireland, as it existed two
hundred years ago. Of the knowledge of the original inhabitants on the
subject, Sir William Wilde ("Catalogue of Antiquities," etc., vol. i.
p. 351) says--and his opinion is the result of all the investigation
that is practicable in the matter--"When, and how, the Irish people
discovered metals and their uses, together with the art of smelting
and casting, has not been determined by archaeologists;" but a few
remarkable and suggestive facts on the subject may be mentioned.
Manuscripts, themselves five or six hundred years old, and purporting
to give information handed down from the most remote antiquity, make
frequent mention of the knowledge and use of metals among the ancient
Irish. Thus the old annalists say, that "gold was first smelted in
Ireland in Fotharta-Airthir-Liffe," a woody district in Wicklow, east
of the River Liffey, supposed to coincide with the present well-known
auriferous tract in that county. Indeed, it is most probable that gold
was the first metal known to the Irish, as well as to all people in
early stages of civilization, as, besides its glittering quality, it
is almost the only metal found in a native state upon the surface, and
consequently obtainable without the art of smelting. Dr. Boate writes:
"I believe many will think it very unlikely that there should be any
gold mines in Ireland; but a credible person hath given me to
understand, that one of his acquaintances had several times assured
him that out of a certain rivulet, in the county of Nether-Tirone,
called Miola, he had gathered about one dram of pure gold." We also
know from the celts, and other articles in these metals which have
been preserved, that the ancient Irish possessed {553} copper, which
they were able to convert into brass and bronze; and also that they
had silver, tin, lead, and iron. The Irish version of Nennius
mentions, as the first wonder of Ireland, that Lough Lein--the Lake of
Killarney--is surrounded by four circles, viz., "a circle of tin, and
a circle of lead, and a circle of iron, and a circle of copper"--an
indication not only that these metals were known to the people, but
that some rude idea had been formed of the mineralogy of the district.
THEIR AGRICULTURE.
Grain, in one shape or other, formed a main ingredient in the food of
the Irish from the earliest historic period; and we may, consequently,
include Agriculture among the earliest of their industrial arts. We
are not aware of any time at which they were exclusively a
flesh-eating people; and we find it clearly stated, with reference to
periods not altogether very remote, that the native Irish subsisted to
a great extent on the milk and butter of their large herds of cattle,
seldom killing the animals for their flesh. On the other hand, we know
that vast numbers of cattle were slain and consumed in the constant
petty wars of the country; and that the lawless dwellers in the
_cranogues_, or lake habitations--whatever period they belong to--were
decidedly carnivorous, as the immense accumulations of the bones and
horns of cattle found in their insulated haunts testify. But the fact
we contend for is, that the ancient Irish were a granivorous quite as
much as a carnivorous race, if not more so; and some ethnologists have
concluded, from an examination of very ancient Irish crania, that the
teeth were chiefly employed in masticating grain in a hard state.
It is a curious and well-known fact that in many parts of Ireland
traces of tillage are visible on the now barren sides or summits of
hills, in places which have been long since abandoned to savage
nature, and in a soil which would appear never to have been
susceptible of cultivation. Some such elevated spots, now covered with
grass, are known to have been cultivated some years since, when the
rural population was much denser than at present; but we are referring
to other places where we find well-marked ridges and furrows on
hillsides, four or five hundred feet above the sea level, or even
more; and which are now covered with heath, and so denuded, by ages of
atmospheric action on the steep <DW72>s, as to retain only the least
quantity of vegetable surface, wholly inadequate at present to nourish
any kind of grain.
When, and by whom, were these wild spots cultivated? The country
people have lost all tradition on the subject, and substitute their
own conjectures.
It is not probable that the population of Ireland was ever so dense as
to have necessitated such extreme efforts to eke out the arable land;
or that the people were ever so crowded as to have been compelled, as
it were, like the Chinese, to Terrace the hill-sides to grow food. Mr.
Thom has collected, in his admirable "Statistics of Ireland," all the
authentic accounts of Irish census returns. Taking these in their
inverse order, we find that the 8,175,124 of 1841 was only 6,801,827
in 1821; 5,937,856 in 1814; 4,088,226 in 1792; 2,544,276 in 1767;
2,309,106 in 1726; 1,034,102 in 1695; and 1,300,000 in 1672. These
latter early returns were merely the estimates of the hearth-money
collectors, and are generally deemed to be unreliable. Newenham, in
his Enquiry, expresses his disbelief in them, and shows from the
statements of Arthur Young, and from official returns, that they were
clearly under the truth. Yet the returns recently found by Mr.
Hardinge, of the Landed Estates Record Office, among the papers of Sir
William Petty, in the library of the Marquis of Lansdowne, would
reduce the population to a {554} much lower figure still at an epoch
only a little earlier than the date last enumerated above. Mr.
Hardinge shows that the Petty returns must have been made in 1658 or
1659; and, supplying a proportional computation for some omitted
counties and baronies, he finds that the total population of Ireland
at that date was only _half a million!_ It is true that this was
immediately after the close of the long and desolating civil war which
commenced in 1641; and at a time when, as Mr. Hardinge observes, one
province had been so utterly depopulated as to leave its lands vacant
for the transplanted remnants of the people of two other provinces;
yet, even under all the circumstances, the number is incredibly small.
Going further back, we may conclude that the population could not have
been considerable during the constant civil wars which wasted the
entire country throughout the long reign of Elizabeth; nor was there
any time from the Anglo-Norman invasion to that period in which the
circumstances of the country were favorable to the social or numerical
development of the population; while in earlier times matters can
hardly be said to have been a whit better. There is no period of
ancient Irish history in which the native annalists do not record
almost an annual recurrence of internecine wars in all the
provinces--wars equally inveterate and sanguinary, whether the country
was infested by foreign foes, or not (_vide_ the Four Masters
_passim_)--while, on the other hand, we know that the population of a
country never multiplies excessively except in long intervals of
peace. It may be urged that the remains of the innumerable _raths_ and
_cahirs_, or _caishels_, which cover the land, and of the abbeys and
small churches which dot the country, indicate periods of very dense
population: but this is a mistaken notion; for at the time when the
raths were inhabited, it can scarcely be said there were any towns in
Ireland; and even when the monasteries were built, the population was
almost wholly rural, and scattered; while a great many of the very
small religious edifices through the country were only the isolated
oratories of hermits.
The poet, Spenser, writing about A.D. 1596, would seem to give us the
best clue to the time in which those mountain wildernesses we have
been referring to were subjected to a kind of cultivation. In his
"View of the State of Ireland," he makes _Irenaeus_ relate how the
most part of the Irish fled from the power of Henry II. "into deserts
and mountains, leaving the wyde countrey to the conquerour, who in
their stead eftsoones placed English men, who possessed all their
lands, and did quite shut out the Irish, or the most part of them:"
and how "they [the Irish] continued in that lowlinesse untill the time
that the division betweene the two houses of Lancaster and York arose
for the crowne of England; at which time all the great English lords
and gentlemen, which had great possessions in Ireland, repaired over
hither into England. . . . . . Then the Irish whom before they had
banished into the mountains, where they only lived on white meates, as
it is recorded, seeing now their lands so dispeopled and weakened,
came downe into all the plaines adjoyning, and thence expelling those
few English that remained, repossessed them againe, since which they
have remained in them," etc.
It is most probable, then, that it was during that early period of
refuge in the mountains that the wild tracts we have alluded to were
cultivated by the Irish; and it is worth remarking that when, in
Spenser's own time, the English recovered a portion of the plain at
the foot of Slieve Bloom, in the O'Moore's country, of which the Irish
had been for several years in quiet possession, they were surprised at
the high state of cultivation in which they found it.
{555}
The ancient Irish ploughed with oxen, as appears from many
unquestionable authorities--among others, from a reference to the
subject in the volume of "Brehon Laws" recently published by
Government, page 123; but in subsequent times they were brought so
low, that in some places, and among the poorest sort, the barbarous
practice prevailed of yoking the plough to a horse's tail! It is a
mistake to suppose, on the one hand, that this was a mere groundless
calumny on the people; or, on the other, that it was anything like a
general national custom. The preamble to the Act of the Irish
Parliament (10 and 11 Charles I., chap. 15) passed in 1635, to
prohibit the practice, says: "Whereas in many places of this kingdome
there hath been a long time used a barbarous custome of ploughing. . . .
and working horses, mares, etc, by the taile, whereby (besides the
cruelty used to the beasts) the breed of horses is much impaired in
this kingdome, to the great prejudice thereof; and whereas also divers
have and yet do use the like barbarous custom of pulling off the wool
yearly from living sheep, instead of clipping or shearing of them, be
it therefore enacted," etc., etc.
That this Act, as well as the subsequent Act, chap. 15, "to prevent
the unprofitable custom of burning of corne in the straw," instead of
threshing out the grain, was regarded as a popular grievance, appears
from the fact, that the repeal of these Acts was made one of the
points of negotiation with the Marquis of Ormond during the Civil War;
but they remained on the Statute Book until repealed, as obsolete, in
1828, by 9 Geo. IV. c. 53.
Boate, writing about Ireland, more than two hundred years ago, labors
to show that the soil and climate are better suited for grazing than
for tillage. "Although Ireland," he quaintly observes, "almost in
every part bringeth good corn plentifully, nevertheless hath it a more
naturall aptness for grass, the which in most places it produceth very
good and plentiful! of itself, or with little help; the which also
hath been well observed by Giraldus, who of this matter writeth--'This
iland is fruitfuller in grass and pastures than in corn and graines."
And farther on he continues: "The abundance and greatness of pastures
in Ireland doth appear by the numberless number of all sorts of
cattell, especially kine and sheep, wherewith this country in time of
peace doth swarm on all sides." He remarks, that, although the Irish
kine, sheep, and horses were of a small size, that did not arise from
the nature of the grass, as was fully demonstrated by the fact that
the breed of large cattle brought out of England did not deteriorate
in point of size or excellence.
Sir William Petty states that the cattle and other grazing stock of
Ireland were worth above L4,000,000 in 1641, at the outbreak of the
civil war; and that in 1652 the whole was not worth L500,000.
John Lord Sheffield, in "Observations on the Manufactures, etc., of
Ireland," Dublin, 1785, writes that Ireland, "which had so abounded in
cattle and provisions, was, after Cromwell's settlement of it, obliged
to import provisions from Wales. However, it was sufficiently
recovered soon after the Restoration to alarm the grazing counties of
England; and in the year 1666 the importation of live cattle, sheep,
swine, etc, from Ireland was prohibited. . . . . Ireland turned to
sheep, to the dairy, and fattening of cattle, and to tillage; and she
shortly exported much beef and butter, and has since supplanted
England in those beneficial branches of trade. She was forced to seek
a foreign market; and England had no more than one fourth of her
trade, although before that time she had almost the whole of it."
{556}
Arthur Young, whose "Agricultural Tours in Ireland in 1775, etc.," did
so much for the improvement of this country, always advocated tillage
in preference to grazing. Referring to the former, he says: "The
products upon the whole [of Ireland] are much inferior to those of
England though not more so than I should have expected; not from
inferiority of soil, but from the extreme inferiority of management. . . .
Tillage in Ireland is very little understood. In the greatest corn
counties, such as Louth, Kildare, Carlow, and Kilkenny, where are to
be seen many very fine crops of wheat, all is under the old system,
exploded by good farmers in England, of sowing wheat upon a fallow and
succeeding it with as many crops of spring corn as the soil will bear.
. . . But keeping cattle of every sort is a business so much more
adapted to the laziness of the farmer, that it is no wonder the
tillage is so bad. It is everywhere left to the cotters, or to the
very poorest of the farmers, who are all utterly unable to make those
exertions upon which alone a vigorous culture of the earth can be
founded; and were it not for potatoes, which necessarily prepare for
corn, there would not be half of what we see at present. While it is
in such hands, no wonder tillage is reckoned be unprofitable. Profit
in all undertakings depends on capital; and is it any wonder that the
profit should be small when the capital is nothing at all! Every man
that has one gets into cattle, which will give him an idle lazy
superintendence instead of an active attentive one."
How much of this is just as applicable to the state of things in our
own times, as it was eighty or ninety years ago! Young would appear to
be describing accurately the state of agriculture in Ireland just
before the last destructive famine; but happily he would find at the
present moment a considerable improvement. One change, however, which
he would find would not be much to his taste. He would see even the
humblest tenant farmer, as well as the large land occupier, placing
almost his whole confidence in pasturage, and compelled to abandon
tillage by the uncertainty of the seasons, the low price of grain, and
the increasing price of labor.
------
[ORIGINAL.]
CLAIMS.
Nay,--claim it not, the lightest joy that throws
Its transient blushes o'er the beaming earth
Or the sweet hope in any living thing
As thine by birth.
No precious sympathy, no thoughtful care,
No touch of tenderness, however near;
But watch the blossoming of life's delight
With sacred fear.
Have joy in life, and gladden to the sense
Of dear companionship, in thought, in sight;
But oh! as gifts of heaven's abounding love,
Not thine by right.
----
{557}
From The Month.
SEALSKINS AND COPPERSKINS.
Captain Hall, unconvinced by the evidence published by Captain
M'Clintock in 1859, undertook his expedition in search of the
surviving members of Sir John Franklin's crew, (if such there were;)
or in the hope of clearing up all doubt about the history of their
end, in the event of their having perished. He was baffled in his
attempt to reach the region in which he hoped to find traces of the
objects of his search, by the wreck of the boat which he had
constructed for the enterprise; and his ship being beset with ice in a
winter which set in earlier than usual, he spent more than two
years--the interval between May, 1860, and September, 1862--among the
Esquimaux on the western coast of Davis's Strait, in order to acquire
their language and familiarize himself with their habits and mode of
life. He is at present once more in the arctic regions, having
returned thither in order to prosecute his enterprise. He is now
accompanied by two intelligent Esquimaux, whom he took back with him
to America; and who, having now learnt English, will serve him as
interpreters as well as a means of introduction to the various
settlements of Esquimaux whom he may have occasion to visit in his
travels. The results of his present expedition will probably be more
interesting than those of his first. If we test the success of his
first voyage by the discoveries to which it led, these were confined
to correcting the charts of a portion of the western coast of Davis's
Strait, and to proving that the waters hitherto laid down as
"Frobisher's _Strait_" are in fact not a strait, but a bay. As a
voyage of discovery, its importance falls far short of that undertaken
for the same object in 1857 by Captain M'Clintock. Captain Hall,
however, was enabled, by comparing the various traditions among the
Esquimaux, to arrive at the spot where Frobisher, in the reign of
Queen Elizabeth, attempted to found a settlement on "Kodlunarn" [that
is, "White man's"] Island, (the Countess Warwick's Island, of English
maps,) where he found coal, brick, iron implements, timber, and
buildings still remaining. This success in tracing out, by means of
information supplied by the natives, the relics of an expedition
undertaken more than three centuries ago, makes him confident of
obtaining a like success in unravelling the mystery in which the fate
of Sir John Franklin and his companions is still wrapped, by a similar
residence among the Esquimaux of Boothia and King William's Island,
which were the last known points in their wanderings. This is the
region he is now attempting to reach for the second time. But the real
value of his present volume is the accurate and faithful record it
gives of the author's impressions, received from day to day during a
residence within the arctic zone, and the details it gives of the
habits and character of the Esquimaux.
The origin of this people is, we believe, unknown. Another arctic
traveller has suggested that they are "the missing link between a
Saxon and a seal." They are rapidly decreasing in numbers; yet, if
measured by the territory which they inhabit, they form one of the
most widely-spread races on the face of the earth. Mr. Max Mueller
might help us to arrive at the ethnological family to which they
belong, were he to study the specimens of their language with which
Captain Hall supplies us. Judging from the physiognomy of two of them,
whom the author has photographed for his frontispiece, we should say
that {558} they certainly do not belong, as M. Berard and, we believe,
Baron Humboldt have supposed, to those Mongol races, which, under the
names of "Laps" and "Finns," inhabit the same latitudes of the
European continent. They seem rather to approach the type of some of
the tribes of the North American Indians; and the resemblance of their
habits of life and traditions points to the same conclusion. They are
small of stature, five feet two inches being rather a high standard
for the men, but of great strength and activity, and they have a
marvellous power of enduring fatigue, cold, and hunger.
The name "Esquimaux," by which we designate them, is a French form of
on Indian word, _Aish-ke-um-oog_ (pronounced Es-ke-moag)--meaning in
the Cree language, "He eats raw flesh;" and in fact they are the only
race of North-American savages who live habitually and entirely on raw
flesh. In their own language they are called _Innuit_ that is, _the_
people par _excellence_. Formerly they had chiefs, and a sort of
feudal system among them; but this has disappeared, and they have now
no political organization whatever, and no authority among them,
except that of the husband over his wives and children.
Their theology--so far as we can arrive at it--teaches that there is
one Supreme Being, whom they call "Anguta," who created the material
universe; and a secondary divinity, (the daughter of Anguta,) called
"Sidne," through whose agency he created all living things, animal and
vegetable. The Innuits believe in a heaven and a hell, and the
eternity of future rewards and punishments. Success and happiness, and
benevolence shown to others, they consider the surest marks of
predestination to eternal happiness in the next world; and they hold
it to be as certain that whoever is killed by accident or commits
suicide goes straight to heaven, as that the crime of murder will in
all cases be punished eternally in hell. They seem hardly to secure
the attribute of omnipotence to their "Supreme Being;" for, in their
account of the creation of the world, they affirm that his first
attempt to create a man was a decided failure--that is to say, he
produced a _white_ man. A second attempt, however, was crowned with
entire success, in the production of an Esquimaux on Innuit--the
faultless prototype of the human race. A tradition of a deluge, or
"extraordinary high tide," which covered the whole earth, exists among
the Esquimaux; and they have certain customs which they observe with
religious reverence, although they can give no other reason or
explanation of them except immemorial tradition. "The first Innuits
did so," is always their answer when questioned on the subject. Thus,
when a reindeer, or any other animal, is killed on land, a portion of
the flesh is always buried on the exact spot where it fell--possibly
the idea of sacrifice was connected with this practice; and when a
polar bear is killed, its bladder must be inflated and exposed in a
conspicuous place for three days. And many such practices, equally
unintelligible, are scrupulously adhered to; and any departure from
them is supposed to bring misfortune upon the offending party.
Though the Esquimaux own neither government nor control of any kind,
they yet yield a superstitious obedience to a character called the
"Angeko," whose influence they rarely venture to contravene. The
Angeko is at once physician and magician. In cases of sickness the
Esquimaux never take medicine; but the Angeko is called, and if his
enchantments fail to cure, the sick person is carried away from the
tents, and left to die. The Angeko is also called upon to avert evils
of all kinds; to secure success for hunting or fishing expeditions, or
any such undertaking; to obtain the disappearance of ice, and the
public good on various occasions; and in all cases the efficacy of his
ministrations is believed to be proportioned to the guerdon which he
receives. Captain Hall {559} mentions only two instances, as having
occurred in his experience, of resistance being made by Esquimaux to
the wishes of the Angeko; and in both cases the parties demurred to a
demand that they should give up their wives to him. Though more
commonly they have but one wife, owing to the difficulty of supporting
a number of women, polygamy is allowed and practised by the Esquimaux.
Their marriage is without ceremony of any kind, nor is the bond
indissoluble. Exchange of wives is of frequent occurrence; and if a
man becomes, from sickness or other cause, unable to support them, his
wives will leave him, and attach themselves to some more vigorous
husband. For the rest, the Esquimaux are intelligent, honest, and
extremely generous to one another. When provisions are scarce, if a
seal or walrus is killed by one of the camp, he invites the whole
settlement to feast upon it, though he may be in want of food for
himself and his family on the morrow in consequence of doing so. They
are very improvident, and rarely store their food, but trust to the
fortunes of the chase to supply their wants, and are generally during
the winter in a constant state of oscillation between famine and
abundance. The Esquimaux inhabit the extreme limits of the globe
habitable by man, and they have certain peculiarities in their life
consequent on the circumstances of their climate and country; but in
other respects they resemble the rest of the nomad and savage races
which people the extreme north of America. In summer the Esquimaux
live in tents called _tupics_, made of skins like those used by the
Indian tribes, and these are easily moved from place to place. As
winter sets in, they choose a spot where provisions are likely to be
plentiful, and there they erect _igloogs_, or huts constructed of
blocks of ice, and vaulted in the roof. If they are obliged to change
their quarters during the winter, either permanently or temporarily,
they build fresh _igloos_ of snow cut into blocks, which soon freeze,
and in the space of an hour or two they are thus able to provide
themselves with new premises. The only animals domesticated by the
Esquimaux are their fine and very intelligent dogs. They serve them as
guards, as guides, as beasts of burden and draught, as companions, and
assist them in the pursuit of every kind of wild animal. The women
have the care of all household affairs, and do the tailor's and
shoemaker's work, and prepare the skins for all articles of clothing
and bedding--no unimportant department in such a climate as theirs:
the men have nothing to think of but to supply provisions by hunting
and fishing. Sporting, which in civilized society is a mere recreation
and amusement, is the profession and serious employment, as well as
the delight, of the savage. And we find in the rational as well as in
the irrational animal, when in its wild state, the highest development
of those instincts and sensible powers with which God has endowed it
for its maintenance and self-preservation, and which it loses, in
proportion as it ceases to need them, in civilized society or in the
domesticated state.
The arctic regions, though ill-adapted for the abode of man, teem with
animal life. The seal, the walrus, and the whale supply the ordinary
needs of the Esquimaux. In the mouth of their rivers they find an
abundance of salmon; various kinds of ducks and other aquatic birds
inhabit their coasts in multitudes; reindeer and partridges are
plentiful on the hills; while the most highly prized as well as the
most formidable game is the great polar bear, whose flesh affords the
most dainty feast, and whose skin the warmest clothing, to these
children of the North.
Captain Hall lived, for months at a time, alone with the Esquimaux. He
acquired some proficiency in their language and shared their life in
all respects. He became popular with them, and even gained some
influence over them. He experienced some {560} difficulty in his first
attempt to eat raw flesh, (some whale's blubber, which was served up
for dinner;) but on a second trial, when urged by hunger, he made a
hearty meal on the blood of a seal which had just been killed, which
he found to be delicious. After this, cooking was entirely dispensed
with. Those who have visited new and "unsettled" countries will be
able to testify how easily man passes into a savage state, and how
pleasant the transition is to his inferior nature. There is a charm in
the freedom, in the total emancipation from the artificial restraints,
the feverish collisions, and daily anxieties of civilized society
which is one of the most secret, but also one of the most powerful
agents in advancing the colonization of the world. Captain Hall's
enthusiasm, which begins to mount at the sight of icebergs, whales,
and the novelty and grandeur of arctic scenery, reaches its climax
when he finds himself in an unexplored region, the solitary guest of
this wild and eccentric people, and depending, like them, for his
daily sustenance on the resources of nature alone.
The Esquimaux are sociable and cheerful, and, in Greenland and the
neighboring islands, hospitable to strangers; but those of their race
who inhabit the continent of America have a character for ferocity,
and are the most unapproachable to Europeans of all the savage tribes
of America. Even Captain Hall himself expresses uneasiness from time
to time lest he should become an object of suspicion to them, or give
them a motive for revenge. They are one of the few peoples of the
extreme north with whom the Hudson's Bay Company have hitherto failed
to establish relations of commerce. Many travellers and traders have
been murdered by them on entering their territory, and the missioners
of North-America regard them as likely to be the last in the order of
their conversion to Christianity. Skilful boatmen and pilots,
perfectly familiar with their coasts, with great intelligence in
observing natural phenomena, and knowing by experience every probable
variation of their inhospitable climate, as well as the mode of
providing against it, they formed invaluable assistants to an
expedition for the scientific survey of a region as yet imperfectly
known to the geographer. Their sporting propensities were the chief
hindrance to their services in the cause of science. No sooner were
ducks, or seals, or reindeer in view, than all the objects of the
expedition were entirely forgotten till the hunt was over. No motive
is strong enough to restrain an Esquimaux from the chase so long as
game is afoot:
"Canis a corio nunquam absterrebitur uncto."
Seals are captured by the Esquimaux in various ways. Some are taken in
nets. At other times they are seen in great numbers on the ice, lying
at the brink of open water, into which they plunge on the first alarm,
and much skill is then required in approaching them. In doing this,
the Esquimaux imitate the tactics of the polar bear. The bear or the
savage, as the case may be, throws himself flat upon the ice and
imitates the slow jerking action of a seal in crawling toward his
game. The seal sees his enemy approaching, but supposes him to be
another seal; but if he shows any signs of uneasiness, the hunter
stops perfectly still and "talks" to him--that is, he imitates the
plaintive grunts in which seals converse with one another. Reassured
by such persuasive language, the seal goes to sleep. Presently he
starts up again, when the same process is repeated. Finally, when
within range, the man fires, or the bear springs upon his victim. But
the Esquimaux confess that the bear far surpasses them in this art,
and that if they could only "talk" as well as "Ninoo," (that is,
"Bruin,)" they should never be in want of seal's flesh. When the
winter sets in, and the ice becomes thick, the seal cuts a passage
{561} through the ice with his sharp claws with which its flippers are
armed, and makes an aperture in the surface large enough to admit its
nose to the outer air for the purpose of respiration. This aperture is
soon covered with snow. When the snow becomes deep enough, and the
seal is about to give birth to its young, it widens the aperture,
passes through the ice, and constructs a dome-shaped chamber under the
snow, which becomes the nursery of the young seals. This is called a
seal's _igloo_, from its resemblance to the huts built by the
Esquimaux. It requires a dog with a very fine nose to mark the
bathing-place or igloo of a seal by the taint of the animal beneath
the snow; but when once it has been discovered, the Esquimaux is
pretty sure of his prey. If an igloo has been formed, and the seal has
young ones, the hunter leaps "with a run" upon the top of the dome,
crushes it in, and, before the seals can recover from their
astonishment, he plunges his seal-hooks into them, from which there is
no escape. If there be no igloo, but a mere breathing-hole, he clears
away the snow with his spear and marks the exact spot where the seal's
nose will protrude at his next visit, an aperture only a few inches in
diameter; then with a seal-spear strongly barbed in his hand, and
attached to his belt by twenty yards of the thongs of deer's hide, he
seats himself over the hole and awaits the seal's "blow." The seal may
blow in a few minutes, or in a few hours, or not for two or three
days; but there the Esquimaux remains, without food, and whatever the
weather may be, till he hears a low snorting sound; then, quick as
lightning, and with unerring aim, he plunges the spear into the seal,
opens the aperture in the ice with his axe till it will allow the body
of the seal to pass, and draws it forth upon the ice. The mode of
spearing the walrus is more perilous. The walrus are generally found
among broken ice, or ice so thin that they can break it. If the ice is
thin, they will often attack the hunter by breaking the ice under his
feet. In order to do this, the walrus looks steadily at the man taking
aim at him, and then dives; the Esquimaux, aware of his intention,
runs to a short distance to shift his position, and when the walrus
rises, crashing through the ice on which he was standing only a moment
before, he comes forward again and darts his harpoon into it.
Ordinarily the Esquimaux selects a hole in the ice where he expects
the walrus to "vent," and places himself so as to command it, with his
harpoon in one hand, a few coils of a long rope of hide, attached to
the harpoon, in the other, the remainder of the rope being wound round
his neck, with a sharp spike fastened at the extreme end of it. As
soon as the walrus rises to the surface, he darts the harpoon into its
body, throws the coils of rope from his neck, and fixes the spike into
the ice. A moment's hesitation, or a blunder, may involve serious
consequences. If he does not instantly detach the rope from his neck,
he is dragged under the ice. If he fails to drive the spike firmly
into the ice before the walrus has run out the length of the line, he
loses his harpoon and his rope.
But the sport which rouses the whole spirit of an Esquimaux community
begins when a polar bear comes in view. "Ninoo" is the monarch of
these arctic deserts, as the lion is of those of the South. The person
who first shouts on seeing "Ninoo," whether man, woman, or child, is
awarded with the skin, whoever may succeed in killing him. Dogs are
immediately put upon his track, and, on coming up with him, are taught
not to close with him, but to hang upon his haunches and bring him to
bay. The men follow as best they can, and with the best arms that the
occasion supplies. The sagacity and ferocity of this beast make an
attack upon him perilous, even with fire-arms; but great nerve,
strength, and skill are required, when armed {562} only with a harpoon
or a spear, to meet him hand to hand in his battle for life,
"Or to his den, by snow-tracks, mark the way,
And drag the struggling savage into day."
The polar bear it amphibious, and often takes to the sea. Then if
boats can be procured, it becomes a trial of speed between rowing and
swimming, and an exciting race of many miles often takes place. In the
open sea "Ninoo" has a poor chance of escape, unless he gets a great
start of his pursuers; but the arctic coasts are generally studded
with islands, and, when he can do so, he makes first for one island,
then for another, crossing them, and taking to the water again on the
opposite side, while the votes have to make the entire circuit of
each. The sagacity of these animals is marvellous, and proverbial
among the Esquimaux, who study their habits in order to get hints for
their own guidance. When seals are in the water, the bear will swim
quietly among them, his great white head assuming the appearance of a
block of floating ice or snow, and when close to them he will dive and
seize the seals under the water. When the walrus are basking on the
rocks, "Ninoo" will climb the cliffs above them and loosen large
masses of rock, and then, calculating the curve to a nicety, launch
them upon his prey beneath. When a she-bear is attended by her cubs,
the Esquimaux will never attack the cubs until the mother has been
despatched; such is their fear of the vengeance with which, in the
event of her escaping, she follows up the slaughter of her offspring
by day and night with terrible pertinacity and fury.
The Esquimaux stalk the reindeer much as we do the red deer in the
Highlands of Scotland; but the snow which lies in arctic regions
during the greater part of the year enables them to follow the same
herd of deer by their tracks for several days together.
Such, then, are the life, the habits, the pursuits of the Esquimaux.
Pagan in religion, the stand in need of that phase which alone is able
to save their race, now perishing from the face of the earth. Their
life is a constant struggle with the climate in which they live and
the famine with which they are perpetually threatened. A hardy race of
hunters, they exhibit many natural virtues, considerable intelligence,
and a strong nationality. The true faith, if they embraced it, while
it secured their eternal interests, would at the same time be to them,
as it has been to so many savage races, the principal of a great
social regeneration. At present they are wasting away as a race, and
will soon become extinct. Polygamy has always been found to cause the
decrease and decay of a population; and any human society, however
simple, will fall to pieces when it is not animated by ideas of order
and justice.
The Esquimaux occupy the extremities of human habitation in North
America; and if we pass from their territory to the south, we enter
upon that vast realm called "British America"--a region sufficient in
extent and resources, if developed by civilization, to constitute an
empire in itself. Of this vast territory the two Canadas alone, on the
north bank of the St. Lawrence River and the chain of mighty lakes
from which it flows, have been colonized by European settlers. The
remainder is inhabited by the nomad tribes of Indians and the wild
animals upon which they subsist, the British government being there
unrepresented except by the occasional forts and stations established
by the Hudson's Bay Company as centres for the traffic in furs, which
the Indians supply in the greatest abundance and variety.
The French, who were among the first to profit by the discovery of
Columbus and to settle as colonists in the new hemisphere, have in
their conquests always planted the cross of Christ side by side with
the banner of France. Though they have failed to retain the dominion
of those colonies {563} which they founded, yet, to their glory be it
said, their missioners have not only kept alive that sacred flame of
faith which they kindled in their former possessions, but have spread
it from one end of the American continent to the other, beyond the
limits within which lucre leads the trader, and even among the remote
tribes who as yet reject all ordinary intercourse with the white man.
Monseigneur Faraud, now Bishop of Anemour and Vicar-Apostolic of
Mackenzie, has published his experiences during eighteen years of
missionary labor as a priest among the savages of the extreme north of
America, [Footnote 123] with the view of giving information to future
missioners in the same regions, and inspiring others to undertake the
conversion of this portion of the heathen world. The proceeds of the
sale of his book will be devoted to founding establishments for works
of corporal and spiritual mercy among the tribes of Indians in his
diocese. The narrative of his apostolic life is highly interesting.
Born of an old legitimist family in the south of France, some of whose
members had fallen victims to the Reign of Terror in 1793, and
carefully educated under the eye of a pious mother, he offered himself
to the service of God in the priesthood. Being of a vigorous
constitution and of an enterprising spirit, he was drawn to the work
of the foreign missions, and at the age of twenty-six he started for
North America. Landing at New York, he passed through Montreal to St.
Boniface, a settlement on the Red River, a few miles above the point
where it discharges its waters into the great Lake Winnipeg. Here he
fixed his abode for seven months, studying the language, and acquiring
the habits and mode of life of the natives. At the end of this time
the Indians of the settlement started on their annual expedition at
the end of the summer to the prairies of the west to hunt the
buffalo--an important affair, on which depends their supply of
buffalo-hides and beef for the winter.
[Footnote 123: "Dix-huit Ans chez les Sauvages. Voyages et Missions
de Mgr. Faraud dans le Nord de l'Amerique Britannique. Regis Ruffet
et Cie. Paris, 1866."]
For this expedition, which was organized with military precision and
most picturesque effect, one hundred and twenty skilful hunters were
selected, armed with guns and long _couteaux de chasse_, and mounted
on their best horses. A long train of bullock-carts followed in the
rear, with boys and women as drivers, carrying the tents and
provisions for encampment, and destined to bring home the game. The
priest accompanied them, saying mass for them every morning in a tent
set apart as the chapel, and night-prayers before retiring to rest in
the evening.
In this way they journeyed for a week, making about thirty miles in
the day, and camping for the night in their tents. Let the reader, in
order to conceive an American "prairie," imagine a level and boundless
plain, reaching in every direction to the horizon, fertile and covered
with luxuriant herbage, and unbroken except by swelling undulations
and here and there occasional clumps of trees sprinkled like islets on
the ocean, or oases on the desert. After marching for a week across
the prairie, they came upon the tracks of a herd of buffaloes. The
Indians are taught from childhood, when they encounter a track, to
discern at once to what animal it belongs, how long it is since it
passed that way, and to follow it by the eye, as a hound does by
scent. For two days they marched in the track of the buffaloes, and
the second night the hunters brought a supply of fresh beef into
camp--they had killed some old bulls. These old bulls are found
single, or in parties of two or three, and always indicate the
proximity of a herd. Accordingly, on the following morning the herd
was discovered in the distance on the prairie, like a swarm of flies
on a green carpet. The hunters now galloped to the front, and called a
council of war behind some undulating ground about a mile and a half
{564} from the buffaloes, who, in number about three thousand, were
grazing lazily on the plain. All was now animation. It would be
difficult to say whether the keener interest was shown by the men or
the horses, who now, with dilated eyes and nostrils, ears pricked, and
nervous action, pawed the ground, impatient as greyhounds in the slips
and eager for the fray. The plan of action was soon agreed upon--a few
words were spoken in a low tone by the chief, and the horsemen
vanished with the rapidity of the wind. In about a quarter of an hour
they reappeared, having formed a circle round the buffaloes, whom they
now approached at a hand-gallop, concentrating their descent upon the
herd from every point of the compass. The effect of this strategy was
that, though they were soon discovered, time was gained. Whichever way
the herd pointed, they were encountered by an approaching horseman,
and they were thus thrown into confusion, until, massing themselves
into a disordered mob, they charged, breaking away through the line of
cavalry. Then began the race and the slaughter. A good horse, even
with a man on his back, has always the speed of a buffalo; but the
skill of a hunter is shown (besides minding his horse lest he gets
entangled in the herd and trampled to death, and keeping his presence
of mind during the delirium of the chase,) in selecting the youngest
and fattest beasts of the herd, in loading his piece with the greatest
rapidity--the Indians have no breech-loaders--and taking accurate aim
while riding at the top of his speed. In the space of a mile a skilful
buffalo-hunter will fire seven, eight, nine shots in this manner, and
at each discharge a buffalo will bite the dust. On the present
occasion the pursuit continued for about a mile and a half, and above
eight hundred buffaloes were safely bagged. When the chase was over,
there was a plentiful supply of fresh beef, the hides were carefully
stowed on the carts, the carcasses cut up, the meat dried and highly
spiced and made into pies, in which form it will keep for many months,
and forms a provision for the winter. The buffalo (which in natural
history would be called a bison) is the principal source of food and
clothing to the Indians who live within reach of the great western
prairies. But the forests also abound with elk, moose, and reindeer,
as well as the smaller species of deer, and smaller game of other
kinds, and the multitudes of animals of prey of all sizes which supply
the markets of Europe with furs. The abundance of fish in the lakes
and rivers is prodigious. The largest fish in these waters is the
sturgeon. This fish lies generally near the surface of the water: the
Indian paddles his canoe over the likely spots, and when he sees a
fish darts his harpoon into it, which is made fast by a cord to the
head of the canoe; the fish tows the canoe rapidly through the water
till he is exhausted, and is then despatched. Besides many other
inferior kinds of fish, they have the pike, which runs to a great size
in the lakes, and two kinds of trout--the smaller of these is the same
as that found in the rivers of England; the larger is often taken of
more than eighty pounds in weight. The Indians take these with spears,
nets, and baskets; but a trout weighing eighty pounds would afford
considerable sport to one of our trout-fishers of Stockbridge or
Driffield, if taken with an orthodox rod and line.
A fortnight was devoted to the chase; and between two and three
thousand buffaloes having been killed, and the carts fully laden, the
party returned to St. Bonifice. The settlement of St. Bonifice was
founded by Lord Selkirk, who sent out a number of his Scotch
dependents as colonists, and induced some Canadian families to join
them. It was originally intended as a model Protestant colony; but the
demoralization and vice which broke out in the new settlement brought
it to the verge of temporal ruin. Lord Selkirk then called Catholics
to his aid, {565} and three priests were sent there. Religion took the
place of fanaticism, and ever since this epoch the colony has never
ceased to flourish and increase, and has become the centre of numerous
settlements in the neighborhood of friendly Indians converted to the
faith. This is one of many instances which might be quoted in which
the noxious weed of heresy has failed to transplant itself beyond the
soil which gave it birth. St. Boniface has been the residence of a
bishop since 1818, and is now the resting-place and point of departure
for all missioners bound for the northern deserts of America. It was
here that Mgr. Faraud spent eighteen months studying the languages of
the northern tribes of Indians. Lord Bacon says that "he that goeth
into a strange laud without knowledge of the language goeth to learn
and not to travel." This, which is true of the traveller, is much more
true of the missioner, as Mgr. Faraud soon found by experience. He
made several essays at intercourse with neighboring tribes, like a
young soldier burning with zeal and the desire to flesh his sword in
missionary work. But the reception he met with was most mortifying,
being generally told "not to think of teaching men as long as he spoke
like a child." He applied himself with renewed energy to acquire the
native language.
The dialects of most of the tribes of the extreme north of America
(with the exception of the Esquimaux) are modifications of two parent
languages, the Montaignais and the Cree. By acquiring these Mgr.
Faraud was able to make himself understood by almost any of these
tribes after a short residence among them. Eighteen months spent at
St. Boniface served as a novitiate for his missionary work, at the end
of which time he received orders to start, early in the following
month, for Isle de la Crosse, a fort on the Beaver river, about 350
leagues to the N.W. of St. Boniface. On his way thither he was the
guest of the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, at Norway House,
where he was most hospitably entertained. Mgr. Faraud bears witness to
the liberal and enlightened spirit in which the authorities of the
Hudson's Bay Company, as well as the government officials in Canada,
render every aid and encouragement in their power to the Catholic
missioners; and he quotes a speech made to him by Sir Edmund Head
(then Governor of Canada) showing the high estimation, and even favor,
in which the Catholic missioners are held by them. Whatever permanence
and stability our missions possess in these vast deserts is owing to
the protection and kind assistance rendered to them by the British
authorities; while, on the other hand, it would be hardly possible for
this powerful company of traders to maintain their present friendly
relations with Indian tribes, upon which their trade depends, without
the aid of the Catholic missioners.
After five months spent at Isle de la Crosse, and three years after
his departure from Europe, Mgr. Faraud left for Atthabaska, one of the
most northerly establishments of the Hudson's Bay Company, whither the
various tribes of Indians, spread over an immense circuit 400 leagues
in diameter, come twice in the year, early in spring and late in the
autumn, to barter their furs, the produce of their winter and summer
hunting. This was his final destinatibn and field of apostolical
labor, it is often said that it is the happiness of the Red Indian to
be totally ignorant of money; and this, in a certain sense is true.
But money has no necessary connection with the precious metals or
bank-notes; and any medium of circulation which by common agreement
can be made to represent a determined value becomes money, in fact, if
not in name. Thus the market value of a beaver's skin in British
America varies little, and is nearly equivalent to an American dollar.
The Hudson's Bay Company have adopted this as the unit of their
currency, and the value of other furs {566} is reckoned in relation to
this standard. The following are some of the prices given to the
Indians for the furs ordinarily offered by them for sale:
The skin of a black bear values from six to ten beavers; the skin of
a black fox, about six beavers; the skin of a silver fox, about five
beavers; the skin of an otter, from two to three beavers; the skin of
a pecari, from one to four beavers; the skin of a martin, from one
to four beavers; the skin of a red or white fox, about one beaver,
and so forth.
Twice in the year the steamers and canoes of the company, laden with
merchandise, work their way up the lakes and rivers to these stations,
where the Indians assemble to meet them, and receive an equivalent for
their furs in arms, ammunition, articles for clothing, hardware, and
trinkets.
Two of our countrymen, Viscount Milton, and Dr. Cheadle, have lately
published an account of their travels in British America, of which we
give a notice in another part of this number. [Footnote 124] The
description they give of the privations they endured and the
difficulties they had to overcome in merely traversing the country as
travellers, furnished as they were with all the resources which wealth
could command, while it reflects credit on their British pluck and
perseverance in attaining the object they had in view, gives us some
idea of the obstacles which present themselves to a missioner in these
regions, who has to take up his abode wherever his duty may call him,
and without any means of maintaining life beyond those which these
districts supply. The object of these gentlemen was to explore a line
of communication between Canada and British Columbia, with a view to
suggesting an overland route through British territory connecting the
Pacific with the Atlantic--a most important project in a political
point of view, upon which the success of the rising colony of Columbia
appears eventually to depend. The territory administered by the
Hudson's Bay Company, reaching as it does from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, from the coasts of Labrador on the N.E., to Vancouver's
Island on the S.W., contains an area nearly equal to that of the whole
of Europe.
[Footnote 124: "The North-West Passage by Land." By Viscount Milton,
M.P., and W. B. Cheadle, M.D. London. 1865.]
Mgr. Faraud remained fifteen years at Atthabaska. He found it a
solitary station-house, in the midst of deserts inhabited by
idolatrous savages; it is now a flourishing mission, with a vast
Christian population advancing in civilization, the capital of the
district to which it gives its name, and a centre of operation from
which missioners may act upon the whole north of British America, over
which he now has episcopal jurisdiction. Such results, as may be
supposed, have not been attained without labor and suffering. In the
commencement the mission was beset with difficulties and
discouragements. His first step was to build himself a house with logs
of wood, an act which was accepted by the savages as a pledge that he
intended to remain with them. A savage whom he converted and baptized
soon after his arrival, acted as his servant and hunted for him; while
with nets and lines he procured a supply of fish for himself when his
servant was unsuccessful in the chase. In this manner he for some time
maintained a life alternately resembling that of Robinson Crusoe and
St. Paul. He soon made a few conversions in his neighborhood, and in
the second year, with the aid of his catechumens, built a wooden
chapel, ninety feet long by thirty broad. He was now able, when the
tribes assembled in the spring and autumn, to converse with them, and
preach to them. They invited him to visit them in their own countries,
often many hundreds of miles distant; and these visits involved long
and perilous journeys, in which he several times nearly perished. In
the fourth year he began building a large church, surmounted by a
steeple, from which he swung a {567} large bell, which he procured
from Europe through the agents of the company. It was regarded as a
supernatural phenomenon by the savages when "the sound of the
church-going bell" was heard for the first time to boom over their
primeval forests. As soon as a savage became his catechumen, he taught
him to read, at the same time that he instructed him in religion. The
soil was gradually cultivated, crops were reared, and cows and sheep
introduced. In the tenth year a second priest was sent to his aid, who
was able to carry on his work for him at home while he was absent on
distant missions.
There are thirteen distinct tribes inhabiting British America, and
Mgr. Faraud devotes a chapter to the distinctive characteristics of
each. But a general idea of these savages may be easily arrived at.
Most of us are familiar with the lively descriptions of the red man in
the attractive novels of Mr. Fenimore Cooper; and, though the stories
are fiction, these portraits of the Indians are drawn to the life. We
have most of us been struck by their taciturnity, their profound
dissimulation, the perseverance with which they follow up their plans
of revenge, the pride which prevents them from betraying the least
curiosity, the stoical courage with which they brave their enemies in
the midst of the most horrible sufferings, their caution, their
cruelty, the extraordinary keenness and subtlety of their senses. The
Indian savage is profoundly selfish; gratitude and sympathy for others
do not seem to enter into the composition of his nature. The same
stubborn fortitude with which he endures suffering seems to render him
indifferent to it in others. Intellectually he is slow in his power of
conception and process of reasoning, but is endowed with a marvellous
power of memory and reflection. He has a great fluency of speech,
which often rises to real eloquence; and there is a gravity and
maturity in his actions which is the fruit of meditation and thought.
Cases of apostasy in religion are very rare among the Indians. A
savage visited Mgr. Faraud soon after his arrival at Atthabaska. He
had come from the shores of the Arctic Ocean, where his tribe dwelt, a
distance of above six hundred miles, and asked some questions on
religious subjects. After listening to the priest's instruction on a
few fundamental truths, "I shall come to you again," he said, "when
you can talk like a man; at present you talk like a child." Three
years afterward he kept his promise; and immediately on arriving he
presented himself to the priest, and placed himself under instruction.
On leaving after the first instruction, he assembled a number of
heathen savages, at a short distance in the forest, and preached to
them for several hours. This continued for many weeks. In the morning
he came for instruction; in the afternoon he preached the truths he
had learned in the morning to his countrymen. Mgr. Faraud had the
curiosity to assist unseen at one of these sermons, and was surprised
to hear his own instruction repeated with wonderful accuracy and in
most eloquent language. In this way a great number of conversions were
made; and the instructions given to one were faithfully communicated
to the rest by this zealous savage. The name of this savage was
Denegonusye. When the time arrived for his tribe to return to their
own country, the priest proposed that he should receive baptism. "No,"
he said; "I have done nothing as yet for Almighty God. In a year you
shall see me here again, and prepared for baptism." Punctual to his
promise, he returned the following spring. In the mean time he had
converted the greater portion of his tribe; he had taught them to
recite the prayers the priest had taught him; and he brought the
confessions of all the people who had died in the mean time among his
own people, which he had received on their death-beds, and which his
wonderful memory enabled him now to repeat word for word to the {568}
priest, baking him to give them absolution. Denegonusye was now told
to prepare for baptism; but he again insisted on preliminaries. First,
that he was to take the name of Peter, and wait to receive his baptism
on St. Peter's day--"Because," he said, "St. Peter holds the keys of
heaven, and is more likely to open to one who bears his name and is
baptized on his feast;" secondly, that he was to be allowed to fast
before his baptism forty days and nights, as our Blessed Lord did. On
the vigil of St. Peter's day he was so weak that he walked with
difficulty to the church; but on the feast, before daybreak, he
knocked loudly at the priests door and demanded baptism. He was told
to wait till the mass was finished. When mass was over, the priest was
about to preach to the people; but Denegonusye stood up and cried out,
"It is St. Peter's day; baptize me." The priest calmed the murmurs
which arose from the congregation at this interruption, and the eyes
of all were suddenly drawn to the figure of this wild neophyte of the
woods standing before the altar to receive the waters of regeneration.
A ray of light seemed to play round his head and rest upon him, as
though the Holy Ghost were impatient to take up his abode in this new
temple.
Cases are not unfrequent of "half-caste" Indians reared in the woods
as savages claiming baptism from the priest as their "birthright."
They have never met a priest before, nor ever seen their Catholic
parent. They are not Christians, and do not know even the most
elementary doctrines of the church. Yet they have this strange faith
(as they say "by inheritance") through some mysterious transmission of
which God alone knows the secret. One of these "half-castes" met Mgr.
Faraud one day as he was travelling through the forest, and asked him
to baptize him. "I have the faith of my father," he said, "and demand
my birthright." Then, inviting him to his house, he added: "My wife
also desires baptism." The priest accompanied him to his
hunting-lodge, and was presented to his wife, a young savage lady of
some twenty years. She was a veritable Amazon, a perfect model of
symmetry of form and feminine grace; there was a savage majesty in her
gestures and gait; she was a mighty huntress, tamed the wildest
steeds, and was famed far and near for her prowess with the bow and
spear. She welcomed the stranger with courtesy, and immediately
presented him with a basket full of the tongues of elks which had been
the spoil of her bow in the chase of the previous day. But as soon as
she learned the errand on which he had come, her manner changed to
profound reverence, and, throwing herself on her knees with hands
clasped in the attitude of prayer, she asked him for a crucifix, "to
help me in my prayers," she said. The Indians do not pray. Her husband
did not know one article of the creed. Who taught her to pray?--to
venerate a priest?--to adore the mystery of the cross?--to desire
baptism, and yearn for admission to the unity of God's church?
The three principal difficulties in the missioner's work among the
Indians are to "stamp out" (to use a recently-invented phrase) the
influence of their native magicians, and the practices of polygamy and
cannibalism--though several of the tribes are free from the last-named
vice. The magician, as we might expect, is always plotting to
counteract his advances and to revenge them when successful. When a
man has been possessed of half-a-dozen wives, and perhaps as yet
barely realized to himself the Christian idea of marriage, it is a
considerable sacrifice to part with all but one, and sometimes
perplexing to decide which he will retain and which he will part with.
Then the ladies themselves have generally a good deal to say upon this
question, and combinations arise in consequence, which are often very
serious and oftener still very ludicrous.
At Fort Resolution, on the great Slave Lake, the missioner met with a
{569} warm reception from the neighboring tribes of Indians; and as
the greater part of them embraced Christianity, he set himself to work
in instructing them. He explained to them that Christian marriage was
a free act, and could never be valid where it was compulsory, and that
in this respect the wife was as independent as the husband. This was
quite a new doctrine to the savages, with whom it was an inveterate
custom to obtain their wives either by force or by purchasing them
from their parents. The doctrine, however, was eagerly received by the
women, who felt themselves raised by it to equal rights with their
husbands. The men were then instructed that the Christian religion did
not permit polygamy, and that as many of them as had more than one
wife must make up their minds which of them they would retain, and
then part with the rest. It would be difficult to explain the reason
why marriage, which is a serious and solemn contract, and which in
mystical signification ranks first among the sacraments, is the
subject of jests, and provokes laughter in all parts of the world. The
savages were no exception to this rule; and while they set themselves
to obey the commands of the church, they made their doing so the
occasion of much merriment. The following morning a crowd of them
waited upon the priest, each of whom brought the wife with whom he
intended to be indissolubly united. After an exhortation, which dwelt
upon the divine institution, sacramental nature, and mutual
obligations of matrimony, each couple was called up to the priest
after their names had been written down in the register. The first
couple who presented themselves were "Toqueiyazi" and "Ethikkan."
"Toqueiyaza," said the priest, "will you take Ethikkan to be your
lawful wife?" "Yes," was the answer. "Ethikkan, will you take
Toqueiyazi to be your lawful husband?" "No," said the bride, "on no
account." Then turning to the bridegroom, who shared the general
astonishment of all present, she continued, "You took me away by
force; you came to our tent and tore me away from my aged father; you
dragged me into the forests, and there I became your slave as well as
your wife, because I believed that you had a right to make yourself my
master: but now the priest himself has declared that God has given the
same liberty to the woman as to the man. I choose to enjoy that
liberty, and I will not marry you." Great was the sensation produced
by this startling announcement. A revolution had taken place. The men
beheld the social order which had hitherto obtained in their tribe
suddenly overthrown. The women trembled for the consequences which
this daring act might bring upon them. For a moment the issue was
doubtful; but the women, who always get the last word in a discussion,
in this case got the first also; they cried out that Ethikkan was a
courageous woman, who had boldly carried out the principles of the
Christian religion regardless of human respect; and what she had done
was in fact so clearly in accordance with what the priest had taught,
that the men at length acquiesced, and the "rights of woman" were
thenceforward recognized and established on the banks of the great
Slave Lake.
In one of his winter journeys through the snow, attended by a party of
Indians and sledge drawn by dogs, Mgr. Faraud was arrested by a low
moaning sound which proceeded from a little girl lying under a hollow
tree covered with icicles. Her hands and feet were already
frostbitten, but she was still sufficiently conscious to tell him that
her parents had left her there to die. It is a common practice with
the savages to make away with any member of the family who is likely
to become a burden to them. The priest put the child on the sledge,
carried her home, and, with proper treatment, care, and food, she
recovered. She was instructed and baptized, receiving the name of
Mary. This child became the priest's consolation and joy, {570} a
visible angel in his house, gay and happy, and a source of happiness
and edification to others. She was one of those chosen souls on whom
God showers his choicest favors, and whom he calls to a close
familiarity with himself. But after a time the priest was obliged to
leave on a distant mission, having been called to spend the winter
with a tribe who wished to embrace Christianity, and whose territory
lay at a distance of several hundreds of miles. What was to be done
with Mary? To accompany him was impossible--to remain behind was to
starve. There was at that time, among his savage catechnmens, an old
man and his wife whose baptism he had deferred till the following
spring. This seemed to be the only solution of the difficulty. They
had no children of their own; they would take charge of Mary, and
bring her safe back to "the man of prayer" in the spring. Bitter was
the parting between little Mary and the priest; but there was the hope
of an early meeting in the following spring. The spring came, and the
priest returned; but the old savages and Mary came not. For weeks the
priest expected them, and then started to seek their dwelling, about
fifty miles distant from his own. He found their house empty, and the
man could nowhere be discovered. But in searching for him through the
forest, he descried an old woman gathering fuel. It was his wife.
Where was Mary? The old woman made evasive replies until the sternness
of the priest's manner terrified her into confession. "The winter had
been severe"--"they had run short of provisions"--"and--and--" in
short, _they had eaten her_.
But if the difficulties, disappointments, and sufferings of the
missioner in these American deserts are great, requiring in him great
virtue and an apostolic spirit, his consolations are great also. The
grace of God is always given in proportion to his servants' need; and
in this virgin soil, where spurious forms of Christianity are as yet
unknown, the effects it produces are at time astounding. The missioner
is alternately tempted to elation and despair. He must know, to use
the words of the Apostle, "how to be brought low, and how to abound."
Monseigneur Faraud has now returned to his diocese to reap the harvest
of the good seed which he has sown, and to carry a Christian
civilization to the savages of the extreme north of America. He has
left his volume behind him to invite our prayers for his success, and
to remind those generous souls who are inspired to undertake the work
of evangelizing the heathen, that in his portion of the Lord's field
"the harvest is great and the laborers few."
------
MISCELLANY.
_The Zoological Position of the Dodo_.--At a meeting of the
Zoological Society on the 9th of January last, Professor Owen read a
paper on the osteology of the Dodo, the great extinct bird of the
Mauritius. Our readers will remember that this bird has given rise to
a good deal of discussion from time to time as to its true affinities.
When Professor Owen was Curator of the Royal College of Surgeons'
Museum, he classed the Dodo along with the Raptorial birds. This
arrangement led to the production of the huge volume of Messrs.
Strickland and Melville, in which it was very ably demonstrated that
the bird belongs to the _Columbae_ or pigeon group. It is highly
creditable therefore to Professor Owen that upon a careful examination
of the specimens of the dodo's bones which have lately come under his
observation, he has consented to the view long ago expressed by Dr.
Melville. {571} The materials upon which Professor Owen's paper was
based consisted of about one hundred different bones belonging to
various parts of the skeleton, which had been recently discovered by
Mr. George Clark, of Maheberg, Mauritius, in an alluvial deposit in
that island. After an exhaustive examination of these remains, which
embraced nearly every part of the skeleton, Professor Owen came to the
conclusion that previous authorities had been correct in referring the
dodo to the Columbine order, the variations presented, though
considerable, being mainly such as might be referable to the
adaptation of the dodo to a terrestrial life, and different food and
habits.--_Popular Science Review_.
_Native Borax_.--A lake about two miles in circumference, from which
borax is obtained in extremely pure condition and in very large
quantity, has recently been discovered in California. The borax
hitherto in use has been procured by combining boracic acid, procured
from Tuscany, with soda. It is used in large quantities in England,
the potteries of Staffordshire alone consuming more than 1100 tons
annually.
_Fall of the Temperature of Metals_.--At the last meeting of the
Chemical Society of Paris, Dr. Phipson called attention to the sudden
fall of temperature which occurs when certain metals are mixed
together at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere. The most
extraordinary descent of temperature occurs when 207 parts of lead,
118 of tin, 284 of bismuth, and l,617 of mercury are alloyed together.
The external temperature being at +170 deg. centigrade at the time of the
mixture, the thermometer instantly falls to--10 deg. below zero. Even when
these proportions are not taken with absolute rigor, the cold produced
is such that the moisture of the atmosphere is immediately condensed
on the sides of the vessel in which the metallic mixture is made. The
presence of lead in the alloy does not appear to be so indispensable
as that of bismuth. Dr. Phipson explains this fact by assuming that
the cold is produced by the liquefaction at the ordinary temperature
of the air of such dense metals as bismuth, etc., in their contact
with the mercury.
_Greek and Egyptian Inscriptions_.--The discovery of a stone bearing a
Greek inscription with equivalent Egyptian hieroglyphics, by Messrs.
Lepsius, Reinisch, Roesler, and Weidenbach, four German explorers, at
Sane, the former Tanis, the chief scene of the grand architectural
undertakings of Rameses the Second, is an important event for students
of Egyptology. The Greek inscription consists of seventy-six lines, in
the most perfect preservation, dating from the time of Ptolemy
Energetes I. (238 B.C.) The stone is twenty-two centimetres high, and
seventy-eight centimetres wide, and is completely covered by the
inscriptions. The finders devoted two days to copying the
inscriptions, taking three photographs of the stone, and securing
impressions of the hieroglyphics. Egyptologists are therefore
anxiously looking forward to the production of these facsimiles and
photographs.
------
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
MISCELLANEA: comprising Reviews, Lectures, and Essays, on Historical,
Theological, and Miscellaneous Subjects, By M. J. Spalding, D.D.,
Archbishop of Baltimore. Fourth edition. 2 vols. 8vo. Pp. 807.
Baltimore: John Murphy & Co. 1866.
This work has attained a well deserved popularity in the Catholic
community; and we hail with pleasure this new and enlarged edition of
it. Dr. Spalding has obtained the first place amongst the few of our
popular writers; and by his contributions to Catholic literature will
leave after him evidences of a "good fight" for the truth and faith of
Christ. The Miscellanea is a book for the times, such as the Church
always needs, and of which in later years we have sadly felt the want.
The prolific Anti-catholic press has deluged the country with {572}
publications of all sizes and of every character, unfair in their
statements of our doctrine and practice, and but too often marked by
bitter invective and wilful misrepresentation. The prejudices thus
engendered and deepened must be quickly and pointedly met before the
poison has had time to spread. We must not be content with a passive
confidence in the inherent strength of truth. In the long run truth
will prevail, we know; but there is no reason why truth should not
also prevail in the short run. Our American style of making a mental
meal is not very far different from that of our physical meal. We read
as fast as we eat, and are not over dainty. It is perfectly marvellous
what hashes of literary refuse your anti-church, anti-papal, and
liberal (sic) caterer has the impudence to set before a people
hungering after righteousness and truth: and it is equally marvellous
that these same people so hastily gulp down the newly spiced dish,
without evincing any suspicion of their having once or twice before
seen and rejected the same well-picked bones and unsavory morsels.
Experience proves the necessity of providing for the American mind
good solid food, cooked _a la hate_, and served with few
accompaniments. They are not partial to long introductory soups, and
totally disregard all side-dish references and quotations. Comparisons
aside, we need quick and popular answers to these popular and hasty
accusations. The difficulty we experience is in the fact that the
books, pamphlets, and tracts which disseminate error, contain such a
mass of illogical reasoning, and are based upon so many contradictory
principles, that to answer them all fully and logically would require
as many octavos as they possess pages. To give a fair, unsophistical,
and popular response to the questions of the day, as presented to us
in the forms we have mentioned, requires no little critical skill, and
real literary genius. In the perusal of the work before us we have had
frequent occasion to admire these characteristics of the distinguished
author. His trenchant blows decapitate at once a host of hydra-headed
errors, and he displays a happy faculty of marking and dealing with
those particular points which would be noticeable ones for the reader
of the productions which come under the judgment of his pen. We have
cause to congratulate ourselves that we have in him a popular writer
for the American people. An American himself, he understands his
countrymen, appreciates their merits, and is not blind to their
failings. It is true we find in these pages many qualifications of the
motives of Protestant antagonists and of Protestant movements
generally which we wish might be read only by those to whom they
apply; still the intelligent reader will not fail to observe that they
were called forth by the temper of the times in which these different
essays were written. The author himself observes in his preface to
this edition: "As some of them were written as far back as twenty
years, it is but natural to suppose that they occasionally exhibit
more spirit and heat in argument, than the cooler temper and riper
taste of advancing years would fully approve." And he very justly
adds: "While I am free to make this acknowledgment, justice to my own
convictions and feelings requires me to state, that in regard to the
facts alleged, I have nothing to retract, or even, materially to
modify, and that in the tone and temper I do not even now believe that
I set down aught in malice, or with any other than the good intent of
correcting error and establishing truth, without assuming the
aggressive except for the sake of what I believed to be the legitimate
defence of the Church of God."
What the learned writer here hints at, we feel to be his own profound
convictions at the present day, and the wisdom of which the aspect of
controversy as it is now successfully being carried on here and in
Europe, also proves, that it is better to convince and to teach, than
to silence. We are not, however, altogether averse to sharp reproof or
good-natured ridicule where it is well deserved. Fools are to be
answered, says the Holy Scripture, according to their folly; and fools
not unfrequently attack the truth and do a deal of mischief. When a
writer or public orator presumes to talk nonsense, or appeals to the
vulgar prejudices or the fears of the ignorant, it becomes necessary
to exhibit both his character and motives. Calm and unimpassioned
argument is thrown away upon him, and is looked upon by the unthinking
masses as a confession of weakness. Few instances, if any, can be
shown where a Catholic polemic writer has treated an honorable {573}
antagonist with discourtesy: and we venture to say that the scathing
criticisms which are to be found in the work before us were richly
merited, and on the whole will be so judged by the dispassionate
reader.
This edition contains upward of one hundred and sixty pages of new
matter, of equal interest with that of the fore-going editions.
We give it our humble and earnest commendation, heartily wishing that
it may be widely circulated and read; confidently assured as we are
that it will do good, and advance the cause of truth.
CHRISTIANITY, Its Influence on Civilization, and its Relation to
Nature's Religion: the "Harmonial" or Universal Philosophy. A Lecture.
By Caleb S. Weeks. New York: W. White & Co. 1866.
What a pity Mr. Caleb S. Weeks was not born earlier! The whole world
has been running for nineteen centuries after the "Nazarene," and his
"religious system," when it might have been running after Mister
Weeks, and his shallow spiritualistic humanitarian philosophy! Who
knows? Reading effusions of this kind, we are reminded of Beppolo's
Fanfarone:
"What is't that boils within me?
Is't the throes of nascent genius; or the strength
Of high immortal thoughts to find vent;
Or, is it wind?"
------
REPORT OF THE HOLY CHILDHOOD IN
U. S. ANNALS OF THE HOLY CHILDHOOD, etc. 1866.
We are in receipt of the above in French and in English, together with
various circulars and pictures illustrating and recommending the
extensive and admirable work of charity, called "The Holy Childhood"
It was founded by the Bishop of Nancy in France, the Rt. Rev.
Forbin-Janson: and its object is principally to rescue the abandoned
children of the Chinese, baptize them, and educate them as Christians.
Chinese parents have irresponsible control over the life and death of
their children, and hence the crime of infanticide is very common
amongst them, and that in its most revolting forms, the heartless
parents drowning them, leaving them to die by exposure, and even to be
eaten alive by dogs and swine. The poor will sell their young children
for a paltry sum, apparently without much regret. It was impossible
that Catholic charity should forever pass by unnoticed such a
plague-spot upon humanity. Wherever humanity suffers, she knows how to
inspire devoted souls with an ardent desire for the alleviation of its
misery. Founded only since 1843, the association of the Holy Childhood
has rescued and baptized three millions of these children. The report
for this year gives the number of those under education at
twenty-three thousand four hundred and sixteen. Such a noble work, so
truly Catholic in its spirit, needs no commendation of ours. We are
sure that all Catholic children, who are the ones particularly invited
to be members of it, and to contribute to its support, will vie with
each other in their prayers and offerings for its success. Catholic
charity effects great things with little means. The entire annual
expenditures of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, with
which we hope our readers are well acquainted, did not amount, a few
years since, to more than eight thousand dollars. The Society of the
Holy Childhood asks for a contribution of only one cent a month from
each of its members, and requires each one to say daily a Hail Mary
and an invocation to the child Jesus, to have pity upon all poor pagan
children.
We have been much interested in looking over the number of the annals
sent us, but we are sorry to see certain Religious Orders singled out
by name as not yet having made this enterprise a part of their work.
Those holy and devoted men need no stimulation of this kind to do all
that comes within their sphere for God's greater glory, and the
salvation of mankind: and one does not like one's name called out as a
delinquent by him who solicits, but has not yet obtained our name for
his subscription-list It is, to say the least, injudicious; but we
hope that the well-known zeal and ardent charity of the Directors of
this pious work will be sufficient apology for the incautious remark.
{574}
A BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Compiled and arranged by the Rev. Charles Hole, B.A., Trinity College,
Cambridge; with additions and corrections by William A. Wheeler, M.A.,
assistant editor of Webster's Dictionary, author of "A Dictionary of
Noted Names of Fiction," etc. 12mo, pp. 453. New-York: Hurd &
Houghton. 1866.
We have here a most convenient little volume for reference, and one
that is also pretty accurate and complete. It merely gives the name of
the person, his country, profession, date of birth and death. The
American editor has done his work well, as well as it is possible,
humanly speaking, to compile such a work; but he certainly should have
added the name of Dr. J.V. Huntington to the Appendix, which contains
the names of those omitted by Mr. Hole, He has placed names there that
are not half so well known to men of letters as that of the late
lamented Dr. Huntington. We make special mention of his name, as the
American editor of this useful little book is the author of "A
Dictionary of Noted Names of Fiction," and must have read of the
author of "Alban," "The Forest," "Rosemary," "Pretty Plate," "Blonde
and Brunette," etc., etc. There may be other omissions, but this
author being one of the most prominent of our deceased American
Catholic writers, there can be no good excuse for the exclusion of his
name.
DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY IN NORTH AMERICA.
By the Rev. Xavier Donald Macleod. With a Memoir of the author by the
Most Rev. John B. Purcell, D.D., Archbishop of Cincinnati. 8vo, pp.
467. Virtue & Yorston, New-York.
Few Americans are well acquainted with the religious history of their
own country. It is to be regretted, for in the religious history of
any nation we find a revelation of life no less interesting, and far
more important than the detail of its political fortunes. Indeed, we
believe that history written so as to exclude the mention of religion
and its influence upon the social character, civilization, and the
national peculiarities of a people, would be as incomplete as it would
be unintelligible. Americans are educated to believe that this
country, with the exception of Mexico, has been a Protestant country
from the start; that its religious activity has been purely
Protestant; that Catholicity has been chiefly hitherto a work confined
to the spiritual ministrations of foreign priests to a foreign
immigrant population; and he is surprised to learn that the only
missionary work done on this continent worthy of record on the page of
its history is wholly Catholic. And we venture to affirm that the only
picture of the religion of America, either of its early or its later
days, which will be looked upon by future generations with pleasure
and pride, will be that which the Catholic Church presents in the
apostolic labors of her missionaries, through which the savage Indian
becomes the docile Christian; the rude, uneducated masses, whether
white or black, are guided, instructed, and saved; the truth and grace
of the holy faith is preached in hardship, toil, privation,
persecution, and death. It is true that the book before as treats of
religion in America with only the devotion toward our Blessed Lady as
its particular theme, but it necessarily offers us a view of the
progress of the Catholic religion in every part of the continent. It
is written in a most charming style, replete with graphic
descriptions, and marked throughout by that tone of enthusiastic
loyalty to the faith so characteristic of the gifted and lamented
author. There is no portion of the work we have read with greater
interest than that which concerns the conversion and religious life of
the Indians. There has been no truer type of the Catholic missionary
than is displayed by those devoted priests, who came to this country
burning with the desire to win its savage aborigines to the faith of
Christ. Let us give a little extract:
"For thirty years now has Father Sebastian Rasle dwelt in the
forest, teaching to its wild, red children the love of God and Mary.
He is burned by sun and tanned by wind until he is almost as red as
his parishioners. The languages of the Abenaki and Huron, the
Algonquin and Illinois, are more familiar to him than the tongue in
which his mother taught him the Ave Maria. The huts of Norridgewock
contain his people; the river Kennebec flows swiftly past his
dwelling to the sea. There he has built a church--handsome, he
thinks and says; perhaps it would not much excite our luxurious
imagination. At any rate, the altar is handsome; and he has gathered
a store of copes and chasubles, albs and embroidered stoles for the
dignity of the holy service. He has trained, also, as many as forty
Indian boys in the ceremonies, and, in their crimson cassocks and
white surplices, they aid the sacred pomp. Besides the church, there
are two chapels, one on the road which leads to the forest, {575}
where the braves are wont to make a short retreat before they start
to trap and hunt; the other on the path to the cultivated lands,
where prayers are offered when they go to plant or gather in the
harvest. The one is dedicated to the guardian angel of the tribe,
the other to our most holy mother, Mary Immaculate. To adorn this
latter is the especial emulation of the women. Whatever they have of
jewels, of silk stuff from the settlements, or delicate embroidery
of porcupine-quill, or richly tinted moose-hair, is found here; and
from amidst their offerings rises, white and fair, the statue of the
Virgin; and her sweet face looks down benignantly upon her swarthy
children, kneeling before her to recite their rosaries. One
beautiful inanimate ministrant to God's worship they have in
abundance--light from wax candles. The wax is not precisely _opus
apium_, but it is a nearer approach to it than you find in richer
and less excusable places. It is wax from the berry of the laurels,
which cover the hills of Maine. And to the chapel every night and
morning come all the Indian Christians. At morning they make their
prayer in common, and assist at mass, chanting, in their own
dialect, hymns written for that purpose by their pastor. Then they
go to their employment for the day; he to his continuous, orderly,
and ceaseless labor. The morning is given up to visitors, who come
to their good father with their sorrows and disquietudes; to ask his
relief against some little injustice of their fellows; his advice on
their marriage or other projects. He consoles this one, instructs
that, reestablishes peace in disunited families, calms troubled
consciences, administers gentle rebuke, or gives encouragement to
the timid. The afternoon belongs to the sick, who are visited in
their own cabins. If there be a council, the black-robe must come to
invoke the Holy Spirit on their deliberations; if a feast, he must
be present to bless the viands and to check all approaches to
disorder. And always in the afternoon, old and young, warrior and
gray-haired squaw, Christian and catechumen, assemble for the
catechism. When the sun declines westward, and the shadows creep
over the village, they seek the chapel for the public prayer, and to
sing a hymn to St. Mary. Then each to his own home; but before
bed-time, neighbors gather again, in the house of one of them, and
in antiphonal choirs they _sing_ their beads, and with another hymn
they separate for sleep."
The work does not need any commendation at our hands; it will
assuredly become popular wherever it is introduced, whether it be into
the libraries of colleges or literary associations, or into the family
circle.
LIFE AND CAMPAIGNS OF LIEUT.-GENERAL U. S. GRANT,
from his Boyhood to the Surrender of General Lee; including an
accurate account of Sherman's great march from Chattanooga to
Washington, and the final official Reports of Sheridan, Meade,
Sherman, and Grant; with portraits on steel of Stanton, Grant and his
Generals, and other illustrations. By Rev. P.G. Headley, author of
Life of Napoleon, Life of Josephine, etc., etc. 8vo, pp. 720. New
York: Derby & Miller Publishing Co. 1866.
The title of this work is sufficiently ambitious to justify the
expectation that it is really a valuable contribution to our national
historical literature. Such is, however, not the case. The only
valuable portions of the book are the reports of different commanding
generals, which are appended. The style is of the inflated,
mock-heroic order, of which we have had a surfeit, especially since
the commencement of the late war. The descriptions of battles remind
us of a certain class of cheap battle pictures, in which smoke,
artillery horses, and men are arranged and rearranged to suit any
desired emergency. One is left in doubt in reading the account of the
famous charge on the left at Fort Donelson, whether C. F. Smith or
Morgan L. Smith was the officer in command. Morgan L. Smith was a
brave and valuable officer, but the decisive charge in question was
led by C. F. Smith, and was one of the most remarkable and brilliant
military exploits of the war. We cannot pretend to wade through all
the crudities, platitudes, and mistakes of this bulky volume,
manufactured to order, not written. There is one glaring blunder or
intentional perversion, in the desire to please every body, which all
cannot pass over. The relief of Major-General McClernand in front of
Vicksburg is made to appear to be a reluctant act on the part of
General Grant. Mr. Headley represents General Grant as complying with
an urgent military necessity, at the cost of _his friend_. This is all
sheer nonsense. There was and could be no friendship between Grant and
McClernand. One might as well expect fellowship between light and
darkness. There was a military necessity to remove McClernand, for
every day that he commanded a corps imperilled the safety of the whole
army. Sherman and McPherson united in demanding his removal, {576} and
General Grant chose the right moment to relieve him--when he had
demonstrated his incapacity, or worse, to the mind of every soldier on
the field, and ruined forever the false popularity he had acquired as
a politician of the lowest grade. Mr. Headley makes an unsuccessful
effort to glaze over General Wallace's unaccountable delay in coming
up to the field of' Shiloh. In fact, he deals in indiscriminate praise
for an obvious reason, and like all such people is certain to get very
little himself from his critics. The book no doubt sells, and will
probably stimulate a desire to read the authentic histories which will
in due season appear, and of which Wm. Swinton's History of the Army
of the Potomac (not without its faults) is a specimen. We expect a
first-class scientific History of the War. Major-General Schofield is
the man to write it, when the proper time arrives.
POETRY, LYRICAL, NARRATIVE, AND SATIRICAL, OF THE CIVIL WAR.
Selected and edited by Richard Grant White. 12mo, pp. 384. American
News Co.
Mr. White's preface to this volume of selected poetry is the best
criticism which the book could have, and is an exhaustive and elegant
essay. It is a remarkably complete collection of the pieces which have
appeared from time to time in the progress of the war. The value of
such a work is in its completeness less than in the merits of the
compositions selected. We should be glad to see another edition,
containing some which have been overlooked or omitted. The value of
such a collection increases with time, and it will be eagerly sought
for and highly prized when the hateful, painful, and commonplace
features of the struggle have softened into the elements of pleasing
reminiscence and romance, and become the incentives to heroism and
patriotism to unborn children.
A TEXT BOOK ON PHYSIOLOGY.
For the use of Schools and Colleges, being an Abridgement of the
author's larger work on Human Physiology. By John William Draper,
M.D., LL.D., author of A Treatise on Human Physiology, and A History
of the Intellectual Development of Europe, etc. 12mo, pp. 376. Harper
& Brothers, 1866.
A TEXT BOOK ON CHEMISTRY.
For the use of Schools and Colleges. By Henry Draper, M.D., Professor
Adjunct of Chemistry and Natural History in the University of New
York. 12mo, pp. 507. Harper & Brothers. 1866.
The Drapers, father and sons, present the rare example in this
materialistic age and most materialistic city, of a whole family
devoted to literary and scientific pursuits, and working in that
harmony which the sincere and loyal pursuit of science is sure to
produce. Although we have had occasion to differ with Professor Draper
in his philosophical and some of his political deductions, we admire
his intellect and attainments, and in the purely scientific order
consider him entitled to the highest consideration and respect. He is
a close student and an original observer, and we believe him ardently
and faithfully devoted to the ascertainment of exact scientific truth.
His sons are men of great promise, and have already done more in their
short lives in the respective departments of natural science than many
of twice their age.
Catholicity courts scientific investigation and verification in every
department of inquiry, and delights to honor all men who devote their
lives to these self-denying labors. There is, so to speak, a sanctity
of science. Science inevitably tends toward religion, and is the most
powerful safeguard of society and civilization next to religion.
The two manuals whose titles are given above are excellent of their
kind, and we cordially recommend them to our schools and colleges.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
From D. Appleton & Co., New-York. The Annual Cyclopaedia and Register
of Important Events of the Year 1865. 8vo, pp. 850.
From Hurd & Houghton, New-York. Revolution and Reconstruction. Two
Lectures delivered in the Law School of Harvard College, in January,
1865, and January, 1866, by Joel Parker. 8vo, pamphlet, pp. 89.
Shakespeare's Delineations of Insanity, Imbecility, and Suicide. By A.
O. Kellogg, M.D., Assistant Physician State Lunatic Asylum, Utica,
N.Y. 12mo. pp. 204. Pictures of Country Life. By Alice Cary. 18mo, pp.
859.
From D. & J. Sadlier & Co., New-York. Parts 18. 19, and 20 of
D'Artaud's Lives of the Popes; and Vol II. of Catholic Anecdotes.
From P. O'Shea, New-York. Nos. 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32. and 33 of
Darras's History of the Catholic Church.
From A. D. F. Randolph, New-York. The Lady of La Garaye. By the Hon.
Mrs. Norton, 12mo, pp. 115.
From J. J. O'Connor & Co., Newark, N.J. Jesus and Mary. A Catholic
hymn-book. Selected from various sources, and arranged for the use of
the children of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Newark, N.J. 12mo, pp. 76,
paper.
------
{577}
THE CATHOLIC WORLD.
VOL. III., NO. 17.--AUGUST, 1866.
[ORIGINAL.]
PROBLEMS OF THE AGE.
V.
THE REVELATION OF THE SUPERNATURAL ORDER,
AND ITS RELATION TO THE PRIMITIVE IDEA OF REASON.
Our reason in apprehending the intelligible is advertised at the same
time of the existence of the super-intelligible. It is necessary to
explain here the sense in which this latter term is used. It is
evident that it can be used only in a relative and not in an absolute
sense. That which is absolutely without the domain of the intelligible
is absolutely unintelligible and therefore a non-entity. The
super-intelligible must therefore be something which is intelligible
to God, but above the range either of all created reason, or of human
reason in its present condition. It will suffice for the present to
consider it under the latter category.
Our reason undoubtedly apprehends in its intelligible object the
existence of something which is above the range of human intelligence
in its present state. The intimate nature of material and spiritual
substances is incomprehensible. Much more, the intimate nature or
essence of the infinite divine being. All science begins from and
conducts to the incomprehensible. Any one who wishes to satisfy
himself of this may peruse the first few chapters of Mr. Herbert
Spencer's "Principles of Philosophy." That portion of the first
article of the creed which reason can demonstrate; namely, the being
of God, the Creator of the world, in which is included also the
immortality of the soul, and the principle of moral obligation;
advertises therefore, of an infinite sphere of truth which is above
our comprehension. The natural suggests the supernatural, in which it
has its first and final cause, its origin and ultimate end. The
knowledge of the natural, therefore, gives us a kind of negative
knowledge of the super-natural, by advertising us of its own
incompleteness, and of the want of any principle of self-origination
or metaphysical finality in itself. A system of pure naturalism which
represents the idea of reason under a form which satisfies completely
the intelligence without introducing the supernatural, is impossible.
What is nature, and what do we mean by the natural? Nature is simply
the aggregate of finite entities, and the natural is {578} what may be
predicated of these entities. A system of pure naturalism would
therefore give a complete account of this aggregate of finite
entities, without going beyond the entities themselves, that is,
without transcending the limits of space, time, the finite and the
contingent. Such a system is not only incapable of rational
demonstration, but utterly unthinkable. For, when the mind has gone to
its utmost length in denying or excluding every positive affirmation
of anything except nature, there remains always the abyss of the
unknown from which nature came and to which it tends, even though the
unknown may be declared to be unknowable. Those who deny the
super-intelligible and the supernatural, therefore, are mere sceptics,
and cannot construct a philosophy. Those who affirm a First Cause, in
which second causes and their effects are intelligible, affirm the
supernatural. For the first and absolute Cause cannot be included
under the same generic term with the second causes and finite forces
of nature. The more perfectly and clearly they evolve the full
theistic conception of pure reason, the more distinctly do they affirm
the supernatural, because the idea of God as the infinite,
intelligible object of his own infinite intelligence is
proportionately explicated and apprehended. It is explicated and
apprehended by means of analogies derived from finite objects, but
these analogies suggest that there is an infinite something behind
them which they represent. By these analogies we learn in a measure
the meaning of the affirmation _Ut Deus sit_. We do not learn _Quid
sit Deus_, but still we cannot help asking the question, What is God,
what is his essence? We know that he is the adequate object of his own
intelligence and will, and therefore we cannot help asking the
question what is that object, what does God see and love in himself,
in what does his most pure and infinite act consist, what is his
beatitude? Our reason is advertised of an infinite truth, reality, or
being, which it cannot comprehend, that is, of the super-intelligible.
Those who base their philosophy on pure theism, or a modified
rationalistic Christianity, are therefore entirely mistaken when they
profess to be anti-supernaturalists, and to draw a distinctly marked
line between themselves and the supernaturalists. The distinction is
only between more or less consistent supernaturalists. Those who are
at the remotest point from the Catholic idea, see that those who are a
little nearer have no tenable standing-point, and these see it of
those who are nearer than they are, and so on, until we come to the
Anglicans and the Orientals. But the extremists themselves have no
better standing-point than the intermediaries, and in their theistic
conception have admitted a principle from which they can be driven by
irresistible and invincible logic to the Catholic Church. For the
present, we merely aim to show that they are compelled to admit the
supernatural when they affirm God as the first and final cause of the
world. In affirming this, they affirm that nature has its origin and
final reason in the supernatural, or in an infinite object above
itself, which human reason cannot comprehend. That is, they affirm
super-intelligible and super-natural relations, of man and the
universe. These relations must be regulated and adjusted by some law.
This law is either the simple continuity of the original creative act
which explicates itself through con-creative second causes in time and
space, or it is this, and in addition to this, an immediate act of the
Creator completing his original, creative act by subsequent acts of an
equal or superior order, which concur with the first towards the final
cause of the creation. Whoever takes the first horn of this dilemma is
a pure naturalist in the only sense of the word which is intelligible.
That is, while he is a supernaturalist, in maintaining that nature has
its first and final cause in the supernatural, or in {579} God; he is
a naturalist in maintaining that man has no other tendency to his
final cause except that given in the creative act that is essential to
nature, and no other mode prescribed for returning to his final cause
than the explication of this natural tendency, according to natural
law. Consequently, reason is sufficient, without revelation; the will,
without grace; humanity, without the incarnation; society, or the race
organized under law, without the church. It is precisely in the method
of treating this thesis of naturalism that the divarication takes
place between the great schools of Catholic theology and between the
various systems of philosophy, whether orthodox or heterodox, which
profess to base themselves on the Christian idea, or to ally
themselves with it. It is not easy to find the clue which will lead us
safely through this labyrinth and preserve us from deviating either to
the right hand or to the left, by denying too much on the one hand to
the naturalists, or conceding too much to them on the other.
Nevertheless it is necessary to search for it, or to give up all
effort to discuss the question before us, and to prove from principles
furnished by nature and reason the necessity of accepting a
supernatural revelation.
The true thesis of pure naturalism or rationalism is, that God in
educating the human race for the destiny in view of which he created
it, merely explicates that which is contained in nature by virtue of
the original creative act, without any subsequent interference of the
divine, creative power. He develops nature by natural laws alone, in
one invariable mode. The physical universe evolves by a rigid sequence
the force of all the second causes which it contains. The rational
world is governed by the same law, and so also is the moral and
spiritual world. The intellectual and spiritual education of the human
race develops nothing except natural reason, and the natural,
spiritual capacity of the soul. Reason extends its conquests by a
continual progress in the super-intelligible realm, reducing it to the
intelligible, and eternally approaching to the comprehension of the
infinite and absolute truth. The spiritual capacity advances
constantly in the supernatural realm, reducing it to the natural, and
eternally approaching the infinite and absolute good or being. All
nature, all creation, is on the march, and its momentum is the
impulsive force given it by the creative impact that launched it into
existence and activity.
Planting themselves on this thesis, its advocates profess to have _a
priori_ principle by which they prove the all-sufficiency of nature
for the fulfilment of its own destiny, and reject as an unnecessary or
even inconceivable intrusion, the affirmation of another divine
creative act, giving a new impact to nature, superadding a new force
to natural law, subordinating the physical universe to a higher end,
implanting a superior principle of intelligence and will in the human
soul, and giving to the race a destination above that to which it
tends by its own proper momentum. They refuse to entertain the
question of a supernatural order, or an order which educates the race
according to a law superior to that of the evolution of the mere
forces of nature; and in consequence of this refusal, they logically
refuse to entertain the question of a supernatural revelation
disclosing this order, and of a supernatural religion in which the
doctrines, laws, institutions, forces and instruments of this order
are organized, for the purpose of drawing the human race into itself.
This is the last fortress into which heterodox philosophy has fled.
The open plains are no longer tenable. The only conflict of magnitude
now raging in Christendom is between the champions of the Catholic
faith and the tenants of this stronghold. It is a great advantage for
the cause of truth that it is so. The controversy is simplified, the
issues are clearly marked, the opportunity is favorable for an {580}
unimpeded and decisive collision between the forces of faith and
unbelief, and the triumph of faith will open the way for Christianity
to gain a new and mighty sway over the mind, the heart, and the life
of the civilized world. This stronghold is no more tenable than any of
the others which have been successively occupied and abandoned. Its
tenants have gained only a momentary advantage by retreating to it.
They escape certain of the inconsistencies of other parties and evade
the Catholic arguments levelled against these inconsistencies. But
they can be driven by the irresistible force of reason from their
position, and made to draw the Catholic conclusion from their own
premises.
We do not say this in a boastful spirit, or as vaunting our own
ability to effect a logical demolition of rationalism. Rather, we
desire to express our confidence that the reason of its advocates
themselves will drive them out of it, and that the common judgment of
an age more enlightened than the present will demolish it. It is our
opinion, formed after hearing the language used by a great number of
men of all parties, and reading a still greater number of their
published utterances, that the most enlightened intelligence of this
age in Protestant Christendom has reached two conclusions; the first
is, that the Catholic Church is the true and genuine church of
Christianity; and the second, that it is necessary to have a positive
religion which will embody the same idea that produced Christianity.
The combination and evolution of these two intellectual convictions
promise to result in a return to Catholicism. And there are to be seen
even already in the writings of those who have given up the positive
Christianity of orthodox Protestantism, indications of the workings of
a philosophy which tends to bring them round to the positive
supernatural faith of the Catholic church. It is by these grand,
intellectual currents moving the general mind of an age, that
individual minds are chiefly influenced, more than by the thoughts of
other individual minds. Individual thinkers can scarcely do more than
to detect the subtle element which the common intellectual atmosphere
holds in solution, to interpret to other thinkers their own thoughts,
or give them a direction which will help them to discover for
themselves some truth more integral and universal than they now
possess. Therefore, while confiding in the power of the integral and
universal truth embodied in the Catholic creed to bear down all
opposition and vanquish every philosophy which rises up agamst it, we
do not arrogate the ability to grasp and wield this power, and to
exhibit the Catholic idea in its full evidence as the integrating,
all-embracing form of universal truth. It is proposed in an honorable
and conciliatory spirit to those who love truth and are able to
investigate it for themselves. Many things must necessarily be
affirmed or suggested in a brief, unpretending series of essays, which
admit of and require minute and elaborate proof, such as can only be
given in an extensive work, but merely sketched here after the manner
of an outline engraving which leaves out the filling up belonging to a
finished picture.
To return from this digression. We have begun the task of indicating
how that naturalism or pure rationalism which affirms the theistic
conception logically demonstrable by pure reason, can only integrate
itself and expand itself to a universal Theodicy or doctrine of God,
in a supernatural revelation.
If the opposite theory of pure naturalism were true, it ought to
verify itself in the actual history of the human race, and in the
actual process of its education. The idea of the supernatural ought to
be entirely absent from the consciousness of the race. For, on the
supposition of that theory, it has no place in the human mind--and no
business in the world. If unassisted nature and reason suffice for
{581} themselves they ought to do their work alone, and do it so
thoroughly that there would be no room for any pretended supernatural
revelation to creep in. The history of mankind ought to be a
continuous, regular evolution of reason and nature, like the movements
of the planets; the human race ought to have been conscious of this
law from the beginning, and never to have dreamed of the supernatural,
never to have desired it.
Philosophy ought to have been, from the first, master of the
situation, and to have domineered over the whole domain of thought.
The reverse of this is the fact. The history of the human race, and
the whole world of human thought, is filled with the idea of the
supernatural. The philosophy of naturalism is either a modification
and re-combination of principles learned from revelation, or a protest
against revelation and an attempt to dethrone it from its sway. It has
no pretence of being original and universal, but always pre-supposes
revelation as having prior possession, and dating from time
immemorial. Now human nature and human reason are certainly competent
to fulfil whatever task God has assigned them. They act according to
fixed laws, and tend infallibly to the end for which they were
created. The judgments of human reason and of the human race are valid
in their proper sphere. And therefore the judgment of mankind that its
law of evolution is in the line of the supernatural is a valid
judgment. Revelation has the claim of prescription and of universal
tradition. Naturalism must set aside this claim and establish a
positive claim for itself based on demonstration, before it has any
right even to a hearing. It can do neither. It cannot bring any
conclusive argument against revelation, nor can it establish itself on
any basis of demonstration which does not pre-suppose the instruction
of reason by revelation.
It cannot conclusively object to revelation. The very principle of
law, that is, of the invariable nexus between cause and effect, which
is the ultimate axiom of naturalism, is based on the perpetual
concurrence of the first cause with all secondary causes, that is, the
perpetuity of the creative act by which God perpetually creates the
creature. There is no reason why this creative act should explicate
all its effects at once or merely conserve the existences it has
produced, and not explicate successively in space and time the effects
of its creative energy. The hypothesis that the creative power can
never act directly in nature except at its origin, and must afterwards
merely act through the medium of previously created causes in a direct
line, is the sheerest assumption. Some of the most eminent men in
modern physical science maintain the theory of successive creations.
There may be the same direct intervention of creative power in the
moral and spiritual world. Miracles, revelations, supernatural
interventions for the regeneration and elevation of the human race,
are not improbable on any _a priori_ principle. The artifice by which
the entire tradition of the human race is set aside, and a demand made
to prove the supernatural _de novo_, is unwarrantable and unfair. The
supernatural has the title of prescription, and the burden of proof
lies only upon the particular systems, to show that they are genuine
manifestations of it, and not its counterfeits. The existence of a
reality which may be counterfeited is a fair postulate of reason,
until the contrary is demonstrated, and something positive of a prior
and more universal order is logically established from the first
principles of reason. We are not to be put off with assurances like a
fraudulent debtor's promises of payment, that our doubts and
uncertainties, will be satisfied after two thousand or two hundred
thousand years. Exclude the supernatural, and natural reason will
have, and can have nothing in the future, beyond the universal data
and principles which we have now and have had from the beginning, with
which to solve its problems. The {582} connection between mind and
matter, the origin and destination of the soul, the future life, the
state of other orders of intelligent beings, the condition of other
worlds, will be as abstruse and incapable of satisfactory settlement
then as now. If we are to gain any certain knowledge concerning them,
it must be in a supernatural way. And what conclusive reason is there
for deciding that we may not? Who can prove that some of that infinite
truth which surrounds us may not break through the veil, that some of
the intelligent spirits of other spheres may not be sent to enlighten
and instruct us? [Footnote 125]
[Footnote 125: That is, who can prove it from reason alone, without
the evidence of Revelation itself that it is already completed?]
One of the ablest advocates of naturalism, Mr. William R. Alger, has
admitted that it is possible, and oven maintains that it has already
taken place. In his erudite work on the "History of the Doctrine of a
Future Life," he maintains the opinion that Jesus Christ is a most
perfect and exalted being, who was sent into this world by God to
teach mankind, who wrought miracles and really raised his body to life
in attestation of his doctrine, although he supposes that he laid it
aside again when he left the earth. He distinctly asserts the
infallibility of Christ as a teacher, and of the doctrine which he
actually taught with his own lips. Here is a most distinct and
explicit concession of the principle of supernatural revelation. To
those who heard him he was a supernatural and infallible teacher. In
so far as his doctrine is really apprehended it is for all generations
a supernatural and infallible truth. It has regenerated mankind, and
Mr. Alger believes it is destined, when better understood, to carry
the work of regeneration to a higher point in the future. It is true,
he does not acknowledge that the apostles were infallible in
apprehending and teaching the doctrine of Christ. But he must admit,
that in so far as they have apprehended and perpetuated it, and in so
far as he himself and others of his school now apprehend it more
perfectly than they did, they apprehend supernatural truth and
appropriate a supernatural power. Besides, once admitting that Christ
was an infallible teacher, it is impossible to show why he could not
do what so many philosophers have done, communicate his doctrine in
clear and intelligible terms, so that the substance of it would be
correctly understood and perpetuated. Miss Frances Cobbe, admitted to
be the best expositor of the doctrine of the celebrated Theodore
Parker, in her "Broken Lights," and other similar writers, give to the
doctrine and institutions of Christ a power that is superhuman and
that denotes the action of a superhuman intelligence. Those who
prognosticate a new church, a new religion, a realization of ideal
humanity on earth, cannot integrate their hypothesis in anything
except the supernatural, and must suppose either a new outburst of
supernatural life from the germ which Christ planted on the earth, or
the advent of another superhuman Redeemer.
Dr. Brownson while yet only a transcendental philosopher on his road
to the Church, exhibited this thought with great power and beauty, in
a little book entitled "New Views." The dream of a new redemption of
mankind in the order of temporal perfection and felicity was never
presented with greater argumentative ability or portrayed in more
charming colors, at least in the English language; and never was any
thing made more clear than the necessity of superhuman powers for the
actual fulfilment of this bewitching dream. [Footnote 126]
[Footnote 126: That is, bewitching to those who do not believe in
something for more sublime, the restoration of all things in Christ,
foretold in the Scriptures.]
Whether we look backward or forward, we confront the idea of the
supernatural. This is enough to prove its reality. There are no
universal pseudo-ideas, deceits, or illusions. That which is universal
is true. We have {583} therefore only to inspect the idea of the
supernatural, to examine and explicate its contents, to interrogate
the universal belief and tradition of mankind, to study the history of
the race, and unfold the wisdom of the ancients, and the result will
be truth. We shall obtain true and just conceptions of the original,
universal, eternal idea, in which all particular forms of science,
belief, law, and human evolution in all directions, coalesce and
integrate themselves as in a complete whole including all the
relations of the universe to God, as First and Final Cause.
We must now go back to the point where we left off, after establishing
as the first principle of all science and faith the pure theistic
doctrine respecting the first and final cause, or the origin and end
of all things in necessary being, that is, God. We have to show the
position of this doctrine in the conception of supernatural
revelation, and its connection with the other doctrines which express
the supernatural relation of the human race and the universe to God.
The conception of the supernatural in its most simple and universal
form, is the conception of somewhat distinct from and superior to the
complete aggregate of created forces or second causes. In this sense,
it is identical with the conception of first and final cause. It may
be proper here to explain the term Final Cause, which is not in common
use among English writers. It expresses the ultimate motive or reason
for which the universe was created, the end to which all things are
tending. When we say that God is necessarily the final cause, as well
as the first cause, of all existing things, we mean that he could have
had no motive or end in creating, extrinsic to his own being. All that
proceeds from him as first cause must return to him as final cause.
From this it appears that the conception of nature in any theistic
system implies the supernatural; because it implies a cause and end
for nature above itself. The supernatural can only be denied by the
atheist, who maintains that there is nothing superior to what the
Theist calls second causes, or by the Pantheist, who either identifies
God with nature, or nature with God. A Theist cannot form any
conception of pure nature or a purely natural order, except as
included in a supernatural plan; because his natural order originates
in a cause and tends toward an end above and beyond itself, and is not
therefore its own adequate reason. As we have already seen, reason, by
virtue of its original intuition of the infinite, is advertised of
something infinitely beyond all finite comprehension. By apprehending
its own limitation, and the finite, relative, contingent existence of
all things which are, it is advertised of an infinite unknown, and
thus has a negative knowledge of the supernatural. By the light of the
creative act in itself and in the universe, it apprehends the being of
God as reflected in his works and made intelligible by the similitude
of created existences to the Creator. It apprehends that there is an
infinite being, whose created similitude is in itself and all things;
a primal uncreated light, the cause of the reflected light in which
nature is intelligible. Therefore it apprehends the supernatural. But
it does not directly and immediately perceive what this infinite being
or uncreated light is, and cannot do so. That is, by explicating its
own primitive idea, and bringing it more and clearly into the
reflective consciousness, and by learning more and more of the
universe of created existences, it may go on indefinitely,
apprehending God by the reflected light of similitudes, "_per
speculum, in aenigmate;_" but it must progress always in the same
line: it has no tendency toward an immediate vision of God as he is
intelligible in his own essence and by uncreated light. Therefore, it
has only a negative and not a positive apprehension of the
supernatural. God dwells in a light inaccessible to created {584}
intelligence, as such. There is an infinite abyss between him and all
finite reason, which cannot be crossed by any movement of reason,
however accelerated or prolonged. Therefore, although there is no
science or philosophy possible which does not proceed from the
affirmation of the supernatural, that is, of the infinite first and
final cause of nature, yet it is not properly called supernatural
science so long as it is confined to the limits of that knowledge of
causes above nature which is gained only through nature. Its domain is
restricted to that intelligibility which God has given to second
causes and created existences, and which only reflects himself
indirectly. Therefore, theologians usually call it natural knowledge,
and in its highest form natural theology, as being limited within the
bounds above described. They call that the natural order in which the
mind is limited to the explication of that capacity of apprehending
God, or of that intuitive idea of God, which constitutes it rational,
and is therefore limited to a relation to God corresponding to the
mode of apprehending him. The term supernatural is restricted to an
order in which God reveals to the human mind the possibility of
apprehending him by the uncreated light in which he is intelligible to
himself, and coming into a relation to him corresponding therewith;
giving at the same time an elevation to the power of intelligence and
volition which enables it to realize that possibility. This elevation
includes the disclosure of truths not discoverable otherwise, as well
as the faculty of apprehending them in such a vivid manner that they
can have an efficacious action on the will, and give it a supernatural
direction.
In this sense, rationalists have no conception of the supernatural.
None have it, except Catholics, or those who have retained it from
Catholic tradition. When we ascribe to rationalists a recognition of
the supernatural, we merely intend to say that they recognize in part
that immediate interference of God to instruct mankind and lead it to
its destiny which is really and ultimately, although not in their
apprehension, directed to the elevation of man to a sphere above that
which is naturally possible. Therefore they cannot object to
revelation on the ground of its being an interference with the course
of nature or not in harmony with it, and cannot make an _a priori_
principle by virtue of which they can prejudge and condemn the
contents of revelation. But we do not mean to say that they possess
the conception of that which constitutes the supernaturalness of the
revelation, in the scientific sense of the term as used by Catholic
theologians. Even orthodox Protestants possess it very confusedly. And
here lies the source of most of the misconceptions of several abstruse
Catholic dogmas.
It is in the restricted sense that we shall use the term supernatural
hereafter, unless we make it plain that we use it in the general
signification.
We are now prepared to state in a few words the relation of the
conception of God which is intelligible to reason, to the revealed
truths concerning his interior relations which are received by faith
on the authority of his divine veracity. How does the mind pass
through the knowledge of God to belief in God; through "_Cognosco
Deum_" to "_Credo in Deum_"? [Footnote 127]
[Footnote 127: "I know God." "I believe in God."]
We have already said that "_Cognosco_" is included in "_Credo_." The
creed begins by setting before the mind that which is self-evident and
demonstrable concerning God, in which is included his veracity. It
then discloses certain truths concerning God which are not
self-evident or demonstrable from their own intrinsic reason, but
which are proposed as credible, on the authority of God. The word
"_Credo_" expresses this. "I believe in God," means not merely, "I
affirm the being of God," but also, "I believe certain truths
regarding God (whose being is made known to me by the light of reason)
on the authority of his Word." {585} These truths must have in them a
certain obscurity impervious to the intellectual vision; otherwise,
they would take their place among evident and known truths, and would
no longer be believed on the simple motive of the veracity of God
revealing them. That is, they are mysteries, intelligible so far as to
enable the mind to apprehend what are the propositions to which it is
required to assent, but super-intelligible as to their intrinsic
reason and ground in the necessary and eternal truth, or the being of
God.
In the Creed these mysteries, foreshadowed by the word "Credo," and by
the word "Deum," considered in its relation to "Credo," which
indicates a revelation of mysterious truths concerning the Divine
Being to follow in order after the affirmation of the being and unity
of God; begin to be formally expressed by the word "Patrem." In this
word there is implicitly contained the interior, personal relation of
the Father to the Son and Holy Ghost in the blessed Trinity, and his
exterior relation to man as the author of the supernatural order of
grace, or the order in which man is affiliated to him in the Son,
through the operation of the Holy Spirit. These relations of the three
persons of the blessed Trinity to each other, and to man, include the
entire substance of that which is strictly and properly the
supernatural revelation of the Creed, and the direct object of faith.
Before proceeding, however, to the consideration of the mysteries of
faith in their order, it is necessary to inquire more closely into the
process by which the intellect is brought to face its supernatural
object, and made capable of eliciting an act of faith.
The chief difficulty in the case is to find the connection between the
last act of reason and the first act of faith, the medium of transit
from the natural to the supernatural. The Catholic doctrine teaches
that the act of faith is above the natural power of the human mind. It
is strictly supernatural, and possible only by the aid of supernatural
grace. Yet it is a rational act, for the virtue of faith is seated in
the intellect as its subject, according to the teaching of St. Thomas.
It is justifiable and explicable on rational grounds, and even
required by right reason. The truths of revelation are not only
objectively certain, but the intellect has a subjective certitude of
them which is absolute, and excludes all suspicion or fear of the
contrary. Now, then, unless we adopt the hypothesis that we have lost
our natural capacity for discerning divine truth, by the fall, and are
merely restored by divine grace to the natural use of reason, there
are several very perplexing questions on this point which press for an
answer. Rejecting this hypothesis of the total corruption of reason,
which will hereafter be proved to be false and absurd, how can faith
give the mind absolute certitude of the truth of its object, when that
truth is neither self-evident nor demonstrable to reason from its own
self-evident principles? Given, that the intellect has this certitude,
how is it that we cannot attain to it by the natural operation of
reason? Once more, what is the evidence of the fact of revelation to
ordinary minds? Is it a demonstration founded on the arguments for
credibility? If so, how are they capable of comprehending them, and
what are they to do before they have gone through with the process of
examination? If not, how have they a rational and certain ground for
the judgment that God has really revealed the truths of Christianity?
Suppose now the fact of revelation established, and that the mind
apprehends that God requires its assent to certain truths on the
virtue of his own veracity. The veracity of God being apprehended as
one logical premiss, and the revelation of certain truths as another,
can reason draw the certain conclusion that the truth of these
propositions is necessarily contained in the veracity of God or not?
If it can, why is not the mind capable of giving them the firm,
unwavering {586} assent of faith by its own natural power, without
the aid of grace? If not, how is it that the assent of the intellect
to the truth of revealed propositions does not always necessarily
contain in it a metaphysical doubt or a judgment that the contrary is
more or less probable, or at least possible? If it is said that the
will, inclined by the grace of God, determines to adhere positively to
the proposed revelation as true, what is meant by this? Does the will
merely determine to act practically as if these proposed truths were
evident, in spite of the lesser probability of the contrary? Then the
assent of the intellect is merely a judgment that revelation is
probably true, and that it is safest to follow it, which does not
satisfy the demand of faith. For faith excludes all fear or suspicion
that the articles of faith may possibly be false. Does the will force
the intellect to judge that those propositions are certain which it
apprehends only as probable? How is this possible? The will is a blind
faculty, which is directed by the intellect, "Nil volitum nisi prius
cognitum." [Footnote 128] There is no act of will without a previous
act of knowledge. The will can not lawfully determine the intellect to
give any stronger assent to a proposition than the evidence warrants.
[Footnote 129] In a word, it is difficult to show how the intellect
has an absolute certitude of the object of faith, without representing
the object of faith as coincident with the object of knowledge, or the
intuitive idea of reason, and thus naturally apprehensible. It is also
difficult to show that faith is not coincident with knowledge, and
thus to bring out the conception of its supernaturalness, without
destroying the connection between faith and reason, subverting its
rational basis, and representing the grace of faith as either
restoring a destroyed faculty or adding a new one to the soul, whose
object is completely invisible and unintelligible to the human
understanding before it is elevated to the supernatural state. The
difficulty lies, however, merely in a defective statement, or a
defective apprehension of the statement of the Catholic doctrine, and
not in the doctrine itself. In order to make this plain, it will be
necessary to make one or two preliminary remarks concerning certitude
and probability.
[Footnote 128: Nothing is willed unless previously known.]
[Footnote 129: This is the statement of an objection, not a
proposition affirmed by the author.]
There is first, a metaphysical certitude excluding all possibility to
the contrary. Such is the certitude of mathematical truths. Such also
is the certitude of self-evident and demonstrable truths of every
kind. The sphere of this kind of certitude is diminished or extended
accordingly as the mind has before it a greater or lesser number of
truths of this order. Some of these truths present themselves to every
mind so immediately and irresistibly that it cannot help regarding
them just as they are, and thus seeing their truth. For instance, that
two and two make four. Others require the mind to be in a certain
state of aptitude for seeing them as they are, and to make an effort
to bring them before it. There are some truths self-evident or
demonstrably certain to some minds which are not so to others; yet
these truths have all an intrinsic, metaphysical certitude which
reason as such is capable of apprehending, and the failure of reason
to apprehend them is due in individual cases merely to the defective
operation of reason in the particular subject. The operation of reason
can never be altogether deficient while it acts at all, for it acts
only while contemplating its object or primitive idea. But its
operation can be partially defective, inasmuch as the primitive idea
or objective truth may be imperfectly brought into the reflective
consciousness. And thus the intellect in individuals may fail to
apprehend truths which can be demonstrated with metaphysical
certitude, and which the intellect infallibly judges to be absolutely
certain in {587} those individuals who are capable of making a right
judgment. In this operation of apprehending metaphysical truths there
is no criterion taken from experience, or from the concurrent assent
of all men, but the truth shines with its own intrinsic light, and
reason judges by its inherent infallibility.
Next to metaphysical certitude comes moral demonstration, resulting
from an accumulation of probabilities so great that no probability
which can prudently be allowed any weight is left to the other side,
but merely a metaphysical possibility. For instance, the Copernican
theory.
Then comes moral certainty in a wider sense; where there is probable
evidence on one side without any prudent reason to the contrary, but
not such a complete knowledge of all the facts as to warrant the
positive judgment that there is really no probability on the other
side. This kind of certainty warrants a prudent, positive judgment,
and furnishes a safe practical motive for action; but it varies
indefinitely according as the data on which the judgment is based are
more or less complete, and the importance of the case is greater or
less.
Then come the grades of probability, where there are reasons balancing
each other on both sides, which the mind must weigh and estimate.
To apply these principles to the question in hand.
First, we affirm that the being and attributes of God are apprehended
with a metaphysical certitude. Second, that the motives of credibility
proving the Christian revelation are apprehended, when that Revelation
is sufficiently proposed, with a varying degree of probability,
according to varying circumstances in which the mind may be placed,
but capable of being increased to the highest kind of moral
demonstration. Third, that the logical conclusion which reason can
draw from these two premises, although hypothetically necessary and a
perfect demonstration--that is, a necessary deduction from the
veracity of God, on the supposition that he has really made the
revelation--is really not above the order of probability, on account
of the second premiss. It is not above the order of probability,
although, as we have already argued, it is capable of being brought to
a moral demonstration by such an accumulation of proofs within that
order, that reason is bound to judge that the opposite is altogether
destitute of probability.
From this it appears, both how far reason with its own principles can
go in denying, and how far it can go in assenting to revealed truth.
We see, first, how it is, that the truth of revelation does not compel
the assent of all minds by an overwhelming and irresistible evidence.
The first premiss, which affirms the being of God, although undeniable
and indubitable in its ultimate idea, may be in its distinct
conception, so far denied or doubted by those whose reason is
perverted by their own fault, or their misfortune, as to destroy all
basis for a revelation. The second premiss, much more, may be
partially or completely swept away, by plausible explanations of its
component probabilities in detail. And thus, revelation may be denied.
The influence of the will on the judgment which is made by the mind on
the revealed truth is explicable in this relation, and must be taken
into the account. It is certain that the moral dispositions by which
voluntary acts are biased, bias also the judgment. The
self-determining power of the will which decides positively which of
its different inclinations to follow, controls the judgment as well as
the volition. This is an indirect control, which is exerted, not by
imperiously commanding the judgment in a capricious manner to make a
blind, irrational decision, but by turning it toward the consideration
of that side toward which the volition or choice is inclined. This
influence and control of volition over judgment increases as we
descend in the order of truth from primary and self-evident
principles, and diminishes as we {588} approach to them. In the case
of truth which is morally or metaphysically demonstrable, its control
is exerted by turning the intellect partially away from the
consideration of the truth and hindering it from giving it that
attention which is necessary, in order to its apprehension. In the
case of divine revelation, various passions, prejudices, interests, or
at least intellectual impediments to a right operation of reason, act
powerfully upon a multitude of minds in such a way, that the mirror of
the soul is too much obscured to receive the image of truth.
But, supposing that reason and will both operate with all the
rectitude possible to them, without supernatural grace; how far can
the mind proceed in assenting to divine revelation? As far as a moral
demonstration can take it. It can assent to divine truth, and act upon
it, so far as this truth is adapted to the perfecting of the intellect
and will in the natural order. But it lacks capacity to apprehend the
supernatural verities proposed to it, as these are related to its
supernatural destiny.
The revelation contains an unknown quantity. The will cannot be moved
toward an object which the intellect does not apprehend. Therefore, a
supernatural grace must enlighten the intellect and elevate the will,
in order that the revealed truth may come in contact with the soul.
This supernatural grace gives a certain con-naturality to the soul
with the revealed object of faith, by virtue of which it apprehends
that God speaks to it in a whisper, distinct from his whisper to
reason, and catches the meaning of what he says in this whisper. It is
this supernatural light, illuminating the probable evidence
apprehended by the natural understanding, which makes the assent in
the act of faith absolute, and gives the mind absolute certitude. It
is, however, the certitude of God revealing, and not the certitude of
science concerning the intrinsic reason of that which he reveals. This
remains always inevident and obscure in itself, and the decisive
motive of assent is always the veracity of God. It is not, however,
altogether inevident and obscure, for if it were, the terms in which
it is conveyed would be unintelligible. It is so far inevident, that
the intellect cannot apprehend its certainty, aside from the
declaration of God. But it is partially and obscurely evident, by its
analogy with the known truth of the rational order. It is so far
evident that it can be demonstrated from rational principles that it
does not contradict the truths of reason. Further, that no other
hypothesis can explain and account for that which is known concerning
the universe. And, finally, that so far as the analogy between the
natural and the supernatural is apprehensible, there is a positive
harmony and agreement between them. This is all that we intend to
affirm, when we speak of demonstrating Christianity from the same
principles from which scientific truths are demonstrated.
Let us now revert once more to Jesus Christ and the pagan philosopher.
The pagan first perceives strong, probable reasons, which increase by
degrees to a moral demonstration, for believing that Christ is the Son
of God, and his doctrine the revelation of God. The supernatural grace
which Christ imparts to him, enables him to apprehend this with a
permanent and infallible certitude as a fixed principle both of
judgment and volition. He accepts as absolutely true all the mysteries
which Christ teaches him, on the faith of his divine mission and the
divine veracity. We may now suppose that Christ goes on to instruct
him in the harmony of these divine verities with all scientific
truths, so far, that he apprehends all the analogies which human
reason is capable of discerning between the two. He will then have
attained the _ultimatum_ possible for human reason elevated and
enlightened by faith, in this present state. Science and faith will be
coincident in his mind, as far as they can be. That is, faith will be
coincident {589} with science until it rises above its sphere of
vision, and will then lose itself in an indirect and obscure
apprehension of the mysteries, in the veracity of God.
In the case of the child brought up in the Catholic Church, the
Church, which is the medium of Christ, instructs the child through its
various agents. The child's reason apprehends, through the same
probable evidence by which it learns other facts and truths, that the
truth presented to him comes through the church, and through Christ,
from God, who is immediately apprehended in his primitive idea. The
light of faith which precedes in him the development of reason,
illuminates his mind from the beginning to apprehend with infallible
certitude that divine truth which is proposed to him through the
medium of probable evidence. This faith is a fixed principle of
conscience, proceeding from an illuminated intellect, inclining him to
submit his mind unreservedly to the instruction of the Catholic Church
on the faith of the divine veracity. It rests there unwaveringly,
without ever admitting a doubt to the contrary or postponing a certain
judgment until the evidence of revelation and the proofs of the divine
commission of the church have been critically examined. It may rest
there during life, and does so, with the greater number, to a greater
or lesser degree; or, it may afterward proceed to investigate to the
utmost limits the _rationale_ of the divine revelation, not in order
to establish faith on a surer basis, but in order to apprehend more
distinctly what it believes, and to advance in theological science.
Some one may say: "You admit that it is impossible to attain to a
perfect certitude of supernatural truth without supernatural light;
why, then, do you attempt to convince unbelievers that the Catholic
doctrine is the absolute truth by rational arguments?" To this we
reply, that we do not endeavor to lead them to faith, by mere
argument; but to the "preamble of faith." We aim at removing
difficulties and impediments which hinder those from attending to the
rational evidence of the faith; at removing its apparent
incredibility. We rely on the grace of the Holy Spirit alone to make
the effort successful, and to lead those who are worthy of grace
beyond the preamble of faith to faith itself. This grace is in every
human mind to which faith is proposed, in its initial stage; it is
increased in proportion to the sincerity with which truth is sought
for; and is given in fulness to all who do not voluntarily turn their
minds away from it. If we did not believe this, we would lay down our
pen at once. [Footnote 130]
[Footnote 130: The doctrine taught by Cardinal de Lugo and Dr.
Newman, in regard to which some dissent was expressed in a former
number, seems to the author, on mature reflection, to be, after all,
identical with the one here maintained.]
------
{590}
From Once A Week.
A DAY AT ABBEVILLE.
BY BESSIE RAYNOR PARKES.
Twenty years ago, we posted into Abbeville by night, and were
deposited in an old-fashioned inn, with a large walled garden. In the
morning we posted further on across country to Rouen. Since then, many
a lime has the Chemin de Fer du Nord borne us flying past the ancient
city oft visited by English kings and English men-at-arms; not,
perhaps, deigning to stop to take in water; for Abbeville, once upon
the highway of nations, now lies just, as it were, a shade to one
side; just a shade--the distance between the station and the ramparts.
Yet this is enough to cause the _maitre d'hotel_ to shake his head and
say in a melancholy accent, "_Abbeville est presque detruite._"
On asking for the Hotel de l'Europe, I was told that the Hotel Tete de
Boeuf was "all the same." Which, however, was far from being the case,
as neither the building nor the master was what we had known twenty
years ago. _Query_ as to the degree of affinity required by the French
intellect to produce the degree of identity? In fact, the Hotel de
l'Europe no longer existed. The house was possessed by a body of
religious, the sisters of St. Joseph, and their large school for young
ladies. The Tete de Boeuf had been a small chateau; two still
picturesque brick turrets bearing witness of its ancient state.
In the morning I walked over almost the length and breadth of
Abbeville, surprised to find it so large and, apparently, flourishing;
and yet, in spite of tall chimneys upon the circumference, full of the
quaintest old houses in the centre. Some of them have richly carved
beams running along the edge of the overhanging stories. Such may
still be seen in a few English towns; I remember them at Booking, in
Essex. The glory of the place is its great church, or rather the nave,
for this is all that ever got completed of the original design of the
time of Louis XII., the king who married our Princess Mary, sister of
Henry VIII. The choir has been patched on, and is about half the
height of the nave. The latter is a glorious upshoot of traceried
stone, with two towers; perhaps all the more impressive from having
been thus arrested in the very act of creation. It is like a forest
tree which has only attained half its development; and one feels as if
it ought to go on growing, pushing out fresh buttresses and arches,
till its fair proportions stood complete. There is an excellent stone
staircase up one of the towers, and from the top a wide view of the
town and the fields of Picardy, even to the sharp cliff marking where
the sea-line must be. The windings of the Somme may be traced for many
miles. I was told that the tide used to swell almost up to the town,
and that several little streams, once falling into the river, were
dried up. Even now, as there are several branches, one is here and
there reminded of Bruges, by the little old-fashioned bridges,
crossing a canal in the middle of a street. A broad girdle of water
seemed to me to surround great part of the town; but I could obtain no
map and no guide-book, though I anxiously inquired at the best shop.
Only a history of Abbeville was dug out of the museum at the Hotel de
Ville, which building had a strong but plain tower reported of the
eleventh century. {591} The Abbevillois care little apparently for
their antiquities, though they are many and curious.
This ground, though somewhat bare and barren in appearance, has been
thickly occupied by humanity from the earliest ages of history. Keltic
barrows have been found here in abundance, and though many of them
have been destroyed in the interests of agriculture, enough remain to
delight the antiquary by their flint hatchets and arrows, their urns,
and their burnt bones. One such barrow, near Noyelles-sur-Mer, when
opened, was found to contain a large number of human heads, disposed
in a sort of cone. In 1787, one was opened at Crecy, and in it were
found two sarcophagi of burnt clay, in each of which was an entire
skeleton. Each had been buried in its clothes, and one bore on its
finger a copper ring; its dress being fastened likewise by a brooch or
hook of the same metal. Endless indeed is the list of primitive
instruments in flint, in copper, in iron, in bronze, found hereabouts;
likewise vases full of burnt bones, not only of our own race, but of
various animals--mice, water-rats, and "such small deer;" and in the
near neighborhood, of boars, oxen, and sheep. Succeeding to these wild
people and wild animals came the Romans. Before they pounced down upon
us, before they crossed over to Porta Lymanis, and drew those straight
lines of causeway over England which make the Roman Itinerary look
something like Bradshaw's railway map, (only straighter,) they settled
themselves firmly in the north of France; notably, they staid so long
near St. Valery, (at the mouth of the river which runs through
Abbeville,) that they buried there their dead in great numbers,
whereof the place of sepulchre is at this day yet to be seen. Their
own nice neat road also had they, cutting clean through the Graulic
forests. It came from Lyons to Boulogne, passing through Amiens and
Abbeville, and was in continuation of one which led from Rome into
Gaul! And wherever this people of conquerors travelled, thither they
carried their religious ceremonies and their domestic arts, so that we
find still all sorts of medals, vases of red, grey, or black clay,
little statuettes, _ex votos_, and sometimes larger groups of
sculpture, such as one in bronze representing the combat of Hercules
and Antaeus. Carthaginian medals have also been turned up here,
brought from the far shores of the Mediterranean; and those of
Claudius, Trajan, Caracalla, and Constantine. This long catalogue is
useless, save to mark the rich floods of human life which have
successively visited the banks of the Somme.
In the first year of the fifth century the barbarians made their way
up to the Somme, fighting the Romans inch by inch. Attila burst upon
this neighborhood, and fixed his claws therein; the tide of Rome rolls
back upon the south, and new dynasties begin, and with them comes in
Christianity; not, however, without much difficulty. The faith appears
to have gradually spread from Amiens, where St. Finius preached as
early as 301; but even 179 years later, St. Germain, the Scotchman,
was martyred, and St. Honore, the eighth bishop of Amiens, labored
daily, for thirty-six years, in conjunction with Irish missionaries,
to infuse Christianity into the minds of people equally indisposed,
whether by Frankish paganism or Roman culture, to accept the doctrines
of the Cross. Indeed, the learned historian of this part of the
country, M. Louandre, believes that even Rome itself had never been
able to destroy the old Keltic religion. He says that, as late as the
seventh century, the antique trees, woods, and fountains were still
honored by public adoration in this part of France; and St. Rignier
hung up relics to the trees to purify them, just as in Rome itself the
old pagan temples were exorcised. And after a time the old gods of all
sorts were known either as idols or demons; no particular distinctions
being drawn among them; they lie as _debris_ beneath the religious
soil of this part of Picardy, just as the bones of those who adored
them are confounded in one common dust.
{592}
Late in the seventh century appears St. Rignier, a great saint in
these parts. He was converted and baptized by the Irish missionaries,
and thereupon became a most austere Christian indeed; only, says his
legend, eating twice a week--Sundays and Thursdays. King Dagobert
invited the saint to a repast, which the holy man accepted, and
preached the Gospel the whole time they sat at table--a day and a
night!
We must now take a great leap to the days of Charlemagne, because in
his days the Abbey of St. Rignier, near to Abbeville, was very famous
indeed, both as monastery and school, and contained a noble library of
256 volumes; the greater part whereof were Christian, but certain
others were pagan classics; let us, for instance, be grateful for the
Eclogues of Virgil and the Rhetoric of Cicero. Of this library but one
volume remains; I have seen it, and with astonishment. It is a copy of
the Gospels, written in letters of gold upon purple parchment. It was
given by Charlemagne to the Count-Abbot, Saint Augilbert. This one
precious fragment of the great library is in the museum of Abbeville.
The school was, indeed, an ecclesiastical Eton and Oxford. The sons of
kings, dukes, and counts came here to learn the "letters," of which
Charlemagne made such great account.
Now the town of Abbeville first gets historic mention in the century
succeeding Charlemagne. It is called Abbatis Villa, and belonged to
this great monastery of St. Rignier; wherefore I have introduced both
the good saint and his foundation. It grew, as almost all the towns of
the middle ages did grow, from a religious root--a tap-root, striking
deep in the soil. Of course, having thus begun to grow, its history
has made interesting chapters a great deal too long to be copied or
even noted here; it will not be amiss, however, to look for its points
of occasional contact with England. Firstly, then, it was from St.
Valery, the seaport of the Somme, that William the Conqueror set out
for England. Then, in 1259, our Henry III. met St. Louis at Abbeville,
and Henry did homage for his French possessions. Then, in 1272, our
great King Edward I. married Eleanor, heiress of Ponthieu--she who
sucked the poison from her husband's wound; and the burgesses of
Abbeville, misliking the transfer, quarreled violently with the king's
bailiff, and killed some of the underlings. Eleanor's son, Edward II.,
married Isabel, the
"She-wolf of France, with unrelenting fangs.
That tearest the bowels of thy mangled mate."
This unamiable specimen of her sex lived at Abbeville in 1312; but
during her reign and residence, and that of her son Edward III., the
inhabitants of Abbeville ceased not to kick indignantly. The King of
France, her brother, struck into the contest "_pour comforter la main
de Madame d'Angleterre_." The legal documents arising from these
quarrels partially remain to us. So they go on, quarreling and
sometimes fighting, until the great day of Crecy, when Edward III.,
the late king's nephew, tried to get the throne. The oft-told tale we
need not tell again. In 1393, France being in worse extremities, we
find Charles VI. at Abbeville, and Froissart there at the same time.
Perhaps, in respect of battles and quarrels, those few notices are
sufficient; I only wished to indicate that Abbeville was on the
borderland between the English and the French, and came in for an
ample share of fighting. Two royal ceremonials enlivened it in the
course of centuries, whereof particular mention is made in the
history. Louis XII. here met and married Mary of England, in 1514:
"_La Reine Blanche_," as she was afterward called, from her white
widow's weeds. In the Hotel de Cluny at Paris is still shown the
apartments she occupied. Louis was old, and Mary young, when they
married; but the French historian recounts her exceeding complaisance
and politeness to the king, and his great delight therein.
{593}
In 1657, young Louis XIV. came here with his mother, and lodged at the
Hotel d'Oignon. Monsieur D'Oignon, the noble owner, had everything in
such beautiful and ceremonious order for their reception, that he
became a proverb at Abbeville--"As complete and well arranged as M.
d'Oignon." A sort of _rich_ Richard.
The antiquarian who goes to Abbeville and dips into the history (by M.
Louandre) at the Museum, will find plenty of interesting matter about
the manners and customs of the Abbevillois, rendered all the more
striking by so many of the old houses being yet just where they were,
and as they were. But few impressions of the book seem to have been
printed off, for it is no longer sold, though the obliging librarian
did say he knew where a few copies remained at a high price. This for
the benefit of any long-pursed antiquary, curious in local histories.
It is such a book as can only be written by a devoted son of the soil
digging away on the spot.
In the Revolution, Abbeville fortunately escaped any great horrors;
but the trials of the middle ages afford plenty; especially one of a
certain student, condemned for sacrilege. Now, it is a peaceful,
well-governed town, busy in making iron pots and cans, and other
wrought articles from raw materials brought by the railway. It proves
to be only in respect of the hotel interest that _Abbeville est
presque detruite_.
------
Translated from the French
"GOD BLESS YOU!"
BY JEROME DUMOULIN.
"Thank you, master Jerome!" my reader replies; "yes, to be sure, may
God bless me! But I have not sneezed, that I know of, for a quarter of
an hour, at least; and _apropos de quoi_ do you say that? or rather,
why and wherefore do they always say so to people who sneeze? I
suspect that you want to talk about it, and, in fact, I should not be
displeased to hear you discuss for a little while this odd custom; so
begin, master Jerome."
Very well, dear reader, such is my idea, and I think you will not find
uninteresting the little history of it which I intend to give; and I
assure you beforehand, that if I fail to convince you, you must be
very difficult.
Settle it first in your mind, that in whatever you may have heard
heretofore upon this subject, there was not one word of truth. Among
the most probable histories of this kind is that of a pestilence,
which in the time of Pope Saint Gregory, ravaged Italy, the peculiar
characteristic of which was to cause the sick person to die suddenly
by sneezing. When the patient sneezed, which was for him, the passage
from life to death, the assistants gave him this fraternal
benediction, saying to him, "God bless you!" which was the equivalent
or translation of _Requiescat in pace_. This account, I repeat, would
be much more acceptable, if it were not contradicted by a positive
fact, namely, that the use of the expression is many centuries
anterior to Pope Saint Gregory; anterior even to the Christian era,
and borrowed, of course, from the pagans, as I am about to prove from
authentic testimony.
{594}
But in the first place, let us remark that in the highest antiquity
sneezing was a circumstance in regard to which they drew auguries,
especially if a person sneezed many times consecutively. Xenophon
relates that one of his corporals having sneezed, he drew from it a
good augury by a process of reasoning which I did not quite
understand, but which his troops, apparently, found sufficiently
conclusive. Going back again some eight centuries, we find in the
"Odyssey" an adventure of the same kind, but more droll. In the
eighteenth book of this poem, the divine Homer relates that one day
Telemachus began to sneeze in such a manner as to shake the whole
house. That put madam Penelope in good humor, who calling her faithful
Eumacus the swineherd: "Do you hear, old fellow," she said; "he is
well cared for! and what an augury of happiness the gods have given
us. Jupiter has spoken by the nose of my dear Telemachus, and he
announces to us that we are about to be freed from these scamps of
gallants who bore me with their pursuits, and who beside put to sack
our poor civil list; for every hour our cattle, goats, and little
pigs, which you love like so many children, are sacrificed to the
voracity of these rascals. Now, my good fellow, I have an idea: go you
to the door of the palace, where for some days I have seen that beggar
that you know. Take him from me these pantaloons and this shirt, which
I am sure he needs very much; and promise him beside a magnificent
frock-coat, which he will have only if he shall answer in a
satisfactory manner the questions which I shall propose." In fact the
good queen suspected that the ragged peasant might be the wise Ulysses
in disguise. But let us proceed with our subject.
In the second chapter of his twenty-eighth book, the elder Pliny
expresses himself thus: _Cur sternumentis salutamus? Quod etiam
Tiberium Caesarem in vehiculo exegisse tradunt, et aliqui nomine
quoque consalutare religiosius putant._ Thus the custom was already
established among the Romans of wishing health and good fortune to
persons who sneezed, and the last word but one of the phrase indicates
that this wish had a religious character. In many authors health is
wished to persons who sneeze; _salvere jubentur_, is the consecrated
expression, which corresponds to "God guard you;" and according to the
passage cited above, it appears that when Tiberius, driving in his
chariot, sneezed, then, and only then, the populace were obliged to
cry. _Long live the emperor!_ a formula which included the impetration
of life and health by the protection of the gods. This custom existed
then at the time of Pliny, and going back still further among the
Romans, let us see what we find. Here then is a story extracted from
the "Veterum Auctorum Fragmenta,"' and inserted by Father Strada in
his "Prolusiones Academicae." I give a free translation, it is true,
but I will guarantee the perfect exactitude of the substance, and of
the formulas.
One day when Cicero was present at a performance at the Roman opera,
the illustrious orator began to sneeze loudly. Immediately all rose,
senators and plebeians, and each one taking off his hat, they cried to
him from all parts of the house: "God bless you! _Omnes
assurrexere--salvere jubentes_." Upon which three young men, named
severally Fannius, Fabalus, and Lemniscus, leaning upon their elbows
in one of the boxes, began the interchange of a succession of absurd
remarks, and finally started the question of the origin of this
custom. Each gave his own opinion, and the three agreed at once that
the usage dated back as far as Prometheus. It was then, at Rome, a
common tradition of very ancient date, as we see, according to some,
even as ancient as the epoch of the tower of Babel. {595} But if they
were agreed as to the groundwork, they embellished their canvas in
very different fashions. The stories related by Fannius, and by
Fabalus I will spare you for the sake of brevity and for other
reasons; contenting myself only with the version of Lemniscus, which
will suffice for our object.
Following then, this respectable authority: The son of Japetus
moulded, as every one knows, with pipe-clay, a statue which he
proposed to animate with celestial fire, and his work finished, he put
it into a stove in order that it should dry sufficiently; but the heat
was very great, and acted so well, or so ill, that independently of
other damages, the nose of the work became cracked and shrunken in a
manner very unfortunate for a nose which had the slightest
self-consciousness. When the artist returned to the stove and saw this
stunted nose, he began to swear like a pagan as he was; but perceiving
that the flat-nose gained nothing thereby, he took the wiser part of
re-manipulating the organ, adding thereto fresh clay, and in order to
facilitate the work of restoration, he conceived the idea of inserting
a match in one of the nostrils of his manikin. But the mucous
membrane, already provided with sensibility and life, was irritated at
the contact of the sulphuric acid, and the consequence was such a
tremendous sneezing that all the teeth, not yet quite solid in the
jaw, sprang out into the face of the operator. Dismayed by this deluge
of meteors, and expecting to see his little man get out of order from
top to bottom "Ah!" cried Prometheus, "may Jupiter protect
you!"--_Tibi Jupiter adsit!_ "And from this you see two things,"
continued Lemniscus: "First, why they always say to people who sneeze,
'May Jupiter assist you!' and also, why this morning, in a similar
case, I said nothing at all to this old mummy Crispinus, since from
time immemorial his last tooth has taken flight. He might sneeze like
an old cat without the slightest danger to his jaw."
Here terminates the colloquy of our young men. I am far from intending
to guarantee the contents, either as to the conduct and exploits of
Prometheus, or the misfortunes of his little man, since I have not
under my eye the authentic records; but what follows incontestably
from this recital, is, that at the time of Cicero, the usage of which
we speak was already very ancient, since they traced it back to one of
the most ancient heroes of fable. But moreover, and this it is which
renders this passage particularly precious, we find in it the precise
form of salutation which other passages contain in the generic
phrase--_salvere jubent_. This formula consists in these three words:
_Tibi Jupiter adsit!_ I do not intend to say that this wish and this
deprecatory formula were only used in the special case of which we
speak. Undoubtedly, in a thousand other circumstances, persons
addressed each other as a mark of good will. _Deus tibi faveat! Dii
adsint! Tibi adsit Jupiter!_ etc, etc.; but in the special case of
sneezing, the phrase was obligatory among persons of gentle breeding.
Now, reader, attention! and will you enter into a Roman school, in the
time of Camillus or Coriolanus? There we shall find in the midst of
about fifty pupils, an honest preceptor bearing the name of Stolo, or
Volumnus, or Pomponius, perhaps. Very well, let it be Pomponius. Now
on a certain day the good man began to sneeze, but magisterially, and
in double time, following the form still used among the moderns, that
is to say, he emitted this nasal interjection----_ad----sit_! which
you have observed and practised a thousand times. Upon which one of
the young rogues, remarking the homophony of the thing with one of the
three words of the deprecatory formula which he had heard in
numberless cases, added, in a mocking tone--_tibi Jupiter!_and
instantly all the crowd repeated in chorus after him, _ad--sit--tibi
Jupiter_.
Here you have, dear reader, the solution of the enigma. But let us
observe the sequel. What did master {596} Pomponius under the fire of
this gay frolic? Somewhat astonished at first, he immediately
recovered himself, and took the thing in good part; and being
something of a wag himself, that style of benediction suited his
humor. I see him now running his glance along the restless troops,
raising the right hand, then the fore-finger, which he carries to his
nose, then calming their terrors by these soothing words:
Fear not, my little friends:
You often have committed
Offenses much more grave.
Ah well! how often and whenever
I shall happen to make--_ad---sit!_
Cry you all: _Jupiter adsit!_
You will not suppose that the little boys failed in this duty. From
the school of Pomponius it passed through all the line of the
university establishments, and improving upon it, the children saluted
with--_Jupiter ad----sit_!----first the heads of their classes, then
fathers, mothers, and all respectable persons. The elders failed not
to imitate the little ones: it permeated the whole of society. Then
came Christianity, which changed _Jupiter_ into _God_; and the
formula, _Jupiter protect you!_ was naturally transformed into _God
bless you!_
Thus it is verified that this formula is of Roman origin; and if
anything is simple, natural, and manifest, it is its derivation from
the physiological phenomena with which it is connected, and of which
it represents phonetically the energetic expression. If any of my
readers can find a better explanation of it, I beg him to address me
his memorandum by telegraph.
I owe you now the quotation from the "Anthology," which I promised
above. Among the Greek epigrams of all epochs, of which this
collection is composed, there is one which relates precisely to the
custom of which we speak. The _Zeu Soson_ of this epigram is the
translation of the _Jupiter adsit_ of the Latins. I say the
translation and not the original. For this is not one of those
fragments which may be of an epoch anterior to that in which we have
placed, and in which we have a right to place master Pomponius and his
little adventure. In extending their empire over the countries of the
Greek tongue, the Romans imported there a great number of their
customs and social habits: the _Jupiter adsit_ must have been of this
number, and therefore we find it under Greek pens. I dare not venture
here upon the Greek text of the "Anthology," which would perhaps
frighten our fair readers, and I give only the Latin translation in
two couplets:
Dic cur Sulpicius nequeat sibi mungere nasum?
Causa est quod naso sit minor ipsa manus.
Cur sibi sternutans, non clamat, Jupiter adsit?
Non nasum audit qui distat ab aure nimis.
Very well! I yet have scruples in regard to my Latin, which may not be
understood by some of the ladies and especially by the bachelors of
the bifurcation. Therefore, to put it into good French verse, I have
had recourse to the politeness of our friend Pomponius, and the
excellent man has willingly given the following translation of the
second distich, which alone relates to the circumstance:
On demande pourquoi notre voisin Sulpice
Eternue, et jamais ne dit: Dien _me_ benisse!
Serait-ce, par hasard, qu'll n'entend pas tres-blen?
Du tout, l'oreille est bonne et fonctionne a merveille;
Mais son grand nez s'en va--si loin de son oreille,
Que quand il fait--_ad--sit!_ celle-ce n'entend rien.
You demand why our neighbor Sulpice
Sneezes and never says, God bless _me_!
It is, perhaps, because he does not hear well:
Not at all, his ear is good, and acts to a marvel;
But his great nose goes away--so far from his ear,
That when he makes--_ad--sit!_ this last hears nothing.
This epigram, undoubtedly, is not much more than two thousand years
old; and why may it not have been written by Pomponius the ancient?
For the Pomponius of our day, to him also, "how often and whenever,"
he shall sneeze--and without that even, God bless him!
------
{597}{598}
[ORIGINAL.]
THEREIN.
A SONG.
I know a valley fair and green,
Wherein, wherein,
A dear and winding brook is seen,
Therein;
The village street stands in its pride
With a row of elms on either side,
Therein;
They shade the village green.
In the village street there is an inn.
Wherein, wherein,
The landlord sits in bottle-green,
Therein.
His face is like a glowing coal,
And his paunch is like a swelling bowl;
Therein
Is a store of good ale, therein.
The inn has a cosy fireside.
Wherein, wherein,
Two huge andirons stand astride,
Therein.
When the air is raw of a winter's night,
The fire on the hearth shines bright
Therein.
'Tis sweet to be therein.
The landlord sits in his old arm-chair
Therein, therein;
And the blaze shines through his yellow hair
Therein.
There cometh lawyer Bickerstith,
And the village doctor, and the smith.
Therein
Full many a tale they spin.
They talk of fiery Sheridan's raid
Therein, therein;
And hapless Baker's ambuscade
Therein;
The grip with which Grant throttled Lee,
And Sherman's famous march to the sea.
Therein
Great fights are fought over therein.
The landlord has a daughter fair
Therein, therein.
In ringlets falls her glossy hair
Therein.
When they speak in her ear she tosses her head;
When they look in her eye she hangs the lid,
Therein.
She does not care a pin.
I know the maiden's heart full well.
Therein, therein,
Pure thoughts and holy wishes dwell
Therein.
I see her at church on bended knee;
And well I know she prays for me
Therein.
Sure, that can be no sin.
Our parish church has a holy priest,
Therein, therein.
When he sings the mass, he faces the east.
Therein.
On Sunday next he will face the west,
When my Nannie and I go up abreast,
Therein,
And carry our wedding-ring.
And when we die, as die we must;
Therein, therein,
The priest will pray o'er the breathless dust,
Therein;
And our graves will be planted side by side.
But the hearts that loved shall not abide
Therein,
But love in Heaven again.
C.W.
------
{599}
From The Lamp.
UNCONVICTED; OR, OLD THORNELEY'S HEIRS.
CHAPTER V.
THE VERDICT AT THE INQUEST
From the time that suspicions as to the manner of Gilbert Thorneley's
death had been communicated to Scotland Yard, the house in Wimpole
street was taken possession of by the police, and all egress or
ingress not subject to the knowledge and approval of the officer in
charge was prohibited. Merrivale had been allowed on the previous day
to see the body of poor old Thorneley, but with much difficulty, as
the police had strict orders not to allow any strangers access to the
chamber of death. He told me this on our way to the inquest.
"By the by," he said, "did you know that Wilmot is acting as sole
executor of his uncle, and has taken upon himself the responsibility
of ordering everything about the funeral? I asked Atherton about it
yesterday evening, and he says Wilmot came to him and asked what was
to be done, as Smith and Walker had said that he and Atherton, as only
relatives of the deceased, were the proper persons to open the will,
and see who were left his executors. Atherton, with his usual
thoughtlessness for his own interests, bade him act as he considered
right in everything, and was too much overwhelmed with his own sorrow
to think of anything else. Wilmot then went to Smith's and opened the
will, which was deposited there, and finds he is left sole executor;
and, mind you, I fancy he's sole heir likewise, for he's as coxy as
ever he can be. Mark my words, Kavanagh, there'll be a hitch about
that will as sure as I'm alive."
I felt that Merrivale spoke with a purpose; but I answered him coolly:
"I think so too; and Wilmot will find himself in the wrong box."
"If I thought it was any use," continued he, "I would ask you once
more to confide to me the nature of the business which took you to
Thorneley's on Tuesday evening."
"It will transpire in due time, Merrivale. I pass you my word it is
utterly useless knowledge now; nor does it in any way affect Hugh
Atherton's present position. God knows that nothing should keep me
silent if I thought that silence would injure in the smallest degree
one so dear to me--Will he be present to day?" I asked in a little
while.
"Yes; he seemed very anxious to watch the proceedings; and on the
whole I thought it better he should. I never saw such a man," said
Merrivale, with a burst of enthusiasm very unlike his usual dry, cold
manner; "he thinks of every one but himself. He is principally anxious
to be there that he may detect any flaw in the evidence, or find any
clue that may lead to the discovery of the real murderer of his uncle,
apparently without any thought of saving himself, as if that were a
secondary consideration. He seems to think more of the old man's death
and take it to heart than of anything which has happened to himself;
except when he speaks of Miss Leslie, and then he breaks down
entirely. I have prepared him for having to hear your evidence, and I
likewise mentioned that his uncle had sent for you the night of his
death; and that you considered yourself bound in honor not to mention
yet what transpired at the interview, but you had assured me it would
throw no light upon our present darkness."
{600}
"Darkness, indeed! O my poor Hugh!"
"He expressed great surprise, and said; 'Well, this will be the first
and only secret affecting either of us which John has ever kept from
me. Wilmot hinted that some one had been at work who was not friendly
to me; but I told him I didn't believe I had an enemy: and I don't and
won't believe it now.' Then I asked him if he wouldn't like to see
you, and I think in his heart he would; but he seemed to hesitate, and
at last said: 'No, it is best not, best for us both--at least until
after this,'--meaning the inquest--'is over.'"
The first secret! No, not the first, Hugh, not the first; but the
other could never have divided us, could never have raised one shadow
between us, I had buried it deep down in its lonely grave, and laid
its ghost by the might of my strong love for you, my friend and
brother!
The house in Wimpole street looked gloomy enough, with its close-shut
blinds and the two policemen keeping guard on either side the door,
suggestive of death--of murder! There was a small crowd collected
round; not such a crowd as had assembled before the police-station,
but something like. Street-children, errand-boys, stray costermongers
with their barrows, passing tradesmen with their carts or baskets, and
women--slatterns from neighboring alleys and back-streets, Irish
women from the Marylebone courts and slums; and each arrival caused
fresh agitation and excitement amidst that crowd of upturned eager
faces gathered there, _waiting for the verdict_.
"That's him," cried a voice as our cab drove up to the door--"that's
Corrinder Javies!"' "No, it an't, bless yer innercence! the corrinder
wears a scarlet gownd and a gold-laced 'at." "Tell ye he don't; he
wears a black un, and ers got it in his bag." "Yah!--the lawyer, the
nevy's lawyer!" followed by a yell of imprecations. The nearest
_gamin_ on the door-step had heard Merrivale give his name to the
policemen and demand admission, and had handed it down to his fellows.
So, with the sounds of the brutal mob ringing in our ears, we passed
the threshold of the murdered man's house. A cold shudder seized me as
I stood in the hall, and I seemed to feel as if the spirit of the dead
were hovering about in disquiet, and unable to rest. A superintendent
of the police received us in the hall, and we asked him if we could go
up to see the body. After some demur he went up-stairs with us, and
unlocked the chamber of death. There in his shell lay all that
remained of Gilbert Thorneley, he whose name and fame had been
world-wide. Fame, for what? For amassing wealth; for grinding down the
poor; for toiling, slaving, wearing himself out in the busy march of
life, with no thought but for that life which perishes heaping up
riches which must be relinquished on the grave's brink; which could
bring him no comfort nor solace in the valley of the shadow; which
perchance, in the inscrutable designs of providence, had been used as
an instrument of retribution against him. I looked at his worn
face--seamed with the lines of care, furrowed with the struggles that
had brought so little reward--and remembered that last evening when I
had seen and spoken with him--of the secret he had confided to me, of
what he had so darkly hinted at; and I fancied I could read in his
unplacid face that death had visited him in all its intensity of
bitterness, that the bodily suffering had been nothing compared to the
ocean of remorse which had swept over his soul. He rested from his
weary labors, and the fruits of them had not followed him. God alone
knew the complete history of his life; God only could supply what had
been wanting from the treasures of his mercy; God only could tell
whether that last flood of remorseful anguish had been the sorrow that
could be accepted for the sake of One who had died for him.
{601}
Whilst we yet stood gazing on the corpse, word was brought us that the
coroner had arrived, and was going to open proceedings. The
superintendent once more turned the key upon the dead; and we
descended to the first-floor.
"I must divide you, gentlemen, now," said he. "You, sir," to
Merrivale, "will please to come with me to the inquest-room; and you,
Mr. Kavanagh, must wait in this back drawing-room until we send for
you. I thought you'd prefer being alone, to going along with the other
witnesses."
"Yes," I said; "I should much prefer it."
I avail myself of the newspaper-reports, together with Mr. Merrivale's
notes, for an account of the inquest; and I have also used his
observations made on the personal appearance, manner, etc, of the
witnesses and others who took part in it. For myself, I remained in
that dark dingy back-room until my turn came to give evidence.
I heard the dull tramp of the jury-men as they went up-stairs and
entered the room overhead to view the body, and their hushed murmurs
as they came down. I heard the hum of voices in the front
drawing-room, where the witnesses were assembled, and the distinct
orders issued at intervals by the police. I remember standing at the
window looking into the dismal back-garden, noting mechanically the
various small sights in the back-gardens opposite. I remember staring
for a quarter of an hour at two cats fighting on the wall--a black and
a tabby; and listening to their dismal squalls. If they had been two
tigers tearing each other to pieces on that back garden-wall in the
midst of this eminently civilized city, I don't think it would have
made more impression on my brain than did those two specimens of the
feline race. And last, I remember walking, as in a dream, into the
dining-room, where sat the coroner at the head of the long table, and
ranged on either side of him the twelve jury-men. I remember seeing a
man whom I recognized as one of the deceased's solicitors, Mr. Walker,
occupying a chair at a small side-table with his clerk, and on the
opposite side of the room at another table sat Merrivale: while just
behind him, guarded--ay, _guarded_--by a policeman, sat Hugh Atherton;
and that as I came and took a chair placed for me at the other end of
the long table, he raised his eyes and looked full upon me, and that I
knew then the deadly influence which had been at work--for it was no
longer the friendly, trustful look of old; I knew--yes, I knew that
our warm friendship had died the death, that a traitor's hand had
helped to slay it. I knew, and knowing it the pain was so intense, so
like a knife entering my heart, that unconsciously I raised my hand as
though to ward off the agony that had come upon me, and a cry escaped
my lips--"Hugh, Hugh!" And then I heard the coroner addressing me in
the calm business tones of a man accustomed to do his terrible work.
The first witness called was Mr. Evans, surgeon. He said:
"I am a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and live at 138
Wimpole street. I was summoned to Mr. Thorneley's house about seven
o'clock on the morning of the 24th; and was taken up into deceased's
room. He was in bed, lying on his back, the eyes partially open, and
the forehead and mouth contracted, as though great pain had preceded
death. He had apparently been dead some hours. There was a stiffness,
however, about the body, and an unusual rigidity of the limbs, which
excited my suspicion. The feet were likewise arched. The housekeeper
and the man-servant were in the room with the deceased at the time I
arrived. I asked what he had taken last before going to bed. The
housekeeper replied he had taken his bitter {602} ale as usual about
nine o'clock. I asked to see the bottle out of which he had taken the
ale. The housekeeper bade the man go down to his master's study and
fetch up the tray. On it were a pint-bottle of Bass's bitter ale, a
tumbler, and a plate of hard biscuit. There were a few drops at the
bottom of the glass. I smelt and tasted them; there was no peculiar
smell, but the taste was unusually bitter. It suggested to me that
strychnine might have been introduced. In the bottle about half a
tumblerful of ale was left. I took possession of it for the purpose of
analysis, with the tumbler still containing a few drops. I said to the
housekeeper: 'Information must be sent at once to the police.' This
was done. I remained until the superintendent arrived, and then
proceeded to my house with the ale-bottle and glass. I immediately
subjected the contents of both to the usual process. In the few drops
contained in the glass I discovered the appearance of strychnine. The
contents of the bottle were perfectly free." (Sensation.) "I then went
back to Mr. Thorneley's house, and reported the results to the
police-officer, who communicated with Scotland Yard, the deceased's
relative Mr. Wilmot, and his lawyers. I demanded that the family
medical man should be summoned. On his arrival we made a _post-mortem_
examination, and removed the stomach with its contents, sealed and
despatched them to Professor T---- for analysis. We both refused a
death-certificate until the results of that analysis had been
ascertained. We agreed ourselves in suspecting death had originated
through poison, and that the poison had been strychnine. There was no
appearance of any disease in either heart, lungs, or brain, which
should cause sudden death. All three organs were in a perfectly
healthy state."
Dr. Robinson, physician, and the usual medical attendant of deceased,
corroborated the above evidence in every particular.
Professor T---- next deposed that he received the stomach of deceased
with its contents from Dr. Robinson and Mr. Evans. That he had
analyzed the latter, and had detected and separated strychnine in very
minute quantities; on further test, positive proof of the existence of
the poison was afforded by the colors produced. Upon introducing some
of the suspected matter into the body of a frog, death had been
produced from tetanic convulsions; thus demonstrating the existence of
strychnine. His opinion was that deceased had died from the effects of
strychnine administered in bitter ale; that the quantity administered
had been about one grain, not more--it might be less.
Mrs. Haag, the housekeeper, was then examined. She was a woman past
fifty in appearance; her face was remarkable; so perfectly immobile
and passionless in its expression. Her hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes
were of a pale sandy color; and her drooping eyelids had that peculiar
motion in them which novelists call "shivering." She gave her answers
in clear low tones; but seldom raising her eyes to the interrogator;
they were of a cold bluish-gray, with a dangerous scintillating light
in them. Her manners and appearance were those of a woman above her
station in life; her language quite grammatical, though tinctured by a
slightly foreign idiom and accent; her deportment perfectly
self-possessed. She deposed that the deceased had appeared in the same
health as usual up to the evening previous to his death, when on
taking in his bitter ale and biscuits she observed that he looked very
much flushed and agitated, and his voice had sounded loud and angry as
she came up the stairs. He and Mr. Atherton seemed to be having a
dispute; and as she came into the room she distinctly heard Mr.
Atherton say to her master, "You will bitterly repent to-morrow what
you have said to-night." She could swear to the words, for they made
an {603} impression upon her. Had not heard Mr. Wilmot speak whilst in
the study. The ale had been brought up from the cellar by Barker, who
uncorked it down-stairs, as usual, in presence of the other servants.
Barker had accompanied her to the study-door, and opened it for her.
Always took in the ale when her master was alone, or when only the
young gentlemen (Wilmot and Atherton) were there; and waited to
receive his orders for the next day. Deceased always took bitter ale
at nine o'clock, with hard biscuits.
Mr. Merrivale: "Did you not pour some ale out into the tumbler before
taking it up-stairs?"
"I did not."
"Would you swear you did not?"
"Certainly I would swear it."
Evidence continued: To her knowledge he had taken nothing since the
ale. The young gentlemen never took bitter ale: Mr. Atherton didn't
like it, and Mr. Wilmot could not drink it. Only one tumbler had been
brought up. The tray had remained in the study just as Mr. Thorneley
had left it, and had not been touched until the following morning,
when the doctor asked to have the bottle and glass brought to him.
Barker, the man-servant, had fetched the tray from the study. No one
had entered the study from the time Mr. Thorneley had gone to bed,
until Barker had gone there for the tray the next morning. She had
locked the door on the outside as she went up to bed, but had not gone
into the room. On the morning of the 24th she was roused by a violent
knocking at her door, and by Barker saying, in a very agitated manner,
"For God's sake get up directly, Mrs. Haag, and come to master; for I
fear he's dead!" Had hurried on a few clothes, and gone instantly to
Mr. Thorneley's room. The deceased was in bed, the eyes partially
open, and the mouth contracted, as if in an agony of pain. She had
touched his hand and found it quite cold. Then they both had stooped
to listen if he breathed; but he did not. Barker said: "I fear it's
all up with him; he must have had a fit and died in the night. What's
to be done, Mrs. Haag?" Replied, "Send at once for a doctor." The
other servants now came crowding in, and one of them ran off
immediately for the nearest surgeon. He arrived in less than half an
hour. No one had touched the body until the arrival of the doctor;
they had all feared lest they might do harm by touching it. Had lived
in the service of deceased nearly thirty years; he had been a severe
but just master to her. Was a Belgian by birth; but had lived nearly
all her life in England. Was a widow; had no children living, nor any
relations alive that she knew of. Examined as to what had transpired
before taking the ale to the study, Mrs. Haag deposed that Mr. John
Kavanagh had called on Mr. Thorneley at seven o'clock, and been
closeted with him for an hour; that a short time before he went away
the study-bell rang, which was answered by Barker, who came down into
the servants'-hall and told Thomas the coachman to go up with him to
his master's room. When they came down, they said they had been
signing their names as witnesses to some paper, which both of them had
supposed was a will; but that neither their master nor Mr. Kavanagh
had told them so. She had put on her things whilst they were upstairs,
and just after they returned she went out--Questioned as to her
errand, said she went to buy some ribbon she wanted at a shop in
Oxford street; that returning home by Vere street she saw Mr. Atherton
coming out of the chemist's shop at the corner of Oxford street, and
heard him speak to Mr. Kavanagh. Heard the words "Kavanagh,"
"Atherton," and saw them shake hands. Could swear to their
identity.--Questioned by Mr. Merrivale, solicitor for the prisoner,
as to how it had come about that she had been witness to the meeting
between the two gentlemen at {604} the corner of Vere street and
Oxford street, and yet was met only in the middle of Vere street--a
very short street--at least five minutes afterwards by Mr. Kavanagh,
denied meeting Mr. Kavanagh at all in Vere street; had passed the two
gentlemen at the corner, and gone straight home. Had worn no veil that
evening.--Examination resumed by the coroner: Had not seen her master
since taking the ale into the study; had gone to the door after the
gentlemen had left, but found it locked, and received for answer, he
was busy, and did not require anything. Mr. Wilmot had left some time
previous to Mr. Atherton; she had seen neither to speak to them that
evening. This was the pith of the housekeeper's evidence.
John Barker was the next witness called, who corroborated everything
deposed by Mrs. Haag. Asked by a juryman if it was he who signed the
paper on the evening before Mr. Thorneley's death, replied it was. Was
he aware of the nature of the document? No; but both he and Thomas the
coachman, who had likewise signed, fancied it must be a will. Had
lived nearly twenty years with his master, and often witnessed
business papers, but never asked what they were.--Questioned by Mr.
Merrivale as to whether he had noticed any conversation which passed
between Mr. Wilmot and Mr. Atherton in the hall the night before the
deceased died, replied he had caught one or two words.--Told by the
coroner to repeat them. After seeming to recollect himself for a
moment or two, said he had heard Mr. Wilmot say he must get some money
out of the governor; to which Mr. Atherton had replied in rather a low
voice; but he had heard the words, "won't live long," and "to be
worried," and "our affairs."--Asked by the prisoner if the sentence
had not been, "He is getting very old, and won't live long; he ought
not to be worried with our affairs"? Replied he could not say; it
might have been so; but what he had repeated was the whole of what he
had distinctly heard. He wished to say that he believed Mr. Atherton
to be innocent; for he was very fond of poor master, and his uncle
always seemed more partial to him than to any one else--much more
than to Mr. Wilmot.
Thomas Spriggs the coachman, the cook, and the housemaid, were then
examined respectively, and their evidence corroborated every statement
made before; only one fresh feature presented itself. The cook
volunteered to state that she had been awoke, in the middle of the
night on which her master died, by some noise, and had fancied she
heard stealthy footsteps on the stairs.--Questioned upon this, said
that she meant the stairs leading from the third story where the
women-servants slept, to the second story..
Were they front or back-stairs?
Front-stairs; the back-stairs only reached the second floor. That the
housekeeper occupied one room to herself, she and the housemaid
another, and the third was empty. She had not dared to get out of bed,
believing it was the ghost.
What ghost?
Oh! the house was haunted; all the servants know it and believed it,
except the housekeeper, who had laughed at her shameful, and called
her a superstitious woman. But then they had never been what she might
call comfortable nor friendly together; for Mrs. 'Aag 'eld herself
'igh and 'orty with all the company in the 'all. Couldn't say at what
hour she had been awoke; had drawed the clothes over her 'ed, and said
her prayers, and supposed she had fell asleep again, being that way
inclined by natur'.
Mr. Merrivale: "Have you and the housekeeper ever fallen out, cook?"
Witness: "Well, no, sir. I can't say as we ever 'ave; and I've nothing
to bring against her except as she was 'igh and close, which isn't
agreeable, sir, when the position of parties is {605} ekally
respectable, which mine is, sir, 'aving come of a greengrocer's family
as kep' their own wehicle and drove theirselves; and whose mother
could afford to be washed out, and never sat down to tea on Sunday
without s'rimps or 'winkles or something to give a relish."
Coroner: "That is enough, cook.--Bring in the next witness."
Mr. Lister Wilmot, who appeared much agitated, next deposed: "I went
to visit my deceased uncle on the evening of Tuesday last, and whilst
taking off my outer coat in the hall, my cousin, Mr. Atherton,
arrived. We went into my uncle's study together. Very little
conversation passed between us. I mentioned my intention of asking my
uncle for some money that evening, which I needed, having some
pressing bills to pay. My cousin replied something to the effect that
he, my uncle, would probably not live long, and we ought not to worry
him with our affairs. I think he simply said it with a view to
stopping me from making the application: he thinks I am extravagant.
He asked me how much I wanted. I said, L500. He said: 'That is a large
sum, Lister; we shall never get the governor to come down as handsome
as that.'"
Mr. Merrivale: "Did Mr. Atherton say, 'we shall,' or 'you will'?"
Witness (hesitating:) "I am not quite clear, but I think he said 'we
shall.' It was simply a kindly way of speaking. We found my uncle more
than usually taciturn and abstracted; but I was so hard pressed I was
obliged to brave him, and ask him for money. To my astonishment,
instead of venting his anger on me, he turned it all upon my cousin
Hugh, and accused him of leading me into extravagance."
Coroner: "Was this so?"
"It was not. Hugh and I are the best of friends; but our pursuits and
tastes are totally opposite. I said so to my uncle, and tried to
appease him in vain. At last he worked himself into such a rage that
he seemed quite reckless of what he said; and hinted that Hugh might
pay my debts for me, and if he couldn't do so out of his own pocket,
he might get Kavanagh to advance me some out of his future wife's
dividends; that I might have got the girl for myself if I had chosen;
but as it was, he dared say Kavanagh would marry her in the long-run,
for it was easy to see how the wind lay in that quarter."
Mr. Merrivale: "Can you swear to those words?"
"I can. My cousin got very angry at this, and said: 'You have no right
to make such remarks or draw any such conclusions; they are false. You
will repent of this to-morrow.' I can swear to those words. Just then
Mrs. Haag, the housekeeper, brought in my uncle's ale and biscuits, as
usual. Barker opened the door for her: I remember that fact. There was
only one tumbler with the bottle brought up. Neither myself nor my
cousin ever touch that beverage. When Mrs. Haag had left the room,
Hugh got up and went to the table where the tray had been placed, and
brought a glass of ale to my uncle with a plate of hard biscuits."
Coroner: "Did you see the prisoner pour out the ale? Where was he
standing with regard to yourself?"
"He had his back toward us; I was sitting by the fire opposite my
uncle; the table was in the middle of the room. To get the ale Hugh
must turn his back to us."
"How long was he at the table?"
Witness, (after a moment's thought:) "A minute or more; but I could
not speak positively."
"Sufficient time to have put anything in the ale?"
Witness, (much agitated:) "Am I obliged to answer this?"
"You are not obliged; but an unfavorable interpretation might be put
upon your silence."
Witness (in a very low voice:) "There _was_ time."
{606}
Mr. Merrivale: "Did you not observe that some ale was poured out in
the tumbler when it was brought up?"
"I did not observe it; it might have been so, but I could not say for
certain either way."
Mr. Merrivale to the coroner: "My client desires me to state
distinctly that a small quantity, about a quarter of a glassful, was
already poured out when he went to the tray. He supposes it was done
to save the overflow from the bottle."
Coroner: "I will note it."
Evidence continued: "My uncle drank half the ale at a draught, shook
his bead, and said: 'It is very bitter, to-night.' We neither made any
remark upon it. He likewise took a biscuit and ate it. Soon afterward
I rose to go. He would not say good-night to me. Hugh came to the door
with me--the study-door--and whispered, 'I'll try to appease him and
make it all right for you.' I went straight down-stairs and out of the
house. I remember seeing my cousin's coat hanging in the hall; it was
a brown-tweed waterproof one; but I did not touch it. The coachman
came the following morning with the sad news to my chambers."
Mr. Merrivale: "Are you acting as sole executor, Mr. Wilmot?"
"I am; my cousin is aware of it."
Mr. Walker: "It is illegal to ask for any depositions about the
deceased's will here."
Coroner: "I am the best judge of that, Mr. Walker. Anything which
throws light upon what we have to find out must be received as
evidence."
Mr. Merrivale: "Were you aware what the contents of your late uncle's
will were before you opened it at Messrs. Smith and Walker's?"
"I was not; but both Hugh Atherton and myself were led to anticipate
what the tenor of it would be."
"Have the results fulfilled your anticipations?"
"I don't consider myself warranted in answering such a question."
Coroner: "Have you any thing else to state, Mr. Wilmot?"
"Nothing, except that I believe in my cousin's innocence."
Mr. John Kavanagh was then called, and, after the usual preliminaries,
stated that on his return from a tour in Switzerland on the afternoon
of Tuesday, the 23d, he found a note from Mr. Thorneley, which he now
produced. (Note read by the coroner and passed on to the jurymen.)
That upon receipt of it he had gone to Mr. Thorneley's at the hour
appointed, and had been shown at once into that gentleman's study. Had
found him very much altered for the worse and aged since last he had
seen him, some months since. He looked as if some heavy trouble were
upon him, weighing him down. He had transacted the business required,
which occupied, he should say, an hour, and had then left him as calm
and as well as when he (witness) first entered the room. He had chosen
to walk home, and, stopping to light a segar at the corner of Vere
street, had met Mr. Atherton _coming out of the chemist's shop_. Mr.
Atherton had offered to accompany him home, but he (Witness) had
refused, and they had parted, Mr Atherton stating his intention of
coming to see him on the morrow. That the moment after, he had
repented his refusal and hurried back to ask him to return; but being
near-sighted and the night dark, had not been able to distinguish his
figure, and had given up the pursuit. Returning down Vere street,
about half-way he had met a female walking very fast, but who in
passing had almost stopped, and stared very hard at him. She had on a
thick veil, so he could not see her face, nor did he recognize her
figure. The circumstance had passed from his mind until detective
Jones had told him that Mr. Thorneley's housekeeper had been in Vere
street that evening, and seen his meeting with Mr. Atherton, and then
it had struck him it might have been she.--(Here Mr. Merrivale was
seen to confer very earnestly with the {607} prisoner, and afterward
to pass a slip of paper to the coroner, who after reading it bowed, as
if in assent, and then beckoned to a policeman, who left the room.) He
had gone straight home to his chambers, and being tired went early to
bed, and did not wake till very late the following morning, when his
clerk had told him the news of Mr. Thorneley's death, and detective
Jones had called upon him shortly afterward.
By the coroner: "What was the nature of the business which you
transacted with deceased?"
"I am bound over very solemnly not to mention it until a certain
time."
"Was it a will you called the two servants to witness?"
"I am not at liberty to answer. I pass my word as a gentleman and a
man of honor that in no way do I consider this to affect my friend Mr.
Atherton's present position; and that when it does I shall consider
myself free to speak."
Mr Walker: "We shall compel you, Mr. Kavanagh, to speak in another
place than this. The breach of etiquette you have committed will not
be passed over by us as the family and confidential legal advisers of
the deceased gentleman."
"We shall both act as we think right, Mr. Walker."
The prisoner here in a very hollow voice said "For God's sake, and for
the sake of one who is dear to us both, I entreat you, John Kavanagh,
to reveal any thing that may help to clear an innocent man from this
frightful imputation."
"I will, Hugh, so help me God! But it would avail you nothing to speak
now."
Coroner: "Have you anything further to state?"
"Nothing, save my most solemn religious conviction that Mr. Atherton
is innocent, and that he is the victim of the foulest plot."
Mr. Walker here appealed to the coroner, and said he objected to such
insinuations being made there; that Mr. Kavanagh had done his best to
criminate the prisoner, and that he was now trying to cast the blame
upon others.
Mr. Kavanagh was about to make some violent answer, when the coroner
called to order.
Mr. Merrivale: "Will you have the goodness, Mr. Kavanagh, to look
toward the end of the room, and see if you identify any one there?"
Mr. Kavanagh: "My God! _It is she!_"
Coroner: "Who?"
"The woman I met in Vere street that night."
Standing opposite to the witness, with the light full upon her, was a
female figure, closely veiled.
"I never met you, Mr. Kavanagh!" it was the woman who spoke, loudly,
vehemently.
Coroner to witness: "I see you are using your eyeglass now; were you
using it when you say you met this person in Vere street?"
"I was."
"Could you swear that the figure standing before you now and the woman
you met are one and the same?"
"I would swear that _the appearance_ of that woman standing before me
now and that of the figure I met is one and the same--the same height,
the same carriage, the same veiled face."
"I never met you, Mr. Kavanagh!" repeated the woman, with a passionate
gesture.
Coroner: "Mrs. Haag, you can retire." (It was the housekeeper.)
Mr. Walker: "I don't see how this affects the case."
Mr. Merrivale: "Probably not, sir; but you will see by and by. I am
much obliged to you, Mr. Coroner."
Mr. Kavanagh is replaced by Inspector Jackson, detective officer, who
deposed that from information received at Scotland Yard on the morning
of the 24th instant, he had been desired by his superintendent to
proceed to 100 Wimpole street, the residence {608} of the deceased
gentleman, and examine into the case, accompanied by detective Jones.
From information received from the housekeeper and other servants, and
after a conference with the surgeon called in, his suspicions had
fallen upon Mr. Atherton. He had left a policeman in charge from the
nearest station-house, and gone with Jones direct to Mr. Atherton's
chambers in the Temple. On breaking the nature of his visit to that
gentleman, together with the news of Mr. Thorneley's death, he had
been terribly overcome, and exclaimed that he was an innocent man, God
was his witness; that he would not have hurt a hair of the old man's
head; but certainly he _had_ been angry with him the night before.
Cautioned not to say anything which might criminate himself, Mr.
Atherton had again said, in very solemn tones: "My God, thou knowest I
am innocent!" Witness had searched Mr. Atherton's room and clothes; in
the pocket of his coat had found a small empty paper labelled
STRYCHNINE--POISON; with the name of "Davis, chemist, 20 Vere street,
corner of Oxford street."--Questioned by Mr. Merrivale as to which
coat-pocket the packet was found in, replied the overcoat which Mr.
Atherton wore on the previous evening.
By a juryman: "How do you know it was the identical coat worn that
evening?"
"The man-servant, John Barker, swears to it; he took it from Mr.
Atherton when he came to Mr. Thorneley's house, and hung it up in the
hall to dry."
The prisoner: "Yes, I did wear that coat; but I know nothing of the
paper found in it."
By the coroner: "Have you been in communication with the chemist in
Vere street?"
Witness: "I have, sir; he remembers--"
Mr. Merrivale: "I object to this evidence coming from the mouth of Mr.
Inspector. The chemist is here and should be examined himself."
Mr. Walker, one of the solicitors of deceased "I think that the
evidence should be received from both the inspector and the chemist."
Mr. Merrivale: "I still object."
The coroner: "On what ground, Mr. Merrivale?"
Mr. Merrivale: "On the ground that the inspector having a preconceived
notion when he communicated with the chemist, the latter may have been
misled by his questions. I should at least wish that Davis should be
examined first, and his evidence received direct."
The coroner: "Very well. Is there anything else, Mr. Inspector?"
"Nothing else, except that Mr. Atherton denied all knowledge at once
of the paper found."
By Mr. Merrivale: "Did you not find also a bottle of camphorated
spirits?"
"I did; but on the table. It was a fresh bottle, unopened, and bore
the same label, from Mr. Davis's." (Witness dismissed.)
Mr. Merrivale here demanded to have the man Barker recalled, which was
done.
Mr. Merrivale: "Can you swear to the overcoat which Mr. Atherton wore
the last evening he came to Wimpole street?"
"Certainly, sir. It was a brown tweed waterproof, with deep pockets. I
know it well."
"Is that the coat?" (Coat produced.)
"It is, sir."
"Can you swear to it?"
"I can, sir."
"How long was it between the time Mr. Wilmot went away and the time
Mr. Atherton left the house?"
"About half an hour or three quarters, I should say."
"Did you let him out?"
"No, sir."
"Nor Mr. Atherton?'
"No, sir."
"Did you hear or know of any one being in the hall for any length of
time whilst Mr. Atherton was with his uncle?"
{609}
"No one could have been in the hall, sir, we servants were all at
supper."
"Was the housekeeper with you?"
"No, sir; she has her supper in her own sitting-room always."
"Then how are you sure that she did not go into the hall?"
"I should have heard her door open and her footsteps pass along the
passage. The servants' hall door was open that I might hear master's
bell."
"You feel certain of this?"
"I do, sir."
"I have no more to ask this witness, Mr. Coroner."
Thomas Davis, chemist, was then called. He deposed that on the evening
of the 23d he perfectly well remembered a gentleman coming into his
shop and buying a small bottle of spirits of camphor. Could not swear
to him, but thinks it may have been the prisoner. It was a tall
gentleman. (Upon being shown the bottle of camphor, immediately
identified it as the one sold. The paper found in Mr. Atherton's
pocket was now produced, and he likewise identified it as coming from
his shop.) The paper and label were the same as he used.--Questioned
as to whether he recollected selling any strychnine either on or
before the 23d, replied he could not remember selling any; but that he
had found a memorandum in his day-book of one grain sold on the 23d.
(Sensation.) Was quite sure it had been sold, or the entry would not
have been made; always made those entries himself. His assistant
reported to him of anything sold during his absence from the shop, and
he then entered it in his day-book as a ready-money transaction. His
assistant might have sold the strychnine on that day; but he had
questioned him and found he did not remember any particulars. Could
swear that he himself remembered nothing about it.--by Mr. Merrivale:
Was generally absent from the shop an hour at dinner-time--from one to
two--and from five to half-past for tea; again at night from nine to
half-past. Closed at ten.
Mr. Merrivale here asked that Mr. Wilmot and Mrs. Haag might severally
be brought in; to which Mr. Walker objected. The objection was
overruled by the coroner, and Mr. Wilmot was summoned.
Mr. Merrivale: "Do you remember having seen this gentleman before, Mr.
Davis?"
"I do not, sir."
"Nor remember his coming into your shop?"
"No, sir."
The housekeeper was then called, with the same results.
Examination of witness continued: His assistant was a remarkably
steady and able young man, intrusted with making up very important
prescriptions; his word could be relied on; had been with him for five
years. He himself was a licensed member of Apothecaries' Hall.
The last witness summoned was James Ball, assistant to Mr. Davis, the
chemist. In reply to the coroner, he never remembered having sold any
strychnine on the 23d, though he might have done so; in which case he
would report it to Mr. Davis, who would have entered it in the
day-book. Was in the habit of mentioning each item as soon after it
was sold as opportunity permitted. Could not identify either Mr.
Wilmot or Mrs. Haag as having seen them in the shop.--By Mr. Walker:
Remembered the prisoner coming into the shop on the evening of the
23d; they did not often see such a tall gentleman. His employer, Mr.
Davis, had served him with the camphor.
By Mr. Merrivale: "Do you mean to say that a customer whom you did not
serve, buying camphor, made an impression on your mind, and yet you
have no recollection of any one coming to your shop and asking for
such a remarkable and _dangerous_ thing as strychnine?"
After a moment's consideration:
{610}
"I remember that gentleman," (pointing to the prisoner,) "because I
wondered what his height might be, and what a jolly thing it must be
to be so tall, especially with such a high counter to serve over."
(Laughter. James Ball was considerably below the middle height) "I
don't recollect anything at all about the strychnine."
By the coroner: "It is a question probably of life or death, James
Ball, to that gentleman, Mr. Atherton; and I conjure you to strive to
the utmost of your power to call to mind any circumstance concerning
the sale of that poison which may throw some light upon the subject
Take your time now to consider, for I see you _can_ recollect things."
After some moments of dead silence, James Ball replied, "I remember
nothing further than what I have already stated."
This closed the evidence, and coroner, summing up, addressed the jury.
He commented upon the awfulness of the crime which had been committed;
on the fearful increase of the use of poisons of every kind for the
purpose of taking away human life. He said in this case the principal
facts they had to deal with were, that it was proved on evidence that
poison had been administered to deceased in the bitter ale, which he
had taken before going to bed. That the poison was pronounced to be
strychnine, which it was well known would probably not take effect
until an hour or so after it had been imbibed. That the glass of
bitter ale in which the strychnine had been detected was poured out
and given to deceased by his nephew, Mr. Hugh Atherton, in presence of
his other nephew, Mr. Wilmot. That it had been proved by medical
evidence that in the ale remaining in the bottle no strychnine had
been detected. All suspicions therefore were confined to the ale which
had been _poured out_. That Mr. Atherton had been heard to use angry,
if not threatening, language to the deceased, (he repeated the words,)
and had been seen by two witnesses coming out of the chemist's shop
kept by the identical man whose name was on the paper labelled
Strychnine, and found in the prisoner's pocket. The prisoner's legal
adviser had stated that a portion of the ale was already poured out in
the tumbler, when he (the prisoner) approached the table for the
purpose of helping his uncle; but no evidence had been adduced of the
fact. Mrs. Haag, the housekeeper, had stated to the contrary. Still
the prisoner was entitled to the benefit of the doubt. There had been
positive evidence that the deceased had died from the effects of
poison; it rested with the jury to decide whether the other evidence
was sufficiently conclusive to warrant their finding a verdict against
the prisoner as having administered the poison.
After a consultation of some quarter of an hour, the jury returned a
verdict of _Wilful Murder against Mr. Hugh Atherton_.
Merrivale brought me the news in that dull back-room where I waited,
heaven only knows with what crushing, heart-sick anxiety, and we left
the house--that doomed house of death, of woe and desolation to the
living.
The crowd outside had thickened and densified; but their cries and
clamors were meaningless sounds for me. As we stood on the pavement
whilst Merrivale hailed a cab, I felt something thrust into my hand--a
piece of paper. I looked round and saw a man disappearing amongst the
throng, who presently turned and held up his hand to me. He was in
plain clothes and somewhat disguised; but I recognized Jones the
detective. When in the cab I unfolded the paper, and read, hastily
scrawled in pencil:
"Meet me, sir, please, on the Surrey end of London Bridge to-night
at nine o'clock."
"A. Jones."
{611}
CHAPTER VI.
IN BLUE-ANCHOR LANE.
Nine o'clock was striking, as I hurried along the footway of London
Bridge, hustled and jostled by the many passengers who seem to be
forever treading their weary road of business, care, or pleasure--for
even pleasure brings its toil; nine o'clock resounding loud and clear
in the night-air from the dome of St. Paul's, and echoed from the
neighboring church-steeples. It sounds romantic enough to please the
most enthusiastic devourers of pre-Radcliffe novels, or to capture the
imagination of the most ardent votaries of fiction. But it was far
otherwise to me on the night of that Thursday which had seen Hugh
Atherton branded with the name of murderer. It was far otherwise to
me--weighed down with the crushing knowledge that the companion of my
youth, the friend of my later years, although an innocent man, was
being gradually hurried on to a felon's death; and that I--_I_ who
loved him so well--had helped to his destruction, though Heaven could
witness how unwillingly and unconsciously. No; there was no romance
for me that night as I dragged my weary steps over the bridge, with
the sight of him before my eyes, and the sound of heart-bursting grief
from the lips of that poor stricken girl, his betrothed bride, ringing
in my ears; for I had been to tell her the results of this day's work.
Oh! why had I not yielded to his wish the evening I met Hugh Atherton
in that fatal street, and taken him home with me? Why had I not more
earnestly followed up the impulse--nay, dare I not call it
inspiration?--to return after him and bid him come back with me? Ah
me! my selfishness, my blindness--could any remorse ever atone for
them and the terrible evil they had brought about? My God, thou
knowest how my heart cried out to thee then in bitterness and sorrow:
"Smite me with thy righteous judgments; but spare him--spare her!"
And now what new scene in this drama of life was I going to see
unfolded? I could not tell; I knew nothing; I could only pray that if
Providence pointed out to me any track by which I might penetrate the
awful mystery that hung round us, I might pursue it with all fidelity,
with utter forgetfulness of self. I had gone with Merrivale after we
left Wimpole street to the House of Detention where Atherton was
lodged, and desired him to ask that I should see Hugh; but he had come
out looking puzzled and perplexed, and said: "I can't make it out;
Atherton refuses to see you, and gives no reason except that it is
'best not.'" No help was there, then, but to trust to time and
unwearied exertion to remove the cloud between us.
I found Jones waiting for me at the other end of the bridge, and
anxiously on the look-out.
"I am right glad to see you, sir; I was fearful you mightn't come,
seeing that I gave you no reason for doing so."
"I trusted you sufficiently, Jones, to belive you wouldn't have
brought me on a useless errand at such a time of awful anxiety."
"Bless you, sir, I wouldn't--not for a thousand pounds; and I've had
that offered to me in my day by parties as wished to get rid of me or
shut me up. No, indeed, sir; I'd not add to your trouble if so be I
could not lighten it. But we have no time to lose, and we have a
goodish bit before us. You asked me this morning whether I knew any
thing of a Mr. de Vos. I did not then, but I do now; and a strange
chance threw me across him. If, sir, you will trust yourself entirely
to me to-night, I think I can be of use to you. But you must confide
in me, and allow me to take the lead in everything. And first, will
you let me ask you one or two questions?"
I told him he might ask anything he pleased; if I could not answer, I
would tell him so; that I would trust him implicitly.
{612}
"Then, sir, will you condescend to honor me by coming home first for a
few minutes? My missus expects us. She's in a terrible way about Mr.
Atherton: she never forgets past kindness."
We turned off the bridge, straight down Wellington street, High street
Borough, and then into King street, where Jones stopped before a
respectable-looking private house, and knocked. The door was opened by
his wife--with whom, under other circumstances, I had been acquainted
before--and we entered their neat little front-parlor. Evidently we
were expected, for supper was laid--homely, but substantial, and
temptingly clean.
"You must excuse us, sir," said Jones; "but I fancied it was likely
you had taken little enough to-day, and I told Jane to have something
ready for us. Please to eat, Mr. Kavanagh; we have a short journey
before us, and I want you to have all your wits and energies about
you."
I was faint and sick, true enough; for I had touched nothing save a
biscuit and a glass of wine since the morning; but my stomach seemed
to loathe food; and though I drew to the table, not wishing to offend
the good people, I felt as if to swallow a morsel would choke me.
Jones cut up the cold ham and chicken in approved style, whilst his
wife busied herself with slicing off thin rounds of bread and butter;
but I toyed with my knife and fork, and could not eat. Not so Jones;
he took down incredible quantities of all that was before him with the
zest of a man who knows he is going to achieve luck's victory.
Presently he threw down his tools, and looked hard at me.
"This'll never do, sir; you _must_ eat."
I shook my head and smiled.
"Jane," said he to his wife, "bring out Black Peter; no one ever
needed him more than Mr. Kavanagh."
Mrs. Jones opened a cupboard and brought forth a tapery-necked bottle,
out of which her husband very carefully poured some liquid into a
wineglass, and then as carefully corked it up again.
"Drink this, sir; I've never known it to fail yet."
I lifted the glass to my lips. "Why, it's the primest Curacoa!" I
cried.
"That it may be, sir, for all I know. A poor German, to whom I once
rendered a service, sent me two bottles, and I've found it the best
cordial I ever tasted. I call it Black Peter--his name was Peter, and
he was uncommonly black, to be sure--but I never heard its right name
before. Drink it off, sir, and you'll feel a world better presently."
I did, and the effects were as Jones prognosticated. The cold, sick
shivering left me, and I was able in a little while to take some food.
"Now, Jane," said the good man to his wife, when he saw I was getting
on all right, "shut up your ears; Mr. Kavanagh and I are going to talk
business."
Mrs. Jones laughed, picked up some needle-work, and sat down to a
small table by the fire.
"My wife's a true woman, sir, in every thing but her tongue; she
_don't_ talk: I'll back her against Sir Richard himself for keeping
dark on a secret case. Now, sir, will you please to tell me, if you
can, why you are anxious to find out about this Mr. de Vos?"
I related to him about my meeting De Vos at my sister's, what I had
heard and witnessed in Swain's Lane, the impressions made upon me
then, and how I had caught sight of the man outside the police-court
on the preceding day. Jones listened very attentively, and made notes
of it all.
"Exactly," said he, when I ended by saying that Mr. Wilmot had denied
all knowledge of De Vos and the rendezvous in Swain's Lane. "Just what
I expected. Of course he would."
"What! Do you think he did know, and that it was Wilmot's voice I
heard?"
{613}
"I think nothing, sir" said be, with a curious smile; "but I guess a
good deal. We have a terribly-tangled skein to unravel; but I think in
following up this man we have got the right end of it. I must now tell
you how I stumbled upon him to-day. I heard from inspector Keene that
he was engaged by Mr. Merrivale to see into this murder of old Mr.
Thorneley; and knowing how partial I was to Mr. Atherton--good reason
too--he asked me if I'd like to help him, and if so, he'd speak about
me to Sir Richard Mayne. I said I would, above all things, for I'd had
a hand in taking him, though I believed he was innocent; and now I'd
give much to help him back to his liberty again. To cut short with the
story, it was settled I should hang about the house to-day during the
inquest in disguise, to pick up any stray information that might be
let drop; for there's a deal more known, sir, about rich folks and
their households by such people as those who were crowded round the
house today than ever you'd think for; and we gather much of our most
valuable information by mixing in these crowds unknown, and listening
to the casual gossip that goes on in them. So I made myself up into a
decent old guy, and took my way to Wimpole street. Whilst waiting to
cross Oxford street two men came up behind me, and I heard a few words
drop which made me turn round to look at them. Sure enough, one
answered most perfectly your description of this Mr. De Vos. I thought
to myself, 'Here's game worth following;' and I did follow, and heard
them make an appointment for to-night on this side the water. Now,
sir, do you see why I asked you to meet me?'
"I do. We must be present at the meeting."
"Just so, sir; and we have no time to lose, for the hour mentioned was
soon after ten o'clock. If you'll take nothing else we will go. We
must go made up; and you'll trust entirely to me."
"You mean disguised?"
"I do, sir; if you'll come up-stairs, I'll give you what is
necessary."
Up-stairs we went, and Jones produced from a chest of drawers a rough
common seaman's jacket, a pair of duck trowsers, a woollen comforter,
a tarpaulin hat, and a false black beard, in which he rigged me out;
and then proceeded to make similar change in his own attire, with the
exception of a wig of shaggy red hair and a pair of whiskers to match.
"Leave your watch, sir, and any little articles of jewelry you may
have about you, in my wife's charge; keep your hat well slouched over
your face and your hands in your pockets, give a swing and swagger to
your walk, and you'll do."
"Why, where upon earth are we going, Jones?"
"To Blue-Anchor Lane, sir, if you know where that very fashionable
quarter lies."
I did not know exactly where it was, saying from police-reports, which
named it as one of the lowest parts of that low district lying between
Bermondsey and Rotherhithe. I had been somewhere near it once, having
occasion to call on one of the clergy belonging to the Catholic Church
in Parker's Row; but that was quite an aristocratic part, for a
wonder, compared with Blue-Anchor Lane. Yes, Parker's Row I had
visited; and, thanks to my having grown and "gentlefolked" to the
height of six feet odd, I had managed to pull the bell and get
admitted to the convent behind the church, where dwell the good
Sisters of Mercy, walled-in all tight and trim. But down Blue-Anchor
Lane I had never penetrated; and I asked Jones if it were not
considered a favorite haunt for characters of the worst description.
"It is so, sir; and we must be careful and cautious to-night in all we
do." I noticed that he put his staff and alarum in his pocket, and
furnished me with similar implements. "In case of necessity, sir," he
said, {614} laughing, "you must act as special constable with me. I
wouldn't take you into the smallest danger; but, you see, I don't know
but what your presence is of absolute necessity, and that you may be
able to gather a clue in this case quicker than I should. Not that I
yield in quickness at twigging most things to any man," said Detective
Jones, with a bit of professional pride quite pardonable; "but you
must identify the man for certain yourself, sir, before I can act in
the matter with anything like satisfaction."
It was just upon ten o'clock when we left King street, and proceeded
to London Bridge; whence we took the train to Spa Road. It takes, as
every one knows, but a few minutes in the transit; and leaving that
dark, dismal, break-neck hole of a station, we turned to the left up
Spa Road, down Jamaica Row, and so into Blue-Anchor Lane. It is
needless to describe what that place is at night; it is needless to
picture in words all the degrading vice that walks forth unmasked in
some of the streets of this capital, which ranks so high amidst the
great cities o the world. Is our exterior morality to be so far
behind, so infinitely below, that of tribes and nations on whom we
stoop to trample? Can such things be, and we not waken from our
lethargic sleep, remembering what our account will one day be? Can our
rulers so calmly eat and drink, take their pleasure, hunt their game,
pursue their gentlemanlike sports, knowing, as assuredly they do too
well, that thousands of their people are living lives more degraded,
more brutal, more shamelessly inhuman, more full of sin, ignorance,
and every kind of squalor and misery, than the wildest savages we have
set our soldiers to hunt out of the lands in which God placed them?
"What can the man be doing in such a place as this?" I whispered to
Jones, as he stopped before the door of a small low-looking house of
entertainment, half coffee-shop and half public-house, that rejoiced
in the name of "Noah's Ark."
"That's just what we've got to find out, sir. Somehow it strikes me
he's better acquainted with such haunts as these than you and I are
with Regent street or Piccadilly. If I haven't seen his face before,
and that not ten yards from the Old Bailey, I'm blest if I was ever
more mistaken in my life. But hush! here he is."
And swaggering along, with his hat stuck on one side, and murmuring a
verse of "Rory O'Moore," came Mr. de Vos, my sister Elinor's
"treasure-trove," evidently somewhat airy in the upper regions, and
elated by good cheer. Jones had taken out a short clay pipe, and
whilst seemingly intent on filling it I saw he was watching De Vos
with a keen observant glance. The latter gentleman was far from being
intoxicated; he was merely what is called "elevated," and quite wide
awake enough to be wary of anything going on around him. I saw him
start perceptibly as his eye fell upon me, though my slouched hat and
high collar must have gone a good way toward concealing my features.
"Fine night, mate," said Jones in a bluff, loud voice, lighting and
pulling vigorously at his pipe.
"Deed and it is so," answered De Vos, halting just opposite to us, and
once more turning his scrutiny upon me. "Are you game for a dhrop of
whiskey?" addressing himself especially to me.
I was about to answer in feigned tones, when Jones took the word out
of my mouth, and replied: "No use asking him--he's too love-sick just
now to care for drink; he's parted with his sweetheart, and is off for
the West-Indies by five in the morning from the Docks."
Something now seemed to attract De Vos's attention to Jones, for he
became suddenly very grave.
"I've not seen you here before," said he, peering into the detective's
face.
{615}
"May be you have, may be you haven't. I don't need to ask any man's
leave to drink a pint at 'Noah's Ark,' and watch a game of skittles."
This, as Jones told me afterward, was quite a random shot; however, it
took effect.
"I believe you," said De Vos with all the boastfulness of his nature.
"You'll not see a betther bowler through the country entirely than
meself. I'll back the odds against any man this side the Channel, and
bedad to it. I dare say now it's here on Monday last you were to see
me play?"
"Ay, ay, mate," sang out Jones; "right enough."
"Ah! thin it was small shiners I went in for then; but I'll lay a
couple of fivers now against a brad, and play you fair to-morrow
against any of them in there," with a back-handed wave to the house,
whence unmistakable sounds of noisy mirth were proceeding. "Is it
done?"
"I'll consider your offer--shiver my timbers but I will!" said Jones,
with a burst of Jack-tar-ism--"and let you know in the morning."
"Just as you please; you pays your money and you takes your choice;"
and nodding to Jones, who responded to the salute in approved style,
De Vos passed into the tap-room of the "Ark."
"Is it he?" hurriedly whispered Jones when he was out of hearing.
"Yes, without doubt," answered I, in the same tones.
"Then follow me, sir; and keep silent unless I speak to you;" and we
likewise entered through the swing-doors of the gayly-lighted bar.
A glance sufficed to show us that the man we sought was not there; but
Jones was far from being disconcerted; indeed he seemed most
thoroughly up to the mark in the task before him, and threw himself
into the part he had assigned himself with all the genius and facility
of a Billington or Toole. Three or four men with physiognomies that
would not have disgraced the hangman's rope were drinking, smoking,
and exchanging low _badinage_ with a flashy-looking young woman, who
stood behind the bar-counter. Woman, did I say? Angels pity her! There
was little of womanly nature left in the fierce glitter of her eyes,
in the hard lines of premature age which dissipation and sin and woe
had left carved upon her forehead and around her mouth. Little enough
of this though, no doubt, thought Detective Jones, intent upon his own
purposes, as he quickly made up to her, and asked with all the
swaggering audacity of a "jolly tar," for two stiff glasses of the
primest pine-apple rum-and-water.
Jones extracted a long clay pipe from the lot standing before us in a
broken glass, and passed it to me, and handed his pouch of tobacco,
with an expressive glance that told me I was to smoke. Whilst filling
the pipe and lighting it, the woman returned with the rum-and-water,
which she placed ungraciously before us with a bang and clatter that
caused the liquid to spill out of the glasses.
"Look here, miss," said Jones in his most insinuating tones; "I'll
forgive you for upsetting the grog, and give you five bob to buy a
blue ribbon for your pretty hair, if you'll manage to get me and my
mate a snug comer inside there," pointing to a door on the left,
whence issued voices; "for we've a bit of money business to settle
to-night, and he's off first thing in the morning for the Indies."
The woman seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then holding out her
hand for the promised tip, she beckoned us to pass inside the bar, and
led the way to the door. Before she opened it she said in a low voice:
"I am doing as much as my place is worth; but I want the money; take
the table in the corner at the top here; keep yourselves quiet, and
don't take no notice of nobody, least of all of him who'll be next
you."
{616}
She now opened the door, and I saw Jones slip some more money into her
hand, which she received with a short grunt and a nod, and then closed
the door upon us.
The room was divided like that of an ordinary coffee-shop into box
compartments; the one in the right-hand corner by the door was empty,
and we entered it, carrying our glasses and pipes with us. We seated
ourselves at the end of the two benches opposite each other, and then
glanced round. In the box _vis-a-vis_ were two rough-looking fellows,
whom I took to be real followers of our pretended calling--the sea.
They returned our gaze suspiciously enough, and we could hear one
whisper to the other, "Who's them coves?" and the answer "Dunno; none
of _us_." But the next moment my attention was diverted to the voices
in the box next to ours.
"Did you see _her_?" It was De Vos who spoke, I felt sure.
"Not I, my God! not I," answered a deep hoarse voice. "It's ten years
since she and I met, and I'd go to my grave sooner than we should meet
again. Mind you, the day when her cold cruel eyes rest on me will be a
fatal day for me. Faugh! I've passed through as much bloodshed as it's
ever given one man to encounter in his life, and never flinched; but I
tell you, Sullivan, the thought of meeting her face to face seems to
freeze the life-blood of my heart."
"Do you think she had a hand in this, O'Brian?"
"Who can tell? She did not pause once; what should stop her again?"
"The fear of you."
"She sees no reason to fear. She believes I'm still over _there_,
where she sent me."
"And the young fellow, _my_ man, does he know anything?"
"Again how can I tell? But I should say not. How could _she_ enlighten
_him_?"
"Then he is--"
"Their son."
A pause succeeded. Meanwhile Jones had engaged in a sort of dumb-show
with me to throw the men opposite off the scent, by passing papers and
money backwards and forwards, and apparently making calculations with
his pencil; in reality I saw he was taking notes. Presently De Vos
spoke again.
"Well, let's drink to the heir, old boy; and so long as I can make him
play the piper, why thin it's myself that will, and bedad to him."
His Irishisms, be it observed, were intermittent.
"Long life to the heir!" cried the two voices simultaneously; and
there was a clash of glasses.
"What's the time of day by your ticker?" asked De Vos a few moments
afterward.
"Just upon eleven. The lad was to be here by then, wasn't he?"
"Yes, by eleven. I'd like to know what he wants with me now."
Jones here took up his cap, buttoned his coat, quietly opened the
door, and went out; I following him, of course. He threw a
good-humored nod to the woman, who still stood behind the bar, and I
did the same; but he never spoke until we were some yards from "Noah's
ark."
"You may be thankful, sir," he then said in a low voice, "to have got
out safely and unmolested. That's the worst haunt of some of the worst
characters in London; and they're banded together so as to shut out
every one as don't belong to them. There's been a Providence, sir, in
it all," raising his cap, "depend upon it. Now we must see if we can
stop this lad whom they are expecting. We'll talk the matter over
afterward."
Just then a boy came up running at full speed.
"Halt!" cried Jones, laying his hand on the lad's shoulder. "What
makes you so late?"
"What's the odds to you? Let me go," replied the boy, with a mixture
of impudence and cunning in his face. "I'm not not bound for you."
"You're bound for 'Noah's Ark,' though."
{617}
"Are you Mr. Sullivan?"
"Of course I am."
"Oh! then here's the letter, and you're to see if it's all right."
"All right," said Detective Jones, opening the note and glancing at
its contents; "tell the gentleman I'll be there. Here's for you, young
Codlings," dropping a half-crown into the boy's hand.
"Five shillings, and not a stiver less, is my fare."
"Here you are then, you small imp of iniquity;" and another coin of
similar value found its way into the ragamuffin's pocket.
He cut a caper, turned head over heels, and was gone.
And now Jones tore on breathlessly till we were safe out of
Blue-Anchor Lane and had reached Paradise Row, where a policeman was
standing at the corner. Jones took him aside for a minute, and then
rejoined me.
"We'll hail the first cab, sir, in Spa Road, and drive to your home,
if you've no objection."
This we did; and as soon as we had started he took a small
candle-lantern from his pocket, lit it, and then handed me the note to
read which he had taken from the boy. It contained but few words; no
names used, no address, no signature, and simply desired the person
addressed to meet the writer the following day at the usual place and
hour. What clue was there in that to the dark mystery we were bent on
solving? Only this, and I put it into words:
"Great heavens! it is Lister Wilmot's handwriting!"
TO BE CONTINUED.
------
[ORIGINAL.]
THE MARTYR.
Serene above the world he stands,
Uplift to heaven on wings of prayer:
Across his breast his folded hands
Recall the cross he loved to bear.
Upon his upturned brow the light
Flows like the smile of God: he sees
A flash of wings that daze his sight,
He hears seraphic melodies.
In vain the cruel crowd may roar,
In vain the cruel flames may hiss:
Like seas that lash a distant shore,
They faintly pierce his sphering bliss.
He hears them, and he does not hear--
His fleshly bonds are loosened all--
No earthly sound can claim the ear
That listens for his Father's call.
It comes--and swift the spirit spurns,
His quivering lips and soars away;
The blind crowd roars, the blind fire burns,
While God receives their fancied prey.
D. A. C.
------
{618}
From The Month.
ECCE <DW25>. [Footnote 131]
[Footnote 131: "Ecce <DW25>." A Survey of the Life and Work of Jesus
Christ. Macmillan. 1866.]
[The London _Reader_ says the following article is from the pen of
the Very Rev. Dr. Newman.--Ed. C.W.]
The word "remarkable" has been so hacked of late in theological
criticism--nearly as much so as "earnest" and "thoughtful"--that we do
not like to make use of it on the present occasion without an apology.
In truth, it presents itself as a very convenient epithet, whenever we
do not like to commit ourselves to any definite judgment on a subject
before us, and prefer to spread over it a broad neutral tint to
painting it distinctly white, red, or black. A man, or his work, or
his deed, is "remarkable" when he produces an effect; be he effective
for good or for evil, for truth or for falsehood--a point which, as
far as that expression goes, we leave it for others or for the future
to determine. Accordingly it is just the word to use in the instance
of a volume in which what is trite and what is novel, what is striking
and what is startling, what is sound and what is untrustworthy, what
is deep and what is shallow, are so mixed up together, or at least so
vaguely suggested, or so perplexingly confessed, which has so much of
occasional force, of circumambient glitter, of pretence and of
seriousness, as to make it impossible either with a good conscience to
praise it, or without harshness and unfairness to condemn. Such a book
is at least likely to be effective, whatever else it is or is not; and
if it is effective, it may be safely called remarkable, and therefore
we apply the epithet "remarkable" to this "Ecce <DW25>."
It is remarkable, then, on account of the sensation which it has made
in religious circles. In the course of a few months it has reached a
third edition, though it is a fair-sized octavo and not an over-cheap
one. And it has received the praise of critics and reviewers of very
distinct shades of opinion. Such a reception must be owing either to
the book itself or to the circumstances of the day in which it has
appeared, or to both of these causes together. Or, as seems to be the
case, the needs of the day have become a call for some such work; and
the work, on its appearance, has been thankfully welcomed, on account
of its professed object, by those whose needs called for it. The
author includes himself in the number of these; and, while providing
for his own wants, he has ministered to theirs. This is what we
especially mean by calling his book "remarkable."
Disputants may maintain, if they please, that religious doubt is our
natural, our normal state; that to cherish doubts is our duty that to
complain of them is impatience; that to dread them is cowardice; that
to overcome them is inveracity; that it is even a happy state, a state
of calm philosophic enjoyment, to be conscious of them--but after all,
necessary or not, such a state is not natural, and not happy, if the
voice of mankind is to decide the question. English minds, in
particular, have too much of a religious temper in them, as a natural
gift, to acquiesce for any long time in positive, active doubt. For
doubt and devotion are incompatible with each other; every doubt, be
it greater or less, stronger or weaker, involuntary as well as
voluntary, acts upon {619} devotion, so far forth, as water sprinkled,
or dashed, or poured out upon a flame, Real and proper doubt kills
faith, and devotion with it; and even involuntary or half-deliberate
doubt, though it does not actually kill faith, goes far to kill
devotion; and religion without devotion is little better than a
burden, and soon becomes a superstition. Since, then, this is a day of
objection and of doubt about the intellectual basis of revealed truth,
it follows that there is a great deal of secret discomfort and
distress in the religions portion of the community, the result of that
general curiosity in speculation and inquiry which has been the growth
among us of the last twenty or thirty years.
The people of this country, being Protestants, appeal to Scripture,
when a religious question arises, as their ultimate informant and
decisive authority in all such matters; but who is to decide for them
the previous question, that Scripture is really such an authority?
When, then, as at this time, its divine authority is the very point to
be determined, that is, the character and extent of its inspiration
and its component parts, then they find themselves at sea, without
possessing any power over the direction of their course. Doubting
about the authority of Scripture, they doubt about its substantial
truth; doubting about its truth, they have doubts concerning the
objects which it sets before their faith, about the historical
accuracy and objective reality of the picture which it presents to us
of our Lord. We are not speaking of wilful doubting but of those
painful misgivings, greater or less, to which we have already alluded.
Religious Protestants, when they think calmly on the subject, can
hardly conceal from themselves that they have a house without logical
foundations, which contrives indeed for the present to stand, but
which may go any day--and where are they then?
Of course Catholics will tell them to receive the canon of Scripture
on the authority of the church, in the spirit of St. Augustine's
well-known words: "I should not believe the gospel, were I not moved
by the authority of the Catholic Church." But who, they ask, is to be
voucher in turn for the church and St. Augustine? is it not as
difficult to prove the authority of the church and her doctors as the
authority of the Scriptures? We Catholics answer, and with reason, in
the negative; but, since they cannot be brought to agree with us here,
what argumentative ground is open to them? Thus they seem drifting,
slowly perhaps, but surely, in the direction of scepticism.
It is under these circumstances that they are invited, in the volume
before us, to betake themselves to the contemplation of our Lord's
character, as it is recorded by the evangelists, as carrying with it
its own evidence, dispensing with extrinsic proof, and claiming
authoritatively by itself the faith and devotion of all to whom it is
presented. Such an argument, of course, is as old as Christianity
itself; the young man in the Gospel calls our Lord "Good Master," and
St. Peter introduces him to the first Gentile converts as one who
"went about doing good;" and in these last times we can refer to the
testimony even of unbelievers in behalf of an argument as simple as it
is constraining. "Si la vie et la mort de Socrate sont d'un sage,"
says Rousseau, "la vie et la mort de Jesus sont d'un Dieu." And he
clenches the argument by observing, that, were the picture a mere
conception of the sacred writers, "l'inventeur en serait plus etonnant
que le heros." Its especial force lies in its directness; it comes to
the point at once, and concentrates in itself evidence, doctrine, and
devotion. In theological language, it is the _motivum credibilitatis_,
the _objectum materiale_ and the _formale_, all in one; it unites
human reason and supernatural faith in one complex act; and it comes
home to all men, educated and ignorant, young and old. And it is the
point to which, after all {620} and in fact, all religious minds tend,
and in which they ultimately rest, even if they do not start from it.
Without an intimate apprehension of the personal character of our
Saviour, what professes to be faith is little more than an act of
ratiocination. If faith is to live, it must love; it must lovingly
live in the author of faith as a true and living being, _in Deo vivo
et vero_; according to the saying of the Samaritans to their
towns-woman: "We now believe, not for thy saying, for we ourselves
have heard him." Many doctrines may be held implicitly; but to see him
as if intuitively is the very promise and gift of him who is the
object of the intuition. We are constrained to believe when it is he
that speaks to us about himself.
Such undeniably is the characteristic of divine faith viewed in
itself; but here we are concerned, not simply with faith, but with its
logical antecedents; and the question returns on which we have already
touched, as a difficulty with Protestants--how can our Lord's life, as
recorded in the Gospels, be a logical ground of faith, unless we set
out with assuming the truth of those Gospels; that is, without
assuming as proved the original matter of doubt? And Protestant
apologists, it may be urged--Paley for instance--show their sense of
this difficulty when they place the argument drawn from our Lord's
character only among the auxiliary evidences of Christianity. Now the
following answer may fairly be made to this objection; nor need we
grudge Protestants the use of it, for, as will appear in the sequel,
it proves too much for their purpose, as being an argument for the
divinity not only of Christ's mission, but of that of his church also.
However, we say this by the way.
It may be maintained then, that, making as large an allowance as the
most sceptical mind, when pressed to state its demands in full, would
desire, we are at least safe in asserting that the books of the New
Testament, taken as a whole, existed about the middle of the second
century, and were then received by Christians, or were in the way of
being received, and nothing else but them was received, as the
authoritative record of the origin and rise of their religion. In that
first age they were the only account of the mode in which Christianity
was introduced to the world. Internal as well as external evidence
sanctions us in so speaking. Four Gospels, the book of the acts of the
Apostles, various Apostolic writings, made up then, as now, our sacred
books. Whether there was a book more or less, say even an important
book, does not affect the general character of the religion as those
books set it forth. Omit one or other of the Gospels, and three or
four Epistles, and the outline and nature of its objects and its
teaching remain what they were before the omission. The moral
peculiarities, if particular, of its Founder are, on the whole,
identical, whether we learn them from St. Matthew, St. John, St.
Peter, or St. Paul. He is not in one book a Socrates, in another a
Zeno, and in a third an Epicurus. Much less is the religion changed or
obscured by the loss of particular chapters or verses, or even by
inaccuracy in fact, or by error in opinion, (supposing _per
impossible_ such a charge could be made good,) in particular portions
of a book. For argument's sake, suppose that the three first Gospels
are an accidental collection of traditions or legends, for which no
one is responsible, and in which Christians put faith because there
was nothing else to put faith in. This is the limit to which extreme
scepticism can proceed, and we are willing to commence our argument by
granting it. Still, starting at this disadvantage, we should be
prepared to argue, that if, in spite of this, and after all, there be
shadowed out in these anonymous and fortuitous documents a teacher
_sui generis_, distinct, consistent, and original, then does that
picture, thus accidentally resulting, for the very reason {621} of its
accidental composition, only become more marvellous; then he is an
historical fact and again a supernatural or divine fact--historical
from the consistency of the representation, and because the time
cannot be assigned when it was not received as a reality; and
supernatural, in proportion as the qualities, with which he is
invested in those writings, are incompatible with what it is
reasonable or possible to ascribe to human nature viewed simply in
itself. Let these writings be as open to criticism, whether as to
their origin or their text, as sceptics can maintain; nevertheless the
representation in question is there, and forces upon the mind a
conviction that it records a fact, and a superhuman fact, just as the
reflection of an object in a stream remains in its definite form,
however rapid the current, and however many the ripples, and is a sure
warrant to us of the presence of the object on the bank, though that
object be out of sight.
Such, we conceive, though stated in our own words, is the argument
drawn out in the pages before us, or rather such is the ground on
which the argument is raised; and the interest which it has excited
lies, not in its novelty, but in the particular mode in which it is
brought before the reader, in the originality and preciseness of
certain strokes by which is traced out for us the outline of the
divine teacher. These strokes are not always correct; they are
sometimes gratuitous, sometimes derogatory to their object; but they
are always determinate; and, being such, they present an old argument
before us with a certain freshness, which, because it is old, is
necessary for its being effective.
We do not wonder at all, then, at the sensation which the volume is
said to have caused at Oxford, and among the Anglicans of the Oxford
school, after the wearisome doubt and disquiet of the last ten years;
for it has opened the prospect of a successful issue of inquiries in
an all-important province of thought, where there seemed to be no
thoroughfare. Distinct as are the liberal and catholicising parties in
the Anglican Church, both in their principles and their policy, it
must not be supposed that they are as distinct in the members that
compose them. No line of demarcation can be drawn between the one
collection of men and the other, in fact; for no two minds are
altogether alike, and, individually, Anglicans have each his own shade
of opinion, and belong partly to this school, partly to that. Or,
rather, there is a large body of men who are neither the one nor the
other; they cannot be called an intermediate party, for they have no
discriminating watch-words; they range from those who are almost
Catholic to those who are almost liberals. They are not liberals,
because they do not glory in a state of doubt; they cannot profess to
be "Anglo-Catholics," because they are not prepared to give an eternal
assent to all that is put forth by the church as truth of revelation.
These are the men who, if they could, would unite old ideas with new;
who cannot give up tradition, yet are loth to shut the door to
progress; who look for a more exact adjustment of faith with reason
than has hitherto been attained; who love the conclusions of Catholic
theology better than the proofs, and the methods of modern thought
better than its results; and who, in the present wide unsettlement of
religious opinion, believe indeed, or wish to believe, scripture and
orthodox doctrine, taken as a whole, and cannot get themselves to avow
any deliberate dissent from any part of either, but still, not knowing
how to defend their belief with logical exactness, or at least feeling
that there are large unsatisfied objections lying against parts of it,
or having misgivings lest there should be such, acquiesce in what is
called a practical belief, that is, believe in revealed truths, only
because belief in them is the safest course, because they are
probable, and because belief in {622} consequence is a duty, not as if
they felt absolutely certain, though they will not allow themselves to
be actually in doubt. Such is about the description to be given of
them as a class, though, as we have said, they so materially differ
from each other, that no general account of them can be applied
strictly to any individual in their body.
Now, it is to this large class which we have been describing that such
a work as that before us, in spite of the serious errors which they
will not be slow to recognize in it, comes as a friend in need. They
do not stumble at the author's inconsistencies or shortcomings; they
are arrested by his professed purpose, and are profoundly moved by his
successful hits (as they may be called) toward fulfilling it. Remarks
on the gospel history, such as Paley's they feel to be casual and
superficial; such as Rousseau's, to be vague and declamatory: they
wish to justify with their intellect all that they believe with their
heart; they cannot separate their ideas of religion from its revealed
object; but they have an aching dissatisfaction within them, that they
apprehend him so dimly, when they would fain (as it were) see and
touch him as well as hear. When, then, they have logical grounds
presented to them for holding that the recorded picture of our Lord is
its own evidence, that it carries with it its own reality and
authority, that his "revelatio" is "revelata" in the very act of being
a "revelatio," it is as if he himself said to them, as he once said to
his disciples, "It is I, be not afraid;" and the clouds at once clear
off, and the waters subside, and the land is gained for which they are
looking out.
The author before us, then, has the merit of promising what, if he
could fulfil it, would entitle him to the gratitude of thousands. We
do not say, we are very far from thinking, that he has actually
accomplished so high an enterprise, though he seems to be ambitious
enough to hope that he has not come far short of it. He somewhere
calls his book a treatise; he would have done better to call it an
essay; nor need he have been ashamed of a word which Locke has used in
his work on the Human Understanding. Before concluding, we shall take
occasion to express our serious sense, how very much his execution
falls below his purpose; but certainly it is a great purpose which he
sets before him, and for that he is to be praised. And there is at
least this singular merit in his performance, as he has given it to
the public, that he is clear-sighted and fair enough to view our
Lord's work in its true light, as including in it the establishment of
a visible kingdom or church. In proportion, then, as we shall
presently find it our duty to pass some severe remarks upon his
volume, as it comes before us, so do we feel bound, before doing so,
to give some specimens of it in that point of view in which we
consider it really to subserve the cause of revealed truth. And in the
sketch which we are now about to give of the first steps of his
investigation, we must not be understood to make him responsible for
the language in which we shall exhibit them to our readers, and which
will unavoidably involve our own corrections of his ailment, and our
own coloring.
Among a people, then, accustomed by the most sacred traditions of
their religion to a belief in the appearance, from time to time, of
divine messengers for their instruction and reformation, and to the
expectation of one such messenger to come, the last and greatest of
all, who should also be their king and deliverer as well as their
teacher, suddenly is found, after a long break in the succession and a
period of national degradation, a prophet of the old stamp, in one of
the deserts of the country---John, the son of Zachary. He announces
the promised kingdom as close at hand, calls his countrymen to
repentance, and institutes a rite symbolical of it. The people seem
disposed to take him for the destined Saviour; but he points out to
them a {623} private person in the crowd which is flocking about him;
and henceforth the interest which his own preaching has excited
centres in that other. Thus our Lord is introduced to the notice of
his countrymen.
Thus brought before the world, he opens his mission. What is the first
impression it makes upon us? Admiration of its singular simplicity
both as to object and work. Such of course ought to be its character,
if it was to be the fulfilment of the ancient, long-expected promise;
and such it was, as our Lord proclaimed it. Other men, who do a work,
do not set about it as their object; they make several failures; they
are led on to it by circumstances; they miscalculate their powers; or
they are drifted from the first in a direction different from that
which they had chosen; they do most where they are expected to do
least. But our Lord said and did. "He formed one plan and executed
it," (p. 18). Next, what was that plan? Let us consider the force of
the words in which, as the Baptist before him, he introduced his
ministry; "The kingdom of God is at hand." What was meant by the
kingdom of God? "The conception was no new one, but familiar to every
Jew," (p. 19.) At the first formation of the nation and state of the
Israelites the Almighty had been their king; when a line of earthly
kings was introduced, then God spoke by the prophets. The existence of
the theocracy was the very constitution and boast of Israel, as
limited monarchy, liberty, and equality are the boast respectively of
certain modern nations. Moreover, the gospel proclamation ran,
"Poenitentiam agite; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;" here again
was another and recognized token of a theophany; for the mission of a
prophet, as we have said above, was commonly a call to reformation and
expiation of sin. A divine mission, then, such as our Lord's, was a
falling back upon the original covenant between God and his people;
but next, while it was an event of old and familiar occurrence, it
ever had carried with it in its past instances something new, in
connection with the circumstances under which it took place. The
prophets were accustomed to give interpretations, or to introduce
modifications of the letter of the law, to add to its conditions and
to enlarge its application. It was to be expected, then, that now,
when the new prophet, to whom the Baptist pointed, opened his
commission, he too, in like manner, would be found to be engaged in a
restoration, but in a restoration which should also be a religious
advance; and that the more if he really was the special, final prophet
of the theocracy, to whom all former prophets had looked forward, and
in whom their long and august line was to be summed up and perfected.
In proportion as his work was to be more signal, so would his new
revelations be wider and more wonderful.
Did our Lord fulfil these expectations? Yes, there was this
peculiarity in his mission, that he came not only as one of the
prophets in the kingdom of God, but as the king himself of that
kingdom. Thus his mission involves the most exact return to the
original polity of Israel, which the appointment of Saul had
disarranged, while it recognizes also the line of prophets, and
infuses a new spirit into the law. Throughout his ministry our Lord
claimed and received the title of king, which no prophet ever had done
before. On his birth, the wise men came to worship "the king of the
Jews;" "thou art the Son of God, thou art the king of Israel," cried
Nathanael after his baptism; and on his cross the charge recorded
against him was that he professed to be "king of the Jews." "During
his whole public life," says the author, "he is distinguished from the
other prominent characters of Jewish history by his unbounded personal
pretensions. He calls himself habitually king and master. He claims
expressly the character of that divine Messiah for which the ancient
prophets had directed the nation to look," (page 25.)
{624}
He is, then, a King, as well as a Prophet; but is he as one of the old
heroic kings, David or Solomon? Had such been his pretension, he had
not, in his own words, "discerned the signs of the times." It would
have been a false step in him, into which other would-be champions of
Israel, before and after him, actually fell, and in consequence
failed. But here this young Prophet is from the first distinct,
decided, and original. His contemporaries, indeed, the wisest, the
most experienced, were wedded to the notion of a revival of the
barbaric kingdom. "Their heads were full of the languid dreams of
commentators, the impracticable pedantries of men who live in the
past," (p. 27.) But he gave to the old prophetic promises an
interpretation which they could undeniably bear, but which they did
not immediately suggest; which we can maintain to be true, while we
can deny them to be imperative. He had his own prompt, definite
conception of the restored theocracy; it was his own, and not
another's; it was suited to the new age; it was triumphantly carried
out in the event.
In what, then, did he consider his royalty to consist? First, what was
it not? It did not consist in the ordinary functions of royalty; it
did not prevent his payment of tribute to Caesar; it did not make him
a judge in questions of criminal or of civil law, in a question of
adultery, or in the adjudication of an inheritance; nor did it give
him the command of armies. Then perhaps, after all, it was but a
figurative royalty, as when the Eridanus is called "fluviorum rex," or
Aristotle "the prince of philosophers." No; it was not a figurative
royalty either. To call one's self a king, without being one, is
playing with edged tools--as in the story of the innkeeper's son, who
was put to death for calling himself "heir to the crown." Christ
certainly knew what he was saying. "He had provoked the accusation of
rebellion against the Roman government: he must have known that the
language he used would be interpreted so. Was there then nothing
substantial in the royalty he claimed? Did he die for a metaphor?" (p.
28.) He meant what he said, and therefore his kingdom was literal and
real; it was visible; but what were its visible prerogatives, if they
were not those in which earthly royalty commonly consists? In truth he
passed by the lesser powers of royalty, to claim the higher. He
claimed certain divine and transcendent functions of the original
theocracy, which had been in abeyance since that theocracy had been
infringed, which even to David had not been delegated, which had never
been exercised except by the Almighty. God had created, first the
people, next the state, which he deigned to govern. "The origin of
other nations is lost in antiquity," (p. 33;) but "this people," runs
the sacred word, "have I formed for myself." And "He who first called
the nation did for it the second work of a king: he gave it a law,"
(p. 34) Now it is very striking to observe that these two
incommunicable attributes of divine royalty, as exemplified in the
history of the Israelites, are the very two which our Lord assumed. He
was the maker and the lawgiver of his subjects. He said in the
commencement of his ministry, "_Follow_ me;" and he added, "and I will
make you"--you in turn--"fishers of men." And the next we read of him
is, that his disciples came to him on the Mount, and he opened his
mouth and _taught_ them. And so again, at the end of it, "Go ye, make
_disciples_ of all nations, _teaching_ them." "Thus the very words for
which the [Jewish] nation chiefly hymned their Jehovah, he undertook
in his name to do. He undertook to be the father of an everlasting
state, and the legislator of a world-wide society," (p. 36;) that is,
showing himself, according to the prophetic announcement, to be
"_Admirabilis, consiliarius, pater futuri saeculi, princeps pacis_."
{625}
To these two claims he adds a third: first, he chooses the subjects of
his kingdom; next, he gives them a law; but thirdly, he judges
them--judges them in a far truer and fuller sense than in the old
kingdom even the Almighty judged his people. The God of Israel
ordained national rewards and punishments for national obedience or
transgression; he did not judge his subjects one by one; but our Lord
takes upon himself the supreme and final judgment of every one of his
subjects, not to speak of the whole human race (though, from the
nature of the case, this function cannot belong to his visible
kingdom.) "He considered, in short, heaven and hell to be in his
hand," (p, 40.)
We shall mention one further function of the new King and his new
kingdom: its benefits are even bound up with the maintenance of this
law of political unity. "To organize a society, and to bind the
members of it together by the closest ties, were the business of his
life. For this reason it was that he called men away from their home,
imposed upon some a wandering life, upon others the sacrifice of their
property, and endeavored by all means to divorce them from their
former connections, in order that they might find a new home in the
church. For this reason he instituted a solemn initiation, and for
this reason he refused absolutely to any one a dispensation from it.
For this reason, too . . . he established a common feast, which was
through all ages to remind Christians of their indissoluble union,"
(p. 92.) But _cui bono_ is a visible kingdom, when the great end of
our Lord's ministry is moral advancement and preparation for a future
state? It is easy to understand, for instance, how a sermon may
benefit, or personal example, or religious friends, or household
piety. We can learn to imitate a saint or a martyr, we can cherish a
lesson, we can study a treatise, we can obey a rule; but what is the
definite advantage to a preacher or a moralist of an external
organization, of a visible kingdom? Yet Christ says, "Seek ye _first_
the kingdom of God," as well as "his justice." Socrates wished to
improve men, but he laid no stress on their acting in concert in order
to secure that improvement; on the contrary, the Christian law is
political, as certainly as it is moral. Why is this? It arises out of
the intimate relation between him and his subjects, which, in bringing
them all to him as their common Father, necessarily brings them to
each other. Our Lord says, "Where two or three are gathered together
in my name, I am in the midst of them." Fellowship between his
followers is made a distinct object and duty, because it is a means,
according to the provisions of his system, by which in some special
way they are brought near to him. This is declared, still more
strikingly than in the text we have just quoted, in the parable of the
vine and its branches, and in that (if it is to be called a parable)
of the Bread of Life. The Almighty King of Israel was ever, indeed,
invisibly present in the glory above the Ark, but he did not manifest
himself there or anywhere else as a present cause of spiritual
strength to his people; but the new king is not only ever present, but
to every one of his subjects individually is he a first element and
perennial source of life. He is not only the head of his kingdom, but
also its animating principle and its centre of power. The author whom
we are reviewing does not quite reach the great doctrine here
suggested, but he goes near it in the following passage: "Some men
have appeared who have been as 'levers to uplift the earth and roll it
in another course." Homer by creating literature, Socrates by creating
science, Caesar by carrying civilization inland from the shores of the
Mediterranean, Newton by starting science upon a career of steady
progress, may be said to have attained this eminence. {626} But these
men gave a single impact like that which is conceived to have first
set the planets in motion. Christ claims to be a perpetual attractive
power, like the sun, which determines their orbit. They contributed to
men some discovery, and passed away; Christ's discovery is himself. To
humanity struggling with its passions and its destiny he says, cling
to me--cling ever closer to me. If we believe St. John, he
represented himself as the light of the world, as the shepherd of the
souls of men, as the way to immortality, as the vine or life-tree of
humanity,' (p. 177.) He ends this beautiful passage, of which we have
already quoted as much as our limits allow, by saying that "He
instructed his followers to hope for life from feeding on his body and
blood."
_O si sic omnia!_ Is it not hard, that, after following with pleasure
a train of thought so calculated to warm all Christian hearts, and to
create in them both admiration and sympathy for the writer, we must
end our notice of him in a different tone, and express as much dissent
from him and as serious blame of him as we have hitherto been showing
satisfaction with his object, his intention, and the general outline
of his argument? But so it is. In what remains to be said we are
obliged to speak of his work in terms so sharp that they may seem to
be out of keeping with what has gone before. With whatever abruptness
in our composition, we must suddenly shift the scene, and manifest our
disapprobation of portions of his book as plainly as we have shown an
interest in it. We have praised it in various points of view. It has
stirred the hearts of many; it has recognized a need, and gone in the
right direction for supplying it. It serves as a token and a hopeful
token, of what is going on in the minds of numbers of men external to
the church. It is substantially a good book, and, we trust, will work
for good. Especially, as we have seen, is it interesting to the
Catholic as acknowledging the visible church as our Lord's own
creation, as the direct fruit of his teaching, and the destined
instrument of his purposes. We do not know how to speak in an
unfriendly tone of an author who has done so much as this; but at the
same time, when we come to examine his argument in its details, and
study his chapters one by one, we find, in spite of, and mixed up with
what is true and original, and even putting aside his patent
theological errors, so much bad logic, so much of rash and gratuitous
assumption, so much of half-digested thought, that we are obliged to
conclude that it would have been much wiser in him if, instead of
publishing what he seems to confess, or rather to proclaim, to be the
jottings of his first researches upon sacred territory, he had waited
till he had carefully traversed and surveyed and mapped the whole of
it. We now proceed to give a few instances of the faults of which we
complain.
His opening remarks will serve in illustration. In p. 41 he says, "We
have not rested upon _single_ passages, nor drawn from the _fourth
gospel_." This, we suppose, must be his reason for ignoring the
passage in Luke ii. 49, "Did you not know that I must be about my
father's business?" for he directly contradicts it, by gratuitously
imagining that our Lord came for St. John's baptism with the same
intention as the penitents around him; and that, in spite of his own
words, which we suppose are to be taken as another "single passage,"
"So it becometh us to fulfil all justice," (Matt. iii. 15.) It must be
on this principle of ignoring single passages such as these, even
though they admit of combination, that he goes on to say of our Lord,
that "in the agitation of mind caused by his baptism, and by the
Baptist's designation of him as the future prophet, he retired into
the wilderness," and there "he matured the plan of action which we see
him executing from the moment of his return into society," (p. 9;) and
that not till then was he "conscious of miraculous power," {627} (p.
12.) This neglect of the sacred text, we repeat must be allowed him,
we suppose, under color of his acting out his rule of abstaining from
single passages and from the fourth gospel. Let us allow it; but at
least he ought to adduce passages, single or many, for what he
actually does assert. He must not be allowed arbitrarily to add to the
history, as well as cautiously to take from it. Where, then, we ask,
did he learn that our Lord's baptism caused him "agitation of mind,"
that he "matured his plan of action in the wilderness," and that he
then first was "conscious of miraculous power"? But again: it seems he
is not to refer to "single passages or the fourth gospel;" yet,
wonderful to say, he actually does open his formal discussion of the
sacred history by referring to a passage from that very gospel--nay,
to a particular text, which is only not a "single" text, because it is
half a text, and half a text, such that, had he taken the whole of it,
he would have been obliged to admit that the part which he puts aside
just runs counter to his interpretation of the part, which he insists
on. The words are these, as they stand in the Protestant version:
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Now,
it is impossible to deny that "which taketh away," etc., fixes and
limits the sense of "the Lamb of God;" but our author notices the
latter half of the sentence, only in order to put aside the light it
throws upon the former half; and instead of the Baptist's own
interpretation of the title which he gives to our Lord, he substitutes
another, radically different, which he selects for himself out of one
of the psalms. He explains "the lamb" by the well-known image, which
represents the Almighty as a shepherd and his earthly servants as
sheep--innocent, safe, and happy under his protection. "The Baptist's
opinion of Christ's character, then," he says, "is summed up for us in
the title he gives him--the Lamb of God, taking away the sins of the
world. There _seems_ to be, in the last part of this description, an
allusion to the usages of the Jewish sacrificial system; and, in order
to explain it fully, it would be necessary to anticipate much which
will come more conveniently later in this treatise. _But_ when we
remember that the Baptist's mind was _doubtless_ full of imagery drawn
from the Old Testament, and that the conception of a lamb of God makes
the subject of one of the most striking of the psalms, _we shall
perceive what he meant to convey, by this phrase,_" (pp. 5, 6.) This
is like saying, "Isaiah declares, 'mine eyes have seen the king, the
lord of hosts;' _but_, considering that doubtless the prophet was well
acquainted with the first and second books of Samuel, and that Saul,
David, and Solomon are the three great kings there represented, we
shall easily perceive that by 'seeing the king,' he meant to say that
he saw Uzziah, king of Judah, in the last year of whose reign he had
the vision. As to the phrase 'the lord of hosts,' which seems to refer
to the Almighty, we will consider its meaning by and by:"--but, in
truth, it is difficult to invent a paralogism, in its gratuitous
inconsecutiveness parallel to his own.
We must own, that, with every wish to be fair to this author, we never
recovered from the perplexity of mind which this passage, in the very
threshold of his book, inflicted on us. It needed not the various
passages which follow it in the work, constructed on the same
argumentative model, to prove to us that he was not only an
_incognito_, but an enigma. "Ergo" is the symbol of the logician--what
science does a writer profess, whose symbols, profusely scattered
through his pages, are "probably," "it must be," "doubtless," "on the
hypothesis," "we may suppose," and "it is natural to think," and that
at the very time that he pointedly discards the comments of school
theologians? Is it possible that he can mean us to set aside the
glosses of all who went {628} before in his own favor, and to exchange
our old lamps for his new ones? Men have been at fault, when trying to
determine whether he was an orthodox believer on his road to
liberalism, or a liberal on his road to orthodoxy: this doubtless may
be to some a perplexity; but our own difficulty is, whether he comes
to us as an investigator or a prophet, as one unequal or superior to
the art of reasoning. Undoubtedly, he is an able man; but what can he
possibly mean by startling us with such eccentricities of
argumentation as are familiar with him? Addison somewhere bids his
readers bear in mind, that if he is ever especially dull, he always
has a special reason for being so; and it is difficult to reconcile
one's imagination to the supposition that this anonymous writer, with
so much deep thought as he certainly evidences, has not some recondite
reason for seeming so inconsequent, and does not move by some deep
subterraneous processes of argument, which, if once brought to light,
would clear him of the imputation of castle-building.
There is always a danger of misconceiving an author who has no
antecedents by which we may measure him. Taking his work as it lies,
we can but wish that he had kept his imagination under control; and
that he had more of the hard head of a lawyer and the patience of a
philosopher. He writes like a man who cannot keep from telling the
world his first thoughts, especially if they are clever or graceful;
he has come for the first time upon a strange world, and his remarks
upon it are too obvious to be called original, and too crude to
deserve the name of freshness. What can be more paradoxical than to
interpret our Lord's words to Nicodemus, "Unless a man be born again,"
and of the necessity of external religion, as a lesson to him to
profess his faith openly and not to visit him in secret? (p. 86.) What
can be more pretentious, not to say gaudy and even tawdry, than his
paraphrase of St. John's passage about the woman taken in adultery?
"In his burning embarrassment and confusion," he says, "he stooped
down so as to hide his face. . . . They had a glimpse perhaps of the
glowing blush upon his face, etc." (p. 104.)
We should be very sorry to use a severe word concerning an honest
inquirer after truth, as we believe this anonymous writer to be; and
we will confess that Catholics, kindly as they may wish to feel toward
him, are scarcely even able, from their very position, to give his
work the enthusiastic reception which it has received from some other
critics. The reason is plain; those alone can speak of it from a full
heart, who feel a need, and recognize in it a supply of that need. We
are not in the number of such; for they who have found have no need to
seek. Far be it from us to use language savoring of the leaven of the
Pharisees. We are not assuming a high place, because we thus speak, or
boasting of our security. Catholics are both deeper and shallower than
Protestants; but in neither case have they any call for a treatise
such as this "Ecce <DW25>." If they live to the world and the flesh,
then the faith which they profess, though it is true and distinct, is
dead; and their certainty about religious truth, however firm and
unclouded, is but shallow in its character, and flippant in its
manifestations. And in proportion, as they are worldly and sensual
will they be flippant and shallow. But their faith is as indelible as
the pigment which colors the skin, even though it is skin-deep. This
class of Catholics is not likely to take interest in a pictorial "Ecce
<DW25>." On the other hand, where the heart is alive with divine love,
faith is as deep as it is vigorous and joyous; and, as far as
Catholics are in this condition, they will feel no drawing toward a
work which is after all but an arbitrary and unsatisfactory dissection
of the object of their devotion. That individuals in their body maybe
{629} harassed with doubts, particularly in a day like this, we are
not denying; but, viewed as a body, Catholics from their religious
condition, are either too deep or too shallow to suffer from those
elementary difficulties, or that distress of mind, in which serious
Protestants are so often involved.
We confess, then, as Catholics, to some unavoidable absence of cordial
feeling in following the remarks of this author, though not to any
want of real sympathy; and we seem to be justified in our
indisposition by his manifest want of sympathy with us. If we feel
distant toward him, his own language about Catholicity, and (what may
be called) old Christianity, seems to show that that distance is one
of fact, one of mental position, not any fault in ourselves. Is it not
undeniable, that the very life of personal religion among Catholics
lies in a knowledge of the Gospels? It is the character and conduct of
our Lord, his words, his deeds, his sufferings, his work, which are
the very food of our devotion and rule of our life. "Behold the Man,"
which this author feels to be an object novel enough to write a book
about, has been the contemplation of Catholics from that first age
when St. Paul said, "The life that I now live in the flesh, I live in
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered himself for
me." As the Psalms have ever been the manual of our prayer, so have
the Gospels been the subject-matter of our meditation. In these latter
times especially, since St. Ignatius, they have been divided into
portions, and arranged in a scientific order, not unlike that which
the Psalms have received in the Breviary. To contemplate our Lord in
his person and his history is with us the exercise of every retreat,
and the devotion of every morning. All this is certainly simple matter
of fact; but the writer we are reviewing lives and thinks at so great
distance from us as not to be cognizant of what is so patent and so
notorious a truth. He seems to imagine that the faith of a Catholic is
the mere profession of a formula. He deems it important to disclaim in
the outset of his work all reference to the theology of the church. He
eschews with much preciseness, as something almost profane, the
dogmatism of former ages. He wishes "to trace" our Lord's "biography
from point to point, and accept those conclusions--not which church
doctors or even Apostles have sealed with their authority--but which
the facts themselves, critically weighed, appear to warrant."
(Preface.) Now, what Catholics, what church doctors, as well as
Apostles, have ever lived on, is not any number of theological canons
or decrees, but we repeat, the Christ himself, as he is represented in
concrete existence in the Gospels. Theological determinations about
our Lord are far more of the nature of landmarks or buoys to guide a
discursive mind in its reasonings, than to assist a devotional mind in
its worship. Common-sense, for instance, tell us what is meant by the
words, "My Lord and my God;" and a religious man, upon his knees,
requires no commentator; but against irreligious speculators, Arius or
Nestorius, a denunciation has been passed in ecumenical council, when
"science falsely so-called" encroached upon devotion. Has not this
been insisted on by all dogmatic Christians over and over again? Is it
not a representation as absolutely true as it is trite? We had fancied
that Protestants generally allowed the touching beauty of Catholic
hymns and meditations; and after all is there not that in all Catholic
churches which goes beyond any written devotion, whatever its force or
its pathos? Do we not believe in a presence in the sacred tabernacle,
not as a form of words, or as a notion, but as an object as real as we
are real? And if in that presence we need neither profession of faith
nor even manual of devotion, what appetite can we have for the
teaching of a writer who not only exalts his first thoughts about our
{630} Lord into professional lectures, but implies that the Catholic
Church has never known how to point him out to her children?
It may be objected, that we are making too much of so chance a slight
as his allusion in his preface to "church doctors" involves,
especially as he mentions apostles in connection with them; but it
would be affectation not to recognize in other places of his book an
undercurrent of antagonism to us, of which the passage already quoted
is but a first indication. Of course he has quite as much right as
another to take up an anti-catholic position, if he will; but we
understand him to be putting forth an investigation, not a polemical
argument and if, instead of keeping his eyes directed to his own
proper subject, he looks to the right or left to hit at those who view
it differently from himself, he is damaging the ethical force of a
composition which claims to be, and mainly is, a serious and manly
search after religious truth. Why cannot he let us alone? Of course he
cannot avoid seeing that the lines of his own investigation diverge
from those drawn by others, but he will have enough to do in defending
himself, without making others the object of his attack. He is
virtually opposing Voltaire, Strauss, Renan, Calvin, Wesley, Chalmers,
Erskine, and a host of other writers, but he does not denounce them;
why then does he single out, misrepresent, and anathematize a main
principle of orthodoxy? It is as if he could not keep his hand off us,
when we crossed his path. We are alluding to the following magisterial
passage:
"If he (our Lord) meant anything by his constant denunciation of
hypocrites, there is nothing which he would have visited with
sterner censure than that _short cut to belief_ which many persons
take, when, overwhelmed with the difficulties which beset their
minds, and afraid of damnation, they _suddenly_ resolve to strive no
longer, but, giving their minds a holiday, to rest content with
_saying_ that they believe, and acting as if they did. A melancholy
end of Christianity indeed! Can there be such a disfranchised pauper
class among the citizens of the New Jerusalem?" (p. 79.)
He adds shortly afterward:
"Assuredly, those who represent Christ as presenting to man an
abstruse theology, and saying to them peremptorily, 'believe or be
damned,' have the coarsest conception of the Saviour of the world,"
(p. 80.)
Thus he delivers himself; "Believe or be damned is so detestable a
doctrine, that if any man denies it is detestable, I pronounce him to
be a hypocrite; to be without any true knowledge of the Saviour of the
world; to be the object of his sternest censure; and to have no part
or place in the holy city, the New Jerusalem, the eternal heaven
above." Pretty well for a virtuous hater of dogmatism! We hope we
shall show less dictatorial arrogance than his, in the answer which we
intend to make to him.
Whether there are persons such as he describes, Catholic or
Protestants, converts to Catholicism or not--men who profess a faith
which they do not believe, under the notion that they shall be
eternally damned if they do not profess it without believing--we
really do not know--we never met with such; but since facts do not
concern us here so much as principles, let us, for argument's sake,
grant that there are. Our author believes they are not only "many,"
but enough to form a "class;" and he considers that they act in this
preposterous manner under the sanction, and in accordance with the
teaching, of the religious bodies to which they belong. Especially
there is a marked allusion in his words to the Athanasian creed and
the Catholic Church. Now we answer him thus:
Part of his charge against the teachers of dogma is, that they impose
on men as a duty, instead of believing, to "act as if they did"
believe; now in fact this is the very {631} kind of profession which,
if it is all that a candidate has to offer, absolutely shuts him out
from admission into Catholic communion. We suppose, that by belief of
a thing, this writer understands an inward conviction of its truth;
this being supposed, we plainly say that no priest is at liberty to
receive a man into the church, who has not a real internal belief, and
cannot say from his heart, that the things taught by the church are
true. On the other hand, as we have said above, it is the very
characteristic of the profession of faith made by numbers of educated
Protestants, and it is the utmost extent to which they are able to go
in believing, to hold, not that Christian doctrine is certainly true,
but that it has such a semblance of truth, it has such considerable
marks of probability upon it, that it is their duty to accept and to
act upon it as if it were true beyond all question or doubt: and they
justify themselves, and with much reason, by the authority of Bishop
Butler. Undoubtedly, a religious man will be led to go as far as this,
if he cannot go further; but unless he can go farther, he is no
catechumen of the Catholic Church. We wish all men to believe that her
creed is true; but till they do so believe, we do not wish, we have no
permission, to make them her members. Such a faith as this author
speaks of to condemn--(our books call it "_practical_ certainty")--
does not rise to the level of the _sine qua non_, which is the
condition prescribed for becoming a Catholic. Unless a convert so
believes that he can sincerely say, "after all, in spite of all
difficulties, objections, obscurities, mysteries, the creed of the
Church undoubtedly comes from God, and is true, because he is the
truth," such a man, though he be outwardly received into her fold,
will receive no grace from the sacraments, no sanctification in
baptism, no pardon in penance, no life in communion. We are more
consistently dogmatic than this author imagines; we do not enforce a
principle by halves; if our doctrine is true, it must be received as
such; if a man cannot so receive it, he must wait till he can. It
would be better, indeed, if he now believed; but, since he does not as
yet, to wait is the best he can do under the circumstances. If we said
anything else than this, certainly we should be, as the author thinks
we are, encouraging hypocrisy. Nor let him turn round on us and say
that by thus proceeding we are laying a burden on souls, and blocking
up the entrance into that fold which was intended for all men, by
imposing hard conditions on candidates for admission; for we have
already implied a great principle, which is an answer to this
objection, which the gospels exhibit and sanction, but which he
absolutely ignores.
Let us avail ourselves of his quotation. The Baptist said, "Behold the
Lamb of God." Again he says, "This is the Son of God." "Two of his
disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus." They believed
John to be "a man sent from God" to teach them, and therefore they
believed his word to be true. We suppose it was not hypocrisy in them
to believe in his word; rather they would have been guilty of gross
inconsistency or hypocrisy, had they professed to believe that he was
a divine messenger and yet had refused to take his word concerning the
Stranger whom he pointed out to their veneration. It would have been
"saying that they believed," and _not_ "acting as if they did;" which
at least is not better than saying and acting. Now, was not the
announcement which John made to them "a short cut to belief"? and what
the harm of it? They believed that our Lord was the promised prophet,
without making direct inquiry about him, without a new inquiry, on the
ground of a previous inquiry into the claims of John himself to be
accounted a messenger from God. They had already accepted it as truth
that John was a prophet; but again, what a prophet said must be true;
{632} else he would not be a prophet; now, John said that our Lord was
the Lamb of God; this, then, certainly was a sacred truth.
Now it might happen, that they knew exactly and for certain what the
Baptist meant in calling our Lord "a Iamb;" in that case they would
believe him to be that which they knew the figurative word meant, as
used by the Baptist. But, as our author reminds us, the word has
different senses; and, though the Baptist explained his own sense of
it on the first occasion of using it, by adding, "that taketh away the
sin of the world," yet when he spoke to the two disciples he did not
thus explain it. Now let us suppose that they went off, taking the
word each in his own sense, the one understanding by it a sacrificial
lamb, the other a lamb of the fold; and let us suppose that, as they
were on the way to our Lord's home, they discovered this difference in
their several interpretations, and disputed with each other which was
the right interpretation. It is clear that they would agree so far as
this, namely, that, in saying that the proposition was true, they
meant that it was true in that sense in which the Baptist spoke it;
moreover, if it be worth noticing, they did after all even agree, in
some vague way, about the meaning of the word, understanding that it
denoted some high character, or office, or ministry. Any how, it was
absolutely true, they would say, that our Lord was a lamb, whatever it
meant; the word conveyed a great and momentous fact, and if they did
not know what that fact was, the Baptist did, and they would accept it
in its one right sense, as soon as he or our Lord told them what it
was.
Again, as to that other title which the Baptist gave our Lord, "the
Son of God," it admitted of half a dozen senses. Wisdom was "the only
begotten;" the angels were the sons of God; Adam was a son of God; the
descendants of Seth were sons of God; Solomon was a son of God; and so
is "the just man." In which of these senses, or in what sense, was our
Lord the Son of God? St. Peter knew, but there were those who did not
know--the centurion who attended the crucifixion did not know, and
yet he confessed that our Lord was the Son of God. He knew that our
Lord had been condemned by the Jews for calling himself the Son of
God, and therefore he cried out, on seeing the miracles which attended
his death, "indeed this _was_ the Son of God." His words evidently
imply: "I do not know precisely what he meant by so calling himself;
but what he said he was, that he is; whatever he meant, I believe him;
I believe that his word about himself is true, though I cannot prove
it to be so, though I do not even understand it; I believe his word,
for I believe _him_."
Now to return to the passage which has led to these remarks. Our
author says that certain persons are hypocrites, because they "take a
short cut to belief, suddenly resolving to strive no longer, but to
rest content with saying they believe." Does he mean by "a short cut,"
believing on the word of another? As far as our experience goes of
religious changes in individuals, he can mean nothing else; yet how
_can_ he mean this with the gospels before him? He cannot mean it,
because the very staple of the sacred narrative is a call on all men
to believe what is not proved to them, merely on the warrant of divine
messengers; because the very form of our Lord's teaching is to
substitute authority for inquiry; because the very principle of his
grave earnestness, the very key to his regenerative mission, is the
intimate connection of faith with salvation. Faith is not simply trust
in his legislation, as this writer says; it is definitely trust in his
word, whether that word be about heavenly things or earthly; whether
it is spoken by his own mouth, or through his ministers. The angel who
announced the Baptist's birth said, "Thou shalt be dumb because thou
believest not my words." The {633} Baptist's mother said of Mary,
"Blessed is she that believed." The Baptist himself said, "He that
believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." Our
Lord, in turn, said to Nicodemus, "We speak that we do know, and ye
receive not our witness; he that believeth not is condemned already,
because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of
God." To the Jews, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that
sent me, shall not come into condemnation." To the Capharnaites, "he
that believeth on me hath everlasting life." To St Thomas, "Blessed
are they that have not seen and yet have believed." And to the
apostles, "Preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth not
shall be damned." How is it possible to deny that our Lord, both in
the text and in the context of these and other passages, made faith in
a message, on the warrant of the messenger, to be a condition of
salvation; and enforced it by the great grant of power which he
emphatically conferred on his representatives? "Whosoever shall not
receive you," he says, "nor hear your words, when ye depart, shake off
the dust of your feet." "It is not ye that speak, but the spirit of
your Father." "He that heareth you, heareth me; he that despiseth you,
despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me."
"I pray for them that shall believe on me through their word." "Whose
sins ye remit they are remitted unto them; and whose sins ye retain,
they are retained." "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound
in heaven." "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." These
characteristic and critical announcements have no place in this
author's gospel; and let it be understood, that we are not asking why
he does not determine the exact doctrines contained in them--for that
is a question which he has reserved (if we understand him) for a
future volume--but why he does not recognize the principle they
involve--for that is a matter which falls within his present subject.
It is not well to exhibit some sides of Christianity, and not others;
this we think is the main fault of the author we have been reviewing.
It does not pay to be ecclectic in so serious a matter of fact. He
does not overlook, he boldly confesses that a visible organized church
was a main part of our Lord's plan for the regeneration of mankind.
"As with Socrates," he says, "argument is every thing, and personal
authority nothing; so with Christ personal authority is all in all and
argument altogether unemployed," (p. 94.) Our Lord rested his
teaching, not on the concurrence and testimony of his hearers, but on
his own authority. He imposed upon them the declarations of a divine
voice. Why does this author stop short in the delineation of
principles which he has so admirably begun? Why does he denounce
"short cuts," as a mental disfranchisement, when no cut can be shorter
than to "believe and be saved"? Why does he denounce religious fear as
hypocritical, when it is written, "He that believeth not shall be
damned"? Why does he call it dishonest in a man to sacrifice his own
judgment to the word of God, when, unless he did so, he would be
avowing that the Creator knew less than the creature? Let him
recollect that no two thinkers, philosophers, writers, ever did, ever
will, agree in all things with each other. No system of opinions, ever
given to the world, approved itself in all its parts to the reason of
any one individual by whom it was mastered. No revelation is
conceivable, but involves, almost in its very idea, as being something
new, a collision with the human intellect, and demands, accordingly,
if it is to be accepted, a sacrifice of private judgment. {634} If a
revelation be necessary, then also in consequence is that sacrifice
necessary. One man will have to make a sacrifice in one respect,
another in another, all men in some. We say, then, to men of the day,
take Christianity, or leave it; do not practise upon it; to do so is
as unphilosophical as it is dangerous. Do not attempt to halve a
spiritual unit. You are apt to call it a dishonesty in us to refuse to
follow out our reasonings, when faith stands in the way; is there no
intellectual dishonesty in your own conduct? First, your very
accusation of us is dishonest; for you keep in the back-ground the
circumstance, of which you are well aware, that such a refusal on our
part is the necessary consequence of our accepting an authoritative
revelation; and next you profess to accept that revelation yourselves,
while you dishonestly pick and choose, and take as much or as little
of it as you please. You either accept Christianity or you do not: if
you do, do not garble and patch it; if you do not, suffer others to
submit to it as a whole.
------
[ORIGINAL.]
HOLY SATURDAY.
Through that Jewish Sabbath day,
Through our Holy Saturday,
Thus he lay:
In his linen winding-sheet,
Wrapped in myrrh and spices sweet,
Angels at his head and feet;
Angels, duteous alway,
Watched the wondrous beauteous clay
As he lay.
Through that Jewish Sabbath day,
Through our Holy Saturday.
Thus he lay
And our mother Church this day
Doth with solemn Office keep
That strange day's mysterious sleep;
Her "Exultet" breaks the sadness
With triumphant strains of gladness;
Paschal hope presaging morn,
As in east just streaks the dawn;
Darkest night ere brightest day;
Such is Holy Saturday.
------
{635}
Translated from the Etudes Religieuses,
Historiques et Litteraires.
EAST-INDIAN WEDDINGS.
LETTER FROM FATHER GUCHEN OF THE MADURA MISSION.
A very days ago I blessed a marriage in which great pomp was
displayed, and I will describe the festival to you, that you may have
an idea of what takes place on such occasions, for the same ceremonial
is always scrupulously observed. Indeed, every action of an Indian's
life from the cradle to the grave is irrevocably ordered by custom.
The solemnity I am speaking of now is called here, "a grand marriage."
My Christians are generally too poor to have to do with any but
"little marriages," which are performed very quietly, though with some
attendant circumstances that perhaps deserve a slight notice.
A remarkable peculiarity, and one that belongs to both kinds of
marriage, is that the bride and bridegroom do not know each other, do
not even see or speak to each other, until it is too late to draw
back. This is the decision of custom, and has its good and bad side,
like many other things in this world. "Why have you come here?" I
asked the other day of a little girl hardly twelve years old, who was
led into church. "My father said I was to be married, so I came," she
replied. A few hours later arrived the young man, pale, exhausted, and
writhing in the grasp of pangs unutterable. Begging me to serve him
first in the quality of physician, he told me his story: "I had just
done dinner and was going out to my palm-trees, when my father told me
to go to the church, and be married; so I took my bath of oil
immediately, which interfered with my digestion and caused my
illness."
The bath of oil is a necessary preliminary on these occasions. That
over, the bridegroom arrays himself in his finest garments. Two
cloths, about one foot three inches wide, and four or five times as
long, ornamented with a fringe, compose his costume; one covers his
loins and the other is wrapped around him; a red kerchief is rolled
about his head, and three pendants, nearly two inches long, and wide
in proportion, adorn each ear. If he is too poor to own these jewels,
he borrows them of his neighbors, and thus apparelled, goes to the
church and presents himself before the sonami, (missionary.)
The maiden also lavishes oil or butter upon her toilette, but on the
wedding day, she is so completely swathed in the ten or eleven yards
of cloth that form her raiment, that neither her jewels nor her face
can be distinguished. Not only is she invisible, but she is supposed
to see nothing herself, and when she wishes to change her place, the
person who accompanies her, often a poor old woman hardly able to
stand leads her by clasping her round the waist. I have sometimes
beheld the singular spectacle of a score of little girls from twelve
to fifteen years of age, muffled in cloth and crouched against the
wall of the church, repeating their prayers to satiety as they waited
for me to come and hear them recite.
They pass their examination; both bride and bridegroom know
faultlessly the pater, ave, credo, the commandments of God and the
church, the act of contrition, the confiteor, etc.; they {636} recite
the seven chapters, that is to say the little catechism, quite well; I
hear their confessions, and the next morning at mass I bless their
union, following in every respect the rubrics of the church, so that
there is nothing especial to notice excepting that the married pair
have no wedding-ring. In its place they have a golden jewel, rather
clumsy in form, through which passes a cord intended to be fastened
round the bride's neck. This jewel is called _tali_. It is the sign of
matrimonial union, and every married woman wears one; when her husband
dies, the relations assemble, and remove the _tali_ from the widow's
neck by breaking the cord.
But pardon me for carrying you without transition from a wedding to a
funeral--let us leave the graveyard and return to the church. Having
blessed the _tali_, applying to it the prayer indicated in the ritual
for the blessing of the ring, I return it to the young man who
presents it to the maiden; she receives it on her out-stretched hands,
and her companion, or if the latter is too old, any other woman
present, fastens it about her neck. Mass is celebrated; the bride and
bridegroom receive communion and the benediction, and then withdraw.
The bride remains hooded through the whole of the festive day; on the
next day after she shows her face, and the husband can for the first
time behold her features: a young man of my acquaintance learned
twenty-four hours after marriage, that his wife had but one eye.
I forgot to mention another custom, which is quite generally observed,
and seems to me charming. The bridegroom buys a _nuptial cloth_, which
is blessed by the priest at the same time with the _tali_, and in this
the bride arrays herself, when the marriage ceremonial is ended. She
wears this cloth during the days of festivity, but the husband gives
her no other garments, and the parents continue to furnish their
daughter's wardrobe until she brings her first child into the world.
But it is time I arrived at the ceremonies of the _grand marriage_
that I blessed on the eleventh of this month.
The young man belonged to Anacarei, and the maiden to Santancoulam, a
little town where we have a Christian settlement. As she had been
baptized only two years before, she still numbered many pagans among
her circle, a fact which made me willingly accede to the desire of her
parents that the marriage should be celebrated in the presence of her
family.
Even before dawn, two bands of musicians, making their instruments
resound in noble emulation of each other, announced to the whole town
that on that day there was to be a grand festival in the Catholic
Church. On their side, with one accord, the Christians devoted
themselves to the preparation of the church and altar; the only outlay
in decoration was upon flowers, but of those there were enough to load
a coach. At last all was ready, and wearing the alb and stole, I went
forward to receive the consent of the betrothed, who were accompanied
by their relations and friends. They joined their right hands, and I
pronounced over them the sacramental words, after which the _tali_ was
blessed and given first to the bridegroom and by turn to the bride,
but without being fastened about her neck, as that ceremony was to
take place afterward at home. I began mass. In the lectern, two
chanters were shaking the walls of the church with a clamor most
delightful to Indian ears, for singing is valued here in proportion to
the volume of voice brought to bear upon it. Indeed never before at
Santancoulam had anything so admirable been heard.
After mass the husband and wife withdrew in different directions, and
the whole day was spent in festive preparations. In the house of the
young girl a great tent was built of the branches and leaves of trees,
draped with cloth of various colors. In the middle of this tent, which
is called the _Pandel_, upon a mound a {637} foot and a half in
height, and about eight square feet in extent, arose an elegantly
decorated pavilion supported on four little columns. It was truly an
exhibition of painted cloth and parti- paper of every hue and
every shade, surpassing the rainbow in brilliancy. There, upon this
mound and under this pavillion, the bridegroom was to give the _tali_
to his bride.
In the mean time a palanquin had been constructed elsewhere, even more
elegant and magnificent than the pavilion of the _Pandel_. At ten
o'clock in the evening, by the light of thirty or forty blazing
torches, the bridegroom entered the palanquin, and, borne upon the
shoulders of four men, made the tour of the town, a band of music
opening the way and summoning the curious who hastened at the call.
After promenading the principal streets with slow steps for two or
three hours, they turned toward the bride's home. The young man
ascended the mound and seated himself, upon the ground, you
understand, for among Indians there are neither chairs nor lounges.
But do not be afraid that he soiled his fine clothes--a litter of
straw covered the whole surface of the mound. In this country they
know no better way of making an apartment presentable, and all Indian
_parquets_ are polished after this fashion. The bride came in her
turn, her father leading her by the hand. When he had seated her face
to face with the young man who had been his son-in-law for twenty-four
hours, he declared in a loud, clear voice that he had given his
daughter in marriage to so and so, living in such and such a place,
that he announced it to her relations and friends, begging them to
give their consent. The assistants standing about the mound extended
their hands in succession, and touched the _tali_ with the tips of the
fingers in token of approval. The catechist intoned the litany of the
Blessed Virgin, to which the Christians made the responses, then he
gave the _tali_ to the husband, who held it near his wife's neck, and
the bride's sister-in-law, standing behind her, took the cord and tied
it. The ceremonies and festivities were ended for that night, and
every one withdrew to take a little repose.
The next evening there was a grand wedding collation, after which the
festival, properly speaking, the grand festival, began. The newly
married pair seated themselves in the palanquin, facing each other,
but separated by a little curtain. The bride, freed from her veil now,
held the curtain with both hands, trying to conceal her face with it.
By the light of torches even more numerous than the night before, and
to the sound of music quite as vociferous, they went to the church,
where all the candles were lighted. The chanters and myself intoned
the litany of the Blessed Virgin and the _salve regina_; the catechist
recited a few prayers. I gave the benediction to the assembly with a
crucifix, having no statue of the Blessed Virgin, and the ceremony
closed with a _tamoul_ chant. The husband and wife re-entered the
palanquin, and then began in the streets a veritable triumphal march
called here _patana-pravesam_ (entrance into the town,) which ended
only when the day began.
What lends to this march a character of beauty and originality is the
_calliel_, a dance accompanied by songs and the clashing of little
staves, and performed before the palanquin for the whole length of the
march. Do not imagine anything resembling a French ball; here dancing,
so called, is a disgrace, and is only permitted to the Bayaderes
engaged in the service of the pagodas. The _calliel_ is quite another
thing. Fancy a dozen well-formed, robust young people, with turbaned
heads, and loins girt with a long strip of cloth draped like a scarf,
some of them wearing rings of bells upon their arms and legs, and all
carrying in each hand a little staff about a foot long, with which
they strike the staves of the dancers, whom they meet face to face. On
leaving the church, our young dancers begged me to {638} witness their
gambols in the presence of the bride and bridegroom, who were looking
down upon the assembly from their high palanquin. The clashing cadence
of the staves, the monotonous but purely harmonious chant of the
dancers, their free, elastic bounds and graceful twirls, the passing
and repassing of this troop, who spring forward and draw back, falling
and rising as they drop on their knees and rear themselves up again,
this whirlwind where all is ordered, timed, and measured---all
presents a spectacle that enchants Hindoos and may well delight a
Frenchman.
Meanwhile the big drum, tambourine, tam-tam, clarionet, bagpipe, etc,
etc., announced with joyous din that the crowd must turn their steps
elsewhere, and show to others all this paraphernalia of rejoicing. The
palanquin was borne toward the streets. From time to time the march
was suspended, the music ceased, and the young dancers resumed and
continued for nearly an hour their agile feats of strength.
So the night passed, and the first rays of the sun announced that it
was time to end it all. The husband and wife descended from the
palanquin to hear mass, and then entered upon real life; the wedding
was over. In the evening a car drawn by two magnificent oxen,
transported the bride, accompanied by several relatives, to the
village of her husband, who escorted the family, mounted upon a pretty
white horse.
AMACAREI, Sept 29th, 1865.
------
From the Dublin Review
ROME THE CIVILIZER OF NATIONS.
1. _Le Parfum de Rome_. Par Louis Veuillot. 3me edition. Paris: Gaume
Freres. 1862.
2. _Rome et la Civilisation_. Par EUGENE MAHON DE MONAGHAN. Paris:
Charles Douniol. 1863.
The useful little work which stands at the head of this article, by M.
Mahon de Monaghan, (whose name would, perhaps, be more correctly
printed M. MacMahon de Monaghan,) may be regarded as a supplement to
the more important volume of the Abbe Balmez. "The study of church
history in its relations with civilization," _he_ told us, "is still
incomplete;" and the writer before us seems to have taken this as a
hint, and to have conceived the laudable plan of pursuing further some
of the Spanish divine's arguments, and strengthening them by new
illustrations gathered from history. "Le Parfum de Rome" is a work of
another description, but bearing on the same subject. It consists of
many discursive reflections on Rome, as the residence of the Vicar of
Christ, and is full of point, brilliancy, and humor.
When a Catholic, who has enjoyed the advantage of a good education,
and is accustomed to habits of reflection, arrives for the first time
in Rome, he is usually overwhelmed by the multitude of objects offered
to his attention, and requires time to select, arrange, and analyze
them. The light is too vivid, the colors are too varied, the perfume
is too strong. Two thousand years, richly laden with historic events,
crowd his memory; the united {639} glories of the past and the present
kindle his imagination; the sublime mysteries of religion,
marvellously localized, exercise his faith; long galleries thronged
with the rarest productions of art court his gaze, and a presence
peculiar to the spot, which he feeds, but cannot yet define, completes
his pleading bewilderment in heart and brain. By degrees the tumult of
thought subsides, and order begins to rise out of chaotic beauty. The
traveller is resolved to render his sensations precise, and he asks
himself emphatically, "Whence springs the resistless charm of Rome?
Wherein does the true glory of Rome consist? What _is_ this nameless
presence that mantles all things with divinity? Where does the
Shekinah reside?"
Then more and more clearly, the voice of Rome herself is heard in
reply: "This is the home of the vicar of Christ, the throne of the
fisherman, the seat of that long line of pontiffs who, like a chain of
gold, bind our erring globe to Emmanuel's footstool. This garden is
fertilized by the blood of Peter and Paul, and of thirty Popes: hence
all its amazing produce; hence its exquisite fragrance and perennial
bloom. These are the head-quarters of the commander-in-chief of the
church militant; and Christ himself is present here in the person of
his viceroy, promulgating a law above all human laws, inflexible,
uniform, merciful, and strict. _He_ diffuses this grateful perfume;
_he_ colors every object with rainbow tints; _he_ sheds this dazzling
light which causes Rome to shine like a gem with a myriad facets. The
Lord loveth the gates of Rome more than of old he loved the gates of
Zion; he lives in the solemn utterances of his high priest, and speaks
by him as of old he spoke by the Urim and Thummim that sparkled on
Aaron's breast. Here he so multiplies sacraments, that all you see
becomes sacramental; and here you find, in the father of the faithful,
the most perfect representation of your Incarnate God, and the most
certain pledge of his resurrection."
If the peculiar presence of Christ thus hallows Christian Rome, it
cannot be matter of surprise that she also should be an enigma to the
world, and have a twofold character; that she should be one thing to
the eye and another to the mind; one thing to Gibbon and Goethe,
[Footnote 132] and another thing altogether to Chateaubriand and
Schlegel; that she should have her seasons of gloom and jubilee, of
persecution and triumph; should require in each to be interpreted by
faith; and that every page of her history should share in this double
aspect. Thus Rome resembles Christ; and in this resemblance lies her
glory and her strength. Other glories she has which do not directly
come from him. She had them of old before he came; the inroad of
barbaric hordes, age after age, could not trample them out, and they
endure abundantly to this day. These the world understands; these she
extols with ceaseless praises, and sends her children from every clime
in troops to do homage at their ancient shrines. The worldling,
enamoured of these, exclaims:
"O Rome! my country! city of the soul!
The orphans of the heart must turn to thee,
Lone mother of dead empires." [Footnote 133]
[Footnote 132: Parfum de Rome, p. 7]
[Footnote 133: Childe Harold, canto iv.]
But the orphan who turns to her as Byron did, remains an orphan. Rome
is no mother to him, and he finds no father in the patriarch who rules
there. To the devout Catholic she is the mother of arts and sciences
as truly as the Pope is the father of the Christian family. She is,
and has been for eighteen hundred years, the centre of true
civilization, because she is the central depository of the faith. From
her, as from a fountain, the streams of salvation have flowed through
all lands, and, having the promise both of this life and that which is
to come, they have indirectly produced a large amount of material
well-being, and also an infinity of {640} artistic and scientific
results. Rome civilizes as Christ civilized, by sowing the seeds of
civilization. She does not aim directly at material well-being; she
does not any more than he teach astronomy or dynamics; she propounds
no system of induction; she invents neither printing-press,
steam-engines, nor telegraphs; but she so raises man above the brute,
curbs his passions, improves his understanding, instils into him
principles of duty, and a sense of responsibility, so hallows his
ambition and kindles his desire for the good of his kind and the
progress of humanity, that under her influence he acquires insensibly
an aptitude even for the successful pursuit of physical science, such
as no other teacher could impart. He looks abroad into the spacious
field of nature, and finds in every star and in every drop of dew an
unfathomable depth of creative design. His heart quickens the energies
of his brain, and he says, smiling, "My Father made them all; he made
them that I may, to the best of my feeble powers, investigate and
classify them, and that he may be glorified in science as in
religion." He rises to higher studies than those of physical science;
he looks within, and analyzes his complex nature. He sees that human
minds in the aggregate are capable of indefinite development as time
goes on, and he concludes that, as the works of nature can be
investigated to the glory of the Creator, so may the mind of man be
developed to the glory of its Redeemer--be trained in philosophy, and
exercised also in the application of science to the wants and usages
of social life. Thus, to his apprehension, the links are clear which
connect Rome--the centre of civilization--with matters which appear
at first sight absolutely distinct from religion, with sewing-machines
and electric cables, with Huyghens's undulatory theory of light, and
Guthrie's researches into the relative sizes of drops and of bubbles.
But here, perhaps, we shall be met by an objection. "Science," it will
be said, "surely not merely _appears_, but _is_ independent of
religion, as the experience of ancient and modern times will show.
Still more is independent of Papal Rome, which has always been on the
alert to check its progress, condemned Bishop Virgil for teaching the
existence of the antipodes, and Galileo for maintaining the
heliocentric system. Egypt under the Ptolemies, Etruria and Mexico,
Aristotle, Lord Bacon, and Sir Isaac Newton, alike scatter your
assertion to the winds; and if any doubt on the subject could linger
in the mind of any one, the late encyclical would the sufficient to
disabuse him of his fond delusion."
To this we reply: We will not allow that even in ancient times
attainments in physical science were made irrespectively of religion.
Without religion, man lives in a savage state akin to brutes. Natural
religion, on which revealed religion is founded, exalts him in a
degree, and qualifies him for intellectual pursuits. Yet, even with
its assistance, so corrupt is his nature, that philosophy and science
can obtain no permanent command over his passions, and his highest
degrees of refinement are always succeeded by periods of degradation,
and no steady advance is made. As natural religion placed the heathen
in a condition somewhat favorable to the pursuit of science, so
revealed religion, or, in other words, Roman Catholicism, did the like
more completely, in consequence of its divine origin and perfect
adaptation to the needs of mankind. It brought society step by step
out of a state of semi-barbarism, and overcame the resistance offered
to its social improvements by the Roman people and Emperors, by Huns
and Vandals, by Islamism, Iconoclasts, and Feudalism. It covered
Europe with seats of learning, and kindled the student's lamp in the
monastic recesses of deep valleys and vast forests. It created a body
of theological science, and of philosophical in connection with it,
{641} which the more profound even of infidel thinkers admit to have
been among the most marvellous products of the human mind; and this
scientific system--over and above its higher purposes--was the very
best intellectual training possible under the circumstances of the
period. Then, as time went on, religion accepted gratefully and
employed in its own service the art of printing, and prepared the
human mind for those most energetic thoughts and often misdirected
efforts which have been made, from the fifteenth century downward, for
the discovery of physical truth. It is therefore manifest to all whose
thoughts reach below the surface of things, that the services which
Lord Bacon rendered to philosophy and Newton to Science, were
indirectly due to the Catholic Church.
Rome, the central civilizer of society, exerts an influence far beyond
her visible domain. The earth is hers, and the fulness thereof.
Whatsoever things are true and holy in faith and morals among her
truants, whatever portions of her divine creed they carry away with
them to build up their sects, whatever books or texts of the mutilated
scriptures they retain, whatever graces shine forth in them, and in
part redeem their delinquency, are all to be ascribed to her as the
primary channel of communication between earth and heaven, and all
belong to her as their chartered proprietress, although they have been
wrested from her hands. "There is nothing right, useful, pleasing
(jucundum) in human society, which the Roman pontiffs have not brought
into it, or have not refined and fostered (expoliverint et foverint)
when introduced." [Footnote 134] Heresy is always blended with truth,
and the truth is always Rome's, while the heresy is theirs who have
corrupted it. Whatever is good and true in Protestantism is of Rome;
and as Protestants would have no Bible but for the councils which
settled its canon, and the despised monks who transcribed it age after
age, so Protestant churches would never have been founded if the great
old church had not overspread Europe. Nay, the _Novum Organon_ and
_Principia_ would in all probability never have seen the light.
Christianity, on the whole, keeps science alive; and but for the
popes, Christianity would soon vanish from the face of the earth. As
far as Bacon and Newton are indebted to Christianity for their
philosophy, just in so far are they indebted to Rome as its
fountain-head. Whatever stress is to be laid on the fact of their
being Christians, glorifies Rome indirectly as the source of
civilization. It is her very greatness and her perfect system of
doctrine which brings her into collision with every form of spiritual
rebellion; but those who fly off from her authority are still her
children, _in so far_ as they continue members at all of the family of
God. The prodigal son, amid all his degradation and wanderings, is
yearned over by his father, and belongs to his father's house in a
certain sense.
[Footnote 134: Pope Pius IX. Letter to M. Mahon de Monaghan.]
As to Rome being the enemy of physical science, it is not difficult to
see the causes which have led to so extreme a misconception. She has
ever protested, and that most energetically, against the prevalent
tendency to give physics a supremacy over theology, where the two seem
to clash; and she has also steadfastly resisted the pretension so
constantly made by physical science to thrust into a corner some
higher branches of human philosophy. Her conduct in the latter case
has been simply in accordance with what is now a growing conviction in
the philosophical world; while in the former case she has done nothing
more than uphold as infallibly certain the doctrinal deposit committed
to her charge. But with these most reasonable qualifications, she has
ever been active in stimulating the keenest physical researches. Well
may the present pope say that "it is _impudently_ bruited abroad that
the Catholic {642} religion and the Roman pontificate are adverse to
civilization and progress, and therefore to the happiness which may
thence be expected." [Footnote 135] To harp upon Virgil and Galileo,
proves how few and slender are the arguments which our accusers can
adduce in support of their charge. If we defer to facts, and regard
the entire history of Christendom, we can certainly name ten persons
distinguished for physical discoveries in our own communion, for every
one whom Protestantism can boast. In no Catholic country is such
science discouraged, but its professors are, on the contrary,
everywhere rewarded and honored. Nowhere among us has any recent
science, such as geology, been prohibited, or even combated, except by
individuals. Its conclusions, when really established, have been
admitted by all learned Catholics notwithstanding they appeared at
first sight to run counter to the words of inspiration. Cardinal
Wiseman's "Lectures on Science and Revealed Religion" abundantly
illustrate what is here stated; and his whole life was a refutation of
the calumny with which his creed is so often assailed. New arts, which
are each the visible expression of a corresponding science, have been
welcomed abroad as readily as in England; and Belgium could be
traversed by steam long before the Great Western line between London
and Bristol was completed. If it so happened that the greatest English
astronomer, naturalist, or mathematician, were a Catholic, his
co-religionists would be the most forward of all Englishmen to extol
his genius. His scientific pursuits would never make him an object of
suspicion with us, provided his loyalty to the church were complete;
nor would his zeal be damped by any ecclesiastical authority, so, long
as his conclusions involved nothing adverse to religion. The Catholic,
it is true, can never make the claims of science paramount to those of
faith, but the restraint thus imposed on him is of the most salutary
kind, and will be no real check on his liberty of thought; for science
and revelation, though it may for a while be difficult to harmonize
some of their statements, must ever be found to agree strictly on
closer examination.
[Footnote 135: Pius IX. Letter to M. Mahon de Monaghan.]
It would be easy to mark the successive stages in European
civilization by the pontificates of popes remarkable for their energy
of character and the brightness of their abilities. The average length
of the reigns of the first thirty-seven was rather less than ten
years; and during this time they had to struggle for something
infinitely more important than art and science. They were penetrated
with a deep sense of their sublime mission, and neither old age,
infirmities, nor persecution, paralyzed their labors. "They employed
their revenues in maintaining the poor, the sick, the infirm, the
widows, orphans, and prisoners, in burying the martyrs, in erecting
and embellishing oratories, in comforting and redeeming confessors and
captives, and in sending aid of every description to the suffering
churches of other provinces." [Footnote 136] Thus, in the wise order
of providence, papal civilization began in the moral world before it
extended to the intellectual. Yet in the middle of the fourth century,
the pope and his coadjutors in different quarters of the globe,
presented a striking spectacle, when considered merely in their
intellectual aspect. St. Damasus, the thirty-eighth pope, occupied the
see of St. Peter. While he zealously promoted ecclesiastical
discipline, he won for himself general admiration by his virtues and
his writings. His taste for letters carried him beyond the sphere of
theological labor; he composed verses, and wrote several heroic poems.
[Footnote 137] He was the light of Rome, while St. Augustine, the
brightest star that ever adorned the Catholic episcopate, shone at
Hippo. St. Ambrose, at the same time, was the glory of Milan; St.
Gregory taught at Nyssa; St. Gregory Nazianzen {643} wrote in
Constantinople; St. Martin evangelized the Gauls; St. Basil composed
his "Moralia" and his Treatise on the study of ancient Greek authors
at Caesarea; St. Hilary and St. Paulinus bore witness to the truth in
Poitiers and Treves; St. Jerome unfolded the sacred stores of his
learning in Thrace, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Pontus; St. Cyril wrote
beside his Saviour's tomb; and St. Patrick converted Ireland from the
darkness of Druidic paganism.
[Footnote 136: J. Chantrel, "La Royaute Pontifieale," p. 74]
[Footnote 137: St. Jerome, "De Illustr. Eccles. Script."]
Every faithful prelate at that period--nay, every true Christian;
however humble his condition--stood out more prominently from the mass
of society than we can now imagine. Christianity has produced among us
a certain general level of morality. But it was not so then. The
masses were still heathen, and Christians were often in a very small
minority. Their principles and conduct, therefore, were so distinct
from those around them, that each attracted attention, and exerted
more influence than he was aware of. Each Roman Catholic--for we
joyfully accept a designation which is erroneously supposed to limit
our claims--each Roman Catholic was then a light shining in a dark
place, and, in his measure, an apostle of civilization. He promoted
science, even though he had never heard its name, for he diminished
that amount of moral depravity, on the ruins of which alone science
can build her gorgeous fanes. He was member of a church, which,
wherever it was established, protested by its institutions against the
excessive indulgence of carnal affections. A celibate priesthood,
societies of monks and nuns, hermits, and vows of chastity observed by
persons living in the world, like St. Cecilia and St. Scholastica, and
expiring in the arms of wife or husband without ever having done
violence to the pure intentions which marked their bridal--these
things formed a spectacle so extraordinary to the heathen, who had
been accustomed to make sensual indulgence a feature in their
religious solemnities, that it could not but excite inquiry, and issue
in affixing a fresh stamp of divinity on the faith of Christ. What
would have become of society by this time if the elements of
decomposition which then existed had been allowed to work unchecked by
the laws of Christian marriage, the prohibition of divorce, and lastly
by monasticism--monasticism not forced on any one as a duty, but
freely chosen as a privilege--a higher and purer state, best suited
for communion with God and activity in his service!
In the fifth century, the efforts which had been made by Popes
Innocent, Boniface, Celestine, and Sixtus III. for the conversion of
the barbarians who overran the fairest portions of Europe, were
continued with extraordinary perseverance by the great St. Leo. He
formed the most conspicuous figure in his age. No element of greatness
was wanting to his character, and the complicated miseries of the
times only threw into stronger relief the energy of his mind and will.
His reign, from first to last, is a chapter in the history of
civilization. Attila, crossing the Jura mountains with his numerous
hordes, fell upon Italy. Valentinian III. fled before him, and Leo
alone had weight and courage equal to the task of interceding with the
resistless devastator. On the 11th of June, 452, he set forth to meet
him, and found him on the banks of the Mincio. Rome was saved, and
with it religion and the hopes of society. Three years after, Genseric
with his Vandals stood before its gates; and though Leo could not this
time altogether stay the destroyer, he saved the lives of the
citizens, and Rome itself from being burnt. If she had not been
possessed of a hidden and supernatural life, far transcending that
idea of a civilizing agent which it so abundantly includes, she would
already have been razed to the ground, as she was afterward by the
Ostrogoths under Totila, and from neither devastation would she ever
have been {644} able to revive. At this moment she would be numbered
with Nineveh and Sidon, the foxes would bark upon the Aventine as when
Belisarius rode through the deserted Forum, and shepherds would fold
their flocks upon the hills where St. Peter's and St. John Lateran now
dazzle the eye with splendor. [Footnote 138]
[Footnote 138: Monsignor Manning, "The Eternity of Rome."--_Lamp_,
Nov. 1863.]
Happily great popes never fail. All are great in their power and
influence, and almost all have been good, while from time to time
Providence raises up some one also who makes an impression on his age,
and is acknowledged by friends and foes alike to be gifted with those
qualities which entitle him to the epithet "great." Pelagus I.
supplied the Romans with provisions during a long siege, and after the
example of St. Leo, obtained from Totila some mitigation of his
barbarous severities; John III. and Benedict I. ministered largely to
the Italians who were dying of want, and driven from their homes by
the remorseless Lombards; and writers the most adverse to the
papacy--Gibbon, Daunou, [Footnote 139] Sismondi--testify to the
disinterested benevolence of these and other pontiffs during the
church's struggle with northern devastators. Just a century and a half
had elapsed since Leo the Great's elevation, when St. Gregory ascended
the papal throne amid the people's acclamation. He was at the same
time doctor, legislator, and statesman; and the plain facts of his
pontificate might be so related as to appear a panegyric rather than a
sober history. In the midst of personal weakness and suffering, the
strength of his soul and intellect were felt in every quarter of
Christendom and while he composed his "Pastoral" and his "Dialogues,"
or negotiated with the Lombards in behalf of his afflicted country,
news reached him frequently of the success of his missions amongst
distant and barbarous people. [Footnote 140] To one of these we owe
the conversion of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers; and the results it
produced extort from Macaulay the admission that the spiritual
supremacy assumed by the pope effected more good than harm, and that
the Roman Church, by uniting all men in a bond of brotherhood, and
teaching all their responsibility before God, deserves to be spoken of
with respect by philosophers and philanthropists. [Footnote 141]
[Footnote 139: "Essai Historique," t. i.]
[Footnote 140: See Chantrel, "Hist. Populaire des Papes," t. v.]
[Footnote 141: "Hist. of England," chap. i.]
Sabinian, Boniface III. and IV., John IV. and VII., Theodore, Martin,
Eugene, and Benedict II., trod firmly in the steps of St. Gregory, and
encouraged the clergy everywhere in repairing the evils wrought by the
barbarians, and in re-establishing law and order. [Footnote 142] The
bishops became the natural chiefs of society, and the administration
of justice was often placed in their hands by common consent. Their
counsel was taken by untutored kings, and they gradually impressed
them with a sense of the distinction between temporal and spiritual
power, and of the right of the latter to control the undue exercise of
the former. They raised by turns all the great questions that interest
mankind, and established the independence of the intellectual world.
[Footnote 143] Such is the impartial testimony of writers unhappily
prejudiced against the institution they applaud.
[Footnote 142: Gibbon, "Decline and Fall," chap. ixv.]
[Footnote 143: Guizot, "Hist. de la Civilisation en Europe." "Hist.
de la Civilisation en France." t. ii.]
In their protracted conflict with Islamism, the Roman pontiffs were
the champions of social improvement. It needs only to survey the
opposite coasts of the Mediterranean, in order to gain some idea of
the paralyzing influence which the creed of Mohammed would have
exerted over human progress, if it had not been vigorously resisted.
Its prevailing dogma being fatalism, and its main precept sensuality,
it has, after a lapse of twelve centuries, failed to ameliorate the
condition of the tribes who profess it. If, in any respects, they
enjoy advantages unknown to their forefathers, these are due, not to
Mohammedanism, but to that {645} very anti-Saracenic movement which
the popes headed, and which, under different conditions, they carry
forward to this day. Permanent degradation was all that Islamism could
promise. The Arabs alone kindled for a while the lamp of learning, but
even their subtlety and genius did not suffice to keep its flame
alive. Everywhere, and with all the forces at their command, the popes
repelled its encroachments. More than once they girded on the sword,
and led their warriors to the charge against the Moslem host. During a
hundred and seventy years--from 1096 to 1270--they roused and united
the nations again and again in the common cause. Other statesmen were
unable to form extensive combinations, but _they_ were often
successful where diplomacy failed. In eight successive crusades, the
flower of Europe's chivalry was marshalled on the Syrian plains, and
if Catholic arms failed in retaining possession of the city of
Jerusalem and the sepulchre of Christ, they at all events saved the
cause of European civilization, and ultimately drove back the intruder
from the vineyards of Spain and the gates of Vienna, and sank their
proud galleys in the waves of Lepanto. When the zeal of crusaders died
away, the Roman pontiffs ever tried to rekindle it, constantly rebuked
the princes who made terms with the false prophet, and exhorted them
to expel the conquered Saracens from their soil. Such was the policy
of Clement IV., under whom, in 1268, the last crusade was set on foot.
[Footnote 144] Two centuries later, Calixtus III. was animated with
the same sentiments. He was appalled, as his predecessor had been, at
the progress the Turks made in Europe after the capture of
Constantinople, and made a strenuous appeal to the Catholic kingdoms
against the Mussulman invasions. At an advanced age he preserved in
his soul the fire of youth, sent preachers in every direction to rouse
the slumbering zeal of the faithful, and himself equipped an army of
60,000 men, which he sent under the command of Campestran, his legate,
to the help of the noble Hunyad in Hungary. Pius II. succeeded him in
1458. He was at once theologian, orator, diplomatist, canonist,
historian, geographer, and poet. He struggled hard to organize a
crusade against the Ottomans, formed a league to this end with Mathias
Corvin, king of Hungary, pressed the king of France, the duke of
Burgundy, and the republic of Venice into the cause, and placed
himself at the head of the expedition. He was on the point of
embarking at Ancona, and in sight of the Venetian galleys, waiting to
transport him to the foreign shore, when fever surprised him, and he
died. "No doubt," he said, "war is unsuitable to the weakness of old
men, and the character of pontiffs, but when religion is ready to
succumb, what can detain us? We shall be followed by our cardinals and
a large number of bishops. We shall march with our standard unfolded,
and with the relics of saints, with Jesus Christ himself in the holy
Eucharist." The spectacle would certainly have been grand, if Pius II.
had thus appeared before the walls of Constantinople; but Providence
had not willed it so.
[Footnote 144: See his letter to the King of Arragon. Fleury, "Hist,
Eccles." An. 1266.]
These are but a few of the great names which lent weight to the appeal
in behalf of the harassed pilgrims in Palestine, the outraged tomb of
the Redeemer, and the Christian lands overran by Saracens and Turkish
hordes. To whatever causes the worldly-wise historian may attribute
the overthrow of the Ottoman power in Europe, the Catholic will
ascribe it without hesitation to the untiring activity of the popes.
Divided as the petty kingdoms and principalities of the west were by
mutual jealousy and ceaseless warfare, they would never have been able
to oppose a compact front to the advances of Islamism, if they had not
been persuaded by popes and prelates, by Peter the hermit, St.
Bernard, and {646} Foulque, to lay aside their miserable disputes, and
unite against the common enemy. Thus, by the crusades, immediate
benefit accrued to European society, and the character of the church
as a ruler and leader was never borne in upon the minds of men with
greater force than when Adhemar, the apostolic legate, put himself at
the head of the Crusade under Urban II., "wore by turns the prelate's
mitre and the knight's casque," and proved the model, the consoler,
and the stay of the sacred expedition. [Footnote 145] The presence of
bishops and priests among the soldiery impressed on the Crusades a
religious stamp favorable to the enthusiasm and piety of the
combatants, and corrective of the evils which never fail to follow the
camp. [Footnote 146] Nations learned their Christian brotherhood,
which former ages had taught them to forget; minds were enlarged by
travel, and prejudices were dispelled; civilizing arts were acquired
even from the infidel, and brought back to western towns and villages
as the most precious spoil. As Rome had, at an earlier period,
resisted the superstition and rapacity of Leo the Isaurian, [Footnote
147] and rescued Christian art from the hands of the image-breakers,
so now she opened the way to commerce with the east and rewarded the
zeal of Catholic populations with the costly bales and rich produce of
Arabia and Syria.
[Footnote 145: Michaad et Poujouiat, "Hist. des Croisades."]
[Footnote 146: See Heeren, "Essai sur l'Influence des Croisades."]
[Footnote 147: "Parfum de Rome," t. i. p. 124.]
Having turned the feudal system to good account in its conflict with
Mohammedanism, the Church, with Rome for its centre, rejoiced to find
that system, at the close of the struggle, considerably weakened. It
had grown to maturity in a barbarous age, and was but a milder form of
that slavery which had so deeply disgraced the institutions of Pagan
Rome. [Footnote 148] It perpetuated the distinctions of caste, and
the privilege enjoyed by one family of oppressing others. It was
selfishness exalted by pride--the right of the strong over the weak.
It exacted forced tribute, and held in its own violent hands the
moral, mental, and material well-being of its subjects. It required
blind and absolute submission, and often refused to dispense justice
even at this price. Immobility was its ruling principle, and there was
nothing on which it frowned more darkly than amelioration and
progress. In all these particulars it was at variance with the
religion of Christ, and for this reason Rome never ceased to combat
its manifold abuses.
[Footnote 148: See "Rome under Paganism," etc., vol. 1. pp. 50-53.]
At the close of the Crusades the nobles began to learn their proper
place. Petty fiefs and small republics disappeared, and one strong and
regal executive swallowed up a multitude of inferior and vexatious
masteries. The barons became the support of the throne whose authority
they had so long weakened, and ceased to oppress the people as they
had done for ages. Cities multiplied, and rose to opulence; municipal
governments flourished, acquired and conferred privileges, and
afforded to the industrious abundant scope for wholesome emulation,
and laudable ambition. All the arts of life were brought into
exercise, and a new and middling class of society was called into
being. The merchants, the tradesmen, and the gentry obtained their
recognized footing in the community, and numberless corporations,
guilds, and militia testified to the growing importance of the burgess
as distinguished from the noble and the villain. [Footnote 149]
[Footnote 149: See Mably, "Observations sur l'Histoire de France,"
iii. 7.]
Well-ordered governments on a large scale involved of necessity the
cultivation of the soil. Myriads of acres which, before the Crusades,
had been barren or baneful, now smiled with waving corn, or bore rich
harvests of luscious grapes. The want of bulky transports to convey
large cargoes of men and munitions to the East had caused great
alteration and improvement in the construction of ships. {647}
Navigation and commerce gained fresh vigor; maritime laws and customs
came to be recognized, and were reduced, about the middle of the
thirteenth century, into a manual called _Consolato del mar_,
[Footnote 150] Venice, Genoa, Pisa, and Marseilles rose to wealth and
splendor; sugar and silks were manufactured; stuffs were woven and
dyed; metals were wrought; architecture was diversified and improved,
medicine learned many a precious rule and remedy from Arab leeches;
geography corrected long-standing blunders; and poetry found a new
world in which to expatiate. None of these results were unforeseen by
the prescience of Rome. She knew that it was her mission to renew the
face of the earth; nor, in pursuing her unwavering policy in reference
to Islamism, did she ever forget that it was given her from the first
to suck the breasts of the Gentiles, and to assimilate to her own
system all that is rich and rare in nature, wonderful in science,
beauteous in art, wise in literature, and noble in man. The Roman
Church had ever been the friend and patron of those slaves whom Cato
and Cicero, with all their philosophy, so heartily despised.
[Footnote 151] She did not indeed affirm that slavery was impossible
under the Christian law, but she discouraged it. "At length," says
Voltaire, whose testimony on such a point none will suspect, "Pope
Alexander III., in 1167, declared in the name of the Council that all
Christians should be (_devaient etre_) exempt from slavery. This law
alone ought to render his memory dear to all people, as his efforts to
maintain the liberty of Italy should make his name precious to the
Italians." [Footnote 152] Lord Macaulay has spoken frankly of the
advantage to which the Catholic Church shows in some countries as
contrasted with our forms of Christianity, and says it is notorious
that the antipathy between the European and African races is less
strong at Rio Janeiro than at Washington. [Footnote 153] On the
authority of Sir Thomas Smith, one of Elizabeth's most able
counsellors, he assures us that the Catholic priests up to that time
had used their most strenuous exertions to abolish serfdom. Confessors
never failed to adjure the dying noble who owned serfs to free his
brethren for whom Christ died. Thus the bondsman became loosened from
the glebe which gave him birth; many during the Crusades left their
plough in the furrow, and their cattle at the trough, and escaped from
service they had long detested; and many knights and lords who
returned from the Holy Land emancipated their serfs of their own
accord. Free hirelings took the place of hereditary bondsmen; and the
peasant's life assumed a pleasant and civilized aspect. In proportion
as Rome's genuine influence prevails in any country over clergy and
people, the traces of the fall diminish, and those of paradise are
restored.
[Footnote 150: E. M. de Monaghan, p. 219. ]
[Footnote 151: Cic. Orat de Harusp, Resp. xii. ]
[Footnote 152: Sur les Moeurs, ch. 83. ]
[Footnote 153: Hist. of England, chap. i.]
The Roman pontiff have often been accused of interfering in the
private affairs of princes. But the charge is unjust. It is part of
their mission to repress all moral disorders, and especially to punish
the licentiousness of sovereigns whose bad example promotes immorality
among their subjects. Their jurisdiction is fully admitted; their
right of granting or refusing a divorce no Catholic prince disputes
any more than their right of inflicting penances in case of adultery
or incest. To deny them, therefore, the opportunity of investigating
the very cases on which they must ultimately decide, would be
manifestly inconsistent and absurd. When Lothaire II. of Lorraine
drove away from his court the virtuous Teustberghe, and accused her of
disgraceful crimes, who can blame Nicholas I. for having espoused the
cause of this persecuted queen, and excommunicated in council her
unjust lord? Did the popes "interfere" in such matters otherwise than
in the interests of humanity; and if they had {648} consulted their
own ease and comfort, would they not have abstained from such
interference altogether? Let the world call it papal aggression,
usurpation, political scheming, or what other hard name it will, the
true Christian will see in it nothing but disinterested devotion to
the voice of conscience and the good of society. God himself seems to
have declared in favor of Pope Nicholas in the affair alluded to; for
when Louis le Germanique took up arms to avenge his brother, and
marched on Rome, the pontiff met his armies with fasting and litanies,
and with no other standard than the crucifix given by the Empress
Helena containing a fragment of the true cross. The victorious king
was overcome by these demonstrations, and, imploring the pope's
pardon, submitted to all his conditions. [Footnote 154] We hesitate
not to affirm that the "interference" of the popes in temporal affairs
has more than once saved Europe from Islamism, even as at the present
time they are saving her from total infidelity. Whether successful or
unsuccessful, they struggled with equal constancy and valor against
that formidable power. About the year 876 Mussulman hordes infested
the country around Rome to such an extent that at last scarcely a
hamlet or drove of oxen remained to suffer by the widespread disaster.
Three hundred Saracen galleys menaced the mouth of the Tiber, and John
VIII., deserted and betrayed by neighboring dukes, implored by letter
the aid of Charles the Bald and the Emperor Charles of Germany. Yet he
failed, and that not so much through the strength of the Mohammedans
as through the base conduct of princes called Christian, who cast him
into prison, and then drove him to find refuge in France. Often have
the popes been obliged to follow the example of John VIII., and look
forth from their retirement in foreign lands on the tempest they have
braved and escaped. His 320 letters show how much temporal affairs
occupied his attention, because God willed that his spiritual
authority should show forth its civilizing tendency in temporal
intervention. His conflict with Islamism, which seemed unproductive at
the time, bore fruit in after ages.
[Footnote 154: Milman's Hist. of Latin Christianity. ]
The differences which arose and lasted so long between the popes and
the emperors of Germany are constantly misrepresented by writers
adverse to the Church. Their origin lay in the attachment of the Roman
pontiffs to principles which they can never abandon. The investiture
quarrel was a long struggle of spiritual authority against imperial
aggression, and the apparent compromise in which it issued left the
divine prerogatives of the Holy See intact. Simony was one great
plague of the middle ages, and but for the popes the princes of Europe
would have filled the Lord's temple with impious traffic. But for the
popes, too, many of them would have been unchecked in their proud
dreams of universal empire, which, if realized, would have been as
injurious to the liberties of mankind as to the free action of the
church. Frederick II., who was born in Italy, and lived to spend long
years in its delicious climate, without once visiting his German
domains, desired to establish in her the throne of the Caesars. This
was the secret of all his disputes with the pope, and this ambitious
project every successor of St. Peter felt bound to resist. But amid
all these struggles, from Gregory VII. to Calistus II., the life of
the church was a continual child-bearing, and while the popes battled
with crowned princes, they labored also for the souls of the poor. If
you would find the inexhaustible mine of that salt which keeps the
whole world from corruption, you must seek it in the hill where Paul
was buried, and Peter expired on his inverted cross. Proceeding thus
by regular stages in the work of improvement, the Roman Church had the
satisfaction of seeing every formula of enfranchisement signed by
prince or baron in the name of religion. It was {649} always with some
Christian idea, some hope of future recompense, some recognition of
the equality of all men in the sight of God, that the strong
voluntarily loosened the bonds of the weak. Absurd and barbarous
legislation was gradually reformed under the same influence; and
trials by single combat, oaths without evidence, and passing through
fire or cold water as a test of innocence, were supplanted by more
rational processes. M. Gnizot has pointed out the great superiority of
the laws of the Visigoths over those of other barbarous people around
them; and he ascribes this difference to their having been drawn up
under the direction of the Councils of Toledo. They laid great stress
on the examination of written documents in all trials, accepted mere
affirmation on oath only as a last resource, and distinguished between
the different degrees of guilt in homicide, with or without
premeditation, provoked or unprovoked, and the like. If M. Guizot's
observation is well founded in the case of an Arian code, how much
more weight would it have, if made in reference to laws framed under
Catholic influence. Civilization and theology went hand in hand. Every
question was considered in its theological bearing. The habits, the
feelings, and the language of men continually bespoke religious ideas.
Barbaric wisdom was guided by the Star of the East to Bethlehem, and
matured in the school of Christ. The public penances imposed by the
church became the form to which penal inflictions were moulded by the
law; the repentance of the culprit, and the fear of offending inspired
in bystanders, being the twofold object kept in view. The progress
made by the nations under such tutelage has been allowed by many
Protestant historians, and it would be easy to cite the testimony of
Robertson, Sismondi, Leibnitz, Coquerel, Ancillon, [Footnote 155] and
De Muller, [Footnote 156] to the truth of our statements. Duels in
the middle ages, and even down to the time of Louis XIV., raged like
an epidemic, produced deadly feuds between families, abolished all
just decision of disputes, and gave the advantage to the more agile
and skilful of the combatants. From 1589 to 1607 no less than 4000
French gentleman lost their lives in duels. [Footnote 157] The genius
of Sully and Richelieu was unequal to the task of crushing this
two-fold crime of suicide and murder. But the church had never ceased
to denounce it, and, in the Council of Trent especially, launched all
her thunders against it. [Footnote 158] At length temporal princes
were guided by her voice in this matter. Charles V. forbade it in his
vast dominions; in Portugal it was punished with confiscation and
banishment to Africa; and in Sweden it was visited with death.
[Footnote 155: Tableau des Revolutions.]
[Footnote 156: Hist. Universelle.]
[Footnote 157: Bell on Feudalism.]
[Footnote 158: Sess. xxv. c. 19.]
The pitiless character of human legislation was exhibited for ages in
the practice of refusing those who were condemned to death the
privilege of confession; and it was not till the reign of Philip the
Bold, in 1397, that this cruel restriction was removed. The church had
always protested against it, and her remonstrances at last prevailed.
Chivalry itself owed something to her inspiration. Mingled as it was
with rudeness and violence, it had also many noble elements, which
religion encouraged. It was a step toward higher civilization, because
it vindicated the dignity of womankind; true gallantry sprang from
honest purposes and virtuous conduct, and if Sir Galahad said--
"My good blade carves the casques of men,
My tough lance thrusteth sure,"
he added--
"My strength is as the strength of ten,
_Because my heart is pure_."
Sir James Stephen, in a paper on St. Gregory VII., [Footnote 159] has
avowed his conviction that the centralization of the ecclesiastical
power did more than counterbalance the isolating tendency of feudal
oligarchies. But for the {650} intervention of the papacy, he says,
the vassal of the west, and the serf of eastern Europe would, perhaps
to this day be in the same state of social debasement, and military
autocrats would occupy the place of paternal and constitutional
governments. Feudal despotism strove to debase men into wild beasts or
beasts of burden, while "the despotism of Hildebrand," whether
consistent or no, sought to guide the human race by moral impulses to
sanctity more than human. If the popes had abandoned the work assigned
them by Providence, they would have plunged the church and world into
hopeless bondage. St. Gregory VII. found the papacy dependent on the
empire, and he supported it by alliances with Italian princes. He
found the chair of the apostles filled, when vacant, by the clergy and
the people of Rome, and he provided for less stormy elections by
making the pope eligible by a college of his own nomination. He found
the Holy See in subjection to Henry, and he rescued it from his hands.
He found the secular clergy subservient to lay influence, and he
rendered them free and active auxiliaries of his own authority. He
found the highest dignitaries of the church the slaves of temporal
sovereigns, and he delivered them from this yoke, and bound them to
the tiara. He found ecclesiastical functions and benefices the spoil
and traffic of princes, and he brought them back to the control of the
sovereign pontiff; He is justly celebrated as the reformer of the
profane and licentious abuses of his time, and we owe him the praise
also of having left the impress of his giant character on the history
of the ages that followed. Such are the candid admissions of a
professor in the University of Cambridge. The highest eulogies of Rome
are often to be found in the writings of aliens.
[Footnote 159: Edinburgh Review, 1845.]
Up to the time of the Reformation the Roman church was manifestly in
the forefront of civilization. After that terrible revolution she was
still really so, but not always manifestly. Her position was the same,
but that of society had changed. It no longer accepted her laws; it
cavilled at her authority, ort openly spurned it. People forgot their
debt of gratitude to the power which had always interfered in behalf
of the oppressed, and princes jibed at the restraints which the papacy
imposed on their absolute rule. The printing-press was wrested from
the church's hands, and made the chief engine for propagating
misbelief. A new and spurious civilization was set up, and was so
blended with real and amazing progress in many of the sciences and the
arts of life, that when the popes opposed what was corrupt in it and
of evil tendency, they often appeared adverse to what was genuine. Of
this their enemies took every advantage, and constantly represented
them as the mortal foes of the liberty, enlightenment, and progress of
mankind. Pontiff after pontiff protested against this wilful
misrepresentation, which has lasted three hundred years, and continues
in full force to this day. Seldom has it been put forward more
speciously than in reference to the recent Encyclical of Pius IX. We
shall endeavor to show its utter falsity in the remainder of this
article.
Thrown back in her efforts to evangelize Europe, the church turned
with more ardor than ever toward the other hemisphere. Already Alvarez
di Cordova had planted the cross in Congo. Idolatry vanished before it
almost entirely in the African territory recently discovered, and upon
its ruins rose the city of San Salvador. The ills inflicted on the
Americans by the first Spanish settlers were repaired by the
Benedictine Bernard di Buil, and other missionaries who trod in his
steps. The Dominicans set their faces sternly against reducing the
Indians to the rank of slaves, and Father Monterino, in the church of
St. Domingo, inveighed against it in the presence of the governor,
with all {651} the fervor of popular eloquence. [Footnote 160] The
life of Bartholomew de Las Casas was one long struggle against the
cupidity and cruelty of Spanish masters and in favor of Indian
freedom. The labors and successes of St. Francis Xavier are too well
known to require recapitulation in this place; it is more to the
purpose to remark that the missionaries of Rome, from Mexico and the
Philippine islands, to Goa, Cochin-China, and Japan, everywhere
exposed to adverse climate, hardship, and martyrdom, carried with them
the two-fold elements of civilization--religion and the arts of life.
The Jesuit who started for China was provided with telescope and
compass. He appeared at the court of Pekin with the urbanity of one
fresh from the presence of Louis XIV., and surrounded with the
insignia of science. He unrolled his maps, turned his globes, chalked
out his spheres, and taught the astonished mandarins the course of the
stars and the name of him who guides them in their orbits. [Footnote
161] Buffon, [Footnote 162] Robertson, and Macaulay have alike
extolled the missionary zeal of the Jesuit fathers, and have ascribed
to them, not merely the regeneration of the inward man, but the
cultivation of barren lands, the building of cities, new high roads of
commerce, new products, new riches and comforts for the whole human
race.
[Footnote 160: Robertson, Hist. of America.]
[Footnote 161: Genie du Christianisme.]
[Footnote 162: Hist. Naturelle de l'Homme.]
In teaching barbarous nations the arts of life and the elements of
scientific knowledge, the missionaries acted in perfect accordance
with the spirit of the papacy and the example of the religious orders.
Each of these had its appointed sphere, and each civilized mankind in
its own way. The templars, the knights of St. John, the Teutonic
knights, and half a dozen other now forgotten military orders,
defended civilization with the sword; the Chartreux, the Benedictines,
the Bernardines, in quiet and shady retreats, preserved from decay the
precious stores of heathen antiquity, compiled the history of their
several epochs, and gave themselves, under many disadvantages, to the
study of natural philosophy; the Redemptorists, the Trinitarians, and
the Brothers of Mercy devoted themselves to the redemption of captives
and the emancipation of slaves. Voltaire cannot pass them over without
a burst of admiration, when touching on their benevolent career during
six centuries. [Footnote 163] Some orders made preaching and private
instruction their special work, and among these were the Dominicans,
the Franciscans, the Carmelites, and the Augustines. The pulpit is the
lever that raises the moral world; and it civilizes city, village, and
hamlet the more effectually because its work is constant and
systematic. It explains, Sunday after Sunday, and festival after
festival, the sublimest and deepest of all sciences, while it guides
society, with persuasive might, in the path of moral improvement. With
all that social science has devised for the comfort and welfare of
mankind, nothing that it has ever invented is so essentially
civilizing, so dignified and lovely, so unpretending and strong, as
the self-denying labors of brothers and sisters of charity,
sacrificing youth, beauty, prospects, tastes, and indulgence, on the
altar of religion, and passing their days among the lepers and the
plague-stricken, the ignorant, the degraded, the squalid and the
infirm.
[Footnote 163: Sur les Moeurs, ch. cxx.]
And of these orders, none, be it observed, has railed against
knowledge. By no rule, in any one of them, has ignorance been made a
virtue and science a sin. All have admired the beauty of
knowledge--the fire on her brow--her forward countenance--her
boundless domain. All have wished well to her cause, and have
maintained only that she should know her place; that she is the
second, not the first; that she is not wisdom, but {652} wisdom's
handmaid; that she is of earth, and wisdom is of heaven; she is of the
world for the church, and wisdom is of the church for the world.
Severed from religion, they regarded her as some wild Pallas from the
brain of demons; but science guided by a higher hand, and moving side
by side with revelation, like the younger child, they believed to be
the most beautiful spectacle the mind could contemplate.
To repeat these things in the ears of well read Catholics, is to
iterate a thrice-told tale. But there are others who need often to be
reminded of facts of history which our adversaries are apt to ignore.
Besides the vast body of priests and religious orders, whose office
was to disseminate thought and piety through the world, the papacy
constantly sought new vehicles by which to promote science. The
greater part of the universities of Europe owe their existence to this
agency. Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow, Naples, Padua, Vienna, Upsal,
Lisbon, Salamanca, Toulouse, Montpellier, Orleans, Nantes, Poictiers,
and a multitude beside, were made centres of human knowledge under the
patronage of the popes, and Clement V., Gregory IX., Engenius IV.,
Nicholas V., and Pius II., were among the most illustrious of their
founders.
The writings of Leonardo da Vinci were not published till a century
after his death, and some of them at a still later period. They are
more like revelations of physical truths vouchsafed to a single mind,
than the fabric of its reasoning on any established basis. He laid
down the principle of Bacon, that experiment and observation must be
our chief guides in the investigation of nature. Venturi has given a
most interesting list of the truths in mechanism apprehended by the
genius of this light of the fifteenth century. [Footnote 164] He was
possessed in the highest degree of the spirit of physical inquiry, and
in this department of learning was truly a seer.
[Footnote 164: Estai sur lea Ouvrages Physico-Mathematiques de
Leonard de Vinci. Paris. 1797. Hallam's Literary History, vol. i.
pp. 222-5.]
Let the reader transport himself in idea to the beautiful borders of
the Henares, and there, in the opening of the sixteenth century, look
down on the rising University of Alcala. Let him admire and wonder at
the varied energy of its founder--Ximenes, the prelate, the hermit,
the warrior, and the statesman. There, in his sixty-fourth year, he
laid the corner-stone of the principal college, and was often seen
with the rule in hand, taking the measurement of the buildings, and
encouraging the industry of the workmen. The diligence with which he
framed the system of instruction to be pursued, the activity of mind
he promoted among the students, the liberal foundations he made for
indigent scholars and the regulation of professors' salaries, did not
withdraw him from the affairs of state, or the publication of his
famous Bible, the Complutensian Polyglot. When Francis I., visited
Alcala, twenty years after the university was opened, 7000 students
came forth to receive him, and by the middle of the seventeenth
century the revenue bequeathed by Ximenes had increased to 42,000
ducats, and the colleges had multiplied from ten to thirty-five.
[Footnote 165] Most of the chairs were appropriated to secular
studies, and Alcala stands forward as a brilliant refutation of the
calumnies against Catholic prelates as the patrons of ignorance.
[Footnote 165: Quintanilla: Archetype. Prescott's Ferdinand and
Isabella, ii. 826.]
The same country and epoch which produced Ximenes gave birth also to
Columbus. It was neither accident nor religion, but nautical science
and the intuitive vision of another hemisphere, that piloted him
across the Atlantic to the West-India shores. Amerigo Vespucci
followed in his wake, emulous of like discoveries. He published a
journal of his earlier voyages at Vicenza in 1507, and gave his name
{653} to the continent of the western world. Thus, while two great
navigators, each of them Catholics, explored new lands on the surface
of our globe, Copernicus at the same time, and Galileo not many years
after, presaged the motion of the planets round the sun, and the
twofold rotation of the earth. To Galileo, indeed, far more is due. To
him we owe the larger part of experimental philosophy. He first
propounded the laws of gravity, the invention of the pendulum, the
hydrostatic scales, the sector, a thermometer, and the telescope. With
the last he made numberless observations which changed the face of
astronomy. Among these, that of the satellites of Jupiter was one of
the most remarkable. He came, it is true, into a certain collision
with the church, but it is remarkable, that all the provocation given
by Galileo never reduced authority to the unjustifiable step of
impeding the fullest scientific investigation of his theory. Nay,
those astronomers who taught on the Copernican _hypothesis_ were more
favored at Rome than their opponents. It was at Galileo's request that
Urban appointed Castelli to be his own mathematician, and the letter
in which the pontiff recommended Galileo to the notice of the Grand
Duke of Tuscany, after his condemnation, abounds with expressions of
sincere friendship. As to the dungeon and the torture, they are simply
fabulous. During the process Galileo was permitted to lodge at the
Tuscan embassy instead of in the prison of the holy office--a favor
not accorded even to princes. His sentence of imprisonment was no
sooner passed, than the Pope commuted it into detention in the Villa
Medici, and, after he had resided there some days, he was allowed to
install himself in the palace of his friend, Ascanio Piccolomini,
archbishop of Sienna. Subsequently he retired to his own house and the
bosom of his family; for, as Nicolini's correspondence with him
testifies, "his holiness treated Galileo with unexpected and, perhaps,
excessive gentleness, granting all the petitions presented in his
behalf." [Footnote 166] These facts are surely sufficient to prove
that physical science received all due honor at this period in Rome.
In due time--long after Galileo's death--his theory was scientifically
established; and not very long afterward the Congregational decree was
suspended by Benedict XIV. Galileo's famous dialogue was published
entire at Padua in 1744 with the usual approbations; and in 1818 Pius
VII. repealed the decrees in question in full consistory. What could
the church do more? It was her duty to guard the Scriptures from
irreverence and unbelief, and to prohibit the advocacy of theories
absolutely unproved which seemed to oppose them. To her physical
science is dear, but revealed truth is infinitely dearer. Already she
had opposed astrology as a remnant of paganism, and had studied the
motions of the moon and planets to fix Easter and reform the Julian
calendar. Already Gregory XIII. had brought the calendar which bears
his name into use; and the works of Aristotle, translated into Arabic
and Latin, had become the model of theological methods of disputation
and treatise. St. Thomas Aquinas had written commentaries on them, and
on Plato; and thus, as well as by his essay on aqueducts and that on
hydraulic machines, had proved how inseparable is the alliance between
sound theology and true science. "The sceptre of science," says Joseph
de Maistre, "belongs to Europe only because she is Christian. She has
reached this high degree of civilization and knowledge because she
began with theology, because the universities were at first schools of
theology, and because all the sciences, grafted upon this divine
subject, have shown forth the divine sap by immense vegetation."
[Footnote 167]
[Footnote 166: British Review. 1861. Martyrdom of Galileo.]
[Footnote 167: Soirees de St. Petersbourg,
Xme entretien. ]
{654}
Voltaire has observed that "the sovereign pontiffs have always been
remarkable among princes attached to letters," and the remark is
equally true as regards science and art. Silvester II. was so learned
that the common people attributed his vast erudition to magic. He
collected all the monuments of antiquity he could find in Germany and
Italy, and delivered them into the hands of copyists in the
monasteries. St. Gregory VII. conceived the design of rebuilding St.
Peter's, and gathered around him all the first architects of his day.
Gregory IX. interfered in behalf of the University of Paris, and, as
Guillaume de Nangis says, "prevented science and learning, those
treasures of salvation, from quitting the kingdom of France." Nicolas
V. was a great restorer of letters, and Macaulay speaks of him as one
whom every friend of science should name with respect. Sixtus IV.
conferred the title of Count Palatine on the printer Jenson, to
encourage the noble art, then in its infancy. Pius III. enriched
Sienna with a magnificent library, and engaged Raphael and
Pinturicchio to adorn it with frescoes. Paul V. endowed Rome with the
most beautiful productions of sculpture and painting, with splendid
fountains and enduring monuments. Urban VIII. loved all the arts,
succeeded in Latin poetry, and filled his court with men of learning.
Under his pontificate "the Romans," as Voltaire says, "enjoyed
profound peace, and shared all the charms and glory which talent sheds
on society." Benedict XIV. cultivated letters, composed poems, and
patronized science. The infidel himself just mentioned paid him
homage, and professed profound veneration for him, when sending him a
copy of his "Mahomet." [Footnote 168] Every pope in his turn has been
a Maecenas. Not one in the august line has lost sight of the interests
of society and the prerogatives of mind. The useful and the beautiful
were always present to their thoughts; and even in those few instances
where they failed in good personally, they encouraged in their
official capacity whatsoever things are true, lovely, and of good
fame.
[Footnote 168: Letter to Pope Benedict XIV.]
Many names dear to science and religion occur to us in illustration of
these remarks--names of men who, in the two last and in the present
century, have devoted their lives to secular learning without losing
their allegiance to the Catholic faith, or confounding it with other
sciences which lie within human control for their extension and
modification. Of these honorable names we will mention a few only by
way of example, feeling sure that our readers' memory will supply them
with many others. Cassini, among the astronomers, enjoyed so high a
reputation at Bologna that the Senate and the pope employed him in
several scientific and political missions. Colbert invited him to
Paris, where he became a member of the Academy of Sciences, and died
at a good old age in 1712, crowned with the glory of several important
discoveries, among which were those of the satellites of Saturn and
the rotation of Mars and Venus. His son James followed in his
footsteps, and bequeathed his name to fame. Andre Ampere, again, a
sincere Catholic, was one of the most illustrious disciples of
electro-magnetism. He developed the memorable discovery of Oersted,
ranged over the entire field of knowledge, and acquired a lasting
reputation by his "theory of electro-dynamic phenomena drawn from
experience." When between thirteen and fourteen years of age, he read
through the twenty folio volumes of D'Alembert and Diderot's
Encyclopaedia, digested its contents wonderfully for a boy and could
long afterwards repeat extracts from it. But his reading was not
confined to such books. A biography of Descartes, indeed, by Thomas,
inspired him with his earliest enthusiasm for mathematics and natural
philosophy; but his first communion also left an indelible stamp on
his memory and character. The love of religion then, once {655} and
for ever, took possession of his soul, and fired him through life,
like the electric currents into which he made such profound research.
When his days, which were fall of trouble, came to a close at
Marseilles in 1837, he told the chaplain of the college that he had
discharged all his Christian duties before setting out on his journey;
and when a friend began reading to him some sentences from "The
Imitation of Christ," he said, "I know the book by heart." These were
his last words.
By the lives and labors of such men the church's mission on earth is
effectually seconded. They inspire the thinking portion of society
with confidence in religion, and though, from their constant
engagement in secular pursuits, they frequently err in some minor
point, and cling to some crotchet which ecclesiastical authority
cannot sanction, yet in consideration of their loyal intentions and
exemplary practices, the clergy everywhere regard them as able and
honorable coadjutors. True civilization, (observe the epithet,) far
from being adverse, must ever be favorable to the salvation of souls.
Many writers still living, or who have recently passed away, have
united happily Catholicism with science. Santarem, in his long exile,
gave his mind to the history of geography and the discoveries of his
Portuguese fellow-countrymen on the western coast of Africa. Caesar
Cantu, in his historical works, uniformly defended the cause of the
popedom in Italy, and persisted in holding it forward as his country's
hope. M. Capefigue, among his numerous works on French history, has
included the life of St. Vincent of Paul; and Cardinal Mai has
rendered incalculable service to the study of Greek MSS. But for his
diligence and sagacity, the palimpsests of the Vatican would never
have yielded up their all-but obliterated treasures. Saint-Hilaire,
eminent alike as a zoologist and natural philosopher, who demonstrated
so clearly the organic structure in the different species of animals
was destined in his youth for holy orders; but although he preferred a
scientific career, he retained his affection for the clergy, and saved
several of them, at the risk of his own life, during the massacres of
September, in 1792. Blainville, another great naturalist, and Cuvier's
successor in the chair of comparative anatomy, was deeply religious.
He felt the importance of rescuing physical science from the hands of
infidelity, by which it is so often perverted into an argument against
revelation. Epicurus is said to have maintained that our knowledge of
Deity is exactly commensurate with our knowledge of the works of
nature, and to have allowed no other measure of our theology out [sic]
physics. Lucretius devoted the whole of his beautiful but atheistic
poem, "De Rerum Natura" to the task of proving that the soul is
mortal, that religion is a cheat, and that natural causes sufficiently
account for all the phenomena of the universe. In our day the
disciples of Epicurus and Lucretius are legion, but they are not
always so plain spoken as their masters. Happily they are everywhere
opposed by men who recall physics to their true place, and make them a
corollary of revealed truth--the science of the Creator, as
Catholicism may be termed the science of the Divine Redeemer and
Ruler. But useful as such laborers in the field of secular learning
are, the truth cannot be too often repeated, that the vivifying
principle of civilization lies in the cross and the ministry of
reconciliation, of which the Pope is the head. No man whose knees have
never bent on Calvary is truly civilized. If his passions chance to be
tamed, his reason is rampant, or his conscience is asleep. He has no
clear perception of things divine, and his views of things earthly and
human are erroneous and confused. Oh! that philosophers would learn
that the glory of their intellect consists in its dutiful
subordination to the church! Then would she shine forth more
conspicuously in the sight of all men as the {656} civilizer of
nations. Then, and then only, should we be able to encourage without
reserve or misgiving the speculations of science and the enterprises
of art, and should join with loud voices and full hearts in the ardent
aspirations of the poet:
Fly, happy happy sails, and bear the Press;
_Fly, happy with the mission of the Cross;_
Knit land to land, and blowing havenward
With silks, and fruits, and spices, clear of toll,
Enrich the markets of _the golden year_.
That which delays the golden year, and prevents the knitting of land
to land in the bonds of religious brotherhood, is the want of unity
among nations called Christian. The terrible disruptions effected
under Photins, Luther, and Henry VIII., have rendered the conversion
of the world for the present morally impossible. But if the East and
West were again united under their lawful lord and pope; if Protestant
sects were deprived of regal support, reaebsorbed into the Catholic
body, or so reduced in numerical importance as to be all but inactive
and voiceless; if the vaunted utility of association were duly
exemplified; if European populations were emulous of spiritual
conquests in distant countries; if under the guidance and control of a
common idea each of them launched its missionary ships on the waters
in quick succession; if each town and university sent its quota of
zeal and learning to the glorious work; if missionaries in large
numbers went forth cheered with the apostolic benediction, and on
whatever shore they might converge found other laborers in fields
already white for the harvest, speaking with many tongues of one Lord,
one faith, one baptism--then would the heathen no longer be stupefied
by the feeble front and incongruous claims of those who now call them
to repentance, nor would infidels scoff and jeer at a religion which
has been made the very symbol of disunion; unbelieving nations,
astonished at the strict coincidence of testimony borne by preachers
arriving from every quarter of the globe, would distrust their
prophets, desert their idols, and seek admission into the one
ubiquitous fold. Then, also, the moral and intellectual energies of
European prelates would be no longer engrossed by resisting aggression
and weeding out disaffection nearer home, but would have leisure to
organize missions on a large scale, and to fortify them with every
auxiliary modern art and science can supply. The honor and glory of
civilization would then be given to her to whom it belongs of right;
and the nations, at length disabused of popular fallacies, would
perceive that Protestantism and spurious liberty really hinder the
progress they are supposed to promote.
------
{657}{658}{659}
[ORIGINAL.]
THE CURSE OF SACRILEGE.
[In the suburbs of the ancient and curious city of Angers in France is
a beautiful chateau, situated in the midst of extensive and fertile
grounds. The chapel contains some very remarkable pieces of statuary,
now nearly eight hundred years old. The place was formerly a convent
of monks, and wrested from them during the great revolution. The
family into whose possession it came, has ever since been afflicted
with the sudden death and insanity of its members. The death of the
last male heir, a youth of great promise, which occurred but a few
years ago, is described in the following verses.]
A youth of twenty summers
Sat at his mother's knee;
Ne'er saw you a youth more noble,
Nor fairer dame than she.
Half-reclining he swept the lute-strings,
Murmuring an olden rhyme;
While the clock in the castle tower
Rang out a morning chime:
"In the bright and happy spring-time
Ring the bells merrily;
When the dead leaves fall in autumn,
Then toll the bell for me."
The face of the lady-mother,
Writhed as with sudden pain:
"Oh! sing not, my son, so sadly,
Choose thou a happier strain."
Sang the youth, "When the summer sunshine
Falls o'er the lake and lea,
And the corn is springing upward,
Then you'll remember me."
The matron smiled on the singer:
"My dear and my only one
When I shall not remember,
The light will forget the sun."
Yet her eyes smiled not, but were standing,
Brimful of glimmering tears,
Tell-tales of secret anguish,
Dead hopes and living fears.
For he was the heir, and the only
Child of the house of La Barre;
A name that was known for its sorrows,
By all, both near and far.
Lay in a charming valley
Its rich and fair domain;
But a curse seemed to hang around it,
Worse than the curse of Cain.
For this was a holy convent
Of monks in olden time;
From God men had dared to wrest it,
Nor recked the awful crime.
The mild men of God were driven
Houseless and homeless afar:
And he who rifled their cloister,
Became the Lord of La Barre.
But a curse came down on his household,
That time did not abate:
And ne'er did the mourning hatchment
Pass from the castle gate
The Lord of La Barre fell suddenly
Dead in his banquet-hall;
And madness seized his first-born,
Bearing the funeral pall.
Calamity sudden and fearful.
Haunted the sacred place.
Striking the lords and their children,
And blighting their hapless race.
One is thrown from his saddle,
Dashing his brains on the ground;
One in his bridal chamber.
Dead by his bride is found;
One is caught by the mill-wheel.
And cruelly torn in twain;
One is lost in the forest,
Ne'er to return again.
Death-traps for wolves, the herdsmen
Set in the woods with care;
The wolves devour the master,
Caught in the fatal snare.
Killed by the forked lightnings;
Drowned in the flowing Loire;
Crushed by some falling timbers;
Conquered and slain in war.
Idiots and still-born children,
Come as the first-born heirs.
Those are seized with madness,
Whom death a few years spares.
Thus did they all inherit
A curse with the rich domain,
Who dared on the holy convent
To lay their hands profane.
The autumn winds are blowing
Across the lake and lea,
As the youth of twenty summers
Sings at his mother's knee.
He ceased, and from him casting
His lute upon the floor,
Listened, as sounds from the court-yard
Came through the open door.
Hearing the dogs' loud barking,
As their keeper his bugle wound;
"To-day I go a hunting,"
Said he, "with hawk and hound."
The rustling of dead leaves only
Heard the Lady of La Barre,
And thought of her lordly husband
Drowned in the flowing Loire.
The autumn winds were moaning
Among the yellow trees,
"Stay, Ernest," said she sadly,
"My soul is ill at ease.
"Shadows of dire mischances
Fall on my widowed heart;
I could not live if danger
Thy life from mine should part."
"Fear not," said he, while laughing
He kissed her sad fair face;
"I hear the hounds' loud baying
All eager for the chase.
"Over the hill by the river
I'll bring the quarry down,
And homeward pluck the roses
To weave for thee a crown."
"The rose-crown, my child, will wither,
'Tis but a passing toy;
But thou art the crown of thy mother--
Her only life and joy.
"Follow the hunt to-morrow--
With me, love, stay to-day;
For dark and sad forebodings
My anxious heart affray."
The autumn winds are blowing,
The dead leaves downward fall,
The lawn and flowers covering
Like a funeral pall.
But he heedeth not the warning,
And hies with haste away.
The lady seeks the chapel,
With heavy heart, to pray.
"May God and his blessed Mother
Spare me my only one.
Yet teach me and strengthen me ever
To say, Thy will be done!"
Well may the lady tremble,
Hearing the wind again;
The dead leaves are falling in showers
Like to a summer rain.
Hark! a sound from the court-yard
Blanches the lady's cheek--
The huntsmen call not surely
In such a fearful shriek!
Say, "Thy will be done," O lady!
As thou e'en now hast said,
For the last of thy race is lying
Stark in the court-yard, dead.
------
{660}
Translated from the Spanish
PERICO THE SAD; OR,
THE ALVAREDA FAMILY.
CHAPTER VIII.
Autumn had shortened the days, and winter was knocking at the door
with fingers of ice. It was the hour when laborers return to their
homes, and the sun casts a last cold glance upon the earth he is
abandoning.
Perico came slowly, preceded by his ass, and followed by Melampo, who
rivalled his ancient friend and companion in gravity. The latter still
remembered with horror the entry of the French, though six years had
passed since; for the flight of her masters caused her the wildest
gallop she had taken in her whole life. She had not yet recovered from
the fatigue.
When they entered their street, two little children, brother and
sister, ran to meet Perico, but at the moment they reached him, the
deep and solemn sound of a bell called to prayer. Perico stood still
and uncovered his head. The ass and the dog, that from long habit knew
the sound, stopped also, and the little ones remained immovable. When
their father had concluded the prayers of the mystery of the
annunciation, the children drew near and said--
"Your hand, father."
"May God make you good!" answered Perico, blessing his children.
The boy, who was impatient to be mounted on the ass, asked his father
why people must be still when the bell rung for prayer.
"Don't you remember," said his sister Angela, "what Aunt Elvira tells
us, that when it strikes this hour dedicated to the Blessed Virgin,
our guardian angels stand still, and if we go on then, we shall be
alone--without them?"
"That is true, sister," answered the boy, giving, with all his little
might, a blow to the ass upon which his father had placed him, a blow
of which, fortunately, the patient creature took not the least notice.
Six years had passed since the occurrence of the sorrowful events we
have related. To make the remembrance of them still more sorrowful,
the unhappy Marcela, who witnessed from her hiding-place the insult to
her {661} father, the terrible vengeance taken by her brother, and the
flight of the latter, had gone mad.
No tidings of Ventura had ever been received, and all believed that he
was dead. Notwithstanding, in their tenderness for Elvira and their
friendship for Pedro, the others spoke to them in the words of a hope
which did not exist in their own hearts.
Time, the great dissolvent, in which joys and griefs alike are
lost--as in water disappear both the sugar and the salt--had made
those memories, if not less bitter, at least more endurable. Only from
Pedro's lips, instead of his lively songs and habitual jokes, was
often heard, "My poor son! my poor daughter!"
Elvira, alone, was excepted from this influence of time. She was
wasting in silence, like those light clouds in the sky, which, instead
of falling to the earth in noisy torrents, rise softly and gradually
until they are lost from sight. She never complained, nor did the name
of Ventura, of him upon whom she had looked as the companion the
church would give her, pass her lips.
"A worm is gnawing at her heart," said Anna to her son; "the rest do
not see it, but it is not hidden from me."
"But, mother," he answered, "where do you see it? She complains
perhaps?"
"No, my son, no: but, Perico, a mother hears the voice of the dumb
daughter," replied Anna with sadness.
Rita and Perico were happy, because Perico, with his loving heart, his
sweet temper, and his conciliatory character, made the happiness of
both. A year after their marriage, Rita had given birth to twins. On
that occasion, she was at death's door, and owed her life to the
tender care of her husband and his family. She remained for a long
time feeble and ailing, but at the moment in which we take up the
thread of our story, she was entirely restored, and the roses of youth
and health bloomed more brightly than ever upon her countenance.
When they were reunited that evening, Maria exclaimed: "Blessed
mother, what a fearful storm we had last night! I was so frightened
that my very bed shook with me! I recalled all my sins and confessed
them to God. I prayed so much that I think I must have awakened all
the saints: and I prayed loud, for I have always heard say that the
lightning loses its power from where the voice of praying reaches. To
the Moors! To the Moors! I said to the tempest, go to the Moors, that
they may be converted and tremble at the wrath of God! Not until
day-break, when I saw the rainbow, was I consoled: for it is the sign
God gives to man that he will not punish the world with another flood.
Why do men not fear when they see these warnings of God!"
"And why would you have them tremble, mother, for a thing which is
natural," said Rita.
"Natural!" retorted Maria. "Perhaps you will also tell me that
pestilence and war are natural! Do you know what the lightning is? For
I heard a farmer say that it is a fragment of the air set on fire by
the wrath of God. And where does not the air enter? And where is the
place the wrath of God does not reach? And the thunder--the thunder,
said a certain preacher, is the voice of God in his magnificence; and
that God is to be feared above all when it thunders."
"The rain has been welcome, Mamma Maria, for the ground is thirsty,"
said Perico.
"The ground is always thirsty," observed Rita, "as thirsty as a sot."
"Father," said Angela, "hear what I sung to-day when I saw the pewets
running to the pools," and the little girl began to sing:
"Open your windows, God of Christians!
Let the rain come down,
See the Blessed Virgin comes riding
From the inn of the little town;
Riding a horse of snowy whiteness.
Over the fields so brown,
Lighting all the fields with the brightness
Of the glory which shines around.
Blessing the fields, the fields of the king:
Ring from the big church, let all the bells ring!"
{662}
Angel, not wishing to let his sister, who was the brighter of the two,
gain the palm--instantly said: "And I, father, sung:
'Rain, my God,
I ask it from my heart.
Have pity on me,
For I am little, and I ask for bread.'"
"Enough, enough," cried Rita, "you are as noisy as two cicadas, and
more tiresome than frogs."
"May we play a game, mother?" said the boy.
"Play with the cat's tail," responded Rita.
"Mamma Maria," said the girl, "I will say the catechism to you, if you
will tell us a story. Now hear me: 'The enemies of the soul are three,
the devil, the world, and the flesh.'"
"I like that enemy," said the boy.
"Hush, little one; it don't mean the flesh in the stew."
"What then?" asked the boy.
"Learn the words now," answered his grandmother, "and when you know
more, apply what you have learned. For the present, I will tell you
that your flesh, that is to say, your appetite, tempts you to be so
gluttonous, and that gluttony is a mortal sin."
"They are seven," said the girl quickly, and recited them.
"I, Mamma Maria," said Angel, "know the Three Persons, the Father who
is God, the Son who is God, and the Holy Ghost, who is a dove."
"How stupid you are!" exclaimed his mother.
"Daughter," remarked Maria, "no one is born instructed. Child," she
continued, "the Dove is a symbol, the Holy Spirit is God, the same as
the Father and the Son."
Each child pulling at its grandmother as it spoke:
"I know the commandments of God," said one.
"And I, those of the church," said the other.
"I the sacraments."
"And I the gifts of the Holy Spirit."
"I--"
"Enough, and too much," exclaimed Rita; "you are going to say the
whole catechism; or perhaps this is an infant school! What a pleasant
diversion!"
"Is it possible," said Maria, grieved, for she had been in her glory
listening to the children, "is it possible, Rita, that you do not love
to hear the word of God, and that it does not delight you in the
mouths of your children? I remember how I cried for joy, the first
time you said the whole of Our Father."
"That is so," said Rita; "you are capable of crying at a fandango."
The poor mother did not answer; but, turning to the children, said: "I
am so pleased with you because you know the catechism so well, that I
am going to tell you the prettiest story I know."
The children seated themselves on a low bench in front of their
grandmother, who began her story thus:
"When the angel warned the holy patriarch Joseph to flee into Egypt,
the saint got his little ass and set the mother and child upon it.
Then they started on their journey through woods and briery fields.
Once, when they were in the thickest part of a forest, the lady was
afraid because the way was so dark and lonesome. By and by they came
to a cave. Out of it ran a band of robbers and surrounded the holy
family. When the mother and child were going to get down from the ass,
the captain of the band, whose name was Demas, looked at the child; as
he looked, his heart smote him, and he turned to his companions and
said: 'Whoever touches as much as a thread of this lady's garment will
have me to do with,' and then he said to the holy pair: 'The night is
coming on stormy; follow me, and I will shelter you.' They went with
the robber, and he gave them to eat and drink, and the holy pair
accepted what he offered them, for God himself receives the worship of
all the bad as well as {663} the good. And for this reason, children,
never cease to pray, even though you should be in mortal sin; for this
robber, when at last he was taken and condemned to die, found
repentance and pardon on the cross itself, which served him for
expiation, as it served our Lord for sacrifice. He was converted and
was the first of all to enter into glory, as Christ promised him when
he was dying for him." Meantime, the wind howled without in prolonged
gusts. The doors shook, moved by an invisible hand. The old
orange-tree murmured in the court, as if remonstrating with the wind
for disturbing its calm.
"Listen," said Perico, "the very nettles will be swept from the
ground."
"And how it rains!" added Pedro. "The clouds are torn to bits. The
river is going to overflow the fields."
"Did you see how the clouds ran this afternoon?" said Angela to her
brother. "They looked like greyhounds."
"Yes," answered the boy, "and where were they going?"
"To the sea for water."
"Is there so much water in the sea?"
"Yes indeed, and more than there is in Uncle Pedro's pond."
"The voice of the wind seems to me like the voice of the evil spirit,
that comes leading fear by the hand," said Maria.
"You are always frightened, mother," remarked Rita. "I don't know when
your spirit will rest. Look here, lazy-bones," she proceeded, giving a
push to the boy who had reclined against her, "lean upon what you have
eaten."
The child, being half asleep, lost his balance. Elvira gave a cry, and
Perico, springing forward, caught him in his arms. Anna dropped her
distaff, but took it up again without a word.
"If you ever lose your son," said Pedro, indignant, "you will not weep
for him as I do for mine. You have that advantage over me."
"She is so quick, so hasty," said Maria, always ready to excuse and
slow to blame, "that she keeps me in hot water."
"So, then, Mamma Maria," Perico hastened to say, "yon are afraid of
everything--and witches?"
"No; oh! no, my son! The church forbids the belief in witches and
enchanters. I fear those things which God permits to punish men, and,
above all, when they are supernatural."
"Are there any such things? Have you seen any?" asked Rita.
"If there are any? And do you doubt that there are extraordinary
things?"
"Not at all. One of them is the day you do not preach me a sermon. But
the supernatural I don't believe in. I am like Saint Thomas."
"And you glory in it! It is a wonder you do not say also that you are
like Saint Peter in that in which he failed!"
"But, madam, have you seen anything of the kind, or is it only because
you can swallow everything, like a shark?"
"It is the same, to all intents, as if I had seen it."
"Aunt, what was it?" asked Elvira.
"My child," said the good old woman, turning toward her niece, "in the
first place, that which happened to the Countess of Villaoran. Her
ladyship herself told it to me when we were superintending her estate
of Quintos. This lady had the pious custom of having a mass said for
condemned criminals at the very hour they were being executed. When
the infamous Villico was in those parts, committing so much iniquity,
she allowed herself to say that if he should be taken, she would not
send to have a mass said for him, as she had for others. And when he
was executed, she kept her word.
"Not long alter, one night when she was sleeping quietly, she was
awakened by a pitiful voice near the head of her bed, calling her by
name. She sat up in bed terrified, but saw {664} nothing, though the
lamp was burning on the table. Presently she heard the same voice,
even more pitiful than at first, calling her from the yard, and before
she had fairly recovered from her surprise, she heard it a third time,
and from a great distance, calling her name. She cried out so loudly
that those who were in the house ran to her room, and found her pale
and terrified. But no one else had heard the voice.
"On the following day, hardly were the candles lighted in the churches
when a mass was being offered for the poor felon, and the countess, on
her knees before the altar was praying with fervor and penitence, for
the clemency of God, which is not like that of men, excludes none. And
now Rita, what do you think?"
"I think she dreamed it."
"Goodness, goodness! what incredulity," said Uncle Pedro. "Rita will
be like that Tucero, who, the preachers say, separated from the
church."
"Ave Maria! Do not say that, Pedro," exclaimed Maria, "even in
exaggeration! Mercy! you may well say, what perverseness, for she
talks so just to be contrary."
A noise in the direction of the door which opened into the back-yard,
caused Maria's lips to close suddenly.
"What is that?" she said.
"Nothing, Mamma Maria," answered Perico, laughing; "what would it be?
The wind which goes about to-night moving everything."
"Mother," said Angela, "hold me in your lap, as father does Angel, for
I am afraid."
"This is too much," exclaimed Rita, who was in bad humor. "Go along
and sit on the lap of earth, and don't come back till you bring
grandchildren."
"I should like to know," said Pedro, "if those who laugh at that which
others fear have never felt dread."
"Perico! Perico!" cried Maria, in terror, "there is a noise in the
yard."
"Mamma Maria, you are excited and frightened. Don't you hear that it
is the water in the gutter?"
"I, for my part," said Pedro, in a low voice, as if to himself, "ever
since there was a stain of blood in my house--"
"Pedro! Pedro! are we always to go back to that? Why will you make
yourself wretched? Of what use is it to return to the past, for which
there is no remedy?" said Anna.
"The truth is, Anna, what I suffer at times overwhelms me, and I must
give it vent. Often at night, when I am alone in my house, it falls
upon me. Anna, believe me, many a night, when all is still and sleep
flies from me, I see him; yes, I see him--the grenadier my son slew. I
see him just as I saw him alive, in his grey capote and fur cap, rise
out of the well and come into the room where he was killed, to look
for the stains of his own blood. I sec him before my eyes, tall,
motionless, terrible."
At this moment the door opened, and a figure, tall, motionless,
terrible, with a grey capote and a grenadier's cap stood upon the
threshold.
All remained for an instant confounded and fixed in their places.
"God protect us!" exclaimed Maria. Angel clung to his father's breast,
Angela to the skirts of her grandmother.
"Ventura!" murmured Elvira, as her eyes closed and her head fell upon
her mother's bosom.
The woman for whom there had been no forgetfulness, had recognized
him.
Pedro rose impetuously and would have fallen, the poor old man not
having strength to sustain himself; but Ventura, who had thrown off
his cap and capote, sprung forward and caught him in his arms. The
scene which followed, a scene of confusion, of broken words, of
exclamations of surprise and delight, of tears and fervent thanks to
heaven, is more easily comprehended than described.
When Ventura had freed himself from the embrace of his father, who was
long in undoing his arms from {665} the neck of the son whom he could
hardly persuade himself he held in them, he fixed his eyes upon
Elvira. She was still supported by her mother, who held to her
nostrils a handkerchief wet with vinegar. But she was no longer the
Elvira he had left at his departure. Pale, attenuated, changed, she
appeared as if bidding farewell to life. Ventura's brilliant eyes
became softened and saddened with an expression of deep feeling, and,
with the frank sincerity of a countryman, he said to her:
"Have you been sick, Elvira? You do not look like yourself."
"Now she will be better," exclaimed Pedro, in whom joy had awakened
some of the old festive teasing humor. "Your absence, Ventura, and not
hearing from you, nothing less, has brought her to this. Why, in
heaven's name, did you not send us a letter, to tell us where you
were?"
"Why, our sergeant wrote at least six for me," replied Ventura, "and
besides, I have been in France, I have been a prisoner. All that is
long to tell--But how well you look, Rita," he said, regarding the
latter, who, from the moment he entered, had not taken her eyes from
the gallant youth, whom the moustache, the uniform, and the military
bearing became so well. "Bless me! but you have become a fine woman!
The good care Perico takes of you--and you Perico, always digging? Are
these your children? How handsome they are! God bless them! Hey! come
here, I am not a Frenchman nor a bluebeard."
Ventura sat down to caress the children. Maria, coming behind him at
this moment, caught his head in her hands, and covered his face with
tears and kisses--Ventura in the mean while saying, "Maria, how much
you have prayed for me! I suppose you have made a hundred novenas, and
more than a thousand promises."
"Yes, my son, and to-morrow I shall sell my best hen, to have said in
Saint Anna's chapel the thanksgiving mass I have promised."
"Aunt Anna is the one who has nothing to say," observed Ventura. "Are
you not glad to see me, madam?"
"Yes my son, yes; I was minding my Elvira. God knows," she continued,
observing the pallid countenance of her child, "how glad I am of your
return, and what thanks I give him for it, if it is for the best."
"And why not," exclaimed Pedro, "for the best? for all except my kids
and your fowls, which are going to give up the ghost within a month,
the time it will take to publish the bans."
"Don't be so hasty," answered Anna, smiling, "a wedding, neighbor, is
not a fritter to be turned, tossed, and fried in a moment."
"Well, 'every owl to his own olive,'" said Pedro after a while. "Good
people, there is a wicket in the street that is tired of being
solitary."
"To-night, Uncle Pedro," said Rita, laughing, "the horrors will go to
the bottom of the well with the Frenchman, never to return."
"Amen, amen. I hope so," responded the good old man.
CHAPTER IX.
The next evening, Ventura brought with him to their reunion a small
black water-dog, called Tambor. Never before had a strange dog been
permitted at one of those meetings, so that he had hardly entered,
wagging his tail, well washed, well combed, and with all the
confidence of an exquisite, when Melampo, who held these graces to be
of very little consequence, and an idler in lowest estimation, flew at
him with might and main, and with a single blow of his paw flattened
the creature; but without the remotest ambition to affect in this
action, either the attitude or the air of the lion of Waterloo.
"In the first place," said Perico, "will you tell me, Ventura, how you
managed to appear here yesterday, as if you had leaked through the
roof, without any one's opening the door to you?"
{666}
"Well, it is difficult to guess," answered Ventura. "When I arrived I
went to the house, and Aunty Curra, to whom my father gives a home for
taking care of him, opened the door, and to get here sooner, and take
you all by surprise, I jumped over the wall of the yard, as I used to
when I was a boy."
"I was sure last night," observed Maria, "that I heard the door of the
enclosure, and some one walking in the yard."
"Now,"' said Perico, "tell us what has happened to you. Have you been
wounded?'
"He has been wounded," cried Uncle Pedro. "Look at his breast, and you
win see a hole, which is the scar left by a ball that he received
there, and that did not lay him dead, thanks to this button which
deadened its force. See how it is flattened and hollowed out like the
pan of a fire-lock. Look at his arm; look at the wound--"
"And what matter, father," interrupted Ventura, "since they are cured
now?"
"When I ran," he continued, "I took my course down river, reached
Sanlacar, and embarked for Cadiz. There I enlisted in the regiment of
guards commanded by the Duke del Infantado. I struck up a friendship
with a young man of noble family, who was serving as a private, and we
loved each other like brothers. We soon embarked for Tarifa, for the
purpose of approaching the French in the rear, while the English
attacked them in front. The result was the battle of Barrosa, from
which the French fled to Jerez, and we took possession of their camp.
"In the midst of the fight, I said to my friend, 'Come, let us take
from that Frenchman the eagle he carries so proudly, it is continually
vexing my eyes, come;' and without recommending ourselves to God, we
threw ourselves upon the bearer, killed him, and took the ugly bird;
but as we turned we found ourselves surrounded by Frenchmen, friends
of the eagle. 'Comrades,' said we, 'it's of no use; as for the bird,
he is caged and shall not go out even if Pepe Botellas [Footnote
169] or Napoleon himself, the big thief, should come for him.'
[Footnote 169: Pepe Botellas, Bottle Joe; Joseph Napoleon was so
called by the people, because, they said, he used to get drunk.]
"We set it up against a wild olive, and placed ourselves before it,
and now, we said, Come and get him--and they came, for those demons,
the worse the cause the more impetuous they are. They killed my poor
friend, and had nearly killed me, for they were many. What I felt at
the thought of losing the bird! but it was the will of heaven that it
should never sing the _mambrui_ [Footnote 170] in French, for our
men came and drove them back. They conducted me with my trophy before
the colonel, who said that I had behaved well, and should receive the
cross of San Fernando, for having captured the eagle. 'I did not
capture it, my colonel,' I answered, 'it was my friend, the young
noble, who is killed. And I fainted. When came to, I found myself in
the hospital and without the cross."
[Footnote 170: Mambrui, a humorous military song, popular among the
Spanish soldiers.]
"That was your own fault," said Rita. "Why did you tell the colonel it
was not you?"
Ventura looked at her as if he could not comprehend what she was
saying.
"You did your duty," said Pedro.
A tear ran down Elvira's cheek.
"I was hardly convalescent when we embarked for Huelra, and I found
myself in the battle of Albuera against the division of Marshal Soult.
I was soon after taken prisoner; made my escape, and joined the army
of Granada, commanded by the Duke del Paryne, in which I remained,
pursuing the enemy beyond the Pyrenees. Then I returned to Madrid,
where I have been waiting until now for my dismissal."
{667}
"Goodness! Ventura," said Maria, in astonishment, "you have been
further than the storks fly!"
"I--no," answered Ventura, "but I know one, and he indeed, he had been
with General La Romana, far in the north, where the ground is covered
with snow so deep that people are sometimes buried under it."
"Maria Santissima! said Maria, shuddering.
"But they are good people, they do not carry knives."
"God bless them!" exclaimed Maria.
"In that land there is no oil, and they eat black bread."
"A poor country for me," observed Anna, "for I must always eat the
best bread, if I eat nothing else."
"What kind of _gazpachos_ [Footnote 171] can they make with black
bread, and without oil?" asked Maria, quite horrified.
[Footnote 171: Gazpacho. Dish made of bread, oil, onions, vinegar,
salt and red-pepper mixed together in water.]
"They do not eat gazpacho," replied Ventura.
"Then what do they eat?"
"They eat potatoes and milk,", he answered.
"Much good may it do them, and benefit their stomachs."
"The worst is, Aunt Maria, that in all that land there are neither
monks nor nuns."
"What are you telling me, my son?"
"What you hear. There are very few churches, and those look like
hospitals that have been plundered, for they are without chapels,
without altars, without images, and without the blessed sacrament."
"Mercy, mercy!" exclaimed all, except Maria, who remained as if turned
to stone with surprise. But presently crossing her hands, she
exclaimed, with satisfied fervor.
"Ah my sunshine! Ah my white bread! My church! My blessed Mother! My
country, my faith, and my God in his sacrament! Happy a thousand
times, I, who have been born, and through divine mercy, shall die
here! Thank God, my son, that yon did not go to that country, a land
of heretics! How dreadful!"
"And is heresy catching, mother, like the itch?" asked Rita
ironically.
"I do not say that, God forbid," answered the good Maria; "but--"
"Everything is catching, except beauty," said Pedro, "and one is
better off in his own country. I will bet my hands that those who have
been there, will bring us nothing good."
"What do not the poor soldiers have to pass through!" sighed Elvira.
"That must be the reason why I have always been so fond of them,"
added Maria. "That, and because they defend the faith of Christ. And
therefore, I am also very devoted to San Fernando, that pious and
valiant leader. I have him framed in my parlor, and around him on the
wall, I have stuck little paper soldiers, thinking it would be
pleasing to the saint, who all his life saw himself surrounded by
soldiers. When Rita was about twelve years old, I went to Sevilla, and
she gave me a shilling to buy her a little comb. I passed by the shop
of an old man who had a lot of little paper soldiers exposed for sale.
What a guard for my saint, I thought; but my quarters were all spent.
I had nothing left but Rita's shilling. The price of the set was a
shilling. Go along, said I to myself, it is better that Rita should do
without the bauble than my saint without his guard; and I bought them.
I told Rita, and it was the truth, that my money did not hold out. The
next day when I was taking them out to stick them up around the
picture of the king, Rita came into the room. 'So then,' she said,
'you had money enough to buy these dirty soldiers, and not enough for
my little comb,' and she snatched them from my hands to throw them out
of the window. 'Child,' I screamed, 'you are throwing my heart into
the street with the soldiers!' And seeing that she paid me no
attention, I caught up the broom and beat her. The only time I ever
beat her in my life."
{668}
"It would have been better for you," said Pedro, "if you had left the
marks of your fingers upon her sometimes."
"Who can please you, Uncle Pedro?" said Rita. "My mother erred in not
chastising her child, and I err in not spoiling mine."
"Daughter!" replied Pedro, "neither Hei! till they run away, nor Whoa!
till they stop short."
"But since you like soldiers so much, mother," proceeded Rita, "why
did you take such trouble to prevent my cousin Miguel from becoming
one?"
"I love soldiers because they suffer and pass through so much, and for
the same reason, I wished to save my nephew."
"How I laughed then!" continued Rita, directing her conversation to
Ventura. "Her grace burned lights to all the saints while the lots
were being drawn. As she had not candlesticks, she stuck empty shells
to the walls with cement; put wicks in them; filled them with oil, and
began to pray. While she was praying, in came Miguel's mother, and
told her that he had been drafted. My mother, on hearing that, put out
the lights, as if to say to the saints, 'Stay in the dark now, I need
you no longer!'"
"How you talk, Rita," answered the good Maria. "I trust that God does
not so judge our hearts. I resigned myself, my daughter. I resigned
myself, because he had made known his pleasure, and when God will not,
the saints cannot."
CHAPTER X.
The joy of Elvira was as brief as it had been keen. What can escape
the eyes of one who loves? Is it not known that there are things,
which, like the wind of Guadarrama, though scarce a breath, yet kill.
Before either Rita or Ventura had acknowledged even to their own
consciousness, the mutual attraction which they exercised upon each
other, Elvira was offering to God, for the second time, the pangs of
her lost love. This time, however, without a remote hope. The prudent
and patient girl looked upon a rupture as the sure forerunner of some
catastrophe, and, like a martyr, endured without daring to repulse
them, the evidences of an affection as pale and feeble as she was
herself; an affection that was vanishing before the vivid flame of a
new love, which already sparkled, active, brilliant, and beautiful
like the object that inspired it. While the visits at the grating
became every night colder and less' prolonged, there was no occasion
that did not, by gesture, look, or word, bring into contact those two
beings, who, like moths, took pleasure in approaching the flame, drawn
by an instinctive impulse, which they obeyed, but did not pause to
define; of which no one warned them, because among the people, a
married woman unfaithful to her duties, or a lover neglectful of his,
is an anomaly; and one which, in the family whose history we are
relating, would have been looked upon as incredible to the point of
impossibility. But Rita acknowledged no rein, and the life of a
soldier had been a school of evil habits to Ventura. One day Perico,
on setting out for the field, found Elvira in the yard, and said to
her:
"Here is money, sister, to buy yourself dresses. You have
fulfilled your promise to wear the habit of our Lady of Sorrows till
Ventura came back, and now I wish to see your face, your
dress--everything about you gay."
Elvira answered, with difficulty repressing her tears:
"Keep your money, brother, every day I feel myself worse. It is better
for me to think of making my peace with God, than of buying wedding
clothes, or of changing the colors which are to wrap me in the
coffin."
{669}
"Do not say that, sister!" exclaimed Perico. "You break my heart! It
has become a habit with you to be melancholy. When you and Ventura are
as happy as Rita and I, when you have two little ones like these of
ours, to occupy you, your apprehensions will fly away. Come," he
added, catching the children, "come and play with your aunt."
Elvira's eyes followed her brother. Her heart was torn with grief;
grief all the more agonized and profound for being repressed. She
considered that a complaint from her would be like an indiscreet cry
of alarm at an inevitable misfortune.
"Aunt," said Angel, "nothing can keep Melampo when father goes."
"He does what he ought, like the good dog he is," answered Elvira.
"And why is he called Melampo?" the child continued, with that zeal
for asking questions which older people ridicule, instead of
respecting and encouraging.
"He is called so," answered Elvira, "because Melampo is the name of
one of the dogs that went to Bethlehem with the shepherds to see the
child Jesus. There were three of them, Melampo, Cubilon, and Tobina,
and the dogs that bear these names never go mad."
"Aunt," said Angela, running after a little bird, "I can't catch this
swallow."
"That is not a swallow. Swallows do not come till spring, and these
you must never catch nor molest."
"Why not, aunt?"
"Because they are friends to man, they confide in him and make their
nests under his eaves. They are the birds that pulled the thorns out
of the Saviour's crown when he hung upon the cross."
At this moment Angel fell and began to cry. Rita rushed impetuously
out of her room and snatched him up, exclaiming:
"What has he done to himself? what is the matter with mother's glory?"
Wiping his face, which was dirty, with her apron, she continued:
"What is the matter? Sweet little face, covered with mud. Bless his
pretty eyes and his mouth, and his poor little hands!"
And covering him with kisses, passionate caresses, she took him and
his sister into her mother's house. Returning presently she went into
the back-yard to wash.
It has already been said that this yard was next to that of uncle
Pedro, separated from it by a low wall.
Rita according to the popular custom began to sing.
Among the people of Andalucia, one can hardly be found whose memory is
not a treasury of couplets; and these are so varied that it would be
difficult to suggest an idea, for the expression of which a suitable
verse would not immediately be found.
A fine voice, well modulated and dear, answered Rita from the
adjoining yard; in this manner a musical colloquy was carried on,
concluded by the male voice in this couplet, which indicated the wings
that the preceding one had given to his desires:
"With no loss of time,
To succeed I intend;
Without sigh to the air,
Or complaint to the wind."
In the mean time Elvira sat sewing beside her mother. Her sweet and
placid countenance betrayed none of the pain and anguish of her heart.
Nevertheless, Anna looked at her with the penetrating eyes of a
mother, and thought, "Will the hopes fail which I placed in Ventura's
return? Does our Lord want her for himself?"
At this moment the children rushed in, wild with delight.
"Mamma Anna! Aunt Elvira!" they shouted. "Uncle Pedro says the ass had
a little colt last night. She is in the stable with it, and we did not
know it here. Come and see it! come and see it!"
And one pulling at the grandmother and the other at the aunt, they
went, to the yard and threw the door wide open.
{670}
What a two-edged dagger for the heart of Anna, the honorable woman,
the loving mother! Ventura was there with Rita!
Quick as lightning Ventura stepped upon the wheel of a cart which
stood close to the wall, and with one spring disappeared.
Rita, enraged, continued her washing, and with unparalleled effrontery
began to sing:
"No mother-in-law plagued Eve;
No sister-in-law worried Adam;
Nor caused their souls to grieve,
For in Eden they never had them."
The children had run on to the stable without stopping. Anna led her
daughter, almost fainting, into the house, and there upon the bosom of
her mother, from whom the cause of her grief was no longer a secret,
Elvira burst into sobs.
"And you knew it," said her mother; "silent martyr to prudence. Weep,
yes, weep, for tears are like the blood which flows from wounds, and
renders them less mortal. I knew what she was and warned him. I knew
that reprobation must follow the union of kindred blood, and I told
him so. He would not listen. It would have been better to let him go
to the war. But the heart errs as well as the understanding."
In the mean time the impudent woman went on singing:
"Mothers-in-law, and sisters-in-law,
See a cargo passing go;
What a famous load 'twould be.
For Satan's regions down below."
CHAPTER XI.
After a night of sleepless anguish, Anna rose, apparently more
tranquil; drawing some slight hope from the determination she had
taken to speak with Rita; show her the precipice toward which she was
running blindly, and persuade her to recede.
Anna had a dignity that would have impressed any one in whom the noble
quality of respect had not been suffocated by pride--the worst enemy
of man because the most daring; no other like it elevates itself in
the presence of virtue; no other is so obstinate and so lordly; no
other so hides perversity under forms of goodness; no other so
falsifies ideas and qualifies and condemns as servile that sentiment
of respect which entered into the world with the first benediction of
God. Pride sometimes wishes to elevate itself into dignity, but
without success, for dignity never seeks to set itself up at the cost
of another, but leaves and maintains everything in its own place; its
attitude being even more noble when it honors than when it is honored.
Dignity owes its place neither to riches nor knowledge, and least of
all is it indebted to pride. It is the simple reflection of an
elevated soul which feels its strength. It is natural, like the flush
of health; not put on like the color of those who paint. But there are
beings who place themselves above everything else, and rest with
portentous composure upon a fake and insecure base, parading an
intrepidity and an arrogance which they do not assume who rest on the
firm rock of infallible justice and eternal truth. Rita, treading a
crooked path with fearless step and serene countenance, was one of
these beings.
The good sense of the villager, who felt profoundly what we have
expressed, and understood perfectly the character of both women,
defined it better in their concise laconism when, in speaking of Anna,
they said, "Aunt Anna teaches without talking;" and of Rita, "She
fears neither God nor the devil."
Rita was sewing when Anna entered. The latter deliberately drew the
bolt of the door and sat down facing her daughter-in-law.
"You already know, Rita," she said calmly, "That I was never pleased
with your marriage."
"And have you come to receive my thanks?"
Without noticing the question Anna continued:
"I had penetrated your character."
"It was not necessary to be a seer to do that," replied Rita, "I am
perfectly open and frank. I say what I think."
{671}
"The evil is not in saying what you think, but in thinking what you
say."
"It is plain that it would be better for me to play the dead fox, or
still water, like some who appear flakes of snow, but are in reality
grains of salt."
This was a fling at Elvira which Anna fully understood, but of which
she took no notice, and proceeded.
"Notwithstanding, I was deceived. I had not entirely fathomed you."
"Go on," said Rita, "there is a squall to-day."
"I never thought that what has come to pass would happen."
"Now it escapes and rains pitchforks," said Rita.
"Since," proceeded Anna, "you do not fear to deceive my son--"
"Ho, is that the matter?" said Rita coolly.
"And kill my poor daughter--"
"That will do," interrupted Rita, "there is where the shoe pinches;
because Ventura does not want to marry a spectre, that to go out has
to ask permission of the gravedigger, I must answer for it. And for no
other reason than because he is gay and likes better to jest with one
who is cheerful like me than to drink herb-tea with her, can I help
it?"
Anna allowed Rita to conclude, her countenance showing no alteration
except a mortal paleness.
"Rita," she said, when the latter had finished, "a woman cannot be
false to her marriage vows with impunity."
"What are you saying!" exclaimed Rita, springing to her feet and
throwing away her work, her cheeks and eyes on fire. "What have you
said, madam? I fake to my marriage vows? To that which your eyes did
not see you have brought in your hand! I false! I! You have always
borne me ill-will, like a mother-in-law in fact, and a bad
mother-in-law, but I never knew before that the saint-eaters bore
_such_ testimony."
"I do not say that you are so," replied Anna, in the same grave and
moderate tone which she had observed from the beginning, "but that you
are in the way, that you are going to be false if God does not prevent
it by opening your eyes."
"Now, as formerly, and always a prophetess, Jonah in person, and" (she
added between her teeth) "may the whale swallow you also."
"Yes, Rita, yes," said Anna, "and I have come--"
"To threaten me?" asked Rita, with an air of bold defiance.
"No, Rita, no, my daughter; I have come to beg of you in the name of
God, for the love of my son, for the sake of your children, and for
your own sake, to consider what you are doing, to examine your heart
while there is yet time."
"Did Perico send you?"
"No, my dear son suspects nothing, God forbid that we should awaken a
sleeping lion."
"Well, then, why do you put yourself into so wide a garment? Go along!
The one who is being hanged does not feel it but the witness feels it!
Perico, madam, is not and never has been jealous; neither does he
suspect the fingers of his guests, or go in quest of trouble. He is no
dirty hypocrite, crying to heaven because people joke, and he does not
bully because somebody draws a few buckets of water for his wife when
she is washing. Do you think that I shall lose my soul for that?"
"Rita, Rita, do not trifle with men."
"Nor you with women. Good heavens! it would seem that I am
scandalizing the town."
"Consider, Rita," continued Anna with increased severity, "that with
men an affront is often the cause of bloodshed."
"You would bathe in rose-water," responded Rita "if matters seemed to
be running a little toward the fulfilment of those predictions of
yours about _kindred blood not harmonizing_, and others of the same
kind, by which you wished to prevent your son from marrying; and you
were disappointed; {672} and you will be now if you attempt, as I see
you are attempting, to make trouble between us. I know what I am
doing; Perico is a lover of quiet, and knows the wife he has. Leave us
in peace, and we will live so, if you do not heat your son's skull by
your meddling; you take care of the wedding finery of your daughter,
the flower of the family."
At this string of taunts and insults, the prudent long-suffering of
that respectable matron, wavered for an instant; but the angel of
patience that God sends to women from the moment they become mothers,
to help them bear their crosses, vanquished, and Anna went out,
looking at Rita with a sad smile, in which there was as much or more
compassion than contempt.
The worthy woman remained in a state of depression and anguish, on
account of the failure of the step she had taken, and determined to
open her heart to Pedro, in order to have him send his son away.
Finally there was a guard wanting at the estate on which Ventura had
served, and he was called to fill the place. This absence, though
interrupted by frequent visits to the village, gave some respite to
the afflicted Anna, who said to herself, "a day of life is life."
CHAPTER XII.
In the mean time the happy Christmas holidays arrived. They had
arranged for the children a beautiful birth-place, which occupied the
whole front of the parlor, covering it with aromatic pistachio,
rosemary, lavender, and other odorous plants and leaves. Perico
brought these things from the field with all the pleasure of a lover
bringing flowers to his bride.
On Christmas day, Perico heard mass early, and went to take a walk to
his wheat-field, having been told that there were goats in the
neighborhood.
He returned home about ten o'clock, and found the children alone.
"How glad we are, father, that you have come," they shouted, running
joyfully toward him. "They have all gone and left us."
"Where then are Mamma Anna, and Aunt Elvira?"
"They went to high mass."
"Who staid with you?"
"Mother."
"And where is she?"
"How do we know? We were in the parlor with her grace, dancing before
the birth-place. Ventura came in, and mother told us to go somewhere
else with the music, for it made her head ache, and when we were going
out Ventura told her, I heard it, father, that she did right to put
the door between, for the little angels of God were the devil's little
witnesses. Is it true, father, are we the devil's little witnesses?"
To whom has it not happened, at some time in his life, in great or in
less important circumstances, that a single word has been the key to
open and explain; the torch to illuminate the present and the past; to
bring out of oblivion and light up a train of circumstances and
incidents which had transpired unperceived, but which now unite, to
form an opinion, to fix a conviction or to root a belief? Such was the
effect upon Perico of the words, which the decree of expiation seemed
to have put into the mouth of innocence.
Late, but terrible, the truth presented itself to the eyes which good
faith had kept closed, and doubt took possession of the heart so
healthy and so shielded by honor that a suspicion had never entered
it.
"Father, father!" cried the children, seeing him tremble and turn
pale. Perico did not hear them.
"Mamma Anna," they exclaimed, as the latter entered, "hurry, father is
sick!"
{673}
As he heard his mother enter, Perico turned his perplexed eyes toward
her, and seemed to read again in her severe countenance the terrible
sentence she had once pronounced upon a future from which her loving
foresight would have preserved him: "A bad daughter will be a bad
wife." Overwhelmed, he rushed out of the house, muttering a pretext
for his flight which no one understood.
Anna put her head out of the window, and felt relieved as she saw that
he went toward the fields.
"Could any one have told him that goats have broken into the wheat?"
"It is very likely, mother; he suspected it yesterday," answered
Elvira. But dinner-time came, and Perico did not appear.
It was strange, on Christmas day; but to country people, who have no
fixed hours, it was not alarming.
In the evening Maria arrived at the usual time.
"Did Ventura not come to the village to-day?" asked Anna.
"Yes," answered Pedro, "but there is an entertainment, and his friends
carried him off. He has always been so fond of dancing that he would
at any time leave his dinner, for a fandango."
"And Rita," said Elvira, "was she not at your house. Aunt Maria?"
"She came there, my daughter, but wanted to go with a neighbor to the
entertainment. I told her she had better stay at home, but as she
never minds me--"
"And you told her right, Maria," added Pedro, "an honest woman's place
is in the house."
They were oppressed and silent when Perico abruptly entered.
The light was so deadened by the lamp-shade that they did not perceive
the complete transformation of his face. Dark lines, which appeared
the effect of long days of sickness, encircled his burning eyes, and
his lips were red and parched like those of a person in a fever. He
threw a rapid glance around, and abruptly asked, "Where is Rita?"
All remained silent; at length Maria said timidly,
"My son, she went for a little while to the feast with a neighbor--she
must be here soon--she took it into her head--and as it was Christmas
day--"
Without answering a word, Perico turned suddenly, and left the room.
His mother rose quickly and followed, but did not overtake him.
"I tell you, Maria," said Pedro, "that Perico ought to beat her well.
I would not say a word to stop him."
"Don't talk so, Pedro," answered Maria, "Perico is not the one to
strike a woman. My poor little girl! we shall see. What harm is there
in giving two or three hops? Old folks, Pedro, should not forget that
they have been young."
At this moment Anna entered, trembling.
"Pedro," she said, "go to the feast!"
"I?" answered Pedro; "you are cool! I am out of all patience with that
same feast. If Perico warms his wife's ribs, he will be well employed;
she shall not dry her tears upon my pocket-handkerchief."
"Pedro, go to the feast!" said Anna again, but this time with such an
accent of distress, that Pedro turned his head and sat staring at her.
Anna caught him by the arm, obliged him to rise, drew him aside, and
spoke a few rapid words to him in a low voice.
The old man as he listened gave a half-suppressed cry, clasped his
hands across his forehead, caught up his hat and hastily left the
house.
CHAPTER XIII.
Ventura and Rita were dancing at the feast, animated by that which
mounts to heads wanting in age or wanting in sense; by that which
blinds the eyes of reason, silences prudence, and puts respect to
flight; that is to say, wine; a love entirely material, a voluptuous
dance, executed without restraint, amid foolish drunken applauses.
{674}
In truth they were a comely pair. Rita moved her charming head,
adorned with flowers, and tossed her person to and fro with that
inimitable grace of her province, which is at will modest or free. Her
black eyes shone like polished jet, and her fingers agitated the
castanets in defiant provocation. She had in Ventura a partner well
suited to her. Never was the fandango danced with more grace and
sprightliness.
The excited singers improvised (according to custom) couplets in
praise of the brilliant pair:
"Throw roses, red roses,
The belle of the ball,
For her beauty and grace
She merits them all
And to-night in the feast,
By public acclaim.
To her and Ventura
Is given the palm."
During the last changes when the clappings and cheers were redoubled,
Perico arrived and stopped upon the threshold.
Occupied as all were with the dance, no one noticed his arrival, and
Ventura conducting Rita to a room where there were refreshments passed
close beside him as he stood in shadow, without being aware of his
presence. As they passed he heard words between them which confirmed
the whole extent of his misfortune; all the infamy of the wife he
loved so fondly, of the mother of his children; all the treachery of a
friend and brother.
The blow was so terrible that the unhappy man remained for a moment
stunned; but recovering himself, he followed them.
Rita stood before a small mirror arranging the flowers that adorned
her head.
"Withered," said Ventura, "why do you put on roses? Is it not known
that they always die of envy on the head of a handsome woman?"
"Look here, Ventura," said one of his friends, "you appear to like the
forbidden fruit better than any other."
"I," responded Ventura, "like good fruit though it be forbidden."
"That is an indignity," said a friend of Perico's.
One of those present took the speaker by the arm, and said to him, as
he drew him aside.
"Hush, man! don't you see that he is drunk? Who gave you a candle for
this funeral? What is it to you if Perico, who is the one interested,
consents?"
"Who dares to say that Perico Alvareda consents to an indignity?" said
the latter presenting himself in the middle of the room, as pale as if
risen from a bier.
At the sound of her husband's voice, Rita slid like a serpent among
the bystanders and disappeared.
"He comes in good time to look after his wife," said some hair-brained
youths, who formed a sort of retinue to the brilliant dancer and
valiant young soldier, bursting into a laugh.
"Sirs," said Perico, crossing his arms upon his breast with a look of
suppressed rage, "have I a monkey show in my face?"
"That or something else which provokes laughter," answered Ventura, at
which all laughed.
"It is lucky for you," retorted Perico, in a choked voice, "that I am
not armed."
"Shut your mouth!" exclaimed Ventura, with a rude laugh. "How bold the
_pet lamb_ is getting! Leave off bravado, pious youth; don't be
picking quarrels, but go home and wipe your children's noses."
At these words Perico precipitated himself upon Ventura. The latter
recoiled before the sudden shock, but immediately recovered himself,
and with the strength and agility which were natural to him, seized
Perico by the middle, threw him to the ground, and put his knee upon
his breast.
Fortunately Perico did not carry a knife, and Ventura did not draw
his; but instead the latter clenched both hands upon Perico's throat,
repeating furiously:
{675}
"You! You! that I can tear to pieces with three fingers; do you lay
your hands upon me? You! a killer of locusts, a coward, a chicken,
brought up under your mother's wing. You to me! to me!"
At this instant Pedro entered.
"Ventura!" he shouted, "Ventura! What are you doing? what are you
doing, madman?"
At the sight of his father, Ventura loosed his grasp upon Perico and
stood up.
"You are drunk," continued Pedro, beside himself with indignation and
grief. "You are drunk, and with evil wine. [Footnote 172] Go home,"
he added pushing Ventura by the shoulder, "go home, and go on before
me."
[Footnote 172: "Drunk with evil wine," said when the drunken person
is ill-tempered.]
Ventura obeyed without answering, for with Pedro's words, it was not
alone the voice of his father that reached his ears, it was the voice
of reason, of conscience, of his own heart. His noble instincts were
awakened, and he blushed for the affair which had just taken place,
and for the cause which had occasioned it. Therefore he lowered his
head as in the presence of all he respected, and went out, followed by
his father.
In the mean while they had raised Perico, who was gradually recovering
from the vertigo caused by the pressure of Ventura's fingers.
He passed his hand across his forehead, cast upon those who surrounded
him the glance of a wounded and manacled lion, and left the room,
saying in a hollow voice,
"He has destroyed us both."
As Ventura had gone, accompanied by his father, those present allowed
Perico to leave without opposition.
"This is not the end," said one, shaking his head.
"That is clear," said another. "First deceived, and afterward beaten;
who is the saint that could bear it?"
Perico went home muttering in disjointed and broken
sentences--"Chicken!" "Coward!" "Something in my face which provokes
laughter!" "And he tells me so, he!" "Pet lamb!" "No one cast a doubt
upon my honor until you spat upon it and trampled it under your feet!
Oh! we shall see!" He entered his room and seized his gun.
"Father!" called the little voice of Angela from the next apartment,
"father, we are alone."
"You will be yet more alone," murmured Perico, without answering her.
The children's voices kept on calling "Father, father!"
"You have no father!" shouted Perico, and went out into the court. He
placed his gun against the trunk of the orange-tree, in order to take
out ammunition to load it, but, as if the ancient protector of the
family repulsed the weapon, it slid and fell to the ground. The leaves
of the tree murmured mournfully. Were they moved by some dismal
presentiment?
Perico was leaving the court when he found himself face to face with
his mother, who, made watchful by her inquietude, had heard her son
enter.
"Where are you going, Perico?" she asked.
"To the field. I have told you already that there were goats around."
"Did you go to the feast?"
"Yes."
"And Rita?"
"Was not there. Mamma Maria dotes."
Anna breathed more freely; still, the unusual roughness of her son's
tone and the asperity of his replies surprised the already alarmed
mother.
"Don't go now to the field, my child," she said in a supplicating
voice.
"Not go to the field, and why?"
"Because I feel in my heart that you ought not, and you know that my
heart is true."
"_Yes, I know it_!" he answered, with such acerbity and bitterness
that Anna began to fear that although he might not have found Rita at
the feast, he had, nevertheless, his suspicions.
"Well, then, since you know it, do not go," she said.
{676}
"Madam," answered Perico, "women sometimes exasperate men by trying to
govern them. They say that I have been brought up _under your wing_. I
intend now to fly alone," and he went toward the gate.
"Is this my son?" cried the poor mother. "Something is the matter with
him! Something is wrong!"
As Perico opened the gate, his faithful companion, the good Melampo,
came to his side.
"Go back!" said Perico, giving him a kick.
The poor animal, little used to ill treatment, fell back astonished,
but immediately, and with that absence of resentment which makes the
dog a model of abnegation in his affection, as well as of fidelity,
darted to the gate in order to follow his master. It was already shut.
Then he began to howl mournfully, as if to prove the truth of the
instinct of these animals when they announce a catastrophe by their
lamentations.
CHAPTER XIV.
On the following day, when sleep had dispelled from Ventura's brain
the remaining fumes that confused his reason, he rose as deeply
ashamed as he was sincerely penitent. He, therefore, listened to the
just and sensible charges which his father made against his
proceedings, past and present, without contradicting them.
"All you say is true, father," he answered, "and I can only tell you
that I did not know what I was doing, but I feel it enough now! The
wine, the cursed wine! I will ask Perico's pardon before all the
village. I owe it more to myself than even to him I have offended."
"You promise, then, to ask his pardon?"
"A hundred times, father."
"You will marry Elvira?"
"With all my heart."
"And treat her well?"
"By this cross," said Ventura making the sign with his fingers.
"You and she will go to Alcala?"
"Yes, sir, if it were to Penon." [Footnote 173]
[Footnote 173: Gibraltar, in other words, to the end of the world.]
Pedro looked at him a moment with deep emotion, and said:
"Well, then, God bless you, my son."
Both went to Anna's in search of Perico, but he had gone out, Anna
told them. At sight of them, but still more on noticing the joy and
satisfaction which shone in Pedro's face, Anna's vague but distressing
fears were tranquillized, and, more than all, Ventura's manner filled
her with hope, for she saw that he approached Elvira and talked to her
with interest and tenderness, while Pedro said, with a mysterious air
and winking toward Ventura, "That young fellow is in a hurry to be
married. You mustn't take so long to prepare the wedding things,
neighbor; young people are not so sluggish as we old ones."
They soon left, Ventura for the hacienda at which he was employed;
Pedro, who was going to his wheat-field, accompanied him, their road
being the same. The wheat was very fine, not full of weeds.
"The weeds are awake," said Ventura.
"Give them time," replied Pedro, "and they will vanquish the wheat,
because they are the legitimate offspring of the soil. The wheat is
its foster child. But, with the favor of God, wheat will not be
lacking in the house for us and for more that may come."
They separated and Ventura disappeared in the olive-grove. Pedro
remained looking after him.
"Not even a king," he said to himself, "has a son like mine. Nor is
there his equal in all Spain. If he is noble in person, he is more
noble in soul."
Ventura had advanced but few steps into the grove when he saw Perico
at a little distance, coming from behind a tree with his gun.
{677}
"I have something in my face, thanks to you," he shouted, "that
provokes laughter. I have also something in my hand that stops
laughter. I am a coward and a killer of locusts, but I know how to rid
myself of the reproach you have put upon me."
"Perico, what are you doing?" cried Ventura, running toward him to
arrest the action. But the shot had been sent on its dreadful errand,
and Ventura fell mortally wounded. Pedro heard the report and started.
"What is that?" he exclaimed, "but what would it be?" he added upon
reflection. "Ventura has perhaps shot a partridge. It sounded near. I
will go and see."
He hurriedly follows the path his son has taken, sees a form lying
upon the ground; approaches it--God of earth and heaven! It is a
wounded man! and that man is his son! The poor old man falls down
beside him.
"Father," Ventura says, "I have some strength left; calm yourself and
help me get to the hacienda; it is not far and let them send for a
confessor, for I wish to die like a Christian."
The God of pity gives strength to the poor old man. He raises his son,
who, leaning upon his shoulder walks a few steps, repressing the
groans which anguish wrings from his breast.
At the hacienda, they hear a pitiful voice calling for succor; all run
out and see, coming along the path, the unfortunate father supporting
upon his shoulder his dying son. They meet and surround them.
"A priest! a priest!" moans the exhausted voice of Ventura.
A suitable person, mounted on the fleetest horse, leaves for the
village.
"The surgeon, bring the surgeon!" calls the father.
"And the magistrate!" adds the superintendent.
In this manner passes an hour of agony and dread.
But now they hear the swift approach of horses' feet, and the
messenger comes accompanied by the priest. The aid which arrives first
is that of religion.
The priest enters, carrying in his bosom the sacred host. All
prostrate themselves. The wretched father finds relief in tears.
They leave the priest with the dying man, and through the house,
broken only by the sobs of Pedro, reigns a solemn silence.
The minister of God comes out of the room. A sweet calm has spread
itself over the face of the reconciled. The surgeon enters, probes the
wound, and turns silently with a sad movement of his head toward those
who are standing by. Pedro awaiting, with hands convulsively clasped,
the sentence of the man of science, falls to the floor, and they carry
him away.
"Sir magistrate," the surgeon says, "he is not capable of making a
declaration, he is dying."
These words rouse Ventura. With that energy which is natural to him,
he opens his eyes and says distinctly: "Ask, for I can still answer."
The scribe prepares his materials and the magistrate asks:
"What has been the cause of your death?"
"I myself," distinctly replied Ventura.
"Who shot you?"
"One whom I have forgiven."
"You then forgive your murderer?"
"Before God and man."
These were his last words.
The priest presses his hand and says, "Let us recite the creed." All
kneel, and the guardian angel embraces as a sister, even before
hearing the divine sentence, the parting soul of him who died
forgiving his murderer.
{678}
CHAPTER XV.
The women were together in Anna's parlor, and although not one of
them, except Rita, knew of the events of the night before, they sat in
oppressive silence, for even Maria was wanting in her accustomed
loquacity.
"I don't know why," she said at last, "nor what is the matter with me,
but my heart to-day feels as though it could not stay in its place."
"It is the same with me," said Elvira, "I cannot breathe freely. I
feel as if a stone lay on my heart. Perhaps it is the air. Is it going
to rain, Aunt Maria?"
"My poor child," thought Anna, "the remedy comes too late. Earth is
calling her body and heaven her soul."
"Well, I feel just as usual," said Rita, who was in reality the one
that could hardly sit still for uneasiness.
Angela had made her a rag baby, which she was rocking in a hollow tile
by way of cradle, and the painful silence which followed these few
words was only broken by the gentle voice of the little girl as she
sung, in the sweet and monotonous nursery melody to which some mothers
lend such simple enchantment, and such infinite tenderness, these
words:
"I hold thee in my arms,
And never cease to think.
What would become of thee, my angel,
If I should be taken from thee.
The little angels of heaven--"
The childish song was interrupted by a heavy solemn stroke of the
church bell. Its vibration died away in the air slowly and gradually,
as if mounting to other regions.
"_His Majesty!_" said all, rising to their feet.
Anna prayed aloud for the one who was about to receive the last
sacraments.
"For whom can it be?" said Maria. "I do not know of any one that is
dangerously sick in the place."
Rita looked out of the window and asked of a woman that was passing,
who was the sick person?
"I do not know," she answered, "but it is some one out of the
village."
Another woman cried as she approached, "Mercy! it is a murder, for the
magistrate and the surgeon have followed the priest as fast as they
could!"
"God help him!" they all exclaimed, with that profound and terrible
emotion which is excited by those awful words, a murder!
"And who can it be?" asked Rita.
"No one knows," answered the woman.
Then the bell tolled for the passing soul; solemn stroke; stroke of
awe; voice of the church, which announces to men that a brother is
striving in weariness, anguish, and dismay, and is going to appear
before the dread tribunal--momentous voice, by which the church says
to the restless multitude, deep in frivolous interests which it deems
important, and in fleeting passions which it dreams will be eternal:
Stand still a moment in respect for death, in consideration of your
fellow-being who is about to disappear from the earth, as you will
disappear tomorrow.
They remained plunged in silence, but nevertheless deeply moved, as
happens sometimes with the sea, when its surface is calm, but its
bosom heaves with those deep interior waves which sailors call a
ground-swell.
And not they alone. The whole village was in consternation, for death
by the hand of violence always appalls, since the curse which God
pronounced upon Cain continues, and will continue, in undiminished
solemnity throughout all generations.
"How long the time is!" said Maria, at length. "It seems as if the day
stood still."
"And as if the sun were nailed in the sky," added Elvira. "Suspense is
so painful. Perhaps robbers have done it."
"It may have been unintentional," answered Maria.
"Mamma Anna, who has killed a man, and what made him do it?" asked the
little Angela.
"Who can tell," replied Anna, "what is the cause, or whose the daring
hand that has anticipated that of God in extinguishing a torch which
he lighted."
{679}
At that instant they heard a distant rumor. People moved by curiosity
are running through the street, and confused exclamations of
astonishment and pity reach their ears.
"What is it?" asked Rita, approaching the window.
"They are bringing the dead man this way," was the answer.
Elvira felt herself irresistibly impelled to look out.
"Come away, Elvira," said her mother, "you know that you cannot bear
the sight of a corpse."
Elvira did not hear her, for the crowd, that drawn by curiosity,
sympathy, or friendship, had surrounded the body and its attendants,
was coming near. Anna and Maria, also placed themselves at the
grating. The corpse approached, lying across a horse and covered with
a sheet. An old man follows it, supported by two persons. His head is
bowed upon his breast. They look at him--merciful God! it is Pedro!
and they utter a simultaneous cry.
Pedro hears it, lifts his head and sees Rita. Despair and indignation
give him strength. He frees himself violently from the arms that
sustain him, and precipitates himself toward the horse, exclaiming:
"Look at your work, heartless woman! Perico killed him." Saying this,
he lifts the sheet and exposes the body of Ventura, pale, bloody, and
with a deep wound in the breast.
------
From the Dublin University Magazine.
IRISH FOLK BOOKS OF THE LAST CENTURY.
In the eighteenth century Ireland did not possess the boon of
Commissioners to prepare useful and interesting school books. However,
as the mass of the peasantry wished to give their children the only
education they could command, namely, that afforded by the hedge
schools, and as young and old liked reading stories and popular
histories, or at least hearing them read, some Dublin, Cork, and
Limerick printers assumed the duties neglected by senators, and
published "Primers," "Reading-made-easie's," "Child's-new-play-thing,"
and the widely diffused "Universal Spelling Book" of the magisterial
Daniel Fenning, for mere educational purposes. These were "adorned
with cuts," but the transition from stage to stage was too abrupt, and
the concluding portions of the early books were as difficult as that
of the "Universal Spelling Book" itself, which the author, in order to
render it less practically useful, had encumbered with a dry and
difficult grammar placed in the centre of the volume.
Two Dublin publishers, Pat. Wogan, of Merchants' quay, and William
Jones, 75 Thomas street, were the educational and miscellaneous
Alduses of the day, and considered themselves as lights burning in a
dark place for the literary guidance of their countrymen and
countrywomen, of the shop-keeping, farmer, and peasant classes. In the
frontispiece of some editions of the spelling-book grew the tree of
knowledge, laden with fruit, each marked with some letter, and ardent
climbers plucking away. Beneath was placed this inscription:
"The tree of knowledge here you see.
The fruit of which is A, B, C.
But if you neglect it like idle drones,
You'll not be respected by William Jones."
{680}
That portion of the work containing "spells" and explanations was
thoroughly studied by the pupils. The long class was arranged in line
in the evening, every one contributed a brass pin, and the boy or girl
found best in the lesson, and most successful at the hard "spells"
given him or her by the others, and most adroit in defeating them at
the same exercise, got all the pins except two, the portion of the
second in rank, (_the queen_,) and one, the perquisite of the third,
(_the prince_.)
Every neighborhood was searched carefully for any stray copies of
Entick's or Sheridan's small square dictionaries, (pronounced
_Dixhenry's_ by the eager students,) for hard spells and difficult
explanations to aid them in their evening tournaments.
The grave Mr. Fenning was censuruble for admitting into some editions
the following jest (probably imported from Joe Miller) among his
edifying fables and narratives:
"A gay young fellow once asked a parson for a guinea, but was
stiffly refused. 'Then,' said he, give me at least a crown.' 'I
will not give thee a farthing,' answered the clergyman. 'Well,
father,' said the rake, 'let me have your blessing at all events.'
'Oh I yes: kneel down, my son, and receive it with humility.' 'Nay,'
said the other, 'I will not accept it, for were it worth a farthing
you would not have offered it.'"
We cannot, however, quit the school-books without mention of the
really valuable treatise on arithmetic, composed by Elias Vorster, a
Dutchman naturalized in Cork, and subsequently improved by John Gough,
of Meath street, one of the society of Friends. "Book-keeping by
Double Entry," written by Dowling and Jackson, was so judiciously
arranged that it is still looked on as a standard work.
The same followers _longo intervallo_ of Stephens and Elzevir
published, besides prayer and other devout books, a series of stories
and histories, and literary treatises such as they were, printed with
worn type, on bad grey paper, cheaply bound in sheep-skin, and sold by
the peddlers through the country at a _tester_ (6-1/2d.) each. Of
history, voyages, etc., the peddler's basket was provided with "Hugh
Reilly's History of Ireland," "Adventures of Sir Francis Drake," "The
Battle of Aughrim," and "Siege of Londonderry," (the two latter being
dramas,) "Life and Adventures of James Freney the Robber," "The Irish
Rogues and Rapparees," "The Trojan Wars," and "Troy's Destruction,"
"The Life of Baron Trenck," and "The Nine Worthies--Three Jews, Three
Heathens, and Three Christians."
The fictional department embraced, chiefly in an abridged state, "The
Arabian Nights," "The History of Don Quixote," "Gulliver's Travels,"
"Esop's Fables," "Adventures of Robinson Crusoe," "Robin Hood's
Garland," "The Seven Champions of Christendom," "The History of
Valentine and Orson," "The Seven Wise Masters and Mistresses of Rome,"
"Royal Fairy Tales," etc., etc.
In the department of the Belles Lettres may be classed, "Lord
Chesterfield's Letters to his Son," "The Academy of Compliments," "The
Fashionable Letter Writer," "Hocus Pocus, or the Whole Art of
Legerdemain," "Joe Miller's Jest Book," etc.
The list would not be complete without mention of the books of
ballads. These were sold in sheets, each forming 8 pages, 18mo, and
adorned with cuts, never germain to the ballads they illustrated. Some
of these sheets contained only one production, the "Yarmouth Tragedy,"
or some early English ballad sadly disfigured. One related how a
"servant-man" was accused by an envious liveried brother, of being a
confirmed card-player. On being examined he obtained a complete
victory over the informer, convincing his master that what he, the
master, called cards, was to him a prayer-book, a catechism, a
calendar, and what not. The different numbers reminded him of the six
days of the creation, the seven churches of Asia, the ten
commandments, the twelve Apostles, etc. The {681} king recalled to him
the duty he owed that supreme magistrate, the ace of hearts, the love
due to God and our neighbor. "How, is it," said the master, "that you
have always passed over the knave in your reckoning?" "Ah! I wished to
speak no ill of that crooked disciple that went to backbite me to your
honor." The reader anticipates the victory of the ingenious rogue.
The purchasers of these sheets sewed them as well as they could in a
book form, but they were so thumbed and abused, that it is at this
date nearly impossible to procure one of those repertories of song
printed toward the close of the last or the beginning of the present
century.
Of all these works that we delight in most at present, (it was not so
when we were young,) is the unmatched "Academy of Compliments," which
was the favorite of boys and girls just beginning to think of
marriage, or its charming preliminary, courtship. Very feelingly did
the writer in his preface insist on the necessity of eloquence. "Even
quick and attractive wit," as he thoughtfully observed, "is often
foiled for want of words, and makes a man or woman seem a _statute_ or
one dumb." He candidly acknowledges that several treatises like his
have been published, "but he assures the _courteous reader_ that none
have arrived to the perfection of this, for good language and
diversion."
This is the receipt for accosting a lady, and entering into
conversation; with her:
"I believe Nature brought you forth to be a scourge to lovers, for
she hath been so prodigal of her favor toward you, that it renders
you as admirable as you are amiable."
Another form:
"Your presence is so dear to me, your conversation so _honest_, and
your humour so pleasing, that I could desire to be with you
perpetually."
The author directs a slight departure from this form, in case the
gentleman has never seen the lady before, and yet has fallen
passionately in love with her.
"If you accuse me of temerity, you must lay your own beauty in
fault, with which I am so taken, that my heart is ravished from me,
and wholly subjected to you."
Decent people would scarcely thank us for troubling them with many of
the "witty questions and answers for the improvement of conversation."
A few must be quoted, however, with discreet selection.
"Q. What said the tiler to the man when he fell through the rafters
of his house?
"A. Well done, faith; I like such an assistant as thou art, who can
go through his work so quickly.
"Q. What said the tailor's boy to the gentleman who, on his
presenting his bill, said tartly, he was not running away?
"A. If you are not, sir, I am sorry to say my master is.
"Q. Why is a soldier said to be of such great antiquity?
"A. Because he keeps up the old fashions when the first bed was upon
the bare ground."
THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM.
It may appear strange that "The Battle of Aughrim," written by an
adherent to the Hanoverian succession, should so long have continued a
popular volume among the Roman Catholic peasantry. This has, perhaps,
been due to the respectful style in which the author treated the
officers of Irish extraction. All his contempt and dislike were
levelled at St. Ruth, the French General, and his masters, English
James and French Louis. Though the style of the rhymed play is turgid
enough, there are in it occasional passages of considerable vigor and
beauty, and a brisk movement in the conduct of the piece; and
sentimental youth have an opportunity of shedding a tear over the ill
starred love of _Godfrey_ and _Jemima_. It was scarcely fair of the
author to represent St. Ruth as a stabber in cold blood, but hear the
moving periods he makes Sarsfield utter:
"O heavens! can nature bear the shocking sound
Of death or slavery on our native ground.
Why was I nurtured of a noble race,
And taught to stare destruction in the face?
Why was I not laid out a useless _scrub_,
And formed for some poor hungry peasant's cub.
To hedge and ditch, and with unwearied toil
To cultivate for grain a fertile soil,
To watch my flocks, and range my pastures through,
With all my locks wet with the morning dew,
Rather than being great, give up my fame,
And lose the ground I never can regain?"
{682}
Those Irishmen, who, like ourselves, have read and enjoyed this drama
in early boyhood, before the birth of the critical faculty, will find
it out of their power to divest themselves of early impressions when
endeavoring to form a just estimate of its merits. We vainly strive to
forget the image of a comely and intelligent country housewife,
spiritedly reciting the interview of the Irish and English officers
after the day was decided, and bravely holding out the tongs at the
point where Sarsfield presents his weapon. Talmash, Mackay, and Sir
Charles Godfrey confront the Irish chiefs, Dorrington, O'Neil, and
Sarsfield, and Talmash courteously addresses them.
"Take quarters, gentlemen, and yield on sight.
Or otherwise prepare to stand the fight.
Yet pray, take pity on yourselves and yield.
For blood enough has stained the sanguine field.
'Tis Britain's glory, you yourselves can tell,
To use the vanquished hospitably well.
_Sarsfield--_ Urge not a thought, proud victor, if you dare.
So far beneath the dignity of war.
I am a peer, and Sarsfield is my name.
And where this sword can reach I dare maintain.
Life I contemn, and death I recommend;
He breathes not vital air who'd make me bend
My neck to bondage, so, proud foe, decline
The length of this, (_extending his sword_,) because the spot is mine.
_Talmash_.--If you are Sarsfield, as you bravely show,
You're that brave hero whom I longed to know,
And wished to thank you on the reeking plain
For that great feat of blowing up our train.
Then mark, my lord, for what I here contend;
'Tis Britain's holy church I now defend.
Great William's right, and Mary's crown, these three.
_Sarsfield_.--Why, then fall on--Louis and James for me. (_They fight_.)
Sarsfield's declaration ends the animated discussion rather lamely;
but what poet has maintained a uniform grandeur or dignity? The writer
was a certain Robert Ashton. The play when printed was dedicated,
circa 1756, to Lord Carteret, and if peasant tradition can be trusted,
it was only acted once. The Jacobite and Hanoverian gentlemen in the
pit drew their swords on one another, probably at the scene just
quoted, and bloodshed ensued. This is not confirmed by the written
annals of the time.
"The Siege of Londonderry" was, and still is bound up with "The Battle
of Aughrim," but there is nothing whatever in it to recommend it to
the sympathies of the populace. There is nothing but mismanagement and
bad feeling on the part of the native officers from beginning to end;
and if fear or disloyalty shows itself in one of the besieged, his
very wife cudgels him for it.
There is something very naive and old-fashioned in the observation
inserted at the end of the list of the _dramatis personae:_
"Cartel agreed upon--No exchange of prisoners, but hang and quarter on
both sides."
DON BELLIANIS OF GREECE; OR THE HONOR OF CHIVALRY.
The re-perusal of portions of this early favorite of ours has not been
attended with much pleasure or edification. There is a sad want of
style, accompanied by a complete disregard of syntax, orthography, and
punctuation. The objects to be attained are so many and so useless,
one adventure branches off into so many others, and there arc so many
knights and giants to be overcome, and emperors so carelessly leave
their empresses in the dark woods exposed to so many dangers, while
they go themselves to achieve some new and futile exploit that the
narrative has scarcely more continuity and consistence than a dream.
The author had ten times as many separate sets of adventures to
conduct simultaneously as ever had the estimable G. P. R. James. So he
was frequently obliged to suspend one series, and take up another, a
mode of composition which all novelists who read this article, are
advised to eschew. Leaving Don Bellianis investing the emperor of
Trebizond, who stoutly disputed the possession of the fair
Florisbella's hand with him, he proceeds to tell what happened at the
joustings of Antioch in consequence of the happy union of Don Brianel
and the peerless Aurora. Thither came {683} Peter, the knight of the
Keys, from Ireland. He was son to the king of Monster, and, being
anxious to seek foreign adventures, embarked at _Carlingford_, and
performed prodigies of valor in Britain and France, and then sailed
for Constantinople. Being within sight of that city, a storm forced
his ship away and drove it to Sardinia, where Peter won the heart of
the fair princess, Magdalena, by his success in the tournament, and
his beauty of features when he removed his helmet after the exercise.
The princess has a claim upon our indulgence, for as the text has it,
"he looked like Mars and Venus together." The knights of those happy
times being as distinguished for modesty as courage, the princess ran
no risk in desiring an interview with the peerless Peter, and they
vowed constancy to each other till death.
A neighboring king demanding the hand of the lady for his son, the
lovers decamp, and find themselves on a strange island in a day or
two. Peter having given the princess a red purse containing some
jewels, she happened to let it fall by her, and it was at once picked
up by a vulture, on the supposition of its being a piece of raw meat.
Flying with it to a tree overhanging the river, and finding his
mistake, he dropped it into the water, and there it lay on the sandy
bottom in sight of the lovers.
The knight, arming himself with a long bough, and getting into the
boat, would have fished up the purse, only for the circumstance of
being unprovided with oars. The tide having turned, he was carried out
to sea, and by the time he had got rid of his armor he was nearly out
of sight of the poor princess, now left shrieking behind, who was
conveyed away after a day and a night's suffering, in a ship bound for
Ireland, where she took refuge in a nunnery, and in time became its
superioress. This was near the palace of her lover's parents, and to
match this strange coincidence by another equally strange, their cook,
one day preparing a codfish for dinner, discovered within it the
identical purse of jewels carried away by their son, and lost in the
manner described in the distant Mediterranean. They gave him up then
for lost, but he was merely searching through the world for his
mistress, jousting at Antioch, killing a stray giant here or there,
and rescuing from the stake at Windsor an innocent countess accused of
a _faux pas_--all these merely to keep his hand in practice. Don
Clarineo with whom he had fraternized at Antioch is also engaged on
the same quest, and comes to Ireland in the course of his rambles. In
that early time Owen Roe O'Neill was chief king, MacGuire, father of
Peter, was king of Munster as before stated, Owen Con O'Neill and Owen
MacO'Brien ruled two of the other provinces, but the territory claimed
by each is not pointed out. The compiler was probably not well up in
the old chronicles; he would else have given O'Brien the territory of
Munster, and settled MacGuire somewhere near Loch Erin.
Be that as it may, the reigning king of Ulster refusing his fair
daughter to the prince of Connaught, was minded to bestow her on the
terrible giant Fluerston, whose inhospitable abode was in the
mountains of Carlingford. The father of the rejected prince determined
to resist this "family compact," sent out knights and squires to
impress every knight errant they met into his service. Being rather
more earnest than polite on meeting with Don Clarineo, he slew about a
score of them, and after he succeeded in learning their business with
him he was inclined to slay another score for their stupidity in not
being more explicit at the beginning, whereas he would have devoted
ten lives if he had them to the cause of prince _versus_ giant.
Having easily massacred the Carlingford ogre, he began to bestir
himself in his quest for the lost princess, and so quitted the
Connaught court which according to our author was held at that era in
Dublin, and his {684} loyalty was suitably rewarded in discovering his
own true love.
It was originally written in Spanish, and part translated into French
by Claude de Beuil, and published by Du Bray, Paris, 1625 in an 8vo.
THE NEW HISTORY OF THE TROJAN WARRIORS AND TROY'S DESTRUCTION.
The compiler of this _Burton_ did not share in Homer's excusable
prejudices in favor of his countrymen; he was a Trojan to the
backbone. This might be excused in compliment to the noble and
patriotic Hector, but he disturbs commonly received notions of family
relationship among the ancients, a thing not to be pardoned.
After proposing the true histories of Hercules, Theseus, the
destruction of Ilion, and other equally authentic facts, he proceeds
to relate--
"How Brute, King of the Trojans, arrived in Britain, and conquered
Albion and his giants, building a new Troy where London now stands,
in memory of which the effigies of two giants in Guildhall were set
up, with many other remarkable and very famous passages, to revive
antiquity out of the dust, and give those that shall peruse this
elaborate work, a true knowledge of what passed in ancient times, so
that they may be able readily to discourse of things that had been
obliterated from the memories of most people, and gain a certainty
of the famous deeds of the renowned worthies or the world."
Our truthful historian then relates with many corrections of the
legendary accounts of the lying Greeks, the histories of Hercules,
Theseus, Orpheus, Jason, and the other Ante-Trojan heroes; and either
through mere whim, or better information, tells us that Proserpine at
the time she was snatched away to hell, was the bride of the enamored
Orpheus, and the wicked King Pluto putting armor on his equally wicked
followers--the giant Cerberus and others--and festal garments over
the armor, carried her away despite the resistance of the bridal
party. Orpheus obtained her, as mentioned by the fabulists, but
looking back, Cerberus, who was close behind arrested her progress,
and the unfortunate husband returned to upper air half-dead. Thereupon
Theseus and Pirithous tried the adventure, but the giant Cerberus slew
the last named, and would have slain Theseus, but Hercules closely
following, gave the giant such a knock of his club as left him lying
in a swoon for some hours. Advancing to the throne of the black
tyrant, he administered another crushing blow on his helm, and leaving
him for dead, conducted the trembling but delighted Proserpine to her
mother and husband in the pleasant vales of Sicily, and "if they
didn't live happy that we may!" As for the traitor Cerberus, he was
presented to Hippodamia, the disconsolate widow of the murdered
Pirithous, who found a melancholy satisfaction in putting him to death
after first subjecting him to well-deserved tortures.
In the rest of the history of Hercules our compiler does not think it
necessary to depart from the statements of the early writers. He gives
him indeed as second wife, _Joel_, daughter of King Pricus, neither of
whose names we recollect.
Our authority being keenly alive to the injustice done by Homer to the
Trojans, corrects his statements on sundry occasions. Well disposed as
we are to rectify prejudices, he has not convinced us that the knights
on both sides, mounted, armed in plate, and setting their strong
spears in rest, charged each other in full career in the manner of
Cranstoun and William of Deloraine. These are his words:
"Hector and Achilles advanced in the front of either army, and ran
at each other with great fury with their spears, giving such a shock
as made the earth to tremble, with which Achilles was thrown from
his horse; whereupon the noble Hector scorning to kill a dismounted
man, passed on, making lanes through the enemy's troops, and paving
his way with dead bodies, so that in a fearful manner they fled
before him.
{685}
"By this time Achilles being remounted by his Myrmidons, a second
time encountered the victorious Hector, who notwithstanding his
utmost efforts, again bore him to the earth, and went on making a
dreadful havoc as before."
It is probable that this account of the death of Hector will prove
the least digestible of his emendations to the admirers of the early
Greek poets. The version here given appears to depend on the sole
authority of our compiler, and we do not feel here at liberty to
interpose in the literary quarrel sure to arise on the publication of
this article:
"Hector, having taken prisoner Menesteus, Duke of Athens, who had on
a curious silver armor, he was conveying him out of the battle when
thinking himself secure, and being overheated with action, he threw
his shield behind him, and left his bosom bare.
"Achilles, spying this opportunity, ran with all his might his spear
at the breast of the hero, which piercing his armor, entered his
undaunted heart, and he fell down dead to the earth. And this not
satisfying the ungenerous Greek, he fastened his dead body to the
tail of his horse, and dragged him three times round the city of
Troy in revenge for the many foils and disgraces he had received of
him."
The rest of the narrative corresponds tolerably with the old accounts,
but we have not heart to accompany the author through the burning of
Troy, the adventures of Eneas, and those of Brutus in his descent on
Britain, and his victory over Albion, Gog, and Magog. Besides, the
death of the "Guardian Dog of Troy" has disturbed our equanimity, for
we acknowledge as great an esteem for Hector and as strong a dislike
to the ruthless Achilles, as was ever entertained by the compiler of
the "New History of the Trojan Wars."
The prejudices of the romancers of the middle and later ages in favor
of the Trojans were probably due to the history of the war supposed to
have been written by Dares, a Phrygian priest mentioned by Homer. It
is in Greek, and the work of some ingenious person of comparatively
recent times. It was translated by Postel into French, and published
in Paris 1553. The first edition in Greek came out at Milan in 1477.
Another spurious book on the same subject in Latin, was attributed to
Dictys, a follower of Idomeneus, King of Crete. The first edition of
it was printed at Mayence, but without date.
THE IRISH ROGUES AND RAPPAREES.
The literary caterers for our peasantry, young and old, hare been
blamed for submitting to their inspection the lives of celebrated
highwaymen, tories, and "rapparees." Without undertaking their defence
we cannot help pointing out a volume appropriated to gentry of the
same class in the _Family Library_ issued by John Murray, whom no one
could for a moment suspect of seeking to corrupt the morals of
families or individuals. We find in Burns' and Lambert's cheap popular
books, another given up to these minions without an apprehension of
demoralization ensuing among the poor or the young who may happen to
read it. So it is probable that J. Cosgrave contemplated no harm to
his generation by publishing his "Irish Rogues and Rapparees." It were
to be wished that the motto selected for his work had either some
attic salt or common-sense to recommend it:
"Behold here's truth in every page expressed;
O'Darby's all a sham in fiction dressed,
Save what from hence his treacherous master stole,
To serve a knavish turn, and act the fool."
The reader will please not confound the terms "tory" and "rapparee."
The tories, though that generic for Irish robbers is as old as
Elizabeth, are yet most familiarly known as legacies left us by the
Cromwellian wars, and chiefly consisted of those rascals who,
pretending to assist the parliamentary cause, plundered the mere Irish
farmers, and every one of both sides who had anything worth taking.
They were a detestable fraternity. The rapparees were the Irish
outlaws in the Jacobite and Williamite wars, including many a
scoundrel no doubt, but many also who, while they supported themselves
in outlawry, at the expense of those who in their eyes were
disaffected to the rightful king, yet kept their hands unstained by
{686} vulgar theft or needless bloodshed. Many who at first kept to
the hills and the bogs as mere outlaws, and exacted voluntary and
involuntary black mail for mere support, according as the assessed
folk were Jacobites or Williamites, gradually acquired a taste for the
excitement and license of their exceptional life, and became _bona
fide_ plunderers, preferring (all other things being equal) to wasting
the _Sassenach_ rather than the _Gael_, and that was all.
Such a gentleman-outlaw was Redmond Count O'Hanlon, who flourished
after the conclusion of the Cromwellian wars. Redmond was worthy of a
place beside Robin Hood and Rob Roy, and has been made the hero of two
stories, one by William Carleton and the other by W. Bernard M'Cabe.
We now proceed to quote a few of the exploits of those troublesome
individuals of high and low degree, who disturbed their country in the
end of seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth century and
furnished amusement to the peasantry and their children, during the
golden days of the peddlers.
The great Captain Power of the South travelled northward to meet and
try the skill of Redmond, and they had a shrewd encounter with
broadswords for nearly half an hour, neither gaining a decided
advantage. They swore to befriend each other in all future needs, and,
in consequence, Redmond rescued his brother from the soldiers when
they were conducting him to execution.
Power coming into Leinster, lodged at the house of a small farmer,
whom he observed to be very dejected all the evening. On inquiry he
found that his landlord and the sheriff were expected to make a
seizure next day for rent and arrears amounting to L60. After some
further discourse, Power offered to lend him the sum on his note of
hand, and the offer was gratefully accepted. Next day the farmer,
after much parleying, acknowledged that he had L60 given him to keep,
and that he would produce it rather than have his little property
distrained, and trust to God's goodness to be enabled to put it
together again. The landlord, after sufficiently abusing him, gave him
a receipt in full, and, parting company with the sheriff's posse,
returned home. In a lonely part of the way, he was set on by Power and
robbed of the L60 and his watch and other valuables. In a day or two
the robber called on the farmer, said he was going away, and the
promissory note would be of no use to him. So he took it out and tore
it in pieces.
How the unreflecting hearts of the fireside group glow over such
quasi-generous deeds of robbers, and how little they think on the
selfish and abandoned and iniquitous portions of the lives of their
favorites! "Bah! they took from the rich that could afford it, and
gave to the poor that wanted it. Dickens a bit o' me 'ud betray
Redmond O'Hanlon or Captain Power if I got a stocken' o' goold by it."
Strong John MacPherson is admitted among the Irish worthies by Mr. J.
Cosgrave, though he was more probably a Highlandman. There was much of
the milk of human kindness about strong John. If a horseman would not
lend, (John merely requested a loan,) he never used the ugly words
"stand and deliver," he pulled him off his horse and gave him a
squeeze. If that failed, he carried him away from the highway, giving
the horse his liberty, and rifled him in some quiet nook. Being set on
one night by a crowd in an inn kitchen, he threw the hostess over his
shoulder, and no better shield could be. Making his escape, he laid
her on the ground, set his foot apparently on her body--it was only on
her gown, however--and extorted twenty pieces from her friends before
he released her.
Strong John was in no instance guilty of murder. He never even struck
but in self-defence, and always betook himself to defence by a woman
when practicable. He met the usual destiny of his tribe about 1678.
{687}
Will Peters, born among the romantic scenery of the Slieve Bloom
mountains, might have lived and died a respectable man, or at least
have acquired the fame of a highwayman, had it not been for two
trifling impediments. His father was a receiver of stolen cattle,
which, being commonly kept in a neighboring field, whose owner
remained out of sight, the crime could not be brought home to him. The
other mischance consisted in his staying at school only till he had
mastered "Reynard the Fox." It was the opinion of Mr. J. Cosgrave that
if he had got through "Don Bellianis," the "Seven Champions," and
"Troy's Destruction," he would have arrived at the honors of the
high-road. After a few mistakes in his cattle-stealing apprenticeship,
he became acquainted with the renowned "Charley of the Horse," and
thus made use of him. He was placed in durance for stealing a sorrel
horse with a bald face and one white foot, and committed to Carlow
jail, the horse being intrusted to the care of the jailer. Peters'
_pere_, on hearing of the ugly mistake, revealed the family sorrow to
the great Cahir, and he being fully informed of the marks, color,
etc., of the beast, sent a trusty squire of his to the assize town a
few days before the trial, mounted on a mare with the same marks as
those above noted. The jailer's man took the horse down to the
Barrow's edge every morning to drink, and the agent, making his
acquaintance, invited him to take a glass at a neighboring "shebeen"
the morning before the trial. While they were refreshing themselves,
the squire's double mounted on the mare approached where the horse was
tied outside, substituted his own beast, and rode off on the other.
The refreshed man, on coming out, observed nothing changed, and rode
the new-comer home to the stable.
The trial coming on, the prosecutor swore home to his property, but
Mr. William Peters said he was as innocent of the theft as the lord
lieutenant. "My lord," said he, "ax him, if you plase, what did I
steal from him." The answer came out that was expected, "a sorrel
horse, such and such marks." "It wasn't a sorrel mare you lost?" "No."
"My lord, will you plase to send for the baste, and if it's a horse,
let me be swung, as high as Gildheroy." The animal was sent for, the
whole court burst into a roar, and Will Peters demanded compensation,
but did not get it.
Being taken up again he was executed, as far as hanging for fifteen
minutes could effect it. However, being at once taken away by his
people, he was resuscitated. Once more he was seized and conveyed to
Kilmainham, whence he escaped rather than be transported.
Being at last secured in Kilkenny for running away with a roll of
tobacco from a poor huckster-woman, he was once more placed on the
drop and hung.
Such were the unedifying subjects presented to the consideration of
the young in Mr. J. Cosgrave's collection. He certainly had no evil in
his mind when composing it, but its moral effect was at best
questionable. It would be a book very ill suited for rustic fire-side
reading in our day. The same may be said of the "Wars of Troy," though
no indication of evil intention is apparent. We subjoin the names of
those books that still continue in print. Why they should still find
buyers seems strange, when such care is expended in supplying useful,
pleasant, and harmless reading for the lower classes. However, any
evil inherent in them is slight compared to that of _some_ of the
London halfpenny and penny journals. The following still form portions
of the peddler's stock: "The Academy of Compliments," "The Arabian
Nights," "The Battle of Aughrim," "Esop," "Gulliver," "O'Reilly's
Ireland," "Hocus Pocus," "Irish Rogues," "James Freney," "Robin Hood's
Garland," "Seven Champions," "Tales of the Fairies," "The Trojan
Wars," "Valentine and Orson," and the "Seven Wise Masters and
Mistresses of Rome," some of them absolutely harmless.
{688}
In the whole collection, there was not one volume racy of the Irish
soil, or calculated to excite love of the country, or interest in its
ancient history, or literature, or legends. The eighteenth century was
certainly a dreary one in many respects. Formality, affectation, and
cynicism prevailed in the manners and literature of the upper classes,
and the lower classes were left to their own devices for mental
improvement. It says something for the sense of modesty inherent in
the Celtic character, that there were so few books of a gross or evil
character among their popular literature.
------
Translated from the French.
ASSES, DOGS, CATS, ETC
I.
I am not a member of the society for the prevention of cruelty to
animals, but I deserve to be; for no one has praised the worthy
efforts of these gentlemen more than I have; and no one sees with
greater satisfaction, how justice sometimes gets hold of those brutal
drivers who wreak their uncontrolled anger upon their poor steeds,
guilty only of not being able to help themselves. And if, even, in
place of their being condemned to pay a paltry fine, they were paid
back in kind for the undeserved blows which these afflicted animals
receive from their hands, I for one would make not the slightest
objection.
It would be contrary to the progress and civilization of the
nineteenth century, I agree, but it would not be contrary to justice,
civilized or uncivilized.
However, who knows how things may turn out? Considering the miseries
and sufferings of those uncomplaining creatures when they are
unfortunate enough to get under the lash of the unfeeling boors who
ought to be in their place, it would not surprise me over much, if it
should turn out that--
That--what?
Wait a moment, I'll tell you. One day, as I happened to be out walking
along a certain road, I noticed an ass tied to a post, around which,
within the full length of his rope, there was not a single blade of
grass to crop. The poor fellow was slabsided, and his skin scraped,
and half tanned by the frequent application of bark on the living
wood; evidently getting few caresses of a softer kind, but enjoying in
the most complete sense of the word, "the right to work." Naturally, I
stopped a moment to bid him good-day and ask after his ass-ship's
health, after which I plucked a fine thistle growing within
tantalizing reach of his rope, and gave it to him. He gobbled it down
with great gusto.
"How do you like that, my old chap?" said I to him, mechanically.
"First rate," said he, "hand us another."
I jumped back in astonishment.
"What! you can talk, can you, my Bucephalus, and in English too? That
is something new."
"Not so new as you think, my dear sir, for I will let you into a
little bit of a secret. Ass as I am, and as you see me to be, I was a
man in my time and a butcher by trade. I had an ass that I treated
most scurvily, just as they do me now; giving him his bellyful of
blows and kicks, but of very little {689} else. Poor Jack--that was
his name--kept Lent all the year round, it being in the interest of
my customers, as I often said to myself, to quiet the qualms of
conscience when I gave him but half what he could eat. Let him stuff
himself said I, and he will get fat and lazy, the meat will come late
to the cook, the cook will be late with the dinner, and the hungry
family will lose their temper, and I shall lose their custom, while
good doses of the oil of strap will help his digestion wonderfully,
and keep him lively. However, this last end was not attained, for the
poor ass kicked the traces--professional term, you understand--and
went to the bone-boilers before his time. When it came to my turn to
tie up--again professional--and go off the cart, my soul was
condemned to go into an ass's body to suffer for a certain time the
punishment of retaliation. Drubbing for drubbing, kicks of hobnailed
shoes for kicks of peg boots, I got what I gave, and good measure too,
I assure yon. Do you see that half starved, thin-flanked old horse
over there? Well, he is a companion in misery to me. In his time he
was a hack-driver, and many a time in his fits of anger and
drunkenness, he made an anvil of the backbone or the jaws of his
horses. Only in those times, now and then, you understand, but those
times happened often enough, say once an hour or so, every day. As to
hay and oats, he tried to teach them, but without success, to go
without those articles of luxury. When his turn came to pay up old
debts, his soul was condemned to go into that sorry old carcass, in
which he passes many a miserable quarter of an hour. He is a
ragpicker's property now. How do you like that specimen of 'the
noblest conquest that man has ever made'? As to me, Sawney, at your
service, I think the end of my punishment is not far off. It was given
me to understand that when a benevolent gentleman would offer me a
thistle for friendship's sake, it would end, and it is to you I owe
this act of kindness, my dear Mr. Miller."
"Good again, you are a wiser ass than I took you for. How do you know
my name, master Sawney?"
"This way, sir. The other day I chanced to be tied to a post, near a
hedge, on the other side of which, in a meadow, some folks were having
a little picnic on the grass. After a while a tall lady in spectacles
took out some papers and began to read for the company. She seemed to
be reading, from what I could make out, in some magazine or other. I
soon understood that the subject was asses, and then of course I
cocked up my ears to their full height. It was true, it was about us,
abused and misunderstood beasts that we are. The articles read by the
tall lady were so full of kindness, and contained such flattering
remarks upon our species, that it almost brought the tears to my eyes.
The name signed to those articles was Jeremiah Miller. Oh! said I to
myself, that is a man whom one could call a man. There is one at least
who understands us and loves us; I promise myself that if I ever have
the good fortune to meet him I will give him--in lieu of anything
better--my blessing. You see that when you spoke to me just now so
kindly, I said to myself, I wonder if this be not Mr. Jeremiah Miller,
and then I called you by that name, and I see that I have just hit
it."
"But"--my reader will say "of course you don't tell this story for a
true one! You would never have the face to ask us to believe that this
brayer actually spoke to you?"
And, pray, why not? But, after all it is possible I fell asleep on a
mossy bank, in a meadow, near where an ass was tied, and that I
dreamed what I have told you. But dreams with the eyes shut are not
always so very unlike the dreams we sometimes have when our eyes are
open. As for myself, whenever I see a poor beast of burden brutally
maltreated by another beast, who strikes and kicks as if he {690}
meant murder, I allow my fancy to be tickled with a vision of this
latter brute obliged to creep into the skin of a horse or ass, and
take his turn at being unjustly whipped, without having any attention
paid to his bray or his neigh of expostulation or defence. You see
that I am in every respect worthy of figuring among the members of the
society for the prevention, etc., etc., but--
II.
But--I hold to the great principles of '76, and first of all to that
of equality. If we must have a law for the protection of domestic
animals against the men who torment _them_, I would like to see a law
devised to protect men against the animals who are a pest to poor
humanity, for the shoe sometimes gets on the other foot.
For example; look at that pack of dogs of all sizes, of all tastes, (I
mean human,) and in every stage of canine civilization, which their
masters permit to run at large in the streets of our city, even in the
worst of the dog days, without counting the free and independent dogs
who know no master but themselves. You have a friend who is a diligent
reader of the chapter of accidents in the daily papers. He tells you
about this or that dog who was seen running mad, that he had bitten
two or three persons, one of whom has since died of hydrophobia, and
adds with a peculiar relish that "the dangerous animal is still at
large!" These gentlemen--I mean the owners of the dogs--are
provokingly careless and indifferent about the muck which their dogs
are running in the midst of a population biteable to any extent. You
are kindly informed that if you happen to get bitten by some
suspicious-looking cur--and what cur is not of a suspicious character
in these days--it will be necessary to squeeze the wound, wash it,
then cauterize it with a red hot iron, or cut it out, and then, etc.,
etc. These are most excellent recipes, I have no doubt, but I think I
know of a better, which would be to prevent the bites altogether.
But, you say, there is the proclamation of his Honor, the Mayor, and
there is the police, etc., etc. Dogs at large are to be muzzled or
held by a chain. Oh! yes; very fine, indeed, when they are. The
proclamation is very good, but since the dog owners pay so little heed
to it, it is not surprising that the dogs themselves pay no more
respect to it than they do to the proclamations of patent medicines
pasted on the lamp-posts or fences. As to the country places outside
of the city, whither we of the heated streets and close shops fly to
get a breath of fresh air, and a moment of repose--there you will see
fat men and thin ladies who never dream, either asleep or awake, of
muzzling their favorite bull-dogs, lap-dogs, pointers, setters, tan
terriers or greyhounds. Muzzle _their_ dogs! that would make the poor
dogs, and their owners too, very uncomfortable. A pretty piece of
impudence indeed for a village constable to presume to carry out the
law against the dog, errant in delicto, which is the property of a Mr.
or a Mrs. or a Miss who is a "somebody," as if they were nobodies. Mr.
Constable knows better than that, and so does Mr. Puffer, the
magistrate.
Besides, there is a learned doctor of the society for the prevention,
etc., who deplores with astonishment mingled with grief, etc., etc.,
that any one should be so inhumane as to gag "man's companion and
friend" for the sake of the prevention of a few despicable cases of
hydrophobia. He has never been bitten by a mad dog, and don't expect
to be. He does not see why anybody else need expect to be.
Then there are our nurses and the children, whose daily promenade is
embittered by the sight and often the attacks of some Snarleyow. "It
was as good as a play," says Snarleyow's master; "Snarley nearly
frightened them to death, I thought I should die of laughter to see
them {691} scamper. It was great fun for Snarley." Very well,
gentlemen, there is also something which is great fun for me too, and
that is to kick Snarley whenever he presumes to be too "playful" with
me or my particular friends the children.
Protect your "friends of man" if you will, gentlemen, but don't let
them interfere with my friends, or---
III.
Permit me here to make a digression, which is not altogether one;
Man is defined, a reasonable animal.
Now the question arises whether woman is included in this definition.
Don't get angry, ladies--the horrid men, you know, are so curious!
IV.
From the friend of man let us pass to the subject of the friend of
woman. And here I find myself face to face with a celebrated document
which produced such a deep, or rather such a lively impression upon
the public, a few weeks since. Who is there in the whole five parts of
the world that has not heard of the noted "cat trial"? That learned
decision and sentence given by Squire Pouter, justice of the peace in
Dullville, is yet ringing in my ears, by which were avenged, as far as
a fine from five cents to a dollar could avenge, a litter of fifteen
cats illegally drowned. Illegally!--that at least was the opinion of
the wise magistrate, who rendered his judgment at great length, and
after his well known comprehensive style, citing his authors,
complimenting the one, and refuting the others, bringing under
contribution the code of Justinian, the English common law, the state
statutes, and the discussions of the Legislature at Albany. In short,
our modern Solon decided as follows: The cat, in its nature, is both a
domestic and wild animal. As a wild animal, it is true, it is lawful
game for the hunter; but, as a domestic animal, it has a right to
live, and is under the august protection of the law. Now, since the
wild part of its nature revolts against captivity, it has a right to
come and go according to its instinctive desire for daily exercise,
and housekeepers are not bound in conscience to make a raid upon them
in their tender feline infancy under pretence that some day or other
they will make a raid upon their pantry. Raids of prevention in the
times of peace are unheard of in the history of the republic.
Therefore they are condemned (the raiders, in the present case, not
the cats) to pay such and such fines, for the benefit of the fifteen
victims, or their heirs or assigns. Yes, indeed, this splendid
judgment made a good deal of noise, and well it might. I, who am
speaking to you reside in my own house, and have no evil intentions
toward any one, but--there are three cats who come each evening from
as many points of the compass for the purpose of making strategic
attacks upon my eatables. Infinite are the precautions that I am
forced to take to save my daily bread from the enemy. I must keep up
an incessant fight, and a running fire, not to speak of the difficulty
I experience in vain attempts to sleep with one eye open and my ear,
which is not on the pillow, on the alert. I will not speak of their
defiant caterwauling and spiteful spitting when they find my
barricades impassable; it is too painful a subject for me to dwell
upon.
Who are the victims of oppression, most eminent and sage magistrate?
Is civilized man positively to be given over in the name of the
society for the prevention, etc., as a victim to the instincts and
caprices of cats? Not at all, not at all, O illustrious Pouter! I will
see you and the cats--well--some distance, if not further, first.
Bring on your grimalkins, for my soul burns to avenge the rights of
man!
{692}
It is not all. Here, for example, next door, lives Miss Lambkin; age
unknown. She, by some unexplained perversion of taste, is keeping
something in her house which is either an old sheep or a middle-aged
goat. This cud-chewer, who lapses into ennui despite the charms of its
mistress, bleats incessantly three times a minute, several thousands
of times in the twenty-four hours. Is such an eternal see-saw of sound
bearable? Is not my life a burden to me? Is not my liberty to think,
to play my violin, to take my usual nap after dinner abridged by the
liberty of Miss Lambkin's detestable foster child? And if I happen to
be sick, or suffering from the tooth-ache or the headache, or
melancholy, or perchance am sentimental, this beast, I suppose, must
not be thwarted in its monotonous sing-song. _Mister_ Pouter, is there
liberty for wolves? for most assuredly I shall soon play the part of
one!
I have not finished yet. Since the first of May a family has come to
live in the house on the other side of mine. With father, mother and
furniture comes a tall, wasp-waisted damsel who now passes hours, yes,
hours banging upon an aged piano. It is her method of bleating, and it
is full as amusing as the other, if not a little less. Will the
president of the society for the prevention, etc., inform us if there
is any protection for aged pianos? A society for the _protection_ of
men and pianos would find in me one of its most eloquent orators,
diffuse writers, and active members. I would have all wandering Jews
of unmuzzled dogs executed on the spot, knocked on the head or
drowned, at choice. These at least have not the fifty cents in their
pockets to pay for a living release.
As to the cats, I intend to memorialize the supreme court to declare
the decision of our immortal justice of the peace non-constitutional.
I wish it to be "legal" to kill, drown, or otherwise destroy any cat
or cats found on strange premises, understood, of course that they are
to be buried at the killer's expense, and the government not to be
made liable to pay handsomely for public obsequies with military
procession.
Bleating goats, or sheep, or parrots, _et tutti quanti_, to be invited
to keep still, and not to speak until spoken to.
Lastly, as to the piano-bangers, I acknowledge the case is a little
delicate, and any remedy whatsoever has its difficulties. I am not
malicious, and am inclined to the side of resignation and toleration.
For after all, you know, they are ladies, and when you say that, it is
enough. Without association you cannot accomplish anything nowadays;
and where in the world could be found a sufficient number of men to
form a society for their protection against _them_. After that, I do
not see that it is necessary I should say anything further.
--------
From the Dublin University Magazine
CAROL FROM CANCIONERO.
"Vista ciegs, luz occura"--_Cancionero General_. Valencia, 1511.
Lightsome darkness, seeing blindness.
Life in death, and grief in gladness,
Cruelty in guise of kindness,
Doubtful laughter, joyful sadness,
Honeyed gall, embittered sweetness,
Peace whose warfare never endeth,
Love, the type of incompleteness,
Proffers joy, but sorrow sendeth.
------
{693}
Translated from the French
THE PEARL NECKLACE.
There lived at Cordova, many years ago, an old Jew who had three
passions: he loved science, he loved gold, he loved his only child,
who bore the sweet name of Rachel. He loved science, not for its own
sake, not because it was the means of the acquisition of truth, but
for himself, that is to say, through pride.
He loved gold, a little perhaps because it was gold, very much because
it gave him the means of providing luxuries for his darling child,
greatly also because without it he could not have made the costly
experiments necessary in the pursuit of science.
He loved his daughter alone, with the pure and disinterested, but
passionate tenderness of paternal love. In a word he was a savant, a
father, a Jew.
His name was Rabbi Ben-Ha-Zelah, and he practised medicine. He wrought
such wonderful cures that very soon his fame spread throughout Spain,
and from all parts of the kingdom the people came in crowds to consult
him. He received his patients in the afternoon. In the morning he
slept, it was said; but how his nights were passed none knew, and many
were the speculations concerning it. This only was known, that they
were passed in a secret chamber, of which he alone possessed the key,
and it had been observed that this mysterious apartment was sometimes
illuminated with many- flames, blue, or red, or green, while a
dense smoke issued from the chimney.
The police of the kingdom at length resolved to penetrate the mystery,
which seemed to them very suspicions. _Everything_ is suspicious to
the police of _all_ countries.
One evening, Rabbi Ben-Ha-Zelah saw two dark, grave men watching his
house. He listened and heard these words of sinister import:
"To-morrow, at dawn, we will know whether this wretch is a
money-coiner or a magician."
The conscience of the poor old Jew did not reproach him, for his life
was pure and innocent; but he had had great experience of the world,
and held as on axiom that innocence is worth absolutely nothing in a
court of justice. He went still further, he considered it an
aggravating circumstance. He often quoted the old Arabian proverb: "If
I were accused of having stolen and pocketed the grand mosque at
Mecca, I would immediately run off as fast as I could." He said that
justice was a game of cards--and he was no player.
What misanthropic ideas! How different would his conclusions have been
had he lived nowadays! However, as he had not the happiness of living
in that Eden of justice, France of 1866, he put the philosophy of the
proverb into practice, and left Cordova that very night, taking with
him all his treasures. The next morning at dawn the two dark, grave
men, found an uninhabited, dismantled dwelling; which made them still
more dark and grave.
II.
Rabbi Ben-Ha-Zelah, disguised as a merchant and mounted on a strong
mule, passed rapidly through Spain. On either side of his saddle, and
securely fastened to it was a long wicker {694} basket, in the shape
of a cradle. Ben-Ha-Zelah looked from time to time at these baskets
with satisfaction, mingled with sadness, and then urged on his mule,
casting many a backward glance, to be quite sure he was not pursued.
In one of the baskets were his treasures and his books; in the other
slept peacefully the young daughter of the fugitive. Having reached a
small seaport town, the old Jew took passage in a vessel which was
about to sail for Egypt.
Rabbi Ben-Ha-Zelah had often heard of the caliph Achmet Reschid, who
was celebrated throughout the East for his love of science, and the
high consideration in which he held scientific men. As for impostors,
charlatans and empirics, he held them in sovereign contempt and took
real pleasure in impaling them.
This good prince reigned in Cairo. Thither Ben-Ha-Zelah bent his
steps; for he believed himself, and with reason, to be a true savant.
The profound and extensive acquirements of the old Jew, together with
his astonishing skill in everything appertaining to the healing art,
soon made him as famous in Cairo as he had been in Cordova, and he was
at once made court physician.
The caliph Achmet Reschid was never weary of admiring the almost
universal knowledge of the old man, and often invited him to the
palace to converse with him for hours upon the secrets and marvels of
nature. Suddenly a terrible plague broke out in the city, and
threatened to decimate the population. Ben-Ha-Zelah compounded a
wonderful lotion, which cured six times in seven. He contended that in
nothing could evil be conquered in a greater proportion than this;
that a seventh was a minimum of disorder, of sorrow, of vice, in the
imperfect organization of this world, and that when the proportion of
evil in the human body, in the soul, in society, in nature, had been
reduced to a seventh, all the progress possible in this world had been
made.
However that may be, he was summoned one night in great haste to the
palace; the wife and son of the caliph were stricken down by the
pestilence. Ben-Ha-Zelah applied the miraculous lotion and the son was
restored to health--but the wife died.
The caliph Achmet Reschid was overcome with gratitude for so signal a
service and throwing himself into the arms of the old physician,
exclaimed: "Venerable old man I to thee I owe the life of my son and
my happiness! As a proof of my gratitude, I appoint thee Grand
Vizier!"
The old Jew prostrated himself on the ground before his generous
benefactor.
"Yes," continued the caliph, who had a truly noble heart; "yes, I need
a friend in whom I can confide, as I have, one after another, beheaded
all those whom I had in a moment of impulse honored with that title."
"Thanks, mighty caliph!" humbly replied Ben-Ha-Zelah. "How shall I
find fitting words to thank my gracious prince for such unmerited
condescension! Surely never did kindness like this rejoice the earth!"
"Thou sayest well and truly, child of Jacob," answered the puissant
caliph.
Time, far from diminishing the love of the caliph for Ben-Ha-Zelah,
only increased it. The jealousy of the courtiers had always succeeded
in poisoning the mind of the caliph against any one on whom he had
conferred the dignity of Grand Vizier; but the prudence of the old Jew
baffled all their schemes, and Achmet Reschid had learned how to guard
against calumniators. At the first word breathed against the new
favorite that benevolent prince and faithful friend ordered the rash
slanderer to be beheaded, and very soon the courtiers vied with each
other in their praises of the Grand Vizier. The good caliph, seeing
the harmony of feeling among his people with regard to the new
favorite, congratulated himself on his firmness.
{695}
"I knew very well," said he, "that the whole court would at last do
him justice. I talk of him with every one and no man says aught
against him."
III.
As for Ben-Ha-Zelah, he seemed to be perfectly indifferent to the
immense power which his favor with the caliph gave him in the state.
In vain did the courtiers try to entangle him in the intrigues of the
court. In vain did the noblemen of the kingdom, in hopes of gaining
his protection, lay costly gifts at his feet. He gently refused them
all. Devoid of ambition, and prudent to excess, the old Jew withdrew
as much as possible from public affairs. He even begged the caliph to
excuse his attendance at the palace, except at certain hours of the
day, that he might devote himself more uninterruptedly to scientific
pursuits. The love of the caliph grow day by day, and the courtiers as
well as the common people, seeing the humility and disinterestedness
of the Grand Vizier, acknowledged him to be indeed a sage.
At court, as everywhere else, he was clad in a coarse brown robe, and
was in no way distinguishable from the crowd, had not the intellectual
expression of his face, and the strange brilliancy of his eyes,
revealed at a glance a superior mind. He might often be seen in the
streets of Cairo, carrying in his own hands the metals, stones or
medicinal plants, which he bought in the bazaars, or gathered in his
solitary rambles. Wherever he went he heard his own praise; but never
did he in any way betray that it was agreeable to him.
"No one is so poor and humble," said the common people to each other,
"as the Grand Vizier of our high and mighty caliph."
The truth was, however, that with the exception of Achmet Reschid, no
one in Cairo possessed such vast riches as the "poor" Vizier; but
after the manner of the Jews he carefully concealed them, and lived in
a very modest mansion situated outside the walls of the city. This
humble dwelling was completely hidden by the palm and cedar trees
which surrounded it, and for still greater security was enclosed by a
high wall.
In this quiet and mysterious retreat, where he admitted no guests, he
had centered all that made his life; there dwelt his child, the young
Rachel, just budding into womanhood.
When, after passing weary hours in the unmeaning ceremonial of the
court, he reached his garden gate, and stealthily opened it, his
usually impassive face was suddenly illumined as with a sunbeam. It
was as if he had passed from death unto life.
His daughter, clad like a queen of the east, ran to meet him, and
embraced him so tenderly that it seemed as if a portion of her young
life was breathed into the worn and exhausted frame of the aged
father. Ben-Ha-Zelah forgot his sorrows and his cares, and seemed to
revive as with the breath of spring. "I gave thee life, my daughter;
thou dost restore it to me!" murmured the old man.
Rachel was just entering her sixteenth year. Her hair was of the
beautiful golden color which people love. Her eyes, her voice, her
smile, her bearing, carried with them an irresistible charm. She
looked, it was a ray of light; she spoke, it was a strain of music;
she smiled, it was the opening of a gate of Paradise. Her heart was
pure and innocent as was that of the Rachel of old, whom Jacob loved.
Can we wonder that the heart of her father was bound up in her? Who
indeed, could help loving a being so pure and bright?
IV.
Ben-Ha-Zelah was old, but his was a vigorous old age--and the young
daughter and aged father, as they walked under the grand old trees of
the garden, made a beautiful picture. The long white head, piercing
eyes, {696} eagle nose, and broad brow of the old man, formed a
striking contrast to his humble dress, and when no longer under
constraint, it revealed a mysterious and profound satisfaction in his
own personality and intelligence. There was so much _pride_ that there
was no place for _vanity_ in his soul.
What cared he for the admiration or contempt of others, the vain
clamors of the multitude, whom he considered infinitely his inferiors?
When he said to himself, "I am Ben-Ha-Zelah," the rest of the world no
longer existed for him.
His pride was like that of Lucifer: it was not relative but absolute;
he contemplated himself with a terrible satisfaction. Thence his
disdain for all the miserable trifles which gratify the self-love of
inferior men. The pride of _seeming_ comes when the pride of _being_
is not absolute.
Whence then came the gigantic pride of the old Jew?
Rabbi Ben-Ha-Zelah was the most learned man of his time.
He had carried his investigations far beyond those of the most
scientific men of the age; he was well versed in physics, mechanics,
dynamics, arithmetic, music, astronomy, medicine, surgery, and botany;
but the science he most loved, was that which, at first known under
the name of alchemy, was destined to become the greatest science of
modern times--chemistry.
He passed night after night shut up in his laboratory, as he had
formerly done at Cordova, seeking to penetrate one after the other all
the mysteries of nature. There, bending over his glowing furnaces,
surrounded with retorts and crucibles of strange shapes, filled with
metals in a state of fusion, by all sorts of instruments and alembics,
old Ben-Ha-Zelah interrogated matter and demanded the mystery of its
essence; he pursued it from form to form, he tore it with red-hot
pincers; he melted it in the glowing fires of his furnaces; he made it
solid only to reduce it again to a liquid state, decomposing it a
hundred times in a hundred different ways. He tortured it, as does the
lawyer the prisoner at the bar, that he may wring from him his most
hidden secrets.
Matter, thus pursued by the indefatigable alchemist, had revealed more
than one of its mysterious laws, which he had made useful in the
practice of his profession, so that he was considered in Cairo little
less than a demi-god. However, in his labors he sought not the good of
his fellow-men, but the barren satisfaction of the passion which was
consuming him, _the pride of knowledge_; he sought to penetrate the
secrets of the most high God. The promise of the tempter to our first
parents; _Eritis sicut dei, scientes_, "You shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil," had penetrated his soul; and he desired to plant in
his garden that fatal tree to which the first-born of our race
stretched out their guilty hands. Like his ancestor Jacob, he wrestled
with Jehovah.
One can readily understand that the old man, absorbed in this gigantic
struggle, was dead to all vanity, so far as men were concerned. He had
reached such dizzy heights that he had almost lost sight of them. To
him they were like the brute beasts which crossed his path; he
believed them to be of an inferior nature to him, who had been gifted
with such vast genius--such indefatigable industry. His high thoughts
were not for such miserable pigmies.
Sometimes seating himself in dreamy mood in his garden, at the foot of
a grand old cedar, his favorite seat, and taking in his hand a pebble,
a blade of grass or a flower he was plunged in profound meditation.
What makes this "a body" thought he. This "body" is brown, heavy,
hard, square, or has many other properties which come under my notice.
But it is evident that neither the color, weight, cohesion, nor form
constitute its _essence_. They are its manner of beings--not its
being. If I modify it, destroy it even, it will still {697} be the
same body, and I shall, after all, have only attacked its manner of
being; the essence which heretofore has always escaped me--_the soul
of the body_, if I may say so--will have suffered no change. It is as
if I were suddenly to become hunchback, lame, idiotic--I would still
be the same man. I must discover the substance _quod sub stat_; in the
first place, what causes this to be; in the second place, what
constitutes it a body; and finally, what makes it this particular body
which I hold in my hand and not another.
The problem was formidable; it was the mystery of the omnipotence of
the God who created the world, and nevertheless this unknown
Prometheus shrank not from the task, and flattered himself he could
wring from created matter the secrets of its Creator.
In his experiments' Ben-Ha-Zelah had started with the axiom that all
bodies were formed from certain elements which were invariable, but
combined in different ways. Moreover, his researches had proved to him
that many elements, formerly believed to be primary, were composed of
different elements into which they might again be readily resolved. So
that seeing their number decrease as his investigations became more
abstruse and his analyses more delicate, he had arrived at the
conclusion that there existed an original and absolute substance of
which all bodies, even those apparently the most different, were only
variations.
He affirmed the identity of the base under the infinite variety of the
forms. This primary substance which he considered as coeternal with
God, was, he thought, that on which Jehovah breathed in the beginning,
and in his Satanic pride he believed two things--first that the
Almighty had combined the atoms of matter in so wondrously complex a
manner only to conceal from man the secret of its creation--and
secondly, that the Rabbi-Ben-Ha-Zelah would be able to baffle the
precautions of the Almighty, and by analysis after analysis, at length
succeed in finding the simple primary substance from which all things
were originally formed.
Such were the thoughts which continually filled his mind--such the
gigantic plan he had conceived. Again and again he said to himself
that by taking from a body one after the other its contingent
qualities, as one takes the bark from a nut, he would succeed at
length in penetrating its most hidden depths, to that _matter essence_
from which was made, as he believed, all that existed in the universe.
He had inscribed on the door of his laboratory _Materia, mater_. And
as soon as he should be able to imprison in his alembics this primary
matter he could at will, disposing it after certain forms, make in
turn bronze, stone, wood, or gold. Nay more, he hoped to surprise with
the same blow the mystery of life--and then, thought he in his impious
pride, I shall be a creator, like unto Him before whom every knee
bends in adoration. I shall be God! _Eritis sicut dei_.
The old man, lost in the vain search for the absolute basis of matter,
little suspected that the final word of all science is; "The essence
of matter is immaterial."
However, he devoted himself most zealously to the great work he had
undertaken, and passed night after night in the recesses of his
laboratory which would have reminded one of the entrance to the
infernal regions but for the sweet presence of the young and lovely
Rachel, who glided in and out, bringing order out of confusion, and in
the evening beguiled the long hours by singing to her father snatches
of the old Hebrew songs of which such touching and beautiful fragments
have come down to us.
{698}
V.
One night, Ben-Ha-Zelah, regardless of fatigue, was still bending over
his glowing furnaces. For more than a week he had allowed himself no
sleep, nor had he permitted his eyes to wander from the vast crucible
which had been heated to white beat for six consecutive months. He had
discovered phenomena hitherto unknown. His bony hands clutched
convulsively the handle of the bellows, and his eager, care-worn face
was illuminated with a two-fold radiance, that from the purple light
of the furnace and from the interior flame which consumed his soul. He
was motionless from intensity of emotion. At last then he was about to
attain the aim and desire of his whole life!
The primary substance, the absolute essence of matter, he was about to
seize it--to be its lord. The old man still watched; a whitish vapor
rose slowly from the crucible; matter decomposed in this crucible
seemed to be a prey to a fearful travail--to struggle in an internal
conflict.
The old man raised his tall form to its full height and at that moment
appeared like a second Lucifer. He shouted in triumph, "I have
created!"
Then rushing to the casement he gazed upward to the starry heavens,
not in prayer, but in defiance.
"I have created!" he repeated, "I have created! I have conquered! I am
the equal of God!"
A noise, slight in reality, but to the excited senses of Ben-Ha-Zelah,
louder than the crash of thunder, was heard behind him. He turned with
agitated countenance. The crucible, unwatched during his delirium of
pride, had fallen, and was shivered to atoms. All was lost; the
creation of him who aspired to an equality with the Most High was but
a heap of ashes.
Ben-Ha-Zelah was stunned by this unlooked-for calamity. He fell back
fainting, as if, while he rashly sought to penetrate the mystery of
life, pale death, entering his dwelling had touched him with her
sombre wing.
VI.
When consciousness returned, the fire of the furnace, which had been
fed with so much care for six weary months, was extinguished. Through
the open casement he saw myriads of stars blazing in the firmament.
The majestic silence of the night hovered over the unchanged
immensity.
The old man was seized with an indefinable terror. He understood that
he was punished for his pride, and he had a presentiment that the
sudden failure of the labor and research of so many years was but the
beginning of his punishment. It seemed to him that in the midst of the
thick darkness the living God had looked into the depths of his guilty
soul and had stretched out his all-powerful hand to smite him.
Suddenly, as by a revelation, there came to him a knowledge of the
point where God was about to strike him.
"My child! my child!" cried he, in a voice broken by terror and
remorse.
He ran to the chamber of his daughter.
The old man opened the door gently, taking, in spite of his terror, a
thousand paternal precautions not to awaken the sleeper. The trembling
light of a small alabaster lamp cast its faint rays about the
apartment. Gently he drew back the curtains of the bed and gazed
fondly upon his child.
Rachel slept profoundly, her breathing was as peaceful as innocence.
Ben-Ha-Zelah looked upon the sweet, calm face with a transport of
delight. The tranquillity of this peaceful sleep of childhood was
communicated to him, and for a moment stilled the agitation of his
soul.
He leaned fondly over the sleeping form; listened joyfully to the calm
breathing of his darling child, to the regular beating of her heart;
then stooping, imprinted a kiss of fatherly love on the beautiful
brow.
Rachel remained immovable, and her sleep was unbroken. "It is strange
she has not awakened," said the old man to himself looking at her
again. "Sleep is so like death."
{699}
As he allowed this thought to take form a vague terror took possession
of him.
"Bah! she sleeps! I hear her breathing," said he aloud.
The secret indefinable fear which he could not banish, and for which
he could not account, still remained; he could no longer contain
himself.
"Rachel!"' cried he in a loud voice. The young girl slept on.
"Rachel! my child!" he cried again, at the same time shaking her
gently by the arm.
Still the calm sleep was unbroken; and the peaceful breathing which at
first had delighted the fond father now seemed like a fatal spell.
"Rachel! Rachel!"
He took her in his arms; he placed her on a couch; he tried to make
her walk; and in vain essayed with his trembling fingers to open the
sealed eyelids.
The young girl slept on; her respiration as calm, and the rhythm of
her heart still preserved its frightful monotone. All the efforts of
the despairing father were vain. Day dawned, night came, the next day,
and weeks and months, and Rachel awoke not.
VII.
The distracted father, remembering that he was a physician, sought in
medical science a remedy for this strange malady. He tried every known
medicine, he essayed new ones; but nothing could break the fearful
sleep. He no longer went to the palace of the caliph, but his days and
nights were passed in his laboratory as they had formerly been at
Cordova; his researches, however, were no longer to feed his pride.
Sorrow concentrated his mighty genius on one thought--to discover a
remedy for his idolized child. Bitterly did be expiate the old
anxieties of his pride by the torturing perplexities of this new
sorrow.
More than six months passed thus. A last and desperate remedy to which
he had recourse, had, like all the others failed; Ben-Ha-Zelah on a
night like that on which this weight of sorrow had come upon him, was
in his laboratory bending as ever over his retorts. He had made every
research, every experiment that genius, quickened by affection, could
suggest, and had failed in all. Rachel still slept. Then the
broken-hearted old man, convinced of his own impotence, let fall his
arms at his sides and burst into tears.
At that moment he heard a voice which seemed to come at once from the
depths of immensity, and from the inmost recesses of his own heart.
"All thy efforts are vain," said the voice. "Thou wilt cure thy child,
only by passing about her neck, a pearl necklace, not the pearls which
bountiful nature gives, and God makes, but pearls which thou thyself
hast fashioned. Thou thoughtest thyself the equal of God, the equal of
Him who created the world; and he punishes thee, by condemning thee to
create only a few pearls, and he is willing to lend thee all the
riches and treasures of his beautiful world. Go and seek! And when
thou hast made enough of these pearls to fill the box beside thee,
make a necklace of them. Put it on the neck of thy child, and she will
awake."
It was not an illusion. The old man had seen no one, but the box was
there beside him. It was a little box, of a wood unknown to him, which
exhaled a delicious odor. On the lid inscribed in letters of gold, was
a Hebrew word, meaning "Treasure of God."
Ben-Ha-Zelah, re-kindled the fires of his furnaces and again applied
himself to explore the arcana of alchemy. He took from his coffers all
the pearls he possessed, and after having analyzed them, tried in vain
to form them again; but the secret of omnipotence which he attempted
to grasp, fled from him. He decomposed precious stones and succeeded
only in making a gross calcareous substance. Again and again he
flattered himself, he had penetrated the mystery of the Creator; but
all his hopes ended in nothingness. {700} Nature, which he had once
attempted to conquer to satisfy his pride as a savant, he now wooed in
vain to still the passionate yearnings of his fatherly heart.
One day he said to himself: "My knowledge is very little; and with the
very little I know, I shall never succeed in solving this problem, and
nevertheless it is possible!"
The voice which spoke to me is a voice which does not deceive.
Then an inspiration came to him which lighted with a pale ray of hope,
the sorrowful face long unused to happiness. The idea occurred to him,
that if he should go and study the shells of the Persian gulf where
pearls are formed, he might succeed in winning from nature the mystery
which he had so much interest in learning.
He set out the next morning on his long and wearisome journey, leaving
his child to the faithful care of the old Jewish slave who had been so
many years in his service, and in whom he reposed the most perfect
confidence. She had been the nurse of Rachel, and loved her almost
with a mother's love. He spent two months in studying the pearl oyster
of the Persian gulf; but there, as in his laboratory, all his efforts
were vain.
Providence, thought he, (he no longer said "nature,") Providence has
secrets which will never be known to mortals!
Convinced of the utter folly of his painful researches--anxious,
moreover, to see his poor child again. He sadly turned his face
homeward.
VIII.
As he slowly and sadly pursued his way toward Egypt, he saw on the
second day of his journey across the desert, a group in the distance,
apparently just in his route; continuing to advance, he saw a dead
camel covered with blood, beside him the dead body of a knight,
pierced with sabre-strokes; on the road-side a woman, apparently
dying, holding in her arms a young infant.
Ben-Ha-Zelah, moved with compassion, approached and accosted the
woman. She told him that in crossing the desert with her husband and
child, they had been attacked by brigands, who had killed her husband,
left her mortally wounded, and had rifled them of all their treasures;
even their water-bottles--more precious than all in the desert.
"I am dying," said she, "but my bitterest sorrow is in leaving my poor
little babe, who must perish thus alone in the desert."
The poor mother for one moment thought of asking the kind old man to
take her child, but she saw that one of his water-bottles had been
broken by some accident, and that he had hardly enough water to cross
the desert.
Ben-Ha-Zelah had had the same thought, but he calculated the quantity
of water remaining to him, and and to himself that it was impossible.
The woman was dying.
There, in the presence of the mother's despair, with the wail of the
infant so soon to be an orphan, in his ears, he thought of his own
child.
"Woman," said he, "I will take your babe, and will care for him as for
my own. I will save his life, even at the cost of my own."
The mother died, invoking blessings on his head.
Ben-Ha-Zelah resumed his journey across the desert, placing before him
on the saddle, the infant, who at first wept, then laughed in
infantile glee, then amused himself by teasing the patient nurse,
pulling his beard, or tangling the reins of the camel. The old man who
had become as gentle as a mother, sought every means which affection
could suggest to amuse the helpless little creature, so strangely
given to his charge--sometimes with the gold tassels of his bridle,
sometimes with his bright fire-arms, sometimes by rattling in his ears
the gold sequins in his purse. Again he would sing to him a lullaby,
long-forgotten. {701} The child was pleased with each new amusement
devised by the old savant, but it was only for a few moments, and was
again looking about for something he had not yet seen.
How much we all resemble children!
Poor old Ben-Ha-Zelah knew not what to do to satisfy this restless
craving for amusement. Suddenly he thought of the beautiful little
box, which the child had not seen, and drew it out from the folds of
his robe.
The child eagerly grasped this new plaything and turned it about in
every possible way.
To the amazement of the old Jew, there was a slight sound, as of some
small object rolling about in the box.
The child shouted with delight. The old man was breathless and
trembling. He grasped the box convulsively from the hands of the
infant, who held it out to him, smiling. He opened it. His blood froze
in his veins, with an emotion not of terror but of joy and hope.
He beheld in the box a pearl, pure and more beautiful than any he had
ever seen.
Speechless with emotion he could only raise his eyes to heaven in a
wordless prayer of gratitude.
Then he heard a voice which seemed to fill the immensity of the
desert, and nevertheless, was as low and sweet as the loving murmur of
a fond mother.
"O Ben-Ha-Zelah! every tear which thou shalt dry, is a pearl which
thou dost create."
Ben-Ha-Zelah looked about him. All around him was the desert. Before
him, in his arms, the little babe, suddenly grown calm, and smiling in
his face.
A few more days and his journey through the desert was ended. But many
were the privations he endured that the helpless little infant, now so
dear to him, might not want.
Ben-Ha-Zelah was rich, and now he was good. His goodness made use of
his riches to dry the tears of misfortune--there are as many, alas! in
this world of suffering, as there are dewdrops on a summers morning--
and very soon his box was quite full.
When he again saw his child, the mysterious sleep was unbroken. She
came not to welcome him, but he put the pearl necklace about her
beautiful throat, and she awoke, smiling.
"Oh! what a lovely necklace, papa," she cried.
"It is the first I have ever given thee, my darling," said the happy
father, "but I hope it may not be the last. My pearl-casket is now
empty, but I trust in God that I may fill it many times before I die."
------
{702}
[ORIGINAL.]
THE GIPSIES. [Footnote 174]
[Footnote 174: "A History of the Gipsies: with Specimens of the
Gipsy Language." By Walter Simson. Edited, with preface,
introduction, and notes, and a disquisition on the past, present,
and future of Glpsydom. By James Simson. 12mo, pp. 575. New York: M.
Doolady. London: Sampson Low, Son, & Marston. 1866.]
About the beginning of the 15th century there appeared in Germany a
strange mysterious people, such as had never been seen in Europe
before;
A vagrant crew, far straggled through the glade,
With trifles busied, or in slumbers laid.
No man knew who they were or whence they came. Their swarthy
complexions, long black hair, sharp eyes, high cheek-bones, narrow
mouths and fine white teeth, were marks of an eastern origin. They
spoke a language which had never been heard in Europe before, and
followed a strange way of life, which savored more of the rude nomadic
habits of primitive Asia, than the comparatively civilized customs of
the country into which they had come. They travelled about in bands or
tribes, each under the command of a leader, slept at night in tents or
abandoned out-houses, and occupied themselves by day in a simple sort
of smith work, basket-weaving, tinkering, fortune-telling, juggling,
and stealing. Vagabonds as they were, filthy in their habits, and
addicted to the eating of carrion and other disgusting things, they
were fond of wearing gay dresses, whenever they could beg, buy, or
steal them, and many of the women, with their lithe and agile figures,
were not without a certain dark sort of beauty which found many
admirers.
Whether they knew anything about their own origin or not, is doubtful;
but if they did, they kept it so carefully' secret, that the knowledge
has been completely lost. At all events they made their first
appearance in France in 1427, with a great lie in their months, and a
forged confirmation of it in their pockets. They called themselves
Christian pilgrims from Lower Egypt, who had been expelled by the
Saracens. They had unfortunately committed a few sins on the way, and
having confessed to Pope Martin V., his holiness had enjoined upon
them as a penance to traverse the world for seven years without
sleeping in beds. In support of this story they exhibited documents
purporting to be issued by the holy see, but they had probably
manufactured these testimonials themselves. However, the world was not
very wise in those days, and the mysterious strangers were accepted
for what they professed to be; and for some years the wandering
penitents pursued a brilliant career of theft and imposture, while
their leaders galloped over the continent with the high-sounding
titles of dukes, counts, and lords of Little Egypt. When they first
came to Paris they had among them a duke, a count, and ten lords. The
authorities would not let them enter the city, but assigned them
quarters at La Chapelle near St. Denis, where they were consulted on
occult matters by great numbers of the citizens. But our Egyptian
pilgrims were soon found to be such incorrigible rascals that the
bishop of Paris caused them to be removed, and excommunicated those
who had consulted them. Similar treatment was shown them in other
parts of Europe. For a time their forged credentials had enabled them
to obtain passports and letters of {703} security from various
European potentates; but the wanderers everywhere made themselves
nuisances, and were banished under threats of the severest
punishments. Fortunately for them, however, these edicts were not
published simultaneously all over Europe, so that they were not
exactly driven into the ocean, but only exiled from one part of the
continent to another. In Germany they were called _Zigeuner_, or
wanderers; in Holland, _Haydens_, or heathens, in Spain, _Gitanos_; in
Italy, _Zingari_; in France, Bohemians, because they entered that
country from Bohemia. The name of gipsy, by which they were known in
England and Scotland, is evidently a corruption of their self-chosen
appellation Egyptians.
More than four hundred years have passed since these swarthy penitents
made their seven years' pilgrimage of cheating and pilfering through
Europe, and they are still a people as distinct from all other races
in their essential characteristics as they were on the day they first
humbugged our ancestors. The general improvement of society all over
the world has compelled them to abandon many of their vagabond ways.
They have no longer that complete organization in tribes and companies
which they used to preserve; they no longer claim the privilege of
governing themselves in all things by their own laws, and their earls
and captains no longer exercise the authority of life and death over
their subjects. A large gipsy encampment is a rare sight nowadays, and
even the gipsy features, owing to frequent intermarriages between the
tribes and the European race, are in a fair way of being obliterated.
But there are still many thousands of gipsies roaming about Europe in
small companies; they still preserve their ancient customs in secret;
and under all the restraints of civilization, even the most orderly of
them cherish their old vagabond propensities. The Gipsy physiognomy is
quite as marked as the Jewish, and the gipsy race is far more
distinctly separated from the rest of the world than are the children
of Abraham. Their speech, which is not, as some people suppose, a mere
farago of slang or thieves' latin, but a genuine language, has been
handed down from mother to child, and is still a living tongue--a fact
which is not a little remarkable, because the language has no
literature, and can only be perpetrated by tradition. The gipsies have
no written characters. And yet it would be hard to find a gipsy who
cannot speak the language, though few of them are willing to
acknowledge it.
The problem of the origin of this strange people has exercised learned
brains ever since the civilized world became civilized enough to
perceive that there was a mystery about their presence in the midst of
Christendom. It seems to be pretty well agreed that they came into
Europe from Hindostan; but why they came, and why they called
themselves Egyptians are matters of dispute. Grellman in Germany, and
Hoyland and Borrow in England have hitherto been the most esteemed
authorities on the subject of gipsies; but we have now a new work, by
Walter and James Simson, which promises to shove the older books
aside. It is a rather outlandish production, but on that very account
perhaps more appropriate to its subject, Mr. Walter having spent some
seventeen years poking about gipsy encampments, peeping into their
huts, studying their cookery, scraping up odds and ends of their
language, learning how they picked pockets, told fortunes, robbed
hen-roosts, stole horses, married their wives and divorced them,
fought with each other, protected their friends, and pursued their
enemies with unrelenting vengeance; having gathered up a great store
of interesting anecdotes and historical notes, and got to know, in
fine, more about the gipsies of Scotland than any other man, probably,
who ever lived--having done all this, Mr. Walter Simson died one day
and left an ill-digested manuscript {704} book on his pet subject,
which Mr. James Simson took up, annotated, enlarged, and published.
Mr. Walter's book, if it was not a model of literary neatness, was
unpretentious, entertaining, and full of valuable information. Mr.
James, however, must needs add to it, first an advertisement, then a
preface, then an introduction, and lastly a long-drawn disquisition,
all of which are tiresome to the last degree, and not worth a tenth of
the space they fill. Besides, Mr. James Simson has a bad temper, and
it is not pleasant to read his arguments, even when he argues against
an imaginary adversary. He has a theory of his own about the origin of
the gipsies, to which we do not purpose to commit ourselves; but it is
curious enough to be stated, so that our readers may judge of it for
themselves.
An intelligent gipsy once told Mr. Simson that his race sprang from a
body of men-a cross between the Arabs and Egyptians--who left Egypt in
the train of the Jews. Now we read in Exodus xii. 38, that "a mixed
multitude went up also with them," [_i.e._, with the Jews out of
Egypt;] and from the fact stated in Numbers xi. 4, that "the mixed
multitude that was among them fell a lusting" for flesh, it would
appear that these refugees had not amalgamated with the Jews, but only
journeyed in company with them. Since this multitude were not children
of the promise, and had no call from God to go out from among the
Egyptians and journey to a land of peace and plenty, their condition
in Egypt must have been a hard one, or they would not have entered
upon a long and painful wandering to escape from it. No doubt, says
Mr. Simson, they were slaves, like the Jews; probably descendants of
the Hyksos, or "Shepherd Kings," who possessed the land before its
conquest by the Pharaohs; perhaps descendents of these Hyksos by
Egyptian women. God had promised Canaan, however, only to the
Israelites; the "mixed multitudes" could have no share in the
inheritance; so they probably separated from the Jews in the
wilderness, and wandered eastward into Hindostan. Coming into that
country from a long servitude, they would naturally have been timid of
mixing with the native inhabitants, disposed to cling together for
mutual protection, loose in their notions of right and wrong and the
laws of property. Every man's hand would have been against them, and
they would have been no man's friend. The lawless and migratory habits
engendered by their isolation would soon have become fixed and
hereditary; and so, to hasten to a conclusion, the mixed multitude of
Egyptians would have grown to be, in the course of a few hundreds of
generations, more or less, a race of horse-thieves and
fortune-tellers.
This theory accounts for the fact that the gipsies call themselves
Egyptians, while their language and many other peculiarities are
strongly redolent of Hindostan. It is true that no Egyptian words have
been detected in their speech, while its resemblance to Hindostance
dialects is very strong; but then just think what an unconscionably
long time it is since they came away from Egypt, and how easy it would
have been for them, in the absence of an alphabet and a literature, to
forget the language of captivity and acquire that of freedom.
Why they came out of Hindostan into Europe, or why they waited to come
until the fifteenth century, is purely matter of conjecture. But that
Hindostan was their last abiding place before their appearance in
Germany, about 1417, there is, for various reasons which we need not
here enumerate, no reasonable doubt.
Of their history and character in continental Europe, Mr. Simson tells
us but little, and that little is not new. We pass at once therefore
to the portion of his book which is devoted to the Scottish gipsies;
and when we have read that, we shall have a pretty clear idea of the
peculiarities of the race all over the world.
{705}
It is not certain when they first appeared in Great Britain; but they
were in Scotland at least as early as 1506 in which year they so far
imposed upon King James IV., that his majesty addressed a letter of
commendation to the King of Denmark, in favor of "Anthonius Gawino,
Earl of Little Egypt, and the other afflicted and lamentable tribe of
his retinue," who, having been "pilgriming" by command of the pope,
over the Christian world, were now anxious to cross the ocean into
Denmark. "But," concluded the Scottish monarch, with beautiful
simplicity, "we believe that the fates, manners, and race of the
wandering Egyptians are better known to thee than to us, because Egypt
is nearer thy kingdom." We see from this that the vagabonds still kept
up the fiction of a penitential pilgrimage, though it must have seemed
a long seven years' wandering which, beginning about 1417, was not
finished in 1506. In 1540 a still more remarkable document appears on
record, being nothing less than a sort of league or treaty between
James V. and his "loved John Faw, Lord and Earl of Little Egypt,"
whereby the officers of the realm were commanded to assist the said
John Faw "in execution of justice upon his company and folk, conform
to the laws of Egypt, and in punishing of all them that rebel against
him." But this state of things did not last long. James, as we all
know, liked to go a masquerading now and then, in the character of
"the Gaberlunzie Man," [Footnote 175] or "the Guid Man of
Ballangiegh," and on one occasion, while in this dignified disguise,
he fell in with a gang of gipsies carousing in a cave, near Wemyss, in
Fifeshire. His majesty heartily joined in the revels; but before long
a scuffle ensued, in the course of which one of the men "came crack
over the royal head with a bottle." Nor was this indignity enough, for
suspecting that the "guid man" was a spy, the trampers treated him
with the utmost harshness, and when they resumed their march compelled
him to go along with them, loaded with their budgets and wallets, and
leading an ass. The king passed several days in this disgusting
captivity, but at length found an opportunity to send a boy with a
written message to some of his nobles at Falkland. He was then
rescued. Two of the gipsies he caused to be hanged at once; a third,
who had treated him with some kindness, he let go free; and he caused
an edict to be published banishing the whole race from the kingdom
under penalty of death. James died the next year, however, and the
edict was never enforced; nor were subsequent laws, of equal severity,
able either to got the gipsies out of the country or to check their
wandering and thievish propensities. A great many of the race attached
themselves, nominally as clansmen, to chieftains and noblemen, who
were willing and able to afford them protection. But a great many were
nevertheless hanged merely for being "by habit and repute Egyptians."
So they got to look upon themselves as a persecuted race. They learned
to deny their origin, to keep their language a secret, and to resent
with all the savage fierceness of their fiery natures, the slightest
attempt on the part of the "gorgios," (as they called the Europeans
among whom they had cast their lot) to pry into the hidden mysteries
of gipsy life.
[Footnote 175: i.e. "Ragged begger."]
In this country we know little about gipsies except what we have
learned from novels, and from those curious books by Mr. Borrow, on
the gipsies of Spain, in which tact and fiction are so strangely
blended that it is difficult to tell them apart. The gipsy, to the
average American mind, is a dark-featured woman in a red skirt, and
with a shawl drawn over her head; who tells fortunes and steals little
babies; who lives in a tent and cooks her meals in the open air, with
the aid of an iron pot suspended from two crossed sticks. And the
picture is not very far from the truth after all; for all the actions
it paints, the gipsies have many a time performed. {706}
Child-stealing, however, they are not so much given to as we commonly
suppose; for they have too many children of their own to indulge in
such a costly luxury; nor do many of them profess palmistry, although
the few who do lay claim to a knowledge of the mysterious art drive a
thriving business in it. We purpose to collect from Mr. Simson's book
on account of the Scottish gipsies as he found them; but we ought to
warn our readers that the author wrote many years ago, and that the
progress of society in Scotland has made great changes in the
condition of the tribe. If wandering gipsies, however, are not so
numerous as they were, and if they do not practice their peculiar arts
and customs so openly as they formerly did, they are very far from
being extinct; and, according to Mr. James Simson, have merely carried
unsuspected, into the bosom of orderly and respectable society, the
vagabond propensities, itching palms, savagery, wickedness, appetite
for loathsome carcasses--nay, even that dark unwritten language,
spoken by none but a gipsy of the true blood--which characterized them
in the days of Meg Merrilies or the Gaberlunzie man.
The Scottish gipsies almost always traversed the country in bands of
twenty, thirty, or more, though so many were seldom seen together on
the road. While travelling they broke up into parties of twos and
threes, having according to all appearance no connection with each
other, and at night they used to meet in some spot previously agreed
upon. It was not their general custom to sleep in tents. They
preferred for their lodgings deserted kilns, or barns or out-houses.
The usual way was for one of the women to precede them, if possible
with a child in her arms, and coax from some tender-hearted farmer
permission to shelter herself for the night in one of the farm
buildings. When the family awoke in the morning they were pretty sure
to find the one miserable vagrant surrounded by a gang of sturdy
trampers, and some twenty or thirty asses tethered on the green. For
twenty-four hours after their arrival they expected to receive food
gratis from the family on whose land they halted. After that, no
matter how long they remained, they provided for themselves. The
farmers generally found it for their interest to treat the gipsies
kindly, for these curious people never robbed their entertainers. A
farmer's wife whom Mr. Simson knew, on granting the customary
privilege of lodging to one of the tribe, added by way of caution:
"But ye must not steal anything from me then." "We'll no play any
tricks on you, mistress," was the reply; "but others will pay for
that." The men of the band seldom or never set foot within the door of
the farmhouse, but kept aloof from observation. They employed
themselves in repairing broken china, and utensils of copper, brass,
and pewter; and making horn spoons, wool-cards, smoothing-irons, and
sole-clouts for ploughs, which the women then disposed of. A good deal
of their time was passed in athletic exercises. They were famous
leapers and cudgel players, and despite their instinct of retirement
they could rarely resist a temptation "to throw the hammer," cast the
putting-stone, or beat the farm laborers at quoits, golf, and other
games. They were musicians, too, and their skill with the violin and
the bagpipes often assured them a night's lodging or a hearty welcome
at fairs, weddings, and other country merry-makings. Working in horn
was their favorite and most ancient occupation, and such was the care
they bestowed upon it that one tribe could always distinguish the
handiwork of another. Their devotion to the art of tinkering obtained
for them the name of Tinklers, by which they are generally known in
Scotland. They were also great horse-dealers, or, what in their case
meant very nearly the same thing, horse-thieves. They were not
scrupulous as to how they obtained {707} the animals, but they were
rare hands at selling them to advantage, though when a customer
trusted to their honor many of them would serve him with strict
honesty.
The women concerned themselves in domestic cares and in helping the
men to sell the articles they had made. It was the women who managed
all their intercourse with the farmers and other country people, and
who did most of the begging. In this art they displayed an aptitude
which partook of the character of genius. They never closed a bargain
without demanding a present of victuals and drink, which they called
"boontith"; and as they were ready enough to take by foul means what
they could not get by fair, the closest-fisted housewife in Scotland
seldom resisted their importunities very long. The fortune-telling, of
course, fell to the women.
But petty larceny, after all, was their principal means of support.
They were expert pickpockets and daring riflers of hen-roosts. The
bolder spirits rose to the dignity of highwaymen, coiners, and cattle
thieves. The children were trained from infancy to thievish pursuits,
and almost every gipsy encampment was a school of practice like that
kept by Fagin the Jew, to which poor little Oliver Twist was
introduced by the Artful Dodger. When legitimate business was dull,
they picked each other's pockets in a friendly way, just for the sake
of keeping their hands in. Sometimes a pair of breeches was hung aloft
by a string, and the children were required to abstract money from the
pockets without moving the garments. If the young rascal succeeded, he
was praised and rewarded; if he failed, he was beaten. Having passed
through this stage of his probation, the neophyte was admitted to a
higher degree. A purse was laid down in an exposed part of the
encampment, in plain view of all the gang, and while the older members
were busied in their daily pursuits, the children exercised all their
ingenuity and patience to carry off the purse without being perceived.
The instructor in this training-school was generally a woman. By the
time he was ten years old, the gipsy boy was thought fit to be let
loose upon the community, and became a member of an organized band of
thieves. The captains, whose dignity was usually hereditary, dressed
well, carried themselves gallantly, and could not be taken for what
they really were, especially as they never showed themselves in the
company of their men. The inferior thieves travelled to fairs, singly,
or at most two together, and as fast as they collected their booty
repaired with it to the headquarters of their chief. This latter
personage always had some ostensible business--such as that of a
horse dealer--and it was easy for the gang to communicate with him
under cover of a bargain, without arousing suspicion! For ripping
pockets open they had a short steel blade attached to a piece of
leather, like a sail-maker's palm, and concealed under their sleeves;
or the women wore upon their forefingers large rings containing sharp
steel instruments which were made to dart forth by the pressure of a
spring, when the hand was closed. Of the dexterity of these
light-fingered gentry Mr. Simson tells the following story:
"A principal male gipsy, of a very respectable appearance, whose
name it is unnecessary to mention, happened, on a market day, to be
drinking in a public house, with several farmers with whom he was
well acquainted. The party observed from the window a countryman
purchase something at a stand in the market, and, after paying for
it, thrust his purse into his watch-pocket, in the band of his
breeches. One of the company remarked that it would be a very
difficult matter to rob the cautious man of his purse, without being
detected. The gipsy immediately offered to bet two bottles of wine
that he would rob the man of his purse, in the open and public
market, without being perceived by him. The bet was taken, and the
gipsy proceeded about the difficult and delicate business. Going up
to the unsuspecting man, he requested as a particular favor, if he
would ease the stock about his neck, which buckled behind--an
article of dress at that time in {708} fashion. The countryman most
readily agreed to oblige the stranger gentleman--as he supposed him
to be. The gipsy, now stooping down, to allow his stock to be
adjusted, placed his head against the countryman's, stomach, and,
pressing it forward a little, he reached down one hand, under the
pretense of adjusting his shoe, while the other was employed in
extracting the farmer's purse. The purse was immediately brought
into the company, and the cautious, unsuspecting countryman did not
know of his loss, till he was sent for, and had his property
returned to him."
At one time the gipsies had all Scotland divided into districts, each
of which was assigned to a particular tribe, and wo to the Tinkler who
attempted to plunder within the limits of any other territory than his
own! The chieftains issued tokens to the members of their respective
hordes when they scattered themselves over the face of the country,
and these tokens protected the bearers within their proper districts.
A safe-guard from the Baillie family, who held a royal rank among the
gipsies, was good all over Scotland.
Besides their common Scottish Christian and surnames, they had names
in their own language, as well as various pseudonyms which they
assumed from time to time in different parts of the country. When they
were travelling they used to take new names every morning, and retain
them till money was received in one way or another by every member of
the company, or at least until noon-tide; for they considered it
unlucky to set out out on a journey under their own names.
They appear never to have at a loss for "the best of eating and
drinking," and might sometimes be seen seated at their dinner on the
sward, and passing about their wine, for all the world like gentlemen.
Sir Walter Scott's father was once forced to accept the hospitality of
a party of gipsies carousing on a moor, and found them supplied with
"all the varieties of game, poultry, pigs, and so forth." That rich
and savory decoction known to the modern cuisine as _potage a la Meg
Merrilies de Derncleugh_, is a soup of gipsy invention, composed of
many kinds of game and poultry boiled together. Their style of cookery
seems rather barbarous, but we must admit that it is admirably adapted
to the wants of a rude and barbarous people, among whom ovens, spits,
pots, and stew-pans are unknown and often unattainable luxuries. To
cook a fowl, they wind a strong rope of straw tightly around the body
of the bird, just as it has been killed, with its feathers on and its
entrails untouched. It is then covered with hot peat ashes, and a slow
fire is kept up around it till it is sufficiently done. When taken
out, the half-burnt straw and feathers peel off like a shell, and
those who have tasted the food thus prepared, say it is very
palatable. One advantage the method certainly has: it affords a safe
way of cooking a stolen fowl unperceived. Meat is roasted in a similar
manner. The flesh is covered with a wrapping of rags, and then encased
in well-wrought clay. Being now covered with hot ashes or turned
before a fire, it stews in its own juices, which, being saved from
escape by the clay, combine with the rags, Mr. Simson says, to form a
thick sauce or gravy. A gipsy has a keen zest for this juicy dish; but
we doubt whether most people would devour it with a very good
appetite. Their favorite viand of all, however, can certainly not be
relished outside of the tribe. This is a kind of mutton called
_braxy_, being nothing less than the flesh of a sheep which has died
of a certain disease. It has a _sharp_ flavor which tickles their
palates amazingly. So fond of it are they, that Mr. Simson attributes
the great number of gipsies in Tweed-dale partly to the abundance of
sheep in that district, and the consequent plenty of braxy. "The flesh
of a beast which God kills," say the gipsies, "must be better than
that of one which man kills." Nevertheless they are not loath, on
occasion, to take the killing into their own hands, by stuffing wool
down a sheep's throat, so that {709} it may die as if by disease; and
then they beg the carcass from the owner.
As far as can be ascertained, the gipsies have no religious sentiments
whatever, so that an old proverb runs: "The gipsy church was built of
lard and the dogs ate it." They have a word in their language for
devil, but none for God. Of late years it has been common for them to
have their children baptized, and sometimes they attend the service
which seems to be most in repute in the place where they happen to be;
but this is only because they do not want to be known as gipsies. They
marry very young, seldom remaining single beyond the age of twenty.
Their courtship used to be performed somewhat after the Tartar
fashion, the most approved way of getting a wife being to steal one;
not that the girl was unwilling, but they seemed to have a natural
propensity to carry their dishonest practices into all the relations
of life. One Matthew Baillie, a celebrated chieftain of the tribe in
the latter part of the 18th century used to say that the toughest
battle he ever fought (and he fought many) was when he stole his bride
from her mother. The ceremonies of marriage are very curious, and
also, we must add, very disgusting. The marital relation seems to have
been on the whole pretty well respected, though there is an old
reprobate named George Drummond, mentioned in Mr. Simson's book, who
used to travel about the country with a number of wives in his
company, and chastise them with a cudgel, so that the blood followed
every blow. Sometimes, after he had knocked them senseless to the
ground, he would call out to them, "What the deevil are ye fighting
at--can ye no' 'gree? I'm sure there's no sae mony o' ye!" Divorces,
however were very common, and were attended with great parade and many
curious ceremonies. The act of separation took place over the body of
a horse sacrificed for the occasion. The rites were performed if
possible at noon, "when the sun was at his height." A priest for the
nonce was chosen by lot, and the horse, which must be without blemish
and in no manner of way lame, was then led forth.
"The priest, with a long pole or staff in his hand, [Footnote 176]
walks round and round the animal several times; repeating the names
of all the persons in whose possession it has been, and extolling
and expatiating on the rare qualities of so useful an animal. It is
now let loose, and driven from their presence to do whatever it
pleases. The horse, perfect and free, is put into the room of the
woman who is to be divorced; and by its different movements is the
degree of her guilt ascertained. Some of the gipsies now set off in
pursuit of it, and endeavor to catch it. If it is wild and
intractable, kicks, leaps <DW18>s and ditches, scampers about and will
not allow itself to be easily taken hold of, the crimes and guilt of
the woman are looked upon as numerous and heinous. If the horse is
tame and docile, when it is pursued, and suffers itself to be taken
without much trouble, and without exhibiting many capers, the guilt
of the woman is not considered so deep and aggravated; and it is
then sacrificed in her stead. But if it is extremely wild and
vicious, and cannot be taken without infinite trouble, her crimes
are considered exceedingly wicked and atrocious; and my informant
said instances occurred in which both horse and woman were
sacrificed at the same time; the death of the horse, alone, being
then considered insufficient to atone for her excessive guilt. The
individuals who catch the course bring it before the priest. They
repeat to him all the faults and tricks it had committed; laying the
whole of the crimes of which the woman is supposed to have been
guilty to its charge; and upbraiding and scolding the dumb creature,
in an angry manner, for its conduct. They bring, as it were, an
accusation against it, and plead for its condemnation. When this
part of the trial is finished, the priest takes a large knife and
thrusts it into the heart of the horse; and its blood is allowed to
flow upon the ground till life is extinct. The dead animal is now
stretched out upon the ground. The husband then takes his stand on
one side of it, and the wife on the other; and, holding each other
by the hand, repeat certain appropriate sentences in the gipsy
language. They then quit hold of each other, and walk three times
round the body of the horse, contrariwise, passing and crossing each
other, at certain points, as they proceed in opposite directions. At
certain parts of the animal, {710} (the _corners_ of the horse, was
the gipsy's expression,) such as the hind and fore feet, the
shoulders and haunches, the head and tail, the parties halt, and
face each other; and again repeat sentences, in their own speech, at
each time they halt. The two last stops they make, in their circuit
round the sacrifice, are at the head and tail. At the head, they
again face each other, and speak; and lastly, at the tail, they
again confront each other, utter some more gipsy expressions, shake
hands, and finally part, the one going north, the other south, never
again to be united in this life. [Footnote 177] Immediately after
the separation takes place, the woman receives a token, which is
made of cast-iron, about an inch and a half square, with a mark upon
it resembling the Roman character, T. After the marriage has been
dissolved, and the woman dismissed from the sacrifice, the heart of
the horse is taken out and roasted with fire, then sprinkled with
vinegar, or brandy, and eaten by the husband and his friends then
present; the female not being allowed to join in this part of the
ceremony. The body of the horse, skin and every thing about it,
except the heart, is buried on the spot; and years after the
ceremony has taken place, the husband and his friends visit the
grave of the animal to see whether it has been disturbed. At these
visits, they walk round about the grave, with much grief and
mourning.
[Footnote 176: It appears all the gipsies, male as well as female,
who perform ceremonies for their tribe, carry long staffs. In the
Institutes of Menu, page 23, it is written: "The staff of a priest
must be of such a length as to reach his hair; that of a soldier to
reach his forehead; and that of a merchant to reach the nose."]
[Footnote 177: That I might distinctly understand the gipsy, when he
described the manner of crossing and wheeling round the corners of
the horse, a common sitting-chair was placed on its side between us,
which represented the animal lying on the ground.]
"The husband may take another wife whenever he pleases, but the
female is never permitted to marry again. [Footnote 178] The token,
or rather bill of divorce, which she receives, must never be from
about her person. If she loses it, or attempts to pass herself off
as a woman never before married, she becomes liable to the
punishment of death. In the event of her breaking this law, a
council of the chiefs is held upon her conduct, and her fate is
decided by a majority of the members; and if she is to suffer death,
her sentence must be confirmed by the king, or principal leader. The
culprit is then tied to a stake, with an iron chain, and there
cudgelled to death. The executioners do not extinguish life at one
beating, but leave the unhappy woman for a little while, and return
to her, and at last complete their work by despatching her on the
spot.
[Footnote 178: Bright, on the Spanish gipsies, says: "Widows never
marry again, and are distinguished by mourning-veils, and black
shoes made like those of a man; no slight mortification, in a
country where the females are so remarkable for the beauty of their
feet." It is most likely that _divorced female gipsies_ are
confounded here with _widows_.--Ed.]
"I have been informed of an instance of a gipsy falling out with his
wife, and, in the heat of his passion, shooting his own horse dead
on the spot with his pistol, and forthwith performing the ceremony
of divorce over the animal, without allowing himself a moments's
time for reflection on the subject. Some of the country-people
observed the transaction, and were horrified at so extraordinary a
proceeding. It was considered by them as merely a mad frolic of an
enraged Tinkler. It took place many years ago, in a wild,
sequestered spot between Galloway and Ayrshire."
The burial ceremonies of the tribes are not very fully described; but
we are told that the funeral is, or used to be, preceded by a wake,
during which furious feasting and carousing went on for several days.
In England, at one time, the gipsies burned their dead, and they still
keep as close as they can to that ancient practice, by burning the
clothes and some of the other effects of the deceased. It is the
custom of some of them to bury the corpse with a paper cap on its
head, and paper around its feet. All the rest of the body is bare
except that upon the breast, opposite the heart, is placed a cockade
of red and blue ribbons.
The country people stood in dreadful awe of the savage hordes, and in
many places the magistrates themselves were afraid to punish them.
Their honors did not disdain now and then to share a convivial bowl
with the wandering Tinklers, and the man who sat to-day with his legs
under the provost's mahogany, may have slept last night in a deserted
lime-kiln, and dined yesterday off a "sharp"-flavored joint of
"braxy." As we have said already, the farmers knew it was safer to be
the friend of the gipsy than his enemy, for he was equally generous to
those he liked, and vindictive toward those he hated. Mr. Simson tells
many an anecdote of favors shown by the tribe to their neighbors and
favorites. A widow who had often given shelter to a chief named
Charlie Graham, was in great distress for want of money to pay her
rent. Charlie lent her the amount required, then stole it back again
from the agent to whom it had been pad, and gave {711} the widow a
full discharge for the sum she had borrowed of him. This same Graham
was hanged at last, and when asked before his execution if he had ever
performed any good action to recommend him to the Mercy of God,
replied that he remembered none but the incident we have just
narrated. A dissolute old rogue of a gipsy, named Jamie Robertson, had
been often befriended by a decent man named Robert or Robin Gray. One
day a countryman passed him on the road, and as he trudged along was
singing "Auld Robin Gray," which unfortunately Jamie had never heard
before. The only Robin Gray he knew of was his kind-hearted friend,
and he made no doubt the song was intended as an insult. When the
unconscious stranger came to the words "Auld Robin Gray was a kind man
to me," the gipsy started to his feet with a volley of oaths, felled
the poor man to the ground, and nearly killed him with repeated blows.
"Auld Robin Gray was a kind man to him, indeed," exclaimed Jamie in
his wrath; "but it was not for him to make a song on Robin for that!"
The gipsy chieftains often gave safeguards to their particular
friends, which never failed to protect them from robbery or violence
at the hands of any of the gang. These passports were generally
knives, tobacco-boxes, or rings bearing some peculiar mark. To those
who had ever injured them or their people, and to vagrants of another
race who were found poaching on their allotted district, they were
savagely vindictive. A man named Thomson, who had offended them by
encroaching on one of their supposed privileges--that of gathering
rags through the country, was roasted to death on his own fire.
"But the most terrible instances of gipsy ferocity were witnessed in
their frequent battles among themselves--battles by the way, in which
the women bore their full share of wounds and glory. It was in an
engagement of this sort in the shire of Angus, where the Tinklers
fought with Highland dirks, that the celebrated gipsy Lizzie Brown met
with the mishap which spoiled her once comely face, and obtained for
her the sobriquet of "Snippy." When her nose was struck off by the
sweep of a dirk, she clapped her hand to the wound, as if little had
befallen her, and cried out in the heat of the scuffle to those
nearest her: "But in the middle of the meantime, where is my nose?" In
the spring of the year 1772 or 1773 an awful battle was fought between
two tribes at the bridge of Hawick:
"On the one side, in this battle, was the celebrated Alexander
Kennedy, a handsome and athletic man, and head of his tribe. Next to
him, in consideration, was little Wull Ruthven, Kennedy's
father-in-law. This man was known all over the country by the
extraordinary title of the Earl of Hell, [Footnote 179] and,
although he was above five feet ten inches in height, he got the
appellation of Little Wull to distinguish him from Muckle William
Ruthven, who was a man of uncommon stature and personal strength.
[Footnote 180] The earl's son was also in the fray. These were the
chief men in Kennedy's band. Jean Ruthven, Kennedy's wife, was also
present, with a great number of inferior members of the clan, males
as well as females, of all ages, down to mere children. The opposite
band consisted of old Rob Tait, the chieftain of his horde, Jacob
Tait, young Rob Tait, and three of old Rob Tait's sons-in-law. These
individuals, with Jean Gordon, old Tait's wife, and a numerous train
of youths of both sexes and various ages, composed the adherents of
old Robert Tait. These adverse tribes were all closely connected
with one another by the ties of blood. The Kennedys and Ruthvens
were from the ancient burgh of Lochmaben.
[Footnote 179: This seems a favorite title among the Tinklers. One
of the name of Young, bears it at the present time. But the gipsies
are not singular in these terrible titles. In the late Burmese war,
we find his Burmese majesty creating one of his generals "King of
Hell, Prince of Darkness."--See _Constable's Miscellany_.]
[Footnote 180: A friend, in writing me, says: "I still think I see
him (Muckie Wall) bruising the charred peat over the flame of his
furnace, with hands equal to two pair of hands of the modern day,
while his withered and hairy shackle-bones were more like the
postern joints of a sorrel cart-horse than anything else."]
{712}
"The whole of the gipsies in the field, females as well as males,
were armed with bludgeons, excepting some of the Taits, who carried
cutlasses and pieces of iron hoops notched and serrated on either
side, like a saw, and fixed to the end of sticks. The boldest of the
tribe were in front of their respective bands, with their children
and the other members of their clan in the rear, forming a long
train behind them. In this order both parties boldly advanced, with
their weapons uplifted above their heads. Both sides fought with
extraordinary fury and obstinacy. Sometimes the one band gave way,
and sometimes the other; but both, again and again, returned to the
combat with fresh ardor. Not a word was spoken during the struggle;
nothing was heard but the rattling of the cudgels and the strokes of
the cutlasses. After a long and doubtful contest, Jean Ruthven, big
with child at the time, at last received, among many other blows, a
dreadful wound with a cutlass. She was cut to the bone above and
below the breast, particularly on one side. It was said the slashes
were so large and deep that one of her breasts was nearly severed
from her body, and that the motions of her lungs, while she
breathed, were observed through the aperture between her ribs. But,
notwithstanding her dreadful condition, she would neither quit the
field nor yield, but continued to assist her husband as long as she
was able. Her father, the Earl of Hell, was also shockingly wounded;
the flesh being literally cut from the bone of one of his legs, and,
in the words of my informant, 'hanging down over his ankles, like
beefsteaks.' The earl left the field to get his wounds dressed, but,
observing his daughter, Kennedy's wife, so dangerously wounded, he
lost heart, and, with others of his party, fled, leaving Kennedy
alone to defend himself against the whole of the clan of Tait.
"Having now all the Taits, young and old, male and female, to
contend with, Kennedy, like an experienced warrior, took advantage
of the local situation of the place. Posting himself on the narrow
bridge of Hawick, he defended himself in the defile, with his
bludgeon, against the whole of his infuriated enemies. His handsome
person, his undaunted bravery, his extraordinary dexterity in
handling his weapon, and his desperate situation, (for it was
evident to all that the Taits thirsted for his blood and were
determined to dispatch him on the spot,) excited a general and
lively interest in his favor among the inhabitants of the town who
were present and had witnessed the conflict with amazement and
horror. In one dash to the front, and with one powerful sweep of his
cudgel, he disarmed two of the Taits, and, cutting a third to the
skull, felled him to the ground. He sometimes daringly advanced upon
his assailants and drove the whole band before him pell-mell. When
he broke one cudgel on his enemies, by his powerful arm, the town's
people were ready to hand him another. Still the vindictive Taits
rallied and renewed the charge with unabated vigor, and every one
present expected that Kennedy would fall a sacrifice to their
desperate fury. A party of messengers and constables at last arrived
to his relief, when the Taits were all apprehended and imprisoned,
but as none of the gipsies were actually slain in the fray, they
were soon set at liberty. [Footnote 181]
[Footnote 181: This gipsy battle is alluded to by Sir Walter Scott,
in a postscript to a letter to Captain Adam Ferguson, 16th April,
1819.
"By the by, old Kennedy, the tinker, swam for his life at Jedburgh,
and was only, by the sophisticated and timed evidence of a seceding
doctor, who differed from all his brethren, saved from a
well-deserved gibbet. He goes to botanize for fourteen years. Pray
tell this to the Duke, (of Buccleuch,) for he was an old soldier of
the duke and the duke's old soldier. Six of his brethren were, I am
told, in the court, and kith and kin without end. I am sorry so many
of the clan are left. The cause of the quarrel with the murdered man
was an old feud between two gipsy clans, the Kennedys and Irvings,
which, about forty years since gave rise to a desperate quarrel and
battle at Hawick-green, in which the grandfather of both Kennedy and
the man whom he murdered were engaged."--_Lockhart's Life of Sir
Walter Scott._ Alexander Kennedy was tried for murdering Irving at
Yarrows-ford.
This gipsy fray at Hawick is known among the English gipsies as "the
Battle of the Bridge."--Ed. ]
"In this battle, it was said that every gipsy, except Alexander
Kennedy, the brave chief, was severely wounded, and that the ground
on which they fought was wet with blood. Jean Gordon, however, stole
unobserved from her band, and, taking a circuitous road, came behind
Kennedy and struck him on the head with her cudgel. What astonished
the inhabitants of Hawick the most of all, was the fierce and
stubborn disposition of the gipsy females. It was remarked that,
when they were knocked down senseless to the ground they rose again,
with redoubled vigor and energy, to the combat. This unconquerable
obstinacy and courage of their females is held in high estimation by
the tribe. I once heard a gipsy sing a song which celebrated one of
their battles, and in it the brave and determined manner in which
the girls bore the blows of the cudgel over their heads was
particularly applauded.
"The battle at Hawick was not decisive to either party. The hostile
bands a short time afterward came in contact in Ettrick Forest, at a
place on the water of Teema called Deephope. They did not, however,
engage here, but the females on both sides, at some distance from
one another, with a stream between them, scolded and cursed, and,
clapping their hands, urged the males again to fight. The men,
however, more cautious, only observed a sullen and gloomy silence at
this meeting. Probably both parties, from experience, were unwilling
to renew the fight, being aware of the consequences which would
follow should they again close in battle. The two clans then
separated, each taking different roads, but both keeping possession
of the disputed district. In the course of a few days, they again
met in Eskdale moor, when a second desperate conflict ensued. The
Taits were here completely routed and driven {713} from the
district, in which they had attempted to travel by force.
"The country people were horrified at the sight of the wounded
Tinklers after these sanguinary engagements. Several of them, lame
and exhausted in consequence of the severity of their numerous
wounds, were, by the assistance of their tribe, carried through the
country on the backs of asses, so much were they cut up in their
persons. Some of them, it was said, were slain outright, and never
more heard of. Jean Ruthven, however, who was so dreadfully slashed,
recovered from her wounds, to the surprise of all who had seen her
mangled body, which was sewed in different parts by her clan."
The Ruthvens mentioned in this extract belonged to a distinguished
family among the gipsies. Their male head, in those days, was a man
over six feet in height, who lived to the age of one hundred and
fifteen. In his youth he wore a white wig, a ruffled shirt, a blue
Scottish bonnet, scarlet breeches and waistcoat, a fine long blue
coat, white stockings, and silver shoe-buckles. The male gipsies at
that time were often very handsomely dressed, and so too were the
women. A favorite color with them was green. Mary Yorkston, or
Yowston, the wife of the same Matthew Baillie, whose rough manner of
courting we mentioned just now, went under the appellation of "my
lady," and "the duchess," and bore the title of queen among her tribe.
Her appearance on the road, when she was pretty well advanced in life,
is thus described: She was full six feet in height, of a stout figure,
with harsh, strongly-marked features, and altogether very imposing in
her manner. She wore a large black beaver hat tied down over her ears
with a handkerchief; a short dark blue cloak, of Spanish cut;
petticoats of dark blue camlet, barely reaching to her calves; dark
blue worsted stockings, flowered and ornamented at the ankles with
scarlet thread; and silver shoe-buckles. Sometimes instead of this
garb she wore a green gown trimmed with red ribbons. All her garments
were of excellent, substantial quality, and there was never a rag or
rent to be seen about her person. Her outer petticoat was folded up
round her haunches for a lap, with a large pocket dangling at each
side; and below her cloak she carried, between her shoulders, a small
pack containing her valuables. She bore a largo clasp-knife, with a
long, broad blade, like a dagger, and in her hand was a pole or
pike-staff that reached a foot above her head. The male branches of
the royal gipsy family of the Baillies, a hundred years ago, used to
traverse Scotland on the best horses to be found in the country,
booted and spurred, and clad in the finest scarlet and green, with
ruffles at their wrists and breasts. They wore cocked hats on their
heads, pistols at their belts, and broad-swords by their sides; and at
their horses' heels followed greyhounds and other dogs of the chase.
They assumed the manners and characters of gentlemen with wonderful
art and propriety. The women attended fairs in the attire of ladies,
sitting their ponies with all the grace and dignity of high-bred
women. Two chieftains of inferior degree to the Baillies were
Alexander McDonald and James Jamieson, brothers-in-law, remarkable for
their fine personal appearance and almost incredible bodily strength.
They were often attired in the most elegant and fashionable manner,
and McDonald frequently changed his dress three or four times in one
market-day. Now he would appear in the best of tartan, as a Highland
gentleman in full costume. Again he might be seen on horseback, with
boots, spurs, and ruffles, like a body of no little importance. And
not infrequently he wandered through the fair in his own proper garb,
as a travelling Tinkler. He had a piebald horse which he had trained
to help him in his depredations. At a certain signal it would crouch
to the ground like, a hare, and so conceal itself and its rider in a
ditch or a hollow, or behind a hedge. There was a gallant gipsy in the
seventeenth century named John Faa, {714} who, if tradition is to be
trusted, won the heart of a fair countess of Cassilis, so that she
absconded with him. Many years later there was an extensive mercantile
house at Dunbar, the heads of which, named Fall, were descendants of
this same gay deceiver. One of the Misses Fall married Sir John
Anstruther, of Elie, baronet, but her prejudiced Scottish neighbors
could not forget that she carried Tinkler blood in her veins, and poor
"Jenny Faa," as they persisted in calling her, was exposed to many an
insult. Sir John was once a candidate for election to Parliament, and
whenever Lady Jenny entered the burghs during the canvass, the streets
resounded with the old song of "Johnny Faa, the gipsy laddie," which
recounts how--
"The gipsies came to my Lord Cassilis' yett,
And oh! but they sang bonnie;
They sang sae sweet, and sae complete.
That down came our fair ladie."
It was not all a romance of love, and fine dresses, and free ranging
up and down the realm, this life of the gipsies. Magistrates were
found pretty often, not only to punish their repeated crimes of
robbery and murder, but even to put in force the old savage law
against "such as were by habit and repute Egyptians"--namely, that
"their ears be nailed to the tron or other tree, and cut off." It is
an odd fact that in this act were denounced not only gipsies, but
"_such as make themselves fools_," strolling bards, and "vagabond
scholars of the universities of St. Andrew's, Glasgow, and Aberdeen,
not licensed by the rector and dean of faculty to ask alms." There was
an old John Young, an uncle of the Charlie Graham before mentioned,
who had seven sons, and when asked where they were, he used to say
"They are all hanged." It was a pretty family record, but a just one.
Peter, one of the seven, was captain of a band of thieves whose
exploits were long remembered in the north of Scotland. He was several
times taken and sentenced to the gallows, but managed to escape. Once
being recaptured at a distance from the jail out of which he had
broken, the authorities were about to hang him on the spot, when some
one in the crowd cried out, "Peter, deny you are the man;" whereupon
he insisted that his name was John Anderson. Strange as it may appear,
he managed to get off by this device, as there was no one present who
could or would identify him.
Alexander Brown, a dashing fellow, but a dreadful rascal, and one of
the principal members of Charlie Graham's band, after repeated
escapes, was hanged at last at Edinburgh, together with his
brother-in-law, Wilson. Martha Brown, the mother of one of the
prisoners, and mother-in-law of the other, was apprehended in the act
of stealing a pair of sheets, while attending their execution. When
Charlie Graham was hanged, it was reported that the surgeons meant to
disinter his body and dissect it. To prevent this his wife or
sweetheart filled the coffin with hot lime, and then sat on the grave,
in a state of beastly intoxication, until the corpse was destroyed.
The last part of the volume before us, namely, the editor's
disquisition, we approach in fear and trembling. Old Mr. Walter Simson
seems to have been a good sort of a gentleman, for whom we cannot help
feeling a kindness, even though he did not write quite as well as
Addison; but this Mr. James Simson, editor, is a terrible fellow. He
assures us that all creation is full of unsuspected gipsies, who have
crept into every circle of society, insidiously intruded themselves
into the most respectable trades and professions; and contaminated the
best blood in Christendom. No matter where we live now, or where our
ancestors came from; it is quite possible--we are not sure that Mr.
James does not consider it almost as good as certain--that we may all
of us have some of that dark blood in our veins. Our
great-grandfathers may have been {715} hanged for horse-stealing, and
our grand-mothers, horrible thought! May have eaten "braxy."
England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, France, Spain, Germany, and
Italy, all have contributed their quotas to the gipsy population of
the world, and even America itself is infested with descendants of the
vagabond tinklers of the last century. It is only about a fortnight
since the newspapers told us of the arrival of a band of wandering
"Egyptians" at Liverpool, on their way to the United States, fugitives
from the advancing civilization of Scotland, to the new settlements
and free woods and plains of the great west. Now and then, though not
very often, gipsy encampments of the old orthodox kind are seen in
this country, and there have been tented gipsies near Baltimore, says
Mr. Simson, for the last seventy years. He adds that a colony of them
has existed in New England for a hundred years, and "has always been
looked upon with a singular feeling of distrust and mystery by the
inhabitants, who are the descendants of the early emigrants, and who
did not suspect their origin till lately. . . . They follow pretty
much the employments and mode of life of the same class in Europe; the
most striking feature being that the bulk of them leave the homestead
for a length of time, scatter in different directions, and reunite
periodically at their quarters, which are left in charge of some of
the feeble members of the band." Pennsylvania and Maryland contain a
great many Hungarian and German gipsies, who leave their farms to the
care of hired hands during the summer, and proceed South with their
tents.
"In the State of Pennsylvania, there is a settlement of them, on the
J---- river, a little way above H----, where they have sawmills.
About the Alleghany mountains, there are many of the tribe,
following somewhat the original ways of the race. In the United
States generally there are many gipsy peddlers, British as well as
continental. There are a good many gipsies in New York, English,
Irish, and continental, some of whom keep tin, crockery, and basket
stores; but these are all mixed gipsies, and many of them of fair
complexion. The tin-ware which they make is generally of a plain,
coarse kind; so much so, that a gipsy tin store is easily known.
They frequently exhibit their tin-ware and baskets on the streets,
and carry them about the city. Almost all, if not all, of those
itinerant cutlers and tinklers, to be met with in New-York, and
other American cities are gipsies, principally German, Hungarian,
and French. There are a good many gipsy musicians in America.
'What!' said I to an English gipsy, 'those organ-grinders!' 'Nothing
so low as that Gipsies don't _grind_ their music, sir; they _make_
it.' But I found in his house, when occupied by other gipsies, a
_hurdy-gurdy_ and tambourine; so that gipsies sometimes _grind_
music, as well as _make_ it. I know of a Hungarian gipsy who is a
leader of a <DW64> musical band, in the city of New-York; his brother
drives one of the avenue cars. There are a number of gipsy musicians
in Baltimore, who play at parties, and on other occasions. Some of
the fortune-telling gipsy women about New-York will make as much as
forty dollars a week in that line of business. They generally live a
little way out of the city, into which they ride in the morning to
their places of business. I know of one, who resides in New-Jersey,
opposite New-York, and who has a place in the city, to which ladies,
that is, females of the highest classes, address their cards, for
her to call upon them."
We forbear quoting more about the American gipsies: the information
becomes fearfully suggestive, and it is all the more terrifying
because these people never acknowledge their descent, and however
sharply we may suspect them, we have no way of bringing the offence
home to them. The friend who shakes our hand today may be the grandson
of a vagabond who camped on our grandfather's farm, stole our
grandmother's eggs and poultry, and picked our great-uncle's pocket.
The ancestor of that beautiful girl we danced with at the last ball
may have had his ears nailed to the tree and then cut off, and the
gentleman who asks us to dinner to-morrow, may purpose entertaining us
with "sharps"-flavored mutton and a savory stew of beef juice and old
rags.
------
{716}
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THIRTY YEARS OF ARMY LIFE ON THE BORDER.
Comprising descriptions of the Indian Nomads of the Plains;
explorations of new territory; a trip across the Rocky Mountains in
the winter; descriptions of the habits of different animals found in
the West, and the methods of hunting them; with incidents in the life
of different frontier men, etc., etc. By Colonel R. B. Marcy, U.S.A.,
author of "The Prairie Traveller." With numerous illustrations.
New-York: Harper & Brothers. 1866.
Colonel Marcy, as appears from the title of his book, has passed the
greater portion of his life among the trappers and Indians of the
frontier. His descriptions are consequently authentic, and his lively,
picturesque style makes them also extremely interesting and agreeable.
When we add to this the pleasant accompaniment of fine typographical
execution and numerous spirited illustrations, we have said enough to
recommend the book to the lovers of information combined with
entertainment, and will leave the following specimen to speak for the
whole work.
THE COLORADO CANON.
I refer to that portion of the Colorado, extending from near the
confluence of Grand and Green rivers, which is known as the "Big Canon
of the Colorado." This canon is without doubt one of the most
stupendous freaks of nature that can be found upon the face of the
earth. It appears that by some great paroxysmal, convulsive throe in
the mysterious economy of the wise laws of nature, an elevated chain
of mountains has been reft asunder, as if to admit a passage for the
river along the level of the grade at the base. The walls of this
majestic defile, so far as they have been seen, are nearly
perpendicular; and although we have no exact data upon which to base a
positive calculation of their altitude, yet our information is amply
sufficient to warrant the assertion that it far exceeds anything of
the kind elsewhere known.
The first published account of this remarkable defile was contained in
the works of Castenada, giving a description of the expedition of Don
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in search of the "seven cities of
Cibola"--in 1540-1.
He went from the city of Mexico to Sonora, and from thence penetrated
to Cibola; and while there despatched an auxiliary expedition, under
the command of Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas, to explore a river which
emptied into the Gulf of California, called "_Rio del Tison,_" and
which, of course, was the _Rio Colorado_.
On reaching the vicinity of the river, he found a race of natives, of
very great stature, who lived in subterranean tenements covered with
straw or grass. He says, when these Indians travelled in very cold
weather, they carried in their hands a firebrand, with which they kept
themselves warm.
Captain Sitgreaves, who in 1862 met the Mohave Indians on the Colorado
river, says "they are over six feet tall;" and Mr. R. H. Kern, a very
intelligent and reliable gentleman, who was attached to the same
expedition, and visited the lower part of the great canon of the
Colorado, says: "The same manners and customs (as those described by
Castenada) are peculiar to all the different tribes inhabiting the
valley of the Colorado, even to the use of the brand for warming the
body. These Indians, as a mass, are the largest and best-formed men I
ever saw, their average height being an inch over six feet."
The Spanish explorer says he travelled for several days along the
crest of the lofty bluff bordering the canon, which he estimated to be
three leagues high, and he found no place where he could pass down to
the water from the summits. He once made the attempt at a place where
but few obstacles seemed to interfere with the descent, and started
three of his most active men. They were gone the greater part of the
day, and on their return informed him that they had only succeeded in
reaching a rock about one third the distance down. This rock, he says,
appeared from the top of the canon about six feet high, but they
informed him that it was as high as the spire of the cathedral at
Seville in Spain.
The river itself looked from the summit of the canon, to be something
like a fathom in width, but the Indians assured him it was half a
league wide.
Antoine Lereux, one of the most reliable and best informed guides in
New Mexico, told me in 1858, that he had once been at a point of this
canon where he estimated the walls to be _three miles high_.
{717}
Mr. Kern says, in speaking of the Colorado: "No other river in North
America passes through a canon equal in depth to the one alluded to.
The description (Castenada's) is made out with rare truth and force.
We had a view of it from the San Francisco mountain, N. M., and
judging from our own elevation, and the character of the intervening
country, I have no doubt the walls are at least fire thousand feet in
height."
The mountaineers in Utah told me that a party of trappers many years
since built a large row-boat, and made the attempt to descend the
river through the defile of the canon, but were never heard from
afterward. They probably dashed their boat in pieces, and were lost by
being precipitated over sunken rocks or elevated falls.
In 185- Lieutenant Ives of the United States Engineers, was ordered to
penetrate the canon with a steamer of light draught. He ascended the
river from the gulf as high as a little above the mouth of the gorge,
but there encountered rapids and other obstacles of so serious a
character that he was forced to turn back and abandon the enterprise,
and no other efforts have since been made under government auspices to
explore it.
A thorough examination of this canon might, in my opinion, be made by
taking small row-boats and ascending the river from the debouche of
the gorge at a low stage of water. In this way there would be no
danger of being carried over dangerous rapids or falls, and the boats
could be carried round difficult passages. Such an exploration could
not, in my judgment, prove otherwise than intensely interesting, as
the scenery here must surpass in grandeur any other in the universe.
Wherever we find rivers flowing through similar formations elsewhere,
as at the "_dalles_" of the Columbia and Wisconsin rivers, and in the
great canons of Red and Canadian rivers, although the escarpments at
those places have nothing like the altitude of those upon the
Colorado, yet the long continued erosive action of the water upon the
rock, has produced the most novel and interesting combinations of
beautiful pictures. Imagine, then, what must be the effect of a large
stream like the Colorado, traversing for two hundred miles a defile
with the perpendicular walls towering five thousand feet above the bed
of the river. It is impossible that it should not contribute largely
toward the formation of scenery surpassing in sublimity and
picturesque character any other in the world. Our landscape painters
would here find rare subjects for their study, and I venture to hope
that the day is not far distant when some of the most enterprising of
them may be induced to penetrate this new field of art in our only
remaining unexplored territory. I am confident they would be
abundantly rewarded for their trouble and exposure, and would find
subjects for the exercise of genius, the sublimity of which the most
vivid imaginations of the old masters never dreamed of.
A consideration, however, of vastly greater financial and national
importance than those alluded to above, which might and probably would
result from a thorough exploration of this part of the river, is the
development of its mineral wealth.
In 1849 I met in Santa Fe that enterprising pioneer, Mr. F. X. Aubrey,
who had just returned from California, and en route had crossed the
Colorado near the outlet of the _Big Canon_, where he met some
Indians, with whom, as he informed me, he exchanged leaden for golden
rifle-balls, and these Indians did not appear to have the slightest
appreciation of the relative value of the two metals.
That gold and silver abound in that region is fully established, as
those metals have been found in many localities both east and west of
the Colorado. Is it not therefore probable that the walls of this
gigantic crevice will exhibit many rich deposits? Companies are formed
almost daily, and large amounts of money and labor expended in sinking
shafts of one, two, and three hundred feet with the confident
expectation of finding mineral deposits; but here nature has opened
and exposed to view a continuous shaft two hundred miles in length,
and five thousand feet in depth. In the one case we have a small shaft
blasted out at great expense by manual labor, showing a surface of
about thirty-six hundred feet, while here nature gratuitously exhibits
ten thousand millions of feet, extending into the very bowels of the
earth.
Is it, then, at all without the scope of rational conjecture to
predict that such an immense development of the interior strata of the
earth--such a huge gulch, if I may be allowed the expression,
extending so great a distance through the heart of a country as rich
as this in the precious metals, may yet prove to be the _El Dorado_
which the early Spanish explorers so long and so fruitlessly sought
for; and who knows but that the government might here find a source of
revenue sufficient to liquidate our national debt?
Regarding the exploration of this river as highly important in a
national aspect, I in 1858 submitted a paper upon the subject to the
War Department, setting forth my views somewhat in detail, and
offering my services to perform the work; but there was then no
appropriation which could be applied to that object, and the Secretary
of War for this reason declined ordering it.
CHRISTINE; A TROUBADOUR'S SONG,
and other Poems. By George H. Miles. New York: Lawrence Kehoe. 1866.
Mr. Miles's poem, "Christine," has {718} been already before our
readers, in the pages of the Catholic World, and we are sure that its
appearance in book form will be welcomed by all who have perused its
beautiful verses.
It is the work of an artist, and as such, one likes to have it, as it
were, completely under view, and not scattered in fragments amidst
other productions which intrude upon our vision, and interrupt its
continuity.
Mr. Miles has given us a poem of no ordinary merit. Powerfully
dramatic, it not only paints the scenes of the story in strong, vivid
colors, but brings the actors into a living reality as they pass
before us. Few writers of our day possess much dramatic power, and
this accounts for their short-lived fame. He who would write for fame
must give us pictures of real life, and not pure reflective sentiment.
Poetry and its more subtle-tongued sister, music, are as much nobler
and worthier of immortality than are painting or sculpture, as the
reality is superior to the image. Poetry and music are the true
clothed in the beautiful, whilst painting and sculpture can only give
us beautiful yet lifeless images of the true. The Psalms of David
remain, but the Temple of Solomon and all its glory is departed.
Poetry, the purest form of language, is also the best expression of
divine, living and eternal truth, in so far as humanity can express
it. Being the expression of absolute truth, poetry and music are the
truly immortal arts which will live in heaven. No one ever yet
imagined that the blessed, in presence of the Unveiled Truth, will
express their beatitude in painted or sculptured images; but the
revealed vision of the inspired poet, who drew his inspiration at the
Source of truth, upon whose bosom he leaned, telling us of the saints,
"harping upon their harps of gold," and "singing the song of the
Lamb," finds a responsive assent in all our minds. Caught up into the
embrace of the infinitely true, and the infinitely beautiful, they
must necessarily give expression to that upon which the soul lives,
and with which it is wholly enlightened.
There, too, they must possess a _quasi_ creative power of expression
of the true, (in so far as they are thus endowed by virtue of their
union with God, who is pure act, through the Word made Flesh,) just as
we possess it here in germ by the dramatic form, which actualizes to
us the otherwise abstract truth expressed. Hence the superiority of
the dramatic, in which of course we include the descriptive, over the
sentimental. Mr. Miles possesses this genius in no mean degree, as he
has already shown in his "Mahomet." The poem before us abounds in
dramatic passages of rare beauty. Let our readers turn to the third
song, and read the flight of Christine. They will find it to be a
description unsurpassed in the English language. The death of
"faithful Kaliph," and the knight's tender plaint over his "gallant
grey," forgetful of even his rescued spouse, introduced to us in the
flush of victory over the demon foe, just when our stronger passions
are wrought up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, is one of those
sudden and thrilling transitions from the sublime to the pathetic
which may crown Mr. Miles as a master of the poet's pen.
"Raphael Sanzio" dying, the first of the additional poems, possesses
much of the merit we have signalized, but its versification and
wording are too harsh for the subject. It is not the death of him whom
we have known as Raphael. It reads as though told by one who was
forced to admire, yet did not love, the great artist. There is a
charming little poem, entitled, "Said the Rose," which is worth all
the minor poems put together, if poetry can be valued against poetry.
We may say, at least, that it alone is worth many times the price of
the whole volume; and our readers, who may have already enjoyed the
perusal of "Christine" in our pages, will not fail to thank us for
this hint to purchase the complete volume.
Mr. Kehoe, the publisher, is giving us some creditable books, as the
"Life and Sermons of Father Baker," the "May Carols of Aubrey de
Vere," and "The Works of Archbishop Hughes," bear testimony. The
present one is got up in a superior manner, both in type, paper, and
binding, and is a worthy dress for author's work.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND, FROM THE FALL OF
WOLSEY TO THE DEATH OF ELIZABETH.
By James Anthony Froude, M.A., late Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.
Vols. V. and VI. 8vo, pp. 474, 495. New York: Charles Scribner & Co.
Mr. Froude's thorough-going Protestantism is by this time too familiar
to our {719} readers for them to expect a very lively satisfaction in
reading the story of the reigns of Edward VI. and Mary which he has
given in these volumes. We have neither the space nor the inclination
to follow him in his review of those melancholy times. We prefer to
accord a hearty recognition to the undoubted merits of his work; his
graphic and picturesque style; his artistic eye for effect; his
excellent judgment in the examination of old-time witnesses; and the
rare self-control which in the midst of his abundance of hitherto
unused material has saved him from encumbering his pages and
overloading his narrative with facts and illustrations of only minor
interest. He gives us sometimes little bits of truth where we had
least reason to look for them. Cordially as he detests Mary the queen,
he is tenderer than most historians of his ultra sort to Mary the
woman. "From the passions which in general tempt sovereigns into
crime," he says, "she was entirely free; to the time of her accession
she had lived a blameless, and in many respects a noble life; and few
men or women have lived less capable of doing knowingly a wrong thing.
Philip's conduct, which could not extinguish her passion for him, and
the collapse of the inflated imaginations which had surrounded her
supposed pregnancy, it can hardly be doubted, affected her sanity.
Those forlorn hours when she would sit on the ground with her knees
drawn to her face; those restless days and nights when, like a ghost,
she would wander about the palace galleries, rousing herself only to
write tear-blotted letters to her husband; those bursts of fury over
the libels dropped in her way; or the marchings in procession behind
the Host in the London streets[!]--these are all symptoms of
hysterical derangement, and leave little room, as we think of her, for
other feeling than pity." The persecution, for which her reign is
remembered was partly the result, Mr. Froude thinks, of "the too
natural tendency of an oppressed party to abuse suddenly recovered
power." Moreover, "the rebellions and massacres, the political
scandals, the universal suffering throughout the country during
Edward's minority, had created a general bitterness in all classes
against the Reformers; the Catholics could appeal with justice to the
apparent consequences of heretical opinions; and when the Reforming
preachers themselves denounced so loudly the irreligion which had
attended their success, there was little wonder that the world took
them at their word, and was ready to permit the use of strong
suppressive measures to keep down the unruly tendencies of
uncontrolled fanatics."
Mr. Froude's history will be completed in two more volumes.
A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:
from the Commencement of the Christian Era until the Present Time. By
M. l'Abbe J. E. Darras. Vol. III. P. O'Shea, New-York.
The period comprised by the third volume of this admirable history
extends from the pontificate of Sylvester II. A.D. 1000 to that of
Julius II. a.d. 1513. To our mind the terrible struggle which the
church sustained during those four eventful centuries is more
wonderful than her deadly strife in the days of Roman persecution and
martyrdom. The church is a divine-human institution; and inasmuch as
it is human, it must suffer from human infirmity, but the Spirit of
God abideth for ever in it, preserving the truth amidst heresies, the
purity of the Christian law amidst moral degradation, and at last
crowning. His spouse with new glories for her patiently borne
sufferings.
On every page of the church's history, and on none more clearly than
that which records her life from the eleventh to the sixteenth
century, is that promise written, "And the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it." We again add our cordial commendation of the work
of M. Darras, and hope its publication will prove to the enterprising
publisher as successful as it is opportune.
THE AMERICAN ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA AND REGISTER OF CURRENT EVENTS OF THE
YEAR 1866. Vol. V. New-York: D. Appleton. 1867.
This is a valuable compendium of information respecting the current
events of the year. It is particularly complete as regards American
politics and the literature of the English language. On other topics
it is more general and superficial, especially so in its history of
the progress of science. For instance, there is no record whatever of
the history of geology during the year. The great defect of the
Cyclopaedia, as a whole, is an unnecessary minuteness in regard to
{720} persons and things of our own time and country which have no
real and permanent interest, and a corresponding lack of minuteness in
regard to matters of other times and countries which are really
important. It would be a good idea for the publishers to invite all
the scholars in the country to send in a list of titles of articles
whose absence they have noticed in consulting the work for
information, and from these to prepare a supplementary volume. In
regard to all questions relating to the Catholic Church, the
Cyclopaedia is remarkable throughout for its fairness and
impartiality--a merit which is to be ascribed in great measure to its
learned and genial editor, Mr. Ripley.
AUNT HONOR'S KEEPSAKE.
A Chapter from Life. By Mrs. J. Sadlier.
TEN STORIES FROM THE FRENCH OF BALLEYDIER.
Translated by Mrs. J. Sadlier.
THE EXILE OF TADMOR, AND OTHER TALES.
Translated by Mrs. J. Sadlier.
TALES AND STORIES.
Translated from the French of Viscount Walsh. By Mrs. J. Sadlier.
VALERIA, OR THE FIRST CHRISTIANS, AND OTHER STORIES.
Translated from the French of Balleydier and Madame Bowdon. By Mrs. J.
Sadlier.
THE BLIGHTED FLOWER, AND OTHER TALES.
Translated from the French of Balleydier. By Mrs. J. Sadlier.
STORIES ON THE BEATITUDES.
By Agnes M. Stewart, authoress of "Stories on the Virtues," etc.
New-York: D.J. Sadlier & Co. 1866.
----
A FATHER'S TALES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
First Series. By the author of "Confessors of Connaught."
RALPH BERRIEN, AND OTHER TALES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
Second Series. By the author of "Grace Morton," "Philip Hartly," etc.
CHARLES AND FREDERICK, OR A MOTHER'S
PRAYER, AND ROSE BLANCH, OR TWELFTH
NIGHT IN BRITTANY.
THE BEAUFORTS. A STORY OF THE ALLEGHENIES.
By Cora Berkley.
SILVER GRANGE. A CATHOLIC TALE, AND
PHILLIPINE, A TALE OF THE MIDDLE AGES.
Compiled by the author of "Grace Morton."
HELENA BUTLER.
A story of the Rosary and the Shrine of the "Star of the Sea."
Philadelphia: Peter F. Cunningham.
These volumes are a valuable addition to our list of books for
Catholic children.
"Aunt Honor's Keepsake," by Mrs. J. Sadlier, presents a vivid picture
of the wrongs and outrages suffered by Catholic children and parents
from the agents of the so-called "Juvenile Reformatories." We also
have a translation of several instructive tales from the French by the
same talented writer. Agnes Stewart gives us a number of well-written
stories on the beatitudes. We heartily commend this effort to provide
suitable reading for Catholic children. It is a pressing want. Their
active minds eagerly demand something to read. If we do not provide
safe and proper reading for them, they will find that which is not so.
We have also an addition of six new volumes to the "Young Catholic
Library," published by P. F. Cunningham, Philadelphia. The subjects
are well chosen and most of the stories beautifully written. We
notice, however, at times, a straining after high-sounding
expressions--an absence of that simplicity so necessary in such tales
for children. There is also a tendency in writers for children to
sprinkle in so much of the romantic and unreal as to make their story
a kind of "novelette." Such reading creates in the mind of the young a
feverish desire for romance, which can only be satisfied in after
years by the novel.
There is enough in the realities of life to startle and fix the
attention of any child if properly presented. We trust a larger number
of books suitable for children may be provided by those writers who
have the time and talent requisite for the work. We know of no way in
which they can more usefully employ their pen.
The style in which these volumes are issued makes them suitable for
gift-books and is creditable to the publishers. We would also like to
see some in plain, durable bindings, better suited for the hard usage
they receive in a Sunday-school or parish library.
BOOKS RECEIVED
From D. & J. Sadlier &Co., New York. "The Bit O'Writin'," and Other
Tales. "Mayor of Wind-Gap and Canvassing," by the O'Hara Family. 12mo,
pp. 406 and 414 (The above are two new volumes of Banim's works.)
Parts 21, 22, 23, and 24 of d'Artaud's Lives of the Popes.
From P. Donohue. Boston.
Annual Report of the Association for the Protection of Destitute Roman
Catholic Children in Boston, from January 1, 1865, to January 1, 1866.
Pamphlet.
From P. F. Cunningham, Philadelphia.
Alphonso; or, the Triumph of Religion. A Catholic Tale. 12mo, pp. 878.
From Robert H. Johnston & Co.,
New-York. The Valley of Wyoming: The Romance of its Poetry. Also
specimens of Indian Eloquence. Compiled by a native of the valley.
12mo, pp. 153.
------
{721}
THE CATHOLIC WORLD
VOL, III., NO. 18.--SEPTEMBER, 1866.
[ORIGINAL.]
THE DOCTRINE OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH CONCERNING
THE NECESSITY OF EPISCOPAL ORDINATION.
[Footnote 182]
[Footnote 182: "A Vindication of the Doctrine of the Church of
England, or the Validity of the Orders of the Scotch and Foreign
Non-Episcopal Churches." By W. Goode, M.A., F.S.A., Rector of All
Hallows the Great and Less. London. 1852.
"Does the Episcopal Church teach the Exclusive Validity of Episcopal
Orders?" By William Goode, M. A. New York. 185-
"Vox Ecclesiae; or, The Doctrine of the Protestant Episcopal Church
on Episcopacy," etc. Philadelphia. 1866.]
Within the past few years, certain circles of the Protestant Episcopal
Church have been thrown into no small commotion by a controversy which
has arisen between the two great parties, into which she is divided,
over the question, Whether or not it is her doctrine that episcopal
ordination is necessary to constitute a valid ministry? The contest
seems to have been opened by the Rev. William Goode, rector of All
Hallows, London, who in the year 1852 published a treatise maintaining
the negative of the proposition; "Is it the doctrine of the Church of
England that episcopal ordination is a _sine qua non_ to constitute a
valid ministry?" In support of his position, he adduced those articles
and other formularies of his church, which relate to this subject; the
testimony of those divines who drew up these standards, as
interpreting the same, together with the sense in which they were
received by their successors in the clerical office for the ensuing
hundred years; and the conduct of the church toward the Continental
Protestant societies and in the ordering of her own hierarchy for the
same period of time. So successful was this author in his argument,
and so triumphant was his vindication of this peculiar principle of
the Low Church party, that his work was at once hailed by them, in
England and in America, as the "End of Controversy" upon this point;
was adopted by their publication societies as an "unanswerable defence
of the validity of non-episcopal orders," and was claimed by one of
their leading journals to be effectual in "banishing and driving away
the last doubt, which hung upon some minds, from the boldness and
continuity of assertion that the Episcopal Church disallowed the
validity of other than episcopal orders."
{722}
How completely "banished and driven away" from some minds that last
doubt was, events of a startling character soon made manifest.
"Certain clergymen of the diocese of New York adopted a course
destined to change the settled practice of the church, if not to
change its whole character. They turned their backs upon all
existing laws and all previous usage in connection with such
matters, and openly admitted to their pulpits ministers who had not
had episcopal ordination. . . . . Of course, an innovation so
startling and so daring occasioned much excitement. The Bishop of
the diocese issued a pastoral letter, in which, in the kindest
language and most reasonable spirit, he pointed out to those
gentlemen the unlawfulness of their course. And _there_, if they had
been lovers of order and of peace, the whole matter might have
rested. But, however gentle the reproof or remonstrance, it was
still an exercise of authority, and that was hard to bear. Therefore
the reverend gentlemen rushed into print at once, and strove to give
to the whole matter the air of simple controversy, on equal terms,
between the Bishop and themselves. They represented him as the
advocate of a narrow partisan policy, and not as their
ecclesiastical superior to whom they had solemnly promised
obedience, and whose duty compelled him to give them a reproof.
Their 'letters,' 'reviews,' and 'replies to the pastoral' have been
sent everywhere throughout the country, and have served to show that
some Episcopalians pay but little respect 'to those who are over
them in the Lord;' that they are not much disposed to 'submit to
their judgment,' and 'to follow with a glad mind and will their
godly admonitions.'" (Vox Ecclesiae, vi.)
Such was the state of affairs, when a reply to "Goode on Orders"
issued from the Philadelphia press, professing to demolish its
conclusions and to clear the doctrine of the Episcopal Church, on the
point in question, from all ambiguity. This was the work of an elegant
and judicious but anonymous writer, who, though disclaiming all
tendencies to Puseyism, is, nevertheless, manifestly a High Churchman
of strong and well-founded principles, and who has received on account
of this reply, the highest commendations from many of the bishops and
clergy of his church. His book is entitled "Vox Ecclesiae." The
proposition he seeks to demonstrate is, "That the answer of the
Episcopal Church to the question, 'What is the true and scriptural
mode of church government, and what constitutes a true and proper
organization?' would be, 'That episcopal government and ordination by
bishops are the only modes of government or ordination recognized by
that church as scriptural or proper.'" In support of this, he also,
like his antagonist, relies upon the doctrinal and devotional
standards of the church; her laws and principles as set forth in her
canons and other official acts; those works which by her special
endorsement have been raised to a semi official authority; and,
lastly, the opinions of her eminent divines. The conclusion, which
this exhaustive argument claims to have established, is that the
church of England never recognized the validity of Presbyterian
orders, _as such_, but, on the contrary, has ever held the doctrine of
episcopacy by divine right and apostolical succession; a conclusion
diametrically opposite to that of the first writer, whose book has, by
this one, in the language of the American Churchman, been "So
effectually answered that we believe it will ask no more questions for
all time to come." This work in its time has received the highest
encomiums from the Right Rev. Bishops Hopkins, Kemper, Atkinson, Coxe,
Williams, Clark, and Randall, the Rev. Drs. Coit, Adams, Morton,
Mason, Wilson, Meade, and other leaders of that party of the Episcopal
Church, whose views it professes to embody, is already catalogued by
them "among the best standard works of the church," and has been
gratuitously circulated in its general seminary at New York, as a
thorough antidote to the dangerous heresy of Mr. Goode.
From these two works, it might fairly be presumed, that we may, at
last, gain a tolerably correct idea of the doctrine of the episcopal
Church concerning the necessity of episcopal ordination. "Goode on
Orders" is the "unanswerable" organ of one great party of that church.
"Vox Ecclesiae" is the equally unanswerable organ of the other. And in
these two great parties, and in the {723} undefinable middle ground
between them, may be ranked at least ninety-nine one handredths of the
laity and nearly all the clergy of that large and influential
religious body.
To us Catholics it certainly, at first sight, seems a little singular,
that in a church which bases upon an unbroken episcopal succession its
whole claim to external unity with the primitive Catholic Church,
there should be any doubt whether or not that church herself believes
and teaches that such an unbroken succession is essential to the
existence of a visible church; that in a denomination, which, for
ages, has claimed superiority to other Protestant sects on almost the
sole ground of her episcopally ordained ministry, there should be any
controversy as to her doctrine on the necessity of such a ministry.
But it is only one of those anomalies which meet us everywhere outside
the Ark of Peter; which are the inevitable results of deviation,
however slight, from the true source of apostolic unity. The ocean is
as deep beneath the Ship of Christ as it is miles away. He that goes
down under her very shadow is as effectually drowned as he that
perishes beneath a sky whose horizon is unbroken by a single sail. It
is as well among those who are most near us as among those who are
most removed that we must look for the old marks of error, and this
boldness of assertion and internal doubt is one of them. Before we
close, it may be given us to show that this doubt is indeed well
grounded and that this inconsistency is more consistent with the
actual _status_ of the Episcopal Church than many, even of her
enemies, would dream.
Upon that fundamental principle which underlies the whole fabric of an
organized Christian society, namely, the necessity of some
authoritative ordination, there seems to be no question in the
Episcopal Church. That man cannot originate a church; that Christ did
originate one; that, conveying his power of mission and orders to his
apostles, he left it to them to convey to their successors; that by
them and by their successors it ever has been so conveyed; and that,
at this day, no man has any right or power to fulfil the office of a
minister of Christ unless he has received authority through this
source; are tenets common to all Christians who recognize a visible
church and believe in and maintain a regular ministry. However they
may differ as to the channel through which this power has descended:
whether, like the Presbyterians, denying the existence of a third
order in the ministry, they claim that priests and bishops are the
same, and thus that presbyters are the appointed agents of Christ in
perpetuating the line of Christian teachers, or whether, like
denominations far more radical, they confer on individual preachers,
of whatever grade, the right to raise others at their pleasure to the
same dignities and power--this principle is still maintained. It is,
therefore, but natural, that while Mr. Goode and his Low Church
followers scout the title "Apostolical Succession" as "monstrous" and
"heretical," their whole ailment should presuppose the existence of
the very state of facts, to which, in its most general construction,
that title is applied, and should admit the necessity of such a
"succession," through some channel, as the basis of all external,
collective Christian life. That the High Church party also abide in
this doctrine every page of "Vox Ecclesiae" makes manifest, and from
what one thus necessarily implies and the other expressly declares, we
feel safe in concluding that "succession in the mission and authority
of the apostles" is held and taught by the Episcopal Church as
necessary to the existence of a valid ministry.
We may even go a step farther. If "tactual succession" signifies
merely that some visible or audible commission must pass from the
minister ordaining to the man ordained, without supposing any
particular act or word to be necessary to such "tactual succession,"
we may regard this also as {724} being a point upon which
Episcopalians raise no issue. The High Churchman may know no other
"tactual" ordination than "the laying on of hands." Mr. Goode and his
party might perhaps scruple to adopt such an interpretation, for,
though scriptural and primitive, it is not of the essence of the
ministerial commission. But that "succession," perpetuated by means of
some actual commission, visibly or audibly moving from the ordainer to
the ordained, is necessary, neither of these adversaries will deny.
Here, however, all acknowledged unity of doctrine ceases. "What is the
appointed channel of this ministerial authority?" "Is it confined to
one rank of the ministry, or possessed by two?" "Is _episcopal_
succession necessary to the validity of holy orders?" are questions on
which their disagreement appears, to them, irreconcilable. The organs
of both parties here speak with no uncertain sound. Each denounces the
teachings of the other with unsparing acerbity. Mr. Goode
characterizes the doctrines of his opponents as "at variance with the
spirit of Christian charity" and "the facts of God's providence," as
"having no foundation in Holy Scripture, and leading to consequences
so dreadful that it is simply monstrous in any one to teach them." The
"voice of the church" with equal plainness of speech replies, "He who
looks upon Episcopacy as a thing of expediency, who talks of parity
between bishop and presbyter, and who denounces 'Apostolical
succession' as a _monstrous_ theory, has no place among them. HE IS
NOT A LOW CHURCHMAN? he is not an Episcopalian in any proper sense at
all." (p. 487.)
The formal statement of the Low Church doctrine, as explained by Mr.
Goode, may thus be made: That the highest order of ministers,
appointed by Christ or enjoying any direct scriptural authority, is
that of presbyters or elders, in which order inheres, _ex ordine_, the
powers of government and ordination; that the apostles, selecting from
among the presbytery certain men called bishops, appointed them to
exercise these powers; that, consequently, government by bishops and
episcopal ordination rest upon apostolic precedent, and are sanctioned
by the constant observance of fifteen hundred years; that this
appointment, however, in no wise conferred upon such bishop any power
of order which he had not before, or deprived the remaining presbyters
of those equal powers which they possessed already: and, therefore,
that ordination by presbyters alone, although not regular or in
accordance with established precedent, is truly valid, and confers
upon the person so ordained all the rights and authority of a minister
of Christ. This doctrine is essential Presbyterianism. On the
questions of historical fact--whether the apostles did appoint bishops
and confine to them the office of ordaining others, and whether such
practice was adhered to unvaryingly from their day till that of
Calvin; as, also, on the relative weight and importance of such a
precedent, if it does historically exist--they certainly disagree. But
on the main question their decision is identical: that ordination is a
power of the presbyter by divine institution and of the presbyter
only, and that the episcopate, wherever it exists, possesses these
powers solely by virtue of the presbyterate which it includes.
The doctrine of the High Church party, on the other hand, is thus laid
down in "Vox Ecclesiae:" That Christ instituted, either by his own act
or that of his apostles, three several orders of ministers in his
church, and to the first of these, called bishops, and to them alone,
intrusted the power and authority of ordaining pastors for his flock;
that this episcopate is, therefore, of divine commandment, and cannot
be neglected or abolished without sin, neither can any ordination be
valid or confer authority to preach the word or minister the
sacraments unless performed by bishops; that, consequently,
presbyterian orders, being bestowed {725} by men who have no power or
commission to ordain, are, _ipso facto_, void: EXCEPT in cases of real
necessity, where, if episcopal ordination cannot be obtained,
presbyters may validly ordain. This doctrine is, in the main, that
which we have always supposed the great majority of Episcopalians
help. As we have never seen the "exception" so fully stated in any
authoritative work as it is in this, we give it in the author's own
language, as it occurs in several portions of his book. Thus on page
62--
"'_Necessitas non habet legem_' was a Roman proverb, the propriety and
force of which must be acknowledged by all. In reference to our
present subject, one of the most eminent of the defenders of our
church uses almost the very words, viz. '_Nisi coegerit dura
necessitas cui nulla lex est posita_.' (Hadrian Saravia's reply to
Beza.) The principle then is fully admitted. Necessity excuseth every
defect or irregularity which it _really_ occasions." On page 313, an
extract from the same Saravia is given, as follows: "Although I am of
opinion that ordinations of ministers of the church properly belong to
bishops, yet NECESSITY causes that, when they are wanting and CANNOT
BE HAD, _orthodox presbyters can, in case of necessity_, ordain a
presbyter;" and the author says of it, "We take this as Mr. Goode
gives it." It is the strongest sentence in the whole passage, and yet
it contains no more than what nine tenths of all Episcopal writers
gladly allow, viz., (to use the words of Archbishop Parker,) "Extreme
necessity in itself implieth dispensation with all laws." Again, on
page 70, after noticing certain objections to this plea of necessity,
put forward by individual writers in the church, he continues; "There
is great force in these objections: nevertheless we think it far
better to grant all that the foreign churches claimed in the way of
necessity, inasmuch as the English Church certainly did so at the
time." A still more definite statement of the same "exception" occurs
on pages 82 and 83: "As regards the question before us, the High
Churchman and the Low Churchman unite in considering episcopacy a
divine institution, and a properly derived authority a _sine qua non_
to lawful ministering in the church. They also agree in believing that
real necessity in this, as in every other matter, abrogates law and
makes valid whatever is performed under it." We have no wish to
multiply quotations, but on this important point we desire to fall
into no error and to be guilty of no misrepresentation. We have
preferred to give the "voice of the church" in its own words, rather
than in ours, and have no hesitation in repeating the definition we
have already given, as setting forth the High Church doctrine,
strictly according to its acknowledged organ: "Episcopacy is a divine
institution, and necessary, where it can be had. Where it cannot be
had, presbyters may validly ordain."
The doctrine of the Episcopal Church, as a church, if, as a church,
she has any doctrine on the subject, must lie within these
definitions. Mr. Goode must be wholly right, and the "Vox Ecclesiae"
wholly wrong, or _vice versa_, or else both must have the truth,
mingled in each case with more or less of falsehood and confusion. If
we can reconcile the two, or if the teaching of either has that in it
which disproves itself, we may at last define the real position of
their church upon the question which involves her life.
And here we must premise, that the words "order," "Office," etc.,
which seem to be the gist of much of this controversy, are names, not
things. They mean, in the mouth, or on the pen, of any Individual,
just what that individual means by them, no less, no more. They have
never been defined authoritatively by Scripture or by any other
tribunal to which these parties own allegiance. When Mr. Goode uses
them, they may imply one thing. In the pages of "Vox Ecclesiae," they
may signify another. The whole contest, therefore, so far as {726} it
relates to the number of "orders," or whether that of the bishop is a
different "order," or only a different "office," from that of the
presbyter, is, in our view, one of names and titles only. The real
question stands thus: "Has a bishop, by divine institution, a power
which the presbyter has not, or is the same power resident in both,
and ordinarily made latent in the one, and operative in the other, by
virtue of ecclesiastical law and usage?" The answer to this question
will show how far the High and Low Church party really differ from
each other, and what is the variance, if any, between the "Vox
Ecclesiae" and Mr. Goode.
It seems to us that the "EXCEPTION," which, equally with the rule, is
admitted by the High Church doctrine to be fundamental law, answers
this question once for all. For if, in any supposable emergency,
presbyters may validly ordain, and if persons so by them ordained have
power to preach the word and minister the sacraments, then either (1.)
Necessity confers a power to ordain upon those who have it not, or
else (2.) The power to ordain is resident alike in presbyters and
bishops, and the restrictions on its exercise by presbyters are, by
that necessity, removed. If the second of these positions truly
represent the High Church theory, then, between them and Mr. Goode's
adherents, there is no essential difference, and their war, with all
its bitterness and pertinacity, is one of human words and human facts,
and not of Christian doctrine. If, to avoid this fate, the first
alternative be the one adopted, the following difficulties must be met
and answered.
1. It overthrows the entire doctrine of "succession." This fundamental
law of organic, collective, Christian life presupposes the existence
of an unbroken chain of ministers, transmitting their authority,
through generation after generation, from Christ's day to our own. It
presupposes that every man, who has himself possessed and transmitted
this authority, has received it in his turn from some other man who
possessed it and transmitted it to him, and so on back to Christ
himself. Christ thus becomes the sole source, and man the sole
channel, of ecclesiastical authority, and the right or power of any
individual to exercise the functions of the ministerial office depends
on his reception of authority therefor from this only source and
through this only channel.
But if necessity can also confer authority, or rather, to put the case
in words more expressive of its real character, if, whenever the
appointed channel cannot be had and necessity of ministers exists, God
will himself from heaven confer the authority in need, the value of
this "succession" amounts to nothing. Orders, wherever necessary, will
be had as well without it as with it, and they who have it can never
with any certainty deny the validity of orders which have it not.
Christ still may be the sole source, but man is not the only, nay, nor
the most perfect and available, channel of this authority. There is
another, surer, nearer, more direct, conveying, only to proper
persons, the gifts of God, and free from all the doubts and dangers
which result from a residence of heavenly "treasure in earthen
vessels," and the necessity which demands it is the sole condition of
its use. The High Church party, if they adopt this position, must,
therefore, become more radical than any Christian church upon the
globe. They out-Herod even their great Herod, Mr. Goode, and are more
dangerous to the cause of "apostolic order" and ecclesiastical
authority than any Low Churchmen or Separatist that ever lived.
2. It elevates human necessity above divine law. The law, by which
holy orders exist, and by which their transmission from man to man is
regulated, is unquestionably divine. "Vox Ecclesiae" goes so far as to
claim that their transmission, from bishop to bishop only, is of
divine precept, but, waiving that, it is acknowledged by all parties,
with whom we have to do at {727} present, that whatever be the human
channel, it is of Christ's appointment, and rests upon divine
authority. It is thus a _divine_ law which "necessity abrogates," a
positive institution and command of God which is to be disregarded and
disobeyed, and that because "necessity" demands it.
But this necessity is a merely human one. Orders confers on the
ordained only the power to preach and to administer the sacraments,
and it is only that those things may be done, that God's law is
despised and set aside. Yet, though the eternal salvation of the human
soul may ordinarily depend upon the preaching of the word and on the
sacraments, still nothing is _absolutely_ necessary to eternal life
that may not take place between the soul and God, independently of
bishop, priest, or church. It is thus no necessity of _God's_
creation, no necessity inevitably involving the eternal destinies of
man, that substitutes itself for the admitted law of God, but a mere
earthly need, a need based upon human views and customs and opinions,
which never received endorsement from on high, and finds no sanction
for its existence in Holy Writ. There is no irregularity which such a
position would not justify, no departure from God's ordinances which
it could consistently condemn. It would come with fearful self-rebuke
from that portion of the Episcopal Church, who for three hundred years
have practically ignored their brother Protestants, because they
judged of their own necessities and set aside the institutions of God
in order that those necessities might be supplied.
3. It legitimates every form of error and schism. For, if "necessity
_confers_ orders," the sole question in every case is, whether the
necessity existed. If there was such necessity in Germany and
Switzerland in the sixteenth century, then Lutheran and Calvinistic
orders were as valid as Episcopal, and if that necessity continues,
they are valid still. If there was such necessity in Scotland, after
the abolition of the prelacy, and that necessity continues, the orders
of the kirk are valid at this day. If there was such necessity when
John Wesley ordained Dr. Coke, and that necessity continues, Methodist
orders are as valid as his Grace of Canterbury's are. There is no
stopping-place for these deductions. If "necessity confers orders,"
not even the channel of _presbyters_ is necessary. No human instrument
at all stands between God and the recipient of his extraordinary
favor. In every case where the necessity exists, there God confers the
power of orders, and there is no sect so wild and heretical, no
ministry so dangerous and erratic, that may not claim validity upon
this ground, and that must not, on these principles, when necessity is
proven, be adjudged legitimate.
But of this necessity who shall be the judge? Shall God, who, of
course, knows all the circumstances of mankind and estimates them at
their proper value? But then, to us his judgment is useless without
expression, and his expression is _revelation_. Are those who allow
the force of this plea of necessity prepared to admit all who claim
it, for the sake of Christian charity, or will they demand a
revelation from God to satisfy them that the "necessity" was _real_?
Yet, if God be the only Judge, they must admit all or reject all until
he speaks from heaven, and in the latter case, the "EXCEPTION" might
as well have been left unmade. Or shall the church judge? And if so,
what church? The church, from which Luther, and Calvin, and Cranmer,
and Parker separated? She had her bishops ready to ordain all proper
men, and if her judgment had been taken, there would have been no
occasion for men to plead necessity. The church, from which came forth
the Puritans and Methodists? She also had her bishops, and in her view
no necessity could ever have existed. So with every church. None that
are founded in Episcopacy could ever {728} admit a necessity without
supplying it in the appointed way. And none that reject Episcopacy
would care to inquire whether or not there was any such necessity. The
church could, therefore, be no judge. She is, in every issue of this
sort, a party, not an umpire; but, were she competent to judge,
wherein is her decree less valid, when from Rome she excommunicates
the Church of England, than when from London or New York she denies
ministerial authority to Presbyterians and Universalists? Or is it the
individual? There can be no doubt in this answer. It must be. No man
can judge of a necessity except he who is placed in it. A little
colony of Christians, cast away on some Pacific island, must decide
for themselves, whether they will ordain a pastor for their flock or
utterly dispense with Christian teaching. A man, whose creed differs
from that of the church in which he lives, and yet who feels an inward
call to preach the Gospel, as he understands it, must be the sole
judge of the necessity of call, upon the one hand, which commands him
to preach, and of conscience, on the other, which forbids him to
subscribe the creed which is the unrelenting condition of his
ordination by authority. Extend it to societies and communities of
men, and the rule is the same. These societies become themselves the
judges, whether or not, in their case, necessity exists, and no other
can judge for them. The law is universal. If necessity be a
justification, it must be necessity as judged of by the parties in
necessity, and not as judged of by God, unknown to men, or by a church
which either will supply the need or treat the whole matter as of
little moment. There thus becomes no limit to necessities. They are
moral as well as physical. They grow out of duties and
responsibilities, as well as out of distances and years. Obedience to
the voice of conscience is an indispensable condition of salvation,
and no necessity is greater or more potent than the necessity of that
obedience. When the Rev. Gardiner Spring was moved, as he believed it,
by the Holy Ghost, to do the work of a minister in the church of God,
there was not a regularly ordained bishop in the world who would have
ordained him, while holding the doctrines he professed. In his case,
without a violation of his conscience and the loss of his soul,
bishops "COULD NOT BE HAD," and presbyters must have validly ordained.
When Charles Spurgeon, rejoicing in the new-found light of the Gospel,
burned to tell other men the good that God had done to him, the moral
necessity was the same, a necessity which compelled him to disobey
what he believed to be a command of God, or to receive orders from
non-Episcopal hands. Is there any need of multiplying instances? Where
is the imaginable limit to which validity must be acknowledged and
beyond which it must cease? The High Churchman who starts with the
admission, that in case of "necessity," God confers the power of
order, can never stop till he has bowed the knee before every Baal
which claims the name of Christian and opened the gifts of God to
every man who demands priestly recognition at his hands.
There are other objections to this theory, equally insuperable with
those already suggested. It can hardly be necessary, however, to
mention them. No candid mind, after seeing the real bearing of this
position on the whole question of a visible church, can hesitate a
moment to reject it. There remains only the other alternative, namely,
that necessity renders operation in presbyters a power possessed by,
but latent in, them, by removing the restrictions which, in ordinary
circumstances, apostolic precedent and ecclesiastical usage have
imposed; and as this is essentially the position advocated by Mr.
Goode, and as the difference between these parties is thus reduced, in
every case, to a question of historic or contemporaneous fact, which
no one but the individuals who plead it can adequately settle, we
conclude that {729} the sole contest as to doctrine is one of words
and definitions, and that on all material points of theory and faith
they perfectly agree. We thus feel justified in the conclusion that
the Episcopal Church of the present age has a doctrine concerning the
necessity of episcopal ordination, and that her doctrine is no less,
no more, than this: "The power of order is resident in bishops and
presbyters both, _ex ordine_, and is operative, under ordinary
circumstances, in bishops only, though in cases of necessity,
presbyters may exercise that power and validly ordain."
This doctrine is logical, coherent, and conservative. No divine
institution is thereby set aside for a mere human necessity. No
destructive principle antagonistic to the doctrine of "succession" is
thereby introduced; no gate is thereby opened for a multitudinous
throng of orthodox and heretics, ordained and unordained, to bring
disorder and confusion into the Church of God. However fatal to the
high pretensions of the Episcopal Church in generations past, and to
any claim of exclusive apostolicity at present, this doctrine is,
nevertheless, most consistent with her actual _status_ in the
religious world. Thoroughly Protestant in doctrine and in worship, all
her affinities and tendencies are toward the Presbyterian and other
non-Episcopal denominations of the age. No church on earth, whose
episcopal succession can be traced to any apostolic source, has ever
recognized hers as beyond question, or admitted her claim to be a
portion of the Catholic Church of Christ. Her very episcopate itself
is, practically, as the recent events in New York have shown, a rank
of honor and of office not of power. Her alleged superiority, for her
bishops' sakes, can never bring her one step nearer to the Catholic
Church, while she retains her heresies or remains in schism; and, on
the other hand, her alienation from her protesting sisters must
increase with every generation while this allegation is maintained.
Far better, far more accordant with her actual position, is her
doctrine as thus evolved by Mr. Goode and "Vox Ecclesiae," and while
its enunciation cannot change her in our estimation, it will doubtless
draw nearer to her, in the bonds of love and brotherhood, all those by
whom she is surrounded and to whose fraternity she naturally belongs.
It is only a matter of regret that the barrier now destroyed was not
broken down long ago, and that the good influences, which the
Episcopal Church is so well calculated to exert, have not been working
on the masses of our non-Catholic brethren in America during all the
past eighty years.
Nothing now remains but to retrieve that past. Let it be understood
that the Episcopal Church does not deny the validity of presbyterian
orders, but that at most she holds them irregular, and only that when
not given in necessity; that men of other denominations have clergymen
and sacraments equally beneficial with her own. Let her throw open her
doors to all religious bodies who thus preserve the "succession," and
unite with them in prevailing on those to receive it who have it not,
and make common cause with all such in stemming the tide of infidelity
and "liberalism" which is deluging our land. Then may her self-adopted
mission, however faulty in its origin, however riskful in its
progress, fulfil at least one portion of the work of Christ's Church
in the world, and, if she cannot feed men with the bread of truth, she
may preserve them from the more fearful poisons.
In conclusion, we desire to correct an error into which the author of
"Vox Ecclesiae" has fallen, concerning the view of this same question
taken by Catholics. On page 57, he says:
"The exaggerated or Romish theory is, that the possession of the
Apostolical Constitution and a properly transmitted succession is
enough to constitute a true and perfect church. Thus succession is
held to be everything," etc.
{730}
In one sense of these words, namely, that to _be_ the actual
organization founded by Christ and constituted, as he left it, in the
hands of the apostles, is to be a true and perfect church; they are
the faith of Catholics. But this is not the sense in which the author
uses them. The idea he thus expresses is, that we regard an external
succession in the line of apostolic orders as sufficient to make a man
a priest or bishop, as the case may be, and that such a succession
constitutes a church. This is a very prevalent, but very thoughtless,
error. It is true that we believe apostolic orders, in the apostolic
line, to be so absolutely necessary that no man, under any
circumstances, can perform any I without them. But we do _not_
believe, that the possession of such orders by any organization makes
it a true church. Cranmer was lawfully ordained as priest and bishop
of the Catholic Church, and, whether as a schismatic under Henry, or a
heretic under Edward, his orders went with him and rendered every act
in pursuance of them valid. The bishops he consecrated were bishops,
the priests he ordained were priests, and if Archbishop Parker were in
fact consecrated by Barlow and Hodgkins, and either of them were
consecrated by Cranmer, and if the English succession be otherwise
unbroken, then every priest of that succession is a true priest, and
every bishop a true bishop. Their acts are valid acts, whatever their
doctrine or their schism.
But this does not make the Church of England "a true and perfect
church." If the fact of her full apostolical succession were
established to-day, beyond the shadow of a doubt, and we would it
could be, her position would differ nothing, in our view, from that of
the Arian and Donatist churches of the fourth century, or of the Greek
Church for the past nine hundred years, churches whose orders were all
valid, whose doctrines were more or less at variance with Catholic
truth, whose sacraments conferred grace, but who were cut off from the
body of Christ's Church by their state of schism.
The Catholic test of Catholicity is short and simple, "Ubi Petrus, ibi
Ecclesiae," said Ambrose of Milan, (Comm. in Ps. xl.,) and wherever
Peter is, Peter, who, "like an immovable rock, holds together the
structure and mass of the whole Christian fabric," (Ambrosii serm.
xlvii.,) and "who, down to the present time and forever, in his
successors lives and judges," (Care Eph. A.D. 431, serm. Phil.,)
wherever Peter is, there, and there only, do we see the church.
Catholics, collectively and individually, say with St. Jerome,
"Whoever is united with the See of Peter is mine," and, throughout the
world, whatever church, society or man is joined by the bonds of
visible communion with the Roman See, is in and of the body of the
Catholic Church, they and none others. No union with that See is
possible to those who do not profess, at least implicitly, the entire
Catholic doctrine, and submit to the legitimate discipline of the
church. No validity of orders without true doctrine, no truth of
doctrine and validity of orders without union with the Apostolic See,
can remedy the evil. To all outside that unity, however similar to us
in one point or another, we must repeat the words which St. Optatus of
Mela wrote to the African Donatists about A.D. 384:
"You know that the Episcopal See was first established for Peter at
the city of Rome, in which See Peter, the head of all the apostles,
sat, and with which one See unity must be maintained by all; that the
apostles might not each defend before you his own see, but that he
should be both a schismatic and a sinner who should set up any other
against that one See." (Adr. Donat. ii.) Would that, of all who know
the truth of that which Optatus has written, and whom a thousand
hindrances are keeping from that rock of unity, we might say, as St.
Cyprian wrote of Antonianus, in the first ages, to the Holy Pope
Cornelius, (ad auton,) "He is in communion with you, that is, with the
Catholic Church."
------
{731}
From All the Year Round.
STATISTICS OF VIRTUE.
Small presents, it has been shrewdly said, prevent the flame of
friendship from dying out. A Stilton cheese, a bouquet of forced
flowers, a maiden copy of a "just-published" book, a _pate de foie
gras_, a basket of fruit that _will_ keep a day or two, a salmon in
spring, or a fresh-killed hare in autumn--any thing that answers, as
a feed of corn or a bait of hay, to one's own private
hobby-horse--very rarely indeed gives offence.
Be the influence such offerings exert ever so small, it is attractive
rather than repulsive in its tendency. They are silken fibres which
draw people together, almost without their knowing it; and although
the strength of any single one may be slight, by multiplication they
acquire appreciable power. Even if they come from evidently interested
motives, they are a tribute which flatters the receiver's self-esteem,
for they are an unmistakable proof that he is worth being courted.
They are a mutual tie which bind friendly connections into a firmer
bundle of sticks than they were before. The giver even likes the
person given to all the better for having bestowed gifts upon him.
There may exist no thought or intention to lay him under an
obligation; but there always must, and properly may, arise the hope of
increasing his good-will and attachment. It is clear that, when it is
desirable that kindly relations should exist between persons, any
honorable means of promoting such relations are not only expedient but
laudable. One stone of an arch may fit its fellow-stones perfectly,
but a little cement does their union no harm.
As there is a reciprocal social attraction between individuals of
respectability and worth, so also there ought to be a gravitation of
every individual toward certain excellences of character and conduct.
And here likewise small inducements, trifling bribes, minor
temptations, help to increase the force of the tendency. Virtue is,
and ought to be its own reward; still, an additional bonus of
extraneous recompense cannot but help the moral progress of mankind.
It sounds like a truism to say that a _motive_ is useful as a mover to
the performance of any act or course of action. The fact is implied by
the meaning of the word itself. If good deeds can be rendered more
frequent by increasing the motives to their practice, the world in
general will be all the better and the happier for that increase.
The problem in ethics to be solved, is, simply, _how_ men and women
may be most easily led to behave like very good boys and girls. We
urge children to do their best by rewards of merit. Why should not the
minds of adults be stimulated by similar persuasive forces? Nor can
worldly motives, if pulling in the same direction as moral and
religious motives, be productive of anything but good. And we want
motives to excite the good to become still more persistently and
exemplarily good, all the more that terror of punishment is
unfortunately insufficient to make the bad abstain from deeds of
wickedness.
{732}
With this view a philanthropic Frenchman, M. de Montyon, founded in
1819 annual prizes for acts of benevolence and devotedness, which,
beside addressing our higher feelings, appeal to two strong passions,
interest and vanity. And why should integrity pass unrewarded? Why
should bright conduct be hid under a bushel? In a darksome night, how
far the little candle throws his beams! So _ought_ to shine a good
deed in a naughty world. Most undoubtedly, to do good by stealth is
highly praiseworthy; but there is no reason why the blush which arises
on finding it fame should necessarily be a painful blush. Far better
that it should be a glow of pleasure.
More than forty years have now elapsed since these prizes for virtue
were instituted, during which period more than seven hundred persons
have received the reward of their exemplary conduct. The French
Academy which distributes the prizes, has decided (doing violence to
the modesty of the recipients ) to publish their good deeds to the
world. After the announcement of their awards, a livret or list in the
form of a pamphlet is issued, recounting each specific case with the
same simplicity with which it was performed. These lists are spread
throughout all France and further, in the belief that the more widely
meritorious actions are known, the greater chance there is of their
being imitated.
The awards made by the French Academy up to the present day to
virtuous actions give an average of about eighteen per annum. These
eighteen annual "crowns" have been competed for by more than seventy
memorials coming from every point of France, mostly without the
knowledge of the persons interested. In short, since the foundation of
the prizes, the Academy has had to read several thousand memorials.
To Monsieur V. P. Demay (Secretary and Chef des Bureaux of the Mairie
of the 18th Arrondissement of Paris) the idea occurred of collecting
the whole of these livrets into a volume, so as to furnish an
analytical summary of the distribution of the prizes throughout the
empire, and of appending to it flowers of philanthropic eloquence
culled from the speeches made at the Academic meetings. The result is
a book entitled "Les Fastes de la Vertu Pauvre en France," "Annals of
the Virtuous Poor in France."
No one, before M. Demay, thought of undertaking the Statistics of
Virtue. The subject has not found a place on any scientific programme,
French or international; whether through forgetfulness or not, the
fact remains indisputable. And be it remarked that the seven hundred
and thirty-two laureats to whom rewards have been decreed, represent
only a fraction of the number of highly deserving persons. In all
their reports ever since 1820, the French Academy has declared that it
had only the embarrassment of choosing between the candidates while
awarding the prizes, so equally meritorious were their acts.
Therefore, to the seven hundred and thirty-two nominees ought to be
added the two thousand four hundred and forty competitors whose cases
were considered during that period, making altogether a total of three
thousand one hundred and seventy-two instances of conduct worthy of
imitation which had been brought to light by the agency of the prizes.
The book, not more amusing than other statistics, is nevertheless
highly suggestive. Serious thought is the consequence of opening its
pages. It is a touching book, and goes to the heart. After reading it,
many will feel prompted to go and do likewise by some effort of
generosity or self-denial. In any case, it cannot be other than a
moralizing work to bring to light so many instances of devotion, and
to set them forth as public examples.
In some of his speculations our author, perhaps, may be considered as
just a little too sanguine. Certainly, if there are tribunals for the
infliction of punishment, there is no reason why tribunals should not
exist for the conferring of recompenses. How far they are likely to
become general, is a question for consideration. Also, it is {733}
true that newspapers give the fullest details of horrid crimes, while
they are brief in their usual mention of meritorious actions. But
before M. Demay, somebody said, "Men's evil manners live in brass,
their virtues we write in water;" and it is to be feared he is
somewhat too bright-visioned a seer, when he hopes that, through
Napoleon the Third's and Baron Haussmaun's educational measures,
coupled with the influence of the Montyon prizes, "at no very distant
day, the words penitentiary, prison, etc., will exist only in the
state of souvenirs--painful as regards the past, but consolatory for
the future."
To give the details of such a multitude of virtuous acts is simply
impossible. M. Demay can only rapidly group those which present the
most striking features, and which have appeared still more
extraordinary--for that is the proper word--than the others,
conferring on their honored actors surnames recognized throughout
whole districts. It is the Table of Honor of Virtuous Poverty, crowned
by the verdict of popular opinion. Among these latter are (the
parentheses contain the name of their department): the Mussets,
husband and wife, salt manufacturers, at Chateau Salins, (Meurthe,)
surnamed the Second Providence of the Poor; Suzanne Geral, wife of the
keeper of the lockup house, at Florae, (Loezre) surnamed the Prison
Angel; David Lacroix, fisherman, at Dieppe, (Seine-Inferieure,)
surnamed the _Sauveur_, instead of the _Sauveteur_ the rescuer, after
having pulled one hundred and seventeen people out of fire and water
--he has the cross of the Legion of Honor; Marie Philippe; Widow
Gambon, vine-dresser, at Nanterre, (Seine.) surnamed la Mere de bon
Secours, or Goody Helpful; Madame Langier, at Orgon,
(Bouche-du-Rhone,) surnamed la Queteuse, the Collector of Alms.
In the spring of 1839 almost the whole canton of Ax (Ariege) was
visited by the yellow fever, which raged for ten months, and carried
off a sixth of the population. It, was especially malignant at Prades.
Terror was at its height; those whom the scourge had spared were
prevented by their fears from assisting their sick neighbors, menaced
with almost certain death. Nevertheless, a young girl, Madeleine Fort,
who had been brought up in the practice of good works, exerted herself
to the utmost in all directions. During the course of those ten
disastrous months she visited, consoled, and nursed more than five
hundred unfortunates; and if she could not save them from the grave,
she followed them, alone, to their final resting-place. Two Sisters of
Charity were sent to help her; one was soon carried off, and the
second fell ill. The care died, and was replaced by another. The
latter, finding himself smitten, sent for Madeleine. One of the flock
had to tend the pastor. Those disastrous days have long since
disappeared; but if the traveller, halting at Prades, asks for
Madeleine Fort's dwelling, he will be answered, "Ah! you mean our
Sister of Charity?"
Suzanne Bichon is only a servant. Her master and mistress were
completely ruined by the <DW64> insurrection in St. Domingo; but the
worthy woman would not desert them--she worked for them all, and took
care of the children. On being offered a better place, that is, a more
lucrative engagement, she refused it with the words, "You will easily
find another person, but can my master and mistress get another
servant?" The Academy gave their recompense for fifteen years of this
devoted service. Her mistress wanted to go and take a place herself;
she would not hear of it, making them believe that she had means at
her command, and expectations. But all her means lay in her capacity
for work, while her expectations were--Providence. It is not to be
wondered at that she was known as Good Suzette.
{734}
Such attachments as these on the part of servants are a delightful
contrast to what we commonly see in the course of our household
experience. They can hardly be looked for under the combined regime of
register-offices, a month's wages or a month's warning, no followers,
Sundays out, and crinoline.
We look for virtue amongst the clergy. The devotion, self-denial, and
resignation often witnessed amongst them are matters of notoriety.
Nevertheless, it is right that one of its members should find a place
on a list like the present. In 1834, the Abbe Bertran was appointed
cure of Peyriac, (Aude.) He was obliged, so to speak, to conquer the
country of which he was soon to be the benefactor. For two years he
had to struggle with the obstinate resistance which his parishioners
opposed to him. His evangelical gentleness succeeded in vanquishing
every obstacle; henceforth he was master of the ground, and could
march onward with a firm step. At once he consecrated his patrimony to
the restoration of the church and the presbyter. He bought a field,
turned architect, and soon there arose a vast building which united
the two extremes of life--old age and infancy. He then opened
simultaneously a girls' school, an infant school, and a foundling
hospital. He sought out the orphans belonging to the canton, and
supplied a home to old people of either sex. To effect these objects
the good pastor expended seventy thousand francs, (nearly three
thousand pounds,) the whole of his property: he left himself without a
sou. But he had sown his seed in good ground, and it promised to
produce a hundred-fold. Rich in his poverty, his place is marked
beside Vincent de Paul and Charles Borromeo.
Goodness may even indulge in its caprices and still remain good.
Marguerite Monnier, surnamed _la Mayon_, (a popular term of affection
in Lorraine,) seems to have selected a curious specialty for the
indulgence of her charitable propensities. It is requisite to be
infirm or idiotic to be entitled to receive her benevolent attentions.
When quite a child, she selects as her friend a poor blind beggar,
whom she visits every day in her wretched hovel. She makes her bed,
lights her fire, and cooks her food. While going to school, she
remarks a poor old woman scarcely able to drag herself along, but,
nevertheless, crawling to the neighboring wood to pick up a few dry
sticks. She follows her thither, helps her to gather them, and brings
back the load on her own shoulders. Grown to womanhood, and married,
Marguerite successively gives hospitality to an idiot, a crazy person,
a <DW35>, several paralytic patients, orphans, strangers without
resources, and even drunkards, (one would wish to see in their falling
an infirmity merely.) Every creature unable to take care of itself
finds in her a ready protector. Such are her lodgers, her clients, her
customers! Ever cheerful, she amuses them by discourse suited to their
comprehension. All around her is in continued jubilation, and
Marguerite herself seems to be more entertained than any body else. It
may be said, perhaps, that a person must be born with a natural
disposition for this kind of devotedness. Granted; but his claim to
public gratitude is not a whit the less for that.
Catherine Vernet, of Saint-Germain, (Puy-de-dome,) is a simple
lace-maker, who, after devoting herself to her family, has for thirty
years devoted herself to those who have no one to take care of them.
Her savings having amounted to a sufficient sum for the purchase of a
small house, she converted it into a sort of hospital with eight beds
always occupied. Situated amongst the mountains of Anvergne, this
hospital is a certain refuge for _perdus_, travellers who have lost
their way. It is an imitation of the Saint Bernard; and if it has not
attained its celebrity, it emanates from the same source, charity.
{735}
In looking through the lists and comparing the several departments of
France, it would be hard to say that one department is better than
another; because their population, and other important influential
circumstances, vary immensely between themselves. But what strikes one
immediately, is the great preponderance of good women--rewarded as
such--over good men. Thus, to dip into the list at hazard, we
have--Meuse, one man, five women; Seine, thirty-one men, ninety-eight
women; Loire, two men, six women; Cote-d'Or, three men, eleven women;
and so on. The nature of the acts rewarded--also taken by chance--are
these: reconciliations of families in _vendetta_, (Corsica;)
maintenance of deserted children; rescues from fire and water;
faithfulness to master and mistress for sixteen years; adoption of
seven orphans for fifteen years; maintenance of master and mistress
fallen into poverty; devotion to the aged; nursing the sick poor;
killing a mad dog who inflicted fourteen bites. When "inexhaustible
charity" and "succor to the indigent" are mentioned, one would like to
know whether they consisted in mere alms-giving. Probably not; because
by "charity" Montyon understood, not the momentary impulse which
causes us to help a suffering fellow-creature, and then dies away, but
the constant, durable affection which regards him as another self, and
whose device is "Privation, Sacrifice."
In the period, then, between 1819 and 1864 seven hundred and
seventy-six persons received Montyon rewards, two hundred and eleven
of whom were men, and five hundred and sixty-five women. In M. Demay's
opinion, the disproportion ought to surprise nobody; for if man is
gifted with virile courage, which is capable of being suddenly
inflamed, and is liable to be similarly extinguished, woman only is
endowed with the boundless, incessant, silent devotion which is found
in the mother, the wife, the daughter, the sister. This dear
companion, given by God to man, is conscious of the noble mission
allotted her to fulfil on earth. We behold the results in her acts,
and in what daily occurs in families. Abnegation, with her, is a
natural instinct. "She may prove weak, no doubt; she may even go
astray: but, be assured, she always retains the divine spark of
charity, which only awaits an opportunity to burst forth into a
brilliant flame. Let us abstain, therefore, from casting a stone at
temporary error; let us pardon, and forget. Our charity will lead her
back to duty more efficaciously than all the moral stigmas we could
possibly inflict."
The years more fruitful in acts of devotion appear to have been 1851,
1852, and 1857, in which twenty-seven and twenty-eight prizes were
awarded. Their cause is, that previously the Academy received
memorials from the authorities only. But after making an appeal to
witnesses of every class and grade, virtue, if the expression maybe
allowed, overflowed in all directions. Lives of heroism and charity,
hidden in the secrets of the heart, were suddenly brought to the light
of day, to the great surprise of their heroes and heroines. During the
same period there were distributed, in money, three hundred and
sixty-four thousand francs, (sixteen thousand pounds;) in medals, four
hundred and eighteen thousand five hundred and fifty francs, (sixteen
thousand seven hundred and forty-two pounds;) total, seven hundred and
eighty-two thousand five hundred and fifty francs, (thirty-two
thousand seven hundred and forty-two pounds.) The Montyon prizes are
worth having, and not an insult to the persons to whom they are
offered. The sums of money given range as high as one, two, three, and
even four thousand francs; the medals vary in value from five and six
hundred to a thousand francs: but even a five hundred franc or
twenty-pound medal is a respectable token of approbation and esteem.
In some few cases, both money and a medal are bestowed.
{736}
It may be said that the persons to whom these prizes are given would
have done the same deeds without any reward. True; and therein lies
their merit. And ought _money_ to be given to recompense virtuous
acts? Yes, most decidedly; because it will confer on its recipients
their greatest possible recompense--the power of doing still more
good. Money gifts are not to be depreciated so long as there are
orphans to sustain, sick poor to nurse, and infirm old age to keep
from starvation.
Finally, is charity the growth of one period of life rather than of
another? On inspecting the lists, we find children, six, twelve,
thirteen years of age, and close to them octogenarians, one
nonagenarian, one centenarian! If noble courage does not want for
fulness of years, it would appear not to take its leave on their
arrival.
------
[ORIGINAL.]
THE CHRISTIAN CROWN.
BY JOHN SAVAGE.
I.
Ten centuries and one had trod
Jerusalem, since when,
In mortal form, the Son of God
Died for the sons of men.
II.
And they who in the Martyr found
Their Saviour, wailed and wept,
That gorgeous horrors should abound
Where Christ the Blessed slept.
III.
From clam'rous towns, and forests' hush.
As cascades from the gloom
Of caves, crusaders eastward rush
To win the holy tomb.
IV.
Their corselets, steel and silver bright,
'Neath swaying plumes displayed,
Now dance, like streams, in lines of light.
Now loiter on in shade.
{737}
V.
Their crosses glow in every form
Inspiring vale and mart,
As through earth's arteries they swarm,
Like blood back to the heart.
VI.
Tis mid-day of midsummer's heat;
Faith crowns the live and dead:
Jerusalem is at their feet.
Brave Godfrey at their head.
VII.
Within the walls, the ramparts ring
As proudly they proclaim
Great Godfrey de Bouillon as king!
A king in more than name.
VIII.
The ruby-budding crown to bind
About his head, they stood:
Another crown is in his mind;
For rubies, blobs of blood.
IX.
"No. no!" and back the bauble flings,
"No gold this brow adorns
Where willed He, Christ, the King of kings,
To wear a crown of thorns."
X.
Let not the glorious truth depart
Brave Godfrey handed down:
A king whose crown is in his heart,
Needs wear no other crown.
------
{738}
From The Lamp
UNCONVICTED;
OR, OLD THORNELEY'S HEIRS.
CHAPTER VII.
THE READING OF THE WILL.
Nearing the brink of a discovery, yet dreading to approach the edge,
lest a false step should precipitate you into a chaos of darkness;
holding the end of an intricate web in your hand, yet not daring to
follow the lead, lest you should lose yourself in its mazes--so I
felt on the morning succeeding my visit with Detective Jones to
Blue-Anchor Lane; so, likewise, had that astute officer and faithful
friend expressed himself when we had parted the night before.
"You see, sir," he said, "the whole of what we have gathered this
evening may only mean that Mr. Wilmot has got mixed up with this De
Vos or Sullivan in some-gambling transaction, who, hearing that he's
left sole heir to poor Thorneley's fortune, means to hold whatever
knowledge he possesses as a threat over him to extort money. Then, as
to what passed at 'Noah's Ark,' why, it may mean a good deal, and it
may just mean nothing, as not referring to the parties we know of. I
don't wish to raise your hopes, sir; and until I've consulted with
Inspector Keene and seen what he's ferreted out, I wouldn't like to
say that we'd gained as much as I thought we should from our move
tonight."
On my table I found a broad black-bordered letter. It was a formal
invitation on the part of Lister Wilmot, as sole executor, to attend
old Thorneley's funeral on the following Tuesday.
The intervening days were dark, and blank with the blankness of
despair. Vigilant, energetic, and penetrating as was that secret,
silent search of the detectives, no real clue was found to the mystery
of the murdered man's death; no light thrown upon the black page in
the history of that fatal Tuesday evening, save what our own miserable
suspicions or fallacious hopes suggested. De Vos had entirely
disappeared from the scene, leaving no truce of his whereabouts.
Wilmot's public movements, though closely watched by the lynx-eyed
functionaries of the law, were perfectly satisfactory: and the
housekeeper remained closeted in her own room, intent, apparently,
upon making up her mourning garments for her late master, and fairly
baffling Inspector Keene in his insidious attempts to elicit a word
further, or at variance to what she stated at the inquest, by her
cool, collected, and straightforward replies to his 'cute
cross-questioning. And yet, in concluding the short interviews between
Mr. Inspector and Merrivale, at which I was generally present, after a
silent scrape at his chin, and a hungry crop at his nails, he would
still repeat with a certain little air of quiet confidence, "Good-day,
gentlemen. I think I am on the scent."
Meanwhile the verdict at the inquest had gone forth and done its work;
and Hugh Atherton was fully committed for trial next sessions at the
Old Bailey. These were to take place early in November, and the
thought of how terribly short a time was left till then filled us with
a fearful, heart-sickening dread lest all, upon which hung the issues
of life or death, could not be accomplished in so little space. True
that a respite {739} might be asked, and the trial postponed until the
following sessions; but upon what plea could the request be preferred?
Some evidence not yet forthcoming. What evidence could we hope for?
upon what future revelation could we rely? At present there was
nothing, absolutely nothing, but our vague conjectures, our blind
belief in the acuteness of the police officers whom we were employing.
And Ada Leslie, what of her? Every day, and twice a day, I went to
Hyde-Park Gardens, sometimes with Merrivale, sometimes alone,
repeating every detail, every minute particular, every circumstance,
and going though everything with her said or done by each one
concerned. It seemed to be her only comfort and support, after that
better and higher consolation promised to the weary and heavy-laden,
and which both she and Hugh knew well how to seek.
"Tell me all," she would say--"the good and bad. I can bear it better
if I know nothing is kept back. To deceive me would be no real
kindness; and who has a better right to know everything than I, who am
part of himself? We shall be man and wife soon, in the sight of God
and the world, and then nothing can separate us in other men's minds:
but till then I am truly and faithfully one with him; and what touches
him touches me, only infinitely more because it is for him. Don't you
know what the idyl says about the fame and shame being mine equally if
his? But better and holier words still have been spoken, and I say
them often to myself now when I think of the time which is coming:
'They two shall be one flesh.'"
Strangely enough, though fully conscious of Atherton's danger, of the
awful position in which he stood, she never seemed to take count for
one instant that the simple plea of innocence on his part, and the
belief of it on ours, would not weigh one feather's weight in the
heavy balance of evidence against him.
Since my encounter with Mrs. Leslie, that lady and I had been cold and
distant, conversing the least possible within our power, and avoiding
one another by mutual consent. But one thing I noted, that come when I
would, early or late, with news or without, alone or accompanied by
Merrivale, whose visits seemed a great comfort to Ada, Lister Wilmot
was certain to have forestalled me, and given in his version, either
personally or by letter, of whatever had happened. And I found the
effect of this was, that Mrs. Leslie was speaking of Hugh as guilty,
though "poor Lister still persists in trying to think him innocent;"
and was publishing about wherever she could that I had _volunteered_
to give evidence against him. Ada took a different view of Wilmot's
conduct.
"I think, guardian, that Lister is almost mad," she said one day. "He
talks quite wildly sometimes to me. We never thought he had a very
clear head; and now he seems to be so incoherent and contradictory in
all he says, and this confuses mamma, and makes her get wrong notions
about it all. But he is so kind and good to me now. Once I thought he
didn't like me; but he is quite changed now."
On the Saturday she was allowed to see Hugh, now lodged in Newgate
Prison. She went with Wilmot and her mother; but she saw him alone,
with only the warder present. Contrary to my expectations, she was
calmer and happier, if one can use such a word, knowing all the
anguish of the heart, than before. They had mutually strengthened and
comforted each other. She repeated to me a great deal of what passed
when I saw her in the evening; but she never said one word of what had
passed about myself; she never brought me any message; and when I
asked her if Hugh had expressed a wish to see me, she only replied,
"No, he thinks it is best not--at least at present." The same reply
came through {740} Merrivale, who seemed puzzled by it; the same
through Lister Wilmot, who was offensively regretful for me. I could
not bear it, and I gave utterance to the pent-up feeling which raged
within me. I told him that none of his meddling was needed between
myself and Hugh Atherton, and I hinted that the _role_ he had taken
upon himself to play now would before many days were over be changed
in a very unpleasant manner. A covert sneer curled his thin lips, and
there was an evil light in his eyes, as he replied that he was not
afraid of any plot that might be hatched against him, and he could
make excuses for my excited feelings "As to myself," he concluded, "_I
am prepared for everything_."
Tuesday, the day appointed for the burial of Gilbert Thorneley, at
last arrived; and those invited to attend assembled for the time in
Wimpole street to pay their tribute of homage to the man who had swept
his master's office in his youth, and died worth more than a million
of money in the Funds. They flocked thither at the bid of his nephew
and reported heir; his comrades on 'change, his compeers in wealth,
his fellow-citizens; those men who had passed through the same
evolutions of barter and exchange, of tare and tret, of selling out
and buying in, of all that busy tumult of money-making in which the
dead man lying in his silver-plated coffin upstairs, and covered by
the handsome velvet pall, had borne his share even to the fullest. For
Wilmot had given orders for the funeral to be conducted on a scale
befitting the magnificence of the fortune which his uncle left behind
him; and the management of the affair had been placed in the hands of
an undertaker whose reputation for conducting people to their grave
with every mournful splendor of state and style was irreproachable.
But amid those funeral plumes, those heavy trappings, those sombre
mantles, those long hat-bands new and scarfs of richest silk, there
was no eye wet with sorrow, no brow shadowed by regret, no heart that
was heavier for the loss of the one going to his grave. It was a
funeral without a mourner. On Lister Wilmot's face was the
half-concealed triumph and elation, under an affected grief too
evidently put on for the dullest man to believe in; and the only one
who would have mourned, nay who did mourn, for the murdered man, lay
in his cell within the walls of Newgate, stigmatized with the brand of
wilful murder of him. So the gloomy pageant set out with its
hearse-and-four, its dozen mourning-coaches, its string of private
carriages belonging to the rich men invited there that day. So we went
to Kensal Green and laid Gilbert Thorneley in the new vault prepared
for him, lonely and alone--"dust to dust, ashes to ashes"--until the
resurrection.
When the last solemn words had been read over the open grave and the
earth thrown with hollow sound upon the coffin, we turned to depart. A
greater portion of the large assembly dispersed in their carriages on
their various ways, and a few were asked to return to Wimpole street
and be present at the reading of the will. Whether bidden or not, I
had a reason for being there likewise, and had made up my mind what to
do; but to my surprise Mr. Walker came up as we were leaving the
cemetery, and invited me in Wilmot's name to go back with them.
In the dining room where the inquest had been held we gathered once
again--some dozen of Thorneley's oldest acquaintances, the two
doctors, the rector of the parish with his three curates, myself, the
housekeeper, and the other servants of the dead man's household. The
guests grouped themselves in different knots round the room, talking
and gossiping together on the money market, the state of the country,
of trade, of politics, of I know not what, but mostly of the past and
future concerning the house in which we were assembled, of {741} the
murdered and the supposed murderer, whilst we waited for Lister Wilmot
and his two lawyers. The servants placed themselves in a row near the
door, the housekeeper somewhat apart behind the rest, as if shrinking
from notice. Very striking she looked in her deep mourning, gown,
fitting with perfect exactitude, her light hair streaked here and
there with silver threads braided beneath a close tulle-cap, very pale
very self-possessed, but with that dangerous look in the cold blue
eyes and peculiar motion of the eyelids which Merrivale had described
as "a scintillating light and a shivering."
In less than a quarter of an hour the three came in--Thorneley's
executor and two lawyers; Smith, the senior partner--one of those
pompous old men who are met up and down the world, embodying, only in
a wrong sense, the conception of a late spiritual writer of "a man of
one idea," that idea being self--carrying in his hand a large
parchment folded in familiar form and indorsed in the orthodox
caligraphy of a law-office. The hum of conversation ceased as they
entered and advanced to the top of the room, where a small table was
placed, upon which the lawyer deposited the document. I glanced round
the room. All eyes were turned upon the three, who were now seating
themselves at the table in question, with the eager curiosity of men
going to hear news. The expression of triumph upon Lister Wilmot's
face had deepened yet more visibly; but underneath I fancied I
perceived a lurking anxiety, and especially when his eye fell with a
quick, sharp glance upon myself, and then as quickly looked away. The
two lawyers appeared very full of their own importance, and were very
obsequious to their new client. Lastly I looked at the housekeeper.
Two hectic spots now burned upon her singularly pale cheeks, and her
lips were tightly compressed; her hands, delicate and white for a
woman in her position, wandered restlessly over each other. Perhaps it
was but very natural agitation, for those who had served so long and
faithfully were no doubt expecting to be remembered in the will of
their late master.
"Are you ready, Mr. Wilmot?" asked Smith, wiping his gold spectacles
and adjusting them on his nose.
Wilmot bowed assent; and the lawyer unfolding the parchment, read in
loud, high, nasal tones, "The last will and testament of the late
Gilbert Thorneley, squire, of 100 Wimpole street, in the parish of St.
Mary-le-bone, London, and of the Grange, Warnside, Lincolnshire."
A dead silence reigned throughout the room; as the saying is, you
might have heard a pin drop. One thing only was audible to my ear,
sitting a few feet distant, and that was the heavy pant of the
housekeeper's breathing. Smith read on.
The said Gilbert Thorneley bequeathed to his nephew, Hugh Atherton,
the sum of L5000, free of legacy-duty; to his housekeeper an annuity
of L100 per annum for life; to his butler and coachman annuities of
L50 per annum for life, all free of legacy-duty, and L20 to the other
servants for mourning, with a twelvemonth's wages; to his nephew,
Lister Wilmot, the whole of his landed property, all moneys vested in
the Funds, all personal property, furniture, carriages, horses, and
plate, as sole residuary legatee.
This was the gist and pith of Gilbert Thorneley's will, which further
bore date of the 19th of August in the present year, and was witnessed
by William Walker, of the firm of Smith and Walker, and Abel
Griffiths, Smith and Walker's clerk. By it Lister Wilmot came into an
annual income of something like L100,000; by it Hugh Atherton was cut
off with a mere nominal sum from the joint inheritance which his uncle
had from his boyhood upward in the most unequivocal manner and words
taught him to expect. A murmur of surprise ran through the company
assembled. {742} The equal position of the two nephews with regard to
their uncle had been too publicly known for the present declaration
not to excite the most unbounded astonishment. So certain did it seem
that the cousins would be co-heirs of Thorneley 'a enormous wealth,
that whispers had gone about pretty freely of that being the motive
which induced Hugh Atherton to commit the crime imputed to him--the
desire of entering into possession of the old man's money. I gathered
the thought in each person's mind by the broken words which fell from
them. "Then _why_ did he do it?" I heard one of the curates whisper to
the other, and I knew that they thought and spoke of Hugh, believing
him to be guilty.
I waited for a few minutes after Mr. Smith had finished his pompous
delivery of this document, purporting to be the last will and
testament of the late Gilbert Thorneley, and then I rose from the
remote comer where I had placed myself and confronted the two lawyers.
"Gentlemen," I said, "I take leave to dispute that will which has just
been read."
A thunderbolt falling in the midst of us could not have had a more
astounding effect than those few words.
"Dispute the will!" shouted old Smith, purple in the face.
"Dispute the will!" echoed Walker.
"Dispute the will!" reverberated all round.
"God bless my soul, sir!" continued Smith, rising from his chair and
literally shaking with excitement, "what do you mean by that? Dispute
this will!" striking the open parchment with his closed hand; "upon
what grounds, Mr. Kavanagh--upon what grounds and by what authority
do you dare to dispute it, made by _us_, witnessed by _us_, and which
_we_ know to be the genuine and latest testament of our late client?
What do you mean by it?"
"I dispute that will on the ground of there existing another and a
later will of Mr. Thorneley; and I dispute it on the part of those in
whose favor it is made. Gentlemen, I have a statement to make, to the
truth of which I am prepared to affix my oath."
Involuntarily I glanced at Lister Wilmot. He was deadly pale; but he
returned my gaze very steadily, and I noticed the same evil light in
his eye as I had once before seen. Smith drew himself up and settled
his thick bull-throat in his white choker, whilst his junior partner
ran his hand through his hair, and seemed to prepare himself for
whatever was coming with a sort of "Do your worst--I don't care for
you" air.
"I hold in my hand," I continued, "a memorandum from my journal, and
dated October 23, 185--, last Tuesday, gentlemen; and I beg your
particular attention to the extract I am going to read to
you--'Received a note from Mr. Gilbert Thorneley, of 100 Wimpole
street, requesting me to call on him this evening. Went at seven
o'clock; made and executed _a will_ for the same, under solemn promise
not to reveal the transaction until after his funeral had taken place.
In case of my death, to leave a memorandum of the same addressed to
Mr. Hugh Atherton. Saw the will signed by Mr. Thorneley and witnessed
by his footman and coachman. Made memorandum of same for H. A., as
desired. Put it with private papers, addressed to H. A.' That will,
gentlemen, being of later date, will, if forthcoming, upset the will
just read, and which is dated two months back."
There was a profound silence for some moments, broken only by the two
servants. Barker the footman and Thomas the coachman, who both
murmured in low but distinct tones, "Right enough, sir; we did put our
names to that there dockiment."
{743}
"I don't quite understand your 'statement,' Mr. Kavanagh," said Smith
at last, with an air which plainly said, "And I consider myself
insulted by your making it."
"It is quite plain and straightforward, Mr. Smith, though, of course,
you are taken by surprise. Allow me to hand you this copy of the
memorandum I have read to you, and to which I have signed my name."
"But _where_ is that will, sir? Statements and memoranda go for
nothing, if you can't produce your proofs; and the will itself is the
only proof."
"Where it is," I replied, "is best known to Mr. Wilmot, or yourselves,
or to both. I never saw it after leaving Mr. Thorneley's study on the
evening of the 23d."
The two lawyers turned simultaneously to Wilmot.
"Did you know anything of this transaction, sir?" asked Walker.
"Only so far as came out at the inquest yesterday. Where is the will?
I ask. Let Mr. Kavanagh produce it."
There was a world of defiance in his glittering eyes as he rose and
faced me.
"Yes," he cried again, with a hard, ringing voice, "let Mr. John
Kavanagh produce it."
"Gently, Mr. Wilmot," said Walker in an insinuating voice. "Allow us
to deal with this matter; it is really only proper that we should."
"Only proper that we should," echoed old Smith in his peculiar nasal
twang.
But Lister Wilmot waved them both imperiously aside; and advancing a
step forward, he said with an evident effort to control himself:
"I don't see, Kavanagh, what you can gain by bringing forward this
absurd statement. Of course we all imagined that the mysterious
business upon which you saw my deceased uncle the last evening of his
life was in some way connected with making his will; and Mr. Smith,
Mr. Walker, and myself searched through his papers with the utmost
care, and with this idea in our minds; but no will, no codicil, no
letter, nor memorandum of later date than the one just read could
anywhere be found. Knowing what an eccentric character he was, we came
to the conclusion that, if any will posterior to this were made, he
had destroyed it immediately afterward.--Is this not so?" he turned to
the two lawyers.
"It is so," answered Walker, for self and partner. "We made the
minutest investigation, and were all three together when the seals
were removed which had been placed on everything by the police in
charge of the house. Nothing could have been tampered with."
I was fairly baffled, and stood considering what was the next best
thing to do, when an old gray-headed man stepped forward and said
that, if he might suggest, it would be satisfactory to hear in what
particulars the deed I had drawn up differed from the one just made
known.
"Yes," said Wilmot, with something like a sneer; "let us hear what
were the contents of this will which you say you drew up."
"Wilmot," I answered, "the one whom that will, to my mind, most
affected, for reasons which will presently be obvious to all who
listen to me now, was the only one who loved the old man in life whose
remains we have just followed to the grave--the only one who, I know,
mourns his death with all the sincerity of his true and noble heart.
In his presence I would never publicly have dragged forward a history
which is full of sin, of sorrow, of remorse. But he lies in a felon's
cell, charged, through a dark mysterious combination of events, and I
firmly believe a deeply-laid scheme to work his ruin, with a felon's
crime. In his interest therefore, first of all, I must speak. There is
also that of another concerned, who comes before most of those present
as a complete stranger; whether to _all_ I know not.--Gentlemen, I,
like you, believed until this day week that Gilbert Thorneley died
childless and a bachelor. {744} Five-and twenty years ago he married a
young and beautiful girl, an orphan, but possessed of an immense
fortune. He married her for her money. It was a joyless marriage,
without love, without happiness. One son was born to them, and shortly
after _the young wife died_. The boy grew up an idiot, hated, loathed
by his father, who sent him far away from his sight, and who for more
than fifteen years before he died never saw his child's face. Remorse
at last seems to have surged up in his heart, and he took a resolution
to make what reparation he could for his past neglect. This is all
which the deceased, Mr. Thorneley, confided to me in plain words; at
the rest I can only darkly guess; but that much more might have been
told which never passed his lips, that some terrible secret of the
past remains still unrevealed, I am bound to say I feel convinced from
the manner in which that little was revealed to me. Gentlemen, the
will which I executed last Tuesday evening, and saw witnessed by the
two servants now present, after bequeathing L10,000 a year to his
nephew, Hugh Atherton, left the whole and entire of Gilbert
Thorneley's property, landed, personal, and in the funds, to his idiot
son, Francis Gilbert Thorneley, now living; and constituted Hugh
Atherton as sole guardian of his cousin. With the exception of the
same small legacies to the domestics of his household, no other
bequest whatever was made; no other name mentioned. This will was
executed as a tardy reparation for some wrong done to his dead wife."
There was the sound of a dull, heavy fall, and a cry from one of the
women in the room. Mrs. Haag, the housekeeper, had fainted away.
CHAPTER VIII.
INSPECTOR KEENE SEES DAYLIGHT AT LAST.
"And pray, may I ask who was left executor in this wonderful will,
since that item seems to have been omitted from an otherwise
well-concocted story?" said Mr. Walker, as soon as the housekeeper had
been carried out of the room, and order restored.
"Mr. Atherton and myself were named executors."
"For which little business," he continued with unutterable irony, "you
were doubtless to receive some _small_ compensation?"
"You are mistaken," I replied quietly; "my name is not otherwise
mentioned than as being appointed to act with Hugh Atherton. No legacy
was left to me, and I did not even receive the usual fee for drawing
up the will. I mention this to remove any false impression which my
previous statement may have given."
"Most disinterested conduct on your part, I am sure, Mr. Kavanagh,"
was the reply in the same sarcastic tones. "It was, however, probably
understood that the securing L10,000 a year to your friend would not
pass unrewarded by him."
I was losing my temper under the man's repeated insults, and an angry
reply had risen to my lips, when Wilmot interposed. He had entirely
regained his usual self-possession, and more than his usual
confidence. Evidently, he had resolved to change his tactics, and
treat me civilly.
"We don't wish to dispute your word, Kavanagh, but you must own there
is some excuse for our unbelief. Here are all three of us--Smith,
Walker, and myself--ready to take oath that no other will save the
document just read was or is to be found amongst my late uncle's
papers; not so much as a hint of such a thing existing. And here are
you, without a shadow of proof in your hand, stating that a will,
posterior to this one lying here, was made by you on the evening
previous to my uncle's death. The natural inference drawn is, that
that will must now exist; we know it does not exist, or we must have
found it, unless my uncle _destroyed it_ immediately {745} after it
was made, namely, before he went to bed this day week. Do I put the
case clearly and fairly, gentlemen?" he continued, turning to the
assembled company.
The same old gentleman who had spoken before now again advanced. "I
have known Gilbert Thorneley," he said, "more than thirty years; but
that he was ever married, or had a child living, is as great news to
me as to any here present who had known him but as a recent
acquaintance. Still, if what Mr. Kavanagh says be true--and no offence
to him--that son of whom he speaks must be living now, and must be
found. You, Mr. Wilmot, have asked, as proof of this strange statement
being true, where is the will? I now ask likewise, as proof of its
genuineness, where is the _heir_? Where is the son of my old friend?
Where is Francis Gilbert Thorneley?"
I was fearfully staggered by the question. Never before had it
occurred to me that there would be a difficulty in finding the poor
idiot when the time came for him to enter upon his inheritance. No
doubt, no passing misgiving, had crossed my mind but that, along with
the will I had drawn up, papers would be left and found, giving
all-sufficient information of his whereabouts. For the first time the
thought flashed across me that perhaps, after all, I had not acted
wisely in maintaining the silence which had been exacted from me by
solemn promise. And that solemn promise! What had been old Thorneley's
motive in exacting it? Why should he wish such inevitable risks to be
run, as he, a shrewd man of the world, would know must be run, of that
final will being suppressed by the parties interested in the other one
lodged at his lawyers'? Of what, of whom, had he been afraid? Was the
secret and mystery of the will in any way connected with the secret
and mystery of the murder? As these questions crowded themselves upon
me during the brief moment which succeeded the last speaker's queries,
I looked round unconsciously on the eager, curious faces turned upon
us, the actors in this scene; and suddenly my eye lighted upon a
little man dressed in a dapper black suit, with a profusion of curly
brown hair, and long beard, standing behind a group near the door. His
eyes were fixed on mine--sharp, intelligent, piercing, black
eyes--with an expression in them which plainly bespoke a desire of
attracting my attention; eyes that were familiar to me, whilst the
rest of the man's face and appearance was that of a stranger. Then one
hand was lifted to his lips, and I saw him give a voracious bite at
his nails. In a moment light broke upon darkness, and I knew him in
spite of flowing wig and beard, in spite of funeral black and
well-fitting clothes, to be Inspector Keene. I suppose he saw a gleam
of intelligence pass over my countenance, for he began a series of
evolutions on his closely-cropped fingers, and I, luckily, could spell
the words: "Close this; see Merrivale." I seized the idea, and turning
to Wilmot and his lawyers, I said, "This matter is too serious to be
dealt with otherwise than in legal form and place. Mr. Merrivale or
myself will communicate with Messrs. Smith and Walker. There is
nothing further to be said at present;" and I left the room,
exchanging another glance with the inspector, who I knew would quickly
follow me.
Nor was I mistaken. I drove to Merrivale's, and whilst in full tide of
relating what had transpired in Wimpole street, the little man
arrived, still in mourning trim, but minus his wig and beard; and I am
bound to confess that, despite the seriousness of the moment, I was
almost overpowered by the ludicrous change which the doffing of those
appendages had wrought in him--he looked so like a broom that had had
its bristles cut short off.
"You are a clever fellow, Keene," said Merrivale; "how upon earth did
you contrive to pass muster amongst those city swells?"
{746}
The inspector bowed to the compliment, but seemed no way abashed. "I
showed the inside of your purse, Mr. Merrivale, There was no
difficulty in sight of _that_. Please go on, Mr. Kavanagh, and I'll
wait."
I concluded in as few words as possible, anxiously desiring to hear
what Keene had to say; and immediately that I had finished, Merrivale
turned toward him:
"What do you think of it all, in heaven's name?"
Mr. Inspector scraped his chin, and waited some moments before
replying, his bright keen eyes glancing alternately from one to
another of us. "If I were to tell you, sirs, all I _think_, you'd be
tired of hearing me, for I've been thinking as hard as my brains could
go for the last week past. If you'd have made a friend, Mr. Kavanagh,
of Mr. Merrivale or your humble servant in the matter you just now
revealed, it might have helped me not a trifle--not a trifle. However,
I believe you did it for the best; and after all I think we'll be even
with them yet. But it is as confoundedly black a business as it ever
fell to my lot to deal with; and I've had businesses, gentlemen, as
black as--well, as old Harry himself. You see there's three points to
follow up; and if we can tackle _one_ securely, why, I consider we
shall tackle all, for I believe they hang together. First," checking
it off on his thumb, "there's the murder; and the point there is to
find _who_ really bought that grain of strychnine which the chemist
has booked. It rests between master and man to reveal; and I incline
to the latter, and have my eye on him. Never tell me," said the
detective, warming with his subject, "that neither of them don't know;
I tell you one of them _does_ know, and my name's not Keene if I don't
have it out of them yet. That's one point, an't it, Mr. Merrivale?"
Merrivale assented. "Then the second," checking number two off on his
stumpy fore-finger, "includes four parties, and their connection with
each other; the man De Vos or Sullivan, the man O'Brian, Mr. Lister
Wilmot, and the housekeeper."
"The housekeeper, Mrs. Haag!" I exclaimed.
"Yes, sir; Mrs. _Haag_, if that's her name."
"You think it is not?"
"I _know_ it isn't."
"You know it?"
"I do. When Jones showed me his notes, and repeated to me what you and
he had heard in Blue-Anchor Lane last Thursday night, I _smelt_ a rat,
Mr. Kavanagh, and I followed my nose, sir. When I said I was on the
scent, I meant it. From that hour I wrote down in my note-book, 'Mrs.
Haag, _alias_ Bradley--Bradley, _alias_ O'Brian; her husband, escaped
convict from New South Wales.' For Jones identified that man by a
description in the hands of all of us in the force. To have taken him
there and then would simply have been madness, and insured your both
being murdered in that villainous hole. But to follow out the
connection between the housekeeper and him, him and Sullivan, Sullivan
and Mr. Wilmot, is another point, an't it, Mr. Merrivale?"
Again Merrivale assented, his usually impassible face now stirred with
the deepest, most anxious interest.
"Is 'Sullivan' De Vos's right name?" he asked.
"I believe it is, sir. He's thoroughly Irish; but O'Brian isn't,
though he's taken an Irish name. Sullivan's been known to the police
also in his time, and I fancy there's a little matter in the wind
which might introduce him again to us. They've both had their warning,
though, from some quarter, and are in safe hiding somewhere or other
as yet."
"Have you more to tell us about O'Brian?"
"Nothing more, sir, at present. There's some dark secret and mystery
hanging over him--a terrible story, I am afraid; but I can't speak for
certain just now.--Mr. Kavanagh," suddenly glancing up at me, "did you
never see a likeness to any one in Mr. Wilmot?"
{747}
"No, not that I know of. We have often said he was like none of his
relatives living, that was his uncle and cousin. Have you?"
"It's fancy, sir, no doubt. His mother died when he was very young,
didn't she? and his father?"
"Mrs. Wilmot died soon after his birth. His father I never heard of.
He was a _mauvais sujet_, I believe."
"Ah! The inspector drew a long breath and relapsed into one of his
silent moods, during which the process of scraping and gnawing was
resumed with avidity.
"And your third point?" said I, to arouse him.
"My third point, gentlemen," waking up lively, and dabbing at his
middle finger, "which, considering Mr. Atherton's position at the
present moment, seems to be the least important or pressing, is,
nevertheless, the one I am for pursuing immediately,--to find this
heir of whom mention has been made, Mr. Thorneley's idiot son."
"Surely there is no hurry about that!" we both exclaimed.
"It would appear not, gentlemen, perhaps to you, but there does to me.
Supposing," said the detective, leaning forward, and speaking very
much more earnestly than he had hitherto done--"supposing that the
will you made, Mr. Kavanagh, was stolen, then secreted or destroyed on
the night of Mr. Thorneley's death, that being what I might call the
_dead_ evidence of the truth of what you stated publicly to-day, and
supposing the parties who suppressed that will knew of the whereabouts
of the heir, they would, I conclude, be equally anxious to suppress
the _living_ evidence also--_to get him out of the way_. Do you follow
me, gentlemen?"
"Yes, yes," we both exclaimed, for we felt he had a purpose in
speaking; "you are right."
"Then, sirs, we must prosecute a search for this poor idiot fellow. I
see my way at present very dimly and darkly; but something tells me
that on our road to find Mr. Francis Gilbert Thorneley we shall find
also other links in the broken chain we are trying to piece together."
"How do you propose setting to work, Keene?" asked Merrivale.
"Mr. Atherton, being situated as he is, cannot act; it is therefore
for Mr. Kavanagh to take it upon himself, being named executor. I have
ascertained that Mr. Thorneley never went near his place in
Lincolnshire. Why? Because his son lived there. Do you follow me, Mr.
Kavanagh?"
"I do. You think I must visit the Grange immediately?"
"Yes, sir."
Light then at last seemed to be gleaming on our darkness; not only a
glimmer, but a full bright ray. There was consistency and connection
in all that the inspector had put before us, though only as yet, to a
great degree, in supposition. Merrivale, agreeing with me that he
would send us on no wild-goose chase, it was settled I should go down
by the five-o'clock express train.
In less than an hour I was standing at King's Cross Terminus, and five
minutes past five I was whirling away from London at the rate of
thirty miles an hour. At Peterborough we stopped for half-an-hour to
change carriages, and I went into the waiting-room to get some
refreshment. It was very full, for numbers of passengers were
travelling by that train to be present at some local races, and for
some minutes I could not approach the counter. At last I contrived to
edge in next to a rather tall man, very much enveloped in wraps,
wearing a travelling-cap and blue spectacles. I asked for a cup of
coffee and a sandwich. Every one knows the degree of heat to which
railway coffee is brought; and waiting awhile for the sake of my
throat before drinking it, I suddenly bethought myself of setting my
watch by the clock in the room. I put up my glass to look for it; it
{748} was at the opposite end, and I turned my back upon my tall
neighbor whilst altering the watch. When I turned round he was gone. I
finished my coffee and paid for it. Bah! how mawkish a taste it had
left in my mouth; what stuff they sell in England for real Mocha! So I
thought as I stepped out on the platform and walked up and down,
awaiting the train and reading in a sort of dreamy, unconscious manner
the advertisements and placards covering the walls. Taylor Brothers,
Parkins and Gotto, Heal and Son, Mudie's Library, and all the rest, so
well known Ha! what is this? "MURDER: L100 Reward," for information
leading to the detection of the murderer of Mr. Gilbert Thorneley; and
beneath, another, "Reward of L50 offered for the apprehension of
Robert Bradley," _alias_ O'Brian, escaped convict, with a full
description of his personal appearance appended. "Inspector Keene's
work," thought I to myself. One solitary female figure stood before
me, reading the placard; a neat trim figure, clad in deep mourning
garments, motionless, mute, and absorbed as it were in the interest of
what she was perusing. What was it that made me start and shiver as my
eye fell upon that statue-like form? what was it that, amidst an
overpowering and unaccountable drowsiness creeping over me, seemed to
sting me into life and vigilance? The answer was plain before me:
staring at me with wildly-gleaming eyes, with a face startled out of
its habitual calmness and self-possession, with fear and rage and a
hundred passions at work in her countenance, was old Thorneley's
housekeeper. "Mrs. Haag!" I exclaimed; and almost as I spoke, a change
sudden and rapid as thought took place in her, and she regained the
cold passionless expression I had noticed that same afternoon.
"The same, Mr. Kavanagh;" and, inclining her head, she was passing on.
"Stay!" I said, catching her by the arm. "What are you doing here?
Where are you going?"
"By what right do you ask me, sir?" was the reply in very calm and
perfectly respectful tones.
"By what right!" I cried with headlong impetuosity. "By the best right
that any man could have--the right of asking, or saying, or doing
anything that may help me to detect the guilty and clear the innocent.
Woman, there is some deadly mystery hanging around yon, some guilty
secret in which you have played your part, and which, by the heavens
above us, I will unearth and bring to light! I will, I will!"
What was the matter with me? My brain was dizzy; the lights, the
station, the faces around me, the woman I was addressing, seemed to be
going round and round, and I became conscious that my speech was
getting incoherent.
"You have been drinking, Mr. Kavanagh," I heard a hard voice saying to
me, with a slight foreign accent. Then a bell rang, and I was hurried
forward by the crowd who were flocking on the platform; hurried on
toward a train that had come into the station whilst I had been
engaged with the housekeeper. I remember entering a carriage and
sinking down on a cushioned seat; then I lost all consciousness, until
I heard a voice shouting in my ear, "Your ticket, sir, please."
I started up.
"Where am I?"
"Lincoln; ticket--quick, sir."
I handed out my ticket.
"This is for Stixwould, four stations back on the line. Two extra
shillings to pay."
"Good heavens! I must have been asleep. How am I to get back?"
"Don't know, sir; no train tonight."
The money is paid, the door banged to, and we are shot into Lincoln
station at nine o'clock. There was no help for it now but to make my
way to the nearest hotel, and see what {749} means were to be had of
returning to Stixwould--the nearest station to the Grange, and that
was ten miles from it--or else pass the night here and take the
earliest train in the morning. I bade a porter take my bag, and show
me to some hotel; and I followed him, shivering in every limb, my head
aching as I had never felt it ache before--sick, giddy, and scarcely
able to draw one foot after another. Then I knew what had happened to
me; it flashed across me all in a moment. That man, disguised and in
spectacles, standing next to me at the refreshment-counter at
Peterborough, was De Vos, and he had dragged my coffee. I felt not a
doubt of it.
In ten minutes we stopped at the Queen's Hotel, and after engaging a
room, I despatched a porter for the nearest doctor. To him I confided
the object of my journey, what I believed had occurred to me, and the
necessity there was for my taking such prompt remedies as should
enable me to recover my full strength, energies, and wits for the
morrow. Following his advice, after swallowing his medicine, I
relinquished all notion of proceeding that night on my journey, and
went to bed. The next morning I awoke quite fresh and well; but what
precious hours had been lost! hours sufficient to ruin all hope of my
journey bearing any fruits, of finding even a shadowy clue to the
tangled web that seemed closing in around us. And Hugh Atherton lay in
prison and Ada, my poor sorrowful darling, was breaking her heart
beneath the load of misery which had come upon her. By eight o'clock I
had started for Stixwould, and in half an hour alighted at that small
station. I was the only passenger for that place, and I had to wait
whilst the train moved off for the solitary porter to take my ticket.
Just as the bell had rung, a man passed out from some door and went up
to one of the carriages. "Could you oblige me with a fusee, sir?" I
heard him say.
Some one leaned forward and handed out what was asked for; it was the
tall man in spectacles who had stood next to me at Peterborough
station. The train moved off just as I rushed forward, rushed almost
into the arms of the other man who had asked for the fusee. Wonders
would never cease! It was Inspector Keene.
"Thank God, it is you!"
"Yes, sir--myself. In a moment--I must telegraph up to town;" and he
ran into the office.
"Now, sir," he said when he came out, "what has happened to bring you
here this morning from Lincoln?"
I told him, and expressed my astonishment at seeing him.
"We heard last night that Mrs. _Haag_ had left London and taken her
ticket for this place. I took the night mail to look after the lady
and warn you, sir. Now we had best post off directly for the Grange.
I've already ordered a fly and a pair of horses. We'll bribe the man,
and be there in something less than an hour and a half.
"That man you spoke to in the train was De Vos," I said when we had
started.
"I know it, sir. He was sent to watch you, I suspect; and treat you to
that little dose in your coffee."
"And the housekeeper?"
"Oh! she, I imagine, is safe ahead there at the Grange. At any rate,
she has not returned up the line; every station has been watched, and
they would have telegraphed to me."
O the dreariness of that drive! Rain poured down from the leaden,
lowering sky and concentrated into a thick midst over the dismal
wolds. Patter, patter, slush, slush, as we drove along the wet miry
roads, the horses urged on to the utmost of their wretched,
broken-down speed; and the damp chill air penetrating the old rotten
vehicle and entering the very marrow of one's bones. So we arrived at
last before a low stone lodge that guarded some ponderous iron gates.
A gaunt ill-favored man came out at the sound of the wheels, and
stared at us in no friendly manner.
{750}
"Whar are ye from?" ho called out.
"From Mr. Wilmot," answered the inspector.
"Dunna b'lieve ye. Orders is for ne'run to go up to the house."
Keene opened the door of the fly and sprang out.
"Look here, my man," he said, producing his staff; "I'm a
police-officer from London, and I've come down here about the murder
of your master. Open the gate in the name of the law!"
The man stared, pulled the keys out of his pocket, unlocked the gates
and threw them open. The inspector jumped up beside the driver and
bade him go on.
A short avenue, lined on either side with magnificent trees, brought
us to the gate of extensive but ill-kept pleasure-grounds, and so to
the stone portico of the Grange. A peal of the bell brought an old
woman to the door, who peered out suspiciously, and demanded what we
wanted.
"I am a detective-officer from London, and have a warrant for
searching this house;" and Keene putting the old hag aside, we passed
into the hall.
"Ye mun show me yer warrant or I'll have ye put out agin in
double-quick time," she said, scowling at the inspector. For reply the
staff of office was again out of his pocket in a twinkling, and
flourished before her eyes.
"You take yourself off and show us over the house instantly, or it
will be the worse for you."
The woman cowered, and muttering to herself, led the way across the
spacious hall, and threw open a door on the left. The house apparently
was a low rambling building of ancient date, with panelled walls and
high casement-windows. We traversed several rooms, bare in furniture
and that struck one with a sense of utter cheerlessness and want of
comfort. This, then, was the desolate isolated house which Gilbert
Thorneley had owned and yet shunned so carefully during life; this was
the place where his idiot boy had probably dragged on the greater
number of his miserable years. But I need not dwell upon our search
through the house.
High and low Inspector Keene ranged; looking into cupboards and dark
closets, sounding the panelled walls and poking at imaginary
trapdoors. With the exception of the old crone, who accompanied us,
and a great tabby cat lying before the kitchen-fire, no trace of
living soul was visible.
"Where's young Mr. Thorneley?" said the inspector to her when our
visitation was made.
"Never heard on him."
"Who lives here?"
"Only myself."
"Where's the lady who came here yesterday evening?"
A curious gleam shot from the old woman's eyes.
"Dunno; no lady here."
"I shall take you into custody, if you won't tell."
"Then you mun do it--I'se nothing to say."
Keene turned to me.
"Our visit has been useless, sir. I used the threat, but I can't take
the woman on no charge; there is nothing left but to--"
Hark! what sound was that which rang out upon our ears, which made our
hair stand on end, and our hearts stand still! Shriek upon shriek of
the most horrible, wild, unearthly laughter pealing from somewhere
overhead. The old woman made a dash forward to the staircase, and
called some name that was drowned in the echoes of that terrible
mirth. But in a second we had bounded past her and up the flight of
stairs, and there, at the far end of the corridor, gesticulating and
jabbering at us as we approached him with all the fearful, revolting
madness of idiocy, was the man in whose features was stamped the
perfect likeness of old Gilbert Thorneley.
{751}
CHAPTER IX.
THE TRIAL.
Inspector Keene's third point had been followed up and worked out:
Francis Gilbert Thorneley, the lost heir was found; and the living
evidence in favor of the will I had made was in our actual possession.
That it should be so seemed a merciful interposition of Providence;
for we had little doubt but that it had been intended I should, under
the influence of the stupefying drug administered by Do Vos, be
delayed on my journey, and so give time for him or the housekeeper, or
both, to visit the Grange and effect whatever purpose they had in
view. What had defeated them, or caused their failure, remained as yet
a mystery. Equally mysterious was the way in which both the
conspirators had managed to elude the vigilance of the police; and
bitter seemed the Inspector's disappointment when, on arriving in
London, he found no intelligence awaiting him of either man or woman.
We brought up the poor idiot with us; and I took him to my own
chambers, engaging a proper attendant to take charge of him,
recommended by the physician whom I called in to examine him. He
seemed to be perfectly harmless, and tractable as a child, but totally
bereft of sense or reason, amusing himself with toys, picture-books,
and other infantile diversions, by the hour. We tried to get some
coherent account of himself from him, but to no purpose; he knew his
name and the name of the old man and woman who had been his sole
guardians and companions, apparently for years. But beyond that, no
information could be elicited; and to all questions he would reply
with some sort of childish babble or jabber. This was the heir to old
Thorneley's immense wealth.
There now remained the two other points marked by the Inspector to
follow up. Oh! how time was fast rushing on!--time that was so
precious for life or death--and so little done as yet toward clearing
away all that mountain of condemning evidence which would infallibly,
in the eyes of any English jury, bring sentence of death upon the
suspected murderer. The question forever rang in my ears, "_Who_
bought that grain of strychnine on the 23d of October?" Upon the
discovery and identification of that person both Merrivale and myself,
as also the counsel whom he had engaged for the defence, felt
everything would hang. But up to the present moment, except in our own
minds, not the shadow of a clue could be found. The 16th November, the
day appointed for the trial of Hugh Atherton, approached with terrible
nearness; and our confidence in all but God's mercy and justice was
ebbing fast away. After finding and bringing the lost heir to London,
I wrote to Atherton by Merrivale, detailing all that old Thorneley had
confided to me, the contents of the will, and my journey into
Lincolnshire. I wrote, entreating him to see me; to let no cloud come
between us, who had been such close friends from boyhood, at such a
moment; to turn a deaf ear to all influence that might suggest that I
was acting otherwise than I had always done toward him. I wrote all
the bitter sorrow of my heart at having been forced involuntarily to
give evidence that might be turned against him; all the self-reproach
I felt for not having yielded to his wish of returning home with me
that terrible evening.
He answered me in cold distant words, that _under the circumstances_
it was best we should not meet; that Merrivale would act for him in
all as he judged best; that he did not wish to be disturbed again
before his trial. I showed the letter to Merrivale, and he told me he
could not make it out, for that Hugh was quite unreserved with him on
all points save this, and {752} to every suggestion he had made to him
of seeing me, he had invariably given the same reply, and declined to
enter upon the subject. Then I had recourse to Ada Leslie; but she
only obtained the same result.
"I told him, guardian," she said, "how true you were to him, how
earnest and indefatigable in doing all you could for him, how sure I
was that you loved him better than any thing on earth. But all the
answer I got was, 'No, Ada; not better than anything. Don't let us say
anything more on the subject.' What can he mean? for I am sure he
meant something particular."
Was it hard to look in her face, meet her clear trusting eyes, and
answer back, "_You_ were right, Ada; he is laboring under some
delusion?" Were they false words I spoke, my own heart giving them the
lie? Thank God, no. I was true to her, true to him.
The time between my journey into Lincolnshire and the day of the trial
seems, on looking back, to be one dead blank, inasmuch as, do what we
would, we were no nearer the solution of the mystery after those three
weeks of research and watchfulness than we were on the morning
succeeding the murder. There were the prolonged conferences of lawyers
with counsel, of counsel with prisoner, of both with the detectives;
and day by day I saw Merrivale's face growing more careworn, stern,
and anxious; I saw both Inspector Keene's and Jones's baffled looks;
and--worse, far worse than all--I saw Ada Leslie wasting away before
me, withering beneath the blighting sorrow that had fallen upon her
young life. Oh! the terrible anguish written upon that wan, worn face
that would be lifted up to mine each time I saw her, the unspeakably
painful eagerness of her tones as she would ask, "is there any news?"
and the touching calmness of her despairing look succeeding the answer
which blasted the hopes that kept cruelly rising in her breast only to
be crushed!
So the morning of the 16th of November dawned upon us. For the defence
Merrivale had engaged two of the most acute lawyers and most eloquent
pleaders then practising at the English bar, Sergeant Donaldson and
Mr. Forster, Q.C. They were both personal friends of Hugh Atherton,
both equally convinced of his innocence. On the part of the Crown the
Solicitor-General, Sergeant Butler, and a Mr. Frost were retained--all
eminent men. The judges sitting were the Lord Chief-Justice and Baron
Watson. Although we arrived very early, the Court was crowded to
suffocation; and it was only by help of the police-officers and
authorities that we could find entrance, although engaged in the
principal case coming on. Special reporters of the press, for London
and the country, were eagerly clamoring for seats in the reporters'
bench; and even foreign journals had sent over their "own
correspondents," such a general stir and sensation had the murder of
Gilbert Thorneley made far and near.
Two or three trivial cases of embezzlement and stealing came first
before the Common Sergeant, whilst preparations for the one great
trial were made, the witnesses collected, and the counsel on either
side holding their final conferences. At a quarter to eleven the
Chief-Justice, followed by his brother judge, entered amidst profound
silence and took his seat. They were both men who had grown old and
gray in the administration of justice, who had for years sat in
judgment upon the guilty and the not guilty--men whose ears were
familiar with the details of almost every misery and crime known to
human nature--men who had had their own griefs and trials; and on the
venerable face of the superior judge many a deep furrow had been left
to tell its tale, whether engraven by private sorrow, or sympathy for
the mass of woe and suffering which passed so constantly before his
eyes. I had the honor of being personally acquainted {753} with his
lordship. How well I remembered an evening, not so long ago, spent at
his house with Hugh Atherton; when he, that eminent judge, that
distinguished lawyer, had come up to me and talked of Hugh, of his
talents, his eloquence, his growing reputation! I remembered the sad,
wistful expression of his eye as it dwelt upon my friend, and the tone
of his voice, as he said with a deep sigh, "If my boy had lived, I
could have wished him to have been such a one as _he_." He remembered
it also, if I might judge from the sorrowful gravity of his
countenance. I was standing beside Merrivale beneath the prisoner's
dock, facing the judge's chair; and in a few moments there was a
rustle and stir throughout the court, and I saw the Chief-Justice pass
his hand before his eyes for a brief second. Then was heard the loud
harsh voice of the clerk of the court addressing some one before him:
"Philip Hugh Atherton, you stand there charged with the wilful
murder of your uncle, Mr. Gilbert Thorneley. How say you, prisoner
at the bar--are you guilty or not guilty?"
A voice, low, deep-toned, and thrilling in its distinctness, replied:
"Not guilty, my lord; not guilty, so help me, O my God!" and turning
round, once again my eyes met those of Hugh Atherton.
A great change had been wrought in him during the last three weeks, he
had grown so thin and worn; and amongst the waving masses of his dark
hair I could trace many and many a silver thread. Twenty years could
not have aged him more than these twenty days passed in that felon's
cell, beneath the imputation of that savage crime. Who could look at
him and think him guilty; who could gaze upon his open, manly face, so
noble in its expression of mingled firmness and gentleness, in its
guileless innocence and conscious rectitude of purpose, and say, "That
man has committed murder"? My heart went out to him, as I looked on
his familiar face once more, with all the love and honor with which I
had ever cherished his friendship.
A special jury were then sworn in. All passed unchallenged; and the
Solicitor-General rose to open the case for the prosecution, and began
by requesting that all the witnesses might be ordered to leave the
court. It is needless to say that I had been subpoenaed by the crown
to repeat the wretched evidence already given at the inquest; needless
also to say that, not being personally present during the whole trial,
I have drawn from the same sources as before for an account of it.
We had been given to understand that no other witnesses than those
examined before the coroner would be called against the prisoner; why
should they want more? They had enough evidence to bring down
condemnation twice over. On the part of the defence I have before said
up to that morning nothing fresh had been discovered that could in any
way be used as a direct refutation of what had already been adduced,
and would be brought forward again on this day.
After the examination of the medical men I was called into the
witness-box, and examined by the Solicitor-General. To my former
evidence I now added an account of what had passed between myself and
the murdered man on the evening of the 23d, the contents of the will,
my journey to the Grange, and the discovery of Thorneley's idiot son.
I likewise gave an account of my visit with Jones to Blue-Anchor lane.
I noticed that this was ill-received by the Crown counsel; but the
judges overruled the Solicitor-General's attempt to squash my
statements, and insisted upon my having a full hearing. At the end
Sergeant Donaldson rose to cross-question me.
"Did Mr. Thorneley mention in whose favor his previous will had been
made?"
"He did not. Simply that he intended the will drawn up then to cancel
all others."
{754}
"Can you remember the words in which he alluded to his wife and son?"
"Perfectly; I wrote them in the memorandum addressed to Mr. Atherton,
and which Mr. Merrivale has communicated to you."
The Chief-Justice: "Read the extract, brother Donaldson."
Sergeant Donaldson read as follows: "'Five-and-twenty years ago I
married one much younger than myself, an orphan living with an aunt,
her only relative, and who died shortly after our marriage. My ruling
passion was speculation; and I married her, not for love, but for her
fortune, which was large; I coveted it for the indulgence of my
passion. She was not happy with me, and I took no pains to make her
happier. Few knew of our marriage. I kept her at the Grange till she
died. Only _I_ and _one other person_ were with her at her death. She
gave birth to one child, a boy. Ho grew up an idiot, and I hated him.
But I wish to make reparation to my dead wife in the person of her
son--not out of love to her memory, but to _defeat the plans of
others, and in expiation of me wrong done to her_. I have never loved
any one in my life but my twin-sister, Hugh Atherton's mother: and him
for her sake and his own.' And then, my lord, follow the instructions
for the will given to Mr. Kavanagh." To the witness: "Did Mr.
Thorneley give you any clue to the '_other person_' who was with him
at his wife's death?"
"None at all."
"When you met the prisoner in Vere street, did he say he was going to
visit his uncle then?"
"No; on the contrary, he seemed anxious to come home with me. I should
imagine it was an after-thought."
"Mr. Wilmot has stated that you _volunteered_ to give evidence against
the prisoner: is it so?"
"No; it is most false. I was surprised by detective Jones into an
admission; and when I found that it would be used against Mr.
Atherton, I did all in my power to get off attending the inquest."
Reexamined by the Solicitor-General: "It was against your consent that
the prisoner was engaged to your ward Miss Leslie, was it not?"
"Against my consent! Assuredly not. She bad my consent from the
beginning."
"You may go, Mr. Kavanagh."
The witness who succeeded me was the housekeeper. It was observed that
she did not maintain the same calmness as at the inquest; but her
evidence was perfectly consistent, given perhaps with more eagerness,
but differing and varying in no essential point from her previous
depositions.
Questioned as to whether she had been aware of Mr. Thorneley's
marriage, replied she had not, having always been in charge of his
house in town, first in the city and afterward in Wimpole street. He
had often been from home for many weeks together, but she never knew
where he went.
Cross-examined.--Could swear she had poured no ale out in the tumbler
before taking it into the study--Barker had been with her all the
time--nor yet in the room.
Sergeant Donaldson: "Now, Mrs. Haag, attend to me. How long have you
been a widow?"
"Fifteen years."
"What was your husband?"
"A commercial traveller. He was not successful, and I went into
service soon after I married."
"Had you any children?"
"One son. He died."
"When?"
"Years ago."
"How many years ago?"
"Twenty years ago."
"Is Haag your married name?"
"Yes."
"Did you bear the name of Bradley?"
"I never bore such a name. I am a Belgian; so was my husband."
{755}
A paper was here passed in to Sergeant Donaldson, and handed by him to
the judges.
The Chief-Justice: "This is a certificate of marriage celebrated at
Plymouth between Maria Haag, spinster, and Robert Bradley, bachelor,
dated June, 1829, and witnessed in proper legal form."
Witness: "I know nothing of it. My name is Haag by marriage. I am very
faint; let me go away."
A chair and glass of water were brought to the witness. In a few
moments she had recovered and the cross-examination was renewed.
"How came it that you were met in the middle of Vere street, when, by
your own showing, you must then have turned out of the street before
Mr. Kavanagh could have overtaken you?"
"Mr. Kavanagh did not meet me. I have so said before. I went straight
home after passing him and Mr. Atherton at the chemist's shop. He is
mistaken."
"What took you to Peterborough on the 30th of last month?"
"I went to visit a friend at Spalding."
"How was it, then, that you returned to London by the twelve o'clock
train the following day--I mean arrived in London at that hour?"
Witness hesitated for some time, and at last looked up defiantly.
"What right have you to ask me such a question?"
Baron Watson: "You are bound to answer, Mrs. Haag."
Witness confusedly: "I did not find my friend at home."
Sergeant Donaldson: "Do you mean to say you took that journey with the
chance of finding your friend away?"
"I did."
To the Chief-Justice: "My lord, I am informed by Inspector Keene, of
the detective service, that Mrs. Haag never visited Spalding at all;
that she took a ticket for Stixwould, at which station she got out,
and from which station she returned the following day."
Baron Watson: "I don't see what you are trying to prove, brother
Donaldson."
"I am trying to prove, my lord, that Mrs. Haag is not a witness upon
whose veracity we can rely."
The Chief-Justice: "You must be well aware, Mrs. Haag, that the
mystery of this second will, and discovery of your late master's son,
bear direct influence upon the charge of which the prisoner is
accused. I think it highly necessary that you should be able to give a
clear account of that journey of yours on the 30th of last month. For
your own sake, do you understand?"
Witness violently: "Of what do you suspect me? I have related the
truth."
Sergeant Donaldson: "Excuse me, my lord, I shall call two witnesses
presently who will throw some light upon this person's movements. I
have no further questions to put to her now."
Barker the footman and the other servants were next examined, and
deposed as before, with no additions nor variations.
Mr. Forster in cross-examination drew from the cook a yet more
confident declaration that she had heard footsteps on the front-stairs
leading from the third to the second floor on the night of the murder.
Also that the housekeeper had "gone on awful at her for saying so; but
she had stuck to her word and told Mrs. 'Aag as she wasn't a-going to
be badgered nor bullied out of her convictions for any 'ousekeeper;
and that afterwards Mrs. 'Aag had come to her quite soft and civil,
your lordships, and said, 'Here's a suverin, cook, not to mention what
you heerd; for if you says a word about them steps, why,' says she,
'you'll just go and put it into them lawyers' 'eads as some of us did
it,' says she. But a oath's a oath, my lordships; and a being close
and confined is what I could never abide or abear; and that's every
bit the truth, and here's her suverin back again, which I never
touched nor broke into."
{756}
Baron Watson: "On your oath, then, you declare you heard a footstep on
the front-stairs during the night of the 23d but you don't know at
what hour?"
"As certain sure, my lord, as that you are a sittin' on your cheer."
After eliciting a few more confirmatory details, the witness was
dismissed and Mr. Wilmot called. Nothing further was got out of him
than what he had stated before the coroner. Either he was most
thoroughly on his guard, or he really was, as he professed to be,
ignorant of his cousin Thorneley's existence up to the day of the
funeral; ignorant of the contents of his uncle's will, until it was
opened at Smith and Walker's; totally unacquainted with the man
Sullivan or De Vos; innocent of having written the note seized upon
the boy in Blue-Anchor Lane by detective Jones, all knowledge of or
complicity with which he absolutely and solemnly denied.
Questioned as to his motive for saying that Miss Leslie had been
refused the consent of her guardian, Mr. Kavanagh, to her marriage,
replied he had been distinctly told so by Mrs. Leslie, who had
mentioned also that Mr. Kavanagh was attached to Miss Leslie himself,
and had tried to make her break off the engagement.
Inspector Jackson and Thomas Davis, the chemist, next gave evidence.
The latter was cross-questioned by Sergeant Donaldson. Could not swear
he did not leave the shop on the evening of the 23d between the time
when he had sold the camphor and nine o'clock, his supper-hour; had
tried hard to recollect since attending at the inquest, and had spoken
to his wife and his assistant. The former thought he had; that she had
heard him go into the back-parlor whilst she was down in the kitchen;
the latter had said he had not left the shop until nine o'clock. Could
swear he had sold no strychnine himself that day. The entry was,
however, in his own handwriting. He had talked over the matter
repeatedly with James Ball, his assistant, but had gathered no light
on the subject. The latter had been in a very odd state of mind since
then. The murder seemed to have taken great effect upon him. He had
become very nervous, forgetful, and absent; and he (Davis) had been
obliged to admonish him several times of late, that if he went on so
badly he must seek another situation.
James Ball replaced his master in the witness-box. He looked very
haggard and excited, and answered the questions put to him, in an
incoherent, unsatisfactory manner, very different from his conduct at
the inquest. Admonished by the Chief-justice that he was upon his oath
and giving evidence in a matter of life and death, had cried out
passionately that he wished he had been dead before that wretched
evening.--Ordered to explain what he meant, became confused, and said
he had felt ill ever since the inquest.
Cross-questioned by Mr. Forester: "Does your master keep an
errand-boy?"
"Yes."
"Was he in the shop on the evening of the 23d?"
"I don't remember."
"Oh! you don't remember! Do you remember receiving a letter on the
afternoon of the 24th containing a Bank-of-England L10 note?"
"I did not receive any letter."
"But you received what is called an 'enclosure' of a L10 note, did you
not?"
No answer.
"Did you hear my question, sir? Did you or did you not receive it?--on
your oath, remember!"
No answer.
The Chief-Justice: "You must answer that gentleman, James Ball."
Still no answer.
The Chief-Justice: "Once more I repeat my learned brother's question.
Did you or did you not receive that L10 note on the 24th of October
last? If you do not answer, I shall commit you for contempt of court."
{757}
Witness, defiantly: "Well, if I did, what's that to any one here? I
suppose I can receive money from my own mother."
Mr. Forster: "You know very well that it did not come from your
mother, but that it was _hush-money_ sent you by the person to whom
you sold the grain of strychnine on the evening of the 23d." The
Chief-Justice: "Is this so? Speak the truth, or it will be the worse
for you."
Witness (in a very low voice): "It is."
Mr. Forster: "Who was the person?"
"I don't know--indeed I don't; but
it wasn't _he_," (pointing to the prisoner.)
"Was it a man or a woman?"
"A woman."
"Was it the housekeeper?"
"I don't know."
The Chief-Justice: "Let Mrs. Haag be summoned into court."
The housekeeper was brought in and confronted with the witness. She
was unveiled, and she looked Ball steadily in the face, the dangerous
dark light in her eyes.
The Chief-Justice: "Is that the person?"
"No; I can't identify her." (The witness spoke with more firmness and
assurance than he had done.)
Mr. Forster, to Mrs. Haag: "Is this your handwriting?" (A letter is
passed to her.)
"No; it is not"
"On your oath?"
"On my oath."
"You can leave the court, Mrs. Haag."
"Now, witness, relate what took place about that strychnine."
"A lady came into the shop that evening, just before that gentleman
came in for the camphor, and asked for a grain of strychnine. I
refused to sell it. She said, 'It's for my husband; he's a doctor, and
wants to try the effect on a dog.' I said, 'Who is he?' She said,
'He's Mr. Grainger, round the corner, at the top of Vere Street.' I
knew Mr. Grainger lived there--a doctor. I thought it was all right,
and gave her one grain of strychnine. I said, 'I shall run round
presently and see if it's all right' She said, 'Very well; come now if
you like.' I made sure now more than ever that it was all right. She
paid me and left the shop. I told my master of selling it, along with
a lot of other medicines. In the morning I heard that Mr. Thorneley
had been poisoned by strychnine, and in the afternoon I received by
post a ten-pound note and that letter."--(Letter read by Mr. Forster:
"Say nothing, and identify no one. You shall receive this amount every
month.")--"I guessed then it was from the person who had bought the
strychnine, and that they had murdered old Thorneley. I am very poor,
and my family needed the money. That is all."
Mr. Forster: "I have nothing further to ask."
The Chief-Justice: "Remove the witness, and let him be detained in
custody for the present."
The Solicitor-General: "This, my lord, closes the evidence for the
prosecution."
Sergeant Donaldson then rose to address the jury for the defence.
TO BE CONTINUED.
------
{758}
[ORIGINAL.]
PROBLEMS OF THE AGE.
VI.
THE TRINITY OF PERSONS INCLUDED IN THE ONE DIVINE ESSENCE.
The full explication of the First Article of the Creed requires us to
anticipate two others, which are its complement and supply the two
terms expressing distinctly the relations of the Second and Third
Persons to the First Person or the Father, in the Trinity. "Credo in
Unum Deum Patrem," gives us the doctrine of the Divine Unity, and the
first term of the Trinity, viz., the person of the Father. "Et in Unum
Dominum Jesum Christum Filium Dei Unigenitum, et ex Patre natum ante
omnia saecula; Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine; Deum Verum de Deo Vero;
Genitum non Factum, consubstantialem Patri, per quem omnia facta
sunt:" gives us the second term or the person of the Son. "Et in
Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et Vivificantem, qui ex Patre Filioque
procedit, quicum Patre et Filio simul adoratur et conglorificacur:"
gives us the third term or the person of the Holy Spirit. Both these
are necessary to the explanation of the term "Patrem." The proper
order is, therefore, to begin with the eternal, necessary relations of
the Three Persons to each other in the unity of the Divine Essence,
and then to proceed with the operations of each of the Three Persons
in the creation and consummation of the Universe.
Our purpose is not to make a directly theological explanation of all
that is contained in this mystery, but only of so much of it as
relates to its credibility, and its position in regard to the sphere
of intelligible truth. With this mystery begins that which is properly
the objective matter of revelation, or the series of truths belonging
to a super-intelligible order, that is, above the reach of our natural
intelligence, proposed to our belief on the veracity of God. It is
usually considered the most abstruse, mysterious, and incomprehensible
of all the Christian dogmas, even by believers; though we may perhaps
find that the dogma of the Incarnation is really farther removed than
it from the grasp of our understanding. Be that as it may, the fact
that it relates to the very first principle and the primary truth of
all religion, and appears to confuse our apprehension of it, namely,
the Unity of God--causes us to reflect more distinctly upon its
incomprehensibility. Many persons, both nominal Christians and avowed
unbelievers, declare openly, that in their view it is an absurdity so
manifestly contrary to reason that it is absolutely unthinkable, and,
of course, utterly incredible. How then is the relation between this
mystery and the self-evident or demonstrable truths of reason adjusted
in the act of faith elicited by the believer? What answer can be made
to the rational objections of the unbeliever? If the doctrine be
really unthinkable, it is just as really incredible, and there can be
no act of faith terminated upon it as a revealed object. Of course,
then, no inquiry could be made as to its relation with our knowledge,
for that which is absurd and incapable of being intellectually
conceived and apprehended cannot have any relation to knowledge. It is
impossible for the human mind to believe at one and the same time that
a proposition is {759} directly contrary to reason, and also revealed
by God. No amount of extrinsic evidence will ever convince it. Human
reason cannot say beforehand what the truths of revelation are or
ought to be; but it can say in certain respects what they cannot be.
They cannot be contradictory to known truths and first principles of
reason and knowledge. Therefore, when they are presented in such a way
to the mind, or are by it apprehended in such a way, as to involve a
contradiction to these first truths and principles, they cannot be
received until they are differently presented or apprehended, so that
this apparent contradiction is removed. This is so constantly and
clearly asserted by the ablest Catholic writers, men above all
suspicion for soundness in the faith, that we will not waste time in
proving it to be sound Catholic doctrine. [Footnote 183] Of course
all rationalists, and most Protestants, hold it as an axiom already.
If there are some Protestants who hold the contrary, they are beyond
the reach of argument.
[Footnote 183: See among others, Archbishop Manning on the Temporal
Mission of the Holy Ghost.]
The Catholic believer in the Trinity apprehends the dogma in such a
way that it presents no contradiction to his intellect between itself
and the first principles of reason or the primary doctrine of the
unity of the divine nature. God, who is the Creator and the Light of
reason, as well as the author of revelation, is bound by his own
attributes of truth and justice, when he proposes a doctrine as
obligatory on faith, to propose it in such a way that the mind is able
to apprehend and accept it in a reasonable manner. This is done by the
instruction given by the Catholic Church, with which the supernatural
illumination of the Holy Spirit concurs. The Catholic believer is
therefore free from those crude misapprehensions and misconceptions
which create the difficulty in the unbelieving mind. He apprehends in
some degree, although it may be implicitly and confusedly, the real
sense and meaning of the mystery, as it is apprehensible by analogy
with truths of the natural order. What it is he apprehends, and what
are the analogies by which it can be made intelligible, will be
explained more fully hereafter. It is enough here to note the fact.
This apprehension makes the mystery to him thinkable, or capable of
being thought. That is, it causes the proposition of the mystery in
certain definite terms to convey a meaning to his mind, and not to be
a mere collocation of words without any sense to him. It makes him
apprehend what he is required to assent to, and puts before him an
object of thought upon which an intellectual act can be elicited. It
presents no contradiction to reason, and therefore there is no
obstacle to his giving the full assent of faith on the authority of
God.
It is otherwise with one who has been brought up in Judaism,
Unitarianism, or mere Rationalism; or whose merely traditional and
imperfect apprehension of Christian dogmas has been so mixed up with
heretical perversions that his mature reason has rejected it as
absurd. There is an impediment in the way of his receiving the mystery
of the Trinity as proposed by the Catholic Church, and believing it
possible that God can have revealed it. He may conceive of the
doctrine of the Trinity as affirming that an object can be one and
three in the same identical sense, which destroys all mathematical
truth. Or he may conceive of it, as dividing the divine substance into
three parts, forming a unity of composition and not a unity of
simplicity. Or he may conceive of it as multiplying the divine
essence, or making three co-ordinate deities, who concur and
co-operate with each other by mutual agreement. These conceptions are
equally absurd with the first, although it requires more thought to
discern their absurdity. It is necessary then to remove the apparent
absurdity of the doctrine, before any evidence of its being a {760}
revealed truth is admissible. The first misconception is so extremely
crude, that it is easily removed by the simple explanation that unity
and trinity are predicated of God in distinct and not identical
senses. The second, which is hardly less crude is disposed of by
pointing out the explicit statements in which the simplicity and
indivisibility of the divine substance in all of the Three Persons is
invariably affirmed. The third is the only real difficulty, the only
one which can remain long in an educated and instructed mind. The
objection urged on theological or philosophical grounds by really
learned men against the dogma of the Trinity, is, that it implies
Tritheism. The simplest and most ordinary method of removing this
objection, is by presenting the explicit and positive affirmation of
the church that there is but one eternal principle of self-existent,
necessary being, one first cause, one infinite substance possessing
all perfections. This is sufficient to show that the church denies and
condemns Tritheism, and affirms the strict unity of God. But, the
Unitarian replies, you hold a doctrine incompatible with this
affirmation, viz., that there are three Divine Persons, really
distinct and equal. This is met by putting forward the terms in which
the church affirms that it is the one, eternal, and infinite essence
of God which is in each of the Three Persons. The Unitarian is then
obliged to demonstrate that this distinction of persons in the Godhead
is unthinkable, and that unity of nature cannot be thought in
connection with triplicity of person. This he cannot do. The relation
of personality to nature is too abstruse, especially when we are
reasoning about the infinite, which transcends all the analogies of
our finite self-consciousness, to admit of a demonstration proving
absolutely that unity of nature supposes unity of person, and _vice
versa_, as its necessary correlative. The church affirms the unity of
substance in the Godhead in the clearest manner, sweeping away all
ground for gross misconceptions of a divided or multiplied deity; but
affirms also trinity in the mode of subsistence, or the distinction of
Three Persons, in each one of whom the same divine substance subsists
completely. This affirmation is above the comprehension of reason, but
not contrary to reason. Even Unitarians, in some instances, find no
difficulty in accepting the statement of the doctrine of the trinity
made by our great theologians, when it is distinctly presented to
them; and in the beautiful Liturgical Book used in some Unitarian
congregations, the orthodox doxology, "Glory be to the Father, and to
the Son, and to the Holy Ghost," has been restored.
The absurd misconception of what the church means by the word Trinity
being once removed, the evidence that her doctrine is revealed, or
that God affirms to us the eternal, necessary distinction of three
subsistences in his infinite being, becomes intelligible and credible.
Reason cannot affirm the intrinsic incompatibility of the proposition,
God reveals himself as subsisting in three persons, with the
proposition, there is one God; and therefore cannot reject conclusive
evidence that he does so reveal himself through the Catholic Church.
For aught reason can say, he may have so revealed himself. If
satisfactory evidence is presented that he has done so, reason is
obliged, in consistency with its principles, to examine and judge of
the evidence, and assent to the conclusion that the Trinity is a
revealed truth. This is enough for all practical purposes, and as much
as the majority of persons are capable of. But is this the _ultimatum_
of reason? Is it not possible to go further in showing the conformity
of the revealed truth with rational truths? Several eminent
theologians have endeavored to take this further step, and to
construct a metaphysical argument for the doctrine of the Trinity.
Some of the great contemplatives of the church, who are really the
most profound and sublime of her {761} theologians and philosophers,
have also through divine illumination appeared to gain an insight into
the depths of this mystery. For instance, St. Ignatius and St. Francis
de Sales both affirm that the truth and the mutual harmony of all the
divine mysteries were made evident to their intelligence in
contemplation. In modern times, Bossuet, Lacordaire, and Dr. Brownson
have reasoned profoundly on the rational evidence of the Trinity, and
a Roman priest, the Abbate Mastrofini, has published a work entitled
"Metaphysica Sublimior," in which he proposes as his thesis, Given
divine revelation, to prove the truth of all its dogmas by reason. The
learned and excellent German priest Guenther attempted the same thing,
but went too far, and fell into certain errors which were censured by
the Roman tribunals, and which he himself retracted. It is necessary
to tread cautiously and reverently, like Moses, for we are on holy
ground, and near the burning bush. We will endeavor to do so, and,
taking for our guide the decisions of the Church and the judgment of
her greatest and wisest men, to do our best to state briefly what has
been attempted in the way of eliciting an eminent act of reason on
this great mystery, without trenching on the domain of faith.
First, then, it is certain that reason cannot discover the Trinity of
itself. It must be first proposed to it by revelation, before it can
apprehend its terms or gain anything to reason upon. Secondly, when
proposed, its intrinsic necessity or reason cannot be directly or
immediately apprehended. If it can be apprehended at all, it must be
mediately, or through analogies existing in the created universe. Are
there such analogies, that is, are there any reflections or
representations of this divine truth in the physical or intellectual
world from which reason can construct a theorem parallel in its own
order with this divine theorem? Creation is a copy of the divine idea.
It represents God as a mirror. Does it represent him, that is, so far
as the human intellect is capable of reading it, not merely as he is
one in essence, but also as he is three in persons? Assuming the
Trinity as an hypothesis, which is all we can do in arguing with an
unbeliever, can we point out analogies or representations in creation
of which the Trinity is the ultimate reason and the infinite original?
If we can, do these analogies simply accord and harmonize with the
hypothesis that God must subsist in three persons, or do they indicate
that this is the most adequate or the only conceivable hypothesis, or
that it is the necessary, self-evident truth, without which the
existence of these analogies would be unthinkable and impossible? Do
these analogies, as we are able to discover them, represent an
adequate image of the complete Catholic dogma of the Trinity, or only
an inadequate image of a portion of it?
It is evident, in the first place, that some analogical representation
of the Trinity must be made in order to give the mind any apprehension
whatever of a real object of thought on which it can elicit an act of
faith. The terms in which the doctrine is stated, as for instance.
Father, Son, Holy Spirit, eternal generation, procession or spiration,
person, etc., are analogical terms, representing ideas which are
otherwise unspeakable, by images or symbols. It is impossible for the
mind to perceive that a proposed idea is simply not absurd, without
apprehending confusedly what the idea is, and possessing some positive
apprehension of its conformity to the logical, that is, the real
order. Every distinct act of belief in the Trinity, therefore, however
rudimental and imperfectly evolved into reflective cognition, contains
in it an apprehension of the analogy between it and creation. If we
proceed, therefore, to explicate this confused, inchoate conception,
we necessarily proceed by way of explicating the analogy spoken of,
because we must proceed by explaining the terms in which the doctrine
is stated, {762} which are analogical; and by pointing out what the
analogy is which the terms designate. What is meant by calling God
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Why is the relation of the Son to the
Father called filiation? Why is the relation of the Holy Spirit to
both called procession? The Niceno-Constantinopolitan and Athanasian
Creeds, all the other definitions of the church respecting the
Trinity, and all Catholic theology deduced from these definitions and
from Scripture and tradition by rational methods, are an explication
of the significance of these analogical terms. The only question which
can be raised then, is, in regard to the extent of the capacity of
human reason to discern the analogy between inward necessary relations
of the Godhead, and the outward manifestation of these relations in
the creation. The hypothesis of the Trinity assumes that this analogy
exists, and is to some extent apprehensible. We will now proceed to
indicate the process by which Catholic theologians show this analogy,
beginning with those terms of analogy which lie in the material order,
and ascending to those which lie in the order of spirit and
intelligence.
First, then, it is argued, that the law of generation in the physical
world, by which like produces like, represents some divine and eternal
principle. Ascending from the lower manifestation of this law to man,
we find this physical relation of generation the basis of a higher
filiation in which the soul participates. Man generates the image of
himself, in his son, who is not merely his bodily offspring, but
similar and equal to himself in his rational nature. As St. Paul says,
the principal of this paternity must be in God, and must therefore be
in him essential and eternal. But this principle of eternal, essential
paternity, within the necessary being of God, is the very principle of
distinct personal relations.
Again, the multiplicity of creation indicates that there is some
principle in the Divine Nature, corresponding in an eminent sense and
mode to this multiplicity. The relations of number are eternal truths,
and have some infinite transcendental type in God. If there were no
principle in the Divine Nature except pure, abstract unity, there
would be no original idea, from which God could proceed to create a
universe; which is necessarily multiplex and constituted in an
infinitude of distinct relations, yet all radically one, as proceeding
from one principle and tending to one end. Here is an analogy
indicating that unity and multiplicity imply and presuppose one the
other.
These two arguments combine when we consider the law of generation and
the principle of multiplicity as constituting human society and
building up the human race. Society, love, mutual communion,
reciprocal relations, kind offices, diversity in equality, constitute
the happiness and well being of man; they are an image and a
participation of the divine beatitude. All the good of the creature,
all the perfections of derived, contingent existences, have an eminent
transcendental type in God. Love, friendship, society, represent
something in the divine nature. If there were no personal relations in
God, but a mere solitude of being existing in a unity and singularity
exclusive of all plurality and society, it would seem that, supposing
creation possible, the rational creature would copy his archetype, be
single of his kind, and find his happiness in absolute solitude. It is
otherwise, however, with the human race. The human individual is not
single and solitary. Human nature is one in respect of origin and
kind, derived from one principle which is communicated by generation
and exists in plurality of persons. Society is necessary to the
perpetuation, perfection, and happiness of the human race. This
society is constituted primarily in a three-fold relation between the
father, the mother, and {763} the child, which makes the family; and
the family repeated and multiplied makes the tribe, the nation, and
the race. Taking now the hypothesis of three persons in one nature as
constituting the Godhead, it is plain that we have a clearer idea of
that in God which is represented and imitated in human society, and
which is the archetype of the life, the happiness, the love, existing
in the communion of distinct persons in one common nature, than we can
have in the hypothesis of an absolute singularity of person in the
deity. That good which man enjoys by fellowship with his equal and his
like, is a participation in the supreme good that is in God. In that
supreme good, this participated good must exist in an eminent manner.
God must have in himself infinite, all-sufficing society, fellowship,
love. He must have it in his necessary and eternal being, for he
cannot be dependent on that which is contingent and created. Supposing
therefore that it is consistent with the unity of his nature to exist
in three distinct and equal persons, not only is the analogy of his
creation to himself more manifest, but the conception we can form of
the perfection of his being is more complete and intelligible.
There is another analogy in the intellectual operation of the human
mind. The intellective faculty generates what may be called the
interior word, or image of the mind, the archetype of that which is
outwardly expressed in a philosophical theory, a poem, a picture, a
statue, or a work of architecture. Through this word, the great
creative mind lives and attains to the completion and happiness of
intellectual existence. It loves it as proceeding from and identical
with itself. Through it, it acts upon other minds, controls and
influences their thought and life; and thus the spirit proceeding from
the creative mind, through its generated word, is the completion of
its inward and outward operation. Thus, argue the theologians, the
Father contemplating the infinitude of his divine essence generates by
an infinite thought, the Word, or Son. Being infinite and uncreated,
his necessary act is infinite and uncreated, in all respects equal to
himself, and therefore the Word is equal to the Father; possesses the
plenitude of the divine essence, intelligence and personality. The
divine act of generation is not a purely intellectual cognition, but a
contemplation in which love is joined with knowledge. The Father
beholds the Son, and the Son looks back upon the Father, with infinite
love, which is the spiration of the divine life. This spiration or
spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is the consummating,
completing term of their unity, and contains the divine being which is
in the Father and the Son in all its plenitude; constituting a third
person, equal to the first and second. The operation of a limited,
finite, created soul presents only a faint, imperfect analogy of the
Trinity, because it is itself limited, as being the operation of a
soul participating in being only to a limited extent. Individual
existences possess each one a limited portion of being. But in God, it
is not so. There is no division in his nature, because the eternal,
self-existing cause and principle of its unity is a simultaneous cause
of its absolute plenitude by which it exhausts all possible being.
This plenitude of being is in the eternal generation of the second
person, and the eternal spiration of the third person in the Godhead,
on account of the necessary perfection of the most pure act in which
the being of God consists; wherefore personality is predicable, as one
of the perfections of being, of each of the three terms of relation in
God. The word of human reason and its spirit, are not equal to itself,
or personal, because of the limited and imperfect nature of human
reason, and its operations. The Word or Son of the Eternal Father, and
the Holy Spirit, are equal to him and personal, because the Father is
God, and his act is infinite.
{764}
This prepares the way for a different method of presenting the
argument from analogy, based on the conception of God as _actus
purissimus_, or most pure act. This is clearly and succinctly stated
by Dr. Brownson as follows:
"The one, or naked and empty unity, even in the Unitarian mind is
not the equivalent of God. When he says one, he still asks, one
what? The answer is, one God, which implies even with him something
more than unity. It implies unity and its real and necessary
contents as living or actual being. Unity is an abstract conception
formed by the mind operating on the intuition of the concrete, and
as abstract, has no existence out of the mind conceiving. Like all
abstractions, it is in itself dead, unreal, null. God is not an
abstraction, not a mere generalization, a creature, or a theorem of
the human mind, but one living and true God, existing from and in
himself, _ad se et se_. He is real being, being in its plenitude,
eternal, independent, self-living, and complete in himself. To live
is to act. To be eternally and infinitely living is to be eternally
and infinitely acting, is to be all act; and hence philosophers and
theologians term God, in scholastic language, most pure act, _actus
purissimus_. But act, all act demands, as its essential conditions,
principle, medium, and end. Unity, then, to be actual being, to be
eternally and purely act in itself, must have in itself the three
relations of principle, medium, and end, precisely the three
relations termed in Christian theology Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost--the Father as principle, the Son as medium, and the Holy
Ghost as end or consummation of the divine life. These three
interior relations are essential to the conception of unity as one
living and true God. Hence the radical conception of God as triune
is essential to the conception of God as one God, or real,
self-living, self-sufficing unity. There is nothing in this view of
the Trinity that asserts that one is three, or that three are one;
nor is there anything that breaks the divine unity, for the
triplicity asserted is not three Gods, or three divine beings, but a
threefold interior relation in the interior essence of the one God, by
virtue of which he is one actual, living God. The relations are in
the essence of the one God, and are so to speak the living contents
of his unity, without which he would be an empty, unreal
abstraction; one--nothing." [Footnote 184]
[Footnote 184: Brownson's Review, July, 1863, pp. 266, 267.]
There is still another way of stating the argument, founded on the
necessary relation between subject and object. In the rational order,
subject is that which apprehends and object that which is apprehended.
Intelligence is subject and the intelligible is object. The mere power
or capacity of intelligence, if it is conceived of in an abstract
manner as existing alone without relation to its object, must be
conceived of as not in actual exercise. Intelligence in act implies
something intelligible which terminates the act of intelligence. Even
supposing that the object of the intelligence is identical with the
subject, that is, that the rational mind contemplates itself as a
really existing substance, nevertheless there is a distinction between
the mind considered as the subject which contemplates, and the mind
considered as the object which is contemplated. The reason
contemplated must be projected before itself and regarded as an object
distinct from the contemplating reason in the act of contemplation.
The eye which sees objects external to itself, does not actually see
or bring its visual power into act until an object is presented before
it; and the individual does not become conscious that he can see or is
possessed of a visual faculty, except in the act of seeing an object.
The eye cannot see itself immediately by the mere fact that it is a
visual organ, but only sees itself as reflected in a mirror and made
objective to itself. God is the absolute intelligence and the absolute
intelligible, as has been proved in a previous chapter. He
contemplates and comprehends himself, and in this consists his active
being and life. Thus in the divine being there is the distinction of
subject and object. God considered as infinite intelligence is
subject, and considered as the infinite intelligible is his own
adequate object. The hypothesis of the Trinity presents to us God as
subject for intelligence in the person of the Father, as object, or
the intelligible, in the person of the Son. The Son is the image of
the Father, as the reflection of a man's form in the mirror is the
image of himself. The eternal generation of the Son is the {765}
eternal act of the Father contemplating his own being, and is
terminated upon the person of the Son as its object. As this act is
within the divine being, the image of the Father is not a merely
phenomenal, apparent, unsubstantial reflection of his being, but real,
living, and substantial. The Son is consubstantial with the Father.
The being of God is in the act of intelligence or contemplation,
whether we consider God as the subject or the object in this infinite
act, that is, as intelligent and contemplating, or as intelligible and
contemplated. The consummating principle of love, complacency, or
beatitude, which completes this act, vivifies it, and unites the
person of the Father with the person of the Son in one indivisible
being, is the Holy Spirit, equal to the Father and the Son, and
identical in being, because a necessary term of the most pure act in
which the divine life and being consists. All that is within the
circle of the necessary, essential being of God, as most pure,
intelligent, living act, is uncaused, self-existent, infinite,
eternal. By the hypothesis, we must conceive of God as subsisting in
the three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in order to conceive
of him as _ens in actu_, or in the state of actual, living, concrete
being, and not as a mere abstraction or possibility existing in
thought only; as infinite intelligence, and the adequate object of his
own intelligence, self sufficing and infinitely blessed in himself.
Therefore the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is
God. It is only by this triplicity of personal relations that the
unity of God as a living, concrete unity, or the unity of one,
absolute, perfect, infinite being, containing in himself the actual
plenitude of all that is conceivable or possible, can subsist or be
vividly apprehended. Therefore there cannot be, by the hypothesis, a
separate and distinct Godhead in each of the three persons, since
triplicity of person enters into the very essential idea of Godhead.
The hypothesis of the Trinity, therefore, absolutely compels the mind
to believe in the unity of God, and shuts out all possibility that
there should be more Gods than one, because it shuts out all
possibility of imagining any mode or form of necessary being which is
not included in the three personal relations of the one God. Unity and
plurality, singularity and society, capacity of knowing, loving, and
enjoying the true, the beautiful, and the good, and the adequate
object of this capacity, or the true, beautiful, and good _in se_, the
subject and the object of intelligent and spiritual life and activity,
intelligence and the intelligible, love and the loved, blessedness and
beatitude, subsist in him in actual being, which is infinite and
exhausts in its most pure act all that is in the uncreated, necessary,
self-existent principle of being and first cause. The adequate reason
and type of all contingent and created existences is demonstrated also
to be in the three personal relations of the one divine essence, in
such a way, that the hypothesis of the Trinity, as a theorem,
satisfactorily takes up, accounts for, and explains all discoverable
truths as well in regard to the universe as in regard to God.
This last statement indicates the answer which we think is the most
correct one to the question proposed in the beginning of this chapter,
as to the full logical force of the rational argument for the Trinity.
That is, we regard it as a hypothesis which in the first place is
completely insusceptible of rational refutation. In the second place,
contains certain truths which are established by very strong probable
arguments and analogies. In the third place, suggests a conception of
God which harmonizes with all the truth we know, or can see to be
probable, and at the same time is more perfect and sublime than any
which can be made, excluding the hypothesis. We do not claim for it
the character of a strict demonstration. To certain minds it seems to
approach {766} very near a demonstration, probably because their
intellectual power of vision is unusually acute. To others it appears
nearly or quite unintelligible. Probably but few persons comparatively
can grasp it in such a way as to attain a true intellectual insight
into the relation between the doctrine of the Trinity and philosophy.
Yet all those who have thought much on the doctrine, and who find
their great difficulty in believing it to consist in a want of
apparent connection with other truths, ought to be able to appreciate
the philosophical argument by which the connection is shown. They must
have an aptitude for apprehending arguments of this nature, otherwise
they would not think on the subject so intently. All they can justly
expect is that the impediment in their minds against believing that
the doctrine is credible, or not incredible, supposing it revealed,
should be removed. This is done by the arguments of Catholic
theologians. If the doctrine be revealed, it is credible; that is, an
intelligent person can in perfect consistency with the dictates of
reason assent to the proposition that God has revealed it, and that it
is therefore credible on his veracity. The ground of the positive and
unwavering assent of the mind is in the veracity of God, and remains
there, no matter how far the reasoning process may be carried; for
without the revelation of God, the conception of the Trinity,
supposing it once obtained, would for ever remain a mere hypothesis,
though the most probable of all which could be conceived.
As already explained, it is only by a supernatural grace that the mind
is elevated to a state in which it clearly and habitually contemplates
the object of faith as revealed by God. By divine faith, the intellect
believes without doubting the mystery of the three persons in one
divine nature, and incorporates this belief into its life, as a
vivifying truth and not a dead, inert, abstract speculation or
theorem. When it is thus believed, and taken as a certain truth, the
intellect, if it is capable of apprehending the argument from analogy,
may be able to see that the Trinity is really that truth which is the
archetype that has been copied in creation, and is indicated in the
analogies already pointed out. It may see that one cannot think
logically unless he is first instructed in the doctrine of the Trinity
and proceeds from it as a given truth or datum of reasoning. Thus, he
may by the light of faith attain an elevated kind of science, or
eminent act of reason, which really rests on indubitable principles.
Yet it will not be properly science or knowledge of the revealed
mysteries, since one of these indubitable principles on which all the
consequences depend, is revelation itself, which really constitutes
the mind in a certitude of that which on merely rational principles
remains always inevident. Probably this is what is meant by those who
maintain that the Trinity can be rationally demonstrated. Given, that
the Trinity is a revealed truth, it explains and harmonizes in the
sphere of reason what is otherwise inexplicable. It is the same with
other revealed truths, and to prove that it is so is the principal
object of this essay. Presented in this light, the Catholic dogma of
the Trinity vindicates its claim to be a necessary part of religious
belief; an essential dogma of Christianity, revealed and made
obligatory for an intelligible reason, and essential to the formation
of a complete and adequate theology and philosophy. It is no longer
regarded as a naked, speculative, isolated proposition; to which a
merely intellectual assent is required by a precept of authority, and
which has no living relation to other truths or to the practical,
spiritual life of the soul. It is shown to be a universal and
fundamental truth, the basis of all truth and of the entire real and
logical order of the universe.
{767}
This can be shown much more easily, and to the majority of minds more
intelligibly, in relation to the other truths of Christianity, than to
those truths which are more recondite and metaphysical. It is
necessary to an adequate explication of the creation, of the destiny
of rational existences, of the supernatural order, of the character
and mission of Christ, of the regeneration of man through him, and of
his final end or supreme and eternal beatitude and glorification in
the future life, as will be shown hereafter. Deprived of this dogma,
Christianity is baseless, unmeaning, and worthless; and is infallibly
disintegrated and reduced to nihilism, by the necessary laws of
thought. This is true also of theism, or natural theology. And this
suggests a powerful subsidiary argument in a different line of
reasoning, proving that the doctrine of the Trinity is necessary to
the perfection and perpetuity of the doctrine of the unity of God.
The same universal tradition which has handed down the pure, theistic
conception, and has instructed mankind in the true, adequate knowledge
of God, has handed down the Trinity, and traces of it are even found
in heathen theosophy and the more profound heathen philosophy.
Wherever the doctrine of the Trinity has been preserved, there the
clear conception of the one God and his attributes has been preserved.
And where this doctrine has been corrupted or lost, the conception of
God as one living being of infinite perfection, the first and final
cause of all things, has passed away into polytheism or pantheism or
scepticism. Wherever God is apprehended as the supreme creator and
sovereign, the supreme object of worship, obedience, and love, in
intimate personal relations to man, he is apprehended in the personal
relations which subsist in himself, that is, in the Trinity. His
interior personal relations are the foundation of all external
personal relations to his creatures. This is even true of Unitarians,
so long as they retain the Christian ethical and spiritual temper
which connects them with the Christian world of thought and life, and
do not slide into some form of infidelity. They retain some imperfect
conception of the relations of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and in
proportion as they become more positive in religion, they revive and
renew this conception. The effort to make a system of living,
practical theistic religion is feeble and futile, and what little
consistency and force it has is derived from the conception of the
fatherhood of God borrowed from Christian theology; but imperfect
without the two additional terms which constitute the complete
conception of the Trinity. All this is a powerful argument for a
Theist or a Unitarian in favor of the divine origin and authority of
the Catholic dogma. The instruction which completes the inward
affirmation of God in the idea of reason, and is the complement of the
creative act constituting the soul rational, must be from the Creator.
He alone can complete his own work. It is contrary to all rational
conceptions of the wisdom of God to suppose that he has permitted that
the same instruction which teaches mankind to know, to worship, to
love, and to aspire after himself, should hand down in inseparable
connection with the eternal truth of the unity of his essence, the
doctrine of the threefold personal relations within this unity, if
this were an error diametrically its opposite, and not a truth equally
necessary and eternal.
------
{768}
From The Month.
CAIRO AND THE FRANCISCAN MISSIONS ON THE NILE.
On the 25th November, 186--, a small but crowded steamer was seen
ploughing its way through the waves at the entrance to the port of
Alexandria. Its living freight was of a motley description: there were
the usual proportion of Indian passengers--Indian officers returning
with their wives after sick-leave; engineer officers going out to lay
down the electric telegraph--one of whom, young in years but old in
knowledge, whose distinguished merit had already raised him to the
first place in his profession, was never again destined to see his
native shores. Then there were others seeking health, and about to
exchange the damp, foggy climate of England for the warm, dry,
invigorating air of Nubia and the Upper Nile. They had had a horrible
passage, in a small and badly-appointed steamer, of which all the
port-holes had to be closed on account of the gale, leaving the
wretched inhabitants of the cabins in a state of suffocation difficult
to describe. So that it was with intense joy that the jetty was at
last reached; and in the midst of a noise and confusion impossible to
describe, the passengers were landed on the dirty quay, and were
dragged rather than led into the carriages which were to convey them
to the hotel. It was the feast of St. Catharine, the patron saint of
Alexandria, to whom the great cathedral is dedicated; and in
consequence the town was more than usually gay. Towards evening a
beautiful procession was formed, and Benediction sung in the
cathedral, which is served by the Lazarist fathers. It was the best
day to arrive at Alexandria, and the prayers of the virgin saint and
martyr were earnestly invoked by some of the party for a blessing on
their voyage and a safe and happy return.
To one who has been for a long time in the East, Alexandria appears a
motley collection of half European, half Arabian houses, and the
refuse of the populations of each; but on first landing, everything
appears new, beautiful, and strange. The long files of camels, the
veiled women, the variety of the dresses are all striking; but the one
thing which even the most hackneyed Nile traveller cannot fail to
admire is the vegetation. Enormous groves of date-palms and bananas,
with an underwood of poncettias, their scarlet leaves looking like red
flamingos amid the dark-green leaves, and ipomeas of every shade--
lilac, yellow, and above all turquoise-blue--climbing over every
ruined wall, and exquisite in color as in form, delight an eye
accustomed to see such things carefully tended in hothouses only, or
paid for at the rate of five shillings a spray in Covent Garden. The
sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul have two very large
establishments here--one a hospital, to which is attached a large
dispensary, attended daily by hundreds of Arabs; the other a school
and orphanage of upwards of 1000 children. There are thirty-seven
sisters, and their work is bearing its fruit, not only among the
Christian but the native population. To our English travellers the
very sight of their white "cornettes" was an assurance of love and
kindness and welcome in this strange land; and it was with a glad and
thankful heart that they found themselves once more kneeling in their
chapel, and felt that no bond is like that of charity, uniting as in
one great family every nation upon earth.
{769}
After a couple of days' rest, our English party started by the
railroad for Cairo. This journey was not as commonplace as it sounds;
for at each station the train was besieged by Arabs, clamoring for
passages, between 300 and 400 at a time; so that it required all the
efforts of the guards and their dragoman to prevent their carriage
being taken from them by main force. The beauty of Cairo is the theme
of every writer on Egypt and the Nile; but it would be impossible to
exaggerate its extreme picturesqueness, the exquisite carving of its
mosques and gateways; the oriental character of its narrow streets and
bazaars and courts; the beauty of the costumes, and of the fretted
lattice casements overhanging the streets; the gorgeous interior
fittings of the mosques, one of which is entirely lined with oriental
alabaster; the magnificent fountains in the outer courts of each; the
graceful minarets--all seen in the clearness and beauty of this
perfectly cloudless sky, leave a picture in one's mind which no
subsequent travel can efface. Outside the town is a perfect "city of
the dead;" all the pashas and their families are interred there, and
people "live among the tombs," as described in the Gospels; while on
Fridays the Mohammedans have services there for their dead, "that they
may be loosed from their sins;" one of those curious fragments of
Christianity which are continually cropping out of this strange
Mohammedan worship.
One of the most interesting expeditions made by our travellers was to
Heliopolis. They passed through a sandy plain full of cotton,
date-palms, and bananas, and by a succession of miserable native huts,
(which consist of mud walls, with a roof of Indian corn, and a hole
left in the wall for light,) until they came to an obelisk, and from
thence to a garden, in the centre of which is a sycamore tree,
carefully preserved, under which the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph are
said to have rested with the infant Saviour on their flight into
Egypt. It is close to a well of pure water, and surrounded with the
most beautiful roses and Egyptian jasmine. The Mohammedans have the
greatest veneration for the "Sitt Miriam," as they call the Blessed
Virgin. They proof her immaculate conception from the Koran, and keep
a fast of fifteen days before the Assumption; therefore no surprise
was felt at seeing the care with which this grand old tree is tended
and watered by them.
Another expedition made by the travellers was to Old Cairo, where,
near the famous Nilometer, is the Coptic convent and chapel built over
the house of the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph, where they are said to
have lived for two years with our Blessed Lord. There are some very
beautiful ancient marble columns and fine olive-wood carvings, inlaid
with ivory, in this church, and a staircase leads down to the Virgin's
House, which is now partly under water from the rise of the Nile. It
is curious how persistently all early tradition points to this spot as
the site of our Saviour's Egyptian sojourn, and it was with a feeling
of simple faith in its authenticity that one of the party knelt and
strove to realize this portion of the sacred infancy.
There are three Catholic churches in Cairo, the cathedral being a fine
large building. The sisters of "the Good Shepherd" have also a large
convent near the cathedral, and an admirable day-school and orphanage.
Many dark-eyed young girls whom our travellers saw kneeling at
benediction there had been rescued by the kind Mother from worse than
Egyptian slavery. The condition of the "fellahs," or lower orders, in
Egypt, is appalling from its misery and degradation; and the good
sisters have very uphill work to humanize as well as christianize
these poor children. {770} Nothing can be more wretched than the
position of the women, especially throughout Egypt. If at all
good-looking, they are brought up for the harems; if not, they are
kept as "hewers of wood and drawers of water;" and the idea of their
having _souls_ seems as little believed by the Mohammedan as by the
Chinese, whose incredulity on the subject the Abbe Hue mentions so
amusingly in his missionary narrative.
Before leaving Cairo the English ladies were invited to spend an
evening in the royal harem, and accordingly at eight o'clock found
themselves in a beautiful garden, with fountains, lit by a multitude
of variegated lamps, and conducted by black eunuchs through
trellis-covered walks to a large marble-paved hall, where about forty
Circassian slaves met them and escorted them to a saloon fitted up
with divans, at the end of which reclined the pasha's wives. One of
them was singularly beautiful, and exquisitely dressed, in pink velvet
and ermine, with priceless jewels. Another very fine figure was that
of the mother, a venerable old princess, looking exactly like a
Rembrandt just come out of its frame. Great respect was paid to her,
and when she came in, every one rose. The guests being seated, or
rather squatted, on the divan, each was supplied with long pipes,
coffee in exquisite jewelled cups, and sweetmeats, the one succeeding
the other, without intermission, the whole night. The Circassian
slaves, with folded hands and downcast eyes, stood before their
mistresses, to supply their wants. Some of them were very pretty, and
dressed with great richness and taste. Then began a concert of Turkish
instruments, which sounded unpleasing to English ears, followed by a
dance, which was graceful and pretty; but this again followed by a
play, in which half the female slaves were dressed up as men, and the
coarseness of which it is impossible to describe. The wife of the
foreign minister kindly acted as interpreter for the English ladies,
and through her means some kind of conversation was kept up. But the
ignorance of the ladies in the harem is unbelievable. They can neither
read nor write; their whole day is employed in dressing, bathing,
eating, drinking, and smoking. The soiree lasted till two in the
morning, when the royalty withdrew, and the English ladies returned
home, feeling the whole time as if they had been seeing a play acted
from a scene in the Arabian Nights, so difficult was it to realize
that such a way of existence was possible in the present century.
The Sunday before they left, curiosity led them after mass to witness
the gorgeous ceremonial of the Coptic Church. The men sat on the
ground with bare feet, the women in galleries above the dome, behind
screens. The patriarch--who calls himself the successor of St. Mark,
and is the leader of a sect whose opinions are almost identical with
those condemned by the council of Chalcedon as the Eutychian
heresy--was gorgeously attired in a chasuble of green and gold, with a
silver crosier in one hand, (St. George and the dragon being carved on
the top,) and in the other a beautiful gold crucifix, richly jewelled,
wrapped in a gold- handkerchief, which every one stooped to
kiss, after the reading of the gospel and the creed, the people joined
with great fervor in the litanies; and then began the consecration of
the sacred species, which lasted a very long time. The holy eucharist
was given in a spoon to each communicant, the bread being dipped in
the wine, and the patriarch laying his hand on the forehead of each
person while he gave the blessing. At the same time, blessed bread
stamped with a cross, and with the name of Christ, was handed round to
the rest of the congregation, like the _pain benit_ in village
churches in France. The Copts boast that there has never been the
slightest alteration in their religious rites since the fourth
century, and they are undoubtedly the only descendents of the ancient
Egyptians.
{771}
The following morning a portion of our travellers started by train for
Suez, across a waving, billowy-looking tract of interminable sand.
Except the "half-way house," (a miserable shed,) there is no human
habitation all the way, and nothing to be seen but long files of
camels slowly wending their way across the desert. After enjoying for
a few minutes the first sight of the Red Sea, the consul obligingly
lent them horses to ride to the Lesseps Canal, which was then
completed to within six miles of Suez. Upward of 5000 Arabs had been
pressed into the service by the pasha, and the poor creatures were
toiling under the burning sun, with no pay and wretched food, and,
when night came, sleeping under the banks. The mortality among them
was frightful; but it was in this way that the pasha paid for his
shares! Our travellers tasted the water, the first that had ever been
brought to Suez, except by camels, or, of late, by the _water-train_.
It is difficult to realize the fact of a town of this size being
entirely without fresh water until now, which accounts for the absence
of the least kind of vegetation. The next morning a steamer took our
party early to the wells of Moses, about nine miles up the gulf, where
they landed, being carried through the surf by the Chinese rowers.
Each of the wells is enclosed in a little fence, and belongs to a Suez
merchant. It is a wonderful spot, so green and so lovely in the midst
of such utter desolation. There are dates and banians, roses and
pomegranates, salads and other vegetables, all growing in the greatest
luxuriance. Long strings of camels filed across the sand on their way
to Mount Sinai, and the coloring of the mountains was exquisite. The
shore was covered with coral and shells. After spending an hour or two
there, and reading the Bible account of the spot, our travellers
returned to the ship, and went across the gulf to see the exact place
where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea when pursued by Pharaoh. The
view was beautiful, and the Hill of Barda stood out brightly with its
jagged points dear and purple against the glowing sky. The Catholics
have a small church at Suez, but are building a larger one, as their
mission is greatly on the increase.
Our travellers returned that evening to Cairo and for the first time
slept on board their boats, or daha-bieh. The first sensation was of
discomfort at the smallness of the cabins; but soon they got used to
their floating homes, and the beauty of the weather enabled them to
live all day long on the awning-covered poop; so that they soon ceased
to feel cramped and uncomfortable. The following day, the wind being
contrary, Latifa Pasha, the head of the Admiralty, gave them a steamer
to tow them up to Gizeh, from whence they were to visit the Pyramids.
The excessive depth of each stone makes the ascent an arduous one for
women; but the view amply repays one for the exertion. On one side is
the interminable desert; on the other, the fertile "Land of Goshen."
Owing to the recent inundations, the party had continually to dismount
from their donkeys and be carried across the water on men's backs. The
next few days passed quickly, our travellers landing every morning to
walk and sketch, while the men were "tracking" along the shore, and
making acquaintance with all the people and places of interest as they
passed. At El-Atfeh was a remarkable dervish of the tribe they had
seen "dancing" in Cairo, who showed them his house, in the court of
which was the tomb of his predecessor, hung with ostrich-eggs, canoes
and other votive offerings, but hideously painted in bright green. At
Bibbeh there was a very fine Coptic church, with a picture of St.
George and the Dragon, who is the favorite saint throughout the East,
and venerated alike by Christian and Moslem. Again, on their way to
Minieh, they passed by a fine Coptic convent on the top of a {772}
cliff, and two of the monks swam to the boats to ask for alms and
offerings, which are never refused them. On the 20th December they
reached Sawada, which is a village somewhat inland, but containing a
large Coptic convent and church, served by six priests, and with a
congregation of upwards of 1000 Christians. It was also an important
burial-place, and there were multitudes of little domes looking like
children's sand-basins reversed, but each surmounted with a cross. One
of the ladies was sketching this picturesque village from a palm-grove
at the entrance of the principal gateway, when a venerable priest
approached her and made that sign which in the East is the freemasonry
of brotherhood--the sign of the Cross. The lady instantly responded,
and the old priest, joyfully clapping his hands, led her into the
church, showing her all its carious carvings and decorations, and
several very ancient MSS. There are some fine mountains at the back,
in which the gentlemen of the party discovered some wolves. The next
day brought them to Beni-Hassan. The caves, which are about three
miles from the shore, were originally used as tombs by the ancient
Egyptians, and are covered with paintings and hieroglyphics; but their
chief interest arises from their having been the great hiding-place of
the Christians during the persecutions, and also used as cells by St.
Anthony, St. Macarius, and other anchorites. A little farther on, near
Manfaloot, is the cave of St. John the Hermit, venerated to this hour
as such by the natives. On Christmas-day our travellers arrived at
Sioot, and found there a Catholic church served by the Franciscan
mission, which is under the special protection of the Emperor of
Austria, who has sent some very good pictures for the altars there.
The mass was reverently and well sang, and about 150 Catholics were
present. After mass, the Italian padre gave them coffee. He had been
educated at the "Propaganda," but had been twenty-four years in Egypt;
so that he had almost forgotten every language except Arabic. He said
that they had now obtained a union with the Copts, and a Coptic mass
followed the Latin one. The mission had been established at Sioot four
years before, by the intervention of Said Pasha, but had encountered
great opposition at first from the Moslems. Two bodies of Christian
saints with all the signs of martyrdom had been lately discovered in
the caves above the town; but the Mohammedans would not allow the
Christians to have them. The good old Franciscan had studied medicine,
and thus first made his way among the people. Now he seems to be
universally respected and beloved.
Our party rode through the dirty bazaars of this so-called capital of
Upper Egypt, and ascended to the caves. But the "City of the Dead", a
little beyond the town, is mournfully beautiful and silent. It is
composed of streets of tombs, of white stone or marble, the only sign
of life being the jar of water left in front of each, to water the
aloes planted in picturesque vases at the gate of each tomb. A whole
poem might be written on the thoughts suggested by those silent
streets. It was this "City of the Dead" which is said to have
occasioned the valuable lesson given by St. Macarius to the young man
who had asked him "how he could best learn indifference to the world's
opinion?" He directed him to go to this place, and first upbraid and
then flatter the dead. The young man did as he was bid. When he came
back, the saint asked him "what answer they had made?" The young man
replied, "None at all." Then said St. Macarius: "Go and learn from
them neither to be moved by injuries or flatteries. If you thus die to
the world and to yourself, you will begin to live to Christ."
{773}
Here for the first time our travellers realized the horrors of an
Egyptian conscription. A number of villagers coming in to the Sunday's
market were at once seized, chained together, and thrown on the ground
like so much "dead stock" to be packed off on board a government
vessel, when the fall complement had been secured. The screams and
howls of their wives and daughters, throwing dirt on their heads and
tearing their hair, in token of despair, when their frantic efforts to
release them from the recruiting-sergeants were found ineffectual,
were most piteous to hear. The poor fellows rarely survive to return
to their homes; and their pay and food are so miserably small and
scanty, that to be made a soldier is looked upon as worse than death.
They maim themselves in every way to escape it--cutting off their
forefingers, putting out their eyes, and the like. Scarcely a man on
board the boats is not mutilated in this manner. In the evening, being
Christmas-day, all the boats were illuminated with Chinese lanterns
and avenues of palms; while the sailors made crosses and stars of
palm-leaves, to hang over the cabin-doors. A beautiful moon-light
night added to the effect of these decorations, as the party rowed
round the different _dahabiehs_, and the "Adeste fidelis" sounded
softly across the water. The following morning, after early mass, a
favorable wind carried them on to Ekhnim, where there is also a
Catholic Franciscan missionary and church. The priest was a
Neapolitan, and had begun his labors at Suez. His only companion was a
native Copt, who had been educated at the Propaganda. They had about
five hundred Catholics in their congregation, and a school of about
fifty children. The church was of the fifteenth century, and under the
protection of a Christian sheik, to whom our travellers were
introduced, and who courteously invited them into his house. The
courtyard of the Catholic church was crowded with native Christians
who had escaped from the conscription, and were safe under the roof of
the priest. The sheik conducted his guests to his house, the only good
one in Ekhnim, and furnished more or less in European style, as he had
been at Cairo, and attached to the household of the late viceroy. They
sat on the divan, with pipes and coffee, talking Italian with the
priest, when the sheik, as a great honor, allowed them to see his
wife, and afterward his daughter, a bride of thirteen, married to the
son of the Copt bishop. She was dressed in red, as a bride, with a red
veil and a profusion of gold ornaments and coins strung round her neck
and arms. The sheik and the whole population escorted our travellers
back to their boats with every demonstration of respect, and then the
principal chiefs with the priests were invited to come on board and
have coffee, which they accepted. The Franciscan father had been for
seven years at Castellamare, and felt the change terribly, but said
that the climate was good, and that the comfort of feeling he was
working for God strengthened his hands when he was inclined to
despond. He complained of the lamentable ignorance of the Coptic
priests, who knew nothing of the history of their interesting old
churches and convents, and only tell you "they were built before their
fathers were born!" The two large Coptic convents formerly existing in
the mountains above the town are deserted; but their church at Ekhnim
is the oldest now remaining in Egypt, and full of curious carving and
very ancient pillars.
On New Year's day our travellers arrived at Denderah, and spent it in
the wonderful temple of Athor. The heat was very great, and it
required some courage to attempt to sketch. At five the following
morning the boats arrived at Keneh, and some of the party went on
shore to mass, that being also a Franciscan station. The church is
small, but very nicely kept; the place is, however, unhealthy, and the
good Franciscan father was very low at the mortality among his
comrades. He has lately started a school and has about twenty
children; but his life is a very desolate one, having {774} no
European to speak to, or any one to sympathize in his work. After mass
he took our travellers to see the making of the _goolehs_, or
water-bottles, which are so famous throughout Egypt, and are made
solely in this place, of the peculiar clay of the district, mixed with
the ashes of the halfeh grass. They are beautiful in form, and keep
the water deliciously cool. After a breakfast of coffee and excellent
dates at the sheik's house, the party reembarked, and arrived that
evening at Negaddi. Here again they found a Catholic mission. The
superior, Padre Samuele, had been laboring there for twenty-three
years. He was of the Lyons mission, and was the only one who had
survived the climate. Four of his brethren had died within the last
twelvemonth, and he had just dug a grave for the last. They had a
large and devout congregation, and a school of one hundred and fifty
children, and had been building a new church of very fine and good
proportions. But now the good father has to labor and live alone. He
said, however, that he had written to Europe for fresh workers, whom
he was anxiously expecting. Negaddi is remarkable for its turreted
pigeon-houses, painted white and red, which form an amusing contrast
to the miserable mudholes in which the inhabitants live. The following
evening found our travellers at Thebes. The town itself is a surprise
and disappointment. There are literally no shops, no bazaar, no houses
but the two or three belonging to the consuls, and built in the midst
of the temples. But the said temples are unrivalled for interest and
beauty. Karnac, either by daylight or moonlight, is a thing apart from
all others in the world for vastness of conception and magnificence of
design. "There were giants in those days." The same may be said of the
Tombs of the Kings, of the Vocal Memnon, of the Memnouium, of Medemet
Haboo, and the rest. The marvel is, what has become of the people who
created such things; who had brought civilization, arts, and
manufactures to such perfection that nothing modern can surpass them.
Is it not a lesson to our pride and our materialism, when we think of
them and of ourselves, and then see the degraded state of the modern
Egyptian, the utter extinction of the commonest art or even handicraft
among them, so that it is scarcely possible, even in Cairo, to get an
ordinary deal table made with a drawer in it? There is no Catholic
mission at Thebes, but a Coptic bishop, who received our travellers
very kindly, showed them his church, and gave them coffee on a terrace
overlooking the Nile. This evening was "twelfth-night," and the boats
were again illuminated and decorated with palms, the whole having a
beautiful effect reflected in the water.
After spending a week at Thebes, Our travellers sailed on to Assouan,
visiting the temples of Esneh, Edfoo, and Komom-Boo on their way, and
coming into the region of crocodiles and pelicans, and of the Theban
or dom palm--less graceful than the date palm, but still beautiful,
and bearing a large, nut-like fruit in fine hanging clusters. Between
Edfoo and Thebes are shown some caves, in one of which St. Paul, the
first hermit, passed so many years of penitence and prayer. He was
discovered by St. Antony in his old age, when tempted to vain-glory,
God having revealed to him that there was a recluse more perfect than
himself, whom he was to go into the desert and seek. A beautiful
picture in the gallery at Madrid by Velasquez represents the meeting
of the two venerable saints, the dinner brought to them by the raven,
and the final interment of St. Paul by St. Antony in the cloak of St.
Athanasius, the lions assisting to dig the grave!
Assouan is, as it were, the gate of the Cataracts, and is on the
borders of Nubia, the great desert of Syene being to the left of the
village. The Nubian caravans were tented on the shore, and tempting
the Europeans with daggers, knives, {775} ostrich-eggs, poisoned
arrows, rhinoceros hide shields, lances and monkeys. The climate was
delicious. There is no country in the world to be compared with Egypt
at this time of the year, because, in spite of the heat, there is a
lightness and exhilaration in the air which makes every one well and
hungry. To an artist the coloring is equally perfect. No one who has
not been there can imagine what the sunrises and sunsets are,
especially the after-glow at sunset. No artificial red, orange, or
purple can approach it. Then the gracefulness of the palms on the
banks, the rosy color of the mountains, the picturesque sakeels or
water-wheels, and the still prettier shadoof, with its mournful sound,
which seems as the wail of the patient slave who works it day and
night, and thereby produces the exquisite tender green vegetation on
the banks of the river, due to this artificial irrigation alone--all
are a continual feast to the eye of the painter. And if all this is
felt below Assouan, what can be said of Philae--beautiful Philae--that
"dream of loveliness," as a modern writer justly calls it?
Our travellers, while waiting for the interminable arrangements with
the Reis of the Cataracts, took the road along the shore; and after
passing through a succession of curious and picturesque villages,
arrived at one called Mahatta, where they hired a little boat to take
them across to the beautiful island. Rocks of the most fantastic
shapes are piled up on both sides of the shore; but when once you have
emerged from these into the deep water, "Pharaoh's Bed" and the other
temples stand out against the sky in all their wonderful beauty.
Philae was the burial-place of Osiris, and "By him who sleeps in
Philae" was the common oath of the old Egyptians. The temples are too
well known by drawings to need description; but what is less often
mentioned by travellers is that the larger one, originally dedicated
to the sun, was used for a long time by the Christians as a church.
Consecration crosses are deeply engraved on every one of these grand
old pillars; and at one end is an altar, with a cross in the centre,
in white marble, and a piscina at the side, with a niche for the
sacred elements; and above this recess is a beautiful cross deeply cut
in the stone, together with the emblem of the vine. The cross is also
let into the principal gateways. There was an Italian inscription
commemorating the arrival of the first Roman mission sent by Gregory
XVI., and a tablet in French recording the arrival of the French army
there under Napoleon in 1799, signed by General Davoust.
The gentlemen of the party decided to pitch their tents in the island
till the question of the passing of the Cataracts was decided; and
while this operation was going on, one of the ladies sat down to
sketch. She was quietly painting, luxuriating in the beauty and
silence around her, and watching the sun setting gloriously behind the
temple, when all of a sudden a deep bell boomed across the water and
was repeated half-a-dozen times. It was the "Angelus." Even the least
Catholic of the party was struck and impressed by this unexpected
sound, so unusual in a country where bells are unknown, and the only
call for prayer is from the minaret top. Instinctively they knelt, and
then arose the question "Where could the bell come from?" There was no
sign of habitation or human beings either on the island itself or on
the opposite shores, and the dragoman himself was equally at fault. At
last, on questioning the boatmen, they found that behind some hills a
short distance off was a convent--sort of "convalescent home" for the
sick monks of the Barri mission. The English lady decided at once to
go and see it, and on arriving at the long low stone building, found
that the Franciscan father, who was almost its solitary occupant, had
just returned from the White Nile, being one of a mission to the
blacks in the Barri country, a month's journey south of Khartoun.
{776} He had been at death's door from fever; and on leaving Khartoun
for Philae, an eighteen days' ride on camels, had been attacked by
dysentery, and left for dead in the burning desert by the caravan;
only a faithful black convert remained by his side, and he felt that
his last hour was come; when the arrival of poor Captain Speke, on his
way home from one of his last explorations, changed the state of
things. With true Christian charity our countryman at once ordered a
halt, and devoted himself to the nursing and doctoring of the dying
monk; so that in a few days he was so far recovered as to be able to
resume his journey, and arrived safely at Philae. He said he owed his
life, under God, entirely to the kindness of this Englishman; and his
only anxiety seemed to be to show his gratitude by doing everything he
could for those of his nation. He invited our travellers to take up
their abode in the convent, and gave them a most interesting account
of the missionary work of his order. They have chartered a small
vessel, which they have called the "Stella Matutina," and which plies
up and down the river, and enables them to visit their stations on
each bank. But they have every kind of hardship to encounter from the
treachery or stupidity or positive hostility of the different tribes,
from the intense heat, and above all, from the deadly malaria which
had carried off seventy of their brothers in three years. But there
are ever fresh soldiers of this noble army ready and eager to fill up
the ranks.
The ladies rode home by the way of the desert, and reached their boats
in safety. The next morning, at five o'clock, the same road was
resumed by two of the party who were anxious to to reach the convent
in time for the early mass. They met nothing on their seven-miles'
ride but a hyaena, who was devouring a camel which they had left dying
the night before. The little convent chapel was very nice; and among
the vestments sent by the _oeuvre apostolique_ and worked by the
ladies of the Leopoldstadt mission, one of the party recognized a
court-dress which had been presented for the purpose by a Hungarian
friend of hers at Rome. It was strange to find it again in the depths
of Nubia. The mass was served by two little woolly-haired <DW64> boys
from the good old father's school, whose attachment to him was like
that of a dog to its master. He was in some trouble as to finding
clothes for them. The Nubians dispense with every thing of the kind
except a fringed leathern girdle round the loins, decorated with
shells. The children have not even that. However, in the _dahabieh_ a
piece of rhododendron-patterned chintz was found, carefully sent from
England for the covering of the divans; and with that, certain
articles of dress were manufactured, gorgeous in coloring, and
therefore perfect in native eyes, however ludicrous and incongruous
they might appear to Europeans. The following day was fixed for one of
the boats to go up the cataracts, and the party started early for what
is called the "first gate," to see the operation. No one who has not
lived for some months with this "peuple criard," as Lamartine calls
them, can imagine the din and screaming of the Arabs as each dangerous
rapid is passed; the Reis all the time shouting and storming and
leaping from one stone to the other like one possessed. But the ascent
is child's play compared to the descent. So many accidents have
happened in the latter, and so many boats have been swamped, that the
captains now insist on the passengers landing on an island near, while
their boats rush down the rapids. It is a beautiful sight, the way
those apparently unwieldy vessels are steered, and clear the rocks as
it were with a bound, amidst the frantic yells and cheers of the whole
population. A number of men, for a trifling baksheesh, swam down the
current on logs; one with his little child before him; but an
Englishman, attempting {777} to do it a year or two ago, was caught in
the whirlpool and instantly drowned. After watching this exciting
operation, the party dined together at Philae in their tent, and then
rowed round and round the island by moonlight, which exceeded in
loveliness all they had hitherto seen; the vividness of the
reflections were beyond belief; and reading or writing was easy in the
brilliant light.
Our traveller availed herself of the kind Father Michael Angelo's
proposal, and slept at the convent. He gave them some curious arms,
and hippopotamus-teeth from the White Nile, and some ostrich-eggs
arranged as drinking-vessels, with shells and leather strips: his sole
furniture in his native tent. The English, in return, gave him a
quantity of medicines, which he eagerly accepted for his mission, to
which he was hoping to return. After early mass the next day, he
escorted them to see the Island of Biggeh with its picturesque temple,
and then to the quarries of Syene, where an uncut obelisk of great
size still remains embedded in the sand. Some idea was entertained in
England of using it for Prince Albert's monument; but the difficulty
of carriage and the distance from the river would make its transfer
almost impossible. Far simpler would be the proposal of taking the
Luxor obelisk, already given to the English by Mehemet Ali, the sister
one to that successfully transported to Paris by the French. It is a
thousand pities to leave it where it is, and to miss the occasion of
adding so unique and valuable a monument to our art-treasures.
This, the last day of our traveller's stay at Assouan, was spent in
making a few last purchases, visiting the old castle overlooking the
river, and exploring the island of Elephantine, which offers beautiful
sketching. But the inhabitants are even more importunate as beggars
than their confraternity at Thebes; and it required all the eloquence
of the good priest to prevent their appropriating the contents of the
traveller's paint-box. She purchased from them many strings of bright
beads, which constitute their sole idea of female dress. A curious
funeral took place in the evening, an empty boat being carried for the
dead man, who was buried with his arms and his spear; while a funeral
dirge was sung over him by his tribe. It was curious, as being
identical with the hieroglyphics of similar scenes in the tombs of the
kings. Many of the customs of these people are purely pagan; for
instance, when an Arab makes his coffee, he pours out the first three
cups on the ground as a libation to the sheik, who first invented the
beverage. The slave-trade, though nominally abolished by the viceroy,
is carried on vigorously at Assouan. The governor goes through the
form of confiscating the cargo and arresting the owners of the ship;
but, after a few days, a handsome baksheesh on the part of the
slave-owner and captain settles the matter; and their live cargo is
transported to Cairo, there to be disposed of in the harems or
elsewhere.
To the Catholic traveller in this country nothing can be more
melancholy than the utterly degraded condition of the people, who are
really very little removed from the brute creation. Years of
ill-usage, hardship, and wrong have ground down the Fellah to the
abject condition of a slave; and the utter extinction of Christianity
among them seems to preclude all hope of their rising again. Yet Egypt
was once the home of saints. From Alexandria, the seat of all that was
most learned and refined, the see of St. Athanasius, and St.
Alexander, and St. Cyril, and St. John the Almoner, and a whole string
of holy patriarchs, bishops, and martyrs, up to the very desert of
Syene, peopled with anchorites, the whole land teemed with saints. And
now, the little handful of Franciscan fathers, scattered here and
there, sowing once more the good seed at the cost of their lives, is
all that remains to bear witness to the truth.
------
{778}
[ORIGINAL.]
THY WILL BE DONE
I.
My soul a little kingdom is,
Where God's most holy will
Shall reign in undivided sway,
Potent and grand and still.
I'll kneel before the crystal throne,
And kiss the golden rod;
O peace unspeakable, to bow
Before the will of God!
What though my weary feet should fail.
My tongue refuse to praise,
God knows my soul will steadfastly
Still follow in his ways.
II.
The time has come, my soul, the time has come
To prove the depth of thy oft-vaunted love;
A sullen gloom hangs round us like a fog,
And lowering clouds are drooping from above.
Would it were light, or dark, not this grey gloom;
Would that the terror of some sudden crash
Might break this stifling, dumb monotony!
O for some deafening peal or blinding flash!
Weary and old and sick, like ancient Job,
I crouch in haggard woe and scan the past,
Or drag the leaden moments at my heels,
Mocking wise fools who say that life runs fast.
{779}
Nothing to conquer now--no call for strength;
Naught to contend with--only to wait and bear,
And see my withering powers and blighted gifts--
No room to act--nothing to do or dare:
Speak now, my soul, if thou hast aught to say
If thou seest light or any hope of day.
III.
Fret not this holy stillness with thy cries--
Patience, perturbed clay!
Lest thou should'st drown the voice of the All-wise
With clamorous dismay.
Thinkest thou that clouds and mists are less God's work,
Than sun or moon or stars?
His will is good, whether it bind the free
Or sunder prison bars.
His hand has measured out each feather's weight
Of this most grievous load;
He bore the cross we bear, his heart, like ours,
Once in life's furnace glowed.
We shall in heaven sing a psalm of joy
For every earth-wrung moan;
One little hour more, the work well done.
And we are all God's own.
--------
CONTRASTS
There is no sound of anguish in the air,
Bees hum, birds sing, the breeze is balmy-sweet
And from the blooming hawthorn overhead
A rosy shower droppeth at my feet.
No matter! God be praised--some untried heart,
Sweet with the dewy freshness of life's dawn,
Is gathering a glad presage of success
From this bright, pitiless, resplendent morn.
------
{780}
[From the Irish Industrial Magazine.]
THE INDUSTRIAL ARTS OF OUR ANCESTORS.
BY M. HAVERTY, ESQ.
ARTS OF CONSTRUCTION.
In considering the building arts, as practised by the inhabitants of
this country in past ages, we must necessarily divide the subject
according to epochs. The ethnologist would of course begin with his
favorite scientific classification of the Stone, the Bronze and the
Iron periods; but this division is, to say the least of it, a very
arbitrary, very indefinite, and very doubtful one. It leaves much too
wide a scope for imagination, and offers no satisfactory explanation
of social development; and the following obvious and natural order of
periods, in the present instance, will answer our purpose, namely:
1. The Pre-Christian period, extending from some indefinite epoch of
the pre-historic ages, down to the establishment of Christianity in
Ireland, in the fifth century; 2. The early Christian period,
extending from the last-mentioned epoch to the commencement of the
Danish wars, in the beginning of the ninth century; 3. The period of
obscurity and barbarism into which this country was plunged by those
fierce and long-protracted wars, and from which it began to emerge in
the reign of Brian, and after the battle of Clontarf, in 1014; 4. The
period which followed that just mentioned, and which extends beyond
the Anglo-Norman invasion until the native Irish ceased to act as a
distinct people; and, [sic--no 5.] 6. The period which was inaugurated
by the aforesaid Anglo-Norman epoch, and descended to modern times,
embracing the ages, first of noble Gothic abbeys, and feudal keeps of
Norman barons, and walled towns; and then of the fortified bawns and
strong solitary towers of new proprietors, in the Tudor, Stuart, and
Williamite times.
In the first of these periods there was no stone and mortar masonry
known in Ireland, nor was there any knowledge of the arch. Of
cyclopean masonry--masonry in which huge stones were frequently
employed, but never any cement--some stupendous and wonderful examples
belonging to this first period still remain; but there was no cemented
work. This we may take as absolutely certain, notwithstanding the
notions of some modern antiquaries about the supposed pre-Christian
origin of the round towers. This pagan theory of the round towers is a
pure creation of what we may call the conjectural school of Irish
antiquaries. The ancient Irish never dreamt of it. It was suggested at
a time when scarcely anything was known of the original native source
of Irish history; and it has seldom been advocated except by those who
are either still unacquainted with these sources of our history, or
else who are carried away by false ideas of early Irish civilization,
and visionary theories of ancient Irish fire-worship and Orientalism;
for all which there is not the slightest foundation in the actual
history of the country. It is right that this should be distinctly
understood: without entering into lengthened arguments on the subject,
which would be out of place here, it ought to be quite sufficient for
any rational person to know, that the character of all the remains of
undoubted pagan buildings in Ireland is utterly inconsistent with the
{781} supposition that the same people who built them also built the
round towers; and that such knowledge as we actually possess of the
manners and customs of the pagan Irish shows the absurdity of the
notion that the round towers were built by them. The passages of
ancient Irish writings which may be adduced to show that the round
towers were built by Christians are extremely numerous, while there is
not one single iota of evidence in the written monuments of Irish
history, either printed or MS., for their pagan origin--nothing, in
fact, but wild, unsupported conjecture and imagination. And such being
the case, and all the writings and researches of such distinguished
Irish historical scholars as Petrie, O'Donovan, and O'Curry, who have
passed away, and of Wilde and Todd, and Graves and Reeves, and
Ferguson, etc., tending to overturn the visionary theories of Irish
antiquities, of which the round tower phantasy has been the most
noted, it is time to abandon this last remnant of a false and exploded
system.
What, then, are the remains which we have of the buildings or
structures of the ancient Irish belonging to the first, or pagan,
period? They are various, and exceedingly numerous. In the first
place, there are the _raths_, or earthen forts, with which the whole
face of the country is still absolutely dotted. These raths were the
dwelling-places of the Irish, not only indeed, in pagan times, but
much more recently. They were originally rather steep earthworks,
surrounded by a ditch, and topped by a strong paling or stockade;
sometimes there was a double or treble line of intrenchment, and
within the inner fence the family or families of the occupants dwelt
in timber or hurdle houses, of which, from the perishable nature of
the materials, no traces of course remain. The cattle, too, were
driven for safety within the inclosure, when it was known that an
enemy was abroad; and it is probable that the position of a great many
of the raths on a sloping surface was selected for purposes of
drainage, seeing that the cattle were so frequently to be inclosed. It
is also worthy of note, that these earthen forts were always
polygonal, generally octagonal, and we have never seen one of them
actually round; although it would have been much easier to describe
the plain circle than the regular polygonal figure adopted.
When the inclosures were constructed of stone; they were called
_cahirs_ or _cashels_. It has been stated by antiquaries that the
stone forts were built by the early Irish colonists, called Firbolgs,
and the earthen forts by the subsequent colony of Tuath de Danaans;
but it is probable that each colony built their strongholds of the
materials which they found most convenient. In the rich plains of
Meath, where there are very few surface stones that could have been
employed for the purpose, we find none but earthen forts; and in the
Isles of Arran, where there is little indeed besides solid rock, the
Firbolgs necessarily constructed their famous duns of stone. These
vast Firbolg duns of Arran must have been impregnable in those days,
if defended by sufficient garrison; and their size and number in a
place so small and barren show that almost the whole remnant of the
race must have been compelled by hard necessity to seek shelter there
against their pressing foes. It would also appear that the abundant
supply of stone induced the occupants of those Arran forts to
substitute stone houses in their interior for the habitations of
timber and wattles used elsewhere; as we here find numerous remains of
the small beehive houses, called _cloghanes_, formed by the
overlapping of flat stones, laid horizontally, until they meet at top,
thus roofing in the house without an arch. Both cloghanes and forts
are built, of course, without cement; and no one could for a moment
imagine that the Round Tower, of which a portion still {782} remains
in the largest island, could possibly have been the work of the same
masons.
The style of building is the same in the Duns of Aran; in Staig Fort,
in Kerry; in the Greenan of Aileach, in Donegal; and in general in any
of the primitive _cahirs_ or _cashels_, wherever they exist in
Ireland; nor is there any material difference between these and the
similar structures to be found in Wales--such as the Castell-Caeron
over Dolbenmaen, in Caernarvonshire.
The same Irish word, Saor, (pronounced Seer,) originally signified
both a carpenter and a mason; and in an Irish poem, at least eight
hundred and fifty years old, we have a list of the ancient builders,
who erected the principal strongholds of pagan times in Ireland: such
as--"Casruba, the high-priced cashel-builder, who employed quick axes
to smoothen stones;" and "Rigriu and Garvon, son of Ugarv, the
cashel-builders of Aileach," and "Troiglethan, who sculptured images,
and was the rath-builder of the Hill of Tara;" while every one
familiar with the native Irish traditions has heard the name of
Grubban-Saor, to whose skill half the ancient castles of Ireland were,
without any reference to chronology, supposed to owe their strength.
An Irish antiquary of the seventeenth century, who enjoyed the
friendship of Sir James Ware, writes as if he believed that the
ancient pagan Irish understood the use of cement, although, as he
confesses, no vestige of stone and mortar work by them remained in his
day. But his mode of arguing, as it will be perceived, is very
inconclusive. After enumerating several of the ancient raths and
cashels of Ireland, he writes: "We have evidence of their having been
built like the edifices of other kingdoms of the times in which they
were built; and why should they not? for there came no colony into
Erin but from the eastern world, as from Spain, etc.; and it would be
strange if such a deficiency of intellect should mark the parties who
came into Ireland, as that they should not have the sense to form
their residences and dwellings after the manner of the countries from
which they went forth, or through which they travelled." [See
Introduction to Dudley Mac Firbis's great "Book of Genealogies,"
translated in "O'Curry's Lectures," pp. 222, etc.] It is quite certain
that the early colonizers of Ireland, to whom Mac Firbis thus alludes,
were a portion of that great Celtic wave of population which passed
from East to West over Europe, leaving the same earthern mounds and
cyclopean stone structures behind as monuments wherever they went; but
it is equally certain, that if these ancient colonies visited Assyria,
and Egypt, and Greece in their peregrinations, as Mac Firbis believed
they did, they did not carry with them Assyrian, or Egyptian, or
Grecian masonry or architecture into Ireland. The raths and cashels
which they constructed were exceedingly simple in their character, and
in very few indeed of the former is there the slightest grace of
stonework to be discovered. Caves were very often formed under the
raths; and Mac Firbis states that under the rath of Bally O Dowda, in
Tireragh, he himself had seen "nine smooth stone cellars," and that
its walls were still of the height of "a good cow-keep." Nor were the
contents of the ancient Irish dwellings less simple than the buildings
themselves; for we find by the Brehon Laws that "the Seven valuables
of the house of a chieftain were--a caldron, vat, goblet, mug, reins,
horse-bridle, and pin;" the first-mentioned articles indicating
clearly the usages of hospitality, which always formed the
predominating institution of the Irish. The same book of Brehon Laws
refers to "a house with four doors, and a stream through the centre,
to be provided for the sick"--such, apparently, being the ideas at
that time of what a hospital should be.
{783}
It is hard to say when the popular notion originated which attributes
the ancient raths and mounds to the Danes. It is quite dear that Mac
Firbis knew very well they were not Danish, though the idea must have
prevailed when he wrote, (A.D. 1650;) for his contemporary, Lord
Castlehaven, speaks of withdrawing his troops, during the civil war of
1645, within one of the "Danish forts," which were so numerous in the
country; and such was the fashion of attributing all our antiquities
to a people who had impressed the memory of the nation with such
terrible and indelible traditions of themselves, that even Archdeacon
Lynch, the author of "Cambrensis Eversus," supposes the Danes to have
been the builders of the round towers. Dr. Molyneux, who wrote toward
the close of the same century, treats us to a whole book about "the
Danish Forts and Mounds;" but we know perfectly well that the Danes of
Ireland resided only in the seaport towns and their vicinities, and
had no dwellings, and consequently no raths or mounds in the interior
of the country.
Besides the earthen and stone forts, which, it must be remembered,
were inhabited in the early Christian as well as in the pagan times,
and down to a period which it is impossible now to define, we have
several remains of the early Irish habitations, called _cranogues_.
These were small stockaded and generally artificial islands, in the
smaller lakes, and were only accessible by means of boats, ancient
specimens of which, hewn out of a single tree, have been found in the
vicinity of the cranogues in recent times. Some of these cranogues are
known to have been occupied in comparatively modern times; and the
strong timber stakes by which they were generally surrounded are, in a
few instances, still found singularly fresh, and with indications of
having been connected by a strong framework.
Of the state of the building arts in Ireland during the early
Christian period we are enabled to form a tolerably accurate idea,
both by the large number of remains still existing, and by the notices
on the subject which we find in historical documents. Many of the very
earliest Christian edifices devoted to religion in Ireland were built
of stone; but it is clear, nevertheless, that the national fashion was
to construct them of timber; and this fashion the Irish had in common
with the Britons, or, we should rather say, with the Celtic nations
generally. Strabo says the houses of the Gauls were constructed of
poles and wattle work; and we learn from Bede, that among the Britons
building with stone was regarded as a characteristic Roman practice.
We know that both in Ireland and Britain there was a national
prejudice in favor of the custom of employing timber to construct
their churches. The first three churches erected in Ireland--those,
namely, constructed by St. Palladius in his unsuccessful mission
immediately before St Patrick--were of oak. Long after this time, in
the sixth century, St. Columba lived in a wooden cell in the island of
Hy, as his biographer, St. Adamnan, relates; and the use of timber for
their religious edifices was much in favor with the Columbian monks
wherever they settled. So late as the year 1142, when St. Malachy was
building the church of the famous Cistercian Abbey of Mellifont, in
Louth, he received some opposition from one of the local magnates,
because he had undertaken to erect it in an expensive and solid manner
of stone; the argument of this person being, that "they were Scots,
not Frenchmen," and that a wooden oratory in the old Irish fashion
would have sufficed.
It is a curious circumstance connected with this Abbey of Mellifont,
that it is the only Irish edifice of a date older than the
Anglo-Norman period in the ruins of which Dr. Petrie discovered any
bricks to have been used; and we know that it was erected by monks
whom St. Malachy had sent to study in the monastery of St. Bernard, in
France; whence the allusion to {784} Frenchmen made by the Irishman
who had objected to the style of the building. Still it is plain that
the ecclesiastical edifices of stone were very numerous in the country
at that very time; for a few years after St. Gelasius, the Archbishop
of Armagh, caused a limekiln of vast dimensions to be constructed, in
order, as the annalists say, to make lime for the repairs of the
churches of Armagh which had been allowed to fall into decay.
The primitive wooden churches were, at least in some instances,
constructed of planed boards, and were thatched with reeds, the walls
being also frequently protected by a covering of reeds, for which, in
later times, a sheeting of lead was sometimes substituted. This use of
lead sheeting became very general in England; but we may presume that
it was employed in comparatively few cases in Ireland. Sometimes,
instead of boards or hewn timber, wattles were employed, and these
were plastered with mud, the wattles being formed of strong twigs
interlaced. We shall presently see that the use of wattles for
building purposes was in vogue in Ireland up to comparatively modern
times. It is stated in the life of St. Patrick, that when that apostle
visited Tyrawley, in the county of Sligo, finding that timber was not
abundant, he erected a church of mud--so ancient is the custom of
employing that material for building in Ireland--a material, however,
which never could be rendered as suitable for the purpose in our moist
climate, as it is found to be in some of the southern portions of
Europe.
From the very introduction of Christianity, we repeat, stone and
mortar were frequently employed for the building of churches in
Ireland. A building of this description was always called in Irish
_Damhliag_, a word literally signifying "stone church." This term is
still preserved in the name of Duleek in the county of Meath, where
the old stone church so called, and which is supposed, on good
authority, to have been the very first such edifice erected in
Ireland, is still in good preservation; it was built by St. Kienan, a
disciple of St. Patrick, who died in 490; and its age is thus
established beyond any doubt. The stone building, or _Damhliag_, as
Dr. Petrie has remarked, is always latinized by the old Irish writers
_templum, ecclesia_, or _basilica_; while the wooden building is
simply called oratorium.
The ancient Irish churches are almost invariably small, seldom
exceeding 80 feet in length, and not usually being more than 60 feet.
The great church or cathedral of Armagh was originally 140 feet long;
but this was almost a solitary exception. The smaller churches are
simple oblong quadrangles, while in the larger ones there is a second
and smaller quadrangle at the east end, which was the chancel or
sanctuary, and which is separated from the nave by a large
semicircular arch. The entrance door was always originally in the west
end, and square-headed, the top lintel being generally formed of a
single very large flat stone; but in every instance the square-headed
western doorway was in process of time built up, and another doorway,
in the pointed style, opened in the south wall, near its western
extremity. The windows are extremely small, and very few, generally
not more than three, two of which are in the sanctuary, and all being
in the south wall; they are frequently triangular-headed, formed by
two flat stones leaning against each other; and it is probable that in
many cases they were never glazed. The sides of the doorways and
windows are inclined, in the manner of the cyclopean buildings--a
style of architecture with which they have more than one point in
common; for enormous stones are frequently used, the single stone
being made to form both faces of the wall. Polygonal stones are
employed, without any attempt to build in courses; and even flat
stones are often placed at angles, when, with the aid of very little
skill, they might have {785} been placed horizontally; while another
singular feature often to be observed in the oldest Irish stone
churches is, that the side walls and ends are built up independently,
and not bound together at the corners by any interlapping stones. All
these peculiarities are to be found, in a very marked degree, in the
extremely curious specimens of seventh and eighth century buildings in
the South Islands of Arran; and, with the exception of some Christian
_cloghanes_, and some stone-roofed oratories like those near Dingle,
all these early Christian edifices have been built with lime cement.
From the rudeness of the masonry in the buildings of the early
Christian period, a very curious argument has been adduced in favor of
the Pagan origin of the Round Towers. Some persons, in fact, do not
hesitate to argue that, as the Round Towers frequently exhibit a
better style of masonry than the ruined churches in their
neighborhood, they must have been erected by some _earlier_ race of
builders, thus adopting the very opposite to the correct and natural
conclusion which the premises would suggest. Such persons must have a
very misty idea of Irish history; they do not appear to be aware that
there is no country in Europe, except Greece and Rome, of which the
ancient history can boast of such a clear and consecutive series of
written and traditional annals as that of Ireland. This is the
acknowledged opinion of the most learned investigators. There is,
then, no room whatever for any such conjectural race or epoch as that
which the theory in question would suppose in Irish history; there is
no room for such wild hypotheses as may be framed, for instance, to
account for the remains of extinct civilized races in the interior of
North America. Any one who has the singularly distinct chain of
ancient Irish chronicles present to his mind must be aware of this
fact, and must know perfectly well that there was no mysterious
unknown race in Ireland before the introduction of Christianity who
could have built the round towers--even if it were probable that such
a race would have built these, and left no other fragment of stone and
mortar work in the land! As to the disparity sometimes to be observed
in the masonry of the towers and the ancient churches beside them, it
can be explained without any such absurd hypothesis. It is clear from
the mouldings of the windows, and other architectural details, and
even from the statements of our annalists, that some of the Round
Towers are not older than the eleventh or twelfth century, and
consequently their masonry might well be superior to that of churches
built some four or five hundred years before them. But, even when the
builders were contemporary, they were not such dull craftsmen as not
to have understood perfectly well that a more careful style of
workmanship was required in an edifice which they should carry to a
height of 120 or 130 feet than in one of which the walls would not
exceed 10 or 14 feet in elevation. In fact, a little consideration
must show any enlightened man that the theory to which we have
referred is utterly untenable.
Mr. Parker, a high authority on questions of architectural antiquity,
has, in his valuable series of papers on the subject in the
"Gentleman's Magazine," thrown considerable light on Irish mediaeval
architecture. One point, of which he has been decidedly the first
observer, is, that all the details of an ancient building in Ireland
seldom or never belong to the period at which the building was,
according to record, erected. This is an extremely carious fact; and
there can be no doubt of Mr. Parker's accuracy on the point; but it
appears to us that he invariably finds his remark verified in castles
and abbeys of the Anglo-Norman period in Ireland. To what, then, is
the peculiarity to be attributed? Could the architects have been
Irish, and could they have adopted their principles from the study of
older edifices {786} in England? On this point we are not aware that
he comes to any conclusion; but, in describing the interesting details
of Cormac's Chapel, on the Rock of Cashel--one of the most valuable
remains of mediaeval architecture in the empire, and which was built
some fifty years before the Anglo-Norman invasion--he says, "It is
neither earlier nor later in style than buildings of the same date in
England; and with the exception of a few particulars, agrees in detail
with them." From this we may conclude, that before the arrival of the
Anglo-Normans the Irish architects were fully up to the contemporary
state of their art, though subsequently the Anglo-Irish fell into the
anachronisms which Mr. Parker so frequently points out.
When Henry II. resolved on spending the Christmas of 1171 in Dublin,
there was no building in that old capital of the Ostmen sufficiently
spacious to accommodate his court; and a pavilion was accordingly
constructed for the purpose of plastered wattles, in the Irish
fashion, on a site at the south side of the present Dame street This
mode of constructing houses must have been very convenient in times
when the face of a country was liable every other year to be
devastated by war, and when it would have been folly to erect a
habitation intended to be permanent. The destruction of all the
dwellings in a territory at that time, was not quite so ruinous a
catastrophe as it might seem to us, especially as it was a very usual
thing to have the granaries under ground.
The employment of wattles for one purpose or other, in the
construction of buildings, appears to have been very long retained in
Ireland; and they seem to have been constantly used by the masons as
centering in the building of arches, as may be seen from an
examination of any of the ruined abbeys or castles throughout the
country, where the impression of the interwoven twigs will always be
found in the mortar of the vaulted roofs and arches. Mr. Parker
appears to have been particularly struck by this circumstance, which,
however, is familiar to every Irish antiquary; but he tells us that he
has found the same thing in a few instances in England.
A French gentleman, who travelled through Ireland in 1644, has left us
a curious account of the mode of constructing their habitations
employed at that time by the rural population. He writes: "The towns
are built in the English fashion, but the houses in the country are in
this manner: two stakes are fixed in the ground, across which is a
transverse pole, to support two rows of rafters on the two sides,
which are covered with leaves and straw. The cabins are of another
fashion. There are four walls the height of a man, supporting rafters,
over which they thatch with straw and leaves; they are without
chimneys, and make the fire in the middle of the hut, which greatly
incommodes those who are not fond of smoke."
The writer goes on to describe the fortified domiciles of the gentry.
He says: "The castles or houses of the nobility consist of four walls
extremely high, thatched with straw; but, to tell the truth, they are
nothing but square towers without windows, or, at least, having such
small apertures as to give no more light than there is in a prison;
they have little furniture, and cover their room with rushes, of which
they make their beds in summer, and of straw in winter; they put the
rushes a foot deep on their floors, and on their windows, and many of
them ornament the ceilings with branches." (The Tour of M. De la
Boullaye le Gouz.)
This description is applicable to those numerous, solitary, and gloomy
buildings called castles, the ruins of which are so conspicuous in
every part of the country, and a considerable number of which were
erected by the Undertakers, in the reign of James I.; while it must be
confessed that the mode of constructing the hovels of the peasantry,
as described in the preceding extract, has not undergone much
improvement, up to the present day, in many parts of Ireland.
------
{787}
Translated from the Spanish.
PERICO THE SAD; OR, THE ALVAREDA FAMILY.
CHAPTER XIII.
A tempestuous night covered the sky with flying clouds, which were
rushing further on to discharge their torrents. Sometimes they
separated in their flight, and the moon appeared between them, mild
and tranquil, like a herald of concord and peace in the midst of the
strife.
In the short intervals, during which this placid light illumined earth
and heaven, a pale and emaciated man might have been seen making his
way along a solitary road. The uncertainty of his manner, his
apprehensive eyes, and the agitation of his face, would have shown
clearly that he was a fugitive.
A fugitive indeed! for he fled from inhabited places; fled from his
fellow-men; fled from human justice; fled from himself and from his
own conscience. This man was an assassin, and no one who had seen him
fleeing, as the clouds above were fleeing before the invisible force
which pursued them, would have recognized the honorable man, the
obedient son, the loving husband and devoted father of a few days
since, in this miserable being, now fallen under the irremissible
sentence of the law of expiation.
Yes, this man was Perico, not seeking a peace now and for ever lost,
but fleeing from the present and in dread of the future.
He had passed days of despair and nights of horror in the most
solitary places, sustaining himself on acorns and roots; shrinking
from the light of day, which accused, and from the eyes of men, that
condemned him. But no darkness could hide the images that were always
before him, no silence awe their clamors. His unhappy sister; his
disconsolate mother; the bereaved old man, his father's friend,
haunted his vision; the reprobation of his honorable race oppressed
his soul; and more appalling than all these, the solemn, mournful, and
warning note of the passing bell, which he had heard calling to Heaven
for mercy upon his victim, sounded continually in his ears. In vain
pride insinuated, through its most seductive organ, worldly honor,
that he had, and that not to vindicate himself would have been a
reproach; that the injuries were greater than the reprisal.
A voice which the cries of passion had silenced, but which became more
distinct and more severe in proportion as they, like all that is
human, sank and failed--the eternal voice of conscience, said to him,
"O that thou hadst never done it!"
There came, borne upon the wind, an extraordinary sound, now hoarser,
now failing and fainter, as the gusts were more or less powerful. What
could it be? Everything terrifies the guilty soul. Was it the roar of
the wind, the pipe of an organ, or a voice of lamentation? The nearer
Perico approached it, the more inexplicable it seemed. The road the
unhappy man was following led toward the point from whence the sound
proceeded. He reaches it, and his terror is at his height when, unable
to distinguish anything--for a black cloud has covered the moon--he
hears directly above his bead the portentous wail, so sad, so vague,
so awful!
{788}
At this moment the clouds are broken, and over all the moonlight
falls, clear and silvery, like a mantle of transparent snow. Every
object comes out of the mystery of shadows. He sees _reija_ asleep in
its valley like a white bird in its nest. He lifts his eyes to
discover the cause of the sound. O horror! Upon five posts he sees
five human heads! From these proceed the doleful lamentation, a
warning from the dead to the living. [Footnote 185]
[Footnote 185: Various witnesses have testified to this frightful
phenomenon, which is naturally explained, the sound being caused by
the wind passing through the throat, month, and ears of heads placed
as located above.]
Perico starts back aghast, and perceives, for the first time, that he
is not alone. A man is standing near one of the posts. He is tall and
vigorous, and his bearing is manly and erect. He is dressed richly
after the manner of contrabandists. His bronzed face is hard, bold,
and calm. He holds his hat in his hand, inclining uncovered before
these posts of ignominy a head which never was uncovered in human
respect; for it is that of an outlaw, of a man who has broken all ties
with society, and respects nothing in the world. But this man,
although impious, believes in God, and although criminal, is a
Christian, and is praying.
When from an energetic and indomitable nature, emancipated from all
restrain, there issue a few drops of adoration, as water oozes from a
rock, what do you call it unbelievers? Is it superstitious fear? To
this man fear is a word without a meaning. Is it hypocrisy? Only the
heads of five dead men witness it. Is it moral weakness? He has
strength of soul unknown in society, where all lean upon something; he
stands alone. Is it a remembrance of infancy, a tribute to the mother
who taught him to pray?
There exists no such memory for the abandoned orphan, who grew up
among the savage bulls he guarded.
What is it then that bends his neck and detains him to pray in the
presence of the dead?
After some moments the man concluded his prayer, replaced his hat, and
turning to Perico said,
"Where are you going, sir?"
Perico neither wished nor was able to answer. A vertigo had seized
him.
"Where are you going, I say?" again asked the unknown.
Perico remained silent.
"Are you dumb?" proceeded the questioner, "or is it because you do not
choose to answer? If it is the last," he added, pointing to his gun,
"here is a mouth which obtains replies when mine fails."
Perico's situation rendered him too desperate for reflection, and the
brand of cowardice which had been stamped upon his forehead, still
burned like a recent mark of the ignominious iron. He therefore
answered instantly, seizing his firelock.
"And here is another that replies in the tone in which it is
questioned."
The intentions of the unknown were not hostile, nor had he any idea of
carrying out his threat, though he did not lack the courage to do it.
Another so daring as he did not tread the soil of Andalucia. But the
arrogance of the poor worn youth pleased instead of offending him.
"Comrade," he said, "I always like to take off my hat before drawing
my sword, but it suits me to know with whom I speak and whom I meet on
the road. You must have courage to be walking here; for they say that
Diego and his band are in this neighborhood, and you know, for all
Spain knows, who Diego is; where he puts his eye he puts his ball. The
leaves tremble upon the trees at sight of him, and the dead in their
graves at the sound of his name."
All this was said without that Andalucian boastfulness, so grotesquely
exaggerated in these days, but with the naturalness of conviction, and
the serenity of one who states a simple truth.
"What do I care for Diego and his band?" exclaimed Perico, not with
bravado, but with the most profound dejection.
{789}
As with failing voice he pronounced these words, he tottered and
leaned his head upon his gun.
"What has taken you? What is the matter?" asked the stranger, noticing
his weakness.
Perico did not reply, for so great was his exhaustion and such the
effect of his recent emotions that he fell down senseless.
The unknown knelt down beside him and lifted his head. The moon shone
full upon that face, beautiful notwithstanding its mortal paleness,
and the traces of passion, anguish, and grief which marred it.
"He is dead," said the stranger to himself, placing his rough hand
upon Perico's heart. The heart which, a few days before, was as pure
as the sky of May. "No," he continued, "he is not dead, but will die
here, like a dog, if he is not taken care of."
And he looked at him again, for he felt awakening in his heart that
noble attraction which draws the strong toward the weak, the powerful
toward the helpless; for let skeptics say what they will, there is a
spark of divinity in the breast of every human creature. He rose to
his feet and whistled.
He is answered by the sound of a brisk gallop, and a beautiful young
horse, with arched neck and rolling mane, comes up and stops before
his master, turning his fine head and brilliant eyes as if to offer
him the stirrup.
The unknown raises the inanimate Perico in his robust arms, throws him
across the horse, springs up beside him, presses his knees gently to
the animal's flanks, and the noble creature darts away, gayly and
lightly, as if unconscious of the double weight.
CHAPTER XIV.
In a solitary hostel, standing like a beggar beside the highway, the
innkeeper and his wife were seated before their fire, in the dull
tranquillity of persons as accustomed to the alternations of noisy
life by day and complete isolation by night as the inhabitants of
marshy places are to their intermittent fevers.
"May evil light on that hard-skulled sailor who took it into his head
that there must be a new world, and never stopped till he ran against
it," said the woman. "Had not the king already cities enough in this?
What good has it done? Taken our sons off there, and sent us the
epidemic. Do say, Andres, and don't sit sleeping there like a mole, if
it has been of any other use."
"Yes, wife, yes," answered the innkeeper, half' opening his eyes, "the
silver comes from there."
"Plague take the silver!" exclaimed the woman.
"And the tobacco," added the husband, slowly and lazily, again closing
his eyes,
"A curse upon the tobacco!" said the wife angrily. "Do you think, you
unfeeling father, that the silver or the tobacco are worth the lives
they cost and the tears? Son of my soul! God knows what will become of
him in that land where they kill men like chinches, and where
everything is venomous, even the air!"
They heard at this moment a peculiar whistle. The innkeeper, springing
to his feet, caught up the light and ran toward the door, exclaiming,
"The captain!"
As he presented himself on the threshold, the rays of the lamp fell
upon a man on horseback, with another man that looked like a corpse
lying across the horse in front of him.
"Help me take this fellow down," said the rider, in the rough tone of
a man of few words.
The innkeeper handed the lamp to his wife, who had approached, and
made haste to obey.
"Mercy to us! A dead man!" said she. "For the love of the Blessed
Mother, sir, do not leave him in our house!"
{790}
"He is not dead," said the horseman, "he is sick; nurse him up--that
is what women ore good for. Here is money to pay for the cure."
Saying this, he threw down a piece of gold, and disappeared, the
resounding and measured gallop of his horse dying away gradually in
the distance.
"If this is not a cool proceeding!" grumbled Martha. "What will you
bet that he, with his own hands, has not put the man in this state?
and he takes himself off and leaves him on ours! 'You cure him!' as if
it were nothing to cure a man who is dead or dying! As if this inn
were an hospital! The bully thinks he has only to command, as if he
were the king!"
"Hush!" exclaimed the innkeeper, alarmed, "_will_ you be still,
long-tongue! Talk that way of Diego! Women are the very devil! What is
the use of grumbling, since you know there is nothing for it but to do
as these people tell us! Besides, this is a work of charity, so let's
be about it."
They prepared, as well as they could, a bed in a garret.
"He has no sign of blow or wound," said Andres, as he was undressing
the patient; "so you see, wife, it is a sickness like any other."
"Look, look, Andres!" exclaimed Martha; "he has the scapular of our
Lady of Carmel around his neck."
And as if the sight or influence of the blessed object had awakened in
her all the gentle sentiments of Christian humility, or as if the
sacred precept, "Thy neighbor as thyself," uttered by the brotherhood
in united devotion, had resounded clearly, she began to exclaim: "You
were right, Andres, it is a work of charity to assist him, poor
fellow! How young he is, and how forsaken! His poor mother! Come,
come, Andres, what are you doing, standing there like a post? Go!
hurry! bring me some wine to rub his temples; and kill a hen, for I am
going to make him some broth."
"So it is," soliloquized Andres, as he went out--"at first, wouldn't
have him in the house; now she will turn the house out of the windows
for him. That's the way with women. It is hard to understand them."
On the following night, a man of evil face and repugnant aspect came
to the inn. This man had been in the penitentiary, and was nicknamed
the convict.
"God be with you, sir," said the innkeeper, with more fear than
cordiality, "what might be your pleasure?"
"A whim of the captain's, curse him! for haven't I come to ask after
the sick, like the porter of a convent?"
"He is not doing very well," answered the innkeeper; "he is in a
raging fever, is out of his mind, and talks of a murder he has
done--of dead men's heads."
"Ho! so then he is a man that can handle arms," said the convict.
"Let's have a look at him."
They mounted to the garret, and the innkeeper continued:
"All day long I have been in a cold sweat with fear. There have been
people in the house, and even soldiers--if they had heard him!"
The convict, who had been examining the delicate and wasted form of
Perico, interrupted with a movement of disdain.
"Well, if he makes too much noise for you, quarter him upon the king."
[Footnote 186]
[Footnote 186: Put him into the street.]
"No, indeed!" cried Martha, "poor unfortunate! I have a son in America
who may be at this very hour in the same condition, abandoned by every
one, and calling, as this one calls, for his mother. No, no, sir, we
shall not desert him. Neither Our Lady, whose scapular he wears, nor
I."
"Buy him sweetmeats," said the convict, and went down.
"What news?' he asked of the innkeeper.
"They say that a reward is to be offered for Diego's head."
{791}
"What?" asked the convict again, with quick and unusual interest. The
innkeeper repeated what he had said. The convict considered a moment,
and then continued,
"Where do they think we are?"
"Near Despenaperros."
"Are they after us?"
"Yes, there is a cavalry company at Sevilla, one of infantry at
Cordoba, and another of the mountain soldiery at Utrera."
"There will be some shoes worn out before they see our faces, and if
they do get to see them it will cost them dear."
"Yes, yes," Andres replied; "we know that whoever puts himself in
Diego's way may as well look for his grave; but then--there may be so
many of them . . ."
"Perhaps you would like to get a crack of my fist on your bugle?" said
the bandit.
"Not at all," said Andres, retreating a step or two.
"Put more ballast in your tongue then--and hurry up with the bread
--quick now!"
Andres hastened to obey. The bandit was going away when he heard
Martha's voice calling after him.
"It slipped my mind--you take this money," she said, handing him the
piece of gold. "Give it to the captain, and tell him that what I do
for this lad I do for charity, and not for interest."
"I shall be sure to give him such a reason. He accepts 'No' neither
when he says give, nor when he says take; but to settle it between
you, I will keep the money;" and setting spurs to his horse, he
disappeared.
"You have done a wise thing!" said the innkeeper impatiently. "Will
the money, you foolish good-for-nothing, be better in the hands of
that big thief than in ours? Women!--ill hap to them! Only the devil
understands them."
"I understand myself and God understands me," said the good woman,
returning to the garret.
CHAPTER XI.
The care of the innkeeper's wife and the youth and robust constitution
of Perico vanquished the fever. At the end of a fortnight he was able
to rise.
Perico evinced all his gratitude to Martha in a manner more heartfelt
than fluent.
"You must not thank me" said the good woman, "for truly, the face I
put on when I saw you brought was not one of welcome; but I have taken
a liking to you because I see that you are a good son and a good
Christian."
Perico hung his head in deep grief and humiliation. His physical
weakness had deadened in him the blind and furious impulse which had
exalted him, as such impulse does sometimes exalt gentle and timid
natures to a point past the limit which strong-minded and even violent
men respect.
All that effervescence which caused such a surging of his passions, as
gas causes the juice of the grape to ferment, had ceased, as the foam
subsides upon the wine, leaving reflection, which, without diminishing
the greatness of his wrongs, condemned his method of redressing them.
All the horror which the future inspired returned to Perico with
returning strength, and it was not lessened when Andres, taking the
occasion one day when his wife was about her work, said to him:
"My friend, now that you are recovered you must seek your living
somewhere else, for--the more friendship, the more frankness,
sir--when you were out of your head you talked of a murder you had
committed. If it is true, and they find you here, we shall suffer for
it, and that will not be right; the just ought not to pay for sinners;
well-regulated charity, let Martha, who pretends to know better, say
what she will, begins at home. Nobody but that pumpkin-headed wife of
mine is capable of sustaining that Christian charity begins with one's
neighbor. As to me, I tell you the truth, I want nothing to do with
justice, for she has a heavy hand."
{792}
Perico did not reply, but went with tearful eyes to take leave of
Martha. The good soul felt his departure, for she had become fond of
him. The memory of her son had attached Martha to the unfortunate
young man, and the memory of his own mother had drawn Perico toward
the woman who acted toward him a mother's part.
He took his gun, and was going out when he met the convict.
"Which way?" said the robber. "Do you clear out in this fashion,
without so much as May God reward you! to the compassionate soul who
picked you up? This isn't the right thing, comrade. Besides, where can
you go hereabouts? Are you in a hurry to be put in the lock-up?"
Perico remained silent; he neither thought nor reasoned--had no will
of his own. "Courage! and come along," proceeded the convict. "Here we
are taking more trouble to help you than you will take to let yourself
be helped." Perico followed him mechanically.
"Look, Martha," said Andres, seeing Perico at a distance in company
with the robber, "look at your pet--and what a jewel he is, to be
sure! There he goes with the convict."
"And what of it?" responded Martha. "I tell you, Andres, that he is a
good son and a good Christian."
"An impostor and a vagabond, that has eaten up my hens--and you see
where he is going, and yet say that he is good! The devil only
understands women!"
Perico and the convict, making their way through thickets and
difficult places, came at last to an elevation, upon which stood the
captain leaning on his gun, and guarding the slumbers of eight men,
who were lying around him on the <DW72>. Near him grazed his beautiful
horse, which lifted its head from time to time to regard its master.
"Here is this young man," said the convict as they drew near.
Without changing his position, the captain slowly turned his eyes and
examined the new arrival from head to foot. His scrutiny finished, he
asked,
"Are you a fugitive from justice?"
Perico inclined his head, but did not answer.
"There is no cause for fear," proceeded his questioner, and presently,
in brief phrases, added,
"Men have fatal hours, and of these some are as red as blood and some
as black as darkness itself. One is enough to destroy a man, and turn
his heart to a stone which has neither pulse nor feeling, only weight.
He remains lost, for the past is past, and there is nothing to do but
bear it with pluck. Life is a fight, in which one must look before
him, like a brave man, and not behind, like a poltroon."
"I cannot do it," exclaimed Perico vehemently. "If you knew--"
The captain, with an imperative gesture, extended his arm to silence
him, and continued.
"Here, each one carries his own secrets within himself, a sealed
packet, without awakening in the others either curiosity or interest.
If you have nowhere to go, stay with us; here we defend all we have
left, our life. Mine I do not guard because I value it, but to keep it
from the headsman."
"But you rob?" said Perico.
"We must do something," responded the bandit, returning, like a
tortoise, into his hard and impenetrable shell.
Perico neither accepted nor refused the proposition, he remained
without volition, an inert body; chance disposed of his wretched
existence, as the winds dispose of the dry and heavy sands of the
desert.
{793}
CHAPTER XVI.
But while Perico, after the occurrences which we have related, was
dragging out a miserable existence among a band of criminals, what
became of the other individuals of this family? To what extremes had
they been carried by resentment, grief, despair, and revenge?
Pedro, from the fatal day on which he lost his son, had shut himself
in his own house with his sorrow. The parish priest and some of his
friends went from time to time to keep him company--not to console
him, that was impossible, but to talk with him about his trouble, like
those who relieve vessels of the bitter water of the sea, not to right
them but to keep them from sinking. They had tried to persuade him to
renew his intercourse with the family of Perico, but without success.
"No, no," he would answer on such occasions. "I have forgiven him
before God and men; but have to do with his people as though it had
not been, I cannot."
"Pedro, Pedro, that is not forgiveness," said the priest. "It is the
letter but not the spirit of the law."
"Father," replied the poor man, "God does not ask what is impossible."
"No, but what he requires is possible."
"Sir, you want me to be a saint, and I am not one; it is enough for me
to be a good Christian, and forgive. Have I molested them? Have I
sought justice? What more can I do?"
"Pedro, returning good for evil, wise men walk in peace."
"Mercy, mercy, father! why shave so close as to lay bare the brains?
God help and favor them; but each in his own house, and God with us
all."
Maria had hidden herself with her daughter in the retirement of her
cottage, covering the despair and shame of the latter with the sacred
mantle of maternal love, her only refuge from the unanimous
disapproval and condemnation which she justly merited. The unfortunate
victims, Anna and Elvira, remained alone, but sustained in their
immense affliction by their religion and their conscience. Many months
passed in this way. At length two Capuchins came to the village to
hold a mission. These missions were instituted for the conversion of
the wicked, the awakening of the luke-warm, the encouragement of the
good, and the consolation of the sorrowful.
The missionaries preached at night, and the church was filled with
people who came to hear the word of God, which teaches men to be pious
and humble.
The good Maria succeeded in persuading her daughter to go to the
missions, and Rita, hard, bitter, and selfish, in her shame and
desperation, found in them repentance, with tears for the past,
penance and humiliation for the present, and for the future the divine
hand, which lifts the fallen one, who, bathed in tears, and prostrate
in ashes, implores its help. One night the subject of the sermon was
the forgiveness of injuries. Magnificent theme! Holy and sublime
beyond all others! The earnest preacher knew how to improve it, and
the believing people how to understand it.
At the conclusion the good missionary knelt before the crucifix, and
with fervent zeal and ardent charity promised the Lord of mercy, in
the name of that multitude kneeling at his feet, that on the
succeeding night there should not be in the temple a single hard and
unreconciled heart. A burst of exclamations and tears confirmed the
promise of the devoted apostle.
The day which followed was one of peace and love, according to the
spirit of the evangel. The most deeply-rooted enmities were ended; the
most irreconcilable foes embraced each other in the streets; the
angels in heaven had cause for rejoicing.
Pedro went to see Anna. Terrible to the unhappy man was the entering
into that house. He approached Anna and embraced her in silence. The
afflicted mother shook, and tried in vain to overcome her emotion. But
when Pedro turned toward Elvira, as she stood wringing her thin hands,
worn to a shadow and bathed in tears--when {794} he pressed to his
paternal heart her whom he had looked upon and loved as a daughter,
all his grief broke forth in the cry: "Daughter! daughter! you and I
loved him!"
Rita, also, went to Anna's to beg for that which Pedro went to carry.
When she found herself in the presence of the mother-in-law she had
outraged, she fell upon her knees. "I," she exclaimed, beating her
breast, "have been the cause of all! I have not come to ask a
forgiveness I do not deserve, but to beg of you to reprimand without
cursing me." When she turned to Elvira, it was not enough to remain on
her knees, she bent her face to the floor, moaning amidst her sobs.
"Since you are an angel, forgive!"
Maria supported her prostrate child, and implored Anna with her looks
and tears. Anna and Elvira, without a word of reproach, raised and
embraced her who had done so much to injure them; striving all they
could from that day to reanimate her, for she was the most wretched of
the three, because the guilty one.
All the people looked with charity upon the woman who had sincerely
and publicly repented, for although the society called cultivated
finds in religious demonstrations another cause for vituperation,
adding to the condemnation of faults which it never forgets the
reproach of hypocrisy upon those who turn to God, the people, more
generous and more just, honor the open evidence of penitence and
humiliation. Therefore, when they saw Rita abase herself and weep,
their indignation was exchanged for compassion, and the _epithet_
"infamous!" for the pitiful words "poor child!"
This was because the common people, though they know not what
philanthropy means, know well, because religion teaches them, what is
Christian charity.
CHAPTER XVII.
To Perico, the life into which he found himself drawn by necessity,
and by the vigorous influence Diego exercised over him, was one of
misery; Diego also had been drawn into a life of crime by a terrible
misfortune; but having entered, he adopted it as a warrior does his
iron armor, without heeding either its hardness or its oppressive
weight. Perico followed his wicked companions while he detested them.
He was like the silver fish of some peaceful inland lake which, caught
by some fatal current, is carried away into the bitter and restless
waters of the sea, where it agonizes without the power to escape. At
times, when a crime was committed under his eyes, he wished in his
desperation to end his torments at once, by giving himself up to
justice; but shame, and want of energy to overcome it, held him back.
The others hated him, and surnamed him "The Sad," but he was sustained
by Diego's powerful protection. Diego felt attracted toward the man
whose life he had saved, and who was, he felt, good and honest. For
the rough and austere Diego was of a strong and noble nature that had
not yet descended to the lowest grade of evil, which is hatred of the
good.
In one of their raids, when the band had approached Tas Yentas, near
Alocaz, a spy arrived in breathless haste from Utrera, telling them
that a company of mountain soldiery had just left the latter place in
the direction of Tas Yentas, informed of their whereabouts by some
travellers they had lately pillaged.
They made haste to take refuge in an olive grove, but had hardly
entered it when they were surprised by a troop of cavalry. A deadly
contest then commenced, sustained by these men, who were fighting for
their lives with terrible bravery.
{795}
"Perico," said Diego, "now or never is the occasion to prove that you
do not eat your bread without earning it. This is a fair fight. At
them, if you are a man!"
On hearing these words, Perico, confused, and like a drunken man,
threw himself in the way of the balls, firing upon the poor
soldiers--men who were sacrificing everything for the good of society,
which, in its egotism, does not even thank them; for it happens to
them as to the confessors and doctors, who are laughed at in health,
and anxiously called upon when there is any danger. One of the bandits
was killed, two of the soldiers wounded, and a ball of Perico's, fired
at a great distance, killed the commander of the troop. The
consternation which followed this catastrophe gave the robbers an
opportunity to escape. They fled beyond Utrera, passed through the
haciendas of La Chaparra and Jesus-Maria, and arrived exhausted at
nightfall in Valobrega. This valley, not far from Alcala is surrounded
by ridges and olive <DW72>s. In the most retired part of it, on the
margin of a brook, are still standing the ruins of a Moorish castle
called Marchenilla. Men and horses threw themselves upon the turf at
the base of these solitary ruins. They quenched their thirst in the
brook, and when night set, in lighted a fire, and all except Diego and
Perico lay down to sleep.
"An evil day, Corso," said Diego, caressing his horse, which lowered
and then lifted his beautiful head as if to assent to his master's
words, and say to him, "What matter since I have saved you?"
"I treat thee shamefully, my son," continued the chief, who loved his
horse the more fondly because he loved no other creature. The horse,
as if he had understood, neighed gaily, and, rising on his hind feet,
balanced himself, and then dropped down upon all four beside his
master, presenting his head to be caressed.
"What will become of thee if l am taken?" said the robber, leaning his
head against the neck of the animal, which now stood motionless.
"Truly," said Diego, seating himself by the fire in front of Perico,
"it is to you we owe our escape to-day with so little loss."
"To me?" asked Perico surprised.
"Yes," answered the captain; "the troop was commanded by a brave
officer, who knew the country, and did not mean child's play. The son
of the Countess of Villaoran. He would have given us work if you had
not killed him."
"God have mercy on me!" exclaimed Perico, springing to his feet and
raising his clasped hands to heaven. "What are you saying? The son of
the countess was there, and I killed him?"
"What shocks you?" replied Diego.
"Perhaps you thought we were firing sugar-plums? Heavens!" he added
impatiently, "you exasperate me! One would take you for a travelling
player, with all your attitudes and extravagances. By all that's
sacred, the convict is right. You missed your vocation; instead of
choosing a life of freedom you should have turned friar. Come! keep
watch," he added, wrapping himself in his mantle, and lying down with
a stone under his head and his carbine between his knees.
His words were lost upon Perico. The unhappy man tore his hair and
cursed himself in his despair. He had killed the son of the mistress
and benefactress of his uncles, his own companion of childhood.
CHAPTER XVIII.
How vividly, during that gloomy night did the tranquil scenes of his
lost domestic happiness present themselves to Perico! And for what had
he exchanged them? His present frightful existence. All around him was
motionless. He saw in the sad monotony of the night the changeless
monotony of his misery; in the fire {796} burning before him, his
consuming conscience; and in the cold and impenetrable obscurity
beyond, his dark and cheerless future.
"Power of God!" he cried, "can I see and remember, and feel all this,
and yet live?"
The red and wavering flame threw from time to time a glare of light
across the strange wild forms of the ruins, presently leaving them in
deep shadow, appearing to take refuge within, as a dying memory
flashes up and then buries itself in the oblivion of the past. He
heard his own breathing exaggerated by the silence, he saw horrible
shapes in the obscurity. Fingers threatened him--eyes glared at
him--reproachful voices accused him. And no, he was not mistaken, by
the clearer light of the flames, now blown by the wind, he saw, beyond
a remnant of wall, a pair of hard black eyes fixed upon him. Startled,
and doubtful between the imaginary and the real, Perico did not know
whether he ought to put himself under the protection of heaven, by
making the sign of the cross, or to call for earthly help by giving
the signal of alarm.
Before he could act, there came from behind the stone ruin a ruin of
humanity; from behind the degradation of time, a wreck of human
degradation--an old, filthy, and disgusting gipsy woman. The tint of
the brown woollen skirts which covered her fleshless limbs blended
with that of the ruin; she wore about her neck a kerchief, and over
her faded locks a black cloth mantilla.
Perico was struck motionless as a stone, or as if the repulsive face
had been that of the Medusa.
"Don't be uneasy," said the vision, approaching, "there is nothing to
be afraid of. I have not come with bad motive, and you need not be on
the watch. I knew that you were here, and have caused it to be rumored
that you were making your way in the direction of the Sierra de Ronda,
and that people had seen you near Espera and Villa-Martin."
"But why have you come here?" exclaimed Perico, instinctively alarmed
at the aspect of the woman.
"To put you in the way of securing, at a stroke, a fortune that will
last you your lifetime," she replied.
"That which you are likely to offer does not inspire much confidence,"
said Perico.
"Why should I wish to harm you?" said the gipsy; "and as to my looks,
a poor cloak may cover a hail companion. I bring a treasure to your
very hands; you have only to extend them."
"A treasure," said Perico, in whom the word, instead of exciting
covetousness, only suggested the idea that the woman was mad, "a
treasure, and where is it?"
The old wretch, who saw in the question only what she expected to
find, avidity and thirst for gold, approached Perico as if she feared
the breath of night might intercept her words, and the anathemas of
heaven dissolve them in the air, and whispered in his ear, "In the
church."
Perico, utterly shocked, gave a step backward, but recovering himself,
rushed upon the woman like a tiger, and pushing her with all his
might, exclaimed, "Go!"
"I will not go," she said, unintimidated; "I came to speak with the
captain and the convict, and I will speak with them."
In his anguish lest she should do it, and to force her to go, Perico
drew a dagger and flashed its shining blade in the firelight. The
gipsy shrieked and the robbers woke.
"What is this?" shouted Diego; "what has happened? Perico, are you
going to kill a woman?"
"No, no, I do not want to kill her, only to drive her away."
"And because," said the old woman, "I have come so far, through danger
and fatigue, to put you in a way to leave this slavish life you are
leading, like the Blond of Espera, who committed one robbery so great
that he had enough to go beyond the seas and pass the rest of his days
in comfort."
{797}
The robbers grouped themselves around her; the convict presenting her
with a fragment of the wall as a seat.
"Do not listen! do not listen!" cried Perico, beside himself; "she
purposes a sacrilege!"
"Sir," said the convict to Diego, "oblige that agonizing priest to
hold his tongue, he is like the dog in the manger. Let this good woman
speak, and we shall know what she has to say--a regiment of horse
couldn't silence that dismal screech-owl."
Diego hesitated, but finally turned toward the hag, and Perico,
knowing then that hope was lost, for the bandit always followed his
first impulses, rushed away, running hither and thither among the
olives like a madman.
The gipsy had calculated everything, and her measures were well taken.
The great advantages so exaggerated, the difficulties so easily
overcome, the well-arranged precautions, upon which she amplified so
largely, produced their effect. The temptation which offers flowers
with one hand and with the other hides the thorns, convinced some and
seduced others.
All the plans were settled, and the hours and signals agreed upon, and
before the cocks, day's faithful sentinels, announced his coming, the
band was on its way to the solitary hacienda of "El Cuervo," and the
old witch crawling like a cunning and venomous snake to her den in the
wood of Alcala, where in the depths of the earth she had conceived the
crime to which amidst darkness and ruins she had persuaded
evil-doers--the crime which was to be perpetrated in the temple of
God.
CHAPTER XIX.
Heavily passed the hours of the succeeding day to the idle guests of
El Cuervo. All Perico's representations and prayers had failed to
dissuade Diego from his impious design. Diego would never turn back;
and this stupid tenacity in pursuing a course which he knew to be
wrong, had cost him respect and honor, and was still to cost him
liberty and life. It had, moreover, at the instigation of the convict,
forced Perico, who had at last resolved to leave the band, to
accompany it on this atrocious expedition--that vile man suggesting to
Diego that there was no other means of preventing the _saint_ from
denouncing them.
All mounted and at midnight reached the ruined castle of Alcala. Diego
whistled three times. Directly after, the gipsy, holding a dark
lantern, emerged from one of the vaults which open at the base of the
castle. They dismounted and followed her.
Perico would have escaped by flight from the evil pass in which he
found himself, but his companions surrounded him and dragged him with
them whither the woman led. She, after saluting the robbers in a
fawning voice, opened with a picklock the door of a rude court filled
with rubbish and timbers. From the court a postern leads into the
vestry, and through this the sacrilegious band entered the church, not
without dread and trembling even at the sound of their own footsteps.
What a sublime and tremendous spectacle--a deserted temple in the dead
of night! Under its influence even the purest and most pious souls
sink in profound awe and devotion; and no amount of incredulity is
sufficient to sustain the heart of him who presumes to violate it.
How immense appeared those shadowy naves! How far above them the
corbels, which, upheld by giants of stone, seemed almost lost in the
mysterious gloom of a sky without stars! There in a deep and lonesome
niche, stretched prostrate and mute, slept a cold effigy upon a
sepulchre. Its outlines were hardly discernible, but the very
obscurity seemed to lend them motion.
{798}
The high altar, still perfumed with the flowers and incense of the
morning, gleamed through the darkness. The altar, centre of faith,
throne of charity, refuge of hope, shelter of the defenceless,
exhaustless source of consolations, attracting all eyes, all steps,
all hearts. Before the tabernacle burned the lamp, solitary guardian
of the _sacrarium_--burned only to light it, for light is the
knowledge of God.
Holy and mysterious lamp--continual holocaust--aflame, tranquil like
hope--silent, like reverence--ardent, like charity--and enduring like
eternal mercy. The gleams and reflections of this light caught and
relieved the prominent points of the carvings and mouldings of the
gilded altarpiece, giving them the look of eyes keeping religious
watch. There was nothing to distract the mind, the perfect fixedness,
the unbroken stillness, effected as it were a suspension of life,
which was not sleep--which was not death, but the peacefulness of the
one and the deep solemnity of the other.
Such was the interior of the church of Alcala when the spoilers
entered, lighted by the gipsy's lantern and dragging with them, by
main force, the unfortunate Perico.
"Let him go, and lock that door," said Diego.
"He will shout and betray us," said the others.
"Let him go, I say," retorted the captain. "What can he do?"
"He can shriek," answered Leon, who, assisted by the gipsy, was
stripping the high altar of the silver furniture which adorned it.
"Guard him, then," said the captain. Two of the men approached Perico.
"Off with your hats, for you are in God's house,"' he cried.
"Gag him," commanded the captain, Resistance was useless. They
instantly stopped his mouth with a handkerchief.
But notwithstanding the handkerchief, which suffocated him, when
Perico saw that Leon and the gipsy were breaking open the sacrarium he
made one desperate effort, and falling on his knees shouted,
"Sacrilege! Sacrilege!!!" Terrible was the voice that resounded in the
chapels, that echoed like thunder along the vaults, that awakened the
grand and sonorous instrument which on other occasions accompanies the
imposing _De profundis_ and the glorious _Te Deum_, and died away in
its metal tubes like a doleful wail. It caused a moment of cold terror
to those miserable wretches. Even Diego trembled!
"Have mercy, Lord, have mercy!" moaned the unhappy Perico.
"Make haste," said Diego, "the night is becoming clearer, and we may
be seen going out from here."
In fact, the clouds were breaking away, and a ray of the moon falling
at this moment through a lofty skylight kissed the feet of an image of
our Blessed Lady.
"Curse the moon!" exclaimed the gipsy; and frightened at seeing each
other by the clear and sudden illumination, they hastened the work of
spoliation. At last they left the church, and the gipsy, when she had
seen them ride away loaded with riches, turned and again hid herself
in the earth.
Before the sun brightened the _Giralda_ the robbers reached the
outskirts of _Seville_ with their booty, They left their horses in an
olive grove in charge of the convict, and each entered the city by a
different gate, reuniting in an out-of-the-way place which the gipsy
had indicated, where a silver-smith, who was in the secret, received,
weighed, and paid for the valuables. But when they returned to the
place where they had left the convict with the horses, they found it
deserted.
"That dog has sold us," said one.
"For what?" said Diego, "when his part, which is likely to be worth
more than his treason, is here."
"Perhaps he has seen people, and has gone to hide in El Cuervo," said
another.
They set out in the direction of the hacienda, avoiding roads and
beaten paths, and keeping within the shelter of the trees; but neither
there did they find the convict.
{799}
"My poor Corso!" said Diego, and a bitter tear shone for a moment in
his eyes; but instantly recovering himself he said, "We are sold: but,
courage! and let us save ourselves. Down the river; to the frontier;
to Ayamonte; to Portugal. Some day I shall find him, and on that day
he will wish he had never been born!"
They were leaving, when the gipsy presented herself to claim her share
of the money. All assailed her with questions respecting the
disappearance of the convict; but she knew nothing, and manifested
much uneasiness.
"You are not safe here, and ought to get away as soon as may be," she
said. "The elder son of the Countess of Villaoran has sworn to avenge
his brother. He has got a troop from the captain-general, and is out
after you. I am afraid he has surprised the convict. As for me I am
going, the ground burns under my feet."
"Oh! that it would burn you up!" exclaimed one.
"Oh! that it would swallow you!" exclaimed another.
The old hag silently disappeared among the olives, like a viper which
crawls away, leaving its venom in the bite it has inflicted.
"A robbery in the house of God!" said the first.
"The _sacrarium_ violated!" said the other.
"Come, hold your tongues!" shouted Diego. "Make the best of what can't
be undone. Let's be off."
But now they heard the tramp of horses, and Perico, who had been
stationed to watch, came hastily in and informed them that the convict
was coming. His arrival was greeted with shouts of joy. He said that
he had seen a troop of horsemen, and had hidden himself; that in order
to return he had been obliged to make large circuits. "But, now," he
added, "we have no time to lose, they are on our track. Here, captain,
is Corso, I have taken good care of him for you; I know how fond of
him you are."
Diego joyfully caressed the noble creature vowing within himself never
again to be separated from him.
They hastened their departure, when, suddenly, before them, behind
them, above their heads, resounded a formidable demand, "Surrender to
the king!"
They were surrounded by a party of cavalry. Two pistols were pointed
at Diego's breast, and a man held the bridle of his horse. Diego cast
his eyes around him with no feigned composure! Knowing the ability of
the horse, which he had trained to this end, he drew his dagger with
the quickness of light, and cut the hands which held the reins,
pressed his knees strongly against the animal's sides, and, caressing
his neck, cried, "Hey! Corso, save your master!"
The noble and intelligent creature made one effort, but fell back upon
his haunches powerless. He was hamstrung!
Diego comprehended the blow, and knew the hand that had dealt it.
Frantic with rage, he sprang to the ground, but the traitor had
disappeared among the troop which crowded the pass. They took Diego,
who made no useless resistance. As they left the defile, the bandit
turned his head, and cast a last look upon the horse, that, always
immovable, followed him with his large liquid eyes.
The soldiers disarmed the bandits, and tied their arms behind their
backs. "Which is the one?" asked the Count of Villaoran when he saw
them together--"which is the one that killed my brother?"
The robbers were silent at a look from Diego, who, though a prisoner
and bound, still awed them.
"Which was it?" asked the count again, in a voice choked with rage.
"It was I," said Perico.
The count turned toward the drooping youth, who had not before
attracted his notice; but when he fixed his eyes upon him a cry of
horror escaped his lips.
{800}
"You! Perico Alvareda! Iniquity without name! Perversity without
example! Poor Anna! wretched mother that bore you! Unfortunate little
ones! Unhappy Rita! Know, infamous man," continued the count with
vehemence, "that your wife has worked with incessant zeal and activity
to procure your pardon. She was always at the feet of the judges.
Ventura forgave you before he died. Pedro has forgiven you. My poor
brother was the zealous and tireless agent of your friends. He
obtained your pardon of the king. All were anxiously seeking you, and
he more than all the rest, and I--would to God I had never found you!"
Diego, who saw the immense grief which the coldness and pallor of
death painted upon the changing countenance of Perico, and noticed
that he was tottering, said to the count:
"Sir, do you see that you are killing him?"
"I will not anticipate the executioner," answered the count, mounting
his horse.
"Courage!" murmured Diego in the ear of the sinking Perico. "Look at
us. We are all going to die, and we are all serene."
They entered Seville amidst the maledictions of the populace,
horrified by their recent crimes. But the indignation with which the
crowd saw the vile traitor who had sold his companions, walking among
them free, was beyond measure.
This traitor was the convict, who by betraying the others had bought
his own pardon, and obtained the reward promised to the person who
should secure the arrest of the notorious robber Diego, who had so
long laughed at the efforts of his pursuers.
CHAPTER XX.
The prison of Seville was at that time badly situated, in a narrow
street in the most central part of the city. It was an ill-looking
structure, scaly and mean; wanting in its style the dignity of legal
authority and the outward respect which humanity owes to misfortune,
even when it is criminal. A few steps from this centre of hardened
wickedness and beastly degradation the street ends in the grand
_plaza_ of _San Francisco_--an irregular oblong area, bounded by those
edifices which make it the most imposing plaza of the famed deanery of
_Andalucia_, On the right are the chapter-houses whose exquisite
architecture renders them in the eyes of both Sevillans and strangers
the finest ornaments of the city. On the left, forming a projecting
angle, stands the regular and severe edifice of the _Audiencia_, the
tribunal to which justice gives all power. Surmounting it, like a
signal of mercy, is its clock--ten minutes too slow; venerable
illegality, which gives ten minutes more of life to the criminal
before striking the cruel hour named for his execution. Thus all the
laws and customs of ancient Spain have the seal of charity. Ten
minutes, to him who is passing tranquilly along the road of life, are
nothing; but to him who is about to die, they are priceless. Upon the
threshold of death, ten minutes may decide his sentence for eternity.
Ten minutes may bring an unhoped-for but possible pardon. But even
though these considerations, spiritual and temporal, did not exist;
though this impressive souvenir of our forefathers were nothing more
than the grant of ten minutes of existence to him who is about to die,
it would still prove that, even to their most severe decrees, our
ancestors knew how to affix the seal of charity. As such it is
recognized by the people, who understand and appreciate it, for it is
one of the customs which they hold in highest reverence. O Spain! what
examples hast thou not given to the world of all that is good and
wise! thou that to-day art asking them of strangers!
{801}
On one side of the town-hall, forming a receding angle, is seen the
great convent of San Francisco with its imposing church. The other
fronts form arches that, like stone festoons, adorn the sides of the
plaza. At the end opposite the point first mentioned is an immense
marble fountain, of which the flow of waters is as changeless and
lasting as the material of the basin which receives it.
One day the plaza of San Francisco and the streets leading to it were
covered with an unusual multitude. What drew them together? Why were
they there? To see a man die--but no, not die; to see a man kill his
brother! To die is solemn, not terrible, when the angel gently closes
the sufferer's weary eyes and gives his soul wings to rise to other
regions. But to see a man killed, by a human hand, in travail of
spirit, in agony of soul, in tortures of pain, is appalling. And yet
men go, and hasten, and crowd each other, to witness the consummation
of legal doom. But it is neither pleasure nor curiosity that attracts
the awe-struck multitude. It is that fatal desire of emotion which
takes possession of the contradictory human heart. This might have
been read in those faces, at once pale, anxious, and horrified. An
indistinct murmur ran through the dense multitude, in the midst of
which rose that pillar of shame and anguish; that usurper of the
mission of death; that foothold of the forsaken, which no one but the
priest treads voluntarily--the fearful scaffold, built at night, by
the melancholy light of lanterns, because the men who raise it are
ashamed to be seen by the light of God's sun and the eyes of their
fellowmen. The crowd shuddered at intervals at the mournful strokes of
the bell of San Francisco, pealing for a being who no longer existed
except to God, for the world had blotted him from the list of the
living. Its notes, now rising to God in supplication for a soul, now
descending to mortals in expressive admonition, forming part of the
overwhelming solemnity which was inhaled with the air and oppressed
the breast, seemed to say, Die, guilty ones die in expiatory sacrifice
for this sinful humanity. Only the pure and limpid fountain continued
its sweet and monotonous song, unconscious as childhood and innocence
of the terrors of the earth. O innocence, emanation of Paradise, still
respired in our corrupted atmosphere by children and those privileged
beings who have, like faith, a bandage upon their eyes, that they may
believe without seeing, and another upon their hearts, that they may
see and not comprehend; who have, like charity, their heart in their
hand, and, like hope, their eyes fixed on heaven, thou art always
surrounded by reverence, love, and admiration, which, as the daughter
of heaven, thou meritest.
There are two classes of charity: one relieves material sufferings in
a material way, and with money--this is beautiful and liberal, but
easy, and a social obligation. The other is that which relieves moral
anguish, morally. This is sublime and divine.
Of the latter class, one that has not been sufficiently praised by
society, which finds so many occasions for censure and so few for
eulogy, is the Brotherhood of Charity. And who compose this admirable
congregation? Those, perhaps, who waste so much paper and phraseology
in favor of humanity, philanthropy, and fraternity? No, not one of
them condescends to enter this corporation, which is formed
principally of the aristocracy of those places where it has been
established. The truth is, that between theory and practice, as
between saying and doing, there is a great space.
In Seville, a short time after the events related in the last chapter,
several gentlemen of distinction were seen passing through the
streets, each holding out a small basket, as he repeated in a grave
voice, "For the unfortunates who are to be put to death."
{802}
Diego and his band were assembled in the chapel of the prison,
constantly attended by some of the brotherhood, who, leaving their
homes, their pleasures, and their occupations, came to take part in
this prolonged agony, consoling the last moments of these sinful men;
anticipating their wishes with more attention than those of kings are
anticipated, and pouring balsam into the wound inflicted by the sword
of justice.
Two of the most zealous and devoted of the brotherhood, the Count of
Cantillana and the Marquis of Greffina, had been to the tribunal,
which is established and remains in session in the jail while the
condemned are being prepared and led to the scaffold, and during the
execution, to ask of it the bodies of those who were to suffer. The
following is the formula adopted by this noble and affecting Catholic
institution:
"We come, in the name of Joseph and of Nicodemus, to ask leave to
take the body down from the place of punishment." The judge grants
the prayer, and they withdraw.
Each prisoner was accompanied by his confessor--a blessed staff to
sustain the steps that are turned toward the scaffold.
When Perico had finished his sacramental confession, he said to the
venerable religious who assisted him: "My name is not known; they call
me 'Perico the Sad;' but, since between earth and heaven nothing is
hidden, my family will, sooner or later, know my fate. Have the
charity, father, to fulfil my last desire, and be yourself the one to
carry the news to my mother. Tell her that I died repentant and
contrite, and not so criminal as I appear. An evil life is a ravine
into which one is drawn by the first crime. That crime which has
weighed and is weighing so heavily upon me, I committed because I
preferred a vain thing which men call honor, and which has sometimes
to be bought with blood, to the precepts of the gospel, which make a
virtue of forbearance and command us to forgive. O father! how
different appear the things of life on the threshold of the tomb! Tell
my poor sister, whose bridegroom I killed, that I commend her to
another and immortal One, who will never deceive her. Tell Pedro that
I know he has forgiven me, as did his son, and that I carry this
consolation to the grave, and my gratitude to God. Tell Rita that I
lived and died loving her, and that, if I had lived, I never would
have reminded her of the past, since she has repented of it. Ask my
mother-in-law, who is so good, to recommend me to God . . . . and my
poor children . . . my orphans . . . . Oh! if it were possible that
they might never know . . . . the fate of their father . . . . who . . . .
blesses them . . ."
Here his bursting heart found vent in sobs.
The priest who heard him, convinced of the innocence of his heart,
seeing how he had been surprised into crime by all that exasperates
and blinds the reason of a husband, a brother, and a brave man, and
forced into an evil life by circumstances, necessity, and his natural
want of firmness, felt as one who without means or power to save it
sees a fair vessel dashing to pieces at his feet.
Rita's constant and energetic movements to discover the whereabouts of
Perico, whose pardon, with the assistance of charitable souls, she had
obtained from the king, brought her, with her mother, that day to
Seville. Attempting to pass the plaza of San Francisco they
encountered the great crowd which had gathered there, and, asking the
cause of the tumult, were shown the scaffold. They would have retired,
but could not for the press behind them.
One of the condemned is approaching; all burst into exclamations of
pity--"Poor boy! This is the one they call 'Perico the Sad;' they say
that his wife, a good-for-nothing, was the ruin of him."
Rita's heart beats violently--the criminal passes--she sees--she
recognizes him. A shriek, another such was never uttered, rends the
air--heard in all the market-place.
{803}
Perico stops: "Father," he says, "it is she! it is Rita!"
"My son," replies the priest, "think only of God, in whose presence
you are going to appear, contrite, reconciled, and happy, carrying
with you your expiation."
"Father, if I could only see her before I die?"
"My son, think of the bitter punishment and of the glorious
illumination you are going to receive from man, who is the instrument
of God in your destiny." Perico wishes to turn "Forward!" orders the
sergeant.
He mounts the scaffold and kneels to the spiritual father, who with a
calm face, but a heart sorely oppressed, blesses him. He kisses the
crucifix, that other scaffold, upon which the Man-God expiated the
sins of others, still turning his eyes toward the place from which the
voice sounded that pierced his heart; seats himself upon the bench;
the executioner, who stands behind him, places the garrote around his
neck; the priest intones the creed; the executioner turns the screw,
and a simultaneous cry, "Ave Maria purissima!" sounds in the plaza.
With this invocation to the Mother of God, humanity takes leave of the
condemned at the moment that he is separated from it by the hand of
the law.
The executioner covers the face of the victim with a black cloth, and
the black shadow of the wings of death falls upon the hushed
multitude.
Some compassionate persons carried Rita away senseless. Her situation
was terrible beyond expression. The convulsions which shook her left
her but few moments of consciousness, and in these moments she gave
way to her despair in a way so frightful that they were obliged to
hold her as if she had been mad. For some days it was impossible to
move her. At length her relatives brought a cart to take her away.
They laid her in it, upon a mattress, but not one of them would
accompany her for shame. Maria went alone with her child, sustaining
her head upon her lap. Rita's long black hair fell around her like a
veil, covering her from the glances of the indiscreet and curious.
"There goes," they said, as they saw her pass, "the wife of the
criminal, who by her indiscretion sent him to the scaffold." But the
oxen did not hasten their deliberate steps. It seemed as if they also
had a mission to fulfil, in prolonging the punishment of reprobation
to her who hid provoked it with so much audacity. Maria went like a
resigned martyr. Her gentle heart had been made as it were elastic, in
order to contain without bursting an immensity of suffering. From time
to time Rita shuddered and broke into lamentations, pressing
convulsively her mother's knees. The latter said nothing, for even she
found no words of consolation for such grief.
They reached the village as night was coming on. The cart stopped
before their house, and Rita was lifted out.
She sees a window wide open in her mother-in-law's house; through this
window an unusual light is shining. She breaks away from the arms that
sustain her and rushes to the grating. In the middle of the room which
she inhabited in happy times, stands a bier. Four wax candles throw
their solemn light upon the calm form of Elvira. She is as white as
her shroud; her hands are crossed, and through her right arm passes a
palm branch--emblem consecrated to virginity. Thus in simple grace,
and in the attitude of prayer, lies the pious village maiden.
In the front part of that melancholy room were still seen the withered
plants which on a happier day had formed the mimic Bethlehem. At the
extremity of the room sits Anna, as pale and motionless as the corpse
itself. On one side of her is Pedro, and on the other the priest who
accompanied Perico to the scaffold.
{804}
Years after the events we have related, the Marquis of ---- went to
spend some days at one of the haciendas of Dos-Hermanas. One evening,
when he was returning from the estate of a relative, he noticed as he
passed near an olive-tree that the overseer and the guard who
accompanied him uncovered their heads. He glanced upward, and saw
nailed to the tree a red cross. "Has there been a murder in this quiet
place?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," answered the guard, "here was killed the handsomest and
bravest youth that ever trod Dos-Hermanas."
"And the murderer," added the overseer, "was the best and most
honorable young man of the place."
"But how was that?" questioned the marquis.
"Through wine and women, sir, the cause of all misfortunes," replied
the guard.
And as they went along they told the story we have repeated, with all
its circumstances and details.
"Do any of the family still live in the place?" asked the marquis,
extremely interested in the recital.
"Uncle Pedro died that year; Perico's wife would have let herself die
of grief, but the priest that assisted her husband persuaded her to
try to live to fulfil the will of God and her husband, by taking care
of her children; but to stay here where every one knew and loved her
husband, she must have had a brazen face indeed; she went with her
mother to the _sierra_, where they had relatives. One who came from
there awhile since, and had seen her, says that she does not look like
the same person. The tears have worn furrows in her cheeks; she is as
thin as the scythe of death, and her health is destroyed. Poor aunt
Anna died only the day before yesterday. She looked like a shadow, and
walked bent as if she were seeking her grave as a bed of rest."
They had now reached the village, and as they were passing a large
gloomy building, the overseer said, "This is her house."
The marquis paused a moment, and then entered. An old woman, a
relation of the deceased, lived alone in the sad and empty house, over
which, at that instant, the moon cast a white shroud.
"How these vines are dying!" said the marquis.
"They were not so," answered the woman, "when that poor dear child
took care of them. They used to be covered with flowers that
flourished like daughters under the hand of a mother. But she closed
her eyes, never again to open them in this world, the day she heard of
her brother's fate."
"Oh!" exclaimed the gentleman, "what a pity! this magnificent
orange-tree is dead."
"Yes; it is older than the world, sir, and was used to a great deal of
petting and care. After poor Anna lost her children, neither she nor
any one else minded it, and it withered."
"And this dog?" asked the marquis, seeing a dog, old and blind, lying
in one comer.
"The poor Melampo, from the time he lost his master he grew melancholy
and blind. Anna, before she died, begged me to take care of him; it
was almost the only thing the dear soul spoke of; but there will be no
need; when they took away her corpse he began to howl, and since then
he will not eat." The marquis drew nearer. Melampo was dead.
------
{805}
From The Month.
BURIED ALIVE.
"It may be asserted without hesitation, that no event is so terribly
well calculated to inspire the supremeness of bodily and mental
distress as is burial before death. The unendurable oppression of the
lungs; the stifling fumes of the damp earth; the clinging to the
death-garments; the rigid embrace of the narrow house; the blackness
of the absolute night; the silence like a sea that overwhelms; the
unseen but palpable presence of the conqueror worm--these things, with
thoughts of the air and grass above, with memory of dear friends who
would fly to save us, if but informed of our fate, and with
consciousness that of this fate they can never be informed; that our
hopeless portion is that of the really dead--these considerations, I
say, carry into the heart which still palpitates a degree of appalling
and intolerable horror from which the most daring imagination must
recoil." [Footnote 187]
[Footnote 187: E.A. Poe's "Premature Burial."]
I have chosen this sentence from a writer whose forte is the terrible
and mysterious for my introduction, because it sums up, in a few
expressive words, the thoughts which arise in our minds on hearing or
reading the words "Buried Alive." To avert so fearful a doom from a
fellow-creature would surely be worth any trouble; and yet it is to be
feared that the very horror which the thought inspires causes most of
us to turn aside from it, and to accept the comfortable doctrine that
such things are not done now, whatever may have formerly been the
case. Were this true, I should not feel justified in bringing before
the readers of the "Month" a ghastly subject, which could be
acceptable only to a morbid curiosity; but it is unfortunately but too
certain that persons are now and then buried alive, and that,
therefore, this fate may be possibly our own. The subject is one which
naturally excites more attention abroad; for in England the custom of
keeping deceased relatives above ground for many days after their
death, has long prevailed, and incurs the opposite danger of injuring
the health of the survivors who thus indulge their grief. We believe
no important work has ever been published in this country on the
subject; for Dr. Hawe's pamphlet is not up to the present standard of
medical information, and contains instances of very doubtful
authenticity. The tales of premature interment which can be collected
in conversation, or occasionally noticed in the public journals, are
not very numerous; few of them are circumstantial enough to have any
scientific interest; and some prove the supposed fact by the hair or
nails having grown, and the body having moved when in its coffin--
things which are well known to happen now and then after death has
undoubtedly taken place, and being therefore no proofs at all. After
examination, I have, then, come to the conclusion that no estimate of
the frequency of premature interment can be obtained. Indeed, the only
statistics which we possess are from Germany, and they are not very
reassuring. In some of the largest towns of that country, mortuary
chambers (in which the dead are placed for some days before burial)
have long been established; and we learn from a report of one in
Berlin, that in the space of only thirty-months ten people, who had
been supposed dead, were there found to be alive, and thus saved from
true death {806} in its most horrible form. But in France and Italy,
especially during the summer months, the dead are buried so very early
that fears are frequently entertained. In France, indeed, the law
prescribes a delay of twenty-four hours after death before interment,
and also requires a certificate of death from an inspector, who in
large towns is usually a physician with no other employment (_le
medecin des morts_;) but so many instances of carelessness and of
incapacity on the part of the country inspectors have been noticed,
that the Chamber of Peers, during Louis Philippe's reign, and lately
the Senate of the Empire, have received many petitions praying for an
inquiry, and for further precautions. To these the answer has
generally been, that the existing law provides sufficient safeguards;
and in this the Senate only followed the prevailing opinion of men of
science in France.
For, some years ago, Dr. Manni, a professor in the University of Rome,
offered a prize of 15,000 francs, to be given by the French Academy of
Sciences to the author of the best essay on the signs of death and the
means to be taken to prevent premature interment. The prize was
obtained in 1849 by M. Bouchut, an eminent physician in Paris, who,
after a very detailed examination of the question, came to these two
conclusions: first, that when the action of the heart could be no
longer heard by means of the stethoscope, death was certain; and
secondly, that not a single case of interment before death has ever
been clearly and satisfactorily made out: and the learned body, who
awarded the prize to him, entirely assented to these opinions. Since
that time, however, cases have been quoted, by some French doctors of
note, in which the action of the heart could not be detected, and yet
life was in the end restored. Their observations have been summed up
in a pamphlet by M. Jozat. This gave a fresh impulse to the subject;
and on the 27th of February last, M. de Courvol presented a petition
to the Senate of the same tenor as those mentioned above. This would
have received the same answer as they did, and the matter would have
been again shelved, if several of the senators present had not quoted
instances which had fallen under their own observation, and in which
death was escaped only by some happy accident. The most remarkable of
these was narrated by Cardinal Donnet, as having happened to
_himself_; and his story was copied into most English newspapers at
the time. It is, however, so much to the purpose of this paper, that I
make no apology for quoting it in his own words:
"In 1826, a young priest was suddenly struck down, unconscious, in
the pulpit of a crowded cathedral where he was preaching. The
funeral knell was soon after tolled, and a physician declared him to
be certainly dead, and obtained leave for his burial next day. The
bishop of the cathedral where this event had occurred, had recited
the 'De Profundis' by the side of the bier; the coffin was being
already prepared. Night was approaching; and the young priest, who
heard all these preparations, suffered agonies. He was only
twenty-eight years old, and in perfect health. At last he
distinguished the voice of a friend of his childhood; this caused
him to make a superhuman effort, and produced the wonderful result
of enabling him to speak. The next day he was able to preach again."
This remarkable account, coming almost from the grave, produced a very
great impression; and, as is not unusual in deliberative assemblies,
the Senate yielded to striking individual cases what it had before
refused to argument, forwarding the petition to the Minister of the
Interior, and so implying that it considered the existing law
insufficient. The plan which finds most favor in France is the
establishment of "mortuary houses," like those in Germany. Although
some of the highest authorities in {807} France are opposed to them,
there can be no doubt, if the statistics quoted above are to be
believed, that they would be the means of saving many lives,
especially in cases where (as in hotels and lodging-houses) the
funeral is now hurried as much as possible. The only precautions which
need be taken in England are of a simple kind, and will be more
evident after the description I shall now proceed to give of the two
diseased states which most nearly simulate death.
In the first of these, called _catalepsy_, the patient lies immovable
and apparently unconscious; the limbs are rigid and cold; the eyes are
fixed, sometimes remaining open; and the jaw sometimes drops. But the
resemblance to death goes no farther; the face has not a corpse-like
expression; although the limbs are cold, the head continues to be
warm, or is even warmer than when in the usual state; the pupils are
never completely dilated, and are, sometimes at least, contracted by
exposure to light. The pulse and breathing, although slow and
irregular, can always be noticed; and the muscles are so far stiffened
as to keep the limbs, during the whole course of the attack, in the
position (however constrained and inconvenient) in which they chance
to be at the time of seizure, or may be placed in by bystanders during
the fit. This state of the muscular system is a decisive proof that
the case is one of catalepsy.
Were this rare and curious disease the only cause of error, the
physician called upon to discern in a given case between life and
death would have a comparatively easy task; but there is a still rarer
condition, which gives rise to most of the lamentable mistakes that
are made; the state of _trance_ or _prolonged syncope_, is a far more
perfect counterfeit of death. The patient is motionless, and
apparently unconscious, although he is usually aware of all that is
passing around him; the pulsation of the heart and arteries, and the
breathing gradually diminish in force and frequency, until they become
at last quite imperceptible; the whole surface of the body grows cold;
and all this may last even for many days. How is one in such a
condition known not to be dead? In the first place, it is noticed that
this disease is rare in a previously healthy person; it has been
generally preceded by some cause producing great weakness, (especially
long-continued fevers, great loss of blood, severe mental affliction,
or bodily pain.) It almost invariably, too, occurs suddenly, without
any preparation, and of course without the signs which immediately
precede death.
Sometimes mere inspection will convince the physician that the person
is still alive. Thus, the face, although fixed, may not have the look
of death; the mouth may be firmly closed, the eye not glazed, and the
pupil not entirely dilated. Supposing, however, that every one of
these signs of life is absent, and that the pulse and breathing are
imperceptible by the ordinary means of observation, careful
examination of the chest with a stethoscope will detect the
heart-sounds, if life be not quite extinct, in almost every case. I
dare not, in view of the cases cited by M. Jozat, say that absence of
the heart-sounds in this state _never_ occurs; but all medical men
will agree with me that it must be exceedingly rare. It also seems to
me probable that, in the cases on which M. Jozat relies, the movements
of the heart were so few and far between that the chest happened to be
ausculted only during the intervals; at any rate, it would of course
be advisable to make frequent and prolonged examinations before
deciding that no sound could be heard. The late Dr. Hope suggested
that the second sound of the heart might be detected, although the
first was quite inaudible; but this is merely theoretical. Again,
although the surface of the body be quite cold, it is probable that a
thermometer introduced far into the mouth would show that some
internal warmth {808} remained in every case of trance. At a variable
time after death the muscles lose their "irritability," (that is,
their power of contracting under galvanic stimulation;) and this
change is speedily followed by another--the stiffness which is noticed
all over the body. It is to be remembered that loss of muscular
irritability, and rigidity of the whole body, may both be noticed and
yet the person be alive; still, if these two symptoms are not present
at first, and only appear soon after supposed death, they will afford
strong presumption that the person is dead; which will be strengthened
if the skin be slightly burned, and yet no bleb forms in consequence.
Every one, however, of the signs enumerated is open to exceptions;
although, of course, the concurrence of many, or of all, tending in
the same direction, will make death or life almost certain; but the
_only_ absolutely conclusive evidence of death is putrefaction, which
is sometimes much delayed by the previous emaciation of the deceased,
or by cold dry weather, but which sooner or later removes all doubt.
The first indications of decay are in the eyeball, which becomes
flaccid, and in the discoloration of the skin of the trunk; its later
ones are well known to every one. One M. Mangin (who contributed a
notice of this subject to the "Correspondant" for March 25th last, to
which I am indebted for several facts I have mentioned) supposes that
the buzzing, humming noise which is heard over all the body of a
living person would furnish a certain means of distinguishing real
from apparent death. He does not seem to be aware that M. Collongues,
the principal authority for what is called "dynamoscopy," has found
that this noise is absent in some cases of catalepsy and trance, for
which it is proposed as a test. Certain authorities, both in England
and France, have thought that microscopal examination of the blood
would be decisive; but unfortunately irregularity in shape and
indentation of the red disks (on which they would rely) occur
sometimes during life, and are only among the earliest signs of
putrefaction after death.
These, as far as I know" are the only means which science has hitherto
suggested for distinguishing a living body from a corpse; and we have
seen that none of them, save putrefaction, are invariably certain. In
a doubtful case, therefore, time should always be allowed for this
change to take place, so that the body may be interred in perfect
security. If this is done under the direction of a medical attendant
of ordinary information, relatives and friends may be convinced that
no mistake is possible; and their plain duty is to urge this salutary
delay in the very few cases where it can possibly be required.
It is particularly important to urge this delay, when necessary, in
the case of persons who have apparently died of some contagious
disease, and who might otherwise have been buried alive. It is indeed,
much to be feared that persons in the collapse stage of cholera have
been sometimes buried as dead; especially (Cardinal Donnet remarks)
when they are attacked in hotels or lodgings, where a death from such
a cause would be particularly prejudicial.
M. Mangin mentions one such case of a medical student in Paris, who
apparently died of cholera in 1832, and for whose funeral all
preparations were made, when a friend applied moxas to the spine. He
recovered consciousness at once, and survived many years; and there is
something grimly amusing in reading that he told the narrator: "Je me
suis chauffe avec le bois de mon cercueil!" Those, again, who have
read Mr. Maguire's "Life of Father Mathew," will not soon forget his
graphic description of a similar case, in which Father Mathew rescued
a young man from the hospital dead-house during the same epidemic at
Cork, just as he was being wrapped in a tarred sheet and placed in his
coffin.
{809}
Poe, in the tale from which I have quoted above, gives an instance of
burial during typhus fever, probably in one of the long periods of
unconsciousness and immobility occasionally occurring in that disease.
The unfortunate man remained in the grave for two days, when his body
was disinterred by the "body-snatchers," for the purpose of enabling
his medical attendants to make a _post-mortem_ examination. A casual
application of the galvanic current revived him, and he was soon after
restored to his friends, alive and in good health. This is said by Poe
to have happened to a Mr. Edward Stapleton, a London solicitor, in
1831. I have been unable to obtain any verification of this marvel,
but give it for what it may be worth.
It is very remarkable that the state of prolonged syncope, or trance,
can sometimes be produced by a mere effort of the will. One of the
best-described cases is given by St. Augustine. [Footnote 188] It is
that of a priest named Restitutus, who used frequently, in order to
satisfy the curiosity of friends, to make himself totally immovable,
and apparently unconscious, so that he did not feel any pricking,
pinching, or even burning; nor did he appear to breathe at all. He
used afterward to say that "he could hear during the attack what was
said very loud by bystanders, as if from afar." He brought on the
attack "ad imitatas quasi lamentantis cujuslibet voces;" a sentence
which is unfortunately of rather uncertain meaning. Another case is
recorded by Dr. Cheyne, a fashionable Bath physician of the last
century. A patient of his, one Colonel Townsend, in order to convince
Dr. Cheyne's incredulity, one day voluntarily induced this state of
death-like trance "by composing himself as if to sleep." He then
appeared perfectly dead; and neither Dr. Cheyne nor another physician.
Dr. Bayard, nor the apothecary in attendance, could detect any
pulsation at the heart or wrist, or any breathing whatever. They were
just about to give him up for dead, when, at the end of half an hour,
he gradually recovered.
[Footnote 188: "De Civ. Dei," xiv. cap. 24. ]
But these performances are quite thrown into the shade by those of
certain fakeers in India. Mr. Braid, in his very interesting
"Observations on Trance, or Human Hybernation," collected several of
these almost incredible tales from British officers, who spoke as
having been themselves eye-witnesses of them in India. In the most
wonderful of them Sir Claude Wade (formerly Resident at the court of
Runjeet Singh) says that he saw a fakeer buried in an underground
vault for six weeks: the body had been twice dug up by Runjeet Singh
during this period, and found in the same position as when first
buried. In another case, Lieutenant Boileau (in his "Narrative of a
Journey in Rajwarra in 1835") relates that he saw a man buried for ten
days in a grave lined with masonry and covered with large slabs of
stone; and the fakeer declared his readiness to be left in the tomb
for a twelvemonth. In all these cases it is said that the body, when
first disinterred, was like a corpse, and no pulse could be detected
at the heart or the wrist; but warmth to the head and friction of the
body soon revived the bold experimenter. Supposing that the watch
(which was carefully kept up during each of these curious interments)
was not eluded by some of the jugglery in which Indians excel, we have
here proofs that the state of trance cannot only be voluntarily
induced, but prolonged over a very long time.
The rationale of such phenomena is not very difficult to comprehend.
St. Augustine was undoubtedly right when he explained the case that
fell under his own observation by the supposition that some persons
have a remarkable and unusual power of the will over the action of the
heart. Dr. Carpenter suggests that the state of syncope could be kept
up much longer {810} in a vault in a tropical climate, where the body
would not lose too much of its natural heat, than in more temperate
countries; and Mr. Braid compares this condition to the slowness of
respiration and circulation during winter in hybernating animals. But
whatever may be the explanation, I cannot at least be accused of
digression in ending this gloomy paper with an account of men who are
voluntarily buried alive.
------
Translated from Le Correspondant.
A CELTIC LEGEND.--HERVE.
TO THE MEMORY OF M. AUGUSTIN THIERRY.
BY H. DE LA VILLEMARQUE.
I was one day walking in the country with a book in my hand. It was in
a district of that land where La Fontaine has said, "fate sends men
when it wishes to make them mad." Fate had not, however, sent me there
in order to make me mad. I found, on the contrary, in the charming
scenes which on all sides presented themselves to my view, and in the
original population which surrounded me, a thousand reasons for not
sharing the sentiment of the morose narrator of fables. A peasant
accosted me in the familiar but at the same time respectful style
habitual to those of that country, and, pointing to my book with his
finger:
"Is it the Lives of the Saints," he said to me, "'that you are reading
there?"
A little surprised at this address, which, however, by no means
explained my reading, I remained silent, thinking of this opinion of
the Breton peasants, according to whom the "Lives of the Saints" is
the usual reading of all those who know how to read; and, as my
interlocutor repeated his question,
"Well, yes," I replied, to humor his thought, "there is sometimes
mention made of the saints in this book."
"And what one's life are you reading now?" he continued obstinately.
I mentioned at random the name of some saint, and thought I had
quieted his curiosity, but I had not satisfied his faith.
"What was he good for?" he asked.
For an instant I stopped short; what reply to offer to a man who
judged the saints by their practical utility? I turned upon him: "And
your own patron," I replied, "what maladies does he care?"
"Oh! a great number," he said; "those of men as well as those of
animals. Although during his life he was only a poor blind singer, he
has a beautiful place in paradise, I assure you. The day he entered
heaven the sky was all illuminated." And, accompanying it with
commentaries, he chanted for me the legend of the patron of his
parish.
I knew it already by Latin and French publications; but I was well
pleased to collect it fresh from the living spring of popular
tradition. By the aid of this later source and of the written record,
I have reconstructed the account about to be read. It presents, if I
do not deceive myself, a somewhat interesting page in the history of
Christian civilization in Armorica, in the sixth century; so judged
the great historian, my teacher and my friend, to whom I dedicate it.
Moral truth shines through all the legend as a light shines through a
veil. [Footnote 189]
[Footnote 189: The most ancient compilation of this legend, written
six hundred years after the death of Saint Herve, which is placed on
the 22d June in the year 568, exists in the Imperial Library, in the
portfolio of the "Blanc-Manteaux." No 38, p. 851: the two more
modern are, one of P. Albert le Grand, who has taken for his model
Jacques de Voragine; the other by Dom Lobineau, who has fallen into
the contrary extreme.]
{811}
I.
It was the custom of the Frank kings to have a large number of poets
and musicians at their court; they often had them come from foreign
countries, taking pleasure, mingled with a barbarous pride, in
listening to verses sung in their honor, of which they understood not
a word. Among them were seen Italians, Greeks, and even Britons, who,
uniting their discordant voices with the singers of the German race,
emulated each other in flattering the not critical ears of the
Merovingian princes. Welcomed to their palace, after having been
driven from his own country by the Lombards, the Italian Fortunatus
has preserved for us recollections of these singular concerts at
which, lyre in hand, he performed his part while "the Barbarian," he
says, "added the harp, the Greek the instrument of Homer, and the
Briton the Celtic rote." The rote had the same fate as the lyre; it
sought in Gaul an asylum from the invaders of the British Isle, of
whom it might be said with equal truth as by the Italian poet of the
conquerors of his country, that they did not know the difference
between the gabble of the goose and the song of the swan. The
Merovingian kings piqued themselves on having more taste.
Among the Britons who took refuge with them, and who continued to play
in Gaul nearly the same part that they played in the dwellings of
their native chiefs, there was a young man, named Hyvarnion. This
name, which signifies just judgment, had been given him in his own
country on the following occasion: He was in a school where he was
only known as the _petit savant_, and had for his teacher one of the
sages of the British nation, both monk and poet, named Kadok, now
known in Armorica as Saint Cado. At the end of the fifth century this
successor of the last Latin rhetors of Albion, instructed the young
islanders in grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, poetry, and music,
mingling, as it appears, with the methods of instruction transmitted
by classic antiquity, the traditions of the ancient Druids. The master
disputed one day with his little scholar after the manner of the
Druids, the subject of debate being: What are the eighteen most
beautiful moral virtues? Kadok indicated eighteen, but he purposely
omitted the principal, wishing to leave to his pupil the pleasure of
finding them out for himself.
"For my part," said the scholar, "I believe that he possesses the
eighteen virtues _par excellence_, who is strong in trials and in
tribulations; gentle in the midst of suffering; energetic in
execution; modest in glory and in prosperity; humble in conduct;
persistent in good resolutions; firm in toil and in difficulties;
eager for instruction; generous in words, in deeds, and in thoughts;
reconciler of quarrels; gracious in his manners and affable in his
house; on good terms with his neighbors; pure in body and in thought;
just in words and deeds; regular in his manners; but above all,
charitable to the poor and afflicted."
"Thine the prize!" cried Kadok, "thou hast spoken better than I."
"Not so," replied the _petit savant_, "not so; I wished to carry it
over thee, and thou hast given a proof of humility; thou art the
wiser, and thine the palm." [Footnote 190]
[Footnote 190: "Myvyrian archaeology of Wales," iii. p. 45.]
This just judgment brought good fortune to the young scholar. It
procured for him the fine name by which he was afterward designated,
and under which he is presented to us in the Armorican legends.
{812}
Once passed over to the continent, Hyvarnion became henceforth only a
vague remembrance in the minds of the islanders. His countrymen knew
very little of his history, and it may be believed that he would have
been wholly forgotten had not a Cambrian poet consecrated to him three
verses recalling the memorable sayings of the great men of his nation.
"Hast thou heard," said he, "what sang the _petit savant_ seated at
table with the bards?"
"The man with a pure heart has a joyous countenance."
The table which is here mentioned is that of the Frank king
Childebert. Hyvarnion sat there for four years, probably from the year
513 to the year 517. In the midst of the debaucheries and the scandals
of that court he appeared calm and serene in conscience and in
countenance, and like the children in the furnace, he sang. His songs
and his verses rendered him agreeable to the king, says a hagiographer
who charitably claims that the bard "merited the esteem of the king
even more by his virtues than by his talents." Whatever might be the
esteem of the murderer of the sons of Chlodimer for the virtues of the
poet of his court, Childebert showed himself as generous to him as
were the island chiefs to their household minstrels. But not precious
stuffs, nor gold, nor mead, the three gifts most dear to a poet, could
retain in the court of Paris a young man in whose eyes purity of soul
and of body, regularity of manners, and justice were among the most
beautiful of virtues.
Under pretext of returning to his own country, where a brilliant and
decisive victory of Arthur over the Saxons had restored security, he
asked permission of the king to leave him. He departed loaded with
presents, even carrying, we are assured, a letter to Kon-Mor, or great
chief, who governed Armorica in the name of Childebert, in which the
king ordered that a ship should be placed at the service of the
British bard.
Hyvarnion had been three days at the court of the Frank officer, and
the ship, which was to conduct him to the British isle was ready to
sail, when three dreams, followed by a meeting which he had probably
made after his arrival in Armorica, prevented his embarkation. A young
girl of the country, as remarkable for her beauty as for her talent
for poetry and music, appeared to him in his sleep. Seated on the
border of a fountain she sang in a voice so sweet that it pierced his
heart. Somewhat troubled on awaking, he drove away the dangerous and
too charming recollection; but the following night, the same young
girl, more beautiful still, if possible, and singing even more sweetly
than before, appeared to him a second time. "Then," says an author,
"he seriously feared that it was some wile or snare of the spirit of
fornication," and the night coming, he prayed the Lord to deliver him
from this dream, if it came not from him. "If on the contrary, it is
thou who dost send it to me," said he, "let me know clearly what it is
thou wouldst that I should do."
And he sought his bed. But behold! scarcely had he slept than he had a
third dream. He saw a young man surrounded with light, who entered his
room and thus spoke to him: "Fear not to take for your wife her whom
you have seen seated on the border of the fountain, and whom you will
see again. Like you, she is pure and chaste, and God will bless your
love."
The Frank officer to whom the bard related his dream, wished, without
doubt, to be agreeable to one recommended by the king, and took upon
himself to realize the prophecy. He proposed a hunting party to the
young man, where, he said, he would meet a certain marvellous hare,
called the _silver hare_, but with the secret purpose of contriving a
meeting with the {813} young girl of his dream. His hope was not
deceived. As they entered the forest where lodged the pretended silver
hare, they heard a voice singing in the distance. The young man
trembled and reined up his horse. "I hear," said he, "I hear the voice
singing which I heard last night."
Without replying to him the royal officer turned himself toward the
part of the forest whence the voice proceeded, and following a
footpath which wound along the side of a stream, they reached a
spring, near to which a young girl was occupied in gathering simples.
"The young girl sat by the fountain," says a poet. "White was her
dress, and rosy her face.
"So white her dress, so rosy her face, that she seemed an eglantine
flower blooming in the snow.
"And she did naught but sing: 'Although I am, alas! but a poor iris on
the banks of the water, they call me its Little Queen.
"The Lord Count said to the young girl as he approached her, 'I salute
you, _Little Queen of the Fountain_. How gaily thou dost sing, and how
fair thou art!
"'How fair thou art, and how gaily thou dost sing. What flowers are
those you gather there?'
"'I am not fair, I sing not gaily, and these are not flowers that I
gather;
"'These are not flowers that I gather, but different kinds of salutary
plants;
"'One is good for those who are sad; for the blind, the other is good;
and the third, if I can find it, is that which will cure death.'
"'Little Queen, I pray thee, give me the first of these plants.'
"'Save your grace, my Lord, I shall give it only to him whom I shall
marry.'
"'Thou hast given it! Give it then,' cried the royal officer, 'Thou
hast given it to this young man, who has just come to ask thee in
marriage.'"
And the _Little Queen of the Fountain_ gave to the bard, in pledge of
her faith, the plant which produces gaiety. [Footnote 191]
[Footnote 191: The Breton text of the legend of Saint Herve, in
verse appears in the fifth edition of the _Barsas[??] Breis, Chante
populaires de la Bretagne_.]
If we may credit the legend, it was even in the same mind that
Rivanone, as she was called, went to the fountain; for she also had a
dream the preceding night, a dream altogether like the bard's. She
herself confessed it, and if she had not avowed it, we could divine
it, "Those who love, have they not dreams?" _An qui amant, ipsi sibi
somnia fingunt?_ Seeing in this a certain proof of the will of heaven,
the Frank count brought the brother of Rivanone, an Armorican chief,
in whose manor the young girl had lived since the death of her father
and mother, and having related to him all that had passed, he demanded
of him his sister in marriage for the favorite of the king.
Thus was settled this well-assorted union, and the wedding was
celebrated at the court of the Frank count.
Tradition has described it in a manner almost epic. The small as well
as the great, the poor as well as the rich, were guests at the feast;
churchmen and warriors, magistrates and common people, arrived there
from all sides. Neither wine, nor hydromel, drawn from casks, was
wanting to the guests. Two hundred hogs were immolated, and two
hundred fat bulls, two hundred heifers, and one hundred roebucks, two
hundred buffalos, one hundred black, one hundred white, and their
skins divided among the guests. A hundred robes of white wool were
given to the priests, one hundred collars of gold to the valiant
warriors, and blue mantles without number to the ladies. The poor had
also their part; there was for them a hundred new suits; they could
not receive less at the marriage of a poet who placed duty to them at
the head of the most beautiful virtues. But in order worthily to do
him honor for himself--in order properly to celebrate the union of the
Armorican muse {814} with the genius of the island bards--a hundred
musicians did not seem too many--a hundred musicians who from their
high seats played for fifteen days in the court of the count. In order
to complete this by an act destined to crown the glory of the young
couple, we are assured the king of the bards of the sixth century, the
last of the Druids, the famous Meri, finally celebrated the marriage.
Be this as it may, in regard to an honor which another popular
tradition appears to claim with more reason for the heroes of another
legend of the same century, the wedding at last at an end, the bride,
accompanied by a numerous suite, was conducted with her husband to the
manor of her brother, and if the Armorican customs of our days already
existed at that epoch, the minstrels at the wedding played on their
way a tender and melancholy air, named the Air of the Evening before
the Festival, which always brought tears to the eyelids of the bride.
"God console the inconsolable heart, the heart of the girl on her
wedding night."
It is said that Rivanone shed several tears in the midst of her joy.
Had she not for ever bid adieu to the sweet and simple girlish beliefs
which had surrounded her? to her dear fountain, on the banks of which
her companions the fairies danced at night in white robes, with
flowers in their hair, in honor of the new moon? to those graceful
dances which she herself, perhaps, had led, and to her songs in the
wood? to her salutary plants less brilliant but more useful and more
durable than flowers? to the herb which causes the union of hearts and
produces joy, which, wet in the waters of the fountain by a virgin
hand, she had shaken upon the brow of the man whom she was to take for
her husband? to the golden herb which spreads light, and in opening
the eyes of the body and the mind, opens to the knowledge of things of
the future? finally, had she not renounced the search for the plant
called the _herb of death_, which would be better named the _herb of
life_, because those die not who once have found it?
But no! "God console the inconsolable heart, the heart of the girl on
her wedding night!" The spring of the fountain will cease not to flow;
the charming apparitions will desert not its borders; there shall be
ever seen there gliding through the night a luminous shadow of which
the moon will be but an imperfect image--the shadow of that immaculate
Virgin whom the Druids seem to have prophesied when they raised an
altar to her under the name of the _Virgin Mother_, and the white
fairies of Armorica less white, less pure than she, bending before
their patroness, will sing _Ave Maria!_
No plant shall wither there, not the lemon-plant which produces joy,
for it is at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ, that it will
spring henceforth; it is to Him it owes its virtue, and shall be
called the _herb of the cross;_ nor _selago_ which gives light, for it
is from the aureole of the saints that it borrows its rays, and to
discover it, it is necessary to be a saint; nor, more than all, the
herb of life, for he has shown it, he has given it as a legacy to his
disciples, to whom he has said; "I am the life; whosoever believeth in
me shall not die."
And no more than the living spring which nourishes the herbs by its
side shall be exhausted that which sustains the fruits of the Spirit;
the soul shall not be stifled, it shall be purified; and for a moment
bent under regrets, as a rose under the rain, the Druid muse shall be
transformed and awake a Christian.
Rivanone so awoke; God had consoled the inconsolable heart, the heart
of the girl on her wedding-night.
{815}
II.
God consoles in his own way; he blesses in the same. Three years after
their marriage, Rivanone and Hyvarnion rocked the cradle of a crying
infant whom they endeavored to put asleep with their songs. Now this
infant was blind; and in remembrance of their sorrow they had named
him _Huerve_ or _Herve_, that is to say, _bitter_ or _bitterness_.
But, if his mother did not try upon his eyes the better appreciated
virtue of the herb which should cure the blind; if she asked of her
Christian faith surer remedies to give light to her son, she found, at
least, at the foot of the cross, the herb which sweetens bitterness;
and her husband himself without doubt recollected that he had said in
his childhood that one of the most beautiful of virtues is strength in
trials and tribulations.
Two years afterward this strength was even more necessary by the side
of the cradle of the blind; a single hand rocked that cradle, a single
voice sang there--the other voice sang in heaven. The father had
already found the true plant which gives life.
With death, misery entered the house of the bard, misery all the more
cruel that it had known only prosperity. It is always in this way that
it comes to those who live by poesy. Happily Providence is a more
charitable neighbor than the ant in the fable. He did not fail the
widow of the poet who had been the friend of the poor and afflicted.
It was not from the palace of the Frank count, henceforth indifferent
to the fortunes of a family his master had forgotten, nor from the
manor of Rivanone's brother, which she charmed no more with her songs,
that assistance came. It came from that cradle, watered with tears,
where slept a poor orphan. It is always from a cradle that God sends
forth salvation.
"One day the orphan said to his sick mother, clasping her in his
little arms: 'My own dear mother, if you love me, you will let me go
to church;
"'For here am I full seven years old, and to church I have not yet
been.'
"'Alas! my dear child, I cannot take you there, when I am ill on my
bed.'
"'When I am ill of an illness which lasts so long that I shall be
forced to go and beg for alms.'
"'You shall not go, my mother, to beg for alms; I will go for you, if
you will permit me.
"'I will go with some one who will lead me, and in going I will sing.
"'I will sing your beautiful canticles, and all hearts will listen!'
"And he departed finally to seek bread for his mother who could not
walk.
"Now, whatever it was, it must have been a hard heart that was not
moved on the way to church;
"Seeing the little blind child of seven years without other guide than
his little white dog.
"Hearing him sing, shivering, beaten by the wind and the rain, without
covering on his little feet, and his teeth chattering with cold."
It was the festival of All Saints, as the legend tells us; the
festival of the Dead follows it, and is prolonged during the second
night of this month which the Bretons call the _Month of the Dead_.
Having feasted the blessed, every one goes to the cemetery to pray at
the tomb of his parents, to fill with holy water the hollow of their
gravestone, or, according to the locality, to make libations of milk.
It is said that on this night the souls from Purgatory fly through the
air as crowded as the grass on the meadow; that they whirl with the
leaves which the wind rolls over the fields, and that their voices
mingle with the sighs of nature in mourning. Then, toward midnight,
these confused voices become more and more distinct, and at each
cottage door is heard this melancholy canticle.
"In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
greeting to you, people of this house, we come to you to ask your
prayers.
{816}
"Good people, be not surprised that we have come to your door; it is
Jesus who has sent us to wake you if you sleep.
"If there is yet pity in the world, in the name of God, aid us.
"Brothers, relatives, friends, in the name of God, hear us; in the
name of God pray, pray; for the children pray not. Those whom we have
nourished have long since forgotten us; those whom we have loved have
left us destitute of pity."
Bands of mendicant singers, poor souls in trouble, they also,
wanderers like those of the dead, go by woods and graves, to the sound
of funereal bells, lending their voices to the unhappy of the other
world.
The blind orphan, who, from the bed of his sick mother, went to kneel
on the couch of his dead father, commenced in their company his
apprenticeship as a singer, and if it is believed, as is claimed, that
the _chant des ames_, such as it has come to us, was composed by a
blind singer, under the inspiration of his father, whom he would have
delivered from pain, the blind singer should be Herve, and the
inspirer Hyvarnion.
The impression which the sainted child produced on the men of his time
is better founded; it has left traces in the popular imagination which
have been translated into touching narratives:
"The evening of All Souls, long before the night, the child returned
to his mother, after his circuit.
"And he was very tired, so tired that he could not hold himself on his
feet--all the route was slippery with ice.
"So tired that he fell on his mouth, and his mouth vomited blood,
blood with broken teeth."
Now these broken teeth did not give birth to furious warriors, like
those of the dragon in the fable; they were changed into diamonds
which shone from far in the darkness.
Such is the language of the tradition. Can we better paint the songs
drawn forth by the sorrow of the son of Hyvarnion, these songs of a
Christian muse which cleared away the shadows no less crowded than
those of the night of All Souls?
But these shadows were not dissipated instantly; the resistance made
to Christianity by the remains of Armorican paganism is not less
clearly indicated in traditional recollections than by the action and
influence of the little Christian singer.
As he passed the cross-roads of a village where the inhabitants have
to this day preserved the sobriquet of _paganiz_, that is to say,
heathens, he fell in the midst of a circle of young peasants, who,
interrupting their dance, ran after him, hooting at him, throwing dirt
upon him, and crying: "Where are you going, blind one, blind one!
Where are you going, blind brawler?"
"I'm going out of this canton, because I must," replied Herve, "but
cursed be the race that comes from you." And, indeed, the little
mockers, struck by the anathema, returned to the dance, and they must
dance, it is said, to the end of the world, without ever resting or
ever growing, becoming like those dwarfed imps whom the Armoricans
adored, and whose power the Breton peasants still fear.
Nature herself, that great Celtic divinity, took the side of the imps
against Herve, while the mother of the saint, in beholding him
preaching the gospel, could say with the church: "How beautiful are
the feet of those who come from the mountains!" "The granite earth on
which he walked, refused to carry him, tearing his naked feet, and no
one," says the complaint, "no one wiped the blood from his wounds,
only his white dog with his tongue, who washed the feet of the saint,
and warmed them with his breath."
Then, as he had cursed the mocking spirits, the saint cursed also the
stony ground which would arrest his steps, and it was rendered harder
than iron; when, going, according to his promise, into a district
where the rocks were such, the legend assures us, that "iron {817} nor
steel could ever pierce them," that is to say, the inhabitants were
obstinate and incorrigible barbarians, he returned to the saint who
inspired and enlightened him.
"My mother, for seven or eight years I have gone over this country,
and have gained nothing from these hard and cruel hearts.
"I would be in some solitary place where I should hear only songs;
where every day, my mother, I should hear only the praises of God."
"Thou wouldst be a cleric, my son, to be later a priest! God be
praised! How sweet it would be to me to hear you say mass!"
"It is not, my mother, to be a priest; the priest's state is a great
responsibility, and it frightens my weak spirit; besides the charge of
my own soul I should have the charge of other souls; but I would like
far better to live my life in the depths of the forest with the monks,
and to be instructed how to serve God by those who serve him."
Rivanone agreed to the wishes of her son; the forest which he chose
for his retirement was inhabited by one of her uncles. Herve sought
him, while his mother asked an asylum for herself of some pious women
who lived in community in another solitary place, having no
intercourse with the world except with the sick and infirm to whom
they were a providence.
III.
An ancient Breton ballad represents a magician going over the fields
of Armorica at the dawn of day, accompanied by a black dog. I do not
know what Christian voice addresses him: "Where are you going this
morning with your black dog?" "I go to find the red egg, the red egg
of the sea-serpent, on the edge of the river in the crevice of the
rock."
Vain search! This egg, a sacred symbol to the ancient priests of Gaul
and other heathen worship, had been crushed with the serpent of the
Druids; the day was about to appear and put to flight the magician,
darkness, and the black dog. When, on the contrary, Herve put himself,
guided by his white dog, on the way to his uncle's hermitage, the last
shades of night had disappeared, the day had risen, and he was to find
in the Christian school more precious talismans than the egg of the
Druid serpent.
"Saint Herve went to the school the sun encircled his brow with a
circle of light, the doves sang along his road, and his white dog
yelped for joy.
"Arrived at the door of the hermitage, the dog barked louder and
louder, so that the hermit, hearing it, came forth to receive his
niece's child.
"May God bless the orphan who comes in good faith to my school, who
has sought me to be my clerk; my child, may blessings be on thy
head.'" [Footnote 192]
[Footnote 192: Same Breton legend of Saint Herve.]
This great unde of Herve was named Gurfoed; like many other hermits he
brought up the children of Armorica. Among the grammarians whom he
made them learn by heart, the ecclesiastical writers indicate
Martianus Capella, the author of the "Noces de Mercure et de la
Philologie," of whom they make a monk, and among the subjects of his
instruction they specially mention poetry and music. Music took a
sufficiently high place in the schools and in the tastes of that age,
as is proved by a synod assembled at Vannes in the middle of the sixth
century, which believed it necessary to call the attention of the
Armorican bishops to that point, and drew up an article on the
necessity of adopting, in the whole province, a uniform chant.
Besides, in introducing it into the Christian ceremonies, and giving
it place even in the choir of the temple, the church has shown the
esteem which she has for this art. Herve perfected himself in it more
and more; he even became so clever in it, observe the hagiographies,
"that he took the prize from all his fellow-students."
{818}
After seven years of study passed at a distance from his mother, he
wished to see her and receive new force and new light from her
counsels. According to some, Gurfoed conducted him to her; according
to the popular legend, she came herself to seek her son.
And she said on approaching him:
"I behold a procession of monks advancing, and I hear the voice of my
son; though a thousand were singing, I should know the voice of Herve;
I behold my son dressed in gray, with a cord of hair for his belt. God
be with you, my son, the clerk!"
"God be with you, my beloved mother! God is good; the mother is
faithful to her son. Coming from so far to see me, although you could
not walk!"
"And now that I have come, and I see you, my son, what have you to ask
of me?"
"I have nothing to ask of you, my mother, but the permission to remain
here to pray to God day and night, that we may meet each other in
paradise."
"We shall meet in paradise or its surroundings, with the help of God,
my son. When I go there you shall have warning; you shall hear the
song of the angels."
"In fact," continues the French legend, "the evening of her decease
and the next day, all those that were near saw a brilliant ladder by
the side of her oratory, one end reaching to the skies, by which
angels ascended and descended singing the most melodious motets and
canticles."
The pious woman-poet, who had given to the church such a saint as
Herve, well deserved that God's angels should sing, making a festival
for her last hour.
Herve, guided by Gurfoed, arrived at the bedside of his dying mother,
in time, if not to see her, (he could never see her except in heaven,)
at least to receive her blessing, and to mingle his canticles with
those of the pious companions of Rivanone, truly angelic choirs.
IV.
After the death of his mother, Herve returned to the hermitage of his
uncle; but Gurfoed, wishing to live a still more retired life,
abandoned his dwelling, and buried himself in the forest. Aided by
some pious men, who, in order to work and pray under his direction,
had built their cabins by the side of his, the saint continued to hold
the school of his predecessor. This school prospered; and every
evening could be seen a crowd of children coming from it, who
assembled there in the morning from all the manors, as well as from
all the surrounding cottages; a crowd as noisy, says a poet, as a
swarm of bees issuing from the hollow of an oak. The master, being
blind, could not teach them their letters; but he taught them
canticles, maxims in verse, religious and moral aphorisms, without
omitting those precepts of pure civility, so necessary to coarse
natures; and while exercising their memory he cultivated their
understanding and their heart: he polished their rude manners; he
endeavored, finally, to make men of them while bending their restless
natures under the curb of his discipline. Lessons of wisdom were not
clothed in other form in those heroic times; poetry and music,
inseparable from each other, had always been considered by the
ancients as necessary to cultivation, not only on account of the
harmony which they produced, but for utility, instruction, and
civilization of the people. Herve in taking them for the basis of his
instruction, followed, without doubt, the counsels of Aristotle. It is
said that Orpheus thus civilized people by his songs. Those of Hesiod
have come to us, and present us with valuable examples of that
didactic poetry, the first with all nations. But though we have left
us some poems of Saint Herve, they are very few in number; the most
were composed rather in his {819} spirit and according to his rules
than by himself. They give him the honor of those aphorisms to which
his name is given, which, at least, have the strong imprint of the
instructive poetry of the monks; they turn upon three of the virtues
which the religions principally endeavored to inculcate in their
Ignorant pupils, idle and independent, as are all barbarians, namely,
the love of instruction, the love of work, and the love of discipline,
elements which are the strength of all civilized society.
"It is better to instruct a little child than to amass riches for
him."
Saint Cado, the teacher of Herve's father, said the same thing in
other terms, "There is no wealth without study;" and he added, "There
is no wisdom without science, no independence without science, no
liberty, no beauty, no nobleness, no victory without science," and,
giving to science its true foundation, he thus terminated his eloquent
enumeration:
"No science without God."
The second axiom credited to Saint Herve is this: "He who is idle in
his youth heaps poverty on the head of his old age."
The Breton mariners have retained the third maxim of which Saint Herve
passers as the author: "The words of Herve are words of wisdom," they
say; "Who yields not to the rudder will yield to the rock." I have
also seen attributed to him a moral song, widely spread in Brittany,
in which, perhaps, there are several couplets of his, but in any case
modernized in language and style.
"Come to me, my little children, come to me that you may hear a new
song, which I have composed expressly for you. Take the greatest pains
in order that you may retain it entire."
"When you wake in your bed, offer your heart to the good God, make the
sign of the cross, and say, with faith, hope, and love:
"'My God, I give you my heart, my body, and my soul. Grant that I may
be an honest man, or that I may die before the time.'
"When you see a raven flying, remember that the devil is as black as
wicked; when you see a little white dove, remember that your angel is
as gentle as white.
"Remember that God sees you like the sun in the midst of the sky;
remember that God can make you bloom as the sun makes bloom the wild
roses of the mountains.
"At night, before going to bed, recite your prayers; do not fail, so
that a white angel will come from heaven to guard you until morning.
"Behold, dear children, the true means of living as good Christians.
Put my song into practice and yon will lead a holy life."
Such lessons, where were so effectively found some of the practices
which make a man strong, that is to say, Christians; where there was
so much freshness and grace; where the sun, and the flowers, the birds
and the angels, all the most smiling images were purposely united,
captivated and charmed the young barbarians. I am no longer surprised
if the legend assures us that Herve tamed the savage beasts; if it
recounts that one day he forced a thief of a fox to bring back,
"without hurting her," his hen which he had carried off, and another
time a robber of a wolf who had eaten up his ass--others say his
dog--to serve and follow him like a spaniel. This new style of spaniel
was seen in a crowd of bas-reliefs held in leash by the saints, and as
elsewhere mothers threatened their children with the wolf, the Breton
Mothers frightened their brats with _Herve's spaniel._ Orpheus is thus
represented followed by tamed tigers; and another bard, a half pagan,
whom we have seen before accompanied by his black dog, is painted,
running through the woods with a wolf which he calls _his dear
companion. Tu Lupe, care comes_. The poets of the primitive times were
supposed to be in a perpetual union with nature, {820} and to have
reconquered the power, lost since leaving the Garden of Eden, of
making all animals obedient to them. Herve was considered to be
endowed with the same power; but poetry and music were not the only
form which the Christian gave to his charms. His true magic was
prayer. See how he chanted when he was exposed to the snares or the
ferocity of animals or of men:
"O God! deign to preserve me from snares, from oppression, from evil,
from the fox, the wolf, and the devil."
Not more than men and wild beasts, could nature resist the force of
his prayer. Somewhat troubled in his retreat, and above all in his
humility, by the too noisy veneration of the Armorican chiefs, who
sent their sons to him, he plunged into the forest, as had Gurfoed,
seeking the hermitage, and the counsels of his former teacher; but the
grass and fern had effaced the path which led there, and all Herve's
researches had been in vain, when he came to an opening in the forest
where a moss-covered rock was raised up on four stones; the ruins of a
cabin where the badgers had made their nests, were seen near at hand;
briers, thickets of holly and thorns encumbered the ground. Before
these ruins the saint, struck with a secret presentiment, prostrated
himself, his arms in the form of a cross, and cried three times: "In
the name of God, rock, split; in the name of God, earth, open, if you
hide from me my light." His prayer was scarcely terminated when the
earth trembled, the rocks split, and through the opening came a soft
odor, which revealed to him the sepulchre of him whom he was seeking.
Such is the popular narrative; but, if it is intended to show his
power over nature, it shows still more his humility. It is exhaled
from this legend, as perfumes from the tomb of him whom he sought as
his light.
I remember a song in which a kind of Druidess gives the assurance that
she knows a song which can make even the earth tremble: after a
frightful display of magical science, she finishes by saying, that
with the help of her _light_, as she calls her master she is able to
turn the earth in the contrary way. Here it is the pagan pride which
vaunts itself; but a voice from heaven is heard, "If this world is
yours, the other belongs to God!" and the sorceress was confounded.
Herve, on the contrary, who is humble, and who prays; Herve, who
speaks, not in his own name, but in the name of God, is heard and
exalted. It is verifying the words of the Gospel: "And the humble
shall be exalted."
As he advanced in age, the saint continued to realize this promise. We
have up to this moment seen him glorified under the tatters of a
vagabond singer, as well as under the poor robe of an instructor of
little barbarians; we are now to see him as an agriculturist, even
architect, but always all the strongest when he would wish to appear
weakest in the eyes of men, always the greatest when he would wish to
be the lowest.
The counsels which Herve had gone to ask of his old teacher, he
received from his bishop, a wise and holy man, who came from Britain
to the country of Leon. The bishop judged him worthy to be a priest,
and wished to confer upon him the ecclesiastical character; but the
hermit, who from childhood had considered himself unworthy of this
great responsibility, persisted in his humble sentiments, and he would
consent to be promoted only to the lowest orders, to those called
minor orders. It is easy to believe that his bishop induced him to
definitely fix his dwelling somewhere with his disciples, and to give
to the Armoricans the example of a sedentary life, of manual labor,
the cultivation of the earth, and building, all things which are at
the foundation of all society, and which the barbarians little liked;
for he went to work to seek a place where he could establish a small
colony.
{821}
V.
About half a century before, another bard also blind, and his hair
whitened by age, journeyed in Armorica from canton to canton, seated
on a small horse from the mountains, which a child led by the bridle.
He sought, like Herve, a field to cultivate and in which he could
build. Knowing what herbs were produced by good ground, and what herbs
by bad ground, he asked from time to time of his guide:
"Seest thou the green clover?"
And always the child replied:
"I see only the fox-glove blossoms." For at that epoch, Armorica was a
wild country.
"Well, then, we will go farther," replied the old man.
And the little horse went on his way. At last the child cried out:
"Father, I see the clover blooming."
And he stopped. The old man dismounted, and seating himself on a
stone, in the sun, he sang the songs of labor in the fields, and of
their culture in different seasons. This agricultural bard was
invested with a venerated character by the ancient Bretons. They
regarded him as a pillar of social existence; but his heart, open to
the cultivation of nature, was closed to the love of humanity. With
one of his brethren he said willingly: "I do not plough the earth
without shedding blood on it." He thirsted for the blood of Christian
monks and priests, and he offered it with joy as sacrifice to the
earth. To the wisest lessons in agriculture he added the most
ferocious predictions, "The followers of Christ shall be tracked; they
shall be hunted like wild beasts, they shall die in bands and by
battalions on the mountain. The wheel of the mill grinds fine; the
blood of the monks will serve as water."
Scarcely sixty years had rolled away, and these same monks whom the
bard cursed as usurpers of the Celtic harp and as stealers of the
children of the Bretons, advanced peaceably over the ruins of a
religion of which he was the last minister, ready to shed blood also,
but their own; ready to perform prodigies, but of intelligence and of
love. Their chief was not on horseback, he walked with bare feet, (he
went always unshod, says his historian,) and having journeyed for a
long time, he spoke thus to his disciples:
"Know, my brothers, it wearies me to be always running and wandering
in this way; pray to God that he will reveal to us some place in which
we can live to serve him for the rest of our days."
They all commenced to pray, and behold a voice was heard saying: "Go
even toward the east, and where I shall three times tell thee to rest,
there thou wilt dwell." They commenced then on the road to the east,
and when they had gone very far, having found a field filled with high
green wheat, they sat down in its shade. Now, as he was thus reposing,
a voice was heard which said three times: "Make your dwelling here."
Filled with gratitude, they knelt to thank God, and being thirsty with
the heat and the travel, the saint by his prayers obtained a fresh
fountain.
But the possession of the land was not easy to obtain from the
avaricious proprietor, whom the French legend charitably calls "an
honest man." Herve demanded of him, however, only a little corner in
which to erect a small monastery.
"Bless my soul, bless my soul!" cried the owner, "but my wheat is
still all green, and so if you cut it now it will be lost."
"No, no," said Saint Herve, "it shall not be so, for as much wheat as
I cut now so much will I render to you ripe and in the sack at harvest
time."
{822}
To this he agreed, and commenced to cut down the wheat, which he tied
in bundles and sheafs and laid apart; and God so favored them, that at
the time of the harvest, these sheafs which had been cut all green,
not only became ripe, but had blossomed and so multiplied that where
there had been one there were now two. The owner of the field seeing
this, gave thanks to God, who had sent these holy men to him, and gave
the whole field to the saint. [Footnote 193]
[Footnote 193: Albert le Grand.]
Thus the toil and intelligence of the monks made the earth render
double the ordinary crops, and, conquered by such miracles, the
barbarians, who, moreover, did not lose anything, gave willingly all
that was asked of them.
The good religious from whom I have borrowed the translation of the
preceding narrative even assures us that the proprietor went so far as
to promise Herve to build him a beautiful church at his own expense.
This new miracle, however, was only half carried out; for we see
Herve, once the land had been conceded to him, going to work with his
disciples to procure the wood necessary for the construction of his
church and convent. He made a collection for this end, not only in the
country of Leon, but even in the mountains of Aiez, and in Cornwall,
visiting the manors of the chiefs and the richest monasteries.
Everywhere, it is said, he was well received, thanks to the benefits
that he spread along his passage, and all the nobles to whom he
applied caused as many oaks to be cut down for him in their forests,
as he desired. It is, however, probable, notwithstanding the
assertions of the legendaries, that he found many but little disposed
to aid in the building of a Christian church, and that all those whom
he visited did not show themselves very eager to cut down the trees,
so venerated in Armorica; for in the following century, a council held
at Nantes near the year 658, attests that no one dared break a branch
or offshoot of one. The legend itself allows us to see imperfectly
some stumbling-blocks which the holy architect found in his way; they
must have torn his feet as cruelly as those which we have seen him
punish by hardening them, in the days when he was a public singer. At
first there was a rude chief who passed near him with a great train of
men, dogs, and horses, without saluting him, even without looking at
him; again there was another who did not believe in his miracles, and
said so out loud at supper before a large company, and in the face of
the saint. At that same banquet, at the commencement of the repast,
while Herve was singing with the harp to bless the table, a new kind
of adversary, the frogs, commenced also to sing, to defy him, to sing
_their vespers_, as a Breton poet explains it, provoking the laughter
of the guests. At another banquet, a cup-bearer who was a demon in
disguise, one of those who excited to intemperance, to gluttony, to
idleness and noise, to discord and quarrels, wishing to kill him,
served him, together with the other guests, a beverage the effect of
which was to make them cut each other's throats.
This evil spirit followed the holy architect even to the midst of a
monastery, with the intention of deceiving him more surely. Taking the
form of a monk, he offered his services to help him in building his
church.
"What is thy name?" Herve asked of him.
"I am a master carpenter, sir."
"Thy name, I tell thee," returned the saint.
"Sir, I am a mason, locksmith, able to work at any trade."
"Thy name? For the third time, I command thee in the name of the
living God, to tell thy name."
"Hu-Kan! Hu-Kan! Hu-Kan!" cried the demon; and he threw himself, head
foremost, from a rock into the sea.
Thus did the Druid superstitions vanish before Herve, having for a
moment resisted him, and sought to deceive him under different
disguises.
{823}
This Hu-Kan, that is to say, Hu the genius, is no other than the god
_Hu-Kadarn_ of the Cambrian traditions. The devil who incites to
idleness and debauchery is the Celtic divinity corresponding to the
Liber or Bacchus of the Romans. There is in these frogs who chanted
_their vespers_ a recollection of Armorican paganism. "The saint
silenced them as suddenly as if he had cut their throat" says a
hagiographer, adding, "he left voice but to one, who ever since has
continued to croak."
Now, by a sort of prodigy of tradition, a popular song, entitled the
"Vespers of the Frogs," has come to us; it is the work of the pagan
poets of Armorica, represented in common recitatives under the
grotesque figure of these beastly croakers. It offers a summary of the
Druid doctrines of the fourth century; and it seemed so necessary to
the first Christian missionaries to destroy it, that they made a Latin
and Christian counterpart, as if they would raise the cross in the
face of the heathen pillars. One of these missionaries, Saint Gildas,
was so opposed to the pagan music of his time that he qualified its
croaking with the sweet and gentle music of the children of Christ;
and his disciple Taliesin, the great poet baptized in the sixth
century, hushed at a banquet, as Saint Herve had done, the infamous
descendants of the priests of the god Bel, who wished to put him to
defiance.
The sound of Christian music was to be heard from all the vaults of
the church, for the construction of which Saint Herve had made so many
journeys. Twelve columns of polished wood were erected to hold the low
and arched framework; three large stones formed the altar; the spring
with which he had refreshed his disciples furnished the water
necessary to the sacrifice; the wheat sown by them, the bread for
consecration; and the wines of some richer monastery, more exposed to
the sun, the eucharistic wine; for it was an ancient and touching
custom that those who had vineyards gave wine to those who had not,
and in exchange, the owners of bees furnished wax to those who lacked
it. Herve, according to his biographers, himself superintended the
workmen, or rather incited the laborers by his words, and sustained
them by his songs. Like another poet of antiquity, he built, with his
songs, not a city for men, but a house for God.
VI.
The fathers of an Armorican council of the fifth century terminated
their canons by these noble words: "May God, my brethren, preserve for
you your crown." A last flower seemed wanting to that of Herve. He was
now to obtain it. The poor shoeless child, the poet of the wretched,
the school-teacher of little children, the wandering agriculturist,
the mendicant architect, was to become the equal--what do I say?--the
corrector of bishops and kings.
At that time there reigned a Kon Mor in Brittany, who had rendered
himself abominable to the men of that country by his tyranny and
cruelties. Unable to endure him, they flocked in great numbers from
all parts of Armorica to their bishop, the blessed Samson; and as he
saw them at his door, silent and with lowered heads, he asked them:
"What has happened to the country?"
Then answered the more respectable among them:
"The men of this land are in great desolation, sir."
"And why so?" asked Samson.
"We had a good chief of our own race, and born on our own land, who
governed us by legitimate authority; and now there has come over us a
foreign Kon Mor, a violent man, an enemy to justice, possessed of
great power; he holds us under the most odious oppression; he has
killed our national chief, and dishonored his widow, our queen. He
would hare killed their Sun, had not the poor child taken to flight
and sought refuge in France."
{824}
The bishop, moved with pity, promised the deputies that he would aid
them, and seeking a means to re-establish their rightful chief, he
resolved to begin by striking the usurper with the terrible arm of
excommunication.
He therefore sent letters to all the Armorican bishops to unite with
him in devising some means of frightening the tyrant. The place of
reunion was a high mountain much venerated by the bards and the
people, named the Run-bre, and situated in the heart of the country
governed by the Kon Mor. Although only prelates should have been
present, Herve was sent there, and even the venerable assembly were
not willing to enter into deliberation until he came, notwithstanding
the opposition of one member of the meeting, less humble and less
patient than the others. This _courtier bishop_, as the legend styles
him, finding that Herve made them wait a long time, "Is it proper that
men like us," he exclaimed, "should remain here indefinitely on
account of a wretched blind monk?" At this moment, the saint arrived.
His bare feet, his miserable hermit's robe made of goat-skin, in the
midst of the men and horses richly apparelled, belonging to the
prelate of the court, drew perhaps a smile of proud disdain to the
lips of many. Hearing the impious words of which he was the object,
the saint was not irritated, but said gently to the bishop: "My
brother, why reproach me with my blindness? Could not God have made
you blind as well as me? Do you not know well that he makes us as he
pleases, and that we should thank him that he has given us such a
being as he has?" The other bishops, continues the legend, strongly
rebuked this one, and he was not long in feeling the heavy hand of
God; for he immediately fell to the ground, his face covered with
blood, and lost his sight; but the good saint, wishing to render good
for evil to this proud mocker, prayed to God for the unfortunate; and
then, rubbing his eyes with salt and water, restored him his sight; he
gave him understanding also; according to the remark of another
hagiographer, understanding, that light of the soul, obscured by
pride, more precious still and not less difficult to recover than the
light of the body. After this they proceeded to the ceremony of
excommunicating the great chief of the Armoricans.
Standing on a rock, at the summit of the mountain, a lighted taper in
his hand, and surrounded by the nine bishops of Armorica, each one
holding a blessed taper, the saint pronounced, in the name of all,
according to the formula of the times, these terrible words against
the foreign tyrant: "We in virtue of the authority which we hold from
the Lord, in the name of God the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, do declare the great chief of the Armoricans excommunicated
from the threshold of the holy church of God, and separated from the
society of Christians; that, if he comes not quickly to repentance, we
crush him beneath the weight of an eternal malediction, and condemn
him by an irrevocable anathema. May he be exposed to the anger of the
sovereign Judge, may he be torn from the heritage of God and his
elect, that in this world he may be cut off from the communion of
Christians, and that in the other he may have no part in the kingdom
of God and his saints; but that, bound to the devil and his imps, he
may live devoted to the flames of vengeance, and that he may be the
prey, even in this world, to the tortures of hell. Cursed be he in his
own house, cursed in his fields, cursed in his stomach, cursed be all
things that he possesses, from his dog that howls at his appearance
even to his cock who insults him by his crowing. May he share the lot
of Dathan and Abiron whom hell swallowed alive; the lot of Ananias and
of Sapphira, {825} who lied to the Apostles of the Lord, and were
struck with instant death; the lot of Pilate and Judas, who were
traitors to God; may he have no other sepulchre than have the asses,
and may these tapers which we extinguish be the image of the darkness
to which his soul is condemned. Amen." [Footnote 194]
[Footnote 194: This formula of excommunication of the sixth century
has been discovered and recently translated by M. Alfred Rame, in an
article, the "Melanges d'Histoire et d'Archaeologie Bretonne," a
commendable publication.]
The bishops repeated three times, Amen; and the president of the
synod, having extinguished under his foot the candle which he held in
his hand, all the prelates did the same. But this dying candle, the
image of the extinguished light of the great chief, was not so easily
relighted as that of the haughty prelate. Once the tyrant's head was
under the bare foot of the mendicant monk, tyranny was dishonored and
humanity avenged.
Herve does not appear to have long survived this great act of national
and religious justice, in which he performed the greatest part; he
saw, however, the result, and could hail the dawn of a noble reign
which would assure, without the effusion of blood, say the historians,
the death of the usurper.
Another dawn was rising for the saint.
It is related that being shut up in the church which he had built,
fasting and praying for three days, separated from his disciples and
his pupils, the heavens opened above his head, and with the heavens
his eyes were opened to contemplate the celestial court. Ravished to
ecstasy, he chanted a Breton canticle, which was later put into
writing, and has received its modern form from the last apostle of the
Armoricans, Michel Le Nobletz.
"I see heaven opened, heaven my country; I would that I might fly
there as a little white dove!
"The gates of Paradise are opened to receive me; the saints advance to
meet me.
"I see, truly I see God the Father, and his blessed Son, and the Holy
Ghost.
"How beautiful she is, the Holy Virgin, with the twelve stars which
form her crown.
"Each with his harp in his hand, I see the angels and the archangels,
singing the praises of God.
"And the virgins of all ages, and the saints of all conditions, and
the holy women, and the widows crowned by God!
"I see radiant in glory and beauty, my father and my mother; I see my
brothers and my countrymen.
"Choirs of little angels flying on their light wings, so rosy and so
fair, fly around their heads, as a harmonious swarm of bees,
honey-laden in a field of flowers.
"O happiness without parallel! the more I contemplate you, the more I
long for you!"
The heavens did not close again until the canticle was finished, as if
they had taken pleasure in the song of the predestined son of
Hyvarnion and Rivanone, who heard him with smiles and called him to
them.
VII.
Before the Revolution there was preserved in the treasury of the
Cathedral of Nantes a silver shrine, enriched with precious stones, a
present from an ancient Breton chief. In great judicial cases it was
carried in procession to the judges to receive the solemn vows which
they afterward made upon the book of the Evangelists. A king of France
and a duke of Brittany, after long wars, united under this shrine
their reconciled hands and swore to live in peace.
At the same time there was seen, in the depths of lower Brittany, in
the sacristy of a little country church, an oaken cradle, with nothing
about it remarkable unless its age. The inhabitants of the parish,
however, venerated it as much as the silver shrine. The mendicant
singers, above all, have {826} for it an especial affection. They love
to touch it with their great musical instruments, their traveller's
goods, their rosaries, their staffs, all that they have which is most
precious. Kneeling before this cradle, they kiss it with respect, and
arriving sad, they depart joyous.
Now, the silver shrine contained, wrapped in purple and silk, the
relics of Saint Herve. The oaken cradle was the same in which he slept
to the songs of the bard and his poet-wife, whom God had given him for
father and mother.
To-day the ducal reliquary is no longer in existence. The metal,
thrice consecrated by sanctity, justice, and royalty, was stolen and
melted down in that sadly memorable epoch when these three things,
trampled under foot, were valued less than a bit of silver. But the
wooden cradle of the humble patron of the singers of Brittany, that
poor worm-eaten cradle, so like his fate on earth, exists still, and
more than one mendicant having respectfully pressed his lips upon it,
as in other times, goes away singing with a clearer voice and a
comforted heart.
--------
From Once a Week.
LOST FOR GOLD.
She stood by the hedge where the orchard <DW72>s
Down to the river below;
The trees all white with their autumn hopes
Looked heaps of drifted snow;
They gleamed like ghosts through the twilight pale.
The shadowy river ran black;
"It's weary waiting," she said, with a wail,
"For them that never come back.
"The mountain waits there, barren and brown,
Till the yellow furze comes in spring
To crown his brows with a golden crown,
And girdle him like a king.
The river waits till the summer lays
The white lily on his track;
But it's weary waiting nights and days
For him that never comes back.
"Ah! the white lead kills in the heat of the fight.
When passions are hot and wild;
But the red gold kills by the fair fire-light
The love of father and child.
"'Tie twenty years since I heard him say,
When the wild March morn was airy,
Through the drizzly dawn--'I m going away,
To make you a fortune, Mary.'
{827}
"Twenty springs, with their long grey days.
When the tide runs up the sand,
And the west wind catches the birds, and lays
Them shrieking far inland.
"From the sea-wash'd reefs, and the stormy mull,
And the damp weed-tangled caves:--
Will he ever come back, O wild sea-gull.
Across the green salt waves?
"Twenty summers with blue flax bells,
And the young green corn on the lea,
That yellows by night in the moon, and swells
By day like a rippling sea.
"Twenty autumns with reddening leaves,
In their glorious harvest light
Steeping a thousand golden sheaves,
And doubling them all at night.
"Twenty winters, how long and drear!
With a patter of rain in the street.
And a sound in the last leaves, red and sere;
But never the sound of his feet.
The ploughmen talk by furrow and ridge,
I hear them day by day;
The horsemen ride down by the narrow bridge,
But never one comes this way.
And the voice that I long for is wanting ther,
And the face I would die to see,
Since he went away in the wild March air,
Ah! to make a fortune for me.
"O father dear I but you never thought
Of the fortune you squandered and lost;
Of the duty that never was sold and bought.
And the love beyond all cost.
"For the vile red dust you gave in thrall
The heart that was God's above;
How could you think that money was all,
When the world was won for love?
"You sought me wealth in the stranger's land,
Whose veins are veins of gold;
And the fortune God gave was in mine hand,
When yours was in its hold.
"If I might but look on your face," she says,
"And then let me have or lack;
But it's weary waiting nights and days
For him that never comes back."
------
{828}
From The Dublin University Magazine.
THE SOLUTION OF THE NILE PROBLEM. [Footnote 195]
[Footnote 195: "The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile, and
Exploration of the Nile Sources." By Samuel White Baker, M.A.,
F.R.G.S. London: Macmillan. & Co. 1865.]
For some time the complaint of those who have been everywhere, and
seen everything men of travel and of fashion ought to see, has been
that the world is "used-up" for the tourist. Where can he now go for a
fresh sensation? Asia and America remain no more untrodden fields than
Europe; and as for the isles of the farthest sea, rich and idle
"fugitives and vagabonds" have braved as many dangers among savage
tribes as the early missionaries, from impulse no nobler than
restlessness. Whither next shall they direct their strides? Iceland
stood in favor for a year or two; but the cooks are bad there, and the
inhabitants speak Latin. Japan has novelties, but bland Daimios are
not trustworthy. The sightseeker has no relish for being among a
people who, on very slight provocation, may perform upon him a process
akin to their own "happy despatch." In the exhaustion of interest in
mere horizontal locomotion, the Cain-like race we form part of try the
effect of ascension to the highest and hugest cloud-capped peaks;
but Matterhorn accidents have rather brought these
mountains-of-the-(full)-moon performances into disfavour. Pending the
discovery of some new wonder or feat, to occupy many vacant minds and
stir a few energetic ones, and during the crisis of a Continental war,
the migratory section amongst us must bear their misery as best they
can. It may console them to hope that the flying-machine will yet be
perfected, and air-sailing supersede Alpine climbing. Probably it
would be quite as exciting, and it would not tire the limbs. If there
be one geographical problem still left unsolved, it must be to find
the site of that cave of Adullam which has sorely puzzled numbers of
erudite Parliamentarians, one of whom was heard to make answer to a
query regarding its locality that he "never was a geographer." For the
purpose of stimulating the curiosity of the gentleman, and of guiding
him in his search among the lore of school-boy days, we may take from
a book well known a real, and not figurative, description of the Cave
in which shelter was lately found by some forty wayfarers uncertain as
to their route in a difficult country. "Leaving our horses," says an
Adullamite, who long preceded them, "in charge of wild------, and
taking one for a guide, we started for the cave, having a fearful
gorge below, gigantic cliffs above, and the path winding along a shelf
of the rock, narrow enough to make the nervous among us shudder. At
length, from a great rock hanging on the edge of this shelf, we sprang
by a long leap into a low window which opened into the perpendicular
face of the cliff. We were then within the hold of, ------ and creeping
half-doubled through a narrow crevice for a few rods, we stood beneath
the dark vault of the first grand chamber of this mysterious and
oppressive cavern. Our whole collection of lights did little more than
make the damp darkness visible. After groping about as long as we had
time to spare, we returned to the light of day, fully convinced that
with ------ and his lion-hearted followers inside, all the strength
of ------ under ------ could not have forced an entrance." Next to a
search for the celebrated cave, we can {829} imagine no geographical
extravagance equal to one for those Nile Sources that have been the
dream of ancients and moderns. The undertaking possessed an the
attraction of freshness. Your North-west passage is a mere track
through a waste, without the possibility of novelty. What its dangers
and privations, its few monotonous sights and events, were to
half-a-dozen navigators they would be to half-a-dozen more. But in
passing upward to the huge plateau in Central Africa where the Nile
Basin lies, itself again overtopped by the lofty range of the Blue
Mountains, down which giant cascades ceaselessly roll in unwitnessed
splendor, the traveller encounters perils enough, but relieved with a
human interest. The tribes he meets are many and unique in their
habits, strangely unlike each other, within short distances, and
having about them an extraordinary mixture of an incipient
civilization with some of the most depraved of the customs of savage
life. In the journey, too, there is endless variety. The expedition up
the river, with its hunting episodes, its difficulties with mutinous
servants and _seamen_, its devices to appease native cupidity and
circumvent native cunning, and its encounters with those vilest of the
pursuers of commerce, the slave-traders, forms one part of the
interest; and next come inland rides through tangled forest shades,
rude villages of cone-shaped huts, suspicious hordes of naked
barbarians, to whom every new face is that of a plunderer of slaves or
cattle, and "situations" in which it is impossible for the honest
traveller to escape sharp contests with a party of Turkish marauders,
for whose sins against the commandment he would otherwise be held
responsible by the relentless javelin-men of the desert. All this
offers adventure of a genuine description to him who has the love of
it in his disposition; and such a man is Mr. Samuel White Baker. His
impulses are irrepressible: nature made him a traveller. He is the
modern counterpart of those primitive personages, the Columbuses of
the times just succeeding the flood, whose purposeless wanderings into
far space from the spot where the Mesopotamian cradle of mankind was
rocked, peopled lands lying even beyond great seas; men whose feats
were such that the philosophers of five thousand years after can
hardly believe they performed them. If Mr. Baker had been a dweller in
Charran, he would have begged the patriarch Abraham to give him
camels, water-bags, and bushels of corn, and would have set off for
the eastern margin of the globe, and the shores of the loud-sounding
sea. Arrived there, he would have burned a tree hollow, and launched
boldly forth upon the deep, to go whithersoever fortune listed.
All his life a traveller in the true sense, Mr. Baker last conceived
the idea of securing for "England" the glory of discovering the
sources of the Nile. This bit of patriotic sentiment undoubtedly added
to the zest of the undertaking, to which, as has been said, he was
impelled by instinct. He is a man of resolute will, and to think and
to do are with him simultaneous acts. His preparations were instantly
in progress, and from that moment his motto, come what might,
was--Forward. Part of this perseverance no doubt was due to the
encouragement of Mrs. Baker's presence. That lady is the model
explorer's wife, and we could wish for such a race of women if there
were any problems geographical left to be solved. She set out with Mr.
Baker from Cairo, determined to go through all dangers with him, and
well knowing their nature; and she successfully accomplished the task,
and has returned to share his renown. To a full share of it she is
really entitled; for Mrs. Baker was much more than a companion to her
husband on his wanderings. She assisted him materially, not only
tending him when sick, not only conciliating the natives by her
kindness, but contributing to remove difficulties by wise {830}
counsel, bearing all hardships uncomplainingly, and--rare
virtue!--submitting to her lord's authority when he was warranted in
deciding what was best to be done, or left undone. Mrs. Baker could
also somewhat play the Amazon when occasion required. If she did not
actually take the shield and falchion, and go to the front of the
fight, she spread out the arms, loaded and prepared the weapons, and
rendered brave and effective aid on an occasion when the Discoverer of
the Great Basin of the Nile was likely to have become, if he did not
succeed in intimidating his foes by the parade of his armory, a sweet
morsel for the palate of the Latookas. Mr. Baker speaks with manly
tenderness of his wife, and the picture drawn of her in his incidental
references, will gain for her hosts of friends among his readers.
The narrative is quiet until he reaches Gondokoro. There, in March,
1863, he met Speke and Grant, who were descending the Nile, having
completed the East African expedition. When there the report reached
him on a certain morning that there were two white men approaching who
had come from the sea. These were the travellers from the Victoria
N'Yanza, the _other_, and smaller, source of the Nile. They had
undoubtedly solved the mystery. Still they had left something for
Baker to do, and candidly declared to him that they had not completed
the actual exploration of the Nile sources. In N. lat. 2 deg. 17' they had
crossed the river which they had tracked from the Victoria Lake; but
it had there (at Karuma Falls) taken an extraordinary bend westward,
and when they met it again it was flowing from the W.S.W. There was
clearly another source, and Kamrasi, King of Unyoro, had informed them
that from the Victoria N'Yanza the Nile flowed westward for several
days' journey, and fell into another lake called the Luta N'Zige, from
which it almost immediately emerged again, and continued its course as
a navigable river to the north. Speke and Grant would have tracked out
this second source had not the tribes in the districts been at the
time at fend, and on such occasions they will not abide the face of a
stranger. Mr. Baker, guided by their hints, set out to complete what
they had begun.
Gondokoro is a great slave-market--Mr. Baker says "a perfect hell,"
"a colony of cut-throats." The Egyptian authorities wink at what goes
on, in consideration of liberal largesses. There were about six
hundred traders there when Mr. Baker visited it, drinking,
quarrelling, and beating their slaves. These ruffians made razzias on
the cattle of the natives, who are a cleanly and rather industrious
race of the picturesque type of savage. Their bodies are tattooed all
over, and an immense cock's feather, rising out of the single tuft of
hair left upon their shaven crowns, gives them rather an imposing
appearance. Their weapons of defence are poisoned arrows, with which
the traders at times make deadly acquaintance. Of course Mr. Baker had
unforeseen difficulties on setting out. What traveller ever started on
an expedition without meeting with his most irritating obstacles at
the threshold? Mr. Baker, however, was an old hand, and it took a good
deal to daunt him. His escort were as troublesome a set of vagabonds
as could have been collected together probably in Africa itself. He
had a mutiny to quell ere many days; and it is at this point we come
to see what sort of man is our explorer. He is a muscular Christian of
the stoutest type. Heavy fell his hand on skulls of sinning
<DW65>s--it was the readiest implement, and down went the offender
under the blow so signally that his fellows saw and trembled. Mr.
Baker was a great "packer." His asses and camels carried a vast amount
of stuff, but so arranged and fitted that no breakdown occurred in the
most trying situations for man and beast.
{831}
The Latookas were the first race of savages Mr. Baker encountered.
They are about six feet high, and muscular and well-proportioned. They
have a pleasing cast of countenance, and are in manner very civil.
They are extremely clever blacksmiths, and shape their lances and
bucklers most skilfully. One of the most interesting passages of the
whole book is the author's account of this tribe:
"Far from being the morose set of savages that I had hitherto seen,
they are excessively merry, and always ready for either a laugh or a
fight. The town of Tarrangotte contained about three thousand
houses, and was not only surrounded by iron-wood palisades, but
every house was individually fortified by a little stockaded
courtyard. The cattle were kept in large kraals in various parts of
the town, and were most carefully attended to, fires being lit every
night to protect them from flies, and high platforms in three tiers
were erected in many places, upon which sentinels watched both day
and night, to give the alarm in case of danger. The cattle are the
wealth of the country, and so rich are the Latookas in oxen, that
ten or twelve thousand head are housed in every large town. . . .
The houses of the Latookas are bell-shaped. The doorway is only two
feet and two inches high, and thus an entrance must be effected on
all-fours. The interior is remarkably clean, but dark, as the
architects have no idea of windows."
Mr. Baker notices the fact that the circular form of hut is the only
style of architecture adopted among all the tribes of Central Africa,
and also among the Arabs of Upper Egypt; and that although there are
variations in the form of the roof, no tribe has ever yet dreamt of
constructing a window. The Latookas are obliged constantly to watch
for their enemy, a neighboring race of mule-riders, whose cavalry
attacks they can hardly withstand, although of war-like habits, and
accordingly--
"The town of Tarrangotte is arranged with several entrances in the
shape of low archways through the palisades: these are closed at
night by large branches of the hooked thorn of the bitter bush, (a
species of mimosa.) The main street is broad, but all others are
studiously arranged to admit only of one cow, single file, between
high stockades. Thus, in the event of an attack, these narrow
passages can be easily defended, and it would be impossible to drive
off their vast herds of cattle unless by the main street. The large
cattle kraals are accordingly arranged in various quarters in
connection with the great road, and the entrance of each kraal is a
small archway in the strong iron-wood fence, sufficiently wide to
admit one ox at a time. Suspended from the arch is a bell, formed of
the shell of the Dolape palm-nut, against which every animal must
strike either its horns or back on entrance. Every tinkle of the
bell announces the passage of an ox into the kraal, and they are
thus counted every evening when brought home from pasture."
The toilet of the natives is of the simplest, except in one
particular. The Latooka savage is content that his whole body should
be naked, but expends the most elaborate care on his headdress. Every
tribe in this district has a distinct fashion of arranging it, but the
Latookas reduce it to a science. Mr. Baker describes the process and
the result:
"European ladies would be startled at the fact, that to perfect the
_coiffure_ of a man requires a period of from eight to ten years!
However tedious the operation the result is extraordinary. The
Latookas wear most exquisite helmets, all of which are formed of
their own hair, and are, of course, fixtures. At first sight it
appears incredible; but a minute examination shows the wonderful
perseverance of years in producing what must be highly inconvenient.
The thick crisp wool is woven with fine twine, formed from the bark
of a tree, until it presents a thick network of felt. As the hair
grows through this matted substance it is subjected to the same
process, until, in the course of years, a compact substance is
formed, like a strong felt, about an inch and a half thick, that has
been trained into the shape of a helmet. A strong rim of about two
inches deep is formed by drawing it together with thread, and the
front part of the helmet is protected by a piece of polished copper,
while a piece of the same metal, shaped like the half of a bishop's
mitre, and about a foot in length, forms the crest. The framework of
the helmet being at length completed, it must be perfected by an
arrangement of beads, should the owner of the head be sufficiently
rich to indulge in the coveted distinction. The beads most in
fashion are the red and the blue porcelain, about the size of small
peas. These are sewn on the surface of the felt, and so beautifully
arranged in sections of blue and red, that the entire helmet appears
to be formed of beads, and the handsome crest of polished copper,
surmounted by ostrich plumes, gives a most dignified and martial
appearance to this elaborate head-dress."
{832}
With Commoro, chief of the Latookas, Mr. Baker had a religious
conversation. The savage was clever, even subtile. He does not appear,
however to have shaken the faith of the traveller. Probably had Mr.
Baker been a Bishop (Colenso) trained in the theology of the schools,
he might have been driven crazy by this mid-African counterpart of the
famous Zulu. The natives exhume the bones of their dead, and celebrate
a sort of dance round them; and Mr. Baker asked his Latookan friend--
"Have you no belief in a future existence after death? Is not some
idea expressed in the act of exhuming the bones after the flesh is
decayed?"
_Commoro (loq.)_--"Existence after death! How can that be? Can a
dead man get out of his grave unless we dig him out?"
"Do you think a man is like a beast that dies and is ended?"
_Commoro._--"Certainly. An ox is stronger than a man, but he dies,
and his bones last longer; they are bigger. A man's bones break
quickly; he is weak."
"Is not a man superior in sense to an ox? Has he not a mind to
direct his actions?"
_Commoro._--"Some men are not so clever as an ox. Men must sow corn
to obtain food, but the ox and wild animals can procure it without
sowing."
"Do you not know that there is a spirit within you more than flesh?
Do you not dream and wander in thought to distant places in your
sleep? Nevertheless, your body rests in one spot. How do you account
for this?"
_Commoro_ (laughing.)--"Well, how do you account for it?"
. . .
"If you have no belief in a future state, why should a man be good?
Why should he not be bad, if he can prosper by wickedness?"
_Commoro_.--"Most people are bad; if they are strong, they take from
the weak. The good people are all weak; they are good because they are
not strong enough to be bad."
Extremes meet; there are sages of modern days whose much learning has
brought them up to the intellectual pitch of the savage's materialism.
They might, ingenious as they are, even take a lesson in sophistry
from the Latookan. When driven into a corner by the use of St. Paul's
metaphor, the astute Commoro answered:
"Exactly so; that I understand. But the original grain does not rise
again; it rots, like the dead man, and is ended. The fruit produced
is not the same grain that was buried, but the _production_ of that
grain. So it is with man. I die, and decay, and am ended; but my
children grow up, like the fruit of the grain. Some men have no
children, and some grains perish without fruit; then all are ended."
Nevertheless, the Latookans continue to dig out the bones of their
kindred, and to perform a rite around them which is manifestly a
tradition from the time when a belief in the immortality of the soul
existed among them.
It was impossible for Mr. Baker to reach the Lake toward which he
pressed without appeasing Kamrasi, King of the Unyoros. But to do this
was not easy when his stock of presents was getting low, and his men
were so few and weak as to inspire no barbarian prince with the
slightest fear. Yet, though debilitated with fever, his quinine
exhausted, and Mrs. Baker stricken down in the disease, he pressed on
with an unquenchable zeal--one would almost write worthy of a better
cause. Finally, he was abundantly rewarded. Hurrying on in advance of
his escort he reached at last, ere the sun had risen on what proved
afterward a brilliant day, the summit of the hills that hem the great
valley occupied by the vast Nile Source. There it lay "a sea of
quicksilver" far beneath, stretching boundlessly off to the vast Blue
Mountains which, on the opposite side towered upward from its bosom,
and over whose breasts cascades could be discerned by the telescope
tumbling down in numerous torrents. Standing 1500 feet above the level
of the Lake, Mr. Baker shouted for joy that "England had won the
Sources of the Nile!" and called the gigantic reservoir the Albert
N'Yanza. The Victoria and Albert Lakes, then, are the {833} Nile
Sources. Clambering down the steep--his wife, just recovered from
fever, and intensely weak, leaning upon him--Mr. Baker reached the
shore at length of the great expanse of water, and rushing into it,
drank eagerly, with an enthusiasm almost reaching the ancient Egyptian
point of Nile-worship.
Mr. Baker describes the Albert Lake as the grand reservoir, and the
Victoria as the Eastern source.
"The Nile, cleared of its mystery, resolves itself into comparative
simplicity. The actual basin of the Nile is included between about
the 22 deg. and 39 deg. east longitude, and from 3 deg. south to 18 deg. north
latitude. The drainage of that vast area is monopolized by the
Egyptian river. . . The Albert N'Yanza is the great basin of the
Nile: the distinction between it and the Victoria N'Yanza is, that
the Victoria is a reservoir receiving the eastern affluents, and it
becomes the starting-point or the most elevated _source_ at the
point where the river issues from it at the Ripon Falls; the Albert
is a reservoir not only receiving the western and southern affluents
direct from the Blue Mountains, but it also receives the supply from
the Victoria and from the entire equatorial Nile basin. The Nile, as
it issues from the Albert N'Yanza is the entire Nile; prior to its
birth from the Albert Lake it is _not_ the entire Nile."
". . . Ptolemy had described the Nile sources as emanating from two
great lakes that received the snows of the mountains in Ethiopia.
There are many ancient maps existing upon which these lakes are
marked as positive. There can be little doubt that trade had been
carried on between the Arabs from the Red Sea and the coast opposite
Zanzitan in ancient times, and that the people engaged in such
enterprises had penetrated so far as to have gained a knowledge of
the existence of the two reservoirs."
The interest of Mr. Baker's volumes of course culminates with his
account of the Great Lake. He embarked in a canoe of the country, and
with his party in another, navigated it for a long distance,
encountering storms and weathering them with a skill and courage which
show him as cool and experienced a traveller on _sea_ as on land. On
his return overland he was again in perils oft. But the same undying
spirit which supported him through a dozen fevers carried him through
every danger triumphantly. The English nation has reason to be proud
of such men, and of such women as Mrs. Baker still more. Devotion like
hers honors the sex. There is an end, however, of Nile voyaging with
the old object. If the Victoria and Albert Lakes are revisited it will
be in pursuit of other ends than mere geographical inquiry or
curiosity. Mr. Baker seems to think that missionaries may be the first
to follow in the track he has made, and it is a fact that next to
professional explorers (if even second to them) those influenced by
religious zeal have made the most daring expeditions into unknown
regions. Livingstone has done even more in another part of Africa than
Baker did on the great level, which, as he thinks, from its altitude,
escaped being submerged at any previous part of the world's history,
and may contain at this moment the descendants of a pre-Adamite race.
On the ethnology of the central Africans he can throw no light, and
his mere speculations are worthless, but he is doubtless right in
considering that commerce must precede religious propagandism among
those races, if anything is really to be done for their benefit. For
commerce there are large opportunities, if only the abominable
slave-trade, which makes fiends of the natives, were effectually
suppressed. Mr. Baker writes warmly on this point, and none knows
better the character and extent of the evil. A more interesting book
of travel was never written than his Albert N'Yanza: in every page
there is fresh and vivid interest. The author, who is admirable in
many things, is a model narrator, and there is no romance at all equal
in attraction to the simple and unvarnished, but full and picturesque,
account of his protracted and exciting travels.
--------
{834}
Translated from the French.
THREE WOMEN OF OUR TIME.
EUGENIE DE GUERIN--CHARLOTTE BRONTE--RAHEL LEVIN.
BY GABRIEL CERNY.
It is now quite a number of years since it became the fashion to study
women, and writers of note have called to life more than one who would
have preferred being left to oblivion under her cold tombstone. Is it
not enough to have lived once even if we have lived wisely? "No one
would accept an existence that was to last forever," said a
philosopher who had suffered from the injustice of mankind.
It seems, for example, as if the heroines of the seventeenth century
must smile in pity to see the pettiest actions of their lives as well
as the deepest inspirations of their hearts given up for food to the
indiscreet curiosity and vivid imagination of the eminent philosopher
who had so lovingly resuscitated them. And the intellectual women who
came after them, are not they not often wounded by the judgments
passed upon them by the most inquisitive and fertile of critics?
In two works entirely devoted to woman, a _fantaisiste_ who was once
an historian, has tried to explain the best means to insure happiness
to the fairer half of the human race, with a minuteness very tender in
intention but often quite repugnant to our taste. He states in detail
the hygienic care indispensable to creatures weak in body, feeble in
mind, and so helpless when left to themselves that in truth there are
but two conditions in the world suitable for them--to be courtesans if
they are beautiful, and maid-servants if they are destitute of
physical charms; nay, such is the arrogance of this literary _Celadon_
that he would assign to the wife an inferior position and leave the
husband to superintend not only business affairs but household
matters. In short, when we read these books we seem to be attending a
session of the Naturalization Society, teaching the public to rear and
domesticate some valuable animal much to be distrusted.
Not even the toilettes of the eighteenth century have failed to arouse
the interest of two authors of our day, who, displeased perhaps with
the slight success of their book, have now abandoned the range of
realities for the dreary delusions of a lawless realism. In a work as
long as it is tiresome, they have described with feminine lucidity the
various costumes of the ladies of the court of Louis XV., of the
Revolution, and the Empire.
A book has now appeared which, according to its title, promises to
show us the "Intellect of Women of our own Time," but in reality
confines itself to giving three interesting biographies. The author
was already known to the public through a romance which reveals true
talent "Daniel Blady," the story of a musician, is written in the
German style, and shows an elevation of sentiment, a straightforward
honesty of principle, and above all a simplicity of devotion rarely to
be met with in the world. M. Camille Selden admires modest women,
incapable of personal ambition or vanity, who consecrate all the
tender and enlivening faculties of soul and reason to the service of a
husband, father, or brother, and such a woman he portrays in "Daniel
Blady."
{835}
In order to represent fairly the women of our day M. Selden has
selected three different characters; three names worn modestly,
usefully, and honorably; three contrasts of position, race, doctrine,
and education: a French Catholic, an English Protestant, a German
Jewess: Eugenie de Guerin, Charlotte Bronte, and Rachel Varnhagen von
Ense. They were all affectionate, devoted, and self-forgetful; two of
them married, and the French-woman alone had the happy privilege of
restoring to God a heart and soul that had belonged to no one.
I.
Eugenie de Guerin du Cayla was born and bred _en province_, although
of a truly noble family, of Venetian origin it is said. Her mode of
life was that of a woman of the middle class (_bourgeoise_) enjoying
that comparative ease which we see in the country; a large house
scantily furnished, a garden less cultivated than the fields, and
servants of little or no training, who seem to form a part of the
family.
Mlle. de Guerin lost her mother early, and having two brothers and a
sister younger than herself, became burthened with the care of a
household and family. Her letters and journal show her to us as she
was at twenty-seven or twenty-eight years of age, not one of those
persons of morose and frigid virtue who are good for nothing but to
mend linen and take care of birds, but a woman of intelligent and
unembarrassed activity. She made fires, visited the poultry-yard,
prepared breakfast for the reapers, and when her work was done, betook
herself in all haste to a little retreat which she dignified with the
name of _study_, where she ran through some book or wrote a few
pages--always charming, always strong--of a sort of journal of the
actions of her life. Eugenie's especial favorite was her brother
Maurice, who was five years younger than herself, and it would be
impossible to speak of her without recalling the passionate maternal
tenderness with which from her earliest youth she regarded this
brother whom she had loved to rock and nurse in infancy.
"I remember that you sometimes made me jealous," she wrote to him one
day, "it was because I was a little older than you, and I did not know
that tenderness and caresses, _the hearts milk_, are lavished on the
little ones."
Devotion was the principle motive-power of Eugenie's actions; ardent
prayer and charity profoundly moved her; wind, snow, rain-storms,
nothing checked her when she knew that in some corner of the village
there were miseries to be relieved, tears to be wiped away. She felt
sympathy with all living creatures, even if they were inanimate like
trees and flowers; she sighed when the wind bowed them down; "she
pitied them, comparing them to unhappy human beings bending beneath
misfortune," and imitating the example of the great saint, Francis of
Assisi, she would gladly have conversed with lambs and turtle-doves.
Mlle. de Guerin pitied the educated peasants who knew how to read and
yet could not pray. "Prayer to God," she said, "is the only fit manner
to celebrate any thing in this world." And again, "Nothing is easier
than to speak to the neglected ones of this world; they are not like
us, full of tumultuous or perverse thoughts that prevent them from
hearing."
She loved religion with its festivals and splendors; and breathed in
God with the incense and flowers on the altar, nor could she ever have
understood an invisible, abstract God, a God simply the guardian of
morality as Protestants believe him to be.
Most women become useful only through some being whom they love and to
whom they refer the actions of their lives; it is their noblest and
most natural instinct to efface and lose themselves in another's
glory. Having no husband or children, Mlle. de Guerin attached herself
to her brother Maurice, a delicate nature, a sad {836} and suffering
soul, destined to self-destruction, a lofty but unquiet spirit that
was never to find on earth the satisfaction and realization of his
hopes. "You are the one of all the family," he wrote to her, "whose
disposition is most in sympathy with my own, so far as I can judge by
the verses that you send me, in all of which there is a gentle
reverie, a tinge of melancholy, in short, which forms, I believe, the
basis of my character." Mlle. de Guerin's letters to her brother were
not only tender and consoling, but strong and healthy in their tone.
Indeed, he needed them, for terrible were his sufferings from the
ill-will and indifference of others. He wrote and tried to establish
himself as a critic; but some publishers rejected him and others
evaded his proposals with vague promises, until with despair he saw
every issue closed to him, and knew not what answer to make to his
father, who grew impatient at the constant failure of his
expectations.
Though ignorant of the world, Mlle, de Guerin did not the less suspect
the dangers that Christian faith may encounter. One day, a voice that
seemed to come from heaven told her that Maurice no longer prayed; and
then we find her trembling and uneasy. "I have received your letter,"
she says, "and I see you in it, but I do not recognize you; for you
only open your mind to me, and it is your heart, your soul, your
inmost being that I long to see. Return to prayer, your soul is full
of love and craves expansion; believe, hope, love, and all the rest
shall be added. If I could only see you a Christian! Oh! I would give
my life and everything else for that." . . . Like all persons who try
to dispense with the divine restraints of the precepts of the gospel,
poor Maurice struggled in a dreary world; his sensitive and poetic
soul saw God everywhere except in his own heart; he longed sometimes
to be a flower, or a bird, or verdure; his brain and imagination ran
away with him, and his soul poured itself forth without restraint, and
lost its way through wandering from the veritable Source of life.
This passion for nature led him to write a work which shows genuine
power even if it be unproductive; a prose poem in which Christianity
is forgotten for the sake of fable and antiquity. But thanks to his
sister's prayers, Maurice was one of those who return to God. He
passed away without agitation or suffering, smiling on all, and
begging his sister Eugenie to read him some spiritual book. At the
bottom of his heart he had never ceased to love God, and he returned
to him as a little child returns to its mother.
Eugenie did not give herself up to vain despair after Maurice's death.
Thinking perpetually of him whom she had loved so deeply, she busied
herself with the writings which he had left behind him, and prayed for
his soul, recommending him also to the prayers of her friends. She
still addressed herself to him, and oppressed with sadness unto death,
communed with his absent soul, imploring him to come to her. "Maurice,
my friend, what is heaven, that home of friends? Will you never give
me any sign of life? Shall I never hear you, as the dead are sometimes
said to make themselves heard? Oh! if it be possible, if there exist
any communication between this world and the other, return to me!"
But one day she grew weary of this unanswered correspondence, and a
moral exhaustion took possession of her. "_Let us cast our hearts into
eternity_," she cried. These were her last words, and she died, glad
to see her life accomplished, confiding in the mercy of God, in his
goodness who reunites the soul which he has severed here below, but
never has forgotten in their bereavement.
{837}
II.
Charlotte Bronte, (Currer Bell,) whom M. Camille Selden offers to us
as a type of energy and virtue, was the daughter of a country
clergyman. Sad was the childhood and sad the youth of the poor English
girl. Her mother was an invalid, her father a man of gloomy and almost
fierce disposition, their means were so limited as to border upon
poverty, and as if to complete the dreary picture, the scenery about
the parsonage was "austere and lugubrious to contemplate, like the sea
beneath an impending tempest."
In England the clerical profession is totally unlike the holy mission
of a Catholic clergyman. The ecclesiastical life there is a career,
not a vocation. "Mr. Bronte never left home unarmed," a singular
method of preaching peace to the world and reconciliation among
brethren. He was a good father, no doubt--almost all Englishmen are
so. But he kept his family at a distance, and spoke to them seldom,
and then in a curt and supercilious manner. His morose spirit did not
relish the society of children, and if he became the preceptor of his
little family, it was rather in order to fulfil a duty and conform
himself to custom, than from a feeling of tenderness or even
solicitude for their future welfare. Thus the minister's children
lived amid influences which were cold and serious, but upright, and in
a certain sense strengthening. There are so many children in every
English family that parents of the middle class are obliged to treat
them less as subordinates than as auxiliaries. The children are less
familiar with their parents but more respectful than among us; life is
not so easy and gentle, education more masculine.
Independence is the goal toward which all young English people tend,
and both girls and boys are early taught that labor alone can lead
them to it. In France we long impatiently for the time to shut up our
children in the high-walled barracks which we dignify with the name of
boarding-schools; for it is extremely necessary, we say, to be rid of
idle, noisy boys. Girls are generally educated at home, but either
through weakness or indifference, they are treated with far too much
indulgence. "Poor little things!" we say pathetically; "who can tell
what fate awaits them in married life?" for in this country we so far
forget Christian duty as to make marriage a necessity, an obligation,
a matter of business, instead of seeking therein, as the English do, a
basis of true happiness.
Children, educated as they are in England, early acquire habits of
observation and reflection; sitting around the tea-table in the
evening, they listen to the conversation of their grandparents, and
are often questioned upon the most serious subjects. This is
Protestantism, you say. Not at all: it is the remains of the Christian
spirit anterior to the Reformation. This spirit is exhibited in habits
as in laws. If family life among us were truly catholic, we should
possess all this and in greater perfection.
There is another practice in England which is often beneficial, and
which we do not dare to adopt openly in France. I mean the habit of
writing out one's impressions. This seems to be as natural in England
as thought; and mothers, young girls, and men consider it a duty to
keep an account of the good ideas that occur to them or of the
interesting facts they may observe.
In France, on the contrary, true literary culture is closed to women,
and there is a general outcry whenever any woman takes the liberty of
publishing a work under her own name. It is thought quite natural that
a young girl, with a dress outrageously _decolletee_ and her head
covered with flowers, should appear upon a stage and sing a _bravura_;
but let her venture to write, and the world accuses her of want of
reserve.
A Frenchman has such a horror of anything methodical and serious that
he prefers to educate his daughters without thought or reflection, at
hap-hazard and with no provision for {838} the future. Frenchwomen
understand everything without study, it is said; this may be true, and
the merit is not so great as to make it worth while to deny the
assertion. What a superficial method! what an incredible way to
acquire knowledge and judgment!
Englishwomen on the contrary, devote themselves to a regular course of
instruction; they read a great deal, making extracts and critical
notes, and thus avoid idleness and _ennui_, those two terrible
diseases that affect womankind. Unfortunately abuses glide into their
reading, and novels or even newspapers hold a place there which they
ought not to occupy. This is a fruit of Protestantism, of free
inquiry, and if our faith were firm and practical, we should know how
to avoid the abuse and accept the useful side of this custom.
But there is again a situation which Englishwomen meet with a better
grace than Frenchwomen--we mean the _misfortune_ of remaining
unmarried at twenty-eight or thirty years of age--of becoming _old
maids_. With us, as soon as a daughter comes into the world we begin
to think of amassing her dower; for it is the value of this dower
which is to secure a good or bad marriage for her. We persuade her
that it is almost a disgrace to remain unmarried, but by a tacit
agreement we conceal from her the fact that marriage, as the Church
instituted it, is the union of two souls equal in the sight of God,
and that in giving her hand to a man, she becomes half of himself and
flesh of his flesh. No, it is not a question of heart or of duty; she
marries a man whom she has known scarcely two months, and her family
triumphantly congratulate themselves on being freed from the
unpleasant possibility of harboring _an old maid_. To avoid this, some
marriages are a mere _sale_, a present shame, a future misery, and a
final sin.
As in England daughters have no dower, and sons are valued much more
highly, young women are early prepared not to marry, and are neither
sadder nor more unfortunate on that account. Care of the little ones
in the family; that pleasant occupation belonging by right to maiden
aunts, (_tantes berceuses,_) study, attentive observation of men and
things, and the consciousness of intellectual worth, sustain the
Englishwomen until the moment, often distant, and never to arrive for
many a one, when a good, sincere, and intelligent man shall unite her
lot to his; but as she has self-respect and does not consider loss of
youth as loss of caste, she does not accept the suitor unless she
knows him well and is certain that he does not wish to take her or buy
her _pour faire une fin_.
Charlotte, like Eugenie and like Rahel, of whom we shall speak in her
turn, was rather insignificant in appearance; her features were
irregular, her forehead prominent, and her eyes small but deep and
piercing in expression. She was educated with two of her sisters in a
boarding-school, where the regimen was hard and unhealthy, the uniform
coarse, and the food insufficient and ill cooked. Mr. Bronte turned a
deaf ear to his eldest daughter's complaints for a long time, and did
not decide to take his children home until one of them had already
sunk under the injudicious treatment. Charlotte was then placed with
Miss W----, with whom she lived eight years as pupil and second
teacher. And here M. Camille Selden gives us some excellent remarks
upon the difference existing between the French lay _pension_ with its
supplementary course, and the English boarding-school.
"In the former, as in a well-disciplined army, every movement, every
manoeuvre must be executed in union, even the recess is subject to
rules. In the midst of her battalion of teachers and sub-mistresses,
the French directress, _en grande tenue_, resembles a brilliant
colonel marching proudly at the head of his squadron in a review."
{839}
"The object of education in England is at once simpler and gentler. It
is thought there to be the duty of a woman, as of a man, to develop
the judgment by study; that reflection and observation are equally
necessary to teach both sexes how to live wisely and think justly.
Therefore we never hear of courses of study where under the pretext of
maternal education, gentlemen in black coats give out _bribes_ for
history, geography--nay, even philosophy, to little girls who come
there apparently to study under maternal supervision, but in reality
to learn to receive company and dress tastefully; in one word, to
rehearse the worldly comedy which a little later they will be
condemned to enact."
The author should have completed his picture by giving an exact
account of our houses of religious education; but I think he knows
little about them, and cares little to get information concerning
them, which accounts for certain wants in his book.
Poor Charlotte Bronte was never young, partly because of her childish
sufferings, but chiefly because of her serious and inquiring nature,
which applied its powers to investigating and analyzing the sources of
everything. She did not indulge in the childish ideas of a school
girl, and being free from the dangerous enthusiasm that imagination
engenders, she understood the full extent of human misery without
exaggerating it, and if she was deprived of illusions at least she was
spared disappointment. And yet she suffered; her vigorous soul, her
fertile intellect imprisoned in this common-place situation, were
stifled as in a cage; and to complete her misery came religious
terrors, frightful visions of "failing grace and impossible
salvation," until her awe-struck heart recoiled in affright.
Like all souls ardently loving goodness and thirsting from the true
love, she sighed after the bliss of heaven: "I would be willing," she
exclaimed, "I would be willing to exchange my eighteen years for gray
hairs--or even to stand on the verge of the grave, if by that means I
could be assured of the divine mercy;" but alas! in the practices of
that dry and personal religion in which each one answers to himself
for himself, and whence confidence is banished as a weakness, where
should she look for help?
Meanwhile the circle of poverty was drawing closer and closer about
Charlotte and her sisters, and a thousand thoughts sprang up in the
brain of the courageous girl: "I wish to make money, no matter how--if
only the means be honest! nothing would discourage me," said she; "but
I should not care to be a cook--I should prefer being housemaid." In
the evening, when every one else was in bed, she used to meet her
sisters in the little parlor, and they would read to each other their
literary efforts in a low voice. They decided with one accord that
Charlotte must write to Southey and send him a book of her poems. The
poet saw no great merit in these effusions and tried to discourage
Charlotte, giving her at the same time excellent moral advice upon the
nothingness of celebrity and the dangers of ambition.
She decided then to make a journey to Belgium in order to study
French, but she was almost immediately recalled home. The old aunt who
had kept house during her absence was dead, her father was becoming
blind, and her brother was subject to attacks of delirium in which he
threatened his father's life. It was amid these terrible calamities
that Miss Bronte wrote "Jane Eyre," the most powerful of her novels.
The next plan was that she and her sisters should all write together
and get a volume printed at their own expense under the names of
Ellis, Acton, and Currer Bell. It may well be imagined that this
unfortunate book, sent out like a foundling into the literary world,
met with no success, for if the beginnings of any career are
precarious, the obstacles presented by literature are insurmountable
to any one {840} not possessed of immense energy. We know Charlotte
well enough to feel sure that she was not a woman to waste away in the
dejection of sterile discouragement; she began to write again, and
composed "The Professor." Alas! the poor little book travelled about
from publisher to publisher without finding rest anywhere; and such
was the naivete of its author, that in her eagerness to send her
rejected book to each new bookseller, she forgot to remove the old
postage stamps from the package--not an encouraging recommendation to
any editor to accept the _leavings_ of his _confreres!_
It was at Manchester, during six weeks that she passed there with her
father, who was forced to undergo an operation for cataract, that Miss
Bronte finished "Jane Eyre." Messrs. Smith and Elder of London
accepted the manuscript without hesitation, and from that time the
obscure young girl was a celebrity whom every one longed to know and
to receive.
Charlotte's literary success brought a ray of joy into Mr. Bronte's
melancholy household, but it was of short duration. Twice within two
months the inhabitants of Haworth saw the window-blinds of the
parsonage closed, and heard the bell toll a death-knell. Charlotte's
brother, prostrated by excesses, and consumed internally, died in the
course of fifteen minutes; but they were minutes of awful anguish; in
the grasp of the death-agony the dying man started to his feet, crying
out that he would die standing, and that his will should give way only
with his breath. Her elder sister, Emily, left home for the last time
when she followed his bier to the grave; and another sister, the
youngest and Charlotte's well-beloved, Anna Bronte, sustained herself
awhile by dint of care and tenderness, but her lungs were affected and
she soon began to languish; she too declined and died.
Poor Charlotte now found herself alone with her father who had lost
five of his six children. She devoted herself to writing, as much to
distract her grief as to deceive the long hours of the day; and
henceforth her personality presented two distinct faces. She was a
conscientious Englishwoman, a clergyman's daughter attached to her
duties, and an authoress, ardent and active in defence of her
convictions, and not without a certain obstinacy. "Her success
continued, and she was obliged to submit to the exhibition to which
English enthusiasm and bad taste subject their favorites. Miss Bronte
had to go to dinner-parties, and to reunions of unlooked-for luxury
and splendor; but the distinction that flattered her most was being
placed by Thackeray in the seat of honor to hear the first lecture of
this celebrated author at Willis's Rooms."
But solitude which had been the foundation and habit of her life,
rendered her unfit for the world. Miss Bronte had suffered too much to
preserve that serenity of temper and freedom of spirit necessary to
enable one to talk easily and agreeably, and often would she sit
silent amid a cross-fire of conversation all around her "I was forced
to explain," she said, "that I was silent because I could talk no
more."
Charlotte Bronte had arrived at the age of thirty-eight years without
having had her heart touched with any emotion stronger than dutiful
affection for her family. But--and here prose intrudes itself a
little--her father had a vicar, and what could an English vicar do but
be married? He loved Charlotte, and moreover, she had become a good
match; but on one hand the fear of a refusal, and on the other the
dread of the embarrassment for a clergyman of sharing the existence of
a literary woman, prevented him from declaring his affections. At
last, however, he took courage, and I ask myself if this courage was
not rendered more attainable by Charlotte herself. At all events she
accepted his offer without hesitation; but her father, who was too
selfish to allow his daughter to occupy herself with any one but
himself, opposed the marriage, and the enamored vicar left Haworth.
{841}
The privation that Mr. Bronte experienced after his vicar's
departure--a privation that Miss Bronte's temperament must have made
him feel more sensibly--was such that he recalled the suitor, and the
marriage took place. It was a dreary ceremony: no relations, no
friends, so that the bride positively had no one to lead her to the
altar; for her father had refused to be present at the marriage for
fear of feeling agitated, faithful to the end to the dry and
egotistical line of conduct he had marked out for himself.
The wife devoted herself bravely to seconding her husband in the
duties of his ministry. She visited the poor, had a Sunday-school,
improvised prayers and knew the Bible by heart. She was happy--but her
happiness was of short duration, for physical and moral sufferings had
exhausted her, and she died just as life had become harmonized
according to her wishes.
A celebrated author, a strong and courageous woman, aspiring after a
Christian life, she gave all that a heart can give which is not
possessed of the true light; and M. Selden is right in saying at the
close: "Charlotte is better than her heroines." There are few authors
of whom one could say as much.
III.
From England _with its maintien compasse_, and cold religious tenets,
M. Camille Selden takes us to Germany, the land of sentiment and
intellectual research, and introduces us to a Jewess in Berlin, that
we may see what a German _salon_ was at the end of the eighteenth
century.
Rahel Levin was only twenty years old when she lost her father, a
wealthy Israelite, gloomy and violent in his bearing at home, but
amiable and attractive in society.
The young Rahel, endowed with great intelligence and unerring tact,
united to a truly kind heart, was valued and sought by every one as
soon as she appeared in society. She was exceedingly amiable, full of
an obliging good temper that made her anticipate wishes, divine
annoyances in order to relieve them, and forget herself in seeking to
make others happy. Rare too was her loyalty; not only was her soul
incapable of falsehood, but of any want of sincerity. Her husband who
had the good taste not to be jealous of his wife's superiority and
success, said of her "that she did not think to lose by showing
herself as God had made her, or gain by hiding anything." "Natural
candor, absolute purity of soul, and sincerity of heart are the only
things worthy of respect--the rest is only external regularity and
conventionality," she often said to those who lavished upon her
expressions of respect and admiration.
Unhappily for Mlle. Levin, circumstances concurred in alienating her
from her family. Her mother and brothers, notwithstanding their ample
fortune, showed a rapacity worthy of their race, and most unlike
Rahel's broad and generous ideas; and her position would have been
pitiable, but for the illustrious friends who frequented her mother's
house. Among them the young girl forgot the petty meanness of her home
life; and inexhaustible in ideas, perceptive faculty, and wit, she
handled the gravest subjects with delicate skill, and almost as if she
were playing with them. Full of unfailing good temper, she could
discuss the most varied, the most opposite subjects, without dogmatism
or eccentricity.
But this want of union with her family, which had deprived her of the
domestic happiness so indispensable to every affectionate woman had
rendered her paradoxical and even a little sceptical. See, for
example, what she wrote to her youngest sister, who had consulted her
about a proposal of marriage: "The want of durability in everything,
and the inevitable separation between an object and its {842} motive,
afford, you see, the final explanation of all that is human. You do
not wish to belong to humanity; very well, destroy yourself. I feel
quite differently: only transitory things, only what is human can
tranquillize and console me." How at variance is this bitterness with
the ardent hopefulness of the spiritual Eugenie de Guerin! and how
excellent a proof, if we needed any new one, that true happiness is
unattainable without that deep religious feeling which raises us above
all passing things! Charlotte Bronte had at least that Protestant
severity which stifles all tender quailing of the heart and soul, like
a miser trembling lest he should lose a farthing of the merits of his
sacrifice; but poor Rahel possessed only the intellectual resources of
the mind, and they can do little for us.
Goethe, whose countrywoman she was so proud of being; Goethe, little
inclined to exaggerate the value of a woman's mind, took pleasure in
calling her a generous girl. "She has powerful emotions and a careless
way of expressing them," he said: "the better you know her, the more
you feel yourself attracted and gently enthralled."
But it was a long time before she enthralled any one. At last one of
her friends, Varnhagen von Ense, a young man twenty-six years old,
offered her his hand. Let him describe to us the charm of his first
interview with Rahel.
"From the first, I must say that she made me experience a very rare
happiness, that of contemplating for the first time a complete
being--complete in intelligence and heart, a perfect union of nature
and cultivation. Everywhere I saw harmony, equilibrium, views as
naive as they were original, striking in their grandeur as in their
novelty, and always in accordance with her slightest actions. And
all was pervaded with a sentiment of the purest humanity, guided by
an energetic sense of duty, and heightened by a noble
self-forgetfulness in the presence, of the joys and griefs of
others."
Rahel was then thirty-six years old, and this great disparity of age,
added to her want of beauty and fortune, must have inspired her with
doubts of the duration of a feeling, which perhaps her heart,
accustomed to independence, did not at first reciprocate. But in
Germany marriages are not made as they are in France; people do not
marry without knowing each other, or with a precipitation which might
lead one to suppose that on both sides there was something to conceal,
or that the intention was to make a good bargain of duty. According to
the fashion of their country the two friends were betrothed, and were
then forced to separate.
"I am not afraid; I will wait for you; I know you will never forsake
me," wrote the indulgent Rahel eight years later, when a Frenchwoman
would have lost patience a thousand times over.
In France, where dower, beauty, name, or position, rank before
affection, such a separation would certainly have proved fatal. Had he
no cause to fear that some one else might supplant him with Rahel? Was
she untroubled by dread of the cruel dangers that threaten and disturb
the affections? Might not her heart, naturally sceptical, and shaken
by contact with the world, distrust the effect of opinion upon so
young a man? "But true love has nothing to fear from worldly talk or
material considerations; a whiff of a passing breeze cannot destroy
strongly rooted affections, whose living germ lies sheltered in the
depths of the heart." Such love can wait, for it does not know how to
change. Such love was Rahel's; was it Varnhagen's? We shall see.
{843}
Rahel was not an author, and had no thought of publication; it was
only after her death that her husband sought some slight consolation
in publishing her letters. These letters which make three volumes,
were written in the course of forty years, and therefore they reveal
the different phases of development in the young girl, the independent
woman, and the matron. Through the generous feelings which she
expresses, with a soul sympathizing with all sorts of interests, there
pierces a certain delicate irony which seems to find pleasure in
following out to the end any singular or original idea: We feel
painfully that this woman has lost much, suffered deeply. In the life
of Rahel the Jewess, as in that of Charlotte the Protestant, we
discern the absence of our Saviour's cross; we see nowhere the gentle
vision of the Virgin Mother.
In one of her letters, Mlle. Levin describes the impression which a
visit to a Catholic convent had made upon her mind. She had entered
into the services in the chapel like an artist: "I would gladly go
there again, if it were only to hear the music, and breathe in the
odor of the incense," said she. But the mortifications of the
religious seemed to her more eccentric than touching; she pitied them
for having to fulfil the functions of gardener and cook, to prepare
medicines and feel the pulse of their patients. "Without exception
their hands looked coarse," she said, "and their masculine tread
sounded like the tramp of a patrol." And yet later in life Rahel was
to perform, voluntarily, the same work as these nuns, and moreover she
had a true sentiment of piety, which sometimes rose to an expression
of faith.
"In moments of suffering," she wrote, "how happy faith makes me feel!
I love to rest upon it as on a downy pillow."
We read these words so full of simple piety, with a full heart,
thinking sadly how little assistance this woman would have needed to
become an ardent convert to the true religion. It is really surprising
that she should not have sought out Christianity.
"Never try to suppress a generous impulse, or to crowd out a genuine
feeling," she wrote to a friend: "despair or discouragement are the
only fruits of dry reasoning; examine yourself carefully, and dread
above all things the decisions of wisdom unenlightened by the heart."
Rahel and Varnhagen had agreed to meet again one day; but absence is
often fatal to the strongest ties, and more than once this one was on
the point of snapping.
"A woman who has passed thirty," says our author, "may well fear lest
youth, proved by the parish register, should win the day against youth
of mind and soul."
It would have been very hard to find a rival to a woman so gifted as
Rahel; but the first moment of enthusiasm over, Varnhagen began to
think that his betrothed had been very prompt in her acceptance of the
promises by which he had bound himself when a young and inexperienced
man; and perhaps his memory recalled certain confidences of
ill-matched pairs, who had assured him that generosity is a snare.
"For nothing in the world, of course, would he have renounced this
affection of which he was proud; but he thought that she would accept
his fidelity without his name, and he presumed to offer his devotion
in lieu of the projected union."
Rahel could not accept a compromise as humiliating to her heart as
dangerous to her reputation. She refused it, but--and this was less
dignified--she refused sadly and plainly to free Varnhagen from his
engagement. This was what she wrote:
"Bitterness at least equals suffering, when you, the single, solitary
soul who knows me thoroughly, would turn away from me, or what is the
same thing, when you would be false to yourself, and forsake me: hard
words, my friend, but none the less true. I must be severe to the only
being who has given me a right to expect anything from him. In you
alone had I hoped, and I think I should insult you in saying that I
had ceased to hope."
{844}
To this bitter trial was added another one, which was very severe,
though merely connected with material matters, especially for a person
who was no longer young. Half abandoned, and half _exploitee_ by her
family, Rahel had become poor. Valiant and strong, she had long
succeeded in hiding from her friends the privations which she imposed
upon herself, in order to maintain her household properly. She had
just lost her mother, and one of her brothers, who died blessing her
for her devotion, and these afflictions must be added to the money
troubles, which increased every day. Alas! there was no consolation in
this distress, for Rahel could not say like the august daughter of a
great king, "I thank God for two things; first, for having made me a
Christian, and next, for having made me unhappy."
Economy was not her chief virtue, and kindness, that luxury which she
could not live without, led her to deprive herself of the necessaries
of life, in order that her servants might want for nothing. "It is
mere selfishness," she said, laughing; "I prefer spoiling them to
spoiling myself."
The misfortunes of war completed the ruin of her purse and her health.
She assisted her countrymen by collecting contributions, and when
money failed, she paid with personal exertions, fulfilling the
admirable precept, "When you have given everything, give yourself."
The vehemence of her feelings exhausted her strength, and her frail
health gave way beneath the excess of privation and fatigue. She fell
ill, and was forced to keep her bed for three months.
Her resources were exhausted, and poverty approached with great
strides. She decided to ask one of her brothers, who was rich, to send
her a little money; but he not only refused, but took a cruel pleasure
in taunting the poor girl, with what he called her crazy liberality.
For six months the war intercepted all communications, so that she
could receive no tidings of him whom she still called her betrothed.
But this anxiety was the last. On waking one morning Rahel saw a
letter which had just been brought in, and by a sudden inspiration,
worthy of one who had never despaired, she guessed what this note
contained: "a living hope, which never dies out in valiant souls,
cried out that at last she had grasped happiness;" and the hope proved
true: ten days later she married August Varnhagen, who having
recovered from his hesitation, fulfilled his vows with a good will.
"You will never repent marrying me," she wrote to him, with naivete, a
little while before her marriage; "Love me, or love me not, as God
wills; whatever happens I shall be yours for ever, you can rely on me:
I am constant, as you have been constant. Rahel shall never fail you."
Her husband was afterward made Prussian minister, and Rahel as
ambassadress was once more surrounded as in the pleasantest days of
her youth.
She was sixty-two years old when the disease attacked her of which she
died. Varnhagen never left her, or ceased trying to make her forget
her sufferings by reading the books to her which she loved best; and
Heinrich Heine, learning that she was ordered to apply fresh
rose-leaves to her inflamed eyes, sent her his first poems, lying at
the bottom of a basket of exquisite roses.
Madame von Varnhagen had always loved the Bible, and, especially,
Jewess though she was, the New Testament. She was never tired of
listening to the history of the sufferings and death of our Lord Jesus
Christ. One day finding herself more feeble, she said, taking her
husband's hand and pressing it on her heart: "I feel better, my
friend. I have been thinking a long time of Jesus, and it seems as if
I had never felt as at this moment how truly He is my brother, and the
brother of all men. It has comforted me." . . . These were her last
words.
{845}
Do these women explain _the women of our times_? It is at least
disputable; but we must recognize in them three interesting
characters. We will not try to compare them; the differences between
them are self-evident; and certainly though Eugenie de Guerin, the
Frenchwoman and the Catholic, played in a worldly sense the most
obscure part, no person of elevated views can contest the fact that
hers was the most beautiful life of the three.
--------
From The Lamp.
HENRI PERREYVE.
The Church of France sustained a great loss when, in the flower of his
age, Henri Perreyve was cut off. Had his life been prolonged he would
doubtless have attained a high position in the diocese of Paris, and
done a very great work. A memorial of him--for it can hardly be called
a "Life"--has been recently given to the world by his friend and
confidant, Pere Gratry of the French Oratory; and thus the record of
this young priest is now made immortal by the eloquent pen of one of
the greatest spiritual writers in France. Henri Perreyve was born in
April, 1831, and died June, 1865. His was, therefore, but a brief
life--brief, but brilliant, like a short, bright summer-day.
The comparison is not an inapt one. The life of this young man was,
compared to that of the minority of his fellow-creatures, a bright and
happy one. No great exterior sorrows met him during his earthly
career; and for the interior, there could not be much real suffering
for one who from his early childhood had given himself to God, and who
followed the standard of his Divine Master with a courage that could
not be dismayed, with an ardor which was never cooled. He was a son of
Christian parents, who early discerned his genius, and gave no
opposition to the workings of God's grace in him. He was educated at
the Lycee St. Louis; but he did not distinguish himself there. He was,
however, at the head of the catechism-class in St. Sulpice; for the
child's heart was given to God, and he could not devote himself
ardently to secular studies until he had learnt to consecrate even
them to the service of God. At twelve years old he made his first
communion. This act, which is the turning-point in the life of so
many, proved such to him. In after-years he thus described it:
"May 29, 1859.
"You know that I always date from my first communion the first call
from God to the ecclesiastical state. This thought gives me
happiness. I can recall now, as if it were yesterday, the blessed
moment when, having received our Lord at the holy table, I returned
to my place, and there kneeling on that red-velvet bench, which I
can see now, I promised our Lord, with a movement of sincere
affection to belong to him always, and to him only. I feel still the
kind of certainty I had from that moment of being accepted. I feel
the warmth of those first tears for the love of Jesus, which fell
from my childish eyes; and the ineffable shrinking of a soul, which
for the first time had spoken to God, had seen him and heard him.
Intimate and profound joy of the sacerdotal espousals!"
As years passed on, he kept his faith with his Lord. Naturally seeking
his friends from among those like-minded with himself, he became soon
surrounded by and closely bound to some of the most remarkable and
{846} devoted men of the day. The Pere Gratry was the guide of his
youth; and among those who followed his direction were a group of
young ardent men, burning to devote themselves to the cause of God and
his Church. Meeting a little later on with the Pere Petetot, they
became the foundation-stones of the newly-revived French Oratory of
St. Philip Neri. Henri Perreyve was obliged, however, before long, by
the feebleness of his health, to withdraw from the congregation; but
he was ever linked to it by the ties of the closest affection. Pere
Charles Perraud, one of the Oratorians, was throughout life his bosom
friend. They learnt together and prayed together, and were called
together to serve God in the priesthood. Charles Perraud was the first
to attain this dignity; and on the occasion of his saying his first
mass, Henri thus wrote to him.
"Hyeres, Dec. 16, 1857.
"May the Lord be with thee! These are the sacramental words of the
deacon, the only ones I have the right of addressing to you, my dear
friend and brother, before the holy altar. I address them to you
with all the fulness of my heart, and with all the deep meaning that
befits these holy words. Yes, may the Lord be with you, dear
brother!
"With you this morning at the altar of your first mass, to accept
your bridal promise, and reply to your perpetual vow by that
reciprocal love which passes all other love. With you during the
whole of this great day, to maintain the perfume of celestial
incense in your soul, and the odor of the sacrifice which has begun,
but which--thanks be to God!--has no ending. With you to-morrow, to
make you feel that joy in God has somewhat of eternity in it, and
that it differs from the joys of earth because we can taste it
constantly without ever exhausting it. With you when, soon after
your holy ecstasy of joy, you will feel that you must be a priest
for men; and you will go down from Mount Tabor to go to those who
suffer, to those who are ignorant, to those who are hungering and
thirsting for the true light and the true life. With you in your
sorrows to console you; with you in your joys to sanctify them; with
you in your desires to make them fruitful.
"'_Memor sit omnis sacrificii tui,
et holocaustum tuum pingue fiat_.'
"With you, my Charles, if you are alone in life, if our friendship
be taken from you, if you have to walk on leaning only on the arm of
a Divine Friend.
"With you, young priest, with you growing old in the conflicts of
the priesthood, and in the service of God and men. With you on the
day of your death, which shall bring to your lips, by the hands of
another, that same Jesus who has so often been carried to others by
your trembling hands.
"O my friend! I gather up all that my heart can contain of happy
desires, wishes, and hopes for you. I gather them all up in one
single wish: May the Lord be with thee always!
"It will be the life of a holy priest on earth; one day it will be
heaven.
"The Lord be with thee!
"My Charles, bless me! I embrace yon tenderly, and feel myself with
you pressed against the Heart of the Divine Master, beloved for
ever.
"Henri Perreyve."
Henri Perreyve was advancing rapidly toward manhood when the
Providence of God threw him in the path of one who was to exercise a
powerful influence over his future. While Henri was a boy at school.
Father Lacordaire held the pulpit of Notre Dame; and it might truly be
said, "All Paris was moved." What those wonderful conferences did
toward undoing the fatal spiritual havoc wrought at the Revolution,
and in subsequent years, cannot be recorded in any mortal history. It
was given to men to see somewhat of the result of the labor; but the
seeds of eternal life are scattered broadcast by a preacher's hand,
and fall hither and thither unknown to any but God.
Henri Perreyve, as a boy of thirteen, found his delight in listening
to the conferences. Six years passed by, and found him still the
attentive disciple at the feet of the great master of minds at that
period; but he was too diffident and retiring to seek a personal
acquaintance. One day, however, a friend insisted on introducing him.
Father Lacordaire was busy, and the interview lasted but a moment; but
Henri Perreyve resembled the ideal we may not unreasonably form of the
young man on whom our Lord looked and loved. Nature had been prodigal
of her gifts, and genius and innocence lent additional charm to his
exterior beauty. Lacordaire's keen eye had discerned the treasures
that could be developed in that ardent soul.
{847}
A few days after this hasty introduction, Henri was astonished by the
entrance of the great Dominican into his room.
"I received you very ill the other day," he said; "I come to ask your
pardon, and talk with you."
From that day began the closest friendship and intimacy between them.
They were literally like father and son; and at the death of
Lacordaire he bequeathed to his dear friend all that a poor monk had
to leave--his letters and papers. Henri Perreyve is said to have been
the being on earth best loved by Lacordaire. "You shall be," wrote the
latter to him, "forever in my heart as a son and as a friend." Henri,
by the pure devotion of his early youth to God, had deserved some
great gift, and it was given to him in the friendship of Lacordaire.
That the rest of his life was spent in an earnest endeavor to imitate
his friend, we can scarcely wonder at Had he lived, no doubt he would
have been a second Lacordaire; but the "sword wore out the sheath,"
the frail body could not sustain the burning soul within. Lacordaire
died in the prime of life, Perreyve in the flower of his youth.
A few more years from the time we are speaking of and he was made
priest. Work poured in on him. "The work of ten priests was offered to
him day by day." He refused a good deal; but what he reserved would
have been enough for three, and he had most feeble health.
He was preacher at the Sorbonne, director of the Conferences of St.
Barbe, "sermons everywhere, special works on all sides, endless
correspondence, confessions, directions, reunions of young people,
incessant visits."
Frequent illness attacked him, and obliged him to withdraw for a time
from his labors; but he returned to them with new zest. Of his
literary works the one most generally admired is the "Journee des
Malades." Here his genius was aided by that personal experience of
illness which enables a person so readily to enter into the feelings
of another. But many can know and feel the weariness and temptations
which beset a sick person, and be very incapable of putting it into
words, while M. Perreyve's "Journee des Malades" will comfort many a
heart.
His "Rosa Ferrucci," an exquisitely written little biography, is
already to some extent known to our readers. He likewise published
"Meditations sur le Chemin de la Croix; Entretiens sur l'Eglise
Catholique;" and he edited with the greatest care, and wrote an
introduction for, the celebrated Letters from Father Lacordaire to
young people. He also wrote a "Station at the Sorbonne," and "Poland,"
besides various little _brochures_.
The chief work of the Abbe Perreyve was the guidance and influence
over young men and boys.
The Conferences at St. Barbe were listened to by a most attentive
auditory of this class, and his power over his hearers was large and
increasing.
"He possessed in a rare degree," says Pere Gratry, "that sacred art of
speaking to men, of speaking to each one, and yet speaking to all.
Hence the universal success of his discourses."
One of the great orators of the day, after hearing him preach at the
Sorbonne, exclaimed, "He who has not heard that, does not know how far
human eloquence can go."
The Count de Montalembert was one day among the audience. He wrote
afterward: "I have been touched and delighted in a way I have not been
for twenty years; since the time when he of whom you are the worthy
successor enchanted my youth at Notre Dame."
But as the Pere Gratry justly observes, his success in colleges such
as the Lycee St. Louis and St. Barbe is still more remarkable than
that at the Sorbonne. One secret of it might be found in an
acknowledgment that he made to his friend. He had for these {848}
young people such a love, such a respect, such an idea of the
_possible future_ of each soul, such an esteem of the hidden treasures
in each heart, that he seemed to hold the key of their souls, and to
come before them as the friend of each.
On one occasion he had to speak on the most delicate and difficult
topic it was possible a priest could have to deal with before such an
assembly. He told a story: he spoke of a death which he had witnessed,
and of the crime which had caused that death; a crime which is not
punished by human laws, but which works ruin and death on all sides.
"And this man," said he, with that voice of his which thrilled to the
hearts of his hearers--"and this man is in society honorable and
refined; perhaps even not without religion. Gentlemen, is this the
honor that shall be yours, and is this the religion which you will
have?"
Never can those who heard him that day forget it; they were moved to
the very depths of their souls, and tears flowed from the eyes of
those who are not easily made to weep. When he had concluded, many of
his auditors gathered around him said: "Thanks, sir; you have opened
our eyes for ever."
The popularity of M. Perreyve survived even the severe trial of having
to address the boys of the preparatory school and the students of St.
Barbe at an hour on Sunday which would otherwise have been at their
own disposal. The sermon was to be given every fortnight, and the
audience the first time were in anything but an amiable mood. The next
day a petition was sent up by them that the sermons might be given
every week.
Thus his life passed away; and the end hurried on all too rapidly for
those who loved him and hung upon his words. His lungs were again
affected, and he passed the last winter of his life m the south of
France. There he thought he had improved, and wrote flattering
accounts of himself; so that when he returned to Paris on Palm Sunday,
April the 9th, his family and friends were in consternation at his
altered looks. Doctors could not reassure them, and the complaint made
rapid progress. It was a terrible confirmation of his relatives' fears
when they found he was unconscious of his danger, and, like all those
in the same fatal disease, busy in making plans for the future. He
planned how he should resume his sermons at the Sorbonne, even while
he was too weak to bear the fasting necessary for his Easter
Communion; and it was with great difficulty, and leaning on the arm of
his friend the Abbe Bernard, that he communicated on May 1st in the
little chapel of our Lady of Sion, close to his home. He then went
into the country, where he rallied for a short time, and then grew
rapidly worse. The news of his change spread amongst those who loved
him because they knew him, and those who loved him because they knew
his worth in the Church.
A "league" of prayers was organized for his recovery, and Henri began
to realize his state. He looked the prospect calmly in the face. Fame,
opportunities for doing good, the love and esteem of friends, were
instantly and willingly resigned.
"I think of death, and accept it without regret or fear. I am grateful
for all these prayers for me; but I do not desire life. I cannot pray
with that intention."
Then he thought of his sins, and his unworthiness, and of the Divine
Face he was about to behold; and he shrank back. He was reminded of
the mercy of God. "Truly," he said, "I who have so often preached to
others the mercy of God ought to trust in it myself."
His greatest grief was the rarity of his communions. He consoled
himself by saying: "Missionaries are often obliged to pass a long time
without communion, and then one feels God _also_ by privation."
{849}
A love of solitude began to grow on him, for he was preparing himself
to be alone with God. When begged to try a new treatment, he
consented, saying, "I ask myself, as I often do, what would Pere
Lacordaire have done in my place? It seems to me he would have thought
it an indication of Providence."
He returned to Paris; and every effort of medical science was made to
arrest the malady, but all in vain. An alarming fainting fit on the
14th of June made his friends fear death was nearer to him than they
had imagined, and the Abbe Bernard thought it right to warn him.
"You surprise me," he said quietly. "I thought myself very ill, but
not so near death; but it is so much the better; you must give me the
holy viaticum and extreme unction."
The abbe went to fetch the blessed sacrament and holy oils from St.
Sulpice, the parish church of their childhood, of their first
communion, where they had prayed and wept together, where they had
asked many things from God, where they had together been consecrated
priests. There their whole Christian life had run by; and now one had
come to fetch for the other divine succor for his last hours.
The invalid insisted on rising, and was dressed in his cassock to
receive the holy sacraments. Pere Gratry and other friends were
present. "I can see him now," says the former, "as full of grace and
energy as ever, smiling as usual, and saying, 'I am in perfect peace,
dear father--in perfect peace.' I shall remember that sight all my
life, thank God; that noble bearing, that face pale as marble, those
large speaking eyes, his tender glance, and his last words, 'in
perfect peace.'" He made his profession of faith, begged pardon of all
whom he had offended or scandalized, thanked all for the kindness they
had shown him; and implored them "not to say, as was too often done,
'he is in heaven;' but to pray much for him after his death." Then he
said the "Te Deum" in thanksgiving for all the mercies of his life;
and at last he said to his friend, "You cannot think what interior joy
I feel since you told me I was going to die."
The next day the Archbishop of Paris came to see him. He would be
dressed in his cassock to receive the visit, and would kneel for the
bishop's blessing. He then had a long private conversation with him.
To this dying chamber came some of the most celebrated names in Paris:
Pere Petetot, the Count do Montalembert, the Prince de Broglie,
Augustin Cochin, Mgr. Buguet, the Vicar-general, the cure of St.
Sulpice, General Zamoiski, and a hundred others. One of them said, "We
are a long way off from knowing now what he is. We shall know it one
day." "Dear friend," said he to Father Adolphe Perreud of the Oratory,
"we shall not cease to work _together_ for the cause of God and his
church. Before you leave me, give me your blessing." "On condition you
give me yours," said the Oratorian; and blessing each other, the
friends parted for ever on earth. His bodily sufferings were severe.
His bones were nearly through his skin, and his cough shook him to
pieces. He grew weaker and weaker, and at last the end came. "Give me
the crucifix, sister," said he to the nursing sister who attended on
him; "not mine, but yours, that has so often rested on dying lips. If
I die to-morrow, mother, it will be my first communion anniversary."
"Dear child," she answered, weeping, "we were both happy that day."
"Well," he answered, "we must be still happier to-morrow."
The agony came on; he kissed the crucifix again and again, murmuring,
"Lord, have pity on me; Jesus, take me soon; Jesus, soon." Suddenly a
great terror seized him; his eyes were dilated with fear, gazing at
something invisible to all around; and he cried out, "I am afraid, I
am afraid."
{850}
The Abbe Bernard said, "You most not fear God; abandon yourself to his
mercy, and say, In thee, Lord, have I hoped; let me not be confounded
for ever."
He looked at him and said, "It is not God whom I fear; oh! no. I fear
that they will prevent my dying." Then he grew calm.
The abbe brought him the cross of Pere Lacordaire, and said, "My God,
I love thee with all my heart in time and in eternity."
"Oh! yes, with all my heart," he said, kissing the image of his Lord.
It was his last act and his last words.
"Depart, O Christian soul!" prayed his friends Charles and Adolphe
Perreud.
"I absolve thee from all thy sins," said the Abbe Bernard; and in a
few minutes the last struggle was over, and his soul was set free.
Among his papers was found the following:
"In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I die in the faith of
the Catholic Church, to whose service since I was twelve years old I
have had the happiness of consecrating my life.
"I tenderly bless my relations and friends; I implore all those who
remember me to pray for a long time for my soul, that God, turning
away from the sight of my sins, may deign to receive me into the place
of eternal rest and happiness. I bless once again all those who are
dear to me--my relations, my benefactors, my masters, my fathers and
brothers in the priesthood, my spiritual sons, the number of dear
young people who have loved me, all the souls to whom I have been
united on earth by the tie of the same faith and the same love in
Jesus Christ."
The inscription on his tomb was chosen by himself:
"Lord, when I have seen thy glory, I shall be satisfied with it."
These words were as a key to his life. An insatiable, ardent desire
for God had possessed him, animated his actions; and at last the very
ardor of his longings wore out the feeble body that enclosed so grand
and beautiful a soul.
--------
From The Dublin University Magazine.
SONNET.
Upon a rose-tree bending o'er a river
A bird from spring to summer gaily sang;
For love of its sweet friend, the rose, for ever
Its beating heart with happy music rang,
In sunshine warm and moonlight by the shore,
Whose waves afar its voice melodious bore,
Blent with its own. But when, alas! the sere
Grey autumn came, withering those blooms so dear,
Still full of love but full of sadness too,
Changed the sweet song as changed the rose's hue
Mourning each day some rich leaf disappear
Until the last had dropped into the stream,
Anguished by wintry breezes blowing keen.
Then, on the bough forlorn, mute as a dream.
Awhile the poor bird clung, and soon was seen no more.
----------
{851}
From Once a Week.
CARDINAL TOSTI.
BY BESSIE RAYNOR PARKER.
It was in the afternoon of Friday, the 23d of March, that Rome heard
of the death of the "learned and venerable Tosti." This aged cardinal,
long the director of the great establishment of San Michele, (which is
a hospital and school combined,) had attained to nearly ninety years.
Now he was dead, and laid out in state in his own room at San Michele,
whither we went about five o'clock, and, threading the vast corridors,
which run round a court blossoming with oranges and lemons, ascending
a long flight of stone stairs, got into upper regions filled with a
perceptible hum, soldier sentinels stationed by the opened doors, who
motioned us on from room to room till we came to the last of all.
These rooms were perfectly empty of all furniture, save a few
book-cases under glass; but the yellow satin walls of one, and the
delicately-tinted panels of another, showed that they had but lately
formed the private apartments of him who was gone. Three or four
temporary altars were erected in the empty space, adorned by tall
unlighted candles. A thrill crept over us as we neared that last open
door, a silent sentinel at either side; as we crossed the antechamber,
and came in a direct line with the aperture, we saw a figure,
splendidly attired, reposing on a great sloping couch of cloth of
gold. The face of this figure indicated extreme age; the brow was
surmounted by the bright scarlet berretta, which caught the light from
the setting sun. The shrunken frame was clothed in the soft purple of
its ecclesiastical rank. The hands were crossed and held a crucifix;
the feet were turned up in new and pointed shoes. There he lay,
Cardinal Tosti, who for five-and-twenty years was the handsomest of
all the Sacred Conclave, and towered above his brethren when they
walked in procession, drawing the admiration of beholders.
There was no sound, as we knelt by the dead man's couch; through the
window could be seen the swift Tiber, swollen by the recent rains, and
on the other side of the river rose the green <DW72>s of the
half-deserted Aventine, with its few solitary churches, Santa Sabina,
Santa Alessio, and its gracious crown of trees. Here had Tosti dwelt
for many a year, in rooms which looked to the golden west. Here he
occupied himself with his books, and with the school for industrial
and artistic pursuits which was due to his efforts at San Michele. I
have never seen anything so marvellously picturesque and impressive as
that dead man, lying on his couch of cloth of gold, the closing scene
of a long life, which stretched back far beyond the wars of the first
Napoleon, even to the period when Papal Rome received the royal
refugees of the French Revolution.
Presently, a group of white-robed priests entered, and began reciting
the office for the dead. This was the signal for the gathering of a
little crowd of Romans. Brown-cowled monks, peasant women with their
children in arms, boys and girls with large wondering dark eyes.
Together they crowded to the door of the dead man's chamber, and knelt
upon the floor, so that above and {852} beyond their bowed heads could
be seen that pale splendor upon its shining couch. We left with
reluctant footsteps, feeling a fascination in the picture which it is
hard to describe.
Late in the evening, an hour after the _Ave_, the corpse was to be
conveyed by torch-light to Santa Cecilia, the cardinal's titular
church; and at Santa Cecilia we found ourselves in the starry night.
The torches were just entering the church as we drove up; and for some
minutes the doors were inexorably shut, and we feared we had lost all
chance of an entrance. But we were presently admitted, and saw indeed
a striking scene! The small church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere,
famous as being built upon the site of the young martyr's dwelling,
was draped in black and gold from ceiling to pavement, and where the
altar-piece is generally to be seen was a great flat gold cross on a
black ground. The sanctuary was greatly enlarged for the morrow's
service, and hung with black; and in the nave, not very far from the
great portal, rose a large empty couch, exactly resembling that which
we had seen in the cardinal's private chamber. At its foot was a low
bier, whereon now lay the same white image of a man in its purple
robes, and a group of attendants crowded reverentially around it,
flashing torches in their hands, which formed a centre of light in the
dark church, reminding one of the famous Correggio; only, instead of
the new-born Babe, the illumination of humanity for all time to come,
was the aged dead, no longer capable of communicating the living light
of intelligence or of faith, but lying in a pale reflection under the
torches, and gathering into itself all the meaning of the whole scene.
We perceived that something remarkable was about to take place, and
retired discreetly behind a pillar, that our accidental presence might
attract no notice. The truth was, that the cardinal was about to be
laid out for the great funeral service of the morrow; and by chance we
had gained admission at this purely private hour. The body was taken
on the little bier into the sacristy, and there we supposed that some
change was made in the raiment; when it was brought back the hands
were gloved, and instead of the scarlet berretta was a plain
skull-cap. Then, with difficulty and much consultation, but with
perfect reverence of intention, the straight image was lifted on to
the great couch; the assistant men being grouped on ladders, and an
eager voluble monsignore directing the whole. The ladders, the
torch-light, the mechanical difficulty of the operation, again
reminded me of one of those great depositions in which the actual
scene of the Cross is so vividly brought out by art. At length the
dead cardinal lay placidly upon his cloth of gold, and they fetched
his ring to put upon his hand, and his white mitre wherewith to clothe
his gray hairs. We left them performing the last careful offices,
making the strangest, the most gorgeous torch-light group in the
middle of that dark church that poet or artist could conceive.
The next morning the Pope and the College of Cardinals came to
officiate at the funeral mass. The square court in front of Santa
Cecilia was filled with an eager crowd of Romans and _Forestieri_,
with the splendid costumes of the Papal Guard, with prancing horses
and old-fashioned chariots, gorgeous with gilding and color. They were
much such a company of equipages as may be seen in our Kensington
Museum, but so fresh and well-appointed in spite of the extreme
antiquity of their design, that one felt as if carried back to the
days of Whittington, Lord Mayor of London. Into Santa Cecilia itself
we could not penetrate, by reason of the crowd and the stern vigilance
of the soldiers, who, attired in the red-and-yellow costume designed
by Michael Angelo, kept a considerable space in the nave empty for the
moment when the Pope should walk from the altar to the bier. But {853}
through the open door we saw the lights upon the black-draped altar
and in front of that gorgeous couch, with its motionless occupant, his
white mitre being now the conspicuous point in the picture. And when
the Pope left the dim church and came out into the sunshine, the
brilliant rays fell upon his venerable white hair and scarlet cap,
while the weapons flashed and the crowd shouted, as he ascended his
wonderful chariot with the black horses, and drove away.
--------
MISCELLANY.
_Microscopic Plants the Cause of Ague_.--Owing to the prevalence of
ague in the malarial district of Ohio and Mississippi, Dr. Salisbury
undertook a series of experiments in 1862, with a view to determine
the microscopic characters of the expectorations of his patients. He
commenced his experiments by examining the mucous secretions of those
patients who had been most submitted to the malaria, and in these he
detected a large amount of low forms of life, such as algae, fungi,
diatomaceae, and desmidiae. At first he imagined that the presence of
these organisms might be accidental, but repeated experiments
convinced him that some of them were invariably associated with ague.
The bodies which are constantly present in such cases he describes as
being "minute oblong cells, either single or aggregated, consisting of
a distinct nucleus, surrounded with a smooth cell-wall, with a highly
clear, apparently empty space between the outer cell-wall and the
nucleus." From these characters Dr. Salisbury concludes that the
bodies are not fungi, but belong properly to the algae, in all
probability being species of the genus _Palmella_. Whilst the
diatomaceae and other organisms were found to be generally present the
bodies just described were not found above the level at which the ague
was observed. In order to ascertain exactly their source, he suspended
plates of glass over the water in a certain marsh which was regarded
as unhealthy. In the water which condensed upon the under surface of
these plates, he found numerous palmella-like structures, and on
examining the mould of the bog, he found it full of similar organisms.
From repeated researches Dr. Salisbury concludes: (1.) Cryptogamic
spores are carried aloft above the surface at night, in the damp
exhalations which appear after sunset (2.) These bodies rise from
thirty to sixty feet, never above the summit of the damp
night-exhalations, and ague is similarly limited. (3.) The day-air of
ague districts is free from these bodies.
_Use of Lime in Extracting Sugar_.--Peligot long ago demonstrated
that owing to the insoluble nature of the compound formed of lime with
sugar, the former substance would be a most valuable agent in the
manufacture of the latter. Peligot's suggestion is now being carried
out on a large scale in MM. Schroetter and Wellman's sugar-factory at
Berlin. The molasses is mixed with the requisite quantity of hydrate
of lime and alcohol in a large vat, and intimately stirred for more
than half an hour. The lime compound of sugar which separates is then
strained off, pressed, and washed with spirit. All the alcohol used in
the process is afterward recovered by distillation. The mud-like
precipitate thus produced is mixed with water and decomposed with a
current of carbonic acid, which is effected in somewhat less than half
an hour. The carbonate of lime is removed by filtration, and the clear
liquid, containing the sugar, evaporated, decolorized with animal
charcoal, and crystallized in the usual manner. The sugar furnished by
this method has a very clear appearance, and is perfectly crystalline.
It contains, according to polarization analysis, sixty-six per cent of
sugar, twelve per cent of water, the remainder being uncrystallizable
organic matter and salts. The yield, of course, varies with the
richness and degree of concentration of the raw material; on an
average, thirty pounds of sugar were obtained from one hundred pounds
of molasses.
{854}
_Russian Coal Resources_.--Recent explorations and surveys appear to
show that the Russian coal resources are much vaster even than those
of the United States of America. In the Oural district coal has been
found in various places, both in the east and west sides of the
mountain-chain; its value being greatly enhanced by the fact that an
abundance of iron is found in the vicinity. There is an immense basin
in the district of which Moscow is the centre, which covers an area of
one hundred and twenty thousand square miles, which is therefore
nearly as large as the entire bituminous coal area of the United
States. The coal region of the Don is more than half as large as all
of our coal measures. Besides these sources, coal has lately been
discovered in the Caucasus, Crimea, Simbirsk, the Kherson, and in
Poland.
--------
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
Medical Recollections Of The Army Of The Potomac.
By Jonathan Letterman, M.D., late Surgeon U.S.A., and Medical Director
of the Army of the Potomac. New York: D. Appleton & Co. 8vo, pp. 194.
The preface to this volume announces the intention of its author: "It
is written in the hope that the labors of the medical officers of the
army may be known to an intelligent people, with whom to know is to
appreciate; and as an affectionate tribute to many, long my zealous
and efficient colleagues, who, in days of trial and danger which have
passed, let us hope never to return, evinced their devotion to their
country and the cause of humanity without hope of promotion or
expectation of reward." It is a sketch of the Medical Department of
the army of the Potomac under Dr. Letterman's administration, from
July, 1862, to January, 1864, and affords a concurrent view of the
military movements of that army during the period specified.
Without infringing upon military details properly so called, an
excellent general idea is given of the battles fought, and the
strategic value of the great changes of position which were executed
with such remarkable promptitude and precision.
Dr. Letterman confines himself strictly to the period of his own
administration, and the account of the alterations and improvements
introduced under his direction, and chiefly through his means, in the
working of the medical department.
The system which he adopted became the system substantially of all the
armies of the United States, and with occasional modifications to suit
particular occasions has proved to be the best and most efficient as
well as manageable that could have been devised. To Dr. Letterman
belongs the great praise of having studiously and laboriously
perfected the principles and details of these changes, and succeeded
in securing their recognition and enforcement.
The total inadequacy of the old system was painfully obvious to all
competent and thoughtful observers at the breaking out of the war. It
was especially so to those who were placed in responsible executive
positions at the front, while the authority in the rear remained bound
to its old ideas, and incapable of understanding the great issues
involved, and the expenditure of independent intelligence and
_material_ necessary to accomplish any adequate result. The immediate
consequence was an unnecessary waste of life, of national strength and
resources, and an amount of misery inflicted and suffering endured
which can never be computed and had best now be dismissed for ever.
These causes led early in the war to the appointment of a young,
vigorous, bold, and undeniably able man as Surgeon-General. He made a
complete reformation in the department, and shared the fate of
reformers. He was sacrificed as a victim to the genius of
indifference, neglect, parsimony, and cruelty, which had hitherto held
undisputed or but feebly disputed sway over the fallen on battlefields
and the sick of armies. {855} This is not the time or place to discuss
ex-Surgeon-General Hammond; but it is due to him at all hands, that he
has probably been the means of mitigating the horrors of war as
respects the sick and wounded, and promoting the sacred cause of
humanity in these particulars to a greater degree than any man who
ever lived. The magnitude of the reforms accomplished, the magnificent
scale on which preparation was made, and the courage to order the
necessary expenditures in the face of the time-honored but mean and
timid traditions of the Surgeon-General's office, and the habits of
thought and action engendered thereby in the bureaus of administration
and supply, cannot be appreciated until some learned and philosophical
physician shall write the medical history of the war from its humane
and social points of view.
We are disposed to give Dr. Letterman all the merit which his book
would seem to claim, and a much higher degree of praise than his
well-known modesty would expect, but we cannot pass over in silence
the gigantic and unrequited labors of his predecessor, Colonel Chas.
S. Tripler, Surgeon U.S.A., the first Medical Director of the army of
the Potomac, which paved the way for the improved methods Dr.
Letterman had the honor of introducing. We are aware that many of the
most important were in contemplation, and if we mistake not, the
ambulance system originated with Dr. Tripler. The terrible experiences
of the Seven Days and the Chickahominy opened the eyes of the military
authorities to the tremendous necessities of the case, and made the
work of medical reform comparatively easy. There is no teacher like
suffering, for Generals as well as _mortals_.
The military mind is to a great degree governed by the traditions of
the middle ages, when surgery was an ignoble because ignorant and
consequently cruel craft. The rights and privileges of rank have been
slowly and reluctantly conceded, and every effort has been made to
deprive the surgeon of the dignity which belongs to the combatant and
a participation in common toils and dangers. These prejudices have
given way rapidly during the late war, where the courage, skill, and
self-sacrificing charity of medical officers have been most
conspicuous. Many surgeons have proved their manhood in most trying
scenes, and have certainly stood fire as well as the line and staff.
The record of killed and wounded places them on a level with any staff
corps in these respects.
Military prejudice in the regular army, and the ignorance, stupidity,
and arrogance of many volunteer officers, were an obstacle to the
medical department in the beginning. They gradually gave way under the
steady pressure of intelligence, courage, and determination, till in
the end ambulances became as much respected as battery wagons, and
every able and good officer the friend, supporter, and defender of the
medical department.
Dr. Letterman has done an excellent service to his profession at large
by his book, which is another vindication of the claims of legitimate
medicine upon the respect, confidence, and gratitude of the public.
The work is well written and handsomely issued. It is a great subject,
and capable of being developed to a much, higher degree in extent and
scope, which we hope Dr. Letterman will have time and opportunity to
do.
THE NEW-ENGLANDER, July, 1866.
This periodical emanates from the venerable and classic shades of Yale
University, and is edited by some of the younger professors, two of
whom are inheritors of the distinguished names of Dwight and Kingsley.
It is marked by the refined literary taste, polished style, and
amenity of spirit which are characteristic of the New Haven circle of
scientific and clerical gentlemen. There is very much in the general
tone of its principles and tendencies which gives us pleasure and
awakens our hope for the future. We may indicate particularly, as
illustrations of our meaning, the principle of the divine institution
and authority of government; the sympathy manifested with an ideal and
spiritual system of philosophy, and the decided opposition to the new
English school of anti-biblical rationalism.
There are several notices of recent Catholic publications which are
written in a courteous style, contrasting very favorably with that
employed by most Protestant periodicals. Dr. Brownson's "American
Republic" receives a respectful and moderately appreciative notice.
The "Memoir and Sermons of F. Baker" is also honored with one which is
very {856} kind and sympathetic, expressing the "intense and mournful
interest" of the writer in the book, and still more in its author, for
which no doubt he will be duly grateful, although we know of no reason
why his friends should go into mourning for him during his lifetime.
The writer, after remarking that the arguments contained in the book
are chiefly addressed to Episcopalians, and therefore need not trouble
any other Protestants, throws out a couple of rejoinders to what he
supposes the author might say to these last, if he were disposed. One
of these remarks is an assertion that the Paulists and their brethren
of the Catholic clergy do not preach Christ. Does the writer really
know nothing of the Catholic system of practical religion except what
he has read in D'Aubigne and the "Schoenberg-Cotta" romance? If not, we
recommend him to acquire more correct information from our best
writers. If he has it already, we cannot understand how he could make
such a statement. His winding-up apostrophe to the Paulists, "O
foolish Paulists, who hath bewitched you? you observe days and months
and times and years," is more witty than wise. The Paulists observe,
in common with other Catholics, sixty days in the year as obligatory,
and of these fifty-two are observed with much greater rigor than we
insist upon by the Congregationalists of New Haven. When the writer
gives us a good explanation of his doctrine of the Christian Sabbath
in harmony with St. Paul's teaching to the Galatians, we will
cheerfully undertake the vindication of the other eight holidays, and
will endeavor to convince him that it is just as reasonable to have
handsome altars, statues, pictures, and flowers, in churches, as it is
to have fine churches, marble pulpits, frescoed ceilings, well-dressed
clergymen, and handsome houses with pretty flower-gardens for these
clergymen.
In our view, there is better work for the learned scholars of New
Haven to do than to indulge in light skirmishing with Catholics and
Episcopalians. They have all the treasures of science and learning at
command, with leisure and ability to use them. There are great
questions respecting the agreement between science and revelation, the
authenticity and credibility of the sacred books, the fundamental
doctrines of philosophy and religion, pressing on the attention of
every man who thinks and cares about God and his fellow-men. The
people around us are drifting rapidly into infidelity and sin. There
is no remedy for this but a reestablishment of first principles; and
we would like to see our learned friends apply themselves to this
work. It may justly be expected from such an old and world-renowned
university as Yale College, that it should produce the most solid
works, not merely in classic lore and physical science, but in the
higher branches of metaphysics and theology. Dr. Dwight was a great
theologian, and is so styled by Doellinger. Drs. Taylor and Fitch were,
both, able and acute metaphysicians. Since their day, we are afraid
that our friends have fallen asleep in these departments. They set out
to reform Calvinism, to reconcile orthodox Protestantism with reason,
and to find a method of bringing the practical truths of Christianity
to bear on men universally. In spite of their able and zealous efforts
in this direction, religious belief and practice have been steadily on
the wane around them. As for morality, the article on "Divorce," which
we shall make the topic of a separate article hereafter, makes
disclosures which are indeed startling. We would like to have them
resume their work, therefore, once more, from the beginning, and go
back to the most ultimate principles. In what state was man originally
created? What is the relation of the race to Adam? What is original
sin? Whence the need of a Divine Redeemer and a revelation? What are
the means established by Jesus Christ for the regeneration and
salvation of mankind? What is the remedy for the present deplorable
condition of both Christendom and heathendom? Of course, the
discussion of these fundamental questions will involve a thorough
sifting of the Catholic doctrines. We are anxious to have it made, and
when the discussion is carried on upon fundamental grounds, a result
may be hoped for which cannot be gained by skirmishing around the
outposts.
The clergy and people of New Haven, and of Connecticut generally, have
always been remarkable for their friendly behavior toward Catholics.
There has never been any disposition to persecute them, and, at
present, the relations between the Catholic and non-Catholic sections
of the population are just what they should be in a land of religious
freedom. A judge in New Haven has recently pronounced, in open court,
his decision that the Catholic religion is just {857} as much the
religion of the state as the Protestant; and the last Legislature has
passed the most just and favorable law regulating the tenure of church
property that exists in the United States. The conductors of the
"New-Englander" will surely join us in the wish that all the people of
the state may ere long become one in the belief and practice of the
pure and complete Christian faith as Christ revealed it.
A PLEA FOR THE QUEEN'S ENGLISH.
Stray Notes on Speaking and Spelling, by Henry Alvord, D.D., Dean of
Canterbury. Tenth thousand. Alexander Strahan.--THE DEAN'S ENGLISH. A
Criticism on the Dean of Canterbury's Essays on the Queen's English.
By G. Washington Moon, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Fourth edition. Alexander Strahan.
Among the critics of the English press there seems to be but one
opinion concerning the merits of the two combatants in this literary
joust; that the Dean is deservedly castigated, and that Mr. Moon is an
unapproachable paragon of literary effulgence. However, this is not to
be wondered at. These same critics, and the English press to which
they contribute, sadly need a champion, if we may believe his
reverence of Canterbury. Gross inaccuracies in syntax, unpardonable
faults in style, and frequently occurring examples of slip-shod
sentences would appear, from the "Plea for the Queen's English," to
be, on the whole, characteristic of the modern English press.
We, transatlantic barbarians that we are, of course know nothing of
the English language, and have not the presumption, we hope, to think
that we can either speak or write one faultless sentence of the
language which we inherit as a means of intercommunion with our
fellows. It is our duty to feel "umble," and we do feel "umble." But,
while perusing these two books, we have had an 'umble and an 'arty
laugh in the depths of our 'umiliation. It may have been very sinful
in us, we know, but we could not help it. As the youthful culprit
replied, when caught laughing in church, we say, 'umbly of course, "We
didn't laugh, it laughed itself!" At the risk of not being believed by
those who have not yet read these, two books, we give the astounding
information that even an Englishman, an educated Englishman, a
dignitary of the English church, a poet, whose verses we republished
in America, (and, confound us, left out the u's,) not only speaks and
writes bad English, but also on his own showing, by the light of Mr.
Moon's volume, presumes to teach others to do the same. Yes, these
published lessons of the Very Rev. Dean, in speaking and spelling, are
so outrageously ungrammatical, and so faulty in style, that we should
not be surprised if the prediction of his antagonist would come true,
that henceforth people will speak of bad English as Dean's English.
Yet with all its faults it is a useful book; and we think that neither
Mr. Moon nor the newspaper critics have done the author justice. We do
not like "Dean's English," and it is humiliating, even to an American,
to discover that he has carelessly spoken or written it; but we like
the Dean's book better than we do Mr. Moon's. We like the schoolboy's
walk better than the schoolmarm's. Mr. Moon's style is faultlessly
prim and precise, and defies literary criticism; but we have felt,
more than once, a wish to take up some of his exact sentences and give
them a good shaking, so as to get a little of the stiffness out of
them. The Dean has written as most people speak; Mr. Moon writes as
nobody ever did or ever will speak. We should write correctly, it is
true, but there is a comparison (however paradoxical it may appear)
even in correctness. Mr. Moon aims to write "most correctly," and we
think that his style is far less pleasing than it would have been if
he had simply written correctly. There is such a thing as
"punctiliousness in all its stolidity, without any application of the
sound or effect of one's sentences." As is his style, so is his
criticism. Nothing escapes his eye; the want of a comma, a sentence a
trifle too elliptical, a careless tautology, (Mr. Moon would have us
say--a carelessly written tautological expression,) are blemishes at
which he turns away his face in rhetorical disgust. Nevertheless, we
say again, we like the Dean's book. It deserves to be studied by all
our young writers, who need to be warned against the use of many
popular phrases, and have their attention directed to common faults in
construction. It is a lively, chatty book, and keeps us in a good
humor from the first to the last page.
{858}
The sharp criticism of Mr. Mood is well worth reading. It furnishes us
with an index to the blunders of the Very Rev. Dean. So closely has he
examined these faults and calculated their guilt, that he actually
sums up for us, in one instance, the number of possible readings of
one unfortunate sentence. It contains only ten lines, and may be read
ten thousand two hundred and forty different ways, as Mr. Moon shows
us. Severely as he was attacked, and despite certain personal
innuendos, not by any means creditable to his adversary, the
good-natured Dean (we are sure of his good nature, from his book)
comes off victor, in our opinion, by inviting his enemy to dinner.
When a little time shall have healed the bruises of the literary
castigation he has received, he will doubtless re-write his book, and
give us under another form the profitable hints and helps which at
present need a more exact classification.
COSAS DE ESPANA.
Illustrative of Spain and the Spaniards as they are. By Mrs. Wm. Pitt
Byrne, author of "Flemish Interiors," etc. 2 vols. 12mo. Alexander
Strahan, London and New York. 1866.
The publications of Mr. Strahan are well known for the taste and
elegance displayed in their exterior dress. The book before us merits
a full meed of praise in this respect; but it is one of the most
wretched pieces of English composition that has come under our notice.
It has a preface of forty pages, which prefaces nothing, being in fact
nothing more than a few statistics of railways, the army, the mineral
and other products of Spain, jumbled together, with no attempt at
order or classification. The first chapter, styled "introductory," is
jumble number two, on national character, entertainments,
manufactures, railways again, infanticide, education, authors and
authoresses, sobriety and smoking.
In the second chapter we are surprised to find the authoress has not
yet left Dover. We thought we were in Spain long ago. It is not until
the middle of the third chapter that we are permitted to get to the
frontier, and by this time we confess we are tired of our gentle
guide, and decline going any further. When we are conversing with an
Englishman or an Englishwoman, we prefer the English language to that
affected jargon which consists in italicizing and translating into a
foreign language every emphatic word. It is scarcely an exaggeration
to say that there are three or four such italicized foreign words,
French, Spanish, Latin, or Greek, on each and every page of these two
volumes. Our readers may wish to see a specimen. "The first obstacle
that met us on this same bridge was a crowd of _ouvriers_ in blouses,"
p. 26. "The cathedral rather disappointed us, _quoad_ its outward
aspect, and offers nothing _very_ remarkable within," p. 27. "There
are, it is true, some districts which present a very curious and
interesting picture _en_ bird's eye," p. 28. "One day it was a
_fiesta_, on which we made sure of admission, because the _entree_ is
_libre_ on Sundays, and in all _else_, a _fiesta_ is synonymous with a
Sunday; and finally, at the last attempt we made, on the _right_ day,
hour, etc.," p. 41, vol. ii. "Boleros and Fandangos are national
dances, but they are among the _delassements_ of the _plebs_," p. 145,
vol. ii. Scattered here and there through these intolerable pages we
find numerous examples of wit unequalled in dreariness. Speaking of
Spanish authoresses the writer facetiously remarks, "One or two have
so far exceeded the ordinary limits of female capacity in Spain, as
even to dip the tip of their hose into the cerulean ink-bottle." Of
the domestic pottery she says: "There is what we may call a jar-ring
incongruity between the roughness of the material and the striking
elegance of the form." Aquatic gambolling at Biarritz, we are told,
"is not the only gambling to be seen there." A visit to the tomb of an
archbishop elicits the following: "It is an object of great
attraction, and renders the spot chosen by the archbishop an excellent
site for a tomb, as it cannot fail to keep the memory of him whose
bones it covers before all who frequent the church, and there can be
now little left _besides_ his bones. This is as it should be. '_De
mortuis nil nisi bonum_.'"
Had the book been expurgated of the hundreds of foreign words, and of
all these dead-and-alive puns, which deface its pages, and the subject
matter been arranged with the slightest view to order, it would have
been quite readable, for the authoress is good-natured and
communicative, and has an eye for the beautiful and the picturesque,
as well as {859} intelligence to appreciate the moral and the useful;
but, as it is, we think the quotations we have made from it are quite
sufficient to prove the justice of our opinion concerning it.
LETTERS OF EUGENIE DE GUERIN.
Edited by G. S. Trebutien. 12mo, pp. 453. London: Alexander Strahan;
New York: Lawrence Kehoe. 1866.
Our readers have already been presented in our pages with several
articles and notices of Eugenie de Guerin's character and writings,
and they are doubtless sufficiently familiar with both to waive any
further reflections upon either in this place. The volume of letters
before us is, like her journal, a delicious literary repast, from
which we rise with mind and heart equally gladdened and refreshed. Our
space will not permit us to give but one or two short extracts. "23d
December, 1863. I write to you, dear Louise, to the sound of the
_Nadalet_, to the merry peal of bells, announcing the sweetest
festival of the year. It is, indeed, very beautiful this midnight
celebration, this memorial of the manger, the angels, the shepherds,
of Mary and the infant Jesus, of so many mysteries of love
accomplished in this marvellous night. I shall go to the midnight
mass, not in hope of a pie, coffee, and such a pleasant dish as your
nocturnal cavalier; nothing of the kind is to be found at Cahuzac,
where I only enjoy celestial pleasures, such as one experiences in
praying to the good God, hearing beautiful sermons, gentle lessons,
and, in a quiet corner of the church, giving oneself up to rapturous
emotion. Happy moments, when one no longer belongs to earth, when one
lets heart, soul, mind, wing their way to heaven!"
The following to M. de la Morvonnais he must have received and read
with intense emotion:
Cayla, 28th July, 1835.
Did you imagine, Monsieur, that I should not write to you any more?
Oh! how mistaken you would have been! It was your journey to Paris,
and, after that, other obstacles, which prevented my speaking to you
earlier of Marie. But we will speak of her to-day; yes, let us speak
of her, always of her; let her be always betwixt us. It is for her
sake I write to you: first of all, because I love her and find it
sweet to recall her memory; and then, because it seems to me that
she is glad you should sometimes hear terms of expression that
_vividly recall_ her. I come, then, to remind you of that sacred
resemblance so sweet to myself when it strikes you. How I bless God
for having bestowed it upon me, and thus enabled me to do you some
good! This shall be my mission with regard to you, and with what
delight shall I fulfil it!
Do not say that there is any merit or act of profound charity in
this acceptation. My heart goes out quite naturally toward those who
weep, and I am happy as an angel when I can console. You tell me
that your life will no longer have any bright side, that I can
elicit nothing from you but sadness. I know this; but can that
estrange me--I, who loved the Marie you weep? Ah! yes; let us weep
over her; lean on me the while, if you will. To me it is not painful
to receive tears: not that my heart is strong, as you believe, only
it is Christian, and finds at the foot of the cross enough to enable
it to support its own sorrows and those of others. Marie did the
same . . . . let us seek to imitate the saints. You will teach this
to your daughter beside the cross on that grave whither you often
lead her. Poor little one! how I should like to see her, to
accompany her in that pilgrimage to that tomb beside the sea, and
under the pines, to pray, to weep there, to take her on my knees and
speak to her of heaven and of her mother. This would be a joy to me:
you know that there are melancholy ones.
We give only these little tastes of the charming volume, which will
find its way, after the "journal," into many a circle, to afford in
its perusal the most unqualified delight to all its readers.
THE VALLEY OF WYOMING; the Romance of its History and its Poetry; also
Specimens of Indian Eloquence.
Compiled by a Native of the Valley. 12mo, pp. 153. New York: R. H.
Johnston & Co. 1866.
"This little volume," says the author in his prefatory note, "has not
the slightest claim to be either a history or a study of romance." We
are sorry that it has not, for we cannot see that (apart from the
republication of Campbell's "Gertrude of Wyoming") it has the
slightest claim to be anything else. We thank the author, however, for
giving us the following amongst the specimens of Indian eloquence. It
is part of the reply of the celebrated chief Red Jacket to a
Protestant missionary,
{860}
"_Brother_, continue to listen. You say you are sent to instruct us
how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to his mind, and that if we
do not take hold of the religion which you teach, we shall be unhappy
hereafter. How do we know this to be true? We understand that your
religion is written in a book. If it was intended for us as well as
you, why has not the Great Spirit given it to us: and not only to us,
but why did he not give to our forefathers the knowledge of that book,
with the means of rightly understanding it? . . . . _Brother_, you
say that there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit.
If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much
about it? _Why not all agree, as you can all read the book?_"
We should like to know what answer the missionary made, or could make,
to that argument.
SHAKESPEARE'S DELINEATION OF INSANITY AND SUICIDE.
By A. O. Kellogg, M.D., Assistant Physician State Lunatic Asylum,
Utica, N. Y. 12mo, pp. 204. New-York: Hurd and Houghton. 1866.
Dr. Kellogg's essays upon some of the characters in Shakespeare are
the evidence of an expert in support and illustration of the intuitive
apprehension and scientific fidelity of genius to truth. The
difference between the creations of genius and those of industry is,
to a certain degree, the difference between the limning of the sea and
the laborious skill of the engraver. The mind gives its unquestioning
and conscious assent to the psychological _delineations_ of
Shakespeare, but it is doubtful if Shakespeare ever made it a special
subject of study. He was undoubtedly a thorough reader of the ancient
classics, and a close and critical observer of the persons and events
of his own time, and that we believe to have been the substance of his
education, properly so called.
The essay on Hamlet is the best, and we quite agree with Dr. Kellogg's
conclusion on this much disputed subject, that the dramatist meant to
describe a mind unsettled by distress, and gradually culminating in
complete madness. If we were allowed to draw a personal conclusion
from reading this book, we should say that Dr. Kellogg is admirably
adapted for that department of his noble profession which he has
chosen.
The volume is well printed and beautifully bound.
HOMES WITHOUT HANDS.
Being a Description of the Habitations of Animals, classed according
to their Principles of Construction. By Rev. J. G. Wood, M.A., F.L.S.,
etc. With new designs by W. F. Keyle and E. Smith. 8vo, pp. 651. New
York: Harper and Brothers. 1866.
This is a delightful book, full of scientific knowledge communicated
in the most pleasing and attractive style. It is admirably calculated
to awaken a love for natural science and original collection and
exploration. We consider this class of studies of the highest value,
especially on account of their reflex action on the mind and
character, and their powerful influence in the direction of morality
and religion. We would suggest this book as an admirable one for
prizes in our Catholic boarding-schools, and we wish natural science
were more prized and cultivated in them than it at present seems to
be.
It is printed and bound in a very handsome manner.
A PRACTICAL GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
By T.E. Howard, A.M. Metropolitan Series. New York: D. & J. Sadlier &
Co. 1866.
This is an excellent little manual for our schools, and we doubt not
that it will come into extensive use.
It bears throughout the unmistakable signs of having come from the
hand of an experienced teacher, from whose pen books of this character
must come to possess any practical worth. The style in which it is
published is, to our thinking, and according to our experience, unfit
for a school-book. The copy sent us would be in tatters in the hand of
a school boy before he had studied one tenth of it.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Catholic World. Volume III;
Numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6., by E. Rameur
***
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaBook"
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\section{Introduction}\label{Intro}
The main theme of this paper is the symmetry of symplectic rational surfaces. Based on Gromov and many other experts' works, it is now known that the topology of symplectomorphism groups exhibits various levels of similarity to the biholomorphisms for a K\"ahler manifold. There are also even deeper relations from symplectomorphism groups to algebraic geometry, built on the study of moduli spaces of algebraic varieties and mirror symmetry, see \cite{DKK16},\cite{Ailsa14}.
In this paper, we focus on the classical feature of this similarity. Consider a symplectic rational surface $X$ equipped with the monotone symplectic form, the homotopy type of $Symp(X, \omega)$ are known to the work of Gromov, Lalonde-Pinsonnault, Seidel, and Evans. In this class of examples, when $\chi(X)<8$, $Symp(X, \omega)$ is homotopically equivalent to the biholomorphism group of their Fano cousin. Surprisingly, when $\chi(X)\ge8$, $Symp(X, \omega)$ exhibits a completely different nature, especially in its mapping class group $\pi_0(Symp(X, \omega))$. In \cite{Sei08}, Seidel observed the relation between $\pi_0Symp(X, \omega)$ and the sphere braid group with five strands $Br_5(S^2)$ when $\chi(X)=8$ through monodromy of a universal bundle over configuration space of points. Evans \cite{Eva11} eventually proved the two groups are isomorphic.
For the case when $\omega$ is non-monotone, the homotopy type of $Symp(X,\omega)$ is much more difficult to study. Thanks to the works by Abreu \cite{Abr98}, Abreu-McDuff \cite{AM00}, Lalonde-Pinsonnault \cite{LP04}, as well as many other authors, much is known when $\chi(X)<8$. In one of the recent works, Anjos-Pinsonnault \cite{AP13} computed the homotopy Lie algebra of $Symp(X,\omega)$ when $\omega$ is non-monotone.
However, the problem has been open for a long time when $\omega$ is non-monotone and $\chi(X)\ge8$. One of the main difficulty in studying the homotopy type of $Symp(X,\omega)$ is the lack of understanding of the \textbf{symplectic mapping class group} $\pi_0Symp(X,\omega)$ (SMCG for short). $Symp(X,\omega)$ has a subgroup $Symp_h(X,\omega)$ that acts trivially on the homology of $X$ and its mapping class group $\pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ is called the \textbf{Torelli symplectic mapping class group} (Torelli SMCG for short) . In short, we have the following short exact sequence
\begin{equation}\label{smc}
1 \to\pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega))\to \pi_0(Symp(X,\omega)) \to \Gamma(X,\omega)\to 1.
\end{equation}
Since the homological action $\Gamma(X,\omega)$ can be independently studied (see \cite{LW12}), the crux of the problem lies in the Torelli part of SMCG.
Torelli SMCG is also of many independent interests. Donaldson raised the following question (cf.\cite{SS17}): is the Torelli SMCG group generated by squared Dehn twists in Lagrangian spheres? A weaker version of this question is the following open problem: for a generic symplectic form on a rational surface, the Torelli SMCG is trivial. Even for five blow-ups of $\mathbb{C}P^2$, this weaker conjecture is previously not known to be true or not. In a slightly more general context, Lagrangian Dehn twists can be regarded as the monodromy of the coarse moduli of rational surfaces, and Donaldson's conjecture is asking for the triviality of the cokernel from $\pi_1(Conf_n(\mathbb{C}P^2))\to \pi_0Symp(X, \omega)$. Indeed, this is a natural question over any coarse moduli of a projective variety. In a different direction, Question 2.4 in \cite{Smith14} asks for this cokernel over the coarse moduli of a degree $d$ hypersurface in $\mathbb{C}P^N$.
As yet another motivation for studying Torelli SMCG as pointed out first in \cite{Coffey05} and later developed in \cite{LW12} and \cite{BLW12}, the understanding of $\pi_0(Symp(X, \omega))$ gives insights to the problem of Lagrangian uniqueness. This enabled one to re-prove Evans and Li-Wu's result on the uniqueness of homologous Lagrangian spheres when $\chi(X)<8$ using the result in \cite{LLW15}. As a result of the lack of computations for Torelli SMCG, it was also unclear whether Lagrangian or symplectic $(-2)$-spheres are unique up to Hamiltonian isotopies for non-monotone rational surfaces.
In this paper, we compute the TSCM for non-monotone surfaces with $\chi(X)=8$, hence deduce a series of consequences that answer the questions of Lagrangian uniqueness above. We also hope this would shed some light on general symplectic rational surfaces. Along the way, we give a new proof that $Symp_h(X) \subset \mbox{Diff}_0(X)$ for any rational surface $X$ in Appendix \ref{t:MS}, solving Question 16 in the problem list of the book by McDuff-Salamon \cite{MS17}, which is of independent interest. Note that this result was proved earlier in \cite{She10} using a completely different method.
Following \cite[Section 2]{LL16}, we recall in Section \ref{sec:lagrangian_systems_and_types_of_symplectic_forms} that, for any symplectic form $\omega$ on a rational surface with Euler number at most 11, the homology classes of Lagrangian $(-2)$-spheres form a root system $\Gamma(X,\omega)$, called the \textbf{Lagrangian system}. When $\chi(X)\le8$, $\Gamma_L(\omega)$ is a sublattice of $\mathbb{D}_5$, which has 32 possibilities (see Table \ref{5form}). We call a sub-system \textbf{type $\mathbb{A}$} if it is of type $\mathbb{A}_1,$ $\mathbb{A}_2,$ $\mathbb{A}_3,$ $\mathbb{A}_4,$ or their direct product, and \textbf{type $\mathbb{D}$} if they are either $\mathbb{D}_4$ or $\mathbb{D}_5$.
\begin{defn}\label{d:TypesOfForm}
We call a symplectic form $\omega$ to be \textbf{type $\mathbb{A}$} or \textbf{type $\mathbb{D}$} if its corresponding Lagrangian system of of type $\mathbb{A}$ or $\mathbb{D}$, respectively.
\end{defn}
As is detailed in Section \ref{sec:lagrangian_systems_and_types_of_symplectic_forms}, in the reduced symplectic cone there are precisely two strata(which we also call open faces) of forms of type $\mathbb{D}$ when $\chi(X)=8$, and all the rest of 30 possible strata of symplectic forms when $\chi(X)\le8$ are of type $\mathbb{A}$. Our main theorem concludes that the behavior of $\pi_0Symp(X,\omega)$ is compatible with this combinatorial structure of the symplectic cone with explicit computations.
\begin{thm}[Main Theorem 1]\label{t:main}
Let $(X,\omega)$ be a symplectic rational surface with $\chi(X)\le8$.
\begin{itemize}
\item When $\Gamma_L(\omega)$ is of type $\mathbb{A}$, sequence \eqref{smc} reads
$$1 \to 1(\cong \pi_0Symp_h(X,\omega))\to \pi_0(Symp(X,\omega)) \to W(\Gamma_L(\omega))\to 1,$$
\noindent where $W(\Gamma_L(\omega))$ is the Weyl group of the root system $\Gamma_L(\omega)$. In other words, $\pi_0(Symp(X,\omega))$ is isomorphic to $ W(\Gamma_L(\omega))$;
\item When $\Gamma_L(\omega)$ is of type $\mathbb{D}_n$, $n=4,5$, sequence \eqref{smc} reads
$$1 \to \pi_0(\mbox{Diff}^+(S^2,n)) \to \pi_0(Symp(X,\omega)) \to W(\Gamma_L(\omega)) \to 1,$$
\noindent where $\pi_0(\mbox{Diff}^+(S^2,n))$ is the mapping class group of n-punctured sphere.
\end{itemize}
\end{thm}
Note that this theorem was observed by McDuff \cite[Remark 1.11]{McD08}, where a sketch of deforming the Lagrangian Dehn twists to symplectic twists was given. Our approach takes a slightly different form via ball-packings, see more details from the sketch of proof below. From the point of view of braid groups, Theorem \ref{t:main} could be natural: one should think of the strands of the braid group as exceptional curves (which will be justified in the course of the proof). As the class $\omega$ becomes more generic through a path of deformation, some braidings disappear due to symplectic area reasons, and this leads to a \emph{strand-forgetting} phenomenon when a $\mathbb{D}_5$-form $\omega$ deforms to a $\mathbb{D}_4$-form. The more generic strata correspond to braid groups over $S^2$ with fewer than 4 strands, which are trivial. Indeed, this phenomenon was suggested previously in \cite{McD08}.
Although our main goal is to understand the Torelli SMCG for $\chi(X)=8$, previously known cases for $\chi(X)<8$ also fits into our framework. This motivates the following rank equality.
\begin{thm}[Main Theorem 2]\label{t:main2}
Let $X$ be $\mathbb{C} P^2\# 5\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$ with any symplectic form $\omega$, then
\begin{equation}\label{e:rankEquality}
rank[\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))]={N_{\omega}}-5 + rank[\pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega))]
\end{equation}
Here $rank[\pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega))]$ is the rank of the abelianization of $\pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ and $N_\omega$ is the number of homology classes representable by symplectic $(-2)$-spheres.
\end{thm}
The above rank equality is first observed in \cite{LL16} and was proved for $\chi(X)\le7$. We apply our computation of Torelli SMCG to extend it to $\chi(X)=8$, and we expect this equality to hold for all rational surfaces.
Finally, we combine the analysis of $\pi_1$ and $\pi_0$ of $Symp(\mathbb{C} P^2 \# 5{\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}},\omega)$ to obtain the following conclusion on $(-2)$-symplectic spheres:
\begin{cor}
Homologous $(-2)$-symplectic spheres in $\mathbb{C} P^2 \# 5{\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}}$ are symplectically isotopic for any symplectic form. For a type $\mathbb{A}$-form $\omega$, Lagrangian spheres in $(X,\omega)$ are Hamiltonian isotopic to each other if they are homologous.
\end{cor}
\subsection*{The strategy}
Since the structure of the proof is somehow convoluted, we provide a roadmap for readers' convenience, as well as fix some notations here.
The general strategy follows what was described in \cite{LLW15}. Choose an appropriate configuration of exceptional spheres $C$, as explored by Evans \cite{Eva}. The following diagram of homotopy fibrations will play a fundamental role in our study.
\begin{equation} \label{summary}
\begin{CD}
Symp_c(U)@>^\sim>> Stab^1(C) @>>> Stab^0(C) @>>> Stab(C) @>>> Symp_h(X, \omega) \\
@. @. @VVV @VVV @VVV \\
@.@. \mathcal{G}(C) @. Symp(C) @. \mathscr{C}_0 \simeq \mathcal{J}_{open}
\end{CD}
\end{equation}
The terms in this homotopy sequence are defined as follows:
\begin{itemize}\setlength\itemsep{-3pt}
\item $\mathscr{C}_0$ is the space of configurations which are symplectically isotopic to $C$; and $\mathcal{J}_{open}$ is the collection of almost complex structures which do not admit $J$-holomorphic spheres of $c_1\le0$;
\item $Symp(C)$ is the symplectomorphism group of a fixed configuration $C$ which preserves each component of $C$
\item $Stab(C)$ is the subgroup of $Symp_h(X,\omega)$ that preserve $C$ (or fix $C$ setwisely);
\item $\mathcal{G}(C)$ is the gauge group of the normal bundle of $C$;
\item $Stab^0(C)$ is the subgroup of $Stab(C)$ that fix $C$ pointwisely;
\item $Stab^1(C)$ is the subgroup of $Stab^0(C)$ which fix a neighborhood of $C$;
\item $Symp_c(U)$ is the compactly supported symplectomorphism of the complement of $C$.
\end{itemize}
This series of homotopy fibrations will be established in Proposition \ref{fib5}.
Most of then were established in Evans \cite{Eva11}. Our focus is the right end of diagram \eqref{summary}:
\begin{equation}\label{right}
Stab(C)\to Symp_h(X, \omega)\to \mathscr{C}_0 \simeq \mathcal{J}_{open}.
\end{equation}
The term $Symp(C)$, which is the product of the symplectomorphism group of each marked sphere component, is homotopic to $ \mbox{Diff}^+(S^2, 5)\times (S^1)^5$.
To deal with the Torelli SMCG, we consider the following portion of the homotopy exact sequence associated to \eqref{right}:
\begin{equation}\label{fom}
\pi_1(\mathscr{C}_0) \overset{\phi}\to \pi_0(Stab(C)) \overset{\psi}\to \pi_0(Symp_h(X, \omega))\to 1.
\end{equation}
Compared to the monotone case when $\mathscr{C}_0$ is contractible (where the form is of type $\mathbb{D}_5$), we fall short of computing the homotopy type of it directly: indeed, the topology of the open strata of almost complex structure can be very complicated even in much simpler manifolds, see \cite{AM00}.
We took a new approach here. Starting from a class of \textit{standard $\mathbb{R}P^2$ packing symplectic forms} ($\mathbb{R}P^2$ forms for short, see Definition \ref{pacform}), we show that the map $\phi$ is indeed surjective when there is an $\mathbb{R}P^2$ packing in $X$. This surjectivity is in turn related to another relative ball-packing problem and makes use of the \textit{ball-swapping symplectomorphism} constructed in \cite{Wu13}. We then use a stability argument inspired by \cite{MCDacs}, paired with a Cremona equivalence computation, to relate a type $\mathbb{A}$ form with a $\mathbb{R}P^2$ form.
The forms of type $\mathbb{D}_4$ is more complicated. We will construct a key commutative diagram \eqref{e:key} (compare \cite{Sei08}). The punchline is to remove those strata of almost complex structures which allows more than one $(-2)$-sphere, or spheres with self-intersection no greater than $(-3)$ from the space of $\omega$-compatible almost complex structure. This yields a $2$-connected space. Such a space is not homeomorphic to $\mathscr{C}_0$, but captures $\pi_i(\mathscr{C}_0)$ for $i=0,1,2$, which suffices for the study of $\pi_0$ and $\pi_1$ of $Symp(X,\omega)$. An extensive study of diagram \eqref{e:key} enables one to compare the induced homotopy sequence in the lowest degrees with the strand-forgetting sequence
$$1\to \pi_1(S^2- \hbox{4 points}) \to \mbox{Diff}^+(S^2, 5)\overset{f_1}\to \mbox{Diff}^+(S^2, 4)\to 1,$$
which eventually deduces our main theorem for $\mathbb{D}_4$ using the Hopfian property of braid groups.
\begin{rmk}\label{rem:}
After the first draft of this manuscript was posted, Silvia Anjos informed us about her work with Sinan Eden (\cite{Anjos}, \cite{AE17} ), in which they independently obtain similar results in some toric cases for the 4-fold blow-up of ${\mathbb{C} P^2}$, including the generic case and the case where $\lambda=1$ in the Table \ref{5form}. Moreover, they have a result to show that the generators of $\pi_1(Ham(X,\omega))$ also generate the homotopy Lie algebra of $Ham(X,\omega)$, using similar ideas from \cite{AP13}.
\end{rmk}
{\bf Acknowledgements:} The authors are supported by NSF Grants. The first author would like to thank Professor Daniel Juan Pineda for pointing out the reference \cite{GG13}. We appreciate useful discussions with S{\'{\i}}lvia Anjos, Olguta Buse, Richard Hind, Martin Pinsonnault, and Weiyi Zhang.
\section{Lagrangian systems, symplectic cone, and stability of \texorpdfstring{$Symp(X,\omega)$}{Symp}}
\label{sec:lagrangian_systems_and_types_of_symplectic_forms}
The goal of this section is two-fold. First, we review some basic facts about Langrangian/symplectic sphere classes, which will be repeatedly used in our argument. The definitions and results in this section are taken mostly from \cite{LL16} without proofs, and interested readers are referred there for more details. Secondly, we prove a stability result of $Symp(X,\omega)$ using the approach in \cite{MCDacs}, which will be useful in the proof of main results of this paper.
\subsection{Reduced forms and Lagrangian root system}
\label{sec:rootsystem}
We review the definition of reduced forms and Lagrangian root systems in this section, which provides a natural stratification for symplectic classes of rational surfaces. Most of the proofs can be found in \cite{LL16} and we will not reproduce here.
Let $X$ be $ {\mathbb{C} P^2}\# n\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$ with a standard basis $H, E_1, E_2, \cdots, E_{n}$ of $H_2(X;\mathbb{Z})$. Given a symplectic form $\omega$, its class is determined by the $\omega$-area on each class $H,E_1, \cdots , E_n$, denoted as $\nu, c_1, \cdots, c_{n}$. In this case, we will often use the notation $[\omega]=(\nu|c_1,\cdots,c_n)$ in the rest of the paper. In many cases, we normalize the form so that $[\omega]=(1|c_1,\cdots,c_n)$.
\begin{dfn}
$\omega$ is called {\bf reduced} (with respect to the basis) if
\begin{equation}\label{reducedHE}
\nu > c_1\geq c_2 \geq \cdots \geq c_n>0
\quad \text{and} \quad \nu\geq c_i+c_j+c_k.
\end{equation}
\end{dfn}
We will also frequently refer to the following change of basis in $H^2(X,\mathbb{Z})$. Note that $X=S^2\times S^2 \# k\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}, k\geq1 $ is symplectomorphic to $ {\mathbb{C} P^2}\# (k+1)\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$.
When $X$ is regarded as a blow-up of $S^2\times S^2$, $H_2(X)$ can be endowed with a choice of basis $B, F, E'_1,\cdots, E'_k$, where $B$, $F$ are the classes of the $S^2$-factors and $E_i'$ are the exceptional classes; while when it is regarded as a blow-up of $\mathbb{C}P^2$, $H_2(X)$ has the basis $H, E_1,\cdots, E_k, E_{k+1}$, where $H$ is the line class, and $E_i$ are the exceptional divisors. The two bases satisfy the following relations:
\begin{align}\label{BH}
B=H-E_2,\nonumber \\F=H-E_1, \nonumber \\E'_1=H-E_1-E_2,\\E'_i=E_{i+1},\forall i\geq 2\nonumber,
\end{align}
The inverse transition will also be useful:
\begin{align}\label{HB}
H=B+F-E'_1,\nonumber \\E_1=B-E'_1, \nonumber \\E_2=F-E'_1,\\E_j=E'_{j-1},\forall j>2\nonumber .
\end{align}
A more explicit form of base change for a class is given by the following
\begin{lma}\label{l:}
Under the above base change formula, $\nu H-c_1E_1 - c_2E_2 -\cdots -c_kE_k =\mu B + F -a_1E'_1 - a_2E'_2 -\cdots -a_{k-1}E'_{k-1}$ if and only if
\begin{equation}\label{ctoa}
\mu = (\nu- c_2)/(\nu -c_1), a_1 = (\nu -c_1 - c_2)/(\nu -c_1),
a_2 = c_3/(\nu - c_1), \cdots, a_{k-1} = c_{k}/(\nu - c_1).
\end{equation}
\end{lma}
The significance of reduced classes lies in the following result \cite{GaoHZ, LL01, KK17}:
\begin{comment}
\begin{lma}\label{reduceform} For $X=S^2\times S^2 \# n\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$, any symplectic form $\omega$ is diffeomorphic to a reduced form and it can be
further normalized to have area:
$$\omega(B)=\mu, \omega (F)=1, \omega(E'_1) =a_1, \omega(E'_2) =a_2, \cdots, \omega(E'_n) =a_n $$ such that
\begin{equation}\label{reducedBF}
\mu \geq 1 \geq a_1 \geq a_2 \geq \cdots \geq a_n
\quad \text{and} \quad a_i+a_j\leq 1.
\end{equation}
\end{lma}
\end{comment}
\begin{thm} \label{redtran}
For a rational surface $X= {\mathbb{C} P^2}\# k\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$, every class with positive square in $H^2(X;\mathbb{R})$ is equivalent to a reduced class under the action of $\rm{Diff}^+(X)$. Further, any symplectic form on a rational surface is diffeomorphic to a reduced one.
If a symplectic form $\omega$ on $X$
is reduced, then its canonical class is $ K_{\omega}=-3H +\sum^{k}_{i=1} E_i.$
When $3\leq k\leq 8$, any reduced class is represented by a symplectic form.
When $k\leq 2$, any reduced class with $\nu>c_1+c_2$ is represented by a symplectic form.
\end{thm}
\subsubsection{The normalized reduced cone \texorpdfstring{$P(X_k)$}{P(Xk)} for \texorpdfstring{$3\leq k \leq 8$}{3<k<8}}
Recall from \cite{LL16} that
\begin{dfn}
Let $X_k= {\mathbb{C} P^2}\# k\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$. Its normalized reduced symplectic cone $P_k=P(X_k)$ is defined as the space of reduced symplectic classes having area 1 on $H$. We represent such a class
by $(1|c_1, \cdots, c_k)$, or $(c_1, \cdots, c_k)\in \mathbb{R}^k$
\end{dfn}
When $ k\leq8,$, we call $M_k= (1|\frac13, \cdots, \frac13)$ or $(\frac13, \cdots, \frac13)\in P_k,$ the \emph{(normalized) monotone class}.
When $3\leq k\leq8,$ $P_k$ has an explicit description. Consider the following $k$ (spherical) classes of square $-2$:
$$l_1= H-E_1-E_2-E_3, \quad l_2=E_1-E_2,\quad ... \quad, \quad l_k=E_{k-1}-E_k.$$
\begin{prp}\label{nrsc}
For $X_k=\mathbb{C} P^2 \# k{\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}}, 3\leq k\leq8,$ the normalized reduced symplectic cone $P_k$ is a convex polyhedron in $\mathbb R^k$ with $k+1$ vertices: one of the vertices is $M_k$, and $k$ other vertices in the hyperplane $c_k=0$ located at
$$G_1=(0,...,0),
G_2=(1, 0,..., 0),
G_3=(\frac{1}{2}, \frac{1}{2}, 0, ...,0),$$
$$G_4=( \frac{1}{3}, \frac{1}{3}, \frac{1}{3}, 0,...,0),
... ,
G_k=(\frac{1}{3},..., \frac{1}{3}, 0).
$$
The edges $M_kG_i$ are characterized as pairing trivially with $l_j$ for any $j\ne i$ and positively with $l_i$.
Consequently, the reduced symplectic classes are characterized as the symplectic classes which pair positively on each $E_i$ and non-negatively on each $l_i$.
\end{prp}
Further, we highlight the combinatorial structure of the reduced cone.
\begin{dfn} \label{openface}
A $p-$dimensional {\bf open face} of $P_k$ is defined as the {\bf interior} of the convex hull of $M_k$ together with $p\leq k$ points in the set $\{G_i\}.$ $P_k$ has
$2^k$ open faces in total:
a unique zero dimensional open face $M_k$; $k$ one dimensional open faces,
and generally, $\binom{k}{p}$ open faces of dimension $p$.
Our convention is to denote an open face with vertices $v_1, v_2, \cdots, v_l$ simply by $v_1v_2\cdots v_l$.
\end{dfn}
\subsubsection{Lagrangian root systems for \texorpdfstring{$3\leq k\leq 8$}{3<k<8}}\label{s:cone}
We slightly reformulate a result from \cite{Man86} (see also \cite{LZ14}). For $X_k$ with $3 \leq k\leq 8$, define the set
\begin{equation}\label{smooth root system}
R(X_k)=R_k := \{ A \in H_2(X_k,\mathbb{Z}) \mid \left<A,K_k\right> = 0, \quad \left<A,A\right> = -2 \},
\end{equation}
where $K_k=-(3H-E_1-...-E_k)$.
It is straightforward to check $R_k$ is a root system described in the table below,
\[ \begin{array}{c|cccccc}
k & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 & 7 & 8 \\
\hline
R(X_k)&\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_2 &\mathbb{A}_4 & \mathbb{D}_5 & \mathbb{E}_6 & \mathbb{E}_7 & \mathbb{E}_8\\
|R(X_k)| & 8 & 20 & 40 & 72 & 126 & 240 \\
\end{array} \]
The classes $\{l_i\}$ provide a canonical choice of \textbf{simple roots} of $R_k$, which describe the vertices of the Dynkin diagram.
One may correspond these simple roots $l_i$ to the edges $M_kG_i$ of $P_k$, which represents those reduced symplectic classes which pairs positively with $l_i$ and trivially with all other $l_j$.
Given a symplectic form $\omega$ on $X_k$, one may then define the {\bf Lagrangian root system} $\Gamma_L(\omega):=\{A\in R_k: \omega(A)=0\}$. From Theorem 1.4 of \cite{LW12}, $\Gamma_L(\omega)$ are those classes representable by embedded Lagrangian spheres. The following proposition about $\Gamma_L(\omega)$ is proved in \cite{LL16}.
\begin{prp}[\cite{LL16} Proposition 2.24] \label{MLS}
Given a reduced symplectic form $\omega$ on $X_k$.
\begin{enumerate}
\item If $\omega_{mon}$ is a monotone symplectic form on $X_k$ with $3\leq k\leq 8$, then $\Gamma_L(\omega_{mon})=R_k$.
\item $\Gamma_L(X_k, \omega)$ is a sub-root system of $R_k$, equipped with a canonical choice of simple roots consisting of those $l_i$ in $\Gamma_L(X_k, \omega)$.
\item There is a canonical choice of positive roots characterized positive pairing with $[\omega]$, given by the non-negative linear combinations of the simple roots $l_i\in \Gamma_L(X_k, \omega)$.
\end{enumerate}
\end{prp}
Let $N_{\omega}$ be the number of $\omega$-symplectic $(-2)$-sphere classes. Note that $N_{\omega}$ and $\Gamma_L(\omega)$ are both invariant in any given open face of the reduced cone (Definition \ref{openface}). Let $N_L$ be the number of $\omega$-Lagrangian sphere classes up to sign.
Again from \cite{LW12} Theorem 1.4, any positive root defined above can be either represented by a smooth $\omega$-symplectic $(-2)$-sphere or a $\omega$-Lagrangian sphere. Therefore, we have
\begin{equation}\label{SL}
N_{\omega}+N_L= |R^+(X_k)|=\frac{1}{2} |R_k|.
\end{equation}
Using the correspondence between $l_i$ and the edge $MG_i$, sometimes we label the faces of $P$ by these roots. The general case is more complicated than we would like to reproduce here, and we will give a very explicit description in Section \ref{sec:SetupTypeA}. The readers are referred to \cite{LL16} for the general case.
\subsection{Negative square classes and the stratification of \texorpdfstring{ $\mathcal{J}_{\omega}$}{Jw}}
Let $\mathcal{J}_\omega(X)$ be the space of $\omega$-tamed almost complex structures on a manifold $X$, and we omit the reference to $X$ in the notation when no confusion is possible. In this section, we recall several results about $\mathcal{J}_\omega$ of a rational 4-manifold. Note that all the statement holds true if we replace $\mathcal{J}_\omega$ by $\mathcal{J}^c_\omega$, the space of $\omega$-compatible almost complex structures, which will be useful in Sections \ref{s:freeact} and \ref{s:surj}.
In \cite{LL16}, we decompose $\mathcal{J}_{\omega}(X)$ when $X$ is a rational 4-manifold with Euler number no larger than 12 into prime submanifolds labeled by negative square spherical classes. Let $\mathcal S_{\omega}$ denote the set of homology classes of
embedded $\omega$-symplectic spheres. For any integer $k$, let $$\mathcal S_{\omega}^{\geq k}, \quad \mathcal S_{\omega}^{>k}, \quad \mathcal S_{\omega}^{k}, \quad \mathcal S_{\omega}^{\leq k},\quad \mathcal S_{\omega}^{< k}$$
be the subsets of $\mathcal S_{\omega}$ consisting of classes with square $\geq k, >k, =k, \leq k, <k$ respectively. Recall the following very useful Lemma \cite[Proposition 2.14]{LL16}.
\begin{lma}\label{prime}
Let $X$ be a rational 4-manifold such that $\chi(X) \leq 12$.
Given a finite subset $\mathcal{C}\subset \mathcal S_{\omega}^{<0}$,
$$\mathcal{C}=\{A_1, \cdots, A_i,\cdots ,A_n | A_i\cdot A_j \geq 0 \hbox{ if $ i\neq j$}\},$$
we have the following {\bf prime submanifolds}
$$\mathcal{J}_{\mathcal{C}}:=\{ J\in \mathcal{J}_{\omega}| A\in \mathcal S_{\omega} \hbox{ admits a smooth embedded $J-$hol representative {\bf iff} } A\in \mathcal{C}\},$$
which is a submanifold of codimension
$cod_{\mathcal{C}}= \sum_{A_i\in \mathcal{C} } cod_{A_i}$ in $\mathcal{J}_\omega$. Also denote $\mathcal{X}_{2n}=\cup_{cod(\mathcal{C})\geq2n} \mathcal{J}_{\mathcal{C}}.$
\end{lma}
\begin{lma}\label{primeaction}
There is an action of $Symp_h$ on each prime submanifolds in Lemma \ref{prime} \end{lma}
\begin{proof}
This follows from the fact that the action of $Symp_h$ on $\mathcal{J}_{\omega}$ preserves the homology class of a $J$-holomorphic curve.
\end{proof}
Note that we have the disjoint decomposition: $\mathcal{J}_{\omega} =\amalg_{\mathcal{C}} J_{\mathcal{C}},$ which is indeed a stratification at certain level, as follows:
\begin{thm}\label{rational}
For a symplectic rational 4 manifold with Euler number $\chi(X)\leq 8$ and any symplectic form,
$\mathcal{X}_4=\cup_{cod(\mathcal{C})\geq4} \mathcal{J}_{\mathcal{C}}$ and $\mathcal{X}_2=\cup_{cod(\mathcal{C})\geq2} \mathcal{J}_{\mathcal{C}}$ are closed subsets in $\mathcal{X}_0=\mathcal{J}_{\omega}$. Consequently,\\
(i). $\mathcal{X}_0 -\mathcal{X}_4$ is a manifold.\\
(ii). $\mathcal{X}_2 - \mathcal{X}_4$ is a closed codim-2 submanifold in $\mathcal{X}_0 - \mathcal{X}_4$.
\end{thm}
This allows us to apply the following relative version of Alexander-Pontrjagin duality in \cite{Eells61}:
\begin{lma}[Theorem 3.13 in \cite{LL16}] \label{relalex}
Let $\mathcal{X}$ be a Hausdorff space, $ \mathcal{Z} \subset \mathcal{Y} $ a closed subset of
$\mathcal{X}$ such that $\mathcal{X}-\mathcal{Z}, \mathcal{Y}-\mathcal{Z}$ are paracompact manifolds locally modeled by topological linear spaces. Suppose $\mathcal{Y}-\mathcal{Z}$ is a closed co-oriented submanifold of $\mathcal{X}-\mathcal{Z}$ of codimension $p$, then we have an isomorphism of cohomology $H^i(\mathcal{X}-\mathcal{Z},\mathcal{X}-\mathcal{Y}; G) \cong H^{i-p}(\mathcal{Y}-\mathcal{Z}; G)$ for any abelian group $G$.
\end{lma}
By taking $\mathcal{X}=\mathcal{X}_0$, $\mathcal{Y}=\mathcal{X}_2$ and $\mathcal{Z}=\mathcal{X}_4$ in Lemma \ref{relalex}, we have the following conclusion on $\mathcal{J}_{open}:=\mathcal{X}_0 -\mathcal{X}_2$:
\begin{lma}[Corollary 3.14 in \cite{LL16}] \label{h1open}
For a symplectic rational surface $(X,\omega)$ with $\chi(X)\leq 8$ and any abelian group $G$,
$H^1(\mathcal{J}_{open}; G)= \oplus_{A_i \in \mathcal S_{\omega}^{-2}} H^0(\mathcal{J}_{A_i})$.
If we further assume that $\chi(X)\leq 7$, then for each $ {A_i \in \mathcal S_{\omega}^{-2}} $, $\mathcal{J}_{A_i}$ is path connected and hence $H^1(\mathcal{J}_{open};G)=G^{N_{w}}$, where $N_{\omega}$ is the cardinality of $\mathcal S_{\omega}^{-2}$.
It follows from the universal coefficient theorem that $H_1(\mathcal{J}_{open}; \mathbb{Z})=\mathbb{Z}^{N_{\omega}}$.
\end{lma}
\begin{rmk}\label{tc}
Note that if we consider $\mathcal{J}^c_\omega$, the space of $\omega$-compatible almost complex structures, we can define $\mathcal{X}^c_{2n}$'s similarly, and Lemma \ref{prime}, \ref{rational},and \ref{primeaction} still hold true.
\end{rmk}
Next, we recall some technical lemmata from \cite{LL16,BLW12} about curves in rational surfaces for later use:
\begin{lma}\label{tran}
For a rational 4-manifold $X$ with any symplectic form $\omega$,
the group $Symp_h(X,\omega)$ acts
transitively on the space of homologous $(-2)$-symplectic spheres.
\end{lma}
\begin{prp}[\cite{LL16}, Proposition 3.4]\label{sphere}
Let $X=S^2\times S^2 \# n\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}, n \leq4$ with a reduced symplectic form.
Suppose a class $A=pB+qF-\sum r_iE_i \in H_2(X;\mathbb{Z})$
has a simple $J$-holomorphic spherical representative for some $J\in\mathcal{J}_\omega$. Then $p\in\{0,1\}$.
The spherical classes with negative squares has one of the following forms:
\begin{itemize}
\item $B-kF-\sum r_i E_i, k\geq-1, r_i\in\{0,1\};$
\item $F-\sum r_i E_i, r_i\in\{0,1\}$;
\item $\mathcal{E}=\{E_j-\sum r_i E_i, j<i, r_i\in\{0,1\}.$
\end{itemize}
Under the base change \eqref{BH}, the three type of classes above can be written as
\begin{itemize}
\item $(k+1)E_1-kH-\sum r_i E_i, k\geq-2, r_i\in\{0,1\}$
\item $E_i -\sum_{j>i} r_j E_j, i\geq2, r_j\in\{0,1\} $
\end{itemize}
\end{prp}
\begin{prp}[\cite{LL16},Proposition 3.6]\label{decp}
Let $X=(S^2\times S^2 \# k\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2},\omega), k\leq4$ be a symplectic rational surface.
Let $A$ be a K-nef class which has an embedded representative for some $J$.
Then for any simple $J'-$holomorphic representative of $A$ for some $J'$, there is no component whose class has a positive square. Moreover, if the symplectic form is reduced,\\
$\bullet$ any square zero class in the decomposition is of the form $B$ or $kF, k\in \mathbb{Z}^+$,\\
$\bullet$ any negative square class is a class of an embedded symplectic sphere as listed in Proposition \ref{sphere}.
\end{prp}
The following important result, first due to Pinsonnault, will be the key of our analysis on curve configurations.
\begin{thm}[\cite{Pin08} Lemma 1.2]\label{t:Pin}
For a symplectic 4-manifold not diffeomorphic to ${\mathbb{C} P^2}\# \overline{\mathbb{C} P^2} $, any exceptional class with minimal symplectic area has an embedded $J$-holomorphic representative for any $J \in \mathcal{J}_{\omega}$.
\end{thm}
We'll use a slightly different version of it for rational 4-manifolds.
\begin{lma} [\cite{LL16} Lemma 2.19]\label{minemb}
Let $X$ be ${\mathbb{C} P^2}\# n\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$ with a reduced symplectic form $\omega$, and $\omega$ is represented using a vector
$(1|c_1, c_2 ,\cdots , c_n)$.
Then $E_n$
has the smallest area among all exceptional sphere classes in $X$, and hence have an embedded $J$-holomorphic representative for any $J\in \mathcal{J}_{\omega}$.
\end{lma}
\subsection{An inflation Theorem}
We are now ready for a stability result of the symplectomorphism group, and here we only state and prove a weaker result on $\pi_0$ and $\pi_1$ of $Symp(X_5,
w)$ that is sufficient for our purpose. A general statement for any $\pi_i$ of any $Symp(X,\omega)$ of $X$ being a rational 4-manifold with $\chi(X)\leq 12$ is
proved in \cite{ALLP}.
Recall the definition of $J$-tame cone $$\mathcal{K}_{J}^{t}:=\{[\omega]\in H^2(M;\mathbb{R})|\omega \hbox{ tames } J\},$$
and $J$-compatible cone (also called the almost K\"ahler cone)
$$
\mathcal{K}_{J}^{c}:=\{[\omega]\in H^2(M;\mathbb{R})|\hbox{$\omega$ is compatible with
$J$}\}.
$$
$\mathcal{K}_J^{t}$and $\mathcal{K}_J^{c}$ are both convex cones
in the positive cone $\mathcal P=\{c\in H^2(M;\mathbb{R})|c\cdot c >0\}.$
Note that we have the tamed Nakai-Moishezon theorem for rational surfaces when Euler number is small:
\begin{thm}[Theorem 1.6 in \cite{Zha17}]\label{ccinf}
Suppose $M=S^2\times S^2$ or $\mathbb{C} P^2 \# k{\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}}, k\leq 9$, and let $C_J^{>0}:=\{c\in H^2(M;\mathbb{R})| [\Sigma]=c \text{ for some some $J$-holomorphic subvariety } \Sigma \}$ be the curve cone of $J$.
For an almost K\"ahler $J$ on $M$,
$C_{J}^{\vee,>0}(M)=K_{J}^{c}(M),$ that is, the almost K\"ahler cone is the dual cone of the curve cone.
\end{thm}
Although the result is stated for an almost Kahler $J$ and the almost K\"ahler cone, Zhang's argument works for a tamed $J$.
An important ingredient for Theorem \ref{ccinf} is the tamed $J-$inflation by Lalonde, McDuff \cite{LM96, MCDacs} and Buse \cite{Buse11}. Note that in Zhang's proof of Theorem \ref{ccinf}, he realizes all the extremal rays of the symplectic cone as a sum of embedded curves in 0-square and negative square homology classes. This is to say, only Lemma 3.1 in \cite{MCDacs} and Theorem 1.1 in \cite{Buse11} are used, and no inflation along positive self-intersection curves is needed.
Let's recall the framework in \cite{MCDacs}: Let $\mathcal{T}_w$ be the space of symplectic forms in the class $w$, and $\mathcal{A}_w:=\cup_{\omega\in\mathcal{T}_w}\mathcal{J}_\omega$. If $\omega, \omega'\in \mathcal{T}_w$, then one can show that they are isotopic, and hence the symplectomorphism groups $Symp(M, \omega)$ and $Symp(M, \omega')$ are homeomorphic.
We also have the fibration $$ Symp(X,\omega)\cap \mbox{Diff}_0(X)\to \mbox{Diff}_0(X) \to \mathcal{T}_{w},$$ where $ \mbox{Diff}_0(X) $ is the identity component of the diffeomorphism group.
Let $P_{w}$ be the space of pairs
$$P_{w} = \{(\omega, J) | \mathcal{T}_{w} \times \mathcal{A}_{w}: J\in\mathcal{J}_\omega\},$$
Consider the projection $P_{w} \to \mathcal{A}_{w}$. It is a homotopy fibration, of which the fiber at $J$ is the space of $J-$tame symplectic form. This projection inducdes a homotopy equivalence since the fiber is convex.
The projection
$P_{w} \to \mathcal{T}_{w}$ is also a homotopy equivalence: its fiber over $\omega$ is the contractible set of $\omega$-tame almost complex structures.
Hence $T_w$ and $\mathcal{A}_w$ are homotopy equivalent.
Via the homotopy equivalence, we have the following fibration, well defined up to homotopy.
\begin{equation} \label{homotopy fibration}
Symp(X,\omega)\cap \mbox{Diff}_0(X)\to \mbox{Diff}_0(X) \to \mathcal{A}_{w}.
\end{equation}
Let $\mathcal S_{w}$ denote the set of homology classes that are represented by an
embedded $\omega$-symplectic sphere for some $\omega\in \mathcal{T}_w$. Note that $\mathcal{S}_{\omega_1}=\mathcal{S}_{\omega_2}$ for any $\omega_1,\omega_2\in \mathcal{T}_w$. For the applicability of Proposition \ref{nonbalstab} and \ref{-2stable}, we have the following Theorem, which plays a key role in our study and is of independent interests. This is the main result (Corollary 2.i) in \cite{She10}. We give a different approach in Appendix A, which contains a short proof for $X_5$ and a general proof for $X_n$.
\begin{thm}\label{smoothisotopy} For any symplectic form $\omega$ on $X_n$
$Symp_h(X_n, \omega) \subset \mbox{Diff}_0(X_n)$ .
\end{thm}
The following proposition is the main result of this section.
\begin{prp}\label{-2stable}
For $i=1,2$, let $\omega_i\in\mathcal{T}_{w_i}$ are two symplectic forms on $X_5$. If $\mathcal{S}_{w_2}\subset \mathcal{S}_{w_1}$ and $\mathcal{S}^{-2}_{\omega_1}=\mathcal{S}^{-2}_{\omega_2}$, then $\pi_i Symp(X_5,\omega_1)= \pi_i Symp(X_5,\omega_2)$ for $i=0,1$.
\end{prp}
\begin{proof}
Firstly, Theorem \ref{ccinf} implies $\mathcal{A}_{w_2}\subset \mathcal{A}_{w_1}$. To see this, take any $J\in \mathcal{A}_{w_2}$, then $J$ is tamed by some $\omega\in \mathcal{T}_{w_2}$, and the {\bf only} $J$-holomorphic curves are in the classes of $\mathcal{S}_{\omega_2}$. Since $\mathcal{S}_{\omega_2}\subset\mathcal{S}_{\omega_1},$ we know $[\omega_1]$ pairs positively with every class in $\mathcal{S}_{\omega_2}$, and hence by Theorem \ref{ccinf}, $[\omega_1]=w_1$ is in the tame cone of $J$, meaning that $J$ tames some symplectic form in the class $[\omega_1]$. Then we have $J\in \mathcal{A}_{w_1}.$
Therefore, there is an induced map $Symp(X,\omega_1) \to Symp(X,\omega_2)$, which is well defined up to homotopy and makes the following diagram on \eqref{homotopy fibration} for $\omega_1$ and $\omega_2$ commute up to homotopy.
$$
\begin{array}{ccccccc}
& & Symp_h(X,\omega_1) &\to & \mbox{Diff}_0(M) & \to & \mathcal{A}_{\omega_1}\\
& & \downarrow & & \;\downarrow = & & \downarrow\\
& & Symp_h(X,\omega_2) &\to & \mbox{Diff}_0(M) & \to & \mathcal{A}_{\omega_2}.\\
& & & & & &
\end{array}
$$
Here we replace the fiber of sequence \ref{homotopy fibration} by $Symp_h(X,\omega)$ because of Theorem \ref{smoothisotopy}.
The complement of $\mathcal{A}_{w_2}\subset \mathcal{A}_{w_1}$ has codimension $4$, since $S^{-2}_{\omega_1}=S^{-2}_{\omega_2}$ they have the same prime submanifolds of codimension $0$ and $2$. Then the inclusion induce an isomorphism $\pi_i(\mathcal{A}_{\omega_1})\to \pi_i(\mathcal{A}_{\omega_2})$ for $i=0,1,2.$
Therefore,
from the homotopy commuting diagram and the associated diagram of long exact homotopy sequences of homotopy groups,
the induced homomorphisms $\pi_i (Symp_h(X,\omega_1))\to \pi_i(Symp_h(X,\omega_2)))$ are isomorphisms for $i=0,1.$ Notice that by the smooth isotopy theorem \ref{smoothisotopy}, the fibers of the sequences are $Symp (X_5, \omega_k)$.
\end{proof}
\begin{prp}\label{nonbalstab}
Given any open line segment $L$ starting from the vertex $A$ of the reduced cone and two symplectic forms $\omega_i$, $i=0,1$, where $[\omega_i]\in L$, we have $\pi_j(Symp(X,\omega_0))\cong\pi_j(Symp(X,\omega_1))$ for $j=0,1$.
Equivalently, $\pi_0, \pi_1$ of $Symp(X,\omega)$ is invariant under the following type of deformation of symplectic form:
$ [\omega_1]= (1|c_1,\cdots, c_5)$ and $[\omega_t]=(1| (c_1-1)t+1 , t c_2, tc_3, tc_4, tc_5 )$, for $0< t<\frac{1}{c_2+1-c_1}$.
\end{prp}
\begin{proof}
Firstly, note that the cohomology class of $\omega$'s are points in the polyhedron cone lying in $\mathbb{R}^5$, by Proposition \ref{nrsc}. The point $A:=[\omega_0]$ is a limiting point on the cone, with coordinate $ A= (1,0,0,0,0).$ Then the line starting from $A$ passing through $[\omega_1]:=(c_1,\cdots, c_5)$ has parametric equation $ L(t)= ((c_1-1)t+1 , t c_2, tc_3, tc_4, tc_5 )$. Note that this line connecting $A=[\omega_0]$ and $ [\omega_1]$ will stay in the reduced cone if $0< t<\frac{1}{c_2+1-c_1}.$
From Proposition \ref{nrsc}, those rays passing through point $A$ will intersect the open face of the reduced cone sitting opposite to point $A$, and the open face is defined by $c_1=c_2$. Before the line intersect the open face defined by $c_1=c_2,$ the line stay in the interior of the reduced cone. And this means we always have $c_1>c_2,$ which means $(c_1-1)t+1 > t c_2$ and is equivalent to $t<\frac{1}{c_2+1-c_1}.$
We shall check that $\omega_1, \omega_2$ satisfy the assumptions, i.e. $S_{\omega_2}\subset S_{\omega_1}$ and $S^{-2}_{\omega_1}=S^{-2}_{\omega_2}$.
By the classification Lemma \ref{sphere}, the coefficients of $E_2, \cdots, E_5$ are negative and $E_1$ non-negative for the class of a negative sphere, except for $2H-E_1-\cdots E_5$ or $H-E_1-\sum_j E_j, 2\leq j \leq i$. First it's straightforward to check the positivity (or negativity) of the area of $2H-E_1-\cdots E_5$ and $H-E_1-\sum_j E_j$ remains unchanged when $[\omega_t]$ moves inside the interval $0\leq t<\frac{1}{c_2+1-c_1}$. For other classses, note that as $t$ increases, this deformation increases the area of $E_2, \cdots E_5$, and decreases $E_1$. Therefore, from a case-by-case checking in Lemma \ref{sphere}, $\omega_1(A)>\omega_2(A)$ for any $A\in S^{<0}$. Hence we always have $S_{\omega_2}\subset S_{\omega_1}$.
Also, we can directly check $S^{-2}_{\omega_1}=S^{-2}_{\omega_2}$ by the classification. In the case of $X_5$, all possible symplectic $-2$ classes are $E_i-E_j$, $H-E_p-E_q-E_r$. Therefore, the statement is a corollary of Proposition \ref{-2stable}.
\end{proof}
\section{Connectedness of \texorpdfstring{ $Symp_h(X,\omega)$}{Symp} for type \texorpdfstring{$\mathbb{A}$}{A} forms}\label{5}
\subsection{Pure braid group on spheres}
In this section, we recall some standard facts regarding pure braid groups on spheres and disks. For more details, the readers may refer to \cite{Bir69} and \cite{KT08}, etc.
Recall the \textit{braid group of $n$ strands on a sphere} is $\pi_1(Conf(S^2,n))$, while the pure braids are those in $\pi_1(Conf^{ord}(S^2,n))$. We have the following basic isomorphisms.
\begin{lma}
$$ \pi_0(\mbox{Diff}^{+}(S^2,5)) \cong PB_5(S^2)/ \langle\tau\rangle \cong PB_{2}(S^2-\{x_1,x_2,x_3\}),$$
where $PB_5(S^2)$ and $PB_{2}(S^2-\{x_1,x_2,x_3\})$ are
the pure braid groups of 5 strings on $S^2$, and 2 strings on $S^2-\{x_1,x_2,x_3\}$ respectively.
$\langle\tau\rangle = \mathbb{Z}_2$ is the center of the pure braid group $PBr_5(S^2)$ generated by the full twist $\tau$ of order 2.
It follows that $Ab( \pi_0(\rm{Diff}(5, S^2)))=\mathbb{Z}^5$.
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
Consider the following homotopy fibration
$$\mbox{Diff}^{+}(S^2, 5)\to \mbox{Diff}^+(S^2)\to Conf^{ord}(S^2,5).$$
We have the isomorphism $\pi_0(\mbox{Diff}^{+}(S^2, 5))\cong\pi_1(Conf^{ord}(S^2,5))/im(\pi_1[\mbox{Diff}^+(S^2)] \longrightarrow \pi_1[Conf^{ord}(S^2,5)])$ from the associated homotopy exact sequence. Note that $\pi_1[Conf^{ord}(S^2,5)]=PBr_5(S^2)$ by definition, and
$im(\pi_1[\mbox{Diff}^+(S^2)] \longrightarrow \pi_1[Conf^{ord}(S^2,5)])\cong\mathbb{Z}_2$ is the full twist $\tau$ of order 2, given by rotation of $S^2$ . This gives the first isomorphism.
The second isomorphism follows from the direct sum decomposition (cf. the proof of Theorem 5 in \cite{GG13}),
$$PB_n(S^2)\simeq PB_{n-3}(S^2-\{x_1,x_2,x_3\})\oplus \langle\tau\rangle. $$
Now we have $Ab(\pi_0(\mbox{Diff}^+(S^2,5)))= \mathbb{Z}^5$ since $Ab(PB_{2}(S^2-\{x_1,x_2,x_3\}))=\mathbb{Z}^{5}$ (\cite{GG13} Theorem 5).
\end{proof}
We also have an explicit description of some generating sets of the braid group $Br_n(S^2)$ and pure braid group $PB_n(S^2)$ on the sphere following \cite{KT08} section 1.2 and 1.3.
\begin{figure}[ht]
\centering
\includegraphics[scale=0.6, trim=0 70 30 0]{Aij.png}
\caption{The Artin generator $\sigma_i$ and the standard generator $A_{i,j}$}
\label{Aij}
\end{figure}
Take the Artin generators $\{\sigma_1, \cdots, \sigma_{n-1}\}\subset Br_n(S^2)$, where $\sigma_i$ switches the ith point with (i+1)th point, then the standard generators of the pure braid group is given by $\{A_{ij}\}_{0\le i,j\le n}$:
\begin{equation}
A_{ij}=\sigma_{j-1}\cdots \sigma_{i+1} \sigma^2_{i} \sigma_{i+1}^{-1} \cdots \sigma_{j-1}^{-1}
\end{equation}
One can think $A_{ij}$ as the twist of the point $i$ with the point $j$, which geometrically
(see Figure \ref{Aij}) can be viewed as moving $i$ around $j$ through a loop separating $j$ from all other points.
We next apply Theorem 5(e) in \cite{GG13} and Proposition 7 in \cite{GG05} to obtain a minimal generating set of $PB_5(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$ suitable for our applications. First recall
\begin{lma}[\cite{GG13}, Theorem 5(e)]\label{Fbraid}
\leavevmode
\begin{itemize}
\item For $ PB_{n-3}(S^2-\{x_1,x_2,x_3\})\simeq PB_n(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2,$ the set $\{ A_{ij}, j\geq4, 2\leq i<j\}$ is a
generating set.
\item For any given $j$, one has the following relation ensuring that we can further remove the generators $A_{1j}$.
\begin{equation}\label{e:re}
(\Pi_{i=1}^{j-1} A_{ij})(\Pi_{k=j}^{n+1} A_{jk})=1,
\end{equation}
\end{itemize}
\end{lma}
For the case of $n=5$, we have
\begin{lma}\label{Pbraid}
In $\pi_0(\mbox{Diff}^{+}(S^2, 5))=PB_5(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$, the following two sets of elements are both generating:
\begin{enumerate}
\item $\{ A_{12}, A_{13},A_{14},A_{23},A_{24} \} $,
\item $\{A_{13}, A_{14},A_{15},A_{23},A_{24},A_{25}\}.$
\end{enumerate}
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
Case (1) is simply a permutation of the indices from $ \{A_{2 4}, A_{25}, A_{3 4}, A_{3 5}, A_{4 5}\}$ given in Lemma \ref{Fbraid}.
For case (2), we may re-index the generators to get $\{A_{14}, A_{24},A_{34},A_{15},A_{25},A_{35}\}$ by noting $A_{ij}=A_{ji}$. By Lemma \ref{Fbraid}, the surface relation reads $$ (\Pi_{i=1}^{j-1} A_{ij})(\Pi_{k=j+1}^{5} A_{jk})=1.$$
Let $j=4$, we have $A_{14}A_{24}A_{34}A_{45}=1$. This means the above set generates the missing $A_{45}$ in Lemma \ref{Fbraid} hence a generating set.
\end{proof}
The last fact we'll need is the Hopfian property of the braid groups.
\begin{lma}\label{Hopfian}
The pure and full braid groups on disks or spheres are Hopfian, i.e. every self-epimorphism is an isomorphism.
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
The disk case and sphere case can be dealt with in the same way although we only need the sphere case:
\begin{itemize}
\item On disks: Lawrence, Krammer \cite{LK00} and Bigelow \cite{Big00} showed that (full) braid groups on disks are linear. By the result of Mal\'cev in \cite{Mal40}, finitely generated linear groups are residually finite; and finitely generated residually finite groups are Hopfian. Note that the residual finiteness property is subgroup closed. Therefore, the pure braid group on disks, as the subgroup of the full braid group, is residually finite. The pure braid group is also finitely generated, hence is Hopfian.
\item On spheres: V. Bardakov \cite{Bardakov} shows that, the sphere full braid groups and the mapping class groups of the $n$-punctured sphere $MCG(S^2,n)$ are linear. The rest of the argument is the same as above. In particular, $PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2=\pi_0(\mbox{Diff}(S^2,4))$ is $MCG(S^2,4)$ and in the meanwhile $PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$ is finitely generated, hence $PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$ is Hopfian.
\end{itemize}
\end{proof}
Note that a group is Hopfian if and only if it is not isomorphic to any of its proper quotients. Later, we will make use of the following lemma:
\begin{lma}\label{hopfcomp}
Let $G$ be a sphere braid group, and $H$ is an arbitrary group. If there are two surjective group homomorphisms $ p: H \twoheadrightarrow G$ and $q: G \twoheadrightarrow H,$ then $G$ and $H$ are isomorphic.
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
Consider the composition $ q\circ p: G \overset{p}\twoheadrightarrow H \overset{q}\twoheadrightarrow G.$ It is a self-epimorphism of $G$ hence has to be an isomorphism by the Hopfian property. Therefore, the map $p: G \twoheadrightarrow H$ has to be injective.
\end{proof}
\subsection{Basic setup}\label{sec:SetupTypeA}
In this subsection, we quickly recap the symplectic cone and Lagrangian root system for $X_5$ in Table \ref{5form} and Figure \ref{5Dmon}. Then we provide a detailed explanation of the diagram \eqref{summary}.
\subsubsection{Reduced symplectic cone}
We make explicit the discussion in Section \ref{sec:rootsystem} for $k=5$.
\begin{table}[ht]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{||c c c c ||}
\hline\hline
$k$-face& $\Gamma_L$& $N_{\omega}$ & $\omega:=(1|c_1,c_2,c_3 ,c_4,c_5)$ \\ [0.5ex]
\hline\hline
Point M &$\mathbb{D}_5$ & 0& monotone\\
\hline
MO &$\mathbb{A}_4$&10 & $\lambda<1; c_1=c_2=c_3 =c_4=c_5 $\\
\hline
MA &$\mathbb{D}_4$& 8& $\lambda=1;c_1>c_2=c_3 =c_4=c_5 $\\
\hline
MB &$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_3$& 13 & $\lambda=1; c_1=c_2>c_3 =c_4=c_5 $ \\
\hline
MC &$\mathbb{A}_2\times \mathbb{A}_2$&15 & $\lambda=1; c_1=c_2=c_3 >c_4=c_5$ \\
\hline
MD & $\mathbb{A}_4$&10 & $ \lambda=1; c_1=c_2=c_3 =c_4>c_5 $ \\
\hline
MOA & $\mathbb{A}_3$& 14& $\lambda<1; c_1>c_2=c_3 =c_4=c_5 $ \\
\hline
MOB &$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_2$& 16& $\lambda<1; c_1=c_2>c_3 =c_4=c_5 $ \\
\hline
MOC &$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_2$& 16& $\lambda<1; c_1=c_2=c_3 >c_4=c_5$ \\
\hline
MOD & $\mathbb{A}_3$& 14& $\lambda<1; c_1=c_2=c_3 =c_4>c_5 $ \\
\hline
MAB & $\mathbb{A}_3$& 14& $\lambda=1; c_1>c_2>c_3 =c_4=c_5 $\\
\hline
MAC &$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_1$& 17& $\lambda=1; c_1=c_2>c_3 >c_4=c_5$\\
\hline
MAD &$\mathbb{A}_3$& $14$ & $\lambda=1$; $ c_1>c_2=c_3 =c_4>c_5$ \\
\hline
MBC &$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_1$& 17& $\lambda=1; c_1>c_2=c_3 >c_4=c_5$ \\
\hline
MBD &$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_2$& $16$ & $\lambda=1$; $ c_1=c_2>c_3 =c_4>c_5$ \\
\hline
MCD &$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_2$& $16$ & $\lambda=1$; $c_1=c_2=c_3 >c_4>c_5 $ \\
\hline
MOAB&$\mathbb{A}_2$& $17$ & $\lambda<1$; $c_1>c_2>c_3 =c_4=c_5$\\
\hline
MOAC&$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_1$ & $18$ & $\lambda<1$; $c_1 >c_2=c_3 >c_4=c_5$ \\
\hline
MOAD&$\mathbb{A}_2$& $17$& $\lambda<1$; $c_1> c_2=c_3=c_4 >c_5$\\
\hline
MOBC&$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_1$ & $18$& $\lambda<1$; $c_1 =c_2 >c_3>c_4=c_5$\\
\hline
MOBD&$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_1$ & $18$ & $\lambda<1$; $c_1=c_2 >c_3=c_4> c_5$\\
\hline
MOCD&$\mathbb{A}_2$& $17$ & $\lambda<1$; $c_1=c_2=c_3 >c_4 >c_5$ \\
\hline
MABC&$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_1$ & $18$ & $\lambda=1$; $c_1 >c_2> c_3 >c_4=c_5$\\
\hline
MABD&$\mathbb{A}_2$& $17$& $\lambda=1$; $c_1 >c_2 >c_3=c_4> c_5$\\
\hline
MACD &$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_1$ & $18$ & $\lambda=1$; $c_1> c_2=c_3 >c_4> c_5$\\
\hline
MBCD &$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_1$ & $18$ & $\lambda=1$; $c_1=c_2 >c_3 >c_4 >c_5$\\
\hline
MOABC &$\mathbb{A}_1$ & 19 &$\lambda<1$; $c_1> c_2> c_3 >c_4=c_5$\\
\hline
MOABD &$\mathbb{A}_1$ & 19 & $\lambda<1$; $c_1 >c_2 >c_3=c_4 >c_5$ \\
\hline
MOACD &$\mathbb{A}_1$ & 19 & $\lambda<1$; $c_1 >c_2=c_3> c_4> c_5$\\
\hline
MOBCD &$\mathbb{A}_1$ & 19 & $\lambda<1$; $c_1=c_2 >c_3 >c_4 >c_5$\\
\hline
MABCD &$\mathbb{A}_1$ & 19 &$\lambda=1$; $c_1 >c_2> c_3> c_4> c_5$\\
\hline
MOABCD & trivial & 20 & $\lambda<1$; $c_1 >c_2> c_3> c_4> c_5$ \\
\hline\hline
\end{tabular}
\caption{Reduced symplectic form on $\mathbb{C} P^2\# 5\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$, note that here $\lambda=c_1+c_2+c_3$.}
\label{5form}
\end{center}
\end{table}
\begin{figure}[h]
\vspace{-4mm}
\begin{center}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw (0,0) -- (2,0);
\draw (2,0) -- (3,-.5);
\draw (2,0) -- (3,.5);
\draw[fill=blue] (0,0) circle(.1);
\draw[fill=blue] (1,0) circle(.1);
\draw[fill=blue] (2,0) circle(.1);
\draw[fill=blue] (3,-.5) circle(.1);
\draw[fill=blue] (3,.5) circle(.1);
\node at (3,.9) {$MO$};
\node at(3,-.9) {$MD$};
\node at(2,0.4) {$MC$};
\node at(1,0.4) {$MB$};
\node at(0,0.4) {$MA$};
\node at (-1,0) {$\mathbb{D}_5$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{center}
\caption{Lagrangian system for $\omega_{mon}$}\label{5Dmon}
\end{figure}
The normalized reduced cone $P_5$ is the half-open convex cone spanned by $5$ vertices $M=(\frac13,\frac13,\frac13,\frac13,\frac13),$ $O=(0,0,0,0,0),$ $A=(1,0,0,0,0),$
$B=(\frac12,\frac12,0,0,0),$ $C=(\frac13,\frac13,\frac13,0,0),$ $D=(\frac13,\frac13,\frac13,\frac13,0)$, with the facet spanned by $OABCD$ removed.
Recall the rest of facets of the polytope $P_5$ correspond to classes with $\omega(l_i)=0$ for some $i$. We frequently use a ``co-notation'' to label the five edges $\{MO,MA,MB,MC,MD\}$ with the unique Lagrangian root $l_i$ such that $\omega(l_i)>0$ if $\omega$ lies on the corresponding edge.
For example, the correspondence reads
$MO\to l_1=H-E_1-E_2-E_3,$ $MA\to l_2=E_1-E_2,$ $MB\to l_3=E_2-E_3,$
$MC\to l_4=E_{3}-E_4,$ $MD\to l_5=
E_4-E_5$.
Similarly, we give a label to each face interior according to those $l_i$ which pair positively with forms in it. All possible chambers are listed in Table \ref{5form}, and the corresponding Lagrangian roots can be read from its vertices by counting in all edges emanating from the vertex $M$. For example, the Lagrangian labels of $MOAB$ is given by $MO\to l_1$, $MA\to l_2$, $MB\to l_3$ and $MC\to l_4$, and these four roots pair positively with $\omega$ hence cannot be represented by Lagrangian spheres, but $MD$ pairs trivially with $\omega$ and remains representable by a Lagrangian sphere. $\Gamma_L(\omega)$ can be read off by removing the labeling roots of $\omega$ from the Dynkin diagram $\mathbb{D}_5$. For example, forms in the interior of the face $MOAC$ will have $\Gamma_L(\omega)$ being the union of $MB$ and $MD$, which yields $\mathbb{A}_1\times\mathbb{A}_1$. Table \ref{5form} allows us to divide types of symplectic forms in the following way.
\begin{defn}\label{d:Types}
We call a symplectic form $\omega$ on $X_5$ of \textbf{type $\mathbb{A}$} if its Lagrangian system $\Gamma_{\omega}$ is a product of $\mathbb{A}_i$'s (when $N_w>8$ in table \ref{5form}) and \textbf{ type $\mathbb{D}$} when $N_\omega\le 8$.
\end{defn}
\begin{rmk}\label{5r}
One might note that the removed facet $OABCD$ is itself the $P_4$, the normalized reduced cone of the ${\mathbb{C} P^2} \# 4\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$.
\end{rmk}
\subsubsection{ The digram of fibrations \eqref{summary}}
In this section, we prove the fibration property of the sequence \eqref{summary}. We use the same choice of configuration $C$ as in \cite{Eva11}. This is a configuration of six smooth exceptional spheres which are transverse and positive at every intersections. The homology classes of these spheres and intersection patterns are shown in the following diagram.
\begin{figure}[ht]
\begin{center}
\[
\xy
(0, -10)*{};(60, -10)* {}**\dir{-};
(90, -10)* {2H-E_1-E_2-E_3-E_4-E_5};
(10, 0)*{}; (10, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(10, -25)*{E_1};
(20, 0)*{}; (20, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(20, -25)*{E_2};
(30, 0)*{}; (30, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(30, -25)*{E_3};
(40, 0)*{}; (40, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(40, -25)*{E_4};
(50, 0)*{}; (50, -20)*{}**\dir[red, ultra thick, domain=0:6]{-};
(50, -25)*{E_5};
\endxy
\]
\caption{Configuration of $X_5$}\label{conf5}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
\begin{prp}\label{fib5}
Given a configuration $\mathbb{C} P^2 \# 5{\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}}$ with any symplectic form $\omega$ and the above choice of $C$, the diagram \eqref{summary} is a fibration. Further, $Symp_c(U)$ is weakly homotopic equivalent to $Symp_c(T^*\mathbb{R} P^2, \omega_{std})$, where $U$ is the complement of $C$.
\end{prp}
\begin{lma}[\cite{Eva11} section 4.2]\label{symgau}
Assume $C$ has $k$ irreducible spherical components, i.e.$C=\cup_{j=1}^k C_j$, and each $C_j$ has $r_j$ intersection points with others.
\begin{equation}\label{sympc}
Symp(C)= \prod_{j=1}^k Symp(S^2,r_j).
\end{equation}
\begin{equation} \label{sympk}
Symp(S^2,1)\sim Symp(S^2,2)\sim S^1;\hspace{5mm}
Symp(S^2,3)\sim {\star};\hspace{5mm}
Symp(S^2,n)\sim \mbox{Diff}^+(S^2,n).
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}\label{mG}
\mathcal{G}(C) \cong \oplus_{j=1}^k \mathcal{G}_{r_j}(S^2)\cong \oplus_{j=1}^k \mathbb Z^{r_j-1}.
\end{equation}
In particular, for the above $C$ in Figure \ref{conf5}, $Symp(C)\sim(S^1)^5\times \mbox{Diff}^+(S^2,5)$, and $\mathcal{G}(C)\sim\mathbb{Z}^6.$
\end{lma}
We will denote the space of transverse symplectic configurations of the above type $\mathscr{C}$. To apply further techniques to the configurations of curves, we usually require the different sphere components to intersect in an $\omega$-orthogonal way. Denote $\mathscr{C}_0$ as the subspace of $\mathscr{C}$ consisting of such $\omega$-orthogonal configurations. The following weak homotopy equivalence between the space of curve configurations and space of almost complex structures follows from Gompf isotopy:
\begin{lma}[\cite{Ev11} Lemma 26, or \cite{LL16} Lemma 4.3]\label{CeqJ}
Given $({\mathbb{C} P^2} \# 5{\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}},\omega)$, the inclusion
$\mathscr{C}_0\hookrightarrow\mathscr{C}$ induces a weak homotopy equivalence.
Denote by $\mathcal{J}_{C}$ the set of almost complex structures $J$ which allows a $J$-holomorphic configuration $C$, then $\mathscr{C}$ is weakly homotopic to $\mathcal{J}_{C}$.
\end{lma}
We remind the reader that although all classes in the above configuration admits a $J$-holomorphic representative for all $\omega$-tame $J$, we require in $\mathcal{J}_C$ that such representatives must be \textit{smooth}.
The next lemma gives $\mathscr{C}\sim \mathcal{J}_{open}$ (see definitions below equation \eqref{summary}).
\begin{lma}\label{-1open}
Let $\mathbb{C}P^2\# 5{\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}}$ be equipped with a reduced symplectic form, and configuration $C$ of exceptional spheres in the classes given as above.
Then we know the space $\mathcal{J}_{C}$ is $\mathcal{J}_{open}$. Moreover, the space $\mathscr{C}$ is homotopic to $\mathcal{J}_{open}$.
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
The first statement is by Lemma 3.17 in \cite{LL16} the last case. The second statement is by the above Lemma \ref{CeqJ}.
\end{proof}
To prove the fibration property, we will need the following construction called the {\bf ball-swapping} following \cite{Wu13}:
\begin{dfn}\label{d:ball-swapping}
Suppose $X$ is a symplectic manifold. And $\widetilde{X}$ a blow up of $X$ at a packing of $n$ balls $B_i$.
Consider the ball packing in $X$ $\iota_{0}:\coprod_{i=1}^n B(i)\rightarrow X,$ with image $K$.
Suppose there is a Hamiltonian isotopy $\iota_{t}$ of $X$ acting on this ball backing $K$ such that $\iota_{1}(K)=K$,
then $\iota_{1}$ defines a symplectomorphism on the complement of $K$ in $X$.
From the interpretation of blow-ups
in the symplectic category \cite{MP94}, the blow-ups can be represented as
$$\widetilde{X}=(X\backslash\iota_j(\coprod_{i=1}^n B_i))/\sim,\text{ for }j=0,1.$$
Here the equivalence relation $\sim$ collapses the natural $S^1$-action on $\partial B_i=S^3$. Hence $\iota_1$ as
symplectomorphism on the complement descends to a symplectomorphism $\widetilde\iota: \widetilde{X}\to \widetilde X$.
\end{dfn}
The following fact is well-known.
\begin{lma}\label{relflux}
Let $Symp(S^2,n)$ denote the group of symplectomorphisms of the $n$-punctured sphere,
and $Symp(S^2, \coprod_{i=1}^n D_i)$ denote the group of symplectomorphisms of the complement of $n$ disjoint closed disks (each with a smooth boundary) which extend continuously to boundary in $S^2$. $Symp_0(S^2,n)$ and $Symp_0(S^2,\coprod_{i=1}^n D_i)$ are their identity components respectively. Then $Symp(S^2,n)$ is isomorphic to $Symp(S^2,\coprod_{i=1}^n D_i)$ and
$$Symp(S^2,\coprod_{i=1}^n D_i)/Symp_0(S^2,\coprod_{i=1}^n D_i)= Symp(S^2,n)/ Symp_0(S^2,n),$$
where the right hand side is isomorphic to $\pi_0 Symp(S^2,n)= \pi_0 \mbox{Diff}^+(S^2,n)$.
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
The statement follows from a conjugation with the symplectomorphism $S^2-\{p_1,\dots,p_n\}\xrightarrow{\sim} S^2-\{\coprod_{i=1}^n D_i\}$, which yields an isomorphism between $Symp(S^2,\coprod_{i=1}^n D_i)$ and $Symp(S^2,n)$ which induces also an isomorphism $Symp_0(S^2,\coprod_{i=1}^n D_i)\cong Symp_0(S^2,n)$
\end{proof}
\begin{proof}[Proof of Proposition \ref{fib5}]
The rightmost term of diagram \ref{summary} was proved in \cite{Eva11} using Gompf isotopy and Banyaga extension Theorem. We will focus on the rest of the diagram
\begin{equation}
\begin{CD}
Symp_c(U) @>^\sim>> Stab^1(C) @>>> Stab^0(C) @>>> Stab(C) \\
@.@. @VVV @VVV \\
@.@. \mathcal{G}(C) @. Symp(C).
\end{CD}
\end{equation}
We first show that the restriction map $Stab(C)\to Symp(C)$ is surjective. Note that $Symp(C)=\prod_i Symp(e_i,p_i) \times Symp(Q,5),$ where $e_i$ are the curve components in class $E_i$, $Q$ is the curve component in class $2H-E_1-\cdots E_5$, and $p_i$ are the intersections $e_i\cap Q$.
For any path $\psi_t \subset Symp(C ) , t\in[0,1],$ it can be extended into an ambent isotopy in $Stab(C)$. This is because $H_2(X)$ is integrally spanned by homology classes of curves in $C$, which implies that $H_2(M, C;\mathbb{R})=0,$ and hence Banyaga extension applies.
Therefore, to prove the surjectivity of $Stab(C)\to Symp(C)$, it suffices to lift an arbitrary choice of 2-dimensional mapping $h^{(2)}\in Symp(C)$ in each connected component of $Symp(C)$ and extend it to a 4-dimensional mapping $h^{(2)}$ to $Stab(C)$, then compose it with a Banyaga extension given above. Since $Symp(e_i,p_i)$ are connected, these connected components are identified with connected components of $Symp(Q,5)$, or rather, elements in $\pi_0(\text{Diff}^+_5(Q))$.
To this end, we blow down the exceptional spheres $e_1, \cdots, e_5$, and obtain a pair $(\mathbb{C} P^2, \coprod_{i=1}^5 B(i))$ with a conic $\overline Q\subset \mathbb{C}P^2$ as the proper transform of $Q$, and the five disjoint balls $\coprod_{i=1}^5 B(i)$ intersect \textit{nicely} with $\overline Q$. This means, when $B(i)$ is regarded as the image of an embedding $\psi_i:B(c_i)\hookrightarrow \mathbb{C}P^2$, where $B(c_i)\subset (\mathbb{C}^2,\omega_{std})$ is the standard ball of radius $c_i$, then $\psi_i^{-1}(Q)\subset \{z_2=0\}\subset \mathbb{C}^2$.
Note that by the above identification in Lemma \ref{relflux}, this blow-down process sends any $h^{(2)}$ in $Symp(Q,5)$ to a unique $\overline {h^{(2)}} $ in $Symp(S^2,\coprod_{i=1}^5 D_i)$, where $D_i=Q\cap B(i)$. We claim that there exists $\overline {h^{(4)}}\in Symp(\mathbb{C}P^2)$ whose restriction is $\overline {h^{(2)}}$, and it setwise fixes the image of each ball $\coprod_{i=1}^5 B(i)$, as well as $\overline Q$. This two-step construction follows that in \cite{Wu13}: we first regard $h^{(2)}$ to be a Hamiltonian diffeomorphism on $Q$, and extend it to $f^{(4)}\in Ham(\mathbb{C}P^2)$ which has support near $\overline Q$. The second step is done by the connectedness of ball packing relative to a divisor (the conic $\overline Q$ in our case). Namely, by Lemma 4.3 and Lemma 4.4 in \cite{Wu13}, there exists a symplectomorphism $g^{(4)}\in Symp(\mathbb{C} P^2,\omega)$ which sends $f^{(4)}\circ \psi_i(B(i))$ to $\psi_i(B(i))$ while fixing $\overline Q$ pointwise. Therefore, the composition $\overline {h^{(4)}}=g^{(4)}\circ f^{(4)}$ is a symplectomorphism fixing the five balls, and induces a symplectomorphism $h^{(4)}\in Symp(\mathbb{C}P^2\#5\overline{\mathbb{C}P^2})$ through the ball-swapping construction. Clearly, $h^{(4)}$ induces the same symplectomorphism $h^{(2)}$ on $Q$ by the correspondence in \ref{relflux}, hence has the desired properties.
Next, we want to see that $Stab(C)\to Symp(C)$ is a fibration using Theorem A in \cite{Mei02} and let's recall the theorem here. Recall that a \textbf{vanishing $p$-cycle} is a fibred map $f : S^p\times [0, 1]\to E$ such that, for each $t>0$, the map $f_t$ is null-homotopic in its fibre. Call $f$ \textbf{trivial} if $f_0$ is also null-homotopic in its fibre. An \textbf{emerging $p$-cycle} is a fibred map
$f : S^p\times (0, 1]\to E$
such that $f(\bullet, t)$ has a limit for $t \to 0$ (recall that $\bullet$ denotes the base point in $S^p$).
Call it \textbf{trivial} if there exist $\epsilon>0$ and a fibred map
$f' : S^p \times [0, \epsilon)\to E$
such that for each $0 <t<\epsilon$ one has $f'(\bullet, t) = f(\bullet, t)$, and such that the maps $f_t$ and $f_t'$ are homotopic to each other in their common fibre, relatively to the basepoint
$f(\bullet, t)$.
\begin{thm}[\cite{Mei02} Theorem 1.1] \label{fib3}
A surjective map is a fibration if and only if it satisfies the following
three conditions: 1) the map is a submersion; 2) all vanishing cycles of all dimensions are trivial; 3) all emerging cycles are trivial.
\end{thm}
We now check these 3 properties: For 1), at any given point $p$ in $Symp(C)$ and $\bar p\in \pi^{-1}(p)$, consider a tangent vector $\vec{v}\in T_p(Symp(C))$ represented by a path $\gamma_t$. We can lift $\gamma_t$ into a path $\Gamma_t\subset Stab(C)$ such that $ \Gamma_0 =\bar p$ and $\Gamma_t|_C= \gamma_t \circ \Gamma_0|_C$ for all $t$: this is easy to see when $p$ and $\bar p$ are identities, and such a lift can be obtained by conjugating $\bar p$ in the general case. Then $\Gamma_t'(0)$ is a global Hamiltonian vector field that restricts to $\gamma_t'(0)$ on $C$, implying the projection is a submersion.
For 2) and 3), consider any fiberwise continuous map $ S^p \times [0,1]\to Stab(C)$ in the definition of vanishing and emerging cycles, we have a path $ \psi_t:=f(\bullet,t), t\in [0,1]$ in $Stab(C)$ given by the base point over a the path $\gamma_t$ on the base. Along the path $\psi_t, t\in [0,1],$ the fibers can be identified continuously to the fiber over $\pi(\psi_0)$ by the left multiplication of $\psi_0\cdot \psi_t^{-1}$. This creates the needed isotopy for vanishing cycles. For emerging cycles, this path of identification gives a well-defined fiberwise homotopy class in each fiber. One may take a map $S^p\to F_{\psi_0}$ with this homotopy class with base point on $\psi_0$, and propagate to a small neighborhood of $t\in[0,\epsilon)$ again by multiplications of the base point elements. By definition, this yields the desired extension. This concludes $Stab(C)\to Symp(C)$ is a fibration.
Then rest parts of the diagram being a fibration follows exactly the same arguments in \cite{Eva11} Proposition 34 and \cite{LLW15} Lemma 2.4, which we will not replicate here.
Our last task is to show the weak homotopy equivalence $Symp_c(U) \sim Symp_c(T^*\mathbb{R} P^2)$, by a very similar argument as Lemma 3.3 in \cite{LLW15}.
It's known that $U$ is diffeomorphic to $T^{*} \mathbb{R} P^2$ by section 6.5 in \cite{Eva11}. When $[ \omega] \in H^2(X;\mathbb{Q})$, up to rescaling we can write $PD([ l\omega])=a H-b_1 E_1-b_2 E_2-b_3 E_3-b_4 E_4-b_5 E_5$ with
$ a, b_i \in \mathbb{Z}^{\geq 0}$. Further, we assume $ b_1\geq \cdots \geq b_5$. Then we can represent $PD([l\omega])$ as a
positive integral combination of all elements in the set $\{ 2H-E_1-E_2-E_3-E_4-E_5, E_1,E_2,E_3, E_4, E_5 \}$, which is the set of homology classes of the components in $C$. This means that for a rational form $\omega_{\mathbb{Q}}$, $(U,\omega_{\mathbb{Q}})$ is a Stein domain with the same Stein completion as the complement of the monotone case, which is a $(T^*\mathbb{R} P^2, \omega_{std})$. Hence we have the desired weak homotopy euqivalence for rational symplectic forms. When $\omega'$ is not rational, the same statement as Claim 3.4 in \cite{LLW15} holds and hence we can isotope any map $S^n\to Symp_c(U,\omega')$ into $S^n\to Symp_c(U,\omega_{\mathbb{Q}})$. Therefore, we have the desired weak homotopy equivalence for any symplectic form.
\end{proof}
\subsection{\texorpdfstring{$\mathbb{R} P^2$}{RP2} packing symplectic form}
In this section, we will prove the vanishing of $\pi_0(Symp_h(X_5))$ in an open subset of the reduced cone. Through ball-swappings, we will construct an explicit set of representatives of the image of
\begin{equation}\label{e:goal}
\psi: \pi_0(Stab(C))\to \pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega))
\end{equation}
in \eqref{fom} and prove that they are Hamiltonian isotopic to identity.
We start by recalling a result of relative ball packing in $\mathbb{C} P^2$:
\begin{lma}\label{relpack}
Given a symplectic $\mathbb{C}P^2$ with $\bar\omega(H)=1$, a sequence $\{c_i\}_{i\le5}$ such that $max\{c_i\}\leq 1/2$ and a Lagrangian $\mathbb{R}P^2\subset (\mathbb{C}P^2,\bar\omega)$.
Then there is a ball packing of $\iota:\coprod_{i=1}^5 B(c_i)\rightarrow (\mathbb{C} P^2-\mathbb{R}P^2,\bar\omega)$. As a result, we have an embedded Lagrangian $\mathbb{R}P^2$ in $\mathbb{C}P^2\#5\overline{\mathbb{C}P^2}$ with $[\omega]=(1|c_1,\cdots,c_5)$ when $c_i<\frac{1}{2}$ and $\underset{1\leq i\leq 5} \sum c_i <2$.
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
By \cite{BLW12} Lemma 5.2, it suffices to pack $5$ balls of given sizes $c_i$
into $(S^2\times S^2,\Omega_{1,\frac{1}{2}})$, where $\Omega_{1,\frac{1}{2}}=\sigma\oplus \frac12 \sigma$ and $\sigma$ is the volume form with area 1 on $S^2$.
Without loss of generality we assume that $ c_1\geq \cdots\geq c_5$.
From equation \eqref{HB}, blowing up a ball of size $c_1$ (here by ball size we mean the area of the corresponding exceptional sphere) in
$(S^2\times S^2,\Omega_{1,\frac{1}{2}})$ is symplectomorphic to
$(\mathbb{C} P^{2}\#2 \overline{\mathbb{C} P}^{2}, \omega')$ with $\omega'$ dual to the class
$(\frac{3}{2}-c_1)H-(1-c_1)E_1-(\frac{1}{2}-c_1)E_2$. Therefore, by Lemma 5.2 in \cite{BLW12}, it suffices to prove that
the vector
$$[(\frac{3}{2}-c_1)|(1-c_1),c_2,c_3,c_4,c_5,(\frac{1}{2}-c_1)]$$ denoting the class $$ [S]=(\frac{3}{2}-c_1)H - (1-c_1)E_{1} - (\frac{1}{2}-c_1)E_{6} - \sum_{i=2}^{5}c_i E_{i}$$
is Poincar\'e dual to a symplectic form for $\mathbb{C} P^{2}\#6 \overline{\mathbb{C} P}^{2}$.\\
The square of this class is $ [S] \cdot [S]=1-\sum c_i^2$, which is clearly positive under our assumptions. From \cite[Theorem 4]{LL01}, in order to check $[S]$ is Poincare dual to symplectic class, one only needs to check that it pairs positively with all exceptional classes that have canonical class $3H-E_1-\cdots-E_5$:
\begin{itemize}
\item Clearly, $[S]\cdot E_i>0, \quad \forall i.$
\item By the reducedness condition \ref{reducedHE}, the minimal value of $[S]\cdot( H-E_i-E_j)$ is either
$$(\frac{3}{2}-c_1)- c_2-c_3>0;$$
$$or \quad (\frac{3}{2}-c_1)- c_2 -(1-c_1) >0;$$
this means $PD[S]$ is positive on each exceptional class $H-E_i-E_j$.
\item The minimal value of $[S] \cdot ( 2H- E_1 -\cdots - \check{E}_i- \cdots - E_6)$ is either
$$2(\frac{3}{2}-c_1)- (1-c_1)-c_2-c_3-c_4-(\frac{1}{2}-c_1)=2-c_2-c_3-c_4-(\frac{1}{2}-c_1)>0;$$
$$or \quad 2(\frac{3}{2}-c_1)- (1-c_1)-c_2-c_3-c_4-c_5= 2 -c_1-c_2-c_3-c_4-c_5>0;$$
this means means $PD[S]$ is positive on each exceptional class $2H- E_1 -\cdots - \check{E}_i- \cdots - E_6$, as desired.
\end{itemize}
\end{proof}
Since the class of forms in Lemma \ref{relpack} is the starting point of our proof, they deserve a name for future convenience.
\begin{dfn}\label{pacform}\label{paform}
Given a symplectic form (not necessarily reduced) with $[\omega]=(\nu|c_1, c_2, \cdots, c_5)$ on $\mathbb{C} P^2 \# 5{\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}}$.
It is called an {\bf $\mathbb{R} P^2$ packing symplectic form} if
\begin{equation}\label{e:inequality}
c_i<\nu/2,\quad \sum_{i=1}^5 c_i<2\nu.
\end{equation}
If $\nu=1$, $\omega$ is called a {\bf standard $\mathbb{R} P^2$ packing symplectic form}.
\end{dfn}
\begin{lma}\label{stab5}
If $\omega $ is an $\mathbb{R} P^2$ packing form, then $ Stab(C) \simeq \mbox{Diff}^+(S^2,5).$ And we have the exact sequence
\begin{equation}\label{e:ES5pt}
1\rightarrow \pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))\rightarrow \pi_1(\mathscr{C}_0) \xrightarrow[]{\phi} \pi_0(\mbox{Diff}^{+}(S^2, 5)) \xrightarrow[]{\psi} \pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega)) \rightarrow 1
\end{equation}
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
We argue following \cite{Eva11}. Let's start from the left end of diagram \ref{summary}. We always have $Stab^0(C)\sim Symp_c(U)$ by Moser argument.
From Lemma 19 in \cite{Eva11} and Lemma \ref{symgau}, $Stab^0(C)\sim\mathcal{G}(C)\sim \mathbb{Z}^4$, and $\pi_1(Symp(C))=\mathbb{Z}^5$ surjects onto $\pi_0(Stab^0(C))=\mathbb{Z}^4$.
Now we show that $\pi_1(Symp(C))$ also surjects onto $\pi_0(Symp_c(U))$. Let $\mu$ be the moment map for the $SO(3)$-action on $T^*\mathbb{R}P^2$. Then
$||\mu||$ generates a Hamiltonian circle action on $T^*\mathbb{R}P^2\setminus\mathbb{R}P^2$ which commutes with the round cogeodesic flow. The symplectic cut along a
level set of $||\mu||$ gives $\mathbb{C} P^{2}$ and the reduced locus is a conic. Pick
five points on the conic and $||\mu||$-equivariant balls
centered on them, with their volumes given by the symplectic form. This is always possible since the form is a standard $\mathbb{R} P^2$ packing form. $(\mathbb{C} P^{2}\#5 \overline {\mathbb{C} P^{2}}, \omega )$ is symplectomorphic to the blow up in these five balls
and the circle action preserves the exceptional locus. Hence by Lemma 36 in \cite{Eva11}, the diagonal element
$(1,\ldots,1)\in \pi_1(Symp(C)) =\mathbb{Z}^5$ maps to the generator of the Dehn twist of the
zero section in $T^*\mathbb{R}P^2$, which is also the generator in $\pi_0(Symp_c(U))$.
The associated exact sequence yields an isomorphism $\pi_0(Stab(C))\xrightarrow{\sim}\pi_0(Symp(C))\cong \pi_0(\text{Diff}^+_5(S^2))$. Indeed, we have a weak homotopy equivalence $ Stab(C) \simeq \mbox{Diff}^+(S^2,5)$ since all the higher order terms in the exact sequence vanish. \eqref{e:ES5pt} follows from the homotopy exact sequence associated to the rightmost fibration of \eqref{summary}.
\end{proof}
\begin{comment}
********Duplicated with the lemma above
Note that $ Stab(C)\simeq \mbox{Diff}^+(S^2,5)$ comes from the diffeomorphism of
\begin{equation}
\begin{CD}
Stab(C)\simeq \mbox{Diff}^+(S^2,5) @>>> Symp_h @>>> \mathscr{C}_0
\end{CD}
\end{equation}
By Lemma \ref{CeqJ}, homotopically, $ \mathscr{C}_0 \cong \mathcal{J}_{open}$, which is connected.
And we can write down the homotopy long exact sequence of the fibration, which is \eqref{e:ES5pt}.
*****************
\end{comment}
To understand the connecting map $\phi$ in \eqref{e:ES5pt} We now give a local toric model of ball-swapping in the complement of $\mathbb{R} P^2$. From the Biran decomposition \cite{Bir01dec}, we know that $\mathbb{C} P^2=\mathbb{R} P^2\sqcup U$. $U$ is a symplectic disk bundle over a sphere denoted as $Q$,
with fiber area $1/2$ and base area $2$. Later we'll see this bundle is total space of $\mathcal{O}(4)$ over $Q$.
Given $5$ balls with sizes $a_1, a_2,\cdots, a_5$ satisfying \eqref{e:inequality} and $i,j\in\{1,2,3,4,5\}$. Assume further that
\begin{equation}\label{e:size}
a_i>a_j, \quad a_r>a_t>a_s.
\end{equation}
Then there is a toric blowup as in Figure \ref{Swapij}. By the correspondence in \cite{McD91}, this implies there is a symplectic packing of $\coprod B^4(a_l)$ in $U$ where
$B^4(a_l)\cap Q$ is a large disk in $B^4(a_l)$. Moreover, there is an ellipsoid $E_{ij}\subset U$, such that $B_i\cup B_j\subset E_{ij}$, and $E_{ij}$ is disjoint from the rest of the balls.
We call this an \textit{$(i,j)$-standard packing}.
\begin{rmk}\label{rem:toricpacking}
We would like to remind the reader that the embeddings that these blow-ups represent do not have the exact images at the blow-ups, but in a small neighborhood of them. In particular, they are \textit{not} invariant under the toric action. This small perturbation does not affect properties we mentioned above and observed in the picture.
Readers who are familiar with Karshon's theory \cite{Ka99} may visualize this subtlety by forgetting one of the circle action, and achieve the packing by $S^1$-equivariant blow-ups. For example, instead of blowing up $B(a_j)$ in a toric way, one may blow it up in an $S^1$-equivariant way (with respect to the $S^1$-action represented by the positive $y$-axis in the picture). This way, the image of $B(a_j)$ avoids the exceptional divisor from the blowup of $B(a_i)$ and hence gives a ball-packing of both $B(a_i)$ and $B(a_j)$. This small perturbation does not affect the property that the packing is inside the ellipsoid $E_{ij}$ and also guarantee that $B^4(a_l)\cap Q$ are pairwise disjoint. All the above discussions applies to the blowup-packing correspondence of $B(a_s),B(a_t),B(a_r)$.
\end{rmk}
\begin{figure}[ht]
\centering
\includegraphics[scale=1]{Swapij.pdf}
\caption{Standard toric packing and ball swapping in $\mathcal{O}(4)$}
\label{Swapij}
\end{figure}
Let us disregard $B(a_s), B(a_r)$ and $B(a_t)$ at the moment. There is a natural circle action induced from the toric action on $U$, which rotates
the base curve $Q$ and fixes the center of $B^4(a_i)$. The Hamiltonian of this circle action is $H(r_1,r_2)=|r_2|^2$, where $r_2$ is the vertical coordinate of the $\mathbb{R}^2\cong \mathfrak{t}^*$. Clearly, this circle action runs the ball $B^4(a_j)$ around
$B^4(a_i)$ exactly once, therefore, gives a ball-swapping. When these two balls are blown-up, the corresponding ball-swapping that induces the pure braid generator $A_{ij}$ around the $(i,j)$-strands.
To put balls $B(a_s), B(a_r)$ and $B(a_t)$ back into consideration and invariant, we only need to make our construction above compactly supported. Since the above Hamiltonian action is induced by $|r_2|^2$, we simply multiply a cut-off function $\eta(z_1,z_2)$ defined as following:
\begin{equation} \label{}
\eta(z_1,z_2)=\left\{
\begin{aligned}
0, \hskip 3mm &x\in E_{ij} \setminus \{\mu^{-1}(r_1,r_2):\frac{r_1^2}{2-\epsilon-a_r-a_s-a_t}+
\frac{r_2^2}{\dfrac{1}{2}-\epsilon}\leq 1/\pi\},\\
1, \hskip 3mm &x\in \{\mu^{-1}(r_1,r_2):\frac{r_1^2}{a_i+a_j}+\frac{r_2^2}{\dfrac{1}{2}-2\epsilon}\leq 1/\pi\},
\end{aligned}
\right.
\end{equation}
where $\mu$ is the moment map from $U$ to $\mathbb{R}^2$. The resulting Hamiltonian $\eta \circ H$ has a vanishing Hamiltonian vector field outside the ellipsoid in Figure \ref{Swapij}, and swap $B(a_i)$ and $B(a_j)$ as described above, hence descends to a ball-swapping as in Definition \ref{d:ball-swapping}. We call such a symplectomorphism an $(i,j)$-\textbf{model ball-swapping} in $\mathcal{O}(4)\#5\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$ when $B_i$ and $B_j$ are swapped. The following lemma is immediate from our construction.
\begin{lma}\label{l:BSproperties}
The $(i,j)$-model ball-swapping is Hamiltonian isotopic to identity in the compactly supported symplectomorphism group of $\mathcal{O}(4)\#5\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$. Moreover, it is an element in $Stab(C),$ which induces the generator $A_{ij}$ on $\pi_0(\mbox{Diff}^{+}(S^2,5))$.
\end{lma}
\begin{rmk}\label{rem:equalsize}
Note that when at least $2$ elements from $\{a_r,a_s,a_t\}:=
\{a_1, a_2,\cdots, a_5\}\setminus\{a_i, a_j\}$ coincide, toric packing as in Figure \ref{Swapij} doesn't exist. Nonetheless, one could always slightly enlarge some of them to obtain distinct volumes satisfying equation \eqref{e:inequality}, then pack the original balls into the enlarged ones to obtain a standard packing. Therefore, the above construction of model $(i,j)$-ball-swapping works as long as $a_i<1/2, \hskip 3mm \sum_i a_i<2$ holds.
The triviality of Hamiltonian isotopic class of $A_{ij}$ works equally well as long as we have $a_i>a_j$, since there is no isotopy needed outside the ellipsoid $E_{ij}$.
\end{rmk}
With these preparations, we can prove the vanishing of the Torelli symplectic mapping class group for a class of forms.
\begin{prp}\label{generator}
Given $X=\mathbb{C} P^2\# 5\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$ with a {\bf standard $\mathbb{R} P^2$ packing symplectic form} $\omega \in [\omega]=(1|c_1, c_2, \cdots, c_5)$ (i.e. \eqref{e:inequality} holds), and if either
\begin{itemize}
\item there are at least 3 distinct values in $\{c_1, \cdots, c_5\};$ or
\item there are 2 distinct values, and up to permutation of index, we have
$c_1=c_2>c_3=c_4=c_5$ or $c_1=c_2=c_3>c_4=c_5$.
\end{itemize}
then $Symp_h( \mathbb{C} P^2\# 5\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}, \omega)$ is connected, and rank of $\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))=N_{\omega}-5$.
\end{prp}
\begin{proof}
Fix a configuration $C_{std}\in \mathcal{C}_0$ in $\mathbb{C} P^2\# 5\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$ with the given form $\omega$. By looking at the sequence \eqref{e:ES5pt},
our goal is to find a generating set of $\pi_0\mbox{Diff}^+(S^2,5)$ which has trivial image under the $\psi$-map.
From our assumption, there is a Lagrangian $\mathbb{R} P^2$ away from $C_{std}$. Blowing down the exceptional curves, we have a ball packing $\iota: B_l=B(c_l)$ in the complement of $\mathbb{R} P^2$.
Suppose $c_i> c_j$, we have the semi-toric $(i,j)$-standard packing $\iota_s$ as defined above. One may further isotope $\iota$ to $\iota_s$,
by the connectedness of ball packing in \cite{BLW12} Theorem 1.1. Clearly, from Lemma \ref{l:BSproperties}, the $(i,j)$-swapping is a Hamiltonian diffeomorphism, which fixes all exceptional divisors from all five ball-packing, and induces the pure braid generator $A_{ij}$ on $C$. Also, Lemma \ref{l:BSproperties} and Remark \ref{rem:equalsize} implies the image of $A_{ij}$ under the $\psi$-map in \eqref{e:goal} is trivial.
Now we address the two cases in our Proposition.
\begin{itemize}
\item If there are at least 3 distinct values in $\{c_1, \cdots, c_5\}$, then a generating set as in Lemma
\ref{Pbraid} Case 1) has trivial images under $\psi$, hence
$Symp_h$ is connected. To see this, we can do a permutation on $\{1,2,3,4,5\}$ to make $c_1>c_2>c_3\geq c_4$ or $c_1<c_2<c_3\le c_4$.
Then Lemma \ref{l:BSproperties} and Remark \ref{rem:equalsize} concludes that $\{ A_{12}, A_{13},A_{14},A_{23},A_{24} \} $ are trivial under $\psi$.
\item In the second case, up to permutation of indices, we have triviality of $\psi$-image of $\{A_{13}, A_{14},A_{15},A_{23},A_{24},A_{25}\}$, which is a generating set in Case 2) of Lemma \ref{Pbraid}.
\end{itemize}
\end{proof}
\subsection{Type \texorpdfstring{$\mathbb{A}$ }{A} forms}
We now extend the result of Proposition \ref{generator} to the whole type $\mathbb{A}$ part the reduced symplectic cone. The key technique is the Cremona transform and Proposition \ref{nonbalstab}.
Recall a (homological) \textbf{Cremona transform} of a rational surface $X$ is an automorphism of $H_2(X,\mathbb{Z})$ defined by the reflection of a class $H-E_i-E_j-E_k$ for pairwise distinct $i,j,k$. A Cremona transform is realized by a diffeomorphism on $X$, or it could be considered as a change of basis. See more details from \cite{MS12}. When there is no confusion, sometimes we use Cremona transform to refer to a diffeomorphism which induces a homological Cremona transform.
In this section, we'll first introduce the balanced symplectic forms, and then show that many type $\mathbb{A}$ symplectic forms are diffeomorphic to a balanced form.
Finally, we apply Proposition \ref{nonbalstab} to extend these results to arbitrary type $\mathbb{A}$ symplectic forms.
\subsubsection{ Balanced symplectic forms and \texorpdfstring{$\mathbb{R} P^2$}{RP2}-relative ball packing}
Firstly we introduce the following definition
\begin{dfn}\label{balform}
We call a reduce form $(1|c_1, c_2, \cdots, c_n)$ on $\mathbb{C} P^2 \# 5{\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}}$ {\bf balanced} if
$c_i<c_{i+1}+c_{i+2}$ for some $1\le i\le 3$. In particular, all the non-balanced forms are contained in the open stratum $MOABCD$.
\end{dfn}
And we show that this is related to $\mathbb{R} P^2$ packing:
\begin{lma}\label{Cremona}
Any balanced reduced form $\omega_b= (1|c_1, c_2, \cdots, c_5)_b$
is diffeomorphic to a standard $\mathbb{R} P^2$ packing symplectic form $\omega_p = (1|c'_1, c'_2, \cdots, c'_5)_p$.
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
Take any reduced form $\omega_b =(1|c_1, c_2, \cdots, c_5)$ on $\mathbb{C} P^2\# 5\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$, then it satisfies $c_1\geq c_2\geq c_3 \geq c_4 \geq c_5$. To obtain a packing form, we can simply start with any balanced condition $c_i<c_{i+1}+c_{i+2}$. Perform a Cremona transform along $H-E_i-E_{i+1}-E_{i+2}$. This is captured by the matrix
\begin{equation}\label{e:Cremona}
\Phi_*\left( \begin{array}{c}
H \\
E_i \\
E_{i+1} \\
E_{i+2}\\
E_j\\
E_k
\end{array} \right)=
\left( \begin{array}{c}
2H-E_i-E_{i+1}-E_{i+2}\\
H-E_{i+1}-E_{i+2} \\
H-E_{i}-E_{i+2} \\
H-E_i-E_{i+1}\\
E_j \\
E_k
\end{array} \right):=\left( \begin{array}{c}
h \\
e_1\\
e_2\\
e_3\\
e_4\\
e_5
\end{array} \right),
\end{equation}
where $\{h,e_1,\cdots,e_5\}$ is regarded as a new standard basis. Now we need to check $\omega(h)>2\omega(e_i)= \Phi^*(\omega(E_i))$, which will conclude the first statement.
\begin{itemize}
\item $h-2e_1=2H-E_i-E_{i+1}-E_{i+2}-2H+2E_{i+1}+2E_{i+2}=
E_{i+1}+E_{i+2}-E_i$, which has positive $\omega$-area by the balanced assumption $c_i<c_{i+1}+c_{i+2}$;
\item For $h-2e_2=2H-E_i-E_{i+1}-E_{i+2}-2H+2E_{i}+2E_{i+2}=
E_{i}+E_{i+2}-E_{i+1}$, and by the reducedness condition $c_i>c_{i+1}$ it has positive area;
\item $h-2e_3$, by the same reasoning as $h-2e_2$, it has positive symplectic area;
\item$h-2e_4= 2H-E_i-E_{i+1}-E_{i+2}-2E_j=( H-E_i-E_{i+1}-E_j) + H-E_{i+2}-E_j$. By reduced condition, $( H-E_i-E_{i+1}-E_j)$ has non-negative and $ H-E_{i+2}-E_j$ has positive area, and hence $h-2e_4$ has positive symplectic area;
\item For $h-2e_5$ we can apply the same argument as $h-2e_4$.
\end{itemize}
Note that $\omega(2h-e_1-\cdots-e_5)>0$ is automatic because $\omega$ pairs positively with any exceptional classes.
\end{proof}
\subsubsection{Triviality of Torelli SMCG for an arbitrary type \texorpdfstring{$\mathbb{A}$}{A} symplectic form}
Now we are ready to deal with an arbitrary type $\mathbb{A}$ symplectic form via the above Cremona transform and stability of $Symp(X,\omega)$. For the duration of the following proof, we refer the readers to Table \ref{5form} for case checks.
\begin{prp}\label{p:balanced}
Given $X=(\mathbb{C} P^2\# 5\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}, \omega)$, let $\omega$ be a reduced form of type $\mathbb{A}$, then $Symp_h(X)$ is connected.
\end{prp}
\begin{proof}
The type $\mathbb{A}$ assumption allows us to restrict our attention to balanced forms on any $k-$face for $k\geq2$ and edges $MO,MB,MC$ and $MD$.
\begin{enumerate}
\item \emph{$k-$faces, $k\geq3$, or $2-$faces or edges where $A$ is a vertex.}
If $c_1<\frac12$, then it is automatically an $\mathbb{R} P^2$-packing form with 3 distinct values. By Proposition \ref{generator}, we know $Symp_h$ is connected. Then Proposition \ref{nonbalstab}, on each open face, allows us to remove the assumption $c_1<\frac12$. This is because the ray starting from vertex $A$ covers each open face with $A$ being a vertex, meanwhile, on each ray there's a part with $c_1<\frac12$.
\item \emph{$k-$faces, $k\geq3$, or $2-$faces or edges where $A$ is not a vertex.}
$A$ is not an open face means that $c_1=c_2<\frac12.$ These are still $\mathbb{R}P^2$ packing form with 3 distinct values. Then this is covered by Proposition \ref{generator}.
\item \emph{Other faces except for $MO$.} These faces will have $c_i>c_{i+1}$ for some $i=1,2,3,4$ and $\{c_i\}$ contain only two distinct values.
By definition, these forms are clearly balanced. Therefore, by Lemma \ref{Cremona} they are diffeomorphism to a $\mathbb{R} P^2$ packing form. And below we give an explicit Cremona transform and show these cases are covered by Proposition \ref{generator} case 1).
Consider the Cremona transform with respect to either $H-E_1-E_{2}-E_{3}$ when $i=1, 2$; or $H-E_{3}-E_{4}-E_{5}$ when $i=3,4$.
\begin{itemize}
\item If $i=1,2$, the resulting new basis reads
$$h=2H-E_1-E_2-E_3, \hskip 3mm e_1=H-E_2-E_3, \hskip 3mm e_2=H-E_1-E_3, $$
$$e_3= H- E_1-E_2, \hskip 3mm e_4=E_4, \hskip3mm e_5=E_5.$$
It is straightforward to check that $\omega(h)>2\omega(e_i)$ by the balancing and reducedness conditions, hence the pull-back form is an $\mathbb{R}P^2$ packing form.
If $i=1$, $c_1>c_2$, then $\omega(H-E_2-E_3)>\omega(H-E_1-E_3)> \omega(E_5)$. The last inequality holds because $\omega$ is not of type $\mathbb{D}_4$ hence $\lambda<1$. This yields three different values in $\omega(e_1)$, $\omega(e_2)$ and $\omega(e_5)$ hence Proposition
\ref{generator} applies.
If $i=2$, $\omega(H-E_1-E_2)>\omega(H-E_1-E_3)\ge\omega(E_2)> \omega(E_5)$. Therefore, $\omega(e_3),\omega(e_2)$ and $\omega(e_5)$ again gives three distinct values and Proposition \ref{generator} applies.
\item For $i=3,4$, the Cremona transform gives
$$h=2H-E_3-E_4-E_5, \hskip 3mm e_1=E_1, \hskip 3mm e_2=E_2, $$
$$e_3= H- E_4-E_5, \hskip 3mm e_4=H-E_3-E_5, \hskip3mm e_5=H-E_3-E_4.$$
If $i=3$, $\omega(h)>2\omega(e_i)$ is easy to check by the balance and reducedness of $\omega$. Also, $\omega(E_1)\ge\omega(H-E_2-E_3)>\omega(H-E_3-E_4)>\omega(H-E_4-E_5)$, yielding three distinct values $\omega(e_1),\omega(e_5)$ and $\omega(e_3)$.
For $i=4$, we again can check this is a packing form, and then we have two possibilities. If $\lambda<1$, $\omega(E_1)> \omega(H-E_4-E_5)> \omega(H-E_3-E_5)$, giving three distinct values $\omega(e_1), \omega(e_3)$ and $\omega(e_4)$. If $\lambda=1$, we would have $\omega(e_3)=\omega(e_4)>\omega(e_5)=\omega(e_1)=\omega(e_2)$, which falls into the second case of Proposition \ref{generator}. Either way we have the desired triviality of $Symp_h(X)$.
\end{itemize}
\item \emph{Case $MO$, where $c_1=\cdots=c_5$}. All such forms are balanced, hence by Lemma \ref{Cremona} they are diffeomorphism to a $\mathbb{R} P^2$ packing form. Applying a Cremona transform along $H-E_3-E_4-E_5$, one has the following configuration
\[
\xy
(-5, -10)*{};(85, -10)* {}**\dir{-};
(98, -12)* {=H-E_1-E_2};(98, -8)* {2h-e_1-\cdots- e_5};
(0, 0)*{}; (0, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(0, -25)*{e_1=E_1};
(20, 0)*{}; (20, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(20, -25)*{e_2=E_2};
(40, 0)*{}; (40, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(40, 1)*{e_3=H-E_4-E_5};
(60, 0)*{}; (60, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(60, -25)*{e_4=H-E_3-E_5};
(80, 0)*{}; (80, -20)*{}**\dir[red, ultra thick, domain=0:6]{-};
(80, 1)*{e_5=H-E_3-E_4};
\endxy
\]
It is again easy to check that this pull-back form is an $\mathbb{R}P^2$ packing form from reducedness. We also have
$\omega(e_3)=\omega(e_4)=\omega(e_5)>\omega(e_1)=\omega(e_2)$, which puts us in the second case in Proposition \ref{generator}.
\end{enumerate}
\end{proof}
\begin{rmk}
A direct consequence of our discussions on type $\mathbb{A}$ forms is that, any square Lagrangian Dehn twist is isotopic to identity for these forms, because $Symp_h$ is connected. This fact has implications on the quantum cohomology of the given form on
$X=\mathbb{C} P^2 \# 5{\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}}$. For example, together with Corollary 2.8 in \cite{Sei08}, we know that $QH_*(X)/I_L$ is Frobenius for any Lagrangian $L$ for a given type $\mathbb{A}$ form, where $I_L$ is the ideal of $QH_*(X)$ generated by the Lagrangian $L$.
\end{rmk}
\section{ Braiding for \texorpdfstring{ $\pi_0Symp_h(X,\omega)$}{Symp} of type \texorpdfstring{ $\mathbb{D}_4$ forms}{D4}}
In this section we focus on the remaining symplectic forms whose Lagrangian system $\Gamma_L $ is $\mathbb{D}_4$. Without loss of generality, we can assume $\omega$ is reduced. Then these are $\omega \in MA$ in table \ref{5form}, where
\begin{equation}\label{wd}
c_1>c_2=c_3=c_4=c_5, \quad c_1+c_2+c_3=1.
\end{equation}
Note that all such forms are balanced. By Lemma \ref{Cremona}, they are $\mathbb{R} P^2$ packing symplectic forms. Therefore, we always have the sequence \eqref{e:ES5pt} by Proposition \ref{Cremona}
\begin{equation}\label{imphi}
1\rightarrow \pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))\rightarrow \pi_1(\mathscr{C}_0) \xrightarrow[]{\phi} \pi_0(\mbox{Diff}^{+}(S^2,5)) \xrightarrow{\psi} \pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega))\rightarrow 1.
\end{equation}
Our goal is to examine \eqref{imphi} and prove the following:
\begin{thm}\label{p:8p4}
Let $X=\mathbb{C} P^2\# 5\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$ with a reduced symplectic form $\omega$ on $MA$, $\pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ is $\pi_0(\mbox{Diff}^+(S^2,4))=PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$. Moreover, the $\phi$-map in the sequence \eqref{e:ES5pt} has $Im(\phi)=\pi_1(S^2-\{\hbox{4 points}\})$. Abstractly, $\pi_1(S^2-\{\hbox{4 points}\})\cong\mathbb{F}_3$.
\end{thm}
From the Hopfian property of braid groups, it suffices to obtain surjections between $\pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ and $PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$ in both directions. The following direction is easy.
\begin{lma}\label{gh}
For a given form $\omega \in MA,$ then $\pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ is a quotient of
$PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$, i.e. $PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2 \twoheadrightarrow \pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega)).$
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
Since $\omega$ is balanced, by Lemma \ref{Cremona}, it is a $\mathbb{R}P^2$-packing form. The isotopy constructed in Lemma \ref{l:BSproperties}, along with Remark \ref{rem:equalsize}, yields the triviality of $\psi$-image of $\{A_{12}, A_{13}, A_{14}, A_{15}\}$. Therefore, the subgroup generated by these four elements, which is isomorphic to $\pi_1(S^2-\hbox{4 points})$, is a subgroup in the image of $\phi$ in sequence \eqref{imphi}.
From \cite{Bir69}, we have the short exact sequence of the forgetting one strand map:
\begin{equation}\label{forgetstrand}
0\rightarrow \pi_1(S^2-\hbox{4 points})\rightarrow PB_5(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2\rightarrow PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2 \rightarrow 0.
\end{equation}
Therefore, one sees that $\pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ is a quotient of $PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$, and there is a surjective homomorphism $\psi: PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2 \to \pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega))$.
\end{proof}
The opposite direction of the surjective map is much more involved and will occupy most of the section. The key ingredient of section \ref{s:freeact} and section \ref{s:surj}. is to establish the following commutative diagram for $\omega \in MA$ with rational periods:
\begin{equation}\label{e:key}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node at (5,0) (a) {$\mathcal{Q}_5$};
\node[right =2.5cm of a] (b){$(\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}^c_4)/Symp_h$};
\node[right =2.5cm of b] (c){$\mathcal{B}_4$};
\draw[->,>=stealth] (a) --node[above]{$\alpha$} (b);
\draw[->,>=stealth] (b) --node[above]{$\beta$} (c);
\draw[->,>=stealth] (c) edge[bend right=30]node[below]{$\gamma$}(a);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{equation}
Note that through out this section, we'll simply write $Symp_h$ for $Symp_h(X_5, \omega_{MA})$ since no confusion could occur. Here,
\begin{itemize}
\item $\mathcal{Q}_5$ is the moduli space of certain configurations of 5 points on $\mathbb{C}P^2$ given in Definition \ref{q5} below,
\item $\mathcal{B}_4=\text{Conf}_4^{ord}(\mathbb{C} P^1)/PGL_2(\mathbb{C})$,
\item $\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}$ is the space of $\omega$-compatible almost complex structure and $\mathcal{X}^c_4$ is the codimension less than 4 part of $\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}$ in the prime decomposition of Lemma \ref{prime}.
\end{itemize}
We will define each morphism $\alpha, \beta$ and $\gamma$ and show that the diagram commutes. Then Lemma \ref{beta} shows the composition of $\beta\circ \alpha \circ \gamma$ is the identity on $\mathcal{B}_4$. This implies the map $\beta$
induces the desired surjective map $\beta^*: \pi_0(Symp_h)$ to $\pi_1(\mathcal{B}_4)= PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$.
\begin{rmk}\label{rem:compfree}
We remark on the almost complex structures. In section \ref{s:freeact} and section \ref{s:surj} we'll use the space of $\omega$-\emph{compatible} almost complex structure $\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}$ and corresponding subsets $\mathcal{X}_{2n}^c$'s, instead of \textit{tamed} almost complex structures. This way, the framework of \cite{FS88} directly applies to compatible $J$ and we have a proper action for free. Indeed, the proof of \cite{FS88} carries over to tamed almost complex structures with no essential difficulties, but we choose to be more pedagogical. Discussions in Section \ref{s:freeact} and \ref{s:surj} will refer to results we proved in earlier sections, but all of them are about properties of $J$-holomorphic curves therefore works equally well in tamed or compatible settings.
\end{rmk}
\subsection{The proper free action of \texorpdfstring{ $Symp_h$}{Symp} on \texorpdfstring{$\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}^c_4$}{Jw-X4}, and its associated fibration}\label{s:freeact}
By Lemma \ref{primeaction},$Symp_h$ naturally acts on $\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}^c_4$. In this section, we will use the framework in \cite{FS88} to study this group action and establish the associated fibration in Lemma \ref{fiblocsection}. Note that Theorem 3.3 in \cite{FS88} assures that this group action is proper.
We start our proof of the freeness of this action by analyzing the configuration of $J$-holomorphic curves.
\begin{figure}[ht]
\centering
\[
\xy
(-5, -10)*{};(85, -10)* {}**\dir{-};
(99, -10)* {E_5};
(0, 0)*{}; (0, -70)*{}**\dir{-};
(0, 1)*{H-E_1-E_5};
(20, 0)*{}; (20, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(20, -25)*{H-E_2-E_5};
(40, 0)*{}; (40, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(40, 1)*{H-E_3-E_5};
(60, 0)*{}; (60, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(60, -25)*{H-E_4-E_5};
(80, 0)*{}; (80, -20)*{}**\dir[red, ultra thick, domain=0:6]{-};
(80, 1)*{2H-E_1-\cdots -E_5};
(-5, -30)*{};(5, -30)* {}**\dir{-};
(-6, -30)* {E_1};
(-5, -40)*{};(5, -40)* {}**\dir{-};
(17, -40)* {H-E_2-E_3};
(-5, -50)*{};(5, -50)* {}**\dir{-};
(17, -50)* {H-E_2-E_4};
(-5, -60)*{};(5, -60)* {}**\dir{-};
(17, -60)* {H-E_3-E_4};
(2, -12)*{p};
\endxy
\]
\caption{Homology classes of configuration with two minimal exceptional classes for $\omega \in MA.$}
\label{cfigd}
\end{figure}
\begin{lma}\label{inter1}
Given a reduced form $\omega \in MA$ and take a configuration of homology classes as in Figure \ref{cfigd} (each line represents a possibly singular curve with the given homology class).
If $J\in \mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}^c_4$, then the $J$-holomorphic representative of $E_5$ and $H-E_1-E_5$ is smoothly embedded.
Moreover, each $J-$holomorphic representative of the vertical classes $H-E_i-E_5$ for $i=1,\cdots,4$ and $2H-E_1-\cdots-E_5$ (which are not necessarily smooth), intersect the embedded curve in class $E_5$ exactly once at a single point. And the same holds for $H-E_1-E_5$ intersecting the horizontal classes.
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
Let's recall from Theorem \ref{t:Pin} (Lemma 2.1 in \cite{Pin08}) that an exceptional class with minimal area always has a pseudo-holomorphic embedded representative. This applies to $E_5$ and $H-E_1-E_5$, therefore, the corresponding curves are always embedded.
For the second statement, we'll just prove for $E_5$, and the proof for $H-E_1-E_5$ is very similar.
We use $H, E_1,\cdots, E_5,$ as the basis of $H_2(X,\mathbb{Z}).$ Denote $e_i=H-E_i-E_5$, $i=2,3,4$ and $e_5= 2H-\sum^5_{i=1} E_i$. From the homological pairing and positivity of intersections, what we need to show is that $e_i$ does not have a stable representative that contains a $E_5$-component or its multiple covers.
Let $A$ be one of $e_i$. Assume $A= \sum_k A_k$ is the decomposition of homology classes given by the stable representative. From our assumption on the almost complex structure, $\{A_k\}$ must consist of rational curves with self-intersection at least $(-2)$. From Proposition \ref{sphere}, the underlying simple curves in the decomposition could have 4 type of classes: $ B,kF, D_j \in \mathcal{S}^{-1}, G_k \in S^{-2}.$ Performing a base change \eqref{BH}, the $\{A_k\}$ could have $ H-E_2,k(H-E_1), D_j \in \mathcal{S}^{-1}, G_k \in S^{-2}$.
Again by Proposition \ref{sphere}, the only class with negative $H$-coefficients are of the form $(k+1)E_1-kH -\sum_j E_j$, while $k\ge1$. Since these curves have squares less than $-2$, we conclude that each $A_k$ has a non-negative coefficient on $H$. Now we can analyze all possible decomposition $\{A_k\}$ in the configuration in Figure \ref{cfigd} as follows.
\begin{itemize}
\item For $A=H-E_i-E_5,$ there should be exactly one simple component that has the form $A_1=H-\sum_{i_m} E_{i_m}$, $m\le 3$, and other components take the form of $E_1- E_j$, or $E_j$, or their multiple covers from the consideration of $H$-coefficients. Note that $m=2$ cannot hold. Otherwise, the sum of coefficients of all $E_i$'s across all the components in the decomposition $\ge(-1)$, because $E_1-E_j$ components contribute zero and $E_j$ components contribute positively, a contradiction. If $m=3$, by comparing the $\omega$-area, we have $E_{i_m}\neq E_1$. To have a component of $kE_5$ in the decomposition for $k\ge1$, one must have at least $k$ copies of $E_1-E_5$ in the rest of components other than $A_1$, counting multiplicities. However, the total homology class of such a configuration will have positive coefficient in $E_1$, again a contradiction.
\item For $A=2H-\sum^5_{j=1} E_j$, if the decomposition has an $kE_5$-component for $k\ge1$, the sum of $E_i$-coefficients in the rest of the components must be at most $-6$. Again the simple components that could possibly take positive $H$-coefficients are of the form $H-\sum_{i_m} E_{i_m}$, $m\le3$, and there can be at most two of them, counting multiplicities. Since $E_1-E_j$ and $E_j$ contributes non-negatively to total $E_i$-coefficients, both $H$-components have to have $m=3$. But the area consideration prevents any $i_m=1$, hence such a configuration will always have a non-negative total coefficient in $E_1$, which is a contradiction.
\end{itemize}
\end{proof}
\begin{lma}\label{4free}
For a given form $\omega \in MA,$ the action of $Symp_h$ on $\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}^c_4$ is free. And hence $\pi_i(Symp_h)=\pi_{i+1}(\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}^c_4)/Symp_h$ for $i=0,1$.
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
For freeness, we will analyze the unique (stable) rational curves of homology classes in Figure \ref{cfigd}.
Suppose $\varphi\in Symp_h(X,\omega)$ fixes $J$. Denote $J(A)$ the $J$-holomorphic representative of the class $A$. Suppose $J \in \mathcal{X}^c_0$, all $J(A)$ are irreducible and both $J(E_5)$ and $J(H-E_1-E_5)$ have five distinct geometric intersections with other curves in the picture. Since $\varphi$ fixes $J$, all these intersections must be fixed points, hence $J(E_5)$ and $J(H-E_1-E_5)$ are pointwise fixed.
Consider $p=J(E_5) \cap J(H-E_1-E_5)$ be the unique intersection, under the metric paired from $\omega$ and $J$, the exponential map at $p$ shows that every point is fixed under this action, and hence the action $i$ itself is identity in $Symp_h(X,\omega)$. This means the action of $Symp_h(X,\omega)$ on $\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}$ is free.
In general, pick any $J \in \mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}^c_4,$ the bubbles could occur. Both $J(E_5)$ and $J(H-E_1-E_5)$ have simple representatives because they have minimal area and cannot bubble. Lemma \ref{inter1} further shows $J(E_5)$ or $J(H-E_1-E_5)$ must intersect other curves in the configuration at finitely many points, since they cannot underlie a bubble.
While the geometric intersections between $J(E_5)$ and two different vertical curves in Figure \ref{cfigd} can collide (except for $J(E_5)\cap J(H-E_1-E_5)$), we argue there must be at least three distinct intersections, and the same assertion also holds for $J(H-E_1-E_5)$. All possibilities of numbers of distinct geometric intersections are listed in Table \ref{gip} using the labeling set $\mathcal{C}\subset S^{\leq -2}$ for the prime submanifold $\mathcal{J}^c_{\mathcal{C}}$ where $J$ belongs to. Indeed, $\mathcal{C}$ is either empty or has a single square $-2$ class that admits a $J$-representative.
We spell out one of the entries in the table and the rest can be checked similarly with ease. If $J(H-E_3-E_4-E_5)$ exists, $J(H-E_3-E_5)$, $J(H-E_4-E_5)$ and $J(2H-E_1-\cdots-E_5)$ must contain it as a component. We claim the resulting curve configuration must consist of an embedded copy of $J(H-E_3-E_4-E_5)$ with another exceptional curve. For example, $\omega((H-E_3-E_5)-(H-E_3-E_4-E_5))=\omega(E_4)$ is the minimal area of all exceptional curves. Since the stable configuration must contain at least one exceptional curve from Theorem \ref{t:Pin}, the configuration must consists of $J(E_4)$ and $J(H-E_3-E_4-E_5)$, and similarly for $J(H-E_4-E_5)$ and $J(2H-E_1-\cdots-E_5)$. For $J(H-E_1-E_5)$, if it bubbles, then it has to contain a component which is $J(H-E_3-E_4-E_5)$. Since the $H$-coefficient has to be non-negative for all components (otherwise, $J$ falls into a strata that allows curve more negative than $(-2)$ by \ref{sphere}), this $J(H-E_3-E_4-E_5)$-component is simple. Therefore, the rest of the components will have a total class of $E_3+E_4-E_1$. Again from \ref{sphere}, we see that there must be at least a component of class $E_3-E_1$ or $E_4-E_1$, contradicting that fact that $J$ only allows a single $(-2)$-sphere class. A similar argument shows $J(H-E_2-E_5)$ must be embedded. Therefore, there are three geometric intersections between $E_5$ and stable representatives of the vertical classes.
The rest of the argument follows exactly that of $J\in\mathcal{X}^c_0$, since a bi-holomorphism with three fixed points on a rational curve must be the identity. The lemma hence follows.
\begin{table}[ht]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{||c| c | c ||}
\hline\hline
element in $\mathcal{C}$& $\#$ of g.i.p. on $E_5$ & $\#$ of g.i.p. on $H-E_1-E_5$ \\ [0.5ex]
\hline\hline
$H-E_2-E_3 -E_5$& 3 & 5 \\
\hline
$H-E_2-E_4 -E_5 $& 3 & 5 \\
\hline
$H-E_3-E_4 -E_5 $& 3 & 5 \\
\hline
$E_1-E_5$& 3 & 5 \\
\hline
$H-E_2-E_3 -E_4 $& 5 & 3\\
\hline
$E_1-E_2$ & 5 & 3 \\
\hline
$E_1-E_3$& 5 & 3 \\
\hline
$E_1-E_4$& 5 & 3 \\
\hline\hline
\end{tabular}
\caption{number of geometric intersection points (g.i.p.) for $J \in \mathcal{J}^c_{\mathcal{C}}$.}
\label{gip}
\end{center}
\end{table}
\end{proof}
\begin{lma}
$\mathcal{X}^c_4$ is closed in $\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}$. Consequently, $(\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}^c_4)$ is a Fr\'echet manifold.
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
This follows from Gromov convergence. Suppose $J_i\in\mathcal{X}^c_4$ is a convergent sequence to $J\in(\mathcal{J}^c-\mathcal{X}^c_4)$, then one of the following two cases hold:
\begin{enumerate}
\item[(i)] Infinitely many $J_i$'s admits a $J_i$-rational curve with classes $B_i^2<-2$.
\item[(ii)] Infinitely many $J_i$ admits at least two $J_i$-rational curves with $B_{i,\delta}^2=-2$ with different homology classes, $\delta=0,1$.
\end{enumerate}
In both cases, since we have only finitely many possible homology classes $B_i$ from Lemma \ref{sphere} and area constraints (say, $\omega(B-kF)$ can only be positive for finitely many $k$), we can extract a subsequence from $\{B_i\}$ or $\{B_{i,\delta}\}$. That is, without loss of generality, we may assume $B_i=B_j$ in the first case, and $B_{i,\delta}=B_{j,\delta}$ for $\delta=0,1$ and all $i,j$ in the second case.
In case (i), the limit of $J_i(B_i)$ must be a stable curve consisting of components with $J(D_{ij})^2\ge-2$ from the assumption on $J$. But all these components have $c_1(D_{ij})\ge0$ while $c_1(B_i)<0$, a contradiction.
In case (ii), each of $J(B_{i,\delta})$ must converge to a stable curve. Since $c_1(B_{i,\delta})=0$, and all except one spherical class of $J$, say $D$, has $c_1>0$. This means the limit of $B_{i,\delta}$ can contain only a multiple cover of $D$, but they must be different. But $D^2=-2$, so $B_{i,\delta}^=-2$ cannot hold for both $\delta$, again a contradiction.
\end{proof}
Based on the slice theorem (Theorem 5.6, Corollary 5.3 in \cite{FS88}), we can prove the following fibration lemma from a standard argument. In Appendix \ref{s:proper}, we'll recall the theorems in \cite{FS88} and give a detailed proof.
\begin{lma}\label{fiblocsection}
The orbit space $(\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{J}^c_4)/Symp_h$ is Hausdorff and locally modelled on Fr\'echet spaces. The orbit projection of the free proper action $Symp_h$ on $(\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{J}^c_4)$ is a fibration with fiber $Symp_h$.
\end{lma}
\begin{lma}\label{JJ41}
We have an isomorphism $\pi_1[(\mathcal{J}^c-\mathcal{X}^c_4)/Symp_h]\cong\pi_0(Symp_h).$
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
From the long exact sequence of the action-orbit fibration
$$ Symp_h \to (\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{J}^c_4)\to (\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{J}^c_4)/Symp_h,$$ we have
$$ \pi_1(Symp_h ) \to \pi_1(\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{J}^c_4) \to \pi_1((\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{J}^c_4)/Symp_h ) \to \pi_0(Symp_h ) \to 0, $$
while $\pi_1(\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{J}^c_4)\cong1$ from considering the codimension.
\end{proof}
\subsection{Surjectivity of \texorpdfstring{ $\pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega_{\mathbb{D}_4})) \to \pi_0(\mbox{Diff}^+(S^2,4))$} {PB4} for a rational \texorpdfstring{$\omega_{\mathbb{D}_4}$ }{wD4}}\label{s:surj}
This section is the technical heart of the proof of Theorem \ref{p:8p4}. We will define the remaining ingredients of equation \eqref{e:key}, including $\mathcal{Q}_5$ and the three maps $\alpha, \beta, \gamma$. We also verify the commutativity of the maps and the surjectivity of $\beta^*$.
\subsubsection{The \texorpdfstring{ $\alpha$}{alpha}-map} \label{subsub:the_alpha}
We first address the definition of $\mathcal{Q}_5$ and the definition of $\alpha$ in \eqref{e:key}. Consider a universal family of del Pezzo surfaces of degree $4$. In explicit terms, this is a family $\mathcal{Y}\to \mathcal{U}:=(\mathbb{C}P^2)^5\backslash \Delta$, where $\Delta$ is an ``extended big diagonal'' where two of the components of $(z_1,\cdots,z_5)\in (\mathbb{C}P^2)^5$ coincide, or when three components lie on the same line. Each point $u\in\mathcal{U}$ corresponds to a configuration of five points, the fiber $\mathcal{Y}_u$ is the del Pezzo surface by blowing up $z_1,\cdots, z_5$ on $\mathbb{C}P^2$. The construction of $\mathcal{Y}$ is straightforward: consider a trivial family over $\mathcal{U}$ with fiber equal $\mathbb{C}P^2$, there are five canonical sections $s_1,\cdots,s_5$ given by the position of the five components, and $\mathcal{Y}$ is the blow-up of these sections.
Note that it is crucial for the rest of our discussions that the points are ordered, so that we have a well-defined basis of $H_2(\mathcal{Y}_u,\mathbb{Z})$ over each $u$.
$\mathcal{Q}_5$ is a partial compactification of $\mathcal{U}$ constructed as follows. First of all, consider $(\mathbb{C}P^2)^5$ blown up on $\Delta$, giving an exceptional divisor $\overline\Delta$. This creates many strata in the discriminant locus but we will discard all strata of complex codimension $\ge2$, and the remaining open subset will be denoted as $\overline\mathcal{U}$. Again on the trivial family of $\mathbb{C}P^2$ over $\overline\mathcal{U}$, sections $s_i$ extends to $\overline s_i$ for all $i$, then we choose to first blow-up $\overline s_1$, then the proper transform of the rest of $\overline s_i$. The resulting family $\overline\mathcal{Y}\to \overline\mathcal{U}$ can also be described by the fibers. For example, if $\overline u\in \overline\mathcal{U}$ is on the discriminant locus where $z_1=z_2$, $\overline u$ also specifies tangent direction where the two points come together. Then the fiber is a rational surface of five blow-ups obtained by first blowing up a point $z_1$ and $z_3,z_4,z_5$, then blow-up $z_2$ on the exceptional divisor $E_1$, the position of $z_2$ is determined by the tangent direction that was remembered earlier.
Other rational surfaces over the exceptional divisor $\overline\Delta$ are similar. Besides the collisions of other pairs of points, they also include blowing up three points on the same line in $\mathbb{C}P^2$, etc, which will not give del Pezzo surfaces. We may label irreducible components of $\overline\Delta$ by negative rational curves. For example, when $\overline u\in\overline\Delta$ is a point where $z_1=z_2$, then the rational surface on the fiber admits a rational curve of class $E_1-E_2$; while $\overline u$ is a point where $z_1,z_2,z_3$ are on the same line, then the fiber admits a rational curve of class $H-E_1-E_2-E_3$, etc. An irreducible component of $\overline\Delta$ that admits a unique $(-2)$ rational curve of class $S$ will be denoted as $[S]\subset \overline\Delta$.
In the remainder of our discussions, we will consider $\mathcal{U}\cup\bigcup_{i=1}^5[E_1-E_i]\cup\bigcup_{2\le i,j,k\le5}[H-E_i-E_j-E_k])$. We claim that the diagonal action of $PGL(3,\mathbb{C})$ acts on this set freely. The action can be explicitly described as follows. For a del Pezzo surface $\mathcal{Y}_u$ in $\mathcal{U}$ or $[H-E_i-E_j-E_k]$, the blow-down of $E_1$ through $E_5$ gives a quintuple of points $\{p_1,\cdots,p_5\}$ where an element $g\in PGL(3,\mathbb{C})$ acts on, and $g\mathcal{Y}_u$ is the blow-up of $\{g(p_1),\cdots,g(p_5)\}$.
For $\bar u\in[E_1-E_i]$, the blow-downs yields a quardruple $\{p_1,p_j,p_k,p_l\}$, where $\{i,j,k,l\}=\{2,3,4,5\}$, along with a tangent direction marked by $p_i$. Note that no triples of $\{p_1,p_j,p_k,p_l\}$ lie on the same line. $g$ again acts on these four points as well as the tangent direction at $p_1$, then the blow-up is performed first at $p_1,p_i,p_j,p_k$, then the tangent direction specified by $p_i$.
Therefore, the free action follows from the fact that $PGL(3,\mathbb{C})$ acts 4-transitively on $\mathbb{C} P^2$ and there is no stabilizer for points in $\overline\mathcal{U}$. The whole construction can be regarded as a partial compactification of the moduli space of del Pezzo surfaces of degree $4$.
\begin{dfn}\label{q5}
We define
\begin{equation}\label{e:q5}
\mathcal{Q}_5:=(\mathcal{U}\cup\bigcup_{i=1}^5[E_1-E_i]\cup\bigcup_{2\le i,j,k\le5}[H-E_i-E_j-E_k])/PGL(3,\mathbb{C})\subset \overline \mathcal{U}/PGL(3,\mathbb{C}).
\end{equation}
\end{dfn}
\begin{lma}\label{alpha}
For a rational point $\omega \in MA,$
there exists a well defined continuous map
$$\alpha: \mathcal{Q}_5 \quad \mapsto (\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}^c_4)/Symp_h.$$
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
Up to a rescaling, we can write $PD([l\omega]) = aH - b'E_1-bE_2-bE_3-bE_4-bE_5 $ with $a, b'>b \in \mathbb{Z}^{>0},$ and $a=b'+2b.$
Consider the divisor $D$ of $\mathcal{Y}$, which is a linear combination of the universal line class (where over each fiber has class $H$) and the canonical exceptional divisors by the blow-ups of $s_i$, so that over each fiber $\mathcal{Y}_q$ we have $[D_q]=PD([l\omega]) = aH - b'E_1-bE_2-bE_3-bE_4-bE_5 $ for $q\in\mathcal{Q}_5$. Clearly, $D_q\cdot C_q >0,$ where $C_q$ is any curve in $\mathcal{Y}_q$, and we also have $D_q\cdot D_q>0.$ Hence $D$ is a relative ample divisor which induces a family of embeddings of $\mathcal{Y}_q$ into $\mathbb{C}P^N$.
Equipping $\mathbb{P} H^0(X;D)$ with a fiberwise Fubini-Study form, one has a fiberwise symplectic structure on $\mathcal{Y}_q$, diffeomorphic through some $\iota_q$ to $\omega$ from \cite{McD96}. For each fiber $\mathcal{Y}_q$, the embedding pulls back the complex structure $J_0$, and pushes to a $J_q$ through $\iota_q$, which gives an integrable almost complex structure $\iota_q(J_q) \in J_{\omega}.$ Two different choices of $\iota_q$ (when monodromies are involved) differ by a symplectomorphism in $Symp_h(X,\omega)$, and all these almost complex structures does not admit curves of self-intersection $<-2$ or two different $(-2)$ rational curve classes. Hence this construction yields a well-defined continuous map $$\alpha: \mathcal{Q}_5 \quad \mapsto (\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}^c_4)/Symp_h.$$
\end{proof}
By Lemma \ref{4free}, $\pi_1 ((\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}^c_4)/Symp_h) = \pi_0(Symp_h)$, and hence $\alpha$ gives the map:
\begin{equation}\label{delta}
\delta: \pi_1(\mathcal{Q}_5 ) \quad \mapsto \pi_0(Symp_h).
\end{equation}
We remark that $\delta$ is the monodromy map of the family $\overline\mathcal{Y}$, and those around the meridian of $[E_i-E_j]$ for $2\le i,j\le4$ are precisely the ball-swapping maps, but this observation will not be used in the rest of the proof.
For the remainder of \eqref{e:key}, we consider the configuration in Figure \ref{conf} of homology classes
\begin{figure}[ht]
\centering
\[
\xy
(0, -10)*{};(60, -10)* {}**\dir{-};
(90, -10)* {2H-E_1-E_2-E_3-E_4-E_5};
(10, 5)*{}; (10, -25)*{}**\dir{-};
(10, -28)*{E_1};
(20, 0)*{}; (20, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(20, -25)*{E_2};
(30, 0)*{}; (30, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(30, -25)*{E_3};
(40, 0)*{}; (40, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(40, -25)*{E_4};
(50, 0)*{}; (50, -20)*{}**\dir[red, ultra thick, domain=0:6]{-};
(50, -25)*{E_5};
\endxy
\]
\caption{Configuration of exceptional classes for $\omega \in MA$/ Embedded components for $J\in \mathcal{J}^c_{open}$.}
\label{conf}
\end{figure}
\subsubsection{The \texorpdfstring{$\beta$}{beta}-map}
\label{sub:the_}
Recall that for an $[\omega]\in MA,$ $E_2, E_3, E_4, E_5$ have the minimal area among exceptional classes. Therefore, for any almost complex structure $J\in\mathcal{J}^c_\omega$, the classes $E_2, E_3, E_4, E_5$ always have pseudo-holomorphic simple representatives by Theorem \ref{t:Pin}.
For a $J \in \mathcal{J}^c_{open}=\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}^c_2,$ each class in Figure \ref{conf} has an embedded representative. The rational curve $J(2H-E_1-\cdots-E_5)$ intersects $J(E_i)$ at a point $p_i$, $2\le i\le5$, which gives a set of four points $\{p_2,p_3,p_4,p_5\}\subset J(2H-E_1-\cdots-E_5)=\mathbb{C}P^1$. We define this configuration to be $\beta(J)\in\mathcal{B}_4$.
The codimension-$2$ strata can be divided into two kinds. We denote $\mathcal{J}^c_{2H-E_1}$ to be the union of $\mathcal{J}^c_{\mathcal{C}}$ where $\mathcal{C}$ is
$\{E_1-E_5$\},
$\{E_1-E_2\}$,
$\{E_1-E_3\}$, or
$\{E_1-E_4$\}. Take $\mathcal{J}^c_{\{E_1-E_2\}}$ as an example, the stable representatives of classes in Figure \ref{conf} is
\begin{figure}[ht]
\centering
\[
\xy
(0, -10)*{};(60, -10)* {}**\dir{-};
(90, -10)* {2H-E_1-E_2-E_3-E_4-E_5};
(10, 0)*{}; (10, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(10, -25)*{E_2};
(0, -2)*{}; (20, -2)*{}**\dir{-};
(10, 1)*{E_1-E_2};
(30, 0)*{}; (30, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(30, -25)*{E_3};
(40, 0)*{}; (40, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(40, -25)*{E_4};
(50, 0)*{}; (50, -20)*{}**\dir[red, ultra thick, domain=0:6]{-};
(50, -25)*{E_5};
\endxy
\]
\caption{ Embedded components for $J\in \mathcal{J}^c_{2H-E_1}$.}
\label{conf2H}
\end{figure}
In this case when $J\in \mathcal{J}^c_{2H-E_1},$ we again take the curve $J(2H-E_1-\cdots-E_5)$, along with its intersection points $p_i:=J(2H-E_1-\cdots-E_5)\cap J(E_i)$ for $i\ge2$, which again yields an element $\beta(J)\in\mathcal{B}_4$.
The rest of codimension-$2$ strata, denoted $\mathcal{J}^c_{H}$, are the union of $\mathcal{J}^c_{\mathcal{C}}$ where $\mathcal{C}$ is
$\{H-E_2-E_3 -E_5 \}$,
$\{H-E_2-E_4 -E_5\}$,
$\{H-E_3-E_4 -E_5\}$, or
$\{H-E_2-E_3 -E_4 \}$. Take $\mathcal{J}^c_{\{H-E_2-E_3 -E_4 \}}$ as an example, the stable representatives of classes in Figure \ref{conf} is
\begin{figure}[ht]
\centering
\[
\xy
(0, -10)*{};(60, -10)* {}**\dir{-};
(90, -10)* {H-E_2-E_3-E_4};
(10, 15)*{}; (10, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(10, -25)*{ H-E_1-E_5};
(0, 0)*{}; (20, 0)*{}**\dir{-};
(0, -2)*{E_5};
(0, 10)*{}; (20, 10)*{}**\dir{-};
(0, 8)*{E_1};
(30, 0)*{}; (30, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(30, -25)*{E_2};
(40, 0)*{}; (40, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(40, -25)*{E_3};
(50, 0)*{}; (50, -20)*{}**\dir[red, ultra thick, domain=0:6]{-};
(50, -25)*{E_4};
\endxy
\]
\caption{ Embedded components for $J\in \mathcal{J}^c_{H}$.}
\label{confH}
\end{figure}
If $J\in \mathcal{J}^c_{H},$ we consider the unique $(-2)$ curve $J(H-E_i-E_j-E_k)$, and the last stable curve is $H-E_1-E_l$, where $\{i,j,k,l\}=\{2,3,4,5\}$. Then we define $p_l:=J(H-E_i-E_j-E_k)\cap J(H-E_1-E_l)$, and $p_I:=J(H-E_i-E_j-E_k)\cap J(E_I)$ for $I\neq l$. Therefore, $\{p_i,p_j,p_k,p_l\}\subset J(H-E_i-E_j-E_k)$ forms an element in $\mathcal{B}_4$, which is defined to be $\beta(J)$.
An alternative point of view will be useful. Take the ``base curve'' $J(2H-E_1\cdots-E_5)$ for $\mathcal{J}^c_{open}$ and $\mathcal{J}^c_{2H-E_1}$, and $J(H-E_i-E_j-E_k)$ for $\mathcal{J}^c_H$. Consider each of them as the image of $J$-holomorphic map $u$ with four marked points, where $u(0)=p_2, u(1)=p_3, u(\infty)=p_4$, and the fourth marked point $u(z)=p_5$. Then $\beta(J)$ is precisely the domain of $u$, i.e. $(\mathbb{C}P^1, 0,1,\infty,z)$.
The above definition of $\beta$ on various strata are well-defined: given $\phi\in Symp(X,\omega)$, the corresponding curve configuration is pushed forward along with $J$. Therefore, the four-point configuration on the underlying $\mathbb{C}P^1$ remains in the same conjugacy class.
The continuity of $\beta$ on $\mathcal{J}^c_{open}$ and $\mathcal{J}^c_{2H-E_1}$ is clear because no bubbling of $E_i$ is involved for $i\ge2$. For $J\in \mathcal{J}^c_H$, we focus on the stratum $\mathcal{J}^c_{H-E_2-E_3-E_4}$ without loss of generality. Recall the reparametrization process in Gromov compactness (cf. Theorem 4.7.1 of \cite{MS04} ): take a sequence of $J^i\in \mathcal{J}^c_{open}$ that converges to $J$, the curve $J^i(2H-E_1-\cdots-E_5)$ converges to the union of $J(H-E_2-E_3-E_4)$ and $J(H-E_1-E_5)$. Consider $J(H-E_2-E_3-E_4)$ as the image of a $J$-holomorphic map $u:\mathbb{C}P^1\to\mathbb{C}P^2\#5\overline\mathbb{C}P^2$ as above, and denote the pre-image of the intersection $u^{-1}(J(H-E_1-E_5)\cap J(H-E_2-E_3-E_4)):=z_0\in\mathbb{C}P^1$. Consider the corresponding $J^i$-holomorphic maps $u^i$ and fix the parametrization of $J^i(2H-E_1-\cdots-E_5)$ by requiring $u^i(0)=p^i_2, u^i(1)=p^i_3, u^i(\infty)=p^i_4$ as above, where $p^i_k=J^i(E_k)\cap J^i(2H-E_1-\cdots-E_5)$ for $k=2,3,4,5$. Further, denote the pre-image of $p^i_5$ by $z^i$. Then $z^i$ in the domain of $u_i$ lies in a disk $D_{\epsilon_i}(z_0)$ of radius $\epsilon_i\to 0$, by the bubble connect Theorem (Theorem 4.7.1 of \cite{MS04}). Therefore, one can see that $z^i$ converges to the node when $J^i\to J$, that is, the intersection between $J(H-E_2-E_3-E_4)$ and $J(H-E_1-E_5)$, as desired.
This gives the continuous map as stated:
$$\beta: (\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}^c_4)/Symp_h \to \mathcal{B}_4.$$
\subsubsection{The \texorpdfstring{$\gamma$}{gamma}-map, and the conclusion of Theorem \ref{p:8p4}}
\label{sub:the_gamma}
For the section map $\gamma$, we want to construct a rational surface with Euler number eight (or rather its integral complex structure) associated to $[p_2,p_3,p_4,p_5]\in\mathcal{B}_4= \mbox{Conf}_4^{ord}(\mathbb{C} P^1)/PGL_2(\mathbb{C})$.
Consider the inclusion of $\mathcal{B}_4\hookrightarrow\overline\mathcal{B}_5=\overline{\mbox{Conf}^{ord}_5(\mathbb{C}P^1)/PGL_2(C)}$ by sending $(z,[1,0],[0,1],[1,1])$ to $(z_0:=[2,1],z,[1,0],[0,1],[1,1])$, where the overline denotes a partial compactification such that $z$ is allowed to collide with $z_0$. Fix a quadric $u:\mathbb{C}P^1\to\mathbb{C}P^2$, we define a map by sending $(z,[1,0],[0,1],[1,1])$ to the blow-up of $(u(z_0),u(z),u([1,0]),u([0,1]),u([1,1]))$ if $z\neq z_0$. If $z=z_0$, first blow-up $(u(z),u([1,0]),u([0,1]),u([1,1]))$, then the intersection between the exceptional divisor from $u(z)$ and the proper transform of the quadric.
One sees that this map is well-defined because the reparametrization on the quadric can be lifted to an element in $PGL_3(\mathbb{C})$.
Recall that, $PGL_3(\mathbb{C})$ acts transitively on the strata consisting of irreducible curves in the linear system of conics (see \cite[Corollary 3.12]{Kirwan92}). A direct computation shows that the stabilizer is $PGL_2(\mathbb{C})$.\footnote{Readers who prefer to avoid computations may find the following argument based on Gromov-Witten theory appealing. Given any element $g\in PGL_2(\mathbb{C})$ acting on the domain of the quadric $u$. Since $PGL_3(\mathbb{C})$ is $4$-transitive, one may find a complex curve $S\subset PGL_3(\mathbb{C})$, so that for $g_1\in C$, we have $g_1(p_i)=u\circ g(p_i)$ and $g_1(p_4)\in u(\mathbb{C}P^1)$. As we vary $g_1$ by moving $g_1(p_4)$, the evaluation $g_1(p_5)$ swipes out a holomorphic cycle which bounds to intersect $u(\mathbb{C}P^1)$, where one obtains a desired lift $\widetilde g$.} In other words, the action of any $g\in PGL_2(\mathbb{C})$ on a conic can be extended to an element $\widetilde g\in PGL_3(\mathbb{C})$.
With this understood, we are ready to prove the following key result of the section.
\begin{prp}\label{beta}
For any rational symplectic form $\omega \in MA,$ the composition of $ \beta\circ \alpha \circ \gamma $ is an identity map on $\mathcal{B}_4.$
\begin{equation
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node at (9,0) (a) {$\mathcal{Q}_5$};
\node[right =2.5cm of a] (b){$(\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}^c_4)/Symp_h$};
\node[right =2.5cm of b] (c){$\mathcal{B}_4$};
\draw[->,>=stealth] (a) --node[above]{$\alpha$} (b);
\draw[->,>=stealth] (b) --node[above]{$\beta$} (c);
\draw[->,>=stealth] (c) edge[bend right=30]node[below]{$\gamma$}(a);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{equation}
Consequently, the map $\pi_0(Symp_h(X))\cong\pi_1((\mathcal{J}^c_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}^c_4)/Symp_h(X)) \twoheadrightarrow PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2\cong\pi_1(\mathcal{B}_4)$ is surjective for a rational symplectic form $\omega \in MA$.
\end{prp}
\begin{proof}
Let $M=(\mathbb{C} P^2\# 5\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}, \omega)$ and $\omega\in MA.$ Given a configuration $\bar z:=(z,[1,0],[0,1],[1,1])$, $\gamma(\bar z)$ is a rational surface as defined above. By construction, it has a unique rational curve in the class $2H-E_1-\cdots-E_5$, whose intersection with $E_2,\cdots,E_5$ represents the configuration $\bar z$.
The $\alpha$ map takes the complex structure of the rational surface, use some symplectomorphism from an appropriately chosen K\"ahler form to our choice of $(\mathbb{C}P^2\#5\overline\mathbb{C}P^2,\omega)$ to push forward the integrable complex structure. Note that $\alpha\circ\gamma(\mathcal{B}_4)$ only includes almost complex structures in $\mathcal{J}^c_{2H-E_1}$ but not $\mathcal{J}^c_{H}$ by the definition of $\gamma$. Therefore, it does not change the fact that, the unique rational curve $J(2H-E_1-\cdots-E_5)$ has a configuration given by the intersections with $J(E_2),\cdots,J(E_5)$, and this configuration is the original four-point configuration $\bar z\in\mathcal{B}_4$. By definition, $\beta$ takes this almost complex structure $\alpha\circ\gamma(\bar z)$ back to $\bar z$.
\end{proof}
\subsection{Conclusion for an arbitrary type \texorpdfstring{$\mathbb{D}_4$}{D4} form and Main Theorem 1}
We can now complete the proof of Theorem \ref{p:8p4}:
\begin{proof}
Denote $G=PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$, and $H=\pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ for a rational $\omega$ where $N_{\omega}= 8$. By Lemma \ref{beta}, there is a surjective homomorphism $\beta^*: H \twoheadrightarrow G$; and by Lemma \ref{gh}, a surjective homomorphism $\psi: G \twoheadrightarrow H$. Then by Lemma \ref{hopfcomp}, $G$ and $H$ are isomorphic,
which means $\pi_0(Symp_h(X))=PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2.$
This concludes the first part of Theorem \ref{p:8p4} for rational $\omega$. Proposition \ref{nonbalstab} extends this result to any point $\omega \in MA$, therefore, we have $\pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega))=PB_4(S^2/\mathbb{Z}_2)$ for all $\omega\in MA$.
For the second part, it is clear that
$Im(\phi)$ is a normal subgroup of $PB_5(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$.
From \eqref{forgetstrand}, we know $\pi_1(S^2-\{\hbox{4 points}\}))$ is a normal subgroup of $PB_5(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$. It's also a subgroup of $Im(\phi)$, by Lemma \ref{gh}, and hence $\pi_1(S^2-\{\hbox{4 points}\}))$ is normal in $Im(\phi)$. Suppose $Im(\phi)/ (\pi_1(S^2-\{\hbox{4 points}\}))=K,$ then by the third isomorphism theorem of groups, $\pi_0(Symp_h(X,\omega))= (PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2)/K = PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2.$
Since $PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$ is Hopfian, it is not isomorphic to its proper quotient. Hence $K$ is trivial and $ Im(\phi)=\pi_1(S^2-\{\hbox{4 points}\})$.
\end{proof}
\begin{rmk}
We are not going to address the relation between the generators in $Symp_h(X,\omega)$ explicitly here, but one may be convinced that the generators $A_{ij}$ are represented by the squares the Lagrangian Dehn twists. The relevant Lagrangian spheres are constructed in \cite{Wu13}, and the last author included a sketch of a possible approach to prove the identification of the $A_{ij}$ ball-swapping with the Lagrangian Dehn twist.
\end{rmk}
Note that so far we have covered the Torelli part ($\pi_0(Symp_h)$) of the Main Theorem \ref{t:main}. And the rest of Theorem \ref{t:main} is about the homological action, which follows from \cite{LW12}. Hence we have completed the proof of Main Theorem \ref{t:main}.
\section{On the fundamental group of \texorpdfstring{$Symp_h(X,\omega)$}{Symp}}\label{s:pi1}
In this section, we prove the Main Theorem 2 (Theorem \ref{t:main2}), which we rephrase as the following Proposition:
\begin{prp}\label{51}
For a 5 fold blow-up of $\mathbb{C} P^2$ with a reduced symplectic form $\omega$.
\begin{itemize}
\item If $\omega$ is of type $\mathbb{A}$, then the rank of $\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ is equal to $N_{\omega}-5$.
\item If $\omega$ is of type $\mathbb{D}_4$, then the rank of $\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ has rank 5.
\end{itemize}
\end{prp}
Note that $\pi_i(Symp(X,\omega))=\pi_i(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ for any $i\geq 1$. We'll also use the notation $\pi_1(Symp(X,\omega))$ or sometimes simply $\pi_1(Symp).$
\subsection{The upper bound and lower bound of \texorpdfstring{$\pi_1(Symp)$}{pi1}}
In \cite{McD08}, Dusa McDuff gave an approach to obtain the upper bound of
$\pi_1[Symp(X,\omega)]$, where $(X, \omega)$ is a symplectic rational 4 manifold.
We can follow the route of Proposition 6.4 in \cite{McD08} to give proof of the following result, refining \cite[Proposition 6.4, Corollary 6.9]{McD08}. See also \cite[Proposition 4.13]{LL16}.
\begin{lma}\label{l:mcduff64}
Let $(X,\omega)$ be a symplectic rational surface with $b_2(X)=r$, and $(\widetilde X,\widetilde\omega)$ be the blow-up of $X$ for $k$ times. If all the new exceptional divisor $E_i$ has equal area, and this area is strictly smaller than all exceptional divisors in $X$,
$$rank[\pi_1(Symp_h(\widetilde{X},\widetilde \omega))]\le rank[\pi_1(Symp_h({X},\omega))]+kr.$$
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
The proof is a simple combination of proof of McDuff's argument for \cite[Proposition 6.4, Corollary 6.9]{McD08} and Pinsonnault's theorem, Theorem \ref{t:Pin}. Pinsonnault's theorem removes the assumptions of minimality, and that the symplectic Kodaira dimension $\kappa(X)\ge0$ from McDuff's argument, but the rest of the argument follows word-by-word in \cite{McD08}, so we only offer a sketch below and refer interested readers to \cite{McD08} for details.
Consider the symplectic bundle $\widetilde P\to S^2$ with fiber $\widetilde X$ coming from a $\pi_1(Symp(\widetilde X, \widetilde \omega))$ element. Given a family of compatible almost complex structures, the classes $E_i$ each has an embedded representative on each fiber by Theorem \ref{t:Pin}. The unions over all fibers of these exceptional curves form $k$ symplectic submanifold that can be blown-down, yielding $k$ sections $s_i$ whose classes are spanned by $b_2(X)$. Since the equivalence class of bundles $\widetilde P$ only depends on the homotopy classes of $s_i$, $kr$ provides an upper bound on the dimension of their possible values.
\end{proof}
This has the following immediate corollary.
\begin{prp}\label{ubound}
Let $(X, \omega)$ be a symplectic rational surface with a given reduced form, $(\widetilde{X}_k, \widetilde{\omega})$ be the blow up of $X$ at $k$
points, and denote $r=b_2(X)$. Assume that the $k$ blowup are smaller than an arbitrary exceptional class of $X$.
If the $k$ blow-up sizes are distinct,
then
$$rank[\pi_1(Symp(\widetilde{X}_k, \widetilde{\omega})]\leq rank [\pi_1(Symp(X,\omega))] + rk+ k(k-1)/2;$$
and if the $k$ blowup sizes are the same, then
$$rank[\pi_1(Symp(\widetilde{X}_k, \widetilde{\omega})]\leq rank [\pi_1(Symp(X,\omega))] + rk,$$
\end{prp}
\begin{proof}
The second statement is Lemma \ref{l:mcduff64}. For the first statement, apply Lemma \ref{l:mcduff64} iteratively.
\end{proof}
Now let's try to compute the upper bound for a form $\omega\in MA,$ where $c_1>c_2=\cdots =c_5$. There are several methods, for example:
(1) we can start with the two-point blowup of $\mathbb{C} P^2$ where the blowup sizes are different (whose $\pi_1(Symp)$ has rank 3 by \cite{LP04}), then we can use Lemma \ref{l:mcduff64}, and have
$$ rank[\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))] \leq 3+ 3\times 3 =12.$$
(2) starting with a non-monotone one-point blowup of $\mathbb{C} P^2$ (whose $\pi_1(Symp)$ has rank 1 by \cite{AM00}), then we can use Lemma \ref{l:mcduff64} and have
$$ rank[\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))] \leq 1+ 2\times 4 =9.$$
From (2) we have the following corollary.
\begin{cor} \label{maub}
For a form $\omega\in MA,$ the rank of $\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ is at most 9.
\end{cor}
We also see that there might be different approaches computing the upper bound and one may wonder how to obtain the most effective upper bound from Proposiiton \ref{ubound}. In the next section, we'll give an algorithm to compute the optimal upper bound using Lemma \ref{l:mcduff64} and explicitly compute all the type $\mathbb{A}$ cases.
At this point, we look at the problem from a different perspective, through the associated homotopy sequence from \eqref{e:ES5pt}.
\begin{lma}\label{lbound}
Suppose $X=(\mathbb{C} P^2\# 5\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2},\omega)$ where $\omega$ is diffeomorphic to a $\mathbb{R} P^2$ packing form, then we have the exact sequence
\begin{equation}\label{e:ES5pt-Ab}
\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))\rightarrow H^1(\mathscr{C}_0) \xrightarrow[]{f} Ab(Im(\phi)) \rightarrow 1.
\end{equation}
In particular,
\begin{itemize}
\item if $Symp_h(X,\omega) $ is connected (which is the case when $[\omega]$ is not monotone nor in $MA$), ${N_{\omega}}-5\le rank[\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))]$;
\item if the form $[\omega]\in MA,$ then $5\le rank[\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))]$.
\end{itemize}
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
The sequence \eqref{e:ES5pt} yields
\begin{equation}\label{e:ES5pt-p4}
1\rightarrow \pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))\rightarrow \pi_1(\mathscr{C}_0) \rightarrow {Im(\phi)} \rightarrow 1.
\end{equation}
We consider the abelianization of this exact sequence. Since the abelianization functor is right exact and $ \pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ is abelian, we have the induced exact sequence \eqref{e:ES5pt-Ab}.
$$ \pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))\rightarrow H^1(\mathscr{C}_0) \xrightarrow[]{f} Ab(Im(\phi)) \rightarrow 1.$$
If $Symp_h$ is connected, since Lemma \ref{tran} implies $Symp_h$ acts transitively on homologous $(-2)$-symplectic spheres, the space of $(-2)$-symplectic spheres for a fixed homology class is also connected.
From Lemma \ref{h1open}, the rank of $H^1(\mathscr{C}_0)\cong H_1(J_{open})=Ab(\pi_1(\mathscr{C}_0) )$, which is the number of connected components of the space of symplectic $(-2)$-spheres. It is now equal to the number $N_{\omega}$ of $(-2)$-symplectic sphere classes.
And since $Im(\phi)=PB_5(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$ from Theorem \ref{t:main}, we know (cf. \cite{GG13} Theorem 5) $Ab(Im(\phi))=\mathbb{Z}^5$, therefore, ${N_{\omega}}-5\le rank[\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))]$.
For the case of $MA$, we have $ {Im(\phi)}=\pi_1(S^2-\{\hbox{4 points}\}))$ from Theorem \ref{t:main}, whose abelanization is $\mathbb{Z}^3$. Now sequanece \eqref{e:ES5pt-Ab}
reads
\begin{equation}\label{e:ES5pt-p4Ab}
\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))\rightarrow H_1(\mathscr{C}_0) \xrightarrow[]{f} Ab({Im(\phi)})=\mathbb{Z}^3 \rightarrow 1.
\end{equation}
And hence we obtain a lower bound on for a form $\omega$ on $MA$, rank of $\pi_1(Symp_h(X, \omega))\geq N_\omega-3=5$. Then for any $\omega \in MA$ we have $5\leq rank[\pi_1(Symp_h(X, \omega))] \leq 9.$
\end{proof}
The above results already deduce an interesting geometric consequence, and it's useful in Lemma \ref{MA} for the computation of the precise rank of $\pi_1( Symp)$ of a type $\mathbb{D}$ form.
\begin{cor}\label{-2isotopy}
Homologous $(-2)$ symplectic spheres in $5$ blowups are symplectically (hence Hamiltonian) isotopic for any symplectic form.
\end{cor}
\begin{proof} We discuss the following cases separately.
\begin{itemize}
\item When $\pi_0{Symp_h(X,\omega)}$ is trivial, the conclusion follows from the transitivity of the action of $Symp_h(X,\omega)$ on homologeous $(-2)$ symplectic spheres, see Lemma \ref{tran}.
\item When $\omega$ is monotone, there is no $(-2)$ symplectic sphere.
\item The only case that is not covered by the previous ones is when $\omega \in MA$ and $N_{\omega}= 8$. In this case, we know the homological action acts transitively on the set of symplectic $(-2)$ spherical classes, because the $\omega$ area of these sphere classes are the same. Hence, fix a $(-2)$ spherical class $A$, the number of isotopy classes of symplectic $(-2)$-sphere in class $A$ is a constant $k\in \mathbb{Z}^+ \cup\{\infty\}$ independent of $A$.
Note that for each embedded $(-2)$-symplectic sphere $C$, we may take an almost complex structure $J_C\in \mathcal{X}_2\subset \mathcal{J}_w$ so that $C$ is $J_C$-holomorphic. Since such a $(-2)$-sphere $C$ is unique for each $J_C$, and it varies smoothly with respect to $J_C$. In other words, if $J_C$ and $J_{C'}$ are in the same connected component of $\mathcal{X}_2-\mathcal{X}_4$, $C$ and $C'$ are symplectically (hence Hamiltonian) isotopic. Note that on all strata of $\mathcal{J}$ the path connectedness is equivalent to the connectedness because all prime submanifolds are Fr\'echet.
We will do a counting argument on the connected component of $\mathcal{X}_2$. By Theorem 3.9 in \cite{LL16}, we have that both $\mathcal{Y}=\mathcal{J}_{\omega}\setminus \mathcal{X}_4$ and $\mathcal{J}_{open}=\mathcal{J}_{\omega}\setminus \mathcal{X}_2$ are submanifolds of the Hausdorff space $\mathcal{J}_{\omega}$. Then by the relative Alexander duality in Lemma \ref{relalex} , we have $H^1(\mathscr{C}_0) = H^1(\mathcal{J}_{open}) = H^0( \amalg_{i=1}^8 \mathcal{J}_{A_i}) =8k,$ where $A_i$, $1\leq i \leq 8$ are the 8 symplectic $(-2)$ classes.
By Lemma \ref{lbound}, together with the fact that $Im(\phi)=\pi_1(S^2-\{p_2, p_3, p_4,p_5\}),$ the rank of $H^1(\mathscr{C}_0)$ is no larger than $3+ Rank [ \pi_1(Symp(X,\omega))].$ By Corollary \ref{maub}, $ Rank [\pi_1(Symp(X,\omega))]\leq 9$ and hence $rank[H^1(\mathscr{C}_0)]\le 12$. If $k>1$, then then rank of $H^1(\mathscr{C}_0)$ is $8k\geq 16>12$, a contradiction.
This means homologous $(-2)$ symplectic spheres have to be symplectically isotopic.
\end{itemize}
\end{proof}
\subsection{Type A forms}
Now we give explicit computations of the upper bound for a type $\mathbb{A}$ form. In order to do this we need to recall some explicit computation of $\pi_1(Symp_h(X_k,\omega))$ in \cite{LL16} from Table \ref{2form}, \ref{3form} and \ref{4form} as follows.
\begin{table}[ht]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{||c c c c c ||}
\hline
$k$-Face & $\Gamma_L$ & $N_\omega(X_2)$ & $\pi_1(Symp_h(X_2,\omega))$ & $\omega$-area \\ [0.5ex]
\hline\hline
OB &$\mathbb{A}_1$ &0& $\mathbb{Z}^2$ & $c_1 = c_2$\\
\hline
$\Delta BOA$ & trivial &1 & $\mathbb{Z}^3 $ & $c_1 \ne c_2$ \\
\hline\hline
\end{tabular}
\caption{ $X_2=\mathbb{C} P^2 \# 2\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2 }$ }
\label{2form}
\end{center}
\end{table}
\begin{table}[ht]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{||c c c c c ||}
\hline\hline
$k$-Face & $\Gamma_L$ & $N_\omega(X_3)$ & $\pi_1(Symp_h(X_3,\omega))$ & $\omega-$area \\ [0.5ex]
\hline
Point M& $\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_2$& 0& $\mathbb{Z}^2$& $(\frac13,\frac13,\frac13)$: monotone\\
\hline
Edge MO:& $\mathbb{A}_2$& 1& $\mathbb{Z}^3$& $\lambda<1; c_1=c_2=c_3$ \\
\hline
Edge MA:& $\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_1$& 2 & $\mathbb{Z}^4$& $\lambda=1;c_1>c_2=c_3 $\\
\hline
Edge MB:&$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_1$& 2& $\mathbb{Z}^4$& $\lambda=1; c_1=c_2>c_3$ \\
\hline
$\Delta$MOA: & $\mathbb{A}_1$ & 3& $\mathbb{Z}^5$& $\lambda<1; c_1>c_2=c_3 $ \\
\hline
$\Delta$MOB:& $\mathbb{A}_1$ & 3 & $\mathbb{Z}^5$& $\lambda<1; c_1=c_2>c_3$\\
\hline
$\Delta$MAB:& $\mathbb{A}_1$ & 3& $\mathbb{Z}^5$& $\lambda=1; c_1>c_2>c_3$ \\
\hline
$T_{MOAB}$:& trivial& 4& $\mathbb{Z}^6$& $\lambda<1; c_1>c_2>c_3$\\
\hline\hline
\end{tabular}
\caption{ $X_3$=${\mathbb{C} P^2}\# 3\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$, $\lambda=c_1+c_2+c_3$}
\label{3form}
\end{center}
\end{table}
\begin{table}[ht]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{||c c c c c ||}
\hline\hline
$k$-face& $\Gamma_L$ & $N_\omega(X_4)$ & $\pi_1(Symp_h(X_4,\omega))$ &$\omega$-area \\ [0.5ex]
\hline\hline
Point M& $\mathbb{A}_4$ & 0& trivial & $(\frac13,\frac13,\frac13,\frac13)$: monotone\\
\hline
MO& $\mathbb{A}_3$ & 4& $\mathbb{Z}^4$& $ \lambda<1; c_1=c_2=c_3=c_4 $\\
\hline
MA& $\mathbb{A}_3$ & 4& $\mathbb{Z}^4$& $\lambda=1;c_1>c_2=c_3=c_4 $\\
\hline
MB&$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_2$ &6& $\mathbb{Z}^6$& $\lambda=1;c_1=c_2>c_3=c_4 $ \\
\hline
MC&$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_2$ &6& $\mathbb{Z}^6$& $\lambda=1;c_1=c_2=c_3>c_4 $ \\
\hline
MOA&$\mathbb{A}_2$ &7& $\mathbb{Z}^7$& $ \lambda<1; c_1>c_2=c_3=c_4$\\
\hline
MOB& $\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_1$ &8& $\mathbb{Z}^8$& $ \lambda<1; c_1=c_2>c_3=c_4$ \\
\hline
MOC&$\mathbb{A}_2$ &7& $\mathbb{Z}^7$&$ \lambda<1; c_1=c_2=c_3>c_4 $\\
\hline
MAB&$\mathbb{A}_2$ &7& $\mathbb{Z}^7$& $ \lambda=1;c_1>c_2>c_3=c_4$\\
\hline
MAC&$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_1$ &8& $\mathbb{Z}^8$& $ \lambda=1;c_1>c_2=c_3>c_4 $\\
\hline
MBC&$\mathbb{A}_1\times \mathbb{A}_1$ &8& $\mathbb{Z}^8$& $ \lambda=1;c_1=c_2>c_3>c_4 $ \\
\hline
MOAB& $\mathbb{A}_1$ &9& $\mathbb{Z}^9$& $\lambda<1; c_1>c_2>c_3=c_4$\\
\hline
MOAC& $\mathbb{A}_1$ &9& $\mathbb{Z}^9$& $ \lambda<1; c_1>c_2=c_3>c_4 $\\
\hline
MOBC& $\mathbb{A}_1$ &9& $\mathbb{Z}^9$& $ \lambda<1; c_1=c_2>c_3>c_4 $\\
\hline
MABC& $\mathbb{A}_1$ &9& $\mathbb{Z}^9$& $ \lambda=1; c_1>c_2>c_3>c_4 $\\
\hline
MOABC& trivial &10& $\mathbb{Z}^{10}$& $ \lambda<1;c_1>c_2>c_3>c_4 $\\
\hline\hline
\end{tabular}
\caption{$X_4={\mathbb{C} P^2} \# 4\overline{\mathbb{C} P^2}$, $\lambda = c_1+c_2+c_3$.}
\label{4form}
\end{center}
\end{table}
\begin{lma}\label{ubounda}
If $\omega$ is a type $\mathbb{A}$ reduced form on $\mathbb{C}P^2\#5\overline\mathbb{C}P^2$, then $rank[\pi_1(Symp_h(X_5,\omega))]=N_\omega-5$.
\end{lma}
\begin{proof} In this proof, we denote the $R_\omega:=rank[\pi_1(Symp_h(X_i,\omega))]$, $i=2,3,4,5$ for convenience.
We will show that the inequalities appeared in Lemma \ref{lbound} for type $\mathbb{A}$ forms are indeed equalites, or rather, $N_\omega-5\ge R_\omega$.
From Proposition \ref{ubound}, we may reduce the problem to computations on rational surfaces $\mathbb{C}P^2\#k\overline\mathbb{C}P^2$ for $k\le 4$ \cite{LL16}, where the rank of $\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ is explicitly given in Tables \ref{2form},\ref{3form}, \ref{4form}. We'll simply blow down all $E_i$'s with the minimal symplectic area, and then then apply Lemma \ref{l:mcduff64}, setting $X$ to be the blowdown and $\widetilde X$ to be $X_5$. In the arguments below, we only specify the exceptional divisors we'll blow down for each face. Since we know $\pi_1[Symp(X_k,w)]$ depends only on the face $\omega$ belongs to when $k\le4$, the same holds for $X_5$. In what follows we study case-by-case explicitly. We invite the reader to refer to Table \ref{5form} for checking the numerical conditions for each face. What one should observe from Table \ref{2form}, \ref{3form} and \ref{4form} (indeed this is Theorem 4.8 in \cite{LL16}) is that,
\begin{itemize}
\item in $X_4$, $N_\omega=rank[\pi_1(Symp_h(X_4,\omega))]$,
\item in $X_i$, $N_\omega+2=rank[\pi_1(Symp_h(X_i,\omega))]$, $i=2,3$.
\end{itemize}
\begin{enumerate}
\item[ 1)] For $\omega$ in any $k$-face with vertex $D$, we have $c_4>c_5;$ then we blow down $E_5$ and obtain $X_4=\mathbb{C} P^2 \# 4{\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}}$
with some form $\overline\omega$.
By Proposition \ref{ubound}, $R_\omega\le R_{\overline\omega}+5$. Because $E_5$ is the only smallest area exceptional sphere, there are 10 symplectic $(-2)$-sphere classes ($H-E_i-E_j-E_k, 1\leq i\ne j \ne k=5$; and $E_i-E_5$, $1\le i\le4$) pairing $E_5$ nonzero. Hence $N_{\omega}=N_{\overline\omega}+10=R_{\overline\omega}+10$, which implies $N_\omega-5=R_{\overline\omega}+5\ge R_\omega$.
\item [2)] For $\omega$ in any $k$-face without vertex $D$ but with $C$, we have $c_3>c_4=c_5$, then we blow-down both $E_4$ and $E_5$ and consider $ X_3=\mathbb{C} P^2 \# 3{\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}}$
with some $\overline\omega$. From Proposition \ref{ubound}, $R_\omega\le R_{\overline\omega}+4+4=R_{\overline\omega}+8$.
On the other hand, $E_4, E_5$ are the only two smallest area exceptional spheres, there are 15 symplectic $(-2)$-spherical classes intersecting one of $E_4$ and $E_5$ (6 intersecting $E_4$ only, 6 intersecting $E_5$ only, 3 intersecting both).
Hence $N_{\omega}=N_{\overline\omega}+15=R_{\overline\omega}+13$. Therefore, $N_\omega-5=R_{\overline\omega}+8\ge R_\omega$
\item[ 3)]For any $k$-face without vertex $D$ or $C$ but with $B$, there are 4 cases: $MOAB,$ $MOB, $ $MAB,$ and $MB.$
For $ MOAB$ or $ MOB,$ we have $c_2>c_3=c_4=c_5$. Blow down $E_3, E_4, E_5$ and consider
$X_2$ with $\overline\omega$. Similarly, we have $R_\omega\le R_{\overline\omega}+9=N_{\overline\omega}+11$ from Proposition \ref{ubound}.
Since $N_{\overline\omega}$ is the number of symplectic $(-2)$-spheres which do not intersect any of $E_3,E_4, E_5$ in $X_5$, we count the symplectic $(-2)$-spheres which intersect $E_3,E_4, \text{or } E_5$. There are 16 such classes: $H-E_1-E_i-E_j, H-E_2-E_i-E_j, E_1-E_i, E_2-E_i, H-E_1-E_2-E_j $ or $H-E_3-E_4-E_5$. And hence $R_{\overline\omega}+9=N_{\omega}-5\ge R_\omega$.
For $MAB$, perform a base change \eqref{BH}, $\omega(B)=1-c_2\ge \omega(F)=1-c_1; E_1=\cdots=E_4=c_3$ and blow it down to a non-monotone $S^2\times S^2$. From \cite{AM00}, $\pi_1(Symp(S^2\times S^2,\omega'))=1$ when $\omega'$ is non-monotone. Proposition \ref{ubound} hence implies $R_\omega \leq 1+2+2+2+2=9$, which coincides with the lower bound $N_{\omega}-5$.
For case $MB$, again perform base change \eqref{BH}, $B=F=1-c_1; E_1=\cdots=E_4=c_3$ and blow-down to a monotone $S^2\times S^2$. Then from Gromov's result $ R_\omega \leq 0+2+2+2+2=8$, which coincides with the lower bound $N_{\omega}-5$..
\item [4)] $MOA$ is the only type $\mathbb{A}$ face without vertex $B$, $C$, $D$, but with $A$, for which we have $c_1>c_2=c_3=c_4=c_5.$ We blow down $E_2$ through $E_5$ and consider
a non-monotone $ \mathbb{C} P^2 \# {\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}}$. Then from \cite{AM00} similar to case 3), we have an upper-bound $R_\omega\le 1+2+2+2+2=9$ for both $MOA$ and $MA$.
Note that $MOA$ is of type $\mathbb{A}$ and $MA$ is of type $\mathbb{D}_4$. For this theorem, we only need to show that $N_{\omega}-5=9$ on $MOA$, which is true from Table \ref{5form}.
\item [5)] For $MO$, we simply blow down $E_1$ through $E_5$, which yields an upper-bound $5$ from Proposition \ref{ubound}.
\end{enumerate}
\end{proof}
Note that the method in the proof above does not give the precise rank for the face $MA$, which numerically falls into the same situation as in $4)$, which yields $R_\omega\le 9$ (cf. Corollary \ref{maub} and Lemma \ref{lbound}).
\begin{rmk}
Note that the proof of Lemma \ref{ubounda} gives the method how to apply Lemma \ref{ubound} to obtain an optimal upper bound.
(1) if we start with $(X,\omega)=(\mathbb{C} P^2,\omega_{FS}),$ let $(\widetilde{X}_k, \widetilde{\omega}_\epsilon) $ be the blow up of $(X,\omega)$ $k$ times with area of $E_i$ being $\epsilon_i$ and $\widetilde{\omega}_\epsilon$ being a reduced form, then
$$Rank[\pi_1(Symp(\widetilde{X}_k, \widetilde{\omega}_\epsilon)]\leq k+ N_E,$$
where $ N_E$ is the number class of the form $E_i-E_j$ which pair positively with $\widetilde\omega_\epsilon$.
(2) We can also start with $X$ being blow-up of several points of $\mathbb{C} P^2$, instead of $\mathbb{C} P^2$ itself, one get finer results on the upper-bound of rank $\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))$. This is why we need the second case of Proposition \ref{ubound}.
An example is case $MABCD$ in form \ref{5form}, using method (1), one have 15 as the upper-bound; while using method (2) starting with $\mathbb{C} P^2 \# 3{\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}}$ of sizes $c_1,c_2,c_3,$ one have $5+4+5 =14 $ as the upper-bound.
\end{rmk}
\begin{rmk}\label{small5}
In the work of Anjos and Eden \cite{AE17}, they also
deduce the rank of other homotopy groups for some special cases of 5 blow-ups of the projective plane, in particular, a generic blow-up with very small size. Their result agrees with what we got on the fundamental group.
\end{rmk}
\subsection{Type \texorpdfstring{$\mathbb{D}_4$}{D4} forms}
So far, we have a bound $5\le\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))\le9$ for a type $\mathbb{D}_4$ forms $\omega$. Our last lemma prove that this rank is actually $5$.
\begin{lma}\label{MA}
Choose a rational point $[\omega]$ on $MA$. Assume $c_1>\frac12$, the rank of $\pi_1(Symp_h(\mathbb{C} P^2 \# 5{\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}},\omega))$ is 5.
\end{lma}
\begin{proof}
Consider the following configuration $C$ consisting of 7 exceptional spheres in the 5-point blowup,
\[
\xy
(0, -10)*{};(80, -10)* {}**\dir{-};
(100, -13)* {D=H-E_3-E_4};
(10, 0)*{}; (10, -50)*{}**\dir{-};
(10, 1)*{H-E_1-E_5};
(31, 0)*{}; (31, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(31, -25)*{E_3};
(40, 0)*{}; (40, -20)*{}**\dir{-};
(40, -25)*{E_4};
(0, -30)*{}; (20, -30)*{}**\dir{-};
(22, -30)*{E_5};
(60, 0)*{}; (60, -50)*{}**\dir{-};
(60, 1)*{H-E_1-E_2};
(50, -30)*{}; (70, -30)*{}**\dir{-};
(72, -30)*{E_2};
\endxy
\]
We claim that its complement has a symplectic completion symplectomorphic to $\mathbb{C}\times \mathbb{C}^*$, iff $\omega(E_1)>\omega(E_2)+\omega(E_5)$. Since $[\omega]\in MA$, this is equivalent to $c_1>\frac12.$
To see this, take a generic compatible integrable complex structure $J_0$ on $X$. Since $[\omega] \in H^2(X;\mathbb{Q})$, we can write $PD([l\omega])=aH-b_1E_1-b_2E_2-b_3E_3-b_4E_4-b_5E_5$ with $ a, b_i \in \mathbb{Z}^{\geq0}$. Further, we assume $ b_1\geq \cdots \geq b_5$. Then we can represent $PD([l\omega])$ as a
positive integral combination of all elements in the set $\{H-E_1-E_2, H-E_3-E_4, H-E_1-E_5,E_2,E_3, E_4, E_5\}$,
which is the homology type of $C$. And the proof is a direct computation by checking when the form is a positive combination of the divisor classes:
\begin{align}
PD([l\omega])=aH-b_1E_1-b_2E_2-b_3E_3-b_4E_4-b_5E_5 \nonumber\\
=d_7( H-E_3-E_4 ) \nonumber\\
+ d_6 (H-E_1-E_5) \\
+d_1 (H-E_1-E_2) \nonumber \\
+ d_2 E_2 +\cdots d_5 E_5 \nonumber
\end{align}
When $l$ is large enough so that $a$ and $b_i$ are all integers, we may further assume from $c_1>\frac{1}{2}$ and $c_1+c_2+c_3=1$ that $b_1\ge b_2+b_3+1$. Then the above equation can be solved inductively by first noticing $d_7=a-b_1$ and setting $d_5=1$, and the solution will be positively integral.
Hence this complement is a psuedoconvex domain. Also, because the form $\omega$ has rational period, by the argument in \cite{LLW15} Proposition 3.3, the complement is therefore Stein. Note that it is a complex line bundle over $\mathbb{C}^*$(which is automatically Stein), and any line bundle over a Stein base is a trivial bundle, by the main Theorem in \cite{Gra58}. The underlying complex manifold is indeed $\mathbb{C}\times\mathbb{C}^*$.
Consider diagram \ref{summary} for the space of configurations $\mathcal{S}$ specified above, we have
\begin{equation}\label{e:pi1seq}
\begin{CD}
Symp_c(U)=Stab^1(C) @>>> Stab^0(C) @>>> Stab(C) @>>> Symp_h(X, \omega) \\
@. @VVV @VVV @VVV \\
@. \mathbb{Z}^5 @. (S^1)^6\times PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2 @. \mathcal{S}
\end{CD}
\end{equation}
We use a ball-swapping argument similar to that in Proposition \ref{fib5} to show the fibrancy of \eqref{e:pi1seq} and deduce that $Stab(C)$ weakly homotopic equivalent to $\mbox{Diff}(S^2,4)\times S^1.$ To see this, we need to prove the restriction map $Stab(C)\to Symp(C)$ is surjective on the factor $Symp(D,4)$.
In other words, for any given $ h^{(2)}\in Symp(D,4)$ we need a lift $h^{(4)}\in Stab(C) $ which fixes the whole configuration $C$ as a set, whose restriction on $D$ is $ h^{(2)}.$
To achieve this, we
first perform a base change on $H_2(X_5, \mathbb{Z})$ with $e_1=H-E_1-E_5, e_2= H-E_1-E_2, e_3=E_3, e_4= E_4, e_5=H-E_2-E_5, h=2H-E_1-E_2-E_5$ and $D=2h-e_1-\cdots -e_5.$ Blowing down $e_1 \cdots e_4$, we obtain
a $(\mathbb{C} P^2 \# {\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}}, rel \coprod_{i=1}^4 B(i))$ with a rational curve in homology class $2H-E_1$ and four disjoint balls $\coprod_{i=1}^4 B(i)$ each centered on
this sphere and the intersections are 4 disjoint disks on this $S^2$. By the identification in Lemma \ref{relflux}, this blow down process sends $ h^{(2)}$ in $Symp(D,4)$ to a unique
$\overline {h^{(2)}} $ in $Symp(S^2,\coprod_{i=1}^4 D_i).$
Note that we need to construct a symplectomorphism $f^{(4)}$ on $(X_5,\omega)$ so that it preserve the configuration and restricted to $ h^{(2)}$ in $Symp(D,4)$. Let's temporarily forget about the divisors in the classes $E_2$ and $E_5$. Then after blowdown, we can use the same method in \ref{relflux} to construct a ball-swapping symplectomorphism $g^{(4)}$ in $(\mathbb{C} P^2 \# {\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}}, rel \coprod_{i=1}^4 B(i))$ so that the restriction is $\overline {h^{(2)}} $ in $Symp(S^2,\coprod_{i=1}^4 D_i).$ Then after blowup, we have a $\tilde{g}^{(4)}$ so that it restricts to $ h^{(2)}$ in $Symp(D,4)$. Now we need to take care of the two divisors in the classes $E_2$ and $E_5$, because $\tilde{g}^{(4)}$ may move them to a different position. Note they are exceptional divisors and they do not intersect the divisor $D$ in class $H-E_3-E_4$. We can always find symplectomorphism $\phi^{(4)}$ supported away from $D$ and moving the two divisors back to their original position. Now $f^{(4)}:= \phi^{(4)} \circ \tilde{g}^{(4)} $ is the desired symplectomorphism on $(X_5,\omega)$ preserving the configuration and restricting to $ h^{(2)}$ in $Symp(D,4)$.
Then Theorem \ref{fib3} shows that $Stab(C) \rightarrow Symp(C)$ is a fibration.
\begin{comment}
\textbf{I believe below can be removed. Perhaps it could be double-checked and make sure this is okay.**********???}
Now for a given $ h^{(2)}\in Symp(D,4)$, we will first consider its counterpart $\overline {h^{(2)}} $ in $ Symp(S^2,\coprod_{i=1}^4 D_i).$
One can always find $f^{(4)} \in Symp(\mathbb{C} P^2 \# {\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}},\omega)$ whose restriction on $S^2$ is $\overline {h^{(2)}} $ in $Symp(S^2,\coprod_{i=1}^4 D_i).$ We can construct $f^{(4)}$ using the method as in Lemma 2.5 in \cite{LLW15}: $\overline {h^{(2)}}$ in $Symp(S^2,\coprod_{i=1}^4 D_i).$ is a hamiltonian diffeomorphism on $S^2$ because $S^2$ is simply connected.
Then we cut off in a symplectic neighborhood of $S^2$ to define the hamiltonian diffeomorphism $f^{(4)} \in Symp(\mathbb{C} P^2 \# 5{\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}},\omega)$, which fixes the 4 intersection disks $\coprod_{i=1}^4 D_i$.
But the blow up of $f^{(4)} $ is not necessarily in $Stab(C)$ because there's no guarantee that $f^{(4)} $ will fix the image of $5$ balls $\coprod_{i=1}^4 B(i).$
Then we need another symplectomorphism $g^{(4)} \in Symp(\mathbb{C} P^2 \# {\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}},\omega)$ so that $g^{(4)}$ move the the five symplectic balls back to their original position in
$\mathbb{C} P^2 \# {\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}}.$ This can be done by connectedness of ball packing relative a divisor (the sphere in class $2H-E_1$ in our case). Namely, by Lemma 4.3 and Lemma 4.4 in \cite{Wu13}, there exists a symplectomorphism $g^{(4)}\in Symp(\mathbb{C} P^2 \# {\overline {\mathbb{C} P^2}},\omega) $ such that the composition $\overline {h^{(4)}}=g^{(4)}\circ f^{(4)}$ is a symplectomorphism fixing the five balls. And blowing up the 5 balls we obtain an element $h^{(4)}$ in $Stab(C)$, which is a ball swapping symplectomorphism whose restriction on $Symp(C)$
creates the group $Symp(D,4)$. The same argument in \ref{relflux} using \ref{fib3} shows that $Stab(C) \rightarrow Symp(C)$ is a fibration.
\textbf{Remove above**************8???}
\end{comment}
Now use Lemma \ref{symgau}, in particular equation \eqref{sympk} and \eqref{mG}, we know $Stab^0(C)\sim \mathcal{G}(C)\sim \mathbb{Z}^5$ and $Symp(C)\sim (S^1)^6\times PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}^2$. Hence completes the diagram \eqref{e:pi1seq}. Further, the connecting map from $\pi_0(Symp(C))$ to $\pi_1(Stab^0(C))$ is surjective. Given the above discussions, we know that
$$Stab(C)\sim S^1\times PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2.$$
On $MA$, assume $c_1>\frac12,$ we have the Stein complement and hence the following LES
\begin{equation}\label{MA1}
\mathbb{Z} \to \pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))\rightarrow \pi_1(\mathcal{S}) \xrightarrow[]{f} \pi_0(Stab(C)) \xrightarrow[]{g} \pi_0(Symp_h) \to 1.
\end{equation}
Firstly note that $\pi_0(Stab(C)) \cong \pi_0(Symp_h)\cong PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$ is Hopfian. Since the map $g$ is a self-epimorphism of $ PB_4(S^2)/\mathbb{Z}_2$, it must be an isomorphism. Then we know that the image of the map $f$ is the trivial group. This means that $\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ is an extension of $\pi_1(\mathcal{S})$ by a subgroup of $\mathbb{Z}.$
We consider $H^1(\mathcal{S})$ for the moment. Note that the only curve that could be non-smooth is the one in class $D=H-E_3-E_4$ by Theorem \ref{t:Pin}. Denote the space of almost complex structures which allows an embedded $D$-representative as $J_\mathcal{S}$, then $J_\mathcal{S}\sim \mathcal{S}$. Let $\mathcal{X}^{-}_2$ be the complement of $J_\mathcal{S}\subset J_\omega$ and $\mathcal{X}_4$ denote the strata of codimension $4$ or more as before. Note that $\mathcal{X}_4$ intersects both $J_\mathcal{S}$ and $\mathcal{X}_2^-$. Explicitly, the codimension $2$ strata in $\mathcal{X}^-_2$ contain those almost complex structures which allow embbedded holomorphic representatives for $H-E_3-E_4-E_i$ for $i=2$ or $5$; or $E_1-E_i$ for $j=3$ or $4$.
Also, note that $H^1(J_\mathcal{S})= H^1(J_\mathcal{S}\setminus \mathcal{X}_4).$
Now we compute $H^1[J_\mathcal{S}\setminus \mathcal{X}_4]$ by the relative Alexander duality in Lemma \ref{relalex}. Let
\begin{itemize}
\item $\mathcal{X}=\mathcal{J}_{\omega},$\hspace{5mm} \item $\mathcal{Y}= \mathcal{X}^{-}_2,$ \hspace{5mm} \item $\mathcal{Z}= \mathcal{X}_4.$\end{itemize}
By Theorem \ref{rational} $\mathcal{X}_4$ is closed in $\mathcal{X}$. We also know that $\mathcal{Y}$ is closed in $ \mathcal{X}$: $\mathcal{Y}-\mathcal{Z}=\mathcal{X}_2^--\mathcal{X}_4$ is the union of the 4 prime submanifolds characterized by the 4 classes $H-E_2-E_3-E_5,$ $H-E_2-E_4-E_5,$ $E_1-E_2$ and $E_1-E_5$, whose closures do not intersect $\mathcal{X}- \mathcal{Y}=J_\mathcal{S}$. Then $\mathcal{X}-\mathcal{Z}$ and $\mathcal{X}-\mathcal{Y}$ are clearly submanifolds of $\mathcal{X}.$ Also, $\mathcal{Y}-\mathcal{Z}$ is a closed submanifold of codim 2 in $\mathcal{X}-\mathcal{Z}= \mathcal{J}_{\omega}-\mathcal{X}_4.$ We can now appeal to Lemma \ref{relalex} and deduce that $H^1(\mathcal{S})=H^1(J_\mathcal{S})= H^0(\mathcal{Y}-\mathcal{Z}).$ And by Corollary \ref{-2isotopy}, each of the four prime submanifolds in $J_\mathcal{S}$ is connected, so we know that $Ab[\pi_1(\mathcal{S})]= H^1(\mathcal{S}) =\mathbb{Z}^4$.
Consider the abelianization of sequence \eqref{MA1}.
By the right exactness of the abelianization functor, we know $\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ at most has rank 5. This together with the Lemma \ref{lbound} give us the exact rank of $\pi_1(Symp_h(X,\omega))$ being 5, for any form $\omega \in MA$ with $c_1>\frac12.$
\end{proof}
\begin{proof}[Proof of Theorem \ref{t:main2}]
The only missing part is when $\omega$ is a type $\mathbb{D}$ irrational form or $c_1\le\frac{1}{2}$. Using Proposition \ref{nonbalstab}, we can extend the case of $c_1>\frac{1}{2}$ to any form on $MA$ and conclude Theorem \ref{t:main2}
\end{proof}
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaArXiv"
}
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Retinal detachment is a very serious condition which can cause severe or even permanent vision loss. It occurs when the retina (the nerve tissue that lines the back of the eyeball) becomes separated from the underlying supportive tissues, which prevents the retina from functioning properly.
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|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
}
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# _World of Wonders_
ROBERTSON DAVIES (1913–1995) was born and raised in Ontario, and was educated at a variety of schools, including Upper Canada College, Queen's University, and Balliol College, Oxford. He had three successive careers: as an actor with the Old Vic Company in England; as publisher of the _Peterborough Examiner_ ; and as university professor and first Master of Massey College at the University of Toronto, from which he retired in 1981 with the title of Master Emeritus.
He was one of Canada's most distinguished men of letters, with several volumes of plays and collections of essays, speeches, and _belles lettres_ to his credit. As a novelist, he gained worldwide fame for his three trilogies: _The Salterton Trilogy_ , _The Deptford Trilogy_ , and _The Cornish Trilogy_ , and for later novels _Murther & Walking Spirits_ and _The Cunning Man._
His career was marked by many honours: He was the first Canadian to be made an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, he was a Companion of the Order of Canada, and he received honorary degrees from twenty-six American, Canadian, and British universities.
_By Robertson Davies_
**NOVELS**
THE SALTERTON TRILOGY
_Tempest-Tost_
_Leaven of Malice_
_A Mixture of Frailties_
THE DEPTFORD TRILOGY
_Fifth Business_
_The Manticore_
_World of Wonders_
THE CORNISH TRILOGY
_The Rebel Angels_
_What's Bred in the Bone_
_The Lyre of Orpheus_
_Murther & Walking Spirits_
_The Cunning Man_
**SHORT FICTION**
_High Spirits_
**FICTIONAL ESSAYS**
_The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks_
_The Table Talk of Samuel Marchbanks_
_Samuel Marchbanks' Almanack_
_The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks_
**ESSAYS**
_One Half of Robertson Davies_
_The Enthusiasms of Robertson Davies_
_The Merry Heart_
_Happy Alchemy_
_Selected Works on the Art of Writing_
_Selected Works on the Pleasures of Reading_
**CRITICISM**
_A Voice from the Attic_
**PLAYS**
_Selected Plays_
# WORLD OF WONDERS
_Robertson Davies_
World of Wonders
New Canadian Library electronic edition, 2015
Copyright © 1975 Robertson Davies
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
First published in Canada by Macmillan in 1975
First published in the U.S. by Viking in 1975
First published in Great Britain by W.H. Allen in 1975
All rights reserved.
e-ISBN: 978-0-7710-2987-5
Cover Design by Lisa Jager
Detail of original cover artwork by Bascove
Electronic edition published in Canada by New Canadian Library, an imprint of McClelland & Stewart, a division of Random House of Canada Limited, a Penguin Random House Company, Toronto, in 2015.
McClelland & Stewart with colophon is a registered trademark.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication available upon request.
www.penguinrandomhouse.ca
v3.1
# _Contents_
_Cover_
_About the Author_
_Other Books by This Author_
_Title Page_
_Copyright_
_1 A Bottle in the Smoke_
_2 Merlin's Laugh_
_3 Le Lit de Justice_
# _1_
# _A Bottle in the Smoke_
(1)
"Of course he was a charming man. A delightful person. Who has ever questioned it? But not a great magician."
"By what standard do you judge?"
"Myself. Who else?"
"You consider yourself a greater magician than Robert-Houdin?"
"Certainly. He was a fine illusionist. But what is that? A man who depends on a lot of contraptions—mechanical devices, clockwork, mirrors, and such things. Haven't we been working with that sort of rubbish for almost a week? Who made it? Who reproduced that _Pâtissier du Palais-Royal_ we've been fiddling about with all day? I did. I'm the only man in the world who could do it. The more I see of it the more I despise it."
"But it is delightful! When the little baker brings out his bonbons, his patisseries, his croissants, his glasses of port and Marsala, all at the word of command, I almost weep with pleasure! It is the most moving reminiscence of the spirit of the age of Louis Philippe! And you admit that you have reproduced it precisely as it was first made by Robert-Houdin. If he was not a great magician, what do you call a great magician?"
"A man who can stand stark naked in the midst of a crowd and keep it gaping for an hour while he manipulates a few coins, or cards, or billiard balls. I can do that, and I can do it better than anybody today or anybody who has ever lived. That's why I'm tired of Robert-Houdin and his Wonderful Bakery and his Inexhaustible Punch Bowl and his Miraculous Orange Tree and all the rest of his wheels and cogs and levers and fancy junk."
"But you're going to complete the film?"
"Of course. I've signed a contract. I've never broken a contract in my life. I'm a professional. But I'm bored with it. What you're asking me to do is like asking Rubinstein to perform on a player-piano. Given the apparatus anybody could do it."
"You know of course that we asked you to make this film simply because you are the greatest magician in the world—the greatest magician of all time, if you like—and that gives tremendous added attraction to our film—"
"It's been many years since I was called an added attraction."
"Let me finish, please. We are presenting a great magician of today doing honour to a great magician of the past. People will love it."
"It shows me at a disadvantage."
"Oh, surely not. Consider the audience. After we have shown this on the B.B.C. it will appear on a great American network—the arrangements are almost complete—and then it will go all over the world. Think how it will be received in France alone, where there is still a great cult of Robert-Houdin. The eventual audience will be counted in millions. Can you be indifferent to that?"
"That just shows what you think about magic, and how much you know about it. I've already been seen all over the world. And I mean _I've been seen_ , and the unique personal quality of my performance has been felt by audiences with whom I've created a unique relationship. You can't do that on television."
"That is precisely what I expect to do. I don't want to speak boastfully. Perhaps we have had enough boasting here tonight. But I am not unknown as a film-maker. I can say without immodesty that I'm just as famous in my line as you are in yours. I am a magician too, and not a trivial one—"
"If my work is trivial, why do you want my help? Film—yes, of course it's a commonplace nowadays that it is an art, just as people used to say that Robert-Houdin's complicated automatic toys were art. People are always charmed by clever mechanisms that give an effect of life. But don't you remember what the little actor in Noel Coward's play called film? 'A cheesy photograph'."
"Please—"
"Very well, let's not insist on 'cheesy'. But we can't escape 'photograph'. Something is missing, and you know what it is: the inexplicable but beautifully controlled sympathy between the artist and his audience. Film isn't even as good as the player-piano; at least you could add something personal to that, make it go fast or slow, loud or soft as you pleased."
"Film is like painting, which is also unchanging. But each viewer brings his personal sensibility, his unique response to the completed canvas as he does to the film."
"Who are your television viewers? Ragtag and bobtail; drunk and sober; attentive or in a nose-picking stupor. With the flabby concentration of people who are getting something for nothing. I am used to audiences who come because they want to see _me_ , and have paid to do it. In the first five minutes I have made them attentive as they have never been before in their lives. I can't guarantee to do that on TV. I can't see my audience, and what I can't see I can't dominate. And what I can't dominate I can't enchant, and humour, and make partners in their own deception."
"You must understand that that is where my art comes in. I am your audience, and I contain in myself all these millions of whom we speak. You satisfy me and you satisfy them, as well. Because I credit them with my intelligence and sensitivity and raise them to my level. Have I not shown it in more than a dozen acknowledged film masterpieces? This is my gift and my art. Trust me. That is what I am asking you to do. Trust me."
(2)
This was the first serious quarrel since we had begun filming. Should I say "we"? As I was living in the house, and extremely curious about everything connected with the film, they let me hang around while they worked, and even gave me a job; as an historian I kept an eye on detail and did not allow the film-makers to stray too far from the period of Louis Philippe and his Paris, or at least no farther than artistic licence and necessity allowed. I had foreseen a quarrel. I was not seventy-two years old for nothing, and I knew Magnus Eisengrim very well. I thought I was beginning to know a little about the great director Jurgen Lind, too.
The project was to make an hour-long film for television about the great French illusionist, Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, who died in 1871. It was not simply to mark this centenary; as Lind had said, it would doubtless make the rounds of world television for years. The title was _Un Hommage à Robert-Houdin_ —easily translatable—and its form was simple; the first twelve minutes were taken up with the story of his early life, as he told it in his _Confidences d'un prestidigitateur_ , and for this actors had been employed; the remainder of the hour was to be an historical reproduction of one of Robert-Houdin's _Soirées Fantastiques_ as he gave it in his own theatre in the Palais-Royal. And to play the part of the great conjuror the film-makers and the British Broadcasting Corporation had engaged, at a substantial fee, the greatest of living conjurors, my old friend Magnus Eisengrim.
If they had filmed it in a studio, I do not suppose I should have been involved at all, but the reproduction of Robert-Houdin's performance demanded so much magical apparatus, including several splendid automata which Eisengrim had made particularly for it, that it was decided to shoot this part of the picture in Switzerland, at Sorgenfrei, where Eisengrim's stage equipment was stored in a large disused riding-school on the estate. It was not a difficult matter for the scene designers and artificers to fit Robert-Houdin's tiny theatre, which had never seated more than two hundred spectators, into the space that was available.
This may have been a bad idea, for it mixed professional and domestic matters in a way that could certainly cause trouble. Eisengrim lived at Sorgenfrei, as permanent guest and—in a special sense—the lover of its owner and mistress, Dr Liselotte Naegeli. I also had retired to Sorgenfrei after I had my heart attack, and dwelt there very happily as the permanent guest and—in a special sense—the lover of the same Dr Liselotte, known to us both as Liesl. When I use the word "lover" to describe our relationship, I do not mean that we were a farcical _ménage à trois_ , leaping in and out of bed at all hours and shrieking comic recriminations at one another. We did occasionally share a bed (usually at breakfast, when it was convenient and friendly for us all three to tuck up together and sample things from one another's trays), but the athleticism of love was a thing of the past for me, and I suspect it was becoming an infrequent adventure for Eisengrim. We loved Liesl none the less—indeed rather more, and differently—than in our hot days, and what with loving and arguing and laughing and talking, we fleeted the time carelessly, as they did in the Golden World.
Even the Golden World may have welcomed a change, now and then, and we had been pleased when Magnus received his offer from the B.B.C. Liesl and I, who knew more about the world, or at least the artistic part of it, than Eisengrim, were excited that the film was to be directed by the great Jurgen Lind, the Swedish film-maker whose work we both admired. We wanted to meet him, for though we were neither of us naive people we had not wholly lost our belief that it is delightful to meet artists who have given us pleasure. That was why Liesl proposed that, although the film crew were living at an inn not far down the mountain from Sorgenfrei, Lind and one or two of his immediate entourage should dine with us as often as they pleased, ostensibly so that we could continue discussion of the film as it progressed, but really so that we could become acquainted with Lind.
We should have known better. Had we learned nothing from our experience with Magnus Eisengrim, who had a full share, a share pressed down and overflowing, of the egotism of the theatre artist? Who could not bear the least slight; who expected, as of right, to be served first at table, and to go through all doors first; who made the most unholy rows and fusses if he were not treated virtually as royalty? Lind had not been on the spot a day before we knew that he was just such another as our dear old friend Magnus, and that they were not going to hit it off together.
Not that Lind was like him in external things. He was modest, reticent, dressed like a workman, and soft of speech. He always hung back at doors, cared nothing for the little ceremonials of daily life in a rich woman's house, and conferred with his chief colleagues about every detail. But it was clear that he expected and got his own way, once he had determined what it was.
Moreover, he seemed to me to be formidably intelligent. His long, sad, unsmiling face, with its hanging underlip that showed long, yellow teeth, the tragedy line of his eyelids, which began high on the bridge of his nose and swept miserably downward toward his cheeks, and the soft, bereaved tone of his voice, suggested a man who had seen too much to be amused by life; his great height—he was a little over six feet eight inches—gave him the air of a giant mingling with lesser creatures about whom he knew some unhappy secret which was concealed from themselves; he spoke slowly in an elegant English only slightly marked by that upper-class Swedish accent which suggests a man delicately sucking a lemon. He had been extensively educated—his junior assistants all were careful to speak to him as Dr Lind—and he had as well that theatre artist's quality of seeming to know a great deal, without visible study or effort, about whatever was necessary for his immediate work. He did not know as much about the politics and economics of the reign of Louis Philippe as I did, for after all I had given my life to the study of history; but he seemed to know a great deal about its music, the way its clothes ought to be worn, the demeanour of its people, and its quality of life and spirit, which belonged to a sensibility far beyond mine. When historians meet with this kind of informed, imaginative sympathy with a past era in a non-historian, they are awed. How on earth does he know that, they are forced to ask themselves, and why did I never tumble to that? It takes a while to discover that the knowledge, though impressive and useful, has its limitations, and when the glow of imaginative creation no longer suffuses it, it is not really deeply grounded. But Lind was at work on the era of Louis Philippe, and specifically on the tiny part of it that applied to Robert-Houdin the illusionist, and for the present I was strongly under his spell.
That was the trouble. To put it gaudily but truly, that was where the canker gnawed. Liesl and I were both under Lind's spell, and Eisengrim's nose was out of joint.
That was why he was picking a quarrel with Lind, and Lind, who had been taught to argue logically, though unfairly, was at a disadvantage with a man who simply argued—pouted, rather—to get his own way and be cock of the walk again.
I thought I should do something about it, but I was forestalled by Roland Ingestree.
He was the man from the B. B.C., the executive producer of the film, or whatever the proper term is. He managed all the business, but was not simply a man of business, because he brooded, in a well-bred, don't-think-I'm-interfering-but manner, over the whole venture, including its artistic side. He was a sixtyish, fattish, bald Englishman who always wore gold-rimmed half-glasses, which gave him something of the air of Mr Pickwick. But he was a shrewd fellow, and he had taken in the situation.
"We mustn't delude ourselves, Jurgen," he said. "Without Eisengrim this film would be nothing—nothing at all. He is the only man in the world who can reproduce the superlatively complex Robert-Houdin automata. It is quite understandable that he looks down on achievements that baffle lesser beings like ourselves. After all, as he points out, he is a magnificent classical conjuror, and he hasn't much use for mechanical toys. That's understood, of course. But what I think we've missed is that he's an actor of the rarest sort; he can really give us the outward form of Robert-Houdin, with all that refinement of manner and perfection of grace that made Robert-Houdin great. How he can do it, God alone knows, but he can. When I watch him in rehearsal I am utterly convinced that a man of the first half of the nineteenth century stands before me. Where could we have found anyone else who can act as he is acting? John? Too tall, too subjective. Larry? Too flamboyant, too corporeal. Guinness? Too dry. There's nobody else, you see. I hope I'm not being offensive, but I think it's as an actor we must think of Eisengrim. The conjuring might have been faked. But the acting—tell me, frankly, who else is there that could touch him?"
He was not being offensive, and well he knew it. Eisengrim glowed, and all might have been well if Kinghovn had not pushed the thing a little farther. Kinghovn was Lind's cameraman, and I gathered he was a great artist in his own right. But he was a man whose whole world was dominated by what he could see, and make other people see, and words were not his medium.
"Roly is right, Jurgen. This man is just right for looks. He compels belief. He can't go wrong. It is God's good luck, and we mustn't quarrel with it."
Now Lind's nose was out of joint. He had been trying to placate a prima donna, and his associates seemed to be accusing him of underestimating the situation. He was sure that he never underestimated anything about one of his films. He was accused of flying in the face of good luck, when he was certain that the best possible luck that could happen to any film was that he should be asked to direct it. The heavy lip fell a little lower, the eyes became a little sadder, and the emotional temperature of the room dropped perceptibly.
Ingestree put his considerable talents to the work of restoring Lind's self-esteem, without losing Eisengrim's goodwill.
"I think I sense what troubles Eisengrim about this whole Robert-Houdin business. It's the book. It's that wretched _Confidences d'un prestidigitateur._ We've been using it as a source for the biographical part of the film, and it's certainly a classic of its kind. But did anybody ever read such a book? Vanity is perfectly acceptable in an artist. Personally, I wouldn't give you sixpence for an artist who lacked vanity. But it's honest vanity I respect. The false modesty, the exaggerated humility, the greasy bourgeois assertions of respectability, of good-husband-and-father, of debt-paying worthiness are what make the _Confidences_ so hard to swallow. Robert-Houdin was an oddity; he was an artist who wanted to pass as a bourgeois. I'm sure that's what irritates both you men, and sets you against each other. You feel that you are putting your very great, fully realized artistic personalities to the work of exalting a man whose attitude toward life you despise. I don't blame you for being irritable—because you have been, you know; you've been terribly irritable tonight—but that's what art is, as you very well know, much of the time: the transformation and glorification of the commonplace."
"The revelation of the glory in the commonplace," said Lind, who had no objection to being told that his vanity was an admirable and honest trait, and was coming around.
"Precisely. The revelation of the glory in the commonplace. And you two very great artists—the great film director and (may I say it) the great actor—are revealing the glory in Robert-Houdin, who perversely sought to conceal his own artistry behind that terrible good-citizen mask. It hampered him, of course, because it was against the grain of his talent. But you two are able to do an extraordinary, a metaphysical thing. You are able to show the world, a century after his death, what Robert-Houdin would have been if he had truly understood himself."
Eisengrim and Lind were liking this. Magnus positively beamed, and Lind's sad eyes rolled toward him with a glance from which the frost was slowly disappearing. Ingestree was well in the saddle now, and was riding on to victory.
"You are both men of immeasurably larger spirit than he. What was he, after all? The good citizen, the perfection of the bourgeoisie under Louis Philippe that he pretended? Who can believe it? There is in every artist something black, something savouring of the crook, which he may not even understand himself, and which he certainly keeps well out of the eye of his public. What was it in Robert-Houdin?
"He gives us a sniff of it in the very first chapter of his other book, which I have read, and which is certainly familiar to you, Mr Ramsay"—this with a nod to me—"called _Les Secrets de la prestidigitation et de la magie_ —"
"My God, I read it as a boy!" I said.
"Very well. Then you recall the story of his beginnings as a magician? How he was befriended by the Count de l'Escalopier? How this nobleman gave a private show in his house, where Robert-Houdin amused the guests? How his best trick was burning a piece of paper on which the Archbishop of Paris had written a splendid compliment to Robert-Houdin, and the discovery of the piece of paper afterward in the smallest of twelve envelopes which were all sealed, one inside the other? It was a trick he learned from his master, de Grisy. But how did he try to make it up to l'Escalopier for putting him on his feet?"
"The trap for the robber," I said.
"Exactly. A thief was robbing l'Escalopier blind, and nothing he tried would catch him. So Robert-Houdin offered to help, and what did he do? He worked out a mechanism to be concealed in the Count's desk, so that when the robber opened it a pistol would be discharged, and a claw made of sharp needles would seize the thief's hand and crunch the word 'Voleur' on the back of it. The needles were impregnated with silver nitrate, so that it was in effect tattooing—branding the man for life. A nice fellow, eh? And do you remember what he says? That this nasty thing was a refinement of a little gubbins he had made as a boy, to catch and mark another boy who was pinching things from his school locker. That was the way Robert-Houdin's mind worked; he fancied himself as a thief-catcher. Now, in a man who makes such a parade of his integrity, what does that suggest? Over-compensation, shall we say? A deep, unresting doubt of his own honesty?
"If we had time, and the gift, we could learn a lot about the inner life of Robert-Houdin by analysing his tricks. Why are so many of the best of them concerned with giving things away? He gave away pastries, sweets, ribbons, fans, all sorts of stuff at every performance; yet we know how careful he was with money. What was all that generosity meant to conceal? Because he was concealing something, take my word for it. The whole of the _Confidences_ is a gigantic whitewash job, a concealment. Analyse the tricks and you will get a subtext for the autobiography, which seems so delightfully bland and cosy.
"And that's what we need for our film. A subtext. A reality running like a subterranean river under the surface; an enriching, but not necessarily edifying, background to what is seen.
"Where are we to get it? Not from Robert-Houdin. Too much trouble and perhaps not worth the trouble when we got it. No. It must come from the working together of you two great artists: Lind the genius-director and Eisengrim the genius-actor. And you must fish it up out of your own guts."
"But that is what I always do," said Lind.
"Of course. But Eisengrim must do it, as well. Now tell me, sir: you can't always have been the greatest conjuror in the world. You learned your art somewhere. If we asked you—invited you—begged you—to make your own experience the subtext for this film about a man, certainly lesser than yourself, but of great and lasting fame in his special line, what would it be?"
I was surprised to see Eisengrim look as if he were considering this question very seriously. He never revealed anything about his past life, or his innermost thoughts, and it was only because I had known him—with very long intervals of losing him—since we had been boys together, that I knew anything about him at all. I had fished—fished cunningly with the subtlest lures I could devise—for more information about him than I had, but he was too clever for me. But here he was, swimming in the flattery of this clever Englishman Ingestree, and he looked as if he might be about to spill the beans. Well, anyhow I would be present when, and if, he did so. After some consideration, he spoke.
"The first thing I would tell you would be that my earliest instructor was the man you see in that chair yonder: Dunstan Ramsay. God knows he was the worst conjuror the world has ever seen, but he introduced me to conjuring, and by a coincidence his textbook was _The Secrets of Stage Conjuring_ , by the man we are all talking about and, if you are right in what you say, Mr Ingestree, serving! Robert-Houdin."
This caused some sensation, as Eisengrim knew it would. Ingestree, having forced the oyster to yield a little, pressed the knife in.
"Wonderful! We would never have taken Ramsay for a conjuror. But there must have been somebody else. If Ramsay was your first master, who was your second?"
"I'm not sure I'm going to tell you," said Eisengrim. "I'll have to think about it very carefully. Your idea of a subtext—the term and the idea are both new to me—is interesting. I'll tell you this much. I began to learn conjuring seriously on 30 August 1918. That was the day I descended into hell, and did not rise again for seven years. I'll consider whether I'm going to go farther than that. Now I'm going to bed."
(3)
Liesl had said little during the quarrel—or rivalry of egotisms, or whatever you choose to call it—but she caught me the following morning before the film crew arrived, and seemed to be in high spirits.
"So Magnus has come to the confessional moment in his life," she said. "It's been impending for several months. Didn't you notice? You didn't! Oh, Ramsay, you are such a dunce about some things. If Magnus were the kind of man who could write an autobiography, this is when he would do it."
"Magnus has an autobiography already. I should know. I wrote it.
"A lovely book. _Phantasmata: the Life and Adventures of Magnus Eisengrim._ But that was for sale at his performance; a kind of super-publicity. A splendid Gothic invention from your splendid Gothic imagination."
"That's not the way he regards it. When people ask he tells them that it is a poetic autobiography, far more true to the man he has become than any merely factual account of his experience could be."
"I know. I told him to say that. You don't suppose he thought it out himself, do you? You know him. He's marvellously intelligent in his own way—sensitive, aware, and intuitive—but it's not a literary or learned intelligence. Magnus is a truly original creature. They are of the greatest rarity. And as I say, he's reached the confessional time of life. I expect we shall hear some strange things."
"Not as strange as I could tell about him."
"I know, I know. You are obsessed with the idea that his mother was a saint. Ramsay, in all your rummaging among the lives of the saints, did you ever encounter one who had a child? What was that child like? Perhaps we shall hear."
"I'm a little miffed that he considers telling these strangers things he's never told to you and me."
"Ass! It's always strangers who turn the tap that lets out the truth. Didn't you yourself babble out all the secrets of your life to me within a couple of weeks of our first meeting? Magnus is going to tell."
"But why, now?"
"Because he wants to impress Lind. He's terribly taken with Lind, and he has his little fancies, like the rest of us. Once he wanted to impress me, but it wasn't the right time in his life to spill the whole bottle."
"But Ingestree suggested that Lind might do some telling, too. Are we to have a great mutual soul-scrape?"
"Ingestree is very foxy, behind all that fat and twinkling bonhomie. He knows Lind won't tell anything. For one thing, it's not his time; he's only forty-three. And he is inhibited by his education; it makes people cagey. What he tells us he tells through his films, just as Ingestree suggested that Robert-Houdin revealed himself through his tricks. But Magnus is retired—or almost. Also he is not inhibited by education, which is the great modern destroyer of truth and originality. Magnus knows no history. Have you ever seen him read a book? He really thinks that whatever has happened to him is unique. It is an enviable characteristic."
"Well, every life is unique."
"To a point. But there are only a limited number of things a human creature can do."
"So you think he is going to tell all?"
"Not all. Nobody tells that. Indeed, nobody knows everything about themselves. But I'll bet you anything you like he tells a great deal."
I argued no further. Liesl is very shrewd about such things. The morning was spent in arrangements about lighting. A mobile generator from Zürich had to be put in place, and all the lamps connected and hung; the riding-school was a jungle of pipe-scaffolding and cable. Kinghovn fussed over differences which seemed to me imperceptible, and as a script-girl stood in for Eisengrim while the lighting was being completed, he had time to wander about the riding-school, and as lunchtime approached he steered me off into a corner.
"Tell me about subtext," he said.
"It's a term modern theatre people are very fond of. It's what a character thinks and knows, as opposed to what the playwright makes him say. Very psychological."
"Give me an example."
"Do you know Ibsen's _Hedda Gabler_?"
He didn't, and it was a foolish question. He didn't know anything about any literature whatever. I waded in.
"It's about a beautiful and attractive woman who has married, as a last resort, a man she thinks very dull. They have returned from a honeymoon during which she has become greatly disillusioned with him, but she knows she is already pregnant. In the first act she is talking to her husband's adoring aunt, trying to be civil as the old woman prattles on about the joys of domesticity and the achievements of her nephew. But all the time she has, in her mind, the knowledge that he is dull, timid, a tiresome lover, that she is going to have a child by him, and that she fears childbirth. That's the subtext. The awareness of it thickens up the actress's performance, and emphasizes the irony of the situation."
"I understand. It seems obvious."
"First-rate actors have always been aware of it, but dramatists like Shakespeare usually brought the subtext up to the surface and gave it to the audience directly. Like Hamlet's soliloquies."
"I've never seen _Hamlet_."
"Well—that's subtext."
"Do you think the circumstances of my own life really form a subtext for this film?"
"God only knows. One thing is certain: unless you choose to tell Lind and his friends about your life, it can't do so."
"You're quite wrong. I would know, and I suppose whatever I do is rooted in what I am, and have been."
It was never wise to underestimate Magnus, but I was always doing so. The pomposity of the learned. Because he didn't know _Hamlet_ and _Hedda_ I tended to think him simpler than he was.
"I'm thinking of telling them a few things, Dunny. I might surprise them. They're all so highly educated, you know. Education is a great shield against experience. It offers so much, ready-made and all from the best shops, that there's a temptation to miss your own life in pursuing the lives of your betters. It makes you wise in some ways, but it can make you a blindfolded fool in others. I think I'll surprise them. They talk so much about art, but really, education is just as much a barrier between a man and real art as it is in other parts of life. They don't know what a mean old bitch art can be. I think I'll surprise them."
So Liesl had been right! He was ready to spill.
Well, I was ready to hear. Indeed, I was eager to hear. My reason was deep and professional. As an historian I had all my life been aware of the extraordinary importance of documents. I had handled hundreds of them: letters, reports, memoranda, sometimes diaries; I had always treated them with respect, and had come in time to have an affection for them. They summed up something that was becoming increasingly important to me, and that was an earthly form of immortality. Historians come and go, but the document remains, and it has the importance of a thing that cannot be changed or gainsaid. Whoever wrote it continues to speak through it. It might be honest and it might be complete: on the other hand it could be thoroughly crooked or omit something of importance. But there it was, and it was all succeeding ages possessed.
I deeply wanted to create, or record, and leave behind me a document, so that whenever its subject was dealt with in future, the notation "Ramsay says..." would have to appear. Thus, so far as this world is concerned, I should not wholly die. Well, here was my chance.
Would anyone care? Indeed they would. I had written an imaginative account of the life of Magnus Eisengrim, the great conjuror and illusionist, at his own request and that of Liesl, who had been the manager and in a very high degree the brains of his great show, the _Soirée of Illusions._ The book was sold in the foyers of any theatre in which he appeared, but it had also had a flattering success on its own account; it sold astonishingly in the places where the really big sales of books are achieved—cigar stores, airports, and bus stops. It had extravagantly outsold all my other books, even my _Hundred Saints for Travellers_ and my very popular _Celtic Saints of Britain and Europe._ Why? Because it was a wonderfully good book of its kind. Readable by the educated, but not rebuffing to somebody who simply wanted a lively, spicy tale.
Its authorship was still a secret, for although I received a half-share of the royalties it was ostensibly the work of Magnus Eisengrim. It had done great things for him. People who believed what they read came to see the man who had lived the richly adventurous and macabre life described in it; sophisticates came to see the man who had written such gorgeous, gaudy lies about himself. As Liesl said, it was Gothic, full of enormities bathed in the delusive lights of nineteenth-century romance. But it was modern enough, as well; it touched the sexy, rowdy string so many readers want to hear.
Some day it would be known that I had written it. We had already received at Sorgenfrei a serious film offer and a number of inquiries from earnest Ph.D. students who explained apologetically that they were making investigations, of one kind or another, of what they called "popular literature". And when it became known that I had written it, which would probably not be until Eisengrim and I were both dead, then—Aha! then my document would come into its own. For then the carefully tailored life of Magnus Eisengrim, which had given pleasure to so many millions in English, French, German, Danish, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, and had been accorded the distinction of a pirated version in Japanese, would be compared with the version I would prepare from Eisengrim's own confessions, and "Ramsay says..." would certainly be heard loud and clear.
Was this a base ambition for an historian and a hagiologist? What had Ingestree said? In every artist there is something black, something savouring of the crook. Was I, in a modest way, an artist? I was beginning to wonder. No, no; unless I falsified the record what could be dishonest, or artistic, about making a few notes?
(4)
"I have spent a good deal of time since last night wondering whether I should tell you anything about my life," said Eisengrim, after dinner that evening, "and I think I shall, on the condition that you regard it as a secret among ourselves. After all, the audience doesn't have to know the subtext, does it? Your film isn't Shakespeare, where everything is revealed; it is Ibsen, where much is implied."
How quickly he learns, I thought. And how well he knows the power of pretending something is secret which he has every intention of revealing. I turned up my mental, wholly psychological historian's hearing-aid, determined to miss nothing, and to get at least the skeleton of it on paper before I went to sleep.
"Begin with going to hell," said Ingestree. "You've given us a date: August 30, 1918. You told us you knew Ramsay when you were a boy, so I suppose you must be a Canadian. If I were going to hell, I don't think I'd start from Canada. What happened?"
"I went to the village fair. Our village, which was called Deptford, had a proud local reputation for its fair. Schoolchildren were admitted free. That helped to swell the attendance, and the Fair Board liked to run up the biggest possible annual figure. You wouldn't imagine there was anything wrong in what I did, but judged by the lights of my home it was sin. We were an unusually religious household, and my father mistrusted the fair. He had promised me that he might, if I could repeat the whole of Psalm 79 without an error, at suppertime, take me to the fair in the evening, to see the animals. This task of memorizing was part of a great undertaking that he had set his heart on: I was to get the whole of the Book of Psalms by heart. He assured me that it would be a bulwark and a stay to me through the whole of my life. He wasn't rushing the job; I was supposed to learn ten verses each day, but as I was working for a treat, he thought I might run to the thirteen verses of Psalm 79 to get to the fair. But the treat was conditional; if I stumbled, the promise about the fair was off."
"It sounds very much like rural Sweden, when I was a boy," said Kinghovn. "How do the children of such people grow up?"
"Ah, but you mustn't misunderstand. My father wasn't a tyrant; he truly wanted to protect me against evil."
"A fatal desire in a parent," said Lind, who was known throughout the world—to film-goers at least—as an expert on evil.
"There was a special reason. My mother was an unusual person. If you want to know the best about her, you must apply to Ramsay. I don't suppose I can tell you my own story without giving you something of the other side of her nature. She was supposed to have some very bad instincts, and our family suffered for it. She had to be kept under confinement. My father, with what I suppose must be described as compassion, wanted to make sure I wouldn't follow in her ways. So, from the age of eight, I was set to work to acquire the bulwark and the stay of the Psalms, and in a year and a half—something like that—I had gnawed my way through them up to Psalm 79."
"How old were you?" said Ingestree.
"Getting on for ten. I wanted fiercely to go to the fair, so I set to work on the Psalm. Do you know the Psalms? I have never been able to make head or tail of a lot of them, but others strike with a terrible truth on your heart, if you meet them at the right time. I plugged on till I came to _We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us._ Yes! Yes, there we were! The Dempsters, a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to the whole village of Deptford. And particularly to the children of Deptford, with whom I had to go to school. School was to begin on the day after Labour Day, less than a week from the day when I sat puzzling over Psalm 79. Tell me, Lind, you know so much about evil, and have explored it in your films, Liesl tells me, like a man with an ordnance map in his hand; have you ever explored the evil of children?"
"Even I have never dared to do that," said Lind, with the tragic grin which was the nearest he ever came to a laugh.
"If you ever decide to do so, call me in as a special adviser. It's a primal evil, a pure malignance. They really enjoy giving pain. This is described by sentimentalists as innocence. I was tormented by the children of our village from the earliest days I can remember. My mother had done something—I never found out what it was—that made most of the village hate her, and the children knew that, so it was all right to hate me and torture me. They said my mother was a hoor—that was the local pronunciation of whore—and they tormented me with a virtuosity they never showed in anything else they did. When I cried, somebody might say, 'Aw, let the kid alone; he can't help it his mother's a hoor.' I suppose the philosopher-kings who struggled up to that level have since become the rulers of the place. But I soon determined not to cry.
"Not that I became hard. I simply accepted the wretchedness of my station. Not that I hated them—not then; I learned to hate them later in life. At that time I simply assumed that children must be as they were. I was a misfit in the world, and didn't know why.
"Onward I went with Psalm 79. _0 remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low._ But as soon as I put my nose into the schoolyard they would remember former iniquities against me. God's tender mercies had never reached the Deptford schoolyard. And I was unquestionably brought very low, for all that desolation would begin again next Tuesday.
"Having got that far with me, Satan had me well on the path to hell. I knew where some money was kept; it was small change for the baker and the milkman when they called; under my mother's very nose—she was sitting in a chair, staring into space, tied by a rope to a ringbolt my father had set in the wall—I pinched fifteen cents; I held it up so that she could see it, so that she would think I was going to pay one of the delivery-men. Then I ran off to the fair, and my heart was full of terrible joy. I was wicked, but O what a delicious release it was!
"I pieced out the enjoyment of the fair like a gourmet savouring a feast. Begin at the bottom, with what was least amusing. That would be the Women's Institute display of bottled pickles, embalmed fruit, doilies, home-cooking, and 'fancy-work'. Then the animals, the huge draught-horses, the cows with enormous udders, the prize bull (though I did not go very near to him, for some of my schoolmates were lingering there, to snigger and work themselves up into a horny stew, gaping at his enormous testicles), the pigs so unwontedly clean, and the foolish poultry, White Wyandottes, Buff Orpingtons, and Mrs Forrester's gorgeous Cochin Chinas, and in a corner a man from the Department of Agriculture giving an educational display of egg-candling.
"Pleasure now began to be really intense. I looked with awe and some fear at the display from the nearby Indian Reservation. Men with wrinkled, tobacco-coloured faces sat behind a stand, not really offering slim walking-canes, with ornate whittled handles into which patterns of colour had been worked; their women, as silent and unmoving as they, displayed all sorts of fancy boxes made of sweetgrass, ornamented with beads and dyed porcupine quill. But these goods, which had some merit as craftwork, were not so gorgeous in my eyes as the trash offered by a booth which was not of local origin, in which a man sold whirligigs of gaudy celluloid, kewpie dolls with tinsel skirts riding high over their gross stomachs, alarm-clocks with _two_ bells for determined sleepers, and beautiful red or blue pony-whips. I yearned toward those whips, but they cost a whole quarter apiece, and were thus out of my reach.
"But I was not cut off from all the carnal pleasures of the fair. After a great deal of deliberation I spent five of my ill-gotten cents on a large paper cornet of pink candy floss, a delicacy I had never seen before. It had little substance, and made my mouth sticky and dry, but it was a luxury, and my life had known nothing of luxuries.
"Then, after a full ten minutes of deliberation, I laid out another five cents on a ride on the merry-go-round. I chose my mount with care, a splendid dapple-grey with flaring nostrils, ramping wonderfully up and down on his brass pole; he seemed to me like the horse in Job that saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; for a hundred and eighty seconds I rode him in ecstasy, and dismounted only when I was chased away by the man who took care of such things and was on the look-out for enchanted riders like myself.
"But even this was only leading up to what I knew to be the crown of the fair. That was Wanless's World of Wonders, the one pleasure which my father would certainly never have permitted me. Shows of all kinds were utterly evil in his sight, and this was a show that turned my bowels to water, even from the outside.
"The tent seemed vast to me, and on a scaffold on its outside were big painted pictures of the wonders within. A Fat Woman, immense and pink, beside whom even the biggest pigs in the agricultural tents were starvelings. A man who ate fire. A Strong Man, who would wrestle with anybody who dared to try it. A Human Marvel, half man and half woman. A Missing Link, in itself worth more than the price of admission, because it was powerfully educational, illustrating what Man had been before he decided to settle in such places as Deptford. On a raised platform outside the tent a man in fine clothes was shouting to the crowd about everything that was to be seen; it was before the days of rnicrophones, and he roared hoarsely through a megaphone. Beside him stood the Fire Eater, holding a flaming torch in front of his mouth. 'See Molza, the man who can always be sure of a hot meal,' bellowed the man in the fine clothes, and a few Deptfordians laughed shyly. 'See Professor Spencer, born without arms, but he can write a finer hand with his feet than any of your schoolteachers. And within the tent the greatest physiological marvel of the age, Andro, the Italian nobleman so evenly divided between the sexes that you may see him shave the whiskers off of the one side of his face, while the other displays the peachy smoothness of a lovely woman. A human miracle, attested to by doctors and men of science at Yale, Harvard, and Columbia. Any local doctor wishing to examine this greatest of marvels may make an appointment to do so, in the presence of myself, after the show tonight.'
"But I was not very attentive to the man in the fine clothes, because my eyes were all for another figure on the platform, who was doing wonders with decks of cards; he whirled them out from his hands in what appeared to be ribbons, and then drew them—magically it seemed to me—back into his hands again. He spread them in fans. He made them loop-the-loop from one hand to another. The man in the fine clothes introduced him as Willard the Wizard, positively the greatest artist in sleight-of-hand in the world today, briefly on loan from the Palace Theatre in New York.
"Willard was a tall man, and looked even taller because he wore what was then called a garter-snake suit, which had wriggling lines of light and dark fabric running perpendicularly through it. He was crowned by a pearl-grey hard hat—what we called a Derby, and known in Deptford only as part of the Sunday dress of doctors and other grandees. He was the most elegant thing I had ever seen in my life, and his thin, unsmiling face spoke to me of breathtaking secrets. I could not take my eyes off him, nor did I try to still my ravening desire to know those secrets. I too was a conjuror, you see; I had continued, on the sly, to practise the few elementary sleights and passes I had learned from Ramsay, before my father put a stop to it. I longed with my whole soul to know what Willard knew. As the hart pants after the water brooks, even so my blasphemous soul panted after the Wizard. And the unbelievable thing was that, of the fifteen or twenty people gathered in front of the platform, he seemed to look most often at me, and once I could swear I saw him wink!
"I paid my five cents—a special price for schoolchildren until six o'clock—and entered in the full splendour of Wanless's World of Wonders. It is impossible for me to describe the impression it made on me then, because I came to know it so well later on. It was just a fair-sized tent, capable of holding ten or twelve exhibits and the spectators. It was of that discouraged whitey-grey colour that such tents used to be before somebody had the good idea of colouring canvas brown. A few strings of lights hung between the three main poles, but they were not on, because it was assumed that we could see well enough by the light that leaked in from outdoors. The exhibits were on stands the height of a table; indeed, they were like collapsible tables, and each exhibit had his own necessities. Professor Spencer had the blackboard on which he wrote so elegantly with his feet; Molza had his jet of flaming gas, and a rack to hold the swords he swallowed; it was really, I suppose, very tacky and ordinary. But I was under the spell of Willard, and I didn't, at that time, take much heed of anything else, not even of the clamorous Fat Woman, who seemed never to be wholly quiet, even when the other exhibits were having their turn.
"The loud-voiced man had followed us inside, and bellowed about each wonder as we toured round the circle. Even to such an innocent as I, it was plain that the wonders were shown in an ascending order of importance, beginning with the Knife Thrower and Molza, and working upward through Zovene the Midget Juggler and Sonny the Strong Man to Professor Spencer and Zitta the Serpent Woman. She seemed to mark a divide, and after her came Rango the Missing Link, then the Fat Woman, called Happy Hannah, then Willard, and finally Andro the Half-Man Half-Woman.
"Even though my eyes constantly wandered toward Willard, who seemed now and then to meet them with a dark and enchantingly wizard-like gaze, I was too prudent to ignore the lesser attractions. After all, I had invested five ill-gotten cents in this adventure, and I was in no position to throw money away. But we came to Willard at last, and the loud-voiced man did not need to introduce him, because even before Happy Hannah had finished her noisy harangue and had begun to sell pictures of herself, he threw away his cigarette, sprang to his feet, and began to pluck coins out of the air. He snatched them from everywhere—from the backs of his knees, from his elbows, from above his head—and threw them into a metal basin on his little tripod table. You could hear them clink as they fell, and as the number increased the sound from the basin changed. Then, without speaking a word, he seized the basin and hurled its contents into the crowd. People ducked and shielded their faces. But the basin was empty! Willard laughed a mocking laugh. Oh, very Mephistophelian! It sounded like a trumpet call to me, because I had never heard anybody laugh like that before. He was laughing at us, for having been deceived. What power! What glorious command over lesser humanity! Silly people often say that they are enraptured by something which has merely pleased them, but I was truly enraptured. I was utterly unaware of myself, whirled into a new sort of comprehension of life by what I saw.
"You must understand that I had never seen a conjuror before. I knew what conjuring was, and I could do some tricks. But I had never seen anybody else do sleight-of-hand except Ramsay here, who made very heavy weather of getting one poor coin from one of his great red hands to the other, and if he had not explained that the pass was supposed to be invisible you would never have known it was a trick at all. Please don't be hurt, Ramsay. You are a dear fellow and rather a famous writer in your own line, but as a conjuror you were abject. But Willard! For me the Book of Revelation came alive: here was an angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory; if only I could be like him, surely there would be no more sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain, and all former things—my dark home, my mad, disgraceful mother, the torment of school—would pass away."
"So you ran away with the show," said Kinghovn, who had no tact.
"Ramsay tells me they say in Deptford that I ran away with the show," said Eisengrim, smiling what I would myself have called a Mephistophelian smile, beneath which he looked like any other man whose story has been interrupted by somebody who doesn't understand the form and art of stories. "I don't think Deptford would ever comprehend that it was not a matter of choice. But if you have understood what I have said about the way Deptford regarded me, you will realize that I had no choice. I did not run away with the show; the show ran away with me."
"Because you were so utterly entranced by Willard?" said Ingestree.
"No, I think our friend means something more than that," said Lind. "These possessions of the soul are very powerful, but there must have been something else. I smell it. The Bible obsession must somehow have supported the obsession with the conjuror. Not even a great revelation wipes out a childhood's indoctrination; the two must have come together in some way."
"You are right," said Eisengrim. "And I begin to see why people call you a great artist. Your education and sophistication haven't gobbled up your understanding of the realities of life. Let me go on.
"Willard's show had to be short, because there were ten exhibits in the tent, and a full show was not supposed to run over forty-five minutes. As one of the best attractions he was allowed something like five minutes, and after the trick with the coins he did some splendid things with ribbons, pulling them out of his mouth and throwing them into the bowl, from which he produced them neatly braided. Then he did some very flashy things with cards, causing any card chosen by a member of the audience to pop out of a pack that was stuck in a wineglass as far away from himself as his platform allowed. He finished by eating a spool of thread and a packet of needles, and then producing the thread from his mouth, with all the needles threaded on it at intervals of six inches. During the Oohs and Aahs, he nonchalantly produced the wooden spool from his ear, and threw it into the audience—threw it so that I caught it. I remember being amazed that it wasn't even wet, which shows how very green I was.
"I didn't want to see Andro, whose neatly compartmentalized sexuality meant nothing to me. As the crowd moved on to hear the loud-mouthed man bellow about the medical miracle called hermaphroditism— _only one in four hundred million births, ladies and gentlemen, only six thoroughly proven hermaphrodites in the whole long history of mankind, and one of them stands before you in Deptford today!_ —I hung around Willard's table. He leapt down from it and lighted another cigarette. Even the way he did that was magical, for he flicked the pack toward his mouth, and the cigarette leaped between his lips, waiting for the match he was striking with the thumbnail of his other hand. There I was, near enough to the Wizard to touch him. But it was he who touched me. He reached toward my left ear and produced a quarter from it, and flicked it toward me. I snatched it out of the air, and handed it back to him. 'No, it's for you, kid,' he said. His voice was low and hoarse, and not in keeping with the rest of his elegant presentation, but I didn't care. A quarter! For me! I had never known such riches in my life. My infrequent stealings had never, before this day, aspired beyond a nickel. The man was not only a Wizard; he was princely.
"I was inspired. Inspired by you, Ramsay, you may be surprised to hear. You remember your trick in which you pretended to eat money, though one could always see it in your hand as you took it away from your mouth? I did that. I popped the quarter into my mouth, chewed it up, showed Willard that it was gone, and that I had nothing in my hands. I could do a little magic, too, and I was eager to claim some kinship with this god.
"He did not smile. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Come with me, kid. I got sumpn to show ya,' and steered me toward a back entry of the tent which I had not noticed.
"We walked perhaps halfway around the fairground, which was not really very far, and we kept behind tents and buildings. I would have been proud to be seen by the crowd with such a hero, but we met very few people, and they were busy with their own affairs in the agricultural tents, so I do not suppose anybody noticed us. We came to the back of the barn where the horses were stabled when they were not being shown; it was one of the two or three permanent buildings of the fair. Behind it was a lean-to with a wall which did not quite reach to the roof, nor fully to the ground. It was the men's urinal, old, dilapidated, and smelly. Willard peeped in, found it empty, and pushed me in ahead of him. I had never been in such a place before, because it was part of my training that one never 'went' anywhere except at home, and all arrangements had to be made to accommodate this rule. It was a queer place, as I remember it; just a tin trough nailed to the wall, sloping slightly downward so that it drained into a hole in the ground. A pile of earth was ready to fill in the hole, once the fair was over.
"At the end of this shanty was a door which hung partly open, and it was through this that Willard guided me. We were in an earth closet, as old as Deptford fair, I should judge, for a heavy, sweetish, old smell hung over it. Hornets buzzed under the sloping roof. The two holes in the seat were covered by rounds of wood, with crude handles. I think I would know them if I saw them now.
"Willard took a clean white handkerchief out of his pocket, twisted it quickly into a roll, and forced it between my teeth. No: I should not say 'forced'. I thought this was the beginning of some splendid illusion, and opened my mouth willingly. Then he whirled me round, lifted me up on the seat in a kneeling position, pulled down my pants and sodomized me.
"Quickly said: an eternity in the doing. I struggled and resisted: he struck me such a blow over the ear that I slackened my grip with the pain, and he had gained an entry. It was rough: it was painful, and I suppose it was soon over. But as I say, it seemed an eternity, for it was a kind of feeling I had never guessed at.
"I am anxious you should not misunderstand me. I was no Greek lad, discovering the supposed pleasures of pederastic love in a society that knew it and condoned it. I was a boy not yet quite ten years old, who did not know what sex was in any form. I thought I was being killed, and in a shameful way.
"The innocence of children is very widely misunderstood. Few of them—I suppose only children brought up in wealthy families that desire and can contrive a conspiracy of ignorance—are unknowing about sex. No child brought up so near the country as I was, and among schoolchildren whose ages might reach as high as fifteen or sixteen, can be utterly ignorant of sex. It had touched me, but not intimately. For one thing, I had heard the whole of the Bible read through several times by my father; he had a plan of readings which, pursued morning and evening, worked through the whole of the book in a year. I had heard the sound as an infant, and as a little child, long before I could understand anything of the sense. So I knew about men going in unto women, and people raising up seed of their loins, and I knew that my father's voice took on a special tone of shame and detestation when he read about Lot and his daughters, though I had never followed what it was they did in that cave, and thought their sin was to make their father drunk. I knew these things because I had heard them, but they had no reality for me.
"As for my mother, who was called hoor by my schoolmates, I knew only that hoors—my father used the local pronunciation, and I don't think he knew any other—were always turning up in the Bible, and always in a bad sense which meant nothing to me as a reality. Ezekiel, sixteen, was a riot of whoredoms and abominations, and I shivered to think how terrible they must be: but I did not know what they were, even in the plainest sense of the words. I only knew that there was something filthy and disgraceful that pertained to my mother, and that we all, my father and I, were spattered by her shame, or abomination, or whatever it might be.
"I was aware that there was some difference between boys and girls, but I didn't know, or want to know, what it was, because I connected it somehow with the shame of my mother. You couldn't be a hoor unless you were a woman, and they had something special that made it possible. What I had, as a male, I had most strictly been warned against as an evil and shameful part of my body. 'Don't you ever monkey with yourself, down there,' was the full extent of the sexual instruction I had from my father. I knew that the boys who were gloating over the bull's testicles were doing something dirty, and my training was such that I was both disgusted and terrified by their sly nastiness. But I didn't know why, and it never would have occurred to me to relate the bull's showy apparatus with those things I possessed, in so slight a degree, and which I wasn't to monkey with. So you can see that without being utterly ignorant, I was innocent, in my way. If I had not been innocent, how could I have lived my life, and even have felt some meagre joy, from time to time?
"Sometimes I felt that joy when I was with you, Ramsay, because you were kind to me, and kindness was a great rarity in my life. You were the only person in my childhood who had treated me as if I were a human creature. I don't say, who loved me, you notice. My father loved me, but his love was a greater burden, almost, than hate might have been. But you treated me as a fellow-being, because I don't suppose it ever occurred to you to do anything else. You never ran with the crowd.
"The rape itself was horrible, because it was painful physically, but worse because it was an outrage on another part of my body which I had been told to fear and be ashamed of. Liesl tells me that Freud has had a great deal to say about the importance of the functions of excretion in deciding and moulding character. I don't know anything about that; don't want to know it, because all that sort of thinking lies outside what I really understand. I have my own notions about psychology, and they have served me well. But this rape—it was something filthy going in where I knew only that filthy things should come out, as secretly as could be managed. In our house there was no word for excretion, only two or three prim locutions, and the word used in the schoolyard seemed to me a horrifying indecency. It's very popular nowadays in literature, I'm told by Liesl. She reads a great deal. I don't know how writers can put it down, though there was a time when I used it often enough in my daily speech. But as I have grown older I have returned to that early primness. We don't get over some things. But what Willard did to me was, in a sense I could understand, a reversal of the order of nature, and I was terrified that it would kill me.
"It didn't, of course. But that, and Willard's heavy breathing, and the flood of filthy language that he whispered as a kind of ecstatic accompaniment to what he was doing, were more horrible to me than anything I have met with since.
"When it was over he pulled my head around so that he could he see my face and said, 'You O.K., kid?' I can remember the tone now. He had no idea at all of what I was, or what I might feel. He was obviously happy, and the Mephistophelian smile had given place to an expression that was almost boyish. 'Go on now,' he said. 'Pull up your pants and beat it. And if you blat to anybody, by the living Jesus I'll cut your nuts off with a rusty knife.'
"Then I fainted, but for how long, or what I looked like when I did it, I of course can't tell you. Perhaps I was out for a few minutes, because when I became aware again Willard was looking anxious, and patting my cheeks lightly. He had taken the gag out of my mouth. I was crying, but making no noise. I had learned very early in life not to make a noise when I cried. I was still crumpled up on the horrible seat, and now its stench was too much for me and I vomited. Willard sprang back, anxious for his fine trousers and the high polish on his shoes. But he dared not leave me. Of course I had no idea how frightened he was. He felt he could trust in my shame and his threats up to a point, but I might be one of those terrible children who go beyond the point set for them by adults. He tried to placate me.
" 'Hey,' he whispered, 'you're a pretty smart kid. Where'd you learn that trick with the quarter, eh? Come on now, show it to me again. I never seen a better trick than that, even at the Palace, New York. You're the kid that eats money; that's who you are. A real show-business kid. Now look, I'll give you this, if you'll eat it.' He offered me a silver dollar. But I turned my face away, and sobbed, without sound.
" 'Aw now, look, it wasn't as bad as that,' he said. 'Just some fun between us two. Just playing paw and maw, eh? You want to grow up to be smart, don't you? Want to have fun? Take it from me, kid, you can't start too young. The day'll come, you'll thank me. Yes sir, you'll thank me. Now look here. I show you I've got nothing in my hands, see? Now watch.' He spread his fingers one by one, and magically quarters appeared between them until he held four quarters in each hand. 'Magic money, see? All for you; two whole dollars if you'll shut up and get the hell outa here, and never say anything to anybody.'
"I fainted again, and this time when I came round Willard was looking deeply worried. 'What you need is rest,' he said. 'Rest, and time to think about that money. I've gotta get back for the next show, but you stay here, and don't let anybody in. Nobody, see? I'll come back as soon as I can and I'll bring you something. Something nice. But don't let anybody in, don't holler, and keep quiet like a mouse.'
"He went, and I heard him pause for a moment outside the door. Then I was alone, and I sobbed myself to sleep.
"I did not wake until he came back, I suppose an hour later. He brought me a hot dog, and urged me to eat it. I took one bite—it was my first hot dog—and vomited again. Willard was now very worried indeed. He swore fiercely, but not at me. All he said to me was, 'My God you're a crazy kid. Stay here. Now _stay_ here, I tell ya. I'll come back as soon as I can.'
"That was not very soon. Perhaps two hours. But when he came he had an air of desperation about him, which I picked up at once. Terrible things had happened, and terrible remedies must be found. He had brought a large blanket, and he wrapped me in it, so that not even my head was showing, and lugged me bodily—I was not very heavy—out of the privy; I felt myself dumped into what I suppose was the back of a buggy or a carry-all, or something, and other wraps were thrown over me. Off I went, bumping along in the back of the cart, and it was some time later that I felt myself lifted out again, carried over rough ground, and humped painfully up onto what seemed to be a platform. Then another painful business of being lugged over a floor, some sounds of objects being moved, and at last the blanket was taken off. I was in a dark place, and only vaguely conscious that some distance away a door, like the door of a shed, was open, and I could see the light of dusk through it.
"Willard lost no time. 'Get in here,' he commanded, and pushed me into a place that was entirely dark, and confined. I had to climb upward, boosted by him, until I came to what seemed to be a shelf, or seat, and on this he pushed me. 'Now you'll be all right,' he said, in a voice that carried no confidence at all that I would be all right. It was a desperate voice. 'Here's something for you to eat.' A box was pushed in beside me. Then a door below me was closed, and snapped from the outside, and I was in utter darkness.
"After a while I felt around me. Irregular walls, seeming to be curved everywhere; there was even a small dome over my head. A smell, not clean, but not as disgusting as the privy at the fair. A little fresh air from a point above my head. I fell asleep again.
"When I woke, it was because I heard the whistle of a train, and a train-like thundering nearby. But I was not moving. I was wretchedly hungry, and in the darkness I explored Willard's box. Something lumpy and sticky inside it, which I tried to eat, and then greedily ate it all. Sleep again. Terrible fatigue all through my body, and the worst pain of all in my bottom. But I could not move very much in any direction, and I had to sit on my misery. At last, a space of time that seemed like a geological age later, I felt movement. Banging and thumping which went on for some time. A sound of voices. The sound of another whistle, and then trundling, lumbering movement, which increased to a good speed. For the first time in my life I was on a train, but of course I didn't know that.
"And that, my friends, is the first instalment of my subtext to the memoirs of Robert-Houdin, whose childhood, you recall, was such an idyll of family love and care, and whose introduction to magic was so charmingly brought about. Enough, I think, for one evening. Good-night."
(5)
When I made my way to bed, some time later, I tapped at Eisengrim's door. As I had expected, he was awake, and lay, looking very fine, against his pillows, wearing a handsome dressing-robe.
"Kind of you to come in and say good-night, Dunny."
"I expected you'd be waiting up to see what your notices were."
"A disgusting way of putting it. Well, what were they?"
"About what you'd expect. Kinghovn had a fine sense of the appearance of everything. I'll bet that as you talked he had that fair all cut up into long shots, close-ups, and atmosphere shots. And of course he's a devil for detail. For one thing, he wondered why nobody wanted to use the privy while you were left in it for so long."
"Simple enough. Willard wrote a note which said 'INFECTION: Closed by Doctor's Order', and pinned it to the door."
"Also he was anxious to know what it was you ate when you found yourself in the curious prison with the rounded walls."
"It was a box of Cracker-Jack. I didn't know what it was at the time, and had never eaten it before. Why should I have included those details in my story? I didn't know them then. It would have been a violation of narrative art to tell things I didn't know. Kinghovn ought to have more sense of artistic congruity."
"He's a cameraman. He wants to get a shot of everything, and edit later."
"I edit as I go along. What did the others say?"
"Ingestree talked for quite a while about the nature of puritanism. He doesn't know anything about it. It's just a theological whimwham to him. He's talked about puritanism at Oxford to Ronny Knox and Monsignor D'Arcy, but that stuff means nothing in terms of the daily, bred-in-the-bone puritanism we lived in Deptford. North American puritanism and the puritanism the English know are worlds apart. I could have told him a thing or two about that, but my time for instructing people is over. Let 'em wallow in whatever nonsense pleases 'em, say I."
"Did Lind have anything to say?"
"Not much. But he did say that nothing you told us was incomprehensible to him, or even very strange. 'We know of such things in Sweden,' he said."
"I suppose people know of such things everywhere. But every rape is unique for the aggressor and the victim. He talks as if he knew everything."
"I don't think he means it quite that way. When he talks about Sweden, I think it is a mystical rather than a geographical concept. When he talks of Sweden he means himself, whether he knows it or not. He really does understand a great deal. You remember what Goethe said? No, of course you don't. He said he'd never heard of a crime of which he could not believe himself capable. Same with Lind, I suppose. That's his strength as an artist."
"He's a great man to work with. I think between us we'll do something extraordinary with this film."
"I hope so. And by the way, Magnus, I must thank you for the very kind things you said about me tonight. But I assure you I didn't especially mean to be kind to you, when we were boys. I mean, it wasn't anything conscious."
"I'm sure it wasn't. But that's the point, don't you see? If you'd done it out of duty, or for religious reasons, it would have been different. But it was just decency. You're a very decent man, Dunny."
"Really? Well—it's nice of you to think so. I've heard dissenting opinions."
"It's true. That's why I think you ought to know something I didn't see fit to tell them tonight."
"You suggested you had been editing. What did you leave out?"
"One gets carried away, telling a story. I may have leaned a little too heavily on my character as the wronged child. But would they have understood the whole truth? I don't after fifty years when I have thought of it over and over. You believe in the Devil, don't you."
"In an extremely sophisticated way, which would take several hours to explain, I do."
"Yes. Well, when the Devil is walking beside you, as he was walking beside me at that fair, it doesn't take a lot of argument to make him seem real."
"I won't insult you by saying you're a simple man, but you're certainly a man of strong feeling, and your feelings take concrete shapes. What did the Devil do to you that you withheld when you were talking downstairs?"
"The whole nub of the story. When Willard gave me that quarter in the tent, we were standing behind the crowd, which was gaping at Andro who was showing his big right bicep while twitching his sumptuous left breast. Nobody was looking. Willard had slipped his hand down the back of my pants and gently stroked my left buttock. Gave it a meaning squeeze. I remember very well how warm his hand felt."
"Yes?"
"I smiled up into his face."
"Yes?"
"Is that all you have to say? Don't you see what I'm getting at? I had never had any knowledge of sex, had never known a sexual caress before, even of the kind parents quite innocently give their children. But at this first sexual approach I yielded. I cosied up to Willard. How could I, without any true understanding of what I was doing, respond in such a way to such a strange act?"
"You were mad to learn his magic. It doesn't seem very strange to me."
"But it made me an accomplice in what followed."
"You think that? And you still blame yourself?"
"What did I know of such things? I can only think it was the Devil prompting me, and pushing me on to what looked then, and for years after, like my own destruction."
"The Devil isn't a popular figure nowadays. The people who take him seriously are few."
"I know. How he must laugh. I don't suppose God laughs at the people who think He doesn't exist. He's above jokes. But the Devil isn't. That's one of his most endearing qualities. But I still remember that smile. I had never smiled like that before. It was a smile of complicity. Now where would such a child as I was learn such a smile as that?"
"From that other old joker, Nature, do you suppose?"
"I don't take much stock in Nature... Thanks for coming in. Good-night, decent man."
"Magnus, are you becoming sentimental in your old age?"
"I'm fully ten years younger than you, you sour Scot. Good-night, kind man."
I went to my room, and to my bed, but it was a long time before I slept. I lay awake, thinking about the Devil. Many people would have considered my bedroom at Sorgenfrei a first-class place for such reflection, because so many people associate the Devil with a high standard of old-fashioned luxury. Mine was a handsome room in a corner tower, with an area of floor as big as that of a modest modern North American house. Sorgenfrei was an early-nineteenth-century construction, built by a forebear of Liesl's who seemed to have something in common, at least in his architectural taste, with the mad King of Bavaria; it was a powerfully romantic Gothic Revival house, built and furnished with Teutonic thoroughness. Everything was heavy, everything was the best of its kind, everything was carved, and polished, and gilded, and painted to the highest possible degree, and everything would drive a modern interior decorator out of his tasteful mind. But it suited me splendidly.
Not, however, when I wanted to think about the Devil. It was too romantic, too Germanic altogether. As I lay in my big bed, looking out of the windows at the mountains on which moonlight was falling, what could be easier than to accept an operatic Devil, up to every sort of high-class deception, and always defeated at the end of the story by the power of sheer simple-minded goodness? All my life I have been a keen operagoer and playgoer, and in the theatre I am willing to accept the notion that although the Devil is a very clever fellow, he is no match for some ninny who is merely good. And what is this goodness? A squalid, know-nothing acceptance of things as they are, an operatic version of the dream which, in North America, means Mom and apple pie. My whole life had been a protest against this world, or the smudged, grey version of it into which I had been born in my rural Canada.
No, no; that Devil would never do. But what else is there? Theologians have not been so successful in their definitions of the Devil as they have been in their definitions of God. The words of the Westminster Confession, painstakingly learned by heart as a necessity of Presbyterian boyhood, still seemed, after many wanderings, to have the ring of indisputable authority. God was _infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory._ Excellent, even if one is somewhat seduced by the high quality of the prose of 1648. What else? _Most loving, most gracious, merciful, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin; the rewarder of those that diligently seek him._ Aha, but where does one seek God? In Deptford, where Eisengrim and I were born, and might still be living if, in my case, I had not gone off to the First World War, and in his case, if he had not been abducted by a mountebank in a travelling show? I had sought God in my lifelong, unlikely (for a Canadian schoolmaster) preoccupation with that fantastic collection of wise men, virtuous women, thinkers, doers, organizers, contemplatives, crack-brained simpletons, and mad mullahs that are all called Saints. But all I had found in that lifelong study was a complexity that brought God no nearer. Had Eisengrim sought God at all? How could I know? How can anybody know what another man does in this most secret part of his life? What else had I been taught in that profound and knotty definition? That God was _most just and terrible in his judgements, hating all sin, one who will by no means clear the guilty._ Noble words, and (only slightly cloaked by their nobility) a terrifying concept. And why should it not be terrifying? A little terror, in my view, is good for the soul, when it is terror in the face of a noble object.
The Devil, however, seems never to have been so splendidly mapped and defined. Nor can you spy him simply by turning a fine definition of God inside out; he is something decidedly more subtle than just God's opposite.
Is the Devil, then, sin? No, though sin is very useful to him; anything we may reasonably call sin involves some personal choice. It is flattering to be asked to make important choices. The Devil loves the time of indecision.
What about evil, then? Is the Devil the origin and ruler of that great realm of manifestly dreadful and appalling things which are not, so far as we can determine, anybody's fault or the consequence of any sin? Of the cancer wards, and the wards for children born misshapen and mindless? I have had reason to visit such places—asylums for the insane in particular—and I do not think I am fanciful or absurdly sensitive in saying that I have felt evil to be palpable there, in spite of whatever could be done to lessen it.
These are evil things within my knowledge: I am certain there are worse things I have never encountered. And how constant this evil is! Let mankind laboriously suppress leprosy, and tuberculosis rages: when tuberculosis is chained, cancer rushes to take its place. One might almost conclude that such evils were necessities of our collective life. If the Devil is the inspirer and ruler of evil, he is a serious adversary indeed, and I cannot understand why so many people become jokey and facetious at the mention of his name.
Where is the Devil? Was Eisengrim, whose intuitions and directness of observation in all things concerning himself I had come to respect, right in saying the Devil stood beside him when Willard the Wizard solicited him to an action which, under the circumstances, I should certainly have to call evil? Both God and the Devil wish to intervene in the world, and the Devil chooses his moments shrewdly.
What had Eisengrim told us? That on 30 August 1918, he had descended into hell, and did not rise again for seven years? Allowing for his wish to startle us, and his taste for what a severe critic might call flashy rhetoric, could what he said be discounted?
It was always a mistake, in my experience, to discount Magnus Eisengrim. The only thing to do was to wait for the remainder of his narrative, and hope that it would make it possible for me to reach a conclusion. And that would be my much-desired document.
(6)
I knew nothing about filming, but Lind's subordinates told me that his methods were not ordinary. He was extremely deliberate, and because he liked careful rehearsal and would not work at night he seemed to take a lot of time. But as he wasted none of this time, his films were not as devastatingly expensive as impatient people feared they might be. He was a master of his craft. I did not presume to question him about it, but I sensed that he attached more importance to Eisengrim's story than ordinary curiosity would explain, and that the dinners and discussions at Sorgenfrei fed the fire of his creation. Certainly he and Kinghovn and Ingestree were anxious for more as we settled down in the library on the third night. Liesl had seen to it that there was plenty of brandy, for although Eisengrim drank very little, and I was too keen on my document to drink much, Lind loved to tipple as he listened and had a real Scandinavian head; brandy never changed him in the least. Kinghovn was a heavy drinker, and Ingestree, a fatty, could not resist anything that could be put into his mouth, be it food, drink, or cigar.
Magnus knew they were waiting, and after he had toyed with them for a few minutes, and appeared to be leading them into general conversation, he yielded to Lind's strong urging that he go on with his story or—as Ingestree now quite seriously called it—"the subtext".
"I told you I was on a train, but didn't know it. I think that is true, but I must have had some notion of what was happening to me, because I had heard the whistle, and felt the motion, and of course I had seen trains. But I was so wretched that I couldn't reason, or be sure of anything, except that I was in close quarters in pitchy darkness. My mind was on a different unhappiness. I knew that when I was in trouble I should pray, and God would surely help me. But I couldn't pray, for two reasons. First, I couldn't kneel, and to me prayer without kneeling was unknown. Second, if I had been able to kneel I could not have dared to do it, because I was horribly aware that what Willard had done to me in that disgusting privy had been done while I was in a kneeling posture. I assure you, however strange it may seem, that I didn't know what he had done, but I felt strongly that it was a blasphemy against kneeling, and if I knew nothing of sex I certainly knew a lot about blasphemy. I guessed I might be on a train, but I knew for a certainty that I had angered God. I had been involved in what was very likely the Sin against the Holy Ghost. Can you imagine what that meant to me? I had never known such desolation. I had wept in the privy and now I could weep no more. Weeping meant sound, and I had a confused idea that although God certainly knew about me, and undoubtedly had terrible plans for me, He might be waiting for me to betray myself by sound before He went to work on me. So I kept painfully still.
"I suppose I was in a state of what would now be called shock. How long it went on I could not then tell. But I know now that it was from Friday night until the following Sunday morning that I sat in my close prison, without food or water or light. The train had not been travelling all that time. All day Saturday Wanless's World of Wonders had a day's work at a village not many miles from Deptford, and I was conscious of the noises of unloading the train in the morning, and of loading it again very late at night, though I could not interpret them. But Sunday morning brought a kind of release.
"There were more men's voices, and more sounds of heavy things being methodically moved near where I was. Then after a period of silence I heard Willard's voice. 'He's in there,' it said. Then sounds somewhat below me, and a hand reached up and touched my leg. I made no sound—could not make a sound, I suppose—and was rather roughly hauled out into a dim light, and laid on the floor. Then a strange voice. 'Jesus, Willard,' it said, 'you've killed him. Now we're all up the well-known creek.' But then I moved a little. 'Christ, he's alive,' said the strange voice; 'thank God for that.' Then Willard's voice: 'I'd rather he was dead,' it said; 'what are we going to do with him now?'
" 'We got to get Gus,' said the strange voice. 'Gus is the one who'll know what to do. Don't talk about him being dead. Haven't you got any sense? We got to get Gus right now.' Then Willard spoke. 'Yeah, Gus, Gus, Gus; it's always Gus with you. Gus hates me. I'll be outa the show.' 'Leave Gus to me about you and the show,' said the other voice; 'but only Gus can deal with this right now. You wait here.'
"The other man went away, and as he went I heard the heavy door of the freight-car—for I was in a freight-car in which the World of Wonders took its trappings from town to town—and I was for a second time alone with Willard. Through my eyelashes I could see him sitting on a box beside me. His Mephistophelian air of command was gone; he looked diminished, shabby, and afraid.
"After a time the other man returned with Gus, who proved to be a woman—a real horse's godmother of a woman, a little, hard-faced, tough woman who looked like a jockey. But she inspired confidence, and while it would be false to say that my spirits lightened, I felt a little less desolate. I have always had a quick response to people, and though it is sometimes wrong it is more often right. If I like them on sight they are lucky people for me, and that's really all I care about. Gus was in a furious temper.
" 'Willard, you son-of-a-bitch, what the hell have you got us into now? Lemme look at this kid.' Gus knelt and hauled me round so that she could see me. Then she sent the other man to open the doors further, to give her a better light.
"Gus had a rough touch, and she hurt me so that I whimpered. 'What's your name, kid?' she said. 'Paul Dempster.' 'Who's your Dad?' 'Reverend Amasa Dempster.' This pushed Gus's rage up a few notches. 'A reverend's kid,' she shouted; 'you had to go and kidnap a reverend's kid. Well, I wash my hands of you, Willard. I hope they hang you, and if they do, by God I'll come and swing on your feet!'
"I can't pretend to remember all their talk, because Gus sent the unknown man, whom she called Charlie, to get water and milk and food for me, and while they wrangled she fed me, first, sugared water from a spoon, and then, when I had plucked up a little, some milk, and finally a few biscuits. I can still remember the pain as my body began to return to its normal state, and the pins-and-needles in my arms and legs. She put me on my feet and walked me up and down but I was wobbly, and couldn't stand much of that.
"Nor can I pretend that I understood much of what was said at that time, though later, from knowledge I picked up over a period of years, I know what it must have been. I was not Gus's chief problem; I was a complication of a problem that was already filling the foreground of her mind. Wanless's World of Wonders belonged to Gus, and her brothers Charlie and Jerry; they were Americans, although their show toured chiefly in Canada, and Charlie ought to have been in the American Army, for the 1917 draft had included him and he had had his call-up. But Charlie had no mind for fighting, and Gus was doing her best to keep him out of harm's way, in hopes that the War would end before his situation became desperate. Charlie was very much her darling, and I judge he must have been at least ten years younger than she; Jerry was the oldest. Therefore, involvements with the law were not to Gus's taste, even though they might bring about the downfall of Willard. She detested him because he was Charlie's best friend, and a bad influence. Willard, in his panic, had abducted me, and it was up to Gus to get me out of the way without calling attention to the Wanless family.
"It is easy now to think of several things they might have done, but none of those three were thinkers. Their obsession was that I must be kept from running to the police and telling my tale of seduction, abduction, and hard usage; it never occurred to them to ask me, or they would have found out that I had no clear idea of who or what the police were, and had no belief in any rights of mine that might have gone contrary to the will of any adult. They assumed that I was aching to return to my loving family, whereas I was frightened of what my father would do when he found out what had happened in the privy, and what the retribution would be for having stolen fifteen cents, a crime of the uttermost seriousness in my father's eyes.
"My father was no brute, and I think he hated beating me, but he knew his duty. 'He that spareth his rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes'; this was part of the prayer that always preceded a beating and he laid the rod on hard, while my mother wept or—this was very much worse, and indeed quite horrible—laughed sadly as if at something my father and I did not and could not know. But Gus Wanless was a sentimentalist, American-style, and it never entered her head that a boy in my situation would be prepared to do anything rather than go home.
"There was another thing which seems extraordinary to me now, but which was perfectly in keeping with that period in history and the kind of people into whose hands I had fallen. There was never, at any time, any reference to what had happened in the privy. Gus and Charlie certainly knew that Willard had not stolen a boy, or thought it necessary to conceal a boy, simply as a matter of caprice. As I grew to know these carnival people I discovered that their deepest morality was precisely that of the kind of people they amused; whatever freedom their travelling way of life might give them, it did not cut far into the rock of North American accepted custom and morality. If Willard had despoiled a girl, I think Gus would have known better what to do, but she was unwilling to strike out into the deep and dirty waters that Willard's crime had revealed in the always troubled landscape of Wanless's World of Wonders.
"I think she was right: if Willard had fallen into the hands of the law as we knew it in Deptford, and in the county of which it was a part, the scandal would have wrecked the World of Wonders and Charlie would have been shipped back to the States to face the music. A showman, a magician at that, a stranger, an American, who had ravaged a local child in a fashion of which I am certain half the village had never heard except as something forbidden in the Bible—we didn't go in for lynchings in our part of the world, but I think Willard might have been killed by the other prisoners when he went to jail; jails have their own morality, and Willard would have found himself outside it. So nothing was said about that, then or afterward. This was all the worse for me, as I found out in the years to come. I was part of something shameful and dangerous everybody knew about, but which nobody would have dreamed of bringing into the light.
"What were they to do with me? I am sure Willard had spoken truly when he wished me dead, but he hadn't the courage to kill me when he had his chance. Now that Gus, who was the whole of the law and the prophets in the World of Wonders, knew about me, that moment had passed. As I have said, none of them had any capacity for thought or reasoning, and as they talked on and on Gus's mood turned from rage to fear. Willard was more at home in the air of fear than in that of anger.
" 'Honest to God, Gus, nothing would ever have happened, if the kid hadn't shown some talent.'
"This was a lucky string to touch. Gus was sure she knew everything there was to know about Talent—a word she always pronounced with the air of one giving it a capital letter. And so it came out that when Willard had given me a quarter, out of pure open-heartedness, I had immediately done a trick with it. As neat a palm-and-pass as Willard had ever seen. Good enough for the Palace Theatre in New York.
" 'You mean the kid can do tricks?' It was Charlie who spoke. 'Then why can't we fix him up a little with some hair-dye and maybe colour his skin, and use him as a Boy-Conjuror—Bonzo the Boy Wonder, or like that?'
"But this did not sit well with Willard. He wanted no rival conjurors in the show.
" 'Jeeze, Willard, I only meant as a kind of assistant to you. Hand you things and like that. Maybe do a funny trick or two when you're not looking. You could plan something.'
"Now it was Gus who objected. 'Charlie, you ought to know by now that you can't never disguise anybody from somebody that knows him well. The law's going to follow the show; just keep that in mind. The kid's Dad, this reverend, comes into the show, sees a kid this size, and no hair-dye and blackface is going to hide him. Anyway, the kid sees his Dad, this reverend, and he gives him the high-sign. Use whatever head you got, Charlie.'
"Now it was Willard's turn to have a bright idea. 'Abdullah!' he said.
"Even though I was busy with the biscuits I stopped eating to look at them. They were like people from whose minds a cloud had lifted.
" 'But can he handle Abdullah?' said Gus.
" 'I betcha he can. I tell you, this kid's Talent. A natural. He's made for Abdullah. Don't you see, Gus? This is the silver lining. I made a little slip, I grant ya. But if Abdullah's back in the show, what does it matter? Abdullah's the big draw. Now look; we put Abdullah back, and I go to the top of the show, and let's not hear any more about Happy Hannah or that gaffed morphodite Andro.'
" 'Just hold your horses, Willard. I'll believe a kid can handle Abdullah when I've seen it. You got to show me.'
" 'And I'll show you. Gimme time, just a very little time, and I'll show you. Kid, can you handle a pack of cards?' Nothing could make me admit that I could handle a pack of cards. Ramsay had taught me a few card tricks, but when my father found it out he gave me such a beating as only a thoroughgoing Baptist can give a son who has been handling the Devil's Picture Book. It had been thoroughly slashed into my backside that cards were not for me. I denied all knowledge of cards before I had thought for an instant. Yet, immediately I had spoken, the four suits and the ways in which they could be made to dance began to rise in my memory.
"Willard was not troubled by my lack of knowledge. He had the real showman's enthusiasm for a new scheme. But Gus was dubious.
" 'Just give me today, Gus,' said Willard. 'Only just this one Sunday, to show you what can be done. I'll work him in. You'll see. We can do it right here.'
"That was how I became the soul of Abdullah, and entered into a long servitude to the craft and art of magic.
"We began at once. Gus bustled away on some of the endless business she always had in hand, but Charlie remained, and he and Willard began to uncover something at the very back of the car—the only object in it which the handlers had not unloaded for Monday's fair—which was under several tarpaulins. Whatever it was, this was the prison in which I had spent my wretched, starving hours.
"When it was pulled forward and the wraps thrown aside, it was revealed as, I think still, the most hideous and offensive object I have ever seen in my life. You gentlemen know how particular I have always been about the accoutrements of my show. I have spent a great deal of money, which foolish people have thought unnecessary, on the beauty and workmanship of everything I have exhibited. In this I have been like Robert-Houdin, who also thought that the best was none too good for himself and his audiences. Perhaps some of my fastidiousness began with my hatred of the beastly figure that was called Abdullah.
"It was a crude effigy of a Chinese, sitting on top of a chest, with his legs crossed. To begin with, the name was crassly wrong. Why call a Chinese figure Abdullah? But everything about it was equally inartistic and inept. Its robes were of frowsy sateen; its head was vulgarly moulded in papier mâché with an ugly face, sharply slanted eyes, dangling moustaches, and yellow fangs which hung down over the lower lip. The thing was, in itself, reason for a sharp protest from the Chinese Ambassador, if there had been one. It summed up in itself all that spirit combined of jocosity and hatred with which ignorant people approach whatever is foreign and strange.
"The chest on which this monster sat was in the same mode of workmanship. It was lacquered with somebody's stupid notion of a dragon, half hideous and half cute, in gaudy red on a black background. A lot of cheap gold paint had been splashed about.
"Neither Willard nor Charlie explained to me what this thing was, or what relationship I was expected to bear to it. However, I was used to being ignored and rather liked it; being noticed had, in my experience, usually meant trouble. All they told me was that I was to sit in this thing and make it work, and my lesson began as soon as Abdullah was unveiled.
"Once again, but this time in daylight and with some knowledge of what I was doing, I crawled into the chest at the back of the figure, and thence upward, rather like an old-fashioned chimney-sweep climbing a chimney, into the body, where there was a tiny ledge on which I could sit and allow my feet to hang down. But that was not the whole of my duty. When I was in place, Willard opened various doors in the front of the chest, then turned the whole figure around on the wheels which supported the chest, and opened a door in the back. These doors revealed to the spectators an impressive array of wheels, cogs, springs, and other mechanical devices, and when Willard touched a lever they moved convincingly. But the secret of these mechanisms was that they were shams, displayed in front of polished steel mirrors, so that they seemed to fill the whole of the chest under the figure of Abdullah, but really left room for a small person to conceal himself when necessary. And that time came after Willard had closed the doors in the chest, and pulled aside Abdullah's robes to show some mechanism, and nothing else, in the figure itself. When that was happening, I had to let myself down into the secret open space in the chest and keep out of the way. Once Abdullah's mechanical innards had been displayed l crept back up into the figure, thrust aside the fake mechanism, which folded out of the way, and prepared to make Abdullah do his work.
"Willard and Charlie both treated me as if I were very stupid, which God knows I was not. However, I thought it best not to be too clever in the beginning. This was intuition; I did not figure it out consciously. They showed me a pack of cards, and painstakingly taught me the suits and the values. What Abdullah had to do was to play cards, on a very simple principle, with anybody who would volunteer from an audience to try their luck with him. This spectator—the Rube, as Willard called him—shuffled and cut a deck which lay on a little tray across Abdullah's knees. Then the Rube drew a card and laid it face down on the tray. At this point Willard pulled a lever on the side of Abdullah's chest, which set up a mechanical sound in the depths of the figure, which in fact I, the concealed boy, set going by pumping a pedal with my left foot. While this was going on it was my job to discover what card the Rube had drawn—which was easy, because he had put it face downward on a ground-glass screen, and I could fairly easily make it out—and to select a higher card from a rack concealed inside Abdullah ready to my hand. Having chosen my card, I set Abdullah's left arm in motion, slipping my own arm into the light framework in its sleeve; at the far end of this framework was a device into which I inserted the card that was to confound the Rube. I then made Abdullah's right arm move slowly to the deck of cards on the tray, and cut them; this was possible because the fingers had a pincers device in them which could be worked from inside the arm by squeezing a handle. When Abdullah had cut the cards his left hand moved to the deck and took a card from the top. But in fact he did nothing of the sort, because his sleeve fell forward for a moment and concealed what was really happening; it was at this instant I pushed the little slide which shot the card I had chosen from the rack into Abdullah's fingers, and it seemed to the spectators that this was the card he picked up from the deck. The Rube was then invited to turn up his card—a five, let us say; then a spectator was asked to turn up Abdullah's card. A seven in the same suit! Consternation of the Rube! Applause of the audience! Great acclaim for Willard, who had never touched a card at any time and had merely pulled the lever which set in motion Abdullah, the Card-Playing Automaton, and Scientific Marvel of the Age!
"We slaved away all of that Sunday. I lost my fright because Willard and Charlie were so pleased with what I could do, and although they still talked about me as though I had no ears to hear them, and no understanding, the atmosphere became cheerful and excited and I was the reason for it. I must not pretend that I mastered the mechanisms of Abdullah in an instant, and even when I had done so I had to be taught not to be too quick; I thought the essence of the work was to do it as fast as possible. Willard and Charlie knew, though they never bothered to tell me, that a very deliberate, and even slow, pace created a far better effect on the spectators. And I had much to learn. When I sat inside Abdullah my head was at the level of his neck, and here his robes parted a little to allow me to see through a piece of wire mesh that was painted the colour of his gown. It was by observing the actions of the Rube that I timed my own work. I had to learn to pump the little treadle that made the mechanical noise which simulated the finely scientific machinery of the automaton, and it was easy to forget, or to pump too fast and make Abdullah too noisy. The hardest part was ducking my head just enough to see what card the Rube had chosen and laid on the tray; as I said, this was ground glass, and there was a mirror underneath it so that I could see the suit and value of his card, but it was not as easy or as convenient as you might suppose, because the light was dim. And I had to be quick and accurate in choosing a card of greater value. A deck identical with the one used by the Rube was set up in a rack concealed by Abdullah's folded legs; it had eight pigeon-holes, in which each suit was divided into the cards from two to ten, and the Jack, Queen, King, and Ace by themselves. It was dark in Abdullah, and there was not much time for choosing, so I had to develop a good deal of dexterity.
"It was thrilling, and I worked feverishly to make myself perfect. How many times we went through the routine, when once I had mastered the general principle of it, I cannot guess, but I remember well that it was the management of the arms that gave me the most trouble, and any mistiming there made a mess of the whole deception. But we toiled as only people toil who are busy at the delicious work of putting something over on the public. There was a short noonday pause for a picnic, of which my share was milk and a lot of sticky buns; Gus had left instructions that I was not to be starved or overworked, because I was still weak, and I certainly was not starved.
"It was a hot day, and hotter still inside Abdullah. Also, Abdullah had a heavy smell, because of all the papier mâché and glue and size with which he was made. During my thirty-six hours or so of imprisonment I had been compelled to urinate, in spite of my awful thirst, and this had done nothing to freshen the atmosphere of that close confinement. Moreover, although I did not know it then, I learned later that the former operator of Abdullah had been a dwarf who cannot have been fastidious about his person, and there was a strong whiff of hot dwarf as I grew hotter myself. I suppose I became rather feverish, but although I would not describe my emotion as happiness I was possessed by an intensity of interest and ambition that was better than anything I had ever known in my life. When you were teaching me magic, Ramsay, I felt something like it, but not to the same degree, because—please don't be hurt—you were so tooth-achingly rotten at all your simple tricks. But this was the real thing. I didn't know quite what this reality was, but it was wonderful, and I was an important part of it.
"Charlie, who was as good-hearted as he was soft-headed, did all he could to make a game of it. He played the part of the Rube, and he did his best to include every kind of Rube he could think of. He was a terrible ham, but he was funny. He approached Abdullah as Uncle Zeke, the euchre champion of Pumpkin Centre, and as Swifty Dealer, the village tinhorn sport, and as Aunt Samantha, who didn't believe she could be bested by any Chinaman that ever lived, and as a whole gallery of such caricatures. I had to beg him not to be so funny, because I couldn't concentrate on my work when I was laughing so much. But Willard never laughed. He was the taskmaster, demanding the greatest skill I could achieve in the management of the mechanism. Charlie was a hearty praiser; he would gladly tell me that I was a wonderful kid and a gift to the carnival business and the possessor of a golden future. But Willard never praised a good piece of management; he was sharp about mistakes, and demanded more and more refinement of success. I didn't care. I felt that inside Abdullah I had entered into my kingdom.
"Come five o'clock Willard and Charlie thought we were ready to show our work to Gus. I had never been associated with any kind of show folk, and I thought it quite wonderful the way Gus climbed into the freight-car and behaved as if she had never seen any of us before; Willard and Charlie too behaved as if it were a real show and Gus a stranger. Willard gave a speech that I had not heard before, about the wonders of Abdullah, and the countless hours and boundless ingenuity that had gone into his construction; during all of it I kept as still as a mouse, and fully convinced myself that Gus did not know I was anywhere near; perhaps she thought I had run away. Then Gus, at the right time, came forward reluctantly and suspiciously, like a real Rube and not one of Charlie's comic turns, and cut the deck and chose a card: either Gus knew some sleight-of-hand herself or Willard had prepared a sharp test for me, because it was the Ace of Spades; there was no card to top it. And then I had one of those flashes which, I think I may say without boasting, have lifted my work above that of even a very good illusionist. At the bottom of the tray that held the court-cards in spades, there was a Joker, and that was what I caused Abdullah to put down on the tray to top Gus's Ace. Of course it would not do so, but it showed that I was able to meet an unexpected situation, and Charlie gave a whoop that would have drawn a crowd if there had been anybody hanging around the railway siding on a late Sunday afternoon.
"Gus was impressed, but the expression of her jockey's face did not change. 'O.K. I guess it'll do,' was what she said, and immediately the three began haggling again about some of the questions that had come up in the morning. I did not understand them then, but they concerned Abdullah's place in the show, which Willard insisted should be next to last, the place of honour reserved for the top attraction. It was now held by Andro, against whom Willard harboured a complicated grudge. Gus did not want to be rushed, and insisted that Abdullah should not be shown for a while, until we were far from Deptford.
"Charlie begged very hard that Abdullah should go into the show at once. Business wasn't good; they needed a strong attraction, especially now Hannah was getting out of hand and would have to be sat on; nobody would know the kid was in Abdullah because they would all be convinced Abdullah was a mechanical marvel. Yes, countered Gus, but how was she going to explain to the Talent a kid who turned up without warning and whom they would certainly know was the secret of Abdullah's card-playing genius? Would they just tell her that? A kid out of nowheres! Especially if there was any inquiry by Nosey Parkers and policemen. Could Hannah be trusted not to spill the beans? She was a religious old bitch and would love to do a mean thing for a holy reason. Ah, said Charlie, Gus surely knew how to handle Hannah; if Hannah had to go for as much as eight hours without the assistance of Elephant Gus, where would she be? And here Willard struck in to say that he knew a thing or two about Hannah that would keep her in order. And so on, at length, because they all argued in a circle, enjoying the contention rather than wishing to reach a conclusion. I had had a hard day, and the inside of Abdullah was like a Turkish bath; they had quite forgotten the living reality of the thing they were discussing. So I fell into an exhausted sleep. I did not understand it at the time, but I came to understand it very well later: when I was in Abdullah, I was Nobody. I was an extension and a magnification of Willard; I was an opponent and a baffling mystery to the Rube; I was something to be gawped at, but quickly forgotten, by the spectators. But as Paul Dempster I did not exist. I had found my place in life, and it was as Nobody."
The film-makers sipped their brandy for a time before Lind spoke. "It would be interesting to do a film about Nobody," he said. "I know I mustn't hurry you, so I won't ask you if you were Nobody for long. But you are going to continue, aren't you?"
"You must," said Ingestree. "Now we are getting a true story. Not like Robert-Houdin's faked-up reminiscences. He was never Nobody. He was always triumphantly and self-assuredly Somebody. He was charming, lively little Eugene Robert, the delight of his family and his friends; or he was that deserving young watch- and clock-maker; or he was the interesting young traveller who extracted the most amazing confidences from everybody; or he was the successful Parisian entertainer, drawing the cream of society to his little theatre, but always respectful, always conscious of his place, always the perfect bourgeois, always Somebody. Do you suppose many people are Nobody?"
Eisengrim looked at him with a not very agreeable smile. "Have you any recollection of being Nobody?" he said.
"Not really. No, I can't say I have."
"Have you ever met anyone who was Nobody?"
"I don't believe so. No, I'm sure I haven't. But then, if one met Nobody, I don't suppose Nobody would make much of an impression on one."
"Obviously not," said Eisengrim.
It was I who saw the film-makers to their car and watched them begin the descent from Sorgenfrei to the village where their inn was. Then I went back to the house as fast as my artificial leg would carry me and caught Eisengrim as he was getting into bed.
"About the Devil," I said, "I've been thinking more about what we said."
"Have you pinned him down, then?"
"Nothing like it. I am simply trying to get a better hold on his attributes. The attributes of God have been very carefully explored. But the Devil's attributes have been left vague. I think I've found one of them. It is he who puts the prices on things."
"Doesn't God put a price on things?"
"No. One of his attributes is magnanimity. But the Devil is a setter of prices, and a usurer, as well. You buy from him at an agreed price, but the payments are all on time, and the interest is charged on the whole of the principal, right up to the last payment, however much of the principal you think you have paid off in the meantime. Do you suppose the Devil invented numbers? I shouldn't be surprised if the Devil didn't invent Time, with all the subtle terrors that Time comprises. I think you said you spent seven years in hell?"
"I may have underestimated my sentence."
"That's what I mean."
"You're developing into a theologian, Dunny."
"A diabologian, rather. It's a fairly clear field, these days."
"Do you think you can study evil without living it? How are you going to discover the attributes of the Devil without getting close to him? Are you the man for that? Don't bother your old grey head, Dunny."
That was Magnus all over. He simply had to be the damnedest man around. What an egotist!
(7)
We were eating sandwiches and drinking beer at a lunch-break the following day. Magnus was not with us, because he had gone off to make some repairs and alterations in his make-up, about which he was extremely particular. Robert-Houdin had been a handsome man, in a French style, with strong features, a large, mobile mouth, and particularly fine eyes: Magnus would make no concession to a likeness, and insisted on playing the role of the great illusionist as his handsome self, and he darted away to touch up his face whenever he could. As soon as he was out of the way, Kinghovn turned the conversation to what we had heard the night before.
"Our friend puzzles me," he said. "You remember that he said the image of Abdullah was the ugliest thing he had ever seen? Then he described it, and it sounded like the sort of trash one would expect in such a poor little travelling show, and just what would seem marvellous to a small boy. How much is he colouring his story with opinions he formed later?"
"But inevitably it's all coloured by later opinions," said Ingestree. "What can you expect? It's the classic problem of autobiography; it's inevitably life seen and understood backwards. However honest we try to be in our recollections we cannot help falsifying them in terms of later knowledge, and especially in terms of what we have become. Eisengrim is unquestionably the greatest magician of our day, and to hear him tell it, of any day. How is he to make himself into a photographic record of something that happened fifty years ago?"
"Then how can we reconstruct the past?" said Kinghovn. "Look at it from my point of view—really my point of view, which is through the camera. Suppose I had to make a film of what Eisengrim has told us, how could I be sure of what Abdullah looked like?"
"You couldn't," said Lind. "And you know it. But you and I and a good designer would work together, and we would produce an Abdullah that would give the right effect, though it might be far, far away from the real Abdullah of 1918. What would the real Abdullah be? Perhaps not as ugly as Eisengrim says, but certainly a piece of cheap junk. You and I, Harry, would show the world not simply what little Paul Dempster saw, but what he felt. We would even get that whiff of hot dwarf across to the public somehow. That's what we do. That's why we are necessary people."
"Then the truth of the past can never be recovered?"
"Harry, you should never talk. Your talk is the least useful part of you. You should just stick to your cameras, with which you are a man of genius. The truth of the past is to be seen in museums, and what is it? Dead things, sometimes noble and beautiful, but dead. And cases and cases of coins, and snuffboxes, and combs, and mirrors that won't reflect any more, and clothes that look as if the wearers had all been midgets, and masses of frowsy tat that tells us nothing at all. Once a man showed me a great treasure of his family; it was a handkerchief which somebody, on 30 January 1649, had dipped in the blood of the executed English King Charles I. It was a disgusting, rusty rag. But if you and I and Roly here had the money and the right people, we could fake up an execution of King Charles that would make people weep. Which is nearer to the truth? The rag, or our picture?"
I thought it was time for me to intervene. "I wouldn't call either the rag or your picture truth," I said; "I am an historian by training and temperament, and I would go to the documents, and there are plenty of them, about the execution of Charles, and when I had read and tested and reflected on them, I would back my truth against yours and win."
"Ah, but you see, my dear Ramsay, we would not dream of making our picture until we had consulted you or somebody like you, and given the fullest importance to your opinion."
"Well, would you be content to film the execution on a grey day? Wouldn't you want a shot of the sun rising behind Whitehall as the sun of English monarchy was setting on the scaffold?"
Lind looked at me sadly. "How you scholars underestimate us artists," he said, with wintry Scandinavian melancholy. "You think we are children, always beguiled by toys and vulgarities. When have you ever known me to stoop to a sunrise?"
"Besides, you don't understand what we could do with all those wonderful pearly greys," said Kinghovn.
"You will never persuade me to believe that truth is no more than what some artist, however gifted he may be, thinks is truth," I said. "Give me a document, every time."
"I suppose somebody has to write the document?" said Lind. "Has he no feeling? Of course he has. But because he is not used to giving full weight to his feelings, he is all the more likely to be deluded into thinking that what he puts into his document is objective truth."
Ingestree broke in. "Eisengrim is coming back from tarting himself up for the next few shots," he said. "And so far as his story is concerned, we might as well make up our minds that all we are going to get is his feeling. As a literary man, I am just pleased that he has some feelings. So few autobiographers have any feeling except a resolute self-protectiveness."
"Feeling! Truth! Balls! Let's get a few hundred good feet in the can before our star decides he is tired," said Kinghovn. And that is what we did.
A good day's filming put Magnus in an expansive mood. Ingestree's flattery about the quality of his acting had also had its effect on him, and that night he gave us a gallery of impersonations.
"Charlie had his way, and I was soon on the show. Charlie was right; Abdullah pulled them in because people cannot resist automata. There is something in humanity that is repelled and entranced by a machine that seems to have more than human powers. People love to frighten themselves. Look at the fuss nowadays about computers; however deft they may be they can't do anything that a man isn't doing, through them; but you hear people giving themselves delicious shivers about a computer-dominated world. I've often thought of working up an illusion, using a computer, but it would be prohibitively expensive, and I can do anything the public would find amusing better and cheaper with clockwork and bits of string. But if I invented a computer-illusion I would take care to dress the computer up to look like a living creature of some sort—a Moon Man or Venusian—because the public cannot resist clever dollies. Abdullah was a clever dolly of a simple kind, and the Rubes couldn't get enough of him.
"That was where Gus had to use her showman's discretion. Charlie and Willard would have put Abdullah in a separate tent to milk him for twenty shows a day, but Gus knew that would exhaust his appeal. Used sparingly, Abdullah was good for years, and Gus took the long view. It appeared, too, that I was an improvement on the dwarf, who had become unreliable through some personal defect—booze, I would guess—and was apt to make a mess of the illusion, or give way to a fit of temperament and deal a low card when he should have dealt a high one. Willard had had no luck with Abdullah; he had bought the thing, and hired the dwarf, but the dwarf was so unreliable it was risky to put the automaton on the show, and then the dwarf had disappeared. It had been months since Abdullah was in commission, and so far as the show was concerned it was a new attraction.
"I was anxious to succeed as Abdullah, though I had no particular expectation of gaining anything thereby. I had no notion of the world, and for quite a long time I did not understand how powerful I was, or that I might profit by it. Nor did anyone in the World of Wonders seek to enlighten me. So far as I can recall my feelings during those first few months, they were restricted to a desire to do the best I could, lest I should be sent back to my father and inevitable punishment. To begin with, I liked being the hidden agent who helped in the great game of hoodwinking Rubes, and I was happiest when I was out of sight, in the smelly bowels of Abdullah.
"When I was in the open air I was Cass Fletcher. I always hated the name, but Willard liked it because he had invented it in one of his very few flights of fancy. Willard had no imagination, to speak of. I learned as time went on that he had learned his conjuring skill from an old performer, and had never expanded it or altered it by a jot. He had as little curiosity as any man I have ever known. But when we were riding on the train, in my very first week, he found that I must have a name, because the other performers, riding in the car reserved for the World of Wonders, were surprised to see a small boy in their midst, for whom no credentials were offered. Who was I?
"When the question was put directly to him by the wife of Joe Dark the Knife Thrower, Willard hesitated a moment, looked out of the window, and said: 'Oh, this is young Cass, a kind of relative of mine; Cass Fletcher.' Then he went off into one of his very rare fits of laughter.
"As soon as he could catch Charlie, who wandered up and down the car as it travelled through the flatlands of Western Ontario, and gossiped with everybody, Willard told him his great joke. 'Em Dark wanted to know the kid's name, see, and I was thinking who the hell is he, when I looked outa the window at one of these barns with a big sign saying FLETCHER'S CASTORIA, CHILDREN CRY FOR IT; and quick as a wink I says Cass Fletcher, that's his name. Pretty smart way to name a kid, eh?' I was offended at being named from a sign on a barn, but I was not consulted, and a general impression spread that I was Willard's nephew.
"At least, that was the story that was agreed on. As time went on I heart whispers between Molza the Fire Eater and Sonny Sonnenfels the Strong Man that Willard was something they called an arse-bandit—an expression I did not understand—and that the kid was probably more to him than just a nephew and the gaff for Abdullah.
"Gaff. That was a word I had to learn at once, in all its refinements. The gaff was the element of deception in an exhibition, and though all the Talent would have admitted you couldn't manage without it, there was a moral stigma attaching to it. Sonnenfels was not gaffed at all; he really was a strong man who picked up big bar-bells and tore up telephone books with his hands and lifted anybody who would volunteer to sit in a chair, which Sonny then heaved aloft with one hand. There are tricks to being a strong man, but no gaff; anybody was welcome to heft the bar-bells if they wanted to. Frank Molza the Fire Eater and Sword Swallower was partly gaffed, because his swords weren't as sharp as he pretended, and eating fire is a complicated chemical trick which usually proves bad for the health. But Professor Spencer, who had been born without arms—really he had two pathetic little flippers but he did not show them—was wholly free of gaff; he wrote with his feet, on a blackboard and, if you wanted to pay twenty-five cents, in an elegant script on twelve visiting cards, where your name would be handsomely displayed. Joe Dark and his wife Emily were not gaffed at all; Joe threw knives at Emily with such accuracy that he outlined her form on the soft board against which she stood; it was skill, and the only skill poor Joe possessed, for he was certainly the dullest man in the World of Wonders. Nor could you say there was any gaff about Heinie Bayer and his educated monkey Rango; it was an honest monkey, as monkeys go, and its tricks were on the level. The Midget Juggler, Piccino Zovene, was honest as a juggler, but as crooked as a corkscrew in any human dealings; he wasn't much of a juggler, and might have been improved by a little gaff.
"Gaff may have been said to begin with Zitta the Jungle Queen, whose snakes were kept quiet by various means, especially her sluggish old cobra who was over-fed and drugged. Snakes don't live long in the sort of life Zitta gave them; they can't stand constant mauling and dragging about; she was always wiring a supplier in Texas for new rattlers. I judged that a snake lived about a month to six weeks when once Zitta had got hold of it; they were nasty things, and I never felt much sympathy for them. Zitta was a nasty thing, too, but she was too stupid to give her nastiness serious play. Andro the Hermaphrodite was all gaff. He was a man, of a kind, and besottedly in love with himself. The left side of his body was supposed to be the female half, and he spent a lot of time on it with depilatories and skin creams; when he attached a pretty good left breast to it, and combed out the long, curly hair he allowed to grow on one side of his head, he was an interesting sight. His right side he exercised strenuously, so that he had big leg and arm muscles which he touched up with some fancy shadowing. I never became used to finding him using the men's bucket in the donniker—which was the word used on the show for the primitive sanitary conveniences in the small back dressing tent. He was a show-off; in show business you get used to vanity, but Andro was a very special case.
"Of course Abdullah was one hundred per cent gaff. I don't think anybody would have cared greatly, if they had not been stirred up to it by the one very remarkable Talent I haven't yet mentioned. She was Happy Hannah the Fat Lady.
"A Fat Lady, or a Fat Man, is almost a necessity for a show like Wanless's. Just as the public is fascinated by automata, it is unappeasable in its demand for fat people. A Human Skeleton is hardly worth having if he can't do something else—grow hair to his feet, or eat glass or otherwise distinguish himself. But a Fat Lady merely has to be fat. Happy Hannah weighed 487 pounds; all she needed to do was to show herself sitting in a large chair, and her living was assured. But that wasn't her style at all; she was an interferer, a tireless asserter of opinions, and—worst of all—a determined Moral Influence. It was this quality in her which made it a matter of interest whether she was gaffed or not.
"Willard was her enemy, and Willard said she was gaffed. For one thing, she wore a wig, a very youthful chestnut affair, curly and flirtatious; a kiss-curl coiled like a watchspring in front of each rosy ear. The rosy effect was gaffed, too, for Hannah was thickly made up. But these things were simple showmanship. Willard's insistence that the Fat Lady was gaffed rose from an occupational disability of Fat Ladies; this is copious sweating, which results, in a person whose bodily creases may be twelve inches deep, in troublesome chafing. Three or four times a day Hannah had to retire to the women's part of the dressing tent, and there Gus stripped her down and powdered her in these difficult areas with cornstarch. Very early in my experience on the show I peeped through a gap in the lacing of the canvas partition that divided the men's dressing-room from the women's, and was much amazed by what I saw; Hannah, who looked fairly jolly sitting on her platform, in a suit of pink cotton rompers, was a sorry mass of blubber when she was bent forward, her hands on the back of a chair; she had collops of fat on her flanks, like the wicked man in the Book of Job; her monstrous abdomen hung almost to her knees, the smart wig concealed an iron-grey crewcut, and her breasts hung like great half-filled wallets of suet far down on her belly. I have seen nothing like her since, except for an effigy of Smet Smet, the Hippopotamus Goddess, in an exhibition of African art Liesl made me attend a few years ago. The gaffing consisted of two large bathtowels, which were rolled and tucked under her breasts, giving them what was, in comparison with the reality, a buxom contour. These towels were great matters of contention between Hannah and Willard, for she insisted that they were sanitary necessities, and he said they were gross impostures on the public. He cared nothing about gaffing; it was Hannah who made it a moral issue and drew a sharp line between gaffed Talent, like Abdullah, and honest Talent, like Fat Ladies.
"They wrangled about it a good deal. Hannah was voluble and she had a quality of shrewishness that came strangely from one whose professional personality depended on an impression of sunny good nature. She would nag about it for half an hour at a stretch, as we travelled on the train, until at last the usually taciturn Willard would say, in a low, ugly voice: 'Listen, Miz Hannah, you shut your goddam trap or next time we got a big crowd I'm gonna tell 'em about those gaffed tits of yours. See? Now shut up, I tell ya!'
"He would never have done it, of course. It would have been unforgivable professional conduct, and even Charlie would not have been able to keep Gus from throwing him off the show. But the menace in his voice would silence Hannah for a few hours.
"I was entranced by the World of Wonders during those early weeks and I had plenty of time to study it, for it was part of the agreement under which I lived that I must never be seen during working hours, except when real necessity demanded a quick journey to the donniker, between tricks. I often ate in the seclusion of Abdullah. The hours of the show were from eleven in the morning until eleven at night, and so I ate as big a breakfast as I could get, and depended on a hot dog or something of the sort being brought to me at noon and toward evening. Willard was supposed to attend to it, but he often forgot, and it was good-hearted Emily Dark who saw that I did not starve. Willard never ate much, and like so many people he could not believe that anyone wanted more than himself. There was an agreement of some sort between Willard and Gus as to what my status was; I know he got extra money for me, but I never saw any of it; I know Gus made him promise he would look after me and treat me well, but I don't think he had any idea of what such words meant, and from time to time Gus would give him a dressing down about the condition I was in; for years I never had any clothes except those Gus bought me, stopping the money out of Willard's pay, but Gus had no idea of how to dress a child, and always bought everything too big, so that I would have lots of room to grow into it. Not that I needed many clothes; inside Abdullah I wore nothing but cotton shorts. I see now that it was a miserable life, and it is a wonder it didn't kill me; but at the time I accepted it as children must accept the world made for them by their guardians.
"At the beginning I was beglamoured by the show, and peeped at it out of Abdullah's bosom with unresting excitement. There was one full show an hour, and the whole of it was known as a trick. The trick began outside the tent on a platform beside the ticket-seller's box, and this part of it was called the bally. Not ballyhoo, which was an expression I had heard in the carnival world in my time. Gus usually sold the tickets, though there was someone to spell her when she had other business to attend to. Charlie was the outside talker, not a barker, which is another expression I did not hear until a movie or a play made it popular. He roared through a megaphone to tell the crowd about what was to be seen inside the tent. Charlie was a flashy dresser and handsome in a flashy way, and he did his job well, most of the time.
"High outside the tent hung the banners, which were the big painted signs advertising the Talent; each performer had to pay for his own banner, though Gus ordered them from the artist and assured that there would be a pleasing similarity of style. As well as the banners, some of the Talent had to appear on the bally, and this boring job usually fell to the lesser artistes; Molza ate a little fire, Sonny heaved a few weights, the Professor would lie on his back and write 'Pumpkin Centre, Agricultural Capital of Pumpkin County' on a huge piece of paper with his feet, and this piece of paper was thrown into the crowd, for whoever could grab it; Zovene the Midget Juggler did a few stunts, and now and then if business was slow Zitta would take out a few snakes, and the Darks would have to show themselves. But the essence of the bally was to create an appetite for what was inside the tent, not to give away entertainment, and Charlie pushed the purchase of tickets as hard as he could.
"After Abdullah was put on the show, which was as soon as we could get a fine banner sent up from New York, Willard did not have to take a turn on the bally.
"The bally and the sale of tickets took about twenty minutes, after which a lesser outside talker than Charlie did what he could to collect a crowd, and Charlie hurried inside, carrying a little cane he used as a pointer. Once in the tent he took on another role, which was called the lecturer, because everything in the World of Wonders was supposed to be improving and educational; Charlie's style underwent a change, too, for outside he was a great joker, whereas inside he was professorial, as he understood the word.
"I was much impressed by the fact that almost all the Talent spoke two versions of English—whatever was most comfortable when they were off duty, and a gaudy, begemmed, and gilded rhetoric when they were before the public. Charlie was a master of the impressive introduction when he presented the Talent to an audience.
"As spectators bought their tickets they were permitted into the tent, where they walked around and stared until the show began. Sometimes they asked questions, especially of Happy Hannah. 'You will assuredly hear everything in due season,' she would reply. The show was not supposed to begin without Charlie. When he pranced into the tent—he had an exaggeratedly youthful, high-stepping gait—he would summon the crowd around him and begin by introducing _Sonny, the Strongest Man you have ever seen, ladies and gentlemen, and the best-natured giant in the known world._ Poor old Sonny wasn't allowed to speak, because he had a strong German accent, and Germans were not popular characters in rural Canada in the late summer of 1918. Sonny was not allowed to linger over his demonstration, either, because Charlie was hustling the crowd toward Molza the Human Salamander, who thrust a lighted torch into his mouth, and then blew out a jet of flame which ignited a piece of newspaper Charlie held in his hand; Molza then swallowed swords until he had four of them stuck in his gullet. When I came to know him I got him to show me how to do it, and I can still swallow a paper-knife, or anything not too sharp. But swallowing swords and eating fire are hard ways to get a living, and dangerous after a few years. Then Professor Spencer wrote with his feet, having first demonstrated with some soap and a safety-razor with no blade in it how he shaved himself every day; the Professor would write the name of anybody who wished it; with his right foot he would write from left to right, and at the same time, underneath it and with his left foot, he would write the name from right to left. He wrote with great speed in a beautiful hand—or foot, I should say. It was quite a showy act, but the Professor never had his full due, I thought, because people were rather embarrassed by him. Then the Darks did their knife-throwing act.
"It was a very good act, and if only Joe had possessed some instinct of showmanship it would have been much better. But Joe was a very simple soul, a decent, honest fellow who ought to have been a workman of some sort. His talent for throwing knives was one of those freakish things that are sometimes found in people who are otherwise utterly unremarkable. His wife, Emily, was ambitious for him; she wanted him to be a veterinary, and when we were on the train she kept him pegging away at a correspondence course which would, when it was completed, bring him a diploma from some cutrate college deep in the States. But it was obvious to everybody but Emily that it would never be completed, because Joe couldn't get anything into his head from a printed page. He could throw knives, and that was that. They both wore tacky home-made costumes, which bunched unbecomingly in the wrong places, and Emily stood in front of a pine board while Joe outlined her pleasant figure in knives. Nice people: minor Talent.
"By this time the audience had climbed the ladder of marvels to Rango the Missing Link, exhibited by Heinie Bayer. Rango was an orang-outang, who could walk a tightrope carrying a parasol; at the mid-point, he would suddenly swing downward, clinging to the rope with his toes, and reflectively eat bananas; then he would whirl upright, throw away the skin, and complete his journey. After that he sat at a table, and rang a bell, and Heinie, dressed as a clown waiter, served him a meal, which Rango ate with affected elegance, until he was displeased with a badly prepared dish, and pelted Heinie with food. Rango was surefire. Everybody loved him, and I was of their number until I tried to make friends with him and Rango spat some chewed-up nuts in my face. It was part of Heinie's deal with the management that Rango had to share a berth with him in our Pullman; although he was house-trained he was a nuisance because he was a bad sleeper, and likely to stick his hand into your berth in the night and pinch you—a very mean, twisting pinch. It was uncanny to poke your head out of your berth and see Rango swinging along the car, holding on to the tops of the green curtains, as if they were part of his native jungle.
"After Rango came Zitta the Jungle Queen. Snake acts are all the same. She pulled the snakes around her neck, wound them around her arms, and as a topper she knelt down and charmed her cobra _by no other power than that of the unaided human eye, with which she exerts hypnotic dominance over this most dreaded of jungle monsters_ , as Charlie said, and ended by kissing it on its ugly snout.
"This was good showmanship. First the sunny side of nature, then the ominous side of nature. The trick, I learned, was that Zitta leaned down to the cobra from above its head; cobras cannot strike upwards. It was a thrill, and Zitta had to know her business. As I grew older and more cynical I sometimes wondered what it would be like if Zitta exercised her hypnotic powers on Rango, and kissed him, for a change. I don't think Rango was a lady's man.
"This left only Willard, Andro the Hermaphrodite, and Happy Hannah to complete the show; Zovene the Midget Juggler was only useful to get the audience out of the tent. On the basis of public attraction it was acknowledged that Willard must have the place of honour once Abdullah was on display. Charlie was in favour of giving Andro the place just before Abdullah but Happy Hannah would have none of it. She was clamorous. If a natural, educational wonder like herself, without any gaff about her, didn't take precedence over a gaffed monsterosity she was prepared to leave carnival life and despair of the human race. She made herself so unpleasant that she won the argument; Andro became very shrewish when he was under attack, but he lacked Hannah's large, embracing, Biblical flow of condemnation. When he had said that Hannah was a fat, loud-mouthed old bitch his store of abuse was exhausted; but she sailed into him with all guns firing.
" 'Don't think I hold it against you personally, Andro. No, I know you for what you are. I know the rock from whence ye are hewn—that no-good bunch o' Boston Greek fish-peddlers and small-time thieves; and I likewise know the hole of the Pit whence ye are digged—offering yourself to stand bare-naked in front of artists, some of 'em women, at fifty cents an hour. So know it isn't really you that's speaking against me; it's the spirit of an unclean devil inside of you, crying with a loud voice; and rebuke it just as our dear Lord did; I'm sitting right here, crying, "Hold thy peace and come out of him!" '
"This was Hannah's strength. All her immense bulk was crammed with Bible knowledge and quotations and it oozed out of her like currant-juice oozing out of a jelly-bag. She offered herself to the public as a biblical marvel, a sort of she-Leviathan. She would not allow Charlie to speak for her. As soon as he had given her a lead— _And now, ladies and gentlemen, I present Happy Hannah, four hundred and eighty-seven pounds of good humour and chuckles_ —she would burst in, 'Yes friends, and I'm the living proof of how fat a person can get and still bear it gladly in the Lord's name. I hope every person here knows his Bible and if they do, they know the comforting message of Proverbs eleven, twenty-five: _The liberal soul shall be made fat_. Yes friends, I am here not as a curiosity and certainly not as a monsterosity but to attest in my daily life and my public career to the Lord's abounding grace. I don't hafta be here; many offers from missionary societies and the biggest evangelists have been turned down in order that I may get around this whole continent and talk to the biggest possible audience of the real people, God's own folks, and attest to the Faith. Portraits of me as you see me now, each one individually autographed by my own hand, may be purchased at twenty-five cents apiece, and for another mere quarter I will include a priceless treasure, this copy of the New Testament which fits in the pocket and in which each and every word uttered by our Lord Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry is printed in RED. No Testament sold except with a portrait. Don't miss this great offer which is made by me at a financial sacrifice in order that the Lord's will may be done more abundantly here in Pumpkin Centre. Don't hang back folks; grab what I'm giving to you; I been made fat and when you possess this portrait of me as you see me now and this New Testament you'll hafta admit that I'm certainly the Liberal Soul. Come on, now, who's gonna be the first?'
"Hannah was able to hawk her pictures and her Testaments because of an arrangement written into every artiste's contract that they should be allowed to sell something at every show. They made their offer, or Charlie made it for them, as the crowd was about to move on to the next Wonder. The price was always twenty-five cents. Sonny had a book on body-building; Molza had only a picture of himself with his throat full of swords—a very slow item in terms of sales; Professor Spencer offered his personally written visiting cards, which were a nuisance because they took quite a while to prepare; Em Dark sold throwing knives Joe made in his spare time out of small files—a throwing knife has no edge, only a point; Heinie sold pictures of Rango; Zitta offered belts and bracelets which she made out of the skins of the snakes she had mauled to death—though Charlie didn't put it quite like that; Andro was another seller of pictures; Willard sold a pamphlet called _Secrets of Gamblers Revealed_ , which was offered by Charlie as an infallible protection against dishonest card-players you might meet on trains; a lot of people bought them who didn't look like great travellers, and I judged they wanted to know the secrets of gamblers for some purpose of their own. I read it several times, and it was a stupefyingly uncommunicative little book, written at least thirty years before 1918. The agreement was that each Wonder offered his picture or whatever it might be after he had been exhibited, and that when the show had been completed, except for the Midget Juggler, Charlie would invite the audience once again not to leave without one of _these valuable mementoes of a unique and unforgettable personal experience and educational benefit._
"From being an extremely innocent little boy it did not take me long to become a very knowing little boy. I picked up a great deal as we travelled from village to village on the train, for our Pullman was an educational benefit and certainly, for me, an unforgettable personal experience. I had an upper berth at the very end of the car, at some distance from Willard, whose importance in the show secured him a lower in the area where the shock of the frequent shuntings and accordion-like contractions of the train were least felt. I came to know who had bottles of liquor, and also who was generous with it and who kept it for his own use. I knew that neither Joe nor Em Dark drank, because it would have been a ruinous indulgence for a knife-thrower. The Darks, however, were young and vigorous, and sometimes the noises from their berth were enough to raise comment from the other Talent. I remember one night when Heinie, who shared his bottle with Rango, put Rango up to opening the curtains of the Darks' upper; Em screamed, and Joe grabbed Rango and threw him down into the aisle so hard that Rango screamed; Heinie offered to fight Joe, and Joe, stark naked and very angry, chased Heinie back to his berth and pummelled him. It took a full hour to soothe Rango; Heinie assured us that Rango was used to love and could not bear rough usage; Rango had to have at least two strong swigs of straight rye before he could sleep. But in the rough-and-tumble I had had a good look at Em Dark naked, and it was very different from Happy Hannah, I can assure you. All sorts of things that I had never heard of began, within a month, to whirl and surge and combine in my mind.
"A weekly event of some significance in our Pullman was Hannah's Saturday-night bath. She lived in continual hope of managing it without attracting attention, but that was ridiculous. First Gus would bustle down the aisle with a large tarpaulin and an armful of towels. Then Hannah, in an orange mobcap and a red dressing-gown, would lurch and stumble down the car; she was too big to fall into anybody's berth, but she sometimes came near to dragging down the green curtains when we were going around a bend. We all knew what happened in the Ladies' Retiring Room; Gus spread the tarpaulin, Hannah stood on it hanging onto the wash-basin, and Gus swabbed her down with a large sponge. It was for this service of Christian charity that she was called Elephant Gus when she was out of earshot. Drying Hannah took a long time, because there were large portions of her that she could not reach herself, and Gus used to towel her down, making a hissing noise between her teeth, like a groom.
"Sometimes Charlie and Heinie and Willard would be sitting up having a game of poker, and while the bath was in progress they would sing a hymn, 'Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow'. If they were high they had another version—
Wash me in the water
That you washed the baby in,
And I shall be whiter
Than the whitewash on the wall.
This infuriated Hannah, and on her return trip she would favour them with a few Biblical admonitions; she had a good deal to say about lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, games of hazard, and abominable idolatries, out of First Peter. But she hocussed the text. There is no mention of 'games of hazard' or gambling anywhere in the Bible. She put that in for her own particular satisfaction. I knew it, and I soon recognized Hannah as my first hypocrite. A boy's first recognition of hypocrisy is, or ought to be, more significant than the onset of puberty. By the time Gus had stowed her into her special lower, which was supported from beneath with a few fence-posts, she was so refreshed by anger that she fell asleep at once, and snored so that she could be heard above the noise of the train.
"Very soon I became aware that the World of Wonders which had been a revelation to me, and I suppose to countless other country village people, was a weary bore to the Talent. This is the gnawing canker of carnival life: it is monstrously boring.
"Consider. We did ten complete shows a day; we had an hour off for midday food and another hour between six and seven; otherwise it was unremitting. We played an average of five days a week, which means fifty shows. We began our season as early as we could, but nothing much was stirring in the outdoor carnival line till mid-May, and after that we traipsed across country playing anywhere and everywhere—I soon stopped trying to know the name of the towns, and called them all Pumpkin Centre, like Willard—until late October. That makes something over a thousand shows. No wonder the Talent was bored. No wonder Charlie's talks began to sound as if he was thinking about something else.
"The only person who wasn't bored was Professor Spencer. He was a decent man, and couldn't give way to boredom, because his affliction meant perpetual improvisation in the details of his life. For instance, he had to get somebody to help him in the donniker, which most of us were ready to do, but wouldn't have done if he had not always been cheerful and fresh. He offered to teach me some lessons, because he said it was shame for a boy to leave school as early as I had done. So he taught me writing, and arithmetic, and an astonishing amount of geography. He was the one man on the show who had to know where we were, what the population of the town was, the name of the mayor, and other things that he wrote on his blackboard as part of his show. He was a good friend to me, was Professor Spencer. Indeed, it was he who persuaded Willard to teach me magic.
"Willard had not been interested in doing that, or indeed anything, for me. I was necessary, but I was a nuisance. I have never met anyone in my life who was so bleakly and unconsciously selfish as Willard, and for one whose life has been spent in the theatre and carnival world that is a strong statement. But Professor Spencer nagged him into it—you could not shame or bully or cajole Willard into anything, but he was open to nagging—and he began to show me a few things with cards and coins. As my years with the World of Wonders wore on, I think what he taught me saved my reason. Certainly it is at the root of anything I can do now.
"Whoever taught Willard did it very well. He never gave names to the things he taught me, and I am sure he didn't know them. But since that time I have found that he taught me all there is to know about shuffling, forcing, and passing cards, and palming, ruffling, changing, and bridging, and the wonders of the _biseauté_ pack, which is really the only trick pack worth having. With coins he taught me all the basic work of palming and passing, the French drop, _La Pincette,_ _La Coulée_ , and all the other really good ones. His ideal among magicians was Nelson Downs, whose great act, The Miser's Dream, he had seen at the Palace Theatre, New York, which was the paradise of his limited imagination. Indeed, it was a very much debased version of The Miser's Dream that he had been doing when I first saw him. He now did little conjuring in the World of Wonders, because of the ease of managing Abdullah.
"Inside Abdullah I was busy for perhaps five minutes in every hour. My movement was greatly restricted; I could not make a noise. What was I to do? I practised my magic, and for hours on end I palmed coins and developed my hands in the dark, and that is how I gained the technique which has earned me the compliment of this film you gentlemen are making. I recommend the method to young magicians; get yourself into a close-fitting prison for ten hours a day, and do nothing but manipulate cards and coins; keep that up for a few years and, unless you are constitutionally incapable, like poor Ramsay here, you should develop some adroitness, and you will at least have no chance to acquire the principal fault of the bad magician, which is looking at your hands as you work. That was how I avoided boredom: constant practice, and entranced observation, through Abdullah's bosom, of the public and the Talent of the World of Wonders.
"Boredom is rich soil for every kind of rancour and ugliness. In my first months on the show this attached almost entirely to the fortunes of the War. I knew nothing about the War, although as a schoolchild I had been urged to bring all my family's peachstones to school, where they were collected for some war-like purpose. Knowing boys said that a terrible poison gas was made from them. Every morning in prayers our teacher mentioned the Allied Forces, and especially the Canadians. Once again knowing boys said you could always tell where her brother Jim was by the prayer, which was likely to contain a special reference to 'our boys at the Front', and later, 'our boys in the rest camps', and later still, 'our boys in the hospitals'. The War hung over my life like the clouds in the sky, and I heeded it as little. Once I saw Ramsay in the street, in what I later realized was the uniform of a recruit, but at the time I couldn't understand why he was wearing such queer clothes. I saw men in the streets with black bands on their arms, and asked my father why they wore them, but I can't remember what he answered.
"In the World of Wonders the War seemed likely at times to tear the show to pieces. The only music on the fairgrounds where we appeared came from the merry-go-round; tunes were fed into its calliope by the agency of large steel discs, perforated with rectangular holes; they worked on the same principle as the roll of a player-piano, but were much more durable, and rotated instead of uncoiling. Most of the music was of the variety we associate with merry-go-rounds. Who wrote it? Italians, I suspect, for it always had a gentle, quaintly melodious quality, except for one new tune which Steve, who ran the machine, had bought to give the show a modern air. It was the American war song—by that noisy fellow Cohan, was it?—called 'Over There!' It was less than warlike on a calliope, played at merry-go-round tempo, but everybody recognized it, and now and then some Canadian wag would sing loudly, to the final phrase—
And we won't be over
Till it's over
Over there!
If Hannah heard this, she became furious, for she was an inflamed American patriot and the War, for her, had begun when the Americans entered it in 1917. The Darks were Canadians, and not as tactful as Canadians usually are when dealing with their American cousins. I remember Em Dark, who was a most unlikely person to tell a joke, saying one midday, in September of 1918, when the Talent was in the dressing tent, eating its hasty picnic: 'I heard a good one yesterday. This fellow says, Say, why are the American troops called Doughboys? And the other fellow says, Gee, I dunno; why? And the first fellow says, It's because they were needed in 1914 but they didn't rise till 1917. Do you get it? Needed, you see, like kneading bread, and—' But Em wasn't able to continue with her explanation of the joke because Hannah threw a sandwich at her and told her to knead that, and she was sick and tired of ingratitude from the folks in a little, two-bit backwoods country where they still had to pay taxes to the English King, and hadn't Em heard about the Argonne and the American blood that was being shed there by the bucketful, and how did Em think they would make the Hun say Uncle anyways with a lot of fat-headed Englishmen and Frenchmen messing it all up, and what they needed over there was American efficiency and American spunk?
"Em didn't have a chance to reply, because Hannah was immediately in trouble with Sonnenfels and Heinie Bayer, who smouldered under a conviction that Germany was hideously wronged and that everybody was piling on the Fatherland without any cause at all, and though they were just as good Americans as anybody they were damn well sick of it and hoped the German troops would show Pershing something new about efficiency. Charlie tried to quiet them down by saying that everybody knew the War was a put-up job and nobody was getting anything out of it but the Big Interests. This was a mistake, because Sonny and Heinie turned on him and told him that they knew why he was so glad to be in Canada, and if they were younger men they'd be in the scrap and they weren't going to say which side they'd be on, neither, but if they met anything like Charlie on the battlefield they'd just put a chain on him and show him off beside Rango.
"The battle went on for weeks, during which Joe Dark suffered the humiliation of having Em tell everybody that he wasn't in the Canadian Army because he had flat feet, and Hannah replying that you didn't need feet to fly a plane, but you sure needed brains. The only reasonable voice was that of Professor Spencer, who was a great reader of the papers, and an independent thinker; he was all for an immediate armistice and a peace conference. But as nobody wanted to listen to him, he lectured me, instead, so that I still have a very confused idea of the causes of that War, and the way it was fought. Hannah got a Stars and Stripes from somewhere, and stuck it up on her little platform. She said it made her feel good just to have it there.
"It all came about because of boredom. Boredom and stupidity and patriotism, especially when combined, are three of the greatest evils of the world we live in. But a worse and more lasting source of trouble was the final show in each village, which was called the Last Trick.
"It was agreed that the Last Trick ought to be livelier than the other nine shows of the day. The fair was at its end, the serious matters like the judging of animals and fancy-work had been completed, and most of the old folks had gone home, leaving young men and their girls, and the village cutups on the fairground. It was then that the true, age-old Spirit of Carnival descended on Wanless's World of Wonders, but of course it didn't affect everybody in the same way. Outside, the calliope was playing its favourite tune, 'The Poor Butterfly Waltz'; supposedly unknown to Gus, the man who ran the cat-rack had slipped in the gaff, so that the eager suitor who was trying to win a kewpie doll for the girl of his heart by throwing baseballs found that the stuffed pussy-cats wouldn't be knocked down. It was a sleazier, crookeder fair altogether than the one the local Fair Board had planned, but there was always a young crowd that liked it that way.
"On the bally, Charlie allowed his wit a freer play. As Zovene juggled with his spangled Indian clubs, Charlie would say, in a pretended undertone which carried well beyond his audience: 'Pretty good, eh? He isn't big, but he's good. Anyways, how big would you be if you'd been strained through a silk handkerchief?' The young bloods would guffaw at this, and their girls would clamour to have it explained to them. And when Zitta showed her snakes, she would drag the old cobra suggestively between her legs and up her front, while Charlie whispered, 'Boys-oh-boys, who wouldn't be a snake?'
"Inside the tent Charlie urged the young men to model themselves on Sonnenfels, so that all the girls would be after them, and they'd be up to the job. And when he came to Andro he would ogle his hearers and say, 'He's the only guy in the world who's glad to wake up in the morning and find he's beside himself.' He particularly delighted in tormenting Hannah. She did her own talking, but as she shrieked her devotion to the Lord Jesus, Charlie would lean down low, and say, in a carrying whisper, 'She hasn't seen her ace o' spades in twenty years.' The burst of laughter made Hannah furious, though she never caught what was said. She knew, however, that it was something dirty. However often she complained to Gus, and however often Gus harangued Charlie, the Spirit of Carnival was always too much for him. Nor was Gus whole-hearted in her complaints; what pleased the crowd was what Gus liked.
"Hannah attempted to fight fire with fire. She often made it known, in the Pullman, that in her opinion these modern kids weren't bad kids, and if you gave them a chance they didn't want this Sex and all like that. Sure, they wanted fun, and she knew how to give 'em fun. She was just as fond of fun as anybody, but she didn't see the fun in all this Smut and Filth. So she gave 'em fun.
" 'Lots o' fun in your Bible, boys and girls,' she would shout. 'Didn't you know that? Didya think the Good Book was all serious? You just haven't read it with the Liberal Heart, that's all. Come on now! Come on now, all of you! Who can tell me why you wouldn't dare to take a drink outa the first river in Eden? Come on, I bet ya know. Sure ya know. You're just too shy to say. Why wouldn't ya take a drink outa the first river in Eden?—Because it was Pison, that's why! If you don't believe me, look in Genesis two, eleven.' Then she would go off into a burst of wheezing laughter.
"Or she would point—and with an arm like hers, pointing was no trifling effort—at Zovene, shouting: 'You call him small? Say, he's a regular Goliath compared with the shortest man in the Bible. Who was he? Come on, who was he?—He was Bildad the Shu-hite, Job two, eleven. See, the Liberal Heart can even get a laugh outa one of Job's Comforters. I betcha never thought of that, eh?' And again, one of her terrible bursts of laughter.
"Hannah understood nothing of the art of the comedian. It is dangerous to laugh at your own jokes, but if you must, it is great mistake to laugh first. Fat people, when laughing, are awesome sights, enough to strike gravity into the onlooker. But Hannah was a whole World of Wonders in herself when she laughed. She forced her laughter, for after all, when you have told people for weeks that the only man in the Bible with no parents was Joshua, the son of Nun, the joke loses some of its savour. So she pushed laughter out of herself in wheezing, whooping cries, and her face became unpleasantly marbled with dabs of a darker red under the rouge she wore. Her collops wobbled uncontrollably, her vast belly heaved and trembled as she sucked breath, and sometimes she attempted to slap her thigh, producing a wet splat of sound. Fat Ladies ought not to tell jokes; their mirth is of the flesh, not of the mind. Fat Ladies ought not to laugh; a chuckle is all they can manage without putting a dangerous strain on their breathing and circulatory system. But Hannah would not listen to reason. She was determined to drive Smut back into its loathsome den with assaults of Clean Fun, and if she damaged herself in the battle, her wounds would be honourable.
"Sometimes she had an encouraging measure of success. Quite often there would be in the crowd some young man who was of a serious, religious turn of mind, and usually he was accompanied by a girl who had preacher's daughter written all over her. They had been embarrassed by Charlie's jokes when they understood them. They had been even more embarrassed when Rango, at a secret signal from Heinie, left his pretended restaurant table and urinated in a corner, while Heinie pantomimed a waiter's dismay. But with that camaraderie which exists among religious people just as it does among tinhorns and crooks, they recognized Hannah as a benign influence, and laughed with her, and urged her on to greater flights. She gave them her best. 'What eight fellas in the Bible milked a bear? _You_ know! You musta read it a dozen times. D'ya give it up? Well, listen carefully: Huz, Buz, Kemuel, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel— _these eight did Milcah bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother_. Didya never think of it that way? Eh? Didn't ya? Well, it's in Genesis twenty-two.'
"When one of these obviously sanctified couples appeared, it was Hannah's pleasure to single them out and hold them up to the rest of the crowd as great cutups. 'Oh, I see ya,' she would shout; 'it's the garden of Eden all over again; the trouble isn't with the apple in the tree, it's with that pair on the ground.' And she would point at them, and they would blush and laugh and be grateful to be given a reputation for wickedness without having to do anything to acquire it.
"All of this cost Hannah dearly. After a big Saturday night, when she had exhausted her store of Bible riddles, she was almost too used up for her ritual bath. But she had worked herself up into a shocking sweat, and sometimes the smell of wet cornstarch from her sopping body spread a smell like a gigantic nursery pudding through the whole of the tent, and bathed she had to be, or there would be trouble with chafing.
"Her performance on these occasions made Willard deeply, cruelly angry. He would stand beside Abdullah and I could hear him swearing, repetitively but with growing menace, as she carried on. The worst of it was, if she secured any sort of success, she was not willing to stop; even when the crowd had passed on to see Abdullah, she would continue, at somewhat lesser pitch, with a few lingerers, who hoped for more Bible fun. In the Last Trick it was Willard's custom to have three people cut the cards for the automaton, instead of the usual one, and he wanted the undivided attention of the crowd. He hated Hannah, and from my advantageous peephole I was not long in coming to the conclusion that Hannah hated him.
"There were plenty of places in southern Ontario at that time where religious young people were numerous, and in these communities Hannah did not scruple to give a short speech in which she looked forward to seeing them next year, and implored them to join her in a parting hymn. 'God be with you till we meet again', she would strike up, in her thin, piercing voice, like a violin string played unskilfully and without a vibrato, and there were always those who, from religious zeal or just because they liked to sing, would join her. Nor was one verse enough. Charlie would strike in, as boldly as he could: _And now, ladies and gentlemen, our Master Marvel of the World of Wonders—Willard the Wizard and his Card-Playing Automaton, Abdullah, as soon to be exhibited on the stage of the Palace Theatre, New York_ —but Hannah would simply put on more steam, and slow down, and nearly everybody in the tent would be wailing—
God be with you till we meet again!
Keep love's banner floating o'er you,
Smite death's threatening wave before you:
God be with you till we meet again!
And then the whole dismal chorus. It was a hymn of hate, and Willard met it with such hate as I have rarely seen.
"As for me, I was only a child, and my experience of hatred was slight, but so far as I could, and with what intensity of spirit I could muster, I hated them both. Hate and bitterness were becoming the elements in which I lived."
Eisengrim had a fine feeling for a good exit-line, and at this point he rose to go to bed. We rose, as well, and he went solemnly around the circle, shaking hands with us all in the European manner. Lind and Kinghovn even bowed as they did so, and when Magnus turned at the door to give us a final nod, they bowed again.
"Now why do you suppose we accord these royal courtesies to a man who has declared that he was Nobody for so many years," said Ingestree, when we had sat down again. "Because it is so very plain that he is not Nobody now. He is almost oppressively Somebody. Are we rising, and grinning, and even bowing out of pity? Are we trying to make it up to a man who suffered a dreadful denial of personality by assuring him that now we are quite certain he is a real person, just like us? Decidedly not. We defer to him, and hop around like courtiers because we can't help it. Why? Ramsay, do you know why?"
"No," said I; "I don't, and it doesn't trouble me much. I rather enjoy Magnus's lordly airs. He can come off his perch when he thinks proper. Perhaps we do it because we know he doesn't take it seriously; it's part of a game. If he insisted, we'd rebel."
"And when you rebelled, you would see a very different side of his nature," said Liesl.
"You play the game with him, I observe," said Ingestree. "You stand up when His Supreme Self-Assurance leaves the company. Yet you are mistress here, and we are your guests. Now why is that?"
"Because I am not quite sure who he is," said Liesl.
"You don't believe this story he's telling us?"
"Yes. I think that he has come to the time of his life when he feels the urge to tell. Many people feel it. It is the impulse behind a hundred bad autobiographies every year. I think he is being as honest as he can. I hope that when he finishes his story—if he does finish it—I shall know rather more. But I may not have my answer then."
"I don't follow; you hope to hear his story out, but you don't think it certain that you will know who he is even then, although you think he is being honest. What is this mystery?"
"Who is anybody? For me, he is whatever he is to me. Biographical facts may be of help, but they don't explain that. Are you married, Mr. Ingestree?"
"Well, no, actually, I'm not."
"The way you phrase your reply speaks volumes. But suppose you were married; do you think that your wife would be to you precisely what she was to her women friends, her men friends, her doctor, lawyer, and hairdresser? Of course not. To you she would be something special, and to you that would be the reality of her. I have not yet found out what Magnus is to me, although we have been business associates and friendly intimates for a long time. If I had been the sort of person who is somebody's mistress, I would have been his mistress, but I've never cared for the mistress role. I am too rich for it. Mistresses have incomes, and valuable possessions, but not fortunes. Nor can I say we have been lovers, because that is a messy expression people use when they are having sexual intercourse on fairly regular terms, without getting married. But I have had many a jolly night with Magnus, and many an exciting day with him. I still have to decide what he is to me. If humouring his foible for royal treatment helps me to come to a conclusion, I have no objection."
"Well, what about you, Ramsay? He keeps referring to you as his first teacher of magic. You knew him from childhood, then? You could surely say who he was?"
"I was almost present at his birth. But does that mean anything? An infant is a seed. Is it an oak seed or a cabbage seed? Who knows? All mothers think their children are oaks, but the world never lacks for cabbages. I would be the last man to pretend that knowing somebody as a child gave any real clue to who he is as a man. I can tell you this: he jokes about the lessons I gave him when he was a child, but he didn't think them funny then; he had a great gift for something I couldn't do at all, or could do with absurd effort. He was deadly serious during our lessons, and for a good reason. I could read the books and he couldn't. I think that may throw some light on what we have been hearing about the World of Wonders, which he presents as a kind of joke. I am perfectly certain it wasn't a joke at the time."
"I am sure he wasn't joking when he spoke of hatred," said Lind. "He was funny, or ironic, or whatever you want to call it, about the World of Wonders. We all know why people talk in that way; if we are amusing about our trials in the past, it is as if we say, 'See what I overcame—now I treat it as a joke—see how strong I have been and ask yourself if you could have overcome what I overcame?' But when he spoke of hatred, there was no joking."
"I don't agree," said Ingestree. "I think joking about the past is a way of suggesting that it wasn't really important. A way of veiling its horror, perhaps. We shudder when we hear of yesterday's plane accident, in which seventy people were killed; but we become increasingly philosophical about horrors that are further away. What is the Charge of the Light Brigade now? We remember it as a military blunder and we use it as a stick to beat military commanders, who are all popularly supposed to be blunderers. It has become a poem by Tennyson that embarrasses us by its exaltation of unthinking obedience. We joke about the historical fact and the poetic artifact. But how many people ever think of the young men who charged? Who takes five minutes to summon up in his mind what they felt as they rushed to death? It is the fate of the past to be fuel for humour."
"Have you put your finger on it?" said Lind. "Perhaps you have. Jokes dissemble horrors and make them seem unimportant. And why? Is it in order that more horrors may come? In order that we may never learn anything from experience? I have never been very fond of jokes. I begin to wonder if they are not evil."
"Oh rubbish, Jurgen," said Ingestree. "I was only talking about one aspect of humour. It's absolutely vital to life. It's one of the marks of civilization. Mankind wouldn't be mankind without it."
"I know that the English set a special value on humour," said Lind. "They have a very fine sense of humour and sometimes they think theirs the best in the world, like their marmalade. Which reminds me that during the First World War some of the English troops used to go over the top shouting, 'Marmalade!' in humorously chivalrous voices, as if it were a heroic battle-cry. The Germans could never get used to it. They puzzled tirelessly to solve the mystery. Because a German cannot conceive that a man in battle would want to be funny, you see. But I think the English were dissembling the horror of their situation so that they would not notice how close they were to Death. Again, humour was essentially evil. If they had thought of the truth of their situation, they might not have gone over the top. And that might have been a good thing."
"Let's not theorize about humour, Jurgen," said Ingestree; "it's utterly fruitless and makes the very dullest kind of conversation."
"Now it's my turn to disagree," I said. "This notion that nobody can explain humour, or even talk sensibly about it, is one of humour's greatest cover-ups. I've been thinking a great deal about the Devil lately, and I have been wondering if humour isn't one of the most brilliant inventions of the Devil. What have you just been saying about it? It diminishes the horrors of the past, and it veils the horrors of the present, and therefore it prevents us from seeing straight, and perhaps from learning things we ought to know. Who profits from that? Not mankind, certainly. Only the Devil could devise such a subtle agency and persuade mankind to value it."
"No, no, no, Ramsay," said Liesl. "You are in one of your theological moods. I've watched you for days, and you have been moping as you do only when you are grinding one of your home-made theological axes. Humour is quite as often the pointer to truth as it is a cloud over truth. Have you never heard the Jewish legend—it's in the Talmud, isn't it?—that at the time of Creation the Creator displayed his masterwork, Man, to the Heavenly Host, and only the Devil was so tactless as to make a joke about it. And that was why he was thrown out of Heaven, with all the angels who had been unable to suppress their laughter. So they set up Hell as a kind of jokers' club, and thereby complicated the universe in a way that must often embarrass God."
"No," I said; "I've never heard that and as legends are my speciality I don't believe it. Talmud my foot! I suspect you made that legend up here and now."
Liesl laughed loud and long, and pushed the brandy bottle toward me. "You are almost as clever as I am, and I love you, Dunstan Ramsay," she said.
"New or old, it's a very good legend," said Ingestree. "Because that's always one of the puzzles of religion—no humour. Not a scrap. What is the basis of our faith, when we have a faith? The Bible. The Bible contains precisely one joke, and that is a schoolmasterish pun attributed to Christ when he told Peter that he was the rock on which the Church was founded. Very probably a later interpolation by some Church Father who thought it was a real rib-binder. But monotheism leaves no room for jokes, and I've thought for a long time that is what is wrong with it. Monotheism is too po-faced for the sort of world we find ourselves in. What have we heard tonight? A great deal about how Happy Hannah tried to squeeze jokes out of the Bible in the hope of catching a few young people who were brimming with life. Frightful puns; the kind of bricks you make without straw. Whereas the Devil, when he is represented in literature, is full of excellent jokes, and we can't resist him because he and his jokes make so much sense. To twist an old saying, if the Devil had not existed, we should have had to invent him. He is the only explanation of the appalling ambiguities of life. I give you the Devil!"
He raised his glass, but only he and Liesl drank the toast. Kinghovn, who had been getting into the brandy very heavily, was almost asleep. Lind was musing, and no sign of amusement appeared on his long face. I couldn't possibly have drunk such a toast, offered in such a spirit. Ingestree was annoyed.
"You don't drink," said he.
"Perhaps I shall do so later, when I have had time to think it over," said Lind. "Private toasts are out of fashion in the English-speaking world; you only drink them on formal occasions, as part of the decorum of stupidity. But we Scandinavians have still one foot in Odin's realm, and when we drink a toast we mean something quite serious. When I drink to the Devil I shall want to be quite serious."
"I hesitate to say so, Roland," I said, "but I wish you hadn't done that. I quite agree that the Devil is a great joker, but don't think it is particularly jolly to be the butt of one of his jokes. You have called his attention to you in what I must call a frivolous way—damned silly, to be really frank. I wish you hadn't done that."
"You mean he'll do something to me? You mean that from henceforth I'm a Fated Man? You know, I've always fancied the role of Fated Man. What do you think it'll be? Car accident? Loss of job? Even a nasty death?"
"Who am I to probe the mind of a World Spirit?" I said. "But if I were the Devil—which, God be thanked, I am not—I might throw a joke or two in your direction that would test your sense of humour. I don't suppose you're a Fated Man."
"You mean I'm too small fry for that?" said Ingestree. He was smiling, but he didn't like my serious tone and was inviting me to insult him. Luckily Kinghovn woke up, slightly slurred in speech but full of opinion.
"You're all out of your heads," he shouted. "No humour in the Bible. All right. Scrub out the Bible. Use the script Eisengrim has given us. Film the subtext. Then I'll show you some humour: that Fat Woman—let me give you a peep-shot of her groaning in the donniker, or being swilled down by Gus; let me show her shrieking her bloody-awful jokes while the Last Trick gets dirtier and dirtier. Then you'll hear some laughter. You're all mad for words. Words are just farts from a lot of fools who have swallowed too many books. Give me things! Give me the appearance of a thing, and I'll show you the way to photograph it so the reality comes right out in front of your eyes. The Devil? Balls! God? Balls! Get me that Fat Woman and I'll photograph her one way and you'll know the Devil made her, then I'll photograph her another way and you'll swear you see the work of God! Light! That's the whole secret. Light! And who understands it? I do!"
Lind and Ingestree decided it was time to take him to his bed. As they manhandled him down the long entry-steps of Sorgenfrei he was shouting, "Light! Let there be light! Who said that? I said it!"
(8)
The film-makers were drawing near the end of their work. All but a few special scenes of _Un Hommage à Robert-Houdin_ were "in the can"; what remained was to arrange backstage shots of Eisengrim being put into his "gaffed" conjuror's evening coat by the actor who played the conjuror's son and assistant; of assistants working quietly and deftly while the great magician produced astonishing effects on the stage; of Mme Robert-Houdin putting the special padded covers over the precious and delicate automata; of the son-assistant gently loading a dozen doves, or three rabbits, or even a couple of ducks into a space which seemed incapable of holding them; of all the splendidly efficient organization which was needed to produce the effect of the illogical and incredible. That night, therefore, Eisengrim moved his narrative along a little faster.
"You don't want a chronological account of my seven years as the mechanism of Abdullah," he said, "and indeed it would be impossible for me to give you one. Something was happening all the time, but only two or three matters were of any importance. We were continually travelling and seeing new places, but in fact we saw nothing. We brought excitement and perhaps a whisper of magic into thousands of rural Canadian lives, but our own lives were vast unbroken prairies of boredom. We were continually on the alert, sizing up the Rubes and trying to match what we gave to what they wanted, but no serious level of our minds was ever put to work.
"For Sonnenfels, Molza, and poor old Professor Spencer it was the only life they knew or could expect to have; the first two kept themselves going by nursing some elaborate, inexhaustible, ill-defined personal grievance which they shared; Spencer fed himself on complex, unworkable economic theories, and he would jaw you half to death about bimetallism, or Social Credit, if you gave him a chance. The Fat Woman had her untiring crusade against smut and irreligion; she could not reconcile herself to being simply fat, and I suppose this suggests some kind of mental or spiritual life in her. I saw hope dying in poor Em Dark, as Joe proved his incapacity to learn anything that would get them out of carnival life. Zitta was continually on the lookout for somebody to marry; she couldn't make any money, because she had to spend so much on new, doctored snakes; but how do you get a sucker to the altar if you are always on the move? She would have snatched at Charlie, but Charlie liked something fresher, and anyhow Gus was vigilant to save Charlie from designing women. Zovene was locked in the misery of dwarfdom; he wasn't really a midget, because a midget has to be perfectly formed, and he had a small but unmistakable hump; he was a sour little fellow, and deeply unhappy, I'm sure. Heinie Bayer had lived so long with Rango that he was more like Rango than like a man; they did not bring out the best in each other.
"Like a lot of monkeys Rango was a great masturbator, and when Happy Hannah complained about it Heinie would snicker and say, 'It's natural, ain't it?' and encourage Rango to do it during the Last Trick, where the young people would see him. Then Hannah would shout across the tent, 'Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.' But the youngsters can't have been believers in the sense of the text, for they hung around Rango, some snickering, some ashamedly curious, and some of the girls obviously unable to understand what was happening. Gus tried to put a stop to this, but even Gus had no power over Rango, except to put him off the show, and he was too solid a draw for that. Hannah decided that Rango was a type of natural, unredeemed man, and held forth at length on that theme. She predicted that Rango would go mad, if he had any brains to go mad with. But Rango died unredeemed.
"So far as I was concerned, the whole of Wanless's World of Wonders was unredeemed. Did Christ die for these, I asked myself, hidden in the shell of Abdullah. I decided that He didn't. I now think I was mistaken, but you must remember that I began these reflections when I was ten years old, and deep in misery. I was in a world which seemed to me to be filthy in every way; I had grown up in a world where there was little love, but much concern about goodness. Here I could see no goodness, and felt no goodness."
Lind intervened. "Excuse me if I am prying," he said, "but you have been very frank with us, and my question is one of deep concern, not simple curiosity. You were swept into the carnival because Willard had raped you; was there any more of that?"
"Yes, much more of it. I cannot pretend to explain Willard, and I think such people must be rare. I know very well that homosexuality includes love of all sorts, but in Willard it was just a perverse drive, untouched by affection or any concern at all, except for himself. At least once every week we repeated that first act. Places had to be found, and when it happened it was quick and usually done in silence except for occasional whimpers from me and—this was very strange—something very like whimpers from Willard."
"And you never complained, or told anybody?"
"I was a child. I knew in my bones that what Willard did to me was very wrong, and he was careful to let me know that it was my fault. If I said a word to anybody, he told me, I would at once find myself in the hands of the law. And what would the law do to a boy who did what I did? Terrible things. When I dared to ask what the law would do to him, he said the law couldn't touch him; he knew highly placed people everywhere."
"How can you have continued to believe that?"
"Oh, you people who are so fortunately born, so well placed, so sure the policeman is your friend! Do you remember my home, Ramsay?"
"Very well."
"An abode of love, was it?"
"Your mother loved you very much."
"My mother was a madwoman. Why? Ramsay has very fine theories about her; he had a special touch with her. But to me she was a perpetual reproach because I knew that her madness was my fault. My father told me that she had gone mad at the time of my birth, and because of it. I was born in 1908, when all sorts of extraordinary things were still believed about childbirth, especially in places like Deptford. Those were the sunset days of the great legend of motherhood. When your mother bore you, she went down in her anguish to the very gates of Death, in order that you might have life. Nothing that you could do subsequently would work off your birth-debt to her. No degree of obedience, no unfailing love, could put the account straight. Your guilt toward her was a burden you carried all your life. Christ, I can hear Charlie now, standing on the stage of a thousand rotten little vaude houses, giving out that message in a tremulous voice, while the pianist played 'In a Monastery Garden'—
M is for the million smiles she gave me;
O means only that she's growing old;
T is for the times she prayed to save me;
H is for her heart, of purest gold;
E is every wrong that she forgave me;
R is right—and Right she'll always be!
Put them all together, they spell MOTHER—
A word that means the world to me!
That was the accepted attitude toward mothers, at that time, in the world I belonged to. Well? Imagine what it was like to grow up with a mother who had to be tied up every morning before my father could go off to his work as an accountant at the planing-mill; he was a parson no longer because her disgrace had made it impossible for him to continue his ministry. What was her disgrace? Something that made my schoolmates shout 'Hoor!' when they passed our house. Something that made them call out filthy jokes about hoors when they saw me. So there you have it. A disgraced and ruined home, and for what reason? Because I was born into it. That was the reason.
"That wasn't all. I said that when Willard used me he whimpered. Sometimes he spoke in his whimpering, and what he said then was, 'You goddam little hoor!' And when it was over, more than once he slapped me mercilessly around the head, saying, 'Hoor! You're nothing but a hoor!' It wasn't really condemnation; it seemed to be part of his fulfilment, his ecstasy. Don't you understand? 'Hoor' was what my mother was, and what had brought our family down because of my birth. 'Hoor' was what I was. I was the filthiest thing alive. And I was Nobody. Now do you ask me why I didn't complain to someone about ill usage? What rights had I? I hadn't even a conception of what 'rights' were."
"Could this go on without anybody knowing, or at least suspecting?" Lind was pale; he was taking this hard; I had not thought of him as having so much compassionate feeling.
"Of course they knew. But Willard was crafty and they had no proof. They'd have had to be very simple not to know that something was going on, and carnival people weren't ignorant about perversion. They hinted, and sometimes they were nasty, especially Sonnenfels and Molza. Heinie and Zovene thought it was a great joke. Em Dark had spells of being sorry for me, but Joe didn't want her to mix herself up in anything that concerned Willard, because Willard was a power in the World of Wonders. He and Charlie were very thick, and if Charlie turned against any of the Talent, there were all kinds of ways he could reduce their importance in the show, and then Gus might get the idea that some new Talent was wanted.
"Furthermore, I was thought to be bad luck by most of the Talent, and show people are greatly involved with the idea of luck. Early in my time on the show I got into awful trouble with Molza because I inadvertently shifted his trunk a few inches in the dressing tent. It was on a bit of board I wanted to use in my writing-lesson with Professor Spencer. Suddenly Molza was on me, storming incomprehensibly, and Spencer had trouble quieting him down. Then Spencer warned me against ever moving a trunk, which is very bad luck indeed; when the handlers bring it in from the baggage wagon they put it where it ought to go, and there it stays until they take it back to the train. I had to go through a complicated ceremony to ward off the bad luck, and Molza fussed all day.
"The idea of the Jonah is strong with show people. A bringer of ill luck can blight a show. Some of the Talent were sure I was a Jonah, which was just a way of focussing their detestation of what I represented, and of Willard, whom they all hated.
"Only the Fat Woman ever spoke to me directly about who and what I was. I forget exactly when it was, but it was fairly early in my experience on the show. It might have been during my second or third year, when I was twelve or thereabouts. One morning before the first trick, and even before the calliope began its toot-up, which was the signal that the World of Wonders and its adjuncts were opening for business, she was sitting on her throne and I was doing something to Abdullah, which I checked carefully every day for possible trouble.
" 'Come here, kid,' she said. 'I wanta talk to you. And I wanta talk mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches. Them words mean anything to you?'
" 'That's from Numbers,' I said.
" 'Numbers is right; Numbers twelve, verse eight. How do you know that?'
" 'I just know it.'
" 'No, you don't just know it. You been taught it. And you been taught it by somebody who cared for your soul's salvation. Was it your Ma?'
" 'My Pa,' I said.
" 'Then did he ever teach you Deuteronomy twenty-three, verse ten?'
" 'Is that about uncleanness in the night?'
" 'That's it. You been well taught. Did he ever teach you Genesis thirteen, verse thirteen? That's one of the unluckiest verses in the Bible.'
" 'I don't remember.'
" 'Not that the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly?'
" 'I don't remember.'
" 'I bet you remember Leviticus twenty, thirteen.'
" 'I don't remember.'
" 'You do so remember! If a man also lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.'
"I said nothing, but I am sure my face gave me away. It was one of Willard's most terrible threats that if I were caught I should certainly be hanged. But I was mute before the Fat Woman.
" 'You know what that means, dontcha?'
"Oh, I knew what it meant. In my time on the show I had already learned a great deal about mankind lying with women, because Charlie talked about little else when he sat on the train with Willard. It was a very dark matter, for all I knew about it was the parody of this act which I was compelled to go through with Willard, and I assumed that the two must be equally horrible. But I clung to the child's refuge: silence.
" 'You know where that leads, dontcha? Right slap to Hell, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.'
"From me, nothing but silence.
" 'You're in a place where no kid ought to be. I don't mean the show, naturally. The show contains a lotta what's good. But that Abdullah! That's an idol, and that Willard and Charlie encourage the good folks that come in here for an honest show to bow down and worship almost before it, and they won't be held guiltless. No sirree! Nor you, neither, because you're the works of an idol and just as guilty as they are.'
" 'I just do what I'm told,' I managed to say.
" 'That's what many a sinner's said, right up to the time when it's no good saying it any longer. And those tricks. You're learning tricks, aren't you? What do you want tricks for?'
"I had a happy inspiration. I looked her straight in the eye. 'I count them but dung, that I may win Christ,' I said.
" 'That's the right way to look at it, boy. Put first things first. If that's the way you feel, maybe there's some hope for you still.' She sat a little forward in her chair, which was all she could manage, and put her podgy hands on her great knees, which were shown off to advantage by her pink rompers. 'I'll tell you what I always say,' she continued; 'there's two things you got to be ready to do in this world, and that's fight for what's right, and read your Bible every day. I'm a fighter. Always have been. A mighty warrior for the Lord. And you've seen me on the train, reading my old Bible that's so worn and thumbed that people say to me, "that's a disgrace; why don't you get yourself a decent copy of the Lord's Word?" And I reply, "I hang on to this old Bible because it's seen me through thick and thin, and what looks like dirt to you is the wear of love and reverence on every page." A clean sword and a dirty Bible! That's my war-cry in my daily crusade for the Lord: a clean sword and a dirty Bible! Now, you remember that. And you ponder on Leviticus twenty, thirteen, and cut out all that fornication and Sodom abomination before it's too late, if it isn't too late already.'
"I got away, and hid myself in Abdullah and thought a lot about what Happy Hannah had said. My thoughts were like those of many a convicted sinner. I was pleased with my cleverness in thinking up that text that had averted her attack. I sniggered that I had even been able to use a forbidden word like 'dung' in a sanctified sense. I was frightened by Leviticus twenty, thirteen, and—you see how much a child of the superstitious carnival I had already become—by the double thirteen verse from Genesis. Double thirteen! What could be more ominous! I knew I ought to repent, and I did, but I knew I could not leave off my sin, or Willard might kill me, and not only was I afraid to die, I quite simply didn't want to die. And such is the resilience of childhood that when the first trick advanced as far as Abdullah, I was pleased to defeat a particularly obnoxious Rube.
"After that I had many a conversation with Hannah in which we matched texts. Was I a hypocrite? I don't think so. I had simply acquired the habit of adapting myself to my audience. Anyhow, my readiness with the Bible seemed to convince her that I was not utterly damned. I had no such assurance, but I was getting used to living with damnation.
"I had a Bible. I stole it from a hotel. It was one of those sturdy copies the Gideons spread about so freely in hotel rooms. I snitched one at the first opportunity, and as Professor Spencer was teaching me to read very capably I spent many an hour with it. I felt no compunction about the theft, because theft was part of the life I lived. Willard was as good a pickpocket as I have ever known, and one of the marks of his professionalism was that he was not greedy or slapdash in his methods.
"He had an agreement with Charlie. At a point about the middle of the bally, during one of the night shows, Charlie would interrupt his description of the World of Wonders to say, very seriously, _Ladies and gentlemen, I think l ought to warn you, on behalf of the management, that pickpockets may be at work at this fair. I give you my assurance that nothing is farther from the spirit of amusement and education represented by our exhibition than the utterly indefensible practice of theft. But as you know, we cannot control everything that may happen in the vicinity of our show. And therefore I urge you, as your friend and as a member of the Wanless organization which holds nothing dearer than its reputation for unimpeachable honesty, that you should keep a sharp eye, and perhaps also a hand, on your wallets. And if there should be any loss—which the Wanless organization most sincerely hopes may not be the case—we beg you to report it to us, andto your excellent local police force, so that the thief may be apprehended if that should prove to be possible._ The gaff here was that when he spoke of thieves, Rubes who had a full wallet were likely to put a hand on it. Willard spotted them from the back of the crowd, and during the rest of Charlie's pious spiel he would gently lift one from a promising Rube. It had to be very quick work. Then, when he had taken the money, he substituted a wad of newspaper of the appropriate size, and either during the bally, or when the Rube came into the tent, he would put the wallet back in place. Rubes generally carried their wallets on the left hip, and as their pants were often a tight fit, a light hand was necessary.
"Willard was never caught. If the Rube came to complain that he had been robbed, Charlie put on a show for him, shook his head sadly, and said that this was one of the problems that confronted honest show folks. Willard never pinched more than one bankroll in a town, and never robbed in the same town two years running. Willard liked best to steal from the local cop, but as cops rarely had much money this was a larcenous foppery which he did not often allow himself.
"Gus never caught on. Gus was a strangely innocent woman in everything that pertained to Charlie and his doings. Of course Charlie got a fifty per cent cut of what Willard stole.
"Willard knew I stole the Bible, and he was angry. Theft, he gave me to understand, was serious business and not for kids. Get caught stealing some piece of junk, and how were you to get back to serious theft again? Never steal anything trivial. This was perhaps the only moral precept Willard ever impressed on me.
"Anyhow, I had a hotel Bible, and I read it constantly, in many another hotel. The carnival business is a fair-weather business, and in winter it could not be pursued and the carnival had to be put to bed.
"That did not mean a cessation of work. The brother who never travelled with the carnival, but who did all our booking, was Jerry Wanless, and he handled the other side of the business, which was vaudeville booking. As soon as the carnival season was over, Willard and Abdullah were booked into countless miserable little vaudeville theatres throughout the American and Canadian Middle West.
"It was an era of vaudeville and there were thousands of acts to fill thousands of spots all over the continent. There was a hierarchy of performance, beginning with the Big Time, which was composed of top acts that played in the big theatres of big cities for a week or more at a stretch. After it came the Small Big Time, which was pretty good and played lesser houses in big and middle-sized cities. Then came the Small Time, which played smaller towns in the sticks and was confined to split weeks. Below that was a rabble of acts that nobody wanted very much, which played for rotten pay in the worst vaude houses. Nobody ever gave it a name, and those who belonged to it always referred to it as Small Time, but it was really Very Small Time. That was where Jerry Wanless booked incompetent dog acts, jugglers who were on the booze, dirty comedians, Single Women without charm or wit, singers with nodes on their vocal chords, conjurors who dropped things, quick-change artistes who looked the same in all their impersonations, and a crowd of carnies like Willard and some of the other Talent from the World of Wonders.
"It was the hardest kind of entertainment work, and we did it in theatres that seemed never to have been swept, for audiences that seemed never to have been washed. We did continuous vaudeville: six acts followed by a 'feature' movie, round and round and round from one o'clock in the afternoon until midnight. The audience was invited to come when it liked and stay as long as it liked. In fact, it changed completely almost every show, because there was always an act called a 'chaser' which was reckoned to be so awful that even the people who came to our theatres couldn't stand it. Quite often during my years in vaudeville Zovene the Midget Juggler filled this ignominious spot. Poor old Zovene wasn't really as awful as he appeared, but he was pretty bad and he was wholly out of fashion. He dressed in a spangled costume that was rather like the outfit worn by Mr Punch—a doublet and tight knee-breeches, with striped stockings and little pumps. He had only one outfit, and he had shed spangles for so long that he looked very shabby. There was still a wistful prettiness about him as he skipped nimbly to 'Funiculi funicula' and tossed coloured Indian clubs in the air. But it was a prettiness that would appeal only to an antiquarian of the theatre, and we had no such rarities in our audiences.
"There is rank and precedence everywhere, and here, on the bottom shelf of vaudeville, Willard was a headliner. He had the place of honour, just before Zovene came on to empty the house. The 'professor' at the piano would thump out an Oriental theme from _Chu Chin Chow_ and the curtain would rise to reveal Abdullah, bathed in whatever passed for an eerie light in that particular house. Behind Abdullah might be a backdrop representing anything—a room in a palace, a rural glade, or one of those improbable Italian gardens, filled with bulbous balustrades and giant urns, which nobody has ever seen except a scene-painter.
"Willard would enter in evening dress, wearing a cape, which he doffed with an air, and held extended briefly at his right side; when he folded it, a shabby little table with his cards and necessaries had appeared behind it. Applause? Never! The audiences we played to rarely applauded and they expected a magician to be magical. If they were not asleep, or drunk, or pawing the woman in the next seat, they received all Willard's tricks with cards and coins stolidly.
"They liked it better when he did a little hypnotism, asking for members of the audience to come to the stage to form a 'committee' which would watch his act at close quarters, and assure the rest of the audience that there was no deception. He did the conventional hypnotist's tricks, making men saw wood that wasn't there, fish in streams that had no existence, and sweat in sunlight that had never penetrated into that dismal theatre. Finally he would cause two of the men to start a fight, which he would stop. The fight always brought applause. Then, when the committee had gone back to their seats, came the topper of his act, Abdullah the Wonder Automaton of the Age. It was the same old business; three members of the audience chose cards, and three times Abdullah chose a higher one. Applause. Real applause, this time. Then the front-drop—the one with advertisements painted on it—came down and poor old Zovene went into his hapless act.
"The only other Talent from the World of Wonders that was booked into the places where we played were Charlie, who did a monologue, and Andro.
"Andro was becoming the worst possible kind of nuisance. He was showing real talent, and to hear Charlie and Willard talk about it you would think he was a traitor to everything that was good and pure in the world of show business. But I was interested in Andro, and watched him rehearse. He never talked to me, and probably regarded me as a company spy. There were such things, and they reported back to Jerry in Chicago what Talent was complaining about money, or slacking on the job, or black-mouthing the management. But Andro was the nearest thing to real Talent I had met with up to that time, and he fascinated me. He was a serious, unrelenting worker and perfectionist.
"Imitators of his act have been common in night-clubs for many years, and I don't suppose he was the first to do it, but certainly he was the best of the lot. He played in the dark, except for a single spotlight, and he waltzed with himself. That is to say, on his female side he wore a red evening gown, cut very low in the back, and showing lots of his female leg in a red stocking; on his masculine side he wore only half a pair of black satin knee-breeches, a black stocking and a pump with a phoney diamond buckle. When he wrapped himself in his own arms, we saw a beautiful woman in the arms of a half-naked muscular man, whirling rhythmically around the stage in a rapturous embrace. He worked up all sorts of illusions, kissing his own hand, pressing closer what looked like two bodies, and finally whirling offstage for what must undoubtedly be further romance. He was a novelty, and even our audiences were roused from their lethargy by him. He improved every week.
"Willard and Charlie couldn't stand it. Charlie wrote to Jerry and I heard what he said, for Charlie liked his own prose and read it aloud to Willard. Charlie deplored 'the unseemly eroticism' of the act, he said. It would get Jerry a bad name to book such an act into houses that catered to a family trade. Jerry wrote back telling Charlie to shut up and leave the booking business to him. He suggested that Charlie clean up his own act, of which he had received bad reports. Obviously some stool-pigeon had it in for Charlie.
"As a monologist, Charlie possessed little but the self-assurance necessary for the job. Such fellows used to appear before the audience, flashily dressed, with the air of a relative who has made good in the big city and come home to amuse the folks. 'Friends, just before the show I went into one of your local restaurants and looked down the menoo for something tasty. I said to the waiter, Say, have you got frogs' legs? No sir, says he, I walk like this because I got corns. You know, one of the troubles today is Prohibition. Any disagreement? No. I didn't think there would be. But the other day I stepped into a blind pig not a thousand miles from this spot, and I said to the waiter, Bring me a couple of glasses of beer. So he did. So I drank one. Then I got up to leave, and the waiter comes running. Hey, you didn't pay for those two glasses of beer, he said. That's all right, I said, I drank one and left the other to settle. Then I went to keep a date with a pretty schoolteacher. She's the kind of schoolteacher I like best—lots of class and no principle. I get on better with schoolteachers now than I did when I was a kid. My education was completed early. One day in school I put up my hand and the teacher said, What is it, and I said, Please may I leave the room? No, she says, you stay here and fill the inkwells. So I did, and she screamed, and the principal expelled me....' And so on, for ten or twelve minutes, and then he would say, 'But seriously folks—' and go into a rhapsody about his Irish mother, and a recitation of that tribute to motherhood. Then he would run off the stage quickly, laughing as if he had been enjoying himself too much to hold it in. Sometimes he got a spatter of applause. Now and then there would be dead silence, and some sighing. Vaudeville audiences in those places could give the loudest sighs I have ever heard. Prisoners in the Bastille couldn't have touched them.
"In the monologues of people like Charlie there were endless jokes about minorities—Jews, Dutch, Squareheads, Negroes, Irish, everybody. I never heard of anybody resenting it. The sharpest jokes about Jews and Negroes were the ones we heard from Jewish and Negro comedians. Nowadays I understand that a comedian doesn't dare to make a joke about anyone but himself, and if he does too much of that he is likely to be tagged as a masochist, playing for sympathy because he is so mean to himself. The old vaude jokes were sometimes cruel, but they were fairly funny and they were lightning-rods for the ill-will of audiences like ours, who had a plentiful supply of ill-will. We played to people who had not been generously used by life, and I suppose we reflected their state of mind.
"I spent my winters from 1918 until 1928 in vaudeville houses of the humblest kind. As I sat inside Abdullah and peeped out through the spy-hole in his bosom I learned to love these dreadful theatres. However wretched they were, they appealed to me powerfully. It was not until much later in my life that I learned what it was that spoke to me of something fine, even when the language was garbled. It was Liesl, indeed, who showed me that all theatres of that sort—the proscenium theatres that are out of favour with modern architects—took their essential form and style from the ball-rooms of great palaces, which were the theatres of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. All the gold, and stucco ornamentation, the cartouches of pan-pipes and tambourines, the masks of Comedy, and the upholstery in garnet plush were democratic stabs at palatial luxury; these were the palaces of the people. Unless they were Catholics, and spent some time each week in a gaudy church, this was the finest place our audiences could enter. It was heart-breaking that they should be so tasteless and run-down and smelly, but their ancestry was a noble one. And of course the great movie and vaudeville houses where Charlie and Willard would never play, or enter except as paying customers, were real palaces of the people, built in what their owners and customers believed to be a regal mode.
"There was nothing regal about the accommodation for the Talent. The dressing-rooms were few and seemed never to be cleaned; when there were windows they were filthy, and high in the walls, and were protected on the outside by wire mesh which caught paper, leaves, and filth; as I remember them now most of the rooms had a dado of deep brown to a height of about four feet from the floor, above which the walls were painted horrible green. There were wash-basins in these rooms, but there was never more than one donniker, usually in a pitiful state of exhaustion, sighing and wheezing the hours away at the end of a corridor. But there was always a star painted on the door of one of these dismal holes, and it was in the star dressing-room that Willard, and Charlie (as a relative of the management) changed their clothes, and where I was tolerated as a dresser and helper.
"It was as a dresser that I travelled, officially. Dresser, and assistant to Willard. It was never admitted that I was the effective part of Abdullah, and we carried a screen which was set up to conceal the back of the automaton, so that the stagehands never saw me climbing into my place. They knew, of course, but they were not supposed to know, and such is the curious loyalty and discipline of even these rotten little theatres that I never heard of anyone telling the secret. Everybody backstage closed ranks against the audience, just as in the carnival we were all in league against the Rubes.
"I spent all day in the theatre, because the only alternative was the room I shared with Willard in some cheap hotel, and he didn't want me there. My way of life could hardly have been more in contradiction of what is thought to be a proper environment for a growing boy. I saw little sunlight, and I breathed an exhausted and dusty air. My food was bad, because Willard kept me on a very small allowance of money, and as there was nobody to make me eat what I should, I ate what I liked, which was cheap pastry, candy, and soft drinks. I was not a fanatical washer, but as I shared a bed with Willard he sometimes insisted that I take a bath. By every rule of hygiene I should have died of several terrible diseases complicated with malnutrition, but I didn't. In a special and thoroughly unsuitable way, I was happy. I even contrived to learn one or two things which were invaluable to me.
"Except for his dexterity as a conjuror, pickpocket, and card-sharp, Willard did nothing with his hands. As I told you, Abdullah had some mechanism in his base, and when Willard moved the handle that set it in motion, it was supposed to enable Abdullah to do clever things with cards. The mechanism was a fake only in so far as it related to Abdullah's skill; otherwise it was genuine enough. But it was always breaking down, and this was embarrassing when we were on show. Early in my time with Willard I explored those wheels and springs and cogs, and very soon discovered how to set them right when they stuck. The secret was very simple; Willard never oiled the wheels, and if somebody else oiled them for him, he allowed the oil to grow thick and dirty so that it clogged the works. Quite soon I took over the care of Abdullah's fake mechanism, and though I still did not really understand it I was capable enough at maintaining it.
"I suppose I was thirteen or so when a property man at one of the theatres where we played saw me cleaning and oiling these gaffs, and we struck up a conversation. He was interested in Abdullah, and I was nervous about letting him probe the works, fearing that he would find out that they were fakes, but I need not have worried. He knew that at a glance. 'Funny that anybody'd take the trouble to put this class of work into an old piece of junk like this,' he said. 'D'you know who made it?' I didn't. 'Well, I'll bet anything you like a clock-maker made it,' said he. 'Lookit; I'll show you.' And he proceeded to give me a lecture that lasted for almost an hour about the essentials of clockwork, which is a wonderful complexity of mechanism that is, at base, quite simple and founded on a handful of principles. I won't pretend that everybody would have understood him as well as I did, but I am not telling you this story to gain a reputation for modesty. I took to it with all the enthusiasm of a curious boy who had nothing else in the world to occupy his mind. I pestered the property man whenever he had a moment of spare time, demanding more explanation and demonstration. He had been trained as a clock- and watch-maker as a boy—I think he was a Dutchman but I never bothered to learn his name except that it was Henry—and he was a kindly fellow. The third day, which was our last stay in that town, he opened his own watch, took out the movement, and showed me how it could be taken to pieces. I felt as if Heaven had opened. My hands were by this time entirely at my command because of my hundreds of hours of practice in the deeps of Abdullah, and I begged him to let me reassemble the watch. He wouldn't do that; he prized his watch, and though I showed some promise he was not ready to take risks. But that night, after the last show, he called me to him and handed me a watch—a big, old-fashioned turnip with a German-silver case—and told me to try my luck with that. 'When you come back this way,' he said, 'let's see how you've got on.'
"I got on wonderfully. During the next year I took that watch apart and reassembled it time after time. I tinkered and cleaned and oiled and fiddled with the old-fashioned regulator until it was as accurate a timepiece as its age and essential character allowed. I longed for greater knowledge, and one day when opportunity served I stole a wrist-watch—they were novelties still at that time—and discovered to my astonishment that it was pretty much the same inside as my old turnip, but not such good workmanship. This was the foundation of my mechanical knowledge. I soon had the gaffed works of Abdullah going like a charm, and even introduced a few improvements and replaced some worn parts. I persuaded Willard that the wheels and springs of Abdullah should be on view at all times, and not merely during his preliminary lecture; I put my own control handle inside where I could reach it and cause Abdullah's wheels to change speed when he was about to do his clever trick. Willard didn't like it. He disapproved of changes, and he didn't want me to get ideas above my station.
"However, that is precisely what I did. I began to understand that Willard had serious limitations, and that perhaps his power over me was not so absolute as he pretended. But I was still much too young and frightened to challenge him in anything serious. Like all great revolutions, mine was a long time preparing. Furthermore, the sexual subjection in which I lived still had more power over me than the occasional moments of happiness I enjoyed, and which even the most miserable slaves enjoy.
"From the example of Willard and Charlie I learned a cynicism about mankind which it would be foolish to call deep, but certainly it was complete. Humanity was divided into two groups, the Wise Guys and the Rubes, the Suckers, the Patsys. The only Wise Guys within my range were Willard and Charlie. It was the law of nature that they should prey on the others.
"Their contempt for everyone else was complete, but whereas Charlie was good-natured and pleased with himself when he got the better of a Sucker, Willard merely hated the Sucker. The sourness of his nature did not display itself in harsh judgements or wisecracks; he possessed no wit at all—not even the borrowed wit with which Charlie decked his act and his private conversation. Willard simply thought that everybody but himself was a fool, and his contempt was absolute.
"Charlie wasted a good deal of time, in Willard's opinion, chasing girls. Charlie fancied himself as a seducer, and waitresses and chambermaids and girls around the theatre were all weighed by him in terms of whether or not he would be able to 'slip it to them'. That was his term. I don't think he was especially successful, but he worked at his hobby and I suppose he had a measure of success. 'Did you notice that kid in the Dancing Hallorans?' he would ask Willard. 'She's got round heels. I can always tell. What do you wanta bet I slip it to her before we get outa here?' Willard never wanted to bet about that; he liked to bet on certainties.
"The Rubes who wanted to play cards with Abdullah in the vaude houses were of a different stamp from those we met in the carnival world. The towns were bigger than the villages which supported country fairs, and in every one there were a few gamblers. They would turn up at an evening show, and it was not hard to spot them; a gambler looks like anyone else when he is not gambling, but when he takes the cards or the dice in his hands he reveals himself. They were piqued by their defeat at the hands of an automaton and wanted revenge. It was Charlie who sought them out and suggested a friendly game after the theatre was closed.
"The friendly game always began with another attempt to defeat Abdullah, and sometimes money was laid on it. After a sufficient number of defeats—three was usually enough—Willard would say, 'You're not going to get anywhere with the Old Boy here, and I don't want to take your money. But how about a hand or two of Red Dog?' He always started with Red Dog, but in the end they played whatever game the Suckers chose. There they would sit, in a corner of the stage, with a table if they could find one, or else playing on top of a box, and it would be three or four in the morning before they rose, and Willard and Charlie were always the winners.
"Willard was an accomplished card-sharp. He never bothered with any of the mechanical aids some crooks use—hold-outs, sleeve pockets, and such things—because he thought them crude and likely to be discovered, as they often are. He always played with his coat off and his sleeves rolled up, which had an honest look; he depended on his ability as a shuffler and dealer, and of course he used marked cards. Sometimes the Rubes brought their own cards, which he would not allow them to use with Abdullah—he explained that Abdullah used a sensitized deck—but which he was perfectly willing to play with in the game. If they were marked he knew it at once, and after a game or two he would say, in a quiet but firm voice, that he thought a change of deck would be pleasant, and produced a new deck fresh from a sealed package, calling attention to the fact that the cards were not marked and could not be.
"They did not remain unmarked for long, however. Willard had a left thumbnail which soon put the little bumps in the tops and sides of the cards that told him all he needed to know. He let the Rubes win for an hour or so, and then their luck changed, and sometimes big money came into Willard's hands at the end of the game. He was the best marker of cards I have ever known except myself. Some gamblers hack their cards so that you could almost see the marks across a room, but Willard had sensitive hands and he nicked them so cleverly that a man with a magnifying glass might have missed it. Nor was he a flashy dealer; he left that to the Rubes who wanted to show off. He dealt rather slowly, but I never saw him deal from the bottom of the deck, although he certainly did so in every game. He and Charlie would sometimes move out of a town with five or six hundred dollars to split between them, Charlie being paid off as the steerer who brought in the Rubes, and Willard as the expert with the cards. Charlie sometimes appeared to be one of the losers in these games, though never so much so that it looked suspicious. The Rubes had a real Rube conviction that show folks and travelling men ought to be better at cards than the opponents they usually met.
"I watched all of this from the interior of Abdullah, because after the initial trials against the automaton it was impossible for me to escape. I was warned against falling asleep, lest I might make some sound that would give away the secret. So, heavy-eyed, but not unaware, I saw everything that was done, saw the greed on the faces of the Rubes, and saw the quiet way in which Willard dealt with the occasional quarrels. And of course I saw how much money changed hands.
"What happened to all that money? Charlie, I knew, was being paid seventy-five dollars a week for his rotten monologues, which would have been good pay if he had not had to spend so much of it on travel; part of Jerry's arrangement was that all Talent paid for its own tickets from town to town, as well as costs of room and board. Very often we had long hops from one stand to another, and travel was a big expense. And of course Charlie spent a good deal on bootleg liquor and the girls he chased.
"Willard was paid a hundred a week, as a headliner, and because the transport of Abdullah, and myself at half-fare, cost him a good deal. But Willard never showed any sign of having much money, and this puzzled me for two or three years. But then I became aware that Willard had an expensive habit. It was morphine. This of course was before heroin became the vogue.
"Sharing a bedroom with him I could not miss the fact that he gave himself injections of something at least once a day, and he told me that it was a medicine that kept him in trim for his demanding work. Taking dope was a much more secret thing in those days than it has become since, and I had never heard of it, so I paid no attention. But I did notice that Willard was much pleasanter after he had taken his medicine than he was at other times, and it was then that he would sometimes give me a brief lesson in sleight-of-hand.
"Occasionally he would give himself a little extra treat, and then, before he fell asleep, he might talk for a while about what the future held. 'It'll be up to Albee,' he might say; 'he'll have to make his decision. I'll tell him—E.F., you want me at the Palace? Okay, you know my figure. And don't tell me I have to arrange it with Martin Beck. You talk to Beck. You paid that French dame, that Bernhardt, $7,000 a week at the Palace. I'm not going to up the ante on you. That figure'll do for me. So any time you want me, you just have to let me know, and I promise you I'll drop everything else to oblige you—' Even in my ignorant ears this sounded unlikely. Once I asked him if he would take Abdullah to the Palace, and he gave one of his rare, snorting laughs. 'When I go to the Palace, I'll go alone,' he said; 'the day I get the high sign from Albee, you're on your own.' But he didn't hear from Albee, or any manager but Jerry Wanless.
"He began to hear fairly often from Jerry, whose stool-pigeons were reporting that Willard was sometimes vague on the stage, mistimed a trick now and then, and even dropped things, which is something a headline magician, even on Jerry's circuit, was not supposed to do. I thought these misadventures came from not eating enough, and used to urge Willard to get himself a square meal, but he had never cared much for food, and as the years wore on he ate less and less. I thought this was why he so rarely needed to go to the donniker, and why he was so angry with me when I was compelled to do so, and it was not until years later that I learned that constipation is a symptom of Willard's indulgence. He was usually better in health and sharper on the job when we were with the carnival, because he was in the open air, even though he worked in a tent, but during the winters he was sometimes so dozy—that was Charlie's word for it—that Charlie was worried.
"Charlie had reason to be worried. He was Willard's source of supply. Charlie was a wonder at discovering a doctor in every town who could be squared, because he was always on the lookout for abortionists. Not that he needed abortionists very often, but he belonged to a class of man who regards such knowledge as one of the hallmarks of the Wise Guy. An abortionist might also provide what Willard wanted, for a price, and if he didn't, he knew someone else who would do so. Thus, without, I think, being malignant or even a very serious drug pusher, Charlie was Willard's supplier, and a large part of Willard's winnings in the night-long card games stuck to Charlie for expenses and recompense for the risks he took. When Willard began to be dozy, Charlie saw danger to his own income, and he tried to keep Willard's habit within reason. But Willard was resistant to Charlie's arguments, and became in time even thinner than he had been when first I saw him, and he was apt to be twitchy if he had not had enough. A twitchy conjuror is useless; his hands tremble, his speech is hard to understand, and he makes disturbing faces. The only way to keep Willard functioning efficiently, both as an entertainer and as a card-sharp, was to see that he had the dose he needed, and if his need increased, that was his business, according to Charlie.
"When Willard felt himself denied, it was I who had to put up with his ill temper and spite. There was only one advantage in the gradual decline of Willard so far as I was concerned, and that was that as morphine became his chief craze, his sexual approaches to me became fewer. Sharing a bed with him when he was restless was nervous work, and I usually preferred to sneak one of his blankets and lie on the floor. If the itching took him, his wriggling and scratching were dreadful, and went on until he was exhausted and fell into a stupor rather than a sleep. Sometimes he had periods of extreme sweating, which were very hard on a man who was already almost a skeleton. More than once I have had to rouse Charlie in the middle of the night, and tell him that Willard had to have some of his medicine, or he might go mad. It was always called 'his medicine' by me and by Charlie when he talked to me. For of course I was included in the allembracing cynicism of these two. They assumed that I was stupid, and this was only one of their serious mistakes.
"I too became cynical, with the whole-hearted, all-inclusive vigour of the very young. Why not? Was I not shut off from mankind and any chance to gain an understanding of the diversity of human temperament by the life I led and the people who dominated me? Yet I saw people, and I saw them very greatly to their disadvantage. As I sat inside Abdullah, I saw them without being seen, while they gaped at the curiosities of the World of Wonders. What I saw in most of those faces was contempt and patronage for the show folks, who got an easy living by exploiting their oddities, or doing tricks with snakes or fire. They wanted us; they needed us to mix a little leaven in their doughy lives, but they did not like us. We were outsiders, holiday people, untrustworthy, and the money they spent to see us was foolish money. But how much they revealed as they stared! When the Pharisees saw us they marvelled, but it seemed to me that their inward parts were full of ravening and wickedness. Day after day, year after year, they believed that somehow they could get the better of Abdullah, and their greed and stupidity and cunning drove them on to try their hands at it. Day after day, year after year, I defeated them, and scorned them because they could not grasp the very simple fact that if Abdullah could be defeated, Abdullah would cease to be. Those who tried their luck I despised rather less than those who hung back and let somebody else try his. The change in their loyalty was always the same; they were on the side of the daring one until he was defeated, and then they laughed at him, and sided with the idol.
"In those years I formed a very low idea of crowds. And of all those who pressed near me the ones I hated most, and wished the worst luck, were the young, the lovers, who were free and happy. Sex to me meant terrible bouts with Willard and the grubby seductions of Charlie. I did not believe in the happiness or the innocence or the goodwill of the couples who came to the fair for a good time. My reasoning was simple, and of a very common kind: if I were a hoor and a crook, were not whoredom and dishonesty the foundations on which humanity rested? If I were at the outs with God—and God never ceased to trouble my mind—was anyone else near Him? If they were, they must be cheating. I very soon came to forget that it was I who was the prisoner: I was the one who saw clearly and saw the truth because I saw without being seen. Abdullah was the face I presented to the world, and I knew that Abdullah, the undefeated, was worth no more than I.
"Suppose that Abdullah were to make a mistake? Suppose when Uncle Zeke or Swifty Dealer turned up a ten of clubs, Abdullah were to reply with a three of hearts? What would Willard say? How would he get out of his predicament? He was not a man of quick wit and as the years wore on I understood that his place in the world was even shakier than my own. I could destroy Willard.
"Of course I didn't do it. The consequences would have been terrible. I was greatly afraid of Willard, afraid of Charlie, of Gus, and most afraid of the world into which such an insubordinate act would certainly throw me. But do we not all play, in our minds, with terrible thoughts which we would never dare to put into action? Could we live without some hidden instincts of revolt, of some protest against our fate in life, however enviable it may seem to those who do not have to bear it? I have been, for twenty years past, admittedly the greatest magician in the world. I have held my place with such style and flourish that I have raised what is really a very petty achievement to the dignity of art. Do you imagine that in my best moments when I have had very distinguished audiences—crowned heads, as all magicians love to boast—that I have not thought fleetingly of producing a full chamber-pot out of a hat, and throwing it into the royal box, just to show that it can be done? But we all hug our chains. There are no free men.
"As I sat in the belly of Abdullah, I thought often of Jonah in the belly of the great fish. Jonah, it seemed to me, had an easy time of it. 'Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice'; that was what Jonah said. But I cried out of the belly of hell, and nothing whatever happened. Indeed, the belly of hell grew worse and worse, for the stink of the dwarf gave place to the stink of Cass Fletcher, who was not a clean boy and ate a bad diet; we can all stand a good deal of our own stink, and there are some earthy old sayings which prove it, but after a few years Abdullah was a very nasty coffin, even for me. Jonah was a mere three days in his fish. After three years I was just beginning my sentence. What did Jonah say? 'When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord.' So did I. Such was the power of my early training that I never became cynical about the Lord—only about his creation. Sometimes I thought the Lord hated me; sometimes I thought he was punishing me for—for just about everything that had ever happened to me, beginning with my birth; sometimes I thought he had forgotten me, but that thought was blasphemy, and I chased it away as fast as I could. I was an odd boy, I can tell you.
"Odd, but—what is truly remarkable—not consciously unhappy. Unhappiness of the kind that is recognized and examined and brooded over is a spiritual luxury. Certainly it was a luxury beyond my means at that time. The desolation of the spirit in which I lived was in the grain of my life, and to admit its full horror would have destroyed me. Deep in my heart I knew that. Somehow I had to keep from falling into despair. So I seized upon, and treasured, every lightening of the atmosphere, everything that looked like kindness, every joke that interrupted the bleak damnation of the World of Wonders. I was a cynic about the world, but I did not dare to become a cynic about myself. Who does? Certainly not Willard or Charlie. If one becomes a cynic about oneself the next step is the physical suicide which is the other half of that form of self-destruction.
"This was the life I lived, from that ill-fated thirtieth of August in 1918 until ten years had passed. Many things happened, but the pattern was invariable; the World of Wonders from the middle of May until the middle of October, and the rest of the time in the smallest of small-time vaudeville. I ranged over all of central Canada, and just about every town of medium size in the middle of the U.S. west of Chicago. When I say that many things happened I am not talking about events of world consequence; in the carnival and the vaude houses we were isolated from the world, and this was part of the paradox of our existence. We seemed to bring a breath of something larger into country fairs and third-rate theatres, but we were little touched by the changing world. The automobile was linking the villages with towns, and the towns with cities, but we hardly noticed. In the vaude houses we knew about the League of Nations and the changing procession of American Presidents because these things provided the jokes of people like Charlie. The splendour of motherhood was losing some of its gloss, and something called the Jazz Age was upon us. So Charlie dropped mother, and substituted a recitation that was a parody of 'Gunga Din', which older vaudevillians were still reciting.
Though I've belted you and flayed you
By the Henry Ford that made you
You're a better car than Packard
Hunka Tin!
—he concluded, and quite often the audience laughed. As we traipsed around the middle of the Great Republic we hardly noticed that the movies were getting longer and longer, and that Hollywood was planning something that would put us all out of work. Who were the Rubes? I think we were the Rubes.
"My education continued its haphazard progress. I would do almost anything to fight the boredom of my life and the sense of doom that I had to suppress or be destroyed by it. I hung around the property-shops of theatres that possessed such things, and learned a great deal from the old men there who had been compelled, in their day, to produce anything from a workable elephant to a fake diamond ring, against time. I sometimes haunted watch-repair shops, and pestered busy men to know what they were doing; I even picked up their trick of looking through a jeweller's _loupe_ with one eye while surveying the world fishily through the other. I learned some not very choice Italian from Zovene, some Munich German from Sonny, and rather a lot of pretty good French from a little man who came on the show when Molza's mouth finally became so painful that he took the extraordinary step of visiting a doctor, and came back to the World of Wonders with a very grey face, and packed up his traps. This Frenchman, whose name was Duparc, was an India Rubber Wonder, a contortionist and an uncommonly cheerful fellow. He became my teacher, so far as I had one; Professor Spencer was becoming queerer and queerer and gave up selling the visiting cards which he wrote with his feet; instead he tried to persuade the public to buy a book he had written and printed at his own expense, about monetary reform. He was, I believe, one of the last of the Single Tax men. In spite of the appearance of Duparc, and the disappearance of Andro, who had left the very small time and was now a top-liner on the Orpheum Circuit, we had all been together in the World of Wonders for too many years. But Gus was too tender-hearted to throw anybody off the show, and Jerry got us cheap, and such is the professional vanity of performers of all kinds that we didn't notice that the little towns were growing tired of us.
"Duparc taught me French, and I knew I was learning, but I had another teacher from whom I learned without knowing. Almost everything of great value I have learned in life has been taught me by women. The woman who taught me the realities of hypnotism was Mrs Constantinescu, a strange old girl who travelled around with our show for a few years, running a mitt-camp.
"It was not part of the World of Wonders; it was a concession which Jerry rented, as he rented the right to run a hot-dog stand, a Wheel of Fortune, the cat-rack and, of course, the merry-go-round. The mitt-camp was a fortune-telling tent, with a gaudy banner outside with the signs of the zodiac on it, and an announcement that inside Zingara would reveal the Secrets of Fate. Mrs Constantinescu was Zingara, and for all I know she may have been a real gypsy, as she claimed; certainly she was a good fortune-teller. Not that she would ever admit such a thing. Fortune-telling is against the law in just about every part of Canada and the U.S. When her customers came in she would sell them a copy of _Zadkiel's Dream Book_ for ten cents, and offer a personal interpretation for a further fifteen cents, and a full-scale investigation of your destiny for fifty cents, _Zadkiel_ included. Thus it was possible for her to say that she was simply selling a book, if any nosey cop interfered with her. They very rarely did so, because it was the job of our advance man to square the cops with money, bootleg hooch, or whatever their fancy might be. Her customers never complained. Zingara knew how to deliver the goods.
"She liked me, and that was a novelty. She was sorry for me, and except for Professor Spencer, nobody had been sorry for me in a very long time. But what made her really unusual in the World of Wonders was that she was interested in people; the Talent regarded the public as Rubes, to be exploited, and whether it was Willard's kind of exploitation or Happy Hannah's, it came to the same thing. But Zingara never tired of humanity or found it a nuisance. She enjoyed telling fortunes and truly thought that she did good by it.
" 'Most people have nobody to talk to,' she said to me many times. 'Wives and husbands don't talk; friends don't really talk because people don't want to get mixed up in anything that might cost them something in the end. Nobody truly wants to hear anybody else's worries and troubles. But everybody has worries and troubles and they don't cover a big range of subjects. People are much more like one another than they are unlike. Did you ever think of that?
" 'Well? So I am somebody to talk to. I'll talk, and I'll be gone in the morning, and everything I know goes away with me. I don't look like the neighbours. I don't look like the doctor or the preacher, always judging, always tired. I've got mystery, and that's what everybody wants. Maybe they're church-goers, the people in these little dumps, but what does the church give them? Just sermons from some poor sap who doesn't understand life any more than they do; they know him, and his salary, and his wife, and they know he's no great magician. They want to talk, and they want the old mystery, and that's what I give 'em. A good bargain.'
"Clearly they did want it, for though there was never any crowd around Zingara's tent she took in twenty to twenty-five dollars a day, and after fifty a week had been paid to Jerry, that left her with more money than most of the Talent in the World of Wonders.
" 'You have to learn to look at people. Hardly anybody does that. They stare into people's faces, but you have to look at the whole person. Fat or thin? Where is the fat? What about the feet? Do the feet show vanity or trouble? Does she stick out her breast or curl her shoulders to hide it? Does he stick out his chest or his stomach? Does he lean forward and peer, or backward and sneer? Hardly anybody stands straight. Knees bent, or shoved back? The bum tight or drooping? In men, look at the lump in the crotch; big or small? How tall is he when he sits down? Don't miss hands. The face comes last. Happy? Probably not. What kind of unhappy? Worry? Failure? Where are the wrinkles? You have to look good, and quick. And you have to let them see that you're looking. Most people aren't used to being looked at except by the doctor, and he's looking for something special.
" 'You take their hand. Hot or cold? Dry or wet? What rings? Has a woman taken off her wedding-ring before she came in? That's always a sign she's worried about a man, probably not the husband. A man—big Masonic or K. of C. ring? Take your time. Tell them pretty soon that they're worried. Of course they're worried; why else would they come to a mitt-camp at a fair? Feel around, and give them chances to talk; you know as soon as you touch the sore spot. Tell them you have to feel around because you're trying to find the way into their lives, but they're not ordinary and so it takes time.
" 'Who are they? A young woman—it's a boy, or two boys, or no boy at all. If she's a good girl—you know by the hair-do—probably her mother is eating her. Or her father is jealous about boys. An older woman—why isn't my husband as romantic as I thought he was; is he tired of me; why haven't I got a husband; is my best friend sincere; when are we going to have more money; my son or daughter is disobedient, or saucy, or wild; have I had all the best that life is going to give me?
" 'Suppose it's a man; lots of men come, usually after dark. He wants money; he's worried about his girl; his mother is eating him; he's two-timing and can't get rid of his mistress; his sex is wearing out and he thinks it's the end; his business is in trouble; is this all life holds for me?
" 'It's an old person. They're worried about death; will it come soon and will it hurt? Have I got cancer? Did I invest my money right? Are my grandchildren going to make out? Have I had all life holds for me?
" 'Sure you get smart-alecs. Sometimes they tell you most. Flatter them. Laugh at the world with them. Say they can't be deceived. Warn them not to let their cleverness make them hard, because they're really very fine people and will make a big mark in the world. Look to see what they are showing to the world, then tell them they are the exact opposite. That works for almost everybody.
" 'Flatter everybody. Is it crooked? Most people are starved to death for a kind word. Warn everybody against something, usually something they will be let in for because they are too honest, or too good-natured. Warn against enemies; everybody's got an enemy. Say things will take a turn for the better soon, because they will; talking to you will make things better because it takes a load off their minds.
" 'But not everybody can do it. You have to know how to get people to talk. That's the big secret. That Willard! He calls himself a hypnotist, so what does he do? He stands up a half-dozen Rubes and says, I'm going to hypnotize you! Then he bugs his eyes and waves his hands and after a while they're hypnotized. But the real hypnotism is something very different. It's part kindness and part making them feel they're perfectly safe with you. That you're their friend even though they never saw you until a minute ago. You got to lull them, like you'd lull a child. That's the real art. You mustn't overdo it. No saying, you're safe with me, or anything like that. You have to give it out, and they have to take it in, without a lot of direct talk. Of course you look at them hard, but not domineering-hard like vaude hypnotists. You got to look at them as if they was all you had on your mind at the moment, and you couldn't think of anything you'd rather do. You got to look at them as if it was a long time since you met an equal. But don't push; don't shove it. You got to be wide open to them, or else they won't be wide open to you.'
"Of course I wanted to have my fortune told by Mrs Constantinescu, but it was against the etiquette of carnival. We never dreamed of asking Sonnenfels to lift anything heavy, or treated the Fat Woman as if she was inconvenient company. But of course Zingara knew what I thought, and she teased me about it. 'You want to know your future, but you don't want to ask me? That's right; don't put your faith in sideshow gypsies. Crooks, the whole lot of them. What do they know about the modern world? They belong to the past. They got no place in North America.' But one day, when I suppose I was looking blue, she did tell me a few things.
" 'You got an easy fortune to tell, boy. You'll go far. How do I know? Because life is goosing you so hard you'll never stop climbing. You'll rise very high and you'll make people treat you like a king. How do I know? Because you're dirt right now, and it grinds your gizzard to be dirt. What makes me think you've got the stuff to make the world admire you? Because you couldn't have survived the life you're leading if you hadn't got lots of sand. You don't eat right and you got filthy hair and I'll bet you've been lousy more than once. If it hasn't killed you, nothing will.'
"Mrs Constantinescu was the only person who had ever talked to me about what Willard was still doing to me. The Fat Woman muttered now and then about 'abominations' and Sonny was sometimes very nasty to me, but nobody came right out and said anything unmistakable. But old Zingara said 'You're his bumboy, eh? Well, it's not good, but it could be worse. I've known men who liked goats best. It gives you a notion what women got to put up with. The stories I hear! If he calls you "hoor" just think what that means. I've known plenty of hoors who made it a ladder to something very good. But if you don't like it, do something about it. Get your hair cut. Keep yourself clean. Stop wiping your nose on your sleeve. If you got no money, here's five dollars. Now you start out with a good Turkish bath. Build yourself up. If you gotta be a hoor, be a clean hoor. If you don't want to be a hoor, don't look like a lousy bum.'
"At that time, which was the early twenties, a favourite film star was Jackie Coogan; he played charming waifs, often with Charlie Chaplin. But I was a real waif, and sometimes when a Coogan picture was showing in the vaude houses where Willard and I appeared, I was humiliated by how far I fell short of the Coogan ideal.
"I tried a more thorough style of washing, and I got a haircut, a terrible one from a barber who wanted to make everybody look like Rudolph Valentino. I bought some pomade for my hair from him, and the whole World of Wonders laughed at me. But Mrs Constantinescu encouraged me. Later, when I was with Willard on the vaude circuit, we had three days in a town where there was a Turkish bath, and I spent a dollar and a half on one. The masseur worked on me for half an hour, and then said: 'You know what? I never seen a dirtier guy. Jeeze, there's still grey stuff comin' outa ya! Look at these towels! What you do for a living, kid? Sweep chimneys?' I developed quite a taste for Turkish baths, and stole money regularly from Willard to pay for them. I'm sure he knew I stole, but he preferred that to having me ask him for money. He was growing very careless about money, anyhow.
"I was emboldened to steal enough, over a period of a few weeks, to buy a suit. It was a dreadful suit, God knows, but I had been wearing Willard's cast-offs, cheaply cut down, and it was a royal robe to me. Willard raised his eyebrows when he saw it, but he said nothing. He was losing his grip on the world, and losing his grip on me, and like many people who are losing their grip, he mistook it for the coming of a new wisdom in himself. But when summer came, and Mrs Constantinescu saw me, she was pleased.
" 'You're doing fine,' she said. 'You got to get yourself ready to make a break. This carnival is running downhill. Gus is getting tired. Charlie is getting too big a boy for her to handle. He's drunk on the show now, and she don't even bawl him out. Bad luck is coming. How do I know? What else could be coming to a stale tent-show like this? Bad luck. You watch out. Their bad luck will be your good luck, if you're smart. Keep your eyes open.'
"I mustn't give the impression that Mrs Constantinescu was always at my elbow uttering gypsy warnings. I didn't understand much of what she said, and I mistrusted some of what I understood. That business about looking at people as if you were interested in nothing else, for instance; when I tried it, I suppose I looked foolish, and Happy Hannah made a loud fuss in the Pullman one day, declaring that I was trying to learn the Evil Eye, and she knew who was teaching me. Mrs Constantinescu was very high on her list of abominations. She urged me to search Deuteronomy to learn what happened to people who had the Evil Eye; plagues wonderful, and plagues of my seed, even great plagues of long continuance, and sore sickness; that was what was in store for me unless I stopped bugging my eyes at folks who had put on the whole armour of God, that they might stand against the wiles of the Devil. Like every young person, I was abashed at the apparent power of older people to see through me. I suppose I was pitifully transparent, and Happy Hannah's inveterate malignancy gave her extraordinary penetration. Indeed, I was inclined to think at that time that Mrs Constantinescu was a nut, but she was an interesting nut, and willing to talk. It wasn't until years later that I realized how much good sense was in what she said.
"Of course she was right about bad luck coming to the show. It happened suddenly.
"Em Dark was a nice woman, and she tried to fight down her growing disappointment with Joe by doing everything she could for him, which included making herself attractive. She was small, and rather plump, and dressed well, making all her clothes. Joe was very proud of her appearance, and I think poor Joe was beginning to be aware that the best thing about him was his wife. So he was completely thrown off base one day, as the Pullman was carrying us from one village to another, to see a horrible caricature of Em walk past him and down the aisle toward Heinie and Sonny, who were laughing their heads off in the door of the smoking-room. It was Rango, dressed in Em's latest and best, with a _cloche_ hat on his head, and one of Em's purses in his hairy hand. There is no doubt that Heinie and Sonny meant to get Joe's goat, and to spatter the image of Em, because that was the kind of men they were, and that was what they thought funny. Joe looked like a man who has seen a ghost. He was working, as he so often was, on one of the throwing knives he sold as part of his act, and I think before he knew what he had done, he threw it, and got Rango right between the shoulders. Rango turned, with a look of dreadful pathos on his face, and fell in the aisle. The whole thing took less than thirty seconds.
"You can imagine the uproar. Heinie rushed to Rango, coddled him in his arms, wept, swore, screamed, and became hysterical. But Rango was dead. Sonny stormed and accused Joe in German; he was the kind of man who jabs with his forefinger when he is angry. Gus and Professor Spencer tried to restore order, but nobody wanted order; the excitement was the most refreshing thing that had happened to the World of Wonders in years. Everybody had a good deal to say on one side or the other, but mostly against Joe. The love between Joe and Em concentrated the malignancy of those unhappy people, but this was the first time they had been given a chance to attack it directly. Happy Hannah was seized with a determination to stop the train. What good that would have done nobody knew, but she felt that a big calamity demanded the uttermost in drama.
"I did not at first understand the full enormity of what Joe had done. To kill Rango was certainly a serious injury to Heinie, whose livelihood he was. To buy and train another orang-outang would be months of work. It was Zovene, busily crossing himself, who put the worst of the horror in words: it is a well-known fact in the carnival and circus world that if anybody kills a monkey, three people will die. Heinie wanted Joe to be first on the list, but Gus held him back; luckily for him, because in a fight Joe could have murdered anybody on the show, not excluding Sonny.
"What do you do with a dead monkey? First of all Rango had to be disentangled from Em Dark's best outfit, which Em quite understandably didn't want and threw off the back of the car with Rango's blood on it. (What do you suppose the finder made of that?) Then the body had to be stowed somewhere, and Heinie would have it nowhere except in his berth, which Rango customarily shared with him. You can't make a dead monkey look dignified, and Rango was not an impressive corpse. His eyes wouldn't shut; one stared and the other eyelid drooped, and soon both eyes took on a bluish film; his yellow teeth showed. The Darks felt miserable, because of what Joe had done, and because their love had been held up to mockery in the naked passion and hatred of the hour after Rango's death. Heinie had not scrupled to say that Rango was a lot more use on the show and a lot better person, even though not human, than a little floozie who just stood up and let a dummkopf of a husband throw knives at her; if Joe was so good at hitting Rango, how come he never hit that bitch of a wife of his? This led to more trouble, and it was Em who had to prevent Joe from battering Heinie. I must say that Heinie took the fullest advantage of the old notion that a man is not responsible for what he does in his grief. He got very drunk that night, and wailed and grieved all up and down the car.
"Indeed, the World of Wonders got drunk. Private bottles appeared from everywhere, and were private no more. Professor Spencer accepted a large drink, and it went a very long way with him, for he was not used to it. Indeed, even Happy Hannah took a drink, and quite shortly everyone wished she hadn't. It had been her custom for some years to drink a lot of cider vinegar; she said it kept her blood from thickening, to the great danger of her life, and she got away with so much vinegar that she always smelled of it. Her unhappy inspiration was to spike her evening slug of vinegar with a considerable shot of bootleg hooch which Gus pressed on her, and it was hardly down before it was up again. A nauseated Fat Woman is a calamity on a monumental scale, and poor Gus had a bad night of it with Happy Hannah. Only Willard kept out of the general saturnalia; he crept into his berth, injected himself with his favourite solace, and was out of that world of sorrow, over which the corpse of Rango spread an increasing influence.
"From time to time the Talent would gather around Heinie's berth, and toast the remains. Professor Spencer made a speech, sitting on the edge of the upper berth opposite the one which had become Rango's bier; in this comfortable position he was able to hold his glass with a device he possessed, attached to one foot. He was drunkenly eloquent, and talked touchingly if incoherently about the link between Man and the Lesser Creation, which was nowhere so strong or so truly understood as in circuses and carnivals; had we not, through the years, come to esteem Rango as one of ourselves, a delightful Child of Nature who spoke not with the tongue of man, but through a thousand merry tricks, which now, alas, had been brought to an untimely end? ('Rango'd of been twenty next April,' sobbed Heinie; 'twenty-two, more likely, but I always dated him from when I bought him.') Professor Spencer did not want to say that Rango had been struck down by a murderer's hand. No, that wasn't the way he looked at it. He would speak of it more as a Cream Passional, brought on by the infinite complexity of human relationships. The Professor rambled on until he lost his audience, who took affairs into their own hands, and drank toasts to Rango as long as the booze held out, with simple cries of 'Good luck and good-bye, Rango old pal.'
"At last Rango's wake was over. The Darks had lain unseen in their berth ever since it had been possible to go to bed, but it was half past three when Heinie crawled in beside Rango and wept himself to sleep with the dead monkey in his arms. By now Rango was firmly advanced in _rigor mortis_ and his tail stuck from between the curtains of the berth like a poker. But Heinie's devotion was much admired; Gus said it warmed the cuckolds of her heart.
"Next morning, at the fairground, our first business was to bury Rango. 'Let him lay where his life was spent for others,' was what Heinie said. Professor Spencer, badly hung over, asked God to receive Rango. The Darks came, and brought a few flowers, which Heinie ostentatiously spurned from the grave. All Rango's possessions—his cups and plates, the umbrella with which he coquetted on the tightrope—were buried with him.
"Was Zingara tactless, or mischievous, when she said loudly, as we broke up to go about our work: 'Well, how long do we wait to see who's first?' The calliope began the toot-up—it was 'The Poor Butterfly Waltz'—and we got ready for the first trick which, without Rango, put extra work on all of us.
"As the days passed we realized just how much extra work the absence of Rango did mean. There was nothing Heinie could do without him, and five minutes of performance time had somehow to be made up at each trick. Sonnenfels volunteered to add a minute to his act, and so did Duparc; Happy Hannah was always glad to extend the time during which she harassed her audience about religion, and it was simple for Willard to extend the doings of Abdullah for another minute; so it seemed easy. But an additional ten minutes every day was not so easy for Sonnenfels as for the others; as Strong Men go, he was growing old. Less than a fortnight after the death of Rango, at the three o'clock trick, he hoisted his heaviest bar-bell to his knee, then level with his shoulders, then dropped it with a crash and fell forward. There was a doctor on the fairground, and it was less than three minutes before he was with Sonny, but even at that he came too late. Sonny was dead.
"It is much easier to dispose of a Strong Man than it is of a monkey. Sonny had no family, but he had quite a lot of money in a belt he wore at all times, and we were able to bury him in style. He had been a stupid, evil-speaking, bad-tempered man—quite the opposite of the genial giant described by Charlie in his introduction—and no one but Heinie regretted him deeply. But he left another hole in the show, and it was only because Duparc could do a few tricks on the tightrope that the gap could be filled without making the World of Wonders seem skimpy. Heinie mourned Sonny as uproariously as he had mourned Rango, but this time his grief was not so well received by the Talent.
"Sonny's death was proof positive that the curse of a dead monkey was a fact. Zingara was not slow to point out how short a time had been needed to set the bad luck to work. The Talent turned against Heinie with just as much extravagance of sentimentality as they had shown in pitying him. They were inclined to blame him for Sonny's death. He was still hanging around the show, and he was still drawing a salary, because he had a contract which said nothing about the loss of his monkey by murder. He was on the booze. Gus and Charlie resented him because he cost money without bringing anything in. His presence was a perpetual reminder of bad luck, and soon he was suffering the cold shoulder that had been my lot when Happy Hannah first decided I was a Jonah. Heinie was a proven Jonah, and to look at him was to be reminded that somebody was next on the list of the three who must atone for Rango. Heinie had ceased to be Talent; his reason for being was buried with Rango. He was an outsider, and in the carnival world an outsider is very far outside indeed.
"We were near the end of the autumn season, and no more deaths occurred before we broke up for winter, some of us to our vaudeville work, and others, like Happy Hannah, to a quiet time in dime museums and Grand Congresses of Strange People in the holiday grounds of the warm south. Zingara was not the only one to remark that poor Gus was looking very yellow. Happy Hannah thought Gus must be moving into The Change, but Zingara said The Change didn't make you belch a lot, and go off your victuals, like Gus, and whispered a word of fear. When we assembled again the following May, Gus was not with us.
"There the deaths seemed to stop, for those who were less perceptive than Zingara, and myself. But something happened during the winter season that was surely a death of a special kind.
"It was in Dodge City. Willard was fairly reliable during our act, but sometimes during the day he was perceptibly under the influence of morphine, and at other and much worse times he was feeling the want of it. I did not know how prolonged addiction works on the imagination; I was simply glad that his sexual demands on me had dropped almost to nothing. Therefore I did not know what to make of it when he seized me one afternoon in the wings of the vaude house, and accused me violently of sexual unfaithfulness to him. I was 'at it', he said, with a member of a Japanese acrobatic troupe on the bill, and he wasn't going to stand for that. I was a hoor right enough, but by God I wasn't going to be anybody else's hoor. He cuffed me, and ordered me to get into Abdullah, and stay there, so he would know where I was; and I wasn't to get out of the automaton any more, ever. He hadn't kept me all these years to be cheated by any such scum as I was.
"All of this was said in a low voice, because although he was irrational, he wasn't so far gone that he wanted the stage manager to drop on him, and perhaps fine him, for making a row in the wings during the show. I was seventeen or eighteen, I suppose—I had long ago forgotten my birthday, which had never been a festival in our house anyhow—and although I was still small I had some spirit, and it all rushed to my head when he struck me over the ear. Abdullah was standing in the wings in the place where the image was stored between shows, and I was beside it. I picked up a stage-brace, and lopped off Abdullah's head with one strong swipe; then I took after Willard. The stage manager was soon upon us, and we scampered off to the dressing-room, where Willard and I had such a quarrel as neither of us had ever known before. It was short, but decisive, and when it ended Willard was whining to me to show him the kind of consideration he deserved, as one who had been more than a father to me, and taught me an art that would be a fortune to me; I had declared that I was going to leave him then and there.
"I did nothing of the kind. These sudden transformations of character belong to fiction, not to fact, and certainly not to the world of dependence and subservience that I had known for so many years. I was quite simply scared to leave Willard. What could I do without him? I found out very quickly.
"The stage manager had told the manager about the brief outburst in the wings, and the manager came to set us right as to what he would allow in his house. But with the manager came Charlie, who carried great weight because he was the brother of Jerry, who booked the Talent for that house. It was agreed that—just this once—the matter would be overlooked.
"Willard could not be overlooked a couple of hours later, when he was so far down in whatever world his drug took him to that it was impossible for him to go on the stage. There was all the excitement and loud talk you might expect, and the upshot was that I was ordered to take Willard's place at the next show, and do his act as well as I could, without Abdullah. And that is what I did. I was in a rattle of nerves, because I had never appeared on a stage before, except when I was safely concealed in the body of the automaton. I didn't know how to address an audience, how to time my tricks, or how to arrange an act. The hypnotism was beyond me, and Abdullah was a wreck. I suppose I must have been dreadful, but somehow I filled in the time, and when I had done all I could the spatter of applause was only a little less encouraging than it had been for Willard for several months past.
"When Willard recovered enough to know what had happened he was furious, but his fury simply persuaded him to seek relief from the pain of a rotten world with the needle. This was what precipitated the crisis that delivered me from Abdullah forever; Jerry was on the long-distance telephone, wrangling with Charlie, and the upshot of Charlie's best persuasion was that Willard could finish his season if Charlie would keep him in condition to appear on the stage, and that if Willard didn't appear, I was to do so, and I was to be made to perform a proper, well-planned act. I see now that this was very decent of Jerry, who had all the problems of an agent to trouble him. He must have been fond of Charlie. But it seemed a dreadful sentence at the time. Beginners in the entertainment world are all supposed to be panting for a chance to rush before an audience and prove themselves; I was frightened of Willard, frightened of Jerry, and most frightened of all of failure.
"As is usually the case with understudies I neither failed nor succeeded greatly. In a short time I had worked out a version of The Miser's Dream that was certainly better than Willard's, and on Charlie's strong advice I did it as a mute act. I had very little voice, and what I had was a thin, ugly croak; I had no vocabulary of the kind that a magician needs; my conversation was conducted in illiterate carnival slang, varied now and then with some Biblical turn of speech that had clung to me. So I simply appeared on the stage and did my stuff without sound, while the pianist played whatever he thought appropriate. My greatest difficulty was in learning how to perform slowly enough. In my development of a technique while I was concealed in Abdullah I had become so fast and so slick that my work was incomprehensible; the quickness of the hand should certainly deceive the eye, but not so fast the eye doesn't realize that it is being deceived.
"Abdullah simply dropped out of use. We lugged him around for a few weeks, but his transport was costly, and as I would not get inside him now he was useless baggage. So one morning, on a railway siding, Charlie and I burned him, while Willard moaned and grieved that we were destroying the greatest thing in his life, and an irreplaceable source of income.
"That was the end of Abdullah, and the happiest moment of my life up to then was when I saw the flames engulf that ugliest of images.
"In their strange way Charlie and Willard were friends, and Charlie thought the moment had come for him to reform Willard. He set about it with his usual enthusiasm, conditioned by a very simple mind. Willard must break the morphine habit. He was to cut the stuff out, at a stroke, and with no thought of looking back. Of course this meant that in a very few days Willard was a raving lunatic, rolling on the floor, the sweating, shrieking victim of crawling demons. Charlie was frightened out of his wits, brought in one of his ambiguous doctors, bought Willard a syringe to replace the one he had dramatically thrown away, and loaded him up to keep him quiet. There was no more talk of abstinence. Charlie kept assuring me that 'somehow we've got to see him through it.' But there was no way through it. Willard was a gone goose.
"I speak of this lightly now, but at the time I was just as frightened and puzzled as Charlie. I was alarmed to find how dependent on Willard I had become. I had lived with him in dreadful servitude for almost half my life, and now I didn't know what I should do without him. Furthermore, he had been jolted by his attempt at reform into one of those dramatic changes of character which are so astonishing to people who find themselves responsible for a drug addict. He who had been domineering and ugly became embarrassingly fawning and frightened. His great dread was that Charlie and I would put him in a hospital. All he wanted was to be cared for, and supplied with enough morphine to keep him comfortable. A simple demand, wasn't it? But somehow we managed it, and one consequence was that I became involved in the nuisance of finding suppliers of the drug, making approaches to them, and paying the substantial prices they demanded.
"By the time it was the season for rejoining the World of Wonders, I had taken over completely the job of filling Willard's place in the vaude programmes, and Willard was an invalid who had to be dragged from date to date. It was a greatly changed carnival that season. Gus was gone, and the new manager was a tough little carnie who knew how to manage the show, but had none of Gus's pride in it; he took his tone from Charlie, as the real representative of the owners. Charlie had finally wakened up to the fact that the day of such shows was passing, and that fair dates were harder to get. That was when he decided to add a blow-off to the World of Wonders, and as well to set up in a little business of his own, unknown to Jerry.
"A blow-off is an annex to a carnival show. Sometimes it is well-advertised, if it is a speciality that does not quite fit into the show proper, like Australian stock-whip performers, or a man and a girl who do tricks with lariats, in cowboy costume. But it can also be a part of the show that is very quietly introduced, and that is not necessarily seen during every performance. Charlie's blow-off was of this latter kind, and the only attractions in it were Zitta and Willard.
"Zitta was now too fat and too ugly to hold a place in the main tent, but in the blow-off, which occupied a smaller tent entered through the World of Wonders, she could still do a dirty act with some snakes, a logical development from the stunts she had formerly done during the Last Trick. But it was Willard's role that startled me. Charlie had decided to exhibit him as a Wild Man. Willard sat in ragged shirt and pants, his feet bare, in the dust. After he had gone for a few weeks without shaving he looked convincingly wild. His skin had by this time taken on the bluish tinge of the morphine addict, and his eyes, with their habitually contracted pupils, looked terrifying enough to the rural spectators. Charlie's explanation was that Zitta and Willard came from the Deep South, and were sad evidence of what happened when fine old families, reduced from plantation splendour, became inbred. The suggestion was that Willard was the outcome of a variety of incestuous matings. I doubt if many of the people who came to see Willard believed it, but the appetite for marvels and monsters is insatiable, and he was a good eyeful for the curious. The Shame of the Old South, as the blow-off was called, did pretty good business.
"As for Charlie's enterprise, he had become a morphine-pusher. 'Cut out the middle man,' he said to me by way of explanation; he now bought the stuff from even bigger pushers, and sold it at a substantial price to those who wanted it. The medical profession, he said to me, was intolerably greedy, and he didn't see why he should always be on the paying end of a profitable trade.
"I am sorry to say that I shared Charlie's opinion at that time, and for a while I was his junior in the business. I offer no excuses. I had become fond of the things money can buy, and keeping Willard stoked with what he wanted was very costly. So I became a supplier, rather than a purchaser, and did pretty well by it. But I never put all my eggs in one basket. I was still primarily a conjuror, and the World of Wonders, even in its reduced circumstances, paid me sixty-five dollars a week to do my version of The Miser's Dream for five minutes an hour, twelve hours a day.
"I am going to ask you to excuse me from a detailed account of what followed during the next couple of years. It was inevitable, I suppose, that a simpleton like Charlie, with a greenhorn like myself as his lieutenant, should be caught in one of the periodic crackdowns on drug trafficking. The F.B.I. in the States and the R.C.M.P. in Canada began to pick up some of the small fry like ourselves, as leads to the bigger fish who were more important in the trade. I do not pretend that I behaved particularly well, and the upshot was that Charlie was nabbed and I was not, and that I made my escape by ship with a passport that cost me a great deal of money; I have it still, and it is a beautiful job, but it is not as official as it looks. My problem when the trouble came was what I was going to do with Willard. My solution still surprises me. When every consideration of good sense and self-preservation said that I should ditch him, and let the police find him, I decided instead to take him with me. Explain it as you will, by saying that my conscience overcame my prudence, or that there had grown up a real affection between us during all those years when I was his slave and the secret source of his professional reputation, but I decided that I must take Willard where I was going. Willard was always reminding me that he had never abandoned me when it would have been convenient to do so. So, one pleasant Friday morning in 1927, Jules LeGrand and his invalid uncle, Aristide LeGrand, sailed from Montreal on a C.P.R. ship bound for Cherbourg, and somewhat later Charlie Wanless stood trial in his native state of New York and received a substantial sentence.
"The passports and the steamship passages just about cleaned me out, but I think Willard saved me from being caught. He made a very convincing invalid in his wheelchair, and although I know the ship was watched we had no trouble. But when we arrived in France, what was to be done? Thanks to Duparc I could speak French pretty well, though I could neither read nor write the language. I was a capable conjuror, but the French theatrical world did not have the kind of third-class variety theatre into which I could make my way. However, there were small circuses, and eventually I got a place in _Le grand Cirque forain de St Vite_ after some rough adventures during which I was compelled to exhibit Willard as a geek.
"You know what a geek is, Ramsay, but perhaps these gentlemen are not so well versed in the humbler forms of carnival performance. You let it be known that you have, concealed perhaps in a stable at the back of a village inn, a man who eats strange food. When the crowd comes—and not too much of a crowd, because the police don't like such shows—you lecture for a while on the yearning of the geek for raw flesh and particularly for blood; you explain that it is something the medical profession knows about, but keeps quiet so that the relatives of people thus afflicted will not be put to shame. Then, if you can get a chicken, you give the geek a chicken, and he growls and gives a display of animal passion, and finally bites the chicken in the neck, and seems to drink some of its blood. If you are reduced to the point where you can't afford even a superannuated chicken, you find a grass snake or two, or perhaps a rabbit. I was the lecturer, and Willard was the geek. It raised enough money to keep us from starvation, and to keep Willard supplied with just enough of his fancy to prevent a total breakdown.
"You discovered us under the banner of St Vite, Ramsay, when we were travelling in the Tyrol. I suppose it looked very humble to you, but it was a step on an upward path for us. I appeared, you remember, as Faustus LeGrand, the conjuror; I thought Faustus sounded well for a magician; poor old Willard was _Le Solitaire des forêts_ , which was certainly an improvement on geeking and sounds much more elegant than Wild Man."
"I remember it very well," said I, "and I remember that you were not at all anxious to recognize me."
"I wasn't anxious to see anybody from Canada. I hadn't seen you for—surely it must have been fourteen years. How was I to know that you had enlisted in the R.C.M.P.—possibly become the pride of the Narcotics Squad? But let that go. I was in a confused state of mind at the time. Do you know what I mean? Something is taking all your attention—something inward—and the outer world is not very real, and you deal with it hastily and badly. I was still battling in my conscience about Willard. By this time I thoroughly hated him. He was an expensive nuisance, yet I couldn't make up my mind to get rid of him. Besides, he might just have enough energy, prompted by anger, to betray me to the police, even at the cost of his own destruction. Still, his life lay in my power. A smallish extra injection some day would have disposed of him.
"But I couldn't do it. Or rather—I've said so much, and put myself so thoroughly to the bad, that I might just as well go all the way—I didn't really want to do it because I got a special sort of satisfaction from his presence. This confused old wreck had been my master, my oppressor, the man who let me live hungry and dirty, who used my body shamefully and never let me lift my head above the shame. Now he was utterly mine; he was my thing. That was how it was now between me and Willard. I had the upper hand, and I admit frankly that it gave me a delicious satisfaction to have the upper hand. Willard had just enough sense of reality left to understand without any question of a mistake who was master. Not that I stressed it coarsely. No, no. If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink; for thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head, and the Lord shall reward thee. Indeed so. The Lord rewarded me richly, and it seemed to me the Lord's face was dark and gleeful as he did so.
"This was Revenge, which we have all been told is a very grave sin, and in our time psychologists and sociologists have made it seem rather lower class, and unevolved, as well. Even the State, which retains so many primitive privileges that are denied to its citizens, shrinks from Revenge. If it catches a criminal the State is eager to make it clear that whatever it chooses to do is for the possible reform of that criminal, or at the very most for his restraint. Who would be so crass as to suggest that the criminal might be used as he has used his fellow man? We don't admit the power of the Golden Rule when it seems to be working in reverse gear. Do unto others as society says they should do unto you, even when they have done something quite different. We're all sweetness and light now, in our professions of belief. We have shut our minds against the Christ who cursed the figtree. Revenge—horrors! So there it was: I was revenging myself on Willard, and I'm not going to pretend to you that when he crunched into a grass snake to give a thrill to a stable filled with dull peasants, who despised him for doing it, I didn't have a warm sense of satisfaction. The Lord was rewarding me. Under the banner of St Vite, the man who had once been Mephistopheles in my life was now just a tremulous, disgusting Wild Man, and if anybody was playing Mephistopheles, the role was mine. Blessed be the name of the Lord, who forgettest not his servant.
"Don't ask me if I would do it now. I don't suppose for a moment that I would. But I did it then. Now I am famous and rich and have delightful friends like Liesl and Ramsay; charming people like yourselves come from the B.B.C. to ask me to pretend to be Robert-Houdin. But in those days I was Paul Dempster, who had been made to forget it and take a name from the side of a barn, and be the pathic of a perverted drug-taker. Do you think I have forgotten that even now? I have a lifelong reminder. I am a sufferer from a tiresome little complaint called _proctalgia fugax._ Do you know it? It is a cramping pain in the anus that wakes you out of a sound sleep and gives you five minutes or so of great unease. For years I thought that Willard, by his nasty use of me, had somehow injured me irreparably. It took a little courage to go to a doctor and find out that it was quite harmless, though I suppose it has some psychogenic origin. It is useless to ask Magnus Eisengrim if he would exert himself to torment a worm like Willard the Wizard; he has the magnanimity that comes so easily to the rich and powerful. But if you had put the question to Faustus LeGrand in 1929 his answer would have been the one I have just given you.
"Yes, gentlemen, it was Revenge, and it was sweet. If I am to be damned for a sin, I expect that will be the one. Shall I tell you the cream of it—or the worst of it, according to your point of view? There came a time when Willard could stand no more. Jaunting around southern France, and the Tyrol and parts of Switzerland, even when he had absorbed the minimum dose I allowed him, was a weariness that he could no longer endure. He wanted to die, and begged me for death. 'Just gimme a little too much, kid,' was what he said. He was never eloquent but he managed to put a really heart-breaking yearning into those words. What did I reply? 'I couldn't do it, Willard. Really I couldn't. I'd have your life on my conscience. You know we're forbidden by every moral law to take life. If I do what you ask, not only am I a murderer, but you are a suicide. Can you face the world to come with that against you?' Then he would curse and call me every foul name he could think of. And next day it would be the same. I didn't kill him. Instead I withheld death from him, and it was balm to my spirit to be able to do it.
"Of course it came at last. From various evidence I judge that he was between forty and forty-five, but he looked far worse than men I have seen who were ninety. You know how such people die. He had been blue before, but for a few hours before the end he was a leaden colour, and as his mouth was open it was possible to see that it was almost black inside. His teeth were in very bad condition from geeking, and he looked like one of those terrible drawings by Daumier of a pauper corpse. The pupils of his eyes were barely perceptible. His breath was very faint, but what there was of it stank horribly. Till quite near the end he was begging for a shot of his fancy. The only other person with us was a member of the St Vite troupe, a bearded lady—you remember her, don't you, Ramsay?—but as Willard spoke no French she didn't know what he was saying, or if she did she gave no sign. Then a surprising thing happened; a short time before he died his pupils dilated extraordinarily, and that, with his wide-stretched mouth and his colour, gave him the look of a man dying of terror. Indeed, perhaps it was so. Was he aware of the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, where he would join the unbelieving and the abominable, the whore-mongers, sorcerers, and idolaters? I had seen Abdullah go into the fire. Was it so also with Willard?
"But he was dead, and I was free. Had I not been free for years? Free since I struck the head off Abdullah? No; freedom does not come suddenly. One has to grow into it. But now that Willard was dead, I felt truly free, and I hoped that I might throw off some of the unpleasant characteristics I had taken upon myself but not, I hoped, forever taken within myself.
"I finished my season with _Le grand Cirque_ because I did not want to attract attention by leaving as soon as Willard was out of the way. Without his luxury to pay for I was able to give up occasional pocket-picking, and save a little money. I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to get to England; I knew there were vaude houses or variety shows of some kind in England, and I thought I could get a job there.
"I remember that I took stock of myself, as cold-bloodedly as I could, but not, I think, unjustly. The Deptford parson's son, the madwoman's son, had become a pretty widely experienced young tough; I could pick pockets, I could push dope. I could fight with a broken bottle and I had picked up the French knack of boxing with my feet. I could now speak and read French, and a little German and Italian, and I could speak a terrible patois of English, in which I sounded like the worst of Willard and Charlie combined.
"What was there on the credit side? I was an expert conjuror, and I was beginning to have some inkling of what Mrs Constantinescu meant when she talked about real hypnotism as opposed to the sideshow kind. I was a deft mechanic, could mend anybody's watch, and humour an old calliope. Although I had been the passive partner in countless acts of sodomy I was still, so far as my own sexual activity was concerned, a virgin, and likely to remain one, because I knew nothing about women other than Fat Ladies, Bearded Ladies, Snake Women, and mitt-camp gypsies; on the whole I liked women, but I had no wish to do to anybody I liked what Willard had done to me—and although of course I knew that the two acts differed I supposed they were pretty much the same to the recipient. I had none of Charlie's unresting desire to 'slip it' to anybody. As you see, I was a muddle of toughness and innocence.
"Of course I didn't think of myself as innocent. What young man ever does? I thought I was the toughest thing going. A verse from the Book of Psalms kept running through my head that seemed to me to describe my state perfectly. 'I am become like a bottle in the smoke.' It's a verse that puzzles people who think it means a glass bottle, but my father would never have allowed me to be so ignorant as that. It means one of those old wineskins the Hebrews used; it means a goatskin that has been scraped out, and tanned, and blown up, and hung over the fire till it was as hard as a warrior's boot. That was how I saw myself.
"I was twenty-two, so far as I could reckon, and a bottle that had been thoroughly smoked. What was life going to pour into the bottle? I didn't know, but I was off to England to find out.
"And you are off to England in the morning gentlemen. Forgive me for holding you so long. I'll say good-night."
And for the last time at Sorgenfrei we went through that curious little pageant of bidding our ceremonious good-night to Magnus Eisengrim, who said his farewells with unusual geniality.
Of course the film-makers didn't go back to their inn. They poured themselves another round of drinks and made themselves comfortable by the fire.
"What I can't decide," said Ingestree, "is how much of what we have heard we are to take as fact. It's the inescapable problem of the autobiography: how much is left out, how much has been genuinely forgotten, how much has been touched up to throw the subject into striking relief? That stuff about Revenge, for instance. Can he have been as horrible as he makes out? He doesn't seem a cruel man now. We must never forget that he's a conjuror by profession; his lifelong pose has been demonic. I think he'd like us to believe he played the demon in reality, as well."
"I take it seriously," said Lind. "You are English, Roly, and the English have a temperamental pull toward cheerfulness; they don't really believe in evil. If the Gulf Stream ever deserted their western coast, they'd think differently. Americans are supposed to be the great optimists, but the English are much more truly optimistic. I think he has done all he says he has done. I think he killed his enemy slowly and cruelly. And I think it happens oftener than is supposed by people who habitually avert their minds from evil."
"Oh, I'm not afraid of evil," said Ingestree. "Glad to look on the dark side any time it seems necessary. But I think people dramatize themselves when they have a chance."
"Of course you are afraid of evil," said Lind. "You'd be a fool if you weren't. People talk about evil frivolously, just as Eisengrim says they do; it's a way of diminishing its power, or seeming to do so. To talk about evil as if it were just waywardness or naughtiness is very stupid and trivial. Evil is the reality of at least half the world."
"You're always philosophizing," said Kinghovn; "and that's the dope of the Northern mind. What's evil? You don't know. But when you want an atmosphere of evil in your films you tell me and I arrange lowering skies and funny light and find a good camera angle; if I took the same thing in blazing sunlight, from another place, it'd look like comedy."
"You're always playing the tough guy, the realist," said Lind, "and that's wonderful. I like you for it, Harry. But you're not an artist except in your limited field, so you leave it to me to decide what's evil and what's comedy on the screen. That's something that goes beyond appearances. Right now we're talking about a man's life."
Liesl had said very little at any of these evening sessions, and I think the film-makers had made the mistake of supposing she had nothing to say. She struck in now.
"Which man's life are you talking about?" she said. "That's another of the problems of biography and autobiography, Ingestree, my dear. It can't be managed except by casting one person as the star of the drama, and arranging everybody else as supporting players. Look at what politicians write about themselves! Churchill and Hitler and all the rest of them seem suddenly to be secondary figures surrounding Sir Numskull Poop, who is always in the limelight. Magnus is no stranger to the egotism of the successful performing artist. Time after time he has reminded us that he is the greatest creature of his kind in the world. He does it without shame. He is not held back by any middle-class notion that it would be nicer if we said it instead of himself. He knows we're not going to say it, because nothing so destroys the sense of equality on which all pleasant social life depends as perpetual reminders that one member of the company out-ranks all the rest. When it is so, it is considered good manners for the preeminent one to keep quiet about it. Because Magnus has been talking for a couple of hours we have assumed that his emphasis is the only emphasis.
"This business of the death of Willard: if we listen to Magnus we take it for granted that Magnus killed Willard after painfully humiliating him for quite a long time. The tragedy of Willard's death is the spirit in which Faustus LeGrand regarded it. But isn't Willard somebody, too? As Willard lay dying, who did he think was the star of the scene? Not Magnus, I'll bet you. And look at it from God's point of view, or if that strains you uncomfortably, suppose that you have to make a movie of the life and death of Willard. You need Magnus, but he is not the star. He is the necessary agent who brings Willard to the end. Everybody's life is his Passion, you know, and you can't have much of a Passion if you haven't got a good strong Judas. Somebody has to play Judas, and it is generally acknowledged to be a fine, meaty role. There's a pride in being cast for it. You recall the Last Supper? Christ said that he would be betrayed by one of those who sat at the table with him. The disciples called out, Lord, is it I? And when Judas asked, Christ said it was he.
"Has it never occurred to you that there might have been just the tiniest feeling in the bosom of one of the lesser apostles—Lebbaeus, for instance, whom tradition represents as a fat man—that Judas was thrusting himself forward again? Christ died on the Cross, and Judas also had his Passion, but can anybody tell me what became of Lebbaeus? Yet he too was a man, and if he had written an autobiography do you suppose that Christ would have had the central position? There seems to have been a Bearded Lady at the deathbed of Willard, and I would like to know her point of view. Being a woman, she probably had too much intelligence to think that she was the central figure, but would she have awarded that role to Willard or to Magnus?"
"Either would do," said Kinghovn; "but you need a point of focus, you know. Otherwise you get this _cinéma vérité_ stuff, which is sometimes interesting but it damn well isn't _vérité_ because it fails utterly to convince. It's like those shots of war you see on TV; you can't believe anything serious is happening. If you want your film to look like truth you need somebody like Jurgen to decide what truth is, and somebody like me to shoot it so it never occurs to you that it could appear any other way. Of course what you get is not truth, but it's probably a lot better in more ways than just the cinematic way. If you want the death of Willard shot from the point of view of the Bearded Lady I can certainly do it. And simply because I can do it to order I don't know how you can pretend it has any special superiority as truth."
"I suppose it's part of that human condition silly-clever people are always grizzling about," said Liesl. "If you want truth, I suppose you must shoot the film from God's point of view and with God's point of focus, whatever it may be. And I'll bet the result won't look much like _cinéma vérité._ But I don't think either you or Jurgen are up to that job, Harry."
"There is no God," said Kinghovn; "and I've never felt the least necessity to invent one."
"Probably that is why you have spent your life as a technician; a very fine one, but a technician," said Lind. "It's only by inventing a few gods that we get that uneasy sense that something is laughing at us which is one of the paths to faith."
"Eisengrim talks a lot about God," said Ingestree, "and God seems still to be a tremendous reality to him. But there's no question of God laughing. The bottle in the smoke—that's what he was. I really must read the Bible some time; there are such marvellous goodies in it, just waiting to be picked up. But even these Bibles Designed to be Read as Literature are so bloody thick! I suppose one could browse, but when I browse I never seem to find anything except tiresome stud-book stuff about Aminadab begetting Jonadab and that kind of thing."
"We've only had part of the story," I said. "Magnus has carefully pointed out to us that he is looking backward on his early life as a man who has changed decisively in the last forty years. What's his point of focus?"
"Nobody changes so decisively that they lose all sense of the reality of their youth," Lind said. "The days of childhood are always the most vivid. He has let us think that his childhood made him a villain. So I think we must assume that he is a villain now. A quiescent villain, but not an extinct one."
"I think that's a lot of romantic crap," said Kinghovn. "I'm sick of all the twaddle about childhood. You should have seen me as a child; a flaxen-haired little darling playing in my mother's garden in Aalborg. Where is he now? Here I sit, a very well-smoked bottle like our friend who has gone to bed. If I met that flaxen-haired child now I would probably give him a good clout over the ear. I've never much liked kids. Which was the greater use in the world? That child, so sweet and pure, or me, as I am now, not sweet and damned well not pure?"
"That's a dangerous question for a man who doesn't believe in God," I said, "because there is no answer to it without God. I could answer it for you, if I thought you were open to anything but drink and photography, Harry, but I'm not going to waste precious argument. What I want is to defend Eisengrim against the charge of being a villain, now or at any other time. You must look at his history in the light of myth—"
"Aha, I thought we should get to myth in time," said Liesl.
"Well, myth explains much that is otherwise inexplicable, just because myth is a boiling down of universal experience. Eisengrim's story of his childhood and youth is as new to me as it is to you, although I knew him when he was very young—"
"Yes, and you were an influence in making him what he is," said Liesl.
"Because you taught him conjuring?" said Lind.
"No, no; Ramsay was personally responsible for the premature birth of little Paul Dempster, and responsible also for Paul's mother's madness, which marked him so terribly," said Liesl.
I gaped at her in astonishment. "This is what comes of confiding in women! Not only can they not keep a secret; they re-tell it in an utterly false way! I must put this matter right. It is true that Paul Dempster was born prematurely because his mother was hit on the head by a snowball. It is true that the snowball was meant to hit me, and it hit her instead because I dodged it. It is true that the blow on the head and the birth of the child seemed to precipitate an instability that sometimes amounted to madness. And it is true that I felt some responsibility in the matter. But that was long ago and far away, in a country which you would scarcely recognize as modern Canada. Liesl, I blush for you!"
"What a lovely old-fashioned thing to say, dear Ramsay. Thank you very much for blushing for me, because I long ago lost the trick of blushing for myself. But I didn't spill the beans about you just to make you jump. I wanted to make the point that you are a figure in this story, too. A very strange figure, just as odd as any in your legends. You precipitated, by a single action—and who could think you guilty just because you jumped out of the way of a snowball (who, that is, but a grim Calvinist like yourself, Ramsay)—everything that we have been hearing from Magnus during these nights past. Are you a precipitating figure in Magnus's story, or he in yours? Who could comb it all out? But get on with your myth, dear man. I want to hear what lovely twist you will give to what Magnus has told us."
"It is not a twist, but an explication. Magnus has made it amply clear that he was brought up in a strict, unrelenting form of puritanism. In consequence he still blames himself whenever he can, and because he knows the dramatic quality of the role, he likes to play the villain. But as for his keeping Willard as a sort of hateful pet, in order to jeer at him, I simply don't believe it was like that at all. What is the mythical element in his story? Simply the very old tale of the man who is in search of his soul, and who must struggle with a monster to secure it. All myth and Christianity—which has never been able to avoid the mythical pull of human experience—are full of similar instances, and people all around us are living out this basic human pattern every day. In the study of hagiography—"
"I knew you'd get to saints before long," said Liesl.
"In the study of hagiography we have legends and all those splendid pictures of saints who killed dragons, and it doesn't take much penetration to know that the dragons represent not simply evil in the world but their personal evil, as well. Of course, being saints, they are said to have killed their dragons, but we know that dragons are not killed; at best they are tamed, and kept on the chain. In the pictures we see St George, and my special favourite, St Catherine, triumphing over the horrid beast, who lies with his tongue out, looking as if he thoroughly regretted his mistaken course in life. But I am strongly of the opinion that St George and St Catherine did not kill those dragons, for then they would have been wholly good, and inhuman, and useless and probably great sources of mischief, as one-sided people always are. No, they kept the dragons as pets. Because they were Christians, and because Christianity enjoins us to seek only the good and to have nothing whatever to do with evil, they doubtless rubbed it into the dragons that it was uncommonly broadminded and decent of them to let the dragons live at all. They may even have given the dragon occasional treats: you may breathe a little fire, they might say, or you may leer desirously at that virgin yonder, but if you make one false move you'll wish you hadn't. You must be a thoroughly submissive dragon, and remember who's boss. That's the Christian way of doing things, and that's what Magnus did with Willard. He didn't kill Willard. The essence of Willard lives with him today. But he got the better of Willard. Didn't you notice how he was laughing as he said good-night?"
"I certainly did," said Ingestree. "I didn't understand it at all. It wasn't just the genial laughter of a man saying farewell to some guests. And certainly he didn't seem to be laughing at us. I thought perhaps it was relief at having got something off his chest."
"The laugh troubled me," said Lind. "I am not good at humour, and I like to be perfectly sure what people are laughing at. Do you know what it was, Ramsay?"
"Yes," I said, "I think I do. That was Merlin's Laugh."
"I don't know about that," said Lind.
"If Liesl will allow it, I must be mythological again. The magician Merlin had a strange laugh, and it was heard when nobody else was laughing. He laughed at the beggar who was bewailing his fate as he lay stretched on a dunghill; he laughed at the foppish young man who was making a great fuss about choosing a pair of shoes. He laughed because he knew that deep in the dunghill was a golden cup that would have made the beggar a rich man; he laughed because he knew that the pernickety young man would be stabbed in a quarrel before the soles of his new shoes were soiled. He laughed because he knew what was coming next."
"And of course our friend knows what is coming next in his own story," said Lind.
"Are we to take it then that there was some striking reversal of fortune awaiting him when he went to England?" said Ingestree.
"I know no more than you," said I. "I do not hear Merlin's Laugh very often, though I think I am more sensitive to its sound than most people. But he spoke of finding out what wine would be poured into the well-smoked bottled that he had become. I don't know what it was."
Ingestree was more excited than the rest. "But are we never to know? How can we find out?"
"Surely that's up to you," said Lind. "Aren't you going to ask Eisengrim to come to London to see the rushes of this film we have been making? Isn't that owing to him? Get him in London and ask him to continue."
Ingestree looked doubtful. "Can it be squeezed out of the budget?" he said. "The corporation doesn't like frivolous expenses. Of course I'd love to ask him, but if we run very much over budget, well, it would be as good as my place is worth, as servants used to say in the day when they knew they were servants."
"Nonsense, you can rig it," said Kinghovn. But Ingestree still looked like a worried, rather withered baby.
"I know what is worrying Roly," said Liesl. "He thinks that he could squeeze Eisengrim's expenses in London out of the B.B.C., but he knows he can't lug in Ramsay and me, and he's too nice a fellow to suggest that Magnus travel without us. Isn't that it, Roly?"
Ingestree looked at her. "Bang on the head," he said.
"Don't worry about it," said Liesl. "I'll pay my own way, and even this grinding old miser Ramsay might unchain a few pennies for himself. Just let us know when to come."
And so, at last, they went. As we came back into the large, gloomy, nineteenth-century Gothic hall of Sorgenfrei, I said to Liesl: "It was nice of you to think of Lebbaeus, tonight. People don't mention him very often. But you're wrong, you know, saying that there is no record of what he did after the Crucifixion. There is a non-canonical Acts of Thaddaeus—Thaddaeus was his surname, you recall—that tells all about him. It didn't get into the Bible, but it exists."
"What's it like?"
"A great tale of marvels. Real Arabian Nights stuff. Puts him dead at the centre of affairs."
"Didn't I say so! Just like a man. I'll bet he wrote it himself."
# _2_
# _Merlin's Laugh_
(1)
Because of Jurgen Lind's slow methods of work, it took longer to get _Un Hommage à Robert-Houdin_ into a final form than we had expected, and it was nearly three months later when Eisengrim, Liesl, and I journeyed to London to see what it looked like. The polite invitation suggested that criticism would be welcome. Eisengrim was the star, and Liesl had put up a good deal of the money for the venture, expecting to get it back over the next two or three years, with substantial gains, but I think we all knew that criticism of Lind would not be gratefully received. A decent pretence was to be kept up, all the same.
We three rarely travelled together; when we did there was always a good deal of haggling about where we should stay. I favoured small, modest hotels; Liesl felt a Swiss nationalist pull toward any hotel, anywhere, that was called the Ritz; Eisengrim wanted to stop at the Savoy.
The suite we occupied at the Savoy was precisely to his taste. It had been decorated in the twenties, and not changed since; the rooms were large, and the walls were in that most dismal of decorators' colours, "off-white"; below the ceiling of the drawing-room was a nine-inch border of looking-glass; there was an Art Moderne fireplace with an electric fire in it which, when in use, gave off a heavy smell of roasted dust and reminiscences of mice; the furniture was big, and clumsy in the twenties mode. The windows looked out on what I called an alley, and what even Liesl called "a mean street", but to our amazement Magnus came up with the comment that nobody who called himself a gentleman ever looked out of the window. (What did he know about the fine points of upper-class behaviour?) There was a master bedroom of astonishing size, and Magnus grabbed it for himself, saying that Liesl might have the other bed in it. My room, not quite so large but still a big room, was nearer the bathroom. That chamber was gorgeous in a style long forgotten, with what seemed to be Roman tiling, a sunken bath, and a giantess's bidet. The daily rate for this grandeur startled me even when I had divided it by three, but I held my peace, and hoped we would not stay long. I am not a stingy man, but I think a decent prudence becoming even in the very rich, like Liesl. Also, I knew enough about the very rich to understand that I should not be let off with a penny less than my full third of whatever was spent.
Magnus was taking his new position as a film star—even though it was only as the star of a television "special"—with a seriousness that seemed to me absurd. The very first night he insisted on having Lind and his gang join us for what he called a snack in our drawing-room. Snack! Solomon and the Queen of Sheba would have been happy with such a snack; when I saw it laid out by the waiters I was so oppressed by the thought of what a third of it would come to that I wondered if I should be able to touch a morsel. But the others ate and drank hugely, and almost as soon as they entered the room began hinting that Magnus should continue the story he had begun at Sorgenfrei. That was what I wanted, too, and as it was plain that I was going to pay dear to hear it, I overcame my scruple and made sure of my share of the feast.
The showing of _Hommage_ had been arranged for the following afternoon at three o'clock. "Good," said Magnus; "that will allow me the morning to make a little sentimental pilgrimage I have in mind."
Polite interest from Ingestree, and delicately inquisitive probings as to what this pilgrimage might be.
"Something associated with a turning-point in my life," said Magnus. "I feel that one should not be neglectful of such observances."
Was it anything with which the B.B.C. could be helpful, Ingestree asked.
"No, not at all," said Magnus. "I simply want to lay some flowers at the foot of a monument."
Surely, Ingestree persisted, Magnus would permit somebody from the publicity department, or from a newspaper, to get a picture of this charming moment? It could be so helpful later, when it was necessary to work up enthusiasm for the film.
Magnus was coy. He would prefer not to make public a private act of gratitude and respect. But he was willing to admit, among friends, that what he meant to do was part of the subtext of the film; an act related to his own career; something he did whenever he found himself in London.
He had now gone so far that it was plain he wanted to be coaxed, and Ingestree coaxed him with a mixture of affection and respect that was worthy of admiration. It was plain to be seen how Ingestree had not merely survived, but thriven, in the desperate world of television. It was not long before Magnus yielded, as I suppose he meant to do from the beginning.
"It's nothing in the least extraordinary. I'm going to lay a few yellow roses—I hope I can get yellow ones—at the foot of the monument to Henry Irving behind the National Portrait Gallery. You know it. It's one of the best-known monuments in London. Irving, splendid and gracious, in his academical robes, looking up Charing Cross Road. I promised Milady I'd do that, in her name and my own, if I ever came to the point in life where I could afford such gestures. And I have. And so I shall."
"Now you really mustn't tease us any more," said Ingestree. "We must be told. Who is Milady?"
"Lady Tresize," said Magnus, and there was no hint of banter in his voice any longer. He was solemn. But Ingestree hooted with laughter.
"My God!" he said, "You don't mean Old Mother Tresize? Old Nan? You knew her?"
"Better than you apparently did," said Magnus. "She was a dear friend of mine, and very good to me when I needed a friend. She was one of Irving's protégées, and in her name I do honour to his memory."
"Well—I apologize. I apologize profoundly. I never knew her well, though I saw something of her. You'll admit she was rather a joke as an actress."
"Perhaps. Though I saw her give some remarkable performances. She didn't always get parts that were suited to her."
"I can't imagine what parts could ever have suited her. It's usually admitted she held the old man back. Dragged him down, in fact. He really may have been good, once. If he'd had a decent leading lady he mightn't have ended up as he did."
"I didn't know that he had ended up badly. Indeed I know for a fact that he had quite a happy retirement, and was happier because he shared it with her. Are we talking about the same people?"
"I suppose it depends on how one looks at it. I'd better shut up."
"No, no," said Lind. "This is just the time to keep on. Who are these people called Tresize? Theatre people, I suppose?"
"Sir John Tresize was one of the most popular romantic actors of his day," said Magnus.
"But in an absolutely appalling repertoire," said Ingestree, who seemed unable to hold his tongue. "He went on into the twenties acting stuff that was moth-eaten when Irving died. You should have seen it, Jurgen! _The Lyons Mail, The Corsican Brothers_ , and that interminable _Master of Ballantrae;_ seeing him in repertory was a peep into the dark backward and abysm of time, let me tell you!"
"That's not true," said Magnus, and I knew how hot he was by the coolness with which he spoke. "He did some fine things, if you would take the trouble to find out. Some admired Shakespearean performances; a notable Hamlet. The money he made on _The Master of Ballantrae_ he spent on introducing the work of Maeterlinck to England."
"Maeterlinck's frightfully old hat," said Ingestree.
"Now, perhaps. But fashions change. And when Sir John Tresize introduced Maeterlinck to England he was an innovator. Have you no charity toward the past?"
"Not a scrap."
"I think less of you for it."
"Oh, come off it! You're an immensely accomplished actor yourself. You know how the theatre is. Of all the arts it has least patience with bygones."
"You have said several times that I am a good actor, because I can put up a decent show as Robert-Houdin. I'm glad you think so. Have you ever asked yourself where I learned to do that? One of the things that has given my work a special flavour is that I give my audiences something to look at apart from good tricks. They like the way I act the part of a conjuror. They say it has romantic flair. What they really mean is that it is projected with a skilled nineteenth-century technique. And where did I learn that?"
"Well, obviously you're going to tell me you learned it from old Tresize. But it isn't the same, you know. I mean, I remember him. He was lousy."
"Depends on the point of view, I suppose. Perhaps you had some reason not to like him."
"Not at all."
"You said you knew him."
"Oh, very slightly."
"Then you missed a chance to know him better. I had that chance and I took it. Probably I needed it more than you did. I took it, and I paid for it, because knowing Sir John didn't come cheap. And Milady was a great woman. So tomorrow morning—yellow roses."
"You'll let us send a photographer?"
"Not after what you've been saying. I don't pretend to an overwhelming delicacy, but I have some. So keep away, please, and if you disobey me I won't finish the few shots you still have to make on _Hommage._ Is that clear?"
It was clear, and after lingering a few minutes, just to show that they could not be easily dismissed, Ingestree, and Jurgen Lind, and Kinghovn left us.
(2)
Both Liesl and I went with Magnus the following morning on his sentimental expedition. Liesl wanted to know who Milady was; her curiosity was aroused by the tenderness and reverence with which he spoke of the woman who appeared to Ingestree to be a figure of fun. I was curious about everything concerning him. After all, I had my document to consider. So we both went with him to buy the roses. Liesl protested when he bought an expensive bunch of two dozen. "If you leave them in the street, somebody will steal them," she said; "the gesture is the same whether it's one rose or a bundle. Don't waste your money." Once again I had occasion to be surprised at the way very rich people think about money; a costly apartment at the Savoy, and a haggle about a few roses! But Eisengrim was not to be changed from his purpose. "Nobody will steal them, and you'll find out why," said he. So off we went on foot along the Strand, because Magnus felt that taking a taxi would lessen the solemnity of his pilgrimage.
The Irving monument stands in quite a large piece of open pavement; near by a pavement artist was chalking busily on the flagstones. Beside the monument itself a street performer was unpacking some ropes and chains, and a woman was helping him to get ready for his performance. Magnus took off his hat, laid the flowers at the foot of the statue, arranged them to suit himself, stepped back, looked up at the statue, smiled, and said something under his breath. Then he said to the street performer: "Going to do a few escapes, are you?"
"Right you are," said the man.
"Will you be here long?"
"Long as anybody wants to watch me."
"I'd like you to keep an eye on those flowers. They're for the Guvnor, you see. Here's a pound. I'll be back before lunch, and if they're still there, and if you're still here, I'll have another pound for you. I want them to stay where they are for at least three hours; after that anybody who wants them can have them. Now let's see your show."
The busker and the woman went to work. She rattled a tambourine, and he shook the chains and defied the passers-by to tie him up so that he couldn't escape. A few loungers gathered, but none of them seemed anxious to oblige the escape-artist by tying him up. At last Magnus did it himself.
I didn't know what he had in mind, and I wondered if he meant to humiliate the poor fellow by tying him up and leaving him to struggle; after all, Magnus had been a distinguished escape-artist himself in his time, and as he was a man of scornful mind such a trick would not have been outside his range. He made a thorough job of it, and before he had done there was a crowd of fifteen or twenty people gathered to see the fun. It is not every day that one of these shabby street performers has a beautifully dressed and distinguished person as an assistant. I saw a policeman halt at the back of the crowd, and began to worry. My philosophical indifference to human suffering is not as complete as I wish it were. If Magnus tied up the poor wretch and left him, what should I do? Interfere, or run away? Or would I simply hang around and see what happened?
At last Magnus was contented with his work, and stepped away from the busker, who was now a bundle of chains and ropes. The man dropped to the ground, writhed and grovelled for a few seconds, worked himself up on his knees, bent his head and tried to get at one of the ropes with his teeth, and in doing so fell forward and seemed to hurt himself badly. The crowd murmured sympathetically, and pressed a bit nearer. Then, suddenly, the busker gave a triumphant cry, and leapt to his feet, as chains and ropes fell in a tangle on the pavement.
Magnus led the applause. The woman passed the tattered cap that served as a collection bag. Some copper and a few silver coins were dropped in it. Liesl contributed a fifty-penny piece, and I found another. It was a good round for the busker; astonishingly good, I imagine, for the first show of the day.
When the crowd had dispersed, the busker said softly to Magnus: "Pro, ain't yer?"
"Yes, I'm a pro."
"Knew it. You couldn't of done them ties without bein' a pro. You playin' in town?"
"No, but I have done. Years ago, I used to give a show right where we're standing now."
"You did! Christ, you've done well."
"Yes. And I started here under the Guvnor's statue. You'll keep an eye on his flowers, won't you?"
"Too right I will! And thanks!"
We walked away, Magnus smiling and big with mystery. He knew how much we wanted to know what lay behind what we had just seen, and was determined to make us beg. Liesl, who has less pride about such things than I, spoke before we had passed the pornography shops into Leicester Square.
"Come along, Magnus. Enough of this. We want to know and you want to tell. I can feel it. When did you ever perform in the London streets?"
"After I got away from France, and the travelling circus, and the shadow of Willard. I came to London, which was dangerous with the kind of passport I carried, but I managed it. What was I to do? You don't get jobs in variety theatres just by hanging around the stage doors. It's a matter of agents, and having press cuttings, and being known to somebody. And I was down and out. I hadn't a penny. No, that's not quite true; I had forty-two shillings and that was just enough to buy a few old ropes and chains. So I took a look around the West End, and soon found out that the choice position for open-air shows was the place we've just visited. But even that wasn't free; street-artists of long standing had first call on the space. I tried to do my little act when they weren't busy, and three of them took me up an alley and convinced me that I had been tactless. Nevertheless, with a black eye I managed to show them a little magic that persuaded one of them to let me add something to his own show, and for that I got a very small daily sum. Still, I was seen, and it wasn't more than a few days before I was taken to Milady, and after that everything was glorious."
"Why should Milady want to see you? Really, Magnus, you are intolerable. You are going to tell us, so why don't you do it without making me corkscrew every word out of you?"
"If I tell you now, in the street, don't you think I am being rather unfair to Lind? He wants to know too, you know."
"Last night you virtually ordered Lind and his friends out of the hotel. Do you mean you are going to change your mind about that?"
"I was annoyed with Ingestree."
"Yes, I know that. But what's so bad about Ingestree? He doesn't agree with you about Milady. Is the man to have no mind of his own? Must everybody agree with you? Ingestree isn't a bad fellow."
"Not a bad fellow. A fool perhaps."
"Since when is it a criminal offence to be a fool? You're rather a fool yourself, especially about women. I insist on knowing whatever there is to know about Milady."
"And so you shall, my dear Liesl. So you shall. You have only to wait until this evening. I guarantee that when we go back to the Savoy we shall find that Lind has called, that Ingestree is ready to apologize, and that we are all three asked to dinner tonight so that I may very graciously go on with my subtext to _Hommage._ Which I am perfectly willing to do. And Ramsay will be pleased, because the free dinner he gets tonight will somewhat offset the cost of the dinner he had to share in giving last night. You see, all things work together for good to them that love God."
"Sometimes I wish I were a professing Christian, so that I would have the right to tell you how much your blasphemous quoting of Scripture annoys me. And you mustn't torment Ramsay. He hasn't had your advantages. He's never been really poor, and that is a terrible drawback to a man.—Will you promise to be decent to Ingestree?"
An unwonted sound: Eisengrim laughed aloud: Merlin's laugh, if ever I heard it.
(3)
Magnus was having one of his tiresome spells, during which he was right about everything. We were indeed asked to dine as Lind's guests after the showing of _Hommage._ What we saw in the poky little viewing-room was a version of the film that was almost complete; everything that was to be cut out had been removed, but a few shots—close-ups of Magnus—had still to be taken and incorporated. It was a source of astonishment, for I saw nothing that I had not seen while it was being filmed; but the skill of the cutting, and the juxtapositions, and the varieties of pace that had been achieved, were marvels to me. Clearly much of what had been done owed its power to the art of Harry Kinghovn, but the unmistakable impress of Lind's mind was on it, as well. His films possessed a weight of implication—in St Paul's phrase, "the evidence of things not seen"—that was entirely his own.
The greatest surprise was the way in which Eisengrim emerged. His unique skill as a conjuror was there, of course, but somehow magic is not so impressive on the screen as it is in direct experience, just as he had said himself at Sorgenfrei. No, it was as an actor that he seemed like a new person. I suppose I had grown used to him over the years, and had seen too much of his backstage personality, which was that of the theatre martinet, the watchful, scolding, impatient star of the _Soirée of Illusions._ The distinguished, high-bred, romantic figure I saw on the screen was someone I felt I did not know. The waif I had known when we were boys in Deptford, the carnival charlatan I had seen in Austria as Faustus LeGrand in _Le grand Cirque forain de St Vite_ , the successful stage performer, and the amusing but testy and incalculable permanent guest at Sorgenfrei could not be reconciled with this fascinating creature, and it couldn't all be the art of Lind and Kinghovn. I must know more. My document demanded it.
Liesl, too, was impressed, and I am sure she was as curious as I. So far as I knew, she had at some time met Magnus, admired him, befriended him, and financed him. They had toured the world together with their _Soirée of Illusions_ , combining his art as a public performer with her skill as a technician, a contriver of magical apparatus, and her artistic taste, which was far beyond his own. If he was indeed the greatest conjuror of his time, or of any time, she was responsible for at least half of whatever had made him so. Moreover, she had educated him, in so far as he was formally educated, and had transformed him from a tough little carnie into someone who could put up a show of cultivation. Or was that the whole truth? She seemed as surprised by his new persona on the screen as I was.
This was clearly one of Magnus's great days. The film people were delighted with him, as entrepreneurs always are with anybody who looks as if he could draw in money, and at dinner he was clearly the guest of honour.
We went to the Café Royal, where a table had been reserved in the old room with the red plush benches against the wall, and the lush girls with naked breasts holding up the ceiling, and the flattering looking-glasses. We ate and drank like people who were darlings of Fortune. Ingestree was on his best behaviour, and it was not until we had arrived at brandy and cigars that he said—
"I passed the Irving statue this afternoon. Quite by chance. Nothing premeditated. But I saw your flowers. And I want to repeat how sorry I am to have spoken slightingly about your old friend Lady Tresize. May we toast her now?"
"Here's to Milady," said Magnus, and emptied his glass.
"Why was she called that?" said Liesl. "It sounds terribly pretentious if she was simply the wife of a theatrical knight. Or it sounds frowsily romantic, like a Dumas novel. Or it sounds as if you were making fun of her. Or was she a cult figure in the theatre? The Madonna of the Greasepaint? You might tell us, Magnus."
"I suppose it was all of those things. Some people thought her pretentious, and some thought the romance that surrounded her was frowsy, and people always made a certain amount of fun of her, and she was a cult figure as well. In addition she was a wonderfully kind, wise, courageous person who was not easy to understand. I've been thinking a lot about her today. I told you that I was a busker beside the Irving statue when I came to London. It was there Holroyd picked me up and took me to Milady. She decided I should have a job, and made Sir John give me one, which he didn't want to do."
"Magnus, do please, I implore you, stop being mysterious. You know very well you mean to tell us all about it. You want to, and furthermore, you must. Do it to please me." Liesl was laying herself out to be irresistible, and I have never known a woman who was better at the work.
"Do it for the sake of the subtext," said Ingestree, who was also making himself charming, like a naughty boy who has been forgiven.
"All right. So I shall. My show under the shadow of Irving was not extensive. The buskers I was working with wouldn't give me much of a chance, but they allowed me to draw a crowd by making some showy passes with cards. It was stuff I had learned long ago with Willard—shooting a deck into the air and making it slide back into my hand like a beautiful waterfall, and that sort of thing. It can be done with a deck that is mounted on a rubber string, but I could do it with any deck. It's simply a matter of hours of practice, and confidence that you can do it. I don't call it conjuring. More like juggling. But it makes people gape.
"One day, a week or two after I had begun in this underpaid, miserable work, I noticed a man hanging around at the back of the crowd, watching me very closely. He wore a long overcoat, though it wasn't a day for such a coat, and he had a pipe stuck in his mouth as if it had grown there. He worried me because, as you know, my passport wasn't all it should have been. I thought he might be a detective. So as soon as I had done my short trick, I made for a near-by alley. He was right behind me. 'Hi!' he shouted, 'I want a word with you.' There was no getting away, so I faced him. 'Are you interested in a better job than that?' he asked. I said I was. 'Can you do a bit of juggling?' said he. Yes, I could do juggling, though I wouldn't call myself a juggler. 'Any experience walking a tightrope?' Because of the work I had done with Duparc I was able to say I could. 'Then you come to this address tomorrow morning at twelve,' said he, and gave me a card on which was his name—James Holroyd—and he had scribbled a direction on it.
"Of course I was there, next day at noon. The place was a pub called The Crown and Two Chairmen, and when I asked for Mr Holroyd I was directed upstairs to a big room, in which there were a few people. Holroyd was one of them, and he nodded to me to wait.
"Queer room. Just an empty space, with some chairs piled in a corner, and a few odds and ends of pillars, and obelisks and altar-like boxes, which I knew were Masonic paraphernalia, also stacked against a wall. It was one of those rooms common enough in London, where lodges met, and little clubs had their gatherings, and which theatrical people rented by the day for rehearsal space.
"The people who were there were grouped around a man who was plainly the boss. He was short, but by God he had presence; you would have noticed him anywhere. He wore a hat, but not as I had ever seen a hat worn before. Willard and Charlie were hat men, but somehow their hats always looked sharp and dishonest—you know, too much down on one side? Holroyd wore a hat, a hard hat of the kind that Winston Churchill made famous later; a sort of top hat that had lost courage and hadn't grown the last three inches, or acquired any gloss. As I came to know Holroyd I sometimes wondered if he had been born in that hat and overcoat, because I hardly ever saw him without both. But this little man's hat looked as if it should have had a plume in it. It was a perfectly ordinary, expensive felt hat, but he gave it an air of costume, and when he looked from under the brim you felt he was sizing up your costume, too. And that was what he was doing. He took a look at me and said, in a kind of mumble, 'That's your find, eh? Doesn't look much, does he, mph? Not quite as if he might pass for your humble, what? Eh, Holroyd? Mph?'
" 'That's for you to say, of course,' said Holroyd.
" 'Then I say no. Must look again. Must be something better than that, eh?'
" 'Won't you see him do a few tricks?'
" 'Need I? Surely the appearance is everything, mph?'
" 'Not everything, Guvnor. The tricks are pretty important. At least the way you've laid it out makes the tricks very important. And the tightrope, too. He'd look quite different dressed up.'
" 'Of course. But I don't think he'll do. Look again, eh, like a good chap?'
" 'Whatever you say, Guvnor. But I'd have bet money on this one. Let him flash a trick or two, just to see.'
"The little man wasn't anxious to waste time on me, but I didn't mean to waste time either. I threw a couple of decks in the air, made them do a fancy twirl, and let them slip back into my hands. Then I twirled on my toes, and made the decks do it again, in a spiral, which looks harder than it is. There was clapping from a corner—the kind of soft clapping women produce by clapping in gloves they don't want to split. I bowed toward the corner, and that was the first time I saw Milady.
"It was a time when women's clothes were plain; the line of the silhouette was supposed to be simple. There was nothing plain or simple about Milady's clothes. Drapes and swags and swishes, and scraps of fur everywhere, and the colours and fabrics were more like upholstery than garments. She had a hat, like a witch's, but with more style to it, and some soft stuff wrapped around the crown dangled over the brim to one shoulder. She was heavily made up—really she wore an extraordinary amount of make-up—in colours that were too emphatic for daylight. But neither she nor the little man seemed to be meant for daylight; I didn't realize it at the time, but they always looked as if they were ready to step on the stage. Their clothes, and manner and demeanour all spoke of the stage."
"The Crummles touch," said Ingestree. "They were about the last to have it."
"I don't know who Crummles was," said Magnus. "Ramsay will tell me later. But I must make it clear that these two didn't look in the least funny to me. Odd, certainly, and unlike anything I had ever seen, but not funny. In fact, ten years later I still didn't think them funny, though I know lots of people laughed. But those people didn't know them as I did. And as I've told you I first saw Milady when she was applauding my tricks with the cards, so she looked very good to me.
" 'Let him show what he can do, Jack,' she said. And then to me, with great politeness, 'You do juggling, don't you? Let us see you juggle.'
"I had nothing to juggle with, but I didn't mean to be beaten. And I wanted to prove to the lady that I was worth her kindness. So with speed and I hope a reasonable amount of politeness I took her umbrella, and the little man's wonderful hat, and Holroyd's hat and the soft cap I was wearing myself, and balanced the brolly on my nose and juggled the three hats in an arch over it. Not easy, let me tell you, for all the hats were of different sizes and weights, and Holroyd's hefted like iron. But I did it, and the lady clapped again. Then she whispered to the little man she called Jack.
" 'I see what you mean, Nan,' he said, 'but there must be some sort of resemblance. I hope I'm not vain, but I can't persuade myself we can manage a resemblance, mphm?'
"I put on a little more steam. I did some clown juggling, pretending every time the circle went round that I was about to drop Holroyd's hat, and recovering it with a swoop, and at last keeping that one in the air with my right foot. That made the little man laugh, and I knew I had had a lucky inspiration. Obviously Holroyd's hat was rather a joke among them. 'Come here, m'boy,' said the boss. 'Stand back to back with me.' So I did, and we were exactly of a height. 'Extraordinary,' said the boss; 'I'd have sworn he was shorter.'
" 'He's a little shorter, Guvnor,' said Holroyd, 'but we can put him in lifts.'
" 'Aha, but what will you do about the face?' said the boss. 'Can you get away with the face?'
" 'I'll show him what to do about the face,' said the lady. 'Give him his chance, Jack. I'm sure he's lucky for us and I'm never wrong. After all, where did Holroyd find him?'
"So I got the job, though I hadn't any idea what the job was, and nobody thought to tell me. But the boss said I was to come to rehearsal the following Monday, which was five days away. In the meantime, he said, I was to give up my present job, and keep out of sight. I would have accepted that, but again the lady interfered.
" 'You can't ask him to do that, Jack,' she said. 'What's he to live on in the meantime?'
" 'Holroyd will attend to it,' said the little man. Then he offered the lady his arm, and put his hat back on his head (after Holroyd had dusted it, quite needlessly) and they swept out of that grubby assembly room in the Crown and Two Chairmen as if it were a palace.
"I said to Holroyd, 'What's this about lifts? I'm as tall as he is; perhaps a bit taller.'
" 'If you want this job, m'boy, you'll be shorter and stay shorter,' said Holroyd. Then he gave me thirty shillings, explaining that it was an advance on salary. He also asked for a pledge in return, just so that I wouldn't make off with the thirty shillings; I gave him my old silver watch. I respected Holroyd for that; he belonged to my world. It was clear that it was time for me to go, but I still didn't know what the job was, or what I was letting myself in for. That was obviously the style around there. Nobody explained anything. You were supposed to know.
"So, not being a fool, I set to work to find out. I discovered downstairs in the bar that Sir John Tresize and his company were rehearsing above, which left me not much wiser, except that it was some sort of theatricals. But when I went back to the buskers and told them I was quitting, and why, they were impressed, but not pleased.
" 'You gone legit on us,' said the boss of the group, who was an escape-man, like the one we saw this morning. 'You and your Sir John-bloody-Tresize. Amlet and Oh Thello and the like of them. If you want my opinion, you've got above yourself, and when they find out, don't come whinin' back to me, that's all. Don't come whinin' bloody back here.' Then he kicked me pretty hard in the backside, and that was the end of my engagement as an open-air entertainer.
"I didn't bother to resent the kick. I had a feeling something important had happened to me, and I celebrated by taking a vacation. Living for five days on thirty shillings was luxury to me at that time. I thought of augmenting my money by doing a bit of pocket-picking, but I rejected the idea for a reason that will show you what had happened to me; I thought such behaviour would be unsuitable to one who had been given a job because of the interference of a richly-dressed lady with an eye for talent.
"The image of the woman called Nan by Sir John Tresize dominated my mind. Her umbrella, as I balanced it on my nose, gave forth an expensive smell of perfume, and I could recall it even in the petrol stink of London streets. I was like a boy who is in love for the first time. But I wasn't a boy; it was 1930, so I must have been twenty-two, and I was a thorough young tough—side-show performer, vaudeville rat, pickpocket, dope-pusher, a forger in a modest way, and for a good many years the despised utensil of an arse-bandit. Women, to me, were members of a race who were either old and tougher than the men who work in carnivals, or the flabby, pallid strumpets I had occasionally seen in Charlie's room when I went to rouse him to come to the aid of Willard. But so far as any sexual association with a woman went, I was a virgin. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I was a hoor from the back and a virgin from the front, and so far as romance was concerned I was as pure as the lily in the dell. And there I was, over my ears in love with Lady Tresize, professionally known as Miss Annette de la Borderie, who cannot have been far off sixty and was, as Ingestree is eager to tell you, not a beauty. But she had been kind to me and said she would show me what to do about my face—whatever that meant—and I loved her.
"What do I mean? That I was constantly aware of her, and what I believed to be her spirit transfigured everything around me. I held wonderful mental conversations with her, and although they didn't make much sense they gave me a new attitude toward myself. I told you I put aside any notion of picking a pocket in order to refresh my exchequer because of her. What was stranger was that I felt in quite a different way about the poor slut that helped the escape-artist who kicked me; he was rough with her, I knew, and I pitied her, though I had taken no notice of her before then. It was the dawn of chivalry in me, coming rather late in life. Most men, unless they are assembled on the lowest, turnip-like principle, have a spell of chivalry at some time in their lives. Usually it comes at about sixteen. I understand boys quite often wish they had a chance to die for the one they love, to show that their devotion stops at nothing. Dying wasn't my line; a good religious start in life had given me too much respect for death to permit any extravagance of that sort. But I wanted to live for Lady Tresize, and I was overjoyed by the notion that, if I could do whatever Holroyd and Sir John wanted, I might be able to manage it.
"It wasn't lunacy. She had that effect, in lesser measure, on a lot of people, as I found out when I joined the Tresize Company. Everybody called Sir John 'Guvnor', because that was his style; lots of heads of theatrical companies were called Guvnor. But they called Lady Tresize 'Milady'. It would have been reasonable enough for her maid to do that, but everybody did it, and it was respectful, and affectionately mocking at the same time. She understood both the affection and the mockery, because Milady was no fool.
"Five days is a long time to be cut off from Paradise, and I had nothing to occupy my time. I suppose I walked close to a hundred miles through the London streets. What else was there to do? I bummed around the Victoria and Albert Museum quite a lot, looking at the clocks and watches, but I wasn't dressed for it and I suppose a young tough who hung around for hours made the guards nervous. I looked like a ruffian, and I suppose I was one, and I held no grudge when I was politely warned away. I saw a few free sights—churches and the like—but they meant little to me. I liked the streets best, so I walked and stared, and slept in a Salvation Army hostel for indigents. But I was no indigent; I was rich in feeling, and that was a luxury I had rarely known.
"As the Monday drew near when I was to present myself again I worried a lot about my clothes. All I owned was what I stood up in, and my very poor things were a good protective covering in the streets, where I looked like a thousand others, but they weren't what I needed for a great step upward in the theatrical world. There was nothing to be done, and with my experience I knew my best plan was to present an appearance of honest poverty, so I spent some money on a bath, and washed the handkerchief I wore around my throat in the bathwater, and got a street shoeshine boy to do what he could with my dreadful shoes, which were almost falling apart.
"When the day came, I was well ahead of time, and had my first taste of a theatrical rehearsal. Milady didn't appear at it, and that was a heavy disappointment, but there was plenty to take in, all the same.
"It was education by observation. Nobody paid any heed to me. Holroyd nodded when I went into the room, and told me to keep out of the way, so I sat on a windowsill and watched. Men and women appeared very promptly to time, and a stage manager set out a few chairs to mark entrances and limits to the stage on the bare floor. Bang on the stroke of ten Sir John came in, and sat down in a chair behind a table, tapped twice with a silver pencil, and they went to work.
"You know what early rehearsals are like. You would never guess they were getting up a play. People wandered on and off the stage area, reading from sheets of paper that were bound up in brown covers; they mumbled and made mistakes as if they had never seen print before. Sir John mumbled worse than anyone. He had a way of talking that I could hardly believe belonged to a human being, because almost everything he said was cast in an interrogative tone, and was muddled up with a lot of 'Eh?' and 'Mphm?' and a queer noise he made high up in the back of his nose that sounded like 'Quonk?' But the actors seemed used to it and amid all the muttering and quonking a good deal of work seemed to be done. Now and then Sir John himself would appear in a scene, and then the muttering sank almost to inaudibility. Very soon I was bored.
"It was not my plan to be bored, so I looked for something to do. I was a handy fellow, and a lot younger than the stage manager, so when the chairs had to be arranged in a different pattem I nipped forward and gave him a hand, which he allowed me to do without comment. Before the rehearsal was finished I was an established chair lifter, and that was how I became an assistant stage manager. My immediate boss was a man called Macgregor, whose feet hurt; he had those solid feet that seem to be all in one piece, encased in heavy boots; he was glad enough to have somebody who would run around for him. It was from him, during a break in the work, that I found out what we were doing.
" 'It's the new piece,' he explained. ' _Scaramouche._ From the novel by Rafael Sabatini. You'll have heard of Rafael Sabatini? You haven't? Well, keep your lugs open and you'll get the drift of it. Verra romantic, of course.'
" 'What am I to do, Mr Macgregor?' I asked.
" 'Nobody's told me,' he said. 'But from the cut of your jib I'd imagine you were the Double.'
" 'Double what?'
" 'The Double in Two, two,' he said, in a very Scotch way. I learned long ago, from you, Ramsay, that it's no use asking questions of a Scot when he speaks like that—dry as an old soda biscuit. So I held my peace.
"I picked up a little information by listening and asking an occasional question when some of the lesser actors went downstairs to the bar for a modest lunch. After three or four days I knew that _Scaramouche_ was laid in the period of the French Revolution, though when that was I did not know. I had never heard that the French had a revolution. I knew the Americans had had one, but so far as detail went it could have been because George Washington shot Lincoln. I was pretty strong on the kings of Israel; later history was closed to me. But the story of the play leaked out in dribbles. Sir John was a young Frenchman who was 'born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad'; that was what one of the other actors said about him. The astonishing thing was that nobody thought it strange that Sir John was so far into middle age that he was very near to emerging from the far side of it. This young Frenchman got himself into trouble with the nobility because he had advanced notions. To conceal himself he joined a troupe of travelling actors, but his revolutionary zeal was so great that he could not hold his tongue, and denounced the aristocracy from the stage, to the scandal of everyone. When the Revolution came, which it did right on time when it was needed, he became a revolutionary leader, and was about to revenge himself on the nobleman who had vilely slain his best friend and nabbed his girl, when an elderly noblewoman was forced to declare that she was his mother and then, much against her will, further compelled to tell him that his deadly enemy whom he held at the sword's point was—his father!
"Verra romantic, as Macgregor said, but not so foolish as I have perhaps led you to think. I give it to you as it appeared to me on early acquaintance. I was only interested in what I was supposed to do to earn my salary. Because I now had a salary—or half a salary, because that was the pay for the rehearsal period. Holroyd had presented me with a couple of pages of wretchedly typed stuff, which was my contract. I signed it Jules LeGrand, so that it agreed with my passport. Holroyd looked a little askew at the name, and asked me if I spoke French. I was glad that I could say yes, but he gave me a pretty strong hint that I might consider finding some less foreign name for use on the stage. I couldn't imagine why that should be, but I found out when we reached Act Two, scene two.
"We had approached this critical point—critical for me, that's to say—two or three times during the first week of rehearsal, and Sir John had asked the actors to 'walk through' it, without doing more than find their places on the stage. It was a scene in which the young revolutionary lawyer, whose name was André-Louis, was appearing on the stage with the travelling actors. They were a troupe of Italian Comedians, all of whom played strongly marked characters such as Polichinelle the old father, Climene the beautiful leading lady, Rhodomont the braggart, Leandre the lover, Pasquariel, and other figures from the Commedia dell' Arte. I didn't know what that was, but picked up the general idea, and it wasn't so far away from vaudeville as you might suppose. Indeed, some of it reminded me of poor Zovene, the wretched juggler. André-Louis (that was Sir John) had assumed the role of Scaramouche, a dashing, witty scoundrel.
"In Act Two, scene two, the Italian Comedians were giving a performance, and at the very beginning of it Scaramouche had to do some flashy juggling tricks. Later, he seized his chance to make a revolutionary speech which was not in the play as the Comedians had rehearsed it; when his great enemy and some aristocratic chums stormed the stage to punish him, he escaped by walking across the stage on a tightrope, far above their heads, making jeering gestures as he did so. Very showy. And clearly not for Sir John. So I was to appear in a costume exactly like his, do the tricks, get out of the way so Sir John could make his revolutionary speech, and take over again when it was time to walk the tightrope.
"This would take some neat managing. When Macgregor said, 'Curtain up,' I leapt onto the stage area from the audience's right, and danced toward the left, juggling some plates; when Polichinelle broke the plates with his stick, causing a lot of clatter and uproar, I pretended to dodge behind his cloak, and Sir John popped into sight immediately afterward. Sounds simple, but as we had to pretend to have the plates, and the cloak, and everything else, I found it confusing. The tightrope trick was 'walked' in the same way; Sir John was always talking about 'walking' something when we weren't ready to do it in reality. At the critical moment when the aristocrats rushed the stage, Sir John retreated slowly toward the left side, keeping them off with a stick; then he hopped backward onto a chair—which I must say he did with astonishing spryness—and there was a flurry of cloaks, during which he got out of the way and I emerged above on the tightrope, having stepped out on it from the wings. Easy, you would say, for an old carnival hand? But it wasn't easy at all, and after a few days it looked as if I would lose my job. Even when we were 'walking', I couldn't satisfy Sir John.
"As usual, nobody said anything to me, but I knew what was up one morning when Holroyd appeared with a fellow who was obviously an acrobat and Sir John talked with him. I hung around, officiously helping Macgregor, and heard what was said, or enough of it. The acrobat seemed to be very set on something he wanted, and it wasn't long before he was on his way, and Sir John was in an exceedingly bad temper. All through the rehearsal he bullied everybody. He bullied Miss Adele Chesterton, the pretty girl who played the second romantic interest; she was new to the stage and a natural focus for temper. He bullied old Frank Moore, who played Polichinelle, and was a very old hand and an extraordinarily nice person. He was crusty with Holroyd and chivvied Macgregor. He didn't shout or swear, but he was impatient and exacting, and his annoyance was so thick it cut down the visibility in the room to about half, like dark smoke. When the time came to rehearse Two, two, he said he would leave it out for that day, and he brought the rehearsal to an early close. Holroyd asked me to wait after the others had gone, but not to hang around. So I kept out of the way near the door while Sir John, Holroyd, and Milady held a summit conference at the farther end of the room.
"I couldn't hear much of what they said, but it was about me, and it was hottish. Holroyd kept saying things like, 'You won't get a real pro to agree to leaving his name off the bills,' and 'It's not as easy to get a fair resemblance as you might suppose—not under the conditions.' Milady had a real stage voice, and when she spoke her lowest it was still as clear as a bell at my end of the room, and her talk was all variations on 'Give the poor fellow chance, Jack—everybody must have at least one chance.' But of Sir John I could hear nothing. He had a stage voice, too, and knew how far it could be heard, so when he was being confidential he mumbled on purpose and threw in a lot of Eh and Quonk, which seemed to convey meaning to people who knew him.
"After ten minutes Milady said, so loudly that there could be no pretence that I was not to hear, 'Trust me, Jack. He's lucky for us. He has a lucky face. I'm never wrong. And if I can't get him right, we'll say no more about it.' Then she swept down the room to me, using the umbrella, with more style than you'd think possible, as a walking-stick, and said, 'Come with me, my dear boy; we must have a very intimate talk.' Then something struck her, and she turned to the two men; 'I haven't a penny,' she said, and from the way both Sir John and Holroyd jumped forward to press pound notes on her you could tell they were both devoted to her. That made me feel warmly toward them, even though they had been talking about sacking me a minute before.
"Milady led the way, and I tagged behind. We went downstairs, where she poked her head into the Public Bar, which was just opening and said, in a surprisingly genial voice, considering that she was Lady Tresize talking to a barman, 'Do you think I could have Rab Noolas for a private talk, for about half an hour, Joey?', and the barman shouted back, 'Whatever you say, Milady,' and she led me into a gloomy pen, surrounded on three sides by dingy etched glass, with Saloon Bar on the door. When I closed the door behind us this appeared in reverse and I understood that we were now in Rab Noolas. The barman came behind the counter on our fourth side and asked us what it would be. 'A pink gin, Joey,' said Milady, and I said I'd have the same, not knowing what it was. Joey produced them, and we sat down, and from the way Milady did so I knew it was a big moment. Fraught, as they say, with consequence.
" 'Let us be very frank. And I'll be frank first, because I'm the oldest. You simply have no notion of the wonderful opportunity you have in _Scaramouche._ Such a superb little cameo. I say to all beginners: they aren't tiny parts, they're little cameos, and the way you carve them is the sign of what your whole career will be. Show me a young player who can give a superb cameo in a small part, and I'll show you a star of the future. And yours is one of the very finest opportunities I have ever seen in my life in the theatre, because you must be so marvellous that nobody—not the sharpest-eyed critic or the most adoring fan—can distinguish you from my husband. Suddenly, before their very eyes, stands Sir John, juggling marvellously, and of course they adore him. Then, a few minutes later, they see Sir John walking the tightrope, and they see half a dozen of his little special tricks of gesture and turns of the head, and they are thunderstruck because they can't believe that he has learned to walk the tightrope. And the marvel of it, you see, is that it's you, all the time! You must use your imagination, my dear boy. You must see what a stunning effect it is. And what makes it possible? You do!'
" 'Oh I do see all that, Milady,' I said. 'But Sir John isn't pleased. I wish I knew why. I'm honestly doing the very best I can, considering that we haven't anything to juggle with, or any tightrope. How can I do better?'
" 'Ah, but you've put your finger on it, dear boy. I knew from the moment I saw you that you had great, great understanding—not to speak of a lucky face. You have said it yourself. You're doing the best _you_ can. But that's not what's wanted, you see. You must do the best Sir John can.'
" 'But—Sir John can't do anything,' I said. 'He can't juggle and he can't walk rope. Otherwise why would he want me?'
" 'No, no; you haven't understood. Sir John can, and will, do something absolutely extraordinary: he will make the public—the great audiences of people who come to see him in everything—believe he is doing those splendid, skilful things. He can make them want to believe he can do anything. They will quite happily accept you as him, if you can get the right rhythm.'
" 'But I still don't understand. People aren't as stupid as that. They'll guess it's a trick.'
" 'A few, perhaps. But most of them will prefer to believe it's a reality. That's what the theatre's about, you see. People want to believe that what they see is true, even if only for the time they're in the playhouse. That's what theatre is, don't you understand? Showing people what they wish were true.'
"Then I began to get the idea. I had seen that look in the faces of the people who watched Abdullah, and who saw Willard swallow needles and thread and pull it out of his mouth with the needles all dangling from the thread. I nervously asked Milady if she would like another pink gin. She said she certainly would, and gave me a pound note to pay for it. When I demurred she said, 'No, no; you must let me pay. I've got more money than you, and I won't presume on your gallantry—though I value it, my dear, don't imagine I don't value it.'
"When the gins came, she continued: 'Let us be very, very frank. Your marvellous cameo must be a great secret. If we tell everybody, we stifle some of their pleasure. You saw that young man who came this morning, and argued so tiresomely? He could juggle and he could walk the rope, quite as well as you, I expect, but he was no use whatever, because he had the spirit of a circus person; he wanted his name on the program, and he wanted featured billing. Wanted his name to come at the bottom of the bills, you see, after all the cast had been listed, "AND Trebelli". An absurd request. Everybody would want to know who Trebelli was and they would see at once that he was the juggler and rope-walker. And Romance would fly right up the chimney. Besides which I could see that he would never deceive anyone for an instant that he was Sir John. He had a brassy, horrid personality. Now you, my dear, have the splendid qualification of having very little personality. One hardly notices you. You are almost a _tabula rasa._ '
" 'Excuse me, Milady, but I don't know what that is.'
" 'No? Well, it's a—it's a common expression. I've never really had to define it. It's a sort of charming nothing; a dear, sweet little zero, in which one can paint any face one chooses. An invaluable possession, don't you see? One says it of children when one's going to teach them something perfectly splendid. They're wide open for teaching.'
" 'I want to be taught. What do you want me to learn?'
" 'I knew you were quite extraordinarily intelligent. More than intelligent, really. Intelligent people are so often thoroughly horrid. You are truly sensitive. I want you to learn to be exactly like Sir John.'
" 'Imitate him, you mean?'
" 'Imitations are no good. There have been people on the music-halls who have imitated him. No: if the thing is to work as we all want it to work, you must quite simply _be_ him.'
" 'How, if I don't imitate him?'
" 'It's a very deep thing. Of course you must imitate him, but be careful he doesn't catch you at it, because he doesn't like it. Nobody does, do they? What I mean is—oh, dear, it's so dreadfully difficult to say what one really means—you must catch his walk, and his turn of the head, and his gestures and all of that, but the vital thing is that you must catch his rhythm.'
" 'How would I start to do that?'
" 'Model yourself on him. Make yourself like a marvellously sensitive telegraph wire that takes messages from him. Or perhaps like wireless, that picks up things out of the air. Do what he did with the Guvnor.'
" 'I thought he was the Guvnor.'
" 'He is now, of course. But when we both worked under the dear old Guvnor at the Lyceum Sir John absolutely adored him, and laid himself open to him like Danae to the shower of gold—you know about that, of course?—and became astonishingly like him in a lot of ways. Of course Sir John is not so tall as the Guvnor; but you're not tall either, are you? It was the Guvnor's romantic splendour he caught. Which is what you must do. So that when you dance out before the audience juggling those plates they don't feel as if the electricity had suddenly been cut off. Another pink gin, if you please.'
"I didn't greatly like pink gin. In those days I couldn't afford to drink anything, and pink gin is a bad start. But I would have drunk hot fat to prolong this conversation. So we had another one each, and Milady dealt with hers much better than I did. A pink gin later—call it ten minutes—I was thoroughly confused, except that I wanted to please her, and must find out somehow what she was talking about.
"When she wanted to leave I rushed to call her a taxi, but Holroyd was ahead of me, and in much better condition. He must have been in the Public Bar. We both bowed her into the cab—I seem to remember having one foot in the gutter and the other on the pavement and wondering what had happened to my legs—and when she drove off he took me by the arm and steered me back into the Public Bar, where we tucked into a corner with old Frank Moore.
" 'She's been giving him advice and pink gin,' said Holroyd.
" 'Better give him a good honest pint of half-and-half to straighten him out,' said Frank, and signalled to the barman.
"They seemed to know what Milady had been up to, and were ready to put it in language that I could understand, which was kind of them. They made it seem very simple: I was to imitate Sir John, but I was to do it with more style than I had been showing. I was supposed to be imitating a great actor who was imitating an eighteenth-century gentleman who was imitating a Commedia dell' Arte comedian—that's how simple it was. And I was doing everything too bloody fast, and slick and cheap, so I was to drop that and catch Sir John's rhythm.
" 'But I don't get it about all this rhythm,' I said. 'I guess I know about rhythm in juggling; it's getting everything under control so you don't have to worry about dropping things because the things are behaving properly. But what the hell's all this human rhythm? You mean like dancing?'
" 'Not like any dancing I suppose you know,' said Holroyd. 'But yes—a bit like dancing. Not like this Charleston and all that jerky stuff. More a fine kind of complicated—well, rhythm.'
" 'I don't get it at all,' I said. 'I've got to get Sir John's rhythm. Sir John got his rhythm from somebody called the Guvnor. What Guvnor? Is the whole theatre full of Guvnors?'
" 'Ah, now we're getting to it,' said old Frank. 'Milady talked about the Guvnor, did she? The Guvnor was Irving, you muggins. You've heard of Irving?'
" 'Never,' I said.
"Old Frank looked wonderingly at Holroyd. 'Never heard of Irving. He's quite a case, isn't he?'
" 'Not such a case as you might think, Frank,' said Holroyd. 'These kids today have never heard of anybody. And I suppose we've got to remember that Irving's been dead for twenty-five years. You remember him. You played with him. I just remember him. But what's he got to do with a lad like this?—Well, now just hold on a minute. Milady thinks there's a connection. You know how she goes on. Like a loony, sometimes. But just when you can't stand it any more she proves to be right, and righter than any of us. You remember where I found you?' he said to me.
" 'In the street. I was doing a few passes with the cards.'
" 'Yes, but don't you remember where? I do. I saw you and I came back to rehearsal and said to Sir John, I think I've got what we want. Found him under the Guvnor's statue, picking up a few pennies as a conjuror. And that was when Milady pricked up her ears. Oh Jack, she said, it's a lucky sign! Let's see him at once. And when Sir John wanted to ask perfectly reasonable questions about whether you would do for height, and whether a resemblance could be contrived between you and him, she kept nattering on about how you must be a lucky find because I saw you, as she put it, working the streets under Irving's protection. You know how the Guvnor stood up for all the little people of the theatre, Jack, she said. I'm sure this boy is a lucky find. Do let's have him. And she's stood up for you ever since, though I don't suppose you'll be surprised to hear that Sir John wants to get rid of you.'
"The pint of half-and-half had found its way to the four pink gins, and I was having something like a French Revolution in my innards. I was feeling sorry for myself. 'Why does he hate me so,' I said, snivelling a bit. 'I'm doing everything I know to please him.'
" 'You'd better have it straight,' said Holroyd. 'The resemblance is a bit too good. You look too much like him.'
" 'Just what I said when I first set eyes on you,' said old Frank. 'My God, I said, what a Double! You might have been spit out of his mouth.'
" 'Well, isn't that what they want?' I said.
" 'You have to look at it reasonable,' said Holroyd. 'Put it like this: you're a famous actor, getting maybe just the tiniest bit past your prime—though still a top-notcher, mind you—and for thirty years everybody's said how distinguished you are, and what a beautiful expressive face you have, and how Maeterlinck damn near threw up his lunch when you walked on the stage in one of his plays, and said to the papers that you had stolen his soul, you were so good—meaning spiritual, romantic, poetic, and generally gorgeous. You still get lots of fan letters from people who find some kind of ideal in you. You've had all the devotion—a bit cracked some of it, but mostly very real and touching—that a great actor inspires in people, most of whom have had some kind of short-change experience in life. So: you want a Double. And when the Double comes—and such a Double that you can't deny him—he's a seedy little carnie, with the shifty eyes of a pickpocket and the breath of somebody that eats the cheapest food, and you wouldn't trust him with sixpenn'orth of copper, and every time you look at him you heave. He looks like everything inside yourself that you've choked off and shut out in order to be what you are now. And he looks at you all the time—you do this, you know—as if he knew something about you you didn't know yourself. Now: fair's fair. Wouldn't you want to get rid of him? Yet here's your wife, who's stood by you through thick and thin, and held you up when you were ready to sink under debts and bad luck, and whom you love so much everybody can see it, and thinks you're marvellous because of it, and what does she say? She says this nasty mess of a Double is lucky, and has to be given his chance. You follow me? Try to be objective. I don't want to say hard things about you, but truth's truth and must be served. You're not anybody's first pick for a Double, but there you are. Sir John's dead spit, as Frank here says.'
"Very soon I was going to have to leave them. My stomach was heaving. But I was still determined to find out whatever I could to keep my job. I wanted it now more desperately than before. 'So what do I do?' I asked.
"Holroyd puffed at his pipe, groping for an answer, and it was old Frank who spoke. He spoke very kindly. 'You just keep on keeping on,' he said. 'Try to find the rhythm. Try to get inside Sir John.'
"These were fatal words. I rushed out into the street, and threw up noisily and copiously in the gutter. Try to get inside Sir John! Was this to be another Abdullah?
"It was, but in a way I could not have foreseen. Experience never repeats itself in quite the same way. I was beginning another servitude, much more dangerous and potentially ruinous, but far removed from the squalor of my experience with Willard. I had entered upon a long apprenticeship to an egoism.
"Please notice that I say egoism, not egotism, and I am prepared to be pernickety about the distinction. An egotist is a self-absorbed creature, delighted with himself and ready to tell the world about his enthralling love affair. But an egoist, like Sir John, is a much more serious being, who makes himself, his instincts, yearnings, and tastes the touchstone of every experience. The world, truly, is his creation. Outwardly he may be courteous, modest, and charming—and certainly when you knew him Sir John was all of these—but beneath the velvet is the steel; if anything comes along that will not yield to the steel, the steel will retreat from it and ignore its existence. The egotist is all surface; underneath is a pulpy mess and a lot of self-doubt. But the egoist may be yielding and even deferential in things he doesn't consider important; in anything that touches his core he is remorseless.
"Many of us have some touch of egoism. We who sit at this table are no strangers to it. You, I should think, Jurgen, are a substantial egoist, and so are you, Harry. About Ingestree I can't say. But Liesl is certainly an egoist and you, Ramsay, are a ferocious egoist battling with your demon because you would like to be a saint. But none of you begins to approach the egoism of Sir John. His egoism was fed by the devotion of his wife, and the applause he could call forth in the theatre. I have never known anyone who came near him in the truly absorbing and damning sin of egoism."
"Damning?" I leapt on the word.
"We were both brought up to believe in damnation, Dunny," said Eisengrim, and he was deeply serious. "What does it mean? Does it mean shut off from the promptings of compassion; untouched by the feelings of others except in so far as they can serve us; blind and deaf to anything that is not grist to our mill? If that is what it means, and if that is a form of damnation, I have used the word rightly.
"Don't misunderstand. Sir John wasn't cruel, or dishonourable or overreaching in common ways; but he was all of these things where his own interest as an artist was concerned; within that broad realm he was without bowels. He didn't make Adele Chesterton cry at every rehearsal because he was a brute. He hadn't brought Holroyd—who was a tough nut in every other way—to a condition of total subjection to his will because he liked to domineer over a fellow-being. He hadn't turned Milady into a kind of human oilcan who went about cooling wheels he had worn red-hot because he didn't know that she was a woman of rare spirit and fine sensitivity. He did these things and a thousand others because he was wholly devoted to an ideal of theatrical art that was contained—so far as he was concerned—within himself. I think he knew perfectly well what he did, and he thought it worth the doing. It served his art, and his art demanded a remorseless egoism.
"He was one of the last of a kind that has now vanished. He was an actor-manager. There was no Arts Council to keep him afloat when he failed, or pick up the bill for an artistic experiment or act of daring. He had to find the money for his ventures, and if the money was lost on one production he had to get it back from another, or he would soon appeal to investors in vain. Part of him was a financier. He asked people to invest in his craft and skill and sense of business.
Beyond that, he asked people to invest in his personality and charm, and the formidable technique he had acquired to make personality and charm vivid to hundreds of thousands of people who bought theatre seats. In justice it must be said that he had a particular sort of taste and flair that lifted him above the top level of actors to the very small group of stars with an assured following. He wasn't personally greedy, though he liked to live well. He did what he did for art. His egoism lay in his belief that art, as he embodied it, was worth any sacrifice on his part and on the part of people who worked with him.
"When I became part of his company the fight against time had begun. Not simply the fight against the approach of age, because he was not deluded about that. It was the fight against the change in the times, the fight to maintain a nineteenth-century idea of theatre in the twentieth century. He believed devoutly in what he did; he believed in Romance, and he couldn't understand that the concept of Romance was changing.
"Romance changes all the time. His plays, in which a well-graced hero moved through a succession of splendid adventures and came out on top—even when that meant dying for some noble cause—were becoming old hat. Romance at that time meant _Private Lives_ , which was brand-new. It didn't look to its audiences like Romance, but that was what it was. Our notion of Romance, which is so often exploration of squalor and degradation, will become old hat, too. Romance is a mode of feeling that puts enormous emphasis—but not quite a tragic emphasis—on individual experience. Tragedy puts something above humanity; so does Comedy; Romance puts humanity first. The people who liked Sir John's kind of Romance were middle-aged, or old. Oh, lots of young people came to see him, but they weren't the most interesting kind of young people. Perhaps they weren't really young. The interesting young people were going to see a different sort of play. They were flocking to _Private Lives._ You couldn't expect Sir John to understand. His ideal of Romance was far from that, and he had shaped a formidable egoism to serve his ideal."
"It's the peril of the actor," said Ingestree. "Do you remember what Aldous Huxley said? 'Acting inflames the ego in a way which few other professions do. For the sake of enjoying regular emotional self-abuse, our societies condemn a considerable class of men and women to a perpetual inability to achieve non-attachment. It seems a high price to pay for our amusements.' A profound comment. I used to be deeply influenced by Huxley."
"I gather you got over it," said Eisengrim, "or you wouldn't be talking about non-attachment over the ruins of a tremendous meal and a huge cigar you have been sucking like a child at its mother's breast."
"I thought you had forgiven me," said Ingestree, being as winsome as his age and appearance allowed. "I don't pretend to have set aside the delights of this world; I tried that and it was no good. But I have my intellectual fopperies, and they pop out now and then. Do go on about Sir John and his egoism."
"So I shall," said Magnus, "but at another time. The waiters are hovering and I perceive the delicate fluttering of paper in the hands of the chief bandit yonder."
I watched with envy as Ingestree signed the bill without batting an eyelash. I suppose it was company money he was spending. We went out into the London rain and called for cabs.
(4)
In the days that followed, Magnus was busy filming the last scraps of _Hommage_ in a studio near London; these were close-ups, chiefly of his hands, as he did intricate things with cards and coins, but he insisted on wearing full costume and make-up. There was also a time-taking quarrel with a fashionable photographer who was to provide publicity pictures, and who kept assuring Magnus that he wanted to catch "the real you". But Magnus didn't want candid pictures of himself, and he was rather personal in his insistence that the photographer, a bearded fanatic who wore sandals, was not likely to capture with his camera something he had taken pains to conceal for more than thirty years. So we went to a very famous photographer who was celebrated for his pictures of royalty, and he and Magnus plotted some portraits, taken in a splendid old theatre, that satisfied both of them. All of this took time, until there was no longer any reason for us to stay in London. But Lind and Ingestree, and to a lesser degree Kinghovn, were determined to hear the remainder of Magnus's story, and after a good deal of teasing and protesting that there was really nothing to it, and that he was tired of talking about himself, it was agreed that they should spend our last day in London with us, and have their way.
"I'm doing it for Ingestree, really," said Magnus, and I thought it an odd remark, as he and Roly had not been on the best of terms since they first met at Sorgenfrei. Inquisitive, as always, I found a time to mention this to Roly, who was puzzled and flattered. "Can't imagine why he said that," was his comment; "but there's something about him that rouses more than ordinary curiosity in me. He's terribly like someone I've known, but I can't say who it is. And I'm fascinated by his crusty defence of old Tresize and his wife. I know a bit about Sir John that puts him in a very different light from the rosy glow Magnus spreads over his memories. These recollections of old actors, you know—awful old hams, most of them. It's the most perishable of the arts. Have you ever had the experience of seeing a film you saw thirty or even forty years ago and thought wonderful? Avoid it, I urge you. Appallingly disillusioning. One remembers something that never had any reality. No, old actors should be let die."
"What about old conjurors?" I said; "why _Hommage_? Why don't you leave Robert-Houdin in his grave?"
"That's precisely where he is. You don't think this film we're making is really anything like the old boy, do you? With every modern technique at our command, and Jurgen Lind sifting every shot through his own marvellously contemporary concept of magic—no, no, if you could be whisked back in time and see Robert-Houdin you'd see something terribly tacky in comparison with what we're offering. He's just a peg on which Jurgen is hanging a fine modern creation. We need all the research and reconstruction and whatnot to produce something inescapably contemporary; a paradox, but that's how it is."
"Then you believe that there is no time but the present moment, and that everything in the past is diminished by the simple fact that it is irrecoverable? I suppose there's a name for that point of view, but at present I can't put my tongue to it."
"Yes, that's pretty much what I believe. Eisengrim's raptures about Sir John and Milady interest me as a phenomenon of the present; I'm fascinated that he should think as he does at this moment, and put so much feeling into expressing what he feels. I can't be persuaded for an instant that those two old spooks were anything very special."
"You realize, of course, that you condemn yourself to the same treatment? You've done some work that people have admired and admire still. Are you agreed that it should be judged as you judge Magnus's idols?"
"Of course. Let it all go! I'll have my whack and that'll be the end of me. I don't expect any yellow roses on my monument. Nor a monument, as a matter of fact. But I'm keenly interested in other monument-worshippers. Magnus loves the past simply because it feeds his present, and that's all there is to it. It's the piety and ancestor-worship of a chap who, as he's told us, had a nasty family and a horrid childhood and has had to dig up a better one. Before he's finished he'll tell us the Tresizes were his real parents, or his parents in art, or something of that sort. Want to bet?"
I never bet, and I wouldn't have risked money on that, because I thought that Ingestree was probably right.
(5)
Our last day was a Saturday, and the three film-makers appeared in time for lunch at the Savoy. Liesl had arranged that we should have one of the good tables looking out over the Embankment, and it was a splendid autumn day. The light, as it fell on our table, could not have been improved on by Kinghovn himself. Magnus never ate very much, and today he confined himself to some cold beef and a dish of rice pudding. It gave him a perverse pleasure to order these nursery dishes in restaurants where other people gorged on luxuries, and he insisted that the Savoy served the best rice pudding in London. The others ate heartily, Ingestree with naked and rather touching relish, Kinghovn like a man who has not seen food for a week, and Lind with a curious detachment, as though he were eating to oblige somebody else, and did not mean to disappoint them. Liesl was in one of her ogress moods and ordered steak tartare, which seemed to me no better than raw meat. I had the set lunch; excellent value.
"You spoke of Tresize's egoism when last we dealt with the subtext," said Lind, champing his great jaws on a lamb chop.
"I did, and I may have misled you. Shortly after I had my talk with Milady, we stopped rehearsing at the Crown and Two Chairmen, and moved into the theatre where _Scaramouche_ was to appear. It was the Globe. We needed a theatre with plenty of backstage room because it was a pretty elaborate show. Sir John still held to the custom of opening in London with a new piece; no out-of-town tour to get things shaken down. It was an eye-opener to me to walk into a theatre that was better than the decrepit vaudeville houses where I had appeared with Willard; there was a discipline and a formality I had never met with. I was hired as an assistant stage manager (with a proviso that I should act 'as cast' if required) and I had everything to learn about the job. Luckily old Macgregor was a patient and thorough teacher. I had lots to do. That was before the time when the stagehands' union was strict about people who were not members moving and arranging things, and some of my work was heavy. I was on good terms with the stage crew at once, and I quickly found out that this put a barrier between me and the actors, although I had to become a member of Actors' Equity. But I was 'crew', and although everybody was friendly I was not quite on the level of 'company'. What was I? I was necessary, and even important, to the play, but I found out that my name was to appear on the programme simply as Macgregor's assistant. I had no place in the list of the cast.
"Yet I was rehearsed carefully, and it seemed to me that I was doing well. I was trying to capture Sir John's rhythm, and now, to my surprise, he was helping me. We spent quite a lot of time on Two, two. I did my juggling with my back to the audience, but as I was to wear a costume identical with Sir John's, the audience would assume that was who I was, if I could bring off another sort of resemblance.
"That was an eye-opener. I was vaudeville trained, and my one idea of stage deportment was to be fast and gaudy. That wasn't Sir John's way at all. 'Deliberately: deliberately,' he would say, over and over again. 'Let them see what you're doing. Don't be flashy and confusing. Do it like this.' And then he would caper across the stage, making motions like a man juggling plates, but at a pace I thought impossibly slow. 'It's not keeping the plates in the air that's important,' he would say. 'Of course you can do that. It's being Scaramouche that's important. It's the character you must get across. Eh? You understand the character, don't you? Eh? Have you looked at the Callots?'
"No, I hadn't looked at the Callots, and didn't know what they were. 'Here m'boy; look here,' he said, showing me some funny little pictures of people dressed as Scaramouche, and Polichinelle and other Commedia characters. 'Get it like that! Make that real! You must be a Callot in motion!'
"It was new and hard work for me to catch the idea of making myself like a picture, but I was falling under Sir John's spell and was ready to give it a try. So I capered and pointed my toes, and struck exaggerated postures like the little pictures, and did my best.
" 'Hands! Hands!' he would shout, warningly, when I had my work cut out to make the plates dance. 'Not like hooks, m'boy, like this! See! Keep 'em like this!' And then he would demonstrate what he wanted, which was a queer trick for a juggler, because he wanted me to hold my hands with the little finger and the forefinger extended, and the two middle fingers held together. It looked fine as he did it, but it wasn't my style at all. And all the time he kept me dancing with my toes stuck out and my heels lifted, and he wanted me to get into positions which even I could see were picturesque, but couldn't copy.
" 'Sorry, Sir John,' I said one day. 'It's just that it feels a bit loony.'
" 'Aha, you're getting it at last!' he shouted, and for the first time he smiled at me. 'That's what I want! I want it a bit loony. Like Scaramouche, you see. Like a charlatan in a travelling show.'
"I could have told him a few things about charlatans in travelling shows, and the way their looniness takes them, but it wouldn't have done. I see now that it was Romance he was after, not realism, but it was all a mystery to me then. I don't think I was a slow learner, and in our second rehearsal in the theatre, where we had the plates, and the cloaks, and the tightrope to walk, I got my first real inkling of what it was all about, and where I was wrong and Sir John—in terms of Romance—was right.
"I told you I had to caper across the tightrope, as Scaramouche escaping from the angry aristocrats. I was high above their heads, and as I had only about thirty feet to go, at the farthest, I had to take quite a while over it while pretending to be quick. Sir John wanted the rope—it was a wire, really—to be slackish, so that it rocked and swayed. Apparently that was the Callot style. For balance I carried a long stick that I was supposed to have snatched from Polichinelle. I was doing it circus-fashion, making it look as hard as possible, but that wouldn't do: I was to rock on the wire, and be very much at ease, and when I was halfway across the stage I was to thumb my nose at the Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr, my chief enemy. I could thumb my nose. Not the least trouble. But the way I did it didn't please Sir John. 'Like this,' he would say, and put an elegant thumb to his long, elegant nose, and twiddle the fingers. I did it several times, and he shook his head. Then an idea seemed to strike him.
" 'M'boy, what does that gesture mean to you?' he asked, fixing me with a lustrous brown eye.
" 'Kiss my arse, Sir John,' said I, bashfully: I wasn't sure he would know such a rude word. He looked grave, and shook his head slowly from side to side three or four times.
" 'You have the essence of it, but only in the sense that the snail on the garden wall is the essence of _Escargots à la Niçoise._ What you convey by that gesture is all too plainly the grossly derisive invitation expressed by your phrase, Kiss my arse; it doesn't even get as far as _Baisez mon cul._ What I want is a Rabelaisian splendour of contempt linked with a Callotesque elegance of grotesquerie. What it boils down to is that you're not thinking it right. You're thinking Kiss my arse with a strong American accent, when what you ought to be thinking is—' and suddenly, though he was standing on the stage, he swayed perilously and confidently as though he were on the wire, and raised one eyebrow and opened his mouth in a grin like a leering wolf, and allowed no more than the tip of a very sharp red tongue to loll out on his lips and there it was! Kiss my arse _with class_ , and God knows how many years of actor's technique and a vivid memory of Henry Irving all backing it up.
" 'I think I get it,' I said, and had a try. He was pleased. Again. Better pleased. 'You're getting close,' he said; 'now, tell me what you're thinking when you do that? Mph? Kiss my arse, quonk? But what kind of Kiss my arse? Quonk? Quonk?'
"I didn't know what to tell him, but I couldn't be silent. 'Not Kiss my arse at all,' I said.
" 'What then? What are you thinking? Eh? You must be thinking something, because you're getting what I want. Tell me what it is?'
"Better be truthful, I thought. He sees right into me and he'll spot a lie at once. I took my courage in my hand. 'I was thinking that I must be born again,' I said. 'Quite right, m'boy; born again and born different, as Mrs Poyser very wisely said,' was Sir John's comment. (Who was Mrs Poyser? I suppose it's the kind of thing Ramsay knows.)
"Born again! I'd always thought of it, when I thought about it at all, as a spiritual thing; you went through a conversion, or you found Christ, or whatever it was, and from that time you were different and never looked back. But to get inside Sir John I had to be born again physically, and if the spiritual trick is harder than that, Heaven must be thinly populated. I spent hours capering about in quiet places offstage, whenever Macgregor didn't need me, trying to be like Sir John, trying to get style even into Kiss my arse. What was the result? Next time we rehearsed Two, two, I was awful. I nearly dropped a plate, and for a juggler that's a shattering experience. (Don't laugh! I don't mean it as a joke.) But worse was to come. At the right moment I stepped out on the swaying wire, capered toward middle stage, thumbed my nose at Gordon Barnard, who was playing the Marquis, lost my balance, and fell off; Duparc's training stood by me, and I caught the wire with my hands, swung in mid-air for a couple of seconds, and then heaved myself back up and got my footing, and scampered to the opposite side. The actors who were rehearsing that day applauded, but I was destroyed with shame, and Sir John was grinning exactly like Scaramouche, with an inch of red tongue between his lips.
" 'Don't think they'll quite accept you as me if you do that, m'boy,' said he. 'Eh, Holroyd? Eh, Barnard? Quonk? Try it again.'
"I tried it again, and didn't fall, but I knew was I hopeless; I hadn't found Sir John's style and I was losing my own. After another bad try Sir John moved on to another scene, but Milady beckoned me away into a box, from which she was watching the rehearsal. I was full of apologies.
" 'Of course you fell,' she said. 'But it was a good fall. Laudable pus, I call it. You're learning.'
"Laudable pus! What in God's name did she mean! I thought I would never get used to Milady's lingo. But she saw the bewilderment in my face, and explained.
" 'It's a medical expression. Out of fashion now, I expect. But my grandfather was rather a distinguished physician and he used it often. In those days, you know, when someone had a wound, they couldn't heal it as quickly as they do now; they dressed it and probed it every few days to see how it was getting on. If it was healing well, from the bottom, there was a lot of nasty stuff near the surface, and that was evidence of proper healing. They called it laudable pus. I know you're trying your very best to please Sir John, and it means a sharp wound to your own personality. As the wound heals, you will be nearer what we all want. But meanwhile there's laudable pus, and it shows itself in clumsiness and falls. When you get your new style, you'll understand what I mean.'
"Had I time to get a new style before the play opened? I was worried sick, and I suppose it showed, because when he had a chance old Frank Moore had a word with me.
" 'You're trying to catch the Guvnor's manner and you aren't making a bad fist of it, but there are one or two things you haven't noticed. You're an acrobat, good enough to walk the slackwire, but you're tight as a drum. Look at the Guvnor: he hasn't a taut muscle in his body, nor a slack one, either. He's in easy control all the time. Have you noticed him standing still? When he listens to another actor, have you seen how still he is? Look at you now, listening to me; you bob about and twist and turn and nod your head with enough energy to turn a windmill. But it's all waste, y'see. If we were in a scene, you'd be killing half the value of what I say with all that movement. Just try to sit still. Yes, there you go; you're not still at all, you're frozen. Stillness isn't looking as if you were full of coiled springs. It's repose. Intelligent repose. That's what the Guvnor has. What I have, too, as a matter of fact. What Barnard has. What Milady has. I suppose you think repose means asleep, or dead.
" 'Now look, my lad, and try to see how it's done. It's mostly your back. Got to have a good strong back, and let it do ninety per cent of the work. Forget legs. Look at the Guvnor hopping around when he's being Scaramouche. He's nippier on his pins than you are. Look at me. I'm real old, but I bet I can dance a hornpipe better than you can. Look at this! Can you do a double shuffle like that? That's legs, to look at, but it's back in reality. Strong back. Don't pound down into the floor at every step. Forget legs.
" 'How do you get a strong back? Well, it's hard to describe it, but once you get the feel of it you'll see what I'm talking about. The main thing is to trust your back and forget you have a front; don't stick out your chest or your belly; let 'em look after themselves. Trust your back and lead from your back. And just let your head float on top of your neck. You're all made of whipcord and wire. Loosen it up and take it easy. But not slump, mind! Easy.'
"Suddenly the old man grabbed me by the neck and seemed about to throttle me. I jerked away, and he laughed. 'Just as I said, you're all wire. When I touch your neck you tighten up like a spring. Now you try to strangle me.' I seized him by the neck, and I thought his poor old head would come off in my hands; he sank to the floor, moaning, 'Nay, spare m' life!' Then he laughed like an old loony, because I suppose I looked horrified. 'D'you see? I just let myself go and trusted to my back. You work on that for a while and bob's your uncle; you'll be fit to act with the Guvnor.'
" 'How long do you think it will take?' I said. 'Oh, ten or fifteen years should see you right,' said old Frank, and walked away, still chuckling at the trick he had played on me.
"I had no ten or fifteen years. I had a week, and much of that was spent slaving for Macgregor, who kept me busy with lesser jobs while he and Holroyd fussed about the scenery and trappings for _Scaramouche._ I had never seen such scenery as the stage crew began to rig from the theatre grid; the vaudeville junk I was used to didn't belong in the same world with it. The production had all been painted by the Harker Brothers, from designs by a painter who knew exactly what Sir John wanted. It was a revelation to me then, but now I understand that it owed much to prints and paintings of France during the Revolutionary period, and a quality of late-eighteenth-century detail had been used in it, apparently in a careless and half-hidden spirit, but adding up to pictures that supported and explained the play just as did the handsome costumes. People are supposed not to like scenery now, but it could be heart-stirring stuff when it was done with love by real theatre artists.
"The first act setting was in the yard of an inn, and when it was all in place I swear you could smell the horses, and the sweet air from the fields. Nowadays they fuss a lot about light in the theatre, and even stick a lot of lamps in plain sight of the audience, so you won't miss how artistic they are being; but Sir John didn't trouble about light in that way—the subtle effects of light were painted on the scenery, so you knew at once what time of day it was by the way the shadows fell, and what the electricians did was to illuminate the actors, and Sir John in particular.
"During all the years I worked with Sir John there was one standing direction for the electricians that was so well understood Macgregor hardly had to mention it: when the play began all lights were set at two-thirds of their power, and when Sir John was about to make his entrance they were gradually raised to full power, so that as soon as he came on the stage the audience had the sensation of seeing—and therefore understanding—much more clearly than before. Egoism, I suppose, and a little hard on the supporting actors, but Sir John's audiences wanted him to be wonderful and he did whatever was necessary to make sure that he damned well was wonderful.
"Ah, that scenery! In the last act, which was in the salon of a great aristocratic house in Paris, there were large windows at the back, and outside those windows you saw a panorama of Paris at the time of the Revolution that conveyed, by means I don't pretend to understand, the spirit of a great and beautiful city under appalling stress. The Harkers did it with colour; it was mostly in reddish browns highlighted with rose, and shadowed in a grey that was almost black. Busy as I was, I still found time to gape at that scenery as it was assembled.
"Costumes, too. Everybody had been fitted weeks before, but when the clothes were all assembled, and the wig-man had done his work, and the actors began to appear in carefully arranged ensembles in front of that scenery, things became clear that I had missed completely at rehearsals: things like the relation of one character to another, and of one class to another, and the Callot spirit of the travelling actors against the apparently everyday clothes of inn-servants and other minor people, and the superiority and unquestioned rank of the aristocrats. Above all, of the unquestioned supremacy of Sir John, because, though his clothes were not gorgeous, like those of Barnard as the Marquis, they had a quality of style that I did not understand until I had tried them on myself. Because, you see, as his double, I had to have a costume exactly like his when he appeared as the charlatan Scaramouche, and the first time I put it on I thought there must be some mistake, because it didn't seem to fit at all. Sir John showed me what to do about that.
" 'Don't try to drag your sleeves down m'boy; they're intended to be short, to show your hands to advantage, mphm? Keep 'em up, like this, and if you use your hands the way I showed you, everything will fit, eh? And your hat—it's not meant to keep off the rain, m'boy, but to show your face against the inside of the brim, quonk? Your breeches aren't too tight; they're not to sit down in—I don't pay you to sit down in costume—but to stand up in, and show off your legs. Never shown your legs off before, have you? I thought as much. Well, learn to show 'em off now, and not like a bloody chorus-girl either, but like a man. Use 'em in masculine postures, but not like a butcher boy either, and if you aren't proud of your legs they're going to look damned stupid, eh, when you're walking across the stage on that rope.'
"I was green as grass. Naive, though I didn't know the word at that time. It was very good for me to feel green. I had begun to think I knew all there was about the world, and particularly the performing world, because I had won in the struggle to keep alive in Wanless's World of Wonders, and in _Le grand Cirque forain de St Vite._ I had even dared in my heart to think I knew more about the world of travelling shows than Sir John. Of course I was right, because I knew a scrap of the reality. But he knew something very different, which was what the public wants to think the world of travelling shows is like. I possessed a few hard-won facts, but he had artistic imagination. My job was somehow to find my way into his world, and take a humble, responsible part in it.
"Little by little it dawned on me that I was important to _Scaramouche;_ my two short moments, when I juggled the plates, and walked the wire and thumbed my nose at the Marquis, added a cubit to the stature of the character Sir John was creating. I had also to swallow the fact that I was to do that without anybody knowing it. Of course the public would tumble to the fact that Sir John, who was getting on for sixty, had not learned juggling and wire-walking since last they saw him, but they wouldn't understand it until they had been thrilled by the spectacle, apparently, of the great man doing exactly those things. I was anonymous and at the same time conspicuous.
"I had to have a name. Posters with the names of the actors were already in place outside the theatre, but in the programme I must appear as Macgregor's assistant, and I must be called something. Holroyd mentioned it now and again. My name at that time, Jules LeGrand, wouldn't do. Too fancy and, said Holroyd, a too obvious fake.
"Here again I was puzzled. Jules LeGrand an obvious fake? What about the names of some of the other members of the company? What about Eugene Fitzwarren, who had false teeth and a wig and, I would bet any money, a name that he had not been born to? What about C. Pengelly Spickernell, a withered, middle-aged fruit, whose eyes sometimes rested warmly on my legs, when Sir John was talking about them. Had any parents, drunk or sober, with such a surname as Spickernell, ever christened a child Cuthbert Pengelly? And if it came to fancy sounds, what about Milady's stage name? Annette de la Borderie? Macgregor assured me that it was indeed her own, and that she came from the Channel Islands, but why was it credible when Jules LeGrand was not?
"Of course I was too green to know that I did not stand on the same footing as the other actors. I was just a trick, a piece of animated scenery, when I was on the stage. Otherwise I was Macgregor's assistant, and none too experienced at the job, and a grand name did not befit my humble station. What was I to be called?
"The question was brought to a head by Holroyd, who approached, not me, but Macgregor, in a break between an afternoon and evening rehearsal during the final week of preparation. I was at hand, but obviously not important to the discussion. 'What are you going to call your assistant, Mac?' said Holroyd. 'Time's up. He's got to have a name.' Macgregor looked solemn. 'I've given it careful thought,' he said, 'and I think I've found the verra word for him. Y'see, what's he to the play? He's Sir John's double. That and no more. A shadow, you might say. But can you call him Shadow? Nunno: absurd! And takes the eye, which is just what we don't want to do. So where do we turn—' Holroyd broke in here, because he was apt to be impatient when Macgregor had one of his explanatory fits. 'Why not call him Double? Dick Double! Now there's a good, simple name that nobody's going to notice.' 'Hut!' said Macgregor; 'that's a foolish name. Dick Double! It sounds like some fella in a pantomime!' But Holroyd was not inclined to give up his flight of fancy. 'Nothing wrong with Double,' he persisted. 'There's a Double in Shakespeare. _Henry IV_ , Part Two, don't you remember? Is Old Double dead? So there must have been somebody called Double. The more I think of it the better I like it. I'll put him down as Richard Double.' But Macgregor wouldn't have it. 'Nay, nay, you'll make the lad a figure of fun,' he said. 'Now listen to me, because I've worked it out verra carefully. He's a double. And what's a double? Well, in Scotland, when I was a boy, we had a name for such things. If a man met a creature like himself in a lane, or in town, maybe, in the dark, it was a sure sign of ill luck or even death. Not that I suggest anything of that kind here. Nunno; as I've often said Airt has her own rules, and they're not the rules of common life. Now: such an uncanny creature was called a fetch. And this lad's a fetch, and we can do no better than to name him Fetch.' By this time old Frank Moore joined the group, and he liked the sound of Fetch. 'But what first name will you tack on to it?' he said. 'I suppose he's got to be something Fetch? Can't be just naked, unaccommodated Fetch.' Macgregor closed his eyes and raised a fat hand. 'I've thought of that, also,' he said. 'Fetch being a Scots name, he'd do well to carry a Scots given name, for added authority. Now I've always had a fancy for the name Mungo. In my ear it has a verra firm sound. Mungo Fetch. Can we do better?' He looked around, for applause. But Holroyd was not inclined to agree; I think he was still hankering after Double. 'Sounds barbaric to me. A sort of cannibal-king name, to my way of thinking. If you want a Scotch name why don't you call him Jock?' Macgregor looked disgusted. 'Because Jock is not a name, but a diminutive, as everybody knows well. It is the diminutive of John. And John is not a Scots name. The Scots form of that name is Ian. If you want to call him Ian Fetch, I shall say no more. Though I consider Mungo a much superior solution to the problem.'
"Holroyd nodded at me, as if he and Macgregor and Frank Moore had been generously expending their time to do me a great favour. 'Mungo Fetch it's to be then, is it?' he said, and went about his business before I had time to collect my wits and say anything at all.
"That was my trouble. I was like someone living in a dream. I was active and occupied and heard what was said to me and responded reasonably, but nevertheless I seemed to be in a lowered state of consciousness. Otherwise, how could I have put up with a casual conversation that saddled me with a new name—and a name nobody in his right mind would want to possess? But not since my first days in Wanless's World of Wonders had I been so little in command of myself, so little aware of what fate was doing to me. It was as if I were being thrust toward something I did not know by something I could not see. Part of it was love, for I was beglamoured by Milady and barely had sense enough to understand that my state was as hopeless as it could possibly be, and that my passion was in every way absurd. Part of it must have been physical, because I was getting a pretty good regular wage, and could eat better than I had done for several months. Part of it was just astonishment at the complex business of getting a play on the stage, which presented me with some new marvel every day.
"As Macgregor's assistant I had to be everywhere and consequently I saw everything. Because of my mechanical bent I took pleasure in all the mechanism of a fine theatre, and wanted to know how the flymen and scene-shifters organized their work, how the electrician contrived his magic, and how Macgregor controlled it all with signal-lights from his little cubby-hole on the left-hand side of the stage, just inside the proscenium. I had to make up the call-lists, so that the call-boy—who was no boy but older than myself—could warn the actors when they were wanted on stage five minutes before each entrance. I watched Macgregor prepare his Prompt Book, which was an interleaved copy of the play, with every cue for light, sound, and action entered into it; he was proud of his books, and marked them in a fine round hand, in inks of different colours, and every night the book was carefully locked in a safe in his little office. I helped the property-man prepare his lists of everything that was needed in the play, so that a mass of materials from snuffboxes to hay-forks could be organized on the property-tables in the wings; my capacity to make or mend fiddling little bits of mechanism made me a favourite with him. Indeed the property-man and I worked up a neat little performance as a flock of hens who were heard clucking in the wings when the curtain rose on the inn scene. It was my job to hand C. Pengelly Spickernell the trumpet on which he sounded a fanfare just before the travelling-cart of the Commedia dell' Arte players made its entrance into the inn-yard; to hand it to him and recover it later, and shake C. Pengelly's spit out of it before putting it back on the property-table. There seemed to be no end to my duties.
"I had also to learn to make up my face for my brief appearance. Vaudevillian that I was, I had been accustomed to colour my face a vivid shade of salmon, and touch up my eyebrows; I had never made up my neck or my hands in my life. I quickly learned that something more subtle was expected by Sir John; his make-up was elaborate, to disguise some signs of age but even more to throw his best features into prominence. Eric Foss, a very decent fellow in the company, showed me what to do, and it was from him I learned that Sir John's hands were always coloured an ivory shade, and that his ears were liberally touched up with carmine. Why red ears, I wanted to know. 'The Guvnor thinks it gives an appearance of health,' said Foss, 'and make sure you touch up the insides of your nostrils with the same colour, because it makes your eyes look bright.' I didn't understand it, but I did as I was told.
"Make-up was a subject on which every actor had strong personal opinions. Gordon Barnard took almost an hour to put on his face, transforming himself from a rather ordinary-looking chap into a strikingly handsome man. Reginald Charlton, on the other hand, was of the modern school and used as little make-up as possible, because he said it made the face into a mask, and inexpressive. Grover Paskin, our comedian, put on paint almost with a trowel, and worked like a Royal Academician building up warts and nobbles and tufts of hair on his rubbery old mug. Eugene Fitzwarren strove for youth, and took enormous pains making his eyes big and lustrous, and putting white stuff on his false teeth so that they would flash to his liking.
"Old Frank Moore was the most surprising of the lot, because he had become an actor when water colours were used for make-up instead of the modern greasepaints. He washed his face with care, powdered it dead white, and then applied artist's paints out of a large Reeves' box, with fine brushes, until he had the effect he wanted. In the wings he looked as if his face were made of china, but under the lights the effect was splendid. I particularly marvelled at the way he put shadows where he wanted them by drawing the back of a lead spoon over the the hollows of his eyes and cheeks. It wasn't good for his skin, and he had a hide like an alligator in private life, but it was certainly good for the stage, and he was immensely proud of the fact that Irving, who made up in the same way, had once complimented him on his art.
"So, working fourteen hours a day, but nevertheless in a dream, I made my way through the week of the final dress rehearsal, and something happened there that changed my life. I did my stage manager's work in costume, but with a long white coat over it, to keep it clean, and when Two, two came I had to whip it off, pop on my hat, take a final look in the full-length mirror just offstage in the corridor, and dash back to the wings to be ready for my plate-juggling moment. That went as rehearsed, but when it was time for my second appearance, walking the rope, I forgot something. During the scene when André-Louis made his revolutionary speech, he began by taking off his hat, and thrusting his Scaramouche mask up on his forehead. It was a half-mask, coming down to the mouth only; it was coloured a rosy red, and had a very long nose, just as Callot would have drawn it. When Sir John thrust it up on his brow, revealing his handsome, intent revolutionary's face, extremely picturesque, it was a fine accent of colour, and the long nose seemed to add to his height. But when I appeared on the rope I was to have the mask pulled down, and when I made my contemptuous gesture toward the Marquis it was the long red nose of the mask I was to thumb.
"I managed very well till it came to the nose-thumbing bit, when I realized with horror that it was my own nose flesh I was thumbing. I had forgotten the mask! Unforgivable! So as soon as I could get away from Macgregor during the interval for the scene-change, I rushed to find Sir John and make my apologies. He had gone out into the stalls of the theatre, and was surrounded by a group of friends, who were congratulating him in lively tones, and I didn't need to listen for long to find out that it was his performance on the rope they were talking about. So I crept away, and waited till he came backstage again. Then I approached him and said my humble say.
"Milady was with him and she said, 'Jack, you'd be mad to throw it away. It's a gift from God. If it fooled Reynolds and Lucy Bellamy it will fool anyone. They've known you for years, and it deceived them completely. You must let him do it.' But Sir John was not a man to excuse anything, even a happy accident, and he fixed me with a stern eye. 'Do you swear that was by accident? You weren't presuming? Because I won't put up with any presumption from a member of my company.' 'Sir John, I swear on the soul of my mother it was a mistake,' I said. (Odd that I should have said that, but it was a very serious oath of Zovene's, and I needed something serious at that moment; actually, at the time I spoke, my mother was living and whatever Ramsay says to the contrary, her soul was in bad repair.) 'Very well,' said Sir John, 'we'll keep it in. In future, when you walk the rope, wear your mask up on your head, as I do mine. And you'd better come to me for a lesson in make-up. You look like Guy Fawkes. And bear in mind that this is not to be a precedent. Any other clever ideas that come to you you'd be wise to suppress. I don't encourage original thought in my productions.' He looked angry as he walked away. I wanted to thank Milady for intervening on my behalf, but she was off to make a costume change.
"When I went back to Macgregor I thought he looked at me very queerly. 'You're a lucky laddie, Mungo Fetch,' said he, 'but don't press your luck too hard. Many a small talent has come to grief that way.' I asked him what he meant, but he just made his Scotch noise—'Hut'—and went on with his work.
"I don't think I would have dared to carry the matter any further if Holroyd and Frank Moore had not borne down on Macgregor after the last act. 'What do you think of your Mungo now?' said Frank, and once again they began to talk exactly as if I were not standing beside them, busy with a time-sheet. 'I think it would have been better to give him another name,' said Macgregor; 'a fetch is an uncanny thing, and I don't want anything uncanny in any theatre where I am in a place of responsibility.' But Holroyd was as near buoyant as I ever saw him. 'Uncanny, my eye,' he said; 'it's the cherry on the top of the cake. The Guvnor's close friends were deceived. _Coup de théâtre_ they called it; that's French for a bloody good wheeze.' 'You don't need to tell me it's French,' said Macgregor. 'I've no use for last-minute inspirations and unrehearsed effects. Amateurism, that's what that comes to.'
"I couldn't be quiet. 'Mr. Macgregor, I didn't mean to do it,' I said; 'I swear it on the soul of my mother.' 'All right, all right, I believe you without your Papist oaths,' said Macgregor, 'and I'm just telling you not to presume on the resemblance any further, or you'll be getting a word from me.' 'What resemblance?' I said. 'Don't talk to us as if we're fools, m'boy,' said old Frank. 'You know damned well you're the living image of the Guvnor in that outfit. Or the living image of him when I first knew him, I'd better say. Don't you hear what's said to you? Didn't I tell you a fortnight ago? You're as like the Guvnor as if you were spit out of his mouth. You're his fetch, right enough.' 'Dinna say that,' shouted Macgregor, becoming very broad in his Scots; 'haven't I told you it's uncanny?' But I began to understand, and I was as horrified as Macgregor. The impudence of it! Me, looking like the Guvnor! 'What'd I better do?' I said, and Holroyd and old Frank laughed like a couple of loonies. 'Just be tactful, that's all,' said Holroyd. 'It's very useful. You're the best double the Guvnor's ever had, and it'll be a livelihood to you for quite a while, I dare say. But be tactful.'
"Easy to tell me to be tactful. When your soul is blasted by a sudden uprush of pride, it's cruel hard work to be tactful. Within an hour my sense of terrible impertinence in daring to look like the Guvnor had given way to a bloating vanity. Sir John was handsome, right enough, but thousands of men are handsome. He was something far beyond that. He had a glowing splendour that made him unike anybody else—except me, it appeared, when the circumstances were right. I won't say he had distinction, because the word has been chewed to death to describe all kinds of people who simply look frozen. Take almost any politician and put a special cravat on him and stick a monocle in his eye and he becomes the distinguished Sir Nincome Poop, M.P. Sir John wasn't frozen and his air of splendour had nothing to do with oddity. I suppose living and breathing Romance through a long career had a great deal to do with it, but it can't have been the whole thing. And I was his fetch! I hadn't really understood it when Moore and Holroyd had told me in the Crown and Two Chairmen that I looked like him. I knew I was of the same height, and we were built much the same—shorter than anybody wants to be, but with a length of leg that made the difference between being small and being stumpy. In my terrible clothes and with my flash, carnie's ways—outward evidence of the life I had led and the kind of thinking it begot in me—I never thought the resemblance went beyond a reasonable facsimile. But when Sir John and I were on equal terms—dressed and wigged alike, against the same scenery and under the same lights, and lifted into the high sweet air of Romance—his friends had been deceived by the likeness. That was a stupefying drink for Paul Dempster, alias Cass Fletcher, alias Jules LeGrand—cheap people, every one of them. Ask me to be tactful in the face of that! Ask the Prince of Wales to call you a taxi!
"With the first night at hand my new vanity would not have been noticed, even if I had been free to display it. Our opening was exciting, but orderly. Macgregor, splendid in a dinner jacket, was a perfect field officer and everything happened smartly on cue. Sir John's first entrance brought the expected welcome from the audience, and in my new role as a great gentleman of the theatre I watched carefully while he accepted it. He did it in the old style, though I didn't know that at the time: as he walked swiftly down the steps from the inn, calling for the ostler, he paused as though surprised at the burst of clapping; 'My dear friends, is this generosity truly for me?' he seemed to be saying, and then, as the applause reached its peak, he gave the least perceptible bow, not looking toward the house, but keeping within the character of André-Louis Moreau, and began calling once more, which brought silence. Easy to describe, but no small thing to do, as I learned when my time came to do it myself. Only the most accomplished actors know how to manage applause, and I was lucky to learn it from a great master.
"Milady was welcomed in the same way, but her entrance was showy, as his was not—except, of course, for that little vanity of the lighting, which was a great help. She came on with the troupe of strolling players, and it couldn't have failed. There was C. Pengelly Spickernell on the trumpet, to begin with, and a lot of excited shouting from the inn-servants, and then further shouting from the Italian Comedians, as they strutted onstage with their travelling-wagon; Grover Paskin led on the horse that pulled the cart, and it was heaped high with drums and gaudy trunks, baskets and rolls of flags, and on the top of the heap sat Milady, making more racket than anybody as she waved a banner in the air. It would have brought a round from a Presbyterian General Assembly. The horse alone was a sure card, because an animal on the stage gives an air of opulence to a play no audience can resist, and this stage horse was famous Old Betsy, who did not perhaps remember Garrick but who had been in so many shows that she was an admired veteran. My heart grew big inside me at the wonder of it, as I watched from the wings, and my eyes moistened with love.
"They were not too moist to notice one or two things that followed. The other women in the troupe of players walked on foot. How slim they looked, and I saw that Milady, with every aid of costume, was not slim. How fresh and pretty they looked, and Milady, though extraordinary, was not fresh nor pretty. When Eugene Fitzwarren gave her his arm to descend from the cart I could not help seeing that she came down on the stage heavily, with an audible plop that she tried to cover with laughter, and the ankles she showed were undeniably thick. All right, I thought, in my fierce loyalty, what of it? She could act rings around any of them, and did it. But she was not young, and if I had been driven to the last extreme of honesty I should have had to admit that she was like nothing in the heavens above, nor in the earth beneath, nor in the waters under the earth. I only loved her the more, and yearned for her to show how marvellous she was, though—it had to be faced—too old for Climene. She was supposed to be the daughter of old Frank Moore as Polichinelle, but I fear she looked more like his frivolous sister.
"It was not until I read the book, years later, that I found out what sort of woman Sabatini meant Climene to be. She was a child just on the verge of love whose ambition was to find a rich protector and make the best bargain for her beauty. That wasn't in Milady's range, physically or temperamentally, for there was nothing calculating or cheap about her. So, by patient re-writing of the lines during rehearsals, she became a witty, large-hearted actress, as young as the audience would believe her to be, but certainly no child, and no beauty. Or should I say that? She had a beauty all her own, of that rare kind that only great comic actresses have; she had beauty of voice, boundless charm of manner, and she made you feel that merely pretty women were lesser creatures. She had also I cannot tell how many decades of technique behind her, because she had begun her career when she really was a child, in Irving's Lyceum, and she could make even an ordinary line sound like wit.
"I saw all of that, and felt it through and through me like the conviction of religion, but still, alas, I saw that she was old, and eccentric, and there was a courageous pathos about what she was doing.
"I was bursting with loyalty—a new and disturbing emotion for me—and Two, two went just as Sir John wanted it. My reward was that when I appeared on the tightrope there was an audible gasp from the house, and the curtain came down to great applause and even a few cries of Bravo. They were for Sir John; of course I knew that and wished it to be so. But I was aware that without me that climax would have been a lesser achievement.
"The play went on, it seemed to me, from triumph to triumph, and the last act, in Madame de Plougastel's salon, shook me as it had never done in rehearsal. When André-Louis Moreau, now a leader in the Revolution, was told by the tearful Madame de Plougastel that she was his mother and that his evil genius, the Marquis de la Tour d'Azyr, was his father—this revelation drawn from her only when Moreau had his enemy at the sword's point—it seemed to me drama could go no higher. The look that came over Sir John's face of disillusion and defeat, before he burst into Scaramouche's mocking laugh, I thought the perfection of acting. And so it was. It wouldn't do now—quite out of fashion—but if you're going to act that kind of thing, that's the way to do it.
"Lots of curtain calls. Flowers for Milady and some for Adele Chesterton, who had not been very good but who was so pretty you wanted to eat her with a silver spoon. Sir John's speech, which I came to know very well, in which he declared himself and Milady to be the audience's 'most obedient, most devoted, and most humble servants'. Then the realities of covering the furniture with dust-sheets, covering the tables of properties, checking the time-sheet with Macgregor, and watching him hobble off to put the prompt-copy to bed in the safe. Then taking off my own paint, with a feeling of exaltation and desolation combined, as if I had never been so happy before, and would certainly never be so happy again.
"It was never the custom in that company to sit up and wait to see what the newspapers said; I think that was always more New York's style than London's. But when I went to the theatre the following afternoon to attend to some duties, all the reports were in but those of the great Sunday thunderers, which were very important indeed. Most of the papers said kind things, but even I sensed something about these criticisms that I could have wished otherwise expressed, or not said at all. 'Unabashed romanticism... proof positive that the Old School is still vital... dear, familiar situations, resolved in the manner hallowed by romance... Sir John's perfect command shows no sign of diminution with the years... Lady Tresize brings a wealth of experience to a role which, in younger hands, might have seemed contrived... Sabatini is a gift to players who require the full-flavoured melodrama of an earlier day... where do we look today for acting of this scope and authority?'
"Among the notices there had been one, in the _News-Chronicle_ , where a clever new young man was on the job, which was downright bad. PITCHER GOES TOO OFTEN TO WELL, it was headed, and it said flatly that the Tresizes were old-fashioned and hammy, and should give way to the newer theatre.
"When the Sunday papers came, the _Observer_ took the same line as the dailies, as though they had been looking at something very fine, but through the wrong end of the binoculars; it made _Scaramouche_ seem small and very far away. James Agate, in the _Sunday Times_ , condemned the play, which he likened to clockwork, and used Sir John and Milady as sticks to beat modern actors who did not know how to speak or move, and were ill bred and brittle.
" 'Nothing there to pull 'em in,' I heard Holroyd saying to Macgregor.
"Nevertheless, we did pull 'em in for nearly ten weeks. Business was slack at the beginning of each week, and grew from Wednesday onward; matinees were usually sold out, chiefly to women from the suburbs, in town for a look at the shops and a play. But I knew from the gossip that business like that, in a London theatre, was covering running costs at best, and the expenses of production were still on the Guvnor's overdraft. He seemed cheerful, and I soon found out why. He was going to do the old actor-manager's trick and play _Scaramouche_ as long as it would last and then replace it 'by popular request' with a few weeks of his old war-horse, The _Master of Ballantrae_."
"Oh my God!" said Ingestree, and it seemed to me that he turned a little white.
"You remember this play?" said Lind.
"Vividly," said Roly.
"A very bad play?"
"I don't want to hurt the feelings of our friend here, who feels so strong about the Tresizes," said Ingestree. "It's just that _The Master of_ _Ballantrae_ coincided with rather a low point in my own career. I was finding my feet in the theatre, and it wasn't really the kind of thing I was looking for."
"Perhaps you would like me to pass over it," said Magnus, and although he was pretending to be solicitous I knew he was enjoying himself.
"Is it vital to your subtext?" said Ingestree, and he too was half joking.
"It is, really. But I don't want to give pain, my dear fellow."
"Don't mind me. Worse things have happened since."
"Perhaps I can be discreet," said Magnus. "You may rely on me to be as tactful as possible."
"For God's sake don't do that," said Ingestree. "In my experience tact is usually worse than the brutalities of truth. Anyhow, my recollections of that play can't be the same as yours. My troubles were mostly private."
"Then I shall go ahead. But please feel free to intervene whenever you feel like it. Put me right on matters of fact. Even on shades of opinion. I make no pretence of being an exact historian."
"Shoot the works," said Ingestree. "I'll be as still as a mouse. I promise."
"As you wish. Well— _The Master of Ballantrae_ was another of the Guvnor's romantic specials. It too was from a novel, by somebody-or-other—"
"By Robert Louis Stevenson," said Ingestree, in an undertone, "though you wouldn't have guessed it from what appeared on the stage. These adaptations! Butcheries would be a better word—"
"Shut up, Roly," said Kinghovn. "You said you'd be quiet."
"I'm no judge of what kind of adaptation it was," said Magnus, "because I haven't read the book and I don't suppose I ever will. But it was a good, tight, well-caulked melodrama, and people had been eating it up since the Guvnor first brought it out, which I gathered was something like thirty years before the time I'm talking about. I told you he was an experimenter and an innovator, in his day. Well, whenever he had lost a packet on Maeterlinck, or something new by Stephen Phillips, he would pull _The Master_ out of the storehouse and fill up the bank-account again. He could go to Birmingham, and Manchester, and Newcastle, and Glasgow, and Edinburgh or any big provincial town—and those towns had big theatres, not like the little pill-boxes in London—and pack 'em in with the _The Master._ Especially Edinburgh, because they seemed to take the play for their own. Macgregor told me, 'The _Master_ 's been a mighty get-penny for Sir John.' When you saw him in it you knew why it was so. It was made for him."
"It certainly was," said Ingestree. "Made for him out of the blood and bones of poor old Stevenson. I have no special affection for Stevenson, but he didn't deserve that."
"As you can see, it was a play that called forth strong feeling," said Magnus. "I never read it, myself, because Macgregor always held the prompt-copy and did the prompting himself, if anybody was so absurd as to need prompting. But of course I picked up the story as we rehearsed.
"It had a nice meaty plot. Took place in Scotland around the middle of the eighteenth century. There had been some sort of trouble—I don't know the details—and Scottish noblemen were divided in allegiance between Bonny Prince Charlie and the King of England. The play was about a family called Durie; the old Lord of Durrisdeer had two sons, the first-born being called the Master of Ballantrae and the younger being simply Mr Henry Durie. The old Lord decided on a sneaky compromise when the trouble came, and sent the Master off to fight for Bonny Charlie, while Mr Henry remained at home to be loyal to King George. On those terms, you see, the family couldn't lose, whichever way the cat jumped.
"The Master was a dashing, adventurous fellow, but essentially a crook, and he became a spy in Prince Charlie's camp, leaking information to the English: Mr Henry was a scholarly, poetic sort of chap, and he stayed at home and mooned after Miss Alison Graeme; she was the old Lord's ward, and of course she loved the dashing Master. When news came from the wars that the Master had been killed, she consented to marry Mr Henry as a matter of duty and to provide Durrisdeer with an heir. 'But ye ken she never really likit the fella,' as Macgregor explained it to me; her heart was always with the Master, alive or dead. But the Master wasn't dead; he wasn't the dying kind: he slipped away from the battle and became a pirate—not one of your low-living dirty-faced pirates, but a very classy privateer and spy. And so, when the troubles had died down and Bonny Charlie was out of the way, the Master came back to claim Miss Alison, and found that she was Mrs Henry, and the mother of a fine young laird.
"The Master tried to lure Miss Alison away from her husband: Mr Henry was noble about it, and he nobly kept mum about the Master having turned spy during the war. 'A verra strong situation,' as Macgregor said. Consequence, a lot of taunting talk from the Master, and an equal amount of noble endurance from Mr Henry, and at last a really good scene, of the kind Roly hates, but our audiences loved.
"The Master had picked up in his travels an Indian servant, called Secundra Dass; he knew a lot of those Eastern secrets that Western people believe in so religiously. When Mr Henry could bear things no longer, he had a fight with the Master, and seemed to kill him; but as I told you, the Master wasn't the dying kind. So he allowed himself to be buried, having swallowed his tongue (he'd learned that from Secundra Dass) and, as it said in the play, 'so subdued his vital forces that the spark of life, though burning low, was not wholly extinguished.' Mr Henry, tortured by guilt, confessed his crime to his wife and the old Lord, and led them to the grove of trees where the body was buried. When the servants dug up the corpse, it was no corpse at all, but the Master, in very bad shape; the tongue-trick hadn't worked quite as he expected—something to do with the chill of the Scottish climate, I expect—and he came to life only to cry, 'Murderer, Henry—false, false!' and drop dead, but not before Mr Henry shot himself. Thereupon the curtain came down to universal satisfaction.
"I haven't described it very respectfully. I feel irreverent vibrations coming to me from Roly, the way mediums do when there is an unbeliever at a seance. But I assure you that as the Guvnor acted it, the play compelled belief and shook you up pretty bad. The beauty of the old piece, from the Guvnor's point of view, was that it provided him with what actors used to call 'a dual role'. He played both the Master and
Mr Henry, to the huge delight of his audiences; his fine discrimination between the two characters gave extraordinary interest to the play.
"It also meant some neat work behind the scenes, because there were times when Mr Henry had barely left the stage before the Master came swaggering on through another door. Sir John's dresser was an expert at getting him out of one coat, waistcoat, boots, and wig and into another in a matter of seconds, and his characterization of the two men was so sharply differentiated that it was art of a very special kind.
"Twice, a double was needed, simply for a fleeting moment of illusion, and in the brief last scene the double was of uttermost importance, because it was he who stood with his back to the audience, as Mr Henry, while the Guvnor, as the Master, was being dug up and making his terrible accusation. Then—doubles don't usually get such opportunities—it was the double's job to put the gun to his head, fire it, and fall at the feet of Miss Alison, under the Master's baleful eye. And I say with satisfaction that as I was an unusually successful double—or dead spit, as old Frank Moore insisted on saying—I was allowed to fall so that the audience could see something of my face, instead of dying under suspicion of being somebody else.
"Rehearsals went like silk, because some of the cast were old hands, and simply had to brush up their parts. Frank Moore had played the old Lord of Durrisdeer scores of times, and Eugene Fitzwarren was a seasoned Secundra Dass; Gordon Barnard had played Burke, the Irishman, and built it up into a very good thing; C. Pengelly Spickernell fancied himself as Fond Barnie, a loony Scot who sang scraps of song, and Grover Paskin had a good funny part as a drunken butler; Emilia Pauncefort, who played Madame de Plougastel in _Scaramouche_ , loved herself as a Scots witch who uttered the dire Curse of Durrisdeer—
Twa Duries in Durrisdeer,
Ane to bide and ane to ride;
An ill day for the groom,
And a waur day for the bride.
And of course the role of Alison, the unhappy bride of Mr Henry and the pining adorer of the Master, had been played by Milady since the play was new.
"That was where the difficulty lay. Sir John was still great as the Master, and looked surprisingly like himself in his earliest photographs in that part, taken thirty years before; time had been rougher with Milady. Furthermore, she had developed an emphatic style of acting which was not unacceptable in a part like Climene but which could become a little strong as a high-bred Scots lady.
"There were murmurs among the younger members of the company. Why couldn't Milady play Auld Cursin' Jennie instead of Emilia Pauncefort? There was a self-assertive girl in the company named Audrey Sevenhowes who let it be known that she would be ideally cast as Alison. But there were others, Holroyd and Macgregor among them, who would not hear a word against Milady. I would have been one of them too, if anybody had asked my opinion, but nobody did. Indeed, I began to feel that the company thought I was rather more than an actor who doubled for Sir John; I was a double indeed, and a company spy, so that any disloyal conversation stopped as soon as I appeared. Of course there was lots of talk; all theatrical companies chatter incessantly. On the rehearsals went, and as Sir John and Milady didn't bother to rehearse their scenes together, nobody grasped how extreme the problem had become.
"There was another circumstance about those early rehearsals that caused some curiosity and disquiet for a while; a stranger had appeared among us whose purpose nobody seemed to know, but who sat in the stalls making notes busily, and now and then exclaiming audibly in a tone of disapproval. He was sometimes seen talking with Sir John. What could he be up to? He wasn't an actor, certainly. He was young, and had lots of hair, but he wasn't dressed in a way that suggested the stage. His sloppy grey flannels and tweed coat, his dark blue shirt and tie like a piece of old rope—hand-woven, I suppose—and his scuffed suede shoes made him look even younger than he was. 'University man,' whispered Audrey Sevenhowes, who recognized the uniform. 'Cambridge,' she whispered, a day later. Then came the great revelation—'Writing a play!' Of course she didn't confide these things to me, but they leaked from her close friends all through the company.
"Writing a play! Rumour was busily at work. It was to be a grand new piece for Sir John's company, and great opportunities might be secured by buttering up the playwright. Reginald Charlton and Leonard Woulds, who hadn't much to do in _Scaramouche_ and rather less in _The Master_ , began standing the university genius drinks; Audrey Sevenhowes didn't speak to him, but was frequently quite near him, laughing a silvery laugh and making herself fascinating. Old Emilia Pauncefort passed him frequently, and gave him a stately nod every time. Grover Paskin told him jokes. The genius liked it all, and in a few days was on good terms with everybody of any importance, and the secret was out. Sir John wanted a stage version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and the genius was to write it. But as he had never written a play before, and had never had stage experience except with the Cambridge Marlowe Society, he was attending rehearsals, as he said to 'get the feel of the thing'.
"The genius was free with his opinions. He thought little of _The Master of Ballantrae._ 'Fustian' was the word he used to describe it, and he made it clear that the era of fustian was over. Audiences simply wouldn't stand it any more. A new day had dawned in the theatre, and he was a particularly bright beam from the rising sun.
"He was modest, however. There were brighter beams than he, and the brightest, most blinding beam in the literature of the time was somebody called Aldous Huxley. No, Huxley didn't write plays. It was his outlook—wry, brilliantly witty, rooted in tremendous scholarship, and drenched in the Ironic Spirit—that the genius admired, and was about to transfer to the stage. In no time he had a tiny court, in which Charlton and Woulds and Audrey Sevenhowes were the leaders, and after rehearsals they were always to be seen in the nearest pub, laughing a great deal. With my very long ears it wasn't long before I knew they were laughing at Milady and Frank Moore and Emilia Pauncefort, who were the very warp and woof of fustian, and who couldn't possibly be worked into the kind of play the genius had in mind. No, he hadn't begun writing yet, but he had a Concept, and though he hated the word 'metaphysical' he didn't mind using it to give a rough idea of how the Concept would take shape.
"Sir John didn't know about the Concept as yet, but when it was explained to him he would get a surprise. The genius was hanging around _The Master of Ballantrae_ because it was from a novel by the same chap that had written _Jekyll and Hyde._ But this chap—Roly says his name was Stevenson, and I'm sure he knows—had never fully shouldered the burden of his own creative gift. This was something the genius would have to do for him. Stevenson, when he had thought of _Jekyll and Hyde_ , had seized upon a theme that was Dostoyevskian, but he had worked it out in terms of what some people might call Romance, but the genius regretfully had to use the word fustian. The only thing the genius could do, in order to be true to his Concept, was to rework the Stevenson material in such a way that its full implications—the ones Stevenson had approached, and run away from in fright—were revealed.
"He thought it could be done with masks. The genius confessed, with a laugh at his own determination, that he would not attempt the thing at all unless he was given a completely free hand to use masks in every possible way. Not only would Jekyll and Hyde wear masks, but the whole company would wear them, and sometimes there would be eight or ten Jekylls on the stage, all wearing masks showing different aspects of that character, and we would see them exchange the masks of Jekyll—because there was to be no nonsense about realism, or pretending to the audience that what they saw had any relationship to what they foolishly thought of as real life—for masks of Hyde. There would be dialogue, of course, but mostly in the form of soliloquies, and a lot of the action would be carried out in mime—a word which the genius liked to pronounce 'meem', to give it the flavour he thought it needed.
"Charlton and Woulds and Audrey Sevenhowes thought this sounded wonderful, though they had some reservations, politely expressed, about the masks. They thought stylized make-up might do just as well. But the genius was rock-like in his insistence that it would be masks or he would throw up the whole project.
"When this news leaked through to the other members of the company they were disgusted. They talked about other versions of _Jekyll and Hyde_ they had seen, which did very well without any nonsense about masks. Old Frank Moore had played with Henry Irving's son 'H.B.' in a Jekyll and Hyde play where H.B. had made the transformation from the humane doctor to the villainous Hyde before the eyes of the audience, simply by ruffling up his hair and distorting his body. Old Frank showed us how he did it: first he assumed the air of a man who is about to be wafted off the ground by his own moral grandeur, then he drank the dreadful potion out of his own pot of old-and-mild, and then, with an extraordinary display of snarling and gnawing the air, he crumpled up into a hideous gnome. He did this one day in the pub and some strangers, who weren't used to actors, left hurriedly and the landlord asked Frank, as a personal favour, not to do it again. Frank had an extraordinarily gripping quality as an actor.
"Nevertheless, as I admired his snorting and chomping depiction of evil, I was conscious that I had seen even more convincing evil in the face of Willard the Wizard, and that there it had been as immovable and calm as stone.
"Suddenly, one day at rehearsal, the genius lost stature. Sir John called to him, 'Come along, you may as well fit in here, mphm? Give you practical experience of the stage, quonk?', and before we knew what was happening he had the genius acting the part of one of the menservants in Lord Durrisdeer's household. He wasn't bad at all, and I suppose he had learned a few things in his amateur days at Cambridge. But at a critical moment Sir John said, 'Clear away your master's chair, m'boy; when he comes downstage to Miss Alison you take the chair back to the upstage side of the fireplace.' Which the genius did, but not to Sir John's liking; he put one hand under the front of the seat, and the other on the back of the armchair, and hefted it to where he had been told. Sir John said, 'Not like that, m'boy; lift it by the arms.' But the genius smiled and said, 'Oh no, Sir John, that's not the way to handle a chair; you must always put one hand under its apron, so as not to put a strain on its back.' Sir John went rather cool, as he did when he was displeased, and said, 'That may have been all very well in your father's shop, m'boy, but it won't do on my stage. Lift it as _I_ tell you.' And the genius turned exceedingly red, and began to argue. At which Sir John said to the other extra, 'You do it, and show him how.' And he ignored the genius until the end of the scene.
"Seems a trivial thing, but it rocked the genius to his foundations; after that he never seemed to be able to do anything right. And the people who had been all over him before were much cooler after that slight incident. It was the mention of the word 'shop'. I don't think actors are particularly snobbish, but I suppose Audrey Sevenhowes and the others had seen him as a gilded undergraduate; all of a sudden he was just a clumsy actor who had come from some sort of shop, and he never quite regained his former lustre. When we dress-rehearsed _The Master_ it was apparent that he knew nothing about make-up; he appeared with a horrible red face and a huge pair of false red eyebrows. 'Good God, m'boy,' Sir John called from the front of the house, when this spook appeared, 'what have you been doing to your face?' The genius walked to the footlights—inexcusable, he should have spoken from his place on the stage—and began to explain that as he was playing a Scots servant he thought he should have a very fresh complexion to suggest a peasant ancestry, a childhood spent on the moors, and a good deal more along the same lines. Sir John shut him up, and told Darton Flesher, a good, useful actor, to show the boy how to put on a decent, unobtrusive face, suited to chair-lifting.
"The genius was huffy, backstage, and talked about throwing up the whole business of Jekyll and Hyde and leaving Sir John to stew in his own juice. But Audrey Sevenhowes said, 'Oh, don't be so silly; everybody has to learn,' and that cooled him down. Audrey also threw him a kind word about how she couldn't spare him because he was going to write a lovely part for her in the new play, and gave him a smile that would have melted—well, I mustn't be extreme—that would have melted a lad down from Cambridge whose self-esteem had been wounded. It wouldn't have melted me; I had taken Miss Sevenhowes' number long before. But then, I was a hard case.
"Not so hard that I hadn't a little sympathy for Adele Chesterton, whose nose was out of joint. She was still playing in _Scaramouche_ , but she had not been cast in _The Master;_ an actress called Felicity Larcombe had been brought in for the second leading female role in that. She was one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen anywhere: very dark brown hair, splendid eyes, a superb slim figure, and that air of enduring a secret sorrow bravely which so many men find irresistible. What was more, she could act, which poor Adele Chesterton, who was the Persian-kitten type, could only do by fits and starts. But she was a decent kid, and I was sorry for her, because the company, without meaning it unkindly, neglected her. You know how theatre companies are: if you're working with them, you're real, and if you aren't, you have only a half-life in their estimation. Adele was the waning, and Felicity the waxing, moon.
"As usual, Audrey Sevenhowes had a comment. 'Nobody to blame but herself,' said she; 'made a Horlicks—an utter Horlicks—of her part. I could have shown them, but—' Her shrug showed what she thought of the management's taste. 'Horlicks' was a word she used a lot; it suggested 'ballocks' but avoided a direct indecency. Charlton and Woulds loved to hear her say it; it seemed delightfully daring, and sexy, and knowing. It was my first encounter with this sort of allurement, and I disliked it.
"I mentioned to Macgregor that Miss Larcombe seemed a very good, and probably expensive, actress for her small part in _The Master._ 'Ah, she'll have a great deal to do on the tour,' he replied, and I pricked up my ears. But there was nothing more to be got out of him about the tour.
"It was all clear before we opened _The Master_ , however; Sir John was engaging a company to make a longish winter tour in Canada, with a repertoire of some of his most successful old pieces, and _Scaramouche_ as a novelty. Holroyd was asking people to drop into his office and talk about contracts.
"Of course the company buzzed about it. For the established actors a decision had to be made: would they absent themselves from London for the best part of a winter season? All actors under a certain age are hoping for some wonderful chance that will carry them into the front rank of their profession, and a tour in Sir John's repertoire wasn't exactly it. On the other hand, a tour of Canada could be a lark, because Sir John was known to be a great favourite there and they would play to big audiences, and see a new country while they did it.
"For the middle-aged actors it was attractive. Jim Hailey and his wife Gwenda Lewis jumped at it, because they had a boy to educate and it was important to them to keep in work. Frank Moore was an enthusiastic sightseer and traveller, and had toured Australia and South Africa but had not been to Canada since 1924. Grover Paskin and C. Pengelly Spickernell were old standbys of Sir John's, and would cheerfully have toured Hell with him. Emilia Pauncefort wasn't likely to get other offers, because stately old women and picturesque hags were not frequent in West End shows that season, and the Old Vic, where she had staked out quite a little claim in cursing queens, had a new director who didn't fancy her.
"But why Gordon Barnard, who was a very good leading man, or Felicity Larcombe, who was certain to go to the top of the profession? Macgregor explained to me that Barnard hadn't the ambition that should have gone with his talent, and Miss Larcombe, wise girl, wanted to get as much varied experience as she could before descending on the West End and making it hers forever. There was no trouble at all in recruiting a good company, and I was glad to sign my own contract, to be assisttant to Mac and play doubles without having my name on the programme. And to everybody's astonishment, the genius was offered a job on the tour, and took it. So eighteen actors were recruited, not counting Sir John and Milady, and with Holroyd and some necessary technical staff, the final number of the company was to be twenty-eight.
"The work was unrelenting. We opened _The Master of Ballantrae_ , and although the other critics were not warm about it Agate gave it a push and we played a successful six weeks in London. God, what audiences! People came out of the woodwork to see it, and it seemed they had all seen it before and couldn't get enough of it. 'It's like peeping into the dark backward and abysm of time,' the genius said, and even I felt that in some way the theatre had been put back thirty years when we appeared in that powerful, thrilling, but strangely antique piece.
"Every day we were called for rehearsal, in order to get the plays ready for the tour. And what plays they were! _The Lyons Mail_ and _The Corsican Brothers_ , in both of which I doubled for Sir John, and _Rosemary_ , a small play with a minimum of scenery, which was needed to round out a repertoire in which all the other plays were big ones, with cartloads of scenery and dozens of costumes. I liked _Rosemary_ especially, because I didn't double in it but I had a showy appearance as a stilt walker. How we sweated! It was rough on the younger people, who had to learn several new parts during days when they were working a full eight hours, but Moore and Spickernell and Paskin and Miss Pauncefort seemed to have been playing these melodramas for years, and the lines rolled off their tongues like grave old music. As for Sir John and Milady, they couldn't have been happier, and there is nothing so indestructibly demanding and tireless as a happy actor.
"Did I say we worked eight hours? Holroyd and Macgregor, with me as their slave, worked much longer than that, because the three plays we were adding to _Scaramouche_ and _The Master_ had to be retrieved from storage and brushed up and made smart for the tour. But it was all done at last, and we closed in London one Saturday night, with everything finished that would make it possible for us to sail for Canada the following Tuesday.
"A small matter must be mentioned. The genius's mother turned up for one of the last performances of _The Master_ , and it fell to me to show her to Sir John's dressing-room. She was a nice little woman, but not what one expects of the mother of such a splendid creature, and when I showed her through the great man's door she looked as if she might faint from the marvel of it all. I felt sorry for her; it must be frightening when one mothers such a prodigy, and she had the humble look of somebody who can't believe her luck."
It was here that Roland Ingestree, who had been decidedly out of sorts for the past half-hour, intervened.
"Magnus, I don't much mind you taking the mickey out of me, if that's how you get your fun, but I think you might leave poor old Mum out of it."
Magnus pretended astonishment. "But my dear fellow, I don't see how I can. I've done my best to afford you the decency of obscurity. I'd hoped to finish my narrative without letting the others in on our secret. I could have gone on calling you 'the genius', though you had other names in the company. There were some who called you 'the Cantab' because of your degree from Cambridge, and there were others who called you 'One' because you had that mock-modest trick of referring to yourself as One when in your heart you were crying, 'Me, me, glorious ME!' But I can't leave you out, and I don't see how I can leave your Mum out, because she threw so much light on you, and therefore lent a special flavour to the whole story of Sir John's touring company."
"All right, Magnus; I was a silly young ass, and I freely admit it. But isn't one permitted to be an ass for a year or two, when one is young, and the whole world appears to be open to one, and waiting for one? Because you had a rotten childhood, don't suppose that everybody else who had better luck was utterly a fool. Have you any idea what _you_ looked like in those days?"
"No, I haven't, really, but I see you are dying to tell me. Do please go ahead."
"I shall. You were disliked and distrusted because everybody thought you were a sneak, as you've said yourself. But you haven't told us that you _were_ a sneak, and blabbed to Macgregor about every trivial breach of company discipline—who came into the theatre after the half-hour call, and who might happen to have a friend in the dressing-room during the show, and who watched Sir John from the wings when he had said they weren't to, and anything else you could find out by pussy-footing and snooping. Even that might have passed as your job, if you hadn't had such a nasty personality—always smiling like a pantomime demon—always stinking of some sort of cheap hair oil—always running like a rabbit to open doors for Milady—and vain as a peacock about your tuppenny-ha'penny juggling and wire-walking. You were a thoroughly nasty little piece of work, let me tell you."
"I suppose I was. But you make the mistake of thinking I was pleased with myself. Not a bit of it. I was trying to learn the ropes of another mode of life—"
"Indeed you were! You were trying to be Sir John off the stage as well as on. And what a caricature you made of it! Walking like Spring-Heeled Jack because Frank Moore had tried to show you something about deportment, and parting your greasy long hair in the middle because Sir John was the last actor on God's earth to do so, and wearing clothes that would make a cat laugh because Sir John wore eccentric duds that looked as if he'd had 'em since Mafeking Night."
"Do you think I'd have been better off to model myself on you?"
"I was no prize as an actor. Don't think I don't know it. But at least I was living in 1932, and you were aping a man who was still living in 1902, and if there hadn't been a very strong uncanny whiff about you you'd have been a total freak."
"Ah, but there was an uncanny whiff about me. I was Mungo Fetch, don't forget. We fetches can't help being uncanny."
Lind intervened. "Dear friends," he said, being very much the courtly Swede, "let us not have a quarrel about these grievances which are so long dead. You are both different men now. Think, Roly, of your achievements as a novelist and broadcaster; One, and the Genius and the Cantab are surely buried under that? And you, my dear Eisengrim, what reason have you to be bitter toward anyone? What have you desired that life has not given you? Including what I now see is a very great achievement; you modelled yourself on a fine actor of the old school, and you have put all you learned at the service of your own art, where it has flourished wonderfully. Roly, you sought to be a literary man, and you are one; Magnus, you wanted to be Sir John, and it looks very much as if you had succeeded, in so far as anyone can succeed—"
"Just a little more than most people succeed," said Ingestree, who was still hot; "you ate poor old Sir John. You ate him down to the core. We could see it happening, right from the beginning of that tour."
"Did I really?" said Magnus, apparently pleased. "I didn't know it showed so plainly. But now you are being melodramatic, Roly. I simply wanted to be like him. I told you, I apprenticed myself to an egoism, because I saw how invaluable that egoism was. Nobody can steal another man's ego, but he can learn from it, and I learned. You didn't have the wits to learn."
"I'd have been ashamed to toady as you did, whatever it brought me."
"Toady? Now that's an unpleasant word. You didn't learn what there was to be learned in that company, Ingestree. You were at every rehearsal and every performance of _The Master of Ballantrae_ that I was. Don't you remember the splendid moment when Sir John, as Mr Henry, said to his father: 'There are double words for everything: the word that swells and the word that belittles; my brother cannot fight me with a word.' Your word for my relationship to Sir John is toadying, but mine is emulation, and I think mine is the better word."
"Yours is the dishonest word. Your emulation, as you call it, sucked the pith out of that poor old ham, and gobbled it up and made it part of yourself. It was a very nasty process."
"Roly, I idolized him."
"Yes, and to be idolized by you, as you were then, was a terrible, vampire-like feeding on his personality and his spirit—because his personality as an actor was all there was of his spirit. You were a double, right enough, and such a double as Poe and Dostoyevsky would have understood. When we first met at Sorgenfrei I thought there was something familiar about you, and the minute you began to act I sensed what it was; you were the fetch of Sir John. But I swear it wasn't until today, as we sat at this table, that I realized you really were Mungo Fetch."
"Extraordinary! I recognized you the minute I set eyes on you, in spite of the rather Pickwickian guise you have acquired during the past forty years."
"And you were waiting for a chance to knife me?"
"Knife! Knife! Always these belittling words! Have you no sense of humour, my dear man?"
"Humour is a poisoned dagger in the hands of a man like you. People talk of humour as if it were all jolly, always the lump of sugar in the coffee of life. A man's humour takes its quality from what a man is, and your humour is like the scratch of a rusty nail."
"Oh, balls," said Kinghovn. Ingestree turned on him, very white in the face.
"What the hell do you mean by interfering?" he said.
"I mean what I say. Balls! You people who are so clever with words never allow yourselves or anybody else a moment's peace. What is this all about? You two knew each other when you were young and you didn't hit it off. So now we have all this gaudy abuse about vampires and rusty nails from Roly, and Magnus is leading him on to make a fool of himself and cause a fight. I'm enjoying myself. I like this subtext and I want the rest of it. We had just got to where Roly's Mum was paying a visit to Sir John backstage. I want to know about that. I can see it in my mind's eye. Colour, angle of camera, quality of light—the whole thing. Get on with it and let's forget all this subjective stuff; it has no reality except what somebody like me can provide for it, and at the moment I'm not interested in subjective rubbish. I want the story. Enter Roly's Mum; what next?"
"Since Roly's Mum is such a hot potato, perhaps Roly had better tell you," said Eisengrim.
"So I will. My Mum was a very decent body, though at the time I was silly enough to underrate her; as Magnus has made clear I was a little above myself in those days. University does it, you know. It's such a protected life for a young man, and he so easily loses his frail hold on reality.
"My people weren't grand, at all. My father had an antique shop in Norwich, and he was happy about that because he had risen above his father, who had combined a small furniture shop with an undertaking business. Both my parents had adored Sir John, and ages before the time we are talking about—before the First Great War, in fact—they did rather a queer thing that brought them to his attention. They loved _The Master of Ballantrae;_ it was just their meat, full of antiquery and romance; they liked selling antiques because it seemed romantic, I truly believe. They saw _The Master_ fully ten times when they were young, and loved it so that they wrote out the whole play from memory—I don't suppose it was very accurate, but they did—and sent it to Sir John with an adoring letter. Sort of tribute from playgoers whose life he had illumined, you know. I could hardly believe it when I was young, but I know better now; fans get up to the queerest things in order to associate themselves with their idols.
"Sir John wrote them a nice letter, and when next he was near Norwich, he came to the shop. He loved antiques, and bought them all over the place, and I honestly think his interest in them was simply romantic, like my parents'. They never tired of telling about how he came into the shop, and inquired about a couple of old chairs, and finally asked if they were the people who had sent him the manuscript. That was a glory-day for them, I can tell you. And afterward, whenever they had anything that was in his line, they wrote to him, and quite often he bought whatever it was. That was why it was so bloody-minded of him to take it out of me about the proper way to handle a chair, and to make that crack about the shop. He knew it would hurt.
"Anyhow, my mother was out of her mind with joy when she wangled me a job with his company; thought he was going to be my great patron, I suppose. My father had died, and the shop could keep her, but certainly not me, and anyhow I was set on being a writer. I admit I was pleased to be asked to do a literary job for him; it wasn't quite as grand as I may have pretended to Audrey Sevenhowes, but who hasn't been a fool in his time? If I'd been shrewd enough to resist a pretty girl I'd have been a sharp little piece of glass like Mungo Fetch, instead of a soft boy who had got a swelled head at Cambridge, and knew nothing about the world.
"When my Mum knew I was going to Canada with the company she came to London to say good-bye—I'm ashamed to say I had told her there was no chance of my going to Norwich, though I suppose I could have made it—and she wanted to see Sir John. She'd brought him a gift, the loveliest little wax portrait relievo of Garrick you ever saw; I don't know where she picked it up, but it was worth eighty pounds if it was worth a ha'penny, and she gave it to him. And she asked him, in terms that made me blush, to take good care of me while I was abroad. I must say the old boy was decent, and said very kindly that he was sure I didn't need supervision, but that he would always be glad to talk with me if anything came up that worried me."
"Audrey Sevenhowes put it about that your Mum had asked Milady to see that you didn't forget your bedsocks in the Arctic wildernesses of Canada," said Eisengrim.
"You don't surprise me. Audrey Sevenhowes was a bitch, and she made a fool of me. But I don't care. I'd rather be a fool than a tough any day. But I assure you there was no mention of bedsocks; my Mum was not a complex woman, but she wasn't stupid, either."
"Ah, there you have the advantage of me," said Magnus, with a smile of great charm. "My mother, I fear, was very much more than stupid, as I have already told you. She was mad. So perhaps we can be friends again, Roly?"
He put out his hand across the table. It was not a gesture an Englishman would have made, and I couldn't quite make up my mind whether he was sincere or not. But Ingestree took his hand, and it was perfectly plain that he meant to make up the quarrel.
The waiters were beginning to look at us meaningly, so we adjourned upstairs to our expensive apartment, where everybody had a chance to use the loo. The film-makers were not to be shaken. They wanted the story to the end. So, after the interval—not unlike an interval at the theatre—we reassembled in our large sitting-room, and it now seemed to be understood, without anybody having said so, that Roly and Magnus were going to continue the story as a duet.
I was pleased, as I was pleased by anything that gave me a new light or a new crumb of information about my old friend, who had become Magnus Eisengrim. I was puzzled, however, by the silence of Liesl, who had sat through the narration at the lunch table without saying a word. Her silence was not of the unobtrusive kind; the less she said the more conscious one became of her presence. I knew her well enough to bide my time. Though she said nothing, she was big with feeling, and I knew that she would have something to say when she felt the right moment had come. After all, Magnus was in a very real sense her property: did he not live in her house, treat it as his own, share her bed, and accept the homage of her extraordinary courtesy, yet always understanding who was the real ruler of Sorgenfrei? What did Liesl think about Magnus undressing himself, inch by inch, in front of the film-makers? Particularly now that it was clear that there was an old, unsettled hostility between him and Roland Ingestree, what did she think?
What did I think, as I carefully wiped my newly scrubbed dentures on one of the Savoy's plentiful linen hand-towels, before slipping them back over my gums? I thought I wanted all I could get of this vicarious life. I wanted to be off to Canada with Sir John Tresize. I knew what Canada meant to me: what had it meant to him?
(6)
When I returned to our drawing-room Roly was already aboard ship.
"One of my embarrassments—how susceptible the young are to embarrassment—was that my dear Mum had outfitted me with a vast woolly steamer-rug in a gaudy design. The company kept pestering Macgregor to know what tartan it was, and he thought it looked like Hunting Cohen, so The Hunting Cohen it was from that time forth. I didn't need it, God knows, because the C.P.R. ship was fiercely hot inside, and it was too late in the season for anyone to sit on deck in any sort of comfort.
"My Mum was so solicitous in seeing me off that the company pretended to think I needed a lot of looking after, and made a great game of it. Not unkind (except for Charlton and Woulds, who were bullies) but very joky and hard to bear, especially when I wanted to be glorious in the eyes of Audrey Sevenhowes. But my Mum had also provided me with a _Baedeker's Canada_ , the edition of 1922, which had somehow found its way into the shop, and although it was certainly out of date a surprising number of people asked for a loan of it, and informed themselves that the Govemment of Canada issued a four-dollar bill, and that the coloured porters on the sleeping-cars expected a minimum tip of twenty-five cents a day, and that a guard's van was called a caboose on Canadian railways, and similar useful facts.
"The Co. may have thought me funny, but they were a quaint sight themselves when they assembled on deck for a publicity picture before we left Liverpool. There were plenty of these company pictures taken through the whole length of the tour, and in every one of them Emilia Pauncefort's extraordinary travelling coat (called behind her back the Coat of Many Colours) and the fearful man's cap that Gwenda Lewis fastened to her head with a hatpin, so that she would be ready for all New World hardships, and the fur cap C. Pengelly Spickernell wore, assuring everybody that a skin cap with earflaps was absolutely _de rigueur_ in the Canadian winter, Grover Paskin's huge pipe, with a bowl about the size of a brandy-glass, and Eugene Fitzwarren's saucy Homburg and coat with velvet collar, in the Edwardian manner—all these strange habiliments figured prominently. Even though the gaudy days of the Victorian mummers had long gone, these actors somehow got themselves up so that they couldn't have been taken for anything else on God's earth but actors.
"It was invariable, too, that when Holroyd had mustered us for one of these obligatory pictures, Sir John and Milady always appeared last, smiling in surprise, as if a picture were the one thing in the world they hadn't expected, and as if they were joining in simply to humour the rest of us. Sir John was an old hand at travelling in Canada, and he wore an overcoat of Raglan cut and reasonable weight, but of an amplitude that spoke of the stage—and, as our friend has told us, the sleeves were always a bit short so that his hands showed to advantage. Milady wore fur, as befitted the consort of an actor-knight; what fur it was nobody knew, but it was very furry indeed, and soft, and smelled like money. She topped herself with one of those _cloche_ hats that were fashionable then, in a hairy purple felt; not the happiest choice, because it almost obscured her eyes, and threw her long duck's-bill nose into prominence.
"But never—never, I assure you—in any of these pictures would you find Mungo Fetch. Who can have warned him off? Whose decision was it that a youthful Sir John, in clothes that were always too tight and sharply cut, wouldn't have done in one of these pictures which always appeared in Canadian papers with a caption that read: 'Sir John Tresize and his London company, including Miss Annette de la Borderie (Lady Tresize), who are touring Canada after a triumphant season in the West End.' "
"It was a decision of common sense," said Magnus. "It never worried me. I knew my place, which is more than you did, Roly."
"Quite right. I fully admit it. I didn't know my place. I was under the impression that a university man was acceptable everywhere, and inferior to no one. I hadn't twigged that in a theatrical company—or any artistic organization, for that matter—the hierarchy is decided by talent, and that art is the most rigorously aristocratic thing in our democratic wodd. So I always pushed in as close to Audrey Sevenhowes as I could, and I even picked up the trick from Charlton of standing a bit sideways, to show my profile, which I realize now would have been better kept a mystery. I was an ass. Oh, indeed I was a very fine and ostentatious ass, and don't think I haven't blushed for it since."
"Stop telling us what an ass you were," said Kinghovn. "Even I recognize that as an English trick to pull the teeth of our contempt. 'Oh, I say, what a jolly good chap: says he's an ass, don't yer know; he couldn't possibly say that if he was really an ass.' But I'm a tough-minded European; I think you really were an ass. If I had a time-machine, I'd whisk myself back into 1932 and give you a good boot in the arse for it. But as I can't, tell me why you were included on the tour. Apparently you were a bad actor and an arguing nuisance as a chair-lifter. Why would anybody pay you money, and take you on a jaunt to Canada?"
"You need a drink, Harry. You are speaking from the deep surliness of the deprived boozer. Don't fuss; it'll be the canonical, appointed cocktail hour quite soon, and then you'll regain your temper. I was taken as Sir John's secretary. The idea was that I'd write letters to fans that he could sign, and do general dog's-body work, and also get on with Jekyll-and-Hyde.
"That was where the canker gnawed, to use an appropriately melodramatic expression. I had thought, you see, that I was to write a dramatization of Stevenson's story, and as Magnus has told you I was full of great ideas about Dostoyevsky and masks. I used to quote Stevenson at Sir John: 'I hazard the guess that man will be ultimately known for a mere polity of multifarious, incongruous, and independent denizens,' I would say, and entreat him to let me put the incongruous denizens on the stage, in masks. He merely shook his head and said, 'No good, m'boy; my public wouldn't like it.' Then I would have at him with another quotation, in which Jekyll tells of 'those appetites I had long secretly indulged, and had of late begun to pamper'. Once he asked me what I had in mind. I had lots of Freudian capers in mind: masochism, and sadism, and rough-stuff with girls. That rubbed his Victorianism the wrong way. 'Unwholesome rubbish,' was all he would say.
"In the very early days of our association I was even so daring as to ask him to scrap Jekyll-and-Hyde and let me do a version of Dorian Gray for him. That really tore it! 'Don't ever mention that man to me again,' he said; 'Oscar Wilde dragged his God-given genius in unspeakable mire, and the greatest kindness we can do is to forget his name. Besides, my public wouldn't hear of it.' So I was stuck with Jekyll-and-Hyde.
"Stuck even worse than I had at first supposed. Ages and ages before, at the beginning of their career together, Sir John and Milady had concocted _The Master of Ballantrae_ themselves, with their own innocent pencils. They made the scenario, down to the last detail, then found some hack to supply dialogue. This, I discovered to my horror, was what they had done again. They had made a scheme for Jekyll-and-Hyde, and they expected me to write some words for it, and he had the gall to say they would _polish._ Those two mountebanks _polish_ my stuff! I was no hack; hadn't I got a meritorious second in Eng. Lit. at Cambridge? And it would have been a first, if I had been content to crawl and stick to the party line about everything on the syllabus from Beowulf on down! Don't laugh, you people. I was young and I had pride."
"But no stage experience," said Lind.
"Perhaps not, but I wasn't a fool. And you should have seen the scenario Sir John and Milady had cobbled up between them. Stevenson must have turned in his grave. Do you know _The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde_? It's tremendously a _written_ book. Do you know what I mean? Its quality is so much in the narrative manner; extract the mere story from it and it's just a tale of bugaboo. Chap drinking a frothy liquid that changes from clear to purple and then to green— _green_ if you can imagine anything so corny—and he shrinks into his wicked _alter ego._ I set myself to work to discover a way of getting the heart of the literary quality into a stage version.
"Masks would have helped enormously. But those two had seized on what was, for them, the principal defect of the original, which was that there was no part for a woman in it. Well, imagine! What would the fans of Miss Annette de la Borderie say to that? So they had fudged up a tale in which Dr Jekyll had a secret sorrow; it was that a boyhood friend had married the girl he truly loved, who discovered after the marriage that she truly loved Jekyll. So he adored her honourably, while her husband went to the bad through drink. The big Renunciation ploy, you see, which was such a telling card in _The Master._
"To keep his mind off his thwarted love, Dr Jekyll took to mucking with chemicals, and discovered the Fateful Potion. Then the husband of the True Love died of booze, and Jekyll and she were free to marry. But by that time he was addicted to the Fateful Potion. Had taken so much of it that he was likely to give a shriek and dwindle into Hyde at any inconvenient moment. So he couldn't marry his True Love and couldn't tell her why. Great final scene, where he is locked in his laboratory, changed into Hyde, and quite unable to change back, because he's run out of the ingredients of the F.P.; True Love, suspecting something's up, storms the door with the aid of a butler and footman who break it in; as the blows on the door send him into the trembles, Jekyll, with one last superhuman clutching at his Better Self, realizes that there is only one honourable way out; he takes poison, and hops the twig just as True Love bursts in; she holds the body of Hyde in her arms, weeping piteously, and the power of her love is so great that he turns slowly back into the beautiful Dr Jekyll, redeemed at the very moment of death."
"A strong curtain," said I. "I don't know what you're complaining about. I should like to have seen that play. I remember Tresize well; he could have done it magnificently."
"You must be pulling my leg," said lngestree, looking at me in reproach.
"Not a bit of it. Good, gutsy melodrama. You've described it in larky terms, because you want us to laugh. But I think it would have worked. Didn't you ever try?"
"Oh yes, I tried. I tried all through that Canadian tour. I would slave away whenever I got a chance, and then show my homework to Sir John, and he would mark it up in his own spidery handwriting. Kept saying I had no notion of how to make words effective, and wrote three sentences where one would do.
"I tried everything I knew. I remember saying to myself one night, as I lay in my berth in a stiflingly hot Canadian train, What would Aldous Huxley do, in my position? And it came to me that Aldous would have used what we call a distancing-technique—you know, he would have written it all apparently straight, but with a choice of vocabulary that gave it all an ironic edge, so that the perceptive listener would realize that the whole play was ambiguous, and could be taken as a hilarious send-up. So I tried a scene or two like that, and I don't believe Sir John even twigged; he just sliced out all the telling adjectives, and there it was, melodrama again. I never met a man with such a deficient literary sense."
"Did it ever occur to you that perhaps he knew his job?" said Lind. "I've never found that audiences liked ambiguity very much. I've got all my best effects by straight statement."
"Dead right," said Kinghovn. "When Jurgen wants ambiguity he tips me the wink and I film the scene a bit skew-whiff, or occasionally going out of focus, and that does the trick."
"You're telling me this now," said Ingestree, "and I expect you're right, in your unliterary way. But there was nobody to tell me anything then, except Sir John, and I could see him becoming more and more stagily patient with me, and letting whatever invisible audience he acted to in his offstage moments admire the way in which the well-graced actor endured the imbecilities of the dimwitted boy. But I swear there was something to be said on my side, as well. But as I say I was an ass. Am I never to be forgiven for being an ass?"
"That's a very pretty theological point," I said. " 'In the law of God there is no statute of limitations.' "
"My God! Do you remember that one?" said Ingestree.
"Oh yes; I've read Stevenson too, you know, and that chilly remark comes in _Jekyll and Hyde_ , so you are certainly familiar with it. Are we ever forgiven for the follies even of our earliest years? That's something that torments me often."
"Bugger theology!" said Kinghovn. "Get on with the story."
"High time Harry had a drink," said Liesl. "I'll call for some things to be sent up. And we might as well have dinner here, don't you think? I'll choose."
When she had gone into the bedroom to use the telephone Magnus looked calculatingly at Ingestree, as if at some curious creature he had not observed before. "You describe the Canadian tour simply as a personal Gethsemane, but it was really quite an elaborate affair," he said. "I suppose one of your big problems was trying to fit a part into Jekyll-and-Hyde for the chaste and lovely Sevenhowes. Couldn't you have made her a confidential maid to the True Love, with stirring lines like, 'Ee, madam, Dr Jekyll 'e do look sadly mazy-like these latter days, madam'? That would have been about her speed. A rotten actress. Do you know what became of her? Neither do I. What becomes of all those pretty girls with a teaspoonful of talent who seem to drift off the stage before they are thirty? But really, my dear Roly, there was a great deal going on. I was working like a galley-slave."
"I'm sure you were," said Ingestree; "toadying to Milady, as I said earlier. I use the word without malice. Your approach was not describable as courtier-like, nor did it quite sink to the level of fawning; therefore I think toadying is the appropriate expression."
"Call it toadying if it suits your keen literary sense. I have said several times that I loved her, but you choose not to attach any importance to that. Loved her not in the sense of desiring her, which would have been grotesque, and never entered my head, but simply in the sense of wishing to serve her and do anything that was in my power to make her happy. Why I felt that way about a woman old enough to be my mother is for you dabblers in psychology to say, but nothing you can think of will give the real quality of my feeling; there is a pitiful want of resonance in so much psychological explanation of what lies behind things. If you had felt more, Roly, and been less remorselessly literary, you might have seen possibilities in the plan for the Jekyll and Hyde play. A man redeemed and purged of evil by a woman's love—now there's a really unfashionable theme for a play in our time! So unfashionable as to be utterly incredible. Yet Sir John and Milady seemed to know what such themes were all about. They were more devoted than any people I have ever known."
"Like a couple of old love-birds," said Ingestree.
"Well, what would you prefer? A couple of old scratching cats? Don't forget that Sir John was a symbol to countless people of romantic love in its most chivalrous expression. You know what Agate wrote about him once—'He touches women as if they were camellias.' Can you name an actor on the stage today who makes love like that? But there was never a word of scandal about them, because off the stage they were inseparables.
"I think I penetrated their secret: undoubtedly they began as lovers but they had long been particularly close friends. Is that common? I haven't seen much of it, if it is. They were sillies, of course. Sir John would never hear a word that suggested that Milady was unsuitably cast as a young woman, though I know he was aware of it. And she was a silly because she played up to him, and clung quite pitiably to some mannerisms of youth. I knew them for years, you know; you only knew them on that tour. But I remember much later, when a newspaper interviewer touched the delicate point, Sir John said with great dignity and simplicity, 'Ah, but you see, we always felt that our audiences were ready to make allowances if the physical aspect of a character was not ideally satisfied, because they knew that so many other fine things in our performances were made possible thereby.'
"He had a good point, you know. Look at some of the leading women in the Comédie Française; crone is not too hard a word when first you see them, but in ten minutes you are delighted with the art, and forget the appearance, which is only a kind of symbol, anyhow. Milady had extraordinary art, but alas, poor dear, she did run to fat. It's better for an actress to become a bag of bones, which can always be equated somehow with elegance. Fat's another thing. But what a gift of comedy she had, and how wonderfully it lit up a play like _Rosemary_ , where she insisted on playing a character part instead of the heroine. Charity, Roly, charity."
"You're a queer one to be talking about charity. You ate Sir John. I've said it once and I'll say it again. You ate that poor old ham."
"That's one of your belittling words, like 'toady'. I've said it: I apprenticed myself to an egoism, and if in the course of time, because I was younger and had a career to make, the egoism became more mine than his, what about it? Destiny, m'boy? Inevitable, quonk?"
"Oh, God, don't do that, it's too horribly like him."
"Thank you. I thought so myself. And, as I tell you, I worked to achieve it!
"You had quite a jolly time on the voyage to Canada, as I recall. But don't you remember those rehearsals we held every day, in such holes and corners of the ship as the Purser could make available to us? Macgregor and I were too busy to be seasick, which was a luxury you didn't deny yourself. You were sick the night of the ship's concert. Those concerts are utterly a thing of the past. The Purser's assistant was busy almost before the ship left Liverpool, ferreting out what possible talent there might be on board—ladies who could sing 'The Rosary' or men who imitated Harry Lauder. A theatrical company was a godsend to the poor man. And in the upshot C. Pengelly Spickernell sang 'Melisande in the Wood' and 'The Floral Dance' (nicely contrasted material, was what he called it) and Grover Paskin told funny stories (insecurely cemented together with 'And that reminds me of the time—') and Sir John recited Clarence's Dream from _Richard III;_ Milady made the speech hitting up the audience for money for the Seaman's Charities, and did it with so much charm and spirit that they got a record haul.
"But that's by the way. We worked on the voyage and after we'd docked at Montreal the work was even harder. We landed on a Friday, and opened on Monday at Her Majesty's for two weeks, one given wholly to _Scaramouche_ and the second to _The Corsican Brothers_ and _Rosemary._ We did first-rate business, and it was the beginning of what the old actors loved to call a triumphal tour. You wouldn't believe how we were welcomed, and how the audiences ate up those romantic plays—"
"I remember some fairly cool notices," said Roly.
"But not cool audiences. That's what counts. Provincial critics are always cool; they have to show they're not impressed by what comes from the big centres of culture. The audiences thought we were wonderful."
"Magnus, the audiences thought England was wonderful. The Tresize company came from England, and if the truth is to be told it came from a special England many of the people in those audiences cherished—the England they had left when they were young, or the England they had visited when they were young, and in many cases an England they simply imagined and wished were a reality.
"Even in 1932 all that melodrama was terribly old hat, but every audience had a core of people who were happy just to be listening to English voices repeating noble sentiments. The notion that everybody wants the latest is a delusion of intellectuals; a lot of people want a warm, safe place where Time hardly moves at all, and to a lot of those Canadians that place was England. The theatre was almost the last stronghold of the old colonial Canada. You know very well it was more than twenty years since Sir John had dared to visit New York, because his sort of theatre was dead there. But it did very well in Canada because it wasn't simply theatre there—it was England, and they were sentimental about it.
"Don't you remember the smell of mothballs that used to sweep up onto the stage when the curtain rose, from all the bunny coats and ancient dress suits in the expensive seats? There were still people who dressed for the theatre, though I doubt if they dressed for anything else, except perhaps a regimental ball or something that also reminded them of England. Sir John was exploiting the remnants of colonialism. You liked it because you knew no better."
"I knew Canada," said Magnus. "At least, I knew the part of it that had responded to Wanless's World of Wonders and Happy Hannah's jokes. The Canada that came to see Sir John was different but not wholly different. We didn't tour the villages; we toured the cities with theatres that could accommodate our productions, but we rushed through many a village I knew as we jaunted all those thousands of miles on the trains. As we travelled, I began to think I knew Canada pretty well. But quite another thing was that I knew what entertains people, what charms the money out of their pockets, and feeds their imagination.
"The theatre to you was a kind of crude extension of Eng. Lit. at Cambridge, but the theatre I knew was the theatre that makes people forget some things and remember others, and refreshes dry places in the spirit. We were both ignorant young men, Roly. You were the kind that is so scared of life that you only know how to despise it, for fear you might be tricked into liking something that wasn't up to the standards of a handful of people you admired. I was the kind that knew very little that wasn't tawdry and tough and ugly, but I hadn't forgotten my Psalms, and I thirsted for something better as the hart pants for the water-brooks. So Sir John's plays, and the decent manners he insisted on in his company, and the regularity and honesty of the Friday treasury, when I got my pay without having to haggle or kick back any part of it to some petty crook, did very well for me."
"You're idealizing your youth, Magnus. Lots of the company just thought the tour was a lark."
"Yes, but even more of the company were honest players and did their best in the work they had at hand. You saw too much of Charlton and Woulds, who were no good and never made any mark in the profession. And you were under the thumb of Audrey Sevenhowes, who was another despiser, like yourself. Of course we had our ridiculous side. What theatrical troupe hasn't? But the effect we produced wasn't ridiculous. We had something people wanted, and we didn't give them short weight. Very different from my carnival days, when short weight was the essence of everything."
"So for you the Canadian tour was a time of spiritual growth," said Lind.
"It was a time when I was able to admit that honesty and some decency of life were luxuries within my grasp," said Magnus. "Can you imagine that? You people all have the flesh and finish of those who grew up feeling reasonably safe in the world. And you grew up as visible people. Don't forget that I had spent most of my serious hours inside Abdullah."
"Melodrama has eaten into your brain," said Roly. "When I knew you, you were inside Sir John, inside his body and inside his manner and voice and everything about him that a clever double could imitate. Was it really different?"
"Immeasurably different."
"I wish you two would stop clawing one another," said Kinghovn. "If it was all so different—and I'm quite ready to believe it was—how was it different? If it's possible to find out, of course. You two sound as if you had been on different tours."
"Not a bit of it. It was the same tour, right enough," said Magnus; "but I probably remember more of its details than Roly. I'm a detail man; it's the secret of being a good illusionist. Roly has the big, broad picture, as it would have appeared to someone of his temperament and education. He saw everything it was proper for the Cantab and One to notice; I saw and tried to understand everything that passed before my eyes.
"Do you remember Morton W. Penfold, Roly? No, I didn't think you would. But he was one of the casters on which that tour rolled. He was our Advance.
"The tour was under the management of a syndicate of rich Canadians who wanted to encourage English theatre companies to visit Canada, partly because they wanted to stem what they felt was a too heavy American influence, partly in the hope that they might make a little money, partly because they felt the attraction of the theatre in the ignorant way rich businessmen sometimes do. When we arrived in Montreal some of them met the ship and bore Sir John and Milady away, and there was a great deal of wining and dining before we opened on Monday. Morton W. Penfold was their representative, and he went ahead of us like a trumpeter all across the country. Arranged about travel and saw that tickets for everybody were forthcoming whenever we mounted a train. Saw that trains were delayed when necessary, or that an improvised special helped us to make a difficult connection. Arranged that trucks and sometimes huge sleighs were ready to lug the scenery to and from the theatres. Arranged that there were enough stagehands for our heavy shows, and a rough approximation of the number of musicians we needed to play out music, and college boys or other creatures of the right height and bulk who were needed for the supers in _The Master_ and _Scaramouche._ Saw that a horse of guaranteed good character and continence was hired to pull Climene's cart. Placed the advertisements in the local papers ahead of our appearance, and also tasty bits of publicity about Sir John and Milady; had a little anecdote ready for every paper that made it clear that the name Tresize was Cornish and that the emphasis came on the second syllable; also provided a little packet of favourable reviews from London, Montreal, and Toronto papers for the newspapers in small towns where there was no regular critic, and such material might prime the pump of a local reporter's invention. He also saw that the information was provided for the programmes, and warned local theatre managers that Madame de Plougastel's Salon was not a misprint for Madame de Plougastel's Saloon, which some of them were apt to think.
"Morton W. Penfold was a living marvel, and I learned a lot from him on the occasions when he was in the same town with us for a few days. He was more theatrical than all but the most theatrical of the actors; had a big square face with a blue jaw, a hypnotist's eyebrows, and a deceptive appearance of dignity and solemnity, because he was a fellow of infinite wry humour. He wore one of those black Homburg hats that politicians used to affect, but he never dinted the top of it, so that he had something of the air of a Mennonite about the head; wore a stiff choker collar and one of those black satin stocks that used to be called a dirty-shirt necktie, because it covered everything within the V of his waistcoat. Always wore a black suit, and had a dazzling ten-cent shoeshine every day of his life. His business office was contained in the pockets of his black overcoat; he could produce anything from them, including eight-by-ten-inch publicity pictures of the company.
"He was pre-eminently a great fixer. He seemed to know everybody, and have influence everywhere. In every town he had arranged for Sir John to address the Rotarians, or the Kiwanians, or whatever club was meeting on an appropriate day. Sir John always gave the same speech, which was about 'cementing the bonds of the British Commonwealth'; he could have given it in his sleep, but he was too good an actor not to make it seem tailor-made for every new club.
"If we were going to be in a town that had an Anglican Cathedral over a weekend it was Morton W. Penfold who persuaded the Dean that it was a God-given opportunity to have Sir John read the Second Lesson at the eleven o'clock service. His great speciality was getting Indian tribes to invest a visiting English actor as a Chief, and he had convinced the Blackfoot that Sir John should be re-christened Soksi-Poyina many years before the tour I am talking about.
"Furthermore, he knew the idiosyncrasies of the liquor laws in every Canadian province we visited, and made sure the company did not run dry; this was particularly important as Sir John and Milady had a taste for champagne, and liked it iced but not frozen, which was not always a simple requirement in that land of plentiful ice. And in every town we visited, Morton W. Penfold had made sure that our advertising sheets, full-size, half-size, and folio, were well displayed and that our little flyers, with pictures of Sir John in some of his most popular roles, were on the reception desks of all the good hotels.
"And speaking of hotels, it was Morton W. Penfold who took particulars of everybody's taste in accommodation on that first day in Montreal, and saw that wherever we went reservations had been made in the grand railway hotels, which were wonderful, or in the dumps where people like James Hailey and Gwenda Lewis stayed, for the sake of economy.
"Oh, those cheap hotels! I stayed in the cheapest, where one electric bulb hung from a string in the middle of the room, where the sheets were like cheesecloth, and where the mattresses—when they were revealed as they usually were after a night's restless sleep—were like maps of strange worlds, the continents being defined by unpleasing stains, doubtless traceable to the incontinent dreams of travelling salesmen, or the rapturous deflowerings of brides from the backwoods.
"Was he well paid for his innumerable labours? I don't know, but I hope so. He said very little that was personal, but Macgregor told me that Morton W. Penfold was born into show business, and that his wife was the granddaughter of the man whom Blondin the Magnificent had carried across Niagara Gorge on his shoulders in 1859. It was under his splendid and unfailing influence that we travelled thousands of miles across Canada and back again, and played a total of 148 performances in forty-one towns, ranging from places of about twenty thousand souls to big cities. I think I could recite the names of the theatres we played in now, though they showed no great daring in what they called themselves; there were innumerable Grands, and occasional Princesses or Victorias, but most of them were just called Somebody's Opera House."
"Frightful places," said Ingestree, doing a dramatic shudder.
"I've seen worse since," said Magnus. "You should try a tour in Central America, to balance your viewpoint. What was interesting about so many of the Canadian theatres, outside the big cities, was that they seemed to have been built with big ideas, and then abandoned before they were equipped. They had pretty good foyers and auditoriums with plush seats, and invariably eight boxes, four on each side of the stage, from which nobody could see very well. All of them had drop curtains with views of Venice or Rome on them, and a spy-hole through which so many actors had peeped that it was ringed with a black stain from their greasepaint. Quite a few had special curtains on which advertisements were printed for local merchants; Sir John didn't like those, and Holroyd had to do what he could to suppress them.
"Every one had a sunken pen for an orchestra, with a fancy balustrade to cut it off from the stalls, and nobody ever seemed to sweep in there. At performance time a handful of assassins would creep into the pen from a low door beneath the stage, and fiddle and thump and toot the music to which they were accustomed. C. Pengelly Spickernell used to say bitterly that these musicians were all recruited from the local manager's poor relations; it was his job to assemble as many of them as could get away from their regular work on a Monday morning and take them through the music that was to accompany our plays. Sir John was fussy about music, and always had a special overture for each of his productions, and usually an entr'acte as well.
"God knows it was not very distinguished music. When we heard it, it was a puzzle to know why 'Overture to _Scaramouche_ ' by Hugh Dunning did any more for the play that followed than if the orchestra had played 'Overture to _The Master of Ballantrae_ ' by Festyn Hughes. But there it was, and to Sir John and Milady these two lengths of mediocre music were as different as daylight and dark, and they used to sigh and raise their eyebrows at one another when they heard the miserable racket coming from the other side of the curtain, as if it were the ravishing of a masterpiece. In addition to this specially written music we carried a substantial body of stuff with such titles as 'Minuet d'Amour', 'Peasant Dance', and 'Gaelic Memories', which did for _Rosemary;_ and for _The Corsican Brothers_ Sir John insisted on an overture that had been written for Irving's production of _Robespierre_ by somebody called Litolff. Another great standby was 'Suite: At the Play', by York Bowen. But except in the big towns the orchestra couldn't manage anything unfamiliar, so we generally ended up with 'Three Dances from _Henry VIII_ ', by Edward German, which I suppose is known to every bad orchestra in the world. C. Pengelly Spickernell used to grieve about it whenever anybody would listen, but I honestly think the audiences liked that bad playing, which was familiar and had associations with a good time.
"Backstage there was nothing much to work with. No light, except for a few rows of red, white, and blue bulbs that hardly disturbed the darkness when they were full on. The arrangements for hanging and setting our scenery were primitive, and only in the big towns was there more than one stagehand with anything that could be called experience. The others were jobbed in as they were needed, and during the day they worked in factories or lumber-yards. Consequently we had to carry everything we needed with us, and now and then we had to do some rapid improvising. It wasn't as though these theatres weren't used; most of them were busy for at least a part of each week for seven or eight months every year. It was simply that the local magnate, having put up the shell of a theatre, saw no reason to go further. It made touring adventurous, I can tell you.
"The dressing-rooms were as ill equipped as the stages. I think they were worse than those in the vaude houses I had known, because those at least were in constant use and had a frowsy life to them. In many towns there were only two wash-basins backstage for a whole company, one behind a door marked M and the other behind a door marked F. These doors, through years of use, had ceased to close firmly, which at least meant that you didn't need to knock to find out if they were occupied. Sir John and Milady used small metal basins of their own, to which their dressers carried copper jugs of hot water—when there was any hot water.
"One thing that astonished me then, and still surprises me, is that the stage door, in nine towns out of ten, was up an unpaved alley, so that you had to pick your way through mud, or snow in the cold weather, to reach it. You knew where you were heading because the only light in the alley was one naked electric bulb, stuck laterally into a socket above the door, with a wire guard around it. It was not the placing of the stage door that surprised me, but the fact that, for me, that desolate and dirty entry was always cloaked in romance. I would rather go through one of those doors, even now, than walk up a garden path to be greeted by a queen."
"You were stage-struck," said Roly. "You rhapsodize. I remember those stage doors. Ghastly."
"I suppose you're right," said Magnus. "But I was very, very happy. I'd never been so well placed, or had so much fun in my life. How Macgregor and I used to labour to teach those stagehands their job! Do you remember how, in the last act of _The Corsican Brothers_ , when the Forest of Fontainebleau was supposed to be covered in snow, we used to throw down coarse salt over the stage-cloth, so that when the duel took place Sir John could kick some of it aside to get a firm footing? Can you imagine trying to explain how that salt should be placed to some boob who had laboured all day in a planing-mill, and had no flair for romance? The snow was always a problem, though you'd think that Canadians, of all people, would understand snow. At the beginning of that act the forest is supposed to be seen in that dull but magical light that goes with snowfall. Old Boissec the wood-cutter—Grover Paskin in one of his distinguished cameos—enters singing a little song; he represents the world of everyday, drudging along regardless of the high romance which is shortly to burst upon the scene. Sir John wanted a powdering of snow to be falling as the curtain rose; just a few flakes, falling slowly so that they caught a little of the winter light. Nothing so coarse as bits of paper for us! It had to be fuller's earth, so that it would drift gently, and not be too fiercely white. Do you think we could get one of those stagehands on the road to grasp the importance of the speed at which that snow fell, and the necessity to get it exactly right? If we left it to them they threw great handfuls of snow bang on the centre of the stage, as if some damned great turkey with diarrhoea were roosting up in a tree. So it was my job to get up on the catwalk, if there was one, and on something that had been improvised and was usually dangerous if there wasn't, and see that the snow was just as Sir John wanted it. I suppose that's being stage-struck, but it was worth every scruple of the effort it took. As I said, I'm a detail man, and without the uttermost organization of detail there is no illusion, and consequently no romance. When I was in charge of the snow the audience was put in the right mood for the duel, and for the Ghost at the end of the play."
"You really can't blame me for despising it," said Roly. "I was one of the New Men; I was committed to a theatre of ideas."
"I don't suppose I've ever had more than half a dozen ideas in my life, and even those wouldn't have much appeal for a philosopher," said Magnus. "Sir John's theatre didn't deal in ideas, but in feelings. Chivalry, and loyalty and selfless love don't rank as ideas, but it was wonderful how they seized on our audiences; they loved such things, even if they had no intention of trying them out in their own lives. No use arguing about it, really. But people used to leave our performances smiling, which isn't always the case with a theatre of ideas."
"Art as soothing syrup, in fact."
"Perhaps. But it was very good soothing syrup. We never made the mistake of thinking it was a universal panacea."
"Soothing syrup in aid of a dying colonialism."
"I expect you're right. I don't care, really. It's true we thumped the good old English drum pretty loudly, but that was one of the things the syndicate wanted. When we visited Ottawa, Sir John and Milady were the Governor General's guests at Rideau Hall."
"Yes, and what a bloody nuisance that was! Actors ought never to stay in private houses or official residences. I had to scamper out there every morning with the letters, and get my orders for the day. Run the gamut of snotty aides who never seemed to know where Lady Tresize was to be found."
"Didn't she ever tell you any stories about that? Probably not. I don't think she liked you much better than you liked her. Certainly she told me that it was like living in a very pretty little court, and that all sorts of interesting people came to call. Don't you remember that the Govemor General and his suite came to _Scaramouche_ one night when we were playing in the old Russell Theatre? 'God Save the King' was played after they came in, and the audience was so frozen with etiquette that nobody dared to clap until the G.G. had been seen to do so. There were people who sucked in their breath when I thumbed my nose while walking the tightrope; they thought I was Sir John, you see, and they couldn't imagine a knight committing such an unspeakable rudery in the presence of an Earl. But Milady told me the Earl was away behind the times; he didn't know what it meant in Canadian terms, and thought it still meant something called 'fat bacon', which I suppose was Victorian. He guffawed and thumbed his nose and muttered, 'Fat bacon, what?' at the supper party afterward, at which Mr Mackenzie King was a guest; Mr King was so taken aback he could hardly eat his lobster. Apparently he got over it though, and Milady said she had never seen a man set about a lobster with such whole-souled enthusiasm. When he surfaced from the lobster he talked to her very seriously about dogs. Funny business, when you think of it—I mean all those grandees sitting at supper at midnight, after a play. That must have been romantic too, in its way, although there were no young people present—except the aides and one or two ladies-in-waiting, of course. In fact, I thought a lot of Canada was romantic."
"I didn't. I thought it was the rawest, roughest, crudest place I had ever set eyes on, and in the midst of that, all those vice-regal pretensions were ridiculous."
"I wonder if that's what you really thought, Roly? After all, what were you comparing it with? Norwich, and Cambridge, and a brief sniff at London. And you weren't in a condition to see anything except through the spectacles of a thwarted lover and playwright. You were being put through the mincer by the lovely Sevenhowes; you were her toy for the tour, and your agonies were the sport of her chums Charlton and Woulds. Whenever we were on one of those long train hops from city to city, we all saw it in the dining-car.
"Those dining-cars! There was romance for you! Rushing through the landscape; that fierce country north of Lake Superior, and the marvellous steppes of the prairies, in an elegant, rather too hot, curiously shaped dining-room, full of light, glittering with tablecloths and napkins so white they looked blue, shining silver (or something very close), and all those clean, courteous, friendly black waiters—if that wasn't romance you don't know the real thing when you see it! And the food! Nothing hotted up or melted out in those days, but splendid stuff that came on fresh at every big stop; cooked brilliantly in the galley by a real chef; fresh fish, tremendous meat, real fruit—don't you remember what their baked apples were like? With thick cream! Where does one get thick cream now? I remember every detail. The cube sugar was wrapped in pretty white paper with Castor printed on it, and every time we put it in our coffee I suppose we enriched our dear friend Boy Staunton, so clear in the memory of Dunny and myself, because he came from our town, though I didn't know that at the time...." (My ears pricked up: I swear my scalp tingled. Magnus had mentioned Boy Staunton, the Canadian tycoon, and also my lifelong friend, whom I was pretty sure Magnus had murdered. Or, if not murdered, had given a good push on a path that looked like suicide. This was what I wanted for my document. Had Magnus, who withheld death cruelly from Willard, given it almost as a benefaction to Boy Staunton? Would his present headlong, confessional mood carry him to the point where he would admit to murder, or at least give a hint that I, who knew so much but not enough, would be able to interpret?. But I must miss nothing, and Magnus was still rhapsodizing about C.P.R. food as once it was.) "... And the sauces; real sauces, made by the chef—exquisite!
"There were bottled sauces, too. Commercial stuff I learned to hate because at every meal that dreary utility actor Jim Hailey asked for Garton's; then he would wave it about saying, 'Anybody want any of the Handkerchief?' because, as he laboriously pointed out, if you spelled Garton's backward it came out Snotrag; poor Hailey was that depressing creature, a man of one joke. Only his wife laughed and blushed because he was being 'awful', and she never failed to tell him so. But I suppose you didn't see because you always tried to sit at the table with Sevenhowes and Charlton and Woulds; if she was cruel and asked Eric Foss to sit with them instead, you sat as near as you could and hankered and glowered as they laughed at jokes you couldn't hear.
"Oh, the trains, the trains! I gloried in them because with Wanless's I had done so much train travel and it was wretched. I began my train travel, you remember, in darkness and fear, hungry, with my poor little bum aching desperately. But here I was, unmistakably a first-class passenger, in the full blaze of that piercing, enveloping, cleansing Canadian light. I was quite content to sit at a table with some of the technical staff, or sometimes with old Mac and Holroyd, and now and then with that Scheherazade of the railways, Morton W. Penfold, when he was making a hop with us.
"Penfold knew all the railway staff; I think he knew all the waiters. There was one conductor we sometimes encountered on a transcontinental, who was a special delight to him, a gloomy man who carried a real railway watch—one of those gigantic nickel-plated turnips that kept very accurate time. Penfold would hail him: 'Lester, when do you think we'll be in Sault Ste Marie?' Then Lester would pull up the watch out of the well of his waistcoat, and look sadly at it, and say, 'Six fifty-two, Mort, _if we're spared_.' He was gloomy-religious, and everything was conditional on our being spared; he didn't seem to have much confidence in either God or the C.P.R.
"Penfold knew the men on the locomotives, too, and whenever we came to a long, straight stretch of track, he would say, 'I wonder if Fred is dipping his piles.' This was because one of the oldest and best of the engineers was a martyr to haemorrhoids, and Penfold swore that whenever we came to an easy piece of track, Fred drew off some warm water from the boiler into a basin, and sat in it for a few minutes, to ease himself. Penfold never laughed; he was a man of deep, private humour, and his solemn, hypnotist's face never softened, but the liquid on his lower eyelid glittered and occasionally spilled over, and his head shook; that was his laugh.
"Now and then, on long hauls, the train carried a private car for Sir John and Milady; these luxuries could not be hired—or only by the very rich—but sometimes a magnate who owned one, or a politician who had the use of one, would put it at the disposal of the Tresizes, who had armies of friends in Canada. Sir John, and Milady especially, were not mingy about their private car, and always asked a few of the company in, and now and then, on very long hauls, they asked us all in and we had a picnic meal from the dining-car. Now surely that was romance, Roly? Or didn't you find it so? All of us perched around one of those splendid old relics, most of which had been built not later than the reign of Edward the Seventh, full of marquetry woodwork (there was usually a little plaque somewhere that told you where all the woods came from) and filigree doodads around the ceiling, and armchairs with a fringe made of velvet bobbles everywhere that fringe could be imagined. In a sort of altar-like affair at one end of the drawing-room area were magazines in thick leather folders—and what magazines! Always the _Sketch_ and the _Tatler_ and _Punch_ and the _Illustrated London News_ —it was like a club on wheels. And lashings of drink for everybody—that was Penfold's craft at work—but it wasn't at all the thing for anybody to guzzle and get drunk, because Sir John and Milady didn't like that."
"He was a great one to talk," said Ingestree. "He could drink any amount without showing it, and it was believed everywhere that he drank a bottle of brandy a day just to keep his voice mellow."
"Believed, but simply not true. It's always believed that star actors drink heavily, or beat their wives, or deflower a virgin starlet every day to slake their lust. But Sir John drank pretty moderately. He had to. Gout. He never spoke about it, but he suffered a lot with it. I remember one of those parties when the train lurched and Felicity Larcombe stumbled and stepped on his gouty foot, and he turned dead white, but all he said was, 'Don't speak of it, my dear,' when she apologized."
"Yes, of course you'd have seen that. You saw everything. Obviously, or you couldn't tell us so much about it now. But we saw you seeing everything, you know. You weren't very good at disguising it, even if you tried. Audrey Sevenhowes and Charlton and Woulds had a name for you—the Phantom of the Opera. You were always somewhere with your back against a wall, looking intently at everything and everybody. 'There's the Phantom, at it again,' Audrey used to say. It wasn't a very nice kind of observation. It had what I can only call a wolfish quality about it, as if you were devouring everything. Especially devouring Sir John. I don't suppose he made a move without you following him with your eyes. No wonder you knew about the gout. None of the rest of us did."
"None of the rest of you cared, if you mean the little clique you travelled with. But the older members of the company knew, and certainly Morton W. Penfold knew, because it was one of his jobs to see that the same kind of special bottled water was always available for Sir John on every train and in every hotel. Gout's very serious for an actor. Any suggestion that a man who is playing the Master of Ballantrae is hobbling is bad for publicity. It was clear enough that Sir John wasn't young, but it was of the uttermost importance that on the stage he should seem young. To do that he had to be able to walk slowly; it's not too hard to seem youthful when you're leaping about the stage in a duel, but it's a very different thing to walk as slowly as he had to when he appeared as his own ghost at the end of _The Corsican Brothers._ Detail, my dear Roly; without detail there can be no illusion. And one of the odd things about Sir John's kind of illusion (and my own, when later on I became a master illusionist) is that the showiest things are quite simply arranged, but anything that looks like simplicity is extremely difficult.
"The gout wasn't precisely a secret, but it wasn't shouted from the housetops, either. Everybody knew that Sir John and Milady travelled a few fine things with them—a bronze that he particularly liked, and she always had a valuable little picture of the Virgin that she used for her private devotions, and a handsome case containing miniatures of their children—and that these things were set up in every hotel room they occupied, to give it some appearance of personal taste. But not everybody knew about the foot-bath that had to be carried for Sir John's twice-daily treatment of the gouty foot; a bathtub wouldn't do, because it was necessary that all of his body be at the temperature of the room, while the foot was in a very hot mineral solution.
"I've seen him sitting in his dressing-gown with the foot in that thing at six o'clock, and at half-past eight he was ready to step on the stage with the ease of a young man. I never thought it was the mineral bath that did the trick; I think it was more an apparatus for concentrating his will, and determination that the gout shouldn't get the better of him. If his will ever failed, he was a goner, and he knew it.
"I've often had reason to marvel at the heroism and spiritual valour that people put into causes that seem absurd to many observers. After all, would it have mattered if Sir John had thrown in the towel, admitted he was old, and retired to cherish his gout? Who would have been the loser? Who would have regretted _The Master of Ballantrae_? It's easy to say, No one at all, but I don't think that's true. You never know who is gaining strength as a result of your own bitter struggle; you never know who sees _The Master of Ballantrae_ , and quite improbably draws something from it that changes his life, or gives him a special bias for a lifetime.
"As I watched Sir John fighting against age—watched him wolfishly, I suppose Roly would say—I learned something without knowing it. Put simply it is this: no action is ever lost—nothing we do is without result. It's obvious, of course, but how many people ever really believe it, or act as if it were so?"
"You sound woefully like my dear old Mum," said Ingestree. "No good action is ever wholly lost, she would say."
"Ah, but I extend your Mum's wisdom," said Magnus. "No evil action is ever wholly lost, either."
"So you pick your way through life like a hog on ice, trying to do nothing but good actions? Oh, Magnus! What balls!"
"No, no, my dear Roly, I am not quite such a fool as that. We can't know the quality or the results of our actions except in the most limited way. All we can do is to try to be as sure as we can of what we are doing so far as it relates to ourselves. In fact, not to flail about and be the deluded victims of our passions. If you're going to do something that looks evil, don't smear it with icing and pretend it's good; just bloody well do it and keep your eyes peeled. That's all."
"You ought to publish that. _Reflections While Watching an Elderly Actor Bathing His Gouty Foot._ It might start a new vogue in morality."
"I was watching a little more than Sir John's gouty foot, I assure you. I watched him pumping up courage for Milady, who had special need of it. He wasn't a humorous man; I mean, life didn't appear to him as a succession of splendid jokes, big and small, as it did to Morton W. Penfold. Sir John's mode of perception was romantic, and romance isn't funny except in a gentle, incidental way. But on a tour like that, Sir John had to do things that had their funny side, and one of them was to make that succession of speeches, which Penfold arranged, at service clubs in the towns where we played. It was the heyday of service clubs, and they were hungrily looking for speakers, whose job it was to say something inspirational, in not more than fifteen minutes, at their weekly luncheon meetings. Sir John always cemented the bonds of the Commonwealth for them, and while he was waiting to do it they levied fines on one another for wearing loud neckties, and recited their extraordinary creeds, and sang songs they loved but which were as barbarous to him as the tribal chants of savages. So he would come back to Milady afterward, and teach her the songs, and there they would sit, in the drawing-room of some hotel suite, singing
Rotary Ann, she went out to get some clams,
Rotary Ann, she went out to get some clams,
Rotary Ann, she went out to get some clams,
But she didn't get a——clam!
—and at the appropriate moments they would clap their hands to substitute for the forbidden words 'God-damn', which good Rotarians knew, but wouldn't utter.
"I tell you it was eerie to see those two, so English, so Victorian, so theatrical, singing those utterly uncharacteristic words in their high-bred English accents, until they were laughing like loonies. Then Sir John would say something like 'Of course one shouldn't laugh at them, Nan, because they're really splendid fellows at heart, and do marvels for crippled children—or is it tuberculosis? I can never remember.' But the important thing was that Milady had been cheered up. She never showed her failing spirits—at least she thought she didn't—but he knew. And I knew.
"It was another of those secrets like Sir John's gout, which Mac and Holroyd and some of the older members of the company were perfectly well aware of but never discussed. Milady had cataracts, and however courageously she disguised it, the visible world was getting away from her. Some of the clumsiness on stage was owing to that, and much of the remarkable lustre of her glance—that bluish lustre I had noticed the first time I saw her—was the slow veiling of her eyes. There were days that were better than others, but as each month passed the account was further on the debit side. I never heard them mention it. Why would I? Certainly I wasn't the kind of person they would have confided in. But I was often present when all three of us knew what was in the air.
"I have you to thank for that, Roly. Ordinarily it would have been the secretary who would have helped Milady when something had to be read, or written, but you were never handily by, and when you were it was so clear that you were far too busy with literary things to be just a useful pair of eyes that it would have been impertinence to interrupt you. So that job fell to me, and Milady and I made a pretence about it that was invaluable to me.
"It was that she was teaching me to speak—to speak for the stage, that's to say. I had several modes of speech; one was the tough-guy language of Willard and Charlie, and another was a half-Cockney lingo I had picked up in London; I could speak French far more correctly than English, but I had a poor voice, with a thin, nasal tone. So Milady had me read to her, and as I read she helped me to place my voice differently, breathe better, and choose words and expressions that did not immediately mark me as an underling. Like so many people of deficient education, when I wanted to speak classy—that was what Charlie called it—I always used as many big words as I could. Big words, said Milady, were a great mistake in ordinary conversation, and she made me read the Bible to her to rid me of the big-word habit. Of course the Bible was familiar ground to me, and she noticed that when I read it I spoke better than otherwise, but as she pointed out, too fervently. That was a recollection of my father's Bible-reading voice. Milady said that with the Bible and Shakespeare it was better to be a little cool, rather than too hot; the meaning emerged more powerfully. 'Listen to Sir John,' she said, 'and you'll find that he never pushes a line as far as it will go.' That was how I learned about never doing your damnedest; your next-to-damnedest was far better.
"Sir John was her ideal, so I learned to speak like Sir John, and it was quite a long time before I got over it, if indeed I ever did completely get over it. It was a beautiful voice, and perhaps too beautiful for everybody's taste. He produced it in a special way, which I think he learned from Irving. His lower lip moved a lot, but his upper lip was almost motionless, and he never showed his upper teeth; completely loose lower jaw, lots of nasal resonance, and he usually spoke in his upper register, but sometimes he dropped into deep tones, with extraordinary effect. She insisted on careful phrasing, long breaths, and never accentuating possessive pronouns—she said that made almost anything sound petty.
"So I spent many an hour reading the Bible to her, and refreshing my memory of the Psalms. 'Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.' We had that almost every day. That, and 'Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.' It was not long before I understood that Milady was praying, and I was helping her, and after the first surprise—I had been so long away from anybody who prayed, except for Happy Hannah, whose prayers were like curses—I was pleased and honoured to do it. But I didn't intrude upon her privacy; I was content to be a pair of eyes, and to learn to be a friendly voice. May I put in here that this was another side of apprenticeship to Sir John's egoism, and it was not something I had greedily sought. On the contrary it was something to which I seemed to be fated. If I stole something from the old man, the impulse for the theft was not wholly mine; I seemed to be pushed into it.
"One of the things that pushed me was that as Milady's sight grew dimmer, she liked to have somebody near to whom she could speak in French. As I've told you, she came from the Channel Islands, and from her name I judge that French was her cradle-tongue. So, under pretence of correcting my French pronunciation, we had many a long talk, and I read the Bible to her in French, as well as in English. That was a surprise for me! Like so many English-speaking people I could not conceive of the words of Christ in any language but my own, but as we worked through Le Nouveau Testament in her chunky old Geneva Bible, there they were, coloured quite differently. _Je suis le chemin, & la vérité, & la vie; nul ne vient au Père sinon par moi._ Sounded curiously frivolous, but nothing to _Bienheureux sont les débonnaires: car ils hériteront la terre_. I thought I concealed the surprise in my voice at that one, but Milady heard it (she heard everything) and explained that I must think of _débonnaire_ as meaning _clément_ , or perhaps _les doux._ But of course we all interpret Holy Writ to suit ourselves as much as we dare; I liked _les débonnaires_ , because I was striving as hard as I could to be debonair myself, and I had an eye on at least a good-sized chunk of _la terre_ for my inheritance. Learning to speak English and French with an upper-class accent—or at least a stage accent, which was a little more precise than merely upper class—was part of my campaign.
"As well as reading aloud, I listened to her as she rehearsed her lines. The old plays, like _The Master of Ballantrae_ , were impressed on her memory forever, but she liked to go over her words for _Rosemary_ and _Scaramouche_ before every performance, and I read her cues for her. I learned a good deal from that, too, because she had a fine sense of comedy (something Sir John had only in a lesser degree), and I studied her manner of pointing up a line so that something more than just the joke—the juice in which the joke floated—was carried to the audience. She had a charming voice, with a laugh in it, and I noticed that clever Felicity Larcombe was learning that from her, as well as I.
"Indeed, I became a friend of Milady's, and rather less of an adorer. Except for old Zingara, who was a very different pair of shoes, she was the only woman I had ever known who seemed to like me, and think I was of any interest or value. She rubbed it into me about how lucky I was to be working with Sir John, and doing marvellous little cameos which enhanced the value of a whole production, but I had enough common sense to see that she was right, even though she exaggerated.
"One thing about me that she could not understand was that I had no knowledge of Shakespeare. None whatever. When I knew the Bible so well, how was it that I was in darkness about the other great classic of English? Had my parents never introduced me to Shakespeare? Of course Milady could have had no idea of the sort of people my parents were. I suppose my father must have heard of Shakespeare, but I am sure he rejected him as a fellow who had frittered away his time in the theatre, that Devil's domain where lies were made attractive to frivolous people.
"I have often been amazed at how well comfortable and even rich people understand the physical deprivations of the poor, without having any notion of their intellectual squalor, which is one of the things that makes them miserable. It's a squalor that is bred in the bone, and rarely can education do much to root it out if education is simply a matter of schooling. Milady had come of quite rich parents, who had daringly allowed her to go on the stage when she was no more than fourteen. In Sir Henry Irving's company, of course, which wasn't like kicking around from one stage door to another, and snatching for little jobs in pantomime. To be one of the Guvnor's people was to be one of the theatrically well-to-do, not simply in wages but in estate. And at the Lyceum she had taken in a lot of Shakespeare at the pores, and had whole plays by heart. How could anyone like that grasp the meagreness of the household in which I had been a child, and the remoteness of intellectual grace from the Deptford life? So I was a pauper in a part of life where she had always been wrapped in plenty.
"I was on friendly terms, with proper allowance for the disparity in our ages and importance to the company, by the time we had journeyed across Canada and played Vancouver over Christmas. We were playing two weeks at the Imperial; the holiday fell on the middle Sunday of our fortnight that year, and Sir John and Milady entertained the whole company to dinner at their hotel. It was the first time I had ever eaten a Christmas dinner, though during the previous twenty-three years I suppose I must have taken some sort of nourishment on the twenty-fifth of December, and it was the first time I had ever been in a private dining-room in a first-class hotel.
"It seemed elegant and splendid to me, and the surprise of the evening was that there was a Christmas gift for everybody. They were vanity things and manicure sets and scarves and whatnot for the girls, and the men had those big boxes of cigarettes that one never sees any more and notecases and all the range of impersonal but pleasant stuff you would expect. But I had a bulky parcel, and it was a complete Shakespeare—one of those copies illustrated with photographs of actors in their best roles; this one had a coloured frontispiece of Sir John as Hamlet, looking extremely like me, and across it he had written, 'A double blessing is a double grace—Christmas Greetings, John Tresize.' Everybody wanted to see it, and the company was about equally divided between those who thought Sir John was a darling to have done that for a humble member of his troupe, and those who thought I must be gaining a power that was above my station; the latter group did not say anything, but their feelings could be deduced from the perfection of their silence.
"I was in doubt about what I should do, because it was the first time in my life that anybody had ever given me anything; I had earned things, and stolen things, but I had never been given anything before and I was embarrassed, suspicious, and clumsy in my new role.
"Milady was behind it, of course, and perhaps she expected me to bury myself in the book that night, and emerge, transformed by poetry and drama, a wholly translated Mungo Fetch. The truth is that I had a nibble at it, and read a few pages of the first play in the book, which was _The Tempest_ , and couldn't make head nor tail of it. There was a shipwreck, and then an old chap beefing to his daughter about some incomprehensible grievance in the past, and it was not my line at all, and I gave up.
"Milady was too well bred ever to question me about it, and when we were next alone I managed to say some words of gratitude, and I don't know whether she ever knew that Shakespeare and I had not hit it off. But the gift was very far from being a dead loss: in the first place it was a gift, and the first to come my way; in the second it was a sign of something much akin to love, even if the love went no further than the benevolence of two people with a high sense of obligation to their dependants and colleagues, down to the humblest. So the book became something more than an unreadable volume; it was a talisman, and I cherished it and gave it an importance among my belongings that was quite different from what it was meant to be. If it had been a book of spells, and I a sorcerer's apprentice who was afraid to use it, I could not have held it in greater reverence. It contained something that was of immeasurable value to the Tresizes, and I cherished it for that. I never learned anything about Shakespeare, and on the two or three occasions when I have seen Shakespearean plays in my life they have puzzled and bored me as much as _The Tempest_ , but my superstitious veneration of that book has never failed, and I have it still.
"There's evidence, if you need it, that I am not really a theatre person. I am an illusionist, which is a different and probably a lesser creature. I proved it that night. After the dinner and the gifts, we had an impromptu entertainment, a very mixed bag. Audrey Sevenhowes danced the Charleston, and did it very well; C. Pengelly Spickernell sang two or three songs, vaguely related to Christmas, and Home, and England. Grover Paskin sang a comic song about an old man who had a fat sow, and we all joined in making pig-noises on cue. I did a few tricks, and was the success of the evening.
"Combined with the special gift, that put me even more to the bad with the members of the company who were always looking for hidden meanings and covert grabs for power. My top trick was when I borrowed Milady's Spanish shawl and produced from beneath it the large bouquet the company had clubbed together to give her; as I did it standing in the middle of the room, with no apparent place to conceal anything at all, not to speak of a thing the size of a rosebush, it was neatly done, but as sometimes happens with illusions, it won almost as much mistrust as applause. I know why. I had not at that time grasped the essential fact that an illusionist must never seem to be pleased with his own cleverness, and I suppose I strutted a bit. The Cantab and Sevenhowes and Charlton and Woulds sometimes spoke of me as The Outsider, and that is precisely what I was. I don't regret it now. I've lived an Outsider's life, though not in quite the way they meant; I was outside something beyond their comprehension.
"That was an ill-fated evening, as we discovered on the following day. There was champagne, and Morton W. Penfold, who was with us, gained heroic stature for finding it in what the English regarded as a desert. Everybody drank as much as they could get, and there were toasts, and these were Sir John's downfall. The Spartan regime of a gouty man was always a burden to him, and he didn't see why he should drink whisky when everybody else was drinking the wine he loved best. He proposed a toast to The Profession, and told stories about Irving; it called for several glasses, though not really a lot, and before morning he was very ill. A doctor came, and saw that there was more than gout wrong with him. It was an inflamed appendix, and it had to come out at once.
"Not a great calamity for most people, even though such an operation wasn't as simple then as it is now, but it was serious for a star actor, half-way through a long tour. He would be off the stage for not less than three weeks.
"Sir John's illness brought out the best and the worst in his company. All the old hands, and the people with a thoroughly professional attitude, rallied round at once, with all their abilities at top force. Holroyd called a rehearsal for ten o'clock Monday morning, and Gordon Barnard, who was our second lead, sailed through _Scaramouche_ brilliantly; he was very different from Sir John, as a six-foot-two actor of the twentieth century must be different from a five-foot-two actor who is still in the nineteenth, but there was no worry whatever about him. Darton Flesher, who had to step into Barnard's part, needed a good deal of help, solid man though he was. But then somebody had to fill in for Flesher, and that was your friend Leonard Woulds, Roly, who proved not to know the lines which, as an understudy, he should have had cold. So it was a busy day.
"Busy for Morton W. Penfold, who had to tell the papers what had happened, and get the news on the Canadian Press wire, and generally turn a misfortune into some semblance of publicity. Busy for Felicity Larscombe, who showed herself a first-rate person as well as a first-rate actress; she undertook to keep an eye on Milady, so far as anyone could, because Milady was in a state. Busy also for Gwenda Lewis, who was a dull actress and silly about her dull husband, Jim Hailey; but Gwenda had been a nurse before she went on the stage, and she helped Felicity to keep Milady in trim to act that evening. Busy for old Frank Moore and Macgregor, who both spread calm and assurance through the company—you know how easily a company can be rattled—and lent courage where it was wanted.
"The consequence was that that night we played _Scaramouche_ very well, to a capacity audience, and did excellent business until it was time for us to leave Vancouver. The only hitch, which both the papers mentioned humorously, was that when Scaramouche walked the tightrope, it looked as if Sir John had mischievously broken out of the hospital and taken the stage. But there was nothing anybody could do about that, though I did what I could by wearing my red mask.
"It seemed as though the public were determined to help us through our troubles, because we played to full houses all week. Whenever Milady made her first entrance, there was warm applause, and this was a change indeed, because usually Morton W. Penfold had to arrange for the local theatre manager to be in the house at that time to start the obligatory round when she came on. Indeed, by the end of the week, Penfold was able to circulate a funny story to the papers that Sir John had announced from his hospital bed that it was obvious that the most profitable thing a visiting star could do was to go to bed and send his understudy on in his place. Dangerous publicity, but it worked.
"So everything appeared to be in good order, except that we had to defer polishing up _The Lyons Mail_ , which we had intended to put into the repertory instead of _The Corsican Brothers_ for our return journey across Canada.
"Not everything was satisfactory, however, because the Sevenhowes, Charlton, and Woulds faction were making mischief. Not very serious mischief in the theatre, because Holroyd would not have put up with that, but personal mischief in the company was much more difficult to check. They tried sucking up to Gordon Barnard, who was now the leading man, telling him how much easier it was to act with him than with Sir John. Barnard wouldn't have any of that, because he was a decent fellow, and he knew his own shortcomings. One of these was that in _The Master_ and _Scaramouche_ we used a certain number of extras, and these inexperienced people tended to look wooden on the stage unless they were jollied, or harried, into more activity than they could generate by themselves; Sir John was an expert jollier and harrier—as I understand Irving also was—and he had his own ways of hissing remarks and encouragement to these inexperienced people that kept them up to the mark; Barnard couldn't manage it, because when he hissed the extras immediately froze in their places, and looked at him in terror. Just a question of personality, but there it was; he was a good actor, but a poor inspirer. When this happened, Charlton and Woulds laughed, sometimes so that the audience could see them, and Macgregor had to speak to them about it.
"They also made life hard for poor old C. Pengelly Spickernell, in ways that only actors understand; when they were on stage with him, they would contrive to be in his way when he had to make a move, and in a few seconds the whole stage picture was a little askew, and it looked as if it were his fault; also, in _Scaramouche_ , where he played one of the Commedia dell' Arte figures, and wore a long, dragging cloak, one or other of them would contrive to be standing on the end of it when he had a move to make, pinning him to the spot; it was only necessary for them to do this two or three times to put him in terror lest it should happen every time, and he was a man with no ability to defend himself against such harassment.
"They were ugly to Gwenda Lewis, overrunning her very few cues, but Jim Hailey settled that by going to their dressing-room and talking it over with them in language he had learned when he had been in the Navy. Trivial things, but enough to make needless trouble, because a theatrical production is a mechanism of exquisitely calculated details. On tour it was useless to threaten them with dismissal, because they could not be replaced, and although there was a tariff of company fines for unprofessional conduct it was hard for Macgregor to catch them red-handed.
"Their great triumph had nothing to do with performance, but with the private life of the company. I fear this will embarrass you, Roly, but I think it has to be told. The great passion the Cantab felt for Audrey Sevenhowes was everybody's business; love and a cough cannot be hid, as the proverb says. I don't think Audrey was really an ill-disposed girl, but her temperament was that of a flirt of a special order; such girls used to be called cock-teasers; she liked to have somebody mad about her, without being obliged to do anything about it. She saw herself, I suppose, as lovely Audrey, who could not be blamed for the consequences of her fatal attraction. I am pretty sure she did not know what was going on, but Charlton and Woulds began a campaign to bring that affair to the boil; they filled the Cantab full of the notion that he must enjoy the favours of Miss Sevenhowes to the fullest—in the expression they used, he must 'tear off a branch' with Audrey—or lose all claim to manhood. This put the Cantab into a sad state of self-doubt, because he had never torn off a branch with anybody, and they assured him that he mustn't try to begin with the Sevenhowes, as he might expose himself as a novice, and become an object of ridicule. Might make a Horlicks of it, in fact. They bustled the poor boob into thinking that he must have a crash course in the arts of love, as a preparation for his great conquest; they would help him in this educational venture.
"It would have been nothing more than rather nasty joking and manipulation of a simpleton if they had kept their mouths shut, but of course that was not their way. I disliked them greatly at that time, but since then I have met many people of their kind, and I know them to be much more conceited and stupid than really cruel. They both fancied themselves as lady-killers, and such people are rarely worse than fools.
"They babbled all they were up to around the company; they chattered to Eric Foss, who was about their own age, but a different sort of chap; they let Eugene Fitzwarren in on their plan, because he looked wordly and villainous, and they were too stupid to know that he was a past president of the Anglican Stage Guild and a great worker on behalf of the Actors' Orphanage, and altogether a highly moral character. So very soon everybody in the company knew about it, and thought it a shame, but didn't know precisely what to do to stop the nonsense.
"It was agreed that there was no use talking to the Cantab, who wasn't inclined to take advice from anybody who could have given him advice worth having. It was also pretty widely felt that interfering with a young man's sexual initiation was rather an Old Aunty sort of thing to do, and that they had better let nature take its course. The Cantab must tear off a branch some time; even C. Pengelly Spickernell agreed to that; and if he was fool enough to be manipulated by a couple of cads, whose job was it to protect him?
"It became clear in the end that Mungo Fetch was elected to protect him, though only in a limited sense.—No, Roly, you can't possibly want to go to the loo again. You'd better sit down and hear this out.—The great worriers about the Cantab were Holroyd and Macgregor, and they were worrying on behalf of Sir John and Milady. Not that the Tresizes knew about the great plot to deprive the Cantab of his virginity; Sir John would have dealt with the matter summarily, but he was in hospital in Vancouver, and Milady was much bereft by his absence and telephoned to the hospital wherever we were. But Macgregor and Holroyd felt that this tasteless practical joke somehow reflected on those two, whom they admired wholeheartedly, and whose devotion to each other established a standard of sexual behaviour for the company that must be respected, if not fully maintained.
"Holroyd kept pointing out to Macgregor that the Cantab was in a special way a charge delivered over to Sir John by his Mum, and that it was therefore incumbent on the company as a whole—or the sane part of it, he said—to watch over the Cantab while Sir John and Milady were unable to do so. Macgregor agreed, and added Calvinist embroideries to the theme; he was no great friend to sex, and I think he held it against the Creator that the race could not be continued without some recourse to it; but he felt that such recourse should be infrequent, hallowed by church and law, and divorced as far as possible from pleasure. It seems odd, looking back, that nobody felt any concern about Audrey Sevenhowes; some people assumed that she was in on the joke, and the others were confident she could take care of herself.
"Charlton and Woulds laid their plan with gloating attention to detail. Charlton explained to the Cantab, and to any man who happened to be near, that women are particularly open to seduction in the week just preceding the onset of their menstrual period; during this time, he said, they simply ravened for intercourse. Furthermore, they had to be approached in the right way; nothing coarsely direct, no grabbing at the bosom or anything of that sort, but a psychologically determined application of a particular caress; this was a firm, but not rough, placing of the hand on the waist, on the right side, just below the ribs; the hand should be as warm as possible, and this could easily be achieved by keeping it in the trousers pocket for a few moments before the approach. This was supposed to impart special, irresistible warmth to the female liver; Liesl tells me it is a very old belief."
"I think Galen mentions it," said Liesl, "and like so much of Galen, it is just silly."
"Charlton considered himself an expert at detecting the menstrual state of women, and he had had his eye on Miss Sevenhowes; she would be ripe and ready to fall when we were in Moose Jaw, and therefore the last place in which the Cantab could achieve full manhood would be Medicine Hat. He approached Morton W. Penfold for information about the altars to Aphrodite in Medicine Hat, and was informed that, so far as the advance agent knew, they were few and of a Spartan simplicity. Penfold advised against the whole plan; if that was the kind of thing they wanted, they had better put it on ice till they got to Toronto. Anyhow he wanted no part of it. But Charlton and Woulds had no inclination to let their great plan rest until after Sir John had rejoined the company, for though they mocked him, they feared him.
"They played on the only discernible weakness in the strong character of Morton W. Penfold. His whole reputation, Charlton pointed out, rested on his known ability to supply anything, arrange anything, and do anything that a visiting theatrical company might want in Canada; here they were, asking simply for an address, and he couldn't supply it. They weren't asking him to take the Cantab to a bawdy-house, wait, and escort him home again; they just wanted to know where a bawdy-house might be found. Penfold was touched in his vanity. He made some inquiries among the locomotive crew, and returned with the address of a Mrs Quiller in Medicine Hat, who was known to have obliging nieces.
"We were playing a split week, of which Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were spent in Medicine Hat. On Thursday, with Charlton and Woulds at his elbow, the Cantab telephoned Mrs Quiller. She had no idea what he was talking about, and anyways she never did business over the phone. Might he drop in on Friday night? It all depended; was he one of them actors? Yes, he was. Well, if he come on Friday night she supposed she'd be t'home but she made no promises. Was he comin' alone? Yes, he would be alone.
"All day Friday the Cantab looked rather green, and Charlton and Woulds stuck to him like a couple of bridesmaids, giving any advice that happened to come into their heads. At half past five Holroyd sent for me in the theatre, and I found him in the tiny stage-manager's office, with Macgregor and Morton W. Penfold. 'I suppose you know what's on tonight?' said he. ' _Scaramouche_ , surely?' I said. 'Don't be funny with me, boy,' said Holroyd; 'you know what I mean.' 'Yes, I think I do,' said I. 'Then I want you to watch young Ingestree after the play, and follow him, and stay as close to him as you can without being seen, and don't leave him till he's back in his hotel.' 'I don't know how I'm going to do that—' I began, but Holroyd wasn't having it. 'Yes, you do,' he said; 'there's nothing green about you, and I want you to do this for the company; nothing is to happen to that boy, do you understand?' 'But he's going with the full intention of having something happen to him,' I said; 'you don't expect me to hold off the girls with a gun, do you?' 'I just want you to see that he doesn't get robbed, or beaten up, or anything worse than what he's going for,' said Holroyd. 'Oh, Nature, Nature, what an auld bitch ye are!' said Macgregor, who was taking all this very heavily.
"I thought I had better get out before I laughed in their faces; Holroyd and Macgregor were like a couple of old maids. But Morton W. Penfold knew what was what. 'Here's ten dollars,' he said; 'I hear it's the only visiting card Old Ma Quiller understands; tell her you're there to keep an eye on young Ingestree, but you mustn't be seen; in her business I suppose she gets used to queer requests and odd provisos.' I took it, and left them, and went off for a good laugh by myself. This was my first assignment as guardian angel.
"All things considered, everything went smoothly. After the play I left Macgregor to do some of my tidy-up work himself, and followed the Cantab after he had been given a back-slapping send-off by Charlton and Woulds. He didn't walk very fast, though it was a cold January night, and Medicine Hat is a cold town. After a while he turned in to an unremarkable-looking house, and after some inquiries at the door he vanished inside. I chatted for a few minutes with an old fellow in a tuque and mackinaw who was shovelling away an evening snowfall, then I knocked at the door myself.
"Mrs Quiller answered in person, and though she was not the first madam I had seen—now and then one of the sisterhood would appear in search of Charlie, who had a bad habit of forgetting to settle his bills—she was certainly the least remarkable. I am always amused when madams in plays and films appear as wonderful, salty characters, full of hard-won wisdom and overflowing, compassionate understanding. Damned old twisters, any I've ever seen. Mrs Quiller might have been any suburban housewife, with a dyed perm and bifocal specs. I asked if I could speak to her privately, and waggled the ten-spot, and followed her into her living-room. I explained what I had come for, and the necessity that I was not to be seen; I was just someone who had been sent by friends of Mr Ingestree to see that he got home safely. 'I getcha,' said Mrs Quiller; 'the way that guy carries on, I think he needs a guardeen.'
"I settled down in the kitchen with Mrs Quiller, and accepted a cup of tea and some soda crackers—her nightly snack, she explained—and we talked very comfortably about the theatre. After a while we were joined by the old snow-shoveller, who said nothing, and devoted himself to a stinking cigar. She was not a theatre-goer herself, Mrs Quiller said—too busy at night for that; but she liked a good fillum. The last one she seen was _Laugh, Clown, Laugh_ with Lon Chaney in it, and this girl Loretta Young. Now there was a sweet fillum, but it give you a terrible idea of the troubles of people in show business, and did I think it was true to life? I said I thought it was as true as anything dared to be, but the trials of people in the theatre were so many and harrowing that the public would never believe them if they were shown as they really were. That touched the spot with Mrs Quiller, and we had a fine discussion about the surprises and vicissitudes life brought to just about everybody, which lasted some time.
"Then Mrs Quiller grew restless. 'I wonder what's happened to that friend of yours,' she said; 'he's takin' an awful long time.' I wondered, too, but I thought it better not to make any guesses. It was not long till another woman came into the kitchen; I would have judged her to be in her early hard-living thirties, and she had never been a beauty; she had an unbecoming Japanese kimono clutched around her, and her feet were in slippers to which remnants of Caribou still clung. She looked at me with suspicion. 'It's okay,' said Mrs Quiller, 'this fella's the guardeen. Anything wrong, Lil?' 'Jeez, I never seen such a guy,' said Lil; 'nothin' doing _yet._ He just lays there with the droops, laughin', and talkin'. I never heard such a guy. He keeps sayin' it's all so ridiculous, and would I believe he'd once been a member of some Marlowe Society or something. What are they, anyway? A bunch o' queers? But anyways I'm sick of it. He's ruining my self-confidence. Is Pauline in yet? Maybe she could do something with him.'
"Mrs Quiller obviously had great qualities of generalship. She turned to me. 'Unless you got any suggestions, I'm goin' to give him the bum's rush,' she said. 'When he come in I thought, his heart's not in it. What do you say?' I said I thought she had summed up the situation perfectly. 'Then you go back up there, Lil, and tell him to come back when he feels better,' said Mrs Quiller. 'Don't shame him none, but get rid of him. And no refund, you understand.'
"So that was how it was. Shortly afterward I crept from Mrs Quiller's back door, and followed the desponding Cantab back to his hotel. I don't know what he told Charlton and Woulds, but they hadn't much to say to him from then on. The odd thing was that Audrey Sevenhowes was quite nice to him for the rest of the tour. Not in a teasing way—or with as little tease as she could manage—but just friendly. A curious story, but not uncommon, would you say, gentlemen?"
"I say it's time we all had a drink, and dinner," said Liesl. She took the arm of the silent Ingestree and sat him at the table beside herself, and we were all especially pleasant to him, except Magnus who, having trampled his old enemy into the dirt, seemed a happier man and, in some strange way, cleansed. It was as if he were a scorpion, which had discharged its venom, and was frisky and playful in consequence. I taxed him with it as we left the dinner table.
"How could you," I said. "Ingestree is a harmless creature, surely? He has done some good work. Many people would call him a distinguished man, and a very nice fellow."
Magnus patted my arm and laughed. It was a low laugh, and a queer one. Merlin's laugh, if ever I heard it.
(7)
Eisengrim was altogether in high spirits, and showed no fatigue from his afternoon's talking. He pretended to be solicitous about the rest of us, however, and particularly about Lind and Kinghovn. Did they really wish to continue with his narrative? Did they truly think what he had to say offered any helpful subtext to the film about Robert-Houdin? Indeed, as the film was now complete, of what possible use could a subtext be?
"Of the utmost possible use when next I make a film," said Jurgen Lind. "These divergences between the acceptable romance of life and the clumsily fashioned, disproportioned reality are part of my stock-in-trade. Here you have it, in your tale of Sir John's tour of Canada; he took highly burnished romance to a people whose life was lived on a different plateau, and the discomforts of his own life and the lives of his troupe were on other levels. How reconcile the three?"
"Light," said Kinghovn. "You do it with light. The romance of the plays is theatre-light; the different romance of the company is the queer train-light Magnus has described; think what could be done, with that flashing strobe-light effect you get when a train passes another and everything seems to flicker and lose substance. And the light of the Canadians would be that hard, bright light you find in northern lands. Leave it to me to handle all three lights in such a way that they are a variation on the theme of light, instead of just three kinds of light, and I'll do the trick for you, Jurgen."
"I doubt if you can do it simply in terms of appearances," said Lind.
"I didn't say you could. But you certainly can't do it without a careful attention to appearances, or you'll have no romance of any kind. Remember what Magnus says: without attention to detail you will have no illusion, and illusion's what you're aiming at, isn't it?"
"I had rather thought I was aiming at truth, or some tiny corner of it," said Lind.
"Truth!" said Kinghovn. "What kind of talk is that for a sane man? What truth have we been getting all afternoon? I don't suppose Magnus thinks he's been telling us the truth. He's giving us a mass of detail, and I don't doubt that every word he says is true in itself, but to call that truth is ridiculous even for a philosopher of film like you, Jurgen. What's he been doing to poor old Roly? He's cast him as the clown of the show—mother's boy, pompous Varsity ass, snob, and sexual non-starter—and I'm sure it's all true, but what has it to do with our Roly? The man you and I work with and lean on? The thoroughly capable administrator, literary man, and smoother-of-the-way? Eh?"
"Thank you for these few kind words, Harry," said Ingestree. "You save me the embarrassment of saying them myself. Don't suppose I bear any malice. Indeed, if I may make a claim for my admittedly imperfect character, it is that I have never been a malicious man. I accept what Magnus says. He has described me as I no doubt appeared to him. And I haven't scrupled to let you know that so far as I was concerned he was an obnoxious little squirt and climber. That's how I would describe him if I were writing my autobiography, which I may do, one of these days. But what's an autobiography? Surely it's a romance of which one is oneself the hero. Otherwise why write the thing? Perhaps you give yourself a rather shopworn character, like Rousseau, or H.G. Wells, and it's just another way of making yourself interesting. But Mungo Fetch and the Cantab belong to the drama of the past; it's forty years since they trod the boards. We're two different people now. Magnus is a great illusionist and, as I have said time after time, a great actor: I'm what you so generously described, Harry. So let's not fuss about it."
Magnus was not satisfied. "You don't believe, then," said he, "that a man is the sum and total of all his actions, from birth to death? That's what Dunny believes, and he's our Sorgenfrei expert on metaphysics. I think that's what I believe, too. Squirt and climber; not a bad summing-up of whatever you were able to understand of me when first we met, Roly. I'm prepared to stand by it, and when your autobiography comes out I shall look for myself in the Index under S and C: 'Squirts I have known, Mungo Fetch', and 'Climbers I have encountered, Fetch, M.' We must all play as cast, as my contract with Sir John put it. As for truth, I suppose we have to be content with the constant revisions of history. Though there is the odd inescapable fact, and I still have one or two of those to impart, if you want me to go on."
They wanted him to go on. The after-dinner cognac was on the table and I made it my job to see that everyone had enough. After all, I was paying my share of the costs, and I might as well cast myself as host, so far as lay in my power. God knows, that piece of casting would be undisputed when the bill was presented.
"As we made the return journey across Canada, a change took place in the spirit of the company," said Magnus; "going West it was all adventure and new experiences, and the country embraced us; as soon as we turned round at Vancouver it was going home, and much that was Canadian was unfavourably compared with the nests in the suburbs of London toward which many of the company were yearning. The Haileys talked even more about their son, and their grave worry that if they didn't get him into a better school he would grow up handicapped by an undesirable accent. Charlton and Woulds were hankering for restaurants better than the places, most of them run by Chinese, we found in the West. Grover Paskin and Frank Moore talked learnedly of great pubs they knew, and of the foreign fizziness of Canadian beer. Audrey Sevenhowes, having squeezed the Cantab, threw him away and devoted herself seriously to subduing Eric Foss. During our journey West we had seen the dramatic shortening of the days which has such ominous beauty in northern countries, and which I loved; now we saw the daylight lengthen, and it seemed to be part of our homeward journey; we had gone into the darkness and now we were heading back toward the light, and every night, as we went into those queer little stage doors, the naked bulb that shone above them seemed less needful.
"The foreignness of Canada seemed to abate a little at every sunset, but it was not wholly gone. When we played Regina for a week there was one memorable night when five Blackfoot Indian chiefs, asserting their right as tribal brothers of Sir John, sat as his guests in the left-hand stage box: it was rum, I can tell you, playing _Scaramouche_ with those motionless figures, all of them in blankets, watching everything with unwinking, jetty black eyes. What did they make of it? God knows. Or perhaps Sir John had some inkling, because Morton W. Penfold arranged that he should meet them in an interval, when there was an exchange of gifts, and pictures were taken. But I doubt if the French Revolution figured largely in their scheme of things. Milady said they loved oratory, and perhaps they were proud of Soksi-Poyina as he harangued the aristocrats so eloquently.
"Sir John had rejoined us by that time, and it was a shock when he appeared in our midst, for his hair had turned almost entirely grey during his time in the hospital. Perhaps he had touched it up before then, and the dye had run its course; he never attempted to return it to its original dark brown, and although the grey became him, he looked much older, and in private life he was slower and wearier. Not so on the stage. There he was as graceful and light-footed as ever, but there was something macabre about his youthfulness, in my eyes, at least. With his return the feeling of the company changed; we had supported Gordon Barnard with all our hearts, but now we felt that the ruler had returned to his kingdom; the lamp of romance burned with a different flame—a return, perhaps, to gaslight, after some effective but comparatively charmless electricity.
"I had a feeling, too, that the critics changed their attitude toward us on the homeward journey, and it was particularly evident in Toronto. The important four were in their seats, as usual: the man who looked like Edward VII from _Saturday Night;_ the stout little man, rumoured to be a Theosophist, from the _Globe;_ the smiling little fellow in pince-nez from the _Telegram;_ and the ravaged Norseman who wrote incomprehensible rhapsodies for the _Star_. They were friendly (except Edward VII, who was jocose about Milady), but they would persist in remembering Irving (whether they had ever actually seen him, or not), and that bothered the younger actors. Bothered Morton W. Penfold, too, who mumbled to Holroyd that perhaps the old man would be wise to think about retirement.
"The audiences came in sufficient numbers, and were warm in their applause, particularly when we played _The Lyons Mail._ It was another of the dual roles in which Sir John delighted, and so did I, because it gave me a new chance to double. If Roly had been looking for it, he would have found the seed of his Jekyll and Hyde play here, for it was a play in which, as the good Leserques, Sir John was all nobility and candour, and then, seconds later, lurched on the stage as the drunken murderer Dubosc, chewing a straw and playing with a knobbed cudgel. There was one moment in that play that never failed to chill me: it was when Dubosc had killed the driver of the mail coach, and leaned over the body, rifling the pockets; as he did it, Sir John whistled the 'Marseillaise' through his teeth, not loudly, but with such terrible high spirits that it summoned up, in a few seconds, a world of heartless, demonic criminality. But even I, enchanted as I was, could understand that this sort of thing, in this form, could not last long on the stage that Noel Coward had made his own. It was acting of a high order, but it was out of time. It still had magic here in Canada, not because the people were unsophisticated (on the whole they were as acute as English audiences in the provinces) but because, in a way I cannot explain, it was speaking to a core of loneliness and deprivation in these Canadians of which they were only faintly aware. I think it was loneliness, not just for England, because so many of these people on the prairies were not of English origin, but for some faraway and long-lost Europe. The Canadians knew themselves to be strangers in their own land, without being at home anywhere else.
"So, night by night, Canada relinquished its hold on us, and day by day we became weary, not perhaps of one another, but of our colleagues' unvarying heavy overcoats and too familiar pieces of luggage; what had been the romance of long hops going West—striking the set, seeing the trucks loaded at the theatre and unloaded onto the train, climbing aboard dead tired at three o'clock in the morning, and finding berths in the dimmed, heavily curtained sleeping-car—grew to be tedious. Another kind of excitement, the excitement of going home, possessed us, and although we were much too professional a company to get out of hand, we played with a special gloss during our final two weeks in Montreal. Then aboard ship, a farewell telegram to Sir John and Milady from Mr Mackenzie King (who seemed to be a great friend of the theatre, though outwardly a most untheatrical man), and off to England by the first sailing after the ice was out of the harbour.
"I had changed substantially during the tour. I was learning to dress like Sir John, which was eccentric enough in a young man, but at least not vulgar in style. I was beginning to speak like him, and as is common with beginners, I was overdoing it. I was losing, ever so little, my strong sense that every man's hand was against me, and my hand against every man. I had encountered my native land again, and was reconciled to all of it except Deptford. We passed through Deptford during the latter part of our tour, on a hop between Windsor and London: I found out from the conductor of the train that we would stop to take on water for the engine there, and that the pause would be short, but sufficient for my purpose; as we chugged past the gravel pit beside the railway line I was poised on the steps at the back of the train, and as we pulled in to the station, so small and so familiar, I swung down onto the platform and surveyed all that was to be seen of the village.
"I could look down most of the length of our main street. I recognized a few buildings and saw the spires of the five churches—Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Anglican, and Catholic—among the leafless trees. Solemnly, I spat. Then I went behind the train to the siding where, so many years ago, Willard had imprisoned me in Abdullah, and there I spat again. Spitting is not a ceremonious action, but I crowded it with loathing, and when I climbed back on the train I felt immeasurably better. I had not settled any scores, or altered my feelings, but I had done something of importance. Nobody knew it, but Paul Dempster had visited his childhood home. I have never returned.
"Back to England, and another long period of hand-to-mouth life for me. Sir John wanted a rest, and Milady had the long trial of waiting for her eyes to be ready for an operation—they called it 'ripening' in cases of cataracts then—and the operation itself, which was successful in that it made it possible for her to see with thick, disfiguring lenses that were a humiliation for a woman who still thought of herself as a leading actress. Macgregor decided to retire, which was reasonable but made a gap in the organization on which Sir John depended. Holroyd was a thoroughgoing pro, and could get a good job anywhere, and I think he saw farther than either Sir John or Milady, because he went to Stratford-on-Avon and stayed at the Memorial Theatre until he too retired. Nothing came of the Jekyll and Hyde play, though I know the Tresizes tinkered with the scenario for years, as an amusement. But they were comfortably off for money—rich, by some standards—and they could settle down happily in their suburban home, which had a big garden, and amuse themselves with the antiques that gave them so much delight. I visited them there often, because they kept a kind interest in me, and helped me as much as they were able. But their influence in the theatre was not great; indeed, a recommendation from them took on a queer look in the hands of a young man, because to so many of the important employers of actors in the London theatre in the mid-thirties they belonged to a remote past.
"Indeed, they never appeared at the head of a company again. Sir John had one splendid appearance in a play by a writer who had been a great figure in the theatre before and just after the First World War, but his time, too, had passed; his play suffered greatly from his own illness and some justifiable but prolonged caprice on the part of the star players. Sir John was very special in that play, and he was given fine notices by the press, but nothing could conceal the fact that he was not the undoubted star, but 'distinguished support in a role which could not have been realized with the same certainty of touch and golden splendour of personality by any other actor of our time'—so James Agate said, and everybody agreed.
"There was one very bad day toward the end of his life which, I know, opened the way for his death. In the autumn of 1937, when people were thinking of more immediately pressing things, some theatre people were thinking that the centenary of the birth of Henry Irving should not pass unnoticed. They arranged an all-star matinee, in which tribute to the great actor should be paid, and as many as possible of the great theatre folk of the day should appear in scenes selected from the famous plays of his repertoire. It should be given at his old theatre, the Lyceum, as near as possible to his birthday, which was February 6 in the following year.
"Have you ever had anything to do with such an affair? The idea is so splendid, the sentiment so admirable, that it is disillusioning to discover what a weight of tedious and seemingly unnecessary diplomacy must go into its arrangement. Getting the stars to say with certainty that they will appear is only the beginning of it; marshalling the necessary stage-settings, arranging rehearsals, and publicizing the performance, without ruinously disproportionate expense, is the bulk of the work, and I understand that an excellent committee did it with exemplary patience. But inevitably there were muddles, and in the first enthusiasm many more people were asked to appear than could possibly have been crowded on any stage, even if the matinee had been allowed to go on for six or seven hours.
"Quite reasonably, one of the first people to be asked for his services was Sir John, because he was the last actor of first-rate importance still living who had been trained under Irving. He agreed that he would be present, but then, prompted by God knows what evil spirit of vanity, he began to make conditions: he would appear, and he would speak a tribute to Irving if the Poet Laureate would write one. The committee demurred, and the Poet Laureate was not approached. So Sir John, with the bit between his teeth, approached the Poet Laureate himself, and the Poet Laureate said he would have to think about it. He thought for six weeks, and then, in response to another letter from Sir John, said he didn't see his way clear to doing it.
"Sir John communicated this news to the committee, who had meanwhile gone on with other plans, and they did not reply because, I suppose, they were up to their eyes in complicated arrangements which they had to carry through in the spare time of their busy lives. Sir John, meanwhile, urged an ancient poet of his acquaintance, who had been a very minor figure in the literary world before the First World War, to write the poetic tribute. The ancient poet, whose name was Urban Frawley, thought a villanelle would do nicely. Sir John thought something more stately was called for; his passion for playing the literary Meddlesome Mattie was aroused, and he and the ancient poet had many a happy hour, wrangling about the form the tribute should take. There was also the great question about what Sir John should wear, when delivering it. He finally decided on some robes he had worn not less than twenty-five years earlier, in a play by Maeterlinck; like everything else in his wardrobe it had been carefully stored, and when Holroyd had been summoned from Stratford to find it, it was in good condition, and needed only pressing and some loving care to make it very handsome. This valet work became my job, and in all I made three journeys to Richmond, where the Tresizes lived, to attend to it. Everything seemed to be going splendidly, and only I worried about the fact that nothing had been heard from the committee for a long time.
"There was less than a week to go before the matinee when at last I persuaded Sir John that something must be done to make sure that he had been included in the programme. This was tactless, and he gave me a polite dressing-down for supposing that when Irving was being honoured, his colleagues would be so remiss as to forget Irving's unquestioned successor. I was not so confident, because since the tour I had mingled a little with theatre people, and had learned that there were other pretenders to Irving's crown, and that Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson and Sir Frank Benson had been spoken of in this regard, and Benson was still living. I took my scolding meekly, and went right on urging him not to leave things to chance. So, rather in the spirit of the Master of Ballantrae giving orders to the pirates, he telephoned the secretary of the committee, and talked, not to him, but to his anonymous assistant.
"Sir John told him he was calling simply to say that he would be on hand for the matinee, as he had been invited to do some months before; that he would declaim the tribute to Irving which had been specially written by that favoured child of the Muses, Urban Frawley; that he would not arrive at the theatre until half past four, and he would arrive in costume, as he knew the backstage resources of the theatre would be crowded, and nothing was further from his mind than to create any difficulty by requiring the star dressing-room. All of this was delivered in the jocular but imperative mode that was his rehearsal speciality, with much 'eh' and 'quonk' to make it sound friendly. The secretary's secretary apparently gave satisfactory replies, because when Sir John had finished his call he looked at me slyly, as if I were a silly lad who didn't understand how such things were done.
"It was agreed that I should drive him to the theatre, because he might want assistance in arranging his robes, and although he had an old and trusted chauffeur, the man had no skill as a dresser. So, with lots of time to spare, I helped him into the back seat in his heavy outfit of velvet and fur, climbed into the driver's place, and off we went. It was one of those extremely class-conscious old limousines; Sir John, in the back, sat on fine whipcord, and I, in front, sat on leather that was as cold as death; we were separated by a heavy glass partition, but from time to time he spoke to me through the speaking tube, and his mood was triumphal.
"Dear old man! He was going to pay tribute to Irving, and there was nobody else in the world who could do it with a better right, or more reverent affection. It was a glory-day for him, and I was anxious that nothing should go wrong.
"As it did, of course. We pulled up at the stage door of the Lyceum, and I went in and told the attendant that Sir John had arrived. He wasn't one of your proper old stage doormen, but a young fellow who took himself very seriously, and had a sheaf of papers naming the people he was authorized to admit. No Sir John Tresize was on the list. He showed it to me, in support of his downright refusal. I protested. He stuck his head out of the door and looked at our limousine, and made off through the passage that led to the stage, and I stuck close to him. He approached an elegant figure whom I knew to be one of the most eminent of the younger actor-knights and hissed 'There's an old geezer outside dressed as Nero who says he's to appear; will you speak to him, sir?' I intervened; 'It's Sir John Tresize,' I said, 'and it was arranged that he was to speak an Epilogue—a tribute to Irving.' The eminent actor-knight went rather pale under his make-up (he was rigged out as Hamlet) and asked for details, which I supplied. The eminent actor-knight cursed with brilliant invention for a few seconds, and beckoned me to the corridor. I went, but not before I was able to identify the sounds that were coming from the stage as a passage from _The Lyons Mail;_ the rhythm, the tune of what I heard was all wrong, too colloquial, too matter-of-fact.
"We made our way back to the stage door, and the eminent actor-knight darted across the pavement, leapt into the limousine beside Sir John, and began to talk to him urgently. I would have given a great deal to hear what was said, but I could only catch scraps of it from where I sat in the driver's seat. 'Dreadful state of confusion... can't imagine what the organization of such an affair entails... would not for the world have slighted so great a man of the theatre and the most eminent successor of Irving... but when the proposal to the Poet Laureate fell through all communication had seemed to stop... nothing further had been heard... no, there had been no message during the past week or something would certainly have been done to alter the program... but as things stand... greatest reluctance... beg indulgence... express deepest personal regret but as you know I do not stand alone and cannot act on personal authority so late in the afternoon....'
"A great deal of this; the eminent actor-knight was sweating and I could see in the rear-vision mirror that his distress was real, and his determination to stick to his guns was equally real. They were a notable study. You could do wonders with them, Harry: the young actor so vivid, the old one so silvery in the splendour of his distinction; both giving the quality of art to a common human blunder. Sir John's face was grave, but at last he reached out and patted the knee in the Hamlet tights and said, 'I won't say I understand, because I don't; still, nothing to be done now, eh? Damned embarrassing for us both, quonk? But I think I may say a little more than just embarrassing for me.' Then Hamlet, delighted to have been let off the hook, smiled the smile of spiritual radiance for which he was famous, and did an inspired thing: he took the hand Sir John extended to him and raised it to his lips. It seemed under the circumstances precisely the right thing to do.
"Then I drove Sir John back to Richmond, and it was a slow journey, I can tell you. I hardly dared to look in the mirror, but I did twice, and both times tears were running down the old man's face. When we arrived I helped him inside and he leaned very heavily on my arm. I couldn't bear to hang around and hear what he said to Milady. Nor would they have wanted me.
"So that was how you knifed him, Roly. Don't protest. When the stage doorman showed me that list of people who were included in the performance, it was signed by you, on behalf of the eminent actor-knight. You simply didn't let that telephone message go any farther. It's a pity you couldn't have been on hand to see the scene in the limousine."
Magnus said no more, and nobody else seemed anxious to break the silence. Ingestree appeared to be thinking, and at last it was he who spoke.
"I don't see any reason now for denying what you've said. I think you have coloured it absurdly, but your facts are right. It's true I devilled for the committee about that Irving matinee; I was just getting myself established in the theatre in a serious way and it was a great opportunity for me. All the stars who formed the committee heaped work on me, and that was as it should be. I don't complain. But if you think Sir John Tresize was the only swollen ego I had to deal with, you'd better think again; I had months of tiresome negotiating to do, and because no money was changing hands I had to treat over a hundred people as if they were all stars.
"Yes, I got the call from Tresize, and it came just at the time when I was hardest pressed. Yes, I did drop it, because by that time I had been given a programme for that awful afternoon that we had to stick to or else disturb I can't think how many careful arrangements. You saw one man disappointed; I saw at least twenty. All my life I've had to arrange things, because I'm that uncommon creature, an artist with a good head for administration. One of the lessons I've learned is to give no ground to compassion, because the minute you do that a dozen people descend upon you who treat compassion as weakness, and drive you off your course without the slightest regard for what happens to you. You've told us that you apprenticed yourself to an egoism, Magnus, and so you did, and you've learned the egoismgame splendidly; but in my life I've had to learn how to deal with people like you without becoming your slave, and that's what I've done. I'm sorry if old Tresize felt badly, but on the basis of what you've told us I think everybody else here will admit that it was nobody's fault but his own."
"I don't think I'm ready to admit that," said Lind. "There is a hole in your excellent story: you didn't tell your superior about the telephone call. Surely he was the man to make final decisions?"
"There were innumerable decisions to be made. If you've ever had any experience of an all-star matinee you can guess how many. During the last week everybody was happy if a decision could be made that would stick. I don't remember the details very clearly. I acted for what seemed the best."
"Without any recollection of being told how to carry a chair, or that unfortunate reference to your father's shop, or the disappointment about Jekyll-and-Hyde in masks and meem?" said Magnus.
"What do you suppose I am? You can't really imagine I would take revenge for petty things of that sort."
"Oh yes; I can imagine it without the least difficulty."
"You're ungenerous."
"Life has made me aware of how far mean minds rely on generosity in others."
"You've always disliked me."
"You didn't like the old man."
"No. I didn't."
"Well, in my judgement at least, you killed him."
"Did I? Something had to kill him, I suppose. Something kills everybody. And when you say something you often mean somebody. Eventually something or somebody will kill us all. You're not going to back me into a corner that way."
"No, I don't think you can quite attribute Sir John's death to Roly," said Lind. "But a not very widely understood or recognized element in life—I mean the jealousy youth feels for age—played a part in it. Have you been harbouring ill-will toward Roly all these years because of this incident? Because I really think that what Sir John was played a large part in the way he died, as is usually the case."
"Very well," said Magnus; "I'll reconsider the matter. After all, it doesn't really signify whether I think Roly killed him, or not. But Sir John and Milady were the first two people in my life I really loved, and the list isn't a long one. After the matinee Sir John wasn't himself; in a few weeks he had flu, which turned to pneumonia, and he didn't last long. I went to Richmond every day, and there was one dreadful afternoon toward the end when I went into the room where Milady was sitting; when she heard my footstep she said, 'Is that you, Jack?' and I knew she wasn't going to live long, either.
"She was wandering, of course, and as I have told you I had learned so much from Sir John that I even walked like him; it was eerie and desolating to be mistaken for him by the person who knew him best. Roly says I ate him. Rubbish! But I had done something that I don't pretend to explain, and when Milady thought he was well again, and walking as he had not walked for a year, I couldn't speak to her, or say who I was, so I crept away and came back later, making it very clear that it was Mungo Fetch who had come, and would come as long as he was wanted.
"He died, and at that time everybody was deeply concerned about the war that was so near at hand, and there were very few people at the funeral. Not Milady; she wasn't well enough to go. But Agate was there, the only time I ever saw him. And a handful of relatives were there, and I noticed them looking at me with unfriendly, sidelong glances. Then it broke on me that they thought I must be some sort of ghost from the past, and very probably an illegitimate son. I didn't approach them, because I was sure that nothing would ever make it clear to them that I was indeed a ghost, and an illegitimate son, but in a sense they would never understand.
"Milady died a few weeks later, and there were even fewer at her funeral; Macgregor and Holroyd were there, and as I stood with them nobody bothered to look twice at me. Odd: it was not until they died that I learned they were both much older than I had supposed.
"The day after we buried Milady I left England; I had wanted to do so for some time, but I didn't want to go so long as there was a chance that I could do anything for her. There was a war coming, and I had no stomach for war; the circumstances of my life had not inclined me toward patriotism. There was nothing for me to do in England. I had never gained a foothold on the stage because my abilities as an actor were not of the fashionable kind, and I had not been able to do any better with magic. I kept bread in my mouth by taking odd jobs as a magician; at Christmas I gave shows for children in the toy department of one of the big shops, but the work was hateful to me. Children are a miserable audience for magic; everybody thinks they are fond of marvels, but they are generally literal-minded little toughs who want to know how everything is done; they have not yet attained to the sophistication that takes pleasure in being deceived. The very small ones aren't so bad, but they are in a state of life where a rabbit might just as well appear out of a hat as from anywhere else; what really interests them is the rabbit. For a man of my capacities, working for children was degrading; you might just as well confront them with Menuhin playing 'Pop Goes the Weasel'. But I drew streams of half-crowns from tiny noses, and wrapped up turtles that changed into boxes of sweets in order to collect my weekly wage. Now and then I took a private engagement, but the people who employed me weren't serious about magic. It sounds odd, but I can't put it any other way; I was wasted on them and my new egoism was galled by the humiliation of the work.
"I had to live, and I understood clocks. Here again I was at a disadvantage because I had no certificate of qualification, and anyhow ordinary cleaning and regulating of wrist-watches and mediocre mantel clocks bored me. But I hung around the clock exhibition in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and worked my way into the private room of the curator of that gallery in order to ask questions, and it was not long before I had a rather irregular job there. It is never easy to find people who can be trusted with fine old pieces, because it calls for a kind of sympathy that isn't directly hitched to mechanical knowledge.
"With those old clocks you need to know not only how they work, but why they are built as they are. Every piece is individual, and something of the temperament of the maker is built into them, so the real task is to discern whatever you can of the maker's temperament and work within it, if you hope to humour his clock and persuade it to come to life again.
"In the States and Canada they talk about 'fixing' clocks; it's a bad word, because you can't just fix a clock if you hope to bring it to life. I was a reanimator of clocks, and I was particularly good at the _sonnerie_ —you know, the bells and striking apparatus—which is especially hard to humour into renewed life. You've all heard old clocks that strike as if they were being managed by very old, arthritic gnomes; the notes tumble along irregularly, without any of the certainty and dignity you want from a true chime. It's a tricky thing to restore dignity to a clock that has been neglected or misused or that simply has grown old. I could do that, because I understood time.
"I mean my own time, as well as the clock's. So many workmen think in terms of their own time, on which they put a value. They will tell you it's no good monkeying with an old timepiece because the cost of the labour would run too close to the value of the clock, even when it was restored. I never cared how long a job took, and I didn't charge for my work by the hour; not because I put no value on my time but because I found that such an attitude led to hurried work, which is fatal to humouring clocks. I don't suppose I was paid as much as I could have demanded if I had charged by the hour, but I made myself invaluable, and in the end that has its price. I had a knack for the work, part of which was the understanding I acquired of old metal (which mustn't be treated as if it were modern metal), and part of which was the boundless patience and the contempt for time I had gained sitting inside Abdullah, when time had no significance.
"I suppose the greatest advantage I have had over other people who have wanted to do what I can do is that I really had no education at all, and am free of the illusions and commonplace values that education brings. I don't speak against education; for most people it is a necessity; but if you're going to be a genius you should try either to avoid education entirely, or else work hard to get rid of any you've been given. Education is for commonplace people and it fortifies their commonplaceness. Makes them useful, of course, in an ordinary sort of way.
"So I became an expert on old clocks, and I know a great many of the finest chamber clocks, and lantern clocks, and astronomical and equation clocks in the finest collections in the world, because I have rebuilt them, and tinkered them, and put infinitesimal new pieces into them (but always fashioned in old metal, or it would be cheating), and brought their chimes back to their original pride, and while I was doing that work I was as anonymous as I had been when I was inside Abdullah. I was a back-room expert who worked on clocks which the Museum undertook, as a special favour, to examine and put in order if it could be done. And when I had become invaluable I had no trouble in getting a very good letter of recommendation, to anybody whom it might concern, from the curator, who was a well-known man in his field.
"With that I set off for Switzerland, because I knew that there ought to be a job for a good clock-man there, and I was certain that when the war came Switzerland would be neutral, though probably not comfortable. I was right; there were shortages, endless problems about spies who wouldn't play their game according to the rules, bombings that were explained as accidental and perhaps were, and the uneasiness rising toward hysteria of being in the middle of a continent at war when other nations use your neutrality on the one hand, and hate you for it on the other. We were lucky to have Henri Guisan to keep us in order.
"I say 'we', though I did not become a Swiss and have never done so; theirs is not an easy club to join. I was Jules LeGrand, and a Canadian, and although that was sometimes complicated I managed to make it work.
"I presented my letter at the biggest watch and clock factories, and although I was pleasantly received I could not get a job, because I was not a Swiss, and at that time there were many foreigners who wanted jobs in important industries, and it was probable that some of them were spies. If I were going to place a spy, I would get a man who could pass for a native, and equip him with unexceptionable papers to show that he was a native; but when people are afraid of spies they do not think rationally. Still, after some patient application I wrangled an interview at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Geneva, and after waiting a while Jules LeGrand found himself once more in the back room of a museum. It was there that one of the great strokes of luck in my life occurred, and most uncharacteristically it came through an act of kindness I had undertaken. There must be a soft side to my nature, and perhaps I should have trusted it more than I have done.
"I was living in a pension, the proprietor of which had a small daughter. The daughter had got herself into deep trouble because she had broken her father's walking stick, and as the stick had been a possession of her grandfather it had something of the character of an heirloom. It was no ordinary walking-stick, but one of those joke sticks that fashionable young men used to carry—a fine Malacca cane, but with a knob on the top that did a trick. The knob of this particular specimen was of ivory, carved prettily like the head of a monkey; but when you pressed a button in its neck the monkey opened its mouth, stuck out a red tongue, and rolled its blue eyes up to heaven. The child had been warned not to play with grandfather's stick, and had predictably done so, and jammed it so that the monkey was frozen in an expression of idiocy, its tongue half out and its eyes half raised.
"The family made a great to-do, and little Rosalie was lectured and hectored and deprived of her allowance for an indefinite period, and the tragedy of the stick was brought up at every meal; everybody at the pension had ideas either about child-rearing or the mending of the stick and I became thoroughly sick of hearing about it, though not as sick as poor Rosalie, who was a nice kid, and felt like a criminal. So I offered to take it to my workroom at the Musée and do what I could. Mending old toys could not be very different from mending old clocks, and Rosalie was growing pale, so clearly something must be done. The family had tried a few watch-repair people, but none of them wanted to be bothered with what looked like a troublesome job; it is astonishing that in a place like Geneva, which numbers watch mechanics in the thousands, there should be so few who are prepared to tackle anything old. Something new delights them, but what is old seems to clog their works. I suppose it is a matter of sympathetic approach, which was my chief stock-in-trade as a reanimator of old timepieces.
"The monkey was not really difficult, but he took time. Releasing the silver collar that kept the head in position without destroying it; removing the ivory knob without damage; penetrating the innards of the knob in such a way as to discover its secrets without wrecking them: these were troublesome tasks, but what someone has made, someone else can dismantle and make again. It proved to be a matter of an escapement device that needed replacing, and that meant making a tiny part on one of my tiny lathes from metal that would work well, but not too aggressively, with the old metal in the monkey's works. Simple, when you know how and are prepared to take several hours to do it; not simple if you are in a hurry to finish. So I did it, and restored the stick to its owner with a flowery speech in which I begged forgiveness for Rosalie, and Rosalie thought I was a marvellous man (in which she was quite correct) and a very nice man (in which I fear she was mistaken).
"The significant detail is that one evening after the museum's working day was done I was busy with the walking-stick when the curator of my department walked through the passage outside the small workshop, saw my light, and came in, like a good Swiss, to turn it off. He asked what I was doing, and when I explained he showed some interest. It was a year later that he sent for me and asked if I knew much about mechanical toys; I said I didn't, but that it would be odd if a toy were more complex than a clock. Then he said, 'Have you ever heard of Jeremias Naegeli?' and I hadn't. 'Well,' said he, 'Jeremias Naegeli is very old, very rich, and very much accustomed to having his own way. He has retired, except for retaining the chairmanship of the board of So-and-So'—and he mentioned the name of one of the biggest clock, watch, and optical equipment manufacturers in Switzerland—'and he has collected a great number of mechanical toys, all of them old and some of them unique. He wants a man to put them in order. Would you be interested in a job like that?'
"I said, 'If Jeremias Naegeli commands several thousand expert technicians, why would he want me?' 'Because his people are expected to keep on the job during wartime,' said my boss; 'it would not look well if he took a first-rate man for what might appear to be a frivolous job. He is old and he doesn't want to wait until the war is over. But if he borrows you from the museum, and you are a foreigner not engaged in war production, it's a different thing, do you understand?' I understood, and in a couple of weeks I was on my way to St Gallen to be looked over by the imperious Jeremias Naegeli.
"It proved that he lived at some distance from St Gallen on his estate in the mountains, and a driver was sent to take me there. That was my first sight of Sorgenfrei. As you gentlemen know, it is an impressive sight, but try to imagine how impressive it was to me, who had never been in a rich house before, to say nothing of such a gingerbread castle as that. I was frightened out of my wits. As soon as I arrived I was taken by a secretary to the great man's private room, which was called his study, but was really a huge library, dark, hot, stuffy, and smelling of leather furniture, expensive cigars, and rich man's farts. It was this expensive stench that destroyed the last of my confidence, because it was as if I had entered the den of some fearsome old animal, which was precisely what Jeremias Naegeli was. It had been many years—in Willard's time—since I had been afraid of anyone, but I was afraid of him.
"He played the role of great industrialist, contemptuous of ceremony and without an instant to spare on inferior people. 'Have you brought your tools?' was the first thing he said to me; although it was a silly question—why wouldn't I have brought my tools?—he made it sound as if I were just the sort of fellow who would have travelled across the whole of Switzerland without them. He questioned me carefully about clockwork, and that was easy because I knew more about that subject than he did; he understood principles but I don't suppose he could have made a safety-pin. Then he heaved himself out of his chair and gestured to me with his cigar to follow; he was old and very fat, and progress was slow, but we crawled back into the entrance hall, where he showed me the big clock there, which you have all seen; it has dials for everything you can think of—time at Sorgenfrei and at Greenwich, seconds, the day of the week, the date of the month, the seasons, and the signs of the zodiac, the phases of the moon, and a complex _sonnerie._ 'What's that?' he said. So I told him what it was, and how it was integrated and what metals were probably used to balance one another off with enough compensation to keep the thing from needing continual readjustment. He didn't say anything, but I knew he was pleased. 'That clock was made for my grandfather, who designed it,' he said. 'He must have been a very great technician,' I said, and that pleased him as well, as I meant it to do. Most men are much more partial to their grandfathers than to their fathers, just as they admire their grandsons but rarely their sons. Then he beckoned me to follow again, and this time we went on quite a long journey, down a flight of steps, through a long corridor, and up steps again into what I judged was another building; we had been through a tunnel.
"In a tall, sunny room in this building there was the most extraordinary collection of mechanical toys that anyone has ever seen; there can be no doubt about that, because it is now in one of the museums in Zürich, and its reputation is precisely what I have said—the most extensive and extraordinary in the world. But when I first saw it, the room looked as if all the little princes and princesses and serene highnesses in the world had been having a thoroughly destructive afternoon. Legs and arms lay about the floor, springs burst from little animals like metal guts, paint had been gashed with sharp points. It was a breathtaking scene of destruction, and as I wandered here and there looking at the little marvels and the terrible damage, I was filled with awe, because some of those things were of indisputable beauty and they had been despoiled in a fit of crazy fury.
"It was here that the old man showed the first touch of humanity I had seen in him. There were tears in his eyes. 'Can you mend this?' he asked, waving his heavy stick to encompass the room. It was not a time for hesitation. 'I don't know that I can mend it all,' I said, 'but if anybody can do it, I can. But I mustn't be pressed for time.' That fetched him. He positively smiled, and it wasn't a bad smile either. 'Then you must begin at once,' he said, 'and nobody shall ever ask you how you are getting on. But you will tell me sometimes, won't you?' And he smiled the charming smile again.
"That was how I began life at Sorgenfrei. It was odd, and I never became fully accustomed to the routine of the house. There were a good many servants, most of whom were well up in years, as otherwise they would have been called away for war work. There were also two secretaries, both invalidish young men, and the old Direktor—which was what everybody called him—kept them busy, because he either had, or invented, a lot of business to attend to. There was another curious functionary, also unfit for military service, whose job it was to play the organ at breakfast, and play the piano at night if the old man wanted music after dinner. He was a fine musician, but he can't have been driven by ambition, or perhaps he was too ill to care. Every morning of his life, while the Direktor consumed a large breakfast, this fellow sat in the organ loft and worked his way methodically through Bach's chorales. The old man called them his prayers and he heard three a day; he consumed spiced ham and cheese and extraordinary quantities of rolls and hot breads while he was listening to Bach, and when he had finished he hauled himself up and lumbered off to his study. From that time until evening the musician sat in the secretaries' room and read, or looked out of the window and coughed softly, until it was time for him to put on his dress clothes and eat dinner with the Direktor, who would then decide if he wanted any Chopin that evening.
"We all dined with the Direktor, and with a severe lady who was the manager of his household, but we took our midday meal in another room. It was the housekeeper who told me that I must get a dinner suit, and sent me to St Gallen to buy one. There were shortages in Switzerland, and they were reflected in the Direktor's meals, but we ate extraordinarily well, all the same.
"The Direktor was as good as his word; he never harried me about time. We had occasional conferences about things I needed, because I required seasoned metal—not new stuff—that his influence could command from the large factories in the complex of which he was the nominal ruler and undoubted financial head; I also had to have some rather odd materials to repair finishes, and as I wanted to use egg tempera I needed a certain number of eggs, which were not the easiest things to get in wartime, even in Switzerland.
"I had never dealt with an industrialist before, and I was bothered by his demand for accurate figures; when he asked me how much spring-metal of a certain width and weight I wanted I was apt to say, 'Oh, a fair-sized coil,' which tried his temper dreadfully. But after he had seen me working with it, and understood that I really knew what I was doing, he regained his calm, and may even have recognized that in the sort of job he had given me accuracy of estimate was not to be achieved in the terms he understood.
"The job was literally a mess. I set to work methodically on the first day to canvass the room, picking up everything and putting the component parts of every toy in a separate box, so far as I could identify them. It took ten days, and when I had done I estimated that of the hundred and fifty toys that had originally been on the shelves, all but twenty-one could be identified and put into some sort of renewed life. What remained looked like what is found after an aircraft disaster; legs, heads, arms, bits of mechanism and unidentifiable rubbish lay there in a jumble that made no sense, sort it how I would.
"It was a queer way to spend the worst years of the war. So far as work and the nurture of my imagination went, I was in the nineteenth century. None of the toys was earlier than 1790, and most of them belonged to the 1830s and '40s, and reflected the outlook on life of that time, and its quality of imagination—the outlook and imagination, that's to say, of the kind of people—French, Russian, Polish, German—who liked mechanical toys and could afford to buy them for themselves or their children. Essentially it was a stuffy, limited imagination.
"If I have been successful in penetrating the character of Robert-Houdin and the sort of performance he gave, it is because my work with those toys gave me the clue to it and his audience. They were people who liked imagination to be circumscribed: you were a wealthy bourgeois papa, and you wanted to give your little Clothilde a surprise on her birthday, so you went to the very best toymaker and spent a lot of money on an effigy of a little bootblack who whistled as he shined the boot he held in his hands. See Clothilde, see! How he nods his head and taps with his foot as he brushes away! How merrily he whistles 'Ach, du lieber Augustin'! Open the back of his case—carefully, my darling, better let papa do it for you—and there is the spring, which pumps the little bellows and works the little barrel-and-pin device that releases the air into the pipes that make the whistle. And these little rods and eccentric wheels make the boy polish the boot and wag his head and tap his toe. Are you not grateful to papa for this lovely surprise? Of course you are, my darling. And now we shall put the little boy on a high shelf, and perhaps on Saturday evenings papa will make it work for you. Because we mustn't risk breaking it, must we? Not after papa spent so much money to buy it. No, we must preserve it with care, so that a century from now Herr Direktor Jeremias Naegeli will include it in his collection.
"But somebody had gone through Herr Direktor Naegeli's collection and smashed it to hell. Who could it be?
"Who could be so disrespectful of all the careful preservation, painstaking assembly, and huge amounts of money the collection represented? Who can have lost patience with the bourgeois charm of all these little people—the ballerinas who danced so delightfully to the music of the music-boxes, the little bands of Orientals who banged their cymbals and beat their drums and jingled their little hoops of bells, the little trumpeters (ten of them) who could play three different trumpet tunes, the canary that sang so prettily in its decorative cage, the mermaid who swam in what looked like real water, but was really revolving spindles of twisted glass, the little tightrope walkers, and the big cockatoo that could ruffle its feathers and give a lifelike squawk—who can have missed their charm and seen instead their awful rigidity and slavery to mechanical pattern?
"I found out who this monster was quite early in my long task. After I had sorted the debris of the collection, and set to work, I spent from six to eight hours a day sitting in that large room, with a jeweller's glass stuck in my eye, reassembling mechanisms, humouring them till they worked as they ought, and then touching up the paintwork and bits of velvet, silk, spangles, and feathers that had been damaged on the birds, the fishes, monkeys, and tiny people who gave charm to the ingenious clockwork which was the important part of them.
"I am a concentrated worker, and not easily interrupted, but I began to have a feeling that I was not alone, and that I was being watched by no friendly eye. I could not see anything in the room that would conceal a snooper, but one day I felt a watcher so close to me that I turned suddenly and saw that I was being watched through one of the big windows, and that the watcher was a very odd creature indeed—a sort of monkey, I thought, so I waved to it and grinned, as one does at monkeys. In reply the monkey jabbed a fist through the window and cursed fiercely at me in some Swiss patois that was beyond my understanding. Then it unfastened the window by reaching through the hole it had made in the glass, threw up the sash, and leapt inside.
"Its attitude was threatening, and although I saw that it was human, I continued to behave as if it were a monkey. I had known Rango pretty well in my carnival days, and I knew that with monkeys the first rule is never to show surprise or alarm; but neither can you win monkeys by kindness. The only thing to do is to keep still and quiet and be ready for anything. I spoke to it in conventional German—"
"You spoke in a vulgar Austrian lingo," said Liesl. "And you took the patronizing tone of an animal-trainer. Have you any idea what it is like to be spoken to in the way people speak to animals? A fascinating experience. Gives you quite a new feeling about animals. They don't know words, but they understand tones. The tone people usually use to animals is affectionate, but it has an undertone of 'What a fool you are!' I suppose an animal has to make up its mind whether it will put up with that nonsense for the food and shelter that goes with it, or show the speaker who's boss. That's what I did. Really Magnus, if you could have seen yourself at that moment! A pretty, self-assured little manikin, watching to see which way I'd jump. And I did jump. Right on top of you, and rolled you on the floor. I didn't mean to do you any harm, but I couldn't resist rumpling you up a bit."
"You bit me," said Magnus.
"A nip."
"How was I to know it was only meant to be a nip?"
"You weren't. But did you have to hit me on the head with the handle of a screwdriver?"
"Yes, I did. Not that it had much effect."
"You couldn't know that the most ineffective thing you could do to me was to hit me on the head."
"Liesl, you would have frightened St George _and_ his dragon. If you wanted gallantry you shouldn't have hit me and squeezed me and banged my head on the floor as you did. So far as I knew I was fighting for my life. And don't pretend now that you meant it just as a romp. You were out to kill. I could smell it on your breath."
"I could certainly have killed you. Who knew or cared that you were at Sorgenfrei, mending those ridiculous toys? In wartime who would have troubled to trace one insignificant little mechanic, travelling on a crooked passport, who happened to vanish? My grandfather would have been angry, but he would have had to hush the thing up somehow. He couldn't hand his granddaughter over to the police. The old man loved me, you know. If he hadn't, he would probably have killed me or banished me after I smashed up his collection of toys."
"And why did you smash them?" said Lind.
"Pure bloody-mindedness. For which I had good cause. You have heard what Magnus says: 'I looked like an ape. I still look like an ape, but I have made my apishness serve me and now it doesn't really matter. But it mattered then, more than anything else in the world, to me. It mattered more than the European War, more than anybody's happiness. I was so full of spleen I could have killed Magnus, and enjoyed it, and then told my grandfather to cope with the situation, and enjoyed that. And he would have done it.
"You'd better let me tell you about it, before Magnus rushes on and puts the whole thing in his own particular light. My life was pretty much that of any lucky rich child until I was fourteen. The only thing that was in the least unusual was that my parents—my father was Jeremias Naegeli's only son—were killed in a motor accident when I was eleven. My grandfather took me on, and was as kind to me as he knew how to be. He was like the bourgeois papa that Magnus described giving the mechanical toy to little Clothilde; my grandfather belonged to an era when the attitude toward children was that they were all right as long as they were loved and happy, and their happiness was obviously the same as that of their guardians. It works pretty well when nothing disturbs the pattem, but when I was fourteen something very disturbing happened in my pattern.
"It was the beginning of puberty, and I knew all about that because my grandfather was enlightened and I was given good, if rather Calvinist, instruction by a woman doctor. So when I began to grow rather fast I didn't pay much attention until it seemed that the growth was too much for me and I began to have fainting fits. The woman doctor appeared again and was alarmed. Then began a wretched period of hospitals and tests and consultations and head-shakings and discussions in which I was not included, and after all that a horrible time when I was taken to Zürich three times a week for treatment with a large ray-machine. The treatments were nauseating and depressing, and I was wretched because I supposed I had cancer, and asked the woman doctor about it. No, not cancer. What, then? Some difficulty with the growing process, which the ray treatment was designed to arrest.
"I won't bore you with it all. The disease was a rare one, but not so rare they didn't have some ideas about it, and Grandfather made sure that everything was done that anyone could do. The doctors were delighted. They did indeed control my growth, which made them as happy as could be, because it proved something. They explained to me, as if it were the most wonderful Christmas gift any girl ever had, that if they had not been able to do wonders with their rays and drugs I would have been a giant. Think of it, they said; you might have been eight feet tall, but we have been able to halt you at five foot eleven inches, which is not impossibly tall for a woman. You are a very lucky young lady. Unless, of course, there is a recurrence of the trouble, for which we shall keep the most vigilant watch. You may regard yourself as cured.
"There were, of course, a few side effects. One cannot hope to escape such an experience wholly unscathed. The side effects were that I had huge feet and hands, a disfiguring thickening of the skull and jaw, and surely one of the ugliest faces anyone has ever seen. But wasn't I lucky not to be a giant, as well?
"I was so perverse as not to be grateful for my luck. Not to be a giant, at the cost of looking like an ape, didn't seem to me to be the greatest good luck. Surely Fortune had something in her basket a little better than that? I raved and I raged, and I made everybody as miserable as I could. My grandfather didn't know what to do. Zürich was full of psychiatrists but my grandfather belonged to a pre-psychiatric age. He sent for a bishop, a good Lutheran bishop, who was a very nice man but I demolished him quickly; all his talk about resignation, recognition of the worse fate of scores of poor creatures in the Zürich hospitals, the necessity to humble oneself before the inscrutable mystery of God's will, sounded to me like mockery. There sat the bishop, with his snowy hair smelling of expensive cologne and his lovely white hands moulding invisible loaves of bread in the air before him, and there sat I, hideous and destroyed in mind, listening to him prate about resignation. He suggested that we pray, and knelt with his face in the seat of his chair. I gave him such a kick in the arse that he limped for a week, and rushed off to my own quarters.
"There was worse to come. With the thickening of the bones of my head there had been trouble with my organs of speech, and there seemed to be nothing that could be done about that. My voice became hoarse, and as my tongue thickened I found speech more and more difficult, until I could only utter in a gruff tone that sounded to me like the bark of a dog. That was the worst. To be hideous was humiliating and ruinous to my spirit, but to sound as I did threatened my reason. What was I to do? I was young and very strong, and I could rage and destroy. So that is what I did.
"It had all taken a long time, and when Magnus first saw me at the window of his workroom I was seventeen. I had gone on the rampage one day, and wrecked Grandfather's collection of toys. It was usually kept locked up but I knew how to get to it. Why did I do it? To hurt the old man. Why did I want to hurt the old man? Because he was at hand, and the pity I saw in his eyes when he came to see me—I kept away from the life in the house—made me hate him. Who was he, so old, so near death, so capable of living the life he liked, to pity me? If Fate had a blow, why didn't Fate strike him? He would not have had to endure it long. But I might easily live to be as old as he, trapped in my ugliness for sixty years. So I smashed his toys. Do you know, he never said a word of reproach? In the kind of world the bishop inhabited his forbearance would have melted my heart and brought me to a better frame of mind. But misfortune had scorched all the easy Christianity out of me, and I despised him all the more for his compassion, and wondered where I could attack him next.
"I knew Grandfather had brought someone to Sorgenfrei to mend the toys, and I wanted to see who it was. There was not much fun to be got out of the secretaries, and I had exhausted the possibilities of tormenting Hofstätter, the musician; he was poor game, and wept easily, the feeble schlemiel. I had spied on Magnus for quite a time before he discovered me; looking in the windows of his workroom meant climbing along a narrow ledge some distance above ground and as I looked like an ape I thought I might as well behave like one. So I used to creep along the ledge, and watch the terribly neat, debonair little fellow bent over his workbench, tinkering endlessly with bits of spring and tiny wires, and filing patiently at the cogs of little wheels. He always had his jeweller's glass stuck in one eye, and a beautifully fresh long white coat, and he never sat down without tugging his trousers gently upward to preserve their crease. He was handsome, too, in a romantic, nineteenth-century way that went beautifully with the little automata he was repairing.
"Before my trouble I had loved to go to the opera, and _Contes d'Hoffmann_ was one of my favourites; the scene in Magnus's workroom always reminded me of the mechanical doll, Olympia, in _Hoffmann_ , though he was not a bit like the grotesque old men who quarrelled over Olympia. So there it was, Hoffmann inside the window and outside, what? The only person in opera I resembled at all was Kundry the monstrous woman in _Parsifal_ , and Kundry always seemed to be striving to do good and be redeemed. I didn't want to do good and had no interest in being redeemed.
"I read a good deal and my favourite book at that time was Spengler's _Der Untergang des Abendlandes_ —I was not a stupid girl, you understand—and from it I had drawn a mishmash of notions which tended to support whatever I felt like doing, especially when I wanted to be destructive. Most adolescents are destructive, I suppose, but the worst are certainly those who justify what they do with a half-baked understanding of somebody's philosophy. It was under the banner of Spengler, then, that I decided to surprise Magnus and rough him up a bit. He looked easy. A man who worried so much in private about the crease of his trousers was sure to be a poor fighter.
"The surprise was mine. I was bigger and stronger but I hadn't had his experience in carnival fights and flophouses. He soon found out that hitting me on the head was no good, and hit me a most terrible blow in the diaphragm that knocked out all my breath. Then he bent one of my legs backward and sat on me. That was when we had our first conversation.
"It was long, and I soon discovered that he spoke my language. I don't mean German; I had to teach him proper German later. I mean that he asked intelligent questions and expected sensible answers. He was also extremely rude. I told you I had a hoarse, thick voice, and he had trouble understanding me in French and English. 'Can't you speak better than that?' he demanded, and when I said I couldn't he simply said, 'You're not trying; you're making the worst of it in order to seem horrible. You're not horrible, you're just stupid. So cut it out.'
"Nobody had ever talked to me like that. I was the Naegeli heiress, and I was extremely unfortunate; I was used to deference, and people putting up with whatever I chose to give them. Here was little Herr Trousers-Crease, who spoke elegant English and nice clean French and barnyard German, cheeking me about the way I spoke. And laying down the law and making conditions! 'If you want to come here and watch me work you must behave yourself. You should be ashamed, smashing up all these pretty things! Have you no respect for the past? Look at this: a monkey orchestra of twenty pieces and a conductor, and you've reduced it to a boxful of scraps. I've got to mend it, and it won't take less than four to six months of patient, extremely skilled work before the monkeys can play their six little tunes again. And all because of you! Your grandfather ought to tie you to the weathervane and leave you on the roof to die!'
"Well, it was a change from the bishop and my grandfather's tears. Of course I knew it was bluff. He may have hoped to shame me, but I think he was cleverer than that. All he was doing was serving notice on me that he would not put up with any nonsense; he knew I was beyond shame. But it was a change. And I began, just a little, to like him. Little Herr Trousers-Crease had quality, and an egoism that was a match for my own.
"Now—am I to go on? If there is to be any more of this I think I should be the one to speak. But is this confessional evening to know no bounds?"
"I think you'd better go ahead, Liesl," said I. "You've always been a great one to urge other people to tell their most intimate secrets. It's hardly fair if you refuse to do so."
"Ah, yes, but dear Ramsay, what follows isn't a tale of scandal, and it isn't really a love-story. Will it be of any interest? We must not forget that this is supposed to provide a subtext for Magnus's film about Robert-Houdin. What is the real story of the making of a great conjuror as opposed to Robert-Houdin's memoirs, which we are pretty much agreed are a bourgeois fake? I don't in the least mind telling my side of the story, if it's of any interest to the film-makers. What's the decision?"
"The decision is that you go on," said Kinghovn. "You have paused simply to make yourself interesting, as women do. No—that's unjust. Eisengrim has been doing the same thing all day. But go on."
"Very well, Harry, I shall go on. But there won't be much for you in what I have to tell, because this part of the story could not be realized in visual terms, even by you. What happened was that I came more and more to the workroom where little Herr Trousers-Crease was mending Grandfather's automata, and I fell under the enchantment of what he was able to do. He has told you that he humoured those little creatures back into life, but you would have to see him at work to get any kind of understanding of what it meant, because only part of it was mechanical. I suppose one of Grandfather's master technicians—one of the men who make those marvellous chronometers that are given to millionaires by their wives, and which never vary from strict time by more than a second every year—could have mended all those little figures so that they worked, but only Magnus could have read, in a cardboard box full of parts, the secret of the tiny performance that the completed figure was meant to give. When he had finished one of his repair jobs, the little bootblack did not simply brisk away at his little boot with his miniature brush, and whistle and tap his foot: he seemed to live, to have a true quality of being as though when you had turned your back he would leap up from his box and dance a jig, or run off for a pot of beer. You know what those automata are like: there is something distasteful about their rattling merriment; but Magnus made them _act_ —they gave a little performance. I had seen them before I broke them, and I swear that when Magnus had remade them they were better than they had ever been.
"Was little Herr Trousers-Crease a very great watchmaker's mechanic, then? No, something far beyond that. There must have been in him some special quality that made it worth his while to invest these creatures of metal with so much vitality and charm of action. Roly has talked about his wolfishness; that was part of it, because with that wolfishness went an intensity of imagination and vision. The wolfishness meant only that he never questioned the overmastering importance of what he—whoever and whatever he was—might be doing. But the artistry was of a rare kind, and little by little I began to understand what it was. I found it in Spengler.
"You have read Spengler? No: it is not so fashionable as it once was. But Spengler talks a great deal about what he calls the Magian World View, which he says we have lost, but which was part of the _Weltanschauung_ —you know, the world outlook—of the Middle Ages. It was a sense of the unfathomable wonder of the invisible world that existed side by side with a hard recognition of the roughness and cruelty and day-to-day demands of the tangible world. It was a readiness to see demons where nowadays we see neuroses, and to see the hand of a guardian angel in what we are apt to shrug off ungratefully as a stroke of luck. It was religion, but a religion with a thousand gods, none of them all-powerful and most of them ambiguous in their attitude toward man. It was poetry and wonder which might reveal themselves in the dunghill, and it was an understanding of the dunghill that lurks in poetry and wonder. It was a sense of living in what Spengler called a quivering cavern-light which is always in danger of being swallowed up in the surrounding, impenetrable darkness.
"This was what Herr Trousers-Crease seemed to have, and what made him ready to spend his time on work that would have maddened a man of modern education and modern sensibility. We have paid a terrible price for our education, such as it is. The Magian World View, in so far as it exists, has taken flight into science, and only the great scientists have it or understand where it leads; the lesser ones are merely clockmakers of a larger growth, just as so many of our humanist scholars are just cud-chewers or system-grinders. We have educated ourselves into a world from which wonder, and the fear and dread and splendour and freedom of wonder have been banished. Of course wonder is costly. You couldn't incorporate it into a modern state, because it is the antithesis of the anxiously worshipped security which is what a modern state is asked to give. Wonder is marvellous but it is also cruel, cruel, cruel. It is undemocratic, discriminatory, and pitiless.
"Yet here it was, in this most unexpected place, and when I had found it I apprenticed myself to it. Literally, for I begged Herr Trousers-Crease to teach me what he knew, and even with my huge hands I gained skill, because I had a great master. And that means very often an exacting, hot-tempered, and impatient master, because whatever my great countrymen Pestalozzi and Froebel may have said about the education of commonplace people, great things are not taught by blancmange methods. What great thing was I learning? The management of clockwork? No; any great craft tends at last toward the condition of a philosophy, and I was moving through clockwork to the Magian World View.
"Of course it took time. My grandfather was delighted, for what he saw was that his intractable, hideous granddaughter was quietly engaged in helping to repair what she had destroyed. He also saw that I improved physically, because my agony over my sickness had been terribly destructive; physically I had become slouching and simian, and as Magnus saw at once, I made my speech trouble far worse than it was, to spite myself and the world. Magnus helped me with that. Re-taught me, indeed, because he would not tolerate my uncouth mutterings, and gave me some sharp and demanding instruction in the manner of speech he had learned from Lady Tresize. And I learned. It was a case of learn to speak properly or get out of the workroom, and I wanted to stay.
"We were an odd pair, certainly. I knew about the Magian World View, and recognized it in my teacher. He knew nothing of it, because he knew nothing else: it was so much in the grain of the life he had lived, so much a part of him, that he didn't understand that everybody else didn't think—no, not think, feel—as he did. I would not for the world have attempted to explain it to him, because that would have endangered it. His kind was not the kind of mind that is happy with explanations and theories. In the common sense of the expression, he had no brains at all, and hasn't to this day. What does it matter? I have brains for him.
"As his pupil, is it strange that I should fall in love with him? I was young and healthy, and hideous though I was, I had my yearnings—perhaps exaggerated by the unlikelihood that they could find satisfaction. How was I to make him love me? Well, I began, as all the beginners in love do, with the crazy notion that if I loved him enough he must necessarily respond. How could he ignore the devotion I offered? Pooh! He didn't notice at all. I worked like a slave, but that was no more than he expected. I made little gestures, gave him little gifts, tried to make myself fascinating—and that was uphill work, let me assure you. Not that he showed distaste for me. After all, he was a carnival man, and had grown used to grotesques. He simply didn't think of me as a woman.
"At least, that is how I explained it to myself, and I made myself thoroughly miserable about it. At last, one day, when he spoke to me impatiently and harshly, I wept. I suppose I looked dreadful, and he became even more rough. So I seized him, and demanded that he treat me as a human creature and not simply as a handy assistant, and blubbered out that I loved him. I did all the youthful things: I told him that I knew it was impossible that he should love me, because I was so ugly, but that I wanted some sort of human feeling from him.
"To my delight he took me quite seriously. We sat down at the workbench, and settled to a tedious task that needed some attention, but not too much, and he told me about Willard, and his childhood, and said that he did not think that love in the usual sense was for him, because he had experienced it as a form of suffering and humiliation—a parody of sex—and he could not persuade himself to do to anyone else what had been done to him in a perverse and terrifying mode.
"This was going too fast for me. Of course I wanted sexual experience, but first of all I wanted tenderness. Under my terrible appearance—I read a lot of old legends and I thought of myself as the Loathly Maiden in the Arthurian stories—I was still an upper-class Swiss girl of gentle breeding, and I thought of sexual intercourse as a splendid goal to be achieved, after a lot of pleasant things along the way. And being a sensible girl, under all the outward trouble and psychological muddle, I said so. That led to an even greater surprise.
"He told me that he had once been in love with a woman, who had died, and that he could not feel for anyone else as he had felt for her. Romance! I rose to it like a trout to a fly. But I wanted to know more, and the more I heard the better it was. Titled lady of extraordinary charm, understanding, and gentleness. All this was to the good. But then the story began to slide sidewise into farce, as it seemed to me. The lady was not young; indeed, as I probed, it came out that she had been over sixty when he first met her. There had been no tender passages between them, because he respected her too much, but he had been privileged to read the Bible to her. It was at this point I laughed.
"Magnus was furious. The more he stormed the more I laughed, and I am sorry to say that the more I laughed the more I jeered at him. I was young, and the young can be horribly coarse about love that is not of their kind. From buggery to selfless, knightly adoration at one splendid leap! I made a lot of it, and hooted with mirth.
"I deserved to be slapped, and I was slapped. I hit back, and we fought, and rolled on the floor and slugged each other. But of course everyone knows that you should never fight with women if you want to punish them; the physical contact leads to other matters, and it did. I was not ready for sexual intercourse so soon, and Magnus did not want it, but it happened all the same. It was the first time for both of us, and it is a wonder we managed at all. It is like painting in water-colours, you know; it looks easy but it isn't. Real command only comes with experience. We were both astonished and cross. I thought I had been raped; Magnus thought he had been unfaithful to his real love. It looked like a deadlock.
"It wasn't, however. We did it lots of times after that—I mean, in the weeks that followed—and the habit is addictive, as you all know, and very agreeable, if not really the be-all and end-all and cure-all that stupid people pretend. It was good for me. I became quite smart, in so far as my appearance allowed, and paid attention to my hair, which as you see is very good. My grandfather was transported, because I began to eat at the family table again, and when he had guests I could be so charming that they almost forgot how I looked. The Herr Direktor's granddaughter Fräulein Orang-Outang, so charming and witty, though it is doubtful if even the old man's money will find her a husband.
"I am sure Grandfather knew I was sleeping with Magnus, and it must have given him severe Calvinist twinges, but he did not become a great industrialist by being a fool; he weighed the circumstances and was pleased by the obvious balance on the credit side. I think he would have consented to marriage if Magnus had mentioned it. But of course he didn't.
"Nor would I have urged it. The more intimate we became, the more I knew that we were destined to be very great friends, and probably frequent bed-mates, but certainly not a happy bourgeois married couple. For a time I called Magnus Tiresias, because like that wonderful old creature he had been for seven years a woman, and had gained strange wisdom and insight thereby. I thought of him sometimes as Galahad, because of his knightly obsession with the woman we now know as Milady, but I never called him that to his face, because I had done with mocking at his chivalry. I have never understood chivalry, but I have learned to keep my mouth shut about it."
"It's a man's thing," said I; "and I think we have seen the last of it for a while on this earth. It can't live in a world of liberated women, and perhaps the liberation of women is worth the price it is certain to cost. But chivalry won't die easily or unnoticed; banish chivalry from the world and you snap the mainspring of many lives."
"Good, grey old Ramsay," said Liesl, reaching over to pat my hand; "always gravely regretting, always looking wistfully backward."
"You're both wrong," said Magnus. "I don't think chivalry belongs to the past; it's part of that World View Liesl talks so much about, and that she thinks I possess but don't understand. What captured my faith and loyalty about Milady had just as much to do with Sir John. He was that rare creature, the Man of One Woman. He loved Milady young and he loved her old and much of her greatness was the creation of his love. To hear people talk and to look at the stuff they read and see in the theatre and the films, you'd think the true man was the man of many women, and the more women, the more masculine the man. Don Juan is the ideal. An unattainable ideal for most men, because of the leisure and money it takes to devote yourself to a life of womanizing—not to speak of the relentless energy, the unappeasable lust, and the sheer woodpecker-like vitality of the sexual organ that such a life demands. Unattainable, yes, but thousands of men have a dab at it, and in their old age they count their handful of successes like rosary beads. But the Man of One Woman is very rare. He needs resources of spirit and psychological virtuosity beyond the common, and he needs luck, too, because the Man of One Woman must find a woman of extraordinary quality. The Man of One Woman was the character Sir John played on the stage, and it was the character he played in life, too.
"I envied him, and I cherished the splendour those two had created. If, by any inconceivable chance, Milady had shown any sexual affection for me, I should have been shocked, and I would have rebuked her. But she didn't, of course, and I simply warmed myself at their fire, and by God I needed warmth. I once had a hope that I might have found something of the sort for myself, with you, Liesl, but my luck was not to run in that direction. I would have been very happy to be a Man of One Woman, but that wasn't your way, nor was it mine. I couldn't forget Milady."
"No, no; we went our ways," said Liesl. "And you know you were never much of a lover, Magnus. What does that matter? You were a great magician, and has any great magician ever been a great lover? Look at Merlin: his only false step was when he fell in love and ended up imprisoned in a tree for his pains. Look at poor old Klingsor: he could create gardens full of desirable women, but he had been castrated with a magic spear. You've been happy with your magic. And when I gained enough confidence to go out into the world again, I was happy in a casual, physical way with quite a few people, and some of the best of them were of my own sex."
"Yes, indeed," said Magnus. "Who snatched the Beautiful Faustina from under my very nose?"
"Oh, Faustina, Faustina, you always bring her up when you feel a grievance. You must understand, gentlemen, that when my grandfather died, and I was heir to a large fortune, Magnus and I realized a great ambition we had in common; we set up a magic show, which developed and gained sophistication and gloss until it became the famous _Soirée of Illusions._ It takes money to get one of those things on its feet, as you well know, but when it is established it can be very profitable.
"You can't have a magic show without a few beautiful girls to be sawn in two, or beheaded, or whisked about in space. Sex has its place in magic, even if it is not the foremost place. As ours was the best show in existence, or sought to become the best, we had to have some girls better than the pretty numskulls who are content to take simple jobs in which they are no more than living stage properties.
"I found one in Peru, a great beauty indeed but not far evolved in the European sense; a lovely animal. I bought her, to be frank. You can still buy people, you know, if you understand how to go about it. You don't go to a peasant father and say, 'Sell me your daughter'; you say, 'I can open up a splendid future for your daughter, that will make her a rich lady with many pairs of shoes, and as I realize you need her to work at home, I hope you won't be offended if I offer you five hundred American dollars to recompense you for your loss.' He isn't offended; not in the least. And you make sure he puts his mark on an official-looking piece of paper that apprentices the girl to you, to learn a trade—in this case the trade of sempstress, because actress has a bad sound if there is any trouble. And there you are. You wash the girl, teach her to stand still on stage and do what she is told, and you clout her over the ear if she is troublesome. Quite soon she thinks she is a great deal more important than she really is, but that can be endured.
"Faustina was a thrill on the stage, because she really was stunningly beautiful, and for a while it seemed to be good business to let curious people think she was Magnus's mistress; only a few rather perceptive people know that great magicians, as opposed to ham conjurors, don't have mistresses. In reality, Faustina was my mistress, but we kept that quiet, in case some clamorous moralist should make a fuss about it. In Latin America, in particular, the clergy are pernickety about such things. You remember Faustina, Ramsay? I recall you had a wintry yearning toward her yourself."
"Don't be disagreeable, Liesl," I said. "You know who destroyed that."
"Destroyed it, certainly, and greatly enriched you in the process," said Liesl, and touched me gently with one of her enormous hands.
"So there you have it, gentlemen," she continued. "Now you know everything, it seems to me."
"Not everything," said Ingestree. "The name, Magnus Eisengrim—whose inspiration was that?"
"Mine," said Liesl. "Did I tell you I took my degree at the University of Zürich? Yes, in the faculty of philosophy where I leaned toward what used to be called philology—quite a Teutonic specialty. So of course I was acquainted with the great beast-legends of Europe, and in Reynard the Fox, you know, there is the great wolf Eisengrim, whom everyone fears, but who is not such a bad fellow, really. Just the name for a magician, don't you think?"
"And your name," said Lind. "Liselotte Vitzlipützli? You were always named on the programmes as Theatre Autocrat—Liselotte Vitzlipützli."
"Ah, yes. Somebody has to be an autocrat in an affair of that kind, and it sounds better and is more frank than simply Manager. Anyhow, I wasn't quite a manager: I was the boss. It was my money, you see. But I knew my place. Manager I might be, but without Magnus Eisengrim I was nothing. Consequently—Vitzlipützli. You understand?"
"No, gnädiges Fraulein, I do not understand," said Lind, "and you know I do not understand. What I am beginning to understand is that you are capable of giving your colleagues Eisengrim and Ramsay a thoroughly difficult time when it is your whim. So again—Vitzlipützli?"
"Dear, dear, how ignorant people are in this supposedly brilliant modern world," said Liesl. "You surely know _Faust_? Not Goethe's _Faust_ , of course; every Teuton has that by heart—both parts of it—but the old German play on which he based his poem. Look among the characters there, and you will find that the least of the demons attending on the great magician is Vitzlipützli. So that was the name I chose. A delicate compliment to Magnus. It takes a little of the sting out of the word Autocrat.
"But an autocrat is what I must be now. Gentlemen, we have talked for a long time, and I hope we have given you your subtext. You have seen what a gulf lies between the reality of a magician with the Magian World View and such a pack of lies as Robert-Houdin's bland, bourgeois memoirs. You have seen, too, what a distance there is between the pack of lies Ramsay wrote so artfully as a commercial life of our dear Eisengrim, and the sad little boy from Deptford. And now, we must travel tomorrow, and I must pack my two old gentlemen off to their beds, or they will not be happy for the plane. So it is time to say good night."
Profuse thanks for hospitality, for the conversation, for the pleasure of working together on the film _Un Hommage à Robert-Houdin_ , from Lind. A rather curious exchange of friendly words and handshakes between Eisengrim and Roland Ingestree. The business of waking Kinghovn from a drunken stupor, of getting him to understand that he must not have another brandy before going home. And then, at last, we three were by ourselves.
"Strange to spend so many hours answering questions," said Liesl.
"Strange, and disagreeable," said Eisengrim.
"Strange what questions went unasked and unanswered," said I.
"Such as—?" said Liesl.
"Such as 'Who killed Boy Staunton?' " said I.
# _3_
# _Le Lit de Justice_
(1)
"You know the police in Toronto are still not satisfied that you told them all you know about Staunton's death?"
"I told them all I thought proper."
"Which wasn't everything?"
"Certainly not. The police must work with facts, not fancies and suppositions. The facts were simple. I met him, for the first time in my life, when I visited you at your school in Toronto on the night of November 3, 1968; we went to your room and had a talk that lasted less than an hour. I accepted his offer to drive me back to my hotel. We chatted for a time, because we were both Deptford boys. I last saw him as he drove away from the hotel door."
"Yes. And he was found less than three hours later in the harbour, into which he appeared to have driven in his powerful car, and when the police recovered the body they found a stone in his mouth."
"So I understand."
"If that had been all there was to it, would the police still be wondering about you?"
"No indeed."
"It was my fault," said Liesl. "If I had been more discreet, the police would have been satisfied with what Magnus told them. But one has one's pride as an artist, you know, and when I was asked a question I thought I could answer effectively I did so, and then the fat was in the fire."
Would anyone who saw us at this moment have thought we were talking about murder? I was convinced that Magnus had murdered Staunton, and with reason. Was not Staunton the initiator of most of what we had heard in the subtext of the life of Magnus Eisengrim? If, when both he and I were ten years old, Percy Boyd Staunton had not thrown a snowball at me, which had instead hit Mrs Amasa Dempster, bringing about the premature birth of her son Paul and robbing her of her wits, would I at this moment be in bed with Magnus Eisengrim and Liselotte Vitzlipützli in the Savoy Hotel, discussing Staunton's death?
We had come to this because we were inclined to share a bed when we had anything important to talk about. People who think of beds only in terms of sexual exercise or sleep simply do not understand that a bed is the best of all places for a philosophical discussion, an argument, and if necessary a showdown. It was not by chance that so many kings of old administered justice from their beds, and even today there is something splendidly parliamentary about an assembly of concerned persons in a bed.
Of course it must be a big bed. The Savoy had outfitted Magnus's room with two splendid beds, each of which was easily capable of accommodating three adults without undue snuggling. (The Savoy is above the meanness of "single" beds.) So there we were, at the end of our long day of confession and revelation, lying back against the ample pillows, Liesl in the middle, Magnus on her left, and I on her right. He wore a handsome dressing-gown and a scarf he twisted around his head when he slept, because he had a European fear of draughts. I am a simple man; a man of blue pyjamas. Liesl liked filmy night-robes, and she was a delightful person to be in bed with because she was so warm. As I grow older I fuss about the cold, and for some reason I feel the cold for an hour or so after I have removed my artificial leg, as of course I had done before climbing in with them. My chilly stump was next to Liesl.
There we lay, nicely tucked up. I had my usual glass of hot milk and rum, Liesl had a balloon glass of cognac, and Magnus, always eccentric, had the glass of warm water and lemon juice without which he thought he could not sleep. I am sure we looked charmingly domestic, but my frame of mind was that of the historian on a strong scent and eager for the kill. If ever I was to get the confession that would complete my document—the document which would in future enable researchers to write "Ramsay says..." with authority—it would be before we slept. If Magnus would not tell me what I wanted to know, surely I might get it from Liesl?
"Consider the circumstances," she said. "It was the final Saturday night of our two weeks' engagement at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto; we had never taken the _Soirée of Illusions_ there before and we were a huge success. By far our most effective illusion was _The Brazen Head of Friar Bacon_ , second to last on the programme.
"Consider how it worked, Ramsay: the big pretend-brass Head hung in the middle of the stage, and after it had identified a number of objects of which nobody but the owners could have had knowledge, it gave three pieces of advice. That was always the thing that took most planning; the Head would say, 'I am speaking to Mademoiselle Such-A-One, who is sitting in Row F, number 32.' (We always called members of the audience Madame and Monsieur and so forth because it gave a tiny bit of elegance to the occasion in an English-speaking place.) Then I would give Mademoiselle Such-A-One a few words that would make everybody prick up their ears, and might even make Mademoiselle squeal with surprise. Of course we picked up the gossip around town, through an advance agent, or the company manager might get a hint of it in the foyer, or even by doing a little snooping in handbags and pocket-books—he was a very dever old dip we valued for this talent. I was the Voice of the Head, because I have a talent for making a small piece of information go a long way.
"We had, in the beginning, decided never to ask for questions from the audience. Too dangerous. Too hard to answer effectively. But on that Saturday night somebody shouted from the gallery—we know who it was, it was Staunton's son David, who was drunk as a fiddler's bitch and almost out of his mind about his father's death—'Who killed Boy Staunton?'
"Ramsay, what would you have done? What would you expect me to do? You know me; am I one to shy away from a challenge? And there it was: a very great challenge. In an instant I had what seemed to me an inspiration—just right in terms of the Brazen Head, that's to say; just right in terms of the best magic show in the world. Magnus had been talking to me about the Staunton thing all week; he had told me everything Staunton had said to him. Was I to pass up that chance? Ramsay, use your imagination!
"I signalled to the electrician to bring up the warm lights on the Head, to make it glow, and I spoke into the microphone, giving it everything I could of mystery and oracle, and I said—you remember what I said— _He was killed by the usual cabal: by himself, first of all; by the woman he knew; by the woman he did not know; by the man who granted his inmost wish; and by the inevitable fifth, who was keeper of his conscience and keeper of the stone._ You remember how well it went."
"Went well! Liesl, is that what you call going well?"
"Of course; the audience went wild. There was greater excitement in that theatre than the _Soirée_ had ever known. It took a long time to calm them down and finish the evening with _The Vision of Dr Faustus_. Magnus wanted to bring the curtain down then and there. He had cold feet—"
"And with reason," said Magnus; "I thought the cops would be down on us at once. I was never so relieved in my life as when we got on the plane to Copenhagen the following morning."
"You call yourself a showman; It was a triumph!"
"A triumph for you, perhaps. Do you remember what happened to me?"
"Poor Ramsay, you had your heart attack, there in the theatre. Right-hand upper stage box, where you had been lurking. I saw you fall forward through the curtains and sent someone to take care of you at once. But would you grudge that in the light of the triumph for the _Soirée_? It wasn't much of a heart attack, now, was it? Just a wee warning that you should be careful about excitement. And were you the only one? Staunton's son took it very badly. And Staunton's wife! As soon as she heard about it—which she did within an hour—she forgot her role as grieving widow and was after us with all the police support she could muster, which luckily wasn't enthusiastic. After all, what could they charge us with? Not even fortune-telling, which is always the thing one has to keep clear of. But any triumph is bound to bring about a few casualties. Don't be small, Ramsay."
I took a pull at my rum and milk, and reflected on the consuming vanity of performers: Magnus, a monster of vanity, which he said he had learned from Sir John Tresize; and Liesl, not one whit less vain, to whom a possible murder, a near-riot in a theatre, an outraged family, and my heart attack— _mine_ —were mere sparks from the anvil on which she had hammered out her great triumph. How does one cope with such people?
One doesn't; one thanks God they exist. Liesl was right; I mustn't be small. But if I was allowed my own egoism, I must have the answers I wanted. This was by no means the first time the matter of the death of Boy Staunton had come up among the three of us. On earlier occasions Magnus had put me aside with jokes and evasions, and when Liesl was present she stood by him in doing so; they both knew that I was deeply convinced that somehow Magnus had sent Staunton to his death, and they loved to keep me in doubt. Liesl said it was good for me not to have an answer to every question I asked, and my burning historian's desire to gather and record facts she pretended to regard as mere nosiness.
It was now or never. Magnus had opened up to the film-makers as he had never done to anyone—Liesl knew a little, I presume, but certainly her knowledge of his past was far from complete—and I wanted my answers while the confessional mood was still strong in him. Press on, Ramsay: even if they hate you for it now, they'll get cool in the same skins they got hot in.
One way of getting right answers is to venture a few wrong answers yourself. "Let me have a try at identifying the group you called 'the usual cabal'," I said. "He was killed by himself, because it was he who drove his car off the dock; the woman he did not know, I should say, was his first wife, whom I think I knew quite well, and certainly he did not know her nearly so well; the woman he did know was certainly his second wife; he came to know her uncomfortably well, and if ever a man stuck his foot in a bear-trap when he thought he was putting it into a flower-bed, it was Boy Staunton when he married Denyse Hornick; the man who granted his inmost wish I suppose must have been you, Magnus, and I am sure you know what is in my mind—you hypnotized poor Boy, stuck that stone in his mouth, and headed him for death. How's that?"
"I'm surprised by the crudeness of your suspicions, Dunny. 'I am become as a bottle in the smoke: yet do I fear thy statutes.' One of those statutes forbids murder. Why would I kill Staunton?"
"Vengeance, Magnus, vengeance!"
"Vengeance for what?"
"For what? Can you ask that after what you have told us about your life? Vengeance for your premature birth and your mother's madness. For your servitude to Willard and Abdullah and all those wretched years with the World of Wonders. Vengeance for the deprivation that made you the shadow of Sir John Tresize. Vengeance for a wrench of fate that cut you off from ordinary love, and made you an oddity. A notable oddity, I admit, but certainly an oddity."
"Oh, Dunny, what a coarsely melodramatic mind you have! Vengeance! If I had been as big an oddity as you are I would have embraced Boy Staunton and thanked him for what he had done for me. The means may have been a little rough, but the result is entirely to my taste. If he hadn't hit my mother on the head with that snowball—having hidden a rock in it, which was dirty play—I might now be what my father was: a Baptist parson in a small town. I have had my ups and downs, and the downs were very far down indeed, but I am now a celebrity in a limited way, and I am a master of a craft, which is a better thing by far. I am a more complete human being than you are, you old fool. I may not have had a very happy sex-life, but I certainly have love and friendship, and much of the best of that is in bed with me at this moment. I have admiration, which everybody wants and very few people achieve. I get my living by doing what I most enjoy, and that is rare indeed. Who gave me my start? Boy Staunton! Would I murder such a man? It is to his early intervention in my life I owe what Liesl calls the Magian World View.
"Vengeance, you cry. If anybody wanted vengeance, it was you, Dunny. You lived near Staunton all your life, watched him, brooded over him, saw him destroy that silly girl you wanted—or thought you wanted—and ill-wished him a thousand times. You're the man of vengeance. I never wanted vengeance in my life for anything."
"Magnus! Remember how you withheld death from Willard when he begged for it! What did you do today to poor Roly Ingestree? Don't you call that vengeance?"
"I admit I toyed with Roly. He hurt people I loved. But if he hadn't come back into my life by chance I should never have bothered about him. I didn't harbour evidence of his guilt for sixty years, as you harboured that stone Staunton put in the snowball."
"Don't twist, Magnus! When you and Staunton left my room at the College to go back to your hotel you took that stone, and when next it was seen the police had to pry it out of poor Staunton's jaws, where it was clenched so tight they had to break his teeth to get at it!"
"I didn't take the stone, Dunny; Staunton took it himself."
"Did he?"
"Yes. I saw him. You were putting your box back in the bookshelves. The box that contained my mother's ashes. Dunny, what on earth made you keep those ashes? It was ghoulish."
"I couldn't bear to part with them. Your mother was a very special figure in my life. To me she was a saint. Not just a good woman, but a saint, and the influence she had in my life was miraculous."
"So you've often told me, but I knew her only as a mad-woman. I had stood at the window of our miserable house trying not to cry while Boy Staunton and his gang shouted 'Hoor!' as they passed on their way to school."
"Yes, and you let the police think you had never met him until the night he died."
"Perfectly true. I knew who he was, when he was fifteen and I was five. He was the Rich Young Ruler in our village, as you well know. But we had never been formally introduced until you brought us together, and I presumed that was what the police were talking about."
"A quibble."
"An evasion, possibly. But I was answering questions, not instructing my questioners. I was working on advice given me long ago by Mrs Constantinescu: don't blat everything you know, especially to cops."
"You didn't tell them you knew that Boy had been appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the province when nobody else knew it."
"Everybody knew it was in the air. I knew it the second night he came to the theatre, because he had the letter of appointment in the inner pocket of his handsome dinner jacket. Liesl has told you we had a member of our troupe—our company manager—who welcomed important patrons in the foyer. I suppose our man found out that the rumour had become a fact by means which I always thought it better not to investigate too closely. So I knew. And the Brazen Head could have spilled the beans that evening, from the stage, but Liesl and I thought it might be just a teeny bit indiscreet."
"That was another thing you didn't tell the police. Boy Staunton came twice to the _Soirée of lllusions._ "
"Lots of people used to come twice. And three and four times. It's a very good show. But you're right; Staunton came to see me. He was interested in me in the way people used to be interested in Sir John. I suppose there was something about my personality, as there was about Sir John's, that had a special attraction for some people. My personality is a valuable part of our bag of tricks, as you very well know."
Indeed I did. And how it had come pressing off the screen in _Un Hommage à Robert-Houdin_! I had always thought personal attributes lost something in the cinema; it seemed reasonable that a photograph of a man should be less striking than the man himself. But not when the art of Lind and that rumpot of genius Kinghovn lay behind the photograph. I had sat in the little viewing-room at the B.B.C. entranced by what I saw of a Magnus more vivid than ever I had seen him on the stage. True, his performance was a tiny bit stagy, considered as cinematic acting, but it was a staginess of such grace, such distinction and accomplishment, that nobody could have wished it otherwise. As I watched I remembered what used to be said of stage favourites when I was a boy: they were _polished._ They had enviable repose. They did nothing quite the way anyone else did it, and they had an attitude toward their audiences which was, quite apart from the role they were playing, splendidly courterous, as if a great man were taking friendly notice of us. I had thought of this when Magnus told us how Sir John accepted applause when he made his first entrance in _Scaramouche_ , and later gave those curtain-speeches all across Canada, which seemed to embrace audiences of people who yearned mutely for such attention. Magnus had this polish in the highest and most subtle degree, and I could understand how Boy Staunton, who was a lifelong hero-worshipper and had not got it out of his system even at the age of seventy would have responded to it.
Polish! How Boy had honed and yearned after polish! What idols he had worshipped! And as a Lieutenant-Governor elect I could imagine how he coveted what Magnus displayed on the stage. A Lieutenant-Governor with that sort of distinction—that would astonish the Rubes!
We were silent for a while. But I was full of questions, mad for certainties even though I understood there were no certainties. I broke the silence.
"If you weren't the man who granted his inmost wish, who was it? I have swallowed the pill that I was 'the inevitable fifth, who was keeper of his conscience and keeper of the stone'—though I accept that only as Liesl's oracular phraseology. But who granted his wish? And what was the wish?"
This time it was Liesl who spoke. "It could very well have been his son, Ramsay. Don't forget David Staunton, who represented continuance to his father. Have you no understanding of how some men crave for continuance? They see it as their immortality. Boy Staunton who had built up the great fortune, from a few fields of sugar-beets to a complex of business that was known all over the world. You must pardon my nationalist bias, but it is significant that when Staunton died—or killed himself, as it was supposed—his death was reported at some length in our _Neue Zürcher Zeitung._ That paper, like the _London Times_ , recognizes only the most distinguished achievements of the Angel of Death. Their obituary columns are almost the Court Circular of the Kingdom of God. Well, who inherits an important man's earthly glory? People like Staunton hope it will be a son.
"A son Staunton had, we know. But what a son! Not a disgrace. One might find the spaciousness of tragedy in a disgrace. David Staunton was a success; a notable criminal lawyer, but also a sharp critic of his father's life. A man whose cold eye watched the glorious Boy growing older, and richer, and more powerful, and was not impressed. A man who did not admire or seek to emulate his father's great success with women. A man who understood, by tie of blood and by a child's intuition, the terrible, unappeasable hunger that lies at the bottom of ambition like Boy Staunton's. I don't know whether David ever understood that consciously; but he thwarted his father's terrible craving to be everything, command everything, and possess everything, and he did it in the way that hurt most: he refused to produce a successor to himself. He refused to continue the Staunton line and the Staunton name and the glory that was Staunton. That was pressing the knife into the vital spot. But don't jump to conclusions: the man who granted his inmost wish wasn't David Staunton."
"Aren't you doing a lot of fancy guessing?"
"No. Staunton told Magnus and Magnus told me."
"It was one of those situations Liesl is always talking about," said Eisengrim. "You know: a man reaches the confessional time in his life. Sometimes he writes an autobiography; sometimes he tells his story to a group of listeners, as I have been doing. Sometimes there is only one listener, and that was how it was with Staunton.
"Surely you remember what it was like in your room that night of November 3? Staunton and I had clicked, in the way people sometimes do. He wanted to know me: I was more than commonly interested in him because he was from my past, and not at all what one would have predicted for the fattish, purse-proud kid who had shouted 'Hoor' at my mother. You understood that we'd clicked, and you didn't like it at all. That was when you decided to spill the beans, and told Staunton who I was, how he had literally brought about my birth, how you knew about the rock in the snowball and had kept it all those years. You even had my mother's ashes in a casket. And through it all Staunton was cool as a cucumber. Denied everything that he had not—quite honestly, I believe—forgotten. Chose to regard the whole affair as something only very remotely connected with himself. Considering the way you went at him, I thought he showed enviable self-possession. But he said some sharp things about you.
"When we were in his car, driving down the long avenue from the school, he expanded on what he'd said. He cursed you very thoroughly, Dunny. Told me that for boyhood friendship he had kept an eye on your money all through the years, and made you secure and even well-off. Befriended you and brought you to the notice of really important people—people in a very big way of business—as a guest in his house. Confided in you when his first marriage was going on the rocks, and was patient when you sided with his wife. Put up with your ironic attitude toward his success, because he knew it had its root in jealousy.
"He was offended that you never mentioned Mary Dempster—he never spoke of her as my mother—and her long years in asylums; he would have been glad to help a Deptford woman who had come to grief. And he was angry and hurt that you kept that damned stone on your desk to remind you of a grudge you had against him. A stone in a snowball! The kind of thing any boy might do, just for devilment. He would never have thought the dark, judgmatical Ramsay blood in you was so bitter with hate—you, who had made money out of saints!
"It was then I began to know him. Oh yes, I came to know him quite well during the next hour. We'd clicked, as I said, but I've always distrusted that kind of thing since I first clicked with Willard. It's unchancy. There was sympathy of character, I suppose. There was a wolfishness in Boy Staunton that he kept very well under, and probably never recognized in himself. But I know that wolfishness. Liesl has told you I have a good measure of it in myself, and that was why she suggested I take the professional name of Eisengrim, the name of the wolf in the old fables; but the name really means the sinister hardness, the cruelty of iron itself. I took the name, and recognized the fact, and thereby got it up out of my depths so that at least I could be aware of it and take a look at it, now and then. I won't say I domesticated the wolf, but I knew where his lair was, and what he might do. Not Boy Staunton. He had lived facing the sun, and he had no real comprehension of the shadow-wolf that loped after him.
"We wolves like to possess things, and especially people. We are unappeasably hungry. There is no reason or meaning in the hunger. It just exists, and possesses you. I saw it once, in myself, and though I didn't know what it was at the time, I knew that it was something that was at the very heart of my being. When we played _Scaramouche_ through Canada, I had a little meeting with Sir John, every night, just before Two, two; we had to stand in front of a mirror, to make sure every detail of costume and make-up was identical, so that when I appeared as his double the illusion would be as perfect as possible. I always enjoyed that moment, because I am wolfish about perfection.
"There we stood, the night I speak of; it was in Ottawa, in his dressing-room at the old Russell, and we had a good mirror, a full-length one. He looked, and I looked. I saw that he was good. An egoist, as only a leading actor can be, but in his face, which was old under the make-up, there was gentleness and compassion toward me, because I was young, and had so much to learn, and was so likely to make a fool of myself through my driving greed. Compassion for me, and a silvery relish for himself, too, because he knew he was old, and had the mastery of age. But in my face, which was so like his that my doubling gave the play a special excitement, there was a watchful admiration beneath which my wolfishness could be seen—my hunger not just to be like him but to _be_ him, whatever that might cost him. I loved him and served him faithfully right up to the end, but in my inmost self I wanted to eat him, to possess him, to make him mine.
"He saw it, too, and he gave me a little flick with his hand as though to say, 'You might let me live out my life, m'boy. I've earned it, eh? But you look as if you'd devour my very soul. Not really necessary, quonk?' Not a word was spoken, but I blushed under my make-up. And whatever I did for him afterward, I couldn't keep the wolf quiet. If I was a little sharp with Roly, it was because I was angry that he had seen what I truly thought I had kept hidden.
"That was how it was with Boy Staunton. Oh, not on the surface. He had a lovely glaze. But he was a devourer.
"He set to work to devour me. He went at it with the ease of long custom, and I don't suppose he had an instant's real awareness of what he was doing. He laid himself out to be charming, and to get me on his side. When he had finished damning you, Dunny, he began to excuse you, in a way that was supposed to be complimentary to me: you had lived a narrow, schoolmaster's life, and had won a certain scholarly reputation, but he and I were the glittering successes and breathed a finer air than yours.
"He was extremely good at what he was doing. It is not easy to assume an air of youth successfully, but when it is well done it has extraordinary charm, because it seems to rock Age, and probably Death, back on their heels. He had kept his voice youthful, and his vocabulary was neither stupidly up-to-the-minute nor flawed with betraying fossil slang. I had to keep reminding myself that this man must be seventy. I have to present a professional picture of physical well-being, if not actually of youth, and I know how it is done because I learned it from Sir John. But Boy Staunton—an amateur, really—could teach me things about seeming youthful without resorting to absurdities. I knew he was eager to make me his own, to enchant me, to eat me up and take me into himself. He had just discovered a defeat; he thought he had eaten you, Ramsay, but you were like those fairy-tale figures who cut their way out of the giant's belly.
"So, not at all unlike a man who loses one girl and bounces to another, he tried to eat me.
"We really must talk, he said. We were driving down from your school to my hotel, and as we were rounding Queen's Park Circle he pulled off the road into what I suppose was a private entry beside the Legislature; there was a porte-cochère and a long flight of steps. It won't be long before this is my personal entrance to this building, he said.
"I knew what he was talking about; the appointment that would be announced next morning; he was full of it."
"I'll bet he was," I said; "it was just his thing—top dog in a large area—women curtsying to him—all that. And certainly his wife wanted it, and engineered it."
"Yes, but wait: having got it, he wasn't so sure. If you are one of the wolfish brotherhood you sometimes find that you have no sooner achieved what you wanted than you begin to despise it. Boy's excitement was like that of a man who thinks he has walked into a trap."
"Well, the job isn't all fun. What ceremonial appointment is? You drive to the Legislature in a carriage, with soldiers riding before and behind, and there is a lot of bowing, because you represent the Crown, and then you find you are reading a speech written by somebody else, announcing policies you may not like. If he didn't want to be a State figurehead, he should have choked off Denyse when she set to work to get him the job."
"Reason, reason, reason! Dunny, you surely know how limited a part reason plays in some of our most important decisions. He coveted the state landau and the soldiers, and he had somehow managed to preserve the silly notion that as Lieutenant-Governor he would really do some governing. But already he knew he was mistaken. He had looked over the schedule of duties for his first month in office, and been dismayed by the places he would have to go, and the things he would have to do. Presenting flags to Boy Scouts; opening a home for old people; eating a hundredweight of ceremonial dinners to raise money to fight diseases he'd rather not hear about. And he couldn't get out of it; his secretary made it clear that there was no choice in the matter; the office demanded these things and he was expected to deliver the goods. But that wasn't what truly got under his skin.
"Such appointments aren't done in a few days, and he had known it was coming for several weeks. During that time he had some business in London and while he was there he had thought it a good idea to take care of the matter of his ceremonial uniform. That was how he put it, but as a fellow-wolf I knew how eager he must have been to explore the possibilities of state finery. So—off to Ede and Ravenscroft to have the job done in the best possible way and no expense spared. They happened to have a uniform of the right sort which he tried on, just to get the general effect. Even though it was obvious that the uniform was for a smaller man, the effect was catastrophic. 'Suddenly I didn't look like myself at all,' he said; 'I looked old. Not shaky old, or fat old, or grim old, but certainly old.'
"He expected me to sympathize, but wolf should never turn to wolf for sympathy. 'You are old,' I said to him. 'Very handsome and well preserved, but nobody would take you for a young man.' 'Yes,' he said, 'but not old as that uniform suggested; not a figurehead. I tried putting the hat a little on one side, to see if that helped, but the man with the measuring-tape around his neck who was with me said, _Oh no, sir; never like that_ , and put it straight again. And I understood that forever after there would always be somebody putting my hat straight, and that I would be no more than the animation of that uniform, or some version of it.'
"As one who had spent seven years as the cunning bowels of Abdullah I didn't see that fate quite as he did. Of course, Abdullah wasn't on the level. He was out to trounce the Rubes. A Lieutenant-Governor can't have any fun of that kind. He is the embodiment of everything that is correct, and on the level, and unsurprising. The Rubes have got him and he must do their will.
" 'I have lost my freedom of choice,' he said, and he seemed to expect me to respond with horror. But I didn't. I was enjoying myself. Boy Staunton was an old story to you, Dunny, but he was new to me, and I was playing the wolf game, too, in my way. I had not forgotten Mrs Constantinescu, and I knew that he was ready to talk, and I was ready to hear. So I remembered old Zingara's advice. Lull 'em. So I lulled him.
" 'I can see that you're in a situation you never would have chosen with your eyes open. But there's usually some way out. Is there no way out for you?'
" 'Even if I found a way, what would happen if I suddenly bowed out?' he said.
" 'I suppose you'd go on living much as you do now,' I told him. 'There would be criticism of you because you refused an office you had accepted, under the Crown. But I dare say that's been done before.'
"I swear I had nothing in particular in mind when I made that comment. But it galvanized him. He looked at me as if I had said something of extraordinary value. Then he said: 'Of course it was different for him; he was younger.'
" 'What do you mean?' I said.
"He looked at me very queerly. 'The Prince of Wales,' he said; 'he was my friend, you know. Or rather, you don't know. But many years ago, when he toured this country, I was his aide, and he had a profound effect on me. I learned a great deal from him. He was special, you know; he was truly a remarkable man. He showed it at the time of the Abdication. That took guts.'
" 'Called for guts from several of his relatives, too,' I said. 'Do you think he lived happily ever after?'
" 'I hope so,' said he. 'But he was younger.'
" 'I've said you were old,' said I, 'but I didn't mean life had nothing for you. You are in superb condition. You can expect another fifteen years, at least, and think of all the things you can do.'
" 'And think of all the things I can't do,' he said, and in a tone that told me what I had suspected, because with all the fine surface, and bonhomie, and his careful wooing of me I had sensed something like despair in him.
" 'I suppose you mean sex,' I said.
" 'Yes,' he said. 'Not that I'm through, you know; by no means. But it isn't the same. Now it's more reassurance than pleasure. And young women—they have to be younger and younger—they're flattered because of what I am and who I am, but there's always a look you surprise when they don't think you're watching: He's-amazing-forhis-age-I-wonder-what-I'd-do-if-he-had-a-heart-attack-would-Ihave-to-drag-him-out-into-the-hall-and-leave-him-by-the-elevatorand-how-would-I-get-his-clothes-on? However well I perform—and I'm still good, you know—there's an element of humiliation about it.'
"Humiliation was much on his mind. The humiliation of age, which you and I mustn't underestimate, Dunny, just because we've grown old and made our age serve us; it's a different matter if you've devoted your best efforts to setting up an image of a wondrous Boy; there comes a time when the pretty girls think of you not as a Boy but as an Old Boy. The humiliation of discovering you've been a mug, and that the gorgeous office you've been given under the Crown is in fact a tyranny of duty, like the Crown itself. And the humiliation of discovering that a man you've thought of as a friend—rather a humble, eccentric friend from your point of view, but nevertheless a friend—has been harbouring evidence of a mean action you did when you were ten, and still sees you, at least in part, as a mean kid.
"That last was a really tough one—disproportionately so—but Boy was the kind of man who truly believes you can wipe out the past simply by forgetting it yourself. I'm sure he'd met humiliations in his life. Who hasn't? But he'd been able to rise above them. These were humiliations nothing could lift from his heart.
" 'What are you going to do with the stone?' I asked him.
" 'You saw me take it?' he said. 'I'll get rid of it. Throw it away.'
" 'I wouldn't throw it a second time,' I said.
" 'What else?' said he.
" 'If it really bothers you, you must come to terms with it,' I said. 'In your place I'd do something symbolic: hold it in your hand, re-live the moment when you threw it at Ramsay and hit my mother, and this time _don't_ throw it. Give yourself a good sharp knock on the head with it.'
" 'That's a damned silly game to play,' he said. And would you believe it, he was pouting—the glorious Boy was pouting.
" 'Not at all. Consider it as a ritual. An admission of wrongdoing and penitence.'
" 'Oh, balls to that,' he said.
"I had become uncomfortable company: I wouldn't be eaten, and I made peculiar and humiliating suggestions. Also, I could tell that something was on his mind, and he wanted to be alone with it. He started the car and very shortly we were at my hotel—the Royal York, you know, which is quite near the docks. He shook hands with the warmth that I suppose had marked him all his life. 'Glad to have met you: thanks for the advice,' said he.
" 'It's only what I would do myself, in the circumstances,' I said. 'I'd do my best to swallow that stone.' Now I swear to you that I only meant what I said symbolically—meaning to come to terms with what the stone signified. And he seemed not to notice.
" 'I meant your advice about the Abdication,' he said. 'It was stupid of me not to have thought of that myself.'
"I suddenly realized what he meant. He was going to abdicate, like his hero before him. But unlike his Prince of Wales he didn't mean to live to face the world afterward. There it is, Dunny: Liesl and I are convinced that the man who truly granted his inmost wish, though only by example, was the man who decided not to live as Edward VIII.
"What should I have done? Insisted that he come to my room, and plied him with hot coffee and sweet reasonableness? Not quite my line, eh? Hardly what one expects of a brother wolf, quonk?"
"You let him leave you in that frame of mind?"
"Liesl likes to talk about what she calls my Magian World View. She makes it sound splendid and like the Arabian Nights and dolls it up with fine phrases from Spengler—"
"Phantasmagoria and dream-grotto," said Liesl, taking a swig of her cognac; "only that's not Spengler—that's Carlyle."
"Phantasmagoria and dream-grotto if you like," said Magnus, "but—and it is a vital _but_ —combined with a clear-eyed, undeluded observation of what lies right under your nose. Therefore—no self-deceiving folly and no meddlesome compassion, but a humble awareness of the Great Justice and the Great Mercy whenever they choose to make themselves known. I don't talk about a Magian World View; I've no touch with that sort of thing. In so far as it concerns me, I live it. It's just the way things strike me, after the life I've lived, which looks pretty much like a World of Wonders when I spread it out before me, as I've been doing. Everything has its astonishing, wondrous aspect, if you bring a mind to it that's really your own—a mind that hasn't been smeared and blurred with half-understood muck from schools, or the daily papers, or any other ragbag of reach-me-down notions. I try not to judge people, though when I meet an enemy and he's within arm's length, I'm not above giving him a smart clout, just to larn him. As I did with Roly. But I don't monkey with what I think of as the Great Justice—"
"Poetic justice," said Liesl.
"What you please. Though it doesn't look poetic in action; it's rough and tough and deeply satisfying. And I don't administer it. Something else—something I don't understand, but feel and serve and fear—does that. It's sometimes horrible to watch, as it was when my poor, dear old master, Sir John, was brought down by his own vanity, and Milady went with him, though I think she knew what the truth was. But part of the glory and terror of our life is that somehow, at some time, we get all that's coming to us. Everybody gets their lumps and their bouquets and it goes on for quite a while after death.
"So—here was a situation when it was clear to me that the Great Justice had called the name of Boy Staunton. Was it for me to hold him back?
"And to be frank why would I? You remember what was said in your room that night, Dunny. You're the historian: surely you remember everything important? What did I say to Boy when he offered me a lift in his car?"
I couldn't remember. That night I had been too overwrought myself by the memories of Mary Dempster to take note of social conversation.
"You don't remember? I do: I said—'What Ramsay tells me puts you in my debt for eighty days in Paradise, if for nothing in this life. We shall call it quits if you will drive me to my hotel."
"Eighty days in Paradise?"
"I was born eighty days before my time. Poor little Paul. Popular opinion is very rough on foetuses these days. Horrid little nuisances. Rip 'em out and throw them in the trash pail. But who knows what they feel about it? The depth psychologists Liesl is so fond of think they have a very jolly time in the womb. Warm, protected, bouncing gently in their beautiful grotto light. Perhaps it is the best existence we ever know, unless there is something equally splendid for us after death—and why not? That earliest life is what every humanitarian movement and Welfare State seeks to restore, without a hope of success. And Boy Staunton, by a single mean-spirited action, robbed me of eighty days of that princely splendour. Was I the man to fret about the end of his life when he had been so cavalier about the beginning of mine?"
"Oh, Magnus, that's terribly unjust."
"As this world's justice goes, perhaps. But what about the Greater Justice?"
"I see. Yes, I really do see. So you let him dree his weird?"
"You're getting really old, Dunny. You're beginning to dredge up expressions from your Scotch childhood. But it says it all. Yes, I let him dree his weird."
"I can very well understand," I said, "that you wouldn't have got far explaining that to the police."
Liesl laughed, and threw her empty brandy balloon against the farthest wall. It made a fine costly crash.
(2)
"Ramsay."
"Liesl! How kind of you to come to see me."
"Magnus has been asleep for hours. But I have been worrying about you. I hope you didn't take it too badly—his suggestion that you played rather a crucial part in Staunton's death."
"No, no; I faced that, and swallowed it even before I joined you in Switzerland. While I was recovering from my heart attack, indeed. In an old Calvinist like me the voice of conscience has always spoken long before any mortal accuser."
"I'm glad. Glad that you're not grieving and worrying, that's to say."
"Boy died as he lived: self-determined and daring, but not really imaginative. Always with a well-disguised streak of petulance that sometimes looked like malice. The stone in the snowball: the stone in the corpse's mouth—always a nasty surprise for somebody."
"You think he gobbled the stone to spite you?"
"Unquestionably. Magnus thinks I kept the stone for spite, and I suppose there was something of that in it. But I also kept it to be a continual reminder of the consequences that can follow a single action. It might have come out that it was my paperweight, but even if it didn't, he knew I would know what it was, and Boy reckoned on having the last word in our lifelong argument that way."
"What a detestable man!"
"Not really. But it's always a good idea to keep your eye on the genial, smiling ones, and especially on those who seem to be eternally young."
"Jealousy, Ramsay, you battered antique."
"A little jealousy, perhaps. But the principle holds."
"Is that what you are making notes about, on all that excellent Savoy notepaper?"
"Notes for a work I have in mind. But it's about Magnus; he told me, you know, that the Devil once intervened decisively in his life."
"He likes to talk that way, and I am sure it is true. But life is a succession of decisive interventions. Magnus himself intervened in my life, and illuminated it, at a time when I needed an understanding friend even more than I needed a lover. It wasn't the Devil that sent him."
"Why should it be? God wants to intervene in the world, and how is he to do it except through man? I think the Devil is in the same predicament. It would be queer, wouldn't it, if the Devil had only made use of Magnus that one time? And God, too: yes, certainly God as well. It's the moment of decision—of will—when those Two nab us, and as they both speak so compellingly it's tricky work to know who's talking. Where there's a will, there are always two ways."
"That's what you're making notes about? And you hope to untangle it? What vanity!"
"I'm not expecting to untangle anything. But I'm making a record—a document. I've often talked to you about it. When we're all gone—you dear Liesl, though you're much the youngest, and Magnus—there may be a few who will still prove a point with 'Ramsay says...' "
"Egoist!"
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaBook"
}
| 1,087
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Delling may refer to:
August Delling (1895–1962), World War I flying ace
Gerhard Delling (born 1959), German journalist
Dellingr, a god of Norse mythology
See also
Dellinger (disambiguation)
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaWikipedia"
}
| 6,270
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Q: Context menu not appearing when selecting on empty area of listbox windows phone In my windows phone application I've a data bound list box. My data template contains many text blocks.
If I tap and hold on any of the text blocks, context menu appears. But if I tap and hold in the empty area of the listbox item the menu won't appear.
For example. If I select on any of the text area in the below mentioned image the menu appears. If I keep holding in the area between the name and date the menu is not appearing.
i want the menu to appear if I hold any where inside the particular list box item.
Note : I included the context menu
My xaml code goes as follows :
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Border BorderThickness="0.25,0.25,0.25,0.25" BorderBrush="{StaticResource PhoneForegroundBrush}">
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="auto" />
<RowDefinition Height="auto" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<toolkit:ContextMenuService.ContextMenu>
<toolkit:ContextMenu >
<toolkit:MenuItem
Header="delete"
Click="Delete" />
</toolkit:ContextMenu>
</toolkit:ContextMenuService.ContextMenu>
<TextBlock
HorizontalAlignment="Left"
TextWrapping="NoWrap"
Grid.Row="0"
Grid.ColumnSpan="2"
Text="{Binding TEXT}"
VerticalAlignment="Top"
FontWeight="Bold"/>
<TextBlock
HorizontalAlignment="Left"
TextWrapping="NoWrap"
Grid.Row="1"
Grid.Column="0"
Text="{Binding USERNAME}"
VerticalAlignment="Top"
FontSize="{StaticResource PhoneFontSizeSmall}"/>
<TextBlock
HorizontalAlignment="Right"
TextWrapping="NoWrap"
Grid.Row="1"
Grid.Column="1"
Text="{Binding Path=DATE}"
VerticalAlignment="Top"
FontSize="{StaticResource PhoneFontSizeSmall}" />
</Grid>
</Border>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
is there any way to solve this ?
Thank you.
A: Add Background="{StaticResource TransparentBrush}" to the Grid in the DataTemplate.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaStackExchange"
}
| 5,945
|
{"url":"http:\/\/math.stackexchange.com\/questions\/201689\/combinatorial-non-algebraic-proof-nc-4-n-1c-3-n-2c-3","text":"# Combinatorial (non-algebraic) Proof: ${}_{n}C_{4}={}_{n-1}C_{3}$ +${}_{n-2}C_{3} +{}_{n-3}C_{3} + \\cdots + {}_{3}C_{3}$\n\nShow ${}_{n}C_{4}={}_{n-1}C_{3}$ +${}_{n-2}C_{3} +{}_{n-3}C_{3} + \\cdots + {}_{3}C_{3}$\n\nwhere: ${}_{n}C_{i}$ is the number of ways of choosing $i$ elements from $n$\n\n-I've been explicitly requested to provide a non algebraic proof; and to instead use a 'combinatorial argument.'\n\n-'Combinatorial argument' refers to providing a synonymous situation that describes the above equation.\n\nwhat I attempted:\n\n-choosing $4$ balls from $n$ balls in an urn may be done in ${}_{n}C_{4}$ ways.\n\nThis is the same as:\n\n1)st step: from n-1 balls choose 3\n\n2)nd step: from n-2 remaining balls choose 3\n\n.\n\n.\n\n.\n\nn-3)th step: from 3 remaining balls choose 3\n\nThe events above are therefore the same as choosing 4 balls from n.\n\nThe above \"proof\" doesn't convince me if it is indeed proof.\n\nDoes anybody have insight into how this problem may be visualized using a 'combinatorial argument.'\n\n-\n\nThe idea you describe does give a proof. Perhaps we can be a little more explicit. We want to choose $4$ numbers from the numbers $1,2,3,\\dots,n$. This can be done in $\\binom{n}{4}$ ways.\n\nLet us count the number of choices in another way.\n\nLook at the number of choices where the smallest chosen number is $1$. So we need to choose $3$ numbers from $2,3,\\dots,n$ to go with the $1$. There are $\\binom{n-1}{3}$ ways to do this.\n\nLook at the number of choices where the smallest chosen number is $2$. So we need to choose $3$ numbers from $3,4,\\dots,n$ to go with the $2$. There are $\\binom{n-2}{3}$ ways to do this.\n\nLook at the number of choices where the smallest chosen number is $3$. So we need to choose $3$ numbers from $4,5,\\dots,n$ to go with the $3$. There are $\\binom{n-3}{3}$ ways to do this.\n\nContinue. Finally, look at the number of choices where the smallest chosen number is $n-3$. The remaining $3$ numbers can be chosen in $\\binom{3}{3}$ ways. We conclude that $$\\binom{n}{4}=\\binom{n-1}{3}+\\binom{n-2}{3}+\\binom{n-3}{3}+\\cdots+\\binom{3}{3}.$$\n\n-\n\nHere is how you can see it. Say you want to choose $4$ people from a group of $n$ persons. You can indeed do this in ${}_nC_4$ ways.\n\nNow take one of the person, say Bob. We will now choose the group with regards to Bob. Groups of $4$ that Bob is part of are in numbers ${}_{n-1}C_3$ and those that do not contain Bob are in numbers ${}_{n-1}C_4$. So you get ${}_{n}C_4={}_{n-1}C_3+{}_{n-1}C_4$\n\nNow apply the same argument to ${}_{n-1}C_4$ to get ${}_{n-1}C_4={}_{n-2}C_3+{}_{n-2}C_4$. Keep doing it until you get to ${}_3C_3$ and you will get your formula.\n\n-","date":"2014-10-23 13:20:40","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": true, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 0, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.933157205581665, \"perplexity\": 184.45092676705136}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": true, \"markdown_code\": true, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 10, \"end_threshold\": 15, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2014-42\/segments\/1413558066650.89\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20141017150106-00127-ip-10-16-133-185.ec2.internal.warc.gz\"}"}
| null | null |
Named America's Top-Rated Flag Retailer / Save up to 40% on American-made flags!
American Flags Info
Proper Flag Care
About the US Flag
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Flags Boost Business
Famous American Flags
The Flag of Liberation
Sunday, December 7, 1941. "A day that will live in infamy." On a quiet Sunday morning, Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. No warning had been given and as a result, the destruction and casualties were devastating. A total of 2,280 military men and women and 68 civilians were killed; 1,109 were wounded; and 19 naval vessels and 168 aircraft were completely destroyed.
The following morning, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an order directing that the American flag that had flown over the Capitol on December 7 be kept flying there— in spite of the fact that the flag is normally changed on a daily basis. Roosevelt then went to Congress and made the official request that we declare war on Japan and Germany.
For three full days, as Congress drafted a suitable statement, that same flag flew above Washington – it was only lowered when the formal Declaration of War was finally issued.
Roosevelt then directed that the flag – which he now called the "Flag of Liberation" – be carefully preserved. The folded banner accompanied him on many of his historic trips, including the voyage to French Morocco where he and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at the Casablanca Conference and announced their decision to join forces and fight the Axis powers.
On September 2, 1945, when two Japanese officials boarded the U.S. battleship Missouri to sign the official statement of surrender, the "Flag of Liberation" was flying high above them from the ship's mast.
An interesting side note: There was another flag flying over the Missouri that day—it was the American flag that had accompanied Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 when he sailed into Tokyo Bay and thus opened Japan to commerce with the West for the first time. It had been flown to the Missouri from its home in the Naval Academy in Annapolis.
The Largest and Smallest Flags
While the late Thomas "Ski" Demski of Long Beach, California, was leafing through the Guinness Book of World Records, he read that the world's largest flag was one created for the People's Republic of China. "That really got my patriotic blood roiling," said Demski. "The world's largest flag has got to be an American flag." Demski had already commissioned a number of large flags through the years, including "Superflag I" (160 feet by 95 feet), which flew in Tampa, Florida, at Super Bowl XVIII in January 1984, so he knew where to turn. He called Humphrey's Flags of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, to make his world-record flag—and they did.
The flag measures 255 feet by 505 feet; it weighs 3,000 pounds. Each of its stars measures 17 feet across and the stripes are almost 20 feet in width. It travels in its own motor home, touring the country on display to marveling Americans everywhere. It has been hung from the top of the Hoover Dam and from the Washington Monument. And of course, it made the Guinness Book of World Records.
The smallest American flag cannot be seen by the naked eye. It is found on a computer chip made by the Integrated Device Technology company. It measures only five microns in size.
The Highest and Deepest Flags
Most people know that the highest point at which the American flag has been flown is on the surface of the moon, placed there by the Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969. This flag still flies where it was placed, and it will for centuries longer (unless someone else comes along and moves it). The airless environment of the moon guarantees that the fibers of the flag will not decay over time—but it also guarantees that there won't be any gusts of wind to billow it, so wires were sewn into the flag to keep it standing out from the pole.
Few, however, would know where our flag could be found in the deepest spot on Earth. It lies, seven miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, 210 miles southwest of Guam. Two brave men, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss scientist Jacques Pi-card, descended to record depths in the bathyscaphe Trieste in January of 1960. Not only did the two men prove man's ability to design a craft able to withstand hundreds of thousands of pounds of deep-sea pressure, they also left an American flag on the historic spot. It was released in a weighted plastic container where it is most likely curiously regarded by the creatures that inhabit this dark and mysterious place.
Get better quality flags for less by buying direct from AmericanFlags.com.
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All of our flags are on sale right now!
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaCommonCrawl"
}
| 8,482
|
Home News & Analysis Fund Managers Adams Street looks to add BDC to credit product suite
Adams Street looks to add BDC to credit product suite
The private equity firm launched its private debt arm in 2016 and has so far raised over $500 million for its closed-end fund.
Adams Street Partners has plans to launch a business development company, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The New York-based credit shop of the decades-old private equity firm formed the entity, Adams Street Private Credit BDC, late last month. The firm has filed paperwork with the US regulator to receive exemptive relief, which would allow Adams Street to co-invest with its other private credit vehicles.
The firm, which did not provide immediate comment, is raising Adams Street Private Credit Fund, which has locked down at least $531.75 million, according to SEC documents. It has arranged a $200 million leverage facility it is using alongside the fund's equity commitments, a source familiar with the matter previously told Private Debt Investor.
The strategy targets private equity-backed mid-market companies, which the firm categorises as businesses with a $150 million-$750 million enterprise value or $15 million-$75 million of EBITDA, according to investor documents from the Texas Municipal Retirement System. It invests across the debt structure.
TMRS has committed $200 million to the vehicle. In addition, Amica Life Insurance Company committed $9 million, documents from that company revealed. For its fees, the fund carries a 15 percent carried interest over a 7 percent hurdle rate and a 1.5 percent management fee on invested capital, according to SEC filings.
Recent transactions include the acquisition of API Healthcare by Clearlake Capital Group- and SkyKnight Capital-backed healthcare compliance firm symplr, which closed earlier this month. In December, the firm backed the acquisition of Jayhawk Fine Chemicals by Permira.
Senior debt fundraising slowed in 2018, dropping from $64.58 billion to $47.28 billion, which came amid a steep drop in overall private debt fundraising.
Direct lending funds made up several of the largest fund closes in the first quarter, with BlueBay Asset Management's €6 billion BlueBay Direct Lending Fund III and Tikehau Capital's €2.1 billion Tikehau Direct Lending Fund IV making up the second and fifth largest closes, respectively, for the three months ending 31 March.
Adams Street launched its private credit arm in 2016 by bringing on Bill Sacher and Shahab Rashid, formerly Oaktree Capital Management's mezzanine fund managers, to spearhead the effort. As of the end of last year, the firm had provided $390 million in financing since it launched. In addition, the firm operates a fund-of-funds product and invests in growth equity, co-investments and the secondaries market.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaCommonCrawl"
}
| 1,479
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Q: Is there a method to make a prop consisted of two linked string in Vue.js? I meet a problem when creating vue template.Something like below:
<template>
<div :prop="Astr + 'prop'"></div> // here is the problem
</template>
<script>
export default {
data() {
return {
AProp: 10,
AStr: "A"
}
}
}
</script>
I want to transform the prop of div to AProp, a value from data.But I don't know how to resolve it.
Thanks a lot.
A: It will produce 10
<div :prop="getValue()"></div>
methods: {
getValue() {
return this[`${this.AStr}Prop`]
}
}
A: Add a method to return the value that you want to use for prop:
<template>
<div :prop="getProp(AStr)"></div>
</template>
<script>
export default {
data() {
return {
AProp: 10,
AStr: "A"
};
},
methods: {
getProp(str) {
return str + "prop";
}
}
};
</script>
A: the way you are doing is correct, you just have a typo for AStr. Alternatively, you can have a method to return the computed value.
A: There is error in your code. Div prop Astr is not the same as data property AStr.
But if you want to watch AStr changes better to use computed property.
<div :prop="getProp"></div>
computed: {
getProp() {
return `${this.Astr}prop`;
}
}
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaStackExchange"
}
| 4,617
|
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8" />
<title>作成</title>
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="/assets/img/icon/quiz_generator.png">
<script src="/third/jquery-2.1.1.min.js"></script>
<script src="/third/jquery.cookie.js"></script>
<?php if(Model_Util::is_mobile()){ ?>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/assets/css/basic.css?ver=1" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, user-scalable=no" >
<?php }else{ ?>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/assets/css/basic_pc.css?ver=1" />
<?php } ?>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/assets/css/generate.css?ver=1" />
<script src="/third/img-touch-canvas.js"></script>
<script>var ua = '<?=Config::get("my.ua")?>';</script>
<script src="/assets/js/analytics.js?ver=1"></script>
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<table cellspacing="0" boroder="0" id="header">
<td class="edge"><img src="/assets/img/icon/menu.png" alt="menu" class="icon" id="menu"></td>
<td id="center">作成</td>
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</td>
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<tr><td id="this_page"><a href="/generate/"> クイズ作成</a></td></tr>
<tr><td><a href="/gene4word/"> 単語クイズ作成</a></td></tr>
<tr><td><a href="/myprofile/"> マイプロファイル</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="/top/"> 他のクイズ</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td id="news"><a href="/news/"> お知らせ</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="/mypacklist/"> クイズで稼ぐ</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="/rule/"> 使い方と規約</a></td></tr>
</table>
<div id="content">
<table id="question">
<tr><td><textarea placeholder="Q." maxlength="80" id="q_txt"></textarea></td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="text" placeholder="O 正" maxlength="20" class="choice" id="choice_0"></td></tr>
<tr><td><input type="text" placeholder="X 誤" maxlength="20" class="choice" id="choice_1"></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="td_98">オプション</td></tr>
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<table cellspacing="0" cellspacing="1" boroder="0">
<tr><td class="tag">#<input type="text" placeholder="中学歴史" maxlength="12" class="tag_in" id="tag_0"></td></tr>
</table>
<div style="display:none;">
<input type="text" placeholder="中学歴史" maxlength="12" class="tag_in" id="tag_1">
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</div>
<table cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td id="rotate" style="width:50px;"><img src="/assets/img/icon/rotate.png" class="icon" alt="rotate"></td>
</tr>
</table>
<div style="text-align:center;">
<input type="file" id="imageLoader" name="imageLoader">
<canvas id="mycanvas" height="300" width="300"></canvas>
</div>
<?=View::forge('ad')?>
</div>
</body>
</html>
<script>
var u_id = '<?=$u_id?>';
</script>
<script src="/assets/js/check_news.js?ver=1"></script>
<script src="/assets/js/basic.js?ver=1"></script>
<script src="/assets/js/generate.js?ver=1"></script>
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaGithub"
}
| 8,828
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Appointed by Governor with Senate advice & consent to 3-year terms: Kevin P. Foy, Esq., 2014; Patrick A. Roberson, Esq., 2014; Sandra I. Dorsey, 2015; Melinda L. Hayes, 2015; Adrienne M. Ray, 2015; Matthew D. Trollinger, Esq., 2016; Mary C. Larkin, 2017; Heather H. Kraus, Esq., 2018; Nathan J. Cavey, Jr., 2019; Lisa Y. Settles, 2019.
10 East Baltimore St., Baltimore, Maryland, January 2003. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
Annual Report to Governor & General Assembly due Dec. 1 (Chapter 487, Acts of 2002; Code Labor & Employment Article, sec. 9-318).
Created in October 2002, the Advisory Committee on Budget of State Workers' Compensation Commission advises the State Worker's Compensation Commission and the Governor about the budget of the State Workers' Compensation Commission (Chapter 487, Acts of 2002). Annually, the Advisory Committee reviews the Commission's tentative operating budget and makes recommendations.
The Commission consists of twelve members appointed by the Governor with Senate advice and consent. The Governor names the chair (Code Labor & Employment Article, secs. 9-317, 9-318).
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
}
| 4,453
|
Ein Ringmodulator, auch als Ringmischer, Produktmodulator oder Balance-Modulator bekannt, ist eine elektronische Schaltung, die als symmetrischer Mischer in Überlagerungsempfängern und zur Amplitudenmodulation verwendet wird. Zwei eingehende Wechselspannungen ux und uy werden miteinander multipliziert, und man erhält am Ausgang die Spannung ua:
Vier möglichst ähnliche Halbleiter- oder Röhrendioden sind als Diodenquartett in einem Ring angeordnet (siehe Schaltbild). Im Unterschied zur Gleichrichterbrückenschaltung sind alle Dioden in gleichem Umlaufsinn orientiert.
Funktionsweise
Wenn für das Signal uy ein Rechteck mit großer Amplitude gegenüber ux gewählt wird, ergibt sich eine deutlich einfachere Betrachtung.
Die Spannung von uy legt fest, welche Dioden leiten. Hierbei gilt im Normalbetrieb, dass .
Bei einem Übertrager mit Mittelanzapfung und einem Übertragungsverhältnis von 1:1 (d. h. L1=L2a+2b und L4=L3a+3b) gilt hierbei:
Dabei ist UF die Durchlassspannung (englisch: forward-voltage) der Dioden. Da Schottky-Dioden im Gegensatz zu pn-Dioden eine mit geringere Durchlassspannung besitzen, werden immer Schottky-Dioden verwendet.
Weisen die Spannung uy und der Strom iy einen positiven Wert auf, fließt über die Mittelanzapfung von T1/2 zu gleichen Teilen ein Strom über die Wicklungen L2a und L2b, so dass die Dioden V1 und V2 leiten. Danach gelangt der Strom zu T3/4, wo er über die Mittelanzapfung gegen Masse abfließt. Sowohl bei T1/2 als auch bei T3/4 wird keine Spannung induziert, da die Ströme in entgegengesetzte Richtung fließen und sich die damit verbundenen Magnetfelder neutralisieren.
Nun wird über die Wicklung L1 von T1/2 ein Strom ix eingespeist. Damit gilt:
Durch Gegenüberstellung der Ströme ergibt sich neben dem Gegentaktsignal auch ein Gleichtaktanteil (GL).
Da die Überlagerung der Ströme in den beiden Wicklungshälften von T3/4 einen Wert ungleich null ergibt, fließt auf der Ausgangsseite L4 ebenfalls Strom ia, und eine Spannung wird induziert.
Nun wechselt die Rechteckspannung uy ihre Polarität (iy ebenfalls), dann leiten die Dioden V3 und V4. Nach den Rechenschritten analog der vorangegangenen Analyse ergibt sich:
Somit findet bei Rechteckspannung eine einfache Form der Multiplikation statt:
Man unterscheidet bei Mischern grundsätzlich zwischen Aufwärts- und Abwärtsmischern. Beim Aufwärtsmischer wird am Eingang ein ZF-Signal sx zugeführt und mit dem Lokaloszillatorsignal sy multipliziert. Beim Abwärtsmischer wird am Eingang ein HF-Signal zugeführt und mit dem Lokaloszillatorsignal multipliziert.
Ringmodulator als Aufwärtsmischer
Die rechts dargestellte Schaltung erzeugt an der Sekundärwicklung von T3/4 ein sogenanntes Doppel-Seitenband-Signal ua, das beide Seitenbänder des modulierten Trägers enthält, jedoch nicht diesen selbst. Daraus lässt sich mit Hilfe eines trennscharfen Filters ein SSB-Signal herstellen.
Ringmodulator als Abwärtsmischer
Beim Abwärtsmischer (englisch: downconverter) wird das Eingangssignal ux mit der Frequenz fx mit Hilfe der Lokaloszillatorspannung uy mit der Frequenz fy auf die Spannung ua mit der sog. Zwischenfrequenz fa gewandelt. Hierbei gilt:
Das Ausgangssignal wird mit Hilfe eines RLC-Bandpasses am Ausgang von unerwünschten Frequenzanteilen befreit, die bei der Umwandlung entstehen.
Anwendungen
In früheren Jahrzehnten wurden Ringmodulatoren auch gelegentlich dazu verwendet, um eine Gleichspannung in eine ihr proportionale Wechselspannung umzuwandeln, die man besser mit exakt definiertem Faktor verstärken kann, weil Wechselstromverstärker keine Nullpunktsdrift haben (siehe Chopper-Verstärker). Eine solche Anordnung kam zum Beispiel bei der Steuerung der Fernrakete V2 zum Einsatz.
Für die meisten Anwendungszwecke ist die Ringmodulatorschaltung seit langem obsolet, da man mit integrierten Schaltungen schon seit etwa 1960 hervorragende analoge Multiplizierer oder Mischer mit niedriger Verzerrung und guter Unterdrückung der Eingangssignale herstellen kann. Obwohl hier kein Diodenring und auch keine Transformatoren mehr verwendet werden, wird oft an der alten Bezeichnung festgehalten.
Ringmodulatoren sind hingegen wichtige Werkzeuge in der Elektronischen Musik. Quasi-Ringmodulatoren werden oft in elektronischen Musikinstrumenten, besonders in Synthesizern, eingesetzt. Im Gegensatz zu den anderen Anwendungen liegen dabei Träger und Signal in ähnlichem Frequenzbereich, so dass beim unteren Seitenband negative Frequenzen auftreten können. Aufgrund der nichtharmonischen Obertoncharakteristik kann man dort aus einfachen Signalen beispielsweise glockenähnliche Klänge erzeugen.
Im Amateurfunk werden heute noch Ringmodulatoren als sogenannte High-Level-Mischer mit LO-Pegeln von +7 dBm (1,41 Vss) bis +23 dBm (8,91 Vss) in großsignalfesten Empfängern und Transceivern eingesetzt. Bekannte Beispiele von High-Level-Mischern sind die Typen SBL-1(H), IE-500 oder TUF-1(H).
Ansonsten finden Ringmodulatoren nur noch selten Einsatz in der Funktechnik und wurden durch andere Schaltungen verdrängt. Insbesondere sei dabei die Gilbertzelle erwähnt, die einen kostengünstigeren und dennoch hochwertigen Mischer darstellt. Als direkter Nachfolger kann der passive FET-Mischer verstanden werden, der bessere Kenndaten erzielt.
Weblinks
Datenblatt SBL-1 (PDF; 224 kB)
Einzelnachweise
Modulation (Technik)
Klangsynthese
Elektronische Schaltung
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaWikipedia"
}
| 1,488
|
\section{}
\section{Introduction}
It is an excellent, but still imperfect, approximation to think of a structural
glass as being a frozen snapshot of the liquid state. The macroscopic
properties of a glass depend on its preparation history in contrast to those of
an equilibrated liquid. Likewise, the structure of a glass is history dependent
and continues to change even as it is being studied. The
picture of the dynamics of an equilibrium supercooled liquid that emerges from
the random first order transition (RFOT) theory of the glass
transition\cite{lubchenko.2007} can be described, with some poetic license, as
that of a fluctuating mosaic of structures that locally are chosen from a
diverse set of minimum energy patterns which reconfigure through activated
events. In the nonequilibrium aging glass, this mosaic does not just fluctuate
but continues to evolve, eventually to the dynamic mosaic of an equilibrated
liquid sample at a lower temperature\cite{lubchenko.2004}. An aging glass can
also be heated up, ``rejuvenating'' the sample, again eventually reaching a new
dynamic equilibrium\footnote{The term "rejuvenation" is used here as it is in the spin glass community.
The polymer community uses the term to describe the stress induced reversal
of aging. This latter process is distinct from but may be related to the
present heating protocol.}. In this paper, the spatiotemporal structure of the glassy
mosaic in the intermediate states of development of aging or rejuvenating is
explored within the framework of the RFOT theory.
A spatially ultra-local description of an aging glass has already been provided
by Lubchenko and Wolynes\cite{lubchenko.2004}. As in equilibrium, activated
transitions of small regions in the nonequilibrium glass are driven by the
extensive configurational entropy of local structural patterns. Such
transitions (sometimes called ``entropic droplets'') are retarded by the
stability of the local pattern, which varies spatially, giving a distribution
of relaxation times. The range of existing local stabilization energies in a
small region may be described by a Lagrange multiplier, the fictive temperature
which can be thought of as fluctuating spatially\cite{chamon.2004}. The least
stable local regions typically re-configure first. Upon cooling, the mosaic,
therefore, begins to contain patches of greater stability than it had before.
In this way, the aging glass not only on the average becomes more stable, but
also, for a time, is even more inhomogeneous in its energy distribution than an
equilibrated sample since it was the fast patches that became slow first. The
average behavior leads to non-linear relaxation much like that used in the
Nayaranaswamy-Moynihan-Tool phenomenology which is based on a uniform fictive
temperature\cite{tool.1946,narayanaswamy.1971,moynihan.1976}. The results of
the microscopic RFOT theory for the nonlinearity parameter in the NMT approach
are in good agreement with experiment. In addition, however the RFOT theory
also predicts a qualitative difference from NMT phenomenology. RFOT theory
suggests the patchier mosaic found at intermediate times should lead to
additional ``ultra-slow'' relaxations. These anomalous relaxation processes
have been observed in some experiments \cite{miller.1997}.
The local picture of aging does not completely account for the dynamical
coupling between re-configuring regions: the reconfiguration of a given region
changes the pinning forces acting on its neighboring regions, allowing their
reconfiguration rates, in turn, to change. This effect, may be termed
facilitation, as in the popular kinetically constrained models of
glasses\cite{fredrickson.1984,ritort.2003}, where it is typically the only
effect being modeled. Facilitation was noted as an aspect of aging by Lubchenko
and Wolynes but was not completely analyzed by them. Bhattacharya et al. (BBW)
have shown that the facilitation of activated processes in equilibrium liquids
can be captured mathematically by combining mode coupling theory (MCT) with the
entropic droplets that describe activated transitions in RFOT
theory\cite{bhattacharyya.2005,bhattacharyya.2008}. We exploit this insight to
describe the nonequilibrium spatiotemporal aspects of glasses by using the
combination of MCT with the RFOT mosaic to motivate a continuum theory for the
spatiotemporal coupling between activated events in a glass or supercooled
liquid. An equation for what may be called a mobility field\cite{merolle.2005},
follows from inhomogeneous mode coupling theory within this BBW-based
framework. Unlike existing treatments of inhomogeneous mode coupling theory,
the equation has a spatially varying source term. This source arises from the
activated events, whose dynamics within RFOT depend on the local energy or
fictive temperature. The local energy, in turn relaxes to local-equilibrium at
a rate that depends on the local mobility at the same location. The resulting
coupled equations for a mobility field and for a local energy or fictive
temperature resemble the nonlinear diffusion equations encountered in the
theory of combustion\cite{zeldovich.1944,merzhanov.1988}. In combustion,
chemical kinetics depends strongly on temperature which is increased through
heating from the reaction events themselves, but that
also is transported by conduction. For the aging glass, the coupled
nonlinearities will be shown to have a quantitative but not qualitative effect
on the spatiotemporal evolution of the mosaic. On the other hand, the situation
is quite different for the rejuvenating glass. The rejuvenating glass, like a
highly combustible mixture is unstable and once reconfiguration events are
nucleated they can propagate through a sequence of additional reconfiguration
events, as do exothermic reaction events in a flame. These flame structures in
the glass speed up the rejuvenation process enormously. While specific
quantitative evidence for such structures has not yet come to light in a
homogeneously rejuvenating glass, there are hints from imaging methods like
those pioneered by Israeloff\cite{israeloff.2007}. Ediger has observed front
propagation that initiates at the surface of vapor deposited ultrastable glass
upon heating it\cite{swallen.2008,swallen.2008a}. The speed of the observed
heterogeneous rejuvenation front seems to be consistent with the predictions of
the present theory.
The plan of the paper is as follows. A route to the equations for the mobility
field driven by activated events is described. An estimate for the effect
of facilitation in the ordinary aging situation is obtained. Front
propagation in the rejuvenating glass is then treated using some of the
simpler approximations from combustion theory\cite{merzhanov.1988}. This
simple treatment allows an estimate of the rejuvenation time for a homogeneous
sample without surfaces. The origin of heterogeneous rejuvenation within RFOT
is discussed. Finally the coupling of these spatiotemporal processes to
plasticizer diffusion suggests an explanation within the
RFOT theory framework for the mysterious accelerating penetration of diluents
into polymers known as Supercase II diffusion\cite{frisch.1980}.
\section{Mobility Transport and Mobility Generation in Glasses}
While mode coupling theories are often formulated in a momentum space
representation appropriate for a uniform system, the physics underlying the
equations is as valid for inhomogeneous systems as it is for homogeneous ones.
Long ago the nonlinear coupling of hydrodynamic modes in a fluctuating simple
fluid with surfaces was shown to modify the hydrodynamic boundary
conditions\cite{wolynes.1976}. Coupling of structural density fluctuation modes
in an inhomogeneous situation also has been shown to describe a growing length
scale as the transition to nonergodic behavior is
approached\cite{biroli.2004,biroli.2006}. In structural glass dynamics, mode
coupling theory relates the memory kernel for local structural relaxation to
the behavior of density-density correlation functions. These correlation
functions in turn depend on the same memory kernel but, in an inhomogeneous
system at locations displaced in space and time. The memory kernel is frequency
dependent, for time translation invariant systems. This frequency dependence is
interesting and complicated, leading to behavior resembling $\beta$ relaxation.
In the present paper we will, however, simplify the analysis by treating the
memory kernel for the explicitly time dependent aging or rejuvenating systems,
as a time and space varying, but locally frequency independent, rate,
$\mu(r,t)$. This rate can be called a mobility field. Biroli et al.,
generalized ideal mode coupling theory to the inhomogeneous situation by
expanding the self-consistent equations in the degree of inhomogeneity and in
gradients to obtain a continuum description\cite{biroli.2006}. Carrying out
this procedure for the memory kernel of mode coupling equation containing an
activated event term, as proposed by BBW, yields an equation of the form
\begin{equation}
\partt{\mu}{t} = \bar{\mu} \xi^2 \nabla^2 \mu + c (\nabla \mu)^2 \bar{\mu}
- \bar{\mu} (\mu-\bar{\mu})
\label{eqn.1}
\end{equation}
\noindent Here $\bar{\mu}$ is the uniform solution of the homogeneous MCT
equations with activated transitions. In the strongly glassy regime MCT effects
are modest. Therefore $\bar{\mu}$ will depend on the local temperature and fictive
temperature, in a way very close to the existing Lubchenko-Wolynes (LW) theory
for uniform systems that accounts for activated transitions alone.
By taking the static limit we can see that the coefficient of the linear
Laplacian term contains a length $\xi$ which is the correlation length of the
4-time correlation function consistent with the Biroli et al. analysis. The
gradient squared term arises because of the nonlinear relation of MCT closure
between memory kernel and correlation functions. The coefficients $\xi^2$ and
$c$, depend on the details of the microscopic mode coupling closures employed.
For simplicity we will choose $c$ so that the locally linearized equation can
be written as a mobility flow equation with a source
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
\partt{\mu}{t} =& - \nabla \cdot \mathbf{j}_{\mu} - \bar{\mu} (\mu-\bar{\mu})\\
\mathbf{j}_{\mu} =& - \bar{\mu} \xi^2 \nabla \mu
\end{split}
\end{equation}
\noindent In the nonequilibrium glass we must also take the local stabilization as a
variable--equivalently we may say there is a spatially varying fictive
temperature that satisfies an ultra-local relaxation law without conduction
when the finite spatial structure of the activated events is neglected:
\begin{equation}
\partt{T_F}{t} = -\mu (T_F - T)
\end{equation}
\noindent The actual temperature equilibrates by vibrational thermal conduction
rapidly and will be treated as uniform. In the absence of mobility transport
through a flux term, these equations are equivalent to the Lubchenko-Wolynes
version of the NMT formalism.
To describe the fluctuating fictive temperatures and energies known to occur in
the equilibrium liquid these equations for the mean behavior must be
supplemented by random force terms that are local. Owing to these random forces
the mosaic will fluctuate before a quench or heating process is initiated, then
evolve from these initial fluctuations and then proceed to fluctuate again. The
intensity of the fluctuations in the mobility transport equation reflects the
shot noise of creating entropic droplets while the fluctuating forces in the
fictive temperature equations ensure there is a trend to proper fluctuating
thermal equilibrium. For the situations considered here knowledge of the
intensities, but not of the precise statistics, of these fluctuations is
sufficient.
While $\bar{\mu}$ in pure mode coupling theory undergoes a divergence at the
nonergodicity transition, due to the activated events that cut off the
transition in RFOT theory, $\bar{\mu}$ instead becomes a strong, super Arrhenius
function of the fictive temperature. The strong dependence of $\bar{\mu}$ on
fictive temperature is the key to the analogy to combustion for rejuvenating
glasses where reaction rates also depend exponentially on the local
temperature. The Lubchenko-Wolynes RFOT analysis of activated events in a
nonequilibrium system suggests that the traditional NMT formulation of $\bar{\mu}$
using locally two distinct Arrhenius laws for fictive and ambient
temperature\cite{lubchenko.2004} should be reasonably adequate if the quenches
are not too extreme:
\begin{equation}
\bar{\mu} (T_F, T) = \mu_0 \exp \left\{ \frac{-x E^{\ddagger}}{T} -
\frac{(1-x) E^{\ddagger}}{T_F} \right\}
\end{equation}
\noindent When $T=T_F$ this reduces to the Adam Gibbs form, according to RFOT
theory. The more complete LW RFOT expression containing the configurational
entropy explicitly could equally well be used. In RFOT owing to the
configurational entropy dependence the nonlinearity parameter $x$ is predicted
to be a function of the configurational heat capacity $\Delta C_P$. This result
of RFOT theory agrees well with experiment\cite{lubchenko.2004}. The BBW-MCT
for a uniform system should give only mild modifications to the local LW-RFOT
relation due to the average effects of facilitation while the spatiotemporal
structures considered here from the inhomogeneous version of the theory can
have qualitative effects on the global process of equilibration.
\section{Aging Glasses}
\begin{figure}
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth]{Fig1.eps}
\end{center}
\caption{The mosaic pattern of mobilities soon after a quench from the
temperature $T_0$ to a lower temperature $T$, as the sample begins to age. A
few regions of size $\xi_0$ have equilibrated to low fictive temperature
structures with $T_F$ to near to $T$, while others maintain their higher
initial fictive temperature. The initially equilibrated regions now have a
low mobility $\mu_{\mathrm{low}}$, contributing to the "ultraslow"
relaxations. Mobility transport to these regions also slows approach to
equilibrium of the neighboring cells but the effect is modest.}
\label{fig1}
\end{figure}
How is the spatiotemporal pattern in the aging glass after rapid quenching
modified by the mobility transport that was not studied explicitly by LW?
Consider a rapid quench to an ambient temperature $T$ from an equilibrated
sample at a temperature $T_0$ which is then at the average initial fictive
temperature $T_F^{\mathrm{in}} = T_0$ but that also has local $T_F$
fluctuations given by the configurational heat capacity. The initial dynamics
does not involve mobility transport but only activated transitions as already
described by LW. This initial step generates droplets of radius $\xi_0$, that
are nearly equilibrated. The radius $\xi_0$ is predicted by LW to typically be
about 5 particle spacings, $r_0$, near the laboratory glass transition, $T_g$.
These initial transitions occur at random, starting in those regions where
$T_F$ had fluctuated to a higher than average value. After a reconfiguration
event, each of these regions has come to equilibrium at a fictive temperature
near to the ambient temperature $T$. As shown in figure \ref{fig1} the mosaic,
after some initial transitions has occurred, is more inhomogeneous than a
sample characterized by a fictive temperature with only Gaussian fluctuations
would be. The number of the reconfigured regions per unit volume during this
initiation phase is thus $(r_0/\xi_0)^{3} (1-\phi(t,T_F ,T))$ where $\phi$ is
the relaxation function of the glass. Neglecting the possible role of an early
$\beta$ process, the relaxation function for either a supercooled liquid or
glass within RFOT theory is tolerably well approximated as a stretched
exponential $e^{-(\bar{\mu}_0 t)^{\beta}}$ where $\bar{\mu}_0 = \bar{\mu} (T_F =
T_0, T)$
Each of the regions that have reconfigured now becomes ultra-slow, since each
one typically has a greater stability than it had before. This is the origin of
the anomalous relaxation component found by Miller and
MacPhail\cite{miller.1997}. Mobility transport now will affect the
surroundings of each of the initially reconfigured regions. These surrounding
regions relatively speaking, reconfigure more rapidly than the newly
equilibrated regions, being at the higher initial fictive temperature. The
initial reconfigured regions can thus be considered a static influence on the
relaxation of their surroundings. Nevertheless if $T$ is considerably lower
than $T_0$, then the mobility of the remaining regions to be equilibrated is
not just $\bar{\mu} (T_F,T)$ but is additionally slowed by mobility transport to
the ultraslow inclusions in the mosaic which have mobility
$\mu_{\mathrm{low}}$. As shown in figure \ref{fig1} each of the low fictive
temperature regions affects a region around it, lowering the mobility following
the quasi-static law\cite{stevenson.2008b}
\begin{equation}
- \xi^2 \nabla^2 \mu + (\mu - \bar{\mu} ) = 0
\end{equation}
\noindent where $\bar{\mu}$ is very small within a previously reconfigured region
but large elsewhere. $\mu$ is decreased significantly only within a length
$\xi$ of a drop. It follows that even in the perturbed surroundings of an
ultraslow cell the rate typically is changed through mobility transport by a
modest factor of roughly two until the reconfigured regions are very close to
merging. The regions of influence of the initially reconfigured mosaic cells
will overlap when
\begin{equation}
(2 \xi)^3 \xi_0^{-3} (1-\phi) \approx 1 \Rightarrow \phi \approx 7/8
\end{equation}
\noindent The stretched exponential relaxation implies
\begin{equation}
t_{\mathrm{\mathrm{overlap}}} \approx \frac{1}{8} \mu_0^{-1}
\end{equation}
\section{Rejuvenating Glasses}
\begin{figure}
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth]{Fig2.eps}
\end{center}
\caption{The mosaic pattern of mobilities for a sample originally
equilibrated at the temperature $T_0$ which has just been raised to the
temperature $T$, beginning its rejuvenation. The initially nucleated regions of
high mobility catalyze the rearrangement of their low mobility neighbors
leading to a radially propagating front moving at a velocity $v$.}
\label{fig2}
\end{figure}
The initial stage of rejuvenation of a glass proceeds upon heating very much as
does aging after a quench but with two important differences. Since the ambient
temperature is increased, rather than decreased, the first reconfiguration
events occur faster than they would in the original equilibrated sample (not
slower as in aging). These events still do not happen quite as fast as they
would occur in a sample already equilibrated to the higher ambient temperature
since the sample is initially more stable than an equilibrated high temperature
sample would be. Since the reconfigured regions are now at high fictive
temperature internally their motions become faster. Indeed their mobilities are
exponentially larger (not smaller!) than the mobility of their surroundings as shown in figure \ref{fig2}.
Mobility transport now allows the immediately surrounding material around an
initially reconfigured region to begin to change more rapidly than it would on
its own. The mobility increase in neighboring regions is autocatalytic and
therefore a front of higher fictive temperature should emanate radially from
each initially rejuvenated center. These growing zones of influence will
quickly overlap and the glass, as a whole will rapidly be equilibrated. This
situation is shown in figure \ref{fig2}. Of course, this simple scenario is
most appropriate when the heating jump is large, which is the case we will
explicitly analyze. The time when overlap of the rejuvenating regions is
reached will be $t_R$, termed the rejuvenation time.
Let us assume the front can propagate stably. The front moving at a velocity
$v$ sweeps out at a volume $(vt)^3$ in a time $t$. Overlap will be reached when
\begin{equation}
1 \approx (v t_R)^3 \xi_0^{-3} (1 - \phi(t_R, T_F^{\mathrm{in}}, T) )
\end{equation}
\noindent Again approximating $\phi$ by a stretched exponential we obtain
\begin{equation}
1 \approx (v t_R)^3 \xi_0^{-3} \left( \frac{t_R }{\tau(T_F^{\mathrm{in}}, T) } \right)^{\beta}
\end{equation}
\noindent This implies $t_R$ is essentially a weighted geometric mean of the
time it would take the front to cross a nucleated drop and the original
relaxation time for a system starting at the initial fictive temperature $T_F$
but ambient temperature $T$:
\begin{equation}
t_R = \left( \frac{\xi_0}{v} \right)^{3/(3+\beta)} \left\{ \tau (T_F^{\mathrm{in}}, T)
\right\}^{\beta / (3+\beta)}
\end{equation}
\noindent The analogy with combustion allows an estimate of the front velocity.
\section{Rejuvenation Front Propagation and the Combustion Analogy}
\begin{figure*}
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.68\textwidth]{fig3_2.eps}
\end{center}
\caption{A sketch of the mobility front in a comoving frame. The mobility
rapidly rises from $\mu_{\mathrm{low}}$, before the region has equilibrated,
to $\mu_{\mathrm{high}} \approx \bar{\mu} (T)$ after a region has rejuvenated.
The inverse fictive temperature $T_F^{-1}$ falls while $\mu$ rises. This
figure parallels the structure of a flame front, where, however, the
temperature in the flame is the analog of mobility here and fuel
concentration is the analog of $T_F^{-1}$. Mobility generation occurs where
there is both a significant disequilibrium in mobility while the mobility is
still rather high.}
\label{fig.3}
\end{figure*}
Consider the coupled mobility/fictive temperature transport equations for a
planar front in which $\mu$ and $T_F$ vary only along a single dimension, $x$.
This situation is shown in figure \ref{fig.3}. As in the theory of a flame
front\cite{merzhanov.1988}, the coupled equations can be written in a frame
comoving at velocity $v$ in terms of one variable $z$
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
\partt{ }{z} \left( \xi^2 \bar{\mu} \partt{\mu}{z} \right) &- v \partt{\mu}{z}
- \bar{\mu} (\mu - \bar{\mu}) = 0 \\
-v \partt{T_F}{z} &- \mu (T_F - T) = 0
\end{split}
\label{eqn.12}
\end{equation}
\noindent where $\bar{\mu} = \bar{\mu} (T_F, T)$. In the original frame of reference
both $T_F$ and $\mu$ are functions of $z = x + vt$. $\mu$ and $T_F$ are
graphed schematically in figure \ref{fig.3}. We consider the case where the
mobility at the rejuvenation temperature is much larger than the original
fictive temperature. According to these equations mobility is generated to a
significant degree only in a thin generation zone localized at the front near
$z = 0$. Outside this zone either the fictive temperature has already had time
to equilibrate so $\mu = \bar{\mu} = \mu_{\mathrm{high}}$ or else $\bar{\mu}$ itself is
small because the sample is too slow to have equilibrated at all yet so the
mobility generation rate is low. The latter condition (no equilibration in the
unperturbed region) is familiar in combustion theory where, in simpler
treatments, it is usually assumed that the unreacted mixture is completely
stable. This assertion is not strictly true since the mixture would eventually
react but on an exponentially long time scale in the absence of autocatalytic
heating by a pre-existing flame. In the current context this infamous ``cold
boundary difficulty'' is not a problem under the condition that rejuvenation
jump is sufficiently large. Flame propagation and front propagation for a
random first order transition correspond to a problem of ``intermediate
asymptotics'' in the language of Barenblatt and
Zel'dovich\cite{barenblatt.1971}.
Since $z$ does not explicitly enter into equation \ref{eqn.12}, it is
convenient to solve the equations by introducing explicitly the mobility flux
$j = -\xi^2 \bar{\mu} \partial \mu / \partial z$ and to re-write equation
\ref{eqn.12} as an equation for $j$ as a parametric function of $\mu$ itself,
leaving the $z$ dependence implicit. This gives
\begin{equation}
j \partt{j}{\mu} + v j - \bar{\mu} (\mu - \bar{\mu}) \xi^2 \bar{\mu} = 0
\label{eqn.13}
\end{equation}
\noindent Outside the mobility generation zone the first two terms involving
mobility transport balance giving
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
j =& - v \mu + \mathrm{ constant} \\
j =& - v (\mu - \mu_{\mathrm{low}})
\end{split}
\end{equation}
\noindent As $\mu$ approaches $\mu_{\mathrm{high}}$, it becomes possible for
the structural rearrangements to take place rapidly enough to lead to mobility
generation. In the mobility generation zone, a different approximation to
equation \ref{eqn.13} is valid in which the first and third terms of equation
\ref{eqn.13} are balanced rather than the first two. The balance in the
generation zone gives an alternate formula for the mobility flux in the
comoving frame:
\begin{equation}
\frac{1}{2} \partt{j^2}{\mu} = \bar{\mu}^2 (\mu - \bar{\mu}) \xi^2
\end{equation}
\noindent Integrating this equation at the high mobility side yields
\begin{equation}
\left[ 2 \xi^2 \int_{\mu_{\mathrm{low}}}^{\mu_{\mathrm{high}}} d\mu \bar{\mu}^2 (\mu - \bar{\mu}) \right]^{1/2}
= j(\mu_{\mathrm{high}})
\end{equation}
\noindent Matching this with the crossover to the mobility transport region
gives an expression for the front velocity
\begin{equation}
v = \frac{1}{\mu_{\mathrm{high}} - \mu_{\mathrm{low}}} \left\{
2 \xi^2 \int_{\mu_{\mathrm{low}}}^{\mu_{\mathrm{high}}} d\mu \bar{\mu}^2(T_F) (\mu - \bar{\mu}(T_F))
\right\}^{1/2}
\label{eqn.16}
\end{equation}
\noindent To evaluate this expression exactly the fictive temperature profile
needs to be known i.e. how quickly $T_F$ varies in the reaction zone. The $T_F$
profile reflects how far the system is dragged out of local equilibrium through
mobility transport versus local relaxation to the new local thermal
equilibrium. This requires the simultaneous solution of the $T_F$ and $\mu$
equations and must be done numerically. A fairly accurate estimate (an
over-estimate in all likelihood) for the propagation speed can be found,
however.
This estimate for the velocity follows from the fact that the disequilibrium of
mobility $\mu - \bar{\mu}(T_F)$ must be smaller than, but can be of the order of,
the overall change in mobility across the front $\mu_{\mathrm{high}} -
\mu_{\mathrm{low}}$. Introducing this overestimate of the disequilibrium in
the mobility generation zone into equation \ref{eqn.16} gives then
\begin{equation}
v \approx \frac{1}{(\mu_{\mathrm{high}} - \mu_{\mathrm{low}})^{1/2} }\left\{
2 \xi^2 \int_{\mu_{\mathrm{low}}}^{\mu_{\mathrm{high}}} d\mu \bar{\mu}^2(T_F)
\right\}^{1/2}
\label{eqn.17}
\end{equation}
\noindent In this expression the behavior near the high mobility end would
dominate. At the high mobility end $\bar{\mu} (T_F) \approx \mu$. This relation can
also not be too far wrong at low $\mu$ where again $\mu$ must settle down to
$\mu (T_{\mathrm{low}})$. Using the approximation here that $\mu = \bar{\mu}$
uniformly in the integral in equation \ref{eqn.17} yields an estimate valid for
$\mu_{\mathrm{high}} \gg \mu_{\mathrm{low}}$:
\begin{equation}
v = \sqrt{2/3} \xi \mu_{\mathrm{high}}
\label{eqn.18}
\end{equation}
\noindent When the overall mobility change is large, the width of the mobility
generating zone $v/\mu$ is thus predicted to be of the order $\xi$, not too
different from the size of an entropic droplet. This scale itself is only
modestly larger than the fundamental molecular size. This suggests, as in the
theory of shock waves where the shock width is of the order of a mean free
path, a more complete microscopic treatment, going beyond the continuum
treatment may be necessary for quantitative accuracy. The microscopic
inhomogeneous BBW-MCT can be solved but it appears to be a daunting numerical
task. Indeed, making the approximation of a molecularly sharp interface would
not be entirely out of the question for analysis. Such a sharp interface would
give a rate of roughly the same magnitude.
We have so far neglected fluctuations entirely in treating front propagation.
Such fluctuations may give rise to instabilities and more complex front
structures. Nevertheless it is the faster reconfiguring regions that should
matter the most. To a first approximation fluctuations should lead to a
velocity which averages the mobility of the rejuvenated sample rather than
averaging the reconfiguration time.
Combining the estimate from equation \ref{eqn.18} with the earlier equation for
the rejuvenation time one obtains
\begin{equation}
t_R = \left( \frac{\xi_0}{\xi} \sqrt{\frac{3}{2}} \right)^{3/(3+\beta)}
\left[ \hat{\tau}(T_F^{\mathrm{fin}},T) \right]^{3/(3+\beta)} \left[ \tau (T_F^{\mathrm{in}},
T) \right]^{\beta / (3+\beta)}
\end{equation}
\noindent Here $\hat{\tau}$ is the harmonic mean relaxation time at the final
fictive temperature $T_F^{\mathrm{fin}} \approx T$. Since $\xi \approx \xi_0$
the prefactor is of order unity. We thus see the rejuvenation $t_R$ is a
weighted geometric mean of the initial and final relaxation times. We have
assumed in the analysis of the front that the mobile phase has equilibrated
after the passage is complete. It is therefore useful to notice that this
relation confirms that the assumption of stationarity is indeed justified since
the initial relaxation time is indeed much longer than the final one.
More weakly rejuvenated samples (i.e., $T$ greater but close to
$T_F^{\mathrm{in}}$) cannot be analyzed with the simple constant velocity
formula for front propagation. On the other hand a linearized analysis of the
coupled mobility and fictive temperature equations should be adequate to treat
such cases.
\section{Heterogeneous Rejuvenation}
While aging of a macroscopic sample should be dominated by processes in the
bulk, the rejuvenation of a glass should be faster at the surface than it is in
the bulk because the activated processes that originate mobility generation are
faster at the surface. Stevenson and Wolynes have shown that RFOT theory
implies a reduction of the reconfigurational activation free energy by a factor
of two at a free surface in an equilibrated liquid and the same factor should
apply to glasses in the aging regime\cite{stevenson.2008b}. Mobility
generation will hence proceed much more rapidly at such a free surface and a
rejuvenating front will preferentially start at the surface and propagate into
the bulk. Such heterogeneous rejuvenation was observed by Ediger's group
starting with an ultrastable glass\cite{swallen.2008a}. They describe the
observed speed of front propagation as having a temperature dependence
paralleling the rate of molecular self diffusion. The present arguments are
consistent with their observations since the self-diffusion constant in a
heterogeneous system averages reconfiguration rates not times, just as the
front velocity here is related to average rates of structural rearrangement.
The stability of front propagation, a central focus of so much combustion
science, may not be too critical for homogeneous rejuvenation since little time
elapses before the fronts merge. The stability analysis is expected to be much
more relevant to the heterogeneous rejuvenation starting from the surface.
Since the effective temperature is not directly transported in the present
model, the situation might seem to resemble combustion of condensed media more
than the combustion of gasses. On this basis, front propagation would be
expected to be stable but clearly a detailed mathematical stability analysis
would be required to establish this, especially when fluctuations in fictive
temperature are explicitly included.
Front propagation from surface to bulk is a well-studied feature of diluent
penetration into glassy polymers, where it is referred to as case II diffusion
\cite{frisch.1980} in which uptake is linear in time, rather than the square
root expected for simple diffusion. A large number of theories of case II
diffusion exist that have many similarities to the present study in purely
mathematical terms\cite{thomas.1982,rossi.1995}. There is a major difference,
however, between those treatments and the present one. Even without a diluent,
that can diffuse, the aging and rejuvenation phenomena studied here by
themselves lead to a diffusion equation for the mobility. If at the same time a
diluent diffuses into the glass, a double diffusion problem appears. If the
diluent molecule is smaller than the molecules in the bulk of the glass, it can
diffuse quite rapidly, thus there will be considerable decoupling of the
diluent diffusion time scale from the glassy $\alpha$ relaxation time which
determines the diffusion of mobility. In combustion the ratio of a reactant's
diffusion coefficient to the kinematic thermal conductivity is known as the
Lewis number\cite{merzhanov.1988,zeldovich.1944,lewis.1934}. The corresponding
ratio of diffusion coefficient to mobility diffusion coefficient $L_{\mu}$ will
be important for type II diluent penetration.
A large Lewis number in combustion leads to unstable, accelerating flame front
propagation often leading to eventual thermal detonation. In analogy, if the
diluent diffusion is strongly decoupled from glassy relaxation i.e. if
$L_{\mu}$ is large, the penetration front will accelerate, leading to more
rapid than linear uptake of the diluent. Although a more complete mathematical
analysis than is done here is needed, the analogy with combustion evident from
the present framework thus provides a natural explanation of accelerating
uptake of penetrating diluents. Such accelerating uptake has been observed and
is called supercase II diffusion.
\section{Conclusion}
The combination of the generation of mobility by activated reconfiguration
events and mobility transport leads to complex spatiotemporal structures in
glasses. Aging and rejuvenating are seen to be, in no way reciprocal processes
mechanistically\cite{chakrabarti.2004}, although they are described by a common
set of equations. More complex thermal histories can give rise to more complex
spatiotemporal patterns than those described here for simple heating and
cooling experiments. It is hard to believe these patterns are not an essential
aspect of many heat treatment protocols used in technology, but clearly, as in
the study of combustion, the range of phenomena can be quite rich and difficult
to analyze mathematically, even when the best engineering practice is clear
empirically. Only the simplest cases have been discussed in this paper. In any
event, the present analysis encourages us to contemplate the beautiful shifting
patterns in any piece of glass, flickering like flames, albeit very
majestically.
\begin{acknowledgments}
Inspiring discussions with Mark Ediger, Nate Israeloff, Biman Bagchi and Vas
Lubchenko are gratefully acknowledged. I thank John Deutch also along with them
for critically reading the manuscript. Help preparing the manuscript from Jake
Stevenson and Tracy Hogan is also appreciated. This work was supported by the
National Science Foundation.
\end{acknowledgments}
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaArXiv"
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| 8,822
|
{"url":"https:\/\/canthisevenbecalledmusic.com\/not-music-sludge-titan-potmos-hetoimos-premieres-new-song-goes-in-depth-on-songwriting-process\/","text":"# NOT MUSIC: Sludge Titan Potmos Hetoimos Premieres New Song, Goes In-Depth on Songwriting Process\n\n## The Words\n\nSince Heavy Blog Is Heavy labeled Potmos Hetoimos \u201cSludge Titans\u201d, I can\u2019t help but keep using this awesome moniker that well describes the vast catalogue and wild ambition of the project. Today, I\u2019m glad to bring you the stream of a new song: \u201cIV, B: Perseus, Pyrrhic\u201d, and a thorough behind-the-sheets presentation of the music theory and artistry underlying Vox Medusae, by Matt Matheson himself.\n\nIn the following part, Matt describes the unusual scales that make up the album; a sort of leitmotiv recalling the grand operas where each character has its own distinct voice. On top of that, you will be able to see actual examples from riffs and themes on the album in the form of notation and tablatures. Before diving in, let me remind you that Vox Medusae comes out on September 12 via our own label Not Music, and that you can pre-order the very cool looking matte digipak on our bandcamp page or Potmos Hetoimos\u2019 one.\n\nSo, without further ado, I\u2019ll let Matt drag you into the know.\n\n## Background: On Heptatonic Scales and Modes\n\nMost popular songs are written in either a major key or a minor key. In fact, these are generally the only two scales which are accepted as \u201ckeys\u201d; if a song happens to be entirely in Mixolydian, it tends to get labeled as being in a \u201cmode\u201d of its home (major) \u201ckey\u201d rather than Mixolydian being the key itself. Dave and I have each had our turn obsessing over the breadth and depth of scales and modes; my own deep dive led me to this characterization of the modes derived from thirteen unique scales. (How to read: up is sharper, down is flatter, connecting lines show which note is being altered; orange\u00a0=\u00a02, yellow\u00a0=\u00a03, green\u00a0=\u00a04, cyan\u00a0=\u00a05, blue\u00a0=\u00a06, pink\u00a0=\u00a07. For example, locate Major along the upper-right side. Up the blue line means sharpen the 6, and you arrive at Ionian \u266f6; down the cyan line means flatten the 5, and you arrive at Ionian \u266d5.) The unique scales included in that image cover all heptatonic scales with no harmonic (three-semitone) intervals (these are Major, Melodic Minor, and Neapolitan Major) or one harmonic interval (ten, which I won\u2019t name here); sorry, Double Harmonic and Persian fans! While there are some exotic-yet-familiar scales shown, like Phrygian Dominant and Ukrainian Minor, I dare say more than a few of those 91 scales have never had a song written using them as the primary mode.\n\nAs I began to write Vox Medusae, I decided to musically characterize each of the nine lyrical voices with its own unusual scale from the deepest depths of this exploration. My rule was that no scale would be a mode of Major, that no scale would be a mode of any other scale on the album, and that I would strictly adhere to the notes in each scale during its part so that there would be no ambiguity regarding the set of notes being utilized. (I did end up wavering on a couple of passages, but for the most part I stuck with it!)\n\nHere are the nine scales I settled on using, which voice they represent, and an example musical part demonstrating the use of the scale. All but one of these illustrations were created in Powertab, so I had no control over how the notes appeared on the staff; hence, unusual notes like C\u266d and F\ud834\udd2a will not appear as such. All tablature is 7-string in standard tuning (BEADGBE).\n\n### Medusa: Harmonic Locrian\n\n1\u2014\u266d2\u2014\u266d3\u20144\u2014\u266d5\u2014\u266d6\u20147\nB\u2014C\u2014D\u2014E\u2014F\u2014G\u2014A\u266f\nSeventh mode of Ionian \u266f6\n\nVox Medusae opens up in this scale, which quickly became one of my favorite to improvise in. Locrian is familiar enough to metalheads with its characteristic \u266d2 and tritone, but then you can mix in a splash of Harmonic Minor with that unexpected, cheeky \u266e7. This also creates a tone cluster around the root, which can be played with teasingly. A great example of this can be heard in the first Medusa section of \u201cV: Braid of Ouroboros\u201d, where I dance around the root (while keeping the bass note constant) before a dissonant A\u266f-G-F-D descent.\n\n1\u2014\u266d2\u2014\u266d3\u2014\u266d4\u2014\u266d5\u20146\u2014\u266d7\nB\u2014C\u2014D\u2014E\u266d\u2014F\u2014G\u266f\u2014A\nSeventh mode of Melodic Augmented (or fourth mode of Hungarian Major)\n\nAnother cousin of Locrian, this scale flattens the 4 (hence \u201cSuper\u201d) then balances that by raising the 6, giving shades of Dorian character. Don\u2019t let the natural 6 fool you, this can be a disgusting and dark tone palette. Listen to this example riff from the album opener \u201cI: Idyll Anathema\u201d, where I use a few sliding triads to cover all the notes in a disorienting order.\n\n### Lust: Lydian Diminished\n\n1\u20142\u2014\u266d3\u2014\u266f4\u20145\u20146\u20147\nC\u266f\u2014D\u266f\u2014E\u2014F\ud834\udd2a\u2014G\u266f\u2014A\u266f\u2014B\u266f\nFourth mode of Harmonic Major\n\nA somewhat brighter starting point, Lydian gets itself desecrated by the flattening of the third, which introduces a full diminished cycle (1-\u266d3-\u266f4-6) that can lead into all sorts of nasty places. Fitting, then, that this corrupted brightness reflects the corrupted emotion of perverse lust, accompanying visceral and discomfiting lines like \u201cI lick the honey flung from your teeth\u201d. Lust kicks off \u201cV: Braid of Ouroboros\u201d with some relatively tame seventh chords before embracing the harmonic-minor-like darkness of the root-7-\u266d3 axis.\n\n### Shame: Hungarian Augmented\n\n1\u2014\u266f2\u20143\u2014\u266f4\u2014\u266f5\u20146\u2014\u266d7\nB\u2014C\ud834\udd2a\u2014D\u266f\u2014E\u266f\u2014F\ud834\udd2a\u2014G\u266f\u2014A (or, C\u266d\u2014D\u2014E\u266d\u2014F\u2014G\u2014A\u266d\u2014B\ud834\udd2b)\nSixth mode of Harmonic Major \u266d5\n\nAn augmented second, no perfect fifth, and a cluster triad in the \u266f5-6-\u266d7 allow this scale to do anything except resolve nicely. And as you can see, when you situate it with B (or C\u266d?) as the root, there\u2019s no way to spell it without either a double sharp (\ud834\udd2a) or a double flat (\ud834\udd2b) somewhere. As such, this scale always feels out of place, suitable for a voice that feels quite uncomfortable in its own skin. The augmented second can masquerade as a minor third, permitting a quasi-resolution in the general minor tonality, and similarly the augmented fifth (which can be played in-scale as a power chord) mimics the minor sixth. A great illustration that combines melody and chords comes later in \u201cIV, B: Perseus, Pyrrhic\u201d, where I juxtapose \u201cboth thirds\u201d (the C\ud834\udd2a and D\u266f), then hammer a pair of chords that would normally be identified as a \u266dVI5 and \u266dvo7, but are actually a \u266fV5 and \u266fiv6. (Of course, functional harmony\u2019s really out the window in a key like this, and I didn\u2019t write these parts with function in mind.)\n\n### Rage: Ultralydian\n\n1\u2014\u266f2\u2014\u266f3\u2014\u266f4\u2014\u266f5\u2014\u266f6\u20147\nE\u2014F\ud834\udd2a\u2014G\ud834\udd2a\u2014A\u266f\u2014B\u266f\u2014C\ud834\udd2a\u2014D\u266f\nFifth mode of Ionian \u266d5\n\nCan a scale be too Lydian? This absurd set of notes arises from sharpening every available pitch in the major scale (the 7, of course, cannot be sharpened), but when played as such you learn that it\u2019s really almost lying to you. If you ignore the natural 7 for a moment and look at what\u2019s left, you realize that what you\u2019re really left with does not sound like E-F\ud834\udd2a-G\ud834\udd2a-A\u266f-B\u266f-C\ud834\udd2a, but rather E-G-A-B\u266d-C-D, a hexatonic scale that leans far more Locrian than Lydian. Knowing that, the music that utilizes this scale often sounds dark and minor in a more standard way that obfuscates the truly unusual scale being used. Rage\u2019s riffs often embrace this rather than reject it, as in the clean, Opeth-esque midsection of \u201cIV, A: Perseus, Pristine\u201d (for which I will show the guitar tab even though the melody ended up being performed, in slightly reduced form, on bass in the final version). The first chord, F\ud834\udd2a-A\u266f-C\ud834\udd2a, is indistinguishable from G-B\u266d-D. The only giveaway that this key is not E Locrian with an absent 2 is in the fourth measure, where I make sure to plug the D\u266f into those chords.\n\n### Witness: Subphrygian Dominant\n\n1\u2014\u266d2\u20143\u2014\u266f4\u20145\u2014\u266d6\u2014\u266d7\nB\u2014C\u2014D\u266f\u2014E\u266f\u2014F\u266f\u2014G\u2014A\nFourth mode of Neapolitan Major \u266d5\n\nI didn\u2019t have to invent a lot of terminology in my scale-naming excursion, but this was one that felt natural. \u201cSuper\u201d as a prefix for Locrian or Phrygian means that the 4 has been flattened; the opposite of that, \u201cSub\u201d, should then mean the 4 has been sharpened. So here we end up with the familiar Phrygian Dominant scale with an infusion of Lydian flavor, a fun scale to sing in and perfect for the clean vocals that dot \u201cI: Idyll Anathema\u201d. Here\u2019s part of that first section with the vocal melody tabbed out as well. Note the full diminished cycle in the third and seventh measures\u2014I definitely had to do a few takes to get those vocal intonations right!\n\n### Killer: Ultralocrian Diminished\n\n1\u2014\u266d2\u2014\ud834\udd2b3\u2014\u266d4\u2014\u266d5\u2014\u266d6\u2014\ud834\udd2b7\nA\u2014B\u266d\u2014C\u266d\u2014D\u266d\u2014E\u266d\u2014F\u2014G\u266d\nSeventh mode of Neapolitan Minor\n\nIn extreme contrast to Ultralydian, Ultralocrian Diminished flattens everything, and then keeps going, flattening the seventh again (turning Superlocrian into Ultralocrian) and diminishing the third. Eight flats below major, this is the darkest scale used on Vox Medusae, reserved for the most vicious voice: the emotionless, uninhibited husk of brutality that coldly assassinates true beauty. Adding to its filthiness are a pair of tritones, A-E\u266d and C\u266d-F, which can play off each other. Much like Ultralydian, though, this scale has a hard time maintaining its identity; the C\u266d, being at the top of that root tone cluster, tends to feel like home, implying Lydian \u266f6. Sometimes I made use of this, but for the most part I steered toward that deep A, even downtuning to drop A for a couple of Killer\u2019s riffs (including 2:18 of \u201cIV, B: Perseus, Pyrrhic\u201d). But instead of highlighting one of those, I want to showcase the solo saxophone part performed incredibly by my friend Daniel Wallace at the beginning of that song. I had originally scored this to be performed in two back-and-forth pieces, panned left and right, because I thought the hectic notes, in an unusual key, in $$\\frac{(6+7+6+8)}{8}$$ time would be too much for even a skilled sax player to handle. I was wrong. Dan stared at it for a moment, fiddled around with his instrument, then said \u201cOk, I got it\u201d and promptly crushed the whole line in one take. (I kept the panning in the mix, though, but realize that what you\u2019re hearing is one recorded sax line, not two.)\n\n### Prophet: Major Locrian\n\n1\u20142\u20143\u20144\u2014\u266d5\u2014\u266d6\u2014\u266d7\nB\u2014C\u266f\u2014D\u266f\u2014E\u2014F\u2014G\u2014A\nFifth mode of Neapolitan Major\n\nMajor and minor held in tension, with minor ever-so-slightly prevailing, flattening the fifth along with its 6 and 7. A perfect scale for the prophet, who offers hope and despair in equal measure, laid at the feet of the protagonist\u2014indeed, of us all\u2014allowing us to make the choice. In multiple places on the album, the prophet \u201cargues\u201d with the voice of shame, speaking hopeful truth but getting rejected by self-centered guilt, as the hearer chooses to wallow in misery rather than accept the grace of a way out. The Major Locrian scale gets its main feature in \u201cIII: The Silicon Mirror\u201d, where I take advantage of two sliding chord shapes: root-M3-octave, which I shift from B-D\u266f-B to C\u266f-F-C\u266f to D\u266f-G-D\u266f, and later root-M3-\u266d7, which shifts down from B-D\u266f-A to A-C\u266f-G to G-B-F.\n\n### Conqueror: Lydian Dominant\n\n1\u20142\u20143\u2014\u266f4\u20145\u20146\u2014\u266d7\nE\u2014F\u266f\u2014G\u266f\u2014A\u266f\u2014B\u2014C\u266f\u2014D\nFourth mode of Melodic Minor\n\nMaybe the most traditional of the modes on Vox Medusae, Lydian Dominant is essentially a game of \u201cRock, Paper, Scissors\u201d between Lydian and Mixolydian where both chose Rock. I hesitate to stretch that analogy into a joke about how most riffs in this scale have a very classic rock \u2018n\u2019 roll feel, but it would make sense considering how the Conqueror\u2019s lone appearance in \u201cIV, A: Perseus, Pristine\u201d plays out. This song kicks off the second side of the album with a bright solo guitar ripping off a triumphant, battle-ready lick that stands apart from anything else on Vox Medusae.\n\n-Matt Matheson\n\n## Final Words\n\nThere\u2019s a lot of thought that went into the concept behind Vox Medusae, and you can expect to gain further insights from it a bit later down the road as well. For now, head over to Bandcamp to listen to two songs from the album and place your pre-order for the limited edition physical release of the first in Not Music\u2018s catalogue. Hope you enjoyed!","date":"2018-12-13 20:49:14","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": true, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 0, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 0, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.4126495122909546, \"perplexity\": 4981.116370846357}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": true, \"markdown_code\": true, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 20, \"end_threshold\": 5, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2018-51\/segments\/1544376825098.68\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20181213193633-20181213215133-00148.warc.gz\"}"}
| null | null |
The Himalayan (short for Himalayan Persian, or Colourpoint Persian as it is commonly referred to in Europe), is a breed or sub-breed of long-haired cat similar in type to the Persian, with the exception of its blue eyes and its point colouration, which were derived from crossing the Persian with the Siamese. Some registries may classify the Himalayan as a long-haired sub-breed of Siamese, or a colorpoint sub-breed of Persian. The World Cat Federation has merged them with the Colorpoint Shorthair and Javanese into a single breed, the Colorpoint.
History
There is little or no information from the literature or early pictorial representations to indicate how ancient the four main groups of cats are; these being the two varieties of tabby, the single coloured black or white, and the sex-linked orange (marmalade or tortoiseshell cats). In addition, there are other breeds of cat that are more closely controlled by humans, such as the Manx, the Persian, Siamese, and Abyssinian, to name but a few.
The Cat Fanciers' Association considers the Himalayan Persian simply a color variation of the Persian rather than a separate breed, although they do compete in their own color division. It was for the color that the breed was named "Himalayan": a reference to the coloration of Himalayan animals, in particular the Himalayan rabbit. It has been suggested that the Persian long-haired cats are descended from Pallas's cat, Felis manul, a wild cat that inhabits central Asia and which is unmarked with spots or stripes and has very long soft fur. There is, however, no osteological or other evidence for this and it is more likely that the long-haired domestic cats are the result of artificial selection for this characteristic by humans.
Tests are still being done to discover the ancestors of cats such as Himalayans. An example of this research and experimentation is in that of the following: A rare color variant of the American mink (Neogale vison), discovered on a ranch in Nova Scotia and referred to as the ''marbled'' variety, carries a distinctive pigment distribution pattern resembling that found in some other species, e.g., the Siamese cat and the Himalayan mouse.
Work to formally establish a breed with combined Persian and Siamese traits, explicitly for the cat fancy, began in the United States in the 1930s at Harvard University, under the term Siamese–Persian, and the results were published in the Journal of Heredity in 1936, but were not adopted as a recognized breed by any major fancier groups at the time. Brian Sterling-Webb independently developed the cross-breed over a period of ten years in the UK, and in 1955 it was recognized there as the Longhaired Colourpoint by the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF).
California cat breeder Jean Mill took a series of graduate classes in genetics at the University of California, Davis. By 1948, she was one of three breeders independently crossing the Persian and Siamese to create the Himalayan cat.
Separate US-based breeding efforts had begun around 1950, and a breeder known to sources simply as Mrs. Goforth received breed recognition from the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) near the end of 1957 for the Himalayan. Early breeders were mostly interested in adding Siamese colouration to long-haired cats, and therefore reinforced the stock by outbreeding to Persians only to retain the Persian trait dominance. However, by the 1960s, some were re-introducing Siamese stock and producing less "Persian-style" cats, In the 1980s, a concerted effort to re-establish the breed along more formally Persian lines ultimately caused the breed to be merged into Persian as a variant in some registries (e.g. in 1984 by CFA), and a decline in the "old" or Siamese-like specimens.
Appearance
Body
Like Persians more generally, the Himalayan tends to have a round (cobby) body and short legs, which makes it harder for them to jump as high as other cats do. Since the 1960s, however, some have more of a Siamese-like body, and thus do not have this limitation, but may not be acceptable as show cats, depending on the specific breed standards of the organisation in question.
Head
As with other Persians, there are two types of Himalayans, the traditional or doll-face, and the peke-faced or ultra-typed which has the more extreme squashed-looking facial features. The seal-point Himalayan in the photo to the left is doll-faced while the red(flame)-point in the title image is peke-faced.
Show Himalayans display a nose break as do peke-faced Persians, and have very large, round eyes with the nose leather directly between the eyes. Breeder or pet Himalayans generally have longer noses than the show cats, and may display a longer muzzle and smaller eyes than the show cats do. All three types of cat are Himalayans, however.
Coat
Blue point: An off-white coat with gray points: the feet, ears, tail, and face mask.
Lilac Point: A coat that's similar to a blue, but instead of gray, the points are a purplish light-brown.
Seal Point: A coat with black or dark-gray points.
Chocolate Point: A coat with rich brown points.
Red or Flame Point: If both parent cats are dilutes (blue, cream, or blue-cream), the offspring cannot be a flame-point.
Cream Point: Flame and cream colors can be very close. There are hot creams and light reds. Body-color is whiter and brighter than on a seal-point cat.
The bulk of the fur on the body of a Himalayan is white or cream, but the points come in many different colors: Seal (or Black), Blue, Lilac, Chocolate, Red (Flame), and Cream. The points can also be Tabby, Lynx, or Tortoiseshell-patterned.
The Chocolate and Lilac point Himalayans are the most difficult to produce, because both parents must carry the gene for Chocolate/Lilac to produce a Chocolate or Lilac kitten, as the trait is autosomal recessive.
Health
Due to their Persian ancestry, some Himalayans may have the gene that causes Polycystic kidney disease, (PKD); however, a genetic test can reveal which cats carry the PKD gene, so that they may be spayed or neutered.
Like many long-haired cats, Himalayans need to be brushed daily to keep their coats looking their best and healthiest. In addition, they may need their face wiped daily, depending on the cat. Bathing a Himalayan is also recommended by some breeders, to help reduce the amount of oil on the cat's fur and skin.
In popular culture
In the 1984 Heathcliff cartoon TV series, the character Hector (voiced by Danny Mann) is a brown Himalayan with a purple tie, a grey headband, a 1980s hairstyle, and a New Jersey accent.
In the CBS television detective series "Tucker's Witch" (1982), a Himalayan cat named Dickens is the familiar to witch Amanda Tucker. Amanda Tucker has a telepathic link with Dickens, who provides her and her husband with clairvoyant clues to help them solve mysteries. Dickens is featured prominently in the show's opening and closing credits.
In the spoof film Date Movie (2006), Mr. Jinxers is a parody of his Meet the Parents counterpart.
In the movies Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993) and Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (1996), one of the main characters is a Himalayan cat named Sassy (voiced by Sally Field).
The main character of the anime/manga Prince of Tennis, Ryoma Echizen, owns a playful, mischievous and surprisingly smart Himalayan cat named Karupin (or Kalpin in the English translation), to whom he's very attached.
In the popular Korean drama Couple or Trouble the main character, Anna Jo, owns a million-dollar Himalayan cat named Princess who is featured in every episode, from being pampered by Anna Jo to appearing in another characters' nightmares.
Martha Stewart owns three Himalayans, named after composers: Beethoven, Mozart and Bartók. The cats have been featured in her commercials for Kmart, on her television show, Martha Stewart Living, and in her magazine, such as the cover of the February 1999 issue.
Webkinz, an online game where characters can play with the plush pets they have purchased, has a Himalayan as one of their stuffed animals.
In Flipping Out, Jeff Lewis's two Himalayan cats, Monkey and Stewie, are often featured.
In the TV series iCarly, in the episode "iMove Out", the cat Harmoo, a Himalayan cat, plays a part.
A Himalayan named Goma and his blog was featured in the Animal Planet show Cats 101 in 2009.
A Himalayan named Luna The Fashion Kitty became a social media phenomenon in 2011 with a popular Facebook page, a website, and many media references.
A Himalayan-Persian named Colonel Meow became an Internet celebrity in 2012, and entered Guinness World Records 2014 as the cat with the longest fur.
Mr. Jinx (also known as Jinxy, or simply just Jinx) from the Meet the Parents trilogy is a seal-point peke-faced Himalayan with an all-black tail.
The "narrator" of David Michie's series of books that begins with "The Dalai Lama's Cat" is a Himalayan cat.
Gallery
References
External links
Himalayan Cat Breed
Himalayan-Persian CFA Breed Article
Cat breeds
Cat breeds originating in the United States
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Sweep – edytor audio przeznaczony dla systemów Linux i BSD. Obsługuje wiele formatów dźwiękowych, między innymi MP3, WAV oraz Ogg Vorbis. Jest to program dostępny na licencji GNU General Public License.
Edytory audio
Oprogramowanie na licencji GNU GPL
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Conflict escalated into dramatic scenes on the streets of Rotterdam as the Netherlands banned Turkish ministers from speaking in that European city.
According to Reuters, the dispute prompted Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to call the Netherlands a "Nazi remnant." The two countries are historically NATO allies.
SKY News reported that the protest involved "more than 1,000 supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan." The Turkish president has been seeking support from Turks throughout Europe "to help clinch victory in the 16 April referendum that could give him sweeping new powers," SKY News reported. However, according to SKY News, Dutch leaders believe the measure is undemocratic.
"Turkey's family minister was prevented by police from entering the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam. Hundreds of protesters waving Turkish flags gathered outside, demanding to see the minister," Reuters reported.
Police uses water cannons at rioters in #Rotterdam.
According to Haaretz, a "Turkish minister escorted out of the country less than a day after Turkey's foreign minister was denied entry." Protests erupted outside the consulate.
Shocking footage from #Rotterdam, Holland.
Rotterdam erupted into riots and protests as the Netherlands banned Turkish ministers from speaking in the country. See videos and photos.
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{"url":"https:\/\/chem.libretexts.org\/Courses\/Sacramento_City_College\/SCC%3A_CHEM_300_-_Beginning_Chemistry\/SCC%3A_CHEM_300_-_Beginning_Chemistry_(Alviar-Agnew)\/14%3A_Acids_and_Bases\/14.08%3A_Water-_Acid_and_Base_in_One","text":"# 14.8: Water- Acid and Base in One\n\nLearning Objectives\n\n\u2022 Describe the autoionization of water.\n\u2022 Calculate the concentrations of $$\\ce{H3O^{+}}$$ and $$\\ce{OH^{\u2212}}$$ in aqueous solutions, knowing the other concentration.\n\nWe have already seen that $$\\ce{H2O}$$ can act as an acid or a base:\n\n$\\color{blue}{\\underbrace{\\ce{NH3}}_{\\text{base}}} + \\color{red}{\\underbrace{\\ce{H2O}}_{\\text{acid}}} \\color{black} \\ce{<=> NH4^{+} + OH^{\u2212}}$\n\nwhere $$\\ce{H2O}$$ acts as an $$\\color{red}{\\text{acid}}$$ (in red).\n\n$\\color{red}{\\underbrace{\\ce{HCl}}_{\\text{acid}}} + \\color{blue}{\\underbrace{\\ce{H2O}}_{\\text{base}}} \\color{black} \\ce{-> H3O^{+} + Cl^{\u2212}}$\n\nwhere $$\\ce{H2O}$$ acts as an $$\\color{blue}{\\text{base}}$$ (in blue).\n\nIt may not surprise you to learn, then, that within any given sample of water, some $$\\ce{H2O}$$ molecules are acting as acids, and other $$\\ce{H2O}$$ molecules are acting as bases. The chemical equation is as follows:\n\n$\\color{red}{\\underbrace{\\ce{H2O}}_{\\text{acid}}} + \\color{blue}{\\underbrace{\\ce{H2O}}_{\\text{base}}} \\color{black} \\ce{<=> H3O^{+} + OH^{\u2212}} \\label{Auto}$\n\nThis occurs only to a very small degree: only about 6 in 108 $$\\ce{H2O}$$ molecules are participating in this process, which is called the autoionization of water.\n\nAt this level, the concentration of both $$\\ce{H3O^{+}(aq)}$$ and $$\\ce{OH^{\u2212}(aq)}$$ in a sample of pure $$\\ce{H2O}$$ is about $$1.0 \\times 10^{\u22127}\\, M$$ (at room temperature). If we use square brackets\u2014[ ]\u2014around a dissolved species to imply the molar concentration of that species, we have\n\n$\\color{red}{\\ce{[H3O^{+}]}} \\color{black}{ = } \\color{blue}{\\ce{[OH^{-}]}} \\color{black} = 1.0 \\times 10^{-7} \\label{eq5}$\n\nfor any sample of pure water because H2O can act as both an acid and a base. The product of these two concentrations is $$1.0\\times 10^{\u221214}$$:\n\n$\\color{red}{\\ce{[H3O^{+}]}} \\color{black}{\\times} \\color{blue}{\\ce{[OH^{-}]}} \\color{black} = (1.0 \\times 10^{-7})( 1.0 \\times 10^{-7}) = 1.0 \\times 10^{-14}$\n\n\u2022 For acids, the concentration of $$\\ce{H3O^{+}(aq)}$$ (i.e., $$\\ce{[H3O^{+}]}$$) is greater than $$1.0 \\times 10^{\u22127}\\, M$$.\n\u2022 For bases the concentration of $$\\ce{OH^{\u2212}(aq)}$$ (i.e., $$\\ce{[OH^{\u2212}]}$$) is greater than $$1.0 \\times 10^{\u22127}\\, M$$.\n\nHowever, the product of the two concentrations\u2014$$\\ce{[H3O^{+}][OH^{\u2212}]}$$\u2014is always equal to $$1.0 \\times 10^{\u221214}$$, no matter whether the aqueous solution is an acid, a base, or neutral:\n\n$\\color{red}{\\ce{[H_3O^+]}} \\color{blue}{\\ce{[OH^{-}]}} \\color{black} = 1.0 \\times 10^{-14}$\n\nThis value of the product of concentrations is so important for aqueous solutions that it is called the autoionization constant of water and is denoted $$K_w$$:\n\n$K_w = \\color{red}{\\ce{[H_3O^+]}} \\color{blue}{\\ce{[OH^{-}]}} \\color{black} = 1.0 \\times 10^{-14} \\label{eq10}$\n\nThis means that if you know $$\\ce{[H3O^{+}]}$$ for a solution, you can calculate what $$\\ce{[OH^{\u2212}]}$$) has to be for the product to equal $$1.0 \\times 10^{\u221214}$$;\u00a0or if you know $$\\ce{[OH^{\u2212}]}$$), you can calculate $$\\ce{[H3O^{+}]}$$. This also implies that as one concentration goes up, the other must go down to compensate so that their product always equals the value of $$K_w$$.\n\nWarning: Temperature Matters\n\nThe degree of autoionization of water (Equation \\ref{Auto})\u2014and hence the value of $$K_w$$\u2014changes with temperature, so Equations \\ref{eq5} - \\ref{eq10} are accurate only at room temperature.\n\nExample $$\\PageIndex{1}$$: Hydroxide Concentration\n\nWhat is $$\\ce{[OH^{\u2212}]}$$) of an aqueous solution if $$\\ce{[H3O^{+}]}$$ is $$1.0 \\times 10^{\u22124} M$$?\n\nSolution\n\nSteps for Problem Solving\nIdentify the \"given\" information and what the problem is asking you to \"find.\"\n\nGiven: $$\\ce{[H3O^{+}]} =1.0 \\times 10^{\u22124}\\, M$$\n\nFind: [OH] = ? M\n\nList other known quantities.\n\nnone\n\nPlan the problem.\n\nUsing the expression for $$K_w$$, (Equation \\ref{eq10}), rearrange the equation algebraically to solve for [OH].\n\n$\\left [ \\ce{OH^{-}} \\right ]=\\dfrac{1.0\\times 10^{-14}}{\\left [ H_3O^+ \\right ]} \\nonumber$\n\nCalculate.\n\nNow substitute the known quantities into the equation and solve.\n\n$\\left [\\ce{ OH^{-}} \\right ]=\\dfrac{1.0\\times 10^{-14}}{1.0\\times 10^{-4}}=1.0\\times 10^{-10}M\\nonumber$\n\nIt is assumed that the concentration unit is molarity, so $$\\ce{[OH^{\u2212}]}$$ is 1.0 \u00d7 10\u221210 M.\n\nThink about your result. The concentration of the acid is high (> 1 x 10-7 M), so $$\\ce{[OH^{\u2212}]}$$ should be low.\n\nExercise $$\\PageIndex{1}$$\n\nWhat is $$\\ce{[OH^{\u2212}]}$$ in a 0.00032 M solution of H2SO4?\n\nHint\n\nAssume both protons ionize from the molecule...although this is not the case.\n\n$$3.1 \\times 10^{\u221211}\\, M$$\n\nWhen you have a solution of a particular acid or base, you need to look at the formula of the acid or base to determine the number of H3O+ or OH ions in the formula unit because $$\\ce{[H_3O^{+}]}$$ or $$\\ce{[OH^{\u2212}]}$$) may not be the same as the concentration of the acid or base itself.\n\nExample $$\\PageIndex{2}$$: Hydronium Concentration\n\nWhat is $$\\ce{[H_3O^{+}]}$$ in a 0.0044 M solution of $$\\ce{Ca(OH)_2}$$?\n\nSolution\n\nSteps for Problem Solving\n\nIdentify the \"given\" information and what the problem is asking you to \"find.\"\n\nGiven: $$[\\ce{Ca(OH)_2}] =0.0044 \\,M$$\n\nFind: $$\\ce{[H_3O^{+}]}$$ = ? M\n\nList other known quantities.\n\nWe begin by determining $$\\ce{[OH^{\u2212}]}$$. The concentration of the solute is 0.0044 M, but because $$\\ce{Ca(OH)_2}$$ is a strong base, there are two OH ions in solution for every formula unit dissolved, so the actual $$\\ce{[OH^{\u2212}]}$$ is two times this:\n\n$\\ce{[OH^{\u2212}] = 2 \\times 0.0044\\, M = 0.0088 \\,M.} \\nonumber$\n\nPlan the problem.\n\nUse the expression for $$K_w$$ (Equation \\ref{eq10}) and rearrange the equation algebraically to solve for $$\\ce{[H_3O^{+}]}$$.\n\n$\\left [ H_3O^{+} \\right ]=\\dfrac{1.0\\times 10^{-14}}{\\left [ OH^{-} \\right ]} \\nonumber$\n\nCalculate.\n\nNow substitute the known quantities into the equation and solve.\n\n$\\left [ H_3O^{+} \\right ]=\\frac{1.0\\times 10^{-14}}{(0.0088)}=1.1\\times 10^{-12}M \\nonumber$\n\n$$\\ce{[H_3O^{+}]}$$ has decreased significantly in this basic solution.\n\nThink about your result. The concentration of the base is high (> 1 x 10-7 M) so $$\\ce{[H_3O^+}]}$$ should be low.\n\nExercise $$\\PageIndex{2}$$\n\nWhat is $$\\ce{[H_3O^{+}]}$$ of an aqueous solution if $$\\ce{[OH^{\u2212}]}$$ is $$1.0 \\times 10^{\u22129}\\, M$$?\n\nIn any aqueous solution, the product of $$\\ce{[H_3O^{+}]}$$ and $$\\ce{[OH^{\u2212}]}$$ equals $$1.0 \\times 10^{\u221214}$$ (at room temperature).","date":"2022-01-28 23:26:52","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": true, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 0, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.8266727328300476, \"perplexity\": 767.3289215042662}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": true, \"markdown_code\": true, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 10, \"end_threshold\": 15, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2022-05\/segments\/1642320306346.64\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20220128212503-20220129002503-00378.warc.gz\"}"}
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A Comprehensive Dictionary
of the Middle East
Also by Dilip Hiro
NON-FICTION
Non-Fiction
Iran Under the Ayatollahs (2013)
After Empire: The Birth of a Multipolar World (2012)
Apocalyptic Realm: Jihadists in South Asia (2012)
Inside Central Asia: A Political and Cultural History of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Iran (2011)
Jihad on Two Fronts: South Asia's Unfolding Drama (2011)
Babur Nama (2007)
Blood of the Earth: The Battle for the World's Vanishing Oil Resources (2006)
Iran Today (2006)
The Iranian Labyrinth: Journeys through Theocratic Iran and its Furies (2005)
Iraq: A Report from the Inside (2003)
Secrets and Lies: Operation Iraqi Freedom and After (2003)
The Rough Guide History of India (2002)
Iraq: In the Eye of the Storm (2002)
War Without End: The Rise of Islamist Terrorism and Global Response (2002)
India: The Rough Guide Chronicle (2002)
Neighbors, Not Friends: Iraq and Iran After the Gulf Wars (2001)
Sharing the Promised Land: A Tale of Israelis and Palestinians (1999)
Dictionary of the Middle East (1996)
The Middle East (1996)
Between Marx and Muhammad: The Changing Face of Central Asia (1995)
Lebanon: Fire and Embers: A History of the Lebanese Civil War (1993)
Desert Shield to Desert Storm: The Second Gulf War (1992)
Black British, White British: A History of Race Relations in Britain (1991)
The Longest War: The Iran-Iraq Military Conflict (1991)
Holy Wars: The Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism (1989)
Iran: The Revolution Within (1988)
Inside the Middle East (1982)
Inside India Today (1977)
The Untouchables of India (1975)
Black British, White British (1973)
The Indian Family in Britain (1969)
FICTION
Three Plays (1985)
Interior, Exchange, Exterior (Poems, 1980)
Apply, Apply, No Reply & A Clean Break (Two Plays, 1978)
To Anchor a Cloud (Play, 1972)
A Triangular View (Novel, 1969)
First published in 2013 by
OLIVE BRANCH PRESS
An imprint of Interlink Publishing Group, Inc.
46 Crosby Street, Northampton, Massachusetts 01060
www.interlinkbooks.com
Copyright © Dilip Hiro, 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hiro, Dilip.
A comprehensive dictionary of the Middle East / by Dilip Hiro.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-56656-904-0
1. Middle East—Dictionaries. I. Title.
DS43.H57 2013
956.003—dc23
2013000294
Printed and bound in the United States of America
Cover image copyright © Monysasi | Dreamstime.com
To request our complete 52-page full-color catalog, please call us toll free at
1-800-238-LINK, visit our website at www.interlinkbooks.com, or write to
Interlink Publishing, 46 Crosby Street, Northampton, MA 01060
e-mail: info@interlinkbooks.com
Contents
List of Maps
Using this Guide
Preface
Maps
The Guide
Index
List of Maps
Map 1 The Ottoman Empire ca 1800
Map 2 The Middle East Today
Map 3 Palestine 1947: UN Partition Plan
Map 4 Jerusalem 1947: UN Corpus Separatum Proposal
Map 5 Israel 1949: UN Armistice Lines
Map 6 Jerusalem 1949: Armistice Lines
Map 7 Israel and The Occupied Arab Territories 1967
Map 8 Jerusalem 1967 Under Israel
Map 9 Israel-West Bank showing the barrier, 2011
Map 10 Israel-West Bank closures showing Jewish settlements 12
Using this Guide
Abbreviations Used
9/11 | September 11, 2001 | Gen. | General
---|---|---|---
abbr. | abbreviation | GDP | Gross Domestic Product
A.D. | Anno Domini (L., Year of | GMT | Greenwich Mean Time
| the Lord); used for the | i.e. | id est (L., that is)
| first millennium only) | km | kilometer
A.H. | After Hijra | lit. | literally
aka | Also known as | lt. | lieutenant
b. | born | m | meter
B.C. | Before Christ | pl. | plural
brig. | brigadier | pop. | population
ca | circa | q.v. | quod vide (L., which see)
col. | colonel | r. | regina/rex/elected leader
cu | cubic | sing. | singular
d. | died | sq. | square
der. | derivative | St. | Saint
est. | estimated | U.K. | United Kingdom
EUR | Euro | UN | United Nations
fig. | figuratively | U.S./USA | United States of America
ft. | feet | |
Alphabetical Order
The alphabetic order does not take into account spaces, hyphens, or the Arabic definite article "al"/"el."
In the Arab Middle East (a) the current rulers of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and the past rulers of Egypt and Iraq are called kings; (b) the ruler of Oman, sultan; (c) the ruler of North Yemen, imam; and (d) the rest, emirs. For (a), (b), and (c), see the first name of the ruler, and for (d) the family name. For the king of Iran, see the family name.
Alternative Spellings
The spelling given in the headword is preferable to the alternative(s) mentioned later.
Cross-References
The cross-reference noted by [q.v.] means that further information about the subject is available under the word(s) after which it appears.
No cross-reference is used for the countries of the Middle East, except for Palestine and Transjordan.
Index
It covers the list of entries and sub-entries in alphabetical order.
Preface
The best way to use this reference work is to look up the term(s) first in the Index.
This general-purpose dictionary pertains to the Middle East, a region covering Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, the Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The reason for this selection is given under the entry: Middle East.
The dictionary covers the following subjects: Arab-Israeli wars, Arab Spring, biographies, Christianity and Christian sects, civil wars, country profiles, ethnic groups, geography, government, Gulf wars, history and historical places, hostages, international agreements and treaties, Islam and Islamic sects, Judaism and Jewish sects, languages, literature and writers, military and military leaders, miscellaneous, non-conventional biological-chemical-nuclear weapons, oil and gas, personalities, the peace process, politics, political ideologies, religious ideologies and ideologues, regional conflicts, regional organizations, terrorism, tourist designations, and the United Nations.
I have included only those personalities who made an impact on the politics, military, religion, or literature of a country or the region, and who reached adulthood around the turn of the 20th century or later. Likewise, I have included only those international agreements, protocols, or treaties that were signed, or initialed, in the 20th century or later. In the case of political, religious, or politico-religious parties and personalities, I have paid as much attention to those in power, now or in the past, as to those in opposition.
Since standard ways of transliterating Arabic and Hebrew words require acutes, graves, ogoneks, and so on, and these are not used by the English-language news agencies or newspapers, I have opted for the spellings current in the English-language print media. Within this context I have been consistent—using, for instance, Halacha, not Halakha; Muslim, not Moslem; and Quran, not Koran.
Dilip Hiro
London, January 2013
A
aal (Arabic: of a family or clan): The term aal is used for Arab families or clans of distinction.
Aal Saud (Arabic: House of Saud): see House of Saud.
Abadan: Iranian city Population: 415,000 (2011 est.) Situated on an island of the same name in the Shatt al–Arab [q.v.], also known as Arvand Rud [q.v.], Abadan is called after its eighth-century founder, Abbad. It thrived as a port during the rule of the Abbasid dynasty (751 A.D.-1258). But with the silt from the Shatt al-Arab expanding the delta gradually inwards, its commercial importance declined. With the Shatt al-Arab emerging as the boundary between the Persian and Ottoman Empires in the mid–17th century, Abadan became a disputed territory. It was not until 1847 that Iran succeeded in acquiring it.
Soon after petroleum was discovered in the area in 1908, it became the site of an oil refinery owned by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. In 1937, pressured by Iran and Britain, Iraq conceded to the thalweg principle that the median line of the deepest channel for the four miles of the Shatt al-Arab opposite Abadan should delineate the international boundary. With the Iranian economy booming in the early-to-mid–1970s due to high oil prices, Abadan prospered. The city participated in the revolutionary movement that overthrew the regime of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] in 1979. It suffered heavily in the Iran–Iraq War (1980–88) [q.v.], when its oil facilities were destroyed. It has since been rebuilt.
Abbas, Mahmoud (1935–): Palestinian politician; prime minister of Palestinian Authority [q.v.], 2003; president of Palestinian Authority, 2004— Born of middle–class parents in Safad, Palestine [q.v.], he and his family fled to Syria during the 1948–1949 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.]. Abbas graduated in law at Damascus University, and then earned a doctorate in history at the Patrice Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University, Moscow. His doctoral thesis was published later in Arabic, titled The Other Side: the Secret Relationship between Nazism and Zionism (Arabic: al- Wajh al-Akhar: al–Alaqat as Sirriya bayna an Naziya wa as Sihyuniya).
In 1965 he was one of the founder members of Fatah [q.v.]. Three years later, he was elected a member of the Palestine National Council [q.v.]. As a moderate voice in the Palestinian leadership, he became a target for assassination by the Abu Nidal group [q.v.] in 1974 in Beirut [q.v.]. He was the chief initiator of secret contacts with leftist Jewish groups of Israel.
Elected to the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] in 1980, he was appointed as head of the PLO's department for national and international relations. In his book The Road to Oslo, published in 1994, he described the clandestine contacts in 1992 between the PLO, then a banned organization in Israel, and the leaders of the Labor [q.v.] and Likud [q.v.] parties. After Israel legalized the PLO in January 1993, the PLO chairman Yasser Arafat [q.v.] put Abbas in charge of the clandestine talks with Israel, which were held in Norway, where the Palestinian delegation was led by Ahmad Qurei.
On 13 Sept 1993, as the counterpart of Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres [q.v.], he signed the Declaration of Principles on Palestinian Self–Rule at the White House ceremony in Washington in the presence of U.S. President Bill Clinton (r. 1993–2001), Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.], and Arafat. In 1994 he moved to Gaza [q.v.]. Two years later he was elected secretary–general of the PLO's executive committee, thus becoming Arafat's deputy in the PLO.
Lacking in charisma, he had little popular support. He was widely considered as too accommodating toward Israel. His description of the two-year-old al–Aqsa Intifada of 2000 [q.v.] as a disaster that had resulted in the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] losing all it had built up summarized his viewpoint.
Appointed the first prime minister of the Palestinian Authority in March 2003 by President Arafat, he resigned six months later when Arafat refused to transfer authority over security forces to him. After Arafat's death in November 2004, he was elected chairman of the PLO. As the candidate of Fatah, he won the presidential election in January 2005 with 62.5 percent of the vote, well ahead of his nearest rival, Mustafa Barghouti, an independent, at 28.5 percent. In the parliamentary election in 2006, Fatah lost to Hamas [q.v.], which emerged as the majority party. In early 2007, a unity government of Hamas and Fatah under Prime Minister Ismail Haniya [q.v.] was formed. After the Hamas takeover of Gaza [q.v.] in June, Abbas declared a state of emergency and appointed Salam Fayyad [q.v.] as prime minister.
In May 2008, Abbas said he would step down if his peace talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [q.v.] did not result in an agreement in principle within six months. But he did not keep his word. In January 2009 he unilaterally extended his presidential tenure by a year in order to align the next presidential and parliamentary elections. But he continued in office after that date. The promised elections were not held.
His peace negotiations with Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.], who succeeded Olmert in March, proved sterile. It was only at the urging of U.S. President Barack Obama (r. 2009–) that the two leaders met at the White House in early September 2010. But three weeks later, when—following the expiry of Israel's partial moratorium on constructing Jewish colonies in the occupied West Bank [q.v.]—Israel resumed construction, the peace talks collapsed again. Abbas had said earlier that he would not negotiate while construction in the West Bank continued.
After the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.], in February 2011, foreign minister Nabil al–Araby [q.v.], acting as a genuinely honest broker, succeeded in reconciling Abbas and Hamas [q.v.] leaders in May. They agreed to work together to end the Israeli occupation. Hamas backed Abbas's attempt at the United Nations in September to win recognition of Palestine [q.v.] as a member state. It failed.
In early February 2012 Abbas signed an agreement with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal [q.v.] to form an interim unity government with him as president and prime minister as a prelude to holding parliamentary and presidential elections.
Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al–Saud (1879–1953): founder and king of Saudi Arabia, 1932–53 Also known as Bin Saud of Saudi Arabia. Born in Diraiya, central Arabia, Abdul Aziz grew up in Kuwait, where his ruling al–Saud family was exiled following its defeat in 1891. In 1902 he regained Diraiya and neighboring Riyadh [q.v.] from the rival Rashid clan, which was allied with the Ottoman Empire. After consolidating his domain, he captured the eastern Hasa region in 1913. Two years later in the midst of World War I, Britain, the leading European power in the region, recognized him as ruler of an independent Najd and Hasa. In 1920 he conquered the Asir region on the Red Sea. The next year he defeated his rival, Muhammad bin Rashid, who was based in Shammar. After he had added more territories to his domain in 1922, he called himself the Sultan of Najd and its Dependencies.
He couched his campaigns in Islamic terms, as a struggle to punish either religious dissenters or those who had strayed from true Islam as encapsulated by Wahhabism [q.v.]. He also made it a point to marry into the family of the defeated tribal chief, thus consolidating his control of the captured territory. In the process he acquired 17 wives and sired 45 sons and 215 daughters. Among his spouses the most important were Hussah bint Ahmad al–Sudeiri, mother of seven sons, known as the Sudeiri Seven, including Fahd [q.v.], Sultan, Nayef [q.v.], and Salman; Jawrah bint Mu-said al–Jiluwi, mother of Khalid [q.v.]; Asi al-Shuraim, mother of Abdullah [q.v.]; and Tarfa bint Abdullah al-Shaikh, mother of Faisal [q.v.].
In 1924 Abdul Aziz defeated Sharif Hussein bin Ali al-Hashem in Hijaz [q.v.] and deposed him. Having declared himself King of Hijaz and Sultan of Najd and its Dependencies in January 1926 (later King of Hijaz and Najd and its Dependencies), he sought international recognition. The following year Britain recognized him as King of Hijaz and Najd and its Dependencies. In 1929 he came into conflict with the militant section of the Ikhwan [q.v.], the armed wing of Wahhabis, which had so far been his fighting force. Assisted by the British, then controlling Kuwait and Iraq, he crushed the Ikhwan rebellion. In September 1932 he combined his two domains, combining 77 percent of 1.12 million sq. mi./3.1 million sq. km of the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.], into one—the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia— and called himself King of Saudi Arabia. He made his eldest son, Saud [q.v.], crown prince, and Faisal the next in line.
He faced an economic crisis caused by a severe drop in the tax paid by the pilgrims to Mecca [q.v.] following a decline in their numbers due to global depression. It was against this background that he granted an oil concession to the Standard Oil Company of California in 1933 for £50,000 as an advance against future royalties on oil production. Modest commercial extraction, which started in 1938, was interrupted by World War II, in which he remained neutral until March 1945. Despite its growing links with U.S. petroleum corporations, Saudi Arabia failed to gain Washington's recognition until Abdul Aziz met U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt (r. 19331945) aboard a U.S. warship in the Great Bitter Lake of the Suez Canal [q.v.] in February 1945. The next month he was instrumental in getting the Arab League [q.v.] established in Cairo [q.v.]. His regional policy was conservative, committed to maintaining the status quo and shunning any dramatic moves toward the creation of larger Arab states through merger or confederation.
As a domineering and militarily successful tribal chief, he behaved like an autocrat in domestic affairs. When he acquired the title King of Hijaz he announced the establishment of a 24-member Consultative Council, consisting of clergy, lay notables and merchants in line with an injunction of the Quran [q.v.], which requires the governor to consult the governed. The Council played an insignificant role for a while and then became extinct. Following a dramatic increase in oil output after World War II, the economic boom overstretched the rudimentary institutions of the state, supervised by Abdul Aziz and some of his close aides. It undermined the traditional, spartan Wahhabi lifestyle of the House of Saud [q.v.]. Yet it was not until October 1953—a month before his death—that he issued a decree appointing a council of ministers as an advisory body.
Abdul Ghani, Abdul Aziz (1939–2011): Yemeni politician; North Yemeni prime minister, 1975—80,1983—90,1994—97 Born into a Shafii Sunni [q.v.] family in the Hujariya region of North Yemen, Abdul Ghani went to a teacher training college in Aden [q.v.], South Yemen. He then obtained an economics degree from Colorado College, Colorado Springs, in the United States. After his return to Aden he taught economics. When South Yemen became independent under a leftist regime in late 1967, he left for North Yemen, where he was appointed minister of economy and health. In 1971, after the formal end of an eight-year civil war in North Yemen [q.v.], he became governor of the Central Bank.
His absence from the country during the civil conflict; his Shafii origins, which set him apart from the fractious Zaidi Shia [q.v.] military officers and tribal leaders; and his technocratic background stood him in good stead. Following the coup by Colonel Ibrahim Hamdi [q.v.] in June 1974, he was nominated to the ruling Military Command Council. In January 1975 Hamdi appointed him prime minister, a position he continued to hold, along with the membership of the ruling Presidential Council—despite the assassination of Hamdi and his successor, Ahmad Hussein Ghashmi [q.v.]—until October 1980, when he was made vice-president by President Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.]. He took on the additional job of premier in November 1983 and stayed in that position until the unification of North and South Yemen in May 1990.
As a representative of Shafiis, who were slightly more numerous than Zaidis in North Yemen, he was assured of high office. In the five-strong Presidential Council for united Yemen that followed, he was one of the three North Yemeni members. He retained his position when the first popularly elected parliament of united Yemen chose members of the new Presidential Council in October 1993. His main area of expertise remained finance, industry, and economic development. He supported Saleh in the civil war [q.v.] that erupted in May 1994, and was appointed prime minister after it ended in July. Following the 1997 parliamentary election, he was replaced as prime minister by Faraj Said Ghanim. Later that year, on the formation of the 59-member nominated Consultative (Shura) Council, decreed by the president, Abdul Ghani was appointed its chairman. He held that position until his death from injuries sustained in a rocket attack on the presidential compound in June 2011.
Abdul Maguid, Ahmad Esmat (1923-): Egyptian diplomat and politician; secretary-general of the Arab League, 1991–2001 Born into a middle-class family in Alexandria [q.v.], Abdul Maguid trained as a lawyer at universities in his native city and Paris. He joined the Foreign Service when he was 27. As a career diplomat he rose steadily up the hierarchical ladder, becoming ambassador to France in 1970. When Anwar Sadat [q.v.] became president later that year, he named him deputy foreign minister. From 1972 to 1983 he served as his country's chief representative at the United Nations. The following year he became foreign minister and deputy premier. In May 1991, following the expulsion of Iraq from occupied Kuwait, in which Egypt played an important role, he was unanimously elected secretary- general of the Arab League [q.v.], the event signifying the restoration of Egypt as leader of the Arab world after 12 years of ostracizing after its unilateral peace treaty with Israel in 1979 [q.v.]. In 2001, he was succeeded by Amr Moussa [q.v.].
Abdul Rahman, Omar (1938-): Egyptian Islamist leader Born into a poor peasant family in Gamaliya village, Daqaliya district, in the Nile [q.v.] delta, Abdul Rahman went blind in infancy as a result of diabetes. After his education in local religious schools he joined al-Azhar University [q.v.] in 1955. He obtained a doctorate in literature in 1965 and became a lecturer in Islamic studies at al-Azhar's branch at Fahyum in the Nile delta.
As the prayer leader of the mosque in the nearby village of Fedmeen, he delivered sermons that were critical of the government of President Abdul Gamal Nasser [q.v.] and its ideology of Arab socialism [q.v.]. Following Egypt's defeat in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], he became more daring in his attacks on Nasser and Arab socialism. He was arrested in 1968 and expelled from al-Azhar. On his release he criticized the official policies on religious trusts [q.v.] and Islam [q.v.]. After the death of Nasser in September 1970 he was arrested because of his call to the faithful not to pray for the soul of Nasser, whom he considered an atheist. He was released as part of the general amnesty President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] granted following his coup against Ali Sabri [q.v.] in May 1971.
After a brief stint as a lecturer on Islamic affairs at the University of Asyut in southern Egypt, he took up a job of a teacher of Islamic studies in Saudi Arabia. He stayed in touch with Islamist activists in Egypt during his annual holidays there. On his return home in 1978 he became a professor of Islamic studies at the University of Asyut.
He attacked Sadat for the Camp David Accords [q.v.] and economic liberalization which, according to him, had led to moral and material corruption. After Sadat's assassination in October 1981 he was one of the 24 suspects who were arrested. He was accused of issuing a fatwa (a religious decree) for Sadat's assassination. But he was released, along with another suspect, due to lack of evidence.
Denied reinstatement as a professor at Asyut University, he settled in Fahyum. He continued his attacks on the regime, now headed by President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.]. He was arrested in 1984 for delivering a subversive sermon, but was found not guilty. He urged his followers to join the Afghan Mujahedin who, financed and trained by Saudi Arabia, America and Pakistan, were conducting a jihad [q.v.] against the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan. Among those who followed his exhortation was his son Ahmad. Addressing meetings throughout the country, he demanded that Egypt should be run exclusively according to the Sharia [q.v.]. His speeches inspired both al-Gamaat al-Islamiya [q.v.] and al-Jihad al-Islami [q.v.]. The government put him under house arrest in Fahyum and prevented him from speaking in public. In response he issued a fatwa allowing the faithful to capture weapons from the security forces in order to wage a jihad against the secular regime of President Mubarak.
In 1989 he was allowed to go on the hajj [q.v.] pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia]. But instead of Mecca [q.v.], he arrived in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, where a pro-Islamic military junta had seized power on 30 June 1989. Fearing retribution from Egypt, the Sudanese leaders refused him asylum. Abdul Rahman toured a few European capitals before visiting Pakistan and Afghanistan, where his two sons had reportedly joined the Ittihad-e Islami (Arabic: Islamic Alliance), a pro-Saudi Afghan mujahedin group, which, along with other such factions, was funded and trained by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) working in conjunction with Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence.
In late 1989 Abdul Rahman received a tourist visa from the U.S. embassy in Khartoum, where he had arrived from Pakistan, even though he was on the prohibited list. In America he ran a mosque in Brooklyn, which gained popularity among the Egyptian, Sudanese, and Yemeni immigrants. He obtained an immigrant visa, and moved to the adjoining state of New Jersey. From there his followers sent thousands of tapes of his sermons to Egypt. Following the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York in February 1993 and the aborting of a plan to bomb the United Nations and other targets some weeks later, Abdul Rahman was arrested as a suspect. He was found guilty in October 1995, and sentenced to life imprisonment for seditious conspiracy for a bombing plot. In early 1999, from his high security jail in the U.S., he endorsed the unilateral cease-fire declared by al-Gamaat al-Islamiya in Egypt.
Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud (1923-): Saudi king and prime minister, 2005- Son of Abdul Aziz al-Saud [q.v.] and Asi al-Shuraim of the Rashid clan, which was defeated by Abdul Aziz in 1921, Abdullah was born and educated in Riyadh [q.v.]. He started his career as governor of Mecca [q.v.] and became deputy defense minister and commander of the National Guard [q.v.] in 1963. When Khalid bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] acceded to the throne in 1975 he appointed Abdullah second deputy premier. As commander of the National Guard, the most cohesive and reliable armed force in the kingdom, Abdullah was influential. He belonged to the innermost circle of senior Saudi princes.
He headed the traditionalist-nationalist trend within the royal family, which was at odds with the modernist, pro-American faction led by Crown Prince Fahd bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.], especially over the pace of economic development. He advocated a pan-Arabist policy and cultivated friendly relations with Syria among others. He attempted to conciliate Syria and Iraq and bring the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90) [q.v.] to an end, but in vain.
When Fahd became king and prime minister in 1982, he named Abdullah crown prince and first deputy premier. During the Gulf crisis of 1990–91, unlike the defense minister, Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, Abdullah was reluctant to invite U. S. forces to Saudi Arabia. But he was overruled by King Fahd. He continued to command the National Guard. He was distressed when a bomb at the National Guard training center in Riyadh in November 1995 killed seven people, including five American officers. Later that month, following a stroke, Fahd passed on his powers to Abdullah. Though, on recovery, Faisal nominally retrieved these powers three months later, there was less of Fahd's imprint on the administration during the subsequent years as Abdullah became the de facto ruler.
He tried to defuse internal tensions by conciliating political and religious dissidents at home and abroad. Yet he failed to address the long-running contentious subject of the continued presence of U.S. troops on Saudi soil. The issue came to the fore in June 1996, when a huge explosion outside the Khobar Towers, a multistory residential block for the U.S. military personnel near the Dhahran air base, killed 19 American servicemen.
Abdullah continued the earlier policy of aiding the Taliban (Persian: Religious Students), a faction of hard-line Islamic fundamentalists [q.v.] in Afghanistan, created largely by Pakistan in late 1994, culminating in the recognition of the Taliban government in May 1997. In the region he mended fences with Iran [q.v.], especially after the election of Muhammad Khatami [q.v.] as president in August 1997. In early 1998 he refused to allow the Pentagon to use Saudi bases to strike Iraq because of its failure to cooperate unconditionally with UN weapons inspectors. In July 2000 he advised Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat [q.v.] not to compromise on the future status ofJerusalem [q.v.] by conceding the sovereignty of the Dome of the Rock/Haram al-Sharif [q.v.] to Israel in his talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak [q.v.] at Camp David in Maryland, U.S.A.
Following the attacks on three American targets by hijacked aircraft on 11 September 2001, Abdullah violated the quota of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries [q.v.] by increasing oil output by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), and shipped an extra 700,000 bpd in Saudi tankers to America, thus lowering the oil price from $28 to $20 within weeks. Yet Washington's relations with Riyadh soured when it emerged that 15 of the 19 hijackers of 9/11 were Saudi nationals.
In early 2005, yielding to the George W. Bush administration's drive for democracy in the Greater Middle East, Abdullah ordered municipal elections in cities, with the voting right limited to male adults.
Later that year, following King Fahd's death, Abdullah ascended the throne. He became the fully-fledged prime minister and head of the Military Service Council while retaining his command of the National Guard. He was also chairman of the Supreme Economic Council and president of the High Council for Petroleum and Minerals. A keen horseman, he had the distinction of founding the Equestrian Club in Riyadh. One of the richest persons in the world, his net worth was put at $25 billion in 2008 by Forbes magazine.
To overcome the challenge to the kingdom by militant Islamists, his government carried out a series of crackdowns involving simultaneous raids by security forces, wide-scale detentions, torture, and public beheadings. Under his watch, the judicial system was reorganized and the royal succession codified. In 2012, the expanded Princess Noura bint Abdul Rahman University for Women, the renamed Riyadh University for Women, became the largest higher education institution of its kind in the kingdom.
Abdullah became the first Saudi ruler to receive Russian president Vladimir Putin in Riyadh in 2007. He strengthened economic ties with China. Despite his warm relations with President Bush, he failed in his efforts to further the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. But he succeeded in winning the approval of the Saudi and other Islamic scholars to hold interfaith dialogue with Christian and Jewish leaders at a conference in Madrid, Spain, in July 2008. According to the documents leaked in 2010 by WikiLeaks [q.v.], a non-profit media organization formed to publish secret files of public interest, Abdullah repeatedly urged the U.S. to "cut off the head of the snake," meaning bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, while there was still time.
At the beginning of the Arab Spring [q.v.], Abdullah gave refuge to ousted Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in mid-January. Two weeks later he admonished U.S. President Barack Obama (r. 2009-) for being too hasty to urge Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] to step down. Later he offered asylum to Mubarak, who declined it. In mid-March he sent tanks and 1,000 troops to Bahrain [q.v.] to help quell prodemocracy protests. He was the prime mover behind the $20 billion aid package to Bahrain and Oman [q.v.], divided equally between them, to help their rulers to create jobs over the next 10 years. Wedded to the status quo, he initially stood by the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad [q.v.] as it repressed the protestors demanding political reform. But in August he reversed this policy, withdrew the Saudi ambassador from Damascus, and then spearheaded an anti-Syria campaign at the Arab League [q.v.] and the United Nations. At home, he pledged to spend $130 billion to increase social benefits, reduce unemployment, and provide housing for his rapidly growing subjects, as well as bolster the security forces and religious police.
Abdullah I bin Hussein al-Hashem (1882–1951): Emir of Transjordan 1921–46; King of Jordan 1946–51 Son of Sharif Hussein bin Ali al-Hashem of Hijaz [q.v.], Abdullah was educated in Istanbul, where his father was kept under surveillance from 1891 until the coup by the Young Turks in 1908. From 1912 to 1914 he represented Mecca [q.v.] in the Ottoman parliament. During World War I, he participated in the anti-Ottoman Arab revolt led by his father, in June 1916. When Sharif Hussein declared himself King of Hijaz in 1917, Abdullah became his foreign minister.
The disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 strengthened the hands of Sharif Hussein and his sons. In the summer of 1920, Abdullah assembled an army with the aim of expelling the French troops then occupying Syria. He entered the British-mandated territory east of the Jordan River [q.v.], called Transjordan [q.v.], in January 1921 and set up a government in Amman [q.v.] two months later. In July London offered to recognize Abdullah's rule in Transjordan if he accepted the British mandate over it and Palestine [q.v.] (awarded to Britain by the League of Nations a year earlier) and renounced his plan to capture Syria. He consented provided the clauses of the mandate about the founding of a National Home for the Jews [q.v.] were not applied to the Emirate of Transjordan. This was agreed, and endorsed later by the League of Nations.
In April 1923 Britain announced that it would recognize Transjordan as an autonomous emirate under Emir Abdullah's rule if a constitutional regime was established there and a preferential treaty with London signed. He agreed, and declared Transjordan "independent." But it was only in April 1928 that he proclaimed a constitution, which stipulated that legal and administrative authority should be exercised by the ruler through a legislative council. The resulting nominated body was powerless. He then signed the Anglo-Transjordanian Treaty with Britain [q.v.]. At home, it was not until 1939 that he transformed the council into a cabinet and gave it some authority.
In 1941 he dispatched his Arab Legion troops, commanded by British officers, to Iraq to aid Britain in crushing the forces of Rashid Ali Gailani [q.v.]. When London recognized the independence of Transjordan in May 1946, he changed its name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and called himself king. The subsequent revising of the 1923 Anglo-Transjordan Treaty [q.v.] happened in March 1948.
To extend his realm to Palestine, then being colonized by the Zionists [q.v.], Abdullah reached a clandestine, unwritten understanding with Zionist leaders not to oppose the partitioning of Palestine and the emergence of a Jewish state, if they let him take over the Arab part of Palestine. But the secret leaked, and the other constituents of the Arab League [q.v.] resolved to thwart the plan. In his clandestine meetings with Golda Meir [q.v.], a Zionist leader, in November 1947 and early May 1948, he explained his inability to stick to his agreement. This coincided with London's advice to him to seize control of the Arab segment of Palestine in alliance with other Arab countries rather than through a deal with the Zionist leaders.
After the Arab League's decision to dispatch troops to capture Palestine on the eve of the British departure on 14 May 1948, Abdullah became commander-in-chief of the forces from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. His Arab Legion captured substantial parts of Arab Palestine while not attacking the zones allocated to the Jews in the UN partition plan of November 1947. In Jerusalem [q.v.], which was earmarked for international control, the Arab Legion seized the eastern part. In December, 2,000 Arab Palestinian delegates in Jericho [q.v.] acclaimed Abdullah as "King of all Palestine," which meant most of what could be saved from the Israelis.
He began to transform his military occupation of Arab Palestine into annexation, presenting his action as a response to orchestrated calls by local Palestinian notables to that effect. His move alarmed other Arab leaders. As before, he entered into a clandestine dialogue with the Zionist leaders in April 1949 to settle the sticky points about a truce between Jordan and Israel. The talks culminated in a draft non-aggression pact between the two countries in early 1950. Once again the secret leaked. When pressured by fellow Arab leaders to scuttle his unilateral peace plan with Israel he agreed, provided they let him annex Arab Palestine. They did so. Formal annexation followed in April and changed the character of Abdullah's realm. It now contained a large body of politicized Palestinians, who felt betrayed. Most of them considered him a traitor and a lackey of the British, who had made underhand deals with the Zionists at the expense of Arab interests. In July 1951, Shukri Ashu, a young Palestinian, assassinated Abdullah as he entered al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem [q.v.] for Friday prayers.
Abdullah II bin Hussein al-Hashem (b. 1962-): Jordanian king 1999- Born to King Hussein [q.v.] and Muna Gardiner, he was named the crown prince on birth. But fearing his assassination, which would put an infant on the throne, King Hussein amended the constitution and named his younger brother Hassan as the crown prince. After attending prestigious private schools in Britain, Abdullah graduated from Sandhurst Military Academy. He then obtained a graduate degree in international relations from Oxford University in 1984, and followed it up with a year of studies at Georgetown University in Washington.
Pursuing a military career, he became a brigadier general in 1994. Four years later he was given command of the Jordanian Special Forces and promoted to major general. Suffering from terminal lymphatic cancer, and dissatisfied with the way Prince Hassan had conducted state affairs in his absence, King Hussein revoked the amendment designating Hassan as crown prince two weeks before his death on 7 February 1999, and named Abdullah the crown prince.
As a result, Abdullah acceded to the throne with no experience in civil administration, politics, or diplomacy. Following the counsel of the senior advisers he inherited, he continued his father's friendly relations with Israel [q.v.]. Dependent on the supply of Iraqi oil, he maintained cordial relations with Iraq [q.v.], ruled by President Saddam Hussein [q.v.], and expressed distress at the continued suffering of Iraqis because of the UN economic sanctions. After the installation of Bashar Assad [q.v.] as Syrian president in 2000, he improved ties with Syria [q.v.].
By presiding over the Arab League summit in Amman [q.v.] in March 2001, he became chairman of the Arab League for a year. It was in that role that he visited Washington in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in September. The bill on free trade with Jordan, which had been languishing in U.S. Congress for three years, was passed in three weeks. The move helped Abdullah to advance economic liberalization in Jordan.
Political liberalization, however, remained a distant dream. A 2006 survey by the Jordan University's Center for Strategic Studies found that more than three-quarters of respondents believed they would be punished if they attempted to demonstrate peacefully in public.
Following 9/11, Abdullah promised Jordan's unequivocal backing for President George W. Bush's "war on terrorism." On the eve of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in March 2003 [q.v.], he allowed the Pentagon to operate from bases in Jordan. He continued his father's policy of countering the rise of Islamic fundamentalists [q.v.] in his kingdom. He maintained cordial relations with Israel while emphasizing the need for the establishment of an independent Palestine [q.v.]. According to the documents leaked in 2010 by WikiLeaks, a non-profit media organization formed to publish secret files of public interest, he urged Washington to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities.
Due to his economic liberalization policy, the annual GDP growth averaged 7 percent. Yet in November 2009 he dissolved parliament halfway through its four-year mandate and then cancelled the general election. When the election was held in November 2010, it was boycotted by the opposition. The turnout was low.
Responding to the onset of the Arab Spring [q.v.] in 2011, Abdullah replaced his prime minister twice, first in February and then in October, with his choice falling on Awm Shawkat al-Khasawneh, a former judge of the International Court of Justice. In June he promised British-style parliamentary government, but it was not until February 2012 that he spelled it out: fair elections, a law guaranteeing the broadest representation, a parliament based on political parties, and governments drawn from that parliament. Yielding to the pressure of the Islamic Action Front [q.v.], the leading opposition party, he became the first Arab leader to openly call on Syrian President Assad to step down. Yet when his Prime Minister al-Khasawneh, acting independently, reached out to the IAF, he replaced him with Fayez al-Tarawneh, a former premier, known to be a yes-man, in April 2012. In general the protest movement remained quiescent chiefly because of the citizens' fear of bringing about the bloodshed that was then scarring neighboring Syria.
Abu Ammar: (Arabic: father of construction ); see Arafat, Yasser.
Abu Dhabi: city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates [q.v.].
Abu Dhabi city: capital of United Arab Emirates and Abu Dhabi emirate Population Abu Dhabi: 970,000 (2010 est.). Located on the offshore island of the same name, Abu Dhabi (Arabic: father of gazelle) was founded by members of the Aal bu Falah clan of the Bani Yas tribe in 1761. A quarter of a century later they transferred their base from the al-Jiwa oasis to Abu Dhabi.
In the early 20th century its 6,000-odd inhabitants were dependent on pearl fishing and petty trading for their livelihood. It was not until the discovery and extraction of petroleum in the Abu Dhabi emirate in the early 1960s that its capital began to expand. After the installation of Shaikh Zaid bin Sultan al-Nahyan [q.v.] as emir in 1966, ambitious plans to modernize Abu Dhabi were undertaken. Within a decade it had been turned into a modern city with offices, hotels, light industry, and an international airport. With the formation of a confederation of seven emirates, called the United Arab Emirates [q.v.], in 1971, Abu Dhabi was selected as its capital.
Oil wealth has turned it into an affluent metropolis, more Westernized than Arab, with the world's leading corporations locating their regional headquarters there. At the same time economic diversification has transformed the city into an important center for financial services and a tourist destination. In 2007 it topped the per capita income league table for cities in the world. In the same year it became the center for the awarding of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction managed in association with the Booker Prize Foundation in London.
In 2009, Abu Dhabi city was selected as the headquarters of the newly established International Renewable Energy Agency. Its suburb of Masdar is set to become the globe's first carbon-free settlement by 2025.
Abu Dhabi Emirate: Area 26,000 sq. mi./67,350 sq. km; population 1.80 million (2010 est.); see United Arab Emirates.
Abu Iyad: see Khalaf, Salah.
Abu Jihad: see Wazir, Khalil.
Abu Mazen: see Abbas, Mahmoud.
Abu Musa Island: an offshore island in the Gulf Population: 2,130 (2011) On the eve of the independence of the Trucial emirate of Sharjah [q.v.] in 1971, Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] of Iran pressed his claim to three islands at the mouth of the Gulf [q.v.], including Abu Musa. After Iranian troops had landed there, Britain, the erstwhile imperial power in the region, mediated. As a result, Sharjah and Iran agreed that both flags would fly on the island, and that Iran would pay Sharj ah an annual subsidy of £1.5 million until oil had been discovered in the emirate. In 1973, oil was discovered in a field off the Island of Abu Musa. Due to the territorial dispute with Iran, Sharjah received only half of the oil revenue.
In 1984, during the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq War [q.v.], Iran stopped paying Sharjah. In September 1991 Sharjah protested that Iran had exceeded the privileges it had been allowed under the 1971 agreement. But its efforts to secure the involvement of the United Nations did not get far. In 1994 the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.] took up the matter, and urged Iran to agree to refer the issue of its occupation of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tumb Islands [q.v.] to the International Court of Justice. Tehran argues that its sovereignty over Abu Musa island was not open to negotiations. The issue remains unresolved.
Abu Nidal: see al-Banna, Sabri.
Acre: Israeli town Population: 46,300 (2011 est.), two-thirds Jewish, one-third Arab; also known as Akko. The commercial importance of Acre, a port on the Bay of Acre, dates back to the 15th century B.C. when it was renowned for its glass-making and purple-dyeing industries. King Ptolemy II of Egypt (r. 283–246 B.C.) changed its name from Accho to Ptolemais. When the Arabs captured it in 638 A.D. they called it Akka. Conquered by the crusaders (11041187), it was renamed St. Jean d'Acre. When the Knights of St. John acquired it in 1191 they made it the capital of Palestine [q.v.]. Its surrender to the Saracens in 1291 heralded the decline of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Crusades. It fell under the Ottomans (1517–1918), with a brief interregnum under Egypt (1832–1840). It formed part of the Palestine that was formally placed under the British Mandate in 1922. The 1947 UN partition plan for Palestine assigned Acre, then an Arab settlement of 12,000, to the Arabs. But in the war that ensued, the Zionist [q.v.] forces seized it, and incorporated it into Israel.
Five-day-long inter-ethnic violence erupted in October 2008 when an Israeli Arab [q.v.] violated the no-traffic protocol in a Jewish neighborhood during Yom Kippur [q.v.].
The town's tourist offerings include the old town wall, an outstanding mosque built by Ahmad al-Jazzar in the late 18th century, and a stunning view of the Bay of Haifa.
A.D.: Abbreviation of Anno Domini (Latin: Year of the Lord) Since "the Lord" refers to Jesus Christ, Anno Domini supposedly begins with his birth. But, by most estimates, the actual starting point of the Years of the Lord was between 4 B.C. and 8 B.C.
Adonis: see Asbar, Ali Ahmad Said.
Aflaq, Michel (1910–89): Syrian political thinker and politician Born into a Greek Orthodox [q.v.] family in Damascus [q.v.], Aflaq received his higher education at the University of the Sorbonne, Paris, where he came under leftist influence. Back in Damascus in 1934 he taught history at a prestigious secondary school. Together with Salah al-Din Bitar [q.v.], a fellow teacher, in 1940 he established a study circle called the Movement of Arab Renaissance (Arabic: Baath). They published pamphlets in which they expounded revolutionary, socialist Arab nationalism, committed to achieving Arab unity as the first step. In 1942 Aflaq devoted himself fulltime to politics.
Once the mandate power, France, had left Syria in April 1946, Afkaq and Bitar secured a license for their group, now called the Party of Arab Renaissance. They decided to merge their faction with that of Zaki Arsuzi [q.v.]. Out of this, in April 1947, emerged the Arab Baath Party [q.v.] in Damascus. Aflaq was elected senior member of the executive committee of four. In August 1949, following a military coup by Col. Sami Hinnawi, Aflaq was appointed education minister. But when he failed to win a seat in the general election held three months later, he resigned.
In late 1952 he fled to Lebanon to escape arrest by the dictatorial regime of Col. Adib Shishkali [q.v.]. The next year he merged his group with Akram Hourani's Arab Socialist Party [q.v.] to form the Arab Baath Socialist Party [q.v.]. He remained the new party's secretary-general as well as its chief ideologue.
After the Baath Party seized power in Syria in March 1963, it failed to maintain unity, with its moderate "civilian" faction opposed by its radical "military" faction. When the military wing prevailed over its rival, Aflaq, who was associated with the moderates, left for Lebanon. He retained his position as secretary-general of the National (i.e., All-Arab) Command of the Baath. The next year he flew to Brazil.
Following the successful coup in July 1968 by the Baath Party in Iraq [q.v.], owing allegiance to his faction within the National Command, Aflaq was invited by Iraq to return and resume his leadership. He accepted the offer. But in September 1970, when the Iraqi government failed to assist Palestinian commandos in their fight with the Jordanian troops, Aflaq showed his displeasure by leaving Baghdad [q.v.] for Beirut [q.v.].
His estrangement lasted until 1974 when he returned to Baghdad to head the party's National Command. He enjoyed high status and much reverence in Iraq. However, while the Iraqi regime regularly published his articles and tracts, it did not let him determine state policies and practices. During the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) [q.v.], Aflaq was the butt of many attacks by Iran, anxious to depict Iraq, guided by a Christian [q.v.], as a state that had deviated from Islam. Significantly, after his death in 1989 the Iraqi media claimed that Aflaq had converted to Islam [q.v.] before his demise.
Agudat Israel (Hebrew: Union of Israel): Israeli political party and international organization of ultra-Orthodox Jews [q.v.], Agudat Israel was formed in Katowice, Poland, in 1912, largely by the ultra-Orthodox Jews of Germany, Poland, and Ukraine, to address Jewish problems from a religious perspective. A member had to accept the supremacy of the Torah [q.v.] in Jewish life. Its adherents in Palestine [q.v.] boycotted the quasi-governmental organs of the Yishuv [q.v.]. They did so primarily because the creation of Israel through human endeavor— such as the one by Zionist [q.v.] pioneers in Palestine—was against their belief that Israel, as a "peoplehood," would be redeemed by the messiah [q.v.], and secondarily because they were against women's suffrage. They considered that Jews [q.v.] were a religious, not an ethnic, entity, and believed that Jewish problems could be solved only by the Torah.
When its members in Palestine accepted funds from the Jewish National Fund [q.v.] to set up kibbutzim [q.v.] and theological institutions, it split, with the dissenters forming the Neturei Karta [q.v.] in 1935. By World War II, Agudat claimed a world membership of 500,000 mainly ultra-Orthodox Jews. In 1947 its Central World Council set up international centers in New York, London, and Jerusalem [q.v.].
Once Israel was founded in 1948, Agudat decided to participate in the state's affairs. On the eve of the first general election in 1949, it combined with Poale Agudat Israel [q.v.] to form the Agudat bloc, which in turn allied with the Mizrahi bloc—Mizrahi [q.v.] and Poale HaMizrahi [q.v.]—to constitute the United Religious Front [ q.v .]. It won 16 seats and joined the government to run inter alia the religious affairs ministry. The Agudat bloc entered the 1951 election separately, and won five seats. It joined the government, but quit in protest against the passing of a law prescribing conscription for women. While existing separately, Agudat parties stayed in opposition during the era of the Labor-dominated [q.v.] governments, which ended in 1977. Later they merged, winning four seats in 1981 and two seats in 1984. On the eve of the 1988 election they combined with two small religious groups to form the United Torah Judaism [ q.v .].
A.H.: Abbreviation of After Hijra (Arabic: Migration) Islamic [q.v.] era began with the migration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca [q.v.] to Medina [q.v.] on 15 July 622 A.D. [ q.v .].
Ahdut HaAvodah: (Hebrew: The Unity of Labor): Zionist political party in Palestine [q.v.] Originating in the split in Poale Zion [q.v.], caused by the increased cooperation between socialist pioneers and the financial institutions of the World Zionist Organization [q.v.], the right wing, nationalist faction of Poale Zion merged with the followers of Berle Katznelson, committed to founding workers' institutions, to establish Ahdut HaAvodah in March 1919. It played an important role in the establishment of Haganah [q.v.] and Histadrut [q.v.]. It was instrumental in getting Davar (Hebrew: Word), the daily newspaper of Histadrut, started in 1925 under the editorship of Katznelson.
In the spring of 1929 Ahdut HaAvodah and HaPoale HaTzair concluded a merger agreement and produced a common platform. A large majority of 2,500 Ahdut HaAvodah members ratified the amalgamation.
In January 1930 a joint conference, representing 5,650 members, established Mapai [ q.v .].
Ahdut HaAvodah-Poale Zion (Hebrew: The Unity of Labor-Workers of Zion) Zionist political party in Palestine and Israel, Ahdut HaAvodah-Poale Zion was the result of the merger in April 1946 of the Tanua LeAhdut HaAvodah [q.v.] and the remnants of the Poale Zion [q.v.]. It was popularly known as Ahdut HaAvodah. In early 1948 it combined with HaShomer HaTzair to establish Mapam [q.v.].
Protesting at Mapam's tilt toward the Soviet bloc, which was seen as pursuing an anti-Zionist policy, Ahdut HaAvodah adherents decided in 1954 to acquire a separate identity. The party won 10 parliamentary seats in 1955, seven in 1959, and eight in 1961. It became a junior partner in the Mapai-led [q .v.] coalition from 1955 onwards. On the eve of the 1965 election it signed an agreement for a maarach (Hebrew: alignment) with Mapai, the resulting bloc winning 45 seats out of 120. The maarach widened in 1968 to include Rafi, and finally resulted in the merger of the three constituent parties into the Mifleget HaAvodah HaYisraelit (Hebrew: The Israeli Labor Party) [ q.v .].
Ahmad bin Yahya (1895–62): ruler of North Yemen, 1948–62 The eldest son of Imam Yahya of the Hamid al-Din branch of the Rassi dynasty, which for centuries had governed the northern and eastern highlands of Yemen, inhabited by Zaidi (Shia) [q.v.] tribes and latterly under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Turks, which ended in 1918. Bearing the title Saif al-Islam (Arabic: Sword of Islam), Ahmad assisted his father militarily as the latter tried to recreate the historical Greater Yemen by extending his realm to the Shafii (Sunni) [q.v.] region to the south. In the 1920s and 1930s he led campaigns to suppress tribal revolts.
Following an abortive coup in February 1948, which resulted in the murder of his father, Ahmad assumed supreme power. Like his predecessors, he was elected imam [q.v.] (religious leader) by Zaidi chieftains, and was called Imam Ahmad bin Yahya.
Ahmad pursued his father's ambition to recreate Greater Yemen by annexing the British protectorate of Aden. When London frustrated his plans, he turned militantly anti-British and befriended Egypt's pan-Arabist [q.v.] president, Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.]. In April 1956 he signed a mutual defense pact with Egypt which provided for a unified military command. He offered to join the United Arab Republic (UAR) [q.v.], the union of Egypt and Syria, soon after its formation in early 1958. The resulting loose federation of the UAR and North Yemen was named the Union of Arab States. By then Ahmad had concluded friendship treaties with the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.
At home he continued his father's despotic style of government, much facilitated by his program of modernizing the military. In August 1955 he crushed a coup attempt by a group of officers and two of his three brothers. After the breakup of the UAR in September 1961, he cut his ties with Nasser and began to attack him. Nasser retaliated by allowing the North Yemeni dissidents use of Cairo Radio for anti-Ahmad propaganda. Suffering from ill health, he passed on much of his authority to his eldest son, Muhammad al-Badr [q.v.], before his death in September 1962, which triggered a military coup and ended the 1,064-year rule of the Rassi dynasty.
Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud (1956-): Iranian politician; president 2005- Born in the household of barber Ahmad Sabaghian and his wife Khanum, in Aradan, a village 80 mi./130 km southeast of Tehran [q.v.], he was the fourth of seven children. In 1960, his father migrated to Tehran where he changed his surname to Ahmadinejad, meaning descendants of Ahmad, and became a blacksmith. A brilliant student, Mahmoud ranked 132nd among the nearly 400,000 who took the university entrance examination. He enrolled as a civil engineering student at the Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST). He participated in the anti-Shah movement. On the eve of the revolution in early 1979, the whole family fled to a provincial town to avoid his arrest.
At the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War in 1980 he joined the Baseej militia (official title, Niruyeh Muqawa-matt Baseej, Resistance Force Mobilization), which served as an auxiliary to the military. In 1986 he enrolled for a master's degree in civil engineering at the IUST. After obtaining it, he became a lecturer at the IUST. He went on to serve as an advisor to the governor-general of Kurdistan province for two years. In 1993 he was appointed governor-general of Ardebil province until he was sacked by President Muhammad Khatami [q.v.] in 1997. Later that year he got his doctorate in transport and traffic engineering and planning, and returned to teaching.
After the second municipal election in Tehran in early 2003, won by the conservative Alliance of the Builders of Islamic Iran, he was elected mayor. Refusing to accept the mayor's salary, he lived austerely. He laid roads, gave interest-free loans to the needy, and put religious emphasis on the cultural centers established by his predecessors.
In the first run for the presidency in 2005, he surprisingly came second, beating the far better-known former parliamentary speaker Mahdi Karrubi by a slim 2 percent. Karrubi's complaints about vote-rigging in Isfahan [q.v.] were ignored by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei [q.v.]. In the second vote, he defeated Ali Akbar Hashmi Rafsanjani [q.v.] by 62 percent to 38 percent.
On assuming the presidency in August, he refused to move to the official residence in Saadabad Palace in upscale north Tehran. Instead he settled for living in one of the buildings in the well-guarded Pastor Square complex of the government in south Tehran.
As a social-religious conservative, he reversed liberalization in Iranians' social-cultural life introduced during the eight-year presidency of his predecessor, Khatami. There was also a crackdown on the reformist groups at universities. His policy was backed by Khamanei, a diehard conservative.
Untutored in economic affairs, instead of investing cash from the record high oil prices, he consumed it in raising pensions and salaries and giving cheap loans. On the other hand, by using the everyday language of the people and touring each of the 31 provincial capitals, addressing rallies there and collecting petitions from citizens, he widened his popular base. He also rallied the nation on the issue of Iran's right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.
Over-confident of his public standing, the government allowed three 90-minute TV debates between him and each of his three challengers on the eve of the presidential election in June 2009. This gave an unprecedented opportunity for opposition views to be aired before an audience of 50 million. It dramatically enhanced the chances of reformist Mir Hussein Mousavi [q.v.], a former prime minister during the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War [ q.v .].
At 84 percent, the voter turnout was the second highest in the Republic's history. It meant that more of the upper-middle and upper class Iranians—often secular—went out to vote than before. This favored Mousavi. So the official result, announced posthaste, giving 62.5 percent of the ballots to Ahmadinejad to Mousavi's 33.9 percent, stunned most Iranian and foreign analysts. Whereas the United States and the 27-member European Union doubted the veracity of the election result, Russia, China, India, Brazil, and most Muslim states, including Turkey, congratulated Ahmadinejad on his reelection. There were massive protest demonstrations against the widely suspected poll-rigging. The violence with which the security forces quashed them killed 69 protestors.
The reelected Ahmadinejad continued his hardline policies domestically. Despite the strong showing by Mousavi, he made no concessions to the reformist camp.
Islamic Iran's generally hostile policy toward the U.S. going back to the time of the revolution continued under his presidency. In response to Washington's success in getting the UN Security Council to impose a series of sanctions against Iran on the nuclear issue from 2008 onwards, Ahmadinejad, supported by Khamanei, hardened his stance. He strengthened ties with China, Russia, Brazil, and Venezuela.
His policy on the nuclear issue was backed by the reformist opposition. In the final analysis, authority in this matter rested with the Supreme National Security Council, charged with formulating policies on defense and national security. Chaired by the president, it consisted of 18 civilian officials and military commanders, including two representatives of the Supreme Leader. Its decisions had to be ratified by the Leader before they were implemented.
Ahmadinejad's statements on the Holocaust have been interpreted differently—from his description of it as "a myth" to "there is a need for a group of dispassionate scholars to sift all the evidence and reach a conclusion." Equally, his declaration in Persian that the "occupying Zionist regime" should "vanish from the pages of time" has often been translated as "Israel should be wiped off the map."
Under his presidency, Iran continued to support Hizbollah [q.v.] and Hamas [q.v.] politically and financially. In September 2010, he criticized Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.] for reviving direct talks with Israel, and urged Palestinians to continue armed resistance against the occupation by Israel.
In December, his government's removal of subsidies on petroleum products and agricultural produce led respectively to two-fold and sevenfold increase in the price of bread and gasoline. It decided to distribute the expected annual savings of $60 billion by making monthly payments of $43 to each citizen who applied for it, thus compensating large, lower-income families. In its report in June 2011, the International Monetary Fund praised Iran's economic policies because these hugely lessened the government's burden and lowered domestic energy consumption, thus leaving more petroleum for export.
Politically, Ahmadinejad tried to strengthen the presidency at the expense of the clerical establishment. The resulting strain in his relations with Khamanei became public in 2011. The parliamentary election in March 2012, seen as the test of strength between the two camps, showed Khamanei to be the predominant force. However, his views on the Arab Spring [q.v.] chimed with those of Khamanei, both leaders describing it as the Islamic Awakening [q.v.] in the Arab world.
Ahmadinejad became the first Iranian president to visit Iraq administered by a Shia-dominated government. His relations with Afghanistan and Pakistan were cordial. He exchanged state visits with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and cultivated warm relations with Brazil.
al-Ahmar, Abdullah Hussein (1919–2007): Yemeni politician Son of Shaikh Hussein bin Nasser al-Ahmar, head of the Hashid tribal confederation, who was executed in 1959 for his part in a failed coup against Imam Ahmad bin Yahya [q.v.], Ahmar succeeded his father. When civil war erupted in September 1962 soon after Imam Ahmad's death, he sided with the republicans. He was appointed governor of the Hajjah district northwest of the capital, Sanaa [q.v.].
In the republican camp he allied with conservative politicians and opposed radical military officers, especially President Abdullah Sallal [q.v.], a general who dominated the regime. His opposition to the participation of Egyptian forces in the conflict made him popular with Saudi Arabia, which backed the royalist camp. In September 1966, when Sallal attempted to arrest Ahmar in Sanaa, the latter fled to his tribal base and took up arms against the central authority. Once the Egyptian troops had withdrawn from North Yemen after Egypt's defeat in the June 1967 Arab-Israel War [q.v.], he returned to the capital with his forces. As one of the plotters to depose Sallal in November 1967, he was a leading architect of the "Third Force" government led by President Abdul Rahman al-Iryani [q.v.]. He won over most of the tribal leaders to the republican side and, assisted by Saudi Arabia, helped to conciliate the warring sides. The civil strife ended in 1970 with the formal abolition of the monarchy.
After the promulgation of a new constitution in December 1970, stipulating a Consultative Assembly, partly elected and partly nominated, Ahmar was elected its chairman. After Col. Ibrahim Hamdi [q.v.] carried out a bloodless coup in June 1974 he compelled Ahmar to resign, and disbanded the Assembly. The new constitution, promulgated by the Military Command Council, led by Hamdi, provided for a fully nominated Constituent People's Assembly (CPA) to act as a consultative body. Since Hamdi did not appoint Ahmar to the CPA, the two fell out. In April 1977 Ahmar led a rebellion against Sanaa in the north, which was crushed by Hamdi.
Following Hamdi's assassination in October and the accession to power of Ahmad Hussein Ghashmi [q.v.], Ahmar's relations with the center improved. He was appointed to the CPA. The succession to the presidency of Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.] after the assassination of Ghashmi in mid-1978 saw further enhancement of Ahmar's political standing. But his continued close links with Saudi Arabia, his opposition to the improvement of ties between North Yemen and the Soviet Union, and his disapproval of unity between North and South Yemen inhibited any further rise in his influence.
With Saleh proving more durable than anybody had foreseen, the situation in the tribal areas stabilized by the mid-1980s, and Ahmar settled down in the role of an elder statesman. After the unification of the two Yemens in May 1990, he founded the Yemeni Islah Group [q.v.], with an Islamist program. In the first multiparty parliamentary election, held under universal suffrage in united Yemen in October 1993, the Islah Group won 62 of the 310 seats and Ahmar was elected Speaker. In the 1994 Yemeni civil war [q.v.], he actively sided with the government. Following the 1997 general election, in which the Islah secured 53 seats, he retained his post of Speaker. With the tenure of the parliament extended to six years, Ahmar's status remained unchanged until 2003. The subsequent parliament reelected him speaker.
After his death in December 2007, President Saleh announced a three-day mourning period and praised him as "one of Yemen's permanent political fixtures."
Ahvaz: Iranian city Population: 1.43 million (2008 est.) The history of Ahvaz, situated on the banks of the Karun River, dates back to the Achaemenian Empire (539–330 B.C.). Ahvaz declined after that period but was revived by Sassanian King Ardeshir (r. 224–41 A.D.), who dammed the river and called the settlement Hormuz Ardeshir. In c. 275, near Ahvaz arose Gunde Shapur University in c. 275 A.D., the greatest place of learning in its time. (Today, the city's university carries the historical name). Following its capture in 637 A.D., the Arab conquerors changed its name to Suq al-Ahvaz, the last word being the plural of Huzi/Khuzi, the local tribe.
Situated in the midst of fertile land that was particularly suitable for prized sugarcane, the city continued its prosperous existence throughout the Umayyad (661–750 A.D.) and Abbasid (751–1258 A.D.) Empires, and after. But when the local dam broke in the mid-19th century the future of the city was doomed. It was saved later in the century by official plans to develop a new town across the river to complement the old settlement.
With the discovery of petroleum in the region in 1908, Ahvaz, being the capital of the oil-rich Khuzistan province, received a boost. Its prosperity continued for the next seven decades. As the center of the oil industry it played a crucial role in the revolutionary movement that toppled the monarchy in Iran in 1979. In the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) [q.v.] it became a front-line city and suffered some damage. It is now one of the largest urban centers in Iran. In 2011 it was one of the 10 most polluted cities in the world.
Aigptios: see Coptic Church and Copts.
al (Arabic: the): The Arabic definite article al is frequently used with proper nouns, especially places and people, as well as adjectives. For instance, Basra is written as al-Basra [q.v.] in Arabic [q.v.], and Nur al-Din Attasi [q.v.] as Nur al-Din al-Attasi.
Alawis (Arabic: followers of Ali): Islamic sect Also known as Alawites. The term Alawi came into vogue in Syria during the French mandate (192046), replacing the earlier terms: Nusairi and Ansariya. According to some scholars, Nusairi is a derivative of the first theologian of the sect, Muhammad bin Nusair, who in 245 A.H./857 A.D. proclaimed himself bab (gate) to the 10th Shia [q .v.] Imam Ali Naqi and of his son, Muhammad, who died before him. And Ansariya is derived from the name of the mountain range where they lived.
Alawis are an offshoot of the Twelver Shias [q.v.], sharing their belief that Imam Ali, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, was the legitimate heir but was deprived of his status by the first three caliphs. They portray Ali as a bearer of divine essence, and hold him in higher esteem than any of the earlier prophets mentioned in the Quran [q.v.], including Adam, Noah, Moses, and Jesus. They follow certain rituals derived from Christianity [q.v.], including the celebration of Christmas [q.v.] and Epiphany [q.v.], and from Zoroastrianism [q.v.], including Nawruz [q.v.]. Taqi al-Din bin Taimiya (1263–1328), an orthodox Sunni [q.v.] Syrian theologian, described them as more dangerous than Christians and urged a jihad [q.v.] against them.
The seven pillars of the Alawi sect include not only the five pillars of the Sunni sect —shahada (Islamic credo), salat (five prayers), zakat [q.v.] (alms), hajj [q.v.] (pilgrimage to Mecca [q.v.]) and sawm (fasting during Ramadan [q.v.])—but also jihad (holy struggle) and waliya (devotion to the Imam Ali family and hatred of their adversaries). They share their annual festivals with Shias, including Eid al-Fitr [q.v.], Eid al-Adha [q.v.], and Ashura [q.v.].
In 1974, Imam Musa al-Sadr [q.v.], an eminent Twelver Shia theologian based in Lebanon, ruled that Alawis were part of the Shia school of Islam.
Of the four million Alawis, almost three million live in Syria, another million in Turkey, and 100,000 in Lebanon. In Syria they are mostly settled as peasants, chiefly in the mountainous region around the port city of Latakia [q.v.]. They account for a large majority of the country's professional soldiers. The best known Alawi politician is Syrian President Bashar Assad [ q.v .].
Aleppo: Syrian city Population: 2.98 million (2011 est.) The importance of Aleppo, with a history stretching back to ca 2000 B.C., stems from the strategic position it occupied on the caravan route connecting the eastern Mediterranean region with the lands further east. It was part of the Achaemenian Empire (539–330 B.C.), and it continued to prosper during the later Roman and Byzantine periods. It fell to Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] in 637 A.D., and retained its commercial importance during the subsequent Islamic empires, from the Umayyads, who build the Great Mosque in 715 A.D., to the Ottoman Turks (1517–1918).
Under the Ottomans it emerged as the principal trading center in their Arab empire. With the decline of caravan transport, local entrepreneurs took to industry, especially leather, textile printing, and silk manufacture. By the early 20th century Aleppo had emerged as a rival to Damascus [q.v.]. Besides the Great Mosque, the citadel, constructed in the 13th century, is a chief tourist attraction. Aleppo is now the largest city of Syria.
During the anti-regime protest as part of the Arab Spring [q.v.], the city remained comparatively calm until mid-2012. It then witnessed a long battle between armed rebels and security forces and suffered heavy losses in lives and property, including the burning down of much of the historic Old City.
Alexandria: Egyptian city Population: 4.59 million (2011 est.) Founded by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C., Alexandria was the capital of Ptolemies (323–30 B.C.). In 306 B.C. it became the site of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a library with 700,000 items, which was destroyed by fire in 47 B.C. As a major port it rivaled and then outstripped ancient Carthage to become the largest city in the Mediterranean region. It emerged as the leading center of Hellenic and Jewish arts and sciences. Later, in 30 B.C., it formed part of the Roman Empire and was its most populous provincial capital, with 300,000 free citizens. After Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] captured it in 642 A.D., they transferred the capital to al-Fustat near Cairo [q.v.]. It became the second-largest city of Egypt, a position it has maintained.
It is the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox [q.v.] patriarchate. A highly developed port, it is an important industrial center. Its main tourist offerings include the Hadrianic catacombs and Pompey's Pillar.
In 2002 it became the site of a newly constructed library, named after its ancient predecessor, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, capable of holding four million volumes. At first, though possessing only a quarter-million books, it became the largest and the most advanced library in the Arab world.
The Arab Spring [q.v.] in Egypt had its origin in the killing of the 28-year-old Khaled Saeed in Alexandria by two policemen in June 2010 which led to the setting up of a Facebook page, "We are all Khaled Saeed," and the subsequent silent protest that resulted in the conviction of the guilty police officers. This episode would prove to be the preamble to the vast protest demonstrations in Cairo [q.v.] in January 2011.
Algiers Accord (1975): see Iran-Iraq Treaty of International Boundaries and Neighborliness (1975)/Treaty of Frontier and Good Neighborly Relations (Iran-Iraq, 1975).
Ali, Salim Rubai (1935–78): South Yemeni politician; president 196978 Born into a middle-class family in Zinjibar near Aden [q.v.], Ali trained as a teacher. Later he studied law and became involved in a militantly anti-imperialist movement, the National Liberation Front (NLF) [q.v.]. In October 1963 he led a guerrilla campaign against the British in the Rafdan Mountains. The British left four years later after handing over power to the NLF. Accused of factionalism by the NLF leadership, Ali chose to go into self-exile. But he continued to conspire.
In June 1969 President Qahtan al-Shaabi [q.v.], a moderate, was ousted by the leftists within the NLF and replaced by a presidential council of five (later reduced to three), headed by Ali, who was elected to the NLF central committee and politburo. The new regime purged the party and government of moderates. It carried out rapid socioeconomic changes at home and followed radical foreign policies.
By the mid-1970s, however, Ali began showing signs of pragmatism, especially concerning Saudi Arabia, which had been deeply hostile to socialist South Yemen. This put him at odds with the radical, pro-Moscow faction led by Abdul Fattah Ismail [q.v.], secretary-general of the NLF. The rivalry between the two intensified and became entangled with relations between North and South Yemen. The assassination of North Yemeni President Ibrahim Hamdi [q.v.] on the eve of his visit to Aden [q.v.] in October 1977 made matters worse. The differences between Ali and Ismail hardened around the structure of the proposed Yemeni Socialist Party [q.v.], developmental strategy, and foreign relations, particularly with Saudi Arabia.
The break between the two rivals came in June 1978. A special emissary of Ali, dispatched to his North Yemeni counterpart, Ahmad Hussein Ghashmi [q.v.], succeeded in killing both the president and himself with explosives hidden in his briefcase. One version had it that Ali had sent his envoy to secure Ghashmi's assistance in a planned coup, but his adversaries had got wind of it and had replaced his emissary with their own. Just as this drama was unfolding in Sanaa [q.v.], the two adversaries clashed in Aden. While Ali used the army to overcome his opponents, Ismail deployed the party's People's Militia. Ali lost, and was executed.
Alignment Bloc (Israel): see Labor Alignment (Israel).
Allawi, Iyad Muhammad (1945-): Iraqi politician; interim prime minister, 2004–2005 Born to a wealthy Shia [q.v.] merchant family in Baghdad, he was educated at the elite Baghdad College, a Roman Catholic [q.v.] Jesuit high school run by an American organization. After graduating as a physician in Baghdad, he pursued higher medical studies in London. There he headed the Iraqi students' association affiliated to the Baath Socialist Party [q.v.]. Unhappy at the rise of Saddam Hussein [q.v.] in the Baath Party in Iraq, he resigned from it in 1975, and began plotting against Saddam Hussein in collusion with some Iraqi generals. In 1978 the attempt by a henchman of Saddam to assassinate him failed.
During the 1980s, in association with dissident Iraqi army officers, Allawi began plotting to overthrow President Saddam Hussein. In 1990 he became one of the three founders of the Iraqi National Accord [q.v.] funded by Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency, Istikhabart. It established links with U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and focused on recruiting disaffected Baathist military officers and others.
The joint INA-CIA plan to mount a coup against Saddam Hussein in June 1996 failed when the Iraqi intelligence operatives succeeded in infiltrating the INA's cells within Iraq. Of the 130 military officers detained after the coup's failure, 30 were executed. The government confiscated the assets of the Allawi family.
After the passage of Iraq Liberation Act in October 1998, Washington recognized the INA, now led exclusively by Allawi, as a group eligible for U.S. assistance. During the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush (r. 2001–2009), the INA and Allawi became the favorites of the CIA and the state department. They participated in the Iraqi Open Opposition conference in London in late 2002.
Following the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in March 2003, Allawi was appointed a member of the Interim Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) by the United States. He focused on running the IGC's security committee charged with reforming the army, police, and intelligence services. But his opposition to purging Baathists from official positions was ignored by the U.S. consul, Paul Bremer, the administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq.
Appointed acting prime minister by Washington in June 2004, Allawi headed an interim cabinet until April 2005. His government quickly earned the odium of widespread corruption, collaboration with America, and a heavy-handed security policy implemented by Allawi. He closed the bureau of the Al-Jazeera satellite TV channel, and appointed Ibrahim Janabi, a former Iraqi intelligence officer, as the chief media regulator. He strongly backed the Pentagon's controversial offensives to seize control of the rebellious Sunni [q.v.] city of Falluja and the Shia holy place of Najaf [q.v.] from the militia of Muqtada al-Sadr [q.v.]. However, his attempt to issue an emergency ordinance authorizing him to declare martial law, impose curfews, and detain suspects was overruled by Washington.
On the eve of the December 2005 parliamentary election, Allawi's INA formed an alliance with other secular groups to form the Iraqi National List (INL). With only 25 seats in a house of 275, the INL emerged as the distant third. Yet it found a place in the coalition government of Nouri al-Maliki [q. v.]. But Allawi declined a cabinet post. He spent most of his time in Amman [q.v.]. Instructed by him, INL ministers quit the government in 2007.
In early 2009, he formed al-Iraqiya List [q.v.] (Iraqi National Movement), an alliance that included Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi. During the run-up to the general election in March, he visited all the neighboring Sunni-majority countries, with the Saudi government barely disguising its support for him. In the election al-Iraqiya won two more seats than the 89 its rival Maliki-led State of Law alliance did. After failing to gain the backing of the majority of legislators to form a cabinet, Allawi agreed to support the national unity government of Maliki when he was promised the presidency of the proposed National Council for Higher Strategic Policy (NCHSP). Even after the parliament had amended the constitution to incorporate the NCHSP, it remained a paper organization. Allawi resigned its presidency in October 2011.
A.M.: Abbreviation of Anno Mundi (Latin: Year of the World ) This pertains to the Jewish era that began with the estimated date of creation, according to Genesis in the Old Testament [q.v.]: 3760 B.C. Jews [q.v.] use this dating system. See also Jewish calendar.
Amal (Arabic: acronym of Afwaj al-Muqawama al-Lubnaniya, The Lebanese Resistance Detachments): Lebanese militia Amal was formed in July 1975, a few months after the outbreak of civil war in Lebanon, as the armed wing of the Movement of the Disinherited, which had been established in February 1973 by a radical Shia leader, Imam Musa al-Sadr [q.v.]. It was popularly known as Amal (Arabic: Hope ). After the "disappearance" of al-Sadr in August 1978 during his visit to Libya, Amal came under the leadership of Shaikh Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din and Hussein Husseini, who forged strong links with Iran after the Islamic revolution there in early 1979. It gained many recruits from the 300,000 Shia emigrants from southern Lebanon who had abandoned their homes as a result of Israeli bombings.
By spring of 1982 the leadership of Amal had passed on to Shams al-Din and Nabih Berri [q.v.], a layman Shia leader. Since Berri was close to Syria, Amal increasingly became a fixture of the policies being pursued by Damascus, especially in the ongoing civil strife. The victory of the pro-Syrian camp in the Lebanon Civil War [ q.v .] in October 1990 improved the status of Amal. Once the government decided to dissolve all irregular forces, 2,800 militia of Amal, which once had 14,000 men under arms, were absorbed into the regular Lebanese army in September 1991.
It continued to function as a political party, and ran in parliamentary elections, with its leader Berri being elected parliamentary speaker. In the 2000 general election, it allied with Hizbollah [q.v.], and together they won all of the 23 seats in the governorate of South Lebanon. In the 2005 parliamentary election, the Amal-Hizbollah alliance secured 35 seats, with Hizbollah gaining 14. As part of March 8 Alliance [q.v.] in the June 2009 general election, Amal won 13 seats out of the total of 57, with Hizbollah securing another 13.
American hostage crisis in Tehran (1979–81): see Hostage-taking and hostages.
American University in Beirut: From the 1830s onward Christian missionaries from the United States started establishing schools and colleges in Lebanon. After securing a charter from the state of New York in 1863 and raising funds in the United States and Britain, Daniel Bliss of the American Protestant Mission opened the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut [q.v.] in 1866. Despite its name the college was non-sectarian. It soon acquired a school of medicine. In 1882 English replaced Arabic as the language of instruction. Following the end of the Ottoman rule in 1918 and the arrival of the French as victors, the trustees changed its name to the American University in Beirut (AUB) in 1920.
Education in the arts and sciences, imparted by the AUB to a student body drawn from all over the Arab world, helped create a class of Arab intellectuals with a wide perspective. The AUB thus performed a significant role in producing political leaders and stimulating Arab political and intellectual activity. Throughout the 1975–90 Civil War [q.v.] (during which—in 1984—its president, Dr. Malcolm Kerr, was killed), it continued to function while its hospital provided much-needed services. After the conflict its research program focused on the reconstruction of Lebanon. Between 1870 and June 2011, it awarded 82,032 degrees and diplomas.
American University in Cairo: Established in 1919, the American University in Cairo (AUC) was financed by U.S. citizens interested in furthering education in the Middle East. Charles Watson, its founding president, was born of missionary parents and grew up in the Egyptian city of Asyut. It provides American liberal arts and professional education in English to predominantly Egyptian students.
In 1928, female students were accepted and by 1994 their ratio had climbed to 50 percent. Incorporated in the United States, the AUC operates within the framework of the cultural relations agreement signed between Egypt and the United States in 1962, which was renewed in 1975. Despite the best intentions of its founders, the AUC has remained an exclusive institution because of its small student body and high tuition fees. Its student body of about 5,000 students in 2007 was less than 0.5 percent of the national total.
In 2008, the AUC moved from its eight-acre downtown campus to a newly built 280-acre campus in the upscale suburb of New Cairo, with a plan to raise the student body to 5,500.
To mark the first anniversary of the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] on 11 February 2011, AUC students screened films of military and police brutality and demanded that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces should cede power to the interim government.
Amichai, Yehuda (1924–2000): Israeli poet and novelist Born Yehuda Pfeuffer to a businessman father in Wurzberg, Germany, Amichai moved to Palestine [q.v.] along with his parents in 1936. After graduating from a religious high school in Jerusalem [q.v.], he enrolled in the British army in 1942. After World War II he joined the Palmah [q.v.] and fought in the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.]. He joined the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1949 and started writing poetry.
Much influenced by W. H. Auden (d. 1973), a left-wing British poet famed for his personal poetry written in a casual tone, Amichai combined everyday Hebrew [q.v.] with the language used in the Old Testament [q.v.] and the Jewish prayer books. An iconoclast, he derided the spartan way of life preached by the pioneering Zionist [q.v.] leaders, especially David Ben-Gurion [q.v.], during the first decades of Israel and unashamedly aspired to bourgeois comforts. In 1962 his Poems (1948–62) became a best-seller.
By continuing to harness the flat idiom of daily life with images from the Hebrew Bible [q.v.] and Jewish liturgy, he transformed the rhythm and vocabulary of Hebrew poetry. His work, distinguished by its depth and virtuosity, was read widely. By the time he was 70 he had published 11 volumes of poetry in Hebrew; two novels, including Not of This Time, Not of This Place (1963); and several short stories. His later poetry is criticized as being thematically unadventurous and covering old ground. His works were translated into 25 languages. The titles translated into English include Love Poems, More Love Poems, Poems of Jerusalem, Open-Eyed Landscape, Great Tranquility: Questions and Answers, The World is a Room and Other Stories, and Yehuda Amichai: A Life of Poetry 1948–94.
After the 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] he became an advocate of peace with the Palestinians and a supporter of the Peace Now [q.v.] movement. He won the Israel Prize for literature in 1982.
Amman: capital of Jordan Population: 2.85 million (2011 est.) The origins of Amman, a city of hills, lie in distant antiquity, around 4000 B.C. Both its present and biblical names are derived from Ammon, the capital of the Ammonites, its full title being Rabba' Ir Bene Ammon (Hebrew: Great City of Ammon's Sons). It is the site of the battle in which Uriah met his death (the battle having been ordered by his supreme commander, King David), enabling his wife, Bathsheba, to marry King David.
Having captured the settlement, Egyptian King Ptolemy II Philadel-phius (r. 283–246 B.C.) called it Philadelphia. This name survived the arrival of the Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines, and the city thrived under the Romans. After conquering it in 635 A.D., the Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] renamed it Amman. It began to decline, and by the early 13th century was reduced to ruins.
When faced with the problem of resettling the Circassian [q.v.] refugees from the Caucasian region of Tsarist Russia, Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876–1909) hit upon the idea of directing them to the virtually defunct Amman in 1878. The revived Amman was still a village when Abdullah bin Hussein al-Hashem [q.v.] camped there with his troops in 1921 on his way to Syria. Two years later it became the capital of Transjordan [q.v.].
From then onwards it began to expand—a process accelerated by the influx of Palestinian refugees after the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.] and again after the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.]. In September 1970 the city became the center of an armed conflict between Palestinian guerillas and the Jordanian army.
On the whole Amman has benefited greatly by the enterprise of its Palestinian residents, and has become the financial, commercial, communications, political, and educational center of Jordan. Among its tourist offerings are a Roman amphitheatre and the old citadel.
Anaiza tribal federation: (Also spelled Anaza.) Anaiza is one of the 25 major tribal federations in the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.]. It is considered noble because of its claim to lineal descent from Yaarab, the eponymous father of all Arabs. Its origins can be traced back to the 15th century and the territory around the town of Diraiya in the Najd region [q.v.]. The House of Saud [q.v.] belongs to the Masalikh clan of the Ruwalla tribe of the Anaiza federation. The ruling al-Sabah clan [q.v.] of Kuwait is part of the Amarat tribe of the Anaiza federation. See also Tribalism.
Anglo-American Commission on Palestine (1946): After World War II, the American Congress and president pressured Britain to scrap its 1939 White Paper—limiting annual Jewish immigration to Palestine to 15,000—and conceded the Zionist demand to admit 100,000 Jewish refugees camped in Cyprus into Palestine [q.v.]. In response Britain agreed to the appointment of a joint Anglo-American commission to study the Palestine problem. In its report, published in April 1946, the Commission proposed that Britain should continue its Mandate, that 100,000 Jewish refugees be let into Palestine, and that all illegal militias—primarily the 65,000-strong Zionist irregulars, armed with weapons from wartime munitions factories—be disbanded. Britain agreed to continue the Mandate only if the United States shared the responsibility. It refused. While the U.S. urged immediate admission of the Jewish refugees into Palestine, Britain made this conditional on the disarming of the Zionist militias whose violent activities were increasingly threatening British life and property in Palestine.
Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, 2003: see Gulf War III
Anglo-Bahraini Agreement (1914): In order to ensure supplies of oil—the fuel adopted by the British navy in 1913—Britain imposed an agreement on Bahrain whereby the latter was barred from giving petroleum concessions to non-British companies without London's prior permission.
Anglo-Egyptian Treaty (1936): The outbreak of the Italian-Ethiopian War in 1935 made Britain, the dominant foreign power in Egypt, amenable to redefining Anglo-Egyptian ties. The result was the signing of an Anglo-Egyptian treaty in 1936, valid for 20 years. It gave Britain the exclusive right to equip and train the Egyptian military. While it required Egypt to expand its transport and communications facilities and make them available to the British forces, it entitled Britain to build as many new air bases as it wished. It signified a formal end to the posting of British troops outside the Suez Canal [q.v.] zone, subject to Egypt building up its defense capabilities sufficiently. British troops were to be stationed specifically to guard the Suez Canal until such time that the two signatories agreed that Egypt could do the job alone. Britain retained the right to take over all defense and communications facilities in the event of war.
The treaty disappointed Egyptian nationalists. In the 1950 general election the nationalist Wafd [q.v.] won decisively. Reflecting the popular mood, which sought to avenge the humiliation suffered by the Arabs [q.v.] in the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.], the Wafd government pressed Britain to withdraw its troops from Egypt. When London stonewalled, Cairo unilaterally abrogated the 1936 Treaty in October 1951. The ensuing official non-cooperation, reinforced by popular guerrilla actions, made the British base in the Suez Canal zone virtually inoperative. The tussle between London and Cairo paved the way for the overthrow of the Egyptian monarchy in less than a year. The new regime was anxious to see the departure of the 70,000 British troops occupying 300 sq. mi./777 sq. km of the Egyptian territory. It signed an agreement with London in October 1954 for a British withdrawal by the end of the year.
Anglo-Iraqi Treaty (1930): When oil was discovered in Iraq in 1927, Britain, the Mandate power, decided to redefine its relations with Iraq. In September 1929 it agreed to sponsor Iraq's membership of the League of Nations. A year later a 25-year treaty was signed, to be implemented after Iraq had become a member of the League of Nations as an independent state. It required Iraq to formulate a common foreign policy with Britain and allow the stationing of British forces on its soil, in exchange for a British guarantee to protect it against foreign attack. London ended its Mandate over Iraq in October 1932. A major upheaval in 1941 in Iraq, involving a coup by Rashid Ali Gailani [q.v.] and its suppression, confirmed the supremacy of Britain over Iraq's nationalist forces.
When faced with the popular Iraqi demand for full independence after World War II, Britain renegotiated the terms of the 1930 treaty. It presented the new document (initialed by both sides in the British port city of Portsmouth in January 1948—the Portsmouth Agreement—valid for 20 years) as signifying an alliance between two equals. However, because it did not include British troop withdrawal from Iraq, it went down badly with the Iraqi public. Large-scale demonstrations in Baghdad [ q.v .] against the Portsmouth Agreement brought down the government and aborted the new draft treaty, thus implicitly confirming the annulment of the earlier treaty.
Anglo-Jordanian Treaty (1948): After Transjordan [q.v.] had acquired independence in May 1946 its ruler, Abdullah bin Hussein al-Hashem [q.v.], assumed the title of king and changed the name of his realm from the Emirate of Transjordan to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. This necessitated revision of the 1928 Anglo-Transjordanian Treaty. A revised version, valid for 20 years, was signed in March 1948. It incorporated the principle of mutual assistance in the event of war, and allowed Britain to use military bases in Jordan for an annual subsidy of £12 million to the king. In December 1955 Amman [q.v.] witnessed massive demonstrations against the treaty. This was followed by a call by parliament, elected in October 1956, for its abrogation. In January 1957 Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia together offered to replace the British subsidy for at least 10 years. The Jordanian monarch, Hussein bin Talal al-Hashem [q.v.], approached London to end the treaty. This was done in March 1957.
Anglo-Kuwaiti Agreement (1913): In order to ensure supplies of oil—the fuel adopted by the British navy in 1913—Britain imposed an agreement on Kuwait that barred the latter from giving oil concessions to non-British companies without London's prior permission.
Anglo-Omani Agreement (1925): In order to ensure supplies of petroleum—the fuel adopted by the British navy in 1913—Britain imposed an agreement on Oman whereby the latter was barred from giving oil concessions to non-British companies without London's prior permission.
Anglo-Ottoman Convention (1913): In July 1913 Britain signed an Anglo-Ottoman Convention with Ottoman Sultan Muhammad VI (r. 1909–23). Among other things, it recognized Kuwait as "an autonomous caza [Arabic: administrative unit] of the [Ottoman] Empire" under Shaikh Mubarak I al-Sabah, who had the status of an Ottoman qaimmaqam (Arabic: district governor). Mubarak's autonomy was recognized within an inner (red) circle of 40 mi./103 km radius, centered on Kuwait port, which included not only the islands of Warba and Bubiyan but also Mashian, Failakah, Auhah, and Kabbar. Beyond that, in a segment of land with a radius of 140 mi./362 km, centered on Kuwait port, marking the outer (green) boundary defined by the Convention, Mubarak was authorized only to collect tributes from the tribes. However, the outbreak of World War I in 1914, when the Ottomans sided with the Germans, invalidated the Convention and allowed London to announce that Kuwait was an "independent shaikhdom under British protection."
Anglo-Persian Agreement (1919): After World War I, the government of Persia (now Iran) was in such dire financial straits that only British subsidies could keep it afloat. This encouraged Britain's foreign minister, Lord Curzon, to realize his dream of turning Persia into a British protectorate. He concluded a secret agreement with the Persian government in 1919 that gave Britain enormous political, economic, and military control over Persia. When the terms of the agreement were disclosed on the eve of a debate in the Persian parliament, there was furor not only in Persia but also in the United States and Bolshevik Russia. The parliament refused to ratify it.
Anglo-Qatari Agreement (1916): According to this treaty, Britain guaranteed the territorial integrity of Qatar while Qatar agreed not to cede any mineral rights to a third party without Britain's prior consent.
Anglo-Transjordanian Treaty (1928): In April 1923 Britain announced that it would recognize Transjordan as an autonomous emirate under the rule of Emir Abdullah bin Hussein al-Hashem [q.v.] if a constitutional regime was established there and a preferential treaty with London signed, requiring him to formulate a common foreign policy with Britain, and allow the stationing of British forces on its soil in exchange for a British guarantee to protect Transjordan against foreign attack. He agreed, and declared Transjordan "independent." But such a treaty was signed only in February 1928.
Anglo-Yemeni Treaty (1934): Following World War I, Imam Yahya Hamid al-Din (r. 1918–48) dispatched his forces to capture several border areas that London considered part of its Western Aden protectorate. Periodic efforts to negotiate a deal failed until 1934, when a 40-year Anglo-Yemeni Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed in Sanaa [q.v.]. It accepted North Yemen's southern frontier as the status quo until future negotiations produced a final settlement.
Ansariyas: see Alawis.
Antiochene rite: see West Syriac rite.
anti-Semitism: prejudice against Jews [q.v.] As the Jews are blamed for killing Jesus Christ, who was born a Jew, Christians [q.v.] have harbored feelings against Jews since the inception of Christianity. This has resulted in periodic persecution of Jews, often involving expulsion, in Christian countries, where Jews came to be confined to specific areas— ghettoes. The earliest ghettoes were in 11th-century Italy. They existed until the late 19th century in Austria, Bavaria, Germany, Italy, and Russia. Restrictions on the trades that Jews could pursue led more and more of them to resort to money lending, thus providing the popular prejudice with an economic dimension.
After the emancipation of Jews in the late 19th century, pseudoscientific theories were advanced to prove the racial inferiority of Jews. In order to divert popular disaffection, political demagogues and certain governments (Russia being a prime example) blamed Jews for the ills of society. A forged document entitled Protocols of the Wise Men of Zion appeared in 1903 in Tsarist Russia. The tract claimed to reproduce the minutes of world Jewish leaders in the late 19th century outlining their plans to bring about the moral decay of non-Jewish societies, and to control global economies and media with the aim of dominating the planet.
Hatred of Jews, a Semitic race, reached its peak in Nazi Germany (1933–45), based on the theory of the superiority of the Aryan race, and resulted in the extermination of nearly six million Jews in Europe, a genocide commonly described as the Holocaust.
Antonius, George (1892–1942): Lebanese writer and thinker Born into a Greek Orthodox [q.v.] family in Lebanon and educated in Egypt, Antonius settled in Palestine [q.v.] in 1921 after taking up a job with the education department there. Nine years later he joined the New York-based Institute of Current World Affairs headed by Charles Crane, cochairman of a U.S. commission on the Middle East [q.v.] in 1919.
A lucid writer and an eloquent speaker, he became a leading spokesman of Palestinian Arabs [q.v.]. He testified before the (British) Peel Commission (1937) on Palestine, and acted as an adviser to the Arab delegates to the Round Table Conference on Palestine in London in 1939.
The Arab Awakening, his book on Arab nationalism [q.v.], published in 1938, established him as an original thinker. He traced the roots of Arab renaissance to a nascent movement in Beirut in the 1880s, composed largely of Arab Christians [q.v.] educated in the Protestant [q.v.] and Roman Catholic [q.v.] mission schools and colleges of Lebanon. In Palestinian politics he allied himself with radical Haajj Muhammad Amin al-Husseini [q.v].
Aoun, Michel (1935- ): Lebanese military officer and politician Born to Maronite [q.v.] parents, Aoun graduated from Lebanon's Military Academy as an artillery officer. He underwent further training in France during 195859. He rose steadily in the army, which became increasingly fractured along religious lines as the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], starting in 1975, dragged on for many years. His second period of training was in the United States from 1978 to 1980. Four years later President Amin Gemayel [q.v.] promoted him to brigadier-general and appointed him military chief of staff.
In the absence of a properly elected president to follow him, Gemayel called on Aoun to form a temporary military government. When he appointed five military officers as cabinet ministers, the three Muslim commanders refused to serve. By declaring a "war of liberation" against Syria in March 1989, he further alienated the Muslim [q.v.] population and militias. The resulting blockade of the limited area controlled by him made his position tenuous. He rejected the National Reconciliation Charter [q.v.], which had been adopted by an overwhelming majority of the Lebanese lawmakers meeting in Taif, Saudi Arabia, in October 1989. He ignored the election in November of Rene Muawad as president and later (following Muawad's assassination) of Elias Hrawi [q.v.], as well as President Hrawi's dismissal of him. He continued to occupy the presidential palace in Baabda, a suburb of Beirut.
His clashes with the Lebanese Forces [q.v.], a Maronite [q.v.] militia, undercut his standing among Christians and further reduced his area of control. In October 1990 his troops collapsed when attacked by the joint forces of his Lebanese opponents and Syria. He took refuge in the French embassy. In August 1991 he left for France after the Lebanese government had granted him conditional amnesty.
He returned to Lebanon in May 2005 after the Syrian troops had withdrawn from the country, and formed the Free Patriotic Movement. The party participated in the subsequent general election as part of the March 8 Alliance [q.v.] and won 15 seats, with Aoun in the lead. In early 2006 he signed a memorandum of understanding with Hizbollah [q.v.]. Later that year he and his party participated in the massive protest demonstrations calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Fouad Sinoria [q.v. ]. In 2008, the reconstituted cabinet included five ministers affiliated with the Free Patriotic Movement. In the May 2009 election his party won 18 seats and attracted nine parliamentary deputies from other groups. In the new national unity cabinet led by Saad Hariri [q.v.], the Free Patriotic Movement secured five ministries.
When Hariri's government fell in early 2011, Aoun's group joined the government formed by Najib Mikati [q.v.] in June. Two months later he described the unrest in Syria as "minor incidents confined to one or two neighborhoods in Homs [q.v.]."
Aql, Said (1911- ): Lebanese writer Born into a Maronite [q.v.] family in Zahle, Aql soon established himself as an outstanding poet with extraordinary lyrical powers. His use of symbols set a new trend in Arabic poetry, as did his (later) practice of using colloquial language instead of classical Arabic, a traditional practice in the Arab world. An intellectual, he believed that Lebanese identity was rooted in its distant Phoenician past and had little to do with Islam [q.v.] or Arabism [q.v.]. He went on to develop a version of the Latin alphabet that he claimed was more suitable to the "Lebanese" language.
His ideas appealed to Maronite intellectuals who, during the period between the two world wars, were intent on giving shape to a Lebanese identity distinct from Syria and the Muslim-dominated Arab hinterland. With the tide of Arab nationalism [q.v.] rising after World War II, his particularist thesis lost ground. But the later arrival of a large number of Palestinians in Lebanon revived his ideology among Maronites, especially the ultranationalist militia, the Guardians of the Cedars [q.v.].
Since the publication of his first book, a stage play, in 1935, he has published many works of drama, poetry, and essays as well as song lyrics in literary Arabic [q.v.], Lebanese Arabic, or French.
al-Aqsa Intifada: see Second Intifada
Arab Baath Party (Syria): Michel Aflaq [q.v.] and Salah al-Din Bitar [q.v.] established a study circle in Damascus [q.v.] in 1940, called the Movement of Arab Baath (Arabic: Renaissance). They published pamphlets in which they expounded revolutionary, socialist Arab nationalism [q.v.], and were committed to achieving Arab unity as the first step. Once the Mandate power, France, had left Syria in April 1946, they secured a license for their group, now called the Party of Arab Baath. They decided to merge their faction with the one led by Zaki Arsuzi [q.v.]. Out of this, in April 1947, emerged the Arab Baath Party in Damascus. Aflaq was elected senior member in the executive committee of four.
The party's basic principles were described as the unity and freedom of the Arab nation within its homeland, and a belief in the special mission of the Arab nation, the mission being to end colonialism and promote humanitarianism. To achieve this, the party had to be nationalist, populist, socialist, and revolutionary. While the party rejected the concept of class conflict, it favored land reform; public ownership of natural resources, transport, and large-scale industry and financial institutions; trade unions of workers and peasants; the co-option of workers into management; and acceptance of "non-exploitative" private ownership and inheritance. It stood for a representative and constitutional form of government, as well as freedom of speech and association within the bounds of Arab nationalism.
Arab Baath Socialist Party: see Baath Socialist Party.
Arab Cooperation Council (1989–90): a regional Arab organization Consisting of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, and North Yemen, the Arab Cooperation Council (ACC) was formed in Baghdad [q.v.] in February 1989. It brought together those Arab countries outside the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.] that had aided Iraq during its war with Iran from 1980 to 1988 [q.v.]. However, the ACC decided on cooperation only in economic and nonmilitary fields. The fourth ACC summit in Amman [q.v.] in February 1990 decided to work toward ending Jewish emigration from the Soviet bloc to the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories. In April the ACC urged the comprehensive removal of all weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 resulted in the disintegration of the ACC, with Egypt allying with the United States to forge an anti-Iraq alliance.
Arab Democratic Party (Israel): Israeli political party Formed in 1988 in Nazareth [q.v.], the Arab Democratic Party (ADP) aimed to unify Israeli Arabs [q.v.] behind a three-point program: recognition of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] as their sole representative, and the withdrawal of Israel from all the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.]. It won one seat in the 1988 election and two in 1992. On the eve of the 1996 election, it merged with another group to form the United Arab List [q.v.], which secured four seats.
Arab Deterrent Force: Arab League peacekeeping force in Lebanon, October 1976 to July 1982 The Arab League [q.v.] summit of October 1976 ordered the deployment, for an initial period of six months, of a peacekeeping force—called the Arab Deterrent Force (ADF)—to maintain the ceasefire in the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], which erupted in April 1975. Its 30,100 troops were drawn from Syria (25,000), Saudi Arabia (2,000), Sudan (1,000), South Yemen (1,000), Libya (600), and the United Arab Emirates (500). It was to function under the Lebanese president. Libya soon withdrew its contingent. The ADF's mandate was renewed every six months.
The ADF became embroiled in skirmishes with Maronite [q.v.] militias. By the middle of 1979, with the departure of the Sudanese, Saudi, South Yemeni, and UAE troops, the ADF had become a purely Syrian force. In April 1980 it clashed with the leading Maronite militia near Zahle, which induced Israel's intervention. The ADF won.
In late June 1982, during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon [q.v.], the Arab League foreign ministers failed to extend the ADF's tenure, which was due to expire shortly. But the Lebanese government did not formally ask Syria, the only country providing ADF troops, to withdraw its soldiers, partly because it did not wish to put the Syrian forces on a par with Israel's by demanding their pull-back. The ADF's mandate ended in July 1982. Later the Lebanese authorities separately formalized the presence of the Syrian troops in Lebanon.
Arab East: Arab East is the term applied to the Arabic-speaking Middle East [q.v.], excluding Arab North Africa (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia) and Djibouti, Somalia, and Sudan. It includes Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.], Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
Arab/Arabian Gulf: see the Gulf.
Arab Higher Committee (Palestine): The killing of Shaikh Izz al-Din Qas-sam [q.v.], a popular Arab leader, by the British in Palestine [q.v.] in an encounter in November 1935, and the discovery of an arms cache in a cement consignment for a Jewish builder in Jaffa [q.v.] led the different Arab factions to form the Arab Higher Committee (AHC) in early 1936 under the leadership of Haajj Muhammad Amin al-Husseini [q.v.]. The AHC rejected the British proposal for a legislative council, with 14 Arabs and eight Jewish members, because of the over-representation of the Jewish minority. It called on its followers to stage a general strike on 1 April 1936. The strike, which developed into a wide-scale Arab rebellion, lasted until 12 October.
A month later, a British royal commission headed by Lord Peel visited Palestine. In July 1937 the Peel Commission recommended partition. When the AHC rejected this, the British banned the committee in October. Its leader, al-Husseini, fled to Lebanon. From there he continued to guide the AHC, which revived the Arab rebellion in 1938. It lasted until the spring of 1939.
Following the British White Paper of May 1939, which restricted Jewish immigration to 15,000 a year, the AHC was legalized. During the summer of 1946 the British tried to find common ground between the AHC and the Jewish Agency for Palestine [q.v.], but failed. The AHC, led by al-Husseini, continued as representative of the Arab Palestinians [q.v.] during the subsequent events. In 1958 al-Husseini proposed that the AHC should join the recently formed United Arab Republic [q.v.]. Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] accepted this in principle, but postponed action until after Palestine had been liberated. With the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] in 1964, the AHC became redundant.
Arab-Israeli War I (1948–49): 14 May 1948 to 7 January 1949 Often called the Palestine War, and (by Israelis) the War of Independence (Israel) [q.v.].
Background: In November 1947 the Arabs in Palestine [q.v.] rejected the United Nations (U.N.) partition plan, contained in the UN General Assembly Resolution 181, which gave the Jews [q.v.], owning 6 percent of the land, 53.5 percent of Palestine [q.v.]. At that time the Arab [q.v.] population was about 1,200,000, the Jewish almost 650,000. In early 1948 the British advanced their date of departure to 15 May from 1 October, specified by the U.N. On 14 May the Yishuv [q.v.] National Council's 13-member People's Administration declared the establishment of Israel [q.v.]. Following an Arab League [q.v.] decision, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, along with Arab Palestinian fighters, resolved to attack Israel. The overall commander of the Arab forces was King Abdullah bin Hussein.
OPPOSING FORCES: The 26,000 Arab troops comprised 7,000 Egyptians, 4,000 Iraqis, 5,000 Jordanians, 2,000 Lebanese, 4,000 Palestinian irregulars, and 4,000 Syrians. Of these only Jordan's Arab Legion, commanded by British General John Glubb [q.v.], was professionally led. The Lebanese and Syrian troops were former territorial militiamen. The Egyptian and Iraqi forces were badly led and were equipped with poor British-supplied arms. By the end of the first phase of the war in mid-June the total number of Arab troops had increased to 35,000.
The Israeli force consisted of 30,000 fully mobilized Haganah [q.v.] soldiers (about two-thirds of whom were World War II veterans), supported by 32,000 reserves, 15,000 armed Jewish settlement police, and 32,000 home guards. By the end of the first phase of the war in mid-June 1948, the Israeli combat force had doubled to 60,000.
EVENTS: The armed conflict, which started on 14 May 1948, went through four phases: 14 May to 11 June; 9 to 18 July; 15 October to 6 November; and 21 November 1948 to 7 January 1949. The total combat period was four months.
14 May to 11 June: In the north the Syrian and Lebanese forces, assisted by Palestinian irregulars, captured much of north-central Galilee. In the central sector Jordan's Arab Legion occupied most of southern and eastern Jerusalem [q.v.], including the Old City, and held on to the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv [q.v.] road. In the southern sector the Egyptian army, helped by Palestinian irregulars, overran Gaza [q.v.] and then captured Ashdod. The other Egyptian column seized Beer-sheba and Hebron [q.v.], and linked up with the Arab Legion in Bethlehem [q.v.]. A UN cease-fire came into effect on 11 June.
9 to 18 July: In the northern sector the Israelis spread out from Haifa [q.v.]. In the center they captured Lydda (Lod), Ramle, and the neighboring airport. The second UN ceasefire went into force on 18 July and lasted until 15 October, except in the south. At the end of this truce the Israeli forces were 90,000 strong.
15 October to 6 November: In the north the Israelis captured the Hula valley and occupied a strip of southern Lebanon. In the central sector they broadened the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem axis. By capturing Beersheba in the south, they separated the Egyptian troops in Hebron and Faluja. The Egyptians evacuated Ashdod and Majdal to consolidate their positions in the Asluj-Gaza region. A UN truce went into effect on the southern front on 6 November. In the north and center, ceasefires took place on 30 November.
21 November 1948 to 7 January 1949: In the south the Egyptians initially enlarged their area around Gaza and Asluj, but later their overall position deteriorated. On 1 December, 2,000 Arab Palestinian delegates in Jericho [q.v.] proclaimed Abdullah bin Hussein "King of all Palestine," which meant most of what could be saved from the Israelis. The final truce between them and the Israelis came on 7 January 1949.
HUMAN LOSSES: Arab Palestinians: 16,000 dead, including those killed during January to mid-May 1948; other Arabs: 2,500 dead; Jews: 6,000 dead.
ARMISTICE AGREEMENTS: Following negotiations between the warring parties on the Greek island of Rhodes, Israel concluded armistice agreements with Egypt on 24 February 1949, Lebanon on 23 March 1949, Jordan on 3 April 1949, and Syria on 20 July 1949. Iraq, which lacked common borders with Israel, signed no such agreement with Israel.
These agreements divided up the territory allocated by the UN to the Arabs in Palestine (area 10,435 sq. mi./27,026 sq. km) among Egypt, Israel, and Jordan. Egypt retained control of the Gaza Strip [q.v.], measuring 146 sq. mi./378 sq. km, as an Egyptian-administered territory. Having acquired extra 2,220 sq. mi./5,750 sq. km above the 5,600 sq. mi./14,500 sq. km allocated to it by the UN partition plan, Israel annexed them. Thus the Jews, who formed nearly a third of the population of Palestine on the eve of the war, seized 75 percent of the country instead of the 54 percent allocated to them by the UN. Controlling 2,297 sq. mi./5,949 sq. km of Palestine, King Abdullah annexed them, subject to final settlement. Jerusalem, earmarked for international administration by the UN, was divided between Israel and Jordan, with Jordanian East Jerusalem measuring 2.5 sq. mi./6.5 sq. km. As for Lebanon and Syria, the international borders of Palestine became the armistice lines between them and Israel.
Arab-Israeli War II (1956): see Suez War (1956).
Arab-Israeli War III (1967): 5 to 10 June 1967 Often called the June 1967 War or the Six-Day War.
BACKGROUND: Taking seriously Israel's threat to overthrow it, the nine-month-old radical Baathist regime in Syria signed a defense treaty with Egypt in November 1966. In early 1967 Israel attempted to cultivate disputed Arab land in the Syrian-Israeli demilitarized zone, thus triggering a confrontation. A month later Syria informed Egypt's president Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] of Israeli troop concentration along its border. Promising to aid Syria on 16 May, Nasser dispatched Egyptian troops to eastern Sinai [q.v.]. Two days later, he asked for a partial withdrawal of the UN Emergency Force (UNEF) [q.v.], which had been patrolling the truce lines since the end of the 1956 Suez War [q.v.] on the Egyptian side. Since the UN could not agree to withdraw partially from the areas where the Egyptian and Israeli forces were in direct confrontation, its secretary-general, U Thant, offered to withdraw all of the UNEF. Egypt agreed.
Having stationed Egyptian troops at the tip of the Tiran Straits [q.v.] in Sharm al-Shaikh on 22 May, Nasser blockaded the straits, thus closing off the Israeli port of Eilat. This raised the temperature in the region. Reflecting the popular mood, King Hussein of Jordan [q.v.], hitherto hostile to Nasser, rushed to Cairo [ q.v .] on 30 May to conclude a mutual defense pact and place his forces under Egyptian command. Earlier Israel had told its superpower ally the United States that it would go to war if one or more of the following events occurred: the departure of UNEF; the blockading of the Tiran Straits; the signing of a Jordanian-Egyptian defense pact; or the dispatch of Iraqi forces to Jordan. By the end of May, all but one of these eventualities had come to pass.
OPPOSING FORCES: (Weapons) Combat aircraft: Israel 260; Egypt 434, Iraq 110, Jordan 28, Syria 90. Tanks: Israel 1,100; Egypt 1,200, Iraq 200, Jordan 287, Syria 750.
EVENTS: Early in the morning of 5 June Israel mounted preemptive air and ground assaults. It attacked all 17 Egyptian airfields and destroyed three-fifths of Egypt's warplanes, consisting of 365 fighters and 69 bombers on the ground. Egypt also lost 550 tanks in Sinai [q.v.]. Later in the day Israel struck at the Jordanian and Syrian air forces on the ground, destroying more than two-thirds of their combat aircraft. It rejected the UN Security Council's call for an immediate cease-fire on 6 June.
On the Egyptian front, Israel captured the Gaza Strip [q.v.] on 6 June, the day Egypt decided to withdraw its 80,000 soldiers and 1000 tanks from the Sinai Peninsula. Having occupied most of the peninsula by 8 June, Israel reached the Suez Canal [q.v.] the following day. On the Jordanian front the Israelis had captured East Jerusalem [q.v.], Bethlehem [q.v.], Hebron [q.v.], Jenin, and Nablus [q.v.] by 7 June. The Israelis then accepted a UN-sponsored cease-fire on this front. The Syrian front witnessed artillery duels on the first four days. The Israelis violated the UN-sponsored truce on the fifth day (9 June) by launching an offensive to capture the Golan Heights [q.v.]. It had achieved this aim by the evening of the sixth day (10 June) when the final cease-fire came into effect. In the naval battle the Israelis captured Sharm al-Shaikh on 7 June, thus ending the blockade of the Straits of Tiran.
HUMAN LOSSES: Egyptians: 11,500 dead, the majority dying of thirst in the Sinai desert, 15,000 injured. Jordanians (military): 2,000 dead, 5,000 injured; (civilians of Palestinian origin) 4,000 dead; 1,000 injured. Syrians: 700 dead, 3,500 injured. Israelis: 778 dead, 2,558 injured.
WEAPON LOSSES: Egypt: 264 aircraft, 700 tanks. Jordan: 22 aircraft, 125 tanks. Syria: 58 aircraft, 105 tanks. Israel: 40 aircraft, 100 tanks.
Arab-Israeli War IV (1973): 6 to 25 October 1973 Often called the October 1973 War, the Ramadan War (by Arabs [q.v.]), or the Yom Kippur War (by Israelis).
BACKGROUND: Unlike previous armed conflicts, when Israel had taken the initiative, this time Egypt and Syria mounted pre-planned attacks on Israeli forces, but only those in the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.], with the aim of regaining the Egyptian or Syrian land they had lost in the June 1967 War [q.v.]. They did so after having tired of peaceful attempts to recover their lands. The Arab move, which came on the eve of the Yom Kippur [q.v.] holiday in Israel, took the Israelis completely by surprise.
EVENTS: 6–8 October: The Egyptian Second Army crossed the Suez Canal [q.v.] at Kantara and Ismailia in the central sector, and the Third Army did likewise at Port Suez in the south. On the Golan Heights [q.v.] front the Syrians captured Mount Hermon and made gains at Khushniya.
8 October: The United States began an arms airlift using the planes of the Israeli airline, El Al.
9 October: Israeli military was fully mobilized. The Soviet Union began to airlift arms to Egypt and Syria, the latter receiving two-thirds of the shipments.
10—12 October: Israel counterattacked on the Golan Heights front, and advanced east of the armistice line north of Qunaitra to Saasa.
11 October: Egypt mounted an offensive to relieve the Syrians.
13 October: Washington began using U.S. aircraft to ship weapons to Israel.
15 October: An Israeli offensive along the Suez succeeded in creating a wedge between the two Egyptians armies north of the Great Bitter Lake of the Suez, and established a bridgehead near Deversoir on the western bank.
15–19 October: Repeated Arab attempts to regain Syrian territory on the Golan Heights were frustrated by the Israelis.
16 October: An Arab oil embargo [q.v.] was imposed on the military backers of Israel.
19 October: Having expanded the bridgehead, the Israelis pushed southwards on Egyptian soil in order to surround the Egyptian Third Army along the eastern bank.
21 October: Henry Kissinger, U.S. secretary of state, arrived in Moscow to negotiate a deal with Soviet leaders. By then the United States had airlifted 20,000 tons of weapons to Israel, plus 40 Phantom bombers, 48 A4 Skyhawk ground attack jets, and 12 C-130 transporters. (By the end of the airlift on 15 November, 33,500 tons of U.S. arms had been shipped to Israel, while Soviet arms shipments to Egypt and Syria amounted to 15,000 tons.)
22 October: Following Kissinger's successful talks in Moscow, a truce, specified by UN Security Council Resolution 338 [q.v.], went into effect at 18.52 GMT. But soon after, Israel broke the cease-fire on the Golan front and regained Mount Herman.
23–24 October: Violating the truce on the Suez front, the Israelis rushed to Adabiya in the Gulf of Suez to encircle the Egyptian Third Army. But their attempts to seize Port Suez failed.
24 October: Moscow put on alert seven airborne divisions for airlifting to Egypt if the Israelis went ahead with their attempt to surround the Egyptian Third Army.
25 October: Washington put its military on "precautionary alert" because of Moscow's possible intervention in the war. UN Security Council Resolution 340, renewing its cease-fire call, went into effect, marking a formal end to the hostilities.
During the 20-day conflict, as signatories to the Joint Defense and Economic Cooperation Treaty of the Arab League [q.v.], nine Arab states (Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Tunisia) dispatched 50,000 troops and air units to Egypt and Syria, including 30,000 Iraqi troops sent to Syria.
HUMAN LOSSES: Egyptians: 9,000 dead, 15,000 injured. Syrians: 3,500 dead, 9,000 injured. Israelis: 2,552 dead, 6,027 injured.
WEAPON LOSSES: Egypt: 300 aircraft. Syria: 160 aircraft. Egypt and Syria combined: 1,800 tanks. Israel: 114 aircraft, 800-plus tanks.
Arab Jews: Jews originating in Arab countries. See also Oriental Jews and Sephardim.
Arab League: a collective of independent Arab states. Official title: League of Arab States (Arabic: Jamiat ad Duwal al-Arabiyya) In early 1942, faced with the prospect of Germany conquering North Africa, including Egypt, Britain tried to sway popular Arab opinion toward the Allies by publicly favoring the idea of unity of the Arab world, extending from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf [q.v.]. After countering the German threat in North Africa in World War II, London acted behind the scenes to bring about a preliminary Arab conference in the Egyptian city of Alexandria [q.v.] in September-October 1944. It was attended by the official representatives of Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, North Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Transjordan, as well as a Palestinian observer on behalf of Arab Palestinians. Their decision to form the League of Arab States—a cooperative of independent Arab countries— was ratified on 22 March 1945 in Cairo [q.v.] with the signing of an appropriate pact. Its objectives were to coordinate and reinforce political, economic, and cultural policies of its member states, and mediate disputes among them or between them and others. Its Charter combined the concept of a common Arab homeland with respect for the sovereignty of the individual member states.
The first secretary-general of the Arab League, headquartered in Cairo, was Abdul Rahman Azzam, an Egyptian diplomat. With more and more Arabic-speaking countries becoming independent, membership in the League expanded to include Libya (1953), Sudan (1956), Morocco (1958), Tunisia (1958), Kuwait (1961), Algeria (1962), South Yemen (1967), Bahrain (1971), Oman (1971), Qatar (1971), the United Arab Emirates (1971), Mauritania (1973), Somalia (1974), the Palestine Liberation Organization (1974), and Djibouti (1977). With the union of North and South Yemen in May 1990, membership declined to 21. Then, with the admission of Comros Island in 1996, the total rose to 22.
In 1950 the Arab League members signed a Joint Defense and Economic Cooperation Treaty (JDECT) [q.v.], primarily to provide protection to member-states against Israel. Four years later the Egyptian president, Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.], opposed Iraq's plan to join a Western-sponsored defense Organization, arguing that such an arrangement by a JDECT member would link all JDECT affiliates to the West. Under the provisions of this treaty, in the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] nine Arab League members dispatched troops and air units to Egypt and Syria and engaged in hostilities with Israel. However, in May 1982, when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] tried to invoke the treaty to secure military aid from Arab League members, he failed. This happened because Iraq was not engaged in war with Israel; Iraq had started the armed conflict by invading Iran in September 1980; and such leading members of the Arab League as Syria and Libya had lined up with Iran.
Since 1948 the Arab League has been enforcing an economic boycott of Israel from its office based in Damascus [q.v.]. Following its recognition by the United Nations in 1958 as a regional body, the Arab League has been acting inter alia as the UN's Arab region educational, scientific, and cultural organization. It has been instrumental in creating an Arab postal union, an Arab union of wireless communication and telecommunication, a nationality code, and an Arab cultural treaty. It is the headquarters of 17 Arab trade unions, including the union of iron and steel workers, and physicians and veterinarians. It now has 11 specialized ministerial councils and 17 permanent technical committees.
After Egypt signed a unilateral peace treaty with Israel in March 1979, an Arab League summit suspended its membership and moved the League headquarters to Tunis. Egypt was readmitted to the League in May 1989, and the headquarters were returned to Cairo in October 1990. Seven months later Esmat Abdul Maguid [q. v.], the erstwhile foreign minister of Egypt, was unanimously elected secretary-general of the Arab League.
Following the Oslo Accord I of 1993 [ q.v .], Tunisia and Israel agreed to base economic liaison officers in each other's capitals. In 1994 the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.] decided to end secondary and tertiary boycotts of Israel. The secondary and tertiary boycotts apply respectively to an Arab League ban on trading with companies that deal directly with Israel and those that trade with such companies.
In 2001, Maguid was succeeded by Amr Moussa [q.v.] as the Arab League's secretary-general. On 24 March 2003, the Arab League foreign ministers demanded—by 21 votes to one (Kuwait)—the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the American and British troops from Iraq. Washington and London ignored the call.
Since 2003, the following countries have been granted observer status: Brazil, Eritrea, India, and Venezuela.
The cumulative arrears of member states crossed the $100 million mark in 2004. This led to the cancellation of nearly 200 projects and left many League employees unpaid for months.
In 2010, Arab League member states, occupying an area of 13,953,041 sq. km/5,394,250 sq. mi., had a total population of 360 million, and a cumulative GDP of $1,903,301 million.
In mid-March 2011, by a majority vote, the Arab League asked the 15-member UN Security Council to impose a no-flight zone over Libya in order to halt the killing of civilians. Following the Security Council's resolution to that effect, leading members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) unleashed a bombing campaign against the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Moussa condemned the broad scope of NATO bombing but to no avail.
As protest against the rule of President Bashar Assad escalated from March 2011, and the regime became ruthless in suppressing protest, the Arab League suspended Syria's membership in November because of its regime's violence against civilians. The League's approach to the UN Security Council to act resulted in a resolution calling for "a Syrian-led political transition" in Syria in February 2012. It won the support of 13 members but was vetoed by Russia and China.
Arab League Summits: Until 1963 League members were normally represented by their foreign ministers at the meetings of the Arab League Council of Ministers. But from 1964 member states started meeting at the head-of-state level. The list of the ordinary summit meetings follows:
FIRST SUMMIT: 13–17 January 1964 in Cairo [q.v.]. It resolved to "struggle against the robbery of the waters of Jordan by Israel."
SECOND SUMMIT: 5–11 September 1964 in Alexandria [ q.v .]. It welcomed the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] to "liberate Palestine from Zionist imperialism."
THIRD SUMMIT: 13–17 September 1965 in Casablanca. It renounced "intra-Arab hostile propaganda."
FOURTH SUMMIT: 29 August-1 September 1967 in Khartoum. Held in the wake of the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], it reaffirmed Palestinians' rights in their own country, and declared: "No negotiations with Israel, no treaty, no recognition of Israel."
FIFTH SUMMIT: December 1969 in Rabat. It called for the mobilization of all Arab states against Israel.
SIXTH SUMMIT: November 1973 in Algiers. Held in the wake of the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], it set down strict conditions for talks with Israel.
SEVENTH SUMMIT: 30 October-2 November 1974 in Rabat. It declared the PLO as "the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" with "the right to establish the independent state of Palestine on any liberated territory."
EIGHTH SUMMIT: 25–26 October 1976 in Cairo. This widely attended summit backed the idea of an Arab Deterrent Force to de-escalate the Lebanese Civil War [ q.v .].
NINTH SUMMIT: 2–5 November 1978 in Baghdad [q.v.]. It condemned the Camp David Accords [q.v.] of September 1978 between Egypt and Israel, and decided that pan-Arab sanctions against Egypt, including suspension of its League membership and severance of diplomatic relations, would go into effect when it signed a peace treaty with Israel.
TENTH SUMMIT: 22–25 November 1979 in Tunis. It deliberated over continued Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon following Israel's invasion of Lebanon in March 1978 [q.v.].
ELEVENTH SUMMIT: 21–22 November 1980 in Amman [q.v.]. It adopted a strategy for joint Arab economic action, dealing with pan-Arab development until 2000.
TWELFTH SUMMIT: in Fez, Morocco. It is recorded as having taken place in two phases: on 25 November 1981 and on 6–9 September 1982. On 25 November, following sharp disagreement over a peace plan drafted by Saudi Crown Prince Fahd [q.v.], which implied de facto recognition of Israel, the meeting was suspended after five hours without a joint communique. Reconvening on 6 September 1982 in Fez, the summit adopted a peace plan similar to the one submitted by Fahd, now Saudi king. It demanded the withdrawal of Israel from the Arab territories occupied in 1967; the dismantling of Jewish settlements in these areas; Palestinian selfdetermination under the PLO, resulting in a Palestinian state in the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza Strip [q.v.], with East Jerusalem [q.v .] as its capital; interim UN supervision of the West Bank and Gaza; and the guaranteeing of peace for all the states in the region by the UN Security Council.
THIRTEENTH SUMMIT: March 2001 in Amman. It was held in the aftermath of the election of hawkish Ariel Sharon [q.v.] as the Israeli prime minister. It decided to appoint Amr Mousa [q.v.] the League's new secretary-general.
FOURTEENTH SUMMIT: March 2002 in Beirut. It adopted a peace plan of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah [q.v.], offering Israel total peace with all the League members in exchange for its total withdrawal from all of the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.], the establishment of an independent Palestine state, and the granting of the right to return to the Palestinian refugees. It rejected exploitation of war on terrorism to threaten any Arab country and use of force against Iraq.
FIFTEENTH SUMMIT: 1 March 2003 in Sharm al-Shaikh, Egypt: It warned that serious threats to Iraq (by America) could lead to a military conflict with grave consequences for the region and the peace of the Arab world. On March 24, the League demanded—by 21 votes to one (Kuwait)—the immediate and unconditional removal of American and British troops from Iraq.
SIXTEENTH SUMMIT: 22–23 May 2004 in Tunis. It declared that the Arab states were committed to democracy, equality, freedom of expression, and rights for women.
SEVENTEENTH SUMMIT: 22–23 March 2005 in Algiers. This conference coincided with the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Arab League. It reaffirmed its commitment to the Saudi peace plan adopted in 2002 .
EIGHTEENTH SUMMIT: 28–30 March 2006 in Khartoum. It focused on Arab-African cooperation.
NINETEENTH SUMMIT: 27–28 March 2007 in Riyadh. The Summit called on its members to recognize the recently formed Palestinian unity government of Fatah [q.v.] and Hamas [q.v.], and cooperate with it. It condemned the political, economic, and military siege imposed by Israel on the Palestinian Territories [q.v.].
TWENTIETH SUMMIT: 29–30 March 2008 in Damascus. Noting the continuing sectarian and other violence in Iraq, the Summit called for maintaining Iraq's territorial integrity, achieving sectarian and ethnic reconciliation, and ending the presence of foreign troops.
TWENTY-FIRST SUMMIT: 28–30 March 2009 in Doha [ q.v .]. The Summit condemned Israel's war on Gaza [q.v.]. It expressed solidarity with Sudan facing threats to its security, stability, and territorial integrity, and supporting Qatar's peace efforts within the framework of the Arab-African Ministerial Committee. Iran attended the meeting as an observer.
TWENTY-SECOND SUMMIT: 30 March-1 April 2010 in Sirte, Libya. Palestinian Authority [q.v.] president Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.] rejected demand by Syria and Libya to formally pull out of peace negotiations with Israel.
In 1970, the Arab League started holding emergency summits.
FIRST EMERGENCY SUMMIT: 27–28 September 1970 in Cairo. Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] succeeded in achieving a cease-fire between Jordan and the PLO.
SECOND EMERGENCY SUMMIT: 17–28 October 1976 in Riyadh. It approved the formation of the Arab Deterrent Force for peacekeeping in the Lebanese Civil War.
THIRD EMERGENCY SUMMIT: 7–9 September 1985 in Casablanca. Boycotted by Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, South Yemen, and Syria, it failed to back the agreement between the PLO and Jordan envisaging talks with Israel on Palestinian rights.
FOURTH EMERGENCY SUMMIT: 8–12 November 1987 in Amman. It endorsed UN Security Council Resolution 598 of July 1987 [q.v.] on a cease-fire in the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.], and criticized Iran for prevaricating over its acceptance of the resolution. It also declared that the resumption of diplomatic links with Egypt was an issue to be decided by individual members.
FIFTH EMERGENCY SUMMIT: 7–9 June 1988 in Algiers. It decided to fund the PLO to continue the six-month-old Palestinian uprising, called Intifada [q.v.], in the Israeli-occupied territories.
SIXTH EMERGENCY SUMMIT: 23–26 June 1989 in Casablanca. It decided to readmit Egypt to the Arab League. It also set up a Tripartite Committee of the heads of state of Algeria, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia to secure a cease-fire in the Lebanese Civil War and restore constitutional government in Lebanon.
SEVENTH EMERGENCY SUMMIT: 28–30 March 1990 in Baghdad. It condemned the recent large increase in the migration of Soviet Jews to Israel.
EIGHTH EMERGENCY SUMMIT: 9–10 August 1990 in Cairo. Twelve members out of the 20 present condemned Iraq for its invasion and annexation of Kuwait, and accepted the request of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to dispatch troops to assist their armed forces.
NINTH EMERGENCY SUMMIT: 22–23 January 1996 in Cairo. The Summit declared that the waters of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers be shared equitably between Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.
TENTH EMERGENCY SUMMIT: 21–22 October 2000 in Cairo. This summit was convened to debate the Second Intifada [q.v.] of the Palestinians against the Israeli occupation. Iraq was invited, thus signaling the end of the Arab League's boycott of Iraq due to its invasion of Kuwait. It called on its members to freeze their ties with Israel. It set up two funds to help the Palestinians struggling against the Israeli occupation.
Arab nationalism: Nationalism in the Arab world was defined in opposition to foreign rule, first by Ottoman Turkey and then by Britain and France. In the 19th century, Egyptians were in the forefront in rebelling against their Ottoman masters. The Ottoman sultan's recognition of Muhammad Ali as viceroy of Egypt in 1805 signified the special place the Ottomans were prepared to assign Egypt. In time Cairo [q.v.] became a haven for non-Egyptian Arab intellectuals who clashed with their Ottoman rulers. The relative freedom that Cairo afforded helped to engender Arab nationalism as well as pan-Islamism [q.v.].
With the supplanting of Ottoman power by that of Britain in the wake of the opening of the Suez Canal [q.v.] in 1869, Arab nationalism grew in opposition to British influence. It reached a peak in 1882, when Col. Ahmad Arabi Pasha attempted militarily to end British interference in Egyptian affairs. He failed. The result was British occupation of Egypt, which provided a powerful foil to nationalists.
Elsewhere, especially in the Levant [q.v.], the educational institutions established by American and French missionaries in the 1860s provided fertile soil for the growth of Arab political revival, resulting in such secret associations as al-Ahd (Arabic: The Covenant) and al-Fatat (Arabic: The Young Woman). When the Ottoman regime suppressed these groups, their members fled to (post-1882) Egypt. But little of importance occurred until World War I. During that conflict anti-Ottoman feelings, harnessed by the British, escalated into the Arab Revolt of 1916, which was led by Hussein bin Ali al-Hashem of Hijaz. After the war the Arabs felt let down by the victorious Britain and France, which carved up the Arab world in their spheres of influence according to the secret Sykes-Picot Pact [q.v.].
Arab nationalism in Egypt revolved around the Wafd [q.v.]. Elsewhere it centered on the Hashemite dynasty [q.v.], whose members ruled Iraq and Transjordan. But the close relationship between London and King Faisal II [q .v.]—illustrated by the latter's restoration by the British after they had crushed the successful nationalist coup in 1941—disappointed Arab nationalists. The behavior of another Hashemite, King Abdullah of Transjordan [q.v.], before and during the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.] further disappointed Arab nationalists.
By then the establishment of the Arab League [q.v.] in 1945 had provided a regional perspective to Arab nationalism. Its base in Cairo set the scene for the merging of Egyptian nationalism with a larger Arab nationalism. This happened after the overthrow of the decadent monarchy in Egypt in 1952 by nationalist republican officers led by Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.].
As the decade progressed, and especially after 1956, when Egypt finally secured the withdrawal of British troops from its soil after 74 years, Nasser came to symbolize Arab nationalism in its widest sense. But Nasserism [q.v.], which was associated more with the leader than with an ideology, faced competition from Baathism [q.v.], which had emerged as a well-defined ideology in Syria. In 1990 Arab nationalism received a severe blow when Iraq, a proponent of Baathism, invaded and annexed Kuwait—the first instance since the founding of the Arab League of a member-state acting so aggressively toward another.
Arab Nationalist Movement: pan-Arab political party The Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM) came into being in 1952 as a result of the merger of two groups, composed chiefly of the students and staff of the American University in Beirut [ q.v .]. George Habash [q.v.], Nayif Hawatmeh [q.v.], and Ahmad Khatib [q.v.] were among the founders of the ANM, whose main slogan was: "Unity [of Arabs], Liberation [of Palestine], Revenge [against the Zionist state]." While they increasingly saw the need to revolutionize the Arab world in order to confront the modern Jewish state of Israel, they placed much hope in the Egyptian military coup of 1952, especially as a vehicle to effect Arab unity. The ANM applauded the formation of the United Arab Republic [q.v.] in 1958, and was disappointed when it broke up three years later. The subsequent failure of any of the three leading republics—Egypt, Syria, and Iraq—to unify left the ANM disappointed with both Nasserites [q.v.] and Baathists [q.v.].
Since the liberation of Palestine was its top priority, in the mid-1960s the ANM set up a Palestinian section with its own armed wing and began guerrilla actions against Israel.
In the rest of the Arab world it did well in those regions where Nasserism and Baathism were comparatively weak, the main example being the Arabian Peninsula [q.v. ]. It was the ANM's South Yemeni branch that first issued a call for armed action in 1959 to frustrate the British plan to set up a Federation of South Arabia, composed of the Aden Colony, the Eastern Protectorate States, and the Western Protectorate States. Four years later the ANM played an important role in welding together the various nationalist groups active in South Yemen when they held a congress in the North Yemeni capital of Sanaa [q.v.], and fostered the emergence of the National Front for the Liberation of South Yemen [q.v.], which decided to achieve independence through an armed struggle. It succeeded in 1967.
In adjoining Oman, in early 1962 the ANM's Dhofari supporters cooperated with the members of the leftist Dhofari Liberation Front (DFL) to secure an independent Dhofar. The outbreak of an insurrection in South Yemen in 1963 encouraged the ANM's Dhofari section to merge with the leftist DFL and start a guerrilla campaign in Dhofar, which continued for a decade.
The Arab defeat in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] finally destroyed the ANM's confidence in the Egyptian and Syrian regimes, and led to the pan-Arab body being divided into individual sections in different countries.
Arab Nationalist Movement, Palestine: In December 1967 the Palestinian section of the Arab Nationalist Movement, along with its armed affiliates, combined with the Syria-based Palestine Liberation Front to form the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [q.v.].
Arab Nationalist Movement, Saudi Arabia: Starting as a clandestine group in Dhahran in 1964, the Arab Nationalist Movement graduated into something bigger in early 1966. During the next three years the party built up a base among military officers, oil workers, civil servants, and teachers. Its planned coup in June 1969 was foiled only hours before its scheduled implementation. The subsequent arrest of 200 conspirators, followed by scores of executions, destroyed the party.
Arab socialism: Originating as Egyptian socialism, the term was transformed to Arab socialism when Egypt and Syria merged in 1958 to form the United Arab Republic (UAR) [q.v.]. Its leading proponent was Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.]. He first imbibed the virtues of socialism through his friendship with Josip Tito of Yugoslavia and Jawaharlal Nehru of India, whom he first met at the non-aligned nations' conference in Bandung, Indonesia, in April 1955. The 1956 Egyptian constitution provided for a National Union which, though composed of all political tendencies, stood for abolition of feudalism and exploitation, and the reorientation of private property for the higher interests of society. It stipulated that workers must be taken into management.
Following the breakup of the UAR in September 1961, Nasser accelerated his campaign against the urban rich in Egypt. A series of decrees introduced progressive income tax and the nationalization of insurance, banking, and major industrial and commercial companies. During the winter of 1961–62 Nasser drafted a 30,000-word Charter of National Action. After debating the document in Cairo in May 1962, the National Congress of the Popular Forces—consisting of trade unions, professional syndicates, and other voluntary groups—adopted it. The charter combined its belief in "scientific socialism" and the "struggle against exploitation and in favor of equal opportunities" with the aim of achieving the unity of "all the working forces of the people," including national capitalists. It argued that political and social democracy were indivisible, and that, to assure freedom of choice in politics, a citizen must be freed of exploitation of all kinds and given equal opportunity to enjoy a fair share of the national wealth. The body that was to implement the changes was to be called the Arab Socialist Union [q.v.], composed of an alliance of five segments of the workforce: peasants, workers, intellectuals, soldiers, and national capitalists.
Declaring that his regime had ended the exploitation that had existed in the monarchical era, Nasser stressed that relations between different socioeconomic classes must now be peaceful. This differentiated Arab socialism from Marxist socialism, with its belief in ongoing conflict in a society with different classes. Also, objecting to attaching an ethnic or a nationality label to socialism, the Marxists in Egypt preferred to subscribe to the concept of an Egyptian path to socialism.
Arab Socialist Party (Syria): The Arab Socialist Party (ASP) was founded by Akram Hourani, a lawyer from Hama [q.v.], in January 1950. By participating in the anti-French armed struggle after World War II, he had gained popularity with the officer corps of independent Syria. Following his advice, the government decided to disregard the social background of the applicants to the country's only armed forces academy, in Homs [q.v.]. Since a military career was the only way a son of a poor or middle-income peasant could raise his social status, the academy attracted many applicants from these social classes. Given the party's commitment to ending feudalism and distributing state land to the landless, and its leadership of peasant agitation, it soon enjoyed a considerable following among young cadets and officers. Sharing their opposition to the dictatorial regime of Col. Adib Shishkali [q.v.], the leaders of the ASP and the Baath Party [q.v.] decided in September 1953 to form the Arab Baath Socialist Party [q.v.], and did so six months later.
Arab Socialist Union (Egypt): In May 1962 a National Congress of the Popular Forces, attended by trade unions, professional syndicates, and other voluntary groups, adopted the Charter of National Action. Besides explaining Arab socialism [q.v.], it specified the political structure upon which it was to be built. The body that was to implement the National Charter was to be called the Arab Socialist Union (ASU). It was perceived as an alliance of five segments of the workforce: peasants, workers, intellectuals, soldiers, and national capitalists. The ASU was established in November 1962. It had a pyramidal structure, with units of 20 at village, workplace, or neighborhood level forming the base, the executive committee led by the republic's president at the apex, and district and provincial committees in between. The ASU's legislative branch was called the National Assembly. In it, as in all other elected bodies of the ASU, 50 percent of the seats were given to workers and peasants (meaning those owning less than 26 acres/10.6 hectares).
In practice, the original intent of ensuring greater participation in the government by the masses was not realized, and the ASU's exceptionally broad base and lack of cohesion inhibited it from becoming an active political agency to effect a socialist transformation of society. Within the ASU, elections were held only for the provincial committees. Therefore, instead of emerging as a popular body to guide the state's executive arm, the ASU became subordinate to the state, assisting civil and military bureaucracies to implement official policies decided by President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.], his advisers, and the cabinet (many of whose members sat on the ASU's executive committee). It became common knowledge that the best way to secure the cooperation of the increasingly powerful civil servants was by achieving an important position in the ASU, whose membership soared to six million in four years. As a result a mutually supportive triad of rich farmers, state bureaucrats, and urban professionals grew up and monopolized power.
Following the creation of the ASU's central committee in July 1965, Nasser appointed Ali Sabri [q.v.], the leftist prime minister, as the ASU's secretary-general, with a mandate to transform the organization into a cadre-based party. Soon the ASU's district and provincial committees were manned by salaried functionaries drawn from civil servants, business managers, teachers, lawyers, landowners, and factory floor managers, and trained at one of the three institutes of socialist studies. Sabri established the Socialist Youth Organization (SYO) as an auxiliary to the ASU, but with its own cadre, and soon built up its strength to 20,000. But after Egypt's defeat in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], Nasser moderated his socialist leanings. He decided to reestablish the consensus that had existed before the creation of ASU and SYO cadres. In October he dissolved the SYO, and in June 1968 he changed the ASU's structure back to the one prevalent in the pre-Sabri days.
In the wake of Nasser's death in September 1970 there was a revival of the debate on the ASU's role. President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] made it subservient to the state executive. After the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] parliament made ASU membership voluntary for participants in a political or trade union election. The debate on whether the ASU should be divided into five parts, each one representing a different social class within the "working forces," led to a decision by an official commission to form three forums within the ASU. Following the parliamentary election of October-November 1976, the ASU lost its political role, but it remained the sole owner of all major newspaper publishing companies and retained its authority to issue a license for a new publication. In August 1978 Sadat's invitation to Mustafa Khalil, the ASU secretary-general, to head his newly announced National Democratic Party [q.v.] formally ended the ASU.
Arab Spring: grass roots pro-democracy movement in the Arab world ; also known as Arab Revolutions (Arabic: al-thawrat al-Arabiyya) Arab Spring stands for a series of demonstrations and protests in the Middle East [ q.v .] and North Africa for democracy, which started peacefully but in some cases escalated to recurrent bloody clashes, and even to civil war, as in Libya. The movement originated with the self-immolation by Muhammad Bouazizi, a computer science graduate making a precarious living as a fruit vendor, in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid on 17 December 2010. By spring of 2012 it had resulted in the ouster of autocratic Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.], Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.] under varying circumstances. Taking their cue from the United States, the senior generals in Tunisia as well as in Egypt withdrew their support from the chief executive, paving the way for his downfall. In Libya it was the military intervention by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that brought about the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime and his death. In Yemen, defying popular pressure, Saleh succeeded in blocking his departure by unconstitutional means and handed over power only after his deputy Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi had won the specially arranged presidential election. Due to the exceptionally complex ethnic and religious composition of Syria, and the steadfast Russian backing for Syrian President Bashar Assad [q.v.], the Arab Spring seemed to have encountered an almost insurmountable barrier.
TUNISIA: In Tunisia, Bouazizi's dramatic act shocked the public at large. Protest demonstrations against the corrupt, dictatorial Ben Ali followed throughout the country. The government's brutal means failed to quash the popular unrest. On 14 January 2011, the violent skirmishes between protestors, pouring out of mosques after Friday prayers, and security forces became so bloody that Ben Ali lost the confidence of the military high command. This compelled him and his family to flee to the Saudi city of Jeddah [q. v.], where they were given refuge by Saudi King Abdullah [q.v.].
EGYPT: Ben Ali's overthrow acted as a catalyst in Egypt, where discontent against Mubarak's regime had been brewing since 2006 against the background of rocketing prices and declining living standards. A call for one-day nationwide strike on 6 April 2008 to protest high inflation and political repression under the emergency laws imposed since 1981 was disseminated by Facebook, blogs, Twitter, and mobile phone text messaging, with a "General Strike in Egypt" Facebook group gaining 54,000 members. The government responded by arresting and convicting a dozen cyberspace activists, all of them based in Egypt. But two years later it faced a challenge mounted from outside Egypt.
The appearance in cyberspace of the deformed face and battered head of 28-year-old Khaled Saeed, killed by two policemen in Alexandria [q.v.] on 6 June 2010, shocked many Egyptians, including Wael Ghonim, who ran Google's marketing department for the Middle East and North Africa from Dubai [q.v.]. He set up a Face-book site titled "We are all Khaled Saeed" without giving his identity by using the innocuous word "admin."
Within a few weeks, his page attracted almost 222,000 members. They focused on getting the guilty policemen punished while demanding the lifting of the emergency laws that facilitated police brutality. To stay within the emergency law, "admin." advised silent protest mounted by people dressed in black reading the Quran [q.v.] or the Bible [q.v.] while standing in a line in a street. The government did not know how to stop the source of the protest, which succeeded in seeing the offending police officers were sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. Thus the cyber protestors had their first success.
Unsurprisingly, following the overthrow of Ben Ali on 14 January, the "We are all Khaled Saeed" Facebook page became a rallying point for the protest on 25 January. Yet it was only on the following Friday, 28 January, that peaceful demonstrations in the Tahrir Square of Cairo [q.v.] gathered momentum after the weekly Muslim congregational prayers.
At this point the Mubarak government withdrew the riot police and sent army troops to Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the civil uprising. Violent clashes between protestors and the security forces broke out as Mubarak combined his promise on 2 February not to enter the next presidential election in 2013 with his appointment of Omar Suleiman, his intelligence chief, as vice president, a post he had deliberately left vacant. Demonstrators were not satisfied. On Friday, 4 February, labeled "Day of Departure," an ever-larger gathering of protestors demanded Mubarak's immediate resignation as the economic life of the nation started ebbing.
Behind the scenes Egyptian defense minister Field Marshall Muhammad Hussein Tantawi was in daily contact with his counterpart in Washington, Robert Gates, who stressed U.S. President Barack Obama's advice not to use military force to disband the over one million demonstrators who had set up tents in Tahrir Square. Before 25 January, several senior generals on the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) privately disapproved of Hosni Mubarak grooming his businessman son, Gamal, to succeed him, thus breaking the monopoly over power that the military had enjoyed since 1952. The burgeoning popular protest coupled with Obama's withdrawal of support for Mubarak led the fence-sitting generals to join the anti-Mubarak camp.
On 10 February, claiming that a national dialogue on political reform was in progress, Mubarak transferred power to Vice President Suleiman, but refused to step down. But the next day he bowed to the popular will backed by the SCAF. By the time he resigned after 18 days of civil uprising, and retired to the presidential palace in the sea resort of Sharm al-Shaikh, 846 protestors were dead and 12,000 were arrested.
After assuming power, the SCF accepted the amendments to the constitution proposed by its appointed committee. These were designed to prepare Egypt for free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections. Once the amended constitution was approved in a referendum on 25 March by a large majority on a turnover of 91 percent, the country's revolution entered a new phase.
At his trial in August, a bed-ridden Mubarak denied charges of killing protestors and abuse of power. Following massive protest at the slow progress toward democracy, Tantawi promised a presidential poll in June 2012. The SCAF appointed Kamal Ganzouri, a former prime minister, as head of a national salvation cabinet.
Staggered elections to the People's Assembly started in late November and continued until early January 2012. The Democratic Alliance, led by the Freedom and Justice Party [q.v.], won 235 of the 508-member People's Assembly, with the Islamist Bloc [q.v.] headed by the al-Nour Party [q.v.] gaining 127 seats. In the 180-member Consultative Council elections that followed, the FJP-led Democratic Alliance gained 105 seats and the al-Nour-led Islamist Bloc [q.v.] gained 45.
In the first round for the presidential poll on 23–24 May there were 12 candidates. Since none of them received 50 percent plus one vote, there was a second round on 16–17 June between the Freedom and Justice Party's Muhammad Morsi [q.v.] and Ahmed Shafiq [q.v.], the last prime minister of Hosni Mubarak, who was given a life sentence on 2 June for his part in the killing of protestors during the 2011 upheaval. Shafiq lost to Morsi by 48.3 percent of the vote to 51.7 percent.
Two days before the presidential election the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that some of the articles on which the bicameral parliament was formed were unconstitutional. The SCAF dissolved both houses of parliament and re-assumed legislative powers.
In August President Morsi forced the 75-year-old Tantawi, head of the armed forces, and 64-year-old Sami Anan, the Army chief of staff, to resign, thereby ending the dual power structure. In October, Morsi granted pardon to all the protestors detained and tried in the civil protest movement between 25 January 2011 and 30 June 2012, the day he assumed the presidency, which marked the official end of the Arab Spring in Egypt.
LIBYA: By then, buoyed by Mubarak's downfall, the opposition to Gaddafi in Libya had taken up arms. Making a deceptive use of the UN Security Council resolution in March authorizing a no-fly zone to protect civilians from the Gaddafi regime's attacks, NATO intervened directly into the Libyan civil war. Yet it took another six months to see the regime in Tripoli toppled.
BAHRAIN: The eastward advance of the Arab Spring wave hit Bahrain, where the predominantly Shia [q.v.] opposition had been agitating for political reform since 2009. Like their counterparts in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the protestors in the Pearl Square of Manama [q.v.] during February-March 2011, were peaceful. That did not stop the ruler Shaikh Hamad bin Isa II [q.v.] from declaring martial law and letting loose the security forces who shot 30 demonstrators dead. His violent response was capped by the arrival of the largely Saudi contingent of 1,000 soldiers under the banner of the Gulf Cooperaton Council [q.v.] in mid-March. Aware of the stationing of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, the Obama White House did nothing more than issue mild criticism of the ruler's crackdown.
KUWAIT: Like Bahrain, Kuwait had an earlier history of popular dissension with the rule of Shaikh Sabah IV al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah [q.v.], centered on widespread corruption and nepotism. With its parliament enjoying the most power of any elected body in the Gulf monarchies, the opposition lawmakers had been publicly critical of the ruling family. The Arab Spring arrived when there was rising tension between the parliament and the Sabah-dominated cabinet amidst allegation of corruption at the highest level of government. Demonstrations, attracting tens of thousands, occurred with increasing frequency. In November the protestors broker into the parliament house. The cabinet led since 2006 by the ruler's nephew, Nasser Muhammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, resigned. The emir dissolved the parliament and ordered a fresh election in which the opposition won more than two-thirds of the seats.
However, given the bountiful oil reserves of the emirate, and the close links of the royal family with the U. S. buttressed by Kuwait's defense pact with Washington, there was no prospect of the al-Sabah clan losing its hold over the country.
That too was the case with the royal family of Saudi Arabia for the same reasons that applied to its Kuwaiti counterpart.
SAUDI ARABIA: Encouraged by the events in Egypt, web activists in the Saudi kingdom declared Friday, 11 March, as the first day for mass protests demanding constitutional monarchy and a democratic government. But a heavy-handed police action combined with a religious ruling against demonstrations kept most of the potential protestors off the streets—except in the major Shia city of Qatif in the Eastern Province. There, peaceful demonstrators, shouting "One people, not two—the people of Qatif and Bahrain!" demanded the release of Shia prisoners. The next Friday, 18 March, King Abdullah [q.v.] made a rare televised speech. He thanked his subjects for not staging large pro-democracy protests, and offered $93 billion in benefits to underprivileged Saudi citizens and for strengthening of the security and religious police forces. This was in addition to the $37 billion he had announced a month earlier to ease social pressures.
Significantly, King Abdullah was instrumental in co-opting Qatar and Kuwait to provide $10 billion in aid to Bahrain and Oman. The promised handout helped Sultan Qaboos [q.v.] of Oman, whose hydrocarbon resources were puny compared to those of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar.
OMAN: Inspired by the peaceful demonstrations in Bahrain, in mid-February 2011, the protestors in Muscat demanded higher salaries, an end to corruption, less official control of the media, and an equitable distribution of oil wealth. Those who staged a sit-in outside the Consultative (Shura) Council building in Muscat [q.v.] on 1 March demanded that the council be given real powers of legislation. Protest in the industrial port of Sohar at the end of February turned violent, with a shopping mall set ablaze. The police firings killed two demonstrators. When protest spread to a few oilfields, Qaboos appointed a committee to draft proposals for boosting the power of the Consultative Council. He reshuffled the cabinet, firing unpopular ministers, and abolished the ministry of national economy, known to be corrupt. After raising the salaries in the public sector, he mandated an increase in the minimum wage in the private sector from $364 a month to $520. He doubled social security benefits.
No such concessions came from the rulers of the United Arab Emirates
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: The Arab Spring arrived in the UAE against the background of collapse in real estate values in the confederation caused by the 2008–2009 virtual global credit freeze. The government moved quickly to block a website popular with those UAE nationals who called for a constitutional monarchy and an elected parliament with full legislative powers.
They arrested five dissident intellectuals, charging them with threatening state security and undermining public order. At the end of a seven-month detention they were sentenced to two years' imprisonment which was commuted by UAE President Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayid al-Nahyan [q.v.].
YEMEN: In contrast to the sparsely inhabited UAE, Oman, and Bahrain, Yemen has a population of 25 million and the lowest GDP per capita in the Arabia Peninsula. As a republic with a directly elected president and parliament, it had acquired a multiparty system. Yet Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.] had contrived to remain president since 1978, initially of North Yemen which contained four-fifths of the population of the united Yemen.
Therefore, the republic was vulnerable to the winds of the Arab Spring. But unlike Tunisia and Egypt, the military high command in Yemen split, and Saleh refused to step down except in a manner that had a legal stamp. So the crisis lasted for a year, during which 2,000 people were killed, many of them as a result of fighting between loyal and dissident troops.
The GCC mediators led by the Saudis, who coordinated their strategy with Washington, played the crucial role in resolving the crisis, which had enabled al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.] to establish itself in three southern provinces. In other words, the Yemen imbroglio was unraveled within the U.S.-led camp.
SYRIA: Such a strategy could not be deployed in Syria because the U.S. lacked any leverage there, diplomatic or military. Alone among the Arab capitals, Damascus remained attached to Moscow. Having witnessed NATO's duplicitous use of the UN Security Council resolution on a nofly zone, imposed to protect civilians, to intervene directly into the Libyan civil war, Russia and China vetoed a resolution on Syria at the Security Council in October 2011 and again in February 2012.
Thus, in Syria the Arab Spring got entangled into rivalry between the U.S.-led bloc and the Sino-Russian diplomatic alliance. Having lost the friendship of Libya under Gaddafi, Moscow was keen to retain its close diplomatic and military ties with Syria, where it has a naval base in Tartous.
Internally, the one-third of the Syrian population that was not Sunni Muslim [q.v.] was apprehensive of its future shorn of the protection offered to it by the secular Baath Socialist Party [q.v.]. Among Sunnis the influential business class, which had done well under the Baathist rule, was also reluctant to rock the boat.
As in Egypt, the Syrian opposition made use of social networking media to organize demonstrations and keep the outside world informed. Initially, the protestors' demands were modest: release of political prisoners and an end to the 48-year-old state of emergency. But with the government reacting harshly, the opposition demanded Assad's immediate resignation. Assured of the loyalty of the predominantly Alawi [q.v.] military high command, Assad resorted to using tanks and heavy weapons to regain control of the areas taken over by the armed opposition.
At the same time, Assad made concessions, starting with the lifting of emergency in April 2011, followed by the constitutional end to the Baath Party's monopoly over power, and held elections first at the local level in December 2011 and then for the national parliament in May 2012.
Though periodically calling on Assad to step down, Western leaders from President Obama down were privately concerned about the influence the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] exerted even in the Western-backed Syrian National Council [q.v.], whose leadership was dominated by Westernized Syrian intellectuals settled in Europe—not to mention the Free Syrian Army, rife with Brotherhood militants. There was also the question of rebuilding a fractured Syria after the overthrow of the Assad regime. The experience of Iraq during and after the war in 2003 was salutary.
Another complicating factor was the irreconcilable division within the opposition. It was split three ways. At home it was represented by the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change [q.v.]. Opposed to violence, it was prepared to negotiate with the regime. The Syrian National Council too was against violence, but it actively lobbied for an invasion of Syria by the Western powers along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar. By contrast the 10,000-strong Free Syrian Army, composed almost exclusively of militant Sunnis, was all out for an armed confrontation with the Assad regime. On their part, the Western powers and the Western-backed Syrian opposition refused to recognize that armed protestors and other militants were killing security forces.
Before the United Nations-bro-kered ceasefire between the government and its opponents came into force on 12 April 2012, more than 9,000 civilians and armed rebels and 2,600 security personnel had been killed.
It seemed the Assad regime had the backing of one-third of Syrians, most of them belonging to religious and ethnic minorities. Another third, consisting almost exclusively of Sunni Muslims, supported the insurrection. The rest, including many middle-class Sunni urbanites, the beneficiaries of the regime's economic liberalization, did not like either camp but were apprehensive of the alternative.
With the ceasefire unraveling, and Sunni and Alawi villages resorting to violent attacks on one another, Syria slipped into a civil war in July. By now the initial civil movement for democracy in Syria had morphed into a struggle between regional and global powers—with Iran, Iraq, Russia, and China siding with the regime, and Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the Western nations opposing it.
The situation worsened in mid-July after the killing of the defense minister and his deputy during a meeting by a bomb triggered by remote control. In a concerted move, the rebels gained control of parts of Damascus and Aleppo. The International Committee of the Red Cross ruled that Syria was in the midst of a civil war. Backed by Russia and Iran, Assad reiterated his resolve to defeat the rebels. Due to lack of popular support in the city neighborhoods they had captured, the rebels were often unable to consolidate their gains. The government mounted periodic offensives to regain the lost territory. The stalemate at the UN Security Council continued. Annan decided to step down as the UN-Arab League envoy for Syria at the end of August and was replaced by Lakhdar Ibrahimi.
As the size and importance of the Syrian and foreign jihadists rose in the war, the Western powers and Turkey decided not to supply anti-aircraft missiles to the rebels who continued to be vulnerable to the regime's air strikes. Western leaders feared that such weapons would end up with Islamist extremists and make Western aircraft vulnerable once Syria had gone off the boil. By early September, the conflict had claimed the lives of nearly 20,000 civilians and armed rebels and 8,000 members of the security forces. The ongoing battles in Aleppo, Damascus, and Homs [q.v.] raised the death toll steadily.
LEBANON: The intractable crisis in Syria made the Lebanese President Najib Mikati [q. v.] maintain strict neutrality in any comments he chose to make on the events in Lebanon's most important neighbor. That was not the case with the leaders of the pro-Syria 8 March Alliance [q.v.] and the anti-Syria 14 March Alliance [q.v.]
JORDAN: Unlike Mikati, in August Jordanian King Abdullah II bin Hussein [q.v.] called on Assad to step down. He did so to placate the Islamic Action Front [q.v.], the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.
In early 2011, the Arab Spring in Jordan took the form of demonstrations by the IAF and leftists as well as the educated, unemployed people. The participants made economic and political demands, and complained about corruption. In response the monarch replaced his prime minister twice, first in February and then in October, with his choice falling on Awm Shawkat al-Khasawneh, a former judge of the International Court of Justice. Though he promised British-style parliamentary government in June, it was not until February 2012 that he spelled out the modalities: fair elections, a law guaranteeing the broadest representation, a parliament based on political parties, and governments drawn from that parliament. When al-Khasawneh, acting independently, reached out to the IAF as part of the promised political reform, he was replaced by a yes-man of the Palace, Fayez al-Tarawneh, in April 2012.
The pro-democracy opposition has been careful not to agitate against the king because that would open the fault lines between East Bank tribesmen and Jordanian citizens of the Palestinian origin, leading to a civil war. The bloodshed in Syria witnessed by Jordanians on their TV sets is another factor to keep the protest quiescent. Lastly, there is the unique element at work here: Jordanians fear that if their country disintegrated, outsiders would try to convert it into a Palestinian state.
Not surprisingly, Syria's strategic location in the Middle East makes all parties apprehensive of the prospect of chaos that would follow Assad's downfall.
Arab West: Arab West is the term applied to all the countries of Arab North Africa: Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. It is separated from the Arab East [q.v.] by the Libyan Desert.
Arabia: see Arabian Peninsula.
Arabian Peninsula: Area, about 1.12 million sq. mi./2.91 million sq. km; population 67.16 million (2011 est.). Peninsula, southwest Asia; between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba to the west, the Persian/Arabian Gulf [q.v.] and the Gulf of Oman to the east, and the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the south. It is divided into Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Surrounded on three sides by mountains, the treeless peninsular plateau slopes eastwards toward the Persian Gulf, a region rich in petroleum [q.v.].
Most of the inhabitants of the region are to be found on the coastal plains. They have maintained contact with the rest of Asia, stretching as far as the Philippines, and with the eastern coast of Africa. The history of these peoples goes back to antiquity, when Arabia was divided between the realms of Sheba and Maain. Besides those settled on the coast or in the interior oases, there are nomads and others who transport goods between the Indian subcontinent and the Mediterranean.
They came under the sway of the freshly proclaimed religion, Islam [q.v.], in the second and third decades of the seventh century. United by this monotheistic faith, the Arabian tribes soon conquered adjoining territories. But after the Caliphate was moved in 661 A.D. from Medina [q.v.], the burial place of Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, to Damascus [q.v.], Arabia lost its primacy in the Islamic Empire. Later, in 1517, it became part of the Ottoman Empire, and remained so for four centuries. In the mid-18th century its central Najd region [q.v.] came under the influence of Wahhabism [q.v.]. One of its followers, Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al-Saud [q.v.], built up his kingdom, Saudi Arabia, in the wake of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, which covered four-fifths of the Peninsula.
Arabic language: Arabic belongs to the family of Semitic languages [q.v.], its sisters being Hebrew [q.v.] and Aramaic, and is written from right to left. It has been a written language at least since the early fourth century A.D. It has a two-part word structure, the root consisting mostly of three consonants and providing the basic meaning; and the pattern, consisting of vowels, giving grammatical meaning to the word. Prefixes and suffixes serve the functions of the definite article, pronouns, and prepositions. For example jihad [q.v.] and mujahid (one who conducts jihad) have the common root, jhd. Since the Quran [q.v.] is written in Arabic, it is the religious language of all Muslims [q.v.]. It is also the language of Arabs [q.v.], irrespective of their religious affiliation. The language as written in the Quran is known as Classical Arabic, and links all the countries of the Arab world, from the Persian Gulf to the Atlantic. But the spoken language varies from region to region and there are five major groups of dialects: those found in Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula, Syria, Egypt, and North Africa.
Arabism: See pan-Arabism.
Arabs: Arabs, who claim descent from Ismail/Ishmael, son of the prophet Abraham by Hagar, appear frequently in the Bible [q.v.] as Ishmaelites. In the Old Testament [q.v.], the Second Book of Chronicles (17:11) alludes to "some Arabs" bringing 7,700 sheep and 7,700 goats as presents to King Jehosophat of Judah (r. ca 870 B.C. to ca 851 B.C.), the term describing nomadic people from the eastern bank of the Jordan River [q.v.]. An inscription of King Shalmaneser III of Assyria in the eighth century B.C. refers to "Gindibu the Aribi" as a member of the group of rebelling notables whom he had defeated. Later inscriptions in Assyria and Babylon are full of allusions to Aribi or Arab, a term used for nomads inhabiting the northern and central Arabian Peninsula [q.v.]. During the rise of the Greek and Roman civilizations the term came to include the inhabitants of the whole peninsula.
The word Arab is a derivative either of a Semitic root linked to nomadism, or of "abhar," meaning to pass or move. Nomadic Arabs worshipped nature—rocks, water springs, trees— or idols, and this continued until the arrival of Islam [q.v.] in the midseventh century. The Arabs settled in the oases came under the influence of such pre-Islamic religions as Judaism [q.v.] and Zoroastrianism [q.v.]. Later Islam took hold in the world of Arabs, who became its leading proselytizers. In modern times an Arab means someone who speaks Arabic [q.v.]. In 2010 there were an estimated 360 million Arabs living in 22 member-states of the Arab League [q.v.].
al-Araby, Nabil (1935- ) (Also spelled el Arabi) Egyptian lawyer and diplomat, foreign minister 2011, and Arab League [q.v.] secretary-general, 2011- Born into a middle-class household in Cairo [q.v.], Araby obtained a law degree from Cairo University in 1955. After working for a law firm for a decade, he pursued postgraduate studies in law at New York University and secured a doctorate in judicial science in 1971.
Two years later he joined the foreign ministry. He was the legal adviser to the Egyptian delegation to the UN Middle East peace conference from 1973 to 1975. For the next six years he served as director of the legal and treaties department of the ministry of foreign affairs. He was part of the Egyptian delegation at the Middle East peace talks at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David in 1978. For the next three years he was Egypt's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations. He served as ambassador to India from 1982 to 1984 before returning to his previous post at the foreign ministry. In that capacity he led the Egyptian side in its dispute with Israel on the demarcation of the border at Taba. Egypt won the case in 1988.
Araby acted as an arbitrator at the International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration in Paris in a dispute concerning the Suez Canal from 1989 to 1992. From 1991 he was Egypt's permanent representative to the UN for the next eight years. Then he served as a member of the International Court of Justice from 2001 to 2006. On his return home he was appointed director of Regional Cairo Center for International Commercial Arbitration.
During the pro-democracy demonstrations in Cairo in January-February 2011, Araby was a member of 30-strong group of high-profile Egyptians which, acting as a liaison between protestors and the authorities, insisted on the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.].
After Mubarak's ouster he criticized the absence of separation of powers in Egypt, lack of judicial independence, and the failure of the past regime to uphold Egypt's interests in its dealings with Israel. Following his appointment as foreign minister in the first post-Mubarak government in March, he opened the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip [q.v.], brokered reconciliation between Hamas [q.v.] and Fatah [q.v.] on the basis of power-sharing until fresh elections, and improved relations with Iran.
In July he replaced Amr Moussa [q.v.] as the secretary-general of the Arab League [q.v.]. He played an active role in highlighting the repression of the protestors in Syria by President Bashar Assad [q.v.]. But in February 2012 his efforts to have the UN Security Council adopt a resolution requiring transition of power in Syria failed.
Arafat, Yasser (1929–2004): Palestinian politician; chairman of Palestine Liberation Organization, 1969–2004; president of Palestinian Authority, 1994–2004 Born Mahmoud Abdul Rahman Abdul Rauf Arafat al-Qudwa, nicknamed Yasser (lit. carefree), to a merchant father who was originally from Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip [q.v.] but later ran a shop in Jerusalem [q.v.]. Arafat was born in Cairo [q.v.] during his father's temporary residence there. Both he and his parents were in the Gaza Strip [q.v.] at the time of the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.]. He graduated as a civil engineer in 1955 from Cairo University, where he was chairman of the local Palestinian Students Union. The union was based in the Gaza Strip, then under Egyptian control. During the Suez War [q.v.] he worked as an engineer with the Egyptian army. He then took up a civil engineering job in Kuwait.
Along with Salah Khalaf [q.v.] and Khalil Wazir [q .v .], fellow Palestinians from Gaza, he formed a clandestine group called Fatah [q.v.] in 1958. Five years later it was allowed to open an office in Algiers, capital of the revolutionary state of Algeria, to train commandos. This was in line with the Fatah strategy of employing popular revolutionary violence to liberate the Palestinian homeland. In 1964 in Baathist-run Damascus [q.v.], guided by Arafat, Fatah decided to launch guerrilla actions against Israel from Syria. The first operation was mounted on 1 January 1965. After the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] he met Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.], who pledged support but no funds.
In March 1968 Fatah commandos engaged Israelis in a battle in the Jordanian border town of Karameh, which increased the popularity of Fatah and Arafat, known as Abu Ammar. Four months later Fatah ended its boycott of the Palestine Na tional Council (PNC) [q.v.] of the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.]. Fatah delegates attended the fifth session of the PNC in Cairo in July 1968. With an estimated guerrilla force of 15,000, Fatah emerged as the PLO's largest constituent. The PNC elected Arafat chairman of the PLO's executive committee at its sixth session in early 1969.
Arafat, who had emerged as an arbiter between the leftist and rightist factions within Fatah, now extended his mediation skills to hold together a motley assortment of Palestinian groups—some Marxist-Leninist, some pan-Arabist, some funded by leading Arab states, and all possessing militias. He stuck to two basic positions: no single Arab regime should be allowed to co-opt the PLO; and all sociopolitical ideologies committed to the liberation of Palestine [q.v.] must be accommodated. After the expulsion of the PLO from Amman [q.v.] in the wake of Palestinian battles with Jordanian forces in 1970–71, the PLO headquarters moved to Beirut [q.v.]. Here the PLO, under his leadership and financed by private and governmental contributions, channeled through the Palestine National Fund [q.v.], began to set up "a state within a state."
Following the Arab summit's decision in late October 1974 to recognize the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, Arafat's status rose. The next month he addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations (where the PLO had been accorded observer status) in the course of its debate on the Palestinian issue.
By now the PN C had adopted the idea of establishing a homeland on the West Bank [q.v.] and the Gaza Strip as a step toward the final goal of liberating all of Palestine. Pro-Soviet groups affiliated to the PLO played an important role in getting this line adopted by the PNC. Ever since Arafat's visit to Moscow in July 1968, as part of an Egyptian delegation led by Nasser, the Soviet Union had taken a keen interest in Arafat and the PLO, and backed its guerrilla activities as a lawful expression of the Palestinian people's right to self-defense in the face of continued military occupation by Israel. In the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], which erupted in April 1975, Arafat and other Palestinian leaders sided with the leftist Lebanese National Movement [q.v.] to fight the right-wing Lebanese Forces [ q.v .]. His vehement opposition to Egypt's U.S.-inspired effort to reach unilateral peace with Israel in 1977–78 turned him politically leftwards.
At Fatah's fourth congress in May 1980 it was decided to intensify the armed struggle against the Jewish state. Israel reciprocated by compelling Arafat to remove the PLO headquarters and troops from Beirut after besieging that city in August 1982 during its invasion of Lebanon [q.v.]. He moved the PLO administrative staff to Tunis and dispersed the Palestinian fighters to several Arab states.
Following a series of meetings with King Hussein of Jordan [q.v.], in February 1985 he agreed to joint Palestinian-Jordanian moves toward a peace settlement with Israel and the formation of a Palestine-Jordan confederation after the founding of an independent Palestine. But he failed to win the backing of the majority of PLO constituents. In April 1987 his agreement with King Hussein was annulled, and the unity of the PLO was restored. His flirtation with King Hussein and Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] soured his relations with President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] of Syria, who wanted the PLO to coordinate its policies with him.
In November 1988 the PNC, meeting in Algiers, proclaimed the State of Palestine, with Arafat as its president, a status that was formally recognized by 91 of the 110 states that had accorded recognition to the PLO. His disavowal of terrorism against Israel, and his declaration that the State of Palestine, consisting of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem [q.v.], would coexist peacefully with Israel, were endorsed by the PNC. The following month, addressing a special session of the UN General Assembly in Geneva, he repeated his earlier declarations. This led to open contacts between the PLO and the United States, albeit at a low level. But when he failed to condemn an unsuccessful Palestinian raid on an Israeli military target (which according to a PNC statement was still a legitimate activity), the U.S. suspended its talks with the PLO in June 1990.
This, and the rapidly increasing migration of Soviet Jews into Israel, led Arafat to ally himself with the radical leader of Iraq, President Saddam Hussein [q.v.]. He sided with the Iraqi leader during the crisis that followed Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait in August 1990. This alienated him from the rulers of the rich Gulf States and resulted in the stoppage of their subventions to the PLO. It also distanced him from the presidents of Egypt and Syria, who joined the anti-Iraq alliance to counter the Iraqi aggression. Following Iraq's defeat in February 1991 he tried to regain his lost popularity, an uphill task. Deprived of the advice and friendship of his longtime comrades Khalil Wazir (assassinated in April 1988) and Salah Khalaf (assassinated in January 1991), he felt increasingly isolated.
During the preliminary talks leading up to a Middle East peace conference under the joint auspices of the United States and the Soviet Union in October 1991, he agreed to Israel's demand that the Jordanian delegation should consist of an equal number of Jordanians and Palestinians acceptable to Israel.
When the bilateral negotiations that followed proved sterile, Arafat, through his well-trusted aides, set up a clandestine channel to conduct secret talks with Israel in Norway. The resulting accord was signed in the presence of Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.] by Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.] and Shimon Peres [q.v.] in Washington on 13 September 1993, which became known as Oslo Accord I [ q.v .]. It required Israel to vacate the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho [q.v.] as a first step toward granting Palestinian autonomy in the Occupied Territories [q.v.].
In July 1994 Arafat moved to Gaza to administer the Gaza Strip and Jericho as president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) [q.v.]. He shared the 1994 Nobel Prize for Peace with Rabin and Peres.
In September 1995 he signed an autonomy agreement on the West Bank with Israel, which became known as Oslo Accord II [ q.v .]. It divided the West Bank into A/B/C zones: A (3 percent of the territory, covering seven major cities, including Hebron), full PA civil control with external security under Israel; B, joint control (24 percent of the territory, covering 465 villages), where Israel had the power to intervene at its own discretion to maintain overall security; and the rest as C (73 percent of the territory), under full Israeli control.
But, with the assassination of Rabin two months later, followed by the defeat of Peres by hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.] in the prime ministerial contest in May 1996, the Oslo Accords began to unravel, especially after Netanyahu refused initially to meet Arafat. The reluctant signing of the Wye River Memorandum [ q.v .] in October 1998, with Israel agreeing to hand over 1 percent of the West Bank to the A area and another 12 percent to the B area (maintaining full control over 60 percent of the West Bank), did little to reverse the trend.
The situation improved with the election of Ehud Barak [q.v.] as Israel's prime minister in May 1999. But Arafat's summit meeting with Barak, chaired by U.S. President Bill Clinton at the presidential retreat of Camp David in July 2000 to reach the final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, failed primarily over the issue of the status of the Noble Sanctuary [q.v.] in Jerusalem's Old City, with Barak insisting on Israeli sovereignty over the third-holiest shrine of Islam [q.v.]. Barak's defeat by the hawkish Ariel Sharon [q.v.] in February 2001 against the background of the Second Intifada [q.v.] of the Palestinians, opened a grim chapter for Arafat, who would come to be shunned by the newly elected U. S. President George W. Bush.
As violence between the two sides escalated, Sharon systematically destroyed the Palestinian Authority's administrative and economic infrastructure—an enterprise that got a further boost when in June 2002 Bush publicly called on the Palestinians to change their leadership. Bush's subsequent statement that he envisioned an independent State of Palestine existing side by side with Israel in mutual security did little to raise Arafat's stature.
In November 2004, he died of an undiagnosed disease in a hospital near Paris after falling seriously ill in Ramallah [q.v.], the de facto headquarters of the Palestinian Authority since 2001 .
Arbil : see Irbil.
Arif, Abdul Rahman (1916–2007): Iraqi military leader; president, 1966–68 Born into a middle-class family in Baghdad, Arif enrolled at the local military academy and became an officer. A nationalist and an opponent of the pro-Western stance of the monarchical regime, he joined the Free Officers group that overthrew the royalist regime in July 1958.
When his younger brother, Abdul Salam Arif [q.v.], clashed with Abdul Karim Qasim [q.v.], who headed the republican regime, Arif's career came under a shadow. Abdul Salam's fall ended Arif's future prospects in the military. The situation changed abruptly in the wake of Baathist [q.v.] coup and the assassination of Qasim in February 1963 when Abdul Salam Arif assumed supreme power. Arif became the acting chief of staff.
Following the accidental death of Abdul Salam Arif in April 1966, Arif emerged as the presidential choice of the ruling Revolutionary Command Council. By continuing the overall policies of his dead sibling, he provided continuity. While maintaining friendly relations with Egypt under its radical president, Abdul Gamal Nasser [q.v.], he preserved Iraq's independent stance. He continued his brother's autocratic style of government, but lacked his charisma and astuteness.
Though he kept Iraq out of direct confrontation with Israel during the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], the negative impact of the Arab debacle rubbed off on his government. The opposition felt emboldened to demonstrate in the streets, demanding free elections. This paved the way for the disaffected Baathist officers, led by Ahmad Hassan Bakr [q.v.] and the military intelligence chief, Abdul Rahman Nayif, to overthrow Arif in July 1969. He was forced into exile in Turkey.
A decade later, when Saddam Hussein [q.v.] became president, Arif was allowed to return home. After Saddam Hussein's overthrow in 2003, he moved to Amman [q.v.], where he died.
Arif, Abdul Salam (1920–66): Iraqi military and political leader; president, 1963–66 Born into a middle-class family in Baghdad, Arif enrolled at the military academy and became an officer. His experience in the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.], in which the Iraqi troops performed poorly, turned him against the pro-Western regime of King Faisal II [q. v .]. He played a leading role in organizing the Free Officers group that ended the monarchy in July 1958. During the coup he led the contingent that seized the capital.
In the subsequent republican regime he emerged as second only to Abdul Karim Qasim [q.v.], serving as deputy chief of staff, deputy premier, and interior minister. But he soon clashed with Qasim, who disagreed with his plan to lead Iraq into a union with the United Arab Republic [ q.v .], consisting of Egypt and Syria. He lost all his jobs in September and found himself behind bars. Accused of conspiracy to kill Qasim and mount a coup, he was found guilty and given capital punishment. But his sentence was commuted by Qasim, who ordered his release in 1961. This time his conspiring, conducted in alliance with Baathist [q.v.] officers, culminated in the termination of Qasim's regime in February 1963. He became president, but without much power. However, finding the Baathists at odds with one another, he got rid of them and assumed full authority in November.
An admirer of Egypt's President Abdul Gamal Nasser [q.v.], Arif emulated his policy of enlarging the public sector by carrying out progressive nationalization. He embarked on a plan to unite Iraq and Egypt, starting with economic and military coordination and a joint presidential council. He tackled the long-running Kurdish [q.v.] problem and was on the verge of signing an accord with the Kurdish insurgents when he was killed in an air crash in April 1966.
Arlosoroff, Chaim (1899–1933): Israeli politician Born in Romny, Ukraine, Arlosaroff moved with his family to Germany in 1905. He obtained a doctorate in economics at Berlin University. At the age of 19 he joined HaPoale HaTzair [q.v.], and two years later started editing the party's newspaper. At 24 he secured a seat on the executive council of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) [q.v.].
In 1924 he migrated to Palestine [q.v.] where he became secretary of HaPoale HaTzair within two years. Following the merger of HaPoel HaTzair and Ahdut HaAvodah [q.v.] to form Mapai [q.v.], he emerged as one of its main spokesmen. At the WZO's congress in 1931, he won a seat on the executive committee of the Jewish Agency [q.v.], and became head of its political department, dealing with international affairs. He maintained good relations with the British Mandate and sought accommodation with the Arabs [q.v.] in Palestine.
Following Adolf Hitler's ascent to power in Germany in January 1933, Arlosaroff helped German Jews to migrate to Palestine by striking a deal with the German government, which allowed Jews to depart with most of their property. This was denounced strongly by the right-wing Zionist Revisionists [q.v.] and their extremist faction in Palestine, Brit Habriyonim.
In June 1933 Arlosaroff was killed during a stroll along the Tel Aviv [q.v.] seashore. Three suspects, all members of Brit Habriyonim, were arrested and tried by a British Mandate court. Two were released for lack of evidence, but the third, Abraham Stavsky, was given a death sentence. He appealed and was acquitted due to insufficient evidence. Arlosoroff's murder split the Yishuv [q.v.] into two hostile camps, with leftist Zionists blaming the Revisionists, and the latter blaming the Arabs for the killing. The controversy simmered on. In 1982 the Likud-led [q.v.] government of Israel instituted an inquiry. The report of the commission, published in June 1985, was inconclusive.
Armenian: an ancient Indo-European people, originating from the Lake Van region in eastern Turkey Armenians claim to be the descendants of Haik, a descendant of Noah, and call themselves Hayq (plural of Hay). In the sixth century B.C. they became part of the Persian Empire and were called Armina. Later, in 189 B.C., the Armenians established an independent kingdom, which fell to the Romans in 69 B.C.
Around 300 A.D. they became the first nation to adopt Christianity [q.v.], thanks to the efforts of St. Gregory the Illuminator, and since then religion has played an important role in their lives.
After a history rich in vicissitudes, interspersed with independent Armenian kingdoms, they became subjects of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. As a result of a continual struggle between the Tsarist, Persian, and Ottoman Empires, the Armenian-majority areas fell under different rulers. Between 1894 and 1915 Armenians suffered persecution and massacre under the Ottomans. In World War I, when the Ottoman Empire was arrayed against an alliance consisting of Tsarist Russia, its government considered the Armenians to be pro-Russian "fifth-columnists." It decided to expel some 1.75 million Armenians from Turkey into Greater Syria [q.v.] and Palestine [q.v.]. Roughly a third managed to escape expulsion. Of the rest, an estimated 50 percent perished because of starvation or Turkish violence en route. Most of those who survived settled in North America, Western Europe, or the Trans-Caucasian region of the former Soviet Union, which included the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.
In the Middle East today, substantial Armenian communities exist in Lebanon and Iran. They belong either to the Armenian Orthodox Church [q.v.] or the Armenian Catholic Church [q.v.].
Armenian Catholic Church: part of the Roman Catholic Church [q.v.], but performing an Eastern rite The Armenian Catholic Church was established in 1742 by Abraham Artzivian, the Armenian Catholic Bishop of Aleppo [q.v.], after he was elected patriarch of Sis, the capital of Cilicia (now in Turkey).
Its liturgical language is Classical Armenian. Following the Ottoman persecution of Armenians during World War I, the Church was reorganized. In 1932 the head of the Church, called the Patriarch of the Catholic Armenians and Katholikos of Cilicia, moved the Church's headquarters to the convent built in 1749 in the village of Bzoummar, 36 km/22 miles northeast of Beirut [q.v. ]. In 2008 there were about 12,000 adherents in the Beirut diocese, and 10,000 in the Isfahan [q.v.] diocese. The Church had 376,000 followers worldwide.
Armenian language: a member of the western branch of the Indo-European languages Though Armenian had become the dominant language in the Lake Van region of eastern Turkey by the seventh century B.C., it did not acquire an alphabet until the fourth century A.D.
Armenian Orthodox Church: Also called the Armenian Apostolic Church or the Armenian Apostolic (Orthodox) Church. The Armenian Orthodox Church split from the Eastern Orthodox Church [q.v.] in the fourh century and in 506 A.D. adopted the Monophysite doctrine: that is, the belief that Christ had a human and a divine nature, united in one person. Its liturgical language is Classical Armenian. Its worldwide adherents are estimated at eight million.
After transferring to different sites, the headquarters of the Church, called the Catholicos of all Armenians, was returned in 1441 to Echmiadzin in present-day Armenia. While Echmiadzin continued to be the site of the Catholicos of all Armenians, the Catholicos of Sis was moved to An-telias, Lebanon, in 1930.
The church's estimated one million adherents are scattered throughout not only Lebanon, Syria, Kuwait, Iran, and Cyprus, but also North America.
Arvand Rud (Persian, Arvand River): See Shatt al-Arab.
Asbar, Ali Ahmad Said (1930- ): Syrian poet and essayist domiciled in Lebanon Born into an Alawi [q.v.] family in Qassabin, a village near Latakia [q.v.], Asbar obtained a philosophy degree from Damascus University in 1954, with special interest in Sufism [q.v.]. A staunch member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party [q.v.], whose leader, Antun Saada [q.v.], named him Adonis, he received a year-long jail sentence for his subversive politics. In 1956 he escaped to Beirut [q.v.], where he combined further studies with journalism and literary writing, mainly poetry and literary criticism. He cofounded and coedited Shiar (Arabic: Poetry), a literary magazine, from 1956 to 1963.
Influenced by the classical Shia [q.v.] poets he had studied as part of his Alawi upbringing, he started out as a conventional poet, publishing two volumes of verses in the conventional Arabic ode (qasida) style. But by the late 1950s he had beg un to experiment with the prose poem (qasidat al-nathr ), infusing it with density and tension, metaphoric representation, and rhythms. His volume Mihyar of Damascene: His Songs (1961) broke fresh ground in its diction, syntax, and imagery. Instead of using traditional images he employed a complex set— including the Tammuzian symbols of Adonis and Baal, biblical figures and symbols, and such myths as that of the Phoenix—to portray revolutionary change in a mystical light. He broke with traditional diction and style and employed a totally new syntax that was authoritative yet original. Considering classical Arabic as too intellectual and cerebral for writing about modern urban life, he grappled with the roots of the words and explored their untapped potential through various rhythms, producing a language as robust as its classical counterpart. The complexity and creative exoticism of Asbar's poetry, and its association with modernity, made it doubly attractive to a generation of young poets. He condemned the present servility and repression in the Arab world and lamented the past, scarred by foreign invasions and inertia. Alluding to the Phoenix, he put his hopes in the future.
His challenge to the traditions of language and poetry ran in tandem with his propensity for protest and defiance and his sociopolitical vision of liberation from the status quo. The humiliation and pain caused by the Arab defeat in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] created a social environment that made both his political views and his poetry attractive. The resurgent hope and pride epitomized by the rise of the Palestinian resistance movement in the late 1960s tied up with his thesis: like Tammuz, the god of revival in the Babylonian religion, who is associated with Greek Adonis, the legendary Phoenix is reborn out of the ashes of the fire that consumes it. His response to the Arab defeat in 1967 came in the form of a long poem, This Is My Name (1970).
By the time he published Introduction to Arab Poetry (1971), marking the birth of post-modernist poetry in Arabic, the movement for radicalizing linguistic structures, coining new words, and experimenting with fresh metaphors had taken root. He had also established his own literary journal, Mawaqif (Arabic: Attitudes) (1968–78). In The Shock of Modernity (1978) and Manifesto of Modernity (1980) he summarized his literary views, stating that "there is no trace of memory in my poetry in the cultural sense, neither on the level of heritage nor on the personal level."
When Lebanon plunged into a long, bloody civil war in 1975 [q.v.], he moved to Damascus [q.v.] where he became a visiting professor at Damascus University. In 1980, he departed for Paris, where he has kept up his writing and supplemented it with teaching. His views on Arabic have mellowed. In 1984 he stated that a rediscovery of "language is a rediscovery of Arabic's modern potential connotative possibilities, forgotten meanings and latent metaphorical dimensions." The only language in which he realized he could write was the terse, elevated language of classical Arabic poetry—disassembled, modulated, and revolutionized by him, yet possessing the aura of the old poetry and its rhetorical hold on readers and listeners.
In June 2011, amid the bloody repression of the Syrian protestors, he addressed an open letter to President Bashar Assad [q.v.], calling on him to step down. At the same time he condemned the use of violence either by the Syrian opposition or other Arab countries .
He is the author of more than 20 books in Arabic. The ones translated into English include The Fixed and the Changing (1974), The Book of Siege (1982), Sufism and Surrealism (1995), and If Only the Sea Could Sleep (2002). He is the winner of the Bjorson Prize (2007) and the Goethe Prize (2011).
Ashkenazim: (Hebrew: plural of Ashke-naz, derivative of Ashk'naz, meaning Germany): Literally, the term applies to all those from Germany; but in practice, from the ninth century onward, it increasingly meant German Jews [q.v.] and their descendants, including those who had left the German lands. They are different from the Jews originating in Spain and Portugal, called Sephardim [q.v.], in their pronunciation of Hebrew [q.v.], their prayer rituals, and their mother tongue, Yiddish [q.v.]. Until the late 15th century Ashkenazim and Sephardim were almost equal in number. But by the late 1920s, about 90 percent of the 16.5 million Jews worldwide were Ashkenazim, a term now applied to Jews of northern or central European origin. Following the Holocaust during World War II, which resulted in the death of six million Jews, the remaining 9.5 million Ashkenazim constituted 82 percent of the global Jewish population of 11.5 million. At the founding of Israel in 1948, Ashkenazim made up 80 percent of its Jewish population.
However, because of the large intake of the Jews from the Arab states and the higher birth rate among them, and Sephardim, the proportion of Ashkenazim in the Israeli Jewish population fell below 50 percent by the mid-1960s. Later, due to the large-scale influx of Soviet Jews, which started in 1990 on the eve of the Soviet Union's disintegration and continued until 1994, the proportion of Ashkenazim rose sharply, and they became the majority. In 2009, however, at 2.8 million they were 50 percent of the total Jewish population of 5.58 million.
Since 2003 their chief rabbi has been Yona Metzger.
Ashura: (Arabic: Tenth, meaning 10th of Muharram): a fasting day for Muslims In Islam [q.v.] it is the day when Allah created Adam and Eve, paradise and hell, the pen, and life and death. Tradition has it that Prophet Muhammad fasted on this day.
Ashura: (Arabic: Tenth, meaning 10th of Muharram): an annual ritual of Shias Ashura is the final day of the dramatic events of 1–10 Muharram 61 A.H. [q.v.] (8–17 May 681 A.D.) in Islamic history. The narrative of this period is told annually by professional reciters in the mosques and meeting halls of Shias [q.v.], and is mounted as the second act of a passion play of Islam [q.v.], accompanied by frenzied grief and tears, wailing, and self-flagellation in public by the faithful on the final day.
The narrative runs as follows. After the death in April 680 A.D. of Muwaiya bin Abu Sufian—the Umayyad governor of Syria who had challenged Ali bin Abu Talib, a cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, for the caliphate—his son, Yazid, became the caliph. Hussein, the oldest surviving son of Ali, then living in Medina [q.v.], staked his claim to the caliphate on the ground that it belonged to the House of the Prophet, of which he was the most senior member, and that Yazid was a usurper. His stance won him swift and fervent messages of support from the Iraqi town of Kufa [q.v.], a stronghold of Ali's partisans. This news reached Yazid who rushed a trusted aide, Ubaidullah bin Ziyad, to Kufa, who succeeded in neutralizing the anti-Yazid forces in the town.
By then the unsuspecting Hussein, accompanied by his family and 72 retainers, was well on his way to Kufa. On 1 Muharram 61 A.H. (8 May 681 A.D.), Hussein's entourage was intercepted near Karbala [q.v.], some 30 mi./48 km from Kufa, by Yazid's soldiers. For the next eight days their commander tried to obtain Hussein's unconditional surrender. But Hussein, believing in his right to the caliphate, resolved to do battle and perish rather than surrender or retreat. He also reckoned that his martyrdom would revitalize the claim of the House of the Prophet to the caliphate. On the morning of 10 Muharram, Hussein led his small band of partisans to confront Yazid's 4,000 heavily armed troops. His warriors fell one by one, and he was the last to die.
This heroic tragedy of a man of charisma and piety tells the faithful that the true believer should not shirk from challenging the established order if it has become unjust and oppressive, despite slender chances of overthrowing it.
Assad, Bashar (1965—): Syrian military and political leader; president, 2000- Born into the Alawi [q.v.] household of Hafiz Assad [q.v.], in Damascus [q.v.], he did his baccalaureate in 1982. He graduated as a physician, specializing in ophthalmology, and began practicing as an ophthalmologist at a military hospital outside Damascus in 1988. Four years later he went to London to specialize in ophthalmology. In 1994 he returned home after the death of his elder brother Basil in a car accident.
As the head of the Syrian Computer Society, he initiated a computerization program. After passing the General Staff course in 1997, he was promoted to Lt. Colonel. He was put in charge of Syria's relations with Lebanon. Following the death of his father, Hafiz, on 10 June 2000, he was promoted to lieutenant general, and named commander-in-chief. Once the constitutional age requirement for president was lowered from 40 to 34 he was elected president on 10 July 2000 .
In foreign affairs, he maintained his father's freshly initiated policy of mending fences with Iraq, which culminated in the reopening of the oil pipeline between the two neighbors in late 2000, with 200,000 barrels of Iraqi oil flowing daily into Syria. He stuck to the earlier Syrian position that Israel had to withdraw from all of the Golan Heights [q.v.] in return for total peace and normalization of relations.
At home, when 99 leading intellectuals demanded an end to the 37-year-old martial law, his government announced that the emergency laws had been suspended. His freeing of 600 political prisoners still left 1,500 politicians incarcerated. His political liberalization led to the demand that the Baath Socialist Party's [q.v.] monopoly over power, guaranteed by the constitution, be ended. This was unacceptable to the old guard in the party and the military and intelligence services. So he slowed down the pace of political reform.
In the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the U.S. by al-Qaida [q.v.], Assad's government offered intelligence to Washington, thus thawing Syria's relations with the sole superpower. But since it continued to support Lebanon's Hizbollah [q.v.] and allowed Hamas [q.v.] and other radical Palestinian parties to maintain their offices in Damascus, America retained Syria on its list of the countries that sponsor international terrorism. Assad maintained Syria's long-standing alliance with Iran.
He opposed the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in March 2003 [q.v.], and later allowed the exiled Iraqis to help conduct resistance against the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq. In September 2004 the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1559 by nine votes (the minimum needed) with six abstentions, requiring Syria to withdraw all its troops from Lebanon.
Assad's relations with the U.S. soured after the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri [q.v.] in February 2005, followed by the accusations of Syria's involvement in the killing. Pressured by the Western powers and the UN, he withdrew the last of the Syrian troops in Lebanon on the eve of the Lebanese general election in May. In August 2006 he described the performance of the Hizbollah in its war with Israel as "successful resistance."
He was reelected president in 2007 with 97 percent vote. In April 2008 he revealed that he had been discussing the future of the Golan Heights and a peace treaty with Israel for a year, with Turkey acting as a mediator. But following Israel's war in Gaza [q.v.] in 2008–2009, Turkey gave up its role.
He improved relations with Russia as well as major countries in South America, particularly Brazil and Venezuela. He described the push for the Israeli-Palestinian peace by U.S. President Barack Obama (r. 2009-) as "weak."
Following his meeting with Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, in December 2010, Assad approved the renovation of 11 synagogues across Syria.
The Arab Spring [q.v.] movement in 2011 started with the modest demands of the release of political prisoners and the lifting of the emergency laws dating back to 1963. Assad responded harshly. The killing of three protestors in the southern city of Deraa on 18 March opened a new chapter. However, a month later, he ended the emergency rule. But as the anti-regime resistance intensified in the Sunni-dominated cities of Hama [q.v.] and Homs [q.v.], with the calls for his removal from office, Assad resorted to brutal repression, using heavy weapons against civilian areas. This in turn led to the formation of the irregular Free Syrian Army [q.v.], composed of army defectors and armed civilians. Assured of the loyalty of the mainly Alawi top officers of the military and intelligence agencies, he tried to quell the unrest with increasing force while making half-hearted moves to reform the political system.
In January 2012, by a majority vote, the Arab League [q.v.] urged him to step down and hand over power to a deputy. He rejected the call. The next month he held a referendum on the reformed constitution, which abrogated the Baath Party's monopoly on power. It won 89.4 percent support on voter turnout of 57 percent. At the end of the first year of the civilian resistance in mid-March 2012, over 7,500 civilians and nearly 2,100 security personnel had been killed.
Pressured by Russia, Assad accepted the six-point peace plan of Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League envoy, to resolve the conflict in Syria, which called for a Syrian-led solution to the conflict. The brief ceasefire in April ended in late May when the Free Syrian Army mounted a countrywide offensive, which led Assad to reaffirm his resolve to crush the armed rebellion. With the rebels launching offensives in Damascus and Aleppo in mid-July, the pressure on Assad's forces grew. But the backing for his regime by Russia and Iran remained intact, with Iraq adding its support. Assad calculated that the continuation of the civil war would lead to the Syrian and foreign jihadists rising to the fore in the rebel camp which would cool the ardor of the West and Turkey to fund and arm the insurgents. He was therefore disinclined to compromise.
Assad, Hafiz (1930–2000): Syrian military and political leader; president, 1971–2000 Born Hafiz Wahhash in the family of a notable in Qurdaha, an Alawi [q.v.] village near Latakia [q.v.], Assad enrolled at the Homs [q.v.] military academy in 1951 and graduated as an air force pilot four years later. He underwent additional training in Egypt. Soon after the formation of the United Arab Republic [q.v.] in early 1958, he took a further flying course in the Soviet Union.
The dissolution of all Syrian parties, including the Baath Socialist Party [q.v.], of which Assad had been a longtime member, left him disgruntled. In early 1960, while serving in Egypt, he became one of the five founders of the clandestine Military Committee. After the secession of Syria from the UAR in September 1961 the Military Committee became active. It was the main force behind the Baathist coup in March 1963. Six months later Assad was elected to the regional (i.e., Syrian) high command of the Baath Party. His de facto status as commander of the air force was formalized in December 1964, when he was promoted to major-general.
In May 1965 he was elected to the national (i.e., all-Arab) high command of the party. In the growing discord between the moderate civilian and the radical military factions of the ruling party, Assad was firmly with the latter. His faction mounted a successful coup in February 1966, and he became defense minister. He then developed an Arab nationalist perspective, concentrating on winning a military contest with Israel, whereas his rival, Salah Jadid [q.v.], pursuing a socialist path, urged a revolutionary transformation of Syrian society. The high command of the Baath failed to resolve the conflict. Assad used his status as defense minister to consolidate his position in the military to challenge Jadid. This came in February 1969, and ended with Assad in the ascendancy in the party high command and the government.
Deferring to advice from Cairo and Moscow, he refrained from monopolizing power, and inter alia retained Nur al-Din Attasi [q.v.], a Jadid ally, as president. But because Jadid continued to dominate the party machine, the tussle between him and Assad was not fully resolved. The final clash came in November 1970 during the national congress of the Baath in Damascus [q.v.]. Assad gained full control, purging and arresting his adversaries. He assumed the additional offices of prime minister and secretary-general of the Baath, leaving the presidency to his nominee, Ahmad Khatib. Under his guidance the new party high command nominated a 173-strong People's Assembly to draft a constitution.
In February 1971 the People's Assembly ratified the party high command's nomination of Assd as president, and this decision was confirmed in a referendum in March, winning 99.2 percent support. When in January 1973 the draft constitution described Syria as a "democratic, popular, socialist state," an influential group of Muslim clerics attacked the document as "secular and atheistic," and demanded insertion of an article proclaiming Islam [q.v.] as the state religion. Assad temporized by persuading the People's Assembly to amend the constitution to specify that the president must be Muslim. But the clergy did not think this sufficient. To pacify them, Assad declared that the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] was a jihad [q.v.] against the enemies of Islam. In early 1974 he went on an umra [q.v.] to Mecca [q.v.], and this established him as a true believer. He was reelected president in 1978, 1985, and 1992.
Assad put Syria on a firm institutional path, with elections to the People's Assembly held every four years. The Assembly was dominated by the Baath-led National Progressive Front [q.v.], formed in 1972, which included pan-Arabists [q.v.], Socialists, and Communists [q.v.]. The real power lay with the high command of the Baath, which was led by Assad. Complementing it was the intelligence network that permeated all important segments of society and government. The major opposition force, the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.], remained outlawed.
Assad's intervention in the Lebanese Civil War [ q.v .] in mid- 1976 to bolster the Christian [q.v.] camp revived the Islamist forces, who started a campaign of assassination and terrorism. This graduated into near-insurrection in Aleppo [q.v.] and Hama [q.v.] in March 1980, and reached a peak with an assassination attempt on Assad in June. In response, he went all out to crush the Islamists, who retreated and consolidated their position. Their violent activities resumed and culminated in an insurrection in Hama in February 1982. Assad hit back with unprecedented force and regained control. Signs of fission within the ruling elite surfaced when Assad suffered a heart attack in November 1983. His younger brother, Rifaat, tried to seize power but failed.
He finally overcame this crisis, which threatened to turn into civil war, in March 1984, the month in which he successfully aborted the Lebanese-Israeli peace treaty [q.v.] that Lebanon, cajoled by the United States, had initialed in May 1983 in the aftermath of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon [q.v.] in June 1982. His involvement in the Lebanese civil strife was based on the doctrine that a special relationship existed between Lebanon and Syria, and that the defection of Lebanon to the U.S.-Israel camp would present extreme danger to Syrian security. He continued his Lebanese involvement until finally, in October 1990, the pro-Syrian side won.
His relations with Egypt fluctuated. Initially he strengthened his ties with Egypt, coordinating the war against Israel in October 1973. But he became disillusioned with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] when the latter began to pursue policies that were to culminate in Egypt's bilateral peace treaty with Israel in 1979. Assad made Syria the centerpiece of the Steadfastness Front [q.v.], which included the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.], and opposed readmission of Egypt into the Arab League [ q.v .], from which it had been expelled in 1979. He signed a Friendship Treaty with the Soviet Union in 1980.
Reflecting the divisions within the national (i.e., pan-Arab) command of the Baath Party, with Michel Aflaq [q.v.] operating from Baghdad [q.v.], he remained cool toward the Baathist regime in Iraq [q.v.], led first by Ahmad Hassan Bakr [q.v.] and then Saddam Hussein [q.v.]. There was a rapprochement with Iraq in 1978, but this proved transient. With Assad siding with Iran in the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) [q.v.], relations between Syria and Iraq soured. Following Saddam Hussein's invasion and occupation of Kuwait in August 1990, he tried to persuade the Iraqi leader to withdraw from Kuwait. When that failed he joined the anti-Iraq coalition led by the United States, and sent troops to assist Saudi Arabia's defense.
On assuming power Assad committed himself to divest Israel of the territorial gains it made in the Arab countries in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.]. However, his forces failed to retake the Golan Heights [q.v.] during the October 1973 War. Following a disengagement agreement with Israel, he ensured that no guerrilla attacks were launched on Israel from Syria. Following Egypt's defection from the Arab camp in 1979, he embarked upon a plan to achieve strategic parity with Israel, a costly proposition. At the same time he tried to maintain a unified camp among Israel's Arab neighbors by thwarting any attempts at additional bilateral deals involving Israel. His success in Lebanon encouraged him to frustrate any such plans by Jordan's King Hussein [ q.v .].
Considering the Palestinians an important part of any alliance to deal with Israel, Assad wished to become a mentor of the PLO chairman, Yasser Arafat [q.v.]. But the latter's resolve to maintain the PLO's independence led to frosty relations between the two leaders. By inciting a revolt against Arafat's leadership within Fatah [q.v.] in 1983, Assad managed to weaken his position.
With the decline of the Soviet Union as a superpower from 1989 onwards, Assad had to lower his sights when it came to tackling the issue of Israel. In October 1991 he agreed to participate in the Middle East peace conference, which was meant to lead to bilateral talks between Israel and its Arab enemies. He ensured that the conference was held on the basis of UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 [q.v.], calling on Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupied during the 1967 War. In the Syrian-Israeli talks he insisted that Israel must promise to vacate the Golan Heights in return for total peace with Syria before details of a peace treaty could be fleshed out. He succeeded in getting the U.S. to play an active role in the Syrian-Israeli negotiations.
In late 1995, once Syria and Israel had agreed to a 10-point framework, its representatives held talks at an American venue in early 1996. But, when suicide bombings by radical Islamist Palestinians killed 50 Israelis in late February-early March, Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres [q.v.] demanded that Syria condemn the attacks. Assad replied that these explosions had nothing to do with Syria. Peres unilaterally terminated the negotiations with Damascus. The talks remained suspended during the three years when Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.] was Israel's prime minister. They resumed after the election of Ehud Barak [q.v.] as Netanyahu's successor. In September 1999, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright backed Assad's demand for total withdrawal from the Golan. Three months later Barak met Syrian foreign minister Faruq al-Shaara in Washington. In March 2000 U.S. President Bill Clinton presented Barak's proposals to Assad in Geneva. These included Israel's retaining sovereignty over a narrow strip on the northeastern shore of Lake Tiberias to safeguard its water resources. Assad offered to give Israel access to the strip but not sovereignty. The talks broke down. Elsewhere, in 1997 he began repairing his relations with Iraq.
In the 1999 presidential referendum, he secured 99.98 percent of the valid votes, a shade lower than the figure of 99.99 percent in the referendum of 1992. During the last days of his rule, marked by his failing health, he released 225 political prisoners. Overall, his long rule was marked by his consistency and tenacity. A distant and authoritarian personality, he combined realism with a cool, calculating disposition.
Assembly of Experts, Iran (1979): After the proclamation of the Islamic Republic of Iran in April 1979, its leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], decreed the election of a 73-member Assembly of Experts—each member representing about half a million people—to review the draft constitution prepared by the government. Elected in August on universal suffrage, the Assembly, consisting of religious and lay members, was dominated by the ruling Islamic Republican Party [q.v.]. It approved a constitution of 175 articles, which was ratified in a referendum in December 1979. Articles 107 and 108 empowered the clerical members of the Council of Guardians [q.v.] to decide the qualifications of the experts and the size of their assembly, which was authorized to choose the (supreme) leader or leadership council of three or five members.
Assembly of Experts, Iran (1983- ): Elections to the 82-strong Assembly of Experts, each representing about half a million people, were held in December 1982, with the Assembly convening in 1983. Only Muslim clerics were allowed to run for election. Seen as a permanent constitutional body, the Assembly met once or twice a year in Qom [q.v.], away from the glare of the media. In November 1985 one of its members, Ahmad Barikban, leaked its earlier decision to name Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri [q.v.] as the future (supreme) Leader (Persian: Rahbar). But in early 1989 irreconcilable differences emerged between Montazeri and the (supreme) Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.].
Montazeri resigned as the successor-designate in March. The Constitutional Review Council, which Khomeini appointed in April, was hard at work when Khomeini fell seriously ill and died on 3 June 1989. During an eight-hour session, the Assembly of Experts rejected the alternative of a (supreme) leadership council and instead voted President Ali Khamanei [q.v.] as the (supreme) Leader.
After Khamanei took office he decreed elections for a fresh Assembly of Experts, which was given tenure of eight years by the revised constitution. The new Assembly with an increased membership of 86 was elected in October 1990 and met in 1991. It elected Ayatollah Ali Mishkni its Chairman. It endorsed Khamanei as the Leader for eight years, and set up a sub-committee to monitor his performance. This sub-committee submits its confidential report to the Assembly which meets only twice a year.
On the eve of the election for the Fourth Assembly in October 1998, the Guardians Council [ q.v .] ruled that a lay person could stand for election provided he was found to be an expert on Islam according to its test. However, no non-cleric passed this test.
The Fifth Assembly, elected in December 2006, met in February 2007. The voter turnout of 60 percent exceeded the previous figures. The Assembly reelected Mishkni as its Chairman. After his death in July, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani [q.v.] succeeded him by defeating the hardliner Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati by 41 to 30 votes. Rafsanjani got reelected in March 2009 by defeating Ayatollah Muhammad Yazdi, former chief justice, by 51 votes to 26.
In the aftermath of the protest about the alleged rigging of the presidential election in June, which led to the reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [q.v.], Rafsanjani reportedly consulted some Assembly member regarding convening an emergency session but did not find much support for the idea.
In March 2011, Rafsanjani did not offer his candidacy for chairmanship which went, unanimously, to 80-year-old Ayatollah Muhammad Reza Mahdavi-Kani, a leader of the conservative Association of Combatant Clergy [q.v.].
Association of Combatant Clergy (Iran): (Persian: Jame-e Ruhaniyat-e Mobarez-e) Popularly known as Jame, its nucleus was formed in 1976 when the clerical followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.] began meeting clandestinely in Tehran [q.v.] to exchange socio-political information. It arranged the smuggling of Khaomein's speeches on cassettes from the Iraqi city of Najaf [q.v.] into Iran [q.v.]. Its founders included Ayatollahs Murtaza Motahhari (assassinated in 1979) and Muhammad Beheshti (assassinated in 1981) and Hojatalislams Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani [q.v.] and Ali Khamanei [q.v.]. As the Islamic revolutionary movement built up in 1977–78, it became more active and began gradually to surface. It played a vital role in establishing local Revolutionary Komitehs (Committees) [q.v.].
After the revolution it became the new order's main instrument to transform the traditional religious infrastructure into a religio-political apparatus of the state. As the political arm of the clergy, it actively backed the ruling Islamic Republican Party [q.v.] in elections and referendums. Since engaging in everyday politics had hitherto been seen by traditional clerics as an extremist activity, the Jame acquired an aura of radicalism. After Beheshti's assassination in 1981, Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri [q.v.] became its leader. He took a radical stance on many issues. In 1982, when Montazeri stepped down due to pressure of work, its leadership went to Muhammad Reza Mahdavi-Kani. As a leading member of the Guardians Council [q.v.], he declared land reform and foreign trade nationalization bills to be un-Islamic, which alienated those who were committed to bringing about economic reform. They departed to form the Society of Combatant Clerics [q.v.] in 1988, leaving the Jame as a distinctly conservative body. In the subsequent parliamentary elections the Jame formed an alliance with other conservative organizations.
Assyrian Christians: see Nestorian Christians.
Aswan High Dam (Egypt): Successor to the Aswan Dam, the Aswan High Dam on the Nile is 1.24 mi./2 km long and 176 ft./30 m deep. It was the centerpiece of the economic plan of Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.], and was designed to transform the country's cotton-based economy into something more robust and varied by irrigating two million acres of land and boosting electric supplies several-fold. In February 1956 the World Bank for Reconstruction and Development (WBRD) agreed to lend Egypt $20 million if the United States and Britain provided it with credits of $70 million to meet the hard-currency costs of constructing the dam.
Ignoring warnings from Washington, Nasser continued to direct his foreign policies along a nonaligned path. In April 1956 he recognized the seven-year-old People's Republic of China, thus angering the United States, which wanted the new Communist republic to remain isolated. On 19 July the United States informed Egypt that it had decided against providing aid for the Aswan High Dam because it considered the Egyptian economy too fragile to support such an ambitious project. Britain followed suit. A week later, addressing a rally in Alexandria [q.v.], Nasser declared that the Universal Suez Maritime Canal Company [q.v.], headquartered in Paris, would be nationalized forthwith, and the management of the waterway would be assigned to an Egyptian Canal Authority, adding that foreign currency revenues from the Suez Canal [q.v.] would be used to finance the High Dam's construction.
The Soviet Union declared that nationalization of the Suez Canal was within Egypt's legal rights. It stepped in to buy Egyptian cotton, which accounted for 85 percent of the country's exports. It also signed an agreement with Egypt to provide the latter with low-interest loans, amounting to $130 million, and the services of 5,000 Soviet technicians. Construction work on the project started in 1960. By the time the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, had inaugurated the first stage of the High Dam in May 1964, Egypt's electricity output had trebled. When its final phase was completed in January 1971, the Aswan High Dam had the capacity to hold back from the tail-end of the Nile's autumn flood some 5 billion cu m of water. Since then it has increased the irrigated farm land by almost 500 percent.
The resulting Lake Nasser, measuring 2,030 sq. mi./5,250 sq. km, became one of the largest reservoirs on the planet. It caused a fivefold increase in agricultural land. It produces 2.1 gigawatts of electricity, equaling the total capacity of Egypt's power plants before 1967, and enabling most villages to be electrified for the first time. Since then this proportion has come down to 15 percent.
Atef, Muhammad (1944–2001): (Also known as Abu Hafs, Abu Khadija, Tayseer Abdullah) Born Muhammad Sobhi abu Sitta in a poor, religious family in Menoufia, Egypt [q.v.], Atef grew up to be a tall man of 6' 6" (1.98 m). A devout Muslim [q.v.], he trained as a police officer and rose through the ranks during the 1970s. He joined the clandestine al-Jihad group [q.v.] soon after its founding in 1978. When the expected Islamist insurrection against the government failed to materialize in the wake of the assassination of President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] in October 1981, he became restless.
In 1983 he went to Pakistan to participate in the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Here he came into close contact with Osama bin Laden [q.v.], who found his police background useful in training Arabicspeaking mujahedin. He was one of the founders of al-Qaida [q.v.], which emerged from Maktab al-Khidmat (Persian: Bureau of Service [to non-Afghan Mujahedin]), established in 1984. When bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia [q.v.] in 1990, Atef stayed behind in Afghanistan.
The next year he joined bin Laden in Khartoum, Sudan, where al-Qaida began to function as an umbrella organization to coordinate the activities of extremist Islamist groups worldwide. He was a member of the policymaking Shura Council of 12, and head of the military committee. He acquired the nom de guerre of Abu Hafs (Arabic: Father of lion).
In 1992–1993, he supervised the military training of the tribes in neighboring Somalia opposed to the UN intervention there. He aided and abetted the attacks on the American troops within the UN force, as a consequence of which 18 American soldiers were killed while hunting for Somali warlord Muhammad Farah Aideed, and which left nearly 500 Somalis dead.
He accompanied bin Laden on his return to Afghanistan in 1996, and took charge of training fresh al-Qaida recruits in the camps run by the organization. After the suicide bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar as Salam in August 1998, which killed 227 people, a U.S. federal grand jury returned a 238-count indictment (covering 227 murders and 11 other charges) against Atef and 16 others, charging them with leading a terrorist conspiracy from 1989 to present, working in concert with other terrorist groups to build weapons and attack American military installations. Washington announced $5 million reward for information leading to Atef s arrest.
In January 2001 he caught media attention with the video of the wedding of his daughter Khadija to Muhammad, 18-year-old son of Osama bin Laden. Following the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in September, Washington froze his assets along with those of 11 others.
Soon after the evacuation of Kabul by the Taliban on 12–13 November, Atef was killed in an air strike by U.S. warplanes.
Attasi, Nur al-Din (1929–92): Syrian politician; president 1966–70 Born into a landlord family of the Attasi clan, based in the countryside around Homs [q.v.], Attasi acquired a medical degree from Damascus University in 1955. He joined the Baath Socialist Party [q.v.] as a youth. As a qualified doctor, he volunteered to work with the Algerian National Liberation Front. Following the Baathist coup of March 1963, he became a member of the ruling National Council for the Revolutionary Command. He was interior minister during 1963–64, then deputy prime minister during 1964–65.
In the internecine fighting within the Baath Party he sided with the radical Military Committee, which included Hafiz Assad [q.v.] and Salah Jadid [q.v.], both Alawis [q.v.]. After the Military Committee had captured power in February 1966, Assad and Jadid emerged as the real leaders. Aware that their Alawi origin was a political liability in a predominantly Sunni [q.v.] society, they used Attasi, a Sunni, as a front man. He became president of Syria as well as the secretary-general of the regional (i.e., Syrian) and national (i.e., pan-Arab) high commands of the Baath Party. In 1968 he also headed the government. But his real authority was limited.
As rivalry between Assad and Jadid sharpened, he inclined toward Jadid. Following the first skirmish between the two contenders in February 1969, which showed Assad to be the stronger party, he retained his positions as part of a compromise. But when Assad finally won in November 1970 he dismissed Attasi as president, premier, and secretary-general of the Baath Party, and jailed him. His trial release 10 years later, when the Assad regime faced a severe Islamist challenge, ended when he failed to cooperate with the authorities. However, his subsequent house arrest soon ended when he agreed to refrain from politics.
Azerbaijan (Iran): The name Azerbaijan is derived from Atropates (Greek: protected by fire), a lieutenant of Alexander of Macedonia, who, following his commander's victory over the Persian Empire in 328 B.C., founded an independent kingdom in the region. In Iran today Azerbaijan embraces the provinces of East Azerbaijan (population, 4 million, 2011 est.) and West Azerbaijan (population, 3.3 million in 2011 est.). The Aras River separates Iranian Azerbaijan from the TransCaucasian Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (DRA). It is a chiefly mountainous region with fertile lowlands.
Settled by the Medes before the eighth century B.C., it became a province of the Persian Empire. Its town of Orumiyeh was the reputed birthplace of Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism [q.v.]. After a long spell as an independent kingdom after 328 B.C., it again became part of the Persian Empire in the third century A.D. Following the victory of the Muslim Arabs [q.v.] over the Persians in 637 A.D., the region fell under the Islamic caliphate, and its population was converted to Islam [q.v.]. During the 11th-12th centuries it was ruled by the Seljuk Turks and in the 14th century by Tamerlane. From the early 17th to the early 19th century it was governed by the Persian shahs. In 1828, following his defeat by the Russians, the shah ceded all territory west of the Caspian Sea and north of the Aras River to Tsarist Russia. He organized the remainder as a province named Azerbaijan. In 1938 Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] divided it into East Azerbaijan (capital, Orumiyeh) and West Azerbaijan (capital, Tabriz [q.v.]).
Following the entry of the Soviet Union into World War II in June 1941, its troops occupied these provinces of Iran, which was neutral in the conflict. In December 1945 the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan proclaimed the National Government of Azerbaijan, with Azeri [q.v.] as the official language. A year later, after the Soviet troops had withdrawn, this government surrendered to the Iranian troops sent by Tehran.
Both East and West Azerbaijan are populated primarily by Azeris [q.v.] who are largely Shia [q.v.], and secondarily by Kurds [q.v.] and Armenians [q.v.]. Like the majority Persian-speakers in Iran, they participated in the revolutionary movement that toppled Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] and ushered in an Islamic republic. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the emergence of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (DRA), contact between these provinces and the DRA increased sharply. However, predictions that, inspired by nationalism, the Azeris in Iran would secede and combine with the DRA to form Greater Azerbaijan proved ill-founded.
Azeri language: Also known as Azerbaijani language, it belongs to the southwest Turkic group of languages and is akin to Turkmen [q.v.] and modern Turkish of Turkey. Written in the Arabic script, it developed as a literary language in the first quarter of the 19th century. In Iran, during the rule of the Pahlavi dynasty (1921–79) [q.v.], its use was suppressed. Azerispeaking Iranians make up about 17 percent of the national population. In the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan (1920–91), the Arabic script used for Azeri was changed to Latin in 1922, and then to Cyrillic in 1939. After the founding of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan in 1992, the government decided to revert to Latin.
Azeris: Also known as Azeri-Turks, these Turkic people speak a language that is akin to modern Turkish. In Iran they are the predominant majority in the provinces of East and West Azerbaijan [q.v.], with a combined population of 6.5 million, according to the 2006 census.
al-Azhar University: (Arabic: Resplendent): Islamic University in Cairo Established in 977 A.D. in the al-Azhar mosque in Cairo [q.v.] by the Fatimid caliphate (969 A.D.-1171), the al-Azhar University is the oldest institution of its kind in the world, and the leading center for higher Islamic learning. It later became a model for European universities, based on the principle of combining a place of prayer with that of higher learning, and having students live on the premises. The gown worn by the teachers of classical universities of Europe today is a variation of the dress used by the religious teachers at the al-Azhar, who sat on chairs by a column while students squatted on the floor in front of them.
The traditional teaching practice continues, as does the stress on teaching the Sharia [q.v.], theology, and Arabic [q.v.]. The university imparts instruction in the four schools of Sunni Islam [q.v.]. In the last quarter of the 19th century philosophy was added to the curriculum.
But it was not until two years after President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] had nationalized the university that a major reform of the curriculum was carried out. As a result, several non-traditional disciplines such as social sciences were introduced, and a hospital and medical faculty added. A supplementary campus was set up at Nasr City. But even the non-religious faculties stress the study of Islam [q.v.].
Women were admitted in 1962, but they continue to be instructed separately from men. The university attracts students from all over the world. But it does not admit Shias [q.v.] as students despite the fact that it was established by a Fatimid caliph who was a Shia. In 2010, the al-Azhar's 12 colleges in Cairo, eight in Asyut and 20 more in other cities had 293,425 students on their rolls.
Its rector is recognized as the highest Islamic authority in Egypt. Following the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States, its rector Muhammad Sayyid Tantaoui declared that their perpetrators were heretics.
After the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] in Februqary 2011, Shaikh Ismail Shaheen, deputy head of the al-Azhar University, called on the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to hand over authority to a civilian government. But a year later he opposed the call for civil disobedience and a general strike to compel the SCAF to do so immediately.
Aziz, Tariq (1936-): Iraqi politician Born Mikhail Yahunna of a Chaldean Catholic [q.v.] family in Mosul [q.v.], Aziz obtained a postgraduate degree from Baghdad University in the early 1950s. He joined the clandestine Baath Party [q.v.] soon after it was established in Iraq in 1950. After the overthrow of the monarchy in July 1958, he joined the al-Jumhuriya (Arabic: the Republic) as a journalist. Following the Baathist coup in March 1963 he became editor of the party's mouthpiece, al-Jamahir (Arabic: the Peoples ). Despite the ups and downs experienced by the Baath Party during the next five years, he remained loyal to the party. When it seized power for the second time in July 1968 it was better organized and led. It established a daily newspaper, al-Thawra (Arabic: the Revolution), in 1969, and Aziz was appointed editor.
Like many other young party members, he was attracted to Saddam Hussein [q.v.], the youthful leader. With Saddam's star rising, he moved closer to the center of power. In 1972 he was appointed to the highest ruling body, the Revolutionary Command Council. Two years later he was elected to the national (i.e., pan-Arab) high command of the Baath Party and was made minister of information. In 1977 he was elected to the regional (i.e., Iraqi) high command of the Baath, a position of greater import than a cabinet post. Saddam Hussein became president in July 1979 and appointed Aziz deputy prime minister. In April 1980 he was the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt by Islamic militants. In January 1981 he took up the additional job of foreign minister.
During the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) [q.v.] Tehran used Aziz's high office in Iraq as proof that the Iraqi regime was run by infidels. During the war he was active in maintaining cordial relations not only with the Soviet Union, the traditional ally of Iraq, but also with France and, from 1984 onwards, the United States. In the course of the Gulf crisis—triggered by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 and culminating in a war between Iraq and the U.S.-led coalition in January 1991—he emerged as the chief spokesman and negotiator for Iraq in the media and around the negotiating table. His fluency in English and experience as foreign minister proved useful assets to President Saddam Hussein. In March 1991 he reverted to being deputy premier, and was Iraq's top negotiator in its dealings with the United Nations, including the UN Special Commission (Unscom) on disarming Iraq [q.v.]. His repeated efforts to have the United Nations lift sanctions against Iraq failed in the absence of a clean bill of health from Unscom, a precondition for ending the sanctions, as stated in the UN Security Council Resolution 687 of April 1991 [q.v.]. However, as the roving ambassador of Saddam Hussein, he succeeded in improving Iraq's relation with the rest of the Arab world as well as China, France, and Russia.
Following the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in 2003 [q.v.], Aziz went underground, but soon surrendered to the occupying American authorities, who imprisoned him. They held him captive in Camp Cropper near the Baghdad airport.
In March 2009 the Iraqi High Tribunal found him guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to 15 years in jail. In August the Tribunal sentenced him to seven years in prison for forcibly displacing Kurds. In January 2010 he suffered a stroke. Nine months later the Tribunal handed him capital punishment for persecuting the Islamic parties. But, with the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani [q.v.] refusing to sign the execution order, he remained imprisoned.
Azzam, Abdullah (1941–89): Palestinian Islamist ideologue Born in Jenin, Palestine [q.v.], Azzam and his parents fled to Jordan [q.v.] during the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.]. After graduating in Islamic theology from Damascus University in 1966, he fought in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.]. He then pursued further religious education at al-Azhar University [q.v.], and obtained a doctorate in fiqh [q.v.], Islamic jurisprudence, in 1973. After teaching the Sharia [q.v.] briefly at Jordan University, Amman [q.v.], he moved to Saudi Arabia to lecture at the King Abdul Aziz University in Jiddah [q.v.]. His taped lectures became popular among pious young Saudis such as Osama bin Laden [q.v.]. Azzam held that jihad [q.v.] was compulsory for a true Muslim, and that only by engaging in jihad would the faithful be able to revive the Islamic umma [q.v.] under a caliph as a prelude to restoring the glory of Islam [ q.v .].
Attracted by the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan that got going in 1980, Azzam traveled to Pakistan, where he became a lecturer in Islamic studies at Islamic University in Islamabad. Once the scheme of recruiting Arab [q.v.] volunteers for the jihad, called mujahedin, initiated by bin Laden, had become established in the early 1980s, he moved to Peshawar, the base of bin Laden. Later bin Laden, who treated Azzam as his mentor, extended this program to non-Arab Muslims [q.v.].
In 1984 Azzam set up the Maktab al-Khidmat (Persian: Bureau of Service [to the Mujahedin ]) primarily as a reception center for the newly arrived recruits. During his worldwide travels to raise funds for the Maktab, he visited the al-Khifa Refugee Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.—in pursuance of the official U.S. policy of encouraging American Muslims to join the antiSoviet jihad in Afghanistan—in 1987. By then the Maktab started providing social welfare to the widows and orphans of the non-Afghan mujahedin.
Once the Soviets withdrew completely from Afghanistan in February 1989, Azzam claimed victory for the jihad. Seven months later a car bomb killed him and his two sons as they were entering their mosque for the Friday prayer. This shattered bin Laden, who then resolved to continue running Maktab al-Khidmat under the new title of al-Qaida [q.v.] but with a more ambitious aim of creating an international network of those who had participated in the anti-Soviet jihad.
B
Baalbek: Lebanese town Population: 82,600 (2010 est.) Baalbeck is the site of an ancient city dedicated to the worship of Baal or Bel, the sun god, its name in Greek being Heliopolis, Sun City. Its recorded history goes back to the time when Alexander the Great (r. 336–323 B.C.) conquered Greater Syria [q.v.] in 332 B.C. After Alexander's death Baalbek came under the rule of the Ptolemies, Seleucids, and Romans, when it thrived. It became part of the Islamic caliphate in 637 A.D., and this continued under different dynasties until the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1918. Major excavations around the turn of the 20th century revealed two Roman temple complexes: one dedicated to Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury; and the other to Bacchus.
Baath Party: see Baath Socialist Party.
Baath Socialist Party: pan-Arab political party Also known as Arab Baath Socialist Party, it emerged in March 1954 in Damascus [q.v.] from the amalgamation of the Arab Baath Party [q.v.] and the Arab Socialist Party [q.v.]. The party's basic principles were unity and freedom of the Arab nation within its homeland, and a belief in the special mission of the Arab nation to end colonialism and promote humanitarianism. To achieve these ends, the party had to be nationalist, populist, socialist, and revolutionary. While the party rejected the concept of class conflict, it favored land reform; public ownership of natural resources, transport, large-scale industry, and financial institutions; trade unions of workers and peasants; the co-option of workers into management; and acceptance of non-ex-ploitative private ownership and inheritance. It stood for a representative and constitutional form of government, and freedom of speech and association within the bounds of Arab nationalism [q.v.].
According to the Baath Socialist Party, Arabs [q.v.] formed a single nation currently divided into various regions (countries). Therefore, the party was headed by a National Command that covered the whole Arab world and served as the central executive authority. Under it were certain Regional Commands in those Arab states where the party was strong enough to justify the establishment of one. Below the Regional Commands were branches. These were composed of sections made up of divisions, each of which consisted of a few three-member cells. Until 1966 the National Command was based in Damascus. Following a split in it later that year, the breakaway group established itself first in Beirut [q.v.] and then, after the Baathist coup in Iraq in July 1968, in Baghdad [q.v.]. With the overthrow of the Baathist regime by the Anglo- American troops in 2003, the party ceased to exist.
Baath Socialist Party (Iraq): The Baath Socialist Party in Iraq, which started secretly as the Arab Baath Party [q.v.] in 1950, had 208 members in 1954. It held its first (clandestine) regional congress in late 1955, when it decided to cooperate with other nationalist groups. It played only a marginal role in the anti-royalist military coup in 1958. Despite being suppressed by the new ruler, Abdul Karim Qasim [q.v.], the party expanded. By the time the Baathists, joined by non-Baathist sympathizers, overthrew Qasim in February 1963, the party had about 1,000 active members and 15,000 sympathizers. Once in power, Baathist leaders fell out among themselves, allowing the non-Baathist Abdul Salam Arif [q.v.] to usurp power in November.
The failure of Iraqi President Abdul Rahman Arif [q.v.] to participate fully in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] was used by the Baathists to build up their popular support. In mid-July 1968 an alliance of Baathist leaders and non-Baathist military officers overthrew Arif, and a fortnight later the Baathists elbowed out the non-Baathist conspirators and seized total power. By then the party had 5,000 active members.
The governing five-member Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), headed by President Ahmad Hassan Bakr [q.v.], institutionalized the interweaving of the party with state institutions, and with secular society at large. The interim constitution of July 1970 formalized the party's supremacy by stating that the RCC, the highest state body, had the right to select its new members from the regional (i.e., national) leadership of the Baath. The party tightened its grip over the armed forces, police, and intelligence. Once Saddam Hussein [q.v.], who had earlier built up the party's militia, had acquired a seat on the RCC in November 1969, he busied himself with restructuring and strengthening the party. To broaden the popular base of the regime, the RCC sponsored the formation of the National Progressive and Patriotic Front [q.v.] in July 1973, with the Baath in the lead.
Iraq's war with Iran (1980–88) [q.v.] brought about a marked change in the Baath. In the name of increasing production, the importance of Baathist socialism was minimized and the private sector was encouraged to grow at the expense of the public sector. The concept of pan-Arabism [q.v.] was made subservient to the idea of Iraqi nationalism, which was used as the prime force to motivate citizens to join the war effort. During the Kuwait crisis of 1990–91 the party machine was put to full use to shore up support for the regime. After Iraq's defeat in the Second Gulf War (1991) [q.v.] that followed, the regime came to rely heavily on the loyalty and tenacity of the party's ranks and leaders. As UN economic sanctions against Iraq drastically lowered living standards, the government ensured the loyalty of party cadres by singling them out for economic perks. In the parliamentary elections of 1980, 1984, 1989, 1996, and 2000, the Baath won 183, 188, 138, 169, and 142 seats respectively out of 250. In 1996 and 2000, when Baghdad lacked control of the Kurdish Autonomous Region, President Saddam Hussein nominated the 30 seats allocated to the region.
After the 2003 Gulf War [q.v.], the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) outlawed the Baath Party and sacked all its members employed in the public sector jobs after dissolving the security forces and intelligence services of Iraq. Its leaders went underground. Operating either at home or from abroad, they actively assisted or participated in resistance against foreign occupation. Many of the middle rank Iraqi Baathists took refuge in Syria where they made peace with their erstwhile rivals. The post-CPA government that followed from 2004 onward carried out a thoroughgoing de-Baathification of society.
Baath Socialist Party (Jordan): Jordan's Baath Socialist Party evolved out of the Arab Baath Party [q.v.], which, founded secretly in 1948, received a boost from the incorporation of the West Bank [q.v.] into the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1950. It was part of the nationalist-leftist alliance, led by Suleiman Nabulsi [q.v.], which emerged as the leading parliamentary group in the 1956 election. Its leaders and a large majority of its members came from the urban educated class, with teachers and students forming its backbone. Later, despite a ban on all political activity in 1957, the Baath continued to exist clandestinely. From 1958 to 1961 it was helped by the United Arab Republic (UAR) [q.v.] to mount antimonarchist agitation. After the collapse of the UAR, the Syrian Baathists [q.v.] lent support to their Jordanian counterparts once they seized power in 1963. The loss of the West Bank to Israel in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] resulted in a dramatic weakening of the party in Jordan, from which it failed to recover.
Baath Socialist Party (Lebanon): Lebanon's Baath Socialist Party, which started as the Arab Baath Party [q.v.] in 1948, was hobbled by the enforcement of a law, passed in 1949, that banned parties linked to extraterritorial organizations. Yet in the tolerant climate created by the speedy end to the 1958 Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], the party was able to host the fourth national (i.e., pan-Arab) congress of the Baath Socialist Party in Beirut [q.v.] in 1959. It did so again in 1968 for the pro-Iraqi faction of the Baath. After the ban on groups with extraterritorial ties had been officially lifted in 1970, the party was able to function legally.
During the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] from April 1975 onward Syria fostered its faction of the Lebanese Baath, which set up its own militia. In July 1987 it joined the Unification and Liberation Front of seven nationalist and progressive parties. Two years later the party, led by Abdullah Amin, joined the Lebanese National Front of 14 Lebanese and four Lebanon-based Palestinian groups with a program to scrap the confessional system, end the Israeli presence, and defeat the forces of Gen. Michel Aoun [q.v.]. In the national unity government, formed in December 1990, Amin was given a post. He continued to lead the pro-Syrian group.
As part of the 8 March Alliance [q.v.], the Baath Party won one seat in the 2005 general election and two in the 2009 election.
Baath Socialist Party (North Yemen): Pioneering Baath Socialist Party cells were formed in North Yemen in 195556. After the end of the Yemeni Civil War [q.v.] in 1970, North Yemen began to receive substantial aid from the Baath-ruled Iraq, and this enabled the Iraqi Baathists [q.v.] to foster the party in North Yemen. President Ibrahim Hamdi [q.v.] allowed centrist and leftist groups, such as the Baath, to function semi-clandestinely (while maintaining the official ban on political parties) to help him counterbalance the pro-Saudi conservatives. In 1976 the Baath Party merged with the Democratic Party of Popular Unity, a leftist group, and the Revolutionary Democratic Party, consisting of former members of the Arab Nationalist Movement [q.v.], to establish the National Democratic Front [q.v.].
Baath Socialist Party (South Yemen): The first Baath Socialist Party cells were formed in South Yemen in 1955–56. After independence in 1967 the party was free to function openly. With South Yemen becoming a recipient of aid from the Baathist government of Iraq, the Baath's future seemed assured. But later, as the ruling National Liberation Front [q.v.] proceeded with its plans to bring all parties under the umbrella of the United Political Organization-National Front as a prelude to forming the Yemeni Socialist Party [q.v.] in 1978, Baath leaders reluctantly dissolved the group.
Baath Socialist Party (Syria): Syria's Arab Baath Party [q.v.], an urban-based group, turned militant by absorbing the predominantly peasant membership of the Arab Socialist Party [q.v.] and becoming the Arab Baath Socialist Party [q.v.]. However, after the founding of the United Arab Republic (UAR) [q.v.] in 1958, UAR President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] suppressed the Baath in Syria. A coup by Syrian military officers against Nasser's regime in 1961 resulted in Syria seceding from the UAR. This ran counter to the Baath Party's pan-Arabism [q.v.].
After the party had captured power in March 1963 it became divided into two factions: an anti-Marxist, chiefly civilian wing headed by Michel Aflaq [ q.v .], and a radical, primarily military wing led by Gen. Salah Jadid [q.v.]. The conflict between them was not resolved until early 1966 when the radicals seized total power and drove Aflaq into exile. What contributed greatly to their victory was the military support of Gen. Hafiz Assad [q.v.], the air force commander.
Following Syria's defeat in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], once again two factions emerged within the party. The political wing, led by Jadid, stressed combining economic development with a people's war to liberate the occupied Golan Heights [ q.v .]. The military faction, led by Assad, favored sticking with conventional warfare, and ending Syria's isolation by moderating its internal and external policies. Using his position as the defense minister, Assad curbed the political wing's influence in the military but he failed to wrest control of the party from the Jadid faction.
When, in September 1970, Assad refused to provide air support to the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] in its fight with the Jordanian army, a schism developed in the party and the government. A fortnight-long congress of the party in Damascus in November failed to resolve the conflict. When the gathering ended Assad mounted a bloodless coup and arrested top party and military leaders. He then took measures to moderate the party's policies and leadership. In March 1972 he made it share power with other groups in the National Progressive Front (NPF) [q.v.].
Assad's intervention in the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] in June 1976 on the side of the right-wing Maronites [q.v.] led to quiet rumblings in the Party. Aware of this, he tried to explain his stance to the nation. Aware too of the rising corruption within the party, Assad called a special congress in late 1979 to address the problem. It replaced two-thirds of the regional (i.e., national) command of the party, and appointed a commission to ensure that no party member used his position for personal gain. During the armed struggle by the opposition Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] in 1980–82 the party rallied round the regime. When Assad sided with Saudi Arabia and America during the Kuwait crisis of 1990–91 there were murmurs of disapproval among party ranks. But these died down as Assad consolidated Syria's position in Lebanon after the end of the civil war there in October 1990. In the 1994 general election the Baath Party, a member of the National Progressive Front, gained less than half of the 250 parliamentary seats. In the 1998 parliamentary election the party won 135 seats.
Under the presidency of Bashar Assad [q.v.], the Baath Party secured 134 seats in the general election of 2003, followed by 135 four years later. Because of the political unrest that arose as part of the Arab Spring [q.v.], the parliamentary election due in May 2011 was postponed to February 2012. It took place in May and was held under the new constitution in which the Baath-led NPF no longer enjoyed monopoly on power. The new Parties Law gave citizens the right to establish a political party outside the NPF so long as it was not based on religion, ethnicity, or tribal affiliation. Three new parties were licensed, followed by the licensing of the opposition Popular Front for Change and Liberation (PFCL). The official turnout for the parliamentary election was 51 percent. As expected, the Baath Socialist Party retained 134 seats, with the PFCL scoring a derisory five seats.
During the rule of Bashar Assad, party membership, almost mandatory for securing a job in government or a public sector enterprise, rose from 1.7 million to nearly 2 million in the spring of 2011. As a result of the civil protest followed by an armed rebellion, leading to a substantial dislocation of the population and a decline in the GDP, the number of party members fell.
Baathism and Baathists: see Baath Socialist Party.
Babis: religious sect The origin of Babis goes back to 20 May 1844, the day when Ali Muhammad Shirazi (1819— 1850)—a native of Shiraz [q.v.] who studied theology at the Shia [q.v.] centers of Najaf [q.v.] and Karbala [q.v.]—declared himself to be the bab (gate) to the Hidden Imam, the last of the 12 Imams of Twelver Shias [q.v.]. In his sermons he advanced a progressive concept of prophets, arguing that each prophet brought a new message superseding the previous one. Proclaiming himself a prophet, he published a new scripture, Bayan (Persian: Declaration), which contained laws superseding many in the Quran [q.v.]. This turned Muslim [q.v.] clergy against him. His followers, Babis, broke away from Islam [q.v.] in 1848. He was executed on 9 July 1850 in Tabriz [q.v.] for challenging a basic Islamic tenet that Muhammad was the last prophet of Allah. During the next few years the Iranian government suppressed the Babi movement, which later evolved into the Bahai movement [ q.v .].
Babylon: Iraqi town Population: 25,000 (2010 est.); Greek variant of Babilu, Akkadian, meaning Gateway of gods. One of the oldest places in the world and a leading city in ancient times, Babylon—situated by the Euphrates River [q.v.], which has since changed course—was the capital of Babylonia nearly four millenniums ago during the reign of Hammurabi (1792–50 B.C.), and retained that position for about a thousand years. Most of its ruins—situated near the Iraqi town of Hilleh and first excavated by German archeolo-gists from 1899 to 1914—have been restored to an approximation of what existed at the height of the city's prosperity under King Nebuchadnezzar (r. 605–562 B.C.). At that time it was the planet's largest settlement, covering 2500 acres/1000 hectares.
To immortalize himself Nebuchadnezzar ordered that each of the bricks laid to erect temples and such other buildings as the Ishtar Gate, the Temple of Marduk, the ziggurat, popularly called the Tower of Babel, which was the city's name in Arabic [q.v.] and Hebrew [q.v.], should carry the following words in cuneiform writing: "Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylonia, son of Nabopolassar, King of Babylonia, am I." After it fell to the Persians under Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C., it continued to be the leading city of the world. It surrendered to Alexander of Macedonia in 331 B.C.; and it was here, his planned capital, that he died eight years later in Nebuchadnezzar's palace.
Reconstruction of the ancient city began during the presidency of Saddam Hussein [q.v.], and included the 26-centuries-old Lion of Babylon, a black rock sculpture. Many of the newly baked bricks carried the inscription: "Built by Saddam Hussein son of Nebuchadnezzar to glorify Iraq." After the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], a presidential palace was constructed atop a neighboring hill. A plan to build a cable car line over Babylon was interrupted by the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in 2003. The occupying American forces built a military base, leveling sections of the ancient site to build a landing area for helicopters and parking lots for heavy vehicles. Also, in the chaos that followed the invasion, some antiquities were lost due to looting. It was only in May 2009 that the restored Babylon was opened to tourists again.
al-Badr, Muhammad (1926–96): ruler of North Yemen, 1962 As the eldest son of Imam Ahmad ibn Yahya [q.v.], Badr assisted his father in administering North Yemen and fulfilling specific assignments. In 1955, when Imam Ahmad faced an armed revolt by two of his brothers, Badr mobilized the Bakil and Hashid tribal confederations and saved his father's throne. He was named crown prince. He encouraged his father to sign a friendship and trade treaty with the Soviet Union. In 1956 he undertook a tour of the Soviet bloc countries, and this led to a series of friendship and commercial agreements between North Yemen and several Communist states. During his father's trip abroad for medical treatment in 1960, Badr introduced some of the reforms promised by him, only to see them rescinded on his father's return.
After succeeding his father on 18 September 1962, Badr tried to reduce growing opposition by granting an immediate amnesty to political detainees. But eight days later the commander of the royal guard, Brigadier-General Abdullah Sallal [q.v.], staged a coup against him. He managed to flee to the north where he rallied the tribes against the new regime in Sanaa [q.v.]. The resulting civil war [q.v.] lasted until 1970. Since the rapprochement between the royalist and republican camps, brokered by Saudi Arabia, was based on the acceptance of a republic in North Yemen, Badr went into self-exile in Britain.
Baghdad: capital of Iraq Population: 6.15 million (2011 est.). Baghdad is a derivative of the Persian [q.v.] compound Bag "garden" + dad "given," meaning "Given garden." Situated by the Tigris River [q.v.], Baghdad has attracted traders and travelers since the Sumerian age (ca fifth millennium B.C.). Its recorded history, however, dates back to 763 A.D., when it was founded by the second Abbasid caliph, Mansour (r. 754–75 A.D.), who made it his capital. It reached its pinnacle of prosperity as a commercial center under Caliph Haroon al-Rashid (r. 786–809 A.D.), a condition well captured in many episodes of the classic The Thousand and One Nights. The city suffered a setback in 836 A.D. when the Abbasid capital was moved to Samarra [q.v.]. This lasted until 892 A.D. Baghdad suffered severely from the invasion of the Mongols in 1258, which ended the Abbasid rule. It faced a similar fate twice more—in 1400 under Tamerlane and in 1524 under Shah Ismail of Persia. When it came under Ottoman suzerainty in 1638 its population was less than 15,000.
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, and the subsequent creation of Iraq by the amalgamation of Mesopotamia [q.v.] and the province of Mosul [q.v.], Baghdad was made the Iraqi capital. Since then the petroleum wealth of the country has had an invigorating effect on the city. Besides commerce, it developed industry, transport, and financial services. Funded by a dramatic rise in oil revenues in the mid-1970s, modernization gathered pace. During the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) [q.v.], Baghdad was an intermittent target of Iranian aerial bombing and ground-to-ground missile attacks. During the six-week Second Gulf War (1990–91) [q.v.], it suffered considerable damage. Most was repaired within a decade.
A more extensive destruction came during the Anglo-American invasion of 2003 [q.v.], due to the continuous aerial attacks on the city, followed by the arson and looting of almost all public buildings by mobs. Due to the intersectarian violence between Sunnis [q.v.] and Shias [q.v.], which reached a peak in 2007, concrete walls were built to separate neighborhoods. Since then the security situation has improved.
Among its tourist offerings are the Mustansiriya Law College and the Abbasid Palace, built in the second quarter of the 13th century, and the Museum of Antiquities with its unique collection of relics from the Mesopotamian civilization.
Baghdad Pact (1955): see Central Treaty Organization
Bahais: religious faith The founder of the Bahai faith was Hussein Ali (1817–1892), a Shia [q.v.] native of Tehran [q.v.] and half-brother of Sobh-e Azal, the chosen successor of Ali Muhammad Shirazi, the founder of Babism [q.v.]. A few years after Shirazi's execution in 1850, Hussein Ali became the leader of the exiled Babi community of Baghdad [q.v. ]. In 1863 he declared himself Baha Ullah/Bahaollah (Arabic: Glory of Allah), a manifestation of God, whose arrival had been predicted by his predecessor, Shirazi, the Bab. As almost all Babis followed Baha Ullah, they came to be called Bahais.
Baha Ullah authored major works, including The Most Holy Book and The Book of Certitude , setting out the laws and explaining the nature of God and religion, as well as numerous meditations, prayers, sermons, and letters. His eldest son, Abdul Baha (1844–1921), buried in Haifa [q.v.], is regarded by Bahais to be the infallible interpreter of Baha Ullah's teachings.
By the time of Baha Ullah's death in 1892 in Acre [q.v.], Bahaism had evolved as a pacifist faith without clergy, its beliefs including unity of all religions, equality of sexes, and spartan living. Its temples are open to people of all religions, and Bahais are encouraged to open temples and build schools, hospitals, and orphanages around them. Bahaism requires its followers to be monogamous, fast for 19 days in a year, and offer daily prayers. The Bahai community governs itself through elected bodies, starting at the local level and graduating to the global, with the Universal House of Justice, based in Haifa, at the top, administering the Bahai commonwealth. The Bahai calendar, which commences on the day of the spring equinox, consists of 19 months with 19 days each, plus four intercalary days.
Among other things, Baha Ullah said that a religion continuously evolves. Since this ran counter to the traditional view of Islam [q.v.] as the last, most perfect, revealed Word of Allah, transcribed as the Quran [ q.v .], the clergy in Iran declared Bahaism heretical. Nonetheless it attracted an increasing number of followers. Responding to a campaign against them in the early 1930s, Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] closed down Bahai schools. During the anti-Bahai campaign in 1955 Tehran's governor personally seized the local Bahai spiritual center. But the Shah resisted demands to outlaw Bahaism and purge the government of Bahais, estimated to be 10,000 to one million strong. When the Universal House of Justice in Haifa complained to the United Nations on human rights grounds, the Iranian representative at the UN claimed there were no Bahais in Iran. Yielding to the pressure of the Islamic revolutionary movement (1977–78), Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] forced his court minister, Amir Abbas Hoveida [q.v.], to resign, and dismissed his own Bahai physician as well as four Bahai generals.
After the founding of the Islamic republic in Iran in 1979, Bahais faced persecution and closure of their temples. Most of them left, and those who remained limited themselves to prayers at home. In 2010, there were an estimated 300,000 Bahais.
Outside the Middle East, Bahai centers exist in the United States, Germany, India, Uganda, Australia, and Panama. According to the Bahai World Center, in 2010 there were 7.7 million Bahais globally, with 1.8 million in India.
Bahrain:
OFFICIAL NAME: Kingdom of Bahrain
CAPITAL: Manama [q.v.]
AREA: 273 sq. mi./707 sq. km
POPULATION: 1,234,571 (2011 census): Citizens 47.5 percent; Noncitizens 52.5 percent.
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (nominal): U.S. $26.484 billion (2011 est.); per capita, $23,465
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (Purchasing Power Parity): U.S. $31 billion (2011 est.); per capita, $27,000
NATIONAL CURRENCY: Bahraini Dinar (BHD) 1 BHD=U.S. $2.65 = £1.68 = € 2.01 ( 2011)
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: constitutional monarchy; cabinet nominated by the ruler.
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Arabic [q.v.]
OFFICIAL RELIGION: Islam [q.v.]
ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS: Bahrain is divided into five governorates.
CONSTITUTION: The ruler of Bahrain became a sovereign in August 1971 with the abrogation of Bahrain's 1892 treaty with Britain, allowing the latter to conduct its external affairs and defense. The constitution, drafted by a partly elected constituent assembly, specified a National Assembly of 42, with 30 deputies to be elected on a limited franchise. The first Assembly, elected in December 1973, was dissolved in August 1975 and the constitution suspended. A quarter-century later, the Supreme National Committee (SNC) appointed by the ruler, recommended a transition to a two-chamber parliament with four-year tenure—to be called the National Assembly—consisting of the 40-member lower house of the Council of Representatives (Arabic: Majlis an Nuwab) elected on universal suffrage, and the 40-member upper house of the Consultative Council (Arabic: Majlis al-Shura ), nominated by the ruler. In legislative terms, the two chambers were a par. But a joint session of the National Assembly was to be chaired by the speaker of the Consultative Council. The SNC's proposal was endorsed by a popular referendum in February 2001,and a new constitution was promulgated in 2002.
CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL: Established in 1992, the fully nominated Consultative Council, with tenure of four years, was an advisory body, lacking legislative powers. Its initial size of 30 members was raised to 40 in the new constitution of 2002.
ETHNIC COMPOSITION: (2011) Bahraini and other Arabs 51.4 percent, Asians 45.6 percent, other 3 percent.
EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY: Executive authority rests with the ruler, called the Emir. As head of a council of ministers appointed by the Emir, the prime minister is in charge of running the day-to-day administration. Four-fifths of the 25-strong cabinet belongs to the ruling family.
High officials:
Head of state Shaikh Hamad ibn Isa II al-Khalifa, [q.v.] 1999-
Crown prince Shaikh Salman ibn Hamad al-Khalifa, [q.v.] 1999-
Prime minister: Shaikh Khalifa ibn Salman al-Khalifa, 1971 -
Speaker of the Consultative Council: Ali bin Saleh al-Saleh, 2010-
President of the Council of Representatives: Khalifa bin Ahmad al-Dhahrani, 2010-
HISTORY (SINCE CA 1900): The al-Khalifa dynasty, which has ruled the 33-island archipelago of Bahrain since 1783, signed a series of treaties with Britain in 1861, 1880, and 1892, turning Bahrain into a British protectorate and the base of British residency in the Persian Gulf [q.v.]. In 1932 Bahrain became the first Gulf territory to discover oil. The oil workers' efforts to gain trade union rights in the late 1930s failed.
Bahrainis showed their rising political consciousness by staging anti-British demonstrations during the 1956 Suez War [q.v.], when Britain, France, and Israel together attacked Egypt. After the accession of Shaikh Isa II al-Khalifa [q.v.] in 1961 there were demonstrations for political reform. But this protest and an oil workers' strike in 1965 were in vain. It was not until 1970 that the ruler compromised by appointing a 12-member advisory Council of State. As the British prepared to leave in 1971, he transformed the council into a cabinet and charged it with framing a constitution.
Britain transferred its Royal Navy base HMS Juffiar in Manama to the Pentagon after the ruler had agreed to lease it to the United States. The Pentagon renamed the facility as first the Administrative Support Unit Bahrain, and then the Naval Support Activity Bahrain. In the coming decades it would become home to the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the U.S. Fifth Fleet, and the primary base in the region for the naval and marine activities in support of Washington's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Severe rioting and strikes in March and September 1972 led Shaikh Isa to concede a 42-member constituent assembly, half-elected and half-nominated, to draft a constitution. These elections were held on a limited franchise in December 1972. The constituent assembly submitted a constitution to the Emir in June 1973. He approved it. Elections to the National Assembly were held on a limited franchise in December, but the Emir dissolved the parliament and suspended the constitution in August 1975.
With 70 percent of its nationals being Shia [q.v.], Bahrain was most affected by the Islamic revolution in Shia-majority Iran in 1979. When the Islamic opposition demanded that Bahrain be declared an Islamic republic, Shaikh Isa II, a Sunni [q.v.], reacted with a heavy hand. In 1981 Bahrain became a founder-member of the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.]. Early the next year the government arrested 60 people on the charge of plotting a coup. In the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.] Bahrain sided with Iraq. During the Kuwait crisis (1990–91) Bahrain took a firm pro-Kuwaiti line.
After the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], Bahrain signed a 10-year defense agreement with the U.S. Domestically, to meet the rising demand for reform, the Emir appointed a 30-member advisory council in late 1992 which held its inaugural session in January 1993. This proved insufficient, and in December 1994 widespread anti-regime demonstrations broke out, with protestors belonging to liberal, leftist, and Islamist factions calling for the restoration of the dissolved parliament. Government repression followed, but violent protest, inspired partly by the Islamic Liberation Front of Bahrain and the London-based Bahrain Freedom Movement, revived in March, leading to large-scale arrests and curfews. By April 1995 the disturbances and the state action had led to the deaths of 16 people and 1,600 arrests. In July the ruler agreed to let Washington base its Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
His decision in September 1996 to enlarge the Consultative Council, and let half of its 40 members be elected indirectly through professional and cultural organizations, did not satisfy the opposition demanding a return to the 1973 constitution. The number of people killed in arson attacks and bombings rose to 30. In 1998 the State Security Court imposed heavy sentences on convicted political dissidents.
The situation changed in March 1999 when Crown Prince Shaikh Hamad became the ruler after the death of his father. He lifted the 25-year-old state of emergency, reshuffled the cabinet, and released over 300 political detainees. When, in July, the State Security Court sentenced the leading oppositionist, Shaikh Abdul Amir al-Jamri, to 10 years' imprisonment, the new ruler pardoned him. But, in December, while promising to hold local elections on the basis of universal suffrage, he failed to mention the timetable.
A year later, the Supreme National Committee, appointed by him, drafted a National Action Charter, which recommended a constitutional monarchy and a bicameral parliament. A referendum, held in February 2001, endorsed the National Action Charter. Shaikh Hamad declared Bahrain to be a constitutional monarchy. During that year, Shaikh Hamad renewed the defense agreement with the U.S. for 10 years. In 2002, he secretly extended that agreement by another five years, a fact that became known only in September 2011.
In the 2002 election to the 40-member Council of Representatives, boycotted by the main opposition groups, 21 seats were won by secularists or moderate Islamists [q.v.] or pro-government independents. The participation of the religious parties in the 2006 general election altered the political environment. Due to its close links with the Ulema Council of the Shia school, al-Wefaq won 17 of the 18 seats it ran for. On the Sunni side their two parties together garnered 13 seats. So three-quarters of the 40 elected members of parliament (MPs) belonged to religious parties. With that the influence of clerics in politics rose. The most prominent among them was Shaikh Isa Qasim, who had returned from exile in Iran in 1990. He became the spiritual guide of al-Wefaq and the leading authority on such issues as codification of personal law and participating in or boycotting elections.
In 2008, Bahrain was named the world's fastest growing financial center by the City of London's Global Financial Centers Index. Bahrain's banking and financial services sector, particularly Islamic banking, have benefited from the regional boom.
Starting in late 2009, Shias in rural areas staged regular protests, demanding the release of dozens of political prisoners. Inspired by the events of the Arab Spring [q.v.] in Tunisia and Egypt, from 14 February 2011 onward Shias started demonstrating against discrimination in housing, education, and employment, and their exclusion from command positions in the military and security forces. King Hamad responded with a crackdown in which 30 demonstrators were killed. After bloody clashes, protestors occupied the Pearl Square, where they stayed in tents. In mid-March the monarch declared a state of emergency, which empowered the security forces to dissolve any organization they considered a danger to the state. With the direct involvement of 1,100 Saudi soldiers, the monarch crushed the protest, with the security forces demolishing the 300-ft. sculpture topped by a giant pearl at the center of the Pearl Square. Over 1,400 people were arrested and more than 4,000 were sacked from their jobs. The National Security Courts handed out stiff jail sentences to protestors. The U.S. issued tempered criticisms of the crackdown but did not press for political reform. On 1 June the ruler lifted the state of emergency.
He appointed a five-member Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) of internationally reputed jurists and legal experts. In its report in November it concluded that the government had used excessive force and that there were many instances of torture of the detainees. It recommended reorganization of the National Security Agency (NSA). A subsequent royal decree termed the NSA an intelligence-gathering agency without powers of law enforcement and arrest.
In January 2012 King Hamad announced amending the constitution to authorize the Parliament to approve cabinets proposed by him and to question and remove cabinet ministers. The opposition leaders said Parliament would still not have the power to question or dismiss Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa ibn Salman al-Khalifa, who had been in office since 1971. Overall, in their view, the amendments did not meet the aspirations of the people who took to the streets periodically for months to demand democratic transformation.
LEGISLATURE: With the introduction in 2002 of a bicameral National Assembly—the elected lower house called Council of Representatives and the fully-appointed Consultative Council on a par with it—the legislative powers reverted to it. Four major opposition parties, religious and secular, boycotted the 2002 election because they objected to the ruler placing the fully nominated Consultative Council on a par with the Council of Representatives. In that election a majority of the seats went to progovernment, liberal, and leftist members.
On the eve of the 2006 election, al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, a Shia [q.v.] Islamist group and al-Amal al-Islami, a radical Shia Islamist faction, formed an alliance. This led two Sunni [q.v.] Islamist groups—the Salafi [q.v.] al-Asalah (Arabic: of noble descent) and al-Minbar Islamic Society—to follow suit. Also, the leftist National Democratic Action, known as Waad, ended its boycott. The voter turnout was 72 percent, far above the 56 percent for the 2002 election. The result was: al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, 17; al-Minbar,7; al-Asalah, 6; National Democratic, 1; pro-government, 9. With one exception, all the sitting liberal and leftist members lost their seats. (al-Wefaq, led by Shaikh Ali Salman, is also known as the Islamic National Accord Association.) The result of the general election held in October 2010 was: al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, 18; al-Asalah, 3; al-Minbar Islamic Society, 2; and Independents, 17.
Following the killing of seven protestors demanding political reform in demonstrations starting on 14 February 2011, the 18 Wefaq members resigned their parliamentary seats. When elections to these 18 seats were held in September-October, Wefaq boycotted the election. Four seats were uncontested. For the remaining 14 seats, the voter turnout was 17 percent, and these were won by pro-government candidates.
RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION (2011 est.): Muslim, 81 percent; Christian, 9 percent; Hindu, 9 percent; other, 1 percent.
Bahrain Freedom Movement: Bahraini opposition group known in Arabic as Movement for Free Islamic Bahrain (Arabic, Harkat al-Ahrar al-Bahrain al-Islamiya ) Based in London, the Bahrain Freedom Movement (BFM) actively helped trigger and sustain Bahrain's five-year-long intifada (1994–99) which was backed by the country's liberals, leftists, and Islamists [q.v.]. They demanded that the suspended 1973 constitution be restored and its elected parliament revived. The Bahrain Freedom Movement was led by Saeed Shehabi, a member of Bahrain's al-Wefaq Islamic National Society [q.v.]. Following political reform by King Hamad [q.v.] after his accession, which resulted in amnesty to opposition activists, many BFM members returned home. Among those who did not was Shehabi. He resigned from al-Wefaq when it decided to participate in the 2006 general election. The BFM maintains the Voice of Bahrain website, which was blocked for several years by the Bahraini government.
Bahrain National Liberation Front: see Popular Bloc (Bahrain).
Bakdash, Khalid (1912–95): Syrian politician Born into a Kurdish [q.v.] family in Damascus [q.v.], Bakdash obtained a law degree at Damascus University. Politically active while in his teens, he became the secretary-general of the Communist Party of Syria and Lebanon [q.v.] in 1936. He was jailed by the French Mandate. On his release he traveled to Moscow and enrolled at the Communist International College. After Syrian independence in 1946 he returned to Damascus. By the early 1950s he and Akram Hourani were acknowledged to be among the country's most able politicians. In 1954 he gained a seat in parliament, and became the first parliamentary deputy in the Arab world elected based on universal suffrage.
During the preliminary talks between Egypt and Syria on unity in 1957, Bakdash proposed a federal tie. When this was rejected, he and other Communist leaders, anticipating the dissolution of all political parties in Syria, went into self-exile in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He called for Syria's secession from the United Arab Republic [q.v.]. But when this happened in September 1961 the new Syrian rulers refused to allow him or any other Communist leader to return home. The Baathists [q.v.], who seized power in March 1963, maintained a similar stance, although the radical Baathists' victory in February 1966 changed the situation somewhat. When Bakdash returned to Damascus in the autumn the regime reluctantly accepted his presence on the condition that he would not hold meetings or make speeches.
In 1968 he was replaced as secretary-general of the Communist Party of Syria [q.v.]. Four years later President Hafiz Assad [ q.v .] implemented Bakdash's proposal to create a broad-based National Progressive Front [q.v.]. With his election as the party's secretary-general in 1974, he resumed his position as the Arab world's most senior Communist leader. In 1986, he disagreed with the deputy general secretary Yusuf Faisal when the latter backed the reformist policies of Mikhail Gorbachev, the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Faisal left to lead a breakaway Communist Party.
After Bakdash's death his widow, Wisal Farha, was elected the main party's general secretary.
Bakhtiar, Shahpur (1914–91): Iranian politician; prime minister, 1979 Born into a family belonging to the powerful Bakhtiari tribe, Bakhtiar finished his higher education at Paris University in 1940 with a doctorate in international law and political science. He enrolled in the French army to fight Nazi Germany. On returning to Iran in 1946 he took up a job with the Labor ministry and served for two years. He joined the Iran Party, a secular nationalist group, which in 1949 combined with two other organizations to form the National Front [q.v.], led by Muhammad Mussadiq [q.v.]. He became deputy minister of Labor in the Mussadiq government from 1951 to 1952.
After the downfall of Mussadiq in August 1953 and the suspension of normal political activity, Bakhtiar turned to practicing law. This brought him into conflict with the regime, especially after the establishment of the secret police, Savak, in 1957. He was detained briefly in 1961.
As the anti-government protest gathered pace in the autumn of 1977, he and Karim Sanjabi, another lawyer, revived the National Front. Rattled by the rising revolutionary movement, Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.], anxious to co-opt a politician not associated with his regime but acceptable to the United States, turned to Bakhtiar. On 29 December 1978 he agreed to form a government on the (unwritten) condition that the Shah would go abroad for holiday and that on his return he would act as a constitutional monarch. He tried to reach a compromise with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], then in Paris, but the latter declared his government illegal. To gain popular support, Bakhtiar released all political prisoners and promised to disband Savak. But he failed in his gamble, and the National Front expelled him. When on 11 February 1979 military leaders declared themselves neutral in the standoff between Bakhtiar and Khomeini, now heading a parallel government in Iran, he went underground before escaping to Paris.
He was the mastermind behind a failed coup attempt in July 1980 against the Islamic regime in Iran. He then cooperated with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] as the latter prepared for an invasion of Iran in September. He founded the monarchist National Resistance Movement in 1982, and remained a loyal supporter of the young pretender, Reza Cyrus Pahlavi. After an unsuccessful attempt on his life in 1980, Bakhtiar was given official protection by the French government. Despite this, he and his male secretary were assassinated in August 1991. One of the assassins, Ali Vakili Rad, was arrested in Switzerland in 1992, tried in France, and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1994. He was freed in 2010 in exchange for the release of Clotilde Reiss, a French researcher, arrested a year earlier in Tehran [q.v.] on charges of spying.
Bakr, Ahmad Hassan (1912–82): Iraqi officer and politician; president, 1968—79 Born into the al-Tikriti clan from Tikrit, Bakr enrolled into the army in 1938 and graduated from the Baghdad Military Academy four years later. He secretly joined the Baath Party [q.v.] in 1956 when he was a colonel. He was a leader of the Free Officers Organization, which staged the republican coup in July 1958. A pan-Arabist [q.v.], he wanted a union between Iraq and Egypt and sided with Abdul Salam Arif [q.v.] against Abdul Karim Qasim [q.v.]. With Qasim emerging as the sole leader, Bakr lost his army post. He played an important part in the Baathist coup against Qasim in February 1963 and became prime minister, securing a promotion to major-general. At the sixth national congress of the Baath Party in October, he was elected to the national command. After the dismissal of his Baathist government by President Abdul Salam Arif in November, he continued as deputy premier for a few months.
His elevation to secretary-general of the Baath regional command in 1965 ended the internecine party divisions. This allowed the party and its military adherents to concentrate on regaining power. In mid-July 1968 Bakr headed the group of Baathist and non-Baathist officers that overthrew President Abdul Rahman Arif [q.v.] and made him president. A fortnight later he ousted his erstwhile non-Baathist ally, Premier Colonel Abdul Razzaq Nayif. Besides being the new prime minister, Bakr was chairman of the ruling Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) and the military chief of staff. In 1969 he became field-marshal.
In conjunction with Saddam Hussein [q.v.], a close relative, he focused on widening his power base in the officer corps. In the internecine party divisions, he tried to play a mediating role which, given his seniority, suited him. He reached an accord with rebellious Kurds [q.v.] in 1970, and three years later he inaugurated a broad-based National Progressive and Patriotic Front [q.v.]. But his strategy for countering the growing discontent among Shias [q.v.] by conciliating Shia dissidents and adjusting party ideology to the rising tide of Islamic revival did not prevail. Saddam Hussein, the rising star, overruled it.
The sudden move by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] in late 1977 to make unilateral peace with Israel led the regimes of Bakr and President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] of Syria to bury the hatchet. A visit by Assad to Baghdad [q.v.] in October 1978 set the scene for the unification of their republics. Sensing that Saddam Hussein was not genuinely interested in a union, Bakr sent a secret message to Assad during his visit to Baghdad in mid-June 1979 to expedite the unity negotiations. Informed of Bakr's move, Saddam Hussein acted against him swiftly. A month later, on the eve of the 11th anniversary of the Baathist revolution, Saddam Hussein secured Bakr's resignation from all his governmental and party posts on "health grounds." He spent his last years under house arrest in ignominy.
Balfour Declaration (1917): Balfour Declaration is the title given to an important policy statement on Palestine [q.v.] by Britain in November 1917 in the form of a letter from the British foreign secretary, Arthur James (later Lord) Balfour, in the coalition government of Prime Minister David Lloyd George, to a prominent British Zionist [q.v.] leader, Lord Rothschild (born Lionel Walter ):
Foreign Office
2nd November 1917
Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you on behalf of His Majesty's Government the following declaration of our sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet. "His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country." I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
Yours sincerely,
(Arthur James Balfour)
The Balfour Declaration applied to Palestine, which then lacked geographical or political existence with defined borders. In the Ottoman Empire, Palestine was scattered over the sanjak (Turkish: county or district) of Jerusalem and the vilayat (Turkish: province) of Beirut, Jerusalem [q.v.] and its suburbs being ruled directly from Istanbul.
The Balfour Declaration arose out of the convergence of Britain's imperial aims with Zionist aspirations, which came to the fore during World War I (June 1914-November 1918), when Britain was pitted against the Central Powers, consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. The January 1915 Ottoman offensive against the Suez Canal [q.v.] across the Sinai Peninsula [q.v.] made London realize the strategic importance of Palestine in defending the Suez Canal, Britain's lifeline to its Indian Empire, and resulted in its resolve to control Palestine after winning the war.
In a memorandum to the cabinet in March 1915, Sir Herbert Samuel (later appointed British High Commissioner for Palestine), a Zionist, proposed establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine as a cornerstone of the British policy in the Middle East. Until then the world Jewry, concentrated in Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the United States had by and large remained neutral in the war. With the U.S. joining the conflict in April 1917 on the Allied side, the role of the American Jewry became important. In order to gain its active cooperation the pro-Zionists in the British government, led by Prime Minister Lloyd George and Foreign Minister Balfour, in September 1917 proposed backing the Zionist cause, but failed to win cabinet approval. They then sought the advice of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, known to be a pro-Zionist. Wilson replied that the time was inopportune for anything more than a statement of general sympathy for the Zionists. The next month, responding to Zionist pleas and rumors of Germany's wooing the Zionist movement, Lloyd George and Balfour again broached the subject with Wilson. After some hesitation he approved a draft statement which, after minor editing, was issued by Balfour on 2 November 1917 in the form of a letter to Lord Rothschild. Endorsed by the chief Allied Powers, it was included in the San Remo Agreement of 1920 [q.v.] and incorporated into the British Mandate over Palestine authorized by the League of Nations in July 1922.
Baluchis: nomadic community with a tribal structure Baluchis are to be found in present-day Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Their recorded history goes back to the 10th century A.D. Adherents of Sunni Islam [q.v.], they are now a settled community in Iran, concentrated in the Sistan and Baluchistan province and forming 2.5 percent of the national population. After the Islamic revolution in 1979, their demand that the Sunni codes of the Islamic law [q.v.] be recognized on a par with the Shia [q.v.] code was accepted by the Assembly of Experts [q.v.] charged with drafting the constitution.
Bani-Sadr, Abol Hassan (1933-): Iranian politician; president, 1980—81 Born into a religious family in Hamadan, Bani-Sadr pursued his university education in Tehran [q.v.], specializing in economics, sociology, and the Sharia [q.v.]. He was sympathetic to the National Front [q.v.]. For participating in an anti-government demonstration in June 1963, he served a four-month jail sentence. He won a scholarship to Sorbonne University in Paris. After gaining a doctorate in sociology and economics, he stayed on in the French capital.
During a visit to Najaf [q.v.], Iraq, in 1972 for his father's funeral he had a meeting with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.]. He then strengthened his ties with the Islamic Student Society in Paris. When Khomeini arrived in Paris in early October 1978 from Iraq, Bani-Sadr became a member of the Ayatollah's inner circle of advisers. On his return home with Khomeini six months later, he emerged as Iran's chief architect of economic policies. Through his newspaper, Inqilab-e Islami (Persian: Islamic Revolution), he urged radical policies and was glad to see the government of Mahdi Bazargan [q.v.] fall in early November 1979.
In the new cabinet he became minister of economy and finance. As a member of the Assembly of Experts [q.v.], he succeeded in getting a bill of rights incorporated into the constitution. By winning 75 percent of the vote in the presidential election in January 1980, albeit with Khomeini's backing, Bani-Sadr enhanced his stature. Khomeini appointed him commander-in-chief of the military.
With the outbreak of hostilities with Iraq in September 1980, his handling of the war came under the critical scrutiny of leaders of the Islamic Republican Party [q.v.], the majority party in parliament, which was at odds with him. He also clashed with Premier Muhammad Ali Rajai [q.v.], who had been foisted on him by parliament. Initially Khomeini tried to mediate between the two sides, but as Bani-Sadr began to court the Mujahedin-e Khalq [q.v.], a party detested by the Ayatollah, he turned against Bani-Sadr. On 20 June 1981 the Iranian parliament found him incompetent and Khomeini dismissed him as president. He went underground and then, along with Masoud Rajavi [q.v.], the Mujahedin-e Khalq chief, escaped to France.
The National Resistance Council (NRC) [q.v.], formed by Bani-Sadr and Rajavi, masterminded a successful campaign of assassination and terror. But when Rajavi began to collaborate with Iraq, which was still engaged in a bloody war with Iran, Bani-Sadr broke with Rajavi in April 1984 and quit the NRC. He continued his political activities, independently from Versailles, near Paris. He was a vocal critic of the disputed presidential election of June 2009. He argued that the spontaneous uprising had cost the regime its political legitimacy, and then its religious legitimacy when, following Ayatollah Ali Khamanei's [q.v.] dire threats to the protestors, the government had carried out a bloody crackdown.
In The Economics of Divine Unity, published before the revolution, Bani-Sadr offered an exposition of Islamic economics. Rejecting capitalism and Soviet socialism, he argued that Islamic teachings were a means to a just and equitable society. In 1991, he encapsulated his later political experiences in My Turn to Speak: Iran, the Revolution and Secret Deals with the U.S.
al-Banna, Hassan (1906–49): Egyptian Islamic leader Born into a religious family in the Nile delta town of Muhammadiya, Banna graduated from Cairo Teachers College. He became a primary school teacher in Is-mailiya, capital of the British-occupied Suez Canal [q.v.] Zone. An avid reader of al-Manar (Arabic: The Lighthouse), edited by Muhammad Rashid Rida, he was much influenced by the writings of this Islamic thinker. In 1928 he established al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.], as a youth club, its main stress being on moral and social reform through communication, information, and propaganda. It then turned into a political-religious movement, which argued that Islam [q.v.] was a total ideology, offering an all-pervasive system to regulate every detail of the political, economic, social, and cultural life of believers. Based in Cairo [q.v.] since 1933, and led by the charismatic, spartan Banna, the Brotherhood spawned 500 branches by 1940, drawing its support from students, civil servants, artisans, petty traders, and middle-income peasants. After World War II, as the anti-British struggle escalated in Egypt, the popularity of the Brotherhood, with its strong anti-imperialist credentials, soared. In 1946, Banna claimed a Brotherhood membership of 500,000.
He held the Egyptian political establishment solely responsible for the Arab debacle in the 1948 Palestine War [q.v.]. The Brotherhood's secret cells started to engage in terrorist and subversive activities. Prime Minister Mahmoud Fahmi Nuqrashi retaliated by banning the Brotherhood in December 1948. Three weeks later Nuqrashi was assassinated by a Brotherhood militant. This led to further repression of the organization. On 12 February 1949 Banna was killed by the government's secret service agents in Cairo. He left behind his memoirs as well as numerous published speeches and articles.
al-Banna, Sabri (1937–2002): Palestinian leader Born into a prosperous, plantation-owning family in Jaffa [q.v.], Banna and his family fled to the al-Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip [q.v.] after the establishment of Israel in May 1948. They then moved to the West Bank [q.v.] city of Nablus [q.v.]. While working as an electrician's assistant, Banna joined the Baath Party of Jordan [q.v.] in 1955. After the failed coup in 1957 against the regime of King Hussein [q.v.], the Baath Party was suppressed. Banna moved to Riyadh [q.v.], where he established an electrical business and joined a secret Fatah [q.v.] cell. In 1967 he was expelled from Saudi Arabia for participating in a demonstration following the Arab defeat in the Six-Day War [q.v.].
His trading company in Amman [q.v.] became a useful conduit for Fatah. In 1969, when he was a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, Banna was appointed Fatah's representative in Sudan. In July 1970 he was transferred to Baghdad [q.v.] as Fatah's envoy. There he began to echo the views of the Iraqi regime rather than represent Fatah's interests. Soon he started to work for the Iraqi secret service. Following his criticism of the decision of the Palestine National Council [q.v.] in mid-1974 to set up a "national authority" on any "liberated" territory in Palestine [q.v.], Banna was expelled from Fatah. In November he was found guilty by a Fatah court, based in Beirut [q.v.], of plotting to kill a Fatah leader, Mahmoud Abbas (nom de guerre: Abu Mazin) [q.v.], and was sentenced to death in absentia.
Encouraged by Iraq, he set up his own group—Fatah: The Revolutionary Council [q.v.]. The group was generously funded by Iraq, which used it to settle scores with Syria in 197677. Banna's Baghdad-based activities ended in 1983 when, in order to qualify for aid from Washington for the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.], Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] expelled him and his men to show that Iraq was distancing itself from international terrorism.
Banna was then hired by Syria, which used his group as part of its coercive attempt to dissuade King Hussein of Jordan [q.v.] from making a unilateral deal with Israel. In early 1985, when King Hussein and Yasser Arafat [q.v.], chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.], devised a plan for a confederation of Jordan and a future state of Palestine, Banna allied with Abu Musa, another Syria-backed Fatah dissident, to destroy the accord and prevent any prospect of an agreement being reached between Hussein, Arafat, and Israel. In late 1985 Banna's gunmen attacked counters of the Israeli El Al airline in Vienna and Rome, and hijacked a Pan-American aircraft on the ground in Karachi.
In mid-1986 Syria expelled Banna and his group from Damascus [q.v.]. They reportedly took refuge in Libya, which became their main haven for almost 11 years.
Once the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.] was over in 1988, freeing Iraq from the need to placate the United States, Banna turned successfully to Baghdad for assistance. In 1990 he tried to wrest control of the Fatah-dominated Palestinian refugee camps in southern Lebanon, but failed. During the Kuwait crisis (August 1990 to March 1991), caused by Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait, Banna was allegedly bribed by the Saudi government to refrain from carrying out assassinations and sabotage in Saudi Arabia on behalf of Iraq. In January 1991 an agent of Banna, working as a bodyguard of Salah Khalaf [q.v.], the PLO's second-in-command, assassinated him in Tunis.
When, by 1996–97, the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had found him to be a political liability, Banna and his dwindled number of followers reportedly moved to Cairo [q.v.] to offer their mercenary services to Egypt in its drive against Islamist insurgents. This lasted a few years. In 1999, Banna, an isolated figure, returned to Baghdad. There he became a liability to Saddam Hussein after 9/11 when the Iraqi leader realized that U.S. President George W. Bush could use Banna's presence in Baghdad as an excuse to attack Iraq.
Iraq's internal security intelligence agency suspected that Banna was spying for Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to find out any links between Saddam Hussein [q.v.] and al-Qaida [q.v.] in order to provide a basis to America to invade Iraq. When its team arrived at the safe house where Banna was staying to arrest him, he said that he needed a change of clothes. He went into his bedroom and shot himself in the mouth. Efforts to revive him failed. He was buried in a cemetery in Baghdad with his grave identified as "M7."
Barak, Ehud (1942- ) Israeli military and political leader;prime minister 1999–2001; born Ehud Brog in Kibbutz Mishmar HaSharon. On joining the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) [q.v.] in 1959 he altered his family name to Barak (Hebrew: lightning). During the 1967 Six-Day War [q.v.], he served as a reconnaissance group commander. In 1972, as the head of the Seyeret (Hebrew: derivative of reconnaissance) Makal (Hebrew: acronym for General Staff ), he led a successful assault on the Palestinians who had hijacked Belgian airliner at Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel. In April 1973, Barak, dressed as a woman, led a commando unit into Beirut [q.v.] to assassinate three Palestinian leaders. During the Arab-Israeli War that erupted six months later, he was a tank battalion commander on the southern front in Sinai [q.v.]. He then enrolled at Hebrew University, Jerusalem [ q.v .], where he graduated in physics and mathematics, followed by a master's degree in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University, California, in 1978.
During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982 [q.v.] Barak, now a major-general, was the Deputy Commander of the IDF in Lebanon. In April 1983, he was appointed head of the IDF's Intelligence Branch. In January 1986, he was promoted to Commander of the IDF Central Command, and then to Deputy Chief of Staff in May 1987. By the time he was promoted to Lt. General, the highest in the Israeli military, and appointed the 14th Chief of the General Staff, in April 1991, he had become the most decorated soldier in IDF history
Following Israel's agreement with the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] in May 1994, Barak supervised the IDF's redeployment in the Gaza Strip [q.v.] and Jericho [q.v.]. He played a vital role in finalizing the peace treaty with Jordan signed in 1994, and met with his Syrian counterpart as part of the Syrian-Israeli negotiations. By the time he retired from the IDF in mid-1995, he had won the "Distinguished Service Medal" and four other citations for courage and operational excellence, the highest ever by an Israeli soldier.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.] then appointed him interior minister. In that capacity he did not vote for the Oslo II Accord [q.v.] that Rabin concluded with the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat [q.v.]. After Rabin's assassination in November, Prime Minister Shimon Peres [q.v.] appointed Barak foreign minister. In the 1996 general election he was elected to the Knesset, and later that year he was elected chairman of the Labor Party [q.v.]. In 1999 he formed the One Israel Party, an alliance of Labor, Gesher, and Meimad.
In May 1999 he defeated his Likud [q.v.] rival, Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.], in a prime ministerial contest by a large margin. In the new cabinet Barak also took charge of the defense ministry. He kept his election promise by withdrawing unconditionally from south Lebanon in May 2000. He became the first Israeli leader to state the terms for a final settlement with the PLO on the Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements, Jerusalem, and final borders. But his talks with Arafat, chaired by U.S. President Bill Clinton at Camp David in July 2000, failed—chiefly on the status of the Noble Sanctuary [q.v.] in the Old City when Barak insisted on giving Israeli sovereignty over the revered Islamic site.
The subsequent eruption of the Second Intifada [q.v.] in September by the Palestinians undermined his standing, and he called a special prime ministerial election on 6 February 2001. At the same time he allowed foreign minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, to attend the summit with the leadership of the Palestinian Authority at the Egyptian border town of Taba during the run-up to the election. On 27 January, after six days of negotiations, the two sides declared that they had "never been closer to reaching an agreement" on the permanent settlement, and that they believed that "the remaining gaps could be bridged with the resumption of negotiations following the Israeli elections."
This was not to be, because Barak lost to his Likud [q.v.] rival, Ariel Sharon [q.v.]. He resigned as leader of the Labor Party and as a Knesset member. He turned to business and thrived by joining private equity companies in Israel and America.
In 2007 he entered the race for the leader of the Labor Party and won. He replaced the outgoing party chief, Amir Peretz, as defense minister. Under his leadership, Labor did poorly in the 2009 general election, ending up fourth. He decided to join the coalition led by Likud's Netanyahu as defense minister.
In November 2011, when in a TV interview in the United States he was asked whether he would strive for nuclear weapons if he was in Iran's position, he replied: "Probably. I don't delude myself that they are doing it just because of Israel." When his statement was widely criticized in Israel, he became a vociferous advocate of air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.
Barghouti, Marwan (1958- ): Palestinian politician Born in Kobar, a village near Ramallah [q.v.], in the household of a day laborer, Barghouti joined Fatah in 1973. Three years later he was arrested for his political activities. He finished his secondary school diploma in prison. His subsequent higher education at Bir Zeit University was interrupted by the First Intifada [q.v.] in 1987 when he was expelled to Jordan. As the cofounder of the Fatah Youth Movement he directed the intifada from Amman [q.v.]. After the Oslo I Accords [q.v.] in 1993, he was allowed to return to the West Bank [q.v.]. The next year he became secretary-general of Fatah [q.v.] in the West Bank as well as a postgraduate student in international affairs at Bir Zeit. In 1995 he was elected to the Palestine Legislative Council (PLC). He founded al-Tanzim (Arabic: Organization) militia. In 2000, he cofounded the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (AAMB). By then he had begun criticizing the corruption and mismanagement of the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] under Yasser Arafat [q.v.].
With the outbreak of the Second Intifada [q.v.] in 2001, he gained popularity as leader of al-Tanzim and the AAMB. He was arrested in 2002 and convicted in May 2004 on five counts of murder and sentenced to five life imprisonments.
He was reelected to the PLC in 2006. While in prison he tried to bring about reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas [q.v.]. He was one of the architects of the compromise that led to the formation of the national unity government in February 2007. At the Fatah Conference in Bethlehem [q.v.], he was elected to the Central Committee.
In October 2011, the efforts of Hamas to include him in the list of Palestinians to be released in exchange for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit failed.
Barzani, Masoud (1947-): Iraqi Kurdish leader; president of Iraqi Kurdistan, 2005- Born during the tumultuous times that followed the collapse of the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad [q.v.], led militarily by his father, Mustafa [q.v.], Barzani grew up in Moscow. After a two-year stay in Baghdad [q.v.] following the republican coup of 1958, the family returned to Barzan in northern Iraq. With the defection in the early 1970s of one of his elder brothers, Ubaidullah, to the Baghdad government, the burden of assisting their father in his political and military endeavors fell on Barzani and his remaining brother, Idris. After Mustafa Barzani's departure for the United States in 1976, the leadership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) [q.v.] was exercised by Barzani and Idris. When they moved to Iran after the Islamic revolution in early 1979, the new regime started to lend them its support.
The outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.] in September 1980 compelled Baghdad to reduce its troops in the Kurdish areas. This enabled the KDP to increase the area under its control in Iraqi Kurdistan. In late 1986 Barzani attended a conference organized in Tehran [q.v.] by the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) [q.v.]. However, SCIRI's attempt to coordinate the military activities of all anti-Saddam parties failed because the secular leadership of the KDP felt uneasy about coalescing with the predominantly Islamic Iraqis. With the death of Idris in 1987, Barzani became the sole leader of the KDP.
During the long Iran-Iraq war the KDP had managed to set up liberated zones along the Iraqi border with Iran. But, when the conflict ended in 1988, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] launched a campaign of vengeance against the KDP stronghold.
Later, when the Iraqi forces were defeated in the Second Gulf War [q.v.] in early 1991, Barzani led a Kurdish rebellion against the central government. Its suppression caused a massive exodus of Kurds into Turkey and intervention by the anti-Iraq Western coalition. Barzani's subsequent talks with the Baghdad government failed to lead to a successful conclusion.
Protected by the air forces of the United States, Britain, and France, the KDP, along with other Kurdish parties, held assembly elections in May 1992. Barzani shared power equally with Jalal Talabani [q.v.], the leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) [q.v.]. Yet the traditional rivalry between the two parties continued. In May 1994 intra-Kurdish clashes left over 1,000 people dead. It was not until six months later that, assisted by mediators, Barzani worked out a modus vivendi with Talabani.
But Barzani's relations with his rival soured again when their two factions took opposite positions in the anti-Saddam coup plans in March 1995. With this, Kurdistan divided into two hostile zones. By September, Barzani's jurisdiction was reduced to a third of the region. But with the illicit Iraqi oil supplies passing through his territory, providing hefty customs duties, Barzani had much cash, part of which he used to buy arms and ammunition, some of them from Saddam Hussein.
Talabani's subsequent rapprochement with Iran upset both Barzani and Saddam. When Talabani, freshly armed with Iranian-supplied weapons, attacked KDP's positions in August 1996, Barzani appealed to Saddam for military assistance to retake Irbil [q.v.] from Talabani. Saddam obliged. Barzani captured not only Irbil but all of Talabani's territory, only to lose all except Irbil when Talabani, armed by Iran, counterattacked.
The unprecedented intra-Kurdish violence undermined Washington's strategy of developing Kurdistan as the base for overthrowing Saddam. The United States withdrew its agents and funds from the area. Its efforts to conciliate the two rivals were successful, only partially because Barzani refused to share the large customs duties he collected on the illicit export of Iraqi oil to Turkey. After the passage of the Iraq Liberation Act by U.S. Congress in 1998, Barzani found the KDP certified as a faction that was entitled to Washington's military aid.
When, after defeating the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in December 2001, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush turned its attention to ousting Saddam's government by force, the importance of Barzani as well as Talabani rose sharply.
After the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in March 2003, Barzani was appointed to the Interim Iraqi Governing Council. In the January 2005 general election, the KDP and the PUK led the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan, which won 104 of the 111 seats in the parliament of Iraqi Kurdistan, the new name of the region. It elected Barzani as president of the region.
In the July 2009 election, held under the new constitution, Barzani became the first directly elected president of the Kurdistan region, securing nearly 70 percent of the vote. His critics accused him of corruption and nepotism, with one opposition newspaper, Rozhnama (Kurdish: Daily Journal), mentioning in July 2010 the KDP's siphoning of large amounts of money from illegal oil-smuggling. The central government had agreed to give 17 percent of the national oil income to Kurdistan's government on the condition that it would export oil from its region only through the legal channel sanctioned by Baghdad. But Barzani's critics alleged that his KDP was exporting petroleum through illegal means and pocketing the profits.
Barzani, Mustafa (1904–79): Iraqi Kurdish leader Born into the family of a notable in Barzan, northern Iraq, Barzani grew up to be a leader of the Barzani tribe, which was traditionally opposed to the authority of the government whether based in Baghdad [q.v.] or in Mosul [q.v.]. Along with his elder brother, Ahmad, Barzani led the Kurdish struggle for independence in 1931–32. Following its suppression in 1935, the two brothers were exiled to Suleimaniyah. Escaping in 1942, Barzani led another unsuccessful rebellion.
Along with 1,000 armed followers, he crossed into the Kurdish region of Iran, which, along with the rest of country north of the latitude of Tehran [q.v.], had been under Soviet occupation since August 1941. When the State of Kurdistan Republic [q.v.] was founded there in December 1945, Barzani was appointed its commander-in-chief. Following the Soviet departure in May 1946, the republic, run by the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) [q.v.], was crushed by the Tehran government in December 1946. Along with his followers, Barzani crossed the Iranian border into Soviet Trans-Caucasia in June 1947 on his way to Moscow. There he enrolled at the Institute of Languages.
After the 1958 coup against the Iraqi monarchy, Barzani returned to Iraq and backed the new regime under Abdul Karim Qasim [q.v.], who legalized the KDP. However, when Barzani advanced a plan for autonomy, Qasim rejected it. The KDP revolted. In September 1961 Qasim mounted an offensive against the Kurdish insurgents. During the subsequent years, despite changes in the regime in Baghdad, relations between the central government and Barzani did not improve. It was not until March 1970 that the two sides reached a settlement, to be implemented over the next four years. This agreement conceded several of the Kurdish demands, including recognition of Kurdish ethnicity on a par with Arab, and the official use of the Kurdish language [q.v.] in Kurdish-majority areas. But there was mistrust on both sides, and the pact failed to hold.
In March 1974 Barzani once again led his followers to fight the Iraqi government. This time he had the active backing of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q. v. ] of Iran, who wanted to weaken the pro-Moscow regime in Baghdad. By early 1975 the conflict was threatening to escalate into a full-scale war between Iraq and Iran. In an effort to avert this, Baghdad and Tehran reached an accord in March 1975, which resulted in Iran cutting off military and logistical aid to Barzani's fighters. His rebellion failed. After escaping to Iran, Barzani fled to the United States and settled in northern Virginia, where he died in 1979.
Basra: Iraqi city Population: 3.5 million (2011 est.). The second-largest city of Iraq, it is the country's main port. Located beside the Shatt al-Arab [q.v.], it is the site of an ancient settlement. Because of its strategic position, Caliph Omar (r. 634–44 A.D.) set up a military camp there in 636 A.D. It was from Basra that Muslim Arabs conducted their campaigns against the Sassanian rulers of Persia. It evolved as a center of literary and scientific knowledge, commerce, and finance. In the early eighth century it fostered rebellions against the Umayyad caliphate based in Damascus [ q.v .]. When the Abbasids succeeded the Umayyads in 750 A.D. they favored Baghdad [q.v.] over Basra. An attack by militant Qarmatian Muslims in 923 A.D. severely damaged the city. It suffered heavily under the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, which finally led to its destruction. In the early 1500s a new settlement, bearing the name of Basra, was founded a few kilometers further up the Shatt al-Arab. The settlement prospered and grew.
In more recent times, a rail link with Baghdad and the discovery of oil in southern Iraq boosted its fortunes. However, the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.] in 1980 turned it into a frontline. In 1987, during the Iranian advance, the city center came within the range of artillery fire and suffered heavily, with two-thirds of its population fleeing. At the time of the Second Gulf War [q.v.] in 1991, it was near the front line with Kuwait, but the damage this time was a result of air and missile attacks. The city was reconstructed.
During the first phase of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in 2003 [q.v.], Basra was the scene of fierce fighting. After the war it came under British occupation, which continued until July 2009. It emerged as a stronghold of Shia [q.v.] religious parties. With new oilfields being found in the surrounding areas, the city is set to prosper in the coming decades.
bat: (Hebrew: daughter) The traditional Jewish custom of identifying a woman as a bat of her father is seldom manifested nowadays in secular Western societies. Nonetheless, every female Jew has a Hebrew name given to her at birth, and used in synagogue [q.v.] services and at marriage and burial.
al-Baz, Abdul Aziz ibn Abdullah (1911–99): Saudi Arabian religious leader Born into a religious family in Riyadh [q.v.], Baz studied the Quran [q.v.] and Sharia [q.v.] at an early age. After going blind at 16 he became a student of Shaikh Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab, the grand mufti, to train as an Islamic judge. He was appointed a judge in the Kharj region, where he served from 1938 to 1952. For the next seven years he taught the Sharia and fiqh [q.v.] at the University of Riyadh. An orthodox cleric, he was made vice president of the Islamic University of Medina [q.v.] at its inception in 1961. In an article published in two Saudi newspapers in September 1965 he stated that the sun was moving in its orbit, as God has ordained, and that the earth was stationary and spread out by God for His creation. When this proved controversial he denied saying that the earth was flat, but maintained that it was static.
In 1969 he was promoted to president of Medina Islamic University while continuing to head the Sharia faculty. Rejecting ijtihad [q.v.] of any kind, he urged a return to the letter of the scriptures. In 1972, Juheiman ibn Saif al-Utaiba [q.v.] was one of his students in the Sharia faculty. In 1975 Baz was appointed chairman of the 21-member Council of Senior Ulema, established four years earlier, by the king. In that capacity he concluded in the summer of 1978 that the ideas propagated by al-Utaiba were not treasonable. However, when al-Utaiba led an armed uprising at the Grand Mosque in Mecca [q.v.] in late 1979 he ruled that King Khalid ibn Abdul Aziz [q.v.] was entitled to use force to regain control of the holy mosque.
When Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, he initially argued against the Council's sanctioning of non-Muslim troops on Saudi soil. Later he changed his stance. In November 1990 his religious verdict barred women from driving. On the eve of the U.S.-led Gulf War [q.v.] in January 1991, he issued a call for jihad [q.v.] by the forces under King Fahd ibn Abdul Aziz [q.v.] against the troops of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.], whom he described as a blasphemer for claiming to be a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad, something he had done several years earlier.
In May 1991, Baz passed on to King Fahd a petition signed by more than 400 leading religious scholars, judges, and academics, demanding a consultative assembly; full Islamization of all social, economic, administrative, military, and educational institutions; and disassociation from non-Islamic pacts and treaties. King Fahd ignored the demands. The next year he was appointed grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, a job that had been left vacant since 1969, and president of the Supreme Religious Council.
He supported the 1993 Oslo Accord I [q.v.] between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.], arguing that the Prophet Muhammad had signed the Treaty of Hudaibiya with non-Muslims in 628 A.D. to avoid loss of life.
His several books include Inquiry and Clarification of Many Hajj and Umra Issues.
bazaar, bazaaris: (Persian: market place, traders) Originating in Iran, the word bazaar spread to Arabia, Turkey, North Africa, and South Asia. The vendors in a bazaar are called bazaaris. As the Prophet Muhammad was a trader, bazzaris have been close to the mosque since the founding of Islam [q.v.]. In modern times they played a particularly important role in bringing about the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran [q.v.].
Bazargan, Mahdi (1905–95): Iranian politician; prime minister, 1979 Born into a wealthy trading family in Tabriz [q.v.], Bazargan obtained an engineering degree from Paris University. After spending some years in Paris he returned to Iran, where he began to teach engineering at Tehran University in 1941. He joined the Iran Party, which merged with two other groups in 1949 to form the National Front [q.v.], headed by Muhammad Mussadiq [q.v.]. During Mussadiq's premiership (1951–53), he became the managing director of the newly nationalized petroleum industry, managed by the National Iranian Oil Company.
In May 1955 he was arrested on the charge of treason and detained until 1960. He teamed up with Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleqani [q.v.] to form the Liberation Movement of Iran (LMI) [q.v.] in 1961. When he called for a boycott of a referendum on the government-inspired "white revolution" [q.v.] in 1963, he was given a 10-year sentence. After his release he stayed out of politics until the first stirrings of the anti-regime agitation in the autumn of 1977, when he became a cofounder of the Human Rights Association.
On 1 February 1979 he was nominated by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.] to head the provisional Islamic government. His appointment reassured the large, modern middle class. He served for nine months, resigning in protest at the militant students' seizure of the U.S. Embassy and diplomats. He had found that most of his authority was being usurped by such bodies as the Islamic Revolutionary Council (of which he was a member) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. The following year he was elected leader of the 20 LMI members of parliament.
By the spring of 1983 his party, the LMI, was the only pre-revolutionary political group that was not banned, despite the fact that he opposed the official policy of continuing the war with Iraq after Iran had gained the upper hand in mid-1982. However, in protest against the lack of campaigning facilities, the LMI boycotted the 1984 parliamentary elections. In 1985 his candidacy for president was rejected by the Guardians Council [q.v.]. Ignoring calls for action against Bazargan, Khomeini allowed him freedom of movement, including foreign travel, while denying him facilities for propagating his consistently critical views. This policy continued after Khomeini's death in 1989.
B.C.: Before Christ The era before the birth of Jesus Christ (derivative of the Greek word Christos , Anointed). The date originally assigned to Christ's birth is now believed to be about four to eight years too late—that is, he is believed to have been born between 4 and 8 B.C., and not 0 A.D. [q.v.]
B.C.E.: Before Common Era Some non-Christians prefer this term to B.C. [q.v.] with its religious connotation.
Begin, Menachem Wolfovitch (1913–92): Israeli politician; prime minister, 1977–83 Born in Brest-Litovsk (then in Poland, later in Russia), Begin obtained a law degree at the University of Warsaw. At 16 he joined the youth organization of the Revisionist Zionists [q.v.], Betar (Hebrew: an acronym for Brit Trumpeldor, Covenant of [Joseph] Trumpeldor [q.v.]). More extremist than Vladimir Zeev Jabotinsky [q.v.], the founder of the Revisionist movement, Begin challenged him in 1938 after being appointed commander of Betar in Poland. On the eve of the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, he fled to Vilnius, Lithuania, then under Soviet occupation. In 1940 he was sentenced to eight years' hard labor in a Siberian camp. But after the Soviet Union had joined World War II in mid-1941, he was released and drafted into the Free Polish army. He arrived in Palestine in 1942 [q.v.] as a soldier of that force.
After his demobilization in 1943, he was appointed commander of the underground Irgun ZvaiLeumi [q.v.] (Hebrew: National Military Organization) . He declared an armed struggle against the British Mandate in January 1944, a call he repeated in October 1945 after the end of the war. The Irgun's terrorist activities led the British authorities to offer a £10,000 reward for his arrest. In July 1946 the Irgun bombed the British Mandate government offices in King David Hotel, Jerusalem [q.v.], killing 91 British, Arab, and Jewish officials and staff. After this, the Haganah [q.v.], the main military forces of the Jewish community in Palestine, stopped cooperating with the Irgun.
Begin was one of the chief planners of the attack on the Arab village of Deir Yassin near Jerusalem on 10 April 1948, resulting in the massacre of 254 men, women, and children—an event that caused the intended massive exodus of Arabs [q.v.] from Palestine. At his behest, Irgun ranks refused to be absorbed into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) formed by the provisional government of David Ben-Gurion [q.v.] on 26 May 1948. They participated in the war against the Arab states as a separate entity. This continued until late June when Ben-Gurion, clashing with Begin on the question of delivery of arms and volunteers to the Irgun aboard a freighter anchored off Tel Aviv [q.v.], ordered his forces to destroy the ship. In September Begin disbanded the Irgun, but soon former Irgun ranks and Revisionist Zionist reemerged as the Herut [q.v.] Party under his leadership.
In 1949 he was elected to the Knesset [q.v.], and remained a member until 1984, his membership interrupted by a 15-month suspension in January 1952 for inciting a mob to attack the Knesset in protest against reparations to Israel by West Germany. In the first five general elections, his Herut Party won about 12 percent of the votes, emerging as the largest opposition faction in the parliament. He led his group in an authoritarian way and brooked no challenge. In 1965, at his behest, the Herut joined with the Liberal Party [q.v.] to form the Gahal bloc [q.v.], which won 21 percent of the seats in that year's general election.
On the eve of the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], Begin joined the national unity government headed by Levi Eshkol [q.v.]. He stayed in the cabinet until July 1970 when— protesting against the majority decision to accept the American peace plan that envisaged Israel's withdrawal from Sinai [q.v.]—he resigned. He resumed his opposition role. In 1973 when the Likud bloc [q.v.], containing all the right-wing parties, was formed, he was elected its leader.
Following Likud's electoral success in May 1977, Begin became the prime minister, a position he held for more than six years. He signed the Camp David Accords [q.v.] with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] in September 1978, which in turn led to the conclusion of a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. That year he and Sadat won the Nobel Peace Prize.
He twice ordered the invasion and occupation of Lebanon— in March 1978 and June 1982. The first occupation, limited to southern Lebanon, ended shortly. But the second invasion, when the Israelis advanced as far as Beirut [q.v.] and began to dictate the politics of Lebanon, proved controversial. Growing public criticism and the increasing Israeli death toll in Lebanon, combined with an annual inflation rate of 400 percent, led to his resignation in August 1983. On a personal level, he had become depressed in the wake of the death of his wife, Aliza, nine months earlier.
al-Beidh, Ali Salim (1938-): South Yemeni and Yemeni politician Born into a religious family in the Hadramaut region, Beidh participated in the armed nationalist struggle of South Yemen, conducted by the National Liberation Front (NLF) [q.v.] against Britain. Soon after independence in 1967, the radical Beidh fell foul of the moderate faction then dominant in the NLF. The situation changed when radicals finally gained the upper hand in 1971. Beidh's star rose steadily. In 1973 he became the planning minister, moving three years later to the ministry of municipal affairs. In April 1980—after Premier Ali Nasser Muhammad [q.v.] had ousted his rival, President Abdul Fattah Ismail [q.v.]—Beidh was promoted to deputy prime minister.
He then allied himself with Vice President Ali Antar to oppose President Muhammad's increasingly moderate policies. The return of Ismail from self-exile in Moscow in 1985 intensified the factional struggle. In the armed confrontation that ensued between the Muhammad and Ismail camps in January 1986, Beidh sided with the latter. When the internecine violence led to the deaths of Ismail, Antar, and other radicals, and the exile of Muhammad, Beidh emerged as the only top party leader to survive the conflict. He was elected secretary-general of the ruling Yemeni Socialist Party [q.v.].
With the presidency and premiership going to technocrats Haidar al-Attas and Yassin Numan, Beidh held the reins of real power. He began to moderate his radical stance and introduce economic and political reform— a tendency accelerated by the rapid decline of the Soviet bloc from 1989 onwards. He expedited the plans for the unification of South and North Yemen that had been agreed to in principle earlier. He became vice president of united Yemen—a state with two separate armies—in May 1990.
The unification process proved more problematic than had been anticipated. In August 1993, blaming President Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.] for lack of progress, Beigh left Sanaa [q.v.] for Aden [q.v.]. Despite his reelection as vice president two months later by the newly elected parliament, he did not return to Sanaa. The subsequent signing by the two leaders of a Document of Agreement and Bond in Amman [q.v.] in February 1994 failed to dissipate the crisis.
After the eruption of a civil war [q.v.] between the two former states in April, Beidh declared South Yemen independent in May. This was not formally recognized by any country. Just before the defeat of the South Yemeni military in early July, he fled to neighboring Oman, and then to Saudi Arabia. In 1996, as the leader of the National Opposition Front, Beidh demanded a referendum in the south to secure better terms for the region. Two years later he was sentenced to death in absentia for his role in the 1994 Civil War.
In 2009, against the backdrop of violent clashes between protesting South Yemenis and the central Yemeni security forces, Beidh declared himself leader of the Southern separatists in a televised speech from Germany. As a result, he lost his right to stay in Oman, which was conditional on his abstaining from political activity. He then resumed his exile in Germany. In February 2011, he backed the pro-democracy demonstrations against the regime of President Saleh.
Beirut: capital of Lebanon Population: 1.9 million (2011 est.) The principal port of the country at the foot of Mount Lebanon, Beirut has a history stretching back to the Phoenician era (ca 1250 B.C.), when it was known as Berytus. An important commercial center, it thrived under the rule of the Selucuids, Romans, and Byzantines. It fell to Muslim Arabs in 636 A.D. During the Crusades it was seized by the Crusaders in 1110. They retained it until 1291 as part of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. During the Ottoman period it became capital of the Vilayat of Lebanon, an autonomous province of the empire from 1861 onward. In 1920 the French Mandate authorities made it capital of Greater Lebanon, created by adding areas to the east, north, and south of the (Ottoman) Vilayat of Lebanon. It expanded greatly after Lebanon's independence in 1946 and became the leading financial center of the Middle East [q.v.], but lost that position after the Lebanese Civil War of 1975–90 [q.v.].
During that long conflict the city split between the exclusively Christian East Beirut, situated on al-Ashrafiya hill, and the predominantly Muslim West Beirut on al-Musaitiba hill. From 1972 to 1982 Beirut was the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.]. The civil war and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June-August 1982 [q.v.] played havoc with the city. Despite the violence, its two leading educational institutions, the American University in Beirut [q.v.] and Beirut Arab University, continued to function. By the mid-1990s reconstruction plans were finalized, and their implementation got started.
With its redesigned city center, marina, and hotels, it once again became a tourist destination. In the Israel-Hizbollah War [q.v.] in 2006, the Israeli air raids damaged south Beirut, inhabited predominantly by Shias [q.v.]. But by 2009, Beirut had once again become a vibrant city.
ben (Hebrew: son): Nowadays the traditional Jewish custom of identifying a man as a ben (son) of his father is seldom followed in secular Western societies. Nonetheless every male Jew has a Hebrew name given to him at circumcision (on the eighth day after birth), confirmed at bar mitzah (Hebrew: lit., son of commandments ; fig. coming of age), and used in synagogue [q.v.] services and at marriage and burial.
Ben-Gurion, David (1886–1973): Israeli politician; prime minister, 1948–53, 1955–63 Born David Green in Plonsk, Poland, Ben-Gurion, the son of a lawyer, went to Warsaw University in 1904. There he joined the Poale Zion [q.v.] and two years later left for Palestine [q.v.] where he became a farm hand. He was a cofounder of the Poale Zion journal, HaAhdut (Hebrew: The Unity). In 1912 he enrolled at the University of Istanbul to study Turkish law and government. The outbreak of World War I took him back to Palestine. In 1915 he was deported as a troublemaker and placed on a ship sailing for New York. There he joined an American battalion of the Jewish Legion, which was being formed as part of the British army. Trained in Canada, he arrived in Egypt as a member of the 40th Royal Fusiliers.
In the postwar Palestine the Poale Zion split, its leftist section leaving in 1919 and forming Mopsi (acronym of Mifleget Poalim Sozialistim, Socialist Workers Party). Its right-wing nationalist section—led among others by Ben-Gurion—combined with the followers of Berle Katznelson to form Ahdut HaAvodah [q.v.]. Soon Ahdut HaAvodah and HaPoale HaTzair [q.v.] took the lead in constituting an umbrella organization to encompass all Labor-pioneer parties of Zionist persuasion: Histadrut [q.v.]. With successive elections to Histadrut conferences showing Ahdut HaAvodah and HaPoale HaTzair to be the main parties, pressure grew on their leaders to seek a merger. This led to the founding of Mapai [q.v.] in January 1930 under the stewardship of Chaim Arlosoroff [q.v.]. After the murder of Arlosoroff in 1933, Ben-Gurion was elected head of Mapai. Two years later he became leader of the executive committee of the Jewish Agency for Palestine [q.v.], soon to be recognized by the British Mandate as the official representative of the Jews in Palestine.
Differing with his colleagues in the Mapai leadership, Ben-Gurion favored the 1937 Peel Commission's partition proposal. He opposed the British White Paper of 1939, which limited Jewish immigration into Palestine to an annual average of 15,000 for the next five years. But he could not remain anti-British once World War II had erupted in September 1939. He encouraged fellow Jews to join the British Africa Corps.
In 1942 he was the main instigator behind the resolution of the American Zionist Organization that the founding of a Jewish state in Palestine should be the prime objective of Zionism [q.v.]. After the war, backed by Jewish Agency funds, Ben-Gurion, in his role of Histadrut chief, began to purchase arms in Europe. His appointment as head of the Zionist Organization's [q.v.] Defense department in December 1946 enabled him to bring the various Jewish armed organizations in Palestine under a single command. Early in 1947, noticing the convergence of the American and Soviet positions on the partitioning of Palestine, the National Council (Hebrew: Vaad Leumi) of the Yishuv [q.v.], led by Ben-Gurion, started to formulate plans to consolidate the Jewish sector in Palestine, militarily and otherwise. By the time the United Nations adopted the partition plan in November 1947, the Yishuv had a large professional army, supported by 79,000 reserves, armed police, and home guards.
By spring 1948, at the behest of Ben-Gurion, the Jewish Agency had transferred all its executive powers to the people's administrative committee of the Yishuv assembly's National Council. It was this committee of 13, headed by Ben-Gurion, and functioning as the provisional government, that declared the founding of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948 in Tel Aviv [q.v.]. Twelve days later it established the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) consisting of 60,000 troops, with Ben-Gurion as defense minister. It performed well in the First Arab-Israeli War I [q. v.], also known as the War of Independence (of Israel) [q.v.], which lasted from mid-May 1948 to early January 1949, when armistice agreements were signed between Israel and its four neighboring Arab adversaries on the Greek island of Rhodes.
Mapai emerged as the largest party in the January 1949 election, winning 46 of the 120 seats in the Knesset [q.v.], and Ben-Gurion became the prime minister. He welcomed the Tripartite (Anglo-American-French) Declaration of May 1950 [q.v.], which opposed any attempt to change the armistice boundaries of Israel set in January 1949, and promised to supply arms to Arabs and Israelis only to the extent that they did not create an "imbalance." The United Religious Front's [q.v.] disagreement with Ben-Gurion on the degree of governmental control over religious education in schools caused the downfall of his government in mid-1951. In the Second Knesset, Mapai won 45 seats. Having played a leading role in shaping the basic outline of Israel's internal and external policies, Ben-Gurion resigned as prime minister in December 1953 and retired to his kibbutz in the Negev.
Moshe Sharett [q.v.] became the premier. His defense minister, Pinchas Lavon [q.v.], authorized a sabotage campaign in Egypt. It backfired, and Lavon resigned. Ben-Gurion was brought into the cabinet in early 1955 as the defense minister. In response to the execution of two ringleaders of the Jewish espionage-sabotage cell in Egypt, Ben-Gurion ordered a massive attack on an Egyptian military camp in Gaza [q.v.], which resulted in 39 Egyptian deaths. The escalating tension led to Ben-Gurion's becoming the prime minister in late 1955. Within a year he was involved in invading and occupying the Sinai Peninsula [q.v.] in collusion with Britain and France in the Suez War [q.v.]. Under pressure from the United States and the Soviet Union, he withdrew the Israeli troops from the Sinai in March 1957.
His next coalition government, formed after elections in November 1959, proved unstable, with the old controversy about Lavon's "security mishap" resurfacing in 1960. When a cabinet committee exonerated Lavon in early 1961, Ben-Gurion threatened to resign as the prime minister and the defense minister, insisting on a judicial enquiry. In exchange for the shelving of further investigation into the affair, Lavon stepped down as secretary-general of Histadrut [q.v.]. Ben-Gurion headed the coalition government formed after the August 1961 election, but found that he lacked the kind of authority he had exercised before. He resigned from the government in 1963 and then started campaigning against his successor, Levi Eskhol [q.v.].
The declining popularity of Mapai prompted its leaders to recommend an alignment (maarach) between their party and Ahdut HaAvodah-Poale Zion [q.v.]. This was ratified by the Mapai convention in February 1965. Disagreeing with this, Ben-Gurion and his followers left Mapai and offered their own list, Rafi, in the November 1965 election. Rafi won 10 seats and the Mapai-Ahdut HaAvodah-Poale Zion Maarch [q.v.] won 45. Ben-Gurion's personal popularity proved unequal to the institutional strength of his former party.
After the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], he opposed the annexation of the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.]. In 1968 the maarach was widened to include Rafi, leading to the merger of the three constituents into the Israeli Labor Party [q.v.]. Ben-Gurion then founded a new group, LaAam (Hebrew: To the People), which won four seats in the 1969 election. The following year he quit politics. He died in December 1973, leaving behind many diaries that have been published.
Ben-Zvi, Yitzhak (1884–1963): Israeli politician; president, 1952–63 Born Yitzhak Shimshilevitch in Poltava, Ukraine, he became a Zionist [q.v.] in his youth. In 1906, Ben-Zvi cofounded Poale Zion [q.v.] in Russia, and then migrated to Palestine [q.v.] the following year. He was one of the founders of the HaShomer selfdefense association, and editor of HaAhdut (Hebrew: The Unity), the organ of the Poale Zion in Palestine. In 1912 he enrolled at the University of Istanbul to study Turkish law and government. The outbreak of World War I brought him back to Palestine. After his deportation as a troublemaker in 1915, he traveled to New York City. There he joined an American battalion of the Jewish Legion that was being formed as part of the British army. Trained in Canada, he arrived in Egypt as a member of the 40th Royal Fusiliers.
After the war he returned to Palestine where he cofounded Ahdut HaAvodah [q.v.] in 1919, Histadrut [q.v.] in 1920, and Mapai [q.v.] in 1930. From 1931 to 1948 he was president of the National Council of the representative assembly of the Yishuv [q.v.]. He was a Mapai member of the Knesset [q.v.] from 1949 until his election as president in December 1952 following the death of President Chaim Weizmann. He was reelected president in 1957 and 1962. Like his predecessor, he died in office.
Berri, Nabih (1938- ): Lebanese politician Born into a Lebanese Shia [q.v.] merchant family that settled in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Berri returned to Tibnin in southern Lebanon, the town of his ancestors. During his days as a law student at the Lebanese University of Beirut [q.v.], he joined the semi-clandestine Baath Party [q.v.]. After a brief enrollment at Sorbonne University, Paris, and a short stay in Freetown, he went to the United States. There he married a Lebanese-American and raised a family before returning to Lebanon in early 1975. He allied with Imam Musa Sadr [q.v.], a radical Shia leader, and helped to establish a militia, Amal [q.v.]. Starting as a member of Amal's leadership council, he became its secretary-general in 1978 after the "disappearance" of Sadr in Libya. Under his stewardship Amal became one of the most effective militias in the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.]. In October 1981 he led an Amal delegation to Tehran [q.v.]. At the Amal conference in April 1982 he shared the leadership with Shaikh Muhammad Mahdi Shams al-Din, a Shia cleric.
Following Israel's occupation of southern and central Lebanon in June 1982, Berr encouraged Shia resistance to the Israeli occupiers. He became one of the leading opponents of President Amin Gemayel [q.v.] when the latter initialed a peace treaty with Israel [q.v.] in May 1983. Responding to Gemayel's order to the Lebanese army to raze the Shia suburbs of Beirut [q.v.] in February 1984, Berri issued a successful call to fellow Muslims in the Lebanese army to defy the president. Aided by the Druze [q.v.] militia, Amal captured West Beirut and weakened the presidency of Gemayel, who then abrogated the draft peace treaty with Israel. In the national unity government that followed, Berri became minister of south Lebanon and reconstruction.
He had close ties with Syria. At its behest his militia attacked the Palestinian camps based in Beirut and southern Lebanon in order to weaken the control of Fatah [q.v.] over them. He was one of the three leading militia commanders to sign the "National Agreement to Solve the Lebanese Crisis" in December 1985, but the document proved stillborn. From 1988 onwards he allowed Amal to be used by Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] to contain the growth of Hizbollah [q.v.], a radical Shia organization, whenever it suited him. Berri had reservations about the Syrian-brokered National Reconciliation Charter [q.v.]—agreed on in Taif, Saudi Arabia, in October 1989—because of its inequity toward Shias, but dropped them under pressure from Assad. The next month, following the election of Elias Hrawi [q.v.] as president, Berri was given a seat in the new cabinet under Salim Hoss [q.v.]. In June 1990 he was one of the 40 nominees to fill the vacant or newly created seats in parliament.
When Amal and other Muslim militias were disbanded after the victory of the pro-Syrian, predominantly Muslim forces over their right-wing Maronite adversaries in October 1990, a proportion of Amal's members was absorbed into the regular army. After a fresh general election in 1992, Berri was elected speaker of the parliament. He was reelected speaker after the 1996, 2000, and 2005 elections. In 2003 he was elected president of the Arab Parliamentary Union.
After the resignation of five Shia ministers from the government in November 2006, Berri refused to convene the parliament for a year and a half. Despite this, he secured 90 out of 128 votes when the freshly elected parliament met in July 2009. Two years later, his gesture to give up one of the Shia seats in the cabinet to a Sunni [q.v.], Faisal Karami, enabled Prime Minister Najib Mikati [q.v.] to end a five-month backroom bargaining and announce his new government.
In September 2011 he described the ongoing protests in Syria as "part of involvement in a foreign conspiracy" aiming to partition Syria, which would destabilize Lebanon, Iraq, and Turkey.
Bethlehem: West Bank town (In Arabic, Beit lahm ; in Hebrew, Beth lehem: house of bread/Lahmu, a goddess) Population: 25,266 (2007 census). Known in Old Testament [ q.v .] times as Ephrat, Bethlehem was the scene of the Book of Ruth and the home of King David (r. ca 1010–970 B.C.). It was the birthplace of Jesus Christ (ca 6 B.C. to 28 A.D.) and is a holy place for Christians [q.v.]. Roman Emperor Constantine I (r. 306–337 A.D.) built a basilica at the site of Jesus's birth. When the settlement fell to Muslim Arabs [q.v.] in 637 A.D., it was left untouched. The Church of the Nativity standing there today is shared by the Armenian Orthodox Church [q.v.] (which has the Grotto of the Nativity, containing the manger that is believed to have warmed the newborn Jesus), the Roman Catholic Church [q.v.] (which owns the site of the birth, marked by a 14-point star on a marble stone), and the Greek Orthodox Church [q.v.] (which possesses the High Altar standing above the Grotto).
Due to their steady emigration to North America, West Europe, and Australia, Christians now form only about one-third of the town's population.
Bible: Christian scripture "Bible" is the diminutive of byblos, the Greek word for papyrus (an ancient writing material), meaning book . The Bible is regarded by Christians [q.v.] as the word of God delivered through divinely directed authors. It is composed of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The longer Old Testament, also called the Hebrew [q.v.] Bible, is a record of the testament (i.e., solemn covenant) made by God with man and revealed to Moses (d. ca 1250 B.C.) on Mount Sinai. It was written mostly in Hebrew [q.v.] between 1200 B.C. and 100 B.C. and is accepted as a holy scripture by both Jews [q.v.] and Christians [q.v.]. The shorter New Testament is a record of the fulfillment of the Old Testament and of the fresh covenant, encapsulated in the life and death of Jesus Christ, between God and Christians. It was written mainly in Greek within a century of Christ's death (ca 30 A.D.) and is accepted as a holy scripture by Christians only.
The modern Old Testament is based on the Hebrew Bible which, originally consisting of 24 books, is divided into: (1) The Law/Pentateuch/Torah [q.v.], containing five books; (2) The Prophets, containing eight books; and (3) The Holy Writings/Hagiographia, containing 11 books.
(1) The Pentateuch spans the period between the Creation of the universe (ca 3760 B.C.) and the death of Moses (ca 1250 B.C.). Genesis, the first book, begins with the creation of the universe and ends with Joseph, a great-grandson of Abraham (ca 1800 B.C.), becoming an adviser to the Egyptian king. The four remaining works deal with the activities of Moses and the covenant between God and the Israelites. Exodus describes the deliverance of the Israelites from four centuries of bondage in Egypt, God's present of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, and God's covenant with the Israelites. Leviticus deals chiefly with the rituals of worship. Numbers describes the wanderings of the Israelites in the Sinai [q.v.] desert for 40 years. In Deuteronomy Moses summarizes the Law, and the book ends with a description of his death on the frontiers of the Promised Land.
(2) The Prophets is a record of the activities of the divinely inspired men (prophets), who lived during the ninth century B.C. through the fifth century B.C. Their books cover the history of the period between the death of Moses and the fall of the Kingdom of Judah in the sixth century B.C.
(3) The Holy Writings consist of books of poetry, songs, aphorisms, prophecy, and history. Psalms (ca third century B.C.) contains the hymns and prayers used to worship JHVH (pronounced Yahweh), the sacred name of God. Job (ca sixth century B.C.) is a narrative poem about a man named Job who was beset by disasters. Proverbs (ca fourth century B.C.) is a collection of aphorisms and epigrams about human existence, offering a positive, pragmatic philosophy of life. Song of Songs (ca 10th century B.C.) contains wedding songs. Ruth (ca fourth century B.C.) is the story of the marriage of Ruth, a Moabite woman, to Boaz, a Hebrew landowner. Lamentations (ca mid-sixth century B.C.) consists of poems lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem [q.v.] and the First Temple. Ecclesiastes (ca third century B.C.), like Proverbs, contains maxims, but their general tone is skeptical. Esther (ca second century B.C.) is the tale of Esther, the Hebrew wife of a Persian king, Ahasuerus, whose courageous actions save the Jewish community from an evil prime minister. The next three books— Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, which are attributed to a scribe at the Second Temple (537–350 B.C.) and written around 250 B.C.—are historical works that update the chronicle of the Jews, including the return of the exiled Jews to Jerusalem, the restoration of its walls by Nehemia (445 B.C.), and the legal reforms of Ezra (397 B.C.). Daniel (ca 165 B.C.), the last book, begins with the capture of the prophet Daniel in Babylon and the fall of the city to the Persians, and ends with a revelation of the end of history, proclaiming the arrival of the Kingdom of God.
Of the 27 books of the New Testament, 21 are epistles. The New Testament begins with The Gospels —a book each by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, disciples of Jesus Christ, who describe his life and teachings. The first three works, called Synoptic Gospels , are somewhat similar and are nowadays judged to be anti-Semitic [q.v.]. The Gospel according to John, instead of focusing on Jesus's biography as the other disciples did, concentrates on the theme of Jesus as the word of God made flesh. It too is considered anti-Semitic. The fifth book, The Acts of the Apostles, ascribed to Luke, describes the history of early Christianity led by Peter (d. 67 A.D.), as well as the missionary work of Paul (d. 65 A.D.). The Epistles follow—attributed to Paul (14 epistles), and to James, Peter, John, and Jude, disciples of Jesus Christ. The epistles are addressed to the young churches and deal chiefly with Christian doctrine and worship. The New Testament ends with Revelation, a prophetic book written during the rule of Domitian (r. 81–96 A.D.), most probably by more than one person, including John. In the traditional apocalyptic style of Hebrew literature, the book describes the catastrophes that will presage the Day of Judgment at the end of history.
Because Christians later split into three major churches—Roman Catholic [q.v.], Orthodox (Catholic) [q.v.], and Protestant [q.v.]—different versions of the Bible are in use today. Since the Roman Catholic Old Testament in Latin was translated from the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible rendered in third century B.C.), and not from the later Hebrew Bible of Jamnia, it includes seven books not contained in the later version. This, and the division of single books into two or more, explains why there are as many as 46 books in the Roman Catholic Old Testament. As a translation of the Septuagint they are arranged differently from the Hebrew Bible: The Pentateuch, The Historical Books, The Didactic Books, The Prophetical Books, and The Historical Books. The Protestant Old Testament has 39 books, arranged in the same way as those in the Roman Catholic Bible, but without the last collection of Historical Books. The Orthodox (Catholic) Church, consisting largely of Greek or Slavic churches, uses either the Septuagint for the Old Testament and the Greek New Testament (for Greek churches), or their translations into Old Church Slavonic (for the Slavic churches).
bin (Arabic: son): It is customary for an Arab male from the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.] to identify himself as the bin (son), of his father, followed by his surname, often prefixed with al (the). Those of high social rank tend to include more than one generation in the name.
bin Laden, Osama (b. 1957–2011): Saudi Islamist, leader of al-Qaida Son of Muhammad Awad bin Laden—a bricklayer from South Yemen [q.v.], who after settling in the Saudi city of Jeddah [q.v.], became a leading construction magnate—and Alia Hamida Ghanoum, the youngest of his 11 wives, in Jeddah. After finishing his secondary education in 1974 at an elite high school, he graduated in civil engineering at King Abdul Aziz University in 1978. He regarded those who mounted the armed uprising in Mecca [q.v.] in November 1979 as "true Muslims" [q.v .].
After visiting the Pakistani city of Peshawar in the spring of 1980, he successfully lobbied his brothers, relatives, and friends to support the antiSoviet struggle in Afghanistan. He returned to Pakistan with the hefty donations he had collected in Saudi Arabia [q.v.], and several Afghan and Pakistani employees of Saudi Binladin Group, owned by his family, to set up an office to support non-Afghan mujahedin in cooperation with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which oversaw the conduct of the anti-Soviet campaign. Bin Laden came under the influence of Abdullah Azzam [q.v.], who in 1984 established the Maktab al-Khidmat (Persian: Bureau of Service [to the non-Afghan mujahedin]) in Peshawar. Besides vetting non-Afghan volunteers, and sending them to one of the constituents of the seven-party Afghan Mujahedin Alliance, bin Laden supervised the construction of roads and the refurbishing of caves for storing weapons in the Mujahedin-controlled areas. He also participated in guerrilla actions and armed encounters.
At the ISI-CIA training camps established on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan frontier, the volunteers underwent military training—based on the manuals used by the Pentagon and the CIA, and translated into Persian [q.v.], Arabic [q.v.], and Urdu— as well as political education, which emphasized nationalism and Islam [q.v.]. In 1986 bin Laden oversaw the construction of a tunnel complex at Zhwahar Killi in the vicinity of Khost near the Pakistani border, to house a training center, weapons store, and medical facility with electricity and piped water as well as a jail for the prisoners of war. The new base was to be an addition to the already existing nearby cave complex at Tora Bora, which had proved impervious to the Soviet-Afghan assaults.
When the Soviets left Afghanistan in February 1989, bin Laden declared it to be a victory for the jihad [q.v.]. After the assassination of Azzam in November, he resolved to continue running Maktab al-Khidmat under the new title of al-Qaida (Arabic: The Base), but with a more ambitious aim of creating an international network of jihadis, those who had participated in the anti-Soviet jihad.
Frustrated by the internecine violence among Afghan Mujahedin, centered on ethnicity, that erupted after the Soviet withdrawal, bin Laden returned to Jeddah in the spring of 1990. Here he became a much sought-after speaker, and his taped speeches became best sellers. During the crisis caused by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait [q.v.] in August, he offered the Saudi government a plan to defend the kingdom by mobilizing citizens as well as his veteran mujahedin. It was rejected. Along with many fellow Saudis, he disapproved of the stationing of more than half a million Western troops, predominantly American, on Saudi soil. When, after the successful end of the Second Gulf War [q.v.] in February 1991, many thousands of U.S. soldiers stayed on in the kingdom, he protested vehemently.
He left the kingdom for Sudan, ruled by an Islamist [q.v.] military government. In Khartoum he set up several different businesses. During his five years there, he ran al-Qaida along corporate lines, with the policymaking Shura Council of 12 served by four executive committees: military (headed by Muhammad Atef [q.v.]), business, Islamic studies, and media and public relations. He kept up his attacks on the continued presence of infidel soldiers on Arabia's holy soil and the regime that allowed it.
He pursued his political-religious agenda of waging jihad against the U.S. by either directly financing al-Qaida's terrorist actions or sponsoring like-minded groups abroad while offering to train their activists at al-Qaida camps in Sudan, thus turning al-Qaida into an umbrella organization, specializing in conducting jihad violently. It established associate relationships with like-minded groups in Algeria, Chechnya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Libya, the Philippines, Syria, and Yemen, and maintained guest houses in different countries. In 1992–93, he intervened in the civil war in Somalia, with Atef supervising the training of the Somali tribes opposed to the UN intervention in the conflict. Later bin Laden would be accused by Washington of aiding and abetting the attacks on U.S. troops within the UN force, as a result of which 18 American soldiers died while hunting for Somali warlord Muhammad Farah Aideed—as did nearly 500 Somalis.
In early 1994 the Saudi government revoked bin Laden's citizenship and froze his assets—estimated to be $20–25 million. There was an unsuccessful attempt on his life. He responded by establishing the Committee for Advice and Reform (CAR) with the purported aim of promoting peaceful reform in Saudi Arabia, and opened an office in London.
To get its name removed from Washington's list of states that support international terrorism, Sudan's government agreed in early 1996 to put bin Laden under surveillance, thus following the lead of the CIA, which had by then set up a special bin Laden Station, an unprecedented step taken regarding an individual. Sudan's gesture was not enough. But, as neither the United States nor Saudi Arabia wanted bin Laden for itself (the United States lacked evidence to prove his guilt of killing Americans), in May 1996 bin Laden and his entourage left for Jalalabad in Afghanistan, then in the throes of a civil war between a ramshackle government in Kabul and the newly arisen Pakistan-backed Taliban. The area where he took refuge was outside the Taliban's control. It was only after it had captured Kabul and the areas to its east in September that bin Laden sought its protection. He got it but only after the Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, based in Kandahar, had accepted bin Laden's oath of loyalty to him.
In return, bin Laden ordered several hundred of his experienced militia to fight alongside the Taliban in the civil war. His fighters consisted of those veterans of the anti-Soviet jihad who, on returning home, had been intolerably harassed by their governments, and the post-1989 Mujahedin, dispirited by the decline in the jihads in the Balkans, Chechnya, and Kashmir. Assisted by bin Laden's veterans, Mullah Omar's government extended its control over 85 percent of Afghanistan.
On the eve of the formation of the World Islamic Front for Jihad against Crusaders and Jews [q.v.] in February 1998, bin Laden and four other Islamist leaders deplored the suffering of the Palestinians and Iraqi people and declared it to be the religious duty of Muslims everywhere to kill the Americans and their allies—civilian and military—wherever possible in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem [q.v.]) and the Holy Mosque (in Mecca [q.v.]) from their control.
Following the detonation of huge bombs at the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam on 7 August 1998, which killed 227 people, Washington held bin Laden responsible for the deadly blasts, and called on the Taliban to hand him over. Mullah Omar refused. By now bin Laden was listed among the "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, with $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest, a sum that would later be raised to $25 million.
America saw the hand of al-Qaida in the bombing of U.S.S. Cole in Aden [q.v.] in October 2000, which killed 17 servicemen. Two months later, working together with Russia, the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton (r. 1993–2001) had the UN Security Council demand the extradition of bin Laden from the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan within a month on pain of an imposition of arms embargo on the Taliban regime. Mullah Omar defied the resolution. The subsequent ban brought him and bin Laden closer, with al-Qaida's well-trained non-Afghan fighters now forming the Taliban's 55th Brigade.
The public trial in February 2001 in New York of four al-Qaida operatives, charged with conspiracy for the bombings in Nairobi and Dar as Salam, gave bin Laden a higher profile in the Muslim world than before, and raised his influence over Mullah Omar. When, following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on 11 September, the U.S. administration of President George W. Bush (r. 2001–2009) held him responsible, and called on Mullah Omar to hand him over to America, the Taliban leader argued that bin Laden could not have been the culprit.
In the course of his videotaped meeting with a visiting radical cleric from Jeddah, named Khalid Harbi, bin Laden named nine of the 9/11 hijackers, adding that they had been instructed to go to America, but were told of the operation just before boarding the planes. Bin Laden also revealed that he and other plotters had discussed the extent of the damage that would be caused to the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City by the impact of the flying aircraft. The videotape, obtained by the United States in the third week of November (after the flight of the Taliban from Kabul on 12–13 November), was released to the media in mid-December 2001.
After fleeing Afghanistan, bin Laden found refuge in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal agency, and then returned to the border area of Afghanistan. He took to sending audio-taped statements to Al-Jazeera satellite television, timing them to coincide with the first anniversary of 9/11 or the high point of the hajj [q.v.] in February 2003 during the American military buildup to invade Iraq.
In 2004 he made his way to the Swat region of northern Pakistan. After a few months he moved south to Haripur district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. On the eve of the U.S. presidential election in November 2004, the airing of a videotape by bin Laden highlighted his threatening presence as well as the reality of the "war on terror," particularly to the voters in the U.S. That led most of the undecided Americans to favor the incumbent Bush, who managed to garner 51 percent of the popular vote. Thus he became the second Third World leader to impact directly on an American presidential election, the first being Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.].
In May 2005, bin Laden moved from Haripur to the Bilal Town suburb of Abbottabad, to occupy a newly built three-story house enclosed by a high compound wall. He lived there with his three wives and their many children until the helicopter raid by the Pentagon's Special Forces in the early hours of 2 May 2011. The raiders killed bin Laden and three others, and took his corpse to the Bagram air base in Afghanistan. From there it was flown to the aircraft carrier the Carl Vinson in the North Arabian Sea, and given a sea burial.
bint (Arabic: daughter) It is customary for an Arab female to identify herself as the bint (daughter), of her father, followed by his surname, often prefixed with al (the).
Bishara, Azmi (1956-): Israeli Arab academic and politician Born into a middle-class Roman Catholic [q.v.] family in Nazareth [q.v.], Bishara founded the National Committee of Arab High School Students in 1974. Later, while enrolled at Haifa University for a degree in political science, he established the Arab Students Union, which elected him its chairman. After receiving a doctorate in philosophy from Humboldt University in Germany in 1986, he taught cultural studies and philosophy at Bir Zeit University near Ramallah [q.v.], West Bank [q.v.], and also worked as a senior researcher at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem [q.v.]. Along with his Jewish [q.v.] Israeli colleagues, he founded the Palestinian Institute for Research of Democracy.
In 1996 he was elected to the Knesset [q.v.] as a member of the United Arab List. On the eve of the 1999 election he founded the National Democratic Assembly-Balad and won a Knesset seat on its ticket. In early 2001 he became the first Israeli Arab [q.v.] to enter the race for prime minister. However, he withdrew at the last moment without endorsing any other candidate.
In November 2001, the Knesset revoked his immunity accorded to parliamentarians. It did so to let the attorney general initiate criminal proceedings against him under the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (1948) regarding the speeches he delivered in Israel in June 2000 and at President Hafiz Assad's [q.v.] memorial service in Syria a year later, in which he upheld the Palestinians' right to resist the Israeli occupation of their territories. It was the first time that the Knesset stripped the immunity of one of its members because of the political statements made by the member in the course of performing his/her duty as an elected representative.
On the eve of the 2003 parliamentary election, the Israeli election commission barred him by 22 votes to 19 from running for election, but the High Court upturned the ban. He retained his seat. He was reelected to the Seventeenth Knesset in March 2006. He visited Syria in September after the 34-day Israel-Hizbollah War [q.v.] which ended on 14 August 2006. By so doing he violated the law passed after his 2001 visit to Syria which barred Knesset members from visiting any enemy state. He also visited Lebanon, where he reportedly told the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri [q.v.] that Hizbollah's resistance to Israel has "lifted the spirit of the Arab people."
Against the backdrop of police investigation into his foreign contacts and accusations of aiding the enemy during wartime and laundering money received from foreign sources, he resigned from the Knesset while on a visit to Cairo [q.v.] in April 2007, saying that he would not receive a fair trial in Israel. He then went into selfexile.
In 2010 he was appointed director general of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (Doha Institute) in Doha [q.v.]. He is the author of several books in Arabic and English, including The Arabs in Israel.
Bitar, Salah al-Din (1912–80): Syrian politician Born into a prominent Sunni [q.v.] family in Damascus [q.v.], Bitar received his higher education at Damascus University followed by Sorbonne University, Paris. Back in the Syrian capital in 1934, he taught mathematics and physics at a prestigious secondary school. In 1940, together with Michel Aflaq [q.v.], a fellow teacher, he established a study circle called the Movement of Arab Renaissance (Baath, in Arabic). They published pamphlets in which they expounded revolutionary socialist Arab nationalism, committed to achieving Arab unity as the first step. Once the Mandate power, France, had left Syria in April 1946, Bitar and Aflaq secured a license for their group, now called the Party of Arab Renaissance. They decided to merge their faction with the one led by Zaki Arsuzi [q.v.]. Out of this in April 1947 emerged the Arab Baath Party [q.v.] in Damascus. Bitar was elected to its four-member executive committee.
In 1954 he became a member of parliament. As the foreign minister from 1954 to 1957, he actively backed the idea of a union between Syria and Egypt. The next year, following the formation of the United Arab Republic (UAR) [q. v.], Bitar was appointed its minister of national guidance. But when UAR President Abdul Gamal Nasser [q.v.] dissolved the Arab Baath Socialist Party [q.v.] in 1959, he resigned. After the Baathist coup of March 1963 he became prime minister but lost his seat in the Baath Party's national command.
As the Baathist Military Committee tightened its grip over the party and the government, Bitar, identified with the rival civilian wing of the party, found himself out of favor. After intermittently ceding the premiership to General Hafiz Amin, he lost his office in February 1966, when the civilian faction was purged from the government. He escaped to Lebanon. In 1969 he was sentenced to death in absentia in Damascus. Soon after Hafiz Assad [q.v.] seized power in November 1970, he pardoned Bitar.
During his exile in Beirut [q.v.] he stayed away from the Baathist national command led by Aflaq, which forged links with the Baathist regime of Iraq. From Beirut he moved to Paris. In January 1978 he was invited to Damascus for talks with President Assad, but the two leaders failed to reconcile their views. After his return to Paris, Bitar started publishing a journal, Al-Ihya al-Arabi (Arabic: The Arab Revival ), which became a mobilizing forum for various Syrian opposition groups in exile. He was assassinated in Paris in July 1980. Syria's complicity in the killing, though not proven, was widely suspected.
Black September Organization: A Palestinian group This Palestinian group, led by Wadi Haddad, was formed by militant members of Fatah [q.v.] soon after the defeat of the Palestinian commandos by the Jordanian army in September 1970, and was named after that month. Following the assassination in November 1971 of Jordanian Premier Wasfi Tal in Cairo [q.v.], the four Palestinians claiming responsibility for it declared that they belonged to the Black September Organization (BSO).
Eight BSO members took hostage nine of the 11 Israeli athletes at the Olympic village near Munich, Germany, on 5 September 1972, the remaining two Israelis having died earlier in the struggle. Their demand that they and their hostages be put aboard an aircraft was met. But at the airport there was a shoot-out between them and the German security forces. All nine Israeli athletes were killed— eight of them by the German security personnel—as were five Palestinians. The remaining three hostage takers were captured.
The macabre drama was reported live by some 6,000 newspersons and the largest gathering of television equipment ever assembled, thus inadvertently highlighting the fate of Palestinians as a people nursing deeply felt grievances. In retribution, Israel's three-day long air raids on Palestinian refugee camps in Syria and Lebanon killed 200 to 500 people, mostly civilians. Over the next few years Mossad [q.v.] assassinated 12 Palestinians believed to have been involved in the Munich attack.
Borochov, Dov Ber (1881–1917): Zionist thinker Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Borochov became the leading ideologue of Zionist socialism. He started out as a member of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, but in 1900 left to become a cofounder of Poale Zion [q.v.] in Minsk, Belarus. He offered a program of socialism, Zionism and migration to Palestine [q.v.]. He argued that before the Jews could launch a class struggle they first had to achieve nationhood, and for that they had to have a country of their own.
He chose Palestine partly because it was regarded as the historic homeland of the Jews [q.v.], and partly because, being a "derelict country," it held interest only for minor and mediumsized Jewish capitalists—not the big ones—and thus offered revolutionary promise for the Jewish proletariat, which was to be fostered there. He regarded local Arabs [q.v.] as Turkish subjects, lacking national consciousness, and visualized their assimilation, economic and cultural, into the Jewish nation as it developed economically under Jewish initiative and leadership. He left Russia in 1907 and returned 10 years later to attend the Congress of Minorities called by the Alexander Kerensky regime. He died in Kiev.
Boutros-Ghali, Boutros (1922-): Egyptian politician; UN secretary-general, 1992—96 Born into a prominent Coptic [q.v.] family that was active in nationalist politics in Cairo [q.v.], Boutros received higher education at Cairo University and then Paris University, where he obtained diplomas in political science and economics and a doctorate in international law in 1949. He then taught international law and international affairs at Cairo University. In 1960 he founded the Al-Ahram al-Iqtisadi (Arabic: Economic Al-Ahram) as the weekly magazine of the Al-Ahram (Arabic: The Pyramids ) newspaper, and edited it for the next 15 years. He also authored several studies of international problems.
In 1977 President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] appointed him minister of state for foreign affairs. He played a role in the negotiations that led to the Camp David Accords [q.v.] between Egypt and Israel in September 1978. He retained his position under the presidency of Hosni Mubarak [q.v.]. He was elected to parliament in 1987 as a member of the ruling National Democratic Party [q.v.], and was promoted to deputy minister for foreign affairs four years later. On 1 January 1992 he assumed the office of the UN secretary-general. Five years later 14 of the 15 UN Security Council members backed his bid for a second term, but the United States vetoed it.
In 1999, he published his experiences at the United Nations in Unvanquished: A U.S.-UN Saga.
Bu (Arabic: father ): Derivative of abu [q.v.].
Byblos: Lebanese town Population: 40,000 (2011 est.) Known in Arabic as Jbail, a derivative of biblical Gebal, Byblos is one of the oldest settlements in the world. Some historians describe it as the oldest continuously inhabited town on the planet. Since papyrus, the ancient writing material later used for making paper, was exported from Lebanon to the Aegean region through Byblos, the place-name became the source word in Greek for book and in English for bible and bibliography.
Archaeological work conducted during the 1920s established that Byblos has been inhabited since the eighth millennium B.C. In ancient times it was part of the Egyptian Empire, and an important trading place for cedar and other wood. After the end of Egyptian suzerainty in the 11th century B.C., Byblos emerged as the leading city of Phoenicia. Later, during the Roman era, it lost its supremacy to Tyre [q.v.]. In the course of the Crusades it was captured in 1103 by the Crusaders, who retained it until 1291 as part of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. It then came under the successive rule of the Mamlukes and the Ottomans.
Today its tourist offerings include a necropolis, an Obelisk Temple, Phoenician ramparts, a Roman theatre, and Crusader ramparts. It is a world heritage site of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.
C
Cairo: capital of Egypt Population: 7.783 million (2011 est.) Cairo's Arabic name, al-Qairah, means "the Victorious." Located at the head of the River Nile [q.v.] delta, Cairo is the commercial, financial, industrial, educational, and cultural center of Egypt, and the most populous city of the Middle East [q.v.]. The ancient Roman settlement of Babylon was situated nearby; and Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt, was across the Nile. Near Memphis are the Pyramids of Giza, a suburb of Cairo. The oldest pyramid, the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops), dates back to 2640 B.C.
After Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] had conquered Egypt in 641 A.D., they established the new capital, al-Fustat (Arabic: The Encampment ), near the fortress of Babylon. In 969 A.D., following their conquest of Egypt, the Fatimids, a Shia [q.v.] dynasty from Tunis, founded Cairo, located 2 mi./3 km north of al-Fustat, as their capital. Since then Cairo has thrived. In the early 12th century the Crusaders' plan to capture it failed. It became the capital of the Islamic Empire under the Mamlukes (12601517). It then came under the suzerainty of the Ottomans. They lost it briefly to Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798, and then to the British in 1882. After Egypt's independence in 1922, the monarchical regime confirmed Cairo as the country's capital.
As a city rich in history since ancient times, it provides numerous tourist attractions. The most important of these, besides the Pyramids, are the Muallaqa Coptic Church [q.v.]; the Citadel (1179) built by Saladin (also known as Salah al-Din Ayubi); the mosques of Ibn Tulun (878 A.D.), al-Hakim (1010), and Muhammad Ali (1857); the Antiques Museum, spanning the pre-Islamic era from 3000 B.C. to 641 A.D.; the Coptic Museum; the Museum of Islamic Art; and the medieval Khan-e-Khalili bazaar. The city is the site of 16 universities, including al-Azhar University [q.v.] and the American University in Cairo [q.v.]. It is the headquarters of the Arab League [q.v.].
In late January 2011, the city's Tahrir (Arabic: Liberation) Square became the epicenter of the popular protest against President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.], with the initial gathering of 50,000 people occupying the square ballooning to two million in 18 days, and succeeding in forcing Mubarak to resign on 11 February.
Cairo Agreement (Lebanese-PLO, 1969): Relations between Lebanon and the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] soured when their forces clashed on Lebanese soil in late October 1969. Responding to a mediation offer by Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.], the two sides signed an accord, popularly known as the Cairo Agreement. According to the unofficial leaks, it allowed the PLO to administer the Palestinian refugee camps and establish armed units and posts inside them, and also to hold transit routes and certain positions in southern Lebanon (which had emerged as a major Palestinian-Israeli battleground), in return for the PLO's promise to respect Lebanese sovereignty. Both sides broke the terms of the accord as and when expedient. After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982 [q.v.]—resulting in the PLO's expulsion from Beirut [q.v.] and the creation of an Israeli-enforced security zone in southern Lebanon— the Cairo Agreement became virtually moribund.
Camp David Accords (Egypt-Israel, 1978): These accords were hammered out at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David, Maryland, in September 1978 between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] and Israeli Premier Menachem Begin [q.v.], with the assistance of U.S. President Jimmy Carter. They were signed in Washington on 18 September 1978. They laid out the framework for a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, and a resolution of the Palestinian problem.
The highlights of the accord concerning Egypt and Israel were as follows: Egypt would regain Sinai [q.v.] in exchange for an agreement to conclude a peace treaty and establish normal relations with Israel. The negotiations would establish security zones in Sinai and limit the forces of both sides stationed there. Once the peace treaty was signed, within three months (in practice it took six months), a phased pull-back by Israeli troops would start, the first such withdrawal to be within three to six months after the treaty, and the last two to three years later.
The highlights of the regional peace, especially concerning the Palestinians, were as follows: Over a five-year transition period the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza Strip [q.v.] would gain autonomy and see the end of Israeli military rule, while Israel would maintain military camps on the West Bank. Jordan was to be invited into the negotiations, and could have a security role if it wanted. During the transition period there would be talks on the final status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip between Israel, Egypt, Jordan (if it wished), and the elected representatives of resident Palestinians. During these negotiations there would be a freeze on new Israeli settlements on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Egypt-Israel peace treaty was signed on 26 March 1979 in Washington, and endorsed by the parliaments of the two countries. In the first phase of the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, Israel vacated two-thirds of the peninsula from El Arish on the Mediterranean coast to Ras Muhammad on the Red Sea on 23 January 1980. The two sides exchanged ambassadors on 26 February. The final Israeli withdrawal occurred on 26 April 1982.
The total cost to the United States of military and economic aid to Israel and Egypt, promised in order to secure the Camp David Accords, was put at $10 billion, with two-thirds going to Israel.
Carter Doctrine (1980): U.S.policy on the Gulf region Responding to Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan in late December 1979, U.S. President James Carter, in his State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress on 24 January 1980, stated: "An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States. It will be repelled by use of any means necessary, including military force." Conceptually, the Carter Doctrine was a virtual repetition of what President Franklin Roosevelt had said in 1943— "The defense of Saudi Arabia is vital to the defense of the United States"— and a reiteration of the Eisenhower Doctrine [q.v.] proclaimed in 1957.
In its application, it advanced the steps taken by the Carter administration soon after the downfall of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran [q.v.] in February 1979: to establish a joint task force of 50,000, to be called the Rapid Deployment Force (RDF), for safeguarding Gulf oil supplies; to build up the U.S. Fifth Fleet operating from Diego Garcia near Mauritius in the Indian Ocean; and to seek long-term access to air and naval bases in the Gulf. But of the six pro-Western Gulf States approached by Washington, only Oman agreed to let the U.S. use its military bases. The RDF was headquartered in the United States at MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida, in March 1980. The next U.S. president, Ronald Reagan, declared in October 1982: "An attack on Saudi Arabia would be considered an attack on the United States."
Catholics, Armenian: see Armenian Catholic Church.
Catholics, Assyrian: see Nestorian Christians.
Catholics, Chaldean: see Chaldean Catholic Church.
Catholics, Greek: see Greek Catholic Church.
Catholics, Maronite: see Maronite Catholic Church.
Catholics, Orthodox: see Orthodox Christians Church.
Catholics, Roman: see Roman Catholic Christians Church.
Catholics, Syrian: see Syrian Catholic Church.
C.E.: Abbreviation of Common Era This term is used by some non-Christian writers to denote A.D. [q.v.].
Cedar Revolution (Lebanon): an anti-Syrian movement in Lebanon Cedar Revolution was the term used for a series of demonstrations sparked by the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri [q.v.] on 14 February 2005. It was coined by the U.S. State Department which tried to link it to other color revolutions—Rose and Orange respectively in Georgia (November 2003) and Ukraine (November 2004 to January 2005)—that occurred in the former Soviet republics. The protestors wanted the withdrawal of the 14,000 Syrian troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon and an international investigation into Hariri's assassination. The crowning mass demonstration took place on 14 March 2005, and the subsequent anti-Syrian alliance acquired the moniker of 14 March Alliance [q.v.]. Syria withdrew all its forces on 27 April, and a general election, monitored by the United Nations, was held in May and June 2005.
Central Treaty Organization: multilateral defense pact involving Middle Eastern countries A Western-sponsored regional alliance, briefly known as the Baghdad Pact [q.v.], it started as the Middle East Treaty Organization (METO) in 1954. As part of its global strategy to create a worldwide chain of anti-Soviet alliances, in February 1954 the United States encouraged Turkey, a member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization, to sign a Pact of Mutual Cooperation with Pakistan. In April Washington concluded a military assistance agreement with Iraq, followed by a Pact of Mutual Assistance with Pakistan in May. This set the scene for the signing of a military agreement in February 1955 between Turkey and Iraq, the nucleus of the Baghdad Pact. Later that year Iran, Pakistan, and Britain joined the Baghdad Pact, which pledged military aid in the event of Communist aggression against a fellow member.
Western pressure on Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria to join failed due to widespread nationalist, pan-Arab [q.v.] feelings expressed in huge demonstrations. After the republican coup in July 1958, Iraq pulled out of the Baghdad Pact in March 1959, which was then officially and popularly called Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), with its headquarters in Ankara. Because it was meant to provide defense against Communist aggression, Pakistan's attempts to invoke it in its wars with India in 1965 and 1971 failed. After its Islamic revolution [q.v.] in February 1979, Iran quit CENTO, destroying its geographical continuity and military effectiveness, and hastening its demise later that year.
Chalabi, Ahmad Abdul Hadi (1945-): Iraqi politician Born into a rich banking family in Baghdad, Ahmad Chal-abi and his parents fled Baghdad [q.v.] in the wake of the anti-royalist coup in 1958. After university education in Beirut [q.v.], Chalabi enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and then obtained a doctorate in mathematics at the University of Chicago. He became a mathematics professor at the American University in Beirut [q.v.]. He stayed there until 1977 when, due to the escalating Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], he moved to Amman [q.v.].
He established Petra Bank there. Within a decade, it became the third-largest bank in Jordan [q.v.], only to be seized by the Central Bank of Jordan in mid-1989 due to shady foreign exchange transactions. His reported flight in the boot of a friend's car to Damascus [q.v.] damaged his reputation. He moved to London where he later became a British citizen. In 1992 the State Security Court in Amman convicted him in absentia in two cases, and sentenced him to a 20 -year jail term. In the wake of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait [q.v.] in 1990, he carved out a niche for himself in the Iraqi opposition circles in London.
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruited him as an asset partly because he lacked any constituency inside Iraq, so he was the least threatening to other opposition groups, each of which had some sort of contacts at home. In June 1992, at the convention of 300 opposition delegates in Vienna, bankrolled by the CIA, Chalabi was elected leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) [q.v.], an umbrella body that gained the affiliation of nearly 20 groups.
He moved to Salahuddin in Iraqi Kurdistan [q.v.], the headquarters of the INC, with a plan to develop the region as the launching pad to overthrow the regime of President Saddam Hussein [q.v.]. But his plan in March 1995 to combine a military coup against Saddam with a popular uprising in the area adjacent to Kurdistan failed when the U.S. withdrew its support for it, preferring to back an alternative plan by the Iraqi National Accord (INA) [ q.v .].
In September 1996, following the intra-Kurdish fighting in which the Kurdistan Democratic Party [q.v.] successfully secured Saddam Hussein's military assistance to defeat its rival, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [q.v.], the CIA decided to pull out all its 5,500 Arab and Kurdish agents, including Chalabi from Kurdistan.
After the passage of Iraq Liberation Act in October 1998, the INC was recognized as one of the six factions that qualified for official U.S. assistance. But, in April 1999, protesting against Chalabi's high-handedness, the INC's executive committee members demoted him from chairman to an ordinary member of the committee.
The hawkish officials of the administration of President George W. Bush (2001-2009) warmly adopted Chalabi, who had by then developed close relations with influential pro-Israeli lawmakers. By contrast, he was now shunned by the state department and the CIA. At the Iraqi Open Opposition Conference in London in December 2002 , his proposal for a transitional government in post-Saddam Iraq was rejected.
After the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in March 2003, Chalabi was appointed to the Interim Iraqi Governing Council by the occupying Coalition Provisional Authority. His INC remained on the payroll of the U.S. state department until September 2003 and of the Pentagon until May 2004. In August an arrest warrant was issued for Chalabi for alleged counterfeiting while he lived abroad. But, on his return to Baghdad [q.v.], he was not apprehended. The charge was dropped when the investigating judge cited lack of evidence.
On the eve of the January 2005 election to the Interim National Assembly, Chalabi, a secular Shia [q.v.], led the INC to join the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) [q.v.], the brainchild of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani [q.v.]. When the UIA emerged as the majority group in parliament, he made a bid for prime minister. He failed because the UIA was primarily an alliance of the religious Shia parties. However, under the subsequent premiership of Ibrahim al-Jaafari [q.v.], he briefly served as the acting oil minister.
He ran in the December 2005 elections for the National Assembly under the new constitution as the leader of the secular National Congress Coalition (NCC), composed of the INC and some small groups. Gaining less than 1 percent of the popular vote, the NCC failed to win a single seat in the parliament.
In 2007, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [q .v.] appointed him head of the Iraqi Services Committee—a consortium of eight service ministries and two Baghdad municipal departments—charged with restoring electricity, education and health services, and security services to Baghdad's numerous districts.
On the eve of the March 2010 parliamentary election, he revived the Supreme National De-Baathification Commission, originally set up under his chairmanship after the overthrow of the Baathist regime, to disqualify 500 mainly Sunni [q.v.] candidates from running in the election. This controversial move raised inter-sectarian tensions that had been lessening over the past few years.
During the early days of the Shia-led protest in Bahrain in 2011, it became known that Chalabi had helped leaders of Bahrain's al-Wafeq [q.v.] to establish contacts in Washington in order to lobby their case in the U.S.
Chaldean Catholic Church: Originally, it was composed of the members of the Nestorian Church [q.v.], who split from it to follow John Sulaka, appointed Patriarch of Catholic Nestori-ans by Roman Catholic [q.v.] Pope Julius III in 1551. The term Chaldean was used partly to differentiate it from the Nestorian Church of Cyprus, which had reconciled with Rome earlier, and partly because the followers were originally from Chaldea and Mesopotamia [q.v.]. The Chaldean Catholic Church is a Uniate church [q.v.], and follows East Syriac liturgy. Its Patriarch Catholicos of Babylon of the Chaldeans is based in Mosul [q.v.]. Its adherents in the Middle East [q.v.] live mainly in Iraq and Lebanon—as well as Iran.
The roots of Christianity [q.v.] in Iraq and Iran go back to the second century. Following its adoption of Nestorianism [q.v.'] by the Church of the East in the fifth century, it expanded into Central Asia and China. The rise of Timur Beg in the 14th century led to the decimation of this church in Central Asia and China.
In Iraq, the Chaldean community was 500,000 strong before the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in 2003 when its best-known member was Tariq Aziz [q.v.]. Due to the widespread violence in the post-2003 Iraq, in which Christians were frequently targeted by al-Qaida in Mesopotamia [q.v.], the size of this group shrank. In Iran, the church is governed by the Chaldean Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Tehran.
Chamoun, Camille Nimr (1900–87): Lebanese politician; president, 1952—58 Born into a Maronite [q.v.] family in Deiral Qamar, Chamoun acquired a degree from the French Law College of Beirut [q.v.] in 1925. He entered parliament nine years later and became finance minister (1938) and interior minister (1943). In 1944 he was Lebanon's envoy to Britain, and two years later he was the chief Lebanese representative at the United Nations. On his return to Beirut in 1947 he served as a minister for a year. He parted company with President Bishara Khouri [q.v.] when the latter had the constitution amended to pave the way for his reelection to the presidency. He joined the opposition, and became its choice to succeed Khouri when, facing charges of corruption, he resigned in September 1952.
Disregarding the program of his supporters to concentrate on domestic reform, Chamoun focused on foreign affairs. Despite pressure from Muslim politicians, he did not break his links with Britain and France during the latter's aggression against Egypt in October 1956 in the Suez War [q.v.]. His open alignment with the West, coupled with his rigging of the 1957 general election and repression of the opposition, angered the pan-Arab camp. A civil war [q.v.] erupted in May 1958. When the pro-Western monarchy in Iraq was overthrown by pan-Arabist military officers in mid-July, he called for the dispatch of U.S. troops to Lebanon under the Eisenhower Doctrine [q.v.]. The arrival of these troops intensified the civil conflict. To expedite the departure of foreign troops after the end of the civil war on 31 July, opposition lawmakers agreed to vote for General Fuad Chehab [q.v.]—the army commander who had remained neutral in the war—as president in September.
Chamoun then founded the National Liberal Party [q.v.]. In the 1968 election it joined the Triple Alliance to oppose those Christian candidates who, as Chehabists, wanted to marry Christian identity with Arab nationalism [q.v.]. He took an increasingly anti-Palestinian stance because he feared that, encouraged by the support of armed Palestinians, the Lebanese Muslims would strive to strip the Christians of their traditional power. At the beginning of the 1975–90 Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] between the pan-Arab, leftist, predominantly Muslim camp, and the right-wing Christian camp, he emerged as the leader of the Lebanese Front [q.v.], a confederation of largely Maronite organizations, committed to maintaining the status quo.
His party set up its own militia, the Tigers, commanded by his son, Danny. But the Tigers were defeated in a series of clashes with the militia of the Phalange Party [q.v.], a Maronite faction. After the ascendancy of the Phalange and its leaders, the Gemayels [q.v.], in the wake of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982 [q.v.], the importance of Chamoun waned. The successful Second National Reconciliation Conference in March 1984 in Lausanne paved the way for Chamoun to join the subsequent national unity government, which he served until his death three years later.
Chehab, Fuad (1902–73): Lebanese military leader and politician; president, 1958—64 Born into a Maronite [q.v.] family, Chehab joined the army during the French Mandate and rose to the rank of colonel. After the independence of Lebanon in 1946 he was promoted to general and appointed commander of the army. He modernized the force and maintained its neutrality during political crises. When the opposition mounted street demonstrations against the corrupt government of President Bishara Khouri [q.v.] in September 1952, he kept the army in the barracks. Unable to withstand rising popular pressure, Khouri resigned. Under the new president, Camille Chamoun [q.v.], Chehab served briefly as the prime minister as well as the defense and interior minister. In the May 1958 Civil War [q.v.] between pro-Western forces, led by President Chamoun, and nationalist-leftist forces, headed by Kamal Jumblat [q.v.], Chehab, commanding a force of 8,000 , remained neutral. His impartiality paved the way for his election to the presidency and an end to the civil strife.
Reflecting the bipartisan backing he had received, he maintained stability by aligning his external policies with those of the Arab hinterland, and by coopting the leaders of urban Muslims in ruling the country. At home, supported by military officers and technocrats, he tried to modernize the Lebanese political-administrative machine, which was steeped in feudal values and sectarian cleavages. His public works program, including road building in rural north and south, led to increased migration from villages to cities. That in turn resulted in the rad-icalization of Lebanese politics. After stepping down in 1964 he continued to wield influence through the many lawmakers as well as military and intelligence officers who remained loyal to him.
Christian calendars: Gregorian and Julian The Christian [q.v.] calendar is solar. The one introduced by Roman Emperor Julius Ceasar (102–44 B.C.) in 46 B.C. was called the Julian calendar, in which the year consisted of 365 days, each fourth year having 366 days, and the months bearing the same names, order, and length as now. But when it was discovered that a solar year consisted of 365.242189, not 365.25, days—a difference of about ll minutes annually—corrections had to be made for the past inconsistency and an appropriate step taken for the future. This was done by Pope Gregory XIII (1502–85) in 1582, and the new calendar was called Gregorian.
By re-dating 5 October 1582 as 15 October 1582, 10 days were lost. For the future it was specified that for the centesimal years—1600, 1700, and so on—only those exactly divisible by 400 should be leap years. In 1582 the difference between the two calendars was 10 days. It extended to 11 days from 1700 to 1800, then 12 from 1800 to 1900, and 13 from 1900 to 2000. It will increase to 14 in 2100.
It was not until September 1752 that Britain and British colonies in the Americas adopted the Gregorian calendar. Russia did so after the Bolshevik Revolution in October 1917.
In 1681 the Pope moved the New Year from the Spring Equinox (on 21 March) to 1 January, being the circumcision day of Jesus. Born a Jew [q.v.], Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day of his birth which, according to Christian [q.v.] tradition, is 25 December—or 24 December after sunset, according to Jews, for whom a day starts with sunset. The Christian era is computed to start with Jesus Christ's circumcision. It is now recognized that this date has been put four to eight years too late.
Christian fundamentalism: Christian fundamentalism rests primarily on the belief that both the Old Testament [q.v.] and the New Testament [q.v.] are literal expressions of the Divine Truth, particularly in their moral-ethical commandments and sociopolitical injunctions, and that they are absolutely infallible. It rests secondarily on the belief in the divinity of Christ and in the salvation of the believer's soul by the effective action of Christ's life, death, and resurrection.
The term fundamentalism came into vogue in the United States in the 1920s following the publication of the 12-volume Fundamentals: The Testimony to Truth. It was presented as antithetical to modernity and liberalism, which generally informed the Protestant church [q.v.] in the United States.
Christian fundamentalism has been particularly strong among Pentecostal Protestants in the southern states of the United States. Growing support for Christian fundamentalism in America, organized through such bodies as the Moral Majority, led to the Republican Party gaining a majority in both Houses of Congress in 1994. Since then the Christian right has carved out a powerful niche within the Republican Party, whose candidate George W. Bush won the presidency in 2000. Its pro-Israeli stance was an important influence on the Bush administration's policies in the Middle East.
Christianity and Christians: Christianity arose out of the birth, crucifixion, and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth [q.v.], a settlement in the Roman province of Galilee. Born a Jew [q.v.], Jesus (ca. 6 B.C.-28 A.D.) was acclaimed as the Christ (Greek: Anointed ) by his principal followers, called apostles, most of whom were also Jewish. They regarded Jesus as the Christ who had been sent to earth as part of God's earlier covenants with the prophets Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Initially, Christianity was a sect within Judaism [q.v.], a monotheistic religion. But following the unsuccessful Jewish uprising in 66–70 A.D. the Jewish element within the Christian community withered. Those believing in the one eternal truth and salvation, as laid down by Christ, followed the rites prescribed by him—especially baptism and the Eucharist (Greek: thanksgiving ), which includes the liturgy of the sacrament, consisting of the consecration and distribution of bread and wine, symbolizing the body and blood of Christ offered in sacrifice.
After the death of Christ, his teachings were compiled into four books, called The Gospels, which form the early part of the New Testament [q.v.]. While the apostle Peter exercised religious authority, the apostle Paul spread Christ's teachings among non-Jews.
The well-organized nature of Christianity made the state hostile to it, and its monotheistic doctrine clashed with pagan practices. As a result early Christians were persecuted. The situation changed in 313 A.D. when Roman Emperor Constantine I (r. 306–337 A.D.) adopted Christianity and made it the state religion.
The breakup of the Roman Empire in 395 A.D. into the Western and Eastern sections began to undermine the unity of the Christian church. The church council, established in 325 A.D. to adjudicate controversies, produced the dogma of the Trinity—the Father (God), the Son (Christ), and the Holy Spirit—in the sixth century A.D. Increasingly, though, the church was racked with differences on such issues as the number of natures Christ possessed (divine only, or divine and human) and the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the Father and the Son. Also, following the barbarian attacks on the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century A.D., there was a political vacuum that was filled largely by the church, led by the Pope based in Rome, with Latin as the official language. In contrast, in the Eastern Roman Empire the Byzantine rulers exercised control over the church, led by the Patriarch based in Constantinople (now Istanbul), where Greek was the official language.
Guided by Rome and Constantinople, Christian monks spread the faith among pagans all over Europe. (In the Middle East, Asia Minor, and North Africa, Christianity gave way to Islam [q.v.] in the seventh century A.D.) The drift between Western (Roman Catholic [q.v.]) and Eastern (Orthodox [q.v.]) churches became a formal breach in 1054 after mutual excommunications of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, and the Rome-based Pope Leo IX. However, both churches experienced increasing conflict between secular and church authorities. When Reformation came in the early 16th century, it produced fresh diversity in the Christian faith, leading to the emergence of reformed churches—commonly called Protestant [q.v.], signifying their exclusion from both the Roman Catholic and the Eastern (Orthodox) sects.
While the long-established sects still maintain an elaborate version of early doctrines and rites, the more recent Protestant churches have restored pristine doctrines and forms, removing later additions and developments. Modern Christianity is marked by continued conflict between various sects, periodic attempts at unification, and an ongoing attempt to find a stable, well-defined relationship between religion and state. With 2.184 billion followers among the planet's 6.89 billion inhabitants in 2010, Christianity is the world's most popular religion.
Christians, Catholic: see individual Catholic categories.
Christians, Eastern (Orthodox): see Orthodox Christians Church and individual Orthodox Christian categories.
Christians, Protestant: see Protestant Christians Church.
Christmas: Christian festival A derivative of the Old English term Cristes maesse, Christ's mass, Christmas is an annual Christian festival celebrated by special gifts, greetings, and food on 25 December, commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ in ca. 6 B.C. See also Christian calendars.
church: The term "church" is used for a community of Christians as well as a building for Christian worship. Early churches, built like Roman basilicas (halls of justice), were later given a cruciform shape by the addition of wings laid perpendicular to the nave. In the Eastern Roman Empire under the Byzantines, churches acquired the form of the Greek cross.
Circassians: Circassians, also known as Cherkess or Adighe, based in North Caucasia and speaking Circassian, abandoned Christianity [q.v.] for Islam [q.v.] in the 17th century under the influence of the Ottoman Turks. In 1829 the Ottomans ceded the region to Tsarist Russia. But Circassians resisted Russian domination until 1864. After that many Circassian clans fled to Turkey and Greater Syria [q.v.]. Because the Ottoman sultan encouraged them to settle around Amman [q.v.], they now form a minority group in Jordan, where they are often to be found in the army and the king's bodyguard.
Civil War in Jordan (1970–71): see Jordanian Civil War (1970–71).
Civil War in Lebanon (1958): see Lebanese Civil War (1958).
Civil War in Lebanon (1975–90): see Lebanese Civil War (1975–90).
Civil War in North Yemen (1962–70): see North Yemeni Civil War (1962–70).
Civil War in Oman (1963–76): see Omani Civil War (1963–76).
Civil War in Yemen (1994) : see Yemeni Civil War (1994).
Committee for Advice and Reform (Saudi Arabia): In July 1994 Osama bin Laden [q.v.] signed a document describing the Committee for Advice and Reform (CAR) as "an all-encompassing organization that aims at applying the teachings of God to all aspects of life" in general and promoting "peaceful and constructive reform" in the governance of "Arabia"—deliberately omitting the qualifying "Saudi"—and establishing its office in London, with Khalid al-Fawwaz (b. 1962) its director. CAR's specific objectives were to eliminate all forms of jahiliya (pre-Islamic) rule and all aspects of injustice; to reform the political system of (Saudi) Arabia by ridding it of corruption and injustice; and to revive the Islamic legal tradition of hezba, which entitles a Muslim to initiate a legal case against others to defend the "rights of Allah."
Fawwaz was a civil engineering graduate of King Fahd University in Dhahran who joined the anti-Soviet jihad in the early 1980s in Afghanistan, where he met bin Laden. In early 1994 he came to Britain and took up an English-language course at a local college. He collected all the relevant media publications, video tapes, and newspaper cuttings available in Britain. He employed staff for the task and supplied information to bin Laden. After the bombings of the American Embassies in Nairobi and Dar as Salam in August 1998, and Washington's allegation of his involvement in those attacks, he was detained by the British government. Since then he had been in the custody of Britain while challenging his extradition to the United States.
Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights (Saudi Arabia): Encouraged by the holding of the first multiparty general election in Yemen in April 1993, six Saudi human rights activists—professors, lawyers, and civil servants—estab-lished the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights (CDLR). Aiming to strive to eliminate injustice and defend the legitimate rights of citizens, the CDLR called on Saudi citizens to report official acts of injustice to it, and demanded political reform, including elections based on universal suffrage. The government arrested the CDLR's head, Professor Muhammad al-Masaari, and sacked the remaining founders from their jobs.
The CDLR then moved its base to London, from where, led by al-Masaari, it continued its activities, making extensive use of faxes to receive information from Saudi Arabia and communicate with its supporters there. In September 1994 it revealed that, following demonstrations against the detention of two militant clergymen, there had been large-scale arrests. Unprecedentedly, this was later confirmed by the Saudi government, which was believed to be holding up to 300 protestors in jail by early 1995.
The Saudi efforts to get Masaari deported from Britain failed. Later, there was a split in the CDLR, with al-Masaari's erstwhile colleague Saad al-Faqih forming the rival Islamic Reform Movement. This and lack of funds left the CDLR weak and ineffective.
Communist Movement in Egypt: In 1921 a breakaway faction of the Socialist Party of Egypt founded the Communist Party of Egypt (CPE). On the eve of the group's admission to the Moscow-based Communist International (also known as Comintern) in 1923, its program included demands for Egypt's independence from Britain, land reform, and the recognition of existing trade unions. Its policy of calling strikes brought it into conflict with the government, leading to a ban in 1924 on the Confederation of Trade Unions dominated by it.
In the face of persecution, the CPE failed to make much headway among peasants. The situation changed in 1936 when a tide of anti-imperialism swept the country following the unpopular Anglo-Egyptian Treaty [q.v.]. After the Soviet Union's entry into World War II in mid-1941 on the Allied side, the official policy toward Communists turned benign. In 1942 trade unions were legalized. The dramatic increase in the size of the working class, caused by the war, enabled Communists, now represented largely by the Mouvement Egyptien de Liberation Nationale (French: Movement for National Liberation of Egypt), and the smaller faction Iskra (meaning Spark), to enlarge their influence among workers.
The two Communist groups brought their respective unions under the umbrella of the Congress of Workers' Unions (CWU), with a membership of 115,000 members. In May 1947 they merged to form the Mouvement Democratique de Liberation Nationale (French: Movement for Democracy and Liberation; MDLN). Since a large section of the MDLN's 1,500 members were either Copts [q.v.] or Jews [q.v.], the party's strength was not overly damaged by the Soviet support for the partition of Palestine [q.v.] at the United Nations in November. But the government used the Soviet action to dub Communists pro-Zionist and jail their leaders.
After a poor showing by the Egyptian troops in the Palestine War (1948–49) [q .v .], the much-weakened government released all political prisoners, including Communists. Once the freshly elected Wafd [q.v.] administration had abrogated the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty in October 1951, the Communists forged a united front with other anti-imperialist groups and participated in the anti-British guerrilla campaign in the Suez Canal [q.v.] zone. On the eve of the July 1952 coup the CPE had 5,000 active members.
Two of the 18-strong ruling Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) were Communist: Major Khalid Mo-hieddin [q.v.] and Colonel Yusuf Sadiq. But this had no impact on the actions of the RCC, which claimed to be non-ideological. Once Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] had consolidated his hold over the RCC, he removed Mohieddin and Sadiq from it. But facing an Anglo-French-Israeli attack on Egypt in October 1956, Nasser released hundreds of Communist and leftist Wafd prisoners to let them organize popular resistance against the invaders.
Following reconciliation between the MDLN and the CPE, a party congress was held in early 1958. But a split occurred when the leadership was unable to forge an agreed policy toward the Iraqi Communists [q.v.] after the antiroyalist coup of July 1958 in Iraq. When Arab socialism [q.v.] was enshrined into the Charter of National Action in June 1962, which expressed belief in scientific socialism and commitment to the struggle against exploitation, the two factions reacted differently. The moderates saw it as heralding the beginning of a socialist revolution, while the radicals regarded it as signifying nothing more than the introduction of state capitalism since it rejected the concepts of class conflict and abolition of private property.
Hundreds of radical Communist continued to suffer imprisonment. However, in August 1963 Nasser followed up his nationalization of private companies with a decision to release political prisoners (of both left and right) in order to enlarge the base of the fledgling Arab Socialist Union (ASU) [q.v.]. This resulted in the freeing of some 600 Communist prisoners by the spring of 1964. A year later the Communist leadership, declaring that Nasser's regime had been following the road of non-capitalist development toward socialism, dissolved the party and advised individual members to join the ASU.
While using the organizational skills of former Communists, the Egyptian regime treated them with circumspection. Loyal to the Egyptian president, they played a prominent role in organizing pro-Nasser demonstrations after the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.]. However, Nasser rejected their advice to strengthen the revolutionary cadres of the ASU and changed the ASU structure to placate traditional elements. After Nasser's death in September 1970, former Communists demanded greater representation in the ASU secretariat and trade unions, but to no avail. Because the National Unity Law of September 1972 specified a heavy penalty for political activity outside the ASU, they found themselves in a dilemma. When parliament decided to allow three forums within the ASU, the Communists allied with leftist Nasserites [q.v.] to form the National Progressive Unionist Alliance [q.v.] in May 1976.
Communist Movement in Israel: see Maki and Rakah.
Communist Party of Iran: see Tudeh Party of Iran.
Communist Party of Iraq: The Communist Party of Iraq (CPI) was established in March 1934. Two years later it went underground when the government banned the propagation of Bolshevik socialism. It was only after the Soviets had joined the Allies in World War II in mid-1941 that the authorities allowed the Communist front organizations to function openly.
They held their first congress in 1945. Active among workers, the party, with a membership of 3,000, also built up a following among teachers, students, and ethnic minorities in towns as well as peasants in villages. When it organized a strike of oil workers in July 1946 it faced government crackdown. It suffered a setback in late 1947 when the Soviet Union backed the partition plan for Palestine [q.v.]. Yet in January 1948 it succeeded in organizing demonstrations against the renegotiated 1930 Anglo-Iraqi Treaty [q.v.], called the Portsmouth Agreement. After rescinding the agreement, the government jailed hundreds of Communist activists. Undeterred, they turned prisons into recruiting centers while their comrades outside dominated the largest student body.
In 1956 the CPI joined the United National Front (UNF), which advocated political reform at home and an anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist struggle abroad. The UNF was in touch with the Free Officers Organization, which overthrew the monarchy in mid-1958. The 8,000-member-strong CPI expanded its base among peasants by forming Peasant Leagues to help implement the agrarian reform decreed by the regime of Abdul Karim Qasim [q.v.]. It backed Qasim in his conflict with Nasserists [q.v.], who wanted to unite Iraq with the United Arab Republic [q.v.]. Though Qasim curtailed Communist influence during the latter part of his rule, the CPI was the only party to fight alongside his forces against the Baathists [q.v.] in February 1963.
Following their seizure of power, the Baathists, working in coordination with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, carried out an anti-Communist pogrom which claimed the lives of 3,000 to 5,000 Communists, the worst fate suffered by any political party in the Arab East [q.v.].
With the fall of the Baathist government in November 1963, the CPI returned to a semi-clandestine existence. Its leadership scaled down the party's objective of establishing a socialist regime, led by workers and peasants, to participating in a popular front government based on the alliance of all patriotic forces. This led to splits in the party in 1965 and 1967, but allowed its main body, led by moderate Aziz Muhammad, to reach a rapprochement with the Baathists, who had been driven underground by then.
After the successful Baathist coup of July 1968, the regime permitted the CPI to function. It held its second congress in September 1970. In May 1972 its seven-year old clandestine journal Tareeq al-Shaab (Arabic: The People's Path), was allowed to appear daily. On the fifth anniversary of the July 1968 revolution the CPI and the Baath Party signed the National Action Charter, heralding the formation of the National Progressive and Patriotic Front (NPPF) [q.v.]. This required the CPI to be loyal to the Baathist revolution, and refrain from labor agitation as well as dissemination of its ideology among students and soldiers. In return it was given two cabinet seats out of 28.
The third CPI congress, held in May 1976, concluded that Iraq had entered the stage of non-capitalist development and recommended a series of anti-capitalist measures. But the regime, enriched by booming oil revenues, increased its trade links with the West and relaxed controls over private capital at home. With the Kurdish problem settled for the time being through an accord with Iran in March 1975, the government decided to curb the Communist influence. On their part, in March 1978 CPI leaders coupled their criticism of the regime with calls for a general election and parity with the Baathists in the government until the election.
In April the Marxist military coup in Afghanistan made the Baathist regime in Baghdad [q.v.] wary of the CPI. The result was large-scale arrests of Communist activists and the execution of 36 leaders for trying to form party cells in the army. The CPI left the NPPF, but without publicizing the fact. The official anti-Communist drive intensified to the point where reports circulating in early 1979 mentioned some 1,900 Communists "disappearing." In April the party daily, with a circulation of 50,000, was shut down. In early 1980 President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] barred the CPI from entering the parliamentary elections to be held in June. CPI leaders condemned Saddam Hussein's invasion of Iran in September, arguing that it diverted Arab energy away from confronting the main Arab enemy in the region: Israel. After the 1991 Gulf War [q. v.], the remnants of the party set up a base in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region [q.v.] which was controlled by the anti-Saddam Kurdish parties.
The CPI opposed the UN sanctions against Iraq after the 1991 war. It condemned the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in 2003. But its leader, Hamid Majid Mousa, accepted a seat on the Interim Iraqi Governing Council appointed by the occupying Coalition Provisional Authority. It entered the January 2005 election to the Interim National Assembly as part of the People's Union, which received about 3 percent of the vote. For the December 2005 general election, it joined the Iraqi National List [q.v.], an alliance of secular parties. Of the 25 seats gained by this bloc, only one went to the Iraqi Communist Party. It failed to win any seat in the 2010 general election.
Communist Party of Israel: see Hadash
Communist Party of Jordan: The Communist Party of Jordan (CPJ) evolved under the leadership of Fuad Nassar in June 1951 out of the eight-year-old League of National Liberation (LNL). Two months later it allied with the Baathists [q.v.] and the Arab Nationalist Movement [q.v.] to form the National Bloc to run in a general election. It scored 11 percent of the vote, enough to upset the government, which arrested the Communist leadership and stiffened its anti-Communist law of 1948.
After the promulgation of a new constitution in 1952, which allowed licensed political parties, the CPJ cooperated with the Baathists and the National Socialist Party to form the National Front in the spring of 1954. Despite vote-rigging in the election in the autumn, two Communists won. In 1955 the CPJ participated in the National Front campaign to keep Jordan out of the recently formed Baghdad Pact [q.v.] and get the election results annulled. The struggle was successful. In the election of October 1956 the alliance of the CPJ, Baathists, and National Socialists won 40 percent of the vote, with the CPJ securing 13 percent. The inclusion of a Communist in the government, led by Suleiman Nabulsi [q.v.], was unprecedented in the Arab East [q.v.]. In April 1957 the monarch dismissed the Nabulsi government, dissolved parliament, declared martial law, and jailed 200 of the 2,000 CPJ members. They were incarcerated until late 1964. The chastened party leadership adopted a moderate program of socioeconomic reform at home.
The loss of the West Bank [q.v.] to Israel in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] deprived the party of nearly half of its members. But the subsequent increase in the Palestinian refugee population in Jordan, and the emergence of armed Palestinian commandos, radicalized the CPJ's ranks. The party formed its own militia, the Ansars (Arabic: Helpers). However, once the government had expelled all Palestinian commandos by mid-1971 after bloody fighting, CPJ leaders dissolved the militia and reverted to the moderate aim of forming a national unity government of all national and progressive forces.
In May 1974 the CPJ resolved to establish a national front of anti-royalist forces in order to set up a "national liberated authority" on the East Bank [q.v.]. But the outbreak of civil war in Lebanon a year later diverted the CPJ's attention and energies. It participated in the conference of 10 Arab Communist parties in June 1978 in Beirut [q.v.], which decided to sharpen the anti-Zionist struggle. Its semi-clandestine existence ended in 1992 when, following the legalization of political parties, the CPJ became one of the nine parties to secure a license. It participated in the general election of 1993 but failed to win a seat.
In 2005, the CPJ was one of the three regional parties (the others being the Palestinian People's Party [q.v.] and the Communist Party of Israel [q.v.]) to coordinate their opposition to the implementation of the strategy of U.S. President George W. Bush's "war on terror" repackaged as the Greater Middle East Project. It held a unity conference in 2006 to welcome those who had left the party earlier.
In the wake of the Arab Spring [q.v.] it formed an alliance with five other leftist, nationalist, and pan-Arabist groups to demand political reform in February 2012. While standing apart form the main opposition Islamic Action Front [q.v.], this coalition had a similar platform: an elections law based on proportional representation, constitutional reform leading to an elected governments, and a reversal of the decade-old privatization program.
Led by Munir Hamarna, the JCP publishes al-Jamahir (The Masses).
Communist Party of Lebanon: The Communist movement in Lebanon started with the People's Party of Lebanon in 1924, composed of intellectuals and trade unionists. After it had absorbed the Spartacus Party, a leftist group, in 1925, it renamed itself the Communist Party of Syria and Lebanon (CPSL). Because of its support for the Druze [q.v.] rebellion (1925–27), its leaders were arrested by the French Mandate. It was not until 1928 that the CPSL, dominated by Armenian Christians [q.v.], was admitted to the Moscow-based Communist International (also called Comintern). Accepting Comintern's advice to "Arabise" itself, in 1936 the party hierarchy replaced Fuad Shemali, a Christian [q.v.], with Khalid Bakdash [q.v.], a Syrian Kurd [q.v.].
The CPSL's adoption of a radical program of combining the anti-imperialist struggle with revolutionizing workers and peasants in Lebanon alarmed the French Mandate, which refused to recognize its trade union wing. The situation changed in 1936 when the leftist Popular Front, backed by Communists, assumed power in France. Between then and the outbreak of the Second World War, the party membership rose from 200 to 2000. It participated in Lebanon's parliamentary election in 1943. After the Lebanese independence in 1946, the strength of the CPL soared to 16,000. It suffered a setback when the Soviets endorsed the Palestine partition plan in late 1947. When CPL leaders backed the Soviet decision, the government banned the party and dissolved its trade union wing.
President Camille Chamoun's [q.v.] refusal to condemn the Anglo-French-Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956 created a climate where the CPL succeeded in reestablishing its Arab nationalist credentials by siding with local Nasserists [q.v.]. In the 1958 Lebanese Civil War [ q.v .] it sided with the leftist-nationalist camp against Chamoun. In March 1965 it joined the Front of National and Progressive Parties and Forces, led by Kamal Jumblat [q.v.], a Marxist. The decision of the party congress in 1968 to enlarge its membership was aided by the formal lifting of the ban on it (along with other parties with extraterritorial links) two years later. In 1974 it formed the National Union of Workers and Employees under its aegis.
On the eve of the 1975 Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] the CPL, along with the Organization of the Communist Action in Lebanon (OCAL), formed the hard core of the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) [q.v.], which fought the rightist camp. Unlike other Lebanese parties, the CPL combined military action with political education and propaganda. By the end of 1975 the party had 15,000 members, half of whom were Shia [q.v.]. In June 1978 it hosted a conference of 10 Arab Communist parties in Beirut [q.v.], which decided to intensify the anti-Zionist struggle. By the end of the civil war in October 1990, the CPL had lost most of its Shia supporters to Amal [q.v.] and Hizbol-lah [q.v.]. It was denied any role in the postwar national unity government.
The CPL participated in the general elections of 1992, 1996, and 2000, but without any success. Led by Maurice Nohra, its weekly journal Al-Akhbar (Arabic: The News), with a circulation of about 20,000, many of them intellectuals.
At its 9th congress in 2003, the CPL delegates elected Khalid Hadadi as the party's general secretary. It failed to win a seat in the 2005 and 2009 general elections. It reiterated its opposition to the sectarian division of parliamentary seats.
Soon after the start of a civil uprising in Syria in March 1939 the party stated that Syrians had the right to use peaceful and democratic means to demand political and economic reforms and wished that their government would implement the ones put forward by President Bashar Assad [q.v.].
Communist Party of Palestine: The Communist Party of Palestine (PCP), founded in 1922, won the recognition of the Moscow-based Communist International (also known as Comintern) two years later. With the dissolution of the Comintern in May 1943—and thus the loss of an external overseeing organization—the simmering differences between the Jewish and Arab members surfaced. Most of the Arab members left to form the League of National Liberation (LNL). Soon the LNL enlarged its influence by absorbing the existing Arab leftist groups and establishing the Federation of Arab Trade Unions and Labor Societies.
After the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.] and the absorption of the West Bank [q.v.] into Jordan, the LNL transformed itself into the Communist Party of Jordan [q.v.] in June 1951. It functioned among the Palestinians of the West Bank. Sixteen years later, following the loss of the West Bank to Israel in the Six-Day Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], the PCP was revived clandestinely in this territory. It also began to function in the Palestinian refugee camps, and was close to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine [q.v.], which backed the idea of establishing a "national" authority in any part of "liberated" Palestine. It affiliated to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [ q.v .], and participated in the conference of 10 Arab Communist parties in Beirut [q.v.] in June 1978, which decided to intensify the anti-Zionist struggle. In 1987 the party, then led by Suleiman Najab, was given seats on the Palestine National Council.
In 1992 it changed its name to the Palestinian People's Party [q.v.], but retained Najab as its head. Hassan Asfour, one of the party's leaders, participated in the PLO's secret negotiations with Israel which led to the Oslo Accord [q.v.]. It backed the Accord and the resulting Palestinian Authority [q.v.].
Following the death of Najab in 2001, the leadership passed to Bassam al-Salihi. He entered the presidential election in 2005 and received less than 3 percent of the vote. It participated in the parliamentary election of 2006 on a joint list with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine [q.v.] and secured two seats.
Communist Party of Saudi Arabia: The Communist Party of Saudi Arabia (CPSA), officially established in Baghdad in 1975 Bank [q.v.] evolved out of the National Liberation Front (NLF), a Marxist group formed in 1958, whose roots went back to the Workers' Committees formed in the wake of strikes at oilfields in 1953. These committees continued to function secretly until the next wave of strikes in 1956 when, following government persecution, they disintegrated. Some of their members allied with local Communists to form the National Reform Front, a clandestine organization that subsequently renamed itself the National Liberation Front. The NLF demanded a democratic constitution with rights to establish political parties and trade unions, and to demonstrate or strike, and called on the state to take total control of oil resources, from prospecting to marketing. It supported the coup attempt led by the Saudi section of the Arab Nationalist Movement [q.v.] in June 1969.
In June 1978 the CPSA attended the conference of 10 Arab Communist parties in Beirut [q.v.], which decided to intensify the anti-Zionist struggle. With opposition in Saudi Arabia turning more toward militant Islam from the late 1970s onwards, the appeal of the CPSA, operating from outside the country, waned. In the early 1990s it renamed itself Democratic Unification in Saudi Arabia. When, a few years later, its leaders agreed to stop political activity, the Saudi government released its jailed members.
Communist Party of Syria: The Communist movement in Syria started in 1924 with the formation of the Communist Party of Syria and Lebanon (CPSL). Because of its support for the Druze [q.v.] rebellion (1925–27), its leaders were arrested by the French Mandate. It was not until 1928 that the CPSL, dominated by Christian Armenians [q.v.], was admitted to the Moscow-based Communist International (also known as Comintern). Accepting Comintern's advice to "Arabise" itself, in 1936 the party hierarchy replaced Fuad Shemali, a Christian [q.v.], with Khalid Bakdash [q.v.], a Syrian Kurd [q.v.].
The CPSL's adoption of a radical program of combining the anti-imperialist struggle with revolutionizing workers and peasants made it unpopular with the French Mandate, which refused to recognize its trade union wing. The situation changed in 1936 when the leftist Popular Front, backed by the Communists, assumed power in France. It continued to function until it was banned, along with other political parties, on the eve of World War II.
Its clandestine existence ended in July 1941, when the British and Free French forces, having defeated the troops loyal to the pro-Nazi French government based in Vichy, legalized all political groups. It participated in the parliamentary elections in the summer of 1943. During the first four years of its legal existence (1941–45), the Communist Party of Syria (CPS) raised its membership from 1000 to 10,000. Later it played a prominent role in frustrating France's plans to reestablish its authority in Syria. But the Soviet decision to back the partition of Palestine in late 1947 severely damaged the CPS's standing. It was not until early 1954, when President Adib Shishkali [q. v.] dissolved parliament and disbanded all political parties, did the CPS lose its pariah status due to the radically changed political environment.
In the 1954 general election the party won as many votes as the Baathists [q.v.]. Following the discovery in late 1956 and mid-1957 of Western-inspired plots against the Syrian government, the CPS was allowed to join the Popular Resistance Force, a paramilitary organization. Its membership rose to 18,000, a record. This unnerved the Baathists, who began to advocate union with Egypt. Anticipating a ban on political parties after the Syrian-Egyptian union in early 1958 under President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.], CPS leaders went into self-exile in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Nasser responded to Bakdash's criticism by repressing the CPS.
After the breakup of the UAR in 1961, the new rulers of Syria did not permit CPS leaders to return home. When the Baathist regime, established in March 1963, moved leftward, the CPS backed it, especially after it had allowed the party's leadership to return to Damascus [q.v.] in 1966.
Initially the CPS opposed General Hafiz Assad's [q.v.] "correctionist" coup in November 1970. But when two years later, listening to Bakdash's advice, he decided to form the National Progressive Front [q.v.], the CPS backed him. Of those elected on a common NPF list in the 1973 election, eight belonged to the CPS, believed to have a membership of 3,000 to 6,000 .
Assad's dispatch of Syrian troops in June 1976 to aid the rightist camp in the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] strained relations between him and the CPS. The reduced CPS representation in the parliament of 1977 reflected Assad's lukewarm attitude toward the party. But when, in the face of a serious challenge to Assad from the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] in 1980–82, the CPS backed the regime, relations between the two sides improved.
In 1986, Bakdash disagreed with the deputy general secretary Yusuf Faisal when the latter backed the reformist policies of Mikhail Gorbachev, the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Faisal left to lead a breakaway Communist Party. It was allowed to join the NPF.
The parent party held its sixth congress in January 1987. In the 1990 general election the two factions of the CPS together secured eight seats. In the 1994 and 1998 parliamentary elections, they retained their seats. After the death of Bakdash in 1995, his widow, Wisal Farha, was elected the parent party's general secretary. In 2001 it was allowed to publish the Sawt al-Shaab (Arabic: The People's Voice) fortnightly. In 2004, the party celebrated the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Syria and Lebanon.
In the 2002 and subsequent general election, the quota of eight parliamentary seats for the two factions of the Communist Party remained unchanged.
The CPS described the civil resistance in 2011 as part of a "counter-revolutionary movement" and largely supported the regime of President Bashar Assad [q.v.]. It participated in the parliamentary election in 2012 held under the amended constitution in May 2012.
Conference of Islamic Organization: see Islamic Conference Organization
confessionalism (in Lebanon): Confessionalism is the term used for a social system that recognizes the principle of religious communities being vested with political authority. It has been operational in Lebanon since March 1943, when the British representative in Beirut, General Edward Spears, mediating between the feuding Muslims [q.v.] and Christians [q.v.], recommended a ratio of six Christian parliamentary seats to five Muslim, based on the 1932 census, which had classified the population under 16 religions or sects: Armenian Catholic [q.v.], Chaldean Catholic [q.v.], Greek Catholic [q.v.], Maronite Catholic [q.v.], Roman Catholic [q.v.], Syrian Catholic [q.v.], Armenian Orthodox [q.v.], Greek Orthodox [q.v.], Syrian Orthodox [q.v.], Protestant [q.v.], Bahai [q.v.], Jew [q.v.], Alawi [q.v.], Druze [q.v.], Shia [q.v.], and Sunni [q.v.]. This was accepted as part of the National Pact [q.v.], an unwritten supplement to the Lebanese constitution of 1926, which was given the status of an official decree by the French delegate-general in July 1943.
Conservative Judaism: Conservative Judaism, founded in 1845 in Germany, lies somewhere between Orthodox Judaism [q.v.] and Reform Judaism [q.v.]. While remaining faithful to the basic features of traditional Judaism, it accepts a certain adjustment of religious practices to suit the modern age. It considers the Jewish religion, culture, and national identity as an integral whole. It regards the Sabbath [q.v.] as sacred, respects the dietary injunctions, encourages the learning of Hebrew [q.v.], and backs the secular Zionist movement [q.v.]. Its chief ideologue, Zacharias Frankel (1801–75), urged examination of the Jewish Written and Oral Law in order to separate its essence from the elements reflective of contemporary times, and then reinterpreting the essence to suit the current era. An estimated 48 percent of the world's Jews [q.v.] are followers of Conservative Judaism or Reform Judaism [q.v.].
Constitutional Revolution (Iran) (1907–11): Yielding to demonstrations in Tehran [q.v.] and Qom [q.v.] for an elected parliament, the Shah of Iran, Muzzafar al-Din Qajar (r. 18961907), issued a decree in August 1906 stating that an "Assembly of Delegates" be elected by the ulama [q.v.], the Qajar family and nobles, landowners, merchants, and guilds. The 106-strong assembly, called the Majlis [q.v.], met in October. During the next two months it unanimously passed a set of Fundamental Laws. The document, modeled along the Belgian constitution, was framed within an Islamic context. The mortally ill shah signed it on 30 December, died five days later, and was succeeded by his son, Muhammad Ali (r. 1907–8). Some months later the Majlis produced the longer Supplementary Fundamental Laws, outlining a parliamentary form of government, with power concentrated in the legislature at the expense of the executive. When the shah refused to ratify the new document there were demonstrations, as well as the assassination of his prime minister. He signed it on 7 October 1907. The two sets of laws together formed the Iranian constitution, and ushered in the Constitutional Revolution.
However, the shah was reluctant to become a figurehead monarch. He used an attempt to assassinate him in mid-June 1908 as a pretext to mount a coup against the elected government. On 23 June he ordered his palace guard to bomb the Majlis building, which was being defended by 7,000 lightly armed constitutionalists. In the ensuing fight, over 250 people were killed. He dissolved the First Majlis, declared martial law, and waged a campaign of terror against his opponents. A civil war ensued, which he lost by mid-July. After securing refuge in the Russian embassy, he abdicated in favor of his 12-year-old son, Ahmad.
In November 1909, the Second Majlis approved the appointment of William Shushter, an American economist, as the treasurer-general to increase the state's falling revenue. He organized a special tax-collecting force and deployed it everywhere, including the northern region, regarded as a Russian zone of influence. In November 1911, having ordered his troops to occupy Iran's Caspian Sea ports of Enzali and Rasht, Tsar Nicholas II gave an ultimatum that failure to remove Shuster within two days would lead to the Russian occupation of Tehran. Only after the deadline, when Russian troops had begun to march toward Tehran, did the Majlis vote to dismiss Shuster. To placate the Tsar the Iranian regent dismissed the Majlis for having defied the Russian ultimatum. Though the regent did not formally abrogate the 1906–7 constitution, his dismissal of the Majlis marked the end of the Constitutional Revolution.
Coptic Church and Copts: main Christian [q.v.]church in Egypt The term Copt —a derivative of the Greek word Aigyptios, meaning Egyptian, and derived from the hieroglyphic "Het-Ka Ptah," Temple of Ptah's spirit—was applied to all Egyptians before the Muslim [q.v.] Arab [q.v.] conquest in 641 A.D. After the Muslim rule, Copts meant those Egyptians who did not embrace Islam [q.v.] and continued to practice Christianity [q.v.]. In 451 A.D. the Roman church declared the Coptic church, one of the oldest in the Christian world, heretic because of the latter's adoption of the monophysite doctrine, which states that Christ had only one nature—either divine or a synthesis of divine and human—not two, divine and human. The service books of the Coptic Church continue to be in Coptic [q.v.].
The church's head, the Patriarch of Alexandria and all Egypt, is based in Cairo [q.v.]. Its best known member is Boutros Boutros-Ghali [q.v.].
The official 1986 census put Copts at 5.6 percent of the national population of 48.2 million, a proportion that remained about the same in the 1996 census, with Egypt's inhabitants numbering 59.3 million. Since Copts and Muslims share the same name and many Copts prefer to be listed as Muslim in official documents to avoid discrimination, the census figures are widely believed to be about half the real ones. The figure of 9 percent in the national population of 77.4 million in 2008 seems more reliable. That made Copts the largest Christian community in the Middle East [q.v.].
Before the 1952 revolution Copts owned almost half of the nation's wealth and were active in the Wafd [q.v.]. They were adversely affected by the nationalization policies of President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.], and began migrating in large numbers to Europe and North America. Nasser reserved certain parliamentary constituencies for Copts, and nominated 10 Copts to parliament.
In the absence of proper political leadership, Copts turned to the religious hierarchy to advance political demands. The draft law on apostasy, making it a capital offense, was withdrawn by President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] in 1977 when Coptic religious leaders fasted for five days.
After the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty [q.v.] in March 1979, anti-Sadat sentiment turned anti-Copt, since the government had blocked all legitimate channels of expressing opposition to the treaty. In March 1980 several Copts were killed in clashes in southern Egyptian towns. When Pope Shenudah III canceled official Easter celebrations and retired to a monastery in the Sinai [q.v.], Sadat banished him to internal exile and nominated a committee of five bishops to administer the church. In 1985, President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] reversed Sadat's order and let Pope Shenudah III resume his office.
The rise of militant Islamic movement in the early- and mid-1990s strained relations between Muslims and Copts, which improved with the decline of Islamic militancy in the late 1990s. In 1995, President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] nominated six Copts as members of the People's Assembly, followed by four in 2000 and then five in 2005 and 2010.
On the Coptic Christmas [q.v.] eve in 2010, nine Copts were killed when Islamist militants opened fire on the worshipers leaving a church in Naj Hammadi in southern Egypt. In 2011, on the New Year's Eve, celebrated on 6 January, the bombing of a church in Alexandria [ q.v .] during a midnight prayer service left 23 Copts dead.
Copts participated in the prodemocracy movement centered on Tahrir Square in Cairo in late January 2011. On Sunday, 6 February, Muslim protestors joined hands with Copts to form a protective cordon around the Copts celebrating Mass in the square. Later they chanted "We are one," and held up a Quran and a cross. Elsewhere joint Muslim-Copt patrols guarded churches in Cairo and Alexandria against attacks by Islamist militants.
The situation changed after the overthrow of Mubarak. When Copts in Cairo protested against the authorities' failure to act against those who burned down a church in Merinab village in southern Egypt in October, the army fired on the demonstrators, killing 25. Fearing the rise of Islamist parties through the ballot box, about 100,000 Copts emigrated before the end of 2011 .
In January 2012, Field Marshal Muhammad Hussein Tantawi [q.v.], head of the ruling military council, appointed five Copts as members of the People's Assembly.
Coptic language: A Hamito-Semitic language, derived from ancient Egyptian, Coptic was a living language in Egypt between the second and the seventh centuries A.D. Written in the Greek alphabet, Coptic supplanted the religious expressions of the earlier Egyptian language with words borrowed from the Greek. Nowadays it is used only in the liturgy of the Coptic Church [q.v.].
Council of Guardians (Iran): see Guardian Council (Iran).
D
al-Daawa (Iraq): (Arabic: The Call) Iraqi political party Official title: Hizb al-Daawa al-Islamiya, The Islamic Call Party. After the secular Baathists [q.v.] seized power in Iraq in July 1968, their government censored religious publications, closed several Islamic institutions, and started harassing Shia [q.v.] clerics. When they urged their followers to protest, further repression followed. Against this backdrop al-Daawa al-Islamiya was formed in 1969, clandestinely, with the blessing of the Najaf [q.v.]-based Ayatollah Muhsin Hakim, the senior-most Shia cleric.
When the government, dominated by Sunni [q.v.] leaders, tried to interfere with some Shia rituals and weaken the authority of the religious hierarchy, al-Daawa gained ground. In December 1974 Shia religious processions turned into anti-government demonstrations. The authorities executed five al-Daawa leaders. At the same time they tried to placate the Shia masses by increasing the flow of public development funds to the Shia-dominated south.
Following the Islamic revolution [q.v.] in Shia-majority Iran in early 1979, the leadership in Tehran [q.v.] decided to encourage an Islamic movement in Iraq. It aided al-Daawa. Iraq responded by making al-Daawa membership a capital offense. In March 1980 it executed 94 al-Daawa activists for killing a score of Iraqi officials in 1979. The next month al-Daawa militants tried but failed to assassinate the Christian [q.v.] deputy premier Tariq Aziz [q.v.].
After the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.] in September, which necessitated blackouts, al-Daawa, now backed by Iranian arms and training, intensified its sabotage and assassination campaign. Iraq's task of suppressing al-Daawa became easier once the Iranians had marched into Iraq in June 1982. It was convincingly able to label the allies of Iran as traitors to Iraq. This caused a sharp drop in al-Daawa's support.
Five months later, al-Daawa members in Iran cooperated with other Islamic organizations to form the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) [ q.v .] in Tehran. In December 1983 they set off five bombs in Kuwait, which had been aiding Iraq in its conflict with Iran. In 1985 al-Daawa allied with secular Iraqi opposition, especially the Kurdistan Democratic Party [q.v.], which provided it with refuge in the Kurdish region to carry out its attacks on economic and military targets of the Baathist regime. On 9 April 1987 al-Daawa militants made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] on the outskirts of Mosul [q.v.].
With the end of the Iran-Iraq War in August 1988, al-Daawa's activities subsided. They revived when, in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], there was a Shia rebellion in the south. With its failure, al-Daawa once again became marginalized within Iraq.
In 2002, it formally split from SCIRI when the latter decided to cooperate with U.S.-sponsored Iraqi opposition groups. It opposed the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.]. But after the war, its leader, Ibrahim al-Jaafari [q.v.], accepted a seat on the Interim Iraqi Governing Council appointed by the occupying Coalition Provisional Authority. On the eve of the January 2005 election to the Interim National Assembly, al-Daawa joined the United Iraqi Alliance [q.v.], the brainchild of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani [q.v.]. When the Alliance emerged as the majority group in parliament, Ibrahim al-Jaafari [q.v.] became the prime minister.
Following the elections to the National Assembly under a new constitution in December 2005, another al-Daawa leader, Nouri al-Maliki [q.v.] succeeded Jaafari as its secretary-general in 2007. Maliki made al-Daawa less religious than before. In 2009 it became part of the State of Law Coalition [q.v.] led by Maliki.
al-Daawa al-Islamiya (Iraq): See al-Daawa.
Damascus: capital of Syria Population: 4.71 million (2011 est.) History of Damascus stretches back to the third millennium B.C., and the city's present name is at least 3,500 years old. In ancient times it was ruled by the Assyrians and the Persians. It fell to Alexander of Macedonia (r. 336–323 B.C.), and then to other rulers. After it was conquered by the Romans in 65 B.C., it became an important city of the Decapolis province east of the Jordan River [q.v.]. It was on his way to Damascus that Paul was converted to Christianity [q.v.].
After its capture by Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] in 635 A.D., Damascus became the capital of the Islamic Empire of the Umayyads in 661 A.D. Its prosperity continued even after the Abbasids, who succeeded the Umayyads, moved the imperial capital to Baghdad [q.v.] in 763 A.D. It was sacked twice by the Mongols, first in 1258 and then about a century later. Conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1517, it remained part of their empire for the next four centuries. It came under the French Mandate after World War I, and became the capital of semi-independent Syria in 1943. It has expanded since then, and become the commercial, financial, industrial, educational, and cultural center of Syria, and the leading city of the Levant [q.v.].
Its prime tourist attraction is the Great Mosque, also called the Umayyad Mosque, one of the finest Islamic monuments. The original site was home to a temple to Jupiter, built by the Greeks. In fourth century A.D. it was replaced by the renowned church of St. John the Baptist, constructed by Roman Emperor Theodosius I (r. 379–395 A.D.). The Umayyads transformed this church, containing the shrine of St. John the Baptist, into a mosque in 715 A.D.
Damascus witnessed its first protest demonstration as part of the Arab Spring [q.v.] on 15 March 2011. From May onward such protests built up in the city's eastern suburbs until their violent suppression by the security forces in January 2012. The capital was also the venue of large pro-government demonstrations in October 2011 and again in March 2012 .
The situation changed in mid-July after the killing of the defense minister and his deputy during a meeting by a bomb triggered by remote control. The rebels seized some of the capital's suburbs, and it took the government forces considerable time to regain control.
Darwish, Mahmoud (1941–2008): Palestinian writer and poet Born into a landowning Sunni [q.v.] family in Barwa village near Acre [q.v.], Darwish and his family escaped to Lebanon during the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.]. They later returned and settled in Deir al-Assad village in Galilee. After finishing high school at Kafr Yasid, Darwish found work with an Arabic printer in Acre [q.v.]. He began publishing his poems in the Arabic-language press, including the literary monthly Al-Jadid (Arabic: The New ) and the fortnightly Al-Ittihad (Arabic: The Unity), both being the publications of Maki [q.v.], the Israeli Communist Party. After being appointed to the editorial boards of these journals, he became a journalist.
With the publication of three volumes of poetry —Birds without Wings (1961), Lover from Palestine (1964), and Olive Leaves (1964)—he established himself as an outstandingly talented poet who was fluent in both Arabic [q.v.] and Hebrew [q.v.]. Profoundly original, rich in imagery, and imbued with intense feelings, his lyrical verses conveyed the suffering of Palestinians who had been expelled from their homeland and compelled to live in refugee camps. Though deeply disappointed by the humiliating defeat suffered by the Arabs [q.v.] in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War (q.v.), in which Israel occupied the rest of Palestine [q.v.], in his poetry he kept up the image of the resistant hero who, inspired by the ideas of valor and self-sacrifice, struggles to achieve freedom.
After spending a year at the University of Moscow (1970), he decided not to return to Israel. He based himself in Cairo [q.v.], where he published articles and poems in the leading daily, Al-Ahram (Arabic: The Pyramids). When the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] moved to Beirut [q.v.] in 1972, he became editor of its monthly publication, Shuaun Falastiniyya (Arabic: Palestinian Affairs). In 1975 he was appointed director of the PLO Research Center. The involvement of the PLO in the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], in which some 3,000 Palestinian refugees were massacred in Tal Zaatar camp in East Beirut by the Phalangist militia [q.v.] in 1976, darkened the tone of Darwish's poetry. The low point came during the long siege of West Beirut during the Israel invasion of Lebanon [q.v.] in 1982, when he was with the PLO chairman Yasser Arafat [q.v.].
Following the PLO's expulsion from Beirut, he penned poems to recapture the debilitating experience in Ode to Beirut (1982) and A Eulogy for the Tall Shadow (1983), both narrative works of considerable length. His voice was now tinged with a realism which recognized that bravery, just cause, and readiness to die would not suffice to redeem the hero in the present-day world of global power politics and high technology. His protagonist was now a man stretching himself to his limits, striving in the face of continued exile and defeat. His earlier triumphant tone has given way to the concept of a heroic victim, someone caught in a heroic deadlock, like a man dying while climbing. Such maturity added to the power of his poetry. He often called on the Old Testament [q.v.] prophets, notably Isaiah and Jeremiah, to condemn the Israeli acts of injustice against the Palestinians. Equally, he remained unrivalled in his use of the language, style, and motifs of the Quran and the prophetic tradition in his poetry.
During his stay in Cyprus he was elected chairman of the Palestinian Writers and Journalists Association and edited its magazine. He received the Ibn Sina Prize, sponsored by the Soviet Union, in 1981, followed by the Lenin Peace Prize a year later. When a selection of his poems was translated into English (The Music of Human Flesh, 1980), he became known in Britain and the United States, where he took up residence in the late 1980s before moving to Paris.
He was elected to the PLO Executive Committee in 1987 as an independent, and was reelected four years later. Opposed to the Oslo Accord [q.v.] of September 1993, he resigned in protest.
In Paris he continued to edit Al-Karmel (Arabic: The Garden of God), a Palestinian literary review established in 1981. His volumes of poetry in English included Psalms (1994) and The Adam of Two Edens (2001). Many of his poems were set to music and included in popular albums.
In 2007 he returned to the West Bank [q.v.] city of Ramallah [q.v.]. He presented himself at the festival organized in his honor in Haifa [ q.v .] by Hadash [q.v.] and the Masharaf (Arabic: Honored) magazine. He died the following year while undergoing heart surgery at a hospital in Houston, Texas. The Palestinian Authority [q.v.] declared three days of mourning and accorded him a state funeral.
Dashnak Party (Lebanon): see Tashnak Party (Lebanon).
Day of Atonement (Jewish): see Yom Kippur.
Dayan, Moshe (1915–81): Israel military and political leader Born in Degania kibbutz [q.v.] near the Sea of Galilee, Dayan joined the Haganah [q.v.] when in his teens. Due to his lack of fluency in English he discontinued his studies at the London School of Economics in 1935–36 and returned to Palestine [q.v.], where he participated in the Haganah's operations to counter the Arab Revolt (1936–39). Following a change in the British Mandate policy at the start of World War II, the authorities suppressed the Haganah and sentenced Dayan to five years' imprisonment. After his release in early 1941 he led a British reconnaissance unit into Syria, then under a pro-Nazi French regime. He was wounded and lost his left eye.
During the Arab-Israeli War I (1948–49) [q.v.], his battalion captured Ramle and Lod, and this led to his appointment as the commander of the Jerusalem [q.v.] area. He became a protege of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion [q.v.], who was also defense minister. After serving as head of the southern command (1950) and the northern command (1952), he was promoted to chief of army operations. In 1953 he was promoted to chief of staff. His military leadership reached its apogee during the Suez War (October-November 1956) [q.v.], when Israel mounted its lightning Sinai campaign.
After retiring from the military in 1958, he became a Mapai [q.v.] politician. Elected to the Knesset [q.v.] in 1959, he served as agriculture minister. He resigned in 1964 because of his differences with Prime Minister Levi Eshkol [q.v.]. The next year he joined Rafi and was elected to the Knesset on its list, becoming part of the opposition. On the eve of the 1967 Six-Day War [q.v.], however, Premier Eshkol formed a national unity government, which included Dayan as defense minister.
With most Rafi leaders joining the enlarged Mapai-Ahdut HaAvodah-Poale Zion Aligment [q.v.] to form the Labor Party [q.v.] in 1968, Dayan returned to the political mainstream. He took a hawkish line on the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.] and used threats to establish a breakaway group of his own to impose his views on his Labor colleagues. In April 1973 he mounted a campaign to annex the West Bank [q.v.], the Golan Heights [q.v.], and parts of the Sinai [q.v.]. He used his office to establish Jewish colonies in the Occupied Territories [q.v.].
The surprise Egyptian-Syrian attack on the Israeli-occupied Arab territories in October 1973 shattered the invincible image of Israel and Dayan. Though he recovered from the initial shock, and the Israeli military performed well later, the label of failure stuck to him. In March 1974 the official inquiry on the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] cleared him and blamed the chief of staff, General David Elazer. When Elazer resigned, the pressure on Dayan to do the same mounted. He refused, forcing Premier Golda Meir [q.v.] to submit the resignation of the full cabinet. When Labor lost the May 1977 election to Likud [q.v.], Dayan crossed the party lines and became foreign minister under Premier Menachem Begin [q.v.].
He played an important part in the peace talks with Egypt, which culminated in the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty [q.v.] in March 1979. Later that year he left the government and established his own group. In the 1981 election it won only two parliamentary seats.
Democratic Alliance (Egypt): an alliance of Islamist political parties After the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] in February 2011, several small groups allied with the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) [q.v.] of the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] to form the Democratic Alliance in June to fight the parliamentary elections held between November 2011 and January 2012. In the 508-seat People's Assembly all but 10 seats were open to competition, with two-thirds to be won on the basis of a party and one-third on the basis of an individual. The Alliance secured 235 seats with the FJP in the lead at 213. In the elections for the Consultative Council conducted in January-February 2012, of the 180 elected seats the Democratic Alliance garnered 105.
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine: Palestinian political organization A breakaway group of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) [q.v.], the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) was formed in 1969 by Nayif Hawatmeh [q.v.] and Bilal Hassan. By launching guerrilla actions against Israel, it secured an invitation to join the Palestine Armed Struggle Command (PASC) run by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.]. Within a year the DFLP's guerrilla force of 1,200 became the fourth largest.
The DFLP stressed that the Palestinian and Jordanian struggles were complementary. Its first open congress in August 1970 in Amman [q.v.] advocated the overthrow of the Hashemite dynasty and the founding of a democratic regime. But the bitter experience of September 1970—when Palestinian civilians and commandos suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Jordanian army—had a salutary effect on the DFLP.
Following its expulsion from Jordan to Beirut [q.v.], it moderated its criticism of other parties and regional Arab regimes. At the Palestine National Council (PNC) session in June 1974 the DFLP was the prime mover behind the PNC's acceptance of resolution calling for the establishment of a "national authority" in the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza Strip [q.v.] as the first step toward the liberation of the "whole of Palestine." In Lebanon the DFLP allied with the leftist Lebanese National Movement (LNM) [q.v.] during the Lebanese Civil War [q. v.]. In line with its policy of talking to those Israelis who were either anti-Zionist or simply ready to recognize the Palestinians' right to "an independent national authority" in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, it held talks with the radical left wing Israeli Socialist Organization.
After it expulsion from Beirut in 1982, the DFLP moved its base to Damascus [q.v.]. In the mid-1980s it cooperated with other radical Palestinian groups to frustrate the plan of the PLO chairman, Yasser Arafat [q.v.], and King Hussein [q.v.] of Jordan to enter into secret peace talks with Israel. It strongly opposed the PLO-Israeli Accord [q.v.] signed in September 1993, refusing to moderate its stance. As a result, a year later the Palestinian Authority (PA) [q.v.], arrested 40 DFLP activists in 1994.
It was not until October 1999 that the DFLP made its peace with the PA. This resulted in its name being removed from Washington's list of terrorist organizations. It participated in the al-Aqsa intifada [q.v.] launched by the Palestinians in September 2000. About a year later two DFLP members became the first Palestinians to infiltrate an Israeli military outpost in the Gaza Strip and killed three soldiers.
The DFLP opposed attacks inside Israel or on Israeli civilians. In the Palestinian parliamentary elections of 2006, it formed an alliance with the Palestinian People's Party [q.v.] called al-Badeel (Arabic: The Alternative ). It won two seats. With its headquarters in Damascus [q.v.], the DFLP enjoyed better support among the Palestinian refugees in Syria and Lebanon than the inhabitants of the West Bank or Gaza Strip.
Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Israel): see Hadash.
dhimmis: non-Muslims in an Islamic state Dhimmis are members of ahl al-dhimma (Arabic: people of dhimma, meaning contract). Thus dhimma is a contract between Muslims and members of other religions—Judaism [q.v.] and Christianity [q.v.]—provided the latter accept Islamic rule. Dhimma is based on a verse in the Quran [q.v.] (IX, 29): "Fight those who believe not in God and the Last Day ... until they pay the jizya (Arabic: tribute) out of their hand, and have been humbled." The Prophet Muhammad concluded pacts of submission and protection with the Jews of Khaibar and the Christians of Najran. Initially, only Jews and Christians were involved. But when it became necessary to consider Zoroastrians [q.v.], it was decided that, by writing down their previously orally transmitted scripture, Avesta, they had attained the status of ahl al-kitab (Arabic: people of the Book). The payment of the jizya, which developed into a precise poll tax, gave a definite fiscal status to dhimmis. Muslim rulers were prohibited to accept jizya from apostates or from idolaters in Arabia. However, they could accept it from idolaters in other regions of the world.
diaspora: (Greek: a scattering) The term diaspora, meaning dispersion, was originally applied to the scattered colonies of Jews [q.v.] following their exile from Palestine to Babylon in 586 B.C. Later it was applied collectively to all Jews living outside Palestine [q.v.] in the rest of the Old World. With the migration of Europeans to the Western Hemisphere, the Jewish diaspora extended to that region as well. At 5.3 million, the Jews in the United States formed the largest diaspora in the Western Hemisphere in 2011.
Nowadays, however, the term has acquired a secular meaning, and applies to all communities that have been dispersed in recent times: the Armenians [q.v.] after their persecution during World War I, the Palestinians after the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.], and so on.
Doha: capital of Qatar Population: 1 million (2011 est.). A hotbed of piracy, the village of Doha (Arabic: Bay) was razed in 1867. It was revived by Shaikh Muhammad bin Thani the next year under British patronage. After Qatar [q.v.] formally became a British protectorate in 1916, London maintained its political agent in Doha. Its inhabitants made their living by fishing, pearling, and trading. After oil was found in the nearby Dukhan area in 1939, and exploited on a commercial scale after World War II, Doha prospered and underwent dramatic change. Further expansion came in the wake of Qatar's independence in 1971. By the mid-1980s Doha accounted for three-fifths of the national population. A gleaming modern city with a deep-water harbor, its rising prosperity is underwritten by the enormous natural gas reserves of Qatar. As a cosmopolitan city, Doha has acquired a string of Christian churches but no Hindu or Buddhist temple.
During the first decade of the of the 21st century it became a leading center for regional diplomacy. By the end of that decade it was the base of Al-Jazeera Arabic and English satellite television channels and the site of several outstanding museums. Its Education City housed not only Qatar University but also branch campuses of six leading American universities.
Dome of the Rock: see Noble Sanctuary.
donum: area measurement used in the Arab Middle East [q.v.] 1 donum = 0.26 acre = 0.11 hectare.
Dowlatabadi, Mahmoud (1940-): Iranian writer Born in Dowlatabad, a village in the eastern province of Khorasan, into a poor peasant family, Dowlatabadi moved to Tehran [ q.v .] in his mid-teens. After completing a course in acting in 1960, he became a stage actor. He published his first short story in 1962 in the Anahita magazine, named after the Zoroastrian [q.v.] divinity of the waters, symbolizing fertility, and graduated to writing novels, the first of which, The Tale of Baba Sobhan, was published in 1968, and made into a movie titled Khak (Persian, Dust) in 1972. In 1974 he was hired by the Association for Intellectual Development of Children and Young People. The next year he was arrested for his anti-regime activities and jailed for a year.
After the Islamic revolution [ q.v .] in 1979, he started publishing a series of novels under the title Kelidar, a Kurdish town, about the day-to-day struggle for survival of the people there. He chronicled facts but in such an emotionally charged language that he gripped the reader. This 10-volume saga, published over a decade, established him as a literary giant of modern Persian literature. His other works include Jay-e Khali-e Solooch (Persian: The Unoccupied Place of Solooch), the story of the survival of a village woman and her three children after her abandonment by her husband, published as Missing Soluch in English in 2007, and Yusuf s Day and Night, an equally riveting work of social realism.
His latest novel, Colonel, written in 2009 and published in its English translation in 2011, was long-listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize. Because it shows how the revolution devoured its children, it has not been cleared by the censors in Iran for publication in the original Persian [q.v.].
Druze: Islamic sect Druzes are members of a movement called Daraziyya, derived from Muhammad al-Darazi (d. 1019), an Ismaili [q.v.] missionary from Bukhara, Uzbekistan, who became an adviser to Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim (r. 996 A.D.-1021) in Cairo in 1017. Accepting the Ismail doctrine, Darazi regarded the taawil (Arabic: inner truth) and its representative, the imam [q.v.], as superior to the tanzil (Arabic: outer truth ) and its representative, the Prophet Muhammad, and attributed the living imam (al-Hakim) with supernatural powers, embodying al-aql al-kulli (Arabic: the highest cosmic intellect). This proved controversial.
After al-Darazi's death, this mission was taken over by Hamza bin Ali, an Iranian. He gave the al-Hakim cult a definitive Druze form. He described al-Hakim as the embodiment of the Ultimate One, the present locus of the Creator. He thus went beyond the Ismaili taawil and the Sunni [q.v.] tanzil.
Druzes do not feel bound by two of the five pillars of Islam [q.v.]: fasting during Ramadan [q.v.] and pilgrimage to Mecca [q.v.]. They accept the seven commandments prescribed by Hamza and his successors, Baha al-Din al-Muktana: speaking the truth among the faithful; helping and defending one another; renouncing all former faiths; dissociating themselves from unbelievers; recognizing the unity of the Lord in all ages; being content with whatever the Lord does; and submitting to his orders as conveyed by his cosmic ranks. They believe that, when al-Hakim and Hamza bin Ali— both of whom disappeared—reappear to establish universal justice, the especially pious among them will rule the human race.
As a heterodox sect, Druzes suffered persecution by the majority Sunni Muslims. This drove them to the mountainous region of Syria- Lebanon-Palestine. They are now to be found in southern Syria's Druze Mountain area, Lebanon's Shouf region, and Israel.
Dual Containment policy (United States): In May 1993 the U.S. administration of President Bill Clinton (r. 1993–2001) declared that in the Gulf [q.v.] it would contain both Iran [q.v.] and Iraq [q.v.], thus reversing the policies of the earlier administrations of Presidents George H. W. Bush (r. 1989–93) and Ronald Reagan (r. 1981–1989), based on the doctrine of "zero sum" regarding these two Gulf neighbors—that is, weakening Iraq was tantamount to strengthening Iran, and vice versa. Clinton's successor, President George W. Bush (r. 20012009), would adopt a modified version of the Dual Containment policy under the title of the "Axis of Evil" by adding North Korea to the list.
Dubai: city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates
Dubai city: capital of the Dubai Emirate of the United Arab Emirates Population, 1.9 million (2010 est.) Established in 1799, Dubai became an important pearling center in the early 20th century. With traders from India and Iran settling there, it developed as a trading port. Its commercial and political significance grew to the extent that London transferred its political agent for the Trucial States [q.v.] from Sharjah [q.v.] to Dubai in 1954 when it was home to 20,000 people.
With discovery of offshore oil in 1966, the city's fortunes improved sharply. Its reputation as a center for free trade in gold, much in demand in the Indian subcontinent, also helped its prosperity. Following the independence of Dubai Emirate in 1971, the city became its capital. It acquired a modern port and dry docks in the 1970s. During the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) [q.v.], the importance of Dubai as a center for re-exporting Western goods to Iran rose dramatically. A cosmopolitan metropolis, with foreigners making up 95 percent of its population, it has excellent financial and telecommunications facilities. It is the largest city of the United Arab Emirates [q.v.].
It has been developed as a tourist destination as well as a financial services and media hub. Its International Finance Center, built in 2004, is expected to be the largest between Hong Kong and London.
During the first decade of the 21st century its Jebel Ali port, inaugurated in 1979, became one of the busiest in the world. The Jebel Ali free trade zone was duplicated in Dubai Maritime City, Dubai Internet City, and Dubai Media City. The Burj al-Arab (Arabic: Tower of the Arabs ), the second-tallest freestanding hotel (shaped like a sail of a boat), which opened for business in 2000 , has become the symbol of Dubai just as the Eiffel Tower is for Paris.
An unprecedented boom in construction during the first decade of the 21 st century created a host of super-tall skyscrapers, with the Burj Khalifa (Arabic: Tower of Dubai) at 2,684 ft./818 m, opened in January 2010 , being the tallest on the planet. Dubai has become one of the favorite holiday resorts for Europeans.
The Palm Jumeirah, an artificial archipelago, is the first of the three palm shaped islands to be created in the Gulf, increasing its shoreline by 320 mi./520 km. The first Palm Island was built by pouring seven million tons of rock and 94 million tons of sand into the Gulf. Along with hundreds of privately owned villas and several mega-shopping-malls, it accommodates 30 five-star hotels.
Due to the crash in property values, caused partly by the Great Recession of 2008–09 in the West, the frantic construction activity ended in November 2009 when Dubai World, the heavily indebted conglomerate, told its creditors that it could not repay about $25 billion of debts as planned. With the financial aid of the ruler of the Abu Dhabi Emirates [q.v.], it reached a compromise with its creditors.
Dubai Emirate: Area 1,510 sq. mi./3,900 sq. km, population, 2.262 million (2010 est.); see United Arab Emirates.
In 2009, its GDP was $47 billion and its total foreign debt was $110 billion, according to the International Monetary Fund.
E
East Bank: The terms "East Bank" and "West Bank" [q.v.] apply to the Jordan River [q.v.]. The territory on the East Bank belongs to Jordan [q.v.].
East Jerusalem: Area: 2.5 sq. mi./6.5 sq. km in 1948, 27.5 sq. mi./71.2 sq. km in 1967; population 264,100 Arabs (2011 est.); 192,800 Jewish settlers (2011 est.); total 456,900. East Jerusalem, captured by the Arab forces in the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] and retained by Jordan, measured 2.5 sq. mi./6.5 sq. km. It included the Old City, measuring about 0.4 sq. mi./1 sq. km and containing the Noble Sanctuary [q.v.], the Wailing Wall [q.v.], and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the burial place of Jesus Christ.
It was captured by Israel on 7 June 1967 during the Six-Day War [q.v.]. On 28 June 1967 Israel added 25 sq. mi./65 sq. km of the West Bank [q.v.] territory to ( Jordanian) East Jerusalem, and extended its laws to the vastly enlarged area, a step repudiated by UN Security Council Resolution 252 (1968). The census carried out by Israel then showed 44,000 Arabs [q.v.] living in the Jerusalem of the pre-Six-Day War period and another 22,000 in the territory of the West Bank annexed by Israel.
In 1980 the Israeli parliament passed a "basic law," which declared unified Jerusalem to be the indivisible capital of Israel, without stipulating its boundaries. This was repudiated by UN Security Council Revolutions 476 (March 1980) and 478 (June 1980) by 14 votes to none. Though the Arab residents of East Jerusalem were given the right to vote in local elections, no more than 5 percent exercised this right, thus emphasizing their commitment to having East Jerusalem as the capital of a future State of Palestine [q.v.].
By 1997 Israel had established 12 Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem. That number rose to 17 almost a decade later. In 2009, the walled Old City had 35,000 Arab and 4,500 Jewish residents.
It is a cardinal demand of the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] and the Palestine Liberation Organization [ q.v .] that East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future independent Palestine. See also Jerusalem and West Jerusalem.
East Syriac rite: see Chaldean Catholic Church.
Easter: Derivative of Eastre, an ancient Teutonic goddess An annual church celebration commemorating Christ's resurrection on the third day after his crucifixion, for Roman Catholics [q.v.] and Protestants [q.v.]. Western Easter is the first Sunday after the full moon that falls on, or follows, the spring equinox (21 March in the Gregorian Christian calendar [q.v. ]). If the full moon happens on a Sunday, Easter is celebrated a week later. Thus Easter Sunday falls between 22 March and 25 April. Due to the somewhat different calculations of the Orthodox Church [q.v.], the Orthodox Easter often comes one, four, or five weeks later, but sometimes it coincides with the Western Easter. In both cases, Easter determines the dates of all other movable church festivals, such as Lent and Pentecost [q.v.].
Eastern (Orthodox) Church: see Orthodox Christian Church.
Ebadi, Shirin (1947-) : Iranian lawyer, human rights campaigner, and winner of Nobel Peace Prize 2003 Born into a family of academics in Hamadan, Ebadi grew up in Tehran [q.v.]. She secured her law degree from Tehran University at 21, and became a junior judge after a six-month apprenticeship in adjudication. Two years later she obtained a doctorate with honors in private law from the same university. After serving in various jobs in the Justice Department, she was appointed President of Bench 24 of the Tehran City Court in 1975, the first woman in Iran to hold such a position.
Since the Islamic regime did not allow women to become judges, Ebadi and other female judges were demoted to clerks in 1979. When they protested, the authorities promoted them to "experts" in the Justice Department. She resigned. Her application for an attorney's license to the Justice Ministry was rejected.
Along with being a homemaker and mother, she published books on different aspects of the law, from medical practice to architecture to workers' rights. It was not until 1992 that she was able to secure an attorney's license.
She became involved in human rights violation cases. In 1995 she cofounded the Association for Support of Children's Rights. The next year she was appointed an observer for the New York-based Human Rights Watch. In 2000 she published History and Documentation of Human Rights in Iran in the United States. Along with four defense lawyers she founded the Human Rights Defense Center in 2001.
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her pioneering work for the rights of women, children, and refugees. She became the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to receive this prize.
In her book (written along with Azadeh Moaveni) Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope (2006), she explained her views on Islam, democracy, and gender equality. Firmly rooted in Iranian soil and history, she treats Islam as her primary premise, and argues for new interpretations to align the Sharia [q.v.] with human rights, democracy, and freedom of speech and association.
In her speeches abroad, she was critical of the double standards of the West, particularly America. In 2007 she supported the Iranian government's nuclear program, arguing that aside from its economic justification, the program had become a cause of national pride for an old nation with a glorious history.
In August 2008 when she announced that she would defend seven Bahai [q.v.] leaders arrested earlier, threats against her life and those of her family intensified. In December the official raiding and closure of the Human Rights Defense Center was followed by a raid on her private office and the seizure of her computers and files.
She was in Spain at the time of the disputed presidential election in June 2009. She demanded a fresh poll. Later she called on the Western powers to withdraw their ambassadors from Tehran and freeze the assets of Iran's leaders. From her base in London, she continued to speak out about the repression of dissidents, women, and Bahais in Iran in her lectures and seminars around North America and Europe.
In April 2012 she criticized the harsh economic sanctions imposed against Iran for its nuclear program, arguing that they were doing more harm than good and failing to weaken the Iranian regime.
8 March Alliance (Lebanon): A coalition of several pro-Syria groups in Lebanon, it was named after the 8 March 2005 mass demonstration in Beirut [q.v.] as a counterforce to a series of anti-Syria marches. It praised Syria for its efforts to end the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] in 1990 and for backing the Lebanese resistance to Israel's occupations of southern Lebanon following its invasions in 1978 and 1982. The leading members of the coalition were Amal [q.v.], the Free Patriotic Movement [q.v.], the Lebanese Democratic Party, and the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party [q.v.].
In the 2005 parliamentary election, the 8 March Alliance won 56 of the 128 seats, and in the 2009 election it garnered 57 seats on a popular vote of 55.5 percent of the 1.486 million ballots cast, gaining 152,000 votes more than the 14 March Alliance [q.v.]. It secured 16 of the 30 cabinet posts in the government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati [q.v.] in 2012. When the pro-reform protest spread in Syria during 2011–2012, the Alliance's constituents attributed it to foreign intervention and Salafi [q.v.] militants.
Egypt:
OFFICIAL NAME: Arab Republic of Egypt
CAPITAL: Cairo [q.v.]
AREA: 385,230 sq. mi./997,740 sq. km
POPULATION: 81.1 million (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (nominal) $231 billion; per capita $2,892 (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (Purchasing Power Parity) $508 billion; per capita $6,360 (2011 est.)
NATIONAL CURRENCY: Egyptian Pound (EGP); EGP 1 = U.S.$0.166 = £0.105 = € 0.126 (2011)
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: republic, president elected by popular vote
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Arabic [q.v.]
OFFICIAL RELIGION: Islam [q.v.]
ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS: Egypt is divided into 29 governorates (provinces).
CONSTITUTION: The 1971 constitution, approved by a referendum, was amended in 1990. It described Egypt as an Arab republic with a democratic, socialist system. It prescribed Islam as the state religion and the Sharia [ q.v .] as the "principal source" of legislation. It labeled the political system as multiparty. The state ensured equality of men and women in accordance with the Sharia. It also safeguarded the public sector, and protected the assets of cooperative societies and trade unions. The constitution banned the propagation of atheism and any attack on "divine religion." It guaranteed the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of the press, and freedom to travel.
The sole presidential candidate who must be endorsed by at least two-thirds of parliamentary deputies was to be offered to voters for approval. He had six-year tenure and could be elected for further terms. He exercised executive authority and appointed or dismissed vice presidents and ministers, including the premier. He also nominated 10 members to the parliament, called the People's Assembly, with at least 350 elected members, to be elected for five years. It had the power to force a minister to resign. In the case of the prime minister, the Assembly had the right to submit an adversarial report to the president. If the president rejected the report, the matter was then put to referendum. If the voters accepted the report, the full cabinet had to resign. If the voters rejected it, then the president had to dissolve the Assembly.
Wide-ranging changes to the constitution in 2007 banned the use of religion as a political ideology by a party, ended the judicial supervision of elections, and authorized the president to dissolve the People's Assembly. These amendments were endorsed in a referendum in which a little over a quarter of the voters participated.
Following the forced resignation of President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] in February 2011 in the face of escalating popular uprising, which came to be called the Arab Spring [q.v.], the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) amended the constitution. These changes limited the presidency to two six-year terms, required the president to appoint at least one vice president, mandated judicial supervision of elections, specified a 100-member panel elected by a post-Mubarak parliament to draft a new constitution, and modest requirements for the presidential candidacy. In a referendum held in March 77 percent approved the amended document on a turnout of 41 percent of the 45 million voters. It came into effect at the end of the month.
In October the Islamist-dominated, 100-strong constituent assembly released a partial draft of the constitution, which excluded military-civilian relations, for public discussion. Among other things it accorded gender equality subject to the rulings of the Sharia [q.v.].
CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL: Following amendments to the 1971 constitution in May 1980, a 210-member Consultative Council, called Shura Council, with three-year term was established to preserve the principles of the 1952 republican revolution and the 1971 "correctionist" revolution by President Anwar Sadat [q.v.]. One-third of its members were appointed by the president. Because the first three elections were boycotted by the opposition, the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) [q.v.] filled all the elected seats. The opposition participated in the 1989 election, but failed to win a single seat. In the 1995 election, the NDP won 88 of the 90 seats, and in the mid-term 1998 election, 87 seats out of 90, followed by 74 of the 88 seats in 2001 , with most opposition factions continuing their boycott.
The 2007 amended constitution designated the 270-member Consultative Council with six-year tenure as the upper house of a bicameral parliament. Only 180 of its members were elected, with the rest appointed by the president. Half of the Council members were renewed every three years. Its lawmaking powers were limited with the People's Assembly being the dominant chamber. It was dissolved by the SCAF on 11 February 2011 after Mubarak was forced to resign. It was replaced by a fully-elected 180-member Consultative (Shura) Council, and given the status of the upper house of parliament with the same four-year tenure as the lower house, called the People's Assembly. See further, Legislature.
The elections in January-February 2012 led to the following result: Democratic Alliance [q.v.], 105 seats; Islamist Bloc [q.v.], 45 seats; New Wafd [ q.v .], 14 seats; Egyptian Bloc, 8; others, 8 .
ETHNIC COMPOSITION: (2011) Arabs 99 percent, other 1 percent.
EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY: Executive authority rests with the president, who is elected directly by voters.
High officials:
President: Muhammad Morsi, 2012 -
Prime minister: Hisham Qandil, 2012 -
Speaker of the People's Assembly (before dissolution in June 2012): Saad El Katatny, 2012
Speaker of the Consultative (Shura) Council (before dissolution in June 2012): Ahmad Fahmy, 2012
HISTORY: On the eve of World War I Britain declared Egypt (which had been under its occupation since 1882) a protectorate. In 1922, while recognizing Egypt as a sovereign state under King Ahmad Fuad (r. 192236), Britain continued to maintain its military occupation. The anti-imperialist movement, spearheaded by the Wafd [q.v.], gained momentum and resulted in the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 [q.v.]. The treaty preserved many British privileges, including its military presence in the Suez Canal [q.v.] zone.
The poor performance of the Egyptian troops in the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.] encouraged nationalist officers to plan a coup. In 1952, organized as Free Officers, they seized power after overthrowing King Farouq [q.v.]. The new Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) was dominated by Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v. ]. It started a program of land reform and industrialization at home and advancement of pan-Arabism [q.v.] in the region. Egypt combined with Syria in early 1958 to form the United Arab Republic [q.v.], but the UAR split in September 1961 in bitterness. Egypt helped the republican officers in North Yemen to consolidate their regime after an anti-royalist coup there in 1962. But its humiliating defeat by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War [q.v.], resulting in the loss of Sinai [q.v.], undermined the leadership of Nasser.
After his death in 1970 the presidency passed to Anwar Sadat. In conjunction with Syria, he launched a surprise attack on the Israeli-occupied Sinai in October 1973. The Egyptians gave their best military performance yet. Sadat cut the 20-year-old ties with the Soviet Union, and turned to the United States for a compromise with Israel. His efforts culminated in an Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty [q.v.] in March 1979. To curb domestic opposition to the treaty, Sadat took increasingly repressive measures, thus losing popularity. He was assassinated in October 1981.
His successor, Hosni Mubarak, tried to heal the wounds, and succeeded. During his presidency Egypt was readmitted to the Arab League in 1989, after a decade of suspension. He continued the economic liberalization of Sadat. Equally, there was no change from his predecessor's practice of periodic, rigged elections. Mubarak was reelected to the presidency for the second time in October 1993. He faced increasing opposition from militant Muslim [q.v.] groups, especially al-Gammat al-Islamiya [q.v.]. By the time he was renominated by the People's Assembly for the presidency in 1999, his government had crushed Islamic militancy by using repulsive methods which caused concern in the U.S. administration of President Bill Clinton (r. 1993–2001). Following the Islamist terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001, however, American perceptions at the official level changed. While offering full cooperation to the U.S. in its war against Islamist terrorism, Mubarak advised President George W. Bush (r. 2001–2009) to address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict impartially and help forge an international convention on terrorism—but to no avail.
Under pressure from the Bush administration to democratize his regime, Mubarak allowed a limited number of semi-clandestine Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] members to enter parliamentary elections in 2005. When three-fifths of them won, Washington's ardor for democracy cooled. With that, Mubarak reverted to the old policy of repressing the Brotherhood. In the first popular election for the presidency in 2005, he secured 88.6 percent of the vote, with his nearest rival, Ayman Nour [ q.v .] garnering 7.3 percent, on a voter turnout of 25 percent. The election was marred by suppression of opposition candidates' campaigns and blatant electoral fraud and vote-rigging.
In the most fraudulent parliamentary election yet, boycotted by the Muslim Brotherhood, in December 2010, the NDP raised its strength by 90 to 420. Soon thereafter the Arab Spring [q.v.] arrived in Egypt.
With the overthrow of the Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali on 14 January, the recently launched "We are all Khaled Saeed" Facebook page, referring to an innocent citizen in Alexandria [q.v.] murdered by the police, became a rallying point for the protest on 25 January. Yet it was only on the following Friday, 28 January, that peaceful demonstrations in the Tahrir Square of Cairo gathered momentum after the weekly Muslim congregational prayers.
Violent clashes between protestors and the security forces broke out as Mubarak coupled his promise on 2 February not to contest the next presidential election in 2013. Demonstrators were not satisfied. On 4 February, Friday, labeled "Day of Departure," an ever-larger gathering of protestors demanded Mubarak's immediate resignation as the economic life of the nation started ebbing.
Behind the scenes Egyptian defense minister Field Marshall Muhammad Hussein Tantawi was in daily contact with his counterpart in Washington, Robert Gates, who stressed U.S. President Barack Obama's advice not to use military force to disband the over one million demonstrators who had camped in the Tahrir Square. The escalating popular protest, coupled with Obama's withdrawal of support for Mubarak, led the fence-sitting generals on the SCAF to join the anti-Mubarak faction.
On 10 February, claiming that a national dialogue on political reform was in progress, Mubarak transferred power to Vice President Omar Suleiman, but refused to step down. But the next day he bowed to the popular will backed by the SCAF. By the time he resigned after 18 days of civil uprising, handing over his powers to the SCAF and retiring to the presidential palace in the sea resort of Sharm al-Shaikh, 846 protestors were dead and 12,000 had been arrested.
After assuming power, the SCF accepted the amendments to the constitution proposed by its appointed committee. These were designed to prepare Egypt for free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections. Once the amended constitution was approved in a referendum on 25 March, the country's revolution entered a new phase.
At his trial in August, a bed-ridden Mubarak denied charges of killing protestors and abuse of power.
Following massive protest at the slow progress toward democracy, Tantawi promised a presidential poll in June 2012. The SCAF appointed Kamal Ganzouri, a former prime minister, as head of a national salvation cabinet.
Staggered elections to the People's Assembly started in late November and continued until early January 2012. The Democratic Alliance led by the Freedom and Justice Party [q.v.] won 235 of the 508-member People's Assembly, with the Islamist Bloc [q.v.] headed by the al-Nour Party [q.v.] gaining 127 seats. In the 180-member Consultative Council elections that followed, the FJP-led Democratic Alliance garnered 105 seats and the al-Nour-led Islamist Bloc gained 45.
In the first round for the presidential poll on 23–24 May there were 12 candidates. Since none of them received 50 percent plus one vote, there was a second round on 16–17 June between the Freedom and Justice Party's Muhammad Morsi [q.v.] and Ahmed Shafiq [q.v.], the last prime minister of Hosni Mubarak, who was given a life sentence on 2 June for his part in the killing of protestors during the 2011 upheaval. Shafiq lost to Morsi by 48.3 percent of the vote to 51.7 percent.
Two days before the presidential election the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that some of the articles on which the bicameral parliament was formed were unconstitutional. The SCAF dissolved the parliament and reassumed legislative powers.
In August President Morsi forced the 75-year-old Tantawi, head of the armed forces, and 64-year-old Sami Anan, the Army chief of staff, to resign, thereby ending the dual power structure. In October, Morsi granted pardon to all the protestors detained and tried in the civil protest movement between 25 January 2011 and 30 June 2012, the day he assumed the presidency.
LEGISLATURE: The parliament, called the People's Assembly, deals with legislation, general policy matters, and the budget. Of its 454 members, 444 are elected, the rest are appointed by the president. The main opposition parties boycotted the election in November-December 1990, demanding the lifting of the state of emergency and supervision of the election by an independent body, not the interior ministry. Five years later, the NDP won 316 seats, independents 115 (of whom 72 joined the NDP), and four opposition groups 13. In the 2000 elections—when polling stations were supervised by judges and not interior ministry officials—the NDP secured 170 seats, independents 234 (of whom 194 joined the NDP, raising its total to 364) and six opposition parties together 39. In the 2005 election, the NDP's score fell to 311, and the Muslim Brotherhood's total rose to 88.
In the blatantly rigged election of 2010, the NDP secured 420 out of the 444 contested) seats. The Muslim Brotherhood boycotted the election, and the New Wafd did not participate in the second round. This Assembly was dissolved by SCAF in February 2011 after Mubarak's ouster.
The first post-Mubarak era election for the 508-member People's Assembly during November 2011 and January 2012 produced the following results: the Freedom and Justice Party [q.v.]-led Democratic Alliance 235 seats (on 37.5 percent popular vote); the Salafist [q.v.] al-Nour [q.v.]-led Islamist Bloc 123 seats (on 28 percent vote); the New Wafd [q.v.] 38 seats (9 percent); and the secular Egyptian Bloc 35 seats (9 percent). As before, the governing authority was entitled to nominate 10 members. Two-thirds of the contested seats were decided on the basis of a party and one-third on the basis of an individual, with the first past the post being the winner. The voter turnout during the three phases of the election for the People's Assembly varied between 59 and 65 percent.
The result of the Consultative (Shura) Council elections in January-February 2012 was as follows: Democratic Alliance [qv], 105 seats; Islamist Bloc [qv], 45 seats; New Wafd [qv], 14 seats; Egyptian Bloc, 8; others, 8.
On 14 June the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that some of the articles on which the bicameral parliament was formed were unconstitutional. The SCAF dissolved the parliament and reassumed legislative powers. These powers then passed to Morsi when he assumed the presidency on 30 June.
Fresh elections to the People's Assembly and the Consultative (Shura) Council were to follow after a newly drafted constitution had been passed.
RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION: (2010) Muslim, 90 percent, almost all Sunni [q.v.]; Christian [q.v.], 9 percent; four out of five Christians are Copts [q.v.]; other, 1 percent.
Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty (1979): The Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty, signed in March 1979, ended the state of war that had existed between the two countries since the founding of Israel in May 1948. It was based on the principles and procedures outlined in the Camp David Accords [q.v.] of September 1978. Within a year of the treaty the signatories had exchanged ambassadors, and Israel had returned two-thirds of the occupied Sinai [q.v.] to Egypt. By April 1982 Israel had withdrawn from the rest of the peninsula. Arab League [q.v.] members denounced Egypt's deviation from the common Arab policy of working toward a comprehensive peace settlement with Israel, suspended it from the League, and broke all relations with Cairo. Egypt's suspension from the Arab league lasted until 1989. Despite periodic tension between Israel and Egypt— such as during the Israeli invasion and occupation of Lebanon in June 1982 [q.v.], the al-Aqsa Intifda [q.v.] of 2000, and the Israeli-Hizbollah War [q.v.] of 2006—the treaty has held.
Egyptian-Soviet Friendship Treaty (1971): The Egyptian-Soviet Friendship Treaty, valid for 15 years, was negotiated in Cairo [q.v.] by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] and signed on 27 May 1971. According to the operative Articles 7 and 8, the signatories agreed to enter into immediate consultation in the event of any threat to peace, and to continue cooperation in developing Egypt's military potential. However, the existence of the treaty did not inhibit Sadat from expelling Soviet military personnel in July 1972. Whatever tensions this act of Sadat created, these subsided quickly. Before, during, and after the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] the Soviets supplied Egypt with massive cargoes of arms and ammunition. In 1975 Sadat, burdened with heavy foreign debt and rising budget deficit, approached Soviet leaders for a 10-year moratorium on debt repayments. They rejected his request. In return Sadat refused to renew the annual trade pact. On 14 March 1976 he unilaterally abrogated the friendship treaty 10 years before its expiry date.
Eid al-Adha (Arabic: Festival of Sacrifice): Islamic festival One of the two canonical festivals, Eid al-Adha is also known as Eid al-Qurban (Persian: Sacrifice) or Eid al-Kabir (Arabic: Major Festival ). It falls on 10 Dhul Hijja, the last month of the Islamic calendar [q.v.], when the hajj [q.v.] is undertaken by the faithful from the eighth to the 12th of Dhul Hijja. After the Stoning of the Devil in the form of three walls, the hajj is celebrated by sacrificing a sheep, camel, or bovine animal. Even those Muslims who are not on hajj are required to sacrifice an animal. They are also required to participate in communal prayers. By tradition, wearing their best clothes, they visit friends and relatives and exchange presents.
Eid al-Fitr (Arabic: the festival of breaking the fast): Islamic festival One of the two canonical festivals, Eid al-Fitr is also called Eid al-Saghir, the Minor Festival. It falls on 1 Shawaal, which follows Ramadan [q.v.], the month of fasting. Muslims are required to participate in communal prayers, and pay their zakat [q.v.] before the prayers. The faithful wear their best clothes, visit friends and relatives, and exchange presents. Since Eid al-Fitr comes at the end of a month of fasting, it is a joyous occasion.
Eisenhower Doctrine (1957): Following the strengthening of ties between Egypt and the Soviet Union in late 1956, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower sent a message on 5 January 1957 to U.S. Congress outlining a countervailing strategy for the Middle East, later to be called the Eisenhower Doctrine. It proposed joint measures by U.S. Congress and the president to accelerate economic development of the region to help it maintain political independence; to provide military aid and cooperation on request; and, most importantly, to safeguard the territorial integrity and political independence of individual countries requesting such aid against overt aggression from any nation "controlled by international Communism," a phrase that included Egypt under President Abdul Gamal Nasser [q.v.], who was seen by Washington as being under Soviet control.
In March 1957 U.S. Congress adopted the Eisenhower Doctrine. In the region, Israel and Lebanon, then ruled by President Camille Chamoun [q.v.], subscribed to the Doctrine immediately. King Hussein of Jordan [q.v.] and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Said [q.v.] followed.
This doctrine enabled the United States to project its power in a region dominated until then by Britain and France.
el (Arabic: the): see al.
Epiphany (Greek: from epiphania, manifestation): Christian festival Also called the Twelfth Day, Little Christmas, and the Manifestation of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, Epiphany is celebrated on 6 January, 12 days after Christmas, to commemorate the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan [q.v.], the showing of Jesus to the Three Wise Men, and the Miracle of Cana. It ranks after Easter [q.v.] and Pentecost [q.v.].
Erbil: see Irbil.
Eretz Yisrael (Hebrew: Land of Israel): The term Eretz Yisrael is used to denote the Hebrew kingdom under David (r. 1010–970 B.C.) and Solomon (r. 970–930 B.C.). It measured about 17,500 sq. mi/45,320 sq. km, with half its area lying to the east of River Jordan [q.v.]. To the west it was bounded by the Mediterranean, to the east by the Syrian Desert, and to the south by the line connecting the Valley of Arish with Kadesh Barnea and the Valley of Zor south of the Dead Sea, and then running from River Arnon to Mount Her-mon to the Valley of Iyon. In ca 930 B.C. the Hebrew kingdom was split into the northern territory called Israel, and the southern called Judah.
Esfahan: see Isfahan.
Eshkol, Levi (1895–1969): Israeli politician; prime minister 1963—69 Born Levi Shkolnik in Ukraine, Eshkol migrated to Palestine [q.v.] in 1914 and worked as a farm hand. Active with HaPoale HaTzair [q.v.], he cofounded Degania Beth kibbutz in 1920. Later he participated in establishing the housing company of the Histadrut [q.v.]. From 1934 to 1937 he worked in the Palestine Office in Berlin to supervise the transfer of goods bought with money donated by German-Jewish immigrants in Palestine. On his return home he directed the Histadrut's Mekorot Water Company. In 1940 he took charge of the finances of the Haganah [q.v.], including arms procurement. During the First Arab-Israeli War (1948–49) [q.v.], he became director-general of the defense ministry under David Ben-Gurion [q.v.], focusing on the war's economic and financial aspects.
Elected to the Jewish Agency [q.v.] executive committee in 1948, he supervised the settlement of immigrants. He encouraged the founding of cooperative villages, moshavim. In 1951 he was elected to parliament on the Mapai [q.v.] list and kept his seat until his demise. After a year as minister of agriculture and development he served as finance minister, a position he retained until he succeeded Ben-Gurion as the prime minister and defense minister in 1963. He liberalized the economy and detached the broadcasting department from the prime minister's secretariat, transforming it into an independent authority. He removed the travel limitations that had been imposed on Israel's Arab [q.v.] citizens since 1948.
By sponsoring a cabinet decision to bring the remains of Vladimir Jabotin-sky [q.v.] from New York to Israel for reburial in Jerusalem [q.v.], Eshkol lowered tensions between the government and right-wing opposition. He reinforced arms purchase agreements with the United States, involving advanced attack aircraft, thus strengthening the Israeli military. He withstood the challenge posed by the defection of Ben-Gurion, who founded his own group, Rafi, in 1965, and led the government formed after the general election later that year.
Eshkol continued the development of nuclear weapons, initiated by Ben-Gurion, at Dimona. In 1968, he clinched a clandestine agreement with West Germany: in exchange for Israel's providing West Germans with laser technology to enrich uranium, the latter shipped 200 tons of uranium to Israel.
On the eve of the 1967 Six-Day War [q.v.], he came under increased public pressure to broaden his administration. He set up a government of national unity and gave up the defense ministry to Moshe Dayan [q.v.]. By co-opting the right-wing Gahal [q.v.] and its leader, Menachem Begin [ q.v .], into the government, he gave that party the respectability denied to it by Ben-Gurion. Ignoring his critics' charge of vacillation, he governed by consensus until his death.
Euphrates River: Known in biblical times as Perath, the Euphrates River rises in eastern Turkey and flows roughly 1,680 mi./2,700 km to Iraq, there joining the Tigris River [ q.v .], about 120 mi./260 km from the Persian Gulf [q.v.], to form the Shatt al-Arab [q.v.]. It provides irrigation for the fertile plain of Mesopotamia [q.v.], a cradle of ancient civilization.
F
Fahd bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud (1921–2005): King of Saudi Arabia, 1982— 2005 Born in Riyadh [q.v.] to Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al-Saud [q.v.] and Hassa bint Ahmad al Sudairi, Fahd was the 11th son of Ibn Saud. He received a traditional education. During the rule of Saud bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.], he served first as education minister (1953–60) and then, from 1962, as interior minister. He continued in that position when Faisal bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] ascended the throne in 1964. Fahd was promoted to second deputy prime minister in 1967 and to first deputy prime minister two years later. When Khalid bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] became king in 1975, he was named crown prince. On Khalid's death in June 1982 Fahd succeeded him. Eldest of the seven sons of Hassa al-Sudairi, his accession implied the dominance of the Sudairi Seven in the kingdom.
Of the two trends that had emerged among senior Saudi princes during Khalid's reign, Fahd belonged to the pro-American school, favoring rapid economic progress funded by Saudi Arabia's vast oil revenues, and opposed the nationalist trend, which was committed to a greater respect for tradition and slower economic development. In August 1981 he presented to the Arab League [q.v.] a Middle East peace plan which, in exchange for peaceful coexistence of all the states in the region, required Israeli to evacuate all the Arab territories occupied in 1967, the dismantling of the Jewish settlements in these areas, and the founding of a Palestinian state. It was adopted at the next summit in Fez, Morocco, in September 1982, and remained the common Arab position on a Middle East settlement until the Middle East conference in Madrid, Spain, nine years later. In 1986 he changed his title from "His Majesty" to the "Custodian of the Holy Mosques (of Mecca [q.v.] and Medina [q.v.])."
In keeping with his vacillating nature, Fahd waited a whole week before making public his position on Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990. He called on the United States and Arab countries to send troops to help protect Saudi Arabia and end the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. The huge expenses incurred by Riyadh in the conduct of the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], the rearming of the kingdom that followed the conflict, and the sharply reduced prices of oil led his government to raise foreign loans to balance the budget.
Rising corruption and repression led to the growth of the Islamic fundamentalist movement, which drew its inspiration from the early days of the Ikhwan movement [q.v.], which had laid the foundation of the kingdom in the mid-1920s.
In August 1993 he appointed a fully nominated 60-member Consultative Council. Having made some concessions in the political and religious spheres, Fahd moved to repress further the dissident Islamic ulema [q.v.] at home and block financial assistance to Islamist militants abroad. He tightened ties with the United States still further while the latter's dependence on Saudi petroleum grew. A quarter of America's oil imports now originated in Saudi Arabia, which had purchased $25 billion worth of U.S. arms between August 1990 and December 1992—by which date a semi-formal defense agreement between Riyadh and Washington was reportedly in place.
To silence the opposition, his government detained 200 political dissidents in 1994. It was distressed when a bomb at the National Guard training center in Riyadh in November 1995 killed seven people, including five American officers. That month, following a stroke, Fahd transferred his powers to Crown Prince Abdullah [q.v.]. Though, on recovery, Faisal nominally retrieved these powers three months later, there was less of his imprint on the administration during the subsequent years as Abdullah became the de facto ruler. After a series of bombings in the kingdom in 2003, a statement attributed to him advocated striking the terrorists with "an iron hand."
One of the richest men in the world, Fahd's personal wealth was estimated to be around $21 billion at the time of his death.
Faisal bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud (1904–75): King of Saudi Arabia, 1964—75 Born in Riyadh [q.v.] to Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al-Saud [q.v.] and Tarfa bint Abdullah al-Shaikh, Faisal was the fourth son of Ibn Saud and the second among those who survived. After receiving a traditional education and military training, Faisal served his father as governor of Hijaz [q.v.] from 1926. He undertook several foreign missions, including an official visit to the Soviet Union in 1934. During that year he led a successful campaign against North Yemen. Over time he emerged as foreign minister—inter alia leading Saudi delegations to the United Nations—without bearing such a title: autocratic Ibn Saud did not rule with the assistance of a formally appointed cabinet.
When Saud bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] became king in 1953, he nominated a cabinet as an advisory body, with Faisal as deputy prime minister and foreign minister. He was also named crown prince. When, hit by an economic crisis and the absence of a budget, the kingdom's administration came to a halt in 1958, the king put Faisal in charge of all state affairs, promoting him to prime minister, a position Saud had held so far. Two years later King Saud reappointed himself prime minister but did not interfere with the fiscal policies of Faisal, who cut expenditure, introduced a budget, and paid off state debts.
Following the republican coup in North Yemen in September 1962, King Saud once again promoted Faisal to prime minister. To offset the threat to the future of the Saudi monarchy, Faisal promised constitutional, religious, judicial, social, and economic reforms—including the promulgation of a written constitution, specifying a consultative council. But he was unable to deliver because King Saud refused to give up any of his powers. The resulting crisis was resolved in November 1964 when, pressured by senior princes and clergy, King Saud abdicated.
Faisal ascended the throne. A pious Muslim, and son of a mother who came from the religious House of Shaikh, he had the respect of the Islamic establishment. He suppressed the opposition harshly. He increased support to the royalist camp in the North Yemeni Civil War [q.v.], in which the republicans were being aided by Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [ q.v .].
But after the Arab defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War [q.v.], Faisal buried his differences with Nasser. His efforts to establish a transnational organization of Muslim states succeeded in 1969, in the aftermath of an arson attempt on the al-Aqsa mosque, Jerusalem [q.v.], resulting in the formation of the Islamic Conference Organization [q.v.], based in Jeddah [q.v.]. On 25 March 1975 he was assassinated by a young nephew, Prince Faisal bin Musaid.
Faisal I bin Hussein al-Hashem (1885–1933): King of Iraq, 1921–33 Third son of Hussein bin Ali al-Hashem [q.v.], Faisal was born in Taif, Hijaz [q.v.], but was raised in Istanbul, where his father was kept under surveillance by the Ottoman sultan. In 1908 he returned to Hijaz along with his father, who was appointed governor of Mecca [q.v.] by the Young Turks after they had succeeded Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1908. Faisal worked closely with his father, traveling to Damascus [q.v .] in 1915 (during World War I) to secure support for him from secret Arab nationalist groups there. The next year Hussein led an Arab revolt in Hijaz against the Ottomans. As commander of the northern force, Faisal focused on harassing the Turkish troops, and marched into Transjordan [ q.v .] in 1917 along with the victorious British. Entering Damascus [q.v.] in October 1918, he established an Arab government under the aegis of the Allied military administration.
At the Paris Peace Conference he staked the claim of his al-Hashem family as the ruler of either an independent Arab kingdom or a federation of several emirates (principalities). France, which in 1916 had entered into a secret agreement with Britain called the Sykes-Picot Pact [q.v.], opposed Faisal's demands and insisted on keeping Syria under its control. An Arab national congress in Damascus in March 1920 declared Faisal king of (Greater) Syria [q.v.], composed of present-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine [q.v.], and Jordan. The next month, at the behest of the Allies, the League of Nations' Supreme Council handed France a mandate to administer Syria. In July there was a fight between the forces of Faisal and France in which Faisal was the loser.
Forced into exile, he accepted Britain's invitation to go to London. To overcome nationalist opposition to its mandate in Iraq, Britain offered to make Faisal king of Iraq in March 1921. He accepted and was crowned in August. Caught between rising Iraqi nationalism and British suzerainty, he pursued a middle course. By ratifying a constitution drafted by an assembly and holding parliamentary elections, he legitimized his regime. In 1930 he signed a treaty with Britain: it required him to coordinate his foreign policy with London and allow the stationing of British troops in Iraq in exchange for a British guarantee to protect Iraq against foreign attack. Britain ended its mandate in October 1932 and sponsored Iraq's membership in the League of Nations.
Faisal II bin Ghazi al-Hashem (1935–58): King of Iraq, 1939–58 The only son of King Ghazi bin Faisal I al-Hashem [q.v.], Faisal succeeded his father as an infant, under the regency of his uncle, Abdul Ilah bin Ali. After the 1941 coup by the nationalist Rashid Ali Gailani [q.v.], Faisal and his mother fled, along with Abdul Ilah and other members of the royal family. Gailani was defeated by the British, and that ensured the future of Faisal as king. Following World War II, he was sent to Britain to be educated. On achieving his majority in 1953 he started to exercise royal authority, but found himself hamstrung by the powerful presence of Abdul Ilah. After the formation of the Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan in February 1958, he became its head. Five months later he was gunned down in the royal courtyard during a coup mounted by republican officers.
faqih: Islamic jurisprudent One who practices fiqh [q.v.] (Arabic: knowledge), the term for jurisprudence, the science of religious law in Islam [q.v.].
Farouq (1920–65): King of Egypt, 1936–52 The only son of King Ahmad Fuad, Farouk received his education in Egypt and Britain. He succeeded his father in April 1936 but did not exercise royal authority until the age of 18 in February 1938. He pursued his father's policy of undermining the nationalist Wafd [q.v.].
Following the outbreak of World War II, he attempted to remain neutral, even though British troops were stationed in Egypt under the Anglo- Egyptian Treaty of 1936 [q.v.]. Italy's entry into the conflict on the German side in May 1940 complicated matters, since Farouq had many close Italian friends and advisers. In February 1942, while German troops were advancing on Egypt from Libya and Farouq was considering appointing a prime minister known to share widely prevalent anti-British views, Britain's ambassador in Cairo [q.v.] ordered British tanks to surround his palace and gave him the choice of abdicating or appointing Mustafa Nahas (Pasha) [q.v.], a pro-British Wafd leader, prime minister. Farouq chose the latter option.
While this secured the Allied position in Egypt for the rest of the war, it destroyed Farouq's prestige among his subjects. He tried to retrieve it by dismissing Nahas Pasha in October 1944. His standing suffered a further setback when the Egyptian army did badly in the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.] due to the incompetence and corruption of its senior officers, the obsolescence of its British-supplied arms, and erratic supplies of food and medicine.
To restore the nation's wounded pride Farouq made peace with Wafd leaders and held a general election in 1950. It returned the Wafd to power. The next year, after abrogating the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936, the Wafd government declared Farouq king of Egypt and Sudan. He was deposed in July 1952 by the Free Officers, led by General Muhammad Neguib and Col. Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.]. He and his family were allowed to leave for Italy, where he continued to maintain a luxurious lifestyle until his death 13 years later.
Farsi language: See Persian language.
Fatah (Arabic: Victory; reverse acronym of Harkat al-Tahrir al-Falastini, Movement for the Liberation of Palestine): Fatah was founded in 1958 by Yasser Arafat [q.v.], Salah Khalaf [q.v.], and Khalil Wazir [q.v.] in Kuwait. They set up secret party cells in Kuwait and the Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon: a process accelerated by the publication of a monthly magazine, Falastin-una (Arabic: Our Palestine [q.v.]), in Beirut [q.v.] in 1959. By then the basic theory of Fatah ideology and tactics was that revolutionary violence, practiced by the masses, was the only way to liberate Palestine and liquidate all forms of Zionism [q.v.].
Fatah remained underground until 1964, when the Arab League [q.v.] established the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] under the leadership of Ahmad Shuqairi. Of the radical Arab states then, only Algeria volunteered in 1963 to provide military training facilities to Fatah. In 1964, in Baathist-run Damascus [q.v.], Fatah leaders decided on guerrilla actions against Israel from Syria. The first such act, on 1 January 1965, was aimed at blowing up the pipes of Israel's National Water Carrier at Ain Bone on the west bank of Jordan River [q.v.]. Fatah then had about 200 members.
The loss of the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza Strip [q.v.] to Israel in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] weakened Shuqairi's position in the PLO, whose Palestine National Council (PNC) [q.v.] had been boycotted by Fatah and other armed groups. Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] met Fatah's chairman, Arafat, and promised to aid the organization. In March 1968 Fatah members engaged in a much-publicized battle with Israel near the Jordanian border town of Karameh. This raised Fatah's membership to 15,000.
By now Fatah's overall objective had emerged as the establishment of a democratic, secular state in all of British Mandate Palestine with equal rights to Jews [q.v.], Muslims [q.v.], and Christians [q.v.]. In July 1968 Fatah and other armed groups attended the PNC session in Cairo [q.v.], which rejected UN Security Council Resolution 242 [q.v.], mainly because it made no mention of Palestinians. Fatah emerged as the PLO's largest constituent.
In early 1969 the PNC elected Arafat chairman of the PLO's executive committee, which included three more Fatah leaders. In 1970 Fatah, based in Amman [q.v.], claimed membership of some 40,000, with half of them active in its militia, al-Assifa (Arabic: The Storm). The party leadership was evenly divided between right and left, with Arafat often acting as a mediator between Salah Khalaf and Farouq Qaddumi on the left, and Khalid Hassan and Khalil Wazir on the right. But Fatah's involvement, along with other mainly leftist forces, in the Palestinian conflict with the Jordanian army in September 1970 moved it leftward. This changed after Fatah's expulsion from Jordan, and its new base in Beirut in 1972.
Prodded by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine [q.v.], in June 1974 Fatah accepted the idea of a transition stage for achieving the liberation of the Mandate Palestine with an independent entity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip [q.v.]. In the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], which started in 1975, Fatah, along with other Palestinian commando groups, sided with the leftist Lebanese National Movement [q.v.] to fight the right-wing Lebanese Forces [q.v.]. Its opposition to the Camp David Accords [q.v.] in 1978 led Fatah to adopt a radical stance, with its fourth congress in Damascus [q.v.] in May 1980 resolving to "liberate Palestine completely."
Following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon [q.v.] in June 1982, Fatah was expelled from Beirut. From its new headquarters in Tunis, Arafat tried to reestablish a base in Lebanon, but failed. In the mid-1980s Fatah's policy of coordinating with King Hussein of Jordan [q.v.] with regard to peace talks with Israel failed to take off. In 1988 the Fatah leadership decided to disavow violence against Israel and backed moves for the declaration of the State of Palestine, with Arafat as its president. After failing to build on this moderated policy, the party leaders backed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] when, having occupied Kuwait in August 1990, he tried to link Israel's evacuation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to his evacuation of Kuwait, but in vain.
They were divided on the Oslo Accord [q.v.] of September 1993, with Qaddumi opposing it. In the end, Fatah accepted the Accord. It became the political backbone of the Palestinian Authority (PA) [q.v.]. In the elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council in 1996, Fatah won 55 of the 86 contested seats, with seven other members describing themselves as Fatah Independents. Following the eruption of the al-Aqsa intifada [q.v.] in September 2000, it set up an armed wing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, called al-Tanzim (Arabic: Organization), which resorted to suicide bombings against Israelis. Led by Marwan Barghouti [q.v.], it later morphed into al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.
After Arafat's death in 2004, Fatah nominated Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.] as its candidate for PA's presidency of the PA in the January 2005 election. He won. But overall, due to the incompetence and corruption of its government, Fatah started losing popular support. It was also weakened by the internal divisions over policy issues, use of funds, and control of intelligence agencies in Gaza and West Bank between the aging exiled leaders and their younger challengers who had lived under the Israeli occupation since 1967. The latter were headed by Marwan Barghouti [q.v.]. Due to these reasons, Fatah secured only 45 seats in the Palestine Legislative Council (PLC) election of 2006.
In the subsequent fighting that erupted between it and Hamas [q.v.] in the Gaza Strip, Fatah lost control of that territory.
The Sixth General Assembly of Fatah was held in Bethlehem [q.v.] in August 2009—20 years after the previous General Assembly. Many Fatah leaders, including Kaddoumi, were denied entry into Bethlehem by Israel. Its 2,000 delegates cast their ballots for 18 of the 23 contested seats on the Central Committee and 81 of the 128 seats on the Revolutionary Council. They specified a dozen preconditions for the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. These included the release of all Palestinian prisoners by Israel, freezing of all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories [q.v.], and the ending of Israel's siege of Gaza. Abbas ignored these pre-conditions when he entered into direct talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.] in September 2010.
After alleging massive fraud in the election for the Central Committee, Fatah's Higher Committee in the Gaza Strip resigned. In November 2010 the Revolutionary Council rejected Netanyahu's demand that the PLO must accept Israel as the nationstate of the Jewish people.
In April 2011, mediation by Nabil al-Araby, the foreign minister of the first post-Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] government in Egypt, led to reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas [q.v.] on the basis of sharing power until fresh elections. In February 2012 Abbas signed an agreement with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal [q.v.], spelling out the implementation of the earlier accord.
Fatah: The Revolutionary Council: See Abu Nidal.
Fayyad, Salam (1952–): Palestinian economist and politician; Prime Minister of Palestinian Authority, 2007- Born in the village of Dir al-Rasoun, West Bank [q.v.], in the household of the director of the agriculture department of the Jordanian government, Fayyad graduated in science from the American University in Beirut [q.v.] in 1975 and then entered business. He obtained his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Texas in 1986. He then served as an economist with the World Bank in Washington. In 1995 he returned to the Palestinian Territories [q.v.] as a representative of the International Monetary Fund.
In 2001 , soon after becoming the West Bank's manager of the Arab Bank, the largest bank in the Middle East, he was appointed finance minister by the Palestinian Authority's [q.v.] president, Yasser Arafat [q.v.]. He served until 2005 when he cofounded a political party, the Third Way. In the 2006 parliamentary election it won two seats, one of them occupied by Fayyad. When the national unity government split in June 2007, President Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.] appointed him prime minister as a measure of national emergency. He was not confirmed by the Palestine Legislative Council as required by the constitution. He resigned in March 2009 but was reappointed prime minister two months later. In August he inaugurated a two-year plan to build the infrastructures and institutions of a future Palestinian State.
Following reconciliation between Fatah [q.v.] and Hamas [q.v.] in April 2011, Abbas's insistence that Fayyad should remain the prime minister until fresh elections to the Palestinian institutions were held became the main hurdle in sealing the deal. A compromise was reached with the agreement that Abbas should hold both posts. But the implementation plan signed by Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal [q.v.] in February 2012 met resistance from the Hamas leadership in Gaza [ q.v .].
Fedai Khalq (Persian: Popular Self-sacrificers): Iranian political party Official name, Sazman-e Cherakha-ye Fedai Khalq-e Iran (Persian: Organization of Iranian People's Self-Sacrificing Guerrillas) Fedai Khaliq was formed in 1970 by the amalgamation of two leftist groups, established in 1963 by university students inspired by the victorious revolutionary movements led by Fidel Castro in Cuba and Vo Nguyen Giap in Vietnam. Believing in the "Propaganda by the Deed" doctrine of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, a Latin American revolutionary, the party hoped that repression by the pro-Western monarchical regime in the wake of guerrilla attacks on selected targets would lead to increased resistance by the masses, which would culminate in a people's revolution.
Its first attack on a gendarmerie post in the littoral fringes of the Caspian forest in early 1971 received much publicity. This won the party hundreds of young recruits, mostly from middle-class families. The party cadres, often trained by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [q.v.] in the Palestinian camps of Lebanon, attacked police stations and banks as well as police and Savak (secret police) informers. During the next five years some 10,000 Fedai Khaliq members, actual or suspected, were jailed, and about 180 activists were killed. But the anticipated people's revolution failed to materialize. The party split into two factions, with the moderates focusing on political activity among industrial workers. When Savak became overstretched in the autumn of 1977, the Fedai Khalq revived its guerrilla activity, and its supporters participated in the antiregime demonstrations.
After the revolution in early 1979, the party's demand for a share of power was rejected by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.]. It went into opposition. As government pressure mounted, hundreds of party activists left for the Kurdish region to join the Kurdish guerrilla movement there.
The party split in June 1980 into "majority" and "minority" factions. Fedai Khalq (majority) advocated cooperation with the Islamic regime and allied with the Tudeh Party [ q.v .], which followed a similar policy. It was allowed to function openly while the government battled with the Mujahedin-e Khalq [q.v.]. But in May 1983, after the Mujahedin-e Khalq had been crushed, the authorities turned against Fedai Khalq (majority). The party, which continued to exist secretly, suffered a setback when one of its safe houses in Tehran [q.v.] was discovered by police in 1989. Following the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989–91, party members, many of them living abroad, began to drift toward the adoption of secular social democracy as their objective.
Fedai Khalq (minority) opposed the Islamic regime and sided with Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr [q.v.] in his confrontation with Khomeini in June 1981, and was repressed severely. It was formally dissolved in 1987.
Fedaiyan-e Islam (Persian: Self-sacrificers of Islam): Iranian religious-political group Formed in 1945 by a young theological student, Nawab Safavi (alias Mujtaba Mirlohi), Fedaiyan-e Islam went beyond the customary Islamic call for the application of the Sharia [q.v.], as provided by the Iranian constitution of 1906–07, and demanded a ban on tobacco, alcohol, cinema, opium, gambling, and the wearing of foreign attire. It advocated the veil for women. It also demanded comprehensive land reform, the nationalization of industry, and various social welfare measures. It drew its following chiefly from the lower sections of the trading community— porters, shop assistants, hawkers, and peddlers.
The group used assassination as a political weapon. In 1948 it assassinated Ahmad Kasravi, a leading secularist lawyer and historian, and Abdul Hussein Hazhir, a court minister who was considered pro-British and pro-Bahai [q.v.]. This was followed in March 1951 by the assassination of General Ali Razmara, a pro-British prime minister. When two months later Muhammad Mussadiq [q.v.] refused to share power with the party, it turned against him. Its activists tried to assassinate one of his aides, Hussein Fatimi. Even after the August 1953 coup against Mussadiq the party did not moderate its anti-government stance. It condemned the oil agreement that Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] signed with the Western consortium in August 1954.
In November 1955 a Fedaiyan member tried unsuccessfully to kill Premier Hussein Ala. The authorities mounted an all-out assault on the party. Four top leaders, including Safavi, were executed. Following the release of party members during the shah's last days in 1978, Fedaiyan-e Islam was revived by Sadiq Khalkhali, a prominent cleric in Qom [q.v.], as a shadowy organization. The assassination of Mustafa Shafiq, a nephew of the shah, in Paris in December 1979 was widely attributed to Fedaiyan-e Islam.
feddan: area measurement used in the Arab Middle East 1 feddan = 4 donums [q.v.] = 1.038 acres.
Fertile Crescent: Crescent-shaped area between the Anatolian Mountains and the Arabian Desert The Fertile Crescent covers ancient Elam (southwestern Iran), Mesopotamia [q.v.] (Iraq), Assyria (Syria), Phoenicia (Lebanon), and Palestine [q.v.] (Israel and the Palestinian Territories [ q.v .]). Sometimes the Nile valley of Egypt is included to emphasize the crescent shape. The cradle of ancient civilization, with irrigated agriculture going back to ca 8000 B.C., it is the region that provided the base for the Greek and Roman civilizations.
fiqh: Islamic jurisprudence Fiqh includes all aspects of religious, social, and political life—covering not only ritual and religious observances, the law of inheritance, property and contracts, and criminal law, but also constitutional law, laws concerning state administration, and the conduct of war. Islamic jurisprudence became established within a century of the emergence of Islam [q.v.] in 622 A.D.
First Gulf War: See Gulf War I (1980–88 ).
Fiver Shias: See Zaidis.
Fotouh, Abdel Moneim Aboul (1951-): moderate Egyptian Islamist leader Born into a middle-class family in Cairo [q.v.], Fotouh pursued higher education at Cairo University, where he obtained degrees in medicine and law. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] after President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] had reversed his predecessor's policy in 1971 and released Brotherhood prisoners. He was elected president of the student union of Cairo University in 1975. He protested the arrests of student demonstrators on the campus by Sadat's government. After acquiring a postgraduate degree in hospital management, he practiced as a physician. He was an active member of the Doctors Association which was affiliated to the Brotherhood.
To curb the rising disaffection against his government, Sadat ordered the arrest of hundreds of Brotherhood members, including Fotouh, in September 1981. The next month Sadat was assassinated by Islamist extremists. As his successor, Hosni Mubarak [q.v.], considered Brotherhood a moderate organization he released its members. Fotouh's status in the Brotherhood rose steadily, and he was elected to its Guidance Council in 1987. With the rise of Islamist violence in the mid-1990s, Mubarak reversed his policy. In his drive to divest the Brotherhood of its control of important professional syndicates, his government imprisoned Fotouh from 1996 to 2001.
Within the Brotherhood's Guidance Council he belonged to the moderate wing. In the conservative-driven purge of the moderates in 2010 , he lost his place on the Guidance Council. After the ouster of Mubarak in February 2011, he defied the Guidance Council's decision not to enter the presidential race. He was expelled from the organization. In his election he wooed moderate Muslims and Egyptians by advocating civilian control of the military, protection of civil liberties, and enhanced public spending on health care and education. Yet he won the backing of the hard-line al-Nour Party [q.v.] in April 2012 after its candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail was disqualified by the Election Commission. Gaining 17.2 percent of the vote, he ended up in fourth place.
14 March Alliance (Lebanon): A coalition of several anti-Syria groups and individual politicians, it was named after the 14 March 2005 massive demonstration and rally in Beirut [q.v.] as the culmination of a series of demonstrations sparked by the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri [q.v.] on 14 February. The speakers demanded the withdrawal of the 14,000 Syrian troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon and an international investigation into Hariri's assassination. The leading constituents of the Alliance were the Future Movement [q.v.], the Progressive Socialist Party [q.v.], the Lebanese Forces [q.v.], and the Phalange Party [q.v.].
Syria withdrew all its forces on 27 April; a general election, monitored by the United Nations, took place in May and June. In that election, the 14 March Alliance secured 72 seats, and in the 2009 parliamentary election it won 71 seats on a popular vote of 44.5 percent, including 11 by the Progressive Socialist Party, which left the Alliance and functioned as an independent entity in parliament. Its members formed a majority in the national unity government that Prime Minister Saad Haririr [q.v.] assembled in November 2009. It collapsed in January 2012. As the pro-democracy movement gathered pace in Syria, its leaders publicly praised the antiregime demonstrators.
Franco-Lebanese Treaty (1936): This treaty—signed between France (then ruled by the leftist Popular Front government) and Lebanon in November 1936—gave Lebanon considerable autonomy. It was designed to pave the way for the end of the French Mandate.
Franco-Syrian Treaty (1936): Following negotiations between the leftist Popular Front government in France and the nationalists in Syria, the Franco-Syrian Treaty was initialed in September 1936. Paris agreed to end its mandate in three years and sponsor Syria's membership of the League of Nations in exchange for long-term military, political, and economic privileges of France. But the French parliament refused to ratify it in 1939.
Franjieh, Suleiman (1910–93): Lebanese politician; president, 1970–76 Born into the Maronite [q.v.] Franjieh clan [q.v.] at the Ihden palace, 12 mi./20 km from Zghorta, Franjieh grew up in the shadow of his elder brother, Hamid. While Hamid provided overall leadership to the clan, he supervised its organization and armed guards. After Hamid's retirement from public life in 1957, he became head of the clan and entered politics.
In the 1958 Civil War [q.v.] he sided with the pro-Nasser [q.v.] camp against the Maronite president, Camille Chamoun [q.v.]. Two years later he was elected to parliament. He served as a minister in 1960–61 and again in 1968–70. In his bid for presidency in August 1970, Franjieh received the support of Chamoun and Pierre Gemayel [q.v.]. He defeated Elias Sarkis [q.v.], though by only one vote. His adoption of an anti-Palestinian stand, advocated by right-wing Maronites, made him unpopular with the pro-Palestinian, Arab nationalist Muslims [q.v.].
When the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] erupted in April 1975, he turned to Syria, aware that only it had the power to end the conflict and introduce political reform. In early 1976, at the behest of Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.], he issued a Constitutional Reform Document, which specified changing the current agreement of six Christian seats to five Muslim seats in parliament to parity between the two communities. But the reform failed to materialize.
As the civil conflict intensified, he grew closer to the right-wing Maronites. In September 1976, at the end of his presidential tenure, he joined the Lebanese Front [q.v.], led politically by Chamoun and militarily by Bashir Gemayel [q.v.]. But when, in Gemayel's bid to eliminate any serious rival to his presidential ambitions, his henchmen assassinated Franjieh's son and heir, Tony, and his family in June 1978, he turned vehemently against the Gemayel clan and allied with the leftist, pro-Syrian camp, led by Walid Jumblat [q.v.] and Rashid Karami [q.v.].
Along with other anti-Lebanese Front leaders, he denounced the draft peace treaty between Lebanon and Israel [q.v.], initialed in May 1983. While remaining close to Assad, he rejected the "National Agreement to Solve the Lebanese Crisis," signed in December 1985 by the three pro-Syrian militia leaders, Walid Jumblat, Nabih Berri [q.v.], and Elie Hobeika. However, still hostile toward the Gemayels, he backed these commanders when their militias attacked the forces loyal to President Amin Gemayel [q.v.].
When the end of Gemayel's presidency in September 1988 resulted in the emergence of two governments, he opposed the anti-Syrian administration led by General Michel Aoun [q.v.]. A year later he backed the Taif Accord [q.v.], which followed the general line of his own Constitutional Reform Document of 1976. He supported the military moves by the pro-Syrian Lebanese forces and Syria against Aoun in October 1990, which ended the civil war. The following spring, in line with other irregulars, his militia surrendered its weapons to the Syrian army. Unlike right-wing Maronites, his party participated in the 1992 parliamentary elections and won half of the 34 seats reserved for the Maronites in a house of 128.
Freedom and Justice Party (Egypt): Soon after the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] on 11 February 2011, the Guidance Council of the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] announced its intention to form the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), open to all Egyptians irrespective of their religion. The list of its founder members included 93 Copts [q.v.]. When the party was established on 30 April, Rqfiq Habbi, a Coptic writer-academic, was nominated as one of its two vice presidents. Its chairman was Muhammad Morsi [q.v.] and its secretary-general Saad el Katatny. They were both former members of the Brotherhood's Guidance Council; and so was Essam el Erian, the other vice president.
While commentators often described the FJP as the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, the website of the Brotherhood maintained that the FJP was distinct from the Brotherhood. Nonetheless, the two entities assisted each other actively during the parliamentary elections from November 2011 to January 2012. The FPJ's manifesto stated that the party was based on the Sharia [q.v.], and argued that the concepts of freedom, social justice, and equality were embedded in the Sharia. It favored market economy while ensuring that it did not lead to monopoly. It accepted the fact that tourism was an important contributor to the GDP. It promised to respect international treaties as long as they achieved their objective of benefiting both sides while noting that the parliament had the right to revise any treaty that failed to do so.
In the election for the 508-member People's Assembly in November 2011 to January 2012, the FJP-led Democratic Alliance won 235 seats on a popular vote of 37.5 percent popular, with the FJP, led by el Katatny, gaining 213 seats. In the elections for the Consultative Council conducted in January-February 2012, of the 180 elected seats the FJP-led Democratic Alliance garnered 105.
Freedom Movement of Iran: See Liberation Movement of Iran.
Front for Steadfastness and Resistance: See Steadfastness Front.
G
Gahal (Hebrew: acronym of Gush Herut Liberalim, Herut-Liberals bloc): Israeli political party Gahal was formed in 1965 by the merger of Herut [q.v.] and Liberalim (Liberals) [ q.v .], under the leadership of Menachem Begin [q.v.]. The prospect of winning power in the November 1965 general election, following the defection of David Ben-Gurion [q.v.] from Mapai [q.v.], encouraged Herut and Liberal leaders to paper over their differences on equal rights for women and relations between state and religion. By winning 26 seats, Gahal became the second-largest bloc in the new Knesset [q.v.]. An invitation to join the national unity government on the eve of the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] made it and Begin politically respectable. In the October 1969 election it retained its 26 seats and joined the national unity cabinet that followed. Rejecting the Rogers cease-fire plan [q.v.], prepared by Washington and accepted by all other parties in the cabinet, Gahal left the government in July 1970. On the eve of the December 1973 election, Gahal allied with three small right-wing groups to form Likud [q.v.].
Gailani, Rashid Ali (1892–1965): Iraqi politician; prime minister, 1933, 1940–41 Born into an eminent Sunni [q.v.] family in Baghdad [q.v.], Gailani obtained a degree from the Baghdad Law School and set up legal practice. After a brief stint as a judge, he entered politics. He served as minister of justice in 1924, then as minister of the interior from 1925 to 1928. A nationalist, he opposed the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930 [q.v.]. He became prime minister briefly in 1933. Two years later he was appointed interior minister, and in late 1938 he became chief of the cabinet secretariat.
During World War II, when politicians and military officers split into pro- and anti-British factions, he headed the anti-British, nationalist camp. He became prime minister in March 1940. Three months later, when Italy declared war against Britain and its allies, he refused to cut links with Italy. He also refused to abide by Article 4 of the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty, which gave landing and transit rights to Britain in the event of war. He withstood British pressure until January 1941, when he stepped down. But his pro-British successor, Taha Hashemi, faced counterpressure from military officers and public opinion. Hashemi's resignation from office in early April 1941 led to Gailani's reassuming the premiership—and to the flight of the pro-British regent Abdul Ilah, Nuri al-Said [q.v.], and the child-king Faisal II [q.v.]. Britain landed troops in Basra [q.v.]. In his combat with the British military in May, he lost, and fled to Germany.
After the war he spent many years in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Syria. He returned to Baghdad after the July 1958 coup against King Faisal II. A pan-Arab nationalist, he did not find favor with Abdul Karim Qasim [q.v.], who was averse to a merger with another Arab country. After Gailani's failed coup attempt in conjunction with the United Arab Republic [q.v.] in December 1958, he was sentenced to death. But Qasim commuted his sentence and freed him in October 1961. He then stayed away from politics.
al-Gamaat al-Islamiya (Egypt) (Arabic: The Islamic Groups): Egyptian Islamist movement After carrying out a coup against the leftist Ali Sabri [q.v.] and his followers in the ruling Arab Socialist Union [q.v.] in May 1971, President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] instructed General Abdul Moneim Amin, sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.], to establish, train, and arm 1,000 Islamic Groups—al-Gamaat al-Islamiya—in universities and factories to fight "atheist Marxism." The program was so successful that the al-Gamaat acquired an independent existence. al-Gamaat activities accentuated the historical animosity between Muslims [q.v.] and Copts [q.v.], and led to attacks on Copts and their churches. When the government tried to discourage this, al-Gamaat members demonstrated, calling on Sadat to intensify the struggle against Israel.
The October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], hailed as a victory for Egypt by the authorities, produced a lull in al-Gamaat's activities. But the postwar economic crisis and Egypt's step-by-step rapprochement with Israel helped Islamic fundamentalists [q.v.] to widen their base. In the spring 1978 election of university student union officials, al-Gamaat won 60 percent of the posts. The impending signing of an Egyptian-Israel peace treaty [q.v.] in March 1979 so angered al-Gamaat students that they mounted protest demonstrations at Alexandria and Asyut universities—a daring step, since it made them liable to life imprisonment. Their slogans were: "No peace with Israel," "No privilege for the rich," and "No separation between Islam and state." They cheered the victory of the Islamic revolution [q.v.] in Iran and condemned the hospitality that Sadat accorded to the deposed Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] in Egypt. Sadat set up new disciplinary councils for university students and arrested hundreds of Islamists in September 1981. His assassination the next month was applauded by al-Gamaat.
There was lull in its activities during the early phase of the presidency of Hosni Mubarak [q.v.]. But as he upheld the substance of Sadat's policy of maintaining a secular state, the gap between al-Gamaat and the regime widened. The group's first manifesto, The Program for Islamic Action, issued in 1984, had a much wider focus than the one specified in that of Al-Jihad al-Islami [q.v.] with its almost exclusive stress on violent action. al-Gamaat activists, operating at the grass-roots level, continued their social welfare work—religious education and health clinics—through local mosques under the general guidance of Shaikh Muhammad Abu Nasr, an 80-year-old cleric. In the early 1990s, as the authorities began to repress Islamists, al-Gamaat, bolstered by the return of its militants from Afghanistan where they had operated as guerrillas, escalated its anti-regime campaign.
It adopted the strategy of waging an armed struggle against the secular regime, aiming to raise the religious consciousness of the masses as a prelude to a popular insurrection.
To hurt the economy, starting in October 1992, its activists began attacking foreign tourists. Over the next two years they killed some 450 policemen and tourists. By then there were an estimated 29,000 Islamist political detainees, two-thirds of them al-Gamaat members. In June 1995 their attempt to assassinate President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] during his visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, failed. Five months later, their truck bombing of the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, led to 16 deaths. In April 1996, their operatives killed 17 Greek tourists in Cairo [q.v.], mistaking them for Israelis. This led to an intensified government crackdown. Yet al-Gamaat extremists managed to massacre 72 foreign tourists and Egyptians at an ancient site in Luxor.
Among those who guided al-Gamaat from abroad were Muhammad Shawki Islamboulii, brother of Khalid, one of the assassins of President Sadat, and Talat Fuad Qasim, both based in Afghanistan.
In early 1999, al-Gamaat leaders declared a unilateral cease-fire, which was endorsed by Shaikh Abdul Rahman Omar [q.v.], serving a life sentence in an American jail. The government released over 5,000 al-Gamaat members out of an estimated total of 20,000. By tightening its control of mosques and preachers, it reduced the potential for recruits for al-Gamaat. It also frustrated the organization's attempt to transform itself into a recognized political party.
Following the renunciation of violence by its jailed leaders in 2003, the government released more than 1,000 al-Gamaat members. In 2006, a further 1,200 members were freed. The authorities allowed al-Gamaat to function as a semi-clandestine organization engaged in charitable activities centered on mosques in poor areas.
The statement by Ayman al-Zawahiri [q.v.], deputy leader of al-Qaida [q.v.], in August 2006 that a faction of al-Gamaat had allied with al-Qaida applied to a tiny fraction of the organization.
After the ouster of Mubarak in February 2011, the organization's leaders in Egypt decided to form a political wing called the Construction and Development Party (Arabic: Hizb al-Benaa wa al-Tanmia), led by Nasr Abdul Salam. It stood for representative democracy with institutions guided by the principles of the Sharia [q.v.], and a free market economy. Once it was accepted as a legal entity by the Supreme Administrative Court in October, it joined the Islamist Bloc [q.v.] headed by al-Nour [q.v.] party to run in the general election to the People's Assembly. It won 13 seats.
al-Gamaat al-Muslimin (Egypt): See al-Takfir wal Hijra (Egypt).
gas: See natural gas.
Gas Exporting Countries Forum: Qatar helped establish the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) whose founding meeting took place in Tehran [q.v.] in 2001. By the end of the decade its membership had stabilized at 11: Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Kazakhstan and Norway were observers. At different times the following countries attended its annual ministerial meetings: Angola, Azerbaijan, Brunei, Indonesia, Iraq, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
Altogether, GECF members possess 70 percent of the world's gas reserves—with Russia, Iran, and Qatar jointly owning 56 percent—and produce more than 40 percent of the global output.
Initially the GECF's main function was to exchange information among its members. It was only in 2008 that it adopted a charter at its meeting in Moscow. It aimed to establish ongoing dialogue among its members, between producers and consumers, and between governments and energy-related industries, while promoting a stable energy market. It decided to establish its secretariat in the Qatari capital of Doha [q.v.].
The next year it elected Qatar's energy minister and deputy Prime Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah its chairman and Leonid Bokhanovsky its secretary general.
Since gas facilities are far more expensive that those for oil, gas supply contracts involve many billions of dollars, and tie up governments and large corporations for decades. The cheapest way to transport gas is by an overland pipeline. But when the distance between the source and the destination is very long, it is best transported as liquefied natural gas (LNG), which occupies a small fraction of its volume in the vaporous form. But handling super-cool LNG is expensive, due to the heavy initial outlay. LNG, pumped into super-heavy, sealed containers on specially designed ships, is discharged into specially constructed storage tanks at the destination terminal, to be pumped through special pipes to regasification units to be warmed gradually to its natural vaporous form. So the LNG trade requires special containers, ships, terminals, and pipelines.
GECF members account for nearly 40 percent of the natural gas pipeline trade and 85 percent of LNG output, which is less than 10 percent of the overall global gas demand.
The GECF ministerial meeting in December 2010 in Doha stated that there had to be a balance between spot prices of gas and long-term contract prices linked to oil prices, and that the only adequate price-setting formula for gas was one that took into account prices for diesel and fuel oil.
Gaza City: capital of the Gaza Strip Population: 538,000 (2011 est.) The recorded history of Gaza stretches back to the 15th century B.C. A thriving trading post, it is the reputed site of the temple to Dagon, which was razed by Samson. To punish its residents for their spirited resistance, Alexander of Macedonia (r. 336–23 B.C.) condemned them to slavery. Gaza fell to Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] in 635 A.D., and because it is the burial site of Prophet Muhammad's great grandfather, Hashem bin Abdul Manaf, it has acquired religious significance. It changed hands during the Crusades, and in 1517 passed into the control of the Ottoman Turks, who held it until 1917. It was part of the Palestine that came under British Mandate five years later. After the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.] it became the capital of the Gaza Strip [q.v.].
In 1994 the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] made Gaza its base. This continued until 2001 when Yasser Arafat [q.v.], president of the Palestinian Authority [q.v.], moved his headquarters to the West Bank [q.v.] town of Ramallah [q.v.], north of Jerusalem [q.v.].
During the first decade of the 21st century the city became a bastion of Hamas [q.v.], an Islamist organization. When Hamas expelled its rival Fatah [q.v.] from the Gaza Strip [q.v.] in June 2007, the city along with the rest of the territory was put under siege by Israel as well as Egypt.
In the course of the Gaza War [q.v.] in December 2008-January 2009, the city became the principal target of Israel's artillery shelling and air strikes, which caused widespread destruction of property and infrastructure as well as loss of life and limb.
A majority of its present population consists of refugees. At nearly 10,000 persons per square kilometer/26,500 per square mile, it is one of densest settlements on the planet. As a result of the economic blockade by Israel and Egypt, almost 70 percent of the city's residents lived below poverty line. The situation improved somewhat when Egypt lifted the blockade after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] in 2011.
Gaza Strip: Palestinian territory Also known as Gaza. Area 146 sq. mi./378 sq. km; population 1.59 million (2011 est.), with most inhabitants being refugees from the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.] or their descendants.
In the Palestine War, the Arab armies managed to retain only a semidesert strip along the Mediterranean coast, later called the Gaza Strip, and an enclave on the west bank of the Jordan River [q.v.], later named the West Bank [q.v.]. From January 1949 onward the Gaza Strip was administered by Egypt. It passed into the hands of the invading Israelis during the Suez War (October-November 1956) [ q.v .]. Israel vacated it in March 1957.
In the June 1967 Arab-Israel War [q.v.] the Gaza Strip was once again captured by Israel. An official census put its population at 380,800. On 1 December 1981 it was put under civilian administrators, albeit working under a military command. On the eve of the signing of the Oslo Accord [q.v.] in September 1993, one-third of the Strip was taken up by 16 Jewish settlements (4,500 settlers) and the out-of-bounds military zones. As a result of the Israel-Palestine Liberation Organization agreement of May 1994 this area was further expanded due to the creation of buffer zones. Hence only about 60 percent of the Strip came under the administration of the Palestinian Authority [q.v.]. This continued until September 2005, when the Jewish settlers and Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from the Strip, while maintaining control over its airspace and shoreline.
Following its electoral victory in the January 2006 parliamentary election, Hamas [q.v.] formed the Palestinian government. It was not recognized by Israel or by the United States or the European Union, which considered Hamas a terrorist organization. Tensions between the ruling Hamas and opposition Fatah [q.v.] escalated. But Saudi Arabia's mediation led to the formation of a national unity government in March 2007. It proved shortlived. In the renewed violence that erupted, Hamas expelled Fatah from Gaza in June. President Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.] declared a state of emergency, appointed a new cabinet excluding Hamas, and ordered the arrest of many Hamas leaders in the West Bank.
The boycott of the Hamas government by Israel and the West continued. And so too did the firing of locally produced short-range Qassam rockets by Hamas and other Islamist organizations at Israel. Between September 2005 and January 2008, nearly 700 rockets and more than 820 mortar bombs were fired at Israeli towns. Following the takeover of Gaza by Hamas, Egypt closed its border with the Strip. During a brief breach in the border barrier between Gaza and Egypt in January 2008, hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents crossed into Egypt in search of food and fuel. This continued only for a fortnight.
On the political front, Abbas insisted on Hamas returning the control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority based in Ramallah [q.v.] as a precondition for resuming talks on forming a coalition government.
The need for survival led many Gaza residents to start smuggling goods from Egypt through hundreds of tunnels. In 2010 there were 800 to 1,000 tunnels with an average depth of 1,800ft./550 m. The Hamas government imposed law and order in the Strip by disarming militias and criminal gangs, and establishing control over supply tunnels. It suppressed even peaceful activities by Fatah supporters.
In March 2008, Israel's air strikes and ground incursions caused more than 100 deaths and wide scale damage to the Jabalia refugee camp.
During the Gaza War [q.v.] in December 2008-January 2009 the Strip suffered heavy damage to its infrastructure, factories, and housing. Nearly 21,000 houses, 280 schools, and 16 hospitals were partly or completely destroyed. Of the 1,420 Palestinians killed, 446 were children. More than half of Gazans left home for a safer place.
Due to the economic stranglehold on the Strip, backed by the U.S. and the European Union, 70 percent of Gazans lived on less than $1 a day. The situation improved somewhat when Egypt opened its Rafah border crossing to pedestrians after the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] in February 2011. The unemployment rate declined to 31 percent.
Gaza War (2008–09): War between Israel and Hamas-controlled Gaza.
BACKGROUND: Following the electoral victory of Hamas [q.v.] in the Palestinian Territories [q.v.] in January, there was escalation in the long-running strife between Hamas and other Islamist organizations, who fired homemade rockets and mortars at Israel, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), who responded with artillery fire, air strikes, and ground incursions. A massive IDF reprisal in March led to the deaths of over 100 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers. In the early hours of 25 June 2006, Palestinian militants infiltrated into Israel through an underground tunnel and attacked an Israeli army post, killing two soldiers and capturing one, Corporal Gilad Shalit. His captors demanded the freeing of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for his release. This was refused.
Relations between Israel and Hamas deteriorated after the armed seizure of the Gaza Strip by Hamas [q.v.] in June 2007. Israel controlled the inflow and outflow of goods and services, including water and power, into and from Gaza. Some of the supply tunnels were used for smuggling small arms. On 11 November 2007, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [q.v.] warned of an impending confrontation between Israel and Hamas. During 2005–07, Hamas and others fired 2,700 homemade rockets and mortars into Israel, and killed four Israelis. In return Israel fired over 14,600 artillery shells into Gaza, killing 59 Palestinians. A cease-fire went into effect on 18 June 2008.
Between 18 June and 4 November rockets fired at Israel decreased by 98 percent compared to the four-and-a-half-month period before the ceasefire. On 18 December Hamas declared an end to the six-month-long cease-fire. On 23 December 2008 the IDF killed three Palestinians, claiming that they were planting explosives along the Gaza-Israeli border. The next day the military wing of Hamas resumed rocket and mortar shell firings. On 25 December Olmert warned of a broad offensive.
OPPOSING FORCES: Israeli Defense Forces; the military wing of Hamas called Izz al-Din Qassam Brigade
EVENTS: On 27 December 2008 the IDF mounted its Operation Cast Lead. Its air force bombed military and police facilities and public buildings, in the process also damaging or destroying civilian structures. Hamas and other Islamist organizations kept up their rocket and mortar attacks throughout the hostilities, targeting among others Beersheba in the Negev and the port of Ashdod with Grad rockets with 40-km/25-mile range.
On 3 January 2009, the IDF mounted a land invasion of the Gaza Strip. This continued for 15 days. The air and ground attacks by warplanes, tanks, and bulldozers combined with phosphorus shelling covered 22.3 sq. kilometers/8.57 sq. mi.. Unsure of the reaction of the incoming U.S. President Barack Obama—to be inaugurated on 21 January—to its ongoing onslaught on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli government announced a unilateral cease-fire on 18 January. Hamas declared a truce for a week. The IDF withdrew from Gaza on 21 January.
HUMAN LOSSES: Palestinians, 1,166 to 1,420; Israelis, 13.
PROPERTY LOSSES: According to the UN Development Program, 68 public buildings, 38 offices of nongovernmental organizations, and 14,000 homes were destroyed or damaged. Other losses included 600 to 700 manufacturing plants, small factories, workshops, and businesses, as well as two dozen mosques. In addition, 50 UN facilities were hit. Nearly half of the 122 public health facilities were damaged or destroyed. The damage to 10 water or sewage lines left over 400,000 Palestinians without running water; 187 greenhouses covering 28 hectares were destroyed or badly damaged. Gaza's total loss of assets was put at $2 billion.
UNITED NATIONS INVESTIGATION: The report by a UN committee chaired by South African judge Richard Goldstone, published in September 2009, accused the IDF and the Islamist organizations of committing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. The next month the UN Human Rights Council endorsed the Goldstone report by 25 votes to six, with 16 abstentions, and reprimanded Israel.
As a result, Israel's experts on international law advised cabinet ministers with security background and senior IDF officers not to visit Britain, Spain, Belgium, or Norway because they risked arrest in these countries on charges of alleged war crimes on the basis of universal jurisdiction, which entitles a state to claim jurisdiction against a person who committed alleged crimes outside its boundaries.
Gemara (Aramaic: completion): Gemara is a commentary on and a supplement to Mishna [q.v.], the text of the Jewish Oral Law. See also Talmud.
Gemayel, Amin (1942-): Lebanese politician; president, 1982—88 Born in Beirut [q.v.] of a notable Maronite [q.v.] family, Gemayel obtained a degree in law from St. Joseph University. He started his professional life as a lawyer but soon branched out into business. He entered parliament in 1970 in a by-election, and retained his seat two years later in a general election. Unlike his younger brother, Bashir [q.v.], Gemaye was not active in the Phalange Party's [q.v.] militia and was not directly involved in the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], which broke out in 1975. Once the Syrians had intervened in the conflict in 1976 on the side of the Maronites [q.v.], he established contact with them. He was catapulted into the presidency when Bashir was assassinated soon after being elected president in September 1982. Backed by Syria, he received the votes of all but one of the 78 parliamentarians in attendance.
He initially won much support abroad and at home. In May 1983, under Washington's pressure, he initialed a peace treaty with Israel, then occupying much of Lebanon. But in order to get Israel to vacate Lebanese soil he refused to sign the document, even after parliament had passed it by 64 votes to two. In retaliation Israel withdrew its protection of his regime.
When Israel carried out only partial withdrawal in September 1983, fighting between different communities erupted and engulfed Muslim West Beirut, further reducing the power of Gemayel's government. In February 1984 his attempt to cow the Shia [q.v.] residents of West Beirut by deploying the army against them backfired, resulting in the breakup of the Lebanese army along religious lines. Finding himself with no outside protection—Israeli or Western—he decided to bury the Lebanese-Israeli Treaty [q.v.] and seek aid from Syria.
Following the Second National Reconciliation Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, in March 1984, he appointed a national reconciliation government under Rashid Karami [q.v.] to implement political and constitutional reform. But after the death of his influential father, Pierre [q.v.], in August, his position in the Phalange Party weakened. The internecine fighting within the party damaged the standing of Gemayel, who was also attacked by pro-Syrian militia leaders such as Nabih Berri [q.v.] and Walid Jumblat [q.v.]. In return he opposed the "National Agreement to Solve the Lebanese Crisis," brokered by Syria and signed by Berri, Jumblat, and Eli Hobeika of the Lebanese Forces [ q.v .].
Among other things this pact specified parliamentary parity between Muslims [q.v.] and Christians [q.v.] instead of the current 6:5 division in favor of Christians. This alienated Gemayel from Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.]. The latter tried to undermine his authority by aiding the militias of Berri and Jumblat as well as Suleiman Franjieh [q.v.], a Maronite rival of Gemayel. By staying away from the parliamentary session to elect a new president, rightist Maronite deputies deprived it of a quorum, thus defeating Assad's plan to have his nominee elected as president. In September 1988, on his last day of office, Gemayel appointed his chief of staff, General Michel Aoun [q.v.], as his successor. A month later he went into exile in France, where he reverted to being a businessman. He returned to Lebanon in 2000.
On the eve of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in March 2003, he tried to forestall the war by carrying a message from the George W. Bush administration to Iraqi president Saddam Hussein [q.v.] to go into exile, but failed. In the August 2007 by-election in Lebanon, he failed to win a parliamentary seat.
Gemayel, Bashir (1947–82): Lebanese politician; president-elect, 1982 Born into a notable Maronite [q.v.] family in Beirut [q.v.], Gemayel started his law and political science studies at St. Joseph University but did not finish them. Active in the Phalange Party [q.v.], he opposed the presence of Palestinian guerrillas in Lebanon. In the early 1970s he worked for a law firm in Washington, D.C., where he was recruited by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
At the start of the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], beginning in April 1975, he became commander of the Lebanese Forces [q.v.], the military wing of the Lebanese Front [q.v.], a coalition of right-wing Maronite parties. He formalized his long-existing secret ties with Israel. Intent on becoming the next Lebanese president, he started to eliminate serious rivals, culminating in the assassination by his henchmen of Tony Franjieh, the eldest son of Suleiman Franjieh [q.v.], in June 1978. He then overpowered the militia of Camille Chamoun's [q.v.] party.
In December 1980, at his initiative, Lebanese Front leaders issued a manifesto that favored a federal or confederal system within a unified Lebanon. Gemayel tightened his links with Israel, which provided arms and training to his militia. During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982 [q.v.], his forces linked up with the Israelis on the outskirts of Beirut. The expulsion of the PLO and the Syrians from Beirut by the Israelis strengthened the Phalange and improved Gemayel's chances of achieving the highest office. On 23 August 1982 he was elected president, with 57 of the 65 parliamentarians voting for him. In his secret meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin, [q.v.], on 1 September he agreed to exchange representatives with Israel. On 14 September 1982, eight days before he was to be installed in office, a bomb explosion at the Phalange headquarters in Beirut killed him and 26 others.
Gemayel, Pierre (1905–84): Lebanese politician Born into a notable Maronite [q.v.] clan in Bikfaya, Gemayel received his university education in Beirut [q.v.] and Paris, and trained as a pharmacist. Interested in sports clubs, he was deeply impressed by the Nazi Youth Movement in Germany and by the Berlin Olympics in the summer of 1936. Later that year he founded the Phalange Party [q.v.]. He played little or no role in the anti-French nationalist movement and the crisis of 1943. It was only after Camille Chamoun [q.v.] had become president nearly a decade later that Gemayel came to the fore. In the Lebanese Civil War of May-July 1958 [q.v.] he sided with Chamoun against the pan-Arabist [q.v.] forces.
Following the election of Fuad Chehab [q.v.] in September 1958, he was appointed to the four-member interim cabinet. After his election to parliament in 1960 he became an almost constant fixture in the governments formed during the presidency of Chehab and Charles Helou (196470) [q.v.], serving variously as minister of finance, public works, and health. In the 1968 general election he allied with Chamoun and Raymond Edde to form the Triple Alliance, which described the activities of the Palestinian commandos in Lebanon as a serious threat to national security. In the 1970 presidential election he backed Suleiman Franjieh [q.v.].
With the onset of civil war in 1975 [q.v.], the importance of the Phalange militia increased, and with it the weight carried by his youngest son, Bashir [q.v.], the militia commander. After the Maronite camp had overcome the immediate threat from its enemy, the Lebanese National Movement [q.v.], with Syrian assistance in 1976–77, it turned to its long-standing though clandestine ally, Israel. In May 1978 Gemayel visited Israel and signed an arms and training agreement.
Two years later, when Bashir Gemayal used his fighters to overpower the militia of Chamoun, the two patriarchs decided to resolve the crisis by merging their political parties. In December they endorsed the Lebanese Front [q.v.] manifesto, which favored a federal or confederal system within a unified Lebanon. At the March 1984 National Reconciliation Conference in Lausanne, Gemayel allied with Chamoun in proposing to create a federal system composed of several cantons, but failed to win the backing of the assembly. The next month he joined the National Reconciliation government headed by Rashid Karami [q.v.]. In July he stepped down as chairman of the Phalange Party, and the following month he died.
General People's Congress (Yemen): Yemeni political party After surviving a few coup attempts by military officers since assuming power in October 1977, President Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.], a lieutenant general, decided to consolidate his authority through political means. In October 1981 he set up a 1,000-member General People's Congress (GPC), partly by appointment and partly by indirect elections. Its program included the unification of North Yemen and South Yemen. The GPC backed Saleh's reelection as president in 1983 and 1988. It also endorsed his decision to take North Yemen into the Arab Cooperation Council [q.v.] in early 1989.
On the eve of the unification of North and South Yemen in May 1990 the GPC was transformed into a licensed political party. Its program included multiparty democracy at home and friendly relations with neighbors and Islamic countries. It backed Yemen's official stance of neutrality in the 1990–91 Kuwait crisis and the subsequent Gulf War [q.v.]. In the multiparty general election in Yemen in April 1993, the GPC won 123 seats in a house of 301 members, and led the coalition government formed with the Yemeni Socialist Party [q.v.] and the Yemeni Islah Group [q.v. ]. It backed President Saleh during the Yemeni Civil War [q.v.], which erupted in the spring of 1994. In the 1997 general election, it secured 187 seats, and 25 of the 29 cabinet posts. In the 2003 parliamentary election, its share rose to 238 seats on a popular vote of 58 percent.
During the pro-democracy protest in 2011, GPC leaders organized pro-Saleh demonstrations. Once Saleh had agreed to step down in an orderly fashion, they backed the candidacy of Vice President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi as president [q.v.]. He was elected to that office in February 2012 .
General Zionists: Zionist political party in Palestine The term General Zionists (Hebrew: Zionim Klaliyim) was first used at the Zionist Congress of 1907 to describe delegates attached to neither Labor Zionism [q.v.] nor religious Zionism. In Palestine [q.v.] the General Zionist party came into being in 1930. Since it had by then come to represent the capitalist strand within Zionism, it drew the support of businessmen, industrialists, planters, and traders.
Four years later the party split into a liberal "A" faction (sympathetic to Labor) and a conservative "B" faction (sympathetic to capital). These factions came together in 1944, but their unity proved short-lived. Soon after the founding of Israel in 1948, the liberal "A" faction left to combine with the German-dominated Aliya Hadasha (Hebrew: New Immigrants) to form the Progressive Party [q.v.]. During the 1950s the General Zionists saw their parliamentary strength fall from 20 to eight. Fear of further decline persuaded its leaders to seek a merger with the Progressives on the eve of the 1961 election and form the Liberal Party [ q.v .].
Geneva Conventions on War (1949): International treaties signed in Geneva The last of the four Conventions— developed by an International Red Cross conference in Stockholm in August 1948 and ratified by UN members in Geneva on 12 August 1949—entitled "Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War"—applies to Israel and the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.], including Jerusalem [q.v.], according to several UN Security Council resolutions, including 465 (March 1980). It forbids the Occupying Power doing the following to the Protected Civilians: collective punishment and reprisals; deportation of individuals or groups; hostage-taking; torture; unjustified destruction of property; and discrimination in treatment on the grounds of race, religion, national origin, or political affiliation. Article 47 states: "Protected persons ... shall not be deprived of ... the benefits of this Convention by any changes introduced, as the result of the occupation of a territory, into the institutions or government of the said territory, nor by any agreement concluded between the authorities of the occupied territories and the Occupying Power, nor by the annexation of the whole or part of the occupied territory." Article 49 ( 6 ) states: "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies."
Ghashmi, Ahmad Hussein (1938–78): North Yemeni military officer and politician; president 1977—78 Born in Hamada into a clan of the Hashid tribal confederation, Ghashmi was trained as an officer at the Baghdad Military Academy. During North Yemen's Civil War (1962–70) [q.v.] he liaised between the republican regime in Sanaa [q.v.] and the northern tribal confederations of Hashid and Bakil. His relations with the Hashid chief, Abdullah al-Ahmar [q.v.], were tense. After a coup by Colonel Ibrahim Hamdi [q.v.] in June 1974, Lieutenant Colonel Ghashmi was appointed deputy chief of staff and a member of the ruling Military Command Council (MCC).
A conservative, Ghashmi was considered pro-Saudi Arabia. After the assassination of Hamdi in October 1977 he became commander-in-chief and chairman of the three-man MCC. He revived the Constituent People's Assembly (CPA), disbanded earlier by Hamdi, and tried to mend fences with al-Ahmar. His government repressed the nationalist-leftist forces. Guided by Saudi Arabia, he purged the military and civil services of pro-Hamdi personnel. In March 1978 he dissolved the MCC, thus neutralizing the power of the para-troop commander, Major Abdullah Abdul Alim, an erstwhile MCC member and a Hamdi loyalist. In April the CPA replaced the MCC with a presidential council, and elected Ghashmi president. He was assassinated in June by the blast of a bomb hidden in a briefcase carried by an emissary of South Yemeni President Salim Rubai Ali [q.v.] during their meeting to discuss unifying North and South Yemen.
Ghazi bin Faisal I al-Hashem (1912–39): King of Iraq, 1932–39 The only son of Faisal I bin Hussein al-Hashem [q.v.], Ghazi was born in Hijaz [q.v.] under the Ottoman rule. Following the installation of his father as king of Iraq in 1921, he became heir apparent. Educated partly in Baghdad [q.v.] and partly in Britain, Ghazi succeeded his father in 1933. During his rule factions emerged among military officers. In October 1936 Ghazi encouraged Commander-in-chief Bakr Sidqi to overthrow the unpopular civilian government of Yasin al-Hashemi. His nationalist, anti-British views won him popularity. He died as a result of an alleged car crash.
Ghom: See Qom.
Gibran, Kahlil (1883–1931): Lebanese writer Born into a Maronite [q.v.] family in the village of Bishari, Gibran received his schooling in Beirut [ q.v .] until the age of 12, when he left with his parents for Boston, Massachusetts. Three years later he traveled to Beirut [q.v.] to study Arabic [q.v.] and French at the Maronite al-Hikma Institute. After his return to Boston, he took to writing and painting. He published his literary essays in 1903 in al-Muhajir (Arabic: The Migrant), a newspaper of expatriate Arabs. The next year, at an exhibition of his drawings, he met Mary Haskel, who became his lifelong benefactor. She sent him to Paris in 1908 to study art.
Soon after his return to Boston in 1910, Gibran formed the Golden Chain, a political group committed to bringing about sociopolitical reform in Lebanon. In 1912 he settled in New York City, where he continued to produce essays, poems, short stories, and paintings.
His collections of short stories—Nymphs of the Valley (1906) and Rebellious Spirits (1908)—all set in Lebanon, showed his romantic bent, belief in the inherent goodness of humans, admiration for pastoral surroundings, and distrust of the institutions and bonds of civilized society. He expressed these ideas forcefully in his collection of essays, A Tear and a Smile (1914). He was influenced by the Bible [q.v.], Jean Rousseau, William Blake, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Though religious, he was anticlerical and opposed to the Maronite church hierarchy. He continued writing in Arabic until 1918, when he began to use English as well.
His lyrical style, supported by analogies and biblical metaphors, suited his romantic thoughts, the end result being musically poetic Arabic prose that was unique. His first book in English was The Madman (1918), which expressed optimistic pantheism, followed by Twenty Drawings (1919) and The Forerunner (1920). In his novel Broken Wings (1922), he attacked feudal lords and clerics in Lebanon who stood between the young hero and his rich beloved, a reflection of his personal experience.
In 1920 he became a cofounder of the Pen Association, a literary club, and provided its members, many of them talented poets, with encouragement, inspiration, and intellectual leadership. He published his volume of Arabic poems, The Processions, in 1923. But far more important was his volume in English, The Prophet (1923), in which he discussed relations between man and man in a mystical fashion, an approach that won him critical acclaim and riches. The book became a classic and kept selling long after he was dead. His next two volumes in English, Sand and Foam (1926) and Jesus, the Son of Man (1928), were also well received. He published The Earth Gods just before he died, and The Wanderer and The Garden of the Prophet appeared posthumously.
Glubb (Pasha), Sir John Bagot (1897–1986): British military officer in the Middle East Born in Preston, Britain, Glubb was educated at Cheltenham College and the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, London. During World War I he was wounded in combat and was awarded the Military Cross. After the war he was sent to Iraq.
He left the British army in 1926 to serve the Iraqi government as an administrative inspector. In 1930 he joined Transjordan's Arab Legion, an internal security force. He became the Legion's second-in-command, rising to commander in 1938 and attaining the rank of lieutenant general.
Led by Glubb, the Arab Legion assisted Britain and its allies in 1941 in their attacks on the government of Rashid Ali Gailani [q.v.] in Iraq and on the troops of the pro-Nazi, French Vichy regime in Syria-Lebanon.
After the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.]—when the Arab Legion failed to capture West Jerusalem [q.v.]— Glubb, a symbol of British hegemony in the region, became a hate figure among Arab nationalists. When Britain pressured King Hussein bin Talal al-Hashem [q.v.] to join the Baghdad Pact [q.v.] (in order to regain the privilege of securing military bases in times of war), the tide of nationalism rose and Glubb became the target.
To offset the rising popular charge that he was a puppet of London, King Hussein dismissed Glubb in March 1956. He retired to Britain, where he lectured and wrote books mainly about Arab countries and peoples.
Golan Heights: Syrian region Also known as the Golan Plateau. Area 454 sq. mi./1176 sq. km; population in the Syrian sector: 79,000 (2010 est.), population in the Israeli-occupied zone: approximately 19,100 Jews (2010 est.), and 23,500 Syrians, mostly Druze [q.v.] (2010 est.). Part of Syria since World War I, the western border of the Golan Heights, overlooking the Hula Valley and Lake Tiberias/Sea of Galilee, was fortified after the founding of Israel in 1948.
It became a source of sniper and artillery attacks on Israelis in the region. After defeating Jordan in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], Israel attacked the Golan Heights on 9 June and captured its capital, Qunaitra, the next day. A cease-fire went into effect later that day. The fighting and subsequent Israeli actions reduced the Syrian population of 250,000 to about 8,000, mainly Druze. Israel declared that it would keep the Golan Heights.
In 1969 Syria gave Palestinian commandos greater freedom of action in the area. Because the U.S. peace plan presented to the warring parties by secretary of state William Rogers in June 1970 made no mention of Israel evacuating the Heights, Syria rejected it. In the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], the Syrian offensive, launched on 6 October, limited itself to recovering the Golan Heights. Its initial gain was reversed when Israel mounted a successful counteroffensive.
After Syria had signed the Syrian-Soviet Friendship Treaty [q.v.] in October 1980, its spokesman said that any attempt by Israel to annex the occupied Golan Heights would lead Syria to take "any step or measure to secure our rights." But when, on 14 December 1981, the Israeli government extended its laws to the Golan Heights and received parliamentary backing in the form of the Golan Heights Law, Syria merely denounced the Israeli action and put its case before the UN Security Council, which declared the law "null and void."
Israel continued its policy of establishing Jewish settlements, which numbered 34 in 2009 and housed about 18,000 Jews. As for Syria, before joining the Middle East peace process initiated by the United States after the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], it ensured that Israeli evacuation of the Golan Heights would be the principal subject of discussion in the subsequent bilateral talks.
In mid-1994 the two sides entered into substantive negotiations linking Israel's evacuation of the Golan Heights with normalization of mutual relations. Israel unilaterally broke off these talks in the spring of 1996. These resumed in 1999 after the election of Ehud Barak [q.v.] as Israel's prime minister. But they failed in March 2000 when Barak insisted on keeping a strip of the Golan along Lake Tiberias, which Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] refused.
Later, indirect negotiations between Israel and Syria resumed in May 2008 through Turkish intermediaries, once Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [q.v.] had informed Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he was prepared to hand back all of the Golan Heights. These talks were suspended when Olmert resigned in March 2009 over a corruption inquiry. His successor, Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.], decided to take a tougher line over the issue, and in June Syrian President Bashar Assad [q.v.] said that there was no negotiating partner on the Israeli side.
Golpaygani, Muhammad Reza Musavi (1899–1993): Iranian leader Born in Golpaygan of a religious Shia [q.v.] family, Golpaygani lost his parents when young and was raised by his sisters. When he was 16 he went to Arak to be a pupil of Ayatollah Abdul Karim Hairi-Yazdi, and moved with him to Qom [q.v.] in 1922. Having finished his studies in Arabic and theology, he started teaching Islamic jurisprudence.
After Hairi-Yazdi's death in 1937, Golpaygani rose in stature in the religious hierarchy, now led by Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Borujerdi. Like Borujerdi, he was a conservative. After the death of Borujerdi in 1961, the leadership of conservative clerics fell on the triumvirate of Ayatollahs Golpaygani, Shehab al-Din Marashi-Na-jafi, and Muhammad Kazem Shariatmadari [q.v.]. They opposed the idea of state takeover of land above a certain ceiling, an important part of the agrarian reform law of the government of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.]. This brought Golpaygani close to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], an opponent of the regime.
When Khomeini was exiled in 1964, Golpaygani took over the administration of the prestigious Faiyziyya seminary in Qom. He offered the concept of Vilayat-e-Faqih (Persian: Rule of the Religious Jurisprudent) [q.v.], which assigned spiritual and temporal leadership of an Islamic community to jurisprudents. This was to be incorporated into the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, founded in 1979. As a senior marja-e taqlid (Persian: source of emulation) [q.v.], Golpaygani received khums [q.v.] (one-fifth of the income of his followers) as religious dues. With this money he founded and sustained charitable projects in Iran and abroad—building and maintaining clinics, hospitals, orphanages, and religious and educational centers.
After the Islamic revolution in Iran [q.v.] he backed the new regime at crucial moments. In the mid-1980s, when there was growing division between conservative and radical clerics, especially on the issue of Khomeini's succession, the conservatives backed Golpaygani. When Khomeini died in 1989 without having publicly named a successor, the Assembly of Experts [q.v.] reportedly offered the position of the (supreme) Leader to 90-year-old Golpaygani. Due to his advanced age and poor health, he turned it down. As a cleric who had been in close contact with all the leading Shia religious personalities of the 20th century, he was unique.
Greater Syria: Area: 119,690 sq. mi./310,000 sq. km. Greater (or Natural) Syria occupies the piece of territory enclosed by the Taurus Mountains to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the Arabian Desert to the south, and the Euphrates River [q.v.] to the east. It was known historically as Bilad al-Sham, or Land on the Left/North (of Mecca [q.v.]).
From 1831 to 1840, during an interregnum in the Ottoman rule that started in 1517, Greater Syria was governed as a single entity under the Egyptian viceroy Ibrahim Pasha. When direct Ottoman rule resumed, Greater Syria was divided into several provinces. Following the Ottoman defeat in World War I, the victors— Britain and France—split Greater Syria according to the Sykes-Picot Pact [q.v.], with the northern region (later forming the republics of Syria and Lebanon) going to France and the southern section (constituting Palestine and Transjordan) to Britain. This was denounced at the Syrian National Congress meeting in Damascus in July 1919, which demanded sovereignty for a united Syria-Palestine, but in vain.
The League of Nations Supreme Council confirmed the British and French claims in 1920 by giving them mandates over the new entities created out of the old Ottoman provinces. The League of Nations visualized a mandate as guardianship of a young nation to be prepared for full independence. But France toppled the government of Faisal I bin Hussein al-Hashemi [q.v.] in Damascus [q.v.], established a colonial regime, and rearranged the borders by allocating parts of Syria to the Vilayat of Mount Lebanon to create Greater Lebanon. By surrendering sections of the Syrian province of Aleppo to Turkey in October 1921, France further reduced the size of Syria. As a result the independent Syria that emerged in 1946 occupied only 71,500 sq. mi./185,180 sq. km.
Greater Tumb/Tunb Island: See Tumb/Tunb Islands.
Greek Catholic Church: Also known as Greek-Melkite Catholic Church, the Greek Catholic Church is a Uniate Church [q.v.]. Those early Christians [q.v.] of Egypt and Syria who accepted the church council's ruling in 451 A.D. that Jesus Christ possessed two natures, human and divine, were labeled "malka" (Syriac: royalist) by their opponents. Since they followed the Byzantine rite, they stayed with the Eastern Orthodox Church [q.v.] after the major church schism in 1054. Due to the predominance of Greek colonizers (in Egypt and Syria) in its congregation, the church came to be known as Greek Orthodox [q.v.].
Periodic attempts at unification with the Roman Catholic Church [q.v.] did not succeed until 1724, when a Roman Catholic, Cyril VI, was elected Patriarch of Antioch. But only a third of Greek Orthodox members followed his lead, and they came to be called Greek/Greek-Melkite Catholics. They conduct their Byzantine liturgy in Arabic [q.v.]. Their head, the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, resides alternatively in Damascus [q.v.], Beirut [q.v.], and Cairo [q.v.]. Of the 1.3 million Greek Catholics in the Middle East [q.v.] and the Western Hemisphere, 160.000 live in Lebanon. They are also to be found in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and the Palestinian Territories [q.v.].
Greek Orthodox Church: Those early Christians [q.v.] of Egypt and Syria who accepted the church council's ruling in 451 A.D. that Jesus Christ possessed two natures, human and divine, were labeled "malka" (Syriac: royalist) by their opponents. Since they followed the Byzantine rite, they stayed with the Eastern Orthodox Church [q.v.] after the major church schism in 1054. Due to the predominance of Greek colonizers (in Egypt and Syria) in its congregation, the church came to be known as Greek Orthodox [q.v.]. The Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa, based in Alexandria [q.v.], is the head of a community of 350.000 in Egypt. The Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, based in Damascus [q.v.], is the head of a 320,000-strong (in 2010) community in Lebanon, the second-largest Christian sect after the Maronite Catholics [q.v.].
Green Path of Hope (Iran): The Green Path of Hope (GPH) is a coalition of social networks, non-governmental organizations, and political groups. It was founded by Mir Hussein Musavi [q.v.] on 15 August 2009 to consolidate the wide-scale protest against the rigging of the presidential election in June 2009, demanding its annulment. The title avoids the term "party" or "movement," which require a license from the interior ministry. The symbol of an open knot used by Musavi's election campaign for the presidency was colored green, and it offered a government of hope.
The GPH aimed to keep challenging the legitimacy of the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [q.v.] peacefully, and to insist on implementing the Iranian constitution fully rather than partially. The six members of its Central Council include Musavi, former president Muhammad Khatami [q.v.], former speaker of parliament Mahdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard, former chancellor of al-Zahra University.
Because of the heavy-handed methods of the government, protest calls by the GPH became less and less effective. Its efforts to mount a large demonstration on the first anniversary of the rigged election in June 2010 failed. It called for a boycott of the parliamentary election in 2012.
Gregorian calendar: Named after Pope Gregory III in 1582. See Christian calendars.
Gregorian Orthodox Church: Since Armenians [q.v.] were converted to Christianity [q.v.] by Gregory the Illuminator, the Armenian Orthodox Church is also known as the Gregorian Orthodox Church. See Armenian Orthodox Church.
Guardian Council (Iran): Official title, Council of Guardians of the Constitution (Persian: Shora-ye Negahban-e Qanun-eAssassi). Established by the 1979 constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the task of the 12-member Council of Guardians is to ensure that all laws and regulations passed by parliament are compatible with the Iranian constitution and Islamic percepts. It consists of (1) six "faqihs [Arabic: Islamic jurisprudents] conscious of current needs and the issues of the day," to be appointed by the Leader (of the Revolution); and six jurists, specializing in different branches of Islamic law, to be elected by parliament from a list of qualified candidates submitted by the head of the judiciary, who is appointed by the Leader. The tenure of the Council is six years. The parliament is required to submit its regulations and bills to it. All guardians vote on their compatibility with the constitution, but only the six faqihs do so on their compatibility with Islamic precepts. A regulation or law becomes effective only if it is judged to be compatible with both the constitution and Islamic precepts. The Council also vets all candidates for public office at the national level for their loyalty to the constitution and Islam as well as the results of these elections.
Starting with the parliamentary election in 2000, its decisions have proved controversial. This was particularly true of its endorsement of the landslide victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [q.v.] in the presidential election of 2009, which was, by most accounts, rigged.
Guardians of the Cedars: Lebanese political group Named after the cedar, the national symbol of Lebanon, the Guardians of the Cedars emerged soon after the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in April 1975 [q.v.]. Led by Eteinne Saqr, the Guardians were ultra-nationalist Maronites [q.v.]. They were inspired by the writings of Said Aql [q.v.], who believed that Lebanese identity was rooted in its distant Phoenician past and had little to do with pan-Arabism [q.v.] or Islam [q.v.]. In January 1976 they combined with other Maronite militias to create a unified military command. Open about their links with Israel, many of them joined the Israeli-sponsored South Lebanon Army [q.v.], which was formed after the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon [q.v.] in March 1978.
In the fractured Maronite community of the late 1980s they were one of the eight political or military factions. When the civil war ended in favor of their adversaries in October 1990, their influence declined. Their backing of the electoral boycott by the Maronites of the parliamentary election of 1992 further marginalized them politically. With the dissolution of the South Lebanon Army in May 2000 following Israel's unconditional withdrawal from South Lebanon, their military activity ended. They continued to have a minor political presence under the newly acquired title of the Movement of Lebanese Nationalism.
Gulf, the: Surface area, 92,500 sq. mi./240,000 sq. km; length 610 mi./990 km; width, 35–210 mi./56–340 km; depth, 120–300 ft/40–100 m. An extension of the Arabian Sea between Iran [q.v.] and the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.], the Gulf is connected to the Gulf of Oman by the Strait of Hormuz [q.v.]. As the flow of fresh water into it from the Shatt al-Arab [q.v.] and the Karun River is limited, and water temperatures are generally high, its salinity of 40 pounds per 1,000 pounds of sea water is above average. Because the eight countries around the Gulf possess 54 percent of global petroleum reserves [q.v.] and produce between a quarter and a third of the world's oil, the Gulf is an area of prime importance to the rest of the world.
Gulf Cooperation Council: Regional body consisting of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates Official title, Cooperation Council for the States of the Arab Gulf (Arabic: Majlis al-Taawun li Dual al-Khaleej al-Ara-biyah). The idea of a regional body in the Gulf grew out of Saudi Arabia's proposal for an internal security pact with fellow monarchies on the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.] following an armed uprising in Mecca [q.v.] in late 1979. The matter became urgent when the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.] erupted in September 1980. Meeting in Abu Dhabi [q.v.], rulers of the six Gulf monarchies founded the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on 26 May 1981. Its objectives were to coordinate internal security, procurement of arms, national economy of member states, and to settle border disputes under the leadership of the Supreme Council, consisting of the heads of the member states.
Abdullah Bishara, a Kuwaiti diplomat, was appointed secretary general of the GCC, whose secretariat was in Riyadh [q.v.]. In June 1982 the GCC foreign ministers' attempt to end the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.] failed. A GCC communique in November condemned Iran [q.v.] for occupying Iraqi territory. However, continuation of the war helped the GCC to become a cohesive body, particularly in defense, where collectively GCC states had 190,000 troops and 300 warplanes. In October 1984 the GCC conducted a three-week joint military exercise in the desert of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
At the next month's GCC summit it was decided to set up a Peninsula Shield Force (PSF) of two brigades under a Saudi officer based in Riyadh. A year later the GCC summit pledged to continue its efforts to end the Iran-Iraq War in a manner that safeguarded the legitimate rights and interests of "the two sides." The next summit in late 1987 urged the UN Security Council to implement its cease-fire Resolution 598, passed in July.
Following Iraq's [q.v.] invasion and occupation of Kuwait in August 1990, the GCC condemned Baghdad's action. It dispatched its PSF to the Saudi-Kuwait border to deter Iraqi intrusion. The GCC summit in December 1990 demanded the unconditional withdrawal of Iraq from Kuwait. The troops and air forces of GCC members participated in the U.S.-led Gulf War [q.v.] against Iraq. In March 1991 GCC ministers agreed to give grants to Egypt and Syria for the deployment of the 35,000 Egyptian and 20,000 Syrian troops as part of the backbone of an expanded Gulf defense force. But these plans were later abandoned. The GCC's own Peninsula Shield Force, based near King Khalid Military City at Hafar al-Batin consisted of only one infantry brigade of 5,000 troops drawn from all its members.
The GCC states decided to suspend their subsidies to the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] so long as it was headed by Yasser Arafat [q.v.], who had sided with Iraq during the Kuwait crisis and the subsequent war. Following the PLO-Israeli accord in Washington in September 1993 [q.v.], GCC members ended their ostracizing of the PLO and the Palestinians. Saudi Arabia promised to contribute up to $100 million over a five-year period to a development fund for the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza Strip [q.v.]. A year later the GCC ended the secondary and tertiary embargo on trade with Israel.
In 1997 the Supreme Council decided to appoint a 30-member Consultative Council as an advisory body. In March 1999 the GCC condemned Iran for conducting military exercises around the waters of the Abu Musa [q.v.] and Tunb Islands [q.v.], over which the UAE claimed jurisdiction. Later that year it set up a committee to facilitate direct talks between Iran and the UAE to settle the dispute, but nothing came of it.
In 2002, Abdul Rahman bin Hamad al-Attiyah of Qatar succeeded Saudi Arabia's Jamil Ibrahim Hejailan as the GCC's fourth secretary-general.
On the economic front, the GCC summit in 2005 decided to have a common currency by 2010. But the next year Oman said that it would be unable to meet the target date. And in 2009, soon after it was announced that the central bank for the new currency would be situated in Riyadh, and not in Abu Dhabi [q.v.] or Dubai [q.v.], the UAE quit the project. The plan failed.
Breaking with protocol, GCC leaders invited Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [q.v.] to attend their 2007 summit in Doha [q.v.]. He did so. But Tehran's dispute with the UAE on the Abu Musa [q.v.] and Tunb Islands [q.v.] remained unresolved. The 2010 summit held in Abu Dhabi called on Iran to refrain from using or threatening to use force against the UAE.
In March 2011, the GCC deviated from its core purpose of defense against foreign attack by agreeing to deploy its PSF units in Bahrain to quell its domestic pro-democracy protest. Most of the 1,500 PSF soldiers were Saudis, with small contributions from Kuwait and the UAE. Abdul Latif bin Rashid al-Zayani of Bahrain, who became the GCC's fifth secretary-general on 1 April 2011, argued that a threat to the stability of one GCC member state was a threat to all.
In late April the GCC formulated a three-phase proposal to resolve the political crisis caused by the prodemocracy uprising in Yemen inspired by the Arab Spring [q.v.]. It required the reconstitution of the parliament reducing the share of the ruling General People's Congress [q.v.] to 50 percent, with the oppositionist Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) getting 40 percent, and the remaining 10 percent to other political entities. Within 30 days of the new parliament's inauguration, President Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.] would resign after securing immunity from prosecution for himself, his relatives, and senior members of his government. Then within the next 60 days a presidential election would follow. Having agreed to sign the deal three times, Saleh backed out at the last moment. After receiving severe injuries in an attack on the mosque in his presidential palace during Friday congregation on 3 June, he flew to Riyadh for medical treatment. On his sudden return to Sanaa [q.v.] in September, clashes between the opposing sides resumed. The GCC revived its peace efforts, this time gaining the support of the UN Security Council for its new plan. On 23 November, Saleh signed the deal, agreeing to relinquish power within 30 days in favor of a transitional government headed by Vice President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi [q.v.], while remaining president until a fresh election in February 2012.
In October the GCC called for an Arab League [q.v.] meeting to debate the repression of the pro-democracy protest in Syria. Two months later it urged the Syrian government to end its "killing machine" immediately in accordance with the Arab League's plan, requiring President Bashar Assad [q.v.] to step down. Assad rejected the demand.
Gulf States: Though eight countries border the Gulf [q.v.], only the six monarchies of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are collectively known as the Gulf States. The remaining states with shorelines along the Gulf are Iran and Iraq.
Gulf War I (1980–88): war between Iran and Iraq After a week-long clash between Iraq and Iran in the disputed border territory in the central sector, Baghdad claimed on 10 September 1980 to have captured the area. A week later Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] abrogated the 1975 Iran-Iraq Treaty of International Boundaries and Neighborliness [q.v.], and claimed full sovereignty over the Shatt al-Arab [q.v.]. On 22 September Iraq invaded Iran at eight points along their international border, and bombed Iranian military installations and economic targets.
The armed conflict, the longest conventional war of the 20th century, went through the following phases.
PHASE ONE: September 1980 to March 1981. Iraqi troops advanced into Iran. On 28 September UN Security Council Resolution 479 urged a truce. Iraq announced its readiness to cease fire if Iran accepted its complete rights over the Shatt al-Arab. Tehran rejected the resolution. By mid-November Iraq had captured Khorramshahr and besieged Abadan [q.v.]. It occupied 10,000 sq. mi./25,900 sq. km of Iranian territory in the southern and central sectors. The wet winter led to a military standoff.
PHASE TWO: April 1981 to March 1982. While the Iranian military, much enlarged by a surge of patriotism among Iranians, blocked further Iraqi advance, it failed to lift the siege of Abadan. Efforts by the UN and the Islamic Conference Organization [q.v.] to end the conflict foundered: Iran refused to negotiate so long as Iraq occupied its land.
PHASE THREE: March 1982 to June 1982. Iran recovered the lost territory. On 24 May 1982 Iran retook Khorramshahr and drove the Iraqis back to the international frontier. Iraq announced its readiness for a truce on 9 June. Tehran refused to cease fire until Saddam Hussein had been removed from office. On 20 June he declared that Iraq's voluntary withdrawal from Iran would be completed within 10 days. But on 30 June Iraq still held some pockets of Iranian territory.
PHASE FOUR: July 1982 to March 1984. Iran's troops marched into Iraq. Having rejected the UN Security Council's call for a truce and the withdrawal of the opposing armies to the international border, Iran tried to conquer Basra [q.v.] in mid-July. With nine divisions locked in the largest infantry combat since World War II, fierce battles raged for a fortnight. Finally Iran managed to hold only 32 sq. mi./83 sq. km of the Iraqi land. In October Iran reclaimed some territory in the northern sector. Iraq's air strikes on Iran's Nowruz offshore oilfield in March 1983 caused the largest oil spill in the history of the Gulf. In April Iran's offensive in the southern sector to reach the strategic Basra-Baghdad highway failed. But its offensive in the north in July yielded it the Iraqi garrison town of Hajj Umran. In mid-February 1984 Iran launched a second attempt to breach the Baghdad-Basra highway, but again failed. After an offensive in the Haur al-Hawizeh marshes in late February, Iran seized Iraq's oil-rich Majnoon Islands.
PHASE FIVE: April 1984 to January 1986. Iraq escalated its attacks on Iranian oil tankers, using French-made Exocet air-to-ship (surface-skimmer) missiles, and intensified its air raids on the Kharg oil terminal, which handled most of Iran's petroleum exports. Iran retaliated by hitting ships serving the ports of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, which were aiding Iraq, in the Lower Gulf [q.v.]. In October 1983, Iraq started using chemical weapons—at first mustard gas and then nerve gases. In March 1985 an Iranian brigade reached the Baghdad-Basra highway, but was unable to withstand the Iraqi counterattacks. In May Iraq intensified its tanker war and strikes on Kharg, reaching a peak in mid-August. Altogether, Iraq hit 33 ships in the Gulf in 1985, and Iran 14.
PHASE SIX: February 1986 to January 1988. The war of attrition escalated, and the United States began to intervene on the Iraqi side. The Iranian assault in February 1986 in the south, which resulted in the capture of 310 sq. mi./800 sq. km in the Fao Peninsula, broke the stalemate. A relentless effort by Iraq, which mounted 18,648 air missions between 9 February and 25 March 1986 (compared with 20,011 missions in the whole of 1985), to regain Fao failed. In March, following a report by UN experts on Iraq's use of poison gas, the UN Security Council combined its condemnation of Iraq for deploying (universally banned) chemical weapons with its disapproval of the prolongation of the conflict by Iran. The next month, flooding of the oil market by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia caused the price of petroleum to fall below $10 a barrel, down from $27 in the previous December. This sharply reduced the oil income of Iran and Iraq, but the latter was cushioned by the approximately $10 billion a year it received in aid from its Gulf allies, the West, and the Soviet Union.
From July, using covert official U.S. expertise, Iraq began to use its air force more aggressively than before, hitting Iran's economic and infrastructural targets and extending its air strikes to the Iranian oil terminals in the Lower Gulf. During 1986 Iraq struck 86 ships in the Gulf, and Iran 41. In January 1987 Iran's offensives in the south brought its forces within seven miles of Basra, but failed to capture it. During the spring the Iranians and their Iraqi Kurdish allies captured territory in Iraqi Kurdistan [q.v.]. On 20 July the UN Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 598, calling for a cease-fire and the withdrawal of warring forces to the international border. The 10-article text included a clause for an impartial commission to determine war responsibility, one of the major demands of Iran. Iraq said it would accept the resolution on condition that Iran did the same. Four days later a Kuwaiti supertanker on the first Gulf convoy escorted by U.S. warships hit a mine, believed to have been planted by Iran. The subsequent naval buildup by the United States, Britain, and France brought 60 Western warships in the region.
On the seventh anniversary of the war on 22 September 1987, Iraq had nearly 400 combat aircraft, six times the number of Iran's airworthy warplanes. Baghdad possessed 4,500 tanks, 3,200 armored fighting vehicles, and 2,800 artillery pieces versus Tehran's respective totals of 1,570; 1,800; and 1,750. Iraq had 955,000 regular troops versus Iran's 655,000; and Iraq's Popular Army, at 650,000, was slightly larger than Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, at 625,000.
In October the U.S. Navy sank three Iranian patrol boats near Farsi Island, claiming that Iran had fired on a U.S. patrol helicopter; and U.S. warships destroyed two Iranian offshore oil platforms in the Lower Gulf in retaliation for an Iranian missile attack on a U.S.-flagged supertanker docked in Kuwaiti waters. Tehran's capacity to mount major offensives was much reduced due to its shortage of manpower and money, and the damage done to its bridges, factories, and power plants by ceaseless Iraqi bombing.
PHASE SEVEN: February to June 1988. Iraq retook its lost territories. By introducing long-range surface-to-surface missiles in February 1988, Iraq was able to hit Tehran [q.v.] and demoralize the population. Iran retaliated by hitting Baghdad [q.v.], which was much nearer the international border. Between 16 and 18 April Iraq recaptured the Fao Peninsula, using chemical weapons, while U.S. warships blew up two Iranian oil rigs, destroyed one Iranian frigate and immobilized another, and sank an Iranian missile boat. From 23 to 25 May Iraq, using chemical arms, staged offensives in the northern and central sectors, and then in the south, regaining Shalamche. Between 19 and 25 June, Iraq recaptured Mehran in the central zone, using poison gases, and then the Majnoon Islands in the south.
PHASE EIGHT: July to 20 August 1988. Iraq failed to seize Iranian land. On 3 July a U.S. cruiser U.S.S Vincennes shot down an Iran Air airbus carrying 290 people over the Lower Gulf, mistaking it for a combat aircraft. On 18 July Iran unconditionally accepted UN Security Council Resolution 598. Two days later Iran's leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], stated that acceptance of a truce was "in the interest of the revolution and the system at this juncture." From 22 to 29 July, Iraq mounted offensives in the northern, central, and southern sectors to capture Iranian land. It failed in the north but succeeded elsewhere. However, within a week Iran regained its lost territory. On 20 August a truce came into effect under UN supervision. By then, Iraq had used 110,000 chemical munitions against Iran.
HUMAN LOSSES: Iran (official), 194,931 dead, consisting of 183,931 combatants, including those missing in action, and 11,000 civilians; Iran (unofficial est.), 300,000 dead; Iraq (unofficial est.), 160,000–240,000 dead.
COST: Iran (estimated by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), $74–91 billion, plus military imports of $11.26 billion; Iraq (est. by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), $94 112 billion, plus military imports of $41.94 billion. In July 1990 Iraq's deputy premier, Tariq Aziz [q.v.], put the military imports at $102 billion.
OUTCOME: Neither country lost much territory, nor was there a change of regime in Iraq or Iran. The war enabled Khomeini to consolidate the Islamic revolution [q.v.]. With a million men in its military, Iraq emerged as the most powerful country in the region, outstripping Turkey and Egypt.
AFTER THE TRUCE: On 12 August 1990 Iraq unilaterally agreed to abide by the 1975 Iran-Iraq Treaty of International Boundaries and Neighborliness, withdraw its forces from the occupied Iranian territory, and exchange prisoners of war. By the spring of 2000, the two countries had repatriated 100,000 prisoners of war. Each side rejected the other's figures on the remainder, with Baghdad claiming that Iran was still holding 13,000 Iraqi prisoners of war, and Tehran alleging that Iraq was holding 2,800 Iranian prisoners. By the time of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in March 2003, this dispute was almost settled.
Gulf War II (1991): war between Iraq and the U.S.-led coalition
BACKGROUND: (mid-July to 1 August 1990) In mid-July Iraq complained to the Arab League [q.v.] that the oil glut caused by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had caused the price to fall to $11–13 a barrel—far below the reference price of $18 set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries [q.v.]—and that a drop of $1 a barrel reduced Iraq's annual revenue by $1 billion. On 31 July Iraqi and Kuwaiti officials met in Jeddah [q.v.] against the background of some 100,000 Iraqi troops massed along the Kuwaiti border. The next day the talks failed. According to the Kuwaitis, they had refused to comply with Iraq's demands to write off the $12–14 billion Iraq had received from Kuwait during the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.], relinquish some of the Kuwaiti territory along the Iraqi border, and lease its Bubiyan and Warba Islands to Baghdad. According to the Iraqis, they had been unable to see any sign of willingness on the part of Kuwait to repair the economic damage it had inflicted on Iraq by depressing oil prices.
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and its aftermath:
2 August 1990: At 2 a.m. local time Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait and occupied it. The ruler, Shaikh Jaber III al-Sabah [q.v.], and other members of the royal family fled to Saudi Arabia. The UN Security Council passed Resolution 660 by 14 votes to none, condemning Iraqi aggression against Kuwait and demanding immediate withdrawal. The United States, Britain, and France froze Iraqi and Kuwaiti assets. The Soviet Union halted arms deliveries to Iraq.
3 August: The Arab League [q.v.] foreign ministers condemned Iraq's action by 14 votes to one, with five abstentions and one walk-out.
6 August: The UN Security Council passed Resolution 661 by 13 votes to none, imposed mandatory sanctions and an embargo on Iraq and occupied Kuwait. Following a request by Saudi King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] for the United States to bolster his country's defenses, U.S. President George Bush ordered fighter aircraft and troops to leave for Saudi Arabia.
8 August: Baghdad annexed Kuwait.
9 August: King Fahd condemned Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
12 August: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] offered a peace initiative that involved the withdrawal of Israel from the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.] in "Palestine, Syria and Lebanon," and the formulation of arrangements for the "situation in Kuwait" in line with the UN resolutions.
2 October: Amnesty International, a London-based human rights organization, published a report portraying widespread arrests, torture, and summary executions in Kuwait by the occupying Iraqi forces.
8 November: Bush ordered a doubling of U.S. troops in the Gulf to 400,000.
15 November: Saddam Hussein proposed talks between Iraq and Saudi Arabia on regional problems as well as between Iraq and the United States on wider issues. There was no response from Riyadh or Washington.
19 November: Iraq mobilized an additional 250,000 troops, with 100,000 to be sent to Kuwait immediately.
27 November: Testimonies of experts before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee showed a large majority favoring the economic option over the military option in forcing Iraq out of Kuwait.
29 November: The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 678 by 12 votes to two (Cuba and Yemen), with one abstention (China), authorizing "all necessary means" to implement the earlier resolutions in order "to restore international peace and security in the area," unless Iraq fully implemented these resolutions before 15 January 1991.
9 January 1991: Talks in Geneva between Tariq Aziz [q.v.], Iraq's foreign minister, and James Baker, U.S. Secretary of State, to resolve the crisis failed.
12 January: The U.S. Senate authorized President Bush by 53 votes to 47 to use the armed forces pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 678; the House of Representatives did likewise by 250 votes to 183.
14 January: Iraqi parliament unanimously decided to go to war rather than withdraw from Kuwait, and empowered Saddam Hussein to conduct it.
OPPOSING FORCES (at the start):
Iraq: Baghdad had 545,000 troops in Kuwait and southern Iraq, equipped with 4,200 tanks and 150 combat helicopters, supported by 550 combat-ready warplanes.
U.S.-led coalition: Coalition of the United States and 28 other UN members: Argentina (naval); Australia (naval); Bahrain (ground, air); Bangladesh (ground); Belgium (air— in Turkey, naval); Canada (air, naval); Czechoslovakia (ground); Denmark (naval); Kuwait; Egypt (ground); France (ground, air, naval); Germany (air—in Turkey); Greece (naval); Italy (air, naval); Morocco (ground); the Netherlands (naval); New Zealand (air); Niger (ground); Norway (naval); Oman (ground, air); Pakistan (ground, naval); Qatar (ground, air); Saudi Arabia (ground, air, naval); Senegal (ground); Spain (naval); Syria (ground); United Arab Emirates (ground, air); United Kingdom (ground, air, naval). Of the 425,000 U.S. troops, 250,000 were army troops; 75,000 marines; 60,000 naval soldiers; and 45,000 air force personnel. They were equipped with 2,200 tanks, 500 combat helicopters, and 1500 warplanes. By the end of the war the number of troops from the U.S., the United Kingdom, and France rose to 697,000, 52,000, and 25,000 respectively. The 12 North Atlantic Treaty Organization members involved had deployed 107 warships in the Gulf, the northern Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, the Red Sea, and the eastern Mediterranean, with most of them enforcing the UN embargo. The Pentagon's naval personnel were armed with 700-plus nuclear weapons on warships and submarines. The Arab and Muslim troops totaled 220,000. They were under the command of Prince Khalid bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia, and were equipped with 1,200 tanks, 150 combat helicopters, and 350 warplanes. The overall commander of the coalition was General Norman Schwarzkopf of the U.S. Army. (The combined figures at the end of the war were: 700,000 troops equipped with 4,000 tanks and 2,900 warplanes and helicopters.)
EVENTS:
Air campaign (Operation Desert Storm) 16 January to 24 February:
16—23 January: The air campaign of the U.S.-led coalition started at 23:30 GMT on 16 January (02:30 local time on 17 January) with aerial bombing and the firing of cruise missiles from U.S. warships. On 18 January Iraq fired 12 Scud ground-to ground missiles at Tel Aviv [q.v.] and Haifa [q.v.] in Israel, and four days later three more Iraqi Scuds landed in Tel Aviv. Coalition air sorties in the first week totaled 12,000 (half of which were combat sorties), and cruise missile firings numbered 216.
24—30 January: The coalition increased the number of daily air sorties to 3,000.
31 January—6 February: On 3 February the number of coalition air missions reached a total of 41,000, with the U.S. share at 87 percent. Iraq broke diplomatic ties with the United States, Britain, France, Canada, Italy, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
7—13 February: During the fourth week the coalition concentrated on destroying Iraq's transport infrastructure of bridges and roads.
14—20 February: On 15 February Iraq agreed to deal with UN Security Council Resolution 660 if the coalition forces left the region, if Israel withdrew from the Occupied Arab Territories, and if the nationalist and Islamic forces of Kuwait were allowed to settle the country's future. Moscow saw this as opening up a new stage in the ongoing conflict, but Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt rejected it. Bush called on the Iraqi people and military to remove Saddam Hussein from office, and then comply with the UN resolutions. The five-week total of coalition air sorties reached 86,000.
21—24 February: On 21 February Iraq welcomed the Soviet Union's eight-point peace plan, including Iraq's statement of intent to withdraw from Kuwait; a cease-fire; the actual evacuation; the abrogation of the UN sanctions once two-thirds of the Iraqi force had left Kuwait, and then the rest of the UN resolutions once all Iraqi troops had departed; and the monitoring of the cease-fire by a UN force. Bush rejected the plan, and offered a list of 12 conditions, including total Iraqi withdrawal within a week, to be accepted by 17:30 GMT on 23 February. At 12:00 GMT on 23 February Iraq said that, following its acceptance of the Soviet peace plan, it had decided to withdraw from Kuwait immediately and unconditionally. At 16:30 GMT the UN Security Council began a closed-door session, with the Western powers declaring that they were not interested in bridging the gap between the Soviet plan and the U.S. terms. At 18:00 GMT Bush ordered General Schwarzkopf to expel the Iraqis from Kuwait. By then retreating Iraqis had begun to set Kuwaiti oil wells ablaze.
Ground campaign (Operation Desert Saber) 24–28 February:
At 01:00 on 24 February the coalition launched its ground offensive, with ground troops advancing on two axes. The next day at 21:30 GMT the Soviet Union presented a new peace plan, and an hour later Iraq accepted it. Baghdad ordered a withdrawal from Kuwait as part of its compliance with Security Council Resolution 660. On 26 February at 11:50 the Iraqi forces were out of Kuwait City. U.S. troops blocked all exits for the Iraqi forces in the Kuwaiti theatre of war. The killing of the retreating Iraqi soldiers continued until a cease-fire 40 hours later. On 27 February at 05:30 GMT Iraq said that it had completed its evacuation of Kuwait. By then some 640 Kuwaiti oil wells were ablaze. The next day at 02:00 GMT Bush ordered a truce if Iraq put down its arms. At 04:40 GMT Iraq complied, and a temporary cease-fire went into effect at 05:00 GMT, thus ending 167 days of prewar crisis and 42 days of warfare.
The final total of the coalition's air sorties reached 106,000. They dropped 141,000 tonnes of explosives, equivalent to seven nuclear bombs dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945, and hit 700 targets, many of them repeatedly. The number of cruise missiles fired was 325.
HUMAN LOSSES: The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency issued an estimate of 100,000 Iraqi deaths with an error factor of 50 percent. According to Iraq's deputy premier, Sadoun Hamadi, in the first 26 days of the war the coalition bombing (in 65,000 air sorties) had killed 20,000 Iraqis. Therefore, the remaining 41,000 sorties probably killed another 12,600 people. During the ground campaign, involving attacks on 12 retreating Iraqi divisions (180,000 troops), the fatalities were estimated at 25,000 to 30,000. The total estimated dead were therefore 57,600 to 62,600. Other estimates put this figure higher—at 100,000. Iraq did not release its official statistics.
Of the 376 Coalition deaths, the United States sustained 266 (including 125 due to the accidents during the seven-month field training prior to the war), and Britain 29. An estimated 2,000 to 5,000 Kuwaitis, mostly civilians, died.
WEAPONS LOSSES: Iraq, 30 warplanes; Coalition, 21 warplanes
Cost: Coalition total, $82 billion— Japan, $13 billion; Kuwait $22 billion; Saudi Arabia, $29 billion; and the United States, $18 billion. Saudi Arabia put its indirect costs at $22 billion. No official figures were released by Iraq. According to Sadoun Hamadi, the damage to Iraq's infrastructure during the first 26 days of war was $200 billion. Other estimates also put the total damage to Iraq at $200 billion.
AFTER THE TRUCE: UN Security Council Resolution 687 required Iraq to implement a U.N.-monitored program of disarming itself of weapons of mass destruction and intermediate and long-range ground-to-ground missiles before UN sanctions against it could be lifted. See also Operation Desert Fox.
Gulf War III (2003): war between Iraq and the U.S.-led alliance
BACKGROUND: (May 1991–December 1998) During this period the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) [q.v.], charged with disarming Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, disarmed it of 90 to 95 percent of its proscribed arms. By mid-June 1998 Iraq claimed to have disarmed fully, and demanded that the UN economic sanctions be lifted as specified in Paragraphs 20 and 21 of the UN Security Council Resolution 687. Richard Butler, head of UNSCOM, disagreed. Tension mounted between the U.S. administration of President Bill Clinton and Iraq. To enable Washington to mount its Operation Desert Fox [q.v.] in coordination with the United Kingdom against the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] as a penalty for its failure to provide unhindered, unconditional access to UN inspectors to visit any sites they wished, Butler withdrew his inspectors from Iraq. At the Security Council, China, France, and Russia condemned the U.S.-U.K. action.
December 1998—November 2003:
The breach among the permanent five members of the Security Council was so profound that it took a year before the Council adopted a new resolution on the subject—1284—with China, France, and Russia abstaining. Iraq did not accept this resolution. Starting in August 2000, when several regional countries resumed air flights to Baghdad [q.v.], the UN sanctions began to crumble, with Syria reopening its oil pipeline with Iraq. George W. Bush, who became U.S. president in January 2001, continued the hardline policy of his predecessor. Following the terrorist attacks on America in September 2001, commonly denoted as 9/11, he stiffened further his stance toward Iraq even though no evidence turned up to support his administration's early speculation that Saddam Hussein was in cahoots with al-Qaida [q.v.] and Osama bin Laden [q.v.] in perpetrating 9/11.
But when, having overthrown the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and put bin Laden on the run, Bush looked for the next target in his global war on terror, Iraq reappeared as a prime candidate in the spring of 2002. Washington ratcheted up its anti-Saddam rhetoric after the Labor Day holiday in September, claiming that the Iraqi president had restarted his program of making nuclear weapons, and asserting that the Iraqis had made an unsuccessful attempt to buy 500 tons of uranium oxide from Niger in 2000 and had obtained aluminum tubing for centrifuges to enrich uranium. (Later both these claims would be proved false, with the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] declaring the Niger documents to be forgeries.) These statements proved highly effective in persuading the U. S. Congress to give Bush war powers by a comfortable majority in October, even though on 16 September Iraq had agreed to the return of the inspectors of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) [q.v.] headed by Hans Blix, a former Swedish foreign minister and director-general of the LAEA, and Muhammad El Baradei, the Egyptian head of the IAEA. Both Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair began building up a military presence in the Gulf [q.v.], with Kuwait providing its territory for the posting of American and British troops, and Qatar allowing the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) to set up its regional headquarters at al-Sayliya near Doha [q.v.]. Against this background the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1441 unanimously on 8 November, with France and Russia asserting, rightly, that the resolution did not authorize automatic military action against Iraq if the Baghdad government failed to meet its requirements. It specified the most intrusive inspection regime ever devised. After some equivocation, Saddam Hussein accepted the resolution.
UN inspections started on 27 November. As specified in Resolution 1441, Iraq submitted a 12,000-page document detailing its programs of weapons of mass destruction and missiles. In their reports to the Security Council on 19 December, Blix and Baradei said that Iraq had provided prompt access to the 150 sites their teams had visited. The aluminum tubing that America and Britain had alluded to was for permissible Iraqi rockets and not for the proscribed nuclear weapons. By 18 January 2003, the UN teams had visited all 11 sites mentioned by Bush and Blair as the premises used by Iraq in its revived program of weapons of mass destruction, and found no evidence to that effect. On 19–20 January Iraq signed a 10-point agreement with Blix and Baradei promising further cooperation. Yet Bush kept saying that Saddam must disarm, and, in the event of his refusal, the U.S.-led coalition would force him to do so and free the Iraqi people. He was aware that 52 percent of Americans would believe the White House if it asserted that it had evidence of proscribed weapons program by Baghdad, even if UN inspectors found nothing. At the same time, the Special Forces of America and Britain began infiltrating Iraq to facilitate the invasion of the country by the Anglo-American troops.
In their 27 January report, covering two months and 300 inspections (of which about a third concerned the nuclear program) of 230 sites (out of a total of 700) by a staff of 260 drawn from 60 countries, Blix and Baradei reported to the Security Council that on the whole Iraq had cooperated well, giving their teams prompt access to all sites. Baradei said that his inspectors had visited presidential compounds and private residences but had discovered no evidence that Iraq has revived its nuclear weapons program since its elimination in the 1990s.
By contrast, in his presentation to the Security Council on 5 February U. S. Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed that (1) there were up to two dozen al-Qaida operatives in Iraq, the most important being Abu Mussab Zarqawi [q.v.]; (2) the Ansar-e Islam operated a chemical poison factory in an enclave of Iraqi Kurdistan [q.v.]; (3) a missile brigade operating from outside Baghdad was dispersing proscribed rockets in the country; (4) Iraq possessed about 18 mobile biological weapons laboratories; (5) Baghdad had a model of an unmanned drone capable of spraying chemical or germ weapons within a radius of 550 miles; and (6) Iraq moved contraband, with soldiers relocating munitions just before inspectors arrived. Finally, Powell referred to Tony Blair's 19-page dossier, "Iraq: Its Infrastructure of Concealment, Deception, and Intimidation," posted on his official website on 3 February, as a fine piece of evidence.
Critics argued that the presence of al-Qaida operatives in Iraq did not prove the government's involvement. Such operatives lived not only in other Arab [q.v.] and Muslim [q.v.] countries but also in many Western states. The visiting Western journalists found that the Ansar-e Islam's poison factory was nothing but a derelict dump. Following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, the Anglo-American troops failed to find the alleged Iraqi missile brigade or the proscribed missiles. Four days before the start of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq on 20 March 2003, Iraq handed over to UNMOVIC videos of mobile biological laboratories, arguing that the videos showed that Iraq did not violate UN resolutions. When checked out by the UN inspectors, Iraq's single unmanned drone turned out to be a machine rusting on an airfield north of Baghdad. Likewise, when verified on the ground, Powell's interpretation of the satellite images of trucks moving banned parts turned out to be false. Equally damaging was the discovery made by a British researcher at Cambridge University that large chunks of what Blair had tried to pass of as official U.K. intelligence were lifted verbatim from old academic journals and magazines posted on the Internet. Yet 70 percent in America agreed with Powell that Iraq was being deceptive.
Powell's presentation marked the end of the Bush administration's support of continued UN inspections. It prepared the ground for military action, despite Blix's report on 14 February that the 300 biological and chemical samples examined by UN-MOVIC were consistent with Iraq's declarations, and that the inspections were bridging the gap in the United Nations's knowledge that arose between December 1998 and November 2002. It ignored rising public opposition to war both in America and Europe.
On 15 February, 15 to 20 million people in 60 countries marched in antiwar protest in 600 towns and cities, a quarter of them in America. The marches in London (1.5 million strong), Rome (over 2 million), and Barcelona (over 1 million) were the largest ever. Overall, more than 70 percent in Britain, Italy, and Spain opposed the war. Yet their governments continued to back Bush in his belligerent stance.
Indeed, Spain was one of the three sponsors of the draft resolution—the others being America and Britain— presented to the Security Council on 24 February. It stated that Iraq had failed to comply with and cooperate fully in the implementation of Resolution 1441, and must therefore face "serious consequences." Disagreeing with this document, France, Russia, and Germany (as a non-permanent member of the Security Council) issued a memorandum saying that a verifiable disarmament could be reached through the implementation of a clear program of action by the inspection agencies, with each task clearly defined; reinforced inspections; and a timeline for inspections and assessment, with the chief inspectors reporting every three weeks. This was rejected by the U.S.-U.K.-Spain trio.
In America, opposition to war rose from 18 percent at the end of January to 37 percent a month later, almost equal to the support for it.
On 6 March Blix declared that Iraq was involved in "real and very fine disarmament" and that its cooperation had been "pro-active." It had begun taking inspectors to the sites where it said it unilaterally destroyed biological weapons.
At the Security Council the U.S.-U.K.-Spanish draft attracted one more vote, while five members— China, France, Germany, Russia, and Syria—opposed it. Of the remaining six, Pakistan and Guinea indicated they would abstain while a top official of Cameroon said that his country and France were "old friends." Given this, there was no prospect of the Anglo-American alliance getting its draft resolution adopted by the Council. Yet so strongly opposed were France and Russia to a war on Iraq that they individually threatened to veto the resolution if passed. When Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico, and Pakistan proposed giving Iraq 45 days to disarm (versus France's 120 days), the U.S. rejected the proposal summarily.
In the United States, the anti-Saddam rhetoric reached a point where 42 percent believed that he was "personally" responsible for 9/11, and 55 percent believed that he gave direct support to al-Qaida.
On 14 March, when Bush, Blair, and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar decided to meet on the Portuguese Island of St. Azores, Iraq gave UNMOVIC a 20-page document detailing the destruction of 3.9 tons of VX nerve agent. The next day UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he believed war without the second resolution by the Security Council would break international law, meaning a violation of the UN Charter. Following the Bush-Blair-Aznar meeting on 16 March, when they decided to abandon their draft resolution at the Security Council, Bush gave Saddam Hussein and his sons— Uday and Qusay [q.v.]—48 hours to leave Iraq, failing which Washington would mount military operations. Saddam rejected the ultimatum. On 18 March the House of Commons in London passed a motion by 412 to 149 votes— with the opposition Conservatives voting with most of the governing Labor Party members—stating that "the U.K. must uphold the UN's authority as set out in [Resolution] 1441 and many resolutions preceding it, and therefore supports the decision that the U.K. should use all means to disarm Iraq."
OPPOSING FORCES:
Iraq: Baghdad had 389,000 troops, including 82,000 in the Republican Guard and 20,000 in the Special Republican Guard, equipped with 2,2002,600 tanks and 100 combat helicopters, backed by 300 combat aircraft, only half of which were serviceable. Its active paramilitary force included 5,000 armed personnel of the Special Security Organization, 18,000 members of the Fedayeen (Arabic: Self-sacrificer) Saddam, and 6,000 non-Iraqi Arab volunteers.
U.S.-led coalition: A nominal coalition of 48 countries, with only five contributing combat troops— America (255,000), Australia (2000), Britain (45,000), Czech Republic (200), Poland (200), and Slovakia (200)—the rest either merely expressing support for Washington's position or allowing U.S. military aircraft passage through their air spaces. The Anglo-American forces were equipped with 920 tanks, 600 warplanes, 300 combat helicopters, and 50 unmanned aerial vehicles. The U.S. navy deployed five aircraft-carrier battle groups, and the U.K. navy one.
EVENTS:
20–26 March (Week 1): The Pentagon started its Operation Iraqi Freedom [q.v.] on 20 March at 02:33 GMT (05:33 Iraqi time) with four guided bunker-busting bombs, released by Stealth bombers, to strike the Republican Presidential Palace Complex in Baghdad where Saddam Hussein and his two sons were suspected of holding a meeting. Cruise missiles hit surrounding targets while Tomahawk missiles struck targets around Baghdad. At 05:30 GMT the Iraqi president appeared on television to declare that "Iraq will carry out jihad [q.v.] against the invaders with the heroic army in the vanguard of Iraq of civilization, history, and belief...Iraq will be victorious." Four hours later, Group Captain Al Lockwood, spokesman for the British forces in the Gulf said, "If I was a betting man, hopefully, we'll be in Baghdad in the next three or four days." At the Rumeila oil field west of Basra [q.v.], Iraqis set oil wells ablaze. At night, when U.S. Navy Seals and Royal Marine commandos under British command tried to capture oil and gas platforms in the Fao Peninsula, they encountered resistance.
Next morning, the Centcom mounted a four-pronged ground attack on Iraq from Kuwait, with the U.S. Third Infantry Division heading north toward Baghdad. American and British Special Forces, infiltrating Iraq from Jordan [q.v.], claimed the capture of Iraq's H2 and H3 airfields in the western desert. The Centcom's claim of the capture of Umm Qasr (pop. 45,000) port was disputed, rightly, by Al-Jazeera TV. The Centcom's swift and surgical strikes on public buildings and presidential compounds in Baghdad, combined with emails and mobile phone calls to Iraqi generals to defect, failed to bring about the predicted collapse of the regime.
At 17:20 GMT (20:20 Iraqi Time) the Centcom unleashed its "shock and awe" strategy, with a series of staggering explosions, most of them in Baghdad's Republican Presidential Palace Complex, in an unprecedentedly murderous fireworks display.
Later the Centcom hit targets in Mosul [q.v.] and Kirkuk [q.v. ]. In Kurdistan, the Kurdistan Democratic Party [q.v.] and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [q.v.] agreed to put their 35,000 militia, called peshmargas (Kurdish: those prepared to die) under the Centcom command.
On 20–21 March, the Centcom undertook 1,000 combat missions and discharged 600 cruise missiles.
On 22 March, the Iraqi TV showed Saddam Hussein meeting senior advisers. The Iraqi military set fire to oil-filled trenches around Baghdad to create smoke to obscure targets from the U.S. pilots dropping dumb bombs. The Centcom claim of the capture of Nasiriya (pop. 750,000), was disputed, rightly, by Al-Jazeera TV. The Anglo-American forces approached Basra. The Pentagon sources said that the Special Activities Division of Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) might be involved in talks between the U.S. and the Republican Guard generals. The total of the cruise missiles to hit Iraq reached 1,000.
In America, Bush's approval rating rose from 51 percent 10 days previously to 70 percent, while disapproval points fell from 42 to 27. A poll in Britain showed 56 percent saying that America and Britain were "right" to go to war, against 36 percent saying "wrong."
On 23 March the Centcom's claim of the capture of Zubair naval base remained unverified. Iraq claimed that 77 civilians had died in the fighting in Basra. As U.S. troops approached Najaf [q.v.] and Karbala [q.v.] they met stiff resistance. Nightly bombing of Baghdad continued.
On 24 March there were reports of resistance to the invading forces in Zubair. The next day the Centcom claimed control of all of the Rumeila oil field. But its claim of a civilian uprising in Basra was contradicted by the images shown by Al-Jazeera's reporter inside the city, which was now besieged. The Iraqi resistance in Nasiriya continued. A fierce sandstorm hit Baghdad.
There were large antiwar protest marches in Amman [q.v.], Beirut [q.v.], and Damascus [q.v.].
On 26 March a sandstorm and Iraqi resistance slowed down the American advance. The Centcom's final capture of Umm Qasr was confirmed by Al-Jazeera TV. On the outskirts of Baghdad, the Anglo-American Special Forces pointed targets with lasers to guide bombs. U.S. paratroopers arrived at Bashur air strip in Kurdistan to open a front in the north.
In the first week of its invasion, the Centcom mounted 5,700 air sorties, dropped 2,000 guided bombs, and fired 500 Tomahawks missiles.
27 March-2 April (Week 2): On 27 March U.S. troops began consolidating their positions outside Karbala. Across the Karbala Gap, however, they faced 6,000 Iraqi regular army and Republican Guard soldiers. Small bands of Iraqi irregulars harassed U.S. supply lines. There were big explosions in central Baghdad. Two bunker-busting bombs destroyed the communications tower.
On 29 March, there were worldwide protest demonstrations against the war, including one in Port Said, Egypt, organized by the ruling National Democratic Party [q.v.].
On 30 March, there was fierce fighting between the two warring sides in Najaf. In Nasiriya the Americans started building an extra bridge over the Euphrates [q.v.] to help unclog the supply lines to the forces northwards. U.S. troops captured the airfield near Karbala after an intense combat. The Centcom's round-the-clock bombardment of Baghdad continued.
On 31 March, the British Marines captured the Abu Qassib suburb of Basra after a 15-hour battle. In Nasiriya U.S. Marines engaged in street fighting in Nasiriya. The next day, on reaching Kut, they fought the units of the Iraqi Republican Guard, regular army, and Fedayeen Saddam. U.S. soldiers besieged Najaf. Fighting broke out in Hillah. There was heavy bombing of Baghdad with low-flying aircraft swooping over.
On 2 April, American troops encircled Karbala.
At the end of two weeks, the Cent-com had flown 18,000 air sorties, launched 725 Tomahawk missiles, discharged 12,000 precision-guided munitions, and dropped 50 cluster bombs as well as several phosphorous bombs in Nasiriya. It had seized 600 of the 1,000 oil wells in southern and central Iraq.
3–9 April (Week 3): On 3 April the Kurdish peshmargas attacked the Iraqi front lines in a big way. The Centcom's black-out bombs, which showered power cables with graphite filament and short-circuited electric grids, plunged Baghdad into darkness. U.S. troops seized Furat near Saddam International Airport, located six miles from Baghdad's city boundary. The capital was (in theory) safeguarded by 20,000 soldiers of the Special Republican Guard, whose commanders were unable to communicate with their Central Command, and an unknown number of the Fedayeen Saddam and foreign volunteers.
The following day, a British Special Forces unit staged a lightning raid on an official site inside Basra and killed Gen. Ali Hassan al-Majid, commander of the southern Iraqi forces, and his bodyguards. After a day's combat, the U.S. troops captured Saddam International Airport. Central Baghdad was quiet, with little evidence of troops, road blocks, or other defenses. Most of the capital was without power or water after another night of bombing.
On 5 April, an armored column of 30 U.S. tanks went around in an arc in the southwest of Baghdad, adjacent to the Saddam Airport. Iraqi TV showed Saddam Hussein attending a meeting with his sons, top aides, and military commanders. The black-uniformed Fedayeen Saddam appeared on the streets for the first time.
On 6 April, in a three-pronged attack, the British troops, who had so far fired inter alia 2,000-plus cluster munitions around Basra, entered the city center while the Americans seized Karbala's central district. The 7,000 American soldiers stationed at the Saddam Airport repulsed an Iraqi counterattack.
The next day there was looting in Basra, and a large statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down in Karbala. In Baghdad, with an advance of special mine-clearing tanks forging a path through 400 yards/366 meters of minefields, a column of 70 U.S. tanks and 60 fighting vehicles, with air cover, captured the district housing government offices and the Parade Ground and Victory Arches. American soldiers raided the New Presidential Palace, which contained Saddam Hussein's official residence.
On 8 April at 12:00 GMT (15:00 Iraqi Time), the Centcom directed two satellite guided bombs and two bunker-busting bombs at a restaurant in Mansour district following an intelligence tip-off that Saddam Hussein and his two sons and senior aides were there. The bombs left a 60-ft./20-meter crater and 14 ordinary citizens dead. Separately, U.S. attacks killed Tariq Ayub, a producer of Al-Jazeera TV in his office in Baghdad, and two news agency photographers based at Palestine Hotel. Iraqi TV went off the air. That day all Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard soldiers melted away, reportedly as a result of a secret deal negotiated by top CIA officials between the Centcom and the Republican Guard General Command, which had lost contact with the Central Command due to the disruption of the Iraqi communications system caused by the Pentagon. It had also realized the impossibility of defending Baghdad without air cover. Its deal with the CIA required the generals to order their ranks to throw away their uniforms and go home in return for the Centcom's assurance that the deserters would not be chased and that the Republican Guard commanders would be flown out of Iraq. This left Special Republican Guard commanders no option but to follow suit. As a result, the number of Iraqi prisoners of war remained unchanged—at 8,302. When the regular army troops and Fedayeen Saddam sniped at the American troops from building tops, they were targeted by the Centcom's attack aircraft.
On 9 April celebrating crowds in Baghdad danced, looted, and defaced the ubiquitous images of Saddam Hussein. The 20-ft./6-meter bronze statue of Saddam at the Fardaus Square in downtown Baghdad was pulled down with the help of a U.S. Marine tank. The Centcom declared the end of the regime of Saddam Hussein, who was to be sighted later that day in the streets of the northern neighborhood of Adhimiya.
During the past three weeks the Centcom staged 30,000 air sorties, dropped 30,000 bombs, and discharged 750 cruise missiles.
10–16 April (Week 4): On 10 April Baghdad descended into anarchy, as underprivileged Shia [q.v.] mobs resorted to arson and looting. With the exception of the ministries of oil and the interior, heavily guarded by U.S. troops, all ministries were ransacked and burnt. In the north, Kurdish peshmargas entered Kirkuk—after the Iraqi troops abandoned the city following heavy U.S. air raids. Tikrit, the home town of Saddam Hussein, was bombed heavily, with the U.S. Special Forces guiding the bombing. At Di-waniva there was an eight-hour fire-fight as the Iraqis attacked U.S. supply lines, and there was intense combat in Hillah between the American troops and the Fedayeen Saddam. Umm Qasr was named as the base of the U.S. Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) to be headed by retired U.S. general Jay Rayner. In Paris, President Chirac said, "France, like all democracies, rejoices [in the fall of Saddam]."
On 11 April, the Kurdish peshmargas and U.S. Special Forces entered Mosul after signs of Iraqi withdrawal. There was celebration as well as looting. The next day there was fighting between Kurds [q.v.] and Arabs in Mosul, which was two-thirds Arab. In central Baghdad, Iraq's largest Museum of Antiquities, with its unique collection of relics from the Mesopotamian civilization, was looted, and many ancient artifacts were destroyed or stolen.
On 13 April U.S. soldiers entered Tikrit, which looked deserted. But once inside they faced a fierce attack by Iraqi tanks. The Pentagon claimed that, of the 60 zones in which the Centcom had divided Baghdad, only 15 were not under its control, and whatever resistance persisted was mainly from the non-Iraqi foreign volunteers.
On 14 April the Bush administration put a $200,000 bounty on Saddam's head. The next day Centcom conceded that it controlled only the western part of Tikrit, with its eastern part on the other side of the Tigris still under pro-Saddam forces. A meeting of 80 Iraqi delegates held at Talil air base near Nasiriya, opened by Jay Garner, head of the ORHA, and chaired by Zalmay Khalilzad, a personal envoy of President Bush, was attended by the two main Kurdish parties but boycotted by the Supreme Assembly of Islamic Revolution in Iraq [q.v.]. In nearby Nasiriya, 20,000 Shias demonstrated against the U.S. and for an Islamic Iraq, shouting "No to America, No to Saddam."
On 16 April 40 U.S. Marines raided the home of British-trained Dr. Rihad Taha, the biologist wife of General Amr Muhammad Rashid, former oil minister, but failed to find evidence of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
In the past four weeks, the Cent-com mounted 37,000 air sorties, launched 23,000 precision-guided missiles, fired 750 cruise missiles, and dropped 1,566 cluster bombs (1,500 by the U.S. and the rest by Britain).
For all practical purposes the Gulf War III ended on 16 April although it was not until 1 May that President Bush announced a formal end to the hostilities against Iraq.
HUMAN LOSSES UP TO 3 APRIL 2003: Iraq: civilians 1,254, soldiers 3,650; U.K.: soldiers 31; U.S.: soldiers 119.
HUMAN LOSSES UP TO 15 DECEMBER 2011: 4,487 U.S. soldiers. A conservative estimate of the dead Iraqis was put at 105,000. In 2006, the London-based general medical journal Lancet published an estimate of 654,965 excess Iraqi deaths related to the war, with 601,027 caused by violence.
COST: $30 billion for the first 28 days, with Britain bearing about 8 percent of the total. The total cost of the eight years and nine months' long war to the U.S. treasury was $802 billion.
AFTERMATH: A poll of Iraqis in 2009 by the British Broadcasting Corporation, ABC News (America), and NHK (Japan) showed that 56 percent thought that the invasion was wrong. On 31 August 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama announced the end of the Pentagon's combat missions in Iraq. Almost 1.5 million Americans served in the war. Of those military personnel who served in Iraq, 4,487 were killed, and about 32,000 were injured. The number of Iraqis killed varied from 106,147 to several hundreds of thousands. In 2009, the Pentagon had 3.4 million pieces of equipment at 357 bases in Iraq. In August 2010 the respective figures were down to 1.2 million and 94.
Gush Emunim (Hebrew: Bloc of the Faithful): Israeli political-religious movement Founded in early 1974, the Gush Emunim grew out of a ginger group within the National Religious Party (NRP) [q.v.], formed after the 1967 Six-Day War [q.v.] to advocate the Jewish settlement of the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.]. In 1970 it captured popular attention by establishing an unauthorized settlement at Kiryat Arba near Hebron [q.v.]. The presence of the NRP inside the cabinet, and the fact that the Labor-dominated [q.v.] government itself had initiated a program of colonization within six months of the 1967 War, meant that no action was taken against the settlers. The assumption of power by the Likud [q.v.]-led coalition in May 1977 boosted the morale of the Gush, whose views on historical Jewish claims on Judea [q.v.] and Samaria [q.v.] had been endorsed by the powerful Ashkenazim [q.v.] Rabbinical Council.
Within three years of the start of the Likud administration, the Gush had established 20 illegal colonies on the West Bank [q.v.]. The plans of Gush extremists—known as "the Jewish Underground"—to blow up the Dome of the Rock [q.v.] and al-Aqsa Mosque in order to trigger a fresh war between Israel and the Arabs [q.v.] were diverted by their involvement in the attacks on two Palestinian mayors in June 1980 in retaliation for the death of six Jewish militants in Hebron in May. When the final phase of the Israeli evacuation of Sinai [q.v.], including Yamit settlement, in April 1982 aroused little public protest, Gush militants postponed their plan to demolish the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque.
In July 1983 the stabbing of a Jewish settler in Hebron led to retribution by the Jewish settlers of Kiryat Arba. This in turn led to attacks on Israeli buses in early 1984. Gush extremists responded by planting bombs on five Arab buses, which were defused. The arrest in April 1984 of Gush militants revealed their plans against Muslim [q.v.] shrines, which were condemned by secular and religious authorities.
It was only after the Palestinian intifada [q.v.] had gathered momentum in the late 1980s that the Gush's influence began to wane, after reaching a peak of 50,000 members. It opposed the Oslo Accord [q.v.] of September 1993. Its militants applauded the murder of 29 Palestinians who were praying at Hebron's Ibrahimi Mosque (called Tomb of the Patriarchs by the Jews [q.v.]) in February 1994 by a Kiryat Arba resident, Baruch Goldstein—an acolyte of Kiryat Arba-based Moshe Levinger, the best known leader of the Gush Emunim. See also Jewish fundamentalism.
H
ha: (Hebrew: the) Used as a prefix, the definite article in Hebrew is often joined in European languages to the noun by a hyphen, or is written with no intervening space, for instance Ha-Poale or HaPoale.
Habash, George (1925–2008): Palestinian leader Born into a Greek Orthodox [q.v.] family in Lydda (later Lod), Habash moved to Amman [q.v.] with his parents after the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.]. He graduated in medicine from the American University in Beirut (AUB) [q.v.]. While at the AUB, he cofounded the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM) [q.v.] in 1952 soon after the anti-royalist coup by Arab nationalist officers in Egypt. Under his leadership the ANM's Palestinian members formed a "Preparatory Committee for Unified Palestinian Action" in early 1966. Overall, though, Habash put his faith in Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] as the leader who would liberate Palestine [q.v.] through a conventional war with Israel. But the Arab defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War [q.v.] destroyed this scenario.
He founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) [q.v.], which affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.]. Believing that hijacking an airliner was more effective in drawing world attention to the plight of Palestinians than killing Israelis, he started organizing hijacks—the first target being an Israeli aircraft at Athens airport in December 1968. His conversion to Marxism-Leninism led him to add international Zionism [q.v.], world imperialism, and Arab reaction to Israel as the enemies. He used the hijacking of three Western airliners on 9 September 1970 to trigger a clash between Palestinian commandos and King Hussein of Jordan [q.v.], which escalated into large-scale fighting in which the Palestinians suffered a defeat. The expulsion of all the Palestinian parties from Amman followed.
He relocated the PFLP in Beirut [q.v.]. When in 1974 the Palestine National Council (PNC) accepted the idea of a Palestinian state on the West Bank [q.v.] and the Gaza Strip [q.v.] as an "intermediate step" toward the liberation of Palestine, he rejected it. He boycotted the PLO executive committee, of which he was a member. He maintained this stance until 1981.
After the expulsion of the PLO from Beirut in September 1982, he refrained from joining the Syrian-instigated attack against Yasser Arafat [q.v.] and Fatah [q.v.]. But following Arafat's agreement with King Hussein in early 1985 to initiate talks with Israel, he joined the Syrian-inspired Palestine National Salvation front of radical Palestinian groups. Two years later, after the Arafat-Hussein agreement had been reversed, he rejoined the PLO executive committee. In November 1988, while opposing the resolution before the PNC to accept a Palestinian state in part of Palestine and peaceful coexistence with Israel, he declared that he would abide by the decision of the majority (which adopted the resolution).
During the crisis created by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, Habash backed President Saddam Hussein [q.v.], especially after the latter tried to link the Kuwaiti issue to Israel's occupation of the Arab territories. He opposed the Oslo Accord [q.v.] of September 1993. Afflicted with cancer, he gave up his leadership of the PFLP to his deputy, Mustafa Zifri, also known as Abu Ali Mustafa, in 2000.
Habibi, Emile Shukri (1921–96): Palestinian writer and politician Born into an Anglican Christian [q.v.] family in Haifa [q. v.], Habibi received his secondary school education in Haifa and Acre [q.v.]. After working in sundry jobs he became an announcer with the Palestinian Broadcasting Service in 1940, the year he joined the Palestine Communist Party [q.v.]. Following the party line, he backed the 1947 UN partition plan for Palestine [q.v.]. After the founding of Israel in 1948, he stayed in the newly established state.
As a leading member of Maki [q.v.] (the Israeli Communist Party), he opposed military administration of Arab-inhabited areas and fought discrimination against Arab [q.v.] citizens. He was elected to the Knesset [q.v.] in 1951, 1955, and 1961. Four years later, together with Emile Touma [q.v.] and Meir Vilner, he left Maki and established Rakah [q.v.] (New Communist List). He failed to get reelected to the Knesset in 1965 and 1969, but was successful in 1973.
A prolific journalist dealing with literary, cultural, and political subjects, Habibi served on the editorial boards of important Communist publications, becoming chief editor of the party organ, Al-Ittihad (Arabic: The Unity) from 1985 to 1989. His collection of short stories, The Sextet of the Six-Day War (1969), relates meetings between Israeli Arabs [q.v.] and their relatives living elsewhere. His best-known volume, The Secret Life of Saeed, the Ill-fated Pessoptimist (1974), is a sardonic novel about an Arab antihero who wants to cooperate with the Israelis. Then followed Lukaa bin Lukaa (Arabic: Lukaa, son of Lukaa) (1980), Ikhtiyaa (1985), and Suraya bint al-Ghoul(Arabic: Saraya, daughter of the Ghoul) (1991). He won the Israel prize for literature in 1992, the first Israeli Arab to do so.
Hadash (Hebrew: acronym of Hazit Demokratit le Shalom ve Leshivyon, Democratic Front for Peace and Equality): Israeli political party Formed in Haifa [q.v.] in 1977 by the merger of Rakah [q.v.] and the Black Panther Party, Hadash adopted the following program: Israeli withdrawal from all Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.], the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza [q.v.], and an end to discrimination against Israeli Arabs [q.v.] and Oriental Jews [q.v.]. The number of Knesset [q.v.] seats won by Hadash has varied between two (in 2003) and five (in 1977, 1981, and 1988). Its secretary-general is Muhammad Barake, who has been a Knesset member since 1999. In 2003, the party entered the parliamentary elections on a joint list with Ta'al, an Israeli Arab group led by Ahmad Tibi, but returned to an independent participation in the subsequent elections. In the 2006 Knesset election it secured three seats. Its 2009 election manifesto called for the eradication of all weapons of mass destruction in Israel, meaning nuclear bombs and chemical and biological weapons. It won four seats, divided equally between Jews [q.v.] and Israeli Arabs.
al-Hadi, Abd Rabbu Mansour (1945-): Yemeni politician, president 2012- Born in the village of Thakin in the Abyan province of South Yemen [q.v.], then a British colony, he graduated from Aden Protectorate Military School. He won a scholarship to study briefly in Britain, where he became flunet in English. Soon after his return to Aden [q.v.], he was sent to Cairo [q.v.] for a four-year-long military training, which ended in 1970. He rose in the hierarchy from a commander of an armored battalion to an administrative assistant to the chief of general staff. In 1976, the Marxist government of South Yemen arranged an advanced four-year training for him at a Soviet military academy. After his return home, he was promoted to deputy chief of staff for logistics and administration in 1983. In the civil war that erupted between President Ali Nasser Muhammad [q.v.] and his rivals in January 1986, al-Hadi sided with Muhammad, who lost. He fled to North Yemen along with the troops loyal to him. He reorganized them as the Brigades of Yemen Unity.
After the unification of North and South Yemen in May 1990, he cooperated with the newly appointed Yemeni Vice President, Ali Salim al-Beidh [q.v.], a native of South Yemen. But when civil war erupted in April 1994 he sided with the North Yemeni forces. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.] appointed him defense minister in May, and then promoted him to vice president in October. In 1997 Saleh raised his military rank to lieutenant general.
Following his reelection as president in 1999 and 2006, Saleh reappointed al-Hadi vice president. When pro-democracy protests, inspired by the Arab Spring [q.v.], escalated in 2011, he stood by Saleh. During Saleh"s absence between 4 June and 23 September to undergo medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, he became the acting president. Once Saleh had accepted the transitional plan of the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.] on 23 November, he became the acting president again. In the presidential election that followed in February 2012, he was the sole candidate. He then succeeded Saleh as president. He faced a challenge to reform the political-administrative system, including the military.
Hadith (Arabic: Narrative): sayings and doings of the Prophet Muhammad The original term al-Hadith, meaning The Tradition—an account of the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad—is now used without "Al." With the spread of Islam [q.v.] after the Prophet Muhammad's death in 632 A.D., many of his companions settled in the conquered territories, which were administered first by the Umayyads (661–750 A.D.) and then by the Abbasids (751–1258). Of the 6,616 verses in the Quran [q.v.], only 80 concerned legal issues, mainly about women, marriage, family, and inheritance. But since the Prophet Muhammad had governed a realm there was an oral record of what he had said and done as a judge and administrator. As most of his companions had made note of what he did or said for their own guidance, their diligence later paved the way for codification of the Prophet's sunna (Arabic: practice) when the eminent jurist Muhammad bin Idris al-Shafii (767–820 A.D.) ruled that all legal decisions not stemming directly from the Quran [q.v.] must be based on a tradition going back to the Prophet Muhammad himself.
The result was the Hadith—books of traditions, each tradition described by text and the chain of authority, going back to the original source. Some 2,700 acts and sayings of the Prophet were collected and published in six canonical works, called Al-Hadith, the first collection being by Muhammad al-Bukhari (d. 870 A.D.). These were accepted by Sunnis [q.v.] and became a secondary source of guidance, the primary source being the Quran. Shias [q.v.], who accepted only those traditions that were traced through Imam Ali bin Abu Talib, came up with their collections, compiled by Abu Jaafar Muhammad al-Kulini (d. 939 A.D.), Abu Jaafar Muhammad al-Kummi (d. 991 A.D.), and Abu Jaafar Muhammad al-Tusi (d. 1068). In the event of dispute, a tradition can only be abrogated by another tradition.
Hafiz, Amin (1921–2009): Syrian politician; president, 1963–66 The son of a Sunni [q.v.] policeman in Aleppo [q.v.], Hafiz became a non-commissioned officer in the French-Syrian Special Forces during World War II. He graduated from the Homs Military Academy in 1947. Following his participation in the coup by Hashem al-Attasi against Adib Shishakli [q.v.] in 1954, he was appointed commandant of the Homs Military Academy. After the merger of Syria and Egypt into the United Arab Republic [q.v.] in 1958, he was sent to the Cairo military staff college as an instructor. When Syria seceded from the UAR in September 1961, he was recalled to Damascus [q.v.], then dispatched to Argentina as military attache.
After the Baath Party [q.v.] seized power in March 1963, the powerful Military Committee promoted Hafiz to lieutenant general and appointed him interior minister and deputy premier. He joined the Baath Party. Having foiled the Syrian Nasserists' [q.v.] attempt to capture power, he became defense minister and acting chief of staff as well as chairman of the Presidential Council. When Salah al-Din Bitar [q.v.] resigned as prime minister in October 1963, Hafiz succeeded him. But his order in April 1964 to shell the al-Sultan Mosque in Damascus to counter the Islamist challenge to the regime backfired. He gave up his premiership.
Despite his high governmental and party positions, he lacked real power, which belonged to the Military Committee from which he was excluded.
In protest he went over to the civilian faction of the Baath Party, led by Michel Aflaq [q.v.] and Bitar, which lacked a military figure. In August 1965 he ousted Salah Jadid [q.v.], head of the Military Committee, as chief of staff. But in the final showdown between the Military Committee and its rival faction in February 1966, his side lost.
On his release from jail in June 1967, he went into exile in Lebanon. When the Aflaq-led faction of the Baath party seized power in Iraq about a year later, he moved to Baghdad [q.v.]. Following the seizure of power by Hafiz Assad [q.v.] in November 1970, more than 100 Syrians, including Hafiz and Aflaq, were tried for conspiring with Iraq to overthrow the Syrian regime in 1970 (before Assad's takeover). Hafiz, Aflaq, and three others were sentenced to capital punishment, which was commuted by Assad. Hafiz continued his anti-Assad activities, later heading the National Alliance of the Liberation of Syria, an umbrella body of 18 anti-Assad factions.
He was allowed to return to Syria in 2005 by President Bashar Assad [q.v.].
Haganah (Hebrew: defense): Zionist military Organization Aware of the deep Arab resentment against Jewish immigration into Palestine [q.v.], young Zionists [q.v.] secretly transformed a voluntary body, HaShomer (Hebrew: The Watchmen), into Haganah, a militia, in 1920. After the Arab-Jewish clashes of 1929, they accelerated the process of training and equipping Haganah volunteers with smuggled weapons. It was the discovery of such arms in the autumn of 1935 that triggered the Arab revolt of 1936–39. Haganah then had more than 10,000 relatively well-equipped recruits. During the latter, post-1938 phase of the Arab revolt, when the Arabs [q.v.] attacked not only British targets but also Jewish settlements, Haganah was fostered and armed by the British Mandate. It carried out operations against the Arabs and manufactured arms at a clandestine factory.
Following the outbreak of World War II, the British legalized Haganah. It instructed its members to join the Jewish units within the British army. More than 27,000 Palestinian Jews [q.v.] did so. However, when the war was over Haganah turned against the British and engaged in the smuggling of Jewish immigrants into Palestine. The British mounted a major campaign against it in June 1947, but met with only partial success.
By the time the United Nations adopted the partition plan in November 1947, Haganah had emerged as a professional army, supported by 79,000 reserves, armed police, and home guards. As 15 May 1948—the British withdrawal date—approached, interethnic violence intensified. Conscious of the fact that the area about to constitute the Jewish state, according to the UN plan, had almost as many Arabs as Jews [q.v.], Haganah, along with Irgun Zvai Leumi [q.v.] and Lehi [q.v.], focused on expelling as many Arabs from these areas as possible. With the founding of Israel in 1948, Haganah members were transferred to the Zvai Haganah Le Israel (Hebrew: Military Defense of Israel), known as Zahal [q.v.].
Haifa: Israeli city Population: 858,000 (2011 est.) An important port whose recorded history goes back two millennia. Haifa was captured by Muslim Arabs [q.v.] in 638 A.D. and changed hands during the Crusades. It formed part of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. At the turn of the 20th century, Haifa began to overtake Acre [q.v.], situated at the northern end of the same bay, as a port. After the defeat of the Ottomans in 1918 it became part of the Palestine [q.v.] that was placed under British Mandate. It was the site of bitter battles between the Arabs [q.v.] and the Zionists [q.v.] on the eve of the founding of Israel in 1948, which resulted in all but 3,000 of its 50,000 Arab residents fleeing. At present Israeli Arabs form 9 percent of its population.
The city, located on Mount Carmel, is picturesque and has a large deep-water harbor. It is an important commercial, industrial, and communications center. The burial place of Abdul Baha, son of the founder of the Bahai faith [q.v.], Haifa is the international headquarters of this religion.
hajj (Arabic: setting out): The fifth pillar of Islam [q.v.], hajj is decreed by the Quran [q.v.] (3:97): "And pilgrimage to the House [of Allah] is incumbent upon people for the sake of Allah, [upon] everyone who is able to undertake the journey to it." The pilgrimage takes place from 8 to 12 Dhul Hijja, the last month of the Islamic calendar [q.v.].
The House of Allah, containing the sacred Black Stone, the Kaaba [q.v.], in the Saudi city of Mecca [q.v.], is believed to have been rebuilt several times since its original construction by Adam. Before entering Mecca—during 8–10 Dhul Hijja—the pilgrim performs a ritual ablution and puts on two seamless pieces of white cloth (men only—women wear ordinary dress).
After entering the city the pilgrim circumambulates the Kaaba anticlockwise seven times. Then he strides between the Safa and Marwa hillocks, respectively symbols of caution and hope, pertaining to the search for water by Hagar for her son Ishmael/Ismail by the Prophet Abraham. Along with fellow pilgrims he must then stand on Arafat Hill, situated 12 mi/19 km to the east of the Kaaba, from midday to sunset, seeking enlightenment and salvation.
Then the pilgrim must reach Mina, a site located 3 mi/5 km east of Mecca on the way to the Arafat Hill, the site of the Prophet Muhammad's last sermon, to throw seven pebbles at each of the three pillars, the first of which is called the Great Devil. This is a reenactment of Abraham's stoning of the devil, when an inner voice whispered to him not to sacrifice his son, Ish-mael, as he had been commanded to do. In 2004 these pillars were replaced by three walls, each 85 ft/27 m long.
Next, in a further reenactment of Abraham (when, having resolved to sacrifice his son, Ishmael, in the way of God, the ram of his renunciation appeared) the pilgrim sacrifices an animal: a sheep, goat, camel, or cow. In the past, the pilgrim either slaughtered the animal himself/herself or witnessed the killing. Nowadays most pilgrims purchase a sacrifice voucher in Mecca whereby an animal is sacrificed in their names without their presence. The pilgrim then has his face and head shaved, a preamble to his acquiring the title of hajji or haajj.
On each of the subsequent two days the haaji must hit each of the three walls with seven pebbles.
Hajj is the most dramatic manifestation of the Muslim [q.v.] umma [q.v.]. In 1988 the Saudi government fixed a quota of one pilgrim per thousand foreign Muslims. Yet, due to the flawed crowd control, there were a series of fatal accidents. In 1990 a stampede in the pedestrian tunnel leading to Mina caused 1,426 deaths. Four years later a stampede at the Stoning of the Devil ritual led to the deaths of 270 pilgrims, and in 1998 a similar event left 118 people dead. Similar accidents in 2001, 2003, and 2004 caused a total of 400 fatalities.
Between 1996 and 2011, the number of foreign Muslims doing the hajj rose from 1 million to 1.828 million. The size of the Saudi-based pilgrims with or without the hajj permit varies around 900,000.
The Saudi government deploys 100,000 policemen and soldiers in and near Jeddah [q.v.], Mecca, and Medina [q.v.] during the hajj season, and 1,850 closed-circuit TV cameras to monitor the pilgrims at the Grand Mosque of Mecca, which has a capacity to hold 1.5 million people.
al-Hakim, Tawfiq (1898–1987): Egyptian writer Born of a Turkish father and an Egyptian mother in Alexandria [q.v.], Hakim secured a law degree from Cairo University. In 1925 he went to Paris to obtain a doctorate in law. Instead of concentrating on his studies he soaked himself in the cultural, artistic, and theatrical life of the city. Having written two plays before arriving in Paris, he took a keen interest in the works of George Bernard Shaw, Henrik Ibsen, Maurice Maeterlinck, and Luigi Pirandello. After his return to Egypt in 1928, albeit without a doctorate in law, he was appointed deputy prosecutor in Alexandria and then transferred to several towns as the county district attorney. In 1934 he became director of the education ministry's research department, moving five years later to information department of the ministry of social affairs.
By then his literary career was well established. Having attempted light entertainment in Ali Baba (1926), Hakim opted for intellectual plays full of ideas and philosophic reflections. He retained his outstanding ability to write lucid dialogue in colloquial Arabic [q.v.], and single-handedly raised prose drama, until then considered low art, to the exalted level of Arabic poetry. He dealt with the conflict between pragmatic and idealist behavior in A Bullet in the Heart (1931), a comedy, and with the search for knowledge in Shahrazad (1934). The Men of the Cave (1935) is another play of ideas, offering a Quranic version of the Christian legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. Inspired by Aristophanes' Lysistrata, he wrote Praxa or: How to Govern (1939), in which the entertaining element was stronger than the intellectual. It was the same in Pygmalion (1942). During the next decade he penned Solomon the Wise (1943); King Oedipus (1949); Mr Kanduz's Property (1950), a contemporary social comedy; and If Youth Only Knew (1950), in which an old man regains his youth by taking an elixir.
At the time of the 1952 revolution, Hafiz was director of the National Library in Cairo [q.v.]. He supported the new regime. In 1956 he was made a member of the National Arts Council, and four years later received the state prize for literature. His Soft Hands (1954) is about the dignity of labor, and The Deal (1956) centers on a small village's attempt to purchase land from a foreign company.
The Sultan's Dilemma (1960) is an entertaining fantasy with a political message: a ruler who uses force to uphold freedom is hardly free himself. This indicated Hakim's disappointment with the rule of President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.]. He expressed this feeling more strongly after the publication of The Tree Climber (1962) (a variation of the story of Adam, Eve, and the tree) and Shams al-Nahr (1965) (about a princess in the Arabian Nights who refuses to marry a rich prince), and in such political plays as Fate of a Cockroach (1966), Not a Thing out of Place (1966), and The Bank of Worry (1967). After Nasser's death in 1970, Hafiz criticized him in his booklet The Return of Consciousness (1975). By then his plays had been translated into foreign languages and performed abroad. His novels Return of the Soul (1933) and Diary of a County District Attorney (1937) also had been translated abroad.
Hakimiya: Islamic sect Hakimiya is the term used for those who followed the Fatimid Caliph Abu Ali Tariq al-Hakim. See Druzes.
Halabja. Kurdish Iraqi town, site of poison gas attacks by Iraq Population: 80,000 (2010 est.). During the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.], Iran and its Iraqi Kurdish allies captured Halabja, 15 miles from the international border, on 13 March 1988. Three days later the Iraqi air force attacked it with poison gas bombs, killing between 3,200 and 6,800 people, mainly civilians, and injuring another 10,000. The pictures of men, women, and children frozen in instant death, relayed by the Iranian media, shocked the world. In killing its own unarmed citizens with chemical weapons, Iraq did something unprecedented in history. The U.S. defense department put it about that Iran was partly responsible for the event. It was seven weeks before the UN Security Council condemned the use of chemical weapons by "both sides (Iraq and Iran)" and called on them to refrain from using them in the future. In March 2010, Iraq's High Criminal Court ruled that the Halabja massacre was an act of genocide.
Halacha (Hebrew: The Way): Jewish religious law Also spelled Halakha, a derivative of halach, meaning "to go."
Halacha is a set of laws and ordinances that governs religious observances as well as daily life and conduct of Jews [q.v.]. It preserves the Oral Law, originating with the revelation on Mount Sinai to Moses. The project of compiling the oral traditions of the law and their interpretations, begun at the turn of the second century A.D., was completed in the early third century A.D. by Judah HaNasi and was called Mishna [q.v.]. Then the commentaries on Mishna, known as Gemara [q.v.], followed. The two together formed the Talmud [q.v.].
Halacha is the legal section of the Talmud and excludes the non-legal text—poetical digressions, fables, etc.— known as Hagadda. To take into account the changes caused by the passage of time, the original version of Halacha was revised by Moses Ben Maimon/Maimonides (d. 1204), Joseph Karo (d. 1575), and Abraham Danzig (d. 1820). In more recent times, Halacha has come to include Midrash Halacha [q.v.], which pertains to the Written Law as revealed in the written scripture, the Torah [q.v.].
Hama: Syrian city Population: 700,000 (2011 est.) An important ancient settlement, the recorded history of Hama goes back more than three millenniums when it was called Hamath. It underwent changes of names as well as rulers until it fell to Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] in 638 A.D. It changed hands again during the Crusades. It came under Ottoman suzerainty in the early 16th century. After the defeat of the Ottomans in 1918, it became part of the Syria placed under the French Mandate.
As the leading center of the Sunni [q.v.] religious establishment, Hama witnessed major skirmishes between Islamists and the security forces of the secular Baath Party [q.v.] regime in 1964 and 1980. In February 1982 there was an Islamist-inspired insurrection there. Before it was crushed, between 5,000 and 10,000 people died, including about 1,000 soldiers, and nearly a quarter of the old city was razed.
During the Arab Spring [q.v.] of 2011, Hama emerged as a strong center of opposition to the regime of President Bashar Assad [q.v.]. Following a vast pro-democracy demonstration on 1 July, the authorities imposed an armed blockade of the city. In late July-early August, in a concerted rive to crush the protest the security forces, using tanks, artillery, and snipers killed 200 people, and regained control of the city.
Its tourist attractions include the seventh-century al-Sultan mosque, originally a church; the citadel; and the gardens along the Orontes River, irrigated by giant, six-century-old waterwheels.
Hamas (Arabic: zeal; acronym of Harakat al-Muqawama al-lslami, Movement of Islamic Resistance): Islamic organization in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem Hamas was established on 27 December 1987 by Shaikh Ahmad Yasin [q.v.] and six other leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] in the Occupied Territories [q.v.] soon after the outbreak of the intifada [q.v.]. Its 1988 Charter described its short-term aim as reversing Israel's occupation of the West Bank [q.v.], Gaza Strip [q.v.], and East Jerusalem [q.v.], and founding an Islamic state approved by a referendum; and its long-term objective as establishing an Islamic state in all of (Mandate) Palestine. Strongly opposed to drugs and alcohol, it called for a struggle against corruption and bribery.
It was financed mainly by its supporters worldwide, who made contributions to it as part of zakat [q.v.], an Islamic tax. Most of its funds were spent on charity and the construction and running of clinics and mosques. It participated in both trade unions and chambers of commerce.
Active in the intifada, it set up its armed wing, and named it after Izz al-Din Qassam [q.v.], leader of the Arab intifada of 1936–39. Due to its decentralized structure it was unaffected by Yasin's imprisonment in 1989 when the leadership of Hamas passed to Abdul Aziz Rantisi. It became a recipient of grants from the Gulf States [q.v.] after their decision to stop funding the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] for siding with Iraq during the 1990–91 Kuwait Crisis. It opposed the PLO's decision to participate in the Middle East peace process initiated in October 1991 in Madrid, and rejected the Oslo Accord I [q.v.], signed in Washington nearly two years later. By then it had emerged as the foremost opponent of Israel, which in December 1992 deported 413 leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad [q.v.] to south Lebanon.
When the PLO established the Palestinian Authority (PA) [q.v.] in the Gaza Strip in May 1994, with several Jewish settlements in the Strip still intact, Hamas reiterated its earlier position that it considered Jewish settlers and Israeli troops in the Palestinian Territories [q.v.] as an occupying force to be resisted. Following the arrest of 350 Hamas supporters in the Gaza Strip by the PA police in October 1994, in the wake of the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier near Tel Aviv [q.v.] by Izz al-Din Qassam Brigade members, Hamas intensified its opposition to the PA.
By the mid-1990s, Hamas ran a network of mosques, clinics, schools, youth clubs, and day care centers. Its funds, amounting to $50 to $70 million a year, came mostly from charitable organizations based in the Gulf States which in turn received the bulk of their contributions from expatriate Palestinians working in the region. The annual contribution of Iran was put at $3 million.
Hamas did not participate in the elections for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Legislative Council in January 1996 as these stemmed from the Oslo Accord I.
In retaliation for the killing of 29 Palestinian worshippers in the Mosque of Abraham in Hebron [q.v.] on 25 February 1994 by a Jewish zealot, the Qassam Brigade embarked on a program of suicide attacks inside Israel. In turn Israel assassinated Yahya Ayash, the chief bomb-maker of the Qassam Brigade, in Gaza City [q.v.] in January 1996. To avenge his death, the Qassam Brigade mounted a series of suicide bombings in Jerusalem [q.v.] and elsewhere during the run-up to the elections for the Israeli prime minister and parliament in May. These damaged the prospects of the incumbent Prime Minister Shimon Peres [q.v.] who lost to Benjamin Netanyahu. [q.v.].
Following Netanyahu's decision to authorize a controversial Jewish settlement at Har Homa/Jabal Abu Ghneim on the southern outskirts of Jerusalem in early 1997, the Qassam Brigade resumed suicide bombings. Pressured by Israel, the PA suppressed Hamas. But in October Israel freed Shaikh Yasin in order to secure the release of its two intelligence agents caught trying to assassinate Khaled Mashaal [q.v.], a Hamas leader, in Amman [q.v.].
A year later the PA arrested Hamas leaders for criticizing it for its latest agreement with Israel, called the Wye River Memorandum [q.v.]. Its leaders criticized the PA for attending the final settlement talks with Israel chaired by the U.S. President Bill Clinton (r. 1993–2001) at the presidential retreat of Camp David in July 2000. These negotiations failed.
However, once the Al Aqsa intifada [q.v.] erupted two months later, and PA President Yasser Arafat [q.v.] resisted Israeli pressure to arrest Hamas leaders, the differences between the two rivals disappeared. Indeed, Hamas became an important member of the newly formed local Popular Resistance Committees, its other constituents being the Islamic Jihad [q.v.] and radical members of Fatah [q.v.]. The Qassam Brigade stepped up its suicide bomb attacks on Israelis. While the reoccupation of the West Bank towns and cities by the Israeli government of Ariel Sharon from the spring of 2002 onward curtailed the terrorist activities of the Qassam Brigade it failed to stop them.
Because of the clandestine structure of its local cells and a scattered leadership that functions by consensus, Hamas has proved to be resilient to attacks by its adversaries. To rebut the charges of anti-Semitism [q.v.], the Hamas Politburo described its conflict with Israel as "political, not religious."
In 2003, the European Union (EU) listed Hamas as a terrorist organization—nine years after the United States had done so. In January 2004, Hamas leader in Gaza, Abdul Aziz Rantisi, proposed a 10-year truce between Israel and his organization in exchange for the founding of an independent Palestine on the territories occupied by Israel since the June 1967 Arab-Israel War. [q.v.]. This was rejected by Israel whose intelligence services assassinated Rantisi in an air strike in April 2004—two months after a similar strike had killed Yasin.
Reversing its earlier policy, Hamas entered the parliamentary elections in January 2006. It won 74 of the 132 seats—with a half of the total elected on the basis of popular vote for a party and the other half by ballots for individual candidates. Its total consisted of 29 seats in the parties' category and 45 in the other category. The voter turnout was 77 percent; and the election, overseen by 900 foreign observers, was certified as "free and fair." Hamas formed the government under Ismail Haniyeh [q.v.]. But it was not recognized by the U.S. and the EU. They insisted that Hamas must renounce violence, recognize Israel, and accept all the previous agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. The Hainyeh government refused. The U.S. and the EU cut off their financial aid. Iran stepped in and raised its annual contribution to Hamas to $23 million.
Tensions rose between Hamas and Fatah. But Saudi mediators succeeded in reconciling the two, and that led to the formation of a national unity government under Haniyeh in March 2007.
This was unacceptable to the U. S. and Israel. They backed a clandestine plan to fund and arm a militia commanded by Fatah's Gaza-based strongman, Muhammad Dahlan, to overthrow the Haniyeh-led government. To abort this plot, Hamas mounted an armed offensive against Fatah in June, seized full control of the Gaza Strip, and expelled Fatah activists from it. In response, PA President Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.] dismissed all Hamas officials in the West Bank. Israel jailed 27 Hamas parliamentarians and other leaders in the West Bank areas under its control. It imposed an economic blockade on Gaza. The Qassam Brigade fired missiles at Israel from the Gaza Strip.
The classified U.S. cables, leaked by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks in December 2010, showed Yuvan Diskin, head of Israel's Shin Beth [q.v.], saying that Fatah [q.v.] forces asked Israel to attack Hamas in Gaza. Israel declined to get involved. Also Diskin opposed the idea of General Keith Dayton, then U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel-Palestinian Authority to arm Fatah's forces, arguing that these weapons and equipment would ultimately fall into the hands of Hamas. Diskin told U.S. ambassador Richard Jones that the PA shared intelligence on Hamas fully with Israel.
The conflict between Hamas-controlled Gaza and Israel continued with the Israeli Defense Forces [q.v.] retaliating with artillery firings, air strikes, and occasional incursions into Gaza to the missile and mortar attacks by the Qassam Brigade. In 2008, following mediation by Egypt, Hamas and Israel agreed to a six-month cease-fire from 19 June. But on 4 November, an Israeli incursion into Gaza led to the deaths of seven Hamas activists. The cease-fire broke down, and rocket and mortar attacks on Israel resumed. An armed conflict between Hamas and Israel, called the Gaza War [q.v.], ensued on 27 December.
At the end of this conflict in January 2009, rocket and mortar firings ceased. But Israel's blockade of land and sea borders and airspace continued. Later that year Hamas Politburo chief Khaled Mashaal repeated the earlier offer of his predecessor for a 10-year truce with Israel on the following basis: Hamas will accept the founding of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 frontiers—provided the Palestinian refugees were given the right to return to Israel, and East Jerusalem was recognized as the capital of the State of Palestine. In May 2010, he moderated the party's stance by saying that if the Palestinian state were established along the lines mentioned before, that would end the Palestinian resistance, and that the subsequent relationship with Israel would be decided by all the Palestinians around the world democratically. In December Ismail Haniyeh confirmed that Hamas would accept the result of such a referendum even if "it contradicted our policies and convictions."
The overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] and his pro-Israeli intelligence minister Omar Suleiman in February 2011 benefited Hamas. The post-Mubarak foreign minister Nabil al-Araby was evenhanded in his efforts to reconcile Hamas with Fatah. The erstwhile rivals' decision to share power in April was followed by an agreement between Mashaal and Abbas in February 2012 in Doha [q.v.].
Against the background of popular protests in Syria, President Bashar Assad [q.v.] expected Mashaal, based in Damascus [q.v.], to support him publicly. As beneficiaries of free and fair vote in the Palestinian Territories [q.v.], Mashaal and other Hamas leaders failed to do so. The headquarters of Hamas was shifted temporarily to Doha so that Hamas could maintain and cultivate its contacts with diplomats and other foreign officials. While Mashaal moved to Doha, other Politburo members stayed on in Damascus.
Hamdi, Ibrahim (1943–77): North Yemeni politician; president, 1974–77 Born to a religious Zaidi Shia [q.v.] father and a Shafii Sunni [q.v.] mother in Dhamar, he trained as an Islamic judge. After the 1962 antiroyalist coup he joined the army on the republican side. Rising through the ranks, he became a close aide of General Hassan al-Amri, who served as chief of staff and premier from 1967 to 1969. In 1971 Prime Minister Muhsin al-Aini appointed Hamdi deputy premier and interior minister. A year later he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and made deputy chief of staff.
On 13 June 1974 he carried out a bloodless coup by forcing the ruling Republican Council members and Abdullah Hussein al-Ahmar [q.v.], speaker of the Constituent People's Assembly (CPA), to resign. He assumed power as head of the newly created Military Command Council. He replaced many of the 3,000 army officers, who were often illiterate tribal chiefs, with young officers freshly trained at the military academies of the Soviet bloc countries. He dissolved the CPA, which was dominated by tribal nominees, in October 1975.
Distancing himself from Saudi Arabia, he started pursuing independent domestic and foreign policies. While maintaining a ban on political parties, he tolerated the clandestine formation of the National Democratic Front [q.v.] in 1976. As a result, he fell foul of the tribal leaders at home and the Saudi royal family abroad. The disgruntled tribal chiefs attempted two coups, but in vain. Negotiations between them and Hamdi, initiated in early 1977, collapsed when Shaikh al-Ahmar and his supporters occupied Saada and Khamir in the north, which led Hamdi to use force in July to quell the rebellion.
He improved relations with South Yemen as well as the Soviet Union. During his visit to Sanaa [q.v.] in August 1977, South Yemeni President Salim Rubai Ali [q.v.] and Hamdi agreed to unify their countries in four years. But two days before Hamdi's departure for Aden [q.v.] in October 1977 to sign a mutual defense pact, he was assassinated along with his brother Lieutenant Colonel Abdullah Hamdi, commander of an elite brigade. These killings were widely believed to have been inspired by Saudi Arabia.
Hanafi Code: Sunni Islamic legal school The Hanafi Code is the school of the Sharia [q.v.] founded by Abu Hanifa al-Numan (699–767 A.D.), an Iranian merchant-scholar based in Kufa [q.v.], Iraq. Instead of codifying established practices, Abu Hanifa applied logic and consistency in legal doctrines, thus establishing a method for tackling future problems and expanding the jurisdiction of law in a Muslim [q.v.] society.
On the whole the Hanafi Code is liberal and oriented toward urban communities. Adopted by the Abbasid caliphs (751A.D.-1258), it spread east to Afghanistan and then the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia, and Western China. It became the favored school of the Ottoman Turks. Once they had usurped the caliphate from the Mamlukes and established an Islamic empire (1517–1918) of their own, the Hanafi doctrine became their official code. It has continued to enjoy official status even in those former Ottoman territories where a majority of local Muslims follows a different doctrine.
Hanbali Code: Sunni Islamic legal school The Hanbali Code is the school of the Sharia [q.v.] founded by Ahmad bin Hanbal (780–855 A.D.). Opposed to the legal superstructure built upon the Quran [q.v.] and the sunna [q.v.], Hanbal argued that a legal decision must be reached by referring directly to the Quran and the sunna. He maintained that they constituted the law itself, and were not merely its source, thus standing apart from those schools—Hanafi [q.v.], Maliki [q.v.], and Shafii [q.v.]—that had codified the Quran and the sunna into a comprehensive jurisprudential system.
Over time Hanbal's fundamentalist approach lost support in the sophisticated societies of the Fertile Crescent [q.v.] but retained its hold among the nomadic tribes of the Najd [q.v. ]. In the early 14th century Ahmad bin Taimiya (d. 1328) emerged as an eminent Hanbali reformist. He condemned the practices of saint worship and tomb cult common among Sufis [q.v.] and opposed the contemporary ulema's [q.v.] assertion that there was no further need of ijtihad [q.v.], interpretative reasoning. Thus Hanbali jurists continued to practice ijtihad in those areas where the Quran and the sunna are vague. Timaya's views were well received by the Mamluke caliphs (1250–1517) in Cairo [q.v.]. During the subsequent Ottoman Empire, Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab (1703–1787), a Najdi cleric, was inspired by Hanbal and Taimiya. In 1745 he formed an alliance with the ruler of Najd, Muhammad bin Saud, who adopted the Wahhabi doctrine [q.v.].
Haniyeh, Ismail (1963–): prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, 2006-; (also spelled Hainya or Haniyah) Born to refugee parents in Gaza [q.v.], Haniyeh acquired an undergraduate degree in Arabic literature from the Islamic University in Gaza city [q.v.] in 1987. Two years later he was jailed for participating in the Palestinian Intifada [q.v.] as a member of Hamas [q.v.]. He was one of the 413 leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad [q.v.] to be banished to south Lebanon in December 1992, then under the control of Israel. After his return to Gaza in 1993, he served as the dean of the Islamic University. Four years later he became the chief of staff of the spiritual leader of Hamas, Shaikh Ahmad Yasin [q.v.].
During the Al Aqsa Intifada [q.v.], launched in 2000, several senior leaders of Hamas, including Yasin and Rantisi, were assassinated by Israel. As a result the status of such surviving figures as Haniyeh rose. When the Hamas Politburo decided to run in the parliamentary elections in January 2006, he topped the party list. After the electoral victory of Hamas, he was appointed prime minister in March.
Despite pressures from America, the European Union, and President Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.] of the Palestinian Authority (PA) [q.v.] on Hamas to renounce violence, recognize Israel, and accept all the previous agreements between the PA and Israel, the Haniyeh government refused to change its policies. However, in his interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel (The Star) in December 2006, he said that, if Israel agreed to a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders, then Hamas would offer Israel a 50-year-long truce.
Due to the economic blockade and the severing of all foreign aid, except from the Islamic Republic of Iran, the living standards of Gazans declined. To reverse the trend, Haniyeh resigned in February 2007 as a prelude to forming a national unity government, which came into being in March. But it proved short-lived. Following the seizure of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 by Hamas forces, Haniyeh was dismissed by Abbas as prime minister.
But since Abbas's appointment of Salam Fayyad [q.v.] as the prime minister was not endorsed by the parliament, as required by the constitution, Haniyeh continued to operate as the premier from Gaza. In line with the constitution, his government regarded Professor Aziz Duwaik, a native of the West Bank town of Tulkarm—speaker of the parliament, then serving a three-year jail sentence for his membership in Hamas in an Israeli prison—as the acting president of the PA [q.v.].
Reflecting the moderated views expressed by Khaled Mashaal [q.v.] in May 2010, Haniyeh said in December that he accepted the establishment of the Palestinian state on the borders of 1967 along with "a resolution of the issue of the Palestinian refugees," and added that if Palestinian voters worldwide endorsed such an accord with Israel his government would abide by it.
After remaining silent for many months, Haniyeh came out in support of the pro-reform protestors in Syria and elsewhere. In February 2012, addressing Friday worshippers at al-Azhar Mosque [q.v.] in Cairo [q.v.], he said: "I salute all the nations of the Arab Spring [q.v.], and I salute the heroic people of Syria who are striving for freedom, democracy, and reform." Two weeks earlier, disregarding the contrary advice by the rulers of the Gulf States [q.v.], he had paid a state visit to Tehran [q.v.].
Hanukkah (Hebrew: dedication): Jewish festival Hanukkah is an eight-day celebration, from 25 Kislev to 3 Tevet, to mark the rededication of the Holy Temple and altar in Jerusalem [q.v.] following the successful revolt in 165 B.C. by Judah the Maccabee against Antiochus IV, the Greek ruler of Syria. After the razing of the Second Holy Temple in 70 A.D., the festival was associated with the miracle of the cup of oil that burned for eight days on one day's supply of oil, and thus with the concept of an eternal flame. The celebration consists of lighting candles placed in a special eight-branched menorah—a candelabrum— with a candle added on each of the eight days, and playing games of chance with a dreidel, a four-sided top inscribed with Hebrew [q.v.] letters on its sides.
Haram al-Sharif: See Noble Sanctuary.
Hariri, Rafiq (1944–2005): Lebanese politician; prime minister, 1992–98; 2000–2004 (also spelled Rafic Harirri) Born into a Sunni [q.v.] family in Sidon [q.v.], Hariri enrolled as a student of business administration at Beirut Arab University in 1965. The next year he left to become a teacher in Jeddah [q.v.]. Soon he joined a construction company, and worked there until 1970. He then established his own construction company. It thrived, and he took over a French firm in 1978. He set up a branch of the company in Lebanon in 1980 in the midst of the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.]. By 1983 his business empire included banking, insurance, construction, light engineering, computer, and advertising companies.
Following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 [q.v.], he offered the services of his firms to counter the effects of the long Israeli siege of Beirut [q.v.]. He participated in the National Reconciliation Conferences respectively in Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1983 and 1984. Once the civil war was over in 1990, his multinational companies, possessing assets worth billions of dollars, became involved in reconstruction.
After the general election in August-October 1992, followed by a government led by Prime Minister Omar Karami, public attention focused on reconstruction and rehabilitation. Aware of his business acumen and high standing in international financial centers, President Elias Hrawi [q.v.] named Hariri prime minister in October 1992. His appointment began to attract foreign investment. In late 1994, stung by charges of corruption, he resigned, but was persuaded to withdraw his resignation.
Frustrated by the parliament's resistance to his reconstruction plans, he resigned again in May 1995, but was recalled. He formed a new government. He backed the extension of President Elias Hrawi's [q.v.] term of office. In October 1996 he was invited to become the prime minister for the third time. Two years later President Emile Lahoud [q.v.] did not repeat the invitation. But, in the parliamentary election of 2000, Hariri's supporters scored such an overwhelming victory that Lahoud had no option but to call on him to form the next cabinet. He served as the prime minister until October 2004 when he resigned due to differences with Lahoud. Overall, he presided over a reconstruction boom in Beirut. But during his administrations, corruption increased, as did public debt, which shot up 16-fold to $40 billion.
He and 22 others were killed in February 2005 when a powerful bomb hit his motorcade in Beirut. Following an agreement between the United Nations and the Lebanese government in February 2007, the UN Security Council passed a resolution in May to set up a Special Tribunal on Lebanon (STL) to investigate the killing of Hariri and bring the guilty to justice. The STL started functioning in March 2009. The next month it called on the Lebanese government to free the four top security and intelligence officers it had arrested in September 2005, due to the absence of credible evidence against them. In January 2011, the STL's prosecutor submitted a sealed indictment for the pre-trial judge, Daniel Fransen, to confirm. Once this was done, the STL submitted four confidential arrest warrants to the Lebanese government on 30 June. These warrants were believed to name four senior members of Hizbollah [q.v.]. Its leader, Hassan Nasrallah [q.v.], questioned the legitimacy of the STL. The warrants could not be served since the named persons went missing.
Hariri, Saad (1970–): Lebanese politician; prime minister, 2009–2011 (also known as Saadeddine Hariri) Born to Rafiq Hariri [q.v.] and Nidal al-Bus-tani in Riyadh [q.v.], Saad acquired a business administration degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He then supervised his father's extensive business interests in Saudi Arabia.
Following his father's assassination in 2005, he inherited assets worth an estimated $1.4 billion. He entered the Lebanese politics as a leader of the Sunnis [q.v.]. On the founding of the 14 March Alliance [q.v.], he was elected its chairman. After the success of the 14 March Alliance in the May-June 2009 parliamentary election, he was invited to form the government. He succeeded in putting together a national unity cabinet in November only after he had agreed to give the opposition 8 March Alliance [q.v. ] 11 of the 30 cabinet seats. A year later, following his meetings with President Bashar Assad [q.v.] in Damascus [q.v. ], Hariri announced the beginning of a new phase in Lebanese-Syrian relations.
During his state visit to Washington in January 2011, all opposition ministers resigned from the cabinet in anticipation of the indictment of some senior members of Hizbollah [q.v.] by the U.N.-appointed Special Tribunal on Lebanon to investigate the assassination of Rafiq Hariri. With more than a third of the ministers quitting, Hariri's government fell. But he stayed on as caretaker premier until June when his successor, Najib Mikati [q.v.], succeeded in forming a new cabinet.
al-Hashem clan: Jordan's ruling dynasty Named after Hashem bin Abdul Manaf, the great-grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad, the Banu Hashem clan was part of the Qureish tribe of Arabia [q.v.]. In the 10th century, al-Hashems became the ruling family of Mecca [q.v.] and the surrounding province of Hijaz [q.v.]. This continued until 1517 when—following the Ottoman Sultan Salim I's victory over the Mamlukes in Egypt—the head of al-Hashem ruling family, known as the Sharif (Arabic: Noble), sent an envoy to present the keys of Mecca to the Ottoman sultan and offer him the title of the Protector of the Holy Places. The sultan accepted both.
In 1893 Sultan Abdul Hamid II exiled Sharif Hussein bin Ali al-Hashem—the 37th in line of descent from the Prophet Muhammad, through his daughter Fatima and her husband, Imam Ali, and their son Hassan—by forcing him to live in Constantinople (now Istanbul). His exile ended when the sultan was deposed in 1908 by the Young Turks.
In 1916, during World War I, Sharif Hussein, allying with Britain against the Ottoman Turks, led the Arab revolt with the help of his sons: Ali, Abdullah [q. v.], Faisal [q.v.], and Zaid.
Hassidic Jews (Hebrew: from hasedim, pious): leading ultra-Orthodox sect The Hassidic sect was established in Poland by Israel Baal Shem Tov (1698–1740), a pious Jew [q.v.] who, rebelling against the literalism of the Talmud [q.v.], attempted to help religious but illiterate Jews relate to the Jewish law and doctrine through emotional means. He devised a method of total surrender by the believer to God through mystical elevation, involving singing and dancing. As the leader of his group of disciples, a Hassidic rabbi acts as an intercessor between them and God, offering inspired advice.
Despite being branded heretics by the Talmudists in 1781, the size of the Hassidic community grew, especially in Poland and Russia. Beginning in the early 20th century, a small minority migrated to Palestine [q.v.], preferring to live either in Jerusalem's [q.v.] Mea Shearim district or in self-enclosed communities such as the Bnei Brak agricultural settlement near Tel Aviv [q.v.]. Politically, they supported Agudat Israel [q.v.].
Hawatmeh, Nayef (1934–): Palestinian leader Born into a Greek Catholic [q.v.] family in Salt, Jordan, Hawatmeh was a cofounder of the Arab Nationalist Movement [q.v.] in 1952 in Beirut [q.v.]. With the Arab defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War [q.v.], he became disillusioned with Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.], whom he had seen as the leader to liberate Palestine [q.v.] through a conventional war with Israel.
When the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) [q.v.] was formed in 1968, Hawatmeh was one of its founders. But the PFLP"s failure to form a broad national front of Palestinian organizations led him and Bilal Hassan to quit and establish the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) [q.v.] in 1969 and affiliate it with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.]. Within a year he had expanded the DFLP's commando force to make it the fourth-largest among Palestinian militias.
Stressing the complementary nature of the Palestinian and Jordanian struggles, he advocated the overthrow of the Hashemite dynasty. But the bitter experience of September 1970— when the Palestinians suffered heavy losses at the hands of Jordanian troops—chastened him.
He maintained good relations with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and was instrumental in persuading the Kremlin to recognize the PLO as the sole legitimate, representative body of the Palestinian people in the wake of the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.]. He was also the prime mover in persuading the Palestine National Council (PNC) [q.v.], in mid-1974, to accept the idea of establishing a "national authority" in the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza [q.v.] as the first step toward the liberation of all of Palestine.
After his expulsion from Beirut [q.v.], Hawatmeh relocated the DFLP in Damascus [q.v.]. He began to cooperate with the PFLP leader, George Habash [q.v.], in their policies toward Yasser Arafat [q.v.] and the peace process. He accepted the PNC decision in late 1988 to reject terrorism and limit the use of violence to military targets inside Israel and the Occupied Territories. He opposed the Israeli-PLO Accord [q.v.] of September 1993.
Six years later he met Yasser Arafat [q.v.] in Cairo [q.v.], when they agreed to coordinate their positions on the PLO's final status talks with Israel. His later request to be allowed to return to the Palestinian Territories [q.v.] was rejected by Israel even though the DFLP was removed from the list of the terrorist organizations by the United States in 1999.
In 2002, he opposed suicide bombings inside Israel. Two years later he called for an end to the Second Intifada [q.v.]. In 2007, he was allowed by Israel to attend the meeting of the PLO's Central Council [q.v.] in Ramallah [q.v.].
Hebrew Bible: See Old Testament.
Hebrew language: A member of the Canaanite group of Semitic languages [q.v.], Hebrew was the language of the ancient Hebrews [q.v.]. The biblical Hebrew of the period before the Jewish Exile in 586 B.C. evolved into a more precise language (as used in the Mishna [q.v.]) in the first century A.D. The subsequent forms have been mixtures of these two variants. Literary Hebrew had come into its own by the early sixth century. From then until the late 15th century, it was the only written medium of communication for the Jews [q.v.] of northwest Europe. By contrast, the Jews in the Arab [q.v.] world and Spain used it only for artistic expression.
The emergence of Modern Hebrew—an amalgam of the language at different stages—coincided with the rise of Jewish nationalism [q.v.] around 1880. Once again Hebrew became a spoken language among Jews. The Jewish community in Palestine [q.v.] made it the medium of instruction in Jewish schools in 1913. Later the British Mandate recognized it as one of the three languages in Palestine, on a par with Arabic [q.v.] and English. It became one of the two official languages of Israel upon its founding in May 1948, the other being Arabic [q.v.].
Hebrews: This term stands for the Jews [q.v.], as used in the Old Testament [q.v.].
Hebron: West Bank city Population: 166,000 (2011 est.) Called Hevron by the Jews [q.v.] and Al Khalil al-Rah-man (the Friend of the Merciful, a reference to Abraham) by the Arabs [q.v.], Hebron is sacred to both Jews and Muslims [q.v.], the latter revering Abraham as a founder of monotheism and an antecedent of the Prophet Muhammad.
Hebron was established in the 18th century B.C. by the Hittites. Tradition has it that Abraham, the founder of Judaism [q.v.], lived there and bought the Machpelah cave, which became the burial place for him and his wife, Sarah; their son Isaac and his wife, Rebecca and their son Jacob and his wife, Leah. In ca 1010 B.C. King David was anointed in Hebron, his capital for eight years, and King Herod the Great (r. 37–4 B.C.) tried to protect the Machpelah cave—the site of Abraham's tomb—by enclosing it within a wall. In the Bible Hebron also appears as Kiryat Arba (Hebrew: Four Towns) and Marme.
Hebron fell to Arab [q.v.] Muslims [q.v.] in 635 A.D. It changed hands during the Crusades, with the Crusaders administering it from 1100 to 1260. In 1267 Mamluke Sultan Baybar banned worship by non-Muslims at the Machpelah cave. Hebron came under Ottoman suzerainty in 1516. After the fall of the Ottomans in 1918, it became part of the Palestine [q.v.] under the British Mandate. Modern Hebron is situated east of the old settlement.
Following the Arab-Jewish riots in 1929, in which 67 of the town's 700 Jews were killed, the rest of the community fled. Two years later some 30 Jewish families returned, but they left after the Arab uprising of 1936–39. After the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.] Hebron came under Jordanian authority. This lasted until the 1967 Six-Day War [q.v. ], when the town, with a population of 38,310, fell to the Israelis. They opened the Cave of Machpelah, now enclosed within the Mosque of Ibrahim/ Abraham, called by Arabs the Haram al-Khalil (Arabic: Sanctuary of the Friend), to worship by Jews.
An attempt by militant Jews in 1968 to establish a Jewish settlement in a rented Palestinian hotel in Hebron failed, and they were moved to an Israeli military base near the city. In 1971 they were allowed to build a settlement, called Kiryat Arba, east of Hebron. Eight years later Jewish families returned to the old Jewish neighborhood in the city center. By the early 1990s Kiryat Arba, with a population of nearly 5,000, had become the second-largest Jewish colony on the West Bank [q.v.] and a hotbed of Jewish extremists. One of them, Baruch Goldstein, shot dead 29 Palestinians at prayer in the Mosque of Abraham (called Ibrahimi Mosque by Arabs, and Tomb of Patriarchs by Jews) on 25 February 1994.
Though included in the list of the Palestinian cities to be evacuated according to the Oslo II Accord [q.v.] of September 1995, Israel did not withdraw from it. A later agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) [q.v.] left the city divided into two parts, with the one containing the Ibrahimi Mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs and the Jewish settlers under exclusive Israeli control.
In 2009, there were 800 Jewish settlers in central Hebron. The Kriyat Arba settlement adjacent to the city had a population of 7,300.
Heikal, Muhammad Hassanein (1923–): Egyptian journalist, historian, and politician Born into a middle-class family in Cairo [q.v.], Heikal secured a degree in law and economics from Cairo University. After a year at the Egyptian Gazette in 1943 as a reporter, he joined the weekly Rose al-Yusuf, named after a famous Lebanese actress who had turned to journalism in 1925, and then the Akhbar al-Yom (Arabic: The Daily News), covering World War II, the Greek Civil War, and the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.]. In 1953 he became editor of Akhar Saa (Arabic: Last Hour), an illustrated weekly, and in 1956 of the daily Al-Akhbar (Arabic: The News).
After the July 1952 revolution he had become a friend of President Gamal Abdul Nasser and his aides. This led to his appointment in 1957 as the chief editor of Al-Ahram (Arabic: The Pyramids), the semi-official newspaper of Egypt. Under his stewardship Al-Ahram shed its sensational style and became a sober, objective newspaper of quality in the Arab world. He became the country's most influential journalist and a confidant of Nasser. The circulation of Al-Ahram rose to 500,000 daily and 750,000 on Fridays in the mid-1960s.
In 1968 he was appointed to the central committee of the Arab Socialist Union [q.v.], where he advocated less reliance on the Soviet Union and political liberalization at home. He became minister of information and national guidance in April 1970. After Nasser's death five months later, he lost his ministerial position but remained editor of Al-Ahram.
While maintaining his personal friendship with the new president, Anwar Sadat [q.v.], Heikal started criticizing his deviation from the Nasserist principles. Following Al-Ahram's criticism of the U.S.-brokered Sinai I Agreement [q.v.] between Egypt and Israel in January 1974, Sadat removed Heikal from his job and prohibited him from publishing articles in the Egyptian press. He took to writing for the foreign press in the Arab world and elsewhere. After Heikal's opposition to Sadat's dramatic peace moves with Israel in late 1978, he was harassed by the police and deprived of his passport. He was one of the important opponents that Sadat imprisoned in September 1981, a month before his assassination. Released by President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.], Heikal resumed his journalistic career in Egypt, but failed to develop a rapport with the new leader.
He continued to publish books in English. The titles included Nasser: the Cairo Documents (1972), The Road to Ramadan (1975), The Sphinx and the Commissar (1978), Return of the Ayatollah (1981), Autumn of Fury: the Assassination of Sadat (1983), Illusions of Triumph: An Arab View of the Gulf War (1992), and Secret Channels: The Inside Story of Arab-lsraeli Peace Negotiations (1997).
In 2003, at the age of 80, Heikal decided to stop writing and limit himself to commenting on the electronic media. He soon acquired a weekly slot on the Al-Jazeera satellite TV channel to dwell at length on such subjects as the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the rise of Arab nationalism [q.v.], the Arab wars, and the rise and fall of superpowers in history. He criticized the reelection of Hosni Mubarak in 2006, and, in an interview with a British newspaper in 2007, he said that Mubarak lived in a "world of fantasy." In 2009 he covered the U.S. presidential contest for Al-Jazeera. The exposure on that TV channel gave him a wide audience throughout the Arabic [q.v.]-speaking world.
In 2011, he supported the Arab Spring [q.v.] which, in his view, had repositioned Egypt as a leading regional power. At the same time he lamented Egyptians' immersion in reforming their domestic political system to the exclusion of enabling their country to become an important actor in shaping the future of the Middle East [q.v.].
Helou, Charles (1912–2001): Lebanese politician; president, 1964–70 (also spelled Hilou) Born into a middle-class Maronite [q.v.] family in Beirut [q.v.], Helou studied law and practiced as a lawyer and journalist. From 1935 to 1946 he was the managing editor of the daily L'Orient le Jour (French: The Oriental Morning).
One of the founders of the Phalange Party [q.v.], he left it to joint the Constitutional Bloc of Bishara Khouri [q.v.]. He was elected to parliament in 1951 and held his seat for a decade, becoming minister of justice from 1954 to 1955. Though he opposed the attempt by Camille Chamoun [q.v.] to win the presidency for a second term, he stayed out of the 1958 Lebanese Civil War [q.v.]. This helped him to win the presidency in 1964 as a nonpartisan candidate who also had the backing of the incumbent, Fuad Chehab [q.v.].
A weak leader, he lacked a political or military base of his own. The reforming drive initiated by Chehab slowed under him. But he maintained stability in the country by aligning his foreign policy with that of the Arab hinterland and co-opting the urban Muslim [q.v.] leadership in the running of the state, thus blending Lebanon's Christian identity with Arab nationalism [q.v.]. He kept Lebanon out of the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.].
Realizing that the unity of the Lebanese army would be threatened if the clashes between the army and the Palestinian commandos became more bloody and frequent, he approved the Cairo Agreement of 1969 [q.v.], by which Lebanon allowed the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] control of the Palestinian refugee camps. During the 1975–90 Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] he was often consulted as someone whose mediation might help to end the conflict.
Herut (Hebrew: Freedom): Israeli political party (official title: Gush Herut [Hebrew: Freedom Bloc]) After the disbandment of Irgun [q.v.] in July 1948, its former ranks and Revisionist Zionists [q.v.] reemerged jointly as Gush Herut, headed by Menachem Begin [q.v.]. The party advocated establishing biblical Eretz Yisrael [q.v.] and separating trade unions from the various social services and business activities of the Labor [q.v.]-dominated Histadrut [q.v.]. It attracted those Jewish immigrants, especially from the Arab states, who had experienced difficulty in getting assimilated into the new social order. Herut secured 14 seats in the first Knesset [q.v.], eight in the second, 15 in the third, 17 in the fourth, and 17 in the fifth (1961). In 1963, the rift in Labor's ranks encouraged Herut to merge with the Liberal Party [q.v.] to form Gahal [q.v.].
Herzog, Chaim (1918–97): Israeli politician; president, 1983–93 Son of Isaac Herzog, the chief rabbi of Ireland, Herzog was born in Belfast, United Kingdom. When his father was appointed the Ashkenazi [q.v.] chief rabbi of Palestine [q.v.] in 1936, the family migrated to Palestine. After attending Jewish schools, Herzog studied law at the Palestine Law School, Jerusalem [q.v.], and then in London and Cambridge.
During World War II he worked as an intelligence officer in the British army. After the founding of Israel in 1948 he was appointed director of military intelligence. He then served as military attache in Washington (195054), commander of the Jerusalem district and head of the southern command (1954–59), and chief of military intelligence (1959–62).
After his retirement from the military he took up law practice. He joined Rafi, led by David Ben-Gurion [q.v.] in 1965. During the June 1967 Arab-Is-raeli War [q.v.], he was a commentator on Israeli radio. After serving briefly as the military governor of the West Bank [q.v.], he returned to his law practice. During the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] he once again became a commentator on Israeli radio.
He served as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations from 1975 to 1978. On his return home he resumed his political career with the Labor [q.v.] movement. In 1983 he was elected to the Knesset [q.v.], and two years later he narrowly won the contest for the presidency. He was reelected in 1988. His seven books include Israel's Finest Hour (1967), The War of Atonement (1975), and Heroes of Israel (1990).
hijab (Arabic: cover or screen): See Islamic dress.
Hijaz: western region of Saudi Arabia Area 150,000 sq. mi./388,500 sq. km. As the birthplace and spiritual center of Islam [q.v.], Hijaz is the Holy Land of Muslims [q.v.]. It contains Islam's holiest shrines—in Mecca [q.v.], the site of the Kaaba [q.v.], and the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad; and in Medina [q.v.], the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad. It was the nucleus of the early Islamic Empire.
In more recent times, having been a province of the Ottoman Empire since 1517, it became after World War I an independent kingdom under Sharif Hussein bin Ali al-Hashem, who had been appointed the Protector of the Holy Places (of Mecca and Medina) by the Ottoman regime in 1908.
Following the abolition of the caliphate by the secular republic of Turkey in 1924, Sharif Hussein declared himself caliph. This angered Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman bin Saud [q.v.], then king of Najd [q.v.], who conquered Hijaz in 1926 and declared himself king of Hijaz as well as of Najd. In 1932 he combined his two realms into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Hijaz region now covers four of Saudi Arabia's 13 provinces.
Histadrut (Hebrew: Federation) (abbreviation of HaHistadrut HaKelalit shel HaOvedim Halvirim be Eretz Yisrael, The General Federation of Workers in the Land of Israel): Israeli trade union federation and social welfare agency In 1920 Ahdut HaAvodah [q.v.] and HaPoale HaTzair [q.v.] agreed to form an umbrella organization to encompass all Labor-pioneer parties of the Zionist [q.v.] persuasion. The result was the General Federation of Hebrew Workers in the Land of Israel. Its membership was limited to Jewish workers, artisans, and tradesmen. About three-fifths of the 7,000 Jewish workers in Palestine [q.v.] participated in electing delegates to the founding convention of the Histadrut in December 1920. The next year the Histadrut established Solel Boneh (Hebrew: Paving and Building), a large construction and public works company, and, in association with the World Zionist Organization [q.v.], the Workers' Bank. It thus emerged as a general-purpose body rather than an exclusively trade union organization.
Though claiming to be a non-political trade union federation, the Histadrut encouraged Jewish immigration, settled newcomers, and organized defense through Haganah [q.v.]. Under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion [q.v.], its general secretary from 1920 to 1935, it emerged as a central pillar of the Zionist enterprise in Palestine: it ran a social security system, an educational network, and its own production and service cooperatives.
In 1943 it set up an Arab [q.v.] Department in Haifa [q.v.]. But it barely functioned outside the city. It was only when the increasing alienation of Israeli Arabs [q.v.] from agricultural land purchased by Jewish immigrants led to their large-scale migration to urban areas, resulting in a dramatic rise in wage-earning Arab labor force, that the Histadrut opened its membership to Arabs in stages from 1959. Their enrollment changed the ethnic composition. As a consequence, the leadership of the Federation, elected every four years, dropped the term "Hebrew" from the organization's name in 1966.
Following a growing challenge to the Histadrut from non-Histadrut "action committees" in 1971, the Labor Party [q.v.]-led government passed a law that formalized its monopoly as the "legal representative of workers." The Histadrut opened its membership to all workers, including the self-employed and professionals, as well as students, housewives, pensioners, and the jobless. Nearly 85 percent of all those eligible belonged to the Histadrut. The Histadrut engaged in trade union organization, involving unions, labor councils, and professional federations; social services, including health insurance (until 1995), pensions, and welfare; educational and cultural activities; and economic development undertaken by Hevrat HaOvedim (Hebrew: The Workers' Company).
In trade unions the Histadrut's primary unit is the workers' committee at the workplace; its secondary unit the trade union; and its tertiary unit the Labor Council, which is elected by all local trade unions, and oversees union as well as economic and cultural affairs. Then there are nationwide professional bodies and other national organizations. The Labor Councils and nationwide federations report to the Histadrut Executive Committee. Its educational and cultural activities include workers' colleges, vocational schools, sports clubs, and theater and dance groups. The activities undertaken by the Workers' Company include the running of factories, construction companies, agricultural and transport cooperatives, a bank, an insurance company, and a publishing house.
In the 1994 Histadrut elections, the Labor Party lost control of the executive committee. The subsequent leadership renamed the organization as New Histadrut. At that time it had 1,573,000 members, including dependents of the workers. Of these, 170,000 were Israeli Arabs. The Histadrut employed about a third of the working labor force in Israel.
The following year the Labor-led government of Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.] passed the National Health Insurance Law, which separated the Histadrut from health care, whose social services had included the General Sick Fund (Hebrew: Kupat Holim Kelalit), covering half of the adult population, and pension funds. With this the Histadrut's membership fell to 627,000 in 1998.
In 2009, when it was 650,000 strong, its executive committee opened its membership to 250,000 foreign workers employed in Israel. Its support of Israel's Gaza War [q.v.] was criticized both at home and abroad.
In 2010, Ofer Eini, elected chairman three years earlier, appointed a non-member, Daniel Avi Nissan Korn, as chairman of the trade union division, the second most important post in the Histadrut. But that did not lead to any softening on the trade union front. In February 2011 its leaders called a general strike to demand better wages for 250,000 contract workers who received about a third less than directly hired employees. The strike by more than half a million workers closed banks, the stock exchange, ports, airports, and most public offices. It ended after thee days when the government agreed to improve the wages of contract employees.
Hizbollah (Arabic: Party of Allah): Lebanese political-religious movement. (also spelled Hezbollah and Hizbullah) More a movement than a party, its origins lay in the expulsion of the Lebanese Shia [q.v.] students from Najaf [q.v.] by the Baathist [q.v.] government in Iraq. Among them were Abbas Mousavi and Hassan Nasrallah [q.v.], who established a Shia seminary in Baalbek [q.v.]. Many of the seminary students joined Nasrallah in offering armed resistance to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982 [q.v.]. Such fighting groups evolved into Hizbollah under the leadership of Shaikh Muhammad Hussein Fadlal-lah, a Shia cleric. The chief catalyst was Ali Akbar Mohtashemi, the Iranian ambassador to Syria from 1982 to 1983. Yet it was not until 1985 that Hizbollah published its charter, decrying the West and Israel for its mistreatment of the Muslim [q.v.] world.
In its domestic politics, it allied with the Islamic Jihad [q.v.] and the Islamic Amal [q.v.] to oppose the government of President Amin Gemayel [q.v.]. The three organizations together confronted the Lebanese army in early 1984. Hizbollah was close to the contingent of 2,000 Iranian revolutionary guards, based in Baalbek, who had been sent to Lebanon in mid-1982 to fight the Israeli invaders. As it escalated its guerilla attacks on Israeli targets in southern Lebanon, its military aid from Iran increased. By the spring of 1987, when Hizbollah had established its military wing, called al-Muqawama al-lslamiya, the Islamic Resistance, its armory included cannons as well as anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles. It had emerged as the leading Lebanese recipient of financial assistance from Iran, which funded its health, education, and other public services through its (domestic) Martyrs' Foundation.
In return Hizbollah tried to assist Iran by taking Western, especially American, hostages in Lebanon (under such labels as the Revolutionary Justice Organization and the Organization of the Oppressed of the Earth, which seized Terry Waite, the envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury, in early 1987), on the ground that their captivity would inhibit the Pentagon's intervention in the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) [q.v.] on the Iraqi side. It also used the hostages as bargaining chips to secure supplies of U.S.-made weapons to Iran, which were needed to replenish the military hardware bought by the regime of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.]. This led to the Iran-Contra Affair [q.v.].
Though unsympathetic to its religious militancy, Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] found the party a suitable instrument to pressure Israeli and South Lebanon Army (SLA) [q.v.] troops in Israel's self-declared security zone in southern Lebanon. In January-February 1988 the skirmishes between Hizbollah and the SLA claimed 40 Hizbollah lives. Later, to ensure that Hizbollah did not acquire political monopoly among Shias, Assad encouraged members of Amal [q.v.], a Shia party, to attack Hizbollah fighters in the southern suburbs of Beirut [q.v.]. But Hizbollah performed well. Its activities also brought it into direct conflict with Israel, whose commandos abducted Shaikh Abdul Karim Obeid, the party leader in the south, in July 1989.
The next month Hizbollah joined the front formed to confront the government of Gen. Michel Aoun [q.v.], the Maronite army commander. It criticized the Taif Accord [q.v.] as perpetuating the old system, with its downgrading of Shias, now the largest single sect in Lebanon, and hindering the creation of an Islamic state in Muslim-majority Lebanon, its ultimate goal. But it desisted from pressing its objections too far. Syria allowed Hizbollah to play an important, though subsidiary, role in the final, successful, attack on Aoun's forces in October 1990. But, protesting at the lack of any official plan to reverse Israel's occupation of the south, Hizbol-lah refused to join the national unity government formed in December. Opposed to confessionalism [q.v.]—a system which allocates parliamentary seats by religious sects—it demanded a revised electoral law to make parliament truly representative of voters.
After the disarming of all militias in Greater Beirut, Hizbollah moved its men and weapons to the southern part of the Beqaa governorate and the mountain caves near the Israeli-occupied region, and increased its attacks on Israeli and SLA patrols in the area. As before, Israel responded with air raids and artillery fire. In May 1991 the party's newly elected secretary-general, Shaikh Abbas Mousavi, stated that so long as Israel remained inside Lebanon his irregulars would not surrender their weapons to the Lebanese government. Unwilling to cause a split within its ranks by attacking Hizbollah—demanding an unconditional Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon as required by UN Security Council Resolution 425 of March 1978—the government settled for merely receiving a list of 3,500 Hizbollah militiamen active in the south.
In late 1991 a three-way swap—involving 450 Lebanese and Palestinian detainees under the Israelis, seven dead or captured Israeli servicemen, and the remaining Western hostages—ended Hizbollah's involvement in hostage taking. It won eight of the 27 seats reserved for Shias in the 1992 parliamentary elections. Its killing of two Israeli soldiers in July 1993 brought about a week-long artillery bombardment by Israel under the codename Operation Accountability, which left 139 dead and 250,000 homeless. During 1994–95 Hizbollah mounted sporadic attacks on Israeli targets in south Lebanon. In April 1996, to stop Hizbollah's rocket attacks on northern Israel, the Israeli government mounted Operation Grapes of Wrath, which targeted a power station north of Beirut, and which killed 170 to 200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, including 100 refugees sheltering at the UN base at Qana, and displaced 400,000.
Hizbollah started its own TV channel in Arabic [q.v.], called Al Manar (The Tower), in 1991. During the next quarter-century, it acquired an estimated worldwide audience of 12 to 13 million.
In the 1996 parliamentary election Hizbollah retained its four seats in the South and Nabatiya governorates and, allying with Amal, won 22 of the 23 seats in the Beqaa governorate.
Limiting itself to Israeli and SLA targets in the occupied southern Lebanon, Hizbollah mounted 715 attacks in 1997 and 1,200 in 1998. It intensified its activities in the run-up to the Israeli elections in May 1999, when Ehud Barak [q.v.], Labor's candidate for the prime minister, promised to disengage Israel from southern Lebanon. In May 2000, Israel withdrew unconditionally from southern Lebanon as required by the 22-year-old UN Security Council resolution. But, because Israel did not withdraw from the Shaaba Farm adjacent to the Syrian border, Hizbollah did not regard its evacuation as complete and attacked its targets periodically.
Hizbollah was placed on Washington's list of terrorist organizations in 1995. It was removed from the list after it condemned the 9/11 attacks. This was reversed in 2005.
In the 2005 parliamentary election, as part of the Amal-Hizbollah alliance, it secured 14 seats.
In the five-week-long Israel-Hizbollah War [q.v.] in 2006, Hizbollah was the principal enemy of Israel, with the Amal militia playing a minor role. The ruler of Qatar stepped forward to help financially all those who lost their homes and businesses in the conflict.
The nonviolent impasse in central Beirut between Hizbollah and its allies and the pro-Western government of Fouad Siniora [q.v.] over the election of the successor to Emile Lahoud [q.v.], which started in October 2007, turned violent on 6 May 2008 when Siniora ordered an investigation of Hizbollah's private telecommunications network and dismissed the airport security chief. Hizbollah and its allies attacked the airport and stormed Sunni streets and properties in central and west Beirut as well as the Government Palace housing the prime minister's office. Counterattacks followed. Fighting spread to other parts of Lebanon as well and altogether claimed 200 lives. To avert Lebanon's descent into fully fledged civil war, Qatar's ruler, Shaikh Hamad ibn Khlaifa al-Thani [q.v.], invited the rivals to Doha [q.v.]. The concord reached in Doha on 21 May favored Hizbollah, which was allowed to continue bearing arms as a means of protecting Lebanon from Israel's military moves and maintain its own telecommunications system. In the subsequent national unity government the opposition 8 March Alliance [q.v.] got 11 of the 30 cabinet places, thus acquiring veto power.
As part of the 8 March Alliance, Hizbollah gained 13 seats in the 2009 general election. Saad Hariri [q.v.], leader of the 14 March Alliance [q.v.], was able to form his cabinet only after signing a power-sharing agreement which required giving two posts to Hizbollah in the 30-member national unity government. This arrangement broke down when the indictment of four senior Hizbollah members by the Special Tribunal on Lebanon was anticipated in January 2011. At the urging of Hizbollah, 11 of the ministers resigned, bringing down the Saad Hariri administration. The succeeding government of Najib Mikati [q.v.] was dependent on the good will of Hizbollah.
Hizbollah maintained close ties with Iran, its leading arms supplier, using Syria as the conduit. It refuses to surrender its weapons.
As the Arab Spring [q.v.] started in early 2012, Hizbollah expressed solidarity with the protesting Egyptian and Tunisian peoples. Later it praised the pro-democracy movements in Bahrain, Yemen, and Libya. It applauded this development because the demonstrators in these countries shared its resistance ideology. But when it came to the uprising in Syria, Hizbollah stood by the regime of President Bashar Assad [q.v.], and accused the opposition of committing treason.
Holy City: See Jerusalem.
Holy Land: The term was first used in the Old Testament [q.v.] in Zechariah 2.12. See Palestine.
Homs: Syrian city Population: 1.276 million (2011 est.) Known in ancient times as Emesa, it was the site of a renowned temple to the sun god. It was the capital of Roman Emperor Aurelian (r. 270–275 A.D.). With Christianity [q.v.] becoming the state religion under Emperor Constantine I (r. 306337 A.D.), most of the local residents embraced the new faith. The city fell to Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] in 636 A.D. and was renamed Hims. A failed Christian uprising in 855 A.D. resulted in the eradication of Christianity. Since then its Muslim character has remained strong. It became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and remained so until the dissolution of the empire four centuries later. It was then included in the Syria placed under the French Mandate. The French established a military academy there, the only one of its kind in the country.
It is an important commercial, industrial, and transport center. A stronghold of Sunni Islam [q.v.], in 1973 it witnessed violent skirmishes between the security forces and demonstrators protesting against the secular nature of the new constitution.
Unsurprisingly, when the wave of Arab unrest reached Syria in March 2011, Homs emerged as one of the four major centers of resistance to the secular Baathist [q.v.] regime, with protestors demanding the removal of Syrian President Bashar Assad [q.v.] from office. The government's strategy of besieging restive areas with tanks, then letting security forces and snipers open fire on demonstrators, failed to quash the uprising. The emergence of the Free Army of Syria (FSA) escalated the conflict in the city and elsewhere in the country. Most of Homs city fell to the FSA.
Angered by the FSA's killing of 10 soldiers on 3 February 2012, the Syrian government besieged the districts under the FSA's control. After three weeks of firing artillery shells and mortars at the rebellious stronghold of Bab Amr, the military launched a ground attack and recaptured the neighborhood. It then retook several other districts, bringing three-quarters of the city under its control by the end of March. Sporadic violence continued until the cease-fire in mid-April. The total death toll consisted of 700 civilians and FSA fighters and 50 soldiers.
In early September, an officer of the FSA announced the formation of the Revolutionary Military Council in Homs to unify all FSA units in Homs province. A month later the government mounted a major offensive, using intense aerial and artillery bombing to regain control of all of Homs and the surrounding towns, and claimed nearsuccess by early November.
The tourist offerings of Homs include Roman ruins, the Citadel of Salah al-Din (aka Saladin) built in the Middle Ages, and the Grand Mosque of al-Nouri, which originated as a temple dedicated to the sun god and was later turned into the Church of St John.
Hormuz, Strait of: Situated between Iran and the northern tip of Trucial Oman, the Strait of Hormuz is only 21 mi./34 km wide at its narrowest point. But the width of the shipping lane in either direction is only two mi./3.2 km, separated by a two-mi./3.2-km buffer zone. The territorial waters of Iran and Oman, each 12 mi./19 km wide, overlap in the Strait. In late 1979, when 40 percent of the world's exported oil carried by tankers passed through the Strait, rising tension between the United States and the newly emergent Islamic Republic of Iran made the Strait the focus of attention for both Washington and Moscow. Scores of warships from both sides assembled in the international waters of the north Arabian Sea at the mouth of the strait.
During the 1980–88 Iran-Iraq War [q.v.] the importance of the strait increased. In September 1983 the Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], threatened to close it if Iran's Kharg oil terminal in the Gulf was destroyed by Iraq. U.S. President Ronald Reagan reiterated the earlier official position that Washington would intervene militarily to keep the Strait open to international shipping. He increased the U.S. naval presence in the area to 30 warships. Britain and France followed suit. The Soviets increased their presence in the Arabian Sea to 26 war vessels. The crisis subsided, and the strait remained open.
In the course of the periodic crises between Iran and the U.S., the Iranian regime threatened to block the Strait. In 2011, of the 45 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil that were transported by tankers, 17 million bpd passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
Hoss, Salim (1929–): Lebanese politician; prime minister, 1976–78, 197980, 1987–90, 1998–2000 Born into a Sunni [q.v.] family in Beirut [q.v.], Hoss received his postgraduate degree in economics and business administration from the American University in Beirut (AUB) [q .v.], and capped it with a doctorate in economics from Indiana University in the United States in 1961.
After teaching economics at the AUB he joined the Kuwait Development Fund as a financial adviser in 1964. Two years later he was appointed chairman of the Lebanese Banking Control Commission, and in 1973 he was named chairman of the Industrial Development Bank. He worked in conjunction with Elias Sarkis [q.v.], the Central Bank governor who was elected president in September 1976 in the midst of a civil war. Three months later he was invited to lead the Lebanese government. He selected an eight-member cabinet consisting wholly of technocrats.
In the civil conflict he generally took a pro-Muslim and pro-Damascus line. His second government of 12 ministers, formed in July 1979, inclined toward Syria. Whereas Sarkis viewed national reconciliation as a prelude to reducing Syria's influence in Lebanon, Hoss considered it as a prelude to implementing a security plan in cooperation with Syria and the institutionalization of Lebanon's relationship with Syria. He served as the premier until October 1980.
He accepted a ministerial post when a national unity government was formed in April 1984 under Rashid Karami [q.v.]. After Karami's assassination in June 1987, he was named acting prime minister. With General Michel Aoun [q.v.] appointing a military cabinet in September 1988, Hoss became head of a parallel government. His relations with the Aoun administration soured, with Aoun dissolving parliament in early November 1989 and Hoss condemning his action as illegal.
Following the election of Elias Hrawi [q.v.] as president in November 1989, he was called to form the next government. He announced a cabinet of 14, divided equally between Christians [q.v.] and Muslims [q.v.]. In December 1990, after all heavy weapons had been removed from Greater Beirut and the 15-year-long division of the city ended, he resigned. After the election of Emile Lahoud [q.v.] as president in November 1998, he was invited to head the next cabinet. He did so. He resigned two years later when the supporters of his predecessor, Rafiq Hariri [q.v.], won overwhelmingly in the parliamentary election.
Hostage-taking and hostages: During Roman times; American hostages in lran; Western hostages in Lebanon Hostage-taking for political reasons in the West and elsewhere has a long history, dating back at least to Roman Emperor Julius Caesar (102–44 B.C.) who, referring to his crossing of the Rhine River in 55 B.C., mentioned the conquered Ubii tribe establishing ties of friendship and giving hostages as a guarantee of good behavior in the future. In more recent times in the Middle East [q.v.], the ruler of North Yemen, Imam Yahya Hamid al-Din (1869–1948), held the sons of the tribal leaders from the north hostage while maintaining that they were being given religious instruction at his court. Following the repression of the Iraqi Communist Party [q.v.] in 1978, the Baathist regime [q.v.] in Baghdad adopted an official policy of holding hostage a member of the family of an absconding Communist to force him to surrender.
AMERICAN HOSTAGES IN IRAN: On 4 November 1979 militant Islamist students in Tehran [q.v.] occupied the Embassy and took hostage 67 American diplomats. This was done to secure the extradition of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.], then receiving medical treatment in New York, to face charges of corruption and violation of Iran's 1906–07 constitution, and stop the United States from courting dissident elements in Iran, especially military officers.
The U.S. administration, under President Jimmy Carter (r. 1977–81), immediately froze Iran's large reserves in America, severed diplomatic relations, and, together with the European Community, imposed economic sanctions against Iran. Its clandestine attempt to rescue the hostages in April 1980 failed, and its agents in Iran, including the commander of the Iranian air force, Amir Bahman Bagheri, were exposed. The hostages were then dispersed to different locations.
Various secret attempts to resolve the crisis proved futile. Carter made the release of the American hostages a central issue in his campaign for reelection. This made the Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], intransigent. Along with the sluggish U.S. economy the hostage issue was instrumental in the defeat of Carter by Ronald Reagan in the November 1980 presidential election. It was the first time that a stance taken by a Third World leader had impacted directly on an American presidential election. In line with a secret deal between Iran and the U.S., brokered by Algeria, the American hostages (now reduced to 52 due to earlier, individual releases) were freed in Algiers, after 444 days in captivity, within minutes of President Carter's handing over the office to Reagan on 21 January 1981.
WESTERN HOSTAGES IN LEBANON: During the first 12 years of the 1975–90 Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], some 14,000 people were kidnapped, of whom about 10,000 were killed. The practice of kidnapping foreigners for political purposes was initiated by the Phalange Party [q.v.] in mid-March 1982 with the abduction in Beirut [q.v.] of four Iranian diplomats: Kazem Allaf, Ahmad Motevaselian, Muhsin Musavi, and Muhammad Muqadam (they were later killed). In retaliation, three months later the Islamic Jihad [q.v.] kidnapped David Dodge, acting president of the American University in Beirut [q.v.].
Two months after the United States had put Iran on the list of nations that support international terrorism in January 1984 and decided to harden its policy of blocking arms sales to Iran— then engaged in the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.]—came the abduction of William Buckley, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) station chief in Beirut [q.v.]. Securing his release became the chief motive for the U.S. to enter into clandestine talks with Iran on the basis of arms-for-hostages, which surfaced as the Iran Contra Affair (Irangate) [q.v.] in November 1986. By then the pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon held more than a dozen Western, mainly American and British, hostages. Buckley was believed to have died in captivity.
A further addition to the list came in January 1987: Terry Waite, an envoy of the British Archbishop of Canterbury, who had been engaged in an effort to secure the release of earlier captives. The reasons for taking Western hostages were threefold: to undermine the Western policy of a ban on arms supplies to Iran in its war with Iraq; to prevent Western military involvement on the Christian side in the Lebanese Civil War, as had happened in early 1984; and to secure the release of hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners held without charge by Israel in the wake of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon [q.v.].
Once the Iran-Iraq War had ended in August 1988, the motives behind holding Western hostages narrowed to preventing the West's intervention in the long-running Lebanese Civil War, and gaining the freedom of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The Western powers endorsed the Taif Accord [q.v.] of October 1989, and the Lebanese Civil War ended a year later. The intervention of the UN secretary-general brought about the release of John McCarthy, a British journalist, in early August 1991. Four months later the exchange of the last three American captives and 450 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners ended the decade-long saga.
House of Saud: The ruling dynasty of Saudi Arabia The House of Saud is named after Saud, a member of the Musalikh clan of the Ruwalla tribe of the Anaiza tribal federation [q.v.] at the turn of the 18th century in the Diraiya-Riyadh region. His son, Muhammad, who ruled the Diraiya Emirate during 1726–1765, embraced Wahhabism [q.v.] in 1745. Armed with this doctrine he expanded his domain, an enterprise continued by his successors, Abdul Aziz bin Muhammad (r. 1766–1803) and Saud bin Abdul Aziz (r. 1803–1814), who reached the Syrian and Iraqi frontiers. But under Abdullah bin Saud (r. 1814–1818) the House of Saud's fortunes waned, with Abdullah suffering defeat and eventual execution by the Ottoman sultan.
Over the next three-quarters of a century the House of Saud rose again, only to be suppressed when the rival House of Rashid of the Shammar tribe, backed by the Ottomans, overpowered Abdul Rahman bin Faisal al-Saud in his bastion of Diraiya in 1891. The surviving members of the House of Saud, including Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al-Saud (1879–1953) [q.v. ], took refuge in Kuwait.
He regained Riyadh in 1902, and began to expand his realm, which he named Saudi Arabia in 1932. With this, the House of Saud, Aal [q.v.] Saud (consisting of Abdul Aziz and his five brothers), became the ruling dynasty of Saudi Arabia. Of Abdul Aziz al-Saud's nearly 70 children 16 were known to be alive in 2010. They and their almost 200 children and grandchildren exercise most of the state authority. It is estimated that there are 7,000-plus male progeny entitled to call themselves princes and receive generous government stipends.
Houthis: Zaidi insurgents in Yemen, 2004- Since the overthrow of the Zaidi [q.v.] Imamate in North Yemen in 1962, Zaidis, concentrated in the northern provinces of the country, have felt neglected by the central government in Sanaa [q.v.], and have expressed their discontent by staging periodic uprisings. The central authority used force and concessions to meet the challenge.
In theological terms, Zaidis and Wahhabis [q.v.] are poles apart. So when Zaidis found the Wahhabi minority in Yemen being rewarded unduly for its active participation in the Yemeni Civil War of 1994 [q.v.], they disapproved. Their protest was led by Shaikh Hussein Badr al-Din al-Houthi, a religious and tribal leader of Zaidis.
Relations with the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.] frayed when the Yemeni leader joined the "war on terror" by U.S. President George W. Bush (r. 2001–2009) and aligned Yemen closely with Washington. Al Houthi and his followers led a campaign against the pro-American policies of the central government in the mosques of the three Zaidi-domi-nated northern provinces. His popularity grew to the extent that in June 2004 he called himself Emir al-Mumi-neen (Arabic: Commander of the Believers) and declared the Zaidi region independent. A military reprisal by the central government followed. In September al-Houthi was killed. With that the traditional Zadi rebellion acquired the title of the Houthi Movement.
In the following years there were several rounds of fighting between the Zaidi insurgents and the central military forces. During the longest combat from August 2009 to February 2010, Saudi Arabia's troops joined to curb the Houthi rebels.
When the pro-democracy protest started in February 2011 as part of the Arab Spring [q.v.], Houthis participated. In the nation-wide turmoil that followed, the size of the armed and unarmed Houthis rose to 120,000. They gained control of the Sadaa province. By the spring of 2012 they had extended their control to the two neighboring predominantly Zaidi provinces. The eight-year conflict had led to 25,000 fatalities.
Hoveida, Amir Abbas (1919–79): Iranian politician; prime minister, 1968–77 Son of aristocratic Bahai [q.v.] parents, Hoveida was born in Tehran [q.v. ]. He received his graduate degree in political science from Universite Libre de Bruxelles in Brussels. After serving briefly in the army he joined the foreign ministry. As a diplomat, he served the Iranian missions in France, Germany, and Turkey. From 1952 to 1956 he worked at the Geneva headquarters of the UN Relief and Work Agency [q.v.].
Back home, in 1958 he was appointed to the board of directors of the National Iranian Oil Company, and in 1964 he was promoted to treasury secretary. When the New Iran Party was formed in 1963 at the behest of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.], he was nominated its assistant secretary. By then, he had firmly established his loyalty to the monarch. The shah rewarded him with the premiership in 1968. Willing to accept a subservient role, he learned to interpret adroitly what the monarch wanted. As a consequence he retained his high office until August 1977, the longest uninterrupted tenure for a prime minister since the promulgation of the 1906–07 constitution. When the shah decided to do away with the formula of ruling and opposition parties in 1975 and establish a single party—Rastakhiz (Persian: Renaissance) [q.v.]—he chose Hoveida as its secretary-general. In October 1976 Hoveida relinquished this post to Jamshid Amuzgar.
Despite his long, loyal service, the shah dismissed Hoveida when he needed a scapegoat to stem the rising revolutionary tide in mid-1977, and named him court minister. But as popular pressure rose, the shah arrested Hoveida along with 11 other leading personalities. He was tried and executed by the Islamic regime in April 1979.
Hrawi, Elias (1930–2006): Lebanese politician; president, 1989–98 Born into a landowning Maronite [q.v.] family in a village near Zahle, the capital of the Beqaa governorate, Hrawi obtained a degree in business administration from Saint Joseph University in Beirut [q.v.]. He then managed the family lands. He became a parliamentary deputy in 1972, representing Zahle. Appointed minister of public works in 1980, Hrawi served for two years. During most of the 1975–90 Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], Zahle was under Syrian control, and Hrawi maintained amiable relations with Damascus. Following the assassination of President Rene Muawad two and a half weeks after his election in November 1989, Hrawi emerged as the favorite. He was elected president by 47 of the 52 lawmakers meeting in Shtuara (also spelled Chtuara), a town in the Beqaa Valley. He called for special bonds between Lebanon and Syria.
His attempt to overthrow the rival government of Gen. Michel Aoun [q.v.] through economic and diplomatic pressure failed. But he succeeded in securing support for the Taif Accord [q.v.] from a section of the Maronite community, and reducing the area under Aoun's control to about a third of the Christian sector. In August 1990 he navigated the constitutional reform outlined in the Taif Accord through the parliament. Two months later he allied with Syria in a joint military plan to topple Aoun, which succeeded.
He then created Greater Beirut, free of armed militias, and appointed a government of national unity. He cooperated with Syria on security matters. In May 1991 he signed the Lebanese-Syrian Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation, and Coordination [q.v.], thus formalizing links with Syria in all important matters, including security and foreign affairs. His government participated in the Middle East peace process, inaugurated by the Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid in October 1991, coordinating Lebanon's stance with Syria's. His supporters' success in the general election of 1992, which was boycotted by right-wing Maronites, strengthened his hand. In 1995 the parliament extended his presidency by three years.
hudud (Arabic: limit; plural of hadd): It defines the limits of acceptable behavior in Islam [q.v.]. In the Sharia [q.v.], hudud covers a set of punishments for such transgressions against religiously acceptable behavior as stealing or robbing, fornication and adultery, making a false accusation, and consumption of alcohol or other intoxicants. In the case of major theft or robbery without murder, the penalty is cutting off a hand or a foot. For robbery coupled with murder, the death sentence is mandatory. In the case of adultery by married adults, the punishment is death by stoning, or 100 lashes. Drinking of alcohol or any other intoxicant usually results in the guilty person's subjection to a certain number of lashes. In every instance hard evidence by eye-witnesses is required. Someone making a false accusation is punished with lashes.
Hardline ulema [q.v.] stress that hudud punishments are applicable to all times and cannot be amended. But moderate ulema argue that these punishments were appropriate within the historical and social contexts in which they originated and that in today's modernizing societies the underpinning Islamic principles and values should be expressed differently.
Hudud is one of the four systems of crime punishment, others being qisas [q.v.], based on the concept of equal retaliation for the harm inflicted on a victim; diyya (Arabic: balanced), compensation paid to the heirs of a victim; and tazir (Arabic: corporal punishment), penalties for misdemeanors at the discretion of a religious judge.
Hussein, Qusay Saddam (1966–2006): Iraqi politician Born to Saddam Hussein [q.v.] and Sajida Talfa in Baghdad [q.v.], Hussein attended Exemplary Kharkh School, run by his mother, until 1979, when his father became president. To mobilize the population during the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.] he resorted to going to official meetings in a tank. He married Sahour, daughter of Gen. Mahir Abdul Rashid, commander of Seventh Army Corps and one of the heroes of the war.
After the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], Saddam Hussein put him in charge of the Concealment Operations Committee (COC) to oversee and safeguard crucial information and material about the military programs prohibited by the UN Security Council Resolution 687 [q.v.] passed in April 1991.
The next year he became head of the National Security Bureau, consisting of five intelligence agencies: General Security (GS, Amn al-Aam), General Intelligence Department (GID, Dairat al-Mukhabarat al-Ammaa), Military Intelligence (MI, Istikhabarat al-Askariya), Special Security Directorate (Muderiye al-Amn al-Khas), and Military Security (MS, Amn al-Askariya). He also supervised the elite Republican Guard.
During the mid-1990s, in the internal debates that raged in Saddam Hussein's extended family on how to deal with the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) [q.v.] and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he and his elder brother, Uday, opposed concessions to the UN Against the background of intensified suffering that the Iraqi people experienced due to the punishing UN sanctions, security around the president tightened to the extent that only Hussein and the president's private secretary, Abid Hamid Mahmoud, knew his whereabouts.
In 2001, when Hussein was elected to the Baath Party [q.v.] Regional Command, he held the rank of a major-general. Unlike Uday—notorious for his violence, short temper, and public tantrums—Hussein was intelligent, calculating, and quietly ruthless
On the eve of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in March 2003, he was assigned the task of defending the Baghdad-Tikrit region. After the fall of the Baathist regime, he and Uday became fugitives. Betrayed by their host in Mosul [q.v.] in July, Hussein and his brother—each carrying a U.S. bounty of $15 million for information leading to his arrest—were surrounded by 200 American troops, backed by helicopter gun ships, and killed.
Hussein, Saddam (1937–2006): Iraqi politician; president, 1979–2003 Born into the Begat clan of the al-Bu Nasir tribe in Auja, a village near Tikrit, the son of Hussein Abd al-Majid, a landless peasant, and Subha Talfa al-Massallat, Hussein was raised by his maternal uncle, Khairallah Talfa due to the death of his father before his birth. After his arrival in Baghdad [q.v.] in 1955 for further education, he joined the Arab Baath Socialist Party [q.v.]. After the 1958 anti-royalist coup he engaged in fights between the Baathists and the followers of Premier Abdul Karim Qasim [q.v.]. A member of the team that tried, unsuccessfully, to assassinate Qasim in October 1959, Hussein was injured in the leg. He escaped to Syria and then to Egypt, where he studied law at Cairo University.
Following the Baathist seizure of power in 1963, he returned to Iraq. When Abdul Salam Arif [q.v.] usurped power from the Baathists, he was involved in an abortive attempt to overthrow Arif. He was imprisoned but managed to escape in July 1966. Elected assistant general secretary of the Baath Party, he spent the next two years reorganizing the party. He was 31 when the Baath recaptured power in 1968.
Though not a member of the ruling Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), Hussein was quite influential due to his blood ties with RCC Chairman Ahmad Hassan Bakr [q.v.], a cousin of Khairallah Talfa. In late 1969 he secured a place on the RCC. Thereafter the Bakr-Hussein duo came to dominate the Baath Party, mainly because of their cunning decimation of their RCC colleagues. Hussen busied himself with strengthening the party as well as resolving the long-running dispute with ethnic Kurds [q.v.]. His foreign travels in 1972 in the wake of Iraq's nationalization of Western-owned Iraq Petroleum Company, took him to Moscow and Paris.
By the mid-1970s, he had outstripped Bakr in leadership, cunning, ruthlessness, and organizational ability. It was he who signed the Algiers Accord [q.v.] with Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] of Iran in 1975, thus ending a bitter feud with Tehran. By the late 1970s he felt powerful enough to overrule Bakr's strategy of conciliating Shia [q.v.] dissidents, inspired by the Islamic revolution in the Shia-majority Iran. When Hussein found out in mid-June 1979 that Bakr had sent a secret message to Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] to expedite negotiations on unity between Syria and Iraq, he compelled Bakr to resign. On the 11th anniversary of the Baathist revolution in mid-July, Hussein assumed supreme power.
In late July he discovered a major "anti-state conspiracy" involving 68 top Baathist civilian and military leaders. All were tried summarily, and 21 were executed. He purged trade unions, the party militia, student unions, and local and provincial governments of the elements he considered half-hearted in their support of him. While generous in funding the improvement of Shia shrines and conciliatory toward senior Shia clergy, he severely repressed such militant Shia bodies as al-Daawa [q.v.].
In September 1980 he invaded Iran to recover the eastern half of the Shatt al-Arab [q.v.], which he had conceded to Tehran in the 1975 Algiers Accord. But as his troops made inroads into Iran, he expanded his war aims to include the annexation of the captured areas on the basis that the majority of its inhabitants were ethnic Arabs [q.v.]. By mid-1982, when the Iranians had expelled the Iraqis from their territory, two outcomes were possible: a draw or an Iranian triumph. Afraid that Tehran's victory would destabilize the region, including the oil-rich Gulf States [q.v.], the United States, the Soviet Union, and France enhanced their military, economic, and intelligence aid to Hussein's regime.
By extending the fight to include the Gulf [q. v.] and its shipping from 1984 onwards, he succeeded in involving the U.S. in the conflict in the name of protecting oil shipping lanes—against Iran. By mid-1987 Tehran found itself with a second front, in the Gulf, facing the U.S. Navy.
Against this background, in the spring of 1988 Iraq, making extensive use of chemical weapons, staged a series of successful offensives to regain territory it had lost to Iran from 1984 to 1986. This compelled Tehran to accept unconditionally UN Security Council Resolution 598 [q.v.] of July 1987. The truce came into effect on 20 August 1988.
In the course of the eight-year Iran-Iraq War [q.v.], Hussein enlarged his military from 250,000 to 1,250,000; vastly expanded the industrial-military complex; and made considerable progress in developing or producing chemical, biological, and nuclear arms. After the war he applied his vastly increased intelligence and military machines—including chemical weapons—to root out insurgent nationalist Kurds in the north, who had largely allied with Iran during the 1980–1988 Gulf War [q.v.].
In August 1990 Hussein invaded Kuwait, a neighbor that had aided Iraq materially and logistically during its war with Iran. U.S. President George H. W. Bush (r. 1989–93) took the lead in rallying the support of the international community to reverse the Iraqi aggression, and cobbled together an alliance of 29 Western and Arab nations. The UN imposed a military and economic embargo on Iraq. When Hussein refused to withdraw Iraqi troops from Kuwait by the UN deadline of 15 January 1991, the U.S.-led coalition began an air campaign against Iraq and Iraqi-occupied Kuwait, thus initiating the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.].
The coalition's unparalleled intense bombing continued for 39 days and was followed by a ground offensive that lasted four days. Defeated, Hussein withdrew his forces from Kuwait, and a temporary truce came into effect on 28 February. In April he accepted a humiliating UN Security Council Resolution 687 [q.v.], which outlined the cease-fire and war reparations as well as the main conditions for the lifting of sanctions against Iraq: destruction of its medium-range missiles and all non-conventional arms and manufacturing facilities.
Despite intense efforts by the leading Western powers, Israel, and Saudi Arabia to have Hussein assassinated, or his regime overthrown by a coup, he survived. His military and intelligence apparatus remained effective. However, the Western imposition of a "no fly" restriction in the area above the 36th parallel in October 1991 virtually ended his control over the Kurdish. His power was cut further in August 1992 when the allies declared the predominantly Shia area of Iraq below the 32nd parallel as a "no fly" zone for the central government.
While economic sanctions caused high inflation and a dramatic drop in living standards, there were no signs that popular discontent against Hussein's regime had reached such proportions as to destabilize it. But his elation at Bush's defeat in the U.S. presidential election in November 1992 proved premature when President Bill Clinton continued his predecessor's hard-line policy toward Hussein. A denouement came in late June 1993, when the U.S. navy hit the Iraqi intelligence complex in Baghdad with missiles on the basis that Hussein had planned Bush's assassination during his trip to Kuwait two months earlier.
By October 1994, having complied with all the conditions of UN Security Resolution 687 (after the Gulf War cease-fire) and Resolution 715 (mandating long-term monitoring of Iraq's military industry), Hussein felt that it was time for the UN to lift the economic sanctions. To force the issue to the top of the agenda, he moved Iraqi troops southward. Washington construed this as a plan by Hussein to re-invade Kuwait, and dispatched its forces to the region. Hussein withdrew Iraqi troops to their pre-crisis positions. At the U.N. Security Council Russia called for the lifting of the sanctions by the spring of 1995. The defection to Jordan in August 1995 of Gen. Hussein Kamil Hassan, a son-in-law of Hussein and minister of industry, created a crisis for Hussein. He overcame it by winning 99.96 percent backing in a referendum on another seven-year presidential term in October.
In February 1996, after the return of Hussein Kamil Hassan and his family to Baghdad, the erstwhile defector was killed in a gun battle by his uncle, Gen. Ali al-Majid. The next month, Hussein called parliamentary elections after seven years. In September, he was invited by Masoud Barzani [q.v.] of the Kurdistan Democratic Party [q.v.] to assist him in expelling his rival, Jalal Talabani [q.v.], from the regional capital of Irbil [q.v.]. He did. In the process the Iraqi troops and intelligence agents destroyed the base that the U.S. had established in the region to overthrow Hussein before withdrawing from the area.
Hussein's relations with the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) [q.v.] on disarming Iraq of weapons of mass destruction deteriorated when Richard Butler, an Australian disarmament specialist, replaced Rolf Ekeus, a Swedish diplomat, as head of UNSCOM in mid-1997. A crisis with the UN in February 1998 was defused by the last-minute intervention by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, who met Hussein in Baghdad. But the agreement lasted only until December, when the U.S., assisted by Britain, mounted its Operation Desert Fox [q.v.]. The Pentagon fired 415 Cruise and Tomahawk missiles and dropped 600 laser-guided bombs on 100 Iraqi targets. Hussein's efforts to have an Arab League [q.v.] summit condemn the Anglo-American action and demand the lifting of sanctions on Iraq failed. Equally, the American attempt to get the Gulf monarchies involved in overthrowing Hussein got nowhere.
He rejected the new, comprehensive UN Security Council Resolution 1284 [q.v.] passed in December 1999, which required Iraq to re-admit UN inspectors who had been withdrawn by Butler to enable the Pentagon to mount its Operation Desert Fox. Confident of his improved standing at home, he called a parliamentary election in March 2000. Five months later he received President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, the current chairman of the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries [q.v.], in Baghdad. Soon the air travel ban on Iraq collapsed. In October, Hussein was invited to an Arab League summit after 10 years, but he did not attend. He backed the Palestinian Al Aqsa intifada [q.v.] by sending food and medical aid to the Palestinian Territories [q.v.] and paying generous compensation to the families of the Palestinians killed in the uprising. This made him all the more unpopular with the newly elected U.S. president, George W. Bush (r. 2001–2009), whose father, President George H.W. Bush, had inflicted a humiliating defeat on Hussein in 1991. Within weeks of taking office in January 2001, Bush Jr. ordered air strikes against Iraqi targets on the grounds that Iraq was improving its air defenses.
After the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in September, known as 9/11, the Bush administration tried to show that Hussein had links with Al Qaida [q.v.], but failed to provide convincing evidence. After the administration's failure to capture or kill Osama bin Laden [q.v.] during its Afghanistan War, it attempted to divert popular opinion in the U.S. against Hussein on the premise that he had failed to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction. The propaganda war against Hussein built up after the first anniversary of 9/11. When Hussein agreed to the return of UN inspectors unconditionally on 16 September 2002, the U.S., backed by Britain, successfully lobbied the UN Security Council to adopt a much more rigorous regime of inspections, which was spelled out in Resolution 1441 in November.
Hussein accepted the new resolution. Within weeks, UN inspectors started working in Iraq. They found no evidence of weapons of mass destruction by mid-March 2003. But that did not alter the earlier agenda of President Bush to bring about regime change in Iraq. He gave Hussein two days to leave Iraq. When, as expected, he did not, Bush, backed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, ordered an invasion of Iraq, thus starting Gulf War III [q.v.]
During the armed conflict, Hussein appeared on television or in person on the streets of Baghdad until and including 9 April, when the capital fell to the invading forces. He then disappeared, reportedly carrying part of the large amount of cash collected from the Central Bank by his son Qusay [q.v.].
While on the run, he issued audiotaped statements calling on Iraqis to resist "the foreigners." Washington offered a $25 million award for information leading to his arrest. Betrayed by an accomplice, Hussein was arrested in December 2003 by American troops at a farm house 15 mi./24 km from his hometown of Tikrit, where he was hiding in an underground cellar. During his subsequent incarceration, he penned poetry and romantic novels.
Following his trial under the Interim Iraqi government in the U.S.-occupied Iraq, related to the killing of 148 Shia residents of Dujail, the site of a failed assassination attempt on him in 1982, Hussein was sentenced to capital punishment in November 2006. He was hanged the next month.
Hussein bin Talal al-Hashem (1935–99): King of Jordan, 1952–99 Born in Amman [q.v.], Hussein was educated at Victoria College, Alexandria [q.v.], and then at Harrow, a private school, and Sandhurst Military Academy in Britain. After the deposition of his father, Talal bin Abdullah al-Hashem [q.v.], in August 1952 due to mental illness, Hussein was named king. But power was exercised by a regency council until the following May, when he turned 18.
The new constitution promulgated in 1952 nominally provided a multiparty, two-chamber parliament, with the king as the constitutional head of state. Following Hussein's rigging of the general election in the autumn of 1954, the opposition demonstrated against the electoral malpractices and the Baghdad Pact [q.v.], which he was poised to join in December 1955. Bowing to popular pressure, he dismissed Gen. John Glubb [q.v.], and ordered fresh elections. The nationalist-leftist alliance won the largest bloc of seats in the autumn 1956 election.
When the government, headed by Premier Suleiman Nabulsi [q.v.], abrogated the 1948 Anglo-Jordanian Treaty [q.v.], which entitled Britain to maintain military bases in Jordan, Hussein acquiesced. In April 1957 he crushed an incipient coup by the Free Officers, led by his recently appointed chief of staff, General Ali Abu Nawar, and received U.S. aid under the Eisenhower Doctrine [q.v.]. He dismissed the Nabulsi government, dissolved parliament and political parties, and imposed martial law.
He countered the emergence of the United Arab Republic [q.v.] in early 1958 by sponsoring a federation of Jordan and Iraq, becoming its deputy head. But the federation disintegrated as a result of the Free Officers' antiroyalist coup in Iraq in July.
Despite several attempts, inspired by Egypt or Syria, to overthrow him, Hussein survived, partly because, in exchange for a financial subsidy, he allowed Washington's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to operate freely in his kingdom, which kept him fully apprised of local or regional plots against his regime. To forestall competition upon his succession, he named his youngest brother, Hassan, crown prince in 1965.
In the supercharged atmosphere in the buildup to the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], he joined the Egyptian-Syrian defense pact. The subsequent loss of the West Bank [q.v.] and East Jerusalem [q.v.] had a traumatic effect on him and his subjects. A rise in the number of refugees from these territories, and growing militancy among the Palestinians in Jordan, led to fighting between Palestinian commandos and the Jordanian army in September 1970, which the latter won. A major offensive by the Jordanian army in July 1971 pushed the last of the Palestinian commandos out of the kingdom. The Palestine National Council (PNC) [q.v.], meeting in April 1972, rejected Hussein's plan for a United Arab Kingdom, consisting of the federated provinces of Jordan and Palestine, with East Jerusalem [q.v.] as its capital after Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
During the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] Hussein rejected calls by Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia to open a third front against Israel, and accepted Washington's advice to stay out of the conflict.
With enhanced U.S. military and diplomatic backing, he felt confident enough to resume face-to-face talks with Israeli leaders which he had initiated clandestinely before the 1967 war and included Yigal Allon, a former Israeli brigadier general, and Golda Meir [q.v.].
He continued to press for Israel's evacuation of the West Bank. This ceased only when a summit conference of the Arab League in October-November 1974 recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and supported the right of the Palestinian people to establish an independent national authority on any liberated territory of Palestine. He reluctantly accepted the Arab League resolution. Dismissing West Bank members of the parliament, elected in April 1967, he suspended the chamber. He advocated a comprehensive peace settlement through a U.N.-sponsored conference.
By receiving a PLO delegation to Amman in February 1977, he enhanced his standing in the Arab world. At the same time, during the presidency of Jimmy Carter (r. 1977–81) in the U.S., it became public knowledge that he had been on the payroll of the CIA as an "asset" since 1957. To repair the subsequent damage to his reputation, he refused to join the peace process initiated by the Camp David Accords [q.v.] between Egypt and Israel in September 1978. He strengthened Jordan's ties with the Soviet Union, which he had first visited in 1967. He concluded an arms deal with Moscow in 1981 and backed the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev's call for an international conference on the Middle East crisis.
In the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) [q.v.], Hussein sided with Baghdad. This accelerated Jordan's economic integration with Iraq. Emulating Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's [q.v.] example of giving his regime a parliamentary veneer, he revived the suspended Jordanian parliament in January 1984. Ignoring the Arab League's suspension of Egypt from its membership since 1979, he started improving relations with Cairo from 1984 onward. In early 1985 he concluded an agreement with the PLO chairman, Yasser Arafat [q.v.], on a future confederation of the Palestinian state and Jordan, and a joint approach to a Middle East peace settlement. But this deal was rejected by the Palestine National Council (PNC) [q.v.] in April 1987. He responded by severing all legal and administrative links of Jordan with the West Bank in July 1988.
He actively backed a move to establish the Arab Cooperation Council (ACC) [q.v.], an alliance of Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, and North Yemen. Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, he worked hard to provide an Arab solution to the crisis, but failed. He blamed the U.S., Egypt, and Saudi Arabia for his failure and the subsequent escalation of the crisis into a full-scale war. Reflecting public opinion at home—well captured by the 80-strong parliament elected in a free and fair election in November 1989, returning 32 Islamist deputies—Hussein combined his critical stance toward Washington with a pro-Baghdad tilt. This cost him dearly in Western capitals.
After the end of the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], he tried to repair the damage by distancing himself from Saddam Hussein. He participated in the negotiations that preceded the holding of the Middle East peace conference in Madrid in October 1991, and agreed to a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation, as proposed by Israel. In August 1993, when the secret Israeli-PLO Accord [q.v.] became public, he denounced it because it contradicted the agreed-on policy of the four Arab parties—Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and th PLO—to pursue a joint strategy in their bilateral talks with Israel. But after a meeting with Arafat, he moderated his stance.
He continued to coordinate Jordan's position with Syria and Lebanon in his peace talks with Israel. He allowed a fresh parliamentary election in November 1993 (as scheduled), and was satisfied to see the Islamist forces doing less well than before. With the implementation of the Israeli-PLO Accord progressing, Hussein felt the need to join the process by resuming bilateral talks with Israel. He did so without consulting Syria and Lebanon. He signed the resulting agreement with Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.], ending the state of belligerency between Jordan and Israel, on 25 July 1994 in Washington. Three months later the two leaders signed a peace treaty at a site in the Araba Valley along the Jordanian-Israeli border about 30 mi./48 km north of the Gulf of Aqaba.
In October 1998, invited by U.S. President Bill Clinton (r.1993–2001), Hussein intervened, successfully, in the Israeli-Palestinian talks at the Wye River Plantation near Washington, D.C. Just before his death due to lymph cancer, to the dismay and shock of Crown Prince Hassan, who had been deputing as the monarch during Hussein's extended medical treatment in the U.S., Hussein named his eldest son, Abdullah [q.v.], as his heir.
al-Husseini, Faisal (1940–2001): Born in Baghdad [q.v.] to Abdul Qadir, the field commander during the 1936–39 Arab Revolt in Palestine [q.v.], and Khair Fatima during the time his family took refuge there, Husseini grew up in Cairo [q.v.], where he obtained a university degree. He returned to East Jerusalem [q.v.]. After the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] in 1964, Husseini worked briefly in the PLO's Jerusalem office. He then graduated from the Homs [q.v.] Military Academy as an officer of the Palestine Liberation Army [q.v.]. After the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war [q.v.], he worked with Yasser Arafat [q.v.] to set up a guerrilla infrastructure in the West Bank [q.v.]. He was arrested by the Israeli government and sentenced to a year in jail.
In 1979 he opened the Arab Studies Center in East Jerusalem, which the Israeli authorities regarded as a front for coordinating PLO activities in the Occupied Territories [q.v.]. They closed down the Center, and imprisoned him without leveling any charges against him under the system known as "administrative detention." After his release he was placed under city arrest for the next five years. Yet he emerged as the chief spokesman of the PLO on the West Bank [q.v.] in the late 1980s. He supported the Intifada [q.v.] that erupted in 1987.
During the preliminary talks that led to the Middle East peace conference in Madrid in October 1991, he acted as a bridge between Arafat and U.S. Secretary of State James Baker. He led the Palestinian delegation that negotiated with the Israelis after the Madrid conference.
In the cabinet of the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] appointed in 1994, he was given the portfolio of Jerusalem [q.v.]. He reopened the Arab Studies Center. Under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (r. 1996–99) [q.v.], the government closed it down. During his trip to Kuwait to repair the damaged relations between the Emirate and the PLO, dating back to 1991, he died of a heart attack.
al-Husseini, Haajj Muhammad Amin (1897–1974): Palestinian religious and political leader Born into a prominent religious family in Jerusalem [q.v.], Husseini received his secondary education in the city, studied for a year at al-Azhar University [q.v.] in Cairo [q.v.], and then enrolled at the Ottoman school of administration in Istanbul. He served briefly as an officer in the Ottoman army during World War I. After the war he became a recruiting officer for the army of Faisal bin Hussein [q.v.] in Syria.
As leader of an Arab nationalist group in Jerusalem, the Arab Club, he considered Palestine [q.v.] to be part of Greater Syria [q.v.] and opposed Jewish immigration into Palestine. Holding him responsible for anti-Jewish violence in April 1920, a British military court sentenced him in absentia to 15 years in jail. He escaped to Damascus [q.v.]. The British high commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel, pardoned him in August. The following March, to conciliate Arab opinion, Sir Herbert recommended that Husseini should be made the grand mufti (religious judge) of Jerusalem when the job fell vacant on the death of his step-brother, Kamel al-Husseini. This happened in May.
In December Sir Herbert ordered the establishment of a five-member Supreme Muslim Council—charged with running religious endowments, courts, and mosques—to be elected indirectly. It chose 25-year-old Husseini as its chairman. Having achieved supreme office among Palestinian Muslims, he opted for persuasion rather than violence. But that did not deflect him from pursuing his aim of making Palestine an independent Arab state. He started restoring the Dome of the Rock [q.v.] and al-Aqsa mosque, a step that enhanced his popularity among Arabs [q.v.]. His attempt to restrict Jewish rights at the Wailing Wall [q.v.] triggered a severe riot in August 1929.
His insistent demand that restrictions on Jewish immigration should be coupled with the establishment of an Arab national government made him the most significant political leader of Arab Palestinians. In April 1936, at his behest, various Arab groups united to form the Arab Higher Committee (AHC) [q .v.] under his leadership. When the AHC discovered that the Zionists [q.v.] were smuggling arms, it called a general strike, which escalated into a general Arab revolt. It won the backing of the Syrian and Iraqi volunteers.
Following the recommendation in July 1937 of the British-appointed Peel Commission to partition Palestine, Arab violence escalated. Three months later the British government dismissed Husseini as chairman of the Supreme Muslim Council, which was disbanded, and banned the AHC, banishing its members to Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Husseini took refuge in the Muslim shrines of Jerusalem, and then managed to flee first to Lebanon and then Syria. From there he continued to direct the Arab revolt, which ended in March 1939 with a death toll of 3,232 Arabs, 329 Jews, and 135 Britons.
Soon after the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Husseini arrived in Baghdad [q.v.] as a political refugee and began rallying anti-Zionist and anti-British sentiments in Iraq. He aided Rashid Ali Gailani [q.v.] in his revolt against the royal family and the British in 1941. After the failure of Gailani's venture, he fled to Iran, then to (neutral) Turkey and the Balkans under the Axis Powers, and finally Germany, where he met Adolf Hitler, who received him as a leader of anti-British Arab nationalism [q.v.]. He attended Nazi rallies in Berlin, and blessed those Bosnian Muslims who had joined the German military.
At the end of the war Husseini was arrested by the French forces, but soon managed to escape (aboard a U.S. military aircraft) to Cairo [q.v.]. The Arab League [q.v.] appointed him chairman of the revived Arab Higher Committee to represent Arab Palestinians. Through his cousin Abdul Qadir al-Husseini, who led the Palestinian fighters in the civil conflict that preceded the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.], Husseini exercised influence inside Palestine. He lobbied successfully to get Egypt to join the Arab struggle against Israel.
After the Palestine War his attempts to form a government of all Palestine in the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip [q.v.] were cold-shouldered by Cairo. He moved to Beirut [q.v.] in 1959. With the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] in 1964, Husseini's influence declined sharply, and he led an uneventful existence until his death a decade later.
I
Ibadhis: Islamic sect Ibadhis are named after Abdullah bin Ibadh, a member of the Azd tribe of Oman, who started his life as a Khariji [q.v.]. In 685 A.D. he split with Khariji extremists, who considered that non-Khariji Muslims [q.v.] were polytheists, whereas he regarded them as mere infidels. Thus Ibadhism emerged as a pragmatic school within the Khariji movement. It sought to restore the concept of Islam [q.v.] and the Islamic state before it was allegedly corrupted by Caliph Othman bin Affan (r. 644–56 A.D.). Ibadhis were then to be found in Iraq, Hijaz [q.v.], Central Arabia, Oman, and Iran. In 850 A.D. the Omani tribes, professing Ibadhism, split from the Abbasid Caliphate, based in Baghdad [q.v.], and set up an independent domain in the plateau of Jebel Akhdar, Green Mountain. Today two-thirds of Omani Muslims are Ibadhi.
ibn: See bin [q.v.].
Ibn Baz, Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah: See al-Baz, Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah.
Ibn Saud: See Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al-Saud.
ijma: (Arabic: consensus) One of the four pillars of Islamic jurisprudence, ijma means consensus of the community, umma [q.v.], the other remaining pillars being the Quran [q.v.]; Prophet Muhammad's sunna [q.v.], later codified as the Hadith [q.v.]; and ijtihad [q.v.], interpretative reasoning. The function of ijma is to settle the theory or practice concerning the believer's behavior in matters specified by Allah (through the Quran) and the Prophet Muhammad (through the Hadith). Until Muhammad bin Idris al-Shafii (d. 820 A.D.) founded the discipline of religious jurisprudence (fiqh [q.v.]), based on these pillars, ijma had been construed as consensus of "ahl al-hall walaqd" (Arabic: people of loosening and binding), a term that embraces various types of representatives of the community, including religious intellectuals. But Shafii enlarged it to include the whole community. In the modern era Muhammad Abdu (d. 1905), an Egyptian Islamic thinker, interpreted ijma as public opinion.
ijtihad (Arabic: applying effort [to form an opinion]): interpretative reasoning With time it became necessary for Muslims [q.v.] and their rulers to interpret the Quran [q.v.] and the Prophet Muhammad's sunna [q.v.] (together forming the Islamic law) to address unprecedented situations. During the early Islamic era, ijtihad was freely practiced by the learned to interpret the Quran and the sunna, the interpretation being either arbitrary or based on analogy, qiyas [q.v.]. Its practitioners were called mujtahids [q.v.]. Muhammad bin Idris al-Shafii (d. 820 A.D.) restricted ijtihad to analogy from the Quran and the sunna.
By the mid-9th century A.D., four major schools of Islamic law—ranging between the rigid Hanbali school [q.v.] and the liberal Hanafi school [q.v.]—had emerged within Sunni Islam [q.v.]. In order not to upset the consensus thus gained with some new radical innovation, the clergy from the 10th century onward declared that the gates of ijtihad had been shut. As late as the early 19th century the Mufti of Cairo's al-Azhar University [q.v.] declared: "He who believes himself to be a mujtahid must be under the influence of his hallucinations and of the devil." This view was challenged by Jamal al-Din Afghani (d. 1897), a leading Islamic reformer, who stated that each believer had the right and responsibility to interpret the Quran and the Hadith himself. His stance was adopted later by Muhammad Abdu (d. 1905), an Egyptian Islamic scholar, and his acolyte Muhammad Rashid Rida (d. 1935). Rida inspired Hassan al-Banna [q.v.], the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] in Egypt, who favored ijtihad so that Islam could face the problems of the modern world.
Unlike in Sunnism, in Shia Islam [q.v.] ijtihad did not remain dormant for long. The destruction in 1258 of the (Sunni) Abbasid caliphate by the Mongol ruler Hulagu Khan (12171265) created a political-ideological vacuum in which the Shia doctrine thrived. Jamal al-Din bin Yusuf al-Hilli (1250–1325), a Shia thinker, rehabilitated the concept and practice of ijtihad.
Ikhwan (Arabic: Brethren or brotherhood): Islamic military movement in Arabia Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al-Saud [q.v.], the ruler of Najd [q.v.], conceived the idea of settling the nomadic tribes in colonies in order to teach them the tenets of Islam [q.v.] as a step toward replacing their customary law with the Islamic Law [q.v. ] and their traditional tribal bonds with religious ones. Implementing this idea after 1913, he called the settlements hijra (Arabic: migration—i.e., from a life of ignorance to one of enlightenment) and the settlers al-Ikhwan. They were fired with zeal to spread the Wahhabi [q.v.] version of Islam to the farthest corners of the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.] and beyond.
By 1920 their colonies had become the primary source of soldiery to Abdul Aziz al-Saud. During the next several years the Ikhwan helped him to expand his realm to nearly four-fifths of the Arabian Peninsula. In 1927 Britain, the most powerful foreign power in the Persian Gulf [q.v.] region, recognized Abdul Aziz al-Saud as King of Hijaz and Sultan of Najd and its Dependencies on one condition: he had to accept Britain as the protector of Oman and the Gulf principalities as well as the territorial integrity of Iraq and Transjordan [q.v.], then under British Mandate.
Ignoring al-Saud's agreement with Britain, some of the Ikhwan commanders continued to raid territories outside his domain. This led to conflict between the Ikhwan and al-Saud in March 1929, with 8,000 Ikhwan facing 30,000 well-armed soldiers of al-Saud. The rebels were defeated. Further battles followed, and it was not until January 1930 that the last of the defiant Ikhwan chiefs surrendered. Those Ikhwan commanders who had stayed loyal to al-Saud received regular stipends. Soon their units were transformed into the National Guard [q.v.].
Ikhwan al-Muslimin: See Muslim Brotherhood.
imam (Arabic: model, one whose leadership or example is to be followed): religious leader "Imam" is used as a noun and as a title. Shias [q.v.] use it for the religious leader at the highest level instead of the honorific caliph, a derivative of khalifa (Arabic: vice regent), used by Sunnis [q.v.]. Thus Shias refer to Ali bin Abu Talib as Imam Ali, whereas Sunnis call him Caliph Ali. Sunnis refer to the founders of their four legal schools as imams—for example, Imam Muhammad bin Idris al-Shafii. As the religious leader of Zaidi [q.v.] Shias in his country, the ruler of North Yemen carried the honorific of Imam. In modern times Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.] was given this title by Iranian Shias to place him above the highest Shia religious rank of Grand Ayatollah. Finally, the leader of prayers at any mosque is called an imam.
imamat: supreme leadership of Muslims after the Prophet Muhammad Sunnis [q.v.] distinguish between the early caliphate of the (four) Rightly Guided Caliphs—Abu Bakr bin Abu Quhafa, Omar bin Khattab, Othman bin Affan, and Ali bin Abu Talib— and the latter imamat, which was characterized by worldly monarchy. Only the caliphs met the conditions of the true imamat. The required qualifications were membership in the Quraish tribe, to which the Prophet Muhammad belonged; thorough knowledge of Islamic law and probity in upholding it; physical fitness; and an ability to discharge the political-military duties of the high office. The Imam could be appointed by his predecessor or elected. The size of the electorate—or "ahl al-hall wal aqd" (Arabic: people of loosening and binding)—necessary to make their choice binding on the Muslim community varied between one and the "generality" of the electors, the election amounting to a selection of the "most exemplary" Muslim [q.v.]. His duties were to protect Islam [q.v.] from heterodoxy; dispense Islamic punishment and justice between disputants; maintain peace within the Muslim domain and defend it against foreign enemies; collect Islamic alms and taxes and spend the revenue according to the law; and appoint sincere Muslims to assist him in the discharge of his duties.
Shias [q.v.] do not accept the ima-mat of Abu Bakr, Omar, and Othman, arguing that the Prophet Muhammad had designated Ali as his successor. The Twelver Shia [q. v. ] doctrine, formulated by Imam Jaafar al-Sadiq (d. 765 A.D.), maintains that the Imam must be designated by Allah through the Prophet Muhammad or another Imam, he must be free from sin and error, and he must be the "most exemplary" of all Muslims. In short, Imams, being divinely inspired, are infallible, a view not shared by Sunnis.
Imamis: See Twelver Shias.
intifada (Arabic: shivering or shaking off): Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation, 1987–93 Intifada erupted spontaneously in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip [q.v.] on 9 December 1987, when thousands marched in protest against the killing of four Palestinians by an Israeli truck near the settlement. During the next several days rioting spread throughout the Gaza Strip and the West Bank [q.v.], including East Jerusalem [q.v.], with predominantly young protestors hurling stones and gasoline bombs at the Israeli forces, and the latter responding with tear gas and live ammunition, killing 24 Palestinians by the end of December. By then, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.], headquartered in Tunis, and the Islamic Center, the front organization of the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.], based in the Occupied Territories [q.v.], had given the spontaneous movement their support.
The intifada stemmed from 20 years of collective and individual frustration and humiliation that the Palestinians had endured in their dealings with the Jews [q.v.] and the Israeli authorities, both military and civilian. By early January 1988 the secular PLO had set up the United National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU) [q.v.] to direct the movement, while the Islamic Center formed Hamas [q.v.] for the same purpose. Many of those involved were young, educated Palestinians, fluent in Hebrew [q.v.] and familiar with Israeli norms, who took over the communal leadership from the older generation of Arab notables who professed peaceful coexistence with the Israelis.
UNLU and Hamas urged the Palestinians to resign from all government posts, stop using public services, withdraw money from Israeli banks, boycott all Israeli products, cease paying taxes, and join the strikes it called. UNLU committees issued circulars containing instructions in these matters, and urged all Palestinians to share the sacrifices required by the intifada. The Palestinians used charity funds to support the large number of families whose husbands or brothers were jailed. Actions by the Israeli security forces—involving firings, curfews, harassment, arrests, and house searches and demolitions—severely disrupted Palestinian life.
During the first four years of the intifada, 1,413 Palestinians were killed— most of them by the Israeli security forces and a minority by fellow Palestinians for being Israeli agents—and 90,000 (about one-sixth of all Palestinian males above 15) were arrested.
The campaign against the Israeli agents intensified in the early 1990s and destroyed Shin Beth's [q.v.] 20,000-strong intelligence network among the Palestinians, making it extremely hard for the occupying Israeli authorities to re-impose full control and restore law and order.
This, and the refusal of Palestinians to call off the intifada, convinced the Israeli government of the futility of continued suppression of them, and denial of their national identity and the right to self-rule, and paved the way for the Israeli-Palestine Liberation Organization Accord [q.v.] in September 1993. By the end of the intifada, 1,636 Palestinians, including 316 minors, had been killed—1,346 by the Israeli security forces and 290 by Jewish civilians. This figure excluded those who were murdered by fellow Palestinians for collaborating with Israel. By contrast, the total death toll of the Israelis, 70, amounted to one a month.
Iran:
OFFICIAL NAME: Islamic Republic of Iran
CAPITAL: Tehran [q.v.]
AREA: 636,296 sq. mi./1,648,000 sq. km
POPULATION: 74.7 million (2011 census)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (nominal): $420.9 billion (2011 est.); per capita, $6,260 (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (Purchasing Power Parity): $827.3 billion (2011 est.); per capita, U.S.$10,800 (2011 est.)
NATIONAL CURRENCY: Iranian Rial (IRR); 12,260 IRRs= U.S.$1; 20,000 IRRs= £1; 15,460 IRRS= €1 Form of government: republic, under Leader (of the Revolution), also known as Supreme Leader
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Persian [q.v.]
OFFICIAL RELIGION: Islam [q.v.]
ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS: Iran is divided into 31 provinces.
ASSEMBLY OF EXPERTS: The 1979 constitution provided for the Assembly of Experts [q.v.] to select the Leader or Leadership Council of three to five members. The First Assembly, elected in 1982, was followed by the Second in 1990 after the constitution was amended in 1989 and the provision of the Leadership Council removed. The Third Assembly was elected in 1990, and the subsequent ones every eight years.
CONSTITUTION: A draft constitution, submitted to the Assembly of Experts (1979) by the government in August 1979, was modified and then approved by a referendum in December. Another referendum in July 1989 approved 50 amendments to the constitution, including abolishing the premiership and creating the Expediency Consultation Council System (ECCS) to resolve differences between parliament, the presidency, and the Guardian Council [q.v.].
Iran is an Islamic republic, where social, political, and economic affairs are conducted according to the tenets of Islam [q.v.]. The constitution provides for an outstanding Islamic jurisprudent to be the Leader (of the Revolution). Standing above the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the state, he has extensive powers, including exercising the supreme command of the armed forces and declaring war or peace in consultation with the Supreme National Security Council and outlining general policies after consultation with the ECCS. He has the authority to appoint half the members of the Council of Guardians, the head of the judiciary, and the chief of the joint staff. He can dismiss the (elected) president if the Supreme Court finds him derelict in his duties or the parliament declares him politically incompetent. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], named as the first Leader, was assigned these powers for life. His successor is required to be chosen by a popularly elected Assembly of Experts (on Islam), consisting of clerics, for the eight-year tenure of the Assembly.
The president is the chief executive, and is elected directly for a four-year term. Legislative authority rests with the Majlis, with four-year tenure. Bills passed by the Majlis are vetted by the Guardian Council to ensure that they are in line with the constitution and Islamic precepts. The articles dealing with the basic rights of the individual provide for equal human, political, economic, social, and cultural rights for men and women.
The press and other publications are given a free rein except in matters deemed detrimental to Islamic principles and public morality. The formation of political and professional parties and associations, as well as religious societies, is allowed provided they do not violate the principles of independence, national unity, or Islamic criteria.
The constitution specifies Islam of the Twelver Jaafari doctrine [q.v.] as the official religion, with other Islamic schools, including the Hanafi [q.v.], Maliki [q.v.], Shafii [q.v.], and Zaidi [q.v.], being accorded full respect. It recognizes Christians [q.v.], Jews [q.v.], and Zoroastrians [q.v.] as religious minorities, and allocates them a certain number of parliamentary seats.
ETHNIC COMPOSITION: (2010) Persians [q.v.] 65 percent, Azeris [q.v.] 16 percent, Kurds [q.v.] 7 percent, Luris 6 percent, Baluchis [q.v.] 2.5 percent, Arabs [q.v.] 2 percent, Turkmen [q.v.] 2 percent, Armenians [q.v.] 0.5 percent
EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY: Executive authority rests with the president, who is elected directly by voters.
High officials:
Leader: Ayatollah Ali Hussein Khamanei [q.v.], 2006–
President: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [q.v.], 2009–
First vice president: Muhammad Reza Rahimi, 2009–
Speaker of Parliament: Ali Larijani, 2008–
Speaker of the Assembly of Experts: Ayatollah Muhammad Reza Mahdavi-Kani, 2011–
Chairman of the Council of Guardians: Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, 1989–
Expediency Consultation Council System: Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani [q.v.] 2012–
HISTORY: The Constitutional Revolution [q.v.] in 1907, during the reign of Muzzafar al-Din Qajar (r. 1896–1907), which introduced a written constitution and an elected Majlis, collapsed in 1911 with the dissolution of the Second Majlis. By the end of World War I the financial position of Iran (then Persia) was so dire that only British subsidies could keep it afloat. London and Tehran concluded the secret Anglo-Persian Agreement [q.v.] in 1919, which turned Iran into a virtual protectorate of Britain. The Majlis refused to ratify it. Britain decided to supplant the weak Qajar power with a strong authority represented by Col. Reza Khan, commander of the elite Cossak Brigade. Reza Khan carried out a coup against the government of Fathullah Gilani in February 1921. He persuaded the Majlis to depose the Qajar monarch, Ahmad Shah, and appoint him king in December 1925.
As Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.], the new ruler established a strong, centralized state in Iran, implemented social reform, and renegotiated the oil concessions given to the British-owned Anglo-Persian (later Anglo-Iranian) Oil Company. In foreign affairs, he cultivated Germany in the 1930s in order to offset the traditional influence of Britain and Russia (then the Soviet Union). In 1933 he changed the name of the country from Persia to Iran. Opposed to Reza Shah's neutrality during World War II, Britain and the Soviet Union occupied Iran in August 1941 and forced Reza Shah to abdicate in favor of his son Muhammad [q.v.].
Following the departure of the British and the Soviets after the war, Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi faced leftist autonomous governments in Azerbaijan [q.v.] and Kurdistan [q.v.]. After overpowering them with Washington's assistance, he consolidated his authority.
In May 1951 nationalist Premier Muhammad Mussadiq [q.v.] nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Britain protested, and oil exports stopped. In August 1952 the Majlis gave Mussadiq emergency powers for six months, and renewed them for a year in January 1953. Mussadiq came into conflict with the shah over the control of the defense ministry. On 16 August the shah left the country.
However, the jubilation of the pro-Mussadiq forces was short-lived. Royalist officers, working in conjunction with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, mounted a counter-coup that resulted in the arrest of Mussadiq and the return of the shah on 19 August. A year later the shah offered oil concessions to a Western consortium. He strengthened links with the West by joining the Baghdad Pact [q.v.]. He repressed domestic opposition, secular and Islamic, and set up a police state. By implementing the "white revolution" [q.v.], he broke the hold of the landed aristocracy and prepared the ground for the rise of capitalism. The enormous jump in oil revenues in the mid-1970s fueled his ambition to make Iran the fifth most powerful nation in the world.
The discontent of the burgeoning modern middle class—which had emerged during a quarter-century of repression that had destroyed all avenues of opposition, except the mosque, whose extensive network remained intact—combined with the alienation experienced by a large underclass of recent rural migrants fostered by an overheated economy, created a protest movement that began to stir in the autumn of 1977. Within a year the movement—guided by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], exiled in Najaf [q.v.], Iraq—acquired revolutionary proportions. It succeeded in overthrowing the shah, heralding an Islamic order under Khomeini in early 1979.
Several attempts were made by the displaced Iranian leaders to overthrow the new regime through a military coup. When the last of these failed in July 1980, the scene was set for a frontal attack on Islamic Iran, which had alienated not only the U.S. but also the neighboring royalist Gulf States [q.v.]. Iraq invaded Iran in September 1980. Despite the chaotic state of its military, Iran was able to stop the Iraqi advance. Overall, the eight-year conflict enabled Khomeini to consolidate the revolution. When in the early summer of 1988 he realized that further military reverses at Iraqi hands would threaten the future of his regime, he agreed to a cease-fire. He died within a year.
The succession to Khomeini's office by Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, the erstwhile president, was smooth. So too was the elevation of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Majlis speaker, to the presidency by popular vote. His liberalization of the economy achieved mixed results. That is why his vote declined to 63 percent at the next election in 1993. Continued low prices for oil, the predominant export of Iran, was another factor in the country's economic ills.
In the 1997 general election, the Majlis speaker, Hojatalislam Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri, the favored candidate of the religious establishment, was defeated by Hojatalislam Muhammad Khatami by a landslide. He initiated much-needed political reform, which was resisted by the conservative-dominated Majlis and orthodox clerics. Under his leadership the regime held the first local elections in February 1999, an exercise that created tens of thousands of elected representatives. Facing the crisis caused by the student protest in July, Khatami and Khamanei worked together to defuse it. That Khatami's reformist agenda had popular backing became apparent when, in the 2000 general election, voters gave a thumping majority to reformers in the Majlis. In the presidential election in 2001, Khatami improved his vote by nine percent, to 78. He continued the economic liberalization initiated by his predecessor.
After the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in September 2001, both Khatami and Khamanei condemned the killing of innocent civilians. In the Afghanistan campaign of the Pentagon that followed, Iran—hostile to the Taliban administration in Kabul since its inception in 1996—stayed neutral, while welcoming the overthrow of the Taliban, which it had regarded as the brainchild of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. But that did not stop U.S. President George W. Bush (r. 2001–2009) from including Iran in his "Axis of Evil" along with Iraq and North Korea, thus continuing the Dual Containment policy [q.v.] of the previous administration. That did not deter Iran from letting the Tehran-based Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq [q.v.] join the Washington-backed Iraqi opposition groups.
While covertly ignoring the violations of its airspace by the Pentagon in the run-up to the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in March 2003, Iran criticized America's attack on a fellow Muslim country.
In the 2005 presidential election, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, mayor of Tehran, emerged with the second-largest number of ballots, slightly ahead of Mahdi Karrubi, former Majlis speaker—allegedly due to the vote-rigging in the Isfahan [q.v.] region—in the first run. He went on to defeat Hashemi Rafsanjani in the second round by a large margin. In foreign affairs a standoff developed between Iran and the United Nation Security Council when—lacking confidence in Iran's declarations that its uranium enrichment program was for generating elec-tricity—a majority of the 35 governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) voted to refer Iran's case to the UN Security Council in 2006. The council imposed three sets of fairly modest economic sanctions on Iran when it refused to cease enriching uranium, which it was entitled to do under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to which it was a signatory. At home, due to the rising oil prices [q.v.] which peaked at $147 a barrel in July 2008, the government was able to raise salaries and pensions and give generous loans to small farmers and businessmen. In the 2008 parliamentary election, conservatives won 170 seats and reformists only 46, with the rest going to independents.
Yet Ahmadinejad faced stiff competition when he sought reelection in 2009. His main rival, Mir Hussein Musavi/Mousavi [q.v.], proved popular with women and young voters. The race looked so close that most observers expected a second round, with neither of the leading candidates gaining 50 percent plus one vote. The result announced post-haste that Ahmadinejad had secured 62.5 percent of the ballots versus Mousavi's 33.9 percent set off a protest involving millions of people nationwide. It was brutally suppressed, leaving 69 people dead, and caused fissures at the top leadership with Khamanei, Jannati, and Ahmadinejad on one side and Mousavi, Khatami, and Hashemi Rafsanjani on the other. Abroad, while the United States and the 27-member European Union (EU) doubted the veracity of the election result, Russia, China, India, Brazil, and most Muslim states, including Turkey, congratulated Ahmadinejad on his reelection.
Resorting to communication by Internet, the opposition kept up its protest, using the celebration of important secular or religious events as a cover for demonstrations. This lasted about a year.
Islamic Iran's generally hostile policy toward the United States, dating back to the time of the revolution, continued. Responding to Washington's success in getting the UN Security Council to impose a series of sanctions against it on the nuclear issue from 2008 onwards, it hardened its stance. The official line on the nuclear program in Iran had the backing of the reformist opposition.
Iran continued to support Hizbol-lah [q.v.] and Hamas [q.v.] politically and financially. It strengthened ties with China, Russia, Brazil, and Venezuela.
The government decided in December 2010 to remove subsidies on petroleum products and agricultural produce. This spiked inflation. As a compensatory measure the government distributed part of the expected annual savings of $60 billion by making monthly payments of $43 to each citizen who applied for it. These measures won the praise of the International Monetary Fund because they reduced the government's burden and lowered domestic energy consumption.
Tensions arose between Ahmadinejad and Khamanei when the president attempted to strengthen his office at the expense of the clerical establishment. The result of the parliamentary election in March 2012 showed overwhelming support for the Khamanei camp. But both sides were united in withstanding the increasingly stringent economic sanctions against Iran by the U. S. and the EU as well as the frequent threats by Israel to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities to deprive Tehran of its capability to produce an atom bomb in the future.
The Iranian regime considered the events of the Arab Spring [q.v.] as a reprise of the Islamic Revolution [q.v.] in Iran that toppled the pro-Washington shah, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi [q.v.], and described it as the Islamic Awakening [q.v.].
LEGISLATURE: The parliament, officially called Majlis, deals with legislation, general policy matters, and the budget. Its 290 members, elected for a four-year term, include three Christians, one Zoroastrian, and one Jew. It has the right to impeach the president, who is then dismissed by the Leader.
RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION: (2011) Muslims [q.v.], 99 percent, of which Shia [q.v.] 90 percent, Sunni [q.v.] 9 percent; Bahai [q.v.], 0.4 percent; Christian [q.v.], 0.5 percent, affiliated mainly to the Armenian Orthodox [q.v.] and the Assyrian Churches [q.v.]; Jewish, 0.05 percent; Zoroastrian, 0.05 percent. Bahais are considered heretics; and their institutions and worship in public were banned in 1983.
Iran-Contra Affair: Secret U.S. arms-for-hostages deal with Iran On 3 November 1986, Al-Shira (Arabic, The Sail), a Beirut-based magazine, disclosed that the United States had secretly sold weapons to Iran. Aware of Iran's geo-strategic importance, Washington wanted to end the hostility that Tehran had shown toward the U.S. since the 1979 Islamic revolution [q.v.]. It also wanted to gain the freedom of the American captives taken by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon, then in the midst of the long Lebanese Civil War [q.v.]. This sale of arms was contrary to the declared policies of U.S. President Ronald Reagan (r. 1981–89), which were to maintain an arms embargo on Tehran and not to deal with terrorists and hostage takers.
The Islamic Jihad [q.v.] had captured William Buckley, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Beirut [q.v.], in March 1984. It coupled its demand for the freeing of 17 Shias convicted in Kuwait on charges of bombing the U.S. and French embassies with a call on Washington and Paris to end their arms embargo against Iran, then engaged in war with Iraq. By the end of May the number of American captives taken by the pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon had risen to five.
In early July 1985 Reagan allowed his National Security Adviser, Robert McFarlane, to propose that Tehran might influence the pro-Iranian Lebanese groups to free their American hostages in exchange for the sale of U.S.-made weapons to Iran. The money thus obtained was to be channeled to the Contra guerrillas fighting the leftist regime in Nicaragua, thus subverting the ban that the U.S. Congress had imposed on aiding the Contras.
Two months later, in exchange for the sale of 508 U.S.-made anti-tank missiles, one American hostage was released. But the second swap of 120 anti-aircraft missiles and 4,000 antitank missiles for the remaining captives (excluding Buckley, who had died) became entangled. A U.S. delegation, led by McFarlane, arrived in Tehran on 25 May 1986 but made no progress in repairing U.S. relations with Iran. After further shipment of seven metric tons of U.S.-made arms and ammunition in early July, one American hostage was freed. The release of a further captive came after 500 anti-tank missiles had been delivered to Iran in late October. With three Americans still in captivity, the Iranians had managed to make the American negotiators appear poor bargainers.
The disclosure of secret U.S. arms sales to Iran had a devastating impact on American and world public opinion. Reagan's approval rating fell from 67 percent to 46 percent and paralyzed his administration for several months. Washington's Arab allies were shocked and incensed. This was particularly true of Iraq, which had been assured clandestinely since November 1983 that the United States would ensure that it was not defeated in its war with Iran.
Irangate Affair (1986): See Irangate Affair
Iran-Iraq Frontier Treaty (1937): Signed on 4 July 1937, the Iran-Iraq Frontier Treaty declared the Shatt al-Arab [q.v.] open for navigation to all countries of the world. It confirmed the land boundaries as set out in the 1913 Protocol of Constantinople [q.v.], and the procès-verbaux of the Delimitation of the Frontier Commission of 1914; and amended the Shatt al-Arab frontiers, with Iraq conceding the thalweg (that is, the median line of the main navigable channel) principle for four miles facing Abadan [q.v.], the site of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company's refinery. Later Iraq said it had signed the treaty under duress.
Iran-Iraq Treaty of International Boundaries and Good Neighborliness (1975): The Treaty of International Boundaries and Good Neighborliness between Iran and Iraq evolved out of the accord concluded on 6 March 1975 in Algiers between Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] and Saddam Hussein [q.v.], then vice president of Iraq. The signatories agreed to delimit the land boundaries of their countries according to the 1913 Protocol of Constantinople [q.v.] and the procès-verbaux of the Delimitation of the Frontier Commission of 1914, to demarcate the fluvial frontiers of their countries according to the thalweg line (that is, along the median line of the main navigable channel), and to end all infiltrations of a subversive nature.
Once the demarcation of the land and river boundaries had been accomplished according to the Accord, Iran and Iraq signed the Treaty of International Boundaries and Good Neighborliness in Baghdad on 13 June 1975. Article 4 of the treaty stated that the provisions about the land and river frontiers and stopping subversive infiltration "shall be final and permanent." After the respective constitutional requirements about international treaties had been met in both states, the treaty went into effect on 17 September 1975.
Since the treaty incorporated Iran's demand, first made 60 years earlier, that the thalweg principle be applied to the frontier along the Shatt al-Arab [q.v. ], it signified a victory for Iran.
Later Iraq said that it had signed the treaty under duress. It unilaterally abrogated it on 17 September 1980 before invading Iran. Iran protested. The subsequent war lasted nearly eight years. In mid-August 1990, following its invasion of Kuwait, Iraq agreed to abide by the treaty to ensure that its eastern frontier remained quiet.
Iran-Iraq War (1980–88): See Gulf War I.
Iranian calendar: In 1925 the Iranian parliament adopted the solar calendar beginning with the hijra, the migration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca [q.v.] to Medina [q.v.] in 622 A.D. which is also the starting point of the Islamic (lunar) era. The Iranian (solar) year begins on the spring equinox, 21 or 22 March, and is divided into six consecutive months of 31 days, and the rest of 30 days, except the last, which is normally 29 days long. The months—named after Zoroastarian [q.v.] angels—are Farvardin (31 days), Urdibehesht (31), Khurdad (31), Tir (31), Murdad (31), Shahrivar (31), Mihr (30), Aban (30), Azar (30), Dey (30), Bahman (30), and Isfand (29 days normally, 30 days in a leap year). To change an Iranian calendar date to a Christian [q.v.] date, add 621 or 622 depending on the month of the year. The Islamic Republic of Iran, founded in 1979, uses the Iranian calendar along with the Islamic one.
Iranian-Russian Treaty (1921): A 25-article treaty was signed between Iran (then Persia) and Soviet Russia on 26 February 1921. Article 5 required the two parties to prohibit the formation or presence of "any organization or groups of persons ... whose object is to engage in acts of hostility against Persia or Russia." This applied equally to troops. Both signatories agreed to prevent the presence of forces of a third party in cases where the presence of such forces would be regarded as "menace to the frontiers, interests or safety" of the other party. "If a third party should carry out a policy of usurpation by means of armed intervention in Persia, or if such power should desire to use Persian territory as a base of operations against Russia, or if a foreign power should threaten the frontiers of Federal Russia or those of its allies, and if the Persian government should not be able to put a stop to such menace after having been once called upon to do so by Russia, Russia shall have the right to advance her troops into the Persian interior for the purpose of carrying out the military options necessary for its defense," stated Article 6. "Russia undertakes, however, to withdraw her troops from Persian territory as soon as possible when the danger has been removed." In August 1941 these articles formed the basis for the Soviet march into northern Iran (which took place in coordination with Britain, its ally in World War II, after June 1941, whose troops advanced from the south).
When the revolutionary movement in Iran against the pro-Washington Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] started to escalate sharply during the autumn of 1978, raising the possibility of intervention by the United States, the Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, warned the United States against interfering in Iran's domestic affairs. Aware that Articles 5 and 6 of the 1921 Treaty entitled Moscow to move its troops into Iran if it felt threatened by an armed intervention by a third party in Iran, U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance stated publicly that Washington had no intention of becoming involved in Iran's internal affairs: a statement that boosted the morale of the anti-shah forces.
Iranian-Soviet Treaty of Guarantee and Neutrality (1927): On 1 October 1927 the Soviet Union signed a Treaty of Guarantee and Neutrality with Iran. The signatories agreed to refrain from aggression against each other and to remain neutral in the event of aggression by a third country. "Each of the contracting parties agrees to take no part ... in political alliances or agreements directed against the safety of the territory or territorial waters of the contracting party or against the integrity, independence or sovereignty," stated Article 3. The same applied to economic boycotts or blockades organized by third parties. One of the two protocols accompanying the document reiterated that Article 6 of the 1921 Iranian-Russian Treaty [q.v.] should remain in force. Following the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, when the United States and the European Economic Community imposed economic sanctions against Iran after militant Iranian students had taken U.S. diplomats hostage, the Soviet Union refused to join the embargo.
Iraq: derivative of eraq (Middle Persian, lowland)
OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of Iraq
CAPITAL: Baghdad [q.v.]
AREA: 169,235 sq. mi./438,317 sq. km, excluding the Iraqi share of the Saudi Arabia-Iraq Neutral Zone [q.v.] at 1,360 sq. mi./3,522 sq. km
POPULATION: 33.33 million (2010 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (nominal): $108 billion (2011 est.); per capita, $3,300 (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (Purchasing Power Parity): $126 billion (2011 est.); $3,830
NATIONAL CURRENCY: Iraqi Dinar (IQD); IQD 10,000 = $8.63 = £5.46 = € 6.52 (2011)
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: republic, with president as head of state and prime minister as chief executive
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE(s): Arabic [q.v.] in all of Iraq and Kurdish [q.v.] only in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region [q.v.]
OFFICIAL RELIGION: Islam [q.v.]
ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS: Iraq is divided into 18 governorates (provinces), including the three—Irbil, Dohak, and Suleimaniya—forming the Kurdistan Autonomous Region which has its own regional assembly and president.
CONSTITUTION: After a coup by the Baath Socialist Party [q.v.] in July 1968, an interim constitution was promulgated in September. Amended in November 1969, it was replaced by another provisional version in July 1970. The latest document was amended in 1973 and 1974. A draft of the permanent constitution was submitted in March 1989 to the National Assembly [q.v.], an institution established in 1980. Though the Assembly approved it in July 1990, it remained to be put to a referendum for approval before its implementation.
The September 1968 constitution described Iraq as "democratic and sovereign," and Islam as the state religion. The state undertakes to safeguard freedom of religion, speech, and opinion. It also guarantees freedom of the press and the right to establish associations and trade unions within the law.
The highest authority in Iraq was the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC), which ruled by two-thirds majority, and which was authorized to issue laws until the establishment of a parliament. The 1969 amendments made Iraq's president the supreme commander of the armed forces and chairman of the RCC.
The 15-article peace agreement that the Iraqi government signed with the Kurdish insurgents in March 1970 included a promise by it to amend the existing constitution to declare that the people of Iraq consisted of two principal nationalities—the Arab [q.v.] and the Kurdish—and to confirm the national rights of Kurds [q.v.] and all other minorities within the framework of Iraqi unity, and to appoint a Kurd as a vice president of Iraq.
The 1970 interim constitution required that the president and vice president(s) should be elected by a two-thirds majority of the RCC, and that cabinet ministers should be responsible to the president. The National Charter promulgated by the president in July 1973 mentioned the creation of a National Assembly. The law for autonomy in Kurdistan, issued in March 1974, provided for a Legislative Council there. Following an RCC decree in March 1980, elections to the National Assembly and the Legislative Council were held respectively in June and September.
Following an amendment to the interim constitution by the RCC in September 1995, the elected chairman of the RCC became the Republic's president for seven years after approval by the National Assembly followed by an endorsement in a referendum.
After the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in March 2003, a multinational coalition, led by the United States and the United Kingdom, occupied Iraq. A new constitution followed. Drafted by the Interim National Assembly (the elections to which were boycotted by the Sunnis [q.v.] in January 2005) in October 2005, it was ratified in a referendum in December by 78 percent of the voters. It described Iraq as an Islamic, democratic, federal parliamentary republic. It specified Islam as a main source of legislation and stated that no Iraqi law would violate the basic tenets of Islam. It stipulated a parliamentary system with an executive prime minister to be elected by the 275-member Council of Representatives. But it also required that all bills passed by the National Assembly must be approved unanimously by a three-member Presidential Council, consisting of a Shia [q.v. ], a Sunni, and a Kurd before it could become law.
ETHNIC COMPOSITION: (2011) Arab 78 percent, Kurd 18 percent, Turkmen [q.v.] 1.5 percent, other 2.5 percent.
EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY: Executive power rests with the republic's prime minister, who is elected by the Council of Representatives. It also elects the Presidential Council consisting of President and two vice presidents.
High officials:
President: Jalal Talabani, 2010–
First Vice President: Tariq al-Hashemi, 2011–
Second Vice President: Khudayar Khuzai, 2011–
Speaker of the Council of Representatives: Osama Najafi, 2010–
HISTORY (ca 1900): At the turn of the 20th century the provinces of Basra [q.v.] and Baghdad in the Mesopotamian plain [q.v.] had been part of the Ottoman Empire since 1638. After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 the mandate over these provinces was given to the British. They constituted them as Iraq and put them under the authority of King Faisal I bin Hussein al-Hashem [q.v.] in 1921. Four years later, a League of Nations arbitration committee awarded Mosul [q.v.] province to Iraq, thus enlarging the country.
In 1932 the British Mandate ended, but most Iraqis considered their independence incomplete so long as British troops were stationed on their soil. In April 1941 Premier Rashid Ali Gailani [q.v.] led a successful coup against the British. However, he was unable to withstand a British counteroffensive in May.
After World War II the national sentiment turned strongly anti-Western and anti-Zionist [q.v.] in the aftermath of the Arab defeat in the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.]. But the Iraqi strongman Premier Nuri al-Said [q.v.] overrode popular feelings, took Iraq into the Western-led Baghdad Pact [q.v.], and refused to condemn the Anglo-French-Israeli aggression in the Suez War (1956) [q.v.]. The result was an anti-royalist military coup by Free Officers led by Brigadier Abdul Karim Qasim [q.v.] in July 1958. He carried out socioeconomic reform, but was overthrown in 1963 by a group of Baathist [q.v.] officers, working in conjunction with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Due to a division among the Baathists, power passed to the non-Baathist, pro-Egyptian Abdul Salam Arif [q .v.], and then to his brother Abdul Rahman Arif [q.v.], who was overthrown by a Baathist coup in July 1968. Better organized than before, the Baathists consolidated their hold over power, and started an ambitious program of economic development. They were helped by a dramatic jump in oil prices in the mid-1970s.
The rebellion by nationalist Kurds that flared up in 1974 was pacified by striking a deal with Iran, which had been arming the Iraqi Kurds, in March 1975, known as the Algiers Accord [q.v.]. But with the rise of an Islamic republic in Iran, a Shia [q.v.] majority country, in 1979, the Iraqi government found Islamic militancy gaining ground among its Shias. Iraq's President Saddam Hussein tried to tackle the problem by suppressing militant Shias at home and invading the oil-rich Iranian province of Khuzistan in September 1980. He had expected the conflict to last a month, with Iraq emerging triumphant. But it continued for 95 months, ending in August 1988. Nonetheless, thanks to the aid Iraq received from the Gulf States [q.v.] and the West, Iraq became the most powerful Arab country.
Determined to make his weight felt in the region, in August 1990 Saddam Hussein invaded and occupied Kuwait, an emirate to which Iraq had in the past laid claim. In response the United States, under President George H. W. Bush (r. 1989–93), led a coalition of 28 nations in a successful war in early 1991, which ended the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. Due to the UN embargo imposed in August 1990 the living standards of Iraqis declined sharply.
Though by late 1994 Iraq claimed to have met almost all the conditions required for the lifting of the UN embargo, such a prospect was not in sight. It receded altogether when, after his defection in August 1995, Gen. Hussein Kamil Hassan, a former minister of military industrialization, revealed the true extent to which the Iraqi government had withheld information on its program of weapons of mass destruction, to Rolf Ekeus, head of the UN Special Commission (UN-SCOM) [q.v.].
Following the succession of Ekeus, a career diplomat, by Richard Butler, a disarmament specialist, two years later, there was further pressure on Iraq to submit full information on its program of unconventional weapons, particularly biological warfare agents. The heightened tension between the two sides led to a four-day bombing of Iraq by America, backed by Britain, in December 1998, called Operation Desert Fox [q.v.], after Butler had withdrawn UN inspectors from Iraq.
The efforts of the UN Security Council to get weapons inspectors back into Iraq under a new resolution a year later were spurned by Baghdad. The UN's agreement to let Iraq export oil to purchase food and medicine for its citizens that came into operation from December 1996 reduced the suffering of ordinary Iraqis. However, the fact that Iraq could sell oil only under UN supervision, and deposit its earnings in a UN escrow account, meant that the UN's economic mandate over the country's most prized resource remained in place.
For the first time since the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq held its parliamentary election on time—in March 2000. Five months later, the arrival in Baghdad of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, then chairman of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.], in August by air in the course of his visits to the capitals of the OPEC member-states, started an erosion of the strict UN sanctions. In the wake of the outbreak of the Second Intifada [q.v.] by Palestinians in September, Iraq was invited to an Arab League summit after 10 years. But Saddam Hussein dispatched his deputy to the summit. Iraq sent food and medical aid to the Palestinian Territories [q.v.] via Jordan. And, following the lead of the Palestinian Authority [q.v.], Iraq paid compensation to the families of the Palestinians killed in the Intifada.
The succession to Democrat U.S. President Bill Clinton by Republican George W. Bush (r. 2001–2009) made no difference to Washington-Baghdad relations. The newly installed American president ordered air strikes against Iraqi targets on the ground that Iraq was improving its air defenses. And, in the aftermath of the attacks on the U.S. in September, Washington tried hard to link Iraq with Al Qaida [q.v.], but failed. However, after overthrowing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Bush targeted Iraq, arguing that it had failed to disarm itself of weapons of mass destruction as required by the UN. His administration succeeded in getting the UN Security Council to adopt Resolution 1441 in November 2002, stipulating a rigorous inspection and monitoring regime in Iraq. Baghdad accepted the resolution, which authorized the formation of the UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) [q.v.].
UN inspections started on 27 November under the leadership of Hans Blix. As required by Resolution 1441, Iraq submitted a 12,000-page document detailing its programs of weapons of mass destruction and missiles. In their reports to the Security Council on 19 December, Blix and Muhammad el Baradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that Iraq had provided prompt access to the 150 sites their teams had visited. The aluminum tubing that America and Britain had alluded to was for permissible Iraqi rockets and not for the proscribed nuclear weapons. By 18 January 2003 the UN teams had visited all 11 sites mentioned by Bush and Blair as the premises used by Iraq in its revived program of weapons of mass destruction, and found no evidence to that effect. On 19–20 January Iraq signed a 10-point agreement with Blix and Baradei promising further cooperation. Yet Bush kept saying that Saddam must disarm, and, in the case of his refusal, the U.S.-led coalition would force him to do so and free the Iraqi people. At the same time the Special Forces of America and Britain began infiltrating Iraq to facilitate the invasion of the country by the Anglo-American troops.
In their 27 January report, covering two months of inspections and 300 inspections (of which about 100 concerned the nuclear program) of 230 sites (out of a total of 700) by a staff of 260 drawn from 60 countries, Blix and Baradei reported to the Security Council that on the whole Iraq had cooperated well, giving their teams prompt access to all sites. Baradei said that his inspectors had visited presidential compounds and private residences but had discovered no evidence that Iraq has revived its nuclear weapons program since its elimination in the 1990s.
By contrast, in his presentation to the Security Council on 5 February, U. S. Secretary of State Colin Powell made the following claims: there were up to two dozen Al Qaida operatives in Iraq, the most important being Abu Mussab Zarqawi; the terrorist Ansar-e Islam operated a chemical poison factory in an enclave of Iraqi Kurdistan [q.v.]; a missile brigade operating from outside Baghdad was dispersing proscribed rockets in the country; Iraq possessed about 18 mobile biological weapons laboratories; Baghdad had a model of an unmanned drone capable of spraying chemical or germ weapons within a radius of 550 miles; and Iraq moved contraband, with soldiers relocating munitions just before inspectors arrived. Lastly, Powell referred to Tony Blair's 19-page dossier, "Iraq: Its Infrastructure of Concealment, Deception and Intimidation," posted on his official website on 3 February, as a fine piece of evidence.
Critics argued that the presence of Al Qaida operatives in Iraq did not prove the government's involvement: such operatives lived not only in other Arab and Muslim countries but also in many western states. The visiting western journalists found the Ansar-e Islam's poison factory nothing but a derelict dump. Following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, the Anglo-American troops failed to find the alleged Iraqi missile brigade or the proscribed missiles. Four days before the start of the Gulf War III [q.v.] on 20 March 2003, Iraq handed over to UNMOVIC videos of mobile biological laboratories, arguing that the videos showed that Iraq did not violate UN resolutions. When checked out by UN inspectors, Iraq's single unmanned drone turned out to be a machine rusting on an airfield north of Baghdad. Likewise, when verified on the ground, Powell's interpretation of the satellite images of trucks moving banned parts turned out to be false. Equally damaging was the discovery made by a British researcher at Cambridge University that large chunks of what Blair had tried to pass off as official U.K. intelligence were lifted verbatim from old academic journals and magazines posted on the Internet. Yet 70 percent in America agreed with Powell that Iraq was deceptive.
Powell's presentation marked the end of the Bush administration's support of continued UN inspections and prepared the ground for military action, despite Blix's report on 14 February that the 300 biological and chemical samples examined by UN-MOVIC were consistent with Iraq's declarations, and that the inspections were bridging the gap in the United Nations' knowledge that arose due to its absence during December 1998-November 2002.
On 15 February, 15 to 20 million people in 60 countries marched in antiwar protests in 600 towns and cities, a quarter of them in America. The marches in London (1.5 million strong), Rome (over 2 million), and Barcelona (over I million) were the largest ever. Overall, more than 70 percent in Britain, Italy, and Spain opposed the war. Yet their governments continued to back Bush in his belligerency.
Indeed, Spain was one of the three sponsors of the draft resolution—the others being America and Britain— presented to the Security Council on 24 February. It stated that Iraq had failed to comply with, and cooperate fully in the implementation of Resolution 1441 and must therefore face "serious consequences." Disagreeing with this document, France, Russia, and Germany (as a non-permanent member of the Security Council) issued a memorandum saying that a verifiable disarmament could be reached through the implementation of a clear program of action by the inspection agencies, with each task clearly defined; reinforced inspections; and a timeline for inspections and assessment, with the chief inspectors reporting every three weeks. This was rejected by the U.S.-U.K.-Spain trio.
In the United States, opposition to war rose from 18 percent at the end of January to 37 percent a month later, almost equal to the support for it.
On 6 March Blix declared that Iraq was involved in "real and very fine disarmament" and that its cooperation had been "proactive." It had begun taking inspectors to the sites where it said it unilaterally destroyed biological weapons. At the Security Council the U.S.-U.K.-Spanish draft attracted one more vote, while five members— China, France, Germany, Russia, and Syria—opposed it. Of the remaining six, Pakistan and Guinea indicated they would abstain, while a top official of Cameroon said that his country and France were "old friends." Given this, there was no prospect of the Anglo-American alliance getting its draft resolution adopted by the Council. Yet so strongly opposed were France and Russia to a war on Iraq that they individually threatened to veto the resolution if passed. When Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico, and Pakistan proposed giving Iraq 45 days to disarm (versus France's 120 days), the U.S. rejected the proposal summarily.
In the U.S., the anti-Saddam rhetoric reached a point where 42 percent believed that he was "personally" responsible for 9/11, and 55 percent believed that he gave direct support to Al Qaida.
On 14 March, when Bush, Blair, and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar decided to meet on the Portuguese Island of St. Azores, Iraq gave UNMOVIC a 20-page document detailing the destruction of 3.9 tons of VX nerve agent. The next day UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he believed war without the second resolution by the Security Council would break international law, meaning a violation of the UN Charter. Following the Bush-Blair-Aznar meeting on 16 March, when they decided to abandon their draft resolution at the Security Council, Bush gave Saddam Hussein and his sons—Uday and Qusay [q.v.]—48 hours to leave Iraq, failing which Washington would mount military operations. Saddam rejected the ultimatum. On 18 March the House of Commons in London passed a motion by 412 to 149 votes—with the opposition Conservatives voting with most of the governing Labor Party mem-bers—which stated that "the U.K. must uphold the U.N.'s authority as set out in [Resolution] 1441 and many resolutions preceding it, and therefore supports the decision that the U.K. should use all means to disarm Iraq."
The Anglo-American invasion of Iraq started on 20 March 2003. For all practical purposes the Gulf War III [q.v.] ended on 16 April, although it was not until 1 May that President Bush announced a formal end to the hostilities against Iraq.
The Anglo-American occupation of Iraq followed. In June 2004 Iraq became nominally sovereign. The Interim National Assembly elected in January 2005 drafted a new constitution, which was ratified in a referendum in October. The election to the Council of Representatives under the new constitution was held in December 2005 and a new government formed under Ibrahim al-Jaafari [q.v.] in May. A year later Jaafari ceded his position to Nouri al-Maliki [q.v.].
In 2006–07 the inter-sectarian violence between Sunnis [q.v.] and Shias [q.v.] threatened to escalate into a fully-fledged civil war. But the Sunni tribal leaders' severance of links with Al Qaida in Mesopotamia [q.v.] and the infusion of additional American soldiers led to the lowering of Sunni-Shia tensions. In 2008, therefore, the Pentagon began planning to reduce its troops, then numbering 140,000, starting with their withdrawal from cities and towns to their rural bases. When Barack Obama succeeded Bush as president in January 2009, he accelerated the evacuation plans. On the last day of June the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from the urban areas was completed. The Maliki government declared 30 June 2009 as National Sovereignty Day. Yet the airspace of Iraq remained under U.S. control. By August 2010, the Pentagon's phased troop withdrawal brought the total down from the peak of 170,000 to 50,000. It was on 18 December 2011 that U.S. military presence in Iraq finally ended.
LEGISLATURE: Nationally, legislative power rests with the Council of Representatives and, regionally, with the Regional Council of Representatives of Kurdistan. In the February 2010 national election, 10.81 million ballots were cast. The popular vote and the number of seats won by the major alliances were as follows: al-Iraqiya List [q.v.] (Iraqi National Movement), 24.7 percent, 91 seats; (Shia) State of the Law coalition, 24.2 percent, 89 seats; (Shia) National Iraqi Alliance, 18.2 percent, 70 seats; Kurdistan List, 15.5 percent, 43 seats; others, 17.4 percent, 32 seats.
RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION: (2011) Muslim, 97.5 percent, of which Shia 63.5 percent, Sunni 34 percent; Christian [q.v.], 1.5 percent, of which Chaldean Catholic [q.v.] 0.8 percent, Nestorian [q.v.] 0.5 percent, Orthodox [q.v.] 0.2 percent; and Yazidi [q.v.], 1 percent.
Iraqi Kurdistan: See Kurdistan Autonomous Region [q.v.].
Iraq-Najd Neutral Zone. See Saudi Arabia-Iraq Neutral Zone.
Iraq-Saudi Arabia Neutral Zone. See Saudi Arabia-Iraq Neutral Zone.
Iraqi National Accord: Funded by Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency, Riasat al-Istikhabart al-Aama (Arabic: General Intelligence Leadership), the Iraqi National Accord (INA) was established in 1990 by Adnan Nouri; Iyad Muhammad Allawi [q.v.], a physician; and Omar Ali al-Tikriti, a diplomat—all of them defectors. As a former general in Iraq's Republican Guard, London-based Nouri maintained contacts with U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Their sole objective was the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] through a military coup, and they focused on recruiting defectors from the Iraqi military and Baath Party [q.v.].
Though the INA formally affiliated to the newly formed Iraqi National Congress [q.v.] in June 1992, it opened its own office in Iraqi Kurdistan [q.v.] and maintained direct contacts with the CIA. When, in March 1995, Nouri learned of the INC's plan to mount a frontal attack on the Iraqi troops, he successfully convinced U.S. National Security Adviser Tony Lake to withdraw Washington's support for the plan. Nonetheless, the INC went ahead. Its resulting failure soured relations between it and the INA. In October the INA was accused of blowing up the INC office in Salahuddin.
The INA's own plan for a coup— conceived by its specially formed Jordan-based military council—backed not only by the CIA but also by the intelligence agencies of Britain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Kuwait—was scheduled for 26 June 1996. In it, U.S. intelligence and communications operatives, working as inspectors and support staff for the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) [q.v.] on disarming Iraq, were assigned the job of conveying coded messages to some of the leading Iraqi military conspirators. But, starting in mid-June, the Iraqi government began arresting the plotters.
Following the bitter intra-Kurdish violence in September, when the CIA withdrew its agents and informers from Iraqi Kurdistan, the INA left the region. Nouri split with Allawi and moved to Turkey. After the passage of the Iraq Liberation Act in October 1998, Washington recognized the INA as a group eligible for U.S. assistance. During the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush (r. 2001–2009), the INA became the favorite of the CIA and the state department. It participated in the Iraqi Open Opposition conference in London in late 2002.
The INA was the conduit for the dubious intelligence—originating with a former Iraqi officer exiled in Germany in contacts with the German foreign intelligence agency—that Iraq was capable of deploying its weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, which was supplied to the British Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6. This was used as a leading piece of evidence in the dossier presented to the British parliament in September 2002 to gain legislative and popular support for invading Iraq.
After the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in March 2003, Allawi was appointed a member of the Interim Iraqi Governing Council, and then in June 2004 prime minister of the Iraqi Interim government. On the eve of the December 2005 parliamentary election, the Iraqi National Accord formed an alliance with other secular groups to form the Iraqi National List. It won 25 seats in a house of 275. It participated in Nouri al-Maliki's coalition government until 2007. Two years later, with Allawi coalescing with Sunni leaders to form the Iraqi National Movement, popularly called al-Iraqiya List [q.v.], the original INA ceased to exist.
Iraqi National Congress: The Iraqi National Congress was formed as an umbrella organization in Vienna at the meeting of 300 Iraqi delegates, funded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which used Ahmad Chalabi [q.v.] as the front man. Among the 20 factions that affiliated to it were the Iraqi National Accord [q.v.], Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) [q.v.], and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) [q.v.].
Led by Ahmad Chalabi [q.v.], it committed itself to waging a war of liberation against the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] with the objective of establishing a democratic Iraq. Working with the KDP and the PUK, it set up its headquarters in Salahuddin to develop Iraqi Kurdistan [q.v.] as the staging area for the overthrow of Saddam. Encouraged by the defection in late 1994 of Gen. Wafiq Samarrai, who headed Iraq's military intelligence in 1991–92, Chalabi and Samarrai devised a plan that was in theory an amalgam of a popular revolt and a military coup to oust Saddam. But since it involved mounting frontal assaults on Iraqi troops, necessitating U.S. intervention with its air force and even ground forces, the National Security Adviser, Tony Lake, withdrew all American support. Nonetheless, the INC along with the PUK mounted assaults on 5 March 1995 which the KDP and the INA refused to join. Nothing came of the INC-PUK offensives. Relations between the INC and the INA deteriorated to the extent that the INC headquarters was blown up in October, allegedly by the INA.
Following the bitter intra-Kurdish violence in September 1996, when the CIA withdrew its agents and informers from Iraqi Kurdistan, the INC left the region and moved its head office to London. After the passing of the Iraq Liberation Act in October 1998, the U.S. recognized the INC as a group eligible for its assistance. During the administration of President George W. Bush (r. 2001–2009), the INC became the favorite of the defense department and Vice President Dick Cheney's office. At the Iraqi Open Opposition conference in London in December 2002, the INC failed to get its proposal for a transitional government for the post-Saddam Iraq [q.v.] accepted.
After the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in March 2003, Chalabi was appointed to the Interim Iraqi Governing Council by the occupying Coalition Provisional Authority. His INC remained on the payroll of the state department until September 2003 and of the Pentagon until May 2004. In August, when Chalabi was abroad, an arrest warrant was issued for him for alleged counterfeiting. But on his return to Baghdad [q.v.], he was not arrested. The charge was dropped when the investigating judge cited lack of evidence.
On the eve of the January 2005 election to the Interim National Assembly, the INC joined the United Iraqi Alliance [q.v.], the brainchild of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani [q.v.]. Under the premiership of Ibrahim al-Jaafari [q.v.], Chalabi briefly served as the acting oil minister. Later the INC allied with small secular groups to form the secular National Congress Coalition (NCC). It failed to gain a single seat in the parliament. With that the INC became a paper organization.
Iraqi Kurdistan: See Kurdistan Autonomous Region (Iraq).
Iraqi-Saudi Non-Aggression Pact (1989): The Iraqi-Saudi Non-Aggression Pact was signed in Baghdad [q.v.] on 27 March 1979 during a visit by Saudi King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz [q.v. ]. It spelled out the principles of "non-interference in the internal affairs of the two sisterly countries" and "non-use of force and armies between the two states." Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 and Saudi Arabia's participation in the U.S.-led anti-Iraq coalition, the pact lost its purpose.
Iraqi-Soviet Friendship Treaty (1972): In 1972 Iraq and the Soviet Union cemented their friendship, based on their common opposition to Western imperialism and Zionism [q.v.], with a 20-year Iraqi-Soviet Friendship Treaty. It was signed in Baghdad [q.v.] on 9 April 1972. The signatories agreed to contact each other in case of "danger to the peace of either party or ...danger to peace," and to refrain from joining any alliance with another country or group of countries against the other. They also resolved to "develop cooperation in the strengthening of their defense capacity." Following its invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, Iraq fell foul of the UN Security Council, and the Soviet Union, a permanent Council member, condemned the Iraqi action. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the treaty expired.
al-Iraqiya List: After quitting the government of Nouri al-Maliki [q.v.] in 2009, Iyad Allawi [q.v.], a secular Shia [q.v.] leader, cobbled together a coalition of his Iraqi National List [q.v.] with two Sunni factions—the Renewal List of Tariq al-Hashmi and the Iraqi National Dialogue Front—to form the Iraqi National Movement (Arabic: al-Harka al-Wataniya al-Iraqiya), popularly called the al-Iraqiya List. It emphasized its nonsectarian, secular character, and won political and financial support from Saudi Arabia. In the March 2010 general election, it won 91 seats, two more than its rival the State of Law Coalition. However, it was denied the first chance to form the government because in May its rival State of the Law Party and the Iraqi National Alliance united to form the National Alliance, with the combined strength of 159 seats.
Irbil: Iraqi city (Also spelled Arbil, Erbil) Population: 1 million (2011 est.). One of the oldest settlements in the world, Irbil has a history dating back to antiquity. In more modern times it was part of Mosul province under the Ottomans (1517–1918). With the transfer in 1925 of Mosul to Iraq, it came under the jurisdiction of Baghdad. Discovery of oil [q.v.] in the region helped to improve the economy of Irbil, already an important trading center.
When, following an agreement between Kurdish nationalists and the central government, the Kurdistan Autonomous Region [q.v.] was created in 1974, Irbil was chosen as its capital. After the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], the victorious Washington-led Coalition declared the Iraqi territory above the 36th parallel as a "no fly zone" for the Baghdad government. This forced the Irbil-based Fifth Army to leave. With that, the city became the capital of a semi-independent Iraqi Kurdistan. During the next five years, it changed hands between the competing Kurdistan Democratic Party [q.v.] and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [q.v.]. But its status as Iraqi Kurdistan's capital remained intact.
In the post-Saddam Hussein [q.v.] years, the city has prospered. Its several tourist attractions include a medieval citadel.
Irgun Zvai Leumi (Hebrew: National Military Organization): Irgun was formed by the Revisionist Zionists [q.v.] in Palestine [q.v.] in 1937, during the Arab revolt (1936–39), as a result of their disagreement with Haganah [q.v.], which limited itself to responding to Arab guerrilla activity. Irgun organized "preventive strikes" against Arab targets.
Following the publication of the British White Paper of 1939, which limited Jewish migration to Palestine, it turned against the British Mandate—except briefly during World War II, when it respected the official Zionist policy of cooperation with the Allies. After the war Irgun, with 3,000 to 5,000 members and led by Menachem Begin [q.v.], began sabotaging military installations, attacking barracks and executing British soldiers. It cooperated with the Stern Group [q.v.] in raiding armories, blowing up bridges and warplanes, mining roads, derailing trains, and sinking patrol boats. On 22 July 1946 in Jerusalem [q.v.] it blew up the King David Hotel, the site of the British Mandate's civilian and military offices, killing 91 people, including 15 Jews [q.v.], the first massive terrorist act in the post-World War II era.
During the months preceding the founding of Israel in mid-May 1948, it cooperated with the Stern Group in carrying out concerted attacks on Arabs [q.v.]. On 9–10 April 1948, in an eight-hour attack on Deir Yassin village near Jerusalem, their joint forces killed 254 men, women, and children—two-thirds of all inhabitants. They dynamited houses, looted, and raped. The tactic was effective. In the five weeks leading up to the establishment of Israel, some 300,000 Arabs fled from the areas included in the UN plan for a Jewish state, and another 80,000 from the territory marked for the Arab state.
Though Irgun, while retaining its own military structure, agreed on 13 April 1948 to accept overarching Haganah command, Begin refused to let Irgun members be transferred along with Haganah personnel to the Israel Defense Forces [q.v.], formed by the provisional government of David Ben-Gurion [q.v.] on 26 May 1948. Irgun continued its fight against the Arab armies as a separate entity. In late June Ben-Gurion forbade Irgun leaders to deliver arms to their troops, scattered along the beaches, from the ship Altalena. When the latter defied him, Ben-Gurion ordered his forces to attack the ship. They did. This led to the death of 40 Irgun soldiers and the organization's disbandment.
al-Iryani, Abdul Rahman (1908–98): Yemeni politician; president of North Yemen, 1967—74 Born into a notable Zaidi [q.v.] family in Saada, Iryani received religious education and trained as an Islamic judge. An opponent of the ruler, Imam Ahmad bin Yahya [q.v. ], he participated in an abortive coup in 1948. After serving a six-year prison sentence, he left first for Aden [q.v.] and then Cairo [q.v.], where he cofounded the Free Yemen movement. Following the successful republican coup in September 1962, he returned home and participated in the Yemeni Civil War [q.v.] on the republican side. He served as minister of justice (1962–63) and then minister of local government (1964).
He belonged to the conservative faction that had links with the Zaidi tribes in the north. When, in a move to placate the royalists, the pro-republican Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] compelled North Yemeni President Abdullah Sallal [q.v.] in April 1965 to move to Cairo [q.v.], Iryani was made a member of the powerful Republican Council of Yemen. He helped organize a pro-republican tribal conference to bolster the influence of the conservative faction within the government.
Having failed to strike a deal with the royalists, Nasser freed Sallal in September 1966. On his return home Sallal purged his rivals, including Iryani. Following Nasser's decision to withdraw the Egyptian troops from North Yemen by December 1967, Sallal's position became untenable. He was overthrown in November by a group of leaders, who later formed the five-member Republican Council, with Iryani as chairman and therefore president of North Yemen.
He helped to reconcile the warring sides and end the civil strife in March 1970. After the promulgation of a new constitution in December he was confirmed as president in March 1971 by a Consultative Council. In 1972, following clashes between North Yemen and South Yemen, Iryani and his South Yemeni counterpart agreed to work toward uniting their two countries. He was overthrown in a bloodless coup by Col. Ibrahim Hamdi [q.v.] in June 1974. He went into exile to Lebanon, and then to Syria. He was allowed to return home in 1981.
Isfahan: Iranian city (Also spelled Esfahan) Population: 1.70 million (2011 est.) It is known as Nasf-e Jahan (Persian: Half of the World). Its recorded history goes back to the Sas-sanian period (226–640 A.D.), when it was called Aspadana. Captured by Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] in 642 A.D., it became the capital of the Seljuk dynasty in the mid-11th century. After the fall of the Seljuks in 1200 it lost its prominence. It survived a sacking by Tamerlane in 1387 to become the capital of Persia in 1598 under Shah Abbas I (r. 1588–1629). Abbas built the royal palace as well as the magnificent Shah Mosque (also known as the Blue Mosque), one of the finest examples of Iranian architecture, on the south side of the Naqsh-e Jahan (Persian: Map of the world) Square, which is one of the largest city squares on the planet. When Isfahan fell to the invading Ghalzai Afghans in 1723, it lost its capital status.
Some two centuries later an effort was made by the ruler, Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.], to rebuild and enlarge the city. Its traditional textile and metalwork industries expanded, and it became the site of an oil refinery and a steel plant. Its tourist attractions include the Royal Mosque and the Julfa quarters of the Armenians [q.v.], dating back to 1605.
Islam and Muslims (Arabic: submission [to God's will]): The last of the three important monotheistic religions, and drawing upon Judaism [q.v.] and Christianity [q.v.], Islam was founded by the Prophet Muhammad (570–632 A.D.), who was born in Mecca [q.v.]. Those who followed this religion were initially called Believers. Muslim, the term for those who followed Islam, came into vogue only in the 8th century. Their scripture is the Quran [q.v.], the Word of Allah, which was revealed to Muhammad (Arabic: praiseworthy) bin Abdullah al-Hashem, the last of a series of messengers of Allah to humans, beginning with Adam and including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Next in importance to Muslims is the sunna [q.v.] (Arabic: custom)—the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad. The Quran and the sunna, later codified as the Hadith [q.v.], together form the Sharia [q.v.] (Arabic: Path), which covers all aspects of religious, social, and political life, including state administration and conduct of war.
The Islamic credo rests on belief in Allah, the revealed books, the prophets, and the Day of Judgment. Five duties (called Pillars of Islam) are prescribed for Muslims. Believers must say at least once in their life: "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the prophet of God." They must pray five times daily while facing Mecca, and must take part in collective noon prayers on Fridays. They must pay zakat [q.v.] (Arabic: purification), a religious tax, to support the poor and needy. They must fast from dawn to dusk during Ramadan [q.v.]. They must undertake a hajj [q.v.] to Mecca once in their lives, if they can afford it.
After the death of the Prophet Muhammad who, during the last decade of his life governed a domain (capital: Medina [q.v.]), fought wars and acted as a judge and administrator, his duties were taken over by his vice regent, Caliph (Arabic: khalif) Abu Bakr bin Abu Quhafa (r. 632–634 A.D.). He was followed by Omar bin Khattab (r. 634–644 A.D.) and Othman bin Affan (r. 644–656 A.D.), who was assassinated by Muhammad bin Abu Bakr and other conspirators for his maladministration.
During the reign of Omar and Othman, the Islamic state expanded far beyond the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.], with local governors administering its distant parts. The rule of Caliph Ali bin Abu Talib (r. 656–661 A.D.), a cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, was challenged by Muwaiya bin Abu Sufian, governor of Syria. A civil war ensued, creating Shiat Ali, or Shias [q.v.], and Kharijis [q.v.], thus fracturing the unity of the Islamic world. Over the next two centuries four different codes of the Sharia developed among Sunnis [q.v.], the orthodox sect. Sufism [q.v.], a mystical streak within Islam, was developed by, among others, Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali (1058–1111).
The spread of Islam was rapid during the two centuries after the Prophet Muhammad's death, reaching central France in 732 A.D. From the 12th century onward, Sufis were at the forefront of the religious expansion that took Islam into Turkey, Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and sub-Saharan Africa. Pious Muslims, trading over land and sea, became the harbingers of Islam in East Africa, West Africa, and Indonesia. At 1.62 billion, Muslims were 23.5 percent of the global population of 6.89 billion in 2010. Only about one-fifth of them lived in the Middle East [q.v.] and North Africa; three-fifths lived in Asia-Pacific.
Islamicism and Islamicists: See Islamism and Islamists.
Islamic Action Front (Jordan): See Muslim Brotherhood ( Jordan).
Islamic Amal (Lebanon): Lebanese religious-political organization The Islamic Amal was established in July 1982 by Hussein Mousavi, a member of the command council of Amal [q.v.], after he had left Amal in protest at its leaders' passivity toward Israel's occupation of two-fifths of Lebanon. He allied with the Iranian revolutionary guards based in Baalbek [q.v.], and attacked and occupied the nearby Lebanese army's barracks. Islamic Amal activists conducted guerrilla actions against the Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. At the behest of Ali Akbar Mohtashemi, Iran's ambassador to Syria, the Islamic Amal allied with the Islamic Jihad [q.v.] and the Hizbollah [q.v.] to conduct anti-Israeli and anti-U.S. activities. In early 1984 the three organizations together confronted the Lebanese army. When General Michel Aoun [q.v.] escalated his struggle against Syria and its Lebanese allies in 1989, the Islamic Amal joined an anti-Aoun front of 18 groups. Following the end of the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] in October 1990, the influence of the Islamic Amal declined as the Hizbollah emerged as the main party of radical Shias.
Islamic Awakening (2011): This is the term used by the Iranian regime and media to describe the events of the Arab Spring [q.v.], which they regarded as a reprise of the Islamic Revolution [q.v.] in Iran that toppled the pro-American shah, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi [q.v.], on 11 February 1979. As it happened, pro-Washington Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was ousted on 11 February 2011.
Islamic banking: The Quran [q.v.] forbids usury: "Oh believers, fear you God; and give up the usury that is outstanding, if you are believers" (2:279), and "Oh believers, devour not usury, doubled and redoubled, and fear you God" (3:25). Money must be used only as a means of exchange. But since money is also used as commodity, this injunction has proved problematic. From the early days of Islam, legalistic innovations have been employed to get around this prohibition. The extreme example is the Islamic doctrine that states, "Necessity makes prohibited things permissible." In the Ottoman Empire (1517–1918) banks charged and paid interest, sometimes disguised as commission.
The circumventing devices are muraabaha (Arabic: derivative of ribh, profit), mudaaraba (Arabic: derivative of zarab, to struggle), and mushaaraka (Arabic: partnership). Muraabaha involves selling a commodity with a contract that it would be bought back later at a premium equaling the agreed interest. Mudaaraba, meaning sleeping partnership, involves a sleeping partner providing cash for an activity undertaken by an active partner, any profits being shared. Mushaaraka entails a depositor being treated as a partner who shares in the profits or losses. Over the past few decades many banks that use one or more of these methods have been established in Muslim countries, especially where laws are derived exclusively from the Quran and the Hadith [q.v.].
Islamic banking was virtually unscathed by the credit crunch that swept through the Western world in 2008–09.
Islamic calendar: In Islam, as in Judaism [q.v.], a day starts with sunset. The Islamic calendar is dated from the sunset on 15 July 622 A.D., the start of the hijra (Arabic: migration) of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca [q.v.] to Medina [q.v.]. The Islamic year is lunar and contains 354 days, 8 hours, and 4.8 minutes. The Islamic months, and their duration, are Muharram (30 days), Safar (29), Rabia Awal (30), Rabia Thani (29), Jumada Awal (30), Jumada Thani (29), Rajab (30), Shaaban (29), Ramadan (29), Shawal (30), Dhul Qaada (29), and Dhul Hijja (30).
Since a lunar year is shorter than a solar one by about 11 days, it takes roughly 34 lunar years to equal 33 solar years. There is thus an approximate difference of three years between a lunar century and a solar one. A person aged 100 years by a solar calendar is 103 according to a lunar calendar. To convert an Islamic date to a Christian [q.v.] date, divide it by 1.031 and then add 621 or 622, depending on the month of the year.
Islamic Conference Organization: An arson attack on al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem [q.v.], the third-holiest shrine of Islam [q.v.], by Michael Rohan, an Australian fundamentalist Christian [q.v.], in August 1969 shocked the Muslim world. At the initiative of Saudi King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.], an Islamic summit conference attended by 24 Muslim countries met in Rabat, Morocco, in September. Out of this emerged the Islamic Conference Organization (ICO), the first official pan-Islamic institution of intergovernmental cooperation. Open to all Muslim-majority states, the ICO based itself in Jeddah [q.v.] in May 1971. Its charter, adopted in 1972, aimed to promote Islamic solidarity; to coordinate efforts to safeguard Islamic holy places and support the Palestinian struggle for national rights; and to increase social, cultural, and economic cooperation among members.
Funded primarily by Saudi Arabia, it provided the kingdom with an opportunity to project itself as the leader of the Islamic world. In 1975 it set up the al-Quds [q.v.] committee to implement ICO resolutions on the status of Jerusalem. The ICO's attempt to emerge as a mediator in the Islamic world suffered a setback when its efforts to bring about a cease-fire in the war between two Muslim countries, Iran and Iraq, in 1981 failed. Tehran boycotted the fourth summit in Casablanca, Morocco, in January 1984 because the ICO failed to send a team to Iran to inspect the damage done by Iraqi bombing of Iran's civilian areas. When the ICO secretariat refused to change the venue of the fifth summit in January 1987 in Kuwait, which was closely allied to Iraq in its conflict against Iran, Tehran again boycotted the meeting. The summit urged a cease-fire in the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.].
The sixth summit in Dakar, Senegal, in December 1991 was boycotted by 12 Arab heads of state in protest at the invitation extended to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] and Jordan [q.v.], the ICO members that had sided with Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.]. At the next summit in Morocco in 1994, the ICO adopted a code of conduct on terrorism which required member states not to aid terrorism and to ensure that extremist organizations did not use their territory for attacks on other states. At the extraordinary summit held in Islamabad, Pakistan, the ICO resolved to apply international pressure on Israel to honor its agreements with the PLO. The seventh summit in Tehran in December 1997 called on ICO members to consider Washington's Iran-Libya Sanctions Act of 1996 as invalid. It condemned terrorism but upheld the right of those under military occupation to resist the occupiers by all means. The next summit was held in Doha [q.v.] in 2000 after Qatar [q.v.] had closed down the Israeli trade mission in its capital.
In April 2002, the ICO foreign ministers, meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, failed to agree on the definition of terror or terrorism [q.v.]. While calling for an internationally agreed definition of terrorism, their final communique specifically differentiated it from the resistance of a people under colonial or foreign occupation. The tenth summit of the ICO was held in the Malaysian capital of Putrajaya in October 2003. And following the publication of a cartoon by a Danish newspaper in September 2005, showing the Prophet Muhammad with a turban containing a bomb, an extraordinary summit was held in Mecca [q.v.], where it was decided to boycott Danish goods.
At its eleventh summit in Dakar in March 2008, the leaders adopted a renewed charter and decided to rename the organization the Conference of Islamic Cooperation from 2011.
In 2011 it had 57 members, including the PLO, which was only an organization, not a fully fledged state. The five countries that enjoyed observer status included Russia. Since 2005 its secretary-general has been Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, an Arabicspeaking Turk.
Islamic Consultative Assembly (Iran): See Majlis.
Islamic Cooperation Organization (2011): See Islamic Conference Organization.
Islamic dress: Islamic dress applies to women, who are required to behave as stated in the Quranic verse (24:30–31): "And say to the believing women that they cast their eyes and guard their private parts ... and let them cast their veils over their bosoms, and not reveal their adornment save to their husbands, or their fathers, or their husbands' fathers, or their sons, or their husbands' sons, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women . or children who have not yet attained knowledge of women's private parts." The intention is to avoid arousing sexual passion between men and women who are not spouses or are not intending to be. The hijab (Arabic: veil), traditionally worn by Muslim women in public, always covers the head but not necessarily the face.
Islamic dress has been compulsory for women in Saudi Arabia since its founding in 1932. Following the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, it was made compulsory by law. Iran's urban working-class and rural women wear a chador, an all-encompassing shroud.
Islamic Front of Syria: Syrian political alliance In 1980 the moderate faction of the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] combined with the Islamic Liberation Party (ILP), the Society of Abu Dharr (SAD), and the Northern Circle (NC) to form the Islamic Front of Syria (IFS). It was led by Shaikh Muhammad Bayununi of SAD, Adnan Saad al-Din of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Said Hawa of the NC. To reassure the leftist and secular opposition, the IFS offered a program that was an amalgam of Islamic concepts and liberal democracy.
Once IFS leaders had reorganized their cadres they resumed their armed struggle against the regime of President Hafiz Assad [q.v.]. In February 1981 they initiated an insurrection in Hama [q.v.] and, operating from Iraq, they appealed to Syrians to declare a "civil mutiny" against the regime. Assad repressed the uprising in Hama brutally. Israel invaded Lebanon [q.v.], an event in which the Syrian troops stationed in Lebanon became partially involved. This turned public attention away from Islamic resistance toward the government's anti-Israel fight, and weakened the Islamic movement.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the IFS's leading constituent, wanted the IFS to adopt its pro-Iraq policy. This split the IFS into "compromisers," led by Saad al-Din, and "purists," headed by Adnan Uqla. The latter held that, since Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] had invaded the Islamic Republic of Iran, he was anti-Islamic, and therefore cooperation with him could not be contemplated. The compromisers were prepared to work with anybody who was willing to help them overthrow the Assad regime.
In March 1982 Saad al-Din led the IFS into an alliance with 17 other opposition groups to form the National Alliance for the Liberation of Syria under Amin Hafiz [q.v.] in Baghdad [q.v.]. It demanded a constitutional parliamentary regime, Islam as the state religion, and the Sharia [q.v.] as the main source of legislation. When the purists condemned Saad al-Din's move their leader, Uqla, was expelled from the IFS. The infighting caused a dramatic drop in the fundamentalists' activities and popular support.
Islamic fundamentalism: Fundamentalism is the term used for the effort to define the fundamentals of a religion and adhere to them. One of the cardinal tenets of Islamic fundamentalism is to protect the purity of Islamic precepts from the adulteration of speculative exercises. Related to fundamentalism is Islamic revival or resurgence, a renewed interest in Islam. Behind all this is a drive to purify Islam in order to release all its vital force. In medieval times the drive for purification meant ridding Islam of superstition and/or scholastic legalism. That is, the fundamentalist response was purely internal. Today the response is both internal and external: to release Islam from its scholastic cobwebs as well as to rid it of ideas imbibed from the West.
Whether a Muslim-majority state today is fundamentalist or not can be judged by a single criterion: is its legislation derived solely from the Sharia [q.v.] (Islamic Law)? By this standard Saudi Arabia is the oldest Islamic fundamentalist state in the world: since its inception in 1932 it has known nothing but the Sharia. However, what the Islamic revolution did in Iran in 1979 was to transform a secular state and society into a religious one, thus pioneering a model for Muslim countries with a secular background, the majority in the 57-member Islamic Conference Organization (ICO) [q.v.]. In the mid-1990s about a dozen of the ICO member-states were being run solely according to the Sharia.
See also Omar Abdul Rahman; Muhammad Atef; Hassan al-Banna; Osama bin Laden; al-Gamaat al-Is-lamiya (Egypt); Hamas; Hizbollah; Islamic Action Front ( Jordan); Islamic Amal (Lebanon); Islamic Front of Syria; Islamic Jihad (Lebanon); Islamic Jihad (Palestine); Islamic Revolution (Iran); al-Jihad al-Islami (Egypt); Ali Mohamad; Muslim Brotherhood (Egypt); Muslim Brotherhood ( Jordan); Muslim Brotherhood (Palestine); Muslim Brotherhood (Saudi Arabia); Muslim Brotherhood (Syria); Al Qaida; A! Qaida in Arabian Peninsula; Al Qaida in Mesopotamia; al-Takfir wal Hijra; Abu Mussab Zarqawi; and Ayman Zawahiri.
Islamic Iranian Participation Front (Iran): Popularly known as Moshakerat (Persian: participation) Formed on the eve of the first local elections in Iran in early 1999, the left-of-center Islamic Iranian Participation Front was led by Muhammad Reza Khatami, a younger brother of President Muhammad Khatami (r. 1997–2005) [q.v.]. It was the leader of the alliance of 22 factions constituting the 2nd Khrdad/23rd May Front, named after the date on which Khatami had scored his landslide victory in 1997, formed to run in the 2000 Majlis [q.v.] elections. Its program included greater social, cultural, and media freedom, including private radio and television channels, and reform of government bureaucracy. While favoring attractive conditions for private capital in industry, it opposed privatizing state-owned oil, power, telecommunications, and tobacco industries. The IIPF won 95 Majlis seats. Muhammad Reza Khatami was elected deputy speaker of the Majlis. It remained the main bulwark of political reform in the country that was resisted by the conservative lawmakers and judiciary.
On the eve of the 2004 parliamentary election, when the Guardian Council [q.v.] rejected many of its candidates, the second Khordad Front split, with 14 factions boycotting the election. The voter turnout of 51 percent was well below the 63 percent in 2000, signifying that a substantial proportion of women, university students, and middle-class professionals abstained. The number of reformist deputies fell to 50. Mostafa Mon, the IIPF's candidate for president in 2005, did poorly. In the 2008 general election for parliament, reformists held on to 46 seats.
Following the widespread protest at the controversial presidential election in 2009, and the repression that followed, many IIPF leaders were among those who were imprisoned and later given jail sentences.
Islamic Jihad (Egypt): See al-Jihad al-Islami (Egypt).
Islamic Jihad (Lebanon): The Islamic Jihad (IJ), a pro-Iranian Shia [q.v.] group, was formed in Lebanon in the spring of 1982. In retaliation for the kidnapping of four Iranian diplomats in Beirut [q.v.] in mid-March 1982 by Maronite [q.v.] militiamen, it abducted David Dodge, the acting president of the American University of Beirut (AUB) [q.v.], in July. It was close to Ali Akbar Mohtashemi, Iran's ambassador to Syria (1982–83).
In April 1983 its rigged truck bombed the American Embassy in West Beirut. Seventeen of the 63 people killed were American, most of them senior Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operators. On 23 October 1983, IJ militants truck-bombed the U.S. Marines headquarters at Beirut International Airport, killing 241 troops, and the French paratroops in Bir Hassan district, killing 59 soldiers. A similar explosion, caused by another IJ activist, destroyed the Israeli military headquarters in Tyre [q.v.], leaving 60 people dead, half of them Israelis. It allied with the Islamic Amal [q.v.] and Hizbollah [q.v.] in early 1984 to confront the Lebanese army.
The IJ kidnapped William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut in March 1984. It promised to free him in exchange for the release of 17 Shias [q.v.], who had been convicted in Kuwait on charges of bombing the U.S. and French embassies. In September the IJ exploded a car-bomb inside the U.S. Embassy compound in East Beirut, killing eight people. The next month it released David Jacobsen, an American, as part of the hostages-for-arms deal between the United States and Iran, known as the Irangate Affair [q.v.].
In 1985, a grand jury in the United States meeting in secret indicted IJ leader, Imad Mougneih, as the mastermind of the 1983 explosion in Beirut.
Following the IJ's freeing of John McCarthy, a British journalist, in August 1991 United Nations Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar became involved in securing the release of the remaining Western hostages and 450 Lebanese and Palestinians held without charge by Israel. In late 1991 a three-way swap—involving 450 Lebanese and Palestinian detainees under the Israelis, seven dead or captured Israeli servicemen, and the remaining Western hostages—ended the IJ's involvement in hostage taking.
With Hizbollah dominating radical Shia politics, the IJ, led by shadowy Mougneih, faded away. He was assassinated in 2008 by a car bomb detonated by Israeli agents in Damascus [q.v.].
Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine: (Also known as Palestinian Islamic Jihad) A split in the Muslim Brotherhood in the Occupied Territories [q.v.] in 1981 led to the formation of the Islamic Jihad (Palestine) as a radical organization. It captured media headlines when its activists threw hand grenades at a military graduation ceremony at the Western Wall [q.v.] in Jerusalem [q.v.] in October 1986. It claimed to be the main force behind the eruption of the Palestinian intifada [q.v. ] a little over a year later. It cooperated with other groups in continuing the intifada.
Opposed to the Israeli-Palestine Liberation Organization Accord of September 1993 [q.v.], it maintained its policy of violent attacks on Israeli targets in the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza Strip [q.v.], and came into open conflict with the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] in late 1994. Its collective leadership kept a low profile, except for Shaikh Abdullah Shammi in Gaza [q.v. ], where the group published a weekly paper, Al-Istiqlal (Arabic: The Independence). Its leader, Fathi Abdul Aziz Shikaki, was assassinated by Mossad [q.v.] agents in Malta in October 1995. He was succeeded by Abdullah Ramadan Shallah.
It participated actively in the Al Aqsa intifada [q.v.] that erupted in September 2000. Between 2001 and 2003 it carried out suicide bombings inside Israel—targeting a night club in Tel Aviv [q.v.], a bus in Jerusalem [q.v.], the Meggido railway station, and a restaurant in Haifa [q.v. ]. A suicide attack in April 2006 in Tel Aviv proved to be its last terrorist act inside Israel. In that year it started firing its own fabricated rockets at Israeli targets. Some of its leaders became victims of Israel's policy of "targeted killings." Following the assassination of one of its senior commanders in Gaza by Israel in March 2009 its spokesman unveiled an advanced rocket, called Al Quds-4, to be fired at Israeli targets. Under the guise of nongovernmental organizations, it also runs free schools and health clinics.
Islamic Law: See Sharia.
Islamic Majlis (Iran): See Majlis.
Islamic Republican Party (Iran): The Islamic Republican Party (IRP) was established within a month of the February 1979 revolution by Iran's leading clerics, including Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani [q.v.] and Ali Hussein Khamanei [q.v.]. Its main aim was to guard the revolution and infuse Islamic principles into political, economic, cultural, and military spheres of society. As well as encouraging individuals to join it, the founders of the IRP urged the local Islamic Associations to affiliate to it.
In the elections to the Assembly of Experts [q.v.], which was charged with drafting the constitution, 47 of the 73 members either belonged to the IRP or were sympathetic to it. IRP leaders were at the forefront of the opposition to President Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr [q.v.] and his policies. Due to their endeavors, Bani-Sadr was impeached by 177 deputies, with one vote opposing, on 20 June 1981. Eight days later a bomb explosion triggered by Mujahedin-e Khalq [q.v.] activists killed 74 IRP leaders.
After President Muhammad Ali Rajai's [q.v.] assassination in August, the IRP's secretary-general, Ali Khamanei, successfully ran for the office in October 1981. Within two years the IRP and its allied groups occupied all political space. Yet by late 1984 its importance within the regime had declined: the factions of the party had become so deeply divided on socioeconomic issues, between conservatives and radicals, that their infighting was impeding the workings of the executive and the legislature. The differences between the two party wings became acute by mid-1986, and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], the Supreme Leader, appointed a mediation council to conciliate them. It failed. So he had the party dissolved in July 1987.
Islamic Revolution (Iran): What started in early 1977 as a demand by Iranian intellectuals to abolish censorship ended up as a revolutionary overthrow of the most powerful pro-Western monarchy in the Middle East [q.v.], the Pahlavi shahs, two years later. The protest movement went through several stages, beginning with the revival of opposition parties at home and leading to the assuming of its stewardship by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], then in exile in Najaf [q.v.], Iraq.
Khomeini made adroit use of Shia [q.v.] history and Iranian nationalism to attract ever-increasing support, and he united disparate anti-shah forces, both secular and religious, by his most radical demand: the deposition of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.]. Khomeini also devised an original set of strategies and tactics to neutralize the shah's 413,000-strong military. He advised his followers to confront the soldiers through martyrdom [q.v.], to let them kill as many as they wanted until they felt disgusted at their brutal behavior. At the same time he warned troops that firing at their brothers and sisters amounted to firing at the Quran [q.v.]. These words, coming as they did from an eminent religious authority, had a strong impact on the soldiers, who were often conscripts and overwhelmingly Shia.
Though the revolutionary movement included secular elements, only the religious segment could provide a national network down to the village level in the form of the mosque. Both as an institution and as a place of congregation, the mosque proved crucial. Since the state could not stop mosques functioning normally, they became the only places where revolutionaries could meet in safety. This led Khomeini to instruct the clergy to base the Revolutionary Komitehs [q.v.] in mosques.
What finally sealed the fate of the Pahlavi state was an indefinite strike by oil workers, ordered by Khomeini on 31 October 1978. This was a body blow to the state treasury, already reeling from the effects of strikes by bazaar merchants, bank employees, customs officers, postal workers, and miners. Forced by the military government, appointed by the shah in early November, to return to work, the oil workers did so, but only to produce enough to satisfy domestic demand.
The 10-day Shia ritual of Ashura [q.v.] in December enhanced religious feeling in the nation, now paralyzed by a strike of civil servants. The first signs of cracks in the army appeared, with soldiers deserting with their weapons. In desperation the shah appointed Shahpur Bakhtiar [q.v.], a secular opposition leader, as prime minister, and agreed to go abroad on holiday immediately. He did so on 16 January 1979. But it was only after Khomeini had returned home and appointed Mahdi Bazargan [q.v.] prime minister, and after the pro-Khomeini forces had crushed an attempted coup by the Imperial Guard, that the Pahlavi rule finally ended on 11 February.
The human cost in terms of antiroyalist deaths was 10,000 to 40,000. The Iranian military was down to 110,000 armed personnel. The soldiers of the monarchical elite forces either fled or ended up behind bars.
Though secular opposition had contributed substantially to the success of the revolution, it was denied its share of power. Because Khomeini, the movement's unrivaled leader, was a religious authority, and the mosque provided the base for the popular uprising, the end result was an Islamic revolution. Though other Middle Eastern countries had experienced dramatic change, often accompanied by the overthrow of the monarchy, the prime mover had been the military, and the means an overnight coup. This was the first time that millions of ordinary, unarmed citizens actively participated in a political process lasting many months, and ended up not only toppling the ruler but also decimating such state institutions as the military, the police, and intelligence agencies.
Since then no other Muslim-majority country in the Middle East [q.v.] or elsewhere has undergone such a thoroughgoing revolutionary transformation as a result of a single continuous political process. The Arab Spring [q.v.] in Tunisia and Egypt left the security forces and intelligence agencies intact. In Libya it turned into a civil war in which the North Atlantic Treaty Organization intervened actively against the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. In Yemen, the end result of the protest movement was the handing over of power from President Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.], in office since 1978, to his vice president, Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi [q.v.].
Islamic Revolutionary Komitehs (Iran): See Revolutionary Komitehs (Iran).
Islamism and Islamists : When Islam [q.v.] is used as a political ideology, it is described as Islamism, and its adherents are called Islamists. See Islamic fundamentalism.
Islamist Bloc (Egypt): On the eve of the first post-Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] election to the 508-member People's Assembly in November 2011, the Al Nour [q.v.] Party coalesced with such other Salafi [q.v.] groups as Hizb Al-Asala (Arabic: Originality Party) and the Construction and Development Party set up by the Gamaat al-Is-lamiya [q.v.] to form the Islamist Bloc. The breakdown of the 127 seats it won on a popular vote of 28 percent was Al Nour, 114; Construction and Development Party, 10; and Al Asla Party, three. In the subsequent 180-member Consultative (Shura) Council election, the Islamist Bloc gained 45 seats on a popular vote of 29 percent.
Ismail, Abdul Fattah (1936–86): South Yemeni politician, president 1978—80 Born into a peasant family in the Hujairiah region of North Yemen, Ismail traveled to Aden [q.v.] for further education. Employed by the British Petroleum Company, he took a keen interest in trade unionism. Active in the National Liberation Front (NLF) [q.v.], he became one of its leaders in 1964 and specialized in political and military affairs. After South Yemen's independence in 1967 he was named minister of national guidance. In June 1969 his leftist faction overthrew President Qahtan al-Shaabi [q.v.], and he became secretary-general of the NLF and a member of the Presidential Council under Salim Rubai Ali [q.v.].
Together with Ali Nasser Muhammad [q.v.], he continued to lead the leftist wing, and built up the party militia and the intelligence network. After a coup in August 1971 he and Muhammad consolidated their positions. In June 1978 they clashed with President Ali, who lost his life. Muhammad became chairman of the Presidential Council, but six months later ceded that position to Ismail. The radical policies of Ismail alienated Muhammad, who espoused a more pragmatic approach. In April 1980 Ismail was forced to resign his position and go into exile in Moscow for "medical reasons." He spent five years there. Following the Soviet Communist Party's successful mediation between the South Yemeni factions, he returned home. He was made secretary-general of the ruling Yemeni Socialist Party's [q.v.] central committee, a position that lacked power. The rapprochement between the factions broke down in January 1986. In the subsequent violence, which lasted a month and caused nearly 10,000 deaths, Muhammad was defeated, but Ismail was killed.
Ismailis: Islamic group Part of Shia [q.v.] Islam, Ismailis are distinguished from the other sub-sects—Zaidis [q.v.] and Imamis or Twelvers [q.v.]—by the number of revered figures they regard as Imams [q.v.]. They share the first six Imams with Twelvers (Ali, Hassan, Hussein, Zain al-Abidin, Muhammad al-Baqir, and Jaafar al-Sadiq). The seventh is Ismail, the older, militant son of al-Sadiq, who died in 765 A.D., five years before his father. This created a rift among Shias, since not all of them accepted Ismail's younger brother, Abdullah bin Jaafar, as their Imam. He died without a son.
They interpret the Quran [q.v.] symbolically and allegorically, seeing the inner meaning in the holy book as superior to the literal meaning. Because they value esoteric exegeses, which are revealed only to the elite, they believe in a religious hierarchy.
Ismailis are also known as Seveners since they subscribe to the concept that the number seven, being the total of spatial directions—forward, backward, above, below, right, left, and center—is symbolic, and that in the case of Imams signifies the end of a cycle.
An Ismaili group set up the Fatimid (named after a daughter of the Prophet Muhammad and the wife of Imam Ali) caliphate in Tunis which, after conquering Egypt in 969 A.D., rivaled the Abbasids, based in Baghdad [q.v.]. Their rule lasted until 1171. Today in the Middle East Ismailis are to be found in Iran, Syria, and Yemen.
Israel:
OFFICIAL NAME: State of Israel
CAPITAL: Tel Aviv [q.v.] (internationally recognized); Jerusalem [q.v.] (self-declared)
AREA (pre-1967 borders): 7820 sq. mi./20,255 sq. km
POPULATION: 7.8 million (2011, official est.), including ca. 508,600 Jewish settlers in Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.] (2011 est.): East Jerusalem [q.v.] 192,800; Golan Heights [q.v.] 20,100; West Bank [q.v.]) 340,000 in 121 recognized settlements and 102 unrecognized outposts
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (nominal): $245.3 billion (2011 est.); per capita, $32,300 (2011 est.)
Gross domestic product (Purchasing Power Parity): $235.4 billion (2011 est.); per capita, $31,000 (2011 est.)
NATIONAL CURRENCY: New Israeli Shekel (NIS); NIS 1 = U.S. $0.27 = £0.17 = €0.20 (2011)
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: republic, parliamentary
OFFICIAL LANGUAGES: Hebrew and Arabic
Official religion: None
ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS: Israel is divided into six districts.
CONSTITUTION: The Constituent Assembly, elected in January 1949, adopted the Transition Law [q.v.] in February. It declared Israel a republic, to be headed by a president who would be elected for a five-year term by the Knesset [q.v.] (parliament; a single chamber of 120 members) by a simple majority. The Knesset was to be elected by adult franchise under a system of proportional representation, with the election threshold at 1 percent. The leader of the largest group would be invited by the president to become the prime minister and form the government, which would exercise executive authority. The Constituent Assembly then transformed itself into the First Knesset.
Following a debate on a report on the question of a written constitution by the Knesset's Committee on Constitution, Law, and Justice, the house decided in June 1950 to assign the task of preparing a draft constitution to the Committee "chapter by chapter ...[with] each chapter submitted to the Knesset" and "all the chapters [after the Committee had finished its work] shall be incorporated into the Constitution." Between then and 1968, four such "chapters" were adopted by the Knesset: Basic Law: the Knesset (1958), fixing its term to four years; Basic Law: Lands in Israel (1959) creating the National Land Authority; Basic Law: the State President (1964), requiring him/her to be an Israeli citizen, resident in the country; and Basic Law: the Government (1968).
ETHNIC COMPOSITION (2011): Jews 75.3 percent, Arabs 24.7 percent
EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY: Executive authority rests with the cabinet, headed by the prime minister, who is the leader of the largest group in parliament.
High officials:
President: Shimon Peres, 2007–Prime minister: Benjamin Netanyahu, 2009–
Speaker of the Knesset: Reuven Revlin, 2009–
HISTORY: Israel was established on 14 May 1948 at the end of the British Mandate over Palestine [q.v.], which dated back to 1922. An immediate war with its Arab neighbors ended in January 1949, with Israel acquiring 21 percent more land than the 54 percent allocated to it by the UN General Assembly Resolution 181 adopted in November 1947. Israel was admitted to the United Nations on 11 May 1949 after it agreed to implement the General Assembly's resolution on partition as well as Resolution 194, passed in December 1948, which inter alia called for the return of the Palestinian refugees.
Following Egypt's nationalization of the Suez Canal [q.v.] in July 1956, Israel colluded with Britain and France to invade Egypt. It did so in October and occupied Sinai [q.v.] and Gaza [q.v.]. Under UN and U.S. pressure it vacated these territories in March 1957.
During the heightened tension in early June 1967 Israel staged preemptive strikes on the air forces of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, and occupied the West Bank [q.v.], Gaza [q.v.], and the Golan Heights [q.v.]. This firmly established Israel's military superiority over its Arab neighbors, and made it somewhat complacent. The attacks in October 1973 by Egypt and Syria on Israel to regain their lost territories of Sinai and the Golan respectively came as a surprise to the Israelis. They rallied quickly but failed to reestablish the status quo. Mediation by the United States led to a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in March 1979 on the principle of "land for peace."
Within six weeks of returning the last segment of Sinai and Egypt on 25 April 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon, occupying two-fifths of the country, including its capital, Beirut [q.v.]—a far more serious venture than the one in March 1978, when Israel had restricted itself to occupying about half of southern Lebanon, which was being used by the Palestinian guerrillas to attack Israel. After phased withdrawals from Lebanon ending in June 1985, Israel maintained a military presence in its self-declared security zone in southern Lebanon.
The situation in the occupied West Bank and Gaza deteriorated to the extent that in 1987 the Palestinian population mounted an uprising, or intifada [q.v.]. The intifada continued year after year, compelling Israel first to recognize and then to negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.]. The resulting Israeli-PLO Accord [q.v.] of September 1993 led to the formation of the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] in Gaza and the West Bank town of Jericho [q.v.] as a first step toward autonomy for the areas of the Palestine under British Mandate that had been occupied by Israel since 1967.
The dominance of the Ashkenazi Jews [q.v.], a feature of Israel at its inception, lessened as large numbers of Jews arrived from the Arab states. This affected the political balance in the country, with the left-of-center Labor Party [q.v.], which had dominated governments since 1948, being relegated to opposition in 1977 by the right-wing Likud [q.v.]. But Likud' s dominance did not last long. After the 1984 election the two leading parties formed a national unity government, with premiership divided into a two-year term for each of the leaders: Labor's Shimon Peres [q.v.] and Likud's Yitzhak Shamir [q.v.].
This arrangement was repeated after the 1988 general election. But in 1990, disagreeing with Shamir's policy on pursuing peace, Labor withdrew from the national unity administration, hoping Likud would lose power. It did not. It co-opted ultranationalist groups into the government and finished its term in 1992. At the next election Labor emerged as the leading party and became the dominant partner in the new coalition. Having achieved positive results in the peace process— an accord with the PLO and a peace treaty with Jordan—Labor planned to keep on this path with a view to gaining the directly elected premiership, to be introduced in 1996. It failed because its popular leader, Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.], was assassinated by a Jewish extremist in November 1995, and his successor Shimon Peres [q.v.] lost to his Likud rival, Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.], in the May 1996 election.
Without formally renouncing the Oslo Accord, Netanyahu tried to wriggle out of it, in the process weakening it. But when, under American pressure, he signed a fresh deal under it, his ultra-right-wing supporters abandoned him, depriving him of a majority in the Knesset. He lost to the Labor rival, Ehud Barak [q.v.], in the elections—for the prime minister and the parliament—in May 1999. Barak withdrew Israeli troops from southern Lebanon a year later. But his final status talks with PLO leader Yasser Arafat [q.v.], chaired by U.S. President Bill Clinton (r. 1993–2001) at Camp David in July 2000 failed when Arafat found Barak's terms unacceptable. A visit by Ariel Sharon [q.v.], the Likud leader, to the Noble Sanctuary/Temple Mount [q.v.] in September triggered the Palestinian Al Aqsa intifada [q.v.]. With his coalition government disintegrating, Barak resigned in December. He lost to Sharon in the prime ministerial contest in February 2001.
Sharon demanded total cessation of violence by the Palestinians before peace talks could resume. Following that, he held out the prospect of freezing the present arrangement— whereby the Palestinian Authority (PA) [q. v. ] controlled about 20 percent of the Palestinian Territories [q.v.]—and signing an extended truce with the Palestinians. Soon the Palestinian intifada escalated from stones thrown at the Israeli troops to armed assaults on Israeli soldiers and settlers. The Sharon government escalated its response from army firings to besieging Palestinian enclaves to making military incursions into the areas under PA jurisdiction and assassinating suspected terrorists.
After the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in September 2001, Sharon tried, unsuccessfully, to bracket Arafat with Osama bin Laden [q.v.]. By ordering tanks and helicopter gun-ships into refugee camps in the West Bank in February 2002 to arrest wanted terrorists, Israel crossed a red line. Responding to the killing of seven Israeli soldiers in early March, Israel sent 20,000 troops and scores of tanks in the West Bank. For the first time the PA publicly called on the Palestinians to confront the invaders. A more severe reprisal followed the murder of 27 Israeli Jews on Passover [q.v.], on 27 March, by a Palestinian suicide bomber, when Israel mounted its Operation Defensive wall, reoccupying all Palestinian towns and cities except Hebron [q.v.] and Jericho [q.v.], destroying Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, and placing him under house arrest. By the time the Israeli offensive had ended a month later, 250 Palestinians were dead. In April the European Union parliament called on member states to impose political and trade sanctions against Israel for violating international and humanitarian law in its offensive against the Palestinians. With no end to periodic suicide bombings by the Palestinians, Israel reoccupied the West Bank towns and cities.
In 2002, Sharon ordered building a barrier to separate Israel from the West Bank which would annex nearly 10 percent of the Palestinian territory into Israel. After announcing his decision to end the military occupation of the Gaza Strip [q.v.] in 2004, he implemented it in September 2005, while retaining Israeli control over the airspace and the shoreline of the Palestinian territory. When he was incapacitated in April 2006, he was succeeded by Ehud Olmert [q.v.]. In July, under his leadership, Israel went to war with Hizbollah [q.v.] in Lebanon, which lasted a month. His numerous meetings with President Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.] of the Palestinian Authority failed to move the peace process forward.
Following Olmert's resignation in the wake of corruption charges and the Knesset elections in 2009, Benjamin Netanyahu became prime minister. His hardline stance on the peace process ended meetings with Abbas. After the war between Israel and Hamas [q.v.] in December 2008-January 2009, the cease-fire between the parties held. The brief resumption of talks between Netanyahu and Abbas in 2010 ended when Netanyahu refused to freeze the expansion of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
In October 2011, after five-year long secret negotiations with Hamas through Egyptian and German intelligence officials, Israel agreed to free 1,027 Palestinian prisoners to secure the release of its soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Hamas inside Israel in June 2006. On the strategic issue of peace with the Palestinians, Netanyahu asserted repeatedly that "by embracing Hamas, Abbas is walking away from peace."
LEGISLATURE: The Knesset deals with legislation, general policy matters, the budget, and international treaties. It has the right to elect the state president by a simple majority, or dismiss him/her for misdemeanor. But a two-thirds majority is needed to declare the president too ill to perform his or her duties. In order to reduce the number of political parties, the Knesset passed a law in 1992 to raise the qualifying threshold for a political party to secure a place in the legislature from 1 percent to 1.5 percent, and introduced direct election for the prime minister charged with forming a government. The new rules applied to the elections in 1996 and 1999 for both the Knesset and the prime minister. But in 2001, there was only the prime ministerial contest, the last such exercise. In 2003 the electoral system reverted to the old arrangement, since the new system had failed to reduce the number of political factions. However, the 2003 Knesset raised the qualifying threshold for a political group from 1.5 percent to 2 percent.
RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION (2011): Jews, 75.3 percent, of which 20 percent secular, 55 percent traditional, 17 percent Orthodox [q.v.], and 8.3 percent ultra-Orthodox; Muslims [q.v.], 20.5 percent, of which 18 percent are Sunni [q.v.] and 2.5 percent Druze [q.v.]; Christian [q.v.], 2.2 percent; unclassified, 2 percent.
Israel Defense Forces. See Military in Israel.
Israel BeAliya (Hebrew: Ascent into Israel): Israeli political party (Official title Yisrael BeAliya BeRashut) Israel BeAliya was formed by Natan Sharansky in 1995. Born in Moscow in 1948, he migrated to Israel [q.v.] in 1986. As the number of Jews [q.v.] from the Soviet Union arriving in Israel rose sharply from the late 1980s, he saw a potential for a political party that catered to the needs of such migrants. In the 1996 Knesset [q.v.] election, Israel BeAliya won seven seats. In the coalition government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.], Sharansky served as minister of industry and trade. He took a hard-line position on the peace process with the Palestinians [q.v.]. In the 1999 parliamentary election, his faction secured six seats. It joined the coalition government led by Ehud Barak [q.v.], with Sharanksy becoming minister of internal affairs. When Ariel Sharon [q.v.] succeeded Barak as the prime minister, Sharansky retained his ministry. In the 2003 general election, Israel BeAliya secured only two seats. Sharanksy then merged the party with Likud [q.v.]
Israel Beitainu (Hebrew: Israel our home): Israeli political party Israel Beitainu was formed on the eve of the 1999 Knesset [q.v.] election by Avig-dor Lieberman [q.v.], until then a close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.], leader of Likud [q.v.]. Born in the Soviet Republic of Moldavia, Lieberman was active in Likud politics, where he backed ultraright-wing policies. He founded the party as a rival to the older Israel BeAliyah [q.v.] which was popular with the Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who numbered almost one million by 1999. It won four seats on a secular, ultra-nationalist platform, opposing statehood for the Palestinians [q.v.] and proposing exile for their leader, Yasser Arafat [q.v.]. It did not join the national unity government formed by Ariel Sharon [q.v.] in March 2001.
Following the assassination of the Moledet leader and tourism minister Rechavam Ze'evi in October, it formed an alliance with Moledet, called the National Union [q.v.]. When Sharon' s government faced defeat in the Knesset after the exit of the Labor Party [q.v.] from the coalition in November 2002, the National Union backed Sharon, and Lieberman became a minister.
In the 2003 general election it retained its share of four seats within the National Union's score of seven. It joined the coalition government of Ariel Sharon [q.v.] but quit when Sharon decided to vacate the Gaza Strip [q.v.]. The 2006 parliamentary election saw the party's strength rise to 11. It participated in the coalition government of Ehud Olmert [q.v.], but left in 2008 when Olmert resumed talks with the Palestinian Authority's [q.v.] president, Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.]. In the 2009 Knesset election, the party demanded that every Israeli Arab [q.v.] should take a loyalty oath—"No loyalty, no citizenship." Winning 15 seats, Israel Beitainu emerged as the third-largest group in the Knesset. It joined the coalition government led by Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.], with Lieberman becoming foreign minister. In December 2011 he said that he did not believe that a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians would be agreed within the next decade, and, therefore, Israel must work to manage the conflict and not solve it.
Israel-Hamas War (2008–09): See Gaza War (2008–09).
Israel-Hizbollah War (2006): From 12 July to 14 August 2006 In this conflict, Hizbollah [q.v.] was the principal enemy of Israel, with the Amal [q.v.] militia playing a minor role.
The war started when, in the midst of rising tension along the Israeli-Lebanese border, Hizbollah ambushed an Israeli patrol, killing three soldiers and capturing two more. In its rescue operation, Israel lost five more troops. It then mounted a ground offensive on 12 July.
During the first fortnight Hizbollah fired rockets at targets in north Israel, including Haifa [q.v.], while Israeli military hit Lebanese civilian infrastructure, including the Beirut [q.v.] airport and the Beirut-Damascus [q.v.] highway, and imposed an aerial and naval blockade on Lebanon. On an average, Hizbollah directed about 100 rockets a day at Israel, and the Israeli army fired 300 artillery shells, with its air force carrying out 330 combat missions and its Navy firing 75 shells.
On 18 July an Israeli general said that Israel's offensive would last several more weeks in order to rout Hezbollah. At the UN Security Council, the United States stalled a cease-fire resolution to let the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) decimate Hizbollah. On 23 July the IDF expanded its offensive by penetrating Lebanon in the Maroun al-Ras area. Two days later, U. S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the plight of the heavily bombed Lebanon as part of "the birth pangs of a new Middle East," and added that Israel should ignore calls for a cease-fire.
But the IDF's attempt on 25 July to capture Bint Jbeil, two miles/3 km from the Israeli-Lebanese border, failed. Its infantry withdrew from the outskirts of the town on 29 July. Hizbollah had divided a three mile-wide strip along the Israeli-Lebanese border into numerous fortified bunkers, with booby-traps, land mines, and even closed circuit TV cameras to closely watch the enemy forces. It was from these bunkers that Hizbollah fired their anti-tank missiles, damaging 52 Israeli tanks. Their missiles also hit buildings sheltering Israeli troops. International opinion began to change after Israel's night air-raid on 30 July on a three-story building with 63 civilian occupants near the Lebanese village of Qana, which killed 41 civilians.
Between then and 14 August, when the UN Security Council cease-fire resolution 1701 of 11 August went into effect, Israel bombed a Shia [q.v.] suburb of Beirut, and launched an offensive by crossing the Litani River. Toward the end of the fighting, the IDF had three times more soldiers in Lebanon than at the beginning.
During the conflict the armed members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command assisted Hizbollah. While Lebanon did not declare war against Israel, its president, Emile Lahoud [q.v. ], condemned Israel's attacks and canceled a scheduled meeting with Rice in Beirut.
LOSSES IN LEBANON: An estimated 1,200 Lebanese militants and civilians were killed and 4,400 injured; one million people were displaced, with 150.000 fleeing to Syria and 40,000 to Cyprus; about 100,000 were trapped in the south, with declining food, water, medicine, and fuel reserves. The total economic losses were put at $12 billion, including $3.5 billion to the country's infrastructure, covering 400 mi./640 km of roads, 73 bridges, and 31 other targets, such as Beirut's international airport, ports, water and sewage treatment plants, electrical facilities, 25 fuel stations, 900 commercial structures, up to 350 schools and two hospitals, and 15,000 destroyed homes. The government of Qatar volunteered to help financially all those who had lost their homes and businesses. And backed by Iran, Hizbollah also provided financial aid to those who had suffered losses.
LOSSES IN ISRAEL: 19 soldiers and 43 civilians were killed, and 894 civilians were injured; 400,000 people were displaced; 12,000 buildings, including schools and hospitals, and 6,000 homes were damaged. The war cost the government $5.3 billion. The economy suffered a loss of $1.6 billion, and private businesses lost $1.4 billion.
AFTERMATH: In July 2008, the remains of the two Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbollah were returned to Israel as part of a prisoner exchange.
Israeli Arabs: The term Israeli Arabs applies to those Arabs [q.v.] who did not leave Palestine before or during the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] and acquired Israeli nationality. According to the Israeli census taken in November 1948, the 156,000 Israeli Arabs represented 18 percent of the total population. Due to natural growth this figure had increased to 1.9 million by 2011, including 264,100 living in East Jerusalem [q.v.], forming 24 percent of the Israeli population, including East Jerusalem.
Three-quarters of Israeli Arabs were Sunni Muslim [q.v.], about one-tenth Druze Muslim [q.v.], and the rest Christian [q.v.] and unclassified. More than 70 percent lived in the Northern District of Israel. Until 1966 they were severely restricted: for instance, they could not travel without the permission of the local military governor. They are barred from joining the military, the exception being Druze males, who have their own units within the armed forces.
The education system for Israeli Arabs is separate from the Jewish, except at university level, where the medium of instruction is Hebrew [q.v.]. They suffer discrimination. The average hourly wage for an Israeli Arab worker is 30 percent lower than for Israeli Jewish workers. The 5 percent of the public funds they receive for development projects nationally is a fraction of their proportion in the population.
Politically, until 1958 Israeli Arabs were allowed to join only auxiliary bodies attached to the mainstream secular political parties. The lead of Mapam [q.v.] to open direct membership to Israeli Arabs in 1958 was not followed by Labor [q.v.] until 1971. When that happened, the practice of Labor and Mapam offering separate Arab lists lost its raison d'etre. The 1973 election was the last one in which Labor won a parliamentary seat for its Arab list. For the next two decades, the overall strength of Israeli Arab members of the 120-member Knesset [q.v.] varied between five and six, with the left-wing Maki [q.v.]/Rakah [q .v.]/Hadash [q.v.] gaining the majority of these seats.
In the 1992 election eight Israeli Arabs were elected to parliament, and two were appointed deputy ministers. Angered by Operation Grapes of Wrath [q.v.] in Lebanon, ordered by Prime Minister Shimon Peres [q.v.], which killed 160 civilians, including 102 refugees sheltering at a hilltop in Qana, in April 1996, enough Israeli Arabs abstained to cause his defeat in the prime ministerial context. In the 1999 Knesset election, the number of Israeli Arab members rose to 12. Of these, nine belonged to the groups that were either exclusively or predominantly Arab, and rejected Zionism [q.v.]. The 2003 general election saw the number of Israeli Arab Knesset [q.v.] members decline to 10.
Israeli Arabs largely back the idea of a Palestinian state on the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza [q.v.], and have been keen supporters of the Oslo Accords [q.v.] of 1993 and 1995. Soon after the eruption of the Second Intifada [q.v.] in September 2000, Israeli Arabs mounted a demonstration in support of the Palestinians. Firing by the Israeli security forces left 13 protestors dead. This alienated Israeli Arabs from Prime Minister Ehud Barak [q.v.]. By abstaining in the prime ministerial contest in February 2001, they contributed to his defeat by an unprecedented 25 percent to Ariel Sharon [q.v.].
In the national unity government of Sharon, formed in March 2001, Salah Tarif, a Druze [q.v.] member of the Labor Party, became the first Israeli Arab to serve as a cabinet minister, albeit without portfolio. In 2007 Raleb Majadele, a Sunni [q.v.] member of the Labor Party, became the first Muslim [q.v.] Arab member of the Israeli government when he was appointed minister without portfolio. He failed to get reelected in 2009, when the Labor Party's strength in the Knesset sank to a record low of 13, and he was 15th on its list. However, he returned to the Knesset in April 2010 to succeed Yuli Tamir when she resigned her seat. That raised the number of Israeli Arab Knesset members to 10.
Israeli Invasion of Lebanon (1978): Eleven Lebanon-based Palestinians reached northern Israel [q.v.] near Haifa [q.v.] secretly by boat on 11 March 1978. In their attacks on the beach and on a bus on the Haifa-Tel Aviv [q.v.] road they killed 35 Israelis. Nine of them died when they were overpowered by the Israeli forces.
Given the severity of the Palestinian action on the highway in central Israel, the government decided to solve the south Lebanese problem by removing about 5,000 Palestinian guerrillas and their infrastructure from the area. On 14 March, under the code of Operation Peace in Galilee, Israel invaded Lebanon with the aim of creating a 6-mi./10-km-wide buffer zone along the 62 mi./100 km border. It dispatched 20,000 to 25,000 troops and used U.S.-made F-1 fighter planes and cluster bombs. Finding the Palestinians on the run, the Israelis captured half of southern Lebanon, about 10 percent of the country. By the time the Israelis had accepted UN Security Council Resolution 425 [q.v.] (calling for a cease-fire and an unconditional withdrawal ) adopted on 19 March, they had destroyed 82 villages, killed 2,000 people, mostly civilian, and displaced 160,000.
The Israeli withdrawal, which started on 11 April, took two months to complete and resulted in the Lebanese border zone (2–6-mi./4–12-km-wide and 50 mi./80 km long) being put under the jurisdiction of an Israeli-funded and armed Christian [q.v.] militia, called the South Lebanon Army (SLA) [q.v.], commanded by Saad Haddad, a former Lebanese army major, as well as 1,000 Israeli soldiers. In the rest of the territory evacuated by the Israelis, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) [q.v.] took over from the departing troops.
The SLA acted as part of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) when the latter invaded Lebanon in June 1982. When Haddad died in January 1984, Israel appointed Antoine Lahad, a retired (Christian) Lebanese army major, to succeed him. The final and unconditional withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the Lebanese border zone, as demanded by the UN Security Council in March 1978, did not take place until May 2000.
Israeli Invasion of Lebanon (1982): The second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, launched under the code of Operation Big Pines, lasting from 6 June to 3 September 1982, went through the following phases.
PHASE I: On the morning of 6 June 1982, Israel mounted Operation Peace in Galilee with the dual aim of securing the evacuation of all foreign forces from Lebanon and installing a regime in Beirut [q.v.] that would conclude a peace treaty with it. About 40,000 Israel Defense Forces (IDF) [q.v.] soldiers marched under heavy air cover into Lebanon across the land frontier, divided into eastern, central, and western sectors. This was supplemented by amphibious landings near Sidon [q.v.] and Tyre [q.v.].
Ignoring the UN Security Council Resolution 509 of 6 June, which called on Israel to withdraw immediately to its border with Lebanon, the IDF advanced along the coastal highway to Tyre and captured it the next day. Backed by more amphibious landings near Sidon, the IDF seized the city on 8 June. That night Israel's amphibious landings near Damour prepared the ground for the fall of the town the following day.
In the central sector the IDF column captured Litani River bridges and encircled Nabatiye, then pushed northwest to Sidon to link up with the other columns to besiege Sidon. By nightfall on 8 June the central IDF column had outflanked the Syrian forces in the southern Beqaa Valley, while its western column pressed eastwards from Sidon into the Shouf Mountains to envelop Syria's forward positions at Jezzine before heading north. The IDF's eastern column concentrated on getting a foothold in southern Beqaa in order to advance to the strategic Beirut-Damascus [q.v.] highway.
PHASE 2: On the afternoon of 9 June, after Israeli electronic countermeasures had crippled Syria's radar, the IDF destroyed 17 of the 19 Syrian anti-aircraft batteries. The ensuing air battle, involving 70 Syrian and 100 IDF supersonic jets, resulted in the loss of 29 Syrian planes. Despite these losses, Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] deployed his air force on a large scale to slow down the Israeli advance. Syria lost 35 more warplanes but gained valuable time.
On 10 June a Syrian armored division engaged an IDF armored brigade in the Rashaya area near the Lebanese-Syrian border, forcing the Israelis back several kilometers. The western IDF column reached the outskirts of Khalde, 3 mi./5 km from Beirut's international airport. Assad dashed to Moscow, which led to the activation of the hotline between the Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, and U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Washington pressed its special envoy, Philip Habib, to intensify his peacemaking efforts.
PHASE 3: On 11 June a cease-fire between Israel and Syria went into effect, ending the fight in the eastern and central sectors. The next day Habib brokered a truce between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.].
PHASE 4: Ignoring the cease-fire with the PLO, on 13 June the IDF expelled Lebanese President Elias Sarkis [q.v.] from his palace in Baabda, an easterly suburb of Beirut, and linked up with the militia of the Phalange Party [q.v.], thus besieging half a million Lebanese and Palestinians in the 3 sq. mi./8 sq. km of West Beirut. From 13 June to 12 July the Israeli defense minister, Gen. Ariel Sharon [q.v.], who was directing the invasion, tried to secure unconditional PLO surrender, first by heavy artillery salvos and then by staging air raids. This was coupled with the severing of water and electricity supplies as well as fuel and food.
Breaking the truce with the Syrians, the IDF attacked them on 22 June along the Beirut-Damascus highway east of Baabda, and removed them from the road for 9 mi./15 km, up to Sofar. By the time the next cease-fire came into effect on 26 June, the Israelis had seized the Dahr al-Baidar pass, east of Sofar, along the Beirut-Damascus road.
PHASE 5: A truce between the PLO and the IDF lasted from 12 July to 21 July, when the Palestinians attacked the IDF behind its lines. From 22 July to 29 July the IDF staged a more intense bombing of West Beirut, combining it with a bombardment of the entire Syrian front in the Beqaa Valley. After a brief cease-fire, lasting until 31 July, from 1 August to 12 August the IDF subjected West Beirut to a more intense bombardment from the air, land, and sea, with Sharon resorting to saturation bombing for 11½ hours, using phosphorus shells and concussion bombs. Water supplies were cut off to let the city burn. Sharon's action angered Washington, which pressured Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin [q.v.] to intervene. As a result, the 63-day siege of West Beirut ended, and peace returned on 13 August.
PHASE 6: On 19 August Israel accepted the evacuation plans of the PLO and Syria that had been brokered by Habib. Two days later contingents of about 1,000 men each from the United States, Britain, France, and Italy—constituting the Multi-National Force (MNF) [q.v.] for peacekeeping—were deployed to ensure the safe withdrawal of PLO and Syrian troops. The last of the 8,144 PLO commandos, 3,500 Syrian-controlled Palestine Liberation Army (PLA) [q.v.] troops, and 2,700 Syrian soldiers left West Beirut on 1 September 1982.
At their peak the IDF deployed 76,000 troops; PLO fighters and their Lebanese allies amounted to 18,000, and the Syrian units to 25,000.
HUMAN LOSSES: Lebanese and Palestinians: 15,700 dead, including 1,110 PLO fighters and 1,350 Syrian troops; Israel: 350 dead. By the time of the final Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, the number had risen to over 1,000.
WEAPON LOSSES: Syria, 92 aircraft, 42 tanks; PLO, 20 tanks; Israel, 2 aircraft, 2 tanks.
Israeli Labor Party. See Labor Party, Israeli.
Israeli-Palestine Liberation Organization Accord (1993): (Popularly known as the Oslo Accord I) Following secret talks in Norway between Israeli and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) officials (called at the behest of Terje Larsen, a Norwegian sociologist, and his wife, Mona Juul, a diplomat, and lasting nearly a year) the two sides initialed a deal in Oslo in late August 1993. On 10 September Israel formally recognized the PLO after its chairman, Yasser Arafat [q.v.], had addressed a letter to Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.] recognizing Israel's right to exist in peace and security. He also renounced violence and promised to ensure compliance of this by all PLO elements. The accord, called the Declaration of Principles (DOP), was signed on 13 September in Washington at the White House by Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.], the second-in-command of the PLO, and Shimon Peres [q.v.], the Israeli foreign minister, in the presence of Rabin, Arafat, and U.S. President Bill Clinton.
The accord provided for Palestinian self-rule for the Gaza Strip [q.v.] and the West Bank town of Jericho [q.v.]—with Israeli sovereignty over Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories [q.v.]—as an interim stage, with talks on permanent agreement to begin after two years. The timetable was as follows:
13 October: The accord to come into force. Joint Israel-PLO Liaison Committee formed to implement it.
By 13 December: The two sides to agree on a protocol for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
By 13 April 1994: Israel to complete military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Jericho. Israel to transfer powers to the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] nominated by the PLO.
By 13 July 1994: Elections to the Palestinian Council to be held, followed by the dissolution of Israel's military-run civil administration in the Occupied Territories, with its powers transferred to the Palestinian Authority.
By 13 December 1995: Israel and the Palestinians to start talks on permanent settlement, including the status of East Jerusalem [q.v.].
By 13 December 1999: Permanent settlement to take effect.
In practice, the implementation agreement was signed on 4 May 1994; and, as head of the Palestinian Authority, Arafat set up his headquarters in Gaza City on 1 July. The implementation agreement on extending the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority to the West Bank [q.v.] and the holding of elections to the Palestinian Council was signed in September 1995, with the implementation to be completed by early 1996, a few months before the extended deadline (May 1996) for negotiation on the final status of the Occupied Territories and the Jewish settlements built there.
These plans went awry when Rabin was assassinated in November 1995, and his successor, Peres, was defeated by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v. ] six months later in the prime-ministerial electoral contest. Short of unilaterally abrogating the Oslo Accord I, he crippled it severely. His defeat by his Labor rival Ehud Barak [q.v.] in May 1999 raised hopes. But the terms for the final settlement that Barak offered at the summit with Arafat and Clinton at Camp David in July 2000 did not satisfy Arafat. The talks were inconclusive. Nonetheless, the two sides found enough common ground to resume negotiations in Sharm El Shaikh, Egypt, in January 2001. These proved fruitful but were suspended because of the prime ministerial election on 6 February. Barak lost to Netanyahu at a time when the Palestinian Al Aqsa intifada [q.v.] was gathering momentum. With that the foundation on which the Oslo Accord I was built collapsed.
J
Jaafari, Ibrahim (1947–): Born Ibrahim Abdul Karim al-Eshaiker in a religious Shia [q.v.] family in the holy city of Karbala [q.v.], he joined the clandestine al-Daawa party [q.v.] as a medical student at Mosul University in 1968. When President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] cracked down on al-Daawa, he fled to Iran in 1980. In Tehran [q.v.], he collaborated with the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq [q.v.] after its formation in 1982.
In 1989 he moved to London where he became the spokesman of al-Daawa. He opposed the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in March 2003, but returned to Iraq after the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime. As leader of al-Daawa, he secured a seat on the U.S.-sponsored Iraqi Governing Council in July 2003. A year later he was nominated a vice president of Iraq's Interim government. In an opinion poll he ranked the third-most-popular leader—after Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani [q.v.] and Muqtada al-Sadr [q.v.].
Under his stewardship, al-Daawa joined the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) of major Shia parties in the January 2005 election. With the UIA emerging as the majority bloc in parliament, he became the prime minister in April. After the December 2005 general election held under the new constitution, the UIA again won a majority of seats. In his contest for the premiership, he beat his rival, Adel Abdul Mahdi, by one vote with the support of the Sadrist members, who decried the U.S. military presence in Iraq. U.S. President George W. Bush publicly opposed Jaafari's reelection as prime minister. To end the subsequent stalemate, Sistani persuaded him to step down. Nouri al-Maliki [q.v.] succeeded him first as the prime minister and then as the general secretary of al-Daawa.
In 2008, he left al-Daawa to establish his own party, National Reform Trend. It joined the Iraqi National Alliance, the predominantly Shia bloc, on the eve of the March 2010 general election. The Alliance secured 70 seats, with Jaafari as its nominal leader.
Jaafari Code: Shia Islamic legal school This Islamic legal code is named after Imam Jaafar al-Sadiq (699–765 A.D.), the sixth Imam of Twelver Shias [q.v.]. It is the predominant code in the Islamic Republic of Iran. See also Hadith [q.v.].
Jabotinsky, Vladimir Zeev (1880–1940): Revisionist Zionist leader Born into a middle-class family in Odessa, Russia, Jabotinsky studied law in Berne, Switzerland, and Rome. On his return home he worked as a journalist with an Odessa newspaper. During the 1903 pogroms he helped to organize local Jewish self-defense. Shocked by the pogroms, he joined the Zionist movement and attended the Sixth Zionist Congress [q.v.] in 1904. Two years later, as a delegate to the Congress of Russian Zionists [q.v.], he helped to draft its program.
The outbreak World War I found him working in Cairo [q.v.] as the correspondent of a Moscow-based newspaper. He met Joseph Trumpeldor [q.v.] in Alexandria [q.v.], and together they formed the Zion Mule Corps of young Jews [q.v.] who had been deported from Palestine [q.v.] by the Ottomans. They promoted the idea of establishing Jewish battalions to fight alongside the British to conquer Palestine. In 1917 London authorized the formation of the First Judean Regiment, popularly known as the Jewish Legion, and attached it to the British forces of General Edmund Allenby. As a lieutenant in the Legion, Jabotinsky engaged in combat in the Middle East, and was decorated.
After the war he settled in Jerusalem [q.v.]. For his role in the Arab-Jewish riots in 1920 he was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment, but was freed the next year as part of a general amnesty. He moved to London, and was elected to the executive committee of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) [q.v.]. He resigned this post in 1923, when the committee refused to endorse his proposal to pressure the British Mandate to build a Jewish homeland in Palestine with its resources.
He formed the World Union of Revisionist Zionists in 1925, which affiliated to the WZO. He also founded Betar (acronym of Berit Trumpeldor. Covenant with Trumpeldor), a youth organization. At the 1931 Zionist Congress the 52 Revisionist Zionist [q.v.] delegates were the third-largest group. Efforts to conciliate them with Labor Zionists failed.
In Palestine, the Revisionists' attempt to seize the leadership of the Zionist movement was frustrated by Labor Zionists, headed by David Ben-Gurion [q.v.]. Seceding from the WZO in 1935, the Revisionists established the New Zionist Organization (NZO), led by Jabotinsky He advocated giving primacy to private capital to develop Palestine, and was opposed to the Marxist concept of class struggle. He moved Palestine to edit the NZO's newspaper there. Fluent in several languages, he was an essayist, poet, novelist, playwright, and translator.
When he went abroad in 1936, the British refused to let him return to Palestine. By then the Irgun Zvai Leumi [q.v.], which had splintered from Haganah [q.v.] five years earlier, had volunteered to take orders from him. Later he became Iran's formal supreme commander, even though, barred from Palestine, he spent his time in Eastern Europe, Paris, London, and New York.
When World War II erupted in 1939 he declared that the NZO would support the war effort. Determined to form a Jewish army, he visited the United States for this purpose in mid-1940. He died there and was buried in New York City. His remains were exhumed and reburied in Israel in 1964.
Jacobite Christians: See Orthodox Christians, Syrian.
Jadid, Salah (1926–93): Syrian military leader and politician Born into a notable Alawi [q.v.] family in Duwair Baabda, a village near Jablah port, Jadid trained as an officer at the Homs Military Academy. He began his army career as a lieutenant. Politically active, he was at first a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party [q.v.], then the Arab Socialist Party [q.v.], and finally the Baath Socialist Party [q.v.]. Following the merger of Syria and Egypt into the United Arab Republic (UAR) [q.v.] in early 1958, he was transferred to Egypt.
Angered at President Gamal Abdul Nasser's [q.v.] decision to dissolve the Baath Party in Syria, he joined Hafiz Assad [q.v.] and two other Baathist officers to form, secretly, the Military Committee in 1959. It succeeded in taking Syria out of the UAR in September 1961. It also carried out a Baathist coup in Damascus [q.v.] on 8 March 1963. As a Military Committee leader, he started purging non-Baathist officers from the armed forces.
In October, promoted to major-general, he was named chief of staff. But a year later he lost his high office as a result of party infighting and was relegated to deputy secretary-general of the Baath regional command. But he fought back. The climax came in February 1966 when the military faction, led among others by Jadid, won an armed confrontation with its rival. Having gained a monopoly of authority, he packed the government and the party regional command with his supporters, while remaining simply deputy secretary-general of the party. He promoted Nur al-Din Attasi [q.v.] to secretary-general of the party and Assad to defense minister. He continued to lead a spartan existence and espouse leftist policies. Following an abortive military coup in September, he and Assad purged the officer corps.
The Syrian defeat in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], involving the loss of the Golan Heights [q.v.], was a strong blow to Jadid's regime. Among other things it created a rift between him and Assad, who advocated pragmatic policies. With Jadid maintaining a tight grip over the party machine, Assad increased his control over the armed forces. In February 1969 Assad tried to usurp his power, but compromised in order to avoid bloodshed. But matters came to a head in September 1970, when, contrary to Jadid's promise, Assad failed to provide military aid to the Palestinian commandos battling the Jordanian army.
When he convened an emergency National (i.e., pan-Arab) Congress of the Baath Party on 30 October 1970 in Damascus, the meeting place was surrounded by pro-Assad soldiers. Once the congress had ended in acrimony on 12 November, the opponents of Assad, including Jadid, were arrested. He was held in the Mezze fortress prison until his death.
Jaffa: Incorporated into Tel Aviv [q.v.] in 1949. See Tel Aviv-Jaffa.
Jbail: See Byblos.
Jeddah: Administrative capital of Saudi Arabia (Also spelled Jiddah) Population: 3.856 million (2010 est.). The reputed site of the tomb of Eve, Jeddah means female ancestor. Situated on a narrow coastal plain, it has been an important port on the Red Sea since the pre-Islamic era. After the rise of Islam [q.v.], Caliph Othman (r. 644–656 A.D.) designated it as the port for Muslims undertaking a hajj [q.v.] to Mecca [q.v.] by sea. This contributed to its prosperity. It also developed as a transit point for maritime trade between India and the Mediterranean region via Egypt. However, this settlement was to the south of present-day Jeddah.
When the Ottoman Turks conquered Egypt in 1517, Jeddah came under their authority. Sultan Muhammad IV (r. 1648–1687) made it the official port of Mecca, a position until then held by the older port to the south. The opening of the Suez Canal [q.v.] in 1869 ended the trans-shipping role of Jeddah, but boosted the hajj travel, which became the lifeline of the city.
During World War I, when the provincial governor Sharif Hussein bin Ali al-Hashem led the Arab revolt against the Ottomans in 1916, Jeddah's Ottoman garrison surrendered to the British. Sharif Hussein's rule ended with his defeat by Abdul Aziz al-Saud [q.v.] in 1924, and Jeddah passed to the victor. It was here in 1927 that Britain signed a treaty with Abdul Aziz al-Saud, recognizing him as King of Hijaz and Najd [q.v.] and its Dependencies. As a Wahhabi [q.v.], King Abdul Aziz regarded the tomb of Eve as an idolatrous shrine and destroyed it in 1928.
For the next two decades Jeddah remained a walled settlement. Then, rid of its walls and funded by the fast-rising oil revenue of Saudi Arabia, it expanded rapidly. It acquired new apartment blocks, hotels, banks, private and public offices, a university, and such industries as cement, food processing, oil refining, and pottery. A new dock complex, named after King Faisal [q.v.], opened in 1973 to serve the growing commercial and pilgrimage traffic. In 1980 came the King Abdul Aziz international airport, occupying an area of 40 sq. mi./104 sq. km. Both these facilities are needed to serve the more than one million foreign Muslims who undertake the hajj annually. Until 1982, Jeddah was the kingdom's diplomatic capital.
It is the most cosmopolitan Saudi city, its residents coming not only from other parts of the Arab world but also Asia, Africa, and Europe. It is the headquarters of the Islamic Conference Organization [q.v.], renamed Islamic Cooperation Organization [q.v.] in 2011, and the World Muslim League [q.v.].
Jericho: West Bank town Population: 20,700 (2011 est.). Jericho is one of the oldest settlements in the world; its history dates back to ca 9000 B.C. A millennium or so later its few thousand inhabitants built a stone wall around the village. There were intermittent breaks in Jericho's history until 2300 B.C., when it was settled by Amorites, who were followed by Canaanites in ca 1900 B.C. Its capture by Joshua, successor to Moses, around 1220 B.C. heralded the entry of Hebrews into Canaan, the Promised Land, and its fall to Babylon in 586 B.C. marked the end of the Kingdom of Judah.
During the reign of King Herod the Great (37–4 B.C.), the settlement was moved about a mile southward. The king built a palace there. In 68 A.D. the Romans destroyed the town. The Crusaders rebuilt it on a site about a mile east of the Old Testament [q.v.] settlement. A center of balsam groves, it became known as the City of Palms.
Jericho was part of the Palestine [q.v.] under the British Mandate. After the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.] it was incorporated into Jordan. When two camps for the Arab refugees from Palestine were opened nearby, it became a vibrant town. In the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] it fell to the Israelis and became depopulated. It was the only West Bank [q.v.] town to be included in the Oslo Accord I [q.v.] of September 1993 for transfer to the Palestinian Authority [q.v.], along with the Gaza Strip [q.v.] in the first round. In 1998 it became the site of a casino, which proved popular with Israelis, who are not allowed to gamble inside Israel. The casino closed down during the Al Aqsa Second Intifada [q.v.].
Jerusalem: Israeli/Palestinian city; self-declared capital of Israel Area: East Jerusalem [q.v.] 2.5 sq. mi./6.5 sq. km in 1948, 28.5 sq. mi./73.7 sq. km in 1967; West Jerusalem [q.v.] 13 sq. mi./34 sq. km in 1948, 20 sq. mi./54 sq. km in 1993; East Jerusalem population: 456,900 (2011 est.); West Jerusalem population: 403,800 (2011 est.); total population: 860,700 (2011 est.). Jerusalem is derivative of Yerushalayim (Hebrew: Founded by [god] Shalem).
Mentioned as Salem in the Old Testament [q.v.] (Genesis 14:18), Jerusalem is a settlement with a recorded history dating back to ca 1900 B.C., when it was the capital of a Canaanite city state and the site where Abraham was greeted by King Melchizedek. Though its ruler was defeated by the Hebrews under Joshua, the successor to Moses, around ca 1220 B.C., it maintained its independence until its capture by David (r. 1010–970 B.C.) in ca 1010 B.C. He made it the capital of united Israel and also—by transferring the Ark of the Covenant from Hebron [q.v.]—the religious center of his kingdom. He built the fortress of Zion, and his successor, King Solomon (970–930 B.C.), the First Temple in 952 B.C.
After the division of Israel, which followed Solomon, Jerusalem became the capital of the southern Kingdom of Judah until it was overrun by the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar (r. 605–562 B.C.) in 586 B.C., when most of the population was expelled and the First Temple razed. Under the succeeding Persian rule, Jewish sectarianism hardened. Allowed to return to Jerusalem in 538 B.C., the Jews [q.v.] started to construct the Second Temple, finishing it in 515 B.C. The Persians in Palestine [q.v.] were overpowered by Alexander of Macedonia (r. 336–323 B.C.) in 333 B.C., and the succeeding Greek rulers tried to found a parallel city on Jerusalem's western edge.
The banning of Judaism [q.v.] in 168 B.C. by Antiochus IV (r. 175–163 B.C.) led to a Jewish revolt, headed by Judas Maccabeus. It was successful and resulted in the restoration of the Second Temple in 163 B.C. and the revival of the Jewish rule in Jerusalem under Jonathan in 152 B.C. The city became the capital of Judaea.
In 63 B.C. the Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem, which fell in 40 B.C. to the Parthians, who were in turn overpowered by Roman King Herod the Great (r. 37–4 B.C.) three years later. In 20 B.C. Herod started reconstructing the Second Temple on a large scale, building a surrounding esplanade, part of whose outer wall, built partly with stones from Solomon's First Temple, came to be known as the Western Wall [q.v.]. After Herod the city was governed by Roman procurators, called Pontius. Under one of them, Pilate, Jesus of Nazareth [q.v.], born a Jew, was crucified at nearby Calvary in ca 29 A.D.
The repressive Roman administration led to another revolt by the Jews in 66 A.D. and its siege by Roman Emperor Titus (r. 40–81 A.D.). When it fell to Titus in 70 A.D., he razed the Second Temple. Roman Emperor Hadrian (r. 117–138 A.D.) seized and destroyed Jerusalem in 132 A.D. He then reconstructed it as a Roman colony, named Aelia Capitalina (Latin: Capital of Memory), and banned Jews.
With the conversion of Roman Emperor Constantine I (r. 306–337 A.D.) to Christianity [q.v.] in 313 A.D., Jerusalem underwent a revival. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, begun in 325 A.D., on the site of Jesus Christ's crucifixion at Calvary, was completed 10 years later, and Jerusalem became a holy Christian city. In 614 A.D. it was seized by the Persians, who were overpowered by Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (r. 610641 A.D.) in 628 A.D. The Byzantines were defeated by Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] led by Caliph Omar (r. 634–644 A.D.) in 637 A.D.
Jerusalem had been mentioned in the Quran [q.v.] (17:1): "Celebrated be the praises of Him who by night took His servant from the Masjid al-Haram [the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, q.v.] to the Masjid al-Aqsa [the Remote Mosque in Jerusalem] the precinct of which we have blessed." At the site of the Sacred Rock, where the Prophet Muhammad had purportedly been carried on a winged animal on the night of his ascent to heaven, a mosque was built by Abdul Malik bin Marwan (r. 684–705 A.D.), an Umayyad ruler, in 691 A.D. and called the Dome of the Rock [q.v.]. Under the Muslim rulers Jews were allowed to return, and Christians were given freedom of worship.
In 969 A.D. the city fell into the hands of the Fatimid ruler al-Muizz (r. 955–978 A.D.), and the church of the Holy Sepulchre was burnt down. The persecution of Christians continued and resulted in the First Crusade (1095–1099). The Crusaders, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, captured Jerusalem and carried out a massacre of Muslims and Jews. The city became the capital of the Latin Kingdom until its fall to the Muslim general Salah al-Din (Saladin) Ayubi in 1187.
With brief interruptions, Jerusalem remained under Muslim control until 1917. Sacked by the Mongols in 1244, it came under Ottoman rule in 1517. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520–1566) rebuilt the city walls in 1541. By the late 18th-early 19th century, Jerusalem, confined to the Old City and measuring 0.4 sq. mi./1 sq. km, had fewer than 10,000 residents, a quarter of them Jewish. The Old City contained the Western Wall (sacred to Jews), the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (sacred to Christians), and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque (sacred to Muslims). Once new buildings had been constructed outside the walled Old City, from 1855 onward, Jerusalem's population increased, reaching 68,000 in 1910. It was captured by British forces in December 1917.
During the British Mandate (1922–48), Jerusalem was the capital of Palestine. Tension between local Arabs and new Jewish immigrants led to riots in 1920, 1929, and 1936. After World War II the city's population was 165,000, three-fifths of whom were Jewish. The UN partition plan of November 1947 specified an independent Jerusalem under UN administration.
After the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.] the city was divided into two parts: the Israeli sector included the west and south of the New City and was known as West Jerusalem [q.v.]; the Jordanian sector comprised the east and north of the New City and all of the Old City, and was known as East Jerusalem [q.v.]. In January 1950 Israel declared (West) Jerusalem its capital, but this was not recognized by foreign governments, which continued to maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv [q.v.].
During the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] the Israelis seized East Jerusalem from Jordan. They then attached 25 sq. mi./65 sq. km of the West Bank territory to it, and extended Israeli laws to Greater East Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Law of 1980 extended Israeli sovereignty over the entire city. UN Security Council Resolution 476 of 30 June 1980 reaffirmed its earlier resolutions on the Holy City of Jerusalem—252 (1968), 267 (1969), 271 (1969), 298 (1971), and 465 (1980)—and reconfirmed that all measures taken by Israel (as the occupying power) that altered the character and status of the Holy City were legally invalid and violated the last of the four Geneva Conventions on War [q.v.]. With the exception of Costa Rica and El Salvador, all the countries with diplomatic relations with Israel maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv.
Since 1972 the number of the Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem has shot up from 10,600 to 192,800 in 2011.
Jewish Agency: a Jewish organization for the ingathering of Jews in Israel Full title: The Jewish Agency for Palestine [q.v.]/Land of Israel. The 1922 British Mandate for Palestine provided for the recognition of "an appropriate Jewish agency" for "advising and cooperating with the administration of Palestine in such economic, social and other matters as may affect the establishment of the Jewish national home and the interests of the Jewish population in Palestine," and that "the Zionist Organization [q.v.] ... shall be recognized as such agency."
The Zionist Organization appointed a Zionist executive committee in Palestine, with its own chairman and based in Jerusalem [q.v.]. Its functions were to act as the political representative of the Jews [q.v.] in Palestine, and to encourage and finance the ingathering of diaspora [q.v.] Jews in Palestine. The Sixteenth Zionist Congress [q.v.] in 1929 formally created the Jewish Agency in Palestine "for discharging the functions of the Jewish agency as set forth in the Mandate" on the basis of parity between Zionists [q.v.] and non-Zionists (i.e., those who backed the idea of a Jewish national home without subscribing to political Zionism). Both the Zionist and the Jewish Agency executive committees shared the same chairman. The Jewish Agency negotiated with Britain and represented Jewish interests at the League of Nations.
In May 1942 David Ben-Gurion [q.v.]—chairman of both the Jewish Agency Executive Committee and the Zionist Organization Executive Committee in Palestine—convened an American Zionist Congress at the Biltmore Hotel, New York City. It coupled its call for unrestricted Jewish immigration to Palestine with a demand that "Palestine be established as a Jewish Commonwealth integrated into the structure of the new democratic world." This led to the steady departure of non-Zionists from the Agency Executive, accelerated in December 1946 by the endorsing of the Biltmore Hotel resolution by the 22nd Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland. This turned the agency into a purely Zionist organization by early 1947. It lobbied strongly at the newly formed United Nations, which finally offered a partition plan for Palestine in November 1947.
By May 1948, when Israel was established, the Agency had transferred all its executive powers to the people's administrative committee of the National Council of the Yishuv [q.v.] assembly while retaining the functions of Jewish immigration and settlement in Israel. Its functions as an international non-governmental body, coordinating all Jewish overseas endeavors in Israel, were formalized by Israel's Law of Status (1951), which codified statutory and conventional links between the Jewish Agency and Israel. The law states: "The [World] Zionist Organization, which is also the Jewish Agency for Palestine, deals as hitherto with immigration and directs the projects of absorption and settlement in the state."
A major reorganization in 1971 put the Jewish Agency in Israel in charge of practical work in Israel, leaving the World Zionist Organization [q.v.] to concentrate on the diaspora [q.v.]. Its Assembly decides the basic policy, with the board of governors doing so between the Assembly sessions, and the executive committee conducting day-to-day affairs.
The Jewish Agency is the overall collector of contributions to the Zionist cause throughout the world, with the Keren Hayesod (Hebrew: Foundation Fund) being one its three constituent bodies, the others being the World Zionist Organization and the United Israel Appeal in America. The Keren Hayesod operates in 46 countries, often using local names. In 2007 its budget was $177 million.
Jewish Bible: See Old Testament.
Jewish calendar: The Jewish dating system is a compendium of lunar and solar cycles. The Jewish calendar consists of a lunar cycle of 19 years. There is also a solar cycle of 28 years, at the beginning of which the tekufah of Nisan (month)—the spring equinox— returns to the same day and the same hour. In the Jewish calendar, a day is counted from sunset to sunrise; a week consists of seven days; a month contains 29 days, 12 hours, and 793 portions (1080 portions equaling one hour); and a year has 12 lunar months (totaling 353 to 355 days) and about 11 days. In order to bring the calendar into line with the annual solar cycle, a 13 th month of 30 days is intercalated in the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years of a 19-year cycle. A leap year may therefore have 383, 384, or 385 days, and is called defective, regular, or abundant. The same terms apply to a regular year with 353, 354, and 355 days.
The names of the months, arranged according to religious usage, are: Nisan (30 days, March–April of the Christian Gregorian calendar [q.v.]), Iyar (29, April–May), Sivan (30, May–June), Tammuz (29, June–July), Av (30, July–August), Elul (29, August–September), Tishri (30, September–October), Heshvan/Marheshvan (29/30, October–November), Kislev (29/30, November–December), Tevet (29, December–January), Shevat (30, January–February), and Adar (29/30, February–March). The 13th month of the leap year, Adar Sheni/Ve-Adar (29), is intercalated before Adar and so contains the religious observances normally occurring in Adar. The calendar begins with Tishri, its first day heralding Rosh HaShana (Hebrew: The New Year) [q.v.], which falls between 6 September and 4 October.
Formalized by Hillel II in 358 A.D., it originates in 3761 B.C., the date traditionally given for the Creation in the Old Testament [q.v.]. The Jewish year is denoted by A.M. [q.v.]. The 301st lunar cycle started in 5701 A. M.(1940–41 A.D.).
To convert a Jewish year into Christian [q.v.], deduct 3760 from it.
Jewish festivals: Jewish festivals are divided into major and minor. The four major festivals—when work is prohibited and all males are required to attend religious observances at a synagogue [q.v.]—are: Pesah/Passover [q.v.] (15–22 Nisan), commemorating the Israelites' servitude in Egypt and the subsequent exodus; Shabout (Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost [q.v. ]), the anniversary of the revelation of the Torah [q.v.] at Mount Sinai, celebrated on 6–7 Sivan; the Days of Penitence/ Judgement, beginning with Rosh Hashana [q.v.] on 1–2 Tishri and ending with Yom Kippur [q.v.] on 10 Tishri; and Sukkot/Tabernacles/ Booths, 15–21 Tishri, commemorating the Israelites' wanderings after the exodus. Minor holidays, when work is not prohibited, are: Simhath Torah (Rejoicing over the Law) on 23 Tishri; Hannukah [q.v.] from 25 Kislev to 2/3 Tebet; and Purim (Feast of Lots) on 14 Adar.
Jewish/Judaistic fundamentalism: Fundamentalism is the term used for the effort to define the fundamentals of a religion and adhere to them. In the case of Judaism, these fundamentals are contained in the Halacha [q.v.] (Jewish Law). The expunging of current Jewish precepts and practices of secular influences is a primary goal of Jewish fundamentalists. Related to fundamentalism is Judaistic revival or resurgence, renewed interest in Judaism [q.v.], or the teshuva (return) movement—a return to full observance of the Halacha, i.e., all 613 religious prohibitions and obligations that regulate Jewish life, from trivial daily bodily functions to the organization of life in society—and the separation of Jews [q.v.] and gentiles. Whether the Jewish state of Israel is fundamentalist or not can be judged by a single criterion: is its legislation derived solely from the Halacha? The answer is no.
There is also the belief held by ultra-Orthodox Jews that Israel as a "peoplehood" would be redeemed only by a messiah, from which stems their opposition to Zionism [q.v.], which is seen as a Jewish version of secular nationalism. Later a synthesis of "the divine concept" and "national sentiment"—offered by Abraham Yitzhak Kook (d. 1935), the first Ashkenazi [q.v.] chief rabbi of Palestine [q.v.]— gave rise to religious Zionism. After the founding of Israel in 1948, his son, Zvi Yehuda Kook (d. 1982), argued that the Zionists, despite their lack of religiosity, were the inadvertent bearers of a messianic redemption, and that the State of Israel was an unconscious instrument of the divine will. He attributed Israel's spectacular victory in June 1967 to divine intervention, and his followers called 1967 the Year One of the Era of Redemption.
In early 1974 they established the Gush Emunim [q.v. ]. It was one of the several manifestations of a rising teshuva movement in Israel in the mid-1970s, the others being the opening of the great Talmudic colleges in Jerusalem [q.v.] for penitents, and the coming to power of a religious-conservative coalition led by Likud [q.v.] in 1977. With Prime Minister Menachem Begin [q.v.] officially backing Jewish settlements in the West Bank [q.v.], the Gush made an advance in its program of re-Judaization from above. However, it opposed Begin's peace talks with Egypt and looked for ways of sabotaging the peace process. The foiling of a conspiracy involving Gush extremists in a plan to blow up the Muslim holy shrines on the Temple Mount [q.v.] in 1984 was a setback to the fundamentalist cause. Its proponents then returned to fundamentalism from below, which has been the program of several religious parties.
In the 11 general elections between 1949 and 1984 the fundamentalists won 12–15 percent of the votes—with two-thirds going to religious Zionists organized as the National Religious Party (NRP) [q.v.], and only one-third to the non-Zionists of Agudat Israel [q.v.]. But in the 1988 election, out of the total of 15 percent religious votes, the NRP secured only a quarter, with the ultra-Orthodox votes—con-sisting of Shas [q.v.] and United Torah Judaism [q.v.]—rising to three-quarters. In 1999, with Shas gaining 13 percent of the vote, the total for the religious parties rose to 21 percent.
Without specifically recognizing the legitimacy of the Zionist state of Israel, the non-Zionist religious parties have often delivered their supporters' votes in exchange for substantial government handouts, including enlarged subsidies for religious educational institutions. They have pursued a strategy of forcing the secular Israeli government to institute creeping Judaization, affecting all Jews in Israel. For instance, they made it accept their definition of Jewish identity "in accordance with the Halacha" when determining the credentials of Jewish converts coming from abroad.
Jewish National Fund: fund for the purchase and development of land in Palestine/Israel Official title: Keren Kayemet Lelsrael (Hebrew: Perpetual Fund for Israel). The Fifth Zionist Congress in 1901 set up a land and development section, which established the Keren Kayemet LeIsrael, popularly known as the Jewish National Fund (JNF), to buy land in Palestine [q.v.] for the settlement of Jews there. The JNF, an organ of the World Zionist Organization [q.v.], adopted the following principles: the purchase of land with communal contributions for communal ownership; plots to be available only for lease to Jews; land use to be supervised; and speculation to be prevented.
Starting modestly in 1905, the JNF resorted to large-scale land purchases from local Arabs [q.v.] from 1921 onwards. It leased land for 49 years on the condition that lessees would forfeit their right to the land if they failed to work it or did so with the help of hired labor. By the time Israel was established in May 1948 the JNF, now operating from Jerusalem [q.v.], had acquired nearly a quarter of a million acres. In 1949–50 the Israeli government handed over to it a further 600,000 acres belonging to the Arabs who had fled.
The JNF was turned into an Israeli-registered company in 1953. It collects funds in about 70 countries. In 1960 the JNF, owning 13 percent of all land, signed a treaty with the Israeli government to place all its land holdings under the authority of the Israel Lands Administration, which operates through the Israel Lands Council. JNF lands can only be leased, never sold. It is estimated that nearly four-fifths of the Israeli population lives on the land owned by the JNF.
Jewish nationalism: Jewish nationalism is the concept that Jews [q.v.] form a nation that is entitled to develop its own distinctive identity. The Jewish commonwealth, established in ancient Israel under King David (r. 1010–970 B.C.), underwent divisions, decimation, and revival before its final destruction by the Romans in 70 A.D. Spread throughout the rest of the Roman Empire, Jews continued to believe in their nationhood.
Over the centuries anti-Jewish persecution pushed European Jews toward the less hospitable northeastern and central-northern parts of the continent. Here the idea of nationhood acquired a spiritual dimension at the expense of the political, and gave rise to a belief that a messiah would restore sovereignty to Jews in their historical land.
Barred from agriculture, most Jews took to commerce and finance. The feeling of being stifled in ghettoes became stronger as Jews became increasingly familiar with liberal ideas following the 1789 French Revolution. Gradually they began to abandon the religious traditions of their antecedents. But their assimilative tendency, encouraged by their emancipation in the late 19th century, was checked by the emergence and popularity of pseudoscientific theories proving the racial inferiority of Jews. The result was the rise of Jewish nationalism which, on the eve of World War I, fell into three categories: diaspora [q.v.] nationalism, Zionism [q.v. ], and Territorialism.
Arguing that Jews could develop their own special identity and culture as a minority regardless of where they lived, diaspora nationalists advocated that they should strive for cultural autonomy within their countries of domicile. Zionists emphasized the need for a Jewish homeland for Jews who were unwilling or unable to live elsewhere, which would also be a cultural-spiritual center for international Jewry. For historical reasons they focused on Palestine [q.v.] as the Jewish homeland. The Territorialists, while subscribing to the concept of the Jewish homeland, were prepared to explore such alternatives to Palestine as Argentina, Angola, Australia, and Iraq. They were overtaken by the Zionists because of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 [q.v.].
Jews: See Judaism and Jews.
Jews in Arab Middle East: In 1945 there were 870,000 Jews [q.v.] in the Arab Middle East [q.v.]. After the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.], their number fell to 70,000, with 600,000 migrating to Israel and the rest to other countries.
BAHRAIN: In the 1880s some Iraqi Jews began settling in Bahrain. At the time of the founding of Israel in 1948, they numbered nearly 600. As a result of rioting against the Jews during the 1948–49 Palestine War, the community shrank. Further depletion came in the wake of the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.]. Forty years later, there were only 36 Jews left, but they maintained their synagogue and cemetery. In 2008, a Jewish woman, Huda Ezra Ebrahim Noona, then a member of the nominated Consultative (Shura) Council, was appointed Bahrain's ambassador to the United States.
EGYPT: The recorded history of the Jewish community in Egypt dates back to 494 B.C. and the reign of Darius I (r. 521–486 B.C.). At the turn of the 20th century there were about 40,000 Jews, mostly Sephardic [q.v.], and concentrated in Cairo [q.v.]. After World War II their number rose to 70,000, with Cairo and Alexandria [q.v.] their main centers of settlement.
Jewish intellectuals were active in the leftist Mouvement Egyptien de Liberation National and the Iskra group, led respectively by Henri Curiel and Hillel Schwartz, both Jews.
After the Palestine War (1948–49) most of the Jews left, with only 5,000 remaining. Still more departed after the arrest in 1954 of a group of 13 Jews who were found to be working for Israeli defense minister Pinchas Lavon to destabilize the Egyptian regime and ruin its relations with the West by planting bombs in cinemas, post offices, and railway stations, as well as U.S. consulates and information centers. The 1956 census showed just 450 Jews. The total rose to 1,631 in the 1976 census.
With the establishment of an Israeli Embassy in Cairo in 1979, the local Jews were free to travel to Israel. The synagogues [q.v.] in Cairo and Alexandria functioned normally. The government actively discouraged antiSemitism [q.v.]. In 2007, the Shaar HaShamayim synagogue in Cairo celebrated its century-old existence.
In March 2010, the Egyptian Antiquities Authority completed the restoration of the Rav Moshe Synagogue and its attached yeshiva, which was once the private study of Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon, known as Mai-monides, (aka Mousa bin Maimon bin Abdullah al-Qurtubi al-Israeli), the 12th-century physician and philosopher regarded as one of the most important rabbinic scholars in Jewish history. The culture ministry reaffirmed its commitment to restore all 10 synagogues in Cairo and one in Alexandria.
During the January-February 2011 civil uprising in Cairo, though the synagogues were left unguarded by security forces, they were untouched by protestors or others.
IRAQ: Iraq under the British Mandate had a substantial community of Jews, many of whom could trace their ancestry to ancient times. After the passage of a law in 1931 that gave the community autonomy in its internal affairs, a network of Jewish schools, hospitals, and charitable institutions grew, mostly in Baghdad [q.v.]. On the eve of the Palestine War in 1948, there were an estimated 150,000 Jews in Iraq. After this conflict, most of them departed, mainly for Israel. A second exodus occurred after the Suez War [q.v.] of 1956. Unofficial estimates on the eve of the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.] put the number of Jews in Iraq at 2,500, chiefly in Baghdad. By the time of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in 2003, the figure had fallen to 60. Due to the violence and chaos that followed, encouraging kidnappings and murders, the remaining Jews often confined themselves to their homes. Their number in Baghdad fell below 10.
JORDAN: Article 25 of the League of Nations Mandate for Britain, which went into force in September 1922, exempted Jordan (then Transjordan) from the application of the Balfour Declaration [q.v.]. Jews were barred from acquiring land or settling in the country. During the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli war, some 2,000 Jews living in the Old City of East Jerusalem [q.v.] surrendered to the Jordanian army and were later transferred to Israel. After the Jordanian-Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] in 1994, the Jews from Israel started visiting Jordan as tourists.
LEBANON: A region under the Ottomans that proved popular with minority Islamic sects, Lebanon also attracted Jews. In the late 19th century they formed a small, thriving community in Beirut [q.v.]. The 1932 census showed Jews to be about 15,000 strong. The National Pact [q.v.] of 1943 included Jews in a grouping of non-Muslim minorities along with Bahais [q.v.] and Protestant Christians [q.v.], and allotted the community one parliamentary seat.
After the Palestine War (1948–49) many Jews left, and more did so after the Suez War. In 1968 there were some 7,000 Jews in the country. The community was down to 3,000 on the eve of the civil war in 1975. The long conflict and the prevailing chaotic conditions, involving abductions and hostage-taking, made life for Jews difficult. During Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 [q.v.], its shelling of Beirut damaged the largest Maghen Abraham synagogue, built in 1926, leading to its abandonment for almost three decades.
By the early 1990s unofficial estimates put the Jewish population at 500 to 700. It dwindled to about 150 in 2010. Yet the tradition of having a Jewish Community president continues. Issac Arazi has been the president since 2005. Under his leadership, the Maghen Abraham synagogue was renovated in 2011 with the funds supplied by Lebanese Jews living abroad.
SYRIA: The small, long-established Jewish communities in Damascus [q.v.], Aleppo [q.v.], and Latakia [q.v.] together totaled 25,000 on the eve of the Palestine War (1948–49). A majority of them departed after this conflict, and more did so after the Suez War. In the mid-1960s the Jewish total declined to some 5,000. By 1994 it fell to 1,250. In 2009 there were approximately 200 Jews left, most of them in Damascus, which had two synagogues.
Following his meeting with Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, in December 2010, Syrian President Bashar Assad [q.v.] reiterated his commitment to renovate all the 11 synagogues in the country. Early the next year the restoration of the Al Raqi Synagogue in the old Jewish quarter of the capital was completed.
YEMEN: North Yemen had a substantial community of Jews, mostly settled in Sanaa [q.v.] and the northern town of Saada. Many of them could trace their ancestry to ancient times. A unique feature of Yemenite Jews is that they read the Torah [q.v.] in Hebrew [q.v.] as well as in Aramaic [q.v.]. Following the 1948–49 Palestine War, 42,000 Jews migrated to Israel. Less than 6,000 remained, and many of them left after the Suez War [q.v.]. In the early 1990s unofficial estimates put their number at 2,000 to 2,500. In South Yemen some 7,000 Jews departed from the Aden Protectorate during and after the 1948–49 Palestine War. In 2000, there were about 400 Jews in united Yemen, most of them in Sanaa [q.v.].
After the killing of a Jew and the firebombing of a Jewish home in the capital in December 2008, President Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.] ordered extra security for the Jews and offered free housing to some. Despite this, 60 Jews migrated to the United States. During the initial period of the prodemocracy demonstrations in 2011, Saleh provided protection to most of the remaining 250 Jews at an official compound in Sanaa. They in turn joined pro-Saleh demonstrations.
Jews in Iran: Jews in Iran have a history dating back to antiquity. That was also the case with the Jews who traced their Iranian heritage to the exile from Babylon in the late 6th century B.C. In the Book of Ezra, the Persian emperors—Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes—are mentioned as the ones who allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and reconstruct their Temple (Ezra 6:14). Among the prominent Jewish monuments in Iran are the shrines of Esther and her cousin Mordecai, and Habakkuk in Hamadan, as well as the mausoleum of Daniel in Susa. Regarded as one of the prophets of monotheism—starting with Adam and ending with Muhammad—Daniel is revered by Muslims, thousands of whom make the pilgrimage to his tomb.
In latter-day Iran, Jews settled in Shiraz [q.v.], Isfahan [q.v.], and Tehran [q.v.], the capitals of the country at different times. In the mid-20th century there were 150,000 Jews in the country. Due to the emigration to Israel and North America, their size declined to about 80,000 in the late 1970s. Within a few months of the Islamic Revolution [q.v.] in 1979, that number shrank to about 20,000 even though, on his return to Tehran from a long exile, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.] issued a fatwa (religious decree) saying that the Jews must be protected.
During the reign of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (r. 1941–79) [q.v.], Jews—along with other non-Muslim recognized minorities—voted as a distinct group in parliamentary elections. This practice continued after the 1979 revolution.
The community elected one member to the Assembly of Experts (1979) [q.v.]—convened to draft an Islamic constitution, which recognized Jews as the People of the [Holy] Book—and entitled them to elect one deputy to the Majlis [q.v.]. In 1999, there were an estimated 35,000 Jews with 56 synagogues. The trial of 13 Jews and nine Muslims [q.v.] in Shiraz on spying charges drew international attention. All but three Jews and two Muslims were found guilty, with the Jews sentenced to 4 to 13 years in jail. On appeal, their sentence was reduced by two to four years. However, those still in prison in 2002 were released.
In 2003 President Muhammad Khatami [q.v.] became the first Iranian president to meet Chief Rabbi Yousef Hamadan Cohen and the Jewish parliamentarian Morris Motamed at a synagogue in Tehran. In an open letter to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [q.v.] in 2007, the Jewish community's official leader, Haroun Yashayaei, protested the Iranian president's denial of the Holocaust.
In 2011, there were 25,000 Jews and 25 synagogues, with 18 in Tehran, many of them teaching Hebrew [q.v.] The Jewish community has its own newspaper, Ofogh-e Bina, (Hebrew: Horizon of Knowledge) and its own charity hospital. The Central Library of Jewish Association has 20,000 volumes.
Jibril, Ahmad (1937–): Palestinian leader Born of a Palestinian father and a Syrian mother in Yazour, a village near Jaffa [q .v.], Jibril and his family fled to Syria during the Palestine War (1948–49) [q .v.]. After finishing his education he joined the Syrian army and rose to be captain.
In the early 1960s he quit the army to participate in Palestinian politics, founding the Palestine Liberation Front. It was one of the constituents of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) [q.v.], formed some months after the Arab defeat in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.]. Soon after the first clandestine PFLP congress in August 1968, Jibril and his supporters split to form the PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC) [q.v.], which joined the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.].
His small, tightly controlled faction carried out several operations against Israel and Israeli targets, including planting a bomb aboard a Swissair flight from Zurich to Tel Aviv [q.v.] in February 1970, which exploded and killed 47 passengers and crew. Four years later, in a failed attempt to exchange their Israeli hostages, taken in northern Israel, for 100 Palestinian prisoners, three members of Jibril's party and 18 Israelis were killed.
Following the expulsion of the PLO from Beirut in 1982, he made Damascus [q.v.] the base of his group. He joined an anti-Yasser Arafat [q.v.] rebellion masterminded by Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.]. In May 1985 Israel released 1,150 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for three Israeli soldiers that the PFLP-GC had captured during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon [q.v.]. In late November 1987 a hang glider raid from southern Lebanon by three PFLP-GC activists on an Israeli military outpost, which resulted in six Israeli deaths, proved pivotal in sparking the Palestinian intifada [q.v.] on 9 December.
Though Jibril's faction was secular, socialist, and nationalist, in the late 1980s he started to form links with Iran and traveled to Tehran [q.v.]. His party propaganda began referring to the "Arab and Islamic people" and the "Arab and Islamic region." Despite threatening statements before and during the 1990–91 Kuwait crisis following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, his faction did not carry out any terrorist acts. He rejected the Israeli-PLO Accord [q.v.] of September 1993, primarily because the PLO failed to obtain Israeli agreement on the Palestinians' right to self-determination and the Palestinian refugees' right to return home. His continued opposition to the peace process led to a split in his party in 1999, with its radical elements opting for either Hamas [q.v.] or the better established secular PFLP. The support for Jibril declined sharply.
During the Israel-Hizbollah War in 2006 [q.v.], PFLP-GC activists assisted the Hizbollah [q.v.] in the fight.
jihad: (Arabic: effort) Full title: jihad fi sabil Allah (Arabic: striving in the way of God) Literally, jihad means effort or struggle, which is waged in various forms—such as internal and exter-nal—and degrees, war being the most extreme. In its internal form, jihad is the inner struggle of moral discipline and commitment to Islam [q.v.] by a Muslim [q.v.]. However, it is jihad's external form that has engaged the attention of most chroniclers.
Historically the term "jihad" has been used to describe an armed struggle against unbelievers by Muslims in their mission to advance Islam or counter danger to it. Among the several verses in the Quran [q.v.] that enjoin religious war to be waged by believers is (9:5): "Then, when the sacred months are away,/slay the idolaters wherever you find them,/and take them, and confine them, and lie in wait/for them at every place of ambush. But if they/repent, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms, then/let them go their way."
According to the sunna [q.v.], jihad is to be launched only after unbelievers have turned down the offer to embrace Islam [q.v.] or become dhimmis [q.v.]. When a Muslim community is ruled by non-Muslims, a jihad can be justified only if Islam is suppressed. Kharijis [q.v.] and Ibadhis [q.v.] regard jihad as the sixth pillar of Islam [q.v.]. Later, Sufi [q.v.] thinkers distinguished between the "greater jihad," a struggle against one's base instincts, and the "lesser jihad," a struggle against unbelievers.
Nowadays those who wage jihad's external form are called jihadis or ji-hadists.
al-Jihad al-Islami (Egypt): Egyptian Islamic organization The Egyptian authorities discovered the existence of al-Jihad al-Islami, often called Al Jihad (AJ), in 1978 during Muslim-Copt [q.v.] riots. Its leadership council included Ismail Tantawi; Shaikh Omar Abdul Rahman [q.v.]; Muhammad Abdul Salam Faraj, an Islamist ideologue; Abbud Abdul Latif Zumur, a colonel in military intelligence who ran the group's operational wing; and Ayman Zawahiri [q.v.], a young surgeon. In his books, Al-Jihad: the Forgotten Pillar and The Absent Obligation, Faraj argued that a true Muslim is obliged to struggle for the revival of the Islamic umma [q.v.] and those Muslim groups or leaders who have turned away from the Sharia [q.v.] are apostates. Those who want to revive the Islamic umma [q.v.] are obliged to wage a jihad [q.v.] against the infidel state, the only acceptable form of jihad being the armed struggle. A true Muslim must first confront the internal infidel (i.e., the Egyptian state) and then the external infidel (i.e., the non-Muslim world at large).
In early 1979 over 100 AJ members were charged with forming an antigovernment party. The next year Abdul Rahman issued a religious verdict that declared Egyptian President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] an infidel, thus making him a legitimate target for assassination. In early 1981 Faraj and Zumur devised a plan to assassinate Sadat and set up an Islamic state. On 6 October Lt. Khalid Ahmad Islambouli and three of his colleagues, armed with automatic weapons and hand grenades, attacked the review stand at the military parade in a Cairo [q.v.] suburb, killing Sadat and seven others.
Al Jihad leaders had visualized Sadat's assassination as a catalyst for a nationwide insurrection for the founding of an Islamic state. But there was an uprising only in Asyut, southern Egypt [q.v.], which left 188 dead. Most of the 3,000 Islamists jailed belonged to Al Jihad. It continued to have cells in the armed forces. Following his release after three years in jail for his participation in the plot to assassinate Sadat, in 1984, Zawahiri became the group's ideologue. He issued its first manifesto, The Philosophy of Confrontation. Its very title emphasized violence as a means of turning Egypt into an Islamic fundamentalist state. Thirty of its military members, including two majors, were tried in December 1986 for running training centers for subversives. After a series of Muslim-Copt clashes in the spring of 1987, the government arrested hundreds of Al Jihad members.
With Abdul Rahman emigrating in 1989, its activities declined. But, with the return home of many veteran Islamist commandos after a successful jihad in Afghanistan against the leftist regime there in April 1992, Al Jihad, now calling itself the New Al Jihad, revived. It concentrated on assassinating high officials, such as ministers, but two such attempts in 1993 failed. Government repression followed, including trials by military courts. In 1995, the AJ cooperated with Al Gamaat al-Islamiya [q.v.] to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during his visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, but failed.
Severe repression followed. By early 1997 these courts handed down 87 death penalties to Islamist extremists. In 1999 Al Jihad's military leader, Adim Sigam, was killed, and 107 AJ members were tried for attempting to overthrow the government. Nine were given capital punishment. In early 2000 the leadership called on its followers to cease military activities and focus their attention on liberating Jerusalem [q.v.] from the Zionists [q.v. ]. The government released a few hundred AJ detainees.
In 2001, the exiled Zawahiri merged the AJ with Al Qaida [q.v.], with the new organization acquiring the official title of Jamaat Qaidat al-Jihad.
Joint Defense and Economic Cooperation Treaty (Arab League, 1950): After the failure of their military action against the newly founded Israel in the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.], the seven members of the Arab League [q.v.] signed a Joint Defense and Economic Cooperation Treaty (JDECT), aimed primarily at Israel, and ratified it in 1950. An early decision taken under this treaty was the League's resolution in November 1950 to continue the wartime blockade of Israel on the premise that the truce of January 1949 did not amount to a state of peace. When a new member was admitted to the League, it was required to join the JDECT.
In the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 [q.v.] (when the League had 13 members) and 1973 [q.v.] (when the League had 19 members), the combatant Arab states called for and received military aid from fellow members under the JDECT. But when in May 1982, during the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.], Iraq invoked the pact to secure military aid from members, it failed. This happened partly because the enemy was not Israel [q.v.], partly because Iraq [q.v.] had started the war, and partly because such leading Arab League members as Syria and Libya had sided with Iran.
Jordan:
OFFICIAL NAME: Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
CAPITAL: Amman [q.v.]
AREA: 34,442 sq. mi./89,206 sq. km
POPULATION: 6.5 million (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (nominal): $29.96 billion (2011 est.); per capita $4,790 (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (Purchasing Power Parity): $36 billion (2011 est.); per capita $5,760
NATIONAL CURRENCY: Jordanian Dinar (JOD); JOD 1 = U.S. $1.41 = £0.90 = €1.08 (2011)
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: monarchy
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Arabic [q.v.]
OFFICIAL RELIGION: Islam [q.v.]
ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS: Jordan is divided into eight governorates (provinces).
CONSTITUTION: The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is an independent sovereign state. Its governmental form is monarchical, with a parliament. The present constitution, approved by King Talal bin Abdullah al-Hashemi [q.v.], has been in force since 1952. Executive power rests with the king, who exercises it through ministers. He appoints, dismisses, or accepts the resignation of the prime minister; and on his recommendation other ministers are appointed or dismissed, or their resignation accepted. He also appoints the members and president of the Senate, also called House of Notables, the upper house of parliament. The cabinet manages all state affairs. If the parliament's lower chamber, the House of Representatives (HoR), also called the Chamber of Deputies, withdraws its confidence from the cabinet or any minister, the latter must resign. The king is the supreme commander of the armed forces.
ETHNIC COMPOSITION: (2010) Arab 98 percent, of which almost half are of Palestinian origin; Armenian [q.v.] 1 percent; Circassian [q.v.] 1 percent.
EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY: Executive authority rests with the king, who exercises it through ministers appointed by him.
High officials:
Head of state: King Abdullah II bin Hussein al-Hashem [q.v.], 1999–
Crown Prince: Prince Hussein bin Abdullah II al-Hashem, 2009–
Prime minister: Fayez al-Tarawneh, 2012–
Speaker of the Senate: Taher al-Masri: 2010–
Speaker of the House of Representatives: Faisal Al Fayez, 2011–
HISTORY: Following the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, Abdullah bin Hussein al-Hashem [q.v.] and his army entered the British-Mandated area east of the Jordan River [q.v.] called Transjordan [q.v.], and set up a government in Amman in 1921. Britain agreed to recognize Abdullah's rule if he accepted Britain's Mandate over it and Palestine [q.v.]. He did. In 1923 Transjordan became an autonomous emirate, which agreed to formulate a common foreign policy with London and allowed Britain to station troops on its soil.
When Transjordan acquired independence in May 1946, Abdullah assumed the title of king and renamed the Emirate of Transjordan the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The 1923 treaty was replaced by a new document in 1948. As a result of the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.], Jordan occupied 22 percent of Palestine, called the West Bank [q.v.]. West Bankers were given full Jordanian citizenship, and equal parliamentary representation with East Bankers. After a general election in 1950 the new parliament declared the East Bank [q.v.] and West Bank united in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
After the assassination of King Abdullah in 1951, his son Talal [q.v.] ascended the throne. Due to mental illness he abdicated the next year in favor of his son, Hussein bin Talal. His poll-rigging in the 1954 general election led to massive protest. Following a fair and free election in 1956, a national-leftist government under Suleiman Nabulsi [q.v.] came to power. It abrogated the 1948 treaty with Britain, and King Hussein acquiesced. But after he had crushed an incipient coup by his newly appointed chief of staff in 1957, he dismissed the Nabulsi government and dissolved parliament and all political parties. Though parliament was revived in 1963, political parties remained banned.
In the charged atmosphere during the buildup to the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], Jordan joined the Egyptian-Syrian defense treaty. In addition to losing the West Bank to Israel, Jordan ended up with 250,000 refugees from the territory. Growing militancy among them and the Palestinians who had settled earlier in Jordan led to fighting between the Palestinian commandos and the Jordanian army in September 1970, which the latter won. Jordan stayed out of the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.].
When the Arab League summit in October-November 1974 recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] as the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, Jordan reluctantly accepted the resolution. Dismissing the West Bank half of the HoR, King Hussein suspended it. Jordan refused to join the peace process begun by the Camp David Accords [q.v.] in 1978. It sided with Iraq [q.v.] in the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) [q.v.], thus accelerating its economic integration with Iraq. In 1984 King Hussein revived the HoR. His agreement with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat [q.v.] in 1985 on a joint approach to a Middle East peace settlement was rejected by the Palestine National Council [q.v.] two years later. A free and fair election in 1989 resulted in an HoR with 40 percent Islamist membership.
During the Kuwait crisis following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, Jordan tried to find an Arab solution, but failed. Its stance during the subsequent Gulf War [q.v.] was pro-Iraq. Later it tried to repair the damage done to its standing in the West by distancing itself from Iraq. Before the Middle East peace conference in Madrid in October 1991, Jordan agreed to a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. Three years later it became the second Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel. At the same time, Jordan's economic links with Iraq remained strong, with Baghdad supplying 75,000 barrels of oil per day, half of it free and the rest at a discount. These ties became stronger when Iraq was allowed to purchase food and medicine by selling its oil. It gave large contracts to Jordanian businessmen to supply food and medicine.
Whenever the Israeli-Palestinian talks ran into trouble, King Hussein intervened, successfully. The last time he did so was in October 1998 at the Wye River Plantation near Washington, D.C. His successor, King Abdullah II, lacked the seniority and experience of his father to play a mediating role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Indeed the outbreak of the Al Aqsa Intifada [q.v.] of the Palestinians in September 2000 created a crisis in Jordan. As the host of the Arab summit in March 2001, Abdullah II tried to conciliate Iraq and Kuwait, but failed. At home, he dissolved the HoR in June 2001, and then postponed the general election due in November.
Two months earlier, following the terrorist attacks on the United States, the George W. Bush administration increased Washington's economic assistance to Jordan by giving it free access to the American market, in order to secure the monarch's active cooperation in its war on terrorism and to wean him away from Iraq. But that proved insufficient to counter the economic downturn that came toward the end of the decade.
In the wake of the chaos and violence that followed the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in 2003, up to 700,000 Iraqis sought refuge in Jordan. They included such prominent politicians as Iyad Allawi [q.v.]. Almost simultaneous explosions in three upscale hotels in Amman in November 2005, attributed to Al Qaida in Mesopotamia [q.v.], showed the Iraqi violence spreading to neighboring states.
During the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in December 2008-January 2009, Abdullah II had no choice but to reflect the anti-Israel sentiment that swept the country. Even Jordan's wealthy elite publicly urged him to harden his stance toward Israel. He allowed large pro-Gaza demonstrations calling for an immediate cease-fire and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians. He also eased up on the Islamic Action Front [q.v.], which had been deprived of many HoR seats through electoral fraud.
The onset of the Arab Spring [q.v.] in 2011 led the monarch to replace his prime minister three times in 15 months, with his second choice, Awm Shawkat al-Khasawneh, a former judge of the International Court of Justice, lasting only six months. Following the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Constitutional Review, the parliament amended the constitution to set up an independent commission to supervise and conduct general elections, and outlawed the issuing of "temporary laws" by the king except during a natural disaster, war, or other emergency, or when the parliament was dissolved. These changes did not meet the opposition's demands, but the incipient protest movement remained stillborn because of the fear of the bloodshed then ravaging neighboring Syria.
LEGISLATURE: The parliament, called the National Assembly, consists of a fully nominated Senate of 30, and a popularly elected House of Representatives of 80, which has tenure of four years. In case either chamber turns down a bill acceptable to the other, or the monarch withholds his consent, then only a joint session of the two houses can pass it. Following the dissolution of the HoR and political parties in 1957, fresh elections were held in July 1963, and then in April 1967. After dismissing all 30 West Bank deputies, the king suspended the 60-member house in February 1975. He revived it in January 1984. In July 1988 he dissolved it and formally cut Jordan's legal and administrative links with the West Bank. In November 1989 a fresh election was held for the HoR, confined to the East Bank. After the legalization of political parties in September 1992, nine parties were licensed. In November 1993, in the first multiparty election since October 1956, the majority of the seats went to independents, with the Islamic Action Front (IAF) [q.v.] securing 16 seats, being the only party to win more than one seat. In the 1997 election, its share dropped to eight seats, with the pro-government independents winning 60.
King Abdullah II dissolved the HoR in June 2001 and ruled by decree for two years. In the 2003 general election to 110 seats (including six seats reserved for women if less numbers got elected), despite electoral fraud, the Islamic Action Front won 17 seats, with 84 going to the candidates representing tribes and other conservative social forces. Flagrant electoral fraud in the 2007 parliamentary election reduced the number of IAF representatives to 6, with the conservative and tribal members totaling 98.
The monarch dissolved the HoR in 2009 and imposed direct rule for a year. The election in November 2010 was boycotted by seven opposition groups, including the Islamic Action Front, in protest at the new electoral law, which reduced representation of urban area and increased the rural share. Of the 86 candidates of political groups, only 17 won. The vast majority of the 120 seats went to loyalists and tribal-linked rural candidates.
RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION: (2011) Muslim [q.v.], 94 percent, of whom Sunni [q.v.] 91 percent, Shia [q.v. ] 2 percent, Druze 1 percent [q.v.]; Christian [q.v.], 6 percent.
Jordan River: Rising primarily at the foot of Mount Herman in Syria and secondarily in Mount Anti-Lebanon, the Jordan River is fed by the Has-bani, Banias, and Dan rivers, and flows 220 mi./355 km into the Dead Sea. Its northern half delineates parts of the Jordanian-Israeli border and the Syrian-Israeli border. Its southern half lies in Jordan. Often mentioned in the Bible [q. v.], it was the scene of the baptism of Jesus Christ.
Jordanian Civil War (1970–71): Involving the Jordanian military and an alliance of Palestinian guerrillas and radical Jordanians, the civil conflict lasted from 15 to 25 September 1970. It resulted in a Jordanian victory and came to be known among Palestinians as Black September.
With the increased presence of armed Palestinians in Jordan, there were periodic clashes between them and the 55,000-strong Jordanian military in the spring of 1970.
The truce between them, brokered by the Arab League [q.v.] in June, became tenuous when King Hussein bin Talal [q.v.] accepted Washington's Rogers Peace Plan [q.v.] in early August. Since his action contradicted the stance on peace with Israel adopted by the Fourth Arab League summit [q.v.] in Khartoum, relations between him and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q .v.] soured. Tension heightened following the blowing-up of three Western airliners at an airfield near Amman [q.v.] by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) [q.v.] on 12 September, after Israel had refused to release its Palestinian prisoners.
As the United States moved its warships and warplanes to the region, Hussein formed a military cabinet on 15 September. Fighting erupted between the two sides in Amman and northern Jordan. On 19 September the tank units of the Syrian-based Palestine Liberation Army (PLA) [q.v.] crossed into the north of Jordan and captured Irbid. Hussein requested U.S. intervention, but Washington opted for a joint U.S.-Israel operation. However, the Jordanian army managed to check the Palestinian tank advance.
Assured of U.S. and Israeli backing, Hussein deployed his air force against the Palestinians in the Irbid area. With the Syrian air force under Gen. Hafiz Assad [q.v.] refusing to intervene on their behalf, the Palestinian armored units withdrew to Syria. A truce, mediated by the Arab League, went into force on 25 September.
Since Palestinian militia units were often posted inside refugee camps and used them as their bases, there was much fighting in the camps, and high casualties. About 4,000 Palestinians died. The U.S. airlifted arms to Jordan and increased its financial aid. Thus fortified, Hussein kept up pressure on the Palestinian commandos and finally expelled them in July 1971 after destroying the last centers of resistance in the hills near Ajloun.
Jordanian-Israeli Peace Treaty (1994): King Hussein bin Talal [q.v.] of Jordan and Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.] signed a peace treaty between the two countries on 26 October 1994 at a site in the Araba Valley along the Jordanian-Israeli border about 30 mi./48 km north of the Gulf of Aqaba. It was witnessed by U.S. President Bill Clinton. The treaty fixed the Israeli-Jordanian border along the lines demarcated at the time of the British Mandate in 1922. Israel conceded Jordanian sovereignty over the 147 sq. mi./381 sq. km occupied by it, while Jordan leased 116 sq. mi./300 sq. km of it to Israel.
Jordan agreed that the Palestinian refugees would be settled where they were in Jordan in return for aid from the United States, thus forfeiting their right to return home. The treaty recognized Jordan's custodianship of the Muslim [q.v.] holy places in East Jerusalem [q.v.], thereby undermining the Palestinian position. The treaty was condemned by Syria, Lebanon, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q .v.], and Hamas [q.v.]—and ordinary Palestinians in Gaza [q.v.], the West Bank [q.v.], and East Jerusalem, who staged a protest strike.
Judaism and Jews: The oldest of major monotheistic creeds, Judaism is a compendium of law, tradition, and doctrine dating back to the Prophet Abraham in ca 1900/1800 B.C. According to tradition, he was directed by God to leave his native Harran in northern Mesopotamia for Canaan (present-day Israel, Palestine, and southern Lebanon) with a solemn promise, the Covenant, that he would become the father of great nations there. His grandson, Jacob, received the name Israel and had 12 sons, the source of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. They migrated to Egypt, where they were enslaved in 1700 B.C., a condition they endured until God renewed his Covenant to Abraham by calling on Moses in the mid-13th century B.C. to lead the descendants of Israel (the Israelites) out of Egypt, and giving them the Law through Moses on Mount Sinai during their 40 years of wandering in the Sinai Peninsula [q.v.]. This provided a strong ethical foundation to the creed, with its stress on virtuous action.
The Israelites began to conquer and settle Canaan, but they were not yet a nation, only a confederation of tribes led by personages called Judges, such as Gideon and Samson. They set up altars and sanctuaries in Canaan, with the Ark of the Covenant deposited at Shiloh. These tribes were brought together under Saul (r. ca 1030–1010 B.C.), who established the Kingdom of Israel. His successor David, son of Jesse (r. ca 1010–970 B.C.), led the Israelite nation in obedience to God, and brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem [q.v.] as a shrine for the God of Israel. His son Solomon (r. ca 970–930 B.C.) built the First Temple.
The opposition to the evolution of a dynastic rule led the northern tribes—who called their domain Israel—to break with the southern part, ruled by David's descendants and called Judah, with Jerusalem as its capital.
During the 8th century B.C., Prophet Amos declared that violations of the moral-ethical code of the Covenant would bring the wrath of God upon the Israelites.
In 722 B.C. Israel fell to Assyria, and many Israelites were expelled. Judah continued to exist, but from 605 B.C. the people of Judah, called Jews [q.v. ], were taken into exile by the Babylonians. In 586 B.C. Jerusalem was destroyed and the First Temple razed, and the Israelites/Jews were exiled. They were allowed to return to Jerusalem in 538 B.C. by Persian King Cyrus the Great (600–529 B.C.). The Second Temple was completed by 515 B.C.
Though the new Covenant of God, promising a kingdom under a descendant of King David, was not fulfilled, Persian King Artaxerxes (r. 464–424 B.C.) declared the Torah [q.v.] (Written Law) to be the law for the Jews. This in turn led to the Oral Law. The region fell to Alexander of Macedonia (r. 336–323 B.C.) in 333 B.C., resulting in the emergence of Hellenstic Judaism. The banning of Judaism by the Greek ruler Antiochus IV (r. 175–163 B.C.) in 168 B.C. led to a Jewish revolt in 166 B.C., headed by Judas Maccabaeus of the Hasmonaean family. He succeeded in gaining religious freedom for the Jews three years later, but not political freedom. In his attempt to secure the latter, he was killed in 160 B.C. That gave rise to the concept of martyrdom [q.v.] in monotheistic religions.
The Jewish commonwealth was revived under Jonathan in 152 B.C. However, the Hellenization of Judaism continued, and the Torah, written originally in Hebrew [q.v.], was translated into Greek. Later the Jewish community split into Sadducees— often rich, conservative, and ecclesias-tical—who believed in the divinity of the Written Law, and Pharisees—often poor, progressive, and lay—who espoused the Oral Law.
In 63 B.C. the Roman general Pompey captured the region, named it Judea (derivative of Judah), and incorporated it into the Roman Empire. Various attempts by the Jews to set up an independent Jewish state failed. Christianity [q.v.] emerged initially as a sect within Judaism. Restrictive decrees from Rome led to a Jewish revolt in 66–70 A.D., during which the Second Temple was destroyed.
With the Jews now turning inward, their leadership increasingly came under eminent rabbis (Hebrew: my teachers), beginning with Judah HaNasi (175–220 A.D.), who concentrated on developing the Talmud [q.v.]. During the Middle Ages (476 A.D.-1492), two branches of Jewish culture evolved: Sephardim [q.v.] and Ashkenazim [q.v.]. Attempts to conciliate them, initiated in France, were thwarted when the Jews were expelled from that country in 1306.
German Jews underwent enlightenment, haskala, in the 18th century. From this emerged a religious reform of doctrine and worship, especially among the Jews of Germany and France. The reform among German Jews became institutionalized as Reform Judaism [q.v.] in the 1840s. This in turn spawned Conservative Judaism [q.v.], also in Germany. Most Jews, unaffected by either movement, remained Orthodox [q.v.] in their religious beliefs and practices. Modern secular Jewish thinkers tend to reinterpret Judaism as an historical process, centered on ethics and morals, or as religious nationalism.
In 2010, a little over two-fifths of the world's 14.3 million Jews lived in Israel and the Jewish settlements it had established in occupied East Jerusalem [q.v.] and the West Bank [q.v.]. Of the 8.44 million Jews in the Diaspora [q.v.], 5.275 million lived in the United States. Elsewhere, with 483,000 Jews, France had the largest number—followed by Canada with 375,000, Britain 292,000, and Russia 205,000.
Judaism, Conservative: See Conservative Judaism.
Judaism, Orthodox: See Orthodox Judaism.
Judaism, Reform: See Reform Judaism.
Judea: Judea was the name given by the Romans to the vassal kingdom in Palestine [q.v.], which came under their rule in 63 B.C. This lasted until 135 A.D., when it was renamed Palestina (Prima and Secunda). The term Judea was revived by Israel's right-wing government in 1977.
Judeo-Spanish language. See Ladino language.
Julian calendar: Introduced by Roman Emperor Julius Caesar (r. 59–44 B.C.) in 46 B.C.; see Christian Calendars.
Jumblat, Kamal (1917–77): Lebanese politician, leader of the Lebanese National Movement, 1975—77 Born into a notable Druze [q.v.] family in Mukhtara village, Jumblat obtained a diploma in philosophy in Lebanon, and then spent two years at Sorbonne University in Paris where he earned a degree in sociology and psychology. He was elected to parliament in 1947. The next year he became head of his clan. In 1949 he established the Progressive Socialist Party [q.v.]. Though predominantly Druze, the party had Sunni [q.v.], Shia [q.v.], and Christian [q.v.] members; and it advocated abolition of the country's political system based on confessionalism [q.v.]. Earlier, by marrying May Arsalan, he had softened the traditional rivalry between the Jumblat and the Arsalan clans. She bore him one child, Walid [q.v.].
Starting out as a supporter of Bishara Khouri [q.v.], Jumblat turned against him when he was accused of corruption in the summer of 1952. In alliance with Camille Chamoun [q.v.], Jumblat established the Socialist National Front [q.v.]. Chamoun succeeded Khouri after his resignation in September. When Chamoun abandoned the Arab nationalist program on which he had been elected president, Jumblat led an opposition alliance against him in May 1958. The resulting Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] lasted until the end of July. He served as education minister (1960–61) and interior minister (1961–64).
His feudal background accorded him an influential role among fellow Druzes, and his leftist, Arab nationalist [q.v.] views made him popular with urban, mainstream Sunnis. A consistent opponent of confessionalism, he provided a common framework to the leftist Lebanese groups and the Palestinian factions in the form of the National and Progressive Front (NPF) in 1969. As interior minister in 1970, he legalized such transnational parties as Communists [q.v.] and Baathists [q.v. ]. That enabled the NPF to enlarge in 1972 and 1975, and emerge as the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) [q.v.], with Jumblat as its leader.
In the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], which erupted in April 1975, he led the LNM against its opponent—the rightist Maronite coalition called the Lebanese Front [q.v.]. He formed an alliance with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.], which was friendly with Syria. But when it captured two-thirds of Lebanon by April 1976, Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] reversed his policy, fearing that total victory by the radical LNM-PLO alliance would result in Israeli military intervention and destabilization of the whole region, including Syria. In June, Syria attacked LNM-PLO positions and thus rescued the Lebanese Front from a humiliating defeat.
Following the election of Elias Sarkis [q.v.], a Syrian nominee, as president in September, and a ceasefire in the civil war two months later, Jumblat accepted Sarkis as president. But as a Lebanese patriot committed to maintaining a multiparty system in Lebanon, he resented the role of authoritarian Assad as the sole power broker in Beirut [q.v.]. In early 1977, when he attacked Assad's rule in Syria itself, Assad was furious. He was assassinated in March 1977 by the agents of the Syrian government.
An intellectual of high caliber, Jumblat taught history of economic thought at Beirut University for several years, and authored a few books on Lebanese politics. He was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet government in 1971.
Jumblat, Walid (1949–) : Lebanese politician Born into a notable Druze [q.v.] family in Mukhtara village, Jumblat obtained a political science degree from the American University in Beirut [q.v.]. At the age of 20, he broke with tradition by his marriage, outside the Druze clans, to an Iranian actress, which alienated him from his father, Kamal [q.v.]. Later he became active with the militia of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) [q.v.] formed after the start of the civil war in 1975.
After the assassination of his father in March 1977, Walid succeeded him as head of his clan, of the PSP, and of the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) [q.v.]. Yet, after divorcing his Iranian wife, he remarried outside the Druze community, to Gervette, an ethnic Circassian [q.v.] from Jordan. Politically, he moderated the LNM's stress on ending confessionalism, and tried to work in cooperation with Syria. He condemned the election of Bashir Gemayel [q.v.] as president in August 1982.
After the initialing of a peace treaty between Israel and Lebanon [q.v.] in May 1983, he joined the alliance that was formed to overturn it. Once the Israelis had withdrawn from the Druze-dominated Shouf region in September 1983, his militia expelled the Maronite [q.v.] forces that had arrived earlier on the coattails of the Israeli occupiers. In March the Lebanese-Israeli draft treaty was annulled.
Jumblat joined the national government formed under Rashid Karami [q.v.] as minister of public works. In October 1983 he helped form an alliance of six parties opposed to President Amin Gemayel [q.v.]. He extended Druze control to the Mediterranean coast and the hills overlooking Beirut [q.v.] and its southeastern suburbs.
He had reservations about the Taif Accord [q.v.], signed in September 1989, which he saw as giving too many concessions to the Maronites, but he suppressed his misgivings at Syria's behest. Two months later he was named minister of public works in the government of Salim Hoss [q.v.].
Following the end of the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] in October 1990, when a national reconciliation government was formed under Omar Karami, Jumblat was made a minister without portfolio. In June 1991 he was nominated to the expanded parliament. His party ran in the general election in September 1992. Elected to parliament, he was appointed minister of displaced persons. In the 1996 election his party won all the eight Druze seats. In 1998, he and his party deputies abstained from voting for Syria's choice for president, Emile Lahoud [q.v.].
Once Israel had withdrawn its troops unconditionally from south Lebanon in May 2000, he saw no rationale for Syria to deploy its troops in Lebanon. In the run-up to the general election three months later, he joined the Maronite [q.v.] leaders in demanding the withdrawal of the Syrian troops from Lebanon.
After the assassination of Rafiq Hariri [q.v.] in February 2005, Jumblat led his party to join the anti-Syrian 14 March Alliance [q.v.]. In the general election that followed, the PSP won 16 seats. With the departure of the last Syrian soldiers from Lebanon, his anti-Syrian sentiment cooled. In the 2009 parliamentary election he decided not to join the pro-Syrian 8 March Alliance [q.v.] or the 14 March Alliance. As an independent entity, the PSP garnered 10 seats. Later that year he visited Damascus [q.v.] to reconcile with President Bashar Assad [q.v.]. In the presidential contest in January 2011 his party voted for the 8 March Alliance candidate, Najib Mikati.
He condemned Assad for his violent suppression of the pro-democracy demonstrations that started in March 2011. A year later he ruled out the prospect of any Syrian party reaching a peaceful settlement with Assad, and called on Russia to help Syrians to remove Assad from power.
K
Kaaba (Arabic: cube): Islamic shrine The holiest shrine of Islam, the Kaaba, containing the sacred Black Stone, stands at the center of the Grand Mosque of Mecca [q.v.]. Built of grey stone, it is a 50-foot/15-meter-high boxlike structure, 40 ft./12 m by 35 ft./10.5 m resting on a marble base, 1 ft./30 cm thick. Apart from its entrance door and a gilt water spout, it is covered with a black silk cloth displaying verses from the Quran [q.v.] embroidered with gold and silver threads, which is changed after each hajj [q.v.].
Entry to the marble-floored interior is by a door in the northeastern wall. In the eastern corner near the door the holy Black Stone is built into the wall 5 ft./1.5 m above the ground. It consists of three large pieces of stone and several small ones, which are surrounded by a ring of stones held together by a silver band. Either solidified basaltic lava or basalt, the Black Stone has been worn smooth by touching and kissing over the centuries.
Opposite the northwest wall of the Kaaba is a semi-circular white marble wall 3 ft./1 m high, about 6 ft./2 m from the north and west corners of the Kaaba. The space between the Kaaba and this wall is believed to contain the graves of Ismail/Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, the slave wife of Ibrahim/Abraham. Nearby is a trough where legend has it that Ibrahim/Abraham and Ismail/Ishamael mixed the mortar to build the Kaaba.
Within two years of his migration from Mecca to Medina [q.v.] in 622 A.D., after failing to conciliate the local Jewish tribes, the Prophet Muhammad instructed that during prayer, instead of turning to Jerusalem [q.v.], believers should turn to the Kaaba in Mecca.
kabbala (Hebrew: receiving or accepting [tradition]): See mysticism in Judaism.
Kach (Hebrew: Thus): Israeli political party Kach was established in 1976 by Rabbi Meir Kahane [q.v.], an American Jew [q.v.] who settled in Israel in 1971. The group, known widely by its symbol of a clenched fist, was a Jewish fundamentalist [q.v.] party. That is, it regarded Jews to be an exclusivist community, opposed to social or sexual intercourse with non-Jews, and insisted that only Jews had the right to live in the biblical Eretz Israel [q.v.]. It therefore advocated expulsion of Arabs [q.v.] from the West Bank [q.v.] and the Gaza Strip [q.v.] as well as Israel. Its members harassed Arabs, assaulted them in their homes, and smashed cars and shop windows in Arab districts.
In the 1984 Knesset [q.v.] elections, Kach won 25,000 votes and Kahane became a deputy. The Knesset then passed a law barring parties with a racist policy from entering elections. When the high court upheld the legislation and declared Kach racist in 1988, it was prevented from participating in the general election later that year. With opinion polls showing its support at 5 percent, it would have won six seats if it had been allowed to enter the electoral arena. After Ka-hane's assassination in 1990, his son, Baruch, set up the Kahane Hai (Hebrew: Kahane Lives) group. Following Yitzhak Rabin's [q.v.] assassination in 1995, both Kach and Kahane Hai were banned in Israel.
Kadima (Hebrew: Forward): The decision of Likud [q.v.] prime minister Ariel Sharon [q.v.] to withdraw the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip [q.v.] in September 2005 was opposed by hard-liners in his party. So he quit Likud to form Kadima in November. The new party attracted moderates from Likud as well as the veteran Labor leader Shimon Peres [q.v.] and former Histadrut [q.v.] chairman Haim Ramon.
Kadima aimed to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and achieve separate states for the two nations by dismantling terrorist organizations, collecting firearms, and instilling security reforms in the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] as a prelude to accepting a demilitarized Palestinian state.
When Sharon suffered a debilitating hemorrhagic stroke in January 2006, Ehud Olmet [q. v. ] became the acting prime minister and acting chairman of Kadima. In the March 2006 Knesset election, Kadima won 29 seats, and led the coalition cabinet with Olmert as the premier.
Facing corruption charges, Olmert stepped down from the high office in 2008. In the election of the party chairperson in September by 74,000 party members, Tzipi Livni [q.v.] beat Shaul Mofaz [q.v.] by a wafer-thin majority of 431 votes. Her failure to form a coalition government led to a general election in February 2009. Kadima won 28 seats, one more than Likud, but once again Livni failed to cobble together a cabinet. As the leading opposition leader Livni emphasized security of Israel security as well as pursuit of the peace process.
In March 2012 she lost her party leadership to Mofaz, who secured 62 percent of the members' votes. Two months later she resigned from the Knesset.
Kahane, Meir (1932–90): Israeli politician Born Martin David Kahane, the son of a rabbi in Brooklyn, New York, he joined the Betar, the youth movement of the Revisionist Zionists [q.v.] as a teenager. He obtained a law degree from New York University and was ordained as an Orthodox [q.v.] rabbi. He combined his religious work with editing the Brooklyn-based Jewish Press.
His increasingly militant views led him to establish in the mid-1960s the Jewish Defense League, which resorted to such violent acts as bombing as a means of defending the Jews [q.v.]. He coupled this with harassing the Soviet missions in New York to highlight Moscow's ill treatment of Jews. During this period he operated as the Federal Bureau of Investigation's undercover agent, named Michael King, the pseudonym he used to coauthor the book The Jewish Stake in Vietnam, Kahane would later reveal.
Declaring that the only way a Jew could escape from imbibing Gentile values was to live in Israel [q.v.], he migrated there in 1971. After the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] he became vehemently anti-Arab. In 1976 he set up Kach [q.v.]. He advocated the creation of a Jewish state exclusively for Jews so that they would be free from non-Jewish influences.
He became a Knesset [q.v.] deputy when his party, Kach, won 25,000 votes in the 1984 general election. His often controversial behavior in the Knesset led to a number of suspensions. But his popular standing rose, so that on the eve of the 1988 election his party was poised to win six parliamentary seats. However, his party was considered racist, and therefore unlawful, by the High Court, and was barred from running in the general election. He was assassinated by El Sayyid Nosiar, an Egyptian-American, in New York in 1990.
Karami, Omar (1934–): Lebanese politician; prime minister, 1990–92 and 2004—05 Born into the religious Sunni [q.v.] family of Abdul Hamid Karami near Tripoli [q.v.], Omar obtained a law degree from the Lebanese University and became an attorney. After the assassination of his elder brother Prime Minister Rashid Karam [qv] in 1987, he entered public life. At the end of the Lebanese Civil War of 1975–90 [q.v.], Prime Minister Salim Hoss [q.v.] resigned in his favor. In the 1991 general election Karami was elected to the National Assembly. He maintained close relations with Syria. He resigned in May 1992 against the backdrop of the falling value of the Lebanese pound. He was reelected in the subsequent parliamentary elections. Following the resignation of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri [q.v.] in October 2004, Karami led the next cabinet. He resigned in the wake of Hariri's assassination in February 2005 but stayed on as a caretaker premier until April.
Karami, Rashid (1921–87): Lebanese politician; prime minister, 1955–60, 1961–64, 1965–66, 1966–68, 196970, 1975–76, and 1984–87 Born into a religious Sunni [q.v.] family near Tripoli [q.v.], Karami secured a law degree from Cairo University. He set up legal practice in Tripoli.
After the death in 1950 of his father, Abdul Hamid, the chief Islamic judge of the city, he became the leader of local Muslims and their representative in parliament. He was named justice minister in 1951, then economy and social affairs minister (1953), and finally prime minister (1955).
Unlike traditional, conservative Sunni leaders such as Saeb Salam [q.v.], he was a radical who supported the pan-Arabism [q.v.] of Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.]. In the 1958 Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] he sided with the pan-Arabists who fought the pro-Western President Camille Chamoun [q.v.]. After the conflict he led a national unity government from September 1958 to May 1960. For most of the 1960s he was the premier. During the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] he wanted Lebanon to enter the conflict but was opposed by the Maronite [q.v.] commander of the military, Gen. Emile Boustani.
In the May 1968 election he led the Democratic Parliamentary Forum, which emerged slightly behind its rival, the Triple Alliance of Camille Chamoun, Pierre Gemayel [q.v.], and Raymond Edde. However, the subsequent government, led by Abdullah Yafi, fell in December. The new cabinet, headed by Karami, excluded Triple Alliance leaders. In April he resigned when clashes between the Palestinian commandos and the Lebanese army got out of hand. But since no other premier was appointed by President Charles Helou [q.v.], he resumed his office after a satisfactory accord had been signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q. v.] and the Lebanese government in November in Cairo [q.v.].
Following the election of Suleiman Franjieh [q.v.] as president in 1970, Karami failed to win a further mandate for his premiership. But after the start of the Lebanese civil war in April 1975 [q.v.], Franjieh appointed him prime minister in the hope that his stature would enable him to end the war. He failed, but continued as premier until December 1976, when the newly elected president, Elias Sarkis [q.v.], turned to Salim Hoss to lead the cabinet. To his dismay, Tripoli, his bastion, became the battleground between Islamists [q.v.] and secular Baathists [q.v.].
After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon [q.v.] in June 1982, he joined the anti-Israeli camp and called for deferment of the presidential election until after Israel's evacuation. This did not happen. When Amin Gemayel [q.v.] became president in September 1982, he lined up with anti-Gemayel politicians. He opposed the draft Lebanese-Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.], which was trashed in early March 1984.
As a result of the successful national reconciliation conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, he headed a national reconciliation government in April. He fell out with President Gemayel in 1986 after the latter refused to endorse the "National Agreement to Solve the Lebanese Crisis," signed by three leading militia leaders. Their relations became very tense in the following spring. But when Karami submitted his resignation in May 1987, Gemayel refused to accept it, as he saw no alternative to Karami. He was assassinated on 1 June.
Karbala: Iraqi city Also called Mashhad al-Hussein (Arabic: Witness to Hussein). Population: 675,000 (2011 est.) It is the site of the martyrdom [q.v.] of Imam Hussein bin Ali at the hands of Yazid bin Muwaiya in 681 A.D., which forms the climax of the Shia [q.v.] festival of Ashura [q.v.]. Over the centuries Karbala emerged as a center of Shia learning, and after the construction of the shrine of Imam Hussein, called the Great Martyr, became one of the holiest cities of Shias. It was attacked by Wahhabis [q.v.] in 1802, and Imam Hussein's shrine was stripped of all its embellishments. Before long, it was restored to its earlier splendor and capped with a golden dome. It became a major tourist attraction.
After the seizure of power in Iraq by secular Baathists [q.v.] in 1968, Karbala and its religious establishment came under a shadow. Unsurprisingly, in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], the city became an important center of Shia uprising against President Saddam Hussein [q.v.]. But the government forces quickly crushed the rebellion.
Twelve years later, following the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein's regime on 9 April 2003, nearly 1.5 million Shias assembled in Karbala on 25 April to commemorate the 40th day of mourning of the death of Imam Hussein, a ritual banned by the Baathist government.
From then onward, Shias gathering in Karbala for the Ashura ritual were often targeted by militant Sunni [q.v.] suicide bombers attached to Al Qaida in Mesopotamia [q.v.]. In 2004 this led to the deaths of 170 people. Yet the number of Shia pilgrims to Karbala to commemorate Ashura kept rising, reaching 3 million in December 2011, including 650,000 from abroad.
Karman, Tawakul (1979-): Yemeni journalist, co-recipient of 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Born in the village of Mekhlaf in Taizz province in the household of Abdul Salam Karman, a lawyer-politi-cian, Karman obtained a post-degree in political science from the University of Sanaa [q.v.] in 2003. She became a journalist and went on to cofound the Women Journalists without Chains (WJWC), which advocated press freedom. When the WJWC was denied a license for a mobile phone news service in 2007, she mounted a protest campaign of weekly demonstrations outside the interior ministry from 2007, demanding investigations into corruption and other forms of social and legal injustice and the lifting of limitations on press freedoms.
Being married to Muhammad al-Nahmi and raising two children did not blunt her fight for social-political reform. When the opposition alliance, called the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP), faced pressure from the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.], the WJWC came to its aid, and called for the release of political prisoners.
She joined the Yemen Islah Group [q.v.], a conservative religious party which called for reform in accordance with the Sharia [q.v.]. In 2007 she was one of the 13 women elected to the 130-member Shura (Consultative) Council of the party.
Because of her activities she was harassed and occasionally arrested by the government. When she organized a demonstration in favor of the prodemocracy uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt in January 2011, she was thrown into jail. Widespread protest followed. As a leader of the anti-Saleh movement she focused on women and youths, always stressing nonviolence. Inspired by her, tens of thousands of women took part in anti-Saleh demonstrations.
Like almost all Yemeni women, she grew up wearing the niqab (Arabic: mask), a garb that covers the face and head except the eyes. But in 2010, just before delivering a speech at a human rights conference in Washington, she realized that wearing a niqab was unsuitable for a woman wishing to work in the public domain. So she switched to a hijab, a scarf that covers the head and neck and leaves the face open. She took to wearing a headscarf and a long black abaya (Arabic: cloak), a loose robe covering the body from head to toe.
In October 2011, the Norwegian Nobel Committee named her and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sir-leaf and Liberian human rights activist Leymah Gbowee as the joint winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their "nonviolent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peacebuilding work." She became the youngest person to receive this 110-year-old prize and the second Muslim woman to do so, the first being Shirian Ebadi [q.v.].
She supported the deal between Saleh and the opposition centered on the transitional plan offered by the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.] and backed by the UN Security Council, and voted in the presidential election in February 2012 for the sole candidate, Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi [q.v.].
Kashani, Abol Qasim (1884–1962): Iranian religious-political leader Born into a religious Shia [q.v.] family in Tehran [q.v.], Kashani grew up in Najaf [q.v.], Iraq, where he pursued religious studies. He returned to Iran in 1921 after Iraq had been placed under British Mandate. During the interwar years he emerged as a radical who opposed senior clerics' advice to juniors to stay away from politics. He became popular with second-rank clerics and itinerant mullahs. He was arrested for his anti-British activities after the British had occupied Iran in August 1941 during World War II.
On his release after the war, he founded a political party, Mujahedin-e Islam [q.v.]. It demanded abrogation of all secular laws passed by the regime, the application of the Sharia [q.v.], as stated in the 1906–07 constitution, and the reintroduction of the veil for women.
He was sent into internal exile in the northern city of Qazvin until late 1947. His third arrest, followed by his banishment to Lebanon, came in the wake of a failed attempt on the life of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (r. 1941–79) [q.v.] on 4 February 1949. He was permitted to return home after a year.
The issue of the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company dominated the general election held from July 1949 to February 1950, in which Kashani participated as a candidate. Elected to parliament, he advocated oil nationalization. In March parliament voted for it and then for the appointment of Muhammad Mussadiq [q.v.] as premier. Kashani was moved as much by anti-imperialism as by a symbiotic relationship between religion and politics in Islam [q.v.]—the two major themes that were later to inspire Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.] and fuel the forces of Islamic revolution [q.v. ]. In August he was elected speaker of parliament for a year.
At his intercession, Mussadiq released 28 members of the Fedaiyan-e Islam [q.v.], including the assassin of a prime minister. But the Kashani-Mussadiq alliance broke down when, in order to survive politically, Mussadiq began to rely increasingly on secular leftists. In January 1953 Kashani opposed Mussadiq's request for an extension of his emergency powers by a year. Following his failure to be reelected speaker of parliament in July, Kashani joined the anti-Mussadiq camp and, whether by design or chance, contributed to his overthrow in August 1953.
He opposed the oil agreement that the shah made with a Western oil consortium a year later. Following a failed attempt by a Fedaiyan-e Islam [q.v.] activist to assassinate Prime Minister Hussein Ala, the government arrested Kashani, releasing him only after he had dissociated himself from the group. After his death his mantle of radical religious opposition to the shah was taken over by Khomeini.
Kataeb Party: See Phalange Party.
Katsav, Moshe (1945–): Israeli president, 2000–07 Born in Yazd to parents who migrated to Israel in 1951, Katsav grew up in Kiryat Malachi. At 24, while still a student at Hebrew University in Jerusalem [q.v.], he was elected mayor of his town. In 1977 he won a seat in the Knesset [q.v.] as a member of Likud [q.v.], and retained it until 2000. He served as minister of labor and welfare in the national unity government of 1984–88, then as transportation minister under Yitzhak Shamir [q.v.] for the next four years. In the administration of Benjamin Netanyahu's [q.v.] he was appointed deputy prime minister and minister of tourism.
Following Netanyahu's defeat in 1999 in the prime ministerial contest, he became chairman of the opposition Likud in the Knesset. When President Ezer Weizman [q.v.] resigned in 2000, Katsav faced Shimon Peres [q.v.] as his rival in his bid for the presidency. He won by a majority of six in a chamber of 120 and became Israel's eighth president.
He resigned in July 2007, a fortnight prior to the end of his term, after pleading guilty to charges of sexual harassment and indecent acts toward his female subordinates—but not of rape—in his plea bargain with state prosecutors. Later he abandoned the deal to prove his innocence. The new trial went on for a year mostly behind closed doors. In December 2010 the court found him guilty of two counts of rape and several instances of sexual harassment, and sentenced him to seven years in jail.
Katzir, Ephraim (1916–2009): Israeli scientist; president, 1973–78 Born Katchalsky in Kiev, Russia, Katzir arrived in Palestine [q.v.] as a child in 1925. He pursued his undergraduate and postgraduate studies in biochemistry at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem [q.v.], and then taught there. In 1951 he became head of the biophysics department at the Weizmann Institute of Science. He was awarded the Israel Prize for Life Sciences in 1959 and the Rothschild Prize in Life Sciences the following year. He served as the chief scientist to the ministry of defense from 1966 to 1968.
Interested in public affairs, he was a member of Mapai [q.v.]. As the candidate of the Labor Party [q.v.] for the presidency in 1973, he defeated his rival, Yitzhak Navon [q.v.], by 66 votes to 41. During his term of office Israel witnessed the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], the Likud [q.v.] victory in the 1977 election, and President Anwar Sadat's [q.v.] trip to Jerusalem [q.v.].
In 1980 he established the Center for Biotechnology at Tel Aviv University and resumed his career as a scientist.
Khaddam, Abdul Halim (1932-): Syrian politician, first vice president 1984–2005 Born into a poor Sunni [q.v.] family in Banias, Khaddam obtained a law degree from Damascus University, where he joined the Baath party [q.v.]. He worked as a lawyer and school teacher in the capital before entering civil service as a provincial governor under the Baathist regime from 1963—first in Hama [q.v.], then Qunaitra, and finally Damascus [q.v.].
Khaddam was a friend of Hafiz Assad [q.v.] from their senior school days (1949–51), and his career advanced in line with Assad's. In May 1969, after Assad had made his first, partly successful move to acquire supreme power, Khaddam was appointed minister of economics and foreign trade. Once Assad had assumed full authority in late 1970, he became foreign minister and deputy premier.
Over time he established himself as a brilliant executor of Assad's foreign policies. Assad put him in charge of implementing Syria's policy in Lebanon, especially after the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] there in April 1975. He helped to assemble a Committee for National Dialogue in September, which secured a month-long truce. Later he was the moving spirit behind the First and Second Lebanese National Reconciliation Conferences in Switzerland (November 1983 and March 1984). In May 1984 Assad appointed him as one of the three vice presidents, with special responsibility for Lebanese and foreign affairs.
Two months later he narrowly escaped death from a car bomb. He was the main force behind the forging of the Taif Accord [q.v.] in October 1989. His moment of glory came a year later when the Lebanese Civil War ended, on Syria's terms.
He was confirmed in his vice presidency in 2000 by President Bashar Assad [q.v.]. Five years later he resigned his post and moved to Paris to write his memoirs. There he criticized Assad's policies in Lebanon. Forecasting the fall of the Assad regime by the end of 2006, he formed the National Salvation Front in Syria in Brussels. It aimed to change the Syrian regime through peaceful means. Its first conference in Berlin in 2007 was attended by more than 40 opposition leaders, including those of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.].
In his interview on Channel 2 TV of Israel in May 2011, he acknowledged receiving funds from the United States and the European Union to bring about the downfall of Assad's regime. In March 2012 he called for the formation of a military coalition of the Arab and Western nations to overthrow Assad.
Khalaf, Salah (1932–91): Palestinian leader Khalaf was born into a middle-class household in Jaffa [q.v.]. He and his family became refugees in al-Bureij camp in the Gaza Strip [q.v.] in 1948. After graduating from a teacher training college in Cairo [q.v.] he worked as a teacher in the Gaza Strip, then under Egyptian administration. Spotted in 1954 by the Egyptian army as someone with leadership potential, he was given advanced military training. During a visit to Cairo he met Yasser Arafat [q.v.], then leader of the local Palestinian Student Federation. During the 1956 Suez War [q.v.], when Gaza fell to the Israelis, Khalaf left the territory. Later he enrolled as a student in Stuttgart, Germany.
In March 1959 Arafat, then working in Kuwait, secured him an entry permit for Kuwait. That summer, together with Arafat and Khalil Wazir [q.v.], he cofounded Fatah [q.v.]. After his involvement in an attack on the Israeli National Water Carrier at Beit Netopha on 1 January 1965, launched from the Ein Hilwa Palestinian camp in southern Lebanon, he was arrested along with Arafat and jailed for two months. In prison they decided to adopt noms de guerre, Khalaf choosing Abu Iyad.
Helped by the Baathist [q.v.] government in Syria, Khalaf began to recruit members for Fatah in Gaza and Jordan. In 1969 he and other Fatah leaders assumed control of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In the 1970s he emerged as a member of a triumvirate that dominated both Fatah and the PLO, his colleagues being Arafat and Wazir. With Arafat somewhere in the middle, Khalaf balanced the rightist tendencies of Wazir. During the June 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon [q.v.], when he was head of Fatah's security apparatus, the defense of West Beirut fell mainly upon him.
After the banishment of the PLO from Beirut [q.v.] to Tunis and other setbacks that followed in the mid-1980s, he mellowed. In November 1988 he endorsed the resolution of the Palestine National Council (PNC) [q.v. ] to abandon violence and accept peaceful coexistence with Israel, along with a Palestinian state to be established on the West Bank and Gaza. This, and the victory of the Fatah forces over the Abu Nidal [q.v.] group in the southern Lebanese Palestinian camps in mid-1990, turned him into a hated figure among militant Palestinian circles. He was assassinated in January 1991 at the PLO headquarters in Tunis by his bodyguard, described by PLO sources as an agent of Abu Nidal.
Khalid bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud (1912–82): King of Saudi Arabia, 1975–82 Born in Riyadh to Ibn Saud [q.v.] and Jawhara bint Musaid al-Jiluwi, Khalid learned the Quran [q.v.] as a boy—as well as riding, tracking, and marksmanship. He then had his apprenticeship in politics, attending the daily assembly of his father. Khalid helped his father to suppress the Ikhwan [q.v.] rebellion in 1929. After the establishment of Saudi Arabia three years later, he carried out royal missions in Germany and Britain. In 1943 he and his elder brother Faisal bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] traveled to the United States on an official assignment.
When Faisal was promoted to prime minister in September 1962, he appointed Khalid deputy prime minister. In 1963 he was named commander of the newly formed National Guard [q.v.]. Once King Saud bin Abdul Aziz [q. v.] had abdicated in late 1964, and his elder brother Muhammad bin Abdul Aziz, being ill, had given up his claim to the throne a few months later, Khalid was named crown prince in March 1965. A decade later he ascended the throne after the assassination of Faisal. He freed 150 political prisoners held by his predecessor.
His cabinet of 25 contained 15 commoners, but retained the crucial foreign, defense, interior, and National Guard ministries with the House of Saud [q.v.]. He delegated authority to Crown Prince Fahd bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.], partly because he himself was susceptible to heart attacks. He supported the plans to end the civil war in Lebanon [q.v.], and funded the Arab Deterrent Force, which was stationed there.
He gave grants to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and opposed the Camp David Accords [q.v.] of September 1978. He cut off all links with Egypt after it had signed a peace treaty with Israel in March 1979. Convinced that the United States, which failed to rescue the Pahlavi dynasty [q.v.] in Iran in early 1979, would be unable to save the House of Saud, Khalid rebuffed U.S. President Jimmy Carter's efforts to persuade him to join the Middle East peace process inaugurated by the Camp David Accords.
In domestic affairs, along with Muhammad bin Abdul Aziz and Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.], Khalid represented the nationalist trend (committed to greater respect for tradition and slower economic development), which was in conflict with the pro-U.S. trend (stressing rapid economic development funded by vast oil revenues) espoused by three Sudairi brothers: Fahd, Sultan bin Abdul Aziz (defense minister), and Nayif bin Abdul Aziz (interior minister) [q.v.].
When faced with an armed uprising at the Grand Mosque of Mecca [q.v.] in November 1979, Khalid prevaricated while Sultan urged rapid, massive action. It was a fortnight before the uprising was crushed, leaving 117 insurgents dead, followed by the execution of 67 more. Facing the challenge posed by the revolutionary Islamic regime in Iran, Khalid, a pious Muslim, moved toward stricter enforcement of orthodox Islam and Islamic practices in the kingdom.
Despite open heart surgery in 1978, he suffered a minor coronary attack in February 1980. He succumbed to a major heart attack in June 1982.
al-Khalifa, Hamad bin Isa (1950–): ruler of Bahrain, 1999- Born in Riffa, he was educated in Nanama [q.v.]. On completing his junior secondary schooling in 1964, he was named crown prince. He finished his secondary education in Godalming and Cambridge, U.K., and then joined Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot. After graduating as a cadet in 1968, he returned home to command the newly established Bahrain Defense Force. In 1970, as head of the Defense Directorate, he became a member of the 12-member advisory Council of State. On the eve of Bahraini independence in 1971, he became the country's defense minister, a position he held until his elevation to ruler. In 1972 he enrolled at the U.S. Army Command and Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and graduated the following year.
As deputy head of the al-Khalifa Family Council, he had much say in the running of the emirate. Yet it was only after he ascended the throne in 1999 that he could implement the long overdue political reform. He immediately reshuffled the cabinet and freed more than 300 political detainees. When the State Security Court sentenced the leading opposition figure, Shaikh Abdul Amir al-Jamri, to 10 years in jail, Khalifa pardoned him.
The stationing of the revived U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, dating back to 1995, continued. In 2001, Khalifa renewed the defense agreement with the United States for 10 years. A year later, Washington secretly extended the agreement by another five years, a fact that became known only in September 2011.
In 2000 when the Supreme National Committee, appointed by Khalifa, drafted a National Action Charter, which recommended a constitutional monarchy and a bicameral parliament, he put it to vote in early 2001. Once the electorate voted for the Charter, he declared Bahrain to be a constitutional monarchy. He held an election, based on universal suffrage, to the 40-member National Assembly in 2002. It was boycotted by popular political parties because Khalifa had compromised the assembly's legislative authority by creating a nominated upper house. Even though in the subsequent general election a Shia [q.v.] religious party emerged as the leading group in the National Assembly, the government continued its traditional policy of repressing Shia leaders. He refused to consult any political group on political reform.
According to the classified U.S. cables leaked by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks in December 2010, during a private conversation between U.S. ambassador William Monroe and Khalifa on 15 February 2005, the ruler revealed that Bahrain already had contacts with Israel at the intelligence/security level—that is, with Mossad [q.v.]—and indicated that Bahrain would be willing to move forward in other areas to cooperate with Israel.
The participation of the religious parties in the 2006 general election altered the political environment. Due to its close links with the Ulema Council of the Shia sect, Al Wefaq won 17 of the 18 seats it vied for. On the Sunni side their two parties together garnered 13 seats. So three-quarters of the 40 elected members of parliament (MPs) belonged to religious parties. With that the influence of clerics in politics rose. The most prominent among them was Shaikh Isa Qasim, a Shia, who had returned from exile in Iran in 1990. He became the spiritual guide of Al Wefaq and the leading authority on such issues as codification of personal law and participating in or boycotting elections.
Starting late 2009, Shias in rural areas staged regular protests, demanding the release of dozens of political prisoners. Inspired by the overthrow of the autocratic presidents in Tunisia and Egypt as part of the Arab Spring [q.v.], members of the Shia majority began demonstrating against discrimination in housing, education, and employment and their exclusion from command positions in the military and security forces from mid-February 2011 onward. Khalifa responded with a crackdown in which 30 demonstrators were killed. After bloody clashes, protestors occupied the Pearl Square, where they stayed in tents. In mid-March Khalifa declared a state of emergency, which empowered the security forces to dissolve any organization they considered a danger to the state. With the support of 1,100 Saudi soldiers, the government crushed the protest, with the security forces demolishing the 300-ft. sculpture, topped by a giant pearl, at the center of the Pearl Square. Over 1,400 people were arrested and more than 4,000 were sacked from their jobs. The National Security Courts handed out stiff jail sentences to protestors. Washington issued tempered criticisms of the crackdown but did not press for political reform. On 1 June Khalifa lifted the state of emergency.
He appointed a five-member Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) of jurists and legal experts of international repute. In its report in November it concluded that the government had used excessive force and that there were many instances of torture of the detainees. It recommended reorganization of the National Security Agency (NSA). A subsequent royal decree termed the NSA an intelligence gathering agency without powers of law enforcement and arrest.
In January 2012 Khalifa announced amendments to the constitution to give the parliament the right to approve cabinets proposed by the ruler and question and remove cabinet ministers. The opposition leaders noted that the parliament would not have the power to question or dismiss the hard-line Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa in office since 1971. Therefore, street demonstrations for democratic transformation continued, albeit with reduced frequency.
al-Khalifa, Isa II bin Salman II (1933–99): ruler of Bahrain, 1961–99 Born in Manama [q.v.], Khalifa was named heir apparent at the age of 24. He succeeded his father three years later. He faced growing agitation by his subjects—including a strike by oil workers in 1965—for political reform. But it was not until January 1970 that he appointed an advisory 12-member Council of State. As the British prepared to leave in 1971 he transformed it into a cabinet and charged it with framing a constitution. Severe rioting and strikes in March and September 1972 led Khalifa to concede a 42-member constituent assembly, half-elected and halfappointed, to draft a constitution. It did so in mid-1973, and Khalifa approved the document, which provided for a National Assembly with a four-year tenure. The elections to the Assembly were held on a limited franchise in December 1973. He dissolved the parliament and suspended the constitution in August 1975.
Bahrain, with a Shia [q.v.] majority, was inspired by the Islamic revolution [q.v.] in Shia-majority Iran. When the Islamic opposition demanded that Bahrain be declared an Islamic republic, Khalifa, a Sunni [q.v.], reacted with a heavy hand. In May 1981 he became one of the cofounders of the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.], which was established with the primary aim of coordinating internal security arrangements of the Gulf States [q.v.]. In January 1982 his government arrested 73 members of the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain, accusing them of plotting an Iranian-instigated coup. Most of them were given a life sentence. Khalifa sided with Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) [q.v.]. During the Kuwait crisis (1990–91) he took a firm pro-Kuwaiti line and contributed troops and warplanes to the war against Iraq.
To meet the rising demand for reform, he appointed a 30-member Advisory Council in 1993, but kept the 1973 constitution in suspension as advised by his hard-line Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, in office since 1971.
al-Khalifa, Salman II bin Hamad (1895–61): ruler of Bahrain, 1942–61 Born in Manama [q.v.], Khalifa started to acquire administrative experience in his early 20s. He became head of the department dealing with the properties of minors, and then graduated to the departments overseeing courts. During World War II he sided with the Allies. After the war, he allowed the British navy to use Bahrain's docks and other facilities, later extending this privilege to the U.S. Middle East Force [q.v.]. His close ties with Britain became a point of contention during the 1956 Suez War [q.v.], when the Anglo-French-Israeli alliance invaded Egypt, and his subjects mounted massive pro-Egyptian demonstrations.
al-Khalifa dynasty: Bahraini ruling dynasty Following the migration of the al-Khalifa clan of the Utaiba tribe of the Anaiza tribal federation [q.v.] from the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.] to the offshore islands of Bahrain, in 1783, the clan succeeded in wresting control of the islands from Iran (then Persia). The al-Khalifas consolidated their hold by signing treaties with Britain in 1861, 1880, and 1892, turning Bahrain into a British protectorate.
After Shaikh Isa I bin Ali was deposed by the British in 1923, his son Hamad (1873–1942) became the ruler. Under his rule oil was discovered in 1932, with output reaching 19,000 barrels a day in 1940. Oil revenue funded expanding public services while the ruler maintained tight control over his subjects, refusing trade union rights to workers despite a strike in the oil industry in 1938.
Khamanei, Ali Husseini (1939–): Iranian religious-political leader; Supreme Leader, 1989- (Also spelled Khamenei) Born into a religious family in Mashhad [q.v.], Khamanei pursued his theological studies in Najaf [q.v.], Iraq, and then Qom [q.v.], where he became a student of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.]. He participated in the June 1963 protest against Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.]. After Khomeini's deportation to Turkey in late 1964, he returned to Mashhad, where he taught at the local theological college. During the next decade he was arrested six times for his anti-government activities. His release from jail in 1975 was followed by an internal exile in Iran-shahr in the border province of Baluchistan-Sistan. This ended during the revolutionary upsurge of 1977–78, and enabled him to return to Mashhad and participate in the movement.
He was one of Khomeini's first appointees to the Islamic Revolutionary Council (IRC), which assumed supreme power after the Islamic revolution [q.v.]. He was a cofounder of the Islamic Republican Party [q.v.], which became the ruling party. Later the IRC appointed him its representative at the defense ministry, where he headed the political-ideological bureau, which was charged with inculcating the troops with Islamic ideology and keeping a watchful eye on the officer corps. Later he was elected to the Assembly of Experts [q.v. ], which drafted the constitution. Following the death in September of Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleqani [q.v.], Khomeini appointed Khamanei, then a hojatalislam (a grade lower than ayatollah), as the Friday prayer leader of Tehran [q.v.], a highly prestigious position.
Elected to the Majlis [q.v.] in early 1980, he was active in the IRP's parliamentary wing. In May he became Khomeini's personal representative on the Supreme Defense Council. During his sermon at a Tehran mosque on 27 June 1981 a bomb, hidden in a tape recorder placed near him, exploded, injuring his arm, lungs, and vocal cords. After the assassination of the IRP's secretary-general, Muhammad Beheshti, the next day, he was elected to this office. And following the assassination of President Muhammad Ali Rajai [q.v.] on 30 August, he was chosen as the IRP's candidate for the presidency. He gained 95 percent of votes. He was elected to the Assembly of Experts [q.v.] in 1982. In the summer of 1984 he toured Syria, Libya, and Algeria, the Arab countries that were backing Iran in its war with Iraq.
He won 88.5 percent of the vote in the August 1985 presidential election. But when he tried to replace radical Prime Minister Hussein Musavi [q.v. ], he found his hands tied. He and Musavi belonged to the opposing factions within the IRP and could not reconcile their differences. As a result, Khomeini ordered the dissolution of the IRP in July 1987. A year later, instructed by Khomeini, Khamanei accepted the UN Security Council Resolution 598 for a cease-fire in the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.].
Promoted to ayatollah by Khomeini on his deathbed, Khamanei became a mujtahid [q.v.], a constitutional requirement for the Leader. After Khomeini's death on 3 June 1989, the hastily assembled Assembly of Experts implemented his deathbed wish by electing Khamanei the Leader by 60 votes to 12.
While maintaining Khomeini's pattern of periodically issuing radical statements, he encouraged pragmatic President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani [q.v.] to liberalize the economy, which had become highly centralized due to the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq War. The newly elected Second Assembly of Experts in 1990 confirmed Khamanei as the Leader for the duration of its tenure of eight years. He maintained a hard-line stance toward America which, in his view, became the sole "arrogant power" in the world after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. At home he worked closely with Rafsanjani after his reelection in 1993 to advance economic reform.
Khamanei endorsed the result of the 1997 presidential election unhesitatingly, even though it resulted in the defeat of Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri, the favorite of the religious establishment. The crisis caused by student rioting in Tehran in July 1999 brought him and the reformist President Muhammad Khatami [q.v.] together. They diffused the crisis by a mixture of firm action, mobilization of popular support for the regime, and placating of student leaders.
Alarmed by the euphoria displayed by reformers following their overwhelming success in the first run of the parliamentary election in March 2000, Khamanei ordered a clamp-down of the reformist press through the judiciary on the ground that, if unchecked, the forces unleashed by reformers would replace the Islamic order with a secular one. His nomination of conservatives to the Guardian Council [q.v.] ensured an effective control of the reformist-dominated parliament.
He endorsed the repeat landslide victory of Khatami in the presidential election in 2001. With the United States extending its 1996 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act for another five years in 2001, the chances of Washington-Tehran rapprochement receded, and this suited Khamanei.
On the other hand, his strong condemnation of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in September 2001 thawed relations between the two countries, which continued as the Pentagon attacked the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, much detested by his government. But when U.S. President George W. Bush included Iran in his so-called "Axis of Evil" in early 2002, Khamanei and his aides lambasted Washington. He maintained silence as America ratcheted up pressure on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.], whose aggression against Iran in 1980 had not been forgotten.
But on the eve of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in March 2003 [q.v.], he warned Washington against attacking Iraq. After the war, he described the U.S. occupation of Iraq as "worse than Saddam's dictatorship."
The massive victory of the conservatives in the 2004 parliamentary election removed the friction between Khamanei and the Majlis that had developed during the previous four years. The election of hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [q.v.] as president in 2005 aligned the presidency with the Majlis.
As the supreme Leader, Khamanei had the final say on national security and foreign relations. In November 2004, he declared that developing, producing, or stockpiling nuclear weapons was forbidden under Islam and in "our Islamic nation." Two years later he reiterated Iran's right to pursue its nuclear program for peaceful purposes despite the United Nation Security Council's demand for Iran to stop enriching uranium. At home he called on the Ahmadinejad government to expedite privatization.
The initial expectation of a change in Washington's policy toward Iran under President Barack Obama (r. 2009-), raised by Obama's promise of a "new beginning," failed to materialize. Following the widespread protest at the disputed reelection of Ahmadinejad in June, he described the public disapproval as "the greatest domestic challenge in 30 years" to the Islamic regime, and authorized singularly severe measures to crush it.
Responding to Washington's success in getting the UN Security Council to impose a series of sanctions against it on the nuclear issue from 2008 onwards, Khamanei hardened his stance. The official policy of continuing with the enrichment of uranium had the backing of the reformist opposition. Under Khamanei's watch, Iran continued to support Hizbullah [q.v.] and Hamas [q.v.] politically and financially. It strengthened ties with China, Russia, Brazil, and Venezuela.
Tensions arose between him and Ahmadinejad when the president attempted to strengthen his office at the expense of the clerical establishment. The result of the parliamentary election in March 2012 showed overwhelming support for the Khamanei camp.
In his Eid al-Fitr [q.v.] message in August 2011, Khamanei praised the protest movements in Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Yemen, describing the phenomenon as an "Islamic Awakening" [q.v.], not an Arab Spring [q.v.]. He called on the people of these countries to be vigilant and "not to allow enemies to confiscate the victories they have achieved." Pointedly, he did not include Syria in his list, since the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad [q.v.] continued to maintain the strategic alliance his father, Hafiz Assad [q.v.], had forged with Islamic Iran in 1980.
Khamanei is the author of several books on Islam and history.
Khan, Reza: See Pahlavi, Reza Shah.
Kharijis: (Arabic: Khawarij, singular Khariji, meaning Seceder): Islamic sect During the battle of Siffin on the banks of the Euphrates [q.v.] in July 657 A.D. between Ali bin Abu Talib and Muawiya bin Suffian about the succession to the caliphate, Muawiya proposed that he and Ali should settle their differences by referring them to two arbitrators, who would judge the matter according to the Quran [q.v.]. While a majority of Ali's forces accepted the proposal, several hundred protested against establishing a human tribunal above the divine word. They withdrew to a nearby village. Over the months their ranks swelled as more of Ali's soldiers deserted, especially after the arbitrators had ruled against Ali in March 658 A.D. They came to be called Khawarij.
They denounced Ali's claim to the caliphate, declaring that that any pious Muslim was worthy of becoming caliph, and did not have to belong either to the household of the Prophet Muhammad or his Quarish tribe. They branded anyone disagreeing with them as an infidel. In July 658 A.D. Ali attacked the Khawarij in their camp at Nahrawan and defeated them. But enough of them survived to continue the Kharaji movement and avenge the deaths of their comrades by Ali's forces. One of them, Abdul Rahman bin Mujlam al-Muradi, fatally stabbed Ali in January 661 A.D. A moderate school of Khawarij, known as Ibadhis [q.v.], is predominant in Oman today.
Khatami, Muhammad (1943-): Iranian politician and scholar; president of Iran, 1997–2005 He was born to Ruhollah and Sakineh Ziayi in Yazd. As his father was a sayyid, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, he pursued religious education in Qom [q.v.] where he obtained a degree in advanced theology. He then secured degrees in philosophy from Isfahan University and in educational sciences from Tehran University. In Tehran [q.v.] he became an active member of the Association of Militant Clergy [q.v.]. In 1978 he was sent to Hamburg, Germany, to head the Islamic Center and the associated Shia [q.v.] mosque. There he learned English and German.
After the revolution, he was elected to the First Majlis [q.v.]. Ayatollah Khomeini appointed him head of the state-owned Kayhan Newspapers. In 1982 he became minister of culture and Islamic guidance in the cabinet of Prime Minister Mir Hussein Musavi [q.v. ], a position that was confirmed by the two subsequent parliaments. When the conservative-dominated 1992 Majlis objected to his liberal views, he resigned. President Rafsanjani then appointed him an adviser to the presidential office. He also became head of the National Library.
On 23 May (2 Khordad in Iranian calendar [q.v.]) 1997, an unprecedented 88 percent of the 33 million electors participated in the presidential election. Of these, 69 percent favored Khatami, and only 25 percent Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri. In general, voters wanted the government to tone down its ideological rhetoric and focus more on tackling such problems as inflation, joblessness, drug addiction, and pollution in cities. In Khatami they saw a potential for a more down-to-earth approach by the authorities. Women and youth voted overwhelmingly for him. The nation's youth perceived in him a mild, tolerant personality, ready to pay attention to their grievances, both social (such as strict segregation of sexes) and economic (such as the dearth of jobs). He advocated freedom and equality for women within an Islamic context. His emphasis on the rule of law appealed especially to the modern middle class. Finally, by having the courage to discuss publicly the role of ethnic and religious minorities—Christians [q.v.], Jews [q.v.], Zoroastrians lq.v.], Azeris lq.v.], and Baluchis [q.v.]—he won their vote.
At home, his government accorded greater freedoms to citizens. The crisis caused by the student rioting in Tehran in July 1999 brought Khatami and supreme Leader Ali Khamanei [q.v.] together. They defused it by a combination of firm action, mobilization of popular support for their regime, and placating of student leaders. Hopes rose when the reformist camp, headed by the left-of-center Islamic Iranian Participation Front [q.v.], led by Khatami's younger brother, Muhammad Reza, achieved overwhelming success in the first run of the parliamentary election in February 2000. When Khamanei clamped down on the exuberant reformist press through the judiciary, Khatami did not protest, knowing well that the final authority lay with Khamanei.
Abroad, Khatarni's government mended its fences with the Gulf monarchies as well as Iraq. His hosting of the Islamic Conference Organization [q.v.] in December 1997 added to Iran's prestige abroad. His government also normalized relations with the leading European nations.
In the June 2001 presidential election, Khatami won 78 percent of the vote on a lower turnout of 67 percent, with his nearest rival getting a mere 16 percent of the ballots. Khatami was quick to condemn the terrorist attacks on the United States, and his government was glad to see the downfall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, with which it nearly went to war in September 1998. Since his administration cooperated with Washington to stabilize post-Taliban Afghanistan after the overthrow of the Taliban in November 2001, Khatami was surprised and disappointed when President George W. Bush included Iran in his "Axis of Evil" in January 2002.
Given the continued resistance by the conservative judiciary, the pace of political reform at home slowed. At the same time firm oil prices helped Iran's economy. As the United States began its military buildup in the Gulf region, Khatami warned against attacking Iraq. And once the Anglo-American forces had occupied Iraq in April 2003, Khatami demanded that they leave the country.
After stepping down as president in 2005, he founded the International Institute for Dialogue among Cultures and Civilizations with a branch in Geneva. In his worldwide lectures he advocated religious and cultural tolerance. He announced his candidacy in the 2009 presidential election, but withdrew in favor of Mir Hussein Mousavi [q.v.] After the disputed reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [q.v. ], he called for a referendum on the legitimacy of the government. But he voted in the 2012 parliamentary election, ignoring the call of the Green Movement [q.v.] to boycott it.
Fluent in Arabic, English, and German, he is the author of several books, including Fear of the Wave, From the World of the City to the City of the World, and Faith and Thought Trapped by Despotism.
Khoei, Abol Qasim (1899–1992): Iraqi Islamic leader Born into a religious Shia [q .v.] family in Khoy, Iranian Azerbaijan [q.v.], Khoei migrated along with his parents to Najaf [q.v.], Iraq, in 1912. There he pursued his Islamic studies and became an outstanding theological teacher. Settled in Najaf, he rose steadily in the Shia hierarchy, reaching the rank of ayatollah in the mid-1930s. Because of his Iranian origins, Khoei acquired a substantial following in Iran, where he was represented by his nominees in Qom [q.v.] and Mashhad [q.v.]. Following the death in 1961 of Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Borujerdi, the most senior Shia cleric in Iran, Khoei's status rose.
He kept up his teaching and a steady output of books on the Sharia [q.v.], religious biography, and Quranic commentary. He belonged to the quietist school among Shia clergy, who wanted to concentrate on providing succor to the community in its spiritual life and social welfare. He thus stood apart from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], an Iranian Shia leader who went to live in Najaf in 1965 and urged clerics to get involved in politics.
On the death in 1970 of Ayatollah Muhsin Hakim, the status of marja-e taqlid (Arabic/Persian: source of emulation) [q.v.] passed to Khoei, who also acquired the title of grand ayatollah. His followers now spanned the Shia world, as did the activities of the al-Khoei Foundation.
In the late 1970s he stayed out of the revolutionary movement in Iran. Equally, when Shahbanu Farah, wife of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.], during her visit to Najaf in November 1978, called on him to make a conciliatory statement, he refused.
Following Iraq's invasion of Iran, President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] sought Khoei's approval for his action, but he maintained a studied silence. He did not break it when the Iraqi media claimed in May 1981 that Khoei had prayed for Saddam Hussein's health. The government sharply curtailed the size of his seminary in Najaf and imprisoned many of his students. When in April 1983 it organized the First Popular Islamic Conference in Baghdad [q.v.], Khoei and his family spurned the invitation to attend.
After the collapse of the Shia uprising in southern Iraq in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], Khoei, then seriously ill, was put under house arrest and coerced into appearing on television with Saddam Hussein. He was then moved to Kufa [q.v.], where he died in August 1992. He left behind some 90 books and pamphlets.
Khomeini, Ruhollah Musavi (1902–89): Iranian religious-political leader: Supreme Leader, 1979–89 Born into a religious Shia [q.v.] family in Khomein, Khomeini was educated in theology at a religious school run by Ayatollah Abdul Karim Hairi-Yazdi in Arak. When Hairi-Yazdi moved to Qom [q.v.] in 1922, Khomeini went with him. Three years later he graduated in the Sharia [q.v.], ethics, and spiritual philosophy. Over the years he related ethical and spiritual problems to contemporary issues and taught his students to regard the addressing of current social problems as part of their religious duty.
In 1941 he published a book in which he attacked secularism. Four years later he graduated to the clerical rank of hojatalislam (Arabic: proof of Islam), which allowed him to collect his own circle of disciples, who would accept his interpretations of the Sharia. After the death of Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Borujerdi in 1961, urged by his students, he published a book entitled Clarification of Points of the Sharia. It secured him promotion to ayatollah (Arabic: sign of Allah). This enabled Khomeini to assume the leadership of radical clergy.
In 1963 he combined his criticism of the White Revolution [q.v.] with a personal attack on Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q .v.]. His arrest on 5 June 1963 in Qom triggered a countrywide uprising. The shah used the army to crush it, reportedly causing the death of thousands. Pressured by clerics, the shah released Khomeini two months later and placed him under house arrest in a Tehran [q.v.] suburb.
After his release in April 1964, Khomeini resumed his oppositional activities. In November he was expelled to Turkey. After living in the Turkish city of Bursa for a year, he moved to Najaf [q.v.], Iraq. From there he kept up his campaign against the shah—an enterprise that the leftist Baathists [q.v.], who seized power in Iraq in 1968, found convenient since they too were opposed to the proWestern shah. In 1971 Khomeini condemned the celebrations of 2500 years of unbroken monarchy in Iran, a claim that lacked historical evidence.
That year his book, Islamic Government: Rule of the Faqih, based on a series of lectures, was published. In it he argued that instead of prescribing dos and don'ts for believers and waiting passively for the return of the Hidden Imam, the (Shia) clergy must attempt to oust corrupt officials and repressive regimes and replace them with the ones led by just Islamic jurists. Unhappy at the mistreatment of Shia clerics by the Baathist regime, he sought permission in 1972 to leave for Lebanon, but was denied it.
In 1975 he attacked the inauguration of a single party, the Rastakhiz [q.v.], in Iran. His call was taken up by many clergy and theological students. As a result of a rapprochement between Iraq and Iran in the wake of the Algiers Accord [q.v.], the number of Iranian pilgrims to Najaf and Karbala [q.v.] rose sharply; and this made it easier for Khomeini to guide his followers in their anti-shah campaign through smuggled tape recordings. These audio tapes became all the more important as the revolutionary process, consisting of massive and repeated demonstrations and strikes, gathered momentum through successive stages, from February 1977 to October 1978, when he was exiled to France.
The turning point in the movement had come in January 1978, when a scurrilous attack on him in a Tehran-based pro-government newspaper inflamed popular feelings and placed the initiative in the ongoing struggle firmly with Khomeini. He made astute use of Shia history and Iranian nationalism to engender and intensify anti-royalist militancy among a rapidly growing circle of Iranians. He showed considerable shrewdness in uniting various disparate forces along the most radical demand—the deposition of the shah—and in causing the disintegration of the 413,000-strong military of the regime.
By November 1978, operating from Neuphle-le-Chateau, a Paris suburb, he had put the shah on the defensive, and the economy, crippled by the stoppage of vital oil exports, was in a tailspin. On 13 January 1979, three days before the shah's final departure from Iran, he appointed the Islamic Revolutionary Council (IRC) to facilitate the formation of a provisional government to produce a constitution for an Islamic republic in Iran.
On his return to Tehran on 1 February 1979, Khomeini appointed Mahdi Bazargan [q.v.], a member of the IRC, as prime minister. Following a referendum, based on universal suffrage, he announced the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran on 1 April. In August an elected Assembly of Experts (1979) [q.v.] debated the draft constitution, which incorporated the principle that Islamic jurisprudents would provide the leadership of the republic. Khomeini was named marja-e taqlid (Arabic: source of emulation) [q.v.], leading mujtahid [q.v.], and the (Supreme) Leader.
He first isolated and then repressed all non-Islamic forces that had backed the revolutionary movement. He was equally hostile to the Mujahedin-e Khalq [q.v.], which combined Islam [q.v.] with Marxism. He turned against President Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr [q.v.] when the latter tried to foster a constituency outside the Khomenist circles. Having brought about Bani-Sadr's dismissal, constitutionally, Khomeini endorsed only those candidates for the presidency— Muhammad Ali Rajai [q.v.] and Ali Husseini Khamanei [q.v.]—who were his proven acolytes.
In the early crisis-ridden years of the Islamic Republic, he provided strong leadership and showed ruthlessness in crushing opposition, bent on either staging a military coup against the regime (the monarchist strategy) or triggering a civil war (the Mujahedin-e Khalq strategy).
Convinced that Iran could never be truly independent until it had excised American influence from all walks of Iranian life, he kept up his campaign against the United States, the prime source to him of moral corruption and imperialist domination, describing it routinely as the "Great Satan." He was pleased when, following the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in November 1979 and the taking of diplomats as hostages, Washington cut off its diplomatic links with Iran. By refusing to sanction the release of the American diplomats before the U.S. presidential election in November 1980, Khomeini highlighted the weakness of President Jimmy Carter, thereby drastically reducing his chance of reelection.
Khomeini was incensed when neither the United Nations nor the Islamic Conference Organization (ICO) [q.v.] condemned Iraq's invasion of Iran in September 1980. However, Iraq's aggression helped him to rally Iranians on a patriotic platform, and make his fractious supporters sink their differences on how to run the country, especially the economy. Conscious of the cementing effect of the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.], he repeatedly rejected offers of mediation and a ceasefire.
His attempts to export Islamic revolution to the neighboring countries failed. The Gulf monarchs, all Sunni [q.v.], managed to sideline Khomini by successfully portraying him as a Shia leader of a non-Arab country. The only success he had in this regard was among the Shias of Lebanon. At home he managed to keep together the moderates and radicals within the ruling establishment by intermittently favoring one side and then the other. When he realized that the governing Islamic Republican Party (IRP) [q.v.] had become incurably faction-ridden, he ordered its disbandment in 1987.
His radicalism did not blind him to reality. The military setbacks suffered by Iran in its war with Iraq in the spring of 1988 made him realize that, if he did not stop fighting, the Islamic Republic would disintegrate. That led him to accept the U.N.-brokered cease-fire in July 1988. Nonetheless this was a bitter blow, described by him as "taking poison." He died within a year of taking that decision— on 3 June 1989. He left behind an Iran with its territorial integrity intact, its Islamic regime well-entrenched, but its economy shattered.
Khouri, Bishara (1890–1964): Lebanese politician, president 1943–52 Born into a Maronite [q.v.] family in Beirut [q.v.], Khouri went to Paris to pursue his law studies. Returning home in 1911, he set up a legal practice. It was interrupted by World War I, when he left for Egypt. After returning to Beirut in 1919, he briefly practiced as a lawyer, and then joined the judicial system, becoming a judge in 1923.
When the republican constitution went into effect under the French Mandate in 1927, Khouri was named interior minister, and then promoted to prime minister (1927–29). In 1932, when he was about to succeed Charles Debbas as president, the French suspended the constitution. This turned him into a nationalist. He demanded a return to the constitution. When this happened in 1936, he ran for the presidency but lost to Emile Edde by a thin margin. The constitution was suspended again by the pro-German government of France, based in Vichy, which assumed power in 1940. It was only after the Vichy forces were defeated by the Allies in Lebanon that the Free French reinstated the constitution.
He led the Christian [q.v.] camp in its dispute with the Muslim [q.v.] camp about sharing parliamentary seats. After the matter had been settled with the National Pact [q.v.] in March 1943, and approved by the Free French government, Khouri was elected president, unopposed, in September for a six-year term. Before the end of his office he instigated an amendment to the constitution to allow a second presidential term. This proved controversial, especially when it followed widespread charges of poll-rigging in the 1947 parliamentary election. It inspired a concerted campaign by the opposition, which accused him of corruption. Unable to withstand rising popular pressure, he resigned in September 1952, midway through his second term.
At home he co-opted urban Muslim leaders in administering the state; he aligned his foreign policies with those of the Arab hinterland, and participated in the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.].
khums (Arabic: one-fifth): religious tithe applicable to Shia Muslims One of the several duties incumbent upon Shias [q.v.], khums, amounting to one-fifth of a believer's trading profits, should be used for charitable purposes. Often a Shia hands over this amount to his marja-e taqlid (Arabic: source of emulation) [q.v.], a leading mujtahid [q.v.] whose interpretations of the Sharia [q.v.] he has agreed to accept, and who uses these sums for social welfare.
kibbutzim (Hebrew: communes; singular, kibbutz): rural communes in Palestine/Israel Kibbutz is the term used for a settlement centered on a village and based on communal ownership of the means of production, with each member supplied with his/her personal needs. Sometimes the term kvutzah (plural, kvutzot) is used. Early Zionists [q.v.] thought collective or cooperative settlements to be the best way to reclaim Palestine [q.v.], and they established the first kibbutz in 1909 during the second aliya (1904–14), a wave of migration into Palestine. In the course of the third aliya (1919–23) collectivism became popular within the labor movement. During the subsequent aliya (1924–31) there was a split in the kibbutz movement, with the moderates being prepared to coexist with an expanding private sector and the radicals resolving to establish a countrywide commune.
Initially most of these settlements were affiliated to a federation called the Kibbutz Muhad (Hebrew: United Kibbutz), which was controlled by Mapai [q.v.]. But in 1927, with the formation of HaShomer Hatzair (Hebrew: The Young Guard), a revolutionary socialist group, nearly half of the kibbutzim affiliated to the left-wing federation called Kibbutz Artzi (Hebrew: Countrywide Kibbutz). At the end of the fifth aliya (1932–40), some 25,000 Jews, forming about 5 percent of the Jewish population, lived in kibbutizm or kvutzot.
During World War II many of their members joined the Jewish units of the British army. When Haganah [q.v.] decided to form the elite Palmah [q.v.] units, the Kibbutz Muhad helped with the project.
After the founding of Israel in May 1948 the importance of kibbutzim in absorbing new arrivals declined sharply. In 1949 the concept of combining collectivism with military defense was realized in Nahal (acronym of Noar Halutzi Lohem; Hebrew: Fighting Pioneer Youth) settlements. The first Nahal settlement in Upper Galilee in 1951 was followed by many others in the border areas. In 1967 the Kibbutz Artzi, with 28,800 members on 76 settlements, became the largest kibbutz federation, followed by Ihud HaKvutzot HaKibbutzim (Hebrew: The Union of Kvutzot and Kibbutzim), with 25,300 members in 76 settlements, and the Kibbutz Muhad, with 22,800 members in 58 settlements.
After the economic boom of 1968, labor shortages in Israel led many kibbutzim to break with the past and employ Arab [q.v.] labor. The number of kibbutzim fell from 300 in 1976 to about 250 in 1993, when, housing only 2.5 percent of Israel's population, they produced 40 percent of its agricultural and 8 percent of its industrial output. These figures declined further during the 1990s.
In 2010, nearly 127,000 Israelis, forming 1.6 percent of the population, lived on 270 kibbutzim, producing nearly 40 percent of the nation's agricultural output and 9 percent of its industrial output.
King-Crane Commission (1919): U.S. commission on the Middle East Pursuing the self-determination doctrine he had been advocating, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, at the Paris Peace Conference of the Council of Four in March 1919, proposed that an Allied Commission on Mandates in (Ottoman) Turkey—consisting of American, British, French, and Italian members—be sent to the Middle East [q.v.] to consult the inhabitants on their political future. The Peace Conference endorsed the idea. But since the French were really against it, and the British were at best lukewarm, three of the four Allied members soon withdrew from the Commission. As a result only the U.S. appointees (Dr Henri King, president of Oberlin College, Ohio, and Charles Crane, a businessman interested in Christian missions in the Middle East) left for the region in May.
King and Crane received numerous petitions from varied quarters, and interviewed all political leaders in Syria and Palestine [q.v.]. In their report, submitted in August, they concluded that an overwhelming majority, while opposed to the concept of Mandate, agreed that there was a need for foreign assistance, provided it came from the United States or, as a second alternative, Britain. They recommended a single Mandate for a United Syria consisting of Syria and Palestine, provided the Mandate was for a limited period and its holder did not act as a colonial power. They further recommended that Faisal bin Hussein [q.v.] should become king of United Syria and that Iraq should have an Arab monarch.
While sympathizing with Zionist aspirations and plans, they concluded that the "extreme Zionist program must be greatly modified if the civil and religious rights of the non-Jewish inhabitants of Palestine are to be protected in accordance with the terms of the Balfour Declaration [q.v.]." After discussions with Zionist leaders in Jerusalem [q.v.] they had concluded that "the Zionists [q.v.] looked forward to a practically complete dispossession of the present non-Jewish inhabitants of Palestine, by various forms of purchase." They therefore recommended that "Jewish immigration should be definitely limited and the project of making Palestine a distinctly Jewish commonwealth should be given up. There would then be no reason why Palestine could not be included in a united Syrian state." Britain and France ignored the report.
Since the U. S. withdrew from the Peace Conference in December 1919—a preamble to its refusal to join the League of Nations, which was formed the following month—the report lost its importance. It was not until December 1922 that it was published unofficially.
Knesset (Hebrew: Assembly): Parliament of Israel The Knesset and government of Israel evolved out of the People's Council, which was formed according to a joint decision by the National Council of the Jewish Community in Palestine and the Executive Committee of the Jewish Agency [q.v.] on 1 March 1948. The People's Council's 37 members, appointed on 15 April 1948, came from the National Council of the Jewish Community, the Jewish Agency Executive Committee, and other groups not represented in either of these bodies. Of these 13 were chosen to form the People's Administration.
On 15 May 1948, the end of the British Mandate in Palestine, the People's Council became the Provisional State Council, and the People's Administration the provisional government of the State of Israel. The Provisional State Council passed a law for the election of 120 members to the Constituent Assembly. Following this election in January 1949, the Constituent Assembly adopted a Transition Law, which specified a unicameral parliament, to be called the Knesset, of 120 deputies, elected by universal suffrage using a proportional representation system, with the whole country forming a single constituency and the election threshold at 1 percent. The Constituent Assembly then transformed itself into the First Knesset.
It was not until 1958 that the "Basic Law: the Knesset" was passed. It gave the Knesset the same powers as exercised by the British parliament, i.e., the Knesset is sovereign, and its authority in legislative and other affairs is unlimited. Its tenure is four years, but it can dissolve itself before that. No quorum is needed. It elects the state president (a constitutional head) for a five-year term by a simple majority of those present and voting. The president invites the leader of the largest group in the Knesset to form a government. Once he or she has succeeded in doing so, with himself/herself as the prime minister, and secured a vote of confidence in the Knesset, the cabinet is sworn in within a week. Starting with the 1992 Knesset election, the election threshold was raised to 1.5 percent with a view to reducing political parties. When this did not happen, the Knesset passed a law mandating direct election for the prime minister, who then cobbled together a coalition government. The first such election took place in 1996 along with the one for the Knesset, with the second such set of elections held in 1999. There was no decrease in the number of groups winning parliamentary seats. In 2001, however, there was only the prime ministerial contest, the last such exercise. In 2003 the electoral system reverted to the old arrangement with the election threshold raised from 1.5 percent to 2 percent.
Komala-e Jaan-e Kordestan (Kurdish: Association of Revival of Kurdistan): Kurdish Organization in Iran During the Soviet occupation of northern Iran (1941–46), nationalist Kurds secretly established the Ko-mala-e Jaan-e Kordestan, often called Komala, in 1943 in Mahabad. It had the support of the Soviet forces. Following the founding of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) [q.v.] in 1945, Komala members joined it after dissolving their group. It was revived as the Kurdish wing of the Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist) in 1969.
Under the leadership of Jaafar Shafii it participated in the 1977–78 revolutionary movement. In its strongholds in the northern Kurdish area it seized power through Revolutionary Komitehs [q.v.]. After the 1979 revolution it allied with the KDP and the followers of Shaikh Izz al-Din Husseini, a Mahabad-based Sunni [q.v.] religious leader, and demanded autonomy for the Kurds. When this was rejected by the Islamic regime in Tehran [q.v.], it took up arms against it. Government persecution followed.
In the confrontation between Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.] and President Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr [q.v.] in 1981, it sided with the latter. It then joined the National Resistance Council [q.v.]. As the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) [q.v.] dragged on, Komala started to cooperate with Iraq. Therefore, Iran often combined its offensives against Iraq in the northern sector with attacks on Komala strongholds. After the war Komala merged into the Communist Party of Iran, and became the Kordestan Organization of the Communist Party of Iran (KOCPI). Following the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], it moved its base to Iraqi Kurdistan near Suleimaniyah, then administered by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) [q.v.]. But, once the PUK had decided on repairing its strained relations with Iran in September 1996 after suffering a humiliating defeat by the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party [q.v.], the KOPCI lost its base in Iraq—and with it any importance it had.
Koran: See Quran.
Kordestan (Iran): See Kurdistan (Iran).
Kordestan Democratic Party of Iran: See Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran.
Kufa: Iraqi town Population: 110,000 (2011 est.) Situated north of Najaf [q.v.], Kufa lies along the banks of the Euphrates [q.v.] and has a history dating back to antiquity. A military base of Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] in Mesopotamia [q.v.], Kufa grew in importance during early Islam [q.v. ]. It was a center of rebellion against Caliph Othman (r. 644–656 A.D.), and a bastion of support for Ali bin Abu Talib in his struggle for the caliphate against Muwaiya bin Abu Sufian, which led to the battle of Siffin. It was in the main mosque of Kufa that Ali bin Abu Talib was assassinated in 661 A.D.
It remained a leading political-military center until 750 A.D. when it turned into a cultural center. This lasted for a century, during which it nurtured such scholars as Abu Hanifa al-Numan (d. 767 A.D.), the founder of the Hanafi Code [q.v.]. It then became the cradle of Shia Islam [q.v.] for the next century. With the emergence of Najaf and Karbala [q.v.] as leading Shia holy shrines, the religious significance of Kufa declined. But the importance of its Great Mosque remained undiminished.
During the Baathist rule of Iraq (1968–2003), Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr often delivered his Friday prayer sermon at the town's Great Mosque, demanding the release of Shia political prisoners and religious freedom. After the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in 2003 [q.v.], this mosque became the bastion of the followers of Muqtada al-Sadr [q.v.].
Kurdish Democratic Party (Iraq): See Kurdistan Democratic Party (Iraq).
Kurdish language: The language of Kurds [q.v.], Kurdish is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Eastern/Satem division of the Indo-European languages. Spoken in Kurdistan [q.v.], its northern dialect is called Kermanji and the southern Surani, the latter being the literary form of the language. It is written in Arabic script using the Persian alphabet. In the Soviet Republic of Armenia, a modified version of the Cyrillic script was used for Kurdish.
Kurdish Republic of Mahabad (1945–46): See Kurdistan Republic (1945–46).
Kurdish Revolutionary Party (Iraq): a breakaway group of the Kurdistan Democratic Party The Kurdish Revolutionary Party (KRP) was formed in 1964 in protest against the authoritarian leadership of Mustafa Barzani [q.v.]. After the agreement of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) with Baghdad in 1970, many KRP members returned to the parent body. But when the KDP failed to join the institutions inaugurated by the 1970 accord, there was a reverse flow led by Obeidallah Barzani, a son of Mustafa. The KRP had by then joined the National Progressive and Patriotic Front [q.v.], which collapsed after the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in 2003 [q.v.].
Kurdistan (Kurdish/Persian: Place of Kurds): Geographically, Kurdistan means the Kurdish-majority region in southwest Asia. It covers about 193,000 sq. mi./500,000 sq. km spread over northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, the northeastern corner of Syria, southeastern Turkey, the Nakhichevan enclave of Azerbaijan, and southern Armenia. The estimated number of Kurds living in these countries in 2011 was 28 million: Turkey, 15 million; Iraq, 6 million; Iran, 5.3 million; Syria 1.4 million; and Azerbaijan and Armenia, 0.3 million.
Kurdistan (Iran): Iranian province (Also spelled Kordestan) Area 9652 sq. mi./24,998 sq. km; population, 1.574 million (2006 census). Established in 1961, Kurdistan is bordered by West Azerbaijan to its north, Gilan and Hamdan to its east, Kerman to its south, and Iraq to its west. Its population is predominantly Kurdish.
Kurdistan Autonomous Region (Iraq): Area 14,923 sq. mi./38,650 sq. km; population, 4.9 million (2011 est.). An agreement between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) [q.v.] and the Iraqi government in March 1970 led to a Kurdistan Autonomous Region (KAR) being inaugurated four years later. Consisting of three Kurdish-majority governorates of Dohak, Irbil, and Suleimaniyah in the north-northwest, it had an 80-member Legislative Council and an Executive Council. The legislative deputies are elected, but the Executive Council members and chairman were appointed by the central government in Baghdad [q.v.]. Elections to the Legislative Council were held in September 1980, August 1986, and September 1989.
Kurdish [q.v.] was the official language for administration and education, and Arabic [q.v.] was the compulsory language in schools.
After the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.] the Baghdad government was deprived by the actions of the United States, Britain, and France (including the imposition of "no fly" restrictions) of its control of the KAR, which began to function as a semi-independent entity. Fresh elections in May 1992 led to the sharing of power by the Kurdistan Democratic Party [q.v.] and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [q.v.], with the new government adopting its own flag. The power-sharing arrangement broke down after two years, and the American plan to develop the region as the springboard for overthrowing the Baathist regime was scuttled in 1996. Following the general election in 1996, the region split into two, with one part ruled by the KDP and the other by the PUK.
In the post-Saddam Hussein [q.v.] era, the KDP and the PUK formed a coalition, along with smaller parties, called the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan. In the January 2005 elections the Alliance won 104 of the 111 seats in the parliament. These deputies elected Masoud Barzani [q.v.] as president of the autonomous region now renamed Iraqi Kurdistan. It maintained its own armed forces. After the December 2005 elections held under the new national constitution, Nechirvan Idris Barzani of the KDP became the prime minister. His cabinet's unilateral decision to sign oil prospecting and extracting contracts with foreign companies was questioned by the central government in Baghdad, and created tensions. In 2007 the Kurdistan Regional Government established its lobbying office in Washington.
In the July 2009 election for the regional Assembly, the KDP-PUK alliance, now called the Kurdistan List, won only 59 seats because of the widespread perception of corruption in the coalition government, with the opposition Change party gaining 25, and Service and Reform alliance 13, followed by the Islamic movement's two—with 11 seats reserved for ethnic minorities parties: Turkmen [q.v.], 5; Assyrian Christians [q.v.], 5; and Armenian [q.v.], 1. In the presidential contest on the basis of popular vote, Masoud Barzani won 70 percent of the ballots. See also Kurds (Iraq), Kurdistan Democratic Party, and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
Kurdistan Democratic Party (Iraq): (Official Kurdish title, Partiya Demokrata Kurdistan) In the interregnum between the demise of the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad [q.v.] in December 1946 and his crossing into the Soviet Union from Iran in June 1947, Mustafa Barzani [q.v.] set the guidelines for an Iraq-based Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) [q.v. ]. Inspired by Marxism-Leninism, it would dedicate itself to liberating Iraq from foreign imperialism and domestic reaction, and would fight for Kurdish autonomy within Iraq.
After the July 1958 revolution, Barzani was allowed to return home. He backed the new regime under Abdul Karim Qasim [q.v.], who legalized the KDP. The KDP renamed itself the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in 1959. But when Barzani advanced a plan for Kurdish autonomy, Qasim rejected it. In September 1961 he mounted an offensive against the strongholds of the KDP. During the subsequent years, despite changes in the regimes in Baghdad [q.v.], relations between the central government and the KDP remained poor.
In March 1969 the KDP resumed its armed struggle against the central government, now run by the Baath Party [q.v.]. The fighting ended a year later with an accord that was to be implemented over a four-year period. It conceded to several of the KDP's demands, including recognition of Kurdish ethnicity on a par with Arab [q.v.], and the official use of Kurdish [q.v.] in Kurdish-majority areas. But due to mistrust on both sides, the pact failed to hold.
After March 1974, when the government created the promised Kurdistan Autonomous Region (KAR) [q.v.], the KDP went on a warpath. Fighting ensued anew. This time the KDP had the backing of Iran's Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.], who wanted to weaken the pro-Moscow regime in Iraq. By early 1975 four-fifths of Iraq's 100,000 troops and nearly half of its 1,390 tanks were pinned down by 45,000 Kurdish guerrillas. The conflict threatened to escalate into a full-scale war between Iran and Iraq. To avert this, the two countries signed the Algiers Accord [q.v.], which resulted in Iran's stopping military and logistical aid to the KDP. Barzani escaped to Iran.
The KDP leadership passed on to Barzani's sons, Idris and Masoud [q.v.]. When they moved into Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution [q.v.], Teheran began to provide them with aid. The outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.] in 1980 compelled Baghdad to reduce its troops in the Kurdish areas. This led to an expansion in the Iraqi border area under KDP control. The KDP beg an to increase its cooperation with Iran. With the death of Idris Barzani in 1987, Masoud became the KDP's sole leader. During the Iran-Iraq War it set up liberated zones, totaling 4,000 square mi./10,360 sq. km, along the Iraqi border with Iran. In retaliation, in February 1988 Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] unleashed a seven-month-long campaign of vengeance against KDP strongholds that affected 3,800 villages, and reclaimed the lost area.
KDP leaders escaped to Iran or Syria, but during the crisis created by Iraq's occupation of Kuwait in August 1990, which drew most of the Iraqi troops away from the KAR, they returned to the region. When Iraq was defeated in the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], Masoud Barzani led a Kurdish rebellion against Baghdad. Its suppression caused a massive exodus of Kurds into Turkey and Iran, and the intervention of the Unites States-led anti-Iraq coalition.
Barzani's subsequent talks with Baghdad failed. Protected by the air forces of the U.S., Britain, and France, the KDP along with other Kurdish parties, held Legislative Council elections in May 1992. The KDP, commanding 25,000 troops and backed by 30,000 militiamen, shared power equally with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) [q.v.]. Two years later the arrangement broke down, with KDP and PUK partisans clashing violently. To reduce the PUK's area of control, the KDP began to ally itself with the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan.
Yet the traditional rivalry between the two parties continued. In May 1994 intra-Kurdish clashes left over 1,000 people dead. It was not until six months later that, assisted by mediators, Barzani worked out a modus vivendi with Talabani. But Barzani's relations with his rival soured again when their two factions took opposite positions in the anti-Saddam coup plans in March 1995. With this, Kurdistan divided into two hostile zones. By September, Barzani's jurisdiction was reduced to a third of the region. But with the illicit Iraqi oil supplies passing through his territory, providing hefty customs duties, Barzani had much cash, part of which he used to buy arms and ammunition, some of them from Saddam Hussein.
Talabani's rapprochement with Iran upset both Barzani and Saddam Hussein. When Talabani, freshly armed with Iranian-supplied weapons, attacked KDP's positions in August 1996, Barzani appealed to Saddam for military assistance to retake Irbil [q.v.] from Talabani. Saddam obliged. Barzani captured not only Irbil but all of Talabani's territory, only to lose all except Irbil when Talabani, armed by Iran, counterattacked.
The unprecedented intra-Kurdish violence undermined the American strategy of developing Kurdistan as the base for overthrowing Saddam. The U.S. withdrew its agents and funds from the area. Washington's efforts to conciliate the two rivals were successful only partially because Barzani refused to share the large customs duties he collected on the illicit export of Iraqi oil to Turkey. After the passage of the Iraq Liberation Act by U.S. Congress in 1998, he found the KDP certified as a faction that was entitled to Washington's military aid.
When, after defeating the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in December 2001, the U.S. administration of President George W. Bush turned its attention to ousting Saddam's government by force, the importance of Barzani as well as Talabani rose. The KDP cooperated actively with the invading Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
In the post-Saddam Hussein period, it became an integral part of the successive government that followed, with one its leaders, Hoshyar Zebari, becoming foreign minister in 2003 in the Iraqi Governing Council and then all the subsequent governments. Barzani was elected president of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region in 2005, and reelected four years later. See also Masoud Barzani and Kurdistan Autonomous Region (Iraq)
Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran: Iranian political party In September 1945, when Iran's Kurdish region was under Soviet occupation, the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) (Kurdish: Hizbi Demokirati Kurdistani Iran) was established in Mahabad by Qazi Muhammad, who had led an autonomous local council since 1941. The KDP demanded autonomy for the Kurds within Iran. Three months later it founded the State of Republic of Kurdistan/Kordestan (Kurdish: Dawlat-e Jumhouri-ye Kurdistan), popularly known as the the National Government of Kordestan (Kurdish: Hukumat-e Milli Kurdistan) and often labeled by outsiders as the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad. Qazi Muhammad was appointed president. The republic lasted a year before being overthrown by the forces of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] after the Soviet withdrawal in May 1946. The KDP went underground.
With a mild revival of armed resistance against the shah in the early 1970s, the party, now renamed the Kordestan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), began to flex its muscles. A complicating factor entered the equation when the shah began to arm Kurdish autonomists in Iraq in 1973–74, a policy that ended with the Algiers Accord [q.v.] of 1975.
The KDPI participated in the revolutionary movement of 1977–78, when local power was seized in northern Kurdish areas by the Revolutionary Komitehs [q.v.], composed of the followers of Shaikh Izz al-Din Husseini, a Mahabad-based Sunni [q.v.] religious leader, and KDPI members.
After the revolution, when the central government, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], tried to establish control in the Kurdish areas, the KDPI resisted. At its congress in April 1980 the KDPI demanded the use of the Kurdish language [q.v.] in schools, offices, and courts, and the redrawing of provincial borders to include all Kurds in one province. Efforts to reach a compromise with Tehran failed, and fighting broke out between the two sides.
The Iraqi invasion of Iran in September 1980 helped Khomeini in that it created a surge of nationalism in which ethnic differences were forgotten, for the time being. The KDPI backed President Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr [q.v.] in his confrontation with Khomeini in June 1981, and lost. Later both the KDPI and Komala [q.v.] joined the National Resistance Council [q.v.], headed by Bani-Sadr and Masoud Rajavi [q.v.].
As the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) [q.v.] dragged on, the KDPI began to side with Iraq. Its leader, Abdul Rahman Qasimlou, tried to reconcile Baghdad with its Kurdish nationalists, and managed to get the central government and Jalal Talabani [q.v.] of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [q.v.] to negotiate in 1984–85. The talks failed. After the war, Talabani brokered a meeting between Qasimlou and Iranian officials in Vienna, Austria, in the autumn of 1989. Qasimlou was assassinated in Vienna, allegedly by Iranian agents. But the KDPI, having a 10,000-strong militia, withstood the shock.
Following the establishment of the no-fly zones in northern Iraq by America and Britain in late 1991, the Iraqi PUK began providing refuge to the KDPI forces, with their headquarters in the Iraqi border town of Qala Diza. They made a point of killing the personnel of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, which in turn hit back. It was against this background that KDPI chief Sadiq Sharaf-Kindi and his three colleagues were murdered at a restaurant in Berlin in September 1992 by Kazem Darabi, an Iranian intelligence agent and his four Lebanese cohorts.
Tension between the KDPI and Iran rose sharply after Washington's adoption of the Dual Containment policy [q.v.] in May 1993. This continued until the summer of 1996 when Talabani reached a rapprochement with Tehran in order to get even with the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party [q.v.] of Masoud Barzani [q.v.]. The Iranian forces then captured the KDPI stronghold inside Iraqi Kurdistan at Koy Sanjak, delivering an almost fatal blow to the group by reducing its fighting force to about 1,500.
It remained a member of the National Resistance Council. After the disputed presidential election in June 2009, its supporters joined a one-day protest strike in the Kurdish areas of Iran.
Kurdistan Republic (1945–46): Official title: State of Republic of Kurdistan (Kurdish: Dawlat-e Jumhouri-ye Kurdistan), popularly known as the National Government of Kurdistan (Kurdish: Hukumat-e Milli Kurdistan). It was formed in December 1945 by the Kurdish Democratic Party [q.v.], with Qazi Muhammad as its president and Mustafa Barzani [q.v.] as its commander-in-chief. Its capital was Mahabad. Kurdish [q.v.] became the official language in the government and schools, and the Iranian imperial army was replaced by a national army. The republic was overthrown by the forces of Tehran in December 1946, seven months after the Soviet troops, stationed in the area since August 1941, had withdrawn.
Kurds: Kurds are members of an ethnic group that inhabit the Zagros and Taurus Mountains of southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and the adjacent areas in Syria and Nakhichevan. Descendants of Indo-European tribes, they appear in the history of the early empires of Mesopotamia [q.v.], where they are described as "Kardouchoi." They trace their distinct history as mountain people to the seventh century B.C., and this has been substantiated by recent excavations at Saaqez in Iran. These show Saaqez as the capital of a Kurdish region that was part of the Scythian Empire, from the ninth to the third century B.C. It was not until the seventh century A.D. that they embraced Islam [q.v.]. Like Persians, who also embraced Islam, they retained their language, but unlike them they remained predominantly Sunni [q.v.].
The Kurdish general, Salah al-Din (Saladin) Ayubi, overpowered the Shia [q.v.] Fatimid dynasty in Egypt and established the Ayubid dynasty (1169–1250). During the Ottoman and Persian Empires there were periodic uprisings by Kurds against the central power. Kurdish nationalism manifested itself in the late 19th century inter alia in the publication of the first periodical in Kurdish (1897). Because the Treaty of Sèvres (1920) [q.v.], which specified an autonomous Kurdistan, was not ratified, and because the subsequent Treaty of Lausanne (1923) [q.v.] made no mention of it, the aspirations of Kurdish nationalists remained unfulfilled. See also Kurds in Iran, Kurds in Iraq, and Kurds in Syria.
Kurds in Iran: Nationally, Kurds make up about 7 percent of the Iranian population of 75 million. They are predominant in Kurdistan [q.v.] and are a substantial community in the provinces of East Azerbaijan (population, 3.62 million), West Azerbaijan (population, 2.95 million), Kerman (population, 2.66 million), and Ilam (population, 0.55 million). During the rule of the Pahlavi dynasty [q.v.], the teaching of Kurdish in schools was banned. See also Komala and Kurdistan Democratic Party (Iran).
Kurds in Iraq: Nationally, Kurds [q.v.] account for 18 percent of the Iraqi population. Of the 6 million Kurds in the country in 2011, nearly two-thirds were in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region [q.v.]. By amalgamating (in December 1925) the predominantly Kurdish province of Mosul, which was part of Turkey before World War I, with Baghdad and Basra (former provinces of Mesopotamia [q.v. ]) to create modern Iraq, the British unwittingly engendered a Kurdish problem for the enlarged country. In 1927 the importance of Mosul province rose sharply when a British-dominated company struck oil near Kirkuk.
During World War II, Mustafa Barzani [q.v.] led a failed rebellion. He fled to Iran, and later to the Soviet Union. Following the 1958 coup in Iraq, he returned home and backed the new republican regime. In exchange Baghdad legalized the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) [q.v.] and promulgated a constitution that stated: "Arabs and Kurds are associated in this nation." But when Barzani advanced an autonomy plan, Baghdad rejected it. Fighting broke out between the two sides in September 1961 and continued until June 1966, when an agreement granted official recognition of the Kurdish language [q.v.] and proportional representation of Kurds in the civil service.
However, the accord failed to dissipate mutual mistrust. In March 1969 the KDP resumed its armed struggle against the central government, now run by the Baath Party [q.v.]. The fighting ended a year later with an accord that was to be implemented over the next four years. The constitution of July 1970 recognized Kurds as one of the two nationalities of Iraq, and Kurdish as one of the two languages in the Kurdish region. But once again the agreement failed to hold.
Ignoring the non-cooperation of the KDP, the Baghdad government enforced the Kurdish autonomy law in March 1974, including the appointment of a Kurd, Taha Muhyi al-Din Maruf, a diplomat, as a vice president of the republic; the formation of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region (KAR) [q.v.], comprising the provinces of Dohak, Irbil, and Suleimaniyah; and establishment of the (largely nominated) Kurdistan Legislative Council.
Fighting erupted again. This time the KDP had the active backing of Iran's Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.], who wanted to weaken the pro-Moscow regime in Baghdad. At one point the KDP controlled a third of the KAR, and its 45,000 guerrillas pinned down four-fifths of Iraq's 100,000 troops and nearly half of its 1,390 tanks. The conflict resulted in 60,000 civilian and military casualties, the destruction of 40,000 homes in 700 villages, and 300,000 refugees. To avert the danger of the conflict escalating into a full-scale war between Iran and Iraq, the two countries signed the Algiers Accord [q.v.] in March 1975, which resulted in Iran's cutting off military and logistical aid to the KDP. Barzani escaped to Iran.
During the 1980–88 Iran-Iraq War [q.v.] the activities of the Kurdish insurgents, allied with Tehran, compelled Iraq to deploy divisions in the north to the detriment of its war effort elsewhere. Taking advantage of the pressure of war on Baghdad, the KDP (now led by Masoud Barzani [q.v.]) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) [q.v.], headed by Jalal Talabani [q.v.], set up liberated zones along the borders with Iran and Turkey. Starting in February 1988, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] unleashed a seven-month campaign of vengeance against KDP strongholds, involving the use of chemical weapons and affecting 3,800 villages. He reclaimed the area that had been lost to the insurgents, and the Kurdish leaders escaped to Iran or Syria.
During the crisis created by Iraq's occupation of Kuwait in August 1990, which drew most of the troops away from the KAR, the KDP leaders returned to Kurdistan. After Iraq's defeat in the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], the Kurdish nationalists persuaded the 100,000-strong local Iraqi army auxiliary force, made up of Kurds, to change sides. Within a week the rebels controlled the KAR and large parts of the oil-rich province of Tamim, including its capital, Kirkuk. In late March a government counterattack reversed the situation, causing an exodus of 1.5 million Kurds into Iran and Turkey.
Having fully regained the region, Baghdad signed a truce with the insurgents in mid-April. In the subsequent talks with the central government, Barzani, acting as leader of the Iraqi Kurdistan Front (IKF), reached a draft agreement in June whereby the Kurds would have predominant military and political authority over the KAR, with joint control of the army and police by the Kurdish authorities and Baghdad. In return the Kurds had to surrender their heavy weapons and cut all links with outside powers. But, despite further clarification of the agreement from Baghdad, Barzani failed to win the approval of the majority of IKF leaders.
With 16,000 Western troops deployed in the 3,600 sq. mi./9,325 sq. km security zone created by the Washington-led anti-Iraq coalition in the Iraqi-Turkish border region, Baghdad was forced to withdraw its forces from the KAR by late October. Even after America, Britain, and France, the three permanent Western members of the UN Security Council, had pulled out their troops from the area by the end of 1991, they continued their air surveillance of Iraq north of latitude 36 degree from the Turkish air base of Incirlik. Thus protected, the Kurds conducted their own elections for parliament in May 1992, and chose their own government, which among other things had its own army, and adopted its own flag. Kurds thus acquired a semi-independent administrative-political entity. See also Kurdistan Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
Kurds in Syria: Nationally, Kurds [q.v.] make up nearly 6 percent of the Syrian population of 22.5 million. Apart from a small community in Damascus [q.v.] dating back to the times of Salah al-Din (Saladin) Ayubi (r. 1169–93), himself a Kurd, they are concentrated in the Jazira region in the northeast corner of the country, and in the mountainous area north of Aleppo [q.v.] among the border with Turkey. Most of them arrived from Turkey during the interwar years, when a Kurdish revolt against the regime of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk failed in 1925.
Mirroring the situation in adjoining Iraq, the Kurds in Syria established the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) in 1957, demanding that Kurds be recognized as an ethnic group entitled to develop its own culture.
Following the merger of Syria with Egypt to form the United Arab Republic (UAR) [q.v.] in 1958, the new pan-Arabist regime repressed the KDP. This policy continued after Syria seceded from the UAR in 1961. A special census conducted in Jazira in late 1962 deprived 120,000 Kurds of Syrian nationality. After the pan-Arabist [q.v.] Baath Party [q.v.] seized power in 1963, the government expelled many of the Kurds along the Turkish frontier and stripped many thousands of others of their Syrian nationality. It joined the Iraqi Baath [q.v.] government's war against the Kurds, and adopted a policy of settling Arabs in the Jazira region while scattering the local Kurds into the interior, especially after oil had been found in the area. Applied haphazardly, this policy resulted in some 30,000 Jezira Kurds leaving the area by early 1971.
Later that year the government adopted a conciliatory position similar to the one taken by the Iraqi regime in its March 1970 declaration. The Baath congress recognized that the Kurdish and Arab peoples had equal rights and that the Kurds had a right to their own nationality, though not to separation. In late 1971 the government for the first time distributed land-reform land to Kurdish peasants in Jazira. In 1976 President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] officially renounced the population transfer plans for Jazira.
Since then, because of the discovery of oil in Jazira, it has become strategically important to the government. The region has been virtually free from anti-regime protest which started in March 2011. Many Kurdish leaders fear that collapse of a strong central authority would jeopardize the security of such minorities as Kurds and Christians [q.v.], as happened in Iraq after 2003.
Kuwait:
OFFICIAL NAME: State of Kuwait
CAPITAL: Kuwait city
AREA: 6,880 sq. mi./17,820 sq. km—including the Kuwaiti share of the Kuwait-Saudi Arabia Neutral Zone [q.v.], and the Bubiyan and Warba offshore islands with a combined area of 348 sq. mi./900 sq. km
POPULATION: 3.632 million, of which 1.16 million were Kuwaiti nationals (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (nominal): $172.78 billion; per capita, $39,500 (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (Purchasing Power Parity): $136.50 billion; per capita, $37,580 (2011 est.)
NATIONAL CURRENCY: Kuwaiti Dinar (KD); KD1= U.S. $3.60 = £2.31 = €2.70 (2011)
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: monarchy
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Arabic [q.v.]
OFFICIAL RELIGION: Islam [q.v.]
ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS: Kuwait is divided into five governorates (provinces).
CONSTITUTION: After Kuwait's independence on 19 June 1961, the ruler appointed a constituent assembly in December. The constitution drafted by it was promulgated in November 1962. Kuwait is a hereditary emirate (principality) under the ruler of the descendants of Shaikh Mubarak I al-Sabah (d. 1915). The constitution guarantees freedom of opinion, freedom of the press, and the freedom to perform religious rites, and allows the formation of trade unions and peaceful societies that stay within the law. A unicameral National Assembly of 50 members is elected for a four-year term by literate male Kuwaiti citizens who can prove that their family has been domiciled in Kuwait since 1921. The ruler can dissolve the Assembly, provided fresh elections are held within two months.
ETHNIC COMPOSITION (2011): Kuwait Arab, 31 percent; other Arab, 28 percent; South Asian, 37 percent; other, 4 percent.
EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY: Executive authority rests with the emir, who exercises it through a council of ministers. He appoints or dismisses the prime minister, or accepts his resignation. After consultation with the prime minister, the emir appoints or dismisses ministers, or accepts their resignation. Non-parliamentary ministers become ex-officio members of the National Assembly. A minister is responsible to the National Assembly, and, following a vote of no confidence, must resign. The emir is the supreme commander of the military and is authorized to declare defensive war, conclude peace agreements, and sign treaties.
High officials:
Head of state: Shaikh Sabah IV al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, 2006–
Crown prince: Shaikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, 2006–
Prime minister: Shaikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Hamad al-Sabah, 2011–
Speaker of the National Assembly: Ahmad Abdul Aziz al-Sadoun, 2012–
HISTORY (ca 1900): At the turn of the 20th century Kuwait was a British protectorate following a secret treaty between Shaikh Mubarak I al-Sabah (r. 1896–1915) and London in 1899. The Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 [q .v.], which recognized Kuwait as an autonomous caza (Arabic: administrative unit) of the Ottoman Empire under Shaikh Mubarak I, became invalid when the Ottomans joined the Germans in World War I. London now publicly declared Kuwait to be "an independent shaikhdom under British protectorate." After the war the 1922 Protocol of Uqair [q.v.] defined Kuwait's borders and created the Kuwait-Najd [q.v.] (later Saudi Arabia) Neutral Zone. In 1937 the 14-member (elected) Kuwait Legislative Council voted by 10 to 4 for a union with Iraq [q.v.] then ruled by King Ghazi bin Faisal [q.v.]. But nothing changed.
Following the development of the oil industry in Iraq and Iran [q.v.], the trading economy of Kuwait improved. Kuwait's oil exploration bore fruit in 1938 at Burgan, but the wells were plugged during World War II. In the postwar years oil extraction and exports reached commercial proportions. The stoppage of Iran's oil exports from 1951 to 1953 led to a rapid increase in the Kuwaiti output and a rise in local living standards.
Popular demand for political reform, including parliament, was not conceded by the ruler, Shaikh Abdullah III al-Sabah [q. v.], until after political independence in June 1961. He appointed a constituent assembly in December and promulgated the constitution drafted by it in November 1962. Elections to the National Assembly on a limited franchise were held in 1963, 1967, 1971, and 1975.
Over the years the Assembly evolved into an institutional means of expression and access to the main sociopolitical elements—nomadic and sedentary tribes, urban merchants and businessmen, and political intellectuals and professionals. In August 1976 the ruler suspended four articles concerning the National Assembly as well as the Assembly, accusing it of "malicious behavior" and wasting time on legislation, and dissolved the Assembly a year later.
Kuwait prospered from the steep rise in the price of oil in the mid-1970s, and the state set up a national fund for future generations.
Yielding to popular pressure, Shaikh Jaber III al-Sabah [q. v.] reinstated the National Assembly with depleted powers in early 1981. The new parliament proved to be a handmaiden of the ruler. However, in the Sixth National Assembly, elected in early 1985, there were five nationalist-leftists and 11 Islamists [q.v.] in a house of 50. By offering a combined opposition and demanding an official inquiry into the disastrous collapse of the unofficial stock exchange in 1982, involving $97 billion in paper debts, they caused the al-Sabah dynasty [q.v.] some unease. In July 1986 Shaikh Jaber III dissolved the Assembly again.
Once the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) [q.v.], in which Kuwait had sided with Iraq, ended in August 1988, there was agitation for the restoration of the Assembly. When the ruler conceded a 75-member National Council (one-third of whom were nominated), but with the power only to make recommendations, protest continued. The June 1990 election was boycotted by the opposition. This crisis and Kuwait's attempt to weaken Iraq's economy by depressing oil prices by flooding the market were major factors behind Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's [q.v.] decision to invade Kuwait in August 1990.
During the seven months of Iraqi occupation Kuwait suffered wanton damage, and Kuwaitis suffered exile and unprecedented brutality, including rape, summary execution, and arbitrary confiscation of property. The Second Gulf War [q.v.] ended with the U.S.-led coalition expelling Iraq from Kuwait in February 1991. The country's funding of the 1991 Gulf War and its aftermath reduced the Kuwait Investment Authority's assets from $88.5 billion to $31.5 billion. Kuwait was restored to Shaikh Jaber III. He declared 25 February as the National Day of the "liberated" Kuwait which until then was celebrated on 19 June. He held elections to the Seventh National Assembly in October 1992. Of the 50 members, 31 belonged to the opposition, despite the government's success in quickly rebuilding the country's shattered oil economy.
Following Kuwait's signing of a 10-year defense pact with Washington, 5,000 U.S. troops were based in the country. In the recurring crises between Iraq and the United Nations during the 1990s, Kuwait stood out as the only Gulf monarchy that publicly backed Washington's plans to bomb Iraq. At home, due to the recurring conflict between the National Assembly and the cabinet, the ruler dissolved the parliament a year earlier. In the subsequent general election the size of the government supporters fell from 18 to 12. In regional affairs, Kuwait's growing rapprochement with Iran and Iraq was halted by the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in September 2001, followed by President George W. Bush's description of Iran and Iraq as members of the "Axis of Evil."
Kuwait became the forward base for the American and British troops before and during the 2003 Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.]. During this period nearly a third of Kuwait was out of bounds to the local population. Kuwait's close links with America grew tighter. After the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein [q.v.], relations between Kuwait and Iraq improved. Yet, despite Washington's pressure, Kuwait refused to cancel the reparations that Iraq's fallen regime was required to pay it. And it was only in 2008 that Kuwait agreed to exchange ambassadors with Iraq.
The Arab Spring [q.v.] arrived in January 2011 at a time when there was a rising tension between the National Assembly and the cabinet dominated by al-Sabah ruling family amidst allegation of corruption at the highest level of government. Major demonstrations, attracting tens of thousands of protestors, occurred with increasing frequency. At these gatherings, the ruling family was criticized publicly. In November the demonstrators broke into the National Assembly building. The cabinet led by the ruler's nephew, Nasser Muhammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, since 2006, resigned. Shaikh Sabah IV al-Sabah dissolved the parliament and ordered a fresh election. The opposition won more than two-thirds of the seats.
LEGISLATURE: A single-chamber National Assembly of 50 members with four-year tenure is elected by literate male Kuwaiti citizens belonging to families domiciled in Kuwait since 1921. The emir can dissolve the Assembly provided fresh elections are held within two months. But in August 1976 he suspended the four constitutional articles concerning the Assembly and dissolved it in 1977. After its restoration in early 1981, it was suspended again by the emir in July 1986.
Ministers are responsible, individually and collectively, to the Assembly, which must approve bills before the emir promulgates them as laws. If dissatisfied with the prime minister, the National Assembly can convey its lack of confidence in him to the emir, who must then dismiss him or dissolve the Assembly. Though political groups are not permitted, several semi-political organizations are known to exist. In the October 1992 general election, among the factions that secured Assembly seats were the Islamic Constitutional Movement, a moderate Sunni [q.v.] group; the Kuwait Democratic Forum, a secular body; and Salafin [q.v. ], a Sunni fundamentalist group.
In the 1999 general election, when only 113,000 Kuwait males (out of 793,000 Kuwait adult nationals) were entitled to vote, 20 seats were secured by Islamists—both Sunni [q.v.] and Shia [q.v.] (represented by the National Islamic Coalition)—14 by secular liberals, represented by the National Democratic Rally, founded in 1997, and the older Kuwait Democratic Front; 12 by government supporters; and the rest by independents.
In the 2003 parliamentary election, Islamists won 21 seats, liberals 3, and independents 12, reducing the progovernment members to 14. When the majority of legislators demanded to reduce the electoral districts from 25 to 5 in order to enlarge the size of the electorate and thus minimize the chance of vote-buying, which was commonly practiced in the electoral districts of a smaller size, the emir objected. In the spring of 2006 he dissolved the National Assembly, which had earlier enfranchised women.
In the subsequent election held in June, the Sunni Islamic bloc won 17 seats, the populist Popular Bloc 9, and the Liberals 7, reducing the pro-government group to 13. None of the new members were women. Relations between the parliament and the government remained tense. So the Emir dissolved the chamber in 2008. In the next election, which followed within two months of the dissolution of the Assembly, the Sunni Islamic bloc improved its strength to 21, and the Popular Bloc remained steady at 9, with the pro-government members rising to 16. The royalists' failure to gain a majority of the seats kept alive the tension between the legislature and the palace. Once again the emir dissolved the Assembly in March 2009. By now women had won the right to vote. Of the 340,000 voters, 187,000 were women. Sixteen of them stood as candidates. This time the size of the pro-government bloc rose by 5 to 21 at the cost of the Sunni Islamic bloc, with the newly established Shia Islamist bloc gaining six seats. The new National Assembly had four women members. Once again the Assembly was not allowed to complete its four-year term.
The next general election, held in early February 2012 against the background of Islamist parties in Egypt sweeping the polls, resulted in the opposition Islamic groups making headway and the previous women parliamentarians failing to get reelected. Three Sunni Islamist factions, including the Islamic Salafi Alliance and the Islamic Constitutional Movement gained 20 seats, the Popular Action Bloc 9, and Shia Islamists 7, with the pro-government Sunnis, Liberals, and independents reduced collectively to 14 seats. Ahmad Abdul Aziz al-Sadoun, leader of the Popular Action Bloc, was elected speaker.
RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION (2011): Muslims [q.v.], 85 percent, among whom Sunni [q.v.] 70 percent, Shia [q.v.] 30 percent; other (including Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, and Zoroastrian), 15 percent.
Kuwait City: capital of Kuwait Population: 509,700 (2010 est.). Kuwait (Arabic: Little Fort) was founded in 1710 by members of the Anaiza tribal confederation [q.v.] who migrated from the interior of the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.]. In 1776 the (British) East India Company established a base there, and it became an important link in the communication system between India and Britain.
Until 1921 the settlement was surrounded by a mud wall, and its residents lived by fishing, pearling, and trading with India and East Africa. Following the development of the emirate's petroleum industry after World War II, Kuwait city and its environs grew dramatically, a process accelerated by the razing of the mud wall in 1957. It emerged as a prosperous administrative, commercial, and financial center with tree-lined roads, and dotted with parks and gardens.
The damage done to the city during its seven-month occupation by the Iraqis was repaired after the defeat of Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.]. The subsequent reconstruction turned the city into an important regional business center, full of high-quality hotels and shopping malls. Its historical museum contains prehistoric artifacts from Failakah Island.
Kuwaiti-Saudi Neutral Zone: See Saudi Arabia-Kuwait Neutral Zone.
L
Labor Alignment, Israel: Israeli political bloc See Labor-Mapam Alignment.
Labor Islamic Alliance (Egypt): Egyptian political party (Also called Islamic Alliance) On the eve of the April 1987 parliamentary election, the semi-clandestine Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] allied with the opposition Socialist Labor Party [q.v.] and the Liberal Socialist Party [q.v.] to form the Labor Islamic Alliance (LSA). The secular groups joined the alliance in order to meet the electoral threshold of 8 percent of the total vote. Adopting the slogan "Islam is the solution," the LSA demanded that the Sharia [q.v.] should be the sole source of legislation.
Despite political harassment and the stuffing of ballot boxes with the votes of the dead, absent, and under-aged for the ruling National Democratic Party [q.v.], the LSA won 17 percent of the vote and 60 seats, displacing the Neo-Wafd Party [q.v.] as the main opposition group. LSA constituents boycotted the next general election in 1990 when their demands that the emergency should be lifted and that the election should be supervised by an independent, non-governmental body, instead of the interior ministry, were rejected. The LSA extended its boycott to the 1995 general election. In the 2000 election, when judges supervised polling stations, the LSA participated, winning 17 seats. In the 2005 election, the Muslim Brotherhood candidates ran as independents.
After the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] in February 2011, the LSA joined the Democratic Alliance led by the Freedom and Justice Party [q.v.] and secured one seat in the People's Assembly.
Labor Party (Israeli): The alignment formed in 1965 between Mapai [q.v.] and Ahdut HaAvodah-Poale Zion [q.v.] was widened in January 1968 to include Rafi, leading finally to the merger of the three into Mifleget HaAvodah HaYisraelit (Hebrew: The Israeli Labor Party). Entering the 1969 and 1973 elections in alliance with Mapam [q.v.] as the Labor-Mapam Alignment [q.v.], its total score in the 1969 and 1973 elections was 56 and 51 seats respectively. The Alignment became the leader of the coalition government. In the 1977 and 1981 elections, Labor continued the same arrangement, but won only 32 and 47 seats respectively. It lost power to Likud [q.v.]. In the 1984 election the Alignment won 44 seats, three more than Likud, but the Labor leadership decided to form a national unity government with Likud. Disagreeing with this, Mapam (six seats) left the Alignment. In January 1987 the three-member Yahad group merged with the Labor Party.
In the 1988 and 1992 elections Labor ran independently, and won 39 and 44 seats respectively. The national unity government that Labor formed with Likud in 1988 fell in March 1990 when its differences with Likud Premier Yitzhak Shamir [q.v.] on the Middle East peace process became irreconcilable. It acted as opposition until the June 1992 election when, led by Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.], it secured 44 seats, 12 more than Likud. It formed a coalition government with Meretz [q.v.] and Shas [q.v.].
The Rabin government signed a limited self-rule accord for the Palestinians with the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] in September 1993, followed by the Jordanian-Israel Peace Treaty [q.v.] in October 1994. In the 1996 general election, Labor won 34 seats. The One Israel alliance, led by Labor in the May 1999 election, secured 26 seats. Following the defeat of its leader, Ehud Barak [q.v.], in the 2001 prime ministerial contest, Labor, led by Binyamin Ben Eliezer, joined the national unity government formed by Ariel Sharon [q.v.].
There was a quick turnover of leaders of the party, from Amiran Mitzna (2002–03), Shimon Perez [q.v.] (2003–05), and Amir Peretz (200507), back to Barak. During the chairmanship of Peretz, the party fought the 2006 Knesset election on a mildly social-democratic platform. That enabled it to regain the two seats it had lost in the 2003 election to return to the total of 21. Under Barak, the party's strength in the Knesset election of 2009 fell to a record low of 13, behind Likud, the centrist Kadima [q.v.], and the ultra right-wing Israel Beitainu [q.v.].
Labor Zionism and Zionists. political movement among Jews The term Labor Zionist applies to those Zionists who wanted to blend Zionism [q.v.] with socialism. A month after the first Zionist Congress met in Basle, Switzerland, in August 1897, the Bund (German: League) was established in Vilna, Lithuania, as the general union for Jewish workers in Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. Three years later Poale Zion [q.v.] was established in Minsk, Russia, with a program of socialism, Zionism, and migration to Palestine [q.v.]. From Russia it spread to Austria and then to the United States. A survey of European Jews [q.v.] showed that less than a third of them worked in manufacturing or the construction industry, while nearly a half were engaged in distributive trades, with none in agriculture.
A leading Poale Zion ideologue, Don Ber Borochov [q.v.], argued that Jews in the diaspora [q.v.] were excluded from the larger class struggle because of being rootless. The solution lay in concentrating Jews in a country of their own, where they could develop the base of their own socioeconomic pyramid. What was needed, he concluded, was a land with a small population but a large potential for agricultural development. Borochov chose Palestine, partly because it was regarded as the historic homeland of Jews, and partly because, being a "derelict country," it was of interest only to small and medium Jewish capitalists—not the big ones—and thus offered revolutionary promise for the Jewish proletariat that was to be fostered there. He considered local Arabs [q.v.] as Turkish subjects, lacking national consciousness, and visualized their assimilation, economic and cultural, into the Jewish nation as it developed economically under Jewish initiative and leadership.
This emphasis on creating a Jewish working class in Palestine dovetailed with the views and actions of Aaron David Gordon (a Ukrainian Jew who arrived in Palestine in 1904) and his followers, who formed the HaPoale HaTzair [q.v.]. Gordon believed that the Jewish nation would recapture its lost spiritual values through manual Labor, and that the crux of the Jewish problem was not capital against Labor but production versus parasitism. By draining marshes and setting up agricultural outposts, HaPoale HaTzair members helped to create Jewish wage labor in agriculture.
In 1919 the leftists within Poale Zion left to form Mopsi (the Socialist Workers Party). The Poale Zion's rightist, nationalist members merged with another group to form Ahdut HaAvodah [q.v.]. In January 1930 Ahdut HaAvodah and HaPoale HaTzair merged to form Mapai [q.v.]. Fifteen years later, having failed to persuade Mapai to adopt the ideas of class struggle and bi-national (Arab-Jewish) socialist revolution, Hashomer HaTzair members left Mapai, merged with the leftist Tanua LeAhdut HaAvodah [q.v.] a year later, and emerged as Mapam [q.v.] in early 1948.
In Israel, Borochov's influence was most marked in Mapam and Ahdut HaAvodah-Poale Zion [q.v.]—in Mapai, Gordon's. As the dominant element in the coalition governments for the next three decades, the Labor Zionist parties were at the forefront of building the nation and the state. In January 1968 a merger of Mapai [q.v.] with Ahdut HaAvodah-Poale Zion and Rafi created the Israeli Labor Party [q.v.]. The Labor Zionist groups in the diaspora supported their counterparts in Israel, and each of them had its own world confederation.
Labor-Mapam Alignment: Israeli political bloc The Israeli Labor Party, which arose in January 1968 out of the merger of Mapai [q.v.], Ahdut HaAvodah-Poale Zion [q.v.], and Rafi, forged an alliance with Mapam [q.v.]. Popularly called Maarach (Hebrew: Alignment), it won 46.2 percent of the vote and 56 parliamentary seats. The Alignment arrangement continued in the elections in 1973 (42.5 percent, 51 seats), 1977 (26.7 percent, 32 seats), 1981 (39.2 percent, 47 seats), and 1984 (36.7 percent, 44 seats). When Labor decided to form a national unity government with Likud [q.v.] in 1984, Mapam left the Alignment and became an opposition group with its six deputies.
Ladino language: Ladino, also known as Judeo-Spanish, the mother tongue of Sephardic Jews [q.v.], is a language of medieval Spanish origin. Written in Hebrew script, its vocabulary consists of Hebrew [q.v.] words as well as Portuguese, Greek, and Turkish. The first book in Ladino appeared in 1510, published in Istanbul.
Lahoud, Emile (1936–) : Lebanese military and political leader, president, 1998—2007 Son of General Jamil Lahoud and Adrenee Bajakian in Baab-date, Lahoud was educated locally. After joining the Beirut Military Academy as a cadet in 1956, he graduated with the rank of lieutenant four years later after passing a naval engineering course in Britain.
He became commander of the Second Fleet in 1966. By the time he acquired the rank of rear admiral in 1985, he had been through naval staff courses at the Naval Command College in Rhode Island, U.S., twice. Two years earlier he had been appointed president of the military office in the defense ministry where Gen. Michel Aoun [q.v.] was chief of staff. In September 1989, toward the end of the 1975–90 Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], he fell out with Aoun. Two months later, President Elias Hrawi [q.v.] promoted him to general and appointed him military chief of staff after dismissing Aoun. Lahoud led the campaign against Aoun in October 1990 that ended the civil war.
He rebuilt the shattered Lebanese armed forces and introduced conscription for male adults. He managed to maintain friendly relations with both Syria and America. In October 1998 he was elected president by 118 out of 128 parliamentarians. He invited Salim Hoss [q.v.] to form the next government, and exercised greater presidential powers than his predecessor.
When the pro-Rafiq Hariri [q.v.] groups did well in the 2000 parliamentary election, he called on Hariri to head the next cabinet. While Hariri agreed to focus on the economy, Lahoud took charge of defense and security. In that role he tried to curb the rising protest against the continued presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon [q.v.], which showed little sign of abating even after Syria had withdrawn 6,000 to 10,000 soldiers from Beirut [q.v.] and suburbs in the summer of 2001. He chaired the Twenty-second Arab League summit [q.v.] in March 2002, the first to be held in Beirut, where there was public reconciliation between Iraq and Kuwait, and Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
In September 2004, encouraged by Syria, lawmakers extended Lahoud's term by three years. In April 2005 he oversaw the total withdrawal of the Syrian troops from Lebanon.
Land of Israel: See Eretz Yisrael.
Latakia: Syrian city Population. 667,000 (2011 est.) Latakia's Arabic name, Ladhikiya, is derived from Laodicea, mother of Selecus II (d. 226 B.C.), a Greek ruler. A leading port during the Seleucid period in the third and second centuries B.C., it was destroyed by earthquakes twice before falling into the hands of invading Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] in 638 A.D. From then until the French Mandate in 1920, it came under the intermittent authority of Crusaders, Arabs, and Ottoman Turks.
Endowed with an excellent harbor, today it is the main port of Syria. Its local industry includes fishing, vegetable-oil extraction, tanning, and cotton ginning. Among its surviving monuments are Corinthian columns, called the Colonnade of Bacchus, and a Roman victory arch.
During the 2011 uprising, there were anti-regime demonstrations in the Ramel neighborhood, where a Palestinian refugee camp was located. In August the security forces besieged the area and then entered it with tanks and armored vehicles to regain control. The ensuing violent skirmishes left 25 people dead.
Lavon, Pinchas (1904–76): Israeli politician Born Lubianker in Lwow, Poland, Lavon was a cofounder of the Jewish youth movement built around the ideas of Aaron David Gordon. He migrated to Palestine q.v.] in 1929. He became a joint secretary of Mapai [q.v.. After serving as a member of the Histadrut [q.v.] executive for several years, he was elected its secretary-general (1949–50). Elected to the First Knesset [q.v.] in 1949, he retained a seat until 1961. He was minister of agriculture (1950–51) and then minister of defense (1954–55).
As defense minister, he became the focus of the longest and most controversial political dispute in Israeli history. In 1954 an attempt by an Israeli spy network in Egypt, made up of local Jews [q.v.], to destabilize the Egyptian regime and ruin its relations with the West—by planting bombs in cinemas, post offices, and railway stations as well as U.S. consulates and information centers—backfired. All 13 Israeli agents were arrested. In February 1955, despite Lavon's protestations that the operation had been undertaken by a senior army officer without his knowledge, he was forced to resign as defense minister. The next year he was elected secretary-general of the Histadrut, and stayed on until 1961.
In the summer of 1960, when new evidence backing Lavon's version of the "security mishap" surfaced, he demanded that his name be cleared. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion [q.v.] refused to accept a ministerial inquiry into the affair, as proposed by a majority in the cabinet, and insisted on a judicial inquiry. Ben-Gurion resigned as premier in January 1961, but that was not the end of the Lavon Affair. Indeed it continued until the mid-1960s, dragging the ruling party, Mapai, into a whirlpool, and weakening both it and its leader, Ben-Gurion. The Levi Eshkol [q.v.] government, formed in June 1963, fell in December 1964 amidst continuing controversy about the Lavon affair.
He led a political group named Min HaYesod (Hebrew: From the Foundation), consisting chiefly of intellectuals and members of the kibbutzim [q.v.] who had split from Mapai in November 1964. Following the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], Lavon favored Israel's withdrawal from the Occupied Territories [q.v.].
Law of Return 1950 (Israel): Adopted in July 1950, the Law of Return confirmed a provision in the 1948 Declaration of Independence of Israel [q.v.] by guaranteeing that "every Jew has the right to this country as an immigrant." Any Jew [q.v.] in the diaspora [q.v.] wishing to settle in Israel is guaranteed an immigration visa, except those engaged in an activity "against the Jewish people" or likely to "endanger public health or security of the state." In August 1954 another exception was added: Jews "with a criminal past, likely to endanger public welfare." During the first 20 years of Israel, 1,290,771 Jews entered the country under the Law of Return. Of the nearly one million people from the former Soviet Union who migrated to Israel between 1989 and 1998 under this law, about a third of them were not Jews; they were allowed to settle in Israel because they were married to Jews.
Lawrence, Thomas Edward (1888–1935): (Also known as Lawrence of Arabia) Son of an Anglo-Irish baronet, Sir Thomas Chapman, Lawrence grew up in Oxford, Britain, and graduated from the city's Jesus College, specializing in medieval military architecture. Between 1911 and 1913 he worked under D. G. Hogarth, an Oxford archaeologist, in Mesopotamia [q.v.]. The next year he joined an exploratory project that took him from Gaza [q.v.] to Aqaba.
After the outbreak of the World War I, he was sent to Cairo [q.v.], where he was assigned to military intelligence. In January 1916 he became part of the Arab Bureau of Intelligence and diplomatic officers, which was established to define and implement Britain's role in the Arab revolt against Ottoman Turkey. In October he joined the British mission in Jeddah [q.v.]. Leading a small force behind the Ottoman lines, he carried out sabotage and guerilla operations. After mid-1917 he coordinated the Arab revolt with the British campaign, led by General Edmund Al-lenby. In December he was captured by the Ottoman army, but managed to escape. In September 1918 Lawrence, now promoted to lieutenant colonel, entered Damascus [q.v.] with the Arab [q.v.] forces.
As a member of the British delegation to the Paris Peace Conference of the Council of Four in March 1919, he liaised with the Arabs and acted as adviser to Faisal bin Hussein [q.v.]. His lobbying for Arab independence failed. This meant the end of the agreement that he had managed to broker between Faisal bin Hussein and Chaim Weizmann, the Zionist [q.v.] leader, in London in January 1919, involving acceptance of Jewish immigration into Palestine [q.v.], since it was conditional on the Arabs obtaining their independence "as demanded."
When Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill set up the Middle East department in March 1921, he appointed Lawrence as his Arab affairs adviser. He was involved in Churchill's negotiations with Abdullah bin Hussein [q.v.], as a result of which Transjordan [q.v.] was handed over to Abdullah under British protection.
Having finished his long memoirs recounting his wartime experiences (Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1922), he spent a few years pruning it and finding a publisher. It was published privately in 1926, and was followed by a summary, Revolt in the Desert, a year later. He was then posted at a Royal Air Force (RAF) base in India. He retired from the RAF in 1935, and died in a motorcycle accident soon after.
Lawrence of Arabia: See Lawrence, Thomas Edward.
League of Arab States: See Arab League.
Lebanese Civil War (1958): The 1958 Lebanese civil war lasted from May to July. The gap between President Camille Chamoun [q.v.] and the mainly Muslim [q.v.] Socialist National Front (SNF) [q.v.], led by Kamal Jumblat [q.v.], widened after the formation of the United Arab Republic [q.v.] in February 1958, with Chamoun becoming increasingly intolerant of opposition. On 8 May Nasib Metni, a Christian [q.v.] newspaper publisher, who had just served a jail sentence for criticizing the president, was killed. This led to anti-government rioting in Tripoli [q.v.] that left 35 dead. The SNF organized countrywide strikes and Chamoun declared a state of emergency.
On 12 May civil war started between Chamoun's partisans—the gendarmerie and the Maronite [q.v.] militia—and Jumblat's supporters, with the army staying neutral. But when the fighting between the two sides intensified, the army intervened to end it. In mid-July, when the Jumblat camp controlled about a third of Lebanon, the pro-Western Iraqi monarch, Faisal II bin Ghazi [q.v.], was overthrown by republican army officers.
Deprived of his only strong ally in the region, Chamoun requested military aid from the United States under the Eisenhower Doctrine [q.v.]. Soon 14,300 U.S. marines and airborne ground troops arrived with a backup of the 76-ship U.S. Sixth Fleet. The civil strife intensified briefly before coming to an end on 31 July, with both sides accepting the army commander, General Fuad Chehab [q.v.], as the sole presidential candidate. The war took a toll of 1,400 to 4,000 Lebanese. All American troops withdrew by 25 October.
Lebanese Civil War (1975–90): Traditional rivalry between left-leaning Muslim [q.v.] and right-wing, mainly Maronite, Christians [q.v.] was accentuated with the arrival in Lebanon in the early 1970s of the Palestinian commandos and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.]. Also by March 1975 the shuttle diplomacy of U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to further the Middle East peace process had run out of steam. It suited Washington to see the Arabs [q.v.] mired in a civil conflict that would distract their attention from the failure of U.S. diplomacy. An attack on the Palestinians by the Phalange [q.v.] militia in East Beirut [q.v.] on 13 April 1975 heralded the start of a civil war, that lasted until 13 October 1990 and went through the following phases:
PHASE 1: April 1975 to May 1976— ascendancy of the reformist alliance. Violence spread throughout the country. The main opposing camps were the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) [q.v.], led by Kamal Jumblat [q.v.], and the Lebanese Front [q.v.], headed by Camille Chamoun [q.v.], with its militia, the Lebanese Forces [q.v.], commanded by Bashir Gemayel [q.v.]. The PLO allied with the LNM, and set up a joint command. The LNM demanded an end to confessionalism [q.v.], and reform of the political system to make it equitable to Muslims, who were now known to constitute a majority.
The Lebanese Front insisted on the expulsion of the armed Palestinians from Lebanon before discussing political and constitutional reform. During this period both sides decided to eliminate hostile pockets within their enclaves. Intense countrywide fighting in January 1976 destroyed vital state institutions and public buildings, and caused the breakup of the Lebanese army. By early April the LNM-PLO alliance controlled two-thirds of the country. In desperation the Lebanese Front turned to Syria through President Suleiman Franjieh [q.v.]. Realizing that radicalized Lebanon would give the PLO wide latitude in its struggle against Israel, which would lead to Israel's lashing out in blind fury and would destabilize the whole region, Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] decided to aid the Maronite-dominated Lebanese Front.
PHASE 2: June 1976 to February 1978—Syrian intervention and hegemony. The Syrian military intervention saved the Lebanese Front from total defeat. A subsequent cease-fire, brokered by Libya, prepared the ground for the presidential election. Elias Sarkis [q.v.], a Syrian nominee, won and took office in September 1976. Within two months a truce had taken hold in the country, except in southern Lebanon where the PLO's activities against Israel were being hampered by an Israeli-backed Christian militia.
PHASE 3: March to October 1978— the first Israeli invasion [q.v.]. Following a Palestinian guerrilla attack inside Israel on 11 March 1978, Israel invaded southern Lebanon [q.v. ]. May Maronite leaders Pierre Gemayel [q.v.] and Camille Chamoun visited Israel for arms supplies. On 13 June a Phalange squad assassinated Tony Franjieh, son of Suleiman Franjieh, to eliminate any serious rival to Bashir Gemayel in his bid for the presidency.
PHASE 4: November 1978 to May 1982—consolidation of the Christian mini-state. In May-June 1979 the Phalange began to clash with the National Liberal Party (NLP) [q.v.] militia. The conflict reached a climax in July 1980, with the Phalange defeating the NLP fighters. In the fighting between the Phalange and its Syrian opponents for the control of Mount Sanin, northwest of Zahle, in late April 1981, Israel intervened and shot down two Syrian helicopters. Three months later, following a three-way understanding between Israel, Syria, and the PLO brokered by the United States, a cease-fire went into effect in southern Lebanon. After the Israeli defense minister, Ariel Sharon [q.v.], had conferred with Lebanese Forces (LF) commanders in January 1982 to plan an invasion of Lebanon, Israel resumed arms shipments to the Maronite militias.
PHASE 5: June 1982 to February 1984—the second Israeli invasion and its aftermath. Following a failed assassination attempt on the Israeli ambassador to Britain, Shlomo Argov, on 3 June, Israel invaded Lebanon three days later. This conflict lasted until 1 September (See Israeli Invasion of Lebanon [1982]). On 13 September president-elect Bashir Gemayel [q.v.] was killed in an explosion that destroyed the headquarters of his Phalange Party [q.v.]. Israeli units occupied Beirut with the aim of maintaining order and preventing retaliatory violence. Between 16 and 18 September some 2,000 Palestinian refugees were massacred by the Phalange militia in Beirut's Sabra and Shatila camps. On 20 September deployment of the Western MultiNational Force (MNF) [q.v.]—consisting of U.S., British, French, and Italian units—began. The next day Amin Gemayel [q.v.] was elected president by the parliament. On 29 September the Israelis left Beirut.
On 17 May 1983 Israel signed the Lebanese-Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] after the Lebanese parliament had adopted it by an overwhelming majority, but President Amin Gemayel withheld his signature. After the Israelis withdrew from the Shouf region on 3 September, their positions were taken up by the Phalange militia and the Lebanese army. This led to fighting between them and the Druze-PLO alliance. The U.S. and France intervened with warplanes and warships on the side of the Lebanese army. A cease-fire was mediated by Saudi Arabia on 25 September. But the Pentagon continued its reconnaissance missions over west-central Lebanon from its aircraft carriers. On 23 October truck-bombing of U.S. and French military headquarters killed 241 American and 59 French troops. The First National Reconciliation Conference was held in Geneva in early November.
After an attack on West Beirut's Shia [q. v.] suburbs by the Lebanese army and the LF on 3 February 1984, fighting erupted between the army and the LF on the one side and the Amal-Druze [q.v.] alliance on the other. U.S. warships intervened against the Muslims forces. Following the defection of Muslims from the Lebanese army, the Amal-Druze alliance expelled the (Christian) army from West Beirut. On 7 February 1984 the U.S. withdrew its troops from Beirut. The other members of the Western MNF followed suit.
PHASE 6: March 1984 to January 1986—return of the Syrian hegemony. Encouraged by Assad, President Gemayel decided to abrogate the draft Lebanese-Israeli peace treaty: the Lebanese parliament did so on 5 March. After the Second National Reconciliation Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, in mid-March, a national reconciliation government was formed. On 6 June 1985 Israel completed the last phase of its withdrawal from Lebanon by handing over its positions in southern Lebanon to the Christian militia run by it, but leaving behind 1,000 Israeli troops. In late December the commanders of Amal, the Druze militia, and the LF signed the National Agreement to Solve the Lebanese Crisis, outlining political reform and Lebanese-Syrian relations; but the agreement was stillborn, as the LF commander was unable to secure the endorsement of his executive committee.
PHASE 7: February 1986 to September 1988—limits of Syrian power. When Amal and the Druze militia in West Beirut started fighting in February 1987, Syria sent its troops, withdrawn in September 1982, to restore order. In early April 1988 there were clashes between Amal and Hizbollah [q.v.] in southern Lebanon. These continued until late May. Meanwhile, in mid-April Assad and U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz agreed to coordinate policy on political reform in Lebanon. When the Lebanese parliament failed to elect a new president, on 22 September 1988 the outgoing President Gemayel instructed his chief of staff, General Michel Aoun [q.v.], to form a temporary military government. Of the five other officers he appointed to his cabinet, three Muslim officers refused to serve.
PHASE 8: October 1988 to September 1989—war of liberation, Aoun style. Following his attack and suppression of the LF in the Christian enclave in February 1989, Aoun declared a war of liberation against Syria in mid-March. Syria imposed land and sea blockades on the Christian enclave. On 25 May the Sixteenth Arab League [q.v.] summit appointed a committee of the heads of Algeria, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia to settle the Lebanese crisis within six months. In mid-August, 14 Lebanese groups formed an anti-Aoun front.
PHASE 9: October 1989 to October 1990—the Taif Accord [q.v.]. Between 30 September and 22 October, 58 of the 62 (surviving) Lebanese parliamentarians debated the National Reconciliation Charter [q.v.] in Taif, Saudi Arabia, and adopted it. Aoun rejected it but the Maronite Lebanese Front accepted it. After endorsing the Taif Accord on Lebanese soil at Qulayaat in northern Lebanon on 5 November, the Lebanese parliament elected Rene Muawad as president. He was assassinated on 22 November. Two days later parliament elected Elias Hrawi [q.v.] president.
From January to March 1990 there was intense fighting between Aoun loyalists and the LF. As a result Aoun ended up with only a third of the Christian enclave. The LF declared allegiance to Hrawi. On 21 August the parliament decided to overhaul the constitution as outlined in the Taif Accord. A month later Hrawi's decision to impose a land blockade on Aoun's enclave was backed by the LF. By now, in the midst of the crisis created by Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait, Syria had joined the U.S.-led coalition against Iraq. On 13 October, in a joint air and ground campaign, the Lebanese and Syrian troops defeated Aoun's soldiers and brought the civil war to an end.
HUMAN LOSSES: The number of fatalities during the 15½ years of war, including the 15,700 killed in the Israeli invasion of 1982, mainly civilians, was put at 150,000.
ECONOMIC DAMAGE: During the first seven years of conflict (before the Second Israeli invasion), the direct annual cost of the war was put at $900 million.
AFTER THE WAR: On 9 May 1991 parliament passed a law giving Muslims and Christians parity in the chamber, thus changing the 6:5 Christian-Muslim ratio of the 1943 National Pact [q.v.] and raising the size of the chamber from 99 to 108 members. On 22 May Presidents Hrawi and Assad signed the Lebanese-Syrian Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation, and Coordination [q.v.] which required the two neighbors to coordinate their policies in foreign affairs, defense, and economy.
Lebanese Forces: Lebanese militia and political party Formed in January 1976, the Lebanese Forces (LF) consisted of the Maronite [q.v.] militias of the Phalange [q.v.], the National Liberal Party [q.v.], the Guardians of the Cedars [q.v.], and al-Tanzim. Its unified military command was headed by Bashir Gemayel [q.v.]. After his assassination in 1982 the new commander, Fadi Afram, adopted an openly pro-Israeli line, calling for talks between Lebanon and Israel. He fell from grace when the draft Lebanese-Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] was abrogated in March 1984. The LF's leadership passed to Fuad Abu Nadr. After a bloodless coup in March 1985, Samir Geagea assumed command of the LF.
In December 1989 Geagea's backing for the Taif Accord [q.v.] led to fighting between the LF and Gen. Michel Aoun [q.v.] commanding the (Christian) Lebanese army based in the Christian enclave. It intensified after Geagea declared his allegiance in April 1990 to President Elias Hrawi [q.v. ], who rivaled Aoun as the head of state. Five months later the LF backed Hrawi's blockading of Aoun's enclave, now reduced to about a third of the Christian sector. At the time of Aoun's fall in October 1990, marking the end of the civil war, the LF was 10,000 strong, down from its peak of 20,000 under Bashir Gemayel, with 25,000 reserves.
Geagea was included in the national unity cabinet formed in December. The next year, in line with the official policy of integrating all militiamen under the age of 25 into the regular armed forces, the government absorbed 6,500 LF men into the military. The LF then transformed itself into a political party. It boycotted the 1992 general election. Following the bombing of a Maronite church in Jonieh in February 1994, which killed nine worshippers, the LF was banned and Geagea was arrested on charges of complicity in the explosion and the assassinations of Rashid Karami [q.v.] in 1987 and Danny Chamoun, a son of Camille Chamoun [q.v.], in October 1990. Geagea was sentenced to life imprisonment. The LF entered the 2005 general election as part of the 14 March Alliance [q.v.] and gained six seats. Its deputies included Geagea. So the parliament passed a law to release him. In the 2009 election, the LF's share rose to eight.
Lebanese Front: Lebanese political alliance The Lebanese Front was formed in September 1976 as a confederation of the following Maronite [q.v.] Christian political parties: the Phalange Party [q.v.], the National Liberal Party [q.v.], the Guardians of the Cedars [q.v.], and the Maronite League. It was headed by Camille Chamoun [q.v.]. The Front's constituents stressed their distinctness from the Arab world by emphasizing that Maronite history, centering on the church and Mount Lebanon, stood apart from mainstream Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] and even non-Maronite Christians. In December 1980 the Front issued a manifesto calling for the replacement of the 1943 National Pact [q.v.] by a federation or confederation within a unified Lebanon.
Whereas Chamoun was the nominal leader, Bashir Gemayel [q.v.] and his father, Pierre [q.v.], mattered more. Since Christians [q.v.] played a special role in Lebanon, they argued, they were entitled to a special position, irrespective of their minority status. The Front tightened its links with Israel, which found it more convenient to deal with a single Maronite political entity than with several. However, with Bashir Gemayel's murder in September 1982 and Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in June 1985, the Front moderated its stance.
With the rise of Gen. Michel Aoun [q.v.] as a pretender to the presidency in September 1988, the Front became one of the three power centers in the Christian enclave, the remaining one being the Lebanese Forces [q.v. ]. A year later the Front's parliamentary leader, Georges Saade, successfully opposed a proposal by the Lebanese parliament, meeting in Taif, Saudi Arabia, to discard confessionalism [q.v.] by a certain deadline. The internecine Christian fighting in early 1990 weakened the Front. With the end of the civil war [q.v.] in October, the Front, a creature of the conflict, lost its relevance.
Lebanese National Movement: Lebanese-Palestinian political alliance Formed on the eve of the April 1975-October 1990 Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) was a confederation of various nationalist and progressive Muslim-dominated parties—including the Arab Baath Socialist Party [q.v.], the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) [q.v.], the Syrian Social Nationalist Party [q.v.], the Communist Party [q.v.], the Communist Action Organization, the Popular Nasserist Organization, and the Independent Nasserites. Led by Kamal Jumblat [q.v.], it demanded the abolition of the confessional system, amendment of the constitution to redefine the prerogatives of the various branches of the executive, and reorganization of the army.
It formed an alliance with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] in its fight with the Maronite [q.v.] Lebanese Front [q.v.] and the Lebanese Forces [q.v.]. When the LNM-PLO alliance gained the upper hand in the fighting, Syria intervened in June 1976 on the side of the Christians [q.v.]. Its troops expelled LNM-PLO forces from the Christian areas they had captured. This, and the subsequent Syrian plan to legitimize its occupation of eastern and northern Lebanon, turned Jumblat into a vocal adversary of Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.].
Jumblat's assassination in March 1977 deprived the LNM of a charismatic figure. The mantle passed to his son, Walid [q.v.], who lacked experience and leadership qualities. He made his peace with Syria. Indeed, as the leader of both the PSP and the LNM, he coordinated his policies and actions with Damascus. Whereas the Lebanese Front insisted on resolving the problem of the Syrian and Palestinian military presence before tackling the issue of political reform, the LNM wanted immediate reform while its Syrian and Palestinian allies were able to lend it their support.
Israel's siege of Beirut [q.v.] in August 1982 resulted in the departure of both PLO and LNM fighters from West Beirut. This enfeebled the LNM. A year later, in July 1983, the constituents of the LNM gathered again (in Tripoli [q.v.]) to consult all other groups opposing the draft Lebanese-Israeli peace treaty [q.v.] that had been initialed two months earlier. After it succeeded in getting the treaty abrogated, the LNM ceased to function as a coherent body. Its erstwhile constituents participated in the civil strife through their respective militias. They came together again briefly as the Lebanese National Front in August 1989 to overthrow Gen. Michel Aoun [q.v.]. Having achieved its aim, the Front disintegrated.
Lebanese-Israeli (Putative) Peace Treaty (1983–84): Soon after assuming office in September 1982, President Amin Gemayel [q.v.] yielded to Washington's pressure to enter into talks with Israel provided the United States acted as the mediator. This led to an agreed draft of a peace treaty between Lebanon and Israel in early May 1983. It formally ended the state of war between the two countries, and banned Lebanon from allowing the use of its territory or airspace for the passage of troops or military equipment from any state that did not have diplomatic relations with Israel. It also required Lebanon to abrogate any regulations, laws, or treaties that were in conflict with the Lebanese-Israeli accord, including all the commitments that Lebanon had made as a founder member of the Arab League [q.v.] since 1945. It curtailed the Lebanese government's power to station troops between the Zahrani and Awali rivers, and required it to recognize the Israeli-backed Christian militia, commanded by Saad Haddad, called the South Lebanon Army [q.v.], as the sole force authorized to patrol the area up to Zahrani, and allow the stationing of Lebanese-Israeli supervisory teams charged with detecting and destroying any armed guerrillas in the area.
The document was denounced by left-of-center forces in Lebanon and by Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.]. Its adoption by 64 Lebanese members of parliament (with only two opposing), followed by the signing of it by Israel, made little difference to their stance. They continued to express their opposition publicly. Protesting at Israel's continued occupation of a large part of Lebanon in the aftermath of the June 1982 Israeli invasion [q.v.], President Gemayel withheld his signature on the treaty. Following the truck-bombing of their military barracks that resulted in 300 American and French deaths in October 1983, the United States, France, Britain, and Italy withdrew their peace-keeping contingents from Beirut [q.v.] in February 1984. With that, Gemayel lost his Western guardians. He therefore decided to abrogate the treaty. At his behest, the parliament did so almost unanimously on 5 March 1984.
Lebanese-Palestine Liberation Organization Agreement (1969): See Cairo Agreement (Lebanese-PLO, 1969).
Lebanese-Syrian Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation, and Coordination (1991): The six-article Lebanese-Syrian Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation, and Coordination was signed by the presidents of the two countries in Damascus [q.v.] in May 1991. Article 1 enjoins the parties to "realize the highest degree of cooperation and coordination between them in all political, security, cultural, scientific, and other concerns... within the framework of the sovereignty and independence of each of them." Article 2 requires the signatories to achieve cooperation and coordination in economics, agriculture, industry, commerce, transportation, communications, customs, and development. "The interrelationship of the two countries' security requires that Lebanon not be made the source of a threat to Syria's security or Syria to Lebanon's in any circumstances whatsoever," states Article 3. "Lebanon shall therefore not allow itself to become a passage or a base for any power or state or organization the purpose of which is the violation of Lebanon's security or Syria's security." Equally, Syria "shall not allow any action that threatens Lebanon's security, independence, or sovereignty."
The next article specifies the formation of a Lebanese-Syrian military committee to determine the size and duration of the Syrian troops' presence in Lebanon. Article 5 focuses on the contracting parties' foreign policy, and requires them to coordinate their Arab and international policies. The last article specifies the formation of joint agencies at different levels to implement the treaty—from the Higher Council, cochaired by their presidents, and consisting of the prime ministers, deputy prime ministers, and parliamentary speakers, to the level of joint committees on defense and security, foreign affairs, and economic and social affairs.
In September 1991 a defense and security pact between the two neighbors went into effect. And in 2001, Lebanon and Syria created a customs union. After the unconditional withdrawal of Israel from south Lebanon in May 2000, and the death of Hafiz Assad [q.v.] in June, the presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon faced increasing criticism. But the total withdrawal of the Syrian troops from Lebanon in April 2005 left intact the Syrian Lebanese Higher Council with its secretariat in Damascus [q.v.].
Lebanon:
OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of Lebanon
CAPITAL: Beirut [q.v.]
AREA: 4,036 sq. mi./10,452 sq. km
POPULATION: 4.22 million (2011 est.), including 375,000 Palestinian refugees in camps and Iraqi asylum seekers
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (nominal): $42.54 billion; per capita, $10,100 (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (Purchasing Power Parity): $61.58 billion; per capita, $14,590 (2011 est.)
NATIONAL CURRENCY: Lebanese Pound (LBP); LBP 1000 = U.S. $0.66 = £0.42 = €0.50 (2001)
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: republic, president elected by parliament
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Arabic [q.v.]
OFFICIAL RELIGION: None
ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS: Lebanon is divided into six governorates (provinces).
CONSTITUTION: Promulgated by the French Mandate in May 1926, the constitution was amended in 1927, 1929, and 1943 by France—and in 1947 and 1990 by the Lebanese parliament, the last exercise resulting in changes to 31 articles. Lebanon is a multiparty, multi-religious republic, where since 1943 confessionalism [q.v. ] has been built into the political-administrative system. It specifies that the president of the republic is to be a Maronite Christian [q.v.], the prime minister a Sunni Muslim [q.v.], and the parliamentary speaker a Shia Muslim [q.v.].
ETHNIC COMPOSITION: (2011) Arab 95 percent, Armenian [q.v.] 4 percent, other 1 percent.
EXECUTIVE: The 1990 amendments to the constitution curtailed the power of the president, elected for a six-year term by parliament, and increased the authority of the cabinet, making it more autonomous. The president has the power to approve and implement laws passed by the National Assembly. However, his decisions must be cosigned by the prime minister, except when it is a question of appointing a prime minister—something he must do in consultation with the speaker of the Assembly and senior deputies. Cabinet ministers need not be Assembly members, but are responsible to it.
High officials:
President: Michel Suleiman [q.v.], 2008–
Prime minister: Najib Mikati [q.v.], 2011–
Speaker of the parliament: Nabih Berri [q.v.], 2009–
HISTORY: After receiving a Mandate for (Greater) Syria from the League of Nations in 1920, France enlarged the ex-Ottoman Vilayat of Lebanon by adding areas to its north, west, and south hitherto belonging to Syria, and calling the new entity Greater Lebanon. In 1926 it promulgated a republican constitution, with a parliament and an executive president elected by parliament, and the country was renamed the Republic of Lebanon. France suspended the constitution in 1932, and a census held in that year produced figures for 16 recognized religious sects. In 1936 Paris reinstated the constitution, and the Franco-Lebanese Treaty [q.v.], signed in November, gave considerable autonomy to Lebanon.
During World War II the pro-German government—formed in Vichy, central France—took over overseas French territories, including Lebanon, in 1940. The Vichy government's occupation of Lebanon was overturned by British and Free French forces in June 1941, and Lebanon was given (nominal) independence. The National Pact [q.v.] of March 1943 provided a formula of six Christian to five Muslim parliamentarians. In September Bishara Khouri [q.v.] was elected president. In 1945 Lebanon was one of the founder members of the Arab League [q.v.].
With the departure of the French in December 1946, Lebanon became fully independent. It participated in the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.] and signed a truce with Israel in March 1949. Khouri was reelected later that year, but was forced to resign in 1952 and was followed by Camille Chamoun [q.v.]. Chamoun subscribed to the Eisenhower Doctrine [q.v.] and solicited the help of U.S. troops in the midst of the May-July 1958 Lebanese Civil War [q. v.] between his forces and those of Kamal Jumblat [q.v.]. The succeeding president, Fuad Chehab [q.v.], tried to modernize Lebanon's political-administrative machinery, which was steeped in feudal values and sectarian cleavage. The reforming pace slowed down during the presidency of Charles Helou [q.v.].
Lebanon did not participate in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.]. The increasing presence of armed Palestinians led to clashes between them and the Lebanese army, but a modus vivendi was worked out through the 1969 Cairo Agreement [q.v.]. During the presidency of Suleiman Franjieh [q.v.], the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] set up its headquarters in Beirut [q.v.] in 1972. Lebanon stayed out of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.].
In April 1975 the long Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] erupted. By the spring of 1976 the Lebanese National Movement (LNM)-PLO alliance controlled two-thirds of the country, and Syria intervened on the side of the Christian Lebanese Front [q.v.]. In September Elias Sarkis [q.v.], a Syrian nominee, was elected president. After the assassination of the LNM leader, Kamal Jumblat [q.v.], in March 1977, his son Walid [q.v.] succeeded him.
Israel invaded southern Lebanon in March 1978 to destroy the PLO bases there. In June Israel withdrew, but handed over its posts in southern Lebanon to a Christian militia sponsored by it. The Maronite militias forged strong ties with Israel, but their joint attempts to extend their sway to Zahle in the Beqaa Valley in mid- 1981 were frustrated by Syria, now maintaining 30,000 peacekeeping troops under the aegis of the Arab League, and backing the Muslim camp.
In early June 1982, six weeks after completing its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula [q.v.] in late April 1982, under the terms of the Egypt-ian-Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.], Israel again invaded Lebanon. It occupied two-fifths of the country, including Beirut [q.v.], and was instrumental in getting Bashir Gemayel [q.v.] elected president. But before he could take office Gemayel was assassinated. The Israeli invasion ended on 1 September, after 11,644 PLO fighters and 2,700 Syrian troops had left West Beirut.
Amin Gemayel [q.v.] was elected president. Under U.S. pressure he initialed a draft peace treaty with Israel in May 1983. But strong domestic hostility to it, combined with Syrian opposition, resulted in the treaty's being annulled in March 1984. Following a reconciliation conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, a national unity government was formed. In June 1985 Israel completed the last phase of its withdrawal, handing over its positions in southern Lebanon to its surrogate force, the South Lebanon Army (SLA) [q.v.], backed by its 1,000 soldiers. In early 1987 Syria dispatched its troops into West Beirut to restore order following fighting between Amal [q.v.], a Shia [q.v.] militia, and an alliance of left-of-center non-Shia Muslim forces.
Following parliament's failure to elect a new president to succeed Gemayel, on 22 September 1988 he called on his chief of staff, Gen. Michel Aoun [q.v.], to form a temporary military government. Of the five officers appointed to the cabinet, all three Muslim officers refused to serve. In May 1989 Aoun launched a "war of liberation" from Syria. Five months later Lebanon's parliamentarians, meeting in Taif, Saudi Arabia, adopted the National Reconciliation Charter [q.v.], containing political reform. It was later approved at a meeting held inside Lebanon. They also elected Elias Hrawi [q.v.], a Syrian nominee, as president.
Aoun rejected the Taif Accord [q.v.], whereas the Maronite Lebanese Forces [q.v.] accepted it. This led to intra-Christian violence in which Aoun did badly. After parliament had translated the Taif Accord into law, giving parity to Muslims and Christians in the legislature and curtailing the powers of the Maronite president in August, the Lebanese and Syrian forces defeated Aoun's troops on 13 October 1990, thus ending the civil war. A national unity government disarmed the various militias, ended the division of the capital into East and West Beirut, and signed a Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation, and Coordination with Syria [q.v.] in May 1991.
Elections to an enlarged parliament were held between August and October 1992. Due to the boycott by the Maronite-dominated parties, the new chamber and the consequent government were strongly pro-Syrian. Lebanon participated in the Middle East peace process that had been inaugurated by the Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid in October 1991 [q .v.]. But, mirroring the impasse between Syria and Israel, its bilateral talks with Israel made little progress.
The government called on Israel to vacate southern Lebanon unconditionally, as demanded by the 1978 UN Security Council Resolution 425 [q.v.], and allowed Hizbollah [q.v.] to function in the region as a counterforce to the SLA. Bound by the 1991 Lebanese-Syrian Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation, and Coordination [q.v.], it consulted Syria in its peace talks with Israel. Since Syria's negotiations with Israel made little progress, the Lebanese-Isreali talks proved inconclusive. Pressured by Hizbollah's relentless attacks, Israel unconditionally quit southern Lebanon in May 2000.
After the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001, Washington pressured Lebanon to ban Hizbollah. But the Lebanese government refused, arguing that it was a legitimate political group with a substantial presence in the parliament as well as a social welfare organization. President Emile Lahoud [q.v.] chaired the Twenty-second Arab League summit [q.v.] in March 2002 in Beirut, which called for devising a universally accepted definition of terrorism [q.v.]. Reconstruction of Beirut advanced steadily.
The assassination of Rafiq Hariri [q.v.] in 2005 caused a political earthquake and resulted in a popular anti-Syria movement, called the Cedar Revolution [q.v.]. It led to the withdrawal of the remaining 15,000 Syrian soldiers from Lebanon. In the general election that followed, the anti-Syrian 14 March Alliance [q.v.] won a majority and formed the government under Fouad Siniora [q.v.].
The war between Israel and the Hizbollah from 12 July to 14 August 2006 caused significant civilian fatalities and much damage to Lebanon's infrastructure and private property. Qatar was preeminent in providing financial assistance to those Lebanese who suffered losses.
Following the end of President Lahoud's term of office in October 2007, the opposition 8 March Alliance [q.v.] demanded a national unity government as its price for participating in the election for the next president. When this was rejected, Speaker Nabih Berri refused to convene parliament. The government was paralyzed. In the ensuing civil unrest, which turned violent, nearly 200 people lost their lives. A deal brokered by Qatar in May 2008 ended the crisis with an agreement to form a national unity government and elected Michel Suleiman [q.v.], the current chief of staff, as president.
As agreed in principle before, Syria opened its embassy in Beirut in December 2008, followed by Lebanon doing the same in Damascus three months later, thus creating diplomatic parity between them for the first time.
Though the 14 March Alliance won a majority in the 2009 parliamentary election while polling fewer votes than its rival, it agreed to form a national unity government with the opposition 8 March Alliance. This was the most intensely contested election as well as the most expensive. More than 120,000 Lebanese expatiates were flown in and accommodated in hotels at the estimated expense of $30 million, most of them being Maronite or Sunni.
The coalition government formed by Saad Hariri [q.v.] in November 2009 collapsed in January 2011 when, following his refusal to withhold funds for the United Nations's Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), 11 of the 30 ministers resigned. In the succeeding government of Najib Mikati [q.v.], deputies of the pro-Syria 8 March Alliance [q.v.] formed a majority.
Because multiparty electoral politics have been the traditional mode of public life, except during the 1975–90 Civil War [q .v.], there were almost no pro-democracy demonstrations in Lebanon during 2011–2012. Nonetheless, political factions were divided on how they viewed the uprising in Syria, with the 8 March Alliance constituents attributing the protest to foreign intervention and Salafi [q.v.] militants, and their rivals in the 14 March Alliance openly identifying with the Syrian opposition.
LEGISLATURE: The National Assembly is a unicameral house with 128 members, divided equally among Christians and Muslims, who are elected on universal suffrage for a four-year term. It has legislative and constitutional powers. It is also an electoral college for the election of president. If it fails to choose a president by a two-thirds majority in the first secret ballot, it then makes its choice by a simple majority. On constitutional matters, such as electing the president, a quorum of two-thirds is required. That is not the case with the routine business of law-making.
After the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in April 1975, the Assembly, elected in 1972, periodically, extended its life until September 1992, when a fresh election was held under the amended constitution. The new share of Islamic sects, with the old share in parenthesis, was: Sunni 27 (20), Shia 27 (19), Druze [q.v.] 8 (6), and Alawi [q.v. ] 2 (none). The new share of Christian sects was: Maronites 34 (30), Greek Orthodox 14 [q.v.] (11), Greek Catholics 6 [q.v.] (6), Armenian Catholic and Armenian Orthodox [q.v.] 6 (5), Protestants [q.v.] and non-Muslim minorities 4 (2).
RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION (2011, unofficial estimate): Muslim, ca. 61 percent, of which Shia 28 percent, Sunni 27 percent, Druze 5 percent, Alawi 1 percent; Christian, ca. 39 percent, of which Maronites 21 percent, Greek Orthodox 8 percent, Greek Catholic, 4 percent, Armenian Catholic and Orthodox 4 percent; other, 2 percent. As many as 18 religious sects are now recognized officially.
Lehi/Lehy (Hebrew: acronym of Lohe-mei Herut Israel/Yisrael, Fighters for Free Israel): Zionist militia In June 1940 Avraham Stern [q.v.] and his followers, disagreeing with Irgun's [q.v.] decision to suspend its armed campaign against the British Mandate, left Irgun and established Lehi in September. Commonly known as the Stern Gang or Stern Group, Lehi argued that since the British were the number-one enemy of Jews [q.v.], and since fighting them was the top Jewish priority, there was no harm in negotiating with the German Nazis to achieve this aim. As a result, it contacted the German Embassy in Ankara. This, and the terrorist attacks against the British Mandate, marginalized Lehi and Stern, who went underground.
Stern's death in February 1942 left Lehi almost intact. In November, the leadership formally passed to the triumvirate of Yitzhak Shamir [q.v.], Nathan Yellin-Mor, and Israel Schieb. Its assassinations policy resulted in the murder of Lord Moyne, British minister of state in Cairo [q.v.], in November 1944. After the war, in order to coordinate underground activities, it joined with Irgun and Histadrut [q.v.] to form the Hebrew Resistance Movement (HRM) in November 1945.
Among the joint operations it carried out with Irgun were the blowing up of the British embassy in Rome and the posting of letter-bombs to British ministers, as well as killing British soldiers in Palestine [q.v.] and hanging their officers. Lehi attacked a military airfield as well as several railway depots and workshops. After the disbanding of the HRM in October 1946, Lehi felt free to intensify its guerrilla activities: it attacked oil installations, military trains and vehicles, and British troops and policemen.
Between November 1947 (when the United Nations adopted a partition plan for Palestine) and May 1948 (when Israel was founded), the 1,000-strong Lehi allied with the larger Irgun in concerted attacks on Arabs [q.v.], including a fully fledged offensive against the Arabs of Jaffa [q.v.] and an attack on Deir Yassin village near Jerusalem [q.v.] on 9–10 April 1948, killing 254 men, women, and children.
After the establishment of Israel, the decision to dissolve Lehi and absorb its members into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not apply to Jerusalem, which was given a separate status. Therefore, Lehi units continued to function in the city. In September the assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte, a Swedish diplomat acting as the UN mediator between Arabs and Jews, in Jerusalem was claimed by Hazit HaMoledet (Hebrew: The Homeland Front), a sub-group of Lehi. Two Lehi leaders, Nathan Yellin-Mor and Matitiahu Schmulevitz, were found guilty and given eight and five years' imprisonment, respectively, by a military court. But they were soon released as part of the general amnesty. Yellin-Mor was elected to the Knesset [q.v.] in January 1949 on a Lehi ticket. The group was disbanded later that year.
The Israeli government treated Lehi members on a par with Haganah [q.v. ] and Irgun when calculating pensions or redundancy payments for its civil servants.
Lesser Tumb Island: (also spelled Lesser Tunb Island) See Tumb/Tunb Islands.
Levant: (French: derivative of lever, to rise, e.g. sunrise) Early historians applied this term to the lands along the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. Subsequent to the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon in 1920, these countries were called the Levant States. Today the term Levant applies to the independent states of Syria and Lebanon.
Liberal Party (Israel): Israeli political party (Official title: Liberalim [Hebrew: Liberals]) The fear of a further fall in their electoral popularity drove the General Zionists [q.v.] to merge with the Progressive Party [q.v.] to form the Liberal Party on the eve of the 1961 general election. While endorsing the concept of a welfare state, it demanded encouragement for private enterprise. It won 17 seats in the Knesset [q.v.]. In the 1965 election it allied with Herut [q.v.] to form a bloc called Gahal [q.v.], under the leadership of Menachem Begin [q.v.].
Liberal Socialist Party (Egypt): Egyptian political party (Also called Socialist Liberal Party) The Liberal Socialist Party (LSP) was formed in May 1976 by Mustafa Kamel Murad to represent the rightist forum within the Arab Socialist Union [q.v.]. It advocated liberal economic policies and greater freedom for private enterprise. It was allowed to publish a weekly magazine, Al-Ahrar (Arabic: The Free). In the general election in November it won 12 seats. This declined to three in the 1979 election when Murad failed to be reelected.
The LSP's poor performance in the next two elections led its leadership to form an alliance with the Socialist Labor Party [q.v.] and the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] on the eve of the 1987 election, especially as it had no chance of crossing the newly specified threshold of 8 percent of the total vote to qualify for seats in parliament. The resulting Labor Islamic Alliance (LSA) [q.v.] won 60 seats, with the LSP's share at 10. Like its allies in the LSA, it boycotted the 1990 election when the government rejected their call to lift the state of emergency and conduct the election under the supervision of a non-governmental organization. In the 1995 election it secured one seat, retaining it in the 2000 election.
It failed to win a seat in 2005 and went into oblivion.
Liberation Movement of Iran. Iranian political party (Official title: Nahzat-e Azadi-e Iran) After his release from jail in 1961, Mahdi Bazargan [q.v.], a leader of the National Front [q.v.], teamed up with Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleqani [q.v.] to form the Liberation Movement of Iran (LMI). They saw it as a link between Shia Islam [q.v.] and modern political ideas and movements. It was open to both lay and clerical Iranians. Bazargan urged the clergy to participate in politics.
After Bazargan's call for a boycott of the referendum on the White Revolution [q.v.] in January 1963, he was given a 10-year prison sentence. But that did not slow down the spread of the LMI among Iranian students in Europe and North America. In late 1977, with the revolutionary movement gathering pace in Iran, the LMI revived at home.
Its status rose when, after the 1979 Islamic revolution [q.v.], Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.] appointed Bazargan as prime minister. In the first parliamentary election it won 20 seats in a house of 270. Since it functioned as opposition it came under official pressure. The government shut down its paper, Mizan (Persian: Scales), on the ground that it had divulged military secrets. However, by the spring of 1983, when the political scene was occupied by the governing Islamic Republican Party [q.v.] and its smaller allies, the LMI was the only opposition group allowed to function.
In a parliamentary speech in August, Bazargan, who had opposed Iran's advance into Iraq two months earlier, criticized the government for labeling dissidents as heretics. In April 1985 Khomeini criticized his appeals for a truce with Iraq, arguing that they demoralized the military. Undaunted, Bazargan and the LMI continued to describe war as harmful to Islam [q.v.] and revolution. In August 1985 Bazargan was disqualified as a candidate for the presidency.
Once the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.] ended in 1988, the party lost its strongest card against the government. While a sharp decline in the majority for President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani [q.v.] in 1993 showed that opposition to the government was rising, there was little evidence to show that the LMI was the main beneficiary.
The death of Bazargan in 1995 caused a decline in the LMI's following. Though the party lacked an official license, the authorities allowed it to function. During the student protest in mid-1999, it emerged that some students favored the LMI. In 2001 the conservative-dominated judiciary arrested many party leaders, and next year the group was formally banned.
Lieberman, Avigdor (1958–): Israeli politician Born Evet Lvovich Liberman in Kishinev (now Chisinau) in Soviet Moldova, he migrated to Israel in 1978, where he changed his name to Avigdor. After serving his military draft, he graduated in political science from Hebrew University in Jerusalem [q.v.]. During his studies he took a part-time job as a bouncer at the university student club called Shablul (Hebrew: Snail). He was an active member of the Zionist Forum for the Soviet Jewry.
In 1988, he started working with Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.]. On becoming leader of Likud [q.v.] in 1993, Netanyahu appointed him director general of the party. When Netanyahu was elected prime minister in 1996 he named Lieberman director general of the prime minister's office.
On the eve of the 1999 Knesset [q.v.] election, Lieberman formed Israel Beiteinu [q.v.] with the aim of attracting the votes of the Jews [q.v.] from the former Soviet Union. It secured four seats in the Knesset [q.v.], including one for him. In March 2001, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon [q.v.] appointed him national infrastructure minister. He resigned the post a year later. After getting reelected to the Knesset in January 2003, he became transportation minister under Sharon. But, when he opposed Sharon's plan to disengage from the Gaza Strip [q.v.], he lost his post in May 2004.
With his party winning 11 seats in the 2006 general election, Lieberman's importance rose. He joined the coalition government of Ehud Olmert [q.v.] as minister of strategic affairs only after Olmert reneged on Kadima's election pledge to withdraw from a number of Jewish settlements in the West Bank [q.v.]. He quit the cabinet in January 2008 when Olmert agreed to peace talks with the Palestinians on core issues after the U.S.-sponsored Middle East Conference in Annapolis [q.v.] in November 2007.
Following his party's increased Knesset membership to 15 in the 2009 election, he became foreign minister as well as deputy prime minister in the government led by Netanyahu. At a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he clashed with her on the issue of the Jewish settlement in the West Bank, which Washington wanted frozen.
As a resident of the Jewish settlement of Nokdim in the West Bank since 1988, he is a staunch supporter of Jewish settlers. He advocates an exchange of territories whereby Israel would keep major Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank, and a future Palestinian state would acquire large Israeli Arab [q.v.] population centers. Under the slogan "No loyalty, no citizenship," he demanded a law specifying Israeli Arabs' allegiance to Israel as a Jewish state.
After a three-year-long investigation, Israeli police recommended in 2009 that he should be indicted for bribe-taking, fraud, violation of public confidence, obstruction of justice, and money laundering, involving transfer of millions of Israeli shekels to shell companies and accounts belonging to people close to him over the past nine years.
In December 2011 he said that he did not believe that a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians would be agreed within the next decade, and therefore Israel must work to manage the conflict and not solve it.
Likud (Hebrew: Unity): Israeli political bloc In the wake of the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], Gahal [q.v.] combined with the Free Center, the State Party (a remnant of Rafi), and the Eretz Yisrael movement to form Likud. What brought them together was their commitment to incorporating into Israel the Palestinian Arab territories occupied since the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.].
Ideologically, Likud was an alliance of the conservative, capitalist, and ultranationalist trends within secular Zionism [q.v.]. It won 30.2 percent of the votes (39 seats) in the December 1973 election and secured 33.4 percent of the votes (43 seats) in the May 1977 election, becoming the senior partner in the coalition government, including religious parties, headed by its leader, Menachem Begin [q.v.]. It repeated its winning performance in the July 1981 election and secured 47 seats.
Due to Israel's invasion of Lebanon [q.v.] in 1982 and its aftermath, resulting in the death of more than 500 soldiers, Likud's popularity declined. Begin resigned in August 1983 and was succeeded by Yitzhak Shamir [q.v.]. Likud's share of 41 seats in the 1984 general election was a little more than Labor's [q.v.] at 38. It formed a national unity government with Labor, with its leader becoming prime minister for a two-year term. The same happened after the 1988 election when, faced with the loss of a further two seats (to 39), Likud agreed to share power with Labor in a national unity administration.
When this arrangement broke down in March 1990 on the issue of the terms of a Middle East peace process, Likud managed to put together a coalition cabinet with the help of religious and ultra-right-wing parties. In the June 1992 election, with its share of seats down to 32, it lost power. Its leadership passed to Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.]. In the May 1996 general election, it won 22 seats. After Netanyahu had stepped down as the party leader in the wake of his defeat in the prime ministerial contest in May 1999, and Likud's Knesset [q.v.] strength had fallen to 19, its leadership went to Ariel Sharon [q.v.].
Sharon won the prime ministerial election in 2001. In the Knesset election that followed in 2003, Likud's share of seats rose to 38. Sharon formed a national unity government with Labor as the main partner. After his government's withdrawal from Gaza in September 2005, disaffection among Likud ranks rose. Sharon quit the party to found the centrist Kadima [q.v.] in November. Kadima gained 11 Knesset members because of the defections from Likud, whose leadership passed to Netanyahu. In the 2006 general election, Likud's strength fell to 12, a record. But its fortunes rose in the 2009 Knesset election: its 27 seats were just one short of the leading Kadima. But when Kadima's leader Tzipi Livni [q.v.] failed to cobble together a coalition government, Netanyahu formed one consisting of right-wing and ultra-right-wing groups. In May 2012 he co-opted Kadima, led by Shaul Mofaz, and expanded his coalition.
Little Tumb Island: also spelled Little Tunb Island; See Tumb Tunb Islands.
Livni, Tzipi (1958–): Israeli politician Born to Tzipora Malka to Eitan Livni and Sara Rosenberg—both leading members of Irgun [q.v.], her father being its chief operations officer—in Tel Aviv [q.v.]; she was educated in that city.
After serving in the military, she joined Mossad [q.v.]. She was part of the intelligence unit involved in Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 [q.v.]. She left Mossad in 1983 to marry and finish her law studies at Bar Ilan University in Tel Aviv. She practiced law for a decade before joining Likud [q.v.] in 1996. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.] named her chairperson of the state-owned companies, and she supervised the privatization process.
She was elected to the Knesset [q.v.] in 1999. Two years later Prime Minister Ariel Sharon [q.v.] appointed her minister for regional development. After her reelection in 2003, she was named minister for housing and construction, and then moved to justice ministry. Livni quit Likud in November 2005 to join Kadima [q.v.], founded by Sharon. With the resignation of many Likud members from the cabinet, she was given the additional post of foreign minister in 2006.
Following the March 2006 Knesset election, she was named deputy prime minister by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [q.v.]. During the Israeli-Hizbollah War [q.v.] in July-August, she was kept out of the conduct of the armed conflict. Her strained relations with Olmert continued until, facing corruption allegations, Olmert announced his intention to resign in July 2008.
In the subsequent contest for Kadima's leadership with Shaul Mofaz [q.v.], a former defense minister, she won by a margin of 1 percent of the vote. This marked a break in the traditional ascendancy of former generals in Israeli politics. However, she failed to form a coalition government headed by her. This led President Shimon Peres [q.v.] to let Olmert continue as the caretaker prime minister until the next general election.
Livni was part of the three-member team, with Olmert and defense minister Ehud Barak [q.v.], that launched and supervised the Gaza War of 2008–09 [q.v.]. In the February 2009 election Kadima won 28 seats, one more than Likud. But once again she failed to form a coalition government. As the opposition leader she stressed equally security of Israel and furthering the peace process. In March 2012 she lost the party's leadership to Mofaz by a wide margin. Two months later she gave up her Knesset seat.
M
Maarach (Hebrew: Alignment): Israeli political alliance Maarach is the popular term that was applied to the alliance between Mapai [q.v.] and Ahdut HaAvodah-Poale Zion [q.v.] in 1965—and then from 1969 to 1984 to the alliance between the Labor Party [q.v.] and Mapam [q.v.].
Mafdal (Hebrew: acronym of Mifleget Datit Leumit, National Religious Party): See National Religious Party (Israel).
mahdi (Arabic: the guided one, leader) (Also spelled Mehdi) The concept of mahdi, the Rightly Guided One, who will end injustice and restore faith while claiming divine sanction, is well defined in Judaism [q.v.], Christianity [q.v.], and Twelver Shiism [q.v.]. Twelver Shias believe that the Twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Qasim, the infant son of the Eleventh Imam, Hassan al-Askari, is their mahdi, who has been in spiritual occultation since 874 A.D. but will reappear to institute the rule of justice on earth before the Day of Judgment. Among Sunnis [q.v.] the prevalent concept is that of a mujaddid (Arabic: one who renews), who appears at the turn of every Islamic century to defend the sunna [q.v.] from innovation.
Mahfouz, Naguib (1911–2006): Egyptian writer, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1988 Born into a merchant family in Cairo [q.v.], Mahfouz graduated in philosophy from Cairo University in 1934. After a brief period of teaching philosophy, he joined the civil service in 1939 and stayed on for 33 years. After serving in the ministry of religious endowments (1939–54), he moved to the ministry of culture and national guidance as director of technical supervision, and later as director of the State Cinema Organization.
He discovered European fiction at university, and avidly read in French such writers as Honoré de Balzac, Albert Camus, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Gustave Flaubert, Walter Scott, Leo Tolstoy, and Emile Zola. A Game of Fates (1939), his first novel, was influenced by Walter Scott. Set in the era of the pharaohs, it dealt with an oppressive regime and the overthrow of foreign rule. As monarchical Egypt was then under British tutelage, the subject was contemporary.
After two more historical novels, Mahfouz turned to social realism with A New Cairo (1946). The book centered on three university students— one a socialist, the second a pious Muslim, and the third an opportunist. The next three novels—Khan al-Khalili (1945), Midaqq Alley (1947), and The Beginning and the End (1949)—revolved around the lower middle classes in Cairo. The novels had a large cast and examined the prevailing social tensions. Balzac was his inspiration. Mahfouz stretched the bounds of literary Arabic [q.v.]— which is understood from the Persian Gulf [q.v.] to the Atlantic—to compose realistic dialogue, a unique achievement, thus fashioning a device that allowed him and other Arabic writers to infuse social realism into their creative works and broaden their readership.
Next followed his most mature work, The Trilogy (1956–57): Bayn al-Qasryn (The Palace Walk), Qasr al-Shawq (The Palace of Desire), and al-Sukkariyya (The Sugar Street), named after Cairo streets. In it he offered an eye-witness account of Egypt between the World Wars I and II through a 30-year history of one Cairene family, using a vernacular that had not been penned before, with religious and political themes entertainingly intertwined. It made him a literary star in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world. In its length and scale The Trilogy remains unrivalled in Arabic literature.
After seven years of silence came a serialization in al-Ahram (Arabic: The Pyramids), the country's leading daily newspaper, of his Children of Gebe-laawi (1964), an iconoclastic allegory of human life from Genesis to the present day, which concluded with a vision of man searching in a rubbish dump for clues about his salvation. So unsettling was this work that the authorities did not allow it to be issued as a book in Egypt.
At the film broadcasting division of the ministry of culture and national guidance, he adapted several of his novels as movies. He became a fulltime writer in 1973 and continued his steady output of novels and short stories. By the time he won the Nobel Prize for Literature at the age of 77 he had authored 32 novels, 13 volumes of short stories, and 30 screenplays. He had also emerged as the most widely translated Egyptian writer. After the Nobel Prize his novels were immediately translated into several languages.
Adrift in the Nile was published in 1993, followed by The Harafish in 1994, a story of a Egyptian family living in an alley over several centuries. While his works are not partisan they are certainly political. A modest man of regular habits, he had always been a writer with a highly developed social conscience, committed to social justice.
He was also robustly independent-minded, and was stabbed in the neck outside his home in 1994 by a Muslim [q.v.] fanatic after he had been denounced as an "infidel" by Islamist extremists. Due to permanently damaged nerves, he lost the full use of his right (writing) hand, and his output declined drastically. His postattack works of nonfiction were The Rehabilitation Period (2004) and The Seventh Heaven (2005).
His fiction and nonfiction works translated into English included Arabian Nights and Days (1995); The Honeymoon (1995); The Beggar, the Thief and the Dogs (2000); The Day the Leader Was Killed (2001); Naguib Mahfouz at Sidi Gaber: Reflections of a Nobel Laureate, 1994–2001 (2001); and Voices from the Arab World: Ancient Egyptian Tales (2003)—capped by The Complete Mahfouz Library (2002).
Majlis (Arabic/Persian: Assembly): parliament in Iran Majlis is the popular term that has been used for the Iranian parliament since its inception during the 1906–07 Constitutional Revolution [q.v.]. It is the oldest elected legislative body in the Middle East [q.v.]. See also Iran: Constitution and Legislature.
Maki (Hebrew: acronym of Miflaga Kom-munistitIsraelit, Israeli Communist Party): Israeli political party Maki emerged in October 1948 out of the merger of the Communist Party of Palestine (CPP) [q.v.] and the remnants of the League of National Liberation (LNL). It recognized the State of Israel without accepting the Zionist doctrine of a link between the Jews [q.v.] in Israel and the diaspora [q.v.]. It backed the right of Arab refugees to return to their homes, as well as the founding of a Palestinian state in the territory allotted to the Arabs [q.v.] in the UN partition plan of November 1947.
In the First Knesset (1949–51) [q.v.] it won four seats. It had 8,000 members in 1951. Benefiting from a split in Mapam [q.v.] in 1953, it increased its Knesset seats to six in the 1955 election. Opposed to the military administration of the Arab-inhabited areas, it fought discrimination against Arab citizens, then 4 percent of the population. It was the only party to oppose the Israeli aggression in the 1956 Suez War [q.v.].
In the early 1960s, when the Soviet Union began to pursue pro-Arab policies, a cleavage developed in Maki. The pro-Arab faction proposed cooperation with the Arab Communist parties whereas the pro-Jewish faction advocated alliance with certain Zionist workers' groups to form a popular front. Moscow's sympathy for the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.], and its continued refusal to allow Soviet Jews to emigrate, accentuated the division within Maki. In mid-1965, the pro-Arab wing led by Meir Vilner and Tawfiq Toubi left Maki to form Rakah [q.v.]. In the general election later that year, Maki, led by Moshe Sneh [q.v.] and Shamuel Mikunis, gained only one seat.
Maki supported the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] and opposed unconditional Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.]. In the 1969 election it retained its single seat, but failed to do so in the election four years later. The party disintegrated in 1975.
al-Maktoum, Muhammad bin Rashid Muhammad al-Maktoun (1949–): ruler of Dubai emirate in the United Arab Emirates, 2006—; prime minister and vice president of the United Arab Emirates, 2006— Born in Dubai [q.v.], he was educated privately there and at Bell Language School in Cambridge, U.K. He received his military training at Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, U.K.
After his nomination as the Crown Prince in 1995 by the ruler, Shaikh Maktoum bin Rashid al-Maktoum [q.v.] in 1995, he supervised the development of many construction projects, including the creation of the artificial Palm Islands, the seven-star Bur al-Arab Hotel, and Burj Khalifa, which became the tallest free-standing building on the planet in 2010.
On his elder brother's death, he became the ruler of Dubai, and was appointed Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates by UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan [q.v.]
He possesses 99.7 percent of Dubai Holdings, owning diversified businesses and investments, which ran into financial straits in the wake of the international credit crunch of 200809. His horses have won numerous Group One races in Britain, France, Ireland, and the United States.
al-Maktoum, Maktoum bin Rashid (1943–2006): ruler of Dubai Emirate in the United Arab Emirates, 1990–2006; vice president of the UAE, 1990–2006; prime minister of the UAE, 1971–79, 1990–2006 Born in Dubai [q.v.], Maktoum was educated there and in Britain. He then began to acquire administrative experience in the Emirate of Dubai [q.v.]. After the formation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in December 1971 he was elected prime minister by the Supreme Council of Emirs. As a Western-educated royal, he got on well with the substantial community of Western oil and financial experts. He continued as the UAE premier until July 1979 when he stepped down in favor of his father, Shaikh Rashid bin Said al-Maktoum [q.v.], becoming his deputy. After Shaikh Rashid's death, Maktoum inherited his father's positions as the vice president and prime minister of the UAE and the ruler of the Dubai emirate. Under his leadership, Dubai was developed successfully as a tourist destination for Europeans. He died during his tour of Australia.
al-Maktoum, Rashid bin Said (1910–90): ruler of the Dubai emirate in the United Arab Emirates, 1958–90; vice president of the UAE, 1971–90; prime minister of the UAE, 1979–90 Born in Dubai [q.v.], Maktoum belonged to the Aal bu Falasa section of the Bani Yas tribe. Despite his lack of formal schooling, he proved to be a good administrator and economist when he became ruler of the Dubai Emirate in 1958. He turned Dubai into a leading entrepot of eastern Arabia, basing its commercial prosperity initially on the import and export of gold bars, the source of supply being banks in Switzerland and the destination India and Pakistan. Commercial oil production, which started in 1969, boosted the local economy.
Following the founding of the United Arab Emirates in July 1971 a Supreme Council of seven rulers was established, with Shaikh Zaid al-Nahyan [q.v.] of Abu Dhabi [q.v.] as its president and Maktoum its vice president. Though both leaders realized the importance of cooperation to make a success of the fledgling UAE federation, personal rivalry between them persisted: Maktoum was a sophisticated entrepreneur whereas Shaikh Zaid was a bedouin chief.
But when the UAE faced the stormy winds of republicanism from Islamic Iran, both leaders realized the danger of internal discord and banded together. At the behest of Shaikh Zaid, the Supreme Council called on Maktoum to become the UAE's prime minister in July 1979. He agreed, and took over from his eldest son Mak-toum bin Rashid al-Maktoum [q.v.]. He applied his considerable administrative and financial skills to the running of all of the UAE for the next decade.
Malaika, Nazik (1923–2007): Iraqi poet Born in Baghdad [q.v.] into a literary family— both her parents were poets—Malakia composed her first poem in classical Arabic [q.v.] at the age of 10. While a student at the Higher Teachers' Training College, she published her poetry—characterized by extraordinary terseness, eloquence, original use of imagery, and a sensitive ear for music—in newspapers and magazines.
Her first collection of poems, Aashiqat Al-Layl (Arabic: Lover of Night), was published in 1947. Two years later, her next collection, Shazaya wa ramad (Arabic: Ashes and Shrapnel), helped launch free verse in Arabic as a new form for avant-garde poets—as part of the literary movement also pioneered by Badr Shakir Sayyab [q.v.]. At the same time she became a strong advocate of women's rights. Her lectures on women's status in patriarchal societies appeared as books: Woman between Passivity and Positive Morality (1953) and Fragmentation in Arab Society (1954). She obtained a postgraduate degree in comparative literature from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1959.
On her return home, she became a lecturer at the Arabic department of the Education College in Baghdad. In 1961 she married Abdul Hadi Mah-booba. The next year she published a collection of essays on the merits and demerits of free verse and metrical poetry, Qadaya 'l-shiar al-muaasir (Arabic: The Contemporary Poetry Issues). At the end of the decade, however, she began to distance herself from experimentalism while advocating socially conservative views, and reverted to traditional metrical poetry. These collections of her poems appeared between 1970 and 1978. She moved to Kuwait [q.v.] to teach at University of Kuwait. A festschrift, containing many essays on her work, was published in 1985.
Following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq [q.v.] in August 1990, she returned to Baghdad because of the turmoil in the emirate. On the eve of the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.] she moved to Cairo [q.v.]. There, a collection of her poems, Youghiyar Alouanah Al-Bahr (Arabic: Leaving the Sea of Sorrow), most of them written a quarter-cen-tury ago, appeared in 1999.
Maliki Code: Sunni Islamic school The Maliki Code is the canonical school of Sunni Islam [q.v.], founded by Malik bin Anas (714–96 A.D.), a jurist based in Medina [q.v.]. Like other schools, it is based on the Quran [q.v.], the sunna [q.v.], and ijma [q.v.]. But in the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions, Malik bin Anas excludes Caliph Ali bin Abu Talib, a cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, who is regarded by Sunnis as the last of the four Rightly Guided Caliphs. Regarding ijma, consensus of the community, Malik bin Anas stated that if the community fails to produce a solution to a problem, then qiyas [q.v.], reasoning by analogy, should be practiced by a jurist to find one.
The Maliki Code's initial dominance of the Arab heartland of Islam gave way to the Shafii Code [q.v.]. An essentially conservative doctrine, it has persisted more in pastoral communities than in the urbanizing ones, and is today the leading code in North Africa, West Africa, and Sudan.
al-Maliki, Nouri (1950–): Iraqi politician, prime minister 2006– Nouri Muhammad Hassan Maliki was born into an influential Shia [q.v.] family in Hindiya, near Hillah. He acquired a master's degree in Arabic literature at Baghdad University, where he joined al-Daawa party [q.v.] in the late 1960s. He worked in the education department in Hillah. When President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] started repressing al-Daawa in 1979, he fled to Syria. To protect his relatives in Iraq from official persecution, he changed his family name to Jawad. In 1982 he moved to Tehran [q.v.] and stayed there until 1990. He then returned to Damascus [q.v.], where, as an al-Daawa leader, he forged links with Hizbollah [q.v.] and Iran.
After his return to post-Saddam Hussein Iraq in 2003, he was appointed deputy chairman of the Supreme National De-Baathification Commission by the Iraqi Interim Government to purge Baathist [q.v.] officials from the government. He was a member of the committee that drafted the new constitution which was passed in October 2005. He served as a spokesman for al-Daawa, as well as for the broader coalition of Shia parties, the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), which won most seats in the parliamentary election in December 2005 under the new constitution.
When U.S. President George W. Bush ruled out the continuation of Ibrahmi Jaafari [q.v.] as the prime minister after the latest election, Maliki was one of the four prospective candidates that the U.S. embassy in Baghdad [q.v.] considered. The American ambassador, James Jeffrey, regarded Maliki as someone who was independent of Iran and was easy to maneuver. He was sworn in as prime minister on 22 April 2006.
Once in power, he acted as independently as he could to project himself as an Iraqi nationalist. The first foreign capital he visited was Tehran [q.v.], where he was warmly welcomed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [q.v.] and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei [q.v.].
In May 2007 he succeeded Jaafari as the general secretary of al-Daawa. To curb the violence of the Sunni [q.v.] militants affiliated to Al Qaida [q.v. ], he authorized the increase of 21,500 U.S. troops in Iraq. The next year he led a successful campaign against Shia militias loyal to radical cleric Muqtada Sadr [q.v.].
He pressed the Bush administration to agree to a withdrawal of American forces in stages, arguing in June 2008 that 16 months would be the right time-frame to complete the process. His joint press conference with Bush in Baghdad in December became memorable when an irate Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw his shoes at Bush to express his anger at his policies on Iraq, but missed.
In February 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama announced that all American troops would leave Iraq by the end of 2011. When on 30 June 2009 U.S. soldiers withdrew from the urban areas, Maliki's government declared it National Sovereignty Day.
Criticized by his Shia allies, and pressured by Washington to reconcile with the disaffected Sunnis, Maliki split from the UIA in early 2009, and formed the broader-based State of Law coalition. In the March 2010 general elections it gained two seats less than the 91 won by the mostly Sunni-backed alliance of Iyad Allawi [q.v.]. To enable Maliki to exceed the strength of Allawi's alliance, Sadr, then pursuing advanced theological studies at the Iranian city of Qom [q.v.], facilitated the merger of the State of the Law coalition with Jaafari-led National Iraqi Alliance. But the only way Maliki could conciliate the Sunnis was by forming a national unity government. It wasn't until November that he was able to co-opt Allawi's al-Iraqia List [q.v.].
Feeling the wind of the Arab Spring [q.v.], Maliki announced that he would not run for a third term. In August 2011, he said that there would be no American military bases in Iraq after December, and that any U.S. military presence in Iraq after that date would be limited to trainers for the 18 F-16 warplanes that Iraq had purchased from the American manufacturers.
Manama: capital of Bahrain Population: 157,850 (2011 est.). Situated on the Bahrain Island, Manama's recorded history dates back to 1345. It fell to the Portuguese in 1521, and then to the Iranians in 1602. Iran's authority was overthrown by the local al-Khalifa family [q.v.] in 1783. The treaties that al-Khalifas signed with Britain between 1861 and 1892 turned Bahrain into a British protectorate. Manama became the seat of a British political agent under the regional political resident based in Bushehr, Iran. In 1946 Britain's regional political resident set up his office in Manama. In that year the ruler allowed the British navy to use Manama's docks and other facilities. This continued until Bahrain's independence in 1971, when Manama became the emirate's capital. The ruler then extended the use of the city's docks to the Pentagon, an arrangement that has been renewed under different contracts and titles since then.
Before the discovery of oil in 1932 the local economy depended on fishing, pearling, and trade. After World War II the city rapidly developed as a commercial and financial center. It became a free port in 1958 and acquired deep-water shipping facilities four years later. With its modern harbor and ship-repair facilities, it has emerged as one of the leading ports in the Gulf [q. v.]. It has also acquired a worldwide reputation as an offshore banking center.
When, after a gap of 48 years, the Pentagon relaunched its Fifth Fleet it chose the Naval Support Activity Bahrain in Manama as its home, with its responsibilities extending over the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and the coast off East Africa up to Kenya. Thus Manama became the combined headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet and the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.
Mapai (Hebrew: acronym of Mifleget Poalei Israel, Israel Workers Party): Israeli political party Mapai resulted from the merger of Ahdut HaAvodah-Poale Zion [q.v.] and HaPoale HaTzair [q.v.] in Palestine [q.v.] in 1930. Of its 5,650 members, three-fifths were agriculturists. After the murder of its head, Chaim Arlosoroff [q.v.], in 1933, its leadership passed to David Ben-Gurion [q.v.]. Mapai dominated most of the institutions of the Yishuv [q.v.]: kibbutzim [q.v.], trade unions, militia, schools, and parliament. In the 23-member National Council (i.e., cabinet) of the Yishuv Assembly, it often held 11 seats.
As its leaders began to focus on building a nation, they diluted their socialist commitment. Despite strong opposition from leftists, the Mapai conference of 1941, representing some 20,000 members, adopted a program that focused on the founding of a Jewish state in Palestine [q.v.]. The party split on this issue in February 1944, with the leftists leaving. After World War II, Mapai started an anti-British campaign, which won the backing of Haganah [q.v.], Irgun [q.v.], and Lehi [q.v.]. It favored partitioning Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, and participated in the Arab-Israeli War (1948–49) [q.v.].
In the 1949 general election it emerged as the leading party, gaining 46 seats out of 120, a performance it repeated in the 1951 election. It became the dominant partner in the coalition governments that followed. The crucial decisions taken between 1948 and 1952, which set the foundations of the State of Israel, reflected its leaders' views. They chose a secular, not a theocratic, system; a capitalist economy managed by social democratic bureaucracy, not socialism; and pro-Western foreign policy. After a dip in the 1955 election to 40 seats, Mapai's share rose to 47 in the 1959 election, but fell to 42 in 1961.
During Israel's first quarter-cen-tury, when the population increased dramatically, the state and society changed considerably. Mapai's decision to open its membership to all socioeconomic groups further diluted its pioneering socialist ideals. The sharp growth in its size, reaching 200,000 members in 1964, created an unwieldy party bureaucracy.
The rivalry between Ben-Gurion and Pinchas Lavon [q.v.], centered on the latter's "security mishap" in 1954, which dragged on for a decade and damaged the party, reducing its vote in the 1960 Histadrut [q.v.] election to 55 percent, down from the 80 percent it used to win in the 1930s. Having rid Lavon of his office in Histadrut and the government, Ben-Gurion did not rest content. He left the government in 1963 and started campaigning against Prime Minister Levi Eshkol [q.v.]. To meet the challenge, party leaders recommended an alliance with Ahdut HaAvodah-Poale Zion [q.v.]. The Mapai conference in 1964 accepted the recommendation. On the eve of the 1965 election Mapai signed an agreement for a maarach (Hebrew: alignment) with Ahdut HaAvodah-Poale Zion, the resulting block winning 45 seats. The Maarach, widened in 1968 to include Rafi, finally resulted in the merger of the three constituent parties into the Israeli Labor Party [q.v.].
Mapam (Hebrew: acronym of Mifleget Poalei Meuhedet, United Workers Party): Israeli political party Once the November 1947 UN partition plan for Palestine [q.v.] had extinguished the idea of a bi-national (Arab-Jewish) state in Palestine, the barrier between the two major leftist organizations— Ahdut HaAvodah-Poale Zion [q.v.] and HaShomer HaTzair (Hebrew: The Young Guards)—was lifted, paving the way for their merger. This happened in January 1948, and the result was Mapam under the leadership of Moshe Sneh [q. v.].
It became the leading leftist force inside and outside parliament in Israel. Its 19-member bloc in the First Knesset [q.v.] (1949–51) attacked the Mapai [q.v.]-led government for accepting a large amount of financial aid from the United States. Mapam advocated organizing new immigrants into collective agrarian and industrial units, and nationalizing natural resources and large capitalist enterprises. In the elections to the Second Knesset in 1951 it won 15 seats. But during the term of this parliament it lost two deputies to Mapai; two, including Sneh, to Maki [q.v.]; and four to the revived Ahdut HaAvodah-Poale Zion. The smaller contingent of nine in the Third Knesset (1955–59) was less leftist and less pro-Soviet. Indeed it became a partner in the coalition government led by Mapai [q.v.].
After the Suez War [q.v.] Mapam held demonstrations against Israel's withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula [q.v.]. In the elections of 1959, 1961, and 1965, it won eight or nine seats, and coalesced with Mapai to form the government. When it supported the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] it lost some leftist members.
In January 1969 Mapam allied with the newly formed Labor Party [q.v.] to form the Labor-Mapam Alignment [q.v.], which performed erratically— down from 56 seats in 1969 to 32 in 1977, then rising to 47 in 1981. The Alignment held until September 1984 when, protesting against Labor's decision to form a national unity government with Likud [q.v.], Mapam ended the arrangement, taking its six deputies into opposition. In the 1988 election Mapam won three seats on its own. As part of the Meretz [q.v.] alliance in the 1992 election it secured four seats. Its share fell to two seats in the 1996 general election and rose to three in 1999. With the steady decline of the Meretz alliance in the succeeding elections, Mapam lost its identity.
marja-e taqlid (Arabic/Persian: source of emulation): Among Twelver Shias [q.v.] the idea of a living mujtahid [q.v.] interpreting the Sharia [q.v.] took hold in the late 18th century. Muhammad Baqir Behbehani (d. 1793), a mujtahid based in Karbala [q.v.], ruled that every believer must choose a mujtahid to emulate, who was given the honorific of marja-e taqlid. In the religious establishment his standing was above that of ayatollah ozma, grand ayatollah, a title that came into vogue in Iran during the 1907–11 Constitutional Revolution [q.v.]. He exercised far greater power than an outstanding Sunni [q.v.] cleric. He issued judgments on political matters impinging on Islamic principles independently of the temporal ruler, a development that had a profound impact on the subsequent history of Iran, a predominantly Shia [q.v.] country. Among the best-known Shia marja-e taqlids of recent times have been Abol Qasim Khoei [q.v.], Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], Musa al-Sadr [q.v.], and Muhammad Kazem Shariatmadari [q.v.]. They carried the title of Grand Ayatollah. See also mujtahid and Titles, Religious (Shia Islam).
Maronite Catholic Church: Christian sect Member of the Uniate churches [q.v.]—i.e., affiliated to the Roman Catholic Church [q.v.] but allowed to practice its own Eastern rites and customs—its adherents are called Maronites. They are followers of Saint Maron/Maro, a Christian hermit who lived in northeast Syria in the late fourth-early fifth centuries. Their migration to Mount Lebanon occurred in the late seventh century, and was led by St. John Maron, patriarch of Antioch. As the persecuted Christians [q.v.] from the plains took refuge in these mountains over the next few centuries, the Maronite ranks grew steadily. During the Crusades (1095–1272), they sided with the Crusaders.
In 1182 their church acquired semi-autonomous affiliation with the Vatican, which allowed them to retain their own West Syriac liturgy [q.v.] and have their own resident patriarch in Lebanon. Pope Gregory XIII established the Maronite College in Rome in 1585. In 1648 France proclaimed itself protector of Catholics in the Ottoman Empire (1517–1918), and was so accepted. This was the beginning of a special relationship between France and the Maronites, which bloomed when Syria-Lebanon was placed under the French Mandate after World War I. Maronite and other Christian leaders cooperated actively with Paris in the creation of a Christian-dominated Greater Lebanon, later to be called the Republic of Lebanon.
Centuries of isolation in the mountains, combined with successful resistance to direct control by Muslim [q.v.] overlords, turned Maronites into a community where religion and politics were inextricably mixed. Its immediate spiritual head is the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, who resides in Bkirki near Jounieh port. Today Maronites are the largest Christian community in Lebanon whose constitution requires the republic's president to belong to this sect.
martyrdom (Greek: derivative of martus, witness): the concept of dying in the cause of religion In the course of securing political independence for the Jews [q.v.] from their Greek rulers, their leader, Judas Maccabaeus of the Has-monaean family, lost his life in 160 B.C., thus giving rise to the concept of martyrdom in monotheistic religions. A martyr is one who dies for his or her faith. The concept of martyrdom was formalized and elevated by the Prophet Muhammad (570–632 A.D.). The appropriate verse in the Quran [q.v.] (3:163) reads: "Count not those who are slain in God's way as dead,/but rather living with their Lord, by Him provided,/rejoicing in the bounty that God has given them,/and joyful in those who remain behind and have not joined them."
The popular belief in the West that a martyr would enjoy the favors of 72 virgins in Paradise has no Quranic origins. The two Quranic verses describing Paradise read: "Surely the God-fearing shall be in gardens and bliss/Rejoicing in what the Lord has given them;/... Reclining upon couches ranged in rows;/and We shall espouse them to wide-eyed houris." [52:20]; and "In the Gardens of delight... upon close-wrought couches, reclining upon them, set face to face, and such fruits as they shall choose, and such flesh of fowl as they desire, and wide-eyed houris as the likeness of hidden pearls, a recompense for what they labored." [56:22].
In modern times martyrdom motivated the Ikhwan [q.v.], operating under Abdul Aziz al-Saud [q.v.] from 1913 to 1928, to expand the realm of Wahhabi Islam [q.v.]. During the 1977–78 revolutionary movement in Iran, the deeply rooted martyr complex of Shias [q.v.]—which led thousands of Iranians, wearing white shrouds, used to cover corpses, to face the bullets of the army—was an important factor in demoralizing soldiers, who started to desert. In December 1978 the onset of the Ashura festival [q.v.] focused on the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, called the Great Martyr, irrevocably turned the tide against the secular regime of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.].
The newly formed Islamic Republic of Iran established the Martyrs Foundation to look after the families of those who had died as martyrs before, during, and after the Islamic Revolution [q.v.]—a category that also included those who were killed in the 1980–88 Iran-Iraq War [q.v.], since they had perished while defending an Islamic republic. The concept of martyrdom was also instrumental in actions such as truck-bombing, involving the instant death of the driver, carried out by such Shia organizations in Lebanon as the Islamic Jihad [q.v.] and Hizbollah [q.v.]. Later it inspired similar actions by Hamas [q.v.] and Islamic Jihad [q.v.], both Sunni [q.v.] groups, in the Occupied Territories [q.v.]—as well as secular Fatah [q.v.]. See also suicide bombing.
Mashhad (Arabic: a place of witness/ sepulchral shrine): Iranian city Population: 3.173 million (2011 est.). The settlement of Nukan, where Caliph Haroon al-Rashid (r. 786–809 A.D.) and Imam Ali al-Rida/Reza (d. 818 A.D.), the eighth imam of the Twelver Shias [q.v.], were buried, acquired the name Mashhad or Mashhad-e Rida. It is the birthplace of the author of Persian epic poem Shahnama—Abul Qasim Mansour, popularly known as Firdausi (c. 940 A.D.–1020)—who left a mark on the Persian language [q.v.] and culture that survives to this day.
In 1220 the Mongol invaders damaged it considerably. When the founder of the Safavid dynasty, Shah Ismail (r. 1501–1524), adopted Shia Islam [q.v.] as the state religion, the importance of Mashhad rose.
It fell into the hands of Uzbek invaders and was not recovered until 1598 by Shah Abbas I (r. 1587–1629). He made the city attractive and a leading place of pilgrimage for Shias. Nadir Shah Afshar (r. 1736–47) made it into the capital of Iran and built several monuments, including a mausoleum for himself. After his assassination and a civil war, Mashhad became the capital of Khurasan province, a buffer zone between Iran and Afghanistan. It was finally brought under Iranian control in the early 19th century by Fath Ali Shah of the Qajar dynasty. The palace started by Crown Prince Mirza in 1833 was completed in 1876.
The leading city of eastern Iran, Mashhad serves the prosperous agricultural region of the country. It is the center of the wool trade and of carpet making. In recent times the quadrupling of the oil price in 1973–74, which boosted the income of Iran, had a beneficial effect on Mashhad. In 1974 the city received 3,200,000 pilgrims who came to visit the shrine of Imam Ali al-Rida/Reza, a 15-fold increase over the previous decade.
Following the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, religious fervor rose sharply. In 2011, the city received nearly 20 million Iranian and foreign pilgrims to the revered shrine.
Mashaal, Khaled (1956–) : Palestinian leader Born in the village of Silwad near Ramallah [q.v.], then under Jordanian control, he was educated there until the 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], when the family moved to Kuwait. While at a secondary school he joined the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] at the age of 15. As an undergraduate at Kuwait University he formed a student body called Islamic Justice List in the General Union of Palestinian Students. After graduation in 1978 he taught physics at local schools and then at Kuwait University.
In the mid-1980s he was involved in forming an Islamic movement among Palestinians. This culminated in the founding of Hamas [q.v.] in 1987 and his inclusion in its Politburo. He was the leader of the Kuwait contingent of Hamas.
Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, he moved to Amman [q.v.] and ran the Hamas bureau there, focusing on raising funds for the welfare activities of Hamas in the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza [q.v.], and forging ties with the governments of Syria and Iran. In 1996, he was elected chairman of the Politburo.
The next year, two agents of Israel's Mossad [q.v.], posing as Canadian tourists, injected a lethal chemical agent into his ear. He was rushed to hospital before it took hold. Pressured by King Hussein [q.v.], Israel provided an antidote. After Hussein's death in February 1999, his son King Abdullah II [q .v.] shut down the Hamas bureau and expelled Mashaal.
He stayed in Qatar, and in 2001 moved to Damascus [q.v.], which became the base of the Politburo. Unimpeded by Israel's travel restrictions on Hamas leaders in Gaza and the West Bank, he has represented the organization at meetings with foreign governments and other interested parties. After Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Abdul Aziz Rantisi in Gaza in 2004, Mashaal's importance rose.
He was instrumental in raising $100 million from Iran and Qatar in 2006 to support the freshly formed Hamas government in the West Bank and Gaza. In that year, he declared that Hamas would end the armed struggle against Israel if it withdrew to its pre-1967 borders and recognized the Palestinian right of return.
In his meeting with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in 2008, he said that Hamas would respect the creation of a Palestinian state in pre-1967 areas provided it was ratified by the Palestinian people in a referendum. Until then Hamas would continue its resistance to Israeli occupation. After his meeting with him in Damascus in 2010, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that peace between Israelis and Palestinians would not be achieved unless Hamas joined the negotiations.
As the anti-regime protest in Syria escalated in 2011, Syrian President Bashar Assad [q.v.] expected Mashaal to support him publicly. As beneficiaries of a free and fair vote in the Palestinian Territories [q.v.], Mashaal and other Hamas leaders failed to do so. Mashaal shifted the Hamas headquarters temporarily to Doha so that it could maintain and cultivate its contacts with diplomats and other foreign officials.
Mecca: Saudi Arabian city Population 1.73 million (2011 est.) Known as Macoraba during the (Greco-Egyptian) Ptolemaic period (323–330 B.C.), Mecca was an ancient center of commerce. It was situated on the incense route from India to the Mediterranean region, and had developed around the well of Zamzam and the sanctuary of Kaaba [q.v.], which were holy to Arab [q.v.] tribes before the rise of Islam [q.v.].
The birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad bin Abdullah al-Quraish (570–632 A.D.), Mecca was where he conveyed his first revelations to early believers. The Prophet Muhammad's migration from Mecca in 622 A.D. marked the beginning of the Islamic era. Eight years later he conquered Mecca. As the site of the annual hajj [q.v.], Mecca became the most sacred city of Islam.
It was looted in 930 A.D. by Kar-mathians, a crypto-Muslim sect, which removed the Black Stone from the Kaaba and held on to it for 20 years. By the late 11th century Mecca was administered by the al-Hashem [q.v.] family, the governor bearing the title of sharif (Arabic: noble). Together with the surrounding region of Hijaz [q.v.], it was dependent for its food on Egypt, being under the suzerainty of whoever controlled Cairo [q.v.].
When the Ottomans conquered Egypt in 1517, the control of Mecca fell to them. It came under Wahhabi [q.v.] rule from 1804 to 1813. After the opening of the Suez Canal [q.v.] in 1869 there was improved communication between Istanbul and Mecca, now the capital of Hijaz. Hussein bin Ali al-Hashem became the sharif in 1908. In June 1916 he declared himself king of Hijaz, with Mecca as its capital. He was overthrown by Abdul Aziz al-Saud [q.v.] in 1924. Mecca became part of Saudi Arabia, and was closed to non-Muslims.
The economic and religious life of the city revolves around the hajj, which lasts five days. The heart of Mecca is the Haram (Arabic: Sanctuary), the Grand Mosque. Situated at the center of the Old City and containing the Kaaba, it was extensively renovated after a two-week siege by security forces to quell an armed uprising by over 300 Islamic militants, led by Juheiman al-Utaiba [q.v.] on 1 Muharram 1400 A.H./20 November 1979.
Served by the seaport and airport facilities of Jeddah [q.v.], and transformed into a modern metropolis, Mecca is well equipped to serve some two million pilgrims who arrive during the hajj. In the course of the hajj in 1987 it became the site of rioting, in which 402 people were killed, including 275 Iranians, 85 Saudis, and 45 other pilgrims as a result of police gunfire and stampedes.
Besides the 2.5 to 3 million Muslims who visit the city during the hajj [q.v.], another 12 million visit it annually as religious tourists. The ban on the entry of non-Muslims into Mecca continues.
By 2011, as part of the city's massive makeover, the area around the Grand Mosque was turned into a complex of luxury hotels, malls, and apartments. Its 1,600-ft./485-m-high clock tower—resembling Big Ben in London but capped with gold crescent and adorned with Arabic calligra-phy—is a landmark that is visible from 25 miles.
Medina (Arabic: town): Saudi Arabian city Population 1.32 million (2011 est.) Also known in Arabic as Madinat al-Rasul Allah (Town of the Messenger of Allah), Medina is the second-holiest city of Islam [q.v.]. Called Yathrib in pre-Islamic times, this oasis town was possibly settled by some of the Jews [q.v.] expelled from Palestine [q.v.] in 135 A.D. After his migration from Mecca [q.v.] in 622 A.D., the Prophet Muhammad established a base here. It became the capital of the Islamic caliphate after his death a decade later. This continued until 661 A.D., when the capital was moved to Damascus [q.v.].
It remained a center of Islamic learning, especially with regard to the Quran [q.v.] and the sunna [q.v.], and was the base, among others, of the founder of the Maliki Code [q.v.] in the eighth century. Later it came under the intermittent control of the sharifs of Mecca and of Egypt.
The Prophet's Mosque, built on the site of his modest mosque, was the main attraction. After lightning destroyed much of the earlier stricture, the mosque was expanded during the rule of the Ottoman Turks, who gained control of Medina as a result of their seizure of Egypt in 1517. The Ottoman suzerainty ended during World War I. The subsequent rule by Sharif Hussein bin Ali al-Hashem gave way in 1924 to that of Abdul Aziz al-Saud [q.v.]. It became part of Saudi Arabia, and was closed to non-Muslims.
The economic and religious life of the city revolves around the hajj [q.v.], when most pilgrims combine their visit to Mecca with one to Medina. Its Great Mosque, the renamed Prophet's Mosque, contains the tombs of the Prophet Muhammad; his daughter Fatima, wife of Caliph/Imam Ali; and Caliphs Abu Bakr and Omar.
After the hajj [q.v.], most of the 2.5 to 3 million Muslims pilgrims visit Medina to pray at the Great Mosque. In addition, the city attracts another 12 million Muslims as religious tourists.
Meir (Meyerson), Golda (1898–1978): Israeli politician; prime minister, 1969— 74 The daughter of Moshe Mabovitch, a carpenter in Kiev, Ukraine, Meir migrated with her family to Milwaukee in the United States when she was eight. She trained as a teacher, and married Morris Meyerson, a bookkeeper, in 1917. Four years later they migrated to Palestine [q.v.] and joined a kibbutz [q.v.]. From 1926 she became active in the Histadrut [q.v.] and later Mapai [q.v.]. After separating from her husband in 1932 she spent two years in the United States with the Pioneer Women's Organization.
In 1936 she became head of the Histadrut's political department. She opposed the partition plan proposed by Britain's Peel Commission in 1937. After the arrest in 1946 of Moshe Sharett [q.v.], head of the Jewish Agency's [q.v.] political department, dealing with foreign affairs, she replaced him. In that capacity she had secret meetings with Transjordan's ruler, Abdullah bin Hussein [q.v.], in late November 1947 and again on 10 May 1948 to dissuade him from joining other members of the Arab League [q.v.] in attacking the imminent State of Israel [q.v.]. She failed.
She served briefly as head of the Israeli legation in Moscow until her election in early 1949 to the Knesset [q.v.], where she was to retain a seat for the next quarter of a century. She served as labor minister (1949–56) and then as foreign minister (1956–66). After she resigned from the cabinet in 1966, she was drafted as secretary-general of Mapai to heal internecine wounds. When Mapai transformed itself into the Labor Party [q.v.] in 1968, she retired from public life. But following the sudden death of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol [q.v.] in February 1969, she was elected to head the national unity government in order to stave off a power struggle within Labor.
In September 1969, she signed a secret agreement with U.S. President Richard Nixon (r. 1969–74) that, so long as Israel did not advertise its possession of nuclear arms by testing them or publicly admitting ownership, Washington would tolerate and protect its nuclear program.
Her acceptance of Washington's Rogers Peace Plan [q.v.] in July 1970 led to the exit of Gahal [q.v.] from the cabinet.
The attention of all political parties was focused on the impending general election in late October 1973, when Israel was attacked by Egypt and Syria on 6 October. During the conflict she provided strong leadership, including ordering the mounting of Israel's entire stock of 25 atomic bombs on specially adapted bombers. Though praised for her leadership during the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] by the official inquiry commission in March 1974, she decided to resign as the prime minister, thus causing the entire cabinet to fall, partly to bring about the resignation of defense minister Moshe Dayan [q.v.]. In 1975 she received the Israel Prize for her contribution to Israeli society.
Melkite Christians: See Greek Catholic Church.
Meretz (Hebrew: Energy): Israeli political alliance (Official title: Meretz—Israel HaDemokratit [Hebrew: Energy—The Democratic Israel]): Having ended its alignment with the Labor Party [q.v.] in the aftermath of Labor's decision to form a national unity government with Likud [q.v.] in September 1984, Mapam [q.v.] formed the Meretz alliance with Shinui [q.v.] and Ratz [q.v.] after the 1988 general election, giving it a total strength of 10 deputies. Its program included separation of religion and state, electoral reform, discontinuation of the construction of Jewish settlements in the Arab Occupied Territories [q.v.], and self-determination for Palestinians. It functioned as an opposition group. In the 1992 election it secured 12 seats and joined the Labor-led coalition government. In 1996 it won nine seats, and went into opposition. It secured 10 seats in 1999, and joined the Labor-led coalition government headed by Ehud Barak [q.v. ]. stayed out of the national unity cabinet headed by Ariel Sharon [q.v.] in 2001.
In the 2003 Knesset election, the party won six seats, with its strength declining to five in the 2006 general election. On the eve of the 2009 parliamentary election, it combined with a smaller group called the New Movement (Hebrew: Hatnua HaHadasha). Yet its score fell to three. This was symptomatic of the overall right-wing drift of Israeli politics that started in the first decade of the 21st century, partly as a result of the Al Aqsa Intifada [q.v.] of the Palestinians [q.v.].
Mesopotamia (Greek: Land between the Rivers [Tigris and Euphrates]): Covering the territory between the Tigris [q.v.] and Euphrates [q.v.] rivers and extending from the mountains of southern Turkey to the Persian Gulf [q.v.], Mesopotamia constitutes the greater part of modern Iraq [q.v.]. Archeological excavations, conducted over the past one and a half centuries, have provided evidence of civilization dating back to ca. 10 millennia B.C. Mesopotamia is the region where the earliest settled agrarian society evolved, with its irrigation systems, crafts, and buildings made of clay bricks. It was there that one of the first cities was built, around 4000 B.C., and writing was invented in ca. 300 B.C. Incorporated into the Parthian Empire (250 B.C.-226 A.D.) in the second century B.C., it declined steadily. After 38 B.C. it became a buffer zone—first between the Parthian, and later Sassanian (226–640 A.D.) Empires followed by the Roman (27 B.C.-395 A.D.) and Byzantine (395 A.D.-1453) Empires. It was conquered by Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] in 637 A.D. Since then its history has been that of Iraq.
messiah (Hebrew: derivative of mashiach, meaning anointed): Judaism [q.v.] and Christianity [q.v.] share the concept of messiah but their respective followers view it differently. Following their exile in 586 B.C., Jews [q.v.] aspired for restoration by a leader who, like David (r. 1010–970 B.C.), would be a monarch as well as an epitome of piety. After their final dispersion in 135 A.D., Jews began to think of the messiah as someone who would end injustice, lead them to a restored Israel, and initiate the resurrection of the dead. Christians [q.v.] regard Jesus Christ as the messiah promised in the Old Testament [q.v.]. The fact that, far from ending injustice, he became its victim makes no difference to his messianic status, according to Christians. See also mahdi.
Middle East: Early Western geographers divided the East into the Near East [q.v. ] (the area extending from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf [q.v.]), the Middle East (the region extending from the Persian Gulf to Southeast Asia), and the Far East (covering the regions facing the Pacific Ocean). But during World War II, when the term Middle East was applied to the British military command in Egypt, the traditional definitions underwent a change, and the Middle East encompassed the region previously called the Near East. Later, when the independent states of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco joined the Arab League [q.v.], the term Middle East was considered to include these countries as well. The Middle East can be seen as consisting of a core and peripheries. The core includes Iran, the Fertile Crescent [q.v.], the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.], and Egypt. To its south lies Sudan; to its west Arab North Africa; and to its north Turkey and Cyprus. The narrowest definition of the Middle East includes only the core, and the widest includes the core and its three peripheries.
Middle East Defense Organization: In an effort to link various Middle Eastern countries in a military alliance against the Soviet Union, Britain, backed by the United States, conceived the Middle East Defense Organization (MEDO) as a multilateral defense pact. Since it was centered on Britain's Middle East Defense Command, based in the Suez Canal [q.v.] zone, the nationalist government of Egypt rejected it in late October 1951. This led to efforts by Britain and the United States to encourage bilateral agreements with a view to creating a multilateral defense pact, which materialized in 1955 as the Baghdad Pact [q.v.].
Middle East Peace Conference (Geneva, 1973): After the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], a Middle East Peace Conference was convened in Geneva on 21 December under the cochairmanship of the United States and the Soviet Union. It was attended by Egypt, Israel, and Jordan, but boycotted by Syria. Having instructed Israel and Egypt to negotiate the disengagement of their forces, the conference adjourned the next day because of the imminent general election in Israel. But, having won the election on 31 December, Israel's Labor [q.v.]-dominated government did not return to Geneva on 7 January as agreed. Instead it approached U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to use his personal diplomacy to bring about an agreement with Egypt. Egyptian president Anwar Sadat [q.v.] went along with this. Efforts by Washington and Moscow to reconvene the conference during the tenure of U.S. President Jimmy Carter (r. 1977–1981) failed.
Middle East Peace Conference (Madrid, 1991): After the Second Gulf War [q.v.] the United States began to lobby actively for a Middle East Peace Conference. On 18 July 1991, following Syrian President Hafiz Assad's [q.v.] dramatic concessions on his terms for attending a peace conference, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker met him in Damascus [q.v.]. On 30 September the Palestine National Council [q.v.] agreed to attend such a gathering. It was held in Madrid, Spain, on 30 October 1991 under the cochairmanship of the United States and the Soviet Union (later Russia), and was attended by Israel, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan (whose delegation included Palestinians from the Occupied Territories [q.v.]). All parties agreed to honor UN Security Council Resolution 242 of November 1967, which called for the withdrawal of Israel from the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.] in exchange for the peaceful coexistence of all the states in the region, and Resolution 338 of October 1973, which called on the concerned parties to implement the UN Security Council Resolution 242.
The Madrid conference was followed by bilateral talks between Israel and the three Arab parties, held outside the Middle East. The bilateral negotiations between Israel and Jordan evolved into separate talks between the Israeli delegation and the Jordanian, and the Israeli delegation and the Palestinian, with the latter taking its orders from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.]. Secret negotiations between the PLO and Israel led to the Israeli-PLO Accord [q.v.] in September 1993. Thirteen months later a Jordanian-Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] was signed. Starting in 1994, talks between Israel and Syria were mediated by the United States, but those between Israel and Lebanon were put on hold, waiting for tangible progress on the Israeli-Syrian front in line with the 1991 Lebanese-Syrian Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation, and Coordination [q.v.].
Middle East Peace Conference (Annapolis, Maryland, 2007): This was the first time that Israelis and Palestinians entered a conference with a common understanding that a two-state solution would be the end-result of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The conference ended with the issuing of a joint statement signed by all parties. Summarizing the event, U.S. President George W. Bush referred to the commitment by the negotiating parties to implement their respective obligations under the performance-based road map to a permanent two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, issued by the Quartet (the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and Russia) on 30 April 2003—called the road map—and agree to form an American-Palestinian-Israeli mechanism, led by the United States, to follow up on the implementation of the road map. The subsequent talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians involved American participation. The Palestinian team made far-reaching concessions in the negotiations during 2008–09, as revealed by the Palestine Papers [q.v.] in January 2011, but the Israeli and American officials found them inadequate.
Middle East Peace Process: See Peace Process, Middle East.
Midrash (Hebrew: investigation or study) Homiletic interpretations and embellishments of the Hebrew Bible [q.v.] by rabbis since ca. 200 A.D., Midrash is incorporated in the Mishna [q.v.]. Like the Gemara [q.v.], it contains material that pertains to Jewish Law, called Midrash Halacha [q.v.], and digressions in the form of rabbinic folklore, called Midrash Hagaada.
Mikati, Najib (1955–): Born into a middle-class Sunni [q.v.] family in Tripoli [q.v.], Mikati gained a Master's degree in Business Administration from the American University of Beirut [q.v.], and pursued further studies at the INSEAD (acronym for INStitut Européen d'ADministration des Affaires, European Institute of Business Administration) in Fountainebleau, France, and Harvard Business School in Cambridge, U.S.
During his postgraduate studies, he and his elder brother, Taha, established the company M1 Group. Starting with construction, the founder brothers entered the emerging telecom business in 1982; their company Investcom steadily became a major mobile phone operator around the globe.
In 1998 Najib Mikati was appointed minister of public works and transport by Prime Minister Salim Hoss [q.v.]. In that capacity he condemned Israel's extensive bombing of bridges and power plants, including the one near the presidential palace, in June 1999, purportedly as retribution for the rocket attacks on northern Israel by Hizbollah [q.v.]. That gave him a high political profile. He was elected to the National Assembly in 2000. He established normal working relations with the newly installed Syrian President Bashar Assad [q.v.].
He served as the caretaker prime minister from April to July 2005 to oversee the first general election in Lebanon without the presence of Syrian troops since 1976.
In June 2006 he and his brother Taha sold Investcom to MTN Group of South Africa for $5.5 billion. He was reelected to the National Assembly in 2009 but did not join the national unity cabinet of Saad Hariri [q.v.]. When Hariri's government fell in January 2011, Mikati was called to form the new administration. He succeeded in June with the active cooperation of the 14 March Alliance [q.v.] at a time when the protest movement in Syria was gathering momentum.
He has followed a consistent policy of distancing Lebanon from the turmoil in Syria by stressing that his priority was to maintain stability and unity in Lebanon. In January 2012, when the Arab League [q.v.] asked him to send Lebanese observers to Syria to monitor the implementation of the League's peace plan, he declined, arguing that he did not want to take on additional problems that his government could not solve.
Military in Bahrain (2011): Total armed forces 8,200: active, 8,200. Military expenditure as percent of GDP: 2.8 (2011).
GROUND FORCES: regular army, active, 6,000.
In-service equipment: tanks, 180; armored personnel carriers, 375; major artillery, 151.
AIR FORCES: regular air force, 1,500.
In-service equipment: combat aircraft, 39; combat helicopters, 28.
NAVAL FORCES: regular navy, 700.
In-service equipment: surface combatants, 1 (frigate 1); patrol and coastal combatants, 12.
Military in Egypt (2011): Total armed forces: active, 438,500; reserves, 479,000. Military expenditure as percent of GDP: 2.0 (2011).
GROUND FORCES: regular army, active 310,000; reserves 375,000.
In-service equipment: tanks, 2,410; armored personnel carriers, 3,560; major artillery, 4,470.
AIR FORCES:
(a) regular air force, active, 30,000; reserves, 20,000.
(b) Regular air defense, active, 80,000; reserves, 70,000.
In-service equipment: combat aircraft, 589; combat helicopters, 124.
NAVAL FORCES: regular navy, active, 15,500; reserves, 14,000.
In-service equipment: submarines, 4; surface combatants, 8 (frigates 8); patrol and coastal combatants, 51; mine warfare vessels, 14.
PARAMILITARY: active, 397,000: Central Security Forces, 325,000; National Guard, 60,000; Border Guard, 12,000.
Military in Iran (2011): Total armed forces: active, 523,000; reserves, 350,000. Military expenditure as percent of GDP: 2.4 (2011).
GROUND FORCES:
(a) regular army, active, 350,000; reserves, 350,000.
(b) Revolutionary Guard Corps, active, 125,000.
In-service equipment: tanks, 1,665; armored personnel carriers, 640; major artillery, 8,800; combat helicopters, 50; aircraft, 17.
AIR FORCES: regular air force, 37,000; air defense, 15,000.
In-service equipment: combat aircraft, 336; combat helicopters, 32.
NAVAL FORCES:
(a) regular navy, 18,000.
(b) Revolutionary Guard Corps, 20000.
In-service equipment: submarines, 23; patrol and coastal combatants, 68; mine warfare vessels, 5.
PARAMILITARY: active, Law Enforcement Forces, 40,000 to 60,000; on mobilization, 450,000; reserves, Resistance Mobilization Force (Persian: Niruyeh Moqawemat Basij), 100,000.
NON-CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS:
Chemical: There were unconfirmed reports of Iran deploying chemical weapons during its offensive against Basra in early 1987 during the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.]. Further use of such arms was discontinued when it was judged un-Islamic by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.]. In 1993 Iran signed the Chemical Weapons Convention and its parliament ratified it in 1997.
Nuclear: After examining the nuclear power project in Bushehr in January 1995, the inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that they saw no evidence of military use of the power plant. Similar statements were issued by the IAEA after their six monthly visits to the site. When in early 2003 the Iranian government announced that it had discovered uranium mines and that it proposed to process the mineral for peaceful purposes, the IAEA said that it had known about these plans before.
As it turned out, it had started enriching uranium at Natanz, northeast of Isfahan [q.v.], which had had a research reactor for many years. Under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1970 that Iran had signed, it was entitled to enrich uranium. It claimed to be doing so up to 5 percent purity to be used in the civilian nuclear power plant. The key question was whether Iran would then take the process further, to the point of 90 percent purity, to be used as fuel for an atom bomb. The driving force for militarization of Iran's nuclear program was the plan of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] to produce an atom bomb. By the autumn of 2003, when it became abundantly clear after a thorough search of Iraq by the occupying Anglo-American troops that the Iraqi leader had destroyed all facilities for producing weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the Iranian government discontinued their tentative moves toward militarization of their nuclear activities. According to the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, prepared by the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, published in December 2007, Tehran halted a covert nuclear weapons program in 2003.
At the same time, fearful of the prospect of U.S. President George W. Bush overthrowing their regime as he had done Saddam Hussein's, the Iranian leaders signed an agreement with the European Union (EU) Troika of Britain, France, and Germany in October 2003 to resolve with "full transparency" all the remaining questions of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). As a confidence-building measure Iran suspended its uranium enrichment activities. In September 2004, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei issued a fatwa that it was "un-Islamic" to use an atom bomb. Two months later, Iran suspended its uranium enrichment program until there was a "grand bargain" between it and the EU Troika, with the EU guaranteeing nuclear, political, and trade concessions to Iran for Tehran's indefinite suspension of its enrichment program.
Though the United States was not involved in direct talks with Iran, its hard-line stance, expressed in its opposition to the building of a civilian nuclear power plant by Russia, impacted on the EU Troika. In August 2005, the EU Troika's "grand bargain" boiled down to Iran's giving up its right to enrich uranium permanently in return for the improving commerce with Tehran and guaranteeing supplies of nuclear fuel from Europe for Iran's civilian nuclear power plants. Crucially, there was no mention of Iran's right to enrich uranium as accorded by the NPT. Tehran rejected the offer. It removed the IAEA seals on its uranium enrichment facility at Natanz.
In February 2006 the 35-strong Board of Governors of the IAEA decided by 27 votes to 3 to refer Iran's case to the UN Security Council. Two months later Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [q.v.] announced that Iran had succeeded in enriching uranium to 3.5 percent purity. When his government ignored the UN Security Council's demand in July that Iran should cease enriching uranium, the Council imposed the first of its three sets of economic sanctions against individuals,and organizations involved in Iran's nuclear program in December 2006. By then Bush had authorized a clandestine cyber-program to access Natanz's industrial computer controls to obtain a blueprint of how it worked.
Once that was achieved, a joint U.S.-Israeli team started building a worm to attack the Natanz plant and make its centrifuges, which enrich uranium, run out of control. The resulting Stuxnet worm was then introduced into the Natanz facility with contaminated computer drives around June 2009, five months after Barack Obama succeeded Bush. But it was about a year before the existence of Stuxnet became known. By then it had damaged up to 1,000 high-speed centrifuges.
But the Iranians' plans to enrich uranium above 3.5 to 5.0 percent remained on track. On the eve of the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution [q.v.] in February 2010, Ahmadinejad announced that Iran had enriched uranium to 20 percent, which was required for the nuclear reactor built in Tehran in 1967 to produce medical isotopes. Four months later the UN Security Council Resolution 1929 imposed a complete arms embargo on Iran, banned Iran from any activities related to ballistic missiles, authorized the inspection and seizure of shipments violating these restrictions, and extended the asset freeze to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The resolution was adopted by 12 votes to 2 (Turkey and Brazil), with Lebanon abstaining. Russia and China cooperated with the three Western members with veto power on the understanding that they would not act beyond this resolution. This was not to be.
Washington decided to penalize any financial institution that did business with Iran's Central Bank after 1 June 2012, and the EU banned imports of Iranian oil from July 2012. There was an agreement among U.S. and other leading Western intelligence agencies that Iran's supreme leader had not decided to build an atom bomb. So the overall Western objective, dictated by Israel, boiled down to depriving Iran of the capability of producing a nuclear weapon in the future.
Military in Iraq (2011): Total armed forces: active 271,000; reserves 69,400. Military expenditure as percent of GDP: 4.5 (2011).
GROUND FORCES: regular army, active, 193,400; reserves, 69,350.
In-service equipment: tanks, 335; armored personnel carriers, 2,800; major artillery, 1,400; combat helicopters, 30.
AIR FORCES: regular air force, 5,050.
In-service equipment: 3 combat planes. 7 squadrons of training and transport aircraft.
NAVAL FORCES: regular navy, active, 3,600.
In-service equipment: patrol and coastal combatants, 28.
NON-CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS :
Biological: Research in biological weapons began in 1985. Production of the biological warfare agents anthrax (bacillus anthracis) and botulinum (clostridium botulinum) started in 1989 and continued for a year. Implementing the UN Security Council Resolution 687 [q.v.] of April 1991, the inspectors of UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) [q.v.] for disarming Iraq demolished research facilities. By 1995 Iraq's claim to have destroyed all its stored agents was yet to be fully verified by UNSCOM. Later Iraq declared that it had 8,400 liters (1,850 gallons) of anthrax; 19,000 liters (4,180 gallons) of botulinum; 3,400 liters (750 gallons) of clostridium (gangrene gas); 2,200 liters (485 gallons) of aflatoxin; 10 liters (2 gallons) of ricin. These were destroyed by UNSCOM. That left 15,300 kilograms (34,000 pounds) of bio-weapons growth media unaccounted for.
Chemical: Iraq began to use chemical weapons (mustard and nerve gases) in the 1980–88 Iran-Iraq War [q.v.] from 1983 onwards, culminating in large-scale deployment during the last months of the war, which ended in August 1988. During that year the government also used chemical weapons against Kurdish insurgents and civilians in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region [q.v.], resulting in an estimated 100,000 deaths. After the implementation of UN Security Council Cease-fire Resolution 687 [q.v.] of April 1991, the four facilities for developing, producing, and storing were destroyed by UNSOCM.
The chemical warfare agents and quantities destroyed were 500–600 tons of mustard gas; 100–150 tons of nerve gases—sarin and tabun; and 50100 tons of VX nerve gas. Also destroyed were 480,000 liters (105,600 gallons) of chemical weapons agents; over 450,000 gallons of precursor chemicals; and 30 chemical warheads, as well as 38,537 filled and empty chemical weapons munitions.
Nuclear: Research and development in the nuclear weapons program was well advanced at the time of the 1991 Gulf War. In the course of implementing UN Security Council Resolution 687, the UNSCOM and the International Atomic Energy Agency examined 25,000 pages of documents, 700 rolls of film, and 19 hours of videotape to assess the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission's personnel and procurement of materials. They concluded that Iraq had not produced a detonator for an atom bomb, and had not accumulated sufficient enriched uranium to produce a nuclear weapon. If Iraq had been able to overcome these barriers it would have acquired the ability to produce two or three atom bombs annually by 1995 or 1996 at the earliest. All military nuclear research and development facilities had been destroyed by UN inspectors by 1993. In its April 1998 report, the IAEA said, "Based on all credible information to date, the IAEA has found no indication of Iraq having achieved its program goal of producing nuclear weapons or of Iraq having retained a physical capability for the production of weapon-usable nuclear material or having clandestinely obtained such material." In February 2003, after carrying out 177 inspections at 125 sites since the previous November, IAEA chief Muhammad El Baradei basically repeated the earlier summary. See also Gulf War III, Saddam Hussein, and Iraq: History.
Military in Jordan (2011): Total armed forces: active, 100,500; reserves, 65,000. Military expenditure as percent of GDP: 8.5 (2011).
GROUND FORCES: regular army, active, 88,000; reserves, 60,000.
In-service equipment: tanks, 750; armored personnel carriers, 450; major artillery, 1,340.
AIR FORCES: regular air force, active, 12,000; reserves, 5,000.
In-service equipment: combat aircraft, 115; combat helicopters, 25.
NAVAL FORCES: regular navy, active, 540; reserves, 500.
In-service equipment: patrol and coastal combatants, 7.
PARAMILITARY: active, 10,000 (of which, public security police 10,000); reserves (civil militia), 35,000.
Military in Kuwait (2011): Total armed forces: active, 15,500; reserves, 23,700. Military expenditure as percent of GDP: 2.6 (2011).
GROUND FORCES: regular army, active, 11,000; reserves, 19,000.
In-service equipment: tanks, 290; armored personnel carriers, 260; major artillery, 220.
AIR FORCES: regular air force, active, 2,500; reserves, 3,000.
In-service equipment: combat aircraft, 66; combat helicopters, 16.
NAVAL FORCES: regular navy, active, 2,000; reserves, 1,700.
In-service equipment: patrol and coastal combatants, 11.
PARAMILITARY: active (National Guard), 6,600.
Military in Lebanon (2011): Total armed forces: active, 59,100. Military expenditure as percent of GDP: 2.7 (2011).
GROUND FORCES: regular army, 57,000.
In-service equipment: tanks, 327; armored personnel carriers, 1,240; major artillery, 520.
AIR FORCES: regular air force, 1,000.
In-service equipment: combat aircraft, 7; combat helicopters, 14.
NAVAL FORCES: regular navy, 1,000.
In-service equipment: patrol and coastal combatants, 11.
PARAMILITARY: active, 20,000 (of which, internal security force 20,000).
Military in Oman (2011): Total armed forces: active, 42,600. Military expenditure as percent of GDP: 6.3 (2011).
GROUND FORCES: regular army, 25,000.
In-service equipment: tanks, 117; armored personnel carriers, 206; major artillery, 233.
AIR FORCES: regular air force, 5,000.
In-service equipment: combat aircraft, 54; combat helicopters, 15.
NAVAL FORCES: regular navy, 4,200.
In-service equipment: submarines, 2; primary surface combatants, 1; patrol and coastal combatants, 13.
Royal household: ground force, 6,000; air force, 250; naval force, 150.
PARAMILITARY: active, 4,400: tribal home guard, 4,000; coast guard, 400.
Military in Qatar (2011): Total armed forces: active 11,800. Military expenditure as percent of GDP: 2.0 (2011).
GROUND FORCES: regular army, 8,500.
In-service equipment: tanks, 30; armored personnel carriers, 225; major artillery, 90.
AIR FORCES: regular air force, 1,500.
In-service equipment: combat aircraft, 18; combat helicopters, 19.
NAVAL FORCES: regular navy, 1,800.
In-service equipment: patrol and coastal combatants, 10.
Military in Saudi Arabia (2011): Total armed forces: active, 233,500; reserves, 25,000. Military expenditure as percent of GDP: 8.1 (2011).
GROUND FORCES:
(a) regular army, active, 75,000.
(b) National Guard [q.v.], active, 75,000; tribal levies as reserves, 25,000.
In-service equipment: tanks, 565; armored personnel carriers, 1,800; major artillery, 860; combat helicopters, 33.
AIR FORCES:
(a) regular air force, 20,000.
(b) air defense forces, 16,000.
In-service equipment: combat aircraft, 295; combat helicopters, 15.
NAVAL FORCES: regular navy, 13,500; regular marines, 3,000.
In-service equipment: surface combatants, 7 (destroyers, 3; frigates, 4); patrol and coastal combatants, 30; mine warfare, 7.
PARAMILITARY: active, 15,500: frontier force, 10,500; coast guard, 5,000.
Military in Syria (2011): Total armed forces: active, 285,000; reserves, 314,000. Military expenditure as percent of GDP: 3.7 (2011).
GROUND FORCES: regular army, active, 220,000; reserves, 280,000.
In-service equipment: tanks, 4,950; armored personnel carriers, 1,500; major artillery, 3,440.
AIR FORCES:
(a) regular air force, active, 30,000; reserves, 10,000.
(b) regular air defense, active, 40,000; reserves, 20,000.
In-service equipment: combat aircraft, 365; combat helicopters, 103.
NAVAL FORCES: regular navy, active, 5,000; reserves, 4,000.
In-service equipment: patrol and coastal combatants, 32; mine warfare, 7.
PARAMILITARY: active 108,000: gendarmerie, 8,000; people's militia, 100,000.
NON-CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS:
Biological: Although, in its July 2012 foreign ministry statement, Syria mentioned the option of using biological and chemical weapons if it was exposed to external aggression, there was no evidence that it possessed biological weapons.
Chemical: Syria embarked on a chemical weapons program in the late 1970s, initially with the assistance of the Soviet Union and North Korea, and later the Islamic Republic of Iran. It set up four production facilities near Aleppo [q.v.], Hama [q.v.], Homs [q.v.], and Latakia [q.v.], producing nerve agents and mustard gas. During the 2011–2012 upheaval, it shifted its stocks of chemical weapons from the northern zone, which was caught up in intense violence, to more secure locations.
Nuclear: After Israel's clandestine bombing of the Al Kibar nuclear reactor in northeastern Syria, built with North Korean assistance, in September 2007, the International Atomic Energy Agency carried out an investigation. It concluded in 2011 that the design of this reactor was similar to that of North Korea's Yongbyon reactor used to produce weapons-grade plutonium from nuclear power plant waste. But the Syria government lacked such material domestically.
Military in United Arab Emirates (2011): Total armed forces: active, 51,000. Military expenditure as percent of GDP: 9.6 (2011).
GROUND FORCES: regular army, 34,000.
In-service equipment: tanks, 381; armored personnel carriers, 650; major artillery, 271.
AIR FORCES: regular air force, 4,500.
In-service equipment: combat aircraft, 178; combat helicopters, 31.
NAVAL FORCES: regular navy, 2,500.
In-service equipment: submarines, 10; patrol and coastal combatants, 17; mine warfare, 2.
Military in Yemen (2011): Total armed forces: active, 66,700. Military expenditure as percent of GDP: 4.9 (2011).
GROUND FORCES: regular army, active, 60,000; reserves 40,000.
In-service equipment: tanks, 850; armored personnel carriers, 260; major artillery, 1,300.
AIR FORCES:
(a) regular air force, 3,000.
(b) air defense force, 2,000.
In-service equipment: combat aircraft, 79; combat helicopters, 31.
NAVAL FORCES: regular navy, 1,700.
In-service equipment: patrol and coastal combatants, 22; mine warfare, 1.
PARAMILITARY: active, 71,200 (interior ministry force, 50,000); reserves 20,000 (tribal levies, 20,000); coast guard, 1,200.
Mishna: Text of the Jewish Oral Law. See Talmud.
Mizrachi (Hebrew: Oriental): the term commonly used for Edot Mizrachi (Hebrew: Oriental Peoples). See Oriental Jews.
Mizrahi (Hebrew: acronym of Merkaz Rouhani, Spiritual Center): political party in Palestine/Israel Mizrahi was formed in 1902 by a group of rabbis in Vilnius, Lithuania, to counter growing secularization in the education of the Jews [q.v.] in Europe. It marked the rise of religious Zionism [q.v.] as a distinct faction within the Zionist movement [q.v.], represented by the World Zionist Organization [q.v.]. The party advocated establishing a Jewish national home in Palestine [q.v.], based on the written Jewish law, the Torah [q.v.]. In Palestine, Mizrahi ensured that the chief rabbinate was organized within the framework of the elected assembly.
In 1922 its younger members formed Poale HaMizrahi [q.v.]. Mizrahi had one minister in the provisional government of Israel in 1948. It and the Poale HaMizrahi allied with other religious groups to form the United Religious Front (URF) to run in the first general election in 1949. The URF won 16 seats and joined the government to run inter alia the ministry of religious affairs. The ministry decided how to finance religious councils and religious courts, and influenced the composition and working of the powerful Rabbinical Council.
In mid-1951 it brought down the government led by David Ben-Gurion [q.v.] on the issue of educating immigrant families and the URF's degree of control over religious education in schools. In the following election, Mizrahi and the Poale HaMizrahi together won 10 seats and joined the coalition government. In 1956 the two groups combined to form the National Religious Party [q.v.].
Mohieddin, Khaled (1922–): Egyptian politician (Also spelled Khalid Mo-hieddin) Born into a land-owning family in the Nile [q.v.] delta, Mo-hieddin graduated from the Royal Military Academy in Cairo [q.v.] and became a cavalry officer, reaching the rank of major. He also obtained an economics degree from the University of Cairo.
Active with the Free Officers Organization, which staged a coup in July 1952, Mohieddin was one of the two leftist members of the ruling 18-member Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). In the power struggle between President Muhammad Neguib [q.v.] and his deputy, Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.], the Communists, including Mohieddin, backed Neguib because he favored returning to a parliamentary system. When Nasser won, he dismissed Mohieddin from the RCC and put him under house arrest. But during the 1956 Suez War [q.v.] Nasser released hundreds of leftists, including Mohieddin, so that they could organize resistance against the invaders of the Suez Canal zone.
He was named editor of a new progovernment daily, Al-Massaa (Arabic: The Evening), but he lost this job in 1959 when, reacting to the Iraqi Communists' [q.v.] opposition to the unification of Iraq with the United Arab Republic [q.v.], Nasser turned against local Communists. It was not until 1964 that Nasser, responding to the changed situation in the region, began to co-opt Communists. He was appointed chairman of the board of Al-Akhbar (Arabic: The News). He also became a member of the secretariat of the Arab Socialist Union (ASU) [q. v.], the new ruling party, and headed the ASU section responsible for the press.
After Egypt's debacle in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q. v.], Nasser began to cold-shoulder leftists and rejected Mohieddin's proposal that the armed services be controlled by the ASU, with its cadre penetrating their institution, thus ending their isolation from society.
He received the Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union in 1970. After Nasser's death that year, his ties with the new government became tenuous. He criticized President Anwar Sadat's [q.v.] growing alliance with the United States, especially after the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], and economic liberalization, which hurt the poor. After the forums within the ASU were allowed to graduate to parties in 1977, he was elected leader of the National Progressive Unionist Party (NPUP) [q.v.]. The next year he became editor of its weekly paper, Al-Ahali (Arabic: The People). He opposed the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.].
Mohieddin was one of the 240 secular dissidents arrested in September 1981, a month before Sadat's assassination. He was released soon after. Having failed to win a parliamentary seat in 1984 and 1987, he succeeded in 1990. The number of seats for his party rose to five and six respectively in the elections of 1995 and 2000. In the 2005 election the total fell to two, with one seat going to Mohieddin, and the other to Muhammad Rafaat El Saeed who succeeded him as party chairman.
His book For this We Oppose Mubarak (1987) was a powerful indictment of the government of Hosni Mubarak [q.v.]. He backed the civil uprising against Mubarak in January-February 2011, which led to his ouster.
Mohamad, Ali (1952–): Egyptian military officer, Al-Qaida leader Born Ali Abdul Sauond into a well-to-do family in Alexandria [q.v.], Mohamed enrolled at the military academy in Heliopolis, a suburb of Cairo [q.v.]. A tall, powerfully built man, he underwent paratrooper training and rose to the rank of major before leaving the army in 1984. During his military service he secretly joined the al-Jihad al-Islami [q.v.]. In 1980 he tried to ingratiate himself with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Egypt. Though rebuffed, he did not give up; nor did the CIA.
In early 1986 he arrived in the United States with a visa waiver, a privilege that could be conferred on a visitor only with the blessing of the CIA or the state department. He found a job as a security officer in Sunnyvale, California, and married Linda Sanchez, an American medical technician. In November he enlisted in the U.S. army on a three-year contract and served as an army sergeant at the Special Forces headquarters at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. As an assistant instructor at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center, he helped the seminar director prepare classes on the history, politics, culture, and armed forces of the Middle East [q.v.]. A multilinguist, he was fluent in Hebrew [q.v.]. He was a frequent visitor at Al Khifa Refugee Center in Brooklyn, a recruiting center for American Muslim [q.v.] volunteers to join the anti-Soviet jihad [q.v.] in Afghanistan. During his annual army leave he traveled to Afghanistan to fight the Soviets there. He returned with a belt of a Spetsnaz (Russian: Special Forces) soldier whom he claimed to have killed.
After an honorable discharge from the Pentagon, he started a leather import-export business. During his visits to New York, he imparted weapons training to the American Muslim militants attending Al Khifa Refugee Center. He found time and inclination to pursue a doctorate in Islamic studies.
In 1993 he applied unsuccessfully for a translator's job at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He traveled to Sudan where, following a failed assassination attempt on Osama bin Laden [q.v.] in Khartoum, Mohamad retrained his bodyguards. He reportedly conceded this action of his in an FBI interview in 1997, when he and his wife moved from Santa Clara to Sacramento, where he was employed as a computer specialist at a music and video wholesaler. A search of their home revealed documents on surveillance of government targets, assassination techniques, planning of terrorist acts, and use of explosives.
Following his arrest in 1998, he chose a plea bargain and turned a state witness in the U.S. case against bin Laden. His own trial was so sensitive that it was held in camera when it opened in late October 1998 in Manhattan—two and a half months after the bombing of the two American embassies in East Africa. Mohamad told the court that he had "scouted out" the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi at bin Laden's request.
According to CBS television news report in February 2002, he had pleaded guilty to five counts of conspiracy to kill American nationals and damage U. S. property, and was awaiting sentencing. Another report said that his sentencing had been postponed indefinitely. Speaking in 2006, his wife, Linda Sanchez, said that he had not been sentenced and that nobody could get to him as everything about him was top secret.
Moledet (Hebrew: Homeland): Israeli political party The Moledet was established in 1988 by Ze'evi Rechavam Ze'evi, a retired general, with a program of bringing about "voluntary transfer" of Palestinians from the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza [q.v.]. It won two seats in the 1988 election and backed the national unity government that followed. Protesting against Israel's participation in the Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid [q.v.] in October 1991, it withdrew its backing from the administration three months later. In the June 1992 election it won three parliamentary seats. In 1994 it combined with the Tehiya [q.v.] to form the Moledet-Eretz Israel Faithful and the Tehiya. Four years later it joined the coalition government led by Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.]. On the eve of the 1999 general election, it was absorbed into the National Union, which won three seats. It joined the national unity government under Ariel Sharon [q.v.] in March 2001, and its leader Ze'evi became minister of tourism. He was assassinated in October by the militants of the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine [q.v.] at an East Jerusalem [q.v.] hotel where he had taken up residence. It then combined with Israel Beitainu [q.v.] to form the National Union [q.v.]. Binyamin Elon, who succeeded Ze'evi, left the government in 2004 when Sharon decided to end the occupation of Gaza the following year. In the 2006 Knesset Moledet's size was reduced to two. On the eve of the 2009 election it revived its alliance with the National Union, but managed to gain only one seat.
Montazeri, Hussein Ali (1921–2009): Iranian religious-political leader Born into a poor peasant family in Najafabad, Montazeri had his early theological education in Isfahan [q.v.]. He then went to Qom [q.v.], where he became a student of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.]. In the early 1960s he taught at the Faiziyya seminary in Qom, and participated in the anti-government protest in June 1963.
An active member of the anti-shah clerical circles, he was close to Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleqani [q.v.]. During the latter part of his exile, from 1964 to 1978, Khomeini appointed him his personal representative in Iran. He was arrested during the anti-Rastakhiz Party [q.v.] protest in March 1975. Tortured in jail, he was released in November 1978 in the midst of a rising revolutionary movement.
On his return to Iran in February 1979, Khomeini appointed him the Friday prayer leader of Qom, a highly prestigious position, and gave him a seat on the governing Islamic Revolutionary Council. He was elected leader of the Association of Combatant Clergy [q.v.] and chairman of the Assembly of Experts (1979) [q.v.], which was convened to draft a constitution. In 1980 Khomeini put him in charge of the secretariat of the Friday prayer leaders, based in Qom.
Montazeri took a radical stance on many issues. The official campaign to bolster his standing gathered pace in the spring of 1983, when in all government offices Khomeini's portraits were accompanied by smaller pictures of Montazeri. But the radicals' attempt to have him named as successor to Khomeini by the Assembly of Experts (1982) [q.v.] failed. However, after a brief session of the Assembly in November 1985, one of its members, Ahmad Barkbin, revealed that the Assembly had in fact chosen Montazeri as Khomeini's successor. He retained this position until March 1989, when Khomeini changed his mind.
Instead of following Khomeini's example of intermittently backing one or other faction within the ruling establishment, Montazeri consistently advocated moderate policies, such as allowing a fair degree of opposition and liberalizing the economy, thus alienating centrists and radicals. He also repeatedly stressed the failure of the Islamic revolution to deliver on its promises, while ignoring its achievements. When he was offered the choice of sharing power with two others to constitute a Leadership Council of three, he rejected it, preferring to resign. He then immersed himself in delivering lectures on Islamic jurisprudence. When Khomeini died in June 1989, he was not on the list of candidates considered by the Assembly of Experts.
In 1997, when he publicly questioned the religious learning and standing of Khomeini's successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei [q.v.], he was put under house arrest. That ended in 2003. He then set up his own website to express his views and communicate with others.
After the controversial presidential election in June 2009, he lambasted the exercise as fraudulent, strongly condemned the authorities for their heavy-handed repression of the peaceful protest, and argued that the regime was neither Islamic nor a republic. He died of natural causes in December.
His funeral rites in Qom, attended by, among others, Mir Hussein Mousavi [q.v.] and Mahdi Karroubi [q.v.], provided a rallying platform for the opposition supporters who gathered in their hundreds of thousands. Even Khamanei was moved to send his condolences, describing Montazeri one of the great jurists of Islam.
Morsi, Muhammad (1951–): Egyptian Islamist leader; president 2012— (Also spelled Mohamed Morsi) Born in a village in the northern Egyptian province of Sharqiya province, Morsi obtained an engineering degree in 1975 followed by a postgraduate degree in metallurgy in 1978 from Cairo University. Four years later, he received a doctorate in engineering from University of Southern California. After teaching at California State University, Northridge, until 1985, he returned home to join Zagazig University in northern Egypt as a professor of engineering.
He became an active member of the quasi-legal Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.], and cofounded The Egyptians Resist the Zionist Project Committee. He was elected to the Brotherhood's Guidance Council. In 2000 he won a seat at the People's assembly, and became the leader of the 17-strong Muslim Brotherhood group. He protested against the rigging of the 2005 parliamentary election, and was arrested along with 500 other demonstrating Brotherhood members in 2006 and jailed for seven months. He was a coauthor of the Brotherhood's revised political platform in 2007.
During the civil uprising against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.], he was arrested on 28 January 2011 in Cairo [q.v.]. When, in the midst of the subsequent turmoil there was a jail break, he refused to flee. Instead he contacted the media to visit his prison and check the conditions under which he and other Brotherhood members had been detained.
In April, when the Brotherhood's Guidance Council decided to form the Justice and Freedom Party ( JFP) [q.v.], it named him its chairman. He entered the presidential race as the JFP's candidate. But after Khairat el Shater, the Brotherhood's nominee, was disqualified from running because of his failure to meet all the conditions required for the candidacy, the Guidance Council adopted Morsi as the Brotherhood's official candidate.
In the course of electioneering, he promised that the Sharia [q.v.] would be the foundation of a future constitution, while the Guidance Council appealed to conservative clerics to urge their followers to vote for him. In the second round of the presidential poll on 16–17 June 2012 he secured 51.7 percent of the vote. He resigned as leader of the Freedom and Justice Party, and the SCAF transferred power to him on 30 June.
On 10 July, the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) suspended his order to reinstate the Islamist-dominated bicameral parliament. In early August he appointed Hisham Qandil, a technocrat with no ties to any political party, as prime minister. On 12 August he forced the 75-year-old Muhammad Hussein Tantawi, head of the armed forces, and 64-year-old Sami Anan, the Army chief of staff, to resign. He then replaced the commander of the presidential guard and the intelligence chief. His team of 21 advisers and aides was dominated by pro-Islamist personalities but included two Copts [q.v.] and three women. In October he granted pardon to all the protestors detained and tried in the incidents relating to the Arab Spring [q.v.], from 25 January 2011 to 30 June 2012.
Starting with Riyadh [q.v.] in July, he visited Addis Ababa, Beijing, and Tehran [q.v.] to attend the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement at the end of August. In his speech at this conference he said it was an "ethical duty" to support the Syrian people against their "oppressive regime."
mosque: a place of public worship for Muslims, called masjid (Arabic: place of prostration). The first mosque, built by the Prophet Muhammad (570–632 A.D.) at Quba near Medina [q.v.], was a simple courtyard. During the rule of Caliph al-Walid (705–715 A.D.) the following elements were added to mosques: the mihrab, a semi- circular niche in the center of the wall pointing to the qibla (the direction of Mecca [q.v.]); and the minbar, a seat at the top of steps to the right of the niche used as a pulpit by the preacher (Arabic: khatib) to deliver a sermon (Arabic: khutba). Since then mosques have often been fully or partially covered, and provided with one or more minarets. Large mosques sometimes have cloisters for students of religion.
The head of a mosque is called the imam [q.v.] and acts as the prayer leader. Sometimes he also acts as a religious instructor. There is also a muezzin (derivative of muadhdhin, Arabic: announcer), who uses the minaret to call believers to worship five times a day. Ritual prayers, called salat (in Arabic) or namaz (in Persian), are offered by barefoot men, gathered in rows on the floor, who bow and prostrate themselves under the guidance of the imam.
Ritual objects, pictures, and statues are not allowed inside mosques. Since believers are required to cleanse themselves before praying, a place for ablution, containing running water, is often either attached to the mosque or enclosed by it.
Muslims are required to pray collectively on Fridays, the Islamic holy day, and the Friday prayer sermon is especially important. This led to the evolution of collective mosques (jami masjid) in cities with a large Muslim population. Over time such mosques became multipurpose public buildings, serving military, political, judicial, social, and educational purposes. A prime example of this was the al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, which evolved into the al-Azhar University [q.v.] in 969 A.D. In modern times the non-religious functions of mosques have been taken over by secular institutions, but they continue to impart elementary Islamic education to Muslim children in many countries.
After the establishment of an Islamic republic in Iran, mosques were put to traditional use, with neighborhood Revolutionary Komitehs [q.v.] basing itself in mosques and conducting such state administration as issuing ration cards and recruiting volunteers to the Basij militia.
Mossad (Hebrew: Institute): Israeli foreign intelligence service (Official title: HaMossad LeModein Ve Tafkidim Meyuhadim [Hebrew: Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks]). In April 1951 the Israeli government replaced the foreign ministry's political department (charged with gathering intelligence outside Israel) with Mossad and transferred it to the prime minister's office. Within two months of taking office its first director, Reuven Shiloah, signed a clandestine cooperation agreement with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
After Shiloah's resignation September 1952, Isser Harel became director (1952–63). His successors were Gen. Meir Amit (1963–68); Major-Gen. Zvi Zamir (1968–74); Major-Gen. Yitzhak Hofi (1974–82); Nahum Admoni (1982–89); Danny Yatom (1989–97); Efraim Halevy (19982002); Meir Dagam (2002–11); Tamir Pardo, 2011-present. The number of full-time Mossad employees, known to be 1,700 in 1997, has increased. Together with Shin Beth [q.v.], it spent $1.31 billion in 2011, about 10 percent of Israel's defense budget.
A list of some of the better known operations of Mossad since the early 1970s follows. Within a year of the killing of 11 Israeli athletes by Black September Organization [q.v.] commandos at the Munich Olympics in September 1972, Mossad operatives assassinated 12 Palestinians involved directly or indirectly with the murders. Mossad arranged secret meetings between Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.] and King Hussein of Jordan [q.v.] between 1975 and 1977, one of which took place in Tel Aviv [q. v. ]. In July 1976 it organized the storming of the airport in Entebbe, Uganda, where 100 passengers on an Air France flight from Tel Aviv were being held hostage by two Palestinian guerillas and two members of the German Baader-Meinhoff group to secure the release of 40 Palestinian prisoners. In April 1979 Mossad operatives blew up two cores for the Tammuz nuclear reactor that were awaiting shipment to Iraq from the French port of La Seynesur-Mer. Fourteen months later in Paris, Mossad agents assassinated Yahya al-Meshad, an Egyptian nuclear physicist overseeing an Iraq-Egyptian cooperation on nuclear development. On 4 June 1981 Mossad and Aman (Hebrew: acronym of Agaf [Branch] Modein [Intelligence]), the military intelligence arm, organized an Israeli air raid on Iraq and destroyed the nuclear facility being constructed near Baghdad [q.v.].
Based since 1975–76 in Jounieh, capital of the Christian enclave during the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], and working in tandem with Bashir Gemayel [q.v.], the Mossad participated in the plan of defense minister Ariel Sharon [q.v.] for an Israeli invasion of Lebanon [q.v.], which was implemented in June 1982. Mossad and Amn organized an air raid on the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] in Tunis on 1 October 1985, killing 56 Palestinians. Mossad was deeply involved in the Irangate Affair [q.v.], which came to light in November 1986. Earlier, in late September 1986, a Mossad agent, "Cindy," had lured Mordechai Vanunu—a shift manager at Israeli's Dimona nuclear plant from August 1977 to November 1985—to Rome from London, where he had passed on details of Israel's nuclear weapons production to the Sunday Times, which published them on 5 October. In Rome, Vanunu was drugged by Mossad agents and taken to Israel, where he was sentenced to a long prison term. On 16 April 1988 a Mossad hit team assassinated a top Palestinian leader, Khalil Wazir [q.v.], in Tunis. But Mossad's repeated efforts to kill President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] before, during, and after the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.] failed.
Mossad is widely believed to have assassinated Gerald Bull, a Canadian ballistic expert working on a supergun for Iraq, in Brussels in 1990. And two years later, it assassinated Abbas Mousavi, the leader of Hizbollah [q.v.], in Beirut [q.v.].
In 1990 Mossad recruited Adnan Yassin, deputy to Abdul Hakam Bal-awi, head of the PLO's internal security in Tunis, as an agent. During the ultra-secret talks among the top PLO leaders in 1992–93, Mossad had Yassin plant bugs in the offices of Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.] and Ahmad Qurei, and convey the information by a radio transmitter to the Israeli embassies in Paris and Rome, from where it was passed on to top Israeli leadership engaged in sensitive negotiations with the PLO, which culminated in the Oslo Accord I [q.v.] in 1993. Thus Mossad enabled its political superiors to strike the most important accord with the PLO in the full knowledge of the strategy and tactics of Yasser Arafat [q.v.] and his second-in-command, Abbas.
In October 1995 its agents assassinated Fathi Abdul Aziz Shikaki, leader of the Islamic Jihad of Palestine [q.v.] in Sliema, Malta. But its attempt to kill Khaled Mashaal [q.v.], a Hamas [q.v.] leader, by pumping a chemical agent into his ear, in Amman [q.v.] in September 1997 failed. It resulted in the arrest of two of its agents, carrying Canadian passports, and led to Israel's freeing of Shaikh Ahmad Yassin [q.v.] and 72 other Palestinian prisoners in return for the agents' release.
Mossad was believed to be the intelligence agency that facilitated the defection of Ali Reza Askari, a former general of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps and a member of the government of President Muhammad Khatami [q.v.] in 2007. The CIA was also credited with Askari's disappearance after arriving in Turkey. In 2008 Mossad assassinated Imad Mugh-niyeh, a former military commander of Hizbollah, in Damascus [q.v.].
In January 2010, Mossad agents killed Mahmoud Mabhouh, a cofounder of Hamas's military wing and the organization's leading contact with Iran in a hotel in Dubai [q.v.]. During the next two years, operating from Iraqi Kurdistan [q.v.], Mossad agents organized the assassinations of four Iranian nuclear experts—Masoud Ali Mohammadi, Majid Shahriari, Dari-oush Rezaei, and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan—as part of Israel's campaign to sabotage Iran's nuclear program.
In Lebanon, Hizbollah leaders uncovered more than 10 Mossad agents within the party's ranks and officials in March 2011.
The best-known former Mossad operator is Tzipi Livni [q.v.], who served as the leader of Kadima [q.v.] from 2008 to 2012.
Mosul: Iraqi city Population: 1.8 million (2009 est.). A settlement with a long history and situated by the Tigris River [q.v.] opposite the ancient ruins of Nineveh, Mosul was the leading city of northern Mesopotamia [q.v.] by the time of the Abbasid caliphate (751 A.D.–1258). It was sacked by the Mongol invader Hulagu in 1258 and subsequently lacked proper administration until its capture by Iran's Shah Ismail (r. 1501–1524) in 1508. It fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1538. As an important commercial center, it thrived during the Turkish rule. Following the Ottoman defeat in World War I it lost its preeminence. But the discovery of oil in the region in 1927 changed its fortunes. It is the site of several mosques, including the one originally built in 640 A.D. with its minaret leaning like the Tower of Pisa, and churches, one of them dating back to the 10th century and another to the 13th century.
The capital of Nineveh province, Mosul is Iraq's third-largest city. After the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in 2003, when the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division was headquartered in Mosul, it became a bastion of resistance to the occupation, with the Sunni [q.v.] Arab [q.v.] majority on the western side of the Tigris backing it, and the Kurds [q.v.] on the eastern side opposing it. The subsequent violence and mayhem led to the exodus of thousands of professionals as well as Christians [q.v.]. It was not until 2009 that a semblance of normality returned.
Moussa, Amr (1936–): Egyptian diplomat and politician; secretary-general of the Arab League, 2001–2011 Born into a middle-class family in Cairo [q.v.], Moussa graduated in law from Cairo University in 1957. He then joined the foreign service of Egypt. He served as director of the International Organizations Department of the foreign ministry from 1977 to 1981. For the next four years he was Egypt's alternative representative at the United Nations. After his posting as his country's ambassador to India (1987–1990), he served as the permanent representative of Egypt to the UN for a year. He was then promoted to foreign minister, a job he held for 10 years.
He and President Hosni Mubarak [q.v. ] actively advised the Palestinian leadership during its secret talks with Israel [q.v.], which led to the Oslo Accords [q.v.] in September 1993. They were equally involved in getting the two sides to sign an agreement involving the Gaza Strip [q.v.] and Jericho [q.v.], which led inter alia to the establishment of the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] in 1994. But their efforts to put the Middle East peace process back on track during the rule of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (1996–99) were largely unsuccessful.
Against the background of worsening Israeli-Palestinian relations in the wake of the Al Aqsa Intifada [q.v.], Moussa and Mubarak came under pressure by radical Arab states to sever diplomatic relations with Israel, especially after the election of Ariel Sharon [q.v.] as Israel's prime minister. They managed to fend off the pressure at the Twenty-second Arab League summit [q.v.], which appointed Moussa as its new secretary-general to succeed Ahmad Esmat Abdul Maguid [q.v.].
In 2007 he failed to reconcile the opposing camps in Lebanon about power sharing and the election of the new president. The credit for defusing that crisis went to Qatar in 2008. After Moussa's failure to convene an Arab League summit during the Israeli-Hamas War [q.v.], Qatar took the initiative. Because pro-Washington Egypt and Saudi Arabia refused to attend this conference on January 15, 2009, Moussa stayed away. After his meeting with Hamas [q.v.] leader, Khaled Mashaal [q.v.], in Cairo in September, he ruled out Arab normalization of relations with Israel before a total freeze on Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank [q.v.] and East Jerusalem [q.v.].
In mid-March 2011, by a majority vote, the Arab League asked the UN Security Council to impose a no-flight zone over Libya to halt the killing of civilians. Following the Security Council's resolution to that effect, leading members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) unleashed a bombing campaign against the regime of Colonel Muam-mar Gaddafi. Moussa condemned the broad scope of NATO bombing but to no avail.
In July he was succeeded by Nabil al–Araby [q.v.] as the Arab League's secretary–general. In the race for Egypt's presidency in May 2012, he ended up with a mere 10 percent of the vote.
Mubarak, (Muhammad) Hosni (1928–): Egyptian military leader and politician; president, 1981–2011 Son of a court functionary and born in the Nile [q.v.] delta village of Kafr al–Musaliha, Mubarak graduated from the Air Force Academy with a pilot's license in 1950. After serving as a fighter pilot from 1950 to 1954, he taught at the Air Force Academy, where he later became director general. Appointed commander of the West Cairo [q.v.] airbase in 1961, he underwent advanced aviation and command courses in the Soviet Union near Moscow and at the Kant Air Base in Soviet Kyrgyzstan, ending with a year–long enrollment at the Frunze Military Academy in Moscow.
After Egypt's debacle in the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], he was returned to his earlier job of director general of the Air Force Academy. Two years later he was appointed chief of staff of the air force and promoted to air vice-marshal. In the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], under his command the air force performed well during the crucial initial hours, and he was promoted next year to air marshal. In April 1975 President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] appointed him vice president, since he lacked the potential of developing into a competing center of power. He became vicechairman of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) [q.v.] in 1976.
He succeeded Sadat as president after his assassination in October 1981. He also became leader of the NDP. After briefly moderating his stance toward Islamic fundamentalists [q.v.], he reverted to Sadat's iron–fist policy. While continuing a close alliance with the United States he thawed Egypt's relations with the Soviet Union. He withdrew the Egyptian ambassador from Tel Aviv [q.v.] in protest against Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982, but rejected Arab demands to break diplomatic ties with Israel. He continued his predecessor's policy of aiding Iraq militarily in the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.], hoping thus to erode the Arab League's [q.v.] policy of boycotting Egypt since the signing of the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.]. His success came in September 1984 when Jordan, Iraq's ally, resumed diplomatic ties with Cairo. After the final expulsion of Yasser Arafat [q.v.] from Lebanon in 1983, Mubarak helped him to reassemble his scattered forces.
In February 1986 a riotous mutiny by 17,000 conscripts of the Central Security Forces in Cairo threatened his regime. Its suppression by defense minister Field Marshal Abdul Halim Abu Ghazala so enhanced his prestige that Mubarak sacked him in April to get rid of a serious potential rival to his own authority. As the sole candidate for the presidency, he was reelected to the high office in 1987.
Mubarak led Egypt into the Arab Cooperation Council (ACC) [q.v.] in February 1989, and three months later Egypt was allowed to return to the Arab League. When Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] occupied Kuwait in August 1990, Mubarak condemned his action. In the Arab League he led the majority that demanded Iraq's immediate and unconditional withdrawal. That ended the ACC. He sent Egyptian troops to Saudi Arabia to bolster Saudi defenses. As part of the U.S.–led coalition, the Egyptians participated in the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], taking care not to enter Iraq.
His policies proved unpopular with a growing segment of Egyptian society. Almost all opposition groups boycotted the general election of 1990. Militant Islamist groups such as Gamaat al–Islamiya [q.v.] and Jihad al–Islami [q.v.] intensified their campaign against his regime in 1992. Nonetheless he was reelected president in 1993. He played an important role in bringing about an accord between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] in September 1993, and in its subsequent implementation.
An attempt by al-Gamaat al–Islamiya to assassinate him during his visit to Addis Ababa to attend the Organization of African Union summit in June 1995 failed. By the late 1990s his campaign against Islamic militants had succeeded, and the economy had improved. In the referendum that followed his nomination for president by the parliament in 1999, he secured 94 percent of the vote on an official turnout of 79 percent. In July 2000 he advised Arafat not to compromise on the future status of Jerusalem [q.v.] by conceding the sovereignty of the Dome of the Rock to Israel in his talks with Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak [q.v.] at Camp David, and called for a united Arab stance in support of the Palestinians according to the UN Security Council Resolution 242. Later, at his behest, Saddam Hussein was invited to the Arab League summit in Cairo after a decade.
Following the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001, his calls for an international convention to define terrorism as a preamble to a worldwide campaign against it went unheeded by the administration of President George W. Bush. Nor were his repeated warning against invading Iraq heeded by Washington, which carried out its invasion and occupation in 2003.
In 2005, Mubarak won a multicandidate contest for presidency, securing 89 percent of the ballots with his nearest rival, Ayman Nour, who scored 7 percent. The turnout of 23 percent reflected accurately the popular feeling of disenchantment with the system.
Mubarak allowed the semi–clandestine Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] to run for about a third of the 444 parliamentary seats in 2005. Despite the state's well practiced strong–arm tactics deployed against the Brotherhood, its candidates won 60 percent of the races they entered. Mubarak thus succeeded in conveying strongly his earlier assertions to the Bush administration: If you want to see democracy installed to the full in Egypt you will have the Brotherhood in power. Washington got the message. Its fervor for democracy cooled.
Israel's wars with Hizbollah [q.v.] in 2006 and Hamas [q.v.] in January 2009 put Mubarak on the defensive as public opinion was strongly with Hizbollah and Hamas. He could not afford to reflect popular sentiment as that would have displeased the U.S., the leading benefactor of Egypt under his leadership.
He tried to broker reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah [q.v.], but failed, partly because Washington wished to see the division in the Palestinian ranks continue. His effort to bring about a cease–fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza [q.v.] succeeded in June 2008. But the uneasy truce broke down in late December. And when Israel mounted a disproportionate attack on the Gaza Strip in January, Mubarak authorized his foreign minister, Ahmad Abu Gheit, to say that Hamas had brought the catastrophic response upon itself. Mubarak went on to ban the holding of an antiwar conference in Cairo because it was expected to condemn Israel.
The blatant rigging of the parliamentary election in 2010 by his government was widely seen as a preamble to his getting his son, Gamal, elected to the presidency in the following year.
The popular uprising against Mubarak's rule that started at the Tahrir Square in Cairo on 25 January 2011 built up to the extent that the U.S. administration of President Barack Obama called on him to step down. Once the 20–strong Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) withdrew its support to him, he resigned on 11 February in favor of SCAF. He and his sons Ala and Gamal were confined to a mansion in the sea resort of Sharm el Shaikh, and then arrested on charges of corruption.
Responding to further anti–Mubarak demonstrations, SCAF put the bedridden Mubarak on trial in August, charged with ordering the killing of unarmed demonstrators in Tahrir Square. In June 2012 he was sentenced to life imprisonment as "an accomplice to murder" in the killing of more than 240 protestors during the last six days of January 2011. Because of his failing health, he was moved from prison to an army hospital in Cairo.
Muhammad, Ali Nasser (1939—): South Yemeni politician; president, 1978, 1980–86 Born in the Dathina tribal region of South Yemen, Muhammad trained as a teacher in Aden [q.v.]. While working as the headmaster of a school in his native area, he played an active role in the founding of the National Liberation Front (NLF) [q.v.] in 1963. During the armed campaign he led NLF guerrillas in the Beihan region. When South Yemen became independent in November 1967, he was appointed governor of Lahej province.
After the ousting of President Qahtan al–Shaabi [q.v.] in June 1969, he was named defense minister. In August 1971, along with Salim Rubai Ali [q.v.] and Abdul Fattah Ismail [q.v.], he became a member of the Presidential Council and the prime minister. The next year, when Saudi Arabia was poised to intervene in the conflict between South Yemen and North Yemen on the latter's side, his warning that the Soviet Union would not stand idly by if South Yemen were invaded by its neighbors proved effective.
Once the NLF had devised a three-year plan for transition from national democracy to socialism differences arose between moderate President Ali and radical Muhammad and Ismail. The NLF central committee decided in September 1977, and again in January 1978, to divest Ali of some of his many functions. In June he agreed to resign but then reneged, leading to a one–day fight in which he lost his life.
Muhammad took over the presidency, but ceded it to Ismail in December while retaining the premiership and membership of the Presidential Council. Gradually he came into conflict with Ismail as the latter insisted on maintaining a hard line at home and abroad while Muhammad advocated a pragmatic approach. Ismail lost in April 1980 and went into exile to Moscow.
As head of the state, the government and the ruling Yemeni Socialist Party [q.v.], Muhammad monopolized power and used it to moderate official policies. This earned him the disapproval of the deputy premier, Ali Salim al–Beidh [q.v.], and the defense minister, Ali Antar, among others. The return of Ismail from Moscow in 1985 intensified factionalism. Muhammad's attempted coup to eliminate his radical rivals in January 1986 set off bitter fighting. Though Ismail and Antar were killed, Muhammad lost the battle, and he fled to Ethiopia. He was sentenced to death for treason.
The partial amnesty and introduction of a multiparty system on the eve of the unification of North and South Yemen in May 1990 did not apply to Muhammad. However, he was appointed to the five-member Presidential Council nominated by al–Beidh after the latter's declaration of independence for South Yemen in 1994. The Council did not last long.
He settled in Damascus [q.v.], where he founded the Arab Center for Strategic Studies in 1995. He was allowed to return to Yemen 1997 but, finding himself under virtual house arrest in Sanaa [q.v.], left. He divided his time between Damascus, where he lived with his Syrian architect, and Cairo [q.v.]. He maintained contacts with the Southern Movement in Yemen and al-Beidh. He backed the Yemen uprising in 2011 and was named to the 17–member Transition Council by some opposition groups, which was not backed by the Joint Meeting Parties, the chief opposition coalition.
Muhammad, Khalid Shaikh (1965—): Al–Qaida leader Born to Pakistani Baluchi [q.v.] parents, settled in Kuwait since 1961, Muhammad grew up in a suburb of Kuwait City [q.v.]. After finishing his secondary education in Kuwait, he went to the United States on a government grant. There he obtained a diploma in mechanical engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University, Greensboro, a largely African American college, in 1986. Instead of returning home, he went to Peshawar, Pakistan, to join his elder brother, Zahid, and his Kuwait-born nephew, Ramzi Ahmad Yousef, an electrical engineering graduate from a British university. Zahid and Ramzi Yousef had earlier joined the anti–Soviet jihad [q.v.] orchestrated and funded by America, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.
When Yousef was arrested in Pakistan in February 1995 in connection with the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York two years earlier, which killed six people and injured 1,200, his chief coconspirator turned out to be Muhammad. It was Yousef who originally came up with the idea of deploying a hijacked passenger plane as a missile to hit a target. In January 1995, when Yousef and Muhammad were living in the Filipino capital of Manila, their apartment caught fire and the police ended up discovering a laptop computer with a plan to blow up 10 U.S.–bound passenger jets over the Pacific. They fled, with Muhammad moving to Qatar [q.v.], where he worked as a civil servant. But by the time the Qatari government, tipped off by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), got around to issuing an arrest warrant in 1996, Muhammad had absconded.
He then formally joined Al Qaida [q.v.]. After the formation of the World Islamic Front for Jihad against Crusaders and Jews [q.v.] in February 1998, he was appointed to the military committee headed by Muhammad Atef [q.v.]. Impressed by his record, Atef reportedly made him his deputy. In that capacity, Muhammad is believed to have coordinated the bombings of the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar as Salam in August 1998, the bombing of the USS Cole in Aden [q.v.] in October 2000, and the attacks in New York and Washington on 11 September 2001. With the death of Atef during the Afghan campaign by the United States in November, Muhammad became the head of the military committee. The FBI put a reward of $25 million on his head. He was believed to be the mastermind behind the bombing of a synagogue in the Dierba Island of Tunisia in 2002, which killed 21 people, mainly German tourists. He was arrested in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi in February 2003 and handed over to U.S. authorities.
mujahid (pl. mujahedin): One who engages in jihad [q.v.].
Mujahedin–e Islam (Iran) (Persian: Combatants of Islam): Iranian political party The Mujahedin–e Islam was formed in 1945 by Ayatollah Abol Qasim Kashani [q.v.], a nationalist cleric. It drew its strength from small traders, theological students, and older leaders of merchant families. It demanded cancellation of all the secular laws passed by Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.], the application of the Sharia [q.v.] as stated in the constitution of 1906–07, the veil for women, and protection for Iranian industries. It suffered a near-fatal blow in early 1949 when the banishment of Kashani to Lebanon was combined with official repression. His return home in mid-1950 failed to revive the party, especially as another semi-clandestine group, Fedaiyan–e Islam [q.v.], had by then struck roots and won Kashani's patronage.
Mujahedin–e Khalq (Persian: The People's Combatants): Iranian political party (Also known as People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran) (Official title: Sazman-e Mujahedin-e Khalq–e Iran ([Persian: Iranian People's Combatants' Organization]) The Mujahedin–e Khalq (MEK) was founded secretly in 1965 by young former members of the Liberation Movement of Iran [q.v.] who felt that their leaders were too moderate. It stressed the importance of religion, believing that Shia Islam [q.v.] would play a major role in inspiring the masses to joint the revolution. Its chief ideologue, Ahmad Rezai, argued that the rebellions led by Shia Imams [q.v.], especially Hussein bin Ali, were as much against the usurping Caliphs, who had abandoned the objective of establishing the Order of the Divine Unity (worship of One God and the founding of a classless society for universal good) as they were against feudalists and rich merchants. In modern times true Muslims must strive to create a classless society by struggling against imperialism, capitalism, dictatorship, and conservative clericalism.
The party activists started their guerilla actions in August 1971 with a view to disrupting the celebration of 2,500 years of monarchy in October. The resulting government repression led to the killing or detention of virtually all founder members. But the party's action-oriented program attracted a steady stream of young recruits. Severe repression and an inflow of pro–Marxist recruits led to an attempt by party leaders to combine Islam [q.v.] and Marxism. While continuing to be inspired by Islam as an ideology and culture, they increasingly used Marxism as an analytical tool. This alienated many anti–Marxists, who, finding themselves in a minority, left, thus strengthening the position of the Marxists at the expense of others.
In mid-1975 the central committee, dominated by Tehran–based leftists, adopted a manifesto that described Islam as "the ideology of the middle classes" and Marxism as "the ideology of the working class," concluding that Marxism was the truly revolutionary creed. The centrists, opposed to the philosophy of Marxism, split the party. Both wings carried out guerrilla actions and lost many cadres. In 1976 they decided to focus on propaganda, with the centrists targeting students, and the Marxist workers.
Yielding to popular pressure in 1977–78, the government freed most Mujahedin prisoners. This strengthened both factions, who participated in many demonstrations. The release in December 1978 of Masoud Rajavi [q.v.], the only surviving member of the original central committee, boosted the Mujahedin's morale. Both factions were active during the events that culminated in the victory of the revolution in February 1979. The Marxist Mujahedin–e Khalq changed its name to the Sazman-e Paykar dar Rah-e Azadi-e Tabaqah–e Kargar (Combat Organization on the Road to Liberation of the Working Class), popularly called Paykar, with the centrist group retaining the original name under Rajavi's leadership.
When Mujahedin–e Khalq members refused to surrender their arms to the Islamic government, as ordered by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], they came into conflict with the new regime. This culminated in open warfare on the eve of the impeachment of President Abol Hassan Bani–Sadr [q.v.] on 21 June 1981. Both Rajavi and Bani-Sadr went underground. On 28 June a bomb planted by Mujahedin-e Khalq members killed 74 leaders of the Islamic republic. A month later Rajavi and Bani–Sadr flew clandestinely from Tehran [q.v.] to France. In Paris, Rajavi and Bani–Sadr formed the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI) [q.v.] to violently oppose the regime in Tehran.
The party's armed struggle against the Khomeini regime continued, with its guerrillas, led by Musa Khiyabani, targeting revolutionary guards and parliamentarians. On 30 August the NCRI claimed that its activists detonated an incendiary device that killed President Muhammad Ali Rajai [q.v.] and Premier Muhammad Javad Ba-honar. The government responded by imposing summary justice on those found guilty of violence. In February 1982, in a single attack, the security forces shot dead 10 Mujahedin–e Khalq central committee members, including Khiyabani. By then the party claimed to have killed over 1,200 religious and political leaders of the regime. The government put the number of executed Mujahedin at 4,000, with the party claiming twice that number.
With war against Iraq [q.v.] raging along the international border, the Tehran government successfully labeled those creating disorder at home as unpatriotic agents of Baghdad. Its efforts received a boost when the Mujahedin leader, Rajavi, publicly met the Iraqi deputy premier, Tariq Aziz [q.v.], in Paris in January 1983, a move that also caused a split between Rajavi and Bani–Sadr, who quit the NCRI.
After the replacement of a socialist administration in France sympathetic to the Mujahedin-e Khalq, with a center–right government, the authorities expelled Rajavi in June 1986 at the behest of Iran. He set up the party's headquarters in Baghdad [q.v.] and continued his activities from there. A year later, assisted by Iraq, Rajavi formed an armed wing of the party: the National Liberation Army (NLA). Toward the end of the Iran-Iraq War, in late July 1988, the 7,000-strong NLA, operating under heavy Iraqi air cover, seized towns 60 mi./100 km into Iran along the Baghdad–Tehran highway. The Iranians cut off their supply lines and counterattacked. Up to 4,500 NLA and Iraqi troops were killed. As further punishment to the MEK, the Iranian government also executed hundreds of jailed party members.
After Khomeini's death in June 1989, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] halted all anti-Iranian activities, including hostile broadcasts of the Mujahedin-e Khalq radio, in order to improve relations with post–Khomeini Iran. But the thaw did not last long.
The Mujahedin-e Khalq continued to maintain its headquarters in Baghdad in the same way that the Iranian–backed Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq [q.v.] did in Tehran—as an embarrassing irritant to the other side. Of the seven sites allocated to the MEK by Saddam Hussein, Camp Ashraf, 40 miles/60 km north of Baghdad, was maintained as its military headquarters and the main training center, equipped with artillery, armored personnel carriers, and tanks.
In 1991 the MEK's forces aided Iraqi troops in massacring the Kurdish [q.v.] and Shia rebels in Iraq in the aftermath of the January–February 1991 Gulf War [q.v.].
Inside Iran, the government blamed the MEK for the periodic bomb explosions—such as the one in Mashhad [q.v.] on 21 June 1994. In retribution it fired missiles at the MEK bases near the Iran–Iraq border. The MEK continued its periodic pinprick attacks on Iran.
In October 1997 the United States declared the Mujahedin–e Khalq a terrorist organization, thus barring it from collecting funds in America, its chief source of income. The decision was based on the MEK's role in the seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and the earlier assassinations of American military officers and civilians. A decade later, the U.S. state department would add to its list the MEK's assistance to the Iraqi forces in their massacres of the Kurdish and Shia rebels in Iraq in 1991.
Due to the student rioting in mid-1999 in Tehran, and the reformist victory in Iran's parliamentary election in the following year, the MEK leadership visualized an intensified struggle between reformists and conservatives, providing an opportunity for its organization to seize power. In March 2000 its activists fired 13 mortars at a residential area near the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, their obvious target. Iran hit the group's military camps in Iraq, and the members of the Tehran–based Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq [q.v.] fired mortars at a neighborhood in Baghdad.
During the Anglo–American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in March 2003, the U.S. air force bombarded the MEK camps in Iraq. Its commanders signed a cease-fire with the Americans occupiers on 23 April 2003, which permitted them to keep their weaponry. In June the Pentagon took control of Camp Ashraf while MEK commanders consolidated all their weapons from other sites. The Americans confiscated the MEK's arms and destroyed its arsenal. They screened almost 4,000 MEK fighters for past terrorist activities. Once the camp's inmates had surrendered all their small arms and renounced violence in writing, the Pentagon recognized them as "protected persons" under the Fourth Geneva Convention to safeguard them from attacks by the Iraqi groups or Iran. Its forces escorted supplies from Baghdad to the 28-square-mile, self–regulated Ashraf camp.
This continued until January 2009, when the Pentagon passed on the control of Camp Ashraf to the Baghdad government, which agreed to an American military presence at the camp, and the Iraqi authorities promised to treat the inmates humanely and to refrain from forced relocation to a country where they feared persecution.
In July 2009, when the Iraqi security forces tried to set up a police station inside Camp Ashraf, now housing 3,400 people, including about 1,000 women, violent clashes ensued. Eleven inmates lost their lives due to the use of live ammunition by the Iraqis. In December, when the Iraqi government decided to shift the inmates of the camp to a former detention center at Neqrat al–Salman in the south by March 2010, the inmates refused to leave, claiming that under the Geneva Convention, they had protected status. They successfully resisted the second attempt by the Iraqi forces in April 2011.
In December the United Nations mediated an agreement between the Iraqi authorities and the MRK under which the prisoners would move from Camp Ashraf to the recently vacated Camp Liberty near Baghdad airport, where they would be screened by the UN for asylum eligibility in a third country. All but 400 diehard members were transferred to Camp Liberty by March 2012.
While the MEK functions from its headquarters in the Paris suburb of Auvers-sur–Oise under the leadership of Mariam Rajavi, the whereabouts of her husband, Masoud Rajavi, are not known.
mujtahid (Arabic: one who strives): A mujtahid is one who practices ijtihad [q.v.], and the term applies to both Sunni [q.v.] and Shia [q.v.] clerics. Among Twelver Shias [q.v.] the idea of a living mujtahid interpreting the Sharia [q.v.] took hold in the late 18th century. This gave the mujtahid a far greater degree of power than that of a leading Sunni [q.v.] cleric. Shia mujtahids announced their judgments on political matters impinging on Islamic principles independently of the temporal ruler, a development that had a profound impact on the subsequent history of Iran [q.v.], a predominantly Shia country. In the Shia world the honorific "mujtahid" was replaced by ayatollah around the time of the 1907–11 Constitutional Revolution [q.v.] in Iran. In 2000 there were 27 ayatollahs in that country. The number rose to about 40 a decade later.
Mukhabarat (Arabic: lit., intelligence; fig., organization collecting information): Mukhabarat is the popular term used in Arab countries for the intelligence apparatus used at home and abroad. More specifically, Amn al–Aam (Arabic: General Security) focuses on the general public and governmental property, with some of its employees monitoring the daily life of the populace, looking for any sign of dissent, and others, operating at major police stations, specializing in interrogating and, if necessary, torturing suspects. It maintains a large network of informers. By contrast, Amn al–Khas (Arabic: Special Security) concentrates on protecting the head of state and his palaces and guesthouses. The largest intelligence organ, Dairat al-Mukhabarat al–Ammaa (Arabic: General Intelligence Department), the official title of Mukhabarat, operates both internally and externally, with its agents attached to the country's embassies abroad. Its functions include keeping tabs on the governing and other political parties (if they are allowed), curbing local opposition, monitoring subversive activities and engaging in counter–espionage; maintaining surveillance of all embassies and other foreign missions in the country and monitoring the state's embassies abroad, collecting intelligence overseas; and conducting sabotage and subversion against hostile countries and aiding the groups opposed to their regimes. Its armed forces counterpart is Istikhabarat al–Askariya (Arabic: Military Intelligence). Its mandate includes assessing chief military threats to the country, overseeing security and counterintelligence in the armed forces, ensuring the officers' loyalty to the regime, maintaining a network of informers in the countries of the region, and cooperating with foreign intelligence agencies. In addition, there is Amn al–Askariya (Arabic: Military Security). It is charged with maintaining internal security within the armed forces, a task it often performs by posting at least one unquestionably loyal officer in every military unit. So the generic term Mukhabart normally covers up to five intelligence agencies.
In Iraq ruled by President Saddam Hussein [q.v.], for instance, the five intelligence agencies under the National Security Bureau consisted of the General Security (GS, Amn al–Aam), General Intelligence Department (GID, Dairat al-Mukhabarat al–Ammaa), Military Intelligence (MI, Istikhabarat al–Askariya), Special Security Directorate (Muderiye al-Amn al–Khas), and Military Security (MS, Amn al–Askariya). Syria came to acquire an Air Force Intelligence because its leader Hafiz Assad [q.v.] was air force commander before he seized the presidency. Fiercely loyal to him, it reported to him.
Multi–National Force (in Lebanon, 1982–84): Following a 70–day siege of Beirut [q.v.] during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon [q.v.], an agreement was brokered in August by the United States between Israel, Syria, and Lebanon that a Multi–National Force (MNF) composed of about 1,200 troops each from the United States, France, and Italy would be deployed to ensure the safe withdrawal of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q. v.] and Syrian forces from West Beirut [q.v.]. The evacuation was completed by 3 September and the MNF left within a week.
On 13 September president–elect Bashir Gemayel [q.v.] was assassinated. Between 16 and 18 September, Christian Phalangist [q.v.] militiamen killed some 2,000 men, women, and children in the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Shatila in Beirut. The MNF was recalled and took up positions between the airport and the outskirts of the city. A British contingent of 150 men was added to the MNF.
About a year later the United States and France intervened with warplanes and warships in the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] on the side of the Maronite–dominated [q.v.] Lebanese army. This angered the opposing, predominantly Muslim camp. On 23 October 1983 the truck–bombing of the U.S. and French military headquarters in West Beirut left 241 U.S. and 59 French troops dead. This shook the resolve of the United States and France to back the Lebanese army. In February 1984, despite the intervention of the American warplanes against them, the Muslim forces succeeded in expelling the Lebanese army from West Beirut. Washington ordered the withdrawal of its troops from Beirut, and London, Rome, and Paris followed suit. The MNF withdrawal was completed by 31 March 1984.
Multinational Force and Observers (1979): To ensure compliance with the provisions of the 1979 Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] concerning the level of forces of the two neighbors in and near the Sinai Peninsula [q.v.], a Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) of 2,600 troops from 11 countries was posted in the peninsula in August 1981. The contributing countries included Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji in Asia–Pacific; France and Italy in Europe; the United States and Canada in North America; and Colombia in South America. The MFO is also required to ensure freedom of navigation through the Strait of Tiran. In 2009 the Czech Republic became the 12th member of the MFO.
Mousavi, Mir Hussein (1941–): Iranian politician, prime minister 1981–89 Born in Khamane near Tabriz [q.v.], Mousavi obtained a maser's degree in architecture from the National University of Tehran in 1969. An activist in Islamic circles, he was jailed briefly in 1973 for anti–government activities. On his release he went to London to study interior design. After the Islamic revolution [q.v.] in February 1979, he became a cofounder of the Islamic Republican Party [q.v.]. He was appointed chief editor of the party's daily paper, Jumhouri–ye Islami (Persian: Islamic Republic).
An economic radical, he favored nationalization of foreign and domestic trading. After a brief tenure as foreign minister, he was named prime minister in October 1981. His government accelerated the pace of Islamization and the purging of official institutions of those with insufficient Islamic convictions. But its effort to implement radical land reform, involving the purchase of excess land by the state, was thwarted by the Guardian Council [q.v.] on the ground of inviolability of private property. His policies favoring the public sector were unpopular with traders and businessmen.
When, after his reelection as president in 1985, Ali Hussein Khamanei [q.v.] considered dropping Musavi as premier, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], intent on maintaining a balance between radicals and moderates, publicly praised Mousavi. An amendment to the constitution in 1989 abolished the office of premier.
Upon his election as president in July 1989, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani [q.v.] appointed Mousavi as his adviser on political matters, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei [q.v.] nominated him to the Expediency Consultation Council System. Neither of these posts carried the power that Mousavi had exercised before. He continued as an adviser to the president when Muhammad Khatami [q.v.] was elected to that office in 1997.
For the next two decades, he shunned politics and devoted his energies to painting, architecture, and teaching. He was elected president of the Iranian Academy of Arts in 2000.
Critical of the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [q.v.] for its mismanagement of the economy and its unnecessarily provocative stance toward the West, he entered the presidential race in 2009. He called for transparent governance, transferring of the control of the security forces from the Supreme Leader to the popularly elected president, equal rights for women, disbanding of the morality police, and privatization of the electronic media. He supported the official policy that Iran's nuclear program was for peaceful purposes. He condemned both the Holocaust–denial by Ahmadinejad and the mass murder of the Jews [q.v.]. His election campaign, in which his academic wife, Professor Zahra Rahnavard, participated actively caught the imagination of women and young people. The support for him rose sharply in the last two weeks before the election.
After the election on 12 June he challenged the official figures of 62.5 percent vote for Ahmadinejad and 33.9 percent for himself. He claimed the figures had been reversed. He provided calm leadership to the massive protest that ensued, always stressing nonviolence. That did not stop the government from using brutal tactics to quash it. He set up the Green Path of Hope as a movement, popularly known as the Green Movement [q.v.], to continue the protest through lawful means and demand full implementation of the constitution. But its attempts to stage peaceful demonstrations were foiled by the government.
After the downfall of the president of Tunisia in January 2011 followed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [q.v. ] on 11 February, Mousavi and Mahdi Karrubi, a former speaker of parliament, applied for an official permission to hold a solidarity rally. Though their application was rejected, thousands of protestors across Iran demonstrated their support for the Arab uprisings. He, Zahra Rahnavard, and Karroubi were placed under house arrest on the direct orders of Khamanei.
Muscat: Capital of Oman Population: 775,900 (2010 census). A port with a long history, Muscat was an important center for trading with the Gulf [q.v.] and East Africa by the 13th century. The Hormuzis, who then administered it, held supreme for three centuries before being overthrown by the Portuguese in 1508. After a century and a half the Portuguese gave way to the forces of the local Imam [q.v.]. After Sultan Hamad had captured the port in the late 18th century the country was called Muscat and Oman, a name it retained until 1970.
Encircled by mountains, Muscat is a striking city with two 16th–century forts. It is an architectural museum, showing influences of the regions it has traded with over the centuries: India, Portugal, East Africa and Zanzibar, Iran and the Persian Gulf. Its population is equally cosmopolitan.
In February–March 2011, the city witnessed small demonstrations calling for higher salaries and political reform.
Muslim Brotherhood (Egypt): Egyptian political–religious party (Official title: al-Ikhwan al–Muslimin, [Arabic, The Brotherhood of Muslims]) In 1928 Hassan al–Banna [q.v.] established the Muslim Brotherhood as a youth club committed to effecting moral and social reform through information and propaganda. But in 1939, responding to the popular movement against the Anglo–Egyptian Treaty [q.v.] and the 1936 Palestinian Arab [q.v.] uprising against the British Mandate and Zionist colonization, it transformed itself into a political entity. It declared that Islam [q.v.], based on the Quran [q.v.] and the Hadith [q.v.], is a comprehensive, self-evolving system, applicable to all times and places. According to al–Banna, the Brotherhood was "a salafiya [q.v.] message, a Sunni [q.v.] way, a Sufi [q.v.] truth, a political organization, an athletic group, a scientific and cultural union, an economic enterprise, and a social idea." By 1940 it had established 500 branches, each with its own center, mosque, school, and club.
During World War II the Brotherhood's ranks swelled with students, civil servants, artisans, petty traders, and middle-income peasants. After the war it helped escalate anti–British struggle. In 1946 it claimed 500,000 members with as many sympathizers, organized among 5,000 branches. Its volunteers fought in the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.]. Many Egyptian officers subscribed to the Brotherhood's ideology, and the Brethren acquired military training from them.
Blaming Egypt's political establishment for the debacle in the Palestine War, the Brotherhood resorted to terrorist and subversive activities. The government declared martial law and banned the party in December 1948. Three weeks later Premier Mahmoud Fahmi Nokrashi (Pasha) was assassinated by a Brotherhood activist. This led to further repression of the party. Hassan al-Banna argued that since the Brotherhood had been disbanded after the ban, the assassin could not be described as its member. In February 1949 al–Banna was assassinated by secret service agents in Cairo [q.v.].
When martial law was lifted in 1950 the ban on the Brotherhood was removed, and it was allowed to function as a religious body. However, the next year, following the election of moderate Hassan Islam al-Hudaibi as leader, it was permitted to participate in politics. Supporting the government's abrogation of the Anglo–Egyptian Treaty, it declared a campaign against the British occupiers, and participated in the January 1952 riots in Cairo.
The ban on political parties by the ruling Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) after the July 1952 coup did not apply to the Brotherhood, which was described as a religious body. Of the 18 RCC members, four, including Anwar Sadat [q.v.], had close contacts with the Brotherhood. When the Brotherhood's leaders realized that the RCC was more interested in spreading secular education, giving equal rights to women, and implementing land reform than in applying the Sharia [q.v.] to all spheres of life, they started opposing the new regime. The RCC banned the Brotherhood in February 1954.
On 23 October a Brotherhood activist, Abdul Munim Abdul Rauf, tried unsuccessfully to assassinate President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.]. He and five other Brethren were executed and more than 4,000 party activists were arrested. Several thousand Brethren fled to Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Lebanon. In 1964, as part of a general amnesty, Nasser released the Brethren in order to co–opt them into the newly formed Arab Socialist Union [q.v.] as a counterforce to the Communists [q.v.], who were also freed. But reconciliation between the two sides proved temporary. During the next two years there were three attempts by the Brethren to assassinate Nasser. This resulted in a trial of 365 Brethren followed by the execution of their top leaders, including Sayid Muhammad Quttb [q.v.], in August 1966.
The humiliating defeat the Israelis inflicted on Egypt in June 1967 created a popular feeling that God had punished Arabs for turning away from their faith and tinkering with alien concepts such as Arab socialism [q.v.]. Sensing a change in the popular mood, Nasser released 1,000 Brethren in April 1968.
Reversing Nasser's policies, President Anwar Sadat promised that the Sharia would be the chief source of legislation, and released all Brotherhood prisoners. The exiled Brethren started returning from Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, and this strengthened the Islamists [q.v.] at home. The changed conditions enabled the Brethren to reintegrate themselves into al–Azhar University [q.v.], the official center of Islam, which had been purged of them by Nasser.
Fearful of the popular appeal of the Brotherhood, Sadat denied it a license to enter the 1976 general election as a distinct forum. Therefore, the Brethren ran either as independents or as members of the ruling Arab Socialist Party (ASP) [q.v.]. Nine were elected as independents, and another six as ASP members. When independent Brethren offered to cooperate with the government on certain conditions, the radicals within the party left to form militant groups. But, because Sadat's economic policies increased disparity between rich and poor, and because he agreed to make peace with Israel without addressing the crucial Palestinian problem, Brotherhood leaders turned against him. Most of the nearly 2,000 dissidents arrested in September 1981 were Brethren or other Islamic fundamentalists [q.v.]. On 6 October Sadat was assassinated by four Islamist soldiers.
After an intense drive to crush Islamic militants, President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] engaged al-Azhar clerics to reeducate the imprisoned Brethren and other Islamists, two-fifths of whom were college or university students. Because the 1983 Election Law, like its predecessor, banned parties based on religion or atheism, the Brotherhood was barred from running in the 1984 elections. It therefore allied with the Neo–Wafd Party [q.v.] and won eight seats, despite the fact that the election was flagrantly rigged. Outside parliament, the Brotherhood, working in alliance with the Neo–Wafd [q.v.], succeeded in dominating the ruling bodies of influential syndicates of journalists, lawyers, doctors, and engineers.
In the 1987 elections the Brotherhood allied with the opposition Socialist Labor Party [q.v.] and the Liberal Socialist Party [q.v.] to form the Islamic Alliance. Despite the customary vote-rigging and harassment of the opposition, the Brotherhood-led Alliance won 17 percent of the vote and 60 seats, of which 37 were secured by the Brethren. They demanded the immediate application of the Sharia, the ending of Egypt's strategic and economic links with the United States, and the abrogation of the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.]. Like its allies in the Islamic Alliance, the Brotherhood boycotted the 1990 election when the government rejected their joint call to lift the state of emergency and conduct the election under the supervision of a non–governmental body.
During the Kuwait crisis and the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], the Brotherhood, a traditional ally of Saudi Arabia, largely supported Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.]. It fueled pan–Islamic [q.v.] feelings at the expense of the West. Due to its absence from parliament it could no longer act as an intermediary between the government and the militant Islamic groups as they escalated their anti–regime campaign.
Allowed to run in the general election in 1995, the Brotherhood fielded 150 candidates, all of whom lost. In 1996 it was divested of its domination of the Bar Association, leaving only the Doctors Association under its control. Three years later 20 Brotherhood leaders were arrested on charges of plotting to overthrow the government and infiltrating professional syndicates. However, the Brotherhood was allowed to enter the 2000 general election, and won 17 seats.
When, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States in September, the administration of President George W. Bush pressured Mubarak to democratize his regime, Mubarak temporized. He allowed the Brotherhood to run for about a third of the 444 parliamentary seats in 2005. Despite the state's standard strong-arm tactics deployed against the Brotherhood, now led by Muhammad Mahdi Akef, who succeeded the deceased Mamoun al–Hudaybi, its candidates won 60 percent of the races they entered, with the 88 successful Brotherhood members electing Muhammad Morsi [q.v.] as their leader. The result provided Mubarak with the evidence that installing democracy in Egypt would catapult the Brotherhood into power. He presented it to the Bush administration, which got the message. From then on, its fervor for democracy in the Middle East [q.v.] cooled.
After the 2005 election, the Mubarak government mounted a relentless repressive campaign against the Brotherhood, involving thousands of arrests of its ordinary members and military trials for its leaders. By sentencing its treasurer, Khairat al-Shater, a successful businessman, to seven years' imprisonment in 2007 for funding an illegal organization, the authorities disrupted the Brotherhood's funding of its social network. The state–run media slandered the Brotherhood as an agent of Iran.
In its moderated manifesto of 2007 it called for the establishment of a council of Islamic jurists—as a consultative body—to review laws and official policies to judge whether or not they were in line with the basic Islamic precepts.
In 2010, Muhammad Badie, an academic, succeeded Akef as the supreme guide of the Brotherhood. It joined the National Association for Change (NAC), an umbrella organization of all opposition groups, formed by Muhammad El Baradei, a former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. When the NAC launched a campaign to secure one million signatures for a petition to lift emergency rule and change election laws, the Brotherhood secured seven times more signatures than all the secular factions combined. Its strong support in urban areas and the villages of the heavily populated Nile Delta remained intact. It boycotted the parliamentary election in November 2010, which was marred by flagrant electoral fraud.
After the ouster of Mubarak [q.v.] in February 2011, the Brotherhood's Guidance Council established the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) [q.v.] open to all Egyptians irrespective of their religion in April. In the parliamentary elections held between November 2011 and January 2012, the FJP–led Democratic Alliance [q.v.] gained 235 seats on 37.5 percent popular vote and in the Consultative Council elections in January–February 2012 the Alliance won 105 of the 180 elected seats. In the presidential election in June 2012, Muhammad Morsi [q.v.], the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party [q.v.], secured 51.7 percent of the vote.
The Brotherhood's leadership was dominated by urban-based successful businessmen and professionals with advanced degrees in law, medicine, or science. Its economic policy was an amalgam of business–friendly free market capitalism with plans to build up strong manufacturing base and train a labor force with enhanced skills.
Muslim Brotherhood (Jordan): Jordanian religious body with a political wing, called the Islamic Action Front During his visits to Jordan (then Transjordan [q.v.]) between 1942 and 1945, Hassan al–Banna [q.v.] set up Muslim Brotherhood branches in many towns. When the Brotherhood was first banned in Egypt in 1948, hundreds of its activists went into exile in other Arab states, including Jordan. The same happened in 1954, when the Brotherhood in Egypt was dissolved by President Abdul Gamal Nasser [q.v.].
Since King Hussein of Jordan [q.v.] was one of the Arab leaders Nasser tried to overthrow, the Jordanian Brotherhood turned increasingly pro–Hussein. When his throne was threatened by opposition demonstrations in 1956, it actively sided with him. In return, Hussein's ban on political parties in 1957 exempted the Brotherhood on the ground that it had been registered as a religious charity. His growing stress on the religious eminence of his antecedents as governors of Hijaz [q.v.], and thus guardians of Mecca [q.v.], endeared him to the Brotherhood.
During the decade after the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], with the star of Saudi Arabia rising in the Arab East [q.v.], King Hussein grew closer to Riyadh for financial and ideological reasons, and started co–opting Brotherhood leaders into his regime. In the 1970s he allowed them to impart military training to members of Syria's Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.]. This enabled him to overcome their disapproval of his opposition to the 1979 Islamic revolution [q.v.] in Iran.
The Brotherhood participated in the November 1989 election to the House of Representatives (HoR) through its political wing, the Islamic Action Front (IAF) [q.v.]. The IAF emerged as the single largest group, with 23 deputies in a chamber of 80; another nine, while describing themselves as independent Islamists [q.v.], worked in tow with it. In October 1990 the IAF joined the government and ran five ministries. During the Kuwait crisis and the 1991 Gulf War [q .v.], the Brotherhood, deviating from its traditional pro–Saudi stance, supported Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.]. It was partly in deference to the IAF policy that King Hussein refused to join the Washington–led alliance against Iraq. On the eve of the Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid [q.v.], IAF ministers resigned in protest at Jordan's participation in the conference.
To thwart the possibility of the IAF's emerging as a majority party in the November 1993 elections, conducted officially on a multiparty basis, the monarch modified the election law by decree, and introduced single-member-district system which favored tribal and family links over political or ideological affiliation. Unwilling to confront the king, the IAF decided to run for only 36 seats. It won 16 and again emerged as the largest group in the HoR. It opposed the Jordanian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] signed in October 1994. In the 1997 general election its score fell to eight seats.
After dissolving the HoR in June 2001, King Abdullah II [q.v.] ruled by decree for two years. In the 2003 general election to 110 seats (including six seats reserved for women, if a lesser number got elected), despite electoral fraud, the Islamic Action Front won 17 seats, with 84 going to the candidates representing tribes and other conservative social forces. Flagrant electoral fraud in the 2007 parliamentary election reduced the number of IAF representatives to 6, with the conservative and tribal members totaling 98.
The IAF was one of the seven opposition parties that boycotted the general election in 2010 in protest at the new electoral law. It divided the country into 45 constituencies, with each of them subdivided into as many subdistricts as the number of seats, with eligible citizens casting one non-transferable vote. The system was designed to reduce the representation of urban areas and increase the pro–government rural share.
In early 2011 the IAF participated actively in demonstrations, demanding economic and political reform, with focus on the iniquitous electoral law. It found the constitutional and other concessions by King Abdullah II insufficient. But, led by Hamza Mansour, it refrained from criticizing him, aware that such a stance would open the fault lines between the royalist East Bankers and citizens of Palestinian origin. Unhappy about the repression of the largely Sunni [q.v.] protestors in Syria, the IAF pressured the monarch to abandon his neutrality on the Syrian crisis. In August King Abdullah II became the first Arab leader to openly call on President Bashar Assad [q.v.] to step down.
Muslim Brotherhood (Palestine): religious–political organization in Palestine/the West Bank and Gaza During his visits to Palestine [q.v.] between 1942 and 1945, Hassan al–Banna [q.v.] set up Muslim Brotherhood branches in many towns. After the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.], the Gaza Strip [q.v.] came under Egyptian authority and the West Bank [q.v.] was annexed by Jordan. With this, the fate of the Brotherhood in Gaza became intertwined with its Egyptian counterpart and that of the Brotherhood in the West Bank with its Jordanian counterpart.
Following the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza. In order to weaken the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] in the Occupied Territories [q.v.], in 1973 Israel issued a license to Shaikh Ahmad Yasin [q.v.], the Brotherhood leader in the Occupied Territories, to set up the Islamic Center as a charity to run social, religious, and welfare institutions. It encouraged the growth of Islamic Center/Muslim Brotherhood—funded chiefly by contributions from private and official sources in the Gulf States [q.v.]—as a counterpoint to the secular PLO. It resorted to providing funds covertly to the mosques in the Occupied Territories, especially the Gaza Strip, considered sympathetic to it. But following the dramatic rise of Hizbollah [q.v.] in Lebanon, the Israeli government had second thoughts. It arrested Yasin in 1983 for illegal possession of arms, and sentenced him to a long prison term. However, he was released two years later as part of a prison exchange deal between Israel and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine–General Command [q.v.].
Yasin built on the popularity he had gained as a political prisoner of Israel, and rapidly increased the membership of the Islamic Center/Muslim Brotherhood. With the eruption of the Intifada [q.v.] in December 1987, Yasin and six other leaders of the Brotherhood decided to join the mass movement against the Israeli occupiers. The result was the founding of Hamas [q.v.] as the activist arm of the Brotherhood. See also Hamas.
Muslim Brotherhood (Saudi Arabia): Following the dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1954, hundreds of Brethren took refuge in Saudi Arabia. After their leaders had convinced the Saudi monarch that Egyptian President Abdul Gamal Nasser [q.v.] was misusing al–Azhar University [q.v.], they were given funds to set up the Islamic University of Medina in 1961. The university emerged as a bastion of the Brotherhood, which is allowed to function as a religious charity under the leadership of eminent theologians such as Shaikh Muhammad al–Khattar. In their struggle against Nasser and Nasserism [q.v.], the Saudi monarchs started funding the Brotherhood in different Arab countries, a practice that continued after Nasser's death in 1970 until the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.].
Thousands of Brethren found jobs in the Saudi kingdom as teachers, lawyers, engineers, and accountants in government department and helped establish Islamic banks and revise curricula at schools and universities. Funded by the royal treasury, they founded the World Muslim League [q.v.] in 1963 and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth a decade later. They played a major role in rallying active support for the anti–Soviet jihad in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
With the Brotherhood in most Arab states criticizing the pro–Washington policies of the Saudi kingdom, and publicly opposing the alignment of King Fahd [q .v.] with the non–Muslim United States in the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.] to expel the Iraqis from Kuwait, relations between the Brotherhood in Saudi Arabia and the authorities soured. The Saudi government responded by reducing its funding to the Brotherhood.
Following the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001, the Saudi royal family started criticizing the Brotherhood and downgrading the role of the clerics associated with it. In 2004 Saudi interior minister Prince Nayif bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] accused the Brotherhood of ingratitude but refrained from banning it. In early 2011, in its drive to weed out books that incited violence and extremism, the Saudi government ordered their removal from school and college libraries. The list included works by such Muslim Brotherhood stalwarts as Hassan al–Banna [q.v.] and Sayid Muhammad Quttb [q.v.] that had been popular over the past four decades.
Muslim Brotherhood (Syria): The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria emerged in the mid–1930s when Syrian students of theology returning from Egypt started forming branches in different cities under the title Shabab Muhammad (Arabic: Youths of Muhammad). The most important of these, established in 1935 in Aleppo [q.v. ], became the organization's headquarters. It stood for an end to the French Mandate and for sociopolitical reform along Islamic lines. In 1944 the headquarters was moved to Damascus [q.v.]. Once the French had departed in 1946, it focused on socioeconomic issues. Most of its support came from urban craftsmen and small traders. The founding of Israel and the Arab defeat in the Palestine War [q.v.] gave a boost to the Brotherhood, and politicized it.
After the dissolution of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood in 1954, many Egyptian activists took refugee in Syria, and strengthened and radicalized the local variant. Its program now demanded the founding of "a virtuous polity" which would implement the rules and teachings of Islam.
When Syria joined Egypt in 1958 to form the United Arab Republic (UAR) [q.v.], and the ban on political parties in Egypt was extended to Syria, the Brotherhood was formally dissolved. However, it continued to function underground. Growing disaffection with Gamal Abdul Nasser's [q.v.] presidency helped it to expand its base. In the election held in December 1961, a few months after Syria's secession from the UAR, it won 10 seats, nearly half as many as the mainstream National Bloc. Following the Baathist [q.v.] coup in March 1963, the Brotherhood and other political parties were banned, and the parliament was dissolved. It fared badly in its confrontation with the government in 1964.
The Arabs' defeat in the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] led to a split in the party, with the moderates advising caution and radicals advocating a jihad [q.v.] against the Baathists. With young Brethren receiving commando training from the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] in Jordan in the 1970s, the party's militarization gathered pace.
When Hafiz Assad [q.v.] became president in late 1971 the Brotherhood attacked the regime strongly because Assad was an Alawi [q.v.]. The party, composed of Sunnis [q.v.], who formed two–thirds of the population, argued that since Alawis were neither Muslim nor People of the Book (Christian [q.v.] or Jew [q.v.]), they were infidels and idolaters, who worshipped Imam Ali. Assad countered this by participating in prayers in various Sunni mosques throughout Syria. The Brotherhood condemned the 1973 constitution, which sanctified the leading position of the Baath Party in Syria, described as a "democratic, popular, socialist state."
Pro–Brotherhood clerics demanded that Islam [q.v.] be declared the state religion. Anti-government rioting followed. Assad compromised by directing the parliament to specify that the head of state must be Muslim, and it complied. Unsatisfied, the clergy called for demonstrations, which turned violent. Heeding their call, many Sunnis boycotted the referendum on the constitution. Assad combined repression with co-option and offered state honors and higher salaries to the clergy. He described the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] as a jihad against the enemies of Islam, and referred to the Syrian troops as soldiers of Allah. In early 1974 he undertook an umra [q.v.] to Mecca [q.v.]. Later Imam Musa al–Sadr [q.v.], an eminent Shia [q.v.] theologian, issued a religious verdict that Alawis were part of Shia Islam [q.v.].
These developments reduced tension between the two sides, but not for long. In mid-1976 Assad intervened militarily in the year–old Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] on the side of Ma–ronite Christians [q.v.] against the alliance of Lebanese Muslims and Palestinians. This angered the Brotherhood, now led by Adnan Saad al–Din. The jihad it launched against the regime in July 1976 lasted four years. Its activists assassinated Baathist officials, Alawi leaders, and security personnel and informers in order to goad the government into increasing its repressive activities, thereby alienating large sections of society.
The increased activity swelled the party ranks. Between 1975 and 1978 the number of Brethren in Aleppo [q.v.] rose from 800 to 7,000. The national total of 30,000 members compared favorably with the ruling Baath Party's 200,000. A study of 1,384 fundamentalist prisoners (in 1982) showed 27.7 percent to be college or university students and 13.3 percent professionals.
In a calculated escalation in mid-1979 the party combined attacks on police stations, Baath Party offices, and army units with large-scale demonstrations and strikes. In a daring assault on the Aleppo artillery school it killed 83 Alawi cadets. Assad convened a special Baathist congress in January 1980 to debate the composition of the party and its policies. Two–thirds of the national command of the party was replaced, often by Sunnis. Assad raised the proportion of Sunnis in his cabinet.
Unimpressed, the Brotherhood called indefinite strikes in Aleppo and Hama [q.v.] that paralyzed these cities. Soon the national syndicates of lawyers, engineers, doctors, and academics joined in, demanding free elections and the freeing of political prisoners. Assad released 200 political prisoners, sacked several unpopular provincial governors, and increased imports of consumer goods. But the Aleppo and Hama merchants continued their shutdown. Assad dispatched elite troops to the defiant cities. They arrested some 5,000 people and summarily executed several hundred. The protest petered out.
Another wave of official retribution followed an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Assad on 25 June 1980. The next month parliament passed Emergency Law 49 making membership in or even association with the Muslim Brotherhood a capital offense. Armed with this, the security forces went on a rampage, meting out summary justice, especially in Aleppo. The Islamist rebellion virtually collapsed. The Brotherhood split, with the moderate faction led by Issam Attar allying with smaller Islamic Organizations to form the Islamic Front of Syria [q.v.] in October 1980.
The radical faction, led by the erstwhile deputy leader, Ali Sadreddine Bayanouni, then in exile in Jordan, retained the original title of the organization. In 1996 he entered into secret talks with Assad, and two years later the president freed some Brotherhood leaders.
Soon after succeeding his father in 2000, Bashar Assad [q.v.] ordered more releases. By then Bayanouni had secured political asylum in Britain. After a meeting of Syrian opposition groups in London in 2002, the Brotherhood issued a document in which it committed itself to democracy, pluralism, and nonviolence. In December 2004 it reaffirmed its commitment to creating a civil state with a provision for peaceful transfer of power from one party to another. But, by joining the National Salvation Front (NSF) [q.v.] in 2006, it subscribed to the Front's program of regime change, albeit through peaceful means. After the Western governments reengaged with the Assad regime by late 2008, Bayanouni quit the NSF (in April 2009) and suspended the Brotherhood's opposition to the Syrian government.
In July 2010, the Brotherhood's General Council, meeting in Istanbul, elected Muhammad Riad Shaqfa as the secretary–general. The efforts of Turkey's moderately Islamic government tried but failed to reconcile the Brotherhood, demanding the immediate repeal of the Emergency Law 49 and the Assad regime.
With the inception of civil resistance to the Assad regime in March 2011, the Brotherhood revived inside Syria, albeit clandestinely. It demanded political reform. Assad's refusal to make concessions led its officials to call for his overthrow. In October it joined six other opposition groups in Istanbul to form the Syrian National Council (SNC) [q.v.] under the stewardship of Burhan Ghalioun, an academic at Sorbonne University in Paris. To reassure the Western audience and governments, Ghalioun downplayed the strength of the Muslim Brotherhood within the SNC, whereas Riad Shaqfa, president of the Brotherhood, baldly highlighted the long roots and strong network it had inside Syria. Within the SNC the Brotherhood dominated the relief committee in charge of distributing humanitarian aid and cash to the Syrian rebels. Using the donations received from individuals and more importantly the Gulf States, it purchased and distributed arms inside Syria. It forged strong ties with Qatar, which provided it with the bulk of its financial support as well as wide exposure in the Arab world through its Al–Jazeera satellite channel. See also Islamic Front of Syria and Syrian National Council.
Muslims: See Islam and Muslims.
Mussadiq, Muhammad (1881–1967): Iranian politician; prime minister, 1951–53 (Also spelled Mohammad Mossadegh) Son of a wealthy public official in the village of Ahmadabad, Mussadiq pursued his university education in Paris and then obtained his doctorate in law at Lausanne University, Switzerland. On his return to Iran in 1914 he was named governor general of Fars province. After the coup by Reza Khan [q.v.] in 1921, he joined the cabinet as minister of finance. He was elected to the Majlis [q.v.] in 1923, but when he opposed the coronation of Reza Khan as the shah of Iran in 1925, he was forced to retire from public life.
With the deposition of Reza Shah in 1941, his fortunes rose. He was elected to the Majlis in 1944. A nationalist, he led a successful campaign to deny granting of an oil concession to the Soviet Union in 1945. Three years later he challenged Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi's [q.v.] nominee for the prime minister, Ibrahim Hakimi, and lost by a single vote. In 1949 he cofounded the National Front [q.v. ]. His call to nationalize the oil concession given to the British-owned Anglo–Iranian Oil Company proved popular. In late April 1951 the Majlis decided by a large majority to go ahead with the nationalization and to appoint him as the prime minister. This happened on 1 May 1951. Britain and other Western powers boycotted Iran's nationalized oil industry, and the economy suffered as a result.
With the middle classes forsaking him, Mussadiq depended increasingly on the support that the Tudeh Party [q.v.] could muster on the street and among oil workers and civil servants. This alienated him from clerical circles. In mid-January 1953 he won a year–long extension of his emergency powers from the Majlis. He clashed with the shah over the command of the armed forces. In July 1953, by asking his supporters in the Majlis to resign, he caused its de facto dissolution because of the lack of a quorum. Having won the endorsement of his decision in a referendum, he declared on 12 August 1953 that he would order fresh parliamentary elections.
When the shah's attempt to dismiss Mussadiq failed, the shah fled. After three days of demonstrations and counterdemonstrations, his civilian and military opponents, actively aided by Washington's Central Intelligence Agency, mounted a successful coup against him. By 19 August the shah was back in power. Tried for treason, he was jailed for three years and barred from public life. After his release he was kept under house arrest in Ahmadabad.
Muwahhidun (Arabic: Unitarianism): See Wahhabism and Wahhabis.
mysticism (Greek: derivative of mystikos, belonging to secret rites): Mysticism is the doctrine that direct knowledge of God, or some ultimate reality or spiritual truth, can be attained through intuition or insight, and in a way that is distinct from ordinary sense perception or the application of logical reasoning. The experience of the presence of God, or some ultimate reality or spiritual truth, often results in heightened consciousness and a sense of transcending the mundane world. During this experience new knowledge and awareness are often believed to be passed on to the mystic in unfamiliar ways. Forms of mysticism are to be found in all major religions as well as in secular experience.
mysticism in Christianity: An early example of Christian mysticism is Gnosticism, a religious philosophical movement of the pre-Christian era, with the central doctrine that spiritual emancipation is attained through gnosis (knowledge), which saves the initiate from the intrinsic evil of matter. According to St. John of the Cross, union with God is the highest mystical experience and is attained by pursuing the path of purgatory, intended to excise sin, and then the path of illumination, which illuminates whatever is spiritual. Later the Desert Fathers developed the hermetic method of attaining mystical enlightenment. St. Augustine elaborated the concept of the Divine Light of Being, drawing heavily on neo–platonic ideas, which continued to interest later Christian mystics, including Meister Eckhart (d. 1329).
Mysticism has continued to thrive in the church and outside, and the long list of great Christian mystics includes St. Gregory I, St. Hildegard of Bingen, Hugh of St. Victor, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Theresa of Avila, and St. Catherine of Siena. Its influence in Eastern Orthodox [q.v.] and Catholic [q.v.] Churches continues.
mysticism in Islam: See Sufism.
mysticism in Judaism: The desire for immediate awareness of and communion with God is basic to Judaism. The visions of the Old Testament [q.v.] prophets and the apocalyptic images of later Judaism provided the foundations for Jewish mysticism. In the 12th century Jewish mystics adopted the term kabbala (Hebrew: received [tradition])—originally used to denote the (received) oral tradition, along with the Written Law—to stress the continuity of their mystical tradition since antiquity.
Kabbala reached its apogee at the beginning of the 14th century in the Sepher HaZohar (The Book of Splendor), attributed to Moses de Leon (d. 1305). It narrated the power and inner life of God and laid out the principles and commandments by which the true believer could regain the adherence to God that had been lost by the fall of humans from their original purity. Subsequent Jewish mysticism continued to be built upon this base. Rabbi Isaac Luria (d. 1572) and his followers, and the Hassidic [q.v.] masters of the 18th and 19th centuries represent important developments of kabbala.
N
Nablus: West Bank city (Also spelled Nabulus) Population: 150,000 (2009 est.). The site of an ancient settlement with the Greek name of Neapolis (New City), Nablus sits between two mountains: Jerizim, a place where, according to legend, God issued his commandments to Moses, and Ebal, from where curses were hurled at those who defied Moses's Law. It is a twin of Shechem, a biblical settlement associated with Abraham (Genesis: 12:6) and Jacob (Genesis: 34:2).
Established by Roman Emperor Vespasian (r. 69–79 A.D.) in 72 A.D., it thrived as an east–west gate between Mount Jerizim and Mount Ebal because it was endowed with an abundant water supply from springs. Captured by Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] in 636 A.D., it remained under Muslim rule until 1917, except between 1099 and 1187 when it was ruled by the Crusaders. A severe earthquake destroyed much of it in 1927.
In the 1930s it was a leading center of Arab resistance to the Jewish immigration into Palestine, and the birthplace of the Arab Higher Committee in 1936. After the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.] it became part of Jordan, and later a base for Palestinian guerrilla activities directed against Israeli targets. Following its occupation by Israeli in 1967, it once again became a forefront of resistance. In 1976 Jewish militants set up a colony at Elon Moreh near the city. In 2002, its kasbah (Arabic: older section of a town), the historic old city center, was destroyed by the reoccupying Israeli forces. Their bulldozers partially destroyed the historic al–Kabir (Arabic: The Great) Mosque as well as the leading Greek Orthodox Church [q.v.]. The estimated damage to public and private property caused by Israel's military action, involving attacks by helicopter gunships and warplanes, was put at $80 million.
The four Palestinian refugee camps surrounding the town have an aggregate population of 50,000. Its industry continues to be dominated by olive oil and soap production, furniture, and stone quarries. It is home to Al Najah National University, the largest in the West Bank, with nearly 22,000 students.
Its tourist attractions include Jacob's Well and Joseph's grave as well as the al-Kabir and al–Nour mosques, both constructed on the ruins of Byzantine churches.
Nabulsi, Suleiman (1908–76): Jordanian politician; prime minister, 1956–57 Born into a notable family in Salt, Jordan, Nabulsi graduated in law and social studies from the American University in Beirut [q.v.]. He joined the civil service and rose to be director of the state–owned Agricultural Bank, a post he held until 1946. He served as minister of finance and economy (1947–49 and 1950–51).
He was Jordan's ambassador to Britain from 1953 to 1954. This experience turned him into a staunch Arab nationalist and anti–Zionist, and alienated him from the regime of King Hussein bin Talal [q.v.]. He was exiled from the capital, Amman [q.v.], to a provincial town. Undaunted, he cofounded the National Socialist Party (NSP) and was elected its leader. He entered into an electoral alliance with the Baathists [q.v.] and the Communist Front [q.v.], and formed the National Front (NF). Its attempt to win a majority in the 40-member parliament in the autumn of 1954 was frustrated by official poll–rigging. It won 12 seats. Nonetheless, as leader of the NF, the largest bloc in parliament, he succeeded in preventing King Hussein from joining the Baghdad Pact [q.v.] in December 1955. He also succeeded in getting the monarch to dissolve parliament, which lacked legitimacy.
In the free election of October 1956 the NF won 16 seats, and Nabulsi was asked to form a government. He did. His cabinet merged the Arab Legion with the (Palestinian-dominated) National Guard to create a 35,000-strong army. When the parliament abrogated the 1948 Anglo–Jordanian Treaty [q.v.] the monarch did not overrule it. But when the government decided to establish diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, and allow the Communist Front to publish a weekly newspaper, King Hussein warned it of the dangers of Communist infiltration. Heeding this, Nabulsi banned the Communist publication.
In April 1957 the monarch resisted a challenge from the Free Officers led by Ali Abu Nawar, who had succeeded Sir John Bagot Glubb [q.v.] as the chief of staff. He then dismissed Nabulsi's government, declared martial law, dissolved parliament as well as political parties and trade unions, and placed Nabulsi under house arrest. Once freed, he resumed his leadership of the NSP. But with martial law in force, his area of operation was limited. When the Jordanian army and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] clashed in 1970, he backed the PLO. But by the mid–1970s he had changed sufficiently to merit royal appointment to the fully nominated Senate in 1976.
Nahas (Pasha), Mustafa (1879–1965): Egyptian politician; prime minister, 1928, 1930, 1935–37, 1942–44, 1950–52 Born into a wealthy Cairene family, Nahas obtained a law degree from the University of Cairo. After practicing as a lawyer he joined the judicial system and served as a judge from 1904 to 1919. He then participated in the nationalist movement and was exiled along with its leader, Saad Zaghlul, to the British–controlled Seychelles Islands. After their release they won parliamentary seats as Wafd Party [q.v.] candidates in the first general election under the 1923 constitution.
Nahas served in the Wafd government under Zaghlul. When Zaghlul died in 1927, Nahas succeeded him as leader of the party. In 1928 and 1930 he served as the prime minister, but was forced by the monarch to resign. His efforts to see the parliamentary constitution reinstated succeeded in 1935, and his stewardship of the party's election campaign in May 1936 resulted in a Wafd victory. He formed the next government, and three months later signed the new Anglo–Egyptian Treaty [q.v.], which granted Egypt independence but fell short of total sovereignty.
He was dismissed from office in December 1937 by King Farouq [q.v.]. In February 1942, when German troops were advancing on Egypt from Libya, the British intervened militarily by surrounding the royal palace with tanks and gave Farouq the choice of abdicating or appointing the pro–British Nahas as the prime minister. Farouq invited Nahas to form a government. He played a key role in the establishment of the Arab League [q.v.], a British–inspired enterprise. Soon after he had inaugurated the League's preparatory conference in Alexandria [q.v.] in October 1944, he lost his top post. His party boycotted the election of January 1945.
But it entered the election in January 1950 on an Arab nationalist platform. It won. Nahas led the next government. When his talks on the future of the 1936 Treaty and the British military presence in the Suez Canal [q.v.] zone failed, he unilaterally abrogated the treaty in 1951. He initiated a popular struggle to eject the British troops. This led to mounting violence, culminating in battles between the Egyptian and British troops, the eruption of mob fury in January 1952, and the fall of his government.
Following the July 1952 coup all political parties, including the Wafd, were outlawed. Unlike many other politicians, who were tried for corruption, Nahas was left alone. He retired from public life.
al–Nahyan, Khalifa bin Zayid (1948–): President, United Arab Emirates, 2004–; ruler, Abu Dhabi Emirate, 1966- Born to Shaikh Zayid bin Sultan al–Nahyan [q.v.] and Hassa bint Muhammad bin Khalifa al–Nahyan of the Aal [q.v.] Bu Falah branch of the ruling Bani Yas tribe, he grew up in the oasis settlement of al–Ain. He received traditional education in Arabic [q.v.], memorizing and reciting of the Quran [q.v.] and the study of the Hadith [q.v.]. After the introduction of formal school system in the principality, he learned English. Later he spent time at the Royal Military College in Sandhurst, Britain.
In 1969, his father named him Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi [q.v.]. He became the head of the defense department, which later formed the core of the United Arab Emirates [q.v.] military. At the independence of the UAE, he was appointed the prime minister of Abu Dhabi. Two years later he assumed the office of the deputy prime minister in the UAE's federal cabinet. In 1976 he became the deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces. In 1989 he was appointed head of the Supreme Petroleum Council.
Due to his father's ill health in the 1990s, he served as the acting ruler of Abu Dhabi. A year after assuming the supreme office in the UAE in 2004, he decreed that half of the members of the 40–strong Federal National Council should be elected indirectly.
In January 2010, the world's tallest building, originally known as Burj Dubai, in Dubai was renamed Burj Khalifa after he had provided emergency funds to the debit–ridden Dubai Holdings, the owner of the tower. His net worth of $15 billion is second only to that of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah [q.v.] in the region.
al–Nahyan, Zayid bin Sultan (1915–2004): President, United Arab Emirates, 1971–2004; ruler, Abu Dhabi Emirate, 1966- Born in al–Ain to the ruling Aal [q.v.] Nahyan family of the Aal Bu Falah branch of the ruling Bani Yas tribe, Nahyan learned the Quran [q.v.] as a boy, as well as falconry, riding, and marksmanship. He was appointed governor of the eastern province of the Abu Dhabi Emirate (capital, al–Ain) in 1946. He ruled it as a bedouin chief, consulting tribal notables and being accessible to ordinary people. When his elder brother Shakbut bin Sultan, ruler of the emirate since 1928, refused to use the revenue accruing from oil production, which started in 1960, to promote economic development, he was overthrown with the aid of Britain, the imperial power, in 1966 and replaced by Nahyan. He appointed highly trained advisers and administrators to handle the emirate's burgeoning government revenues and activities.
It was primarily Abu Dhabi's rapidly growing oil revenues that encouraged the small neighboring emirates to agree to form the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in July 1971, five months before the scheduled British departure in December. Nahyan was elected president of the UAE for a five–year term, and reelected four times.
As ruler of the Abu Dhabi Emirate he appointed a cabinet led by a premier, responsible to him, in July 1971. When a single federal council of ministers came into being in December 1973, he abolished the Abu Dhabi cabinet and appointed a 50–member consultative council.
To the detriment of the UAE, personal rivalry between Nahyan and Shaikh Rashid bin Said al–Maktum [q.v. ], vice president of the UAE, persisted for many years. In the aftermath of the Islamic republican revolution in Iran [q.v.] in early 1979, the nominated Federal National Council and the federal cabinet demanded parliamentary democracy and a unitary state. This alarmed Nahyan and Shaikh Rashid, who buried their differences. Rashid became the prime minister of the UAE.
During the early phase of the 1980–88 Iran–Iraq War [q.v.] Nahyan sided with Baghdad. But as the conflict dragged on and Iran's position grew stronger, he took an increasingly neutral stance. Later, during the spring of 1990, he allied with Kuwait in its strategy to hurt the Iraqi economy by flooding the oil market and thus lowering prices. Later, troubled by the impoverishment and suffering of the Iraqi people caused by the UN sanctions, he called for their lifting, but to no avail.
During his rule the UAE evolved from a collective of medieval emirates to an efficiently run modern state with one of the highest per capita incomes in the world.
With personal assets of $24 billion, Nahyan died as one of the richest men in the world, and yet he maintained a simple, traditional lifestyle throughout his existence.
Najaf: Iraqi city Population: 1.286 million (2011 est.). Also called Mashhad Ali (Arabic: Witness to Ali), Najaf is the burial place of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib, a caliph (r. 656–661 A.D.) and a cousin and son-in–law of the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632 A.D.). Since Shias [q.v.] consider Ali to be the only legitimate caliph after the Prophet Muhammad, they regard his tomb in Najaf as the most sacred shrine after the Kaaba [q.v.] in Mecca [q.v.] and the Prophet Muhammad's grave in Medina [q.v.].
The town is believed to have been established by Caliph Haroon al–Rashid (r. 786–809 A.D.). It has undergone dramatic vicissitudes since then. It was burned down by zealot Sunnis [q.v.] from Baghdad [q.v.] in 1051, but was soon rebuilt. When under Ottoman rule (1638–1918), the city was sacked twice by Wahhabi [q.v.] raiders (in 1806 and 1810), and Ali's mausoleum was stripped of all its furnishings. Led by resident mujtahids [q.v.], its Shia population rebelled against the Sunni [q.v.] Ottomans in 1842, 1852, and 1854, but was repressed. In 1920, the locals offered stiff resistance to the British Mandate and opposed King Faisal I bin Hussein [q.v.], considering him a British stooge.
During the republican era, beginning in 1958, Najaf emerged as a seat of opposition to the secular regime of the Baath Party [q.v.], which seized power in 1968. From 1965 to 1978 it was the base of exiled Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.]. After the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.] it participated the Shia uprising in southern Iraq against the regime of President Saddam Hussein [q.v.], which was quickly quelled.
After the Anglo–American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in 2003, Najaf became a bastion of resistance against the occupation, led by the radical Shia cleric Muqtada al–Sadr [q.v.].
Najaf remains a leading center of Shia pilgrimage and burial. The Place of Learning (Arabic: Al-Hawza al–Ilmiyya), supervised by four grand ayatollahs, is the leading seminary for the training of Shia clergy. With its encircling wall mostly intact, it has retained the aura of a medieval settlement. Unlike Mecca and Medina, the city is open to non–Muslims, but they are not allowed to enter the shrine of Imam Ali.
Najd: central region of Saudi Arabia (Also spelled Nejd) Population: 8.59 million (2011 est.). A chiefly rocky plateau with mountains to the west and desert to the east, north, and south, Najd has a string of oases. It was politically fragmented until 1745, when it became the center of the Wahhabi movement [q.v.]. More recently, Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman bin Saud [q.v.] conquered the region from the Ottoman Turks in 1902. Since then it has been the geographical and ideological nucleus of the Saudi realm that Abdul Aziz created, which was finally named the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, with the Najdi capital of Riyadh [q.v.] as its national capital. Now officially called the Najd (central) Region, it is divided into the provinces of Riyadh, Qassim, and Hail, and covers 224,265 sq. mi./581,000 sq. km.
Nasrallah, Hassan (1960–): Lebanese political and military leader Born in the household of Abdul Karim, a poor Shia [q.v.] grocer, in East Beirut's [q.v.] neighborhood of Bourj Hammoud, he went to a government school in the Christian [q.v.] area of Sinal Fil. At the start of the 1975 civil war the family moved to the ancestral village of Bazouriyah near Tyre [q.v.] in the south. While at school in Tyre, he joined the Amal Movement [q.v.] led by Musa al–Sadr [q.v.]. He went to Najaf [q.v.] to study Shia theology but returned home in 1978 when Iraq's Baathist government pressured foreign theological students to leave.
He became Amal's representative for the Beqaa region and taught religion at a school founded by Shaikh Abbas Mousavi who later became the secretary–general of Hizbollah [q.v.]. After the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon [q.v.], he joined Hizbollah and became one of its organizers. In 1987, he went to Qom [q.v.] for further studies, and later represented Hizbollah in Iran.
He returned to Lebanon in 1991. After Mousavi's assassination in an Israeli helicopter attack on his motorcade in 1992, Nasrallah was elected the secretary-general of Hizbollah. While continuing Hizbollah's social welfare activities, he strengthened its military wing and accentuated the low–intensity war with Israel's occupation forces in southern Lebanon. In 1997, his eldest son, Muhammad Hadi, was killed in a battle with an Israeli Navy commando unit operating in southern Lebanon in which 13 Israeli soldiers lost their lives. In May 2000, when Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon unconditionally, Nasrallah's prestige surged in Lebanon and the rest of the Arab [q.v.] world.
In 2004, in return for the release of one Israeli civilian and the corpses of three Israeli soldiers, Nasrallah secured the freedom of over 400 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners, and also secured the corpse of his son Muhammad Hadi.
After the assassination of Rafik Hariri [q.v.] in February 2005, Nasrallah emerged as an influential arbitrator between Lebanon's many political factions because of his widely recognized erudition and politically savvy. The following year, he signed a 10–point pact with Michel Aoun [q.v.], leader of the Free Patriotic Movement.
Under his leadership Hizbollah brought the Israeli military to a standstill in the five-week war in July–August 2006 [q.v.]. After the ceasefire, he declared a "divine, historic and strategic victory" over Israel, and refused to disarm Hizbollah's military wing. By providing material help for the reconstruction of the homes of the displaced Lebanese, he enhanced his standing further. In several public opinion surveys in the region, he emerged as a very popular leader.
Following the 2009 general election, he readily conceded the defeat of the pro–Syrian 8 March Alliance [q.v.]. Yet he managed to obtain more than a third of the cabinet seats for the defeated camp in the national unity government of Saad Hariri [q.v.]. A month later the Hariri administration adopted a bill that permitted Hizbollah to retain its weapons. But when Hariri refused to discontinue part–funding for the United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), Nasrallah brought about the downfall of his government in January 2011. The efforts of Najib Miktai [q.v.] to form his cabinet succeeded in June only after he had agreed to allocate 18 of the ministerial posts to the Hizbollah–dominated 8 March Alliance.
The next month Nasrallah rejected indictments against four Hizbollah members (whose names were leaked) by the STL for the murder of Rafiq Hariri and 21 others in 2005, and denounced the STL. In February 2012 the STL's trial chamber said it would try the accused in absentia after all reasonable steps to arrest them had failed.
During the uprisings in Syria in 2011–2012, Nasrallah emerged as the strongest supporter of President Bashar Assad [q.v.]. Once the option of foreign military intervention in Syria had been ruled out by March 2012, he urged peaceful resolution of the crisis through dialogue and simultaneous reform under the leadership of Assad.
Nasser, Gamal Abdul (1918–70): Egyptian military leader and politician; president, 1956–70; prime minister, 1954–56 Born in Bani Mor village, Asyut province, Nasser, son of a postal clerk, was a graduate of the Royal Military Academy in Cairo [q.v.]. After serving in Sudan for two years, he returned to the military academy as an instructor in 1941. He underwent further training at the staff college, and participated in the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.] as a major in the Egyptian army. Promoted to colonel in 1950, he was appointed lecturer at the Royal Military Academy.
Nasser was a charismatic leader of the clandestine Free Officers Organization, which ousted King Farouq [q.v.] on 22 July 1952, and set up the ruling Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) [q.v.], with Brigadier–General Muhammad Neguib [q.v.] as its head. Neguib favored reinstating the parliamentary system but Nasser disagreed. He won. Having banned political groups in January 1953, the regime sponsored a single party, the Liberation Rally. The power struggle between Nasser and Neguib intensified after the RCC declared a republic in June 1953 and appointed Prime Minister Neguib as the republic's president.
The differences between Nasser and Neguib came to the fore in February 1954 when the RCC banned the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] without consulting Neguib. His resignation as president and premier created a crisis, involving the mobilization of different military units by the two rivals. A compromise in April allowed Neguib to retain the presidency but give up the premiership. This lasted until November when the RCC dismissed Neguib as president and put him under house arrest. It chose Nasser as its chairman. After a new constitution was proclaimed in 1956, Nasser was elected president for a six–year term, and reelected twice.
Starting out as a non-ideological officer, committed only to ridding public life of corruption, Nasser became increasingly ideological and radical as conservatives at home and the Western powers abroad tried to smother his Arab nationalist regime. At the first conference of 29 nations—28 Afro-Asian and one European—in Bandung, Indonesia, in April 1955, he came under the influence of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India and President Josip Tito of Yugoslavia, both committed to non-alignment in international affairs. Nasser succeeded in stopping the expansion of the Western–sponsored Baghdad Pact [q.v.].
After America had refused to sell him weapons, he accepted an arms sales offer from Czechoslovakia. When the United States reacted by withdrawing its offer of aid for the Aswan High Dam [q.v.] project, and getting the World Bank to do the same, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal [q.v.], and accepted aid from the Soviet Union. The resulting, aggressive anti–Egyptian alliance of Britain, France, and Israel, which culminated in the Suez War [q.v.] in October–November 1956, further radicalized Nasser. He became the top political demon of the West and Israel. America, Britain, France, and Israel fielded teams to assassinate him. They failed. The withdrawal of the aggressors from Egypt by March 1957 raised his prestige at home and in the region.
Following the merger of Egypt and Syria into the United Arab Republic (UAR) [q.v.] in early 1958, Nasser was elected president of the UAR. He visited the Soviet Union for the first time as a leader of the NonAligned Movement. At home he suffered a major setback when Syria seceded from the UAR in September 1961, ending his hopes of gradually uniting the Arab East [q.v.] under his leadership. As Syria turned increasingly radical in its policies, he quickened the pace of socioeconomic reform in Egypt so as not to be seen less militant than the Syrians. The land reform, launched a decade earlier, was consolidated along with further nationalization of industries and services.
In 1962, at a convention of the delegates of peasants, workers, and intellectuals, he inaugurated the Arab Socialist Union (ASU) [q.v.]. Later that year he sided with the republicans in the civil war that erupted in the wake of a coup in North Yemen. In 1964 he hosted a summit of the Organization of African Unity in Cairo.
With the ascendancy in Damascus [q.v.] in early 1966 of radical Baathists, who escalated the Palestinian guerrilla attacks against Israel, Nasser once again found himself upstaged by the Syrians. To meet the problem, in November 1966 he signed a defense pact with Syria, which specified a joint command for the Egyptian and Syrian forces in the event of war. As tension rose in the spring of 1967, Israel warned Syria against allowing Palestinian guerrilla operations from its soil. In mid–May, stung by taunts that he was hiding behind the protection of the UN Emergency Force (UNEF) [q.v.], stationed in Sinai [q.v.] on the Egyptian side, Nasser called on UN Secretary–General U Thant to withdraw it. When this was done, Nasser closed the Strait of Tiran to Israeli shipping, thus raising the stakes. King Hussein of Jordan [q.v.], who hitherto had been hostile to Nasser, rushed to sign a mutual defense pact with Egypt on 30 May. This was the zenith of Nasser's power and prestige.
Once Israel had realized that the international community would not force Nasser to reopen the Strait of Tiran to Israeli ships, on 5 June it mounted devastating preemptive attacks on the air forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan. The resulting debacle of the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] virtually destroyed Nasser and Nasserism [q.v.]. For the time being, though, he contrived to turn defeat into victory. Taking responsibility for the defeat, he resigned. Popular demonstrations, combined with the Soviet Union's pledge to replace all the heavy weaponry lost in the war free of charge only if he were to remain president, made him retract.
But his retraction went beyond resignation. It covered the whole gamut of his domestic and foreign policies. He moderated the stance of the ASU at home. In November 1967, he accepted UN Security Council Resolution 242 [q.v.], which called for the peaceful coexistence of Israel and the Arab states in return for Israel's evacuation of the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.]. However, to prevent Israel from consolidating its occupation of Egyptian territory, Nasser initiated the War of Attrition [q.v.] in 1968 after reequipping his military with Soviet weaponry.
In the Arab world he reached a compromise with his archenemy, the conservative Saudi King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.]. He withdrew Egyptian troops from the North Yemeni Civil War [q.v.] in December 1967. Yet he remained the elder statesman of the progressive Arab world. When conflict between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] and Lebanon became explosive, both parties turned to him for mediation. The result was the November 1969 Cairo Agreement [q.v.]. Equally, after the fight between the PLO and the Jordanian army in mid–September 1970, the two sides approached Nasser for a rapprochement. It was the strain of these negotiations that caused him to suffer a fatal heart attack.
A charismatic figure, Nasser was the first Egyptian to rule Egypt for a very long time, since King Farouq's family was originally from Albania.
Nasserism and Nasserites: Nasserism is a sociopolitical doctrine based on the thoughts and actions of Gamal Abdul Nasser, president of Egypt [q.v.] (1954–70). Beginning as pan–Arab nationalism [q.v.], it evolved into Arab socialism [q.v.]. Unlike Baathism [q.v.], Nasserism was not a well–conceived thesis by one or more ideologues, but emerged as an ideology out of a series of practical responses to the problems, domestic and foreign, that Egypt, ruled by military officers from 1952 onward, faced as it tried to consolidate its newly won political and economic independence. Egyptian military officers led by Nasser developed an ideology and created, as a state fiat, a political organization to implement it after they had seized power, whereas the Baathists were a party with an ideology and a cadre long before they acquired power.
Nasser's drift toward socialism reflected an emerging trend among Egyptian intellectuals and workers. But instead of implementing egalitarian socioeconomic reform with the assistance of a political party committed to the doctrine, he relied basically on state bureaucracy, with the Arab Socialist Union (ASU) [q.v.] acting more as an organizational façade than a real cadre–based party.
During Nasser's rule, Nasserite parties sprouted in several Arab countries, including Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, North Yemen, and South Yemen. But within a few years of his death these disappeared or became insignificant, except in Lebanon—where the Independent Nasserite Movement and its militia Murabitun continued to draw their support from Sunni Muslims [q.v.]— and in Yemen [q.v.]. In Egypt, denied a license to constitute a party of their own, most of the Nasserites joined the National Progressive Unionist Alliance (NPUA)[q.v.]. In the early 1990s, they were allowed to form a party. The NPUA's score in the parliamentary elections until and including the one in 2010 varied between two and six seats.
In the first round of the post–Mubarak presidential race in May 2012, the independent Nasserite Hamdeen Sabbahi came third, with 20.4 percent of the vote.
National and Progressive Front (Lebanon): In 1969 Kamal Jumblat [q.v.] established the National and Progressive Front (NPF), consisting of leftist Lebanese parties and major Palestinian groups based in Lebanon. As interior minister he legalized such transnational parties as the Communist Party [q.v.] and the Baathist Party [q.v.] in the summer of 1970, and they joined the NPF. In 1972 it was renamed the Front of National and Progressive Parties and Forces. See also the Lebanese National Movement.
National Consultative Assembly (Iran): See Majlis.
National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (Syria): An umbrella organization of a dozen opposition factions, it was formed after the start of civil uprisings in March 2011 at a conference in Damascus [q.v.]. A largely home-based organization, the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCCDC) consisted mainly of secular groups of leftist, or Arab or Kurdish nationalist, orientation. Its leadership included Hassan Abdul Azim, chairman of the Nasserite [q.v.] Democratic Arab Socialist Union, called the General Coordinator, and Michel Kilo, a veteran dissident who had spent six years in jail. The NCCDC committed itself to dismantling the present dictatorial system and the removal of President Bashar Assad [q.v.] from power, but strictly through nonviolent means. It staged periodic anti–Assad demonstrations. Strongly opposed to foreign military intervention, it called on the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution allowing observers to monitor and protect civilians. Unlike the Syrian National Council [q.v.], it was prepared to negotiate with Assad's regime.
In April 2012, its delegation was received by Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow when both sides backed the recent UN-brokered ceasefire. Invited by the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, its delegation, led by Abdul Azim, met the Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi in Beijing in mid-September. It reaffirmed its four–point plan: an end to violence, release of prisoners, ensuring humanitarian access, and initiating a political transition process.
Later that month it sponsored the National Conference for Syria Salvation in Damascus. The conference adopted an eight-point program, including the overthrow of the regime through non–violent resistance, and "extracting" the Syrian military from "the clutches of the regime."
National Council of Resistance in Iran: See National Resistance Council (Iran).
National Democratic Assembly—Balad: Israeli Arab political party Its official title, Balad, is the Hebrew [q.v.] acronym of Brit Leumit Demokratit, meaning National Democratic Assembly; its title in Arabic [q.v.] is Tajama al-Watan al–Dimuqrati. Formed by Palestinian professionals led by Azmi Bishara [q.v.], Balad in 1995 allied with Taal, another Israeli Arab group, to fight the 1999 parliamentary election; it secured two seats. It aimed to transform Israel from a Jewish state into a democratic state according equal treatment to all its citizens, Jews [q.v.] and Arabs [q.v.] alike, and demanded autonomy over the Arab educational system and affirmative action for the Arab minority. It advocates Israel's withdrawal from all the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.], the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the Occupied Territories [q.v.] with East Jerusalem [q.v.] as its capital, and the implementation of the UN General Assembly Resolution 194, passed in December 1948, which inter alia called for the return of the Palestinian refugees.
Before the 2003 Knesset election, the party was banned by the Central Election Committee, whose decision was overturned by the Supreme Court. It won three seats. It repeated the performance in the 2006 election. In April 2007 Bishara resigned his set by contacting the Israeli Embassy in Cairo [q.v.] after a police investigation into his alleged assistance to Hizbollah [q.v.] during its war with Israel in July–August, and money laundering.
On the eve of the 2009 Knesset election, the Central Election Commission's ban on Balad was once again overturned by the Supreme Court, and the party, now led by Jamal Zahalka, maintained its strength of three.
National Democratic Front (North Yemen): North Yemeni political party In 1976 the Revolutionary Democratic party, the (Marxist) Democratic Party of Popular Unity, and the Baathists [q.v.] secretly merged to form the National Democratic Front under the leadership of Sultan Ahmad Omar. Its aims were to consolidate national independence, which was threatened by reactionary Saudi Arabia, and to end feudalism.
Ignoring the ban on political parties, President Ibrahim Hamdi [q.v.] allowed the NDF to exist semi-clandestinely. It held its first secret congress in July 1978, when it called for unity between North and South Yemen. Its ranks were swelled by the defection in late 1978 of the paratroop commander, Major Abdullah Abdul Alim, and his troops from the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.]. Aided by South Yemen, the NDF captured the southern town of Harib in February 1979 and tried to extend its area of control. The fighting continued until early March, when South Yemen yielded to regional pressures and accepted a cease–fire.
The agreement of the presidents of the two Yemens to unite within a year was welcomed by the NDF. But when nothing came of it the NDF reached a compromise with Saleh. He would allow the NDF to publish a newspaper in North Yemen if it stopped its radio broadcasts from South Yemen. As Saleh consolidated his power in the 1980s he squeezed out the NDF from North Yemen, leaving it with a base in Aden [q.v.], the South Yemeni capital. The NDF welcomed the unity of the two Yemens in 1990. On the eve of the general election of 1993 it merged with the Arab Baath Socialist Party, which won seven seats.
National Democratic Party (Egypt): The National Democratic Party (NDP) was founded by President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] in August 1978 after the parliament, at his behest, had outlawed wide-ranging political activities such as preaching Marxism and class struggle, advocating laissez-faire capitalism, demanding a religion–based state, and so on. He called on Mustafa Khalil, then heading the much weakened Arab Socialist Union [q.v.], to be its (nominal) president. Even before it had published its program, 275 of the 300 Arab Socialist Party [q.v.] parliamentarians joined it, thus assuring it of power.
Describing itself as "national, democratic, socialist, scientific, faithful, popular, revolutionary, humanist, and nationalist," the NDP listed its enemies: the "followers of foreign ideologies" (i.e., Marxists), "those trying to take Egypt back to the pre–1952 era" (i.e., New Wafdists [q.v.]), and "the remnants of the totalitarian regime" (i.e., Nasserites [q.v.]). It stated that the effort to rebuild Egyptian society after the 1952 revolution had failed because the regime had tried to imitate "the system and culture of foreign occupation," the word foreign implying the Soviet Union. Describing its socioeconomic philosophy as "socialist democracy, Arab Islamic and Christian values, and the principles of the 1952 revolution after being corrected [in 1971 by Sadat]," its program stated that the public sector must be limited to projects that "the people" felt necessary, and that the economic policy of providing an open door to foreign capital must remain.
After the Camp David Accords [q.v.] in September 1978, Sadat appointed Khalil as the prime minister to lead "the peace government," and took over the presidency of the NDP. In the 1979 parliamentary election the NDP won 302 of the 362 elected seats. After Sadat's assassination in 1981, Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] became the NDP's president.
In the general elections of 1984, 1987, and 1990—which, as in Sadat's period, were blatantly rigged—the NDP won 379, 380, and 354 seats respectively in a house of 438 to 444 seats, the last election having been boycotted by all the major opposition parties. In the 1995 general election it secured 316 seats and then gained the loyalty of another 99 independents. In the 2000 election it won 176 places, with a further 212 deputies, having been elected as independents, joining the party later, raising its total to 388. Its strength fell to 317 in the 2005 parliamentary election, when it yielded its losses to the semi–clandestine Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.], whose members were allowed, begrudgingly, to run as independents.
In the grossly rigged election of 2010, boycotted by the opposition parties, the NDP won 420 of the 444 contested seats.
During the anti–regime demonstrations in Cairo [q.v.] in January-February 2011, NDP militants attacked the protestors, who retaliated by burning down the party headquarters. In April, accepting the charges of corruption against the NDP, the Higher Administrative Court ordered its dissolution and the transfer of its funds to the state. Its former members entered the parliamentary elections between November 2011 and January 2012, using seven different party names, ranging from National Party to Freedom Party. Altogether they won 7 percent of the popular vote and 17 seats in the 508–member chamber.
National Front (Iran): Iranian political party The Iran Party and the Democrat Party combined in 1949 to form the National Front (NF) [q.v.] under the leadership of Muhammad Mussadiq [q.v.]. A secular nationalist group, the NF demanded nationalization of the oil industry, which at the time was controlled by the British-owned Anglo–Iranian Oil Company (AIOC). This proved a popular move. In May 1951, its leaders succeeded in getting a majority backing for Mussadiq in the Majlis [q.v.], thus compelling Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] to name Mussadiq as the prime minister. The NF supported Mussadiq during the 1951–53 crisis caused by the nationalization of the AIOC.
When the shah fled in mid-August 1953 the party split, with one section calling for a republic and the other for a constitutional monarchy. After the return of the shah, the NF was repressed. It made a comeback in the early 1960s, and urged a boycott of the referendum on the state–sponsored White Revolution [q.v.] in 1963. Once again official repression and the jailing of its leaders followed.
The NF continued to attract support among Iranian students studying in the West. It revived at home in the early stages of the 1977–78 revolutionary movement, participating actively as one of the three major strands of the movement, the others being Islamic fundamentalism [q.v.] and Marxism. After the revolution the liberal, secular forces represented by the NF aspired to create social democracy in Iran.
In February 1979 Prime Minister Mahdi Bazargan [q.v.] appointed Karim Sanjabi, the NF leader, as foreign minister. Sanjabi resigned after the occupation of the American Embassy in Tehran [q.v.] by militant students in November. The NF failed to win any seats in the 1980 general election. Later it was wooed by President Abol Hassan Bani–Sadr [q.v.], even though it was considered an opposition group. But with most of the moderate democrats siding with the Liberation Movement of Iran [q.v.], the NF lost support steeply.
National Front for the Liberation of South Yemen: See National Liberation Front (South Yemen).
National Guard (Saudi Arabia): An armed force drawn from the most loyal of the tribes in Saudi Arabia, the National Guard was the new name given to the White Guard (formed in 1932) after the dissolution of the Ikhwan [q.v.]. The need to rename, rearm, and retrain this force arose in the aftermath of the overthrow of the monarchy in North Yemen [q.v.] in September 1962. The National Guard was put under the command of Prince Khalid bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.]. Its personnel were billeted outside the main urban centers, and its officers were the most pampered outside the royal family. King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] rejected a proposal to merge the military and the National Guard, mainly because having two separate armed services enabled him to maintain a balance between the competing clans inside the kingdom. Also the National Guard's role covered both foreign and domestic threats to the royal Saudi regime.
As the kingdom's most reliable armed force, the National Guard deals with anything that remotely threatens the regime—be it a strike, a demonstration, a tribal revolt, or disaffection in the military. It was at the forefront of quelling the uprising by Islamic militants in Mecca [q.v.] and the demonstrations by Shias [q.v.] in the eastern province of Hasa in late 1979. With the ascendancy of Fahd bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] to the throne in 1982, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] became its commander.
Since the early 1980s the Guard has been thoroughly reorganized and retrained by the Pentagon as well as private defense contractors. In 1995 a car bomb in the parking lot of the U.S. Office of the Program Manager in charge of the National Guard Modernization Program killed six, including five Americans. The National Guard's modernization continues under the supervision of the Pentagon.
In 2010 King Abdullah appointed his son Prince Mutaib commander of the 100,000–strong National Guard, including its 25,000 tribal levies as reserves. Its recruits are drawn invariably from the Sunni [q.v.] tribes in the Najd [q.v.]. Their equipment includes armored personnel carriers and armored fighting vehicles as well as artillery, armed helicopters, and light aircraft.
National Liberal Party (Lebanon): Camille Chamoun [q.v.] established the National Liberal Party (NLP) soon after stepping down as president in September 1958. It stressed Lebanese (as opposed to Arab) nationalism and economic liberalism based on private enterprise. It succeeded in attracting Lebanese outside the Maronite [q.v.] community. In the 1972 general election, campaigning in alliance with the Phalange [q.v.], it secured 13 seats, the largest number won by any party.
During the initial phase of the 1975–90 Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], the NLP cooperated with the Phalange in building up state infrastructure in the Christian region, with its capital in Jounieh, working for a "decentralized unity" of Lebanon, and strengthening links with Israel. But, once they had jointly thwarted the plans of the Lebanese government and the Syrian peacekeeping force to patrol Christian areas, the simmering tension between them over such matters as control over the illegal ports in the Christian enclave, often used for drug trafficking, boiled over. The NLP militia suffered heavily in the bloody clashes with the Phalangists in July 1980 and again in October. But after the assassination of Bashir Gemayel [q.v.] in September 1982, the party's chances of survival improved. When the Phalange militia split in early 1986, the NLP's relative standing in the Christian enclave rose considerably.
After Chamoun's death in August 1987, the mantle of the NLP's leadership passed to his son, Danny. In August 1990 he backed Gen. Michel Aoun [q.v.] when the latter challenged the parliament's power to alter the constitution and pass reform laws. Danny Chamoun and his family were murdered in the aftermath of Aoun's defeat in mid–October 1990.
His younger brother, Dory Chamoun, became party president. He joined other Maronite parties in boycotting the 1992 general election. He kept out of the 1996 parliamentary election, but not the 1998 municipal elections when the NLP captured several local councils. He boycotted the parliamentary election in 2000 in protest at the continued presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon.
As part of the 8 March Alliance [q.v.] in the 2005 general election, the NLP won a single seat. It retained it in the 2009 election.
National Liberation Front (South Yemen): South Yemeni political party (Official title: National Front for the Liberation of South Yemen) The National Liberation Front (NLF) was set up in Sanaa [q.v.], North Yemen, in early 1963 to achieve independence from Britain through an armed struggle. It launched its first armed attack in the Rafdan Mountains in October. During the course of two years it opened four fronts against the British and took the fight to Aden [q.v.].
The NLF also came into conflict with the moderate Front for the Liberation for the Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY). London's declaration in early 1966 that it would leave by December 1968 intensified the fight between the NLF and FLOSY. By August 1967 the NLF emerged as the stronger party. After the departure of the British three months later, it founded the People's Republic of South Yemen. The republic's constitution described the NLF as an alliance of the people's democratic forces, and its central committee, elected by the party congress, as the leading political organ.
Following a split in the regime in June 1969, the victorious leftists replaced the republic's presidency with a presidential council of five NLF leaders, later reduced to three. In March 1975 the party's sixth congress laid down a three-year political–economic plan for transition from national democracy to socialism. In October a unification congress decided to weld the NLF, the (Baathist [q.v.]) Vanguard Party, and the (Marxist) Popular Democratic Union into the United Political Organization–National Front, to be reconstituted as the Yemeni Socialist Party [q.v.] in 1978.
National Pact, 1943 (Lebanon): constitutional agreement In March 1943, prodded by the British, the Free French, led by Charles de Gaulle— who had retaken Lebanon from the pro–German French government in June 1941 with British assistance—restored Lebanon's 1926 constitution. Gen. Edward Spears, the British representative in Beirut [q.v.], mediated between feuding Muslims [q.v.] and Christians [q.v.] about the division of parliamentary seats. Using the 1932 census showing Christians as 54 percent of the population, Spears recommended a ratio of six Christian seats to five Muslim. (Later this ratio was also applied to posts in the civil service, judiciary, and military.) This was agreed by Riad Solh [q.v.], the Muslim leader, and Bishara Khouri [q.v.], the Christian leader, as part of the National Pact, an unwritten supplement to the constitution. It stipulated that the republic's president should be a Maronite Christian [q.v.], its prime minister a Sunni Muslim [q.v.], its parliamentary speaker a Shia Muslim [q.v.], and his deputy a Greek Orthodox [q.v.].
The National Pact sealed a wider compromise. While Muslim leaders accepted the existing frontiers of Lebanon, abandoning their demand for union with Syria to recreate Greater Syria [q.v.], their Christian counterparts agreed that Arabic should be the only official language of the republic, and that Lebanon should be free of any foreign (i.e., European) ties and should present an "Arab face" to the world. Some months later the National Pact was given the status of an official decree by the Free French government's General Georges Catroux.
In 1960 the number of parliamentary seats was increased from 77 to 99, with 54 going to Christians and 45 to Muslims. This lasted for 30 years and then, as a result of the National Reconciliation Charter of 1989 [q.v.], popularly called the Taif Accord [q.v.], the number of seats was raised to 128 and the proportion altered to parity between Christians and Muslims. See also Lebanon: Legislature.
National Progressive and Patriotic Front (Iraq): Iraqi political alliance In July 1973, on the fifth anniversary of the Baathist coup, the parties that had earlier signed the National Action Charter formed the National Progressive and Patriotic Front (NPPF). It included the Baath Party [q.v.], the Communist Party [q.v.], and the smaller Nasserist [q.v.] and Kurdish groups. Its secretary–general was Naim Haddad, a Baathist leader.
The non-Baathist signatories to the charter agreed to be loyal to the Baathist revolution and refrain from spreading their ideologies among students and soldiers, as well as abstain from labor agitation and help to avert strikes. In return, some of the non–Baathist constituents of the NPPF were given seats in the cabinet, the Communists receiving two, and the others one or none. But cabinet ministers were more heads of departments than makers of policy, which was formulated by the ruling (Baathist) Revolutionary Command Council. Due to growing differences with the Baathist leadership, the Communist Party quit the NPPF in 1978 but did not publicize its decision.
When parliamentary elections were introduced in 1980, only NPPF constituents were allowed to run. The Baathist candidates won 183 of the 250 seats, the rest going to the non-Baathist groups or independents. In the 1984 election the Baathist share rose marginally to 188, but in the general election of 1989 it fell to 138, with non–Baathist NPPF groups and independents making gains. During the crisis leading to the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.] the NPPF was prominent in organizing pro–regime demonstrations. Its importance declined sharply after the war.
National Progressive Front (Syria): Syrian political alliance The National Progressive Front (NPF), formed in March 1972 on the ninth anniversary of the Baathist revolution, comprised the Baath Party [q.v.], the Communist Party [q.v.], the Arab Socialist Union (ASU), the Arab Socialist Movement (ASM), and the Organization of Socialist Unionists (OSU). Its 18–member leadership, headed by President Hafiz Assad [q.v.], included nine other Baathists and two members each from the four non–Baathist groups. The latter were given seats in the cabinet, but they were barred from enrolling members among students or military personnel. PNF policies were to be modeled along Baath congress resolutions. On such weighty matters as going to war with Israel in October 1973, Assad consulted leaders of the PNF as well as the Baath Regional Command.
PNF constituents were allowed to enter elections. In the 1986 general election the Baath Party won 129 of the 250 seats, the Communist Party 9, the three remaining parties of the NPF 57, the rest going to independents. The figures for the 1990 election were Baathists 134 seats, Communists 8, the ASU 8, the ASM 5, the OSU 7, and independents 84. In 1994 the Organization of Socialist Unionists split, with the breakaway faction calling itself Organization of Democratic Socialist Unionists (ODSU). It was allowed to join the PNF. In the 1994 election the Baath Party won less than half of the seats, with the PNF gaining a total of 167. In the 1998 parliamentary election, the result was Baath 135, Communists 8, the ASU 7, the ASM 6, OSU 7, and ODSU 4. Of the 169 seats garnered by the PNF in 2007, Baath won 134, Communists (both factions) 8, the ASU 8, the ASM 3, ODSU 4.
By the time the parliamentary election was conducted under an amended constitution in May 2012, the PNF's membership had increased to 10. Altogether it won 168 seats, with the rest going to the newly formed Popular Front for Change and Liberation (5 seats) and independents. Among the PNF's constituents, the Baath Party led with 134 seats followed by Socialist Unionists (18 seats).
National Progressive Unionist Party (Egypt): Egyptian political party (Official title: Hizb al-Tagammu al-Watani al-Taqadomi al– Wahdawi, commonly known as Tagammu [Arabic: rally]) When, in May 1976, the government allowed the political role of the Arab Socialist Union [q.v.] to be taken over by three tribunes, the leftist forum was represented by the National Progressive Unionist Party (NPUP). Consisting largely of Marxists and leftist Nasserists [q.v.], the NPUP was led by Khaled Mohieddin [q.v.]. In the parliamentary election of 1976 the NPUP won only two seats. This was in contrast to the large circulation of the party's weekly journal, Al–Ahali (Arabic: The Masses).
To silence the journal, which vehemently opposed the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty of March 1979 [q.v.], the government of President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] amended the law so that only a party with 10 parliamentary seats could publish a newspaper. In the subsequent elections the party failed to win a single seat because of the high threshold of 8 percent specified by the successive electoral laws. In the 1990 general election, held under changed electoral rules and boycotted by all the major opposition parties, the NPUP won 1.4 percent of the vote and two seats. At the next election in 1995 its strength rose to five, and then to six in 2000, when the party leadership claimed 160,000 members. After a dip to two seats in the 2005 election, the party's share of seats in the People's Assembly rose to five in the 2010 election.
Led by Muhammad Rifaat el Saeed, the party participated in the civil uprising against President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] in 2011.
National Reconciliation Charter, 1989 (Lebanon): The National Reconciliation Charter is the document adopted by the Lebanese lawmakers at their session in Taif, Saudi Arabia, in October 1989 to resolve the issues at the core of the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.]. The draft, prepared by the Arab League's [q.v.] troika (Algeria, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia) proposed parity in parliament between Christians [q.v.] and Muslims [q.v.]. It was debated by 62 deputies, accounting for all but nine of the surviving members, with their election dating back to 1972.
Despite the widely acknowledged fact that the demographic changes, caused by higher birth rates among Muslims and the increased emigration of Christians, had turned Muslims into a majority community, accounting for more than 60 percent of the population, Muslim lawmakers agreed to equal sharing of the 128 parliamentary seats between Christians and Muslims. They also consented to allow Christians to keep the presidency, albeit with reduced powers. All but four (Muslim) deputies voted for the final version of the charter.
By accepting the continued Syrian military presence in Lebanon for at least two years after the national unity government had agreed on constitutional reform, Christian deputies provided Syria with legitimacy—something it had lost with the expiry of the 1976 Arab League mandate in mid–1982—and conceded Syria's strategic concerns in Lebanon.
On 4 November, 58 deputies, forming four–fifths of the surviving members, and the speaker, met at the Qulayaat airstrip in northern Lebanon to ratify the charter, popularly called the Taif Accord. A national unity government was then formed to implement it. By the end of 1989 most of the important foreign powers had declared their backing for it. Within the Christian camp, Gen. Michel Aoun [q.v.] rejected it, whereas most other Maronite [q.v.] leaders accepted it.
Its implementation started in August 1990. Of the 49 deputies participating in the voting, all but one opted to overhaul the 1926 constitution by altering three articles, specifically Articles 17, 52, and 53. Article 17, which stated that executive power should be vested in the president of the republic, was amended to read: "Executive power is assigned to the Council of Ministers." This council was to consist of an equal number of Muslim and Christian ministers. Article 53 formerly empowered the president to designate a prime minister for approval by parliament, and appoint or dismiss ministers. Now the president was required to consult the speaker and senior deputies before designating the prime minister, and the right to dismiss ministers became the prerogative of the cabinet. Likewise, Article 52, which authorized the president to negotiate and ratify international treaties, was amended to require the president to secure the consent of the prime minister and the approval of the cabinet before an international treaty could become operative. Overall, the agreed reform favored the cabinet, which emerged with greater power than the president, but, crucially, a two–thirds majority was required for cabinet decisions.
The civil war ended in October 1990. To implement the next stage of the charter, a second national unity government was formed in late December 1990. Its main task was to effect the administrative decentralization stipulated by the charter.
National Religious Party (Israel): Israeli political party Known by its Hebrew acronym, Mafdal [q.v.], Miflaga Datid Leumit, the National Religious Party (NRP) was formed in 1956 by the merger of Mizrahi [q.v.] and Poale HaMizrahi [q.v.]. In the general elections of 1959, 1961, 1965, and 1969, the NRP won 11 to 12 seats and joined Mapai [q.v.] or Labor [q.v.] to form a coalition government, and to run the education, religious affairs, and interior ministries.
Following the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], the NRP's commitment to creating the Eretz Yisrael [q.v.] of biblical times strengthened the hand of Labor hard–liners and stiffened official policies toward the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.]. The NRP spawned Gush Emunim [q.v.] with a program to colonize the Occupied Arab Territories, and ensured that no action was taken against Gush settlers.
After the December 1973 election, when it obtained 10 seats, as a precondition for joining a Labor–led coalition government of Golda Meir [q.v.], the NRP demanded that the Law of Return [q.v.] be amended to exclude non–Orthodox [q.v.] converts to Judaism [q.v.]. When Meir rejected its demand, it stayed out of the government. However, it joined the next administration led by Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.] in October 1974.
Winning 12 seats in the 1977 election, NRP became part of the Likud–led [q.v.] coalition government. A split in the party halved its Knesset [q.v.] strength to six in the 1981 election. In the three subsequent general elections its presence in the Knesset fluctuated between four and six. It opposed the 1993 Oslo Accords [q.v.].
In the 1996 election it secured nine seats, and joined the coalition government led by Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.]. The party's strength declined to five in the 1999 election. It joined the administration of Ehud Barak [q.v.]. And it was also part of the national unity government formed by Ariel Sharon [q.v.] in 2001. In the post–1977 cabinets, it continued to hold the education ministry.
The next election in 2003 saw the party raise its total to six. Weakened by a split caused in the party by Sharon's decision to withdraw the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip [q.v.], it formed an alliance with the National Union [q.v.] to participate in the 2006 parliamentary election. Its share of the Knesset seats won fell to two. The joint list of the NRP–National Union secured six seats in the 2009 election, divided equally between the two constituents. The NRP continues to publish a daily newspaper, Hazofeh.
National Resistance Council of Iran: Iranian political alliance After their escape from Iran by air to Paris in July 1981 Abol Hassan Bani–Sadr [q.v.] and Masoud Rajavi [q.v.], head of the Mujahedin–e Khalq (MEK) [q.v.], formed the National Resistance Council of Iran (NRCI) to violently oppose the Islamic regime of Iran. The NRCI claimed responsibility for the bomb explosion in Tehran [q.v.] on 30 August that killed President Muhammad Ali Rajai [q.v.] and Premier Muhammad Javad Bahonar. Three months later it won the affiliation of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran [q.v.] and the Komala-e Jian–e Kordestan [q.v.].
Among its constituents, the MEK was the most active in the Persianspeaking heartland of Iran. In August 1983 it claimed that during its two years of existence it had killed 2,800 Islamic officials and revolutionary guards in hundreds of offensive and defensive operations.
With the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.] dragging on, the NRCI concentrated on this issue, advocating an immediate cease–fire and blaming Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.] for continuing the conflict in order to divert public attention away from the worsening domestic problems. Rajavi's public meeting with the Iraqi vice premier, Tariq Aziz [q.v.], in Paris in January 1983 angered Bani-Sadr, who considered Iraq an enemy country. When efforts to patch up their differences failed, Bani–Sadr quit the NRCI in early 1984.
When Rajavi moved the MEK's headquarters moved to Baghdad [q.v.] in 1986, the Iraqi capital became the center of NRCI activities as well. Washington's ban on the MEK in 1997 did not extend to the NRCI. And even when the ban was imposed in the wake of the terrorists attacks on the United States in September 2001, it was not applied in practice. Indeed, the NCRI, maintaining an office in Washington, periodically called for the lifting of the ban on the MEK with advertisements in American newspapers, endorsed by many members of the House of Representatives.
By informing the U.S. administration of Iran's clandestine uranium enrichment facilities in Natanz in 2002, it won some goodwill. But U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called the organization's American affiliate a terrorist front of the MEK. In August 2003 the Federal Bureau of Investigation closed the Washington office of NRCI.
During that month Masoud Rajavi's wife, Mariam, based in a suburb of Paris, was elected president of the NCRI. It has remained active in Europe, holding rallies and collecting funds.
National Union: Israeli political bloc (Official title: Hebrew, Halchund HaLeumi). Israel Beitainu [q.v.] and Moledet [q.v.] combined in 2001 to form the National Union on the common platform of their opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state, and their advocacy of "transfer" of the Palestinians [q.v.] from the Occupied Palestinian Territories [q.v.] and total Israeli jurisdiction over all of Jerusalem [q.v.]. In the 2003 Knesset [q.v.] election, it won seven seats, with four for Israel Beitainu [q.v.] and the rest for Moledet. By allying with the National Religious Party [q.v.] in the 2006 general election, it managed to gain four seats. In the 2009 Knesset election, that number declined to three while the alliance with the NRP remained intact.
National Unity Front (Qatar): Qatari political party The National Unity Front (NUF) was formed in 1963 to channel the discontent Qatari citizens felt at the squandering of oil wealth by the ruling al–Thani clan [q.v.], coupled with its tight grip over political and economic power. The NUF organized a series of anti-government demonstrations to demand a proper state budget, a representative council, and curbs on the unlimited prerogatives of the al-Thanis. The ruler, Shaikh Ahmad bin Ali al–Thani [q.v.], combined his repression of the NUF with the appointment in 1964 of an advisory council with authority to issue laws and decrees concerning basic state policy. The Front fizzled out.
natural gas: Natural gas is a mixture of several hydrocarbons and such inert gases as nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Among the hydrocarbons, methane (CH4), a colorless, odorless gas, accounts for at least three–quarters of natural gas by volume, the other hydrocarbons being ethane, butane, and propane. Natural gas is found in two forms: on its own, called unassociated, or along with petroleum [q.v.], called associated. The associated gas exists partly as a cap above an oil reservoir and partly dissolved into it. In the newly exploited oilfields the presence of gas under pressure pushes the oil to the surface. The associated gas produced with petroleum is either used as fuel, or re–injected into a well to bring oil to surface, or burnt. The natural gas that is piped to domestic or industrial outlets is pure methane.
Navon, Yitzhak (1921–): Israeli politician; president, 1978—83 Born into a long–settled Sephardic Jewish [q.v.] family in Jerusalem [q.v.], Navon was fluent in Arabic [q.v.]. He became active in the Zionist movement [q.v.] in his youth. He enrolled with Haganah [q.v.] in the early 1940s and worked for its intelligence section. On the founding of Israel he joined its foreign service. After serving briefly as a diplomat in Argentina, he served as political secretary to foreign minister Moshe Sharett [q.v.]. From 1952 to 1963 he worked as secretary to Prime Minister David Ben–Gurion [q.v.] and became quite influential.
He joined the breakaway Rafi group formed by Ben–Gurion in 1965 and was elected to the Knesset [q.v.] in that year. During his 13 years in parliament he became deputy speaker (1966–73) and chairman of the foreign affairs and defense committee (1974–77). In 1978 he was elected president by a parliament in which the right wing had the majority. He returned to the Knesset on the Labor [q.v.] list in 1984, and became deputy premier and minister of culture and education. Reelected in 1988, he resumed his earlier posts and held them until 1990. He retained his seat in Knesset until 1992, when he retired from politics.
Among politicians he stood out as the only one who wrote two successful musicals, which were performed by the national theater in Tel Aviv [q.v.].
Nawruz (Kurdish/Persian: New Day): It is the first day of the Iranian solar calendar [q.v.] and falls on the spring equinox. It is celebrated by Iranians, Kurds [q.v.], and Zoroastrians [q.v.].
Nazareth: Israeli town Population: 82,200, of which Christians [q.v.] 25,500, and Muslims [q.v.] 56,700 (2009 est.). The New Testament [q.v.] makes several mentions of Nazareth, a Jewish settlement, as the home town of Joseph and a place associated with the childhood of Jesus. It became a center of Christian pilgrimage after Roman Emperor Constantine (30637 A.D.) had adopted Christianity [q.v.] as the state religion in 313 A.D. and built a church there.
Nazareth was one of the most prized towns during the Crusades. Having captured it in 1099, the Crusaders turned it into a leading ecclesiastical center. But once Salah al–Din (Saladin) Ayubi (r. 1169–1193) had defeated the Crusaders in 1187, Christian influence declined rapidly.
Following their conquest of Palestine [q.v.] in 1517, the Ottomans expelled the Christians from the town. This policy was reversed when Emir Fakhr al–Din Maan (r. 1591–1633) extended his Vilayat of Lebanon to Lower Galilee. Following his permission to Christians to return to Nazareth, Franciscan monks resettled the old Crusader foundation in 1620 and constructed a church in 1730, which in 1909 was replaced by a basilica, the Roman Catholic Church [q.v. ] of the Annunciation. It contains the Grotto of the Annunciation where, according to the New Testament [q.v.], Archangel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary to announce that she was to be the mother of Jesus.
Among the two dozen religious premises and monasteries are St. Mary's Well, the Church of Joseph on the site of Joseph's carpentry shop, the Synagogue–Church on the site of the synagogue [q.v.] where Jesus preached, and the Mensa Christi (Latin: Table of Christ) Church where Jesus reputedly dined with the Apostles after his resurrection.
Included in the Arab [q.v.] sector by the UN partition plan of 1947, Nazareth fell to Zionist [q.v.] forces in 1948. It is now the largest Arab town in Israel, and an important market and trading center. In the first popular election for mayor in 1973, Tawfiq Zayyad, belonging to the Rakah [q.v.] Communist party, was elected with a large majority, and administered the town with the Communist–dominated local council. He was reelected four years later as a leader of Hadash [q.v.] repeatedly until his death in 1994. After that his deputy Ramiz Jaraisy, a Greek Orthodox [q.v.] Christian and a Hadash member, has been the mayor.
Near East: The term Near East was coined by Western geographers to distinguish it from the Middle East (running from the Persian Gulf [q.v.] to Southeast Asia) and the Far East (the region facing the Pacific Ocean). Extending from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf, the Near East virtually coincided with the Ottoman Empire. But when the British government prefaced its military command in Egypt with the Middle East during World War II (1939–45), the nomenclature became confused. Since then the term Near East has disappeared in common parlance, although the foreign ministries of a few Western governments, chiefly the United States, continue to use it in the pre–World War II context.
Neguib, Muhammad (1901–84): Egyptian military leader and politician; prime minister 1952–53, president 1953–54 Born to an Egyptian military officer and his wife in Khartoum, Sudan, Neigub graduated from the Royal Military Academy in Cairo [q.v.]. As an army officer he rose steadily in rank, and was a brigadier in 1948 when Egypt participated in the Palestine War [q.v.]. Promoted to brigadier–general in 1950, he became commander of the ground forces the following year.
Through his operations officer, Abdul Hakim Amer, he was in touch with the Free Officers Organization. He accepted its offer to head the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) after the July 1952 coup. He also became commander in chief of the armed forces. When the civilian government resigned in September, the RCC appointed him the prime minister and defense minister. Following the declaration of the republic in June 1953, the RCC confirmed him as the prime minister and appointed him president, but relieved him of his top military office.
His differences with Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.], the real leader of the RCC and the republic, came to the fore in February 1954 when the RCC banned the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] without consulting him. His resignation as president and premier created a crisis when the two rivals mobilized different military units. A compromise in April allowed Neguib to retain the presidency, albeit with diminished powers, but give up the premiership. This lasted until November when the RCC dismissed him as president and put him under house arrest. He was freed in 1971 after the death of Nasser. He backed Anwar Sadat [q.v.], but did not reenter public life.
Neo–Wafd Party: Egyptian political party The Neo-Wafd Party was established by Fuad Serag al–Din, a veteran of the Wafd Party [q.v.], in early 1978 when he won the loyalty of 22 parliamentarians, thus meeting the legal requirement for new political groups. The party, which was committed to secularism, private enterprise, and close ties with the United States, proved particularly attractive to Copts [q.v.]. But when parliament, guided by President Anwar Sadat [q.v.], passed a law specifying various penalties for those who inter alia had a record of belonging to "the corrupt elements before or after the 1952 revolution," the Neo–Wafd leadership disbanded the party in September 1978.
Serag al–Din was one of the opposition leaders to be rounded up by Sadat three years later. President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] reversed Sadat's policy, and the Neo–Wafd reemerged in August 1983. In the 1984 general election it allied with the (unlicensed) Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.], arguing that both parties had been suppressed by President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.]. However, it adopted only 18 of the candidates the Brotherhood offered. Of the 58 Neo–Wafd deputies, only eight belonged to the Brotherhood.
In the 1987 election the Neo-Wafd, running on its own, managed to cross the 8 percent threshold fixed by the electoral law and won 36 seats. Along with other major opposition groups, it boycotted the 1990 election, protesting against the continuing state of emergency and demanding supervision of the election by a non-governmental body. In the 1995 election, it won six seats, followed by seven in 2000. After the death of Serag al–Din during that year, Numan Jumaah became the party leader. In the 2005 general election it secured six seats on a popular vote of 1.3 percent.
Following the fall of Mubarak in February 2011, the New Wafd entered the parliamentary elections held between November 2011 and January under the leadership of El Sayyid el-Badawi Shehata, and won 42 seats on a popular vote of 9 percent. In the subsequent elections to the 180–member Consultative (Shura) Council, it gained 14 seats.
Nestorian Christians: Christian sect The Nestorian Church is based on the theology of Nestorius (d. ca 451 A.D.), patriarch of Constantinople, who asserted that there were two separate persons in Christ—human and divine—morally united through the cooperation of their two wills. This contradicted the orthodox doctrine that the human and divine natures of Christ were inseparably joined in one person and partook of one divine substance—a doctrine reaffirmed by the Councils of Ephesus in 431 A.D., Chalcedon in 451 A.D., and Constantinople in 553 A.D. Only the Persian Church remained faithful to Nestori–anism and emerged as the Nestorian Church. The invasion of the region by Tamerlane (d. 1405) virtually destroyed the church, leaving a few pockets of followers in Iran and Iraq. When a section of Nestorians reunited with the Roman Catholic Church [q.v.] in 1551, their church was called Chaldean/Chaldean Catholic [q.v.]/East Syriac [q.v.]. The rest of the community then became known as Assyrian Christians [q.v.].
Netanyahu, Benjamin (1950–): Israeli politician, prime minister 1996–99 Born into the household of Bentzion Netanyahu, a right–wing academic, Netanyahu left for the United States when his father got a teaching job there in 1964. He returned to Israel three years later to do his military service and became a commander in an elite commando force, then returned to America to resume his university education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. He obtained a master's degree in business administration in 1976. He worked in the United States for three years, and then became a furniture sales executive in Israel (1980–82).
In 1982 Moshe Arens, Israel's ambassador to the U.S., hired him as political counselor. Later he served as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations until 1984. On his return to Israel, he became a full–time director of the Jonathan Institute, which specialized in study of terrorism.
Elected to the Knesset [q.v.] on the Likud [q.v.] list in 1988, he became deputy foreign minister (1988–91). He then served as deputy minister in Prime Minster Yitzhak Shamir's [q.v.] office (1991–92). He was reelected to parliament in 1992. Generously assisted by the expertise and funds of his American Jewish friends, he won the contest for the Likud's leadership in 1993. He opposed the Oslo Accords [q.v.].
In the 1996 prime ministerial contest, he defeated his rival Shimon Peres by one percent of the vote. His coalition government had the backing of 62 of the 120 members of the Knesset. By refusing to implement the previous government's agreement on troops withdrawal from the Occupied Territories [q.v.], and by pursuing such hard–line policies as authorizing the construction of a highly controversial Jewish settlement at Har Homa/Jabal abu Ghnaim on the outskirts of Jerusalem [q.v.], Netanyahu severely impaired the Oslo Accords, much to the disapproval and frustration of the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton (r. 1993–2001).
Following his signing of the Wye River Memorandum [q.v.], which required Israel to withdraw from 13 percent of the West Bank [q.v.], Netanyahu lost the support of the ultraright–wing factions in the Knesset. This resulted in the downfall of his government. In the May 1999 prime ministerial contest he lost to Ehud Barak [q.v.] by a plurality of 56–44 percent. He resigned as the Likud leader and a member of the Knesset, and did a lecture tour of the Unites States.
He served in the Ariel Sharon [q.v.] cabinet, first as foreign minister and then as finance minister. He quit the government on the eve of Israel's military withdrawal from Gaza [q.v.] in September 2005. Later that year, following Sharon's defection from the Likud, he was elected its head. Under his leadership Likud's score in the Knesset election of 2006 fell to 12, a record low. Yet the next year he managed to retain its leadership in the party's elections. In the 2009 general election, the Likud emerged as the second–largest, one member short of Kadima [q.v.]. Whereas Kadima leader failed to form a viable coalition to govern Israel, he succeeded in cobbling together right- and ultraright–wing factions to win a majority in the Knesset, and became the prime minister in March.
Netanyahu said that he would accept a Palestinian state only if the Palestinians recognized Israel as the Jewish national state with undivided Jerusalem as its capital; agreed to have a state that would be demilitarized, possessing neither an army nor rockets and missiles nor the control of its airspace; and gave up the right of return for the Palestinian refugees to the areas within Israel.
He defied the demand of the newly elected U.S. President Barrack Obama (r. 2009–) for a complete freeze of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories [q.v.], as required in the 2003 Road Map peace proposal of the Quartet on the Middle East [q.v.], consisting of the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and Russia. His government went on to sanction enough new housing units in the occupied territories to cover the next 10 months and then declared a temporary moratorium on further building for that period.
Given this, Palestinian Authority [q.v.] President Mahmoud Abbas refused to engage in any peace talks with Netanyahu, insisting that a complete freeze on Jewish settlements was a precondition to resuming peace negotiations. His stance was backed by the Arab League [q.v.]. Defying Washington's pressure, Netanyahu refused to extend the moratorium on Jewish settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem [q.v.]. Peace talks with the Palestinians ceased.
By urging Obama during the January-February 2011 pro–democracy demonstrations in Egypt not to press Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] to step down, Netanyahu came out on the same side as King Abdullah [q.v.] of Saudi Arabia. In November he described Obama and other Western leaders as "naive" for backing the Arab Spring [q.v.], which, in his view, was "Islamic, anti-Western, antiliberal, anti-Israeli and anti-democratic." Describing the transition to democracy in Tunisia and Egypt as "period of instability and uncertainty in the region," he ruled out any concessions to the Palestinians. By then he had succeeded in diverting Obama's attention away from the resolution of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and making the issue of Iran's nuclear program Washington's top priority in the region.
Neturei Karta (Aramaic: Guardians of the [Holy] City): an ultra–Orthodox Jewish sect in Israel The name Neturei Karta is derived from an allusion in the Talmud [q.v.] to students of the Torah [q.v.] as "guardians of the [holy] city." The group emerged in Palestine [q.v.] in 1935 following a split in Agudat Israel [q.v.] when it compromised its Poland-based parent body's policy of non–cooperation with the (World) Zionist Organization [q.v. ]. Ten years later Neturei Karta and its sympathizers won a majority on the committee representing the Ashkenazi [q.v.] community of Jerusalem [q.v.].
During the run–up to the founding of Israel in 1948, Neturei Karta opposed the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine on the ground that such a state would not be founded exclusively on Jewish law and tradition, and that the return to Zion [q.v.] of the diaspora [q.v.] Jews could not be taken in isolation from their redemption by the awaited messiah [q.v.], who was charged with establishing a Jewish state and whose time had not yet come. During the 1948–49 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] it called for the internationalization of Jerusalem. Later it became the most–known Jewish organization in Israel to refuse to recognize the Zionist [q.v.] state.
In 1980 the sect had about 6,000 members, living mainly in the Mea Shearim district of Jerusalem and the Bene Brak suburb of Tel Aviv [q.v.]. Periodically its adherents resort to stoning cars that pass near their neighborhoods on the Sabbath [q.v.].
After the split in the sect, the larger faction was headed by Rabbi Reuven Katznellenbogen, and the smaller one by his son-in-law Rabbi Moshe Hirsch in Jerusalem. The Hirsch-led group holds that the Orthodox Jews can and should live as a minority in an independent Palestinian–dominated state. Hirsch was appointed to the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] in 1994 to deal with the Jewish affairs of the Occupied Territories [q.v.]. He and other members of his faction attended Arafat's funeral in Ramallah [q.v.] in 2004. After his death in 2010, his son Israel–Meir Hirsch became the leader of the faction.
New Testament: See Bible.
Nile River: Length 4,150 mi./6,680 km from its remotest headstream to the Mediterranean, including 1,875 mi./3,020 km of the Nile proper, formed by the junction of the Blue Nile and the White Nile at Khartoum, Sudan. The world's longest river, the Nile rises in the highlands south of the equator, flows through northeast Africa into the Mediterranean Sea and drains 1,294,000 sq. mi./3,351,000 sq. km. Between Khartoum and Aswan the Nile falls 935 ft./285 m in a series of six rapids. Flooding is caused by the Blue Nile being fed by heavy monsoon rains in Ethiopia. Efforts to tame the Nile go back six millennia. The building of several barrages and waterworks by the late 19th century made perennial irrigation possible. The Aswan Dam was completed in 1902, and the Aswan High Dam [q.v.] in 1971. After Cairo [q.v.], the Nile waters enter the delta, dividing chiefly between the Damietta and Rosetta channels. The river is an important means of transportation.
Noble Sanctuary: Islamic site in Jerusalem (called Haram al–Sharif by Arabs [q.v.], Har HaBayit [Hebrew: The Mountain Home] by Jews [q.v.], and Temple Mount in the Englishspeaking world) Built on Mount Moriah in the Old City of Jerusalem [q.v.], the Noble Sanctuary—which houses the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque (The Distant Mosque) and measures 35 acres/0.14 sq. km— takes up about a third of the Muslim Quarter, which occupies nearly two–fifths of the historic Old City. It was from this spot that, having arrived there in the course of his night journey by a winged animal, and having prayed at the Rock of Foundation, the Prophet Muhammad, guided by Archangel Gabriel, ascended into the heavens by a ladder of light, where (it is believed) he received Allah's injunction on the prayers his followers were to perform.
The rock that the Dome of the Rock protects is the Rock of Foundation (of the world) of the Jewish legend, the Jewish temple's inner sanctum. The octagonal shape of the building surmounted by a dome—that is, a circle within an octagon—modeled on the then–existing Church of Resurrection (later renamed the Church of the Holy Sepulcher), was symbolic in ancient times of the center of the world. Thus the Dome of the Rock is a synthesis in form and content of Judaism [q.v.], Christianity [q.v.], and Islam [q.v.]. It was built in 691 A.D. by Abdul Malik bin Marwan (r. 684–705 A.D.), an Umayyad ruler based in Damascus [q.v.]. During the Crusaders' rule (1099–1187), it was reconverted into a church and renamed the Temple of the Lord.
Al Aqsa is a plainer, traditionally built mosque. It has prayer niches dedicated to Moses and Jesus. An arson attack on it by Michael Rohan, an Australian fundamentalist Christian [q.v.], in August 1969, shocked the Muslim world and led inter alia to the founding of the Islamic Conference Organization [q.v.].
Following the annexation of East Jerusalem [q.v.] by Jordan, the Jordanian monarch acquired the custody of the Noble Sanctuary in 1950. When Israel occupied East Jerusalem in June 1967 it accepted the Jordanian custodianship. This was confirmed by the Jordanian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.], which was signed in October 1994 and hotly disputed by the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.]. The future of the Noble Sanctuary proved to be main stumbling block in the Israeli–PLO final settlement talks in July 2000 at Camp David in Maryland. And it was the controversial tour of the Nobel Sanctuary by Ariel Sharon [q.v.], guarded by hundreds of Israeli policemen, that set off the Al Aqsa intifada [q.v.] in September.
Non–Conventional weapons (Arab Middle East, Iran and Israel): See each individual country's military: non–conventional weapons.
North Yemen: (Official title: Yemen Arab Republic) See Yemen: history.
North Yemeni Civil War (1962–70): Following the overthrow of Imam Muhammad al–Badr [q.v.] by pan–Arabist [q.v.] military officers in September 1962, Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] agreed to help the republican side, which had only 6,000 troops. In January 1963 the Saudi White Guard, later renamed the National Guard [q.v.], moved to the North Yemen border at Jizan and Najran to help al–Badr. This led to fighting between Saudi and Egyptian forces.
Initially the Zayidi [q.v.] tribesmen, inhabiting the northern region bordering Saudi Arabia, supported al-Badr. But in the absence of a strong central authority, tribal leaders such as Shaikh Naji al-Ghadr of the Bakil tribal confederation, commanding a private army of 12,000, and Shaikh Abdullah al–Ahmar [q.v.], head of the Hashid tribal confederation, found it more profitable to distance themselves from the conflict or offer their services to the highest bidder. By August 1965 the royalists had regained about half of North Yemen.
After inviting the republican president, Abdullah Sallal [q.v.], to Cairo [q.v.], and placing him under house arrest, Nasser met King Faisal in Jeddah [q.v.]. Talks between them went on for about a year, but ended in failure. Meanwhile Abdul Rahman al–Iryani [q.v.], a conservative member of the Republican Council, had managed to neutralize the tribal leaders. Though Sallal returned to Sanaa [q.v.] and resumed his office, his position was weakened when, following the Egyptian debacle in the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], Nasser agreed with the Saudi king to pull out his troops from North Yemen by December.
When al–Iryani replaced Sallal in November 1967, the political hue of the republican regime changed. The royalists made a bid to capture Sanaa [q.v.], but the republicans, assisted by the tribes and the leftists, ended the siege in February 1968. The tribal forces then attacked the leftists. The subsequent ascendancy of conservatives in the republican regime made it acceptable to more and more tribal fighters.
By early 1969 Riyadh had ceased to back al-Badr militarily. In March 1970 President al–Iryani reached an agreement with Riyadh whereby Saudi subsidies to the royalists were stopped. Once the Saudis were reassured that a republican regime in Sanaa, dependent for its financial survival on them, would be no threat, they formally recognized it. A coalition government, including royalist ministers, was formed, and the Consultative Council of 45 was expanded by 18 nominees, all of them royalists.
The eight–year conflict caused an estimated 200,000 deaths.
North Yemeni–Soviet Friendship Treaty (1984) It was signed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.] and Konstantin Chernenko, general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Moscow.
Al Nour Party (Egypt): Political party (Official title: Hizb al–Nour [Arabic: The Party of Light]) It is the political wing of the Call of the Salafiya (Arabic: al-Daawa al–Salafiya) movement that originated in Alexandria [q.v.] in 1977 when many Islamist students at Alexandria University came under the influence of the Salafi [q.v.] ideology blended with the core elements of the Wahhabi doctrine [q.v.]. Their leader was Muhammad Abdul Fattah.
By shunning politics, and focusing on providing social welfare to the needy through orphanages and health clinics, funded by the group's zakat [q.v.] committees, the adherents of the Salafiya Call grew roots in the community by the mid–1980s, aided by their magazine, Sawt al–Daawa (Arabic: Voice of the Call). The group achieved this despite the periodic arrests of its leaders and the banning of its publication by the government of President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.].
During the pro-democracy protest in January-February 2011, Salafiya Call leaders actively discouraged their followers from joining the pro–democracy demonstrations in order not to raise alarm in Washington. Nonetheless, Salafiya Call activists joined the popular committees formed to maintain security in neighborhoods throughout Egypt following the nationwide withdrawal of police forces on 28 January.
After the fall of Mubarak on 11 February 2011, the Salafiya Call leadership established Al Nour Party in May with Emad Abdel Ghaffour as its chairman. It was recognized as a legal entity a month later. It aimed to reform Muslim lives according to the Quran [q.v.] and the Sunna [q.v.], and run a modern state based on Islamic ethics. It wanted strict application of the Sharia [q.v.], such as implementing Islamic punishments known as Hudud [q.v.]. It believed in private property and free market economy so long as it did not harm public interest. It was committed to granting freedoms and rights to citizens according to the Sharia. Within that framework it was willing to abandon its earlier demand for an Islamic state in favor of a civil state, and allow Copts [q.v.] to have their separate personal status laws and their freedom of religion.
The party sought amendments to the 1979 peace treaty with Israel to secure full Egyptian rights in the Sinai Peninsula [q.v.] as well as self–determination for the Palestinians. This would be the preamble to normalization of relations with Israel which was to be ruled out as long as Israel occupied Arab lands and imposed a siege on the Palestinians.
Al Nour joined the Democratic Alliance [q.v.] headed by the Freedom and Justice Party [q.v.], but withdrew in November to coalesce with Hizb Al–Asala (Arabic: Originality Party) and the Construction and Development Party set up by the Gamaat al–Islamiya [q.v.]. In the parliamentary elections of 2011–2012 it won 113 seats out of the total of 127 for the Islamist Bloc [q.v.] on a popular vote or 28 percent, with 10 seats going to the Construction and Development Party and three to the Al Asla Party. In the Consultative (Shura) Council, the Al Nour Party–led Islamist Bloc gained 45 seats on a popular vote of 29 percent. As local preachers, many Al Nour politicians were close to their rural constituents, nursing populist resentments of poor villagers toward the urban elite.
Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, the party's candidate for president, was disqualified by the Election Commission because he did not meet the legal requirement that both parents of a candidate had to be Egyptian citizens, since his dead mother had acquired American citizenship. Al Nour leaders then backed Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who lost.
Nuclear weapons (Arab Middle East, Iran, and Israel): See each individual country's military: non–conventional weapons.
Nusairis: See Alawis.
O
Occupied Arab Territories (1967): During the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], Israel occupied the following Arab territories: Egypt's Sinai Peninsula [q.v.]; the Gaza Strip [q.v.], which had been administered by Egypt since 1949; the West Bank [q.v.], including East Jerusalem [q.v.], which had been annexed by Jordan in 1950; and Syria's Golan Heights [q.v.]. The annexation by Israel of East Jerusalem in late June 1967 and of the Golan Heights in December 1981 was not formally recognized by any foreign government or the United Nations. The UN Security Council Resolution 242 [q.v.], adopted in November 1967, demanded "withdrawal of Israel's armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict."
After its peace treaty with Egypt in March 1979, Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in three stages, ending in April 1982. Having accepted the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] as the sole representatives of the Palestinians in November 1974, King Hussein [q.v.] of Jordan severed all legal and administrative ties with the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in July 1988. The Israeli–PLO Accord of September 1993 [q.v.] involved interim Palestinian self–rule in Gaza and the West Bank town of Jericho [q.v.], followed by an extension of autonomy to other parts of the West Bank, and negotiations on the future of East Jerusalem and the final settlement. In 1994 the Israeli-Syrian talks centered around Syria's insistence on Israel's acceptance of full withdrawal from the Golan Heights on the model of the 1979 Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.]. In 2005, Israel withdrew its forces from the Gaza Strip but maintained control over its airspace and shoreline. In May 2008 indirect negotiations between Israel and Syria started in Istanbul with the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo–gan acting as the mediator. The two sides came very close to a peace agreement but with the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [q.v.] in March 2009 over corruption charges, the deal was not finalized. The issue remained unresolved.
Occupied Territories (1967): The term Occupied Territories refers to those areas of Palestine [q.v.] under British Mandate that were occupied by Israel in the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.]—that is, the West Bank [q.v.], including East Jerusalem [q.v.] and the Gaza Strip [q.v.]. With Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in September 2005, the term applied to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In 2008, it was estimated that about one–fifth of all Palestinian male adults had at one time been jailed for offering resistance against the Israeli occupation since 1967.
October 1973 Arab–Israeli War: See Arab–Israeli War IV (1973).
oil: In its geological context "oil" is a shortened version of crude oil, or more appropriately petroleum [q.v. ]. A mixture of hydrocarbons found underground in a gaseous or liquid state, the term oil is applied to the liquid form. It is often greenish or dark brown, and sometimes black. Archaeological excavations in Iraq and Iran indicate that oil in the form of bitumen was used for building roads and for coating the hulls of ships and walls. In more modern times petroleum replaced whale oil in lamps as an illuminating fuel. Its mining involves prospecting, drilling, and extraction. The first commercial drilling for petroleum occurred in 1848 near Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. It was not until 1859 that oil was struck first in the United States, the site being Titusville, Pennsylvania. In the Middle East [q.v.] the first commercial drilling for petroleum took place in 1908 at Masjid–e Suleiman, Iran [q.v.].
After extraction, often called recovery, oil is refined by distillation, which separates it into fractions of varying volatility. These are put through chemical conversion processes, known as cracking and reforming, to produce a variety of end products: asphalt, cleaning agents, explosives, fertilizers, fibers, gasoline/petrol, jellies, jet fuel, paraffin/kerosene, medicines, naptha, paints, plastics, synthetic rubber, and waxes. Carbon accounts for 82–87 percent of the weight of crude oil, and hydrogen 12–15 percent. Of the three series of compounds contained in oil, the paraffin series is the most extensive, ranging from methane gas to petrol/gasoline to waxes; followed by the naphthene series, yielding volatile liquids to tarry bitumen; and the aromatic series, yielding mainly benzene.
The arrival of the motor car, run on gasoline, at the turn of the 20th century provided the single most important incentive to develop the oil industry. The introduction of a tank powered by an internal combustion engine in 1916 during World War I elevated petroleum to an essential element in modern warfare.
Oil and gas embargoes (1956, 1967, and 1973–74): Oil embargoes were imposed by the Arab petroleum–exporting countries in 1956, 1967, and 1973–74 against Western states that directly aided Israel in its war with Arab adversaries.
During the Suez War [q.v.] of 1956, when Britain, France, and Israel attacked Egypt, the oil workers in Syria blew up the pumping stations along the pipeline carrying petroleum from Iraq to the Mediterranean ports of Banias, Syria, and Tripoli, Lebanon. Popular pressure led the Saudi king, Saud bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.], to embargo oil supplies to Britain and France.
The scale and speed of Israeli attacks on the Egyptian, Syrian, and Jordanian air bases in early June 1967 led Cairo and Amman to accuse Washington and London of direct participation in the Arab-Israeli conflict. An emergency meeting of the Arab petroleum–exporting countries in Baghdad [q.v.] decided to cut off oil supplies to the United States, Britain, and West Germany, but not France, which had condemned the Israeli action. The boycott lasted until the end of August 1967. It led to the formation in January 1968 of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) [q.v.].
During the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], OAPEC oil ministers met in Kuwait [q.v.] on 16 October. The next day, reacting to U.S. President Richard Nixon's decision to airlift weapons to Israel on a massive scale, OAPEC members decided that "all Arab oil exporting countries shall forthwith cut production by no less than 5 percent of the September production, and maintain the same rate of reduction each month until the Israeli forces are fully withdrawn from all Arab territories occupied during the [June] 1967 [Arab–Israeli] War [q.v.], and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people are restored." They categorized the consumer countries as friendly, neutral, or hostile to the Arab cause, with the friendly nations to be supplied at the September level, the neutrals at a reduced level, and the hostile ones not at all. They also confirmed the steep price rise decided earlier by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.]. Saudi Arabia ordered a 25 percent cut in its output, then running at 8 million barrels a day, but Iraq ignored the OAPEC decision.
Unlike the June 1967 embargo, this one hurt the United States—partly because it was applied during autumn and winter when demand for heating oil was high, and partly because the U.S. had become more dependent on Arab oil than before. The OAPEC move reduced the annual U.S. gross domestic product by $10–20 billion.
The resolve of OAPEC members, especially of Saudi Arabia, began to falter. Aware of the staunchly antiCommunist views of the Saudi monarch, Faisal bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.], Edward Heath, prime minister of Britain (which was not on the Arab oil boycott list), argued publicly in late December that any prolonged oil squeeze would, by weakening the West, strengthen Communism. It did not take long for President Anwar Sadat [q.v.], working in conjunction with U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, to convince Faisal to end the boycott. Faisal and Sadat then prevailed upon other members of OAPEC to end the five–month embargo on 18 March 1974 "as a token of Arab goodwill" to the West—even though the Israelis had not withdrawn from anywhere in the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.] and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people had not been restored.
Oil and gas industry in Bahrain: Oil reserves: 125 million barrels (2010), 0.1 percent of the world total; gas reserves: 200 billion cu m (2010), 0.1 percent of the world total.
In 1929 the Standard Oil Company of California combined with the Texas Company to form the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) and registered it in Canada, a British dominion. BAPCO commenced commercial production in 1932. Output rose from 19,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 1940 to 77,000 in 1970. It then declined, stabilizing around 42,000 bpd in the early 1990s. It then fell to 40,000 bpd in 2011, yet provided the island state with two–fifths of its annual revenue. At this rate the petroleum reserves were expected to last for about 10 years.
In 2002, the upstream Bahrain National Oil Company merged with BAPCO to form the Bahrain Petroleum Company. Three years later, the government replaced the Ministry of Oil with the National Oil and Gas Authority.
Its gas output of 13.1 billion cu m in 2010 was expected to last about 16 years.
Bahrain is a founder member of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries [q.v.].
Oil and gas industry in Egypt: Oil reserves: 4.50 billion barrels (2010), 0.3 percent of the world total; gas reserves: 2.20 trillion cu m (2010), 1.2 percent of the world total
Though oil was first struck in 1886 it was not extracted commercially until 1913. It was only after the 1952 revolution that the government tried seriously to develop the industry. The loss of oilfields in the Sinai [q.v.] to Israel in 1967 was compensated by fresh discoveries in the Gulf of Suez and the Western Desert.
Following the establishment of the oil ministry in 1973, exploration and extraction gained pace, with output reaching 420,000 barrels per day in 1977 and then stabilizing around 730,000 million barrels per day in 2009. At this production rate, Egypt's reserves will last another 17 years. Egypt, a founder member of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) [q.v.], was suspended from OAPEC in 1979 as a result of the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] but was readmitted a decade later.
Gas production, which began in 1974, reached 61.3 billon cu m a year in 2010. At this rate, Egypt's reserves will last 36 years.
Oil and gas industry in Iran: Oil reserves: 137.0 billion barrels (2010), 9.9 percent of the world total; gas reserves: 29.6 trillion cu m (2010), 15.8 percent of the world total.
Oil was found at Masjid-e Suleiman, southwest Iran, in 1908 by a British prospector, William Knox d'Arcy, and commercially mined four years later. His firm expanded to become the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC). With the British admiralty's decision in 1913 to switch from coal to oil, the importance of petroleum increased. To ensure supplies Britain acquired a controlling share in APOC, whose name was changed to the Anglo–Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) following the renaming of Persia as Iran in 1933, and then British Petroleum.
After the nationalization of the AIOC in 1951 and the founding of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in that year, the West boycotted Iran's oil, thus creating a crisis that culminated in a clash between nationalist Premier Muhammad Mus–sadiq [q.v.] and pro–Western Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] in August 1953, in which Mussadiq lost. On the advice of the United States, the shah kept the oil nationalization law on the statute books, but downgraded the role of the NIOC. It leased the rights to, and management of, Iranian oil in 1954 for the next 25 years to a Western consortium, with the following share–out: AIOC 40 percent; Royal Dutch Shell 14 percent; five major U.S. oil companies (Exxon, Gulf, Mobil, Socal, and Texaco) 8 percent each; and Compagnie Française des Petroles 6 percent. It was only in 1967 that NIOC was able to market 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) on its own.
Encouraged by the self–reliant policies advocated by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.], of which Iran was a founder member, the shah pressed the consortium to renegotiate the leasing agreement. In July 1973 the NIOC took over all the operations and ownership of the Western oil consortium. Buoyed by the rise in production at 6 million bpd in 1974, and the quadrupling of oil prices in 1973–74, the shah visualized Iran becoming the fifth most powerful nation in the world. In 1977 the oil revenue of $19.5 billion provided three–quarters of the government's annual income. The strike of oil workers in October 1978 (when oil production was at 5.3 million bpd and domestic consumption at about 800,000 bpd), played a crucial role in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty [q.v.]. The loss of Iran's supplies to the international oil market pushed the price from $13 to $20 a barrel. Therefore, with the resumption of exports at 3.2 million bpd in the spring of 1979, Iran earned more than it did with larger exports before the revolution of February 1979.
Article 81 of the 1979 constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran forbade "the granting of concessions to foreigners for the formation of companies or institutions dealing with commerce, industry, industry, agriculture, services, or mineral extraction."
With the Western economic boycott of Iran following the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in November 1979, there was disruption of the Iranian oil supplies into the market, resulting in another price rise. The outbreak of the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.] in September 1980, primarily in the Iranian oil province of Khuzistan, destabilized the market further, pushing the dollar price into the upper 30s in the spring of 1981. In the mid–1980s Iran's output fell to 1.4 million bpd, and then stagnated at 2.5 million bpd during the war.
Iran's chief oil terminal at Kharg Island became vulnerable to Iraqi air attacks. Iran survived by pumping oil at Kharg into its own tankers, which delivered the commodity to its customers at its offshore islands in the Lower Gulf [q.v.] outside the range of the Iraqi bombers.
The steep decline in the oil price from $28 to below $10 a barrel, caused by the flooding of the market by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during the spring of 1986, reduced Tehran's oil income from $13.1 billion in 1985 to $7.2 billion, earned by exporting 1.6 million bpd. This severely damaged its ability to conduct the war, which ended in August 1988.
The exigencies of the long running Iran–Iraq War [q.v.] compelled the government to seek foreign assistance to reverse the continuing degrading of its oil industry. The Petroleum Law of 1987 allowed agreements between the Ministry of Petroleum, state-owned companies, and local and foreign persons or legal entities. This opened the door for a variant of a production–sharing agreement (PSA). According to a PSA contract, a hydrocarbon corporation bears the cost of exploring and developing a field and is then allowed to extract enough oil and/or gas to recover the capital and operational costs it has incurred—after which it shares the production with the government. The share varies from 80 to 85 percent for the government and the rest for the company.
The variant that Iran used was called the Buy-Back Agreement (BBA), valid for 5 to 10 years; it is also known as a short–term service contract. The chief difference between the PSA and the BBA is that in the former case the foreign hydrocarbon corporation shares proprietary rights with the government, whereas in the latter case it merely receives an agreed fee in cash or kind from the state, nothing more. In return for the costs incurred by the foreign firm, it receives an agreed share of extracted oil—enough to give it a return of 10 to 15 percent on its investment—with the stipulation of handing over the operation of the oil field to the ministry of petroleum at the end of the contract. Initially, Tehran used BBAs only for offshore fields.
After the eight year war Iran increased its output steadily from 2.87 million bpd in 1989 to 3.62 million bpd in 1993, with exports around 2.5 million bpd and oil revenue at $14.5 billion. The government decided to give contracts to foreign petroleum corporations to develop off shore fields on the basis of production sharing agreements (PSAs).
In 1998, during the presidency of the reformist Muhammad Khatami [q.v.], the parliament approved the government's plan to open up much of the hydrocarbon sector, including onshore fields, to foreign companies on the basis of production sharing agreements. The increased foreign participation involved energy corporations from Brazil, Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, and Spain. By 2009, the contracts signed by the state–owned Chinese oil companies amounted to $120 billion.
At the 2010 oil output rate of 4.25 million bpd, Iran's reserves will last 88 years.
At 9,700 sq. km the North Dome-South Pars gas field is the largest in the world, with South Pars, measuring 3,700 sq. km, lying in the Iranian waters. The aggregate recoverable gas reserves of the North Dome–South Pars are the equivalent of 230 billion barrels of oil, second only to Saudi Arabia's reserves of the conventional oil.
Discovered in 1990, South Pars gas field came on stream in 2002. Its numerous phases have been developed by Iran's Petropars and such foreign corporations as Petronas of Malaysia, ENI of Italy, Repsol of Spain, Gazprom of Russia, and Royal Dutch Shell.
With the world's second–largest gas reserves after Russia's being consumed at the rate of 138.5 billion cu m a year in 2010, it will take Iran 214 years to exhaust them.
Oil and gas industry in Iraq: Oil reserves: 115.0 billion barrels (2010), 8.3 percent of the world total; gas reserves: 3.2 trillion cu m (2010), 1.7 percent of the world total.
The efforts of the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC), owned largely by the Anglo–Persian Oil Company (APOC) after World War I, bore fruit in 1927 when it struck oil in commercial quantities in the Kirkuk area. This increased the strategic and economic value of Palestine [q.v.], since it provided a gateway to the Iraqi oilfields through the British protectorate of Transjordan (now Jordan). Under Washington's pressure the TPC was reconstituted in 1931 as the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC)—a 23.5 percent share each was held by government–owned British, French, and Dutch companies and two U.S. corporations, the remaining 6 percent by Partex, owned by C.S. Gulbenkian, a Portuguese businessman.
The oil output had reached such proportions by World War II that Britain intervened militarily to overthrow the nationalist government of Rashid Ali Gailani [q.v.] in 1941. In the late 1940s the Iraqi government required IPC to pay half of its profit as tax. After the 1958 revolution, Abdul Karim Qasim [q.v.] issued a decree in 1961 that deprived IPC of 99.5 percent of the 160,000 sq. mi./414,400 sq. km originally allocated to it for prospecting, covering almost the whole country, including oil–rich Rumeila [q.v.] in the south. The government set up its own Iraq National Oil Company (INOC). IPC challenged the law, and a partial compromise was reached in 1969.
Meanwhile, government decrees of August and October 1967 gave the INOC wider powers and the exclusive right to develop the Rumeila oilfield. To pressure Baghdad to reverse its hard-line policy, IPC halved the output of the Kirkuk oilfields in March 1972. In mid–May 1972 Iraq warned IPC that it would end negotiations if its demands were not met within a fortnight. They were not, and IPC was nationalized in June. This marked the end of an era that had begun in 1912 under the rule of an Ottoman sultan.
The Soviet Union played an important role in giving confidence to Iraq to go ahead with nationalizing IPC. It also helped to develop Iraq's petroleum industry in exploration and extrac–tion—as in the Rumeila oilfields—and in refining. The general message of the Soviets was that Iraq need not be totally dependent on Western capital and/or expertise in this industry.
Once it had consolidated its position, Iraq nationalized American and Dutch interests in the Basrah Petroleum Company, operating in the south. It did so during the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], when feelings in the Arab world were running high against the United States and the Netherlands, which openly and materially sided with Israel. On the other hand, Baghdad did not join the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) [q.v.] oil embargo against the states that aided Israel in the war.
The fivefold increase in revenue from petroleum exports in the mid–1970s provided an unprecedented boost to the morale of the ruling Baath Socialist Party [q.v.], which had seized power in 1968. The government raised the salaries of its civil servants and military personnel substantially. Its ambitious Five–Year Plan, 1976–80, promised a prosperous future for all. In 1979 and 1980, when the national population was less than 13 million, the oil output exceeded 3.5 million barrels per day (bpd), with exports at 3.3 million bpd, and oil income at $21.3 billion and $26.3 billion respectively. The amended constitution of 1974 outlawed giving proprietary rights over natural resources to local or foreign private companies.
The war with Iran started in September 1980, and oil output fell to 800,000 bpd in 1982. It rose to 1.75 million bpd in 1986. But with petroleum selling below $10 a barrel, Iraq's oil income plummeted to $7 billion a year. Baghdad was able to withstand the price crash because of the large grants it received from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Later, Iraq built a pipeline that connected with a Saudi pipeline leading to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, thus supplementing its earlier pipeline running to the Turkish port of Dortyol.
Demanding parity with Iran in its export quota, from October 1986 to May 1988 Iraq ignored the output quotas agreed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.]. Following the end of the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.] in August 1988, Iraq returned to the OPEC system when OPEC agreed to parity between Iraq and Iran, at 2.64 million bpd. The following year Iraqi production reached 2.83 million bpd, with exports at 2.4 million bpd and export earnings at $12 billion. In the first half of 1990 production was 3.1 million bpd, but flooding of the market by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates depressed the price from $18 to $12 a barrel, causing Iraq to lose nearly $20 million a day.
With Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in early August 1990, followed by immediate economic sanctions by the United Nations, Baghdad's oil exports ceased. From then on, Iraqi oil output fell to 400,000 bpd, enough for domestic needs, lowering the annual average for 1990 to two million bpd. Three years later the figure was 455,000 bpd, including the 65,000 bpd that Jordan was allowed to import from Iraq as a special case.
Starting in December 1996, when Iraq was allowed by the UN Security Council to export enough petroleum to earn $2 billion in six months, the output rose. With the Security Council raising the six–monthly limit to $5.2 billion in the spring of 1998, the production for that year reached 2.2 million bpd. Further improvement occurred when the Security Council sanctioned sufficient funds for Iraq to repair its dilapidated oil industry. When the Council removed the ceiling on Iraq's oil output in December 1999, the figure for 2000 topped 2.63 million bpd, with Baghdad's oil exports earnings reaching $7.1 billion in the first half of the year.
Following the Anglo–American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in 2003, the petroleum production went into free fall, reduced to almost half of the pre–war total, just enough for domestic consumption. It took four years for Iraq to manage to maintain a steady rate of oil exports through official channels.
Only in 2007 was the Iraqi government able to present its national oil and gas legislation to the parliament. It contained a provision for 20–year Exploration and Development Production Risk Service Contracts, also called Technical Support Agreements. But the passage of the draft legislation got stalled, due to the resistance of the Kurdish [q.v.] deputies. Instead of waiting for a law applicable to all of Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) [q.v.] got its regional assembly to pass a law with a provision for 25–year Exploration and Production Sharing Agreements (EPSAs). It went on to sign 29 such contracts with foreign oil corporations.
The basic difference between a production sharing contract and a service contract is that, whereas the former allows a foreign oil corporation to share proprietary rights with the government, the latter entitles it to receive only an agreed fee in cash or kind from the state. Therefore, some experts in Iraq and outside argued that by signing the EPSAs, the KRG had violated the article on natural resources in the 1974 constitution which, in the absence of a fresh law on hydrocarbons, remained in force. Disregarding this argument, the KRG stood by the contracts it had signed.
Meanwhile, the Baghdad government awarded contracts to foreign corporations during the second half of 2009 and early 2010, thus reversing the expulsion of the last non-Iraqi oil company from Iraq in 1972. But these were service contracts, and the total share of foreign companies in a joint venture was limited to 75 percent of the equity. In a service contract an energy firm is paid a fixed fee for each oil barrel it extracts. The bulk of these contracts in 2009, covering reserves of nearly 40 billion barrels, went to such non-Western energy corporations as China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Petronas of Malaysia, and Sonangol of Angola. Among the contracts signed in January 2010, covering 62 billion barrels in reserves, Exxon was the only American oil company to win a contract for West Qurna Phase One oilfield, with reserves of 8.7 billion barrels, in a consortium where it held 60 percent interest. All other winners were non–American, ranging from CNPC to Sonangol, Petronas, and Gazprom Neft of Russia.
Despite their best efforts, by mid–2012, the Baghdad government and the KRG had not succeeded in resolving their differences on a national oil and gas law.
Iraq's oil output in 2009 was 2.46 million bpd. At that rate its oil reserves will last 128 years.
Gas production, starting in 1966, rose to 55.2 million cu m per day in 1979, but then declined sharply due to the conflict with Iran in the 1980s. With its output running at 1.3 billion cu m a year in 2009, it will be several centuries before the reserves are exhausted.
Oil and gas industry in Israel: Oil was first found in southern Israel in 1955 near Ashkelon. The output peaked at 6,000 barrels per day (bpd). By 2008, more than 17 million barrels of oil had been extracted from a field with the recoverable reserves of 19 million barrels. In 2011 the output was down to a few dozen bpd.
The production of natural gas, found in the Dead Sea region, remained steady around 700 million cu m a year. And by 2009, the reserves of an offshore gas field near Ashkelon were down to 10 billion cu m from the initial 32 billion cu m. In that year, a new find 50 mi./80 km off Haifa [q.v.] added 240 billion cu m of gas to the national total. At the present rate of consumption, gas deposits would be exhausted in 21 years.
Oil and gas industry in Jordan: There is no oil extraction industry in Jordan. The production of natural gas, found first in the northeast in 1987, was less than 350 million cu m a year in 2000, with the country's total deposits estimated at 6.44 billion cu m, or 0.3 percent of the global total. In 2009 it produced 250 million cu m of gas.
Oil and gas industry in Kuwait: Oil reserves: 101.5 billion barrels (2010), 7.3 percent of the world total; gas reserves: 1.8 trillion cu m (2010), 1.0 percent of the global total.
The Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), owned equally by the Anglo–Iranian Oil Company (now British Petroleum) and the (U.S.) Gulf Oil Company, obtained petroleum concessions in Kuwait in 1934 for 74 years. Commercial extraction began in 1938, the Burgan field proving to be a gigantic reserve of oil. But the extraction of oil had to wait until after the end of World War II in 1945. Due to the Western boycott of the nationalized oil company in Iran in 1951, the output of Kuwaiti petroleum rose sharply. In 1956 Kuwait became the leading oil exporter in the region, with a total output of 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd), a position it maintained for a decade.
Pursuing the self–reliance policy of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.], Kuwait, one of OPEC's founder members, acquired 25 percent of the shares of KOC in October 1972, with provision for a further 2.5 percent annual increase in shareholding over the next decade. But after the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] and a dramatic jump in oil prices, the government acquired a majority holding in KOC immediately, buying the rest of the shares in March 1975. It also responded positively to parliament's demand that oil output be limited to a maximum of 2 million bpd.
Following the disruption of Iraqi oil supplies due to the outbreak of the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.] in September 1980, Kuwait volunteered to meet Iraq's obligations. Later it used oil as a weapon when, in alliance with Saudi Arabia, it flooded the market in early 1986, depressing the price from $28 to $10 a barrel, thus severely damaging Iran's ability to finance its war. The negative impact on Iraq was compensated by subventions to it from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. After the war's end in August 1988, Kuwait insisted that Iraq should repay the $10–12 billion loaned to it by way of the oil supplied to Iraq's customers during the conflict. When Baghdad refused, Kuwait began to flood the petroleum market by exceeding its OPEC quota of 1.5 million bpd by 40 percent, thus depressing the price and hurting Iraq. This was the background to the Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait in early August 1990.
Just before retreating at the end of the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], Iraqi troops set ablaze 640 of Kuwait's 790 oil wells. After the cease–fire the Kuwaiti government successfully concentrated on extinguishing the fires and repairing the damage to the industry.
In 1992 OPEC gave a special dispensation to Kuwait to produce without a fixed quota. In early 1993 OPEC fixed Kuwait's share at 1.6 million bpd, one–fifth less than its current output. Though its quota was increased to 1.7 million bpd later in the year, Kuwait insisted on 2 million bpd and produced nearly that much. In 2010 its output was 2.50 million bpd. At this rate Kuwait's reserves will last another 110 years.
Kuwait's gas reserves, being consumed at the rate of 11.6 billion cu m a year in 2009, will last until 2163.
Oil and gas industry in Oman: Oil reserves: 5.5 billion barrels (2010), 0.4 percent of the global total; gas reserves: 0.7 trillion cu m (2010), 0.4 percent of the world total.
Exploration by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), which obtained concessions in 1925, yielded nothing. In 1937 a subsidiary of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), Petroleum Concessions (Oman), received a 75-year concession for the whole country except Dhofar province, where a separate concession was granted to Dhofar Cities Service Petroleum Corporation in 1953. In that year Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), the successor to Petroleum Concessions (Oman), started serious exploration. Due to the continued failure to strike oil, all corporations except Royal Dutch Shell and Partex, owned by C.S. Gulbenkian, withdrew, leaving them respectively with 85 percent and 15 percent of the shares. The reconstituted company found oil in commercial quantities in 1962 in the central region. In 1967, when exports started, Partex sold part of its shares to Compagnie Française des Petroles.
Oil revenue rose from $21 million in 1964 to $117 million in 1970, when Sultan Said bin Taimur [q.v.] was succeeded by his son Qaboos [q.v.]. Rising income from oil, though modest by Gulf standards, enabled Qaboos to build up Oman's infrastructure and provide public services to his subjects. In 1975 his government acquired a 60 percent share of the PDO, leaving the rest with Royal Dutch Shell (34 percent) and Compagnie Française des Petroles. During the 1970s oil output averaged 300,000 bpd. Production in Dhofar, which started in 1980, boosted the total. After reaching a nationwide peak of 961,000 barrels per day in 2001, output started declining. At its production of 865,000 bpd in 2010, Oman's reserves will last 17 years.
Oman's gas reserves, being consumed at the rate of 27.4 billion cu m a year in 2010, will last until 2049.
Oil and gas industry in Qatar: Oil reserves: 25.9 billion barrels (2010), 1.9 percent of the world total; gas reserves: 25.3 trillion cu m (2010), 13.5 percent of the global total.
The concession given in 1925 to the Anglo–Persian Oil Company, which yielded nothing, was transferred in 1935 to an Iraq Petroleum Company subsidiary, Petroleum Development (Qatar)—later renamed Qatar National Petroleum Company (QNPC). It struck oil in 1939, but work was interrupted by World War II and did not resume until 1948. Output rose from 32,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 1950 to 600,000 bpd in 1973.
After its independence in 1971, Qatar, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.] since 1961, pursued self-reliant policies. A dramatic increase in its oil revenue due to a sharp price rise in 1973–74 enabled the Qatari government to buy the QNPC in two stages, in 1974 and 1976. In 1977 the state–owned Qatar General Petroleum Company (QGPC) became solely responsible for oil and gas production. After a peak of 510,000 bpd in 1979, output averaged 350,000 bpd during the 1980s. Rising steadily from 420,000 bpd in 1991, it reached 757,000 bpd in 2000, when the name of the owning company was changed to Qatar Petroleum. At the output of 1.57 million bpd in 2010, the Qatari oil reserves will last until 2055.
At 9,700 sq. km the North Dome-South Pars gas field is the largest in the world, with North Dome's 6,000 sq. km lying in Qatari territorial waters and the rest in Iranian waters. The aggregate recoverable gas reserves of the North Dome–South Pars are the equivalent of 230 billion barrels of conventional oil.
Discovered in 1971, the production at the North Dome Qatari side started in 1989. In a decade the output grew to 22.1 billion cu m a year. Qatar began exporting the commodity as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in specially made tankers. Its first shipment was to Japan in 1997. At the 2010 production rate of 116.7 billion cu m a year, the Qatari reserves will last 217 years.
Oil and gas industry in Saudi Arabia: Oil reserves: 264.5 billion barrels (2010), 19.1 percent of the world total; gas reserves: 8.0 trillion cu m (2010), 4.3 percent of the global total.
In 1933 the Standard Oil Company of California (SOCAL) secured exploration rights in the eastern Hasa province with preferential rights elsewhere in the kingdom. In 1936 SOCAL invited Texaco to form a joint company called Caltex. It struck oil in 1938. World War II intervened. Exports resumed in 1946. Two years later Caltex expanded into a consortium of four U.S. companies— SOCAL (later Chevron) 30 percent, Texaco 30 percent, Standard Oil Company of New Jersey (later Esso, then Exxon) 30 percent, and Mobil Oil 10 percent—called Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco). Output rose so sharply that Aramco's earnings jumped from $2.8 million in 1944 to $115 million five years later. The Saudi monarch decreed that Aramco should pay half of its profits as tax.
In 1962, as part of its administrative and fiscal reform, the government set up the General Petroleum and Mineral Organization, known as Petro-min, to increase state participation in the oil and gas industry. Petroleum output shot up from 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in 1940 to 8 million bpd in 1973 before the Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] in October. Saudi Arabia joined the oil embargo imposed by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) [q.v.] during the fighting, and ensured its continuation. Equally, when it decided to see it end in March 1974, its will prevailed at the OAPEC.
Due to increased output and a sharp rise in price in 1973–74, Saudi oil income reached $22.57 billion in 1974, a 36-fold increase in a decade. Among other things this allowed Riyadh to pursue the self–reliance policy advocated by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.], of which it was a founder member. Saudi Arabia acquired a 25 percent share of Aramco, with provision for a further 2.5 percent annual increase in shareholding until the total reached 51 percent.
To fill the gap created in late 1978 by the stoppage of oil exports from Iran, which was in the midst of revolutionary turmoil, Saudi Arabia increased its output to 9.5 million bpd in 1979 and 10 million bpd a year later. Political turbulence in Iran after the Islamic revolution [q.v.] raised the price from $13 a barrel in early 1979 to $28 in May 1980, increasing Saudi Arabia's oil income to $106 billion in 1980. This enabled it to buy up the remaining Aramco shares, thus completing the nationalization of Aramco announced in 1978. It renamed the company Saudi Aramco.
The outbreak of the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.] in September, resulting in extensive damage to both countries' oil industries and a drop in their exports, led to higher prices during 1981, reaching a spot price peak of $41 a barrel. With Saudi production steady at 10 million bpd, oil income reached a record $110 billion in 1981. To aid Iraq in its war against Iran, Saudi Arabia volunteered to honor Iraq's oil contracts.
When, due to high prices, worldwide demand for oil began to decline, Saudi Arabia cut its output sharply, first to 6.6 million bpd (1982) and then 4.8 million bpd (1984), to stabilize the price at $29 a barrel. It thus underlined its role as the swing producer within OPEC, with the leverage to adjust its production to stabilize the price and maintain the overall OPEC output within the agreed limits. However, as a result, its oil income fell to $27 billion in 1985 when its output was 3.6 million bpd.
Partly to increase OPEC's overall share of the world market in the face of price cutting by non–OPEC producers, and partly to depress the oil income of Iran, thus weakening its capacity to prolong its war with Iraq, Saudi Arabia, in alliance with Kuwait, started to flood the market by raising their production by an average of 50 percent. This depressed the price from $28 a barrel in December 1985 to below $10 a barrel in July, and began to hurt the kingdom's economy. King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] intervened in October, and sacked Ahmad Zaki Yamani [q.v.], the oil minister since 1962, and reversed his policy to raise prices. Fahd's stance prevailed at OPEC, which cut its total production by 7.5 percent to 15.8 million bpd for the first half of 1987, the Saudi share being 4.1 million bpd. The price stabilized at little over the OPEC reference level of $18 a barrel.
It held until the spring of 1990 when flooding of the market by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates depressed the price to $12 a barrel. However, the Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait in early August caused the spot price of oil to shoot up to $28 a barrel. An emergency meeting of OPEC allowed members to increase their output beyond the allocated quota due to the loss of 4 million bpd of oil previously exported by Iraq and Kuwait. With an average output of 6.84 million bpd, Saudi Arabia ended 1990 with oil income of $40.7 billion, more than twice the average figure for the past four years.
With output running at 8.6–8.9 million bpd during the early 1990s, and the price fluctuating between $12 and $22 a barrel, Saudi Arabia's oil income in 1993 was nearly $43 billion. Oil prices fell sharply in 1998 due to the reduced demand in the Asian market caused by an economic downturn. Saudi Arabia played a leading role in securing output cuts by OPEC and leading non–OPEC producers in 1999, and succeeded in getting the prices stabilized in the $22–28 per barrel range. By and large this range held for the next few years.
Those who expected that following the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein [q.v.] regime in Iraq in 2003, the Iraqi oil industry would come under American management, resulting in an upsurge in output and leading to the fall in price to $20 a barrel, were disappointed.
In 2010, Saudi Arabia yielded its place as the holder of the world's largest oil reserves to Venezuela. At 10 million bpd output in 2010, its reserves will be exhausted by 2082.
Saudi Arabia has the globe's fourth–largest gas reserves. Its gas industry got started in the early 1980s. By the turn of the century it reached 50 billion cu m a year. At its 2010 rate of 84 billion cu m a year, the Saudi reserves will last 95 years.
Oil and gas industry in Syria: Oil reserves: 2.5 billion barrels (2010), 0.2 percent of the world total; gas reserves: 0.3 trillion cu m (2010), 0.15 percent of the world total.
The Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), which acquired oil concessions in Syria [q.v.] during the French Mandate (1920–41), surrendered these to the government in 1951 after having failed to find petroleum. The concessions given in the mid-1950s to a West German–led consortium and an American company, which led to the discovery of petroleum, were cancelled when the Baathist [q.v.] regime nationalized the oil industry in 1964 and set up the Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC) under the aegis of the General Petroleum Authority. Modest production started in 1968. In the mid–1970s Syria granted concessions to foreign companies. Their discoveries a decade later, especially in the country's northeast corner, nearly doubled the national output to 400,000 bpd in 1990. Continued steady increase took the figure to 600,000 bpd in 1995, when a decline set in, reducing the total to 385,000 bpd in 2010. At this rate, the Syrian reserves will last until 2028.
Natural gas production started in 1994, and peaked at 6.4 billion cu m a year in 2004, and then began declining. It increased to 7.8 billion cu m its 2010. At this rate Syria's gas reserves will last 39 years.
Oil and gas industry in United Arab Emirates (UAE): Oil reserves: 97.8 billion barrels (2009), 7.1 percent of the world total; gas reserves: 6.0 trillion cu m (2010), 3.2 percent of the global total.
In 1939 the Trucial Coast Development Oil Company, later Abu Dhabi Petroleum company (ADPC), subsidiary of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), acquired exploration rights in Abu Dhabi Emirate [q.v.]. Another company to secure concessions was Abu Dhabi Marines Area (ADMA), formed in 1954 by British Petroleum and Compagnie Française des Petroles. Oil production started in 1962 on a modest scale. By 1978 the ADPC and ADMA had been restructured into the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil (ADCO) and ADMA–OPCO for offshore work. These companies accounted for 93 percent of Abu Dhabi's oil output, which amounted to 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) on the eve of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.
Oil was discovered in Dubai Emirate [q.v.] in 1966 by the Dubai Petroleum Company (DPC), which in 1961 had taken over IPC's concession, held since 1937. Commercial production, which started in 1969, rose to 420,000 bpd at the time of Iraq's attack on Kuwait in August 1990. Petroleum was struck in Sharjah Emirate [q.v.] in 1974, and production reached 60,000 bpd in mid-1990. Oil was found in Ras al–Khaima Emirate [q.v.] in 1984, but by the late 1980s output had not exceeded 12,000 bpd.
The two sharp rises in the price of oil in the mid and late 1970s made the UAE, with less than a million people, one of the top five richest countries in the world. In July 1990 the UAE was producing 2.3 million bpd, more than twice the quota fixed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.], of which it had been a member since 1974, thus causing the price to fall to $12 a barrel, a third below the $18 OPEC reference price.
With the temporary loss of Iraqi and Kuwaiti oil to the world market, the UAE raised its output, which reached 2.6 million bpd in 1991, stabilized around 2.4 million bpd (marginally above the OPEC limit of 2.24 million bpd) and earned the country an annual income of some $14 billion.
Another bump in production came with the Anglo–American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in 2003 and its aftermath, when Iraq's oil exports nose–dived. At the 2010 output of 2.85 million bpd, the UAE's reserves will last until 2104.
With the sixth–largest gas reserves in the world being consumed at a rate of 51.0 billion cu m a year in 2010, it will take 117 years to exhaust them.
Oil and gas industry in Yemen: Oil reserves: 2.7 billion barrels (2010), 0.2 percent of the world total; gas reserves: 0.5 trillion cu m (2010), 0.25 percent of the world total.
The efforts of the state-owned oil company in North Yemen to find petroleum from the 1970s onward failed. However, in 1984 the Yemeni subsidiary of the United States–based Hunt Oil Company discovered oil in commercial quantities. Production increased rapidly and reached 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) on the eve of the unification of North and South Yemen in May 1990. In South Yemen oil was struck in commercial quantities in 1987, and output remained at 10,000 bpd until the unification of the two Yemens in 1990. The aggregate Yemeni output rose steadily, reaching the peak of 457,000 bpd in 2002, and then began declining. At its 2010 production rate of 264,000 bpd, Yemen's reserves will last until 2038.
With its gas deposits being consumed at the rate of 6.2 billion cu m a year in 2001, Yemen's reserves will last until 2074.
Oil industry, Middle East: Of the world's proven oil reserves of 1,383 billion barrels in 2010, the Middle East [q.v.] had 753 billion barrels, or 54.7 percent of the total, with 54 percent in the Gulf States [q.v.], Iran and Iraq, and the rest in Egypt, Syria, and Yemen.
Oil was first extracted commercially in 1908 by a British prospector, William Knox D'Arcy, at Masjid-e Suleiman in southwest Iran. His firm expanded to become the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC). With the British admiralty's decision in 1913 to switch from coal to oil, the importance of petroleum increased. To ensure supplies Britain acquired a controlling share in APOC. It also imposed a series of agreements on the rulers of Kuwait (1913), Bahrain (1914), Qatar (1916), the Lower Gulf emirates (mid-1920s), and Oman (mid-1920s), whereby they were barred from giving oil concessions to non–British companies without London's prior permission. The terms of oil concessions to British interests included long duration (6095 years), vast areas (160,000 sq. mi./414,000 sq. km in Iraq, more than 500,000 sq. mi./1,295,000 sq. km in Saudi Arabia), exemption from local taxes, and paltry royalties to the host country, with the royalty treated as a rental proportional to the size of the yield, irrespective of the price of the extracted commodity. It varied between 3–8 British pennies/8–20 American cents per barrel of 35 imperial gallons.
After World War I, APOC acquired three–quarters of the shares of the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC), which had originally consisted of British, French, and German interests. The TPC had started to operate in Iraq in 1912 after winning an oil concession from the Ottoman sultan. APOC found oil in commercial quantities in the northern region of Kirkuk in 1927. Petroleum on a commercial scale was next discovered in Bahrain in 1932, followed by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in 1938.
By then the Anglo-Persian Oil Company had changed its name to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now British Petroleum) following the renaming of Persia as Iran in 1933; and the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) had been created in 1931. Government-owned British, French, and Dutch companies and two privately owned American companies each held 23.5 percent of the shares of the IPC; the remaining 6 percent held by Partex, owned by C.S. Gulbenkian, a Portuguese businessman who had acted as a middleman during the Ottoman times.
After a halt in production during World War II, output rose sharply as more oil fields were discovered and tapped. By the late 1960s production in the Gulf [q.v.] amounted to 30 percent of the global total. In 2001 the Gulf region's output was 28.5 percent of the world aggregate and 70 percent of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) [q.v.] total.
The recent histories of the following countries have been shaped largely or exclusively by oil: all six Gulf States [q.v.], Iran, Iraq, and Palestine [q.v.] under the British Mandate.
Oil measurements (Based on world average crude oil gravity):
1 barrel = 35 Imperial gallons/42 U.S. gallons
1 short ton (2,000 lbs.) = 7.00 barrels (used in North America)
1 metric ton (2,205 lbs.) = 7.30 barrels (also called tonne)
1 long ton (2,240 lbs.) = 7.42 barrels (used in Britain)
1 tonne (2,205 lbs.) = 7.30 barrels
CONVERSION TABLE:
Long tons per year to barrels per day, divide by 49.2
Metric tons per year to barrels per day, divide by 50.0
Short tons per year to barrels per day, divide by 52.14
Tonnes per year to barrels per day, divide by 50.0
Oil prices: In the early days of the petroleum industry, when Standard Oil Company had a virtual monopoly in the United States, it fixed the price. Between 1861 and 1880, the average worldwide price of a barrel of oil fluctuated between U.S. $1 and $9 in money of the day, equivalent to U.S. $10 to $90 in 2001. Following the breakup of Standard Oil Company in 1911 in the wake of the anti–trust law, a free market of sorts emerged. After settling down to $1 a barrel the price rose to $3.50 during World War I ($28 in today's money), and did not return to its $1 level until the early 1930s. During World War II the price rose modestly, but picked up during postwar reconstruction.
After World War II seven oil majors set up a cartel. It exercised a stranglehold on the oil industry, from exploration to retailing, and fixed prices to suit the interests of its members. The price moved up to $2 a barrel in the wake of the loss of Iranian supplies from 1951 to 1953 and the Suez War [q.v.] of 1956, which closed the Suez Canal [q.v.]. On the eve of the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] the average price of a barrel of oil from the Gulf [q.v.] region was $2.55. Between mid–October 1973 and 1 January 1974 the price of oil was raised from $2.55 to $11.65 a barrel ($43 in today's cash) by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.], with the host government's average earnings rising fivefold, from $1.38 to $7 a barrel. For the next four years price increases kept pace with inflation, with oil in late 1978 selling for $14 a barrel.
The overthrow of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] of Iran in early 1979, partly caused by a strike in the Iranian oil industry, raised the price from $14 to $28 a barrel within a few months. The outbreak of the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.] in September 1980, resulting in extensive damage to both countries' oil industries and a drop in their oil exports, led to higher prices during 1981, reaching a spot–price peak of $47 a barrel (equivalent to today's $78) but stabilizing around $34 a barrel in the early 1980s.
On 30 March 1983, OPEC received a blow when New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) introduced crude oil futures. This development, introduced against the background of falling oil demand in the West, weakened OPEC's price–setting clout further. Prices started sliding. Saudi Arabia, the largest OPEC producer, curtailed its output sharply to stabilize the price at $29 a barrel in 1984.
To meet the price-cutting challenge by non–OPEC Western producers such as Britain and Norway, and to enlarge OPEC's share of the market and damage Iran's war effort, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait started to flood the oil market from December 1985, depressing the price from $28 to less than $10 in July 1986. Hurt by the steep fall in its oil revenue, Saudi Arabia reversed the strategy, and in alliance with Iran, encouraged OPEC to aim for $18 a barrel by cutting overall production. By and large this aim was achieved, the dollar price rising to the low 20s in the spring of 1989.
However, in early 1990, once again for political reasons (this time to put pressure on Iraq), Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates [q.v.] overproduced and reduced the price to $11 a barrel. The Iraqi invasion and occupation of Kuwait in early August caused the spot price of oil to reach $28 a barrel within a few weeks, the dollar price briefly rising to the high 30s. An emergency meeting of OPEC allowed members to increase their output beyond their allocated quotas because of the loss of the 4 million barrels per day (bpd) that had previously been exported by Iraq and Kuwait.
After the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.], the price fluctuated around $20 until mid-1992, when Kuwait returned to its prewar production levels and resumed its exports. During the next two years the price hovered around $16 a barrel (equivalent to today's $20), only $2 above the prevalent figure in 1978. The reentry of Iraq, albeit on a limited scale, into the oil export market in December 1996 had a depressing effect on prices. They fell sharply in 1998 due to the reduced demand in the Asian market caused by an economic downturn combined with OPEC's decision to increase output. Saudi Arabia played a leading role in securing output cuts by OPEC and such leading non–OPEC producers as Mexico, Norway, Oman, and Russia in 1999, and succeeded in pushing up the prices to the $22–28 per barrel range. By and large this range held for the next few years, with the price shooting the $30 mark in 2000.
At the turn of the century, oil prices since 1861 as computed in terms of the 2001 U.S. dollar, could be summarized as follows. Between 1861 and 1880, the price of a barrel of crude oil fluctuated between $10 and $90. A century later, in 1960, it was still $11 a barrel. The 1973 Arab–Israeli War and the 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution [q.v. ] pushed the price to a peak of $78 in 1980. It then declined to $13 in 1998 (registering a decline of 70 percent in real terms since 1981)— reaching its mid–1950s level—before rising above $30 in 2000, and then falling to $27.
It was in the aftermath of the Anglo–American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in 2003 that the price of a barrel of crude oil crossed the $30 mark. It kept rising until it hit the peak of $147 in July 2008. Against the background of the deepening recession world–wide—except in China and India— that started in September 2008, the price collapsed to $33 in December. With OPEC cutting overall output by 4.2 million bpd, and the GDPs improving during the second half of 2009, the price stabilized around $75 a barrel. Another reason for the price recovery was that fresh petroleum reserves were being found in inaccessible areas like deep ocean waters and were far more expensive to exploit than the earlier finds. The average cost of extracting one barrel of oil from these fields was put at $70. With North America and the European Union (EU) recovering from the Great Recession of 2008–09, and the economies of China and India growing by 8 to 10 percent a year, oil prices rose to $90 a barrel at the end of 2010.
Even though the 17–nation Eurozone in the EU struggled to shore up the sinking GDP of Greece, and the economy of the United States failed to show consistent improvement, oil prices in 2011 remained above $100 a barrel, and rose to an average of $120 a barrel in the spring of 2012 before softening a little in the summer.
Breaking with the long–established tradition of oil being priced in U.S. dollars, Iran and Venezuela started pricing their oil in euros in 2009.
Oil and gas reserves (2010):
OIL RESERVES (2010):
World: 1,383 billion barrels
Middle East: 730 billion barrels, 54.8 percent of global total
The Gulf region: 54. 0 percent of world total.
Bahrain | 0.1 percent
---|---
Iran | 9.9 percent
Iraq | 8.3 percent
Kuwait | 7.3 percent
Oman | 0.4 percent
Qatar | 1.9 percent
Saudi Arabia | 19.1 percent
United Arab Emirates 7.0 percent
Outside the Gulf region: 0.7 percent of world total
Egypt | 0.3 percent
Syria | 0.2 percent
Yemen | 0.2 percent
North America: 5.4 percent of world total. At the 2010 output of 13.8 million barrels per day (bpd) for the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the North American reserves will last until 2025.
South and Central America; 17.3 percent of world total. At the 2010 output of 6.99 million bpd for the region, including Venezuela, with the largest reserves in the world, the regional reserves will last until 2104.
Europe and Eurasia: 10.1 percent. At the 2010 production of 17.66 million bpd, their reserves will last until 2031. In 2010, of the global conventional oil reserves of 1,383 billion barrels, 88 percent were owned by the governments of the petroleum-bearing states, with only 12 percent possessed by the mainly Western oil corporations in North America and the 27–nation European Union.
GAS RESERVES (2009):
World: 187.1 trillion cu m
Middle East: 78.0 trillion cu m, 41.0 percent of global total
The Gulf region:| 39.0 percent
---|---
Bahrain| 0.1 percent
Iran| 15.8 percent
Iraq| 1.7 percent
Kuwait| 1.0 percent
Oman| 0.4 percent
Qatar| 13.5 percent
Saudi Arabia| 4.3 percent
United Arab Emirates 3.2 percent
Outside the Gulf region: 2.0 percent of world total
Egypt| 1.2 percent
Jordan| 0.3 percent
Syria| 0.2 percent
Yemen| 0.3 percent
North America: 5.3 percent of the world total. At the 2010 output of 826 billion cu m a year, the reserves of North America (Canada, Mexico, and the United States) will last 12 years.
South and Central America: 4.0 percent of the world total. At the 2010 production rate of 161.2 billion cu m a year, these reserves will last 46 years.
Europe and Eurasia: 33.7 percent of world total. At the 2010 production rate of 1,043.1 billion cu m a year, these reserves will last 61 years.
Old Testament: See Bible.
Olmert, Ehud (1945–): Israeli politician; prime minister 2006—09 Born to Mordechai and Bella Olmert, members of Irgun [q.v.], in Binyamina, Palestine [q.v.], Ehud grew up as a member of the Betar (Hebrew: acronym of Berit Trumpledor, Covenant with Trumple–dor) youth organization, affiliated to the Revisionist Zionists [q.v.]. He obtained a law degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem [q.v.]. During his military service, he trained as a journalist with the armed forces' magazine BaMahane (Hebrew: In the Base Camp). Following his father's politics, he joined Herut [q.v.], which later merged with Liberalim [q.v.] to form Gahal [q.v.].
During the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], he served as a military correspondent at the headquarters of General Ariel Sharon [q.v.]. In the general election that followed in December he was elected to the Knesset [q.v.] as a member of the newly formed Likud [q.v.]. At the same time he practiced law in Jerusalem.
In 1988 Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir [q.v.] appointed him minister for minorities and then moved him to the health ministry. After Likud's loss of power in the 1992 Knesset election, he ran as the party's candidate for Jerusalem's mayor in 1993. He won. During his two five–year terms as mayor, he improved the city's infrastructure. He also encouraged the expansion of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank [q.v.] surrounding Jerusalem.
He reentered the Knesset after the general election in January 2003 and became deputy prime minister in the cabinet led by Sharon. In his interview with the mass circulation newspaper Yediot Aharonot (Hebrew: Latest News) in December, he argued that Israel should withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza Strip [q.v.] in order to remain democratic and Jewish. If Israel retained these territories, then, because of the high birthrate among Palestinian Arabs [q.v.], the Jews would become a minority, he argued. When Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.] resigned as finance minister in protest at Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza, Olmert took over the ministry. He followed Sharon to join Kadima [q.v.] in November 2005.
He succeeded Sharon when the latter suffered a severe hemorrhage attack in January 2006. When Kadmia won most seats in the April 2006 election, Olmert became the prime minister. His conduct of the war with Hizbollah [q.v.] in July–August 2006 [q.v.] was criticized widely. The Winograd Commission's inquiry into the conflict concluded that Olmert had failed gravely to exercise "judgment, responsibility, and prudence." In May 2007 his approval rating fell to 3 percent.
Olmert attended the Middle East Conference in Annapolis [q.v.] in November and backed the two-state solution to resolve the 60-year-old Israel–Palestinian conflict. But his subsequent talks with President Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.] of the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] did not lead to any agreement.
Facing multiple corruption investigations, he decided in July 2008 to resign as Kadima leader. He was succeeded by Tzipi Livni [q.v.]. But because she failed to cobble together a coalition government, he continued as acting prime minister. After the February 2009 Knesset election, he gave way to Netanyahu as prime minister. His trial on corruption charges opened in September.
In November 2010 Olmert claimed that in his talks with Abbas he offered the following deal: A two–stage solution based on the 1967 border with agreed land swaps in exchange for Israel keeping large settlement blocks in the West Ban; a division of Jerusalem; the holy sites of Jerusalem to be governed jointly by Israel, Palestine, America, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan; a symbolic number of Palestinian refugees to be permitted to return to Israel; compensation for the Palestinians and Jews displaced as a result of wars between Israel and the Arab countries; and a demilitarized Palestinian state. He claimed that the Palestinians did not formally respond to his comprehensive proposal. His statement contradicted the evidence provided by the Palestine Papers [q.v.], which were leaked the next month.
In January 2012 he was indicted for allegedly taking bribes totaling $400,000 in a massive property scandal in Jerusalem during his tenure as the city's mayor.
Oman:
OFFICIAL NAME: Sultanate of Oman
CAPITAL: Muscat [q.v.]
AREA: 119,500 sq. mi./309,500 sq. km
POPULATION: 3.03 million, including 577,300 non–nationals (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (nominal): $66 billion; per capita $21,420 (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (Purchasing Power Parity): $80 billion; per capita; $25,950 (2011 est.)
NATIONAL CURRENCY: Omani Rial (OMR); OR 1 = $2.60 = £1.67 = €2.00 (2011)
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: monarchy
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Arabic [q.v.]
OFFICIAL RELIGION: Islam [q.v.]
ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM: Oman consists of 11 governorates.
CONSTITUTION: In 1996 Sultan Qaboos issued the Basic Statute of State, the first such document. It describes Oman as Arab, Islamic, and independent, with its system of government being Sultani (i.e., royal), hereditary in the male descendants of Sayyid Turki bin Said bin Sultan. It describes the Sultan as head of state as well as prime minister and supreme commander of the military. He heads a nominated council of ministers. While the constitution provides for a bicameral parliament, called the Council of Oman, consisting of the Consultative Council and the State Council, it has no provision for political parties or trade unions.
COUNCIL OF OMAN: Bicameral Majlis Oman (i.e., Council of Oman) consists of the upper chamber, called Majlis al-Dawla; the State Council; and the lower chamber, called Majlis al-Shura (i.e., Consultative Council). In 1981 the Sultan established a 45-member Consultative Council as an advisory body. Ten years later he added 15 members and restructured it. This council was incorporated into the 1996 Basic Statute of the State. Initially, the local caucus in each of the 59 districts forwarded three names which, after vetting by a ministerial committee, were submitted to the Sultan who made the final choice. In 2000, this system was replaced by direct election based on limited franchise. In 2003 came the universal franchise for adults aged 21 or more. Women were also allowed to stand as candidates in elections. In the first such election, nearly three-fourths of the registered voters cast their ballots to elect 83 members of the Consultative Council, with four–year tenure. Its speaker is appointed by the Sultan. This council meets at the Sultan's discretion. It deals with the legislation only on social and economic affairs. After the cabinet has presented a drafted law to the Sultan, he passes it on the council for debate and adoption. In the 2007 election, 46 new candidates won seats. The Sultan then appointed a new speaker of the Consultative Council as well as a new cabinet that included three women.
The State Council was established in 1997 to serve as a liaison between the government and its citizens. It is nominated fully by the Sultan and has four–year tenure. Its annual session lasts at least eight months. It reviews matters referred to it by the Sultan, and drafts laws. Its membership has risen from 41 to 71.
In October 2011 the Sultan enhanced the powers of the Council of Oman at the expense of the appointed cabinet. The authority to present draft laws to the Sultan was transferred from the cabinet to the Council of Oman after the council had debated and amended the bills submitted to it by the cabinet. The changed procedure also applied to the annual budget and draft development plans.
ETHNIC COMPOSITION (2011): Arab 83 percent; South Asian 15 percent; other 2 percent.
High officials:
Head of state: Sultan Qaboos bin Said [q.v.], 1970-
Prime minister: Sultan Qaboos bin Said, 1972-
Speaker of the Consultative Council: Khalid bin Hilal al–Mawaly, 2011-
Speaker of the Council of State: Yahya bin Mahfoudh al–Manthri, 2011-
HISTORY SINCE CA 1850: The ruling Aal Bu Said dynasty reached its peak in the 1850s, when its empire extended to the eastern shores of Africa. The empire collapsed in the following decade. This so weakened the ruling family that it was overpowered by tribal leaders from the interior. In 1871 the British attacked Muscat and restored the Aal Bu Saids to power. Oman thus became a de facto colony of Britain.
In 1915 the traditional rivalry between the coast and the hinterland resurfaced, and the tribes of the interior, led by the Imam [q.v.], attacked Muscat. Britain intervened on behalf of the sultan. The subsequent uneasy peace was formalized in 1920 in the Treaty of Sib [q.v.] between Sultan Taimur bin Faisal [q.v.] and the tribal leaders, who recognized the sultan's authority in external affairs. The treaty guaranteed freedom of movement to the tribes and urban dwellers, with the sultan agreeing not to raise taxes above 5 percent of the value of trade in coastal towns. The signing of a treaty with the Imam implied autonomy for the interior. But its extent became contentious, with the sultan maintaining that the treaty recognized the imamate as autonomous only in local and socio–religious affairs.
The reasonable modus vivendi between the sultan and the tribal chiefs of the interior broke down again in the mid–1950s. Encouraged by Saudi Arabia, which was feuding with Oman over the Buraimi oasis straddling their borders, Imam Ghalib bin Ali proclaimed the independent Imamate of Oman in 1954. The forces of Sultan Said bin Taimur [q.v.], armed and led by the British, quelled the uprising. Acting in collusion with the forces of Abu Dhabi, they also recovered the area of Buraimi oasis occupied by the Saudis.
In 1957 the imam's brother Talib bin Ali, urged on by Saudi Arabia and Egypt, mounted a rebellion in the interior. With the assistance of the British, the sultan reduced the uprising to sporadic guerrilla actions. Claiming that Britain had committed an act of aggression against the Ima–mate of Oman, Egypt and other Arab states placed the matter before the United Nations. While the UN Commission of Inquiry failed to uphold the claim of popular opposition to the sultan, several Arab countries succeeded in persuading the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution demanding the end of British colonial presence in Oman.
Though oil revenues started to rise in the 1960s, Sultan Said showed no sign of spending these funds on building the infrastructure of a modern state. He also faced armed rebellion in the southwestern region of Dhofar, which received an impetus from the victory of the leftist forces in the adjoining South Yemen in 1967. The British engineered a coup in July 1970 to replace Said with his only son, Qaboos [q.v.].
Under Qaboos, Oman joined the Arab League and the United Nations. With the funds provided by oil revenues and subventions by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, the new ruler expanded the economic infrastructure and public services. In 1975, assisted militarily by Britain and the Shah of Iran, the government succeeded in ending the insurgency in Dhofar.
Alone among the Arab Gulf States [q.v.], Oman showed a willingness for U.S. troops to use its military facilities, especially the ones on its offshore Masirah Island after Britain had withdrawn its forces from it in 1977. Again, as a sole dissident among Arab League members, it refused to cut relations with Egypt after the latter's peace treaty with Israel in 1979 [q.v.]. In June 1980 it signed a military cooperation agreement with Washington whereby, in exchange for U.S. military and economic aid, the Pentagon could use Oman's air and naval facilities and conduct military exercises.
Oman joined the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.] in May 1981. Later that year Sultan Qaboos nominated a 45-member consultative council as an advisory body. Having sided with Iraq in the early phases of the 1980–88 Iran–Iraq War [q.v.], Oman later adopted a neutral stance. Along with other GCC members it backed Kuwait after the latter's occupation by Iraq in August 1990. It joined the U.S.–led coalition against Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War [q.v. ].
Later that year Sultan Qaboos expanded and restructured the consultative council. The arrest of 200 Omanis in 1994 was attributed to the authorities' efforts to curb Islamist militancy. There were increasing signs of popular disaffection at the absence of a written constitution and the Sultan's refusal to share his absolute power. In response, he promulgated a constitution in late 1996. But it failed to give legislative powers to the Consultative Council. There were riots in Hajar, which were curbed by the military. In the first directly elected Consultative Council in 2003, two women won seats.
Earlier, Oman renewed its 10-year military access agreement with America in 2001. In Washington's war against the Taliban-administered Afghanistan in October 2001, Oman allowed the Pentagon use of its military facilities. Though Oman opposed the Anglo–American invasion of Iraq [q.v. ], it allowed the stationing of 3,600 American military personnel, 100 elite British Special Forces, and 40 U.S. warplanes on the eve of the invasion in March 2003.
In the region Oman has maintained consistently good relations with Iran, partly because the territorial waters of the two countries overlap in the narrow, strategic Strait of Hormuz [q.v.].
In 2005, the government arrested 31 citizens suspected of being members of the secret Bashaer military group aiming to subvert the government. After the court had found them guilty and sentenced them to one to 20 years in jail, Sultan Qaboos pardoned them.
The next year Oman signed a Free Trade Agreement with the United States. And in 2007 it became a member of the World Trade Organization.
Inspired by the peaceful demonstrations in Bahrain in mid-February 2011, the protestors in Muscat demanded higher salaries, an end to corruption, less official control of the media, and an equitable distribution of oil wealth. Those participating in a sit–in outside the Consultative Council building from 1 March onward demanded that the council be given real powers of legislation. The 27 February protest in the industrial port of Sohar, with an oil terminal for exports, had turned violent, with a shopping mall set ablaze, and the police firings of rubber bullets had killed two demonstrators. With this, the unrest had spread to a few oilfields.
Sultan Qaboos appointed a committee to draft proposals for boosting the power of the elected Consultative Council. He reshuffled the cabinet, firing unpopular ministers, and abolished ministry of national economy, known to be corrupt. After raising the salaries in the public sector, he mandated increase in the minimum wages in the private sector from $364 a month to $520. He doubled social security benefits.
RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION (2011 est.): Among Muslim [q.v.] nationals, Ibadhi [q.v.] 75 percent, Sunnis [q.v.] 18 percent, Shia [q.v.] 9 percent. The non–nationals were affiliated to Islam, Christianity [q.v.], and Hinduism.
Omani Civil War (1963–76): In 1963 the Dhofar region, annexed by the Sultan of Oman in 1876 and covering two–fifths of the sultanate, erupted into a secessionist rebellion. Within two years the uprising had turned into a sustained armed struggle led by the Dhofari Liberation Front (DLF). The leftists' capture of power in adjoining South Yemen in November 1967 gave a boost to the DLF. In September 1968 it decided to extend its revolutionary activities to the rest of Oman and other Gulf states, and changed its name to the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf (PFLOAG) [q.v.]. Having secured large parts of Dhofar, the PFLOAG launched campaigns against slavery, illiteracy, tribalism, and the oppression of women.
With two–thirds of Dhofar under its control, the PFLOAG extended its guerrilla activity to the core region of the sultanate in June 1970. This alarmed the British government, the dominant political and commercial power in the country, which engineered a coup in July and replaced the old, inflexible Sultan Said bin Taimur [q.v.] with his young son, Qaboos [q.v.]. Qaboos initiated socio-political reform and modernization, and rapid expansion of the military under the British aegis. In response, the PFLOAG decided in July 1971 to lower the party's objective of achieving a socialist revolution to that of a national democratic revolution, and opened its membership to non–Marxist nationalists. The party was renamed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arab Gulf [q.v.], but the acronym remained the same (PFLOAG).
The resulting increase in the strength of the PFLOAG enabled it to withstand the repeated offensives that the British–led Omani troops, in conjunction with Britain's counterinsurgency force, the Special Air Service (SAS), mounted between October 1971 and December 1972. By recruiting a large number of Pakistani mercenaries, Sultan Qaboos expanded his military—fivefold, to 12,500. He also received generous funding from Saudi Arabia to purchase arms, and Iran lent him helicopters. When these measures failed to defeat PFLOAG insurgents, Tehran dispatched troops to Dhofar in 1973, and the guerrillas suffered setbacks as a result of the increased size of their enemy.
In July 1974, PFLOAG leaders decided to concentrate on Oman, and therefore renamed their Organization the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman (PFLO) [q.v.]. In 1975, whereas foreign assistance to Oman increased sharply, with Iran introducing more combat troops, Jordan and Egypt sending military advisers, and Saudi Arabia donating money, the external aid for the PFLO dried up. Following the Algiers Accord in March 1975 [q.v.], Iraq withdrew its backing for the PFLO. With Saudi Arabia offering a rapprochement to South Yemen, the latter ceased to assist the PFLO.
In October 1975 the Omani military, working in conjunction with some 25,000 Iranian troops and Britain's SAS units, launched a major offensive against PFLO guerrillas, estimated to be 5,000 to 10,000 strong. By December, the Omani government claimed to have crushed the revolutionary movement at the cost of some 400 Omani, British, Iranian, and Jordanian troops. Saudi Arabia helped to negotiate a truce in 1976, whereby an amnesty was offered to those who had fought on the PFLO side.
Operation Cast Lead: See Gaza War (2008–09)/Israel–Hamas War (2008–09).
Operation Desert Fox: Relations between Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] and the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) [q.v.] on disarming Iraq of weapons of mass destruction deteriorated when Richard Butler, an Australian disarmament specialist, replaced Rolf Ekeus, a Swedish diplomat, as head of UNSCOM in mid-1997. A crisis with the UN in February 1998 was defused by the last-minute intervention of UN Secretary–General, Kofi Annan, who met Saddam Hussein in Baghdad [q.v.]. But the agreement lasted only until mid-December when the United States, assisted by the United Kingdom, mounted its four–day Operation Desert Fox after Butler had withdrawn UN inspectors from Iraq on the private advice of Peter Burleigh, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, without even informing other Security Council members. The U.S. fired 415 Cruise and Tomahawk missiles (90 more than during the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.]) and dropped 600 laser–guided bombs on 100 Iraqi targets.
China, France, and Russia condemned the U.S.–U.K. action. The breach among the Permanent Five members of the Security Council was so severe that it took a whole year before the Council adopted a new resolution on the subject—1284— with China, France, and Russia abstaining. Saddam Hussein's efforts to have the Arab League [q.v.] foreign ministers' meeting in January 1999 condemn the Anglo–American action and demand the lifting of sanctions on Iraq failed. Equally, Washington's attempt to get the Gulf monarchies involved in overthrowing Saddam Hussein got nowhere.
Operation Big Pines: See Israeli Invasion of Lebanon (1982).
Operation Desert Saber: See Gulf War II (1991).
Operation Desert Storm: See Gulf War II (1991).
Operation Grapes of Wrath: See Israel–Hizbollah War (2006).
Operation Litani: See Israeli Invasion of Lebanon (1978).
Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries: The Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) was formed in Kuwait [q.v.] in January 1968 in the aftermath of the Arab defeat in the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], and consisted of Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, and Saudi Arabia. Membership in OAPEC required oil to be the main source of national income, and its objective was to safeguard the interests of its members. In 1970 Qatar joined the organization. In 1971 the condition that oil be the chief source of income was dropped. With the subsequent addition of Bahrain, Egypt, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates, its membership rose to 10 by 1973.
During the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], OAPEC members, reacting to U.S. President Richard Nixon's order to airlift weapons to Israel on a massive scale, decided on 17 October to cut output by 5 percent of the September figure, and to maintain the same rate of reduction each month until the Israeli forces had withdrawn from all Arab territories occupied during the 1967 War and the Palestinians' legitimate rights had been restored. Consumer countries were categorized as friendly, neutral, or hostile to the Arab cause. Friendly nations were to be supplied at the September level, neutral nations at a reduced level, and hostile ones not at all. OAPEC also confirmed the steep price rise decided earlier by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.]. Saudi Arabia ordered a 25 percent cut in its output, then running at 8 million barrels a day, but Iraq ignored the OAPEC decision.
The embargo hurt the U.S., reducing its annual gross domestic product by $10–20 billion. Aware of the anticommunist views of the Saudi monarch, Faisal bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.], Edward Heath, prime minister of Britain (which was not on the Arab oil boycott list), warned him that any prolonged oil squeeze would, by weakening the West, strengthen Communism. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat [q.v.], working in conjunction with U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, convinced Faisal to end the boycott. Faisal and Sadat then prevailed upon the other members of OAPEC to end the five–month embargo on 18 March 1974 as a token of Arab goodwill to the West—even though the Israelis had not withdrawn from anywhere in the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.] and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people had not been restored.
Following the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] in 1979, Egypt was suspended from OAPEC's membership. It was readmitted a decade later. During the Kuwait crisis of 1990–91 caused by the emirate's occupation by Iraq, OAPEC headquarters was moved to Cairo [q.v.].
Even though its output was more than 700,000 barrels a day in the early 1990s, Oman did not apply to join OAPEC. In 2009 its membership rose to 11 with the addition of Tunisia.
In 2010, OAPEC's total output of 21.38 million barrels per day was 26 percent of the global aggregate.
Organization of Islamic Conference: See Islamic Conference Organization.
Organization of Islamic Cooperation: See Islamic Cooperation Organization.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.] is an international body to coordinate the hydrocarbon policies of its constituents. Following a meeting in Baghdad [q.v.] in September 1960 of the representatives of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela, it was formally inaugurated in January 1961 in Geneva (the headquarters was moved to Vienna in 1965). Its subsequent members included Qatar (1961), Indonesia, and Libya (1962); Abu Dhabi (1967), which transferred to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 1974; Algeria (1969); Nigeria (1971); Ecuador (1973); and Gabon (1975).
The major oil companies were opposed to OPEC's aims and policies, outlined in June 1962. The OPEC document stated that, until the final goal of nationalization of hydrocarbon resources had been achieved, the government of a member state should ensure that the contracted arrangements with the concessionaires specify maximum governmental participation and control over all aspects of their operations. It called on the member states to set a tax reference price and gradually reduce the area of existing concessions. The oil majors were particularly opposed to OPEC's demand that they must maintain accounts as stipulated by the local government and make them available at all times for official inspection.
Between 1948 and 1960 the average rate of return on the capital of oil corporations operating in the Gulf [q.v.], producing nearly a third of the global output in 1960, was 111 percent. In 1968 British Petroleum, Royal Dutch–Shell, and five American oil majors— Exxon, Gulf, Mobil, SOCAL, and Texaco—together controlled 77.9 percent of world oil production, 60.9 percent of refining, and 55.6 percent of the marketing facilities. But with many independent American petroleum corporations, as well as Japanese and Italian companies, offering favorable terms to the producing countries and acquiring an increasingly important role in the industry, the situation changed.
In 1970 Libya's year–old radical republican regime imposed production cuts on oil companies as a pressure tactic to secure higher taxes and royalties. To offset the ripple effect, the oil majors negotiated with Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia as the representatives of all Gulf [q.v.] producer territories, reaching a satisfactory arrangement in February 1971. In October 1972 the national oil companies of Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia acquired 25 percent of the shares of the foreign concessionaires, with an agreement for a further 2.5 percent annual increase in shareholding for the next decade.
In September 1973, aware of the energy crisis facing their main Western consumer countries and intent on securing compensation for the latest devaluation of the U.S. dollar (the currency used in oil trade), OPEC members decided to double the price, from $2.55 to $5.09 a barrel. The talks with the oil majors on the subject scheduled for October were postponed due to the outbreak of the Arab–Israeli War [q.v.]. The hawkish stand taken by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) [q.v.] during the conflict led to the earlier OPEC price rise remaining in force without the consent of the oil majors. In late November Algeria raised the price of its crude from $4.80 to $9.25 a barrel, and three weeks later the oil ministers of the eight Gulf States [q.v.] pushed the figure to $11.65, effective from 1 January 1974. This became the price of OPEC, then producing 55 percent of the world's oil. Thus within three months the price jumped from $2.55 to $11.65, with the host government's average earnings per barrel rising from $1.38 to $7.
In 1976 OPEC produced more than half of the global output and provided seven–eighths of the exports. Within OPEC Saudi Arabia became the swing producer to quickly raise or reduce output to balance the market and to help maintain the price fixed by OPEC.
To offset inflation in the West and the concomitant diminution in the value of the U.S. dollar, OPEC raised the oil price thrice in five years, taking it to about $14 a barrel in mid–1977. The comparative stability of price and supplies was shaken in late 1978 by the political turmoil in Iran. Responding to a call by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], the oil workers of Iran went on strike, halting Iranian oil exports, then running at 4.5 million barrels a day. The disruption of supplies in the winter of 1978–79 pushed up the price to $28 a barrel. After the price rise in 1980, when OPEC produced 45 percent of the global total, its unity became frayed mainly because of the outbreak of war between its two important members, Iran and Iraq.
On 30 March 1983, OPEC received a blow when the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) introduced crude oil futures. This development, introduced against the background of falling oil demand in the West, weakened OPEC's price–setting clout further. Prices started sliding.
The flooding of the market by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in 1986, aimed at weakening Iran in its war with Iraq, lowered the price to below $10 a barrel in April and severely damaged OPEC's clout. With the departure in 1992 of Ecuador, following its failure to obtain a higher quota, OPEC's membership stood at 12. Ecuador's example was followed by Gabon in 1996, and this reduced OPEC's size to 11 members—with all, except Venezuela, being Muslim majority states.
In December 1996, when Iraq reentered the world oil market after an absence of over eight years, OPEC made it exempt from its quota system to enable it to repair and rebuild its shattered infrastructure. Its decision in late 1997 to increase its overall output by 10 percent at the behest of Saudi Arabia caused a dramatic drop in price which fell below $10 a barrel in early 1999. Subsequent cuts in production lifted the price to above $34 in March 2000. Six months later at the OPEC summit hosted by the current chairman, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, in Caracas, to celebrate OPEC's 40th anniversary, the leaders resolved to promote market stability by developing "remunerative, stable, and competitive" pricing policies. The result was an agreement to maintain the price of an oil barrel in the $22–28 range.
A spike in oil prices came in the wake of the Anglo–American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in 2003, a decision in which none of the OPEC members was involved. Equally, the price explosion, which pushed the figure to a record $147 a barrel, had more to do with the falling exchange value of the U.S. dollar, leading investors and speculators to direct their funds into such commodities as oil and gold, than any decisions taken by OPEC members. Nonetheless, with the deepest recession in the West since the Great Depression of the 1930s ravaging the economies of the Western nations in 2008–09, OPEC curtailed its aggregate output by a record 4.2 million barrels per day. And yet the price plummeted to $33 a barrel in December 2008 before stabilizing at around $75 a barrel for most of 2009.
When Indonesia became a net importer of oil in 2008, it withdrew from OPEC. A year earlier OPEC had acquired Angola as its latest member. So its total membership stood at 12. In 2009 Iran and Venezuela became the first OPEC members to price their petroleum in euros instead of U.S. dollars.
The main weakness of OPEC is that it lacks the authority to enforce the quotas it decides for its members every quarter. There is also an inbuilt conflict between OPEC members with (a) large populations—Algeria, Iran, Iraq, and Nigeria, and (b) small populations and large reserves— Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Those in category (b) are more interested in extracting as much oil as soon as possible—even if that lowers price—whereas those in category (a) want to restrict output and achieve higher prices in order to improve the living standards of their people. Over the years, buffeted by wild price swings, the two groups have managed to devise a compromise. And, to offset low prices of oil, OPEC has made successful deals with such leading non–OPEC producers as Mexico, Norway, Oman, and Russia to cut output in order to improve prices.
In 2010, at 34.32 million barrels per day, OPEC's output was 41.2 percent of the global total. See also Oil Prices.
Oriental Jews: The term applied to non-Ladino–speaking Jews [q.v.] from the Arab countries, Iran, India, or Central Asia. In biblical times their ancestors left Palestine [q.v.] for North Africa or the Middle East [q.v.]—from where they migrated to Central Asia or the Indian subcontinent. While their religion set them apart from their hosts, they underwent cultural assimilation and adopted the local language as their own. In the late 1960s the 1.5 million Oriental Jews formed about one-ninth of the world's Jewry. They were the dominant group among the Jews in Palestine under the Ottomans. But since the Jewish migrations into Palestine between 1882 and 1939 did not include Oriental Jews (except 45,000 from North Yemen), their proportion in the Jewish community in Palestine declined to about one-fifth of the total on the eve of World War II. However, following the 1948–49 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], Oriental Jews started to arrive in Israel in large numbers.
Given their higher birth rate, within a generation they formed half of the Jewish population and became a majority during the next decade. But due to the influx of 540,000 Jews from the former Soviet Union between 1990 and 1994, they lost their majority status to Ashkenazim [q.v.], a trend that continued with further immigration of the ex–Soviet Jews. Even though only the Jews who originated in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean followed Sephardic [q.v.] rituals and practices, others coming from such countries as Yemen, Iraq, and India, following different rituals and practices, affiliated to the Sephardic chief rabbinate in order to receive public funds for their newly established synagogues [q.v.].
As for the government, it classifies those Jews born abroad in its annual Statistical Abstract of Israel according to the continent(s) of origin: Europe-America–Oceania (meaning, for all practical purposes, Ashkenazim), Asia, and Africa (taken together, meaning Sephardim). Strictly speaking, the term "Oriental Jew" is geographical, whereas the label "Sephardim" is sectarian. However, to describe someone originating in Morocco, Algeria, or Tunisia—part of the Arab West [q.v.]—as "Oriental" is inexact. The most logical, and ethnically correct, term is "Arab/Arabic Jew" [q.v.], which parallels "European Jew" or "American Jew." See also Arab Jews and Sephardim.
Orthodox Christians/Church (Greek: derivative of orthodoxos, right opinion): (Official title: Orthodox Catholic Church; also known as the Orthodox Eastern Church or the Eastern Church) The term applies, literally, to those who follow the right doctrine and not a heretical or heterodox one. As for church denominations, the term applies to the historic churches of Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia, which split from the Western Church based in Rome. They accepted the decrees of the first seven ecumenical councils, held between 325 A.D. and 787 A.D. But the drift between the Western Church led by the Pope in Rome, with Latin as the official language, and the (Orthodox) Eastern Church, led by the Patriarch and based in Constantinople (now Istanbul), with Greek as the official language, became unbridgeable with the challenge to papal authority by Patriarch Photius in the ninth century A.D., and irreversible with the mutual excommunication of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Michael Cerularius, and Pope Leo IX in 1054. The Crusades (1095–1272) further embittered feelings between the two sides, and numerous attempts at reconciliation failed.
The Orthodox churches are noted for their rich liturgical practices and devotional use of icons, but the relationship of various churches with one another is complex. The term Greek Church is applied to the Church of Greece, churches whose liturgy is in Greek, and those affiliated to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. There are six other national churches in the (Orthodox) Eastern community: the Churches of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland, Rumania, Russia, and Yugoslavia, the most important being the Russian [q.v.].
Orthodox Christians, Armenian: See Armenian Orthodox Church.
Orthodox Christians, Greek: See Greek Orthodox Church.
Orthodox Christians, Gregorian: See Armenian Orthodox Church.
Orthodox Christians, Russian: See Russian Orthodox Church.
Orthodox Christians, Syrian: (Also known as the Jacobite Church) Unlike other Orthodox churches, the Syrian Orthodox Church rejects the doctrine of the fourth ecumenical council at Chalcedon (451 A.D.), which defined Christ as one person with two natures (human and divine), and accepts that Christ had one nature, as in the monophystic doctrine. The Church was founded in the sixth century by Jacob Baradaeus, assisted by Empress Theodara. Its head is the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, based in Damascus [q.v.]; its rite is the Antiochene [q.v.]; and its liturgical language is Syriac. The church has a following in Syria, Iraq, and India.
Orthodox Eastern Church: See Orthodox Christians/Church.
Orthodox Judaism: Orthodox Jews are those who follow strictly traditional beliefs and practices. They believe, among other things, that Halacha [q.v.] does not change with time, and that only exceptionally well–qualified authorities can interpret it. They engage in daily worship as well as participate in traditional prayers and ceremonies, study Torah [q.v.], and observe dietary laws and the Sabbath [q.v.]. They separate men and women in the synagogue, where music during the communal service is banned. Orthodox rabbis have successfully challenged the legitimacy of certain nonOrthodox marriages, divorces, and conversions in Israel [q.v.].
In 2010, of the 14.3 million Jews [q.v. ] worldwide, nearly two million were Orthodox. Of these about a half lived in Israel, and another 750,000 in the United States.
Oslo Accord I: See Israeli–Palestine Organization Accord.
Oslo Accord II: See Washington Accord (1995).
Oslo Accords: The term includes Oslo Accord I [q.v.] and Oslo Accord II [q.v.].
Oz, Amos (1939–): Israeli writer Born Amos Klausner of a scholarly family in Jerusalem [q.v.], Oz left the city to live in a kibbutz (Hulda), and pursued his further education from there. His first collection of short stories, Lands of the Jackals (1965), and his first novel, Another Place (1966), were set in kibbutz surroundings. His novella Unto Death (1971) was an allegory about a group of crusaders intent on exorcising the Jew among them. In My Michael (1972) he used the central character, Hannah Gonen, as a metaphor for Jerusalem between 1948 and 1967. In Touch the Water, Touch the Wind (1973) he returned to the kibbutz with the story of two Jews [q.v.] who had survived the Holocaust. In his novels Perfect Peace (1982) and Black Box (1987), he argued that ideological conviction was a crutch an individual leaned on when his inner world collapsed. To Know a Woman (1991) was about a former Mossad [q.v.] agent who scoured the world deciphering codes and unraveling plots but failed to understand his wife. Fima (1993) centered on a Jewish Walter Mitty, a man with big dreams but a shaky grip on reality.
A political activist, Oz was close to Pinchas Lavon [q.v.] and joined his Min HaYesod group. He was injured in the 1956 Suez War [q.v.] and the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.]. Following the latter conflict he opposed those who wanted to annex the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.]. One of the cofounders of the dovish Moked (1973) and Shelli (1977) groups, he was prominent in the Peace Now [q.v.] movement, which emerged in late 1977 after Egyptian president Anwar Sadat's [q.v.] visit to Jerusalem. On the eve of the 1981 general election, he returned to the Labor [q.v.] fold and campaigned for it.
His essays and articles on politics, ideology, and literature have been published in several volumes: In the Powerful Blue Light (1979); In the Land of Israel (1983); Perfect Peace (1993); Israel, Palestine and Peace (1994); Under This Blazing Light (1996); The Story Begins: Essays on Literature (1999); The Story Begins: Essays on Literature (2003); and The Story Begins: Essays on Literature (2006). A Tale of Love and Darkness (2003), his memoir of coming of age during the birth pangs of Israel, was translated into 25 languages, won prizes in nine countries, and sold more than one million copies.
His fiction includes Panther in the Basement (1998), a story of a 12–year old Jewish boy in Palestine [q.v.] during the last year of the British Mandate; The Same Sea (1999), a prose poem centered on accountant Albert, a tale of family love and erotic longing; The Silence of Heaven (2000); Suddenly in the Depth of the Forest (2005); Rhyming Life and Death (2007); Scenes from Village Life (2009); and Between Friends (2012).
He was awarded the Israel Prize for literature in 1998. Ten years later he received the German President's High Honor Award.
P
Pahlavi, Muhammad Reza Shah (1919–80): Shah-en–shah (King of Kings) of Iran, 1941—79 Born in Tehran [q.v.], Pahlavi was educated at a private school in Switzerland and the Tehran Military Academy. He succeeded his father, Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.], in September 1941, who abdicated in his favor when, angered at his neutrality in World War II, British and Soviet troops started marching toward Tehran.
Pahlavi allowed Iranian territory to be used by the Allies for supplies to the Soviet Union to bolster its capacity to fight Nazi Germany. At home he placated the clerical establishment, which had been alienated by his father. It was only after the Soviet troops had withdrawn in May 1946 and the Iranian forces had quelled autonomous governments in Kurdistan [q.v.] and Azerbaijan [q.v.] in December that he was able to exercise authority over all of Iran.
Following a failed assassination attempt on him in February 1949, he imposed martial law and banned the Tudeh Party [q.v.]. However, in his tussle with the nationalist Premier Muhammad Mussadiq [q.v.], Pahlavi reluctantly yielded to the parliament's decision to nationalize the British-owned Anglo–Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) in 1951. The subsequent power struggle led to the flight of Pahlavi to Rome on 16 August 1953. But three days later, aided by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and royalist military officers, he staged a comeback.
This inaugurated a period in Iran's history when the U.S. replaced Britain as the dominant Western power. American companies were preeminent in the Western oil consortium, which was given a contract to run Iran's petroleum industry on behalf of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). After joining the Western–sponsored Baghdad Pact [q.v.] in 1955, Pahlavi subscribed to the Eisenhower Doctrine [q.v.] two years later. At home he established a political police force under military officers, later called Savak (Persian; Sazman-e Amniyat Va Ittilaat-e Keshvar, Organization of National Security and Intelligence), with strong ties with the CIA, Israel's Mossad [q.v.], and Turkey's National Intelligence Service.
Under pressure from U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Pahlavi initiated a land reform program in 1961. To overcome resistance by the parliament, he dissolved it and ruled by decree. This led to increased opposition, including from Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.]. In January 1963 he launched a six–point White Revolution [q.v.] and called a referendum on it. By repressing the groups that called for a boycott of the referendum, he won 91 percent approval.
His conflict with Khomeini reached a climax in June, and led to a nationwide uprising. He crushed it by deploying the army, reportedly causing thousands of deaths. Following a general election in September 1963, he eased his grip over the nation slightly. But when, after his release from prison in April 1964, Khomeini resumed his opposition, Pahlavi expelled him from Iran in November.
He further strengthened Iran's economic, military, and cultural ties with the West. To persuade the Western oil consortium to increase its output his government gave it additional concessions. The two ambitious Five–Year Plans between 1963 and 1972 accelerated economic development in agriculture and industry, and raised literacy. In October 1971, Pahlavi celebrated 2,500 years of "unbroken" monarchy in Iran (a claim disputed by most historians) at the ancient capital of Persepolis, near Shiraz [q.v.].
On the 10th anniversary of the White Revolution in January 1973, Pahlavi announced nationalization of the Western oil consortium. The petroleum price jump in 1973–74 boosted Iran's export revenue and fired the grandiose ambitions of Pahlavi. The inflated Five–Year Plan of 1973–77, involving inter alia high expenditure on Western arms purchases, overheated the economy, causing rapid migration of rural workers to cities, high inflation, and rampant corruption.
With all avenues of secular opposition blocked by Pahlavi's regime, more and more Iranians turned to the mosque and clergy to express their growing discontent. Under pressure from the newly elected U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Pahlavi started to moderate his repression of the opposition. This emboldened the dissenters, both secular and religious. Guided by Khomeini, based since 1965 in the Iraqi city of Najaf [q.v.], religious and secular opposition forces banded together to mount a popular revolutionary movement aiming to depose Pahlavi. It surged to the extent that it immobilized the vital oil industry and caused the disintegration of Pahlavi's 413,000-strong military. His last–minute ploy to appoint a dissenter, Shahpur Bakhtiar [q.v.], as prime minister failed.
On 16 January 1979 he left Iran, ostensibly for a holiday in Aswan, Egypt. He was allowed to enter the U.S. clandestinely in October for medical treatment. The post–Pahlavi government of Iran demanded his extradition to face charges of violating the country's 1906–07 constitution, which was refused. In March 1980, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] invited him to Cairo [q.v.]. He died there four months later, leaving behind his widow, Farah, and their only son, Reza Cyrus.
Pahlavi, Reza Shah (1878–1944): Shah-en–shah (King of Kings) of Iran, 1925—41 Son of a military officer in a village in northern Mazandaran province, Pahlavi joined the army as a youth. He rose through the ranks, becoming commander of the elite Cossack Brigade with the rank of colonel. At Britain's behest, he overthrew the government in February 1921 and forced the monarch, Ahmad Shah Qajar, to appoint his nominee as premier. Pahlavi became war minister in the first cabinet. Later he took over the premiership as well.
By crushing tribal and other revolts he raised his popular standing. In October 1925, at his instigation, parliament deposed Ahmad Shah Qajar and appointed Pahlavi as regent. Two months later, a freshly elected constituent assembly proclaimed Pahlavi (who had chosen Pahlavi [q.v.] as his surname) shah-en–shah (king of kings) of Iran.
Pahlavi centralized and modernized the state, creating a national civil service and police force. He quickened the pace of economic development, fueled by oil revenues. He unilaterally cancelled the economic privileges given to leading European nations over the past century, and increased tariffs on imports. He pressured the Anglo–Persian Oil Company in 1932 to increase its oil royalties and reduced its concessionaire area by 80 percent.
To create a national Iranian identity out of many ethnic ones, he required all males, by law, to wear Western–style dress and a round peaked cap. He ordered all public places and educational institutions to admit women. He reduced the powers and scope of the Sharia [q.v.] courts and strengthened the secular, state courts. By manipulating elections he reduced the share of clerics in parliament from 40 percent in the Sixth Majlis [q.v.] (1926–28) to none in the Eleventh Majlis (1936–38). The building of 14,000 miles of roads and the Trans–Iranian Railway by August 1938 boosted industrialization.
After the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany in 1933, Pahlavi tried to use Berlin as a counterpoint to the commercial and political dominance of London and Moscow. By the time World War II started in September 1939, Germany accounted for nearly half of Iran's foreign trade. Pahlavi declared Iran's neutrality in the conflict. The Allies saw the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 as part of a pincer movement, its other arm being Germany's thrust into North Africa. In late August, Soviet and British troops invaded Iran at five points. Fearing an imminent march of Soviet troops into Tehran, Pahlavi abdicated on 16 September in favor of his eldest son, Muhammad Reza [q.v.]. He left for the British–ruled island of Mauritius, and then for South Africa.
Pahlavi dynasty: Following a law passed in the spring of 1925, which required all Iranian citizens to acquire a birth certificate and a surname, Reza Khan (later Reza Shah) [q.v.], then Iran's prime minister and commander in chief, chose his family name, Pahlavi [q.v. ]. It was the language of Persians [q.v.] from the third to the tenth century A.D. The dynastic rule of the Pahlavis lasted from 1925 to January 1979, when Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] left the country.
Pahlavi language: Pahlavi evolved in the second century B.C. under the rule of the kings of Parthia, modern northeast Iran [q.v.]. Its alphabet, developed from Aramaic, was written from right to left. It was the principal language of Persians from the third to the tenth century A.D., and the official language of the Sassanians (r. 226–640 A.D.). Zoroastrian [q.v.] literature was written in Pahlavi.
Palestine: (Greek: Palaistina, derivative of Pleshet, Land of Philistines in Hebrew) Also known as the Holy Land because it is sacred to Jews [q.v.], Christians [q.v.], and Muslims [q.v.].
INHABITANTS AND CONQUERORS:
Canaanites and Philistines, before 1250 B.C. and from 1250–1030 B.C.
Israelites, 1030–586 B.C.
Babylonians, 586–538 B.C.
Persians, 538–332 B.C.
Greeks, 332–166 B.C.
Maccabeans (Jews), 166–63 B.C.
(Pagan) Romans, 63 B.C.–323 A.D.
(Christian) Romans, 323–614 A.D.
Persians, 614–628 A.D.
(Christian) Byzantine Romans, 628–637 A.D.
(Muslim) Arabs, 637–1072 A.D.
(Muslim) Turks, 1072–1092.
(Muslim) Arabs, 1092–1099.
(Christian) Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1100–1187.
(Muslim) Arabs, 1187–1517.
(Muslim) Turks/Ottomans, 1517–1917.
(Christian) British, 1918–48.
HISTORY: In the second century A.D. the Roman emperors called the southern third of their province of Syria, including former Judea [q.v.], Syria Palestina. There has been much variation in the boundaries of Palestine, which has been ruled by Egyptians, Assyrians, Israelites, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks under Alexander of Macedonia and his successors, the Ptolemies and Seleucids, Maccabeans (Jews), Byzantine Romans, Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, Crusaders, Ayubids, Malmukes, Ottomans, and British.
Under the Ottomans (r. 15171917) there was no single administrative unit called Palestine. What was to emerge as Palestine under the British Mandate (area 10,435 sq. mi./27,027 sq. km) had existed as three territories under the Ottomans: the southern zone, called the sanjak (Turkish: district) of Jerusalem [q.v.]; the northern area as part of the vilayat (Turkish: province) of Beirut; and Jerusalem and its suburbs, administered directly by Constantinople (now Istanbul). Yet Britain's Balfour Declaration [q.v.] of November 1917 referred to the "establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people."
The Ottoman offensive against the Allies in Palestine in 1915 had made Britain realize the strategic importance of Palestine as a buffer to safeguard Egypt and the Suez Canal [q.v.], Britain's lifeline to its empire in India. Therefore, Britain insisted on, and acquired, a mandate—a variant of trusteeship—over Palestine at the meeting of the Supreme Council of the League of Nations in San Remo, Italy, in April 1920. Approved by the League in July 1922, the Mandate went into effect in September 1923.
Instead of preparing Palestine for independence—which London had visualized for Iraq—Britain contrived to hold on to it, making full use of the Balfour Declaration, which had been incorporated into the Mandate. The discovery of oil in Iraq in 1927 gave further impetus to the British government to consolidate its grip over Palestine, which was a gateway to the Iraqi oilfields through the British protectorate of Transjordan [q.v.] (now Jordan).
As a result the percentage of Jews [q.v.] in the Palestinian population rose from 8 percent in 1918 to 18 in 1931. The fifth Jewish wave of immigration, from 1932 to May 1939, brought a further 225,000 Jewish migrants into Palestine. Among other things this led to an Arab uprising that lasted from 1936 to 1939 and resulted in the death of 3,232 Arabs [q.v.], 329 Jews, and 135 Britons. Responding to the persistent uprising, and anxious to retain Arab goodwill in the region and access to the crucial oilfields in Iran in the increasingly likely event of war with Germany, Britain's White Paper of May 1939 limited Jewish immigration to 75,000 over the next five years and offered an outline of an independent, bi–national state in Palestinian by 1949. Earlier, in 1937, the Arabs had rejected the Peel Commission's recommendation to partition Palestine, creating a Jewish state on the coastal plain and Galilee, and an Arab state to be attached to Transjordan.
Tensions were eased by World War II, in which both Arabs and Jews cooperated with Britain. Nearly 43,000 Jews of both sexes joined the Allied military, and 10,000 of them became part of the British Nile Army. After the war the Anglo–American Commission on Palestine recommended in April 1946 that the British should continue the Mandate. The decision of the Zionist Organization [q.v.] in December to demand an independent Jewish state in Palestine ended whatever hopes London had of solving the problem on its own. It therefore placed the issue before the General Assembly of the United Nations. Its Special Committee on Palestine recommended in August 1947 that Palestine be partitioned—with 45.4 percent of the area going to the Arabs, who made up 70 percent of the population, and 53.5 percent to the Jews, who constituted 30 percent of the population and owned 6 percent of the land. The remaining 1.1 percent, covering Jerusalem and its suburbs, was to be placed under international control.
On 29 November the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, specifying partition, by 33 votes (including the eight–strong Soviet bloc) to 13, with 12 abstentions (including Britain). The Arab states challenged the right of the UN General Assembly to partition a country against the wishes of the majority of its inhabitants, proposing that the International Court of Justice should rule on the subject. But their proposal was defeated by 21 votes to 20 in the General Assembly. The Jews accepted the partition plan warmly, the Arabs rejected it angrily. Interethnic violence erupted immediately, and intensified as Britain's withdrawal date of 15 May 1948 approached. By that date some 300,000 Arabs had fled from the areas allocated to the Jews by the UN partition plan. The establishment of the State of Israel led to war between the Zionist forces and the Arab armies. See Arab–Israeli War I.
Palestine Liberation Army: The Palestine Liberation Army (PLA), the military wing of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.], was established in 1964. It was posted in different Arab countries, including Egypt and Syria. Its tank units, stationed in Syria, advanced into northern Jordan during the fighting between the PLO and the Jordanian army in September 1970. Lacking air cover from Syria, they retreated when attacked by the Jordanian air force.
After the PLO moved to Beirut [q.v.] in 1972, the PLA consisted of 8,000 to 10,000 troops organized into three brigades, two of which were integrated into the Syrian army. During the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], between October 1975 and January 1976, Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] dispatched two brigades of the Syrian–officered PLA from Damascus [q.v.] to Lebanon to help the PLO–Lebanese National Movement [q.v.] alliance. But in June, under orders from Assad, these brigades changed sides and backed the right–wing Maronite [q.v.] forces. When Syria redeployed its peacekeeping forces in Lebanon in early 1980, it ceded many of their positions to the PLA. After the June 1982 Israeli invasion [q.v.], the Palestinian forces that left Beirut in early September included 3,500 PLA troops.
Following the break between PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat [q.v.] and Assad in 1983, the PLA in Syria became estranged from the mainstream PLO. In late 1983 the PLA units, backed by the Syrians, encircled Arafat's 5,000 commandos in Tripoli [q.v.], Lebanon, and defeated them.
The 8,144 PLO commandos who had been dispersed from Beirut in 1982 to Tunisia, Libya, North Yemen, Jordan, and Iraq were reconstituted as the Palestine National Liberation Army (PNLA), with the host country supervising them. A decade later the strength of the PNLA was put at 11,000. They were stationed in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, and Yemen. Another 4,500 troops, still bearing the old name of Palestine Liberation Army and based in Syria, had nothing to do with the PNLA.
Following the Israeli–PLO Accord [q.v.] in September 1993, a minority of the PNLA ranks, having retrained as policemen in Egypt, were recruited into the 10,500–strong police force of the Palestinian Authority (PA) [q.v.]. The estimated strength of Palestinian troops stationed in other Arab countries was 8,000. Later most of them returned to the Palestinian areas controlled by the PA as civilians.
Palestine Liberation Organization: An umbrella body, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was set up in early 1964 to enable Palestinians to play their part in liberating Palestine [q.v.] and determining their own future. The decision to form the PLO was taken at a summit of the Arab League [q.v.] which, by virtue of an annex to its charter, had assumed the right to select an Arab [q.v.] Palestinian to take part in its activities.
The PLO held its first congress in May–June 1964 in East Jerusalem [q.v.], then under Jordanian control, where it adopted the Palestine National Charter [q.v.], which called for the establishment of a democratic and secular state in the Palestine constituted by the British Mandate. Each of the affiliated bodies was represented on the Palestine National Council (PNC) [q.v.], which elected a central council and an executive committee.
The PLO's importance increased in the aftermath of the defeat suffered by the Arab states in the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.]. A change in the charter in 1968, which declared armed struggle to be the only way to liberate Palestine, paved the way for the affiliation of radical groups. In 1969 Yasser Arafat [q.v.], leader of Fatah [q.v.], the largest of the parties affiliated to the PLO, became its chairman, replacing Yahya Hamuda, who had taken over from Ahmad Shuqairi [q.v.] after the June 1967 War.
After the Arab–Israeli War of October 1973 [q.v.], the PNC adopted the idea of a Palestinian state in the Occupied Territories [q.v.] as a transient stage for the liberation of all Mandate Palestine in June 1974. Later that year the Arab League recognized the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people and granted it membership of the League.
Arafat participated in a debate on the Palestine question at the UN General Assembly in mid-November 1974. On 22 November, UN General Assembly Resolution 3236, describing the PLO as "the representative of the Palestinian people," reaffirmed the Palestinians' right to self–determination and national independence and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and property. The motion was carried by 89 votes to 8, with 37 abstentions. The PLO was given observer status at the UN by 95 votes to 17, with 19 abstentions. Dr. Zehdi Terzi became the PLO's first representative to the UN, and he was invited to a UN Security Council session on the Palestinian issue in December to participate in the debate. On 22 January 1975 the UN Security Council endorsed the General Assembly's stand by adopting a resolution affirming the Palestinians right to establish an independent state. But the resolution was vetoed by the U.S. administration of President Gerald Ford.
By the late 1970s the PLO had won the formal recognition of over 100 countries, far more than Israel. Its annual budget of $500 million consisted of $350 million in grants by oil–rich Arab states and $150 million in indirect Palestine taxes collected by the Arab states, mainly in the Gulf [q.v.], all of which were paid into the Palestine National Fund [q.v.]. It commanded about 23,000 armed guerrillas and 8,000 to 10,000 troops of the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA).
The groups affiliated to the PLO were the Arab Liberation Front, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine [q.v.], Fatah [q.v.], the Palestine Communist Party [q.v.], the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [q.v.], the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine–General Command [q.v.], the Popular Struggle Front, and Saiqa [q.v.]. The PLO's affiliates also included 14 organizations for students, workers, women, journalists, lawyers, doctors, and others.
Following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon [q.v.] in June 1982, the PLO, including its commandos and PLA troops, was evacuated from Beirut [q.v.] and dispersed to several Arab countries. The PLO headquarters was moved to Tunis. Here its policies became progressively moderate. Yet the Israelis bombed the PLO headquarters on 1 October 1985, killing 71 people but missing their main target, Arafat. After the outbreak of Intifada [q.v.] in the Gaza Strip [q.v.] in December 1987, the PLO backed it, and its adherents in the Occupied Territories became part of the United National Leadership of the Uprising [q.v.].
After the declaration on 15 November 1988 by the PNC of the independence and establishment of the State of Palestine "on our Palestinian land," on the basis of the UN General Assembly's Resolution 181 of November 1947, 70 of the 103 countries that had recognized the PLO accorded it full diplomatic status. On the same day, Arafat, named president of the State of Palestine by the PNC, renounced the use of violence to achieve the PLO's aims, and accepted the idea of the Palestinian self–determination coexisting with Israel. At the UN, the PLO's representation was renamed "Palestine."
In December Arafat addressed the UN General Assembly, specially convened in Geneva, to reiterate the new PLO position. There was no positive response from Israel, which was on the verge of receiving a rising tide of Jewish immigration from the Soviet Union, resulting in the number of immigrants shooting up from 13,300 in 1988 to 199,500 in 1990.
As a result, the PLO's policy became hard–line, with Arafat tilting toward the radical views of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.]. He sided with the Iraqi leader in the latter's conflict with the UN following his invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Saddam linked Iraqi's future withdrawal from Kuwait with Israel's evacuation of the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.]. This stance gained the backing of the Palestinians in the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza [q.v.]. Arafat's support of Saddam led to the severance of grants for the PLO by the oil–rich Gulf States [q.v.], a near–fatal blow to its finances.
Chastened by Iraq's defeat in the Gulf War II [q.v.] in early 1991, the PLO backed the idea of a Middle East peace conference, where Palestinians were to be included in a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. Though this delegation was to exclude any PLO members, the organization was active behind the scenes before and after the conference, which was held in Madrid in October 1991. The subsequent bilateral talks between the Israeli and Jordanian–Palestinian (later functioning separately) delegations made little progress.
Once Israel, now led by a Labor [q.v.] government, had lifted its ban on contact with the PLO in January 1993, the scene was set for secret talks between the two sides. These took place in Norway. The resulting accord, based on mutual recognition of Israel and the PLO (as the representative of the Palestinian people), and providing for limited autonomy for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho [q.v.], was signed in Washington on 13 September 1993. Of the 10 groups then affiliated to the PLO, only four—the Democratic Palestinian Union, Fatah, the Palestine People's Party [q.v.], and the Popular Struggle Front— accepted the deal. Nonetheless this agreement on principles was transformed into a working document in Cairo [q.v.] in early May 1994.
Among other things this gave rise to the Palestinian Authority [q.v.]. Arafat left Tunis in July to administer Gaza and Jericho. The PLO maintained offices in Tunis and Amman [q.v.]. It was the prime mover behind the convening of the joint session of its Central Council, the Palestine National Council, and the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] in Gaza in December 1998 to radically alter the Palestine National Charter. After this, its delegates were permitted to participate in the UN General Assembly proceedings without being able to vote.
In 2002, the PLO had diplomatic relations with 93 countries.
After the death of Arafat in 2004, Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.], then secretary-general of the PLO, was promoted to chairman of the PLO's 18–member executive committee, which includes chairman of the Palestine National Fund [q.v.]. As before, the political department, meaning the foreign affairs department, remained under Farouq Kaddoumi, a radical, based at the PLO headquarters in Tunis. Relations between Kaddoumi and Abbas became fraught when Abbas dismissed the national unity government in June 2007 and appointed Salam Fayyad [q.v.], a technocrat, prime minister. Kaddoumi publicly criticized Abbas. In retaliation, Abbas removed Kaddoumi loyalists as PLO ambassadors worldwide, and required international contacts to pass through his foreign minister.
On 15 November 2008—the 20th anniversary of the PNC's declaration of the independence and establishment of the State of Palestine—the PLO's central committee elected Abbas president of the State of Palestine. Egypt's efforts to conciliate the PLO and Hamas [q.v.] in 2009 failed.
In July 2010, the United States upgraded the status of the 16–year–old Washington–based PLO Mission in the U.S. to "General Delegation of the PLO." After their meeting in Cairo in December 2011, Mahmoud Abbas and Khaled Mashaal [q.v.] of Hamas [q.v.] decided to form a committee to prepare for the inclusion of Hamas and Islamic Jihad [q.v.] in the PLO.
Palestine National Charter: Though originally adopted by the Palestine National Council (PNC) [q.v.] at its inaugural session in East Jerusalem [q.v.] in May–June 1964, the Palestine National Charter became significant only in July 1968, when the Fourth PNC Congress in Cairo [q.v.] inserted the statement: "Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine" (Article 9). Of the 33 articles in the charter the other important ones were: "Palestine, with the boundaries under the British Mandate, is the homeland of Palestinian Arabs [q.v.], and is indivisible" (Articles 1 and 2); "the Jews [q.v.] who lived in Palestine before the Zionist immigration are considered Palestinian" (Article 6); "the partition of Palestine and the founding of Israel are illegal since they violated the will of Palestinians and the principle of selfMandate for Palestine are null and void" (Article 20); "the Palestinians reject all solutions which are substitutes for total liberation of Palestine" (Article 21); and "Zionism [q.v.], associated with international imperialism, is racist, expansionist, and colonial, and Israel is the instrument of the Zionist movement" (Article 22).
Although in November 1988 the PNC abandoned some of the basic principles of the Charter (such as the use of armed struggle to liberate Palestine, as constituted under the British Mandate) it did not amend the charter. But, on the eve of the signing of an accord between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] and Israel in September 1993, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat [q.v.] stated in a letter to Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.] that those articles in the Palestine National Charter that denied Israel's right to exist and contradicted the PLO's commitment to renounce terrorism and other acts of violence would henceforth be "inoperative and no longer valid." and added that the PLO would submit to the PNC for formal approval the necessary changes in the Charter. Article 33 of the Charter requires a vote of two–thirds of all PNC members at a special session to amend it.
At the joint session of the PLO's 124-member Central Council, the 700–strong Palestine National Council, and the Palestinian Authority's [q.v.] 87 parliamentarians and 34 cabinet members in Gaza [q.v.] in December 1998—witnessed by U.S. President Bill Clinton—the Palestinian representatives passed a resolution radically altering the Palestine National Charter, with only a few dozen dissenting. The resolution endorsed the letter that Yasser Arafat had addressed to Clinton in January 1998, revoking those paragraphs of the Charter that clashed with the 1993 Oslo Accords [q.v.].
Palestine National Council: (Official title: National Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization [PLO] [q.v.]) Founded in May 1964 in East Jerusalem [q.v.], with 350 delegates representing the various groups affiliated to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.], the Palestine National Council (PNC) was inaugurated by King Hussein [q.v.] of Jordan. It adopted the Palestine National Charter [q.v.] and elected a central council and an executive committee. The 50-member Central Council, meeting once every three months, acted as an intermediary between the PNC (which was considered a Palestinian parliament in exile), and the executive committee handling day-to–day affairs, as well as deciding broad policy between the sessions of the PNC.
Any Palestinian Arab [q.v.] born in Palestine before 1947 or born of a Palestinian father after that, irrespective of his/her birthplace, was entitled to PNC membership. PNC membership was allocated to the affiliated political groups as well as the affiliated mass organizations of workers, students, women, teachers, doctors, and others, and representatives from the Occupied Territories [q.v.], and the Palestinian diaspora in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and the Gulf States [q.v.]. Normally the PNC met once a year.
Its acceptance of the resignation of Ahmad Shuqairi [q.v.] in 1967, followed by its stiffening of the charter in July 1968 in Cairo [q.v.], which became its headquarters after the 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], paved the way for hard–line Palestinian groups to affiliate to the PLO.
With the election of Yasser Arafat [q.v.] as chairman of the PLO, a new chapter opened in the history of PNC. At its seventh session in April 1972 it rejected King Hussein's plan for a united kingdom of two federated parts: Jordan and a Palestine consisting of the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza [q.v.]. Yet overall it remained a middle-of-the-road body. Of its 292 members at the 13th session in March 1977 in Cairo, 172 were moderate and only 69 radical. After the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] in 1979, the PNC headquarters was moved from Cairo to Damascus [q.v.].
The expulsion of the PLO from Beirut [q.v.] in September 1982, followed by the conflict between Arafat and Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.], had divided the PNC. The PNC session in November 1984 in Amman [q.v.] was boycotted by the radicals, which made it easier to shift the headquarters from Damascus to Amman.
The radicals returned to the 18th session of the PNC, now 426–strong, in April 1987 in Algiers only after Arafat had abandoned his earlier agreement with King Hussein on a confederation of Jordan and a future Palestinian state. At the subsequent session in Algiers in November 1988, the radicals, though unhappy at the PNC's acceptance of a Palestinian state in the Occupied Territories [q.v.] and peaceful coexistence with Israel, accepted the majority decision. Here the PLO formally declared the establishment of the State of Palestine. Among the countries that would recognize this state was the Soviet Union.
The 20th session held in Algiers in September 1991 elected a new 18-member executive committee, with Arafat continuing as chairman. Protesting at the signing of the Israeli–PLO Accord [q.v.] in September 1993, seven of them, including Mahmoud Darwish [q.v.], resigned. Of the remaining 10, one each belonged to the Democratic People's Union, the Palestine People's Party [q.v.], and the Popular Struggle Front, and five were independent, including Archbishop Ilya Khouri.
On the eve of the signing of an accord with Israel, Arafat promised to submit necessary changes to the charter to the PNC. But it was only at the 21st session in April 1996 in Gaza that the PNC abrogated those articles of its Charter that denied Israel's existence. This was deemed insufficient by Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.], elected Israeli prime minister in May. Therefore, at its 22nd session in December 1998—bolstered by the PLO's Central Council (with 88 of the 124 members attending) and the Palestinian Authority's [q.v.] parliamentarians and cabinet ministers in Gaza—the PNC (with the nominal membership of 700) overwhelmingly passed a resolution endorsing the letter that Yasser Arafat had addressed to U.S. President Bill Clinton in January, revoking all those paragraphs of the Charter that clashed with the 1993 Oslo Accord.
In 2003, the PNC, chaired by Salim Zanoun, had 669 members. Of these, 483 represented the Palestinian diaspora [q.v.], with the rest representing the Palestinians living in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem [q.v.], including the 88 members of the Palestine Legislative Council.
During the reconciliation talks between Palestinian Authority [q.v.] President Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.] and Khaled Mashaal [q.v.] of Hamas [q.v.] in December 2011 in Cairo [q.v.], Zanoun acted as an effective mediator.
Palestine National Fund: The Palestine National Fund (PNF) was set up by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to meet its financial requirements. Contributions were in the form of grants from Arab and other friendly countries, a general Palestine tax collected by certain Arab states, income tax on the Palestinians living in the diaspora [q.v.], and returns on the investments made by the PNF's directors. The size of the contributions from these sources varied, with the taxes most likely providing majority of the revenue.
As the recipient of all income, the PNF funded the PLO according to the budget approved by the PLO's executive committee. It supervised the PLO's expenditure and set up channels for collecting funds. The PNF's chapters in many Arab states ensured that the Palestine taxes collected by the government and private companies were remitted to the PNF.
It shared its headquarters with the Palestine National Council [q.v.], first in Cairo [q.v.] and then in Damascus [q.v.] and Amman [q.v.]. In 1987 it moved to Abu Dhabi [q.v.].
The chairman of the PNF sits as a member of the PLO's executive committee. From 1984 to 1996 its chairman was Jaweed al–Ghussein, a successful businessman in Abu Dhabi. After the establishment of the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] in Gaza [q.v.] in 1994 with its own finance minsitry, the importance of the PNF declined sharply.
Palestine Papers: The Palestine Papers, published in January 2011, is the title given to a cache of 1,684 confidential documents—emails, maps, memorandums, minutes of private meetings, records of high level exchanges, strategy papers, and Power Point presentations—obtained by Al-Jazeera TV Channel, which shared it with the London–based Guardian newspaper. Leaked by Ziyad Clot, a member of the Negotiations Support Unit of Saeb Erekat, head of the Steering and Monitoring Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.], these papers provided details of the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians from September 1999 to September 2010. The Palestine Papers covered the status of Jerusalem [q.v.] and the Jewish settlements and borders; Palestinian refugees and their right of return; and security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority [q.v.].
Following the Middle East Peace Conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in 2007 [q.v.], American officials participated in the Israeli-Palestinian talks. Desperate to reach a peace accord, the Palestinian team led by Erekat made far–reaching concessions in the negotiations during 2008–09.
The Palestinians agreed to let Israel annex all its illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied East Jerusalem [q.v.], except Har Homa. On Haram al–Sharif/Temple Mount [q.v.] in the Old City of Jerusalem, the Palestinians proposed a joint committee of the Palestinian Authority [q.v.], Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United States to administer the holy site until a permanent solution was reached. Regarding the right of return to the 4.7 million Palestinian refugees registered with the UN Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East [q.v.], the Palestinian team agreed to a nominal figure of 10,000 to be allowed to return to their homes in Israel on "humanitarian" grounds. But the Israeli and American officials found these concessions inadequate.
For their part, the Palestinians rejected the option of a state with provisional borders or any further transitional or interim solution.
The publication of the Palestine Papers led to the resignatoin of Erekat as the chief Palestinian negotiator.
Palestine People's Party: See Communist Party of Palestine.
Palestine War (1948–49): See Arab–Israeli War I (1948–49).
Palestinian Authority: (Official title in Arabic: Al-Sulta al-Watanniyya al-Fil–istiniyya, the Palestinian National Authority, used by Arab [q.v.] countries and organizations) The Palestinian Authority (PA) is the name of the legislative and executive body responsible for exercising all powers and functions devolved by Israel to the autonomous Palestinian areas under the Oslo Accord I [q.v.] in September 1993. The maximum strength of its executive body was fixed at 24.
In June 1994 Yasser Arafat [q.v.], its president/chairman (Arabic: raees) and interior minister, appointed 19 other members, including Ahmed Qurei, who had conducted secret talks with Israel in Norway; Faisal Husseini [q.v.], a nephew of Haajj Muhammad Amin al–Husseini [q.v.]; Elias Freij, the Christian [q.v.] mayor of Bethlehem [q.v.]; and Intisar Wazir, widow of the assassinated Khalil Wazir [q.v.].
This arrangement continued until elections were held in the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza [q.v.] to the 87–member Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in January 1996, after Israel had vacated most towns and cities in the West Bank [q.v.] following the signing of the Oslo Accord II [q.v.]. These were boycotted by Hamas [q.v.] and Islamic Jihad [q.v.]. Of those elected, 54 belonged to Fatah [q.v.], one each belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [q.v.] and the Palestinian Democratic Union, and four were independent Islamists [q.v.]. Among the rest, 11 were pro–Fatah independents and the remainder truly independent. Azmi Shuaibi was elected speaker of the PLC. The reconstituted cabinet had 28 ministers, chaired by the newly elected President Arafat. According to the law passed by the PLC, its tenure was scheduled to expire when Israel had implemented all its obligations under the Oslo Accord II, originally by September 1998. Within a year the PLC passed a draft constitution, which Arafat failed to sign.
With the election of Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.] as Israel's prime minister in 1996, the Oslo Accords [q.v.] suffered a hemorrhage from which they did not recover fully during the premiership of Ehud Barak [q.v.] from 1999 to 2001. By 1999, Israel had finally allowed the establishment of a 20-mi./32-km–long safe corridor for Palestinians between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the PA had gained full civilian control over seven percent of the West Bank and joint control over another 23 percent, and acquired an armed police force of 40,000.
At the same time complaints about the PA's inefficiency and corruption had risen to the extent that both the European Union [q.v.] and the International Monetary Fund, the chief financial backers of the PA, publicly demanded reform. In January 2000 the PA set up the Higher Council for Development, chaired by Arafat, to ensure transparency of public finances. By then the headquarters of the PA had moved from Gaza [q.v.] to the West Bank town of Ramallah [q.v.].
Following the outbreak of the Second Intifada [q.v.], supported by all Palestinian parties, in September 2000, Israel hit the PA's offices in Gaza and the West Bank. As violence escalated, the Israeli government under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon systematically destroyed the security, administrative, and economic infrastructure of the PA, leaving only one of the buildings standing in the PA's Ramallah headquarters, where Arafat was placed under house arrest in April 2002. This reduced the PA to a threadbare organization.
Arafat's government acquired notoriety for ineptitude, corruption, and mismanagement. It was only in 2002 that Arafat signed the Basic Law passed by the PLC in 1999, which specified three independent organs of the state: executive, legislative, and judiciary. But, ignoring the new reality, Arafat maintained monopoly of power. It was not until March 2003 when, unable to withstand pressure by Western governments providing most of the funds to the PA, that he agreed to appoint a prime minister to share some of his power.
His first prime minsiter, Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.], resigned after six months when Arafat refused to transfer authority over security forces to him. Ahmad Qurie, his second prime minister, also resigned after six months. After Arafat's death in November 2004, Abbas succeeded him as the acting president of the PA. In the election for president that followed in Jnuary 2005, Abbas secured 62 percent of the vote.
In 2005, once Israel had evacuated the Gaza Strip, the area under the PA's jurisdiction rose from 60 percent to 100 percent, but it did not extend to Gaza's air space or territorial waters.
In the elections to the 132–member PLC in January 2006, Hamas [q.v.] emerged as the victor, and Ismail Haniyah [q.v.] became prime minister in March. When his government refused to recognize Israel, renounce violence, and accept all the previous agreements of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] and the PA with Israel, the United States, the EU, and Israel froze all funds due to the PA.
To resolve the resulting crisis, Hamas agreed with Fatah to form a national unity government. This was done in mid–March 2007. Three months later it fell apart when, in a violent confrontation, Hamas expelled Fatah from the Gaza Strip.
Abbas appointed a new government led by a technocrat, Salam Fayyad [q.v.], and based it in Ramallah. It was recognized by Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt, which moved its embassy from Gaza City to Ramallah. The division between the Fatah-ruled West Bank and Hamas-governed Gaza continued until April 2011 when mediation by Egypt's post-Mubarak foreign minister Nabil al–Araby [q.v.] reconciled the rivals. But the subsequent agreement on power–sharing between the two organizations until a fresh election, signed in February 2012, remained to be implemented.
While the PA's application to the UN Security Council in September 2011 that Palestine should be admitted as a full member of the United Nations failed, Palestine gained membership of the UN Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization in October, with 107 voting for it and 14 against.
Palestinian National Authority (Arabic: Al-Sulta al– Watanniyya al Filistiniyya): This is the term used by Arab countries and organizations for the Palestinian Authority [q.v.].
Palestinian Territories: They consist of East Jerusalem [q.v.], the Gaza Strip [q.v.], and the West Bank [q.v.]. See Occupied Territories.
Palmah (Hebrew: acronym of Plugot Mahatz, Shock Units): The Palmah, the elite command force of Haganah [q.v.], was formed in May 1941 to implement special assignments. It drew its recruits from left–wing kibbutizm [q.v.]. Though illegal, it cooperated with British troops and participated in reconnaissance for their Lebanese campaign in June 1941. At the end of World War II it was 2,000 strong. It cooperated with the right–wing Irgun [q.v.] and the Stern Group [q.v.] in a violent campaign against the British Mandate, blowing up railroad tracks, bridges, and radar and other installations. In mid–1946, when the British turned against Haganah and the Palmah, the Haganah leadership ordered the Palmah to focus on furthering illegal Jewish immigration. By the time the United Nations adopted a partition plan in November 1947 the Palmah was 5,000 strong.
During the run–up to the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.], the Palmah often cooperated with Irgun and the Stern Group, providing one of its units for an attack on Deir Yassin village in April 1948, which resulted in the massacre of 254 Arabs—men, women, and children. In the first months of the Palestine War, Palmah and Haganah troops carried out dozens of raids on Arab villages with the primary aim of razing them. Thus 472 of the 755 Arab villages disappeared without a trace.
After the establishment of Israel in May 1948, Prime Minister David Ben–Gurion [q.v.] decided to merge all Zionist [q.v.] militias into a national military organization. Therefore, the general staff of the Palmah was dissolved in 1949.
pan–Arabism: Pan–Arabism is a doctrine that maintains that no matter where Arabs [q.v.] live they are part of a single community. It first manifested itself in the Arab territory of the Ottoman Empire from 1876–1878 when a written constitution, promulgated by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, provided some element of free expression. It reemerged in 1908 after the Young Turks in Istanbul had mounted a successful coup against the sultan, only to go underground soon after the new rulers adopted the traditional stance of Turkish superiority.
The outbreak of World War I provided the Ottoman's Arab subjects and notables an option to further their nationalist cause by siding with the anti–Ottoman forces. By declaring an Arab revolt in 1916, Hussein bin Ali, the Hashemite governor of Hijaz [q.v.], became the leader of pan-Arabism, with a plan to see the Arab territories formed into a single independent Arab state after the defeat of the Ottomans. But this scenario contradicted the aims of the clandestine 1916 Sykes–Picot Pact [q.v.] signed by Britain and France.
During the interwar period the al–Hashem clan [q.v.], which ruled Iraq and Transjordan [q.v.], remained the repository of pan–Arabism. This changed in 1948 when, in order to annex parts of Palestine [q.v.] to his realm, King Abdullah bin Hussein [q.v. ] of Jordan tried to make a secret deal with the Zionists [q.v.]. Thereafter, pan–Arab nationalists came to regard him as a traitor to their cause.
Following the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.] and the establishment of Israel, pan–Arabism centered on the Arab struggle for the retrieval of Palestine from the Zionists [q.v.]. With the Free Officers' successful coup in Egypt in 1952, the mantle of pan–Arab leadership fell on Abdul Gamal Nasser [q.v.], president of the most populous and strategic Arab country, which had so far contributed little to pan–Arabism, except to provide headquarters, since its inception in 1945, to the Arab League [q.v.], a pan–Arab institution conceived originally by the British to further their interests in the region.
Nasser's first step toward creating a unified Arab state in 1958—the merger of Egypt and Syria into the United Arab Republic [q.v.]—failed three years later. Yet on the eve of the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], he was able to lead a joint military command of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.
After this conflict, which ended with Arab defeat, pan-Arabism revolved around the objective of recovering all Arab territories lost to Israel in Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. The military alliance of Egypt and Syria in October 1973, backed by the military and oil muscle of the rest of the Arab world, was the next manifestation of pan–Arabism. It proved to be the pinnacle of the movement.
By signing a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, Egypt, under President Anwar Sadat [q.v.], destroyed the Arab consensus that there should be no unilateral peace treaty with Israel. With this, Egypt lost its leadership of pan-Ara–bism, leaving Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] to carry the banner. Assad was committed to retrieving all Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.] from Israel.
The attempt by President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] of Iraq to portray his war with Iran as a struggle for "all of Arab homeland" against Persian expansionism, masquerading as pan–Islamism [q.v.], was only partially successful. With such important Arab states as Syria, Algeria, and Libya siding with Iran, Saddam Hussein failed to project himself as a latter-day Nasser. Indeed his invasion and annexation of Kuwait in August 1990 severely split the Arab League and mortally weakened pan–Arabism. This became clear a year later when the Arab neighbors of Israel and the Palestinians agreed to negotiate with Israel, not collectively under UN auspices as they had hitherto unanimously insisted, but bilaterally, as Israel had proposed.
What remains of pan-Arabism is the Arab League, consisting of 22 Arabic–speaking member countries, but even that institution was somewhat undermined by the emergence of the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.] in 1981, and the Arab Maghreb Union, encompassing five North African Arab states of Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia in 1989.
A final blow to pan–Arabism came in the wake of the Arab Spring (20112012) when, at the instigation of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the Arab League paved the way for the violent downfall of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Libya in September 2011 followed by its ostracizing of Syria ruled by Arab Baath Party [q.v.], wedded to the doctrine of pan–Arabism since its inception in 1947.
pan–Islamism: Pan–Islamism is a traditional doctrine that maintains that, no matter where Muslims live, they belong to a universal Islamic umma (Arabic: community) [q.v.]. It transcends linguistic, cultural, and other ethnic differences among Muslims.
Pan-Islamism proved useful to the Ottoman rulers in the late 19th century. Sultan Abdul Hamid II (r. 18761909) tried to regenerate cohesion in Ottoman society by mobilizing the masses around the Islamic banner and engendering a pan–Islamic movement. By manifesting personal piety, appointing Arabs [q.v.] to important posts at the court, and constructing a railway from Damascus [q.v.] to Mecca [q.v.] to promote the hajj [q.v.], he showed his commitment to pan-Islamism. In this he had the active backing of Jamal al-Din Afghani (1838–1897), a religious personality of varied talents, whom he invited to Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1892. Since Afghani played an active role in the religious-political life of all the important Islamic regions—Ot-toman Turkey, Egypt, Iran, India, and Central Asia—he acquired a truly pan–Islamic perspective and realized that the Islamic umma as a whole was threatened by European powers.
The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire—the last in the series of Islamic empires—in the wake of World War I, followed by the abolition of the caliphate in 1924 by the Republic of Turkey, was a blow to pan-Islamism. But a few years later the pan–Islamic concept was relaunched on a popular basis in Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] established by Hassan al–Banna [q.v.]. The Egyptian Brotherhood set up sister organizations in Syria, Transjordan (now Jordan), and Palestine [q.v.]. The pan-Islamic movement in Egypt reached a climax in 1949, the year when al–Banna [q.v.] was assassinated.
In the course of popularizing pan–Arabism [q.v.] and then Arab socialism [q.v.], Egyptian President Abdul Gamal Nasser [q.v.] suppressed the Brotherhood. The mantle of pan-Is–lamism was then taken up by the House of Saud [q.v.], specifically King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.], a devout Muslim, who promoted it in the mid–1960s as a competing ideology to Nasser's Arab socialism [q.v.]. He failed, but in 1969 an abortive attempt to set fire to Islam's third-holiest shrine, the al–Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem [q.v.], created an environment in which Faisal was able to sponsor the Islamic Conference Organization (ICO) [q.v.], composed of Muslim states throughout the world, and base it in Jeddah [q.v.].
As a multinational body representing governments, the ICO paralleled the Arab League [q.v.]. However, what caught popular attention in both the Muslim and non–Muslim world was the successful Islamic revolution [q.v.] in Iran in early 1979, which overthrew the secular, pro–Western regime of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.]. Article 10 of Iran's constitution requires the government to formulate its general policies with a view to "the merging and union of all Muslim peoples"; and Article 152 requires Iranian foreign policy to be based on "the defense of the rights of all Muslims." However, as Iran is populated mainly by Shias [q.v.], a minority sect within Islam [q.v.], its impact has been limited to such pockets in the Muslim world as Bahrain and the Shia communities in Lebanon and Iraq.
In 1991 the military regime in Algeria struck a blow against pan–Islamism by aborting the imminent electoral victory of the Front for Islamic Salvation.
The electoral successes of the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Nour party [q.v.] in a democratic Egypt in 2011–2012, have unveiled the possibility of a revival of pan–Islamism in a much changed world.
Pasha, Nahas: See Nahas (Pasha), Mustafa.
Passover (Hebrew: Pesach, derivative of the root meaning "pass over"): One of the four major Jewish festivals, lasting seven (in Israel) to eight (in the diaspora [q.v.]) days, the term Passover applies strictly to the first day. It celebrates the "passing over" by destructive forces (on the eve of the exodus when the Lord "smote the Land of Egypt," Exodus 12:13) of the Israelites, who had poured the blood of a lamb on their door posts to show they were children of God. The festival begins on the 15th of Nisan, the first month of the Jewish calendar [q.v. ]. At the ceremonial evening meals on the first and second day of the festival, there is a recitation of certain passages of Exodus. During the festival only unleavened bread is eaten as a reminder that the Jews [q.v.] fleeing Egypt had no time to leaven their bread.
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan: Iraqi Kurdish party The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) was formed in mid–1976 by the merger of the Kurdish Workers League and the Social Democratic Movement under the leadership of Jalal Talabani [q.v.]. Both PUK constituents had emerged from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) [q.v.] after its leader, Mustafa Barzani [q.v.], fled to Iran in the wake of the March 1975 Algiers Accord [q.v.].
Under Talabani—who, during his tenure as the KDP's envoy to Syria, had been influenced by the leftist Palestinian leaders George Habash [q.v.] and Nayif Hawatmeh [q.v.]— the PUK described itself as Marxist–Leninist. It conducted its armed struggle against the Baghdad regime as well as the KDP, which had its bastion in the northwest of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region (KAR) [q .v.]. Based at Yakhsamar in Suleimaniyah province, the PUK was strong in the southeast.
With the outbreak of the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.] in September 1980 the chances of Kurdish guerrilla activity improved sharply, with the PUK concentrating its operations in its stronghold. A PUK agreement with the KDP in 1982 to open all of the KAR to both parties failed to endure. Overall the PUK expanded at the KDP's expense. In 1984, yielding to the pressure of its war with Iran, the Baghdad government started negotiating with the PUK, but nothing came of it. This laid the groundwork for the PUK's subsequent ties with Iran, which began arming PUK activists. Iran tried to reconcile the PUK and the KDP. It succeeded in May 1987, when the two parties combined with six others to form the Iraqi Kurdistan Front (IKF).
Both the PUK and the KDP set up liberated areas along Iraq's borders with Iran and Turkey. But with Iraq prevailing over Iran in 1988 the situation changed. Following the Baghdad regime's onslaught on nationalist Kurds in 1988, the PUK and other IKF constituents fled across the border to Iran or Syria. Baghdad demanded public recantation from PUK leaders before they could be allowed to submit their demands to the government.
The crisis created by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait [q.v.] in August 1990 revived the PUK and other IKF members. In March 1991, soon after the end of the Gulf War II [q.v.], the PUK and the KDP revolted against the central government. Within a few weeks they captured three–quarters of the KAR. But they were unable to withstand Baghdad's counteroffensive. The crushing of the rebellion caused an exodus of some 1.5 million Kurdish refugees.
Pressured by the UN Security Council, Iraq declared a cease-fire in the KAR in mid-April. Talabani was deputy leader of the IKF delegation that negotiated with Baghdad on the basis of the 1970 pact between the central government and Kurdish autonomists. These talks ended in mid–June with an agreement on the extent of Kurdish autonomy, which was meant to encourage the return of Kurdish refugees to revive the 3,800 villages that had been razed by the Iraqi government over the past 17 years. However, Talabani recommended to IKF leaders that the deal should be rejected. It was. Pressured by the Western powers, the Iraqi government withdrew its last troops from the KAR in October.
Following the general election in the KAR in May 1992, held under the protection of Western air forces, the PUK shared power equally with the KDP. This arrangement was applied even to teachers and policemen. In the ministries two different command structures emerged. With each party allowed to open offices in the other's bastion, enabling it to raise its strength at the expense of the other, traditional tensions between them rose sharply. As a party directed by urban–based leaders, the PUK remained antipathetic to the KDP's continuing tribal ways.
In May 1994 clashes between them left more than 1,000 fighters and civilians dead. Despite periodic cease-fires, relations soured further when the PUK participated in the military plan by the Washington–funded Iraqi National Congress (INC) [q.v.] to overthrow President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] in March 1995, while the KDP did not. The intermittent intra–Kurdish violence raised the total death toll to 3,000 by September 1995. The PUK's capture of the regional capital of Irbil [q.v.] in December left the two sides intensely embittered.
It was against this background that the PUK found itself under attack in Irbil in late August 1996 by the KDP bolstered by Saddam Hussein's tanks and artillery. The retreating PUK lost not only Irbil but also all of its territory in the southeast, and its leaders and fighters took shelter in Iran. From their haven they launched a counteroffensive and recaptured all the lost territory except Irbil at the cost of 2,000 fatalities. Initialing a temporary accord in October, mediated by American and British diplomats, the two sides agreed to discuss sharing of the customs revenue currently monopolized by the KDP as well as conducting a new parliamentary election. Nothing came of it.
After the passage of the Iraq Liberation Act in Washington in October 1998, which authorized the White House to designate Iraqi opposition groups eligible for military aid by America, the PUK found itself included in the list of seven such factions. On the ground very little changed, with Kurdistan divided administratively into two sectors, with the PUK's territory ruled from Suleimaniyah.
It was not until September 2002, when Washington's plans to invade Iraq went into a higher gear, that the PUK decided to bury its hatchet with the KDP.
This modus vivendi continued in the post–Saddam Hussein Iraq. To run in the elections to the Interim Iraqi Parliament as well as the Kurdistan National Assembly and three provincial councils, in January 2005, the PUK allied with the KDP and a few small groups to form the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan. In the national parliament the Alliance won 26 percent of the vote and 53 seats out of 275. It played an important role in the drafting of the new constitution which among other things described Iraq as composed of two nations, Arabs and Kurds.
Under the new constitution, Tala-bani was elected president of Iraq and Masoud Barazani president of the Kurdistan Regional Government. The PUK-KDP Alliance won 78 of the 111 seats in the regional legislative assembly with a four-year tenure. In the 2009 election, when the turnout was 79 percent, the Alliance did less well, securing only 59 seats. Its main challenger, the Reform Movement, claimed 25 seats. Following its lackluster performance amid widespread allegations of corruption, the PUK held a much–postponed plenum in October 2009, which promised unity and reform. There was no noticeable change.
Peace Now: An extra–parliamentary Israeli group (Official title, Hebrew Shalom Achshav.) It was founded by 348 reserve officers and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) [q.v.] to support the Camp David Accords [q.v.] between Israel [q.v.] and Egypt [q.v.] in 1978. Its primary function was to pressure the Israeli government to seek peace with its Arab [q.v.] neighbors as well as the Palestinians, whose right to an independent state it recognized. It also accepted the idea that the municipal borders of Jerusalem [q.v.], expanded by Israel after the 1967 Six–Day War [q.v.], could be readjusted, and that the two states could have their capitals in Jerusalem: the Palestinians in the Arab areas, the Israelis in the Jewish neighborhoods. It advocated a peace treaty with Syria, on the basis of total Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights [q.v.], for total normalization of relations with Israel by Syria.
A nonpartisan, volunteer movement with branches throughout the country, Peace Now's national secretariat, based in Tel Aviv [q.v.], decides policy, with its branches conducting activities on an almost autonomous basis. It has sister Organizations in America, Britain, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
As part of the final settlement with the Palestinians, Peace Now visualized some Jewish settlements being absorbed into Israel, some disbanded, and the rest allowed to exist under Palestinian sovereignty and law. In the late 1980s, its Settlement Watch section started monitoring and documenting the expropriation of Palestinian land and houses, the building of new Jewish settlements, and the expansion of the existing ones in the West Bank [q.v.], Gaza Strip [q.v.], and East Jerusalem [q.v.]. It publishes periodic updates on the subject, and uses this information in appeals to the judiciary and for lobbying politicians.
Before the Oslo Accord of 1993 [q.v.], Peace Now leaders held clandestine talks with the Palestinian leaders abroad. After it, they organized many joint activities, vigils, marches, and symposia with the Palestinians. As a result of its persistent lobbying, the Israeli public opinion favoring a Palestinian state rose from 1 percent in 1977 to over 50 percent in 1997.
Its most dramatic achievement was in the case of Lebanon [q.v.]. It led the mass movement against Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, mobilizing 400,000 people in a protest rally in the aftermath of the conflict, and finally succeeding in securing Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon in May 2000.
But the launching of the Al Aqsa intifada [q.v.] in September had an adverse effect on the Peace Now movement, as many Israelis interpreted the fresh intifada as signifying the end of the peace process that started with the Oslo Accord I in 1993.
The movement then started focusing on monitoring the expansion of the Jewish settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories [q.v.] and the setting up of illegal outposts on hilltops by using aerial photography. Its Settlement Watch Committee soon established itself as the most authoritative on the subject.
When ultra-right-wing groups mounted a campaign against the evacuation of Gaza, Peace Now organized a 10,000 strong pro–evacuation rally in Tel Aviv in March 2005.
According to classified U.S. cables leaked by the anti–secrecy group WikiLeaks in April 2011, this committee supplies information to the Israeli defense ministry and the United States. It also continued to approach courts to bring about the removeal of unauthorized Jewish outposts in the West Bank. Following one such move, the Supreme Court ordered the government in March 2011 to dismantle all illegal West Bank outposts built on private Palestinian land within a year. The implementation of this blanket order remained unclear.
Peace Process, Middle East:
(1) AFTER THE ARAB-ISRAELI WAR, 1948–49 [q.v.]: Following the truces signed between Israel and its Arab [q.v.] enemies in 1949, behind-the–scene efforts were made by the United States to secure Israel's recognition by one or more of its Arab neighbors. Washington was behind the military coup in Syria in March 1949 that put Col. Hosni Zaim [q.v.] in power. But when, as promised, he opened secret talks with Israel, he was overthrown in August. When King Abdullah I bin Hussein [q.v.] of Jordan established clandestine contacts with Israeli leaders he was assassinated in 1951. Israel's aggression toward Egypt in collusion with Britain and France in 1956 hardened the stance of the Arab states toward Israel. In the mid–1960s competition between radical Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] and conservative Saudi King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] for leadership of the Arab world intensified, and neither could afford to be less than militantly anti–Zionist [q.v.].
(2) AFTER THE JUNE 1967 ARAB-ISRAELI WAR [q.v.]: The Arab summit in Khartoum from 29 August to 1 September 1967 combined its rejection of Israel—no peace, no recognition, and no negotiation—with its insistence on the Palestinians exercising their self–determination right. To ensure that Israel did not consolidate the territorial gains it had made in the 1967 conflict, Egypt initiated a War of Attrition [q.v.] in March 1969, which continued until mid–1970. In December 1969 U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers offered a peace plan, later called the Rogers Plan [q.v.], which opposed Israeli expansionism and recommended that any boundary modifications to the pre–June 1967 Israel be limited to "insubstantial alternatives required for mutual security." This was rejected by both Egypt and Israel. Egypt wanted unconditional Israeli withdrawal from the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.] before negotiating a peace agreement with it. In contrast, Israel wanted direct unconditional talks with its Arab adversaries.
As the War of Attrition escalated in 1970, Rogers revived his initiative and focused on securing a cease-fire, enabling the UN mediator, Gunnar Jarring, to get the peace process going under UN Security Council Resolution 242 (November 1967, requiring return of captured Arab lands for peace for Israel). He presented this proposal to Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Syria on 19 June 1970. After consulting the Soviet Union, Nasser accepted the Rogers proposal on 22 July. Jordan did so on 25 July, and the Israeli parliament followed suit on 31 July after the government had received certain secret assurances from U.S. President Richard Nixon. The 90–day truce went into effect on 7 August 1970. After Nasser's death in September, his successor, Anwar Sadat [q.v.], renewed the cease–fire. But the UN mediator's peace efforts got nowhere. Having failed to secure Israel's withdrawal from Sinai [q.v.], Sadat planned a military campaign, in coordination with Syria, to retrieve the Arab territories occupied by Israel in 1967.
(3) AFTER THE OCTOBER 1973 ARAB-ISRAELI WAR [q.v.]: The one–day UN peace conference in Geneva on 22 December 1973, under the cochairmanship of the U.S. and the Soviet Union and attended by Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, did not reassemble as planned because Sadat chose to pursue a unilateral path in his talks with Israel through U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The result was the Sinai I Agreement [q.v.] between Egypt and Israel in January 1974. A truce between Syria and Israel on the Golan Heights [q.v.] was signed in June 1974. Next followed the Sinai II Agreement [q.v.] between Egypt and Israel, valid for three years, and signed on 4 September 1975. Israel agreed to this deal only after it had received written guarantees from the U.S. that it would not have talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] unless it ceased its terrorist activity against Israel and recognized Israel's right to exist in tranquility.
In 1976, an American presidential election year, the peace process came to a halt. It was only in October 1977, when the new U.S. President Jimmy Carter had settled into his job, that a joint U.S.–Soviet Union declaration stated the terms for reconvening the Geneva conference in December. But because of the Israeli disapproval, no such meeting took place. In November the dramatic visit of Sadat to Jerusalem [q.v.] to address the Israeli Knesset [q.v.] altered the course of the peace process. The accords between Israel and Egypt, signed at Camp David, Maryland, in September 1978, covered relations between the two countries, and between Israel and the Palestinians, even though their sole representative, the PLO, did not participate in the talks. On 26 March 1979 Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in Washington. By the time the two countries exchanged ambassadors in February 1980, Israel had returned two-thirds of Sinai to Egypt. But 26 May 1980—the target date for an agreement on Palestinian self–rule— passed unnoticed. On 26 April 1982 Israel returned the last part of Sinai to Egypt.
After the expulsion of the PLO from Beirut [q.v.], on 1 September 1982, U.S. President Ronald Reagan presented a peace plan that reaffirmed UN Security Council Resolution 242 [q.v.]. While explicitly excluding Israeli annexation, sovereignty, or domination over the Occupied Territories [q.v.], it also ruled out an independent Palestinian state. Instead it favored Palestinian self–government "in association with Jordan" and called on Jordan and the Palestinians to widen the 1978 Camp David Accords [q.v.] so that a self–governing Palestinian authority could be elected to succeed the Israeli rule. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin [q.v.] summarily rejected this proposal because he had not been consulted, and the Reagan Plan was dead on arrival.
On 6 September 1982 the Arab League summit in Fez adopted an eight-point peace plan, which included Israel's withdrawal to its pre–1967 borders, the dismantling of the Jewish settlements in the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.], the exercising of Palestinian self–determination under the PLO to create a State of Palestine with its capital in East Jerusalem [q.v.], the right of Palestinian refugees to return home or receive compensation, and a UN Security Council guarantee of peace for all the states of the region, including Palestine. Syria backed this plan. There was no comment by Israel.
After falling out with Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] in 1983, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat [q.v.] initiated talks with King Hussein [q.v.] of Jordan early the following year. In February 1985 they announced a peace plan that envisaged Palestinians exercising their right to self-determination within the framework of a confederation of Jordan and Palestine, and a joint Jordanian–Palestinian delegation participating in peace talks organized under UN auspices. When Israel failed to respond to the proposal, Jordan ended its diplomatic collaboration with the PLO. The Palestine National Council [q.v.] cancelled the 1985 plan in April 1987. Meanwhile Syria pursued a policy of achieving strategic parity with Israel.
In February 1988 George Shultz, the U.S. secretary of state, offered a plan, specifying a negotiating period of six months between Israel and a Jordanian–Palestinian delegation to work out details of a transitional autonomy arrangement for the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza [q.v.]. The arrangement would remain in force for three years, during which a final settlement would be negotiated. The talks would run concurrently with an international peace conference, involving the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and all the interested parties, on the basis of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 (on 22 October 1973, calling on warring parties to cease fire and start implementing Resolution 242). Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir [q.v.] rejected the plan, calling it impractical. Since the Shultz Plan lacked any provision for a Palestinian state, the PLO turned it down. So did other Palestinian leaders, who saw it as a ploy to defuse the Intifada [q.v.], which had started two months earlier.
With King Hussein finally cutting administrative and legal links with the West Bank in July 1988, Israel's strategy of persuading Jordan to join the enlarged Camp David Accords became redundant. On the other hand it opened the way for the Palestine National Council to issue a declaration of independence for "our Palestinian land" and renounce violence and terrorism, at its session in Algiers in November 1988. This opened the way for the U.S. to establish low–level contact with the PLO headquarters in Tunis.
During 1989, with the tide of Soviet Jewish immigration building up due to Moscow's relaxed policies— raising the total number of immigrants from 13,300 in 1988 to 199,500 two years later—a new factor entered the process. In June 1990 Washington suspended talks with the PLO when the latter failed to condemn attacks on Israel by the radical Palestine Liberation Front, affiliated to the PLO, because its target was military.
During the crisis preceding Gulf War II [q.v.] the PLO backed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] because he tied Iraq's evacuation of Kuwait to Israel's withdrawal from the Occupied Arab Territories, a linkage summarily rejected by Washington. On the other hand, when during his meeting with U.S. President George H. W. Bush in Geneva in November 1990, President Assad pointed out the double standards used by Washington regarding Iraq and Israel, Bush assured him that after the war he would act as a catalyst between Israel and the Arabs in bringing about a peace settlement.
(4) AFTER THE 1991 GULF WAR [q.v.]: The defeat of Iraq, the only independently radical Arab state, provided an incentive to U.S. Secretary of State James Baker to revive the peace process. The chances of this improved in mid-July 1991 because of Assad's concessions on his terms for attending an international conference on Middle East peace in the belief that his accommodating gesture would shift the blame for the failure to convene such a gathering on the obdurate Israel. The preconditions by Israel, now ruled by a right–wing coalition government headed by Yitzhak Shamir [q.v.], were the exclusion of the PLO from the talks; the inclusion of the Palestinians resident in the Occupied Territories but unconnected with the PLO in a joint Jordanian–Palestinian delegation; any settlement with the Palestinians to include a transitional period of autonomy under the Israelis; and the negotiations to be bilateral, with no third country acting as a mediator or arbiter. In return, Israel conceded the principle of land for peace as contained in UN Security Council Resolution 242.
The Middle East Peace Conference was held in Madrid on 30 October under the cochairmanship of the U.S. and the Soviet Union (later Russia). When in his speech, Shamir described Syria as a "terrorist state," the Syrian foreign minister, Farouq al–Shaara, responded by holding up a picture of a poster showing Shamir as a wanted fugitive concerning the assassination of Lord Moyne, the British resident minister in the Middle East.
After the preliminaries, bilateral talks started between Israel and Syria, and Lebanon and the Jordanians–Palestinians. A second stream of multilateral negotiations concerning regional matters was also initiated. These included issues such as refugees, water, the economy, ecology, and regional security and disarmament. Syria and Lebanon boycotted these talks.
In the course of the bilateral negotiations the Jordanian–Palestinian delegation split into two, and the contact between the Palestinian delegates and the PLO gradually became public. Moreover, the four Arab delegations coordinated their strategies at joint sessions, often held in Damascus [q.v.], before attending new rounds of talks. The bilateral talks made little progress despite the installation of a Labor–led [q.v.] government following the defeat in June 1992 of Likud [q.v.] led by Shamir—who later revealed that he had planned to keep the negotiations going for 10 years. Nor did the situation alter when Bill Clinton succeeded George H. W. Bush as U.S. president in January 1993. The 10th round, held in Washington in June–July, was as sterile as the preceding nine.
Unknown to the Americans or anybody else, the Israeli government and the PLO had entered into Norwegian–organized secret talks in Norway in January 1993. These resulted in an agreement on principles in late August, which was initialed by the Israeli foreign minister, Shimon Peres [q.v.], and the PLO official, Ahmad Qurei, in Oslo. The formal signing of the Israeli–PLO Accord [q.v.] took place in Washington on 13 September in the presence of President Clinton.
(5) AFTER THE ISRAELI-PLO ACCORD, SEPTEMBER 1993 [q.v.]: Having ended the state of war between Jordan and Israel at a meeting in Washington in July 1994, King Hussein and Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.] signed the Jordanian-Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] in October 1994.
In May 1994 the PLO and Israel signed an agreement in Cairo [q.v.] on interim Palestinian self–rule in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho [q.v.] under the Palestinian Authority (PA) [q.v.]. The PA started functioning in July in Gaza [q.v.]. In September 1995 the PLO and Israel signed an agreement in Washington on interim Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank under the PA, requiring withdrawal of Israeli troops from seven West Bank cities by December, joint PA–Israeli control of 450 Palestinian villages, and continued Israeli control of 128 Jewish settlements. This became known as the Washington Accord [q.v.] or Oslo II Accord [q.v.]
After the assassination of Rabin in November 1995, his successor, Shimon Peres, carried out the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank villages as well as six West Bank cities (Hebron [q.v.] being the exception) by late December 1995. In January there were elections to the 88-member Palestinian Council, followed by the election of the executive president of the Palestinian Authority, in which Yasser Araft won seven–eighths of the vote. Peres's defeat by his right wing rival, Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.], who described the Oslo Accords [q.v.] as "evil," in May 1996 was a heavy blow to the peace process.
(6) NETANYAHU'S PREMIERSHIP, MAY 1996-MAY 1999: After renegotiating the terms for a partial withdrawal from Hebron, Netanyahu authorized the construction of a large Jewish settlement southeast of Jerusalem at Jabal abu Ghunaim, called Har Homa. This brought the peace process to a virtual standstill while Netanyahu stated that any progress was conditional on the PA's curbing the Islamist opposition and ending its political activities in Jerusalem.
The deadline of September 1998 for further Israeli withdrawal specified in the Oslo II Accord passed without any movement in the peace process. In October at the Arafat–Netanyahu summit, chaired by President Clinton at the Wye Plantation, Maryland, Israel agreed to withdraw from a further 13 percent of the West Bank in three phases, each conditional on the PA meeting specific security arrangements to be verified by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Talks on the final settlement, involving Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements, and Jerusalem, were set to start in November and continue until the expiry of the Oslo Accords on 4 May 1999. In practice the Israelis carried out only the first of the three redeployments.
To dissuade Arafat from declaring unilaterally the establishment of the sovereign State of Palestine on 4 May 1999, Clinton addressed a letter to him reasserting his backing for the right of Palestinians to determine their future as "a free people on their own land."
(7) EHUD BARAK [q.v.] AS ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER, MAY 1999-FEBRUARY 2001: In September 1999 Israel withdrew from 7 percent of the West Bank, and in October opened a safe passageway between the West Bank and Gaza through the Israeli territory as specified in the Oslo Accords. In May 2000 Israel withdrew unconditionally from southern Lebanon as demanded by the UN Security Council Resolution 425 [q.v.] of March 1978.
In early July Clinton invited Arafat and Barak to an open–ended summit at Camp David to reach a framework agreement on the final settlement. On 26 July the summit ended in failure, chiefly due to unbridgeable differences between the two sides on the fate of the Palestinian refugees and the future of Jerusalem. Clinton announced that the negotiations were being deferred.
On 25 September Arafat visited Barak at the latter's home and they said they would meet again four days later. But on 28 September, Likud leader Ariel Sharon [q.v.], protected by 1,000 armed police, toured the Noble Sanctuary/Temple Mount [q.v.] in Jerusalem's Old City, normally out of bounds to the Jews [q.v.]. Regarding this as a provocative move by Sharon to underscore Israeli sovereignty over Islam's third-holiest site, Palestinians protested by throwing stones. The next day there was a demonstration by the Palestinians after Friday's midday prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque. It was dispersed by the Israeli security forces firing live ammunition, which killed seven Palestinians. This marked the start of the al–Aqsa Intifada [q.v.], also known as the Second Intifada [q.v.]. Against the background of rising violence and weakening coalition government, Barak called for the prime ministerial election in late November 2000.
A month later the print media in the region published the Clinton Plan which visualized a demilitarized Palestinian state in Gaza and 95 percent of the West Bank, with the Palestinians getting an equivalent land in the Negev desert next to the Gaza Strip. Whereas the Israelis would exercise sovereignty over the Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem, the Palestinians would do so only over the Arab neighborhoods. In the Old City Israel would annex the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall [q.v.] as well as enjoy "shared functional sovereignty" both "behind" the Western Wall and "under" the Noble Sanctuary/Temple Mount. The estimated 3.75 million Palestinian refugees would have the right of return to the newly established State of Palestine but not to Israel. Those rejecting this choice would be entitled to compensation and resettlement. In his meeting with Clinton on 3 January 2001, when Arafat sought clarifications, he was told that his plan would expire when Clinton left the White House on 20 January.
However, the Israeli and Palestinian delegations, led respectively by foreign minister Shlomo Ben–Ami and chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, met at the Egyptian sea resort of Taba on 21 January, and began negotiating, with the Clinton Plan as the starting point. Their joint statement issued on 27 January said that they had progressed on the core issues of refuges, security, borders, and Jerusalem much further than ever before and that the remaining gaps could be bridged following the resumption of talks after the Israeli election on 6 February. On that day Barak lost to Ariel Sharon [q.v.].
(8) ARIEL SHARON [q.v.] AS ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER, FEBRUARY 2001-DECEMBER 2005: Sharon got elected on the platform of continued expansion of Jewish settlements, Israeli sovereignty over all of the expanded Jerusalem, and no talks with the Palestinians until there was complete cessation of terrorism.
Reporting in May, former U.S. Senator George Mitchell described Sharon's walkabout at the Noble Sanctuary in September 2000 as "provocative" and Israel's use against the Palestinian demonstrators as excessive. Equally, he criticized the Palestinians for firing on Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers from the PA–controlled areas, and rejected their demand for an international protection force due to Israel's opposition. Stating that a cessation of violence would be hard to sustain unless Israel stopped its settlement construction activity, he recommended a freeze on all such activity. The PA accepted the Mitchell Report. While disputing any link between Jewish settlement policy and Palestinian terrorism, Sharon accepted the report "in principle." Later that month, for the first time Israel used F16 jet fighters to attack targets in Nablus [q.v.], killing 13 Palestinian policemen, thus escalating the conflict.
In his talks with officials of the new U.S. administration of President George W. Bush, Arafat offered a cease–fire if Israel froze settlements, removed the blockades of the Palestinian urban centers, implemented the third redeployment under the Wye River Memorandum [q.v.], and resumed talks on final settlement from the point where they were left off at Taba in January. But, after a suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv [q.v.] in June that killed 20 young Israelis, Arafat dropped his conditions and promised a full cease–fire while refusing to arrest Islamist leaders.
Following the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001, both Arafat and Sharon condemned them. Arafat ordered total cease–fire which did not hold.
By reoccupying the territories under the PA's jurisdiction, and destroying the security and administrative infrastructure of the PA, Sharon systematically undermined all the elements of the peace process painstakingly built up by Rabin and Peres in the 1990s in cooperation with the Palestinians.
The 14th Arab League summit in March 2002 adopted a peace plan of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah [q.v.]. It offered Israel total peace with all the League members in exchange for its total withdrawal from all of the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.], the establishment of an independent Palestine state, and the granting of the right of return to the Palestinian refugees according to the UN General Assembly Resolution 194. There was no response from Israel.
In April 2003, the quartet of the United States, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations [q.v.] issued a "road map" for peace which among other things called for the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state. The document required the PA to upgrade its security apparatus and focus on disrupting and arresting groups and individuals conducting or planning attacks on Israelis and on dismantling all terrorist capabilities and infrastructure. Israel was required to dismantle Jewish settlements built in the Palestinian territories after 1 March 2001; freeze all settlement activity; and end curfews and ease movement of people and goods. In defiance, Israel continued to expand Jewish settlements, a process that continued throughout the decade.
While the Israeli military evacuated the Gaza Strip in September 2005, it continued to patrol the West Bank, including the areas nominally controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
(9) EHUD OLMERT [q.v.] AS ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER, JANUARY 2006–MARCH 2009: Though Ehud Olmert [q.v.], as the successor to Sharon as the leader of Kadima [q.v.], became the prime minister of Israel in January 2006, he did not start peace talks with PA president Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.] until June 2007. However, the process got a boost when a Middle East Peace Conference [q.v.] was held under U.S. sponsorship in Annapolis, Maryland, in November 2007.
Abbas and Olmert attended it on the prior understanding that the final Israeli–Palestinian peace treaty would yield an independent State of Palestine. That became the official position of the Annapolis Conference. But Olmert continued Sharon's policy of allowing "natural growth" of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The violent conflict between Fatah [q.v.] led by Abbas and Hamas [q.v.] in Gaza, which led to the expulsion of Fatah from the Strip in June 2007, impeded progress in the peace process.
The leaking of the confidential Palestine Papers [q.v.] in January 2011 revealed that during the negotiatoins in 2008–09 the Israeli and American teams were not satisfied with the far-reaching concesssions the Palestinians made on East Jerusalem, Haram al–Sharif/Temple Mount [q.v.], and the right to retrun for Palestinian refugees.
Matters grew worse when Israel mounted a fully–fledged military attack on the Gaza Strip in December 2008–January 2009.
(10) BENJAMIN NETANYAHU AS ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER, MARCH 2009–: Soon after assuming office in January 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama called on Israel to freeze Jewish settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defied Obama. After a lengthy meeting with Obama at the White House he succeeded in linking the Israeli-Palestinian peace process with Iran's nuclear program—two unrelated issues. Obama gave Tehran until December 2009 to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions on its nuclear program or face stiff economic sanctions. Netanyahu's government then sanctioned the building of enough new housing units in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to cover the next 10 months, and then announced a moratorium on further construction for 10 months. Once the moratorium ended in September 2010, there was accelerated construction activity.
On the cardinal subject of an independent Palestinian state, Netanyahu said that he would accept it only if the Palestinians recognized Israel as the Jewish national state with undivided Jerusalem as its capital; agreed to have a Palestinian state that would be demilitarized, possessing neither an army nor rockets and missiles nor the control of its airspace; and gave up the right of return for the Palestinian refugees to the areas within Israel. Abbas and other Palestinian leaders found this new set of Israeli demands unacceptable. Bilateral peace talks ceased.
Pentecost: (Greek; derivative of pen–tekostos, fiftieth): Christian and Jewish Festival (also known as Whitsunday [q.v.]) In the Jewish calendar [q.v.] Pentecost comes 50 days after Passover [q.v.] and marks the end of the biblical Palestinian grain harvest, a period of 49 days or 7 weeks. In the Bible [q.v.], it is called the Feast of Weeks/Harvest/First Fruits (Shabuot [q.v.] in Hebrew). It is also known as the anniversary of receiving of the Jewish Law, an aspect stressed by Reform Jews [q.v.]. In the Christian calendar [q.v.], Pentecost is celebrated on the seventh Sunday after Easter [q.v.] in memory of the day when the Holy Spirit descended upon the followers of Jesus Christ on the 50th day after his resurrection. The Church celebrates Pentecost as the Feast of the Holy Spirit and as its own birthday. During early Christianity [q.v.] converts were baptized during the festival. Since they wore white garments the festival acquired the title Whit(e) sunday in the English–speaking world.
People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (1970–90): See South Yemen.
People's Republic of South Yemen (1967–70): See South Yemen.
Peres, Shimon (1923–): Israeli politician; prime minister, 1984—86, 1995—96; president, 2007— Born Shimon Persky into a middle–class household in Poland, Peres was 11 when his family migrated to Palestine [q.v.]. After studying at an agricultural school, he joined a kibbutz. From 1941 to 1944 he was secretary of a Zionist youth group. Active within Haganah [q.v.] since 1941, he was promoted to its command six years later and assigned the task of procuring weapons. By the end of the Arab–Israeli War (1948–49) [q.v.] he had become commander of the Israeli Navy. Between 1953 and 1959 he served as the defense ministry's director–general. Among other things he reinforced Israel's military links with the Western nations, especially in the nuclear weapons program, developed with the assistance of France.
He entered the Knesset [q.v.] in 1959 on a Mapai [q.v.] ticket and retained a seat under different party labels for the next 48 years. From 1960 to 1965 he served as deputy defense minister. He left Mapai and became secretary-general of Rafi, a breakaway group led by David Ben–Gurion [q.v.], in 1965. When the Labor Party [q.v.] was formed in 1968 Peres joined it and became its deputy secretary–general. The next year Golda Meir [q.v.] included him in her cabinet as minister without portfolio. He served as transport minister from 1971 to 1974, followed by a short stint as information minister. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.] appointed him defense minister (1974–77).
Violating his party's policy, Peres compromised with the ultranationalist Gush Emunim [q.v.] when its members set up a settlement in Kadum, thus setting the stage for Jewish colonization in the West Bank [q.v.].
In a determined challenge to Rabin for party leadership in 1976, Peres lost by 1,404 votes to 1,445. But, when Rabin resigned after the disclosure that, when he was Israel's ambassador to the United States his wife Lea Rabin had maintained an active bank account there, an illegal act, Labor Party delegates elected Peres their leader. In the May 1977 election Labor Party lost to Likud [q.v.], led by Menachem Begin [q.v.].
After the indecisive result of the 1984 election, Peres forged a coalition and rotation deal with Likud led by Yitzhak Shamir [q.v.], and became prime minister of a national unity government for two years. He oversaw Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, except the border security strip, and reduced the runaway inflation to a manageable level. From 1986 to 1988, he served as deputy premier and foreign minister. With the 1988 election mirroring the previous stalemate, Peres renewed his power-sharing agreement with Likud. In the Shamir–led cabinet he became deputy premier and finance minister. His differences with Shamir on how to proceed with the Middle East peace process [q.v.] led to his resignation from the government in March 1990 and Labor's withdrawal from the ruling coalition.
In the 1992 leadership contest he lost to his longtime rival, Rabin. After Labor's victory in the June 1992 election Peres was appointed foreign minister. But Prime Minister Rabin allowed him to deal only with multilateral talks with the Arab countries, initiated by the Middle East peace conference in Madrid in October 1991. But, once Israel had lifted its ban on contact with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] in January 1993, Peres became involved in the secret talks with the PLO in Norway. The resulting Israeli–PLO Accord [q.v.], concluded in September 1993 in Washington and signed by him, was a personal triumph for Peres. A year later he saw his peace efforts elsewhere culminate in a Jordanian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.]. He shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Rabin and Yasser Arafat [q.v.]. Following the assassination of Rabin in November 1995, he became prime minister.
In the prime ministerial contest of May 1996, he lost to Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.]. He remained a member of the Knesset. After the May 1999 election, Prime Minister Ehud Barak [q.v.] included him in his cabinet as minister without portfolio. In the national unity government of Ariel Sharon [q.v.], formed in March 2001, he became foreign minister. As a member of the inner cabinet, which included him and Labor defense minister Binyamin Ben–Eliezer, he claimed to have moderated the more extreme actions proposed by Sharon to quell the Palestinians' Al Aqsa Intifada [q.v.] and Islamist militants. He resigned his post when the Labor Party decided to quit the national unity administration in November 2002.
When the Labor Party under the leadership of Amram Mitzna did badly in the 2003 Knesset election, resulting in Mitzna's resignation, Peres became its interim leader. He joined the Sharon–led coalition government toward the end of 2004. When he lost the party's leadership in November 2005 to Amir Peretz by a margin of 2.4 percent, he defected to the newly formed Kadima [q.v.]
Following Kadima's success in the March 2006 Knesset election, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [q.v.] appointed Peres vice prime minister and minister for regional economy.
He was elected president of Israel by 86 votes to 23 in June 2007 for a seven–year term. In 2008, British Queen Elizabeth II awarded him an honorary knighthood of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. He is the author of 11 books, the latest being The Imaginary Voyage; With Theodor Herzl in Israel.
Persia and Persians: Persia is a derivative of Parsa, modern Fars, the southern region of Iran. The Indo–European nomads who migrated into the area from the Caucasus around 1000 B.C. were known as Parsa. By the seventh century B.C. they were established in southern Iran, then part of the Assyrian Empire. From early on, Persian rulers were associated with the Medes. Cyrus the Great (600–529 B.C.), first of the Achaemenians, declared himself ruler of Media in 559 B.C. and expanded his realm into the great Persian Empire. The Persians borrowed Assyrian political structures and Babylonian and Egyptian arts. Darius I (r. 521–486 B.C.) established a centralized government and extended his empire east into modern Afghanistan and northwest India, and as far north as the Danube River.
The empire began to decline from the mid–fifth century B.C., with regional governors acquiring greater powers and Egypt breaking away. Its death knell came when Alexander of Macedonia (r. 336–323 B.C.) defeated the Achaemenians on the Granicus in 334 B.C. and in the Battle of Guagamela in 331 B.C. After Alexander's death, most of the Persian Empire fell to his successors, the Selecuids, who were unable to maintain control.
Parthia, which seceded in 250 B.C., emerged as a successor to the Persian Empire. Following its decline a new empire of Sassanians emerged in 226 A.D. It reestablished Zoroastrianism [q.v.] as the state religion. The Sassanian Empire reached its peak under Anushirvan (r. 531–579) and then declined until its overthrow by the invading Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] in 640 A.D. Islam [q.v.] replaced Zoroastrianism as the official religion and the caliphate made Persia part of an Islamic empire, from which modern Iran was to emerge later.
Persian Gulf: See The Gulf.
Persian language: (Also known as Farsi) The principal language of the Iranian branch of the Indo–European family, Persian is divided into Old Persian, the language of ancient Persia [q.v.], written in cuneiform characters and in use until the third century B.C.; Middle Persian, including Pahlavi [q.v.] and Parsi, the chief language of Zoroastrian [q.v.] and Manichaean literature, both written in Aramaic script and dominant between the third century B.C. and the ninth century A.D.; and Modern Persian, dating from the ninth century A.D., written in the Arabic script [q.v.], the language used in the finest examples of Persian literature.
Pesach (Hebrew: Passover): See Passover.
petroleum (Latin: from petra, a rock + oleum, oil): See oil.
Phalange and Phalangists (Lebanon): Lebanese political party and militia (Official title: Lebanese Kataeb Social Democratic Party) The Phalange is a derivative of phalanx (or battalion), the literal translation of the Arabic word Kataeb. It was established in November 1936 by Pierre Gemayel [q.v.], who had been inspired by the Nazi Youth Movement rallies he had seen during his visit to the Berlin Olympics in the summer.
The party attracted Christian [q.v.] youths from the mountainous Metn region, the heartland of the Maronites [q.v.], and Christian students in Beirut [q.v.]. It participated in the talks that led to the National Pact of 1943 [q.v.], which formalized Christian domination of the state. Its popularity was enhanced by the discovery in 1949 of a plot by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party [q.v.] to merge Lebanon with Syria and the nationalist reaction it generated among Christians.
Its pro-Western stance and opposition to pan–Arabism [q.v.] led it to back President Camille Chamoun [q.v.] in the 1958 Lebanese Civil War [q.v.]. Its initial support for President Fuad Chehab [q.v.] waned when he tried to strengthen state powers at the expense of the financial and commercial oligarchs who led the Phalange. By aligning with the parties of Chamoun and Raymond Edde in the 1968 election, it increased its parliamentary share from four to nine among the 30 Maronite seats.
Its leaders began to highlight the presence of Palestinians, whose numbers had increased because of the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] and the 1970–71 Jordanian Civil War [q.v.]. On the eve of the Lebanese Civil War of 1975–90 [q.v.], the party, now 20,000 strong, had a militia under the command of Bashir Gemayel [q.v.], who later became commander of a coalition of Maronite militias, the Lebanese Forces (LF) [q.v.]. Politically it was part of an umbrella organization called the Lebanese Front [q.v.], led by Chamoun. Working in collaboration with the American and Israeli intelligence agencies, it confronted its adversaries, the Lebanese National Movement [q.v.], which was allied with the Palestinians. In mid–June 1976, facing defeat, its leaders welcomed Syria's armed intervention on their side. But since they refused to sever their ties with Israel, their relations with Syria turned frosty.
Intent on eliminating any serious rivals to his dominance in the Christian camp, in the summer of 1980 Bashir Gemayel used the Phalange militia to wipe out the militia of Chamoun's National Liberal Party [q.v.]. He succeeded to a large extent. In early 1982 he started to liaise with Israel in its plans to attack Lebanon. The invasion occurred in June, and by September the Phalange had been catapulted into the leading position, with Bashir Gemayel elected to the presidency. But his assassination some days before taking office changed the situation. Though his elder brother, Amin [q.v.], a Phalange member, won the subsequent presidential election, the party had lost its most ambitious leader. The death of Pierre Gemayel in August 1984 deprived it of a much–respected patriarch.
In early 1985 Samir Geagea, a leading member of the LF Command Council, declared the LF independent of the Phalange in security, policing, and finance, thus depriving it of much of its influence. This occurred just at the point when it had agreed to hand over to the Lebanese government various public departments it had usurped and run in the Christian enclave for several years. In the subsequent fighting, Geagea won full control of the LF, further reducing the power of Amin Gemayel.
After Gemayel had stepped down as president of Lebanon in September 1988 and left the country, the influence of Phalange declined further. Guided by Geagea, the party backed the Taif Accord [q.v.]. This caused a rift in the Lebanese Front, with the anti–Geagea faction siding with Gen. Michel Aoun [q.v.], who challenged the newly elected President Elias Hrawi [q.v.].
In the wake of Aoun's defeat in October 1990, many Phalange offices were taken over by the pro–Syrian forces. Later the party cooperated with the government in its plans to disarm the militias. The national unity government formed in December 1990 included Geagea and another Phalange leader, Georges Saade. But in March 1991 Geagea resigned, and went on to transform the LF into a political party. Due to its decision to boycott the 1992 general election, the Phalange's influence waned. Its headquarters was blown up in December.
Poale Agudat Israel (Hebrew: Workers of the Union of Israel): Israeli political party Formed in Katowice, Poland, in 1922 as the worker's section of Agudat Israel [q.v.] to safeguard the rights of religious Jewish workers, Poale Agudat Israel (PAI) set up a branch in Palestine [q.v.] a year later. In 1933 it founded its first kibbutz [q.v.]. It began cooperating with the World Zionist Organization (WZO) [q.v. ] in the colonization of Palestine, including organizing illegal immigration. After the establishment of Israel in 1948 it expanded its educational and settlement activities.
On the eve of the general election in 1949 it allied with Agudat Israel as well as Mizrahi [q.v.] and Poale HaMizrahi [q.v.] to form the United Religious Front [q.v.]. In the 1951 election it joined with Agudat Israel to form the Torah Religious Front [q.v.], which won five seats. The Front participated in the next Mapai–led [q.v.] government but quit in 1952 in protest against the law mandating conscription for women. While maintaining a separate existence, the two Agudat groups, winning two to six seats, stayed in opposition throughout the Mapai/Labor–led [q.v.] governments until May 1977, when the PAI won one seat and merged with Agudat Israel.
Poale HaMizrahi (Hebrew: Workers of the Spiritual Center): Israeli political party (Also known as HaPoale HaMizrahi) Since the branch of the Mizrahi [q.v.] in Palestine had many workers, its younger members formed Poale HaMizrahi in 1921. In turn Poale HaMizrahi formed a confederation of trade unions, a group of kibbu–tizim [q.v.], and a network of religiously oriented schools. It acquired a separate identity from its parent body. Both organizations participated in the Zionist movement [q.v.] and in the quasi–governmental organs of Yishuv [q.v.]. After World War II it actively encouraged illegal Jewish immigration.
In the run–up to the Israeli general election in 1949 it allied with three other religious parties to form the United Religious Front [q.v.], which won 16 seats and joined the government. In the 1951 election it allied with Mizrahi and secured 10 seats, improving the total by one in the next election in 1955 and rejoining the coalition government. The next year Poale HaMizrahi united with Mizrahi to form Mafdal, the National Religious Party [q.v.].
Poale Zion (Hebrew: Workers of Zion): Zionist Organization in Palestine The first Zionist workers' party, Poale Zion was formed in the Russian city of Minsk (now in Belarus) in 1900 with a program of socialism, Zionism [q.v.], and migration to Palestine [q.v.]. It set up a branch in Palestine. Growing cooperation between socialist pioneers and the World Zionist Organization (WZO) [q.v.] caused a split in Poale Zion, its leftist section leaving in 1919 to form Mopsi (Socialist Workers Party), and its rightist, nationalist faction merging with the followers of Berle Katznelson to found Ahdut HaAvodah [q.v.].
poll tax: an across-the–board tax on every member of a group To keep the Arab conquerors separate from the conquered people, the early caliphs of the Umayyad period (661–750 A.D.) confined their soldiers to garrison towns. They provided protection to the non–Muslim population on payment of a poll tax, a practice initiated by the Prophet Muhammad after his victory at Khaibar, an oasis populated by Jewish tribes. The practice continued among Muslim [q.v.] rulers, who exempted non–Muslim subjects from military service and charged them a poll tax in exchange for providing them security, the last such example being during the Ottoman Empire, which ended in 1918. See also dhimmis.
Popular Bloc (Bahrain): Bahraini political party After the Bahraini constitution had been promulgated in June 1973, the Bahrain National Liberation Front allied with the Bahrain Nationalist Movement to form the Popular Bloc, with a nationalist-leftist program, under the leadership of Hussein Musa. In the election for the 42-member National Assembly, held on a restricted franchise of 30,000 adult males, it secured 21 of the 30 elected seats. Led by Muhsin Mahrun, Popular Bloc members demanded the introduction of income tax, trade union rights, votes for women, and the nationalization of large Western-owned companies. The ruler, Shaikh Isa al–Khalifa [q.v.], responded by issuing a draconian state security law in October 1974. The Popular Bloc protested. Alleging that parliament had debated "foreign" ideas and principles, the ruler dissolved it in August 1975, arresting most Popular Bloc leaders and closing down their party.
Popular Democratic Party (Saudi Arabia): Saudi political party In 1970, former members of the Arab Nationalist Movement [q.v.], remnants of the local Baath Party, and the Marxists outside the National Liberation Front combined to form the Popular Democratic Party (PDP). Committed to liberating Saudi Arabia from Western imperialism by an armed struggle, it stressed the need to form a broad national front to oppose the royal dictatorship. Unusually for a Saudi group, it set up a special women's section. It drew most of its support from students and petty civil servants. Since belonging to it was a capital offense, its membership inside the country was minuscule. As a largely expatriate body, active among Saudi students studying abroad and long–term exiles, it had no impact on domestic events. With the decline of radical politics by the late 1980s, it lost support even among Saudi expatriates.
Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf (196871): At its second congress in September 1968 in South Yemen, a Marxist state, the Dhofari Liberation Front (DLF) decided to extend its revolutionary activities to the rest of Oman and other Gulf states [q.v.] and changed its name to the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf (PFLOAG). Opposed to imperialism, neocolonialism, and local oligarchies, the PFLOAG committed itself to achieving a socialist revolution and stressed the importance of Dhofar as a link between South Yemen and the Gulf States [q.v.]. Besides South Yemen, the People's Republic of China backed it.
Nearly two years later, having brought two-thirds of Dhofar under its control, the PFLOAG extended its activities to the Omani core of the sultanate. This alarmed the British, the dominant political power in the country, and led to a London–engineered coup that replaced Sultan Said bin Taimur [q.v.] with his son, Qaboos [q.v.]. The latter initiated socio-political reform and modernization, and expanded the military under the British aegis. In response, the third congress of the PFLOAG in 1971 lowered its sights from engineering a socialist revolution to accomplishing a national democratic revolution. It opened party membership to non–Marxist nationalists and renamed itself the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arab Gulf [q.v.].
Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman (1974–82): Faced with a vigorous onslaught by its enemy, the congress of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arab Gulf (PFLOAG) [q.v.], meeting in July 1974, decided to narrow its field of action to Oman and renamed its organization the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman (PFLO). Within a year the Soviet Union had begun supplying arms to the PFLO and training its cadres.
But this was not enough to enable it to withstand the offensives that the Omani army along with the Iranian troops—assisted by Britain, Egypt, and Jordan—launched in 1975. With South Yemen stopping its assistance in order to placate Saudi Arabia, the PFLO agreed to a cease–fire in 1976. But once Iran had withdrawn most of its troops in early 1977, PFLO fighters began to regroup. However, their activities from 1978–79 did not go beyond sporadic attacks and assassinations. Once Oman and South Yemen had formally recognized each other and signed a normalization agreement in 1982, the PFLO ceased to exist.
Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arab Gulf (197174): In 1971 the third congress of the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arab Gulf [q.v.] lowered its sights from engineering a socialist revolution to accomplishing a national democratic revolution. It opened party membership to non–Marxist nationalists and renamed itself the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arab Gulf (PFLOAG).
The resulting increase in its strength enabled it to withstand three offensives by the British–led Omani forces, backed by British counterinsurgency units, between October 1971 and September 1972. The Omani sultan and his British backers redoubled their efforts, securing aid and assistance from Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and finally from Iran, which entered the fray in 1973. Faced with this opposition, the next PFLOAG congress in July 1974 decided to limit its activities to Oman, and the organization was renamed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman (PFLO) [q.v.]. However, a PFLOAG branch was set up in Bahrain.
Once the British had departed from Bahrain in mid-1971 and the ruler, Shaikh Isa al–Khalifa [q.v.], had made desultory moves to share power with his ministers, the PFLOAG's Bahraini section began to flex its muscles. Along with the Bahrain National Liberation Front, it called a general strike twice. Shaikh Isa agreed to hold elections to a constituent assembly, but because of his refusal to release all political prisoners and grant votes to women, the PFLOAG boycotted the election. It did the same when a general election was held in December 1973. In the crackdown that followed the dissolution of parliament in August 1975, many PFLOAG leaders were jailed.
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine: Palestinian political party The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was formed in December 1967 by the merger between the Palestinian section of the Arab Nationalist Movement [q.v.] and the Syria–based Palestine Liberation Front, under the leadership of George Habash [q.v.]. The next year it affiliated to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.]. At its first (open) congress in February 1969 the PFLP described Israel, the World Zionist movement [q.v.], world imperialism, and Arab reaction in the region as the enemies of the Palestinian cause. It adopted a program of mobilizing Palestinian workers and peasants in alliance with the petty bourgeoisie, and starting a guerrilla struggle as a step toward a national liberation war.
It emulated the organizational structure of a cadre-based Communist party. The congress, elected by members every four years and meeting every alternate year, was the PFLP's highest body. It elected the central committee, which in turn chose the political bureau (politburo). The congress also had the authority to elect the secretary–general, a position occupied by Habash from the party's inception until his formal retirement due to ill health in April 2000.
The PFLP's campaign inside the Occupied Territories [q.v.] involved 220 armed operations in 1970. Abroad, its activists hijacked three airliners between 7 and 9 September 1970, took them to an abandoned airfield near Amman [q.v.], emptied them of passengers, and blew them up. This triggered fighting between the Palestinian commandos and the Jordanian army, resulting in the Palestinians' defeat. The PFLP then moved its main operational base to Lebanon. Its militia was the third–largest after Fatah [q.v.] and Saiqa [q.v.].
Making no distinction between Zionist persons or organizations inside Israel or outside, it attacked Israeli targets abroad—mainly by hijacking airliners and making political demands. Between July 1968 and December 1973, when the party congress suspended its activity against Israeli targets abroad, the PFLP conducted 16 foreign operations.
In 1974, when the Palestine National Council (PNC) [q.v.] accepted the idea of a Palestinian state on the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza [q.v.] as an intermediate step toward the liberation of all of Mandate Palestine, the PFLP boycotted the PLO Executive Committee and the central council. In the late 1970s, when the Soviet Union started offering military training to PLO activists, the PFLP was included in the program. It ended its boycott of the PLO institutions in 1981.
After the expulsion of the PLO from Beirut [q.v.] in September 1982, the PFLP moved its headquarters to Damascus [q.v.], but did not join the Syrian–instigated fight against Yasser Arafat [q.v.] and Fatah [q.v.]. However, after Arafat's agreement with King Hussein [q.v.] of Jordan to pursue a joint negotiating strategy in 1985, the PFLP allied with the pro–Syrian Palestinian factions to form the Palestine National Salvation Front. After the PNC had disowned Arafat's deal with King Hussein in April 1987, the PFLP rejoined the PLO Executive Committee and other PLO institutions. In November 1988, while opposing the resolution before the PNC to accept a Palestinian state in part of Palestine and peaceful coexistence with Israel, the PFLP accepted the majority decision in favor of the resolution.
During the crisis created by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, the PFLP backed President Saddam Hussein [q.v.], especially when the latter tried to link Iraq's evacuation of Kuwait to Israel's withdrawal from the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.]. The PFLP opposed the Israeli–PLO Accord [q.v.] of September 1993 and the Jordanian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] of October 1994.
In 1999, when the PFLP lifted its objections to the PLO leadership's talks with Israel, Abu Ali Mustafa, the moderate deputy of Habash, was allowed to return to the West Bank. He set up an office in Ramallah [q.v.]. After the formal retirement of Habash as the party's secretary–general in 2000, Mustafa succeeded Habash.
Following the assassination of Mustafa in August 2001 by the Israeli military, which fired a rocket at the PFLP's Ramallah office, Ahmad Saadat, a hard-liner, was elected secretary-general. To avenge Mustafa's killing, PFLP activists assassinated ultra-right–wing tourism minister Rehavam Zee'vi in an East Jerusalem hotel in October. Pressured by the United States, the Palestinian Authority (PA) [q.v.] arrested Saadat in January 2002 and imprisoned him in Jericho [q.v.] along with five other PFLP members. During the Al Aqsa Intifada [q.v.], the PFLP carried out five suicide bombing attacks inside Israel between 2002 and 2004.
In a military operation in March 2006, the Israelis besieged the Jericho prison, and after a 10–hour battle, which left two people dead, abducted Saadat and five other inmates for a trial in Israel. Saadat was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment in December 2008.
In the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary election, the PFLP won three seats in a house of 132. Its appeal is limited to Christian pockets in the West Bank and Gaza. Its supporters are often urban university graduates of liberal–leftist disposition.
At the time of massive pro–democracy demonstrations in Cairo [q.v.] in January 2011, the PFLP declared its solidarity with "the popular classes" of Egypt.
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine–General Command: Palestinian political party Having merged his Palestine Liberation Front with the Palestinian section of the Arab Nationalist Movement [q.v.] to form the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) [q.v.] in late 1967, Ahmad Jibril [q .v.] led his supporters out of the PFLP about a year later to form the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP–GC). It then affiliated to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.].
The PFLP–GC carried out several operations against Israel and Israeli targets, including planting a bomb onboard a Swissair flight from Zurich to Tel Aviv [q.v.] in February 1970, which exploded and killed 47 passengers and crew. Four years later, in a failed attempt to exchange their Israeli hostages—taken at Kiryat Shimona— for 100 Palestinian prisoners, three members of the PFLP–GC and 18 Israelis were killed.
After the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon [q.v.], when the PLO's constituents were forced to vacate Beirut [q.v.], the PFLP–GC moved its headquarters to Damascus [q.v.]. In 1983 it joined an anti–Yasser Arafat [q.v.] rebellion masterminded by Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.]. In May 1985 Israel granted the release of 1,150 Palestinian detainees and convicted prisoners in exchange for three Israeli soldiers captured by the PFLP-GC during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. In late November 1987 three PFLP-GC activists mounted a hang–glider raid from southern Lebanon on an Israeli military outpost, resulting in six Israeli deaths. This proved pivotal in sparking the Intifada [q.v.] on 9 December.
Although the PFLP-GC was secular, socialist, and nationalist, in the late–1980s it started to form links with Iran, with Jibril visiting Tehran [q.v.] periodically and receiving financial aid. PFLP–GC propaganda began referring to the "Arab and Islamic people" and the "Arab and Islamic region."
In the Kuwait crisis and the subsequent Gulf War II [q.v.], the PFLP–GC backed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.]. But, despite brave statements before and during the conflict, it did not carry out any terrorist acts.
It rejected the Israeli–PLO Accord [q.v.] of September 1993 because it failed to concede Palestinians' right to self–determination and the right of refugees to return home. It quit the PLO.
With Jibril moving closer to Iran, the PFLP–GC split in 1999. Its breakaway faction acquired the name of the Palestinian Liberation Front.
The PFLP–GC maintains its head office in Damascus [q.v.] and, given its cordial relations with the government there, it continues to enjoy support in the Palestinian refugee camps in Syria. Also, so long as the Syrian troops were present in Lebanon, it maintained a substantial presence in the Palestinian refugee camps there. With the departure of the last Syrian soldier from Lebanon in 2005, it lost its protective cover. On the other hand, its links with Hizbollah [q.v.], a Lebanese organization, assured its survival in Lebanon. Of all the Palestinian factions, it remained the most hard-line. In the Israel-Hizbollah War in 2006 [q.v.], its armed activists assisted Hizbollah.
During the uprisings in Syria in 2011, it sided with the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad [q.v.].
Progressive Party (Israel): Israel political party Shortly after the founding of Israel in May 1948 the liberal "A" faction of the General Zionists [q.v.] left its parent body to combine with the German–dominated Aliyah Hadasha (Hebrew: New Immigrants) Party, a moderate faction, and HaOved HaTzioni (Hebrew: The Zionist Worker) to form the Progressive Party. With four to six deputies in the first four parliaments (1949 to 1959), it participated in most of the Mapai–dominated [q.v.] governments. In 1961 it merged with the General Zionists [q.v.] to form the Liberal Party [q.v.].
Progressive Socialist Party (Lebanon): The Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) was formed in 1949 by Kamal Jumblat [q.v.]. Predominantly Druze [q.v.], it had some Sunni [q.v.], Shia [q.v.], and Christian [q.v.] members. The party adopted a pan–Arabist [q.v.], left-of–center program that opposed the confessionalism [q.v.] built into the 1943 National Pact [q.v.]. In the 1958 Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] Jumblat assumed leadership of the camp opposed to the pro–Western President Camille Chamoun [q.v.].
As political consciousness among Muslims increased because of the events in the region and the growing presence of armed Palestinian commandos, the importance of the party and its leader rose. It was an important member of the National Progressive Front, forged by Jumblat in 1969, and enlarged and renamed the Front of National and Progressive Parties and Forces in 1972. With the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in April 1975 [q.v.] the leadership of the nationalist–leftist camp once again rested with the PSP chief, Kamal Jumblat. After his assassination in March 1977, his son Walid [q.v.] became the PSP leader. He moderated the party line and repaired relations with Syria, which had been soured by his father.
Following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon [q.v.] in June 1982, the PSP found itself on the defensive against the onslaught of the Israeli–backed Maronite [q.v.] militias. In September 1983 the PSP militia played an important role in frustrating the Western attempt to bolster the Lebanese army, which was commanded largely by Maronite officers. In February 1984 the party militia allied with the fighters of Amal [q.v.] and expelled the Maronite–controlled Lebanese army from West Beirut [q.v.]. The PSP was a leading actor at the reconciliation conference held in Lausanne, Switzerland, in March 1984.
To frustrate the designs of Gen. Michel Aoun [q.v.], the PSP joined 13 other parties in August 1989 to form the Lebanese National Front, which was committed to defeating Aoun's political and military program. The PSP had reservations about the Taif Accord [q.v.] because it did not sufficiently curtail presidential powers and did not treat Muslim Lebanese equitably. But, aware of Syria's strong backing for the Accord, it desisted from protesting.
After the end of the civil war in October 1990, some 2,800 fighters from the PSP militia, which at its peak had 15,500 armed men, were taken into the regular Lebanese army. Jumblat was appointed a minister in the national unity government that followed. The PSP participated in the 1992 general election, and, after his election to parliament, Jumblat became minister for displaced persons. Following the 1996 parliamentary election, in which the PSP won 10 seats, including all eight of the seats reserved for Druzes, Jumblat returned to his old ministerial post.
In 1998, the party's deputies abstained from voting for Emile Lahoud [q.v.], the choice of Syria for president. Therefore, Walid Jumblat did not find a place in the cabinet of Salim Hoss [q.v.]. During the run–up to the 2000 parliamentary election, the PSP demanded the withdrawal of the Syrian troops from Lebanon, thus appearing to make a common cause with Maronite Christian [q.v.] politicians. It won 16 seats, including the eight allocated to the Druzes. As a result, Jumblat's deputy, Marwan Hamadeh, became minister of displaced persons in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri [q.v.].
Emboldened by the UN Security Council Resolution 1559 in 2004 demanding the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon, the PSP reiterated its earlier stance. It cofounded the anti–Syria 14 March Alliance [q.v.]. In the 2005 general election it gained 16 seats. Once the Syrian forces had pulled out completely from Lebanon, the party lost its anti–Syrian thrust. It entered the 2009 parliamentary election as an independent entity and secured 10 seats.
In January 2011, PSP lawmakers were among the 68 members of parliament who elected Najib Mikati [q.v.], backed by pro–Syria Hizbollah [q.v.], as president.
Protestant Christians/Church: Christian sect A Christian not belonging to the Roman Catholic Church [q.v.] or the Orthodox Church [q.v.] is generally described as Protestant. Protestants consider the Bible [q.v.] to be the central source of Christian teaching. Protestant churches emerged as part of a religious revolution in Western Europe in the 16th century, starting as a reform movement in the Catholic Church. The major Protestant schools are Adventist, Anabaptist, Baptist, Calvinist, Congregationalist, Lutheran, Methodist, Modernist, Presbyterian, Puritan, and Unitarian.
Protocol of Constantinople (1913): Under the terms of the Protocol of Tehran (1911) [q.v.], representatives of the Ottoman Empire, Persia (now Iran), Russia, and Britain met in Constantinople (now Istanbul) to delineate the boundary from Mount Ararat to the Persian Gulf [q.v.] and redefine navigational rights in the Shatt al–Arab [q.v.], which formed the fluvial border between Iran and the easternmost province of the Ottoman Empire. Since Britain, keen to develop an oil industry in Iran, needed extensive port facilities along the waterway, the new protocol awarded to Iran five small islands and one largish one in the Shatt al-Arab between Muham-mara (later Khorramshahr) and the sea. It was confirmed in 1914 and followed by the appointment of a Delimitation Commission, in which Britain and Russia had powers of arbitration. By the time World War I started in mid–1914, a definitive map of the frontier had been produced and 227 boundary pillars installed.
Protocol of Tehran (1911): The Protocol of Tehran, signed in 1911, outlined a basis for negotiations between Persia (now Iran) and the Ottoman Empire, and set up a Joint Delimitation Commission consisting of representatives of the Ottoman Empire, Persia, Russia, and Britain.
Protocol of Uqair (1922): The Protocol of Uqair was imposed by Sir Percy Cox, the British high commissioner in Baghdad [q.v.], on Kuwait and Najd [q.v.] (later Saudi Arabia) in December 1922. It carved out a neutral zone between Najd and Kuwait (the Saudi Arabia–Kuwait Neutral Zone [q.v.]). It confirmed the inner (red) line of the 1913 Anglo–Ottoman Convention [q.v.] regarding Kuwait's southern border with Najd, but did not define Kuwait's northern frontier with Iraq. In April 1923, when Shaikh Ahmad I al–Sabah [q.v.] of Kuwait claimed the outer (green) line of the 1913 Anglo–Ottoman Convention as applying to the area north of Kuwait port, Sir Percy replied that his claim to the frontier and offshore islands was recognized as far as Britain was concerned. This limited Iraq's access to the Gulf [q.v.] to mere 36 mi./58 km of coastline infested with swamps and marshland, thus denying it a deep–water harbor and the possibility of becoming an important naval power in the region. King Faisal I of Iraq [q.v.] was disappointed, but with his country under the British Mandate he had no choice but to ratify Iraq's boundaries with its neighbors as decided by a British high commissioner.
Q
Qaboos bin Said (1940–) : Sultan of Oman, 1970—; prime minister, 1970- Born in Salalah, Qaboos was educated privately at the royal palace and then at a private college in Bury St. Edmunds, Britain. After graduating from the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, he served briefly with the British forces stationed in West Germany, and then took courses in social studies at a British university but did not graduate.
He was recalled home in 1965 and put under surveillance at the Salalah royal palace where he spent time studying Islam [q.v.]. Among his visitors were British expatriates whom his father Sultan Said bin Taimur [q.v.] trusted. Some of them were used by the British government to plot the deposition of Sultan Said, which occurred on 23 July 1970.
After becoming sultan as well as prime minister and defense and foreign minister, Qaboos ended Oman's isolation by securing it membership in the Arab League [q.v.] and the United Nations. Aided by rising oil output, which reached a peak of 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the mid–1970s, he built or expanded the economic infrastructure and provided social services to Omani nationals. He intensified the campaign against the leftist insurgency in Dhofar that had started in 1963. He expanded the army with a large intake of foreign mercenaries, especially Pakistanis. In 1973 he turned to the shah of Iran for extra troops. With British, Saudi, Egyptian, Jordanian, and Iranian backing, he crushed the Dhofari rebellion by late 1975.
At the age of 36, he married his 14-year–old cousin Kamila (nee Nawwal bint Tariq bin Taimur). The marriage ended in divorce five years later. They had no children.
Qaboos was alone in the Arab world in endorsing Egypt's Camp David Accords [q.v.] with Israel, and did not cut ties with it after the signing of a peace treaty between the two countries. He was the only Gulf leader to sign a military accord with Washington in mid-1980, allowing it to use Oman's harbors and airports, and to stockpile arms and ammunition on its soil. He ended his regional isolation after the start of the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.] in September 1980 by taking a pro–Iraqi position along with other Gulf rulers. He was a cofounder of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) [q.v.] in 1981. However, belated awareness of Oman's proximity to Iran at the mouth of the Hormuz Strait [q.v.] made him adopt a neutral stance in the Iran-Iraq War. Along with other GCC rulers he backed Kuwait after it had been occupied by Iraq in August 1990. He joined the U.S.-led coalition against Iraq. After the war he signed a 10–year military access agreement with Washington.
While refusing to provide Oman with a written constitution or abandon any of his arbitrary powers, he expanded and restructured the fully nominated 45–member consultative council acting as an advisory body on socioeconomic affairs. This proved insufficient to counter growing public disaffection. He then promulgated a written constitution in 1996, which incorporated the existing consultative council with scant legislative authority. It was only when rioting broke out in Hajar in 2000 that he turned the council into an elected body.
He renewed Oman's 10-year military access agreement with America in 2001. In its war against the Taliban–administered Afghanistan later that year, he allowed the Pentagon to use Oman's military facilities after it agreed to sell the sultanate advanced weapons worth $1.2 billion.
His opposition to the Anglo–American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] did not stop him from letting 3,600 American military personnel, 100 elite British special forces, and 40 U.S. warplanes be stationed in Oman in early 2003. At the same time he continued to maintain cordial relations with Iran, partly because the territorial waters of the two neighbors overlap in the narrow Strait of Hormuz.
In 2005, his government arrested 31 suspects for being members of the secret al–Bashaer military group aiming to subvert the government. After the court had found them guilty and sentenced them to one to 20 years' imprisonment, Qaboos pardoned them.
He indulged his fondness for superyachts in 2007 by purchasing a 510-foot/155-meter–long yacht, named Al–Said, equipped with a helipad and an auditorium large enough for a symphony orchestra.
When the wave of popular demonstrations emanating from Cairo [q.v.], demanding political reform, reached the sultanate in February-March 2011, culminating in violent rioting in the industrial port city of Sohar, Qaboos temporized. He combined the dismissal of corrupt ministers, raising the minimum wage, and doubling social benefits with the appointment of a commission to recommend political reform. Following its report in the autumn he enhanced the powers of the two–tier Council of Oman at the expense of the appointed cabinet. He transferred the authority to present draft laws to him from the cabinet to the Council of Oman after it had debated and amended the bills submitted to it by the cabinet. The changed procedure also applied to the annual budget and draft development plans.
Al Qaida (Arabic: The Base): Extremist Islamist organization Al Qaida evolved out of the Maktab al–Khidmat (Arabic: Bureau of Service [to the non–Afghan mujahedin]) established by Abdullah Azzam [q.v.] in Peshawar, Pakistan, in 1984. At the training camps on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan frontier set up by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the non–Afghan mujahedin underwent military training. It was based on the manuals used by the U.S. Defense Department and the CIA, and translated into Persian [q.v.], Arabic [q.v.], and Urdu. Their complementary political education emphasized nationalism and Islam [q.v.]. Their leader was Osama bin Laden [q.v.]. He declared the departure of the Soviet troops from Afghanistan in February 1989 a victory for the anti–Soviet jihad.
Following the assassination of Azzam in November, bin Laden decided to run Maktab al-Khidmat under the new title of Al Qaida, but with a more ambitious aim of creating an international network of jihadists, those who had participated in the anti– Soviet jihad.
His scheme took concrete shape during his five-year stay (May 1991— May 1996) in Sudan, where he set up a string of companies. He ran Al Qaida along corporate lines, with the policy–making Shura Council of 12 served by five executive committees: military (headed by Muhammad Atef [q.v.]), political, business, Islamic jurisprudence, and media and public relations. The military committee handled training recruits, procuring arms and explosives, and planning attacks. The political committee assessed the political situation in a particular country. The business committee focused on acquiring and spending funds. The Islamic jurisprudence committee evaluated whether a particular action or decision was in line with the Sharia [q.v.]) and issued religious decrees. The media committee handled public relations and propaganda, including production of audio– and videotapes.
In 1993 Al Qaida had an estimated 1,000 members, most of them Afghan veterans.
Bin Laden used his financial resources to fund the activities of Al Qaida, which focused on waging jihad against the United States by either directly financing Al Qaida's terrorist actions or sponsoring like–minded groups worldwide, with their activists coming to Sudan for weapons training. Thus he turned Al Qaida into an umbrella organization specializing in conducting jihad through violent means.
By the mid-1990s, besides supporting about 5,000 mainly Arab fighters in the Balkans, where a civil war raged in Bosnia during 1992–95, al-Qaida's members were established in Albania, Britain, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. Also, Al Qaida established associate relationship with like–minded groups in Algeria, Chechnya, Egypt, Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa, Lebanon, Libya, Philippines, south Asia, southeast Asia, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen.
After bin Laden had moved his entourage to Afghanistan in 1996, Al Qaida expanded further, partly because Mullah Muhammad Omar, the ruler of the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, gave it a free rein; partly because of the return of the veterans of the anti–Soviet jihad after being harassed by their governments; and partly because of the decline in the jihads in the Balkans, Chechnya, and Kashmir. It opened military training camps. Four years later, Al Qaida's 3,000 fighters would become the Taliban's 55th Brigade. Outside Afghanistan, the estimated size of Al Qaida activists and sympathizers was put at 4,500 in 60 countries.
The United States held Al Qaida responsible for the bombing of the American Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in August 1998 that killed 227 people. It saw the hand of Al Qaida in the bombing of USS Cole in Aden [q.v.] in October 2000. And, following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington in September 2001, popularly known as 9/11, U.S. President George W. Bush held al–Qaida and bin Laden responsible. The Al Qaida official responsible for organizing and supervising 9/11 was believed to be Khalid Shaikh Muhammad [q.v.], a Pakistani of Baluchi origins born in Kuwait. During Washington's Afghanistan campaign from October to December 2001, two–thirds of Al Qaida fighters, including Atef, either died or were taken prisoner. The rest, including bin Laden and his ideological mentor, Ayman Zawahiri [q.v.] escaped, mainly to Pakistan.
By the end of 2002, the arrest of some 3,000 Al Qaida activists and sympathizers in 98 countries had cut the size of the organization by two-thirds. Al Qaida now lacked a headquarters and training camps. Faced with enhanced security in the United States and other Western countries, it switched to Western targets in nonWestern countries. In 2002 it or its associates hit German tourists in Tunisia, French naval technicians in Pakistan, and Australian and Western tourists in Bali, Indonesia, using vehicles carrying liquid gas (in Tunisia) or chlorate (Bali). Also, with the transfer of terrorist technology and expertise from the center to the periphery, Al Qaida's associate groups became more active. By early 2003, the remnants of al–Qaida inside Afghanistan had established an underground network to carry out guerrilla actions and assassinations and had set up a radio station.
The Anglo–American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in 2003, and the subsequent chaos provided an unprecedented opportunity to Al Qaida to establish itself in the war–ravaged Iraq, an Arab state with its capital in Baghdad [q.v.], which had been the seat of the caliphate from 754 A.D. to 1258. As leader of the Jamaat al-Taw–ihid wal Jihad (Arabic: Society of Divine Unity and Jihad), Abu Musssab Zarqawi, trained in Al Qaida camps in Afghanistan, readily affiliated his organization with Al Qaida and renamed it Al Qaida in Mesopotamia [q.v.]. It became an important player in the anti-American resistance movement and also in the violent anti–Shia [q.v. ] campaign.
Al Qaida viewed itself as a vanguard movement dedicated to founding genuinely Islamic states free of such non-Muslim concepts as socialism and nationalism as a step to reviving the caliphate. This was to be done by simultaneous selected terrorist actions against Western powers that continued to dominate and exploit the Muslim world, and by undermining and overthrowing the regimes in most Muslim countries that were under Christian–Jewish influence.
Overall, its modus operandi could be described as centralized decisionmaking and decentralized implementation, with national or regional organizations using Al Qaida as a brand name. The leading examples of this were Al Qaida in Mesopotamia [q.v.] and Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.].
The number of commanders [emirs] in the field had fallen from a few thousand in the mid-2000s to a few hundred by 2010. With the assassination of bin Laden by U.S. Special Forces in the Pakistani city of Abbot-tabad on 2 May 2011, the leadership of Al Qaida passed to Zawahiri, believed to be hiding in the tribal belt along the Afghan–Pakistani border. The success of largely nonviolent popular movements to bring about regime change in Tunisia and Egypt in 2011 undermined Al Qaida's strategy of violent attacks on the interests of America, perceived as the puppet mater of these Arab regimes. See also Al Qaida in Mesopotamia and Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula: (Official title, Al-Qaida fi Jazirat al–Arab [Arabic: Al–Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula]) It came into existence in January 2009 following the merger of the Al Qaida branches in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, established seven years earlier. Its aim was to overthrow the regimes in Saudi Arabia and Yemen and establish an Islamic caliphate.
With its suicide attacks on three Western housing compounds in Riyadh [q.v.], which claimed 19 lives, in May 2003, Al Qaida's Saudi branch—led by Khalid Ali Hajj, a former bodyguard of Osama bin Laden [q.v.]—acquired a high profile. Despite the government's severe response to the terrorist event, the network attacked another residential compound in November, causing 17 fatalities. When Ali Hajj was killed by the Saudi forces in early 2004, he was replaced by Abdul Aziz Muqrin. In the spring the group shot dead five Western employees at a petrochemical complex in Yanbu, killed 22 foreign and Saudi nationals in attacks on three sites in Khobar, and beheaded an American aerospace employee. In retaliation, the kingdom's security forces stormed a hideout in Riyadh [q.v.] and shot Muqrin dead.
Under the leadership of Salhi al–Awfi, the network raided the U.S. consulate in Jeddah [q.v.] and murdered a dozen people in December 2004. Awfi died in a police raid in Medina [q.v.] in 2005. In February 2006, in a meticulously planned operation, Al Qaida activists dressed in the Saudi Aramco Company's uniforms and driving official vehicles went past two of the three guarded perimeters of the Abqaiq oil facility, which processed seven–eighths of the kingdom's petroleum exports, only to be challenged at the last gate. In the ensuing firefight they were killed.
The subsequent crackdown by the Saudi authorities forced many of the group's several hundred members to seek refuge in Yemen.
The suicide attack by Al Qaida's Yemeni operators aboard a speedboat, led by Jamal al–Badawi, on USS Cole in Aden in October 2000, resulting in the death of 17 U.S. sailors, gave the group a high profile. In November 2002, the killing of an American citizen along with a group of Al Qaida operatives, by a drone operated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), grabbed headlines in Yemen. The ongoing cooperation between the Yemeni and American governments kept Al Qaida's activists subdued.
But the escape of 23 Al Qaida extremists from a high–security prison in Sanaa [q.v.] in February 2006 changed the situation. Two escapees, Nasser Abdul Karim al-Wuhayshi and Qasim al-Raymi, formally established Al Qaida in Yemen. Its members included the veterans of jihad in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as new recruits. Wuhayshi's credentials as a participant in the anti–Soviet jihad in Afghanistan, when he became an assistant to bin Laden, impressed his colleagues. After the fall of the Taliban in December 2001, he had fled to Iran where he was imprisoned. In 2003 the Iranian government extradited him to Yemen. As the military commander of the network, Raymi, an expert organizer, proved innovative.
The newly formed group set up bases in the tribal areas under nominal control of the central government, which was held in low esteem because of its ineptitude and rampant corruption. Following small-scale attacks on security forces and foreign tourists, the network assaulted the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa in September 2008, deploying detonated bombs and firing rocket–propelled grenades. The toll of 20 included 14 Yemeni guards and civilians.
The video announcing the formation of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in January 2009 showed Said Ali al-Shihri, a Saudi national, as the deputy leader. Freed from the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in November 2007, Shihri was inducted into Saudi Arabia's de–radicalization program, only to abscond soon after. Anwar Awlaki, a U.S. citizen settled in Yemen, was believed to have played an important role in the founding of the AQAP.
In August the AQAP tried, but failed, to kill Saudi security chief Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, in charge of the kingdom's anti-terrorism campaign. Equally, the attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, to blow up a passenger plane over Detroit on Christmas Day by igniting plastic explosive PETN (pentaerythir–itol tetranitrate), sewn to his underwear, failed. He told his U.S. interrogators that AQAP operatives had trained and equipped him in Yemen to carry out the attack. During that year about 20 Islamist British nationals arrived in Yemen for training with the AQAP.
Working in collaboration with Washington, the Yemeni government mounted a major offensive against AQAP in the provinces of Abyan, Marib, and Shabwa, with the CIA making frequent use of its drones for "targeted" killings, and the Pentagon firing cruise missiles. Yet the continued AQAP armed attacks and bombings on military, civilian, and diplomatic targets during 2010 left more than 90 security officers and civilians dead.
In October 2010, two packages originating in Sanaa—each containing a bomb of 300 to 400 grams/11–14 ounces of plastic explosives and a detonating mechanism hidden inside electronic printers—were discovered on separate cargo planes after a tip–off from Prince Muhammad bin Nayef. Bound for the United States, they were found at en route stopovers in British Midlands and in Dubai [q.v.]. They were designed to detonate midair, with the debris falling over the destined American cities.
During the lengthy pro–democracy protests in Yemen in 2011, the army split, with the opposing units fighting each other, particularly in the south. This allowed the militia of the Ansar al–Sharia (Arabic: Helpers of the Sharia), affiliated with the AQAP, to leave their highland hideouts and capture large swathes of the Abyan, Bayda, and Shabwa provinces in the south, including many urban centers. They established a parallel government, free of corruption and run strictly according to the Sharia [q.v.], which provided much needed public services.
The AQAP's gains were unaffected by the killing of Awlaki and Samir Khan—a Pakistani–American editor of the organization's quarterly online magazine Inspire—in a U.S. drone attack in September 2011.
Al Qaida in Mesopotamia: (Official title, Organization of Jihad's Base in the Land of Two Rivers; Arabic: Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al–Rafidain) Its origins lie in Ansar al–Islam founded by Abu Musab Zarqawi [q.v.], which was renamed Society of Divine Unity and Jihad (Arabic: Ja-maat al–Tawhid wal Jihad), after the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] in April, and acquired the commonly used title of Al Qaida in Mesopotamia (AQM) in October 2004 when Zarqawi took an oath of loyalty to Osama bin Laden [q.v.].
It offered resistance to the U.S.–led occupation authority by attacking it and those Iraqis cooperating with it as well as Iraqi Shias [q.v.]. It emerged as the most lethal among the Sunni [q.v.] groups resisting the foreign occupation. It claimed responsibility for such dramatic acts as the bombing of the UN mission in Baghdad [q.v.] in 2003 and the assassination of the Iraqi Governing Council president Izzeddine Salim 10 months later. It sent suicide bombers into Shia gatherings in Baghdad and Karbala [q.v.] to devastating effect. It took westerners as hostages and beheaded some. The Pentagon raised the price on Zarqawi's head from $10 million to $25 million.
Arguing that the authority to legislate rested with Allah's word as revealed in the Quran [q.v.], the AQM opposed democracy and elections. It backed the decision of the Sunni tribal leaders to boycott the election for the Interim National Assembly in January 2005. It focused on high–profile and coordinated suicide attacks, and created insecurity among the general public. Because of its addiction to violence for its own sake and intolerance of those who differed from it, the AQM started to lose whatever popular support it had.
To regain the lost ground, in January 2006 Zarqawi created the Islamic World Council (IWC) to gather all Sunni resistance groups under one banner. He had made scant progress when he was killed in June in a joint operation by the American and Iraqi forces.
His successor, Abu Ayub al-Masri, an Egyptian extremist, replaced the Islamic World Council with the Islamic State of Iraq, under the leadership of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, by co–opting small militant groups. It aimed to seize power in Iraq and transform it into an orthodox Sunni Islamist state.
The AQM's attack on the Al Askirya Mosque—containing the remains of the Shias' Tenth and Eleventh Imams, Ali al-Hadi and Hassan al–Askari—in Samarra [q.v.] in February 2006, blew out its golden dome. The event triggered low intensity inter–sectarian warfare between Shias and Sunnis. It continued well into 2007 when the second attack on the same holy place in June 2007 destroyed its two minarets. The retaliation by the Shia militias raised the temperature.
The unpredicted internecine violence turned many Sunni tribal leaders against the AQM. They began cooperating with the U.S. troops to quash the AQM. By mounting a series of joint offensives, the American and Iraqi troops expelled the AQM and its allies from their bastions in Anbar and Diyala provinces by 2008. As a result, in April 2008 the Pentagon reduced its prize for the head of al–Masri from $5 million to $100,000. Nonetheless the AQM continued to target Shia gatherings and neighborhoods.
As the Pentagon started to reduce U.S. troop presence in cities for eventual withdrawal from all urban areas by June 2009, the AQM tried to make a comeback with massive bomb attacks on government ministries in Baghdad. But the killing of al-Masri and al-Baghdadi in a joint operation by American and Iraqi forces in April 2010 weakened the AQM. By June, of the AQM's 42 leaders, only eight remained at large. Of these, the single most important, Nasser al-Din Allah Abu Suleiman, the war minister of the Islamic State of Iraq, was killed in February 2011. The next top figure to fall was Huthaifi al–Batawi, the AQM commander of Baghdad, three months later. The current AQM chief, Abu Dua, carries Washington's bounty of $10 million for information leading to his capture or death.
With the total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in December 2011, the AQM lost its primary aim. It kept up its occasional suicide attacks on Shia gatherings in a country where Shias were 63.5 percent of the population.
Qasim, Abdul Karim (1914–63): Iraqi military leader and politician; prime minister, 1958—63 Born to a Sunni [q.v.] father and a Shia [q.v.] mother in a lower-middle–class home in Baghdad [q.v.], Qasim graduated from the local military academy and became a commissioned officer in 1938. He fought in the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.] as a lieutenant colonel. Along with Col. Abdul Salam Arif [q. v.], he led the Free Officers group since its formation in 1956. It overthrew King Faisal II [q.v.] on 14 July 1958, assassinated the royal family, and declared a republic.
Instead of forming a military revolutionary command council as the coup leaders in Egypt had done in 1952, Qasim headed a civilian–dominated cabinet of 14 as the prime minister, with additional authority as defense minister and military chief of staff. He became known as the Sole Leader.
In the debate that followed on Iraq's unification with the United Arab Republic (UAR) [q.v.], Qasim led the anti-unity camp and ousted the pan–Arabist [q.v.] Arif from office in September. A year later he curbed the Communist Party [q.v.], which had backed him in his opposition to the union with the UAR, and his implementation of long-overdue agrarian reform, thus alienating it. His strategy of manipulating the pro-union and anti–union camps proved counterproductive. He became isolated, and inadvertently paved the way for his own downfall.
Having made peace with Kurdish nationalists, Qasim invited their leader, Mustafa Barzani [q.v.], to return home from the Soviet Union. But, when Barzani demanded autonomy, he mounted a campaign against the Kurds [q.v.].
Qasim withdrew Iraq from the Baghdad Pact [q.v.]. He hosted a conference of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela in September 1960 to form the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.] to serve as a collective bargaining agency. His decree in 1961 deprived the Western–owned Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) of 99.5 percent of the 160,000 sq. mi./414,400 sq. km originally allocated to it for prospecting. In June 1961, when Kuwait became independent, Qasim claimed that it was part of Iraq. In the subsequent crisis that followed, he found himself being opposed by, among others, the Arab League [q.v.], which sent a Joint Emergency Force to Kuwait. This defused the crisis, but only after Kuwait had made substantial secret subventions to Iraq.
An alliance of Baathist [q.v.] civilians and military officers and Abdul Salam Arif toppled Qasim's regime on 8 February 1963, and executed him and his close aides.
Qassam, Izz al–Din (1881–1935): Palestinian lender Born into a religious family in Jabla, northern Syria, Qassam received an Islamic education in Latakia [q.v.], and joined al–Azhar University [q.v.] in Cairo [q.v.]. There he came under the influence of Muhammad Abdu, an Islamic thinker. On his return to Syria he worked as a preacher. When France received the League of Nations' mandate to administer Greater Syria [q.v.] in 1920, he opposed the foreign rule. Because of his participation in the resistance to the French Mandate in the mid–1920s, he was sentenced to death in absentia.
Qassam fled to the Palestinian city of Haifa [q.v.] and became a preacher there. Calling for a jihad [q.v.] against the British Mandate and the Zionist [q.v.] colonizers, he coined the slogan: "Allah's book in one hand and a rifle in the other." He thus became the first Arab [q.v.] leader in Palestine [q.v.] to advocate an armed struggle against foreign colonizers and rulers.
Because he considered workers and peasants to be the most dedicated classes, ready to sacrifice everything to gain the independence of Palestine, he was seen as a guardian of the poor. This won him popularity among those Palestinians who were not particularly religious. In late 1935 Qassam gathered some 800 armed men in Haifa and started marching toward the hills of the West Bank [q.v.] to defeat the British forces and make Palestine independent. After British reconnaissance planes had tracked down his militiamen, the British army engaged them in an uneven battle at Yaabad near Jenin. They lost, and Qassam was killed.
However, this first armed confrontation between the Palestinians and the British, coupled with Qassam's martyrdom [q.v.], boosted Arab morale. It paved the way for the Arab Revolt, the first Palestinian intifada, which erupted in 1936 and lasted three years. It is widely recognized that Qassam's philosophy, leadership, and advocacy of an armed struggle left a lasting impression on the Palestinian political culture. This became apparent when, during the Intifada [q.v.] in the Occupied Territories [q.v.] in 1987, both Hamas [q.v.] and Islamic Jihad [q.v.] named their respective military wings the Izz al–Din Qassam Brigade.
Qatar:
OFFICIAL NAME: State of Qatar
CAPITAL: Doha [q.v.]
AREA: 4,416 sq. mi./11,437 sq. km
POPULATION: 1.7 million (2011 est.), of which 1.4 million were non–nationals.
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (nominal): $173.8 billion; per capita, $98,330 (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (Purchasing Power Parity): $182.0 billion; per capita, $102,940 (2011 est.)
NATIONAL CURRENCY: Qatari Rial (QAR); QAR 1 = U.S.$0.275 = £0.169 = €0.207 (2011)
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: monarchy
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Arabic [q.v.]
OFFICIAL RELIGION: Islam [q.v.]
ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM: Qatar consists of 10 municipalities.
CONSTITUTION: An interim constitution, promulgated in April 1970 by Shaikh Ahmad bin Ali al–Thani [q.v.], named the al–Thanis [q.v.] as hereditary ruling family and invested the emir (head of state) with supreme power. It specified a 10-member cabinet, appointed and led by the emir as the chief executive. The cabinet ministers were to be additional members of the 23-strong Consultative Council, with 20 of its members chosen from among the 40 popularly elected representatives. In 1999 the ruler set up a 29-member Central Municipal Council, elected by universal adult suffrage, as a consultative body to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture. It has a four–year tenure.
A new constitution, endorsed in a referendum in 2003 and ratified by Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa al–Thani [q.v. ] a year later, was promulgated in June 2005. It provides for a 45-member Consultative Council, with two-thirds of its members to be elected by universal suffrage. It is to be entitled to debate and vote on proposed legislation, which must win two–thirds majority and the ruler's endorsement before it becomes law; to monitor the performance of ministers; and to approve the budget presented to it. The last of the several promises by the ruler to hold elections to this Council, made in the midst of the Arab Spring [q.v.] in 2011, mentioned 2013 as the date for the first general election.
CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL: After ascending the throne in February 1972, Shaikh Khalifa bin Hamad al–Thani [q.v.] appointed a fully nominated Consultative Council of 20 members, who were empowered to advise the cabinet only on matters referred to it by the emir. The Council was expanded to 30 members in 1975 and 35 in 1988. Since its formation, its four–year tenure has been extended repeatedly.
ETHNIC COMPOSITION: (2010 est.): Arab 28 percent, South Asian 54 percent, East Asian 11 percent, other 7 percent.
High officials:
Head of state: Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa al–Thani, 1995-
Crown Prince: Tamim bin Hamad Khalifa al–Thani, 2003-
Prime minister: Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa al–Thani, 2007-
Speaker of Consultative Council: Abduallah al-Khalifa al–Thani, 2007-
HISTORY: By intervening in the Qatari-Bahraini battles of 1867–68, Britain became the dominant foreign influence in the politics of Qatar, ruled by the al-Thani family. During the Ottoman suzerainty (1872–1916) the al–Thanis, adherents of Wahhabism [q.v.], remained preeminent. The end of the Ottoman rule brought Abdullah bin Qasim al-Thani (1876–1948) closer to the British, a relationship that was formalized in the 1916 Anglo–Qatari Treaty [q.v.]. Britain guaranteed Qatar's territorial integrity against external aggression while Qatar promised not to cede any rights, including mineral rights, to a third party without British consent. A subsidiary of the Iraq Petroleum Company, owned largely by Britain, struck oil in 1939, but commercial extraction did not start until 1948. Output rose to 32,000 barrels per day (bpd) toward the end of Shaikh Abdullah's reign.
His successor, Shaikh Ali bin Abdullah al–Thani (r. 1948–60) [q.v.], was deposed by the British in 1960 in favor of Shaikh Ahmad bin Ali al–Thani (r. 1960–72). He took Qatar into the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.] in 1961 and into the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) [q.v.] nine years later. In 1964, yielding to pressure from the National Unity Front [q.v.] and Britain, he appointed an advisory council with the authority to issue laws and decrees for "the fundamental principles and basic rules of overall policy." He promulgated an interim constitution in April 1970, which, by specifying a largely elected consultative council, marked an important step toward a representative government. It was only in that year that the apparatus of a modern state was established in Qatar. But that left untouched the "rule of four quarters"—the first quarter of revenues for administration; the second for the princes; the third to be credited to the reserves controlled by the royal clan, consisting of some 1,000 adult male al–Thanis; and the remainder for economic development.
Shaikh Ali al-Thani negotiated the termination of the 1916 Anglo-Qatari Treaty and declared Qatar independent in September 1971. But in February 1972 he was overthrown in a bloodless coup by Prime Minister Khalifa bin Hamad al–Thani [q.v.]. By then Qatar's petroleum output had reached 600,000 bpd. Its oil revenue soared to $5.4 billion in 1980, when its population was less than 250,000. The next year it became a cofounder of the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.]. Qatar supported Iraq in the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.]. It backed Kuwait after it had been occupied by Iraq in August 1990, and joined the Washington–led coalition against Iraq in Gulf War II [q.v.].
In June 1995 Shaikh Khalifa was overthrown by his son Shaikh Hamad al-Thani. Later that year he allowed Israel to open a trade mission in Doha. His decision in 1996 to partly fund the Al-Jazeera satellite television channel, which was licensed to operate without censorship, broke new ground. It gave the tiny emirate a high profile in the region and in the Arab world at large. Defying pressure from Arab and Muslim countries, Qatar presided over the U.S.–sponsored Fourth Middle East and North Africa Economic Conference, aiming to foster economic ties between Israel and the Arab world, in Doha in November 1997.
The emir held the first direct election to the nation–wide Municipal Council on the basis of universal franchise in 1999. The following year Qatar acquired the chairmanship of the Islamic Conference Organization [q.v.], but only after it had closed down the Israeli trade office in Doha.
When popular sentiment in Saudi Arabia turned against the U.S. military presence, dating back to the 1991 Gulf War, Shaikh Hamad al-Thani allowed the Pentagon to shift most of its military hardware and personnel to Qatar's al-Udaid air base in 2002. During the run-up to the Anglo–American invasion of Iraq in March 2003 [q.v.], the Pentagon's Central Command set up a forward base at al–Saliyah Camp near Doha. Both these military bases were key elements in the conduct of Washington's war against Iraq.
With the increased exploitation of the enormous North Dome gas field, the income from gas and oil provided more than three-fifths of the GDP and nearly seven–eights of Qatar's export income.
Buoyed by the ballooning income from hydrocarbons, Shaikh Hamad al-Thani started playing an important role in regional affairs. After the Israeli–Hizbollah War [q.v.] in 2006, he stepped forward to help financially all those who had lost their homes and businesses. He also tried to conciliate Hamas [q.v.] and Fatah [q.v.]. In May 2008 he mediated successfully between the rival camps in Lebanon and thus helped avert the possibility of full–scale civil war. When the Arab League [q.v.] headquarters refused to hold an emergency session of Arab leaders during the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip [q.v.] in December 2008-January 2009, he hosted a meeting of 13 Arab leaders in Doha. Later in 2009, he succeeded in resolving the long–running political crisis in Lebanon, which had paralyzed the state machinery.
During the 2011 Arab Spring, the Qatari government and the Al–Jazeera TV channel backed the uprisings, except in Bahrain. Qatar was among the most vociferous Arab supporters of the opposition to the regime of President Bashar Assad [q.v.] in Syria.
RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION (2010 est.): Muslim, 74 percent, of which Sunnis [q.v.] 70 percent (mostly Wahhabi [q.v.]), Shias [q.v.] 7 percent; Hindu 11 percent; Christian [q.v.] 10 percent; other, 6 percent.
qisas (Arabic: derivative of qasas, tracking the enemy's footsteps): The concept in Islam [q.v.] of equal retaliation for harm inflicted, with a provision for forgiveness, is encapsulated in the Quran [q.v.] (5:49): "A life for a life, an eye for an eye/a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear/a tooth for a tooth, and for wounds/retaliation; but whosoever foregoes it/as a freewill offering, that shall be for him/an expiation."
It is one of the four systems of crime punishment in Islam, the others being hudud [q.v.], diyya (Arabic: balanced), compensation paid to the heirs of a victim, and tazir (Arabic: corporal punishment), penalties for misdemeanors at the discretion of a religious judge.
qiyas (Arabic: to compare): Qiyas is the method by which statements in the Quran [q.v.] and the Hadith [q.v.] are applied to situations not explicitly covered by these sources of the Islamic law. See also ijtihad.
Qom: city in Iran Population. 1.1 million (2011 est.). As the burial place of Fatima Maasuma (Arabic: one who shuns sin), sister of Imam Ali al–Rida/Reza, the eighth imam of Twelver Shias [q.v.], Qom is the holiest place for Shias [q.v.] after Mecca [q.v.], Medina [q.v.], Najaf [q.v.], Karbala [q.v.], and Mashhad [q.v.]. It became an important religious settlement in the early eighth century A.D., with its Shia inhabitants resisting Sunni [q.v.] governors and their tax demands. Fatima Maasuma was buried here in 816 A.D., but the first dome over her grave was not built until the 13th century. The founders of the Safavid dynasty (1501–1736), Shah Ismail and Shah Tahmasp, continued the tradition of using Qom as the winter capital. The city became a place of Shia pilgrimage in the 17th century. The Qajar dynasty (1790–1925) continued the tradition of placing royal and noble mausoleums at Fatima's shrine, now adorned by a gilded dome.
The uncertain conditions in Iraq that followed the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 encouraged the leading Shia clerics of Najaf and Karbala to resurrect Qom as a center of Shia learning. This led to the founding of Iran's largest theological college, Faiziyya, there in 1920. Five years later, in his drive to gain legitimacy for his rule, Reza Khan Pahlavi [q.v.] canvassed support among the clerical leaders of Qom.
During the reign of his son, Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.], the importance of Qom continued. Among the clerics it spawned was Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], who came to prominence in the early 1960s. Qom was the site of Khomeini's challenge to the shah's rule in June 1963. Matters settled down after his deportation the following year. But when the anti–shah movement began nationally in late 1977, Qom soon became a leading center of protest and resistance. With the success of the Islamic revolution [q.v.] in February 1979, the city's preeminence grew. It was the Khomeini's base after his return from abroad. Later he left it for Tehran [q.v.], mainly to avail himself of better medical facilities after suffering a heart ailment. Qom then became the headquarters of his deputy, Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri [q.v.], who set up the secretariat of the World Organization of the Islamic Liberation Movements there.
Qom is an important junction for the petroleum and gas pipelines which run between the oilfields of Khuzistan and Tehran. The discovery of an oilfield near the city in 1956 boosted its prosperity.
Since the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, it has been the republic's ideological heart. Its theological student body has expanded to nearly 50,000, least a fifth of them foreigners. It is the base of several grand ayatollahs.
Quartet on the Middle East: As the rotating president of the European Council in the first half of 2002, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar urged coordination of efforts to energize the peace process in the Middle East [q.v.]. In June U.S. President George W. Bush outlined a road map for peace. It called for Israel and the Palestinians to take a series of parallel and reciprocal steps leading to the emergence of an independent, peaceful Palestinian state living side by side with a secure State of Israel. This led to the formation of the Quartet on the Middle East consisting of the United Nations, the European Union (EU), the U.S., and Russia. The Quartet adopted this road map in April 2003.
To further its main objective, the Quartet appointed a special envoy whose mission was funded by the UN. In April 2005 the job went to Sir James Wolfensohn, former World Bank president, to smooth the way for Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip [q.v.]. He found it hard to continue in the job when the U.S. and the EU refused to deal with the government formed by Hamas [q.v.] after its victory in the parliamentary elections in January 2006, and Israel stopped transferring funds to the Palestinian Authority (PA) [q.v.] as required by the agreement between them, to bring about the collapse of the PA. He resigned.
In June 2007, after stepping down as British prime minister, Tony Blair succeeded Sir James as the Special Envoy of the Quartet. A year later Blair came up with a plan for economic cooperation between Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinians to initiate joint industrial and economic projects as a means of promoting mutual cooperation. Given the political stalemate, nothing came of it.
In August 2009, in his interview with Terrasanta.net, Blair said that he backed the idea of involving Hamas [q.v.] and Hizbollah [q.v.] in the peace negotiations, but only if they renounced violence and supported a two–state solution. (In January 2004, Abdul Aziz Rantisi, the leader of Hamas in Gaza [q.v.], proposed a 10-year truce between Israel and Hamas in exchange for the founding of an independent Palestine on the territories occupied by Israel since the June 1967 Arab–Israel War [q.v.]. This was rejected by Israel, and Rantisi was assassinated by its forces.)
Following its meeting in Moscow in March 2010, the Quartet condemned Israel's plan to construct new homes in disputed East Jerusalem [q.v.], since this move undermined attempts to revive peace talks. It also called for the establishment of the Palestinian state within 24 months.
On the eve of the Palestinian Authority's application to the UN Security Council in September 2011 that Palestine should be admitted as a full member of the United Nations, the Quartet called on the PA and Israel to start negotiations within a month to reach a final agreement before the end of 2012.
al–Quds (Arabic: The holy—short form of Beit al–Muqudus, The House of Holiness): See Jerusalem.
Quran (Arabic: Recitation): Muslims [q.v.] regard the Quran, which is composed of the divine revelations received by the Prophet Muhammad (570–632 A.D.) over the last 20 years of his life from the eternal, heavenly Book, al–kitab, accessible only to the immaculate, as the Word of Allah. According to the Prophet Muhammad, the revelations of the earlier (monotheistic) prophets and the scriptures of Jews [q.v.] and Christians [q.v.] were also based on the same heavenly tablet, so that they coincided in part with what Allah revealed later. The Quran confirmed that the law was given to Moses, the Gospel to Jesus Christ, and the Book of Psalms to David. Jews and Christians were called ahl al–kitab, people of the Book.
The revelations, conveyed piecemeal to the Prophet Muhammad and delivered in rhythmic Arabic [q.v.] prose, were initially memorized by his followers and used in prayers. These were subsequently taken down on palm leaves, camel bones, or leather patches. The work of compilation, assigned by Caliph Abu Bakr (r. 632634 A.D.) to the Prophet's secretary, Muhammad Zaid bin Thabit, involved collecting scattered discourses and transcribing memorized revelations. It was completed before Abu Bakr's death in the form of a sheaf of separate inscribed leaves.
The authorized version of the Quran was not issued until 651 A.D. by Caliph Othman (r. 644–656 A.D.), who destroyed all other versions. It consists of 114 suras (Arabic: chapters) of varying length to form a book of some 6,616 verses. Until his migration in mid–622 A.D. to Medina [q.v.] from Mecca [q.v.], the Prophet Muhammad was under attack by his opponents. In contrast, in Medina he became a civil and military governor and judge. This is reflected in the suras, the earlier ones often being shorter, more imaginative, and in rhymed prose; the later ones being generally longer and down-to–earth, full of legal and moral guidelines. Except for the short introductory sura, the others are arranged approximately according to their length, starting with the longest. Therefore, the earlier, shorter suras of the Meccan period appear later in the Quran. These advocate obedience to Allah in view of the forthcoming Day of Judgment. The later, longer suras of the Medinese period offer guidelines for the creation of a social environment that is conducive to the moral existence demanded by Allah.
All the suras are emphatic about monotheism, urging the audience to accept no divinity except Allah. He is the one who has created the universe, and maintains it, and is the most powerful and wise. He has given guidelines to human beings as to how they should conduct themselves in His revelations conveyed through the prophets, and He will judge them on that basis on the Day of Judgment. His strictness is balanced by His mercy and compassion. Human beings, who are capable of doing good or evil, have a choice. They are responsible for their deeds as individuals and members of a group. They are enjoined to heed the Quran. It demands total submission to the will of Allah, and to His message as conveyed by His messenger, the Prophet Muhammad. This means living within the moral–ethical guidelines as an individual believer and as a member of the community. On the Day of Reckoning each person's actions will be examined and judgment delivered. He/she will either enjoy the gardens of heaven or suffer the horror of hell.
The Medinese section of the Quran is concerned with commenting on social affairs and providing a corpus of law.
It deals firstly with the external and internal security of the Islamic umma [q.v.] (Arabic: community). The task of protecting it from external threats lies with all its members. The security of the individual and the property of individuals within the community is ensured through the old tribal custom of retribution, qisas [q.v.]. Secondly, family life is regulated. Thirdly, certain ethical and legal injunctions must be obeyed. Intoxicants, flesh of swine, games of chance, and hoarding are forbidden. Fraud, slander, perjury, hypocrisy, corruption, extravagance, and arrogance are condemned. Punishments for stealing, murder, and adultery are stated.
As the paramount authority for the Muslim community, the Quran is the ultimate source and continual inspiration of Islam [q.v.]. Pious Muslims memorize it. Often social and political gatherings begin with recitations from it. Together with the Hadith [q.v.], it constitutes the Sharia [q.v.].
Quttb, Sayyid Muhammad (1906–66): Islamist ideologue Born into a poor, but notable, family near Asyut, Sayyid Quttb trained as a teacher in Cairo [q.v.] and became a school inspector with the ministry of education. He was a prolific writer, as much at home with essays and literary criticism as with fiction.
In 1948 the ministry sent him to Colorado State College of Education (now University of Northern Colorado) in Greeley for further studies. His three–year long experience in the United States convinced him that that American society was racist and sexually depraved, and that Western civilization was in terminal decline. He became interested in his Islamic roots and Islam [q.v.]. On his return to Egypt, the education ministry found his anti–American views so objectionable that it asked him to resign. Later, in his book Islam and the Problem of Civilization, he wrote, "What should be done about America and the West, given their overwhelming danger to humanity...? Should we not issue a sentence of death? Is it not the verdict most appropriate to the nature of the crime?" Decades later, such views would be expressed by Osama bin Laden [q.v.] and his intellectual mentor, Ayman Zawahiri [q.v.].
He joined the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] and became director of its propaganda department in 1952. After the ban on the Brotherhood in 1954, he was arrested and held in a concentration camp. Here he wrote his classic, Maalim fi al–Tariq (Arabic: Signposts on the Road), which would become the primer for radical Islamists [q.v.] worldwide. The manuscript was smuggled out, and published in 1964, when Quttb and other Brotherhood detainees were released.
In his book, Quttb divided social systems into two categories: the Order of Islam and the Order of Jahiliya (Arabic: Ignorance), which was decadent and ignorant, the sort that existed in Arabia before the Prophet Muhammad had received the Word of God, when men revered not God but other men disguised as deities. Quttb argued that the regime of President Abdul Gamal Nasser [q.v.] was a modern version of Jahiliya. This earned him the approval and respect of young Brothers and the opprobrium of the political and religious establishment.
The militant members of the (still clandestine) Muslim Brotherhood drafted Quttb into the leadership. They wanted him to avenge the persecution of the Brotherhood in the mid–1950s. By inclination a thinker, he wished to avoid violence. But when his radical followers pressed for a jihad [q.v.] to be waged against the social order he had himself labeled Jahiliya because of its betrayal of Islamic precepts, he could find no way out.
During his trial in 1966 he did not contest the charge of sedition, and instead tried to explain his position ideologically, arguing that the bonds of ideology and belief were sturdier than those of patriotism based upon a region, and that the false distinction made among Muslims on a regional basis was an expression of the Crusading and Zionist [q.v.] imperialism which had to be eradicated. In his view, watan (Arabic: homeland) was not a land but the community of believers, umma [q.v.]. He argued that, once the Brothers had declared someone to be jahil (Arabic: ignorant [of Allah]), they had the right to attack his person or property, a right granted in Islam, and that if in the course of performing the religious duty of waging a jihad against unbelievers, a Brother found himself on the path of sedition, so be it. The responsibility for creating such a situation lay with those who through their policies had created such circumstances. His subsequent execution turned him into a martyr in the eyes of his followers, gaining his thesis a wider acceptance in the Arab [q.v.] world.
Among his books translated into English are Signposts on the Road; Islam: The Religion of the Future; and Social Justice In Islam.
al–Quwatli, Shukri (1891–1967): Syrian politician; president 1943—49, 1955–58 Born into a rich landowning family in Damascus [q.v.], Quwatli was active in Arab nationalist politics as a youth, joining the clandestine Jamiat al-Arabiya al–Fatat (Arabic: Society of Young Arabs). The Ottoman government imprisoned him during World War I.
Soon after the war ended, Faisal I bin Hussein [q.v.] appointed him governor of Damascus [q.v.]. When the French defeated Faisal in 1920, he went into exile, operating mainly from Egypt or Europe. The French Mandate in Syria condemned him to death in absentia. The lifting of this sentence enabled him to return home and head the National Bloc, which demanded independence. Following the Franco–Syrian Treaty of 1936 [q.v.], he became minister of defense and finance (1936–39).
After a brief exile from 1941–43, when the pro–Nazi French government, based in Vichy, controlled Syria, he returned to Damascus to lead the National Bloc. It won overwhelmingly at the polls, and Quwatli became president. He led the final struggle for total independence. The National Bloc split into the National Party, led by Quwatli, and the People's Party. He was reelected president in 1948, but was overthrown by the army chief of staff, Col. Hosni Zaim [q.v.], in March 1949.
He went into exile in Egypt, and returned home after five years, following the downfall of Adib Shishkali [q.v.]. In the September 1954 elections his National Party did not do as well as the People's Party, but in the August 1955 presidential election, backed by the People's Party and Saudi funds, he beat his leftist rival, Khalid Azm.
Following an Israeli attack on the Syrian posts near Lake Tiberias in December, Quwatli strengthened Syria's ties with the Soviet Union. Buffeted by the American and Iraqi plots to overthrow him, and pressured by his pan-Arabist military officers, he backed the idea of an Egyptian–Syrian federation. However, he was overruled by the officer corps, who advocated a merger. When this occurred in February 1958, he resigned, proposing Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] as president of the United Arab Republic [q.v.].
R
Rabin, Yitzhak (1922–95): Israeli military leader and politician; prime minister, 1974–77, 1992—95 Born into a middle–class Jewish family in Jerusalem [q.v.], Rabin grew up in Tel Aviv [q.v.]. He graduated from Kadoon Agricultural High School in 1940. As a member of Palmah [q.v.], he participated in the Allied campaign in 1941 in Syria, then under a pro–Nazi French government.
In the 1948–49 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] he commanded a brigade that saw combat on the Jerusalem and Negev fronts. He headed the Israeli military's tactical operations branch (1950–52). After his graduation from the Camberly Staff College in Britain, he was promoted to brigadier-general in 1954. He served as chief of the military's training department (1954–56), commander of the Northern Command (1956–59), chief of operations (1959–61), and deputy chief of staff (1961–63) before being promoted to chief of staff on 1 January 1964. Under his command the Israeli armed forces performed brilliantly in the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.]. Even when posted as ambassador to the United States (1968–73) he advised the prime minister on important military matters.
After returning home, Rabin joined the Labor Party [q.v.] and was elected to the Knesset [q.v.] in December 1973. He was given the labor portfolio in the cabinet formed by Golda Meir [q.v.] in March 1974. Following her resignation, he challenged Shimon Peres [q.v.] for the party's leadership. He won by 298 votes to 254, and became prime minister in June 1974. His achievements included the Sinai II Agreement [q.v.] with Egypt in September 1975 and the rebuilding of the military and the economy after the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.].
Division within the Labor Party on the issue of the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.] intensified, and a series of financial scandals involving party leaders came to the surface. In addition, Rabin's inexperience in civil administration, poor communicating skills, and strained relations with defense minister Shimon Peres hurt the government's popular standing. Yet, in a fresh challenge by Peres to his leadership in early 1977, he scraped through by 41 votes in an electoral college of 3,000. In March it was revealed that, during his ambassadorship in the United States, his wife, Leah, had maintained an active bank account in Washington, an illegal act according to the Israeli law. The next month he resigned as party leader.
Labor lost the general election in May, but Rabin remained politically active, becoming defense minister in the national unity government formed in 1984. Noting the unpopularity of Israel's continued military involvement in Lebanon, he withdrew the Israeli troops from there, except for a small force posted in the border security strip. He retained the defense ministry in the next national unity government that assumed office in 1988, and continued his hard–line policy toward the Palestinian Intifada [q.v.] until Labor's withdrawal from the cabinet in 1990. He was elected Labor leader in 1992, and became prime minister of a Labor–led coalition after elections in June.
Rabin closely supervised the secret negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] initiated by his foreign minister, Peres, and sanctified the Israeli–PLO Accord [q.v.]—signed in Washington in September 1993—by shaking the hand of his long–term enemy, Yasser Arafat [q.v.]. In October 1994 he signed the Jordanian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] with King Hussein [q.v.] at a common border site. He shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Peres and Arafat. In September 1995 he signed an agreement on self–rule for the Palestinians in the West Bank, called Oslo Accord II [q.v.]. He was assassinated in November in Tel Aviv by Yigal Amir, a fanatic Jewish Israeli.
Rafsanjani, Ali Akbar Hashemi (1933–): Iranian religious and political leader; president 1989—1997 Born into a religious family in Behraman, Kerman province, Rafsanjani went to Qom [q.v.] for his theological studies. During the power struggle between Premier Muhammad Mussadiq [q.v.] and Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] from 1951 to 1953, he sided with Mussadiq. Later he became a student of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.]. After Khomeini's deportation in 1964, Rafsanjani stayed in contact with him, handled Islamic charities on his behalf and consulted him on political affairs. He was arrested and tortured in 1975.
One of the cofounders of the Tehran [q.v.] branch of the Organization of Militant Clergy (OMC) [q.v.], Rafsanjani was actively involved in the 1977–78 revolutionary movement, particularly the formation of the Revolutionary Komitehs [q.v.]. He was one of the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Council and a cofounder of the Islamic Republican Party (IRP) [q.v.]. He was later appointed deputy minister of the interior.
He was an active member of the 1979 Assembly of Experts [q.v.], charged with drafting the constitution. After his election as a Majlis [q.v.] deputy from Tehran [q.v.], he was voted speaker of the house in July 1980, a post to which he was reelected every year until 1984. As the Majlis speaker, he played a pivotal role in the impeachment of President Bani–Sadr [q.v.] in June 1981. In 1982, after the election of a new Assembly of Experts, Rafsanjani was chosen its vice president. He acted as Khomeini's personal representative on the Supreme Defense Council.
During the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.], when in mid–1982 Iran recovered the area lost earlier to its foe, he advocated advancing into Iraq if Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] did not meet Iran's demands, including a compensation of $100 billion for war damages. Hussein dismissed the demands, and Iran's troops advanced into Iraq.
After his election to the Majlis in 1984, he was reelected speaker, a position confirmed annually for the next four years. On the sixth anniversary of the armed conflict (September 1986), he remarked that the regime had been able to use the war to awaken the people and confront the problems threatening the revolution. Following Iran's military setbacks in the spring of 1988, Khomeini put him in overall charge of the war effort. Having realistically assessed the deteriorating situation, in mid–July 1988 he persuaded the Assembly of Experts to recommend to Khomeini the acceptance of the truce proposed by the UN Security Council in July 1987. Khomeini accepted the recommendation.
After Khomeini's death in June 1989, when President Ali Husseini Khamanei [q.v.] was promoted to succeed him, Rafsanjani resigned his post in the Majlis, and ran in the presidential election. He secured 95 percent of the votes on a turnout of 70 percent. According to the amended constitution, he ruled without the premier, becoming the executive president. He excluded radicals from his government and introduced economic liberalization. He pursued a pragmatic path in foreign policy, and improved relations with Germany, France, Japan, and the Soviet Union (later Russia). But, due to a drop in oil prices, the economy suffered and inflation rose. As a result his popular vote in the 1993 presidential election fell to 63 percent on a voter turnout of 56 percent. His performance during the second term was lackluster.
In 1997 Supreme Leader Khamanei appointed him president of the Expediency Consultation Council System. In that capacity he acted as a mediator to resolve differences between the president, parliament, and the Guardian Council [q.v.]—as well as a consultant to the Leader on the formulation of general policies.
His efforts to return to the leadership of the Majlis failed when he trailed embarrassingly poorly in the parliamentary election of 2001, which he entered from Tehran, once his stronghold. The majority of the reform–orientated residents of the capital regarded him as a conservative surrounded by a coterie of corrupt men.
In the 2005 presidential election, he faced the newcomer Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [q.v.] as his rival in the second run, and lost to him by nearly 2:1, despite running a lavishly funded election campaign. Nonetheless he remained influential in the religious hierarchy.
In 2007, after winning a seat in the Assembly of Experts [q.v.], to which he had belonged since its inception, he was elected its chairman. In the 2009 presidential election he backed Mir Hussein Mousavi with funds and strategic planning. After Mousavi's defeat in a controversial election, Rafsanjani limited himself to bemoaning the crisis that had been caused by the Khamanei regime's repression of the peaceful protestors. He reportedly consulted some members of the Assembly of Experts regarding convening an emergency session, but did not find much support for the idea. Aware of his waning influence, in March 2011 he did not offer his candidacy for the Assembly's chairmanship.
Rajai, Muhammad Ali (1933–81): Iranian politician; prime minister, 1980—81, president, 1981 Born to a poor shopkeeper in Qasvin, Rajai left school at 16 and traveled to Tehran [q.v.], where he became a bricklayer. In 1951 he joined the air force as an orderly and then as a maintenance trainee. He was in contact with the Fedaiyan–e Islam [q.v.]. Five years later he enrolled at a teacher training college, graduating in 1959. He then taught in a provincial town. He was imprisoned briefly during the June 1963 uprising. After his release he became a high school teacher in Tehran.
Rajai joined the Liberation Movement of Iran [q.v.], and in 1967 he cofounded the Islamic Welfare and Mutual Assistance Foundation, a front organization for political activity. He joined the Mujahedin–e Khalq [q.v.] in 1970, but was unhappy with the leftward drift of the organization and left two years later. In November 1974 he was arrested on suspicion of planting a bomb outside the Tehran office of El Al, the Israeli airline. He was tortured, and scars were left on his feet. During his imprisonment he came into contact with Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleqani [q.v.] and Ali Husseini Khamanei [q.v.]. He was released in November 1978.
After the revolution in February 1979, Rajai was appointed education minister. He accelerated the Islamization of the educational system. In August 1980, after he had been elected a deputy of the Majlis, he became its leading choice for prime minister. A reluctant President Abol Hassan Bani–Sadr [q.v.] appointed him to that post.
Following the Iraqi invasion of Iran in September 1980, Rajai argued at the UN Security Council that the United States was the chief instigator of the aggression against the Islamic Republic.
Poles apart, socially and politically, Rajai and Bani–Sadr clashed often, and this was one of the factors that caused the downfall of the president in June 1981. In the presidential election that followed, Rajai was one of the four candidates. He won 88 percent of the vote. Under his presidency the government set up ad hoc committees in many places to deal with the violence of the guerrillas led by the National Resistance Council in Iran [q.v.], and declared a state of emergency in the worst affected areas. An incendiary bomb killed him and Premier Muhammad Javad Bahonar on 30 August during a National Security Council meeting.
Rajavi, Masoud (1947–): Iranian politician Born into a middle-class family in Tabas, Khorasan province, Rajavi studied political science at Tehran University. In 1965 he joined the Mujahedin–e Khalq [q.v.], and five years later became a member of its central committee. He received guerrilla training at a Palestinian camp in Jordan. In 1971 he was one of the two Mujahedin–e Khalq (MEK) leaders arrested for trying to abduct a top Western diplomat, and was condemned to death. But under international pressure the government commuted his sentence. By the time he was released in December 1978 he was the only surviving central committee member of the MEK, which participated actively in the revolutionary movement. After the victory of the Islamic revolution [q.v.], Rajavi supported autonomy for the Kurds [q.v.] and opposed secret revolutionary courts.
Since the MEK abstained in the referendum on the constitution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.] disqualified Rajavi from entering the presidential election in January 1980. He then backed Abol Hassan Bani–Sadr [q.v.], who was elected president. Later he cooperated with Bani-Sadr in the latter's struggle with the clerical leadership, which wanted to undermine his authority. Rajavi and his party were denounced by Khomeini as "hypocrites"—those claiming to be good Muslims while following the secular ideology of Marxism and misguiding the faithful with their Marxist interpretations. He supported Bani–Sadr in June 1981 in the latter's confrontation with Khomeini.
After Bani–Sadr's dismissal from office, both he and Rajavi went underground. In July they flew to Paris together. There they jointly established the National Resistance Council in Iran (NRCI) [q.v.], which conducted sabotage and guerrilla attacks on suitable targets in Iran. The Islamic regime surmounted the challenge, which lasted from July 1981 to September 1982, by using unrestrained force and propaganda. With the war against Iraq raging along the border, it convincingly labeled those creating disorder at home as unpatriotic agents of Baghdad. By holding a public meeting with Iraqi deputy premier Tariq Aziz [q.v.] in Paris in January 1983, Rajavi provided Iran with a propaganda tool and angered Bani–Sadr, who quit the NRCI. Yielding to Iran's pressure, the French government expelled Rajavi from France. He then moved the MEK headquarters to Baghdad [q.v.].
Toward the end of the Iran–Iraq War [q] in July 1988, Rajavi's forces, operating as the National Liberation Army, penetrated deep into Iran, only to be surrounded by the Iranian troops and decimated. Despite Iraq's defeat in Gulf War II [q.v.] in 1991, followed by growing economic hardship in the country due to the UN economic sanctions, Rajavi continued to receive aid from the Iraqi government. He came to share his leadership of the MEK with his wife, Miryam.
In the 1990s the MEK mounted pinprick attacks along the Iraqi–Iranian border interspersed with rocket assaults on government offices in central Tehran [q.v.]. After many years of enjoying substantial support among American lawmakers, the MEK's standing in the United States suffered when the administration of President Bill Clinton listed it as a terrorist organization in 1997. This made it illegal for the MEK to raise funds in the U.S. However, that left its support among the Iranian exiles living in Europe largely intact. With the United States mounting a global war on terrorism in the wake of the attacks on it on 11 September 2001, there was no prospect of its rehabilitation in America. In Iraq, President Saddam Hussein [q.v.], facing increasing pressure by Washington, ensured that both Rajavi and the MEK kept a very low profile.
During the Anglo–American invasion of Iraq [q.v.], the U.S. air force bombarded MEK camps. The commanders, who signed a cease–fire agreement with the Pentagon on 23 April 2003, did not include Rajavi. He went into hiding, and nothing about him has become public knowledge since then.
Rakah (Hebrew: acronym of Reshima Kommunistit Hadash, New Communist List): Israeli political party Rakah emerged as a result of a split in Maki [q.v.] in August 1965, when 2,000 Arab members and a section of the equally numerous Jewish members left the parent body. In the November 1965 election Rakah won three Knesset [q.v.] seats. It blamed Israel for its aggression in the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] and opposed annexing any part of the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.]. In the 1969 election the party retained its three seats. In the 1973 election Rakah was the only group to demand Israeli withdrawal from all Occupied Arab Territories, and recognition of Palestinian national rights. Its strength rose to four seats. In early 1977 Rakah delegates to an international conference in Prague, Czechoslovakia, met the delegates of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.]. On the eve of the May 1977 election Rakah merged with the Black Panther Party to form the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, with the Hebrew acronym Hadash [q.v.], and secured five seats. See also Hadash.
Ramadan: Islamic holy month of fasting The Arabic root, r-m–d, refers to the heat of summer. The ninth month in the Islamic calendar [q.v.], Ramadan is regarded as holy in Islam [q.v.] because it was on the night of 26–27 Ramadan, Lailat al–kadr (Arabic: Night of Power), that the first divine revelation was made to the Prophet Muhammad. During this month the faithful are required to undertake fasting, as stated in the Quran [q.v.] (2: 179): "O believers, prescribed for you/is the Fast, even as it was prescribed for/those that were before you... the month of Ramadan, wherein the Quran/was sent down to be a guidance/to the people, and as clear signs/of the Guidance and the Salvation." During the month, between sunrise and sunset all adult Muslims are required to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking, and conjugal relations. Among other things this helps them to develop self–control.
Ramadan War (1973): Since Egypt and Syria started the war against Israel during Ramadan 1393 A.H. [q.v.], Arabs [q.v.] refer to the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] as the Ramadan War. See Arab–Israeli War IV.
Ras al–Khaimah Emirate: a constituent of the United Arab Emirates Area 660 sq. mi./1,700 sq. km; population 300,000 (2010 est.). Ras al-Khaimah joined the United Arab Emirates only in February 1972 during the rule of Shaikh Saqr bin Muhammad al–Qasimi (r. 1948–2010). Commercial extraction of petroleum started on a small scale in 1984. Its oil reserves of 400 million barrels are modest, and so too are its gas deposits—at 34 million cu m.
Rastakhiz Party (Iran) (Persian; Resurgence): Iranian political party The Rastakhiz Party was established by Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] in March 1975 as the sole governing party after he had dissolved the ruling New Iran Party, founded by him in 1963, and the Mardom Party, the official opposition. By setting up a single governing party under Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveida [q.v.], the shah co-opted the loyal opposition. In the Majlis elections of June 1975, Rastakhiz won 70 percent of the popular vote.
To tackle rising inflation, the Rastakhiz government passed an antiprofiteering law and used Rastakhiz volunteers to monitor prices. They resorted to exacting levies from traders. When protest mounted in the autumn of 1977, the shah replaced Hoveida with Jamshid Amuzgar, leader of the liberal wing within Rastakhiz. To counter the rising protest movement, Rastakhiz officials set up a Resistance Corps, consisting of policemen in civilian clothes, to break up opposition meetings. This led to attacks on Rastakhiz offices by anti–regime demonstrators. With the revolutionary movement gaining strength during the summer of 1978, the shah dissolved the party in September.
However, so hostile was the Islamic Republic of Iran to this party that any Iranian who had ever belonged to it was automatically disqualified from running for any public office, and this ban was applied strictly.
Ratz (Hebrew: acronym of Reshima Tzi–bori, Citizens' List): Israeli political party Ratz was formed by Shulamit Aloni in 1973 after her departure from the Labor Party [q.v. ]. It opposed Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories [q.v.]. Its opposition to discrimination on the basis of religion, gender, or ethnicity made it attractive to secularists and women. It won three Knesset [q.v.] seats in the 1973 election, but only one in 1977. Having failed to secure a place in the subsequent parliamentary elections, it eventually won five seats in 1988. It then allied with Mapam [q.v.] and Shinui [q.v.] to form the Meretz [q.v.] alliance. Of the 12 seats won by Meretz in the 1992 election, six belonged to Ratz. It joined the Labor–led coalition. Its three ministers in the cabinet were notable for their strong support for the Oslo Accord I [q.v.] of September 1993. On the eve of the 1996 Knesset [q.v.] election, Aloni lost the party leadership and retired from politics. After this election, Ratz formally merged into Meretz.
Reform Judaism: The Jewish enlightenment, called halaska, during the latter half of the 18th century in eastern and central Europe led Jews [q.v.] away from the traditional belief in messianic redemption and toward a search for personal and communal fulfillment. In his book Jerusalem (1783), Moses Mendelssohn, a German Jew, argued that there was no contradiction between believing in a secular religion of reason and believing in Judaism [q.v.]. The movement gathered pace after the 1789 French Revolution. It manifested itself among West European Jews in religious reform, with French Jews concentrating on reforming doctrine by emphasizing Judaism as a prophetic tradition and repudiating the binding nature of rabbinic law, and German Jews concentrating on worship—the latter institutionalizing reform in the mid–1840s. Thus Reform Jews reject many of the restrictions of the Halacha [q.v.], use the vernacular in religious ceremonies, and dispense with much of the ritual.
Religious endowment/trust: Islamic institution. See waqf.
Revisionist Zionists: Zionist Organization Founded as the World Union of Revisionist Zionists in 1925 by Vladimir Jabotinsky [q.v.], it derived its name from its program of revising the Labor Zionist strategy of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine [q.v.] through colonization, and returning to the original concept of Theodor Herzl (1860–1904) of Jewish statehood through international recognition of Jewish sovereignty over Palestine. Advocating a Jewish state on both sides of the Jordan River [q.v.], it opposed the 1922 decision of Britain, the Mandate power in Palestine, to apply the idea of a Jewish homeland only to the west of the Jordan. Unlike Labor Zionists [q.v.], it gave priority to private capital to develop Palestine. At the Seventeenth Zionist Congress [q.v.] in 1931, one–fifth of the delegates supported its stance. Efforts made later to conciliate its members with Labor Zionists in Palestine failed.
After the Zionist Congress in 1933 had resolved that "in all Zionist matters discipline in regard of the Zionist Organization [q.v.] must take precedence over the discipline of any other body," the Revisionists left and formed the New Zionist Organization (NZO) in 1935. In Palestine the party's youth movement, Betar, and the Revisionists within Haganah [q.v.], established Irgun Zvai Leumi [q.v.] in 1937. After David Ben–Gurion [q.v.], head of Israel's provisional government, had brought about the disbandment of Irgun in 1948, the Revisionists and former Irgun ranks combined to form the Herut [q.v.] Party under the leadership of Menachem Begin [q.v.].
Riyadh: Capital of Saudi Arabia Population: 5.254 million (2011 est.), with 40 percent being foreigners. Located in the middle of three valleys in the central Najd [q.v.] region, the oasis town of Riyadh became the center of the Wahhabi [q.v.] movement from the early 19th century. It was the capital of the House of Saud [q.v.] from 1824 to 1881, when it fell to the Rashid dynasty of Hail to the north. But the House of Saud returned when Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al–Saud [q.v.] recaptured Najd in 1902. Using Riyadh as his base, he extended his realm from the eastern Hasa region to the western Hijaz [q.v.] and Asir. With the founding of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, Riyadh became its capital.
The discovery of oil in the east in 1933, followed by commercial production after World War II, had a dramatic impact on Riyadh, catapulting it from a medieval existence to modern life and turning it into a variant of a modern American city but, due to Islamic strictures, without the leisure activities commonly available in the United States. It is the country's leading educational and communications center, and is served by an airport, a railway, and highways. It is the most populous city in the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.], with two-fifths of its residents being non–Saudi, mostly from South Asia.
Rogers Plan (1969): a U.S. peace plan In December 1969 U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers made public a peace plan he had earlier submitted to Israel, Egypt, and Jordan—as well as to the Soviet Union, Britain, and France. It envisaged Israel's withdrawal to its 1967 borders, subject to minor modifications for mutual security, except for the Gaza Strip [q.v.], which was to be negotiated between Israel, Egypt, and Jordan. Palestinian refugees were to be either repatriated according to an agreed annual quota or given compensation. Other provisions included security arrangements to be hammered out by the concerned parties. The final accords were to be negotiated under the chairmanship of Gunnar Jarring, the UN mediator. Israel rejected the plan, having been assured by U.S. President Richard Nixon that Washington would not "impose" anything on Israel. Egypt followed suit. This virtually killed the plan.
In August 1970, Rogers unveiled a second plan. It no longer aimed at a comprehensive peace agreement but only an "interim" one. It sought to bring about a truce in the War of Attrition [q.v.]. This was accepted by Egypt and Israel.
Roman Catholic Christians/Church: Christian sect The term Roman Catholic Church came into vogue only in the 19th century. It applies to the Christian Church under the supreme authority of the pope, the historic Bishop of Rome. It took on a distinctive identity as a result of two major splits in the church—with the (Eastern) Orthodox Church [q.v.] in 1054, and within the Western church at the time of the Protestant [q.v.] Reformation in the mid–16th century. The members of this church perform the Roman rites, the liturgy being said in Latin until the 1960s, and follow the practices of the church in Rome. They accept the teachings of the Bible [q.v.] and the interpretations offered by the Church, and subscribe to the doctrine that God conveys His grace to humans through sacraments. The Eucharist is therefore the center of Roman Catholic worship, and is often performed with pomp and color. Particular emphasis is laid on the oneness and wholeness of the Christian body, which includes the dead as well as the living.
Different orders of priests, monks, and nuns are part of the body of the Roman Catholic Church. It has a hierarchical structure, extending from parish priests to the pope at Vatican City in Rome, where the central administration is conducted by papal officials and commissions. The supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, the title first applied to Apostle Peter, is derived from the New Testament [q.v.] (Matthew 16: 18): "Peter: you are a rock and on this rock foundation I will build my church."
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 A.D., the pope also assumed the title of Pontifex Maximus, used earlier by Roman emperors in their high priestly functions. Rivalry between the pope and monarchs in Europe with regard to lay and religious power was a running theme in the Middle Ages (476 A.D.–1492). During the last two centuries of the medieval era, most churchmen were involved in politics and other worldly affairs. Before a belated attempt at reform within the church during these centuries and the first half of the 16th century could succeed in holding the Church together, the Protestant Reformation caused its breakup.
The papacy was beset by "Catholic princes" until the late 18th century. In the 19th century, during the papacy of Pius IX (1846–78), came the declaration of papal infallibility in faith and doctrine, which hardened the rift between the Roman Catholic Church and its two major rivals—the Orthodox and Protestant Churches.
Changes in the liturgy introduced since the 1960s have led to greater use of the vernacular and increased participation by the congregation. With its worldwide membership of 1.196 billion in 2011, the Roman Catholic Church accounted for nearly half of all Christians, and a sixth of the global population.
In the Middle East [q.v.], Roman Catholics have a patriarch in Jerusalem [q.v.] and apostolic delegates, called nuncios, in Baghdad [q.v.], Beirut [q.v.], and Cairo [q.v.].
Those churches that accept the supremacy of the pope but follow their own Eastern rites and customs are called Uniate [q.v.].
Rosh HaShana (Hebrew: Head of the Year): Jewish festival Rosh HaShana is the Jewish New Year festival and is held on the first two days of Tishri (September–October, according to the Christian Gregorian calendar [q.v.]; the seventh month of the Jewish calendar [q.v.] when arranged according to religious usage), which is believed to mark the creation of the world. It marks the start of the Ten Days of Penitence, which end on the Day of Atonement—Yom Kippur [q.v.]. Rosh HaShana should be spent in prayer. The distinctive feature of the religious ritual of the day is the sounding of a ram's horn. Requesting a good year is the central theme of petitionary prayers. Because Rosh HaShana is a major Jewish festival, work is prohibited.
Russian Orthodox Church: Christian sect Of the six national churches in the Orthodox [q.v.] group, the Russian Orthodox Church, with its liturgy performed in Old Slavonic, is the most important. Its patriarchal see, originally based in Kiev (now capital of Ukraine) under the supervision of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, was moved to Moscow in 1589, where an independent patriarchate was established. This was replaced by a synod by Peter the Great (r. 16821725) in 1721. On the eve of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the patriarchate was revived, only to be suppressed by the Bolsheviks, later Communists. It was again revived in 1943 during World War II in an attempt to foster Russian nationalism. Later the church and the state reached a modus vivendi, which survived until the collapse of the Communist system in 1991, when the church became autonomous in post–Soviet Russia. The Russian Cathedral is an important landmark in Jerusalem [q.v.] today.
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Saadeh, Antun (1902–49): Lebanese politician and intellectual Born to a Greek Orthodox [q.v.] doctor, Khalil, and his wife, who migrated to Brazil, Saadeh grew up there and worked on a magazine started by his father. In 1929 he traveled to Damascus [q.v.], where he became a journalist with Al–Ayyam (Arabic: The Days). Soon he moved to Beirut [q.v.], where he worked his way into the social and intellectual life of the American University of Beirut (AUB) [q.v.].
In 1932 he established a secret society, which by 1935 had acquired several thousand members, with branches in Syria as well as Lebanon. Arguing that geography and history had given the inhabitants of Greater Syria [q.v.] a distinct identity, he expounded the concepts of a Greater Syrian nation (an ethnic fusion of Canaanites, Akkadians, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Aramaeans, and Hittites) and Syrian nationalism, which was at odds with both pan–Arabism [q.v.] and Lebanese nationalism, which was popular among the country's Christians [q.v.].
Saadeh demanded an end to the French Mandate and independence for Syria–Lebanon. After he had brought the organization into the open as the Syrian Nationalist Party and held its first plenary conference in December 1935, he was jailed by the French. Following the electoral victory of the leftist Popular Front in France in 1936, he was freed. The next year his party was allowed to function legally after he had assured the authorities that it did not advocate destruction of the Lebanese entity.
In his book Nushu al–umam (Arabic: Rise of Nations), published in 1938, he outlined the principles of his philosophy, the leading ones being that Syrians were a complete nation, and that Syria's interests overrode all others. He allied his thesis with a call for reform, including the separation of church and state, the removal of barriers between various sects and confessions, and the abolition of feudalism. His secular and antisectarian stance appealed to religious and racial minorities—Alawis [q.v.], Christians, Druzes [q.v.], and Kurds [q.v.]—who became a majority in the party leadership.
He visited Italy and Germany in late 1938, and was in the midst of his tour of South America when World War II broke out in September 1939. The French banned his party, charging its leaders with complicity with the Axis Powers, but they failed to prove their allegation. In 1941, after the party's leaders had altered the organization's name to the National Party, they were released.
When Saadeh returned to Lebanon in 1947 the country had gained its full independence. He resumed his control over the organization, renaming it the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) [q.v.]. Conflict between it and the Lebanese government revived, and he went underground. A compromise was reached, with Saadeh reaffirming his respect for Lebanon as an independent country.
Following the Arab defeat in the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.], his argument against pan–Arabism and for Greater Syrian nationalism became attractive enough to make traditional political leaders feel insecure. When Hosni Zaim [q.v.] seized power in Syria in March 1949, Saadeh hoped for his backing, but this did not happen. In June there were armed clashes between his party members and the Phalangists [q.v.] in Beirut during an alleged coup attempt by Saadeh. He escaped to Syria to a warm welcome by Zaim. But under pressure from Lebanon and the anti–SSNP forces in Syria, Zaim agreed to his extradition to Lebanon. After a secret military trial, he was executed in July.
el Saadawi, Nawal (1931–): Egyptian writer and feminist campaigner Born into a middle-class family in the village of Kafr Tahla, Saadawi trained as a doctor in 1955. As a member of the Egyptian civil service, she rose through the ranks to become director–general of health education at the health ministry. After the publication of her first book, Women and Sex (1971), which showed linkage between poverty and politics, and disease and politics, she was sacked from her job. The book was banned by the government of President Anwar Sadat [q.v.]. While working for the United Nations in Lebanon and Ethiopia as a doctor, she continued to publish novels, including Two Women in One (1975), which were banned in Egypt. She campaigned for women's rights and expressed her left–wing views.
Saadawi was among the several hundred dissident Egyptian intellectuals who were arrested in September 1981. Freed three months later by President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.], she resumed her writing and campaigning for women's rights in the Arab world. She founded the Arab Women's Solidarity Association to help repair the damage done to women by oppression and poverty. Her novel The Fall of the Imam (1987) drew a death threat from Islamic fundamentalists [q.v.], and for two years she lived under armed protection ordered by the government.
Due to her opposition to the U.S.-led war against Iraq following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the authorities closed down the Arab Women's Solidarity Association. Though by then the government had stopped banning her books, she was barred from appearing on state–run television or radio. She went into selfexile and took teaching jobs at American universities before returning home in 1996.
In the searing prose of her novels lies a passionate commitment to fighting injustice. At the same time she is conscious as a writer that a well–crafted story is one that can sustain itself without the politics. In 1991 she published an autobiographical work, My Travels around the World. Then came The Well of Life (1993), containing two novellas focusing on the suffering of Arab women, and The Innocence of the Devil (1994), centered on two women in a mental hospital. She covered the subject of women's status in society in Memoirs from the Women's Prison (1984, translated into English in 1994) and Women at Point Zero (1997). North/South: The Nawal el Saadawi Reader appeared in 1997. Since then she has published three works of fiction and nonfiction: A Daughter of Isis: The Autobiography of Nawal el Saadawi (1999), Dissidenza e scrittura (2008), and L'amore ai tempi del petrolio, (2009).
Altogether she is the author of 11 novels, eight short story collections, several plays, and a few works of nonfiction. She is best known for Woman at Point Zero, God Dies by the Nile, The Hidden Face of Eve, Memoirs of a Woman Doctor, and Memoirs from the Women's Prison. Her novels have been translated from Arabic into English by her husband, Sherif Hetata, a leftist writer who has spent 13 years in jail for his political beliefs.
She participated in the pro–democracy demonstrations in the Tahrir Square of Cairo [q.v.] in January-February 2011. She described the experience as "a dream in which we are all equal."
In 2004 the Council of Europe awarded her the North-South Prize. She was the recipient of the Women of the Year Outstanding Achievement Award sponsored by the London–based Good Housekeeping in 2011.
al–Sabah, Abdullah III bin Salim I (1895–1965): ruler of Kuwait, 1950–65 Son of Shaikh Salim I, Abdullah was 10 years younger than his rival in the Jaber branch, Shaikh Ahmad I bin Jaber II al-Sabah, and at odds with the latter's pro–British leanings. His moment of glory came in July 1938, when he became president of the first elected parliament. But this lasted only until December, when the parliament was dissolved by Shaikh Ahmad I [q.v.]. During World War II, suspecting Abdullah of pro–German sympathies, the British excluded him from any position of authority.
Soon after Abdullah's accession to the throne in 1950, the Iranian oil crisis of 1951–53 boosted Kuwait's petroleum output. By 1955 Kuwait was the leading oil exporter in the Gulf, a position it maintained until 1965. In between, Kuwait became a cofounder of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.] in 1960.
As a result of London's complicity in the Suez War [q.v.] in 1956, anti-British feelings arose. Abdullah demanded greater latitude in home affairs, and Britain met him half way. But following the overthrow of the pro-Western monarchy in Iraq in July 1958, he came under growing popular pressure to abrogate the 1899 Anglo–Kuwaiti Agreement [q.v.].
This happened in June 1961, and Britain officially recognized Kuwait as an independent country. When the Iraqi government claimed that Kuwait was Iraqi territory, Abdullah appealed for help from Britain and Saudi Arabia. London sent 6,000 troops and Riyadh a small contingent. After acquiring membership of the Arab League [q.v.] for Kuwait, Abdullah called for its assistance. The resulting Arab League's Joint Emergency Force replaced the British troops.
In November 1962 Abdullah promulgated a constitution drafted by an assembly nominated by him. It specified a National Assembly elected on a franchise of one-tenth of adult male citizens. With the ruler having the exclusive right to appoint the cabinet, the assembly lacked executive power. Having conceded an elected parliament, Abdullah tried to determine its composition by manipulating the electoral system. Therefore, the parliament that emerged in January 1963 was a virtual rubber-stamp of the government. Under his rule Kuwait was transformed from an obscure principality into a high profile, oil–rich state.
al–Sabah, Ahmad I bin Jaber II (1885–1950): ruler of Kuwait, 1921—50 Son of Shaikh Jaber II al–Sabah, Ahmad was the first in the Jaber line to administer the principality. His relations with Abdul Aziz bin Saud [q.v.], the ruler of Najd [q.v.], deteriorated because of the attacks by Ikhwan [q.v.], border disputes, and the embargo on Kuwait's transit trade with the Arabian hinterland. The 1922 Protocol of Uqair [q.v.] resolved these problems, except for the embargo, which continued for the rest of the decade. In the early 1930s the domestic economy faltered due to the decline of the pearling industry, which had been damaged by cheap Japanese imports. However, there was an improvement in relations with Najd, which became part of Saudi Arabia in 1932.
Ahmad granted the first oil concession in 1934 to the Western-owned Kuwait Oil Company (KOC). But it was not until 1938 that petroleum was found in commercial quantities. Meanwhile he treated the fees and advance royalties paid by the KOC as his personal property. This angered the Kuwaiti notables, who demanded that these funds should be treated as government income and that he should restore the 12-member advisory council he had disbanded on becoming the emir. Yielding to popular pressure, Ahmad accepted a constitution drafted by a committee elected by the local Merchant Society. It passed on his powers in domestic affairs to an elected parliament of 14. In July 1938 the parliament elected Shaikh Abdullah bin Salim I al–Sabah [q.v.] as its president. The diminution of Ahmad's authority was against the interests of Britain and the KOC. Encouraged by them, Ahmad dissolved parliament in December and suppressed opposition. The sudden death in April 1939 of King Ghazi [q.v.] of Iraq, who had backed the opposition, further helped Ahmad.
During World War II, ignoring the pro-German sentiment prevalent among his subjects, Ahmad sided with Britain as required by the 1899 Anglo-Kuwaiti Agreement. Popular discontent rose further due to the sealing of oil wells and food shortages caused by the war. It was only in mid–1946 that petroleum exports could be resumed, which helped to turn Kuwait into an oil state.
al–Sabah, Jaber III bin Ahmad I (1928–2006): ruler of Kuwait, 1977— 2006 Son of Shaikh Ahmad I bin Jaber II al–Sabah [q.v.], Jaber continued the domestic policies of his predecessor, Shaikh Sabah III bin Salim I al–Sabah [q.v.], and showed no sign of reviving the National Assembly, which had been dissolved in 1976. Freed from the Assembly's scrutiny, the ruling family had resorted to lining its pockets at the expense of the state and leading merchants. This created distrust between the emir and his subjects. Following Iran's Islamic revolution [q.v.] in early 1979 and the subsequent Shia [q.v.] protest in Kuwait, Jaber put further restrictions on the press and public gatherings. That failed to curb the opposition.
Therefore, he reinstated the suspended articles of the constitution in 1980 and called elections for the 50-member National Assembly in February 1981. As no nationalist–leftist won a seat, and the Islamic fundamentalists [q.v.] secured only six, he found the results satisfactory. But his regime was tarnished by the disastrous collapse of Kuwait's unofficial stock exchange in September 1982, leaving $180 billion in paper debt. The voters, restricted to only about a 10th of the adult population, showed their disapproval in the 1985 election by selecting five nationalist–leftists and 11 fundamentalists.
His policy of aiding Iraq in the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.], both financially and logistically, was unpopular with the Shias, who wanted Kuwait to stay neutral. On 25 May 1985 a suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Jaber. Three weeks later a fire at the petroleum complex in Mina Ah–madi raged for two days. The security lapse angered the National Assembly, and the government resigned. On 3 July 1985 he dissolved the chamber and imposed censorship.
Kuwait's close alliance with Iraq in its war with Iran made its oil tankers vulnerable to attacks by Tehran. In the spring of 1987 Jaber secured the assistance of the U.S. Navy, which protected Kuwaiti oil tankers by transferring their ownership to a U.S.–based company.
When the Iran–Iraq War ended in August 1988, popular pressure built up for the restoration of parliament. Instead of reviving it, he introduced a National Council as an advisory body without legislative powers. When he held elections to it in June 1990, the opposition boycotted them.
He tried to use the $12–14 billion Kuwait had lent to Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War as a lever to settle a border dispute with Iraq dating back to 1961. He failed. He then flooded the oil market in order to lower the price and thus hurt Iraq economically. In retaliation Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] invaded and occupied Kuwait on 3 August 1990. Jaber and most other members of the ruling family escaped first to Bahrain and then to Saudi Arabia.
Operating from his temporary headquarters in Taif, Saudi Arabia, he contributed $5 billion toward the cost of the war against Iraq that was being planned by the United States. On his return home in March 1991, following the expulsion of Iraq from Kuwait by the Washington-led coalition, he resisted the opposition's demand for an immediate revival of the National Assembly. In September he signed a 10–year defense cooperation agreement with the United States, allowing it to stockpile military supplies and conduct training exercises, as well as granting it access to Kuwait ports and airfields and the stationing of American troops.
The election of 31 opposition candidates to the 50–member parliament in the October 1992 election indicated the degree of disaffection with his reign. During the crises between Iraq and the UN over weapons inspection between 1995 and 1998, he was the only regional leader who publicly backed Washington's hawkish line against Baghdad. In 1999, due to the recurring conflict between the National Assembly and the cabinet, he dissolved the legislature a year earlier. In the subsequent election the number of government supporters fell from 18 to 12.
His efforts to repair relations with Iraq and Iran stalled when, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush described Iran and Iraq as members of the "Axis of Evil." He cooperated with the Bush administration in its preparations for invading Iraq in 2003 to the extent of letting U.S. forces occupy large parts of Kuwait. After the end of the hot war, Kuwait remained a vital transit point for the arrival and departure of American and British troops.
By the time of his death at the age of 78, he had fathered 40 children.
al–Sabah, Sabah III bin Salim I (1913–77): ruler of Kuwait, 1965–77 Son of Shaikh Salim I bin Mubarak, Sabah began his career as commander of the police force in 1938, a position he held until 1959. He then headed the public health department. After Kuwait's independence in June 1961, he established the ministry of foreign affairs and became its head as well as deputy premier. In October 1962 Shaikh Abdullah III bin Salim I al–Sabah [q.v.] named Sabah, a member of the ruling family's Salim branch, crown prince, even though, by precedence, the position should have gone to someone from the Jaber branch. Three months later Shaikh Abdullah III appointed him as prime minister, an office held until then by the emir.
On ascending the throne in November 1965, Sabah nominated a new cabinet. Several parliamentary deputies found his choices so unacceptable that they resigned in protest. To prevent this from happening again, Sabah decided to rig the next general election. He instructed Shaikh Jaber III bin Ahmad I al–Sabah [q.v.], prime minister since May 1966, and Shaikh Saad bin Abdullah (later crown prince), minister of defense and interior, to curb the opposition. They imposed censorship and disbanded journalists' and teachers' syndicates. The opposition demanded a rerun of the rigged 1967 general election, but to no avail.
During the June 1967 and October 1973 Arab–Israeli Wars [q.v.], Sabah joined the Arab oil embargo [q.v.] against Israel's allies. The steep petroleum price rise in 1973–74 benefited his regime. In 1975 Kuwait's annual oil income soared to $7.2 billion, but the state budget was able to absorb only $2.9 billion. Pressed by radical parliamentarians, his government nationalized the Western–owned Kuwait Oil Company.
The Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], which started in April 1975 and involved the Palestinians living in Lebanon, had an impact on Kuwait, as it had nearly 250,0000 Palestinian residents. The disruption of the Lebanese press, considered the freest in the Arab world, encouraged the Kuwaiti papers (staffed largely by Palestinians) to provide uncensored news, which heightened the Assembly's opposition to Sabah's policies. In August 1976 he suspended four articles of the constitution concerning freedom of the press and dissolution of the legislature as well as the National Assembly. He dissolved the chamber in September 1977.
al-Sabah, Sabah IV al-Ahmad I al–Jaber (1929–): ruler of Kuwait, 2006— The fourth son of Ahmad I al-Jaber al–Sabah [q.v.], he was educated in Kuwait by private tutors. Two years after Kuwait's independence in 1961, Abdullah III Salim al–Sabah [q.v.] appointed him foreign minister. He held that position for the next 40 years under different rulers. His main challenge came after Gulf War II [q.v.], when Kuwait had to reestablish diplomatic relations with numerous countries following the rupture caused by Iraq's invasion of the emirate in August 1990.
In 2003 Shaikh Jaber III al–Sabah [q.v.] appointed him prime minister, thus separating that office from that of Crown Prince Shaikh Saad Abdullah III al–Sabah, who was in poor health.
On the death of Shaikh Jaber III al–Sabah on 15 January 2006, Saad bin Abdullah III was unable to take the oath of office before the National Assembly, as required by the constitution, because of the loss of speech caused by his grave illness. An impasse ensued. On 24 January he abdicated. Two days later, with the approval of the cabinet, Shaikh Sabah was sworn in as the emir before the National Assembly.
He inherited the tense relations between the National Assembly and the government. Disagreeing with the parliament's demand to reduce the electoral districts from 25 to five, thus raising the size of the electorate and minimizing vote-buying, he dissolved the assembly. In the new parliament the pro-ruler faction occupied only a quarter of the seats. Claiming that some members of parliament (MPs) were misusing parliamentary privilege, he called fresh elections in May 2008. This time the size of the pro-ruler faction rose to 16. Within a year, once again there was a standoff between the National Assembly and the cabinet. The election held in May 2009 saw the strength of the pro–ruler faction rise to 21, including four women MPs.
The Arab Spring [q.v.] arrived in January 2011 at a time when there was a rising tension between the National Assembly and the cabinet dominated by al-Sabah ruling family amidst allegation of corruption at the highest level of government. Major demonstrations, attracting tens of thousands of protestors, occurred with increasing frequency. In November the demonstrators broke into the National Assembly building. The cabinet, led by the ruler's nephew, Nasser Muhammad al-Ahmad al–Sabah, since 2006, resigned. Sabah dissolved the parliament and ordered a fresh election. Held in February 2012 against the background of Islamist parties in Egypt sweeping the polls, it ended with the opposition Islamic groups garnering 34 seats.
al–Sabah clan: Kuwaiti ruling clan The al–Sabah clan is part of the Amarat tribe of the Anaiza tribal federation [q.v.]. After settling on the shores of Kuwait in 1710, the Anaiza's members developed trading facilities under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Turks. Of the three leading families who managed communal affairs, the al-Sabahs were charged with administration and defense. Out of this arose, from 1752 onwards, the al-Sabahs' dynastic reign, the first ruler being Shaikh Sabah I al-Sabah and the second Abdullah I al–Sabah (r. 1756–1814).
In 1899 Shaikh Mubarak I al-Sabah (r. 1896–1915) signed a secret treaty with the British whereby, for an annual subsidy of £1500, the Kuwaiti ruler accorded Britain the right of exclusive presence in Kuwait and control over its foreign policy. Shaikh Mubarak I was followed briefly by his older son, Shaikh Jaber II (b. 1865, r. 1915–17), who was deposed by the British for suspected pro-Ottoman sympathies during World War I, and then by his younger son, Shaikh Salim I (b. 1875, r. 1917–21). Both sons established succession lines within the dynasty that were to share power, though not necessarily alternately. The Jaber branch ruled from 1921 to 1950 (Shaikh Ahmad I bin Jaber II al–Sabah [q.v.]), and again from 1977 (Shaikh Jaber III bin Ahmad I bin al–Sabah [q.v.]). The Salim branch reigned from 1950 to 1965 (Shaikh Abdullah III bin Salim I al–Sabah [q.v.]), and again from 1965 to 1977 (Shaikh Sabah III bin Salim al–Sabah [q.v.]). Shaikh Saad bin Abdullah III (1930–2008), who ruled nominally for 9 days in January 2006 before abdicating due to ill health, belonged to the Salim branch.
In 1965—four years after Kuwaiti independence—the title of the ruler was changed from shaikh to emir (Arabic: ruler/commander). In addition, the practice of having the head of the branch not currently occupying the throne act as crown prince and prime minister was introduced. The leading members of the clan hold such vital ministerial portfolios as oil, defense, interior, and finance.
Sabastiya: See Samaria city.
Sabbath (Hebrew: derivative of shabbat, repose): Sabbath is the weekly day of rest prescribed for Jews [q.v.], Christians [q.v.], and Muslims [q.v.], although the precise day for each group is different. Since, according to Genesis, God rested from the creation of the world on the seventh day (seven being the total number of spatial directions—forward, backward, above, below, right, left, and center), Jews are required to abstain from constructive activity on the Shabbath, and to praise the Creator (Exodus 20:11), or give thanks for their redemption (Deuteronomy 5:14). The Sabbath as a regular weekly fixture probably evolved during the Exile of the Israelites (586–400 B.C.), and replaced the earlier, irregular practice. The Jewish Sabbath, which falls on Saturday, is marked by three special meals and special prayers. An extract from the Torah [q.v.] is read in synagogues [q.v.] during morning service, followed by the chanting of the Haftara—a selection from Prophets. According to Genesis (1:5) "Evening passed and morning came—that was the first day," so a Jewish day begins in the evening. Hence the Jewish Sabbath lasts from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.
Likewise, the Muslim [q.v.] Sabbath lasts from Thursday nightfall to Friday nightfall. Jumah, the Arabic word for Friday, means Assembling, when the believer is required to gather in the jami masjid (Arabic: assembling mosque) for midday prayers. In the Hadith [q.v.], the Prophet Muhammad (570–632 A.D.) states: "Friday was ordered as a divine day of worship both for the Jew and the Christian, but they have acted contrary to the command. The Jew fixed Saturday and the Christian Sunday."
Since early Christians observed the first day of the week, Monday, in commemoration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Sunday became the Christian Sabbath.
sabra (Arabic: cactus): Sabra is the popular term for native–born Israeli Jews [q.v.] who, like the local cactus plant, are thought to be prickly on the outside but soft and sweet on the inside. In 2011, approximately 70 percent of Israeli Jews were sabra, which was twice the figure in 1948.
Sabri, Ali (1920–91): Egyptian military officer and politician; prime minister, 1962—65 Born in Cairo [q.v.], Sabri graduated from the Cairo Military Academy in 1939. A member of the Free Officers group, he liaised between its leadership and the U.S. Embassy before and during the July 1952 coup. Later he became close to President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.], becoming director of his office. When Egypt and Syria merged to form the United Arab Republic (UAR) [q.v.] in 1958, he was appointed minister for presidential affairs. Although the UAR split three years later, he retained his post in the Egyptian administration. He was promoted to prime minister in September 1962 and stayed in that position for three years, after which he became one of the four vice presidents.
In July 1965 Nasser appointed him secretary–general of the Arab Socialist Union (ASU) [q.v.] with a mandate to transform it into a cadre–based popular organization. He replaced the provincial and district ASU committees with executive bureaus run by salaried functionaries who were drawn from different social groups: factory foremen, teachers, lawyers, business managers, landowners, and government bureaucrats. He set up the Socialist Youth Organization (SYO) as an auxiliary to the ASU, but with its own cadre, and led the leftist faction within the ASU, advocating a larger public sector and closer ties with the Soviet Union. In 1966 the SYO carried out a campaign against feudalism.
ASU and SYO activists played a crucial role in the demonstrations in Cairo on 9–10 June 1967 to persuade Nasser to reverse his decision to resign in the wake of Egypt's defeat in the Six–Day War [q.v.]. Nasser stayed, but replaced his vice presidents, including Sabri.
In a further rightward shift in his policies, Nasser returned the ASU's structure back to that of the pre–1965 period. In September 1969 he demoted Sabri and his supporters in the ASU; and in December he appointed rightist Anwar Sadat [q.v.] as the only vice president of the republic.
After Nasser's death in September 1970, President Sadat named Sabri as one of his two vice presidents. But the power struggle between the two continued, with Sabri advocating maintaining the ASU as an independent body and Sadat favoring making it subservient to the state executive. Sadat's wishes prevailed, and Sabri and his close aides were arrested in May 1971. He was charged with treason and abuse of power during Nasser's presidency. He was found guilty and condemned to death, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. After his release in May 1981 he kept out of politics.
Sadat, (Muhammad) Anwar (1918–81): Egyptian military officer and politician; president, 1970–81; prime minister, 1973–74, 1980–81 Son of a petty civil servant in Mit Abul Kom village in the Nile [q.v.] delta, Sadat grew up in Cairo [q.v.]. He graduated from the Cairo Military Academy in 1938. Found guilty of spying for the Germans, Sadat, a captain in the signals corps, was jailed in the summer of 1942. He escaped in 1944 and went underground until the lifting of the detention order. He spent two years in jail (1946–48) as a suspect in the assassination of Ahmad Osman, a cabinet minister, but was acquitted.
He tried his hand at business, which failed. He rejoined the army in late 1949, regaining his rank of captain. He was posted to Rafah in the Sinai [q.v.], where he came into contact with Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.]. Sadat participated in the 22 July 1952 coup mounted by the Free Officers organization, and secured a seat on the ruling 18–member Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). He liaised with the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.], with which he had friendly relations. He edited Al–Gumhuriya (Arabic: The Republic), the regime's mouthpiece, until 1959. For the next decade he served as speaker of the parliament. And during 1964–66 he was one of the four vice presidents.
When in 1965 Egypt established the Islamic Congress in Cairo to rally Muslim opinion abroad behind it, Sadat was chosen as its secretary–general. He was Egypt's representative at international Islamic gatherings, including a summit that led to the formation of the Islamic Conference Organization [q.v.] in September 1969. Three months later, President Nasser made a sharp rightward turn in his policies at home, and made Sadat his sole vice president. On Nasser's death the following September, Sadat became acting president. In mid–October he was elected president in a referendum, having been the sole candidate.
His power struggle with Ali Sabri [q.v.] ended in May 1971 when he imprisoned Sabri and his close aides. In September he promulgated a new constitution, which played down the socialist guidelines of the earlier document. In mid–1973 he purged the leadership of the Arab Socialist Union (ASU) [q.v.] of leftists.
Sadat signed a 15-year Egyptian–Soviet Friendship Treaty [q.v.] in late May 1971. But in July 1972 he demanded that all Soviet military advisers in Egypt, who had arrived after the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], must leave the country within 10 days. Some 15,000 Soviet personnel left, taking with them fighter aircraft, interceptors, and surface-to–air missiles. However, some of them gradually returned after October 1972 and again after February 1973. After his rapprochement with Moscow in March 1973, Soviet arms shipments resumed.
He started planning an invasion of the Israeli–occupied Arab territories [q.v.]. During the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] the Egyptian troops performed unprecedentedly well, capturing land in the Sinai from the Israelis and retaining it. This enhanced his standing at home and in the region. But, instead of pursuing peace under the auspices of the United Nations, he opted for Washington's mediation in his talks with Israel, thus breaking Arab ranks. After two interim disengagement agreements with Israel (Sinai I and Sinai II [q.v.] in 1974 and 1975) the peace process stalled.
His economic liberalization, involving the removal or reduction of subsidies on essentials, triggered countrywide bread riots in January 1977, the most serious upheaval since the anti-British rioting a quarter of a century earlier. It ceased only when he canceled the price increases. He appealed for aid to the United States, which responded positively. After Moscow had refused to reschedule the Egyptian debts of $10–12 billion, he unilaterally abrogated the Egyptian–Soviet Friendship Treaty.
In November 1977, in a dramatic move he addressed the Israeli Knesset [q.v.] in Jerusalem [q.v.], and this made him something of a hero in the Western world, a factor that paved the way for the commercial success of his autobiography, In Search of Identity (1978). Washington started to provide military aid to Egypt. He signed the Camp David Accords [q.v.] with Israeli Premier Menachem Begin [q.v.] at the White House in Washington on 18 September 1978 in the presence of President Jimmy Carter.
At home, fearing a military coup, he dismissed his chief of staff and defense minister, General Abdul Ghani Gamassy. He appointed Mustafa Khalil, leader of the National Democratic Party (NDP) [q.v.], as prime minister to lead a "peace government" of technocrats and academics.
In March 1979 Sadat and Begin signed the bilateral Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] at the White House. This resulted in the immediate suspension of Egypt from the Arab League [q.v.] and the Islamic Conference Organization (ICO) [q.v.], which led all League members, except Oman, to cut diplomatic ties with Cairo.
To overcome the increasing isolation of Egypt, Sadat assumed increased powers at home. He dissolved parliament two years short of its normal tenure, and rigged the first multiparty election in June 1979, with his NDP securing 83 percent of the seats. He expelled the last of the remaining 200 Soviet civilian experts. Egypt became more dependent on the U.S. for economic survival. After securing Khalil's resignation in May 1980, Sadat appointed himself prime minister. By immediately holding a stage-managed referendum he abrogated the constitutional provision that limited the presidency to one six–year term.
His peace treaty with Israel, and the rising corruption and ostentatious behavior of the new rich, alienated the Islamic forces in Egypt, whom he had courted in the early years of his regime. The dismantling of the pricing mechanism introduced by the Nasser regime fueled inflation and brought much hardship to the working and lower–middle classes.
Contemptuous of opposition, both secular and religious, Sadat banned strikes and demonstrations and became increasingly autocratic. His sweeping crackdown on dissidents in September 1981 resulted in some 2,000 arrests. The next month he was assassinated by four Islamic militants, led by Khlaid Ahmad Shawki Islambouli, during a military parade on the anniversary of the October 1973 Arab–Israeli war. In contrast to the mass grief demonstrated at the death of Nasser, most Egyptians were unmoved by his demise.
Muqtada al–Sadr (1973–): Iraqi political and religious leader Born in Najaf [q.v.], he was the fourth son of Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr. As a member of a prominent Shia religious family, he undertook theological studies. In 1995, he married a daughter of Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al–Sadr, who had been executed by the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] in 1980. After the killing of his father and two elder brothers by Iraqi government agents in Najaf in 1999, he went into hiding.
It was only after the downfall of Saddam Hussein's regime in April 2003 that Sadr reappeared in Najaf. The leading Iraqi Shia [q.v.] cleric, Grand Ayatollah Kadhim Husseini Hairi, then based in the holy Iranian city of Qom [q.v.], named Sadr as his deputy in Iraq. Operating from the Hawza al–Ilmiya (Arabic: Center for Learning), Sadr started sending out signed letters and cash by couriers to Shia clerics who in turn appointed qualified people to run the civil administration and restore security which had broken down. They were paid by the Hawza.
He opposed the Iraqi Governing Council appointed by the U.S.–led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and formed a militia group, called the Mahdi Army, to protect the holy Shia sites in Najaf. The weekly magazine Al–Hawza became his mouthpiece. When Paul Bremer of the CPA banned it in March 2004, there were clashes between Mahdi Army and the American forces in Najaf, Basra, and Baghdad's Sadr City, the former Saddam City. Uneasy peace followed. Fighting resumed in August and ended only when Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani [q.v.] intervened and the Americans agreed to withdraw the warrant for Sadr's arrest.
In the December 2005 election for the interim parliament, his Sadrist Trend [q.v.] joined the United Iraqi Alliance of Shias, the brainchild of Sistani. He lobbied successfully for Nouri al–Maliki [q.v.] as the prime minister, and in return the Sadrist Trend got six ministries.
When such extremist Sunni factions as Al Qaida in Mesopotamia [q.v.] started attacking Shias, the Mahdi Army reciprocated by hitting Sunni targets. After the blowing up of the Shias' Al Askariya shrine in Samarra [q.v.] in February 2006, the intersectarian violence intensified.
In April 2007, when Maliki ignored Sadr's call to finalize a timetable for the withdrawal of the U.S.–led foreign troops, the Sadrist Trend ministers left the government. Sadr, then bearing the religious title of hojatalislam (Arabic: proof of Islam) went to Qom to pursue advanced theological studies to raise his status to ayatollah (Arabic: sign of Allah).
After the Maliki government had retaken the control of Basra from the Mahdi Army and other Shia militias in March 2008, Sadr launched a nationwide civil disobedience campaign across Iraq in protest. In August, he ordered most of his militiamen to disarm but retained the elite fighting units to resist the Americans if a timetable for their withdrawal was not set. He renamed the rest of the militia into a socio–cultural organization called Mumahidoun.
Politically, his Sadrist Trend did well in the local elections of 2009 and the parliamentary election of 2010. On his return to Najaf from Iran in January 2011 he reiterated his opposition to the United States while appealing to fellow Iraqis to overcome their divisions. With the unconditional withdrawal of the American forces from Iraq by the end of the year, Sadr's popular standing rose.
al–Sadr, Musa (1928–78): Lebanese/Iranian Islamic leader Born into a religious family of Lebanese origin in Qom [q.v.], Sadr was educated in secular and Islamic traditions before being sent to Tehran University, where he acquired a postgraduate degree in Islamic studies in 1956. Three years later the Shia [q.v.] establishment in Qom sent him to Lebanon as its representative to provide religious guidance to Lebanese Shias. Following his condemnation of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] for suppressing the countrywide protest in Iran led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.] in June 1963, his Iranian nationality was revoked.
He then became a Lebanese citizen. In 1967 he formed the Higher Shia Communal Council (HSCC), the first of its kind in the country, which made him a leading spokesman of Shias. Five years later the HSCC presented social, administrative, and economic demands to the government to ameliorate the living and working conditions of Shias. This charter became the manifesto of the multi–confessional Movement of the Disinherited that Sadr founded in February 1973. It proved popular with Shias who were dissatisfied with their traditional leaders.
Through rallies, demonstrations and strikes Sadr made Shias, the single largest sect in Lebanon, aware of their strength. When the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] erupted in April 1975, he realized that, unlike most other important religious sects, Shias did not have their own militia. He set up a militia adjunct to the Movement of the Disinherited in June 1975, and called it the Lebanese Resistance Detachments, which became popularly known by its Arabic acronym, Amal [q.v.]. It fought the Phalange militia [q.v.]. While opposed to the traditional Shia leadership, Sadr remained friendly with the Sunni [q.v.] establishment, with whom he shared the demand for political parity between Muslims [q.v.] and Christians [q.v.].
During a trip to Libya in August 1978, Sadr "disappeared." Libya insisted that he had left by plane for Italy, but his followers alleged that he had been detained or assassinated by his Libyan hosts. Most Lebanese Shias regard him as a martyr, worthy of their veneration.
Sadrist Trend (Iraq) (Arabic: Al-Tayyar al–Sadri): This is the official title of the party founded by Muqtada al–Sadr [q.v. ] in 2003 along with its militant wing, called the Mahdi Army. It is a national party open to all Iraqis but has a strong base among poor urban Shias [q.v.].
In the December 2005 election for the interim parliament, it joined the United Iraqi Alliance of Shias, the brainchild of Grand Ayatollah Sistani [q.v.]. It lobbied successfully for Nouri al–Maliki [q.v.] as the prime minister and in return it got six ministries. It did well on its own in the local elections of 2009, but decided to enter the March 2010 general election under the umbrella of the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), which also included the Supreme Islamic Iraq Council [q.v.]. It secured 40 seats out of the total of 70 for the INA. But it was not until October that its leader, Sadr, overcame his hostility toward Maliki to back his reelection as the prime minister after securing eight ministries for the Sadrist Trend.
After achieving one of its major aims, to end the American occupation of Iraq in December 2011, it has focused more on the improvement of the underprivileged Iraqis, irrespective of their religious affiliation. It favors strengthening the central government under a unitary system.
al–Said, Nouri (1888–1958): Iraqi military officer and politician; prime minister, 1930—32, 1939—40, 1941—44, 1946—47, 1949, 1950—52, 1954—57, 1958 Born in Baghdad [q.v.] to a Sunni [q.v.] family of mixed Arab–Kurdish [q.v.] origin, Said graduated from the Istanbul Military Academy and became a commissioned officer in the Ottoman army. In 1914 he joined the clandestine Arab nationalist group Al Ahd (Arabic: The Covenant). During World War I, having defected from the Ottoman military in 1916, he joined the Arab revolt led by Sharif Hussein bin Ali. He became chief of staff in the army of Faisal I bin Hussein [q.v.]. After gaining the throne of Iraq in 1921, Faisal I appointed Said his chief of army staff. He became defense minister during 1922 to 24 and 1926 to 28, and was promoted to prime minister in 1930.
He founded a political party named after the secret group he had joined earlier, Al Ahd, even though he had abandoned his pan–Arabism [q.v.] and reached accommodation with the British Mandate, an arrangement formalized in the Anglo–Iraqi Treaty of 1930 [q.v.], which provided the trappings but not the substance of independence. He was reappointed prime minister in 1939.
During World War II the anti-British feeling in Iraq was so strong that, despite his pro–British learning, Said dared not join the Allies against the Axis Powers. In March 1940 he resigned as premier but agreed to join the next cabinet, led by Rashid Ali Gailani [q.v.], which lasted until January 1941. He stayed out of the next Gailani government, which took office in April. After he had been restored to premiership by the British following their overthrow of Gailani in May 1941, he declared war against Germany in 1943. By the time he stepped down in June 1944, the groundwork for the founding of the Arab League [q.v.], inspired by the British, had been laid.
After the war he served as prime minister three times (1946–47, 1949 and 1950–52) before Faisal II [q.v.] came of age in 1953. Following a general election in June 1954, he was appointed prime minister because the 1930 Anglo–Iraqi Treaty needed to be renegotiated before its expiry in 1955. His decision to join the Baghdad Pact [q.v.] in 1955, and his failure to condemn Egypt's aggressors in the Suez War [q.v.] of 1956, isolated Iraq from the rest of the Arab world. In 1957 he endorsed the Eisenhower Doctrine [q.v. ], which offered help to Middle Eastern countries threatened by world Communism or its regional allies.
His increasingly dictatorial ways, and his manipulation of the electoral system and banning of political parties, made Iraq's monarchical regime unpopular. When the Free Officers' group launched a successful coup in July 1958, it assassinated Said along with the members of the royal family.
Said bin Taimur bin Faisal (1911–72): Sultan of Oman, 1932–70 Son of Taimur bin Faisal [q.v.], Said was enthroned by the British in 1932 after they had dethroned Sultan Taimur on the ground of fiscal irresponsibility. Reacting to his father's extravagance, Said took parsimony to extremes. He also monopolized power. Opposed to progress, he prevented his subjects from using, for instance, patent medicines, trousers, radios, books, and even spectacles.
In 1937 he gave an oil concession to Petroleum Concessions (Oman). When, after World War II, it started exploring for oil in the interior, which was controlled by Imam [q.v.] Ghalib bin Ali, problems ensued. Its activities near the Buraimi oasis in 1951 upset Saudi Arabia, which claimed part of the oasis and occupied it. Said was also challenged by Imam Ghalib bin Ali, who proclaimed the independent Imamate of Oman in 1954 and applied for membership in the Arab League [q.v.], which then did not include the Sultanate of Oman. Said's forces, armed and led by the British, crushed the challenge to his authority by the end of 1955. Acting in collusion with the forces of Abu Dhabi, the British also recovered the part of the Buraimi oasis occupied by the Saudis.
In 1957 the Imam's brother, Talib bin Ali, encouraged by Saudi Arabia and Egypt, mounted a rebellion in the interior and declared the establishment of the Imamate of Oman. Said called on the British to render him military assistance according to the Anglo–Omani Agreement of 1925 [q.v.]. The armed uprising dwindled into guerrilla actions. Egypt and the other states charged that Britain had committed armed aggression against the Imamate of Oman and placed the matter before the United Nations. While the UN commission of enquiry failed to uphold the claim against Britain, several Arab countries succeeded in persuading the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution demanding the end of the British colonial presence in Oman. Nonetheless, after Said had withdrawn to his palace in Salalah, 620 mi./1,000 km southwest of Muscat [q.v.], in 1958, control of the country passed almost totally into the hands of British civil servants, with London providing the funds for all development projects.
In 1962 the successor to Petroleum Concessions (Oman), called Petroleum Development Oman, struck oil in commercial quantities. Petroleum income rose from $21 million in 1967 to $117 million three years later, but Said left the money untouched. Now he found his authority challenged by the inhabitants of the Dhofar region. The victory of the leftist forces in the adjoining South Yemen on the eve on the British withdrawal in November 1967 boosted the morale of Dhofari revolutionaries. This, and Said's inflexibility, made the British apprehensive. They engineered a coup in July 1970 and replaced Said with his son, Qaboos [q.v.].
Saiqa (Arabic: Thunderbolt): Palestinian commando force Saiqa was the name given to the military wing of the Vanguards of the Popular War of Liberation, sponsored by the Syrian Baath Party [q.v.] after the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.]. It started commando actions against Israel from Jordan and joined the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v. ]. It became the first Palestinian group to receive arms, secretly, from the Soviet Union, followed by military training for its members in the Soviet Union. It was second in size only to the guerilla force of Fatah [q.v.]. When fighting broke out between Palestinian commandos and Jordanian troops in September 1970, it was Saiqa, then about 5,000–strong, that persuaded Syrian President Salah Jadid [q.v.] to give military aid to the Palestinians. Arms supplies to the Palestinians followed. But when Jordan mounted a counteroffensive using tanks and planes, Syria's defense minister, Hafiz Assad [q.v.], refused to commit his air force.
After seizing power in November, Assad purged Saiqa of its leftist elements, appointed his protege Zuhair Mohsin as the secretary–general, and brought it under the control of the Syrian defense ministry. For most of the 1970s Mohsen headed the PLO's military department. At the Palestine National Council (PNC) [q.v.] session in June 1974, Saiqa backed the idea of setting up a "national authority" in the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza [q.v.] as an intermediate step toward liberating all of Mandate Palestine. Mohsen's assassination in 1979 was a severe blow to Saiqa.
Following its expulsion from Beirut [q.v.] in 1982, Saiqa based itself in Damascus [q.v.]. It joined the pro–Syrian Palestine National Salvation Front against PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat [q.v.]. It opposed his attempts to make the PLO work in tandem with King Hussein [q.v.] of Jordan in the mid–1980s. It continued to derive most of its strength from the Palestinian refugee camps in Syria. After the PNC had repudiated Arafat's deal with King Hussein in April 1987, it ended its boycott of the PLO institutions.
During the Kuwait crisis of 1990–91, it took its cue from Syria and opposed Arafat's backing of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v. ]. In September 1993 it rejected Oslo Accord I [q.v.].
As Saiqa has not carried out any terrorist actions since the early 1990s, it does not appear on Washington's list of terrorist organizations. Its ideology of pan–Arab [q.v.] secularism and socialism remains close to that of the Syrian Baath Party.
Since 2007, its leader has been Farhan Abu al–Hayja. It became marginal because of the reduced support from Syrian President Bashar Assad [q.v.], more inclined to bolster Hamas [q.v. ]. The situation changed after the uprisings in Syria in 2011–2012, when it backed Assad.
Salafiya movement and salafin (Arabic: plural of salafi, follower of ancestors): A Sunni Islamic reformist movement A derivative of salaf al-Sal–ihin (Arabic: the pious ancestors), the Salafiya movement was influenced by Jamal al–Din Afghani (1838–1897), an Islamic thinker who noted the militancy of the salaf (ancestors) of the early Islam. One of his disciples, Muhammad Abdu (1849–1905), stressed the impact that the salaf had on the shaping of the Sharia [q.v.]. Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865–1935), a follower of Abdu, researched what the Prophet Muhammad and the salaf al–Salehin had done and said in order to apply it to contemporary conditions. He preferred to follow the concepts of the salaf al–Salihin rather than any of the four Sunni [q.v.] legal schools.
From the 1920s onwards it became clear that the salafiya could be realized only if it won popular support. The movement's current adherents wanted conformity with the Islam of their salaf at the political level. They argued that, since the Prophet Muhammad was succeeded by a caliph chosen by the community, there could be no place for hereditary power in Islam.
As such they became part of the religious opposition that emerged, largely clandestinely, in the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.]. They have been especially active in Kuwait since the mid–1970s, and want to establish a democratic republican regime there. Some Kuwaiti salafin participated in the armed uprising against the Saudi royal family at the Grand Mosque of Mecca [q.v.] in November 1979. As a quasi–political organization, the salafin won four seats in the Kuwaiti general election of 1992. They performed better in the subsequent elections, winning seven seats in 1999. As the Islamic Salafi Alliance in the 2012 general election, their score fell to four seats. In Bahrain, functioning as Al Asalah (Arabic: of noble descent), they won three seats in the 2010 parliamentary election.
A far greater success for them came in Egypt after the fall of President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] in 2011. In the subsequent free and fair election to the National Assembly, the Islamist Bloc led by the Al Nour Party [q.v.], the political wing of the Call of the Salafiya, won 113 seats out of the total of 127 for the Islamist Bloc on a popular vote of 28 percent. In the Consultative (Shura) Council, the Islamist Bloc gained 45 seats on a popular vote of 29 percent.
Salam, Saeb (1905–2000): Lebanese politician, prime minister, 1952, 1953, 1960—61, 1970—73 Born into a notable Sunni [q.v.] family in Beirut [q.v.], Salam graduated from the American University of Beirut [q.v.] and finished his postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He then managed the varied family agrarian and industrial interests. Elected to parliament in 1943, he retained a seat in the chamber until the 1972 election, except in 1957, when the general election was rigged by President Camille Chamoun [q.v.]. In 1946 he became interior minister and served briefly as prime minister in 1952 and 1953. He was deputy prime minister in 1956, but resigned his post in protest at Chamoun's refusal to condemn the Anglo-French–Israeli aggression against Egypt in the Suez War [q.v.].
In the 1958 civil strife he sided with the anti–Chamounist camp led by Kamal Jumblat [q.v.]. After serving as prime minister from 1960 to 1961, he headed a group of Beirut-based Sunni parliamentarians that rivaled the one led by the Tripoli–based Rashid Karami [q.v.], who was the premier for most of the 1960s. When Suleiman Franjieh [q.v.] became president in 1970, he called on Salam to form the next government. He purged the army and civil service of the reformists inspired by ex–president Fuad Chehab [q.v.].
With the emergence of the Front of National and Progressive Parties and Forces under Jumblat in 1972, such traditional leaders as Salam lost ground. He resigned as prime minister in April 1973. Two years later, on the eve of the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], he was one of the six former premiers who demanded that the army command council be reconstituted to give parity to Muslims [q.v.] and Christians [q.v.]. During the Israeli siege of Beirut in June–August 1982, he supervised the evacuation of the Palestinian and Syrian forces from West Beirut.
After the assassination of Bashir Gemayel [q.v.] in September, he played a crucial role in the election of Amin Gemayel [q.v.] as president. Later, when Gemayel fell out with the nationalist–leftist constituents of the Lebanese National Movement [q.v.], Salam failed to mobilize Muslims behind the president, highlighting the virtual collapse of Sunni power, mainly because the sect had failed to form a powerful militia of its own. As the civil conflict continued well into the 1980s, his influence declined sharply.
Saleh, Ali Abdullah (1942–): Yemeni military officer and politician; president of North Yemen, 1978—90; president of Yemen, 1990—2012 A member of the Sanhan tribe of the Hashid tribal confederation, Saleh was born in the northern region. After receiving rudimentary education he enrolled in the army as a soldier, and rose rapidly through the ranks. After the assassination of President Ibrahim Hamid [q.v.] in October 1977, as commander of the Taiz region he assisted Ahmad Ghashmi [q.v.], chairman of the Military Council, to crush a rebellion by rival officers in April 1978. Ghashmi promoted him to deputy commander-in–chief of the army.
Following Ghashmi's assassination in June 1978, he became chief of staff and a member of the Presidential Council. A month later the 96 People's Constituent Assembly members elected him president by a large majority. To rally domestic support he blamed South Yemen for Ghashmi's murder. In October he survived an attempted coup by a section of the army.
In October 1980 Saleh replaced Prime Minister Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani [q.v.] with Abdul Karim Iryani [q.v.]. However, having consolidated his power by purging the officer corps and placing his family and tribal kin in key positions, he did not invite the NDF to share power in a national unity government. In October 1981 he set up a 1,000–member General People's Congress (GPC) [q.v.], partly by appointment and partly by indirect election.
When the need for arms rose sharply due to the introduction of conscription in 1979, he opted for Soviet weapons because of their cheapness. This upset Saudi Arabia, which suspended its budgetary aid of $300 million a year and all other economic assistance. Following his visit to Riyadh [q.v.] in August 1980, the Saudis partially resumed the aid. Two months later, he visited Moscow. In 1984, when the Yemeni subsidiary of an American oil company started to extract petroleum, he signed a Friendship and Cooperation Treaty with the Soviet Union [q.v.] during his second visit to Moscow.
At home he maintained a balance between the conservative tribal confederations in the north and the left–wing National Democratic Front (NDF) in the south, and managed to survive several assassination attempts. After being reelected president in 1983 he recalled Abdul Ghani to head the government. He maintained friendly relations with Saudi Arabia, the chief paymaster of North Yemen, while cultivating the leftist South Yemeni regime by periodically renewing the earlier agreement of eventual unity between the two Yemens.
After his reelection as president in 1988 he responded positively to the idea of an alliance of North Yemen with Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan, which materialized as the Arab Cooperation Council [q.v.] in early 1989. A steep decline in the economy of South Yemen resulted in the unification of the two Yemens in May 1990, with Saleh becoming president of the united country.
In the Kuwait crisis of 1990–91 he refused to side with the Saudi–U.S. alliance against Iraq. Yemen, the only Arab member of the UN Security Council, voted against the U.S. stance, and abstained on crucial resolutions on the Kuwait crisis and Gulf War II [q.v.]. The consequent Saudi retribution, including the expulsion of 850,000 Yemeni workers and petty traders from the kingdom, damaged Yemen's economy.
When the outcome of the April 1993 general election confirmed the existence of a political division along the old North-South divide, his relations with his vice president, Ali Salim al–Beidh [q.v.], soured. He won the subsequent Yemeni Civil War [q.v.] between the northern and southern forces in May–June 1994, when Saudi Arabia backed the southern camp. His prestige at home rose sharply.
In 1995 Saleh was elevated to chairman of the GPC, a new post. Two years later his GPC improved its parliamentary strength from 123 to 187 seats.
But his government encountered violent protest during 1997–98 when it tried to implement economic reform by cutting subsidies on basic necessities and fuel. Nonetheless, in the first direct presidential election in 1999, he won 96.3 percent of the vote. In 2001 he replaced Iryani as prime minister with Abdul Qadir Bajammal.
Whereas Yemen's armed forces conducted their first joint military exercise with the U.S. forces in November 1998, Saleh condemned Washington's Operation Desert Fox [q.v.], launched in December. In October 2000 a suicide bomb attack by a fast boat rammed into the USS Cole while it was refueling in Aden [q.v.], killing 17 sailors. The Islamic Army of Aden–Abyan claimed responsibility.
After 9/11, Washington started training the Yemeni forces in antiterrorist tactics and allied skills of intelligence gathering. Saleh cooperated actively with the United States to curb the activities of Al Qaida [q.v.] operatives in Yemen. That helped reduce Al Qaida's presence in the republic.
In the 2006 presidential election, Saleh was reelected with 77 percent of the popular vote, defeating Faisal bin Shalman, the candidate of the Joint Parties Meeting, an alliance of all opposition parties. The escape of 23 Al Qaida extremists from a high–security prison in Sanaa [q.v.] led to the revival of Al Qaida terrorism with renewed intensity. Saleh's links with Washington tightened, with the Central Intelligence Agency making increased use of drones to hit terrorist targets. This in turn led to the Al Qaida network's attack on the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa in September 2008.
Because of the prevalent corruption and ineptitude of his government, the standing of Saleh among the tribes fell. The emergence of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.] with its base in southeastern Yemen in 2009 damaged his image further.
Starting in January 2011, the protesting demonstrators escalated their demands from ending unemployment and corruption to Saleh's resignation. Pro-Saleh supporters staged counterdemonstrations. In late April, he accepted the three–point plan offered by the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.], which required him to step down in favor of Vice President Abd Rabbu Mansour al–Hadi [q.v.] in exchange for immunity from prosecution for himself, his relatives, and senior members of his government. But when it came to signing the agreement he balked three times. The GCC suspended its mediation on 22 May. The next day when Sadiq al–Ahmar, leader of the powerful Hashid tribal federation declared his support for the opposition, the army split. Armed clashes, involving artillery and mortars, ensued in different parts of the country.
An explosive attack on the presidential palace's mosque during Friday congregation on 3 June left Saleh and several others badly injured. He flew to Riyadh for medical treatment after transferring his power to al-Hadi. By broadcasting an address to the Yemeni people from Riyadh on 7 July, he underlined his presidential power. But on 12 September he instructed al–Hadi to revive the GCC mediation. Then he suddenly returned to Sanaa on 23 September. Clashes between the opposing camps resumed.
The GCC's revived peace efforts gained the support of the UN Security Council. On 23 November, Saleh signed the deal, agreeing to relinquish power within 30 days in favor of a transitional government headed by al–Hadi, while remaining president until fresh new election in February 2012. After the election he stepped down, but did not leave the country.
Sallal, Abdullah (1917–2001): Yemeni military officer and politician; president, 1962–67; prime minister, 1962–63, 1966–67 Born in a Zaidi [q.v.] blacksmith family in the north, Sallal was sent to Baghdad Military Academy, where he graduated in 1938. On his return home he was jailed briefly for suspected anti–regime activities. After his release he was permitted to resume his military career. He participated in the coup against Imam Yahya in early 1948, led by his personal adviser, Abdullah Wazir. But Wazir was overthrown the following month by Yahya's son, Crown Prince Ahmad bin Yahya [q.v.], who succeeded his father. Sallal found himself condemned to death, but his sentence was commuted to a seven–year prison term. After his release he was appointed governor of Hodeida province.
Sallal became a protégé of Crown Prince Muhammad al–Badr [q.v.], who made him commander of his guard in 1956 and of the newly established Military Academy three years later. After his accession to the throne, al–Badr promoted Sallal to commander of the royal guard. Supported by a secret Nasserite [q.v.] group among military officers, he carried out a successful coup against Imam al–Badr on 26 September, but the ruler escaped unhurt. Sallal became president of the republic, promoting himself to field marshal. He led the republican camp in the Yemeni Civil War [q.v.], which continued until 1970. He concurrently served as the prime minister during 1962–63.
The republicans, deriving their main support from the Shafei (Sunni [q.v.]) tribes inhabiting the coastal plain and southern hills, were aided by Egypt, while the royalists, with a solid base among the Zaidi tribes in the north, were helped by the Saudis. There was intense fighting for two and a half years. A year of comparative lull followed. To placate the royalists with a view to reaching an accommodation with them, Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] invited Sallal to Cairo [q.v.] and then put him under house arrest. He let the Presidential Council run North Yemen.
With the failure of Nasser's peacemaking efforts, Sallal was allowed to return to Sanaa [q.v.] in September 1966. Besides resuming the presidency, he appointed himself prime minister and carried out a purge. He tried to regain the area lost to the monarchists in the war but failed, partly because of the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], which diverted Egypt's resources. Cairo decided to withdraw its forces from North Yemen, and this weakened the position of Sallal, who was seen as an Egyptian protégé. He was overthrown in November 1967 during his visit to Moscow. He went into exile in Baghdad [q.v.] in October 1981. During the presidency of Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.], he was allowed to return home, where he stayed away from public life.
Samaria: Ancient kingdom Called Shomron in Hebrew, Samaria covers the central zone of ancient Canaan/Palestine lying between the Jordan River [q.v.] and the Mediterranean Sea, and delineated by Galilee, the area to the west of Lake Galilee to the north and Judea/Judah [q.v.] to the south. Its political and geographical center was Shechem, near present–day Nablus [q.v.].
It took the Israelites more than two centuries, from ca 1250 B.C. to ca 1030 B.C., to conquer and colonize Canaan. During the united Israelite Kingdom under King David (r. 1010970 B.C.), northern Samaria was given to half of the tribe of Manasseh (the other half were settled to the east of the Jordan) and southern Samaria to the tribe of Ephraim.
After the demise of King Solomon (r. 970–930 B.C.), the northern tribes, including Ephraim and Manasseh, split from their southern kinsmen, but retained the name Israelite Kingdom. Its capital at Tirzah (now Tall al–Fariah) was shifted in 880 B.C. to Samaria City [q.v.]—these settlements and Shechem together forming an equilateral triangle, each side being 7 mi./10 km long. The kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. During the time of Jesus Christ (ca 6 B.C.–30 A.D.) Samaria was ruled by the Romans.
Samaria City: Modern village of Sabastiya, also called Sebaste Archaeological excavations during the early part of the 20th century established that the history of Samaria City dates back to the late fourth millennium B.C. During Old Testament [q.v.] times it became the capital of the (northern) Israelite Kingdom in 880 B.C. It became the site of an acropolis, which contained a royal palace.
It was captured by the Assyrians, who enslaved most of its inhabitants and colonized it with Cutheans. The succeeding Persians retained it as an administrative center. After the capture of the region by Alexander of Macedonia in 332 B.C., it became a Greek colony. It was destroyed by John Hyrcanus in 120 B.C., restored by the Roman general Pompey (10648 B.C.), and renamed Sebaste (Greek for Augusta) in honor of Roman Emperor Augustus (Sebastos in Greek) by Herod the Great (37–4 B.C.), and endowed with an Augustine temple, a forum, and a basilica. After reaching a zenith in the late Roman Empire, it declined steadily during the Byzantine era (476 A.D.–1453), shrinking to a village called Sabastiya during the Ottoman Empire (1517–1918).
Samaritans: quasi–Jewish community A 2,500-year–old sect with a claim that after the death of King Solomon its adherents formed the Kingdom of Israel, and the Jews [q.v.] formed the Kingdom of Judah. Samaritans speak ancient Hebrew [q.v.], believe that Moses was the only prophet, and accept only the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. According to them, Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac not in Jerusalem [q.v.] but at Mount Gerizim, the mountain towering above Nablus [q.v.]. In 1917 there were only 146 Samaritans. Their number had grown to 583 in 1997. They have retained their own language and culture. They live in their settlement of Kiryat Luza, on Mount Gerizim, and in Holon, south of Tel Aviv [q.v.]. Those based in the West Bank [q.v.] have one representative in the Palestinian parliament. Those resident in Holon are Israeli nationals and serve in the army. At Passover [q.v.], the entire community gathers on Mount Girizim to sacrifice sheep in a ritual similar to that of the ancient Jews.
Samarra: Iraqi city Population: 377,000 (2011 est.) According to the archaeological excavations of the 20th century, the history of Samarra, located on the Tigris River [q.v.], dates back to the fifth millennium B.C. The present town, established during the third century A.D, reached its apogee when Caliph al–Mutasim (r. 833–841 A.D.) abandoned Baghdad [q.v.] as the capital of the Abbasid Empire in 836 A.D. in its favor, endowing it with gardens and a palace. Though he renamed it Surra Manraa, the old name survived. By the time Caliph al Mutamid (r. 870–892 A.D.) had returned the capital to Baghdad in 892 A.D., Samarra had spread many miles along the river. It was here that the last imam [q.v.] of the Twelver Shias [q.v.], Muhammad al-Qasim, the infant son of the 11th Imam Hassan al–Askari, went into spiritual occultation in 873 A.D.
Over the next four centuries the town declined dramatically. It has since revived. Its tourist offerings today include the minaret al–Malwiya, the ziggurat, a temple tower of ancient Mesopotamia [q.v.] in the form of a stepped pyramid, and the Great Friday Mosque and the Abu Dulaf Mosque, built during the ninth century. As the site of the gold-domed Al Askriya Mosque, containing the shrines of the Twelver Shias' Tenth and Eleventh Imams, Ali bin Muhammad Naqi al-Hadi and Hassan bin Ali al–Askari, it is a place of pilgrimage for them. It was severely damaged by bombings by Al Qaida in Mesopotamia [q.v.] operatives in 2006 and 2007. It has since then been repaired.
San Remo Agreement (1920): The San Remo Agreement is the title given to decisions regarding the Middle East [q.v.] made by the Supreme Council of the League of Nations (1920–45), consisting of the major Allied powers—Belgium, Britain, France, Greece, Italy, and Japan (the United States did not join the League of Nations)—at its meeting in San Remo, Italy, in April 1920. The main decisions were as follows. Britain and France would decide the nature of the Mandates for the region and submit their proposals to the League for debate and voting. Later, France was awarded the mandates for Syria and Lebanon, and Britain for Palestine [q.v.] and Mesopotamia [q.v.] (later Iraq). The British Mandate for Palestine included the Balfour Declaration [q.v.].
Sanaa: capital of Yemen Population: 1.94 million (2011 est.) Called Ghumdan in pre–Islamic times, Sanaa was a center of the Sabaeans, who arrived from the north in the 10th century B.C. They surrendered to the Arabs [q.v.] in the second century A.D. They were converted to Islam [q.v.] in 632 A.D. by Ali, a cousin and son-in–law of the Prophet Muhammad.
Because of its central place in the Yemeni highlands its fate has been shaped by the region's history, dominated by the Zaidi (Shia) [q.v.] tribes whose rulers, called imams [q.v.], were in the habit of changing their capital. After losing its primacy for nearly four centuries, Sanaa found favor with Imam Abdul Wahhab bin Tahir al–Rassi (r. 1478–1488).
The Ottoman suzerainty over North Yemen from 1517 meant little to Sanaa, where the local imams held sway until 1872. Indigenous resistance to the Ottomans continued, culminating in a rebellion by Imam Yahya in 1911, which was suppressed. The treaty of 1913 limited him to the highlands, with Sanaa as his capital. After the Ottomans' collapse he reasserted his control of the coastal plain and the southern Shafii (Sunni) [q.v.] areas to the south, upgrading Sanaa into the national capital. But his son, Ahmad (r. 1948–62), moved the capital south to Taiz.
After the 1962 revolution Sanaa once again became the premier city. During the 1962–70 Civil War [q.v.] it suffered extensive damage. During the pro–democracy demonstrations and fighting in 2011, the city suffered also considerable damage to its buildings and infrastructure.
It is an important commercial and communications center. Its tourist attractions include the walled Old City, a Jewish quarter with gold and silver metalwork and embroidery workshops, and the Great Mosque.
Sarkis, Elias (1924–85): Lebanese politician; president, 1976—82 Born into a middle–class Maronite [q.v.] family in Beirut [q.v.], Sarkis obtained a law degree from Saint Joseph University. From 1953 he worked in the legal section of the government's audit department. While investigating financial irregularities at the defense ministry, he came to the attention of President Fuad Chehab (r. 1958–64) [q.v.], who transferred him to his secretariat. Sarkis made the presidential bureau a leading center of power and became its director–general in 1962.
After briefly serving President Charles Helou (r. 1964–70) [q.v.], he became governor of the Central Bank in 1966. Four years later he lost to Suleiman Franjieh [q.v.] in the presidential race by one vote. He came to represent moderate Maronite opinion, which was rare after the start of the Lebanese Civil War in April 1975 [q.v.].
Sarkis became a favorite of Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] following the latter's intervention in the war on the Maronite side in June 1976. As the only candidate in the presidential election three months later, he won. Working in conjunction with Assad, he replaced top officials with pro-Syrian nominees. When the Phalangists [q.v.] protested, he tried to limit Syrian power, but in vain.
His differences with Prime Minister Salim Hoss [q.v.] deepened. He saw national reconciliation as a prelude to curtailing Syria's influence in Lebanon, whereas Hoss regarded it as a preamble to implementing a security plan in coordination with the Syrian peacekeeping force. Efforts to bridge the gap between the two failed, and Hoss resigned in June 1980. Later in the year the cabinet, led by Shafiq Wazzan, split in the face of a crisis created by a confrontation between the Phalangists and the Syrians in Zahle, a largely Greek Orthodox [q.v.] city.
In June 1982, within a week of invading Lebanon, the Israeli forces expelled Sarkis from his presidential palace in Baabda. By the time his term officially expired in September, Israel was very much in charge of Beirut [q.v.]. He retired from public life.
al–Saud clan: See House of Saud.
al–Saud, Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman: See Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al–Saud.
al–Saud, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz: See Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al–Saud.
al–Saud, Fahd bin Abdul Aziz: See Fahd bin Abdul Aziz al–Saud.
al–Saud, Faisal bin Abdul Aziz: See Faisal bin Abdul Aziz al–Saud.
al–Saud, Khalid bin Abdul Aziz: See Khalid bin Abdul Aziz al–Saud.
al–Saud, Nayef bin Abdul Aziz (1933–2012): Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, 2011–12 Born in Taif [q.v.] to Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al–Saud [q.v.] and Hassa bint Ahmad al-Sudairi, Fahd was the 23rd son of the founder of the Saudi kingdom. He was educated at the Princes' School and by senior ulema.
At the age of 20, he was appointed governor of Riyadh [q.v.]. As one of the "Sudairi Seven" princes, his career was advanced by one or more of his full brothers. In 1970 King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] named him deputy interior minister to serve under his full brother Fahd [q.v.]. When Fahd was named crown prince in 1975, Nayef was promoted to interior minister, a position he has held since then.
His ministry controls 130,000 security personnel as well as the ubiquitous morality police, which enforce the veil for women and the closing of businesses during prayer times.
Intolerant of any criticism of the House of Saud [q.v.], he has dealt harshly with dissenters, filling jails with political prisoners. He moved strongly against Osama bin Laden [q.v.] in 1994, depriving him of Saudi citizenship, among other things. And, working with the kingdom's intelligence agencies, he closed down charities that collected donations for Osama bin Laden and his network.
Commenting on 9/11 a year after the event, he said, "It is impossible that 19 youths carried out the operation of September 11, or that bin Laden or Al Qaida [q.v.] did that alone....I think [the Zionists] are behind these events." And yet when Al Qaida in Arabia carried out terrorist attacks on the Western expatriate housing compounds, oil infrastructure, and industrial facilities in the Saudi kingdom from 2003 onward, he mounted a relentless crackdown, smashed the group by 2006, and forced its remaining activists to seek refuge in Yemen.
In March 2009 King Abdullah [q.v.] promoted him to second deputy prime minister, the first deputy prime minister being Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud. He played a key role in Abdullah's decision to host Tunisia's ousted dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, in January 2011, and to send troops in March to Bahrain to help end pro–democracy protests led by Shias [q.v.], whom he detests.
After Sultan's death in October 2011, he was named crown prince.
al–Saud, Salman bin Abdul Aziz (1935–) Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, 2012— Born to King Abdul Aziz al-Saud [q.v.] and Hassa al-Sudairi, he was educated at the Princes School in Riyadh [q.v.]. He started his political career at 19 when his father appointed him mayor of the capital, and a year later King Saud bin Abdul Aziz al–Saud [q.v.] promoted him to governor of Riyadh province. He resigned in 1960, but was reappointed to the same post three years later. He held that position until 2011 when, following the death of his brother Crown Prince Sultan al-Saud, he became the defense minister. Under his rule, Riyadh grew into a bustling metropolis and attracted much foreign investment. After the demise of his brother Crown Prince Nayef al–Saud [q.v.] in June 2012, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al–Saud [q.v.] named him crown prince. Unlike Nayef, he is pragmatic and diplomatic.
al–Saud, Saud bin Abdul Aziz (1902–69): King of Saudi Arabia, 1953—64 After the death of his elder brother, Turki bin Abdul Aziz, in 1919, Saud became the eldest son of King Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al–Saud [q.v.]. In 1926 the monarch appointed Saud his viceroy in Najd [q.v.]. On the founding of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, he named Saud crown prince. Two years later, along with his younger brother, Faisal [q.v.], Saud carried out a victorious campaign against North Yemen [q.v.]. When, a month before his death in November 1953, King Abdul Aziz appointed a council of ministers, he named Saud its chairman.
On succeeding his father, Saud remained prime minister and named Faisal crown prince. With the sharp rise in oil revenues due to the growing demand for Saudi oil to fill the gap caused by the 1951–53 Iranian oil nationalization crisis, traditional, direct governance by the monarch proved inadequate when it came to handling the increasing fiscal and administrative complexities. The resulting chaos, compounded by Saud's extravagance and mismanagement, created a crisis.
In 1958 he was compelled to appoint a new cabinet and hand over the premiership to Faisal. His deteriorating health led him to go abroad frequently for medical treatment. Yet he tried to regain full executive authority, and in 1960, after he had promised a constitutional monarchy, including a predominantly elected parliament, he succeeded. However, he reneged on his pledge for political reform.
After the republican coup in North Yemen in 1962, which implicitly threatened the future of the Saudi monarchy, Saud ceded his executive powers once again to Faisal, and Saudi Arabia became involved in the North Yemeni civil war [q.v.]. During his long absences abroad for medical treatment in 1963 his opponents consolidated their position. As a result, in March 1964, Saud transferred all his powers to Faisal, who was named viceroy. In November the Supreme Religious Council and a group of most senior princes deposed Saud and named Faisal king.
He went into exile in Europe. In 1966, when rivalry between Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] and King Faisal intensified, Nasser allowed Saud to settle in Cairo [q.v.] to strengthen his own anti-Faisal position. But when, following Egypt's defeat in the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], Nasser sought a rapprochement with Faisal, Saud lost his importance. He died in Athens, Greece, in February 1969, leaving behind 52 sons and 55 daughters.
Saudi Arabia:
OFFICIAL NAME: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
CAPITAL: Riyadh [q.v.]
AREA: 865,000 sq. mi./2,240,000 sq. km, including parts of the Saudi Arabia-Iraq and Saudi Arabia–Kuwait Neutral Zones [q.v.]
POPULATION: 26.173 million (2011 est.), including 5.60 million foreigners
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (nominal): $651.65 billion; per capita, $22,630 (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (Purchasing Power Parity): $681.5 billion; per capita, $24,270 (2011 est.)
NATIONAL CURRENCY: Saudi Rial (SAR); SAR 1 = $0.267 = £0.164 = €0.20 (2011)
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: monarchy
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Arabic [q.v.]
OFFICIAL RELIGION: Islam [q.v.]
ADMINISTRATIVE REGIONS: Saudi Arabia consists of 13 provinces divided into five regions: East, West (Hijaz [q.v.]), North, South, and Center (Najd [q.v.]). These are administered by governors appointed by the monarch.
CONSTITUTION: In March 1992, 60 years after the founding of Saudi Arabia, King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz al–Saud [q.v.] issued the Basic Law of Government as a decree. It declared the Quran [q.v.] and the Sunna [q.v.] as the constitution of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to be governed by the male descendants of Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al–Saud [q.v.]. The monarch is the head of state and the council of ministers, and is also the commander-in-chief of the military He appoints the prime minister and other members of the cabinet. The Basic Law provided for the appointment of a Consultative Council of 60 members and its chairman by the monarch for a four-year term. There was no provision for a legislature, political parties, or trade unions. In 2006 an Allegiance Institution, consisting chiefly of the sons and grandsons of Abdul Aziz al–Saud, was established to vote for one of the three royal princes chosen by the ruling monarch to succeed him. But this protocol will come into force only after the enthronement of the current crown prince.
CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL: In August 1993 the first fully nominated 60-member Consultative Council, with four–year tenure, was named by the king. It was authorized to question the government and to refer any official action it disputed to the monarch. Its number was raised successively to 150 in 2005. In early 2005 there were elections to the municipalities, with their members having tenure of four years. But the next election, due in 2009, was held in September 2011 during the course of the Arab Spring [q.v. ], with their tenure extended to six years.
ETHNIC COMPOSITION: (2010) Arab 79 percent, South Asian 12 percent, other 9 percent.
EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY: Executive authority rests with the king, who rules through a council of ministers, containing many royal princes, responsible to him.
High officials:
Head of state: King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al–Saud [q.v.] 2005-
Prime minister: King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al–Saud 2005-
Crown prince and first deputy prime minister: Nayef bin Abdul Aziz al–Saud [q.v.], 201-
Chairman of Council of Senior Ulema: Grand Mufti Abdul–Aziz Aal Shaikh, 2009-
Chairman of the Consultative Council: Abdullah al–Shaikh 2009-
HISTORY: (since ca 1900): In 1902 Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al–Saud [q.v.] regained Diraiya and neighboring Riyadh from the rival Rashid clan, which was allied with the Ottoman Empire. After consolidating his domain, he captured the eastern Hasa region in 1913. Following the downfall of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, he conquered the Asir region on the Red Sea in 1920. The next year he defeated his rival, Muhammad bin Rashid, based in Shammar. After he had added more territories to his domain in 1922 and called himself the Sultan of Najd and its Dependencies. He couched his campaigns in Islamic terms, as a struggle to punish either religious dissenters or those who had strayed from true Islam as represented by the Wahhabi doctrine [q.v. ]. In 1924 he defeated Sharif Hussein bin Ali al–Hashem in Hijaz, and deposed him.
Having declared himself King of Hijaz and Sultan of Najd and its Dependencies in January 1926, Abdul Aziz sought international recognition. The following year Britain recognized him as King of Hijaz and Najd and its Dependencies. In 1929 he fell out with the militant section of the Ikhwan [q.v.], the armed wing of the Wahhabis, which so far had been his fighting force. Assisted by the British, then controlling Kuwait and Iraq, he quelled the Ikhwan rebellion. In September 1932 he combined his domains, comprising about three–quarters of 1.12 million sq. mi./3.1 million sq. km of the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.], into one—the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—and called himself King of Saudi Arabia.
Abdul Aziz granted an oil concession to the Standard Oil Company of California in 1933. Modest commercial extraction, which started in 1938, was interrupted by World War II, in which he remained neutral. As a domineering and militarily successful tribal chief, he behaved like an autocrat. Following a dramatic increase in oil output after World War II, the economic boom overstretched the rudimentary institutions of the state, supervised by him and some of his close aides, and undermined the traditional spartan Wahhabi lifestyle of the House of Saud [q.v.]. Yet it was not until October 1953—a month before his death—that he appointed a council of ministers, chaired by his eldest son, Saud [q.v.], as an advisory body.
When Saud became king he retained the premiership. However, he proved incapable of handling the fiscal and administrative complexities arising from the sharp growth in oil revenues caused by increased demand for Saudi oil due to the oil nationalization crisis in Iran during 1951–1953. The resulting chaos, compounded by Saud's extravagance and mismanagement, created a crisis and led to a power struggle between him and his brother, Crown Prince Faisal [q.v.]. It was finally settled against Saud, who was forced to abdicate in 1964.
On ascending the throne Faisal reneged on his promise of political reform that he had made as crown prince in 1962—especially the promulgation of a written constitution specifying a consultative council. Instead he harshly suppressed the opposition. He increased support to the royalist camp in the North Yemeni Civil War [q.v.], in which the republicans were being aided by Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.]. However, following the Arab defeat in the 1967 Six–Day War [q.v.], he buried his differences with Nasser.
Faisal's efforts to establish a transnational organization of Muslim states succeeded in 1969, in the wake of an arson attempt on the al–Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem [q.v.], resulting in the formation of the Islamic Conference Organization [q.v.], based in Jeddah [q.v.].
During the 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] Faisal led the Arab oil embargo [q.v.] against the Western allies of Israel, and backed the quadrupling of oil prices in 1973–74. As a result of increased output and a sharp rise in price in 1973–74, Saudi oil income reached $22.57 billion in 1974, a 36fold rise in a decade. Though Faisal succeeded in having the oil embargo against Israel's Western allies lifted in March 1974, he was unwilling to go along fully with Washington's policy on the Middle East peace process [q.v.]. On 25 March 1975 he was assassinated by his young nephew, Prince Faisal bin Musaid.
On becoming king, Khalid bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] freed political prisoners. He appointed a cabinet in which 15 of the 25 ministers were commoners, but he ensured that the crucial foreign, defense, interior, and National Guard [q.v.] ministries stayed with the House of Saud. He tried to end the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], gave grants to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.], and opposed the Camp David Accords [q.v.]. He cut all links with Egypt after it had signed the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] in March 1979.
In domestic affairs, Khalid represented the nationalist trend, committed to greater respect for tradition and slower economic development, which was in conflict with the pro–U.S. trend, stressing rapid economic development. When faced with an armed uprising at the Grand Mosque of Mecca [q.v.] in November 1979, he prevaricated and took a fortnight to quell it. Responding to the rise of a revolutionary Islamic regime in Iran, he opted for stricter enforcement of Islamic injunctions in the kingdom. During 1981, the last full year of his reign, the kingdom earned record oil revenue of $110 billion.
Of the two trends that had emerged among senior Saudi princes during Khalid's reign, King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz belonged to the pro–U.S. school, favoring rapid economic progress. His Middle East peace plan (in exchange for the peaceful coexistence of all the states in the region, Israel would be required to evacuate all the Arab territories occupied in 1967, dismantle the Jewish settlements in these areas, and accept the founding of a Palestinian state) was adopted by the Arab League [q.v.] summit in September 1982. It remained the common Arab position on a comprehensive settlement until the Middle East Peace Conference [q.v.] in Madrid, Spain, nine years later.
In keeping with his vacillating manner, Fahd waited a whole week before making public his position on Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990. He called on the United States and the Arab countries to send troops to help protect Saudi Arabia and end the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait. The huge expenses incurred by Riyadh in the conduct of Gulf War II [q.v.], the rearming of the kingdom that followed the conflict, and the sharply reduced prices of oil, with annual petroleum income down to $43 billion, led his government to raise foreign loans to balance the budget.
In May 1991 Shaikh Abdul Aziz al–Baz [q.v.] handed Faisal a "Letter of Demands," signed by 400 leading ulema, judges, and academics, demanding a consultative council with powers to decide all domestic and foreign affairs; greater Islamization of state, social, economic, and educational institutions; punishment of those who had enriched themselves illegally; and freedom of expression within the Sharia [q.v.]. Fahd ignored the petition.
Having made some concessions in the political and religious spheres, Fahd repressed further the dissident Islamic ulema at home and blocked financial assistance to Islamist militants abroad. He tightened ties with Washington still further just as the latter's dependence on Saudi petroleum grew. A quarter of America's oil imports now originated in Saudi Arabia, which had purchased $25 billion worth of U.S. arms between August 1990 and December 1992—by which time a formalized defense understanding between Riyadh and Washington was in place.
The establishment of the fully nominated Consultative Council in 1993 did little to diminish disaffection. To silence opposition, the government detained 200 political dissidents in 1994. It was distressed when a bomb at the National Guard training center in Riyadh in November 1995 killed seven people, including five American officers. That month, following a stroke, Faisal passed on his powers to Crown Prince Abdullah. Though, on recovery, Faisal nominally retrieved these powers three months later, there was less of his imprint on the administration during the subsequent years as Abdullah became the de facto ruler.
Abdullah continued the policy of aiding the Taliban (Arabic: plural of talib-e–ilm, student of knowledge), a faction of hard–line Islamic fundamentalists [q.v.] in Afghanistan, created largely by Pakistan in late 1994, which would later give refuge to Osama bin Laden [q.v.], a Saudi renegade. Saudi Arabia's financial and other assistance to the Taliban helped it to capture Kabul in September 1996. With this, the kingdom became part of the Islamabad-Kabul–Riyadh triumvirate, which solidified when Saudi Arabia became the second country after Pakistan to recognize the Taliban regime in May 1997.
Relations with the U.S. began to fray in mid–1996. A huge explosion in June outside the Khobar Towers, a multistory residential block for American military personnel near the Dhahran air base, left 19 U.S. servicemen dead and another 400 injured, including 107 Americans. Despite Washington's request to let its Federal Bureau of Investigation agents interrogate the suspects, the Saudi authorities refused to compromise their monopoly over investigations.
In 1998, unemployment among Saudi citizens soared to 27 percent, twice the rate of five years earlier. But the House of Saud showed little sign of sharing its power with its subjects.
As the custodian of Islam's two holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina [q.v. ], the Saudi government advised Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat [q.v.] not to compromise on the sovereignty of the Noble Sanctuary [q.v.] in Jerusalem in his talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak [q.v.] in July 2000. After the outbreak of the Al Aqsa Intifada [q.v.] in September, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah backed the plan at the Arab League summit [q.v. ] to set up two funds to aid the Palestinians.
In September 2001, following the attacks on three American targets by hijacked aircraft, Saudi–American relations soured further when 15 of the 19 hijackers turned out to be Saudi nationals. During the succeeding years, the Saudi regime itself became the target of Al Qaida in Arabia. To overcome the challenge, the government of King Abdullah carried out a series of crackdowns, involving simultaneous raids by security forces, wide scale detentions, torture, and public beheadings.
To ease the pressure by the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush for its democracy crusade, the government held municipal elections on a franchise, which excluded women, for the first time in 2005. Another first was to receive Russian President Vladimir Putin in Riyadh in 2007. The kingdom strengthened economic ties with China, which became an important buyer of its petroleum.
The renewed backing of the 1982 Middle East peace plan in the form of King Abdullah's plan, adopted by the Arab League summit in 2002, failed to thaw the impasse between Israelis and Palestinians. But Saudi Arabia's proposal to have Islamic scholars hold interfaith dialogue with their Christian [q.v.] and Jewish [q.v.] counterparts in Madrid, Spain, in 2008 was implemented.
In 2009 Abdullah reconstituted the 21-member Council of Senior Ulema (CSU) while retaining as its chairman Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Aal Shaikh who had succeeded Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al–Baz in 1999 after the latter's death. In April 2010 the CSU issued a fatwa against terrorism, which stated that any Muslim committing it was acting "criminally" and so too was any Muslim who provided financial or moral support to terrorist groups.
During the early days of the Arab Spring in 2011, Abdullah urged U.S. President Barack Obama not to withdraw support for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.]. When this failed, he offered refuge to Mubarak who rejected it. In March his government dispatched tanks and 1,000 troops to Bahrain to help quell prodemocracy demonstrations. In August, it reversed its policy of backing Syrian President Bashar Assad [q.v.] and became an active supporter of the opposition, providing it with money and weapons. At the first sight of an incipient protest in the kingdom, the government committed $130 billion to raise social benefits to citizens, reduce unemployment, and provide housing for its subjects, whose numbers were rapidly growing.
RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION: (2011 est.): Muslim, 92 percent, of which Sunni [q.v.] 85 percent, mostly Shafii [q.v.] and Wahhabi; Shia 10–12 percent; Ismailis [q.v.] 2–3 percent; Christian, 4 percent; others, 4 percent.
Saudi Arabia–Iraq Neutral Zone: Area 2,720 sq. mi./7,044 sq. km. Among other things, the Protocol of Uqair [q.v.] in December 1922 demarcated a neutral zone between Najd [q.v.] (later Saudi Arabia) and Iraq, adjacent to the western tip of the Saudi–Kuwaiti frontier. While open to the nomad tribes of both countries for water and cattle grazing, it was a prohibited area for the construction of permanent (civilian or military) buildings. In 1938 Saudi Arabia and Iraq signed an agreement on administering the zone. In July 1975 the two neighbors divided the zone equally, with the new frontier running straight through it, and each side assuming sovereignty over its part.
Saudi Arabia–Kuwait Neutral Zone: Area: 2,230 sq. mi./5,770 sq. km. Among other things, the Protocol of Uqair [q.v.] in December 1922 demarcated, to the south of Kuwait, a neutral zone between Najd [q.v.] (later Saudi Arabia) and Kuwait. While remaining open to the nomad tribes of both countries for water and cattle grazing, it was a prohibited area for the construction of permanent (civilian or military) buildings. Two years after its independence in 1961, Kuwait concluded a further agreement with Saudi Arabia on the zone. In 1966 the two neighbors divided the area equally, each country integrating its respective territory into its central administration—except for natural resources, such as petroleum, which remain undivided, the offshore oil concessions being shared equally by the concessionaires of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Sazman-e Cherikha-ye Fedai Khalq–e Iran (Persian: Organization of People's Self–sacrificing Guerrillas): See Fedai Khalq.
Sazman-e Mujahedin–e Khalq (Persian: Organization of People's Holy Warriors): See Mujahedin–e Khalq.
Sayyab, Badr Shakir (1926–64): Iraqi poet Born into a Shia [q.v.] family near Basra [q.v.], Sayyab secured a diploma from the Teachers' College, Baghdad [q.v.], where he specialized in Arabic and English literature. As a poet he came under the influence of T.S. Eliot (1888–1965), especially his poem The Wasteland (1922). Sayyab made his debut with a collection of poems, The Wilted Flowers (1947). Like Eliot, he discarded the idea of time as a linear progression, and employed it flexibly as a permutation of the past, present, and future, merging and interlocking different eras and experiences. He made use of eternal images, historical archetypes, myths, proverbs, and folklore. Endowed with impressive linguistic power, he was outstandingly original in his imagery and exact in the choice of his words.
Overall, in the Arab world the impetus to discard the old and experiment with the new grew in the wake of the Arab defeat in the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.]. He and his fellow Iraqi, Nazik al–Malika [q.v.], a highly talented poet—known later as part of "the generation of the catastrophe [of the Palestine War]"—became pioneers of the modernist movement in Arabic poetry. Their concepts dominated the poetry of the 1950s and most of the 1960s.
The volumes published by Sayyab in the mid–1950s (In the Arab Maghreb, Song in the Month of August, Jaykur and the City) were especially notable for the elevating rhythmical construction of the poems. Yet each collection had a different aura: In the Arab Maghreb had an enthusiastically heroic tone; Song in the Month of August was remarkable for its irony, a rare quality in Arabic literature; and Jaykur and the City made a tragic plea.
As a member of the underground Iraqi Communist Party [q.v.]—an act that cost him his teaching job in Baghdad—Sayyab's view was that society needed a redeemer, but redemption lay not with a heroic figure but with the masses who, taking their destiny in their hands, would struggle and triumph. Since the defeat in Palestine [q.v.] was fresh and the feeling of redemption strong, and there was a popular yearning for Arab unity, his perspectives were attractive. He aptly captured this perspective in the poem The Song of Rain (1954). In it he subtly incorporated the myth of Tammuz, the fertility god of Babylonia, to redeem life through rain and the arrival of spring.
He applauded the revolution of July 1958 in Iraq, which saw the end of the pro–British monarchy. He celebrated the victory of the Algerian Front for National Liberation against French imperialism in 1962 by using the symbol of Sisyphus discarding his rock. During the regime of Abdul Karim Qasim [q.v.], he left the Communist Party.
After being fired again from his job, he left for Beirut, where he worked for Shiar (Arabic: Poetry) magazine, coedited by Ali Ahmad Said Asbar [q.v.]. During his terminal illness he produced poetry of despair, often portraying himself as Job, an Old Testament [q.v.] prophet who suffered afflictions with fortitude and faith.
Second Gulf War: See Gulf War II (1991).
Second Intifada (2000–2005): Despite the failure of their talks in July 2000 at Camp David to reach a final settlement between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak [q.v.] and Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] Chairman Yasser Arafat [q.v.] had a cordial meeting at the former's home near Tel Aviv [q.v.] on 25 September, when they agreed to meet again four days later. But on 28 September, Likud leader Ariel Sharon [q.v.], surrounded by 1,000 armed police, toured the Noble Sanctuary/ Temple Mount [q.v.] in Jerusalem's Old City, normally out of bounds to the Jews [q.v.]—a move designed to underscore Israeli sovereignty over Islam's third–holiest site. Viewing this as a provocative move by Sharon, the Palestinians protested by throwing stones.
Their demonstration after the Friday midday prayers at the al–Aqsa Mosque on 29 September was dispersed by the Israeli security forces with live ammunition, which left seven protestors dead. This marked the start of the Al Aqsa Intifada [q.v.], also known as the Second Intifada.
Barak sealed off the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza Strip [q.v.] in October, as a result of which the Palestinian economy would lose $2.9 billion in the next six months, while Israel held back $430 million in tax revenue collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority [q.v.].
Against the background of rising violence and weakening coalition government, Barak called for the prime ministerial election in February 2001. He lost to Sharon, who ran on a platform of continued expansion of Jewish settlements, Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem [q.v.], and no talks with the Palestinians until there was complete cessation of terrorism.
Consequently, the intifada became more violent, with the Palestinians resorting to using small arms, and Islamist Palestinians groups like Hamas [q.v.] and the Islamic Jihad [q.v.] increasingly resorting to suicide bombings [q.v.] in the Occupied Territories [q.v.] and Israel. It also led to the emergence of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), made up of all factions, including the secular Fatah [q.v.], which would go on to form its military wing, Tanzim (Arabic: Organization), to specialize in suicide bombings.
Following the terrorist attacks on the American targets in September 2001, Sharon made an unsuccessful attempt to get the U.S. administration of George W. Bush to equate the Palestinian resistance to the Israeli military occupation with terrorism. He responded to periodic suicide bombings by the Palestinians with escalating force, pursuing his strategic aim of destroying the security and administrative infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority (PA) [q.v.] by deploying armed helicopters, fighter aircraft, and gunboats, and ordering assassinations of suspected terrorists.
Retaliating for a particularly lethal Palestinian suicide bombing in Israel on 27 March 2002, Sharon ordered the reoccupation of all the towns administered by the PA (except Hebron [q.v.] and Jericho [q.v.]), thus effectively abrogating the Oslo Accords [q.v.], and placing Arafat under house arrest in Ramallah [q.v.].
The first two years of the Second Intifada left 1,800 Palestinians dead and another 40,000 injured—directly affecting the life or limb of more than one out of a hundred Palestinians—as well as 570 Israelis dead and another 3,000 wounded.
After the death of Arafat in November 2004, the intifada lost its momentum. His successor, Mahmoud Abbas [q.v.], publicly disapproved of it. He participated in the summit meeting with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak [q.v.], Jordanian monarch Abdullah II [q.v.], and Sharon in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el Shaikh on 8 February 2005 which decided to bring about an end to the intifada. He soon succeeded in persuading Hamas leaders to call off the intifada. Its lingering elements disappeared after the electoral victory of Hamas in the January 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections.
According to B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, between 29 September 2000 and 15 January 2005, 3,223 Palestinians and 945 Israelis lost their lives during the intifada. Overall, the Al Aqsa Intifada led to the hardening of popular opinion against the Palestinians among Jewish Israelis.
Semitic languages: A member of the Hamito–Semitic language family, the Semitic languages are divided into northern peripheral, consisting of Akkadian (extinct); northern central, including Canaanite, Amorite, Ugaritic, Phoenician and Punic, Aramaic, and ancient and modern Syriac and Hebrew [q.v.] (all extinct except modern Hebrew); southern central, including Arabic [q.v.] and Maltese; and southern peripheral, including southern Arabic and the languages of northern Ethiopia, such as Amharic and Tigre.
In the 10th century A.D., Judah ibn Quraish, a Hebrew grammarian and lexicographer, showed connections between Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew. But it was not until 1890 that W. Wright, the author of Arabic Grammar, came up with a systematic demonstration of this link. In between—referring to Genesis (10:1): "These are the descendants of Noah's sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth"—A. L. Schlozer coined the title Shemitic/Semitic for these languages, which has since then stuck. Words in these languages are founded on a root made up of consonants that provides the basic meaning of the word, and a vowel pattern that defines various shades of this meaning.
Semite: The term Semite/Shemite is based on Genesis (10:1): "These are the descendants of Noah's sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth." Initially, those believed to be the descendants of Shem were called Semite. Nowadays the term applies to Arabs [q.v.], Akkadians of ancient Babylon, Assyrians, Canaanites (including Phoenicians), Aramaean tribes (including Hebrews [q.v.]), and a large segment of northern Ethiopians, because their languages are derived from the common Semitic root.
Sephardim (Hebrew: plural of Sephardi, derivative of Sepharad/Spain): In the Middle Ages (476 A.D.–1492), Sepharad meant Spain, and the term Sephardi was applied to the Jews [q.v.] of Spain. When expelled from Spain in 1492, and later from Portugal, most Sephardi Jews settled along the shores of the Mediterranean, establishing large, influential, and flourishing communities in Morocco, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and the Levant [q.v.]. From the 16th century onward, differences between Sephardim and Ashkenazim [q.v.] became sharper. These pertained to synagogue [q.v.] architecture and rites (of Babylonian origin for Sephardim, Palestinian origin for Ashkenazim); their pronunciation of Hebrew [q.v.]; and their social customs. The mother tongue of Sephardim was Judeo–Spanish or Ladino [q.v.].
As inhabitants of Palestine [q.v.] since the late 15th century under the Ottomans, Sephardim claim the longest residency in Israel [q.v.], where they have had their own chief rabbi. After the founding of Israel in 1948, the immigrating Oriental Jews [q.v. ]—originating in the Arab countries away from the Mediterranean and in Iran and India, where their rites were neither Sephardic nor Ashkenazi—were classified Sephardic. With a large influx of Jewish immigrants from the Arab states, the percentage of Sephardim rose sharply. Due to this, and a higher birth rate among them, they became a majority in the mid-1960s. Three decades later they lost that position due to a large influx of Ashkenazim from former Soviet Union. Sephardim are about one–fifth of the world Jewry.
Seveners: see Ismailis.
al–Shaabi, Qahtan Muhammad (1920–81): South Yemeni politician; president, 1967–69 Born into a notable family in the Lahej principality of the Aden Protectorate, Shaabi received secular education before joining the Lahej land department. He became its director in 1955. Three years later he joined the nationalist South Arabian League. He escaped to North Yemen in 1960 and, after the republican coup of September 1962, cofounded South Yemen's National Liberation Front (NLF) [q.v.] there. Following the NLF's declaration of an armed struggle against the British in October 1963, he became its leader. He also directed its fight against the moderate Front for the Liberation of South Yemen (FLOSY). Within three years the NLF had occupied the Aden Protectorate and decimated FLOSY in the Aden Colony.
He negotiated South Yemen's independence with the British in Geneva in November 1967. Later that month he became president, prime minister, and chief of military staff of the People's Republic of South Yemen. When differences arose between NLF moderates favoring Nasserite [q.v.] socialism, and NLF radicals advocating Marxist–Leninist socialism, Shaabi sided with the former. Unwilling to split the ruling party then facing from its conservative neighbors, he sought accommodation with the rival camp. But, having tightened their control of the party machine and militia, the radical faction deposed Shaabi in June 1969. He was jailed in April 1970, and after his release he stayed away from public life.
Shabak (Hebrew: acronym of Sherut Betakhon Klali, General Security Service): See Shin Beth.
Shabuot (Hebrew: Weeks): See Pentecost. (Also spelled Shavuot)
Shafii Code: Sunni Islamic school This Sunni [q.v.] Islamic school was named after Muhammad bin Idris al–Shafii (767–820 A.D.). As a student of the Islamic law in Medina [q.v.] he was a contemporary of Malik bin Anas, the founder of the Maliki Code [q.v.]. He familiarized himself with the Hanafi Code [q.v.] by visiting Baghdad [q.v.]. Later, settling in Cairo [q.v.], he greatly influenced the legal–administrative apparatus of the Abbasid Empire (751–1258 A.D.). He founded thefigh [q.v.]), religious jurisprudence, on four pillars: the Quran [q.v.], the Prophet Muhamad's sunna [q.v.] (later to be recorded in the Hadith [q.v.]), analogical reasoning (qiyas [q.v.]), and the consensus (ijma [q.v.]) of the community. So far, ijma had been construed as consensus of "ahl al–hall wal aqd" (Arabic: those who loose and bind), a term embracing various types of representatives of the community, including religious intellectuals, but Shafii enlarged it to include the whole community.
Analogical reasoning allowed the community to incorporate new situations into the Sharia [q.v.] (Islamic Law) without disturbing the primacy of the Quran and the sunna. It also permitted individual opinions and differences, as sanctioned by the Prophet Muhammad's statement in the Hadith: "The differences of opinion among the learned within my community are [signs of] God's grace." By pursuing this method the clergy could merge the Prophet Muhammad's teachings, Arab traditions, and non-Arab traditions into a single canonical system applicable to the life of all Muslims, Arab and non–Arab. Thus Shafii's systemization of the Sharia provided the foundation upon which a common identity of Muslims scattered around the world could be built.
The Shafii school, founded by his disciples and originating in Egypt, reached southern Arabia, and from there spread along the monsoon route to East Africa and Southeast Asia through Arab traders. Today it is particularly strong in Yemen.
Shafiq, Ahmed (1941–): Egyptian military and political leader Born to Muhammad Shafiq, a senior civil servant, and Naja Alwi, in Cairo [q.v.], Shafiq graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1961. He joined the air force and as a fighter pilot rose through the ranks to become an air force base commander. He served as a military attache in the Egyptian Embassy in Rome (1984–86) before returning to active air force duties. In 1991 he was promoted to commander of the Air Operations Department. Five years later he became Commander of the Egyptian Air Force.
After his retirement from the military in 2002, he was named minister of civil aviation. He implemented a successful program of restructuring the state–owned EgyptAir, and improving the operation of airports. A fulsome admirer of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.], a former air force fighter pilot, he described Mubarak as a "father figure" and a "role model" in 2010.
When the pro–democracy demonstrations swelled in Cairo in January 2011, Mubarak appointed him prime minister on 31 January to placate the protestors. He survived Mubarak's ouster on 11 February but resigned on 3 March when he was accused of being a remnant of the Mubarak era. He ran in the residential poll in May 2012, and surprisingly came in second, with 23.3 percent of the vote.
After the second round on 16–17 June, the High Presidential Electoral Commission announced on 24 June that he had secured 48.3 percent of the vote. The next day prosecutors referred corruption charges against him to an investigative judge. Early on 26 June he fled to Abu Dhabi [q.v.] along with his family. In September the investigative judge charged him, along the two sons of Hosni Mubarak [q.v.]—Alaa and Gamal—with profiteering and facilitating the seizure of public funds to expedite the sale of land in Ismailia province. The General Prosecutor asked Interpol to arrest him.
Shah, Muhammad Reza: See Pahlavi, Muhammad Reza Shah.
Shah, Reza: See Pahlavi, Reza Shah.
Shamir, Yitzhak (1915–2011): Israeli politician; prime minister, 1983–84, 1986–92 Born Yitzhak Yazernitsky into a religious family in Rozana, Belarus, he attended a Hebrew [q.v.] high school in the Polish town of Bialystok where he joined the Revisionist Zionist [q.v.] youth movement, Betar. He cut short his studies at Warsaw University to migrate to Palestine [q.v.] in 1935. Two years later he joined Irgun Zvai Leumi [q.v.]. When Irgun split in 1940, with Avraham Stern [q.v.] forming Lehi [q.v.], Shamir followed Stern.
He was jailed by the British authorities in 1941, but escaped. Following Stern's assassination in 1942, he became one of the three commanders of Lehi, in charge of operations. In 1944 two Lehi operators, Eliahou Bet Zouri and Eliahou al-Hakim, assassinated Britain's resident–minister in the Middle East [q.v.] in Cairo [q.v.]. Arrested by the British in 1946, Shamir was dispatched to a detention camp in Eritrea. Four months later he escaped and found his way to Paris via the French colony of Djibouti.
Soon after the founding of Israel in May 1948, Shamir arrived in Jerusalem [q.v.] and took charge of Lehi. In September the assassination in Jerusalem of Count Folke Bernadotte, a Swedish diplomat acting as the UN mediator between Arabs [q.v.] and Jews [q.v.], was claimed by Hazit HaMoledet (Hebrew: The Homeland Front), a sub-group of Lehi. Two Lehi leaders, Nathan Yellin–Mor and Matitiahu Schmulevitz were found guilty and given eight and five years' imprisonment, respectively.
After the disbanding of Lehi in 1949, Shamir turned to business. In 1955 he joined Mossad [q.v.] and served in various senior positions until 1965. After running a mattress factory for five years he reentered politics by joining the Herut Party [q.v.]. Three years later he became chairman of the Herut Executive Committee, and in the December 1973 election he won a seat in the Knesset [q.v.]. Reelected in 1977 as a member of Likud [q.v.], he served as speaker for the next three years. He opposed the Camp David Accords [q.v.] negotiated by Likud leader Menachem Begin [q.v.]. In the Knesset vote on the accords, he abstained. He was named foreign minister in 1980.
Following Begin's retirement in 1983, he won the contest for party leadership and became prime minister while retaining the foreign affairs portfolio. He inherited a military imbroglio in Lebanon, along with hyperinflation and the collapse of several banks. After the inconclusive result of the 1984 election, he reached a rotation accord with Labor [q.v.] leader Shimon Peres [q.v.] to form a national unity government. He served as deputy premier and foreign minister until 1986 and then became prime minister. After the 1988 election he managed to retain his leadership of a coalition government which, until March 1990, included Labor and then survived without Labor's support for the next two years.
In October 1991 he participated in the Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid [q.v.] while insisting on expanding Jewish settlements in the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.]. The bilateral negotiations between Israel and its Arab neighbors made no progress because, as he would reveal after losing the June 1992 election, he had planned to drag out the talks for 10 years. In 1993 he stepped down as Likud leader. He was reelected to the Knesset in 1996 and 1999.
He spent the last eight years of his life in a nursing home.
Sharett, Moshe (1894–1965): Israeli politician; prime minister, 1953—55 Born Moshe Shertok in Kherson, Ukraine, into a religious Zionist [q.v.] family that migrated to Palestine [q.v.] in 1906, he graduated from a Jewish school in Tel Aviv [q.v.]. During World War I he joined the Ottoman Turkish military and rose to become an officer. In 1922 he enrolled at the London School of Economics and Political Science and graduated three years later.
On his return to Palestine [q.v.] in 1925, he became a member of the editorial board of Davar (Hebrew: Word), the Histadrut [q.v.] newspaper. An activist of the Ahdut HaAvodah [q.v.], he joined Mapai [q.v.] on its formation in 1930. Three years later he succeeded Chaim Arlosoroff [q.v.] as chief of the Jewish Agency's [q.v.] political department. In that role, he campaigned against the 1939 British White paper, which restricted Jewish immigration into Palestine. During World War II he encouraged the Palestinian Jews [q.v.] to join the British army and helped to establish a Jewish brigade. After the war he led a Zionist political campaign that culminated in the United Nations resolving to partition Palestine in November 1947.
Following the founding of Israel six months later, Sharett was named foreign minister. He was elected to the Knesset [q.v.] in 1949 and retained a seat until his death. His pressure on Washington to sell arms to Israel led to the issuing of the Tripartite Declaration by the United States, Britain, and France [q.v.] in May 1950, which declared its opposition to any attempt to alter the truce boundaries fixed at the end of the 1948–49 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] by force. He backed the U.S. when the Korean War started in June 1950. While Sharett and Prime Minister David Ben–Gurion [q.v.] agreed on the substance of foreign policy, his moderate, diplomatic style clashed with Ben–Gurion's hard, militarist style.
Sharett succeeded Ben–Gurion when he resigned his office in 1953. From January 1954 Sharett was also foreign minister. His attempts to seek a peaceful settlement with Egypt were fatally undermined by the sabotage carried out by the Egyptian Jews acting as Israeli agents, as planned by the defense ministry under Pinchas Lavon [q.v.], and Israel's reprisals against Egyptian–administered Gaza [q.v.] after the execution of the Israeli agents' leaders.
When the July 1955 election resulted in Ben-Gurion's leading the government, he put Sharret in charge of the foreign ministry. A year later, the differences between him and Ben–Gurion, as the prime minister planned an attack on Egypt, became so sharp that he resigned from the cabinet. He became the chief of Histadrut's publishing company. In 1960 he was elected chairman of the Jewish Agency's executive committee.
Sharia (Arabic: way or road): Islamic law Consisting of divine revelation in the form of the Quran [q.v.], and the Prophetic Muhammad's practice, sunna [q.v.] (as recorded in the Hadith [q.v.]), the Sharia completely governs the individual and social life of the believer. The Quran provides the principles and the Hadith the details of their application. The Sharia is the basis for judging actions as good or evil.
By the time the Hadith had been compiled into six canonical collections in the mid–10th century A.D., the religious jurisprudents had studied all human actions and categorized them as obligatory (performance is rewarded, omission punished), recommended (performance is rewarded, omission is not punished), indifferent (neither punished nor rewarded), undesirable (disapproved but not punished), and prohibited (punished, with the degree of punishment depending on the severity of the sin—grave, venial, or trespass). There were differences between Sunnis [q.v.] and Shias [q.v.] with regard to obligatory actions, the former prescribing five obligations and Shias enjoining more.
After categorizing human actions, jurisprudents graduated to prescribing exactly how the obligatory and recommended acts were to be performed. They also minutely pondered all bodily functions—eating, drinking, breathing, washing, urinating, defecating, farting, copulating, vomiting, bleeding, shaving—and prescribed how these were to be performed or dealt with, stressing the need to keep the body pure. Along with this went a code of social behavior which too was all–encompassing. The twin codes were so demanding that, even with the best will in the world, a believer was unable to abide by them all the time. On the other hand, it was the introduction of these codes into the lives of those who embraced Islam that has led to common behavioral patterns among all Muslims, whether they lived in the Mauritanian desert or the Indonesian archipelago.
Shariati, Ali (1933–77): Iranian Islamic thinker Born into the family of an Islamic intellectual in Mazinan village near Mashhad [q.v.], Shariati grew up partly in Mazinan and partly in Mashhad. During the oil nationalization crisis of 1951–53 he backed Muhammad Mussadiq [q.v.] and was detained briefly. Trained as a teacher, he taught in elementary schools in rural areas. In 1956, after Mashhad University had set up a faculty of letters, he was able to pursue further studies in Arabic [q.v.] and French while working as a teacher.
Three years later he won a government scholarship to study sociology and Islamic studies at Paris University. He strove for a sociology that would interpret and analyze the realities of life in the Third World. In Paris he met many intellectuals, philosophers, and scholars on Islam [q.v.]. He was influenced by the Algerian anti–imperialist struggle, which triumphed in 1962, and its ideologue, Franz Fanon. However, while translating Fanon's Wretched of the Earth into Persian, he challenged his views on religion and revolution.
After receiving his doctorate in sociology and theology in 1964, he traveled home overland with his family and was arrested at the Turkish–Iranian frontier as a suspected subversive. Released six months later, he returned to his job as a teacher at a village school, then graduated to teaching at Mashhad University. After being dismissed from his post, he moved to Tehran [q.v.] in 1967, where he lectured at the Husseinyeh Ershad, a socio–religious institution run by the Liberation Movement of Iran [q.v.]. His lectures, later published in 50 volumes, proved popular with college and senior high school students. In 1972 the government closed down the Husseinyeh Ershad, arrested Shariati, and banned most of his works. Three years later it placed him under house arrest. In May 1977 he was allowed to travel abroad. He went to Britain and died in Southampton in June—of a heart attack, according to the coroner's report.
Bitterly opposed to the regime of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.], Shariati advocated participation in politics by the masses. He argued that Islam was not a conservative, fatalistic creed, but a revolutionary one, encompassing all aspects of life, particularly politics, that inspired the true believer to struggle against all forms of oppression, exploitation, and social injustice. Shariati found his inspiration in Shia Islam [q.v.] and his tools of analysis in Western social sciences. He did not want Twelver Shias [q.v.] to wait for the reappearance of the Hidden Iman, but to act forthwith to create a society based on equality. He was opposed to imperialism—political, economic, and cultural. In his Intermediate School of Thought (1973) he argued that Islam could be seen as an intermediate between socialism and capitalism, which adopted the advantages and positive aspects of other schools of thought while avoiding their negative aspects.
Shariatmadari, Muhammad Kazem (1903–86): Iranian Islamic leader Born into a religious, Azeri–speaking [q.v.] family in Tabriz [q.v.], Shariatmadari went to Qom [q.v.] to undertake Islamic studies. After a decade in that city, he traveled to Najaf [q.v.] for further theological education. Returning to Tabriz in the late 1930s, he became a religious teacher. In 1950 he again moved to Qom, where he found himself in tune with the conservative Shia [q.v.] leader, Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Borujerdi, and rose steadily in the clerical ranks. After Borujerdi's death in 1961, he was elevated to the rank of grand ayatollah, sharing this rare honor with two other clerics, Muhammad Reza Golpaygani [q.v.] and Shehab al–Din Marashi Najafi.
During the June 1963 protest against the government–sponsored White Revolution [q.v.], he was arrested, but the experience did not radicalize him. In June 1970, when Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] sent his condolences on the death of Ayatollah Muhsin Hakim, the senior–most Shia cleric based in Najaf, Shariatmadari reaffirmed his loyalty to the monarch, thus widening the gap between himself and radical Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], who had been expelled from Iran five years earlier.
In January 1978, after the security forces had broken into his theological college in Qom and killed two of his students, he voiced opposition and demanded the return to the 1906–07 constitution. But it was not until the massacre of unarmed civilians by the security forces on 8 September 1978 in Tehran [q.v.], that he hardened his stance. After the shah had installed a military government in November 1978, Shariatmadari joined his two fellow grand ayatollahs in Qom in their call for the dismantling of the political system. Nonetheless, when Shahpur Bakhtiar [q.v.] was appointed prime minister by the shah in early January 1979, Shariatmadari backed him.
After the revolution in February, Khomeini's leadership was balanced by Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleqani [q.v.] on the left, and Shariatmadari on the right. With Taleqani's death in September, the Islamic establishment became bipolar, with Shariatmadari leading the clerics, who advocated nonintervention by the clergy in the day-to–day running of the government, and Khomeini heading the interventionist camp. He lost. He abstained in the referendum on the Islamic constitution in December 1979, objecting to the excessive powers given to the Supreme Leader, Khomeini, and condemned the seizure of the American diplomats as hostages [q.v.]. Differences between him and Khomeini became irreconcilable, resulting in their respective followers clashing in the streets of Tabriz and Qom in January 1980. He emerged as the loser, and found himself placed under house arrest.
Secret documents retrieved from the United Embassy showed that he had accepted funds for promoting non-alcoholic American drinks in Iran, and that he had contacts in the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). After the arrest of his son-in–law, Ahmad Abbasi, in April 1982 for coplotting a coup—to be led by Sadiq Qutbzadeh, foreign minister from 1979 to 1980—the police raided his house and seminary and publicized his clandestine links with the CIA. Four years later he died of natural causes.
Sharjah Emirate: a constituent of the United Arab Emirates Area 1,000 sq. mi./2,600 sq. km; population 946,000 (2010 est.). Sharjah, ruled by Shaikh Sultan bin Muhammad al-Qasimi (r. 1972–), is a founder member of the United Arab Emirates. Before the start of commercial extraction of oil in 1974, which reached 60,000 barrels a day two decades later, a large part of its income came from commemorative stamps, printed almost solely for philatelic purposes. Its gas reserves amount to 321.5 billion cu m, and the annual output is 4.1 billion a year.
Sharon, Ariel (1928–) : Israeli military officer and politician; prime minister, 2001—2006 Born Ariel Shinerman into a Zionist [q.v.] family in Kafr Malal, Palestine [q.v.], Sharon joined Haganah [q.v.] as a youth. He fought in the Arab–Israeli War (1948–49) [q.v.] and continued his military career, working as an intelligence officer. He established Unit 101, composed exclusively of volunteers, to carry out swift cross–border reprisal attacks— with one such operation against an Egyptian military camp in Gaza in February 1955 resulting in 38 Egyptian deaths. When Unit 101 was incorporated into the paratroopers later in the year, he became a paratroop commander.
During the Suez War in 1956 [q.v. ], Sharon, leading a brigade, exceeded his orders and engaged in a battle that ended in many casualties. This slowed down his promotion. Only when Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.] became chief of staff in 1965 was Sharon promoted to head the training department of the general staff. Two years later he became a brigadier–general.
In the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] he commanded a division on the southern front, capturing the Umm Katif range in the Sinai [q.v.]. In 1969 he was put in charge of the southern command. His iron–fist policy toward the Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza [q.v.] proved controversial.
In mid–1973 he quit the army and entered politics by joining Gahal [q.v.]. He was instrumental in the creation of Likud [q.v.] out of the merger of Gahal, the Free Center, the State Party (a remnant of Rafi, a breakaway faction of Mapai [q.v.]), and the Eretz Yisrael [q.v.] movement. During the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], his conduct as the commander of a division proved controversial. Disregarding the strategy of his superiors to keep his division as a reserve force, he deployed it to establish a bridgehead over the Suez Canal [q.v.].
After being elected to the Knesset [q.v.] in December 1973, he resigned after some months to serve Labor Prime Minister Rabin as an adviser. In 1976 he formed his own group— Shlomzion (Hebrew: Peaceful Zion)— which won two seats in the 1977 election. He merged his group with the Herut [q.v.] faction of Likud, and became minister of agriculture in the Likud–dominated government. He was also appointed chairman of the cabinet's ( Jewish) settlement committee. Following the 1981 elections, he was named defense minister.
Once Israel had withdrawn its troops from the Sinai in April 1982, Sharon finalized his plans to attack Lebanon. Having launched the campaign with the ostensible aim of capturing a strip of Lebanese territory to rid it of Palestinian guerrillas, he expanded it into a fully fledged war, advancing to Beirut [q.v.], besieging it for 63 days and bombarding it mercilessly from land, air, and sea. After securing the departure of Syrian and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] troops from Beirut, he set out to become the kingmaker in the Lebanese politics by getting Bashir Gemayel [q.v.] elected president in September. He succeeded, only to see his protege assassinated before he could take office.
Sharon allowed his Maronite [q.v.] allies a free hand to murder some 2,000 Palestinians [q.v.] in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. A demonstration by 400,000 Israelis compelled the government to appoint a commission of inquiry, headed by the Supreme Court's chief judge, Yitzhak Kahan. Following a critical report by this commission, Sharon was forced to resign as defense minister in February 1983, although he retained his place in the cabinet as a minister without portfolio.
In the national unity government formed in September 1984, Prime Minister Shimon Peres [q.v.] appointed him minister of trade and industry, and a member of the inner political cabinet. He held these jobs until January 1990. In the reconstituted cabinet led by Yitzhak Shamir [q.v.] in May 1990, he served as minister of housing and accelerated the building of Jewish settlements on the West Bank. After the Likud's defeat in the June 1992 election, Sharon lost his preeminence in Israeli politics.
However, in 1996, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.] put him in charge of a newly created ministry of infrastructure, elevating him to minister of foreign affairs in October 1998. After Netanyahu's defeat in the prime ministerial contest in 1999, followed by his withdrawal from politics, Sharon was elected leader of the Likud.
Escorted by 1,000 armed police, Sharon toured the Noble Sanctuary/ Table Mount [q.v.] in Jerusalem [q.v.] on 28 September 2000— a move designed to underscore Israeli sovereignty over Islam's third-holiest site. The Palestinian demonstration that followed after the Friday midday prayers at the Al Aqsa Mosque the next day was dispersed by the Israeli security forces with live ammunition, leaving seven protestors dead. This marked the start of the al–Aqsa Intifada [q.v.].
Sharon entered the February 2001 prime ministerial contest on a platform of continued expansion of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian Territories [q.v.], Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, and no talks with the Palestinians until there was complete cessation of terrorism. He secured 62.4 percent of the vote versus 37.6 percent for the incumbent, Ehud Barak [q.v.]. His subsequent national unity government included Labor [q.v.], now led by Binyamin Ben-Elizier. Israeli-Palestinian violence escalated while the newly installed U. S. administration of President George W. Bush pursued a hands–off policy.
Following the terrorist attacks on the United States in September, Sharon attempted but failed to get the Palestinian resistance to Israeli military occupation equated to terrorism. He responded to periodic suicide bombings by the Palestinians with escalating force, pursuing his strategic aim of destroying the security and administrative infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority (PA) [q.v.] by deploying armed helicopters, fighter aircraft, and gunboats, and ordering assassinations of suspected terrorists. Retaliating for a particularly lethal Palestinian suicide bombing in Israel on 27 March 2002, Sharon ordered the reoccupation of all the towns under Palestinian Authority (except Hebron [q.v.] and Jericho [q.v.]), thus effectively abrogating the Oslo Accords [q.v.].
His defiance of President Bush's advice to vacate the occupied Palestinian towns was rewarded with an invitation to the White House and the sobriquet of "man of peace." He put PA President Yasser Arafat [q.v.] under house arrest in Ramallah.
In the Knesset election of January 2003, his Likud [q.v.] party improved its strength from 19 to 37. The next year, having realized that Israel's longterm survival rested on safeguarding its Jewish majority by preventing Palestinian Arabs [q.v.] from becoming the majority in the future if Israel incorporated the Occupied Territories [q.v.], he decided to vacate the Gaza Strip. In September 2005, he withdrew the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip, but maintained control of its air space and territorial waters.
In December, he went into a coma after a series of heart attacks and was hospitalized. In 2011 he was moved to his home in the Negev, which was equipped with adequate medical facilities.
Shas (Hebrew: abbreviation of Shomere Torah, Guardians of Torah): Israeli political party Shas was formed in 1984 by the breakaway members of Agudat Israel [q.v.]. Its major backing came from Sephardic Jews [q.v.], many of them of Moroccan origin, who were critical of the Ashkenazi [q.v.] leadership of the existing religious political parties. Led by Moroccan–born Rabbi Arye Deri, it won four seats in the 1984 general election and six in 1988 and 1992. It joined the national unity governments formed in 1984 and 1988.
After the 1992 election it participated in the Labor–led coalition government, and went along with the Oslo Accords [q.v.], its spiritual leader Rabbi Ovaida Yosef declaring that peace was more important than territory. Despite the arrest of Deri on charges of corruption, Shas improved its size in the 1996 Knesset [q.v.] to 10 seats. It coalesced with Likud [q.v.]. In the 1999 general election, its strength rose to 17, and it joined the government led by Labor's Ehud Barak [q.v.]. When Barak lost office two years later, Shas joined the national unity government headed by Ariel Sharon [q.v.].
In his Passover [q.v.] sermon in 2001, Rabbi Yosef remarked that "enemies" had tried to hurt the Jewish people from the time of the exodus from Egypt. "It is forbidden to be merciful to Arabs. You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable." This statement earned Yosef nothing more than mild criticism from the Israeli minister of justice.
In the 2003 Knesset election, the strength of Shas declined to 11. By attacking the neo–liberal economic policies of the government it gained one more seat in the subsequent general election in 2006. It joined the coalition government led by Ehud Olmert [q.v.]. After securing 11 seats in the 2009 general election it joined the coalition administration led by Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.], four of its members becoming ministers.
Along with the United Torah Judaism [q.v.], Shas continues to defend religious educational institutions and generous state benefits.
Shatt al–Arab (Arabic: The Arab Stream): (Called Arund Rud by Iranians) Beginning at Qurna, Iraq, with the confluence of the Euphrates [q.v.] and Tigris [q.v.] rivers, the Shatt al–Arab flows 120 mi./190 km southeast into the Gulf [q.v.], its width increasing from 150 ft./46 m at Basra [q.v.] to 2,000 ft./610 m at its mouth, and its discharge rising to 49,400 cu ft. per second or 1,400 cu m per second. For the last two–fifths of its length, it forms a fluvial border between Iran and Iraq. The demarcation of this frontier was a contentious issue between the two neighbors for a long time. The 1975 Algiers Accord [q.v.] settled the dispute for a while, but it was revived by Iraq five years later on the eve of its invasion of Iran, resulting in the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.]. In August 1990 Iraq stated its acceptance of the Algiers Accord, which divided the Shatt al–Arab between the two sides along the deepest channel.
Shazar, Shneor Zalman (1889–1974): Israeli politician; president 1963—73 Born Shneor Rubashov of a religious family in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Shazar joined the Poale Zion [q.v.] as a youth and assisted the group's leader, Don Ber Borochov [q.v.], in editing the party periodical. During World War I he was a research student in Berlin, where he cofounded a branch of the Poale Zion.
In 1924 he migrated to Palestine [q.v. ], where he participated actively in politics and journalism. He became a leader of Ahdut HaAvodah [q.v.] and from 1930 of Mapai [q.v.], as well as being a member of the Histadrut [q.v.] Executive Committee and one of the editors of the Histadrut daily, Davar (Hebrew: Word). In 1944 he was appointed editor-in–chief of the newspaper.
Elected to the First Knesset [q.v.] in 1949, he served as education minister from 1949 to 1950. After he had left the government he was elected to the Jewish Agency Executive Committee, becoming head of the department of education and culture in the diaspora [q.v.], and then acting chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive Committee from 1957 to 1961. Two years later he was elected president of Israel, and was reelected in 1968.
Shehab, Fouad: See Chehab, Fouad.
Shia (Arabic: Partisan): Islamic sect Shia or Shiat means Shia/Shiat Ali, Partisans of Ali, cousin and son-in–law of the Prophet Muhammad (570–632 A.D.). By advocating strict adherence to the Quran [q.v.] and the sunna [q.v.], Ali came to represent idealism in Islam [q.v.]. His camp drew most of its support from pious Muslims [q.v.] and non–Arab Muslim clients, who felt discriminated against by Arab [q.v.] Muslims. They were an important part of the coalition that engineered the Abbasid revolution in 751 A.D. against the Umayyad caliphs (661–750 A.D.) who, in their view, had deviated widely from the true Islamic path.
But it was not long before the Sunni [q.v.] Abbasid caliphs too began to slip away from the Quran and the sunna, thus allowing Shias to become the sole repositories of the vision of ideal Islam. The consequences were the subjugation of the Sunni caliph in Baghdad [q.v.] by a Shia king, Muizz al-Dawla al–Buyid, in 932 A.D., and the emergence of an Ismaili [q.v.] Shia caliphate, the Fatimids, in Cairo [q.v.] in 969 A.D. By then three branches of Shia Islam had crystallized: Zaidis [q.v.], Ismailis, and Imamis [q.v.].
During the Buyid hegemony in Baghdad (932–1055 A.D.), two collections of the Shia Hadith [q.v.] were codified. Shia domination lasted many generations, losing its grip first in Baghdad in 1055 and then in Cairo in 1171. Today Shias are a minority: 1215 percent of the total global Muslim population of 1.62 billion. Of the 57 members of the Islamic Conference Organization (ICO) [q.v.] in 2011, only Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, and Azerbaijan were Shia–majority countries.
Shias differ from Sunnis [q.v.] in doctrine, ritual, law, theology, and religious organization. The Shia credo consists of five basic principles and 10 duties. While sharing three principles with Sunnis—monotheism, i.e., there is only one God; prophet–hood, which is a means of communication between God and humankind; and resurrection, i.e., the souls of dead human beings will be raised by God on their Day of Judgment and their deeds on earth judged—Shias have two more: imamat [q.v.] and aadl (justice), the just nature of Allah. Their duties include daily prayers, fasting during Ramadan [q.v.], khums (an Islamic tithe) [q.v.], zakat (alms tax) [q.v.], hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca [q.v.]), encouraging virtue, discouraging evil, and loving Shia Imams [q.v.] and their followers.
Shias believe that only those in the lineage of the Prophet Muhammad— and thus of his daughter, Fatima, and her husband, Ali—can govern Muslims on behalf of Allah, and that the Imams, being divinely inspired, are infallible. Shias insist that the ruler must be just, and that the Quran bears a pledge of sovereignty of the earth to the oppressed. Rooted in this pledge are the concepts of the return of the Hidden Imam—the arrival of the Mahdi [q.v.]—and the rehabilitation of society: that is, history is moving toward a predetermined goal and the forces of injustice will ultimately be defeated. This acts as a spur toward radical activism. (In contrast, Sunnis view Islamic history essentially as a drift away from the ideal community that existed under the rule of the first four Rightly Guided caliphs: Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, and Ali.)
The Shia ethos is different from the Sunni. Shia emotionalism finds outlets in mourning Imams Ali (assassinated), Hassan (poisoned), and Hussein (killed in battle), and in the heart–rending entreaties offered at their shrines. Shias believe that through asceticism and suffering one can remove the ill effects of the humiliation and persecution inflicted on them. During the Ashura [q.v.], the annual enactment of passion plays about the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, along with self–flagellation by the faithful, provide outlets for expiating the guilt and pain originally felt by the inhabitants of Kufa [q.v.] for abandoning Imam Hussein after having invited him to their city to take charge. Sunni Islam offers no such outlets for its followers.
Finally, Shias and Sunnis organize religion and religious activities differently. Sunnis regard religious activities as the exclusive domain of the (Muslim) state. When the ulema [q.v.] act as judges or preachers or educators they do so under the aegis of the state. There is scant opportunity for the ulema to organize religion on their own. In contrast, in Shia Iran, free of the Sunni Ottoman or Christian European influence, the leading mujtahids [q.v.], being recipients of the khums from their followers, maintained theological colleges and social welfare activities independent of the state. Also, by adopting the custom of naming the most revered colleague as the marja–e taqlid (source of emulation) [q.v.], whose independent opinion on the compatibility of major state decisions with Islam had to be sought, the religious hierarchy underlined its independence. Unlike in the Sunni religious establishment, Shia clerics are ranked from thiqatalislam (trust of Islam) to hojatalislam (proof of Islam) to ayatollah (sign of Allah) to ayatol-lah–ozma (grand ayatollah).
Shiat Ali (Arabic: Partisan of Ali): See Shias.
Shiite: See Shia.
Shin Beth (Hebrew: acronym of Sherut Betakhon, Security Service): Israeli domestic security service When Israel was founded in 1948, Shin Beth, headed by Isser Harel (1948–52), was the only civilian intelligence agency and covered domestic and foreign fields.
After the formation of the foreign intelligence service, Mossad [q.v.], in 1951, Shin Beth's operations division was subdivided into three wings: Arab affairs department dealing with Palestinians [q.v.], Israeli Arabs [q.v.], and other Arabs, with an undercover detachment; non-Arab affairs department dealing with all non–Arab countries, including penetrating their foreign intelligence services and diplomatic missions in Israel, and surveillance of diplomats and foreign delegations, and counterintelligence; and protective security department, charged with safeguarding public buildings and embassies, high Israeli officials, defense industries, scientific installations, industrial plants, and the national airline.
In the early 1950s one of the Israeli groups that drew Shin Beth's attention was Mapam [q.v.], then a partner in the Mapai–led [q.v.] coalition, because of its warm relations with the Soviet Union.
After the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], Shin Beth started safeguarding Israel from its opponents within the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.]. To do this it set up a network of Palestinian informers, and made the local populace feel that they were everywhere. When, from later 1968, Palestinian groups started attacking Israeli aircraft on the ground or hijacking them, Shin Beth, then headed by Yosef Harmelin (1964–74), extended its operations abroad in pursuit of the terrorists. Following the assassination of Israeli athletes at the Olympics in Munich in September 1972 by the Black September Organization [q.v.], Shin Beth started running joint operations with Mossad in the hit-and–run campaign against the Palestinian terrorists.
During the directorship of Avraham Ahituv (1974–81) Shin Beth put under surveillance Kach [q.v.], founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane [q.v.]. It also found itself coping with terrorism by the Jewish extremists in the Occupied Territories [q.v.] and Jerusalem [q.v.], which led among other things to the maiming by car bomb of two West Bank [q.v.] mayors in June 1980. The problem continued under Ahituv's successor, Avraham Shalom (1981–86), with the Jewish terrorists killing four Arab students and injuring 33 in an attack on the Islamic College in Hebron [q.v.] in July 1983, and plotting to blow up the Dome of the Rock and al–Aqsa Mosque in the spring of 1984. The unearthing of a cell of 20 Jewish fanatics followed Shin Beth's discovery of 12 bombs attached to Arab buses in East Jerusalem [q.v.].
In order to weaken the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.], Shin Beth actively fostered Islamic groups among Palestinians in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a policy that culminated in the rise of Hamas [q.v.] in the wake of the intifada [q.v.]. The United National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU) [q.v.] resorted to targeting Israeli agents and informers, which numbered about 20,000 in a population of 1.6 million. This proved so effective that the Shin Beth chief, Yosef Harmelin (1986–88), privately conceded the virtual demise of the informer network built up over a generation.
Having failed to penetrate the UNLU, Shin Bet, then directed by Yaakov Peri (1988–94), cooperated with the Israeli military to train special units of Arabic–speaking Israeli soldiers in civilian dress and dispatch them to the Occupied Territories to mix with the local population. They were also used to carry out executions of suspected Palestinian terrorists.
With the signing of the Israeli–PLO Accord [q.v.] in September 1993, Shin Beth started protecting PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat [q.v.]. After the founding of the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] in July 1994, Shin Beth focused on penetrating its institutions. Its main area of recruitment shifted to those Palestinians who were allowed to work in Israel. The shrinking size of this pool against the background of a revival of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict after the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin [q.v.] in November 1995 proved no barrier to Shin Beth's success in recruiting Palestinian agents.
The launching of the Al Aqsa Intifada [q.v.] in September 2000 opened a new chapter in the history of Shin Beth, then led by Avi Ditcher (2000–2005). As the Israeli-Palestinian violence escalated, the number and frequency of Shin Beth's assassinations of suspected terrorists of all political hues, religious or secular, increased. Later it extended its policy of assassination to the leaders of Hamas [q.v.], claiming the lives of inter alia Ahmad Yasin [q.v.] and Abdul Aziz Rantisi in 2004. In its "targeted killings program," often involving the use of drones and helicopter gunships, it works closely with the air force.
In May 2011 Yoram Cohen succeeded Avi Dichter as director of Shin Beth. Five months later he was involved in the Egyptian–mediated deal for the freeing of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured by Hamas operatives inside Israel in June 2006, in exchange for the release of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.
Shinui (Hebrew: Change): Israeli political party (Official title: Shinui— Mifleget HaMerkaz [Change—Party of the Center]) Shinui was formed by Amnon Rubinstein in 1974 as a protest group in the aftermath of the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.]. It called for direct talks with Arab neighbors on the basis of territorial compromise and advocated liberalization of the Israeli economy. In 1978 it combined with the remnants of the Democratic Movement for Change. It won three Knesset [q.v.] seats in the 1984 election and joined the national unity government. In 1986 it absorbed the Center Liberal Party and the Independent Liberal Party, and quit the government in May 1987. It won two seats in the 1988 election.
Later it allied with Mapam [q.v.] and Ratz [q.v.] to form the Meretz [q.v.] alliance on a platform that included separation of religion and state. Of the 12 seats secured by Meretz in the 1992 election, two belonged to Shinui, which joined the Labor–led [q.v.] coalition. In the 1996 election it maintained its strength.
In the 1999 Knesset election, led by Yosef Lapid (aka, Tommy Lapid), Shinui entered the fray on its own on a strongly secular platform, strongly attacking the privileges enjoyed by the Orthodox [q.v.] and ultra–Orthodox Jews [q.v.]. It won six seats and refused to join a coalition that included any religious group. Its principled stand paid dividends in the 2003 election when, securing 15 seats, it emerged as the third–largest group in the Knesset, a position previously held by Shas [q.v.]. With the formation of Kadima [q.v.] in November 2005, it lost most if its constituency. It split into factions, none of which managed to pass the threshold of 2 percent of the ballots in the 2006 Knesset election.
Shiraz: Iranian city Population: 1.35 million (2011 est.). The recorded history of Shiraz dates back to the period of the conquests by Alexander of Macedonia (r. 336–323 B.C.). Part of the Fars region, it was a leading settlement during the reigns of the Seleu-cids (312–175 B.C.), Parthians (247 B.C.–226 A.D.), and Sassaniand (226–640 A.D.). After the defeat of the Sassanians by Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.], Shiraz entered the Islamic era. By the late 14th century, as the birthplace of Saadi (d. 1291) and Hafiz (d. 1389), outstanding Persian poets, and the site of the Congregational Mosque (894 A.D.), the New Mosque (1215), the Great Library (1218), and the Shah Chiragh Shirne (1349), it competed with Baghdad [q.v.] as a center of learning and piety.
Its fame attracted Tamerlane (1336–1405), the Mongol conqueror, who occupied it in 1387 and 1393. The city was sacked by Afghan invaders in 1724. It became the capital of the Zand dynasty (1750–94), whose founder, Karim Khan Zand, endowed it with outstanding buildings, including his mausoleum and the citadel. It was here that in 1844 Ali Muhammad Shirazi declared that he was the bab (Arabic: gate) to the Hidden Imam, thus establishing the Babi movement [q.v.].
Besides the Islamic monuments and the garden tombs of Saadi and Hafiz, the city also offers as a tourist attraction the Church of Saint Simon the Zealot.
Shishkali, Adib (1901–64): Syrian military leader and politician; president, 1953–54 Born into a middle–class Sunni [q.v.] family in Hama [q.v.], Shishkali pursued a military career by joining the Special Forces of the French Mandate. A nationalist officer, he backed Rashid Ali Gailani [q.v.] in his fight with the British in 1941. He participated in the May 1945 uprising against the French. After Syria's independence in 1946, he fought the Zionists [q.v.] in the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.]. He played an important role in the coup by Col. Hosni Zaim [q.v.] in March 1949, but lost his military post on suspicion of disloyalty. After Col. Sami Hinnawi had seized power from Zaim in mid–August, he reinstated Shishkali, only to see himself overthrown by Shishkali four months later.
Shishkali left intact the parliamentary regime established by Hinnawi, with Nur al–Din Attasi [q.v.] as president, and merely named himself deputy chief of staff. He was keen to reduce the influence of monarchical Iraq on Syrian politics. In late 1951 when Marouf Dwalibi, the pro–Iraqi leader of the People's Party, charged with forming the next government, refused to appoint his spokesman, General Fawzi Selu, as defense minister, he dissolved the parliament and dismissed President Attasi. He named Selu as president and prime minister.
After banning all political parties in 1952, he founded the Arab Liberation Movement. But it failed to strike roots, and the parliament dominated by it remained unrepresentative. In June 1953 he appointed himself prime minister, and then got elected president with wide powers in a referendum.
A soldier at heart, Shishkali lacked a socioeconomic ideology with which to shape his policies. His attempts at reform proved ill-conceived. His high–handedness toward the Alawi [q.v.] and Druze [q.v.] minorities created opposition to his rule in the Alawi and Druze regions. Hostile toward the Soviet Union but aware of the dangers of aligning with the United States or Britain, he sought the active cooperation of France.
A spate of strikes and demonstrations in Aleppo [q.v.] and elsewhere, caused by his mishandling of minor violence in the Druze Mountain, and the spreading of a mutiny by army officers in Aleppo in February 1954 to all garrisons except Damascus [q.v.], ended only after he had left the country.
Subsequently Shishkali lived in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and France. Charged with plotting a coup against the Syrian regime in 1957, he was tried in absentia and sentenced to death. In 1960 he migrated to Brazil. Four years later he was assassinated by Nawaf Ghazeleh, a Syrian Druze, whose parents were killed in the bombing of the Druze Mountain ordered by Shishkali.
Shuqairi, Ahmad (1908–80): Palestinian politician Born into an eminent religious–political family in Acre [q.v.], Shuqairi trained as a lawyer at the Jerusalem Law School and the American University in Beirut [q.v.]. In 1945 he became director of a Palestinian office in New York, and later in Jerusalem [q.v.]. He served as a member of the Arab Higher Committee [q.v.] from March to June 1946.
After the Palestine War (1948–49) [q.v.], he moved to Damascus [q.v.]. He was a member of the Syrian delegation to the United Nations (194950) and undersecretary for political affairs at the Arab League [q.v.] (1951–1957). He then served as Saudi Arabia's minister of state for United Nations affairs and then its ambassador to the UN (1957–62). During his years at the UN he espoused the cause of Palestinians, often with vehement verbal attacks on Israel.
In 1963 Syria and Iraq proposed at the Arab League that a Palestine National Council [q.v.] be elected, and its chief delegate should occupy the Palestinian seat at the Arab League. The First Arab League Summit [q.v.] in January 1964 directed Shuqairi to consult his countrymen and present a plan for the creation of an organization to represent them. The result was the Palestinian National Charter [q.v.], which was adopted by a conference in East Jerusalem [q.v.], then under Jordanian jurisdiction, in May. It established the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.]. Shuqairi was elected chairman of the PLO's executive committee.
Under Shuqairi, the PLO had the full backing of Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.], who allowed him to run a radio station from Cairo [q.v.]. His extremist and contradictory statements, advocating the extermination of Israeli Jews [q.v.], proved counterproductive since they played into the hands of Israel. On the eve of the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], Shuqairi, heading a small Palestinian militia, indulged in hyperbolic rhetoric, creating a war psychosis that was out of proportion to the force he commanded. After the Arab debacle in that war, he was forced to resign his chairmanship of the PLO in December 1967. He then fell into obscurity.
Sidon: Lebanese city Population: 200,000 (2011 est.). The history of Sidon, an ancient Mediterranean port, goes back to the third millennium B.C. As a thriving commercial center it appears in the Old Testament [q.v.] and later in the epic poems of the Greek poet Homer (born ca. eighth century B.C.). It was ruled by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. King Herod (37–4 B.C.) and Jesus Christ (ca 6 B.C.–30 A.D.) found it attractive. Its prosperity stemmed from its glassware and purple dye industries.
In 637 A.D. Sidon fell to Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.]. During the Crusades (1095–1272) it was fiercely fought over by the two sides, and underwent repeated destruction and reconstruction. It then came under the successive rule of the Mamlukes (1250–1517) and the Ottomans (1517–1918). It became part of the Vilayat of Lebanon under Fakhr al–Din Maan (r. 1591–1633), and thrived as a port. It survived the disastrous earthquake of 1837. During the French Mandate its port facilities were improved. After the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.], Palestinian refugees set up two camps near it.
Besides being the commercial center of the region, it is the terminus of the Trans–Arabian Pipeline for Saudi oil, which was shut off during the 1975–90 Lebanese Civil War [q.v.]. Among its tourist offerings are the Temple of Ashmoon of the Phoenician era, and two Crusader forts.
Sinai Campaign (1956): This is the term used by Israelis for the Suez War (1956) [q.v.].
Sinai Peninsula: Area 23,500 sq. mi./61,000 sq. km. Sinai is a derivative of Sin, the ancient moon god, and has a recorded history dating back to the third millennium B.C. A triangular peninsula connecting Asia to Africa, the Sinai extends from its wide base on the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, whose two extended arms at the top bind it on the west (Gulf of Suez) and the east (Gulf of Aqaba). In the south lies Jebel Musa (Arabic: Mount Moses), known as Mount Sinai in English, the legendary site where Moses is believed to have received the divine Law inscribed on the tablets. On its slope is the renowned Greek Orthodox [q.v.] monastery of Saint Catherine, founded in ca 250 A.D., where the Codex Sinaiticus, one of the oldest manuscripts of the New Testament [q.v.], was discovered in the 19th century. The rest of the Sinai is a plateau sloping toward the Mediterranean Sea.
Oil, first struck in 1910, was not exploited until three years later. The site of fighting between Egypt and Israel during the Suez War [q.v.], the War of Attrition [q.v.], and the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], the Sinai Peninsula was occupied by Israel between November 1956 and March 1957, and again from June 1967 to April 1982.
Sinai I Agreement (Egypt–Israel, 1974): Instead of using the United Nations to make peace with the Arabs [q.v.] after the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], Israel approached U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to bring about an agreement with Egypt. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] went along with this. The result was the Sinai I agreement on 18 January 1974 on the disengagement of the two armies in the Sinai [q.v.], with Egypt making concessions, allowing Israel to control the Mitla and Gidi passes and limiting its own military presence east of the Suez [q.v.] to 7,000 troops and 30 tanks.
The agreement formally ended the wartime military alliance between Egypt and Syria, and enabled Kissinger to persuade the Arab oil states to end the oil embargo [q.v.] against Israel's Western allies, imposed during the 1973 war.
Sinai II Agreement (Egypt–Israel, 1975): Consisting of three published and four secret documents, the Sinai II Agreement was signed by Israel and Egypt on 4 September 1975, with the United States playing a crucial mediating role. The disengagement in the Sinai [q.v.] required demilitarization of the Israeli–controlled Mitla and Giddi passes, an Israeli withdrawal of 12–24 mi./20–40 km to create a wider UN buffer zone, and the posting of 200 American technicians to supervise the Egyptian and Israeli early warning systems. Israel returned the Abu Rudais oilfield to Egypt. The signatories renounced the threat or use of force.
Of the four secret deals, three concerned Israel and one Egypt. The United States promised to assist Egypt to build an early warning system in Sinai, and to consult it in the event that Israel violated the agreement. Washington reaffirmed its earlier commitment to help Israel maintain military superiority over its Arab neighbors, pledged $2.5 billion aid to Israel in 1975–76, and guaranteed oil deliveries from Iran or the mainland America. It also promised not to recognize or negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] until the organization recognized Israel's right to exist and accepted UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 [q.v.]. This cramped U.S. policy–making in the region until the late 1980s.
Siniora, Fouad (1943–): Lebanese politician, prime minister, 2005—09 Born into a Sunni [q.v.] family in Sidon [q.v.], Siniora obtained a master's degree in business administration from American University in Beirut [q.v.]. While working for Citibank he lectured at the AUB and Lebanese University. He joined the Central Bank in 1977. Five years later Rafiq Hariri [q.v.] recruited him to manage his burgeoning business interests.
When Hariri became the prime minister in 1992, he appointed Siniora finance minister. He held that position until 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004. During his tenure the national debt of Lebanon soared from $2 billion to $50 billion. An investigation into his mishandling of state funds initiated in 2000 cleared him of any wrongdoing in 2003. Once he ceased to be finance minister, Hariri hired him to become chairman of Groupe Méditerranée, which controlled four Hariri–owned banks.
Following the victory of the anti–Syrian 14 March Alliance [q.v.] in June 2005, Siniora became prime minister. His national unity cabinet included members of Hizbollah [q.v.]. During the Israeli–Hizbollah War [q.v.] in July–August 2006, his government did not join the conflict but described Hizbollah's fighting as "a natural and honest expression of the Lebanese people's rights to liberate their land and defend their honor against Israeli aggression and threats."
After the war, the unity cabinet split on the question of backing an international tribunal on Hariri's assassination. When, in November, all five Shia [q.v.] opposition ministers and their Christian [q.v.] ally resigned, Siniora rejected their resignations.
In December 2006 the opposition forces, led by 51 parliamentary deputies, started a sit–in in central Beirut [q.v.] to gain veto power over the government. These deputies refused to participate in the election of a new president after the term of Emile Lahoud [q.v.] expired. As a result, Siniora became acting president. He held that position until May 2008.
The nonviolent impasse in central Beirut turned violent on 6 May when Siniora ordered an investigation into Hizbollah's private telecommunications network and dismissed the airport security chief. Hizbollah and its allies attacked the airport and stormed Sunni streets and properties in central and west Beirut as well as the Government Palace housing the prime minister's office. Counterattacks followed. Fighting spread to other parts of Lebanon and altogether claimed 200 lives. To avert Lebanon's descent into full-fledged civil war, Qatar's ruler, Shaikh Hamad bin Khlaifa al–Thani [q.v.], invited the rivals to Doha [q.v.]. The concord reached there on 21 May invested the opposition 4 March Alliance [q.v.] with a veto in the government after Hizbollah had promised never to use arms for domestic political purposes in the future. It paved the way for the election of Michel Suleiman [q.v.] as president.
Sistani, Ali Husseini (1930–): Iraqi religious leader Born into a Shia [q.v.] religious family in the Iranian city of Mashhad [q.v.], Sistani pursued his theological studies in Qom [q.v.], where he became a student of Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Borujerdi. In 1951, he traveled to Najaf [q.v.] where he studied under Ayatollah Abol Qasim Khoei [q.v.]. After obtaining a degree in ijtihad [q.v.], interpretative reasoning of the Sharia [q.v.], Islamic law, in 1960, he went back to Mashhad, only staying there for a year.
On his return to Najaf, he spent three more years on theological research, and then began to teach fiqh [q.v.], Islamic jurisprudence. Like his mentor Khoei, he belonged to the quietist school among Shia clerics, who wanted to focus exclusively on providing succor to the community in its spiritual life and social welfare—quite apart from those clergy who favored intervention in state affairs. This distinction became all the more important in the wake of the coup by the secular Baath Party [q.v.] in 1968, and the repression of the Shia religious establishment that followed after Saddam Hussein [q.v.] became vice president in 1975.
State repression of Shia clergy intensified in the aftermath of the Islamic revolution in Iran four years later. The Iranian-born Shia clerics came under further pressure during the early period of the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.]. This subsided when most Iraqi Shias proved loyal to their country and fought Iran. By the time the war ended in 1988, Sistani had acquired the status of an ayatollah and gained popularity due partly to his spartan way of life.
Following the death in 1992 of Khoei, whose funeral prayer was performed by Sistani, the mantle of the marja–e taqlid (Arabic: source of emulation) [q.v.] passed not to him, as had been widely expected, but to the younger Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq al–Sadr, due to the intervention by Saddam Hussein.
But a breach opened between the Iraqi president and Grand Ayatollah al-Sadr in 1998 when he issued a religious decree calling on Shias to attend Friday prayers in mosques, a step disapproved by Saddam. In February 1999, al-Sadr and his two sons were shot dead as they left a mosque in Najaf. After blaming "foreign countries" for the assassinations, the government appointed Sistani as the marja–e taqlid, entitling him to the honorific of grand ayatollah.
After the deposition of Saddam Hussein in April 2003, the followers of al-Sadr's grandson, Muqtada al-Sadr, demanded that Sistani leave Najaf. This led his acolytes to take Sistani to a safe house. In the political administrative vacuum created by Saddam Hussein's ouster, the Najaf–based religious collective, dominated by Sistani, became the nerve center of the Shia network consisting of mosques nationwide to administer the neighborhoods in Iraq's urban centers, including providing armed vigilantes to maintain law and order.
While staying away from the day-to-day politics of Iraq during the Anglo–American occupation of Iraq from April 2003 to 30 June 2009, the National Sovereignty Day, Sistani intervened at crucial moments, calling on to all Iraqis to participate in the elections and referendums that were held. He gave his blessing to the formation of the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA), which brought almost all Shia groups under one umbrella, thus assuring its dominance in electoral politics.
When, in the aftermath of the December 2005 parliamentary election, a stalemate developed because of the opposition of U.S. President George W. Bush to the continuation of Ibrahim Jaafari [q.v.] as prime minister despite his majority support among UIA deputies, Sistani persuaded Jaafari to step down to make way for Nouri al–Maliki [q.v.].
Following the blowing up of the Shias' Al Askariya shrine in Samarra [q.v.] in February 2006, Sistani urged calm, arguing that the attack was the work of foreign Wahhabis [q.v.] and not of Iraqi Sunnis [q.v.]. A year later an alleged plot to assassinate him was foiled.
Six–Day War (1967): See Arab–Israeli War III (1967).
Sneh, Moshe (1909–72): Israeli politician Born Moshe Kleinbaum in Radzin, Poland, Sneh obtained a medical degree at Warsaw University. Active in Zionist politics, he was elected chairman of the Zionist Student Union in Warsaw in 1930, and then to the central committee of the Zionist Organization in Poland. In 1935 he was appointed political editor of a Yiddish [q.v.] daily newspaper, Haint (Today), and elected chairman of the Zionist Organization in Poland. He served as an officer in the Polish army when World War II erupted in September 1939.
He escaped to Palestine [q.v.] in 1940 and became head of Haganah's [q.v.] central command a year later. Elected to the Jewish Agency [q.v.] Executive Committee in 1945, he took charge of the political department of the Agency's European office. After his resignation from the Haganah central command in 1946, he was elected head of the illegal immigration department of the Jewish Agency. Impressed by the Soviet backing for the partitioning of Palestine in November 1947, Sneh advocated an alliance with Moscow.
In January 1948 he joined the newly formed Mapam [q.v.], becoming a member of its executive committee and editor of its paper, Al–HaMishmar (Hebrew: On the Guard). He was elected to the Knesset [q.v.] in 1949 and retained a seat until 1965. Under his influence, Mapam moved leftwards, and this strained its relations with Mapai [q.v.]. In late 1952, the trial and conviction of Mordechai Oran, a Mapam leader arrested during his trip to Prague as a Zionist spy, created antiSoviet feeling within Mapam ranks. This led to Sneh's expulsion from the party.
Sneh and his followers formed the Israeli Socialist Left Party, which merged into Maki [q.v.] in 1954. He became a leader of Maki and editor of its daily paper, Kol Ha'Am (Hebrew: Voice of the People). Within the party, Sneh led the pro-Jewish faction, which criticized Moscow's ban on the emigration of Soviet Jews and its Middle East policies. By mid–1965 a split in the party became inevitable, and the opponents of Sneh's faction left to form Rakah [q.v.]. Sneh supported the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] and opposed the unconditional withdrawal of Israel from the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.]. A witty orator, he was respected even by his most vocal opponents.
Socialist Labor Party (Egypt): Egyptian political party After President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] had drained the Arab Socialist Party of Egypt [q.v.] of almost all its parliamentary deputies by forming his own National Democratic Party [q.v.] in August 1978, he tried to create "honest" opposition by encouraging the formation of another rightist group, the Socialist Labor Party (SLP) [q.v.], under the leadership of Ibrahim Shukri.
The SLP backed the Camp David Accords [q.v.] and the subsequent Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] in March 1979. In the June 1979 general election it won 26 seats in a house of 392 seats. When it retained only a fraction of these seats in the May 1984 election, President Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] bolstered its strength by appointing four SLP members as parliamentary deputies. In the 1987 election it joined the alliance led by the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] and won 13 seats. Along with all other opposition groups, except the National Progressive Unionist Alliance [q.v.], the SLP boycotted the December 1990 election, demanding that the state of emergency be repealed and that the election be supervised by a nongovernmental body. In 1995 it won one parliamentary seat. In 2000 the state–controlled Political Parties Committee suspended it and its weekly paper, Al–Shaab (Arabic: The People), which had been pre–eminent in exposing corruption in high places, for "exceeding its political mandate."
Socialist National Front (Lebanon): Lebanese political party Composed of opposition groups, the Socialist National Front (SNF) was formed in 1952. It was led by Camille Chamoun [q.v.], Kamal Jumblat [q.v.], and others concerned mainly with domestic reform. After the resignation of President Bishara Khouri [q.v.] in September 1952 in the wake of charges of corruption, the SNF's nominee, Chamoun, was elected president by parliament. By pursuing a pro–Western foreign policy, which was at odds with rising Arab nationalism [q.v.], Chamoun alienated himself from the predominantly Muslim SNF, now led by Jumblat.
Chamoun's rigging of the 1957 general election further widened the gap between him and the SNF. Matters came to a head in May 1958 when fighting erupted between his supporters and the SNF, marking the start of the first Lebanese Civil War [q.v.]. The induction of U.S. Marines into the conflict by Chamoun enraged the SNF, which controlled about a third of Lebanon. The conflict ended in a compromise, with Chamoun stepping down at the end of his term after dropping his plans for a constitutional amendment that would have let him seek reelection. He was succeeded by General Fouad Chehab [q.v.]. During Chehab's presidency the SNF became dormant.
Society of Combatant Clerics (Iran): (Official title, Persian: Majma-e Ruhaniyoun–e Mobraz) (Also translated as Assembly of Combatant Clerics) Popularly known as Majma, it was formed on 21 March 1988 with the tacit backing of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.] after the dissolution of the ruling Islamic Republican Party [q.v.]. It was composed of socioeconomic radicals and headed by Mahdi Karroubi. They broke away from the older Association of Combatant Clergy [q.v.].
Its members entered the 1988 parliamentary election and gained a majority, with the leftist camp, including moderates, claiming the loyalty of two–thirds of the deputies. In the 1989 presidential election, the Majma backed Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani [q.v.], then Majlis [q.v.] speaker, who won. Karroubi succeeded him as speaker for the rest of the tenure of the Third Majlis. When Majma members opposed Rafsanjani's economic liberalization program the president compromised by abandoning wholesale privatization and proceeding on a sector by sector basis. In the Fourth Majlis (1992–96), Majma members became a minority. In the 1993 presidential contest it backed Rafsanjani. In the Fifth Majlis (1996–2000) too, the Majma remained a minority.
In the 1997 presidential election, it supported Muhammad Khatami [q.v.], one of its leaders. On the eve of the parliamentary election in 2000, it formed an important part of the Second Khordad (23 May) Front, named after the date of Khatami's landslide victory. Karroubi was elected speaker by 186 votes to none in a Majlis dominated by leftist and left-of–center deputies, with 30 of them belonging to the Majma.
In the elections to the Seventh Majlis in 2004, conservatives pushed reformers down to 50. The following year Karroubi resigned as Majma's general secretary. He was succeeded by Muhammad Mousavi Khoeiniha, a former cabinet minister and prosecutor general.
After the disputed presidential election in June 2009, the Majma's application to hold a peaceful protest rally in Tehran [q.v.] was rejected. Karroubi, one of the two defeated candidates for the presidency, became a vocal critic of the government of the reelected Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [q.v.].
Solh, Riyad (1894–1951): Lebanese politician; prime minister, 1943—45, 1946–51 (Also spelled Sulh) Born into a notable Sunni [q.v.] family in Beirut [q.v.], Solh joined the Arab nationalist movement as a youth. After studying law in Beirut he went to Istanbul for further studies. During World War I, he was condemned to death for his Arab nationalist activities, but was later pardoned and freed.
After the war he became one of the assistants of Faisal bin Hussein [q.v.] in Damascus [q.v.] and a cofounder of the nationalist Istiqlal Party. When Faisal was defeated, he fled from Syria. As a leader of the Syrian-Palestinian Congress, based first in Cairo [q.v.] and then in Geneva, Switzerland, he campaigned for the independence of Greater Syria [q.v.] from the French Mandate. Following the electoral victory of the leftist Popular Front in France in 1936, Solh returned home and became a leading Sunni leader of Lebanon.
During World War II, he was one of the two main architects of the 1943 National Pact [q.v.], the other being Bishara Khouri [q.v.], a Maronite [q.v.] leader. He became prime minister (1943–45) and played a leading role in the choice of Lebanon as a cofounder of the Arab League [q.v.]. After the war he again served as prime minister (1946–51). His government quelled an attempted coup by the leaders of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) [q.v.], and executed the party chief Antun Saadeh in mid– 1949. In retaliation SSNP militants assassinated Solh in July 1951 during his visit to Amman [q.v.].
South Lebanon Army: Lebanese militia Formed by Israel during its occupation of southern Lebanon from March to June 1978, the South Lebanon Army (SLA), consisting mainly of Christian militiamen, was put under the command of Saad Haddad, a former (Christian) Lebanese army major. About 2,000 strong, it was armed, trained, and financed by Israel. It patrolled the border zone inside Lebanon, an area 2.5–7 mi./4–12 km wide and 50 mi./80 km long, running from the Mediterranean to Kafr Shuba and populated by 40,000 Christians [q.v.], mostly Maronite [q.v.], and 60,000 Muslims [q.v.], mostly Shia [q.v.]. The SLA kept the Lebanese army and the Arab League's [q.v.] peacekeeping force out of its area.
It acted as part of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) when the latter invaded Lebanon [q.v.] in June 1982. When Haddad died in January 1984, Israel appointed Antoine Lahad, a retired (Christian) Lebanese army major, to succeed him.
When withdrawing from Lebanon in June 1985, Israel handed over its positions in the self-declared security zone to the 3,000–strong SLA, and left behind 1,000 Israeli troops as a backup force. With this, the SLA became as much of a target of the Lebanese resistance against Israeli occupation as IDF troops. When the end of Amin Gemayel's [q.v.] presidency in September 1988 led to Gen. Michel Aoun [q.v.] claiming monopoly of power, Lahad pledged his loyalty to him. But this had no practical impact on the situation. Equally, the end of the civil war in October 1990 changed little as far as the SLA was concerned.
During Gulf War II [q.v.] (January-February 1991) there were armed exchanges between pro-Iraqi Palestinian commandos and the IDF-SLA alliance. After the signing of the Lebanese–Syrian Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation and Coordination [q.v.] in May 1991, which was condemned by Israel, the IDF–SLA alliance hardened its stance. Israel responded to attacks on SLA or IDF patrols, mainly by Hizbollah [q.v.] partisans, by launching air raids and firing artillery shells at the Hizbollah positions outside the strip. Because most Lebanese viewed Hizbollah as a counterforce to the SLA, the government refrained from disarming Hizbollah.
On the eve of Israel's unconditional withdrawal from south Lebanon in May 2000, more than 6,000 current and past SLA troops escaped to Israel. The Lebanese government tried another 2,000 for serving in the SLA or for working inside Israel, and sentenced 800 former SLA soldiers to 25 years in jail.
South Yemen: Official title: People's Republic of South Yemen (1967–70); People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (1970–90). See Yemen: history.
South Yemeni–Soviet Friendship Treaty (1979): After several years of hesitation, often induced by the prospect of unity with North Yemen [q.v.], South Yemen signed a 20–year friendship and cooperation treaty with the Soviet Union in October 1979 during a visit by its president, Abdul Fattah Ismail [q.v.], to Moscow. The treaty assured South Yemen of its survival, a top priority for a country beleaguered since its independence in 1967 by hostile neighbors: Saudi Arabia, Oman, and North Yemen.
Southern Movement (Yemen): In 2009 various anti–government groups in southern Yemen formed an umbrella organization called the Southern Movement under the chairmanship of Hassan Baoum, a leader of the Yemeni Socialist Party [q.v.]. It called for equality with the north and honoring of the promises made at the time of unification in 1990. It highlighted the central government's discrimination in its distribution of resources. When President Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.] tried to repress the movement, it demanded independence for the south. It held demonstrations and appealed to the Arab League [q.v.] to supervise secession. The government arrested Baoum and other dissident leaders. When the protest did not end, it released them a year later. In 2011 it participated in the anti–Saleh protest and suspended its demand for secession.
Steadfastness Front (1977–87): Front of radical Arab states Formed in Tripoli, Libya, in December 1977, in the wake of a visit to Jerusalem [q.v.] by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat [q.v.], the Steadfastness Front consisted of Algeria, Libya, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.], Syria, and South Yemen. An Iraqi representative attended the plenary session but walked out, considering the Front not radical enough. The Front upheld the official Arab League [q.v.] position of no negotiations with Israel until it had vacated all Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.]. Sadat reacted to its founding by severing diplomatic links with its constituents.
At its meeting in Damascus [q.v.] in September 1978, the Front supported the Omani people's struggle for liberation, and opposed the resolution passed by the Arab League [q.v.] by a majority vote, calling for an economic boycott of South Yemen, in July. At its behest, the subsequent Arab summit in November canceled the resolution against South Yemen.
Under the leadership of President Chadli Ben–Jedid (r. 1979–81), Algeria started to dissociate itself gradually from the Front, a trend accelerated by its economic decline following the collapse of oil prices in the spring of 1986. At about the same time Libya became the target of air attacks by the United States, and this considerably chastened its leader, Muammar Gaddafi. Syrian president Hafiz Assad [q.v.] was too preoccupied with the developments in the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] to nurture the Front. It ceased to exit by 1987.
Stern, Avraham ("Yair") (1907–42): Zionist guerrilla leader Born in Suwalki, Poland, but brought up in different Russian towns after the outbreak of World War I in 1914, he migrated to Palestine [q.v.] in 1925. After graduating from a Jewish school in Jerusalem [q.v.] he studied philosophy at the Hebrew University.
A member of Haganah [q.v.], Stern played an active role during in the Arab–Jewish riots in 1929. Two years later he quit Haganah, and became one of the cofounders of the more militant Irgun B. When most of the Irgun B members returned to Haganah in 1937, Stern and his followers allied with Revisionist Zionists [q.v.] to set up Irgun Zvai Leumi [q.v.] (Hebrew: National Military Organization). He became one of its top commanders. Opposed to Irgun's subordination to the Revisionist leadership, he clashed with Vladimir Jabotinsky [q.v.].
He traveled to Poland in 1938 to test the feasibility of an Irgun plan to transport 40,000 Zionist partisans to Palestine to stage an anti–British uprising there. Due to the gathering war clouds in Central Europe, Irgun had to rethink its strategy. After Stern's return to Palestine and the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, his differences with the Revisionist leadership sharpened. Disagreeing with their decision to stop attacking the British and start cooperating with Haganah, Stern argued that with Britain at war, the time was right for the Zionists to pressure it to honor its promise to help the Jews [q.v.] to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
He left Irgun in June 1940. Three months later he founded Lehi [q.v.]. It argued that, since the British were the number one enemy of the Jews, and since fighting them was the top Jewish priority, there was no harm in negotiating with the German Nazis to achieve this aim. Lehi contacted the German embassy in Ankara. This, and the terrorist attacks on British Mandate authorities, marginalized Lehi and Stern, who went underground. Discovered in a hideout during a British police raid in February 1942, Stern was shot dead. But Lehi, by now popularly known as the Stern Gang/Group [q.v.], survived.
Stern Gang/Group: See Lehi/Lehy.
Suez Canal: This Egyptian waterway— 106 mi./170 km long, 197 ft./60 m wide and 42.5 ft./13 m deep—connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Suez, and thus the Red Sea. Permission to construct the Suez Canal was granted by the Egyptian ruler, Said bin Abbas (r. 1854–1863) to Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French engineer. The construction of the canal, begun in 1859 by the Universal Suez Maritime Canal Company (USMCC), was completed 10 years later. Based in Paris, the USMCC, which was owned jointly by Britain and France, managed the Canal until its nationalization in July 1956, when Egypt set up the Egyptian Canal Authority (ECA) to run it. This also ended the British occupation of 3,000 sq. mi./7,790 sq. km in the Suez Canal Zone.
Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] nationalized the Canal after the United States and Britain had humiliated him by withdrawing the World Bank loan for the construction of the Aswan High Dam [q.v.]. In 1958, compensation to the USMCC was agreed through the World Bank.
Closed during the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] due to the presence of sunken ships, and then due to the War of Attrition [q.v.], the Canal did not reopen until June 1975. In October, following the Sinai II Agreement [q.v.] between Israel and Egypt, Israeli cargo ships were permitted to use it. After the 1979 Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] Israeli warships were also allowed passage. With the Canal's enlargement completed in 1980, larger ships with 53 ft./16 m draft were able to use it. Further modernization was completed in 2000. As a result, the canal became suitable for ships with the draft of 70 ft./21 m or 240,000 deadweight tons.
Suez War (1956): Anglo-French-Israeli Invasion of Egypt, 29 October–7 November 1956.
BACKGROUND: On 19 July 1956 the United States informed Egypt that it was withdrawing its offer of aid for the Aswan High Dam [q.v.], thus undermining the loan from the World Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which was predicated on U.S. assistance. A week later Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] nationalized the Suez Canal [q.v.], which was jointly owned by Britain and France. After the debate on the subject at the UN Security Council, Egypt agreed on 11 October to the principles regarding running the Canal, including maintaining its status as an international waterway. On 24 October a secret Anglo-French–Israeli agreement on an invasion of Egypt was finalized.
OPERATIONS: On 29–30 October 1956 Israel invaded the Sinai [q.v.]. At 18:00 hours on 30 October Britain and France gave a 24–hour ultimatum to Egypt and Israel to cease hostilities and withdraw their troops 10 mi./16 km from the Suez Canal so as not to jeopardize freedom of shipping. As Israel's forces were some 30 mi./48 km from the canal, it accepted the ultimatum, but Egypt rejected it. Fighting between the two sides continued. When the deadline ended at 1800 hours on 31 October, Britain and France bombed Egypt's airfields, virtually destroying its air force, and continued attacking Egyptian military facilities for the next 36 hours. Cairo ordered its forces, sent earlier into the Sinai Peninsula [q.v.], to retreat and thus avoid being encircled by the enemy. They did so by 2 November. On that day the United States cooperated with the Soviet Union at the UN Security Council to sponsor a "Uniting for Peace" resolution, which condemned aggression against Egypt. The next day, while continuing to consolidate its position in the Sinai, Israel completed its occupation of the Gaza Strip [q.v.].
On 4 November the UN General Assembly voted to set up a UN Emergency Force (UNEF) [q.v.] to supervise the truce. On 5 November, British and French paratroopers landed at the northern (Port Said) and southern (Port Suez) ends of the Canal. Israel, advised by London and Paris, attached unrealistic conditions to its acceptance of the UN Security Council cease-fire resolution. Soviet Prime Minister Marshal Nikolai Bulganin, in a letter to his Israeli counterpart, David Ben–Gurion [q.v.], wrote: "It [the aggression] is sowing a hatred of the State of Israel among the peoples of the East such as cannot but make itself felt with regard to the future of Israel, and which puts in jeopardy the very existence of Israel as a state."
On the night of 5–6 November, British and French forces landed in the Port Said area, and, after seizing the town, started to move south along the Canal, which had been blocked by the Egyptians with sunken ships. In Washington, president-elect Dwight Eisenhower applied economic pressure on Britain, with the U. S. Federal Reserve Board selling large amounts of British pounds, thus weakening the exchange rate of the British pound. Yielding to the U.S.-Soviet pressure, the invading governments accepted a cease–fire from midnight on 6–7 November. By then Israel had occupied the Gaza Strip and most of the Sinai Peninsula, including its southeastern tip, Sharm el Shaikh, at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba.
LOSSES: Egypt: 1,650 killed, 215 aircraft; Israel: 190 killed, 15 aircraft; Britain: 16 killed, 4 aircraft; France: 10 killed, 1 aircraft.
AFTERMATH: UNEF, charged with supervising the truce, started arriving on 4 December. Britain and France completed their withdrawal by 23 December, handing over their positions to UNEF. Though Israel agreed to withdraw on 8 November it did not actually do so until 8 March 1957— and then only after the United States committed itself to standing by Israel's right of passage through the Gulf of Aqaba, ensuring that the Gaza Strip was not used again for launching guerrilla attacks against it, and assisting Israel, secretly, in its nuclear research program. On Israel's insistence, UNEF troops were posted exclusively in the Gaza Strip and the Gulf of Aqaba region to safeguard Israeli shipping. Egypt was allowed to return to the Gaza Strip to administer it.
Sufism (Arabic: Sufi, derivative of suf, wool; hence person wearing a woolen garment; ascetic): mystical philosophy in Islam Subscribing to the general theory of mysticism [q.v.] that direct knowledge of God is attainable through intuition or insight, Sufism is based on the doctrines and methods derived from the Quran [q.v.]. Some early Muslims undertook ascetic exercises, believing that this would bring them closer to God. They were inspired by the example of the Prophet Muhammad, who used to withdraw into a cave and undertake nightly vigils, and by the practices of Christian hermits. They stressed meditation and contemplation of God, and regarded involvement in worldly affairs, or pursuit of political power, as a distraction from the path of seeking Allah within. They came to be known as Sufis— from the word suf (wool)—because of the woolen garments the pioneers among them wore as a sign of asceticism.
Hassan al-Basri (d. 728 A.D.) was the first known Sufi personality. In time two types of Sufis emerged: ecstatic and sober. Among the latter, Abu Hamid Muhammad al–Ghazali (1058–1111) was the most prominent. He tried to integrate the whole Islamic legal system with a spiritual infrastructure originating in the Prophet Muhammad's mystic consciousness. His work became the living document for the Sufi orders/brotherhoods that sprang up soon after his death.
The first Sufi order was Qadiriya. Founded by Baghdad-based Abdul Qadir al–Gailani (1077–1166), it stressed piety and humanitarianism. A brotherhood consisted of aspirants (murids), who took an oath of allegiance to the guide, known as shaikh, pir, or murshid. Women were admitted as associate aspirants. The shaikh headed a hierarchy within the order that was linked by a chain of inherited sanctity (baraka) or kinship to the founding saint. This chain went back to early Sufi founders such as Hassan al–Basri, and through them to the House of the Prophet or the Prophet Muhammad himself.
It was common for a Sufi order to establish its own convents. An example of a mainstream brotherhood was Naqshbandi, established by Yusuf al-Hamadani (d. 1140) but named after Baha al-Din Naqshband (1318–89), a mystic born in Tajikistan. Naqshban–dis believed that there was no tariqa (road) outside the Sharia [q.v.], and followed the maxim, "The exterior is for the world, the interior for Allah." Believing that piety was best expressed through social activity, they opposed withdrawal from the world. They became noted for their silent remembrance (dhikr) in mosques, undertaken to induce a state of collective ecstasy.
Whereas Islamic rituals were generally austere, Sufi orders provided a framework within which rich and colorful liturgical practices were spawned in the form of devotional rituals by novices. Such ecstatic Sufi orders as the Rifaiiya brotherhood, originating in Iraq, are an example. Rifaiiya followers went into frenzies, during which they would ride dangerous animals, walk into fires, ravage venomous reptiles, or mutilate themselves by placing iron rings in their ears, necks, and hands to demonstrate the supremacy of mind over matter.
Sufism grew rapidly between 1250 and 1500, when the caliphate was based in Cairo [q.v.] under Mamluke sultans (1250–1517), and when Islam penetrated central and western Africa and southern India and Southeast Asia along the land and sea routes used by Arab [q.v.] traders. Islam came into contact not only with paganism in Africa but also with the advanced religions and civilizations of Hinduism and Buddhism in Asia. It was through the rise of Sufism that Islam was often able to absorb the pre–Islamic beliefs and practices of the new converts. Today Sufi brotherhoods exist, overtly or covertly, in most Muslim communities.
suicide bombing: Suicide committed by detonating explosives either strapped to the body of a person or carried in a vehicle, or by ramming a building with flying aircraft A suicide bomber either triggers the detonator while in the midst of his/her potential targets or drives a vehicle loaded with explosives into the target, killing himself/herself along with many others— the latter method often called truck bombing. The destruction of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and part of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on 11 September 2001 by ramming flying passenger aircraft into the buildings, resulting in the death of 3,052 people, opened a new chapter in suicide bombing. As a rule, the suicide bomber is supported by an operational cell that provides accommodation, transport, food, clothing, and security until he/she reaches the target. This cell often consists of "sleepers," legal residents of a country with jobs and families. It was on 18 April 1983 that truck bombing was first deployed in the Middle East [q.v.], and the target was the American Embassy in Beirut [q.v.]. The driver rammed the embassy with his truck, loaded with explosives, at high speed, destroyed much of the building, and killed 63 people, including 17 Americans, of whom seven were Central Intelligence Agency officers. No group claimed responsibility, but the local Islamic Jihad was widely blamed.
Lebanon's Muslim [q.v.] terrorists did so in the course of the 1975–90 Civil War [q.v.] in which the United States, France, Britain, and Italy had intervened on behalf of the Lebanese Christians [q.v.]. They followed up the bombing of the American embassy with the truck–bombing of the U. S. and French military headquarters in West Beirut that left 300 dead.
The person who killed him/herself in the process was regarded by radical Islamists [q.v.] as a martyr in the path of God, described in the Quran [q.v.] (Chapter 3, Verse 164) thus:
"Count not those who were slain in God's way as dead,
but rather living with their Lord,
by Him provided,
rejoicing in the bounty that God
has given them,
and joyful in those who remain
behind and have not joined
them,
because no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow,
joyful in blessing and bounty from God,
and that God leaves not to waste the wage of the believers."
The method of being killed in "God's way" has varied. During the Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) [q.v.], Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.] ruled that any Iranian who died in the war was a martyr. On the other side, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.], hardly a scholar of Islam [q.v.], issued similar statements. Since suicide bombing was a recent phenomenon, it led to controversy among Muslim scholars. Those who opposed it argued that it was un-Islamic to kill innocent civilians. Those in favor reasoned that suicide bombing enabled Muslims to overcome their general weakness vis-a–vis their enemies.
However, suicide bombing ceased to be the monopoly of Muslim fundamentalists [q.v.]. By 2001, it had been adopted by 10 organizations, both religious and secular, and used 160 times in 13 countries. Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels—Hindu by religion—fighting for an independent state, were the most frequent practitioners of suicide bombing.
Whether sanctioned by religion or not, suicide bombing has proved effective. The conventional concept of security rests on deterrence, where the terrorist is killed or apprehended by the authorities. But the certain death of the suicide terrorist(s) precludes the captors' extracting vital information, thereby enabling the terrorist group to undertake daring operations while protecting its cadres and organizational network.
In the case of the U.S. embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar as Salam in August 1998, the authorities had rapid success in apprehending the conspirators because in each instance one of the terrorists chose not to commit suicide at the last moment. Conversely, when both terrorists died in the ramming of USS Cole in October 2000, the Yemeni authorities took more than a year to arrest their coconspirators.
Similarly, the black boxes saved from the crash of the fourth 9/11 aircraft in rural Pennsylvania—instead of ramming the targeted Capitol Hill in Washington—provided useful clues to the American authorities in identifying the 19 suicide hijackers of the four planes.
During the Al Aqsa Intifada [q.v.] (September 2001–December 2004), 96 Palestinians, including three women, carried out suicide bombings. Those claiming these attacks were not only Hamas [q.v.] and the Islamic Jihad [q.v.] but also the Tanzim, affiliated to secular Fatah [q.v.].
Suleiman, Michel (1948–): Lebanese military and political leader; president, 2008- Born in a Maronite [q.v.] household in the town of Amsheet in Jbeil, he graduated from the Military Academy in 1970 as second lieutenant. He rose from being an infantry platoon leader to the army staff secretary–general in 1991. When he served as a brigade commander in southern Lebanon from 1993 to 1995, his force was involved in many skirmishes with the occupying Israeli troops. The next year he was put in charge of the vital Sixth Brigade. When General Emile Lahoud [q.v.] was elected president in 1998, Suleiman succeeded him as commander of the armed forces. After the Israeli pull–out from southern Lebanon in 2000, he supervised the army's deployment near the Israeli border.
He scrupulously kept his troops out of the domestic political fights that broke out after the assassination of Rafiq Hariri [q.v.] in 2005 and again in May 2008, arguing that such an involvement served the interests of Israel. He won national kudos in 2007 by flushing out Al Qaida [q.v.]-inspired militants from the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in northern Lebanon after a four-month–long fight that claimed 420 lives, including 170 soldiers.
After the Israeli–Hizbollah War [q.v.] of 2006, he supervised the deployment of the army in the south as required by the United National Security Council Resolution 1701. In the impasse between Hizbollah [q.v.] and the Fouad Siniora [q.v.] government in 2008, he maintained strict neutrality. That in turn won him the backing of the opposing 8 March Alliance [q.v.] and 14 March Alliance [q.v.] for the presidency. He secured 118 votes out of 127.
Like his predecessors, he maintained cordial relations with Syria and refrained from commenting on the escalating protest movement there in 2011–2012.
sunna (Arabic: custom, path): In the pre–Islamic society of Arabia [q.v.] the term sunna applied to social practices based on ancestral precedents. After the rise of Islam [q.v.] under the Prophet Muhammad (570–632 A.D.), early converts took their cue either from the behavior of the Prophet's companions or the residents of Medina [q.v.], the capital of the Islamic realm. As for the later converts living away from Medina, codes based partly on local traditions and partly on the sunna evolved.
Though the Prophet Muhammad was an exemplar for Muslims, it was not until the eminent jurist Muhammad bin Idris al–Shafii (767–820 A.D.) had ruled that all legal decisions not stemming directly from the Quran [q.v.] must be based on a tradition going back to the Prophet Muhammad himself that a serious effort was made to compile the Prophet's sayings and doings—based on eyewitness accounts of his words, actions, and approbations. The sunna of the Prophet Muhammad was thus codified by Hadith [q.v.].
The authority of the sunna was reinforced when, reacting to the frequent fabrication of the Hadith by the adherents of different doctrinal, legal, and political schools, leading jurists developed ilm al–hadith (Arabic: knowledge of the Hadith)—to test the genuineness of an individual tradition. The sunna was then employed in the exposition of the Quran and in fiqh [q.v.], Islamic jurisprudence.
Sunnis (Persian: derivative of Ahl al–sunna, Arabic, People of the path [of the Prophet Muhammad]): Islamic sect Sunnis are the leading sect within Islam. They regard the first four caliphs—Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman, and Ali—as "Rightly Guided." They belong to one of the four schools of jurisprudence—Hanafi [q.v.], Maliki [q.v.], Shafii [q.v.], and Hanbali [q.v.]—and accept the six "authentic books" of the Hadith [q.v.], the first of which was compiled by Muhammad al–Bukhari (d. 870 A.D.).
They differ from the minority Shia [q.v.] sect in doctrine, ritual, law, theology, and religious organization. They share only three of the five doctrines of Shia Islam: monotheism, i.e., there is only one God; prophet-hood, which is a means of communications between God and humankind; and resurrection, i.e., the souls of dead humans are raised by God on the Day of Judgment and their deeds on earth judged. Their five obligations—reciting the central Islamic precept ("There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah"), daily prayers, fasting during Ramadan [q.v.], zakat (alms tax) [q.v.], and hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) [q.v.]—are fewer than those required by Shias. Unlike Shias, Sunnis regard caliphs as fallible interpreters of the Quran [q.v.] and the sunna [q.v.]. Sunnis do not share the concept of Mahdi [q.v.] with Shias, and view Islamic history as essentially a drift away from the ideal community that existed under the rule of the first four Rightly Guided caliphs.
Sunnis and Shias also differ on the organization of religion and religious activities. Sunnis regard religious activities as the exclusive domain of the (Muslim) state. When the ulema [q.v.] act as judges or preachers or educators, they do so under the aegis of the state. There is little scope for the ulema to organize religion outside the confines of the Muslim state.
The Sunni ethos, too, is different from the Shia. There is no emotional outlet for mourning the martyrdom of early Islamic leaders, as in the Ashura [q.v.] celebrations of Shias. The only exception lies with the Sufi orders [q.v.] within Sunnism, where believers are provided with something emotional or heart–warming—the collectively performed rituals.
Finally, except for government–appointed religious officials such as qadi (judge), mufti (one who delivers fatwas, religious rulings), grand mufti, and shaikh-al–Islam (wise man of Islam), or professional theological teachers, called maulawi or maulana (learned man), Sunni clerics are not given the religious titles of their Shia counterparts.
Supreme Assembly of Islamic Revolution in Iraq: See Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (Arabic: Majlis al-Aala lil Thawra al-Islamiya fi al–Iraq): Iraqi political organization The Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) was formed in Tehran [q.v.] in November 1982 by three Iraqi Islamic organizations: al-Daawa al–Islamiya [q.v.], the Mujahedin Movement, and the Islamic Action Organization. Led by Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir al–Hakim, a Shia [q.v.] cleric with a history of resistance to the Iraqi Baath [q.v.] regime, SCIRI aimed to found an Islamic state in Iraq. It raised an armed force from among Iraqi exiles and prisoners of war, who then fought alongside the Iranians in the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.].
In late 1986 it participated in the Conference on Solidarity with the Iraqi People, held in Tehran and attended by the delegates of various Kurdish autonomist groups. But their decision to form a joint military committee was not implemented. After the Iran–Iraq War, its importance waned.
When Baghdad's control over the provinces weakened in the aftermath of Gulf War II [q.v.], SCIRI encouraged the Shias in southern Iraq to rebel against the regime. Its Iranian-based cadres crossed over into the rebel areas, unfurling its flag and the portraits of Ayatollahs al–Hakim and Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.]. The move proved counterproductive. Having fought Iran for eight years, most Iraqis, irrespective of their sectarian affiliation, were loath to see Iranian interference in their affairs. After the failure of the rebellion, SCIRI once again became quiescent. Later it tried to focus international attention on the plight of the (Shia) residents of the marshes in southern Iraqi, which were being drained by the central government in order to develop the area economically and socially and to extract oil. But little came of it.
When Washington's Iraq Liberation Act, 1998, authorized the president to name Iraqi groups entitled to receiving military aid to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein [q.v.], President Bill Clinton named SCIRI as one such faction along with five others. But SCIRI, maintaining an army of 4,000 to 12,000 exiled Iraqis, rejected the entitlement, arguing that the American move made the Iraqi opposition appear to be U.S. agents. By then the Iranian government had resorted to using SCIRI to get even with the periodic pinprick attacks by the Baghdad [q.v.]-based Mujahedin-e Khalq along the Iranian–Iraqi border. In March 2000, when the Mujahedin activists inside Iran [q.v.] fired half a dozen mortars in central Tehran, SCIRI militants inside Iraq retaliated by firing mortars at a Baghdad neighborhood, killing four people.
In the spring of 2002, when the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush started making military plans to invade Iraq, it invited the six recognized Iraqi opposition factions to Washington. SCIRI representatives attended a meeting in August, thus reversing its previous stance with the tacit approval of Iran. Later it attended the Iraqi opposition conference in London.
After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's [q.v.] regime in 2003 by the Anglo-American forces in April 2003, SCIRI cooperated with the occupying powers. Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, brother of SCIRI's founder, Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim, accepted a seat on the U.S.–appointed Interim Iraqi Governing Council. Following Muhammad Baqir's assassination in August 2003, Abdul Aziz became the leader of SCIRI.
As a major part of the Shia-dominated United Iraqi Alliance, SCIRI emerged as the strongest group in the Interim National Assembly in January 2005. Along with al–Daawa al Islamiya, it played an important role in giving the new constitution an Islamic orientation.
It did equally well in the parliamentary elections that followed in January 2006, and emerged as the largest single group. Its leading figure, Adil Abdul–Mahdi, was elected vice president, one of the two such officials. As a member of the presidential council, he had veto power over legislation.
In May 2007, the leadership of the quarter-century–old organization renamed it the Supreme Islamic Iraq Council [q.v.], arguing that, with the downfall of Saddam Hussein, a revolution had been accomplished in Iraq. It favored a decentralized Iraq state with an autonomous Shia zone in the south. See also Supreme Islamic Iraq Council.
Supreme Islamic Iraq Council (2007): This is the renamed Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq [q.v.]. Due to the advancement of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim's cancer from the spring of 2007, the day-to-day running of the Supreme Islamic Iraq Council (SIIC) fell to his son, Ammar. Under his guidance the SIIC ran in the 2009 provincial elections on its own. On a popular vote of less than 7 percent it secured only 52 of the 440 seats. After the death of his father in August 2009, Ammar al–Hakim was formally elected leader of the SIIC.
It joined the Iraqi National Alliance (INA), led by Ibrahim Jaafari [q.v.], which also included the Sadrist Trend [q.v.], to enter the parliamentary election in March 2010. Of the 70 seats won by the INA, it got only 12. It thus became a minor player in Iraqi politics. In December it was the last group to back Nouri al–Maliki [q.v.] as the prime minister because, unlike Maliki, it favors a decentralized Iraq state with an autonomous Shia zone in the south.
Sur: See Tyre.
Sykes–Picot Pact (Anglo–French, 1916): A secret pact between London and Paris was signed in May 1916 by Sir Mark Sykes, senior British diplomat, and François Georges Picot, a former French consul in Beirut [q.v.], to carve up the Ottoman Empire among Britain, France, and Russia after their victory in World War I. Its provisions contradicted various British statements and declarations (one of them in conjunction with France) during the war, as well as the contents of the correspondence between Sir Henry McMahon, the British high commissioner in Cairo [q.v.], and Hussein bin Ali, the Arab governor of Hijaz [q.v.], which promised independence to the Arab territories of the Ottoman Empire after the victory of the Allies (Belgium, Britain, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Montenegro, Russia, and Serbia) over the Central Powers (Austria–Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire). An exchange of letters between Britain, France, and Russia in October 1916 finalized the pact. It was revealed in December 1917 by the Bolshevik regime in Russia, which published it in the official newspaper, Izvestia (Rusian: News).
The Sykes–Picot Pact covered the interests of Britain, France, and Russia. After the victory Russia was to acquire Constantinople (now Istanbul), a strip on each side of the Bosphorus Straits, and large parts of the four provinces of Turkey bordering Russia. As for the Ottoman Empire's Arab territory, in which Russia was uninterested, Britain and France made the following deal: British hegemony in the Baghdad and Basra provinces of Mesopotamia [q.v.]; French hegemony in Ottoman (Greater) Syria [q.v.] and Lesser Armenia (in Turkey); and an international zone in Palestine [q.v. ], much smaller than the Palestine mandated to Britain in 1922. The rest was to be constituted into an independent Arab state or federation, divided into British and French spheres of influence.
synagogue (Greek: assembly): The terms for synagogue in Hebrew [q.v.] are: beit ha–knesset (house of the assembly), beit ha–tefilla (house of the prayer), and beit ha–midrash (house of the study). So a synagogue is a gathering place for prayer and religious study. Synagogues came into vogue after the razing of the First Temple (of Solomon) in 586 B.C. and rose in significance after the demolition of the Second Temple in 70 A.D. They became the site of three daily services as well as special ceremonies on the Sabbath [q.v.] and other religious festivals.
Constructed with one end oriented toward Jerusalem [q.v.], synagogues tended to imitate basilicas in design, with a gallery. In time they came to be embellished with mosaics, frescoes, and carvings. After Roman Emperor Constantine (r. 306–337 A.D.) had adopted Christianity as the state religion in 313 A.D., old synagogues were demolished or converted to churches. Following the rise of Islam [q.v.] and an Islamic empire in the seventh century A.D., synagogues were allowed to be repaired in Muslim lands.
During the Middle Ages (476 A.D.–1492) synagogues emerged as the intellectual and social centers of Jewish life, the adjacent courtyards being used as law courts and for wedding ceremonies. Today a typical synagogue contains an ark (where the scrolls of the Torah [q.v.] are kept); an eternal light burning before the ark; two candelabra pews; and a raised platform, from which scriptural passages are read and, often, services conducted.
Segregation of the sexes, which is strictly observed by Orthodox and ultra–Orthodox Jews [q.v.], has been discontinued by Reform [q.v.] and Conservative [q.v.] Jewry. Among diaspora [q.v.] Jews, synagogues are often independent, reflecting the local community's wishes in its construction, maintenance, choice of priest, called rabbi (Hebrew: teacher), and officials.
Syria:
OFFICIAL NAME: Arabic Republic of Syria
CAPITAL: Damascus [q.v.]
AREA: 71,500 sq. mi./185,180 sq. km
POPULATION: 22.50 million (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (nominal): $59.96 billion; per capita, $2,802 (2010 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (Purchasing Power Parity): $107.83 billion; per capita, $5,040 (2010 est.)
NATIONAL CURRENCY: Syrian Pound (SP); SP 100 = U.S. $2.13 = £1.36 = €1.64 (2010)
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: republic, president elected by voters
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Arabic [q.v.]
ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM: Syria consists of 14 governorates.
CONSTITUTION: The 1973 constitution, approved overwhelmingly in a referendum, described Syria as a democratic, popular, socialist state, and required that Islam [q.v.] should be the religion of the head of state. Article 8 stated "The Arab Baath Socialist Party [q.v.] leads the state and society." Executive power rests with the president with seven-year tenure. The National Assembly, elected directly, chooses the sole candidate for the presidency, who is then approved by voters in a referendum. The president has the authority to appoint or dismiss vice presidents, prime ministers, and individual ministers. He is also the commander-in-chief of the military. Legislative power lies with the 250-member People's Assembly, which is dominated by the Arab Baath Socialist Party–led National Progressive Front [q.v.]. Following the death of President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] in 2000, the National Assembly lowered the age requirement for president from 40 to 34. The new constitution approved by 89.4 percent of the voters in February 2012 changed the minimum age for president to 40 years and limited his/her tenure to two seven–year terms. It ended the Baath Socialist Party's monopoly of power, but banned political parties based on ethnic, religious, regional, or tribal basis.
ETHNIC COMPOSITION
(2011): Arabs [q.v.] 90 percent, Kurds [q.v.] 6 percent, Armenians [q.v.] and other 4 percent.
High officials:
Head of state: Bashar Assad [q.v.], 2000-
Vice presidents: (First) Farouoq al-Shaara (political and foreign affairs), 2006-; (Second) Najah al–Attar (culture), 2006-
Prime minister: Wael Nader Halqi, 2012-
Speaker of the People's Assembly: Muhammad Jihad Laham, 2012-
HISTORY (since ca 1900): Following a collapse of the four-century–long Ottoman rule in 1918, Greater Syria [q.v.] enjoyed a brief spell of self–rule under Faisal I bin Hussein [q.v.] until his defeat by the French, the Mandate power, in mid–1920. After enlarging the Vilayat of Lebanon at the expense of Syria, the French divided the area into Latakia, Jebel Druze, Aleppo, and Damascus, combining the last two in 1924 to form the state of Syria.
It took France two years to quell the armed rebellion that erupted in Jebel Druze and spread elsewhere in 1925. The subsequent talks resulted in the convening of a national assembly in 1928. Dominated by the nationalist National Bloc, the assembly adopted a constitution that did not recognize the French Mandate. Paris dissolved the parliament and imposed its own constitution in 1930. The parliament elected under this constitution reached an impasse with the French high commissioner on the terms of a treaty to replace the mandate, and was suspended.
Popular protest reached a peak in early 1936 and shut down public services and markets for seven weeks. This compelled the French to negotiate with the National Bloc. Due to the installation of a leftist Popular Front government in Paris, these talks were successful. According to the Franco–Syrian Treaty [q.v.], initialed in September 1936, Paris agreed to grant independence to Syria in three years in exchange for long–term military, political and economic privileges. A National Bloc government, elected in November 1936, was in power on the eve of World War II, when France suspended both the 1930 constitution and the government, and imposed martial law.
After the occupation of northern France by Nazi Germany in 1940, and the subsequent establishment of a pro–German regime in Vichy in central France, control of the overseas French territories passed to the Vichy regime. It was defeated in Syria (and Lebanon) by British and Free French forces in June 1941, and Syria was granted (nominal) independence. When a general election was called in 1943 the National Bloc won handsomely. The next year Syria won the recognition of the United States and the Soviet Union. Because it declared war on Germany in February 1945, Syria was invited to the founding conference of the United Nations. At the end of the war France tried to reassert its authority in Syria, but failed. France finally left in April 1946.
Syria's unsuccessful participation in the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.] led to rioting and paved the way for the army coup which occurred in March 1949. Military rule lasted for five years under different rulers, the last of them being Adib Shishkali [q.v.]. His overthrow was followed by the restoration of parliamentary democracy.
The first free election in the Middle East [q.v.] took place in Syria in September 1954, with women accorded suffrage. This led to the rise of radical groups, including the Baath Party [q.v.]. When faced with a choice of aligning either with traditional parties, such as the National Bloc, or radical ones such as the Communists [q.v.], the Baath chose a way out by proposing Syria's union with Egypt. The resulting United Arab Republic (UAR) [q.v.] lasted from early 1958 to September 1961.
A secret Military Committee formed by Baathist officers was the main force behind a coup in March 1963. Factional infighting within the Baath was settled in favor of the radicals, led by Salah Jadid [q.v.], in early 1966. The new government, with Hafiz Assad [q.v.] as defense minister, pursued radical socioeconomic policies at home and actively opposed the conservative Arab government in the region. Though it successfully withstood the loss in its popularity because of its defeat in the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], the regime became divided on apportioning blame. The nationalist wing, led by Assad, blamed the socialist wing, headed by Jadid. In the ensuing struggle, Assad's faction won in November 1970. He consolidated his presidency through a referendum in early 1971. By forming the Baathist–led National Progressive Front [q.v.] in 1972, he co–opted friendly parties.
The initial gains made by Syria on the Golan Heights [q.v.] front during the early phase of the October 1973 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.] were lost later. When, in the course of his intervention in the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] in mid–1976, he sided with the Maronite Christian [q.v.] camp, there was an upsurge in support for the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.]. It started a campaign of assassination and terrorism, which escalated into near–insurrection in Aleppo [q.v.] and Hama [q.v.] in March 1980, and reached a peak with an assassination attempt on Assad in June.
He went all out to crush the Islamists, and temporarily succeeded. The Brotherhood's violent activities resumed and culminated in an insurrection in Hama in February 1982. Assad hit back with unprecedented force, re–imposing control at the cost of 5,000 to 10,000 lives. When he suffered a heart attack in November 1983, his power was challenged, unsuccessfully, by his younger brother, Rifat.
Following the arrest and conviction in October 1986 of Nizar Hindawi (a Jordanian purportedly working in conjunction with the Syrian Embassy in London) for attempting to plant a bomb on an Israeli airliner in London, Britain broke off diplomatic relations with Syria. The United States recalled its ambassador from Damascus and placed Syria on the list of nations supporting international terrorism. The next year Syria closed down the training camps run by Abu Nidal [q.v. ]. In September 1987 the U.S. ambassador returned to Damascus, but Washington retained Syria's name on its list of terrorist nations.
Meanwhile Assad justified his continuing involvement in the Lebanese civil strife on the ground that defection of Lebanon to the U.S.-Israel camp would present grave danger to Syrian security. He persevered, and in October 1990 the pro–Syrian side finally won in Lebanon. He was far less successful in dealing with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.], led by Yasser Arafat [q.v.]. After Egypt's defection from the Arab camp in 1979, Assad embarked upon a plan to achieve strategic parity with Israel, an ambitious proposition to be implemented with the active backing of the Soviet Union. Considering Palestinians an important part of an alliance to deal with Israel, he tried to bring Arafat under his wing. But Arafat, intent on maintaining the PLO's independence, resisted him. The subsequent Assad–inspired rebellion within Arafat's party, Fatah [q.v.], while weakening him made Arafat turn to moderate King Hussein [q.v.] of Jordan.
With the rapid decline of the Soviet Union as a superpower from 1989 onwards, Syria had to soften its strategy toward Israel. It took a realistic view of the leadership that the United States, now the sole superpower, provided in reversing Iraq's occupation of Kuwait after August 1990. When Syria's attempt to persuade Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] to evacuate Kuwait failed, it joined the U.S.-led anti–Iraq coalition and sent 30,000 troops to reinforce Saudi Arabia's defenses.
In October 1991 Syria agreed to participate in the Middle East Peace Conference [q.v.]—which was intended to lead to bilateral talks between Israel and its Arab enemies—having been assured that the conference would be held on the basis of UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, specifying Israel's return of the Arab lands captured in 1967 to secure peaceful coexistence. Syria disapproved of the Israeli–PLO Accord [q.v.] and the Jordanian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.], but did nothing to undermine them. In its talks with Israel, it insisted on a clear Israeli commitment to vacate all of the Golan in return for total peace, and succeeded in getting the United States to play an active role in the negotiations.
Once Syria and Israel had agreed to a 10-point framework in late 1995, its representatives held talks at a venue in the United States in early 1996. But, when suicide bombings by radical Islamist Palestinians killed 50 Israelis in late February–early March, Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres [q.v.] demanded that Syria condemn the attacks. Assad replied that these had nothing to do with his country. Peres unilaterally terminated the negotiations with Damascus. The situation remained unchanged during the three years when Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v. ] was Israel's prime minister. Talks resumed after the election of Ehud Barak [q.v.] as Netanyahu's successor. In September 1999, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright backed the Syrian demand for total withdrawal from the Golan Heights. In December Barak met Syrian foreign minister Farouq al–Shaara in Washington. Three months later U.S. President Bill Clinton presented Barak's proposals to Assad in Geneva. These included Israel retaining sovereignty over a narrow strip on the northeastern shore of Lake Tiberias to safeguard its water resources. Assad agreed to give Israel access to the strip but not sovereignty. The talks broke down. Assad died in June.
Three years earlier Assad had begun mending fences with Iraq by resuming economic links with Baghdad which he had been broken in 1980 after Iraq's invasion of Iran. His successor, Bashar Assad continued this policy—with the reopened pipeline between the two neighbors providing Syria with 200,000 barrels of oil per day for domestic consumption, thus making an equivalent amount available for export—as well as sticking to the Syrian position that Israel had to withdraw from all of the Golan Heights in return for total peace and normalization of relations.
Soon after Bashar assumed supreme power in Syria, 99 leading intellectuals demanded an end to the martial law that had been in force since 1963. In response, the government announced that the emergency laws had been suspended. The release of 600 political prisoners on top of another 225, freed by Hafiz Assad in the last days of his rule, still left 1,500 politicians in jail. After the initial surge of liberalization, Bashar Assad slowed down the pace of political reform to placate the old guard in the Baath Party and the military and intelligence services. He maintained the Syrian force of 30,000 in Lebanon. He also continued to let radical Palestinian organizations maintain their head–offices in Damascus.
In the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States by Al Qaida [q.v.], Syria, long opposed to Islamic fundamentalism [q.v.], offered actionable intelligence to Washington, thus thawing its relations with the sole superpower. But since Damascus continued to support Lebanon's Hizbollah [q.v.], America kept Syria on its list of the countries that sponsor international terrorism.
On 1 January 2002, Syria was elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council as a representative of the Arab member–states. It voted for the Security Council Resolution 1441 requiring Iraq to give unimpeded access to UN inspectors charged with locating and destroying Iraq's facilities for making weapons of mass destruction, thus making its adoption unanimous. It did so in order to avoid an invasion of Iraq by the United States which it opposed. The United States and Britain invaded Iraq, nonetheless.
Following the chaos and violence that erupted in postwar Iraq, many Iraqis took refuge in Syria. Their total reached 1.3 million by 2007, creating a huge burden on the government. By then Assad had strengthened further Syria's ties with Iran by signing a mutual defense pact with it in 2006. This became the backbone of the Iran-Syria-Hizbollah nexus, providing a regional counterforce to the United States-Egypt–Saudi Arabia alliance. As such when, in September 2007, Israeli jet fighters demolished a suspected nuclear reactor under construction in northeastern Syria by North Korean technicians, neither Egypt nor Saudi Arabia or any other major Arab country protested.
Assad also forged strong links with Russia which became its chief arms supplier. In 2008 his government signed a deal to let Russia develop and enlarge the naval base in Tartus, with the first stage of modernization, completed within four years, to get the base ready to accommodate heavy Russian warships, including aircraft carriers.
In the region, on the eve of the presidential election in Lebanon in September 2004, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1559 (by 9 notes to nil, with 6 abstentions) to express support for a free and fair presidential election in Lebanon, and called on all foreign troops to leave the country. Assad argued that these troops had been invited by the Arab League [q.v.] to pacify Lebanon in the midst of its long–running civil war.
After the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in Beirut [q.v.] in February 2005, the pro–West 14 March Alliance [q.v.] blamed Syria for the murder. It denied involvement. The UN Security Council set up a commission to investigate the assassination.
The pressure on Syria to withdraw its last soldier form Lebanon intensified. Syria did so in April 2005. A general election followed in Lebanon the next month. Two years later, once the National Assembly had chosen Assad as the sole presidential candidate, its decision was approved by 97.6 percent of the voters in a referendum.
Syria's relations with Lebanon improved. In 2008 the two neighbors established diplomatic relations, thereby according each other parity. The opening of the Syrian Embassy in December was followed by Lebanon reciprocating in March 2009. By paying Assad a visit in December the newly appointed Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri [q.v.] implicitly recognized Syria's special role in his country. By then the U.S. administration of Barack Obama had reversed the policy of its predecessor to isolate and demonize Syria.
Steady improvement in Damascus-Washington relations came to a halt when the wave of Arab unrest reached Syria on 15 March 2011 with residents of the southern town of Deraa protesting the torture of youths who had sprayed anti-government graffiti. The demonstrators demanded release of political prisoners and lifting of the emergency laws dating back to 1963. The killing of three protestors in Deraa led to the protest spreading to other places. Assad ended the emergency rule in mid-April. But by then the anti-regime resistance had intensified in the Sunni–dominated cities of Hama and Homs [q.v.], with the calls for Assad's removal from office. The government resorted to sending tanks into restive areas as security forces and snipers opened fire on demonstrators. Those soldiers who refused to fire on civilians were executed summarily. Small scale defections followed.
On 29 July in a video uploaded on Internet a group of deserters in uniform, led by Colonel Riad Assad, announced the formation of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) with the aims of protecting civilians and overthrowing the Baathist regime. Almost a month later a group of exiled Syrian opposition leaders meeting in Istanbul announced the formation of the Syrian National Council (SNC)[q.v.]. Its funding came from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and a few European countries, including France. It was formally launched on 2 October in Istanbul with its constitution describing toppling the Assad regime as its primary aim.
Two days later at the UN Security Council, a draft resolution strongly condemning "the continued grave and systematic human rights violations and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities" was vetoed by Russia and China. They criticized the document as a preamble to changing the Syrian regime.
When after accepting an Arab League peace plan later that month, Assad stepped up attacks on protestors, the Arab League suspended Syria's membership. In the midst of this turmoil the Syrian government held local elections in December as planned.
In January 2012, by a majority vote, the Arab League urged Assad to step down and hand over power to a deputy to make way for a transition toward democracy. He rejected the call. On 4 February when 13 of the 15 UN Security Council members backed the Arab League plan, Russia and China vetoed it. Russia denounced the document because it made no mention of the killings of the security forces by armed extremists. On 16 February the UN General Assembly passed a non–binding resolution by 137 votes to 12 urging Assad to step down.
Stung by the killing of its 10 soldiers by the FSA in Homs on 3 February, the Syrian government intensified its efforts to seize the four city districts under partial or full control of the FSA. It directed artillery shells and mortars at these districts. After nearly three weeks of besieging the Bab al–Amr, controlled by a battalion of the FSA, on 10 February, the Syrian army launched a ground assault with infantry and recaptured the district which had been vacated by the FSA.
None of this interfered with the government's plan to hold a referendum on 26 February on the new constitution which abrogated the Baath Party's monopoly on power. On a voter turnout of 57 percent, it was approved by nearly 90 percent, according to the official sources. It also implemented its military plan to seize the control of the districts in Homs it had lost to the FSA. It succeeded.
On the first anniversary of the uprisings on 15 March 2012, the death toll of the protestors stood at 7,500 with the security forces having lost nearly 2,100 personnel at the hands of the FSA and other armed dissenters.
On 16 March Kofi Annan, acting as the UN-Arab League's special envoy to Syria, submitted a peace plan to the UN based on the principle of "an inclusive Syrian-led political process to address the legitimate aspirations and concerns of the Syrian people." Its main features were the UN–supervised "cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties"; timely provision of humanitarian assistance to the areas affected by the fighting; release of the arbitrarily detained persons; ensuring freedom of movement for journalists; and respecting he legally guaranteed freedom of association and peaceful demonstrations.
Once the Annan Plan was accepted by Assad, a cease-fire came into effect on 12 April. Monitors of the UNsupervised cease-fire started arriving in May. But the cease-fire started to unravel after about a month as the government tried to recover parts of some towns still controlled by the FSA and the FSA, now equipped with anti–tank missiles supplied by Saudi Arabia and Qatar with the active cooperation of Turkey, increased their attacks on the security forces. As Sunni militants, infiltrated by groups affiliated to Al Qaida [q.v.] resorted to attacking Alawi villages, the Alawi militia, commonly known as Shabiha (Arabic: ghosts), backed by the security forces, retaliated by massacring Sunni villagers, including women and children. In two such instances in the town of Houla near Homs and the hamlet of Mazraat al–Qubair near Hama in late May and early June, nearly 190 Sunnis lost their lives. They introduced the sectarian factor into the worsening crisis.
The situation worsened further in mid-July after the killing of the defense minister and his deputy during a meeting by a bomb triggered by remote control. In a concerted move, the rebels gained control of parts of Damascus and Aleppo. The International Committee of the Red Cross ruled that Syria was in the midst of a civil war. Backed by Russia and Iran, Assad reiterated his resolve to defeat the rebels. Due to lack of popular support in the city neighborhoods they captured, the rebels were often unable to consolidate their gains. The government mounted periodic offensives to regain the lost territory. The stalemate at the UN Security Council continued. Annan decided to step down as the UN–Arab League envoy for Syria at the end of August and was replaced by Lakhdar Ibrahimi.
As the size and importance of Syrian and foreign jihadists rose in the war, the Western powers and Turkey decided not to supply anti–aircraft missiles to the rebels, who continued to be vulnerable to the regime's air strikes. Western leaders feared that such weapons would end up with Islamist extremists and make Western aircraft vulnerable once Syria had gone off the boil. By early September, the conflict had claimed the lives of nearly 20,000 civilians and armed rebels and 8,000 members of the security forces. The ongoing battles between the two sides in Aleppo, Damascus, and Homs [q.v.] raised the death toll.
LEGISLATURE: The 250–member People's Assembly has a tenure of four years. They are elected in 15 multiseat constituencies. In the chamber 169 seats are allocated to the National Progressive Front, consisting of several political parties, led by the Arab Baath Socialist Party, with the rest going to independents. The Assembly chooses the presidential candidate for the presidency, who is approved in a popular referendum. In the 2007 election the Baath Party won 134 seats. By the time the parliamentary poll was conducted under an amended constitution in May 2012, the PNF's membership had increased to 10. Altogether it won 168 seats, with the rest going to the 11 newly formed factions and independents. Among the PNF's constituents, the Baath Party led with 134 seats.
RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION: (2010) Muslim [q.v.], 90 percent, of which Sunni [q.v.] 73 percent, Alawi 12 percent, Druze [q.v.] 3 percent, Ismailis [q.v.] 2 percent; Christian, [q.v.] 9 percent; other, 1 percent.
Syrian Catholic Church: Christian sect As a Uniate Church [q.v.], the Syrian Catholic Church accepts the primacy of the Pope but has retained its Eastern rites and customs. Attempts at reconciling the Syrian Orthodox Church [q.v.] with the Western church, based in Rome, in the mid–13th century failed. But four centuries later some members began to convert to Catholicism [q.v.] while retaining their Liturgy of St. James in Syriac. The office of the Syrian Catholic Patriarch of Antioch was formalized in 1782. Since then the patriarch has been based in Deir Zafran, Sharfe, Aleppo [q.v.], Mardin (Turkey), and Beirut [q.v.].
Syrian National Council: In August 2011 the exiled leaders of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] joined six opposition groups in Istanbul to announce the formation of the Syrian National Council (SNC). Its funding came from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and a few European countries, including France. It was formally launched on 2 October in Istanbul with its constitution describing toppling the Assad regime as its primary aim.
The wide variety of its constituents—political groups, long time exiles living in Europe and North America, grass-roots organizers called Local Coordination Committees which advertised and coordinated demonstrations, and armed militants, divided along ideological, ethnic, or sectarian lines—militated against the SNC devising and implementing a coherent policy and strategy. The fractious constituents elected Burhan Ghalioun, a Paris-based Syrian–French academic president on a monthly basis. His term was renewed with the crucial support of the Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.], the single largest group among the Council's 270 members, which was resolved to keep a low profile so as not to frighten the Western powers.
With many of its officials being Western–based exiles, the SNC had excellent contacts with European and American politicians. Therefore, the SNC quickly succeeded in persuading the United States and the European Union to impose sanctions on Syria. But their appeals for Western military intervention failed. They even had to discard the idea of humanitarian corridors inside Syria because no such resolution could be passed by the UN Security Council due to the opposition of Russia and China.
Serious differences arose among SNC leaders on the question of relationship with the Free Syrian Army. The largely secular, liberal, non–Islamic leaders of the SNC feared the FSA—an amorphous entity consisting of many small groups of army deserters and individual armed dissidents lacking unified command and control—getting Islamized. When SNC leaders refused to arm or fund the FSA, 20 leading Council members resigned in February to form the Syrian Patriotic Group.
After much wavering the SNC accepted the Kofi Annan peace plan, as did the FSA, with the cease-fire going into effect on 12 April 2012. Since then both sides were reported to have violated the cease-fire but not too seriously. On the other hand, the FSA repudiated the cease–fire in late May.
In June, after the rotating presidency had passed to Abdulbaset Saida, a Kurd [q.v.] based in Sweden. He urged fresh defections from the security forces while reaching out to Kurds, Christians [q.v.], Alawis [q.v.], and Druzes [q.v.].
Noting the continued domination of the SNC by the Muslim Brotherhood, and its failure to link up with the rebel factions inside Syria, the United States and Britain discarded their earlier stance of encouraging all anti–regime groups to coalesce around the SNC.
Syrian Orthodox Church: See Orthodox Christians, Syrian.
Syrian Social Nationalist Party (Lebanon): Lebanese political party The Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) emerged in 1947 out of the Syrian Nationalist Party, founded in 1932 by Antun Saadeh [q.v.] with the aim of creating a Greater Syria [q.v.] that could accommodate all the people forming the Syrian nation, which Saadeh described as an ethnic fusion of Canaanites, Akkadians, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Arameans, Hittites, and Metannis.
The SSNP combined opposition to the French Mandate with secularism —including separation of church and state and removal of barriers between various sects and religions—and a state–directed program for modernizing society. The French banned the party in 1935, but it continued to function secretly. In 1938 Saadeh published Nushu al–umam (Arabic: Rise of Nations), in which he argued the case for a unique Syrian identity.
The outbreak of World War II found Saadeh in Latin America on a mission to forge links with the Syrian settlers there. On his return to Lebanon in 1947 he reestablished control over the party, now renamed the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, which derived the majority of its support from the non–Maronite [q.v.] section of the Christian community. Due to his views on an all–embracing Syrian nationalism, he soon clashed with the Lebanese government. He went underground but was allowed to resurface after he had affirmed his acceptance of Lebanon as a sovereign state.
In June 1949 there was fighting in Beirut between the SSNP and the Phalange Party [q.v.], which, the SSNP alleged, had been provoked by the government of Riyadh Solh [q.v.]. The authorities described it as an attempted coup by the SSNP; they arrested 2,000 SSNP members and banned the party. Saadeh fled to Syria. Although received warmly by the Syrian leader Hosni Zaim [q.v.], he was extradited to Lebanon. Following a secret military trial he was executed; and in revenge SSNP militants assassinated Solh two years later. Though much weakened, the party continued to function semi–clandestinely until the lifting of the ban on transnational parties in 1970.
Led by Inaam Raad, the SSNP remained bitterly opposed to the Phalange. When the Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] broke out in April 1975 it allied with the Movement of the Disinherited, led by Musa al–Sadr [q.v.], to form the pro-Syrian Nationalist Front. Habib Tanios Shartuni—who was responsible for blowing up the Phalange headquarters in Beirut in September 1982, killing the president–elect, Bashir Gemayel [q.v.]—was a member of the SSNP, which had by then emerged as a staunch ally of Syria in resisting Israel's ambitions in Lebanon. It became an important element in the anti–Israeli front, conducting guerilla actions against the Israeli troops and their surrogate, the South Lebanese Army (SLA) [q.v.], in southern Lebanon.
After the defeat of Gen. Michel Aoun [q.v.] in October 1990, the SSNP's fighters took over some of the offices of the Phalange, which had backed Aoun. In the national unity government formed two months later, Inaam Raad was appointed minister. The SSNP participated in the 1992 general election.
Later the party's leadership passed to Jibran Araiji. In the 2005 parliamentary election, it won two seats. As part of the 14 March Alliance [q.v.], it retained its two seats in the chamber four years later.
Syrian–Soviet Friendship Treaty (1980): The following factors led Syrian President Hafiz Assad [q.v.] to conclude a 20-year Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union in Moscow in October 1980: the signing of the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.] in 1979, mounting domestic and regional pressures on his regime, and the outbreak of the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.] in September 1980.
It stipulated consultation "in the event of a situation jeopardizing the peace and security of either party." Later it was revealed that the treaty contained a secret clause dealing with the use of atomic weapons by a potential attacker, implying Israel. The treaty boosted Syria's confidence. Later there were unconfirmed reports that Moscow had stockpiled heavy weapons in Syria for use in the event of war between Syria and Israel. However, despite the treaty and Syria's involvement in Lebanon, the Soviet Union reacted passively to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon [q.v.] in June 1982, chiefly because of the rapidly deteriorating health of its leader, Leonid Brezhnev. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the treaty lapsed.
T
Tabriz: Iranian city Population: 1.6 million (2011 est.). Capital of East Azerbaijan province, Tabriz is Iran's fourth–largest city. Known as Tauris in ancient times, it was the capital of Atropaten, named after Atropates, a general of Alexander of Macedonia (r. 336–323 B.C.). Its present name, a derivative of tap riz, meaning heat flow, refers to the hot springs surrounding it. Capital of the Ghazni dynasty, founded by Khan Mahmoud Ghazan (r. 1295–1304), from the late 13th century, Tabriz fell to Tamerlane in 1392. Shah Ismail captured it from the Ottoman Turks in 1501 and founded the Safavid dynasty.
During the Second Russo–Iranian War (1827–1828) it was occupied by the Russians. They reoccupied it during World War I, and stayed until the Bolshevik Revolution in October 1917. During World War II the Soviets occupied the city in 1941, when it became an important link in the transportation of American war materials from Iran's Gulf [q.v.] ports to the Soviet Union by rail.
Tabriz was the capital of the Autonomous Government of Azerbaijan, set up by the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan in December 1945, which lasted a year. It was at the forefront of the revolutionary movement in 197778, by which time it had emerged as an important commercial, industrial, and communications center, producing tractors, motor cycles, cement, textiles, and carpets.
Despite severe earthquakes, the last one in 1780, several of its historical monuments have survived. These include the early-14th-century citadel and the mid-16th–century Blue Mosque, so called because of its stunning blue tile decoration.
Taif Accord (Lebanese): See National Reconciliation Charter 1989 (Lebanon).
Taimur bin Faisal (1885–1956): Sultan of Oman, 1913–32 Born in Muscat [q.v.], Taimur succeeded his father, Faisal, in 1913. He inherited a country mired in a tribal revolt and heavy debts. His attempt to buy peace failed. In 1915 the rebellious tribal leader, Shaikh Isa bin Salim al-Harthi, attacked the coastal region of Muscat-Batinah. Aided by the military of Britain's India government, he repelled the insurgents and regained the coastal region, leaving the interior in the hands of Shaikh Isa al–Harthi.
The subsequent uneasy peace allowed the British Political Agent in Muscat to initiate peace talks in 1918. The resulting Treaty of Sib [q.v.], signed in September 1920 between Taimur and "the people of Oman," recognized the authority of the sultan in external matters and guaranteed freedom of movement to the tribes and urban dwellers. Shaikh Isa al–Harthi, representing the tribal chiefs of the interior, promised not to break the peace or give refuge to wrongdoers from coastal towns. Taimur agreed not to raise taxes on coastal towns above 5 percent of the value of trade.
Since concluding a treaty with Shaikh Isa al–Harthi implied autonomy for the interior, Taimur was reluctant to do so. To overcome his resistance, Britain gave him a loan to repay the debts he had incurred from the coastal traders. However, he defaulted on his loan repayments and let the administrative machinery slacken. The efforts of British civil servants to salvage the situation failed, and in 1932 Britain forced him to abdicate in favor of his son, Said [q.v.].
al–Takfir wal Hijra (Egypt) (Arabic: The Denunciation/Repentance and the Migration): Egyptian Islamic group A clandestine group established in 1972, al–Takfir wal Hijra came to light during the January 1977 rioting that followed the withdrawal of subsidies on daily necessities, when its members attacked nightclubs and bars in Cairo [q.v.]. It was led by Shukri Ahmad Mustafa, an agricultural engineer, who, as a Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] activist, had spent six years in jail (1965–71). Though his followers called themselves al-Gamaat al-Muslimin (Arabic: The Muslim Groups), the authorities pinned the title of al–Takfir wal Hijra on them to sum up their ideology and tactics.
In his manuscript, Al–Tawassumat (Arabic: The Searching Looks), Mustafa called on the faithful to avoid living among infidels, to spread their divine knowledge throughout the land, and to wage a jihad [q.v.] to establish an Islamic order. Arguing that atheists and their state, Egypt, would not be destroyed by Allah while the faithful lived among them, he advised Muslims to migrate and form a pure community along the lines of the Medinese polity of the Prophet Muhammad. Many of Mustafa's followers took to living in the caves and mountains of Minia in southern Egypt, where inter alia they underwent arms training. They were discovered by the security forces in September 1973, only to be pardoned by President Anwar Sadat [q.v.] after the Arab–Israeli War of October 1973 [q.v.].
Since Mustafa considered that religious functionaries were infidels, his followers boycotted prayers led by them, and instead prayed together in their homes. They married among themselves, withdrew their children from state schools, and refused to be drafted into the military. Organized into secret cells, they numbered 3,000 to 4,000 on the eve of the January 1977 riots. The government arrested 60. When the demand of al-Takfir wal Hijra activists to try them or free them was ignored, they forced the issue in July by kidnapping Shaikh Muhammad Hussein al-Dhahabi, a former minister of religious trusts, for writing a newspaper article against their party. When their demand was refused they killed Dhahabi. The subsequent repression led to the trial of 465 members by military courts. Of these, five, including Mustafa, were executed. Many of its members then joined the al-Gamaat al–Islamiya [q.v.]. However, in the mid–1990s, the party revived, and 245 of its members found themselves behind bars in 1996.
Later there were splits in the organization, and some Islamist extremist groups carried out terrorist acts outside of Egypt, particularly in Algeria and Sudan, while using its name.
Talabani, Jalal (1933–): Iraqi Kurdish leader Born into a landowning family in Koy Sanjak, Irbil province, Talabani obtained a law degree from Baghdad University and practiced as a lawyer. A member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) [q.v.] since his late teens he rose to become a member of its politburo. Disagreeing with the accord that the KDP leader, Mustafa Barzani [q.v.], concluded with the Iraqi government in 1964, he quit the KDP and set up an "alternative" KDP in 1966.
After being defeated by Barzani's followers, he fled to Iran, and then to Baghdad [q.v.], where he sided with the government. When the KDP struck a deal with the Baathist [q.v.] regime in March 1970, he returned to its headquarters in Hajj Omran. But he fell out with Barzani again, and left for Beirut [q.v.], where he came under the influence of leftist Palestinian leaders, George Habash [q.v.] and Nayef Hawatmeh [q.v.]. He then moved to Damascus [q.v.] to serve as the KDP's envoy there.
Disagreeing with Barzani's decision to flee to Iran in the wake of the March 1975 Algiers Accord [q.v.], Talabani left the KDP to found the Kurdish Workers League. In mid–1976 it combined with the Social Democratic Movement to form the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) [q.v.] under Talabani's leadership. It gained popular support in the southeast Kurdistan Autonomous Region (KAR) [q.v.], and became a rival to the KDP.
However, the outbreak of the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.] in September 1980 lessened hostility between the two parties as they concentrated on escalating their struggle against Baghdad. Talabani's agreement with the KDP in 1982 to open up all of the KAR to both parties helped the PUK to expand at the KDP's expense. Prodded by Iran, in May 1985 Talabani agreed to cooperate with the KDP. Two years after they sponsored the formation of the Iraqi Kurdistan Front (IKF) [q.v.].
The PUK set up liberated areas along Iraq's borders with Iran. But in the spring and summer of 1988 the Iraqi military recovered these areas, and Talabani and other PUK leaders fled to Syria. After Gulf War II [q.v.], Talabani helped trigger a Kurdish uprising against Baghdad in early March 1991. It was successful, but only briefly. Its crushing by the central government caused an exodus of some 1.5 million Kurdish refugees. The intervention by the Western powers created a safe haven in the KAR.
Following the general election for the KAR Legislative Council in May 1992, Talabani shared power equally with the KDP's Masoud Barzani [q.v.]. Yet the traditional rivalry between the urban-based PUK and the rural-based KDP was far from over. In May 1994 bloody clashes between the two left more than 1,000 people dead. In the seesaw struggle between the two parties, Talabani's PUK gained control of two–thirds of the 3.2 million inhabitants of Kurdistan, including those in Irbil [q.v.], by September 1995. But he lacked the resources to administer them. He turned to Iran for help. That upset Barzani as well as President Saddam Hussein [q.v.], and led to an alliance between the two erstwhile enemies in 1996. Barzani recovered most of the lost area, including Irbil.
The intra–Kurdish fighting undermined Washington's strategy of developing Kurdistan as the base for overthrowing Saddam. It withdrew its agents and funds from the area. Its efforts to conciliate Talabani with Barzani met with only partial success chiefly because Barzani refused to share the hefty customs duties he collected on the illicit export of Iraqi oil to Turkey. After the passage of the Iraq Liberation Act by U.S. Congress in 1998, Talabani found the PUK certified as a faction that was entitled to Washington's military aid. But he did not seek it.
When, after defeating the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001, the U.S. administration of President George W. Bush turned its attention to overthrowing Saddam's government by force, the importance of Talabani as well as Barzani rose. The high point came in August 2002 when he and the leaders of other five recognized Kurdish groups were received in Washington by Vice President Dick Cheney.
Talabani and his party cooperated fully with the Pentagon on the latter's plans to invade Iraq in March 2003. After the downfall of the Saddam Hussein regime, Paul Bremer of the Coalition Provisional Authority appointed Talabani as a member of the Interim Iraqi Governing Council.
In 2004 Talabani allied with the KDP to form the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan (DPAK). In the January 2005 general election, the DPAK won 75 seats in the 275-member Interim National Assembly and 104 places in the 111–member Kurdish Regional Assembly. In April Talabani was elected the interim president of Iraq. In that capacity he played an important role in the drafting of the new constitution.
After the parliamentary election under the new constitution in December 2006, he was elected president for a four–year term. He thus became the head of the presidency council of three, the other two members being a Shia [q.v.] and a Sunni [q.v.]. As such, he tried to act as an honest broker among the feuding factions in the parliament.
In December 2006 he criticized the report of the Iraq Study Group, led by James Baker, a former secretary of state, and Lee Hamilton, a former senior lawmaker, which recommended that the United States should withdraw its soldiers from combat role by 2009. His view prevailed at the White House, and President George W. Bush opted for a surge in U.S. troops in Iraq, raising it to 140,000.
Following the parliamentary elections in 2010, Talabani was reelected president of Iraq. In July 2011 he called a joint meeting of the cabinet and the presidential council to decide whether U. S. troops should stay in Iraq beyond the agreed date of December 2011. The participants decided against extending the presence of U.S. forces.
Talal bin Abdullah al–Hashem (1909–72): King of Jordan, 1951–52 Born in Mecca [q.v.] to Abdullah bin Hussein al–Hashem [q.v.], Talal ascended the throne of Jordan in July 1951 following the assassination of his father. He issued a new constitution on 1 January 1952. It divided legislative power between the monarch and the parliament, consisting of a fully nominated senate and an elected chamber of deputies. His governing style deviated from the paternalism of his father. His rule was brief because he was diagnosed as mentally ill. He was forced to abdicate in favor of his son Hussein [q.v.], a minor, in August 1952 and was committed to a mental clinic in Istanbul, where he died 20 years later.
Taleqani, Mahmoud (1910–79): Iranian Islamic leader Born into a religious Shia [q.v.] family in Taleqan village, Mazandaran province, Taleqani went to Qom [q.v.] for his Islamic studies. After graduating in 1938, he taught at a theological school in Tehran [q.v.]. In 1939 he was jailed for six months for delivering antigovernment lectures—the first of many imprisonments that kept him behind bars for more than 15 years.
During the 1951–53 oil nationalization movement, he backed Premier Muhammad Mussadiq [q.v.]. After the 1953 countercoup by Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.], he was arrested for having once sheltered Navab Safavi, the Fedai Khalq [q.v.] leader. In the early 1960s, in association with Mahdi Bazargan [q.v.], he founded the Liberation Movement of Iran [q.v.]. He was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in January 1964 for participating in the protest movement of June 1963.
Of his many books, Labor and Property in Islam was the best known. In it he argued that since God had created the world for all humankind, and had no intention of dividing up society into exploiting and exploited segments, a classless society is enjoined by Islam [q.v.]. This won him popularity among both Islamic and secular leftists. Known to be close to the Mujahedin–e Khalq [q.v.], he was arrested in June 1977 and charged with assisting an outlawed party. He was tortured. Mounting public pressure during the revolutionary turmoil compelled the shah to release him in November 1978.
With one son active with the Mujahedin-e Khalq and another with the Fedaiyan–e Islam [q.v.], he was well-placed to weld a revolutionary coalition of Islamic and secular opposition forces, and he did so. He was a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Council (IRC), appointed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.] during his stay in Paris. After the revolution in February 1979 he became its chairman.
Following the arrest and torture of his two left–wing sons by the new regime in April, he left Tehran [q.v.] in protest at the return of despotism, but overcame his differences with Khomeini after a meeting with him a few days later. Khomeini appointed him the Friday prayer leader of Tehran, a great religious honor. He became Khomeini's chief trouble–shooter. Due to his intervention much bloodshed was avoided between the regime and the leftist forces, and also between the central government and Kurdish [q.v.] autonomists. He was at ease with both Prime Minister Bazargan and Khomeini, and he was also a bridge between the radical IRC and the moderate Bazargan government.
When it came to interpreting the Sharia [q.v.], he took a position midway between Ayatollah Muhammad Kazem Shariatmadari [q.v.], who forbade intervention by clerics in daily administration, and Khomeini, who wanted an activist role for the clergy in all walks of life. In the framing of the Islamic constitution, Taleqani insisted on a bill of rights for citizens, and stressed the importance of individual freedom. In terms of popular support, which spanned a wide political spectrum, he was second only to Khomeini, upon whom he was a moderating influence. His death in September 1979 deprived the Islamic regime of a much revered mediator and healer.
Talmud (Hebrew: learning) The Talmud is a multivolume compilation of Jewish Oral Law, codified and compiled in Hebrew by Judah HaNassi around 200 A.D., with added commentaries, written in Aramaic, during the next four centuries. Study in ancient academies was conducted orally, and it is not known when the Talmud was first written down.
There are two versions of it: the Palestinian (completed in 400 A.D.) and the Babylonian (completed in 500 A.D.). At 2.5 million words, the later version is three times as long the earlier one. The Babylonian Talmud is the authoritative version. It consists of the text of the Oral Law, Mishna [q.v.], and other collections, including Tosefta; and the Gemara [q.v.], the commentaries on the text. (Sometimes the term Talmud is used for Gemara alone.) When Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, known as Rashi, a leading interpreter of the Hebrew Bible [q.v.] in the 11th century A.D., produced his commentary on the Talmud, the debates summarized in the Gemara became available to Jewish scholars at large. The comments of Rashi and his three grandsons were incorporated into the later versions of the Talmud.
The Babylonian Talmud was first published in Spain around 1482. The standard version, annotated in the 16th century, first appeared in Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1886, followed by 36–volume translations of the Babylonian Talmud into German and English in the 20th century.
The Mishna is divided into six orders and comprises 63 tractates, only 36 of which have commentaries. Though the main purpose of the Gemara was to summarize the rabbinical debates on the interpretation of the Mishna and judicial administration, it became a source of information on a variety of subjects, with its non–legal text called the Haggada (Hebrew: Narrative). In a dialectical fashion, the Talmud presents a piece of legal text followed by various interpretations included in the Gemara and the works of Rashi and his three grandsons.
Devout Jews [q.v.] regard the opinions given by the judges in the Talmud as having the force of law. The Talmud is of major significance to Orthodox [q.v.] and ultra–Orthodox Jews [q.v.], and their rabbis consult it when considering any matter of importance. This is particularly true in Israel.
Tanua LeAhdut HaAvodah (Hebrew: Movement for Labor Unity): Zionist group in Palestine When, in early 1944, David Ben–Gurion [q.v.] proposed to the Histadrut [q.v.] Executive Committee that the delegates chosen for an international trade union conference in London should seek its support for an independent Jewish state in Palestine [q.v.], many leftists disagreed. Those in Mapai [q.v.] left to found the Tanua LeAhdut HaAvoda. Rejecting Mapai's demand for partitioning Palestine, and the HaShomer HaTzair's (Hebrew: The Young Guards) call for a single binational state, the new group opted for a socialist Jewish state in all of Palestine. In 1946 it allied with the left–wing Poale Zion [q.v.].
taqlid (Arabic: to hang around the neck) At first the term applied to the practice of designating a sacrificial animal with a sign around its neck; this was later extended to designating a public official with a badge or chain around his neck. Figuratively, it meant public acceptance, or the traditional way of doing things. In religion it is the opposite of ijtihad [q.v.]. It imitates or rests on the opinions and interpretations of the past clerics of the Quran [q.v.] and the Hadith [q.v.]. See marja–e taqlid.
Tashnak Party (Lebanon) (Armenian: Federation): Lebanese political party The Tashnak, the leading party of Armenian Orthodox Christians [q.v.] in Lebanon, is center–right in its policies. During the 1975–90 Lebanese Civil War [q.v.], while being close to the Phalange Party [q.v.], it insisted on maintaining "positive neutrality." Claiming that they wanted to eradicate gambling dens in the Armenian Orthodox districts in northeast Beirut [q.v.], the Phalangists attacked the area in 1979, but were repulsed by the Tashnak Party's militia. The party stuck to its neutrality, and after the civil war maintained a low profile in the Lebanese politics. It boycotted the parliamentary election in 2005, but joined the Hizbollah [q.v.]–led 8 March Alliance [q.v.] in the 2009 general election and won two seats.
Tehran: capital of Iran (Also spelled Teheran) Population: 8.54 million (2011 est.) Some 60 mi./100 km south of the Caspian Sea and situated at the foot of the Elbruz Mountains, Tehran is the most populous city in the Persian Gulf [q.v.] region. It is near the ancient settlement of Rages and the medieval Persian capital of Rey (now Reyshahar), which was razed by invading Mongols in 1220. It began to thrive during the Safavid rule (1501–1722), but it was not until three years after Aqa Muhammad Khan Qajar (r. 1779–1790), the founder of the Qajar dynasty, had consolidated his rule and conquered Tehran in 1785 that it became the national capital. Modernized by Reza Shah Pahlavi (r. 1925–41) [q.v.], who overthrew the Qajars, the city has expanded and absorbed a large number of migrants from the provinces.
In late 1943 Tehran was the venue for the Allied summit conference between U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Prime Minister Joseph Stalin, when they agreed on the scope and timing of military offensives against Germany and the creation of the United Nations to handle the problems of peace. The participants also declared their respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran.
During the last quarter–century of the reign of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (r. 1941–79) [q.v.], the growth of the city, fueled by rising oil revenue, was dramatic. The contrast became sharper between the affluent districts of the north at the foot of the mountain, and the poor neighborhoods of the south.
Besides being the administrative center, Tehran is also the industrial hub of the country, producing nearly half of its many manufactured goods. Its tourist attractions include the Gulistan, Saadabad, and Maramar Palaces, which were turned into museums after the 1979 Islamic revolution [q.v.]; the Niavaran Palace, the former residence of the shah; the Baharstan Palace, housing the Majlis [q.v.]; and the Sepah–salar Mosque. The latest addition is the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.] on the southern outskirts of the city.
Tehiya (Hebrew: renaissance): Israeli political party Tehiya was formed in 1979 by Moshe Shamir after he had left Likud [q.v.] in protest at the Egypt-ian–Israeli Peace Treaty [q.v.], which involved returning all of Sinai [q.v.] to Egypt and uprooting the Jewish colonists there. Tehiya wanted Israel to assert its sovereignty over the Occupied Territories [q.v.] and accelerate the Jewish settlement program. In the 1984 election it won five seats, and in the 1988 election three. It joined the national unity administration that was formed in 1988, but withdrew in January 1992 in protest at the government's decision to continue to participate in the Middle East peace process [q.v.], initiated by the Middle East Peace Conference [q.v.] in Madrid three months earlier. In the June 1992 election it failed to win any seats.
Tel Aviv–Jaffa: capital of Israel (internationally recognized) Pop. 404,400 (2010 est.)
JAFFA: Claiming lineage from Japheth, son of Noah, Jaffa has over four millennia of history. Ruled in turn by Canaanites, Egyptians, Philistines, Israelites, Persians, Greeks, Assyrians, Maccabaeans, and Romans, it was the see of a bishop in the Christian era. It fell to Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] in 637 A.D., and remained under Muslim rule thereafter, except during 1126–1187 and 1191–1196, when it was held by the Crusaders. Fearing a fresh Crusade, the Cairo–based [q.v.] Mamluke ruler destroyed it. It was not until the late 17th century, under the Ottomans (r. 1516–1918), that Jaffa was revived as a thriving port.
It was captured by the British army during World War I in November 1917. After World War II there was sporadic fighting between the predominantly Arab Jaffa and its Jewish neighbor, Tel Aviv. Within a year of the founding of Israel in 1948, Jaffa was amalgamated with Tel Aviv, and the enlarged entity was called Tel Aviv-Jaffa. With the inauguration of a modern port at Ashdod in 1965, the port of Jaffa, hitherto the second–largest in Israel, was closed.
TEL AVIV: Derivative of Tel Havee (Arabic: Hill of Spring). Established as a Jewish suburb of Jaffa in 1909, Tel Aviv was named after the Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzl's novel Altneuland (German: New Old Land). As the site of a Jewish secondary school opened in honor of Herzl, it started to attract more and more Jewish inhabitants. It became a separate town in 1921. After the Arab–Jewish riots of 1936, the town was provided with port facilities. On the eve of the establishment of Israel in May 1948 there was fighting between Jewish Tel Aviv and Arab Jaffa, which ended with the surrender of Jaffa and the flight of its Arab residents.
The State of Israel was declared in Tel Aviv on 14 May 1948, and the countries that recognized it opened their embassies there. These embassies stayed in Tel Aviv when the Israeli government, the parliament, and all the ministries except defense moved to West Jerusalem [q.v.]. Tel Aviv is the headquarters of almost all Israeli political parties and newspapers. It is the leading commercial and industrial center, employing a larger number of people in industry than any other Israeli city.
Temple Mount: Jewish holy site See Noble Sanctuary.
Terrorism: There is no universally accepted definition of terrorism. In the United States, three official definitions exist. According to the defense department: "Terrorism is the calculated use of violence or the threat of violence to inculcate fear, intended to coerce or intimidate governments or societies as to the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious or ideological." According to the state department, "Terrorism is pre-meditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub–national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience." Finally, according to the justice department, "Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives." None of these match the definition used by the British government in its The Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2000: "The use or threat, for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause of action which involves serious violence against any person or property, endangers the life of any person or creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or section of the public." The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act, 2001, has two separate definitions of terrorism, both of them overlong and complicated.
Since terrorism is an international phenomenon, a globally accepted definition is essential. In the absence of it, the debate about the relationship, if any, between terrorism and resistance to military or colonial occupation remains unresolved. While the list of 22 terrorist groups published by Washington in November 2001 included Lebanon's Hizbollah [q.v.], thus resulting in its assets being frozen in the United States, Lebanon [q.v.] refused to follow its lead, arguing that it distinguished between those organizations which practiced terrorism and those which sought to liberate their occupied countries or territories by all means.
Another important factor in this case was whether a particular terrorist faction had a global reach—an essential pre–requisite used by America to make its list of banned organizations. In the view of the Lebanese government, Hizbollah lacked a global reach.
Not an ideology like fascism, capitalism, socialism, or Islamic fundamentalism [q.v.], terrorism is a method which is open for deployment not only by individuals or groups but also by governments. Indeed, the term entered political vocabulary two centuries ago as part of the "Reign of Terror" or just "The Terror" in 1793–1794, unleashed by the government of the Republic of France established a year earlier by the French revolutionaries, when some 12,000 people were executed as counterrevolutionaries.
In the Middle East [q.v.] the most dramatic example of state terrorism was in Syria. To crush the Islamist–inspired insurrection in Hama [q.v.] in February 1982, the government deployed thousands of troops to quell it. Before order was restored, between 5,000 and 10,000 people, including 1,000 soldiers, lay dead, and a quarter of the historic old city was razed. And the bombing of King David Hotel in Jerusalem [q.v.] by Irgun [q.v.], led by Menachem Begin [q.v.] in April 1946, which killed 96 civilians, including 15 Jews [q.v.], was the first massive terrorist political act of its kind in the Middle East of recent times.
al–Thani, Ahmad bin Ali (1911–78): ruler of Qatar, 1960–72 Son of Shaikh Ali al–Thani [q.v.], Ahmad Thani was born in Doha [q.v.]. Though installed on the throne by the British, he tried to show some independence. In 1961 he led Qatar into the newly formed Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.]. Three years later, yielding to pressure by the National Unity Front [q.v.] and Britain, he appointed an advisory council with the power to issue laws and decrees for "the fundamental principles and basic rules of overall policy."
In April 1970 he promulgated an interim constitution, which, by specifying a largely elected consultative council, marked an important step toward a representative government. However, that left untouched the "rule of four quarters": the first quarter of revenues for the administration, the second for the ruler, the third for the al-Thani princes, and the fourth for economic development. Thani negotiated the ending of the 1916 Anglo–Qatari Treaty [q.v.] and declared Qatar independent in September 1971. Fueled by the proceeds of an oil output of 600,000 barrels per day, his extravagance reached unprecedented proportions. This, and his refusal to establish the advisory council specified by the 1970 constitution, paved the way for a bloodless coup by Prime Minister Khalifa bin Hamad al–Thani [q.v.] in early 1972.
al–Thani, Ali bin Abdullah (1894–1976): ruler of Qatar, 1948–60 Son of Shaikh Abdullah bin Qasim, Thani was born in Doha [q.v.]. With the death in 1947 of his elder brother, Hamad, the heir apparent and deputy ruler, Thani was named to succeed him. His accession to the throne coincided with the extraction of oil on a commercial scale. This allowed him to develop public services and build up economic infrastructure. Being a Wahhabi [q.v.], he moved cautiously in economic and political spheres, while basing the legitimacy of his rule on Islam [q.v.] and refusing to share power. This was unsatisfactory to the British, who made him abdicate in 1960 in favor of his son, Ahmad [q.v.].
al–Thani, Hamad bin Khalifa (1950–): ruler of Qatar, 1995— Born in Doha [q.v.], Thani was educated there. After graduating from the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, Britain, in 1971, he joined the Qatari military as a major. Four years later he was promoted to major-general and appointed commander-in–chief of the armed forces. After being named crown prince in May 1977, he was put in charge of the defense ministry. He continued his program of modernizing the military; and in his additional role as president of the Higher Planning Council he started modernizing the state infrastructure. By the early 1990s he was involved in determining major domestic and foreign policies.
Under his leadership the Qatari military joined the Washington–led coalition against Iraq in Gulf War II [q.v.]. But in 1994 he reconciled Qatar with Iraq while Saudi Arabia, leader of the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.], was still hostile toward it. By reviving Qatar's border dispute with Riyadh, he tried to reassert his country's independence. In June 1995 while his father, Shaikh Khalifa bin Hamad al–Thani [q.v.], was in Geneva, Switzerland, he staged a bloodless coup and ascended the throne.
At home he ended censorship of the media, and communicated with the press, explaining government policies. In 1996 he sponsored the establishment of the partially state-funded Al–Jazeera television [q.v.], giving it as much editorial freedom as was accorded to the British Broadcasting Corporations by the British government.
In order partly to establish Qatar's individuality in the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.], dominated by Saudi Arabia, he pursued policies that differed radically from Saudi Arabia's. He established trade ties with Israel and improved relations with Iraq as well as Iran. He mediated successfully in Lebanon to reconcile opposing camps. He offered funds for the reconstruction of southern Lebanon after the Israeli-Hizbollah War of 2006 [q.v.].
Thani held the first direct election to the nationwide Municipal Council on the basis of universal franchise in 1999. The following year Qatar became chair of the Islamic Conference Organization [q.v.] but only after it had closed down the Israeli trade office in Doha.
In 2002, when popular sentiment in Saudi Arabia turned against the military presence of the United States, dating back to the 1991 Gulf War, in the Saudi kingdom, Shaikh Hamad al-Thani allowed the Pentagon to shift most of its military hardware and personnel to Qatar's al-Udaid air base. During the run-up to the Anglo–American invasion of Iraq in March 2003 [q.v.], he permitted the Pentagon's Central Command to set up a forward base at al–Saliyah Camp near Doha.
Buoyed by the ballooning income from natural gas and oil, he started playing an important role in regional affairs. After the Israeli–Hizbollah War [q.v.] in 2006, he stepped forward to help financially all those who had lost their homes and businesses. In May 2008 he mediated successfully between the rival camps in Lebanon and thus helped avert the possibility of full–scale civil war. When the Arab League [q.v.] headquarters refused to hold an emergency session of Arab leaders during the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip [q.v.] in December 2008–January 2009, he hosted a meeting of 13 Arab leaders in Doha.
He resorted to using the hugely popular Al–Jazeera TV's Arabic channel to advance Qatar's foreign policy. During the 2011 Arab Spring [q.v.], he and his TV channel backed the popular uprisings, except in Bahrain. He became one of the vociferous supporters of the opposition to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad [q.v.].
In 2011, Forbes magazine put his personal net worth at $2.5 billion. Early the following year, as head of the Qatar Museums Authority, his daughter Sheikha Mayassa bint Hamad al-Thani paid a record–breaking $250 million for Paul Cezanne's painting The Card Players.
al–Thani, Khalifa bin Hamad (1930–): ruler of Qatar, 1972–95 Son of Shaikh Hamad bin Abdullah, the heir apparent who died before his father, Thani was born in Doha [q.v.]. He started his administrative career as director of police and internal security, moved to education, and graduated to running the ministry of finance and petroleum affairs before being appointed prime minister and deputy ruler.
He staged a palace coup in February 1972 to seize the throne, fearing that his uncle, Shaikh Ahmad [q.v.], would nominate his son, Abdul Aziz, to succeed him. Thani appointed a fully nominated advisory council of 20 members, with the power to advise the cabinet only on matters referred to it by him. He abolished the practice of allocating a quarter of the state's revenue to the personal account of the ruler. But by giving 10 of the 15 ministries to his brothers and sons, he consolidated his power. He directed the process of modernization stimulated by the boom in oil production, which brought in revenue of $5.4 billion in 1980, making Qatar's per capita income one of the highest in the world. He backed Iraq in the 1980–88 Iran–Iraq War [q.v.] financially. He was a cofounder of the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.] in 1981. While continuing to rule by decree, he periodically expanded the advisory council. He joined the Washington–led coalition against Iraq in Gulf War II [q.v.].
In June 1995, during his trip to Switzerland, he was overthrown in a bloodless coup by his son, Hamad bin Khalifa [q.v.], whom he had appointed crown prince in 1977. He went into exile first in Abu Dhabi [q.v.] and then France. He was allowed to return to Qatar in 2004.
al–Thani dynasty: The progenitor of the al–Thani dynasty was Shaikh Thani bin Muhammad, who belonged to the Bani Tamim tribal confederation's Mudari tribe of Wahhabi [q.v.] persuasion, which had migrated to Qatar in the 18th century. After being under the authority of the al–Khalifas [q.v.] of Bahrain, the al-Thanis, led by Shaikh Qasim bin Muhammad, found themselves installed as the ruling family by the British in the 1860s. They maintained their preeminence during the Ottoman suzerainty (1872–1916). The collapse of the Ottoman Empire brought Qasim's son, Shaikh Abdullah al-Thani (1876–1948), closer to the British, who cosigned the 1916 Anglo–Qatari Agreement [q.v.]. He was succeeded by his son, Shaikh Ali al–Thani (1894–1976) [q.v.], who in 1960 abdicated in favor of his son, Shaikh Ahmad (1911–78) [q.v.]. In a bloodless coup in 1972 Shaikh Ahmad was replaced by his first cousin, Shaikh Khalifa bin Hamad al–Thani [q.v.]. The al-Thani clan was about 1,500–strong in the late 1990s.
Tigris River: Known in biblical times as Hiddekil, the Tigris River rises in the mountains of eastern Turkey and flows roughly 1,180 mi./1,900 km in a southeasterly direction through northern Syria and Iraq, where it joins the Euphrates River [q.v.] about 120 mi./190 km from the Persian Gulf [q.v.]. It provides irrigation for the fertile plain of Mesopotamia [q.v.], a cradle of civilization.
Tiran Strait: Situated between Egypt's Sinai Peninsula [q.v.] and Saudi Arabia, the Strait of Tiran lies at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, at the end of which is the Israeli port of Eilat, the country's only opening to the sea east of the Suez Canal [q.v.]. Following the 1956 Suez War [q.v.], a UN Emergency Force (UNEF) [q.v.] was stationed at Sharm el Shaikh at the mouth of the Strait to ensure its status as an international waterway. During the crisis preceding the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], Egypt asked the UN secretary–general to remove UNEF from Sharm el Shaikh. Once this was done, Egypt closed the straits to Israeli shipping. This escalated the crisis, which culminated in a war with devastating preemptive Israeli air attacks on Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.
Titles, Religious: (beginning with the highest rank)
(1) CHRISTIANITY [q.v.]
Catholic [q.v.]:
Pope
Cardinal
Patriarch
Archbishop/Primate
Bishop
Priest (often addressed as Father)
Deacon (often addressed as Father)
ORTHODOX [q.v.]:
Armenian Orthodox [q.v.]:
Patriarch
Archbishop/Primate
Bishop
Priest
Deacon
Greek Orthodox [q.v.]:
Ecumenical Patriarch
Patriarch
Metropolitan
Archbishop
Bishop
Archimandrite
Priest
Other Orthodox denominations fall into one of the above hierarchies.
Protestant [q.v.]:
Archbishop/Primate
Bishop
Dean
Provost
Archdeacon
Canon
Priest (often addressed as Reverend)
Deacon (often addressed as Reverend)
(2) ISLAM [q.v.]
Shia [q.v.]:
Hazrat (Arabic: Threshold; a title accorded to a prophet)
Nabi (Arabic: Apostle; a title accorded to a prophet)
Marja–e taqlid (Arabic: Source of emulation)
Ayatollah Ozma (Arabic: Grand sign of Allah)
Ayatollah (Arabic: Sign of Allah)
Hojatalislam (Arabic: Proof of Islam)
Thiqatalislam (Arabic: Trust of Islam)
Mullah (derivation of Mawla; Arabic: Master or learned man)
Shaikh (Arabic: old man; a title accorded to a senior man of power)
Sayyid (Arabic: Lord or Prince; a hereditary title accorded to a male descendant of the Prophet Muhammad)
haajj/haji: (Arabic/Persian: one who has performed the hajj [q.v.])
These titles are not mutually exclusive.
Sufi [q.v.]:
Hazrat (Arabic: Threshold; a title accorded to a prophet)
Qutb (Arabic: Pivot)
Pir (Persian: Guide)
Ishan (Persian: a title of respect; accorded to a spiritual guide)
Murshid (Arabic: Guide)
Shaikh (Arabic: old man; a title accorded to a senior man of power)
These titles are not mutually exclusive.
Sunni [q.v.]:
Hazrat (Arabic: Threshold; a title accorded to a prophet)
Nabi (Arabic: Apostle; a title accorded to a prophet)
Mahdi (Arabic: One who is guided by Allah)
Mujtahid (Arabic: One who practices interpretative reasoning/equivalent to Ayatollah)
Shaikh-al–Islam (Arabic: Wise man of Islam)
Mufti al–Azam (Arabic: Grand deliverer of fatwas, religious rulings)
Mufti (Arabic: One who delivers fat–was, religious rulings)
Qadi (Arabic: Religious judge)
Shaikh (Arabic: old man; a title accorded to a senior man of power)
Maulana/Maulavi (derivation of Mawla; Arabic: Master or learned man)
Sayyid (Arabic: Lord or Prince; a hereditary title accorded to a male descendant of the Prophet Muhammad)
haajj/hajji: (Arabic: One who has performed the hajj [q.v.])
These titles are not mutually exclusive.
Titles, Secular: (in alphabetical order)
Emir (Arabic: Commander or Prince)
Emira (Arabic: Princess)
Fakhamah al–Rais (Arabic: His Excellency)
Jalalah al–Malik (Arabic: His Majesty)
Khan (Turkish: Chieftain or Ruler)
Malik (Arabic: King)
Malika (Arabic: Queen)
Mirza (Persian: Son of Prince; a title accorded to a noble man)
Pasha (Turkish: Grandee or Governor)
Shah (Persian: King)
Shaikh (Arabic: old man; a title accorded to a senior man of power)
Shaikha (Arabic: old woman; a title accorded to a senior woman of power)
Shahbanu (Persian: Queen)
Shah-en–Shah (Persian: King of Kings)
Sultan (Arabic: Ruler)
Torah (Hebrew: law, precept): Torah is the Hebrew name given to the first five books of the Old Testament [q.v.]: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It is also known as the Written Law, the Law of Moses, and the Pentateuch (Greek: Five Books). Tradition has it that it was given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai during the wanderings of the Israelites in the Sinai Peninsula [q.v.] between ca 1290 B.C. and ca 1250 B.C. Strictly speaking, the Torah is the written text of the Pentateuch. Broadly speaking, though, it covers both the written text and the detailed oral exposition conveyed to Moses, known in Judaism [q.v.] as the Oral Law.
Torah Religious Front: Israeli political party The Torah Religious Front is the name given to the alliance formed periodically by Agudat Israel [q.v.] and Poale Agudat Israel [q.v.] on the eve of a general election. These parties did so in 1955 and again in 1973, winning respectively six and five seats in the Knesset [q.v.].
Despite its modest size, it ranked fourth in the 1973 Knesset, dominated by Labor Alignment [q.v.] and Likud [q.v.]. After the split in the Front, the three-member Agudat Israel succeeded in bringing about the downfall of the Labor Alignment–led coalition in late 1976 by getting a noconfidence motion passed against it following the Israeli Air Force's breach of the Sabbath [q.v.].
Touma, Emile (1918–85): Palestinian writer and politician Born into a Greek Orthodox [q.v.] middle–class family in Haifa [q .v.], Touma moved to Jerusalem [q.v.] for his university education. He joined the Communist Party of Palestine (CPC) [q.v.] in 1939, then left it four years later for the Arab–dominated League of National Liberation (LNL), which spawned the Federation of Arab Trade Unions and Labor Societies. He founded the party journal Al–Ittihad (Arabic: The Unity). In line with the Soviet Union's decision to back partition of Palestine [q.v.] in late 1947, he remained in Israel after its establishment in May 1948.
In October when Maki [q.v.] was formed by a merger of the CPC and the remnants of the LNL, Touma became one of its leaders. He continued to edit Al–Ittihad. Following the publication in Arabic of his book The March of the Arab Peoples and the Problems of Arab Unity, he was awarded a doctorate in history by the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies.
When Maki split in 1965, Touma joined Rakah [q.v.], which was recognized by the international department of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union two years later. He was often the party's chief representative at international gatherings. He was active, both as a journalist and an author, in promoting the national rights of Palestinians in Israel and abroad. His views on the subject were summarized in his Sixty Years of the National Movement in Palestine (in Arabic), published in 1978. As secretary of the Arab People's Conference in Support of the Palestine Revolution, he called a congress in December 1980, which was banned by the Israeli government.
His death five years later was widely mourned by Israeli Arabs [q.v.] irrespective of their party affiliations. The next year the Emile Touma Institute for Palestinian and Israeli Studies was established in Haifa in his memory.
Trablus: See Tripoli.
Transition Law, 1949 (Israel): In February 1949 the Constituent Assembly, resulting from an election held on 25 January by the provisional government of Israel, passed the Transition Law. It declared Israel a republic, to be headed by a president, elected by a simple majority for a five–year term by the Knesset [q.v.], a single–chamber house of 120 deputies. The Knesset was to be elected by adult franchise under a system of proportional representation, the leader of the largest group being invited by the president to become the prime minister and form the government, which would exercise full executive powers. Having passed the Transition Law, and having decided to postpone indefinitely a written constitution, the Constituent Assembly transformed itself into the Knesset.
Transjordan: Transjordan was the name given in July 1922 to the region east of the Jordan River [q.v.] in what had previously been southern Syria, now occupied for more than a year by Abdullah bin Hussein al–Hashem [q.v.]. In May 1923, after Britain had recognized Emir Abdullah's rule and promised him an annual subsidy, it became the autonomous Emirate of Transjordan. He was required to establish a constitutional regime. He agreed, and declared Transjordan "independent." Almost five years passed before Abdullah had promulgated a constitution, which stipulated that legal and administrative authority should be exercised by the ruler through a legislative council. He then signed the Anglo–Transjordanian Treaty (1928), which required him to formulate a common foreign policy with Britain, and allow the stationing of British forces on its soil in exchange for a British guarantee to protect Transjordan against foreign attack. A British resident, by whose advice Abdullah agreed to be guided, was then appointed.
After Transjordan acquired independence in May 1946, Abdullah assumed the title of king and renamed his realm the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. See also Jordan.
Treaty of Frontier and Good Neighborly Relations (Iran–Iraq, 1975): On 6 March 1975 Iraq's vice president, Saddam Hussein [q.v.], and Iran's king, Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.], signed an accord in Algiers, Algeria. They agreed to delimit their fluvial boundaries along the Shatt al–Arab [q.v.] according to the thalweg line (the median line of the deepest channel), and to end all infiltrations of a subversive nature. The latter provision applied chiefly to the Iranian–backed Kurdish insurgency against the Iraqi government. The Treaty of Frontier and Good Neighborly Relations, based on the Algiers Accord, was signed in Baghdad on 13 June and ratified by both parties on 17 September 1975.
A joint commission was appointed to demarcate the new land border in Iran's Qasr–e Shirin area in the light of Iraq's claim that Iran retained territory in contravention of the 1913 Protocol of Constantinople [q.v.] and the concession Iraq had made on the Shatt al-Arab boundary, having so far claimed the full waterway as its territory. Overall, the treaty signified a victory for Iran as it incorporated the Iranian demand, made over 60 years before, that the thalweg principle should be applied to the Shatt al-Arab frontier. Harassed and exhausted by the Iranian–backed Kurdish insurgency, the Iraqi regime conceded the Iranian demand.
However, on 17 September 1980, accusing Iran of violating the 1975 treaty by intervening in Iraq's domestic affairs by backing and financing the leaders of the revived Kurdish insurgency, and by refusing to return to Iraq the border territories in the Qasr-e Shirin area it had retained in contravention of the 1913 Protocol of Constantinople, President Saddam Hussein abrogated the treaty forthwith. Tearing up Iraq's copy of the document on television, he claimed that Iraq had thereby regained full sovereignty over the Shatt al-Arab. He insisted that henceforth any Iranian ships using the waterway must engage Iraqi pilots and fly the Iraqi flag. Tehran refused. On 22 September 1980 Iraq invaded Iran, starting the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.], which lasted until August 1988.
During the talks that followed the truce, Iran blocked any United Nations moves to survey the Shatt al–Arab to assess the work needed to clear it of sunken vessels and unexploded mines, arguing that, according to the 1975 treaty, cleaning up the waterway was the joint responsibility of the signatories. Iraq said that the treaty contained four principles: noninterference in the internal affairs of the signatories; cessation of Iran's aid to the Iraqi Kurds [q.v.]; the return by Iran of the territory due to Iraq according to the 1913 Protocol; and delineation of the fluvial border along the mid-channel of the Shatt al-Arab. Violation of any one of these principles—such as the gross interference by Iran in Iraq's domestic affairs that, Iraq claimed, started soon after the 1979 Islamic revolution [q.v.]—invali–dated the whole treaty. Iran argued that the treaty dealt primarily with boundaries, and could not be abrogated unilaterally. The matter remained unresolved until Iraq's occupation of Kuwait in early August 1990. In a letter to Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani [q.v.] on 14 August, reversing his previous stand, Saddam Hussein agreed to abide by the 1975 treaty.
Treaty of Iran–Iraq Frontier (1937): Signed on 4 July 1937, the Treaty of Iran–Iraq Frontier confirmed the land boundaries as set out in the 1913 Protocol of Constantinople [q.v.], confirmed in 1914, but amended slightly the fluvial frontier along the Shatt al–Arab [q.v.]. Iraq conceded the thalweg—the median line of the deepest channel—principle for four miles opposite Abadan [q.v.], which housed an oil refinery of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC). The treaty stated that the Shatt al–Arab was open for navigation to all the countries of the world. Even though the treaty was between the sovereign states of Iran and Iraq, independent since 1932, it took ample note of the diplomatic and commercial interests of Britain, the leading foreign power in both countries, which dominated both APOC and the Iraq Petroleum Company, which had struck oil in northern Iraq in 1927.
Treaty of Good Neighborly Relations (Iran-Iraq, 1949): Following the conclusion of the Treaty of Good Neighborly Relations in 1949, a supplement to the Treaty of Iran–Iraq Frontier (1937) [q.v.], mutual ties were raised to ambassadorial level.
Treaty of Jeddah (Anglo-Saudi, 1927): The May 1927 Treaty of Jeddah formalized relations between Britain and Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al–Saud [q.v.] after he had declared himself King of Hijaz [q.v.] and Sultan of Najd [q.v.] and its Dependencies in 1926. London recognized Abdul Aziz al–Saud and his realm, and he in turn accepted Britain as the protector of Oman and the principalities in the Gulf [q.v.].
Treaty of Lausanne (1923): After the Turks under Mustafa Kemal had rejected the Treaty of Sèvres [q.v.] and defeated the Greeks in their attempt to conquer western Turkey, there were negotiations between Turkey and the Allies of World War I (Belgium, Britain, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Romania, and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes [later Yugoslavia]), resulting in the Treaty of Lausanne, signed on 23 July 1923. Turkey renounced its claims to the non–Turkish provinces of the Ottoman Empire, and the Allies confirmed Turkish sovereignty over Anatolia. A convention dealing with the interests of the powers in the Bosphorus Straits, including the Soviet Union, was signed on the same day, and added to the Treaty of Lausanne. It specified freedom of navigation for merchant ships of all nations in war and peace, and for warships of the powers in the straits in peace as well as the war, in which Turkey remained neutral.
Treaty of Muhammara (Najdi–Iraqi, 1922): The Treaty of Muhammara was signed in May 1922 to demarcate the border between Iraq and Najd [q.v.] (later Saudi Arabia). Later a neutral zone was created between the two countries according to the Protocol of Uqair [q.v.].
Treaty of Muslim Friendship and Arab Fraternity (Saudi-North Yemeni, 1934): After a six-week war in March-April 1934, North Yemen and Saudi Arabia signed the Treaty of Muslim Friendship and Arab Fraternity in May. The conflict had occurred in the wake of the failure of talks between the two sides in 1933 following attempts by North Yemen's Imam Yahya Hamid al-Din in 1931–32 to reassert his authority among the tribes around the fringes of his mountain heartland in the reigns of Najran, Asir, and Tihama. Having overpowered the North Yemenis and captured Hodeida port, the Saudis accepted a cease-fire mainly because British, French, and Italian warships rushed to Hodeida, intent on curbing Saudi expansionism. The treaty, signed in Taif, Saudi Arabia, returned to Imam Yahya nearly half of the area he had lost in the war, including the southern part of the Ti–hama coastal plain, leaving the upland Najran and Asir in Saudi hands.
Treaty of Sèvres (1920): Signed on 10 August 1920 between Ottoman Sultan Muhammad VI's prime minister, Damad Ferid, and the victors of World War I, the Treaty of Sèvres— based on the 30 October 1918 Mudros Armistice, which was tantamount to an unconditional surrender on the part of the Ottomans—required the dismemberment not only of the Ottoman Empire but also of its nucleus, the Turkish heartland of Anatolia. The partitioning of Anatolia included turning the southeastern region, then containing the province of Mosul [q.v.], into an autonomous territory, with the prospect of full independence if recommended by the League of Nations, formed in January 1920. Rejected by the Turkish parliament, led by Mustafa Kemal, it was superseded by the Treaty of Lausanne [q.v.] on 23 July 1923.
Treaty of Sib (1920): The Treaty of Sib [q.v.], brokered by the British political agent in Muscat [q.v.] and signed in September 1920 between Sultan Taimur bin Faisal [q.v.] and "the people of Oman," who were represented by Shaikh Isa bin Salim al–Harthi, recognized the authority of the sultan in external matters and guaranteed freedom of movement to the tribes and urban dwellers. As leader of the tribal chiefs of the interior, Shaikh Isa promised not to break the peace or give refuge to wrongdoers from coastal towns, and Sultan Taimur agreed not to raise taxes on coastal towns above 5 percent of the value of trade. The treaty implied autonomy for the interior, though its extent was not specified and became contentious in the 1950s.
tribalism: Based on common descent, a tribe (Arabic: qabilah) is a political organization above the levels of extended family (Arabic: faghaz) and clan (Arabic: masheer), and maintains its cohesiveness through blood solidarity. In the Arab world, tribes are often classified as noble or common. Tribes of the same category often combine to form federations or confederations. In Syria in the 1950s, the average size of a tribal federation, containing two to five tribes, was 30,000. Nationally, only one–seventh of the Syrian population was then organized along tribal lines. By contrast, most of the people in the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.] were thus organized. There were about 25 major tribal federations in the peninsula, including Anaiza [q.v.], Awazim, Harb, Mutair, Qahtan, Rashid, and Utaiba. Due to the migrations of the past, tribal relationships exist across present–day national boundaries.
There are today about 40 tribes or tribal federations in Saudi Arabia. The House of Saud [q.v.] belongs to the Ruwalla tribe (originally from Syria) of the Anaiza tribal federation of Najd [q.v.], Iraq, and Syria. The members of this federation are considered noble, due to their claim to lineal descent from Yaarab, the eponymous father of all Arabs [q.v.]. Common (or non–noble) tribal federations such as the Awazim, dating back to the 15th century in the Najd area, were only Arabized by intermarrying with noble lines. Tribal origins and loyalty are of great importance in recruitment to the National Guard [q.v.].
In Oman the struggle between the coast and the interior is rooted in tribalism. It basically revolves around two tribal confederations: one chiefly Ibadhi [q.v.], originally from Yemen and led by Bani Hina (also called Hinawi); the other largely Sunni [q.v.], originally from northern Arabia.
As monarchies, often with long–established ruling families, the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) [q.v.]—including the United Arab Emirates, composed of seven principalities—are strongly influenced by tribal considerations.
In North Yemen, the leading Hashid and Bakil confederations are the descendants of the Hamdan federation which embraced Islam [q.v.] soon after its inception. When the Hamid al-Din family, a branch of the original al–Rassi dynasty of the ninth century A.D., took over the reins of power in 1891, it largely succeeded in gaining the support of the Hashid and Bakil confederations. After Imam Ahmad bin Yahya [q.v.] failed to provide safe conduct for the leader of the Hashid confederation in 1960, he lost the support of the key tribes. This weakened his position and paved the way for the overthrow of the monarchy.
Following the establishment of the republic and the end of the civil war [q.v.] in 1970, the leaders of the Hashid and Bakil confederations, accounting for some 40 percent of the national population, continued to wield much power. Shaikh Abdullah Hussein al–Ahmar [q.v.], leader of the Hashid confederation, used his 50,000–strong militia to secure a position of authority in the central government. President Ahmad Hussein Ghashmi [q.v.] belonged to the Hashid confederation, as did his successor, Ali Abdullah Saleh (r. 19782012) [q.v.]. This enabled Saleh to mobilize the hitherto pro–Saudi Hashid tribal leaders against Riyadh when skirmishes took place between North Yemeni and Saudi troops in October 1979. When Hashid tribal leaders turned against Saleh during the Arab Spring [q.v.] of 2011, his fate was sealed.
In South Yemen the Marxist National Liberation Front [q.v.] and its successor, the Yemen Socialist Party [q.v.], mounted repeated campaigns against tribalism, which succeeded to some extent. But in the periodic internecine fighting among government and party leaders, tribal affiliations counted as much as ideology.
The Iraqi Baathist Party [q.v.] took detribalizing steps after assuming power in 1968. It outlawed the use of surnames in order to mask the tribal or geographical origins of citizens. Hence Saddam Hussein [q.v.] stopped using his surname, al–Tikriti, derived from the town of Tikrit. But under extreme pressure in the wake of Iraq's defeat in Gulf War II [q.v.], he successfully appealed to the loyalties of Sunni [q.v.] tribes, and survived.
After the Anglo–American invasion of Iraq [q.v.] in 2003, the importance of the Sunni tribal leaders rose. Angered and dispirited by the loss of power that Sunnis had enjoyed in Iraq since 1638 under the rule of Sunni Ottoman Turks, many of them allied with Al Qaida in Mesopotamia (AQM) [q.v.] to resist the Anglo–American occupiers. But, as the AQM started terrorizing those Sunnis who did not cooperate with it and mounted a series of lethal suicide attacks on large gatherings of Shias [q.v.], Sunni tribal chieftains became disillusioned with it. Encouraged and funded by the Pentagon, they set up Awakening Councils in the Sunni areas that worked in tandem with the U.S. forces from 2007 onward against the AQM. They also ended their earlier boycott of the electoral process and thus gained some bargaining power.
Tripartite Agreement (Anglo-Soviet–Iranian, 1942): This agreement was signed by Iran, Britain, and the Soviet Union in January 1942, following the occupation of Iran by British and Soviet troops in August 1941. It limited the Iranian army's role to one of maintaining internal security. It described the United States as an adjunct to Britain in the task of delivering supplies to the Soviet Union through Iran. It specified that the occupying troops would vacate Iran within seven months of the end of the war against the last member of the Axis Powers.
Tripartite Declaration (Anglo-American-French, 1950): The purpose of the Anglo-American-French declaration on the Middle East on 25 May 1950 was threefold: to help the United States coordinate its sale of weapons to Israel with Britain and France, the region's traditional arms suppliers, according to the treaties they had signed with the Arab states; to outline the basic stance of the three leading Western powers concerning the principal problems of the region; and to pave the way for a regional defense pact. The document proclaimed the signatories' resolve to uphold the armistice boundaries agreed by Israel and its Arab neighbors in 1949, and pledged to sell Israel and the Arab states enough arms to help them meet their "legitimate needs for self–defense," and allow them to play their part in the defense of the region "as a whole." It set the scene for the creation of a regional defense treaty led by the Western powers. The three cosignatories and Turkey put forward to Egypt a proposal for a Middle East Defense Command centered round the Suez Canal [q.v.] base. Egypt rejected the plan. But the Western powers persevered, and the concept finally emerged as the Baghdad Pact [q.v.] in February 1955.
Tripoli: Lebanese city Population: 500,000 (2011 est.). Known in Arabic as Trabulus al-Sham, Eastern Tripoli, in contradistinction to Trabulus al-Gharb, Western Tripoli, in Libya, Tripoli is Lebanon's second-largest city, with a recorded history of over two-and-a–half millennia.
Ruled in turn by the Persians, Greeks, and Romans, it fell to Muslim [q.v.] Arabs [q.v.] in 638 A.D. During the Crusades (1095–1272) it again changed hands and thrived as a seat of Christianity [q.v.] and learning, and as a trading center. It declined dramatically under the rule of the Cairo-based Mamlukes (1250–1517). Under the Ottomans (1517–1918) a new settlement, constructed a few miles inland, was linked to the old port. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, France, the mandate power in the region, incorporated it into Greater Lebanon (later the Republic of Lebanon) in 1920. During World War II it was liberated from the pro-German Vichy–based French government by the British and Free French forces in 1941.
Part of the Sunni Muslim [q.v.]–majority region of northern Lebanon, it was a leading center of the forces opposed to President Camille Chamoun [q.v.] in the brief Lebanese Civil War [q.v.] of 1958. In the long Civil War of 1975–90 [q.v.], it joined the pro–Syrian, predominantly Muslim camp. After the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] had been expelled from Beirut [q.v.] by the Israelis during their invasion of Lebanon in 1982 [q.v.], PLO leader Yasser Arafat [q.v.] tried to establish PLO headquarters in Tripoli, but failed due to the opposition of the Syrian forces occupying most of northern Lebanon.
Despite these political upheavals, the importance of Tripoli as the terminus of an oil pipeline from Iraq and as a leading commercial and industrial center, has remained unimpaired. Its tourist attractions include the ruins of an old cathedral and castle; the Great Mosque built to celebrate victory over the last of the Crusaders; the Teinal Mosque, completed in 1336; and the Tower of the Lions, erected in the late 15th century.
Trucial States: The Trucial States in the Lower Gulf [q.v.] included the principalities of Abu Dhabi [q.v.], Ajman, Dubai [q.v.], Fujaira, Ras al–Khaima [q.v.], Sharjah [q.v.], and Umm al–Qaiwan. By 1892, having signed exclusive agreements with London, the rulers of these emirates conducted their foreign affairs through Britain, which appointed a political officer to the capital of each of the emirates. In 1952 Britain established the Trucial States Council (TSC), consisting of the rulers of the seven emirates, with its Development Office acting as its executive. The next year Britain replaced the local political officers with a political agent based in Sharjah, and set up the Trucial Oman Scouts, a central military force charged with maintaining peace among the emirates. The TSC met regularly to discuss common problems.
With oil revenues beginning to grow in the 1960s, especially in Abu Dhabi, London's financial grants declined. In 1968 Britain initiated talks about the formation of an Arab Gulf Federation after its withdrawal in December 1971. At a TSC meeting in July 1971 it was announced that all the states except Ras al–Khaima had agreed to form a federation prior to the departure of the British from the region. This federation was named the United Arab Emirates.
Trumpeldor, Joseph/Yosef (1880–1920): Zionist leader in Palestine Born into a religious Jewish family in the southern Russia town of Pyatigorsk, Trumpeldor was drafted into the Tsarist military. He was severely injured at the Port Arthur front line in the 1904–05 Russo–Japanese War. When he had recuperated he returned to the front and was captured. After his release in 1906, he returned to Russia, where he became the first Jewish commissioned officer in the army. During his law studies at St. Petersburg University he organized a Zionist [q.v.] student body.
In 1912 he migrated to Palestine [q.v.], and joined the Degania kibbutz. At the start of World War I in 1914, when he tried to leave for Russia, the Ottoman authorities deported him to Egypt. There he worked with Vladimir Jabotinsky [q.v.] to form Jewish battalions. In 1915 he served as second-in–command of the Zion Mule Corps, part of the British forces, on the Gallipoli front. After the dissolution of this corps, he traveled to London to form Jewish battalions in the British army.
After the February 1917 revolution in Russia he returned to his homeland, where he set up the HeHaltuz (Hebrew: The Pioneer) organization to prepare Jewish youth for migration to Palestine. In late 1919 he returned to Palestine. In January 1920 the Jewish settlements in Upper Galilee, then part of Syria and under French control, became embroiled in the anti–French campaign by local Arabs [q.v.]. The Zionist leaders advised the Jewish settlers to evacuate the area until order had been restored. Disregarding this, Trumpeldor and his followers traveled to Tel Hai, near present–day Kfar Giladi, to assist its settlers. In the subsequent bloodshed, on 1 March he was one of the first to die. The Labor battalions formed by fresh Jewish immigrants from southern Russia were named after him, as was the youth organization of the Revisionist Zionists [q.v.]—Berit (Hebrew: Covenant) Trumpeldor, Betar.
Tudeh Party of Iran: (Persian: masses) (Official name Tudeh Party of Iran: Party of Iranian Working Class) The Tudeh Party, formed in January 1942, evolved out of the Communist Party of Iran (established in June 1920), which had helped to found the Soviet Republic of Gilan along the Caspian Sea. When the Tehran government crushed the republic in November 1921, the Communist movement declined. However, its remnants managed to survive under the guise of local cultural and sports clubs. When the regime discovered this in 1931, it outlawed the formation of groups opposing constitutional monarchy or advocating Communist ideology or conduct. Fifty–eight members of the Marxist Circle were convicted in Tehran [q.v.] in 1937.
Following the occupation of Iran by Soviet and British troops in August 1941, and the deposition of Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.], all political prisoners were released. The Communist movement revived. But to respect the law and make the new organization more attractive to peasants, workers, and artisans, former Marxist Circle members decided to form a democratic front, naming it the Tudeh Party, under the leadership of Taqi Arani. It grew dramatically.
The demonstrations it sponsored in the autumn of 1944 toppled the conservative government of Prime Minister Muhammad Said. By staging a series of strikes in the oil industry, the pro-Tudeh trade union won concessions from the Anglo–Iranian Oil Company. In 1946 the party had 25,000 members and 75,000 sympathizers, and its trades union federation had 400,000 members. Its stress on modernism and progress in the sociocultural field appealed especially to women and young people.
In November 1946, Prime Minister Ahmad Qavam Saltane arrested hundreds of Tudeh activists to forestall a threatened strike in Tehran. Claiming to restore normal conditions for parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan [q.v.], he sent troops to the province to overpower the year–old leftist National Government of Azerbaijan in Tabriz [q.v.], run by the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan.
The collapse of the government there as well as in Kurdistan [q.v.] was a setback to Iran's Communist movement as a whole. In protest, Tudeh leaders boycotted the 1947 election and concentrated on improving the party machine. In February 1949, claiming that his would-be assassin, an Islamist journalist, was a card-carrying member of a union affiliated to the pro–Tudeh Labor Federation, Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] suppressed the party.
But with the oil nationalization movement rising in 1951, conditions for its revival improved. In mid–1952, changing its view of Premier Muhammad Mussadiq [q.v.] as an ally of the United States, it cooperated with his National Front [q.v.]. The Tudeh was active up to and soon after the shah's flight from Iran on 16 August 1953. When he returned three days later his government repressed the party vengefully. It arrested 3,000 Tudeh activists, executing 54 and sentencing 200 to life imprisonment.
The party moved its headquarters to Eastern Europe, alternating between East Berlin and Prague. In 1960, having merged with the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, the organization acquired a longer name—the Tudeh Party of Iran: Party of Iranian Working Class. After a series of conferences during 1956–64, the party opted for peaceful means to bring about the downfall of the shah and establish a democratic republic. This led to the exit of radicals, and the party membership fell to 3,000. However, assisted by the Communist parties of the Soviet Union, East Germany, France, and Italy, the Tudeh engaged 50 full–time cadres to run a radio station, based in Bulgaria, and brought out two publications.
In Iran it was no longer the favorite of leftist militants, who gravitated toward the newly established Fedai Khalq [q.v.] and Mujahedin–e Khalq [q.v.]. To counter this, starting in 1972 the party began to set up secret cells in Tehran University, and in the oil and other major industries. Two years later it issued a call for the overthrow of the shah and the founding of a republic. Its membership in Europe and Iran grew to over 5,000.
In the autumn of 1977 it revived its clandestine cells in major Iranian cities, and in September 1978 its leadership decided to establish contacts with Islamic revolutionaries. A month later it instructed its followers in the oil industry—a crucial area of its traditional strength—to support Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's [q.v.] call for a strike. More than any other development, this determined the shah's fall. In December 1978, Tudeh leaders instructed their followers to prepare for an armed uprising. They replaced Iraj Iskandri as first secretary with Nur al–Din Kianouri. Tudeh activists participated in the final battles with the shah's forces from 9 to 13 February 1979 in Tehran and elsewhere.
Kianouri and his aides returned from abroad to revive the party openly. In March the central committee met in Tehran, its first such meeting for a quarter of a century. In August the party described the political balance sheet of the regime of Ayatollah Khomeini as "positive": expelling the shah, declaring a republic, leaving the Western–dominated Central Treaty Organization [q.v.], breaking ties with Israel, and nationalizing banks and insurance companies. On the other hand, it criticized the religious content of the draft constitution. In the elections to the 1979 Assembly of Experts [q.v. ], its candidates secured only 50,000 votes.
Despite its backing for the government in its defense of the Iranian territory when attacked by Iraq in September 1980, the authorities raided its office in Tehran and suspended its newspaper. But they took no further action since removal of President Abol Hassan Bani–Sadr [q.v.] from office took priority. Given the Tudeh's anti-Bani-Sadr stance, they tolerated its existence. But once they had resolved to get rid of Bani-Sadr, met the allied Mujahedin-e Khalq challenge head–on, and successfully held a presidential election in October 1981, they had no need for the support of nonviolent leftist parties such as the Tudeh.
When it came out against marching into Iraq in June 1982 during the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.], it angered the authorities. They accelerated the purge of Tudeh members from official institutions. In February 1983 they arrested Kianouri and 70 other party leaders, charging them with spying for the Soviet bloc. In late April the Iranian television showed Kianouri admitting six major "misdeeds" by his party, including occasional espionage for the Soviet Union, not dissolving its secret sections, and not surrendering all the arms it had secured during the rise of the revolutionary movement. On 4 May the government dissolved the party and arrested about 1,000 of its 2,500 to 3,000 members. Most of the remainder crossed into Afghanistan, where they assisted the ruling leftist party to organize industrial workers and improve the state propaganda apparatus.
In December 1983, 87 members of the party's military section were found guilty of attempting to overthrow the regime and were sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment. Three months later there were further convictions, and 10 Tudeh leaders were executed.
The party continued to exist abroad, with a large contingent in Kabul, Afghanistan. Its central committee met in East Berlin in January 1984, when it decided to establish fraternal relations with the Mujahedin–e Khalq [q.v.], then based in Paris. But this arrangement ended when the Mujahedin–e Khalq headquarters moved to Baghdad [q.v.] in 1986. The party split, with the breakaway section basing itself in Paris and the main body continuing its activities from East Berlin.
With the merger of East and West Germany in 1990 and the reunification of East and West Berlin, the party lost its financial backing from Eastern European communist parties. The downfall of the leftist regime in Kabul in April 1992 destroyed its last bastion in the region. Committed to the secularization and democratization of Iran, it continued to publish a journal, Nameh Mardom (Persian: People's Journal), in Persian from Berlin.
Led by Ali Khavai, it backed the peaceful protest against the disputed presidential election in June 2009. At the same time it supports the Iranians' right to peaceful use of nuclear energy, and believes that the way to resolve the crisis between Iran and the West is for both sides to take confidence–building measures.
Tumb/Tunb Islands: While implementing its plan to withdraw from the Gulf [q.v.] by December 1971, Britain, in consultation with the United States, chose Iran under Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] to be the new guarantor of regional security and a bulwark against revolutionary change. Therefore, the shah decided to add the Lesser and Greater Tumbs belonging to Ras al–Khaima [q.v.], and Abu Musa [q.v.] belonging to Sharjah [q.v.], to Iran's Qeshm, Larak, and Hormuz Islands. Together, these six islands form a crescent, which guards the entrance to the strategic Hormuz Strait [q.v.]. On 30 November 1971, a day before the termination of the British treaty with Ras al–Khaima, Iran occupied the uninhabited Lesser Tumb Island and captured Greater Tumb Island after some fighting.
After the 1979 Islamic revolution [q.v.] in Iran, the ownership of these islands became a contentious issue between Iran and Iraq, the latter claiming to be the guardian of the interests of the Gulf's Arab states. In April 1980 Baghdad called on Iran to vacate the Tumb Islands and Abu Musa. Tehran ignored the demand. During its eight–year war with Iraq, the strategic importance of these islands became well established. In 1994 the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.] took up the matter on behalf of the United Arab Emirates and urged Iran to agree to refer the issue of its occupation of the Greater and Lesser Islands and Abu Musa Island to the International Court of Justice, but to no avail. The dispute continued to be a major barrier to cordial relations between Iran and the UAE.
Turkmen: (Also spelled Turcomen or Turkomen) The term Turkmen applies to those who speak Turkmen, a member of the south Turkic language group. Those living east of the Caspian Sea—in Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan—are known as Trans–Caspian Turkmen. A much smaller number of Turkmen are scattered in pockets in northern Iraq and Syria. They are almost invariably Muslim [q.v.].
Twelvers: See Twelver Shias.
Twelver Shias: The predominant category among Shias [q.v.], Twelvers or Twelver Shias are so called because they believe in 12 imams [q.v.]: Ali, Hassan, Hussein, Zain al-Abidin, Muhammad al-Baqir, Jaafar al-Sadiq, Musa al-Kazem, Ali al-Rida/Reza, Muhammad al-Taqi Javad, Ali al-Hadi, Hassan al-Askari, and Muhammad al-Qasim, also known as Muhammad al-Mahdi. They believe that Muhammad al–Qasim, the infant son of the 11th imam, went into occultation in Samarra [q.v.], Iraq, in 873 A.D., leaving behind four special assistants. As the last of them failed to name a successor, the line of divinely inspired imams became extinct in 940 A.D. Twelvers believe that the last imam will end his occultation at the end of time and institute justice and order in the world, as well as punishing the enemies of Allah.
Six of these Imams are buried in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad [q.v.], Karbala [q.v.], and Najaf; four in Medina [q.v.]; and one in the Iranian city of Mashhad [q .v.].
Tyre: Lebanese city Population: 318,000 (2011 est.). A thriving city of ancient times, originally built on an island, Tyre has a history dating back to the third millennium B.C. Its ruler, Hiram, is mentioned as a supplier of building materials for the First Temple, built by King Solomon (r. ca 970930 B.C.). Ezekiel in the Book of Ezekiel is instructed to predict the fall of Tyre. By the ninth century B.C., Tyrians had set up colonies abroad, including Carthage (near modern Tunis). Tyre then came under the rule of the Assyrians and Achaemenians of Persia (550–330 B.C.). It withstood a siege by Alexander of Macedonia (r. 336–323 B.C.) for several months, and fell to his forces only after he had constructed a causeway to the island— his legacy to the city. In retribution, he killed or enslaved some 40,000 Tyrians. Tyre recovered from the trauma to regain its importance as a commercial center for purple dye and silk ware. After falling to the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, it emerged as a Christian [q.v.] center, and is mentioned several times in the New Testament [q.v.]. It thrived under Muslim [q.v.] Arab [q.v.] rule from 638 A.D. Captured by the Crusaders in 1124 it became part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the burial place of Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (r. 1152–1190). It was conquered by the Mamlukes in 1291; fearing another Crusade, they razed it. Its port silted up, and it declined to insignificance during the Ottoman times (1517–1918). The subsequent French Mandate included it in Greater Lebanon (later the Republic of Lebanon). After the 194849 Palestine War [q.v.], Palestinian refugees set up a camp at nearby Rashidiya.
The title of one of William Shakespeare's play is derivative of ancient settlement: Pericles, Prince of Tyre. In more recent times, Oscar Wilde refers to "my Tyrian galley" in one of his poems.
U
ulama/ulema (Arabic: plural of alim, possessor of ilm, knowledge): Ulema is the term used collectively for religious–legal scholars of Islam [q.v.]. Since ilm in Islam means knowledge of the Quran [q.v.] and the sunna [q.v.], the ulema are theologians and canonists. They are the ultimate authority on the issues of law and theology, personifying the right of Muslims [q.v.] to selfgovernance. In modern times, however, in Sunni [q.v.] countries they have by and large become government functionaries, with only a minority among them acting as independent thinkers on theology and canon law.
ultra–Orthodox Jews (Hebrew: Haredim): The label ultra–Orthodox applies to those Jews [q.v.] who adhere to a strict interpretation of the Halakha [q.v.] Jewish Law. Full observance of the Halakha involves following all 613 religious prohibitions and obligations that regulate Jewish life, from trivial body functions to the organization of life in society—and separation between Jews and Gentiles. Because of their belief that only divine intervention could reestablish the Jewish state of Israel, they opposed the creation of Israel through human endeavor such as the one by the Zionist [q.v.] pioneers in Palestine [q.v.]. Later a majority cooperated with Zionists, arguing that Zionism [q.v.] could be put to the service of Judaism [q.v.] according to the Halakha.
There are two major schools and one minor within ultra–Orthodoxy: Hassidim (Hebrew: pious); Mitnagdim (Hebrew: opponents), and Bratslavic, named after the Ukrainian town of Bratslav.
Bearded adult males wear the garb of the Eastern European ghetto: black trousers, long black coats, and wide black hats, with their side-locks, shaped into ringlets, dangling. Women wear long-sleeved dresses, their skirts falling well below the knees; cover the upper part of their legs with heavy stockings; and shield their hair by a scarf or a wig. Television is off limits, as the viewer never knows when a semi-clad woman might appear on the screen. So too are newspapers and magazines. Therefore, the walls of the ultra–Orthodox neighborhoods are often plastered with news sheets without any offensive images. In Jerusalem [q.v.] ultra–Orthodox Jews live in Mea Shearim, Beit Israel, Geula, and Har Nof neighborhoods.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews are opposed to birth control. In Israel, one-third of all Jewish babies born in 2011 were ultra–Orthodox, even though as a community they made up less than 10 percent of the Jewish population of 5.85 million.
With most ultra-Orthodox youths enrolling at government–funded seminaries in Israel, whose students are exempted from compulsory service in the armed forces, the community enjoys exemption from conscription. But in February 2012 the Supreme Court ruled that this exemption must end within six months.
umm (Arabic: mother): It is customary among many Arabs to call a married woman the "umm" of her first–born son.
Umma: A derivative of either the Arabic umm, meaning mother or source; or a loan–word from Hebrew [q.v.] umma or Aramaic ummtha; umma appears many times in the Quran [q.v.], always alluding to ethnic, linguistic, or religious groups who were part of Allah's plan of salvation. As the Prophet Muhammad progressed from his unassuming origins to become the ruler of a territory, his definition of umma changed from the community of all Arabs, irrespective of their religious affiliation, to the community of all Muslims [q.v.]. Within a century of his death in 632 A.D., the umma spread far beyond Arabia and included different nations and races.
In modern times the umma, now meaning the worldwide Islamic community as a whole, has carried more of a communal connotation than the more legalistic Dar al–Islam (Arabic: Domain of Islam). On the other hand, the annual hajj [q.v.] is a dramatic illustration of the existence of umma.
umra: small pilgrimage to Mecca Umra involves the central ceremonies of the hajj [q.v.] for Muslims [q.v.]: circumambulating the Kaaba [q.v.] in Mecca [q.v.] and striding quickly between the Safa and Marwa hillocks. It can be performed at any time of the year, except during 8–10 Dhul Hijja, the days reserved for the hajj proper.
Uniate churches (Russian: derivative of uniyat, union): A group of Christian churches [q.v.] with Eastern rites that acknowledge the primacy of the pope of the Roman Catholic Church [q.v.] and accept the Roman Catholic Church in doctrine, but not in liturgy and customs. It includes the Armenian Catholic Church [q.v.], the Chaldean Catholic Church [q.v.], the Greek Catholic Church [q.v.], the Maronite Catholic Church [q.v.], and the Syrian Catholic Church [q.v.].
Union of the Peoples of Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia): An organization of Nasserite [q.v.] persuasion, established in the late 1950s and led by Nasser Said, the Union of the People of Arabian Peninsula (UPAP) aimed to rid Saudi Arabia [q.v.] of the monarchy. Banned in the Saudi kingdom, it maintained an office in Beirut [q.v.]. In 1966 it claimed responsibility for bomb explosions in such places as the defense ministry in Riyadh [q.v.] and the state security office in Dammam in the eastern oil region. After the death of President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] in 1970, its appeal waned. Following the takeover of the Grand Mosque in Mecca [q.v.] in November 1979 by Islamic militants, it briefly became active before going into hibernation again.
United Arab Emirates:
OFFICIAL NAME: United Arab Emirates
CAPITAL: Abu Dhabi [q.v.]
AREA: (including disputed land and island territories with neighboring states): 32,280 sq. mi./83,600 sq. km
POPULATION: 6.327 million (2010 est.), with nationals being 12 percent of the total. (Abu Dhabi Emirate, 1.8 million; Ajman Emirate, 420,000; Dubai Emirate, 2.262 million; Fujairah Emirate, 165,000; Ras al-Khaimah Emirate, 300,000; Sharjah Emirate, 946,000; Umm al–Quwain, 76,000).
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (nominal): $360 billion; per capita, $67,000 (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT PER CAPITA (Purchasing Power Parity): $259 billion; per capita, $48,160 (2011 est.)
NATIONAL CURRENCY: UAE Dihram (AED); AED 1 = $0.272 = £0.168 = € 0.21 (2011)
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: monarchy; federation of seven emirates, each ruled by an emir, with the seven emirs constituting the highest federal authority: the Supreme Council of Emirs.
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Arabic [q.v.]
OFFICIAL RELIGION: Islam [q.v.]
ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM: The United Arab Emirates consists of seven constituent emirates, each ruled by a hereditary emir.
CONSTITUTION: The interim constitution, which came into effect in December 1971, specified a federal system for the constituent emirates. The seven-member Supreme Council of Emirs (SCE) is the highest federal body, which elects the president and vice president of the UAE from among its members. The president appoints the prime minister and the cabinet. The SCE's decisions must be approved by five emirs, including those of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The legislative authority lies with the Federal National Council, a fully nominated consultative assembly of 40 members, with two-year tenure. The provisional constitution was extended every five years until 1996 when it was made permanent. Following this, Shaikh Zaid ibn Sultan al–Nahyan [q.v. ] was reelected president. After his death in 2004, his son Khalifa bin Zayid Al Nahyan [q.v.] was elected president.
ETHNIC COMPOSITION (2010): Arab [q.v. ] 28 percent, including UAE Arab 12 percent; South Asian 60 percent; other 12 percent.
HIGH OFFICIALS:
President: Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayid al–Nahyan, 2004-
Vice president: Shaikh Muhammad bin Rashid al–Maktoum, 2006-
Prime Minister: Shaikh Muhammad bin Rashid al–Maktoum, 2006-
Members of the Supreme Council of Emirs (emirates in alphabetical order):
Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayid al-Nahyan (r. 2004–) of Abu Dhabi;
Shaikh Humaid ibn Rashid al-Nu-aimi (r. 1981–) of Ajman;
Shaikh Muhammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum, (r. 2006–) of Dubai;
Shaikh Hamad ibn Muhammad al-Sharqi (r. 1974–) of Fujairah;
Shaikh Saud ibn Saqr al-Qasimi (r. 2010-) of Ras al–Khaimah;
Shaikh Sultan ibn Muhammad al-Qasimi (r. 1972–) of Sharjah;
Shaikh Saud ibn Rashid al-Mualla (r. 2009-) of Umm al–Quwain.
Speaker of the Federal National Council: Muhammad al-Murr al–Falasi: 2011-
HISTORY (since ca 1900): By 1892, having signed exclusive agreements with London, the rulers of the six emirates of the Lower Gulf [q.v.] (Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Ras al-Khaimaa, Sharjahh, and Umm al–Quwain) were conducting their foreign affairs through Britain, which appointed a political officer to the capital of each of the emirates. In 1952, after upgrading the province of Fujairah to an emirate, Britain established the Trucial States Council (TSC), consisting of the rulers of the seven emirates, with its Development Office acting as its executive. The next year Britain replaced the local political officers with a political agent based in Sharjah and set up the Trucial Oman Scouts, a central military force changed with maintaining peace among the emirates. The TSC met regularly to discuss common problems.
With oil revenues beginning to build up from the early 1960s, especially in Abu Dhabi, which accounted for seven-eighths of the area covered by the TSC, London's financial grants declined. This was especially true after 1966, when Shaikh Shakbut ibn Hamdan al–Nahyan (r. 1928–66) was deposed by the British in favor of his younger brother, Shaikh Zaid, who was committed to economic development. When Dubai discovered offshore oil in 1966, the economic prospects of the TSC's constituents improved.
In 1968 Britain initiated talks about the formation of an Arab Gulf Federation after its withdrawal in 1971. At the TSC meeting in July 1971 it was announced that all the states except Ras al-Khaimaa had agreed to form a federation prior to the departure of the British from the region by December 1971. This federation was named the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with Shaikh Zaid al-Nahyan as president and Shaikh Rashid al–Maktoum [q.v.] of Dubai as vice president.
When a single federal council of ministers came into being in December 1973, Shaikh Zaid al-Nahyan abolished the Abu Dhabi cabinet and appointed a 50-member Consultative Council in his emirate. To the detriment of the UAE, the personal rivalry between him and Vice President Rashid al–Maktoum persisted for many years. Following the Islamic revolution [q.v.] in Iran in early 1979, the Federal National Council and the federal cabinet demanded parliamentary democracy and unitary statehood. This alarmed the president and the vice president, who sank their differences. Shaikh Rashid became prime minister of the UAE, replacing his son, Shaikh Maktoum al–Maktoum. In 1981 the UAE was one of the cofounders of the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.].
During the early phase of the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.] the UAE sided with Iraq, providing it with financial aid. But, as the conflict dragged on, with Iran gaining a stronger position than Iraq, the UAE took an increasingly neutral stance. During the spring of 1990 it allied with Kuwait in a strategy to harm the Iraqi economy by flooding the oil market and lowering the price of oil. After the death of Shaikh Rashid in October 1990, the ruler of Dubai, Shaikh Maktoum, succeeded him as vice president and prime minister of the UAE.
In the 1991 Gulf War [q.v.] the UAE joined the anti–Iraq coalition led by the United States and contributed $5 billion to the war chest. In 1994, when the UAE extended its defense agreement signed in the aftermath of the Gulf War, it tried to persuade Iran to open talks on the status of Abu Musa [q.v.] and the Greater and Lesser Tumb Islands [q.v.], but failed. The next year, Iran set up air defense systems on the islands. And in 1996 it inaugurated an electricity–generating plant on Greater Tunb. From 1995 onward, UAE President Shaikh Zayid appealed for the lifting of the UN sanctions on Iraq, but to no avail. The UAE sent food and medicine to Iraq in 1997 and 1998, which was allowed by the UN. It reopened its embassy in Baghdad [q.v.] in 2000.
Following the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001, the UAE severed its diplomatic links with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. While supporting Washington's campaign to punish the perpetrators of 9/11, the UAE urged the resumption of the Arab–Israeli peace process, and cautioned against any U.S. military action targeting an Arab regime.
Prior to the Anglo–American invasion of Iraq in 2003 [q.v.], the UAE opposed it. In 2008 the UAE wrote off the $7 billion that Iraq under President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] owed it, and appointed an ambassador to Iraq. It signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States in 2009 after agreeing not to enrich uranium or reprocess spent fuel. Then it inked a $20 billion contract for the first nuclear power reactors in the Arab Middle East with a South Korean–led consortium.
The global credit crunch of 2008–09, which led to a collapse in the real estate values in the UAE, severely slowed the economic boom the emirates had enjoyed over the past three decades. This was the background to the onset of the Arab Spring [q.v.] in early 2011. The government blocked a website popular with those UAE nationals who posted calls for a constitutional monarchy and a wholly elected parliament with full legislative powers, which culminated in a petition signed by 133 citizens in March. It disbanded the elected boards of the Jurists' Association and the Teachers' Association after their members signed a petition calling for reforms. It arrested five dissident intellectuals, charging them with committing acts "that pose a threat to state security, [by] undermining the public order, opposing the government system and insulting." When their requests for an open trial and cross-examination of witnesses were rejected, they went on hunger strike in mid–November. Two weeks later judges sentenced them to two years' imprisonment. But the next day, following a presidential pardon, they were released.
LEGISLATURE: The Federal National Council (FNC) is a quasi-legislative body, with a five–year tenure, that elects its speaker. Half of its 40 members are elected by a very small proportion of eligible citizens selected by the particular emirate's ruler, and the other half appointed by the emirs. Each emirate is accorded its quota on the basis of its population. The FNC debates the legislation proposed by the federal cabinet. It is authorized to question federal cabinet ministers. In the September 2011 election only 18 percent of the eligible UAE citizens were entitled to vote.
RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION (2010): Muslim [q.v.], 63 percent; Hindu, 22 percent; Christian [q.v. ], 10 percent; other, 5 percent.
United Arab Republic (1958–61): In February 1958 Egypt and Syria merged to form the United Arab Republic (UAR). Part of the reason that the political and military leaders of Syria sought union with Egypt was to forestall the rise of leftists in their country. But, once Syria had been incorporated into the UAR, its president, Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.], extended to the Syrian region his policy of nationalizing banking, insurance, and major industries. He thus alienated an important social class in Syria. Likewise, his ban on all political parties in Syria alienated almost all Syrian politicians, and the creation of a unified military command, in which Syrian officers were relegated to secondary positions, created discontent in the officer corps. These factors created widespread disaffection in Syria and prepared the ground for its secession from the UAR, which came in September 1961 amid much rancor.
United National Leadership of the Uprising (West Bank and Gaza): Following the spontaneous outbreak of the intifada [q.v.] in the Gaza Strip [q.v.], leaders of the groups affiliated to the outlawed Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] and based in the occupied West Bank [q.v.] and Gaza Strip [q.v.] combined to form the United National Leadership of the Uprising (UNLU). It functioned clandestinely and guided the intifada, often through leaflets. Despite the disparate nature of its constituents, it remained effective, mainly because repeated efforts by Israel's Shin Beth [q.v. ] to infiltrate it failed.
United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (1974–): After the disengagement agreement between the Syrian and Israeli forces on the Golan Heights [q.v.] on 31 May 1974, a UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) was posted to establish an area of separation and verify troop levels. UNDOF's 1,100 personnel were drawn from three European countries and Canada. In 2011, its operating budget was $50.5 million.
United Nations Emergency Force (1957–67): During the Suez War [q.v.], the UN General Assembly decided on 4 November 1956 to create a UN Emergency Force (UNEF)— composed of troops from countries not involved in the conflict—to supervise a cease-fire between the warring parties. With the truce taking effect on 7 November and UNEF units arriving in Egypt soon after, the British and French troops started to withdraw, completing the process by 23 December. At the insistence of Israel, which had completed its evacuation of Egypt by 8 March 1957, UNEF was stationed only on the Egyptian side of the Canal and in Egyptian–administered Gaza [q.v.]. It was required to safeguard Israeli shipping through the Gulf of Aqaba.
Nine years later tension in the region escalated when Israel warned Syria—then militarily allied with Cairo—that it would retaliate vigorously if guerrilla attacks on it from Syria continued. In mid–May 1967, the Soviet, Syrian, and Egyptian intelligence agencies warned Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] that an Israeli attack on Syria was imminent. On 18 May Nasser asked the UN secretary-general to withdraw UNEF from Egypt—which he was entitled to do, since UN forces are deployed in a country only so long as its government wishes. The secretary–general complied with Nasser's request. With UNEF units gone from Sharm el Shaikh at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, Nasser closed the waterway to Israeli shipping.
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 (December 1948): It defines the role of the UN Conciliation Commission in the region of the British Mandate of Palestine [q.v. ]. It calls for the return of Palestinian refugees, demilitarization and UN control of Jerusalem [q.v.], and protection of and free access to the Holy Places.
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3236 (November 1974): At the end of a long debate on the "Question of Palestine" on 22 November 1974, the UN General Assembly reaffirmed the Palestinian people's right to self–determination, independence, and sovereignty, and their right to return to their homes and properties.
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (1978–): Following the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon [q.v.] on 14 March 1978, UN Security Council Resolution 425 [q.v.] of 19 March called on Israel to cease fire, and authorized the formation of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to confirm the Israeli evacuation and assist the Lebanese government to assume effective control in the area. But when Israel carried out its major withdrawal in mid–June it handed over its positions to a Christian militia, later called the South Lebanon Army (SLA) [q.v.], and did not allow the Lebanese government to deploy its troops alongside the 5,000–strong UNIFIL force, drawn from 10 countries and headquartered in Naqura.
With the second and larger Israeli invasion of Lebanon [q.v.] in June 1982, resulting in the occupation of southern Lebanon by Israel, UNIFIL's objective of helping the Lebanese government to assume effective control of southern Lebanon became more distant. Even though UN Security Council Resolution 425 pertained exclusively to Lebanon and had nothing to do with UN Security Council Resolution 242 of 1967 [q.v. ], the basis of the Middle East peace process [q.v.] begun in October 1991, Israel insisted on interconnecting the two, linking Israel's evacuation of southern Lebanon to the conclusion of a Lebanese–Israeli peace treaty. Lebanon rebuffed Israel's attempt. Following the unilateral Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000, UNIFIL confirmed the evacuation. But, with Israel refusing the Shaaba Farms contiguous with Syria, Hizbollah [q.v.] regarded the Israeli evacuation as incomplete and mounted periodic attacks on the Israeli positions on the Farms. Therefore, Israel insisted on UNIFIL's continuing its mission.
Its mandate is renewed annually, from August to the following July.
United Nations Iran–Iraq Military Observer Group (1988–91): After accepting the implementation procedure for UN Security Council Resolution 598 calling for a cease-fire in the Iran–Iraq War [q.v.], the UN secretary-general announced the formation of the United Nations Iran-Iraq Military Observer Group (UNIIMOG) to supervise the cease–fire from 20 August 1988. Its 350 troops and officers were to be drawn from 25 countries.
Later, facing military action by a 28–nation coalition to reverse Iraq's occupation of Kuwait in August 1990, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [q.v.] hurriedly agreed that the Iraqi and Iranian forces should withdraw to the internationally recognized frontiers. This was done before the U.S.–led military campaign in January 1991. With that, the UN Security Council ended UNIIMOG's mandate in February.
United Nations Iraq–Kuwait Observer Mission (1991–2003): In line with UN Security Council Resolution 687 of 3 April 1991, concerning the ceasefire in Gulf War II [q.v.] between Iraq and the Washington-led coalition, the UN secretary-general selected a UN Iraq–Kuwait Military Observer Group (UNIKOM), composed of 320 military personnel from 35 countries, with the following mandate: to monitor the Khor Abdullah waterway and a demilitarized zone (DMZ) extending 10 km into Iraq and 5 km into Kuwait from the agreed boundary between the two countries, according to their agreement on 4 October 1963; and to deter violations of the boundary and observe hostile or potentially hostile actions. After a fresh demarcation of the international frontier by a UN committee at the expense of Iraq in 1993, and its acceptance by Baghdad in November 1994, UNIKOM started to function within the new boundaries.
At its peak, UNIKOM, based in Umm Qasr, Iraq, was nearly 1,200 strong in early 1995. After the Anglo–American invasion of Iraq in March 2003 [q.v.], UNIKOM lost its raison d'être. The UN Security Council disbanded it in September.
United Nations Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (1999): According to the terms of paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 of UN Security Council Resolution 1284 (1999) on Iraq [q.v.], adopted on 17 December 1999, the UN secretary–general appointed the UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) to replace the UN Special Commission [q.v.] of 1991, and charged it to conduct on-site inspection of Iraq's biological, chemical, and missile facilities, and to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA) regarding onsite inspection of Iraq's nuclear capabilities, and together establish and operate current and future ongoing monitoring and verification regimes to verify Iraq's continued compliance of its undertakings in these areas. After UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had appointed Hans Blix executive chairman of UNMOVIC in 2000, UNSCOM was dissolved. UNMOVIC recruited and trained about 100 inspectors from more than 40 countries. It was not until late November 2002 that, following Iraq's acceptance of UN Security Council Resolution 1441, the UNMOVIC staff began performing their tasks.
During their inspections until 18 March, 2003, UNMOVIC inspectors found no evidence of weapons of mass destruction. But the whole UNMOVIC contingent had to leave so that the Anglo–American troops could invade Iraq, ostensibly to find the alleged weapons of mass destruction.
United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (1949–): Following the UN General Assembly Resolution 302 (December 1949) to care for those Palestinians who had lost their homes and means of livelihood during the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.], the UN secretary–general established the UN Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at the UN's offices in Vienna, Austria. That meant having to deal with 914,221 Palestinians, of whom some 500,000 qualified for UNRWA relief.
Israel's seizure of the West Bank [q.v.] and the Gaza Strip [q.v.] during the June 1967 Arab–Israeli War [q.v.], created a further 335,000 displaced Palestinians, of whom 193,600 were eligible for UNRWA support.
Financed by voluntary contributions of the member governments, UNRWA's mandate is renewed regularly to provide camps, food, clothing, schools, vocational training, and health clinics, often working in cooperation with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
In 1980, of the 1,844,300 Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA, about a third lived in 61 camps scattered throughout the West Bank (20), the Gaza Strip (8), Jordan (10), Syria (10), and Lebanon (13). By 2000, the total had risen to 3,806,055, divided among the Gaza Strip (837,750), Jordan (1,609,566), Lebanon (380,072), Syria (387,526), and the West Bank (591,141).
The escalated violence during the Al Aqsa Intifada [q.v.], resulting in Israel blockading the territories administered by the Palestinian Authority [q.v.], raised the number of Palestinians dependent on UNRWA's food rations 10–fold to 1.1 million in 2003.
In 2005, the number of Palestinian refugees registered in the region were: Jordan, 1.828 million; Gaza Strip, 986,000; West Bank, 700,000; Lebanon, 404,000; Saudi Arabia, 240,000; and Egypt 70,000.
The fate of the refugees and other Palestinians suffered when the Western governments boycotted the popularly elected Hamas [q.v.] government in 2006. Israel's siege of Gaza led to rising demand for UNRWA services, particularly when the cash–strapped Hamas government failed to pay its employees. Having raised $84 million in emergency funding, UNRWA provided food aid to 257,000 refugee families and supplemented the inadequate diet of 200,000 school pupils in Gaza.
Its normal services continued to play a vital role in the human development of the refugees by catering for their education, healthcare, and social services. In 2010, the number of Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA stood at 4.7 million, up from 711,000 six decades earlier. In 2011 its regular budget, at $1.23 billion, was four times the figure for 2001.
United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (1991): According to the terms of paragraph 9 of UN Security Council Resolution 687 (1991), adopted on 3 April 1991, the secretary-general appointed a Special Commission to carry out on–site inspection of Iraq's biological, chemical, and missile facilities, and to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA) regarding onsite inspection of Iraq's nuclear capabilities and in setting up a monitoring system to verify Iraq's continued compliance of its undertakings in these areas. The UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) on Iraq was headed by Rolfe Ekeus, a Swedish diplomat.
In early 1995, with UNSCOM having virtually accomplished its disarming missions in chemical weapons and missiles, Ekeus turned increasingly to biological warfare agents. Following top–level defections from Iraq in August 1995, the Iraqi government conceded that it had produced anthrax and botulinum in 1989–90. Later it admitted producing larger quantities of these agents than initially declared. On his part, at the behest of Scott Ritter, an American chief inspector, Ekeus set up a Concealment Investigation Unit under Ritter to conduct Special Information Collection Missions (SICMs). For this purpose Ritter requested and received assistance from the intelligence agencies of the United States and Israel.
For these SICMs to be successful, UNSCOM teams, headed by Ritter, initiated deliberately confrontational inspection exercises in order to make the Iraqi authorities activate its concealment mechanism so it could be detected by Ritter. The first such exercise in March 1996 failed to yield the desired result. In that month, while switching the monitoring system, installed at 300 sites countrywide, from collecting video images recorded by cameras onto a magnetic tape to transmitting video images using radio signals boosted by relays, the American signals-and-sensors technicians, working as UNSCOM staff, hid within the boosting stations antennas capable of intercepting microwave transmissions used by the Iraqi military. On the other hand, the second SICM in June linked to engineering an anti–Saddam Hussein [q.v.] coup—hatched by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the British MI6, and Saudi and Jordanian intelligence agencies—also failed.
The covert cooperation between UNSCOM and the United States had deepened to the extent that Ritter gave regular briefings to the U.S. National Security Council before and after his inspection tours of Iraq. This relationship grew even stronger after Richard Butler, an Australian disarmament official, took over from Ekeus in July 1997. He pursued with greater vigor the strategy of using SICMs to lay bare Iraq's concealment mechanism.
In October Iraq's deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz [q.v.] told the UN Security Council that it would not accept American personnel in UN-SCOM teams, as they had shown more loyalty to the United States than to the UN. He provided a team of visiting UN diplomats sent by the secretary–general, Kofi Annan, with evidence to back up his espionage charges against the Americans on UNSCOM. When Iraq expelled six American inspectors, Butler pulled out all of them. U.S. President Bill Clinton ordered a military buildup in the region. But an American attack on Iraq was averted by the intervention of Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
A crisis developed in early 1998 when Iraq refused inspections of eight presidential sites, describing them as being "sovereign." Following a visit to Baghdad [q.v.] by Annan, there was a seven–point agreement whereby Iraq undertook to accord UNSCOM "immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access," with inspection of the presidential sites to be conducted by a special group and Annan pledging to bring the subject of lifting sanctions on Iraq to the attention of the Security Council.
The inspection of presidential sites revealed nothing objectionable. Nor did intrusive, no-notice inspections of such other sensitive sites as the defense ministry yield anything incriminating. While, in his April 1998 report, Butler reported scant progress in disarmament because of the four-month–long crisis, Aziz alleged that UNSCOM's intrusive inspections were meant to provide intelligence to Washington—a charge substantiated by the targets hit by the Pentagon in its Operation Desert Fox [q.v.] in December, and the subsequent revelations made in the American press about the U.S. infiltration of UNSCOM.
In June Butler pointed out that Iraq had not accounted for 500 tons of missile rocket fuel and 1.7 tons of VX, a lethal nerve agent. Aziz claimed that Butler was deliberately focusing on minor issues in order to drag out the UNSCOM mission, as Washington wished. Saddam Hussein ordered that Iraq's cooperation with the inspection regimes of UNSCOM and the IAEA be suspended, while leaving their monitoring systems intact. At this point the Clinton administration said that the crisis was between Iraq and the UN. Privately, its officials stated that UNSCOM had outlived its usefulness, implying that it had achieved virtually all that it had set out to do. This view would later be echoed by Ritter, who would assert repeatedly that Iraq had been disarmed 90–95 percent.
Angered by the failure of the UN Security Council in October to mention anything about the lifting of sanctions following a debate on a comprehensive review of sanctions, Iraq stopped cooperating with UNSCOM and the IAEA in both inspecting and monitoring. It demanded a quick review of its compliance in disarmament linked to a timetable to lift sanctions. Annan intervened, saying that, if Iraq reversed its decision, the Council would settle the issue of a comprehensive review of Iraq's disarmament. Iraq agreed.
Butler worked closely with U.S. National Security Adviser Samuel Berger to carry out confrontational inspections during the second half of November. But given Iraq's cooperation, that ploy did not work. While France, Russia, and China considered Iraq's disarmament practically finished, expecting the completion of the comprehensive review by Christmas, with the embargo on oil lifted, U. S. officials wanted a credible basis for bombing Iraq against the background of imminent impeachment proceedings against Clinton. Therefore, they advised Butler to stiffen his special report to the Security Council through Annan on 15 December.
In it Butler said that Iraq was not cooperating with UNSCOM. Advised by Peter Burleigh, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Butler withdrew UNSCOM staff from Baghdad, without even informing the Council, so that the Pentagon could unleash its 100–hour blitzkrieg on Iraq.
The United States started Operation Desert Fox on the afternoon of 16 December Eastern Standard Time. By so doing, Butler and Clinton brought about the demise of UN–SCOM, although it was officially disbanded in early 2000 after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1284, which created the UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission [q.v.].
During its existence, UNSCOM visited 700 sites and carried out 6,000 inspections. In biological warfare agents UNSCOM destroyed 8,400 liters (1,850 gallons) of anthrax; 19,000 liters (4,180 gallons) of botulinum; 3,400 liters (750 gallons) of clostridium (gangrene gas); 2,200 liters (485 gallons) of aflatoxin; and 10 liters (2 gallons) of ricin—as well as all the facilities for their research, development, and production. In chemical weapons, UNSCOM destroyed 500–600 tons of mustard gas; 100–150 tons of nerve gases—sarin and tabun; 50100 tons of VX nerve gas; 480,000 liters (105,600 gallons) of chemical weapons agents; more than 450,000 gallons of precursor chemicals; and 30 chemical warheads—as well as 38,537 filled and empty chemical weapons munitions—and all the facilities for their research, development, and production. In missiles and their delivery systems, UNSCOM destroyed eight types of delivery systems, 48 Scud missiles, six mobile launchers, eight fixed launch pads, and two fixed launch pads under construction.
United Nations Special Commission on Palestine (1947): On 15 May 1947 a special session of the UN General Assembly appointed an 11-member Special Commission on Palestine, consisting of Australia, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Guatemala, India, Iran, the Netherlands, Peru, Sweden, Uruguay, and Yugoslavia. While Arab Palestinians refused to cooperate with it, the Zionists [q.v.] took a contrary line. It submitted its report on 31 August 1947. Seven of its members proposed partitioning mandate Palestine into a Jewish state (53.5 percent of Palestine), an Arab state (45.4 percent), and Jerusalem [q.v.] and its suburbs (1.1 percent) under international trusteeship. India, Iran, and Yugoslavia proposed an independent federal state composed of Arab and Jewish segments. On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181 on partitioning Palestine by 33 votes to 13, with 10 abstentions. With 72 percent of the voting members favoring partition, exceeding the required two-thirds majority, partitioning Palestine became official UN policy. Challenging the UN's authority to partition a country against the wishes of its majority, the Arab members proposed that the matter be referred to the International Court of Justice for its verdict. Their motion was defeated by 21 votes to 20, with 15 members abstaining.
United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (1948–): To assist the UN Mediator and the Truce Commission in supervising the cease-fire in the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) was created on 29 May 1948. After the formation of the UN Disengagement Observer Force in 1974 [q.v.] and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon in 1978 [q.v.], the UNTSO cooperated with them.
It continues to exist as an intermediary between the adversaries and provides a channel for stopping isolated incidents from turning into major armed confrontations. In 2012, its 384 military and civilian staff, drawn from 24 countries, were posted in Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Its annual budget was $70.2 million.
It was the first peacekeeping operation by the United Nations. On the sixtieth anniversary of its establishment, the UN General Assembly declared 29 May as the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers to pay them homage and remember those who had given their lives for keeping peace.
United Religious Front: Israeli political alliance On the eve of the first general election in Israel in 1949, Agudat Israel [q.v.] and Poale Agudat Israe [q.v.] combined with Mizrahi [q.v.] and Poale HaMizrahi [q.v.] to form the United Religious Front. Winning 16 seats (out of 120), the Front joined the government to run inter alia the ministry of religious affairs. This enabled its constituents to determine the funding of religious councils and religious courts, and to influence the composition and working of the Supreme Rabbinical Council, charged with supervising rabbis and synagogues [q.v.]. The Front's disagreement with Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion [q.v.] on the degree of control over religious education in schools brought down the first Israeli government in mid-1951. In the subsequent Knesset election later that year the Front's constituent parties ran in the election separately.
United States Middle East Force: The U.S. Middle East Force based itself in Bahrain according to a secret agreement signed by Washington and the emirate on the eve of Britain's withdrawal from there in 1971. It included the United States's leasing of naval facilities previously used by the British for an annual rental of £300,000. Bahrain thus became the official headquarters of the U.S. Middle East Force, even though as early as 1949 the U.S. Navy had established a presence there. Because of its proximity to the oilfields of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain was ideal for naval reconnaissance missions in the Gulf.
During the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], angered at Washington's support for Israel, Bahrain's ruler, Isa II bin Salman al-Khalifa [q.v.], stated that he had abrogated the agreement with Washington. But what he had actually done was to cancel the provision about providing fuelling facilities to the U.S. Navy and raise the annual rental to £2 million. Later the Bahraini-U.S. military agreement, specifying naval and air facilities to the Pentagon, was secretly renewed beyond its expiry date of June 1977. The Bahraini-U.S. link was confirmed in April 1980 when, following their unsuccessful attempt to free American hostages in Tehran [q.v.], U.S. military planes refueled in Bahrain before taking off for Turkey.
Later the functions of the U.S. Middle East Force were assumed by the Central Command, with its jurisdiction covering all of the Middle East, southwest Asia, and East Africa.
United Torah Judaism: Israeli political party (Official title: YahadutHaTorah HaMeuhedet) On the eve of the 1988 general election, Agudat Israel [q.v.] and Poale Agudat Israel [q.v.] merged with two smaller religious groups— Moria and Degel HaTorah—to form the United Torah Judaism (UTJ). It was opposed to negotiations with the Palestinians and the establishment of an independent Palestine, and favored expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories [q.v.].
It won seven seats in that election and four in the 1992 election. In 1990 it joined the Likud-led [q.v.] government after Labor [q.v.] quit the national unity cabinet. It maintained its strength in the 1996 Knesset [q.v.] election, gaining one more seat in the 1999 election. Its score in the 2003 election was eight. It split into its two original factions when it joined Ariel Sharon's [q.v.] government in 2004.
But on the eve of the 2006 Knesset [q.v.] election, its constituents came together. It won six seats. Though its strength fell to five in the 2009 election, it was invited by Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.] to join the Likud-led government to help him cobble together a slim majority in parliament, and it did so.
Universal Suez Maritime Canal Company: See Suez Canal.
ushr tax: A tax on harvest, it amounts to one-tenth of the produce if the land is irrigated naturally by rain or spring water, and one-twentieth if it is irrigated by artificial means such as a well or canal. It is derived from the following Quranic verses: "O Believers! Expend in Allah's way the best portion of the wealth you have earned and of what We have produced for you from the earth." (2: 267); and "And give away Allah's due at the harvest time" (6:141).
al-Utaiba, Juheiman ibn Saif (1939–80): Saudi Arabian Islamic leader Born in Sajir in Qasim province, Utaiba was a grandson of an Ikhwan [q.v.] militant who died in 1929 in a battle against Abdul Aziz al-Saud [q.v. ]. At the age of 18 he joined the National Guard [q.v.], and rose to become a corporal. Military discipline frustrated his fierce piety and vocal opposition to the presence of non-Muslim Westerners in the Saudi kingdom's institutions, including the National Guard.
He left the National Guard in 1972 and enrolled at the Islamic University of Medina, where he became a student of Shaikh Abdul Aziz ibn Abdullah al-Baz [q.v.], who advocated a return to the letter of the Quran [q.v.] and the sunna [q.v.]. Imbibing his teachings, Utaiba applied them to the actions of the Saudi dynasty, and concluded that it had deviated from the true path of Islam [q.v.]. This led to a clash with al-Baz and his expulsion from the university in 1974. On return to his native province, he started to preach along the lines of the founder of the Wahhabi [q.v.] doctrine, Shaikh Abdul Wahhab (1703–1787).
A popular poet and writer on Islam, Utaiba established cells in numerous bedouin settlements in Qasim. In 1976 he and his followers moved to Riyadh [q.v.]. There he published a pamphlet in which he attacked the Saudi rulers for their deviation from the Sharia [q.v.], their greed and corruption, misuse of laws for their own benefit, and socializing with atheists and unbelievers. In the summer of 1978 the government arrested him and 98 of his followers. But once al-Baz, now head of the Council of Senior Ulema [q.v.], had ruled that their ideas were not treasonable, they were released after they promised not to undertake subversive actions or propaganda. They were kept under surveillance but managed to slip away from Riyadh.
Resorting to clandestine preaching, Utaiba developed the concept of mahdi [q.v.] (messiah), which he allied to the traditional Wahhabi doctrine. In his brother-in-law, Muhammad bin Abdullah al-Qahtani, a former student of the Islamic University of Riyadh, he had found a mahdi with the name of the Prophet of Islam, and a surname that was a derivative of Qahtan, the legendary ancestor of Arabs [q.v.]. To this he tagged the notion widely held among Sunni Muslims [q.v.] that a mujaddid (Arabic: reviver of faith), appears once every (Islamic) century. The new Islamic century was to begin on 1 Muharram 1400 A.H./20 November 1979.
On New Year's Eve, hundreds of Utaiba's followers converged on the Grand Mosque in Mecca [q.v.], where they had concealed arms in the cellars and retreats of the vast complex. They planned to take hostage King Khalid al-Saud [q.v.], who was expected to join the faithful for the first prayer of the century. Despite Khalid's absence due to sudden illness, Utaiba and his armed followers took over the mosque. After condemning the Saudi regime, he introduced al-Qahtani as the mahdi/mujaddid. This was the most serious religious challenge to the Saudi kingdom since its establishment in 1932. It took King Khalid's government a fortnight, and the deployment of thousands of Saudi and Pakistani troops and the assistance of the French Special Forces, to regain the Grand Mosque. Al Qahtani was one of the 117 rebels killed in the operation. And in January 1980, Utaiba was decapitated along with 66 other rebels.
V
Vilayet-e Faqih: (Persian: Rule of the Religious Jurisprudent): Islamic doctrine Developed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.] in his book Hukumat-e Islam: Vilayet-e Faqih (Persian: Islamic government: Rule of the Faqih) (1971), this doctrine specifies that an Islamic regime requires an Islamic ruler who is thoroughly conversant with the Sharia [q.v.] and is just in its application: a Just Faqih. He should be assisted by jurisprudents at various levels of legislative, executive, and judicial bodies.
The function of a popularly elected parliament, open to both lay believers and clerics, is to resolve the conflicts likely to arise in the implementation of Islamic doctrines. However, judicial functions are to be performed only by jurisprudents conversant with the Sharia. Such jurisprudents also oversee the actions of the legislative and executive branches. The overall supervision and guidance of parliament and judiciary rests with the Just Faqih, who must also ensure that the executive does not exceed its powers. After the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in April 1979, the Vilayet-e Faqih doctrine became the backbone of the Islamic constitution adopted in December 1979.
W
Wafd: (Arabic: Delegation): Egyptian political party The Wafd was formed in 1919 under the leadership of Saad Zaghloul, a lawyer. It was a coalition of different social classes seeking independence from the occupying power, Britain. Its name derived from the delegation Zaghloul led two days after the end of World War I on 11 November 1918 to the British high commissioner in Cairo [q.v.], demanding that his delegation (wafd) be allowed to go to London to present its case for Egyptian independence. The British official refused. Over the next three years, demonstrations and riots ensued, interspersed with talks between the opposing parties. Wafdists demanded total independence for Egypt and Sudan.
A unilateral British declaration in November 1922 granted (nominal) independence to Egypt with stings attached. Britain was to retain responsibility for the communications system in Egypt, safeguard foreign interests and Egypt's national minorities (meaning Copts [q.v.]), and protect Sudan while defending Egypt against direct or indirect aggression. The British named Ahmad Fuad as king of Egypt. The constitution that he promulgated in 1923 incorporated the earlier British declaration.
The Wafd won the subsequent general election, and Zaghloul became prime minister. After his death in 1927 the nationalist camp split between the Wafd, led by Mustafa Nahas Pasha [q.v.], and King Fuad, with the monarch sacking Prime Minister Nahas Pasha in 1931 and suspending the constitution. Just before his death in early 1936 he reinstated the constitution.
The Wafd was returned to power with a large majority in the election of April 1936, when the Regency Council, headed by Nahas Pasha, reigned on behalf of 16-year-old King Farouq [q.v.]. In August 1936 the 20-year Anglo-Egyptian Treaty [q.v.], retaining all four provisions of the 1922 Declaration except British protection for foreign interests and national minorities, was signed.
When Farouq achieved adulthood in 1938, the tension between him and the Wafd revived. Farouq dismissed Nahas Pasha. When Italy entered World War II in May 1940, it had an impact on Egypt, since Farouq was pro-Italian. The British demanded the dismissal of anti-British Prime Minister Ali Mahir and his replacement by Nahas Pasha, who was ready to cooperate with London. Farouq refused. In February 1942, while German troops were advancing on Egypt from Libya, and Farouq was on the verge of appointing a new premier known to be anti-British, the British ambassador compelled the monarch, at the pain of deposition, to choose Nahas Pasha for the post. Farouq complied. Nahas Pasha retained his office until October 1944 and ensured Egypt's affiliation to the Arab League [q.v.].
Following the Egyptian debacle in the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.], Farouq agreed to reconciliation with Wafd leaders on the understanding that each side would overlook the incompetence and corruption of the other. Farouq ordered a general election in January 1950, which put the Wafd firmly in power. To maintain popular support, the Wafd government pressed London to withdraw its troops from Egypt. When Britain stonewalled, the Egyptian unilaterally abrogated the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty (valid until 1956) in October 1951. It demanded immediate and unconditional British withdrawal from the Suez Canal [q.v.] zone. Guerrilla actions against British troops ensued, with leftist Wafdists participating.
After riots in Cairo in January 1952, Farouq dismissed the Wafd government. He lost his throne in the Free Officers' coup in July 1952. The new regime banned all parties, including the Wafd. A quarter-century later, following the promulgation of the Law of the System of Political Parties in June 1977, Fuad Serag al-Din, a veteran of the pre-1952 Wafd, secured a license to establish the Neo-Wafd Party [q.v.].
Wahhabism and Wahhabis: Islamic sect Wahhabism is an Islamic doctrine developed by Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab (1703–1887), a native of Najd [q.v.], a bastion of Hanbalis [q.v.]. The name was coined by the opponents of Abdul Wahhab whose followers called themselves Muwahidun (Arabic: Unitarians), who accepted the Hanbali school as interpreted by Taqi al-Din bin Taimiya in the late 14th century. Abdul Wahhab condemned the medieval superstitions that had collected around the pristine teachings of Islam [q.v.]. Favoring ijtihad [q.v.] (reasoned interpretation of the Sharia [q.v.]), he opposed the codification of the Sharia into a comprehensive system of jurisprudence. He was especially opposed to the cult of saints, who were often beseeched by believers to intercede on their behalf with Allah. He and his followers resorted to destroying the tombs of saints.
Unlike Hanbali practices, Abdul Wahhab made attendance at public prayer obligatory and forbade minarets in the building of mosques. Later, in alliance with the followers of Muhammad bin Saud, who became the ruler of Najd in 1745 and founded the House of Saud [q.v.], Wahhabis mounted a campaign against idolatry, corruption, and adultery. Citing the Hadith [q.v.], they banned music, dancing, and even poetry, an integral part of Arab life. They prohibited the use of silk, gold, ornaments, and jewelery.
Regarding themselves to be true believers, Wahhabis launched a jihad [q.v.] against all others—whom they described as apostates. In 1802 they attacked and looted Karbala [q.v.], a holy city of the Shias [q.v.]. Under Saud bin Abdul Aziz (r. 1803–1814), Wahhabi rule spread to the Iraqi and Syrian borders, and included the Hijaz [q.v.] region containing the holy cities of Mecca [q.v.] and Medina [q.v.]. This led the Ottoman sultan to order the governor of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, to quell the movement. The result was the defeat and execution of Abdullah bin Saud in 1818.
The power of the Wahhabi House of Saud waxed and waned until 1881, when it was expelled from the Riyadh region. But with Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman al-Saud [q.v.], Wahhabism rose again in the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.]. He propagated the creed using military and state power, and fostered the Ikhwan [q.v.] movement for the purpose. Considering themselves "the truly guided Islamic community," Wahhabis attacked polytheists, unbelievers, and hypocrites (i.e., those who claimed to be Muslim but whose behavior was un-Islamic). They labeled any deviation from the Sharia as innovation, and therefore un-Islamic.
With oil riches flowing into the coffers of the Wahhabi state of Saudi Arabia since the late 1930s, the sect has lost some of its earlier militancy. The final authority lies with the head of the Supreme Religious Council in Saudi Arabia. It has adherents in Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
Wailing Wall: The Western Wall of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem Called Kotel Ma'aravi in Hebrew [q.v.], the Wailing Wall is part of the massive retaining wall, made up of stones, that the Roman king of Judaea/Judea, Herod the Great (37–4 B.C.), erected at the western, southern, and eastern borders of the Second Temple atop Mount Moriah in Jerusalem [q.v.] after extending the outer courtyard of the Temple. As the only remnant of the Second Temple, razed in 70 A.D., it is the most sacred site of Judaism [q.v.]. Since 70 A.D. Jews [q.v.] have visited it to grieve the destruction of the temple and pray. According to the Talmud [q.v.], divine presence has never departed from the Western Wall, and so the faithful say their prayers very close to the wall in the belief that the prayers will rise through the crevices to the Throne of Grace on Mount Moriah.
After the destruction of the Second Temple, Jews were permitted to enter Jerusalem only on the ninth of Av, the anniversary of the sacking of the temple. Since the pilgrims would ascend in silence and descend in tears, the wall acquired the epithet "Wailing." During the Muslim [q.v.] Arab [q.v.] rule from 638 A.D. onward, Jews were allowed to settle in Jerusalem and pray at the wall. The Ottoman Turks, who administered Jerusalem from 1516 for four centuries, formally recognized Jews' right to pray at the Wailing Wall.
In 1930, during the British Mandate over Palestine, a League of Nations Commission examined the contending ownership claims by Jews and Muslims over the Wailing Wall and the adjoining area, and declared Muslims the sole owners. The armistice agreement in April 1949 between Israel and Jordan, which controlled the Old City of Jerusalem containing the holy sites of Jews, Christians [q.v.], and Muslims, provided for free access to sacred sites. But in practice Jordan denied the Jews access to the Wailing Wall. The situation changed when the Israelis captured East Jerusalem [q.v.], including the Old City, in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.]. In the unsuccessful talks on final settlement of the Israel-Palestinian conflict between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak [q.v.] and Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] Chairman Yasser Arafat [q.v.] in 2000, the latter agreed to Israel's having sovereignty over the Wailing Wall.
On Jewish holidays a large number of Jews pray at the Wailing Wall, divided by portable screens into prayer areas for women and men.
waqf (Arabic:prevent): In Islamic law, waqf, the term popularly used for a religious trust, means "prevent a thing from becoming the property of a third person." Though in practice it meant the legal process by which an endowment was created, in common parlance the term was applied to the endowment (mawquf) itself. Anas bin Malik (d. 796), founder of the Maliki school [q.v.], attributed the practice of religious trust to the sunna [q.v.]. The first major recorded example of waqf is that of Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Ali al-Madharai (d. 956 A.D.) in Egypt. He turned his agricultural land into a waqf for the holy cities of Mecca [q.v.] and Medina [q.v.], and for other social purposes such as charities and religious education.
The waqfs, often administered by public officials, ameliorated poverty and advanced further education. On the other hand, the high concentration of landed property and inefficient management had an adverse economic effect. During the latter period of the Ottoman Empire (1517–1918) waqfs accounted for nearly three-quarters of agricultural land. In the mid-1930s the waqf estates comprised one-seventh of the cultivated land in Egypt and one-sixth in Iran.
The central administration of waqfs in Egypt, begun in 1851, was formalized with a ministry in 1913. The League of Nations mandates over Syria, Palestine, Transjordan [q.v.], and Iraq required that the mandatory powers should administer the waqfs in accordance with the Sharia [q.v.]. On independence, the governments of these states—all with a Sunni [q.v.] majority except Iraq—took over the function. In a Shia [q.v.]-majority country such as Iran this role was traditionally played by senior clergy, who used the income to run educational, social, and charitable institutions and theological colleges. The Civil Code of 1928 authorized the Waqf Organization of the ministry of education to approve or disapprove budgets of waqfs, transform a waqf into private property or prohibit such a change, or take over a waqf with unknown administrators. Following the 1979 Islamic revolution [q.v.], this code was abrogated.
War of Attrition (Egypt-Israel, 196970): Following the Arab defeat in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] went through the stages of "standing firm," by resisting Israel's diplomatic and military pressures, and "active deterrence"—that is, keeping the conflict alive, thus preventing the status quo from congealing—to reach the final stage, the War of Attrition against the Israeli positions along the Suez Canal [q.v.] on 8 March 1969. By then, helped by the Soviet Union, he had re-equipped the Egyptian military to its pre-June 1967 level. Israel responded by saturation bombing of Egyptian targets and deep penetration raids into Egypt. This drove Nasser deeper into the Soviets' embrace. With a sophisticated Soviet-built air defense umbrella in operation in the spring of 1970, Egypt managed to curtail Israel's capacity for massive reprisals.
Against this background Egypt and Israel accepted the initiative of U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers for a temporary, renewable cease-fire in August 1970. By then, the Israeli army had lost 2,659 soldiers, and the Egyptian military almost 10,000 in this conflict. Also, some 500,000 Egyptians from the Suez Canal zone had been turned into refugees.
War of the Establishment, Israel: [Official title: Milhemet HaKomemiyut (Hebrew: War of the Establishment]) See War of Independence, Israel
War of Independence, Israel (1948–49): (Official title: Milhemet HaKomemiyut [Hebrew: War of the Establishment]) Since the war between the Zionists [q.v.] in Palestine [q.v.] and their Arab neighbors erupted after the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel by the People's Council of the Yishuv [q.v.] on 14 May 1948, it was called the War of the Establishment. Later, Israeli politicians and historians took to calling it the War of Independence, chiefly because it resonated well with the American people and government, thus mislabeling a seminal event in the history of Israel.
Washington Accord (1995): As required by the Oslo I Accord [q.v.], the Israeli and Palestinian teams, led respectively by Shimon Peres [q.v.] and Yasser Arafat [q.v.], negotiated a deal about the future of the West Bank [q.v.] and the advancement of Palestinian autonomy. Peres and Arafat initialed the final draft on 22 September 1995 in the Egyptian resort town of Taba. On 28 September they signed the agreement at the White House in Washington at a ceremony hosted by President Bill Clinton. It became known as the Washington Accord or Oslo II Accord [q.v.].
With 31 Articles, seven Annexes, and nine maps, the Accord was 314 pages long. It divided the West Bank into A, B, and C Areas, and provided for elections and responsibilities for the Palestinian Legislative Council and the Palestinian Authority [q.v.] presidency, a phased release of the Palestinian prisoners, and a timetable for implementation.
Palestinian jurisdiction would begin after the elections. In Area A, the PA was to exercise full control over civil affairs and security; in Area B, the PA was to exercise control over civil affairs and public order, with Israelis taking charge of overall security; and in Area C, Israel [q.v.] was to exercise full control, including security, territorial jurisdiction, and Jewish settlers.
Area A consisted of seven Palestinian cities—Bethlehem [q.v.], Hebron [q.v.], Jenin, Nablus [q.v.], Qalqilya, Ramallah, and Tulkarm—and covered 2 percent of the West Bank. Here the PA was required to guarantee freedom of movement to Israeli civilians and settlers through these urban centers and provide joint Palestinian-Israeli escorts for their vehicles. Area B included 465 villages, 24 percent of the territory, and 63 percent of the population. Here the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) [q .v.] had the power to intervene at its own discretion to maintain overall security. The rest of the West Bank, taking up 73 percent of the land, was labeled Area C.
Finally, the Accord spelled out the powers of the PA presidency and the Legislative Council, both subject to review and final approval of Israel.
Full IDF evacuation of Area A cities, except Hebron, was scheduled for the end of 1995, followed by a partial withdrawal from Hebron by 28 March 1996.
The IDF's evacuation, starting with Jenin on 13 November, reached a climax with its withdrawal from Bethlehem on 21 December, leading to a four-day party there, combining the celebration of Palestinian nationalism with Christmas [q.v.].
Due to the impending Israeli elections, Arafat allowed the partial evacuation of Hebron to be postponed in order to help Peres beat his Likud [q.v.] rival Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.] in the prime ministerial contest in May 1996. But Peres lost. Netanyahu forestalled further implementation of the Accord. It was not until October 1998, under the Wye River Memorandum [q.v.] brokered personally by Clinton, that he agreed to make some concessions to the Palestinians.
Wazir, Khalil (1935–88): Palestinian political-military leader Born into the household of a grocer in Ramla, Palestine [q.v.], Wazir and his family fled during the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.]. He grew up in al-Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip [q.v.]. In 1954 he was selected by the Egyptian military, which administered Gaza, first for commando training, and then for further military instruction in Cairo [q.v.], where he met Yasser Arafat [q.v.]. He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Gazan brigade of the Egyptian army.
Before Israel could capture Gaza in the 1956 Suez War [q.v.], he escaped to Cairo, where he became active in Palestinian student politics, dominated by Arafat. After spending a couple of years in Stuttgart, West Germany, along with Salah Khalaf [q.v.], he traveled to Kuwait in early 1959 to join Arafat, who was running a construction business there. Together they established Fatah [q.v.], and Wazir returned to Stuttgart to organize the Palestinian students in West Germany.
He was close to the National Liberation Front of Algeria, which won power in 1962. In December 1962 he and other leaders of Fatah went to Algiers, where the government authorized the opening of a Fatah office and training camps for Fatah activists. He visited Communist China in 1963. Arrested in January 1965 for sabotaging Israel's National Water Carrier from southern Lebanon, he was held in a Lebanese jail, where he acquired the nom de guerre of Abu Jihad, Father of Struggle. After his release in March, he and Arafat moved to Syria. From there they traveled together to the Palestinian refugee camps on the West Bank [q.v.], then part of Jordan, to enroll recruits for Fatah. The military wing of Fatah, called Assifa (Arabic: Storm), was headed by Wazir.
With Fatah becoming the leading constituent of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] in 1968, the importance of Assifa and Wazir rose. In the 1970s, as Fatah and Assifa, now based in Beirut [q.v.], became more active, carrying out numerous guerrilla operations, he emerged as the right-hand man of Arafat, chairman of both Fatah and the PLO. He backed Arafat in his continuing endeavor to impose discipline and a centralized military command on the various PLO constituents without alienating any of them. After the expulsion of Fatah and the PLO from Beirut in 1982, he moved with the party headquarters to Tunis, Tunisia. With the Palestinian fighters scattered in seven Arab countries, his task became onerous. On the other hand his reputation as a conciliator remained unimpaired.
Following the outbreak of the intifada [q.v.] in December 1987, he worked closely with the PLO's Occupied Homeland Directorate to give direction to the uprising. He ensured the success of the United National Leadership of the Uprising [q.v.]. Therefore, he became a prime target for those in the Israeli government who felt that by eliminating him they would undermine the intifada, which Israel had failed to achieve so far. He was assassinated by a Mossad [q.v.] hit team in April 1988 at his Tunis home. He was buried in Damascus [q.v.].
Weizmann, Ezer (1924–2005): Israeli military leader and politician; president, 1993–2000 Born into a prominent Jewish family in Caesarea, Palestine [q.v.], Weizmann enrolled in the Royal Air Force during World War II and became a pilot. Soon after demobilization, he joined Irgun [q.v.]. During the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], he was one of the first Israeli pilots. After the war he became an officer in the Israeli Air Force, rising to commander of the air force (1958–66). Under his command, the air force prepared its plan to destroy the air power of its Arab neighbors, which it implemented efficiently during the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.]. He was promoted to chief of operations of the Israel Defense Forces.
When he realized in 1969 that there was no chance of his becoming chief of staff, he resigned and joined Gahal [q.v.]. Elected to the Knesset [q.v.], he served as transport minister in the national unity cabinet (196970). When Gahal left the government in August 1970 in protest at the majority decision to accept a cease-fire in the War of Attrition [q.v.], Weizmann followed suit. He was elected chairman of the executive committee of Gahal, a position he held until he fell out with the party leader, Menachem Begin [q.v.], in late 1972.
He was persuaded to return to politics in early 1977, when he was appointed head of the Likud [q.v.] election headquarters. Likud won, and he became defense minister (1977–80). He played an important role in the peace talks with Egypt. When the Palestinian autonomy provisions in the Camp David Accords [q.v.] were not implemented by the deadline of May 1980, he resigned, hoping the government would fall. It did not.
In the 1984 election his group, Yahad (Hebrew: Together), won three seats. The stalemated election result gave him the chance to choose the next prime minister. He opted for Shimon Peres [q.v.], who headed the subsequent national unity government, in which Weizmann became minister without portfolio and a member of the inner political cabinet. Yahad joined Labor Party [q.v.].
Weizmann headed the Labor election headquarters in 1988, but failed to repeat his 1977 success for Likud. In the next national unity cabinet, he served as minister of science and a member of the inner political cabinet. In early 1990, following a revelation by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir [q.v.] that he had violated official policy and law by meeting a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] official in Geneva, he resigned.
Three years later, after the Labor-led government had lifted the ban on the PLO, Weizmann was elected president of Israel by 66 votes to 53. He was reelected in 1998 by 88 votes to 15. He resigned prematurely in 2000 after revelations that he had received $300,000 in undeclared cash gifts from two foreign businessmen during 1985–93.
West Bank (of the Jordan River): Palestinian Territory Area: 2,297 sq. mi./5,949 sq. km, including enlarged East Jerusalem (27 sq. mi./69 sq. km). Population excluding enlarged East Jerusalem [q.v.]: 2.58 million Palestinians (2010 est.); 327,750 Jewish settlers in 121 officially recognized settlements (2010). In 2009, two-fifths of the West Bank was taken up by Israeli infrastructure of roads, water and electricity facilities, and security checkpoints.
In the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] Jordan's army managed to retain an enclave on the west bank of the River Jordan [q.v.], including the eastern part of Jerusalem [q.v.]. Egypt's army held the semi-desert Gaza Strip [q.v.]. Together the two territories made up about half of the area allocated to the Palestinian Arabs [q.v.] by the UN partition plan of November 1947. Jordan annexed the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in April 1950. In the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza. The population figures, according to a census taken in September 1967, were: West Bank 589,000, Gaza 380,800. The military occupation of these territories was nominally changed in 1981 to "civil administration," working under military commanders. Jordan continued to pay its civil servants in the West Bank through the functioning Jordanian banks in Jordanian dinars.
In 1968 militant Jews established their presence in the center of Hebron [q.v.]. They won the approval of the Labor [q.v.] government two years later, when they set a colony, called Kiryat Arba, near Hebron. In August 1973 the ruling Labor Party formally reversed its policy of merely holding on to the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.] until the Arab states were ready to negotiate peace with it directly. It adopted the Galili Document, which allowed Jewish individuals and public bodies to purchase land in the Occupied Arab Territories, and permitted the government to supplement the hitherto privately funded settlement program.
Once Jordan had accepted the decision of the Arab League [q.v.] summit in October-November 1974 that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.] was the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, its legal position in the West Bank became tenuous. The local elections held in April 1976 in the territory showed that almost all the 24 mayors were supporters in varying degrees of the Palestine National Front, a front organization of the PLO, which was banned. By May 1977, when Labor was replaced by Likud [q.v.] as the leading member of a coalition government, there were 32 Jewish settlements, most of them authorized, in the West Bank.
The Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt [q.v.] in September 1978 included an agreement for autonomy for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to be implemented by 26 May 1980. Since the PLO was not party to these talks and wanted nothing less than a Palestinian state, this plan proved stillborn.
Israel indefinitely postponed the local elections in the West Bank due in April 1980. The number of Jewish settlements continued to increase, and the existing ones grew more populous. The Palestinian intifada [q.v.], which started in Gaza in December 1987, spread to the West Bank. In July 1988 Jordan cut its ties with the territory. The seizure and/or purchase of land by Israel and Jewish individuals and organizations continued. Neither the Oslo Accord I [q.v.], signed in September 1993, nor the Oslo Accord II [q.v.], signed in September 1995, mentioned a halt to new Jewish settlements or expansion of the existing ones. The Oslo Accord II specified Israeli troop withdrawal from seven cities, joint Palestinian-Israeli control of 450 Palestinian villages, and continued Israeli control of Jewish settlements. This was implemented in late 1995, except in Hebron [q.v.]. However, the existing 128 Jewish settlements were expanded and new ones established, the chief source of the Palestinian disaffection with the Oslo Accords.
Following the outbreak of the Al Aqsa Intifada [q.v.] in September 2000, relations between Israel and the Palestinians deteriorated. The situation worsened after the election of Ariel Sharon [q.v.] as Israeli prime minister in February 2001 on the platform of expanding Jewish settlement on the West Bank. As the number of the protesting Palestinians killed by the Israeli military rose and Islamist Palestinians resorted increasingly to suicide bombings, Israel reoccupied West Bank towns and cities in April 2002.
In June, the Israeli government started building a barrier between the West Bank and Israel—at the cost $2.2 million a km—inside the West Bank territory. In December the UN General Assembly called on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to examine the barrier issue. In July 2004, the ICJ ruled that its construction contravened international law; that it was "tantamount to annexation" and impeded the Palestinian right to selfdetermination; and that Israel must discontinue the project. By 150 votes to four, the UN General Assembly called on Israel to dismantle the barrier. Israel continued the construction.
By April 2006, it had authorized the building of 435 miles (700 km). Two-thirds had been built or was being built by then. When the barrier was constructed inside the West Bank territory, the space between it and the 1949 armistice line was declared "closed military zone" by Israel. That lopped off 9.5 percent of the original West Bank, turning the inhabitants of of the many villages there into displaced persons and depriving them of their property and livelihood.
The barrier consisted of a concrete base, most of it at the front of a 1-foot/4-meter-deep trench, and rolls of razor wire spread over 60 m/200ft., and the rest supporting 26-ft./ 8-meter-high concrete wall capped with high wire and mesh. The structure carried electronic sensors and had an earth-covered trace road running by its side where footprints of anybody crossing them could be noticed.
Palestinians saw the barrier as the last piece in an overarching Israeli plan to rob them of their land and contain them into disconnected enclaves on 42 percent of the West Bank. An earlier part of that strategy was to reserve all major roads in the West Bank, measuring 270 miles/700 km, for the Jewish settlers and bar Palestinians from using them. This measure was easy to enforce, since the vehicles of the Jewish settlers and Palestinians carried registration plates of different colors.
Israelis attributed the 90 percent reduction in terrorist acts between 2002 and 2005 to the erection of the barrier. They argued that the barrier was merely a temporary security measure that will become redundant once a negotiated final settlement was signed between Israel and the Palestinians.
By October 2011, the 472-mile/ 760-km-long barrier—roughly twice the length of the 1949 cease-fire line—was in place. Except for an 26-foot/8-meter-high concrete wall along its 30-km/24-mi. length, it consisted of an electric fence.
West Jerusalem: Area: 13 sq. mi./34 sq. km in 1948, 20 sq. mi./54 sq. km in 1993; population, 403,800 (2011 est.) West Jerusalem was captured by Israeli forces in the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.] and retained by Israel.
In December 1949 Israel moved its capital to West Jerusalem, a move not recognized by the international community. After its victory in the Six-Day War [q.v.], Israel added a vastly enlarged East Jerusalem [q.v.] to West Jerusalem on 28 June 1967 by extending its laws to the eastern sector. Additions in March 1985 and May 1993 expanded the area covered by West Jerusalem to 20 sq. mi./54 sq. km. Almost all its residents are Jewish.
West Syriac rite: Christian rite The West Syriac rite, initially called the Antiochene rite—the seminal system of liturgical practices and customs for almost all Eastern rites—originated in the patriarchate of Antioch, and is so called to distinguish it from the East Syriac rite [q.v.]. The liturgy of Saint James, a derivative of the Jerusalem-Antiochene rite, is the basis of the liturgy for Syrian Orthodox [q.v.], Syrian Catholics [q.v.], and Maronite Catholics [q.v.].
Western hostages (in Lebanon): See Hostage-taking and hostages.
Western Wall: See Wailing Wall.
White Guard (Saudi Arabia): See National Guard (Saudi Arabia).
White Revolution (Iran): In early January 1963 Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] launched a six-point socioeconomic reform package called the White Revolution. It consisted of land redistribution, forest nationalization, the sale of public sector factories to pay compensation to landlords for land above the official ceiling, votes for women, profit-sharing in industry, and the eradication of illiteracy. According to official figures it was endorsed by 99.9 percent of those participating in a referendum on it on 25 January.
Opposition to the White Revolution, emanating primarily from hostility to the monarchical regime, came from both the secular National Front [q.v.] and militant Muslim clerics. The latter were incensed by the shah's threat to amend the 1962 Land Reform Act to include lands belonging to the religious trusts [q.v.], which were managed by the clergy. Street protest was encouraged by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini [q.v.], who described the White Revolution as phony. The unrest reached a peak in early June 1963 and culminated in a nationwide uprising in which many thousands of people were said to have been killed by the security forces.
The Shah celebrated the 10th anniversary of the White Revolution in January 1973 by announcing that the National Iranian Oil Company would take over the ownership and all operation of the Western oil consortium that had been running the petroleum industry since 1954.
Whitsunday: See Pentecost.
World Islamic Front for Jihad against Crusaders and Jews: (Official title: Al-Jabah al-Islamiya al-Alamiyah li Qital al-Yahud wa al-Salibiyin) At their base in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden [q.v.] of Al Qaida [q.v.], Ayman Zawahiri [q.v.] of al-Jihad al-Islami [q.v.], Abu Yasser Rifia Ahmad Taha of al-Gamaat al-Islamiya [q.v.], Mir Hamza of Jamiat al-Ulama (Pakistan), and Fazl ul Rahman of Harkat al-Jihad (Bangladesh) announced the formation of the World Islamic Front for Jihad against Crusaders and Jews— or, for short, the World Islamic Front for Jihad (WIFFJ)—in February 1998.
In their communique they referred to America's continuing aggression against the Iraqi people—using the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.] as the staging post for the bombing of Iraq [q.v.]— as their evidence of the American occupation of the Peninsula since the 1991 Gulf War [ q. v.]. Having caused the death of one million Iraqis through economic sanctions, Washington was intent on fragmenting and destroying Iraq, they argued. Its aims were to advance the interests of Israel [q.v.], divert attention away from Israel's occupation of Jerusalem [q.v.] and its murder of the Palestinians [q.v.], destroy Iraq, and fragment large Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia [q.v.], Egypt [q.v.], and Sudan into mini-states in order to ensure Israel's survival and the continued American occupation of the Arabian Peninsula. The commission of such crimes and sins by the Americans were tantamount to a declaration of war on Allah, Prophet Muhammad, and Muslims [q.v.].
Therefore, the communique added, "The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies—civilians and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the Al Aqsa Mosque [in Jerusalem] and the Holy Mosque (in Mecca [q.v.]) from their grip, and for their armies to leave all the lands of Islam [q.v.], defeated, and unable to threaten any Muslim." It called upon Muslim ulema [q.v.], leaders, young believers, and soldiers to attack the American troops and their allies, and overthrow those Muslim regimes that were supporting them.
In March, the 40-member Council of Senior Ulema of Afghanistan met to debate the presence of the American troops in the Arabian Peninsula, and decided that the WIFFJ's call to jihad [q.v.] against America and Israel was in line with the Sharia [q.v.].
Its February 1998 statement was the primary document that the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States—also known as 9/11 Commission—used to link Osama bin Laden, [q.v.], Ayman Zawahiri [q.v.], and Al Qaida [q.v.] to the aircraft suicide attacks in New York City and Metropolitan Washington, D.C., on 11 Sept, 2001.
World Muslim League: (Official title: Arabic: Rabitat al-Alam al-Mussalmeen) Propaganda issued by Egypt [q.v.] under President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.] against the Saudi royal family led Crown Prince Faisal bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] to establish the World Muslim League (WML) in Geneva in 1962. Its function was to hold seminars and conferences on Islam [q.v.], and generally act as a mouthpiece of Saudi Arabia in its interpretation of Islam. Its charter stated that the allegiance of the Muslim [q.v.] should be to the Islamic doctrine and the overall interests of the Muslim umma [q.v.], and should override allegiance to nationalism or any other "ism". Faisal employed many exiled members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] at the WML.
After the founding of the Islamic Conference Organization (ICO) [q.v.] in 1969, headquartered in Jeddah [q.v.], the WML was moved to Mecca [q.v.]. It remained tied to the House of Saud [q.v.] and reflected the official policies of Saudi Arabia.
When, during the 1990–91 Kuwait crisis, Iraq alleged that infidel troops in Saudi Arabia had defiled the holiest shrines of Islam in Mecca and Medina [q.v.], the WML pointed out that the conflict along the Saudi-Kuwaiti border was 900 mi./1500 km from the holy sanctuaries. The WML-sponsored conference of 350 Muslim ulema [q.v.] from 80 countries in Mecca stated that, since the Saudi government had invited foreign troops for self-defense, its action was in line with the Sharia [q.v.]. But its proposal to form an Islamic force under ICO supervision, to which its members could appeal in the event of armed conflict among them, was not implemented.
It becomes particularly active during the hajj [q.v.] season. It sponsors gatherings of Muslim intellectuals from different countries to help them grow strong ties among themselves and innovate ways of improving the living standards of Muslim masses.
It continues to be funded primarily by the Saudi government. It maintains offices of the Secretary-General and the Constituent Council of 120, with 60 countries represented on it. Its several departments manage the World Supreme Council for Mosques, the Fiqh [q. v.] Council, the Noble Sanctuary [q.v.] and Al Aqsa Mosque Foundation, and the International Islamic Relief Organization.
Since 2000 its Secretary-General has been Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsin al-Turki, a former minister of Islamic affairs and endowments in Saudi Arabia.
World Union of Zionist Revisionists: See Revisionist Zionists.
World Zionist Organization: Following the adoption of a new constitution in 1960, the Zionist Organization (ZO) [q.v.], established in 1897, became the World Zionist Organization (WZO). At its founding by the First Zionist Congress [q.v.] in Basle, Switzerland, the Zionist Organization adopted a program summarized thus: "Zionism [q.v.] strives to create for the Jewish people a home in Palestine [q.v.] secured by public law." It elected Theodor Herzl (1860–1904), chief ideologue of political Zionism, as president. Herzl based the organization in Vienna, Austria, where he lived. The 15-strong executive committee ran such departments as political (meaning external affairs), information, land and development (in Palestine), immigration and absorption (in Palestine), and Torah [q.v. ] education and culture (in the diaspora [q.v.]).
The Fifth Zionist Congress in 1901 set up the Jewish National Fund ( JNF) [q.v.] under the Zionist Organization's land and development section to finance the (communal) purchase of land in Palestine. Most of the Hovevei Zion (Hebrew: Lovers of Zion) societies, active in Russia, affiliated to it. When David Wolffsohn succeeded Herzl as president in 1905, he moved the headquarters to Cologne, Germany, his home base.
The Seventh Zionist Congress in 1905 rejected Britain's offer of land in Uganda for the Jewish homeland, and those who disagreed with the decision left the organization. The conflict between those who wanted to focus on securing a Jewish homeland through diplomatic means and those who wanted to concentrate on colonizing Palestine was resolved by deciding to work on both fronts simultaneously, with the Tenth Zionist Congress in 1911 electing Otto Warburg, an advocate of "synthetic Zionism." Its headquarters moved to Warburg's home base, Berlin. It opened a Palestine Office in Jaffa [q.v.]. In 1915, during World War I, the headquarters was moved to neutral Copenhagen in Denmark. In Palestine there was increasing cooperation between socialist pioneers and the Zionist Organization's financial institutions. With Chaim Weizmann's election as president in 1921, the headquarters moved to his base, London.
Following the 1922 British mandate, providing for a "Jewish agency" in Palestine to cooperate with the government of Palestine in establishing a Jewish national home there, Britain gave this role to the Zionist Organization, which appointed the Zionist Executive Committee in Palestine with its own chairman—Nahum Sokolow, based in Jerusalem [q.v.]. At Weizmann's initiative, the Sixteenth Zionist Congress in 1929 established a proper Jewish Agency for Palestine [q.v.] with its own executive committee consisting of an equal number of Zionists and non-Zionists—that is, those who supported the idea of a Jewish national home in Palestine but did not subscribe to political Zionism.
When the Eighteenth Zionist Congress in 1933 resolved that "in all Zionist matters discipline in regard of the Zionist Organization must take precedence over the discipline of any other body," the Revisionist Zionists [q.v.] left. They returned to the Zionist Organization at the Twenty-second Congress in December 1946 which— taking its cue from the resolution of the American Zionist Congress in May 1942 at the Biltmore Hotel, New York City—demanded the formation of an independent Jewish state in all of Palestine. When this Congress failed to reelect Weizmann president, the meetings of the Zionist Organization Executive Committee were cochaired by Nahum Goldmann and Berl Locker for the next 10 years.
In Palestine, with the resignation of the last remaining non-Zionist from the Jewish Agency Executive Committee in 1947, the distinction between the Zionist Executive Committee in Palestine and the Executive Committee of the Jewish Agency for Palestine disappeared, David Ben-Gurion [q.v.] being the chairman of both. His appointment as head of the London-based Zionist Organization's defense department enabled him to bring various armed Jewish factions in Palestine under a single command on the eve of the 1948–49 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.].
Following the Twenty-third Zionist Congress, held in Jerusalem in 1951, the headquarters was transferred from London to Jerusalem. The Zionist Organization continued to function as before, except that the heads of its departments now worked in conjunction with their counterparts in the Israeli civil service.
In between the congresses the Zionist General Council, reflecting the composition of the latest congress, functioned as a supervisory body. Its size increased from 25 in 1921 to 129 in 1968. It was the General Council that adopted a new constitution in 1960. Goldmann continued as president of the renamed Zionist Organization until 1968. After that the highest office of the WZO was held by the chairman of the Zionist Executive Committee, Louis Pincus. After the establishment of Israel the WZO's 500 delegates started meeting every four or five years in Jerusalem. They elected Aryeh Dolchin as chairman in 1978. He retained that position until 1987. His successors included Avaham Burg [q.v.], Zeev Bielski of the Kadima party [q.v.], and Natan Sharansky.
In 2009, a case before the Israeli Supreme Court revealed that, while acting as the Israeli state's agent, the WZO had taken private Palestinian land in the West Bank and passed it on to the Jewish settlers, thus defying the government's ruling that the property in question was not to be used for the settlement of the Jews.
Wye River Memorandum: Following mediation by U.S. President Bill Clinton, an agreement was hammered out by the Israeli and Palestinian delegations at a series of meetings at the Wye Plantation, Maryland. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [q.v.] and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat [q.v.] signed a document— called the Wye Memorandum/ Accord—on 15 October 1998 to facilitate the implementation of the Washington Accord/Oslo Accord II [q.v.] of September 1995. This involved Israel's transferral of a further 13 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority (PA) [q.v.] in two stages, and entering into immediate final status talks with the Palestinians with the aim of achieving an agreement by 4 May 1999. In return the PA agreed to combat terrorism and confiscate illegal weapons, and the Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] pledged to reaffirm the nullification of those provisions of the Palestine National Charter [q.v.] that were inconsistent with the provisions of the 1993 Oslo Accords [q.v.].
Y
Yamani, Ahmad Zaki (1930-): Saudi oil expert and politician Born into the family of a religious judge in Mecca [q.v.], Yamani studied law first at Cairo University and then at New York and Harvard Universities in the United States.
In 1958 Crown Prince Faisal bin Abdul Aziz [q. v.] appointed Yamani as adviser to the cabinet. Two years later he was promoted to minister of state, and in 1962 to minister of petroleum and mineral resources. In the mid-1960s he became chairman of the state-owned General Petroleum and Mineral Organization, and a director of the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco).
As a pragmatist, he tried to persuade King Faisal, who was critical of Washington's staunchly pro-Israeli stance, to cooperate with it in formulating Saudi policies on oil output and pricing. His efforts were successful, and he became a close adviser of the monarch.
Yamani served as secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) [q.v.] during 1968–69. He backed Faisal's strategy to use the "oil weapon" during the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], thus endorsing the monarch's newly formed perception that petroleum could no longer be divorced from Middle Eastern politics. Equally, Yamani supported Faisal's decision to lift the Arab oil embargo [q.v.] against the United States in March 1974, even though the Saudi king's conditions, requiring Israel's evacuation of the Occupied Arab Territories [q.v.] and the granting of Palestinian rights, had not been met.
On 21 December 1975, when OPEC oil ministers, meeting in Vienna, were taken hostage by the commandos led by Ilich Ramirez Sanchez—alias "Carlos" Martinez— Yamani was one of their chief targets. He was freed two days later in Algiers after a clandestine deal involving the transfer of $5 million to $50 million by Saudi Arabia to Martinez.
He lobbied hard, and successfully, to maintain OPEC's share of global output, even if that resulted in lower oil prices. He thus became leader of the pro-Western camp within OPEC. He implemented the policy of Saudi Arabia, acting in tandem with Kuwait, to produce above its OPEC quota and thus depress the price of oil in order to impair Iran's ability to continue the Iran-Iraq War [q.v.]. This cut the price by nearly two-thirds between December 1985 and July 1986, to $10 a barrel. In August, yielding to pressure from other OPEC members, he agreed to reduced OPEC output, which raised the price to $14–16 a barrel. In early October 1986, after meeting the Iranian oil minister in Riyadh [q.v.], King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz [q.v.] backed the idea of a fixed price of $18 a barrel. When Yamani refused to endorse this, Fahd dismissed him on 29 October, thus ending his 24-year-long career as Saudi oil minister.
Yamani retired from public life and devoted himself to private business, including running the Center for Global Energy Studies, London, which specialized in offering analyses of energy markets. In the mid-1990s, with a political and financial crisis brewing in Saudi Arabia, Yamani, based in Jeddah [q.v.], became a center of attraction for disaffected businessmen and religious leaders.
Yasin, Ahmad (1936–2004) Palestinian leader Born into a land-owning household in Jora in Palestine [q.v.], a village near the northern border of what later became the Gaza Strip [q.v.], Yasin and his family sought shelter in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip during the First Arab-Israeli War (1948–49) [q.v.]. He joined the clandestine Muslim Brotherhood (Egypt) [q.v.] in the mid-1950s a few years after suffering crippling injuries in a sporting accident that left him wheelchair-bound.
He worked as a schoolteacher in Gaza from 1957 to 1964, when he enrolled as a student of English at Ain Shams University, Cairo [q.v.]. He was jailed in 1966 when the Egyptian government cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Gaza. After the Strip was occupied by Israel in 1967, he was released. He resumed teaching as well as leading the reorganized Muslim Brotherhood. He urged his followers to purge society of social-moral ills, arguing that Is-lamization of society was a precondition for the establishment of an Islamic state in a liberated Palestine, thus skirting the contentious issue of resistance to the Israeli occupation.
In the autumn of 1973 the Israeli military authorities issued a license to Yasin to establish the Islamic Center to run social, religious, and welfare institutions, thus entitling it to receive zakat [q.v.], religious tax, from the believers. With the secular Palestine Liberation Organization [q.v.] emerging as a powerful force in the Occupied Territories [q.v.] from the mid-1970s, Israel decided to encourage the growth of the Islamic Center, with the military governor of the Gaza Strip, Brigadier General Yitzhak Segev, funding the mosques run by the Islamic Center.
In 1983 Israel reversed this policy, partly because the Islamic Jihad [q.v.], a recently established Islamist organization, had resorted to pursing a militantly anti-Israeli stance. In 1984 Israel arrested Yasin for illegal possession of arms and sentenced him to a 13-years jail term. But in 1985, as part of a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command [q.v.], he was released. He resumed social work in Gaza.
But when the intifada [q.v.] erupted in late 1987, Yasin and his colleagues in the Islamic Center could no longer resist pressure from their nationalist grass roots to engage in a political struggle against their Israeli occupiers. The result was the founding of Hamas [q.v.] as the activist arm of the Islamic Center/Muslim Brotherhood. Yasin was arrested in 1989 and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for conspiring to abduct two Israeli soldiers. As a result of another prisoner exchange in the wake of the failed attempt by Mossad [q.v.] agents in Amman [q.v.] to assassinate Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal [q.v.] in 1997, Yasin was freed.
He resumed his leadership of Hamas, reiterating that the organization would continue to resist Israeli occupation by all means. He was put under house arrest after he had criticized the Palestinian Authority (PA) [q. v. ] for signing the Wye River Memorandum [q.v.] in October 1998. But as the Wye Memorandum unraveled, relations between him and the PA thawed. With the outbreak of the Al Aqsa Intifada [q.v.] in September 2000 and the subsequent pulverizing of the PA by Israel, the differences between Yasin and the PA narrowed further. He mediated successfully between the PA and the more radical Palestinians in Hamas and other organizations.
But when the recently appointed Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas [q.v. ] held a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon [q.v.], chaired by U.S. President George W. Bush, in June 2003, where the two leaders jointly referred to "the possibility" of establishing a "completely demilitarized" Palestinian state "within temporary borders," Yasin condemned the PA. In September, the Israeli air force dropped a bomb on a Gaza [q.v.] building where Hamas leaders had gathered, but Yasin was unhurt. In March 2004, a missile fired by an Israeli helicopter gunship killed Yasin as he was being wheeled out of a mosque, along with 11 others.
Yazidis: A religious group The origins of the Yazidi doctrine—an amalgam of pagan, Sabaean, Shamanistic, Manichaean, Zoroastrian [q.v.], Jewish [q.v.], Christian [q.v.], and Islamic [q.v.] elements—are unknown. Totaling about 100,000, Yazidis are to be found in northeastern Syria, northern Iraq, and the Trans-Caucasian republics. Though they often speak a Kurdish [q.v.] dialect, their scriptures are written in Arabic [q.v.].
Their principal divine figure is the Peacock Angel, the first of the seven angels who ruled the universe after it had been created by God. Violation of divine laws can be expiated by the transmigration of souls. Yazidis believe that their chief saint, Shaikh Adi, a Muslim mystic in the 12th century, acquired divine status through the transmigration of his soul. His tomb, situated north of Mosul [q.v.], is the site of an annual pilgrimage.
Though Yazidis do not believe in evil, sin, and the devil, they are often described as devil worshippers.
Yemen:
OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of Yemen
CAPITAL: Sanaa [q.v.]
AREA: 182,280 sq. mi./472,100 sq. km, excluding 23,070 sq. mi./59,770 sq. km claimed by North Yemen along the un-demarcated eastern frontier with Saudi Arabia. Claimed area totals 203,000 sq. mi./552,580 sq. km.
POPULATION: 25.1 million (2011 est.), with 79 percent in (old) North Yemen [q.v.] and 21 percent in (old) South Yemen [q.v.]
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (nominal): $33.68 billion; per capita, $1,340 (2011 est.)
GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (Purchasing Power Parity): $57.97 billion; per capita $2,306 (2011 est.)
NATIONAL CURRENCIES: Yemeni Rial (YER); YER 100 = $0.467 = £0.288 = € 0.347 (2011)
FORM OF GOVERNMENT: republic, president elected by popular vote
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Arabic [q.v.]
OFFICIAL RELIGION: Islam [q.v.]
ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM: Yemen consists of 18 provinces.
ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM: Yemen consists of 18 provinces.
CONSTITUTION: The Yemeni constitution, based on a document endorsed by North Yemen [q.v.] and South Yemen [q.v.] in 1981, was approved by a referendum in May 1991, a year after the proclamation of the united Republic of Yemen. Describing the republic as "an independent, indivisible state," it specifies Islam and Arabic as the state religion and state language respectively. The Sharia [q.v.] is the main source of legislation. Power rests with the people, who exercise it through elections and referendums. The state guarantees freedom of expression and assembly within the law. The republic's economy is founded on safeguarding private property and assuring Islamic social justice while striving to develop the state sector as the main means of production.
In September 1994, 29 articles were added to the constitution, with 52 of the previous document's 101 articles amended. Further changes, adopted by the lower house of parliament in November 2000, were approved by a referendum three months later. According to the revised document, the president is to be elected for seven years by universal suffrage. He is empowered to nominate the vice president. He first appoints the prime minister and then, advised by him, the rest of the cabinet. He is also head of the Supreme Judicial Council. The legislative power rests with the lower chamber of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives, elected for six years by universal suffrage. By contrast, the upper chamber, the Consultative Council, is nominated by the president. The revised constitution reaffirmed multiparty democracy.
ETHNIC COMPOSITION (2011): Arab [q.v.], including Afro-Arab, 99 percent; other, 1 percent.
HIGH OFFICIALS:
President: Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi [q.v.], 2012-
Prime minister: Muhammad Basin-dawa, 2011-
Speaker of the Assembly of Representatives, Yahya al-Raee, 2010-
Chairman of Consultative (Shura) Council: Abdul Rahman Muhammad Ali Othman, 2011-
HISTORY (since ca 1900):
North Yemen: (Before the unification of North and South Yemen in 1990) Official name, Yemen Arab Republic; area, 77,220 sq. mi./200,000 sq. km; population, 9.274 million (1986 census).
At the turn of the 20th century North Yemen, under the nominal suzerainty of the Ottoman Turks, was ruled by Imam Yahya Hamid al-Din (1869–1948). By rebelling against the Ottoman Empire in 1911, he obtained wider powers. During World War I he was loyal to the Ottomans. With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, North Yemen became fully independent, and Imam Yahya aspired to recreate the historic Greater Yemen. In 1925 he regained Hodeida port, which had been occupied in 1921 by the ruler of the neighboring Asir region with British connivance. The resulting dispute over Asir culminated in war in 1934 between North Yemen and Saudi Arabia, started by the latter. Having overpowered the North Yemenis and captured Hodeida, the Saudis accepted a ceasefire, mainly because British, French, and Italian warships rushed to Hodeida, intent on curbing Saudi expansionism. The Treaty of Muslim Friendship and Arab Fraternity [q.v.] returned to Imam Yahya nearly half the area he had lost in war, including the southern part of the Tihama coastal plain—leaving the upland Najran and Asir in Saudi hands.
Following an abortive coup in February 1948 that resulted in the murder of his father, Ahmad bin Yahya [q.v.] assumed supreme power. When his ambition to recreate Greater Yemen at the expense of the British Protectorate of Aden was frustrated by London, in 1956 he signed a mutual defense pact with Egypt, then ruled by President Gamal Abdul Nasser [q.v.]. In 1958 he formed a loose federation of North Yemen and the United Arab Republic (UAR) [q.v.], called the Union of Arab States. By then he had concluded friendship treaties with the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, and other Communist capitals. After the breakup of the UAR in September 1961, he cut his ties with Egypt and started attacking Nasser, who reciprocated. Soon after Imam Ahmad's death in September 1962, a military coup, led by Brigadier-General Abdullah Sallal [q.v.], ended the 1064-year rule of the al-Rassi dynasty.
A civil war [q.v.] ensued. The republicans, deriving their major support from the Shafii (Sunni [q.v.]) tribes inhabiting the coastal plain and the southern hills, were aided by Egypt, while the royalists, with a solid base among the Zaidi [q.v.] tribes in the north, were helped by the Saudis. In 1967 Sallal tried to regain the area lost in the war, but failed, partly because of the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], which diverted Egypt's resources. Cairo decided to withdraw its forces from North Yemen, and this weakened the position of Sallal. He was overthrown in November 1967, during his visit to Moscow, by forces led by Abdul Rahman al-Iryani [q.v.].
In March 1970, following complex negotiations, the civil war ended and an agreed-on governmental system— based on a presidential council and a nominated consultative council— emerged. The first post-civil war president, al-Iryani, was deposed in 1974; the second and third, Ibrahim Hamdi [q.v.] and Ahmad Hussein Ghashmi [q.v.], were assassinated in October 1977 and June 1978, respectively. Ali Abdullah Saleh, deputy commander-in-chief, succeeded Ghashmi. He legitimized his power by gaining the backing of the Constituent People's Assembly (CPA). In October 1980 Saleh replaced Prime Minister Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani with Abdul Karim Iryani to placate leftist opposition at home. In October 1981 he established a 1,000-member General People's Congress [q.v.], partly by appointment and partly by indirect elections, as an instrument for mass mobilization. Two months later he signed an agreement with South Yemen on unity.
Oil production, which began modestly in 1984, picked up rapidly. Saleh maintained friendly relations with Saudi Arabia, the chief paymaster of North Yemen, while cultivating the leftist South Yemen by periodically renewing the 1981 agreement on eventual unity between the two Yemens. After his reelection as president in 1988, he responded positively to the idea of an alliance of North Yemen with Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan, which materialized as the Arab Cooperation Council [q.v.] in early 1989.
South Yemen (Before the unification of North and South Yemen in 1990): Official name: People's Democratic Republic of Yemen; area 130,070 sq. mi./336,870 sq. km; population 2,121,000 (1986 est.).
At the turn of the 20th century, Britain ruled the Aden Colony through a governor attached to the India Office in London, and the Aden Protectorate, consisting of 23 provinces, through local rulers. After World War I, Britain frustrated Imam Yahya's attempt to annex parts of the Aden protectorate. It split the Protectorate from the India Office in 1927 and from the Aden Colony 10 years later. In 1947 it introduced a fully nominated legislative assembly in the Aden Colony. In 1962 it offered a plan to knit together the Colony and the Protectorate into the Federation of South Arabia. This was opposed by, among others, the National Front for the Liberation of South Yemen [q.v.], popularly called the NLF. It achieved power in late 1967 by launching a successful armed struggle against the British.
After the founding of the People's Republic of South Yemen, differences between moderate and radical elements within the NLF surfaced in June 1969, resulting in the victory of hard-liners. A new, radical constitution was promulgated in November 1970. By the time the sixth congress of the NLF was held, in March 1975, the regime felt secure. In October the NLF decided to widen its base by forming the United Political Organization-National Front (UPO-NF), to be reconstituted in 1978. Following the assassination of North Yemeni President Ahmad Ghashmi in June 1978, there was fighting in Aden [q.v.], which President Salim Rubai Ali [q.v.] lost.
In October the UPO-NF was transformed into the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP) [q.v.]. The radical policies of Abdul Fattah Ismail [q.v.], chairman of the Presidential Council, did not go down well with his erstwhile ally, Ali Nasser Muhammad [q.v.]. In April 1980 Ismail was forced to resign and go into exile in Moscow, leaving Muhammad as the sole leader. Five years later Ismail returned thanks to the successful mediation by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He was appointed secretary-general of the YSP's central committee, a position without power. But the rapprochement broke down in January 1986. In the subsequent fighting Ismail lost his life, but his radical side won, and Ali Salim al-Beidh [q.v.] emerged as leader of the YSP.
While the presidency was placed in the hands of a technocrat, Haidar al-Attas, real power lay with al-Beidh. He started to moderate his radical stance and introduce economic and political reform—especially after Moscow cut its aid from $400 million in 1988 to $50 million in 1989. The steep decline in the Soviet Union's financial assistance accelerated the drive toward unification with North Yemen, which occurred the following year.
Republic of Yemen (After unification of North and South Yemen in 1990): On 22 May 1990, when the united Republic of Yemen was inaugurated, Saleh became its president and al-Beidh its vice president. The five-member Presidential Council consisted of three North Yemeni and two South Yemeni leaders. However, the two constituents maintained separate armed forces and broadcasting facilities. The political parties of the two Yemens were dissolved formally and then registered afresh to operate in all of the united Yemen. By September the Republic of Yemen had more than 30 political groups.
Since Yemen—the only Arab country on the UN Security Council—refused to follow Saudi Arabia into the Washington-led coalition against Iraq after its occupation of Kuwait in August 1990, the Saudi government retaliated by withdrawing the special treatment accorded to Yemeni nationals. The resulting exodus of 850,000 Yemenis from Saudi Arabia depressed the already weak Yemeni economy. Yemen voted against the UN Security Council Resolution 678, authorizing member states to use "all necessary means" to reverse Iraq's occupation evacuation of Kuwait) in November 1990. In early January 1991, Yemen's peace plan to avert a war against Iraq failed to prevent Gulf War II [q.v.].
At home, voters endorsed the new constitution in May 1991. But the multiparty general election based on universal suffrage, the first of its kind in the Arabian Peninsula [q.v.] and promised within a year of the new constitution, did not materialize until April 1993. Out of 301 parliamentary seats, the reconstituted General People's Congress (GPC) won over 40 percent, followed by the Yemeni Islah Group (YIG) [q.v.] and the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP).
Al Beidh, leader of the YSP, which had so far shared power with the GPC, objected to Saleh's co-opting of the YIG into the new coalition government. Blaming Saleh for the lack of progress on unification, al-Beidh left Sanaa for Aden in August, setting the scene for a conflict that escalated into the Yemeni Civil War [q.v.] in April 1994, during which al-Beidh declared South Yemen independent. South Yemen's independence was not recognized by any other country, and al-Beidh's camp lost in July. The victorious Saleh and the GPC consolidated their power and Yemeni unity.
The next year, Saleh was elevated to chairman of the GPC, a new post. In 1997 the GPC improved its parliamentary strength by 64 seats partly due to the boycott of the polls by the YSP, which had 56 deputies in the dissolved legislature. But that did not lessen the problem the new government faced when trying to implement economic liberalization, prescribed by the International Monetary Fund, by phasing out subsidies on basic necessities and fuel. Also, the outlying mountainous regions under effective rule by the tribal chiefs remained out of the central government's control. Nonetheless, in the first popular election for the presidency, in 1999, Saleh secured more than 96 percent of the ballots. The following year he called the first-ever local elections. In April 2001 he promoted foreign minister Abdul Qadir Bajammal to the post of prime minister. In foreign policy, Yemen strengthened its ties with the United States. It conducted its first joint military exercise with the U.S. forces in November 1998. But that did not inhibit it from condemning Washington's Operation Desert Fox [q.v.] against Iraq in December. However, its earlier agreement to let the U.S. Navy use Aden for refueling went ahead in 1999. On 12 October 2000 a harbor skiff, laden with explosives, piloted by two suicide bombers, struck the USS Cole, which was refueling in Aden, and killed 17 sailors. The attack, claimed by the Islamic Army of Aden-Abyan, was believed to be linked to the Al Qaida [q.v.] network. The Yemeni government cooperated fully with Washington to track down the culprits.
After the terrorist attacks on the United States in September 2001, cooperation between the two governments increased, with the American policy makers being aware that the mountainous terrain of Yemen, the homeland of the bin Laden clan, was ideal for setting up terrorist training camps.
In 2004, the government's attempt to arrest Hussein al-Houthi, a Zaidi Shia [q.v.] religious leader, sparked a rebellion in the northern border province of Saada. After he was killed in an offensive by the army, the leadership passed to his brother Abdul Malik. A truce was signed in 2007 but did not go into effect. In 2008, mediation by Qatar revived the peace agreement. But, claiming that the rebels were not adhering to it, Saleh announced a fresh campaign in August 2009 to crush the Houthi rebels [q.v.].
Earlier that year eastern Yemen became the base of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) [q. v.], formed by the merger of Al Qaida in Saudi Arabia and Al Qaida in Yemen. The AQAP was blamed by U.S. President Barack Obama for attempting to blow up an American passenger plane over Detroit on Christmas Day in 2010 by training a young Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallah, to carry out the operation. After this episode U.S. drones targeted several sites in Yemen suspected of being AQAP hideouts or training camps. The Yemeni government claimed these strikes as its own, a sign of further tightening of links between Sanaa and Washington.
In 2009 various anti-government groups in the South formed an umbrella organization called the Southern Movement [q.v.] under the chairmanship of Hassan Baoum, a leader of the YSP. It called for equality with the north and honoring of the promises made at the time of unification. Most southerners complained of discrimination in the distribution of resources by the central government. When it resorted to repressing the Southern Movement, its leaders demanded independence for the south. They held pro-independence demonstrations and appealed to the Arab League [q.v.] to supervise secession. The government arrested the movement's leaders. But when the agitation did not end, it released them a year later.
With the onset of the Arab Spring [q.v.] in January 2011, the protesting demonstrators in Sanaa escalated their demands from ending unemployment and corruption to Saleh's resignation. Pro-Saleh supporters staged counterdemonstrations. More concerned about security and stability than democracy, the United States failed to sympathize with the protestors. Instead, it encouraged Saudi Arabia to mediate between the rival camps.
Saudi King Abdullah [q.v.] activated the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) [q.v.]. In late April, Saleh accepted the GCC's three-point plan, which required him to step down in favor of Vice President Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi [q.v.] in exchange for immunity from prosecution for himself, his relatives, and senior members of his government. But when it came to signing the agreement, he balked three times. The GCC suspended its mediation on 22 May 2011. The next day, when Sadiq al-Ahmar, leader of the powerful Hashid tribal federation, declared his support for the opposition, the army split, followed by armed clashes involving artillery and mortars.
An explosive attack on the presidential palace's mosque during the Friday congregation on 3 June left Saleh and several others badly injured. Saleh flew to Riyadh [q.v.] for medical treatment after transferring his powers to al-Hadi. By broadcasting an address to the Yemeni people from Riyadh on 7 July, he underlined his presidential authority. But on 12 September he instructed al-Hadi to revive the GCC mediation. Then suddenly he returned to Sanaa on 23 September. Violent clashes between the opposing camps resumed. The GCC's revived peace efforts gained the support of the UN Security Council. On 23 November, Saleh signed the deal, agreeing to relinquish power within 30 days in favor of a transitional government headed by al-Hadi, while remaining president until fresh new elections in February 2012. After the election, he stepped down.
President al-Hadi undertook the task of reorganizing the high command of the military, which remained divided, a result of Saleh's continued presence in the capital. Both he and the U.S. administration considered a complete overhaul of the military as the first step to regaining full control of the three southern provinces where the AQAP's affiliate, the Ansar al-Sharia (Arabic: Helpers of the Sharia), had captured large swathes of the territory, including several towns and cities.
LEGISLATURE: From May 1990 to April 1993, legislative powers rested with the Assembly of Representatives, which consisted of North Yemen's People's Constituent Assembly (159 members), the Supreme People's Council of South Yemen (111 members), and 31 new members appointed by President Saleh. Fresh elections followed, based on universal suffrage, to the 301-member Assembly of Representatives. In 1997, Saleh established a fully nominated 59-member Consultative (Shura) Council and appointed Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani as its chairman. In 2006, he raised its strength to 111.
The outcome of the April 2003 parliamentary election was General People's Congress, 238; Yemeni Islah Group, 46; Yemen Socialist Party, 8; other parties, 5; independents, 4. This parliament extended its term by two years to April 2011. Due to the political turmoil the parliamentary election was postponed.
RELIGIOUS COMPOSITION (2010): Muslim, 99 percent, with Sunni [q.v.] 52 percent, mostly Shafii [q.v.] but also Maliki [q.v.] and Hanbali [q.v.]; Shia [ q. v.], 47 percent, mostly Zaidi [q.v.], but also Twelvers [q.v.] and Ismaili [q.v.]; other, 1 percent.
Yemen Arab Republic: See North Yemen under Yemen—history.
Yemeni Civil War (1962–70): See North Yemeni Civil War.
Yemeni Civil War (1994): The failure of the North-based General People's Congress [q.v.] and the South-based Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP) [q.v.] to win parliamentary seats across the old North-South border in the April 1993 election sowed the seeds of a conflict that culminated in a civil war within a year. The graduated process of unification had allowed President Ali Abdullah Saleh [q. v.] and Vice President Ali Salim al-Beidh [q.v.] to retain their authority over the respective armed forces of North and South Yemen. But as a gesture of unification, some units from each army were posted away from their native region.
The Northern forces' attack on the Southern units at Dhamar and Amran in former North Yemen on 27 April 1994 signaled the start of a civil war. It also illustrated the North's offensive strategy, both military and political. Efforts by the Arab League [q.v.], Egypt, and the UN Security Council to bring about a cease-fire failed as Saleh stuck rigidly to his slogan: "Unity or death!"
On 22 May 1994, the fourth anniversary of unification, al-Beidh declared South Yemen independent, calling it the Democratic Republic of Yemen (DRY). Al Beidh put his pro-Saudi vice president, Shaikh Abdul Rahman Jifri, in charge of defending Aden [q.v.] while retreating to Mukalla, 375 mi./600 km to the east. The southern leaders lobbied hard to win international recognition for the DRY, but failed. Even Saudi Arabia, which had backed their moves, equivocated, concentrating on securing a cease-fire through the UN Security Council, thus providing the DRY with breathing space. Saleh was adamant on keeping outsiders out of what he insisted was "an internal Yemeni affair." On the ground the Southerners put up stiff resistance, but when the attacking Northerners cut off Aden's water and electricity supplies its fall became inevitable. The North's forces also captured Mukalla, and al-Beidh and his close aides fled to Saudi Arabia. The conflict ended on 4 July with more than 35,000 casualties, including some 10,000 fatalities, although the government put the figure at 1,000.
One version of the events maintains that al-Beidh, acting in collusion with Saudi Arabia, started to escalate the political crisis in August 1993 as a preamble to a military coup against Saleh. The purported plan was to use the South's contingents posted in Dhamar and Amran, backed by the militia of the pro-Saudi Bakil tribal confederation, to besiege Sanaa [q.v.] on 5 May 1994 and overthrow Saleh. But intelligence sources loyal to Saleh got wind of the South's plans, and the Northern forces attacked the Southern units of Dhamar and Amran on 27 April.
Yemeni Islah Group (Official title: Arabic: Al-Tajami al-Yamani lil Islah, The Yemeni Group for Reform): Yemeni political party Following the legislation of political parties after the Yemeni unification in May 1990, the Islamic and Zaidi [q.v.] tribal forces combined to form the Yemeni Islah Group (YIG). It was led by Shaikh Abdullah Hussein al-Ahmar [q.v.] and Shaikh Abdul Wahhab al-Anisi. Objecting to the provision in the 1991 draft constitution that the Sharia [q.v.] was to be the main source of legislation, it demanded that the Sharia should be the sole source, and urged a boycott of the referendum on the constitution. However, it fought the general election held under that constitution in April 1993 and won 62 seats, more than the number gained by the Yemeni Socialist Party [q.v.].
President Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.] included the YIG in the new coalition government, and the position of parliamentary speaker went to its leader, al-Ahmar. In October Saleh gave up one of the three General People's Congress [q.v.] seats on the five-member Presidential Council to the YIG to maintain its support, which became crucial during the Yemeni Civil war [q.v.] the following spring.
During and after the conflict Islah members were active in attacking those aspects of life in former South Yemen they considered un-Islamic, including bars, women in jeans, and the government-owned brewery in Aden [q.v.]. In the 1997 parliamentary election, the YIG secured 53 seats, and its leader, al-Ahmar, was reelected speaker of the Assembly of Representatives. In the first-ever local elections in April 2001, the YIG presented a challenge to the ruling General People's Congress [q.v.], but won only 22 percent of the vote. Nonetheless, the government implemented a 1992 law requiring incorporation of religious educational centers, run by the YIG, into the state educational system. This further soured relations between the YIG and the governing party.
In the 2003 parliamentary election, the Islah's share fell to 46. After the death of al-Ahmar, its leadership passed to Muhammad Abdullah Yadumi. In 2006, along with other opposition parties, the Islah formed the Joint Parties Meeting alliance, which sponsored Faisal bin Shalman as its presidential candidate. He lost.
When the onset of the Arab Spring [q.v.] in January 2011 led to prodemocracy demonstrations and sit-ins at the Change Square in Sanaa [q.v.], thousands of Islah members arrived to provide security, food, and medical services. In fact, it was the jailing of journalist Tawakul Karman [q.v.], a member of the YIG, that triggered a wider protest. She belonged to the moderate wing of the party with its conservative faction led by Shaikh Abdul Majid Zindani, the charismatic founder of the Iman University in Sanaa, who was named a "specially designated global terrorist" by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2004.
Following the acceptance of the Gulf Cooperation Council [q.v.] plan by Saleh to step down from the presidency in November 2011, YIG members participated in the presidential election three months later, and voted for Abd Rabbu Mansour al-Hadi [q.v.].
Yemeni Socialist Party (Official title: Arabic: Al-Hizb al-lshtiraki al-Ya-maniya): Political party in South Yemen and Yemen The unification conference sponsored by the National Liberation Front (NLF) [q.v.] in October 1975 decided to weld the NLF, the Vanguard Party (a Baathist group), and the Popular Democratic Union (a Communist group) into the United Political Organization-National Front as a transitional body to graduate into the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP) in October 1978. It was a Marxist-Leninist vanguard party, committed to building scientific socialism in South Yemen.
Its first secretary-general was Abdul Fattah Ismail [q.v.]. After his exile to Moscow in April, the post went to Ali Nasser Muhammad [q.v.]. Muhammad lost the January 1986 internecine fighting and the party's top position went to Ali Salim al-Beidh [q.v.]. Under his leadership the YSP began to moderate its policies, a trend accelerated by the collapse of the Soviet Union-led socialist bloc in the wake of the demolition of the Berlin Wall in late 1989, resulting in the party's discarding of Marxism-Leninism and adopting a social-democratic program.
Following the unification of the two Yemens in May 1990, the YSP was allowed to function throughout the united Republic of Yemen. But it failed to gain support in former North Yemen. All the 56 parliamentary seats it won in the April 1993 election were from former South Yemen. During the civil war in the spring of 1994, the YSP, led by al-Beidh, was divided on the question of declaring former South Yemen independent. When al-Beidh did so, he failed to win it recognition by any country. After the defeat of al-Beidh and his partisans in the conflict, the party's standing suffered.
Objecting to the voter registration irregularities, the YSP, now led by Ali Saleh Obad, and several other opposition groups, boycotted the 1997 general election. It was not until 1998 that it was able to hold a national conference—after a gap of 10 years—in the southern city of Dali, when it elected a new politburo. And it was only in 2000 that it managed to convene a conference in Sanaa [q.v. ]. In the 2003 parliamentary election it won only 8 seats. Its secretary-general was Yasin Said Numan, the last prime minister of South Yemen before its merger with North Yemen.
In 2006 it was one of the groups to found the Joint Parties Meeting alliance, which sponsored Faisal bin Shalman, a former oil minister, to challenge, unsuccessfully, Ali Abdullah Saleh in the presidential contest. Equally, it participated actively in the pro-democracy movement in 2011.
Yemeni War (1972): The emergence of a hard-line leftist government in South Yemen in mid-1969 alarmed North Yemen and Saudi Arabia. In cooperation with the South Yemeni émigrés in North Yemen and Saudi Arabia, the governments in Riyadh [q.v.] and Sanaa [q.v.] staged a series of border attacks on South Yemen in September 1972. South Yemen appealed to the Arab League [q.v.]. Its warning that the Soviet Union would not stand idly by if Saudi Arabia mounted a full-fledged invasion of South Yemen dissuaded the Saudi kingdom from intervening directly. With the Arab League's assistance, a truce went into effect on 28 October, with the warring sides announcing, astonishingly, that the two Yemens had agreed to work toward economic and political unification.
Yemeni War (1979): The victory of the leftist faction over its rival within the ruling National Liberation Front (NLF) in South Yemen [q.v.] in June 1978, and South Yemen's alleged complicity in the assassination of North Yemeni President Ahmad Hussein Ghashmi [q.v.], led North Yemen and Saudi Arabia to urge the Arab League [q.v.] to impose sanctions against South Yemen. It did so in July. Relations between Aden and Sanaa deteriorated.
The steady capture of North Yemen's territory along its border with South Yemen by the forces of the Yemeni National Democratic Front (NDF) [q.v.] of North Yemen, aided by Aden, led to the two Yemens going to war in February 1979. NDF fighters seized border towns and penetrated 12 mi./19 km inside North Yemen on 22 February with the intention of cutting off the strategic Taiz-Sanaa [q.v.] highway. Saudi Arabia put its own forces on alert and paid $387 million to the United States to airlift heavy weapons to North Yemen. This slowed the NDF's advance. Syria and Iraq intervened and succeeded in arranging a cease-fire on 2 March.
Yemeni-British Treaty (1934): See Anglo-Yemeni Treaty (1934).
Yiddish language (German: derivative of Judisch, Jewish): A medieval German of the Middle Rhine region, developed under the influences of Hebrew [q.v.] and Slavic, Yiddish was spoken by most Ashkenazi [q.v.] Jews [q.v.]. Modern Yiddish, written in Hebrew characters and dating from about 1700, can be divided into Western Yiddish, now extinct, and Eastern Yiddish. The latter is subdivided into a northern dialect (Lithuania) and a southern one (from Poland to Rumania). Yiddish spelling was standardized by the Yiddish Scientific Institute, based in Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1937, when there were 10 to 12 million Yiddish speakers. As a result of the Holocaust during World War II, this number halved. Once predominant among West European and North American Jews, Yiddish is now rarely spoken by them outside of the Hassidic [q.v.] communities.
Yishuv (Hebrew: Settlement): The term Yishuv means the Jewish community in Palestine [q.v.], starting with the first wave of immigration in 1882 and ending with the founding of Israel in May 1948. Used in contrast to the term diaspora [q.v.], the Yishuv was viewed as the vanguard of world Jewry, laying the groundwork for the Jewish state in Palestine.
Yom Kippur (Hebrew: Day of Atonement): Observed on the 10th day of Tishri, the first month in the Jewish calendar [q.v.], and falling between early September and early October, Yom Kippur is the Sabbath [q.v.] of Sabbaths, a day of fasting and prayer for forgiveness of sins. Rabbinical tradition describes Yom Kippur as the day on which Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the second set of the tablets of the Law and declared divine pardon for the sins of the Golden Calf. In ancient times the high priest was allowed to enter the inner sanctum of the Temple on this day, dressed in white linen, signifying purity and humility. On Yom Kippur, Jews [q.v.] are required to confess their ethical lapses and other human failings. The evening service concludes with the declaration: "Next year in Jerusalem [q.v.]."
Yom Kippur War (1973): See Arab-Israeli War IV (1973).
Z
Zahal (Hebrew: acronym of Zvai Haganah Le Israel, Defense Force for Israel): See Military in Israel.
Zahedi, Fazlullah (1880–1963): Iranian politician; prime minister, 1953—55 Born into a landlord family in Hamadan, Zahedi graduated from the Military Academy in Tehran [q.v.] in 1916. He joined the Cossack brigade, which participated in the successful campaign against the Soviet Republic of Gilan in 1921, and rose to the rank of major-general during the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.].
After Reza Shah's deposition in 1941 by Britain and the Soviet Union, and their occupation of Iran, the British arrested Zahedi for suspected pro-German activities in 1943. Elected senator in 1946, he undermined the coalition government of Premier Ahmad Qawam al-Saltane. He was so opposed to the pro-British Prime Minister Ali Razmara that he flirted with the National Front [q.v.], briefly becoming interior minister under the first government of Muhammad Mussadiq [q.v.] in 1951, before concluding that the monarchy and military would stand or fall together. He then turned against Mussadiq.
Under the guise of the Retired Officers Club, Zahidi organized the secret Committee to Save the Fatherland, consisting of the military officers retired by Mussadiq in 1952. By late July 1953 the Committee had become one of the two clandestine forces planning the overthrow of the Mussadiq government, the other being the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Before fleeing Iran on 16 August, Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi [q.v.] dismissed Mussadiq and appointed Zahedi prime minister even though he was in hiding. Three days later, as Mussadiq ordered the army and the police to restore order in Tehran, proshah troops arrived from Hamadan, a stronghold of Zahedi. He led an assault on Mussadiq's residence and captured him after a nine-hour battle.
When he formed the subsequent cabinet a third of his nominees were generals. Together with the shah, he followed a three-pronged policy toward the opposition: annihilation of the Tudeh Party [q.v.], repression of the National Front [q.v.], and surveillance of independent-minded clerics. His government reestablished relations with Britain, broken off by Mussadiq, and handed over the running of the country's petroleum industry to a Western oil consortium. He was dismissed from his office in April 1955, a sign of the shah's growing confidence
Zaidis: Shia Muslim sect Zaidis share the first four Imams of Twelver Shias [q.v.]—Ali, Hussein, Hassan, and Zain al-Abidin, a grandson of Imam Ali, a son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad (570–632 A.D.)—but follow a different line with Zaid, son of Muhammad bin al-Hanafiya and half-brother of Imam Hussein bin Ali. According to Zaidis, any descendent of Ali can be an Imam [q.v.]. What he has to demonstrate is his ability to rule according to the Sharia [q.v.]. Since they do not claim infallibility for their Imams [q.v.], who are elected by notables of the Zaidi community, they are in least conflict with the Sunni doctrine [q.v.]. Zaidi principalities existed in northern Iran and Yemen in the ninth century A.D. The Zaidi state of Yemen, established by Imam Yahya bin Hussein al-Rassi in (North) Yemen in 898 A.D., continued, with some interruptions, until 1962.
Zaim, Hosni (1890–1949): Syrian military leader and politician; president, 1949 Born into a Kurdish [q.v.] family in Aleppo [q.v.], Zaim was trained to become an officer in the Ottoman Turkish army. After World War I he was drafted into the Special Forces formed by the French Mandate authority. He stayed with the pro-German government of France, based in Vichy, during World War II. Following the defeat of the Vichy forces by the British and the Free French in 1941, he was jailed. After his release he was allowed to rejoin the Syrian army. He rose rapidly in rank. During the 1948–49 Palestine War [q.v.], he was promoted to brigadier and appointed chief of staff.
Working in conjunction with the American Embassy in Damascus [q.v.], intent on securing recognition of Israel by its Arab neighbors, Zaim mounted the country's first military coup on 30 March 1949. He deposed the popularly elected president, Shukri al-Quwatli [q.v.]; dissolved parliament; and established military rule. Following a rigged referendum in late June, he was elected president with wide powers.
On 20 July he signed an armistice agreement with Israel whereby he gave up the small enclave Syria held in Palestine [q.v.]. Pro-American in foreign policy, he backed Washington's proposal for a Middle East military pact. Through the United States he attempted to establish contact with Israeli leaders, indicating that he was interested in peace. This, and his partiality toward the Kurdish and Circassian [q.v.] units in the army, caused much disaffection among the officer corps. On 14 August a group of military officers, led by Col. Sami Hinnawi, staged a coup against Zaim. Following a summary trial by a military court, he was executed.
zakat (Arabic: derivative of zakaa, to be pure): The performing of zakat, mentioned in the Quran [q.v.] as the "free will offerings for the poor and needy..., the ransoming of slaves, debtors in God's way and the traveler," was later refined as obligatory charity by the believer and included in the five pillars of Islam [q.v.]. The underlying principle is that a Muslim [q.v.] should purify his/her wealth by paying his/her dues to the community, which spends the resources for social purposes. With the introduction of fiqh [q.v.] (Islamic jurisprudence), zakat was prescribed as a religious tax and regulated. The Shafii code [q.v.], for instance, prescribed zakat on cereal and fruit crops, livestock, gold and silver, and merchandise, the tax varying from 10 percent on crops to 2.5 percent on merchandise and gold and silver. In modern times zakat is paid either to the government of a Muslim country or to a Muslim religious-legal scholar, to be spent in ways prescribed by the Sharia [q.v.].
Zarqawi, Abu Mussab (1966–2006): Jordanian jihadist and leader of Al-Qaida in Mesopotamia [q.v.] Born Ahmad Fadil al-Khalalyle in Zarqa, Jordan, he was the seventh child of a Palestinian couple. A few years after he left school, he became interested in Islam [q.v.] and the jihad [q.v.] in Afghanistan. He arrived in Afghanistan in the spring of 1989 just after the Soviet troops had left. He became a reporter for Al Bonian al-Marous (Arabic: The Strong Will), an Islamist publication, interviewing those Arab [q.v.] mujahedin who had fought in Afghanistan. On returning to Jordan in 1992, he joined a group called Bayat al-lmam (Arabic: Loyalty to the Imam). In 1993 he was arrested for possessing rifles and bombs. In prison he started memorizing the Quran [q.v.], and his Islamist beliefs hardened. He was released in 1999 as part of an amnesty.
Early next year he took his dying mother to Peshawar, Pakistan, for medical treatment. In his absence the government accused him of a foiled terrorist plot against "a Christian pilgrimage place." When his mother died and his Pakistani visa expired, he crossed into the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in June 2000. There he joined a training camp run by Al Qaida [q.v.]. After the fall of the Taliban in December 2001, he crossed into Iran and from there into an enclave of Iraqi Kurdistan [q.v.], then administered by the pro-American Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [q.v.].
After the fall of the regime of President Saddam Hussein [q.v.], Zar-qawi's organization changed its name from Ansar al-lslam (Arabic: Helpers of Islam) to Jamaat al-Tawihid wal Jihad (Arabic: Society of Divine Unity and Jihad; JTJ). It offered resistance to the American occupation authority by attacking it and those Iraqis cooperating with it, as well as Iraqi Shias [q.v.].
Among the various Sunni [q.v.] groups resisting the American occupation, the JTJ emerged as the most lethal. It claimed responsibility for such dramatic acts as the bombing of the UN mission in Baghdad in 2003 and the assassination of the Iraqi Governing Council's president Izzed-dine Salim 10 months later. The Pentagon raised the price on Zarqawi's head from $10 million to $25 million.
In 2004 the JTJ became an affiliate of Al Qaida and changed its name to Al Qaida in Mesopotamia (AQM) [q.v.] (Arabic: Tanzim Qaidatal-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn). It sent suicide bombers into Shia gatherings in Baghdad [q.v.] and Karbala [q.v.] to devastating effect. It took Westerners as hostages and beheaded some.
Arguing that the authority to legislate rested with Allah's word as revealed in the Quran [q.v.], the AQM opposed democracy and elections. It backed the decision of the Sunni tribal leaders to boycott the election for the Interim National Assembly in January 2005. It focused on high-profile and coordinated suicide attacks and created insecurity in the public at large. Because of its addiction to violence for violence's sake, and its intolerance of those who differed from it, the AQM began to lose whatever popular support it had gained earlier.
To reverse the trend, in January 2006, Zarqawi created the Islamic World Council to gather all Sunni resistance groups under one banner. His endeavor ended abruptly in June when he was killed in an operation mounted by the American and Iraqi forces.
Zawahiri, Ayman Muhammad (1951-): Egyptian Islamist ideologue-politician, leader of Al-Qaida [q.v.]2011— (aka Abu Muhammad; Muhammad Ibrahim) Son of a Cairo University pharmacology professor, Muhammad Zawahiri, and grandson of Rabiaa Zawahiri, the Grand Shaikh of Al Azhar University [q.v.], he became politically active and was arrested as a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood [q.v.] in 1965. He graduated as a surgeon from Cairo University's medical school in 1978.
He was a cofounder of Al Jihad al-Islami [q.v.], headed by Ismail Tantawi. When Tantawi moved to West Germany, Zawahiri became Al Jihad's leader. After the assassination of President Muhammad Anwar Sadat [q.v.] in 1981, he was jailed for three years for participating in the assassination plot. He was the author of the first manifest of Al Jihad, titled The Philosophy of Confrontation.
In 1986 Zawahiri traveled to Pakistan and joined the medical corps in Peshawar to serve the Islamist Mujahedin fighting the Soviets and the Soviet-backed regime in Afghanistan. There he met Osama bin Laden [q.v.]. He established a branch of Al Jihad in Peshawar as well as a monthly magazine, Al-Ghazu (Arabic: The Conquest). He stayed on in Peshawar after the Soviet military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989.
In 1992, he traveled to Sudan to join bin Laden. As leader of the Egyptian militant Islamist group, he wanted to focus on waging jihad in Egypt, whereas bin Laden advocated targeting America. The Islamic Jihad's unsuccessful attempts to assassinate the Egyptian prime minister and foreign minister, followed by the arrest of more than 1,000 of its activists, weakened the organization. The attempt to kill Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak [q.v.] during his visit to Addis Ababa in 1995, masterminded by the Islamic Jihad and al-Gamaat al-Islamiya [q.v.], failed.
Zawahiri scoured several European countries in 1996–97 in search of sanctuary and funds. When he tried to enter the Dagestan province of Russia without a visa in December 1996, he was arrested. His incarceration lasted six months.
On his release he traveled to Jalalabad in Afghanistan where bin Laden was then based. It was there that, in February 1998, Al Jihad, led by Zawahiri, allied with the Al Qaida network of bin Laden to form the World Islamic Front for Jihad against Crusaders and Jews [q.v.], with Al Jihad members concentrating on forging documents, transferring money, and arranging communications, and Zawahiri emerging as the ideologue of the World Islamic Front.
On 4 November 1998 a federal grand jury in the United States returned a 238-count indictment—covering 227 murders caused by the bombings of the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar as Salam in August 1998 and 11 other charges— against bin Laden and 16 others, including Zawahiri, and charging them with leading a terrorist conspiracy from 1989 to the present, working in concert with other terrorists to build weapons and attack American military installations.
In 1999 a court in Cairo [q.v.] sentenced Zawahiri to death in absentia for his leading role in the terrorist assaults in Egypt in the earlier years of the decade. Following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on 11 September 2001, Zawahiri was named as one of the leading conspirators by the United States, which offered a reward of $25 million for information leading to his capture. He was sitting next to bin Laden when the latter broadcast a 20-minute statement on Al-Jazeera TV on 7 October 2001 after the Pentagon started bombing Afghanistan.
After the collapse of the Taliban government in Afghanistan two months later, he is believed to have escaped into Pakistan's tribal areas adjoining the Afghan border.
The publication of his book Knights under the Prophet's Banner: Meditations on the Jihadist Movement in December 2001 established him as the leading ideologue of Al Qaida.
In the videotapes released by Al Qaida, he always appeared next to bin Laden—until 2003, when, evidently for safety reasons, the two leaders decided to operate from separate bases.
Since then, several attempts by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pakistani military to kill him have failed. One well-publicized attempt was made in January 2006 in a village in Bajaur tribal agency of Pakistan. Later that year he advised Abu Mussab Zarqawu [q.v.] in Iraq to reconsider his strategy of targeting Shias [q.v.]. In 2007 Zawahiri is believed to have guided the two jihadist caretakers of the Red Mosque in Islamabad on how to resist the military siege that ended with the deaths of 112 people. In his video aired in August 2008, he appealed to Pakistani soldiers to reconsider their role in the fighting that had pitted them against fellow Pakistanis in the tribal region. The next month there was another failed attempt to kill or capture him in the Mohamand tribal Agency.
When pro-democracy demonstrations gathered pace in January 2011, Zawahiri took to releasing monthly recordings in which he linked the unrest in the Arab [q.v.] world to the jihadist inspiration behind the 9/11 attacks. After the killing of bin Laden on 2 May 2011 by U.S. Special Forces in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, Zawahiri was elected leader of Al Qaida. Five weeks later in his video recording he praised bin Laden. Dwelling on the uprisings in Syria and Yemen, he stressed that the post-Bashar Assad [q.v.] and post-Ali Abdullah Saleh [q.v.] regimes must transform themselves into Islamic states where Sharia [q.v.] has "the last word." In February 2012, he called on Muslims [q.v.] in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey to join the fight against "the pernicious, cancerous regime" of Assad.
Zion: Zion is the Canaanite name of the hill upon which Jerusalem [q.v.] stood. In the Old Testament [q.v.] the name pertains to the easternmost hill of Jerusalem, which was the site of the royal palace—the center of Hebrew government and worship—built by King David (r. 1010–970 B.C.) of Israel. Following the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and the exile of the Jews [q.v.] in 586 B.C., Zion became embedded in the communal psyche. It was the site to which the Jews would be restored, where they would find Yahweh/Jehovah. Thus over the centuries Zion acquired the connotation of the Jewish homeland, and was adopted by those 19th-century Jews who wanted to set up a Jewish national center or state in Palestine [q.v.].
Zionism and Zionists: A Jewish doctrine and movement Zionism, the term named after Zion [q.v.], the hill in ancient Jerusalem [q.v.] upon which the royal palace of King David (r. 1010970 B.C.) was built, was coined by Nathan Birnbaum in 1893. It was applied to the Jewish nationalist movement that aimed to create a Jewish state or national center in Ottoman Palestine [q.v.], the historic homeland of the ancestors of Jews [q.v.]. Until then the aspiration to return to Zion had been couched in religious terms and expressed in the liturgy. The movement gained ground among the Jews of Europe in the 19th century, when the political emancipation of the Jewish communities, and their assimilation into the mainstream culture, failed to secure them full acceptance.
In 1862 Moses Hess, a German Jew, published a book entitled Rome and Jerusalem, which advocated the return of Jews to Palestine and the creation of a spiritual center there for the Jewish diaspora [q.v.]. This was religious Zionism, which called on Jews to return to Zion for religious reasons. The idea was adopted by the Hovevei Zion (Hebrew: Lovers of Zion) societies that sprang up in Russia soon after the pogroms of 1881–1882 following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. They organized the first immigration wave into Palestine. This was seen as part of an effort to create a spiritual center for Jewish civilization by such Jewish thinkers as Ahad HaAam (1875–1927), who stressed the significance of maintaining a Jewish national culture, including developing Hebrew [q.v.] as a modern language.
It was left to Theodor Herzl (18601904), an Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist, to give a political dimension to the concept of Zionism. In his pamphlet Der Judenstaat (German: The Jewish State) (1896) he argued for a Jewish homeland to be set up— preferably, but not necessarily, in Ottoman Palestine—and that it should be secured through an international agreement. The next year Herzl convened the first Zionist Congress [q.v.] in Basle, Switzerland. It established the Zionist Organization [q.v.]—later called the World Zionist Organization (WZO) [q.v.]—which stated: "Zionism strives to create for the Jewish people a home in Palestine secured by public law." Most of the Hovevei Zion societies affiliated to the WZO, based in Vienna, Austria. The Ottoman sultan turned down Herzl's proposal for autonomy for Palestine, which was not a single administrative unit of the empire. Britain offered 6,000 sq. mi./15,550 sq. km of virgin land in Uganda to WZO in 1903, but the Seventh Zionist Congress in 1905 rejected the overture.
With the failure of the Russian revolution of 1905, and the subsequent repression and pogroms, the migration of Russian Jewish youths to Palestine increased, as did support for the Zionist movement among European Jews. Since many of the Russian settlers were socialists, Marxist, and non-Marxist, socialist Zionism found a home in Palestine, which by 1914 had some 90,000 Jews.
When World War I started, political Zionism became dominant, with the Russian Jews settled in Britain taking over its leadership. Two such figures, Chaim Weizmann and Nahum Sokolow, played a crucial role in securing the Balfour Declaration [q.v.] from the British government in late 1917. It pledged official backing for the creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine, and was incorporated into Britain's League of Nations mandate over Palestine in 1922. The mandate made a Jewish agency—the WZO until 1929 and then the Jewish Agency for Palestine [q.v.], working in coordination with the government in Palestine—responsible for Jewish immigration and settlement.
The 1920s and 1930s witnessed the development and consolidation of Jewish life in Palestine, funded by the WZO, which was financed mainly by American Jews. The Jewish community in Palestine was represented by an elected Vaad Leumi (Hebrew: National Council), a trade union federation, Histadrut [q.v.], and a militia, Haganah [q.v.].
The Jewish population increased from 108,000 in 1925 to 446,000 in 1939. Seeing their proportion in the national population rapidly decreasing, the Arabs [q.v.] protested, rioting in 1921 and 1926, and staging a revolt from 1936 to 1939. In 1939, Britain imposed a limit of 75,000 Jewish immigrants over the next five years. But illegal immigration grew.
In November 1947 the UN General Assembly, the successor to the League of Nations, recommended a swift end to the British mandate over Palestine, and partitioning of the country, giving Jews, then 30 percent of the population, 53.5 percent of Palestine, and internationalizing Jerusalem and its suburbs, covering a little over 1 percent of Palestine. The WZO accepted the UN plan; the Arabs rejected it. Civil conflict erupted.
The founding of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948 triggered the Arab-Israeli War [q.v.]. During this war, besides occupying the Jewish sector allocated to it by the UN, Israel annexed half of the area allotted to the Arabs—reducing their share to 23.4 percent of Palestine, including part of Jerusalem—and expelled some 760,000 Arabs, who became refugees. The affiliates to the WZO in 70 countries continued to provide financial backing to Israel and encourage Jews to settle there. In the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War [q.v.], Israel occupied the remainder of Palestine.
On 10 November 1975, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 3379, which defined Zionism as "a form of racism and racial discrimination" by 72 votes to 35, with 32 abstentions. Sixteen years later, on 16 December 1991, the UN General Assembly revoked this resolution by 111 votes to 25, with 13 abstentions.
Unable to quell the intifada [q.v.] of the Palestinians [q.v.], which started in the Occupied Territories [q.v.] in 1987, Israel signed an accord on Palestinian autonomy with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) [q.v.], called the Oslo Accord I [q.v.], in 1993, thus recognizing the right Palestinians to their own state within the boundaries of the Palestine of the British Mandate.
Zionist Congresses: The first Zionist Congress was convened by Theodor Herzl (1860–1904) in Basle, Switzerland, in 1897. It established the Zionist Organization [q.v.]—later called the World Zionist Organization (WZO) [q .v.]—and stated: "Zionism [q.v. ] strives to create for the Jewish people a home in Palestine [ q.v.] secured by public law." It elected a 15-strong executive committee, headed by Herzl as president, and became the legislative body of the WZO.
The Fifth Zionist Congress in 1901 set up the Jewish National Fund (JNF) [q.v.] under the WZO's land and development section to finance the (communal) purchase of land in Palestine. The Seventh Congress in 1905 rejected Britain's offer of land in Uganda for the Jewish homeland. The Tenth Congress in 1911 elected Otto Warburg as president of the WZO. He advocated working on both diplomatic and colonization fronts to achieve the Jewish homeland in Palestine. The Twelfth Congress in 1921 thanked Britain for the Balfour Declaration [q.v.]. The increase in registered Zionists (who elected delegates based on territorial unions and affiliated party unions) from 164,333 in 1907 to 855,590 in 1921 indicated the popularity of the movement.
At President Chaim Weizmann's behest, the Sixteenth Zionist Congress in 1929 established a proper Jewish Agency for Palestine [q.v.], with its own executive committee, consisting of an equal number of Zionists and non-Zionists—that is, those who supported the idea of a Jewish national home in Palestine but did not subscribe to political Zionism.
After the Eighteenth Zionist Congress in 1933 had resolved that "in all Zionist matters discipline in regard of the Zionist Organization must take precedence over the discipline of any other body," the Revisionist Zionists [q.v.] left. They returned to the WZO at the Twenty-second Congress in December 1946 (elected by 2,159,840 Zionists) which—taking its cue from the resolution of the American Zionist Congress in May 1942 at the Biltmore Hotel, New York City—demanded the formation of an independent Jewish state in all of Palestine.
The Twenty-third Congress, held in Jerusalem [q.v.] in 1951, formulated its objectives in the light of the founding of Israel: consolidation of Israel and the ingathering of the Jews [q.v.] in the diaspora [q.v.]. It resolved to move the WZO headquarters from London to Jerusalem. The Twenty-sixth Congress in 1964 endorsed the new constitution adopted in 1960 by the General Council which inter alia formalized the practice of holding a congress every four years.
The Thirty-sixth Congress was held in June 2010 in Jerusalem.
Zionist Organization: Founded in 1897, the Zionist Organization renamed itself the World Zionist Organization [q.v.] in 1960. See World Zionist Organization.
Zoroastrianism and Zoroastrians: an ancient religion that is named after its founder, Zoroaster or Zarathustra He is believed to have lived between 1750 B.C. and 1000 B.C. in a region that now covers eastern Iran and the southern part of Central Asia, The hymns attributed to him form the liturgical core of Zoroastrianism. In his era, society was divided into three castes: priests, warriors, and herdsmen and agriculturists. This is mirrored in Zoroastrianism, where particular daivas (heavenly ones) or gods, are associated with each caste. Above all these gods is Ahura Mazda (Old Persian: Wise Lord), who, according to the gathas (verses) attributed to Zoroaster, is the creator of heaven and earth and the supreme lawmaker. At the beginning of creation, his twin sons, Spenta Mainyu (Old Persian: Generous Spirit) and Angra Mainyu (Old Persian: Destructive Spirit), engaged in any ongoing struggle and threw the world into turmoil, which only the virtuous would survive to witness a new creation. A similar dualism runs through Zoroastrian cosmology, which divides the history of the universe into four ages of 3,000 years each, where the eternal struggle is between Ahura Mazda, who lives in the light, and Ahriman (derivative of Angra Mainyu, Destructive Spirit), who lives in the dark.
Zoroaster's teaching is based on the Avesta, the scripture in the ancient Persian language [q.v.] of Avestan, which includes various texts, such as the Yasna (Sacrifice), the Yashts, and the Vendidad. The Yasna includes verses attributed to Zoroaster, even though the text was not assembled in written form until about a millennium after Zoroaster's death. He stressed ethical and ritual purity, and retained the ancient cult of fire. During the fire ceremony the Yasna is recited, and haoma (an unfermented or intoxicating beverage) is consumed.
Since Ahura Mazda rules over all others, and is the father of all spirits, both good and evil, Zoroastrianism is considered monotheistic. It had an impact on Christianity [q.v.] and Islam [q.v.]. Each of the three castes in Persia regarded Zoroaster as a model. His doctrine spread to present-day Afghanistan and Tajikistan as well as Iran and Kurdistan [q.v.]. It flourished in the Achaemenian period (550–330 B.C.), suffered neglect during the Greek period that followed the conquest of this region by Alexander of Macedonia in 330 B.C., but revived at the end of the Parthian Empire (247 B.C.-226 A.D). It became the state religion during the Sassanian period (226–640 A.D.). Under the Sassanian rule the Avesta was compiled and translated into the vernacular, Pahlavi [q.v.]. In addition, the dualistic doctrine, which had started to replace the monotheism of the gathas during the Achaemenian period, became the norm.
With the arrival of Islam [q.v.] in Persia and Afghanistan, the hold of Zoroastrianism began to wane. It survived until the 10th century, when diehard Zoroastrians migrated to the western coast of India, where they became known as Parsis. A small minority survived in Iran. The constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes Zoroastrians, along with Christians and Jews [q.v.], as a religious minority, and allocates them one representative in a parliament of 270 members; in 2008, he represented a community of 21,000 Zoroastrians.
The Zoroastrian calendar, based on a solar cycle, consists of 12 months of 30 days each. The additional five or six days are kept for "remembering the dead."
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaBook"
}
| 6,111
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Based on years of experience as a performer and teacher, my aim is to enhance peoples' enjoyment and understanding of classical music through my recitals, lecture recitals and teaching in the UK and abroad.
Angela brings the world of classical music alive for her audiences by introducing them to the famous composers and their music. She illustrates her talks with piano music, chamber music and songs, as well as inspirational Power Point presentations.
Angela has given solo recitals all over the UK and abroad and has a particular love of playing chamber music. She has accompanied numerous established singers and instrumentalists in recital and also accompanies choirs and children for music examinations, as well as giving lessons and masterclasses in the art of accompaniment.
Angela gives classes in Music Appreciation for adults and music theory, aural training and general musicianship for children, as well as teaching piano to both children and adults. Promoting all round musical understanding over and above purely instrumental skill is central to Angela's approach.
Angela Zanders - Beethoven Short from Raws Productions on Vimeo.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
}
| 5,873
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using System;
using Syrinj;
using NUnit.Framework;
namespace Syrinj.Tests.NonMonoBehaviour
{
internal class ProviderTest
{
public class ProvidedClass
{
[Inject]
public Provider<TestClass> TestProvider;
}
public class TestClass {
}
private ProvidedClass provided;
[SetUp]
public void SetUp() {
DependencyContainer.Instance.Reset();
provided = new ProvidedClass();
}
[Test]
public void TestProviderInjected() {
DependencyContainer.Instance.Inject(provided);
Assert.NotNull(provided.TestProvider);
}
[Test]
public void TestProviderCreated() {
DependencyContainer.Instance.Inject(provided);
Assert.NotNull(provided.TestProvider.Get());
}
[Test]
public void TestProviderCreatedMultiple() {
DependencyContainer.Instance.Inject(provided);
var objA = provided.TestProvider.Get();
var objB = provided.TestProvider.Get();
Assert.NotNull(objA);
Assert.NotNull(objB);
Assert.AreNotEqual(objA, objB);
}
}
}
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaGithub"
}
| 1,112
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package uk.ac.liv.csc.semanticweblab.modtool.events;
import java.util.EventObject;
/**
* This event is generated by an {@link OutputEventGenerator}. The event is
* passed to every {@link OutputEventListener} object that registered to receive
* such events using the component's
* {@link OutputEventGenerator#addOutputEventListener(OutputEventListener)}.
*
* @author pdoran
*
*/
public class OutputEvent extends EventObject {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 8876902057554253552L;
/**
* The message that forms the OutputEvent.
*/
private String message;
/**
* Constructs an OutputEvent object.
*
* @param source
* the object orginated the event.
* @param message
* the message for this event.
*/
public OutputEvent(Object source, String message) {
super(source);
this.message = message;
}
/**
* Returns the message string associated with this action.
*
* @return the message
*/
public String getMessage() {
return this.message;
}
}
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaGithub"
}
| 4,127
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package org.openengsb.connector.userprojects.file.internal.file;
/**
* Represents an unchecked exception that can occur within the context of file-based user data manager.
*
*/
public class FileBasedRuntimeException extends RuntimeException {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 6267165144631084590L;
public FileBasedRuntimeException() {
super();
}
public FileBasedRuntimeException(String message, Throwable cause) {
super(message, cause);
}
public FileBasedRuntimeException(String message) {
super(message);
}
public FileBasedRuntimeException(Throwable cause) {
super(cause);
}
}
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaGithub"
}
| 3,411
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Tons of Sobs ist das Debütalbum der britischen Bluesrockgruppe Free. Es erschien 1968 bei Island Records.
Hintergrund
Paul Kossoff lernte den Schlagzeuger Simon Kirke in der Band Black Cat Bones kennen, die mit Champion Jack Dupree das Lied When You Feel the Feeling aufnahm. Nachdem die beiden die Gruppe verließen, formierten sie mit Paul Rodgers, den Kossoff in London mit Brown Sugar spielen gesehen hatte und Andy Fraser, der bereits bei John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers aktiv war, im Frühjahr 1968 eine neue Band, deren Name Free von Alexis Korner vorgeschlagen wurde. Im Herbst des Jahres begannen auf Korners Empfehlung hin die Tonaufzeichnungen für das Debütalbum bei Island Records in den Morgan Studios in London. Die Musiker waren zu diesem Zeitpunkt erst zwischen 16 und 19 Jahre alt.
Titelliste
Originalalbum von 1968
Seite 1
Over the Green Hills (Part 1) (Paul Rodgers) – 0:49
Worry (Rodgers) – 3:26
Walk in my Shadow (Rodgers) – 3:29
Wild Indian Woman (Rodgers, Andy Fraser) – 3:39
Goin' Down Slow (James Burke Oden) – 8:20
Seite 2
I'm a Mover (Rodgers, Fraser) – 2:56
The Hunter (Booker T. Jones, Carl Wells, Donald Dunn, Al Jackson, Jr., Steve Cropper) – 4:13
Moonshine (Rodgers, Paul Kossoff) – 5:04
Sweet Tooth (Rodgers) – 4:54
Over the Green Hills (Part 2) (Rodgers) – 1:58
Bonus Tracks der remasterten CD-Wiederveröffentlichung von 2001
I'm a Mover (BBC Session) – 3:04
Waitin' On You (BBC Session) (B. B. King, Ferdinand Washington) – 2:15
Guy Stevens Blues (Blues Jam) (Rodgers, Fraser, Simon Kirke, Kossoff) – 4:39
Moonshine (Alternate Vocal) – 5:09
Sweet Tooth (Early Take & Alternative Lyrics) – 4:53
Visions of Hell (Unreleased Master Mix) (Fraser, Rodgers) – 3:46
Woman by the Sea (Alternative Version) (Fraser, Rodgers) – 3:30
Over the Green Hills (BBC Session) – 3:51
Besetzung
Band
Andy Fraser – Bass
Simon Kirke – Schlagzeug
Paul Kossoff – Gitarre
Paul Rodgers – Gesang
Zusätzliche Beiträge
Guy Stevens – Produzent
Steve Miller – Klavier, in den ursprünglichen Credits als Piano thumping bezeichnet
Mike Sida – Frontcoverfoto
Richard Bennett Zeff – Innencoverfoto
Andrew Johns – Toningenieur
Charterfolge
Das Album erreichte lediglich Platz 197 der amerikanischen Billboard 200 und verfehlte eine Chartplatzierung in den britischen Hitlisten.
Rezeption
Bei Allmusic verglich Dave Thompson Tons of Sobs mit dem ein Jahr später erschienenen Debütalbum von Led Zeppelin, jedoch hätte Frees Arbeit eine Dichte, die alle Zeitgenossen im Vergleich wie Fliegengewichte wirken lassen würde. Auch wenn Free nie den Erfolg von Led Zeppelin erreichen konnte, würde deutlich, wie beide Gruppen aus demselben Holz geschnitzt seien. Außerdem hob er hervor, dass die überarbeitete Version von 2001 den Sound geradewegs zurück zu den Master Tapes bringen würde. In der Bewertung bekam das Album viereinhalb von fünf Sternen.
Auf Rezensator.de wurde Tons of Sobs als eines der bemerkenswertesten Bluesrockalben der späten 60er Jahre bezeichnet. Erstaunlich wäre die musikalische Leistung der Band besonders angesichts des sehr jungen Alters der Musiker. Das Album wurde als ein Muss für alle Freunde des britischen Bluesrock empfohlen. In der Bewertung bekam es acht von zehn Sternen.
Auf sputnikmusic nannte Robert Davis Frees Debütalbum einen Meilenstein für Blues und Hard Rock. Wenige andere Bands hätten es zu der Zeit verstanden Blues und Rock miteinander zu verschmelzen. Außerdem hob er Kossoffs Gitarrenspiel als hervorragend und erstklassig hervor. Das Album sei eine Inspiration für Black Sabbath und Led Zeppelin gewesen. In der Bewertung bekam Tons of Sobs viereinhalb von fünf Punkten.
Einzelnachweise
Album 1968
Album (Rock)
Free (Band)
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaWikipedia"
}
| 1,741
|
Roxon is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Katarina Roxon (born 1993), Canadian swimmer
Lillian Roxon (1932–1973), Australian journalist and author
Nicola Roxon (born 1967), Australian politician
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaWikipedia"
}
| 1,793
|
module Day8 (part1, test1, bigScreen, smallScreen) where
import Control.Applicative
import Data.Foldable
import Data.Matrix (Matrix, getElem, mapCol, mapRow, matrix,
ncols, nrows)
import Data.Monoid
import Text.Trifecta
data Instruction = Rect Int Int | RotateR Int Int | RotateC Int Int
deriving (Eq,Show)
instructionParser :: Parser Instruction
instructionParser = try rectParser <|> try rotateRParser <|> rotateCParser
where
naturalInt = fromIntegral <$> natural
cooordsParser d = d <$> naturalInt <*> (string "by " *> naturalInt)
rotateCParser = string "rotate column x=" *> cooordsParser RotateC
rotateRParser = string "rotate row y=" *> cooordsParser RotateR
rectParser = string "rect " *> (Rect <$> naturalInt <*> (char 'x' *> naturalInt))
parseInput :: String -> Result [Instruction]
parseInput = parseString (some (instructionParser <* skipOptional windowsNewLine)) mempty
where windowsNewLine = const () <$ skipOptional newline <*> skipOptional (char '\r')
bigScreen :: Matrix Int
bigScreen = matrix 6 50 (const 0)
smallScreen :: Matrix Int
smallScreen = matrix 3 7 (const 0)
doInstruction :: Matrix Int -> Instruction -> Matrix Int
doInstruction m (Rect x y) = foldl' (flip (mapRow (\c v -> if c <= x then 1 else v))) m [1..y]
doInstruction m (RotateR x y) = mapRow (\c _ -> getElem (x+1) (wrapAround (ncols m) c y) m) (x+1) m
doInstruction m (RotateC x y) = mapCol (\r _ -> getElem (wrapAround (nrows m) r y) (x+1) m) (x+1) m
wrapAround :: Int -> Int -> Int -> Int
wrapAround e c i
| d < 1 = e + d
| otherwise = d
where d = c - i
fromSuccess :: Result x -> x
fromSuccess (Success x) = x
fromSuccess (Failure x) = error (show x)
part1 :: Matrix Int -> String -> Int
part1 m = getSum . foldMap Sum . foldl' doInstruction m . fromSuccess . parseInput
part1Solution :: IO Int
part1Solution = part1 bigScreen <$> readFile "./data/Day8.txt"
part2Solution :: IO (Matrix Char)
part2Solution = fmap (\x -> if x == 0 then ' ' else 'X' ) . foldl' doInstruction bigScreen . fromSuccess . parseInput <$> readFile "./data/Day8.txt"
test1 :: String
test1="rect 3x2\nrotate column x=1 by 1\nrotate row y=0 by 4\nrotate column x=1 by 1"
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaGithub"
}
| 9,733
|
Listening Library: Turandot
There's nothing like blasting an opera on the stereo to help oneself settle into a new place; this is a credo by which I proudly live. And I have found it to be particularly salutary in the eerie quiet of a carpeted house. (I'm still suffering from NYC-withdrawal.) Turandot may seem an odd choice to inaugurate my listening sessions here. It is, by almost any standard, one of the most unloveable of operas. Being unfinished, it's in many ways an oddly unfulfilled work. Moreover, it is, even by the criteria of opera's mostly-nineteenth-century standard repertory, astonishingly sexist and racist/Orientalist. It's a mess. However. It is--to me--musically fascinating. (Lots of Aida productions have managed to leave the banks of the Nile behind; I'm waiting for Turandot to make a more decisive break from China.) The score, evocative and experimental, not only shows Puccini's technical mastery, but shows him pushing the expressive potential of that mastery in new ways. I am a well-documented sucker for all the emotional manipulation of Puccini's mid-career standards, and believe them to be unfairly mired in a largely kitschy production history (cf. William Berger ). But Turandot, with its disturbed characters, disturbing libretto, and unquiet musical undercurrents, manages to an unusual degree to transcend its own surface narrative, at least for me as a listener. It has also benefitted from what has to be one of the great vocal lineups of opera recording history.
The 1965 studio Turandot with Nilsson, Corelli, and Scotto was one of my earliest acquisitions. I'm still glad to have it on hand; the orchestral sound is clean and the dynamics are subtle. Many are the great moments: the mourning of the slaves with uncanny quality like that of a Greek chorus; the building, relentless tension of the famous riddle scene; the chaotic crowd scenes and unexpected intimacies of the first act. In an opera where much of the drama involves divided spaces and unexpected encounters, the recording seems to suggest squares and gardens rather than a recording studio. The real wonder, though, is the voices. Renata Scotto sings a Liu of enormous dignity and courage, willing to speak when she is expected to be silent, and to be silent when she is commanded to speak. The Calaf of Franco Corelli is believably dangerous, damaged, and driven. And, of course, there is the breathtaking, steely grandeur of Nilsson's legendary soprano. The superb quality of this recording invites me to listen to it repeatedly, to try to tease out the layers in the music, to speculate on what a really interesting Turandot production--if such a thing is possible--might look like.
It positively pains me to see the three ministers treated as a sort of comic turn. What they do is, first, to promote the maintenance of the dysfunctional status quo, and then to watch its disruption with unseemly avidity... with a strangely plaintive interlude in which they lament their erstwhile loves for nature, philosophy, solitude. Is this nostalgia the sinister self-delusion of men who have lost their souls, or does it express something far truer than their ironic, jangling anticipation of a violently enforced peace? In Timur and Liu we have an exiled king and the erstwhile slave who chose to follow him as a servant rather than pass to his supplanter as a chattel. Calaf, while his vocal heroics may be, at first glance, predictable, is a curious character: he is a hunted fugitive with nothing to lose; a former prince who moves instinctively into a crowd to help an infirm beggar. He is a man who seems to long for nothing so much as death. For all his denials of this fact, he moves with fanatical zeal towards the ritual that has proved invariably fatal; he speaks of being intoxicated by the glamour of the princess who is very like a goddess of death. And even at the last he gives his life into the hands of this same princess, a woman who is half-choked with anger. Turandot herself is, on the surface of things, a near-cipher with some staggeringly gorgeous music (an all-too-common problem for sopranos.) But this is a woman who, outraged by the long history of violence against women, has created something like an alternate justice system. (I can't really bring myself to pity the stupid beheaded princes.) The relationship between Turandot's ritualized and absolute power over the court and the entire rest of the society is less than clear, frustratingly. But it's a question which, I dare to hope, might be creatively answered. In the meantime, this is a recording that makes a good case for the unfinished work as a tantalizing one.
Posted by Lucy at 11:52 PM
Labels: listening library, Puccini, Turandot
Opera Obsession: the wilderness year(s?)
Proms Postcard: a belated Beethoven blog post
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaCommonCrawl"
}
| 259
|
DISA has the broadest industry offer to support our customers with their current moulding process through our technical expertise, parts and services and guidance. We support our customer should they want to make a change from creating casts manually to horizontal moulding or vertical moulding we have a moulding machine for all requirements.
The official home of the toy building brick with links to products, games, videos, the LEGO Shop, LEGO history, fan creations and our help center.
This machine will fold all your laundry for you Authorities say a 20-year-old German student has admitted obtaining and publishing the personal data of hundreds of politicians and celebrities.
B2B Marketplace Bridging the gap between buyers and sellers, Fibre2Fashion is one of the most dynamic global B2B marketplaces and is trusted by leading businesses across countries.
Get software and technology solutions from SAP, the leader in business applications. Run simple with the best in cloud, analytics, mobile and IT solutions. Machine Learning. Blockchain. Internet of Things. Rise to the challenge.
UPS Adds More Than 700 Vehicles to Its Natural Gas Fleet . UPS will build an additional five compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations and add more than 700 new CNG vehicles. This $130 million dollar investment marks a decade of leadership in alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles.
It can be used for cement retarder, gypsum building products, model making, medical food additives, sulfuric acid production, paper filler, paint fillers. Gypsum Mill is suitable for grinding material hardness less than 7, and the most appropriate for gypsum stone.
In FY 2018 we provide vocational training to around 10,900 apprentices and dual students 5,700 for Siemens and 2,200 for third parties in Germany and another 3,000 for Siemens in about 20 more countries making us one of the largest and most innovative providers of professional education for secondary-school graduates in the world.
The top 10 industries importing into Germany in ranked order are machines, engines, pumps Currency risks when exporting to Germany. Standards and technical regulations in Germany.
Other technical issue. Products. Video is unrelated to the product. Other product-related feedback. A German friend of mine recommended this to me. I do not like the mess or hassle of making espressos. This machine is simply amazing. It takes up zero space and spits out high quality espressos so fast it will make your head spin!
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
}
| 7,580
|
NGC 7832 é uma galáxia elíptica (E) localizada na direcção da constelação de Pisces. Possui uma declinação de -03° 43' 00" e uma ascensão recta de 0 horas, 06 minutos e 28,4 segundos.
A galáxia NGC 7832 foi descoberta em 20 de Setembro de 1784 por William Herschel.
Ver também
Astronomia extragaláctica
Lista de galáxias
Lista de objectos NGC
New General Catalogue
Ligações externas
NGC 7832
Galáxias elípticas
Constelação de Pisces
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaWikipedia"
}
| 970
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HIV testing and counselling is a critical gateway to prevention and treatment. Yet, coverage remains insufficient, few couples are tested together and gender differences in access exist. We used an embedded mixed methods approach to investigate possible explanations for the high acceptance of home-based voluntary HIV counselling and testing (HB-VCT) in a pair-matched cluster-randomized trial in Zambia. A baseline survey included 1694 individuals in 36 clusters. Adults in 18 intervention clusters were offered HB-VCT by lay counsellors. Standard testing services were available in both trial arms. After the completion of the intervention, a follow-up survey was conducted in all trial clusters. In addition, 21 in-depth interviews and one focus group discussion were conducted with home-based VCT clients in the intervention arm. Informants favoured the convenience, confidentiality and credibility of HB-VCT. Counsellors were perceived as trustworthy owing to their closeness and conduct, and the consent process was experienced as convincing. Couple testing was selected by 70% of cohabiting couples and was experienced as beneficial by both genders. Levels of first-time testing (68% vs. 29%, p < 0.0001) and re-testing (94% vs. 74%, p < 0.0001) were higher in the intervention than in the control arm. Acceptance of HIV testing and counselling is dependent on stigma, trust and gender. The confidentiality of home-based VCT was essential for overcoming stigma-related barriers, and the selection of local counsellors was important to ensure trust in the services. The high level of couple counselling within HB-VCT may contribute to closing the gender gap in HIV testing, and has benefits for both genders and potentially for prevention of HIV transmission. The study demonstrates the feasibility of achieving high test coverage with an opt-in consent approach. The embedded qualitative component confirmed the high satisfaction with HB-VCT reported in the quantitative survey and was crucial to fully understand the intervention and its consequences.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
}
| 3,080
|
Q: Crashlytics shows crash in _queueForDealloc: [NSManagedObject release] I've got some crashes in Crashlytics with this information, unfortunately I don't know what to do with it:
I have really no idea where to start, I don't get any other information... In an other thread I see something like [GAI threadMain:] but I don't think that that's an issue.
I'm using MagicalRecord for my CoreData stuff, don't know what else I could say to get any information...
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaStackExchange"
}
| 8,480
|
Q: How to calculate average value by group and replace date in R data frame I have below data frame and want to calculate the average value of groups and replace the latest date of the group
df <- data.frame(group=c(1,1,1,2,2,2,3,3,3),
date=c("2014-02-13","2014-02-14","2014-02-15","2017-08-21","2017-08-22","2017-08-23","2012-06-11","2012-06-12","2012-06-13"),
value=c(5,2,1,4,8,6,7,9,3))
df$date <- as.Date(df$date,format='%Y-%m-%d')
group date value
1 1 2014-02-13 5
2 1 2014-02-14 2
3 1 2014-02-15 1
4 2 2017-08-21 4
5 2 2017-08-22 8
6 2 2017-08-23 6
7 3 2012-06-11 7
8 3 2012-06-12 9
9 3 2012-06-13 3
I am looking for output which will remove group column and replace the latest date of a group in date column and calculate the average value of three groups i.e. the final output should be like below, where only latest dates of a group is retained in date column and average value of three groups are replaced in value column. I have morethan 3 groups and more then 3 dates in my actual data. Can someone help in finding the solution.
date value
1 2017-08-21 5.33 (Average of 5+4+7)
2 2017-08-22 6.33 (Average of 2+8+9)
3 2017-08-23 3.33 (Average of 1+6+3)
A: You can use dplyr to achieve this:
library(dplyr)
df %>%
group_by(group) %>%
arrange(date) %>%
mutate(ind = 1:n()) %>%
group_by(ind) %>%
mutate(date = max(date)) %>%
group_by(date) %>%
summarise(value = mean(value))
# A tibble: 3 x 2
# date value
# <date> <dbl>
# 1 2017-08-21 5.33
# 2 2017-08-22 6.33
# 3 2017-08-23 3.33
Step-by-step and explanation
The solution becomes a little bit clearer if we see what's done step by step:
First I group the data by group, arrange them by date, and add an indicator column which tells me what's the latest date.
df1 <- df %>%
group_by(group) %>%
arrange(date) %>%
mutate(ind = 1:n())
df1
# A tibble: 9 x 4
# Groups: group [3]
# group date value ind
# <dbl> <date> <dbl> <int>
# 1 3 2012-06-11 7 1
# 2 3 2012-06-12 9 2
# 3 3 2012-06-13 3 3
# 4 1 2014-02-13 5 1
# 5 1 2014-02-14 2 2
# 6 1 2014-02-15 1 3
# 7 2 2017-08-21 4 1
# 8 2 2017-08-22 8 2
# 9 2 2017-08-23 6 3
Then I change the grouping to this indicator and set the date to the maximum date.
df2 <- df1 %>%
group_by(ind) %>%
mutate(date = max(date))
df2
# A tibble: 9 x 4
# Groups: ind [3]
# group date value ind
# <dbl> <date> <dbl> <int>
# 1 3 2017-08-21 7 1
# 2 3 2017-08-22 9 2
# 3 3 2017-08-23 3 3
# 4 1 2017-08-21 5 1
# 5 1 2017-08-22 2 2
# 6 1 2017-08-23 1 3
# 7 2 2017-08-21 4 1
# 8 2 2017-08-22 8 2
# 9 2 2017-08-23 6 3
Finally, I group by date and summarize the values by calculating the mean.
df2 %>%
group_by(date) %>%
summarise(value = mean(value))
# A tibble: 3 x 2
# date value
# <date> <dbl>
# 1 2017-08-21 5.33
# 2 2017-08-22 6.33
# 3 2017-08-23 3.33
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaStackExchange"
}
| 6,358
|
Full height interior window shutters is one of the simplest designs while also being the most effective window shutter choice.
Full height shutters cover the full length of the window and there are many advantages of full height shutters, as listed below.
Do Full Height Shutters Add Value?
Installing good quality interior window shutters, is a home investment and can increase the value of your property as they are a permanent fixture. They look smart, giving any potential buyers a great first impression of your home, especially since this is an asset that not all houses have.
Do Full Height Shutters Block Out Light?
Light control is a great advantage with full height plantation shutters (otherwise known as California shutters). You have much more control on how much light enters your home with the tilt rod on the back, unlike you originally had with curtains and drapes.
Do Full Height Shutters Block Out Noise?
When the window shutters are closed, they provide your house with an extra sound barrier so that the outside noise that enters your house is reduced.
Do Full Height Shutters Keep Heat?
During those chilly winter seasons, by keeping the windows and shutters closed, this provides your house with an extra layer of insulation so that the hot air can stay inside the house, helping you save money.
Although full height window shutters can be used to insulate your house, they can also be used to help air circulation during the summer, by keeping the windows open while the shutters are in use, meaning that the cool summer air can still enter your home.
Due to not needing to use air conditioning during summer and heating during winter not only are you saving money, but you are also being environmentally friendly by installing plantation shutters.
Internal window shutters are great at providing your house with privacy, by simply adjusting your shutters correctly, you can still see outside while no one will be able to see inside your home.
All of our wooden window shutters are made to measure and you can choose from a variety of different woods and colours.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
}
| 4,715
|
{"url":"http:\/\/bootmath.com\/what-is-an-example-of-a-second-order-differential-equation-for-which-it-is-known-that-there-are-no-smooth-solutions.html","text":"What is an example of a second order differential equation for which it is known that there are no smooth solutions?\n\nI would really appreciate if someone could just write down for me one example of a second order, or higher, differential equation for which it is known that there are no smooth solutions; and it\u2019s fine if it\u2019s a partial differential equation.\n\nAt first I thought it would be easy to either come up with an example or else find one by searching google\/wiki\/arxiv; but now I am not so sure.\n\nI have a thing for non-smooth functions, and it just bothers me that I don\u2019t even know a single example of this type of differential equation. Thanks!\n\nSolutions Collecting From Web of \"What is an example of a second order differential equation for which it is known that there are no smooth solutions?\"\n\nThere are already first order linear partial differential equations with smooth coefficients which do not admit any smooth solutions.\n\nHans Lewy produced the first example of such a PDE. The equation reads\n$$\\left[-i\\partial_x+\\partial_y-2(x+iy)\\partial_z\\right]u(x,y,z)=f(x,y,z),\\qquad(x,y,z)\\in\\mathbb R^{3}.$$\nThe equation does not have distribution solutions in any neighbourhood of any point in $\\mathbb R^3$ provided $f=f(x,y,z)$ is not a real analytic function (it can be smooth though).\n\nThe original paper by Lewy is nice, clear and less than 4 pages long (freely available here).\n\nConsider the partial differential equations associated to the isometric embedding problem of the hyperbolic plane into Euclidean 3-space. In $C^1$ there exists a solution by Nash-Kuiper theorem, but it is known classically that there cannot be solutions that are twice or more continuously differentiable.\n\nHow about you take the differential equation\n\n$\\frac{dy}{dx} = |x|$\n\nThis is a linear non-homogeneous differential equation, whose solution is $C^1$ but not smooth at $x=0$.","date":"2018-07-20 10:29:31","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": true, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 0, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.7700910568237305, \"perplexity\": 124.43054762834832}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": false, \"markdown_code\": true, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 10, \"end_threshold\": 15, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2018-30\/segments\/1531676591578.1\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20180720100114-20180720120114-00510.warc.gz\"}"}
| null | null |
173961 public notices found within 1000 miles of RG21 7NE
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national highways A303 TRUNK ROAD (M3 JUNCTION 8 TO PARKHOUSE CROSS) TEMPORARY TRAFFIC RESTRICTIONS Notice is hereby given that National
Notice effective from Fri 17 Dec 21 to Sun 16 Jan 22
CYNTHIA HALL (Deceased)
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TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1990
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\section{Introduction}
\label{sec:introduction}
A major task for geometric analysts consists in determining under which assumptions, and to what extent, certain properties typical of the Euclidean space have their counterparts on a given complete, non-compact Riemannian manifold.
The properties one is interested in include for instance certain functional inequalities, the behavior of solutions of PDEs, the characterization of some functional spaces, spectral properties, and so on.
A common set of assumptions which ensure that the manifold $M$ at hand is in a sense ``similar'' to the the Euclidean space (locally, but uniformly) is a constant lower bound on the Ricci curvature, or $|\Ric| \in L^\infty$ together with a positive lower bound on the injectivity radius.
In this spirit, we consider the following problems.
\subsection*{A}
On a Riemannian manifold $(M, g)$ one disposes of several, a priori different, definitions for the Sobolev space of order $k \in \mathbb{N}$ and integrability class $p \in [1,+\infty]$.
For instance, one can define $W^{k,p}(M)$ as the space of $L^p$-functions whose covariant (distributional) derivatives are in $L^p$ up to the order $k$:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:W^{k,p}}
W^{k, p}(M) \coloneqq \{ f \in L^p(M) : \nabla^j f \in L^p(M), \quad j = 0, \ldots k\}.
\end{equation}
This turns out to be a Banach space once endowed with the usual norm
\begin{equation*}
\Vert u \Vert_{W^{k, p}} \coloneqq \sum_{j=0}^k \Vert \nabla^j u \Vert_{L^p}.
\end{equation*}
Thanks to a generalized Meyers-Serrin-type theorem, \cite{GGP2017}, if $p \in [1, + \infty)$ this space can be characterized as the closure of $W^{k, p}(M) \cap C^\infty(M)$ with respect to $\Vert \cdot\Vert_{W^{k, p}}$, which is quite useful in applications.
Alternatively, one can define the space $W_0^{k,p}(M)$ as the closure of compactly supported smooth functions $C^\infty_0(M)$ with respect to the Sobolev norm $\Vert \cdot\Vert_{W^{k, p}}$,
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:W^{k,p}_0}
W_0^{k,p} \coloneqq \overline{C^\infty_0(M)}^{\Vert \cdot\Vert_{W^{k, p}}}.
\end{equation}
Finally, for even orders one can consider $H^{2m, p}(M)$ as the space of $L^p$ functions whose iterations of the (distributional) Laplace-Beltrami operator are in $L^p$ up to order $m$, i.e.,
\begin{equation}
H^{2m, p}(M) \coloneqq \{f \in L^p(M): \Delta^j f \in L^p(M), \quad j = 0, \ldots m\},
\end{equation}
endowed with the norm:
\begin{equation*}
\Vert u \Vert_{H^{2m, p}} \coloneqq \sum_{j=0}^m \Vert \Delta^j u \Vert_{L^p}.
\end{equation*}
In the Euclidean setting, $M = \R^n$, and on closed manifolds, the three spaces coincide.
On an arbitrary Riemannian manifold one always has $W^{1,p}(M) = W^{1,p}_0(M)$, \cite{A1976}, whereas $k=2$ is the first non-trivial order where in general one can only conclude that
\begin{equation*}
W^{2,p}_0(M) \subseteq W^{2, p}(M) \subseteq H^{2,p}(M).
\end{equation*}
Nonetheless, if $|\Ric| \in L^\infty$ and the injectivity radius does not vanishes, it is actually possible to prove that $ W^{2,p}_0(M) = W^{2, p}(M) = H^{2,p}(M)$, see \cite{GP2015, He99}.
See also \cite{V2020} for a detailed introduction to the problem.
Both proofs rely on a computation in a harmonic coordinate system which, together with a covering argument, allows to reduce the Riemannian problem to the Euclidean setting.
It is worth noticing that the result is also true for higher order $k$ if we require also that $|\nabla^j \Ric| \in L^\infty$ for $j = 0, \ldots, k-2$.
In the Hilbert case ($p = 2$), where a Bochner formula is available, a lower bound on Ricci curvature is actually enough, \cite{Ba14}.
\subsection*{B}
The second problem we consider is the existence of $W^{2,p}$ regularity estimates for the solutions of the Poisson equation on a Riemannian manifold $(M, g)$; see \cite{P2020} for a nice recent survey on the topic.
More specifically, we are interested in a-priori $L^p$-Hessian estimates of the form
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:CZintro}
\Vert \nabla^2\varphi \Vert_{L^p} \leq C \left[ \Vert \Delta \varphi \Vert_{L^p} + \Vert \varphi \Vert_{L^p} \right] \qquad \forall \varphi \in C^\infty_0(M)
\end{equation}
where $C>0$ is a positive constant.
Here $p \in (1, + \infty)$ and $\nabla^2 \varphi$ denotes the Hessian of $\varphi$, i.e., the second order covariant derivative.
Such inequalities, known in literature as $L^p$-Calder\'on-Zygmund ($CZ(p)$) inequalities, were first established in a work by A. Calder\'on and A. Zygmund, \cite{CZ1952}, in the Euclidean setting, where in fact one has the stronger
\begin{equation*}
\Vert \nabla^2 \varphi \Vert_{L^p} \leq C \Vert \Delta \varphi \Vert_{L^p} \qquad \forall \varphi \in C^\infty_0(\R^n).
\end{equation*}
Note that the limit cases $CZ(1)$ and $CZ(+\infty)$ have been left out as they fail even in the Euclidean space, \cite{O1962,dLM1962}.
It turn out that the validity of a $CZ(p)$ inequality on a Riemannian manifold implies the equality of the three Sobolev spaces defined in (A), for details we refer to \cite[Remark 2.1]{V2020} or \Cref{rmk:CZ(p) implies equality of sobolev} below.
As a matter of fact, one can ensure the validity of \eqref{eq:CZintro} under the same assumptions of $|\Ric|\in L^\infty$ and non-vanishing injectivity radius, \cite[Theorem C]{GP2015}.
Furthermore, if $p = 2$ a lower bound on Ricci curvature is enough, \cite[Theorem B]{GP2015}.
\subsection*{C}
Finally, we consider a positivity property for the solutions of $-\Delta u + u \geq 0$ on a complete Riemannian manifold.
Note that in this paper $-\Delta$ has non-negative spectrum.
\begin{definition}
\label{def:Lp ppp}
A complete Riemannian manifold $(M, g)$ is said to be \textit{$L^p$-positivity preserving}, $p \in [1, +\infty]$, if the following implication holds true for every $u \in L^p(M)$
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:Lp pp}
(-\Delta + 1)u \geq 0 \text{ as a distribution }\Rightarrow u \geq 0.
\end{equation}
\end{definition}
Recall that $(-\Delta + 1)u \geq 0$ in the sense of distributions if the following inequality holds
\begin{equation*}
\int_M u(-\Delta + 1)\phi dV_g \geq 0 \qquad \forall \phi \in C^\infty_0(M), \phi \geq 0.
\end{equation*}
This definition was introduced by B. G\"uneysu in \cite{Gu17}.
When $p = +\infty$, the $L^\infty$-positivity preserving property implies stochastic completeness while the $L^2$ case, yields the essential self-adjointness of the Schr\"odinger operator $-\Delta + V: C^\infty_0(M) \to L^2(M)$ for any non-negative $L^2_\loc$ potential $V$.
This latter implication and the fact that $-\Delta + V$ is known to be essentially self-adjoint in $L^2(M)$ for $L^2_\loc$ non-negative potentials \cite{BMS02,GP2013}, lead M. Braverman, O. Milatovic and M. Shubin to propose the following conjecture, \cite[Conjecture P]{BMS02}.
\begin{conjecture}[BMS-conjecture]
If $(M, g)$ is geodesically complete, then $M$ is $L^2$-positivity preserving.
\end{conjecture}
In the Euclidean case, the $L^2$-positivity preserving was proved by T. Kato using the fact that $-\Delta + 1 : \mathcal{S}'(\R^n) \to \mathcal{S}'(\R^n)$ induces an isomorphism on the space of tempered distributions whose inverse is positivity preserving, see \cite{K1972}.
In the Riemannian setting, even though the BMS conjecture is still open in its full generality, one can prove that if $\Ric$ is bounded form below, then $M$ is $L^p$-positivity preserving on the whole scale $p \in [1, +\infty]$, \cite[Theorem XIV.31]{Gu17}.
For a complete introduction to the topic we refer to the survey \cite{Gu17BMS} as well as \cite[Section XIV.5]{Gu17}, \cite[Appendix B]{BMS02} or \cite{G2016}.
\vspace{\baselineskip}
\vspace{\baselineskip}
Some of the aforementioned results can be slightly improved by allowing a small explosion on the non-negative part of $\Ric$.
For instance, the equivalence of the Sobolev spaces
${W^{2,p}(M)=W_0^{2,p}(M)}$, $p\in[1,\infty)$, still holds if we allow $|\Ric| \leq br^2$ with a small decay of the injectivity radius, while to prove that ${W^{2,2}(M)=W_0^{2,2}(M)}$ and the $L^p$-positivity preserving property $\Ric \geq -br^2$ is enough.
For reference on the first problem see \cite{IRV2019,IRV2020,HMRV20}, for the second one see \cite[p. 95, Section XIV.C]{Gu17} for $p\in [2,\infty)$ and \Cref{thm:Lp pp subquadratic} below for the whole range $p\in[1,+\infty]$.
Nevertheless, the above results fail in general if we drop the curvature (and injectivity) assumptions and allow the bound on $|\Ric|$ to grow very fast at $\infty$.
Counterexamples with very unbounded curvature have been found in \cite{V2020,HMRV20} for (A) and in \cite{GP2015,Li,dePNZ,MV} for (B) while, to the best of our knowledge, the BMS conjecture remains open in its full generality.
Note that the above counterexamples are characterized by an oscillatory behavior of the Ricci curvature which diverges in the negative and positive part in \cite{GP2015, Li, V2020} and in the positive part only in \cite{MV, HMRV20, dePNZ}.
\vspace{\baselineskip}
\vspace{\baselineskip}
In this paper we show that several of the above properties still hold if one allows the curvature to become increasingly negative at infinity, possibly very fast, but in a controlled way.
In particular, we consider a Cartan-Hadamard manifold $(M, g)$ (i.e. a simply-connected complete Riemannian manifold of non-positive sectional curvature) and assume that the Ricci curvature of $M$, $\Ric$, is controlled both from above and below polynomially at infinity. Namely,
\begin{equation}
\label{bound intro}
-b\, r^{\beta}(x) \leq \Ric(x) \leq - a\, r^\alpha(x),
\end{equation}
outside a compact set, where $r(x)$ is the Riemannian distance of $x$ from a fixed reference point $o\in M$ and $a$ and $b$ are positive constants.
Then, for suitable choices of the exponents $0\leq\alpha\leq\beta$ we are able to prove the following results.
\begin{mytheorem}
\label{th_main}
Let $(M,g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold satisfying \eqref{bound intro} for some $a,b>0$.
\begin{enumerate}[label=(\alph*)]
\item If $\alpha \ge 0$ and $\beta=2\alpha +2$, then $W_0^{2,p}(M)=W^{2,p}(M)$ for every $p\in(1,+\infty)$.
\item If $\alpha=\beta \ge 0$, then the $L^2$-Calder\'on-Zygmund inequality (i.e., \eqref{eq:CZintro} with $p=2$) holds on $M$.
\item If $\alpha \ge 0$ and $\beta=\alpha +2$, then $M$ is $L^p$-positivity preserving for all $p\in [2,+\infty)$. In particular, the BMS conjecture is satisfied for this class of manifolds.
\end{enumerate}
\end{mytheorem}
\begin{remark}
Note that in (a) and (c) we only require the radial Ricci curvature to satisfy \eqref{bound intro} while in (b) we need \eqref{bound intro} to hold in the sense of quadratic forms.
Naturally, if one substitutes $\Ric$ in \eqref{bound intro} with the sectional curvature, the results still hold and are actually somewhat easier to prove.
This is due to the fact that in the proof we use a Laplace comparison theorem for Ricci bounded from above which holds on Cartan-Hadamard manifolds; see Subsection \ref{ss:Comparison} and \Cref{rmk:uncommon bounds}.
\end{remark}
\begin{remark}
An additional property that extends from the Euclidean setting to the case of Riemannian manifolds with Ricci curvature bounded form below and non-vanishing injectivity radius
is the validity of an $L^p$-Sobolev inequality of the form
\begin{equation}
\label{SobIntro}
\Vert\varphi\Vert_{L^q(M)} \le C(\Vert\nabla\varphi\Vert_{L^p(M)}+\Vert\varphi\Vert_{L^p(M)}),\qquad \forall \varphi\in C^\infty_c(M),
\end{equation}
where $1\le p \le n$, $q=np/(n-p)$, and $C>0$. For reference see \cite[Theorem 3.2]{He99}.
Also in this case there are known counterexamples if one drops the curvature assumptions \cite[Proposition 3.4]{He99}.
On Cartan-Hadamard manifolds, however, the Sobolev inequality \eqref{SobIntro} is satisfied without further curvature assumptions as a consequence of the isoperimetric inequality, \cite{HS1974}.
\end{remark}
Unlike the case of manifolds with lower bounded Ricci curvature, it is impossible to obtain Theorem \ref{th_main} (c) for $p=\infty$.
Indeed, as observed by B. G\"uneysu in \cite{G2016}, the $L^\infty$-positivity preserving property implies the stochastic completeness of the manifold at hand.
See also \Cref{rmk:stoch compl} below.
It turns out that Cartan-Hadamard manifolds satisfying $\Ric \leq - ar^\alpha$ for $\alpha > 2$ are not stochastically complete; see Theorem \ref{thm:comparison stochastic completeness} below.
Conversely, one can prove that
\begin{mytheorem}
\label{thm:LpPP intro}
Let $(M,g)$ be a complete Riemannian manifold satisfying
\begin{equation*}
-\lambda^{2}(r(x)) \leq \Ric(x) \quad \forall x \in M\setminus B_{R_0},
\end{equation*}
with $\lambda$ given by
\begin{equation*}
\lambda(t) = \alpha t \prod_{j = 0}^k \log^{[j]}(t)
\end{equation*}
where $\alpha>0$, $k\in\mathbb{N}$ and $\log^{[j]}(t)$ stands for the $j$-th iterated logarithm.
Then $M$ is $L^p$-positivity preserving for any $p\in[1,\infty]$.
\end{mytheorem}
As a corollary of the $p=\infty$ case, we get in particular that a manifold at hand is stochastically complete.
This gives a new proof of a celebrated condition for the stochastic completeness due to P. Hsu, \cite{Hsu1989}. See \Cref{rmk:hsu}.
Beyond their obvious topological triviality, the Cartan-Hadamard manifolds we consider in Theorem \ref{th_main} have also quite strong metrical properties. On the one hand, the lower bound $-br^\beta(x)$ for the Ricci curvature implies a Laplacian comparison, i.e, an upper control on $\Delta r$.
This, in turn, permits to construct suitable Hessian and Laplacian cut-off functions.
Namely, one gets the existence of a family of smooth cutoffs $\{\chi_R\}\in C^\infty_0(M)$ with $R>>1$ such that
\begin{enumerate}
\item $\chi_R \equiv 1$ on $B_R$ and $\chi_R \equiv 0$ on $M \setminus \overline{B_{2 R}}$;
\item $|\nabla \chi_R| \leq \frac{C_1}{R}$;
\item $|\nabla^2 \chi_R| \leq C_2 R^{\frac{\beta}{2} -1}$,
\end{enumerate}
with $C_1, C_2 > 0$ (see Lemma \ref{lem:existence of cutoffs}). Most of the strategies proposed in previous literature to approach the density problem or the $L^p$-positivity preservation are precisely based on the existence of suitable cut-off functions which have bounded covariant derivatives up to the second order, for instance in the subquadratic case.
Conversely, the control that we get on $|\nabla^2\chi_R|$ under our assumptions is not strong enough to allow us to obtain Theorem \ref{th_main} (a) and (c) by this strategy alone.
The reason is essentially that, when $\beta >2$, the sole lower bound $\Ric\ge -br^\beta$ cannot guarantee that for any function $f$
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:condition on f}
f\in W^{2,p} \implies |\nabla^2\chi_R|f\in L^p.
\end{equation}
Instead, assuming also that $\Ric\le -a r^\alpha$, one gets \begin{equation}
\label{eq:condition on f weight}
f\in W^{2,p} \implies (r^\alpha f)\in L^p,
\end{equation}
see Theorem \ref{thm:rellich with weight sobolev}.
This latter relation, combined with the properties of the Hessian cut-off functions, yields \eqref{eq:condition on f}.
To obtain \eqref{eq:condition on f weight}, we exploit the validity on $\Omega\subset M$ of certain Hardy-type inequalities (obtained elaborating on ideas by L. D'Ambrosio and S. Dipierro, \cite{DD2014}) of the form
\begin{equation*}
\int_\Omega \frac{|\nabla G |^p}{|G|^p} (-\log{G})^{\beta p} |f|^p dV_g \leq \left(\frac{p}{p-1}\right)^p\int_\Omega (-\log{G})^{\beta p} |\nabla f |^p dV_g \qquad \forall f \in C^\infty_0(\Omega),
\end{equation*}
where $G \in C^\infty(\Omega)$ satisfies
\begin{enumerate}[label=(\roman*)]
\item $-\Delta_p G \geq 0$ on $\Omega$;
\item $0 \leq G \leq c < 1$;
\end{enumerate}
and $p \in (1, +\infty)$, see Theorem \ref{thm:log hardy} and \Cref{thm:rellich with weight sobolev}.
Using a Laplacian comparison for Cartan-Hadamard manifolds, it turns out that an appropriate choice for $G$ is the Green function for the $p$-Laplacian of the model manifold $\widetilde{M}$ whose (radial) Ricci curvature is precisely $-a r^\alpha $.
In order to prove Theorem \ref{th_main} (b) a further ingredient is needed.
Using a special conformal deformation of $M$ based on the distance function, see \cite{IRV2019}, we prove first the validity of the disturbed infinitesimal Calder\'on-Zygmund inequality
\begin{equation*}
\Vert \nabla^2\varphi \Vert_{L^2} \leq A_1(\varepsilon) \left[ \Vert \Delta \varphi \Vert_{L^2} + \Vert \varphi \Vert_{L^2} \right] + A_2\varepsilon^2 \Vert r^\beta \varphi \Vert_{L^2} \qquad \forall \varphi \in C^\infty_0(M).
\end{equation*}
when $\Ric\ge - b\, r^\beta$; see Theorem 5.1. Then, one can conclude using again the Hardy-type inequalities.
We conclude this introduction with some words on the novelty of our proof in Theorem \ref{thm:LpPP intro}.
Following the strategy adopted in \cite[Appendix B]{BMS02} and \cite[Theorem XIV.31]{Gu17}, a key step in the proof of the $L^p$-positivity preserving is to show that for a given $\psi\in C^\infty_c$, there exists a positive solution $v\in C^\infty\cap W^{1,q}(M)$ of $-\Delta v + v =\psi$, with $1/q =1-1/p$.
While standard elliptic regularity theory ensures that $v\in L^{q}(M)$ (and hence $\Delta v\in L^{q}(M)$), the fact that $\nabla v\in L^{q}(M)$ is non-trivial.
When $q\in (1,2]$ (i.e. $p\in [2,\infty)$) it is a consequence of the $L^q$-gradient estimates $\|\nabla v\|_{L^{q}}\le C(\| v\|_{L^{q}}+\|\Delta v\|_{L^q})$, \cite{CD2003}.
However, these estimates are not known a priori for $q>2$ when the negative part of $\Ric$ is unbounded.
Instead, we use a version of Li-Yau gradient estimates, \cite{BS2018}, to prove that $|\nabla v|(x)\le \lambda(r(x))v(x)$ outside a compact set.
Hence, $\nabla v$ is ``almost'' in $L^q$, which is enough to our purpose.
\vspace{\baselineskip}
\vspace{\baselineskip}
The paper is organized as follows.
In \Cref{sec:CH estimates} we construct and estimate the Green function for the $p$-Laplacian, $G_p$, on a model manifold with radial Ricci curvature $-a r^\alpha$.
Then, using a Laplacian comparison for Cartan-Hadamard manifolds, we show that this function is $p$-superharmonic on a Cartan-Hadamard manifold whose Ricci curvature is bounded from above by $-a r^\alpha$.
\Cref{sec:Hardy and Rellich} is devoted the proof of the Hardy-type inequalities whose weight is given in terms of $G_p$.
In \Cref{sec:density}, \ref{sec:CZ(2)} and \ref{sec:L^p pp and BMS} we prove respectively part (a), (b) and (c) of \Cref{th_main}.
In \Cref{sec:L^p pp and BMS} we also prove \Cref{thm:LpPP intro}.
\begin{notation}
Throughout the paper, $C$ will denote a real positive constant whose value can change from line to line.
Whenever appropriate, we will explicit its dependency on other constant or parameters.
\end{notation}
\section{Estimates on Cartan-Hadamard manifolds}
\label{sec:CH estimates}
The goal of this section is to obtain asymptotic estimates for several geometric objects on Cartan-Hadamard manifolds whose (radial) Ricci curvature is bounded form above by $-ar^\alpha$.
\subsection{Model manifold case}
\label{subs:model manifold}
We begin by studying the geometry of model manifolds with prescribed Ricci curvature.
By direct computation we obtain asymptotic estimates for the $p$-Green function and the Laplacian of the Riemannian distance.
Let $(\widetilde{M}, \widetilde{g}) = [0, +\infty) \times_{j} \mathbb{S}^{n-1}$ be a model manifold in the sense of E. R. Greene and H. Wu \cite{GW1979}, that is, $[0, +\infty) \times \mathbb{S}^{n-1}$ endowed with the metric
\begin{equation*}
\widetilde{g} = dt^2 + j^2(t) d\theta^2,
\end{equation*}
where $d\theta^2$ is the standard metric on $\mathbb{S}^{n-1}$ and $j \in C^\infty((0, +\infty))$ such that $j > 0$ on $(0, +\infty)$, $j(0) = 0$, $j'(0) = 1$ and $j^{(2k)}(0) = 0$ for $k \in \mathbb{N}$.
Denote with $\widetilde{\nabla}, \widetilde{\Delta}$ and $\widetilde{\Ric}$ the covariant derivative, Laplacian and Ricci tensor of $(\widetilde{M}, \widetilde{g})$ respectively, similarly $\widetilde{r}(x)$ is the Riemannian distance from the pole $o$ (so that $\widetilde{r}(t,\theta)=t$).
Suppose $(\widetilde{M}, \widetilde{g})$ satisfies
\begin{equation*}
\widetilde{\Ric}_o(x) = - (n-1)A^2 \widetilde{r}^\alpha(x),
\end{equation*}
where $A > 0$, $\alpha \geq 0$ and $\widetilde{\Ric_o}$ denotes Ricci curvature in the radial direction $\widetilde{\nabla}\widetilde{r}$.
Since on model manifolds
\begin{equation*}
\widetilde{\Ric}_o(x) = -(n-1) \frac{j''(\widetilde{r}(x))}{j(\widetilde{r}(x))},
\end{equation*}
$j$ needs to solve
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:ODE comparison}
\begin{cases}
j''(t) - A^2t^\alpha j(t) = 0 \\
j(0) = 0, \quad j'(0) = 1
\end{cases}
\end{equation}
for $t \in [0, + \infty)$.
By classical ODE theory we have
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:warping function model}
j(t) = D \sqrt{t} I_\nu\left(2 A \nu t^{1 /2\nu}\right), \quad \nu = \frac{1}{\alpha + 2},
\end{equation}
where $D$ is a positive constant and $I_\nu(t)$ is the modified Bessel function of the first kind and order $\nu$, i.e., a positive solution of the Bessel equation
\begin{equation*}
\label{eq:bessel}
t^2I_\nu''(t) + tI_\nu'(t) -(t^2 + \nu^2)I_\nu(t) = 0,
\end{equation*}
see for reference \cite{BMR2013} and \cite{L1972}.
Note that, since
\begin{equation*}
I_\nu(t) \sim \frac{t^\nu}{\Gamma(\nu+1)} \qquad t \to 0
\end{equation*}
then
\begin{equation*}
j(t) \sim D \frac{(2\nu A)^\nu}{\Gamma(\nu + 1)}t \qquad t \to 0,
\end{equation*}
hence, $D = \frac{\Gamma(\nu + 1)}{(2\nu A)^\nu}$.
Using the following asymptotic
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:asymptotic bessel}
I_\nu(t) \sim \frac{e^t}{\sqrt{2\pi t}} \quad t \to +\infty,
\end{equation}
we have
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:asymptotic j}
j(t) \sim D_0 t^{-\frac{\alpha}{4}} \exp\left( \frac{2A}{\alpha + 2} t^{1+\frac{\alpha}{2}}\right) \quad t \to + \infty, \quad D_0 = \frac{D}{\sqrt{4\nu\pi A}}.
\end{equation}
Since $\vol(\partial B_t) = \omega_n j(t)^{n-1}$ where $\omega_n$ is the volume of the Euclidean $n$-dimensional unit ball, \eqref{eq:asymptotic j} implies that
\begin{equation*}
\left(\frac{1}{\vol(\partial B_t)}\right)^{\frac{1}{p-1}} \in L^1(+\infty), \qquad \forall p>1.
\end{equation*}
By \cite[Corollary 5.2]{T1999} we deduce that $(\widetilde{M}, \widetilde{g})$ is $p$-hyperbolic, that is, there exists a symmetric positive Green function for the $p$-Laplacian.
Specifically, the positive $p$-Green function with pole $o \in \widetilde{M}$ is a radial function given by
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:p green function}
G_p(x) = G_p(t) \coloneqq \int_t^{+\infty}\left(\frac{1}{j(s)}\right)^{\frac{n-1}{p-1}} ds, \quad x = (t, \theta) \in (0, +\infty) \times \mathbb{S}^{n-1}.
\end{equation}
Using \eqref{eq:asymptotic j} we obtain
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:asymptotic G'}
\partial_t G_p(t) \sim -D_1 t^{\frac{\alpha}{4}\frac{n-1}{p-1}} \exp\left(- A\frac{2}{\alpha + 2} \frac{n-1}{p-1} t^{1+\frac{\alpha}{2}}\right) \quad t \to +\infty,
\end{equation}
and
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:asymptotic G}
G_p(t) \sim D_2 t^{\frac{\alpha}{4}\left(\frac{n-1}{p-1}-2\right)} \exp\left(- A\frac{2}{\alpha + 2} \frac{n-1}{p-1} t^{1+\frac{\alpha}{2}}\right) \quad t \to +\infty,
\end{equation}
where $D_1, D_2$ are positive constants depending on $D, \alpha, n$ and $p$.
Note that $\partial_t G_p(t) < 0$ for all $t>0$.
Next, we compute the Laplacian of the Riemannian distance given by
\begin{equation*}
\widetilde{\Delta}\widetilde{r} = (n-1)\frac{j'(\widetilde{r})}{j(\widetilde{r})}.
\end{equation*}
By a simple computation we have
\begin{equation*}
\frac{j'(t)}{j(t)} = \frac{1}{2t} + At^{\frac{\alpha}{2}}\frac{I_\nu'\left(2 A \nu t^{1 /2\nu}\right)}{I_\nu\left(2 A \nu t^{1 /2\nu}\right)}.
\end{equation*}
Using the recurrence relation $2I_\nu'(t) =I_{\nu+1}(t) + I_{\nu-1}(t)$ and \eqref{eq:asymptotic bessel}, we conclude that $I_\nu'\sim I_\nu$ therefore
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:asymptotic j'/j}
\frac{j'(t)}{j(t)} \sim At^{\frac{\alpha}{2}} \qquad t \to + \infty.
\end{equation}
Finally, using \eqref{eq:asymptotic j} once again we deduce
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:int j}
\int_0^t j^{n-1}(s) ds \sim D_3 t^{-\frac{\alpha}{4}(n+1)} \exp\left( \frac{2A}{\alpha + 2} (n-1) t^{1+\frac{\alpha}{2}}\right)
\end{equation}
for some positive constant $D_3$, so that
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:asymptotic stoch compl}
\frac{\int_0^t j^{n-1}(s) ds}{j^{(n-1)}(t)} \sim D_4 t^{-\frac{\alpha}{2}}.
\end{equation}
\subsection{Comparison results for Cartan-Hadamard manifolds}\label{ss:Comparison}
Next, we relate via the Laplacian comparison the above estimates to a Cartan-Hadamard manifold with a suitable bound on the Ricci curvature.
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold of dimension $n\geq2$ with a fixed pole $o \in M$ and suppose that
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:upper bound ric}
\Ric_o(x) \le -2(n-1)^2A^2 r^\alpha(x) \quad \forall x \in M\setminus B_{R_0}
\end{equation}
for some $A, R_0 > 0$ and $\alpha \geq 0$, here $r(x)$ denotes the Riemannian distance from the pole.
Let $(\widehat{M}, \widehat{g})$ be the model manifold of radial Ricci curvature
\begin{equation*}
\widehat{\Ric}_o(\hat{x}) = -2(n-1)^3A^2 \widehat{r}^\alpha(\hat{x}),
\end{equation*}
that is, $(\widehat{M}, \widehat{g}) = [0, +\infty) \times_{\widehat{j}} \mathbb{S}^{n-1}$ where
\begin{equation*}
\widehat{j}(t) = \widehat{D} \sqrt{t} I_\nu\left(2 \widehat{A} \nu t^{1 /2\nu}\right), \quad \nu = \frac{1}{\alpha + 2}, \qquad \widehat{A} = \sqrt{2}(n-1)A.
\end{equation*}
Since
\begin{equation*}
\Ric_o(x) \le \frac{1}{n-1} \widehat{\Ric}_o(\hat{x}),
\end{equation*}
for all $x \in M\setminus B_{R_0}$ and $\hat{x} \in \widehat{M}$ with $r(x) = \hat{r}(\hat{x})$, by \cite[Theorem 2.15]{X1996} and estimate \eqref{eq:asymptotic j'/j} we have
\begin{equation*}
\Delta r \geq \frac{\widehat{j}'(r)}{\widehat{j}(r)} \sim \widehat{A}r^{\frac{\alpha}{2}} = \sqrt{2}(n-1)Ar^{\frac{\alpha}{2}} \qquad r \to + \infty.
\end{equation*}
It follows that
\begin{equation*}
\frac{\widehat{j}'(r)}{\widehat{j}(r)} \sim \sqrt{2}(n-1)\frac{j'(r)}{j(r)}
\end{equation*}
where $j$ is as in \eqref{eq:warping function model}.
In particular, if $r>>1$ is large enough we can assume that
\begin{equation*}
\Delta r \geq \frac{\widehat{j}'(r)}{\widehat{j}(r)} \geq (n-1)\frac{j'(r)}{j(r)}.
\end{equation*}
Note here that
\begin{equation*}
\widetilde{\Delta} \widetilde{r} = (n-1)\frac{j'(\widetilde{r})}{j(\widetilde{r})}
\end{equation*}
is the Laplacian of the Riemannian distance on the model $(\widetilde{M}, \widetilde{g}) = [0, +\infty) \times_{j} \mathbb{S}^{n-1}$ considered in \Cref{subs:model manifold}.
In summary, we have the following comparison result.
\begin{proposition}
\label{prop:comparison CH}
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold of dimension $n\geq2$ with
\begin{equation*}
\Ric_o(x) \le -2(n-1)^2A^2 r^\alpha(x) \quad \forall x \in M\setminus B_{R_0}
\end{equation*}
for some $A, R_0 > 0, \alpha \geq 0$.
Let $j$ be as in \eqref{eq:warping function model}, i.e., $j$ is the warping function of $(\widetilde{M}, \widetilde{g}) = [0, +\infty) \times_{j} \mathbb{S}^{n-1}$, model manifold of radial Ricci curvature
\begin{equation*}
\widetilde{\Ric}_o(\widetilde{x}) = - (n-1)A^2 \widetilde{r}^\alpha(\widetilde{x}).
\end{equation*}
Then, if $r(x)>>1$ we have
\begin{equation}
\Delta r \geq (n-1)\frac{j'(r)}{j(r)}.
\end{equation}
\end{proposition}
\begin{remark}
\label{rmk:uncommon bounds}
The slightly uncommon bound we require in \eqref{eq:upper bound ric} is due to the fact that we make use of a Laplacian comparison result for Cartan-Hadamard manifolds which is different from the classical one and holds with an upper bound for the Ricci curvature instead of an upper bound for the sectional curvature.
Note also that the constant $2$ in \eqref{eq:upper bound ric} is quite arbitrary: one could replace it with any constant strictly greater than $1$.
\end{remark}
We begin with the following lemma.
\begin{lemma}
\label{lem:comparison p-harmonic functions}
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold and suppose that
\begin{equation}
\Delta r \geq \phi(r) \text{ on }\Omega\subseteq M,
\end{equation}
for some $\phi \in C^0((0, +\infty))$ and $\Omega$ open.
Let $v \in C^2(\mathbb{R})$ nonnegative and define $u(x) = v(r(x))$ for $x \in \Omega$.
If $v' < 0$, then for all $p>1$ we have
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:comparison p-Laplacian}
\Delta_p u \leq |v'|^{p-2}(v'\phi(r) + (p-1)v''),
\end{equation}
on $\Omega \setminus \{o\}$.
\begin{proof}
Since $(M, g)$ is Cartan-Hadamard, then $r \in C^\infty(M \setminus \{o\})$ so that $u \in C^2(M \setminus \{o\})$.
Suppose $v' < 0$, then
\begin{align*}
\Delta_p u &= \Div(|\nabla u|^{p-2}\nabla u) = \Div(|v'|^{p-2}v' \nabla r) = |v'|^{p-2}(v'\Delta r + (p-1)v'') \\
&\leq |v'|^{p-2}(v'\phi(r) + (p-1)v''),
\end{align*}
on $\Omega\setminus \{o\}$.
\end{proof}
\end{lemma}
\begin{remark}
Although it is not relevant to our work, we observe that if $v'>0$, then \eqref{eq:comparison p-Laplacian} holds with the opposite sign.
\end{remark}
Combining \Cref{lem:comparison p-harmonic functions} with \Cref{prop:comparison CH} we obtain a comparison result for radial $p$-harmonic functions.
\begin{proposition}
\label{prop:comparison p harmonic CH}
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold satisfying \eqref{eq:upper bound ric} and let $(\widetilde{M}, \widetilde{g})$ be the model manifold as in \Cref{subs:model manifold}.
Let $v \in C^2(\R)$ non-negative with $v'<0$ and define $u(x) = v(r(x))$ and $\widetilde{u}(\widetilde{x}) = v(\widetilde{r}(\widetilde{x}))$.
Then $\Delta_p u(x) \leq \widetilde{\Delta}_p \widetilde{u}(\widetilde{x})$ for all $x \in M$ and $\widetilde{x} \in \widetilde{M}$ such that $r(x) = \widetilde{r}(\widetilde{x}) >> 1$.
\begin{proof}
By \Cref{prop:comparison CH}, if $r(x)>>1$, then $\Delta r \geq (n-1) j'(r)/j(r)$, hence
\begin{equation*}
\Delta_p u(x) \leq |v'(r(x))|^{p-2}\left[v'(r(x))(m-1)\frac{j'(r(x))}{j(r(x)} + (p-1)v''(r(x))\right] = \widetilde{\Delta}_p \widetilde{u}(\widetilde{x}).
\end{equation*}
\end{proof}
\end{proposition}
In particular if we take $v(t) = G_p(t)$ as in \eqref{eq:p green function}, since $G_p$ defines the $p$-Green function on $(\widetilde{M}, \widetilde{g})$ we conclude that $G_p(x)$ is $p$-superharmonic on $(M, g)$ provided that $r(x) >> 1$.
\section{Hardy inequalities via Green function estimates}
\label{sec:Hardy and Rellich}
We now turn to the study of a class of functional inequalities on Riemannian manifolds which go under the name of Hardy or Rellich-type inequalities.
These inequalities have an interest of their own and are extensively studied in literature, especially in the case of Cartan-Hadamard manifolds.
See \cite{BGGP2020, DD2014, DP2016, FLLM2021, KO2009, N2020, YSY2014} among others.
With the help of a result by L. D'Ambrosio and S. Dipierro, \cite{DD2014}, we establish a new Hardy-type inequality on complete Riemannian manifolds possessing a non negative $p$-superharmonic function $G$.
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm:log hardy}
Let $(M,g)$ be a complete Riemannian manifold and $\Omega \subseteq M$ open.
Fix $p > 1$ and let $G \in C^\infty(\Omega)$ such that
\begin{enumerate}[label=(\roman*)]
\item $-\Delta_p G \geq 0$ on $\Omega$;
\item $0 \leq G \leq c < 1$.
\end{enumerate}
Then, for any $\beta \geq 0$,
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:log hardy}
\int_\Omega \frac{|\nabla G |^p}{|G|^p} (-\log{G})^{\beta p} |f|^p dV_g \leq \left(\frac{p}{p-1}\right)^p\int_\Omega (-\log{G})^{\beta p} |\nabla f |^p dV_g \qquad \forall f \in C^\infty_0(\Omega).
\end{equation}
\begin{proof}
Let $\delta > 0$ such that $G_\delta \coloneqq G + \delta < 1$ and define
\begin{equation*}
h \coloneqq -\frac{|\nabla G_\delta |^{p-2} \nabla G_\delta}{G_\delta^{p-1}}(-\log{G_\delta})^{\beta p}, \qquad A_h \coloneqq (p-1) \frac{|\nabla G_\delta |^{p}}{G_\delta^{p}}(-\log{G_\delta})^{\beta p}.
\end{equation*}
Since $G \in C^\infty(\Omega)$ and $G_\delta \geq \delta$ we have $|h|, A_h \in L^1_{\operatorname{loc}}(\Omega)$, furthermore,
\begin{equation*}
\frac{|h|^p}{A_h^{p-1}} = (p-1)^{1-p}(-\log{G_\delta})^{\beta p} \in L^1_{\operatorname{loc}}(\Omega).
\end{equation*}
Next, we estimate
\begin{align*}
\Div(h) &= - \frac{(-\log{G_\delta})^{\beta p}}{G_\delta^{p-1}} \Delta_p G_\delta + (p-1)\frac{|\nabla G_\delta |^{p}}{G_\delta^{p}}(-\log{G_\delta})^{\beta p} + \beta p \frac{|\nabla G_\delta |^{p}}{G_\delta^{p}}(-\log{G_\delta})^{\beta p -1}\\
&\ge (p-1)\frac{|\nabla G_\delta |^{p}}{G_\delta^{p}}(-\log{G_\delta})^{\beta p} = A_h.
\end{align*}
Thanks to \cite[Lemma 2.10]{DD2014} we have
\begin{equation*}
\int_\Omega \frac{|\nabla G_\delta |^p}{|G_\delta|^p} (-\log{G_\delta})^{\beta p} |f|^p dV_g \leq \left(\frac{p}{p-1}\right)^p\int_\Omega (-\log{G_\delta})^{\beta p} |\nabla f |^p dV_g \qquad \forall f \in C^\infty_0(\Omega).
\end{equation*}
Since $-\log{G_\delta} \leq -\log{G}$ and $\nabla G_\delta = \nabla G$, letting $\delta \to 0$ and using Fatou's lemma yields \eqref{eq:log hardy}.
\end{proof}
\end{theorem}
\begin{remark}
It is worth noticing that the results of \Cref{thm:log hardy} still hold even under more relaxed regularity assumptions.
Notably, it suffices to have $G \in W^{1, p}_{\operatorname{loc}}(\Omega)$ and $-\Delta_p G \geq 0$ weakly on $\Omega$ to have the validity of \eqref{eq:log hardy}.
Assumption \textit{(ii)} still needs to hold although it is always satisfied in applications.
\end{remark}
Once we have the quite general \eqref{eq:log hardy}, we return to our setting, that is, $(M,g)$ is a Cartan-Hadamard manifold satisfying the Ricci upper bound \eqref{eq:upper bound ric}.
Under such curvature assumptions one easily gets that $(M, g)$ is a $p$-hyperbolic manifold, i.e., there exists a symmetric positive Green kernel for the $p$-Laplacian.
Namely, if $\mathcal{G}_p(x)$ is the $p$-Green function with pole $o \in M$, it satisfies $\Delta_p \mathcal{G}_p(x) = 0$ for all $x \neq o$ and, thus, can be used as weight in \Cref{thm:log hardy}.
Our interest is then to look for asymptotic estimates for the $p$-Green function of $(M,g)$ and its gradient so to better control growth at infinity of the weights in \eqref{eq:log hardy}.
One possibility is to use Li-Yau type estimates which are ensured under several lower bounds on Ricci.
These, however, are not sufficient because it provides only an upper bound on $\nabla \log{\mathcal{G}_p}$.
Thus, instead of using the $p$-Green function of $(M, g)$ directly, we use the $p$-Green function of the model manifold $(\widetilde{M}, \widetilde{g})$ constructed in \Cref{subs:model manifold} which is $p$-superharmonic outside a large enough compact set and whose estimates are already available.
Notice also that $G_p(x) \to 0$ as $r(x) \to + \infty$, hence, $G_p(x)$ distant form 1 provided that $r(x)>>1$
In other words, $G_p(x)$ is a suitable weight in \Cref{thm:log hardy} as long as $r(x)>>1$.
\begin{proposition}
\label{thm:hardy with p-green}
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold satisfying \eqref{eq:upper bound ric}.
For $p > 1$ and $\beta \geq 0$ there exists a compact $K$ containing the pole such that
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:hardy with p-green}
\int_\Omega \frac{|\nabla G_p|^p}{|G_p|^p} (-\log{G_p})^{\beta p} |f|^p dV_g \leq \left(\frac{p}{p-1}\right)^p \int_\Omega (-\log{G_p})^{\beta p} |\nabla f |^p dV_g,
\end{equation}
for all $f \in C^\infty_0(\Omega)$
where $\Omega = M \setminus K$.
\end{proposition}
Using estimates \eqref{eq:asymptotic G'} and \eqref{eq:asymptotic G} we deduce
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:asymptotic gradG/G}
\frac{|\nabla G_p|}{|G_p|}(r(x)) \sim D_5 r(x)^{\frac{\alpha}{2}},
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:asymptotic log G}
(-\log{G_p(r(x))}) \sim D_6 r(x)^{1+\frac{\alpha}{2}}
\end{equation}
so that
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:estimate log}
|\log{G_p}|^\beta = \mathcal{O}(|\nabla \log{G_p}|)
\end{equation}
provided that $\beta \leq \frac{\alpha}{2+\alpha}$.
Note that \Cref{thm:hardy with p-green} requires $f$ to be smooth and compactly supported in $\Omega$.
Both assumptions, however, can be weakened as long as the support of $f$ is far away from the pole $o$.
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm:hardy with p-green sobolev}
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold satisfying \eqref{eq:upper bound ric}.
For $p > 1$ and $0\leq \beta \leq \frac{\alpha}{\alpha + 2}$ there exists a compact $K$ containing the pole such that
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:hardy with p-green sobolev}
\int_M \frac{|\nabla G_p|^p}{|G_p|^p} (-\log{G_p})^{\beta p} |f|^p dV_g \leq \left(\frac{p}{p-1}\right)^p \int_M (-\log{G_p})^{\beta p} |\nabla f |^p dV_g,
\end{equation}
for all $f \in W^{1, p}(M)$ with $\supp(f) \cap K = \emptyset$.
\begin{proof}
We proceed by steps, gradually weakening the assumptions on $f$.
\begin{enumerate}[label=\textbf{Step \arabic{enumi}}, wide=0pt]
\item We begin by considering $f \in W^{1, p}(M)$ compactly supported in $\Omega = M \setminus K$ so that $f \in W^{1, p}_0(\Omega)$, i.e., there exists $u_n \in C^\infty_0(\Omega)$ such that $u_n \to f$ in $W^{1, p}$ norm.
Note that $\supp(u_n)$ and $\supp(f)$ are all contained in a compact $\Omega' \subset \Omega$.
Then, by \eqref{eq:hardy with p-green} we have
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:hardy with p-green approximation}
\int_M \frac{|\nabla G_p|^p}{|G_p|^p} (-\log{G_p})^{\beta p} |u_n|^p dV_g \leq \left(\frac{p}{p-1}\right)^p \int_M (-\log{G_p})^{\beta p} |\nabla u_n |^p dV_g.
\end{equation}
Note that
\begin{equation*}
\left\vert \int_M (-\log{G_p})^{\beta p} (|\nabla u_n |^p - |\nabla f |^p) dV_g \right\vert \leq \sup_{\Omega'}(-\log{G_p})^{\beta p} \int_M \vert|\nabla u_n |^p - |\nabla f |^p\vert dV_g,
\end{equation*}
so that
\begin{equation*}
\int_M (-\log{G_p})^{\beta p} |\nabla u_n |^p dV_g \to \int_M (-\log{G_p})^{\beta p} |\nabla f |^p dV_g.
\end{equation*}
Similarly
\begin{equation*}
\int_M \frac{|\nabla G_p|^p}{|G_p|^p} (-\log{G_p})^{\beta p} |u_n|^p dV_g \to \int_M \frac{|\nabla G_p|^p}{|G_p|^p} (-\log{G_p})^{\beta p} |f|^p dV_g.
\end{equation*}
Hence, passing to the limit in \eqref{eq:hardy with p-green approximation} we obtain the validity of \eqref{eq:hardy with p-green sobolev} for all $f \in W^{1, p}(M)$ compactly supported in $\Omega$.
\item Next, let $f \in W^{1,p}(M)$ such that $\supp(f) \cap K = \emptyset$ and consider a family of cutoffs $\chi_R \in C^\infty(M)$ such that $\chi \equiv 1$ on $B_R$, $\chi_R \equiv 0$ outside $B_{2R}$ and $|\nabla \chi_R| \leq C$ uniformly on $R$.
Such a family exists on any complete Riemannian manifold, see \cite{Ga1959}.
Consider $f\chi_R \in W^{1, p}(M)$, clearly $\supp(f\chi_R) \subseteq M\setminus K$ is compact.
Then, by Step 1 (with $\beta = 0$) we have
\begin{align*}
\begin{split}
\int_M \frac{|\nabla G_p|^p}{|G_p|^p} |f|^p|\chi_R|^p dV_g &\leq \left(\frac{p}{p-1}\right)^p 2^{p-1} \left(\int_M |f|^p|\nabla \chi_R|^p dV_g + \int_M |\nabla f|^p|\chi_R|^p dV_g \right)\\
&\leq \left(\frac{p}{p-1}\right)^p2^{p-1} \left(\int_M |\nabla f|^p dV_g + \int_{B_{2R}\setminus B_R}|f|^p dV_g\right).
\end{split}
\end{align*}
Note that the LHS converges to $\int_M |\nabla \log G_p|^p |f|^p dV_g$ by monotone convergence, on the other hand $\int_{B_{2R}\setminus B_R}|f|^p dV_g \to 0$ since $f \in L^p(M)$.
We conclude that
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:hardy step 2}
\int_M |\nabla \log G_p|^p |f|^p dV_g \leq \left(\frac{p}{p-1}\right)^p2^{p-1} \int_M |\nabla f |^p dV_g
\end{equation}
for all $f \in W^{1, p}(M)$ with $\supp \cap K = \emptyset$.
\item Using Step 2, we now prove the more general \eqref{eq:hardy with p-green sobolev} under the assumptions that $f \in W^{1, p}(M)$ and $\supp(f) \cap K = \emptyset$.
Indeed, let $\chi_R \in C^\infty(M)$ be as in Step 2 so that $f\chi_R$ is compactly supported in $M \setminus K$, by Step 1 we have
\begin{align*}
\begin{split}
\int_M |\nabla \log G_p|^p (-\log G_p)^{\beta p} |f|^p|\chi_R|^p dV_g \leq& \left(\frac{p}{p-1}\right)^p2^{p-1}\left(\int_M (-\log G_p)^{\beta p}|f|^p|\nabla \chi_R|^p dV_g \right.\\
&+\left. \int_M (-\log G_p)^{\beta p}|\nabla f|^p|\chi_R|^p dV_g\right).
\end{split}
\end{align*}
Here, we reason as in Step 2.
The only difference is the following estimate which is a consequence of~\eqref{eq:estimate log} and \eqref{eq:hardy step 2}:
\begin{equation*}
\int_M (-\log G_p)^{\beta p}|f|^p dV_g \leq C\int_M |\nabla\log G_p|^p |f|^p dV_g \leq C \left(\frac{p}{p-1}\right)^p2^{p-1}\int_M |\nabla f|^p dV_g
\end{equation*}
where $C>0$.
Since $|\nabla f | \in L^p(M)$ we are still able to conclude that $\int_{B_{2R}\setminus B_R} (-\log G_p)^{\beta p}|f|^p dV_g \to 0$ as $R \to +\infty$.
\end{enumerate}
\end{proof}
\end{theorem}
If we require $f \in W^{2, p}(M)$ and apply \eqref{eq:hardy with p-green sobolev} twice, we obtain the following second order Hardy-type inequality.
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm:rellich with p-green sobolev}
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold satisfying \eqref{eq:upper bound ric}.
For $p > 1$ and $0 \leq \beta \leq \frac{\alpha}{2+\alpha}$ there exists a compact $K$ containing the pole such that
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:rellich with p-green sobolev}
\int_M \frac{|\nabla G_p |^p}{|G_p|^p} (-\log{G_p})^{\beta p} |f|^p dV_g \leq C\int_M |\nabla^2 f |^p dV_g,
\end{equation}
for all $f \in W^{2, p}(M)$ such that $\supp(f) \cap K = \emptyset$, where and $C = C(p, K) > 0$.
\begin{proof}
Using \Cref{thm:hardy with p-green sobolev} and \eqref{eq:estimate log} we have
\begin{equation*}
\int_M \frac{|\nabla G_p|^p}{|G_p|^p} (-\log{G_p})^{\beta p} |f|^p dV_g \leq C \int_M |\nabla \log G_p |^p |\nabla f |^p dV_g.
\end{equation*}
Since $|\nabla f | \in W^{1, p}(M)$ with $\supp(|\nabla f |) \cap K = \emptyset$ we apply \eqref{eq:hardy with p-green sobolev} with $\beta = 0$ to $|\nabla f |$ and conclude using Kato's inequality $|\nabla|\nabla f||\le |\nabla^2 f|$.
\end{proof}
\end{theorem}
Note that inequality \eqref{eq:rellich with p-green sobolev} is more of a second-order Hardy-type inequality rather then a proper Rellich inequality.
The reason being that the RHS is estimated with the $L^p$-norm of the Hessian rather than the Laplacian of $f$.
The optimal value for $\beta$ in \eqref{eq:rellich with p-green sobolev} is $\beta = \frac{\alpha}{2+\alpha}$, in this case we have:
\begin{equation*}
\frac{|\nabla G_p|}{|G_p|}(-\log{G_p})^{\frac{\alpha}{2+\alpha}} \sim D_7 r(x)^\alpha
\end{equation*}
which is the fastest growth we are able to control via \eqref{eq:rellich with p-green sobolev}.
Finally we observe that no assumption on the support of $f$ is needed as long as the weight has support distant from the pole. This is the kind of control needed for applications.
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm:rellich with weight sobolev}
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold satisfying \eqref{eq:upper bound ric}.
For $p > 1$ and $K$ as in \Cref{thm:rellich with p-green sobolev}, let $\omega \geq 0$ be a measurable function such that $\supp (\omega) \cap K = \emptyset$ and $\omega(x) = \mathcal{O}(r^\alpha(x))$ on $M$, then $W^{2, p}(M)\hookrightarrow L^p(M, \omega^p dV_g)$.
\begin{proof}
In order to extend the support of $f$, we need to remove the possible problems around the pole.
To do so, let $K'$ a compact set such that $K \subseteq K' \subseteq M \setminus \supp(\omega)$, let $\varphi \in C^\infty(M)$ be a cutoff function such that $\varphi \equiv 0$ on $K$ and $\varphi \equiv 1$ outside of $K'$.
Note that $|\nabla \varphi|$ and $|\nabla^2\varphi|$ are uniformly bounded and that $f\varphi \in W^{2, p}(M)$ with $\supp(f\varphi)\cap K = \emptyset$, then by \Cref{thm:rellich with p-green sobolev} we have
\begin{align*}
\int_{M} \omega^p |f|^p dV_g &= \int_{\Omega} \omega^p |f\varphi|^p dV_g \leq C' \int_{M} \frac{|\nabla G_p |^p}{|G_p|^p} (-\log{G_p})^{\frac{\alpha}{2+\alpha} p} |\varphi f|^p dV_g \\
&\leq C\int_\Omega |\nabla^2 (\varphi f) |^p dV_g \\
&\leq C\int_\Omega |\nabla^2 f|^p dV_g + C\int_\Omega |\nabla \varphi|^p|\nabla f |^p dV_g + C\int_\Omega |\nabla^2 \varphi|^p |f|^p dV_g \\
& \leq C \Vert f \Vert^p_{W^{2, p}(M)}.
\end{align*}
\end{proof}
\end{theorem}
As a direct consequence, if we have a family of weights $\{\omega_R\}$ whose growth is suitably controlled and whose supports vanish at $+\infty$ then $\Vert \omega_R f \Vert_{L^p} \to 0$.
\begin{corollary}
\label{cor:rellich with weight hessian cutoffs}
Let $p > 1$ and $(M, g)$ as in \Cref{thm:rellich with weight sobolev}.
Let $f \in W^{2,p}(M)$ and $\{\omega_R\}\subseteq C^\infty(M)$ non-negative such that $\supp(\omega_R)\subseteq M \setminus \overline{B}_R$ with $R>>1$ and $\omega_R(x) \leq C r^\alpha(x)$, then
\begin{equation*}
\label{eq:rellich with hessian goes to 0}
\int_{M} \omega_R^p |f|^p dV_g \to 0
\end{equation*}
as $R\to +\infty$.
\end{corollary}
\begin{remark}
\label{rmk:Hardy for L^p pp}
Note that if we assume lower regularity in $f$, namely, $f\in W^{1, p}(M)$ we are still able to control $\Vert \omega f \Vert_{L^p(M)}$ as long as $\omega(x) \leq C r^{\frac{\alpha}{2}}(x)$.
The strategy here is the same of \Cref{thm:rellich with weight sobolev} but instead of the second order Hardy \eqref{eq:rellich with p-green sobolev} we use the Hardy-type inequality \eqref{eq:hardy with p-green sobolev} with $\beta = 0$.
Similarly, if we take a family of weights $\{\omega_R\}$ such that $\omega_R(x) \leq C r^{\frac{\alpha}{2}}(x)$ and $\supp(\omega_R)\subseteq M \setminus \overline{B}_R$, we are still able to conclude that $\Vert \omega_R f \Vert_{L^p} \to 0$.
\end{remark}
\section{Density in \texorpdfstring{$W^{2,p}$}{Sobolev Spaces}}
\label{sec:density}
In the following section, we apply the estimates developed in \Cref{sec:Hardy and Rellich} to the density problem of smooth and compactly supported functions in the Sobolev space $W^{2, p}(M)$.
To this aim, we construct via the Riemannian distance a family of smooth cutoff functions $\{\chi_R\}$ which we control up to the second covariant derivative.
On arbitrary Riemannian manifolds there are two obstacles to this construction: the Riemannian distance might fail to be smooth on $M\setminus \{o\}$ and, while $|\nabla r|$ is always bounded, $|\nabla^2 r|$ might grow uncontrollably.
In the case of Cartan-Hadamard manifolds, however, both difficulties can be overcome.
Indeed, the cut locus of $M$ is empty which implies smoothness of the Riemannian distance. Furthermore, a lower bound on the radial Ricci curvature allows to control the Hilbert-Schmidt norm of $\nabla^2 r$.
\begin{lemma}
\label{lem:upper bound hessian distance}
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold satisfying
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:lower bound ricci}
\Ric_o(x) \geq -(n-1)B^2 r^\beta(x) \quad \forall x \in M\setminus B_{R_0},
\end{equation}
for some $B, R_0 > 0$ and $\beta \geq 0$.
Then, there exist $R_1 > R_0$ and $C > 0$ such that
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:hessian distance function}
|\nabla^2 r|(x) \leq C r^{\frac{\beta}{2}}(x) \quad \forall x \in M \setminus B_{R_1}.
\end{equation}
\begin{proof}
By the Hessian comparison theorem (\cite[Theorem 2.3]{PRS2008}), the Hessian of the Riemannian distance, $\nabla^2 r$, has non negative eigenvalues at every point in $M\setminus B_{R_0}$ and in particular
\begin{equation*}
|\nabla^2 r| \leq \Delta r
\end{equation*}
on $M\setminus B_{R_0}$.
Then, by Laplacian comparison we conclude that
\begin{equation*}
|\nabla^2 r| \leq (n-1) \frac{j'(r)}{j(r)},
\end{equation*}
where $j$ is smooth solution of
\begin{equation*}
\begin{cases}
j''(t) - B^2t^\beta j(t) = 0 \\
j(0) = 0, \quad j'(0) = 1
\end{cases}
\end{equation*}
on $[0, +\infty)$.
With similar estimates as in \Cref{subs:model manifold} we get $\frac{j'(t)}{j(t)} \sim B t^{\frac{\beta}{2}}$ for $t \to +\infty$, in particular, there exist some $R_1>R_0$ and some positive constant $\widetilde{C}$, depending on $B, \beta, R_1$ such that
\begin{equation*}
\label{eq:growth estimate j'/j}
\frac{j'(t)}{j(t)} \leq \widetilde{C} t^{\frac{\beta}{2}}
\end{equation*}
for $t \geq R_1$.
It follows that
\begin{equation*}
|\nabla^2 r|(x) \leq (n-1)\frac{j'(r(x))}{j(r(x))} \leq C r^{\frac{\beta}{2}}(x),
\end{equation*}
for all $x \in M \setminus B_{R_1}$, where $C = C(B, \beta, R_1, n)$.
\end{proof}
\end{lemma}
Once we have second order estimates on the Riemannian distance, we obtain $\{\chi_R\}$ by composing with a sequence of real cutoffs.
\begin{lemma}
\label{lem:existence of cutoffs}
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan Hadamard manifold satisfying \eqref{eq:lower bound ricci}, then, there exists a family of smooth cutoffs $\{\chi_R\}\in C^\infty_0(M)$ with $R>>1$ such that
\begin{enumerate}
\item $\chi_R \equiv 1$ on $B_R$ and $\chi_R \equiv 0$ on $M \setminus \overline{B_{2 R}}$;
\item $|\nabla \chi_R| \leq \frac{C_1}{R}$;
\item $|\nabla^2 \chi_R| \leq C_2 R^{\frac{\beta}{2} -1}$,
\end{enumerate}
with $C_1, C_2 > 0$.
\begin{proof}
Fix $\phi: \R \to [0, 1]$ a smooth function such that $\phi \equiv 1$ on $(-\infty, 1]$ and $\phi \equiv 0$ on $[2, + \infty)$, and let $a> 0$ such that $|\phi'| + |\phi''| \leq a$ uniformly on $\R$. For $R >> 1$ (it suffices $R \geq R_1$, with $R_1$ as in \Cref{lem:upper bound hessian distance}), let
\begin{equation*}
\phi_R(t) \coloneqq \phi\left(\frac{t}{R}\right)
\end{equation*}
so that
\begin{equation*}
|\phi_R'|\leq \frac{a}{R}, \qquad |\phi_R''|\leq \frac{a}{R^2}.
\end{equation*}
Then, define $\chi_R(x) \coloneqq \phi_R \circ r(x)$, we have $\chi_R \equiv 1$ on $B_R$ and $\chi_R \equiv 0$ on $M \setminus B_{2 R}$.
Furthermore,
\begin{align*}
|\nabla \chi_R| &\leq |\phi_R'(r(x))| |\nabla r(x)| \leq \frac{C_1}{R}\\
|\nabla^2 \chi_R| &\leq |\phi_R'(r(x))| |\nabla^2 r(x)| + |\phi_R''(r(x))| |\nabla r(x)|^2 \leq C_2 R^{\frac{\beta}{2} -1},
\end{align*}
where $C_1, C_2$ depend on $a$ and the constant $C$ of \Cref{lem:upper bound hessian distance}.
\end{proof}
\end{lemma}
\begin{remark}
\label{rmk:distance like case}
The above construction of the Hessian cutoffs is not the only possible one.
It is worth noticing that the family $\{\chi_R\}$ can be constructed on Riemannian manifolds without any topological restrictions as long as one of the following assumptions holds:
\begin{enumerate}[label = (\alph*)]
\item $\displaystyle|\Ric|(x) \leq B^2 r^{\beta}(x)$ and $\displaystyle\inj(x) \geq i_0 r^{-\frac{\beta}{2}}(x) > 0$
\item $\displaystyle|\Sect|(x) \leq B^2 r^{\beta}(x)$,
\end{enumerate}
for some $ B, i_0 > 0$ and $\beta \geq 0$.
In this setting, although the Riemannian distance might loose smoothness, it is possible to construct a distance-like function $H \in C^\infty(M)$ such that
\begin{enumerate}[label=(\roman*)]
\item $C^{-2} r(x) \leq H(x) \leq \max\{r(x), 1\}$;
\item $|\nabla H(x)| \leq 1$;
\item $|\nabla^2 H(x)| \leq C \max \{r^{\frac{\beta}{2}}(x), 1\}$,
\end{enumerate}
for some $C>1$, see \cite[Theorem 1.2]{IRV2020}.
Then, one defines $\chi_R = \phi_R \circ H(x)$ where $\phi_R$ is a family of real cutoffs in a similar fashion of \Cref{lem:existence of cutoffs}.
\end{remark}
We can now prove the density of smooth compactly supported functions in the Sobolev space $W^{2, p}$, namely (a) of \Cref{th_main}.
To obtain this we assume a double bound on the radial Ricci curvature.
The bound from below allows the construction of the smooth cutoff functions while the bound from above ensures the validity of the functional estimates in \Cref{sec:Hardy and Rellich}.
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm:density on CH manifolds}
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold with a fixed pole $o\in M$.
Suppose that
\begin{equation*}
-(n-1)B^2 r^{2\alpha + 2}(x) \leq \Ric_o(x) \leq - 2(n-1)^2A^2 r^\alpha(x), \quad \forall x \in M\setminus B_{R_0}
\end{equation*}
for some $A, B, R_0 >0$ and $\alpha \geq 0$.
Then $W^{2, p}_0(M) = W^{2, p}(M)$ for all $p > 1$.
\begin{proof}
Since $C^\infty(M)\cap W^{2, p}(M)$ is dense in $W^{2, p}(M)$ (see \cite{GGP2017}), it suffices to show that $C^\infty_0(M)$ is dense in $C^\infty(M)\cap W^{2, p}(M)$ with respect to the $W^{2, p}$ norm.
To this goal, take $f \in C^\infty(M)\cap W^{2, p}(M)$ and consider a family of cutoffs $\{\chi_R\} \subseteq C^\infty(M)$ as in \Cref{lem:existence of cutoffs}.
Define $f_R \coloneqq \chi_R f \in C^\infty_0(M)$ and observe that
\begin{align}
\label{eq:Lp density function}
\Vert (f_R - f)\Vert_{L^p} &= \Vert (\chi_R - 1) f\Vert_{L^p} \\
\label{eq:Lp density gradient}
\Vert \nabla(f_R - f)\Vert_{L^p} &\leq \Vert f\nabla\chi_R\Vert_{L^p} + \Vert (\chi_R - 1) \nabla f\Vert_{L^p} \\
\label{eq:Lp density hessian}
\Vert \nabla^2(f_R - f)\Vert_{L^p} &\leq 2\Vert |\nabla f||\nabla\chi_R|\Vert_{L^p} + \Vert (\chi_R - 1) \nabla ^2 f\Vert_{L^p} + \Vert f \nabla ^2 \chi_R \Vert_{L^p}.
\end{align}
Since $\nabla \chi_R$ and $(\chi_R - 1)$ are uniformly bounded and supported in $M\setminus \overline{B}_R$, $f \in W^{2, p}(M)$ implies that the RHS of \eqref{eq:Lp density function}, \eqref{eq:Lp density gradient}, and \eqref{eq:Lp density hessian} except the last term, vanish as $R \to + \infty$.
We only need to show that $|| f \nabla^2 \chi_R||_{L^p} \to 0$ as $R\to 0$.
To see this, it is sufficient to observe that $|\nabla^2\chi_R| \leq C r^\alpha$ and $\supp(\chi_R) \subseteq M \setminus \overline{B}_R$, then by \Cref{cor:rellich with weight hessian cutoffs} we conclude the proof.
\end{proof}
\end{theorem}
\begin{remark}
When $p = 1$ our strategy to construct Hardy-type inequalities fails.
Note for instance that the constant in \eqref{eq:log hardy} and subsequent derived inequalities explodes as $p \to 1$.
Nevertheless, we expect the result to hold even when $p=1$.
\end{remark}
\section{An \texorpdfstring{$L^2$}{L^2}-Calder\'on-Zygmund inequality}
\label{sec:CZ(2)}
As a further application of the tools developed in \Cref{sec:Hardy and Rellich}, we prove the validity of a $L^2$-Calder\'on-Zygmund inequality on Cartan-Hadamard manifolds with bounds on Ricci curvature.
In the spirit of \cite{IRV2019}, we first prove a weighted $CZ(2)$ inequality which holds under lower bound on Ricci curvature.
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm:CZ(2) weighted}
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold with a fixed pole $o \in M$.
Suppose that
\begin{equation*}
\Ric (x) \geq - (n-1)B^2 r^\beta(x) \quad \forall x \in M \setminus B_{R_0}
\end{equation*}
in the sense of quadratic forms for some $B, R_0$ and $\beta \geq 0$.
Then, for every $\varepsilon > 0$ there exists a constant $A_1 = A_1(\varepsilon) > 0$ such that
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:CZ(2) weighted}
\Vert \nabla^2\varphi \Vert_{L^2} \leq A_1 \left[ \Vert \Delta \varphi \Vert_{L^2} + \Vert \varphi \Vert_{L^2} \right] + A_2\varepsilon^2 \Vert r^\beta \varphi \Vert_{L^2} \qquad \forall \varphi \in C^\infty_0(M).
\end{equation}
Here $A_2$ is a fixed positive constant independent of $\varepsilon$.
\begin{proof}
Let $R_1$ be the constant of \Cref{lem:upper bound hessian distance} and let $h: \R \to [1, + \infty)$ be a smooth function such that $h(t) \equiv 1$ for $t \leq R_1$, and $h(t) = t - a$ for some $a>0$ and $t \geq 2R_1$ and $|h'(t)| \leq 1$ for all $t$.
Define $H(x) \coloneqq h(r(x))$ so that
\begin{enumerate}[label=(\roman*)]
\item $\max\{C^{-1}r(x), 1\} \leq H(x) \leq \max\{Cr(x), 1\}$;
\item $|\nabla H (x)| \leq 1$;
\item $|\nabla^2 H(x)| \leq C r^{\frac{\beta}{2}}(x)$
\end{enumerate}
for some $C>1$.
Consider on $(M, g)$ the following conformal deformation:
\begin{equation*}
\tilde{g} \coloneqq e^{2\phi} g, \text{ where } \phi \coloneqq \frac{\beta}{2} \log{H}.
\end{equation*}
Note that $M$ remains complete also with respect to $\tilde g$.
In this proof we denote with $\widetilde{\nabla}^2, \widetilde{\nabla}, \widetilde{\Delta}$, $\widetilde{\Ric}$ the Hessian, gradient, Laplacian and Ricci tensor with respect to $\widetilde{g}$.
Moreover, let $\widetilde{L^2} = L^2(M, dV_{\tilde{g}})$.
Since
\begin{equation*}
|\nabla \phi| \leq \frac{\beta}{2}, \qquad |\nabla^2 \phi| \leq \beta\max\{C r^{\frac{\beta}{2}}(x), 1\},
\end{equation*}
we immediately get that $\widetilde{\Ric}$ is bounded from below by some constant $\widetilde{C}$ depending on $\beta, B, C$ and $n$, see (25) in \cite{IRV2019}.
Thanks to \cite[Proposition 4.5]{GP2015}, this implies the validity on $(M, \widetilde{g})$ of the following \textit{infinitesimal} $CZ(2)$ inequality: for every $\varepsilon > 0$
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:CZ(2) epsilon}
\Vert \widetilde{\nabla}^2 u\Vert_{\widetilde{L^2}}^2 \leq \frac{\widetilde{C} \varepsilon^2}{2} \Vert u \Vert_{\widetilde{L^2}}^2 + \left(1 + \frac{\widetilde{C}^2}{2\varepsilon^2}\right) \Vert \widetilde{\Delta}u\Vert_{\widetilde{L^2}}^2 \qquad \forall u \in C^\infty_0(M).
\end{equation}
Throughout the rest of the proof, we denote with $A_i$ real positive constants depending on $\beta, B, n, C$ and, possibly, $\varepsilon$.
By standard estimates (see \cite[Section 8.3]{IRV2019}) we get
\begin{align}
\label{eq:hessian conformal estimate}
|\widetilde{\nabla}^2 u|^2 dV_{\widetilde{g}} &\geq e^{(n-4)\phi} \left\lbrace \frac{1}{2}|\nabla^2 u|^2 - A_3|\nabla u|^2 - |\Delta u|^2 \right\rbrace dV_g,\\
\label{eq:laplacian conformal estimate}
|\widetilde{\Delta}u|^2 dV_{\widetilde{g}} &\leq e^{(n-4)\phi} \left\lbrace |\Delta u|^2 + A_4|\nabla u|^2 \right\rbrace dV_g.
\end{align}
Inserting \eqref{eq:hessian conformal estimate} and \eqref{eq:laplacian conformal estimate} in \eqref{eq:CZ(2) epsilon} yields
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:CZ(2) epsilon conformal}
\Vert H^{\frac{\beta}{4}(n-4)} |\nabla^2 u|\Vert^2_{L^2} \leq \widetilde{C}\varepsilon^2 \Vert H^{\frac{\beta}{4}n} u\Vert^2_{L^2} + A_5\Vert H^{\frac{\beta}{4}(n-4)} \Delta u\Vert^2_{L^2} + A_6 \Vert H^{\frac{\beta}{4}(n-4)} |\nabla
u|\Vert^2_{L^2}.
\end{equation}
Note here that $A_5$ and $A_6$ depend also on $\varepsilon$.
For $\varphi \in C^\infty_0(M)$ we take $u = H^{-(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4}}\varphi \in C^{\infty}_0(M)$.
By straightforward computations we obtain
\begin{align*}
H^{(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4}}\nabla u =& -(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4} \frac{\nabla H}{H} \varphi + \nabla \varphi,\\
H^{(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4}}\nabla^2 u =& \nabla^2 \varphi -(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4} \left(\frac{\nabla H}{H} \otimes \nabla \varphi + \nabla\varphi \otimes \frac{\nabla H}{H}\right) \\
&+ \varphi \left\{ -(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4} \frac{\nabla^2 H}{H} +(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4}\left[(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4}+1\right] \frac{\nabla H}{H} \otimes \frac{\nabla H}{H} \right\}, \\
H^{(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4}}\Delta u =& \Delta \varphi -(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4} g\left(\frac{\nabla H}{H}, \nabla \varphi\right) \\
&+ \varphi \left\{ -(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4} \frac{\nabla^2 H}{H} +(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4}\left[(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4}+1\right] g\left(\frac{\nabla H}{H}, \frac{\nabla H}{H}\right) \right\}.
\end{align*}
Since
\begin{equation*}
\frac{|\nabla H|}{|H|} \leq 1 \qquad \frac{|\nabla^2 H|}{|H|} \leq C^2 r^{\frac{\beta}{2}-1},
\end{equation*}
we have
\begin{align*}
H^{(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4}}|\nabla u| \leq& A_7|\varphi| + |\nabla \varphi|;\\
H^{(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4}}|\nabla^2 u| \geq& |\nabla^2 \varphi| - A_7|\nabla \varphi| - A_8 H^{\frac{\beta}{2}-1}|\varphi|; \\
H^{(n-4)\frac{\beta}{4}}|\Delta u| \leq& |\Delta \varphi| + A_7|\nabla \varphi| + A_8 H^{\frac{\beta}{2}-1}|\varphi|.
\end{align*}
Using these estimates in \eqref{eq:CZ(2) epsilon conformal} yields
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:CZ(2) weighted intermediate}
\Vert \nabla^2 \varphi\Vert^2_{L^2} \leq \widetilde{C}\varepsilon^2 \Vert H^{\beta} \varphi\Vert^2_{L^2} + A_9\Vert \nabla \varphi \Vert^2_{L^2} + A_5 \Vert \Delta
u\Vert^2_{L^2} + A_{10} \Vert
H^{\frac{\beta}{2}-1}\varphi\Vert^2_{L^2}.
\end{equation}
By the divergence theorem and Cauchy-Schwarz inequality we also have
\begin{equation*}
\Vert \nabla \varphi \Vert_{L^2}^2 = \int_M |\nabla \varphi |^2 dV_g = -\int_M \varphi \Delta \varphi dV_g \leq 2\Vert \varphi \Vert_{L^2}^2 + 2\Vert \Delta \varphi \Vert_{L^2}^2.
\end{equation*}
Moreover, since $H^{\frac{\beta}{2}-1} = o(H^{\beta})$ as $r(x) \to +\infty$, for all $\varepsilon > 0$ there exists some constant $C_\varepsilon > 0$ such that
\[H^{\frac{\beta}{2}-1} \leq\varepsilon \sqrt{\frac{\widetilde{C}}{A_{10}}} H^{\beta} + C_\varepsilon,\]
hence, $A_{10} \Vert H^{\frac{\beta}{2}-1}\varphi\Vert^2_{L^2} \leq \varepsilon^2 \widetilde{C}\Vert H^{\beta} \varphi\Vert^2_{L^2} + C_\varepsilon^2 \Vert \varphi \Vert_{L^2}^2$.
Using these latter estimates, \eqref{eq:CZ(2) weighted intermediate} becomes
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:CZ(2) weighted H}
\Vert \nabla^2\varphi \Vert^2_{L^2} \leq A_1^2 \left[ \Vert \Delta \varphi \Vert^2_{L^2} + \Vert \varphi \Vert^2_{L^2} \right] + \widetilde{C}\varepsilon^2 \Vert H^\beta \varphi \Vert^2_{L^2}
\end{equation}
Finally, since $H(x) \leq \max\{C r(x), 1\}$ we have
\begin{equation*}
\int_M H^{2\beta}\varphi^2 dV_g \leq \int_{r \le 1} \varphi^2 dV_g + C^{2\beta}\int_{r\ge 1} r^{2\beta}\varphi^2 dV_g = \Vert \varphi \Vert_{L^2} + C^{2\beta} \Vert r^\beta \varphi \Vert_{L^2}.
\end{equation*}
which gives \eqref{eq:CZ(2) weighted}
\end{proof}
\end{theorem}
\begin{remark}
Note that in \Cref{thm:CZ(2) weighted} we require a bound on Ricci in the sense of quadratic forms, that is
\begin{equation*}
\Ric(X, X)(x) \geq -(n-1)B^2r^\beta(x) g(X,X)
\end{equation*}
for any $X \in T_xM$.
This is a stronger assumption than the previous bounds on radial Ricci curvature and is necessary to ensure the validity of \eqref{eq:CZ(2) epsilon}.
\end{remark}
If we also assume also an upper bound on the Ricci curvature, using the second order Hardy-type inequality \eqref{eq:rellich with p-green sobolev} we can estimate the last term on \eqref{eq:CZ(2) weighted} thus proving (b) of \Cref{th_main}.
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm:CZ(2) on CH}
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold with a fixed pole $o \in M$. Suppose that
\begin{equation}
- (n-1)B^2 r^\alpha(x) \leq \Ric(x) \leq -2(n-1)^2A^2 r^{\alpha}(x) \quad \forall x \in M \setminus B_{R_0}
\end{equation}
for some constants $B>\sqrt{2}(n-1)A>0$ and some $\alpha\ge 0$.
Then, the following $L^2$-Calder\'on-Zygmund inequality holds on $M$:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:CZ(2)}
\Vert \nabla^2 \varphi \Vert_{L^2} \leq C \left(\Vert \Delta \varphi \Vert_{L^2} + \Vert \varphi \Vert_{L^2}\right)
\end{equation}
for all $\varphi \in C^\infty_0(M)$.
\begin{proof}
By \Cref{thm:CZ(2) weighted} we have the validity of \eqref{eq:CZ(2) weighted}, thus, we only need to estimate the weighted term $\Vert r^\beta \varphi\Vert_{L^2}^2$.
Let $K$ be a compact large enough (see \Cref{thm:rellich with weight sobolev}), then
\begin{equation*}
\Vert r^\beta \varphi\Vert_{L^2}^2 = \int_M r^{2\beta} \varphi^2 dV_g \leq \max_{K} r^{2\beta}\int_K \varphi^2 dV_g + \int_{M\setminus K} r^{2\beta} \varphi^2 dV_g.
\end{equation*}
Thanks to \Cref{thm:rellich with weight sobolev} we have
\begin{equation*}
\int_{M\setminus K} r^{2\beta} \varphi^2 dV_g \leq C'\int_M |\nabla^2 \varphi|^2 dV_g,
\end{equation*}
so that
\begin{equation*}
\Vert \nabla^2 \varphi \Vert_{L^2} \leq A' \left(\Vert \Delta \varphi \Vert_{L^2} + \Vert \varphi \Vert_{L^2}\right) + A'' \varepsilon^2 \left(\Vert \varphi\Vert_{L^2}^2 + \Vert \nabla^2 \varphi\Vert_{L^2}^2\right).
\end{equation*}
Since $\varepsilon$ can be made arbitrarily small and $A''$ is a fixed constant this last estimate yields \eqref{eq:CZ(2)}.
\end{proof}
\end{theorem}
\begin{remark}
It would be interesting to obtain a $CZ(p)$ estimate also in the general case $p \in(1,+\infty)$.
To do this, however, one would need an \textit{infinitesimal} $CZ(p)$ estimate similar to \eqref{eq:CZ(2) epsilon} which, to the best of our knowledge, is not known when $p \neq 2$.
\end{remark}
\begin{remark}
\label{rmk:CZ(p) implies equality of sobolev}
The validity of an $L^2$-Calder\'on-Zygmund inequality directly implies the density of $C^\infty_0(M)$ in $W^{2, 2}(M)$.
The observation is due to S. Pigola and goes as follows.
Let $\varphi \in W^{2, 2}(M)\subseteq H^{2, 2}(M)$, thanks to a result by O. Milatovic \cite[Appendix A]{GP2019}, there exists a sequence of functions $\{\varphi_k\}\subseteq C^\infty_0(M)$ such that $\varphi_k \to \varphi$ in $H^{2, 2}(M)$.
It follows that $\{\varphi_k\}$ is Cauchy in $H^{2, 2}(M)$, using \eqref{eq:CZ(2)} and the validity on $(M, g)$ of an $L^2$-gradient estimate (see \cite[Proposition 3.10b]{GP2015}) we deduce that $\{\varphi_k\}$ is Cauchy also in $W^{2, 2}(M)$.
By completeness we have $\varphi_k \to \overline{\varphi}$ in $W^{2, 2}(M)$, however, $\overline{\varphi} = \varphi$ thanks to the continuous embedding $W^{2, 2}(M) \subseteq H^{2, 2}(M)$.
See also \cite[Remark 2.1]{V2020}.
As a result, \Cref{thm:CZ(2) on CH} provides an alternative proof of \Cref{thm:density on CH manifolds}, although under heavier assumptions.
\end{remark}
The above observation also implies the following corollary.
\begin{corollary}
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold as in \Cref{thm:CZ(2) on CH}, then
\begin{equation*}
W^{2, 2}_0(M) = W^{2, 2}(M) = H^{2,2}(M).
\end{equation*}
\end{corollary}
\section{\texorpdfstring{$L^p$}{L^p}-positivity preserving and the BMS conjecture}
\label{sec:L^p pp and BMS}
This last section is devoted to the study of the $L^p$-positivity preserving property, and BMS conjecture, on a certain class of manifolds.
Following \cite[Theorem B.1]{BMS02}, we first prove.
\begin{lemma}
\label{lem:Lp pp smooth}
Let $\phi \in C^\infty_0(M)$, $\phi \geq 0$, then there exists a unique $v \in C^\infty (M) \cap L^p(M)$ $\forall p\in[1,+\infty]$, $v > 0$, such that
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:Lp pp smooth}
(-\Delta + 1)v = \phi.
\end{equation}
\begin{proof}
Let $\{\Omega_k\}$ be an exhaustion of $M$ by relatively compact, open sets of smooth boundary satisfying
\begin{equation*}
\Omega_1 \Subset \Omega_2 \Subset \cdots \Subset \Omega_k \Subset \Omega_{k+1}\Subset \cdots,
\end{equation*}
that is, $\Omega_k$ is relatively compact in $\Omega_{k+1}$ for all $k \in \mathbb{N}$.
Furthermore, assume $\Omega_1$ is large enough so that $\supp(\phi) \subseteq \Omega_1$.
Then let $v_k$ be a smooth solution of the following Dirichlet problem:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:dirichlet problem Lppp}
\begin{cases}
(-\Delta + 1)v_k = \phi &\text{ on }\Omega_k\\
v_k = 0 &\text{ on }\partial\Omega_k.
\end{cases}
\end{equation}
By the strong maximum principle (\cite[Theorem 3.5]{GT2001}), we immediately get $v_k > 0$ in the interior of $\Omega_k$ and $v_{k+1}\geq v_k$ for all $k$, hence, $\{v_k\}$ is a monotone increasing sequence of functions and thus admits a (possibly infinite) pointwise limit
\begin{equation*}
0 < v(x) = \lim_{k \to + \infty} v_k(x).
\end{equation*}
Next we prove that $v$ is actually everywhere finite, smooth and belongs to $L^p(M)$ for any $p \in [1, + \infty)$.
To this end, we multiply \eqref{eq:dirichlet problem Lppp} by $v_k^{p-1}$ and integrate over $\Omega_k$
\begin{align*}
\int_{\Omega_k} v_k^{p-1} (-\Delta + 1)v_k dV_g &= \int_{\Omega_k} v_k^p dV_g - \int_{\Omega_k} v_k^{p-1}\Delta v_k dV_g \\
&= \int_{\Omega_k} v_k^p dV_g + \int_{\Omega_k} \langle\nabla v_k^{p-1}, \nabla v_k \rangle dV_g \\
&= \int_{\Omega_k} v_k^p dV_g + (p-1)\int_{\Omega_k} v_k^{p-2} |\nabla v_k|^2 dV_g \geq \int_{\Omega_k} v_k^p dV_g.
\end{align*}
On the other hand, by H\"older's inequality
\begin{equation*}
\int_{\Omega_k} v_k^{p-1} (-\Delta + 1)v_k dV_g = \int_{\Omega_k} v_k^{p-1} \phi dV_g \leq \left\lbrace\int_{\Omega_k} \phi^p dV_g\right \rbrace^{\frac{1}{p}} \left\lbrace\int_{\Omega_k} v_k^p dV_g\right \rbrace^{\frac{p-1}{p}}
\end{equation*}
hence $\Vert v_k \Vert_{L^p(\Omega_k)} \leq \Vert \phi \Vert_{L^p(M)}$.
Since $\{v_k\}$ is uniformly bounded in $L^p$ on any compact set, by standard interior regularity we deduce that $\{v_k\}$ is uniformly bounded in $W^{h, p}_{\operatorname{loc}}(M)$ for any order $h$ and $p \in [1, + \infty)$.
As a consequence of Sobolev spaces compact embedding, all the covariant derivatives of $\{ v_k\}$ converge up to a subsequence uniformly on compact sets, i.e., $v_k$ converges in $C^\infty(M)$ topology.
In particular $v$ is positive, smooth and satisfies \eqref{eq:Lp pp smooth}. Moreover, by Fatou's lemma we also have that $v \in L^p(M)$ for any $p \in [1, +\infty)$.
For $p = +\infty$, let $x^\ast$ be such $v_k(x^\ast) = \max_{\Omega_K} v_k$, by the maximum principle we get $v_k(x^\ast) \leq \phi(x^\ast)\leq \Vert \phi \Vert_{L^\infty(M)}$, that is, $\Vert v_k \Vert_{L^\infty(\Omega_K)} \leq \Vert \phi \Vert_{L^\infty(M)}$. Letting $k \to +\infty$ we get $v \in L^\infty(M)$.
\end{proof}
\end{lemma}
We would like now to extend the above result to the case where $(-\Delta+1)v$ is positive Radon measure.
To do so, we first need the following $L^q$-gradient estimate which is a simple extension of a result by
T. Coulhon and X. T. Duong, \cite{CD2003}.
\begin{lemma}
\label{lem:Lp gradient estimates}
Let $(M, g)$ be a complete Riemannian manifold, then for all $1<q\le 2$ there exists a constant $C>0$ such that
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:Lp gradient estimate}
\Vert \nabla u \Vert_{L^q} \leq C(\Vert u \Vert_{L^q} + \Vert \Delta u \Vert_{L^q})
\end{equation}
for all $u \in C^\infty(M) \cap H^{2,q}(M)$.
\begin{proof}
The validity of \eqref{eq:Lp gradient estimate} on $C^\infty_0(M)$ is known thanks to a result by T. Coulhon and X. T. Duong \cite{CD2003}.
Thanks to a result by O. Milatovic \cite[Appendix A]{GP2019}, for all $u \in C^\infty(M) \cap H^{2,q}(M)$ there exists a sequence of functions $\{u_k\} \subseteq C^\infty_0(M)$ such that $u_k \to u$ with respect to the $H^{2,q}(M)$ norm.
Applying \eqref{eq:Lp gradient estimate} to the Cauchy differences we deduce that $\nabla u_k \to \nabla u$ in $L^q(M)$.
Then we obtain the desired result applying \eqref{eq:Lp gradient estimate} to $u_k$ and taking the limit.
\end{proof}
\end{lemma}
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm:L^p pp Cartan hadamard}
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold satisfying
\begin{equation*}
- (n-1)B^2 r^{\alpha+2}(x) \leq \Ric_o(x) \leq -2(n-1)^2A^2 r^{\alpha}(x) \quad \forall x \in M\setminus B_{R_0}
\end{equation*}
for some constants $B>\sqrt{2}(n-1)A>0$ and some $\alpha, R_0 > 0$.
Then, $M$ is $L^p$-positivity preserving for all $2 \le p < +\infty$
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}
Let $u \in L^p(M)$ such that $(-\Delta + 1)u \geq 0$ in the sense of distributions.
In order to prove $L^p$-positivity preserving, we need to show that
\begin{equation*}
\int_M \phi u dV_g \geq 0 \qquad \forall \phi \in C^\infty_0(M), \phi \geq 0.
\end{equation*}
By \Cref{lem:Lp pp smooth}, let $v\in C^\infty(M)$, $v > 0$ such that $(-\Delta + 1)v = \phi$ and let $\{\chi_R\}\in C^\infty(M)$ be a family of cutoffs as in \Cref{lem:existence of cutoffs}.
Since $v\chi_R \in C^\infty_0(M)$, $v\chi_R \geq 0$ we have
\begin{align*}
0 \leq \int_M u (-\Delta +1)(v\chi_R) dV_g =& \int_M \left[-u \Delta(v\chi_R) + v\chi_R u \right]dV_g \\
=& - \int_{M} u \chi_R \Delta v dV_g - \int_{M} u v \Delta \chi_R dV_g \\
&- \int_{M} u \langle \nabla \chi_R, \nabla v\rangle dV_g + \int_{M} u \chi_R v dV_g.
\end{align*}
Recall that $v, \Delta v\in L^q(M)$ for all $q \in [1, +\infty]$, in particular, this holds for $q = \frac{p}{p-1}$ so that $uv \in L^1(M)$ and $u\Delta v \in L^1(M)$.
By dominated convergence we conclude that
\begin{equation*}
\int_{M} u \chi_R \Delta v dV_g \to \int_{M} u \Delta v dV_g, \qquad \int_{M} u \chi_R v dV_g \to \int_{M} u v dV_g
\end{equation*}
for $R \to + \infty$.
On the other hand, by \Cref{lem:Lp gradient estimates} we have $|\nabla v| \in L^q(M)$ so that $u\nabla v \in L^1(M)$, by dominated convergence we conclude that
\begin{equation*}
\int_{M} u \langle \nabla \chi_R, \nabla v\rangle dV_g \leq \int_{M} |u| |\nabla v| |\nabla \chi_R| dV_g \to 0
\end{equation*}
for $R \to +\infty$.
Finally, by Holder's inequality we have
\begin{equation*}
\left| \int_{M} u v \Delta \chi_R dV_g \right| \leq \left\lbrace\int_{M} |u|^p dV_g\right\rbrace^{\frac{1}{p}}\left\lbrace\int_{M} |v\Delta \chi_R|^q dV_g\right\rbrace^{\frac{1}{q}}.
\end{equation*}
The lower bound on Ricci implies that $|\Delta \chi_R| \leq C r^{\frac{\alpha}{2}}(x)$ and $v \in W^{1, q}(M)$, hence, by \Cref{rmk:Hardy for L^p pp} we have
\begin{equation*}
\int_{M} |v\Delta \chi_R|^q dV_g \to 0
\end{equation*}
as $R \to + \infty$.
In conclusion, we have proved that
\begin{equation*}
\int_M \phi u dV_g = \lim_{R \to + \infty}\int_M u (-\Delta +1)(v\chi_R) dV_g \geq 0,
\end{equation*}
hence, $u \geq 0$ in the sense of distributions.
\end{proof}
Note that, although \Cref{lem:Lp pp smooth} holds on the whole $L^p$ scale, the case $p = +\infty$ and $1\leq p < 2$ have been left out in the previous theorem.
The difficulty in these situations is that we generally lack the $L^q$-gradient estimates where $q>2$ is the conjugate exponent of $p$.
On the other hand, an $L^1$ gradient estimate which corresponds to the case $p = +\infty$ is false even in the Euclidean setting.
\begin{remark}
\label{rmk:stoch compl}
Recall that the $L^\infty$-positivity preserving property implies stochastic completeness of the manifold at hand.
Indeed, $(M,g)$ is stochastically complete if the only non-negative, bounded $C^2$ solution of
\begin{equation*}
\Delta u = u
\end{equation*}
is $u \equiv 0$.
We refer to \cite[Section 6]{Gr1999} for a survey of the equivalent definitions of stochastic completeness.
Indeed, if $u \in C^2(M)\cap L^\infty(M)$, $u \geq 0$ solves $\Delta u = u$ then $-u$ solves $-\Delta (-u) -u \geq 0$.
By $L^\infty$-positivity preserving we deduce that $u \leq 0$ hence $u \equiv 0$.
As a matter of fact, when the Ricci curvature is below a certain critical growth we can prove that $(M, g)$ looses stochastic completeness, hence, the $L^\infty$-positivity preserving property needs to fail.
\end{remark}
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm:comparison stochastic completeness}
Let $(M, g)$ be a Cartan-Hadamard manifold satisfying
\begin{equation*}
\Ric_o(x) \le -2(n-1)^2A^2 r^\alpha(x) \quad \forall x \in M \setminus B_{R_0}
\end{equation*}
with $A, \alpha, R_0>0$. If $\alpha>2$, then $(M, g)$ is not stochastically complete.
\begin{proof}
Let $j$ be as in \eqref{eq:warping function model} and define
\begin{equation*}
v(t) = \int_0^t j^{(1-n)}(s) \left(\int_0^s j^{(n-1)}(\tau) d\tau\right)ds
\end{equation*}
then $u(x) = v(r(x))$ is a $C^2$ function on $M$.
By \eqref{eq:asymptotic stoch compl} we have
\begin{equation*}
\frac{\int_0^s j^{n-1}(\tau) d\tau}{j^{(n-1)}(s)} \in L^1(+\infty),
\end{equation*}
hence, $u$ is bounded.
Since $v' \geq 0$, by \Cref{prop:comparison CH} we have
\begin{equation*}
\Delta u(x) = v''(r(x)) + \Delta r(x) v'(r(x)) \geq v''(r(x)) + (n-1)\frac{j'(r(x))}{j(r(x))} v'(r(x))
\end{equation*}
for $r>>1$.
By direct computation this implies that $\Delta u \geq 1$ outside a compact set and in particular, there cannot be a sequence of points $\{x_k\}\subset M$ such that $u(x_k)$ converges to $\sup_M u$ and $\Delta u(x_k) < 1/k$ which is an equivalent formulation of stochastic completeness, see \cite{PRS2003}.
\end{proof}
\end{theorem}
It remains to investigate the subquadratic case.
In this setting the cut-off functions constructed in \Cref{lem:existence of cutoffs} have a much better behavior, namely, the Hessian is uniformly bounded.
As a consequence, one can easily avoid the use of the Hardy-type inequality to control the term containing $\Delta \chi_R$.
It turns out that such Laplacian cut-off functions exist on arbitrary complete Riemannian manifolds as long as the Ricci curvature satisfies
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:ricci lambda}
\Ric(x) \geq - \lambda^2(r(x)) \quad \forall x \in M \setminus B_{R_0}.
\end{equation}
Here $\lambda$ is a $C^\infty$ function given by
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:lambda}
\lambda(t) = \alpha t \prod_{j = 0}^k \log^{[j]}(t)
\end{equation}
for $t$ large enough, where $\alpha>0$, $k\in\mathbb{N}$ and $\log^{[j]}(t)$ stands for the $j$-th iterated logarithm.
The following is a joint result of the second author with D. Impera and M. Rimoldi \cite[Corollary 4.1]{IRV2020}, which slightly generalizes \cite[Corollary 2.3]{BS2018}.
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm:cutoffs of IRV}
Let $(M, g)$ be a complete Riemannian manifold satisfying \eqref{eq:ricci lambda} in the sense of quadratic forms.
Then, there exists a family of smooth cut-off functions $\{\chi_R\}\subseteq C^\infty_0(M)$, $R > R_0$, such that
\begin{enumerate}
\item $\chi_R \equiv 1$ on $B_R$ and $\chi_R \equiv 0$ on $M \setminus \overline{B_{\gamma R}}$;
\item $|\nabla \chi_R|\leq \frac{C_1}{\lambda(R)}$;
\item $|\Delta \chi_R|\leq C_2$;
\end{enumerate}
where $C_1, C_2 > 0$, $\gamma > 1$ and $\lambda$ is the function defined in \eqref{eq:lambda}.
\end{theorem}
Using these cut-off functions instead of the ones constructed in Lemma \ref{lem:existence of cutoffs} allows to drop any topological assumptions on $M$. This was already observed by B. G\"uneysu in the setting where $L^p$-gradient estimates are available, i.e. for $p\in[2,\infty)$.
However, there is no need to use $L^p$-gradient estimates, since we can use instead a uniform Li-Yau estimate which is a special case of a result by D. Bianchi and A. Setti \cite[Theorem 2.8]{BS2018}.
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm:Li-Yau of Bianchi and Setti}
Let $(M, g)$ be a complete Riemannian manifold satisfying \eqref{eq:ricci lambda} in the sense of quadratic forms.
Let $R > r > 0$ and let $\gamma > 1$ and let $v : M\setminus\overline{B_r} \to \R$ be a $C^2$ function satisfying
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:eigenvalue equation Li-Yau}
\begin{cases}
v > 0 \quad \text{ on } M\setminus\overline{B_r} \\
\Delta v = v.
\end{cases}
\end{equation}
Then, there exists a positive constant $C = C(n, \gamma, B)>0$ such that
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:Li-yau subquadratic}
\frac{|\nabla v(x)|}{\lambda(R)} \leq Cv(x) \quad \forall x \in B_{\gamma R}\setminus \overline{B_R}.
\end{equation}
\end{theorem}
Using these two results we can prove the following.
\begin{theorem}
\label{thm:Lp pp subquadratic}
Let $(M, g)$ be a complete Riemannian manifold satisfying \eqref{eq:ricci lambda} in the sense of quadratic forms.
Then $M$ is $L^p$-positivity preserving for all $p \in [1, +\infty]$.
\begin{proof}
Let $u \in L^p(M)$, $p \in [1, +\infty]$ such that $-\Delta u + u \geq 0$ in the sense of distributions.
Take $\phi \in C^\infty_0(M)$, $\phi \geq 0$ we need to show that
\begin{equation*}
\int_M u \phi dV_g \geq 0.
\end{equation*}
To this end we take $v \in C^\infty(M)$, $v>0$ as in \Cref{lem:Lp pp smooth} such that $-\Delta v + v = \phi$ and $v, \Delta v \in L^q(M)$ $\forall q \in [0, +\infty]$.
Then we proceed as in \Cref{thm:L^p pp Cartan hadamard} using the cut-off functions of \Cref{thm:cutoffs of IRV} instead of the one of \Cref{lem:existence of cutoffs}.
The proof differs from the one of \Cref{thm:L^p pp Cartan hadamard} only in the estimate of the terms containing $\Delta \chi_R$ and $\nabla \chi_R$.
The former is immediate: since $|\Delta \chi_R| \leq C_2$ we have
$|uv\Delta \chi_R| \leq C_2 |uv| \in L^1(M)$ hence
\begin{equation*}
\int_{M} uv\Delta \chi_R dV_g \to 0
\end{equation*}
by dominated convergence as $R \to + \infty$.
For the latter term, we observe that if $r>0$ is large enough then $\Delta v = v$ on $M \setminus \overline{B_r}$ and $v > 0$ , thus, we have the validity of the Li-Yau estimate of \Cref{thm:Li-Yau of Bianchi and Setti}.
Since $\nabla \chi_R$ is compactly supported in $B_{\gamma R}\setminus \overline{B_R}$, then
\begin{equation*}
|u \langle \nabla \chi_R, \nabla v\rangle| \leq C_2 |u| \frac{|\nabla v|}{\lambda(R)} \leq C C_2 |u| |v| \in L^1(M) \quad \forall x \in M.
\end{equation*}
It follows that
\begin{equation*}
\int_{M} u \langle \nabla \chi_R, \nabla v\rangle dV_g \to 0
\end{equation*}
as $R\to + \infty$ which concludes the proof of the theorem.
\end{proof}
\end{theorem}
\begin{remark}\label{rmk:hsu}
As a consequence of the case $p = +\infty$, we immediately get that the manifold at hand is stochastically complete.
P. Hsu in \cite{Hsu1989} proved the stochastic completeness assuming the $\Ric(x)\ge -\kappa (r(x))$, where $\kappa$ is non decreasing and $\int^\infty \kappa^{-1}=\infty$.
Keeping also in account that the choice of $\lambda$ in our result can be slightly generalized, \cite[Proposition 1.1]{IRV2020}, our function $\lambda$ is essentially the maximal one admissible in order to fulfill $\int^\infty \lambda^{-1}=\infty$.
\end{remark}
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@implementation LOTAnimatableLayer
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self = [super init];
if (self) {
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return self;
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\section{Introduction}
{Plasma} is often referred to as the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid, and gas,
and consists of a mixture of interacting charged particles.
Macroscopic features of a quasi-neutral plasma can often be accurately
modeled through {magnetohydrodynamic} (MHD) models that
track only macroscopic quantities such as the total mass density, center-of-mass
momentum density, and total energy density
(see standard plasma physics textbooks such as Chapter 4 of Gombosi \cite{book:Go98}).
The {ideal} magnetohydrodynamic equations further assume that the flow is
inviscid and that the plasma is a perfect conductor (i.e., zero resistivity).
The ideal MHD system can be written as a system of hyperbolic
conservation laws, where the conserved quantities
are mass density, momentum density, energy density, and the magnetic field.
Furthermore, this system is equipped with an entropy inequality that
features a convex scalar entropy and a corresponding
entropy flux. Indeed, the scalar entropy, with some
help from the fact that the magnetic field is divergence-free,
can be used to define entropy variables in which the
MHD system is in symmetric hyperbolic form \cite{article:Barth05,article:Go72}.
As has been noted many times in the literature (e.g.,
Brackbill and Barnes \cite{article:BrBa80}, Evans and Hawley \cite{article:EvHa88},
and T\'oth \cite{article:To00}),
numerical methods for ideal MHD must in general satisfy (or at least control)
some discrete version of the divergence-free condition on the magnetic field:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:divBeq0}
\nabla \cdot {\bf B} = 0.
\end{equation}
Failure to accomplish this generically leads to a nonlinear numerical instability,
which often leads to negative pressures and/or densities.
Starting with the paper of Brackbill and Barnes \cite{article:BrBa80} in 1980,
several approaches for controlling errors in $\nabla \cdot {\bf B}$ have
been proposed. An in-depth review of many of these methods can
be found in T\'oth \cite{article:To00}.
The constrained transport (CT) approach for ideal MHD was introduced by Evans and Hawley
\cite{article:EvHa88}. The method is a modification of Yee's method \cite{article:Ye66} for electromagnetic
wave propagation, and, at least in its original formulation, introduced staggered magnetic and electric fields.
This approach can also be viewed as a kind of
predictor-corrector scheme for the magnetic field. Roughly speaking, the idea is
to compute all of the conserved quantities with a ``standard'' finite difference, finite volume, or finite element method.
This step produces the {\it predicted} magnetic field values.
From these computed quantities one
then constructs an approximation to the electric field through the ideal Ohm's law.
This electric field can then be used to update the magnetic vector potential,
which in turn, can be used to compute a divergence-free magnetic field. This
step produces the {\it corrected} magnetic field values.
The main advantages of this approach compared to other approaches
for solving the ideal MHD equations are that (1) there is no elliptic solve
such as in projection methods (e.g., see T\'oth \cite{article:To00} and Balsara and Kim \cite{article:BaKi04}),
and (2) there are no free parameters to choose such as in the hyperbolic
divergence-cleaning technique \cite{article:Ded01a}.
The main disadvantages of this approach are that (1) additional variables must be
stored and updated (i.e., the magnetic potential), and (2) a staggered description
typical of mixed finite element methods is often required\footnote{There are CT methods that
avoid a staggered magnetic field (see for example \cite{article:To00,article:Ro04b,article:HeRoTa11,
article:HeRoTa13,article:ChRoTa14,article:Ro04a}).}.
Since the introduction of the original CT framework by Evans and Hawley \cite{article:EvHa88}, several variants and modifications
have been introduced, including the work of Balsara \cite{article:Ba04}, Balsara and Spicer \cite{article:BaSp99a},
Christlieb et al. \cite{article:ChRoTa14}, Dai and Woodward \cite{article:DaWo98},
Fey and Torrilhon \cite{article:FeTo03},
Helzel et al. \cite{article:HeRoTa11,article:HeRoTa13},
Londrillo and Del Zanna \cite{article:LoZa04},
Rossmanith \cite{article:Ro04b}, Ryu et al. \cite{article:Ryu98}, and De Sterck \cite{article:De01b}. An overview of many of these approaches, as well as the
introduction of a few more variants, can be found in
T\'oth \cite{article:To00}.
In this work we show how to extend the basic constrained transport
framework in the context of the discontinuous Galerkin finite element method (DG-FEM)
on both 2D and 3D Cartesian meshes.
The method advocated in this work makes use of two key ingredients:
(1) the introduction of a magnetic vector potential, which in our case will be represented
in the same finite element space as the conserved variables, and (2)
the use of a particular divergence-free
reconstruction of the magnetic field, which makes use of the magnetic vector potential
and the predicted magnetic field.
The divergence-free reconstruction advocated in this work is slight modification of the reconstruction
method that has been used in other work on ideal MHD. Li, Xu, and Yakovlev \cite{article:LiXuYa11} made
use of this reconstruction in the context of a 2D central DG scheme. Balsara
\cite{article:Ba04} made use this reconstruction in the context of finite volume schemes
and adaptive mesh refinement. In fact, the divergence-free reconstruction of the magnetic
field is directly related to ideas from discrete exterior calculus and, in particular,
to Whitney forms (e.g., see Bossavit \cite{article:Bossavit88}). Despite these connections, we do need
the full machinery of discrete exterior calculus and Whitney forms in order to
develop the proposed numerical scheme.
The novel aspect of this work is that we make direct use of a magnetic vector potential,
thus following in the footsteps of the methods developed in
\cite{article:ChRoTa14,article:HeRoTa11,article:HeRoTa13,article:LoZa04,article:Ro04b,article:De01b}.
An advantage of our approach is that extension from 2D to 3D is straightforward.
The paper begins with a description of the ideal MHD equations in \S \ref{sec:equations}.
In \S \ref{sec:dg_method} we describe the basic DG method, both on 2D and 3D Cartesian meshes.
In \S \ref{sec:dg_stability} we review the entropy stability theory for semi-discrete DG-FEM,
including a discussion of the relevant theorem of Barth \cite{article:Barth05} that rigorously establishes the need for
divergence-free magnetic fields in the discretization of MHD.
In \S \ref{sec:ct_scheme} we introduce a novel constrained transport scheme that is based on achieving a globally divergence-free magnetic field via the use
of a combination of techniques from mixed finite element methods, as well as through the use of a magnetic potential. The magnetic potential is updated through an appropriate high-order discretization of the induction equation, and a globally divergence-free magnetic field is then constructed through a discrete curl operation on the magnetic potential. In particular, the discrete curl of the magnetic potential is defined through a high-order construction of the normal components of the magnetic field on each element edge, followed by a reconstruction step to obtain a globally-defined element-centered definition of the magnetic field. This newly proposed method is closely related to the
central DG scheme for ideal MHD developed by Li, Xu, and Yakovlev \cite{article:LiXuYa11}, although the new
scheme does not require the use of central DG, nor does it require storing the solution on both a primal
and a dual grid. For these reasons, extension to 3D is straightforward.
The resulting scheme is applied to several numerical test cases in \S \ref{sec:numex}.
All of the methods presented in this work have been implemented in the {\sc DoGPack} software package \cite{dogpack}
and will be made freely available on the web. All the visualization in this work
has been done with the freely available package {\sc Matplotlib} \cite{article:matplotlib}.
\section{Ideal magnetohydrodynamic equations}
\label{sec:equations}
The ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations are a classical model
from plasma physics that describe the macroscopic evolution of a
quasi-neutral two-fluid plasma system. Under the quasi-neutral
assumption, the two-fluid equations can be collapsed
into a single set of fluid equations for the total mass density, center-of-mass momentum density, and
total energy density of the system. The resulting equations can be written in the following
form\footnote{We use boldface letters to denote vectors in physical space (i.e.,
${{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^3$),
and $\| \cdot \|$ to denote the Euclidean norm of vector in the physical space.
Vectors in solution space, such as $q\in {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^8$,
where $q$ is the vector of conserved variables for the ideal MHD equations:
$q=\left(\rho,\, \rho {\bf u}, \, {\mathcal E}, {\bf B} \right)^T$, are not denoted using
boldface letters.}:
\begin{gather}
\label{eqn:MHD}
\frac{\partial}{\partial t}
\begin{bmatrix}
\rho \\ \rho {\bf u} \\ {\mathcal E} \\ {\bf B}
\end{bmatrix} + \nabla \cdot
\begin{bmatrix} \rho {\bf u} \\ \rho {\bf u} {\bf u} + \left( {p} + \frac{1}{2}
\| {\bf B} \|^2 \right) {\mathbb I}
- {\bf B} {\bf B} \\
{\bf u} \left({\mathcal E} + {p} + \frac{1}{2} \| {\bf B} \|^2 \right) -
{\bf B} \left({\bf u} \cdot {\bf B} \right)
\\ {\bf u} {\bf B} - {\bf B} {\bf u}
\end{bmatrix} = 0, \\
\label{eqn:divfree}
\nabla \cdot {\bf B} = 0,
\end{gather}
where $\rho$, $\rho {\bf u}$, and ${\mathcal E}$ are the mass, momentum,
and energy densities of the plasma system, and ${\bf B}$ is the
magnetic field. The thermal pressure, $p$, is related to the
conserved quantities through the ideal gas law:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:eos}
p = \left( \gamma-1 \right) \left( {\mathcal E} - \frac{1}{2} \| {\bf B} \|^2
- \frac{1}{2} \rho \| {\bf u} \|^2 \right),
\end{equation}
where $\gamma = 5/3$ is the ideal gas constant.
Note that the equation for the magnetic field comes from
Faraday's law:
\begin{equation}
{\bf B}_{,t} + \nabla \times {\bf E} = 0,
\end{equation}
where the electric field, ${\bf E}$, is approximated
by Ohm's law for a perfect conductor:
\begin{equation}
{\bf E} = {\bf B} \times {\bf u}.
\end{equation}
Since the electric field is determined entirely from Ohm's law, we
do not require an evolution equation for it; and thus, the only
other piece that we need from Maxwell's equations is
the divergence-free condition on the magnetic field
\eqref{eqn:divfree}. A complete derivation and discussion
of MHD system \eqref{eqn:MHD}-\eqref{eqn:divfree} can
be found in several standard plasma physics textbooks
(e.g., pages 69--78 of \cite{book:Go98}).
\subsection{Hyperbolicity}
We first note that system \eqref{eqn:MHD}, along with the
equation of state \eqref{eqn:eos}, provides
a full set of equations for the time evolution
of all eight state variables: $\left( \rho, \, \rho {\bf u}, \, {\mathcal E}, \, {\bf B} \right)$.
These evolution equations form a hyperbolic system. In particular, the
eigenvalues of the flux Jacobian in some arbitrary
direction ${\bf n}$ ($\| {\bf n} \| = 1$) can be written as follows:
\begin{gather}
\lambda^{1,8} = {\bf u} \cdot {\bf n} \mp c_f \quad \text{(fast magnetosonic),} \qquad
\lambda^{2,7} = {\bf u} \cdot {\bf n} \mp c_a \quad \text{(Alfv$\acute{\text{e}}$n),} \\
\lambda^{3,6} = {\bf u} \cdot {\bf n} \mp c_s \quad \text{(slow magnetosonic),} \qquad
\lambda^{4} = {\bf u} \cdot {\bf n} \quad \text{(entropy),} \qquad
\lambda^{5} = {\bf u} \cdot {\bf n} \quad \text{(divergence),}
\end{gather}
where
\begin{gather}
a \equiv \sqrt{\frac{\gamma p}{\rho}}, \qquad
c_a \equiv \sqrt{\frac{\left({\bf B} \cdot {\bf n} \right)^2}{\rho}}, \qquad
c_f, c_s \equiv \left\{ \frac{1}{2} \left[ a^2 +
\frac{\|{\bf B}\|^{2}}{\rho} \pm \sqrt{\left(a^2 +
\frac{\|{\bf B}\|^{2}}{\rho} \right)^{2} - 4 a^2
\frac{\left({\bf B} \cdot {\bf n} \right)^2}{\rho}} \right] \right\}^{1/2}.
\end{gather}
The eigenvalues are well-ordered in the sense that
\begin{equation}
\lambda^{1} \le \lambda^{2} \le \lambda^{3} \le \lambda^{4} \le \lambda^{5} \le \lambda^{6}
\le \lambda^{7} \le \lambda^{8} \, .
\end{equation}
The fast and slow magnetosonic waves are genuinely nonlinear, while the remaining waves are linearly degenerate.
Note that the so-called {\it divergence-wave} has been
made to travel at the speed ${\bf u} \cdot {\bf n}$ via the
8-wave formulation,
thus restoring Galilean invariance \cite{article:Go72,article:Po94,article:Po99}.
Also note that despite the fact that we use the eigenvalues and eigenvectors
of the 8-wave formulation of the MHD equations, we will still
solve the MHD equations in conservative form (i.e., without the
``Powell source term''). See \S \ref{subsec:sym_mhd}
and \S \ref{sec:dg_stability} for more discussion on this issue.
\subsection{Symmetric hyperbolic structure of standard hyperbolic conservation laws}
\label{sec:symmhyp}
Consider a conservation
law in $d$ spatial dimensions with ${M_\text{eq}}$ number
of conserved variables of the form:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:conslaw}
q_{,t} + \nabla \cdot {\bf F}(q) = 0,
\quad \text{in} \quad {\bf x} \in \Omega \subset {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^d,
\end{equation}
with appropriate initial and boundary conditions.
In this equation $q: {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^+ \times {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^d \mapsto {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^{{M_\text{eq}}}$
is the vector of conserved variables and
${\bf F} :{{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^{{M_\text{eq}}} \mapsto {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^{{{M_\text{eq}}}\times d}$ is the flux
function. We assume that equation (\ref{eqn:conslaw}) is hyperbolic,
meaning that the family of ${{M_\text{eq}}} \times {{M_\text{eq}}}$ matrices defined by
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:fluxJacobian}
A(q; {\bf n}) =
\frac{\partial \left( {\bf n} \cdot {\bf F} \right)}{\partial q}
\end{equation}
are diagonalizable with real eigenvalues for
all $q$ in the domain of interest and
for all vectors ${\bf n}$ such that $\| {\bf n} \| = 1$.
The matrix $A(q; {\bf n})$ in \eqref{eqn:fluxJacobian}
is often referred to as the {\it flux Jacobian}.
Many important hyperbolic conservation laws arising in physical applications
are equipped with a convex entropy extension that can be used along
with appropriate jump conditions to determine what weak solutions
of \eqref{eqn:conslaw} can be considered admissible.
Let $U: {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^{{M_\text{eq}}} \mapsto {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }$ and ${\bf G}: {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^{{M_\text{eq}}} \mapsto {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^d$
denote an entropy function and associated entropy flux that satisfy
the following entropy inequality:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:entropy_inequality}
U(q)_{,t} + \nabla \cdot {\bf G}(q) \le 0,
\end{equation}
where $q$ is a weak solution of \eqref{eqn:conslaw}.
The definitions of $U$ and ${\bf G}$ are such that inequality \eqref{eqn:entropy_inequality} becomes an exact
equality for classical solutions.
The existence of the above entropy and the associated entropy flux
is closely related to the fact that system \eqref{eqn:conslaw} can
in many cases (e.g., shallow water equations, compressible Euler equations,
and Euler-Maxwell)
be put in symmetric hyperbolic form via a transformation of the
dependent variables. In particular, we seek a mapping $q(v)$ from ${{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^{{M_\text{eq}}}$ to ${{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^{{M_\text{eq}}}$ such
that \eqref{eqn:conslaw} becomes
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:entropy_var_form}
q_{,v} \, v_{,t} + \sum_{\ell=1}^d F^{\ell}_{,v} \, \, v_{,x^{\ell}} = 0,
\end{equation}
where $q_{,v} \in {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^{{{M_\text{eq}}} \times {{M_\text{eq}}}}$ is symmetric positive definite
and $F^{\ell}_{,v}\in {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^{{{M_\text{eq}}} \times {{M_\text{eq}}}}$
is symmetric for all $\ell = 1, \ldots, d$.
In several important cases it turns out that the symmetrization
variables, $v$, are directly related to the entropy function
via the relationship:
\begin{equation}
v = U_{,q}.
\end{equation}
For more details on the the symmetrization theory for
nonlinear hyperbolic conservation laws see for example
\cite{article:God61,article:Moc80,article:Tad87a,article:Ha83b}.
\subsection{Symmetric hyperbolic structure of ideal MHD}
\label{subsec:sym_mhd}
In the case of ideal MHD, a suitable entropy
function is the physical entropy density (divided by $\gamma-1$ for convenience):
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:entropy_function}
U(q) := -\frac{\rho s}{\gamma-1},
\end{equation}
where $s$ is the physical entropy:
\begin{equation}
s:=\log\left(\frac{p}{\rho^\gamma}\right).
\end{equation}
The minus sign in \eqref{eqn:entropy_function} is there to make sure that the entropy function
decreases, which is the usual convention in the theory of hyperbolic conservation laws.
Computing the time derivative of the entropy function and using the
conservation laws from the MHD system \eqref{eqn:MHD} results in the
following equation for the entropy function (for smooth solutions):
\begin{equation}
U(q)_{,t} + \nabla \cdot {\bf G}(q) + \chi(q) \left( \nabla \cdot {\bf B} \right) = 0,
\end{equation}
where
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:chi}
{\bf G}(q) := {\bf u} U \quad \text{and} \quad \chi(q):=\frac{\rho {\bf u} \cdot {\bf B}}{p}.
\end{equation}
The key point is that the entropy function is only conserved (for smooth solutions)
if the magnetic field is exactly divergence-free: $\nabla \cdot {\bf B} = 0$.
Since entropy and symmetrization are connected,
this result suggests that the involution \eqref{eqn:divfree} might play an important
role in the symmetrization of the MHD equations. Indeed it does.
The entropy variables are
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:entropy_vars}
v = U_{,q} = \left[\frac{\gamma - s}{\gamma -1 }
- \frac{\| {\bf u} \|^2}{2T} , \, \frac{{\bf u}}{T}, \, -\frac{1}{T}, \, \frac{{\bf B}}{T} \right]^T,
\end{equation}
where $T=p/\rho$ is the temperature. A straightforward calculation
shows that using these variables results in an equation of the form
\eqref{eqn:entropy_var_form}, where $q_{,v} \in {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^{8\times8}$
is indeed symmetric positive definite, but where the matrices
$F^\ell_{,v} \in {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^{8\times8}$ for $\ell=1,2,3$ are unfortunately
not symmetric. This fact was first observed by Godunov \cite{article:Go72}.
Godunov \cite{article:Go72} provided a remedy for this situation, which
involved adding to \eqref{eqn:entropy_var_form} a term that is proportional
to $\nabla \cdot {\bf B}$:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:sym_hyp}
\begin{split}
q_{,v} \, v_{,t} + \sum_{\ell=1}^d F^\ell_{,v} \, v_{,x^\ell}
+ \chi_{,v} \, \left( \nabla \cdot {\bf B} \right) = 0 \quad \Longrightarrow \quad
q_{,v} \, v_{,t} + \sum_{\ell=1}^d \widetilde{A}^{\ell} \, v_{,x^\ell} = 0,
\end{split}
\end{equation}
where $\chi$ is defined by \eqref{eqn:chi} and the matrices $\widetilde{A}^{\ell} \in {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^{8\times 8}$,
for $\ell=1,2,3$, are symmetric \cite{article:Barth05}.
The additional term in the above expression is sometimes referred to as the
Powell source term \cite{article:Po94,article:Po99}, since Powell advocated including
this term in numerical simulations of MHD (see
\S\ref{sec:dg_stability} for much more discussion on this point).
The fact that the involution $\nabla \cdot {\bf B} = 0$ is needed in order to symmetrize
the MHD equations has direct consequences on the stability of numerical
discretizations of MHD. We will discuss this in more detail in \S \ref{sec:dg_stability}.
We also note the following identities, which will become useful in the DG stability
analysis:
\begin{align}
\label{eqn:entropy_dot1}
v \cdot q_{,t} &= U_{,t}, \\
\label{eqn:entropy_dot2}
v \cdot \left( \nabla \cdot {\bf F} \right) &= \nabla \cdot {\bf G} - \chi \, \nabla \cdot {\bf B}, \\
\label{eqn:entropy_dot3}
v \cdot \chi_{,v} \, \nabla \cdot {\bf B}
&= \chi \, \nabla \cdot {\bf B}.
\end{align}
These identities conspire to produce the following important result in the case of smooth
solutions:
\begin{equation}
v \cdot \left\{ q_{,t} + \nabla \cdot {\bf F} + \chi_{,v} \, \nabla \cdot {\bf B} \right\} = U_{,t} + \nabla \cdot {\bf G} = 0.
\end{equation}
In words, this result says that multiplying the augmented MHD equations (i.e., MHD with the
``Powell source term'')
by the symmetrization variables yields the conservation law for the
entropy function.
Finally, we introduce the dual entropy and dual entropy flux:
\begin{alignat}{2}
\label{eqn:dual_entropy}
U + U^{\star} &= v \cdot q &\qquad \Longrightarrow \qquad
U^{\star} &:= \rho + \frac{\| {\bf B} \|^2}{2T}, \\
\label{eqn:dual_entropy_flux}
{\bf G} + {\bf G}^{\star} &= v \cdot {\bf F} + \chi \, {\bf B}
&\qquad \Longrightarrow \qquad {\bf G}^{\star} &:= \rho {\bf u} + \frac{{\bf u} \| {\bf B} \|^2}{2T},
\end{alignat}
which satisfy the following relationships:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:dual_vars}
q = U^{\star}_{,v} \qquad \text{and} \qquad
{\bf F} = {\bf G}^{\star}_{,v} - \chi_{,v} \, {\bf B}.
\end{equation}
\section{Discontinuous Galerkin finite element methods}
\label{sec:dg_method}
The modern form of the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) finite element method
for solving hyperbolic PDEs of the form \eqref{eqn:conslaw}
was developed in a series of papers by Bernardo Cockburn,
Chi-Wang Shu, and their collaborators (see e.g., \cite{article:CoShu5}).
In this section we briefly
review the general framework of the DG method in \S\ref{sec:dg_general}, and give
further details for 2D Cartesian meshes in \S\ref{sec:dg-cart-2d} and 3D Cartesian meshes
in \S\ref{sec:dg-cart-3d}. This section also serves to explain the notation
used throughout this paper.
\subsection{General framework}
\label{sec:dg_general}
Let $\Omega \subset {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^d$ be a polygonal domain with boundary $\partial \Omega$.
We discretize $\Omega$ using a finite set of non-overlapping elements, ${\mathcal T}_i$, such
that $\Omega = \cup_{i=1}^N {\mathcal T}_i$.
Let ${P}^{\, {\text q}}\left({{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^d\right)$ denote the set of polynomials from ${{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^d$ to ${{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }$
with maximal polynomial degree ${\text q}$; for example, the polynomial
$x^a y^b z^c$, where $a,b,c$ are all
non-negative integers, is in ${P}^{\, {\text q}}\left({{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^3\right)$ if and only if $a+b+c \le {\text q}$.
On the mesh of $N$ elements we define the {\it broken} finite element space
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:broken_space}
{\mathcal W}^{h,M_{\text{eq}}}_{\, {\text q}} = \left\{ w^h \in \left[ L^{\infty}(\Omega) \right]^{M_{\text{eq}}}: \,
w^h |_{{\mathcal T}_i} \in \left[ {P}^{\, {\text q}} \right]^{M_{\text{eq}}}, \, \forall {\mathcal T}_i \in {\mathcal T}^h \right\},
\end{equation}
where $h$ is the grid spacing, $M_{\text{eq}}$ is the number of solution variables, and ${\text q}$ is the
maximal polynomial degree in the finite element representation.
The above expression means that $w^h \in {\mathcal W}^{h,M_{\text{eq}}}_{{\text q}}$ has
$M_{\text{eq}}$ components, each of which when restricted to some element ${\mathcal T}_i$
is a polynomial of degree at most ${\text q}$ and no continuity is assumed
across element faces (or edges in 2D).
The semi-discrete DG finite element method
is obtained by multiplying \eqref{eqn:conslaw} by a test function
$w^h({\bf x}) \in {\mathcal W}^{h,{M_\text{eq}}}_{{\text q}}$, replacing the exact solution $q(t,{\bf x})$ by
the trial function $q^h(t,{\bf x}) \in {\mathcal W}^{h,{M_\text{eq}}}_{{\text q}}$, and carrying out the appropriate integrations-by-part.
The result of this is the following semi-discrete variational problem
for all $t\in[0,T]$:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:semidiscrete_fem1}
\begin{split}
\text{Find} \quad &q^h \in {\mathcal W}^{h,{M_\text{eq}}}_{{\text q}} \quad \text{such that} \\
&B_{\text{DG}}\left(q^h,w^h \right) = 0 \qquad
\text{for all} \quad w^h \in {\mathcal W}^{h,{M_\text{eq}}}_{{\text q}} \quad \text{and} \quad t\in[0,T],
\end{split}
\end{equation}
where
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
B_{\text{DG}}\left(q^h,w^h \right) := &\sum_{i=1}^N \ \iiint_{{\mathcal T}_i} \left\{ w^h \cdot
q^h_{,t} - \nabla w^h : {\bf F}\left(q^h \right) \right\} \, d{\bf x}
+ \sum_{i=1}^N \varoiint_{\partial {\mathcal T}_i}
w^h_{-} \cdot {\mathcal F}\left(q^h_{-}({\bf s}), \, q^h_{+}({\bf s}); \, {\bf n}\right) \,
d{\bf s}.
\label{eqn:semidiscrete_fem2}
\end{split}
\end{equation}
In the above expression, ${\bf n}$ is a unit normal that is outward pointing
relative to element ${\mathcal T}_i$, and $q^h_{-}({\bf s})$ and $q^h_{+}({\bf s})$ denote the approximate
solutions on either side of the boundary $\partial {\mathcal T}_i$, where ${\bf s}$ are
are coordinates on $\partial {\mathcal T}_i$ and
the subscript minus (plus) sign means {\it interior to} ({\it exterior to}) element ${\mathcal T}_i$.
Similarly, $w^h_{-}$ represents
the test function evaluated on the boundary $\partial {\mathcal T}_i$ on the
side that is interior to ${\mathcal T}_i$.
In this expression ${\mathcal F}\left(q^h_-, \, q^h_+; \, {\bf n}\right) :
{{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^m \times {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^m \times {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^d \mapsto {{\rm l} \kern -.15em {\rm R} }^m$
denotes a numerical flux function with the following two properties:
\begin{itemize}
\item Consistency:
\[
{\mathcal F}\left(q, \, q; \, {\bf n} \right) = {\bf F}(q) \cdot {\bf n},
\]
\item Conservation:
\[
{\mathcal F}\left(q^h_-, \, q^h_+; \, {\bf n} \right) = -{\mathcal F}\left(q^h_+, \, q^h_-; \, -{\bf n} \right).
\]
\end{itemize}
As a matter of practice we use in this work the local Lax-Friedrichs (LLF) flux \cite{article:Ru61}:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:LLF}
{\mathcal F}\left(q^h_-, \, q^h_+; \, {\bf n} \right) = \frac{1}{2} \left[ {\bf n} \cdot \left( {\bf F}(q^h_+) + {\bf F}(q^h_-) \right)
- \alpha \left( q^h_+ - q^h_- \right) \right],
\end{equation}
where $\alpha$ is an estimate of the maximum local wave speed.
In the next two subsections we give details for the above described numerical
scheme on 2D (\S \ref{sec:dg-cart-2d}) and
3D (\S \ref{sec:dg-cart-3d}) Cartesian meshes.
\subsection{2D Cartesian meshes}
\label{sec:dg-cart-2d}
Let ${\mathcal T}^h$ be a Cartesian grid over $\Omega =
[a_x, \, b_x] \times [a_y, \, b_y]$,
with uniform grid spacing $\Delta x$ and $\Delta y$ in each
coordinate direction, where $h=\max\left(\Delta x, \Delta y\right)$.
The mesh elements are centered
at the coordinates
\begin{equation}
x_i = a_x + \left( i - \frac{1}{2} \right) \Delta x
\quad \text{and} \quad
y_j = a_y + \left( j - \frac{1}{2} \right) \Delta y.
\end{equation}
Each element can be mapped to the canonical element $(\xi, \eta) \in [-1,1] \times [-1,1]$ via the linear transformation:
\begin{equation}
x = x_i + \xi \, \frac{\Delta x}{2}, \quad
y = y_j + \eta \, \frac{\Delta y}{2}.
\end{equation}
We define an orthonormal set of polynomial basis functions
that span the broken finite element space
\eqref{eqn:broken_space}. In particular, up to degree three
these basis functions can be written in canonical coordinates as
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:test-fun-cart}
\begin{split}
\varphi^{(\ell)} \in \Biggl\{ &1, \, \, \, \sqrt{3} \, \xi, \, \, \, \sqrt{3} \, \eta,
\, \, \, 3 \, \xi \eta, \, \, \, \frac{\sqrt{5}}{2} \left( 3 \xi^2 - 1 \right),
\, \, \, \frac{\sqrt{5}}{2} \left( 3 \eta^2 - 1 \right), \\
&
\frac{\sqrt{7}}{2} (5 \xi^3 - 3 \xi), \, \, \,
\frac{\sqrt{15}}{2} \eta \, (3 \xi^2 - 1), \, \, \,
\frac{\sqrt{15}}{2} \xi \, (3 \eta^2 - 1), \, \, \,
\frac{\sqrt{7}}{2} (5 \eta^3 - 3 \eta) \Biggr\}.
\end{split}
\end{equation}
These basis functions have been orthonormalized with respect
to the following inner product:
\begin{equation}
\Bigl\langle \varphi^{(m)}, \, \varphi^{(n)} \Bigr\rangle :=
\frac{1}{4} \int_{-1}^{1} \int_{-1}^{1}
\varphi^{(m)}(\xi,\eta) \, \varphi^{(n)}(\xi,\eta) \, d\xi \, d\eta =
\delta_{mn}.
\end{equation}
We look for approximate solutions of (\ref{eqn:conslaw})
that have the following form:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:q_ansatz}
q^h(t, x(\xi), y(\eta)) \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ij}} :=
\sum_{m=1}^{M(M+1)/2} Q^{(m)}_{ij}(t) \, \varphi^{(m)}(\xi, \eta),
\end{equation}
where $M$ is the desired order of accuracy in space and $Q^{(\ell)}_{ij}(t)$
represents the $M^{\text{th}}$ Legendre coefficient.
The Legendre coefficients of the initial conditions at $t=0$ are
determined from the $L^2$-projection of $q_0(x,y)$ onto the Legendre basis functions:
\begin{align}
\label{eqn:l2project}
Q^{(\ell)}_{ij}(0) &:= \Bigl\langle q_0\left(x_i + 0.5 \, {\Delta x} \, \xi, \, y_j + 0.5 \, {\Delta y} \, \eta \right), \, \varphi^{(\ell)}(\xi,\eta) \Bigr\rangle.
\end{align}
In practice, these double integrals are evaluated using
standard 2D Gaussian quadrature rules involving $M^2$ points.
In order to determine the Legendre coeficients for $t>0$,
we take the semi-discrete equation
\eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_fem1}--\eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_fem2}
and replace the trial function, $q^h$, by \eqref{eqn:q_ansatz} and the test function,
$w^h$, by Legendre basis function $ \varphi^{(\ell)}$ that are supported on a single element.
This results in the following semi-discrete DG method:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:semidiscrete}
\frac{d}{dt} \,
Q^{(\ell)}_{ij} = {\mathcal L}^{(\ell)}_{ij} := N^{(\ell)}_{ij}
- \frac{\Delta {F}_{ij}^{(\ell)}}{\Delta x}
- \frac{\Delta {G}_{ij}^{(\ell)}}{\Delta y} ,
\end{equation}
where
\begin{gather}
\label{eqn:Nvals}
N^{(\ell)}_{ij} := \frac{1}{2}
\int_{-1}^{1} \int_{-1}^{1}
\left[ \, \frac{1}{\Delta x} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}_{, \xi} \, F^1(q^h)
+ \frac{1}{\Delta y} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}_{, \eta} \, F^2(q^h) \, \right] \,
d\xi \,
d\eta, \\
\label{eqn:Fl1}
\Delta {F}^{(\ell)}_{ij} :=
\left[ \frac{1}{2} \int_{-1}^{1}
\varphi^{(\ell)} \,
{\mathcal F}\left(q^h_{-}, \, q^h_{+}; \, {\bf e}^1 \right) \,
d\eta \right]_{\xi=-1}^{\xi=1}, \quad
\Delta {G}^{(\ell)}_{ij} := \left[
\frac{1}{2} \int_{-1}^{1}
\varphi^{(\ell)} \,
{\mathcal F}\left(q^h_{-}, \, q^h_{+}; \, {\bf e}^2 \right) \, d\xi
\right]_{\eta=-1}^{\eta=1},
\end{gather}
and
\begin{equation}
{\bf e}^1 := \bigl( 1, \, 0 \bigr)^T \qquad \text{and} \qquad
{\bf e}^2 := \bigl( 0, \, 1 \bigr)^T.
\end{equation}
The integrals in (\ref{eqn:Nvals}) can
be numerically approximated via standard
2D Gaussian quadrature rules involving $(M-1)^2$ points.
The integrals in \eqref{eqn:Fl1} can
be approximated with the standard 1D Gauss quadrature
rule involving $M$ points, and the numerical fluxes
in these expressions are evaluated at each Gaussian
quadrature point using the local Lax-Friedrichs (LLF) flux given by
\eqref{eqn:LLF}.
\subsection{3D Cartesian meshes}
\label{sec:dg-cart-3d}
Let ${\mathcal T}^h$ be a Cartesian grid over $\Omega =
[a_x, \, b_x] \times [a_y, \, b_y] \times [a_z, \, b_z]$,
with uniform grid spacing $\Delta x$, $\Delta y$, and $\Delta z$ in each
coordinate direction, where $h=\max\left(\Delta x, \Delta y, \Delta z\right)$.
The mesh elements are centered
at the coordinates
\begin{equation}
x_i = a_x + \left( i - \frac{1}{2} \right) \Delta x, \quad
y_j = a_y + \left( j - \frac{1}{2} \right) \Delta y,
\quad \text{and} \quad
z_k = a_z + \left( k - \frac{1}{2} \right) \Delta z.
\end{equation}
Each element can be mapped to the canonical element $(\xi, \eta, \zeta) \in [-1,1] \times [-1,1] \times [-1,1]$
via the linear transformation:
\begin{equation}
x = x_i + \xi \, \frac{\Delta x}{2}, \quad
y = y_j + \eta \, \frac{\Delta y}{2}, \quad
z = z_k + \zeta \, \frac{\Delta y}{2}.
\end{equation}
We define an orthonormal set of polynomial basis functions
that span the broken finite element space
\eqref{eqn:broken_space}. In particular, up to degree three
these basis functions can be written in canonical coordinates as
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:test-fun-cart-3d}
\begin{split}
\varphi^{(\ell)} \in \Biggl\{
&1,
\, \, \, \sqrt{3} \, \xi,
\, \, \, \sqrt{3} \, \eta,
\, \, \, \sqrt{3} \, \zeta,
\, \, \, 3 \, \xi \eta,
\, \, \, 3 \, \xi \zeta,
\, \, \, 3 \, \eta \zeta,
\, \, \, \frac{\sqrt{5}}{2} \left( 3 \xi^2 - 1 \right),
\, \, \, \frac{\sqrt{5}}{2} \left( 3 \eta^2 - 1 \right),
\, \, \, \frac{\sqrt{5}}{2} \left( 3 \zeta^2 - 1 \right), \\
&
\frac{\sqrt{15}}{2} \eta \left( 3 \xi^2 - 1 \right), \, \, \,
\frac{\sqrt{15}}{2} \zeta \left( 3 \xi^2 - 1 \right), \, \, \,
\frac{\sqrt{15}}{2} \xi \left( 3 \eta^2 - 1 \right), \, \, \,
\frac{\sqrt{15}}{2} \zeta \left( 3 \eta^2 - 1 \right), \, \, \,
\frac{\sqrt{15}}{2} \xi \left( 3 \zeta^2 - 1 \right), \\
&
\frac{\sqrt{15}}{2} \eta \left( 3 \zeta^2 - 1 \right), \, \, \,
3 \xi \eta \zeta, \, \, \,
\frac{\sqrt{7}}{2} (5 \xi^3 - 3 \xi), \, \, \,
\frac{\sqrt{7}}{2} (5 \eta^3 - 3 \eta), \, \, \,
\frac{\sqrt{7}}{2} (5 \zeta^3 - 3 \zeta) \Biggr\}.
\end{split}
\end{equation}
These basis functions have been orthonormalized with respect
to the following inner product:
\begin{equation}
\Bigl\langle \varphi^{(m)}, \, \varphi^{(n)} \Bigr\rangle :=
\frac{1}{8} \int_{-1}^{1} \int_{-1}^{1} \int_{-1}^{1}
\varphi^{(m)}(\xi,\eta,\zeta) \, \varphi^{(n)}(\xi,\eta,\zeta) \, d\xi \, d\eta \, d\zeta =
\delta_{mn}.
\end{equation}
We look for approximate solutions of (\ref{eqn:conslaw})
that have the following form:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:q_ansatz-3d}
q^h(t, x(\xi), y(\eta), z(\zeta)) \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ijk}} :=
\sum_{m=1}^{M(M+1)(M+2)/6} Q^{(m)}_{ijk}(t) \, \varphi^{(m)}(\xi, \eta, \zeta),
\end{equation}
where $M$ is the desired order of accuracy in space and $Q^{(\ell)}_{ijk}(t)$
represents the $m^{\text{th}}$ Legendre coefficient.
The Legendre coefficients of the initial conditions at $t=0$ are
determined from the $L^2$-projection of $q_0(x,y,z)$ onto the Legendre basis functions:
\begin{align}
\label{eqn:l2project-3d}
Q^{(\ell)}_{ijk}(0) &:= \Bigl\langle q_0\left(x_i + 0.5 \, {\Delta x} \, \xi, \, y_j + 0.5 \, {\Delta y} \, \eta,
\, z_k + 0.5 \, {\Delta z} \, \zeta \right), \, \varphi^{(\ell)}(\xi,\eta,\zeta) \Bigr\rangle.
\end{align}
In practice, these triple integrals are evaluated using
standard 3D Gaussian quadrature rules involving $M^3$ points.
we take the semi-discrete equation
\eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_fem1}--\eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_fem2}
and replace the trial function, $q^h$, by \eqref{eqn:q_ansatz-3d} and the test function,
$w^h$, by Legendre basis function $ \varphi^{(\ell)}$ that are supported on a single element.
This results in the following semi-discrete DG method:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:semidiscrete-3d}
\frac{d}{dt} \,
Q^{(\ell)}_{ijk} = {\mathcal L}^{(\ell)}_{ijk} := N^{(\ell)}_{ijk}
- \frac{\Delta {F}_{ijk}^{(\ell)}}{\Delta x}
- \frac{\Delta {G}_{ijk}^{(\ell)}}{\Delta y}
- \frac{\Delta {H}_{ijk}^{(\ell)}}{\Delta z},
\end{equation}
where
\begin{align}
\label{eqn:Nvals-3d}
N^{(\ell)}_{ijk} &:= \frac{1}{4}
\int_{-1}^{1} \int_{-1}^{1} \int_{-1}^{1}
\left[ \, \frac{1}{\Delta x} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}_{, \xi} \, F^1(q^h)
+ \frac{1}{\Delta y} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}_{, \eta} \, F^2(q^h)
+ \frac{1}{\Delta z} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}_{, \zeta} \, F^3(q^h) \, \right] \,
d\xi \,
d\eta \, d\zeta, \\
\label{eqn:Fl1-3d}
\Delta {F}^{(\ell)}_{ijk} &:=
\left[ \frac{1}{4} \int_{-1}^{1} \int_{-1}^{1}
\varphi^{(\ell)} \,
{\mathcal F}\left(q^h_{-}, \, q^h_{+}; \, {\bf e}^1 \right) \,
d\eta \, d\zeta \right]_{\xi=-1}^{\xi=1}, \\
\label{eqn:Gl1-3d}
\Delta {G}^{(\ell)}_{ijk} &:= \left[
\frac{1}{4} \int_{-1}^{1} \int_{-1}^{1}
\varphi^{(\ell)} \,
{\mathcal F}\left(q^h_{-}, \, q^h_{+}; \, {\bf e}^2 \right) \, d\xi \, d\zeta
\right]_{\eta=-1}^{\eta=1}, \\
\label{eqn:Hl1-3d}
\Delta {H}^{(\ell)}_{ijk} &:= \left[
\frac{1}{4} \int_{-1}^{1} \int_{-1}^{1}
\varphi^{(\ell)} \,
{\mathcal F}\left(q^h_{-}, \, q^h_{+}; \, {\bf e}^3 \right) \, d\xi \, d\eta
\right]_{\zeta=-1}^{\zeta=1},
\end{align}
and
\begin{equation}
{\bf e}^1 := \bigl( 1, \, 0, \, 0 \bigr)^T, \qquad
{\bf e}^2 := \bigl( 0, \, 1, \, 0 \bigr)^T, \qquad \text{and} \qquad
{\bf e}^3 := \bigl( 0, \, 0, \, 1 \bigr)^T.
\end{equation}
The integrals in (\ref{eqn:Nvals-3d}) can
be numerically approximated via standard
3D Gaussian quadrature rules involving $(M-1)^3$ points.
The integrals in \eqref{eqn:Fl1-3d}, \eqref{eqn:Gl1-3d}, and
\eqref{eqn:Hl1-3d} can be approximated with the standard 2D Gauss quadrature
rule involving $M^2$ points, and the numerical fluxes
in these expressions are evaluated at each Gaussian
quadrature point using the local Lax-Friedrichs (LLF) flux given by
\eqref{eqn:LLF}.
\subsection{Time-stepping}
\label{sec:timestepping}
The time-stepping is handled via standard total-variation diminishing
Runge-Kutta (TVD-RK) methods \cite{article:GoShu98,gottliebShuTadmor01}.
In particular, in this work we make use of the third order accurate version:
\begin{align}
Q^{\star} &= Q^n + \Delta t \, {\mathcal L}({Q}^n), \quad
Q^{\star \star} = \frac{3}{4} Q^n + \frac{1}{4} Q^{\star}
+ \frac{1}{4} \Delta t \, {\mathcal L}({Q}^{\star}), \quad
Q^{n+1} = \frac{1}{3} Q^n + \frac{2}{3} Q^{\star \star}
+ \frac{2}{3} \Delta t \, {\mathcal L}({Q}^{\star \star}).
\end{align}
\subsection{Limiters}
\label{sec:limiters}
High-order methods on nonlinear hyperbolic conservation
laws generally require the use of additional limiters
in order to stabilize them on problems with shocks.
In this section we briefly describe the limiting strategies used in this
work. In the formulas described below we will
make use of the minmod function:
\begin{equation}
\text{mm}(a, \, b, \, c) =
\begin{cases}
\text{sgn}(a) \, \text{min}\left( |a|, \, |b|, \, |c| \right) &
\text{if} \quad \text{sgn}(a) = \text{sgn}(b) = \text{sgn}(c), \\
0 & \text{otherwise},
\end{cases}
\end{equation}
where the $\text{sgn}(a)=\pm 1$ is the sign of the real number $a$.
\subsubsection{2D Cartesian meshes}
On 2D Cartesian meshes we make use of moment limiters similar to those
introduced by Krivodonova \cite{article:Kriv07} in order to stabilize the DG
method in the vicinity of shocks. In the formulas below we will
make use of the following matrices:
\begin{align}
R^{x}_{ij} := R^{x}\left( Q^{(1)}_{ij} \right) \quad \text{and} \quad
R^{y}_{ij} := R^{y}\left( Q^{(1)}_{ij} \right),
\end{align}
where $R^{x}$ and $R^{y}$ are the matrices of right eigenvectors of $F_{,q} \cdot {\bf e}^1$ and
$F_{,q} \cdot {\bf e}^2$, respectively. The corresponding matrices of left eigenvectors are denoted as follows:
\begin{equation}
L^{x}_{ij} := \bigl( R^{x}_{ij} \bigr)^{-1} \quad \text{and} \quad
L^{y}_{ij} := \bigl( R^{y}_{ij} \bigr)^{-1}.
\end{equation}
The specific matrices used in this work
are those introduced by Barth \cite{article:barth99}, who
developed right-eigenvector scalings for ideal MHD that have optimal direction-independent matrix norms.
The procedure we advocate
can be summarized as follows:
\begin{enumerate}
\item Compute the following conversions from conservative to characteristic variables:
\begin{alignat}{4}
U^{(1)}_{ij} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ij} \, Q^{(2)}_{ij},
\quad \Delta_{+} U^{(1)}_{ij} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ij} \, \left( {Q^{(1)}_{i+1 \, j}-Q^{(1)}_{ij}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} U^{(1)}_{ij} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ij} \, \left( {Q^{(1)}_{ij}-Q^{(1)}_{i-1 \, j}} \right), \\
%
U^{(2)}_{ij} &:=& L^{x}_{ij} \, Q^{(4)}_{ij},
\quad \Delta_{+} U^{(2)}_{ij} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ij} \, \left( {Q^{(2)}_{i \, j+1}-Q^{(2)}_{ij}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} U^{(2)}_{ij} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ij} \, \left( {Q^{(2)}_{ij}-Q^{(2)}_{i \, j-1}} \right), \\
%
U^{(3)}_{ij} &:=& L^{x}_{ij} \, Q^{(5)}_{ij},
\quad \Delta_{+} U^{(3)}_{ij} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ij} \, \left( {Q^{(2)}_{i+1 \, j}-Q^{(2)}_{ij}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} U^{(3)}_{ij} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ij} \, \left( {Q^{(2)}_{ij}-Q^{(2)}_{i-1 \, j}} \right), \\
%
V^{(1)}_{ij} &:=& L^{y}_{ij} \, Q^{(3)}_{ij},
\quad \Delta_{+} V^{(1)}_{ij} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ij} \, \left( {Q^{(1)}_{i \, j+1}-Q^{(1)}_{ij}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} V^{(1)}_{ij} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ij} \, \left( {Q^{(1)}_{ij}-Q^{(1)}_{i \, j-1}} \right), \\
%
V^{(2)}_{ij} &:=& L^{y}_{ij} \, Q^{(4)}_{ij},
\quad \Delta_{+} V^{(2)}_{ij} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ij} \, \left( {Q^{(3)}_{i+1 \, j}-Q^{(3)}_{ij}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} V^{(2)}_{ij} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ij} \, \left( {Q^{(3)}_{ij}-Q^{(3)}_{i-1 \, j}} \right), \\
%
V^{(3)}_{ij} &:=& L^{y}_{ij} \, Q^{(6)}_{ij},
\quad \Delta_{+} V^{(3)}_{ij} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ij} \, \left( {Q^{(3)}_{i \, j+1}-Q^{(3)}_{ij}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} V^{(3)}_{ij} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ij} \, \left( {Q^{(3)}_{ij}-Q^{(3)}_{i \, j-1}} \right).
\end{alignat}
\item Let $u^{(\ell)}_{ij}$ be some component of $U^{(\ell)}_{ij}$. Similarly,
let $\Delta_{-} u^{(\ell)}_{ij}$, $\Delta_{+} u^{(\ell)}_{ij}$, $v^{(\ell)}_{ij}$,
$\Delta_{-} v^{(\ell)}_{ij}$, and $\Delta_{+} v^{(\ell)}_{ij}$ be
the corresponding components of $\Delta_{-} U^{(\ell)}_{ij}$, $\Delta_{+} U^{(\ell)}_{ij}$,
$V^{(\ell)}_{ij}$, $\Delta_{-} V^{(\ell)}_{ij}$, and $\Delta_{+} V^{(\ell)}_{ij}$.
\item Loop over all components and limit as follows:
\begin{algorithmic}
\STATE (a) Limit quadratic terms:
\begin{align}
\tilde{u}^{(3)}_{ij} &:= \text{mm} \left\{ u^{(3)}_{ij}, \, \alpha_3 \, \Delta_{-} u^{(3)}_{ij}, \,
\alpha_3 \, \Delta_{+} u^{(3)}_{ij} \right\} \quad \text{and} \quad
\tilde{v}^{(3)}_{ij} := \text{mm} \left\{ v^{(3)}_{ij}, \, \alpha_3 \, \Delta_{-} v^{(3)}_{ij}, \,
\alpha_3 \, \Delta_{+} v^{(3)}_{ij} \right\}.
\end{align}
\STATE (b) If \, $\left| \tilde{u}^{(3)}_{ij} - u^{(3)}_{ij} \right| + \left| \tilde{v}^{(3)}_{ij} - v^{(3)}_{ij} \right| > 0$ \,
or \, $\left| {u}^{(3)}_{ij} \right| = 0$ \, or \, $\left| {v}^{(3)}_{ij} \right| = 0$ \,
then limit all the other terms ($\ell=1,2$):
\begin{align}
\tilde{u}^{(\ell)}_{ij} &:= \text{mm} \left\{ u^{(\ell)}_{ij}, \, \alpha_{\ell} \, \Delta_{-} u^{(\ell)}_{ij}, \,
\alpha_{\ell} \, \Delta_{+} u^{(\ell)}_{ij} \right\} \quad \text{and} \quad
\tilde{v}^{(\ell)}_{ij} := \text{mm} \left\{ v^{(\ell)}_{ij}, \, \alpha_{\ell} \, \Delta_{-} v^{(\ell)}_{ij}, \,
\alpha_{\ell} \, \Delta_{+} v^{(\ell)}_{ij} \right\},
\end{align}
\STATE where in this work we take for $\alpha_{\ell}$ numbers in the range
suggested by Krivodonova \cite{article:Kriv07}: $\alpha_3 = \alpha_2 = \sqrt{\frac{3}{20}}$ \, and \, $\alpha_1 = \sqrt{\frac{1}{12}}$.
\end{algorithmic}
\item Convert characteristic values back to conservative values:
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
{Q}^{(2)}_{ij} \leftarrow R^{x}_{ij} \, \tilde{U}^{(1)}_{ij}, \quad & {Q}^{(3)}_{ij} \leftarrow R^{y}_{ij} \, \tilde{V}^{(1)}_{ij}, \quad
{Q}^{(4)}_{ij} \leftarrow \text{mm} \left\{ R^{x}_{ij} \, \tilde{U}^{(2)}_{ij}, \, R^{y}_{ij} \, \tilde{V}^{(2)}_{ij} \right\}, \\
& {Q}^{(5)}_{ij} \leftarrow R^{x}_{ij} \, \tilde{U}^{(3)}_{ij}, \quad
{Q}^{(6)}_{ij} \leftarrow R^{y}_{ij} \, \tilde{V}^{(3)}_{ij}.
\end{split}
\end{equation}
\end{enumerate}
\subsubsection{3D Cartesian meshes}
In the formulas below we will
make use of the following matrices:
\begin{align}
R^{x}_{ijk} := R^{x}_{ijk}\left( Q^{(1)}_{ijk} \right), \quad
R^{y}_{ijk} := R^{y}_{ijk}\left( Q^{(1)}_{ijk} \right), \quad \text{and} \quad
R^{z}_{ijk} := R^{z}_{ijk}\left( Q^{(1)}_{ijk} \right),
\end{align}
as well as the corresponding matrices of left eigenvectors:
\begin{equation}
L^{x}_{ijk} := \bigl( R^{x}_{ijk} \bigr)^{-1}, \quad
L^{y}_{ijk} := \bigl( R^{y}_{ijk} \bigr)^{-1}, \quad \text{and} \quad
L^{z}_{ijk} := \bigl( R^{z}_{ijk} \bigr)^{-1}.
\end{equation}
The specific left and right-eigenvector scalings used in this work are those
developed by Barth \cite{article:barth99}.
The procedure we advocate
can be summarized as follows:
\begin{enumerate}
\item Compute the following conversions from conservative to characteristic variables:
\begin{alignat}{4}
U^{(1)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ijk} \, Q^{(2)}_{ijk},
\quad \Delta_{+} U^{(1)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(1)}_{i+1 \, j k}-Q^{(1)}_{ijk}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} U^{(1)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(1)}_{ijk}-Q^{(1)}_{i-1 \, j k}} \right), \\
%
U^{(2)}_{ijk} &:=& L^{x}_{ijk} \, Q^{(5)}_{ijk},
\quad \Delta_{+} U^{(2)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(2)}_{i \, j+1 \, k}-Q^{(2)}_{ijk}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} U^{(2)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(2)}_{ijk}-Q^{(2)}_{i \, j-1 \, k}} \right), \\
%
U^{(3)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ijk} \, Q^{(6)}_{ijk},
\quad \Delta_{+} U^{(3)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(2)}_{i \, j k+1}-Q^{(2)}_{ijk}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} U^{(3)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(2)}_{ijk}-Q^{(2)}_{i j k-1}} \right), \\
%
U^{(4)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ijk} \, Q^{(8)}_{ijk},
\quad \Delta_{+} U^{(4)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(2)}_{i+1 \, j k}-Q^{(2)}_{ijk}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} U^{(4)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{x}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(2)}_{ijk}-Q^{(2)}_{i-1 \, j k}} \right), \\
%
V^{(1)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ijk} \, Q^{(3)}_{ijk},
\quad \Delta_{+} V^{(1)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(1)}_{i \, j+1 \, k}-Q^{(1)}_{ijk}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} V^{(1)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(1)}_{ijk}-Q^{(1)}_{i \, j-1 \, k}} \right), \\
%
V^{(2)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ijk} \, Q^{(5)}_{ijk},
\quad \Delta_{+} V^{(2)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(3)}_{i+1 \, j \, k}-Q^{(3)}_{ijk}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} V^{(2)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(3)}_{ijk}-Q^{(3)}_{i-1 \, j k}} \right), \\
%
V^{(3)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ijk} \, Q^{(7)}_{ijk},
\quad \Delta_{+} V^{(3)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(3)}_{i j \, k+1}-Q^{(3)}_{ijk}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} V^{(3)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(3)}_{ijk}-Q^{(3)}_{i j \, k-1}} \right), \\
%
V^{(4)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ijk} \, Q^{(9)}_{ijk},
\quad \Delta_{+} V^{(4)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(3)}_{i \, j+1 \, k}-Q^{(3)}_{ijk}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} V^{(4)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{y}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(3)}_{ijk}-Q^{(3)}_{i \, j-1 \, k}} \right), \\
%
W^{(1)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{z}_{ijk} \, Q^{(4)}_{ijk},
\quad \Delta_{+} W^{(1)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{z}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(1)}_{i j \, k+1}-Q^{(1)}_{ijk}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} W^{(1)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{z}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(1)}_{ijk}-Q^{(1)}_{i j \, k-1}} \right), \\
%
W^{(2)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{z}_{ijk} \, Q^{(6)}_{ijk},
\quad \Delta_{+} W^{(2)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{z}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(4)}_{i+1 \, j k}-Q^{(4)}_{ijk}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} W^{(2)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{z}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(4)}_{ijk}-Q^{(4)}_{i-1 \, j k}} \right), \\
%
W^{(3)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{z}_{ijk} \, Q^{(7)}_{ijk},
\quad \Delta_{+} W^{(3)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{z}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(4)}_{i \, j+1 \, k}-Q^{(4)}_{ijk}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} W^{(3)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{z}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(4)}_{ijk}-Q^{(4)}_{i \, j-1 \, k}} \right), \\
%
W^{(4)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{z}_{ijk} \, Q^{(10)}_{ijk},
\quad \Delta_{+} W^{(4)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{z}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(4)}_{i j \, k+1}-Q^{(4)}_{ijk}} \right),
\quad \Delta_{-} W^{(4)}_{ijk} &:=& \, L^{z}_{ijk} \, \left( {Q^{(4)}_{ijk}-Q^{(4)}_{i j \, k-1}} \right).
\end{alignat}
\item Let $u^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$ be some component of $U^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$. Similarly,
let $\Delta_{-} u^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$, $\Delta_{+} u^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$, $v^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$,
$\Delta_{-} v^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$, $\Delta_{+} v^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$, $w^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$,
$\Delta_{-} w^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$, and $\Delta_{+} w^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$ be
the corresponding components of $\Delta_{-} U^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$, $\Delta_{+} U^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$, $V^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$,
$\Delta_{-} V^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$, $\Delta_{+} V^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$, $W^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$,
$\Delta_{-} W^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$, and $\Delta_{+} W^{(\ell)}_{ijk}$.
\item Loop over all components and limit as follows:
\begin{algorithmic}
\STATE (a) Limit quadratic terms:
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
\tilde{u}^{(4)}_{ijk} := \text{mm} \left\{ u^{(4)}_{ijk}, \, \alpha_4 \, \Delta_{-} u^{(4)}_{ijk}, \,
\alpha_4 \, \Delta_{+} u^{(4)}_{ijk} \right\}, \quad
\tilde{v}^{(4)}_{ijk} := \text{mm} \left\{ v^{(4)}_{ijk}, \, \alpha_4 \, \Delta_{-} v^{(4)}_{ijk}, \,
\alpha_4 \, \Delta_{+} v^{(4)}_{ijk} \right\}, \\
\text{and} \quad
\tilde{w}^{(4)}_{ijk} := \text{mm} \left\{ w^{(4)}_{ijk}, \, \alpha_4 \, \Delta_{-} w^{(4)}_{ijk}, \,
\alpha_4 \, \Delta_{+} w^{(4)}_{ijk} \right\}. \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad
\end{split}
\end{equation}
\STATE (b) If \, $\left| \tilde{u}^{(4)}_{ijk} - u^{(4)}_{ijk} \right| + \left| \tilde{v}^{(4)}_{ijk} - v^{(4)}_{ijk} \right| + \left| \tilde{w}^{(4)}_{ijk} - w^{(4)}_{ijk} \right| > 0$ \,
or \, $\left| {u}^{(4)}_{ijk} \right| = 0$ \, or \, $\left| {v}^{(4)}_{ijk} \right| = 0$ \, or \, $\left| {w}^{(4)}_{ijk} \right| = 0$ \,
then limit all the other terms ($\ell = 1,2,3$):
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
\tilde{u}^{(\ell)}_{ijk} := \text{mm} \left\{ u^{(\ell)}_{ijk}, \, \alpha_{\ell} \, \Delta_{-} u^{(\ell)}_{ijk}, \,
\alpha_{\ell} \, \Delta_{+} u^{(\ell)}_{ijk} \right\}, \quad
\tilde{v}^{(\ell)}_{ijk} := \text{mm} \left\{ v^{(\ell)}_{ijk}, \, \alpha_{\ell} \, \Delta_{-} v^{(\ell)}_{ijk}, \,
\alpha_{\ell} \, \Delta_{+} v^{(\ell)}_{ijk} \right\}, \\
\text{and} \quad
\tilde{w}^{(\ell)}_{ijk} := \text{mm} \left\{ w^{(\ell)}_{ijk}, \, \alpha_{\ell} \, \Delta_{-} w^{(\ell)}_{ijk}, \,
\alpha_{\ell} \, \Delta_{+} w^{(\ell)}_{ijk} \right\}, \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad
\end{split}
\end{equation}
\STATE where in this work we take for $\alpha_{\ell}$ numbers in the range
suggested by Krivodonova \cite{article:Kriv07}: $\alpha_4 = \alpha_3 = \alpha_2 = \sqrt{\frac{3}{20}}$ \, and \, $\alpha_1 = \sqrt{\frac{1}{12}}$.
\end{algorithmic}
\item Convert characteristic values back to conservative values:
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
&{Q}^{(2)}_{ijk} \leftarrow R^{x}_{ijk} \, \tilde{U}^{(1)}_{ijk}, \quad
{Q}^{(3)}_{ijk} \leftarrow R^{y}_{ijk} \, \tilde{V}^{(1)}_{ijk}, \quad
{Q}^{(4)}_{ijk} \leftarrow R^{z}_{ijk} \, \tilde{W}^{(1)}_{ijk}, \quad
{Q}^{(5)}_{ijk} \leftarrow \text{mm} \left\{ R^{x}_{ijk} \, \tilde{U}^{(2)}_{ijk}, \, R^{y}_{ijk} \, \tilde{V}^{(2)}_{ijk} \right\}, \\
&{Q}^{(6)}_{ijk} \leftarrow \text{mm} \left\{ R^{x}_{ijk} \, \tilde{U}^{(3)}_{ijk}, \, R^{z}_{ijk} \, \tilde{W}^{(2)}_{ijk} \right\}, \quad
{Q}^{(7)}_{ijk} \leftarrow \text{mm} \left\{ R^{y}_{ijk} \, \tilde{V}^{(3)}_{ijk}, \, R^{z}_{ijk} \, \tilde{W}^{(3)}_{ijk} \right\}, \quad
{Q}^{(8)}_{ijk} \leftarrow R^{x}_{ijk} \, \tilde{U}^{(4)}_{ijk}, \\
&{Q}^{(9)}_{ijk} \leftarrow R^{y}_{ijk} \, \tilde{V}^{(4)}_{ijk}, \quad
{Q}^{(10)}_{ijk} \leftarrow R^{z}_{ijk} \, \tilde{W}^{(4)}_{ijk}.
\end{split}
\end{equation}
\end{enumerate}
\section{Semi-discrete entropy stability theory for DG applied to ideal MHD}
\label{sec:dg_stability}
As shown in Section \ref{sec:symmhyp}, the ideal MHD equations
cannot be put in symmetric hyperbolic form without adding to the
equations a term that is proportional to the divergence of the magnetic
field. As it turns out, it is precisely this fact that causes many standard
high-resolution methods such as wave propagation, weighted
essentially non-oscillatory, and DG finite element methods to be
numerically unstable if the divergence of the magnetic field is
not properly controlled. In this section we briefly review the
key theorem from Barth \cite{article:Barth05} that rigorously
proves this statement.
For simplicity of exposition we will not give consider the entropy
stability for the DG method represented by
\eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_fem1}--\eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_fem2},
but instead consider a modification of this method where it is
the entropy variables \eqref{eqn:entropy_vars} that are expanded as a sum of
polynomials rather than the conserved variables:
\begin{equation}
v^h\left(t, x, y, z \right) \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_i} :=
\sum_{m=1}^{M(M+1)(M+2)/6} V^{(m)}_i(t) \, \varphi^{(m)}\left(\xi, \eta, \zeta \right).
\end{equation}
We emphasize that this modification is only for the discussion in this section,
and that the constrained transport method we describe in Section \ref{sec:ct_scheme}
is based on using conserved variables via \eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_fem1}--\eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_fem2}.
Using $v^h$ instead of $q^h$, we arrive at the following
semi-discrete variational problem for all $t\in[0,T]$:
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
\text{Find} \quad &v^h(t,{\bf x}) \in {\mathcal W}^{h,8}_{{\text q}} \quad \text{such that} \\
&\tilde{B}_{\text{DG}}\left(v^h,w^h \right) = 0 \qquad
\text{for all} \quad w^h(t,{\bf x}) \in {\mathcal W}^{h,8}_{{\text q}},
\end{split}
\label{eqn:semidiscrete_entropy1}
\end{equation}
where
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
\widetilde{B}_{\text{DG}}\left(v^h,w^h \right) := &\sum_{i=1}^N \ \iiint_{{\mathcal T}_i} \left\{ w^h \cdot
q(v^h)_{,t} - \nabla w^h : {\bf F}(v^h) + \sigma \, w^h \cdot \chi_{,v} \, \nabla \cdot {\bf B} \ \right\} \, d{\bf x} \\
+ &\sum_{i=1}^N \varoiint_{\partial {\mathcal T}_i}
w^h_{-} \cdot {\mathcal F}\left(v^h_{-}({\bf s}), \, v^h_{+}({\bf s}); \, {\bf n}\right) \,
d{\bf s}.
\label{eqn:semidiscrete_entropy2}
\end{split}
\end{equation}
We view each of the conservative variables, $\rho$, $\rho {\bf u}$, ${\mathcal E}$, and ${\bf B}$, as functions of $v^h$.
Motivated by the entropy analysis from Section \ref{sec:symmhyp}, the above expression includes a term proportional to the divergence of the magnetic field with a tunable parameter $\sigma$: if $\sigma\equiv0$ the additonal term vanishes,
if $\sigma\equiv1$ then we have the full Powell source term from \eqref{eqn:sym_hyp}.
\begin{thm}
Barth \cite{article:Barth05}]
\label{thm:entropy_stability}
Let $v^h(t,{\bf x})$ be the solution to the semi-discrete DG variational problem
\eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_entropy1}--\eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_entropy2}.
Assume that all of the following conditions are satisfied:
\begin{enumerate}
\item \underline{Powell term or div-free on element:} \quad $\sigma \equiv 1$ \quad or \quad $\left(\nabla \cdot {\bf B} \right)\bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_i} = 0$ \quad on each element ${\mathcal T}_i$;
\item \underline{Continuous normal component across edges:} \quad ${\bf n}_e \cdot \left( {\bf B}_{+} - {\bf B}_{-} \right) = 0$
\quad across each face $e$ (or edge in 2D).
\item \underline{System E-flux condition:}
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:system_eflux}
\llbracket v^h \rrbracket^{+}_{-} \cdot
\left\{ {\mathcal F}\left(v^h_{-}, \, v^h_{+}; \, {\bf n} \right) -
{\bf F}\left(v^h_{-} + \theta \, \llbracket v^h \rrbracket^{+}_{-} \right) \cdot {\bf n} \right\} \le 0, \quad \forall \, \theta \in [0,1],
\end{equation}
where $\llbracket v^h \rrbracket^{+}_{-} := v^h_{+} - v^h_{-}$.
\end{enumerate}
The numerical solution $v^h(t,{\bf x})$ then satisfies the following entropy inequality on
each element ${\mathcal T}_i$:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:semidiscrete_entropy_condition}
\frac{d}{d t} \iiint_{{\mathcal T}_i} U(v^h) \, d{\bf x} + \varoiint_{\partial {\mathcal T}_i} {\mathcal G}(v^h_{-}, \, v^h_{+}; \,
{\bf n}) \, ds \le 0,
\end{equation}
where $U$ is the entropy function and ${\mathcal G}(v^h_{-}, \, v^h_{+}; \,
{\bf n})$ is the numerical entropy flux:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:num_entropy_flux}
{\mathcal G}\left(v_{-}^h, \, v_{+}^h, \, {\bf n}\right):=
\big\langle v^h \big\rangle_{-}^{+} \cdot
{\mathcal F}\left(v_{-}^h, \, v_{+}^h; \, {\bf n}\right) -
\big\langle {\bf G}^{\star}( v^h ) \cdot {\bf n} - \chi( v^h ) \, {\bf B}( v^h ) \cdot {\bf n}
\big\rangle_{-}^{+},
\end{equation}
where $\big\langle \cdot \big\rangle^+_{-}$ denotes the average of the values
on either side of the element face (or edge in 2D) and ${\bf G}^{\star}$ is the dual entropy flux \eqref{eqn:dual_entropy_flux}.
This local entropy inequality also implies a global semi-discrete entropy inequality:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:semidiscrete_entropy_condition_global}
\frac{d}{d t} \iiint_{\Omega} U\left(v^h \right) \, d{\bf x} \le 0.
\end{equation}
\end{thm}
The proof of this theorem is given in Barth \cite{article:Barth05} and follows from
evaluating the bilinear form in \eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_entropy1}--\eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_entropy2}
with test functions set to the entropy variables: $\tilde{B}_{\text{DG}}\left( v^h, v^h \right) = 0$.
This is possible because in the formulation of \eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_entropy1}--\eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_entropy2},
$v^h$ and $w^h$ are both in the same finite element space: ${\mathcal W}^{h,8}_{{\text q}}$.
After application of various identities involving entropy variables and dual entropy variables,
as well as the assumptions on the magnetic field, the semi-discrete entropy inequalities
\eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_entropy_condition} and \eqref{eqn:semidiscrete_entropy_condition_global} follow.
\begin{remark}
The numerical method proposed in the next section (\S \ref{sec:ct_scheme}) differs from the
DG method used in Theorem \ref{thm:entropy_stability} in several important ways: (1)
the conserved variables are used as trial variables, not the entropy variables; (2)
a strong-stability-preserving Runge-Kutta (SSP-RK) method is used to turn
the semi-discrete equations into fully discrete equations; and (3) the volume and surface
integrals are replaced by appropriate Gaussian quadrature rules.
Despite these differences, the core result of Theorem \ref{thm:entropy_stability}
extends to SSP-RK DG schemes: a globally divergence-free magnetic field
leads to entropy-stabilized discretizations. As a matter of practice we
rely on the limiters (see \S \ref{sec:limiters}) to inject additional numerical dissipation
in order to overcome the entropy errors introduced through the use of conserved
variables, SSP-RK time-stepping, and
Gaussian quadrature rules.
\end{remark}
In the next section (\S \ref{sec:ct_scheme})
we develop a constrained transport SSP-RK DG scheme. In Section \ref{sec:numex}
we demonstrate through numerical examples that this approach
does not adversely affect the convergence rate of the overall scheme and
that, in conjunction with moment-based limiters, produces numerically
stable solutions of ideal MHD even in the presence of shocks.
\section{Globally divergence-free constrained transport for DG-FEMs}
\label{sec:ct_scheme}
The lesson that should be taken from Theorem \ref{thm:entropy_stability}
is that we need to control two quantities simultaneously:
(1) the divergence of the magnetic field within each element, as well
as (2) the jump in the normal components across each element edge.
This, of course, means that we must control the {\it global divergence}
of the magnetic field on the computational grid.
In this section we provide such a strategy both for 2D and 3D Cartesian meshes.
\subsection{Basic constrained transport algorithm}
In order to compute a globally divergence-free magnetic field at each time step,
we introduce the magnetic vector potential,
\begin{equation}
{\bf B} = \nabla \times {\bf A},
\end{equation}
which satisfies the magnetic induction equation:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:induction}
{\bf A}_{,t} = {\bf u} \times {\bf B},
\end{equation}
where we have assumed the Weyl gauge condition
(see Helzel et al. \cite{article:HeRoTa11} for a discussion
of various gauge conditions).
We summarize the proposed constrained transport below by presenting a
single forward Euler time-step.
Extension to high-order strong stability-preserving Runge-Kutta (SSP-RK) methods is straightforward,
since SSP-RK time-stepping methods are convex combinations of forward Euler steps. A
single time-step of the proposed CT method from time $t=t^n$ to time $t=t^{n+1}$ consists of the following sub-steps:
\medskip
\begin{description}
\item[{\bf Step 0.}] The following state variables are given as initial data at time $t=t^n$:
\begin{align}
\text{Mass, momentum, energy:} & \quad
\rho^h \left( t^n, {\bf x} \right) \in {\mathcal W}^{h,1}_{{\text q}},
\quad \rho {\bf u}^h \left( t^n, {\bf x} \right) \in {\mathcal W}^{h,3}_{{\text q}},
\quad {\mathcal E}^h \left( t^n, {\bf x} \right) \in {\mathcal W}^{h,1}_{{\text q}}, \\
\text{Magnetic field:} & \quad
{\bf B}^h \left( t^n, {\bf x} \right) \in {\mathcal W}^{h,3}_{{{\text q}}+1}, \quad \widetilde{{\bf B}}^h \left( t^n, {\bf x} \right) \in {\mathcal W}^{h,3}_{{{\text q}}}, \\
\text{Magnetic potential:} & \quad
{\bf A}^h \left( t^n, {\bf x} \right) \in {\mathcal W}^{h,3}_{{{\text q}}}.
\end{align}
Note that there are two representations of the magnetic field.
One is globally divergence-free and lives in a broken finite element space
of one degree higher than all the other conserved variables: ${\bf B}^h\left( t^n, {\bf x} \right) \in {\mathcal W}^{h,3}_{{{\text q}}+1}$.
The other is not globally divergence-free and lives in the same
broken finite element space as all the other conserved variables: $\widetilde{{\bf B}}^h\left( t^n, {\bf x} \right) \in {\mathcal W}^{h,3}_{{{\text q}}}$.
\medskip
\item[{\bf Step 1.}] Update $\rho^h$, $\rho {\bf u}^h$, ${\mathcal E}^h$, $\widetilde{{\bf B}}^h$ using the DG scheme
with a forward Euler time-step:
\begin{equation}
\frac{1}{|{\mathcal T}_i|} \iiint_{{\mathcal T}_i} w^h_i \cdot \begin{bmatrix}
\rho^h\left(t^{n+1}, {\bf x}\right) \\
\rho {\bf u}^h\left(t^{n+1}, {\bf x}\right) \\
{\mathcal E}^h\left(t^{n+1}, {\bf x}\right) \\
\widetilde{{\bf B}}^h\left(t^{n+1}, {\bf x}\right)
\end{bmatrix} \, d{\bf x}=
\frac{1}{|{\mathcal T}_i|} \iiint_{{\mathcal T}_i} w^h_i \cdot \begin{bmatrix}
\rho^h\left(t^n, {\bf x}\right) \\
\rho {\bf u}^h\left(t^n, {\bf x}\right) \\
{\mathcal E}^h\left(t^n, {\bf x}\right) \\
\widetilde{{\bf B}}^h\left(t^n, {\bf x}\right)
\end{bmatrix} \, d{\bf x}
+ \Delta t \, {\mathcal L}_i \left(
\begin{bmatrix}
\rho^h\left(t^n, {\bf x}\right) \\
\rho {\bf u}^h\left(t^n, {\bf x}\right) \\
{\mathcal E}^h\left(t^n, {\bf x}\right) \\
{\bf B}^h\left(t^n, {\bf x}\right)
\end{bmatrix}, w^h_i \right).
\end{equation}
The updated magnetic field, $\widetilde{{\bf B}}^h(t^{n+1}, {\bf x})$, is {\it not} globally divergence-free;
we view this value as the {\it predicted} magnetic field.
Note that the operator ${\mathcal L}_i$ is evaluated using the globally divergence-free
magnetic field: ${{\bf B}}^h(t^{n}, {\bf x})$; this is important for numerical stability.
\medskip
\item[{\bf Step 2.}] Update the magnetic potential using a forward Euler time-step on the induction equation:
\begin{equation}
\hspace{-5mm}
\frac{1}{|{\mathcal T}_i|} \iiint_{{\mathcal T}_i} w^h_i \cdot {\bf A}^h\left(t^{n+1}, {\bf x}\right) \, d{\bf x} =
\frac{1}{|{\mathcal T}_i|} \iiint_{{\mathcal T}_i} w^h_i \cdot {\bf A}^h\left(t^n, {\bf x}\right) \, d{\bf x} + \frac{{\Delta t}}{|{\mathcal T}_i|}
\, \iiint_{{\mathcal T}_i} w^h_i \cdot
\left( \frac{\rho {\bf u}^h\left(t^n, {\bf x} \right) \times \widetilde{{\bf B}}^h(t^{n}, {\bf x})}{\rho^h\left(t^{n}, {\bf x}\right)} \right) \, d{\bf x}.
\end{equation}
\medskip
\item[{\bf Step 3.}] From the magnetic potential and the predicted magnetic field,
construct a globally divergence-free magnetic field:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:divfree_construct}
{\bf B}^h(t^{n+1}, {\bf x}) = \text{Div-Free-Construct}\left( \widetilde{{\bf B}}^h(t^{n+1}, {\bf x}), \,
{\bf A}^h(t^{n+1}, {\bf x}) \right).
\end{equation}
The details of the `Div-Free-Construct' operator are described for the 2D case in \S \ref{sec:curl2d}
and the 3D case in \S \ref{sec:curl3d}.
\medskip
\item[{\bf Step 4.}] Synchronize the two versions of the magnetic field by performing a simple $L^2$-projection
from ${\mathcal W}^{h,3}_{{\text q}+1}$ to ${\mathcal W}^{h,3}_{{\text q}}$:
\begin{equation}
\widetilde{{\bf B}}^h \left( t^{n+1}, {\bf x} \right) = \text{$L^{2}$--Project}\left( {\bf B}^h(t^{n+1}, {\bf x}) \right).
\end{equation}
Note that in the case of a multi-stage Runge-Kutta scheme, we only perform this synchronization
step once per time-step (i.e., not after every stage); that is, we only perform the synchronization at the end of the full
time-step, once all the stages have been completed. We have found that synchronizing only
once per time step significantly reduces unphysical oscillations in the case of
solutions with shocks.
\end{description}
\begin{figure}[!t]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{cc}
(a) \includegraphics[height=45mm]{figures/Yee2D.jpg} &
(b) \includegraphics[height=45mm]{figures/Yee3D.jpg}
\end{tabular}
\caption{Staggered magnetic field and magnetic potential configurations for Cartesian mesh elements.
Shown in Panel (a) is a 2D mesh element with the magnetic field components on mesh
edges and the potential on mesh corners. Shown in Panel (b) is a 3D mesh element with the magnetic
field components on mesh
faces and the potential on mesh edges.
\label{fig:yee}}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
\subsection{2D construction of a divergence-free magnetic field}
\label{sec:curl2d}
The final pieces missing from the constrained transport method
as proposed in this work are the details of the divergence-free
construction step as referred to in \eqref{eqn:divfree_construct}.
The approach advocated here is a modification of similar
divergence-free constructions used by Balsara \cite{article:Ba04}
and Li, Xu, and Yakovlev \cite{article:LiXuYa11}.
In fact, the divergence-free reconstruction of the magnetic
field is directly related to ideas from discrete exterior calculus and, in particular,
to Whitney forms (e.g., see Bossavit \cite{article:Bossavit88}). Despite these connections, we do need
the full machinery of discrete exterior calculus and Whitney forms in order to
develop the proposed numerical scheme.
In 2D the divergence-free reconstruction makes use of
magnetic field components normal to element edges and magnetic vector
potential values on element corners. This grid staggering
is illustrated in Figure \ref{fig:yee}(a).
We give the full details of the divergence-free reconstruction below:
\begin{description}
\item[{\bf Step 0.}] Start with the {\it predicted} magnetic field and the magnetic potential:
\begin{equation}
\widetilde{{\bf B}}^h \left( {\bf x} \right) \cdot {\bf e}^m \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ij}}
= \sum_{\ell=1}^{6} \widetilde{B}^{ \, m(\ell)}_{ij} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( \xi, \eta \right) \qquad
\text{and} \qquad
{\bf A}^h \left( {\bf x} \right) \cdot {\bf e}^3 \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ij}}
= \sum_{\ell=1}^{6} A^{3(\ell)}_{ij} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( \xi, \eta \right).
\end{equation}
\item[{\bf Step 1.}] Interpolate the magnetic potential to mesh corners:
\begin{equation}
{\mathcal A}^3_{i-\frac{1}{2} \, j-\frac{1}{2}} := \frac{1}{4} \sum_{\ell=1}^{6} \biggl[
A^{3(\ell)}_{ij} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}{\left( -1, -1 \right)} +
A^{3(\ell)}_{ij-1} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( -1, 1 \right) +
A^{3(\ell)}_{i-1j} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( 1, -1 \right) +
A^{3(\ell)}_{i-1 j-1} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( 1, 1 \right)
\biggr].
\end{equation}
\item[{\bf Step 2.}] On each element edge, define a DG representation for the normal components
of the magnetic field:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:edge_2d}
b^1_{i-\frac{1}{2} \, j} = \sum_{\ell=1}^{3} b^{1(\ell)}_{i-\frac{1}{2} \, j} \, \varphi_{\text{1D}}^{(\ell)}\left( \alpha \right)
\qquad \text{and} \qquad
b^2_{i \, j-\frac{1}{2}} = \sum_{\ell=1}^{3} b^{2(\ell)}_{i \, j-\frac{1}{2}} \, \varphi_{\text{1D}}^{(\ell)}\left(
\alpha \right),
\end{equation}
where $\varphi_{\text{1D}}^{(\ell)}$
are the 1D Legendre polynomials.
The coefficients of $b^1$ and $b^2$ are primarily computed from direct interpolation of
element centered magnetic field values: $\widetilde{{\bf B}}^h$. The exceptions
to this are the average magnetic values on the edges, which, in order to guarantee
zero divergence, are computed from finite differences of the magnetic potential
on element corners. The detailed equations can be written as follows:
\begin{align}
\label{eqn:ave_b_2d}
b^{1(1)}_{i-\frac{1}{2} \, j} &= \frac{{\mathcal A}^3_{\, i-\frac{1}{2} \, j+\frac{1}{2}} - {\mathcal A}^3_{\, i-\frac{1}{2} \, j-\frac{1}{2}}}{\Delta y}, &
b^{2(1)}_{i \, j-\frac{1}{2}} &= \frac{{\mathcal A}^3_{\, i-\frac{1}{2} \, j-\frac{1}{2}} - {\mathcal A}^3_{\, i+\frac{1}{2} \, j-\frac{1}{2}}}{\Delta x}, \\
b^{1(2)}_{i-\frac{1}{2} \, j} &= \frac{\widetilde{B}^{ \, 1(3)}_{i-1 j} + \sqrt{3} \, \widetilde{B}^{ \, 1(4)}_{i-1 j} +
\widetilde{B}^{ \, 1(3)}_{ij} - \sqrt{3} \, \widetilde{B}^{ \, 1(4)}_{ij}}{2}, &
b^{2(2)}_{i \, j-\frac{1}{2}} &= \frac{\widetilde{B}^{ \, 2(2)}_{ij-1} + \sqrt{3} \, \widetilde{B}^{ \, 2(4)}_{ij-1} +
\widetilde{B}^{2(2)}_{ij} - \sqrt{3} \, \widetilde{B}^{ \, 2(4)}_{ij}}{2}, \\
b^{1(3)}_{i-\frac{1}{2} \, j} &= \frac{\widetilde{B}^{ \, 1(6)}_{i-1 j} + \widetilde{B}^{ \, 1(6)}_{ij}}{2}, &
b^{2(3)}_{i \, j-\frac{1}{2}} &= \frac{\widetilde{B}^{ \, 2(5)}_{i j-1} + \widetilde{B}^{ \, 2(5)}_{ij}}{2}.
\end{align}
\item[{\bf Step 3.}] The final step is to construct globally divergence-free magnetic field values:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:bfield_full_2d}
{{\bf B}}^h \left( {\bf x} \right) \cdot {\bf e}^1 \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ij}}
= \sum_{\ell=1}^{10} B^{ \, 1(\ell)}_{ij} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( \xi, \eta \right) \qquad
\text{and} \qquad
{{\bf B}}^h \left( {\bf x} \right) \cdot {\bf e}^2 \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ij}}
= \sum_{\ell=1}^{10} B^{ \, 2(\ell)}_{ij} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( \xi, \eta \right).
\end{equation}
This is achieved by enforcing the following conditions:
\begin{enumerate}
\item ${{\bf B}}^h \left( {\bf x} \right) \cdot {\bf e}^1$ exactly
matches $b^1$ from \eqref{eqn:edge_2d} on the left $(i-\frac{1}{2},j)$ and right $(i+\frac{1}{2},j)$ edges;
\item ${{\bf B}}^h \left( {\bf x} \right) \cdot {\bf e}^2$ exactly
matches $b^2$ from \eqref{eqn:edge_2d} on the bottom $(i, j-\frac{1}{2})$ and top $(i,j+\frac{1}{2})$ edges;
\item $\nabla \cdot {{\bf B}}^h \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ij}} = \text{constant}$; and
\item Any coefficients in \eqref{eqn:bfield_full_2d} that remain as free parameters are set to zero.
\end{enumerate}
The detailed equations for the 1-component can be written as follows:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:div-free-b-2d-1}
\begin{split}
B^{1(1)}_{ij} &= \frac{1}{2} \left(\ar{1}+\al{1}\right) + \frac{1}{2\sqrt{3}} \frac{\Delta x}{\Delta y} \left(\br{2}-\bl{2} \right), \\
B^{1(2)}_{ij} &= \frac{1}{2\sqrt{3}} \left(\ar{1}-\al{1}\right)+\frac{1}{2\sqrt{15}} \frac{\Delta x}{\Delta y} \left(\br{3}-\bl{3}\right), \\
B^{1(3)}_{ij} &= \frac{1}{2} \left(\ar{2}+\al{2}\right), \quad
B^{1(4)}_{ij} = \frac{1}{2\sqrt{3}} \left(\ar{2}-\al{2}\right), \\
B^{1(5)}_{ij} &= \frac{1}{2\sqrt{15}} \frac{\Delta x}{\Delta y} \left(\bl{2}-\br{2}\right), \quad
B^{1(6)}_{ij} =\frac{1}{2} \left(\ar{3}+\al{3}\right), \quad
B^{1(7)}_{ij} = 0, \\
B^{1(8)}_{ij} &= \frac{1}{2\sqrt{3}} \left(\ar{3}-\al{3}\right), \quad
B^{1(9)}_{ij} = \frac{1}{2\sqrt{35}} \frac{\Delta x}{\Delta y} \left(\bl{3}-\br{3}\right), \quad
B^{1(10)}_{ij} = 0,
\end{split}
\end{equation}
The detailed equations for the 2-component can be written as follows:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:div-free-b-2d-2}
\begin{split}
B^{2(1)}_{ij} &= \frac{1}{2} \left(\br{1}+\bl{1}\right)+\frac{1}{2\sqrt{3}} \frac{\Delta y}{\Delta x} \left(\ar{2}-\al{2}\right), \quad
B^{2(2)}_{ij} = \frac{1}{2} \left(\br{2}+\bl{2}\right), \\
B^{2(3)}_{ij} &= \frac{1}{2\sqrt{3}} \left(\br{1}-\bl{1}\right)+\frac{1}{2\sqrt{15}} \frac{\Delta y}{\Delta x} \left(\ar{3}-\al{3}\right), \quad
B^{2(4)}_{ij} = \frac{1}{2\sqrt{3}} \left(\br{2}-\bl{2}\right), \\
B^{2(5)}_{ij} &= \frac{1}{2} \left(\br{3}+\bl{3}\right), \quad
B^{2(6)}_{ij} = \frac{1}{2\sqrt{15}} \frac{\Delta y}{\Delta x} \left(\al{2}-\ar{2}\right), \\
B^{2(7)}_{ij} &= \frac{1}{2\sqrt{3}} \left(\br{3}-\bl{3}\right), \quad
B^{2(8)}_{ij} = B^{2(9)}_{ij} = 0, \quad
B^{2(10)}_{ij} = \frac{1}{2\sqrt{35}} \frac{\Delta y}{\Delta x} \left(\al{3}-\ar{3}\right).
\end{split}
\end{equation}
\end{description}
A straightforward calculation reveals that the (pointwise) divergence
of a magnetic field of the form \eqref{eqn:bfield_full_2d} with coefficients
given by \eqref{eqn:div-free-b-2d-1} and \eqref{eqn:div-free-b-2d-2} is
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:div_zero_2d}
\nabla \cdot {\bf B}^h \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ij}} =
\frac{2}{\Delta x} \frac{\partial}{\partial \xi} \left( {{\bf B}}^h \left( {\bf x} \right) \cdot {\bf e}^1 \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ij}}
\right)
+ \frac{2}{\Delta y} \frac{\partial}{\partial \eta}
\left( {{\bf B}}^h \left( {\bf x} \right) \cdot {\bf e}^2 \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ij}}
\right) =
\frac{\ar{1}-\al{1}}{\Delta x} +\frac{\br{1}-\bl{1}}{\Delta y},
\end{equation}
which is constant. Using definitions
\eqref{eqn:ave_b_2d}, this divergence can be shown to vanish:
\begin{equation*}
\nabla \cdot {\bf B}^h \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ij}} = \frac{
{\mathcal A}^3_{\, i+\frac{1}{2} \, j+\frac{1}{2}} - {\mathcal A}^3_{\, i+\frac{1}{2} \, j-\frac{1}{2}}
- {\mathcal A}^3_{\, i-\frac{1}{2} \, j+\frac{1}{2}} + {\mathcal A}^3_{\, i-\frac{1}{2} \, j-\frac{1}{2}}
+ {\mathcal A}^3_{\, i-\frac{1}{2} \, j+\frac{1}{2}} - {\mathcal A}^3_{\, i+\frac{1}{2} \, j+\frac{1}{2}}
- {\mathcal A}^3_{\, i-\frac{1}{2} \, j-\frac{1}{2}} + {\mathcal A}^3_{\, i+\frac{1}{2} \, j-\frac{1}{2}}
}{\Delta x \, \Delta y} = 0.
\end{equation*}
We note that we have actually achieved a globally divergence free
magnetic field, ${\bf B}^h({\bf x})$, since we have the two sufficient ingredients:
\begin{enumerate}
\item ${\bf B}^h({\bf x})$ restricted to the interior of each element is exactly
divergence-free (see \eqref{eqn:div_zero_2d}); and
\item The normal components of ${\bf B}^h({\bf x})$ are continuous across
each element edge (see \eqref{eqn:div-free-b-2d-1}--\eqref{eqn:div-free-b-2d-2}).
\end{enumerate}
\subsection{3D construction of a divergence-free magnetic field}
\label{sec:curl3d}
The same basic principle used in 2D can be extended to construct a globally
divergence-free magnetic field in 3D.
In 3D the divergence-free reconstruction makes use of
magnetic field components normal to element faces and magnetic vector
potential values on element edges. This grid staggering
is illustrated in Figure \ref{fig:yee}(b).
We outline the divergence-free reconstruction procedure
below:
\smallskip
\begin{description}
\item[{\bf Step 0.}] Start with the {\it predicted} magnetic field and magnetic potential:
\begin{equation}
\widetilde{{\bf B}}^h \left( {\bf x} \right) \cdot {\bf e}^m \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ijk}}
= \sum_{\ell=1}^{10} \widetilde{B}^{ \, m(\ell)}_{ijk} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( \xi, \eta, \zeta \right)
\qquad \text{and} \qquad
{\bf A}^h \left( {\bf x} \right) \cdot {\bf e}^m \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ijk}}
= \sum_{\ell=1}^{10} A^{m(\ell)}_{ijk} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( \xi, \eta, \zeta \right).
\end{equation}
\medskip
\item[{\bf Step 1.}] Interpolate the magnetic potential to mesh edges:
\begin{gather}
\begin{split}
{\mathcal A}^1_{i \, j-\frac{1}{2} \, k-\frac{1}{2}} := \frac{1}{8} \sum_{\ell=1}^{10} \int_{-1}^{1} \biggl[
&A^{1(\ell)}_{ijk} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( \xi, -1, -1 \right) +
A^{1(\ell)}_{ij k-1} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( \xi, -1, 1 \right) \\ + \, \,
& A^{1(\ell)}_{i j-1 k} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( \xi, 1, -1 \right) +
A^{1(\ell)}_{i j-1 k-1} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( \xi, 1, 1 \right)
\biggr] \, d\xi,
\end{split} \\
\begin{split}
{\mathcal A}^2_{i-\frac{1}{2} \, j \, k-\frac{1}{2}} := \frac{1}{8} \sum_{\ell=1}^{10} \int_{-1}^{1} \biggl[
&A^{2(\ell)}_{ijk} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( -1, \eta, -1 \right) +
A^{2(\ell)}_{i j k-1} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( -1, \eta, 1 \right) \\ + \, \,
& A^{2(\ell)}_{i-1 j k} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( 1, \eta, -1 \right) +
A^{2(\ell)}_{i-1 j k-1} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( 1, \eta, 1 \right)
\biggr] \, d\eta,
\end{split} \\
\begin{split}
{\mathcal A}^3_{i-\frac{1}{2} \, j-\frac{1}{2} \, k} := \frac{1}{8} \sum_{\ell=1}^{10} \int_{-1}^{1} \biggl[
&A^{3(\ell)}_{ijk} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( -1, -1, \zeta \right) +
A^{3(\ell)}_{ij-1 k} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( -1, 1, \zeta \right) \\ + \, \,
& A^{3(\ell)}_{i-1j k} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( 1, -1, \zeta \right) +
A^{3(\ell)}_{i-1 j-1 k} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( 1, 1, \zeta \right)
\biggr] \, d\zeta.
\end{split}
\end{gather}
Note that these magnetic potential values are the edge averages of the magnetic potential;
for example, ${\mathcal A}^1_{i \, j-\frac{1}{2} \, k-\frac{1}{2}}$ is an approximation to the average of
$A^1(x,y_j - \Delta y/2, z_k - \Delta z/2)$ over the interval $x \in [x_i - \Delta x/2, x_i + \Delta x/2]$.
\medskip
\item[{\bf Step 2.}] On each element face, define a DG representation for the normal components
of the magnetic field:
\begin{align}
\label{eqn:face_3d}
\left\{ b^1_{i-\frac{1}{2} \, j \, k}, \, b^2_{i \, j-\frac{1}{2} \, k}, \,
b^3_{i \, j \, k-\frac{1}{2}} \right\} &= \sum_{\ell=1}^{6}
\left\{ b^{1(\ell)}_{i-\frac{1}{2} \, j \, k}, \, b^{2(\ell)}_{i \, j-\frac{1}{2} \, k}, \,
b^{3(\ell)}_{i \, j \, k-\frac{1}{2}} \right\}
\, \varphi_{\text{2D}}^{(\ell)}\left( \alpha, \, \beta \right),
\end{align}
where
$\varphi_{\text{2D}}^{(\ell)}$
are the 2D Legendre polynomials \eqref{eqn:test-fun-cart}.
The coefficients of $b^1$, $b^2$, and $b^3$ are primarily computed from direct interpolation of
element centered magnetic field values, $\widetilde{{\bf B}}^h$. The exceptions
to this are the average magnetic values on the faces, which, in order to guarantee
zero divergence, are computed from finite differences of the average magnetic potential
on element edges. The full formulas are given by \eqref{eqn:ave_b_3d_1}-\eqref{eqn:ave_b_3d_3}.
\medskip
\item[{\bf Step 3.}] The final step is to construct globally divergence-free magnetic field values:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:bfield_full_3d}
{{\bf B}}^h \left( {\bf x} \right) \cdot {\bf e}^m \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ijk}}
= \sum_{\ell=1}^{20} B^{ \, m(\ell)}_{ijk} \, \varphi^{(\ell)}\left( \xi, \eta, \zeta \right).
\end{equation}
This is achieved by enforcing the following conditions:
\begin{enumerate}
\item ${{\bf B}}^h \left( {\bf x} \right) \cdot {\bf e}^1$ exactly
matches $b^1$ from \eqref{eqn:face_3d} on the left $(i-\frac{1}{2},j,k)$ and right $(i+\frac{1}{2},j,k)$ faces;
\item ${{\bf B}}^h \left( {\bf x} \right) \cdot {\bf e}^2$ exactly
matches $b^2$ from \eqref{eqn:face_3d} on the front $(i, j-\frac{1}{2},k)$ and back $(i,j+\frac{1}{2},k)$ faces;
\item ${{\bf B}}^h \left( {\bf x} \right) \cdot {\bf e}^3$ exactly
matches $b^3$ from \eqref{eqn:face_3d} on the bottom $(i,j,k-\frac{1}{2})$ and top $(i,j,k+\frac{1}{2})$ faces;
\item $\nabla \cdot {{\bf B}}^h \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ijk}} = \text{constant}$; and
\item Any coefficients in \eqref{eqn:bfield_full_3d} that remain as free parameters are set to zero.
\end{enumerate}
The full formulas are given by \eqref{eqn:div-free-b-3d-1}--\eqref{eqn:div-free-b-3d-3}.
\end{description}
\medskip
A straightforward calculation reveals that the (pointwise) divergence
of a magnetic field of the form \eqref{eqn:bfield_full_3d} with coefficients
given by \eqref{eqn:div-free-b-3d-1}--\eqref{eqn:div-free-b-3d-3-end} is
\begin{equation}
\nabla \cdot {\bf B}^h \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ijk}} =
\frac{b^1_{i+\frac{1}{2} j k}-b^1_{i-\frac{1}{2} j k}}{\Delta x} +\frac{b^2_{i j+\frac{1}{2} k}-b^2_{i j-\frac{1}{2} k}}{\Delta y}
+\frac{b^3_{i j k+\frac{1}{2}}-b^3_{i j k-\frac{1}{2}}}{\Delta z},
\end{equation}
which is constant. Using definitions
\eqref{eqn:ave_b_3d_1}, \eqref{eqn:ave_b_3d_2}, and \eqref{eqn:ave_b_3d_3}, this divergence can be shown to vanish:
\begin{equation}
\label{eqn:div_zero_3d}
\nabla \cdot {\bf B}^h \Bigl|_{{\mathcal T}_{ijk}} = 0.
\end{equation}
Just as in the 2D case, we note that we have actually achieved a globally divergence free
magnetic field, ${\bf B}^h({\bf x})$.
\section{Numerical examples}
\label{sec:numex}
In this section we apply the proposed 2D and 3D constrained transport
schemes to four numerical test cases. For both the 2D and 3D versions,
we consider first a smooth problem to verify the order of accuracy of the proposed
scheme, followed by a problem with shock waves to verify the shock-capturing ability
of the scheme. All four examples considered in this work
make use of double (2D) or triple (3D) periodic
boundary conditions on the conservative variables:
$\rho$, $\rho {\bf u}$, ${\mathcal E}$, and ${\bf B}$.
In our constrained transport scheme, no explicit boundary conditions are needed for ${\bf A}$, since
${\bf A}$ is updated via \eqref{eqn:induction} using velocity and magnetic fields that
satisfy the appropriate boundary conditions.
\subsection{2D smooth Alfv\'en wave problem}
We consider a smooth circular polarized Alfv\'en wave that propagates
in direction ${\bf n} = [\cos \phi, \sin \phi, 0]^T$ towards the origin. This problem has been considered
by several authors (e.g., \cite{article:HeRoTa11,article:Ro04b,article:To00}).
The problem consists of smooth initial data on $\left[0,{1}/{\cos\phi}\right]\times \left[0,{1}/{\sin\phi}\right]$,
where $\phi = \tan^{-1}(0.5)$:
\begin{equation}
\rho = 1, \quad {\bf u} = \left[ -u^t \sin \phi, \, \, u^t \cos \phi, \, \, u^r \right]^T, \quad p = 0.1,
\quad {\bf B} = \left[ \cos \phi - u^t \sin \phi, \, \, \sin \phi + u^t \cos \phi, \, \, u^r \right]^T,
\end{equation}
where
\begin{equation}
u^t = 0.1 \sin \left( 2\pi \left( x \cos \phi +y \sin \phi \right) \right)
\quad \text{and} \quad
u^r = 0.1 \cos \left( 2\pi \left( x \cos \phi +y \sin \phi \right) \right).
\end{equation}
This example is used to verify the order of accuracy of the proposed 2D constrained transport scheme.
Experimental convergence rates are shown in Table \ref{table:smooth_alfven_2d}. The
errors are calculated by computing the $L^2$-difference between the computed
solution in ${\mathcal W}^{h}_{2}$ and the exact solution projected into ${\mathcal W}^{h}_{3}$:
\begin{equation}
\frac{\| q^{\text{exact}} - q^h \|_{L^2}}{\| q^{\text{exact}} \|_{L^2}} \approx
\left[{{\sum_{ij} \left( \sum_{\ell=1}^{6} \left\{ Q^{\text{exact} \, (\ell)}_{ij} - Q^{(\ell)}_{ij} \right\}
+ \sum_{\ell=7}^{10} Q^{\text{exact} \, (\ell)}_{ij} \right)}} \right]^{\frac{1}{2}} \cdot
\left[{{\sum_{ij} \left( \sum_{\ell=1}^{10} Q^{\text{exact} \, (\ell)}_{ij} \right)}} \right]^{-\frac{1}{2}}.
\end{equation}
In particular, in Table \ref{table:smooth_alfven_2d} we show the computed relative $L^2$-errors
at time $t=2$ (i.e., after 2 periods of the Alfv\'en wave). Experimental convergence
rates are calculated using a least squares fit through the computed errors. This
table clearly shows the third order convergence of the proposed numerical scheme.
Furthermore, in Figure \ref{fig:smooth_alfven}, we show on a mesh with $16 \times 32$ elements
and at time $t=2$ scatter plots of the computed
(a) magnetic field perpendicular to the direction of propagation ($B^{\perp}$)
and (b) periodic part of the magnetic potential ($A^3 - \left( y \cos\phi -x \sin\phi \right)$).
These plots show that the computed solution is in very good agreement with the
exact solution.
\subsection{2D Orszag-Tang vortex problem}
Next we consider the Orszag-Tang vortex problem, which is widely considered a standard test example for
MHD in the literature (see T\'oth \cite{article:To00}).
The problem consists of smooth initial data on $[0,2 \pi] \times [0, 2\pi]$:
\begin{gather}
\rho = \gamma^2, \quad {\bf u} = \Bigl[ -\sin y, \, \sin x, \, 0 \Bigr]^T, \quad
p = \gamma, \quad {\bf B} = \Bigl[ -\sin y, \, \sin(2x), \, 0 \Bigr]^T, \quad A^3 = \frac{1}{2} \cos(2x) + \cos y.
\end{gather}
In this problem, the variable magnetic field eventually causes the smooth initial data to form a strong
rotating shock structure. It has been well documented in the literature (e.g., see T\'oth \cite{article:To00},
Rossmanith \cite{article:Ro04b}, and Li and Shu \cite{article:LiShu05}) that the formation of this shock structure
can lead to numerical instabilities in numerical methods that do not control magnetic field
divergence errors.
The solution with the proposed scheme is shown in Figure \ref{fig:OT-2D}.
In particular, we show at time $t=3.14$ on a mesh with $257 \times 257$ elements the (a) mass density: $\rho(t,{\bf x})$, (b) magnetic potential: $A^3(t,{\bf x})$, (c) pressure: $p(t,{\bf x})$, and (d) a slice of the pressure at $y=1.5688$.
These results are in good agreement with the published literature, and
clearly demonstrate the ability of the proposed numerical scheme to remain stable
for a problem with complicated shock structures.
\subsection{3D smooth Alfv\'en wave problem}
In order to verify the order of convergence of the 3D constrained transport
method we consider a 3D version of the smooth Alfv\'en wave problem considered
in Helzel et al. \cite{article:HeRoTa11}.
In this case the wave propagates in the direction
${\bf n} = \left[ \cos \phi \cos \theta, \, \sin \phi \cos \theta, \, \sin \theta \right]^T$
towards the origin. Here $\phi$ is an angle with
respect to the $x$-axis in the $xy$-plane and $\theta$ is an angle with respect to the $x$-axis
in the $xz$-plane. We take $\theta = \phi =
\tan^{-1} (0.5) \approx 26.5651^\circ$.
The problem consists of smooth initial data on
$\left[ 0,\left( {\cos \phi \cos \theta} \right)^{-1} \right] \times \left[ 0, \left({\sin \phi \cos
\theta} \right)^{-1} \right] \times \left[ 0, \left( {\sin \theta} \right)^{-1} \right]$:
\begin{gather}
\rho = \gamma^2, \quad {\bf u} = u^t \, {\bf t} + u^r \, {\bf r}, \quad
p = \gamma, \quad {\bf B} = {\bf n} + B^t \, {\bf t} + B^r \, {\bf r},
\end{gather}
where
\begin{equation}
u^t = 0.1 \sin \left( 2\pi \, {\bf x} \cdot {\bf n} \right), \quad
u^r = 0.1 \cos \left( 2\pi \, {\bf x} \cdot {\bf n} \right),
\end{equation}
and ${\bf t} = \left[ -\sin \phi, \cos \phi, 0 \right]^T$ and
${\bf r} = \left[- \cos \phi \sin \theta, -\sin \phi \sin \theta, \cos \theta \right]^T$.
The initial magnetic vector potential is
\begin{align}
{\bf A} &= \left[
z \sin \phi \cos \theta - \frac{ \sin \phi
\sin(2 \pi \, {\bf n} \cdot {\bf x})}{20 \pi}, \, \, \,
x \sin \theta + \frac{ \cos \phi \sin(2 \pi \, {\bf n}
\cdot {\bf x})}{20 \pi}, \, \, \,
y \cos \phi \cos \theta + \frac{ \cos(2 \pi \, {\bf n}
\cdot {\bf x})}{20 \pi \cos \theta} \right]^T.
\end{align}
Experimental convergence rates are shown in Table \ref{table:smooth_alfven_3d}. The
errors are calculated by computing the $L^2$-difference between the computed
solution in ${\mathcal W}^{h}_{2}$ and the exact solution projected into ${\mathcal W}^{h}_{3}$:
\begin{equation}
\frac{\| q^{\text{exact}} - q^h \|_{L^2}}{\| q^{\text{exact}} \|_{L^2}} \approx
\left[{{\sum_{ijk} \left( \sum_{\ell=1}^{10} \left\{ Q^{\text{exact} \, (\ell)}_{ijk} - Q^{(\ell)}_{ijk} \right\}^2
+ \sum_{\ell=11}^{20} \left\{ Q^{\text{exact} \, (\ell)}_{ijk} \right\}^2 \right)}} \right]^{\frac{1}{2}}
\cdot \left[{{\sum_{ijk} \sum_{\ell=1}^{20} \left\{ Q^{\text{exact} \, (\ell)}_{ijk} \right\}^2 }}\right]^{-\frac{1}{2}}.
\end{equation}
In particular, in Table \ref{table:smooth_alfven_3d} we show the computed relative $L^2$-errors
at time $t=2$ (i.e., after 2 periods of the Alfv\'en wave). Experimental convergence
rates are calculated using a least squares fit through the computed errors. This
table clearly shows the third order convergence of the proposed numerical scheme
in all of the magnetic field and magnetic vector potential components.
\subsection{3D Orszag-Tang vortex problem}
Finally, we consider a 3D version of the Orszag-Tang vortex
problem as considered in Helzel et al. \cite{article:HeRoTa11}.
The problem consists of smooth initial data on $[0,2 \pi] \times [0, 2\pi] \times [0,2\pi]$:
\begin{align}
\rho = \gamma^2, \quad
{\bf u} = \Bigl[- (1+\varepsilon \sin z) \sin y, \, \, (1+ \varepsilon
\sin z) \sin x, \, \, \varepsilon \sin z \Bigr]^T,
\quad p = \gamma, \quad {\bf B} =\Bigl[- \sin y, \, \, \sin(2x), \, \, 0 \Bigr]^T,
\end{align}
where $\varepsilon = 0.2$. The initial condition for the magnetic potential is
\begin{equation}
{\bf A} = \Bigl[ 0, \, \, 0, \, \, \frac{1}{2} \cos(2x) + \cos y \Bigr]^T.
\end{equation}
Just as in the 2D problem, the variable magnetic field eventually causes the smooth initial data to form a strong
rotating shock structure. The formation of this shock structure
can lead to numerical instabilities in numerical methods that do not control magnetic field
divergence errors.
We computed a solution on a mesh with $129 \times 129 \times 129$ elements out to time $t=3$.
The results are shown at different horizontal slices
in Figures \ref{fig:OT-3D-1} ($z \approx 1.53$), \ref{fig:OT-3D-2} ($z \approx 4.75$), and
\ref{fig:OT-3D-3} ($z \approx 3.14$).
In particular, in each of these plots we show the
(a) mass density: $\rho(t,{\bf x})$, (b) pressure: $p(t,{\bf x})$, and
(c) $z$-component of the magnetic potential: $A^3(t,{\bf x})$.
These results are in good agreement with those presented in Helzel et al. \cite{article:HeRoTa11}, and
clearly demonstrate the ability of the proposed numerical scheme to remain stable
for a problem with complicated shock structures.
\begin{table}
\begin{center}
\begin{Large}
\begin{tabular}{|c||c||c||c|}
\hline
{\normalsize {\bf Mesh}} & {\normalsize \bf Rel. $L^2$ error in $B^1$}
& {\normalsize \bf Rel. $L^2$ error in $B^2$} & {\normalsize \bf Rel. $L^2$ error in $A^3$} \\
\hline \hline
{\normalsize $8 \times 16$} & {\normalsize $8.8697 \times 10^{-4}$} & {\normalsize $3.4907 \times 10^{-3}$} & {\normalsize $3.3831 \times 10^{-4}$} \\
\hline
{\normalsize $16 \times 32$} & {\normalsize $1.0344 \times 10^{-4}$} & {\normalsize $4.0578 \times 10^{-4}$} & {\normalsize $3.8084 \times 10^{-5}$} \\
\hline
{\normalsize $32 \times 64$} & {\normalsize $1.3349 \times 10^{-5}$} & {\normalsize $5.2515 \times 10^{-5}$} & {\normalsize $4.6941 \times 10^{-6}$} \\
\hline
{\normalsize $64 \times 128$} & {\normalsize $1.7216 \times 10^{-6}$} & {\normalsize $6.798 \times 10^{-6}$} & {\normalsize $5.9009 \times 10^{-7}$} \\
\hline
{\normalsize $128 \times 256$} & {\normalsize $2.1876 \times 10^{-7}$} & {\normalsize $8.6605 \times 10^{-7}$} & {\normalsize $7.4004 \times 10^{-8}$} \\
\hline
\hline
{\normalsize {\bf Least squares order}} & {\normalsize 2.9879} & {\normalsize 2.9853} & {\normalsize 3.0329} \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\caption{Relative $L^2$ errors in $B^1$, $B^2$, and $A^3$ for several mesh
resolutions on the 2D smooth Alfv\'en wave problem. For each component we use a
least squares fit to estimate the order of accuracy.
\label{table:smooth_alfven_2d}}
\end{Large}
\end{center}
\end{table}
\begin{figure}[!t]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{cc}
(a) \includegraphics[width=73mm]{figures/smooth-alfven-2D-Bperp.jpg} &
(b) \includegraphics[width=73mm]{figures/smooth-alfven-2D-A3.jpg}
\end{tabular}
\caption{Scatter plots of the constrained transport DG-FEM solution for the 2D smooth Alfv\'en wave on
a $16 \times 32$ Cartesian mesh. Panel (a) shows the magnetic field perpendicular to the
direction of propagation, $B^{\perp} = B^2 \cos \phi - B^1 \sin \phi$, where $\phi = \tan^{-1}(0.5)$,
as a function of the coordinate along the direction of propagation $\xi = x \cos \phi + y \sin \phi$.
Panel (b) shows the periodic part of the magnetic potential, $A^3 - \eta$, where $\eta = y \cos \phi -x \sin \phi$.
\label{fig:smooth_alfven}}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[!t]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{cc}
(a) \includegraphics[width=70mm]{figures/OT-2D-density.jpg} &
(b) \includegraphics[width=70mm]{figures/OT-2D-potential.jpg} \\
(c) \includegraphics[width=70mm]{figures/OT-2D-pressure.jpg} &
(d) \includegraphics[width=70mm]{figures/OT-2D-pressure-slice.jpg}
\end{tabular}
\caption{Orszag-Tang vortex problem in 2D run on a mesh with $257 \times 257$ mesh elements.
Shown in these panels are the (a) mass density: $\rho(t,{\bf x})$, (b) magnetic potential: $A^3(t,{\bf x})$,
(c) pressure: $p(t,{\bf x})$, and (d) a slice of the pressure at $y=1.5688$, all at the final time in
the solution: $t=3.14$.
\label{fig:OT-2D}}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
\begin{table}
\begin{center}
\begin{Large}
\begin{tabular}{|c||c||c||c|}
\hline
{\normalsize {\bf Mesh}} & {\normalsize \bf Rel. $L^2$ error in $B^1$}
& {\normalsize \bf Rel. $L^2$ error in $B^2$} & {\normalsize \bf Rel. $L^2$ error in $B^3$} \\
\hline \hline
{\normalsize $8 \times 16 \times 16$} & {\normalsize $1.2159 \times 10^{-3}$} & {\normalsize $6.7737 \times 10^{-3}$} & {\normalsize $3.3457 \times 10^{-3}$} \\
\hline
{\normalsize $16 \times 32 \times 32$} & {\normalsize $1.0804 \times 10^{-4}$} & {\normalsize $8.788 \times 10^{-4}$} & {\normalsize $4.9195 \times 10^{-4}$} \\
\hline
{\normalsize $32 \times 64 \times 64$} & {\normalsize $1.1507 \times 10^{-5}$} & {\normalsize $1.124 \times 10^{-4}$} & {\normalsize $7.6376 \times 10^{-5}$} \\
\hline
{\normalsize $64 \times 128 \times 128$} & {\normalsize $1.5083 \times 10^{-6}$} & {\normalsize $1.4831 \times 10^{-5}$} & {\normalsize $1.0894 \times 10^{-5}$} \\
\hline
\hline
{\normalsize {\bf Least squares order}} & {\normalsize 3.2196} & {\normalsize 2.9472} & {\normalsize 2.7475} \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\bigskip
\begin{tabular}{|c||c||c||c|}
\hline
{\normalsize {\bf Mesh}} & {\normalsize \bf Rel. $L^2$ error in $A^1$}
& {\normalsize \bf Rel. $L^2$ error in $A^2$} & {\normalsize \bf Rel. $L^2$ error in $A^3$} \\
\hline \hline
{\normalsize $8 \times 16 \times 16$} & {\normalsize $5.7994 \times 10^{-4}$} & {\normalsize $7.36 \times 10^{-4}$} & {\normalsize $3.5364 \times 10^{-4}$} \\
\hline
{\normalsize $16 \times 32 \times 32$} & {\normalsize $8.0689 \times 10^{-5}$} & {\normalsize $9.2977 \times 10^{-5}$} & {\normalsize $4.4725 \times 10^{-5}$} \\
\hline
{\normalsize $32 \times 64 \times 64$} & {\normalsize $1.0885 \times 10^{-5}$} & {\normalsize $1.5308 \times 10^{-5}$} & {\normalsize $5.6484 \times 10^{-6}$} \\
\hline
{\normalsize $64 \times 128 \times 128$} & {\normalsize $1.4532 \times 10^{-6}$} & {\normalsize $2.2029 \times 10^{-6}$} & {\normalsize $7.2656 \times 10^{-7}$} \\
\hline
\hline
{\normalsize {\bf Least squares order}} & {\normalsize 2.8812} & {\normalsize 2.7755} & {\normalsize 2.9766} \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\caption{Relative $L^2$ errors in $B^1$, $B^2$, $B^3$, $A^1$, $A^2$, and $A^3$ for several mesh
resolutions on the 3D smooth Alfv\'en wave problem. For each component we use a
least squares fit to estimate the order of accuracy.
\label{table:smooth_alfven_3d}}
\end{Large}
\end{center}
\end{table}
\begin{figure}[!t]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{cc}
(a) \includegraphics[width=70mm]{figures/OT-3D-density1.jpg} &
(b) \includegraphics[width=70mm]{figures/OT-3D-pressure1.jpg} \\
\multicolumn{2}{c}{(c) \includegraphics[width=70mm]{figures/OT-3D-potential1.jpg}}
\end{tabular}
\caption{Horizontal slice at $z = z_{32} \approx 1.534266180$ of the 3D Orszag-Tang vortex problem run on a mesh with $129 \times 129 \times 129$ mesh elements.
Shown in these panels are the (a) mass density: $\rho(t,{\bf x})$, (b) pressure: $p(t,{\bf x})$, and
(c) $z$-component of the magnetic potential: $A^3(t,{\bf x})$, all at time $t=3$.
\label{fig:OT-3D-1}}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[!t]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{cc}
(a) \includegraphics[width=70mm]{figures/OT-3D-density2.jpg} &
(b) \includegraphics[width=70mm]{figures/OT-3D-pressure2.jpg} \\
\multicolumn{2}{c}{(c) \includegraphics[width=70mm]{figures/OT-3D-potential2.jpg}}
\end{tabular}
\caption{Horizontal slice at $z = z_{65} \approx 3.141592654$ of the 3D Orszag-Tang vortex problem run on a mesh with $129 \times 129 \times 129$ mesh elements.
Shown in these panels are the (a) mass density: $\rho(t,{\bf x})$, (b) pressure: $p(t,{\bf x})$, and
(c) $z$-component of the magnetic potential: $A^3(t,{\bf x})$, all at time $t=3$.
\label{fig:OT-3D-2}}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[!t]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{cc}
(a) \includegraphics[width=70mm]{figures/OT-3D-density3.jpg} &
(b) \includegraphics[width=70mm]{figures/OT-3D-pressure3.jpg} \\
\multicolumn{2}{c}{(c) \includegraphics[width=70mm]{figures/OT-3D-potential3.jpg}}
\end{tabular}
\caption{Horizontal slice at $z = z_{98} \approx 4.748919128$ of the 3D Orszag-Tang vortex problem run on a mesh with $129 \times 129 \times 129$ mesh elements.
Shown in these panels are the (a) mass density: $\rho(t,{\bf x})$, (b) pressure: $p(t,{\bf x})$, and
(c) $z$-component of the magnetic potential: $A^3(t,{\bf x})$, all at time $t=3$.
\label{fig:OT-3D-3}}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
\section{Conclusions}
In this work we showed how to extend the constrained transport framework
originally proposed by Evans and Hawley \cite{article:EvHa88} in the context of the discontinuous Galerkin finite element method (DG-FEM) on both 2D and 3D Cartesian meshes.
The method presented in this work makes use of two key ingredients:
(1) the introduction of a magnetic vector potential, which is represented
in the same finite element space as the conserved variables, and (2)
the use of a particular divergence-free
reconstruction of the magnetic field, which makes use of the magnetic vector potential
and the predicted magnetic field.
The divergence-free reconstruction presented in this work is slight modification of the reconstruction
method that has been used in other work on ideal MHD. Li, Xu, and Yakovlev \cite{article:LiXuYa11} made
use of this reconstruction in the context of a 2D central DG scheme. Balsara
\cite{article:Ba04} made use this reconstruction in the context of finite volume schemes
and adaptive mesh refinement.
The novel aspect of this work is that we make direct use of a magnetic vector potential,
thus following in the footsteps of the methods developed in
\cite{article:ChRoTa14,article:HeRoTa11,article:HeRoTa13,article:LoZa04,article:Ro04b,article:De01b}.
An advantage of our approach is that the extension from 2D to 3D is straightforward.
The proposed scheme was then implemented in 2D and 3D using the {\sc DoGPack} software
package and applied on some standard MHD test cases. The results indicate that the
proposed scheme is high-order accurate for smooth problems and is shock-capturing
for problems with complicated multi-dimensional shock structures.
\noindent
{\bf Acknowledgements.}
This work was supported in part by NSF grant DMS--1016202.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaArXiv"
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| 9,452
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{"url":"https:\/\/profunctors.zellerede.ml\/2017\/11\/28\/morita-equivalence-by-categorical-bridges\/","text":"# Morita equivalence by categorical bridges\n\nLet denote the category of 2 objects (name them ) and 2 nonidentity arrows, which are inverses of each other.\n\nWe define a \u00a0bridge\u00a0 as a category over , i.e. a category equipped with a functor . The full subcategories and are called banks of the bridge, and we write .\nThe arrows in the -preimage of the two arrows in are referred to as through arrows or heteromorphisms\u00a0in the bridge.\n\nIn other words, a category is a\u00a0 bridge between categories and if these are disjoint full subcategories of and has no more objects.\n\nRecall that the\u00a0idempotent completion\u00a0 of a category has all the\u00a0idempotent arrows of as objects (i.e. those satisfying ), and a morphism of is considered as an arrow in whenever .\n\nTheorem 1. \u00a0Two categories are equivalent if and only if there is a bridge between them where each object has an isomorphic fellow object on the other bank (called\u00a0equivalence bridge).\nProof.\u00a0Given a bridge with this property, using\u00a0axiom of choice, we can fix an isomorphism for each object on one bank, and use them to define an equivalence functor.\nGiven equivalent categories , either take an isomorphism of their skeletons , this induces a bridge , which can be extended on both banks, or apply the bridge construction written in A Bridge Construction.\n\nThere is a similar characterization for Morita equivalence of categories.\nTheorem 2. Two categories are Morita equivalent if and only if there is a bridge between them where each (identity) morphism can be written as a composition of through arrows (called Morita bridge).\n\nPut these together, we arrive to the well known\nTheorem 3. Two categories are Morita equivalent if and only if their\u00a0idempotent completions are equivalent.\nProof. Consider a Morita bridge and take its idempotent completion .\u00a0For each object we have\u00a0 for some through arrows . But then is an idempotent in , isomorphic to in . This implies that every , thus also every idempotent on has an isomorphic fellow in , so, by symmetry, is an equivalence bridge.\nFor the other direction, if is an equivalence bridge, consider its restriction on both banks to . Then any is isomorphic to an idempotent in , say by , and in we have maps and that compose to and thus they ensure a composition of as heteromorphisms: .","date":"2021-05-09 05:05:37","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": false, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 0, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 0, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 0, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.9864096641540527, \"perplexity\": 666.5181107636968}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": true, \"markdown_code\": true, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 10, \"end_threshold\": 15, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2021-21\/segments\/1620243988955.89\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20210509032519-20210509062519-00486.warc.gz\"}"}
| null | null |
Boilerplate for kick starting a project with the following technologies:
* [React](https://github.com/facebook/react)
* [Babel 6](http://babeljs.io)
* [Webpack](http://webpack.github.io) for bundling
* [Webpack Dev Server](http://webpack.github.io/docs/webpack-dev-server.html)
* [React Transform](https://github.com/gaearon/react-transform-hmr) for hot reloading React components in real time.
The various webpack options used have been explained in detailed as comments in the config file. Should help with understanding the nitty-gritty :)
### Usage
```
npm install
npm start
Open http://localhost:5000
```
### Linting
ESLint with React linting options have been enabled.
```
npm run lint
```
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaGithub"
}
| 2,423
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Arbeit, Cultural Turn, Gegenkultur, Institution, Kunstfeld, Partizipation, Reform, Selbstorganisation, System, Transparenz, Verantwortung, Zukunft
There is no Alternative: The Future is self-organised
Stephan Dillemuth, Anthony Davies, Jakob Jakobsen / 2005
As workers in the cultural field we offer the following contribution to the debate on the impact of neoliberalism on institutional relations:
– Cultural and educational institutions as they appear today are nothing more than legal and administrative organs of the dominant system. As with all institutions, they live in and through us; we participate in their structures and programmes, internalise their values, transmit their ideologies and act as their audience/public/social body.
– Our view: these institutions may present themselves to us as socially accepted bodies, as somehow representative of the society we live in, but they are nothing more than dysfunctional relics of the bourgeois project. Once upon a time, they were charged with the role of promoting democracy, breathing life into the myth that institutions are built on an exchange between free, equal and committed citizens. Not only have they failed in this task, but within the context of neoliberalism, have become even more obscure, more unreliable and more exclusive.
– The state and its institutional bodies now share aims and objectives so closely intertwined with corporate and neoliberal agendas that they have been rendered indivisible. This intensification and expansion of free market ideology into all aspects of our lives has been accompanied by a systematic dismantling of all forms of social organisation and imagination antithetical to the demands of capitalism.
– As part of this process it's clear that many institutions and their newly installed managerial elites are now looking for escape routes out of their inevitable demise and that, at this juncture, this moment of crisis, they're looking at 'alternative' structures and what's left of the Left to model their horizons, sanction their role in society and reanimate their tired relations. Which of course we despise!
In their scramble for survival, cultural and educational institutions have shown how easily they can betray one set of values in favour of another and that's why our task now is to demand and adhere to the foundational and social principles they have jettisoned, by which we mean: transparency, accountability, equality and open participation.
– By transparency we mean an opening up of the administrative and financial functions/decision making processes to public scrutiny. By accountability we mean that these functions and processes are clearly presented, monitored and that they can in turn, be measured and contested by 'participants' at any time. Equality and open participation is exactly what it says – that men and women of all nationalities, race, colour and social status can participate in any of these processes at any time.
– Institutions as they appear today, locked in a confused space between public and private, baying to the demands of neoliberal hype with their new management structures, are not in a position to negotiate the principles of transparency, accountability and equality, let alone implement them. We realise that responding to these demands might extend and/or guarantee institutions' survival but, thankfully, their deeply ingrained practices prevent them from even entertaining the idea on a serious level.
– In our capacity as workers with a political commitment to self-organisation we feel that any further critical contribution to institutional programmes will further reinforce the relations that keep these obsolete structures in place. We are fully aware that 'our' critiques, alternatives and forms of organisation are not just factored into institutional structures but increasingly utilised to legitimise their existence.
– The relationship between corporations, the state and its institutions is now so unbearable that we see no space for negotiation – we offer no contribution, no critique, no pathway to reform, no way in or out. We choose to define ourselves in relation to the social forms that we participate in and not the leaden institutional programmes laid out before us – our deregulation is determined by social, not market relations. There is no need for us to storm the Winter Palace, because most institutions are melting away in the heat of global capital anyway. We will provide no alternative. So let go!
The only question that remains is how to get rid of the carcass and deal with the stench:
– We are not interested in their so-called assets; their personnel, buildings, archives, programmes, shops, clubs, bars, facilities and spaces will all end up at the pawnbroker anyway…
– All we need is their cash in order to pay our way out of capitalism and take this opportunity to make clear our intention to supervise and mediate our own social capital, knowledge and networks.
– As a first step we suggest an immediate redistribution of their funds to already existing, self-organised bodies with a clear commitment to workers' and immigrants' rights, social (anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-homophobic) struggle and representation.
There is no alternative! The future is self-organised.
– In the early 1970s corporate analysts developed a strategy aimed at reducing uncertainty called 'there is no alternative' (tina). Somewhat ironically we now find ourselves in agreement, but this time round we're the scenario planners and executors of our own future though we are, if nothing else, the very embodiment of uncertainty.
– In the absence of clearly stated opposition to the neoliberal system, most forms of collective and collaborative practice can be read as 'self-enterprise'. By which we mean, groupings or clusters of individuals set up to feed into the corporate controlled markets, take their seats at the table, cater to and promote the dominant ideology.
– Self-organisation should not be confused with self-enterprise or self-help, it is not an alternative or conduit into the market. It isn't a label, logo, brand or flag under which to sail in the waters of neoliberalism (even as a pirate ship as suggested by mtv)! It has no relationship to entrepreneurship or bogus 'career collectives'.
– In our view self-organisation is a byword for the productive energy of those who have nothing left to lose. It offers up a space for a radical re-politicisation of social relations – the first tentative steps towards realisable freedoms.
Self-organisation is:
– Something which predates representational institutions. To be more precise: institutions are built on (and often paralyse) the predicates and social forms generated by self-organisation.
– Mutually reinforcing, self-valorising, self-empowering, self-historicising and, as a result, not compatible with fixed institutional structures.
– A social and productive force, a process of becoming which, like capitalism, can be both flexible and opaque – therefore more than agile enough to tackle (or circumvent) it.
– A social process of communication and commonality based on exchange; sharing of similar problems, knowledge and available resources.
– A fluid, temporal set of negotiations and social relations which can be emancipatory – a process of empowerment.
– Something which situates itself in opposition to existing, repressive forms of organisation and concentrations of power.
– Always challenging power both inside the organisation and outside the organisation; this produces a society of resonance and conflict, but not based on fake dualities as at present.
– An organisation of deregulated selves. It is at its core a non-identity.
– A tool that doesn't require a cohesive identity or voice to enter into negotiation with others. It may reside within social forms but doesn't need to take on an identifiable social form itself.
– Contagious and inclusive, it disseminates and multiplies.
– The only way to relate to self-organisation is to take part, self-organise, connect with other self-organising initiatives and challenge the legitimacy of institutional representation.
We put a lid on the bourgeois project, the national museums will be stored in their very own archive, the Institutes of Contemporary Art will be handed over to the artists unions, the Universities and Academies will be handed over to the students, Siemens and all the other global players will be handed over to their workers. The state now acts as an administrative unit – just as neoliberalism has suggested it – but with mechanisms of control, transparency accountability and equal rights for all.
This text can be freely distributed and printed in non-commercial, no-money contexts without the permission of the authors.
It was originally conceived as a pamphlet with the aim of disrupting the so-called critical paths and careers being carved out by those working the base structure of the political-art fields. We're aware of contradictions, limits and problems with this text and invite all to measure the content in direct relation to the context in which it may appear. In fact, it has come as no surprise to us that its dodgy, legitimising potential has been most keenly exploited by those it originally set out to challenge.
Having let it fly we now invite you, the reader, to consider why it's in this publication, whose interests it serves and the power relations it helps to maintain.
Stephan Dillemuth in Munich, Anthony Davies in London and Jakob Jakobsen in Copenhagen, 12 June 2005.
Wiederabdruck
Der Text erschien zuerst in: Will Bradley/Charles Esche (Hg.): Art and Social Change. A Critical Reader. London 2007, S. 378–381.
[Dieser Text findet sich im Reader Nr. 1 auf S. 174.]
[Es sind keine weiteren Materialien zu diesem Beitrag hinterlegt.]
(*1954) ist Künstler und lebt in München. Er lehrt als Professor im Fachbereich Kunstpädagogik an der Akademie der Bildenden Künste München. Er betreibt die Webseite Society of Control: http://www.societyofcontrol.com
(*1947) ist Autor, Forscher und Organisator und lebt in London.
ist Künstler, Aktivist und Organisator, lebt in Kopenhagen. Von 2001–2007 leitete er die von ihm gegründete Copenhagen Free University sowie den Infopool network in London (seit 2000). Er war Gründer und erster Leiter von UKK (Young Art Workers) in Dänemark 2002–2003. Er ist Mitgründer von tv-tv, einer lokalen, aktivistischen Fernsehstation. Er hat seine Arbeiten gezeigt im Witte de With, Rotterdam; Wattis Institute, San Franscisco; Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; Münchener Kunstverein, München, Wiener Secession, Wien u. a. Web: http://www.copenhagenfreeuniversity.dk/ und www.infopool.org.uk
Anarchie, Arbeit, Cultural Turn, Ermächtigung, Europa, Gegenkultur, Institution, Kapitalismuskritik, Kulturarbeit, Kulturindustrie, Kunstfeld, Manifest, Neoliberalismus, Partizipation, Politisierung, Reform, Selbstorganisation, System, Transparenz, Verantwortung, Zukunft
Davies, Anthony · Dillemuth, Stephan · Jakobsen, Jakob
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaCommonCrawl"
}
| 9,588
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Barnmat är mat anpassad åt barn, närmare bestämt spädbarn.
Från födseln till ungefär 6 månaders ålder närs barnet med bröstmjölk eller modersmjölkersättning. Därefter kan man börja ge barnet så kallade smakportioner av olika livsmedel, det vill säga mycket små portioner av exempelvis potatis och rotfrukter. Vid cirka 8 månader kan man successivt öka barnets intag av mat för att vid cirka ett års ålder ge det finfördelad "vuxenmat".
Källor
Barnmatning
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaWikipedia"
}
| 3,023
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\section{Introduction}
\label{sec_intro}
Archetypal analysis (AA) is of particular interest when a given data set is assumed to be a superposition of various populations or mechanisms. For a given number of $k$ archetypes, linear AA finds an optimal approximation of the data convex hull, i.e. a polytope, with respect to a given loss function. All data points can then be described as convex mixtures of these $k$ extreme points. In evolutionary biology this has led to the interpretation of archetypes as the representatives most adapted to a given task while non-archetypal representatives are described as mixtures of these extreme or pure types -- able to perform a variety of tasks but non of them optimally \cite{shoval2012}. We identified several limitations of the linear AA model which we would like to address. (I) For data points on a linear submanifold, e.g. a plane in $\mathbb{R}^2$, a strictly monotone transformation should in general have no influence on which points are identified as archetypes. But such a transformation would in fact introduce a non-zero curvature to that submanifold. As a consequence it would become impossible for \textit{linear} AA to approximate equally well the data convex hull, given the same number $k$ of archetypes as before. (II) Using linear AA to explore a dataset and uncover meaningful archetypes usually requires some form of prior knowledge. Either by knowing how many archetypes $k$ are necessary to have an acceptable trade-off between interpretability and error \textit{or} by having domain knowledge about which dimensions of the dataset can/should be omitted, scaled or combined. This procedure of injecting \textit{side information} to the exploration of a given dataset is unpractical at best, impossible even if no intuition about a given problem can be formed. Often side information is available in form of scalar labels, but of course side information could be any kind of richly structured data. When learning a representation of the data, linear AA offers no possibility to incorporate such side information by which to guide the selection of an optimal number of archetypes as well as the relevant dimensions. (III) Linear AA is non-generative. But especially the prospect of incorporating differentiated side information makes the ability to generate new samples -- conditioned on that side inormation -- more attractive. Closely related to that is the ability to interpolate which, in the sense of AA, would be expressed as a \textit{geometric} interpolation within a coordinate system spanned by the $k$ archetypes.\\
In the following we will propose solutions to these limitations in order to extend the area of applicability of AA. In short this entails recasting linear AA as a latent space model within the framework of the Deep Variational Information Bottleneck. Of course this means that our extension constitutes a non-linear version of AA. Extentions into non-linearity have been proposed in the past based on kernalization but such frameworks remain less flexible still in comparison to a learned deep network architecture. But with this increase in flexibility comes a certain trade-off: without side information to guide the learning of a meaningful latent representation the result might be without significance as increased flexibility implies a multitude of possible latent representations dependent only on the side information on which any learning process should therefore be conditioned.\\
\subsubsection{Literature} Linear ``Archetypal Analysis'' (AA) was first proposed by Adele Cutler and Leo Breiman \cite{cutlerBreiman1994}. Since its conception AA has known several advancements on the algorithmic as well as the application side. An extension to (non-linear) Kernel AA is proposed by \cite{bauck2014Kernel,morupKernelAA}, algorithmic improvements by adapting a Frank--Wolfe type algorithm to calculate the archetypes are made by \cite{bauck2015FW} and the extension by \cite{seth2016} introduces a probabilistic version of AA. Archetypal style analysis \cite{styleAA} applies AA to the learned image representations in deep neural networks for artistic style manipulation. In \cite{sand2012} the authors are concerned with model selection by asking for the optimal number of archetypes for a given dataset while \cite{kauf2015} addresses in part the shortcoming of AA we describe in the introduction under (ii). Although AA did not prevail as a commodity tool for pattern analysis it has for example been used by \cite{bauck2009ImgCol} to find archetypal images in large image collections or by \cite{can2015} to perform the analogous task for large document collections. For the human genotype data studied by \cite{huggins2007}, inferred archetypes are interpreted as representative populations for the measured genotypes. And in \cite{chan2003} AA is used to analyse galaxy spectra which are viewed as weighted superpositions of the emissions from stellar populations, nebular emissions and nuclear activity.
Our work builds upon Variational Autoencoders (VAEs), arguably the most prevalent representatives of the class of ``Deep Latent Variable Models''. VAEs were introduced by \cite{kingmaWelling2013,rezende2014} and use an inference network to perform a variational approximation of the posterior distribution of the latent variable. Important work in this direction include \cite{KingmaSemi,pmlrrezende15} and \cite{Jang}. More recently, \cite{alemi2016} has discovered a close connection between VAE and the Information Bottleneck principle \cite{tishby2000}. Here, the Deep Variational Information Bottleneck (DVIB) is a VAE where $X$ is replaced by $Y$ in the decoder. Subsequently, the DVIB has been extended in multiple directions such as sparsity \cite{2018arXiv180406216W} or causality \cite{2018arXiv180702326P}.\\
At the same time as our work, \textit{AAnet} was published by \cite{AAnet}. There the authors introduce a neural network based extentension of linear archetypal analysis on the basis of standard non-variational autoencoders. In their work two regularization terms, applied to an intermediate representation provide the latent archetypal convex representation of a non-linear transformation of the input. In contrast to our work which is based on probabilistic generative models (VAE, DVIB), \textit{AAnet} attempts to emulate the generative process by adding noise to the latent representation during training. Further, no side information is incorporated which can -- and in our opinion should -- be used to constrain potentially \textit{over-flexible} neural networks and guide the optimisation process towards learning a meaningful representation.
\subsubsection{Contribution}We propose \textit{Deep Archetypal Analysis} (DeepAA) which is a novel, non--linear extension of the original model proposed by \cite{cutlerBreiman1994}. By introducing \textit{DeepAA} within a DVIB framework we address several issues of the original model. Unlike the original model, \textit{DeepAA} (i) is able to identify meaningful archetypes even on non-linear data manifolds, (ii) does not rely on expert knowledge when combining relevant dimensions or learning appropriate transformations (e.g. scaling) and (iii) is able to incorporate side information into the learning process in order to regularize and guide the learning process towards meaningful latent representations. On a large scale experiment we demonstrate the usefulness of \textit{DeepAA} in a setting with side information on the QM9 dataset which contains the chemical structures and properties of 134 kilo molecules \cite{rudd2012,rama2014}. As modern chemistry and material science are increasingly concerned with material property prediction, we show that \textit{DeepAA} can be used to \textit{systematically} explore vast chemical spaces in order to identify starting points for further chemical optimisation.
\section{Method}
\label{sec_theo}
\subsection{Linear Archetypal Analysis}
Linear AA \cite{cutlerBreiman1994} is a form of non-negative matrix factorization where a matrix $X\in \mathbb{R}^{n\times p}$ of $n$ data vectors is approximated as $X\approx ABX = AZ$ with $A\in \mathbb{R}^{n\times k}$, $B\in \mathbb{R}^{k\times n}$, and usually $k < \min\{n,p\}$. In AA parlance, the \textit{archetype} matrix $Z\in \mathbb{R}^{k\times p}$ contains the $k$ archetypes $\mathbf{z}_1,..,\mathbf{z}_j,.., \mathbf{z}_k$ and the model is subject to the following constraints:
\begin{equation}\label{eq:constraint_A_B}
a_{ij} \geq 0 \text{ }\wedge\text{ } \sum_{j=1}^{k} a_{ij} = 1, \quad
b_{ji} \geq 0 \text{ }\wedge\text{ } \sum_{i=1}^{n} b_{ji} = 1
\end{equation}
Constraining the entries of $A$ and $B$ to be non-negative and demanding that both weight matrices are row stochastic, implies a representation of the data vectors $\mathbf{x}_{i=1..n}$ as a weighted sum of the rows of $Z$ while simultaneously representing the archetypes $\mathbf{z}_{j=1..k}$ themselves as a weighted sum of the $n$ data vectors in $X$:
\begin{equation} \label{eq:at_decomp}
\mathbf{x}_i \approx \sum_{j=1}^{k} a_{ij} \mathbf{z}_j = \mathbf{a}_i Z, \quad
\mathbf{z}_j = \sum_{i=1}^{n} b_{ji} \mathbf{x}_i = \mathbf{b}_j X
\end{equation}
Due to the constraints on $A$ and $B$ in Eq. \ref{eq:constraint_A_B} both the representation of $\mathbf{x}_i$ and $\mathbf{z}_j$ in Eq. \ref{eq:at_decomp} are \textit{convex} combinations. Therefore the archetypes approximate the data convex hull and increasing the number $k$ of archetypes improves this approximation. The central problem of AA is finding the weight matrices $A$ and $B$ for a given data matrix $X$.
A probabilistic formulation of linear AA is provided in \cite{seth2016} where it is observed that AA follows a simplex latent variable model and normal observation model. The generative process for the observations $\mathbf{x}_i$ in the presence of $k$ archetypes with archetype weights $\textbf{a}_i$ is given by
\begin{equation}\label{eq:probAT_1}
\mathbf{a}_i \sim \text{Dir}_k(\boldsymbol{\alpha}) \quad \text{ }\wedge\text{ } \quad
\mathbf{x}_i \sim \mathcal{N}(\mathbf{a}_iZ,\,\epsilon^2 \mathbf{I}),
\end{equation}
with uniform concentration parameters $\alpha_j = \alpha$ for all $j$ summing up to $\mathbf{1}^\top\boldsymbol{\alpha}=1$. That is the observations $\mathbf{x}_i$ are distributed according to an isotropic Gaussian with means $\boldsymbol{\mu}_i=\mathbf{a}_iZ$ and variance $\epsilon^2$.
\subsection{Deep Variational Information Bottleneck}
We propose a model to generalise linear AA to the non-linear case based on the Deep Variational Information Bottleneck framework since it allows to incorporate side information $Y$ by design and is known to be equivalent to the VAE in the case of $Y=X$, as shown in \cite{alemi2016}. In contrast to the data matrix $X$ in linear AA, a non-linear transformation $f(X)$ giving rise to a latent representation $T$ of the data suitable for (non-linear) archetypal analysis is considered. I.e. the latent representation $T$ takes the role of the data $X$ in the previous treatment.\\
The DVIB combines the information bottleneck (IB) with the VAE approach \cite{tishby2000,kingmaWelling2013}. The objective of the IB method is to find a random variable $T$ which, while compressing a given random vector $X$, preserves as much information about a second given random vector $Y$. The objective function of the IB is as follows
\begin{equation}
\mbox{min}_{p(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x})} I(X;T) - \lambda I(T;Y),
\label{eq:ib1}
\end{equation}
where $\lambda$ is a Lagrange multiplier and $I$ denotes the mutual information. Assuming the IB Markov chain $T-X-Y$ and a parametric form of Eq. \ref{eq:ib1} with parametric conditionals $p_\phi(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x})$ and $p_\theta(\mathbf{y}|\mathbf{t})$, Eq. \ref{eq:ib1} is written as
\begin{equation}
\max_{\phi,\theta} -I_{\phi}(\mathbf{t};\mathbf{x}) + \lambda I_{\phi,\theta}(\mathbf{t};\mathbf{y}).
\label{eq:ib_parametricForm}
\end{equation}
As derived in \cite{2018arXiv180406216W}, the two terms in Eq. \ref{eq:ib_parametricForm} have the following forms:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:encoder_parametric}
I_{\phi}(T;X) = D_{KL}\left( p_\phi(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x}) p(\mathbf{x}) \| p(\mathbf{t}) p(\mathbf{x})\right) = \mathbb{E}_{p(\mathbf{x})} D_{KL}\left(p_\phi(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x})\| p(\mathbf{t}) \right)
\end{equation}
and
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:decoder_parametric}
\begin{aligned}
I_{\phi,\theta}(T;Y) &=\ D_{KL}\left(\left[\int p(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{y},\mathbf{x})p(\mathbf{y},\mathbf{x})\, \mathrm{d}\mathbf{x} \right] \| p(\mathbf{t}) p(\mathbf{y})\right)\\
&=\ \mathbb{E}_{p(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y})} \mathbb{E}_{p_\phi(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x})}\log p_\theta(\mathbf{y}|\mathbf{t}) + h(Y).
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
Here $h(Y)=-\mathbb{E}_{p(\mathbf{y})}\log p(\mathbf{y})$ denotes the entropy of $Y$ in the discrete case or the differential entropy in the continuous case. The models in Eq. \ref{eq:encoder_parametric} and Eq. \ref{eq:decoder_parametric} can be viewed as the encoder and decoder, respectively. Assuming a standard prior of the form $p(\mathbf{t})=\mathcal{N}(\mathbf{t};0,I)$ and a Gaussian distribution for the posterior $p_\phi(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x})$, the KL divergence in Eq. \ref{eq:encoder_parametric} becomes a KL divergence between two Gaussian distributions which can be expressed in analytical form as in \cite{kingmaWelling2013}. $I_\phi(T;X)$ can then be estimated on mini-batches of size $m$ as
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:vae_encoder}
I_\phi(\mathbf{t};\mathbf{x}) \approx \frac1m \sum_i D_{KL}\left(p_\phi(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x}_i)\| p(\mathbf{t}) \right).
\end{equation}
As for the decoder, $\mathbb{E}_{p(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y})} \mathbb{E}_{p_\phi(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x})}\log p_\theta(\mathbf{y}|\mathbf{t})$ in Eq. \ref{eq:decoder_parametric} is estimated using the reparametrisation trick proposed by \cite{kingmaWelling2013,rezende2014}:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:vae_decoder}
I_{\phi,\theta}(\mathbf{t};\mathbf{y}) = \mathbb{E}_{p(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y})} \mathbb{E}_{\boldsymbol{\varepsilon} \sim \mathcal{N}(0,I)} \sum_i \log p_{\theta}\left(\mathbf{y}_i|\mathbf{t}_i = \boldsymbol{\mu}_{i}(\mathbf{x}) + diag\left(\boldsymbol{\sigma}_i(\mathbf{x})\right) \boldsymbol{\varepsilon}\right) +\mbox{const.}
\end{equation}
Note that without loss of generality we can assume $Y=(Y',X)$ in Eq. \ref{eq:ib_parametricForm} and with $Y=X$ the original VAE is retrieved. The former will be used in the section \ref{subsec_ChemVAE} experiment where side information $Y'$ is available.
\subsection{Deep Archetypal Analysis}
Deep Archetypal Analysis can then be formulated in the following way. For the sampling of $\mathbf{t}_i$ in Eq. \eqref{eq:vae_decoder} the probabilistic AA approach as in Eq. \eqref{eq:probAT_1} can be used which leads to
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:deepAA_t}
\mathbf{t}_i \sim \mathcal{N}\left(\boldsymbol{\mu}_i(\mathbf{x})=\mathbf{a}_iZ,\,\boldsymbol{\sigma}_i^2(\mathbf{x}) \mathbf{I}\right),
\end{equation}
where the mean $\boldsymbol{\mu}_i$ given through $\mathbf{a}_i$ and variance $\boldsymbol{\sigma}_i^2$ are non-linear transformations of the data point $\mathbf{x}_i$ learned by the encoder. We note that the means $\boldsymbol{\mu}_i$ are convex combinations of weight vectors $\mathbf{a}_i$ and the archetypes $\mathbf{z}_{j=1..k}$ which in return are considered to be convex combinations of the means $\boldsymbol{\mu}_{i=1..m}$ and weight vectors $\mathbf{b}_j$.\footnote{Note that $i=1..m$ (and not up to $n$), which reflects that deep neural networks usually require batch-wise training with batch size $m$.} By learning weight matrices $A\in \mathbb{R}^{m\times k}$ and $B\in \mathbb{R}^{k\times m}$ which are subject to the constraints formulated in Eq. \eqref{eq:constraint_A_B} and parameterised by $\phi$, a non-linear transformation of data $X$ is learned which drives the structure of the latent space to form archetypes whose convex combination yield the transformed data points. A major difference to linear AA is that for \textit{DeepAA} we cannot identify the positions of the archetypes $\mathbf{z}_j$ as there is no absolute frame of reference in latent space. We thus position $k$ archetypes at the vertex points of a $(k-1)$-simplex and collect these \textit{fixed} coordinates in the matrix $Z^{\text{fixed}}$. These requirements lead to an additional archetypal loss of
\begin{equation}\label{eq:lossAT}
\ell_{\text{AT}} = ||Z^{\text{fixed}}-BAZ^{\text{fixed}}||_2^2 = ||Z^{\text{fixed}}-Z^{\text{pred}}||_2^2,
\end{equation}
where $Z^\text{pred} = BAZ^{\text{fixed}}$ are the \textit{predicted} archetype positions given the learned weight matrices $A$ and $B$. For $Z^\text{pred}\approx Z^\text{fixed}$ the loss function $\ell_{\text{AT}}$ is minimized and the desired archetypal structure is achieved. The objective function of \textit{DeepAA} is then given by
\begin{equation}
\max_{\phi,\theta} -I_{\phi}(\mathbf{t};\mathbf{x}) + \lambda I_{\phi,\theta}(\mathbf{t};\mathbf{y})-\ell_{\text{AT}}.
\label{eq:ib_DeepAA}
\end{equation}
A visual illustration of \textit{DeepAA} is given in Fig. \ref{fig:at-supervised-arch}. The constraints on $A$ and $B$ can be guaranteed by using softmax layers and \textit{DeepAA} can be trained with a standard stochastic gradient descent technique such as Adam \cite{KingmaB14}.
\begin{figure}[h]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=.48]{Illustration_deepAA.png}
\end{center}
\caption{Illustration of the \textit{DeepAA} model. \textbf{Encoder side}: Learning weight matrices $A$ and $B$ allows to compute the archetype loss $\ell_{AT}$ in Eq. \eqref{eq:lossAT} and sample latent variables $\mathbf{t}$ as described in Eq. \eqref{eq:deepAA_t}. The constraints on $A$ and $B$ in Eq. \eqref{eq:constraint_A_B} are enforced by using softmax layers. \textbf{Decoder side}: $Z^\text{fixed}$ represent the fixed archetype positions in latent space while $Z^\text{pred}$ are given by the convex hull of the transformed data point means $\mu$ during training. Minimizing $\ell_{AT}$ corresponds to minimizing the red dashed (pairwise) distances. The input is reconstructed from the latent variable $\mathbf{t}$. In the presence of side information, the latent representation allows to reproduce the side information $Y'$ as well as the input $X$.}
\label{fig:at-supervised-arch}
\end{figure}
\section{Experiments}
\label{sec_exp}
\subsection{Artificial Experiments}
\label{subsec_artificial}
\subsubsection{Data generation}
For our experiments we generate data $\mathbf{X}\in \mathbb{R}^{n\times 8}$ that are a convex mixture of $k$ archetypes $\mathbf{Z}\in \mathbb{R}^{k\times 8}$ with $k\ll n$. The generative process for the data $\mathbf{x_i}$ follows Eq. \eqref{eq:probAT_1} where $\mathbf{a}_i$ are stochastic weight vectors denoting the fraction of each of the $k$ archetypes $\mathbf{z}_j$ needed to represent the data point $\mathbf{x}_i$. Here, we generate $n=10000$ data points of which $k=3$ are true archetypes. We set the variance to $\sigma^2=0.05$. We embed our linear 3-dim data manifolfd in a $n=8$ dimensional space. Note that although classical and deep archetypal analysis is always performed on the full data set we only use a fraction of the data when visualizing our results.
\subsubsection{Linear archetypal analysis -- linear data}
Linear archetypal analysis is performed using the efficient Frank-Wolfe procedure proposed in \cite{bauck2015FW}. The input data is 8-dimensional and consequently the dimensionality of the archetypes is $\mathbf{Z}\in \mathbb{R}^{3\times 8}$. For visualization we then use PCA to recover the original 3-dimensional manifold. The first three principal components of the ground truth data are shown in Fig. \ref{fig:art1} as well as the computed archetypes (green triangles). The positions of the computed archetypes are in very good agreement with the ground truth.
\begin{figure}[h!]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=.3]{figs/classicAA_3AT_in_8dim.png}
\end{center}
\vspace{-1.8em}
\caption{PCA projection of 8-dim data after performing linear archetypal analysis. The original linear data submanifold is a convex combination of 3 archetypes.}
\label{fig:art1}
\end{figure}
In these experiments, the data generating process is known and the number of archetypes $k=3$ can be considered as an available \textit{side information}.
\subsubsection{Linear archetypal analysis -- non-linear data}
Introducing a non-linearity to the data, e.g. by applying the exponential to a dimension of $\mathbf{X}$, results in a curved data submanifold as shown in Fig. \ref{fig:curvedSubmanifold3ATs}.
\begin{figure}[h!]
\begin{subfigure}[t]{.48\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=.95\textwidth]{figs/nonLin_data_3_opt_lin_ats_B.png}
\caption{A curved 2-dim manifold. None of the three archetypes identified by linear archetypal analysis can be interpreted as extremes.}
\label{fig:curvedSubmanifold3ATs}
\end{subfigure}\hfill
\begin{subfigure}[t]{.48\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=.95\textwidth]{figs/nonLin_data_5_opt_lin_ats.png}
\caption{Linear archetypal analysis requires at least five archetypes to describe the data convex hull reasonably well.}
\label{fig:curvedSubmanifold5ATs}
\end{subfigure}
\caption{While linear archetypal analysis is in general able to approximate the data convex hull given a large enough number of archetypes, their interpretation as extremal elements is in general not ensured.}
\end{figure}
For example ratios of power or field quantities are usually measured in decibels which is the logarithm of the these ratios. An exponentiation, i.e. introducing a strictly monotone transform, should in general not change which data points are identified as archetypes nor the number of archetypes necessary to obtain a given loss value. Fig. \ref{fig:curvedSubmanifold3ATs} demonstrates that linear archetypal analysis is unable to recover the true archetypes on the same dataset used in the previous experiment but \textit{after} a strictly monotone transform had been applied. Moreover to obtain a similar reconstruction loss as for the \textit{linear} submanifold at least 5 archetypes are necessary as can be seen in Fig. \ref{fig:curvedSubmanifold5ATs}. Although the additional two archetypes are necessary to better aprroximate the data convex hull it would be counter-intuitive to interpret them as \textit{extremes} of the dataset.
\subsubsection{Non-linear archetypal analysis -- non-linear data}
Deep archetypal analysis \textit{without explicit} side information is used to learn a latent linear archetypal representation. We consider as implicit side information the knowledge that 3 archetypes were used to generate our artificial non-linear data and therefore chose a 2-dim latent space.
\begin{figure}[h!]
\begin{subfigure}[t]{.48\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=.95\textwidth]{figs/classicAA_3AT_in_8dim_nonlinear.png}
\caption{The first three principal components of a non-linear 8-dim manifold. Despite the curvature only three \textit{true} archetypes exist.}
\label{fig:deep_curvedSubmanifold3ATs}
\end{subfigure}\hfill
\begin{subfigure}[t]{.48\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=1.00\textwidth]{figs/latentSpace_3AT_in_8dim_nonlinear.png}
\caption{2-dim latent space learned by deep archetypal analysis. Side information used was the known number of archetypes.}
\label{fig:deepLatentSpce3ATs}
\end{subfigure}
\caption{Deep archetypal analysis maps the archetypes from data space onto the vertices of the simplex and conserves the stripe pattern visible in the data space.}
\end{figure}
In Fig. \ref{fig:deep_curvedSubmanifold3ATs} the first three principal components of the 8-dim data are shown. Data points have been colored according to the third principal component. In Fig. \ref{fig:deepLatentSpce3ATs} the learned latent space shows that the archetypes A, B and C have been mapped to the appropriate vertices of the latent simplex. Moreover the sequence of color stripes shown in Fig. \ref{fig:deep_curvedSubmanifold3ATs} has correctly been mapped into latent space. Within the latent space data points are again described as convex linear combinations of the latent archetypes. Latent data points can also be reconstructed in the original data space through the learned decoder network. The network architecture used for this experiment was a simple feedforward network (2 layered encoder and decoder), training for 20 epochs with a batch size of 100 and a learning rate of 0.001.
\subsection{Representation Learning for \textit{Microchiroptera}}
\label{subsec_deepBats}
Based on expert knowledge \textit{body mass} and \textit{wing aspect ratio} were chosen to be the two most important features relating to the \textit{dominant food habit} of Microchiroptera, see Fig. \ref{fig:bats138}. But \cite{norberg1987} have collected six additional measurements on each species. These are \textit{wing span, wing area, wing loading, tip length ratio, tip area ratio and tip shape index}. Arguably, more meaningful archetypes may be found by learning an appropriate representation based on \textit{all} available measurements. We use \textit{DeepAA} to learn such a representation. Our encoder is shown in Fig. \ref{fig:at-supervised-arch}. Both encoder and decoder are parametrized by two feed-forward neural networks with two hidden layers each. We train the VAE for 200 epochs (learning rate: $1\text{e-}3$, batch size: 60) in a side information setting with the \textit{dominant food habit} as the additional information.
\begin{figure}[h!]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=.385]{bats138_deep}
\end{center}
\vspace{-1.8em}
\caption{\textit{DeepAA} finds a organisation of species not unsimilar to linear AA: Insectivores and frugivores populate opposite ends of the Pareto front. But the interesting insight is the representation associated with the latent space ordering found by \textit{DeepAA}. While linear AA was forced to find the best possible representation in the space of \textit{Wing Aspect Ratio} and \textit{Body Mass}, \textit{DeepAA} was free to learn a representation which included two additional features, i.e. $Wing Loading$ and $Tip Shape Index$. Based on these features \textit{DeepAA} was able to learn a richer representation which is in much agreement with the finding of \cite{norberg1987}, as discussed in the paragraph \textit{Results and Discussion}.}
\label{fig:bats138_deep}
\end{figure}
In order to compare to the results based on linear AA, we choose the same number of archetypes as in Fig. \ref{fig:bats138}. The representation learned by \textit{DeepAA} is shown in Fig. \ref{fig:bats138_deep}. By running the latent \textit{Archetypes A, B} and \textit{C} through the decoder of our trained VAE we obtain three sets of eight \textit{generated} features. Each set represents the traits of an archetypal species in terms of the eight measures introduced by \cite{norberg1987}. For these three species we analyze by how much each feature changes. This allows us to deduce the most important measures characterizing the relation between \textit{food habit} and \textit{morphology}.
\begin{table
\caption{Characteristic traits of the archetypes identified in Fig. \ref{fig:bats138_deep} and the task each archetypal species is optimized to perform.}
\label{tbl_deep_traits}
\vskip 0.05in
\begin{center}
\begin{small}
\begin{sc}
\begin{tabular}{lcccr}
\toprule
Measure & importance & A & B & C \\
\midrule
total mass & 35\% & med & low & high \\
wing area & 30\% & low & med & high \\
wing loading & 15\% & low & med & high \\
wing span & 10\% & low & low & high \\
tip shape index & 10\% & high & med & low \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{sc}
\end{small}
\end{center}
\vskip -0.1in
\end{table}
\paragraph{Results and Discussion} Our results are shown in Table \ref{tbl_deep_traits}. For each measure we consider the largest relative change with respect to the archetypes and take the magnitude of these changes as a proxy for feature importance. Similar to Fig. \ref{fig:bats138}, we find that \textit{total mass} is the most important feature: The heavier a bat the more likely it is to be a frugivore -- a result consistent with linear AA. But in contrast to the linear case \textit{DeepAA} does not consider \textit{wing aspect ratio}. Instead \textit{wing area} and \textit{wing span} are deemed important. But as \textit{wing aspect ratio} is simply the square of the \textit{wing span} divided by the \textit{wing area}, one could argue that \textit{DeepAA} captures the influence of \textit{wing aspect ratio} nonetheless.
A novel insight produced by \textit{DeepAA} is the importance of two additional features, namely \textit{wing loading} and \textit{tip shape index}. According to \cite{norberg1987}, as wing loading increases, the bat must fly faster and expend more energy, and the range of accessible flight behavior is reduced. As \textit{Archetype A} has low \textit{wing loading}, thereby enabling various flight behaviors, it makes sense that this archetype can accommodate the largest variation in food habits, i.e. frugivore, nectarivore, insectivore, pescivore, carnivore and sanguivore are all found in proximity to \textit{Archetype A}. Regarding \textit{tip shape index}, \cite{norberg1987} find that it is inversely correlated with flight speed. They further state that flight speed increases significantly with \textit{wing loading}. As shown in Table \ref{tbl_deep_traits}, this is exactly the inverse relation learned by \textit{DeepAA} -- high \textit{wing loading} and low \textit{tip shape index} for \textit{Archetype A} while the inverse is true for \textit{Archetype C}. The learned representation is thus in very good agreement with the various trade-offs found by \cite{norberg1987}. But \textit{DeepAA} did not only find a richer and arguably more meaningful representation than linear AA, it also learned the appropriate scaling when combining the different features. By contrast, in linear AA one had to know \textit{beforehand} that \textit{total mass} would need to enter the model logarithmically.
\subsection{Generative Aspects and Model Selection}
\label{subsec_celebA}
\textit{DeepAA} allows to generate samples by specifying the mixture coefficients or proportions each archetype shall have in the make-up of a new sample. As a proof of concept, archetypal faces in the large-scale CelebFaces Attributes (CelebA) dataset \cite{celebA2015} are learned and new faces generated.\\
In our experiment we adopt the "Deep Feature Consistent Variational Autoencoder" proposed by \cite{dfc_vae} which makes use of a (feature) perceptual loss as the reconstruction loss. In our implementation, we use the VAE-123 model of the original paper with the modification as depicted in Fig. \ref{fig:at-supervised-arch}. We train our model with the Adam optimizer \cite{KingmaB14} at a learning rate of $0.0005$ and we set the first moment decay rate to $\beta_1=0.5$. Training is performed with a batch size of 64 for 10 epochs and 90\%/10\% split of the dataset for training/testing. In the experiment, no side information was used. In order to identify the appropriate number of archetypes we propose a model selection technique similar to the ''elbow'' method by \cite{hart2015}: The (minimal) reconstruction loss for different numbers of archetypes, evaluated on the test set, is recorded as shown in Fig. \ref{fig:celebA_IC}. The optimal number of archetypes is considered to be the point where the curve starts converging, which in our case is at 35 archetypes (archetypal faces can be found in the supplement). Fig. \ref{fig:celebA_seq_images} displays an exemplary interpolation of generated faces: Starting at the latent coordinates which represent the face of a young man we move along a straight line in direction of a vertex point of the latent space simplex. While moving along this line we decode, at regular intervals, a total of six latent samples.
\begin{figure}[!h]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{figs/celebA_sample-seq-1_AT-23_image-7.png}
\caption{Interpolation sequence towards an archetype representing an old man: While approaching the archetype (archetype B3 in the supplement), characteristic features of the archetypal face are reinforced.}
\label{fig:celebA_seq_images}
\end{figure}
\subsection{Exploring Chemical Spaces with Side Information}
\label{subsec_ChemVAE}
\textbf{Dataset:} As mentioned in the introduction, archetypal analysis lends itself to a distinctly evolutionary interpretation. Although this is certainly a more biological perspective, the basic principle can be transferred to other fields such as chemistry. In this experiment we explore the chemical space which is the space of all molecules that already exist or can be produced. As side information we use the \textit{heat capacity} $C_v$ which quantifies the amount of energy (in Joule) needed to increase 1 Mol of molecules by 1 K at constant volume. Here, a high $C_v$ is especially important for a huge number of applications such as thermal energy storage \cite{CABEZA20151106}. In our experiments, we use the QM9 dataset \cite{rama2014,rudd2012} which was calculated on ab initio DFT method based structures and properties of 134k organic molecules with up to nine atoms (C, O, N, or F), without counting hydrogen.
\begin{figure*}[!h]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.9\textwidth]{figs/interpolation.pdf}
\caption{Interpolation between two archetypes produced by our model. The label denote the molecules' heat capacity. While we show only one example, the same results can also be observed for other archetype combinations.}
\label{fig:interpolation}
\end{center}
\end{figure*}
\textbf{Set-up:} We extracted 204 features for every molecule by using the Chemistry Development Kit \cite{cdk}. The neural architectures used have 3 hidden layers with 1024, 512 and 256 neurons, respectively and ReLU activation functions. We train our model in a \textit{supervised} fashion, by reconstructing the molecule and the side information simultaneously. In Experiment 1, we continuously increase the number of latent dimensions to perform model selection. In Experiment 2 and 3, we fix the number of latent dimensions to 19 which corresponds to 20 archetypes. During training, we steadily increase the Lagrange multiplier $\lambda$ by 1.01 every 500 iterations. Our model is trained with the Adam optimizer \cite{KingmaB14} with an initial learning rate of 0.01. We decay the learning rate with an exponential decay by 0.95 every 10k iterations. In addition, we use a batch size of 2048 and train the model for 350k iterations. The dataset is divided in a training and test split of 90/10\%.
In \textbf{Experiment 1}, we asses the MAE error when varying the number of archetypes in Fig. \ref{fig:qm9selection}. In our case, we perform model selection by observing where the MAE converges (starting from 20 archetypes) to select the optimal number of archetypes. Obviously, if the number of archetypes is smaller, it becomes more difficult to reconstruct the data. This stems from the fact there exist a large number of molecules with almost the same heat capacity but with a different shape. Thus, molecules with different shapes are mapped to archetypes with the same heat capacity which makes it hard to resolve the many-to-one mapping in the latent space.
In \textbf{Experiment 2}, we identify archetypal molecules that are associated with a particular heat capacity. In this setting, we focus on 20 archetypes (Fig. \ref{fig:qm9selection}) to obtain the optimal exploration-exploitation trade-off. While focusing only on a small selection of archetypes, we provide the full list in the supplement. In chemistry, the heat capacity is defined as $C_v = \dfrac{d\epsilon}{dT} \bigm|_{v=const}$ where $\epsilon$ denotes the energy of a molecule and $T$ is the temperature. The energy can be further decomposed into $\epsilon = \epsilon^{Tr}+\epsilon^R+\epsilon^V+\epsilon^E$ where $Tr$ depicts translation, $R$ rotation, $V$ vibration and $E$ the electric contribution, respectively \cite{atkins2010atkins,tinoco2002physical}. Building upon this knowledge, we compare different archetypal molecules associated with a particular heat capacity (Fig. \ref{fig:comparisions}). Here, the rows correspond to archetypes and the columns depict the three closest test molecules to the archetype. In Fig. \ref{figure:case1} we illustrate two archetypes with a high and low heat capacity. The first row archetype has a lower heat capacity because of its shorter chain and more double bonds. Due to these properties, the archetype is more stable which results in a lower vibrational energy $V$ and subsequently in a lower heat capacity. Fig. \ref{figure:case2} plots both a non-linear and a linear archetypal molecule with the same atomic mass. Here, the linear molecule loses one of its rotational modes due to its geometry. Therefore, the second row archetype has a lower rotational energy $R$ compared to the first row archetype, leading to a lower heat capacity.
In \textbf{Experiment 3}, we focus on the interpolation between two archetypes. We do so by plotting the test samples which are closest to the linear connection between the two archetypes. Here, we observe a smooth transition from a ring molecule to a linear molecule with the same heat capacity. Along these archetypes, which both are similar in heat capacities but differ in shape, a molecule can only change its shape but it cannot go beyond a particular heat capacity. Results are shown in Fig. \ref{fig:interpolation}.
Finally, in \textbf{Experiment 4}, we demonstrate that our model structures latent spaces according to the side information provided. Consequently, a molecule being a mxiture of archetypes with respect to heat capacity might become archetypal with respect to another property. Here, we compare the discovered archetypes for two specific chemical properties, heat capacity and band gap energy. In Fig. \ref{fig:side}, we plot the archetypes with the highest and lowest heat capacity (Fig. \ref{figure:heatcap}) and the highest and lowest band gap energy (Fig. \ref{figure:gap}), respectively. The extreme archetypes significantly differ in their structure as well as their atomic composition based on their property. For example, the archetype with low heat capacity are rather small with only a few C and O atoms. In contrast, the archetype with a low band gap energy are composed as rings with N and H atoms. A more detailed comparison between all archetypes can be found in the supplement.
\begin{figure*}[!h]
\centering
\begin{subfigure}{0.45\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{figs/long_chain.pdf}
\caption{}\label{figure:heatcap}
\end{subfigure} \hspace{.35cm}
\begin{subfigure}{0.45\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{figs/gap_ext.pdf}
\caption{}\label{figure:gap}
\end{subfigure}
\caption{The panels illustrate a comparison between archetypes with side information with the highest and lowest property values. Here, the labels correspond to the heat capacity (a) and the band gap energy (b). The columns denote the molecules that are closest to a specific certain and the rows denote the archetypes. Panel (a) depicts archetypal heat capicity molecules and Panel (b) shows archetypal band gap energy molecules.}
\label{fig:side}
\end{figure*}
\section{Conclusion}
\label{sec_concl}
In this paper, we introduced a novel neural network based approach to learn a structured latent representation of a given dataset. The structure we impose onto the latent space allows to characterize this space through its most extremal or \textit{archetypal} representatives. In doing so, we build upon the linear AA approach and combine this concept with the deep IB principle to obtain a non-linear archetype model. In contrast to the classical approach our method offers three advantages: First, our model introduces a data-driven representation learning which reduces the dependence on expert knowledge. Second, we learn appropriate transformations to obtain meaningful archetypes even on non-linear data manifolds. Third, we are able to incorporate side information into the learning process. This counteracts overly flexible deep neural networks in order to identify meaningful archetypes with specific properties and facilitate an interpretable exploration of the latent space representations. Our experiment on the QM9 molecular dataset demonstrate the applicability of our method in an important real world setting.
\paragraph{\textbf{Acknowledgements.}}
S.K. is partially supported by the the Swiss National Science Foundation project CR32I2 159682. M.S. is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation grant 407540 167333 as part of the Swiss National Research Programme NRP 75 "Big Data". M.W. is partially supported by the NCCR MARVEL, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and SNSF grant 51MRP0158328 (SystemsX.ch).
\section{Introduction}
\label{sec_intro}
Archetypal analysis (AA) is of particular interest when a given data set is assumed to be a superposition of various populations or mechanisms. For a given number of $k$ archetypes, linear AA finds an optimal approximation of the data convex hull, i.e. a polytope, with respect to a given loss function. All data points can then be described as convex mixtures of these $k$ extreme points. In evolutionary biology this has led to the interpretation of archetypes as the representatives most adapted to a given task while non-archetypal representatives are described as mixtures of these extreme or pure types -- able to perform a variety of tasks but non of them optimally \cite{shoval2012}. We identified several limitations of the linear AA model which we would like to address. (I) For data points on a linear submanifold, e.g. a plane in $\mathbb{R}^2$, a strictly monotone transformation should in general have no influence on which points are identified as archetypes. But such a transformation would in fact introduce a non-zero curvature to that submanifold. As a consequence it would become impossible for \textit{linear} AA to approximate equally well the data convex hull, given the same number $k$ of archetypes as before. (II) Using linear AA to explore a dataset and uncover meaningful archetypes usually requires some form of prior knowledge. Either by knowing how many archetypes $k$ are necessary to have an acceptable trade-off between interpretability and error \textit{or} by having domain knowledge about which dimensions of the dataset can/should be omitted, scaled or combined. This procedure of injecting \textit{side information} to the exploration of a given dataset is unpractical at best, impossible even if no intuition about a given problem can be formed. Often side information is available in form of scalar labels, but of course side information could be any kind of richly structured data. When learning a representation of the data, linear AA offers no possibility to incorporate such side information by which to guide the selection of an optimal number of archetypes as well as the relevant dimensions. (III) Linear AA is non-generative. But especially the prospect of incorporating differentiated side information makes the ability to generate new samples -- conditioned on that side inormation -- more attractive. Closely related to that is the ability to interpolate which, in the sense of AA, would be expressed as a \textit{geometric} interpolation within a coordinate system spanned by the $k$ archetypes.\\
In the following we will propose solutions to these limitations in order to extend the area of applicability of AA. In short this entails recasting linear AA as a latent space model within the framework of the Deep Variational Information Bottleneck. Of course this means that our extension constitutes a non-linear version of AA. Extentions into non-linearity have been proposed in the past based on kernalization but such frameworks remain less flexible still in comparison to a learned deep network architecture. But with this increase in flexibility comes a certain trade-off: without side information to guide the learning of a meaningful latent representation the result might be without significance as increased flexibility implies a multitude of possible latent representations dependent only on the side information on which any learning process should therefore be conditioned.\\
\subsubsection{Literature} Linear ``Archetypal Analysis'' (AA) was first proposed by Adele Cutler and Leo Breiman \cite{cutlerBreiman1994}. Since its conception AA has known several advancements on the algorithmic as well as the application side. An extension to (non-linear) Kernel AA is proposed by \cite{bauck2014Kernel,morupKernelAA}, algorithmic improvements by adapting a Frank--Wolfe type algorithm to calculate the archetypes are made by \cite{bauck2015FW} and the extension by \cite{seth2016} introduces a probabilistic version of AA. Archetypal style analysis \cite{styleAA} applies AA to the learned image representations in deep neural networks for artistic style manipulation. In \cite{sand2012} the authors are concerned with model selection by asking for the optimal number of archetypes for a given dataset while \cite{kauf2015} addresses in part the shortcoming of AA we describe in the introduction under (ii). Although AA did not prevail as a commodity tool for pattern analysis it has for example been used by \cite{bauck2009ImgCol} to find archetypal images in large image collections or by \cite{can2015} to perform the analogous task for large document collections. For the human genotype data studied by \cite{huggins2007}, inferred archetypes are interpreted as representative populations for the measured genotypes. And in \cite{chan2003} AA is used to analyse galaxy spectra which are viewed as weighted superpositions of the emissions from stellar populations, nebular emissions and nuclear activity.
Our work builds upon Variational Autoencoders (VAEs), arguably the most prevalent representatives of the class of ``Deep Latent Variable Models''. VAEs were introduced by \cite{kingmaWelling2013,rezende2014} and use an inference network to perform a variational approximation of the posterior distribution of the latent variable. Important work in this direction include \cite{KingmaSemi,pmlrrezende15} and \cite{Jang}. More recently, \cite{alemi2016} has discovered a close connection between VAE and the Information Bottleneck principle \cite{tishby2000}. Here, the Deep Variational Information Bottleneck (DVIB) is a VAE where $X$ is replaced by $Y$ in the decoder. Subsequently, the DVIB has been extended in multiple directions such as sparsity \cite{2018arXiv180406216W} or causality \cite{2018arXiv180702326P}.\\
At the same time as our work, \textit{AAnet} was published by \cite{AAnet}. There the authors introduce a neural network based extentension of linear archetypal analysis on the basis of standard non-variational autoencoders. In their work two regularization terms, applied to an intermediate representation provide the latent archetypal convex representation of a non-linear transformation of the input. In contrast to our work which is based on probabilistic generative models (VAE, DVIB), \textit{AAnet} attempts to emulate the generative process by adding noise to the latent representation during training. Further, no side information is incorporated which can -- and in our opinion should -- be used to constrain potentially \textit{over-flexible} neural networks and guide the optimisation process towards learning a meaningful representation.
\subsubsection{Contribution}We propose \textit{Deep Archetypal Analysis} (DeepAA) which is a novel, non--linear extension of the original model proposed by \cite{cutlerBreiman1994}. By introducing \textit{DeepAA} within a DVIB framework we address several issues of the original model. Unlike the original model, \textit{DeepAA} (i) is able to identify meaningful archetypes even on non-linear data manifolds, (ii) does not rely on expert knowledge when combining relevant dimensions or learning appropriate transformations (e.g. scaling) and (iii) is able to incorporate side information into the learning process in order to regularize and guide the learning process towards meaningful latent representations. On a large scale experiment we demonstrate the usefulness of \textit{DeepAA} in a setting with side information on the QM9 dataset which contains the chemical structures and properties of 134 kilo molecules \cite{rudd2012,rama2014}. As modern chemistry and material science are increasingly concerned with material property prediction, we show that \textit{DeepAA} can be used to \textit{systematically} explore vast chemical spaces in order to identify starting points for further chemical optimisation.
\section{Method}
\label{sec_theo}
\subsection{Linear Archetypal Analysis}
Linear AA \cite{cutlerBreiman1994} is a form of non-negative matrix factorization where a matrix $X\in \mathbb{R}^{n\times p}$ of $n$ data vectors is approximated as $X\approx ABX = AZ$ with $A\in \mathbb{R}^{n\times k}$, $B\in \mathbb{R}^{k\times n}$, and usually $k < \min\{n,p\}$. In AA parlance, the \textit{archetype} matrix $Z\in \mathbb{R}^{k\times p}$ contains the $k$ archetypes $\mathbf{z}_1,..,\mathbf{z}_j,.., \mathbf{z}_k$ and the model is subject to the following constraints:
\begin{equation}\label{eq:constraint_A_B}
a_{ij} \geq 0 \text{ }\wedge\text{ } \sum_{j=1}^{k} a_{ij} = 1, \quad
b_{ji} \geq 0 \text{ }\wedge\text{ } \sum_{i=1}^{n} b_{ji} = 1
\end{equation}
Constraining the entries of $A$ and $B$ to be non-negative and demanding that both weight matrices are row stochastic, implies a representation of the data vectors $\mathbf{x}_{i=1..n}$ as a weighted sum of the rows of $Z$ while simultaneously representing the archetypes $\mathbf{z}_{j=1..k}$ themselves as a weighted sum of the $n$ data vectors in $X$:
\begin{equation} \label{eq:at_decomp}
\mathbf{x}_i \approx \sum_{j=1}^{k} a_{ij} \mathbf{z}_j = \mathbf{a}_i Z, \quad
\mathbf{z}_j = \sum_{i=1}^{n} b_{ji} \mathbf{x}_i = \mathbf{b}_j X
\end{equation}
Due to the constraints on $A$ and $B$ in Eq. \ref{eq:constraint_A_B} both the representation of $\mathbf{x}_i$ and $\mathbf{z}_j$ in Eq. \ref{eq:at_decomp} are \textit{convex} combinations. Therefore the archetypes approximate the data convex hull and increasing the number $k$ of archetypes improves this approximation. The central problem of AA is finding the weight matrices $A$ and $B$ for a given data matrix $X$.
A probabilistic formulation of linear AA is provided in \cite{seth2016} where it is observed that AA follows a simplex latent variable model and normal observation model. The generative process for the observations $\mathbf{x}_i$ in the presence of $k$ archetypes with archetype weights $\textbf{a}_i$ is given by
\begin{equation}\label{eq:probAT_1}
\mathbf{a}_i \sim \text{Dir}_k(\boldsymbol{\alpha}) \quad \text{ }\wedge\text{ } \quad
\mathbf{x}_i \sim \mathcal{N}(\mathbf{a}_iZ,\,\epsilon^2 \mathbf{I}),
\end{equation}
with uniform concentration parameters $\alpha_j = \alpha$ for all $j$ summing up to $\mathbf{1}^\top\boldsymbol{\alpha}=1$. That is the observations $\mathbf{x}_i$ are distributed according to an isotropic Gaussian with means $\boldsymbol{\mu}_i=\mathbf{a}_iZ$ and variance $\epsilon^2$.
\subsection{Deep Variational Information Bottleneck}
We propose a model to generalise linear AA to the non-linear case based on the Deep Variational Information Bottleneck framework since it allows to incorporate side information $Y$ by design and is known to be equivalent to the VAE in the case of $Y=X$, as shown in \cite{alemi2016}. In contrast to the data matrix $X$ in linear AA, a non-linear transformation $f(X)$ giving rise to a latent representation $T$ of the data suitable for (non-linear) archetypal analysis is considered. I.e. the latent representation $T$ takes the role of the data $X$ in the previous treatment.\\
The DVIB combines the information bottleneck (IB) with the VAE approach \cite{tishby2000,kingmaWelling2013}. The objective of the IB method is to find a random variable $T$ which, while compressing a given random vector $X$, preserves as much information about a second given random vector $Y$. The objective function of the IB is as follows
\begin{equation}
\mbox{min}_{p(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x})} I(X;T) - \lambda I(T;Y),
\label{eq:ib1}
\end{equation}
where $\lambda$ is a Lagrange multiplier and $I$ denotes the mutual information. Assuming the IB Markov chain $T-X-Y$ and a parametric form of Eq. \ref{eq:ib1} with parametric conditionals $p_\phi(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x})$ and $p_\theta(\mathbf{y}|\mathbf{t})$, Eq. \ref{eq:ib1} is written as
\begin{equation}
\max_{\phi,\theta} -I_{\phi}(\mathbf{t};\mathbf{x}) + \lambda I_{\phi,\theta}(\mathbf{t};\mathbf{y}).
\label{eq:ib_parametricForm}
\end{equation}
As derived in \cite{2018arXiv180406216W}, the two terms in Eq. \ref{eq:ib_parametricForm} have the following forms:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:encoder_parametric}
I_{\phi}(T;X) = D_{KL}\left( p_\phi(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x}) p(\mathbf{x}) \| p(\mathbf{t}) p(\mathbf{x})\right) = \mathbb{E}_{p(\mathbf{x})} D_{KL}\left(p_\phi(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x})\| p(\mathbf{t}) \right)
\end{equation}
and
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:decoder_parametric}
\begin{aligned}
I_{\phi,\theta}(T;Y) &=\ D_{KL}\left(\left[\int p(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{y},\mathbf{x})p(\mathbf{y},\mathbf{x})\, \mathrm{d}\mathbf{x} \right] \| p(\mathbf{t}) p(\mathbf{y})\right)\\
&=\ \mathbb{E}_{p(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y})} \mathbb{E}_{p_\phi(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x})}\log p_\theta(\mathbf{y}|\mathbf{t}) + h(Y).
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}
Here $h(Y)=-\mathbb{E}_{p(\mathbf{y})}\log p(\mathbf{y})$ denotes the entropy of $Y$ in the discrete case or the differential entropy in the continuous case. The models in Eq. \ref{eq:encoder_parametric} and Eq. \ref{eq:decoder_parametric} can be viewed as the encoder and decoder, respectively. Assuming a standard prior of the form $p(\mathbf{t})=\mathcal{N}(\mathbf{t};0,I)$ and a Gaussian distribution for the posterior $p_\phi(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x})$, the KL divergence in Eq. \ref{eq:encoder_parametric} becomes a KL divergence between two Gaussian distributions which can be expressed in analytical form as in \cite{kingmaWelling2013}. $I_\phi(T;X)$ can then be estimated on mini-batches of size $m$ as
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:vae_encoder}
I_\phi(\mathbf{t};\mathbf{x}) \approx \frac1m \sum_i D_{KL}\left(p_\phi(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x}_i)\| p(\mathbf{t}) \right).
\end{equation}
As for the decoder, $\mathbb{E}_{p(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y})} \mathbb{E}_{p_\phi(\mathbf{t}|\mathbf{x})}\log p_\theta(\mathbf{y}|\mathbf{t})$ in Eq. \ref{eq:decoder_parametric} is estimated using the reparametrisation trick proposed by \cite{kingmaWelling2013,rezende2014}:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:vae_decoder}
I_{\phi,\theta}(\mathbf{t};\mathbf{y}) = \mathbb{E}_{p(\mathbf{x},\mathbf{y})} \mathbb{E}_{\boldsymbol{\varepsilon} \sim \mathcal{N}(0,I)} \sum_i \log p_{\theta}\left(\mathbf{y}_i|\mathbf{t}_i = \boldsymbol{\mu}_{i}(\mathbf{x}) + diag\left(\boldsymbol{\sigma}_i(\mathbf{x})\right) \boldsymbol{\varepsilon}\right) +\mbox{const.}
\end{equation}
Note that without loss of generality we can assume $Y=(Y',X)$ in Eq. \ref{eq:ib_parametricForm} and with $Y=X$ the original VAE is retrieved. The former will be used in the section \ref{subsec_ChemVAE} experiment where side information $Y'$ is available.
\subsection{Deep Archetypal Analysis}
Deep Archetypal Analysis can then be formulated in the following way. For the sampling of $\mathbf{t}_i$ in Eq. \eqref{eq:vae_decoder} the probabilistic AA approach as in Eq. \eqref{eq:probAT_1} can be used which leads to
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:deepAA_t}
\mathbf{t}_i \sim \mathcal{N}\left(\boldsymbol{\mu}_i(\mathbf{x})=\mathbf{a}_iZ,\,\boldsymbol{\sigma}_i^2(\mathbf{x}) \mathbf{I}\right),
\end{equation}
where the mean $\boldsymbol{\mu}_i$ given through $\mathbf{a}_i$ and variance $\boldsymbol{\sigma}_i^2$ are non-linear transformations of the data point $\mathbf{x}_i$ learned by the encoder. We note that the means $\boldsymbol{\mu}_i$ are convex combinations of weight vectors $\mathbf{a}_i$ and the archetypes $\mathbf{z}_{j=1..k}$ which in return are considered to be convex combinations of the means $\boldsymbol{\mu}_{i=1..m}$ and weight vectors $\mathbf{b}_j$.\footnote{Note that $i=1..m$ (and not up to $n$), which reflects that deep neural networks usually require batch-wise training with batch size $m$.} By learning weight matrices $A\in \mathbb{R}^{m\times k}$ and $B\in \mathbb{R}^{k\times m}$ which are subject to the constraints formulated in Eq. \eqref{eq:constraint_A_B} and parameterised by $\phi$, a non-linear transformation of data $X$ is learned which drives the structure of the latent space to form archetypes whose convex combination yield the transformed data points. A major difference to linear AA is that for \textit{DeepAA} we cannot identify the positions of the archetypes $\mathbf{z}_j$ as there is no absolute frame of reference in latent space. We thus position $k$ archetypes at the vertex points of a $(k-1)$-simplex and collect these \textit{fixed} coordinates in the matrix $Z^{\text{fixed}}$. These requirements lead to an additional archetypal loss of
\begin{equation}\label{eq:lossAT}
\ell_{\text{AT}} = ||Z^{\text{fixed}}-BAZ^{\text{fixed}}||_2^2 = ||Z^{\text{fixed}}-Z^{\text{pred}}||_2^2,
\end{equation}
where $Z^\text{pred} = BAZ^{\text{fixed}}$ are the \textit{predicted} archetype positions given the learned weight matrices $A$ and $B$. For $Z^\text{pred}\approx Z^\text{fixed}$ the loss function $\ell_{\text{AT}}$ is minimized and the desired archetypal structure is achieved. The objective function of \textit{DeepAA} is then given by
\begin{equation}
\max_{\phi,\theta} -I_{\phi}(\mathbf{t};\mathbf{x}) + \lambda I_{\phi,\theta}(\mathbf{t};\mathbf{y})-\ell_{\text{AT}}.
\label{eq:ib_DeepAA}
\end{equation}
A visual illustration of \textit{DeepAA} is given in Fig. \ref{fig:at-supervised-arch}. The constraints on $A$ and $B$ can be guaranteed by using softmax layers and \textit{DeepAA} can be trained with a standard stochastic gradient descent technique such as Adam \cite{KingmaB14}.
\begin{figure}[h]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=.48]{Illustration_deepAA.png}
\end{center}
\caption{Illustration of the \textit{DeepAA} model. \textbf{Encoder side}: Learning weight matrices $A$ and $B$ allows to compute the archetype loss $\ell_{AT}$ in Eq. \eqref{eq:lossAT} and sample latent variables $\mathbf{t}$ as described in Eq. \eqref{eq:deepAA_t}. The constraints on $A$ and $B$ in Eq. \eqref{eq:constraint_A_B} are enforced by using softmax layers. \textbf{Decoder side}: $Z^\text{fixed}$ represent the fixed archetype positions in latent space while $Z^\text{pred}$ are given by the convex hull of the transformed data point means $\mu$ during training. Minimizing $\ell_{AT}$ corresponds to minimizing the red dashed (pairwise) distances. The input is reconstructed from the latent variable $\mathbf{t}$. In the presence of side information, the latent representation allows to reproduce the side information $Y'$ as well as the input $X$.}
\label{fig:at-supervised-arch}
\end{figure}
\section{Experiments}
\label{sec_exp}
\subsection{Artificial Experiments}
\label{subsec_artificial}
\subsubsection{Data generation}
For our experiments we generate data $\mathbf{X}\in \mathbb{R}^{n\times 8}$ that are a convex mixture of $k$ archetypes $\mathbf{Z}\in \mathbb{R}^{k\times 8}$ with $k\ll n$. The generative process for the data $\mathbf{x_i}$ follows Eq. \eqref{eq:probAT_1} where $\mathbf{a}_i$ are stochastic weight vectors denoting the fraction of each of the $k$ archetypes $\mathbf{z}_j$ needed to represent the data point $\mathbf{x}_i$. Here, we generate $n=10000$ data points of which $k=3$ are true archetypes. We set the variance to $\sigma^2=0.05$. We embed our linear 3-dim data manifolfd in a $n=8$ dimensional space. Note that although classical and deep archetypal analysis is always performed on the full data set we only use a fraction of the data when visualizing our results.
\subsubsection{Linear archetypal analysis -- linear data}
Linear archetypal analysis is performed using the efficient Frank-Wolfe procedure proposed in \cite{bauck2015FW}. The input data is 8-dimensional and consequently the dimensionality of the archetypes is $\mathbf{Z}\in \mathbb{R}^{3\times 8}$. For visualization we then use PCA to recover the original 3-dimensional manifold. The first three principal components of the ground truth data are shown in Fig. \ref{fig:art1} as well as the computed archetypes (green triangles). The positions of the computed archetypes are in very good agreement with the ground truth.
\begin{figure}[h!]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=.3]{figs/classicAA_3AT_in_8dim.png}
\end{center}
\vspace{-1.8em}
\caption{PCA projection of 8-dim data after performing linear archetypal analysis. The original linear data submanifold is a convex combination of 3 archetypes.}
\label{fig:art1}
\end{figure}
In these experiments, the data generating process is known and the number of archetypes $k=3$ can be considered as an available \textit{side information}.
\subsubsection{Linear archetypal analysis -- non-linear data}
Introducing a non-linearity to the data, e.g. by applying the exponential to a dimension of $\mathbf{X}$, results in a curved data submanifold as shown in Fig. \ref{fig:curvedSubmanifold3ATs}.
\begin{figure}[h!]
\begin{subfigure}[t]{.48\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=.95\textwidth]{figs/nonLin_data_3_opt_lin_ats_B.png}
\caption{A curved 2-dim manifold. None of the three archetypes identified by linear archetypal analysis can be interpreted as extremes.}
\label{fig:curvedSubmanifold3ATs}
\end{subfigure}\hfill
\begin{subfigure}[t]{.48\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=.95\textwidth]{figs/nonLin_data_5_opt_lin_ats.png}
\caption{Linear archetypal analysis requires at least five archetypes to describe the data convex hull reasonably well.}
\label{fig:curvedSubmanifold5ATs}
\end{subfigure}
\caption{While linear archetypal analysis is in general able to approximate the data convex hull given a large enough number of archetypes, their interpretation as extremal elements is in general not ensured.}
\end{figure}
For example ratios of power or field quantities are usually measured in decibels which is the logarithm of the these ratios. An exponentiation, i.e. introducing a strictly monotone transform, should in general not change which data points are identified as archetypes nor the number of archetypes necessary to obtain a given loss value. Fig. \ref{fig:curvedSubmanifold3ATs} demonstrates that linear archetypal analysis is unable to recover the true archetypes on the same dataset used in the previous experiment but \textit{after} a strictly monotone transform had been applied. Moreover to obtain a similar reconstruction loss as for the \textit{linear} submanifold at least 5 archetypes are necessary as can be seen in Fig. \ref{fig:curvedSubmanifold5ATs}. Although the additional two archetypes are necessary to better aprroximate the data convex hull it would be counter-intuitive to interpret them as \textit{extremes} of the dataset.
\subsubsection{Non-linear archetypal analysis -- non-linear data}
Deep archetypal analysis \textit{without explicit} side information is used to learn a latent linear archetypal representation. We consider as implicit side information the knowledge that 3 archetypes were used to generate our artificial non-linear data and therefore chose a 2-dim latent space.
\begin{figure}[h!]
\begin{subfigure}[t]{.48\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=.95\textwidth]{figs/classicAA_3AT_in_8dim_nonlinear.png}
\caption{The first three principal components of a non-linear 8-dim manifold. Despite the curvature only three \textit{true} archetypes exist.}
\label{fig:deep_curvedSubmanifold3ATs}
\end{subfigure}\hfill
\begin{subfigure}[t]{.48\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=1.00\textwidth]{figs/latentSpace_3AT_in_8dim_nonlinear.png}
\caption{2-dim latent space learned by deep archetypal analysis. Side information used was the known number of archetypes.}
\label{fig:deepLatentSpce3ATs}
\end{subfigure}
\caption{Deep archetypal analysis maps the archetypes from data space onto the vertices of the simplex and conserves the stripe pattern visible in the data space.}
\end{figure}
In Fig. \ref{fig:deep_curvedSubmanifold3ATs} the first three principal components of the 8-dim data are shown. Data points have been colored according to the third principal component. In Fig. \ref{fig:deepLatentSpce3ATs} the learned latent space shows that the archetypes A, B and C have been mapped to the appropriate vertices of the latent simplex. Moreover the sequence of color stripes shown in Fig. \ref{fig:deep_curvedSubmanifold3ATs} has correctly been mapped into latent space. Within the latent space data points are again described as convex linear combinations of the latent archetypes. Latent data points can also be reconstructed in the original data space through the learned decoder network. The network architecture used for this experiment was a simple feedforward network (2 layered encoder and decoder), training for 20 epochs with a batch size of 100 and a learning rate of 0.001.
\subsection{Representation Learning for \textit{Microchiroptera}}
\label{subsec_deepBats}
Based on expert knowledge \textit{body mass} and \textit{wing aspect ratio} were chosen to be the two most important features relating to the \textit{dominant food habit} of Microchiroptera, see Fig. \ref{fig:bats138}. But \cite{norberg1987} have collected six additional measurements on each species. These are \textit{wing span, wing area, wing loading, tip length ratio, tip area ratio and tip shape index}. Arguably, more meaningful archetypes may be found by learning an appropriate representation based on \textit{all} available measurements. We use \textit{DeepAA} to learn such a representation. Our encoder is shown in Fig. \ref{fig:at-supervised-arch}. Both encoder and decoder are parametrized by two feed-forward neural networks with two hidden layers each. We train the VAE for 200 epochs (learning rate: $1\text{e-}3$, batch size: 60) in a side information setting with the \textit{dominant food habit} as the additional information.
\begin{figure}[h!]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[scale=.385]{bats138_deep}
\end{center}
\vspace{-1.8em}
\caption{\textit{DeepAA} finds a organisation of species not unsimilar to linear AA: Insectivores and frugivores populate opposite ends of the Pareto front. But the interesting insight is the representation associated with the latent space ordering found by \textit{DeepAA}. While linear AA was forced to find the best possible representation in the space of \textit{Wing Aspect Ratio} and \textit{Body Mass}, \textit{DeepAA} was free to learn a representation which included two additional features, i.e. $Wing Loading$ and $Tip Shape Index$. Based on these features \textit{DeepAA} was able to learn a richer representation which is in much agreement with the finding of \cite{norberg1987}, as discussed in the paragraph \textit{Results and Discussion}.}
\label{fig:bats138_deep}
\end{figure}
In order to compare to the results based on linear AA, we choose the same number of archetypes as in Fig. \ref{fig:bats138}. The representation learned by \textit{DeepAA} is shown in Fig. \ref{fig:bats138_deep}. By running the latent \textit{Archetypes A, B} and \textit{C} through the decoder of our trained VAE we obtain three sets of eight \textit{generated} features. Each set represents the traits of an archetypal species in terms of the eight measures introduced by \cite{norberg1987}. For these three species we analyze by how much each feature changes. This allows us to deduce the most important measures characterizing the relation between \textit{food habit} and \textit{morphology}.
\begin{table
\caption{Characteristic traits of the archetypes identified in Fig. \ref{fig:bats138_deep} and the task each archetypal species is optimized to perform.}
\label{tbl_deep_traits}
\vskip 0.05in
\begin{center}
\begin{small}
\begin{sc}
\begin{tabular}{lcccr}
\toprule
Measure & importance & A & B & C \\
\midrule
total mass & 35\% & med & low & high \\
wing area & 30\% & low & med & high \\
wing loading & 15\% & low & med & high \\
wing span & 10\% & low & low & high \\
tip shape index & 10\% & high & med & low \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{sc}
\end{small}
\end{center}
\vskip -0.1in
\end{table}
\paragraph{Results and Discussion} Our results are shown in Table \ref{tbl_deep_traits}. For each measure we consider the largest relative change with respect to the archetypes and take the magnitude of these changes as a proxy for feature importance. Similar to Fig. \ref{fig:bats138}, we find that \textit{total mass} is the most important feature: The heavier a bat the more likely it is to be a frugivore -- a result consistent with linear AA. But in contrast to the linear case \textit{DeepAA} does not consider \textit{wing aspect ratio}. Instead \textit{wing area} and \textit{wing span} are deemed important. But as \textit{wing aspect ratio} is simply the square of the \textit{wing span} divided by the \textit{wing area}, one could argue that \textit{DeepAA} captures the influence of \textit{wing aspect ratio} nonetheless.
A novel insight produced by \textit{DeepAA} is the importance of two additional features, namely \textit{wing loading} and \textit{tip shape index}. According to \cite{norberg1987}, as wing loading increases, the bat must fly faster and expend more energy, and the range of accessible flight behavior is reduced. As \textit{Archetype A} has low \textit{wing loading}, thereby enabling various flight behaviors, it makes sense that this archetype can accommodate the largest variation in food habits, i.e. frugivore, nectarivore, insectivore, pescivore, carnivore and sanguivore are all found in proximity to \textit{Archetype A}. Regarding \textit{tip shape index}, \cite{norberg1987} find that it is inversely correlated with flight speed. They further state that flight speed increases significantly with \textit{wing loading}. As shown in Table \ref{tbl_deep_traits}, this is exactly the inverse relation learned by \textit{DeepAA} -- high \textit{wing loading} and low \textit{tip shape index} for \textit{Archetype A} while the inverse is true for \textit{Archetype C}. The learned representation is thus in very good agreement with the various trade-offs found by \cite{norberg1987}. But \textit{DeepAA} did not only find a richer and arguably more meaningful representation than linear AA, it also learned the appropriate scaling when combining the different features. By contrast, in linear AA one had to know \textit{beforehand} that \textit{total mass} would need to enter the model logarithmically.
\subsection{Generative Aspects and Model Selection}
\label{subsec_celebA}
\textit{DeepAA} allows to generate samples by specifying the mixture coefficients or proportions each archetype shall have in the make-up of a new sample. As a proof of concept, archetypal faces in the large-scale CelebFaces Attributes (CelebA) dataset \cite{celebA2015} are learned and new faces generated.\\
In our experiment we adopt the "Deep Feature Consistent Variational Autoencoder" proposed by \cite{dfc_vae} which makes use of a (feature) perceptual loss as the reconstruction loss. In our implementation, we use the VAE-123 model of the original paper with the modification as depicted in Fig. \ref{fig:at-supervised-arch}. We train our model with the Adam optimizer \cite{KingmaB14} at a learning rate of $0.0005$ and we set the first moment decay rate to $\beta_1=0.5$. Training is performed with a batch size of 64 for 10 epochs and 90\%/10\% split of the dataset for training/testing. In the experiment, no side information was used. In order to identify the appropriate number of archetypes we propose a model selection technique similar to the ''elbow'' method by \cite{hart2015}: The (minimal) reconstruction loss for different numbers of archetypes, evaluated on the test set, is recorded as shown in Fig. \ref{fig:celebA_IC}. The optimal number of archetypes is considered to be the point where the curve starts converging, which in our case is at 35 archetypes (archetypal faces can be found in the supplement). Fig. \ref{fig:celebA_seq_images} displays an exemplary interpolation of generated faces: Starting at the latent coordinates which represent the face of a young man we move along a straight line in direction of a vertex point of the latent space simplex. While moving along this line we decode, at regular intervals, a total of six latent samples.
\begin{figure}[!h]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{figs/celebA_sample-seq-1_AT-23_image-7.png}
\caption{Interpolation sequence towards an archetype representing an old man: While approaching the archetype (archetype B3 in the supplement), characteristic features of the archetypal face are reinforced.}
\label{fig:celebA_seq_images}
\end{figure}
\subsection{Exploring Chemical Spaces with Side Information}
\label{subsec_ChemVAE}
\textbf{Dataset:} As mentioned in the introduction, archetypal analysis lends itself to a distinctly evolutionary interpretation. Although this is certainly a more biological perspective, the basic principle can be transferred to other fields such as chemistry. In this experiment we explore the chemical space which is the space of all molecules that already exist or can be produced. As side information we use the \textit{heat capacity} $C_v$ which quantifies the amount of energy (in Joule) needed to increase 1 Mol of molecules by 1 K at constant volume. Here, a high $C_v$ is especially important for a huge number of applications such as thermal energy storage \cite{CABEZA20151106}. In our experiments, we use the QM9 dataset \cite{rama2014,rudd2012} which was calculated on ab initio DFT method based structures and properties of 134k organic molecules with up to nine atoms (C, O, N, or F), without counting hydrogen.
\begin{figure*}[!h]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.9\textwidth]{figs/interpolation.pdf}
\caption{Interpolation between two archetypes produced by our model. The label denote the molecules' heat capacity. While we show only one example, the same results can also be observed for other archetype combinations.}
\label{fig:interpolation}
\end{center}
\end{figure*}
\textbf{Set-up:} We extracted 204 features for every molecule by using the Chemistry Development Kit \cite{cdk}. The neural architectures used have 3 hidden layers with 1024, 512 and 256 neurons, respectively and ReLU activation functions. We train our model in a \textit{supervised} fashion, by reconstructing the molecule and the side information simultaneously. In Experiment 1, we continuously increase the number of latent dimensions to perform model selection. In Experiment 2 and 3, we fix the number of latent dimensions to 19 which corresponds to 20 archetypes. During training, we steadily increase the Lagrange multiplier $\lambda$ by 1.01 every 500 iterations. Our model is trained with the Adam optimizer \cite{KingmaB14} with an initial learning rate of 0.01. We decay the learning rate with an exponential decay by 0.95 every 10k iterations. In addition, we use a batch size of 2048 and train the model for 350k iterations. The dataset is divided in a training and test split of 90/10\%.
In \textbf{Experiment 1}, we asses the MAE error when varying the number of archetypes in Fig. \ref{fig:qm9selection}. In our case, we perform model selection by observing where the MAE converges (starting from 20 archetypes) to select the optimal number of archetypes. Obviously, if the number of archetypes is smaller, it becomes more difficult to reconstruct the data. This stems from the fact there exist a large number of molecules with almost the same heat capacity but with a different shape. Thus, molecules with different shapes are mapped to archetypes with the same heat capacity which makes it hard to resolve the many-to-one mapping in the latent space.
In \textbf{Experiment 2}, we identify archetypal molecules that are associated with a particular heat capacity. In this setting, we focus on 20 archetypes (Fig. \ref{fig:qm9selection}) to obtain the optimal exploration-exploitation trade-off. While focusing only on a small selection of archetypes, we provide the full list in the supplement. In chemistry, the heat capacity is defined as $C_v = \dfrac{d\epsilon}{dT} \bigm|_{v=const}$ where $\epsilon$ denotes the energy of a molecule and $T$ is the temperature. The energy can be further decomposed into $\epsilon = \epsilon^{Tr}+\epsilon^R+\epsilon^V+\epsilon^E$ where $Tr$ depicts translation, $R$ rotation, $V$ vibration and $E$ the electric contribution, respectively \cite{atkins2010atkins,tinoco2002physical}. Building upon this knowledge, we compare different archetypal molecules associated with a particular heat capacity (Fig. \ref{fig:comparisions}). Here, the rows correspond to archetypes and the columns depict the three closest test molecules to the archetype. In Fig. \ref{figure:case1} we illustrate two archetypes with a high and low heat capacity. The first row archetype has a lower heat capacity because of its shorter chain and more double bonds. Due to these properties, the archetype is more stable which results in a lower vibrational energy $V$ and subsequently in a lower heat capacity. Fig. \ref{figure:case2} plots both a non-linear and a linear archetypal molecule with the same atomic mass. Here, the linear molecule loses one of its rotational modes due to its geometry. Therefore, the second row archetype has a lower rotational energy $R$ compared to the first row archetype, leading to a lower heat capacity.
In \textbf{Experiment 3}, we focus on the interpolation between two archetypes. We do so by plotting the test samples which are closest to the linear connection between the two archetypes. Here, we observe a smooth transition from a ring molecule to a linear molecule with the same heat capacity. Along these archetypes, which both are similar in heat capacities but differ in shape, a molecule can only change its shape but it cannot go beyond a particular heat capacity. Results are shown in Fig. \ref{fig:interpolation}.
Finally, in \textbf{Experiment 4}, we demonstrate that our model structures latent spaces according to the side information provided. Consequently, a molecule being a mxiture of archetypes with respect to heat capacity might become archetypal with respect to another property. Here, we compare the discovered archetypes for two specific chemical properties, heat capacity and band gap energy. In Fig. \ref{fig:side}, we plot the archetypes with the highest and lowest heat capacity (Fig. \ref{figure:heatcap}) and the highest and lowest band gap energy (Fig. \ref{figure:gap}), respectively. The extreme archetypes significantly differ in their structure as well as their atomic composition based on their property. For example, the archetype with low heat capacity are rather small with only a few C and O atoms. In contrast, the archetype with a low band gap energy are composed as rings with N and H atoms. A more detailed comparison between all archetypes can be found in the supplement.
\begin{figure*}[!h]
\centering
\begin{subfigure}{0.45\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{figs/long_chain.pdf}
\caption{}\label{figure:heatcap}
\end{subfigure} \hspace{.35cm}
\begin{subfigure}{0.45\textwidth}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{figs/gap_ext.pdf}
\caption{}\label{figure:gap}
\end{subfigure}
\caption{The panels illustrate a comparison between archetypes with side information with the highest and lowest property values. Here, the labels correspond to the heat capacity (a) and the band gap energy (b). The columns denote the molecules that are closest to a specific certain and the rows denote the archetypes. Panel (a) depicts archetypal heat capicity molecules and Panel (b) shows archetypal band gap energy molecules.}
\label{fig:side}
\end{figure*}
\section{Conclusion}
\label{sec_concl}
In this paper, we introduced a novel neural network based approach to learn a structured latent representation of a given dataset. The structure we impose onto the latent space allows to characterize this space through its most extremal or \textit{archetypal} representatives. In doing so, we build upon the linear AA approach and combine this concept with the deep IB principle to obtain a non-linear archetype model. In contrast to the classical approach our method offers three advantages: First, our model introduces a data-driven representation learning which reduces the dependence on expert knowledge. Second, we learn appropriate transformations to obtain meaningful archetypes even on non-linear data manifolds. Third, we are able to incorporate side information into the learning process. This counteracts overly flexible deep neural networks in order to identify meaningful archetypes with specific properties and facilitate an interpretable exploration of the latent space representations. Our experiment on the QM9 molecular dataset demonstrate the applicability of our method in an important real world setting.
\paragraph{\textbf{Acknowledgements.}}
S.K. is partially supported by the the Swiss National Science Foundation project CR32I2 159682. M.S. is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation grant 407540 167333 as part of the Swiss National Research Programme NRP 75 "Big Data". M.W. is partially supported by the NCCR MARVEL, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and SNSF grant 51MRP0158328 (SystemsX.ch).
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaArXiv"
}
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\section{Introduction}
The integrity of elections is crucial to the functioning of democratic
institutions. As a result, a large body of work has focused on the
robustness of elections to various forms of control, where a malicious
party attempts to manipulate election results, for example, by bribing
voters and adding or removing votes. While it is important to
understand the vulnerability of elections to such control, there are
many countries where blatant tampering is (fortunately) uncommon. For
instance, outright voter fraud is very rare in the United States federal
and state elections
\cite{ahlquist2014alien,christensen2014identifying}.
However, more subtle forms of election control may attempt to subvert
legitimate information channels towards malicious means.
For example, political advertising and news (in the editorial form) are common
legitimate means for convincing prospective voters.
Such communication, when sufficiently transparent, is often critical to the effective functioning of
democracy, and can exert considerable influence on voting behavior \cite{gerber2009does,dellavigna2007fox,brader2005striking}.
Malicious control over information promulgated through these channels
can thus have considerable impact, but is also difficult to achieve
due to the relative transparency of traditional media sources.
The increasing importance of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, for propagating information,
including about political issues
\cite{chi2011twitter,wattal2010web,holcomb2013news}, is a game
changer.
Both the decentralized nature of information sources on social media,
and their associated lack of transparency, present malicious parties
with an unprecedented opportunity to influence a democratic
political process.
Recent evidence of deliberate election tampering in the 2016 US
presidential election through \emph{fake news}---deliberately
falsified news content---suggests that this
issue is a major concern for election integerity for years
to come~\cite{allcott2017social}.
For example, it is estimated that the typical American adult saw at least one fake news story during the election cycle \cite{allcott2017social}, and such stories have been shown to impact voters' judgment \cite{pennycook2017prior}.
Motivated by these concerns, we initiate the first algorithmic study
of the problem of \emph{election control through social influence}.
In our setting, there is a social network of voters who elect a single
winner by plurality vote. An outside party may select a subset of
nodes as \emph{seed nodes} for a news story or advertisement. Each of
these seed nodes shares the story with their friends. Each friend has
some probability of being influenced in their voting preferences, as
well as sharing the story further. The question is whether, given a limited budget, the attacker can influence enough voters to ensure that a target candidate wins or loses the election.
This problem is closely related to \emph{influence maximization},
which has been studied primarily in the context of viral
advertising. There, the objective is simply to maximize the expected
number of people who receive a message. While influence
maximization admits a simple $(1 - 1/e)$-approximation algorithm,
election control through social influence presents a number of new
algorithmic challenges. We study both constructive and destructive
control for two different objectives: 1) maximizing the expected
margin by which a target candidate wins (loses) the election
(\emph{margin of victory}, or MOV), and 2) maximizing the probability
that a target candidate wins (loses) election (\emph{probability of
victory}, or POV).
\noindent{\bf Summary of main results:}
We provide a mix of negative (hardness and inapproximability) and
positive (algorithmic) results for the problem of election control
through social influence.
Our main contributions are the following:
\begin{itemize}
\item We show that the MOV objective in the two candidate case is monotone submodular and hence admits a $(1 - 1/e)$ greedy approximation algorithm.
\item We prove that the POV objective is hard to approximate
to within \emph{any} multiplicative factor for both
constructive and destructive control, even in elections with
only two candidates.
\item We provide a bicriteria approximation algorithm for the
POV objective in the two-candidate case.
In fact, our algorithm applies to the more general problem of maximizing the probability that a submodular function exceeds a given threshold value and may be of general interest.
\item In the multicandidate case, we provide algorithms which
achieve similar guarantees as the two-candidate case up to
the loss of a constant factor (independent of
the number of candidates). Such guarantees hold for both
constructive and destructive control, for both the MOV and POV objectives.
\item We give mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulations for all of the above settings which can be used to find optimal solutions.
\item We experimentally compare our approximation algorithms
to the optimal strategies produced by the MILP. Despite
formal hardness results, our approximation algorithms often
find near-optimal solutions, particularly for the MOV objective. This suggests that computational hardness may not always be a practical barrier to controlling elections via social influence.
\end{itemize}
\section{Related work}
Our work is closely related to two research areas:
election control and influence maximization. These bodies of work are
separate: to our knowledge there is no previous work which considers
election control \emph{using} social influence. The computational
study of election control was started by Bartholdi et al.\
\cite{bartholdi1992hard}, who considered constructive control. The
destructive control setting was introduced by Hemaspaandra et al.\
\cite{hemaspaandra2007anyone}. A large body of work has studied
election control under different settings and voting rules
\cite{conitzer2007elections,erdelyi2009sincere} including bribing
voters
\cite{faliszewski2009hard,faliszewski2009llull,baumeister2015complexity,erdelyi2017complexity,yang2016hard},
adding or deleting voters
\cite{erdelyi2015more,loreggia2015controlling,faliszewski2011multimode,liu2009parameterized},
and adding or deleting candidates
\cite{chen2015elections,faliszewski2011multimode,liu2009parameterized}. Another
topic is strategic behavior on the part of the voters themselves \cite{meir2008complexity,obraztsova2012optimal,obraztsova2013manipulation}. The main difference between our work and previous work on election control is that we introduce and analyze social influence as a novel mechanism for both constructive and destructive control.
There is a large, parallel literature devoted to influence maximization in social networks. This line of work was introduced by Kempe et al. \cite{kempe2003maximizing} who introduced influence maximization in the independent cascade model and proposed a greedy algorithm based on submodularity. Since then, a number of newer algorithms have been proposed, mostly attempting to scale up the greedy algorithm to very large graphs \cite{chen2010scalable,cohen2014sketch,tang2014influence,goyal2011celf++}. Subsequent work has also introduced several related settings, e.g., continuous time dynamics \cite{rodriguez2012influence,du2013scalable}, bandit settings where dynamics are learned over time \cite{chen2013combinatorial,lei2015online,carpentier2016revealing}, or robust problems where influence probabilities are uncertain \cite{heRobust2016,chen2016robust,lowalekar2016robust,wilder2017uncharted}. None of this work considers using social influence to control an election, and our setting brings a range of new technical challenges. Almost all work on influence maximization is founded on submodularity of the objective function. However, even though we use the same model of influence spread, objectives related to election control often violate submodularity, and we need to develop new algorithmic techniques. We mention here work by Krause et al.\ \cite{krause2008robust} on robust submodular optimization. For optimizing the POV objective, we use a similar form of surrogate objective. However, our objective is to maximize the \emph{probability} of a desired outcome, not the worst-case value, so both our final algorithm and analysis are novel.
\section{Problem formulation}
We consider an election with candidates $C = \{c_*, c_1, c_2, ... c_\ell\}$. $c_*$ is a special target candidate, and the objective of the election control problem is to make $c_*$ either win the election (constructive control) or lose (destructive control). The voters are the nodes of a graph $G = (V, E)$. Each voter $v$ has an ordering $\pi_v$ over the candidates and casts a vote for $\pi_v(1)$, i.e., their first ranked candidate. We assume that voters do not behave strategically. The winner is decided via the plurality rule (the candidate with the most votes wins the election). If there is a tie, we say that the attacker fails. This tie-breaking does not impact any of our results. Let $V_{c_i}^{j} = \{v \in V: \pi_v(j) = c_i\}$ be the set of voters who rank candidate $c_i$ in place $j$. Initially, $c_i$ has $|V_{c_i}^1|$ votes.
\textbf{Social influence: }There is an attacker who wishes to change the results of the election by spreading messages which cause voters to change their ordering over candidates. In \emph{constructive control}, the attacker can spread a message which causes any voter $v$ who becomes influenced to promote $c_*$ by one place in $\pi_v$ (exchanging $c_*$ with the candidate previously ranked above them). If $\pi_v(c_*) = 1$, the message has no effect on $v$, but $v$ may still decide to share the message with their neighbors. In \emph{destructive control}, a voter who is influenced demotes $c_*$ by one place in $\pi_v$. Influence spreads via the independent cascade model (ICM), the most common model in the influence maximization literature. Each edge $(u,v) \in E$ has a propagation probability $p_{u,v}$. If $u$ is influenced, it makes one attempt to influence each neighbor $v$. Each attempt succeeds independently with probability $p_{u,v}$. The attacker may select a set of $k$ \emph{seed nodes} who are influenced at the start of the process. The diffusion then proceeds in discrete time steps until no new activations are made.
We also introduce a useful alternate view of the ICM, the \emph{live-graph} model. We can equivalently see the ICM as removing each edge $(u,v)$ from the graph with probability $1 - p_{u,v}$. A node is influenced if it is reachable from any seed node via the edges that remain. Call any specific setting of present/absent edges a scenario $y$, with induced graph $G_y$. Let $m = 2^{|E|}$ be the total number of scenarios. Let $f(S, y)$ denote the number of nodes which are reachable from any seed node in $S$ on graph $G_y$. The expected number of nodes influenced under the ICM is just $f(S) = \E_y\left[f(S, y)\right]$. Similarly, the probability that the number of influenced nodes exceeds any threshold value $\Delta$ is $\pr_y\left[f(S, y) \geq \Delta\right]$. At times, we will want to specifically reason about the probability some subset of $V$ is influenced. For any $A \subseteq V$, let $f(S, y, A)$ denote the number of nodes in $A$ reachable from $S$ in scenario $y$. Analogously, $f(S, A) = \E_y[f(S, y, A)]$. We remark that such functions can be evaluated up to arbitrary precision by averaging over random samples for $y$. For simplicity, we ignore such issues here since they are well understood \cite{tang2014influence,chen2010scalable,cohen2014sketch}.
\textbf{Objectives: }We now formally introduce our two objectives, starting with the simpler two-candidate case. In a two-candidate election, constructive and destructive control are clearly equivalent since maximizing the probability that $c_*$ loses is the same as maximizing the probability that the other candidate wins (and vice versa). Hence, we study only constructive control without loss of generality.
In the margin of victory (MOV) objective, we want to maximize the expected number of votes by which $c_*$ wins the election. We define our objective as the \emph{change} in the expected margin:
\begin{align*}
\text{MOV}(S) = 2 \E_y\left[f(S, y, V_{c_*}^2)\right].
\end{align*}
The factor 2 is present since reaching a voter in $V_{c_*}^2$ both adds a vote for $c_*$ and removes a vote for the opponent. We study the expected change in the margin (not the margin itself) so that approximation ratios are well defined even when the margin is negative.
In the probability of victory (POV) objective, we want to maximize the probability that $c_*$ wins the election. Let $\Delta = \frac{1}{2}\left(|V_{c_1}^1| - |V_{c_*}^1|\right) +1$ be the number of voters that $c_*$ needs to reach in order to win the election. The POV objective is
\begin{align*}
\text{POV}(S) = \pr_y\left[f(S, y, V_{c_*}^2) \geq \Delta\right]
\end{align*}
which is just the probability that at least $\Delta$ of the voters who have $c_*$ in second place are reached.
In the multicandidate case, constructive and destructive control are no longer equivalent. Further, the impact of messages is more complex than before. E.g., in constructive control not only does $c_*$ gain a vote, but another candidates loses a vote; we need to keep track of the number of votes lost by each other candidate.
We start out by defining functions which give the change in the margin between $c_*$ and another candidate $c_i$ in a given scenario $y$ when seed set $S$ is chosen. Let $\chi(v, S, y)$ be 1 if node $v$ is reachable from seed set $S$ in the graph $G_y$. The change in margin (in constructive and destructive control, respectively) is given by
\begin{align*}
&g_C(S, y, c_i) = \sum_{v \in V_{c_*}^2 \setminus V_{c_i}^1} \chi(v, S, y) + 2\sum_{v \in V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c_i}^1} \chi(v, S, y)\\
&g_D(S, y, c_i) = \sum_{v \in V_{c_*}^1 \setminus V_{c_i}^2} \chi(v, S, y) + 2\sum_{v \in V_{c_*}^1 \cap V_{c_i}^2} \chi(v, S, y)
\end{align*}
which gives value 2 for every node that is flipped from $c_i$ to $c_*$ (or vice versa) and hence count double towards the margin, and 1 for other nodes. Based on this, we now give expressions for the change in margin given any fixed scenario $y$ and seed set $S$. We start with constructive control. Note that before any intervention, the margin is just $\max_{c_i} |V_{c_i}^1| - |V_{c_*}^1|$. Afterwards, the margin is $\max_{c_j} |V_{c_j}^1| - g_C(S, y, c_j) - |V_{c_*}^1|$. Hence, the change in margin is
\begin{align*}
m_C(S, y) &= \left[\max_{c_i} |V_{c_i}^1| - |V_{c_*}^1|\right] - \left[\max_{c_j} |V_{c_j}^1| - g_C(S, y, c_j) - |V_{c_*}^1|\right]\\
&= \min_{c_j} \left(g_C(S, y, c_j) + \max_{c_i} |V_{c_i}^1| - \left|V_{c_j}^1\right|\right).
\end{align*}
That is, the change in margin is driven by candidate with largest starting vote ($|V_{c_j}^1|$) and smallest loss in vote $(g_C(S, y, c_j))$. Now considering all scenarios $y$, the constructive control objectives are
\begin{align*}
\text{MOV}_C(S) = \E_y\left[m_C(S, y)\right] \quad \text{POV}_C(S) = \pr_y\left[m_C(S, y) \geq \Delta_C\right].
\end{align*}
where $\Delta_C = \max_{c_i} |V_{c_i}^1| - |V_{c_*}^1| + 1$ is the necessary change in margin for $c_*$ to win. For destructive control, we can similarly write the change in margin and corresponding objectives as
\begin{align*}
&m_D(S, y) = \max_{c_i} \left(g_D(S, y, c_i) + |V_{c_i}^1|\right) - \max_{c_j} |V_{c_j}^1|\\
&\text{MOV}_D(S) = \E_y\left[m_D(S, y)\right] \quad\quad \text{POV}_D(S) = \pr_y\left[m_D(S, y) \geq \Delta_D \right].
\end{align*}
\noindent where $\Delta_D = |V_{c_*}^1| - \max_{c_i} |V_{c_i}^1| + 1$.
\section{Elections with two candidates}
We start with elections with only two candidates. Recall that in this setting, constructive and destructive control are equivalent, so our results are stated only for constructive control (trying to ensure $c_*$ wins the election). In order to state our algorithmic results, we first introduce some background on submodular optimization and influence maximization. A set function $f : V \to R$ is submodular if for all $A \subseteq B \subseteq V$ and all $x \not\in B$, $f(A \cup \{x\}) - f(A) \geq f(B \cup \{x\}) - f(B)$. Intuitively, submodularity formalizes the property of diminishing returns. The function $f(S)$ which gives the expected number of nodes reached by $S$ under the independent cascade model is known to be monotone submodular. It is well known that whenever $f$ is a monotone submodular function, the greedy algorithm gives a $(1 - 1/e)$-approximation to the problem $\max_{|S| \leq k} f(S)$.
It is natural to hope that submodularity would transfer to our election control objectives $\text{MOV}$ and $\text{POV}$. Our first result is that submodularity does in fact hold for the $\text{MOV}$ objective with two candidates. Previous results for influence maximization do not directly apply because the $\text{MOV}$ objective only counts nodes who have $c_*$ in second place. Nevertheless, similar reasoning applies.
\begin{algorithm}
\caption{Algorithms for MOV objective} \label{alg:mov}
\begin{algorithmic}[1]
\Function{Greedy}{$h$, $k$}
\Let{$S$}{$\emptyset$}
\While{$|S| < K$}
\Let{$v$}{$\arg\max_{v \in V \setminus S} h(S \cup \{v\}) - h(S)$}
\Let{$S$}{$S \cup \{v\}$}
\EndWhile
\State\Return $S$
\EndFunction
\Function{MOVConstructive}{$k$}
\State $h(S) \coloneq \E_y\left[f(S, y, V_{c_*}^2)\right]$
\State\Return \textsc{Greedy}($h$, $k$)
\EndFunction
\Function{MOVDestructive}{$k$}
\State $h(S) \coloneq \E_y\left[f(S, y, V_{c_*}^1)\right]$
\State\Return \textsc{Greedy}($h$, $k$)
\EndFunction
\end{algorithmic}
\end{algorithm}
\begin{algorithm}
\caption{Algorithms for POV objective} \label{alg:pov}
\begin{algorithmic}[1]
\Function{EnumerateThreshold}{$h$, $\Delta$, $k$}
\For{$\beta = \Delta...n$}
\State $h'(S) \coloneq \E_y\left[\min\left(\beta, h(S, y)\right)\right]$
\State $S_\beta = $ \textsc{Greedy}$(h', k)$
\EndFor
\State\Return $\arg\max_{S_\beta, \beta = \Delta....n} \text{Pr}_y\left[h(S_\beta, y) \geq \Delta\right]$
\EndFunction
\Function{POVConstructive}{$k$}
\State //recall $m_C(S, y) = \E_y\left[f(S, y, V_{c_*}^2)\right]$ for 2-candidate case
\State\Return \textsc{EnumerateThreshold}($m_C$, $\Delta_C$, $k$)
\EndFunction
\Function{POVDestructive}{$k$}
\State\Return \textsc{EnumerateThreshold}($m_D$, $\Delta_D$, $k$)
\EndFunction
\end{algorithmic}
\end{algorithm}
\begin{theorem}
In an election with two candidates, $\text{MOV}$ is a monotone submodular function. \label{theorem:movsubmodular}
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}
We first fix a particular scenario $y$ and show that the function $f(\cdot, y, V_{c_*}^2)$ is submodular. This suffices to show that $\E_y[f(\cdot, y, V_{c_*}^2)]$ is submodular since a nonnegative linear combination of submodular functions remains submodular. Monotonicity is clear since adding additional seeds to $A$ can only make more nodes reachable. To show submodularity, we can write the marginal gain as
\begin{align*}
f(A \cup \{x\}, y, V_{c_*}^2) - f(A, y, V_{c_*}^2) = \sum_{v \in V_{c_*}^2} (1 - \chi(v, A, y)) \chi(v,\{x\}, y).
\end{align*}
Compare the above expression for a set $A$ and any $B \supseteq A$. For any single node $v$, $\chi(v, B, y) = 1$ whenever $\chi(v, A, y) = 1$. Hence, the term in the above summation for each node $v$ can only be smaller for $f(B \cup \{x\}, y, V_{c_*}^2) - f(B, y, V_{c_*}^2)$ than for $f(A \cup \{x\}, y, V_{c_*}^2) - f(A, y, V_{c_*}^2)$. We conclude that $f(A \cup \{x\}, y, V_{c_*}^2) - f(A, y, V_{c_*}^2) \geq f(B \cup \{x\}, y, V_{c_*}^2) - f(B, y, V_{c_*}^2)$ and submodularity now follows by taking the expectation over $y$.
\end{proof}
Hence, we can apply a greedy algorithm to $\text{MOV}$ to obtain a $(1 - 1/e)$-approximation (\textsc{MOVConstructive} in Algorithm \ref{alg:mov}). Moreover, this ratio is tight since $\text{MOV}$ contains regular influence maximization as a special case when all nodes have $c_*$ in second place ($V_{c_*}^2 = V$). It is NP-hard to approximate influence maximization with ratio better than $1 - 1/e$ \cite{kempe2003maximizing}. Hence, two-candidate $\text{MOV}$ is computationally intractable with respect to exact optimization but high quality and efficient approximation algorithms exist.
We now turn to the $\text{POV}$ objective, where we maximize the \emph{probability} that $c_*$ wins the election. It is natural to think that submodularity may also carry over to this setting. However, this is not the case; we can provide a simple counterexample where $\text{POV}$ violates submodularity. Consider $n$ isolated nodes, where $\frac{n}{2} - k + 1$ have $c_*$ as their first choice. Hence, to win the election it is necessary and sufficient to influence $k$ nodes, which can be accomplished by any choice of $k$ seeds from among those with $c_*$ as their second choice. Fix a seed set $B$ containing $k-1$ of these nodes and consider any $A \subset B$ (that is, $A$ is strictly smaller). We have $\text{POV}(B) = \text{POV}(A) = 0$. By adding a node $v \in V_{c_*}^2\setminus B$ to $B$, we have $\text{POV}(B \cup \{v\}) - \text{POV}(B) = 1$. However, since $|A| < k-1$, $\text{POV}(A \cup \{v\}) = 0$ and hence $\text{POV}(A \cup \{v\})- \text{POV}(A) = 0$. This contradicts the definition of submodularity. Essentially, the $\text{POV}$ objective displays a sharp threshold behavior, where additional seed nodes have no value until we are close to winning. This behavior in fact translates into the following strong hardness result:
\begin{theorem}
It is NP-hard to compute an $\alpha$-approximation to the problem $\max_{|S| \leq k} \text{POV}(S)$ for any $\alpha > 0$, even for two candidates and even when the instance is deterministic. \label{theorem:povhard}
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}
We consider a deterministic objective: the ICM with all propagation probabilities either 0 or 1. Without loss of generality, we have only a single scenario and will drop the dependence on $y$ in $f$. Suppose that we have an $\alpha$-approximation for $\text{POV}$-maximization. We show how we can use this algorithm to optimally solve the influence maximization problem (i.e., maximizing $f(\cdot, V)$), which is known to NP-hard since it includes maximum coverage as a special case. Let $OPT_{IM}$ be the optimal value of the influence maximization problem and $OPT_{POV}(\Delta)$ be the optimal value for Problem 1 with the given threshold. Fix any $\Delta > 0$. If $\Delta \leq OPT_{IM}$, then there is a set $S$ with $\text{POV}(S) = 1$ and hence $OPT_{POV}(\Delta) = 1$. Otherwise, there is no set with value $\Delta$ and $OPT_{POV}(\Delta) = 0$. Since the objective to the $\text{POV}$ problem is either 0 or 1, any $\alpha$-approximation algorithm for it must return 1 whenever $OPT_{POV}(\Delta) = 1$. Now, we can just enumerate over $\Delta = 1...n$, where $n$ is the number of nodes in the graph. At each value of $\Delta$, we ask the $\alpha$-approximation algorithm to solve the $\text{POV}$ maximization problem with that value of $\Delta$. We return the solution corresponding to the highest value of $\Delta$ for which we can find a set with $f(S, V) \geq \Delta$. By the above, this set is an optimal solution to the influence maximization problem.
\end{proof}
We remark that since this hardness result has broader implications. Recall that $\text{POV}(S) = \pr_y\left[f(S, y, V_{c_*}^2) \geq \Delta\right]$ where by Theorem \ref{theorem:movsubmodular}, $f(S, y, V_{c_*}^2)$ is a submodular function. Therefore, the inapproximability result in Theorem \ref{theorem:povhard} shows that it is in general hard to approximate the problem of of maximizing the probability that a submodular function exceeds a given threshold value. This is a natural objective in other domains, e.g. for a risk-averse decision maker who wants to control the probability of a bad outcome.
We pair this hardness result with a positive algorithmic result regarding bicriteria approximations. A bicriteria approximation algorithm gives up solution quality in more than one dimension, and is of interest when hardness results preclude the usual notion of approximation (as for our problem). We provide an algorithm which has a solution quality guarantee whenever the election is winnable by a ``large margin". That is, there is a seed set with high probability of greatly exceeding $\Delta$ votes. Our algorithm will attempt to maximize the probability of exceeding exactly $\Delta$ votes, but has a guarantee relative to the optimal value for threshold $\frac{1}{\alpha}\Delta$ for some $\alpha < 1$. That is, it is only compared to the optimal value of a harder problem.
Our algorithm is a greedy strategy based on the surrogate function $h(S) = \E_y\left[\min\{\beta, f(S, y, V_{c_*}^2)\}\right]$, where $\beta$ is a chosen threshold value. The intuition is to replace the sharp discontinuity of the original $\text{POV}$ objective by a surrogate which interpolates smoothly up to the threshold $\beta$. However, we do not give any ``credit" for nodes reached beyond $\beta$ since (unlike in the $\text{MOV}$ case) we only care about crossing the threshold. It is easy to see that the minimum of a submodular function and a constant is itself submodular \cite{krause2008robust}. Hence, $h$ is submodular and amenable to greedy optimization. \textsc{POVConstructive} (Algorithm \ref{alg:pov}) iterates over a series of possible thresholds for $h$, optimizes each one greedily, and outputs the best of the resulting seed sets. Specifically, it tries every value of $\beta$ from $\Delta...n$. For each $\beta$, it finds a seed set $S_\beta$ by greedily optimizing $\E_y\left[\min\{\beta, f(S, y, V_{c_*}^2)\}\right]$ (Algorithm \ref{alg:pov}, Lines 3-4). Then, it outputs the $S_\beta$ which maximizes $\pr_y\left[f(S_\beta, y, V_{c_*}^2) \geq \Delta\right]$, i.e., the one which has the best probability of exceeding the true objective (Line 5).
The reason that we need to enumerate over values for $\beta$, instead of just using the true threshold $\Delta$, is that optimizing the surrogate $h$ might result in a solution which has value below $\beta$ in every scenario. However, we can show that if $OPT(\beta)$ is high, there must be many scenarios where $S_\beta$ has value close to $\beta$ (a notion formalized in our proof). Hence, if we try a sufficiently large $\beta > \Delta$ and $OPT(\beta)$ is still high, there must be many scenarios with value at least $\Delta$. This is formalized in the following guarantee:
\begin{theorem}
In an election with two candidates, \textsc{POVConstructive} produces a solution $S$ such that
$$
\pr_y[f(S, y, V_{c_*}^2) \geq \Delta] \geq \max_{0 < \alpha < 1} \frac{\left(1 - \frac{1}{e}\right) OPT_{POV}\left(\frac{1}{\alpha}\Delta\right) - \alpha}{1 - \alpha}
$$ \label{theorem:povbicriteria}
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}
\textsc{POVConstructive} enumerates over values of $\alpha$ by trying thresholds $\beta = \Delta...n$. Fix a specific $\beta$ and set $\alpha = \frac{\Delta}{\beta}$. We will prove that $\pr_y[f(S_\beta, y, V_{c_*}^2) \geq \Delta] \geq \frac{\left(1 - \frac{1}{e}\right) OPT_{POV}\left(\frac{1}{\alpha}\Delta\right) - \alpha}{1 - \alpha}$. This suffices the prove the theorem because we output the best of the $S_\beta$. A minor point is that the theorem takes the max over $0 < \alpha <1$, while we try only the discrete points $\alpha = \frac{\Delta}{\Delta}, \frac{\Delta}{\Delta+1}, ..., \frac{\Delta}{n}$. However, these are equivalent because $f(S, y, V_{c_*}^2)$ is always integral.
We divide the set of scenarios into those where the $S_\beta$ has value at least $\alpha \beta$ and those where it has less value. Let $A = \{y: f(S_\beta, y, V_{c_*}^2) \geq \alpha \beta\}$ and $B = \{y: f(S_\beta, y, V_{c_*}^2) < \alpha \beta\}$. We have
\begin{align*}
&\frac{1}{m}\sum_{y\in A} \min\{\beta, f(S_\beta, y, V_{c_*}^2)\} + \frac{1}{m}\sum_{y \in B} \min\{\beta, f(S_\beta, y, V_{c_*}^2)\}\\ &\geq \left(1 - \frac{1}{e}\right) \max_{|S| \leq k} h(S) \,\, \geq \left(1 - \frac{1}{e}\right) \beta m \cdot OPT_{POV}(\beta)
\end{align*}
where the first inequality follows from submodularity and the second follows since the solution attaining value $OPT_{POV}(\beta)$ for the POV maximization problem is a feasible solution to the problem $\max_{|S| \leq k}h(S)$ which has value at least $\beta m \cdot OPT_{POV}(\beta)$. We are interested in the minimum possible size of $A$ given that the total value is lower bounded as above. By inspection, $|A|$ is minimized when $\min\{\beta, f(S, y)\} = \beta$ for each $y \in A$ and $f(S, y) = \alpha \beta$ for each $y \not\in A$. In this case, we have
\begin{align*}
\frac{|A|}{m} + \alpha\left(1 - \frac{|A|}{m}\right) \geq \left(1 - \frac{1}{e}\right) OPT_{POV}(\beta)
\end{align*}
and hence
\begin{align*}
&\frac{|A|}{m} = \frac{1}{m}\sum_{i = 1}^m 1[f(S_\beta, y, V_{c_*}^2) \geq \alpha \beta] = \pr_y\left[f(S_\beta, y, V_{c_*}^2) \geq \Delta\right]\\
&\geq \frac{\left(1 - \frac{1}{e}\right) OPT_{POV}\left(\frac{1}{\alpha}\Delta\right) - \alpha}{1 - \alpha}
\end{align*}
which completes the proof.
\end{proof}
Theorem \ref{theorem:povbicriteria} in fact applies to the general problem of maximizing the probability that a submodular function exceeds a threshold value (complementing our hardness result in Theorem \ref{theorem:povhard}). As discussed above, this may be of interest independently of election control.
\section{Multiple candidates}
We now consider election control with more than two candidates. There is a target candidate $c_*$ and other candidates $c_1...c_\ell$. Note that constructive and destructive control are distinct in this setting. We will give algorithms for both cases for both the MOV and POV objectives.
The problem becomes significantly harder in the multicandidate setting because we must now reason simultaneously about several objectives -- whether each alternate candidate $c_i$ will accumulate more votes that $c_*$. We demonstrate that, up to the loss of a constant in the approximation ratio, it suffices to concentrate only on the number of votes gained or lost by $c_*$ (not the margin against each $c_i$ individually). This concept yields (bicriteria) approximation algorithms for each setting along the lines of the two-candidate case.
We start out with the $\text{MOV}_C$ objective (constructive control for the margin of victory), since the idea is simpler to illustrate in this case. The basic intuition is that the change in margin between candidate $c_i$ and $c_*$ can be re-expressed as follows:
\begin{align*}
g_C(S, y, c_i) &= \sum_{v \in V_{c_*}^2 \setminus V_{c_i}^1} \chi(v, S, y) + 2\sum_{v \in V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c_i}^1} \chi(v, S, y)\\
&= f\left(S, y, V_{c_*}^2\right) + f\left(S, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c_i}^1\right)
\end{align*}
Now, we can express the final margin in scenario $y$ as
\begin{align*}
m_C(S, y) = f\left(S, y, V_{c_*}^2\right) + \min_{c_j} \left(f\left(S, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c_j}^1\right) + \max_{c_i} |V_{c_i}^1| - \left|V_{c_j}^1\right|\right)
\end{align*}
where the first term is common to all candidates and reflects the total number of voters who switch to $c_*$ and the min term selects the $c_{j}$ who has the most remaining votes. In general, this second term can be very difficult to approximate because it is the minimum of submodular functions, which is not in general submodular (or even approximable \cite{krause2008robust}). We might hope that there is some special structure to the election control problem, but this is not the case:
\begin{theorem}
For any $\epsilon > 0$, it is NP-hard to compute any $\Omega\left(\frac{1}{n^{1 - \epsilon}}\right)$-approximation to the problem
\begin{align*}
\max_{|S| \leq k}\min_{c_j} \left(f\left(S, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c_i}^1\right) + \max_{c_i} |V_{c_i}^1| - |V_{c_j}^1|\right)
\end{align*}
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}
We will consider instances where all of the $c_j$ start with an equal number of votes and so $\max_{c_i} |V_{c_i}^1| - |V_{c_j}^1| = 0$ for all $c_j$. Thus, the problem is just $\max_{|S| \leq k}\min_{c_j} f\left(S, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c_i}^1\right)$. We reduce from the robust influence maximization (RIM) problem \cite{heRobust2016,chen2016robust}. In RIM, we are given a set of objectives $f_1...f_r$, each of which represent expected influence spread in an instance of the independent cascade model on a common underlying graph $G$. He and Kempe \cite{heRobust2016} show that it is NP-hard to compute $\Omega\left(\frac{1}{n^{1 - \epsilon}}\right)$-approximation to the problem $\max_{|S| \leq k} \min_{i = 1...r} f_i(S)$. Their proof holds when each $f_i$ is deterministic (assigns probability 0 or 1 to each edge), so we will assume that the instance is in this form. Let $G_i$ be a graph in which each edge of $G$ assigned probability 0 by $f_i$ has been removed. We create a graph $G'$ as follows. $G'$ contains each $G_i$ as a disconnected subgraph. For every $v \in G$, we add a vertex $v'$ to $G'$. $v'$ has an outgoing edge to the copy of node $v$ in each of the $G_i$ subgraphs. Each such edge has propagation probability 1. There is a target candidate $c_*$ and $r$ additional candidates $c_1...c_r$. Each of the $v'$ nodes that were added has $c_*$ as their first choice. Each node in subgraph $G_i$ has $c_{i}$ as their first choice and $c_*$ as their second choice.
Suppose that we have an $\alpha$-approximation algorithm for our problem for some $\alpha = \Omega\left(\frac{1}{n^{1 - \epsilon}}\right)$. Without loss of generality, we will assume that this algorithm only selects nodes from the $v'$ (since if a seed set contains the copy of $v$ in any subgraph, we can only obtain greater influence spread by exchanging it for $v'$). Note that, for any such set of seed nodes, $f_i(S) = f(S, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c_i}^1)$ Thus, if $S$ is an $\alpha$-approximate solution for our problem, it is also an $\Omega\left(\frac{1}{n^{1 - \epsilon}}\right)$-approximate solution to the RIM problem.
\end{proof}
Therefore, we should not hope for any algorithm which can closely approximate the entirety of the objective; the $\min$ component is too difficult to handle. However, we can leverage the fact that the first term, $f(S, y, V^2_{c_*})$, is easy to optimize because it is just a submodular function. Hence, the objective is the sum of an easy term and a hard term. Importantly, we can show that optimizing just the easy term (which is what \textsc{MOVConstructive} does) is sufficient to obtain a constant factor approximation.
\begin{theorem}
\textsc{MOVConstructive} obtains a $\frac{1}{3}\left(1 - \frac{1}{e}\right)$- approximation to the $\text{MOV}_C$ problem with any number of candidates. \label{theorem:mov-c}
\end{theorem}
\begin{proof}
Let $c(S, y) = \arg\min_{c_i} f(V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c_i}^1) - |V_{c_i}^1|$ be the candidate achieving the minimum in the definition of $m_C$. Let $S^*$ be an optimal seed set. Note that for all scenarios $y$, seed sets $S$, and candidates $c_i$, $f(S, y, V_{c_*}^2) \geq f(S, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c_i}^1)$. Hence, we have
\begin{align*}
\E_y\Big[f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^2\right)\Big] &\geq \frac{1}{3} \E_y\Big[f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^1\right) + f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^1 \cap V_{c(S^*, y)}^1\right) \\&\quad\quad\quad\quad\quad\quad\quad\quad+ f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^1 \cap V_{c(S, y)}^1\right)\Big]\\
\end{align*}
Note that $\E_y[f(\cdot, y, V_{c_*}^2)]$ is a monotone submodular function, which \textsc{MOVConstructive} greedily maximizes. Let $S$ be the resulting seed set. We have
\begin{align*}
&\E_y\Big[f\left(S, y, V_{c_*}^2\right) + f\left(S, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c(S, y)}^1\right)\Big] \\&\geq \E_y\Big[f\left(S, y, V_{c_*}^2\right)\Big]\\
&\geq \frac{1}{3}\left(1 - \frac{1}{e}\right) \E_y\Big[f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^2\right) + f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c(S^*, y)}^1\right) + f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c(S, y)}^1\right)\Big]
\end{align*}
which allows us to bound the margin of victory relative to $S^*$ as
\allowdisplaybreaks
\begin{align*}
\text{MOV}_C(S) &= \E_y\Big[f\left(S, y, V_{c_*}^2\right) + \min_{c_j}f\left(S, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c_j}^1\right) + \max_{c_i} |V_{c_i}^1| - |V_{c_j}^1|\Big]\\
&=\E_y\Big[f\left(S, y, V_{c_*}^2\right) + f\left(S, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c(S, y)}^1\right)\Big] + \max_{c_i} |V_{c_i}^1| - \E_y\Big[|V_{c(S, y)}^1|\Big]\\
&\geq \frac{1}{3}\left(1 - \frac{1}{e}\right) \E_y\Big[f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^1\right) + f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c(S^*, y)}^1\right) + f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c(S, y)}^1\right)\Big] + \max_{c_i} |V_{c_i}^1| - \E_y\Big[|V_{c(S, y)}^1|\Big]\\
\end{align*}
and some additional algebra (deferred to the appendix) yields
\begin{align*}
&\text{MOV}_C(S) \geq \frac{1}{3}\left(1 - \frac{1}{e}\right)\Bigg(\text{MOV}_C(S^*) + \E_y\Big[f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c(S, y)}^1\right) + |V_{c(S^*, y)}^1| - |V_{c(S, y)}^1|\Big]\Bigg).
\end{align*}
Now by definition of $c(S^*, y)$, $f(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c(S^*, y)}^1) - |V_{c(S^*, y)}^1| \leq f(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c(S, y)}^1) - |V_{c(S, y)}^1|$ and so
\begin{align*}
|V_{c(S^*, y)}^1|- |V_{c(S, y)}^1| \geq f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c(S^*, y)}^1\right) - f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c(S, y)}^1\right)
\end{align*}
This yields
\begin{align*}
&\text{MOV}_C(S) \geq \frac{1}{3}\left(1 - \frac{1}{e}\right)\Bigg(\text{MOV}_C(S^*) + \E_y\Big[f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c(S, y)}^1\right) \\&\quad\quad\quad\quad\quad+f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c(S^*, y)}^1\right) - f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c(S, y)}^1\right)\Big]\Bigg)\\
&=\frac{1}{3}\left(1 - \frac{1}{e}\right)\Bigg(\text{MOV}_C(S^*) + \E_y\Big[f\left(S^*, y, V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c(S^*, y)}^1\right)\Big]\Bigg)\\
&\geq \frac{1}{3}\left(1 - \frac{1}{e}\right)\text{MOV}_C(S^*).
\end{align*}
\end{proof}
We also have a corresponding result for the destructive control case. Here, we can rewrite the change in margin as $m_D(S, y) = f(S, y, V_{c_*}^1) + \max_{c_i} \left(f(S, y, V_{c_*}^1 \cap V_{c_i}^2) + |V_{c_i}^1| - \max_{c_j} |V_{c_j}^1|\right)$. \textsc{MOVDestructive} greedily optimizes the submodular function $\E_y\left[f(S, y, V_{c_*}^1)\right]$, which we show is a good surrogate for $\E_y\left[m_D(S, y)\right]$.
\begin{theorem}
\textsc{MOVDestructive} obtains a $\frac{1}{2}\left(1 - \frac{1}{e}\right)$-approximation to the multicandidate $\text{MOV}_D$ problem. \label{theorem:mov-d}
\end{theorem}
The proof, which is similar to that of Theorem \ref{theorem:mov-c}, can be found in the appendix.
Now, we extend these ideas to obtain similar guarantees for the $\text{POV}_C$ and $\text{POV}_D$ objectives. Starting with $\text{POV}_C$, recall that our objective is to maximize $\pr_y\left[m_C(S, y) \geq \Delta_C\right]$, the probability that the change in margin exceeds the number of votes needed to win. We will prove a guarantee for the same algorithm \textsc{POVConstructive} as from the two-candidate case. Recall that \textsc{POVConstructive} optimizes the surrogate $\E_y\left[\min\left(\beta, f\left(S, y, V_{c_*}^2\right)\right)\right]$, enumerating over possible values of the threshold $\beta$. We have the following bicriteria approximation guarantee:
\begin{theorem}
Let $OPT(\Delta)$ denote the optimal value of the problem $\max_{|S| \leq k} \pr_y\left[m_C(S, y) \geq \Delta\right]$. Let $S$ be the set produced by \textsc{POVConstructive}. We have
\begin{align*}
\text{POV}_C(S) \geq \max_{0 < \alpha < 1} \frac{\frac{e-1}{3e-1} OPT\left(\frac{1}{\alpha} \Delta_C\right) - \alpha}{1 - \alpha}
\end{align*} \label{theorem:povc}
\end{theorem}
The proof can be found in the appendix. The main difference from the two candidate case is that we do not directly optimize $\frac{1}{m}\sum_y \min\left(\beta, m_C(S, y)\right)$ since it may no longer be submodular. Instead, we greedily optimize the submodular surrogate function $\frac{1}{m}\sum_y \min\left(\beta, f(S, y, V_{c_*}^2)\right)$ and show that this surrogate approximates $\frac{1}{m}\sum_y \min\left(\beta, m_C(S, y)\right)$. From there, the same argument as in Theorem \ref{theorem:povbicriteria} extends to the multicandidate case. Analogous reasoning also yields a bicriteria guarantee for destructive control:
\begin{theorem}
Let $OPT(\Delta)$ denote the optimal value of the problem $\max_{|S| \leq k} \pr_y\left[m_D(S, y) \geq \Delta\right]$. Let $S$ be the set produced by \textsc{POVDestructive}. We have
\begin{align*}
\text{POV}_D(S) \geq \max_{0 < \alpha < 1} \frac{\frac{e-1}{3e-1} OPT(\frac{1}{\alpha} \Delta) - \alpha}{1 - \alpha}
\end{align*} \label{theorem:povd}
\end{theorem}
\section{Exact solutions via mixed-integer programming}
Thus far, we have only considered approximation algorithms for election control, motivated by computational hardness results for exact optimization. Now we give mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) formulations to find exact solutions. This serves two purposes. First, it allows us to study the effectiveness of election control for problem instances with are within the range of state of the art MILP solvers. Second, we can determine the empirical effectiveness of the approximation algorithms proposed in earlier sections.
There are two principal difficulties in obtaining MILP formulations. First, the objective is stochastic, ranging over an exponential number of scenarios. Second, even for a single fixed scenario, the number of nodes reached by a seed set is a nonlinear function.
We first show how to linearize the problem when have only a single scenario $y$. Recall that $y$ corresponds to a sampled graph $G_y$, where every edge $e$ is removed independently with probability $1 - p_e$. Our MILP will have a binary variable $s_v \in \{0,1\}$ for each node $v \in V$, where $s_v = 1$ indicates that $v$ is a seed node. We will maximize an objective over all $s_v \in \{0,1\}^{|V|}$ which satisfy $\sum_{v \in V} s_v \leq k$ (at most $k$ nodes are seeded). The challenge is to embed the nonlinear objective into the constraints of the MILP. Let $x^y_v, v \in V$ be a binary variable indicating whether $v$ is influenced in scenario $y$. We must constrain $x^y_v$ to be 1 only if $v$ truly is reachable in $G_y$ from some node with $s_v = 1$. To accomplish this, let $R(v, y)$ be the set of nodes which have a directed path to $v$ in scenario $y$. $R(v, y)$ does not depend on the decision variables $s$ and can easily precomputed. Using this set, we constrain the $x$ variables as:
\begin{align*}
x^y_v \leq \sum_{u \in R(v, y)} s_u \quad \forall v \in V.
\end{align*}
Now we deal with stochasticity in the objective using sample average approximation. We first sample a set of scenarios $G_{y_i}, i = 1...r$, maintaining a separate copy $x_v^{y_i}$ for each sampled scenario. Finally, we average over the variables in each scenario to obtain the final objective.
\subsection{Formulations}
Using these components, we now give concrete formulations for each of the problem instances that we consider. We will assume that scenarios $y_1...y_r$ have been sampled, where $r$ is a tunable parameter trading off computational cost and sampling error.
\subsubsection{Constructive control}
We create a variable $g_C(y_i, c_j)$ for each scenario $y_i$ and candidate $c_j$ which represents the change in the margin between $c_j$ and $c_*$ in scenario $y_i$. Using these variables, we set a variable $m_C(y_i)$ for each scenario $y_i$ which represents the overall change in margin. These variables are set using the constraints
\begin{align*}
g_C(y_i, c_j) \leq \sum_{v \in V_{c_*}^2} x_v^{y_i} + \sum_{v \in V_{c_*}^2 \cap V_{c_j}^1} x_v^{y_i}\\
m_C(y_i) \leq g_C(y_i, c_j) + \max_{c_i} |V_{c_i}^1| - |V_{c_j}^1| \forall i,j
\end{align*}
Using these variables, we have the following MILP to maximize the MOV:
\begin{align*}
&\max_{s, x, g_C, m_C} \frac{1}{r}\sum_{i = 1}^r m_C(y_i)\\
&\sum_{v \in V} s_v \leq k
\end{align*}
The next formulation maximizes the POV:
\begin{align*}
&\max_{s, x, g_C, m_C, u} \frac{1}{r}\sum_{i = 1}^r u_i\\
&-M(1 - u_i) + \max_{c_i} |V_{c_i}^1| - |V_{c_*}^1| + 1 - m_C(y_i) \leq 0\\
&\sum_{v \in V} s_v \leq k, \quad u_i \in \{0,1\} \quad i = 1...r
\end{align*}
Here, $u_i$ is a binary variable representing whether $c_*$ wins the election in scenario $y_i$, while $M$ is a large number.
\subsubsection{Destructive control}
Now, we use an analogous set of constraints to set variables $g_D(y_i, c_j)$ and $m_D(y_i)$:
\begin{align*}
&g_D(y_i, c_j) \leq \sum_{v \in V_{c_*}^1} x_v^{y_i}+ \sum_{v \in V_{c_*}^1 \cap V_{c_j}^2} x_v^{y_i}\\
&-M(1 - z_i^j) + m_D(y_i) - \left(g_D(y_i, c_j) + |V_{c_j}^1| - \max_k |V_{c_k}^1|\right) \leq 0 \quad \forall i,j\\
&\sum_j z_i^j \geq 1 \,\,\forall i, \quad z_i^j \in \{0,1\} \,\,\forall i, j
\end{align*}
The second and third constraints use a new set of binary variables $z_i^j$, where $z_i^j = 1$ indicates that in scenario $y_i$, $m_D(y_i)$ is at most the change in margin between $c_j$ and $c_*$. The constraint $\sum_j z_i^j \geq 1$ requires that $m_D(y_i)$ must be bounded by one such value, and so can be at most the maximum margin. With these variables in place, the MOV and POV MILPs are analogous to those for constructive control.
\section{Experiments}
\newcommand{\ra}[1]{\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{#1}}
\begin{table*}\centering
\ra{1.3}
\caption{Percent of MILP value obtained by approximation algorithm.}\label{table:mov-approx}
\begin{tabular}{@{}rrrrcrrrcrrrccrr@{}}\toprule
& \multicolumn{3}{c}{netscience} & \phantom{abc}& \multicolumn{3}{c}{facebook} &
\phantom{abc} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{polblogs} & \phantom{abc} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{irvine}\\
\cmidrule{2-4} \cmidrule{6-8} \cmidrule{10-12} \cmidrule{14-16}
$k = $ & $25$ & $50$ & $100$ && $25$ & $50$ & $100$ && $25$ & $50$ & $100$ && $25$ & $50$ & $100$\\ \midrule
Constructive\\
$|C| = 2$ &99.5 & 99.3 & 100. && 100 & 100 & 100 && 100 & 100 & 99.4 && 100 & 100 & 99.4 \\
$|C| = 5$ &82.8 & 90.1 & 91.5 && 90.8 & 90.9 & 90.9 && 97.4 & 97.8 & 99.5 && 97.7 & 95.4 & 96.8 \\
$|C| = 10$ &80.9 & 89.1 & 98.3 && 80.9 & 83.7 & 88.6 && 98.7 & 99.2 & 99.6 && 96.9 & 97.4 & 98.9 \\
Destructive\\
$|C| = 2$ &99.9 & 99.6 & 99.9 && 100 & 100 & 100 && 100 & 100 & 99.4 && 100 & 99.8 & 98.8 \\
$|C| = 5$ &73.8 & 73.2 & 83.3 && 87.7 & 79.7 & 81.6 && 100 & 97.8 & 99.3 && 100 & 99.0 & 100 \\
$|C| = 10$ &75.9 & 87.2 & 97.2 && 81.8 & 85.0 & 89.0 && 98.9 & 99.3 & 99.6 && 100 & 97.3 & 99.0 \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table*}
We now present experimental results comparing the performance of our approximation algorithms to the solutions found via mixed integer programming. We show results on four datasets. First, \emph{netscience}, a collaboration network of researchers in network science, with 1461 nodes \cite{newman}. Second, \emph{facebook}, the subgraph centered on 10 Facebook users, with 2888 nodes \cite{fb}. Third, \emph{polblogs}, a network of links between political blogs, with 1224 nodes \cite{newman}. Fourth, \emph{irvine}, a graph representing instant messages exchanged between students at U.C.\ Irvine, with 1889 nodes \cite{fb}. We select these datasets because they represent the kinds of social and communication networks on which political messages (such as fake news) spread. We also note that our approximation algorithms can easily be scaled to much larger networks since we can apply the same techniques developed in the influence maximization literature \cite{tang2014influence,cohen2014sketch}. However, our focus here is to characterize the performance of our algorithms in comparison to the optimal solution, so we select datasets which are feasible for mixed integer programming. For each network, we randomly generated 30 sets of voter preferences.
We start out with the MOV objective. Table \ref{table:mov-approx} shows the percentage of the MILP's value which is obtained by our approximation algorithms (\textsc{MOVConstructive} and \textsc{MOVDestructive} respectively), averaging over the 30 instances on each network with propagation probability $p = 0.1$. We vary the number of seed nodes $k$ and the number of candidates $|C|$. We see that the approximation algorithms perform well across all settings, obtaining expected change in margin at least 73\% of that of the MILP. The approximation algorithms fare particularly well for 2-candidate elections, obtaining nearly 100\% of the optimal value on all networks. The empirical approximation ratio degrades as the number of candidates grows, particularly when the budget $k$ is small. We conclude that our approximation algorithms are highly effective for election control via the MOV in both constructive and destructive control, particularly in realistic settings with a moderate number of candidates.
\begin{figure}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=2in]{fig_pov_c_netscience}
\includegraphics[width=2in]{fig_pov_c_polblogs}
\includegraphics[width=2in]{fig_pov_d_netscience}
\includegraphics[width=2in]{fig_pov_d_polblogs}
\caption{Probability of victory. Top: constructive. Bottom: destructive. Left: netscience. Right: polblogs.}\label{fig:pov}
\end{figure}
We now turn to the POV objectives. We show results for $k = 50, |C| = 5$, comparing our bicriteria approximation algorithms \textsc{POVConstructive} and \textsc{POVDestructive} to the corresponding MILP formulations. To keep the experiments timely, we ran each approximation algorithm for 150 random values of the threshold $\beta$ instead of enumerating over all (empirically, this resulted in very similar solution quality). Figure \ref{fig:pov} shows the results on netscience and polblogs for constructive and destructive control. Results for facebook and irvine can be found in the appendix. The $x$ axis shows the starting margin ($\Delta_C$ or $\Delta_D$) in each randomly generated instance while the $y$ axis shows the probability of victory obtained. The instances fall into three groups. First, when the margin is small, both the approximation algorithms and the MILP have a high POV. Second, when the margin is large, both have a small POV. Third are intermediate points where the approximation algorithm and MILP strongly diverge. Averaged over all random instances, the approximation algorithm obtains 40-60\% of the MILP's value (depending on the network). However, there are instances among the intermediate cases where, e.g., the approximation algorithm obtains a POV of 0.1\%, but the MILP finds a solution with POV 99\%. We conclude that election control for the POV objective can be very computationally difficult in narrowly winnable elections. This dovetails with our theoretical results, which show that the problem is inapproximable in general, but bicriteria guarantees are possible when the election is winnable by a large margin.
\section{Conclusion}
Fake news and other targeted misinformation are an increasingly prevalent way of interfering with democratic elections. We introduce and study the problem of election control through social influence, providing algorithms and hardness results for maximizing both the margin and probability of victory for an attacker in both constructive and destructive control. Our results indicate that social influence is a salient threat to election integrity, particularly in the MOV case where we provide high-quality approximation algorithms. Maximizing the probability of victory is manageable in easier instances, but difficult both theoretically and empirically in narrow races.
\fontsize{9.5}{10.5}
\selectfont
\bibliographystyle{plain}
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaArXiv"
}
| 9,142
|
import time
import logging
from six.moves import range
from kamboo.exceptions import TimeOutException
from kamboo.exceptions import ValidationError
log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
def clean_null_items(obj):
for key in list(obj.keys()):
# For "if" statement,
# Here are some scenarios for the condition to be true:
#
# 1. None
# 2. False
# 3. zero for numeric types
# 4. empty sequences
# 5. empty dictionaries
# 6. a value of 0 or False returned
# when either __len__ or __nonzero__ is called
#
# In this fuction, we need to consider these as null items:
# 1. None; 4. empty sequences; 5. empty dictionaries
if isinstance(obj[key], bool) or isinstance(obj[key], int):
continue
elif not obj[key]:
del obj[key]
return obj
def unique_list_of_dict(src_list):
if not isinstance(src_list, list):
raise ValidationError("Expect input as 'list'")
dest_list = []
for item in src_list:
if item not in dest_list:
dest_list.append(item)
return dest_list
def compare_list_of_dict(src_list, dest_list):
if not isinstance(src_list, list) or not isinstance(dest_list, list):
raise ValidationError("Expect inputs as 'list'")
added_list = []
removed_list = []
s_list = unique_list_of_dict(src_list)
d_list = unique_list_of_dict(dest_list)
for item in s_list:
if item not in d_list:
removed_list.append(item)
for item in d_list:
if item not in s_list:
added_list.append(item)
result = {"Add": added_list, "Remove": removed_list}
return result
def wait_to_complete(resource=None, expected_status=None,
unit=10, timeout=900):
"""
Wait the specified resource to complete
"""
log.info("Wait for the resource '%s' to be '%s'"
% (resource, expected_status))
for i in range(int(timeout/unit)):
status = resource.status
if status == expected_status:
return resource
log.info("Current status of the resource '%s': "
"still '%s', not the expected '%s'"
% (resource, status, expected_status))
time.sleep(unit)
if resource.status == expected_status:
return resource
else:
raise TimeOutException(
"The operation has '%s' timed out "
"when no expected result '%s' found" % (timeout, expected_status)
)
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaGithub"
}
| 872
|
Exit 40, West on Route 20, to Route 10 South.
We are just before Wagner Ford/Nissan on the right.
Exit 39 for Route 4 to Farmington. North on Route 10. Turn left on Route 44, then right onto Route 10 North for 7.3 miles. We are just after Wagner Ford/Nissan on the left.
Exit 39 for Route 4 to Farmington. North on Route 10. Turn left on Route 44, then right onto Route 10 North for 4.6 miles. Turn left at Congregational Church onto Route 309. Turn right on Old Farms Rd. Simsbury Farms is on the right, arena is at the top of the drive on the left (across from the playground).
Exit 39 for Route 4 to Farmington. North on Route 10. Turn left on Route 44, then right onto Route 10 North for 5.9 miles.through Simsbury. Westminster is north of the center of Simsbury on the left. Once in the driveway, follow the sign for "Main Campus". At the stop sign, turn left. Bear right and go down steep hill. Hockey rink is at the bottom of the hill on the right.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
}
| 2,348
|
Built on the eastern edge of the estate, Farangos is right on the edge of a canyon that guests can walk right into through a purpose-built path.
A modern, comfortable, yet unique and remote home of 105 sq.m at the top of St. George hill, enjoying magnificent views of the South Aegean islands. The ideal setting to experience the beauty and excitement of Antiparos, but also to remove yourself from the buzz, to feel the magical energy of Despotiko island, to connect with the wild landscape and to spend hours gazing at stars!
Even better, among the dramatic rocks, we have created a private lookout from which to enjoy the breeze coming down the canyon on a summer morning, carrying scents of oregano and lavender or - of course - to gaze at the stars until the first rays of sun emerge from behind the mountain.
Farangos House is made from two fully restored 19th century buildings that were used to house miners working at the local ferrous metal mines. The western building has a master suite and kitchen/indoor dining area, and the eastern building has a double and a twin bedroom sharing a bath. Between the two buildings, we created an outdoor dining area, where we could not resist adding a hammock!
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
}
| 5,856
|
package sos.tools.decisionMaker.implementations.feedbacks;
import sos.tools.decisionMaker.definitions.feedback.SOSFeedback;
/**
* A simple feedback that tells the state it is using too much time
*
* @author Salim
*/
public class TooMuchTimeFeedback extends SOSFeedback {
public TooMuchTimeFeedback() {
super(SOSFeedbackConstants.SOS_FEEDBACK_TOO_MUCH_TIME);
}
}
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaGithub"
}
| 3,128
|
\section{Introduction}
At the energy scale relevant to everyday matter, Quantum
Chromodynamics (QCD) manifests two key features; the confinement of
quarks inside hadrons, and dynamical chiral symmetry breaking,
associated with the dynamical generation of mass.
Although these phenomena can
be easily shown to exist, the nature of the underlying mechanisms
responsible for them, and whether they share a common origin, have
remained open questions.
It is generally accepted that these features are both caused by some kind of
topological object in the QCD vacuum which dominates at large distance
scales. Candidates have included objects such as Abelian monopoles \cite{Belavin:1975fg,Polyakov:1976fu,Mandelstam:1974pi}, instantons \cite{Belavin:1975fg,Jackiw:1976pf,Callan:1976je,Polyakov:1976fu,Schafer:1996wv,Trewartha:2013qga} and centre vortices
\cite{'tHooft:1977hy,'tHooft:1979uj,Cornwall:1979hz,Nielsen:1979xu,Ambjorn:1980ms,Greensite:2014gra,Greensite:2007zz,Bowman:2008qd,Hoellwieser:2014isa,Hollwieser:2013xja,deForcrand:1999ms,Engelhardt:2002qs,Bornyakov:2007fz,Alexandrou:1999vx,Kovalenko:2005rz,Langfeld:2003ev,Ilgenfritz:2007ua,Bowman:2010zr,OMalley:2011aa}.
As the only known first principles technique for studying non-perturbative QCD, the lattice
formulation plays a unique role in studies of these topological
objects.
In this letter we provide novel lattice QCD results
which reveal a link between centre vortices and dynamical chiral symmetry breaking
in $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ gauge theory.
Centre vortices are topological defects associated with the elementary
centre degree of freedom of the QCD gauge field, and thus present an
attractive candidate for study. In $\mathrm{SU}(N)$ gauge theory, centre
vortices have a clear theoretical link to confinement
\cite{Greensite:2007zz,'tHooft:1977hy,'tHooft:1979uj}, and in $\mathrm{SU}(2)$
they have been shown to be responsible for dynamical chiral symmetry
breaking \cite{Bowman:2008qd,Hoellwieser:2014isa,Hollwieser:2013xja,deForcrand:1999ms,Engelhardt:2002qs,Bornyakov:2007fz,Alexandrou:1999vx,Kovalenko:2005rz} through lattice-QCD simulations.
In $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ gauge theory, the picture is less clear. While lattice
results have shown a loss of string tension, and thus confinement, to be
coincident with the removal of centre vortices,
a background consisting solely of centre vortices was shown to reproduce just $67\%$ of the string tension \cite{Langfeld:2003ev}
While there has been extensive work within $\mathrm{SU}(2),$ lattice studies of a connection between dynamical chiral symmetry breaking and centre vortices in $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ \cite{Ilgenfritz:2007ua,Bowman:2010zr,OMalley:2011aa} are few in number. It has been shown that topological charge density in $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ gauge theory lies preferentially near centre
vortices \cite{Ilgenfritz:2007ua}, thus suggesting a similar role for centre vortices to that observed in $\mathrm{SU}(2)$.
Study of dynamical mass generation through the quark propagator in $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ \cite{Bowman:2010zr} appeared to show the persistence of dynamical mass generation after vortex removal. The use of the AsqTad staggered fermion action, however, which explicitly breaks chiral symmetry, leads to a corresponding insensitivity to dynamical chiral symmetry breaking effects.
In Ref.~\cite{OMalley:2011aa} the ground-state hadron spectrum was studied using a Wilson fermion action. There, vortex removal resulted in an absence of dynamical chiral symmetry breaking, and degeneracy of the ground state meson and baryon spectra. The Wilson fermion action, again, explicitly breaks chiral symmetry on the lattice, and so results in additive mass renormalisation, and thus an unknown lattice bare quark mass.
Here we study the quark propagator in $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ using the
overlap-Dirac fermion action, which possesses an exact
(lattice-deformed) chiral symmetry. Using a fermion action that
respects chiral symmetry on the lattice allows us to examine dynamical
chiral symmetry breaking in $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ gauge theory for the
first time.
The Landau-gauge quark propagator has often
\cite{Bowman:2005zi,Roberts:2007ji,Alkofer:2000wg,Fischer:2006ub} been used as a probe of dynamical
chiral symmetry breaking. At low momenta, enhancement of the Dirac
scalar part of the propagator, commonly referred to as the mass
function and associated with the concept of a constituent quark mass,
provides a clear signal of the presence or absence of dynamical chiral
symmetry breaking.
In $\mathrm{SU}(2)$ gauge theory, the mass function clearly displays the absence
of dynamical chiral symmetry breaking upon centre vortex removal, as
the mass function does not develop a dynamically generated mass in the
infrared limit \cite{Bowman:2008qd}. However, a similar study in $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ gauge theory using the
AsqTad-quark \cite{Orginos:1999cr} propagator did not reveal a comparable role in dynamical chiral symmetry breaking in $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ \cite{Bowman:2010zr}. There the mass function sustained
dynamical mass generation on vortex-removed configurations. However
in Ref.~\cite{OMalley:2011aa}, where the vortex-removed hadron
spectrum was studied with Wilson fermions, it became clear that this residual mass
generation on vortex-removed configurations was not associated with
chiral symmetry; {\it i.e.} that chiral symmetry was indeed lost upon
vortex removal.
Both the AsqTad- and Wilson-fermion actions explicitly break chiral
symmetry, and hence the relation between centre vortices and dynamical chiral
symmetry breaking may be clouded by the resulting lattice artefacts. In this
letter we study the Landau gauge quark propagator using the superior
chiral properties of the overlap-Dirac fermion action. The overlap
fermion action provides a realisation of chiral symmetry on the
lattice and is renowned for its sensitivity to the topological
structure of the gauge fields. We find for the first time a loss of dynamical mass generation in the
Landau-gauge quark propagator coincident with vortex removal in $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ gauge theory. Through
a study of the topological charge density under ${\cal
O}(a^4)$-improved cooling, we are able to trace this success to the
overlap-fermion's sensitivity to the subtle manner in which instanton
degrees of freedom are compromised through the process of centre
vortex removal.
We also demonstrate how the centre vortex degrees of freedom can
reproduce dynamical mass generation after smoothing the vortex-only
gauge fields with improved cooling. We observe dynamical mass
generation on the vortex-only backgrounds consistent with that on the
original gauge-field ensemble following the same amount of smoothing.
Through visualizations of the instanton-like degrees of freedom in the
various gauge-field ensembles, we find evidence of a link
between the centre vortex and instanton structure of the vacuum.
While vortex removal destabilizes instanton-like objects under ${\cal
O}(a^4)$-improved cooling, vortex-only backgrounds provide
gauge-field degrees of freedom sufficient to create instantons upon
cooling.
\section{Centre Vortices on the Lattice}
We study centre vortices on the lattice in the standard way,
commencing with gauge transformations designed to bring the lattice
link variables,
\begin{equation}
U_{\mu}(x) = {\cal P}\, \exp\left ( ig \int_0^a d\lambda\, A_\mu(x + \lambda
\hat\mu)\, \right ) \, ,
\end{equation}
to be as close as possible to centre elements of $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ via Maximal Centre Gauge (MCG)
\cite{Montero:1999by},
then projecting onto the $\mathbb{Z}_3$ centre-subgroup \cite{Montero:1999by,DelDebbio:1998uu,DelDebbio:1996mh,Vink:1992ys,Alexandrou:1999vx,Faber:2001zs} to produce the vortex-only configuration,
\begin{equation}
Z_{\mu}(x) = \exp{\bigg [}\frac{2\pi i}{3}\, m_{\mu}(x){\bigg
]}\, \mathrm{I}\, \mathrm{,} \quad m_{\mu} \in \{-1,0,1\} \, .
\end{equation}
The vortices are identified by the centre charge, $z$, found
by taking the product of the links around a plaquette,
\begin{equation}
z = \frac{1}{3} \mbox{Tr} \prod_\Box Z_\mu(x) = \exp \left ( 2 \pi i\, \frac{n}{3} \right ) \, .
\label{CentreCharge}
\end{equation}
If $z=1$, no vortex pierces the plaquette. If $z \neq 1$, a vortex with
charge $z$ pierces the plaquette. In the smooth gauge-field limit,
all links approach the identity, and no vortices are found.
Vortices are identified as the defects in the centre-projected gauge
field.
Upon transforming each link to the closest element of the centre
$Z_{\mu}(x)$, we are able to define three ensembles:
\begin{enumerate}
\item The original `untouched' configurations, $U_{\mu}(x),$
\item The projected vortex-only configurations, $Z_{\mu}(x),$
\item The vortex-removed configurations, $Z^{\dagger}_{\mu}(x)\,
U_{\mu}(x).$
\end{enumerate}
Each of the ensembles are gauge-fixed to Landau gauge.
By comparing results on these three ensembles, we are able to isolate
the effects of centre vortices.
\section{Landau-Gauge Overlap Quark Propagator}
We calculate the quark propagator using the overlap fermion operator,
which satisfies the Ginsparg-Wilson relation \cite{Ginsparg:1981bj},
and thus provides a lattice-realisation of chiral symmetry. It has a
superior sensitivity to gauge field topology than the aforementioned
AsqTad and Wilson lattice fermion operators. Explicitly, the massive
overlap-Dirac operator \cite{Narayanan:1993ss,Narayanan:1994gw} is
given by
\begin{equation}
\label{massov}
D_{o}(\mu) = \frac{(1-\mu)}{2}\, \left [ 1 + \gamma_{5}\,
\epsilon \left ( \gamma_{5}\, D(-m_{w}) \right ) \right ] + \mu\, ,
\end{equation}
where $\epsilon$ is the matrix sign function. We use the fat-link
irrelevant clover (FLIC) fermion operator
\cite{Zanotti:2001yb,Kamleh:2004aw,Kamleh:2004xk,Kamleh:2001ff} as
the overlap kernel $D(-m_{w})$, with regulator parameter $m_{w} = 1$.
The overlap mass parameter, $\mu = 0.004$, provides a bare quark mass
of $12$ MeV for our calculations.
In a covariant gauge, the lattice quark propagator can be decomposed
into Dirac scalar and vector components as
\begin{equation}
S(p) = \frac{Z(p)}{iq\!\!\!/\ + M(p)}\, ,
\end{equation}
with $M(p)$ the non-perturbative mass function and $Z(p)$ containing
all renormalisation information. The infrared behaviour of $M(p)$
reveals the presence or absence of dynamical mass generation, and thus
of dynamical chiral symmetry breaking.
To isolate the role of centre symmetry, results are calculated on $50$
pure gauge-field configurations using the L{\"u}scher-Weisz
$\mathcal{O}(a^{2})$ mean-field improved action \cite{Luscher:1984xn},
with a $20^{3} \times 40$ volume at a lattice spacing of $0.125 \,
\mathrm{fm}$. We fix to Landau gauge using a Fourier transform
accelerated algorithm \cite{Davies:1987vs}, fixing to the
$\mathcal{O}(a^2)$ improved gauge-fixing functional
\cite{Bonnet:1999mj}. The vortex-only configurations are
pre-conditioned with a random gauge transformation before gauge-fixing
for improved algorithmic convergence. A cylinder cut
\cite{Leinweber:1998im} is performed on propagator data, and $Z(p)$ is
renormalised to be $1$ at the highest momentum considered, $p \simeq
5.2$ GeV.
\begin{figure*}[thb]
\subfigure[]{
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{M00400UTVR.pdf}}
\subfigure[]{
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{Z00400UTVR.pdf}}
\caption{The mass (a) and renormalisation (b) functions on the
original (untouched) (squares) and vortex-removed (crosses)
configurations. Removal of the vortex structure from the gauge
fields spoils dynamical mass generation and thus dynamical chiral
symmetry breaking.}
\label{M00400UTVR}
\end{figure*}
Results for the untouched and vortex-removed ensembles are plotted in
Fig.~\ref{M00400UTVR}. The renormalisation function shows similar
behaviour in both the untouched and vortex-removed cases. However,
the mass function reveals a significant change upon vortex removal.
On the untouched ensemble, the mass function shows strong enhancement
in the infrared, displaying the presence of dynamical mass generation.
By contrast, dynamical mass generation is largely
suppressed upon vortex removal with only a relatively small level of residual infrared
enhancement remaining \footnote{Our studies of the topological charge
density of the vortex-removed configurations suggest that this residual
enhancement in the mass function is likely associated with
imperfections in the identification of all centre vortices in the
MCG vortex-removal procedure.}. Unlike the AsqTad propagator, which
showed little to no change in the infrared enhancement
\cite{Bowman:2010zr}, the overlap operator is able to `see' the subtle
damage caused to the gauge fields through vortex removal. The removal
of the vortex structure from gauge fields has spoiled dynamical mass
generation, and thus dynamical chiral symmetry breaking.
The smoothness requirement of the overlap operator
\cite{Narayanan:1994gw} contrasts the rough nature of vortex-only
configurations consisting solely of centre elements, and the
overlap fermion action is thus not well defined on vortex-only
configurations. To address this issue we smooth the gauge-field
configurations. This is additionally motivated by evidence that, in
$\mathrm{SU}(2)$ gauge theory, vortex-only configurations are too rough to
reproduce the low-lying modes of the Dirac operator essential to
dynamical chiral symmetry breaking, but are able to do so after
smearing \cite{Hollwieser:2008tq}. Smoothing is performed using
three-loop $\mathcal{O}(a^4)$-improved cooling
\cite{BilsonThompson:2002jk}.
By examining the local maxima of the action density on vortex-only
configurations during cooling, we find that after just 10 sweeps of
smoothing these local maxima stabilise and begin to resemble classical
instantons in shape and corresponding topological charge density at
the centre \cite{Moran:2008qd}.
The average number of these maxima per configuration is plotted in
Fig.~\ref{num} as a proxy for the number of instanton-like objects per
configuration for up to 200 sweeps. The number of objects found on
untouched and vortex-only configurations remains very similar even
after large amounts of cooling.
In contrast, the number of objects on vortex-removed configurations is
greatly reduced. Vortex-removal has destabilised the otherwise
topologically-nontrivial instanton-like objects. Early in the
smoothing procedure the topological charge density of the vortex
removed configurations qualitatively resembles that of the original
configurations. It is perhaps unsurprising that a fermion operator
that is not sensitive to the spoiling of instanton-like objects
through vortex-removal would erroneously report little change to
dynamical mass generation. It is remarkable that the overlap operator
is sensitive to the subtle changes of vortex removal in the absence of
any smoothing.
\begin{figure}[thb]
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{num.pdf}
\caption{A $\log$ plot of the number of instanton-like objects per
configuration found on untouched, vortex-only and vortex-removed
ensembles as a function of $\mathcal{O}(a^4)$-improved cooling
sweeps.}
\label{num}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure*}[thb]
\subfigure[]{
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{M00400UTcVOc.pdf}}
\subfigure[]{
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{Z00400UTcVOc.pdf}}
\caption{The mass(a) and renormalisation (b) functions on the original (untouched) (squares)
and vortex-only (circles) configurations after 10 sweeps of three-loop
$\mathcal{O}(a^4)$-improved cooling, at an input bare quark mass of
$12$ MeV.}
\label{M00400UTcVOc}
\end{figure*}
Although there does not appear to be a one-to-one connection between the
backgrounds dominated by instanton-like objects found in the untouched
and vortex-only cases on a configuration-by-configuration basis, the
objects are qualitatively similar in number and size.
Despite consisting solely of the centre elements, the centre vortex
information encapsulates the qualitative essence of the QCD vacuum
structure. It contains the `seeds' of instantons, which are
reproduced through cooling.
Just as the centre-vortex information alone was sufficient to
reproduce instantons through cooling, vortex removal is sufficient to
destroy the stability of instantons under cooling, with the vast
majority of topological objects being removed as seen in Fig.~\ref{num}.
On vortex-removed backgrounds a few instanton-like objects remain,
which closely resemble those found on the untouched and vortex-only
backgrounds in size despite their greatly reduced number. These
residual objects provide a mechanism for the remnant of
dynamical mass generation seen on vortex-removed configurations in
Fig.~\ref{M00400UTVR}.
To quantify the extent to which the centre-vortex information
encapsulated in the vortex-only configurations can give rise to
dynamical mass generation, we calculate the overlap quark propagator
on both untouched and vortex-only configurations after 10 sweeps of
cooling. The mass and renormalisation functions are illustrated in
Fig.~\ref{M00400UTcVOc}. As expected, the mass function on the
untouched configurations shows some reduction in dynamical mass
generation, while being qualitatively similar to the uncooled results
\cite{Trewartha:2013qga}. The vortex-only results for the mass
function are strikingly similar to the untouched; they show the vortex-only configurations reproducing almost all dynamical mass generation. The renormalisation functions
also share a similar behavior. The background of instanton-like
objects emerging from the vortex-only configurations under cooling is
able to reproduce the features of the quark propagator on the full
backgrounds.
\section{Conclusion}
Combined, these results provide evidence that the centre vortex structure of the vacuum plays a fundamental role in dynamical chiral symmetry breaking in
$\mathrm{SU}(3)$ gauge theory. For the first time, we have demonstrated the
removal of dynamical mass generation via the removal of the
centre-vortex degrees of freedom from the gauge fields. Moreover, we
have demonstrated how the vortex-only degrees of freedom encapsulate
the qualitative features of the gauge fields, reproducing the average
number and size of instanton-like objects under smoothing via
cooling. These features reproduce the dynamical mass generation
observed on the original gauge fields following the same smoothing.
We have also found a link between the stability of instanton-like
objects under cooling and centre vortex removal. Vortex removal
spoils and destabilizes instantons, resulting in them being quickly
removed from the lattice under cooling. Correspondingly, vortex-only
configurations quickly produce a background of instanton-like objects
with general features resembling those found in the untouched case.
Our results are consistent with the instanton model of dynamical
mass generation, and illustrate a connection between the
centre-vortex structure and the instanton structure of $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ gauge
fields. Our findings are similar to a connection shown in $\mathrm{SU}(2)$
gauge theory \cite{Hollwieser:2014osa}. In conclusion, these results support the hypothesis that centre
vortices are the fundamental long-range structures underpinning dynamical
chiral symmetry breaking in $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ gauge theory.
\section{Acknowledgements}
This research was undertaken with the
assistance of resources awarded at the NCI National Facility in
Canberra, Australia, and the iVEC facilities at Murdoch University
(iVEC@Murdoch) and the University of Western Australia
(iVEC@UWA). These resources are provided through the National
Computational Merit Allocation Scheme and the University of Adelaide
Partner Share supported by the Australian Government. We also
acknowledge eResearch SA for their support of our supercomputers.
This research is supported by the Australian Research Council through
grants DP120104627, DP150103164, LE120100181 and LE110100234.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaArXiv"
}
| 713
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module Bunq
# https://doc.bunq.com/api/1/call/payment
class Payment
def initialize(parent_resource, id)
@resource = parent_resource.append("/payment/#{id}")
end
# https://doc.bunq.com/api/1/call/payment/method/get
def show
@resource.with_session { @resource.get }['Response']
end
end
end
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaGithub"
}
| 9,021
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\section{Introduction}
Motivated originally by Brodsky and Lepage\cite{QCD}, hadronic distribution amplitudes(DAs) are introduced as the nonperturbative parameters to deal with hadronic scattering process\cite{Lepage79PLB,Lepage79PRL1,Lepage79PRL2,Lepage79PRD,Lepage80,Cher84}. Similar to the hadronic ones, the photon DAs are also introduced into QCD light-cone sum rules\cite{Braun94}, serve as the reliable non-perturbative parameters in various processes involving photons, such as radiative decay of hyperons\cite{Bali89}, the scattering of real and virtual photons $\gamma\gamma^*\to\pi^0$\cite{Rady96NPB,Rady96PLB1}, and the deeply virtual Compton scattering\cite{Rady96PLB2,Rady96PLB3}.
For hadronic DAs, such as those associated with pion\cite{Pra01,Pra02}, rho\cite{Ball98} and kaon\cite{Nam06prd1,Nam06prd2,Nam06prd3}, huge amount of works have been done in literatures. In comparison, there are only a few works for calculation of the photon DAs yet, especially for the ones of higher twist, based on a consistent formalism.
To the best of our knowledge, the most detailed treatment on photon DAs of the asymptotic form has been carried out in \cite{npb2003photon}. It provides a systemic classification of photon DAs corresponding to different twists, number of intermediate particles and the chiralities in the framework of the background field formalism. However, it deals simply with the real photon case. We understand these results as being valid in the high-energy region, because the conformal symmetry is used as a base for expansion. Then, some extended work have been done by means of both an asymptotic treatment and the effective low-energy theory\cite{prd2006,prd2010}. A very impressive common characteristic of the results is that a scalar type of the virtual photon DA is missing. The reason may be traced back to the fact that the authors have adopted two mixing schemes: the background field formalism\cite{npb2003photon} which may be understood to be valid in high-energy region, and the instanton vacuum model which is basically appropriate at the low-energy region\cite{prd2006,prd2010}.
To exploit such point, we completely confine ourself in the low-energy effective theory of the local type, derived from the instanton vacuum model of QCD. Along this line, the leading twist light-cone real photon DA corresponding to the tensor current has been calculated\cite{prd1999pi}. Within this theoretical framework, the QCD vacuum is described as a dilute medium of instantons, the interaction of quarks with the fermion zero modes of the individual instanton in this medium provides a mechanism for the chiral symmetry breaking\cite{Didko96}, which is the most important non-perturbative phenomenon in the hadron world. The calculated masses and coupling constants of hadrons, such as $\pi$, $\sigma$, $\rho$, $A_1$, $N$, $\Delta$, and etc., agree with data, and the corresponding correlation functions are also in accordance with phenomenology\cite{Shur93} and lattice simulations\cite{Chu93,Tsch96}. The picture of the instanton vacuum also leads to the formation of the gluon condensates\cite{Shi79,Liu93} and the so-called topological susceptibility needed to cure the $U(1)$ paradox\cite{tHoo76prl,tHoo76prd}. At the large-$N_c$ limit, the instanton vacuum leads to a very reasonable low-energy effective theory of quarks with a momentum-dependent dynamical mass $M(k)$, which drops to zero at Euclidean momentum of the order of the inverse of the average instanton size, $\bar{\rho}^{-1}\approx 600$MeV\cite{quark}. The whole approach of this low-energy effective theory is based on the smallness of $(M(k)\bar{\rho})^2$, and is restricted to momenta $k\ll 1/\bar{\rho}$, at such low-energy scale there are no dynamical gluons.
Following the same line as in \cite{prd1999pi}, we have calculated the off-shell photon DAs at leading twist corresponding with both Dirac structures, $\sigma_{\mu\nu}$ and $\gamma_{\mu}$\cite{yuran06prd,yuran06EPJA,zhukai06}, and the twist-two parts of the other two photon DAs (each of which contains both twist-two and twist-three parts, but we call them as twist-three DAs in comparison with other references) of the tensor current are estimated.
In the present paper, we extend our previous calculation to higher twists, and give a complete treatment in the same way for all light-cone photon DAs up to twist-four appearing in the formalism described before in \cite{yuran06prd}, which is based on the effective low-energy instanton vacuum model of QCD and a systematical Lorentz decomposition of the transition matrix element from an off-shell photon to vacuum through a nonlocal quark-antiquark bilinear current with a gauge link. We show that in our formalism there are altogether eight photon DAs up to twist-four, in which only two DAs survive in the on-shell limit. In particular, there appears a scalar virtual photon DA corresponding to the scalar nonlocal bilinear quark current, as explicitly demonstrated in calculation. However, such DA is absent in the asymptotic form because, as the authors claimed, the vacuum expectation value of the scalar operator does not contain any contribution linear in the background electromagnetic field.
Besides the above mentioned difference, there is another difference between our treatment and the one used in Refs. \cite{prd2006,prd2010}.
It is noted that when working with the effective theory (the covariant version of \eqref{eq:31} below), the dynamical quark mass is assumed to be small compared with the ultraviolet cutoff. In order to compute the photon DAs we need to couple an electromagnetic field to the quark fields of the effective Lagrangian. The interaction between the electromagnetic field and quarks should be dominated by the pointlike one, while the non-pointlike interaction, which arises from the momentum-dependent mass term, is suppressed in $(M\bar{\rho})^2$ relative to the pointlike one. Therefore, keeping in mind within leading order in $M\bar{\rho}$, we may choose to work with the pointlike electromagnetic current (a further discussion of this point can be seen the last paragraph and the Appendix C of this paper).
Our paper is organized as follows: After given our ideas and motivation in the introduction,
in Sec. \uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral2} we review our previous formalism to define the off-shell light-cone photon DAs up to twist-four with a slight modification based just on the Lorentz covariance. Then, every photon DA multiplied by its coupling constant is individually expressed in terms of the corresponding correlation function in Sec. \uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral3}. Afterwards, in Sec. \uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral4} the spectral representations of the correlation functions are worked out by using a general spectral representation of the effective quark propagator, which is assumed to be of the pole form related to the instanton vacuum model of QCD for practical purpose. In Sec. \uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral5}, the analytical expressions of all photon DAs are shown. The numerical simulation and the corresponding results are displayed in Sec. \uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral6}. Finally, in Sec. \uppercase\expandafter{\romannumeral7} our conclusions and discussions are given. Some technical details are presented in the Appendixes.
\section{Definition of photon distribution amplitudes up to twist-four}
Let's review the formalism suggested in \cite{yuran06prd} with a slight modification, in which the photon DAs are defined, and classified into two groups with different chiralities. According to Lorentz covariance, the nonlocal quark-antiquark current with light-like separation ($z^2=0$) sandwiched between vacuum $\ket{0}$ and one-photon state $\ket{\gamma(P,\lambda)}$, characterized by its momentum $P_{\mu}$ and the polarization vector $e^{(\lambda)}_{\sigma}$, can be decomposed into different
Lorentz structures $L_i(p,n,e^{(\lambda)})$,
\begin{align}\label{eq:1}
\bra{0}&\bar{\psi}(z)\Gamma\left[z,-z\right]\psi(-z)\ket{\gamma(P,\lambda)}\nonumber\\
&=\sum_if_i(P^2)L_i(p,n,e^{(\lambda)})\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}\phi^{(i)}_{\gamma}(u,P^2),
\end{align}
where $\Gamma$ is one of the Dirac-matrices $I$, $\gamma_{\mu}$, $\sigma_{\mu\nu}$, $\gamma_{\mu}\gamma_5$ and $\gamma_5$, $u$ the fraction of the momentum carried by the quark, $\xi =2u-1$, $\phi^{(i)}_{\gamma}(u,P^2)$ the photon DA with a virtuality $P^2$ being normalized as
\begin{eqnarray}\label{eq:2}
\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u\phi^{(i)}_{\gamma}(u,P^2)=1.
\end{eqnarray}
and $f_i(P^2)$ its corresponding coupling constant. The notation $\left[x,y\right]$ is the path-ordered gauge link
\begin{eqnarray*}
\left[x,y\right]=&P\mathrm{exp}\left\{i\int^1_0\mathrm{d}\tau(x-y)_{\mu}[g_sB^{\mu}(\tau x+(1-\tau)y)\right.\nonumber\\
&\left.+Q A^{\mu}(\tau x+(1-\tau)y)]\right\},
\end{eqnarray*}
with $B^{\mu}$ and $A^{\mu}$ being the gauge potentials for strong and electromagnetic interactions respectively, and $g_s$ and $Q$ the corresponding coupling constants.
To find the Lorentz structures $L_i(p,n,e^{(\lambda)})$ for $i=t,v$, corresponding to $\Gamma$ being $\sigma_{\mu\nu}$ (tensor case) and $\gamma_{\mu}$ (vector case) respectively, let us start with the local quark-antiquark bilinear case, $z=0$. It is easy to see that there are only two physical
vectors, the polarization vector $e^{(\lambda)}_{\mu}$ and the momentum $P_{\nu}$, available, and each photon DA should be linear in $e^{(\lambda)}_{\mu}$. Thus
\begin{eqnarray}
&\bra{0}\bar{\psi}(0)\sigma_{\mu\nu}\psi(0)\ket{\gamma(P,\lambda)}
=if^{(t)}_{\gamma}(P^2)T^{(\lambda)}_{\mu\nu}\label{eq:3}\\
&\bra{0}\bar{\psi}(0)\gamma_{\mu}\psi(0)\ket{\gamma(P,\lambda)}=M f^{(v)}_{\gamma}(P^2)e^{(\lambda)}_{\mu}\label{eq:4}
\end{eqnarray}
where $T^{(\lambda)}_{\mu\nu}=e^{(\lambda)}_{\mu}P_{\nu}-e^{(\lambda)}_{\nu}P_{\mu}$, and $M$ is a Lorentz invariant constant which is taken to be the effective non-vanishing quark mass at $P^2=0$ instead of $\mu\equiv \sqrt{\abs[P^2]}$ as before to avoid the influence of some inconvenient behavior of $\mu$ near $P^2=0$.
For implementing the light-cone expansion in a systematical way, let us introduce a light-like vector $p$ such that $P\rightarrow p$ as $P^2\rightarrow
0$; and for the sake of convenience, introduce further the dimensionless light-like vectors $n$ and $\hat{n}$ parallel to $z$ and $p$ respectively with
\begin{displaymath}
n\cdot \hat{n}=2,\,\,\,\,\,z_{\mu}=n_{\mu}\tau
\end{displaymath}
Then, we go away from $z=0$ but keeping $z^2=0$, and decompose $e^{(\lambda)}_{\mu}$ and $P_{\mu}$ into
three independent vectors, $p_{\mu}$, $z_{\mu}$ and $e^{(\lambda)}_{\perp\mu}$ (the projection of $e^{(\lambda)}_{\mu}$
on the plane perpendicular to both $p_{\mu}$ and $z_{\mu}$), namely
\begin{align}
&e^{(\lambda)}_{\mu}
=e^{(\lambda)}_{\perp\mu}+p_{\mu}\frac{e^{(\lambda)}\cdot z}{p\cdot z}-z_{\mu}\frac{e^{(\lambda)}\cdot z}{2(p\cdot z)^2}P^2\label{eq:5}\\
&P_{\mu}=p_{\mu}+\frac{P^2}{2p\cdot z}z_{\mu}\label{eq:6}
\end{align}
which leads to
\begin{eqnarray}
T^{(\lambda)}_{\mu\nu}
=\sum_{i=1}^3T^{(\lambda,i)}_{\mu\nu} \label{eq:7}
\end{eqnarray}
with
\begin{align}
&T^{(\lambda,1)}_{\mu\nu}=
e_{\perp\mu}^{(\lambda)}p_{\nu}-e_{\perp\nu}^{(\lambda)}p_{\mu} \label{eq:8}\\
&T^{(\lambda,2)}_{\mu\nu}=(p_{\mu}n_{\nu}-p_{\nu}n_{\mu})
\frac{e^{(\lambda)}\cdot n}{(p\cdot n)^2} \label{eq:9}\\
&T^{(\lambda,3)}_{\mu\nu}=(e_{\perp\mu}^{(\lambda)}n_{\nu}
-e_{\perp\nu}^{(\lambda)}n_{\mu})\frac{P^2}{2p\cdot n} \label{eq:10}
\end{align}
We note here that because of the conservation of the local electromagnetic current, there is the orthogonality relation between the polarization vector and the momentum of a photon
\begin{displaymath}
e^{(\lambda)}\cdot P=0
\end{displaymath}
which can be used to transform $e^{(\lambda)}\cdot z$ into $e^{(\lambda)}\cdot p$, and vice versa, and to
obtain a formula for the photon polarization summation,
\begin{equation}
\sum_{\lambda}e^{*(\lambda)}_{\mu}e^{(\lambda)}_{\nu} = -g_{\mu\nu}+\frac{P_{\mu}P_{\nu}}{P^2}\label{eq:11}
\end{equation}
It is important to note that the three terms of the R.H.S. of \eqref{eq:8}-\eqref{eq:10} are the only independent antisymmetric tensors, which can be constructed from the three independent vectors $p_{\mu}$, $z_{\mu}$ and $e^{(\lambda)}_{\perp\mu}$.
As a consequence, we have the definition of the photon DAs for $z\not=0$
\begin{align}\label{eq:12}
\bra{0}&\bar{\psi}(z)\sigma_{\mu\nu}\left[z,-z\right]\psi(-z)\ket{\gamma(P,\lambda)}\nonumber\\
&=if^{(t)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)T^{(\lambda 1)}_{\mu\nu}\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}\phi_{\gamma\perp}^{(t)}(u,P^2)\nonumber\\
&+if^{(t)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)T^{(\lambda 2)}_{\mu\nu}\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}h_{\gamma\parallel}^{(t)}(u,P^2)\nonumber\\
&+if^{(t)}_{\gamma3}(P^2)T^{(\lambda 3)}_{\mu\nu}\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}h_{\gamma3}^{(t)}(u,P^2),\nonumber\\
\end{align}
for the tensor case, and
\begin{align}\label{eq:13}
&\bra{0}\bar{\psi}(z)\gamma_{\mu}\left[z,-z\right]\psi(-z)\ket{\gamma(P,\lambda)}\nonumber\\
&=f^{(v)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)M p_{\mu}\frac{e^{(\lambda)}\cdot n}{p\cdot n}\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}\phi_{\gamma\parallel}^{(v)}(u,P^2)\nonumber\\
&+f^{(v)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)M e_{\perp\mu}^{(\lambda)}\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}g_{\gamma\perp}^{(v)}(u,P^2)\nonumber\\
&-f^{(v)}_{\gamma3}(P^2)M n_{\mu}\frac{e^{(\lambda)}\cdot n}{(p\cdot n)^2}P^2\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}g_{\gamma3}^{(v)}(u,P^2)
\end{align}
for the vector case, according to the Lorentz decomposition \eqref{eq:1}.
In addition, it is obvious that there is no pseudoscalar which can be constructed from the three independent
vectors $p_{\mu}$, $z_{\mu}$ and $e^{(\lambda)}_{\perp\mu}$, and that only one scalar and one axial vector can be constructed from the above three independent vectors, and thus the corresponding photon DAs can be defined as follows
\begin{align}\label{eq:14}
\bra{0}&\bar{\psi}(z)\left[z,-z\right]\psi(-z)\ket{\gamma(P,\lambda)}\nonumber\\
&=if^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)(e^{(\lambda)}\cdot z)P^2\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}h^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}(u,P^2),
\end{align}
\begin{align}\label{eq:15}
\bra{0}&\bar{\psi}(z)\gamma_{\mu}\gamma_5\left[z,-z\right]\psi(-z)\ket{\gamma(P,\lambda)}\nonumber\\
&=M f^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)\epsilon_{\mu\nu\alpha\beta}e^{(\lambda)\nu}_{\perp}p^{\alpha}z^{\beta}\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}g^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}(u,P^2).
\end{align}
From equation \eqref{eq:14}, it is obvious that a scalar operator $\bar{\psi}(z)\left[z,-z\right]\psi(-z)$ has a projection onto a virtual photon state $\ket{\gamma(P,\lambda)}$ which is proportional to the longitudinal photon polarization $e^{(\lambda)}\cdot z$, and vanishing in the on-shell limit.
The above formalism for defining the light-cone photon DAs (or wave functions) is, in fact, parallel to the case of $\rho$ meson\cite{Ball98}. An obvious advantage of this formalism is that only two transversal DAs
$\phi^{(t)}_{\gamma\perp}(u,P^2)$ and $g^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}(u,P^2)$ survive in the on-shell case, and the others decouple automatically from the corresponding quark-antiquark currents, provided all coupling constants are finite at $P^2=0$ as they should be (see below). This is just as we expected, since a real photon has only two transverse degrees of freedom.
\section{Photon DAs expressed in terms of correlation functions}
To evaluate the transition matrix elements between photon and vacuum for various currents,
we rewrite them as\cite{npb2003photon}
\begin{align}\label{eq:16}
\bra{0}&\bar{\psi}(z)\Gamma\left[z,-z\right]\psi(-z)\ket{\gamma(P,\lambda)}\nonumber\\
=&i\int\mathrm{d}^4x e^{-iP\cdot x}e^{(\lambda)}_{\sigma}\bra{0}T\bar{\psi}(z)\Gamma\left[z,-z\right]\psi(-z)j_{\mathrm{em}}^{\sigma}(x)\ket{0}
\end{align}
where $j_{\mathrm{em}}^{\sigma}(x)=
Q\bar{\psi}(x)\gamma^{\sigma}\psi(x)$ is the electromagnetic current with an electric charge $Q$ for associated quark flavor. Contracting both sides of \eqref{eq:16} with $e^{*(\lambda)}_{\nu}$, and using \eqref{eq:11} to work out the summation over the photon polarizations,
we obtain the polarization-averaged transition matrix element between photon and vacuum, which is, in fact, the correlation function for a nonlocal quark-antiquark current and a local electromagnetic one
\begin{align}\label{eq:17}
\Pi_{\nu\Gamma}^{(\Gamma)}&=i\int\mathrm{d}^4x e^{-iP\cdot x}(-g_{\nu\sigma}+\frac{P_{\nu}P_{\sigma}}{P^2})\nonumber\\
&\times\bra{0}T\bar{\psi}(z)\Gamma\left[z,-z\right]\psi(-z)j_{\mathrm{em}}^{\sigma}(x)\ket{0}
\end{align}
obeying
\begin{equation}\label{eq:18}
P^{\nu}\Pi_{\nu\Gamma}^{(\Gamma)}=0
\end{equation}
An important character of this correlation function is that it is gauge-invariant which enable us to use an appropriate form of quark propagator to evaluate it.
The explicit expressions of the correlation functions are
\begin{align}\label{eq:19}
\Pi_{\nu\mu\rho}^{(T)}
=&if^{(t)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)t^{(1)}_{\nu\mu\rho}\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}\phi_{\gamma\perp}^{(t)}(u,P^2)\nonumber\\
&+if^{(t)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)t^{(2)}_{\nu\mu\rho}\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}h_{\gamma\parallel}^{(t)}(u,P^2)\nonumber\\
&+if^{(t)}_{\gamma3}(P^2)t^{(3)}_{\nu\mu\rho}\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}h_{\gamma3}^{(t)}(u,P^2),
\end{align}
with the Lorentz structures $t^{(i)}_{\nu\mu\rho}$ being defined as
\begin{align}
&t^{(1)}_{\nu\mu\rho}=(g_{\nu\rho}p_{\mu}-g_{\nu\mu}p_{\rho})
+p_{\nu}\frac{p_{\rho}n_{\mu}-p_{\mu}n_{\rho}}{p\cdot n}\label{eq:20}\\
&t^{(2)}_{\nu\mu\rho}=(p_{\mu}n_{\rho}-p_{\rho}n_{\mu})
(p_{\nu}-\frac{P^2}{2p\cdot n}n_{\nu})
\frac{1}{p\cdot n}\label{eq:21}\\
&t^{(3)}_{\nu\mu\rho}=\frac{P^2}{2p\cdot n}[(g_{\nu\rho}n_{\mu}-g_{\nu\mu}n_{\rho})+n_{\nu}
\frac{p_{\mu}n_{\rho}-p_{\rho}n_{\mu}}{p\cdot n}]\label{eq:22}
\end{align}
for the tensor case, and
\begin{align}\label{eq:23}
\Pi_{\nu\mu}^{(V)}=&Mf^{(v)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2) v^{(1)}_{\nu\mu}\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}\phi_{\gamma\parallel}^{(v)}(u,P^2)\nonumber\\
&+Mf^{(v)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)v^{(2)}_{\nu\mu}\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}g_{\gamma\perp}^{(v)}(u,P^2)\nonumber\\
&-Mf^{(v)}_{\gamma3}(P^2)v^{(3)}_{\nu\mu}
\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}g_{\gamma3}^{(v)}(u,P^2).
\end{align}
with
\begin{align}
&v^{(1)}_{\nu\mu}=\frac{p_{\mu}p_{\nu}}{P^2}-
\frac{p_{\mu}n_{\nu}}{2p\cdot n}\label{eq:24}\\
&v^{(2)}_{\nu\mu}=-g_{\mu\nu}+
\frac{p_{\mu}n_{\nu}+p_{\nu}n_{\mu}}{p\cdot n}\label{eq:25}\\
&v^{(3)}_{\nu\mu}=\frac{n_{\mu}}{2p\cdot n}(p_{\nu}-\frac{P^2}{2p\cdot n}n_{\nu})\label{eq:26}
\end{align}
for the vector case, and
\begin{align}\label{eq:27}
\Pi_{\nu}^{(S)}=if^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)\left[(p\cdot z)p_{\nu}-\frac{1}{2}z_{\nu}P^2\right]
\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}h^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}(u,P^2)
\end{align}
for the scalar case, and
\begin{align}\label{eq:28}
\Pi_{\nu\mu}^{(A)}=M f^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)\epsilon_{\mu\nu\alpha\beta}p^{\alpha}z^{\beta}\int^1_0\mathrm{d} u e^{i\xi p\cdot z}g^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}(u,P^2),
\end{align}
for the axial vector case, respectively.
Now we extract an individual photon DA from the corresponding correlation function $\Pi_{\nu\Gamma}^{(\Gamma)}$ by contracting it with an appropriate projection operator constructed from $p_{\mu}$, $z_{\mu}$ and $g_{\mu\nu}$, and then performing the inverse Fourier transform
\begin{align}\label{eq:29}
F[\phi^{(i)}_{\gamma}(\tau,P^2)]
\equiv \frac{p^+}{\pi}\int d\tau e^{i2u p^+\tau}\phi^{(i)}_{\gamma}(\tau,P^2)
=\phi^{(i)}_{\gamma}(u,P^2).
\end{align}
At the end, all photon DAs could be expressed in terms of correlation functions as
\begin{align}\label{eq:30}
f^{(i)}_{\gamma}(P^2)\phi^{(i)}_{\gamma}(u,P^2)
=F\left[-it_{(i)}^{\nu\dots}\Pi_{\nu\Gamma}^{(\Gamma)}\right].
\end{align}
The details of the calculation are given out in Appendix.\ref{app:aqqA}.
After working out the correlation functions, the series of \eqref{eq:30} can be used to determine the various coupling constants
$f_i(P^2)$ by integrating both sides of these equations over $u$ from $0$ to $1$, and the various photon DAs $\phi^{(i)}_{\gamma}(u,P^2)$ can be determined by substituting the corresponding coupling constants $f_i(P^2)$ into the equations. We note here that the solutions we have obtained are universal in the sense that their validity is independent of the special dynamical model adopted in calculation of the correlation function.
\section{Spectral representations of correlation functions}
To obtain the explicit expressions of photon DAs from \eqref{eq:30}, we need to choose a dynamical model to calculate the correlation functions. Since we are interesting in the low-energy region, we would like to work in the low-energy effective theory based on instanton vacuum model of QCD, in which the essential element in our calculation is the effective quark propagator.
The effective quark propagator in the instanton vacuum model has been derived in the singular gauge of instantons\cite{qpropagator} by applying
the Feynman variational principle\cite{FeynVP} to the low-energy effective theory of QCD. The effective chiral action which describes the interaction of quarks
with an external meson field $U$ in the large $N_c$ limit is
\begin{equation}\label{eq:31}
S_{eff}=-N_c\mathrm{tr}\ln(i\slashed{\partial}+iMFUF),
\end{equation}
where
\begin{equation}
U=\exp[i\gamma_5\tau^a\pi^a(x)]
\label{eq:32}
\end{equation}
and $M$ is the dynamical quark mass at zero momentum. $F(k)$ is the form factor, related to the Fourier transform of the instanton zero mode
\begin{equation}\label{eq:33}
F(k)=2y[I_0(y)K_1(y)-I_1(y)K_0(y)]-2I_1(y)K_1(y)
\end{equation}
with $y=k\rho/2$ and $\rho=(600\mathrm{MeV})^{-1}$ being the typical inverse instanton size. In this low-energy effective theory, the various correlation functions can be evaluated by a quark-loop in the large $N_c$ limit with the following effective quark propagator
\begin{equation}\label{eq:34}
S_F(k)=\frac{\slashed{k}+MF^2(k)}{k^2-M^2F^4(k)+i\epsilon}.
\end{equation}
For the sake of convenience, we choose to work with the pole form of the quark form factor $F(k)$\cite{prd1999pi}
\begin{equation}
F(k)=\left(\frac{-\Lambda^2}{k^2-\Lambda^2+i\epsilon}\right)^n
\label{eq:35}
\end{equation}
where $\Lambda$ and $n$ are the artificial but justified input parameters.
To check whether the propagator \eqref{eq:34} is theoretically acceptable, and to express the correlation functions in some more general form, we write \eqref{eq:34} in terms of the spectral densities $\rho_1(\omega^2)$ and $\rho_2(\omega^2)$ defined in a general formula for fermion
propagator\cite{Itzykson}
\begin{equation}\label{eq:36}
S_F(k)=\int \mathrm{d} \omega^2\frac{\rho_1(\omega^2)\slashed{k}+\rho_2(\omega^2)}
{k^2-\omega^2+i\epsilon}
\end{equation}
Comparing \eqref{eq:34} and \eqref{eq:36}, we have
\begin{align}
\int \mathrm{d} \omega^2\frac{\rho_1(\omega^2)}{k^2-\omega^2+i\epsilon}&=
\frac{(k^2-\Lambda^2)^{4n}}{k^2(k^2-\Lambda^2)^{4n}-(M \Lambda^{4n})^2}\label{eq:37},\\
\int \mathrm{d} \omega^2\frac{\rho_2(\omega^2)}{k^2-\omega^2+i\epsilon}&=
\frac{M\Lambda^{4n}(k^2-\Lambda^2)^{2n}}
{k^2(k^2-\Lambda^2)^{4n}-(M \Lambda^{4n})^2}\label{eq:38}.
\end{align}
After making the expansion in simple partial fractions
\begin{align}
\frac{(k^2-\Lambda^2)^{4n}}{k^2(k^2-\Lambda^2)^{4n}-(M \Lambda^{4n})^2}&=\sum_{i=1}^{4n+1}
\frac{f_i(z_i-\Lambda^2)^{4n}}{k^2-z_i}\label{eq:39},\\
\frac{M\Lambda^{4n}(k^2-\Lambda^2)^{2n}}
{k^2(k^2-\Lambda^2)^{4n}-(M \Lambda^{4n})^2}&=M\Lambda^{4n}\sum_{i=1}^{4n+1}
\frac{f_i(z_i-\Lambda^2)^{2n}}{k^2-z_i}\label{eq:40},
\end{align}
where $z_i$ are the roots of an algebraic equation
\begin{equation}\label{eq:41}
z(z-\Lambda^2)^{4n}=(M\Lambda^{4n})^2
\end{equation}
and
$$f_i=\prod^{4n+1}_{j=1,j\neq i}\frac{1}{z_j-z_i},$$
the spectral densities can be easily read off as the weighted
summations of Dirac $\delta$-functions of $\omega^2$ peaked at different roots $z_i$
\begin{align}
\rho_1(\omega^2)&=\sum_{i=1}^{4n+1} f_i(z_i-\Lambda^2)^{4n}\delta(\omega^2-z_i)\nonumber\\
&=\delta\left[\prod_i^{4n+1}\frac{\omega^2-z_i}{(\omega^2+\Lambda^2)^{4n}}\right]\label{eq:42},\\
\rho_2(\omega^2)&=M\Lambda^{4n}\sum_{i=1}^{4n+1}f_i(z_i-\Lambda^2)^{2n}\delta(\omega^2-z_i)\nonumber\\
&=M\Lambda^{4n}\delta\left[\prod_i^{4n+1}\frac{\omega^2-z_i}{(\omega^2+\Lambda^2)^{2n}}\right]\label{eq:43}.
\end{align}
which satisfy the three constraints for the fermion's spectral densities
\begin{align}
&(\mathrm{\romannumeral1})\quad \rho_1(\omega^2)\quad\mathrm{and}\quad\rho_2(\omega^2)\quad\mathrm{are}\quad\mathrm{real},\nonumber\\
&(\mathrm{\romannumeral2})\quad \rho_1(\omega^2)\ge0,\nonumber\\
&(\mathrm{\romannumeral3})\quad \omega\rho_1(\omega^2)-\rho_2(\omega^2)\ge0.\nonumber
\end{align}
This reveals some consistency of the form of the effective quark propagator \eqref{eq:34} with $F(k)$ defined by \eqref{eq:35}.
\begin{figure*}
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{spec1n1}}
\end{minipage}
\hfill
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{spec2n1}}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{spec1n2}}
\end{minipage}
\hfill
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{spec2n2}}
\end{minipage}
\caption{\label{fig:spec}The spectral density $\rho_{1}(\omega^2)$ and $\rho_{2}(\omega^2)$ for $n=1$(upper case) and $n=2$(lower case) and $\Lambda=850\mathrm{MeV}$.}
\end{figure*}
The shape of spectral densities are displayed in Fig.\ref{fig:spec}, where the different roots $z_i$ are shown to be in between $1\mathrm{GeV}^2$ and $1.5\mathrm{GeV}^2$, which is just the very energy regime of effective low-energy theory of QCD. It can be seen from the mentioned figures that the spectral functions $\rho_1$ and $\rho_2$ are almost coincident for the cases of $n=1$ and $n=2$. This fact is in agreement with the statement that the forms of the photon DAs are insensitive respect to a change of value of the artificial variable $n$\cite{yuran06prd}. For this reason, it may be safely for us to choose, say $n=1$ and $\Lambda=850\mathrm{MeV}$, in our numerical simulation.
Using the Wick's theorem and the general spectral form of quark propagator, the correlation functions for various currents can be expressed analytically as follows
\begin{align}
\Pi_{\nu\mu\rho}^{(T)}&=C_{\nu\sigma}\hat{I}
\left[g^{\sigma}_{\rho}[(P-k)_{\mu}F_1+k_{\mu}F_2]\right.\nonumber\\
&\left.-g^{\sigma}_{\mu}[(P-k)_{\rho}F_1+k_{\rho}F_2]\right]\label{eq:44},\\
\Pi_{\nu\mu}^{(V)}&=C_{\nu\sigma}\hat{I}
\left[F_3[k^{\sigma}(P-k)_{\mu}+k_{\mu}(P-k)^{\sigma}]\right.\nonumber\\
&\left.-g^{\sigma}_{\mu}[F_3(P-k)\cdot k+F_4]\right]\label{eq:45},\\
\Pi_{\nu}^{(S)}&=C_{\nu\sigma}\hat{I}
\left[(k^{\sigma}-P^{\sigma})F_1
+k^{\sigma}F_2\right]\label{eq:46},\\
\Pi_{\nu\mu}^{(A)}&=C_{\nu\sigma}\hat{I}
F_3{\epsilon^{\sigma}}_{\mu\rho\alpha}
P^{\rho}k^{\alpha}\label{eq:47}.
\end{align}
where $C_{\nu\sigma}$ and $\hat{I}$ are a constant tensor and an operator respectively defined by
\begin{align*}
&C_{\nu\sigma}\equiv-4QN_c(-g_{\nu\sigma}
+\frac{P_{\nu}P_{\sigma}}{P^2}),\\
&\hat{I}\equiv
\int\frac{\mathrm{d}^4k}{(2\pi)^4} e^{-i(p-2k)\cdot z}\int\frac{\mathrm{d}\omega}{(P-k)^2-\omega}\int\frac{\mathrm{d}\mu}{k^2-\mu},
\end{align*}
and $F_i$ the products of the two appropriate spectral densities $\rho_j(\omega)$ and $\rho_k(\mu)$ of the effective quark propagator
\begin{align*}
&F_1\equiv\rho_1(\omega)\rho_2(\mu),\quad F_2\equiv\rho_1(\mu)\rho_2(\omega),\\
&F_3\equiv\rho_1(\omega)\rho_1(\mu),\quad F_4\equiv\rho_2(\omega)\rho_2(\mu).
\end{align*}
\section{Explicit analytic expressions of photon DAs}\label{sec5}
\subsection{chiral odd}
Now, we are in a position to be able to express the light-cone photon DAs in terms of the functions $F_i$. Substituting \eqref{eq:44} and \eqref{eq:46} into \eqref{eq:a12}-\eqref{eq:a14} and \eqref{eq:a18}, and carrying out the inverse Fourier transformation, we obtain the explicit expressions of the chiral-odd light-cone photon DAs
\begin{align}
\phi^{(t)}_{\gamma\perp}(u,P^2)&=\frac{4N_c}{if^{(t)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)}\hat{D}F^{(1)} \label{eq:48},\\
h^{(t)}_{\gamma\parallel}(u,P^2)&=\frac{4N_c}{if^{(t)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)}\hat{D}F^{(2)} \label{eq:49},\\
h^{(t)}_{\gamma3}(u,P^2)&=\frac{4N_c}{if^{(t)}_{\gamma3}(P^2)}\hat{D}F^{(3)} \label{eq:50},\\
h^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}(u,P^2)&=\frac{4N_c}{if^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)}\hat{T}F^{(4)} \label{eq:51},
\end{align}
where the operations $\hat{D}$ and $\hat{T}$ are defined as the following three-fold integrations
\begin{eqnarray*}
\hat{D}\equiv\int\frac{\mathrm{d}^4k}{(2\pi)^4}\delta(k^+-up^+)\int\frac{\mathrm{d}\omega}{(P-k)^2-\omega}\int\frac{\mathrm{d}\mu}{k^2-\mu},\\
\hat{T}\equiv\int\frac{\mathrm{d}^4k}{(2\pi)^4}\theta(k^+-up^+)\int\frac{\mathrm{d}\omega}{(P-k)^2-\omega}\int\frac{\mathrm{d}\mu}{k^2-\mu},
\end{eqnarray*}
and $F^{(k)}$ for $k$ from 1 to 4 are listed in Table \ref{tab:fv} at the end of this section.
Integrating both sides of \eqref{eq:48}-\eqref{eq:51} over $u$ from $0$ to $1$, and using the normalization conditions of the light-cone DAs, the corresponding couplings, $f^{(t)}_{\gamma\perp}$, $f^{(t)}_{\gamma\parallel}$, $f^{(t)}_{\gamma3}$ and $f^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}$, are obtained to be
\begin{align}
f^{(t)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)
&=-4iN_c\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u\hat{D}F^{(1)}\label{eq:52},\\
f^{(t)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)
&=-4iN_c\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u\hat{D}F^{(2)}\label{eq:53},\\
f^{(t)}_{\gamma3}(P^2)
&=-4iN_c\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u\hat{D}F^{(3)}\label{eq:54},\\
f^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)
&=-4iN_c\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u\hat{T}F^{(4)}\label{eq:55}.
\end{align}
To obtain the explicit expressions of the DAs, we need to evaluate the integrations of forms like
\begin{align}
I_1&=\int\frac{\mathrm{d}^4k}{(2\pi)^4}\frac{\delta(k^+-up^+)}
{[(P-k)^2-\omega](k^2-\mu)}\label{eq:56},\\
I_2&=\int\frac{\mathrm{d}^4k}{(2\pi)^4}\frac{(k\cdot p)\delta(k^+-up^+)}
{[(P-k)^2-\omega](k^2-\mu)}\label{eq:57}.
\end{align}
Let us focus on the general Lorentz structure of $I_2$, an integration over the integrand involving factor of $k_{\mu}$, which should be of the form after Lorentz decomposition
\begin{equation}\label{eq:58}
\int\frac{\mathrm{d}^4k}{(2\pi)^4}\frac{\delta(k^+-up^+)k^{\mu}}
{[(P-k)^2-\omega](k^2-\mu)}=A(u)P^{\mu}+B(u)n^{\mu},
\end{equation}
where $A(u)$ and $B(u)$ are some scalar functions, and there is an obvious condition for $B(u)$,
\begin{equation}\label{eq:59}
\int_0^1du B(u)=0,
\end{equation}
due to Lorentz coverance. This property will be useful when we calculate the coupling constants by means of the normalization conditions.
Turn to evaluate $I_1$ and $I_2$. Introducing the dimensionless variables $\eta=p^+k^-/\Lambda^2$, $s=P^2/\Lambda^2$, and $t=|k_{\perp}|^2/\Lambda^2$, and completing the integration over $k^+$ and $\eta$, the integrals $I_1$ and $I_2$ can be worked out to be (see Appendix \ref{app:appB})
\begin{align}
I_1&=\frac{i}{2(2\pi)^2}\ln(1+\frac{v}{-u\bar{u}s+u\omega
+\bar{u}\mu})\label{eq:60},\\
I_2&=-\frac{i}{4(2\pi)^2}(\omega-\mu-\bar{u}s)
\ln(1+\frac{v}{-u\bar{u}s+u\omega+\bar{u}\mu})\label{eq:61}.
\end{align}
where $v$ is a cutoff for the upper bound of the absolute value of $k$.
Now, using the formulae \eqref{eq:60} and \eqref{eq:61}, we can carry out the integration over $k$, and then the integration over $\mu$ and $\omega$,
and finally obtain the explicit expressions of the light-cone photon DAs for tensor and scalar cases
\begin{align}
&\phi^{(t)}_{\gamma\perp}(u,P^2)=
-\frac{2N_cM\Lambda^4}{f^{(t)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)(2\pi)^2}
\sum^5_{i,j=1}W_{ij}V^{(1)}_{ij}\label{eq:62},\\
&h^{(t)}_{\gamma\parallel}(u,P^2)=
-\frac{2N_cM\Lambda^4}{f^{(t)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)(2\pi)^2}
\sum^5_{i,j=1}W_{ij}V^{(2)}_{ij}\label{eq:63},\\
&h^{(t)}_{\gamma3}(u,P^2)=
-\frac{2N_cM\Lambda^4}{f^{(t)}_{\gamma3}(P^2)(2\pi)^2}
\sum^5_{i,j=1}W_{ij}V^{(3)}_{ij}\label{eq:64},\\
&h^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}(u,P^2)=
-\frac{2N_cM\Lambda^4}{f^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)(2\pi)^2}
\sum^5_{i,j=1}W_{ij}V^{(4)}_{ij}\label{eq:65},
\end{align}
where
\begin{displaymath}
W_{ij}=f_if_j(z_i-\Lambda^2)^4(z_j-\Lambda^2)^4
\ln(-u\bar{u}s+uz_i+\bar{u}z_j).
\end{displaymath}
and the explicit expressions of $V^{(k)}_{ij}$ are listed in Table \ref{tab:fv}.
In the above expressions, the cutoff $v$ disappears because of the identity for the partial fraction summation
\begin{equation}\label{eq:66}
\sum^5_{i=1}f_iz^n_i=0\quad\mathrm{for}\quad n<4.
\end{equation}
We note here that in evaluating the light-cone photon DA corresponding to the scalar current, we need to deal with the integrals
\begin{align*}
I_3&=\int\frac{\mathrm{d}^4k}{(2\pi)^4}\frac{\theta(k^+-up^+)}
{[(P-k)^2-\omega](k^2-\mu)},\\
I_4&=\int\frac{\mathrm{d}^4k}{(2\pi)^4}\frac{(k\cdot p)\theta(k^+-up^+)}
{[(P-k)^2-\omega](k^2-\mu)}.
\end{align*}
which are the integrations of $I_1$ and $I_2$ over $u$, respectively. Therefore, only $\partial h^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}/\partial u$ (not $h^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}$) can be evaluated in the same way as
the photon DAs corresponding to the tensor current. To obtain $h^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}$, we need a boundary conditions at $u=0$ and $u=1$, which, for the sake of simplicity, are assumed to be
\begin{equation}\label{eq:67}
h^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}(0,P^2)=h^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}(1,P^2)=0
\end{equation}
The same is done for the light-cone photon DA $g^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}$ corresponding to the axial current, i.e.,
\begin{equation}\label{eq:68}
g^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}(0,P^2)=g^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}(1,P^2)=0
\end{equation}
Applying the normalization conditions \eqref{eq:2}, the corresponding coupling constants are obtained to be
\begin{align}
&f^{(t)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)=
-\frac{2N_cM\Lambda^4}{(2\pi)^2}\sum^5_{i,j=1}\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u W_{ij} V^{(1)}_{ij}\label{eq:69},\\
&f^{(t)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)=
-\frac{2N_cM\Lambda^4}{(2\pi)^2}\sum^5_{i,j=1}\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u W_{ij} V^{(2)}_{ij}\label{eq:70},\\
&f^{(t)}_{\gamma3}(P^2)=
-\frac{2N_cM\Lambda^4}{(2\pi)^2}\sum^5_{i,j=1}\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u W_{ij} V^{(3)}_{ij}\label{eq:71},\\
&f^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)=
-\frac{2N_cM\Lambda^4}{(2\pi)^2}\sum^5_{i,j=1}\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u W_{ij} V^{(4)}_{ij}\label{eq:72},
\end{align}
We note here that in obtaining the results of \eqref{eq:69}-\eqref{eq:72} (similarly for \eqref{eq:85}-\eqref{eq:88}), we have used the fact that the integration of terms containing a factor of $k^-$ over $u$ is vanishing, as expected from the identity \eqref{eq:59}.
\subsection{chiral even}
For the chiral-even DAs, substituting \eqref{eq:45} and \eqref{eq:47} into \eqref{eq:a15}-\eqref{eq:a17} and \eqref{eq:a19} respectively, we have
\begin{align}
\phi^{(v)}_{\gamma\parallel}(u,P^2)
&=\frac{4iN_c}{M f^{(v)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)}\hat{D} F^{(5)}\label{eq:73},\\
g^{(v)}_{\gamma\perp}(u,P^2)
&=\frac{4iN_c}{M f^{(v)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)}\hat{D}F^{(6)}\label{eq:74},\\
g^{(v)}_{\gamma3}(u,P^2)
&=\frac{4iN_c}{M f^{(v)}_{\gamma3}(P^2)}\hat{D}F^{(7)}\label{eq:75},\\
g^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}(u,P^2)
&=\frac{4iN_c}{M f^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)}\hat{T}F^{(8)}\label{eq:76}.
\end{align}
The corresponding coupling constants are
\begin{align}
f^{(v)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)
&=\frac{4iN_c}{M}\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u\hat{D}
F^{(5)}\label{eq:77},\\
f^{(v)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)
&=\frac{4iN_c}{M}\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u\hat{D}
F^{(6)}\label{eq:78},\\
f^{(v)}_{\gamma3}(P^2)
&=\frac{4iN_c}{M}\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u\hat{D}
F^{(7)}\label{eq:79},\\
f^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)
&=\frac{4iN_c}{M}\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u\hat{T}
F^{(8)}\label{eq:80}.
\end{align}
After completing the integrations over $k$, $\mu$ and $\omega$ just as the same way as in the chiral-odd case, we have the explicit expressions
\begin{align}
\phi^{(v)}_{\gamma\parallel}(u,P^2)&=
\frac{2N_c}{M f^{(v)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)(2\pi)^2}
\sum^5_{i,j=1}W_{ij}V^{(5)}_{ij}\label{eq:81},\\
g^{(v)}_{\gamma\perp}(u,P^2)&=
\frac{2N_c}{M f^{(v)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)(2\pi)^2}
\sum^5_{i,j=1}W_{ij}V^{(6)}_{ij}\label{eq:82},\\
g^{(v)}_{\gamma3}(u,P^2)&=
\frac{2N_c}{M f^{(v)}_{\gamma3}(P^2)(2\pi)^2}
\sum^5_{i,j=1}W_{ij}V^{(7)}_{ij}\label{eq:83},\\
g^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}(u,P^2)&=
\frac{2N_c\Lambda^2}{M f^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)(2\pi)^2}
\sum^5_{i,j=1}W_{ij}V^{(8)}_{ij}\label{eq:84}.
\end{align}
for the chiral-even light-cone photon DAs, and
\begin{align}
f^{(v)}_{\gamma\parallel}(P^2)&=\frac{2N_c}{M(2\pi)^2}
\sum^5_{i,j=1}W_{ij}\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u V^{(5)}_{ij}\label{eq:85},\\
f^{(v)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)&=\frac{2N_c}{M(2\pi)^2}
\sum^5_{i,j=1}W_{ij}\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u V^{(6)}_{ij}\label{eq:86},\\
f^{(v)}_{\gamma3}(P^2)&=\frac{2N_c}{M(2\pi)^2}
\sum^5_{i,j=1}W_{ij}\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u V^{(7)}_{ij}\label{eq:87},\\
f^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}(P^2)&=\frac{2N_c\Lambda^2}{M (2\pi)^2}
\sum^5_{i,j=1}W_{ij}\int_0^1\mathrm{d} u V^{(8)}_{ij}\label{eq:88}.
\end{align}
for the corresponding coupling constants, where
\begin{displaymath}
M_{ij}=(M\Lambda^4)^2(z_j-\Lambda^2)^{-2}(z_i-\Lambda^2)^{-2}.
\end{displaymath}
and the $F^{(k)}$ and $V_{ij}^{(k)}$ for $k$ from 5 to 8 are listed in Table \ref{tab:fv}.
\begin{table*}[!h]
\caption{The explicit expressions of $F^{(k)}$ and $V_{ij}^{(k)}$\label{tab:fv}}
\center
\begin{tabular}{lll}\hline
$k$ & $F^{(k)}$ & $V_{ij}^{(k)}$ \\ \hline
$1$ & $F_1+\frac{k^+}{P^+}(F_2-F_1)$ & $\bar{u}(z_j-\Lambda^2)^{-2}+u(z_i-\Lambda^2)^{-2}$ \\
$2$ & $F_1+(\frac{k^+}{2P^+}+\frac{k\cdot p}{P^2})(F_2-F_1)$ & $(s+z_i-z_j)(z_j-\Lambda^2)^{-2}+(s+z_j-z_i)(z_i-\Lambda^2)^{-2}$ \\
$3$ & $F_1+\frac{2k\cdot p}{P^2}(F_2-F_1)$ & $(us+z_i-z_j)(z_j-\Lambda^2)^{-2}+(\bar{u}s+z_i-z_j)(z_i-\Lambda^2)^{-2}$ \\
$4$ & $(\frac{k\cdot z}{p\cdot z}-\frac{2k\cdot p}{P^2})(F_1+F_2)$ & $\left[(z_j-\Lambda^2)^{-2}+(z_i-\Lambda^2)^{-2}\right](u\bar{u}s-uz_i-\bar{u}z_j)$ \\
$5$ & $F^{(6)}-(1-\frac{2k\cdot z}{p\cdot z})F^{(8)}$ & $M_{ij}+\bar{u}z_j+uz_i-2u\bar{u}s$ \\
$6$ & $F_3(P-k)\cdot k+F_4$ & $M_{ij}+s-(z_i+z_j)$ \\
$7$ & $F^{(6)}+(1-\frac{4k\cdot p}{P^2})F^{(8)}$ & $M_{ij}-2u\bar{u}s+(3uz_i-3uz_j+2z_j-z_i)$ \\
$8$ & $[k\cdot p-\frac{k\cdot z}{2p\cdot z}P^2]F_3$ & $-u\bar{u}s+uz_i+\bar{u}z_j$ \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table*}
\section{numerical result}\label{sec6}
The input parameters in our numerical simulation are as follows: The color number $N_c$ is taken to be three; The parameter $n$ in the pole form of the effective quark propagator is chosen to be one with $\Lambda=850\mathrm{MeV}$, (We have demonstrated that the spectral densities of the effective quark propagator is almost independent of a change of $n$); The mass scale $M$ in the pole-form effective quark propagator is taken to be $M=350\mathrm{MeV}$.
\begin{figure*}
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{phiperp}}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{hpara}}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{hg3}}
\end{minipage}
\hfill
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{hs}}
\end{minipage}
\caption{\label{fig:odd}The chiral-odd photon distribution amplitude for n=1 and $\Lambda=850\mathrm{MeV}$.}
\end{figure*}
\begin{figure*}
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{phipara}}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{gperp}}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{gg3}}
\end{minipage}
\hfill
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{ga}}
\end{minipage}
\caption{\label{fig:even}The chiral-even photon distribution amplitude for n=1 and $\Lambda=850\mathrm{MeV}$.}
\end{figure*}
The dependencies of the eight light-cone photon DAs on the momentum fraction $u$ for different virtuality $P^2$ are displayed respectively in Fig.\ref{fig:odd} and Fig.\ref{fig:even}, where the dot lines correspond to the virtuality of $P^2=-(500\mathrm{MeV})^2$, the dash-dot lines to $P^2=-(250\mathrm{MeV})^2$, the solid lines to $P^2=0$, the dash lines to $P^2=(250\mathrm{MeV})^2$ and short-dot lines to $P^2=(500\mathrm{MeV})^2$.
All the photon DAs are invariant under the exchange between $u$ and $\bar{u}$, and have an maximum(or minimum) at the middle, which is just what we expected from the symmetry between quark and antiquark fields in the associated currents.
Now consider the endpoint behavior of the photon DAs. From the mentioned figures, we can see that six light-cone photon DAs, namely $\phi^{(t)}_{\gamma\perp}$,
$h^{(t)}_{\gamma\parallel}$ and $h^{(t)}_{\gamma3}$ for the tensor case and $\phi^{(v)}_{\gamma\parallel}$, $g^{(v)}_{\gamma\perp}$ and
$g^{(v)}_{\gamma3}$ for the vector case, are non-vanishing at the endpoints $u=0$ and $u=1$, whereas the other two DAs, namely
$h^{(s)}_{\gamma\parallel}$ for the scalar case and $g^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}$ for the axial vector case, are vanishing at the endpoints being analogous to the asymptotic light-cone pion wave functions. We note here that the end-point behavior for the latter is in fact arising from our artificial assumption for the boundary
conditions of the photon DAs corresponding to the scalar and axial currents. There may be appearance of the non-zero values at the end points for some physical arguments, say by comparison with the experimental data.
For the former, the non-vanishing end-point behaviors are still, somewhat, different for different cases. In the tensor case, $h^{(t)}_{\gamma\parallel}$ and
$h^{(t)}_{\gamma3}$ are bent down when closer to the endpoints, and suppressed obviously at the endpoints, and there is only one single extremum at
$u=1/2$, which means that the momentum tends to be distributed equally to the quark and anti-quark. However, in the vector case, the curves of the
light-cone photon DAs, $\phi^{(v)}_{\gamma\parallel}$, $g^{(v)}_{\gamma\perp}$ and $g^{(v)}_{\gamma3}$, are gradually bent up when closer to the
endpoints. In addition, their concavity changes with varying $P^2$, and $\phi^{(v)}_{\gamma\parallel}$ and $g^{(v)}_{\gamma\perp}$
changes sign at some time-like momentum about $P^2\sim(300\mathrm{MeV})^2$ due to the normalization.
From \eqref{eq:69}-\eqref{eq:72} and \eqref{eq:85}-\eqref{eq:88}, the dependencies of the couplings constants for both chiral-odd and chiral-even cases on the photon virtuality $P^2$ are displayed in Fig.\ref{fig:oddcoupl} and Fig.\ref{fig:evencoupl}. From these figures, one can see that all coupling constants are monotonic functions of $P^2$, which are increasing for chiral-odd case, and decreasing for chiral-even case. It is noticed that all coupling constants for chiral-odd case and the coupling constant $f^{(a)}_{\gamma3\perp}$ are obvious non-vanishing at $P^2=0$, while the coupling constants for the vector case are exactly zero at
$P^2=0$. All coupling constants are finite for finite $P^2$, which guarantees that only two physical transverse light-cone photon DAs,
$\phi^{(t)}_{\gamma\perp}$ and $g^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}$, survive to be non-vanishing at $P^2=0$, while others
decouple automatically from the corresponding quark-antiquark currents.
\begin{figure*}
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{fperp}}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{fpara}}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{fg3}}
\end{minipage}
\hfill
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{fs}}
\end{minipage}
\caption{\label{fig:oddcoupl}The chiral-odd couplings versus $P^2$ for n=1 and $\Lambda=850\mathrm{MeV}$.}
\end{figure*}
\begin{figure*}
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{fvpara}}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{fvperp}}
\end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{fvg3}}
\end{minipage}
\hfill
\begin{minipage}{0.45\linewidth}
\centerline{\includegraphics{fa}}
\end{minipage}
\caption{\label{fig:evencoupl}The chiral-even couplings versus $P^2$ for n=1 and $\Lambda=850\mathrm{MeV}$.}
\end{figure*}
\section{conclusion and discussion}\label{sec7}
In the present paper, we have studied systematically the off-shell light-cone photon DAs and the corresponding coupling constants for both chiral-odd and chiral-even cases up to twist-four in the instanton vacuum model of QCD. The obtained main results are:
(1) The transition matrix elements of the gauge-invariant nonlocal quark-antiquark currents sandwiched between an off-shell photon state and the vacuum are decomposed into superpositions of various Lorentz structures with the coefficients, which define the light-cone photon DAs and the corresponding coupling
constants, just based on the principle of the Lorentz covariance\cite{yuran06prd}. This formalism, in fact, parallels to the case of $\rho$ meson\cite{Ball98}. It is obvious that in this formalism only two transversal DAs, $\phi^{(t)}_{\gamma\perp}(u,P^2)$ and $g^{(a)}_{\gamma\perp}(u,P^2)$, survive to be non-vanishing in the on-shell limit, and the others decouple automatically from the corresponding quark-antiquark currents as expected.
(2) After transferring the transition matrix elements into correlation functions, and applying the projection procedure, the various individual photon DA multiplied by its corresponding coupling constant is expressed in terms of the correlation functions. This means that we have solved the coupled equations \eqref{eq:12}-\eqref{eq:15} for the photon DAs and their coupling constants when the correlation functions are known, and these solutions are universal in the sense that their validity is independent of the specific dynamical model adopted in calculation.
(3) After choosing an appropriate gauge, for example the fixed-point gauge, where the gauge-link becomes a unit operator, we are in a position to express the leading order of the correlation functions in terms of the spectral densities of the effective quark propagator. An important point is that this quark propagator is derived from the instanton vacuum model of QCD in the singular gauge of gauge potential, which obeys the fixed-point gauge too as checked in the same way as \cite{zhang06cpl,wen11jpg}.
(4) Completing the integrations with the help of Lorentz covariance and a straightforward manipulation, we obtain the explicit analytical forms for the light-cone photon DAs and their coupling constants, and then display the dependence of the photon DAs on the momentum fraction $u$ carried by the quark for various photon virtualities $P^2$, and the dependence of the corresponding coupling constants on $P^2$. It is important to note that all the light-cone photon DAs are regular functions of $u$ and $P^2$, and their corresponding coupling constants are regular functions of $P^2$ as well. The only cutoff $v$, introduced to evaluate the integrals disappears in the final expressions, as expected from our first experience\cite{yuran06prd} where the integral for obtaining the coupling constant is already regular by choosing an appropriate integration contour. In this paper we show that this behavior is a universal feature of the integrals for all coupling constants. In this sense our treatment may be considered to be consistent.
Some points to be discussed are listed below in order:
(1) It is noticed that there are eight off-shell light-cone photon DAs appearing in our formalism. In particular, the photon DA corresponding to the scalar quark-antiquark current exists in the case $P^2\not=0$ and/or $z\not=0$, and vanishes
in the case of $P^2=0$ and/or $z=0$. The latter characteristic can be seen directly from the definition \eqref{eq:14}, and is naturally expected because there is no scalar real photon, and the local scalar quark-antiquark current is rotational invariant, and the corresponding matrix element should be zero due to the triangle rule of the angular momentum addition. However, for the former, the nonlocal scalar quark-antiquark current is not rotational invariant because the rotation operator does not commute with the complicated operator structure along the gauge link with two separated points $z$ and $-z$, and thus the corresponding matrix element dose not necessarily vanish, as shown by the explicit calculation.
(2) Like the other studies\cite{yuran06prd,prd1999pi,prd2006,prd2010}, almost all light-cone photon DAs are not vanishing at the end points except the two DAs corresponding to the scalar and axial vector case with the assumed boundary conditions. This may be a common phenomenon in a model without confinement, such as the instanton vacuum model of QCD. As pointed in \cite{npapirner}, based on a Hamiltonian containing confinement, the configurations, where one of quarks takes all of the
longitudinal momentum and the other is at rest, are expected to be suppressed.
(3) The quarks will propagate near the light-cone, $x^2\sim0$, if the off-shell photon momentum becomes minus infinity, $P^2\to-\infty$. This fact means that at the limit of $P^2\to-\infty$, the main contribution to the correlation functions comes from the asymptotic part of the propagator, and
the nonlocal quark-antiquark currents degenerate into the corresponding local ones, $z\to0$. Therefore, at that limit, \eqref{eq:12} and \eqref{eq:13} reduce to \eqref{eq:3} and \eqref{eq:4} respectively.
This asymptotic behavior leads to the consequence that the tensor and vector coupling constants tend to be equal with each other for $P^2\to-\infty$. This tendency can really be seen in Fig.\ref{fig:oddcoupl} and Fig.\ref{fig:evencoupl} respectively.
(4) For the leading twist tensor photon DA, $\phi^{(t)}_{\gamma\perp}(u,P^2)$, our result is the same as the ones derived from low-energy theory\cite{yuran06prd,prd1999pi,prd2006,prd2010} but different from the prediction asymptotic form\cite{npb2003photon} even in the real case. The reason may be that our photon DAs are
applicable to the low-energy scale, while the asymptotic ones are calculated at high-energy scale where the conformance of p-QCD is valid.
The results of our photon DAs and the corresponding coupling constants are obviously different with those in Ref. \cite{prd2010}, where the semi-bosonized Nambu Jona-Lasinio model in a nonlocal generalized form is adopted. In particular, the extra $\delta$-type singularity of both the photon DAs and the coupling constants in Ref. \cite{prd2010} does not appear in our results.
(5) As noticed already in the introduction that the dynamically generated quark mass $MF^2(k)$ in the effective quark propagator \eqref{eq:34} is momentum-dependent. This is a reflection of the non-locality of the instanton vacuum of QCD. As a consequence, the local $U_{\mathrm{em}}(1)$ gauge invariance is violated. A question is then naturally raised: to what extant our results in this paper are valid, or in other words, why the contribution due to the non-locality can be neglected? To answer it, we consider a simple minimally-local part of the effective quark propagator \eqref{eq:34}, namely by freezing the momentum squared in the form factor to be zero, and estimate the difference between the two photon DAs associated with the non-local theory and the local one as well as the difference between the corresponding coupling constants. The result is shown in Appendix C, where we have found that the derivation of both photon DA and coupling constant determined by the local theory from that in the non-local theory used in this paper is small.
This indicates that the interaction of the electromagnetic field with the quarks is indeed dominated by the local or pointlike interaction derived from the kinetic term in the effective Lagrangian. The non-local or non-pointlike coupling coming from the momentum-dependent quark mass is in fact parametrically suppressed.
We note here that an other local version of \eqref{eq:34}, for example by freezing the space-like momentum squared in $F(k)$ to be a non-zero constant $k^2\rightarrow -\mu^2$, is also allowed, and it is unclear for us to know how to define the maximally-local part of the effective quark propagator \eqref{eq:34}. Therefore, the amount of the derivation from locality shown in Appendix C may simply be considered as the upper bound.
In fact, as analyzed in the introduction, the form factor $F(k)$ \eqref{eq:33} is suppressed in $(M(k^2=-\mu^2)\bar{\rho})^2$ for $\mu^2\ll 1/\bar{\rho}$. From this reason, we stress that the local gauge invariance of the electromagnetic interaction is approximately fulfilled at least at the leading order of $M(k^2=-\mu^2)\bar{\rho}$, and we can work with the local or pointlike electromagnetic current throughout in this paper.
\section*{Acknowledgements}
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 10775105, BEPC National Laboratory Project R\&D and BES Collaboration Research Foundation, and the projects of Wuhan University of China under the Grant No. 201103013 and 9yw201115.
|
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| 6,309
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{"url":"https:\/\/www.vedantu.com\/qna?target=ALL&subject=ALL&grade=ALL&topic=Section%20Formula","text":"Filters\nLatest Questions\nMathematics\nSection formula\nThe line segment joining the points $P(3,3)$ and $Q(6, - 6)$ is trisected by the points $A$ and $B$ such that $A$ is nearer to $P$. If $A$ also lies on the line given by $2x\\ + \\ y\\ + \\ k\\ = \\ 0$ , find the value of $k$.\n\nMathematics\nSection formula\nIf the intercept of a line between coordinate axes is divided by the point (-5, 4) in the ratio $1:2$, then find the equation of the line.\nMathematics\nSection formula\nA tangent drawn to the curve $y = f\\left( x \\right)$ at $p\\left( {x,y} \\right)$ cuts the $x - axis$ and $y - axis$ at ${\\text{A and B}}$ respectively such that ${\\text{BP : AP = 3 : 1}}$ given that $f\\left( 1 \\right) = 1,$ then;\n$\\left( 1 \\right){\\text{ Equation of the curve is }}x\\left( {\\dfrac{{dy}}{{dx}}} \\right) - 3y = 0$\n$\\left( 2 \\right){\\text{ Normal at }}\\left( {1,1} \\right){\\text{ is }}x + 3y = 4$\n$\\left( 3 \\right){\\text{ Curve passes through }}\\left( {2,\\dfrac{1}{8}} \\right)$\n$\\left( 4 \\right){\\text{ Equation of the curve is }}x\\left( {\\dfrac{{dy}}{{dx}}} \\right) + 3y = 0$\n$\\left( 5 \\right){\\text{ 3 and 4}}$\n\nMathematics\nSection formula\nThe straight line $3x + y = 9$ divides the line segment joining the points $\\left( {1,3} \\right)$ and $\\left( {2,7} \\right)$ in the ratio:\n(A) $3:4$ externally\n(B) $3:4$ internally\n(C) $4:5$ internally\n(D) $5:6$ externally\n\nMathematics\nSection formula\nThe mid-point of the line joining the points $\\left( { - 10.8} \\right){\\text{ and }}\\left( { - 6,12} \\right)$ divides the line joining the points $\\left( {4, - 2} \\right){\\text{ and }}\\left( { - 2,4} \\right)$ in the ratio:\n$\\left( 1 \\right)1:2{\\text{ internally}}$\n$\\left( 2 \\right)1:2{\\text{ externally}}$\n$\\left( 3 \\right)2:1{\\text{ internally}}$\n$\\left( 4 \\right)2:1{\\text{ externally}}$\n$\\left( 5 \\right)2:3{\\text{ externally}}$\nMathematics\nSection formula\nIn what ratio are the joining points $(3, - 6)$ and $( - 6,8)$ divided by the $y$- axis?\nMathematics\nSection formula\nIf $2a + 3b - 5c = 0$ , then the ratio in which $c$ divides $AB$ is ?\nA) 3:2 internally\nB) 3:2 externally\nC) 2:3 internally\nD) 2:3 externally\nMathematics\nSection formula\nFind the ratio in which the line segment joining the points$\\left( { - 3,10} \\right)$ and $\\left( {6, - 8} \\right)$ is divided by $\\left( { - 1,6} \\right)$.\nMathematics\nSection formula\nIn what ratio does the point (-4,6) divide the line segment joining the points $A\\left( { - 6,10} \\right)$ and $B\\left( {3, - 8} \\right)$.\nMathematics\nSection formula\nIf A (-14, -10), B (6, -2) is given, find the coordinates of the points which divide segment AB into four equal parts?\nMathematics\nSection formula\nFind the ratio in which the line segment joining the points (-3, 10) and (6, -8) is divided by (-1, 6)?\nMathematics\nSection formula\nFind the ratio in which the join of the points $\\left( {1,2} \\right)$ and $\\left( { - 2,3} \\right)$ is divided by the line $3x + 4y = 7$\n\nPrev\n1\n2\n3\n4\n5","date":"2021-11-27 14:23:53","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": true, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 2, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 0, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 0, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.5725389719009399, \"perplexity\": 357.7294812106756}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": true, \"markdown_code\": true, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 10, \"end_threshold\": 15, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2021-49\/segments\/1637964358189.36\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20211127133237-20211127163237-00419.warc.gz\"}"}
| null | null |
{"url":"https:\/\/math.stackexchange.com\/questions\/2066739\/finding-gradient-and-hessian-of-dual-problem","text":"# Finding Gradient and Hessian of Dual Problem\n\nI am reading through the paper\n\nIn appendix A.3 Numerical entropy minimization, there is a derivation for dual problem. I am trying to understand how to find the gradient and hessian matrix for equation 92.\n\nMy education is not in mathematics and I have picked up math on the way. So, I am finding it hard to follow on how to derive the gradient and hessian matrices for optimization.\n\nEdit: The following is from the paper:\n\n\u2022 It might be helpful to write the primal and dual problems in your question so people don't have to search through the paper. \u2013\u00a0littleO Dec 21 '16 at 3:20\n\u2022 I think that there is something wrong with the accented letters, in the equations (89), (90) ...in (88) it should be $x$ not $x'$, isn't it? \u2013\u00a0MattG88 Dec 24 '16 at 3:14\n\u2022 x being a column vector you have to have x' for matrix multiplication. \u2013\u00a0user1243255 Dec 24 '16 at 13:16\n\u2022 I think it's awesome when a question earns its own bounty in upvotes ;-) There should be a badge for that. \u2013\u00a0Michael Grant Dec 29 '16 at 15:42\n\nAh, OK, I was finally able to look at the paper. Note that $$\\mathcal{G}(\\lambda,\\nu) = \\inf_x \\mathcal{L}(x,\\lambda,\\nu)$$ For fixed values of $\\lambda,\\nu$, (90) gives us a formula for $x(\\lambda,\\nu)$ which attains that minimization. I'm going to adopt the author's slight abuse of notation and allow logarithms and exponentiation to be applied elementwise to vectors.\nThe paper talks about using the envelope theorem. In a convex case such as this, Danskin's theorem is a simpler and more powerful result. For our purposes, Danskin's theorem says this: whenever $\\bar{x} = x(\\lambda,\\nu)$ is a unique minimizer of $\\inf_x\\mathcal{L}(x,\\lambda,\\nu)$, then $$\\nabla \\mathcal{G}(\\lambda,\\nu) = \\nabla_{\\lambda,\\nu}\\, \\mathcal{L}(\\bar{x},\\lambda,\\nu)$$ In English: to compute the partial derivatives of $\\mathcal{G}$ with respect to $\\lambda$ and $\\nu$, we are allowed take the partial derivatives of $\\mathcal{L}$ instead, and then substitute in $\\bar{x}=x(\\lambda,\\nu)$ after that. We get to \"pretend\" $x$ is constant, even though its value does depend on $\\lambda$ and $\\nu$.\nUsing Danskin's theorem is much easier than trying to eliminate $x$ by substitution first. After all, the partial derivatives of $\\mathcal{L}$ are obvious: $$\\nabla_\\lambda \\mathcal{L}(x,\\lambda,\\nu) = Fx-f, \\quad \\nabla_\\nu \\mathcal{L}(x,\\lambda,\\nu) = Hx-h$$ Thus Danskin's theorem gives us an exceedingly simple result: $$\\nabla_\\lambda \\mathcal{G}(\\lambda,\\nu) = F x(\\lambda,\\nu)-f, \\quad \\nabla_\\nu \\mathcal{G}(\\lambda,\\nu) = H x(\\lambda, \\nu)-h$$ where $x(\\lambda,\\nu)$ is given by (90) above. So the gradient is $$\\nabla \\mathcal{G}(\\lambda,\\nu) = \\begin{bmatrix} \\nabla_\\lambda \\mathcal{G} \\\\ \\nabla_\\nu \\mathcal{G} \\end{bmatrix} = \\begin{bmatrix} F \\\\ H \\end{bmatrix} e^{\\log(p)-\\vec{1}-F^T\\lambda-H^T\\nu} - \\begin{bmatrix} f \\\\ h \\end{bmatrix}$$ The Hessian follows with a little vector calculus: $$\\nabla^2 \\mathcal{G}(\\lambda,\\nu) = \\begin{bmatrix} \\nabla_{\\lambda,\\lambda} \\mathcal{G} & \\nabla_{\\lambda,\\nu} \\mathcal{G} \\\\ \\nabla_{\\nu,\\lambda} \\mathcal{G} & \\nabla_{\\nu,\\nu} \\mathcal{G} \\end{bmatrix} = -\\begin{bmatrix} F \\\\ H \\end{bmatrix} \\mathop{\\textrm{diag}}\\left( e^{\\log(p)-\\vec{1}-F^T\\lambda-H^T\\nu}\\right) \\begin{bmatrix} F^T & H^T \\end{bmatrix}$$\n\u2022 Sorry, typo. It should be $\\mathcal{L}$. \u2013\u00a0Michael Grant Dec 29 '16 at 20:41","date":"2019-05-25 12:50:59","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": true, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 0, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.8620962500572205, \"perplexity\": 225.49632634159101}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": true, \"markdown_code\": false, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 10, \"end_threshold\": 15, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2019-22\/segments\/1558232258058.61\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20190525124751-20190525150751-00490.warc.gz\"}"}
| null | null |
How can I communicate through the Baby camera using two-way audio?
How can I communicate through the Baby camera using two‑way audio?
Step 1: Launch the mydlink Baby Camera app.
Step 2: Select the camera which you want to use to communicate.
Step 3: Press the microphone button on the bottom-left of the Live View screen. This will allow you to speak into the microphone of your smartphone or tablet, and the audio will be played out of the camera's speaker.
2 lidem se to zdá být užitečné.
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{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
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| 8,168
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is a multi-use stadium in Kitakami, Iwate, Japan. It is used mostly for track and field events. The stadium holds 22,000 people.
Past events
1999 Inter-high Games opening ceremony
2016 National Sports Festival of Japan opening ceremony
References
External links
Football venues in Japan
Athletics (track and field) venues in Japan
Iwate Grulla Morioka
Sports venues in Iwate Prefecture
Sports venues completed in 1997
1997 establishments in Japan
Kitakami, Iwate
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaWikipedia"
}
| 367
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Levyne or levynite is a zeolite mineral, i.e. a hydrated silicate mineral. There are two forms of levyne:
Levyne-Na, the sodium dominated form (), and
Levyne-Ca the calcium dominated form ()
Levyne crystallizes in the Trigonal - Hexagonal Scalenohedral class. It typically occurs as radiating clusters or fibrous masses that are transparent to translucent in colors ranging from white through reddish and yellowish white to gray. It has a specific gravity of 2.09 - 2.16 and a Mohs hardness of 4.0 to 4.5. It has a vitreous luster and perfect cleavage on [1011]. Typical occurrence is as an alteration and vesicle filling mineral in basalts.
It was named for French mineralogist Armand Lévy (1795–1841).
The calcium variety was first described in 1821 for an occurrence in Dalsnipa, Sandoy, Faroe Islands. The sodium variety was described in 1997 for an occurrence in Chojabaru, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan.
References
Webmineral - Levyne-Ca
Webmineral - Levyne-Na
External links
Structure type LEV
Zeolites
Trigonal minerals
Minerals in space group 166
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaWikipedia"
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| 2,025
|
Der tibetisch-buddhistische Kalmückentempel ist ein buddhistischer Tempel tibetischer Tradition in München. Er ist der älteste buddhistische Tempel in Deutschland. Er liegt in der Rubinstraße 14 in München-Ludwigsfeld.
Er war für lange Zeit der einzige buddhistische Tempel tibetischer Tradition. Zahlreiche Veranstaltungen rund um die Lehren des Buddhismus finden hier statt. Der berühmteste Besucher ist der Dalai Lama, der die Glaubensstätte bereits zweimal besuchte.
Weblinks
Website
Einzelnachweise
Sakralbau in München
Buddhistischer Tempel in Deutschland
Bauwerk in Ludwigsfeld (München)
Tempel in Europa
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{
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| 1,488
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\section{Introduction}
\setcounter{equation}{0}
\noindent
In this paper, we consider the following modified phase-field crystal (MPFC) equation (see e.g., \cite{SHP06,GGKE,WW10,WW11}):
\begin{equation}
\beta \phi_{tt}+\phi_t=\Delta[\Delta^2 \phi+2\Delta \phi+f(\phi)],\quad \text{ in } \; Q\times (0,+\infty),\label{e1}
\end{equation}
where the nonlinearity $f$ is given by
\begin{equation}
f(\phi)=\phi^3+(1-\epsilon)\phi\label{f}
\end{equation}
and the domain $Q$ is supposed to be $Q=(0,1)^n \subset \mathbb{R}^n$, $n\leq 3$. The phase function $\phi$ approximates the number density of atoms in the material occupying $Q$. The positive parameter $\beta$ is the relaxation time and $\epsilon$ is a positive constant such that $\epsilon \sim T_e-T$, with $T_e$ being the equilibrium temperature at which the phase transition occurs.
Equation \eqref{e1} is considered in the periodic setting for the sake of simplicity and it is subject to the initial conditions
\begin{equation}
\phi|_{t=0}=\phi_0(x),\quad \phi_t|_{t=0}=\phi_1(x), \qquad x\in Q.\label{e2}
\end{equation}
Recently, the so-called phase-field crystal (PFC) approach has been employed to model and simulate the dynamics of crystalline materials, including crystal growth in a supercooled liquid, dendritic and eutectic solidification, epitaxial growth, and so on (see, e.g., \cite{BRV, EG,EKHG,EGL11,ELWGTTG12,OS08,PDA}). The corresponding PFC equation takes the following form
\begin{equation}
\phi_t=\Delta[\Delta^2 \phi+2\Delta \phi+f(\phi)], \quad \text{ in } \; Q\times (0,+\infty).\label{pfc}
\end{equation}
As before we endow the equation with periodic boundary conditions and we assume an initial condition for $\phi$:
\begin{equation}
\phi|_{t=0}=\phi_0(x), \quad x\in Q.\label{pfc2}
\end{equation}
The PFC equation \eqref{pfc} can be viewed as a (conserved) gradient flow generated by the Fr\'{e}chet derivative of the following (dimensionless) free energy functional (cf. \cite{EKHG, EG}), that is,
\begin{equation}
E(\phi)=\int_{Q} \left(\frac12|\Delta \phi|^2-|\nabla \phi|^2+F(\phi)\right) dx,\label{EE}
\end{equation}
with
\begin{equation}
F(\phi)=\frac{1-\epsilon}{2}\phi^2+\frac14 \phi^4.\label{F}
\end{equation}
\par Equation \eqref{pfc} describes the microstructure of solid-liquid systems at inter-atomic length scales and provides a possibly accurate way to model crystal dynamics, especially defect dynamics in atomic-scale resolution (see, for instance, \cite{ELWGTTG12} and the references therein). However, it fails to distinguish between the elastic relaxation and diffusion time scales (cf., e.g., \cite{EG, SHP06}). The MPFC equation \eqref{e1} was proposed in \cite{SHP06} in order to overcome this difficulty and to incorporate both the faster elastic relaxation (e.g., in a rapid quasi-phononic time scale) and the slower mass diffusion (see also \cite{GDL09,GE11,SHP09} and \cite[Section 3.1.1.2]{ELWGTTG12}). The MPFC equation \eqref{e1} can be viewed as a singular perturbation of the PFC equation \eqref{pfc}. We recall that (singular) perturbations of this kind have been derived in the phase-field literature to take large deviations from thermodynamic equilibrium into account (cf., e.g., \cite{CKLE,GJ05}). The presence of the inertial term $\beta \phi_{tt}$ is a nontrivial modification from the mathematical point of view. Indeed, contrary to the sixth-order parabolic type equation \eqref{pfc}, solutions to \eqref{e1} do not regularize in finite time. Besides, the MPFC equation \eqref{e1} does not
have a gradient structure in general, i.e., there is no Lyapunov functional for \eqref{e1} for general initial data, which is decreasing in time (see \cite{GW3} for further technical details).
The MPFC equation \eqref{e1} has been studied numerically in \cite{BHLWWZ,BLWW,GGKE,WW11} (see also, e.g., \cite{BRV,CW,GN,WWL09,HWWL09} for the PFC equation \eqref{pfc}). In particular, the authors have derived different types of unconditionally energy stable finite difference schemes based on a suitable convex splitting for the free energy $E$. Concerning the theoretical study of the MPFC equation \eqref{e1}, existence of a \emph{weak} solution and of a unique \emph{strong} solution up to any positive final time $T>0$ were proven in \cite{WW10} by using a time discretization scheme and taking the special initial value of $\phi_t$ (equal to zero) in order to ensure the mass conservation property. Recently, existence and uniqueness of \emph{energy} solutions to the MPFC equation \eqref{e1} without any restriction on the initial value of $\phi_t$ has been established in \cite{GW3} (see Theorem \ref{exe} below). We recall that such solutions are natural and more general than the weak ones. Moreover, in \cite{GW3}, the authors have also proven the existence of global and exponential attractors as well as the convergence of single trajectories to single stationary states for any fixed parameter $\beta>0$. In this case, it is worth noting that the mass is conserved only asymptotically and the corresponding (dissipative) dynamical system is no longer a gradient-like system (i.e., there is no Lyapunov functional).
An interesting open issue is the construction of a robust family of exponential attractors with respect to the relaxation time $\beta$ (see \cite[Section 3.3]{MZ} for this concept and references therein). This is precisely the goal of the present paper, that is, the existence of
a family of exponential attractors depending on $\beta\geq 0$, which is (H\"{o}lder) continuous with respect to $\beta$.
Such a result essentially says that the non-transient dynamics of the MPFC equation \eqref{e1} is \emph{close} to the one
of the PFC equation \eqref{pfc} in a quantitative way. The proof of this result is based on a general argument devised in
\cite{MPZ} for the damped semilinear wave equation, in which the singular perturbation can be treated by using a simple scaling argument. However, in the present case, the problem is much more complicated because of the additional difficulty related to the high (spatial) regularity gap between the phase function $\phi$ and its time derivative $\phi_t$. More precisely, the crucial estimate on energy norms of the difference between the solutions to the MPCF and the PFC equations, respectively, requires the construction of a sufficiently smooth invariant attracting set for the corresponding dynamical system (see Proposition \ref{abs2}).
The plan of this paper goes as follows. In the next section, after some preliminaries, we state the main result of this paper (see Theorem \ref{main}). Section~\ref{estimates}
contains the basic uniform \emph{a priori} estimates. The dissipative dynamical systems associated with MPFC and PFC equations are analyzed in Section~\ref{dissdyn}. Finally, the main theorem is proven in Section~\ref{robust}.
\section{Preliminaries and main result}
\setcounter{equation}{0}
\subsection{Notations and functional spaces}
We denote by $H^m_p(Q)$, $m\in \mathbb{N}$, the space of $H^m_{loc}(\mathbb{R}^n)$ functions that are $Q$-periodic. For an arbitrary $m\in \mathbb{N}$, $H^m_p(Q)$ is a Hilbert space with respect to the scalar product $(u,v)_{m}=\sum_{|\kappa|\leq m}\int_Q D^\kappa u(x)D^\kappa v(x) dx$ ($\kappa$ being a multi-index) and the induced norm $\|u\|_m=\sqrt{(u,u)_m}$. For $m=0$, $H^0_p(Q)=L^2_p(Q)$ and the inner product as well as the norm on $L^2_p(Q)$ are simply indicated by $(\cdot, \cdot)$ and $\|\cdot\|$, respectively.
The mean value of any function $u\in L^2_p(Q)$ is denoted by $\langle u\rangle=|Q|^{-1}\int_{Q} u dx$ and we set $\overline u=u-\langle u\rangle$.
The dual space of $H^{m}_p(Q)$ is denoted by $H^{-m}_p(Q)$, which is equipped with the operator norm given by
$\|\mathcal{T}\|_{-m}=\sup_{\|u\|_m=1,\ u\in H^m_p(Q)}|\mathcal{T}(u)|$.
For $m=1$, we introduce an equivalent and more convenient norm associated with the inner product
$$(u, v)_{-1}= (\nabla \psi_u, \nabla \psi_v)+\langle u\rangle\langle v\rangle,\quad \forall\, u, v\in H^{-1}_p(Q),$$
where $\psi_u$ (respectively $\psi_v$) is the unique solution with zero mean to the elliptic equation in $Q$ subject to periodic boundary conditions:
$$ -\Delta \psi_u=u-\langle u\rangle.$$
We also set $\dot{H}^m_p(Q)=\{u\in H^m_p(Q):\ \langle u\rangle=0\}$ and, for any $u, v\in \dot{L}^2_p(Q)$, we define
$$(u, v)_{-1}=(\nabla \psi_u, \nabla \psi_v)\quad \text{and}\quad \|u\|_{-1}=\|\nabla \psi_u\|.$$
Then we observe that $A_0=-\Delta: \dot{H}_p^2(Q)\mapsto \dot{L}^2_p(Q)$ is a positive operator and its powers $A_0^s$ ($s\in\mathbb{R}$) are well defined. In particular, for $s=-1$,
$$ (u, v)_{-1}=(A_0^{-1} u, v)=(u, A^{-1}_0 v)=(A_0^{-\frac12} u, A_0^{-\frac12} v) \quad \text{and}\quad \|u\|_{-1}=\|A_0^{-\frac12} u\|.$$
Finally, for any given $\beta>0$, we introduce the product spaces
\begin{eqnarray}
&& \mathbb{X}_0^\beta=H^2_p(Q)\times \sqrt{\beta}H^{-1}_p(Q),\quad \mathbb{X}_1^\beta=H^3_p(Q)\times \sqrt{\beta} L^2_p(Q),\nonumber \\
&& \mathbb{X}_2^\beta=H^4_p(Q)\times \sqrt{\beta} H^1_p(Q),\quad\ \ \mathbb{X}_3^\beta=H^5_p(Q)\times \sqrt{\beta} H^2_p(Q).\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
These spaces are complete with respect to the metrics induced by the following norms, respectively,
\begin{eqnarray}
&&\|(u,v)\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}=(\|u\|_{2}^2+\beta\|v\|_{-1}^2)^\frac12, \quad \|(u,v)\|_{\mathbb{X}_1^\beta}=(\|u\|_{3}^2+\beta\|v\|^2)^\frac12,\nonumber \\
&& \|(u,v)\|_{\mathbb{X}_2^\beta}=(\|u\|_{4}^2+\beta\|v\|_{1}^2)^\frac12,\quad \ \ \|(u,v)\|_{\mathbb{X}_3^\beta}=(\|u\|_{5}^2+\beta\|v\|_{2}^2)^\frac12.\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
We note that for $\beta=0$, the second component of $\mathbb{X}_i^\beta$ ($i=0,1,2,3$) is simply set to be the null space $\{0\}$.
We also recall the definitions of the \textit{Hausdorff semidistance} as well as the \textit{symmetric Hausdorff distance} of two subset $U_1, U_2$ of a Banach space $V$ with metric $\mathrm{d}$, namely,
\begin{eqnarray}
&&{\rm dist}_{V}(U_1,U_2)=\sup_{u_1\in U_1}\inf_{u_2\in U_2} \mathrm{d}(u_1, u_2),\nonumber \\
&&{\rm dist}_{V}^{{\rm sym}}(U_1,U_2)=\max\{{\rm dist}_{V}(U_1,U_2), {\rm dist}_{V}(U_2,U_1)\}.\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
In the remaining part of the paper, if it is not otherwise stated, we indicate by $C$ or $C_i$, $i\in \mathbb{N}$, generic positive
constants depending only on structural quantities, independent of the parameter $\beta$. The symbol $c_Q$ will denote some embedding
constants depending only on the domain $Q$. Moreover, we
denote by $\mathcal{Q} (\cdot)$ or $\mathcal{Q}_i(\cdot)$, $i\in \mathbb{N}$, a continuous, nonnegative monotone increasing function depending on structural quantities, but independent of $\beta$. The constants $C$ or the functions $\mathcal{Q}(\cdot)$ may vary from
line to line and even within the same line. Any further dependence will be explicitly pointed out if necessary.
\subsection{Main result}
Now we state the main result of this paper.
\begin{theorem} \label{main} Suppose that $n\leq 3$ and $\beta_0>0$ is an arbitrary but fixed constant. For each $\beta\in [0,\beta_0]$ and $M, M'>0$, there exists an exponential attractor $\mathcal{M}_\beta$ for the semigroup $S_\beta(t)$ defined by the global energy solutions to problem \eqref{e1}--\eqref{e2} if $\beta>0$ or problem \eqref{pfc}--\eqref{pfc2} if $\beta=0$ (cf. Theorems \ref{exe} and \ref{exe0} below) on the phase space
$$\mathcal{X}^{M,M'}_0=\{(u,v)\in \mathbb{X}_0^\beta: \ |\beta\langle v\rangle+\langle u\rangle|\leq M, \ |\langle v\rangle|\leq M'\},$$
which satisfies the following properties:
(P1) $\mathcal{M}_\beta$ is positively invariant, bounded in $\mathbb{X}_3^\beta$ and $\mathbb{X}_0^{\beta_0}$ with bounds that may depend on $\beta_0$ but are independent of $\beta$.
(P2) The rate of attraction is uniformly exponential: for every bounded set $B\in \mathcal{X}^{M,M'}_0$, there exist $K_B > 0$ and $\gamma_B> 0$
independent of $\beta$ such that
\begin{equation}
{\rm dist}_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}(S(t)B, \mathcal{M}_\beta)\leq K_{B}e^{-\gamma_B t},\quad \forall\, t\geq 0,\label{exp}
\end{equation}
where
${\rm dist}_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}$ denotes the Hausdorff semidistance of sets with respect to the $\mathbb{X}_0^\beta$-metric.
(P3) The fractal dimension of $\mathcal{M}_\beta$ in $\mathbb{X}_0^\beta$ is uniformly bounded with respect to $\beta$, that is, there exists a positive constant $K$ independent of $\beta$, such that ${\rm dim}_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta} \mathcal{M}_\beta\leq K$.
(P4) The map $\beta\to \mathcal{M}_\beta$ $(\beta\in [0,\beta_0])$ is H\"older continuous in $\beta$, namely, it holds
\begin{equation}
{\rm dist}_{\mathbb{X}_0^{\beta_1}}^{{\rm sym}}(\mathcal{M}_{\beta_1}, \mathcal{M}_{\beta_2})\leq C(\beta_1-\beta_2)^\frac16, \quad \text{for}\ \ 0\leq \beta_2<\beta_1\leq \beta_0.\nonumber
\end{equation}
\end{theorem}
\begin{remark}
For the sake of simplicity, in this paper we only treat the nonlinearity $f$ of the physically relevant form \eqref{f}. Moreover, in the subsequent analysis, we do not have to impose the restriction $\alpha:=1-\epsilon >0$ as in \cite{WW10, WW11, WWL09}.
Actually, our results hold for more general (possibly non-convex) nonlinearities.
For instance, we can take $ f\in C^{2,1}_{loc}(\mathbb{R})$ such that
$$ f(0)=0,\quad \liminf_{|s|\to+\infty} f'(s)>0,\quad \liminf_{|s|\to+\infty}\frac{f(s)}{s}=+\infty.$$
We note that the physically relevant nonlinearity $f(y)= y^3+(1-\epsilon)y$ with $\epsilon\in \mathbb{R}$ fulfills the above assumptions.
\end{remark}
\begin{remark}
We note that the choice of periodic boundary
conditions is realistic since in the crystalline materials the patterns of the nanostructures statistically repeat
throughout the domain, which is much larger than the length-scales of atoms. Nevertheless, our theoretical results also hold for homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions, as well as for mixed periodic-homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions. Of course, there is no loss of generality in choosing the unit period for any spatial direction.
\end{remark}
\section{\textit{A priori} dissipative estimates}
\label{estimates}
\setcounter{equation}{0}
\noindent
In this section we derive some \textit{a priori} dissipative estimates for the solutions to problem \eqref{e1}--\eqref{e2}, which are uniform with respect to $\beta$. The subsequent calculations are performed formally. However, they can be justified by working within a suitable Faedo--Galerkin approximation scheme (cf. \cite{GW3}) and then passing to the limit.
We first recall how the PFC equation \eqref{pfc} and the MPFC equation \eqref{e1} behave with respect to the (total) mass conservation.
Integrating the PFC equation \eqref{pfc} with respect to time, we see that the following mass conservation property holds
\begin{equation}
\langle\phi(t)\rangle=\langle\phi_0\rangle,\quad \forall\, t\geq 0.\label{conpfc}
\end{equation}
However, the mass conservation may fail for the MPFC equation \eqref{e1}. Nevertheless, it still obeys a kind of conservation law, namely,
\begin{equation}
\beta\langle\phi_t(t)\rangle+\langle\phi(t)\rangle=\beta\langle\phi_1\rangle+\langle\phi_0\rangle, \quad \forall\, t\geq 0,\label{conODE2}
\end{equation}
so that (cf. \cite{GW3})
\begin{equation}
\langle\phi_t(t)\rangle=\langle\phi_1\rangle e^{-\frac{t}{\beta}},\quad \langle\phi(t)\rangle = \beta\langle\phi_1\rangle+\langle\phi_0\rangle-\beta \langle\phi_1\rangle e^{-\frac{t}{\beta}},\quad \forall\, t\geq 0.\label{mde2}
\end{equation}
\begin{remark}
It is easy to see that if $(\phi, \phi_t)$ is a solution to problem \eqref{e1}--\eqref{e2} with initial data $\phi_1$ satisfying the zero-mean assumption $\langle\phi_1\rangle=0$, then $\langle \phi_t(t)\rangle=0$ and, in particular, the mass conservation $\langle \phi(t)\rangle=\langle\phi_0\rangle$ holds for all $t\geq 0$ (cf. \cite{WW10, WW11}).
\end{remark}
First, we can show the uniform dissipative estimate in $\mathbb{X}_0^\beta$:
\begin{lemma}\label{es}
For any $\beta\in (0, \beta_0]$, suppose that $(\phi, \phi_t)$ is a regular solution to problem \eqref{e1}--\eqref{e2}. Then the following dissipative estimate holds:
\begin{equation}
\|\phi(t)\|_{2}^2+ \beta\|\overline{ \phi_t}(t)\|_{-1}^2 \leq\mathcal{Q}(\|\phi_0\|_{2}, \|\overline{ \phi_1}\|_{-1}) e^{-\rho_0 t}+\rho_0', \quad \forall\, t\geq 0,\label{disa1}
\end{equation}
where the positive constants $\rho_0, \rho_0'$ may depend on $\beta_0$, $\epsilon$, $\langle\phi_1\rangle $, $\langle\phi_0\rangle$ and $|Q|$, but are independent of $\|\phi_0\|_{2}$, $\|\overline{ \phi_1}\|_{-1}$, the parameter $\beta$ and time $t$.
\end{lemma}
\begin{proof}
We rewrite the equation \eqref{e1} into the following form
\begin{equation}
\beta \phi_{tt}+\phi_t=-A_0 (\Delta ^2 \phi +2\Delta \phi+f(\phi)-\langle f(\phi)\rangle). \label{e1a}
\end{equation}
Testing \eqref{e1a} by $A_0^{-1} \overline{\phi_t}(t)+\eta_1 A_0^{-1} \overline{\phi}(t)$ with $\eta_1>0$ being a small constant to be determined later, we get
\begin{equation}
\frac{d}{dt}\mathcal{Y}_1(t)+\mathcal{D}_1(t)\leq \mathcal{R}_1(t),\label{d3}
\end{equation}
where
\begin{eqnarray}
\mathcal{Y}_1&=& \frac{\beta}{2}\|\overline{\phi_t}\|_{-1}^2+ E(\phi)+ \eta_1 \beta (\overline{\phi_t}, \overline \phi)_{-1}+\frac{\eta_1}{2}\|\overline \phi\|_{-1}^2,\nonumber\\
\mathcal{D}_1&=& (1-\eta_1\beta)\|\overline{\phi_t}\|_{-1}^2+\eta_1 \|\Delta \phi\|^2+\eta \int_{Q} f(\phi) (\phi-(\beta\langle\phi_1\rangle+\langle\phi_0\rangle)) dx,\nonumber \\
\mathcal{R}_1&=& (1-\eta_1\beta)\langle\phi_1\rangle e^{-\frac{t}{\beta}}\int_{Q} f(\phi) dx+2\eta_1 \|\nabla \phi\|^2.\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
Using integration by parts and the Cauchy--Schwarz inequality, we get
\begin{equation}
\|\nabla \phi\|^2 \leq \|\Delta \phi\|\|\phi\|\leq \frac14\|\Delta \phi\|^2+ \|\phi\|^2.\label{intpo}
\end{equation}
Recalling \eqref{F}, we easily see that $F$ is uniformly bounded from below
\begin{equation}
F(\phi)\geq \frac14 \Big(\phi^2 + (1-\epsilon)\Big)^2-\frac14 (1-\epsilon)^2\geq -\frac14 (1-\epsilon)^2.\label{Fb}
\end{equation}
Besides, we infer from the Sobolev embedding $H^2(Q)\hookrightarrow L^\infty(Q)$ $(n\leq 3$) and Young's inequality that
\begin{equation}
C(\|\phi\|_{2})\geq E(\phi)\geq \frac14\|\Delta \phi\|^2+ \|\phi\|^2-C_1.\label{esE}
\end{equation}
On the other hand, the Cauchy--Schwarz inequality yields
\begin{equation}
\eta_1 \beta |(\overline{\phi_t}, \overline\phi)_{-1}|\leq \frac{\beta}{4}\|\overline{\phi_t}\|_{-1}^2+\eta_1^2\beta\|\overline \phi\|_{-1}^2. \label{cs1}
\end{equation}
As a result, for $\eta_1\in (0, \frac{1}{2\beta_0})$, we obtain
\begin{equation}
C(\|\overline{ \phi_t}\|_{-1}, \|\phi\|_{H^2})\geq \mathcal{Y}_1(t)\geq \frac{\beta}{4}\|\overline{\phi_t}\|_{-1}^2+\frac14\|\Delta \phi\|^2+ \|\phi\|^2-C_1.\label{Y1}
\end{equation}
Next, on account of \eqref{f} and \eqref{F}, we get
\begin{equation}
\|\phi\|^2\leq \xi_1 \int_{Q} F(\phi) dx +C_{\xi_1},\quad \int_Q|f(\phi)| dx\leq \xi_2 \int_{Q} F(\phi) dx+C_{\xi_2},\nonumber
\end{equation}
and
\begin{eqnarray}
&&
\int_{Q} f(\phi) (\phi-(\beta\langle\phi_1\rangle+\langle\phi_0\rangle)) dx\nonumber \\
&\geq& -C_2\|\phi-(\beta\langle\phi_1\rangle+\langle\phi_0\rangle)\|^2 +C_3\int_{Q} F(\phi) dx-C_4\nonumber \\
&\geq & -2C_2\|\phi\|^2 +C_3\int_{Q} F(\phi) dx-(C_4+2C_2(\beta\langle\phi_1\rangle+\langle\phi_0\rangle)^2)\nonumber \\
&\geq& (-2C_2\xi_1+C_3)\int_{Q} F(\phi) dx-(C_4+2C_2(\beta\langle\phi_1\rangle+\langle\phi_0\rangle)^2+C_{\xi_1}).\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
Let $\kappa_1>0$ be a small constant to be chosen later. Then we have
\begin{eqnarray}
&&\mathcal{D}_1(t)-\kappa_1 \mathcal{Y}_1(t)\nonumber \\
&=& \left(1-\eta_1\beta-\frac{\kappa_1}{2}\beta\right)\|\overline{\phi}_t\|_{-1}^2+\left(\eta_1-\frac{\kappa_1}{2}\right)\|\Delta \phi\|^2+\kappa_1\|\nabla \phi\|^2\nonumber \\
&&+\eta_1 \int_{Q} f(\phi) (\phi-M) dx-\kappa_1\int_Q F(\phi) dx-\frac{\eta_1\kappa_1}{2}\|\phi\|_{-1}^2\nonumber \\
&\geq& \left(1-\eta_1\beta-\frac{\kappa_1}{2}\beta\right)\|\overline{\phi}_t\|_{-1}^2+\left(\eta_1-\frac{\kappa_1}{2}\right)\|\Delta \phi\|^2+\kappa_1\|\nabla \phi\|^2\nonumber \\
&& +(C_3\eta_1-2C_2\xi\eta_1-\kappa_1)\int_Q F(\phi) dx-\eta_1\left(C_4+2C_2(\beta\langle\phi_1\rangle+\langle\phi_0\rangle)^2+C_\xi\right).\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
Next, for $\xi_2>0$, using the Young inequality and \eqref{intpo}, we can see that
\begin{eqnarray}
\mathcal{R}_1(t)
&\leq& |\langle\phi_1\rangle e^{-\frac{t}{\beta}}|\int_{Q} |f(\phi)| dx+2\eta_1 \|\nabla \phi\|^2\nonumber \\
&\leq& |\langle\phi_1\rangle|\left(\xi_2 \int_{Q} F(\phi)dx + C_{\xi_2}\right) + \frac{\xi_2\eta_1}{2}\|\Delta \phi\|^2+ \frac{2\eta_1}{\xi_2} \|\phi\|^2\nonumber \\
&\leq& \left(|\langle\phi_1\rangle|\xi_2+ \frac{2\eta_1\xi_1}{\xi_2}\right)\int_{Q} F(\phi)dx +\frac{\xi_2\eta_1}{2}\|\Delta \phi\|^2+ C_{\xi_2}|\langle\phi_1\rangle| + \frac{\xi_2\eta_1}{2}C_{\xi_1}.\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
Choosing $\eta_1\in (0, \frac{1}{2\beta_0})$ and $\kappa_1, \xi_1, \xi_2 >0$ satisfying
\begin{eqnarray}
&&1-\eta_1\beta_0-\frac{\kappa_1}{2}\beta_0\geq 0, \quad \eta_1-\frac{\kappa_1}{2}-\frac{\xi_2\eta_1}{2}\geq 0, \nonumber \\ &&C_3\eta_1-2C_2\xi_1\eta_1-\kappa_1-|\langle\phi_1\rangle|\xi_2-\frac{2\eta_1\xi_1}{\xi_2}\geq 0,\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
we have, for all $\beta\in (0,\beta_0]$,
\begin{eqnarray}
&& \mathcal{D}_1(t)-\mathcal{R}_1(t)
\nonumber \\
&\geq&
\kappa_1\mathcal{Y}_1(t) -\eta_1\left(C_4+2C_2(\beta\langle\phi_1\rangle+\langle\phi_0\rangle)^2+C_{\xi_1}\right)- C_{\xi_2}|\langle\phi_1\rangle| -\frac{\xi_2\eta_1}{2}C_{\xi_1}.\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
Collecting the above estimates together,
we infer from inequalities \eqref{d3} and \eqref{Fb} that
\begin{equation}
\frac{d}{dt}\mathcal{Y}_1(t)+\kappa_1\mathcal{Y}_1(t) \leq C_5,\label{d3a}
\end{equation}
where $C_5$ may depend on $Q, \beta_0, \epsilon$, $|\langle\phi_0\rangle|$ and $|\langle\phi_1\rangle|$. Then we get
\begin{equation}
\mathcal{Y}_1(t)\leq \mathcal{Y}_1(0)e^{-\kappa_1 t}+\frac{C_{5}}{\kappa_1},\quad \forall \, t\geq 0,\nonumber
\end{equation}
which together with \eqref{Y1} yields our conclusion. The proof is complete.
\end{proof}
Then we can proceed to prove the higher-order dissipative estimates in $\mathbb{X}_j^\beta$:
\begin{lemma}\label{es1}
For any $\beta\in (0, \beta_0]$, suppose $(\phi,\phi_t)$ is a regular solution to problem \eqref{e1}--\eqref{e2}. Then the following estimate holds for $t\geq 0$:
\begin{eqnarray}
&& \|(\phi(t), \phi_t(t))\|_{\mathbb{X}_j^\beta}^2
\leq \mathcal{Q}(\|(\phi_0, \phi_1)\|_{\mathbb{X}_j^\beta}) e^{-\rho_j t}+\int_0^te^{-\rho_j'(t-s)}\mathcal{Q}(\|\phi(s)\|_{j+1}) ds,\label{disa1a}\\
&& \sup_{t\geq 0}\int_t^{t+1} \|\phi_t(s)\|_{j-1}^2 ds\leq \mathcal{Q}(\|(\phi_0, \phi_1)\|_{\mathbb{X}_j^\beta}),\label{esphit}
\end{eqnarray}
where the positive constants $\rho_j, \rho_j'$ ($j=1, 2, 3$) may depend on $\beta_0$, $\epsilon$, $\langle\phi_1\rangle $, $\langle\phi_0\rangle$ and $|Q|$, but independent of the $\mathbb{X}_j^\beta$-norm of initial data, $\beta$ and time $t$.
\end{lemma}
\begin{proof} We first consider the case $j=1$. Testing \eqref{e1} by $ \phi_t(t)+\eta_2 \phi(t)$ with $\eta_2\in (0, \frac{1}{2\beta_0})$ to be determined later, we obtain
\begin{equation}
\frac{d}{dt}\mathcal{Y}_2(t)+\mathcal{D}_2(t)\leq \mathcal{R}_2(t),\label{d3h}
\end{equation}
where
\begin{eqnarray}
\mathcal{Y}_2 &=&\frac{\beta}{2}\|\phi_t\|^2+\frac12\|\nabla \Delta \phi\|^2-\|\Delta \phi\|^2
+\beta\eta_2\int_{Q} \phi_t\phi dx +\frac{\eta_2}{2}\|\phi\|^2,\nonumber \\
\mathcal{D}_2 &=& (1-\eta_2\beta)\|\phi_t\|^2+\eta_2\|\nabla \Delta \phi\|^2,\nonumber \\
\mathcal{R}_2 &=& \int_{Q}\Delta f (\phi)\phi_t dx+2\eta_2\|\Delta \phi\|^2+\eta_2\int_{Q}f(\phi)\Delta \phi dx.\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
The uniform dissipative estimate \eqref{disa1} together with the Sobolev embedding $H^2(Q)\hookrightarrow L^\infty(Q)$ ($n\leq 3$) yields the (uniform) global boundedness of $\phi$, that is,
$$
\|\phi(t)\|^2_{L^\infty}\leq C\mathcal{Q}_1(\|\phi_0\|_{2}, \|\overline{ \phi_1}\|_{-1}) e^{-\rho_1 t}+C\rho_2, \quad \forall\, t\geq 0.
$$
As a consequence, thanks to \eqref{f} and to the Young inequality, we have
\begin{equation}
\mathcal{Q}_2(\|\phi\|_{3}, \|\overline{ \phi_t}\|)\geq \mathcal{Y}_2(t)\geq \frac14(\beta\|\phi_t\|^2+\|\nabla \Delta\phi\|^2)-C\|\phi\|_2^2.\label{eY2}
\end{equation}
Using the Sobolev embeddings once more, we are able to estimate the terms in $\mathcal{R}_2$ as follows
\begin{eqnarray}
\int_{Q}\Delta f (\phi)\phi_t dx
&\leq& \frac12\|\phi_t\|^2+\frac12\|\Delta f(\phi)\|^2\nonumber \\
&\leq& \frac12\|\phi_t\|^2+\mathcal{Q}(\|\phi\|_2),\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
\begin{equation}
2\eta_2\|\Delta \phi\|^2+\eta_2\int_{Q}f(\phi)\Delta \phi dx\leq c\eta_2(\|\phi\|_2^2+\|f(\phi)\|^2)\leq \mathcal{Q}(\|\phi\|_2).\nonumber
\end{equation}
Then for $\kappa_2>0$ to be determined later, we have
\begin{eqnarray}
&& \mathcal{D}_2(t)-\kappa_2\mathcal{Y}_2(t)-\mathcal{R}_2(t)\nonumber \\
&\geq& \Big(\frac12-\eta_2\beta-\frac{\kappa_2\beta}{4}\Big)\|\phi_t\|^2+\Big(\eta_2-\frac{\kappa_2}{4}\Big)\|\nabla \Delta \phi\|^2-\mathcal{Q}(\|\phi\|_2).\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
Choosing $\eta_2, \kappa_2>0$ satisfying
\begin{equation}
\frac12-\eta_2\beta_0-\frac{\kappa_2\beta_0}{4}\geq \frac14, \quad \eta_2-\frac{\kappa_2}{4}\geq 0,\nonumber
\end{equation}
we deduce that the following inequality holds
\begin{equation}
\frac{d}{dt}\mathcal{Y}_2(t)+ \frac14\|\phi_t(t)\|^2+\kappa_2\mathcal{Y}_2(t)\leq \mathcal{Q}(\|\phi\|_2),\nonumber
\end{equation}
where $\mathcal{Q}$ is a continuous monotone function satisfying $\mathcal{Q}(0)=0$. Applying the Gronwall inequality and the dissipative estimate \eqref{es}, we conclude that
\begin{equation}
\mathcal{Y}_2(t) \leq
\mathcal{Y}_2(0)e^{-\kappa_2t}+\int_0^te^{-\kappa_2(t-s)}\mathcal{Q}(\|\phi(s)\|_2) ds,\nonumber
\end{equation}
which combined with \eqref{es} and \eqref{eY2} easily yields the dissipative estimates \eqref{disa1a} and \eqref{esphit}.
The higher-order dissipative estimates for $j=2, 3$ can be obtained in a similar way. For instance, for $j=2$, we can test the equation \eqref{e1} by $-\Delta \phi_t(t)-\eta_3 \Delta \phi(t)$ with suitably small constant $\eta_3>0$. For $j=3$, we apply the operator $\Delta$ to \eqref{e1} and test the resultant by $\Delta \phi_t(t)+\eta_4 \Delta \phi(t)$ for some $\eta_4>0$ sufficiently small. Repeating the above argument and making use of the dissipative estimates obtained in the previous step for $j-1$, we can reach our conclusion. The proof is left to the interested reader and thus is omitted here.
\end{proof}
We conclude this section with a bound on the second order time derivative $\phi_{tt}$, which will be useful in the last section.
\begin{corollary}\label{phitt}
For any $\beta\in (0, \beta_0]$, suppose that $(\phi,\phi_t)$ is a regular solution to problem \eqref{e1}--\eqref{e2}. Then we have \begin{equation}
\sup_{t\geq 0} \int_t^{t+1} \beta \|\phi_{tt}(\tau)\|_{-1}^2 d \tau \leq \mathcal{Q}(\|(\phi_0, \phi_1)\|_{\mathbb{X}_3^\beta}).\label{esphitt}
\end{equation}
\end{corollary}
\begin{proof}
Testing \eqref{e1a} by $A_0\overline{\phi_{tt}}(t)$ and integrating by parts, we get
\begin{eqnarray}
&& \frac{d}{dt}\left[\frac12 \|\overline{\phi_t}\|_{-1}^2+(\Delta^2\phi, \overline{\phi_t}), +2(\Delta \phi, \overline{\phi_t})+ (f(\phi), \overline{\phi_t})\right]+\beta\|\overline{\phi_{tt}}\|_{-1}^2\nonumber \\
&=& (\Delta \phi_t, \Delta \overline{\phi_t})-2(\nabla \phi_t, \nabla \overline{\phi_t})+(f'(\phi)\phi_t, \overline{\phi_t})\nonumber \\
&\leq& C\|\phi_t\|_2^2+C(\|\phi\|_2)\|\phi_t\|^2.\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
Integrating the above inequality with respect to time and using the uniform estimates \eqref{disa1a} and \eqref{esphit} with $j=3$, we easily infer \eqref{esphitt}. The proof is complete.
\end{proof}
\section{The dissipative dynamical system}
\label{dissdyn}
\setcounter{equation}{0}
\subsection{Well-posedness}
Based on the uniform estimate \eqref{disa1}, existence and uniqueness of global energy solutions to problem \eqref{e1}--\eqref{e2} has been proven in \cite[Theorem 4.1]{GW3} via a suitable Galerkin approximation for arbitrary but fixed $\beta>0$. Namely, there holds
\begin{theorem}\label{exe}
For any $\beta >0$ and initial data $(\phi_0, \phi_1)\in \mathbb{X}_0$, the MPFC equation \eqref{e1}--\eqref{e2} admits a unique global energy solution $(\phi, \phi_t)$ such that
$$\phi\in C^2([0,T];H^{-4}_p(Q))\cap C^1([0,T]; H^{-1}_p(Q))\cap C([0,T]; H^2_p(Q))$$
satisfying
\begin{eqnarray}&&
A_0^{-1}(\beta \phi_{tt}+\phi_t)+ \Delta ^2 \phi +2\Delta \phi+f(\phi)-\langle f(\phi)\rangle
=0,\nonumber \\
&& \qquad \qquad \qquad \qquad\qquad \mbox{in}\ D(A_0^{-1}), \quad \text{a.e. in}\ (0,T), \label{e1ae}\\
&&
\phi|_{t=0}=\phi_0 \ \mbox{in} \ H^2_p(Q),\quad \phi_t|_{t=0}=\phi_1 \ \mbox{in} \ H^{-1}_p(Q).\label{e2ae}
\end{eqnarray}
Moreover, the following energy identity holds for all $ s, \,t\in [0,T]$ with $s<t$
\begin{equation}
\mathcal{E}(t)=\mathcal{E}(s)-\int_s^t \|\overline{\phi_t}(\tau)\|_{-1}^2 d\tau+\int_s^t\langle\phi_1\rangle e^{-\frac{\tau}{\beta}}\int_Q f(\phi(\tau))dx d\tau. \label{enereq}
\end{equation}
\end{theorem}
From the energy identity \eqref{enereq}, we are able to check that the solution $(\phi, \phi_t)$ is indeed uniformly Lipschitz continuous on bounded balls of $\mathbb{X}_0^\beta$, for any fixed $T\geq 0$:
\begin{corollary} Suppose $\beta\in (0,\beta_0]$.
Consider two pairs of initial data $(\phi_{0j}, \phi_{1j})$ $(j=1,2)$ in a bounded set of $\mathbb{X}_0^\beta$, $\phi_j$ being the solution to problem \eqref{e1}--\eqref{e2} corresponding to the initial datum $(\phi_{0j}, \phi_{1j})$.
The following continuous dependence estimate holds
\begin{eqnarray}
&&
\|(\phi_1-\phi_2, \phi_{1t}-\phi_{2t})(t)\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}^2+ \int_0^t \Vert ( \phi_{1t}-\phi_{2t}) (\tau)\Vert_{-1}^2 d\tau\nonumber \\
&\leq& L_1 e^{L_2T} \|(\phi_{10}-\phi_{20}, \phi_{11}-\phi_{21})\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}^2,\quad \forall\, t\in [0,T].\label{LipX0}
\end{eqnarray}
where $L_1$, $L_2$ are positive constants depending on $\|\phi_{0j}\|_2$, $\|\phi_{1j}\|_{-1}$ as well as on $\beta_0$, $\epsilon$, $Q$ and $f$, but independent of $\beta$ and $t$.
\end{corollary}
\begin{proof}
Denote the difference of solutions by $\tilde{\phi}=\phi_1-\phi_2$. In \cite{GW3}, we have shown that
\begin{eqnarray}
&&{\cal E}_0(\tilde{\phi}(t),\tilde{\phi}_t(t))+ |\langle\tilde{\phi}(t)\rangle|^2+\int_0^t \Vert \overline{ \tilde{\phi}_t}(\tau)\Vert_{-1}^2 d\tau \nonumber \\
&\leq& {\cal E}_0(\tilde{\phi}_0,\tilde{\phi}_1)+C|\langle \tilde{\phi}(0)\rangle|^2+ C \int_0^t {\cal E}_0(\tilde{\phi}(\tau),\tilde{\phi}_t(\tau)) + |\langle\tilde{\phi}(\tau)\rangle|^2 d\tau,\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
where
\begin{equation}
{\cal E}_0(\psi,\psi_t):= \frac{\beta}{2}\Vert \overline{\psi_t}\Vert_{-1}^2 +{1\over 2} \| \Delta\psi\|^2 - \| \nabla\psi\|^2 + {\Lambda\over 2}\| \overline{\psi} \|_{-1}^2
\label{enlin1}
\end{equation}
and $\Lambda>0$ is a sufficiently large constant.
Thus, using the fact $$\langle \tilde{\phi}(t)\rangle = \beta\langle \tilde{\phi}_1\rangle+\langle \tilde{\phi}_0\rangle-\beta \langle \tilde{\phi}_1\rangle e^{-\frac{t}{\beta}},$$
we conclude \eqref{LipX0} from by the Gronwall inequality. The proof is complete.
\end{proof}
The previous results imply similar results hold for the limiting case $\beta=0$ (with an even simpler proof):
\begin{theorem}\label{exe0}
For any initial data $\phi_0\in H_p^2(Q)$, the PFC equation \eqref{pfc}--\eqref{pfc2} admits a unique global energy solution $$\phi\in C([0,T]; H^2_p(Q))\cap H^1(0,T; H^{-1}_p(Q)).$$
Besides, the following continuous dependence estimate holds for all $t\in [0,T]$
\begin{equation}
\|\phi_1(t)-\phi_2(t)\|_{2}^2+ \int_0^t \Vert ( \phi_{1t}-\phi_{2t}) (\tau)\Vert_{-1}^2 d\tau\leq L_1 e^{L_2T} \|\phi_{10}-\phi_{20}\|_{2}^2 ,\label{LipX00}
\end{equation}
where $L_1$, $L_2$ are positive constants depending on $\|\phi_0\|_2$ as well as on $\epsilon$, $Q$ and $f$, but independent of $t$. Moreover, $\phi\in C^\infty((0,+\infty)\times Q)$.
\end{theorem}
\textit{The Associated Semigroups}. We can now associate with problem \eqref{e1}--\eqref{e2} a family of strongly continuous semigroups $S_\beta(t):\mathbb{X}^\beta_0\to \mathbb{X}^\beta_0$, $\beta\in (0, \beta_0]$, by setting
$$\mathbf{u}(t)=S_\beta(t)\mathbf{u}_0, \quad \forall \, t\geq 0,$$
where $\mathbf{u}(t)=S_\beta(t)\mathbf{u}_0$ is the unique energy solution given by Theorem \ref{exe} corresponding to the initial data $\mathbf{u}_0=(\phi_0, \phi_1)\in \mathbb{X}_0^\beta$.
Similarly, for the limiting case $\beta=0$, we can define the strongly continuous semigroup $S_0(t): \mathbb{X}^0_0\to \mathbb{X}^0_0$ by setting $$\mathbf{u}(t)=S_0(t)\mathbf{u}_0, \quad \forall \, t\geq 0,$$
where $\mathbf{u}_0=(\phi_0, 0)\in \mathbb{X}_0^0$, $\mathbf{u}(t)=(\phi(t), 0)$ and $\phi(t)$ is the unique energy solution given by Theorem \ref{exe0} corresponding to the initial datum $\phi_0$.
\subsection{Absorbing sets}
Thanks to Lemma \ref{es}, we can state some dissipative properties of the dynamical system $(S_\beta(t), \mathbb{X}_0^\beta)$ defined on a suitable phase space. Recalling the conservative identities \eqref{conpfc} and \eqref{conODE2}, we have to work on the following (closed) subset of $\mathbb{X}_0^\beta$:
$$\mathcal{X}^{M,M'}_0=\{(u,v)\in \mathbb{X}_0^\beta: \ |\beta\langle v\rangle+\langle u\rangle|\leq M, \ |\langle v\rangle|\leq M'\}.$$
Then we conclude the existence of a bounded absorbing set in $\mathcal{X}^{M,M'}_0$ from the dissipative estimate \eqref{disa1} (cf. Lemma \ref{es}),
namely,
\begin{proposition}\label{abs}
Let $\beta\in [0,\beta_0]$. We indicate by $\mathcal{B}_0(R)$ a generic ball in $\mathcal{X}^{M,M'}_0$ of radius $R$. There exists $R_0>0$ that may depend on $Q, \epsilon, f, \beta_0, M, M'$ but independent of $\beta$, such that for all $R>0$, there is a $t_R>0$ such that
\begin{equation}
S_\beta(t)\mathcal{B}_0(R) \subset \mathcal{B}_0(R_0), \quad \forall\, t\geq t_R.\label{R0}
\end{equation}
\end{proposition}
\begin{remark}
Since $\mathcal{B}_0(R_0)$ is also a bounded set in $\mathcal{X}^{M,M'}_0$, then there exists $t_{R_0}>0$ such that
\begin{equation}
S_\beta(t)\mathcal{B}_0(R_0)\subseteq \mathcal{B}_0(R_0), \quad \forall\,t\geq t_{R_0}.\nonumber
\end{equation}
For $\beta \in [0,\beta_0]$, we note that $t_{R_0}$ may depend on $\beta_0$ but is independent of $\beta$. Set for any $\beta \in [0,\beta_0]$,
\begin{equation}
\mathbb{Y}_0^\beta:=\overline{\bigcup_{t\in [0,t_{R_0}]}S_\beta(t)\mathcal{B}_0(R_0)}^{\mathbb{X}^\beta_0}.\label{spaceY0}
\end{equation}
We can see that $\mathbb{Y}_0^\beta$ is a complete bounded metric space with respect to the metric of $\mathbb{X}_0^\beta$.
Moreover, the following properties holds:
\begin{equation}
S_\beta(t)\mathbb{Y}_0^\beta \subseteq \mathbb{Y}_0^\beta\quad \text{and}\quad \|S_\beta(t)\mathbf{u}_0\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}\leq C(R_0), \quad \forall\, t\geq 0, \ \ \forall\, \mathbf{u}_0\in \mathbb{Y}_0^\beta.\nonumber
\end{equation}
The constant $C(R_0)$ may depend on $\beta_0$ but is independent of $\beta$.
\end{remark}
In what follows, we shall work on the (positively invariant) phase space $\mathbb{Y}_0^\beta$ (cf. \eqref{spaceY0}). On the other hand, using the higher-order dissipative estimates in Lemma \ref{es1}, we are able to prove the existence of absorbing sets in more regular spaces, i.e.,
$$ \mathbb{Y}_i^\beta:=\mathbb{Y}_0^\beta\cap \mathbb{X}_i^\beta, \quad i=1,2,3.$$
Indeed, we have
\begin{proposition}\label{absh}
Let $\beta\in [0,\beta_0]$. We denote $\mathcal{B}_i(R)$ $(i=1,2,3)$ a generic ball in $\mathbb{Y}_i^\beta$ of radius $R>0$.
There exist $R_3\geq R_2\geq R_1\geq R_0$ ($R_0$ is given in Proposition \ref{abs}), that may depend on $Q, \epsilon, f, \beta_0, M, M'$ but are independent of $\beta$, such that $\mathcal{B}_i(R_i)$ are absorbing sets in $\mathbb{Y}_i^\beta$ $(i=1,2,3)$, respectively. Namely, for any bounded set $B_i\in \mathbb{Y}_i^\beta$, there exists $t_{B_i}>0$ such that
\begin{equation}
S_\beta(t)B_i\subset \mathcal{B}_i(R_i), \quad \forall\, t\geq t_{B_i}.\nonumber
\end{equation}
\end{proposition}
\begin{proof}
For any $(\phi_0, \phi_1)\in B_1$, we infer from the definition of $\mathbb{Y}_1^\beta$ that
\begin{equation}
\|\phi(t)\|_2\leq C(R_0),\quad \forall\, t\geq 0.\nonumber
\end{equation}
It follows from inequality \eqref{disa1a} (with $j=1$) that
\begin{eqnarray}
\|\phi(t)\|_{3}^2+ \beta\|\phi_t(t)\|^2
&\leq& \mathcal{Q}(\|\phi_0\|_{3}, \|\phi_1\|) e^{-\rho_1 t}+\int_0^te^{-\rho_1'(t-s)}\mathcal{Q}(\|\phi(s)\|_2) ds,\nonumber \\
&\leq& \mathcal{Q}(\|\phi_0\|_{3}, \|\phi_1\|) e^{-\rho_1 t}+C(R_0)\int_0^te^{-\rho_1'(t-s)} ds\nonumber \\
&\leq& C(B_1) e^{-\rho_1 t}+C(R_0).\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
Then there exists $t_{B_1}>0$ such that
\begin{equation}
\|(\phi(t), \phi_t(t)\|_{\mathbb{X}_1^\beta}\leq C(R_0), \quad\forall\, t \geq t_{B_1}.\label{B1}
\end{equation}
We just set $R_1=\max\{C(R_0), R_0\}$.
Next, for any $B_2\subset\mathbb{Y}_2^\beta$, we can find $B_1\subset \mathbb{Y}_1^\beta$ such that $B_2\subset B_1$. Using estimates \eqref{disa1a} ($j=2$) and \eqref{B1}, we have for $t\geq t_{B_1}$
\begin{eqnarray}
\|\phi(t)\|_{4}^2+ \beta\|\phi_t(t)\|_1^2
&\leq& \mathcal{Q}(\|\phi_0\|_{4}, \|\phi_1\|_1) e^{-\rho_2 t}+\int_0^te^{-\rho_2'(t-s)}\mathcal{Q}(\|\phi(s)\|_3) ds\nonumber \\
&\leq& C(B_2) e^{-\rho_2 t}+C(R_1),\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
which yields that there exists $t_{B_2}\geq t_{B_1}$ such that \begin{equation}
\|(\phi(t), \phi_t(t)\|_{\mathbb{X}_2^\beta}\leq C(R_1), \quad\forall\, t \geq t_{B_2}.\label{B2}
\end{equation}
Then we can set $R_2=\max\{C(R_1), R_1\}$.
In a similar manner, we can prove the absorbing property in $\mathbb{Y}_3^\beta$ from \eqref{disa1a} (with $j=3$) and estimate \eqref{B2}. The proof is complete.
\end{proof}
\subsection{Attracting sets}
A basic step in the existence proof of global or exponential attractors is to show certain (pre)compactness property of trajectories in the phase space \cite{MZ}. For the limiting case $\beta=0$, the PFC equation \eqref{pfc} is a sixth-order parabolic equation whose solution is smooth for $t>0$. However, when $\beta>0$, we have to overcome difficulties arising from the hyperbolic-like nature of the MPFC equation \eqref{e1}.
To this end, we try to find a proper decomposition of the semigroup $S_\beta(t)$ ($\beta>0$) into a uniformly asymptotically stable part and a compact part.
Let $(\phi, \phi_t)$ be the unique energy solution to problem \eqref{e1}--\eqref{e2} given in Theorem \ref{exe}. We split this solution
into two parts, namely,
$$ (\phi, \phi_t)(t)= (\phi^d, \phi^d_t)(t)+ (\phi^c, \phi^c_t)(t)$$
such that
\begin{eqnarray}
&& A_0^{-1}(\beta \phi^d_{tt}+\phi^d_t)+ \Delta^2\phi^d+ 2\Delta \phi^d+f_k(\phi^d)-\langle f_k(\phi^d)\rangle=0,\label{e1d}
\\
&&\phi^d|_{t=0}=\overline{{\phi}_0}(x),\quad \phi^d_t|_{t=0}=\overline{\phi_1}(x), \label{e2d}
\end{eqnarray}
and
\begin{eqnarray}
&& A_0^{-1}(\beta \phi^c_{tt}+\phi^c_t)+\Delta^2 \phi^c+2\Delta \phi^c+f_k(\phi)-f_k(\phi-\phi^c)\nonumber \\
&&\qquad -\langle f_k(\phi)\rangle+\langle f_k(\phi-\phi^c)\rangle =k\phi-k\langle\phi\rangle,\label{e1c}
\\
&&\phi^c|_{t=0}=\langle\phi_0(x)\rangle,\quad \phi^c_t|_{t=0}=\langle\phi_1(x)\rangle.\label{e2c}
\end{eqnarray}
Here, we have set
$$f_k(\phi):=f(\phi)+k\phi$$ with $k>0$ being a sufficiently large constant to be chosen later. In particular,
we require that the function $f_k(s)$ is monotone and nondecreasing in $\mathbb{R}$.
\begin{lemma}\label{decay}
Suppose that $\beta\in (0, \beta_0]$ and the assumptions of Theorem \ref{exe} hold. For any $(\phi, \phi_1)\in \mathbb{Y}_0^\beta$, we have
\begin{equation}
\|(\phi^d(t), \phi_t^d(t))\|_{\mathbb{X}^\beta_0}\leq C(R_0)e^{-\kappa_1 t}, \quad \forall\, t\geq 0,\label{decayx0}
\end{equation}
where $\kappa_1>0$ is a small constant independent of $\beta$.
\end{lemma}
\begin{proof}
For any positive constant $k$, the existence and uniqueness of a global energy solution $(\phi^d, \phi_t^d)$ to problem \eqref{e1d}--\eqref{e2d} easily follows from the same argument used to prove Theorem \ref{exe} (cf. \cite{GW3}). Moreover, due to the zero-mean assumption on the initial data \eqref{e2d}, we conclude that
$$
\langle\phi^d(t)\rangle=\langle\phi_t^d(t)\rangle=0, \quad \forall\, t\geq 0,
$$
which also yields that $\phi^d(t)=\overline{\phi^d}(t)$ and $ \phi^d_t(t)=\overline{\phi^d_t}(t)$.
Testing \eqref{e1d} by $\phi^d_t(t)+\eta_1 \phi^d(t)$, for some $\eta_1\in (0, \frac{1}{2\beta_0})$, we have
\begin{equation}
\frac{d}{dt}\mathcal{Y}^d_1(t)+\mathcal{D}^d_1(t)\leq 0,\label{decayx03}
\end{equation}
where
\begin{eqnarray}
\mathcal{Y}^d_1&=& \frac{\beta}{2}\|\phi^d_t\|_{-1}^2+ \frac12\|\Delta \phi^d\|^2-\|\nabla \phi^d\|^2+ \int_{Q} F_k(\phi^d) dx\nonumber \\
&&\quad + \eta_1 \beta (\phi^d_t, \phi^d)_{-1}+\frac{\eta_1}{2}\| \phi^d\|_{-1}^2,
\nonumber\\
\mathcal{D}^d_1&=& (1-\eta_1\beta)\|\phi^d_t\|_{-1}^2+\eta_1 \|\Delta \phi^d\|^2-2\eta_1 \|\nabla \phi^d\|^2+\eta_1 \int_{Q} f_k(\phi^d) \phi^d dx,\nonumber \\
&& \text{with} \quad F_k(\phi^d)=\frac{1-\epsilon+k}{2}(\phi^d)^2+\frac14 (\phi^d)^4.\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
We take $k>0$ sufficiently large and satisfying $1-\epsilon+k\geq 2\eta_1$ (it may depend on $Q$, $\beta_0$, $\epsilon$) such that
\begin{equation}
C(\|\phi^d_t\|_{-1}, \|\phi^d\|_{H^2})\geq \mathcal{Y}^d_1(t)\geq \frac{\beta}{4}\|\phi^d_t\|_{-1}^2+\frac14\|\Delta \phi^d\|^2+ \frac{1}{2}\|\phi^d\|^2. \label{Yd1}
\end{equation}
For $\kappa_1>0$, we find
\begin{equation}
\mathcal{D}^d_1(t)-\kappa_1\mathcal{Y}_1^d(t)\geq \Big(1-\eta_1\beta-\frac{\kappa_1\beta}{4}\Big) \|\phi^d_t\|_{-1}^2+\Big(\frac{\eta_1}{2}-\frac{\kappa_1}{4}\Big) \|\Delta \phi^d\|^2.\nonumber
\end{equation}
Finally, we take $\kappa_1>0$ satisfying
$$
1-\eta_1\beta_0-\frac{\kappa_1\beta_0}{4}\geq 0, \quad \eta_1-\frac{\kappa_1}{2}\geq 0.
$$
Then we infer from \eqref{decayx03} that
\begin{equation}
\frac{d}{dt}\mathcal{Y}^d_1(t)+\kappa_1\mathcal{Y}^d_1(t)\leq 0,\label{decayx04}
\end{equation}
which implies
\begin{equation}
\mathcal{Y}^d_1(t)\leq \mathcal{Y}^d_1(0)e^{-\kappa_1 t}.\nonumber
\end{equation}
From \eqref{Yd1} we deduce that \eqref{decayx0} holds. The proof is complete.
\end{proof}
\begin{lemma}\label{com}
Let the assumptions of Theorem \ref{exe} hold. For any $(\phi, \phi_1)\in \mathbb{Y}_0^\beta$, we have
\begin{equation}
\|(\phi^c(t), \phi_t^c(t))\|_{\mathbb{X}_1^\beta}\leq C(R_0), \quad \forall\, t\geq 0.\label{comx0}
\end{equation}
\end{lemma}
\begin{proof}
Let the constant $k$ be the one chosen in Lemma \ref{decay}. For the initial data $(\phi_0, \phi_1)$ belonging to a bounded set in $\mathbb{Y}_0^\beta$, it follows from the uniform estimates \eqref{R0} and \eqref{decayx0} that
\begin{equation}
\|(\phi^c(t), \phi_t^c(t))\|_{\mathbb{X}^\beta_0}\leq C(R_0), \quad \forall\, t\geq 0.\label{comx1}
\end{equation}
\par Next, we prove the fact that $(\phi^c, \phi_t^c)$ is indeed more regular. We perform some higher-order calculations that can be justified rigorously by working within a proper Galerkin scheme as in \cite{GW3}.
Testing \eqref{e1c} by $A_0 \overline{\phi^c_t}(t)+\eta_2 A_0 \overline{\phi^c}(t)$, for some $\eta_2>0$, we get
\begin{equation}
\frac{d}{dt}\mathcal{Y}^c_1(t)+\mathcal{D}^c_1(t)\leq \mathcal{R}^c_1(t),\label{comx4}
\end{equation}
where
\begin{eqnarray}
\mathcal{Y}^c_1&=& \frac{\beta}{2}\|\overline{\phi^c_t}\|^2+\frac12
\|\nabla \Delta \phi^c\|^2-\|\Delta \phi^c\|^2+\frac{k}{2}\|\nabla \phi^c\|^2+\eta_2\beta(\overline{\phi^c_t}, \overline{\phi^c})+\frac{\eta_2}{2}\|\overline{\phi^c}\|^2,\nonumber \\
\mathcal{D}^c_1&=&(1-\eta_2\beta)\|\overline{\phi^c_t}\|^2+\eta_2\|\nabla \Delta \phi^c\|^2-2\eta_2\|\Delta \phi^c\|^2+\eta_2k\|\nabla \phi^c\|^2,\nonumber \\
\mathcal{R}^c_1&=&\int_Q\Delta(f(\phi)-f(\phi-\phi^c))\overline{\phi^c_t} dx+\eta_2\int_Q(f(\phi)-f(\phi-\phi^c))\Delta \phi^c dx\nonumber \\
&& \quad -k\int_Q \Delta \phi \overline{\phi^c_t} dx-\eta_2k\int_Q \phi \Delta \phi^c dx.\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
Arguing as before, for sufficiently large $k$ and small constants $\eta_2$, $\kappa_2$ (which may depend on $\beta_0$ but not on $\beta$), we can easily see that
\begin{equation}
\mathcal{D}^c_1(t)\geq \frac12\|\overline{\phi_t^c}\|^2+\kappa_2\mathcal{Y}^c_1(t)\geq C(\beta\|\overline{\phi^c_t}\|^2+
\|\phi^c\|_{3}^2),\label{comx7}
\end{equation}
Due to the Sobolev embedding $H^2(Q) \hookrightarrow L^\infty(Q)$ ($n\leq 3$), the remainder term $\mathcal{R}^c_1$ can be estimated by using the uniform estimates \eqref{R0} and \eqref{comx1} as follows
\begin{eqnarray}
\mathcal{R}_1^c(t)&\leq&
\|\overline{\phi^c_t} \| \|\Delta(f(\phi)-f(\phi-\phi^c))\|+\eta_2\|f(\phi)-f(\phi-\phi^c)\|\|\Delta \phi^c\|\nonumber \\
&& + k\|\Delta \phi\|\|\overline{\phi^c_t} \|+\eta_2 k\|\phi\|\|\Delta \phi^c\|\nonumber \\
&\leq& \frac12\|\overline{\phi_t^c}\|^2+ \|\Delta(f(\phi)-f(\phi-\phi^c))\|^2+ k^2\|\Delta \phi\|^2\nonumber \\
&&+\eta_2\|f(\phi)-f(\phi-\phi^c)\|\|\Delta \phi^c\| +\eta_2 k\|\phi\|\|\Delta \phi^c\|\nonumber \\
&\leq& \frac12\|\overline{\phi_t^c}\|^2+ C(\|\phi\|_{2}, \|\phi^c\|_{2})\nonumber \\
&\leq& \frac12\|\overline{\phi_t^c}\|^2+ C(\|\phi_0\|_2, \|\phi_1\|_{-1}, \beta_0).\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
The above estimate combined with \eqref{comx4} and \eqref{comx7} yields
\begin{equation}
\frac{d}{dt}\mathcal{Y}^c_1(t)+\kappa_2\mathcal{Y}^c_1(t)\leq C(R_0).\label{comx5}
\end{equation}
As a result, we find
\begin{equation}
\mathcal{Y}^c_1(t)\leq \mathcal{Y}^c_1(0)e^{-\kappa_2 t}+ \frac{C(R_0) }{\kappa_2},\quad \forall \, t\geq 0.\label{comx6}
\end{equation}
On the other hand, the choice of initial data \eqref{e2c} indicates that $\mathcal{Y}_1^c(0)=0$.
Then, from \eqref{comx7} and \eqref{comx6} we conclude that \eqref{comx0} holds. The proof is complete.
\end{proof}
We then deduce from Lemmas \ref{decay} and \ref{com} the existence of a (bounded) attracting set for $S_\beta(t)$ in $\mathbb{Y}_1^\beta$.
\begin{proposition}\label{atset1}
For all $\beta\in (0, \beta_0]$, there exists $\mathcal{B}_1(K_1)\subset \mathbb{Y}_1^\beta$ such that
\begin{equation}
{\rm dist}_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}(S_\beta(t)\mathbb{Y}_0^\beta, \mathcal{B}_1(K_1))\leq C(R_0) e^{-\zeta_1t}, \quad \, \forall\,t\geq 0,\nonumber
\end{equation}
where $K_1>0$ and $\zeta_1>0$ are independent of $\beta$.
\end{proposition}
Using the same decomposition of the trajectory $(\phi, \phi_t)$, we can further deduce the existence of attracting sets that are bounded in higher-order spaces.
\begin{proposition}\label{atset2}
For all $\beta\in (0, \beta_0]$, there exist a bounded set $\mathcal{B}_i(K_i)\subset \mathbb{Y}_i^\beta$ $(i=2,3)$ such that for any bounded set $B_i \in \mathbb{Y}_{i-1}^\beta$, there holds
\begin{equation}
{\rm dist}_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}(S_\beta(t)B_i, \mathcal{B}_i(K_i))\leq C(R_0) e^{-\zeta_it}, \quad \, \forall\,t\geq 0,\nonumber
\end{equation}
where $K_i>0$ and $\zeta_i>0$ $(i=2,3)$ are independent of $\beta$.
\end{proposition}
\begin{proof}
We briefly outline the proof for the case $i=2$. Applying $A_0$ to \eqref{e1c} and
testing the resultant by $-\Delta \phi^c_t(t)-\eta_3\Delta \phi^c(t)$, for some $\eta_3>0$, we get
\begin{equation}
\frac{d}{dt}\mathcal{Y}^c_2(t)+\mathcal{D}^c_2(t)\leq \mathcal{R}^c_2(t),\label{comx4a}
\end{equation}
where
\begin{eqnarray}
\mathcal{Y}_2^c&=&\frac{\beta}{2}\|\nabla \phi^c_t\|^2+\frac12
\|\Delta^2 \phi^c\|^2-\|\nabla \Delta \phi^c\|^2+\frac{k}{2}\|\Delta \phi^c\|^2\nonumber \\
&& +\eta_3\beta(\nabla \phi^c_t, \nabla \phi^c) +\frac{\eta_3}{2}\|\nabla \phi^c\|^2,\nonumber \\
\mathcal{D}_2^c&=& (1-\eta_3\beta)\|\nabla \phi^c_t\|^2 +\eta_3\|\Delta^2 \phi^c\|^2-2\eta_3\|\nabla \Delta \phi^c\|^2+k\eta_3\|\Delta \phi^c\|^2,\nonumber \\
\mathcal{R}_2^c&=&\int_Q\nabla \Delta(f(\phi)-f(\phi-\phi^c))\cdot \nabla\phi^c_t dx-k\int_Q \nabla \Delta \phi\cdot \nabla \phi^c_t dx\nonumber \\
&& -\eta_3\int_Q \Delta(f(\phi)-f(\phi-\phi^c))\Delta \phi^c dx+k\eta_3\int_Q \Delta \phi \Delta \phi^c dx.\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
Since $B_2 \in \mathbb{Y}_1^\beta$, we have
\begin{equation}
\|(\phi^c(t), \phi_t^c(t))\|_{\mathbb{X}^\beta_1}\leq C(R_0), \quad \|(\phi(t), \phi_t(t))\|_{\mathbb{X}^\beta_1}\leq C(R_0), \quad \forall\, t\geq 0,\label{comx1aa}
\end{equation}
and the decay estimate \eqref{decayx0} still holds. Using the Sobolev embedding theorem, by the similar argument used
in the previous lemma, we can choose $\eta_3>0$ and $\kappa_3>0$ independent of $\beta$ such that
\begin{equation}
\frac{d}{dt}\mathcal{Y}^c_2(t)+\kappa_3\mathcal{Y}^c_2(t)\leq C(R_0),\label{comx5a}
\end{equation}
and
\begin{equation}
\mathcal{Y}^c_2(t)\geq C(\beta\|\nabla \phi^c_t\|^2+ \|\nabla \phi^c\|_{3}^2).\label{comx7a}
\end{equation}
Since $\mathcal{Y}_2^c(0)=0$.
Then, from \eqref{comx0}, \eqref{comx5a} and \eqref{comx7a} , we conclude that
\begin{equation}
\|(\phi^c(t), \phi_t^c(t))\|_{\mathbb{X}_2^\beta}\leq C(R_0), \quad \forall\, t\geq 0.\label{comx0a}
\end{equation}
Repeating the above argument, we can further get
\begin{equation}
\|(\phi^c(t), \phi_t^c(t))\|_{\mathbb{X}_3^\beta}\leq C(R_0), \quad \forall\, t\geq 0,\label{comx0aa}
\end{equation}
provided that $(\phi_0,\phi_1)\in B_3\subset \mathbb{Y}_2^\beta$.
Together with the decay property \eqref{decayx0}, we can conclude the existence of compact attracting sets. The proof is complete.
\end{proof}
\section{Robust exponential attractor}
\label{robust}
\setcounter{equation}{0}
\noindent
In this section, we proceed to prove the main result Theorem \ref{main}, i.e., the existence of a family of exponential attractors for $\{S_\beta(t), \mathcal{X}_0^{M,M'}\}_{\beta\in [0,\beta_0]}$ that are, in particular, H\"older continuous with respect to the relaxation time $\beta$.
\subsection{Positively invariant attracting set in $\mathbb{Y}_3^\beta$}
First, we recall the transitivity property of exponential attraction (cf. \cite[Theorem 5.1]{FGMZ}):
\begin{lemma}\label{trans}
Let $\mathbb{X}$ be a metric space with distance function denoted by ${\rm dist}$. $S(t)$ is a semigroup acting on $\mathbb{X}$ such that
$ {\rm dist}(S(t)z_1, S(t)z_2)\leq C_0e^{K_0t}{\rm dist}(z_1, z_2)$, for some $C, K>0$. We further assume that there exist three subsets $B_1, B_2, B_3$ in $\mathbb{X}$ such that
$ {\rm dist}_{\mathbb{X}}(S(t)B_1,B_2)\leq C_1e^{-\alpha_1t}$, ${\rm dist}_{\mathbb{X}}(S(t)B_2,B_3)\leq C_2e^{-\alpha_2t}$.
Then we have
$${\rm dist}_{\mathbb{X}}(S(t)B_1,B_3)\leq C'e^{-\alpha't},\quad
\text{where} \ C'=C_0C_1+C_2\ \text{and}\ \alpha'=\frac{\alpha_1\alpha_2}{K_0+\alpha_1+\alpha_2}.$$
\end{lemma}
Thus, we can prove the following
\begin{proposition} \label{abs2}
For all $\beta\in [0, \beta_0]$, we have
(i) there exists a bounded closed set $\mathcal{B}_3$ in $\mathbb{Y}_3^\beta$ that exponentially attracts any bounded set of $\mathbb{Y}_0^\beta$ with respect to the $\mathbb{X}_0^\beta$-metric;
(ii) there exists a bounded positively invariant set $\mathcal{V}_3^\beta$ in
$\mathbb{Y}_3^\beta$, which absorbs the set $\mathcal{B}_3$ and, consequently, exponentially attracts
any bounded set of $\mathbb{Y}_0^\beta$ with respect to the $\mathbb{X}_0^\beta$-metric.
\end{proposition}
\begin{proof}
The conclusion (i) follows from Propositions \ref{atset1} and \ref{atset2} and Lemma \ref{trans}.
As far as (ii) is concerned, we infer from Proposition \ref{absh} the existence of a positively invariant and
$\mathbb{X}_3^\beta$-bounded set $\mathcal{V}_3^\beta$, which eventually absorbs any $\mathbb{X}_3^\beta$-bounded set of data. In particular, $\mathcal{V}_3^\beta$ absorbs $\mathcal{B}_3$, and by the definition of $\mathcal{B}_3$ in (i), we arrive at (ii). This ends the proof.
\end{proof}
\subsection{Smoothing property and Lipschitz continuity of $S_\beta(t)$}
Proposition \ref{abs2} enables us first to confine the dynamics on a regular positively invariant set $\mathcal{V}^\beta_3$ in $\mathbb{Y}_3^\beta$.
We note that it is not restrictive to assume $\mathcal{V}_3^\beta$ to be weakly closed in $\mathbb{X}_3^\beta$.
In what follows, we show the asymptotic smoothing property and Lipschitz continuity of the semigroup $S_\beta(t)$ on $\mathcal{V}_3^\beta$.
\begin{lemma}
\label{lmassm} Let $\beta\in (0, \beta_0]$. There exists $t^*\geq 0$ independent of $\beta$ such that, for the map $$\mathrm{S}_\beta:=S_\beta(t^*)$$
we have
$$ \mathrm{S}_\beta\mathbf{u}_{01}-\mathrm{S}_\beta\mathbf{u}_{02}=D_\beta(\mathbf{u}_{01},\mathbf{u}_{02})
+K_\beta(\mathbf{u}_{01},\mathbf{u}_{02}),$$
for every $\mathbf{u}_{01}$, $\mathbf{u}_{02}\in \mathcal{V}_3^\beta$, where $D_\beta$ and $K_\beta$ satisfy
\begin{equation}
\|D_\beta(\mathbf{u}_{01},\mathbf{u}_{02})\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}\leq\lambda\|\mathbf{u}_{01}-\mathbf{u}_{02}\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta},\quad
\|K_\beta(\mathbf{u}_{01},\mathbf{u}_{02})\|_{\mathbb{X}_1^\beta}\leq \Lambda\|\mathbf{u}_{01}-\mathbf{u}_{02}\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta},\label{asymsmoo}
\end{equation}
for some $\lambda\in(0,\frac{1}{2})$ and $\Lambda\geq 0$ that are independent of $\beta$.
Besides, the map $(t,\mathbf{u})\mapsto S_\beta(t)\mathbf{u}: [t^*,2t^*]\times\mathcal{V}_3^\beta\rightarrow \mathcal{V}_3^\beta$
is Lipschitz continuous when $\mathcal{V}_3^\beta$ is endowed with the $\mathbb{X}_0^\beta$-topology.
\end{lemma}
\begin{proof} We can argue as the proof for \cite[Lemma 5.3]{GW3} with minor modifications (mainly in order to stress the independence with respect to $\beta$). For the reader's convenience, we give a sketch of the proof.
For any $\mathbf{u}_{01}$, $\mathbf{u}_{02}\in \mathcal{V}_3^\beta$, we consider the weak solutions $(\phi_i, \phi_{it})(t)=S_\beta(t)\mathbf{u}_{0i}$ ($i=1,2$) to the MPFC equation \eqref{e1}--\eqref{e2} and we set
$$\mathbf{u}(t):=S_\beta(t)\mathbf{u}_{01}-S_\beta(t)\mathbf{u}_{02}=(\psi, \psi_t)(t),\quad \mathbf{u}_0:=\mathbf{u}_{01}-\mathbf{u}_{02}=(\psi_0, \psi_1).$$
As in \cite{GW3}, we write the difference of solution $(\phi, \phi_t)$ as follows
$$ (\psi, \psi_t)(t)= (\psi^d, \psi^d_t)(t)+ (\psi^c, \psi^c_t)(t),$$
such that
\begin{eqnarray}
&& A_0^{-1}(\beta \psi^d_{tt}+\psi^d_t)+ \Delta^2\psi^d+ 2\Delta \psi^d+k \psi^d=0,\label{e1dd}
\\
&&\phi^d|_{t=0}=\overline{{\psi}_0}(x),\quad \phi^d_t|_{t=0}=\overline{\psi_1}(x), \label{e2dd}
\end{eqnarray}
and
\begin{eqnarray}
&& A_0^{-1}(\beta \psi^c_{tt}+\psi^c_t)+\Delta^2 \psi^c+2\Delta \psi^c +f(\phi_1)-\langle f(\phi_1)\rangle\nonumber \\
&&\qquad -f(\phi_2)+\langle f(\phi_2)\rangle = k(\psi-\psi^c),\label{e1cd}
\\
&&\psi^c|_{t=0}=\langle\psi_0(x)\rangle,\quad \psi^c_t|_{t=0}=\langle\psi_1(x)\rangle.\label{e2cd}
\end{eqnarray}
Here, $k>0$ is again a sufficiently large constant (not necessarily the same one used in the previous decomposition). For large $k$, it is easy to show the decay of $\psi^d$, which can be viewed as the solution to the linear problem \eqref{e1dd}--\eqref{e2dd}, namely,
\begin{equation}
\|\psi^d(t)\|_2^2 +\beta\|\psi_t^d(t))\|_{-1}^2\leq C\|(\overline{\psi_0}(x), \overline{\psi_1}(x))\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}^2e^{-\kappa t}, \quad \forall\, t\geq 0.\label{decayx0d}
\end{equation}
Next, applying $A_0$ to \eqref{e1cd} and testing the resultant by $ \psi^c_t(t)+\eta_4 \psi^c(t)$, for some $\eta_4>0$, we get
\begin{equation}
\frac{d}{dt}\mathcal{Y}^c_3(t)+\mathcal{D}^c_3(t)\leq \mathcal{R}^c_3(t),\label{comx4d}
\end{equation}
where
\begin{eqnarray}
\mathcal{Y}^c_3&=& \frac{\beta}{2}\|\psi^c_t\|^2+\frac12
\|\nabla \Delta \psi^c\|^2-\|\Delta \psi^c\|^2+\frac{k}{2}\|\nabla \psi^c\|^2+\eta_4\beta(\psi^c_t, \psi^c)+\frac{\eta_4}{2}\|\psi^c\|^2,\nonumber \\
\mathcal{D}^c_3&=&(1-\eta_4\beta)\|\psi^c_t\|^2+\eta_4\|\nabla \Delta \psi^c\|^2-2\eta_4\|\Delta \psi^c\|^2+\eta_4 k\|\nabla \psi^c\|^2,\nonumber \\
\mathcal{R}^c_3&=&\int_Q\Delta(f(\phi_1) -f(\phi_2))\psi^c_t dx-k\int_Q \Delta \psi \psi^c_t dx\nonumber \\
&& \quad +\eta_4 \int_Q(f(\phi_1)-f(\phi_2))\Delta \psi^c dx-\eta_4 k\int_Q \psi \Delta \psi^c dx\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
The argument used to get \eqref{comx7} easily yields, for sufficiently large $k$ and small $\eta_4$ that may depend on $\beta_0$ but not on $\beta$, that
\begin{equation}
\mathcal{D}^c_3(t)\geq \frac12\|\psi_t^c\|^2+\frac{\eta_4k}{2} \|\nabla \psi^c\|^2+\kappa_4\mathcal{Y}^c_3(t)\geq C(\beta\|\psi^c_t\|^2+ \| \psi^c\|_{3}^2),\label{comx7d}
\end{equation}
for suitably small $\kappa_4>0$.
Therefore, using the uniform $\mathbb{X}_0^\beta$-estimates of $(\phi_i, \phi_{it})$ and $(\psi^c, \psi^c_t)$, the remainder term $\mathcal{R}^c_3$ can be estimated by
\begin{eqnarray}
\mathcal{R}_3^c(t)
&\leq& \frac12\|\psi_t^c\|^2+\frac{\eta_4k}{2} \|\nabla \psi^c\|^2+ C(\|\phi_1\|_{2}, \|\phi_2\|_{2})\|\psi\|_2^2,\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
which implies
\begin{equation}
\frac{d}{dt}\mathcal{Y}^c_3(t)+\kappa_4\mathcal{Y}^c_3(t)\leq C(\|\phi_1\|_{2}, \|\phi_2\|_{2})\|\psi\|_2^2.\label{comx5d}
\end{equation}
Integrating \eqref{comx5d} with respect to time, we infer from the choice of initial data and the Lipschitz continuity estimate \eqref{LipX0} that
\begin{eqnarray}
\mathcal{Y}^c_3(t) &\leq& \mathcal{Y}^c_3(0)+ \int_0^t C(\|\phi_1(s)\|_{2}, \|\phi_2(s)\|_{2})\|\psi(s)\|_2^2ds
\nonumber \\
&\leq& C(t)\|(\psi_0, \psi_1)\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}^2.\label{KK}
\end{eqnarray}
Due to \eqref{decayx0d}, for any fixed $\lambda\in (0,\frac12)$,
we can choose $t^*$ sufficiently large such
that
\begin{equation}
\|(\psi^d(t^*), \psi_t^d(t^*))\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}\leq \lambda \|(\psi_0(x), \psi_1(x))\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}.\label{DD}
\end{equation}
Fix such $t^*$ and set
\begin{equation}
{\rm S}_\beta=S_\beta(t^*), \quad D_\beta(\mathbf{u}_{01},\mathbf{u}_{02})=(\psi^d(t^*), \psi_t^d(t^*)),\quad
K_\beta(\mathbf{u}_{01},\mathbf{u}_{02})=(\psi^c(t^*),\psi^c_t(t^*)).\nonumber
\end{equation}
It follows from \eqref{KK} and \eqref{DD} that \eqref{asymsmoo} holds.
Next, for any $t,\tau\in [t^*, 2t^*]$ satisfying $t\geq \tau$ and $\mathbf{u}_1, \mathbf{u}_2\in \mathcal{V}_3^\beta$,
we have
\begin{eqnarray}
&& \|S_\beta(t)\mathbf{u}_{01}-S_\beta(\tau)\mathbf{u}_{02}\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}^2\nonumber \\
&\leq& 2 \|S_\beta(t) \mathbf{u}_{01}-S_\beta(t)\mathbf{u}_{02}\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}^2+ 2 \|S_\beta(t) \mathbf{u}_{02}-S_\beta(\tau)\mathbf{u}_{02}\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}^2,\label{holder}
\end{eqnarray}
where the first term on the right-hand side can be easily estimated like in \eqref{LipX0}.
Recalling that the initial datum is in $\mathcal{V}_3^\beta$, we have the uniform estimate
$$\|S_\beta(t) \mathbf{u}_{02}\|_{\mathbb{X}_3^\beta}\leq C\big(\|\mathbf{u}_{02}\|_{\mathbb{X}_3^\beta}\big),$$
which together with equation \eqref{e1} also implies $\|\phi_{2tt}(t)\|_{-1}\leq C_\beta$ ($C_\beta$ depends on $\beta$).
Then for the second term on the right-hand side of \eqref{holder}, we infer that
\begin{eqnarray}
\|S_\beta(t) \mathbf{u}_{02}-S_\beta(\tau)\mathbf{u}_{02}\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}^2
&=& \|\phi_2(t)-\phi_2(\tau)\|_2^2+\beta \|\phi_{2t}(t)-\phi_{2t}(\tau)\|_{-1}^2\nonumber \\
&\leq& \left(\int_\tau^t \|\phi_{2t}(s)\|_2 ds\right)^2+ \beta \left(\int_\tau^t \|\phi_{2tt}(s)\|_{-1} ds\right)^2\nonumber \\
&\leq& C_\beta|t-\tau|^2.\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
As a consequence, we deduce the Lipschitz continuity
\begin{equation}
\|S_\beta(t)\mathbf{u}_{01}-S_\beta(\tau)\mathbf{u}_{02}\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}\leq C(\beta, t^*)\Big(\|\mathbf{u}_{01}-\mathbf{u}_{02}\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}+ |t-\tau|\Big),\nonumber
\end{equation}
where $C(\beta, t^*)$ is a constant depending on $\beta$, $t^*$ and $\mathbb{X}_0^\beta$-norm of the initial data. This concludes the proof.
\end{proof}
\subsection{Rescaled operator and boundary layer estimate}
In the spirit of \cite{MPZ}, we now introduce a suitable rescaling of the semigroup $S_\beta(t)$.
More precisely, for $\beta\in (0, \beta_0]$, we define
\begin{equation}
\mathcal{T}_\beta(u,v)=\Big(u, \sqrt{\beta\beta_0^{-1}} v\Big): \mathbb{Y}_i^{\beta}\to \mathbb{Y}_i^{\beta_0}, \quad i=0,1,2,3.\nonumber
\end{equation}
For all $\mathbf{u}=(u,v)\in \mathbb{Y}_i^{\beta}$ ($i=0,1,2,3$), we have
\begin{equation}
\|\mathcal{T}_\beta \mathbf{u}\|_{\mathbb{X}_i^{\beta_0}}=\|\mathbf{u}\|_{\mathbb{X}_i^\beta}.\nonumber
\end{equation}
Then the rescaled semigroup $\widehat{S}_\beta(t): \mathbb{Y}_i^{\beta_0}\to \mathbb{Y}_i^{\beta_0}$ is given by
\begin{equation}
\widehat{S}_\beta(t)(u,v)=
\begin{cases}
&\mathcal{T}_\beta S_\beta(t)\mathcal{T}_\beta^{-1}(u,v), \quad \text{for} \ \beta\in (0,\beta_0],\\
& S_0(t)(u,0),\qquad \qquad \text{for}\ \beta=0.
\end{cases}
\end{equation}
\par For any $\beta\in (0, \beta_0]$ and initial data $(\phi_0, \phi_1)\in \mathcal{V}_3^{\beta}$, it follows from Proposition \ref{absh} that
the corresponding solution $(\phi, \phi_t)=S_\beta(t)(\phi_0, \phi_1)$ satisfies the uniform estimate $$ \|\phi(t)\|_5\leq C, \quad \forall\, t\geq 0$$ and the bound is independent of $\beta$.
Denote $v=\phi_t$, we can view \eqref{e1} as
$$ \beta v_t+v= G:=\Delta[\Delta^2 \phi+2\Delta \phi+f(\phi)]\in H^{-1}_p, \quad \text{with}\ v|_{t=0}=\phi_1.$$
Solving the above equation, it follows that $$v(t)=v(0)e^{-\frac{1}{\beta}t}+ \frac{1}{\beta}e^{-\frac{1}{\beta}t}\int_0^t e^{\frac{1}{\beta}s}G(s) ds$$
and
\begin{eqnarray}
\|v(t)\|_{-1}&\leq& \|v(0)\|_{-1}e^{-\frac{1}{\beta}t}+ \sup_{s\in[0,t]} \|G(s)\|_{-1}\nonumber \\
&\leq& \Big(\beta^{-\frac12}\|(\phi_0, \phi_1)\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}\Big)e^{-\frac{1}{\beta}t}+C\Big(\sup_{s\in[0,t]}\|\phi(s)\|_5\Big).\label{phita}
\end{eqnarray}
Using the simple fact $\lim_{\beta\to 0+}\beta^{-\frac12}e^{-\frac{1}{\beta}}=0$, we see that
\begin{equation} \|\phi_t(t)\|_{-1}\leq C, \quad \forall\, t\geq 1,\label{aphites}
\end{equation} where the bound is uniform for $\beta\in (0, \beta_0]$.
In summary, we have for all $\mathbf{u}_0=(\phi_0, \phi_1)\in \mathcal{V}_3^{\beta}$, it holds
\begin{equation}
\|S_\beta(t) \mathbf{u}_0\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^{\beta_0}}\leq C\big(\|\mathbf{u}_0\|_{\mathbb{X}_3^\beta}, \beta_0\big),\quad \forall \, t\geq 1,\label{dif1}
\end{equation}
where the bound may depend on $\beta_0$ but is independent of $\beta$.
\subsection{H\"{o}lder continuity with respect to $\beta$}
\begin{lemma}\label{ho}
For any $0\leq \beta_2< \beta_1 \leq \beta_0$, $\mathbf{u}_0\in \mathcal{V}_3^{\beta_0}$, there holds
\begin{equation}
\|\widehat{S}_{\beta_1}(t)\mathbf{u}_0-\widehat{S}_{\beta_2}(t)\mathbf{u}_0\|_{\mathbb{X}_0^{\beta_0}}\leq K_1 e^{K_2 t}(\beta_1-\beta_2)^\frac16, \quad \forall\, t\geq 1,\label{ddes}
\end{equation}
where the constants $K_1, K_2>0$ may depend on $\beta_0$ but are independent of $\beta_1$ and $\beta_2$.
\end{lemma}
\begin{proof}
\textbf{Case 1}. We first consider the case $\beta_2=0$. For any $\mathbf{u}_0=(\phi_0, \phi_1)\in \mathcal{V}_3^{\beta_0}$, we denote by $$\phi^0\in L^\infty(0, T; H^5_p(Q))\cap H^1(0,T; H^2_p(Q))$$ the solution to the PFC equation \eqref{pfc}--\eqref{pfc2} with initial datum $\phi_0$ and by $$(\phi^{\beta_1}, \phi_t^{\beta_1})\in L^\infty(0,T; \mathbb{X}_3^{\beta_1})\cap W^{1,\infty}(0, T; \mathbb{X}_0^{\beta_1})$$ the solution to the MPFC equation \eqref{e1}--\eqref{e2} with initial data $(\phi_0, \sqrt{\beta_0{\beta_1}^{-1}} \phi_1)\in \mathcal{V}_3^{\beta_1}$.
Then the difference $\psi=\phi^0 -\phi^{\beta_1}$ satisfy
\begin{equation}
\psi_t-\Delta(\Delta^2 \psi+2\Delta \psi)=\Delta (f(\phi^0)-f(\phi^{\beta_1}))+ {\beta_1} \phi^{\beta_1} _{tt},\quad \text{in} \ Q,\label{e1aa}
\end{equation}
with initial data $\psi|_{t=0}=0$. Testing \eqref{e1aa} by $A_0^{-1}\overline{\psi_t}(t)\in H^4_p(Q)$, we get
\begin{eqnarray}
&& \frac12 \frac{d}{dt} \Big(\|\Delta \psi\|^2-2\|\nabla \psi\|^2+2\|\overline{\psi}\|^2 \Big)+\|\overline{\psi_t}\|_{-1}^2\nonumber \\
&=& -\int_Q (f_2(\phi^0)-f_2(\phi^{\beta_1})-\langle f_2(\phi^0)\rangle+\langle f_2(\phi^{\beta_1})\rangle \overline{\psi_t} dx+ \beta (A_0^{-\frac12} \phi^{\beta_1}_{tt}, A_0^{-\frac12} \overline{\psi_t}),\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
where $f_2(s):=f(s)+2s$. On account of \eqref{intpo}, we see that
\begin{equation}
\mathcal{G}(\psi(t))=\|\Delta \psi\|^2-2\|\nabla \psi\|^2+2\|\overline{\psi}\|^2 \geq c_Q\|\overline \psi\|_2^2.\label{GG}
\end{equation}
Using Proposition \ref{absh} and the Sobolev embedding theorem $H^2(Q)\hookrightarrow L^\infty(Q)$ ($n\leq 3$), we have
\begin{eqnarray}
\frac12 \frac{d}{dt} \mathcal{G}(\psi)+\|\overline{\psi_t}\|_{-1}^2
&\leq & C(\|\phi^0\|_2, \|\phi^{\beta_1}\|_2)\|\psi\|_1 \| \overline{\psi_t}\|_{-1}+ {\beta_1} \| \phi^{\beta_1}_{tt}\|_{-1}\| \overline{\psi_t}\|_{-1}\nonumber \\
&\leq& \frac12 \| \overline{\psi_t}\|_{-1}^2+ C(\|\overline{\psi}\|_2^2+|\langle\psi\rangle|^2)+{\beta_1}^2 \| \phi^{\beta_1}_{tt}\|_{-1}^2\nonumber \\
&\leq& \frac12 \| \overline{\psi_t}\|_{-1}^2+ C\mathcal{G}(t)+C|\langle\psi\rangle|^2+{\beta_1}^2 \| \phi^{\beta_1}_{tt}\|_{-1}^2.\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
Since $\psi(0)=0$, then applying the Gronwall lemma with \eqref{esphitt} (see Corollary \ref{phitt}) and the mass conservation property for $\phi^0$ and $\phi^{\beta_1}$ (cf. \eqref{conpfc} and \eqref{mde2}), we obtain
\begin{eqnarray}
\|\psi(t)\|_2^2 &\leq & C(\|\overline{\psi}(t)\|_2^2+|\langle\psi\rangle|^2)\nonumber \\
& \leq & C(\mathcal{G}(\psi(t))+|\langle\psi\rangle|^2)\nonumber \\
&\leq& Ce^{Ct}{\beta_1} \int_0^t e^{-Cs} \big(\beta_1\| \phi^{\beta_1}_{tt}\|_{-1}^2+\beta_1 |\langle \phi_1\rangle|^2\big) ds + C{\beta_1}^2|\langle \phi_1\rangle|^2\nonumber \\
&\leq& Ce^{Ct} t {\beta_1} + C{\beta_1}^2.\label{ddp1}
\end{eqnarray}
Besides, we infer from \eqref{aphites} that
\begin{equation}
\|\phi^{\beta_1}_t(t)-0\|_{-1}\leq C, \quad \forall \,t\geq 1,\label{ddp2}
\end{equation}
where $C$ is uniform for $\beta\in (0, \beta_0]$. As a result, it follows from \eqref{ddp1} and \eqref{ddp2} that
\begin{eqnarray}
\|\widehat{S}_{\beta_1}(t)\mathbf{u}_0-\widehat{S}_0(t)\mathbf{u}_0\|_{\mathbb{X}^{\beta_0}_0}^2&=&\|(\phi^{\beta_1}(t), \phi^{\beta_1}_t(t))-(\phi^0(t), 0)\|_{\mathbb{X}^{\beta_1}_0}^2\nonumber \\
&\leq & Ct e^{Ct}({\beta_1}^2+\beta_1)\nonumber \\
&\leq & Ct e^{Ct}\beta_1, \quad \forall\, t\geq 1,\label{dda}
\end{eqnarray}
where $C$ may depend on $\beta_0$.
\textbf{Case 2}. We consider the case $0<\beta_2<\beta_1\leq \beta_0$. As before, we denote by $$(\phi^{\beta_i}, \phi_t^{\beta_i})\in L^\infty(0,T; \mathbb{X}_3^{\beta_i})\cap W^{1,\infty}(0, T; \mathbb{X}_0^{\beta_i})$$
the solutions to MPFC equation \eqref{e1}--\eqref{e2} with initial data such that $(\phi_0, \sqrt{\beta_0{\beta_i}^{-1}} \phi_1)\in \mathcal{V}_3^{\beta_i}$, for $i=1,2$.
Then the difference $(\psi, \psi_t)=(\phi^{\beta_1}-\phi^{\beta_2}, \phi^{\beta_1}_t-\phi^{\beta_2}_t)$
satisfies
\begin{eqnarray}
&&\beta_2 \psi_{tt}+\psi_t-\Delta[\Delta^2 \psi+2\Delta \psi]=\Delta (f(\phi^{\beta_1})-f(\phi^{\beta_2}))+ (\beta_2-\beta_1) \phi^{\beta_1} _{tt},\label{e1ab}\\
&& \psi|_{t=0}=0, \quad \psi_t|_{t=0}=\Big(\sqrt{\beta_0{\beta_1}^{-1}}-\sqrt{\beta_0{\beta_2}^{-1}}\Big)\phi_1.
\end{eqnarray}
Testing \eqref{e1ab} by $A_0^{-1}\overline{\psi}(t)$, we obtain
\begin{eqnarray}
&& \frac{d}{dt}\left(\frac{\beta_2}{2}\|\overline{\psi}_t\|_{-1}^2+\frac12\|\Delta \psi\|^2-\|\nabla \psi\|^2+\|\overline{\psi}\|^2\right)+\|\overline{\psi_t}\|_{-1}^2\nonumber \\
&=& -\int_Q (f_2(\phi^{\beta_1})-f_2(\phi^{\beta_2})-\langle f_2(\phi^{\beta_1})\rangle+\langle f_2(\phi^{\beta_2})\rangle) \overline{\psi_t} dx\nonumber \\
&& + (\beta_2-\beta_1)(A_0^{-\frac12} \phi^{\beta_1}_{tt}, A_0^{-\frac12} \overline{\psi_t}).\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
Using Proposition \ref{absh} and the Sobolev embedding theorem, we have
\begin{eqnarray}
&& \frac{d}{dt}\left(\frac{\beta_2}{2}\|\overline{\psi}_t\|_{-1}^2+\mathcal{G}(\psi)\right)+\|\overline{\psi_t}\|_{-1}^2\nonumber \\
&\leq & C(\|\phi^{\beta_1}\|_2, \|\phi^{\beta_2}\|_2)\|\psi\|_1 \| \overline{\psi_t}\|_{-1}+ |\beta_1-\beta_2| \| \phi^{\beta_1}_{tt}\|_{-1}\| \overline{\psi_t}\|_{-1}\nonumber \\
&\leq& \frac12 \| \overline{\psi_t}\|_{-1}^2+ C(\|\overline{\psi}\|_2^2+|\langle\psi\rangle|^2)+|\beta_1-\beta_2|^2\| \phi^{\beta_1}_{tt}\|_{-1}^2\nonumber \\
&\leq& \frac12 \| \overline{\psi_t}\|_{-1}^2 +C\mathcal{G}(\psi(t))+C|\langle\psi\rangle|^2+\frac{|\beta_1-\beta_2|^2}{\beta_1}(\beta_1 \| \phi^{\beta_1}_{tt}\|_{-1}^2),\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
where $\mathcal{G}(\psi)$ is as in \eqref{GG}.
Using the fact $0<\beta_2<\beta_1\leq \beta_0$ and the mass conservation property \eqref{mde2}, we can calculate
that, for $t\geq 1$,
\begin{eqnarray}
\beta_2 |\langle \psi_t\rangle|^2 &=& \beta_0 |\langle \phi_1\rangle|^2\left(\sqrt{\beta_2{\beta_1}^{-1}} e^{-\frac{t}{\beta_1}}-e^{-\frac{t}{\beta_2}}\right)^2\nonumber \\
&\leq& C\frac{\beta_2}{\beta_1}\left(e^{-\frac{t}{\beta_1}}-e^{-\frac{t}{\beta_2}}\right)^2+C \left(\sqrt{\beta_2{\beta_1}^{-1}} -1\right) ^2 e^{-\frac{2t}{\beta_2}}\nonumber \\
&\leq & 2C\frac{\beta_2}{\beta_1}\left|e^{-\frac{t}{\beta_1}}-e^{-\frac{t}{\beta_2}}\right|
+C\frac{(\sqrt{\beta_1}-\sqrt{\beta_2})^2}{\beta_1}\nonumber \\
& \leq & Ct \frac{\beta_2}{\beta_1} \left|\frac{1}{\beta_1}-\frac{1}{\beta_2}\right|+ C\frac{(\sqrt{\beta_1}-\sqrt{\beta_2})(\sqrt{\beta_1}+\sqrt{\beta_2})}{\beta_1}\nonumber \\
&\leq& Ct\frac{\beta_1-\beta_2}{\beta_1^2} + C\frac{\beta_1-\beta_2}{\beta_1}\nonumber \\
&\leq& Ct\frac{\beta_1-\beta_2}{\beta_1^2},\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
and, by a similar argument, we deduce
\begin{eqnarray}
|\langle \psi\rangle|^2&=& \beta_0|\langle \phi_1\rangle|^2 \left( \sqrt{\beta_1}-\sqrt{\beta_1}e^{-\frac{t}{\beta_1}}-\sqrt{\beta_2}+\sqrt{\beta_2}e^{-\frac{t}{\beta_2}}\right)^2\nonumber \\
&\leq& C\left( \sqrt{\beta_1}-\sqrt{\beta_2}\right)^2+ C \beta_2 \left(e^{-\frac{t}{\beta_1}}-e^{-\frac{t}{\beta_2}}\right)^2\nonumber \\
&\leq& C(\beta_1-\beta_2)+ Ct\frac{\beta_1-\beta_2}{\beta_1}\nonumber \\
&\leq& Ct\frac{\beta_1-\beta_2}{\beta_1}.\nonumber
\end{eqnarray}
We note that in the above two estimates the constants $C$ may depend on $\beta_0$ but are independent of $\beta_1, \beta_2$.
Then by the Gronwall lemma and \eqref{esphitt}, we obtain that (always keeping in mind that $\beta_2<\beta_1\leq \beta_0$)
\begin{eqnarray}
&&\|\psi(t)\|^2_2+\beta_2\|\psi_t(t)\|_{-1}^2 \nonumber \\
&\leq& C(\mathcal{G}(\psi(t))+ |\langle\psi(t)\rangle|^2)+\beta_2\|\overline{\psi_t}(t)\|_{-1}^2+\beta_2 |\langle \psi_t\rangle|^2\nonumber \\
&\leq & Ce^{Ct} \beta_2\|\overline{\psi_t}(0)\|_{-1}^2+ Ce^{Ct}\int_0^t e^{-Cs} \left[ \frac{|\beta_1-\beta_2|^2}{\beta_1}\big(\beta_1 \| \phi^{\beta_1}_{tt}\|_{-1}^2)+C |\langle\psi\rangle|^2\right]ds\nonumber \\
&& + C|\langle\psi(t)\rangle|^2+\beta_2 |\langle \psi_t\rangle|^2 \nonumber \\
&\leq& C e^{Ct} \beta_0\Big(\sqrt{\beta_2{\beta_1}^{-1}}-1\Big)^2\|\phi_1\|_{-1}^2+ \frac{|\beta_1-\beta_2|^2}{\beta_1}Ce^{Ct}t\nonumber \\
&& +C\left(e^{Ct}+t\right) \frac{\beta_1-\beta_2}{\beta_1}+Ct\frac{\beta_1-\beta_2}{\beta_1^2}\nonumber \\
&\leq& Cte^{Ct} \frac{\beta_1-\beta_2}{\beta_1^2},\quad \forall\, t\geq 1,\label{ddp3}
\end{eqnarray}
where $C$ may depend on $\beta_0$ but is independent of $\beta_1, \beta_2$. As a result, it follows from \eqref{aphites} and \eqref{ddp3} that
\begin{eqnarray}
&&\|\widehat{S}_{\beta_1}(t)\mathbf{u}_0-\widehat{S}_{\beta_2}(t)\mathbf{u}_0\|_{\mathbb{X}^{\beta_0}_0}^2\nonumber \\
&=& \|\phi^{\beta_1}(t)-\phi^{\beta_2}(t)\|_2^2+ \|\beta_1^\frac12 \phi^{\beta_1}_t(t)-\beta_2^\frac12\phi_t^{\beta_2}(t))\|_{-1}^2\nonumber \\
&\leq& \|\psi(t)\|_2^2+ 2\beta_2\|\psi_t(t)\|_{-1}^2+2|\beta_1^\frac12-\beta_2^\frac12|^2\|\phi^{\beta_1}_t(t)\|_{-1}^2\nonumber \\
&\leq& Ct e^{Ct} \frac{\beta_1-\beta_2}{\beta_1^2}+C\frac{(\beta_1-\beta_2)^2}{(\beta_1^\frac12+\beta_2^\frac12)^2}\nonumber \\
&\leq& Ct e^{Ct} \frac{\beta_1-\beta_2}{\beta_1^2}, \quad \forall\, t\geq 1.\label{ddb}
\end{eqnarray}
On the other hand, \eqref{dda} yields that
\begin{eqnarray}
&&\|\widehat{S}_{\beta_1}(t)\mathbf{u}_0-\widehat{S}_{\beta_2}(t)\mathbf{u}_0\|_{\mathbb{X}^{\beta_0}_0}^2\nonumber \\
&\leq&
2\|\widehat{S}_{\beta_1}(t)\mathbf{u}_0-\widehat{S}_0(t)\mathbf{u}_0\|_{\mathbb{X}^{\beta_0}_0}^2
+2\|\widehat{S}_{\beta_2}(t)\mathbf{u}_0-\widehat{S}_{0}(t)\mathbf{u}_0\|_{\mathbb{X}^{\beta_0}_0}^2\nonumber \\
&\leq& Ct e^{Ct}\beta_1, \quad \forall\, t\geq 1.\label{ddc}
\end{eqnarray}
Using the following elementary inequality (valid for $0\leq \beta_2<\beta_1\leq \beta_0$)
\begin{equation}
\min\left\{\beta_1, \frac{\beta_1-\beta_2}{\beta_1^2}\right\}\leq (\beta_1-\beta_2)^\frac13, \nonumber
\end{equation}
we infer from \eqref{ddb} and \eqref{ddc} that
\begin{equation}
\|\widehat{S}_{\beta_1}(t)\mathbf{u}_0-\widehat{S}_{\beta_2}(t)\mathbf{u}_0\|_{\mathbb{X}^{\beta_0}_0}\leq C\sqrt{t} e^{Ct}(\beta_1-\beta_2)^\frac16, \quad \forall\, t\geq 1.\label{ddd}
\end{equation}
Combining \eqref{dda} and \eqref{ddd} and recalling that $\beta_1\leq \beta_0$, we arrive at our conclusion, that is, estimate \eqref{ddes}. The proof is complete.
\end{proof}
\subsection{Proof of Theorem \ref{main}}
After the preparations in previous sections, we are now able to employ the argument devised in \cite{MPZ} for the damped wave equation. For the reader's convenience, we briefly summarize the proof below.
\textbf{Step 1}. Let $t^*\geq 0$ be the one determined in Lemma \ref{lmassm} (independent of $\beta$) and the map given by $\mathrm{S}_\beta=S_\beta(t^*)$. Consider the rescaled discrete map
\begin{equation}
\widehat{\mathrm{S}}_\beta(u,v)=
\begin{cases}
&\mathcal{T}_\beta \mathrm{S}_\beta\mathcal{T}_\beta^{-1}(u,v), \quad \text{for} \ \beta\in (0,\beta_0],\\
& \mathrm{S}_0(u,0),\qquad \qquad \text{for}\ \beta=0.
\end{cases}
\end{equation}
Using Lemma \ref{lmassm}, Lemma \ref{ho} and the boundary layer estimate \eqref{dif1}, we can apply the abstract result in \cite{EMZ} (see also \cite{EMZ05}) to the rescaled discrete semigroup $(\widehat{\mathrm{S}}_\beta)^m$ ($m\in \mathbb{N}$) such that there exists a family of compact sets
$\mathcal{M}^{\rm d}_\beta\subset \mathcal{V}_3^\beta$ positively invariant under $\mathrm{S}_\beta$ and uniformly bounded in $\mathbb{X}_0^{\beta_0}$ such that
\begin{eqnarray}
&&{\rm dist}_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}((\mathrm{S}_\beta)^m\mathcal{V}_3^\beta,\mathcal{M}^{\rm d}_\beta)\leq Ce^{-\gamma m}\quad \text{and}\quad {\rm dim}_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}\mathcal{M}^{\rm d}_\beta\leq C,\\
&& {\rm dist}_{\mathbb{X}_0^{\beta_1}}^{{\rm sym}}(\mathcal{M}^{\rm d}_{\beta_1}, \mathcal{M}^{\rm d}_{\beta_2})\leq C(\beta_1-\beta_2)^\frac16, \quad \text{for}\ 0\leq \beta_2<\beta_1\leq \beta_0.\label{Hodis}
\end{eqnarray}
\textbf{Step 2}. Set $$\mathcal{M}_\beta=\bigcup_{t\in [t^*, 2t^*]}S_\beta(t)\mathcal{M}^{\rm d}_\beta.$$ The positive invariance of $\mathcal{M}^{\rm d}_\beta$ indicates that $\mathcal{M}_\beta$ is also positively invariant. Property (P1) follows from Lemma \ref{absh} and \eqref{dif1}. Proposition \ref{abs2} yields the uniform exponential attraction property
\begin{equation}
{\rm dist}_{\mathbb{X}_0^\beta}(S(t)\mathcal{V}^\beta_3, \mathcal{M}_\beta)\leq Ke^{-\gamma t},\quad \forall\, t\geq 0.\label{exp1}
\end{equation}
(P3) follows from the finite dimensionality of $\mathcal{M}^{\rm d}_{\beta}$ and the Lipschitz continuity of map $(t, \mathbf{u}_0)\to S_\beta(t)\mathbf{u}_0$ from $[t^*, 2t^*]\times \mathcal{M}^{\rm d}_{\beta}$ to $\mathcal{M}^{\rm d}_{\beta}$ given by Lemma \ref{lmassm}. At last, the H\"older continuity \eqref{Hodis} for the discrete exponential attractor $\mathcal{M}^{\rm d}_{\beta}$ together with the continuous dependence \eqref{LipX0} (for $S_\beta(t)$) and \eqref{LipX00} (for $S_0(t)$) yields property (P4).
\textbf{Step 3}. Finally, we prove (P2), i.e., the basin of exponential attraction coincides with $\mathcal{X}_0^{M,M'}$ (recall \eqref{exp}) instead of the much more regular set $\mathcal{V}_3^\beta$. This is a direct consequence of the uniform exponential attraction property \eqref{exp1}, the Lipschitz continuity \eqref{LipX0} and the transitivity of the exponential attraction (cf. Lemma \ref{trans}).
Thus, the proof of Theorem \ref{main} is now complete. \quad \quad $\square$
\section*{Acknowledgments} M. Grasselli gratefully acknowledges the support of Shanghai Key Laboratory for Contemporary Mathematics of Fudan University through a Senior Visiting Scholarship 2013--2014. H. Wu was
partially supported by National Science Foundation of China 11371098, SRFDP and ``Chen Guang" project supported by Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and Shanghai Education Development Foundation.
|
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| 8,143
|
Grand Aurora, Best Single Family Detached Home 3,500 to 3,999 sf.
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|
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"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
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| 3
|
Diane Helbig
Growth Accelerator & Change Agent
Seize This Day
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Karen Leonard is a professional speaker, social media and email marketing trainer, and workshop facilitator specializing in marketing and website topics. Karen is the co-founder and chief marketing strategist of Innovative Global Vision, Inc. (IGV), website design, and digital marketing agency. She has worked with numerous brand ranging from startups to fortune 500 organizations, including NFL teams such as the Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints, Baltimore Ravens, and Arizona Cardinals. With over 18 years' of experience in the marketing and IT field; she has a passion for helping small businesses grow. She works closely with business owners and marketing professionals to increase visibility and profits through their website and build more profound and profitable relationships using social media, email marketing, video, SEO, and reputation management. Karen earned an associate degree in computer programming from Sheridan College.
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|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaCommonCrawl"
}
| 2,291
|
Tillståndsekvation är inom fysiken och termodynamiken en ekvation som beskriver förhållandet mellan tillståndsstorheter. Mer specifikt kan en tillståndsekvation sägas vara en termodynamisk ekvation som ger ett matematiskt förhållande mellan två eller flera tillståndsfunktioner kopplade till en substans, exempel på sådana egenskaper är temperatur, tryck, volym eller inre energi.
Det främsta användningsområdet för tillståndsekvationer är för att bestämma tillståndet hos gaser och vätskor. En av de främsta och enklaste tillståndsekvationerna för detta syfte är ideala gaslagen som någorlunda noggrant kan beskriva tillståndet hos gaser vid låga tryck och måttliga temperaturer. Det finns i dag ett flertal tillståndsekvationer som lämpar sig i olika sammanhang, men det finns ingen ekvation som med stor noggrannhet kan beskriva alla fluider under alla förhållanden.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaWikipedia"
}
| 4,407
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| 2,447
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{"url":"https:\/\/www.physicsoverflow.org\/33243\/can-pure-bosonic-string-theories-exist-in-curved-spacetime","text":"# Can pure-bosonic string theories exist in curved spacetime?\n\n+ 4 like - 0 dislike\n669 views\n\nQuestion: Can there be a consistent non-supersymmetric pure-bosonic string theory in some curved spacetimes?\n\nReason: Since fields with certain amount of negative mass can exist in curved spacetime (cf. the Breitenlohner-Freedman bound in AdS) and since avoiding ground-state tachyons of pure-bosonic strings in flat spacetime seems to be the main motivation (besides phenomenological reasons) for superstrings in flat spacetime.\n\nExtending this, are there examples of consistent AdS\/CFT dualities involving pure-bosonic fields in the bulk?\n\nThis post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2015-09-05 17:50 (UTC), posted by SE-user crackjack\n\n Please use answers only to (at least partly) answer questions. To comment, discuss, or ask for clarification, leave a comment instead. To mask links under text, please type your text, highlight it, and click the \"link\" button. You can then enter your link URL. Please consult the FAQ for as to how to format your post. This is the answer box; if you want to write a comment instead, please use the 'add comment' button. Live preview (may slow down editor)\u00a0\u00a0 Preview Your name to display (optional): Email me at this address if my answer is selected or commented on: Privacy: Your email address will only be used for sending these notifications. Anti-spam verification: If you are a human please identify the position of the character covered by the symbol $\\varnothing$ in the following word:p$\\hbar$ysi$\\varnothing$sOverflowThen drag the red bullet below over the corresponding character of our banner. When you drop it there, the bullet changes to green (on slow internet connections after a few seconds). To avoid this verification in future, please log in or register.","date":"2018-01-20 13:17:48","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": true, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 0, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 0, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.4383701980113983, \"perplexity\": 2896.7658815129957}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": true, \"markdown_code\": true, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 10, \"end_threshold\": 15, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2018-05\/segments\/1516084889617.56\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20180120122736-20180120142736-00526.warc.gz\"}"}
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"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
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| 8,493
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The widespread natural poison is found everywhere, including air, soil and tap water, and is not removed by water treatment plants, but only observed and measured.
Similar to lead, arsenic is referred to the class of xenobiotics, chemical substances of no value to any living organism. On the contrary, xenobiotics have deep destructive and lethal effects. But if lead contamination can be called "manmade", being a result of technological progress, arsenic is naturally spread all over the world. This natural distribution is uneven, which is why some regions are under particular threat of arsenic emissions. It happens when geological sources of arsenic are located close to the ground waters. Mining industries and agriculture with its wide pesticide usage add more sources of arsenic contamination.
The signs of arsenic poisoning look very much like flu. Through the centuries, it has been a remedy to many diseases as well as a weapon for criminals, as it is highly toxic in small doses and is not possible to notice in food. Originally, official medical practices were not able to distinguish a premeditated arsenic poisoning from the foodborne disease. Arsenic distribution has been highly regulated over time and medical diagnostics have now evolved to the ability of the precise arsenic attribution. Nowadays, arsenic compounds are still used to treat some forms of leukaemia.
Arsenic has no smell and no taste, which is why to know the level of arsenic contamination you should research on your own or access the official tests of your water supply station. Arsenic has a very low absorbtion through skin but can be easily inhaled. Most dangerous is intake with water and food. It attacks multiple organs and systems, accumulates over time and causes constant digestive issues, sore throat and darker skin. In case of long-term exposure to low doses of arsenic one may face symptoms like tingling in fingers, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. As there is no remedy, the best way to deal with it is to prevent the intake at all.
The element can form numerous compounds. The most toxic for humans are inorganic ones. They do not only differ in their effects as trivalent arsenite is estimated to be 2 to 10 times more toxic than pentavalent arsenate**. It is important to understand that various arsenic compounds require different techniques when filtering them out of drinking water.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
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| 2,012
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\section{Introduction}
Hydrogen can be incorporated into semiconductors both intentionally
and unintentionally during manufacturing processes carried out for
technological applications.
It appears in these solids in a number of different
configurations: as an isolated interstitial, bound to impurities,
bound to native defects, in molecular form, etc.\cite{pe92,es95,st91}
In the early 1980s, isolated hydrogen molecules were predicted to
be stable in crystalline semiconductors and to play an important role
in the diffusion of hydrogen in these materials.\cite{ma83,co83}
However, they were not unambiguously detected by spectroscopic
methods until more than ten years later.\cite{ve96,pr97,le98}
Vibrational transitions have been reported for interstitial H$_2$
in Si,\cite{pr97,le98} Ge,\cite{hi05} and GaAs.\cite{ve96}
In these semiconductors, theory predicts that the
H$_2$ molecule is stable at an interstitial tetrahedral (T) site
and behaves as a nearly free rotator.\cite{ok97,wa98}
This gives rise at low temperatures to two stretching local vibrational
modes originating from para and ortho nuclear states, which are split
due to ro-vibrational coupling.\cite{ch02b}
Here we will concentrate on isolated hydrogen molecules in the bulk
of crystalline silicon.
The interest of this problem is twofold. On one side, it is important
as a point defect in semiconductor physics, for its relevance in
the hydrogen diffusion and stability in these materials.
On the other side, from a fundamental point of view, H$_2$ in silicon
is an example of a light molecule sitting and moving in a confined geometry,
and one can study its behavior when localized in a spatial region with
extension of a few \AA.
Earlier theoretical studies of molecular hydrogen in semiconductors
have concentrated on determining the lowest-energy site and stretching
frequency of the molecule, including in some cases anharmonic effects
derived from the calculated potential-energy
surface,\cite{ok97,ok98,ho98,wa98,pr02}
as well as the quantum rotation of H$_2$ molecules.\cite{fo02,ho03}
Density-functional electronic-structure calculations in condensed matter
are very reliable, but they treat atomic nuclei as classical particles,
and typical quantum effects like zero-point vibrations are
not directly accessible.
These effects can be included by employing harmonic or
quasiharmonic approximations, but are difficult to take into account
when large anharmonicities are present, as can happen for
light impurities like hydrogen.
To consider the quantum character of the nuclei,
the path-integral molecular dynamics (or Monte Carlo) approach has
proved to be very useful.
A remarkable advantage of this method is that all nuclear degrees of
freedom can be quantized in an efficient manner, thus including
both quantum and thermal fluctuations in many-body systems
at finite temperatures. In this way, Monte Carlo or molecular dynamics
sampling applied to evaluate finite-temperature path integrals allows one to
carry out quantitative and nonperturbative studies of highly-anharmonic
effects in solids.\cite{gi88,ce95}
In this paper, the path-integral molecular dynamics (PIMD) method is used
to study interstitial hydrogen molecules in silicon.
Special attention has been paid to the vibrational properties of these
impurities, by considering anharmonic effects on their quantum dynamics and
the ro-vibrational coupling at different temperatures.
The results of the present calculations show that anharmonic effects lead
to a significant decrease of the vibrational frequencies of the
impurities, as compared to a harmonic approximation.
We have analyzed the isotopic effect on structural and vibrational
properties of these molecules, by considering also molecular deuterium (D$_2$).
Path-integral methods analogous to that employed in this work
have been applied earlier to study hydrogen in metals\cite{gi88}
and semiconductors,\cite{ra94,he95,mi98,he06,he07} as well as on
surfaces.\cite{ma95,he09}
In connection with the behavior of molecular hydrogen in confined regions,
H$_2$ has been studied inside carbon nanotubes by diffusion Monte
Carlo.\cite{go01}
Also, path-integral simulation methods have been extensively applied
to study condensed phases of hydrogen in molecular
form.\cite{ka94,su97,ch99,ki00}
The paper is organized as follows. In Sec.\,II, we describe the
computational method and the models employed in our calculations.
Our results are presented in Sec.\,III, dealing with the kinetic energy
of the molecules, spatial delocalization, interatomic distance, and
vibrational frequencies.
Sec.\,IV includes a discussion of the results and a summary.
\section{Computational Method}
\subsection{Path-integral molecular dynamics}
In the path-integral formulation of statistical mechanics employed here,
the partition function is evaluated by a discretization of the density matrix
along cyclic paths, consisting of a finite number $P$ (Trotter number)
of ``imaginary-time'' steps.\cite{fe72,kl90} In the implementation in
numerical simulations, this discretization gives rise to the appearance of
$P$ ``beads'' for each quantum particle. These beads can be formally
treated as classical particles, so that the partition function of the
original quantum system is isomorph to that of a classical one.
This isomorphism is obtained by replacing each quantum particle by a
ring polymer consisting of $P$ classical particles, connected by harmonic
springs.\cite{gi88,ce95}
In many-body problems, the configuration space is usually sampled by
Monte Carlo or molecular dynamics techniques. Here, we have employed the
PIMD method, which has been found to need less computer time for the
present problem.
We have used effective algorithms for performing PIMD simulations
in the canonical $NVT$ ensemble, as those described in detail by
Martyna {\em et al.}\cite{ma96} and Tuckerman.\cite{tu02}
Our calculations have been performed within the adiabatic
(Born-Oppenheimer) approximation, which allows one to define a potential
energy surface for the nuclear motion.
An important issue in this kind of simulations is the proper description
of interatomic interactions, which should be as realistic as possible.
Since using true density functional (DF) or Hartree-Fock-type calculations
requires computer resources that would restrict enormously the size of
our simulation cell, we obtain the Born-Oppenheimer surface from
a tight-binding (TB) effective Hamiltonian, derived from DF
calculations.\cite{po95}
The TB energy consists of two parts, the first one is the sum of
energies of occupied one-electron states, and the second one is
given by a pairwise repulsive interatomic potential.\cite{po95}
For the present study the H-H pair potential was tuned to reproduce
the main features of known effective interatomic potentials, such
as the Morse potential.\cite{ra01}
The capability of TB methods to simulate different properties of
solids and molecules has been reviewed by Goringe {\em et al.}\cite{go97}
The convergence of the total energy with the sampling in reciprocal space
was checked by using several sets of special $k$-points.\cite{ra88}
We found that a set of 4 $k$-points provides already good convergence
(relative error less than 0.001 \% in the total energy).
The use of only the $\Gamma$ point introduces a small systematic
error in the total energy that affects slightly the value of energy
differences between different spacial configurations of H$_2$ in silicon,
with typical errors of about 0.01 eV.
These results justify that the simulations presented in this work were
performed by using only the $\Gamma$ point for the reciprocal space sampling.
Simulations were carried out on a $2\times2\times2$ supercell of the
silicon face-centered cubic cell with periodic boundary conditions,
containing 64 Si atoms and a hydrogen (or deuterium) molecule.
For comparison, we also
carried out simulations of pure silicon, using the same supercell size.
Sampling of the configuration space has been carried out
at temperatures between 300 and 900 K.
The electronic structure calculations were performed without considering a
temperature-dependent Fermi filling of the electronic states, which is
reasonable for this temperature range.
For a given temperature, a typical simulation run consisted of $10^4$ PIMD
steps for system equilibration, followed by $5 \times 10^5$ steps for the
calculation of ensemble average properties.
To keep a nearly constant precision in the path integral results
at different temperatures, we have employed a Trotter number that
scales as the inverse temperature. In particular, we have taken
$P T$ = 18000 K, which means $P$ = 60 for $T$ = 300 K.
Quantum exchange effects between protons or deuterons were not considered,
as they are negligible at the temperatures considered here, so that both
atomic nuclei in a molecule were treated as if they were distinguishable
particles.
The simulations were carried out by employing a staging transformation
for the bead coordinates.
The canonical ensemble was generated by coupling chains of four
Nos\'e-Hoover thermostats (with mass $Q = \beta \hbar^2 / 5 P$)
to each degree of freedom.\cite{tu98}
To integrate the equations of motion, we used
a reversible reference-system propagator algorithm (RESPA), which allows
one to define different time steps for the integration of fast and slow
degrees of freedom.\cite{ma96}
The time step $\Delta t$ associated to the calculation of DF-TB forces
was taken in the range
between 0.1 and 0.4 fs, which was found to be appropriate for the
interactions, atomic masses, and temperatures under consideration.
For the evolution of the fast dynamical variables, including the
thermostats and harmonic bead interactions, we used a smaller
time step $\delta t = \Delta t/4$.
We note that for H$_2$ in silicon at 300 K, a simulation run consisting of
$5 \times 10^5$ PIMD steps needs the calculation
of forces and energy with the TB code for
$3 \times 10^7$ configurations, which has required the use of parallel
computers.
\subsection{Calculation of anharmonic vibrational frequencies}
Vibrational frequencies of impurities in solids are important
characteristics, which depend on the site that they actually occupy
and on its interactions with the nearby hosts atoms.
In this context, the question arises whether the oscillator
frequencies associated to an impurity can be extracted by assuming the
host atoms fixed in the relaxed geometry corresponding to the
minimum-energy configuration.
This is a method usually employed to calculate vibrational frequencies
of impurities in crystals.
On the other side, when the host atoms are allowed to relax by following
the impurity motion, the potential energy surface is flatter
than when the host atoms are fixed.
To obtain an approach for the actual vibrational frequencies of the
impurities, one can calculate the eigenvalues of the dynamical matrix
of the whole simulation cell, and obtain the frequencies in the harmonic
approximation (HA).
However, for light impurities the anharmonicity can be appreciable, and
the harmonic frequencies are only a first (maybe crude) approximation.
To calculate anharmonic frequencies we will use here a method based
on the linear response (LR) of the system to vanishingly small forces applied
on the atomic nuclei.
To this end, we consider a LR function, the static isothermal
susceptibility $\chi^T$, that is readily derived from PIMD simulations of the
equilibrium solid, without dealing explicitly with any external forces in
the simulation. This approach represents a significant improvement as
compared to a standard harmonic approximation.\cite{ra01}
The tensor ${\chi}^T$ allows one to derive a LR approximation
to the low-lying excitation energies of the vibrational system,
that is applicable even to highly anharmonic situations.
For a system with $3 N$ vibrational degrees of freedom,
the LR approximation for the frequencies reads
\begin{equation}
\omega_n = \frac{1}{\sqrt{\delta_n}} \;,
\end{equation}
where $\delta_n$ ($n = 1, \dots, 3N$) are eigenvalues of
$\chi^{T}$, and the LR approximation to the low-lying excitation energy of
vibrational mode $n$ is given by $\hbar\omega_n$.
Details on the method and illustrations of its ability for predicting
vibrational frequencies of solids and molecules are given
elsewhere.\cite{ra01,ra02,lo03,ra05}
\section{Results}
\subsection{Minimum-energy configuration}
We first present results for classical calculations at
zero temperature, where the atoms are treated as point-like
particles without spatial delocalization.
The employed interatomic potential gives
reliable results for molecular hydrogen in vacuo.
The lowest-energy molecular configuration corresponds to a
distance $R_0$ between hydrogen atoms of 0.741 \AA.
At this distance we obtain for H$_2$ in a harmonic approximation
a stretching frequency of 4397 cm$^{-1}$.
For H$_2$ as an impurity in silicon, we find a
lowest-energy position for the center-of-gravity of the molecule
located at an interstitial T site.
The minimum energy is found for the H--H axis along a
$\langle 100 \rangle$ crystal direction, with a distance between
H atoms of 0.752 \AA. Moreover, changes in the energy for molecule
rotation keeping its center-of-gravity at a T site are very small,
in agreement with earlier calculations based on DF
theory.\cite{ok97,wa98,ho98}
In silicon an increase in the H--H distance of about 0.01 \AA\ was
found with respect to the molecule in vacuo, as expected for
an attractive interaction between each H and the nearby Si atoms.
Assuming the H$_2$ molecule at a T site, and oriented along the
$\langle 100 \rangle$ direction, we find in the harmonic approximation
a stretching frequency of 4071 cm$^{-1}$, close to the harmonic value
of 4015 cm$^{-1}$ derived from the (anharmonic) vibrational frequency
observed in Raman spectra\cite{la02} This represents a decrease
of more than 300 cm$^{-1}$ vs the harmonic frequency for the molecule in
the gas phase, in line with a weakening of the H--H bond due to
interaction with the silicon lattice, as discussed earlier.\cite{ok97,wa98}
In the HA we also find frequencies $\omega_{\|}$ = 954 cm$^{-1}$
and $\omega_{\perp}$ = 1385 cm$^{-1}$ (twofold degenerate)
for motion of the molecule along and perpendicular to the H--H
axis in the silicon cage. These two vibrational frequencies are not
expected to be observable because they will be mixed by the free
rotation of the molecule (see below).
\subsection{Kinetic energy}
We now turn to our PIMD simulations at finite temperatures.
To obtain insight into the motion of H$_2$ around the tetrahedral
site, we will consider various models in which the number of
degrees of freedom will be successively increased.
In particular, we will consider: (1) motion of the H$_2$ molecule
in one dimension (along the H--H bond) in a fixed and unrelaxed
silicon lattice;
(2) free motion (in 3d) of the hydrogen molecule with fixed
host atoms, and (3) free motion of H$_2$ with mobile Si atoms.
In the latter case, all 66 atomic nuclei in the simulation cell are
treated as quantum particles.
In our finite-temperature simulations for cases (2) and (3), where
the molecule can rotate around the T site, we observe a free
molecular rotation, without any preferential orientation. This is in
agreement with earlier conclusions derived from theoretical\cite{ok97,wa98}
and experimental\cite{ch02a,ch02b} works, and with the fact that the
potential-energy surface for the rotation does not display deep
minima.
\begin{figure}
\vspace{-2.0cm}
\hspace{-0.5cm}
\includegraphics[width= 9cm]{fig1.ps}
\vspace{-2.5cm}
\caption{
Temperature dependence of the kinetic energy of molecular hydrogen
in silicon for various approximations.
Squares: motion of H$_2$ in one dimension with fixed host atoms;
circles: free motion of H$_2$ in a fixed silicon lattice;
triangles: free motion of H$_2$ with unrestricted motion of the
Si atoms.
Solid lines correspond to harmonic approximations for H$_2$ motion
in one and three dimensions.
Dashed lines are guides to the eye.
}
\label{f1}
\end{figure}
In Fig.~1 we show the kinetic energy of the hydrogen molecule in the
three considered approaches. Symbols indicate results derived from our PIMD
simulations using the so-called virial estimator\cite{he82,tu98} and solid
lines represent the kinetic energy expected in a harmonic approximation.
For 1d motion of H$_2$ (approach 1, squares) we find
a slight increase in $E_k$ as temperature is raised. In this approach,
results of the simulations are somewhat lower than those derived for
the HA, as expected for a softening of the vibrations due to the
anharmonicity of the interatomic potential.
In fact, the linear-response method introduced in Sect.~II.B gives
in this case for the stretching frequency $\omega_s$ = 3770 cm$^{-1}$
at 300 K,
which means a decrease of about 300 cm$^{-1}$ with respect to the
harmonic model for H$_2$ in silicon ($\omega_s$ = 4071 cm$^{-1}$).
Circles in Fig.~1 correspond to our approach 2 with H$_2$ moving
in a fixed silicon lattice. Now we are dealing with six degrees of
freedom, two of which correspond to molecular rotation. This
approximation gives again values of the kinetic energy smaller than
those predicted by the HA (solid line).
This harmonic approximation includes a classical description of the
two rotational degrees of freedom of the H$_2$ molecule.
To analyze the kinetic energy of the defect complex in model 3
(all atoms are free to move), we calculate $E_k$ for the simulation
cell with and without the H$_2$ molecule:
$E_k$(defect) = $E_k$(64 Si + H$_2$) -- $E_k$(64 Si).
The results (triangles) lie appreciably above those obtained for model 2,
indicating a nonnegligible coupling in the motion of interstitial molecule
and host atoms.
\begin{figure}
\vspace{-2.0cm}
\hspace{-0.5cm}
\includegraphics[width= 9cm]{fig2.ps}
\vspace{-2.5cm}
\caption{
Temperature dependence of the
vibrational part of the kinetic energy of H$_2$ and D$_2$, as
derived from approach 3 with free motion of all atoms in the
simulation cell. Symbols indicate results derived from
PIMD simulations: squares for H$_2$ and circles for D$_2$.
Error bars are on the order of the symbol size.
Dashed lines are guides to the eye.
The dotted line corresponds to the classical limit with four
degrees of freedom.
}
\label{f2}
\end{figure}
At the temperatures considered here, rotation of H$_2$ can be
considered with a high precision to be classical. This means that
its contribution to the kinetic energy of the molecule will be $k_B T$
(two degrees of freedom).
Then, we can subtract this classical energy from $E_k$ derived
from the PIMD simulations to obtain a vibrational contribution to
the kinetic energy $E_k^v$. This part of the kinetic energy is shown in
Fig.~2 for H$_2$ (squares) and D$_2$ (circles). At low temperature
it converges to values close to 0.24 and 0.18 eV, respectively.
This gives a ratio $E_k^v$(H$_2$) / $E_k^v$(D$_2$) = 1.33, somewhat
smaller than the limit 1.41 expected for harmonic vibrations at low
temperatures. This deviation may be due to both anharmonicity in
the interatomic interaction and changes in the effective mass caused by
coupling to the host atoms.
This ratio decreases as $T$ is raised, and amounts to 1.19 at 900 K.
For comparison we also present in Fig.~2 the kinetic energy corresponding
to the classical limit with four vibrational degrees of freedom
($2 k_B T$, dotted line).
\subsection{Atomic delocalization}
To study the spatial delocalization of a quantum particle from PIMD
simulations, it is convenient to consider the center-of-gravity (centroid)
of the quantum paths of the particle, defined as
\begin{equation}
\overline{\bf r} = \frac{1}{P} \sum_{i=1}^P {\bf r}_i \, ,
\label{centr}
\end{equation}
${\bf r}_i$ being the coordinates of the ``beads'' in the associated ring
polymer.
The mean-square displacement of a quantum particle along a PIMD
simulation run is then given by:
\begin{equation}
\Delta^2 = \frac{1}{P} \left< \sum_{i=1}^P
({\bf r}_i - \left< \overline{\bf r} \right>)^2
\right> \, ,
\label{delta2}
\end{equation}
where $\langle ... \rangle$ indicates a thermal average at temperature $T$.
After some straightforward manipulations, one can write $\Delta^2$ as
\begin{equation}
\Delta^2 = \Delta^2_Q + \Delta^2_C \, ,
\label{delta2b}
\end{equation}
with
\begin{equation}
\Delta^2_Q = \frac{1}{P} \left< \sum_{i=1}^P
({\bf r}_i - \overline{\bf r})^2 \right> \, ,
\end{equation}
and
\begin{equation}
\Delta^2_C = \left< (\overline{\bf r} -
\left< \overline{\bf r} \right>)^2 \right> \, .
\end{equation}
The first term, $\Delta^2_Q$, is the mean-square ``radius-of-gyration''
of the ring polymers associated to the quantum particle (atomic nucleus)
under consideration.\cite{gi88} This is a measure of the average
extension of the paths and, therefore, of the importance of
quantum effects in a given problem.
The second term in Eq.~(\ref{delta2b}) is the mean-square
displacement of the center of gravity of the paths.
This term is the only one surviving at high temperatures,
since in the classical limit each path collapses onto a single point
(hence with a vanishing radius-of-gyration).
For situations in which the anharmonicity is not extremely large, the
distribution of $\overline{\bf r}$ is similar to that of a classical
particle in the same potential, and thus $\Delta^2_C$ can be considered
as a kind of semiclassical delocalization.
\begin{figure}
\vspace{-2.0cm}
\hspace{-0.5cm}
\includegraphics[width= 9cm]{fig3.ps}
\vspace{-2.5cm}
\caption{
Spatial delocalization of atomic nuclei (protons) in H$_2$.
Diamonds indicate the mean-square displacement of the centroid of the
quantum paths, $\Delta_C^2$, and squares correspond to the mean-square
radius-of-gyration of the paths, $\Delta_Q^2$.
}
\label{f3}
\end{figure}
Going back to our problem of H$_2$ in silicon,
for each hydrogen atom in the molecule we have calculated separately
both terms giving the atomic delocalization in Eq.~(\ref{delta2b}).
Shown in Fig.~3 are the values of $\Delta^2_Q$ (spreading of the quantum
paths, squares) and $\Delta^2_C$ (centroid delocalization, diamonds),
as derived from our PIMD simulations at several temperatures.
In this plot, one observes that $\Delta^2_C$ is much larger than
$\Delta^2_Q$ in the whole temperature range under consideration.
This is not strange if one takes into account that the molecular rotation
around the interstitial T site can be considered as a classical motion
at these temperatures. In fact, the order of magnitude of this
spatial delocalization can be obtained from the free motion of a particle
on a spherical surface with radius equal to half distance between
atoms in an H$_2$ molecule. For a distance $R = 0.77$ \AA, we obtain
a mean-square classical displacement of 0.15 \AA$^2$, close to the
value of $\Delta^2_C$ at 300 K. This magnitude increases for rising
temperature, as expected for an increase in the fluctuations of the
distance from each H atom to the average position (T site).
For the spreading of the quantum paths of each H atom we obtain at
room temperature $\Delta^2_Q$ = 0.03 \AA$^2$, and it decreases as
temperature is raised.
This gives for the paths an average extension of $\sim$ 0.1 \AA\ at
300 K, much smaller than the H-H distance, and thus justifying the
neglect of quantum exchange between protons.
Moreover, the fact that $\Delta^2_Q$ is much smaller than $\Delta^2_C$
in the temperature range considered here does not mean that quantum
effects are irrelevant, but is a consequence of the enhancement
of $\Delta^2_C$ due to molecular rotation.
\subsection{Interatomic distance}
As mentioned above, the interatomic distance between hydrogen
atoms increases when the molecule is introduced from the gas phase into
a silicon crystal, due to the interaction between H and host atoms.
For the minimum-energy distance we found $R_0$ = 0.752 \AA,
which is smaller that the values obtained in earlier calculations
(0.788 \AA\ in Ref.~\onlinecite{ho98} and 0.817 \AA\ in
Refs.~\onlinecite{wa98,wa99}).
\begin{figure}
\vspace{-2.0cm}
\hspace{-0.5cm}
\includegraphics[width= 9cm]{fig4.ps}
\vspace{-2.5cm}
\caption{
Mean distance between H atoms in an H$_2$ molecule in silicon.
Symbols correspond to different approximations for the molecular motion.
Squares: motion of H$_2$ in one dimension with fixed host atoms (approach 1);
circles: free motion of H$_2$ in a fixed silicon lattice (approach 2);
triangles: free motion of H$_2$ and host atoms (approach 3).
Error bars are in the order of the symbol size.
Dashed lines are linear fits to the data points.
}
\label{f4}
\end{figure}
We now present the temperature dependence of the mean distance H--H
for the three approaches considered above to study molecular
hydrogen in silicon.
Our results are displayed in Fig.~4, where symbols represent data
points derived from PIMD simulations.
For approach 1 (1d motion in a fixed lattice), we find at 300 K
a mean distance $R$ = 0.780 \AA, which represents an appreciable
increase vs the distance obtained for the minimum-energy configuration.
In this model, $R$ increases very slowly as
a function of $T$ (squares in Fig.~4), since molecular rotation is
not allowed and the molecule expansion is only due to the increasing
population of excited vibrational levels. In fact, we find
$d R/d T = 1.0 \times 10^{-6}$~\AA/K.
When molecular rotation is allowed in a fixed lattice (approach 2),
we observe an increase in $R$ (see circles in Fig.~4).
At 300 K we found $R$ = 0.785 \AA, about $5 \times 10^{-3}$ \AA\
larger than for 1d motion. Now $R$ rises with temperature much faster
than in approach 1, with $d R/d T = 1.1 \times 10^{-5}$ \AA/K.
Next, we allow the Si atoms to move, introducing the full
quantization of all degrees of freedom in the simulation cell, and
we obtain a reduction of the distance H--H with respect to approach
2. This can be understood as due to a softening of the effective Si--H
interaction, which decreases as a consequence of Si motion.
In this case with full motion of the 66 atoms in the cell, we find
$d R/d T = 1.6 \times 10^{-5}$ \AA/K, which means a larger slope
than in approach 2.
It is interesting to compare these changes in the mean distance $R$
with those corresponding to molecular hydrogen in the gas phase.
To this end
we have carried out some PIMD simulations of an isolated hydrogen
molecule with the same interatomic potential. In this case we obtain an
increase in $R$ with temperature given by
$d R/d T = 7.5 \times 10^{-6}$ \AA/$K$, a value clearly smaller than
those obtained for H$_2$ in silicon in our approaches 2 and 3.
This means that, for H$_2$ in silicon, the change of interatomic
distance with temperature is controlled by both the centrifugal
expansion due to rotation, and interaction with the nearby host atoms.
\begin{figure}
\vspace{-2.0cm}
\hspace{-0.5cm}
\includegraphics[width= 9cm]{fig5.ps}
\vspace{-2.5cm}
\caption{
Mean interatomic distance for H$_2$ and D$_2$ molecules in silicon,
as a function of temperature.
Symbols indicate results derived from PIMD simulations for approach 3,
in which all atoms are mobile:
squares for H$_2$ and circles for D$_2$.
Error bars are on the order of the symbol size.
Dashed lines are linear fits to the data points.
}
\label{f5}
\end{figure}
PIMD simulations can be also employed to study the isotopic dependence
of the mean interatomic distance $R$. The molecular expansion with
respect to the lowest-energy classical geometry is due to a combination
of anharmonicity with quantum delocalization. One expects smaller distances
for molecular deuterium due to its smaller vibrational amplitudes. In fact,
at 300 K we found for D$_2$ in silicon, $R$ = 0.767 \AA, to be compared
with $R$ = 0.776 \AA\ for H$_2$ at the same temperature, and a distance
$R_0$ = 0.752 \AA\ for the lowest-energy position in the classical limit.
In Fig.~5 we present the temperature dependence of the mean distance for
both H$_2$ and D$_2$, as derived from our PIMD simulations for approach 3
(full motion of molecular hydrogen and host atoms). For D$_2$ we
find $d R/d T = 1.5(1) \times 10^{-5}$ \AA/$K$, which coincides within
error bar with the slope obtained for H$_2$ in silicon in the temperature
region from 300 to 900 K.
\subsection{Stretching frequency}
The stretching frequency of H$_2$ is an important fingerprint of
the molecule, that in fact has been used to detect and characterize
this impurity in the silicon bulk.\cite{le98,zh99}
This stretching vibration has been found at 3618 cm$^{-1}$ (at 4 K)
independently by Raman\cite{le98} and infrared absorption
spectroscopies.\cite{pr98}
\begin{figure}
\vspace{-2.0cm}
\hspace{-0.5cm}
\includegraphics[width= 9cm]{fig6.ps}
\vspace{-2.5cm}
\caption{
Frequency of the stretching vibration of the H$_2$ molecule in silicon
as a function of temperature. Symbols represent results derived from
PIMD simulations in three different approximations:
squares, motion of H$_2$ in one dimension in a fixed silicon lattice;
circles, free motion of H$_2$ with fixed Si atoms;
triangles, free motion of H$_2$ and Si atoms.
Error bars correspond to the statistical uncertainty in the PIMD
simulations.
A black diamond indicates the stretching frequency obtained by
Raman spectroscopy at room temperature.\cite{le98}
}
\label{f6}
\end{figure}
In Fig.~6 we show the temperature dependence of $\omega_s$ for
H$_2$ in the three approaches considered here, as derived from the LR
method presented above.
In approach 1 (1d motion) the frequency decreases slightly in the
analyzed temperature range.
In approaches 2 and 3, the coupling between molecular rotation
and vibration causes an appreciable change of $\omega_s$ with the
temperature. For model 2 (fixed Si lattice) we find
$d \omega_s / d T = - 0.13$ cm$^{-1}$/K, to be compared with a
slope of $d \omega_s / d T = - 0.24$ cm$^{-1}$/K for model 3,
which includes motion of the host atoms.
Thus, motion of the Si atoms causes a significant change in
$d \omega_s / d T$, which becomes almost twice larger than in the
case of a static Si lattice.
It is interesting that at room temperature $\omega_s$ is smaller for
model 2 than for approach 3, but due to its faster decrease in
the latter approach, $\omega_s$ becomes smaller for model 3 at high
$T$.
Something similar has been obtained for the stretching vibration of
D$_2$. In particular, for approach 3 we find a rather constant ratio
between the stretching frequencies of H$_2$ and D$_2$, that amounts to
1.37(1), somewhat smaller than the ratio expected in a harmonic
approximation (1.41).
Experimentally, a ratio of 1.37 is found from infrared\cite{pr97} and
Raman\cite{le98,la02} spectra of H$_2$ and D$_2$ in silicon, a little
smaller than the ratio 1.39 observed for these molecules in the gas
phase.\cite{st57}
For the HD molecule in silicon, an infrared study allowed to
determine the energy of the first excited rotational level.\cite{ch02a}
In fact, a value of 73.9 cm$^{-1}$ was found for the wave-number
difference between the levels $J$ = 0 and $J$ = 1, somewhat lower than
that corresponding to the gas phase (89.3 cm$^{-1}$).
By scaling that wave-number difference with the reduced mass, we
expect for H$_2$ an energy difference of about 99 cm$^{-1}$.
Since our PIMD simulations yield results for the average frequency
$\omega_s$, one can estimate a frequency shift from
the rotational energy, taking into account the population and
degeneracy of the different levels.\cite{ch02a}
By considering only the levels $J$ = 0 and $J$ = 1, one would expect at
room temperature a frequency shift $d \omega_s / d T$ on the order of
$-0.05$ cm$^{-1}$/K, clearly lower than the value found from our simulations
for approach 3 ($-0.24$ cm$^{-1}$/K).
This is not strange, taking into account that at these temperatures
higher rotational levels will be excited, contributing to a larger decrease
in the average frequency.
However, the actual position of these levels further than $J$ = 1
is not known at present, and a more detailed comparison with our
results is not possible.
We note that the quantum treatment of atomic nuclei in molecular
dynamics simulations is crucial to give a reliable description of
the vibrational frequencies of light atoms like hydrogen.
In fact, we have applied the LR method to calculate the stretching
frequency $\omega_s$ from classical simulations. At 300 K we
found for H$_2$ in silicon a frequency $\omega_s$ = 4039 cm$^{-1}$
(for full motion of interstitial hydrogen and host atoms), to be
compared with $\omega_s$ = 3728 cm$^{-1}$ derived from
PIMD simulations. As expected, the classical value is much closer to
the frequency $\omega_s$ = 4071 cm$^{-1}$ obtained in a HA for
H$_2$ in silicon.
\section{Discussion}
In Sec. III we have presented results of our PIMD simulations for
H$_2$ and D$_2$ in silicon.
The main advantage of this kind of simulations is the possibility
of calculating energies at finite temperatures, with the
inclusion of quantization of host-atom motions, which are not
easy to be accounted for in fixed-lattice calculations.
Isotope effects can be readily explored, since the impurity mass
appears as a parameter in the calculations. This includes the
consideration of zero-point motion, which together with anharmonicity
gives rise to non-trivial effects.
In addition, the vibrational motion of H$_2$ is coupled with molecular
rotation, leading to a change in the stretching frequency with
temperature.
As mentioned above,
an important feature of isolated H$_2$ molecules in semiconductors
is their stretching vibration $\omega_s$. In a harmonic approximation,
the tight-binding potential employed here yields for H$_2$ in silicon
a frequency $\omega_s$ = 4071 cm$^{-1}$ vs 4397 cm$^{-1}$ for H$_2$ in
the gas phase, which means a reduction of about 330 cm$^{-1}$ due to
interaction with the host atoms. This reduction is accompanied by an
increase in the H--H distance, as shown in Sect.III.C.
An additional decrease in $\omega_s$
is obtained when anharmonic effects are taken into account in a
one-dimensional motion of the molecule in a fixed lattice. In fact,
at 300 K the LR calculations give in this case
$\omega_s$ = 3770 cm$^{-1}$, which means a decrease in frequency
of about 300 cm$^{-1}$ with respect to the HA for H$_2$ in silicon.
This frequency change due to anharmonicity is in the order of that
derived in Ref.~\onlinecite{wa99} from DF calculations, namely
$\Delta \omega_s = -408$ cm$^{-1}$.
This frequency is further lowered when full (quantum) motion of
the molecule and host atoms are allowed, giving
$\omega_s$ = 3728 cm$^{-1}$. In this latter reduction there is
a contribution of two competing effects: coupling
between molecular rotation and vibration, and interaction with
Si atoms, whose motion allows for a larger delocalization of the
H$_2$ molecule in the interstitial space.
In general we observe a correlation between $\omega_s$ and mean
interatomic distance $R$ in the H$_2$ molecule, in the sense that a
rise in $\omega_s$ is accompanied by a decrease in $R$.
This is in line with the general trend found by Van de Walle\cite{wa98}
for molecular hydrogen in crystalline semiconductors, as derived from
DF calculations at $T=0$.
However, this trend is not so strict when atomic motion is included at
finite temperatures, as derived from Figs.~4 and 6.
In this case, the mobile Si atoms may contribute to an additional decrease
in the stretching frequency of H$_2$ by a rise in the effective mass
associated to this vibrational mode.
In connection with this, it is clear that
theoretical techniques to deal with the electronic structure of solids
have been improving their precision over the years. For various purposes,
the accuracy currently achieved by these methods is excellent, when comparing
their predictions with experimental data. However, quantum nuclear effects
limit the accuracy of state-of-the-art techniques to predict actual
properties of light impurities in solids. The answer to this question
has to be found in {\em ab-initio} path-integral simulations, where both
electrons and nuclei are treated directly from first principles.
But even in this case the question is not simple when one has to deal with
phenomena such as molecular rotation at low temperatures, where a proper
description of quantum rotation has to be included in the formalism.
There is an important challenging point that should be considered in
future work. It refers to considering coupling between nuclear spins
in the hydrogen molecule, i.e. dealing separately with ortho and
para-H$_2$ (both have been observed in silicon\cite{ch02b,la02,hi07}).
This becomes specially relevant at low temperatures, where
the quantum character of molecular rotation has to be explicitly
considered in the simulations. Usually this kind of calculations have
been carried out by assuming the molecule to be a rigid rotor, without
taking into account vibrations and deformations, and thus neglecting
the ro-vibrational coupling.
An analysis of hydrogen diffusion in silicon is out of the scope
of this paper. Actual diffusion coefficients are not
directly accessible with the kind of simulations employed here, since
the time scale employed in the calculations is not readily connected
to the real one. In this respect, PIMD simulations could be applied
to study quantum diffusion of H$_2$ in silicon, by calculating
free-energy barriers in a way similar to that employed earlier to study
the diffusion of atomic hydrogen in metals\cite{ma95} and
semiconductors.\cite{he97,he07}
In summary, the PIMD method has turned out to be well-suited to study
finite-temperature equilibrium properties of hydrogen molecules
in silicon. This has allowed us to notice the importance of
anharmonicity and ro-vibrational coupling in order to give a
realistic description of the properties of these interstitial impurities.
Anharmonicity shows up in the stretching motion of the molecules,
causing important shifts with respect to the harmonic expectancy.
\begin{acknowledgments}
This work was supported by CICYT (Spain) through Grant
No. BFM2006-12117-C04-03.
\end{acknowledgments}
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaArXiv"
}
| 8,951
|
Q: @Gateway(payloadExpression="..") vs @Payload("...") Spring integration documentation explains that a payload expression must be specified when declaring a gateway from an interface method with no arguments, so that the framework knows what payload should be set on the generated message.
However, if I do the following:
<int:gateway id="myGateway"
service-interface="com.example.MyGateway"
default-request-channel="requestChannel"
default-reply-channel="replyChannel" />
for the following interface:
package com.example;
public interface MyGateway {
@Gateway(payloadExpression = "''")
String doSomething();
}
this leads to an error: "receive is not supported, because no pollable reply channel has been configured".
This works instead:
public interface MyGateway {
@Payload("''")
String doSomething();
}
Indeed, the same above documentation specifies that the payload should be specified with either @Payload or with payload-expression attribute on method elements.
However, as a user, I find it quite surprising that setting a payload expression through the @Gateway annotation does not work here, especially because the same annotation works in other contexts.
Is this on purpose or an oversight?
A: It is not clear why the documentation is confusing, but feel free to suggest improvements.
The @Gateway annotation is intended for configuration when using annotation-based configuration
https://docs.spring.io/spring-integration/docs/5.3.2.RELEASE/reference/html/messaging-endpoints.html#gateway-configuration-annotations
The docs clearly state to use @Payload or payload-expression when using XML configuration.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaStackExchange"
}
| 2,030
|
{"url":"https:\/\/python.devhelping.com\/article\/10025175\/Lambda+function+asks+for+input+twice%2C","text":"### python\n\n#### Lambda function asks for input twice,\n\nI am working on a rather complicated math project using python but keep getting stuck with one problem:\na = lambda x: input('Function in terms of x')\nThis works until I have to run a command like:\nz = a(n)\nEvery time this is done it asks for an input again so I get a console that looks like:\nFunction in terms of x:\nFunction in terms of x:\nI know that I should theoretically be able to get around with the following:\nfunc = input('Function: ')\na = lambda x: func\nThis creates another problem: x isn't defined in the outer scope, so I added sympy symbols like so:\nx = sym.Symbol('x')\nfunc = input('Function: ')\na = lambda x: func\nbut then running a command like this results in something weird:\nFunction: 5*x +1\n>>>a(10)\n5*x + 1\nI think this is because lambda doesn't work with sympy, but I can't think of another way to get around the problem... Thank You for any help.\nThe full code is as follows; the function asks for the first input at line 18, and then at line 50 where it isn't supposed too. I believe that this has to do with the fact that I use the lambda function twice.\nimport matplotlib.pyplot as plt\nimport os\nimport time\nfrom mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import axes3d\nfrom sympy import *\nimport numpy as np\nimport tkinter as tk\nfrom colorama import init, Fore, Back, Style\nimport mpmath\ndef main():\n\"\"\"\nHandling for Range and function\n\"\"\"\nrng = raw_input('Minimum, Maximum: ').split(',')\nrng = [float(rng[i]) for i in range(2)]\na = lambda x: input('Function of x: ') # function a is the main polynomial#\n\"\"\"\n2 Dimensional Graph\n\"\"\"\ntwo_d_x = np.arange(rng[0], rng[1], abs(rng[1] - rng[0]) \/ 100)\ntwo_d_y = a(two_d_x)\nfig1 = plt.figure()\nprint [np.amin(two_d_x), np.amax(two_d_x), np.amin(two_d_y), np.amax(two_d_y)]\nax1.axis([np.amin(two_d_x), np.amax(two_d_x), np.amin(two_d_y), np.amax(two_d_y)])\nax1.plot(two_d_x, two_d_y, 'r-')\nax1.set_title(r'$\\mathit{f(x)}\\in \\mathbb{R}^2$')\nax1.set_xlabel(r'$\\mathit{x}$')\nax1.set_ylabel(r'$\\mathit{y}$')\nax1.grid()\nax1.spines['left'].set_position('zero')\nax1.spines['right'].set_color('none')\nax1.spines['bottom'].set_position('zero')\nax1.spines['top'].set_color('none')\nax1.spines['left'].set_smart_bounds(True)\nax1.spines['bottom'].set_smart_bounds(True)\nax1.xaxis.set_ticks_position('bottom')\nax1.yaxis.set_ticks_position('left')\n\"\"\"\nQuiver Plot of Function\n\"\"\"\nu, v = np.meshgrid(np.arange(rng[0], rng[1], 1),\nnp.arange(rng[0], rng[1], 1))\n### u+vj -> w+rjf\nprint False\noutput = a(u + (v * 1j))\nprint False\nw = output.real\nr = output.imag\nax2.axis([np.amin(w) * 1.1, np.amax(w) * 1.1, np.amin(r) * 1.1, np.amax(r) * 1.1])\ndistance = np.sqrt(((w - u) ** 2) + ((r - v) ** 2))\nquiver_plot = ax2.quiver(u, v, w, r, distance, angles='xy', scale_units='xy', scale=1, cmap=plt.cm.jet)\nplt.colorbar(quiver_plot, cmap=plt.cm.jet)\nax2.set_title(r'$\\mathit{f(x)}\\in \\mathbb{C}^2$')\nax2.set_xlabel(r'$\\mathit{rl}$')\nax2.set_ylabel(r'$\\mathit{im}$')\nax2.grid()\nax2.spines['left'].set_position('zero')\nax2.spines['right'].set_color('none')\nax2.spines['bottom'].set_position('zero')\nax2.spines['top'].set_color('none')\nax2.spines['left'].set_smart_bounds(True)\nax2.spines['bottom'].set_smart_bounds(True)\nax2.xaxis.set_ticks_position('bottom')\nax2.yaxis.set_ticks_position('left')\nplt.show()\nmain_program_loop = True\nwhile main_program_loop == True:\nprint '| Quandri 1.0 | by: Boolean Designs\\n'\nmain()\nstay_loop_tp = True\nwhile stay_loop_tp != False:\nstay_loop_tp = raw_input(\"Would you like to continue using this program <yes\/no>? \")\nif stay_loop_tp == 'yes' or stay_loop_tp == 'y':\nos.system('cls')\nstay_loop_tp = False\nelif stay_loop_tp == 'no' or stay_loop_tp == 'n':\nprint 'Exiting Quandri...'\ntime.sleep(1)\nexit()\nstay_loop_tp = False\nelse:\nprint \"Improper Input.\"\ntime.sleep(2)\nos.system('cls')\n\nThe sympy lib has support for parsing and evaluating expression:\nimport sympy\nfrom sympy.parsing.sympy_parser import parse_expr\nx = sympy.Symbol('x')\nexpression_string = input(\"Function: \")\nexpr = parse_expr(expression_string)\nexpr.evalf(subs={x:10})\nsee this http:\/\/docs.sympy.org\/dev\/modules\/parsing.html\nand this How to calculate expression using sympy in python\nEdit: Thomas K\u00fchn's answer is good, but in python2.7 raw_input must be used\nf = raw_input(\"Function: \")\na = lambda x:eval(f)\nprint(a(10))\n\nI don't know, if it is advisable to do something like this, but here is some code that works for me on python 3.5:\nfunc = input('Function: ')\na = lambda x: eval(func)\nprint(a(10))\ncalling this script with python, I get:\nFunction: x+1\n11\n\n### Resources\n\nMobile Apps Dev\nDatabase Users\njavascript\njava\ncsharp\nphp\nandroid\nMS Developer\ndeveloper works\npython\nios\nc\nhtml\njquery\nRDBMS discuss\nCloud Virtualization","date":"2019-08-19 17:39:32","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": true, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 0, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 1, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.4982726573944092, \"perplexity\": 10512.821797661663}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": true, \"markdown_code\": true, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 10, \"end_threshold\": 15, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2019-35\/segments\/1566027314852.37\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20190819160107-20190819182107-00134.warc.gz\"}"}
| null | null |
Alutech installs top quality steel and aluminium industrial roller shutter doors from Barrier Angelucci, one of South Africa's leading manufacturers and suppliers.
Doors can be customised to fit any application. They come in a variety of finishes and vary from manual, gear and chain to motor operated. They provide an aesthetically pleasing security solution for a wide range of industrial, commercial and domestic applications.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
}
| 1,056
|
You can pay by Paypal. This will "enrol" you in the course.
You can then access the full course. From now on you will only need to enter your personal username and password (in the form on this page) to log in and access any course you have enrolled in.
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaC4"
}
| 2,997
|
var assert = require("assert");
var jade = require("jade");
var fs = require("fs");
var path = require("path");
describe("Navbar",function() {
it("should generate a navbar", function(){
var fn = jade.compileFile(path.join(__dirname, "fixtures/navbar","navbar.jade"));
assert.equal(1,1);
});
});
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaGithub"
}
| 5,332
|
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Hello-world page</title>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<link href='//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'>
<link href="${pageContext.request.contextPath}/webjars/bootstrap/3.2.0/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet">
<script src="${pageContext.request.contextPath}/webjars/bootstrap/3.2.0/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
<script src="${pageContext.request.contextPath}/webjars/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<link href="${pageContext.request.contextPath}/css/default.css" rel="stylesheet">
<script src="${pageContext.request.contextPath}/js/functions.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-md-6 col-md-offset-3">
<h1 class="margin-base-vertical">Hello, world!</h1>
<p>This is static HTML page.</p>
<button id="sendRequest" type="button" class="btn btn-primary btn-lg">Send ajax request to MyWebService</button>
<p id="result" class="hide"></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaGithub"
}
| 2,859
|
Frank Bunting Black, (February 28, 1869 – February 28, 1945) was a merchant and political figure in New Brunswick, Canada. He represented Westmorland County in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1912 to 1916 as a Conservative member. Black went on to represent the division of Westmorland in the Senate of Canada from 1921 to 1945.
He was born in Sackville, New Brunswick, the son of Joseph L. Black and Mary Ann Snowball, and was educated at Mount Allison University. He took over the operation of the family store after his father's death in 1907. Black served as mayor of Sackville in 1919. He married Eleanor, the daughter of Josiah Wood.
A long time reserve officer in the Princess Louise 8th Hussars (NB), he signed up for active duty, at the age of 46, in 1914. He went overseas as a major, was wounded twice in France, won several important medals, and an Honour, the Order of St. Stanislaw (for valour), from the Russian Ministry of Defence. he was soon promoted to full colonel and in 1917 was the first eastern Canadian to be gazetted a brigadier general on the field, but because of the death of his brother Captain J. W. S. Black in late 1916 chose instead to revert to reserve status so as to manage the family business. In 1926 he was named the 8th Hussars' first honorary colonel.
References
Black family fonds, Mount Allison University
1869 births
1945 deaths
Canadian senators from New Brunswick
Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) senators
Mayors of places in New Brunswick
Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick MLAs
People from Sackville, New Brunswick
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaWikipedia"
}
| 7,884
|
{"url":"https:\/\/www.gafferhq.org\/documentation\/1.1.4.0\/Reference\/NodeReference\/GafferDispatch\/TaskSwitch.html","text":"Switches between upstream tasks, so that only one is chosen for execution.\n\n## user\uf0c1\n\nContainer for user-defined plugs. Nodes should never make their own plugs here, so users are free to do as they wish.\n\nInput connections to upstream nodes which must be executed before this node.\n\nInput connections to nodes which must be executed after this node, but which don\u2019t need to be executed before downstream nodes.\n\nOutput connections to downstream nodes which must not be executed until after this node.\n\n## dispatcher\uf0c1\n\nContainer for custom plugs which dispatchers use to control their behaviour.\n\n## dispatcher.batchSize\uf0c1\n\nMaximum number of frames to batch together when dispatching tasks. If the node requires sequence execution batchSize will be ignored.\n\n## dispatcher.immediate\uf0c1\n\nCauses this node to be executed immediately upon dispatch, rather than have its execution be scheduled normally by the dispatcher. For instance, when using the LocalDispatcher, the node will be executed immediately in the dispatching process and not in a background process as usual.\n\nWhen a node is made immediate, all upstream nodes are automatically considered to be immediate too, regardless of their settings.\n\n## index\uf0c1\n\nThe index of the input task which is executed. A value of 0 chooses the first input, 1 the second and so on. Values larger than the number of available inputs wrap back around to the beginning.","date":"2022-11-28 22:45:37","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": true, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 0, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 0, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 1, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.4853300154209137, \"perplexity\": 2137.500230263246}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": true, \"markdown_code\": true, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 10, \"end_threshold\": 15, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2022-49\/segments\/1669446710662.60\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20221128203656-20221128233656-00694.warc.gz\"}"}
| null | null |
{"url":"https:\/\/wiki.zcubes.com\/Manuals\/calci\/IMSTRING","text":"Manuals\/calci\/IMSTRING\n\nIMSTRING (ComplexNumber)\n\n\u2022 is any Complex number of the form x+iy.\n\nDescription\n\n\u2022 This function shows the string as a complex number.\n\u2022 In , is any complex number.\n\u2022 A complex number is a combination of a real and an imaginary number.\n\u2022 A number which is positive or negative, rational or irrational or decimals are called real numbers.\n\u2022 An Imaginary number is a number that when squaring it gives a negative result.A complex number is a number is in the form , where and are real numbers and is the imaginary unit,Where .\n\u2022 A Complex number whose real part is zero is said to be purely imaginary.\n\u2022 A Complex number whose imaginary part is zero is a real number.\n\u2022 So this function showing the string value which is given in \" \"(double quotes) as a complex number.\n\nExamples\n\n1. IMSTRING(\"2+3i\") = 2+3i\n2. IMSTRING(\"5-9i\") = 5-9i\n3. IMSTRING(\"7\") = 7\n4. IMSTRING(\"10i\") = 10i\n\nComplex Numbers","date":"2021-12-06 17:17:02","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": false, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 0, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 0, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 0, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.8059426546096802, \"perplexity\": 848.0217982557215}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": false, \"markdown_code\": true, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 20, \"end_threshold\": 15, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2021-49\/segments\/1637964363309.86\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20211206163944-20211206193944-00540.warc.gz\"}"}
| null | null |
{"url":"http:\/\/math.stackexchange.com\/questions\/768002\/how-do-i-go-about-showing-the-cardinality-of-two-sets-are-the-same","text":"# How do I go about showing the cardinality of two sets are the same?\n\nHow do I go about showing that the cardinality of the set of natural numbers and the cardinality of the cartesian product of integers is the same?:\n\n$$|\\Bbb N|=|\\Bbb Z \\times \\Bbb Z|$$\n\nDirectly $|\\Bbb N| = \\aleph_0$ and I can separate the right side like this: $|\\Bbb Z||\\Bbb Z|$, and because the cardinality of the set of integers is $\\aleph_0$, $\\aleph_0$ times $\\aleph$ is still $\\aleph_0$ and thus they are equal. However, I need to show an example how a bijection can be used here? How do I construct a map to let me see a bijection is being used\/provide that it is surjective\/injective?\n\n-\nI know that, but how do I do it? \u2013\u00a0Shawn S. Rana Apr 24 '14 at 22:45\nDo you know any bijections between $\\mathbb Z$ and $\\mathbb N$? How about between $\\mathbb N$ and $\\mathbb N\\times\\mathbb N$? \u2013\u00a0Andr\u00e9s Caicedo Apr 24 '14 at 22:48\nI know that they both have bijections but I do not how to prove it\/find it \u2013\u00a0Shawn S. Rana Apr 24 '14 at 22:52\nI can set up a table such as the top row resembles integers: 0,1,-1,2,-2,3,-3,4,-4... and the bottom row resembles natural numbers: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8... There is a bijection \u2013\u00a0Shawn S. Rana Apr 24 '14 at 22:58\nDon't get distracted by that. Your task is to find one. Never mind that there are many, we just need one. A common example, that has a nice intuitive picture attached to it, is Cantor's pairing, see here. One that is easier to verify uses that each positive integer is the product of an odd number and a power of two, $n=2^a(2b+1)$. This gives you a bijection $n\\mapsto(a,b)$ between the positive integers and $\\mathbb N\\times \\mathbb N$. \u2013\u00a0Andr\u00e9s Caicedo Apr 24 '14 at 23:37\n\n1. There is a bijection $f$ between $\\Bbb{N\\times N}$ and $\\Bbb N$.\n2. There is a bijection $g$ between $\\Bbb Z$ and $\\Bbb N$.\n3. Now define, $h(m,k)=f(g(m),g(k))$, and show it is a bijection.\n\u2022 $h$ is injective, since if $h(m,k)=h(m',k')$, then $f(g(m),g(k))=f(g(m'),g(k'))$. But $f$ is injective, so $g(m)=g(m')$ and $g(k)=g(k')$. But $g$ is also injective. So $m=m'$ and $k=k'$ as wanted.\n\u2022 $h$ is surjective, since if $n$ is any natural number, then since $f$ is surjective, there are some $s,t\\in\\Bbb N$ such that $f(s,t)=n$. But also $g$ is surjective, so there are some $m,k\\in\\Bbb Z$ such that $g(m)=s$ and $g(k)=t$. Therefore $h(m,k)=n$ as wanted.","date":"2016-05-27 14:37:16","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": true, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 0, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.9543817639350891, \"perplexity\": 114.70873577917799}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": true, \"markdown_code\": false, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 10, \"end_threshold\": 15, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2016-22\/segments\/1464049276780.5\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20160524002116-00100-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz\"}"}
| null | null |
Q: java android Multiple addViews on a layout with one xml drawable I'm trying get multiple copies of a drawable shape on the layout, but change the color each time. I can't tell if the 2nd imageview is just landing on top of the first. I haven't been able to get them placed in distinct locations to troubleshoot further. Does each instance needs it's own params?
@drawable/circle (circle.xml)
<shape
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:shape="oval">
<solid
android:color="#FF888888"/>
<size
android:width="60dp"
android:height="60dp"/>
</shape>
activity_main.xml
<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="match_parent"
android:paddingLeft="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingRight="@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin"
android:paddingTop="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
android:paddingBottom="@dimen/activity_vertical_margin"
tools:context=".MainActivity"
android:id="@+id/root">
</RelativeLayout>
MainActivity.java
package com.example.thowell09156277.newcircleaddview;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.res.ColorStateList;
import android.graphics.Color;
import android.graphics.PorterDuff;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.Menu;
import android.view.MenuItem;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.RelativeLayout;
public class MainActivity extends Activity {
@Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
// Let's create the missing ImageView
ImageView image = new ImageView(this);
ImageView image2 = new ImageView(this);
// Now the layout parameters, these are a little tricky at first
RelativeLayout.LayoutParams params = new RelativeLayout.LayoutParams(
RelativeLayout.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT,
RelativeLayout.LayoutParams.MATCH_PARENT);
params.addRule(RelativeLayout.ALIGN_PARENT_LEFT, RelativeLayout.TRUE);
params.addRule(RelativeLayout.RIGHT_OF, RelativeLayout.TRUE);
image.setScaleType(ImageView.ScaleType.MATRIX);
image.setImageResource(R.drawable.circle);
image.setImageTintMode(PorterDuff.Mode.OVERLAY);
image.setImageTintList(ColorStateList.valueOf(Color.YELLOW));
int imageId;
imageId = image.generateViewId();
image.setId(imageId);
int imageId2;
imageId2 = image2.generateViewId();
image2.setId(imageId2);
image2.setScaleType(ImageView.ScaleType.MATRIX);
image2.setImageResource(R.drawable.circle);
image2.setImageTintMode(PorterDuff.Mode.OVERLAY);
image2.setImageTintList(ColorStateList.valueOf(Color.MAGENTA));
image2.setId(imageId2);
//image.setOnTouchListener(this);
// Let's get the root layout and add our ImageView
RelativeLayout layout = (RelativeLayout) findViewById(R.id.root);
//params.setMargins(0, 0, 80, 80);
layout.addView(image, 0, params);
//params.setMargins(80, 0, 80, 160);
//params.addRule(RelativeLayout.ALIGN_BOTTOM, RelativeLayout.TRUE);
layout.addView(image2, 1, params);
}
|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaStackExchange"
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| 7,354
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|
{
"redpajama_set_name": "RedPajamaCommonCrawl"
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| 1,662
|
{"url":"https:\/\/www.esaral.com\/q\/find-the-area-of-the-smaller-part-of-the-circle-26725\/","text":"Find the area of the smaller part of the circle\nQuestion:\n\nFind the area of the smaller part of the circle $x^{2}+y^{2}=a^{2}$ cut off by the line $x=\\frac{a}{\\sqrt{2}}$\n\nSolution:\n\nThe area of the smaller part of the circle, $x^{2}+y^{2}=a^{2}$, cut off by the line, $x=\\frac{a}{\\sqrt{2}}$, is the area ABCDA.\n\nIt can be observed that the area ABCD is symmetrical about\u00a0x-axis.\n\n\u2234 Area ABCD = 2 \u00d7 Area ABC\n\nArea of $A B C=\\int_{\\frac{a}{\\sqrt{2}}}^{a} y d x$\n\n$=\\int_{\\frac{a}{\\sqrt{2}}}^{\\pi} \\sqrt{a^{2}-x^{2}} d x$\n\n$=\\left[\\frac{x}{2} \\sqrt{a^{2}-x^{2}}+\\frac{a^{2}}{2} \\sin ^{-1} \\frac{x}{a}\\right]_{\\frac{a}{\\sqrt{2}}}^{a}$\n\n$=\\left[\\frac{a^{2}}{2}\\left(\\frac{\\pi}{2}\\right)-\\frac{a}{2 \\sqrt{2}} \\sqrt{a^{2}-\\frac{a^{2}}{2}}-\\frac{a^{2}}{2} \\sin ^{-1}\\left(\\frac{1}{\\sqrt{2}}\\right)\\right]$\n\n$=\\frac{a^{2} \\pi}{4}-\\frac{a}{2 \\sqrt{2}} \\cdot \\frac{a}{\\sqrt{2}}-\\frac{a^{2}}{2}\\left(\\frac{\\pi}{4}\\right)$\n\n$=\\frac{a^{2} \\pi}{4}-\\frac{a^{2}}{4}-\\frac{a^{2} \\pi}{8}$\n\n$=\\frac{a^{2}}{4}\\left[\\pi-1-\\frac{\\pi}{2}\\right]$\n\n$=\\frac{a^{2}}{4}\\left[\\frac{\\pi}{2}-1\\right]$\n\n$\\Rightarrow$ Area $A B C D=2\\left[\\frac{a^{2}}{4}\\left(\\frac{\\pi}{2}-1\\right)\\right]=\\frac{a^{2}}{2}\\left(\\frac{\\pi}{2}-1\\right)$\n\nTherefore, the area of smaller part of the circle, $x^{2}+y^{2}=a^{2}$, cut off by the line, $x=\\frac{a}{\\sqrt{2}}$, is $\\frac{a^{2}}{2}\\left(\\frac{\\pi}{2}-1\\right)$ units.","date":"2022-09-27 10:44:28","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": true, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 0, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 0, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.6750084757804871, \"perplexity\": 295.2083765640739}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": false, \"markdown_code\": true, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 10, \"end_threshold\": 15, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2022-40\/segments\/1664030335004.95\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20220927100008-20220927130008-00044.warc.gz\"}"}
| null | null |
{"url":"https:\/\/stats.stackexchange.com\/questions\/418046\/how-does-a-covariance-intensity-function-measure-clustering","text":"# How does a covariance intensity function measure clustering?\n\nI was taught in a class on spatial statistics that the covariance intensity function (defined below) measured clustering and inhibition in a point process, but isn't used because good test statistics for it don't exist.\n\n$$c(\\mathbf{x},\\mathbf{y})=\\lim_{|d\\mathbf{x}|\\to0,|d\\mathbf{y}|\\to 0} \\frac{\\mathrm{Cov}\\{N(d\\mathbf{x}), N(d\\mathbf{y})\\}}{|d\\mathbf{x}||d\\mathbf{y}|}$$\n\nWhere $$\\mathbf{x}, \\mathbf{y}$$ are positions on the domain and $$d\\mathbf{x}, d\\mathbf{y}$$ are regions around them with areas given by $$|d\\mathbf{x}|, |d\\mathbf{y}|$$, and $$N(R)$$ represents the random variable corresponding to the number of events in a region.\n\nBut I can't see how this measures non-homogeneity at all -- if one starts with a process that is described by an intensity function -- any intensity function -- this function should necessarily be zero, as the existence of an intensity function means a point turning up at point $$\\mathbf{x}$$ is independent of a point turning up at intensity $$\\mathbf{y}$$. And you can certainly have intensity functions that exhibit clustering.\n\nThe only way that this function can be non-zero as I see it is if there are correlations within a realisation, e.g. if \"everything is clustered to one side\" and \"everything is clustered to the other side\" are the possibilities, or something i.e. if you don't have an intensity function at all, but rather some sort of \"entangled state\".\n\nWhat am I missing?\n\n\u2022 If c(x,y)>0 then the number of points near x and the number of points near y have positive correlation E.g. consider lots of locations x near to y - if they have positive correlation then the intensity is similar in an area around y, this can account for repulsion or clustering. Independence between points is not an assumption of all point processes. Terminology can be difficult here - heterogeneity in intensity is often not what is meant by clustering and repulsion - these are inter-point effects \u2013\u00a0ASeaton Jul 19 '19 at 13:48","date":"2020-02-19 18:23:42","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": true, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 0, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 0, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 0, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 7, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.840279757976532, \"perplexity\": 458.77483540159284}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": true, \"markdown_code\": true, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 10, \"end_threshold\": 15, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2020-10\/segments\/1581875144165.4\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20200219153707-20200219183707-00111.warc.gz\"}"}
| null | null |
Josep Joaquim Ribó i Palaudàries (Caldes de Montbui, Vallès Oriental, mitjan - Puerto Rico, gener de 1885) fou un publicista i historiador català.
Era fill del farmacèutic Felip Ribó i Sagristà (+1873) i Anna Palaudàries i Broquetas. Va començar molt jove a escriure en diaris barcelonesos, fundant dos setmanaris que tingueren força acceptació; El Examen (1868) i El Siglo XX. Durant el regnat d'Amadeu I es traslladà a Madrid, on fundà i dirigí durant alguns anys un diari polític, econòmic i literari, El Eco de la Pàtria. Primer milità, en el partit conservador, passant més tard al liberal constitucional, que inspirava Sagasta. Dintre del periodisme s'especialitzà en les qüestions històriques i internacionals.
El 1872 es traslladà a La Havana i serví com a voluntari durant la guerra de Cuba. Fruit d'aquesta campanya és la seva obra Historia de los voluntariós cubanos, que publicà al retornar a Madrid. a més, va escriure, La farsa social (Cartas a Emilio) (Barcelona, 1865); Retrato historico de Francisco II (Barcelona, 1867); un estudi biogràfic del poeta i ministre Víctor Balaguer; una novel·la de costums, A bordo del vapor <Guipúzcoa> (Madrid, 1872); un esbós històric sobre el tinent general Joaquim Jovellar, i una voluminosa Colección de tratados celebrados entre España y las demàs naciones desde 1801 hasta Amadeo I, publicada a Madrid el 1871.
Referències
Bibliografia
Enciclopèdia Espasa, vol. 51, pàg. 354. (ISBN-84-239-4551-0)
Historiadors catalans
Publicistes catalans
Persones de Caldes de Montbui
Morts a Madrid
|
{
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| 8,828
|
Home CPEC CPEC-A Road to Economic Independence of Pakistan
CPEC-A Road to Economic Independence of Pakistan
Muhammad Hanif
The weaker countries, which are economically reliant on stronger countries, remain vulnerable to the stronger countries' significant control over their economic and political policies. To free a country from such pressures, it is important to build an independent national economy which is free from dependence on others and which stands on its own feet. The economic independence of a country is achieved by developing its industrial, agricultural and services' capacity that increases economic growth, trade, foreign exchange earnings and employment which enhances individual incomes and prosperity. The economic self-reliance thus achieved enhances a country's economic and military power, and makes it more sovereign in conducting its domestic, foreign and defence policies.
At the time of its independence in 1947, being short of the economic and defence resources, Pakistan became a part of the US-led cold war alliance, and hence it started getting the required economic and defence aid/loans from the World Bank, IMF, ADB and the US. In the Ayub Khan's era, 1958 to 1968, through intensive industrialization and modernization of the agriculture sector, the government was able to achieve and maintain above six percent economic growth for six to eight years. That is why, in the 1960s, Pakistan was economically much ahead of the present Asian economic tigers.
Then, from 1969 to March 2018, all the successive Pakistani governments have failed to utilize the foreign aid/loans for attaining and maintaining a high economic growth rate to free the country from the foreign dependency. The governments also failed to control the wastage of the foreign money due to their lavish non-developmental spending and by failing to control nepotism and widespread corruption. These faulty policies of the governments also resulted in amassing the foreign debt.
For example, according to the News and the Tribune dated 11 October 2020, while at the end of December 1969, the external debt of Pakistan was US $ 3 billion, by March 2018, Pakistan's total foreign debt had mounted to US $ 91.7 billion. Whereas in 1977 (last year of Z. A. Bhutto's government) the total debt was US $ 6.3 billion, in 1999, (end of the Nawaz Sharif 2nd government) the total debt had risen to US $ 36.5 billion. At the end of June 2007, (last year of Gen. Musharraf's government), the loans had soared to $40.5 billion.
By June 2013 (the last year of the PPP government), the debt had risen to US $ 61 billion. By end March 2018 [the last year of the PML (N) government] the foreign debt had surged to US$ 91.7 billion. In the overall perspective, whereas the foreign debt had increased by US $ 4 billion in Gen. Musharraf's time (1999-2008), during PPPs time (2008 -2013) the debt rose by US $ 20 billion and in PML (N)'s time (2014 to 2018) the debt had increased by US $ 30 billion.
In view of the above dismal economic scenario, in July 2018, when the PTI took over the government, Pakistan was required to pay back the US $ 7 billion per year as the instalment of the loan. For this purpose, the government had to take loans from the friendly countries and it had to go to the IMF also to get additional loans to run the government affairs. The situation made the government realize that while an economically weaker Pakistan was vulnerable to the foreign political blackmailing, India was getting encouraged to militarily threaten Pakistan.
Therefore, it is being felt by the Pakistani decision makers that Pakistan should attain economic self sufficiency and independence within a minimum possible time to be able to become an economically and defence-wise a strong and independent country to exercise its sovereignty and to ensure the economic welfare of its people. In this context, the CPEC- based economic development is being considered as a grand opportunity to attain economic independence in a major way within the shortest possible time frame.
As the Chinese-financed CPEC would be a network of roads, railways, ports, power plants, pipelines, industrial zones and cooperation in agriculture, its development is going to accrue many advantages related to the economic development of Pakistan, that will help it in achieving an economic independence to the required degree, although in this globalized world, becoming totally independent of foreign influences may not be possible. Thus, the CPEC can facilitate Pakistan in attaining economic self-reliance in the following ways.
The CPEC energy projects and gas pipelines/transmission lines will be a source of ending Pakistan's energy shortages, as these have already added about 4000MW to the national grid and another 7000 MW will be added soon. The availability of energy will generate a lot of economic activity, which will increase Pakistan's economic growth. The CPEC- related industrial zones will add to the industrial growth, which will increase Pakistan's exports and foreign exchange earnings. The network of roads, railways, ports and fibre optic loaded communications will facilitate Pakistan's domestic/foreign trade and will also earn freight income for it. Pakistan's cooperation with China in industry and agriculture will modernize these fields with the increased production and transfer of technology.
The CPEC is likely to increase Pakistan's economic growth and employment opportunities on a large scale which will help Pakistan in multiplying its foreign exchange earnings thus enabling it to pay back its existing loans easily, and it will also not require to take any more foreign loans. The CPEC-related high and sustainable economic growth and employment opportunities will also enable Pakistan to kill poverty and achieve prosperity. Therefore, it looks imperative for Pakistan to complete the construction of the CPEC in time.
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I love the fragrant aura of calm which incense brings. I knew silver incense burners existed and always hoped I would be able to make one in my own style. The opportunity to create a bespoke censer came as an indirect result of my Union Centrepiece (commissioned by The V&A in 2012) being exhibited in Hong Kong as part of 'Masterpieces of British Silver: Highlights from The Victoria and Albert Museum'.
Within the display, exhibited at the Liang Yi Museum, was a 17th Century silver incense burner on loan from the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection.
The client who commissioned my design saw this antique censer as well as my Union Centrepiece and this sparked the idea and a request for me to create a contemporary incense burner for his own use.
The initial brief was for the chasing to include mountains, swirling clouds and waves, with birds and fish somewhere within the piece. As our conversations about the design developed, he also decided he would like to include a small fishing boat with fishermen somewhere within the waves.
I found my research into the landscapes of China and Japan fascinating, and envisioned a design based on terraced rice paddyfields, rocky summits, waterfalls in the mountain foothills and also my signature style of waves within the mountain lakes. The element which ties these diverse elements together is water, so I sought to portray the invisible but outwardly manifesting water cycle in the chased areas of the piece.
Rippling lakes morph into clouds by evaporation, tumbling onto the peaks and troughs of the mountainside landscape, cascading down through shining engraved waterfalls into rivers and streams wild with movement. The never-ending ebb and flow of water continues down to the base of the piece, swirling around the stem – just as liquid would drain away – on its journey back to the sea. I experimented with hand carving to form terraced and craggy mountains to shape the burner's lid, envisaging that this would enable the incense smoke to curl up and out of the holes within the carving rising off into the ether.
I used a moulding putty called 'magic sculpt' to carve the mountain lid, which is mixed up in two parts and on curing sets hard ready to be filed, carved and sanded. I used pendant motor steel cutting tools to shape the mountains. It took several days to achieve this essential element of the piece. The work was then sent to a casting company which specialises in larger scale objects. They encountered issues trying to cast the mountain model in one piece, so had to cut it into five pieces. They then took rubber moulds of the various pieces separately, and put the mountains together again from the five wax pieces they created from the moulds. This proved a time consuming process and there was significant cleaning up to do on the model when I received it back in silver. However I was pleased with the result and was thankful to the manager of the company for having persevered with it. We had several long chats on the phone talking about various ways to cast the piece, and I was grateful that I didn't have to re-make the mountain model after having spent at least a week building and carving it!
While carrying out research for my chased design I learnt about Pacific Golden Plovers – amazing looking birds which stop over in Japanese rice fields in spring, during their 30,000 kilometre migration (sometimes not touching ground for eight days!) flying from Alaska across the Pacific Islands and on to Australia.
I wanted to integrate the fish into the design in a meaningful way so I asked a Japanese jeweller friend Megume Toyakawa for advice. She told me about the ancient legend of the koi swimming up the waterfall which seemed to fit with the client's request of fish within the design. The qualities of determination, strength and perseverance the koi are known for via the legend seemed to echo the experience of chasing the incense burner – it was a feat of endurance, stamina and perseverance for me. The shape of the piece was quite challenging to chase because of the narrow stem, and chasing at awkward angles made progress at every stage seem like a huge achievement!
The client was thrilled with the piece which arrived in Hong Kong in early 2018.
Describing the style of his home as "east meets west", in his own words his first impression upon handling my work encompassed "The weight and the generous, clever use of silver. It is magical as the smoke of the burning sandalwood rises through the openings in the mountain top".
"The silver lights up the room and the burning incense makes the sitting room so aromatic".
When I asked the client what he liked about the craftsmanship of the piece he answered "No doubt it is the chasing – this works really well with the waves of the raging river scene", and he continued "It is a perfect mixture of poetic and musical lines with a bold application at the same time".
I was interested to know what it means to have one of my handmade pieces of silver in particular "Personal and wonderful. The fact that so much hard work and thought has gone into it makes it so much more precious".
I was thrilled to have this personal feedback. This reflects what I find so satisfying about commissions – I enjoy the whole process of exploration and research prompted by the client's ideas and the way in which this then translates into a unique piece which encompasses its own narrative. The success of the piece is undoubtedly influenced by the client's passion and enthusiasm during the process, which is a joy to be a part of. There is also the artistic journey which as with this piece leads me to stretch my technical and creative skills in new directions. The whole process combined is deeply satisfying a an artist.
You might like to view my silver gallery to see my latest pieces, see my visual inspiration, learn more about the commissioning process, or visit the current exhibitions page. Last but not least, you are welcome to contact me with any comments, questions, enquiries about my work or even your own incense burner commission!
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{"url":"https:\/\/optimization-online.org\/2023\/03\/equivalent-sufficient-conditions-for-global-optimality-of-quadratically-constrained-quadratic-program\/","text":"# Equivalent Sufficient Conditions for Global Optimality of Quadratically Constrained Quadratic Program\n\n\nWe study the equivalence of several well-known sufficient optimality conditions for a general quadratically constrained quadratic program (QCQP). The conditions are classified in two categories. The first one is for determining an optimal solution and the second one is for finding an optimal value. The first category of conditions includes the existence of a saddle point of the Lagrangian function and the existence of a rank-1 optimal solution of the primal SDP relaxation of QCQP. The second category includes $\\eta_p = \\zeta$, $\\eta_d = \\zeta$, and $\\varphi = \\zeta$, where $\\zeta$, $\\eta_p$, $\\eta_d$, and $\\varphi$ denote the optimal values of QCQP, the dual SDP relaxation, the primal SDP relaxation and the Lagrangian dual, respectively. We show the equivalence of these conditions with or without the existence of an optimal solution of QCQP and\/or the Slater constraint qualification for the primal SDP relaxation. The results on the conditions are also extended to the doubly nonnegative relaxation of equality constrained QCQP in nonnegative variables.","date":"2023-03-25 04:10:21","metadata":"{\"extraction_info\": {\"found_math\": true, \"script_math_tex\": 0, \"script_math_asciimath\": 0, \"math_annotations\": 0, \"math_alttext\": 0, \"mathml\": 0, \"mathjax_tag\": 0, \"mathjax_inline_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_display_tex\": 1, \"mathjax_asciimath\": 0, \"img_math\": 0, \"codecogs_latex\": 0, \"wp_latex\": 0, \"mimetex.cgi\": 0, \"\/images\/math\/codecogs\": 0, \"mathtex.cgi\": 0, \"katex\": 0, \"math-container\": 0, \"wp-katex-eq\": 0, \"align\": 0, \"equation\": 0, \"x-ck12\": 0, \"texerror\": 0, \"math_score\": 0.8481894135475159, \"perplexity\": 124.95938082774181}, \"config\": {\"markdown_headings\": true, \"markdown_code\": true, \"boilerplate_config\": {\"ratio_threshold\": 0.18, \"absolute_threshold\": 10, \"end_threshold\": 5, \"enable\": true}, \"remove_buttons\": true, \"remove_image_figures\": true, \"remove_link_clusters\": true, \"table_config\": {\"min_rows\": 2, \"min_cols\": 3, \"format\": \"plain\"}, \"remove_chinese\": true, \"remove_edit_buttons\": true, \"extract_latex\": true}, \"warc_path\": \"s3:\/\/commoncrawl\/crawl-data\/CC-MAIN-2023-14\/segments\/1679296945315.31\/warc\/CC-MAIN-20230325033306-20230325063306-00152.warc.gz\"}"}
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