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 It will defend its "holy of holies"—its profits and privileges of exploitation tooth and nail. It will defend them with the cold-blooded viciousness which it manifested during the history of its colonial policy and during the last world war. It will move heaven and hell against the workers. It will mobilise the peasantry against the industrial workers. It will set the backward elements of the proletariat against the vanguard of Socialism. It will get its officers to commit massacres. It will attempt to nullify Socialist measures by a hundred-and-one methods of passive resistance. It will put in the way of the revolution twenty uprisings à la Vandée. To save itself it will invoke the assistance of the foreign enemy, the murderous armed force of a Clemenceau, a Lloyd George, or a Wilson. It will sooner turn the country into a smoking heap of ruins than voluntarily relinquish its power to exploit the working class.

This resistance must be put down with an iron hand, with the utmost energy. The power of the bourgeois counter-revolution must be met by the revolutionary power of the working class. The plots, schemes, and intrigues of the capitalist class must be countered by the ceaseless vigilance, clearness of vision, and readiness of the proletarian mass for action at any moment. The threatening dangers of counter-revolution must be met by the arming of the people and the disarming of the ruling classes. The obstructionist manœuvres in Parliament on behalf of the capitalist class must be met by the active organisation of the workers and soldiers. The presence of the bourgeoisie everywhere and the thousands of means at its command must be overcome by the concentrated compact power of the working class developed to the highest possible degree. Only the united front of the entire German proletariat—the South German with the North German, the city workers with the agricultural workers, the working men with the soldiers—and the living spiritual bond of the German revolution with the International, the elevation of the German revolution to the height of the world revolution of the proletariat, can create that granite’ foundation upon which the structure of the future must be based.


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 matter at all to me; but as I have money, and can't draw it without notice, blister me if ever I'll vote for revolution!"

"I'm disgusted with you, Pokey!" exclaimed Obadiah. "You ought to be on Bobby Peel's side of the house. It's such sentiments as these that have drawn a matter of eighteen hundred million a year from our vitals."

"I wouldn't draw nothing from nobody's vitals."

"Then why do you sanction such men as Teddy Rouse? Why, when you see him running after his girls, don't you set your face against him? Suppose you were the father of this girl—this Rosalie—would you like it?"

"I don't say I should!"

"Very well, then. I mean to say it's monstrous that we should pay fifty million a year to enable these men to run after their Rosalies, as old Teddy Rouse has been running after his. Don't tell me about the cloth! The cloth's rotten, and always was. Even before the Pope was welted at the battle of Bunker's Hill, they were both corrupt and clerical, and anything that's clerical must of course be rotten. Look at Russia, look at Prussia, look at China, look at Spain, look at France, look at Switzerland, look where you will, they're all alike, all corrupt, all rotten, all bad. I mean to say we must have a rattling revolution in order to keep society together: we must have a regular roaring rebellion, in order to keep us from anarchy and ruin. Are we to have a parcel of oligarchies, think you, squeezing the marrow out of our very bones eternally? Do you think that this can be eternally tolerated? No!—not a bit of it. No!—they must come down!—and, mark my words, when they do come down, they'll come down with a run. All your six-and-twenty-pun-ten men in the universe won't save 'em: come down they must and will!—Mark my words. You may try to keep such men as Teddy Rouse on—you may encourage 'em in running about after their Rosalies—"

"I don't encourage 'em in nothing of the sort!"

"Then why don't you stand up against 'em like a man? Shall we wink at such practices as these, when they come directly under our very noses?

"But I don't know nothing about practices. Look here!—this Rosalie!—what do I know about her?—how do I know that there's anything wrong?—who is she?—what's her business?—where does she come from?

"Didn't I tell you, France? She's one of the French dancers, no doubt. And as for not knowing whether there's anything wrong! Look here! Suppose you were to run about the village inquiring for Rosalie or Rosamond, or any other girl, what would Mrs. Pokey say?"

"Why, I don't suppose she'd like it."

"Very well, then. Doesn't that make the case clear? But I'll find this Rosalie out!—I'll run her down!—I'll pretty soon know who she is! Master Ted shan't be let off so easy as he has been. I'll stick to him—I'll show him up!—But ta-ta! can't stop.—Mind you take care of your six-and-twenty pun ten!"

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text: The Harveian oration 1873

title: The Harveian oration 1873


text: The Threat to the Labor Movement/Section 17


text: The Threat to the Labor Movement/Section 18


text: The Threat to the Labor Movement/Section 19


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HE organization of the unorganized millions of workers is primarily the task of the left wing. There is no other section of the labor movement possessing the necessary courage, energy, and understanding to carry through this basic work. This is a prime lesson that T. U. E. L. militants must understand.

The three general groups in the trade union movement play essentially the following roles in the gigantic task of organizing the unorganized masses: The left wing militantly leads, the progressives mildly support, and the right wing opposes.

The left wing alone has a realization of the tremendous social significance of the organization of the unorganized. It speaks primarily in the name of the unskilled and semi-skilled who make up the mass on the outside of the unions, and it habitually leads a militant struggle to unionize them. It is the champion of industrial unionism and the Labor Party, the fate of both of which is bound up in the general question of organizing the unorganized. It realizes that only when the great masses are mobilized in the unions can effective assaults be made against capitalism. Hence, it is the life of every organizing campaign, and it must be such, whether these campaigns are carried on through the medium of the existing trade unions, or by the launching of new organizations.

The progressives primarily represent the skilled, and, to a certain degree, the semi-skilled workers. They usually mildly favor and support general campaigns of organization. They have some appreciation of the importance of bringing the masses into the unions, but they haven't the necessary understanding and militancy to do the actual work. They must be stimulated into action by the left wing.

They lack the leadership to map out and carry through the broad, daring campaigns necessary for the organization of the masses in American industries. They fear the militant and des-


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 perate strikes which must accompany such campaigns. They are class collaborationists, they are afflicted with many of the craft prejudices and much of the conservatism of the right wing. But, under the pressure of the left wing, they can be pushed into doing effective organizing work.

The essential form of an organizing committee or movement under present conditions in the American labor movement is a united front between the left wing and the progressives, with the left wing functioning as the driving force.

The right wing controlling bureaucrats are the real stumbling block to organization. They primarily represent the skilled workers. They fear that the organization of the unorganized masses of semi-skilled and unskilled will overwhelm the organized skilled workers. The bureaucrats want to maintain craft lines and craft interests, in wage scales, in organization forms, and in various other ways, and they know that the influx of the unorganized mass will tend to wipe out these special interests. They know that the struggle to organize the unorganized will compel the skilled workers to abandon their class collaboration policies, and they fear it will force them into fights against the employers that will jeopardize their craft organizations and preferred wage scales.

They know that with the mass organized, the skilled workers will not be able to trade so successfully at the expense of the unskilled workers, as, for example, the Railroad Brotherhoods and many other unions are now doing. The right wing bureaucrats fear the unskilled will flood the unions and capture them from the skilled. They dread the influx of the mass because it means a general disturbance of the equilibrium in the organizations, the rise of new leaders, and probably their own displacement. They sense the general revolutionizing effect of the influx of semi-skilled and unskilled workers into the unions, and they shrink from it.

Hence, the right wing bureaucracy is ordinaritly opposed to the organization of the unorganized, except along their narrow craft lines, where they often display organizing activity. Their policy is to set up bars against apprentices, against helpers, and


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 to develop their unions into job trusts. They concentrate in certain industries easy to organize, such as the Electrical Workers' Union, confining itself principally to the building trades; the Metal Trades Unions, specializing on the railroads, while they neglect other industries "hard" to organize.

Even when driven into organizing campaigns by pressure, the right wing bureaucrats refuse to lend them real support. At best they then only trail along. Their policy is one of sabotage. They are affected by a hundred petty craft considerations, and they raise innumerable technical and other objections in order to hinder the organizing work. Often they co-operate with the employers to prevent organization. They usually will accept mass organization if it is "handed to them on a silver platter" by the left wing organizers, but they will not go out and fight for it. They are lazy, unimaginative, corrupt and petty bourgeois. The left wing must consider and deal with them as a major obstacle in the work of organizing the unorganized.

It would be a grievous error, however, to conclude from the foregoing that the right wing can block the organization of the unorganized by the trade unions and that nothing can be done in these bodies. A whole series of organization campaigns by the trade unions belie this pessimism. The impulse of the labor movement to expand into a real mass and class organization is very powerful. Where there is an insistent and intelligent demand from the combined left wing and progressives, the right wing can literally be driven into organizing campaigns. This is what was done to Gompers and the presidents of the various internationals in the steel and packing industry campaigns. And on the railroads the more progressive elements were responsible for the organization of hundreds of thousands of the unorganized during the war period.

The right wing bureaucrats find it exceedingly difficult to fight directly against the demand for organization. Their method is mostly indirect. They commonly adopt organization resolutions, presented by the more progressive elements, and then sabotage them to death. They do lip service to the organization of the unorganized and then prevent it in practice. The American


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 Federation of Labor has adopted, from time to time, resolutions for the organization of every industry in the country, and immediately after the conventions has promptly forgotten all about them.

In the struggle against the right wing over the question of organizing the unorganized, two principal dangers confront the left wing, both of which must be guarded against. The first is a pessimistic conclusion that the trade unions cannot be stimulated to do organization work. The second, the other extreme, is a naive, over-optimistic belief that the right wing will put into effect the adopted resolutions calling for the organization of the unorganized.

Both of these tendencies block real organization work. The proper policy in the trade unions is for the left wing to enter into alliance with the progressive elements, to force the adoption of programs of organization, and then themselves to do the actual work of organizing, in spite of the sabotage of the right wing. The theme of this chapter is correct; upon the left wing rests primarily the burden of organizing the unorganized.


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MOST important question for T. U. E. L. militants to understand in order to carry through sucessfully our work of organizing the unorganized, is our relationship to the A. F. of L. and Independent Unions. Our goal must be to build mass labor organization of the workers, and to bring or maintain these unions in affiliation with the general labor movement, the American Federation of Labor. This involves the two-sided policy of: (a) stimulating the existing unions into organizing campaigns; and (b) forming new unions in industries where there are no unions or where the existing unions are hopelessly decrepit. The two evils we have to guard against are on the one side, the devil of dual unionism, and on the other, the dogma of unity with the old trade unions "at any price."

The advantages of bringing the newly organized workers into the existing labor movement are manifest, save in certain exceptional cases. In most instances positive and direct support for these workers in their initial crucial struggles is gained by such affiliation. But even where this is not the case, there are certain negative advantages of affiliation to the A. F. of L. For one thing, the workers are shielded from the disastrous attacks of the bureaucracy, which are always leveled against dual unions. To a certain extent, also, the conservative name of the A. F. of L. saves the workers from the attacks of the employers and the state, even though their policies be as militant as those of any independent union.

But perhaps the most important asset of affiliation to the A. F. of L. is the feeling of the newly organized workers that they are connected up with the mass labor movement of the country. This ordinarily gives them far greater confidence and staying power. It is a feeling they do not acquire in independent unions. Among a certain section of unorganized workers there is a deep hostility towards the American Federation of Labor. The T. U.


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 E. L. militants must not allow themselves to be dominated by this antagonism. They must and can liquidate it wherever the interests of the workers dictate that they shall be affiliated to the A. F. of L. unions.

In the industries where there are no A. F. of L. unions our course is clear. We must form new unions and bring them into affiliation with the broad labor movement as quickly as practicability permits. Or if there be independent unions in such industries we must give them our active support and work for their affiliation to the A. F. of L. In those fields where the I. W. W. functions more or less effectively, such for example as among the lumber, general construction, and agricultural workers, we must support it.

In industries where there are A. F. of L. unions, but where these unions are so weak and decrepit, with corrupt leadership, hidebound agreements, etc., that it is impossible to stimulate them into the necessary activity to mobilize the mass militant organization campaigns or to defend their interests in strikes arising therefrom, our problem is more complicated. There the advantage of affiliation may easily be outweighed by the disadvantages. Such situations raise the question of independent unionism in its most intricate form. In spite of our most urgent desire for unity with the general labor movement, we will often, under these circumstances, be compelled to form independent unions.

But wherever we form such new unions, whether because there are no A. F. of L. unions in the field or because those that may exist are absolutely decrepit, we must from the outset follow a program for the affiliation of these unions to the A. F. of L. We must be keenly on our guard not to get into a dual union position, by declaring against the A. F. of L. in principle or by permitting an open warfare to develop against it. Experience teaches us that dual unionism means sectarianism, isolation from the broad labor movement, and eventually disintegration. One of the outstanding contributions of the Communist International and the Red International of Labor Unions to the American labor movement is their categoric condemnation of dual unionism.

Dualism must be fended off by a two-sided policy of: (a),


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 teaching the membership of the new unions from the start that their place is in unity with the mass of workers in the A. F. of L.; and (b), to begin a series of maneuvers to get into affiliation with the A. F. of L.

Such a policy is bound to be successful. On the one hand it checks the dangerous and ever-present spirit of sectarianism, and on the other hand it either leads to amalgamation and affiliation, or it gives the new union many of the advantages of affiliation by breaking up the official bureaucratic opposition. When per-capita-tax-hungry trade union officials see a fat independent union that wants to affiliate to their organiaztionorganization [sic], they are much inclined to look upon it with some degree of friendliness and tolerance, even though, for the time being, they are afraid to accept its affiliation. Negotiations for affiliation by independent unions give them standing in the broad labor movement by making that movement understand that the new union feels itself to be a part of the main body of organized labor. This, in turn, strengthens the rank and file of the new union by a knowledge of the general friendliness of the mass labor movement.

But while militantly propagandizing amalgamation and maneuvering for its accomplishment, the new unions must make every effort to work in harmony with the old unions, by the initiation of joint organization campaigns, by assisting them in their strikes, etc. Its aim must be to generally create a spirit of friendly co-operation which shall culminate in an amalgamation.

Where independent unions have been set up, and especially where there are already existing A. F. of L. unions in the field, our greatest danger comes from a dual union tendency to repel the old organizations and to maintain an independent existence of the new union. This bases itself upon various illusions and wrong policies, such as utopian hopes for the future of the new union, under-estimation of the power and importance of the old unions, the tendency to seek reasons to quarrel with the old unions rather than to co-operate with them, neglect of amalgamation and maneuvers to bring about a consolidation, the presentation of impossible programs as the basis of amalgamation or affiliation, etc.


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 yet she was uncertain of the fate of her lord, gave birth to a son, the most unfortunate Baldwin.

The eldest of Yolande's sons, Philip de Courtenay, had the singular good sense and good fortune to decline the offered crown. He found plenty of fighting in Europe of an equally adventurous kind, and less treacherous than that among the Greeks. The second son, Robert, accepted the responsibilities and dangers of the position. For seven years he held the sceptre with a trembling hand amid all kinds of disasters. The Despot of Epirus, the treacherous Theodore, swept across the country as far as Adrianople, where he raised his standard and called himself emperor. Vatatces, the successor of Theodore Lascaris, seized upon the last relics of the Asiatic possessions, intercepted Western succour, actually persuaded a large body of French mercenaries to serve under him, constructed a fleet, and obtained the command of the Dardanelles. A personal and private outrage of the grossest kind, offered to the unfortunate emperor by an obscure knight, drove him in rage and despair from the city. He sought refuge in Italy, but was recalled by his barons, and was on his way back to Constantinople when he was seized with some malady which killed him. It is a miserable record of a weak and miserable life.


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 This whole dual union tendency must be relentlessly combatted and the policy pursued of coming more closely into co-operation and affiliation with the old unions. The T. U. E. L., militants must also guard against the opposite tendency of making affiliation with the old unions a fetishism, or develop a "unity-at-any-price" program. Such a policy is wrong and might easily do big damage by resulting in a surrender off-hand of the leadership of strikes, organizing campaigns, and new-formed unions to ultra reactionary leaders who would destroy them.

Often these leaders will propose such terms of affiliation as to make their acceptance tantamount to the sacrifice of the interests of the workers. We must fight for affiliation to the A. F. of L. unions, but we also must fight for honest and militant leadership, and mass industrial organization. Our growing left wing leaders must be provided a place to function in the unions, and above all, at this stage, we must retain the initiative in carrying on the great work of organizing the unorganized.

In working out propositions of affiliation, or operating within the trade unions, these ends must not be lost sight of. One of our most delicate tactical problems will be to judge when we can best further these ends by affiliation to the existing unions, and when it will be necessary to form or maintain independent organizations.

But again I emphasize, the greatest danger that the left wing confronts in such situations is the persistent dual union tendency to pull away from the old unions and to establish new and independent organization which isolate our forces from the main body of organized workers.

Under the general head of left wing relationship to the old unions, must be considered the problem presented by the jurisdictional claims of these organizations. First, the question of open jurisdictional fights. In many cases left wingers, taking the points of view of their respective craft unions, become deeply immersed in the jurisdictional quarrels of their organizations, with the result that their arguments and programs are almost indistinguishable from those of the ordinary craft unionist. This is fundamentally wrong. We must rise above such petty, short


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 sighted quarrels and base our policy upon the interests of all the workers in the totality of the unions involved.

Then there is the situation, common in many industries, where a score of unions, most of them with little or no organized membership in the industry, claim jurisdiction over the workers of their respective trades in the industry. The left wing cannot support such ridiculous jurisdictional claims, nor can we wait until these reactionary unions decide to amalgamate with stronger and more basic unions in the industry. Sometimes it will be necessary, in such situations, for the left wing to ignore the claims of these dog-in-the-manger unions, and support the basic unions at the expense of the weaker ones.

Thus, for example, in the steel industry, we must at this time insist that the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel & Tin Workers take in all workers in and around the steel mills regardless of the claims of a score or more of other unions for certain categories of these workers. Also, in the metal industry generally, we must more and more apply such a policy with regard to the Machinists' Union.

In thus precipitating amalgamation from the bottom, and the realignment of the unions according to industrial lines, we must, however, take care not to provoke open jurisdictional struggles between the unions.

In the general problem of our left wing attitude towards the A. F. of L. and the independent unions, the T. U. E. L. policy must be: in industries with strong unions, we shall build up these organizations; in industries with no unions or with incurably decrepit unions, we shall form independent organizations and then affiliate them, or seek persistently to affiliate them to the A. F. of L. This is the basic program which the necessities of the present situation dictate.


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 became ever more pronounced. The working class stood divided and helpless. The bourgeoisie kept the upper hand with the help of the reformists. It was then that the political and economic offensive of capital really began. It took two full years of defeats and of the blackest betrayals on the part of the reformists to convince the leaders of the Centre, under the pressure of the masses, of their irreparable error, and induce them to draw the consequence of their actions.

It was not until October, 1921, at the Congress of Rome, that the reformists were expelled from the Socialist Party. It had come so far that the most prominent leaders of the reformists were boasting openly that they had been able to sabotage the revolution by remaining in the Socialist Party of Italy, and forcing it to inactivity at every decisive moment. The reformists went openly from the ranks of the S.P.I. into the camp of the counter-revolution. They left the masses powerless, discouraged, and greatly weakened the Socialist Party, both numerically and politically.

These sorry, but instinctive examples of Italian history must convince the class-conscious workers of every country that—(1) reformism is their chief enemy; that (2) the oscillations and hesitations of the Centrists are dangerous to the existence of a working-class party; and that (3) the existence of a determined and alert Communist Party is the first condition for the victorious struggle of the proletariat. These are the lessons of the Italian tragedy.

Considering the resolutions of the S.P.I. in Rome (October, 1922), expelling the reformists from the Party, and declaring itself ready to adhere unconditionally to the Communist International, the Fourth World Congress of the Comintern resolves:—

(1) The general situation of Italy, especially since the victory of the Fascist reaction, requires imperiously the rapid union of all revolutionary forces of the proletariat. The Italian worker will come to his feet again when, after the many defeats and splits, a new rallying of all revolutionary forces is started.

(2) The Communist International sends its brotherly greeting to the hard-pressed working class of Italy. It is thoroughly convinced of the honest revolutionary spirit of the Socialist Party of Italy, now it is freed from its reformist elements, and resolves to admit the S.P.I. to the Communist International.

(3) The Fourth World Congress regards the fulfilment of the 21 conditions as something which is self-understood, and in view of events in Italy, charges the Executive Committee to insist upon their being carried out with the utmost rigour and with all resulting consequences.

(4) The Fourth World Congress resolves that, after his speech at the Congress of Rome, the representative Vella and


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 his followers have no place in the communist Party of Italy. The Fourth World Congress demands from the Central Executive of the Socialist Party of Italy, to expel all those who do not accept the 21 conditions unconditionally.

(5) Since, according to the Statutes of the Communist International, there can be only one section of the Comintern in one country, the Fourth World Congress decides upon the immediate union of the Communist Party with the Socialist Party of Italy. The united Party to be known as "The United Communist Party (Section of the Communist International)".

(6) To get this union carried into life the Fourth Congress nominates a special Organisation Committee consisting of three members from each party under the chairmanship of a member of the Executive. This Committee is to consist of Comrades Tasca, Gransci, and Sesscimdro from the Communist Party; from the Socialist Party, Comrades Serrati, Maffi, and Tonetti, and from the Executive, Comrade Zinoviev. The Executive reserves the right to replace Comrade Zinoviev by any other member. This committee is to prepare in Moscow a detailed statement of the conditions for the reunion, and direct the carrying out of this union in Italy. The Executive is to be considered as the court of last resort in all conflicting issues.

The Central Executives of both parties are to conduct the general business of their parties until the unification congress. They are, however, subordinated in their whole political activity as well as in their work of preparing the unification to the Organisation Committee.

(7) Such Organisation Committee shall also be created in the large factories and in the cities, consisting of two members from each party, the chairman to be appointed by the representative of the Executive.

(8) The task of these Organisation Committees, central as well as local, will be not only to prepare the unification, but to conduct the common political activity of both organisations from that time on.

(9) There is also to be created a common trade union committee, whose task it should be to agitate in the Confederation of Labour against the Amsterdamers, and to win over the majority of the trade unions to the Profintern. This committee should also consist of two representatives from each party, presided over by a comrade appointed by the Executive of the Comintern or the Organisation Committee. The trade union committee works according to the instructions and under the control of the Organisation Committee.

(10) In every city where a Communist and a Socialist newspaper exist, these must be consolidated by January 1st, 1923, at the latest. The editorship of the central organ for the coming year to be named by the Executive of the Comintern.


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 (11) The unification congress should take place not later than the 15th of March, 1923. The Executive is to decide when and under what conditions separate conferences of both parties should take place before the unification congress, for the purpose of preparation and information of the working class.

(12) Illegal activity has become an absolute necessity in Italy at the present day. The comrades of the Socialist Party of Italy must make good now what they have neglected to do. It would be most dangerous to entertain any illusions as to the nature of Fascism and its probable development. We must reckon with the possibility that the revolutionary working-class movement of Italy will be forced underground for a certain period of time. The near, future will bring the acid test for every revolutionary proletarian organisation and for every individual revolutionist.

The Congress leaves it to the Central Committee of Five to formulate a detailed plan of illegal activity, and to do its utmost to put this plan into operation.

(13) The Fourth Congress resolves that a manifesto shall be published on the question of unity to be signed by the Presidium of the Fourth World Congress and the delegation of both parties, to be distributed at once.

(14) The Congress reminds all the Italian comrades of the necessity of strict discipline. It is the duty of all comrades without exception to do their utmost to help bring about the unification without any delay, and without any disturbance. Every breach of discipline in the present situation becomes a crime against the Italian proletariat and the Communist International.

After several sessions the Commission has reached the following conclusion:—

1. The report of the S.P.E. delegate, made available to the Commission, is satisfactory evidence that the S.P.E. represents a substantial revolutionary movement in conformity with the Communist International.

2. The Commission considers, however, that the affiliation of the S.P.E. must be postponed until—

(a) The Party has expelled certain undesirable elements.

(b) The Party has convoked a Congress at which an attempt shall be made to unite with the S.P.E. any Communist element in Egypt that may at present exist outside the S.P.E., and will accept the 21 demands of the C.I.

(c) The Party has changed its name to "The Communist Party of Egypt."


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 226 Startled by intelligence that the insurgents were in full march on Medīna, ʿOthmān ascended the pulpit and admitted the real object of attack. "It is against myself," he said; "by and by they will look back with a longing eye on my reign, and wish that each day had been a year, because of the bloodshed, anarchy, and ungodliness that will flood the land." The rebels soon appeared, and pitched three separate camps, from Al-Kūfa, from Al-Baṣra, and from Egypt, in the neighbourhood of the City. The people put on their armour, a thing unheard of since the days of the Apostasy, and prepared for resistance. The insurgents, foiled thus far, sent deputies to the widows of Moḥammad and chief men of the City. "We come," they said, "to visit the Prophet's home and resting-place, and to ask that certain of the Governors be deposed. Give us leave to enter." But leave was not granted. Then they despatched each a deputation to their respective candidates. ʿAlī stormed at the messengers, and called them rebels accursed of the Prophet; and the others met with no better reception at the hands of Ṭalḥa and Az-Zubeir. Unable to gain the citizens, without whose consent their object was out of reach, the rebel leaders declared themselves satisfied with the Caliph's promise of reform, and so retired. They made as if each company were taking the road home, but with the concerted plan of returning shortly, when they might find the City less prepared. The citizens, relieved of the immediate danger, cast aside their armour, and for some days things went on as before, ʿOthmān leading the prayers. Suddenly, the three bands reappeared. A party headed by ʿAlī went forth to ask the reason. The strangers pointed to a document attested by the Caliph's seal; this, they said, had been found by the Egyptian company upon ʿOthmān's servant, whom they caught hastening on the road to Fusṭāṭ; and it contained orders for the insurgents to be imprisoned, tortured, or put to death. ʿAlī, suspecting collusion, asked how the discovery had become so promptly known to the other companies marching in different directions, as to bring them all back at once together? "Speak of it as ye will," they said, "here is the writing, and here the Caliph's seal." ʿAlī repaired to ʿOthmān, who denied knowledge of the document; but with the view of clearing up the matter, consented to


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656] receive the rebel leaders. Introduced by ʿAlī they made no obeisance, but with defiant attitude recounted their pretended grievances. They had retired with the promise of redress, they said; but instead of redress, here was the Caliph's own servant whom they had caught hastening to Egypt with the treacherous document now produced. ʿOthmān swore solemnly that he knew nothing of it. "Then say who it was that wrote and sealed this order." "I know not," said the aged Caliph. "But it was passed off as thine; thy servant carried it; see, here is thy seal, and yet forsooth thou wast not privy to it!" Again ʿOthmān affirmed that it was even so. "Whether thou speakest truth," they cried in accents loud and rude, "or art a liar, either way, thou art unworthy of the Caliphate. We dare not leave the sceptre in the hands of one who, either knave or fool, is too weak to govern those about him. Resign, for the Lord hath deposed thee!" ʿOthmān made answer:—"The garment wherewith the Lord hath girded me I will in no wise put off; but any evil ye complain of, that I am ready to put away from me." It was all too late, they cried; he had often made, and as often broken, the promise to amend; they could no longer trust him; now they would fight until he abdicated, or else was slain. "Death," said ʿOthmān, gathering himself up with the firmness and dignity that marked his last days,—"death I prefer; as for fighting, I have said it already, my people shall not fight; had that been my desire, I had summoned legions to my side." The altercation becoming loud and violent, ʿAlī arose and departed to his home. The conspirators also retired to their fellows; but they had now


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 228 secured what they desired, a footing in the City. They joined in the ranks of worshippers at the daily prayers in the Mosque, cast dust in the face of ʿOthmān as he stood up to speak, and thrust aside his loyal helpers. The fatal crisis was hurrying on.

Upon the Friday following, when the prayers were over, ʿOthmān ascended the pulpit. He first appealed to the better sense of the citizens, who, although overawed by the rebels, condemned their lawless attitude. Then turning to the conspirators, he continued,—"Ye are aware that the men of Medīna hold you accursed at the mouth of the Prophet, for that ye have risen up against his Caliph and Vicegerent. Wherefore wipe out now your evil deeds by repentance, and by good deeds make atonement for the past." One and another of the Citizens arose earnestly confirming the Caliph's words and pleading his cause; but they were silenced and violently set down. A tumult arose. The men of Medīna were driven from the Mosque by showers of stones. One of these struck ʿOthmān, who fell from the pulpit, and was carried to his house adjoining, in a swoon. He soon recovered, and for some days was still able to preside at the daily prayers. At last the insolence and violence of the insurgents forced him to keep to his house, and a virtual blockade ensued. But a bodyguard of armed retainers, supported by loyal citizens, succeeded for a time in keeping the entrance safe.

From the first day of the tumult, ʿAlī, Az-Zubeir, and Ṭalḥa (the three named by the rebels as candidates for the Caliphate) each sent a son to join the loyal and gallant band planted at the palace door. But they did little more; and, in fact, throughout the painful episode, kept themselves altogether in the background. After the uproar and ʿOthmān's swoon, they came along with others to inquire how he fared. No sooner did they enter, than Merwān and other kinsmen attending the Caliph cried out against ʿAlī as the prime author of the disaster, which would recoil, they said (and said truly), upon his own head. Thereupon ʿAlī arose in wrath, and, with the rest, retired home. It was, in truth, a cruel and dastardly desertion, and in the end bore bitter fruit for one and all. Alarm at the defiance of constituted authority and loyalty to the Throne


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 656] equally demanded a bold and uncompromising front. The truth was outspoken by one of the Companions at the time. "Ye Ḳoreish," he said, "there hath been till now a strong and fenced door betwixt you and the Arab tribes; wherefore is it that ye now break down the door?"

So soon as the conspirators had shown their true colours, ʿOthmān despatched urgent calls to Syria and Al-Baṣra for help. Muʿāwiya, who had long foreseen the dire necessity, was ready with a strong force, which, as well as a similar column from Al-Baṣra, hurried to their Master's rescue. But the march was long, and the difficulty was for ʿOthmān to hold out till they should appear. The insurgents had possession of the Mosque and of the approaches to the Palace; and, in the height of insolence, their leader now took the Caliph's place at prayer. There were no troops at Medīna, and ʿOthmān was dependent on the little force which barely sufficed to guard the palace entrance. It was composed besides train-band slaves, of some eighteen near kinsmen, and other citizens, with the sons of ʿAlī, Az-Zubeir, and Ṭalḥa. Apprehending, from the growing ferocity of the attack, that the end might not be far off, ʿOthmān sent to tell ʿAlī, Az-Zubeir, and Ṭalḥa that he wished once more to see them. They came and stood without the palace, but within reach of hearing. The Caliph, from the flat roof of his house, bade them all sit down; and so for the moment friends and foes sat down together. "Fellow citizens!" cried ʿOthmān with loud voice, "I have prayed to the Lord for you, that when I am taken, he may set the Caliphate aright." Then he spoke of his previous life, and how the Lord had made choice of him to be Successor of His Prophet and Commander of the Faithful. "And now," said he, "ye have risen up to slay the Lord's elect. Have a care, ye men!" (and here he addressed the besiegers);—"the taking of life is lawful but for three things, apostasy, murder, and adultery. Taking my life without such cause, ye but suspend the sword over your own necks. Sedition and bloodshed shall not depart for ever from your midst." Thus far they gave him audience, and then cried out that there was yet a fourth just cause of death, the quenching of truth by wrong-doing, and of right by violence; and for his ungodliness and tyranny he must abdicate or be slain, For a moment


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 achieved end for which the order of the samurai was first devised.

Inevitably such an order must have first arisen among a clash of social forces and political systems as a revolutionary organisation. It must have set before itself the attainment of some such Utopian ideal as this modern Utopia does, in the key of mortal imperfection, realise. At first it may have directed itself to research and discussion, to the elaboration of its ideal, to the discussion of a plan of campaign, but at some stage it must have assumed a more militant organisation, and have prevailed against and assimilated the pre-existing political organisations, and to all intents and purposes have become this present synthesised World State. Traces of that militancy would, therefore, pervade it still, and a campaigning quality—no longer against specific disorders, but against universal human weaknesses and the inanimate forces that trouble man—still remain as its essential quality.

"Something of this kind," I should tell my double, "had arisen in our thought"—I jerk my head back to indicate an infinitely distant planet—"just before I came upon these explorations. The idea had reached me, for example, of something to be called a New Republic, which was to be in fact an organisation for revolution something after the fashion of your samurai, as I understand them—only most of the organisation and the rule of life still remained to be invented. All sorts of people were thinking of something in that way about the time of my coming. The idea, as it reached me, was pretty crude in several respects.


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 smaller constituencies wonld be in a still more simple form, thus:—

Rh

Another provision with respect to the duties of the returning officers will be that which relates to the returns they will be required to make of members for their several constituencies,—not founded upon their own calculations of the number of votes, but upon the casting up of the votes in the offices of the registrars, in which the votes polled in other constituencies are brought in aid. In these cases the certificates of the registrars will be the evidence and the authority on which the returning officers will necessarily act.


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 230 ʿOthmān was silent. Then calmly rising, he bade the citizens go back; and himself, with but faint hope of relief, turned to re-enter his dreary home.

The blockade had lasted several weeks, when a mounted messenger arrived with tidings that succour was on its way. This, coming to the insurgents' knowledge, caused them to redouble their efforts. Closing every approach, they allowed neither outlet nor ingress to a single soul. Water hardly obtainable even by stealth at night, the little garrison suffered the extremities of thirst. On the appeal of ʿOthmān, ʿAlī expostulated with the besiegers;—"they were treating the Caliph," he told them, "more cruelly than they would prisoners on the field of battle. Even infidels did not deny water to a thirsty enemy." They were deaf to his entreaty. Um Ḥabība, touched with pity, sought with ʿAlī's aid to carry water on her mule through the rebel ranks; but neither sex nor rank, nor having been the Prophet's wife, availed to prevent her being roughly handled. They cut her bridle with their swords, so that she was near falling to the ground, and drove her rudely back. The better part of the inhabitants were shocked at the violence and inhumanity of the rebels; but none had the courage to oppose them. Sick at heart, most kept to their houses; while others, alarmed, and seeking to avoid the cruel spectacle, quitted Medīna. It is hard to believe that, even in the defenceless state of the city, ʿAlī, Az-Zubeir, and Ṭalḥa, the great heroes of Islām, could not, if they wished, have raised effective opposition to the lawless work of the heartless regicides. We must hold them culpable, if not of collusion with the insurgents, at least of cold-blooded indifference to their Caliph's fate.


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 It ignored the high possibility of a synthesis of languages in the future; it came from a literary man who wrote only English, and, as I read him—he was a little vague in his proposals—it was to be a purely English-speaking movement. And his ideas were coloured too much by the peculiar opportunism of his time; he seemed to have more than half an eye for a prince or a millionaire of genius; he seemed looking here and there for support and the structural elements of a party. Still, the idea of a comprehensive movement of disillusioned and illuminated men behind the shams and patriotisms, the spites and personalities of the ostensible world was there."

I added some particulars.

"Our movement had something of that spirit in the beginning," said my Utopian double. "But while your men seem to be thinking disconnectedly, and upon a very narrow and fragmentary basis of accumulated conclusions, ours had a fairly comprehensive science of human association, and a very careful analysis of the failures of preceding beginnings to draw upon. After all, your world must be as full as ours was of the wreckage and decay of previous attempts; churches, aristocracies, orders, cults"

"Only at present we seem to have lost heart altogether, and now there are no new religions, no new orders, no new cults—no beginnings any more."

"But that's only a resting phase, perhaps. You were saying"

"Oh!—let that distressful planet alone for a time! Tell me how you manage in Utopia."


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 room tho full of thmoke that nobody would go near it, while the mother voth a thriekin about her babyth that voth in that room, I've crawled philothophically in on my handth and kneeth, and having pulled 'em out of bed, brought 'em to her unhurt! Many a time I've done thith, and ven the mother hath blethed me and thrieked for joy, I've felt ath a man ought to feel!—tho I know what it ith!"

Judkins was interested. He felt that he had a very great respect for this man: he moreover felt that Nature's God inspired even the bosom of a sweep!

Chokes, however, although a philosopher, was yet a man of business, and as he had an engagement that morning to cure a couple of chimnies in the vicinity, he rose, when he had finished his ale, to take leave, and as he did so, Judkins grasped him cordially by the hand, in the perfect conviction that he was a man!

By this time every thing necessary had been prepared, and Sylvester sat down to breakfast with his aunt, who—although feeling of course that these things were extremely tiresome—was comparatively happy, for the very absurd nature of the last annoyance had had the effect of again removing that fearful impression which the idea of these mysterious occurrences having some remote connexion with her brother's spirit had created.

But Sylvester—if the term may be applied to any feeling either inspired or developed by one so tranquil—was deeply indignant. He felt that his aunt ought at once to offer a reward for the apprehension of these people, and declared, upon his honour, that if he were a magistrate, he would, in the event of their being apprehended, punish them severely. He was unconscious of the spirit having appeared to the reverend gentleman and Jones—that had been studiously concealed from him by his aunt, lest the knowledge of the fact might alarm him—and as he viewed all the ghost stories of the village, not indeed as idle tales, but as tales induced by the tricks of the same idle persons as those by whom his aunt had been annoyed; he did think that the career of these persons should be checked, and that they should at once be punished with the utmost rigour of the law.

The time fixed for their departure now arrived, and their reverend friend, who had kindly offered to drive them to the coach, appeared in his phaeton at the gate. The trunks were then adjusted, and when Sylvester and his aunt had taken leave of the servants, they left the village with the blessings of all who saw them start. On the way, the reverend gentleman learned from Sylvester the substance of all that had happened that morning; but although he felt vexed, and would have given, at any other time, full expression to that feeling, he thought more—much more than he deemed it, under the circumstances, wise to declare. He was in fact almost silent on the subject, and endeavoured to direct their thoughts to the scenes which they would witness in London; and when they had met the coach at the point proposed, and he had handed them safely in, he gaily, yet affectionately, bade them adieu, and with many warm expressions of high consideration, they started.


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The effect of this law may be illustrated by supposing, in the above case of Aberdeen, that the registrars had certified that Mr. Leith, Mr. Baillie, Lord Elcho, and Mr. Ellice had, and that no other of the candidates had, obtained the full complement of votes. Mr. Leith would then be returned as the second member. Assuming that Aberdeen were entitled to return a third member, that the other successful candidates were Lord Elcho, Mr. Baillie, and Mr. Ellice, and that none of the 250 votes given for Mr. Baillie had been appropriated to him, his quota being completed without their aid, by voters of the constituency to which he had offered himself, or the


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 neighbouring constituencies who, according to Law XXIV., had a prior right to have their votes appropriated to him; and supposing that the whole, or part, of the 483 Aberdeen votes given for Lord Elcho had been appropriated to him, the residue of his quota being made up by his supporters in other places, he would be the third member entitled to be returned for Aberdeen.

Many other results may be supposed, to show the working of the system. Thus Lord Elcho, Mr. Baillie, Mr. Ellice, and the candidates mentioned as having a smaller number of Aberdeen votes, may all be elected by the constituencies for which they are candidates, and their names being thereupon cancelled on the Aberdeen voting papers, those votes will be given to the next candidate named on each paper. If such next candidate be Mr. Gordon (although it is of course improbable that all of them would be given to one person) the number of Aberdeen votes for Mr. Gordon would be raised from 225 to 1,039, and might, with his votes elsewhere, entitle him to be returned for Aberdeen. It would not follow in either of the cases last supposed, that, because the number of Aberdeen votes which are actually appropriated to Lord Elcho or Mr. Gordon may be few, the number of Aberdeen voters who have placed their names on their voting papers may not be very much more numerous. Many of the voters of that city who have voted for other candidates, successful or unsuccessful, whether they were candidates for Aberdeen or for other constituencies, may have placed the names of Lord Elcho or Mr. Gordon also on their voting papers, and these votes in the ultimate computation, as directed by the foregoing clause, and by a subsequent clause (XXVI.) will be reckoned as votes polled for the two unsuccessful candidates. Many of the votes given for Mr. Leith, Mr. Baillie, and others, might have contained also the name of Colonel Sykes, and many of the votes polled for Colonel Sykes might have contained also the names of Lord Elcho, Mr. Leith, and Mr. Gordon, and


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 therefore, although as to the first votes the state of the poll appears as it is above set out by the returning officer, yet on the ultimate declaration of the poll it is not impossible (although improbable) that Colonel Sykes and the other successful candidates, whoever they may be, had as many as 4,388 votes each. It would occupy a large space to describe all the possible results of the free manifestation of thought and sentiment which would be the consequence of the liberation and conscientious employment of the electoral forces which are now latent, and wasted or mischievously exercised.

It will be observed that the latter part of Clause XXII. which prescribes the ultimate method to be employed by the returning officers in computing the local majorities, is designed farther to indicate and develop the especial preferences of local and special constituencies. In giving to every constituency its proper share or material weight in the actual composition of the representative body, it has been necessary to equalize the force of every vote by appropriating it to one candidate only. When the representive body is completed there is no longer any reason for refusing to any elector the full manifestation of the confidence he has expressed in the representatives of his choice, or for withholding from any member the moral influence which will naturally flow from the multiplied number, as well as the character of his constituents and supporters. The operation of this final method of computation may be further illustrated thus:—Suppose Norwich to return three members, and that there are six candidates, A to F, whose votes, counting not only those at the head, but also the second, third, and all successive votes given for any of them on the Norwich voting papers (so long as the name of a non-candidate for that city does not intervene), stand as follows:—


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 The Norwich voters are here supposed to have voted some perhaps for one of their candidates, some for two, some for three or more. Some voters may even have inserted all the names in the order of their preference. In the business of appropriation, according to Law XIX., taking the quota at 2,000, the first votes given to A will be reduced to that number, and the surplus of the first votes distributed to the next names on the various papers. The same process will take place with B, distributing the surplus of his first votes and any others which B may have acquired from the distribution of A's surplus, in like manner. But 4,000 Norwich voters are now exhausted, and in doing this, perhaps a large portion of the papers on which the names of G, D, E, and F stood, may have been exclusively appropriated to A or B, and served to complete the number required for their return.

Now it may be that C, D, and E are candidates of much local popularity, but without any considerable fame beyond the walls of the city, whilst F might be a person of an eminent political, scientific, or literary reputation, or a Norfolk gentleman regarded by some of the citizens as one of the worthies of their county. F, from these causes might have numerous votes in Norfolk, in the metropolis, in the universities, or in other parts of the kingdom, and thus be returned, although no more than 500, or a smaller number, of the citizens of Norwich had given him their first votes, or their second or third votes after A or B. It then becomes the duty of the returning officer under the foregoing clause—on receiving the registrar's certificate that F has, and that C, D, and E have not, obtained a quota or comparative majority — to return F as well as A and B as members for the city of Norwich.

It is probable in the supposed case of Norwich, as in that of Aberdeen, that many of the voters for the non-candidates who have failed, may have placed the names of some of the three successful candidates in a lower place on their voting


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 papers, and the ultimate declaration of the state of the Norwich poll may, therefore, show that each of the three successful candidates, A, B, and F, has a considerably larger number of Norwich supporters than appears in the first statement of the poll, given above.

The portion of the above law which makes it one condition of the return of a candidate for a particular constituency that some of the votes thereof shall not only have been tendered, hut actually appropriated to him, when coupled with the provisions of Clause XXIV., which regulate the appropriation of votes, according to the neighbourhood or nature of the different constituencies, constitute a further security that the members shall have an intimate and personal relation with the special constituencies by which they are severally elected. The votes so appropriated must be those of the constituencies for which they were candidates, and those who are nearest to, and most likely to be connected with, and interested in, the same localities.

A word may here be added to remove any impression which a superficial view of the supposed result of the Norwich election may create, that some injustice has been done to C, D, and E, or their supporters, by the election of F. The cardinal principle is, that no vote can be appropriated to, or affect the return of, more than one member; and, therefore, when the votes for A and B are appropriated, the whole, or a large part, of those given for C, D, and E, being om the same papers, would by that means be exhausted. None of them could be used to aid the return of more than one person. And as to the Norwich votes on which either C, D, or E were placed first, it may be assumed to the credit of those voters that they have sufficient knowledge of their contemporaries, and sufficient interest in political affairs, not to confine their appreciation to those candidates exclusively, but to have provided other alternatives in their voting papers, according to which their votes will be ultimately appropriated


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 one gate, and in the next generation we furiously chase them away from that same gate; for we have discovered that it is a wrong gate, and leads, in fact, to perdition, and we hurry them off by another route entirely.

So, like chickens in a dusty highway, we scuttle round and round, and spin about and cry, and none of us knows the way home.

It is sincerely to be hoped that we do all get to this Heaven one day, wherever it may be. We make hullaballoo enough about it, and struggle hard enough to squeeze in. We do not know very much what it is like. Some fancy it is an exhibition of gold and jewels; and others, that it is a sort of everlasting musical "At Home." But we are all agreed that it is a land where we shall live well and not do any work, and we are going to have everything our own way and be very happy; and the people we do not like will not be allowed in.

It is a place, we have made up our minds, where all the good things of the other world are going to be given away; and, oh, how anxious we all are to be well to the front there!

Perhaps there are others, though, not of the piously self-seeking crew, to whom Heaven only means a wider sphere of thought and action, a clearer vision, a nobler life, nearer to God; and these, walking through the darkness of this world, "stretch lame hands of faith and grope," trying to find the light. And so many are shouting out directions to them, and they that know the least shout the loudest!

Yes, yes, they are clever and earnest, these shouters, and they have thought, and have spoken the thought that was in them, so far as they have understood it themselves; but what is it all, but children teaching children? We are


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 to some member of like principle or character who may be chosen by the majorities or minorities of other constituencies.

The state of the Norwich poll, however, is not likely to be folly represented in the above table. Some citizens of Norwich might be natives of other parts of England, or of Scotland, or Ireland, and be influenced by sentiments in favour of candidates connected with such other places, or may have especial predilections overruling any local feeling, and desire to give such a direction to their votes as shall contribute to the return of candidates other than those who have offered themselves to the city of Norwich. Thus, in addition to the votes given for the candidates A to F, as above stated, suppose there are first, or first uncancelled, votes of citizens of Norwich for—

The registrars, having only to acquaint the returning officers of the ultimate result of the appropriation, will, under Clause XXV., inform them which of the candidates G, H, I, K, L, M, have, and which have not, obtained the necessary quota or comparative majority; but whether they have or not been thus successful, the Norwich return will not be affected, for A, B, and F are the successful candidates to whom the greatest number of the Norwich voters have given their primary and effectual support.

The discretion which some of the Norwich voters are thus supposed to have exercised, in setting a higher regard on general, national, intellectual, or social predilections, than on those which are governed simply by locality, cannot be a just subject of complaint by any of their fellow-citizens, for the voters so acting have done nothing which abridges or invades in the smallest degree the political power of the other inha-


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 656] The solemnities of yearly Pilgrimage were now at hand, and ʿOthmān, still mindful of his obligation as head of Islām to provide for their due observance, once more ascended the palace roof. From thence he called for the son of Al-ʿAbbās, one of the faithful party guarding the entrance, and bade him assume the leadership of the band of pilgrims who should now proceed to Mecca;—a duty which, much against his will, as taking him from the defence, he undertook. ʿĀisha joined the party. She is accused of having formerly stirred up the people against ʿOthmān. Now, at anyrate, the impulsive lady shook herself free from the insurgents, and also, in order to detach her brother Moḥammad from their company, besought him to accompany her to Mecca. But he refused.

The approach of succour at last quickening the rebels to extremities, they resolved on a final and murderous attack. Violent onset was made from all quarters, and the forlorn band of defenders, unable longer to hold their ground, retired within the palace gate, which they closed and barred, covering their retreat with a discharge of archery, by which one of the rebels was killed. Infuriated at their comrade's death, the insurgents rushed at the gate, battered it with stones, but finding it all too strong, sat down to burn it. Meanwhile others, swarming in crowds from the roof of an adjoining building, gained easier access, and, rushing along the corridor, attacked the guard still congregated within the palace gate. One of these was slain, Merwān was left half dead, and the rest were overpowered, ʿOthmān had retired alone into an inner chamber of the women's apartments; and there awaiting his fate, read from the Ḳorʾān spread open on his knees. Three ruffians sent to fulfil the bloody work, rushed in upon him thus engaged. Awed by his calm demeanour and plaintive appeal, each returned as he went. "It would be murder," they said, "to lay hands upon him thus."


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 bitants of Norwich, but, on the contrary, have in fact increased that power; for, in proposing for the choice of the electors of Norwich several other candidates, and voting for them instead of the Norwich candidates, those minorities of electors have, in fact, abdicated their power of influencing the Norwich return, and left the election entirely in the hands of the other citizens. At the same time, though powerless at Norwich, these small minorities are not necessarily so elsewhere. They may have had an important influence in assisting to complete the number of votes required for their favourite candidates, as is seen by looking at the fact which has been supposed to have taken place at this election, where a few of the voters of many other and perhaps remote constituencies, including possibly some natives of Norwich, who in distant places retain their affection for the place of their birth, have given to the 1,000 electors of Norwich—it may be of wider intelligence, higher intellectual range, or more comprehensive sympathies—the means of placing F in the position of one of the chosen candidates for that city.

One other hypothesis will suffice to explain the electoral position of such of the Aberdeen and Norwich voters, in the cases supposed, as may have placed the names of unsuccessful candidates at the head of their voting papers. None of these votes can be at first appropriated to any candidate whose name is placed lower on the paper; because, until the general election is over, it cannot be known whether the first-named candidate might not be one of those who succeed, and to whose success that vote may contribute. Under a subsequent law (Clause XXVI.) all votes in this condition will be appropriated to the highest successful candidate on each voting paper. If the highest successful candidate of the voting paper of an Aberdeen or Norwich voter be an Aberdeen or Norwich member, the returning officer will reckon him among that constituency; but however that may be, the voter becomes part of the constituency of the member whose name


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 232 Moḥammad son of Abu Bekr, in his hate and rage had no such scruples. Running in, he seized him by the beard, and cried, "The Lord abase thee, thou old dotard!" "Let my beard go," said ʿOthmān, calmly; "I am no dotard, but the Caliph, whom they call ʿOthmān." Then, in answer to a further torrent of abuse, the aged man went on,—"Son of my brother! Thy father would not have served me so. The Lord help me! To him I flee for refuge from thee." The appeal touched even the unworthy son of Abu Bekr, and he too retired. The insurgent leaders, now impatient, crowded in, smote the Caliph with their swords, and trampled on the Ḳorʾān which he had been reading. He yet had strength enough to gather up the leaves and press them to his bosom, while the blood flowed forth upon the sacred text. Thus attacked, the faithful Nāʾila cast herself upon her wounded lord, and as she shielded him with her arm, a sword-cut severed several of her fingers, which fell upon the ground. The band of slaves attempted his defence. One of them slew the leader, but was immediately himself cut down. Further effort was in vain. The insurgents plunged their weapons into the Caliph's body, and he fell lifeless to the ground. The infuriated mob now had their way. A scene of riot followed. They stabbed the corpse, leaped savagely on it, and were proceeding to cut off the head, when the women screamed, beating their breasts and faces, and the savage crew desisted. The palace was gutted; and even Nāʾila, all wounded and bloody, was stripped of her veil. Just then the cry was raised, "To the Treasury!" and suddenly all departed.


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 656] As soon as they had left, the palace gate was barred, and thus for three days and nights the three dead bodies lay in silence solemnly within. Then some chief men of Ḳoreish obtained leave of ʿAlī to bury the Caliph's body. In the dusk of evening, the funeral procession wended its way to the burying-ground outside the city. Death had not softened the rebels' hearts, and they pelted the bier with stones. Not in the graveyard, but in a field adjoining, the body, with hurried service, was committed to the dust. In after years the field was added by Merwān to the main burying-ground,—a spot consecrated by the remains of the early heroes of the Prophet's wars. And there the Umeiyads long buried their dead around the grave of their murdered kinsman.

Thus, at the age of eighty-two, died ʿOthmān, after a reign of twelve years. The misfortunes amidst which he sank bring out so sharply the failings of his character that further delineation is hardly needed. Narrow, irresolute, and weak, he had yet a kindly nature which might have made him, in less troublous times, a favourite of the people. Such, indeed, for a season he was at the beginning of his Caliphate. But afterwards he fell on evil days. The struggle between Ḳoreish and the rest of the Arabs was hurrying on the nation to an internecine war. The only possible safety was for the class still dominant to have opposed a strong and united front. By his vacillation, selfishness, and nepotism, ʿOthmān broke up into embittered factions the aristocracy of Islām, and threw the last chance away.

The columns hastening from the north for ʿOthmān's relief, hearing on their way the tragic end, returned to their respective homes.


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 stands highest on his paper, and in whom he has thus expressed greater confidence than in any other with regard to whom he has been able to obtain the confidence of a sufficient number of his constituents. It is thus next to impossible for any elector,—except his sympathies be very narrow,—to fail of being represented by some one whom he has nominated for that purpose.


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 The river at Blanja shoals rapidly towards the left bank, which is bordered by a long and wide strip of sand. The boats of those who call here are dragged as close in as possible, and while our men were engaged in doing this, and still some distance from the shore, a man called Haji Ali waded out to my boat and came on board. We had noticed the unusual number of people on the sands—not less than two or three hundred—and of boats alongside there were at least fifty, but we were hardly prepared for the news that awaited us.

This Haji Ali, a tall, well-made man in the prime of life, was the genial person of evil reputation who, with Pĕnglima Prang Sĕmaun, had already distinguished himself by murdering one of the low-country chiefs. Notwithstanding this fact the Haji was always anxious to convey the impression that he was entirely friendly to me, but I distrusted him in common with the rest of the Blanja faction.

Haji Ali seated himself in my boat and at once stated that Mr. Birch had gone to Pâsir Sâlak, that there he and sixteen of his people had been murdered by the Maharaja Lela, who had then attacked and captured Bandar Bharu, killing all the Sikhs who had not saved themselves by flight. This news was so startling that I could not believe it and

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 said so, but the man assured me it was true, and added as a proof that the Maharaja Lela had sent Mr. Birch's own boat to Blanja to prove to Ismail the truth of his statement. Ismail, he said, had declined to receive the boat, telling the men who brought it that as the Maharaja Lela had killed Mr. Birch he had better keep his boat, and the messengers had accordingly left with it only two hours before our arrival.

At Haji Ali's first words Raja Mahmud had caught up his kris, and was now tightening his waist-belt and preparing for instant trouble.

The Haji completed his information by considerately telling me that the Maharaja Lela and his people had staked the river right across at Pâsir Sâlak, making it impassable for boats, that they knew I was returning, and were waiting for me, it being their belief that when once they had got rid of Mr. Birch and myself they would have no further interference from white men, as no one else knew the country. He concluded with an invitation from the ex-Sultan to go and see him on shore.

I thanked him, and to get rid of him asked him to go back and say that I was coming.

As soon as he had left the boat I held a hasty consultation with Raja Mahmud, who said it would

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 The Resident, we were told, had been murdered at Pâsir Sâlak, and we could not well doubt the truth of that report. Then the people on both banks of the river for miles above and below Pâsir Sâlak were on the watch for us; the Residency was in the hands of the Maharaja Lela's people, the Sikhs killed or fugitives in the jungle; worst of all, the river at Pâsir Sâlak was staked from bank to bank, and if so no boat could pass that barrier.

There were two points of minor moment—first, that the Residency boats were all painted white, we had one of them, and no native-owned boat in the country was white. That fact made us so conspicuous that we did not think it worth while to lower the Union Jack we carried at the stern. Secondly, up to that time no house-boat had ever made the journey from Blanja to Pâsir Sâlak in anything like twelve hours, and we calculated, therefore, that we should reach the point of greatest danger in broad daylight, probably about 9 the next morning. Speed was our best chance, but here again we were handicapped by the fact that our men had been paddling since 8.30, they had had one meal, and now there was a night's work before them and no time to stop for cooking.

If the conditions were as they had been stated,

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 and as we believed them to be, nothing could save us, for with two rifles and a shot gun we could hardly hope to force the barrier unless aided by a miracle.

The river was high, the current strong, and just at dusk we reached Bota. Fastened by an island opposite the village we saw Mr. Birch's own boat, the "Dragon", and with that all doubt as to his fate was at an end. Raja Mahmud suggested that we might stop and attack the people in charge. The idea was attractive and no doubt it would have been a surprise to them, but we decided that it was unwise to waste the time and rouse the whole village. As we passed the boat we could see no one in or about it.

The night was moonless but starlit, fine and clear enough for our purpose, dark enough to conceal us when we were in the middle of the stream. But the Perak is a river where the navigable channel wanders from side to side in a way that often baffles the most skilful pilot. The height of the water lessened our difficulties, but for all that we were driven at times very close to the banks. Between 9 and 10 a thick white mist came down and enveloped the river in impenetrable fog. This was very confusing, for, while it lasted, it was

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 impossible to see half a boat's length in any direction. The mist lifted and fell again at intervals all through the night, and so dense was it that at one time we lost our way, and at last discovered by a snag that we had got the boat completely round and were paddling up stream!

That discovery gave us rather a bad shock, for we calculated that we had lost half an hour of precious time, and if we could make such a mistake once it might occur again. It was possible because we dared not have any light, and only smoked with the utmost precaution.

I was so tired that about half-past ten I could no longer keep awake, and several times the wearied boatmen dropped asleep over their paddles. We were not at all certain of our whereabouts, but some time after eleven o'clock we realised, by the succession of watch-fires on the banks and the numbers of men moving about, that we were getting into the zone of danger. It seemed to me, dozing and waking, that this lasted for a long time; we were getting callous of the people on the bank when we found that no one seemed to observe us however close we were forced to go.

I had told them to rouse me when we got near to Pâsir Sâlak, for now, to our great surprise, it

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 seemed evident that we should reach the place hours before dawn. About 1.30 A.M. Mahmud quietly woke me, and the boatmen nerved themselves for the final effort.

We knew that to get past Pâsir Sâlak it was necessary to go right under one bank or the other, and the deepest water was on the left or Kampong Gâjah side. That we decided to take. Huge fires were blazing on the bank, and round each were grouped a number of armed men—indeed, the whole place was apparently on the qui vive. As noiselessly as possible, but none the less vigorously, the men plied their paddles, and we made for the deep water under the bank. Just at this moment the thick white veil of mist came down over the river, and under its sheltering cover we glided swiftly down, the light of the blazing logs, close though they were, shining vaguely through the fog, while now and then a man's figure, of seemingly gigantic proportions, loomed out from the fire-lit haze.

Every instant we expected to feel the shock of the boat against the barrier, and we had determined that when that happened we would push our boat along it till we found the usual opening closed by a floating log and guarded, as we supposed, by boats. In the darkness we meant to try and force

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 our way through or take one of the enemy's boats on the down-stream side of the stakes.

We could hardly realise the truth when we found ourselves at the lower end of the village without having encountered any obstruction. The barrier never existed in fact—only in the imagina tion of Haji Ali, or, more probably, the Maharaja Lela had intended to make it, but the Malay habits of laziness and procrastination defeated his plan.

Just as I was thinking a very sincere thanksgiving, the bow of the boat suddenly ran on the shore and stuck there fast. We were so close to the bank that this happened without the slightest warning. For an instant the steersman had given the rudder a wrong turn, and we were stranded. To my dismay, I saw on the high bank, exactly over us, a large fire with eight or ten men round it. I seized the shot-gun, Mahmud had a rifle, and we knelt with fingers on trigger covering two of the figures that were distinct enough in spite of the mist, for we were hardly ten feet distant from them.

Two of our men with poles were making super-human efforts to push off the boat, when a man on the bank called out, "Whose boat is that?" One of our men replied, "Haji Mat Yassin's," having seen his boat at Blanja. "Where are you from?"

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The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the unbloody sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ. It is substantially the same as the bloody sacrifice of the cross, and was instituted by our Lord at the Last Supper on the first Holy Thursday evening, just as He was entering upon His Passion. Then it was that He changed bread and wine into His most holy Body and Blood, and offered them in sacrifice, giving at the same time to His apostles and their successors the power and the command to continue this sacred action in memory of Him to the end of time.

The Mass is, therefore, a daily renewal of the Passion of Christ and an application to our souls of the fruits thereof. It is offered for four specific ends: (1) as a supreme act of adoration of the Divine Majesty;  (2) as a most acceptable act of thanksgiving;  (3) as a most potent satisfaction for appeasing God’s offended justice;  (4) as a most powerful means of obtaining all blessings for soul and body.

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 was the next inquiry, and the reply was, "Blanja." "Where are you for?" and other questions followed, but by this time the bow of the boat was off and we were drifting stern-foremost out into the stream and the sheltering fog. As the distance widened and shouts came to stop, the answers returned were derisive and misleading, for everyone felt that the real danger was past and the life he had made up his mind to lose would not be required of him that night after all,

It was true that we had yet to pass the Residency at Bandar Bharu, five miles lower down, and we had been told this was in the hands of the Maharaja Lela, but there at least there was no barrier, and we were confident that we had nothing more to fear.

We passed Bandar Bharu quietly, we saw a light on each bank and a man on watch by the light, and we said to each other that it would be very easy to shoot the men as they placed themselves so conveniently en évidence.

Ten miles lower down the river, it being then only 3, we were suddenly hailed by a voice threatening death and other penalties if we did not immediately declare who we were. That was a very welcome challenge, for I recognised the voice,

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 and in a few seconds we were alongside a Selangor steam-launch.

Only then we learnt that Bandar Bharu had not fallen into the hands of the enemy, and we had therefore come ten miles further than was necessary; but we congratulated ourselves on the forbearance we had shown in not shooting the sentries, and later in the morning, when we got up to the Residency, suggested that if the Sikh felt lonesome in the night watches it would perhaps be wiser for him not to stand in the full blaze of a large lamp.

The Maharaja Lela and his friends professed themselves both surprised and disappointed when they found I had arrived at Bandar Bharu, having passed Pâsir Sâlak without their knowledge. I daresay, however, that some of them were not altogether sorry that they had been spared a meeting with Raja Mahmud, for he was reckoned a mighty man of valour. In my case he was also a wise counsellor, for subsequent disclosures proved that had I landed at Blanja the intention was to immediately attack and murder me, and when we so abruptly left that place the ingenuous Haji Ali and his friend the Pěnglima Prang Sĕmaun with a number of their men were sent after us in fast boats on a mission similar to the one they had previously undertaken

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 and successfully carried out. As we saw nothing of them I conclude they did not exert themselves to overtake us.

During the subsequent military operations in Perak, Haji Ali fell into our hands, and, after some weeks spent on a British man-of-war, he became quite a reformed character. I occasionally see him now, but he seems depressed, and when I find him looking at me there is no anger in his face, only a great sorrow as of a man who is misunderstood by the world and who suffers without resentment.

I don't know why, but this expression is a source of unfeigned amusement to the Malays who happen to see it. It is very unfeeling of them.

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User:Kcat37

Validating

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N the day after my arrival at Bandar Bharu, Captain Innes, R.E., came from Penang accompanied by two officers and sixty men of the First Battalion of H.M. 10th Regiment, together with the Superintendent of the Penang Police (Hon. H. Plunket) and twenty native constables armed with rifles.

Captain Innes, an exceptionally able member of his distinguished corps, was then in civil employ as head of the Public Works Department in Penang. When the news of Mr. Birch's murder reached that place, the nearest British Settlement, Captain Innes was sent with a force to take charge of the Residency.

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 It is not my intention to detail the subsequent events except in so far as is necessary for a right understanding of an incident connected with the death of a man called Nakodah Orlong, a Sumatran Malay.

With the force at our disposal, which included Lieut. Abbott, R.N., his four bluejackets, and about fifty so-called Sikhs, it was determined to attack Pâsir Sâlak before the Maharaja Lela had time to collect a large following. An immediate advance was also considered advisable to prevent the number of our enemies being increased by what might look like our indecision. With Easterns, to sit still and stockade your position is probably, under such circumstances, the worst course possible.

We knew that the Maharaja Lela was throwing up works, not only in his village, but outside of it, and to force them it was decided to take two howitzers and a rocket-tube.

The distance from Bandar Bharu to Pâsir Sâlak was five miles, every yard of it covered with vegetation of some sort, the only road a narrow path by the river-bank; moreover, Pâsir Sâlak was not on our side of the river. It was, therefore, settled that we should start at daylight the next morning, the 7th November, in boats, that we

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 poor little fatherless brats, let to run wild about the streets and alleys of this noisy earth; and the wicked urchins among us play pitch-and-toss or marbles, and fight; and we quiet ones sit on a doorstep and play at schools, and little 'Liza Philosophy and Tommy Goodboy will take it in turn to be "teacher," and will roar at us, and slap us, and instruct us in all they have learnt. And, if we are good and pay attention, we shall come to know as much as they do: think of that!

Come away—come away from the gutter and the tiresome game. Come away from the din. Come away to the quiet fields, over which the great sky stretches, and where, between us and the stars, there lies but silence; and there, in the stillness let us listen to the voice that is speaking within us.

Hark to it, O poor questioning children; it is the voice of God! To the mind of each of us it speaks, showing the light to our longing eyes, making all things clear to us, if we will but follow it. All through the weary days of doubt and terror, has it been whispering words of strength and comfort to our aching heart and brain, pointing out the path through the darkness to the knowledge and truth that our souls so hunger for; and, all the while, we have been straining our ears to catch the silly wisdom. of the two-legged human things that cackle round us, and have not heeded it! Let us have done with other men's teaching, other men's guidance. Let us listen to ourselves.No, you cannot tell what you have learnt to others. That is what so many are trying to do. They would not understand you, and it would only help to swell the foolish din. The truths he has taught to us, we cannot teach to our fellow-men: none but God himself can speak their language, from no other voice but his can they be heard,


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 —"The Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him."

The serious and the comic seem to be for ever playing hide-and-seek with one another in and out our lives, like light and shadow through an April day; and ofttimes they, as children in a game, catch one another and embrace, and, with their arms entwined, lean for a space upon each other before the chase begins afresh. I was walking up and down the garden, following out this very idea—namely, of the childishness of our trying to teach one another in matters that we know so little of ourselves—when, on passing the summer-house, I overheard my argument being amusingly illustrated by my eldest niece, aged seven, who was sitting very upright in a very big chair, giving information to her younger sister, aged five, on the subject of "Babies: their origin, discovery, and use."

"You know, babies," she was remarking in conclusion, "ain't like dollies. Babies is 'live. Nobody gives you babies till you're growed up. An' they're very improper. We 're not s'posed to talk 'bout such things—we was babies once."

She is a very thoughtful child, is my eldest niece. Her thirst for knowledge is a most praiseworthy trait in her


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 character, but has rather an exhausting effect upon the rest of the family. We limit her now to seven hundred questions a day. After she has asked seven hundred questions, and we have answered them, or, rather, as many as we are able, we boycott her; and she retires to bed, indignant, asking:

"Why only seven hundred? Why not eight?"

Nor is her range of inquiry what you would call narrow or circumscribed at all. It embraces most subjects that are known as yet to civilisation, from abstract theology to cats; from the failure of marriage to chocolate, and why you must not take it out and look at it when you have once put it inside your mouth.

She has her own opinion, too, about most of these matters, and expresses it with a freedom which is apt to shock respectably-brought-up folk. I am not over orthodox myself, but she staggers even me at times. Her theories are too advanced for me at present.

She has not given much attention to the matter of babies hitherto. It is only this week that she has gone in for that subject. The explanation is—I hardly like mentioning it. Perhaps it—I don't know, I don't see that there can be any harm in it, though. Yet—well, the fact of the matter is, there is an "event" expected in our family, or rather, in my brother-in-law's; and there! you know how these things get discussed among relations, and May, that is my niece's name, is one of those children that you are always forgetting is about, and never know how much it has heard and how much it has not.

The child said nothing, however, and all seemed right until last Sunday afternoon. It was a wet day,


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 and I was reading in the breakfast-parlour, and Emily was sitting on the sofa, looking at an album of Swiss views with Dick Chetwyn. Dick and Emily are engaged. Dick is a steady young fellow, and Emily loves him dearly, I am sure; but they both suffer, in my opinion, from an over-sense of modesty. As for Emily, it does not so much matter: girls are like that before they are married. But in Dick it seems out of place. They both of them flare up quite scarlet at the simplest joke even. They always make me think of Gilbert's bashful young couple.

Well, there we were, sitting round, the child on the floor, playing with her bricks. She had been very quiet for about five minutes, and I was just wondering what could be the matter with her, when, all of a sudden, and without a word of warning, she observed, in the most casual tone of voice, while continuing her building operations:


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46

The Asperges, or sprinkling with holy water, is performed every Sunday, immediately before High Mass, except when the Bishop celebrates pontifically.

The priest who is about to celebrate High Mass, first blesses the holy water and then enters the sanctuary vested in his alb and stole (and sometimes in a cope also), accompanied by an acolyte bearing the vessel of holy water (at Solemn Mass he is accompanied also by the deacon and subdeacon). Arriving at the foot of the altar, the priest, while intoning the following antiphon, sprinkles the altar three times; then himself, and afterwards his assistants. Then going down into the church, he sprinkles the congregation.

NTIPHON. Asperges me, Domine, hyssopo, et mundabor: lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.

NTIPHON. Thou shalt sprinkle me, O Lord, with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.

Psalm 50, 3. Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.

Psalm 50, 3.  Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy.

Versicle. Gloria Patri, etc.

Versicle. Glory be to the Father, etc.

Ant. Asperges me, etc.

Ant. Thou shalt sprinkle me, etc.

The priest, being returned to the foot of tke altar, says the following versicles and prayer:

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 "Is Auntie Cissy goin' to have a little boy-baby, or a little girl-baby, uncle?"

"Oh, don't ask silly questions; she hasn't made up her mind yet."

"Oh, oh! I think I should 'vise her to have a little girl, 'cause little girls ain't so much trouble as boys, is they? Which would you 'vise her to have, uncle?"

"Will you go on with your bricks, and not talk about things you don't understand? We're not supposed to talk about those sort of things at all. It isn't proper."

"What isn't p'oper? Ain't babies p'oper?"

"No; very improper, especially some of them."

Umph! then what's people have 'em for, if they isn't p'oper?"

"Will you go on with your bricks, or will you not? How much oftener am I to speak to you, I wonder? People can't help having them. They are sent to chasten us; to teach us what a worrying, drive-you-mad sort of world this is, and we have to put up with them. But there's no need to talk about them."

There was silence for a few minutes, and then came:

"Does Uncle Henry know? He'll be her puppa, won't he?"

"Eh! What? Know what? What are you talking about now?"

"Does Uncle Henry know 'bout this baby that Auntie Cissy's goin' to have?"

"Yes, of course, you little idiot!—Does Uncle Henry know!"

"Yes—I s'pose they'd tell him, 'cause, you see, he'll have to pay for it, won't he?"

"Well, nobody else will if he doesn't."


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Rh slowly to the remainder until it is stiff enough to knead. Work it with the hands until smooth, put on a board, roll out one eighth inch thick, and cut with a small round cutter. Decorate with the remaining mixture, colored pink, blue, lavender, yellow, or green, forced through paper tubes, making tiny roses, forget-me-nots, violets, or sweet peas, with stems and leaves on each mint, as described in Chapter XV.

Children will amuse themselves for hours making original designs with different colored frostings, and will exhibit their results with the greatest pride at the close of the happy afternoon. Half a dozen paper cones may be provided as described on page 194, and filled with different colored frostings. If color pastes are not at hand, a bit of melted chocolate may be used in one portion, the yolk of an egg in another; a color tablet from a box of gelatine, dissolved in a few drops of water, will answer very well to color a third portion.

Cook potato in boiling water until soft, and force through a coarse sieve or a potato ricer.