General Hoche.

Evocation Answer. – I am with you.

Mme. J… told us that you had communicated spontaneously with her. With what intention did you do so, since she had not called you? Answer. – It is she who brings me here; I wished to be called by you and knew that, by going to her house, you would be informed and would probably evoke me.

You told her that you were following the military operations in Italy; that seems natural to us. Could you tell us what you think about them? Answer. – They have produced great results. In my time we fought for longer.

In witnessing this war, do you play any active role in it?

Answer. – No; a mere spectator.

Like you, were other generals of your time there with you?

Answer. – Yes, as you may well imagine.

Could you name some of them?

Answer. – It would be useless.

It is said that Napoleon I was present, which we have no difficulty in believing. At the time of the first wars of Italy he was only a general. Could you tell us whether in this one he saw things from the point of view of the general or of the emperor? Answer. – From both, and even from a third: from that of the diplomat.

When you were alive, your hierarchical position as a soldier was more or less equal to his. As he rose considerably after your death, could you tell us, as a Spirit, whether you consider him your superior? Answer. – Here equality reigns. What do you ask by that?

Remark. – By equality he doubtless means that the Spirits do not take into account the earthly distinctions, with which in fact they concern themselves little and which carry no weight among them. Moral equality, however, is far from reigning; among them there is a hierarchy and a subordination based on acquired qualities, and no one can withdraw himself from the ascendancy of those who are more elevated and more pure.

In following the vicissitudes of the war, did you foresee peace so near at hand?

Answer. – Yes.

For you was it a matter of a simple prediction, or did you have a sure prior knowledge?

Answer. – No. I had been told.

Are you sensible of the remembrance that we keep of you?

Answer. – Yes, but I did little to deserve it.

Your widow has just died. Did you rejoin her immediately?

Answer. – I was waiting for her. Today I am going to leave her: existence calls me.

Is it on the Earth that you are to have a new existence?

Answer. – No.

Is the world to which you are to go known to us?

Answer. – Yes; Mercury.

From the moral point of view, is that world superior or inferior to the Earth?

Answer. – Inferior. I shall elevate it. I shall contribute to making it enter into a new position.

Do you presently know the world to which you are to go?

Answer. – Yes, very well. Perhaps better than I shall know it when I inhabit it.

Remark. – This answer is perfectly logical. As a Spirit he sees that world in its entirety; when he is incarnated in it he will see it only from the restricted point of view of his personality and of the social position that he occupies.

From the physical point of view, are the inhabitants of that world as material as those of the Earth? Answer. – Yes, completely; even more so.

Was it you who chose that world for your new existence?

Ans. – No, no. I would have preferred a calm and happy land. There I shall find torrents of evil to combat and furies of crime to punish. Remark. – When our Christian missionaries go to barbarous peoples to try to make the germs of civilization penetrate into them, do they not fulfill an analogous function? Why, then, should we be astonished that an elevated Spirit goes to a backward world with a view to making it advance?

Is this existence imposed upon you by constraint?

Answer. – No; I committed myself to it. They made me understand that destiny, Providence, if you will, called me there. It is like death before ascending to heaven: one must suffer and, unfortunately, I have not suffered enough.

Are you happy as a Spirit?

Answer. – Yes, without difficulties.

What have been your occupations as a Spirit, from the moment when you left the Earth?

Answer. – I visited the world, the Earth entirely. This required a period of some years. I learned the laws that God employs to conduct all the phenomena that concur to life. Then, I did the same in several Spheres.

We thank you for having answered our appeal.

Answer. – Farewell. You will see me no more.