A queen medium.

— We would not have taken the initiative of publishing the following fact; but since it has been reproduced in various newspapers, among others the Opinion nationale and the Siècle of February 22, 1864, according to the Bulletin diplomatique, we see no reason to abstain.

“A letter from a well-informed person reveals that, recently, in a private council where the Danish question was being examined, the Queen (Victoria) declared that she would do nothing without consulting Prince Albert. And indeed, after having withdrawn for some time into her cabinet, she returned saying that the prince had pronounced himself against the war. This fact, and others like it, leaked out and gave rise to the idea that it would be opportune to establish a regency.” We were right, then, when we wrote that Spiritism has adherents even on the steps of thrones. We could have said: even on thrones. One sees, however, that the sovereigns themselves do not escape the qualification given to those who believe in communications from beyond the grave. The Spiritists, who are treated as madmen, must console themselves with being in such good company.

Thus, the contagion is very great, since it climbs so high! Among the foreign princes we know of a good number who have this supposed weakness, for some of them are members of the Spiritist Society of Paris.

[See: To H. H. the Prince G.] How can they expect the idea not to penetrate the whole of society, when it sets out from every level of the scale?

From this the curate of Marmande may see that there are not mediums only among the bootblacks. [Reference to the article:

Cure of an obsession.]

— The Journal de Poitiers, which relates the same case, accompanies it with this reflection:

“To fall thus into the domain of the Spirits, is this not to abandon that of the only realities which have the right to lead the world?”

Up to a certain point we agree with the newspaper's opinion, but from another point of view. For it the Spirits are not realities, because, according to certain persons, there is reality only in what is seen and touched. Now, this being so, God would not be a reality, and yet, who would dare to say that he does not lead the world? that there are no providential events to lead to a determined result? Well then! the Spirits are the instruments of his will; they inspire men, they solicit them, in spite of themselves, to do this or that thing, to act in one direction and not in another, and this as much in great resolutions as in the circumstances of private life. Under this aspect, therefore, we are not of the newspaper's opinion. If the Spirits inspire in a hidden manner, it is to leave to man his free will and the responsibility for his acts. If he receives the inspiration of an evil Spirit, he can be sure of receiving, at the same time, that of a good one, for God never leaves man without defense against evil suggestions. It is for him to weigh and decide according to his conscience.

In ostensible communications by the mediumistic channel, man must no longer renounce his free will; it would be an error to regulate blindly and without examination all his steps and attitudes by the counsel of the Spirits, because there are those who may still have the ideas and prejudices of life. Only the superior Spirits are exempt from this. The Spirits give their counsel, their opinion; in case of doubt, one may discuss with them as one did when they were alive; then one can assess the force of their arguments. Truly good Spirits never refuse this; those who repel all examination, who demand absolute submission, prove that they count little on the excellence of their reasons to convince, and must be held suspect. In principle, the Spirits do not come to guide us as one guides a child; the aim of their instructions is to make us better, to give faith to those who lack it, and not to spare us the labor of thinking for ourselves.

This is what those who criticize the relations from beyond the grave do not know; they find them absurd, because they judge them according to their own ideas, and not according to the reality, which they do not know. Nor should one judge the manifestations by the abuse or the false applications which some persons may make of them, just as it would not be rational to judge religion by bad priests. Now, in order to know whether there is a good or bad application of a thing, one must know it, not superficially, but thoroughly. If you go to a concert to know whether the music is good and whether the musicians perform it well, you must first of all know music.

— This being said, it may serve as a basis for appraising the fact in question. Would they censure the Queen if she had said: “Gentlemen, the matter is grave, permit me to withdraw for an instant and to ask God to inspire me in the resolution I must take?” The prince is not God, it is true; but since she is pious, it is probable that she asked God to inspire the prince's answer, which amounts to the same thing. She had him act as an intermediary, by reason of the affection she bears him. Things may also have happened in another manner. If, during the prince's life, the Queen had the habit of doing nothing without consulting him, now that he is dead she asks his opinion as if he were alive, and not because he is a Spirit, for, to her, he is not dead; he is always at her side; he is her guide, her unofficial counselor; there is between the two of them only one body the less. If the prince were living, she would have done the same; thus there is no change in her manner of acting. Now, was the policy of the prince-Spirit good or bad? That is not for us to examine. What we must refute is the opinion of those to whom it seems bizarre, puerile, even stupid, that a person of good sense can believe in the reality of one who no longer has a body, because it pleases them to think that they themselves, when they are dead, will be absolutely nothing more. In their eyes the Queen did not perform a more sensible act than if she had said: “Gentlemen, I am going to consult my cards, or an astrologer.” If this fact is of slight importance for politics, the same is not the case from the Spiritist point of view, on account of the repercussion it had. Without doubt the Queen could have abstained from giving the reason for her absence and that such was the prince's counsel. To say it in so solemn a circumstance was, in a certain way, to confess publicly the belief in the Spirits and in their manifestations, and to acknowledge herself a medium. Now, when such an example comes from a crowned head, it can well encourage the opinion of those who are placed less highly. We can only admire the fecundity of the means employed by the Spirits to oblige the unbelievers to speak of Spiritism and to make their idea penetrate into every layer of society. In this circumstance, they are obliged to criticize with caution.