Report on the Fund of Spiritism,

— Gentlemen and dear colleagues, Some time ago I announced that I would give you further explanations about the fund of Spiritism. The beginning of a new social year naturally affords me this occasion. In this exposition I regret having to speak of myself, which I always do as little as possible; but in this circumstance I could not avoid it, which is why I beg you, in advance, to excuse me.

I shall recall summarily the report which, on the same subject, I submitted to you two years ago. [See: Address by Mr. Allan Kardec at the opening of the social year, on the 1st of April, 1862.]

In the month of February, 1860, a donation of 10,000 francs was placed at my disposal to use as I saw fit, in the interest of Spiritism. At that time the Society had no premises of its own, which resulted in serious inconveniences. The extent that the doctrine was beginning to take on called for a special reserved location, not only for the sessions, but for the reception of visitors, ever more numerous, the permanent presence of someone at the very headquarters of the society becoming indispensable. I chose this location, which combined the advantages of convenience and of a central position. Moreover, the choice was not easy, considering the need for premises suited to their purpose, combined with the excessive costliness of the rent. The rental price of the property, including the levies, is 2,930 francs. Since the Society could not bear such a burden and paid only 1,200 francs, there remained 1,730 francs, for which provision had to be made. In allocating the donation made, whether to the purchase of the material or to the payment of the surplus rent, we did not depart from the intentions of the donor, for we employed it in the interest of the doctrine. Today it is perfectly understood how useful it was to have this center available, toward which so many connections converge, and moreover how necessary it was that I have a lodging. Nevertheless — I must point out — there is no advantage for me in residing in this location, for I have another apartment, which costs me nothing and where it would be more agreeable for me to live, and this all the more so since this double residence, far from being a relief, is an aggravation of burdens, as I shall presently demonstrate. This sum of 10,000 francs thus constituted the first fund of the fund of Spiritism, a fund which, as you know, is the object of special accounting and is not confused with my personal affairs. This fund was to suffice to cover, more or less, the rent during the six years of the lease, according to the detailed account which I presented last time. Now, the contract expires within a year and the sum is coming to an end.

It is true that the capital of the fund was increased by various amounts. It is thus constituted:

1st – Donation of February, 1860.

10,000 fr.

2nd – Repayment of a loan made at an earlier time in the interest of Spiritism.

fr.

3rd – Donation made in 1862.

fr.

4th – Another donation made in September, 1864.

1,000 fr.

5th – Another donation made in October, 1864.

2,000 fr.

Total.

14,100 fr.

Since these last two amounts have a special destination, in truth only 11,100 francs are reserved for the rent, and they will not be sufficient.

But the rent is not the only expense incumbent upon Spiritism. I do not refer to the works of beneficence, which are a thing apart, of which we shall speak shortly. I take up another side of the question, and it is here that I claim your indulgence, on account of the necessity I am under of speaking of myself.

— Much has been said of the profit I drew from my works. Surely, no serious person believes in my millions, despite the assertion of those who claimed to know from a good source that I led a princely life, had carriages drawn by four horses, and that in my house I trod only on Aubusson carpets. Moreover, whatever the author of the pamphlet you know of may have said, proving, by hyperbolic calculations, that my budget of revenues exceeds the civil list of the most powerful sovereign of Europe (38 million, Review of June, 1862, and June, 1863) — which, be it said in passing, would attest to a truly miraculous development of the doctrine — there is a fact more authentic than these calculations: it is that I have never asked anything of anyone, no one has ever given me anything for myself personally; no collection of a single cent has come to provide for my needs; in a word, I do not live at anyone's expense, since, of the sums voluntarily entrusted to me in the interest of Spiritism, no portion has been diverted to my profit; and yet, one can see to what figures they amount. My immense riches would derive, then, from my Spiritist works. Although these works have had an unexpected success, one need only have a little familiarity with the business of bookselling to know that it is not with philosophical books that millions are amassed in five or six years, when on the sale one has only the author's royalty of a few cents per copy. But, much or little, this product being the fruit of my labor, no one has the right to interfere in the use I make of it; even were it to amount to millions, no one has anything to do with it, since the purchase of books, as well as the subscription to the Review, is optional and is not imposed in any circumstance, not even to attend the sessions of the Society. Speaking commercially, I am in the position of every man who gathers the fruit of his labor; I run the risk of every writer, who may as well triumph as fail.

Even though I have, in this particular, no account to render, I believe it useful to the very cause to which I have devoted myself to give some explanations.

First of all, I shall say that my works are not my exclusive property, which obliges me to buy them from my publisher and pay for them like a bookseller, with the exception of the Review, of which I kept the rights; that the profit is singularly diminished by uncollectible debts and by the free distributions, made in the interest of the Doctrine, to persons who, without this, would be deprived of them. A very easy calculation proves that the price of ten volumes lost or given away, which I nonetheless still pay for, is enough to absorb the profit of a hundred volumes. Let this be said by way of information and in parentheses. Adding everything up and striking the balance, there remains, nevertheless, something. Imagine whatever figure you wish; what do I do with it? This is what most preoccupies certain people.

— Whoever may formerly have seen our home and sees it today can attest that nothing has changed in our manner of living, since I have occupied myself with Spiritism; it is as simple now as it was in former times, because a sumptuous life is not in our tastes. So it is certain that my profits, however great they may be, do not serve to give us the pleasures of luxury. We have no children, therefore it is not for them that we economize; our indirect heirs are, for the most part, richer than we are; it would be naive of me to exhaust myself working for them. So would I have the mania of hoarding for the pleasure of contemplating my money? I believe that my character and my habits would never permit such a supposition to be made. Those who attribute such ideas to me know very little of my principles in matters of Spiritism, since they judge me to be so attached to the goods of the Earth. What do they claim? Since it does not profit me, the more fabulous the sum, the more embarrassing the answer would be. One day they will know the exact figure, as well as its detailed use, and the makers of tales will spare their imagination; today I limit myself to a few general data in order to put a check on ridiculous suppositions. To this end I must enter into some intimate details, but ones that are necessary, and for which I beg your pardon. We have always had something to live on, very modestly it is true, but what would have been little for certain people sufficed us, thanks to our tastes and habits of order and economy. To our small income there came to be added, as a supplement, the product of the works I published before Spiritism and that of a modest employment, which I found myself forced to leave when the labors of the Doctrine absorbed all my time.

— On the property I possess, and which remains to me as the remnant of what bad faith could not wrest from me, we could live tranquilly and far from the agitation of business. Drawing me out of obscurity, Spiritism came to cast me onto a new path; in a short time I found myself swept up in a movement which I was far from foreseeing. When I conceived the idea of The Spirits' Book, my intention was not to put myself in evidence and to remain unknown; but, quickly outstripped, this was not possible for me: I had to renounce my tastes for seclusion, on pain of abdicating the work undertaken and which was growing prodigiously; it was necessary to follow its impulse and take up its reins. If my name now has some popularity, surely it was not I who sought it, for it is well known that I owe it neither to propaganda nor to the camaraderie of the press, and that I never took advantage of my position and my connections to launch myself into the world, when this would have been easy for me. But, as the work grew, a vaster horizon unfolded before me, pushing back its limits; I then understood the immensity of my task and the importance of the work that remained for me to do in order to complete it. Far from frightening me, the difficulties and obstacles redoubled my energy; I saw the objective and resolved to reach it with the assistance of the good Spirits. I felt that I had no time to lose, and I lost none either in useless visits or in idle ceremonies; it was the work of my life: to it I gave all my time, I sacrificed my repose, my health, because the future was written before me in undeniable characters. I did so of my own impulse, and my wife, who is neither more ambitious nor more self-interested than I am, fully agreed with my views and seconded me in my laborious task, as she still does, by a labor often beyond her strength, sacrificing without regret the pleasures and distractions of the world, to which her family position had accustomed her.

— Without departing from our manner of life, this exceptional position nonetheless did not fail to create no fewer difficulties for us, for which my resources alone would not allow me to provide. It would be difficult to imagine the multiplicity of expenses it gives rise to and which, without it, I would have avoided. The necessity of residing in two different locations is, as I have already said, an addition of expenditure, by the obligation of having a double set of furniture, not to mention a host of small expenses required by this double dwelling and the losses that result from my material interests, neglected on account of the labors that absorb all my time. It is not a complaint that I voice, seeing that my present occupations are voluntary, but a fact that I note in response to those who assert that everything is profit for me in Spiritism. As for the special expenses arising from my position, it would be impossible to enumerate them; but if one considers that I have annually more than eight hundred francs of expenses in postage on letters, independently of travels, of the necessity of associating with someone to second me, and other small expenses, it will be understood that I do not exaggerate in saying that my annual expenses, which have grown without ceasing, are today more than tripled. One can form an approximate idea of how much this surplus has risen over eight years, considering the average of 6,000 francs per year. Now, no one will contest the usefulness of these expenses for the success of the Doctrine, which, evidently, would have languished, had I remained in my retreat, seeing no one and without the numerous connections I maintain daily. And yet, this is what I would have been obliged to do, if nothing had come to my aid. Well, gentlemen! what provided me with this supplement of resources was the product of my works. And I say it with satisfaction, for it was with my own labor, with the fruit of my vigils, that I provided, at least for the greater part, for the material needs of the establishment of the Doctrine. Thus, I brought a large share to the fund of Spiritism. It pleased God that it should find within itself its first means of action. In the beginning, I lamented that my small fortune did not allow me to do what I wished to do for the good of the cause; today I see therein the finger of Providence and the realization of that prediction so often repeated by the good Spirits: Do not be anxious about anything; God knows what you need and will know how to provide it.

— Had I employed the product of my works in the increase of my material pleasures, it would have been to the detriment of Spiritism; nevertheless, no one would have had the right to censure me, because I was indeed master to dispose at will of that which I owed only to myself; but, because I deprived myself before, I could also deprive myself after; in applying it to the work, I believe that no one will find it to be money ill employed, and those who help to propagate the works will not be able to say that they labor to enrich me.

To provide for the present was not everything: it was necessary to think of the future and to prepare a foundation which, after me, might help the one who will replace me in the great task he will have to fulfill. This foundation, about which I must still keep silent, is connected with the property I possess, and it is in view of this that I apply a part of my products to improving it. As I am far from the millions with which I have been credited, and despite my economies, I much doubt that my personal resources will allow me to give to this foundation the complement which in my lifetime I wished to destine for it. But, since its realization is in the plans of my spiritual guides, if I do not accomplish it myself, it is probable that one day or another it will be done. While I wait, I work out the projects on paper.

Far from me, gentlemen, the thought of drawing the least vanity from what I have just set forth to you. It took the perseverance of certain diatribes to engage me, though reluctantly, to break the silence about some facts concerning me. Later, all that malevolence has been pleased to distort will be brought to light by authentic documents; but the time for these explanations has not yet come. The only thing that mattered to me at the moment was that you should be enlightened about the destination of the funds that Providence has caused to pass through my hands, whatever their origin. I consider myself only as a depositary, even of those I earn and, with all the stronger reason, of those entrusted to me and of which I shall render rigorous accounts. I sum up, saying: for myself I have no need; which means to say that I draw no profit from them.

— It remains for me still to speak, gentlemen, of the fund of beneficence. You know that it was formed, without premeditated design, from some amounts deposited in my hands for works of charity, but without special application, to which I add those which, from time to time, are found without a determined use. The first donation made with this object was that of an amount of 200 francs, sent on the 20th of August, 1863. The following year, on the 17th of August, 1864, the same person remitted to me an identical sum of 200 francs. On the 1st of September, during my journey, another person sent me 100 francs. At the time of the subscriptions published in the Review, several persons added to their remittances amounts of lesser importance, with optional use. Recently, on the 28th of last April, someone remitted to me 500 francs. The total of receipts has risen today to 1,317 francs. The total of expenses, in various aids, donations, or loans not yet repaid, amounts to 1,060 francs. At present there remain to me in the fund 257 francs.

— Someone asked me one day, without curiosity, of course, and out of mere interest in the cause, what I would do with a million, if I had it. I answered him that today its use would be wholly different from what I would have done at the beginning. Formerly I would have made propaganda by a broad publicity; now I recognized that this would have been useless, for our adversaries had taken charge of it at their own expense. Not putting great resources at my disposal, then, the Spirits wished to prove that Spiritism owed its success only to itself, to its own force, and not to the employment of vulgar means.

Today, now that the horizon has widened, above all now that the future has unfolded, needs of a wholly different order make themselves felt. A capital such as the one you suppose would receive a more useful employment. Without entering into details, which would be premature, I shall say simply that one part would serve to convert my property into a special house of Spiritist retreat, whose inhabitants would gather the benefits of our moral doctrine; the other would constitute an inalienable income, destined: 1st – to maintain the establishment; 2nd – to assure an existence to whoever succeeds me and to those who help him in his mission; 3rd – to provide for the current needs of Spiritism, without recourse to occasional products, as I am obliged to do, since the greater part of the resources rests upon my labor, which will have an end.

This is what I would do; but if this satisfaction is not granted to me, it matters little to me that it be granted to others. Besides, in one way or another, I know that the Spirits who direct the movement will provide for all needs in due time; this is why I am not in the least anxious about it and occupy myself with what, for me, is essential: the conclusion of the labors that remain for me to finish. This done, I shall depart when it pleases God to call me.

— It is surprising that certain personages highly placed, and notoriously sympathetic to the Spiritist idea, do not openly, and officially, take up the cause in question. It will be said that this would be their duty, since Spiritism is an essentially moralizing and humanitarian work. They forget that such persons, by their very position, have more than others to struggle against prejudices that only time will make disappear, and which will fall before the ascendancy of opinion. Let us say, moreover, that Spiritism is still in a state of outline and that it has not said the last word; the general principles are settled, but only the consequences are glimpsed, which are not and cannot yet be clearly defined. Until now it is no more than a philosophical doctrine, whose application must be awaited for the great questions of general interest. Only then will many people understand its true scope and usefulness and be able to pronounce upon it with knowledge of the matter. Until Spiritism has completed its work, the good it does is limited; being able to be only an individual belief, an official adherence would be premature and impossible. There, indeed, many of those who today regard it as a futile thing will of necessity change their way of seeing and will be led, by the very force of things, to make a serious study of it. Let us then let it grow, and let us not ask that it be a man before having been a child. Let us not ask of infancy what only virile age can give. A. K.

Note. – This exposition had been made only for the Society; but, its insertion in the Review having been requested unanimously, we deemed it well to accede to that wish. [See the 4th article following: The two spies.]