The Spiritist Party.

— Spiritists indeed considered themselves a philosophical school, but it had never come into their minds to regard themselves as a party. Now, behold, one fine day the Moniteur gives them this news, which surprised them somewhat. And who was it that bestowed this designation upon them? Was it one of those unscrupulous journalists who fling epithets about at random, without understanding their import? No; it is an official report, made to the foremost body of the State, to the Senate. Thus it is not likely that, in a document of this nature, this word would have been uttered lightly. Doubtless it was not benevolence that dictated it, but it was said, and it succeeds, because the newspapers did not let it fall. Some, believing they had found in it one more grievance against Spiritism, had nothing more urgent to do than to print in their columns the title: The Spiritist Party. Thus this poor little school, so ridiculed, so humiliated, which they charitably proposed to send en masse to the madhouse; of which they said that one had only to blow upon it for it to vanish; which twenty times they declared dead and buried forever; to which there is no more refined hostile writer who has not prided himself on having dealt it the coup de grâce, while admitting, with stupefaction, that it was invading the world and all classes of society; of which they wished, at all costs, to make a religion, gratifying it with temples and priests, great and small, which it never saw — there it is, suddenly transformed into a party. By this designation, Mr. Genteur, the reporter of the Senate, did not give it its true character, but exalted it; he gave it a position, a place, putting it in evidence. For the idea of a party implies that of a certain force, of an opinion important enough, active enough, and widespread enough to play a role, and with which one must reckon. By its nature and by its principles, Spiritism is essentially peaceful; it is an idea that infiltrates without noise, and if it finds numerous adherents, it is because it pleases; it has never made propaganda nor any displays whatever; strong by the natural laws upon which it rests, seeing itself grow without efforts or upheavals, it goes out to meet no one, it does violence to no conscience; it says what it is and waits for people to come to it. All the noise made around it is the work of its adversaries; they attacked it, it had to defend itself, but it always did so with calm, moderation, and by reasoning alone; it never departed from the dignity proper to every cause that is conscious of its moral force; it never resorted to reprisals, repaying injury with injury, ill conduct with ill conduct. They will agree that this is not the ordinary character of parties, turbulent by nature, fomenting agitation, and for whom anything is good to attain their ends. But, since they give it this name, it accepts it, certain that it will not dishonor it by any excess, for it would repudiate whoever should avail himself of it to stir up the slightest disturbance. Spiritism was following its course without provoking any public manifestation, but profiting from the publicity given it by its adversaries; the more mocking, acrimonious, and virulent their criticism was, the more it excited the curiosity of those who did not know it and who, in order to know how to behave in the face of this so-called new eccentricity, simply went to inform themselves at the source, that is, in the special works; they studied it and found something other than what they had heard said. It is a well-known fact that the furious declamations, the anathemas, and the persecutions powerfully aided its propagation, because, instead of diverting attention from it, they provoked examination of it, even if only through the attraction of the forbidden fruit. The masses have their logic; they tell themselves that if a thing were nothing, no one would speak of it, and they measure its importance precisely by the violence of the attacks of which it is the object and by the dread it causes its antagonists. Instructed by experience, certain organs of publicity abstained from speaking of it, for good or ill, even avoiding pronouncing its name, so as not to give it repercussion, limiting themselves, from time to time, to launching a few violent attacks against it on the sly, when some circumstance forcibly put it in evidence. Some also kept silent, because the idea had penetrated into their ranks and, with it, if not perhaps conviction, at least hesitation.

So the press in general was silent about Spiritism, when a circumstance, which could not be the work of chance, obliged it to speak of it. And who provoked the incident? Always the adversaries of the idea who, once again, were mistaken, producing an effect entirely contrary to what they expected. To give more repercussion to their attack, they conducted it with little skill, not in the arena of a sheet without official character and whose number of readers is limited, but by way of petitions to the very tribune of the Senate, where it became the object of discussion and from which came the expression Spiritist party. Now, thanks to the newspapers of every coloring, obliged to report the debate, the existence of this little party was instantly revealed to all of Europe and beyond. It is true that a member of the illustrious assembly said that there were none but simpletons who were Spiritists, to which the president replied that fools too could form a party. No one is unaware that today Spiritists number in the millions, and that high notabilities sympathize with their beliefs; it is, therefore, astonishing that an epithet so little courteous and so generalized should have issued from that chamber, directed at a notable part of the population, without the author having reflected on how far it reached.

Moreover, the newspapers themselves took it upon themselves to belie such a designation, certainly not out of benevolence, but no matter! The newspaper Liberté, among others, which apparently does not wish one to be free to be a Spiritist, as one is free to be a Jew, a Protestant, a Saint-Simonian, or a free-thinker, published, in its issue of June 13, an article signed by Liévin, of which here is an extract:

— “Mr. Genteur, government commissioner, revealed to the Senate the existence of a party that we did not know, and which, like the others, seems to contribute, to the limit of its strength, to shaking the institutions of the empire.” Its influence had already made itself felt last year, and the Spiritist party — the name given it by Mr. Genteur — had obtained from the Senate, doubtless thanks to the subtlety of the means at its disposal, the referral to the government of the famous Saint-Étienne petition, in which were denounced, as is recalled, not the materialist tendencies of the School of Medicine, but the philosophical tendencies of the commune's library. Until now we had attributed to the party of intolerance the honor of that success, and we considered it in itself as a consolation for its latest reverse; but it seems that we had been mistaken and that the Saint-Étienne petition was nothing but a maneuver of this Spiritist party, whose hidden power seems to wish to be exercised more particularly to the detriment of libraries. “Thus, on Monday the Senate occupied itself with a new petition, in which the Spiritist party, again raising its head, denounced the tendencies of the library of Oullins (Rhône). But this time the venerable assembly, put on its guard by Mr. Genteur's revelations, frustrated the calculations of the Spiritists, by a unanimous order of the day. Only Mr. Nisard let himself be caught more or less by this ruse of war, and in good faith extended his hand to these perfidious enemies. He gave them the support of an opinion in which, in turn, he pointed out the dangers of bad books. Fortunately the honorable senator's misapprehension was not shared, and the Spiritists, repentant and confused, were led back as they deserved.” Another newspaper — Revue politique hebdomadaire — of June 13, thus begins an article on the same subject:

“We did not yet know all our dangers. If the Constitutionnel is to be believed, were the legitimist, Orleanist, republican, socialist, communist, and red parties not enough, not to mention the liberal party, which sums them all up? Was it indeed under the Second Empire, whose pretension is to dissolve all parties, that a new party was to be born, to grow and threaten French society, the Spiritist party? Yes, the Spiritist party! It was Mr. Genteur, Councilor of State, who discovered it and who denounced it in full Senate.”

— It is hard to understand how a party composed only of fools can make the State run serious dangers; to be terrified by this would be to make people believe that one is afraid of buffoons. By uttering this cry of alarm in the face of the world, one proves that the Spiritist party is something. Having been unable to stifle it under ridicule, they attempt to present it as a danger to public tranquility. Now, what will be the inevitable result of this new tactic? An examination all the more serious and profound the more its danger has been exalted; people will want to know the doctrines of this party, its principles, its watchword, its affiliations. If the ridicule cast upon Spiritism, as a belief, awakened curiosity, it will be quite another thing when it is presented as a fearsome party; each one is interested in knowing what it wants, where it leads: that is all it asks; acting openly, having no secret instruction, beyond what is published for the use of all the world, it fears no investigation, certain as it is, on the contrary, of gaining by being known, and that whoever scrutinizes it with impartiality will see in its moral code a powerful guarantee of order and security. A party, for it is a party, that inscribes on its banner: Outside charity there is no salvation, indicates its tendencies with sufficient clarity that no one has reason to fear it. Besides, the authorities, whose vigilance is well known, cannot be ignorant of the principles of a doctrine that does not hide itself. There is no lack of people to give it an account of what is said and done in Spiritist gatherings, and it would well know how to call to order those that strayed from it. It is astonishing that men who make a profession of liberalism, who insistently demand liberty, who want it absolute for their ideas, their writings, their meetings, who stigmatize all acts of intolerance, should wish to proscribe it for Spiritism.

— But see to what inconsistencies blindness leads! The debate that took place in the Senate was provoked by two petitions: one, from last year, against the library of Saint-Étienne; the other, from this year, against the library of Oullins, signed by some inhabitants of those cities, who protested against the introduction, into those libraries, of certain works, among whose number figured the Spiritist works.

Well then! the author of the article in the newspaper Liberté, who doubtless examined the question somewhat lightly, imagines that the protest emanates from the Spiritist party, and concludes that the latter received a blow on the head by the order of the day pronounced against the Oullins petition. There, then, is this party so dangerous, so easily overthrown, and which petitions to ask for the exclusion of its own works! Then it would truly be the party of fools. Besides, this strange misapprehension is in no way surprising, since the author declares, at the outset, that he did not know this party, which does not prevent him from declaring it capable of shaking the institutions of the empire. Far from worrying about these incidents, Spiritists should rejoice; this hostile manifestation could not have occurred in more favorable circumstances, and the Doctrine will surely receive a new and salutary impulse, as has happened in all the uprisings of which it has been the object. The more these attacks reverberate, the more profitable they will be. A day will come when they will be transmuted into open approvals.

— The newspaper Siècle, of June 18, also published its article on the Spiritist party. Everyone will note in it a spirit of moderation, which contrasts with the two others we have mentioned; we reproduce it in full:

“Who said that there is nothing new under the sun? The skeptic who spoke thus did not suspect that one day the imagination of a Councilor of State would make, in full Senate, the discovery of the Spiritist party. We already counted several parties in France, and God knows whether the ministerial orators are wrong to enumerate the dangers that this division of minds can cause! There is the legitimist party, the Orleanist party, the republican party, the socialist party, the communist party, the clerical party, etc., etc.

“The list did not seem long enough to Mr. Genteur. He has just denounced to the vigilance of the venerable fathers of politics, who have their seat in the Palace of the Luxembourg, the existence of the Spiritist party. At this unexpected revelation, a frisson ran through the assembly. The defenders of the two moralities, with Mr. Nisard at their head, shuddered.

“What! In spite of the zeal of those innumerable functionaries, the French empire is threatened by a new party? — Truly, it is enough to make one despair of public order. How could this enemy, invisible until now even to Mr. Genteur himself, have concealed itself from all eyes? There is in this a mystery which the Councilor of State, if he penetrates it, might well help us to understand. Persons officially informed assert that the Spiritist party hid the army of its representatives — the rapping Spirits — behind the books of the libraries of Saint-Étienne and of Oullins.

“Here we are, then, back to the fine days of nursery tales, of turning tables and indiscreet little tables on hen's feet!

“Although Spiritism and its first apostle, Mr. Delage — the gentlest of preachers — have not yet convinced many people, nevertheless they have come to constitute a party. This at least is said in the Senate, and it will not be we who shall ever permit ourselves to doubt the exactness of what is affirmed in a place so important.

“The hidden influence of the recently noted party made itself felt even in the last discussion of the Senate, where Mr. Désiré Nisard, one of the chief men, showed himself strong against the reactionaries. Such a role belonged by right to the man who was, ever since leaving the École Normale, one of the most active agents of retrograde ideas.

“After this, is it to be wondered at to hear the honorable senator invoke arbitrary power to justify the restrictive measures taken with regard to the choice of books for the library of Oullins? ‘These popular establishments,’ says Mr. Nisard, ‘are founded by associations; they are, therefore, under the provisions of article 291 of the Penal Code and, consequently, at the mercy of the Minister of the Interior. He has used, uses, and will use this dictatorship.’ “We leave to the Spiritist party and to its Christopher Columbus, Mr. Genteur, Councilor of State, the care of interrogating the revealing Spirits, so that they may tell us what the Senate hopes to obtain by preventing citizens from freely organizing popular libraries, as is practiced in England?”

Anatole de la Forge.

[Review of August.]

THE SPIRITIST PARTY.

One of our correspondents from Sens transmitted to us the following observations, on the designation of party, given to Spiritism, apropos of our article of the month of July on the same subject.

“In an article in the last issue of the Review, entitled: The Spiritist party, you say that, since they thus name Spiritism, it accepts it. But ought it to accept it?

This perhaps deserves serious examination.

“Do not all religions, as well as Spiritism, teach that all men are brothers, that they are all children of a common father, who is God? Now, ought there to be parties among the children of God? Is it not an offense to the Creator? for it is proper to parties to arm men against one another; and can the imagination conceive a greater crime than to arm the children of God against one another?

“Such are, sir, the reflections that I deemed I should submit to your appreciation. Perhaps it would be opportune to submit them, also, to that of the benevolent Spirits who guide the labors of Spiritism, in order to know their opinion. This question is perhaps graver than it appears at first sight. For my part, it would repel me to belong to a party. I believe that Spiritism should regard parties as an offense to God.”

We are perfectly in agreement with our honorable correspondent, whose intention we can only praise. Nevertheless, we believe that his scruples are a little exaggerated in the case at issue, doubtless because he has not examined the question sufficiently.

The word party implies, by its etymology, the idea of division, of schism, and, consequently, that of struggle, of aggression, of violence, of intolerance; of hatred, of animosity, of vengeance, all things contrary to the spirit of Spiritism. Spiritism having none of these characters, since it repudiates them by its very tendencies, it is not a party in the vulgar acceptation of the word, and our correspondent is quite right to reject the designation from this point of view.

But to the name of party is also attached the idea of a force, physical or moral, strong enough to weigh in the balance, preponderant enough that one can count on it; applying it to Spiritism, little or not at all known, is to give it an act of notorious existence, a position among opinions, to attest its importance and, as a consequence, to provoke its examination, which it does not cease to ask. Under this aspect, it should repudiate this designation all the less, while making reservations on the sense to attach to it, inasmuch as, coming from on high, it gave an official denial to those who claim that Spiritism is a myth without consistency, who boasted of having buried it twenty times. It was possible to judge of the import of this word by the clumsy ardor with which certain organs of the press seized upon it to transform it into a scarecrow. It is by this consideration, and in this sense, that we said that Spiritism accepts the title of party, since it is given to it, because it was to magnify it in the eyes of the public; but we did not have in view to make it lose its essential quality, that of a moralizing philosophical doctrine, which is its glory and its strength. Far from us, then, the thought of transforming into partisans the adepts of a doctrine of peace, of tolerance, of charity, and of fraternity. The word party, moreover, does not always imply the idea of struggle, of hostile sentiments; does one not say: the party of peace? the party of honest persons? Spiritism has already proved, and will always prove, that it belongs to this category. For the rest, do what it may, Spiritism cannot help being a party. Indeed, what is a party, abstraction made of the idea of struggle? it is an opinion that is shared only by a part of the population. But this designation is given only to opinions that count a number of adherents considerable enough to draw attention and to play a role. Now, not yet being shared by all, the Spiritist opinion is, necessarily, a party in relation to the contrary opinions that combat it, until it has united all of them. By virtue of its principles, it is not aggressive; it does not impose itself; it does not subjugate; it asks for itself only the liberty to think in its own manner, so be it; but, since it is attacked, treated as a pariah, it must defend itself and claim for itself what is common right; it must, it is its duty, under pain of being accused of renouncing its cause, which is that of all its brethren in belief, which it could not abandon without cowardice. It enters, then, forcibly into the struggle, however great the repugnance it experiences; it is the enemy of no one, it is true, but it has enemies who seek to crush it; it is by its firmness, by its perseverance, and by its courage that it will impose itself upon them; its weapons are completely different from those of its adversaries, that too is true; but it does not cease to be for them, and in spite of them, a party, for they would not have given it this title had they not deemed it strong enough to counterbalance them. Such are the motives for which we deemed that Spiritism could accept the designation of party, which was given to it by its antagonists, without having taken it for itself, because that was to accept the challenge thrown down to it. We think that it could, without repudiating its principles.