Press Review.

The majority of newspapers reported the death of Mr. Allan Kardec, and some of them, to the mere account of the facts, added comments on his character and his works which would not fit here. When he could have victoriously refuted certain unhealthy and lying diatribes, Mr. Allan Kardec always disdained to do so, considering silence as the noblest and best of replies. In this respect we shall follow his example, remembering, moreover, that one envies only great personalities and attacks only great works, whose vitality can cast a shadow. But if jests without consistency did not disturb us, we were, on the contrary, deeply touched by the justice rendered in a certain number of organs of the press to the memory of our beloved president. We ask them to receive here, in the name of the family and of the Spiritists of the whole world, the testimonies of our profound gratitude.

For lack of space, we publish only two of these characteristic articles, which will prove abundantly to our readers that there are in Literature and in Science men who know how, when circumstances demand it, to raise high and courageously the banner that unites them, in a common ascent toward universal progress and solidarity.

[ALEXANDRE DESLIENS.]

Paris Newspaper.

(April 3, 1869.)

“He who, for so long, figured in the scientific world under the pseudonym of Allan Kardec, had Rivail for his name and died at the age of 65.

“We saw him lying on a simple mattress, in the midst of that hall of sessions which he had presided over for so many years; we saw him with a calm countenance, as those are extinguished whom death does not surprise, and who, tranquil as to the result of an honest and laboriously fulfilled life, leave as it were a reflection of the purity of their soul upon the body they abandon to matter. “Resigned by faith in a better life and by the conviction of the immortality of the soul, numerous disciples came to gaze for the last time upon those pale lips which, only yesterday, spoke to them the language of the Earth. But they already had the consolation from beyond the tomb; the Spirit of Allan Kardec had come to tell how his release had been, what his first impressions were, which of his predecessors in death had come to help his soul detach itself from matter. If “The Style is the man,” those who knew Allan Kardec alive could only be moved by the authenticity of that Spiritist communication. “The death of Allan Kardec is remarkable for a strange coincidence. The Society formed by this great popularizer of Spiritism had just come to an end. The premises abandoned, the furniture gone, nothing remained of a past that was to be reborn on new foundations. At the end of the last session, the president had bidden his farewells; his mission fulfilled, he withdrew from the daily struggle to devote himself entirely to the study of spiritualist philosophy. Others, younger – valiant ones! – were to continue the work and, strong in their virility, to impose the truth by conviction. “What use is there in recounting the details of the death? What does it matter the manner in which the instrument broke, and why devote a line to those remains now integrated into the immense movement of molecules? Allan Kardec died in his hour. With him closed the prologue of a vivacious religion which, radiating each day, will soon have illuminated Humanity. No one better than Allan Kardec could have brought to a good end this work of propaganda, to which it had been necessary to sacrifice the long vigils that nourish the spirit, the patience that educates with time, the abnegation that confronts the foolishness of the present, in order to see only the radiance of the future. “By his works, Allan Kardec will have founded the dogma foreseen by the most ancient societies. His name, esteemed as that of a man of good, has long been spread by those who believe and by those who fear. It is difficult to do good without colliding with established interests.

“Spiritism destroys many abuses; – it also raises up again many saddened consciences, giving them the conviction of the trial and the consolation of the future.

“Today the Spiritists weep for the friend who leaves them, because our understanding, too material, so to speak, cannot bend to this idea of the passage; but, the first tribute paid to the inferiority of our organism, the thinker raises his head toward that invisible world which he feels exists beyond the tomb and extends his hand to the friend who has gone, convinced that his Spirit always protects us. “The president of the Society of Paris has died, but the number of adepts grows day by day, and the valiant ones, whose respect for the master kept them in the background, will not hesitate to assert themselves, for the good of the great cause.

“This death, which the common crowd will let pass with indifference, is nonetheless a great fact for Humanity. It is no longer the sepulcher of a man, it is the tombstone filling the immense void that materialism had dug at our feet and over which Spiritism scatters the flowers of hope.

Pagès de Noyes.

Magnetic Union.

(April 10, 1869.)

“Yet another death, and a death that will cause a great void in the ranks of the adepts of Spiritism.

“All the newspapers devoted a special article to the memory of this man who knew how to make a name for himself and to stand out among contemporary celebrities.

“The close relations which, in our opinion, very certainly exist between Spiritist and magnetic phenomena impose on us the duty to recall with sympathy a man whose beliefs are shared by a certain number of our colleagues and subscribers, and who had tried to make pass for science a doctrine of which he was, in a way, the living personification.

A. Bauche.