The Consolidator; or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World in the Moon

by Daniel Defoe

They proscrib'd him in Print for Crimes they could never prove, they branded him with Forgery, Adultery, Drunkenness, Swearing, breaking Jayl, and abundance of Crimes; but when Matters were examin'd and things came to the Test, they could never prove the least thing upon him.----- In this manner however they continually worryed the poor Man, till they ruin'd his Family and reduc'd him to Beggary; and tho' he came out of the Prison they cast him into by the meer force of Innocence, yet they never left persuing him with all sorts of violence.------ At last they made use of their Brother of the Girdle who was in Commission as above, and this Man being High Priest and Lazonian too, by the first was a Party, and by the last had a Power to act the Tragedy they had plotted against the poor Man.

In short, they seiz'd him without any Crime alledg'd, took violently from him his Licence, as a Crolian Priest, by which the Law justify'd what he had done, pretending it was forg'd, and after very ill Treating him, condemn'd him to the Wars, delivers him up for a Souldier, and accordingly carry'd him away.

But it happen'd, to their great Mortification, that this Man found more Mercy from the Men of the Sword, than from those of the Word, and so found means to get out of their Hands, and afterwards to undeceive all the Moon, both as to his own Character, and as to what he had Suffer'd.

For some of the Crolians, who began to be made sensible of the Injury done the poor Man, advis'd him to have recourse to the Law, and to bring his Adversaries before the Criminal Bar.

But as soon as this was done, good God! what a Scene of Villainy was here opened: The poor Man brought up such a Cloud of Witnesses to confront every Article of their Charge, and to vindicate his own Character, that when the very Judges heard it, tho' they were all Solunarians themselves, they held up their Hands, and declar'd in open Court it was the deepest Track of Villany that ever came before them, and that the Actors ought to be made Examples to all the Moon.

The Persons concern'd, us'd all possible Arts to avoid, or at least to delay the Shame, and adjourn the Punishment, thinking still to weary the poor Man out.------ But now his Brethren the Crolians began to see themselves wounded thro' his Sides, and above all, finding his Innocence clear'd up beyond all manner of dispute, they espous'd his Cause, and assisted him to prosecute his Enemies, which he did, till he brought them all to Justice, expos'd them to the last Degree, obtain'd the reparation of all his Losses, and a publick Decree of the Judges of his Justification and future Repose.

Indeed when I saw the Proceedings against this poor Man run to a heighth so extravagant and monstrous, when I found Malice, Forgery, Subornation, Perjury, and a thousand unjustifiable Things which their own Sense, if they had any, might ha' been their Protection against, and which any Child in the Moon might ha' told them must one time or other come upon the Stage and expose them; I began to think these People were all in the Crolian Plot too.

For really such Proceedings as these were the greatest pieces of Service to the Crolians as could possibly be done; for as it generally proves in other Places as well as in the Moon, that Mischief unjustly contriv'd falls upon the Head of the Authors, and redounds to their treble Dishonour, so it was here; the barbarity and inhumane Treatment of this Man, made the sober and honest Part even of the Solanarians themselves blush for their Brethren, and own that the Punishment awarded on them was just.

Thus the Crolians got ground by the Folly and Madness of their Enemies, and the very Engines and Plots laid to injure them, serv'd to bring their Enemies on the Stage, and expose both them and their Cause.

But this was not all, by these incessant Attacks on them as a Party, they began to come to their Senses out of a 50 Year slumber, they found the Law on their side, and the Government Moderate and Just; they found they might oppose Violence with Law, and that when they did fly to the Refuge of Justice, they always had the better of their Enemy; flusht with this Success, it put them upon considering what Fools they had been all along to bear the Insolence of a few hot-headed Men, who contrary to the true Intent and Meaning of the Queen, or of the Government, had resolv'd their Destruction.