The first American King

by George Gordon Hastings

“Let us be seated,” answered the High President. “I have much to say to you and much may depend upon our conference. I see that you have smoking materials on the table. Pray smoke, if it please you, and if you think it will add calmness and wisdom to our deliberations.”

Professor Dean had thus far not uttered a single word. There was a strange straining and puzzling going on in his mind. Certain accents in the voice of the High President struck upon his ear with a strange familiarity. Where before had he heard that voice? Was it among some of those whom he had recently met, or was it merely a resemblance conveying a suggestion of his former life—of the long ago?

They took their seats about the table and faced each other for a moment. Then the High President spoke.

“As I have told you,” he said, “this body is known as the Federated Nihilists of America—a body which you, Captain Mortimer, have doubtless now and again vaguely heard referred to as ‘The Reactionists.’ Nothing could be more inaccurate, or misleading, than this term, inasmuch as the entire spirit of our organization is directly opposed to reaction. The royalists call us ‘Reactionists’ because they believe our aim is to upset the monarchical establishment and revert to the former Republic. Nothing could be more wrong, and I say to you frankly that between the Monarchy of to-day and the old-time Republic, as it existed prior to the crowning of the first American King, the Monarchy is the better institution.”

“If you admit that,” said Mortimer argumentatively, “what is it you seek to attain?”

“That which the title of our organization implies,” replied the High President. “We style ourselves Nihilists and, as you know, the word Nihil is from the Latin and signifies ‘Nothing.’ First, existing institutions must be wiped out—reduced to nothing—before we can build up the new. Our aim is to extinguish—to annihilate—to destroy—not only the existing monarchy, not only all relics and customs which have been handed down to us from the Republic preceding that monarchy, but all existing institutions. We regard these existing institutions as so unsatisfactory, so corrupt, so vile that it would be a useless task to seek to better them. You will never reach a given point, no matter how you may press onward or take turns to the right or to the left, if you are on entirely the wrong road. So it is with existing institutions. The conditions are so utterly and hopelessly wrong that it is a useless task to seek to improve them. The only recourse is to wipe everything out and build up entirely anew.”

“Wasn’t that idea formulated in Russia a long time ago?” asked Mortimer thoughtfully.

“The idea was agitated in Russia over a century ago,” replied the High President, “and its advocates prosecuted in a more or less crude and barbarous fashion their ideas and their plans. It does not follow that because an idea is old, it is devoid of merit. On the contrary, nearly all the great ideas and movements in this world have been in existence a long time—have been old—before the world has finally accepted them. The soil of Russia, however, never was a suitable soil for the cultivation of the plant of Liberty. Here in the broad, free American air, Liberty will flourish and give to mankind a new and happier era. Our Nihilism, while founded upon the same basic principle, is in its practical workings upon a far more scientific foundation. It is a Nihilism brought down to the requirements and the civilization of the twentieth century.”

“And you really think this Nihilism of yours, with its Russian origin and its later-day modifications and improvements as worked out by you, better for the American people than the Monarchy?” asked Mortimer.

“Undoubtedly,” answered the High President. “The American atmosphere and the genius of the American people are not really suited to a monarchy, although thanks to the trend of peculiar circumstances those forces here which favor that form of government—and I will admit they are by no means few or lacking in influence and power—have for the time being the upper hand. The real mission, however, of Americans, with all their faults and foibles, is to teach the world at large new and greater forms of liberty and human happiness, ever growing grander and greater throughout the successive cycles of time.”