The Countess of Rudolstadt / A Sequel to "Consuelo"

by George Sand

"I think not, but it is all contained in the spirit of the evangelists."

"We are satisfied with your answers, and receive the oath you have taken. Now we will teach you your duties to God and us. Learn then, in the first place, the three words which are the secret of our mysteries, and which to many who are affiliated with us, are revealed with much precaution and delay. You do not require a long apprenticeship, yet some thought is needed to make you comprehend all their significance. These words are, Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality. This is the mysterious and profound formula of the creed of the Invisibles."

"They contain all the mystery?"

"They seem to contain none; but examine the condition of society, and you will see, that to men used to be governed by despotism, inequality, and antagonism, it is either an education, a conversion, or a whole revelation that enables them thoroughly to comprehend the social necessity and moral obligation of this triple precept—liberty, equality, fraternity. The small number of enlightened minds, of pure hearts, which protest naturally against the disorder and injustice of tyranny, at once appreciate the secret doctrine. Their progress is rapid, for it is only necessary to teach them the modes of application which we have discovered. To the greater number, to men of the world, to courtiers and nobles, imagine with what care and precaution the sacred formula of the immortal work must be given. It must be surrounded with symbols and concealment. It is necessary to explain to them that we speak only of fictitious liberty, and restraint on the exercise of individual thought—of relative equality, extended merely to the members of our association, and practicable only in secret and benevolent meetings—of a romantic fraternity, agreed to between a certain number of persons, and restricted to fugitive services, a few good works, and to mutual aid. To these slaves of habit and prejudice, our mysteries are but the statutes of heroic orders, revived from ancient chivalry, and impeaching the constituted authorities in no manner, bringing no relief to the miseries of the people. They reach only the insignificant grades, the degrees of frivolous science or common-place precedence. For them there is a series of whimsical initiations, which gratify their curiosity, without elevating their minds."

"Of what use are they?" asked Consuelo, who listened attentively.

"To protect and countenance those who comprehend and know," said the initiator. "This will be explained to you. Europe (Germany and France especially) is filled with secret societies, subterranean laboratories, in which is being prepared a great revolution, the crater of which is France or Germany. The key to it is in our hands: we seek to retain the direction of all associations, without the knowledge of a majority of the members, and unknown to the separate organizations. Though as yet our object be not attained, we have established a position everywhere, and the most eminent of the affiliated of those societies are our friends, and assist our efforts. We will introduce you into these sacred sanctuaries, into these profane temples, for corruption and frivolity also have erected their cities, in some of which vice and virtue toil to the same end—reformation, without the evil being aware of its association with the good. Such is the universal law of conspiracies. You will be aware of the secret of the freemasons, a great brotherhood, who, under various forms, and with various ideas, toil to organise the practice and to diffuse the idea of equality. You will receive the degree of all rites, though women are admitted only by adoption, and do not share all the secrets of the doctrines. We will treat you as a man—we will give you the insignia, documents, and all the formula required for the relations we wish you to establish with the lodges, and for the negotiations we wish to carry on with them. Your profession, your wandering life, your talent, the influence of your sex, youth, and beauty, your virtues, your courage, and your propriety fit you for your part, and are sufficient vouchers for you. Your past life, the least details of which we know, suffice to assure us. You have voluntarily undergone more than mysteries could invent, and you have passed them more strongly and victoriously than do their adepts the vain simulacra intended to test their constancy. Moreover, the wife and pupil of Albert of Rudolstadt is our daughter, sister, and equal. Like Albert, we profess to believe in the divine equality of man and woman; forced, however, to confess, from the unfortunate results of the education of your sex, from its social position and habits, the existence of a dangerous volatility and capricious instinct, we cannot carry out this idea in all its extent. We can confide only in a small number of women. Some secrets we will confide to you alone.

"The other secret societies of Europe will be also opened to you by the talisman with which we will invest you. In order that in whatever country you may be, you may aid us and our cause, you will even enter, if it be necessary, into the impure society of the masses, and penetrate the retreats and become the associate of the vicious, the debauched, and the abandoned. To them you will carry reform, and the idea of a pure and better understood equality. You will be as unsullied by such a mission, by witnessing the depravity of the high-born and noble, as you have been by the freedom of intercourse which reigns behind the scenes. You will be a sister of charity to the depraved and abandoned. We will also give you the means of destroying the habits which you cannot correct. You will act chiefly on females, and your genius and fame will open the doors of palaces to you. Trenck's love, and our protection, have already unfolded to you the heart of a great princess. You will come in contact with much more illustrious persons in the execution of the duties of your mission, and will use your influence to make them our auxiliaries. The methods to be pursued successfully will be imparted to you in secret communications, and the special education you will receive from us. In every court and in every city of Europe which you may enter, we will provide you friends, brothers, associates, to aid and protect you in the dangers attendant on your mission. Large sums will be confided to you, to aid the unfortunate of our brethren wherever you may meet them, and those who make the signals of distress, thus invoking the assistance of our order. You will establish secret societies among women, founded on the principles of our own, but adapted in manners and usage to different countries and classes. You will toil to effect as far as possible the cordial assimilation of the noble lady and the bourgeoise—the rich and the tradeswoman—the virtuous matron and the artiste adventuress. Toleration and benevolence will be the formula modified from our more austere rule of equality and fraternity, to adapt it to society. You perceive, then, that from the very outset your mission will be glorious to your fame, as well as gentle in its character; yet it is not without danger. We are powerful, but treason may destroy our enterprise, and bury you amid its ruins. Spandau may not be the last of your prisons, nor the passion of Frederick II. the only trial you will be called on to brave. You must be prepared for dangers and difficulties, and consecrated in advance to martyrdom and persecution."

"I am," answered Consuelo, with firmness, at the conclusion of this long charge.

"We are sure of it, and we apprehend nothing from the feebleness of your character but your proneness to despair. From the first moment we must warn you against the chief point of dissatisfaction attached to your mission. The first grades of secret societies, and of masonry in particular, are, as it were, insignificant to us, and serve only to enable us to test the instincts and dispositions of the postulants. The great majority never pass the first grades, where, as I have said, vain ceremonies amuse their frivolous curiosity. To the first grade none are admitted but those from whom much is expected, yet they too are kept for a time comparatively in the dark, and after being thoroughly tested and examined, are allowed to pass the ordeal. Even then the order is but a nursery whence are chosen the most efficient of its members, to be initiated into yet higher grades, who alone possess the power of imparting most important revelations, and you will commence your career with them. The secrets of a master impose high duties, and there terminate the charm of curiosity, the intoxication of mystery, the illusion of hope. The master can learn nothing more, amid enthusiasm and emotion, of the law which transforms the neophyte into an apostle, the novice into a priestess. He must practise by instructing others, and by seeking to recruit, among the poor in heart and feeble in mind, Levites for the sanctuary of our most holy order. There, poor Consuelo, will you learn the bitterness of deceived illusions and the difficult labors of perseverance. You will see, among very many applicants, curious and eager after truth, few serious, sincere, and firm minds—few worthy in heart of receiving, and capable of comprehending. Among hundreds of people some of them using the symbols of equality and affecting the jargon, you will scarcely find one penetrated with their importance, and bold in their interpretation. It will be needful for you to talk to them in enigmas, and play the sad game of deceiving them as to our doctrine. Of this kind are the majority of the princes we enroll under our banner, who are decked with masonic titles that merely amuse their foolish pride, and serve only to guarantee the freedom of motion and police toleration. Some, however, are, and have been, sincere.

"Frederick, called the Great, and certainly capable of being so, was a freemason before he was a king, for at that time liberty spoke to his heart, and equality to his reason. Yet we committed his initiation to shrewd and prudent men, who did not deliver to him the secrets of our doctrine. At the present moment Frederick suspects, watches and persecutes another masonic body, established in Berlin, side by side with the lodge over which he presides, and other secret societies, at the head of which his brother Henry has eagerly placed himself. Yet neither Prince Henry nor the Abbess of Quedlimburg will ever rise higher than the second degree. We know princes, Consuelo, and are aware that neither they nor their courtiers can be fully relied on. The brother and sister of Frederick suffer from his tyranny, therefore they curse it. They would willingly conspire against him to benefit themselves.