The Progressionists, and Angela. Part 14

"Let us stay!" rejoined the latter with excitement. "The affair is becoming interesting. I want to see how this will end."

The banker noticed Gerlach's suppressed indignation; he observed it in the fire of his eyes and the expression of unutterable contempt that had spread over his features, and he began to consider the situation as alarming. He had not expected this exhibition of brutal impertinence.

In his estimation an infringement of propriety like the one he had just witnessed was a far more heinous transgression than the grossest violations in the sphere of morals. He judged of Gerlach's impressions by this standard of appreciation, and feared the behavior of the progressionist mob would produce an effect in the young man's mind far from favorable to the cause which they represented. He execrated the disturbance of the liberals, and took Seraphin's arm to lead him away.

"Come away, I beg of you! I cannot imagine what interest the rudeness of that uncultivated horde can have for you."

"Do not scorn them, for they are honestly earning their pay," rejoined Gerlach.

"What do you mean?"

"Those fellows are whistling, bawling, stamping, and yelling in the employ of progress. You are trying to give me an insight into the nature of modern civilization: could there be a better opportunity than this?"

"There you make a mistake, my dear fellow! Enlightened progress is never rude."

CHAPTER VII.

The tumult continued. As soon as the orator attempted to speak, his voice was drowned by cries and stamping.

"Commissary!" cried the chairman to that officer, "I demand that you extend to our a.s.sembly the protection of the law."

"I am here simply to watch the proceedings of your meeting," replied Parteiling with cool indifference. "Everybody is at liberty in meetings to signify his approval or disapproval by signs. No act forbidden by the law has been committed by your opponents, in my opinion."

"Bravo! bravo! Three cheers for the commissary!"

All at once the noise was subdued to a whisper of astonishment. A miracle was taking place under the very eyes of progress. Banker Greifmann, the moneyed prince and liberal, made his appearance upon the platform. The rioters saw with amazement how the mighty man before whom the necks of all such as were in want of money bowed--even the necks of the puissant leaders--stepped before the president of the a.s.sembly, how he politely bowed and spoke a few words in an undertone. They observed how the chairman nodded a.s.sent, and then how the banker, as if to excite their wonder to the highest pitch, mounted to the speaker's desk.

"Gentlemen," began Carl Greifmann, "although I have not the honor of sharing your political views, I feel myself nevertheless urged to address a few words to you. In the name of true progress, I ask this honorable a.s.sembly's pardon for the disturbance occasioned a moment ago by a band of uncultivated rioters, who dare to pretend that they are acting in the cause and with the sanction of progress. I solemnly protest against the a.s.sumption that their disgraceful and outrageous conduct is in accordance with the spirit of the party which they dishonor. Progress holds firmly to its principles, and defends them manfully in the struggle with its opposers, but it is far from making itself odious by rudely overstepping the bounds of decency set by humanity and civilization. In political contests, it may be perfectly lawful to employ earnest persuasion and even influences that partake of the rigor of compulsion, but rudeness, impertinence, is never justifiable in an age of civilization. Commissary Parteiling discovers no legally prohibited offence in the expression of vulgarity and lowness--may be. Nevertheless, a high misdemeanor has been perpetrated against decorum and against the deference which man owes to man. Should the slightest disturbance be again attempted, I shall use the whole weight of my influence in prosecuting the guilty parties, and convince them that even in the spirit of progress they are offenders and can be reached by punishment."

He spoke, and retired to the other end of the hall, followed by loud applause from the ultramontanes. Nor were the threats of the mighty man uttered in vain. Spitzkopf hung his head abashed. The other revellers were tamed, they listened demurely to the speakers, ceased their contemptuous hootings, and stood on their good behavior. Greifmann's proceeding had taken Seraphin also by surprise, and the power which the banker possessed over the rioters set him to speculating deeply. He saw plainly that Louise's brother commanded an extraordinary degree of respect in the camp of the enemies of religion, and the only cause that could sufficiently account for the fact was a community of principles of which they were well aware. Hence the opinion he had formed of Greifmann was utterly erroneous, concluded Gerlach, The banker was not a mere secluded business man--he was not indifferent about the great questions of the age. Then there was another circ.u.mstance that perplexed the ruddy-cheeked millionaire to no inconsiderable degree--Greifmann's unaccountable way of taking things. The tyrannical mode of electioneering which they had witnessed at the sign of the "Green Hat" had not at all disgusted Greifmann. Spitzkopf's threats had not excited his indignation. He had with a smiling countenance looked on whilst the most brutal species of terrorism was being enacted before him, he had not expressed a word of contempt at the constraint which they who held the power inhumanly placed on the political liberty of their dependents. On the other hand, his indignation was aroused by a mere breach of good behavior, an offence which in Gerlach's estimation was as nothing compared with the other instances of progressionist violence. The banker seemed to him to have strained out a gnat after having swallowed a whole drove of camels. The youth's suspicions being excited, he began to study the strainer of gnats and swallower of camels more closely, and soon the banker turned out in his estimation a hollow stickler for mere outward decency, devoid of all deeper merit.

He now recollected also Greifmann's dealings with the leaders of progress, and those transactions only confirmed his present views. What he had considered as an extraordinary degree of shrewdness in the man of business, which enabled him to take advantage of the peculiar convictions and manner of thinking of other men, was now to his mind a real affinity with their principles, and he could not help being shocked at the discovery.

He hung his head in a melancholy mood, and his heart protested earnestly against the inference which was irresistibly forcing itself upon his mind, that the sister shared her brother's sentiments.

"This doubt must be cleared up, cost what it may," thought he. "My G.o.d, what if Louise also turned out to be a progressionist, a woman without any faith, an infidel! No, that cannot be! Yet suppose it really were the case--suppose she actually held principles in common with such vile beings as Schwefel, Sand, Erdblatt, and Shund? Suppose her moral nature did not harmonize with the beauty of her person--what then?" He experienced a spasmodic contraction in his heart at the question, he hesitated with the answer, but, his better self finally getting the victory, he said: "Then all is over. The impressions of a dream; however delightful, must not influence a waking man. My father's calculation was wrong, and I have wasted my kindness on an undeserving object."

So completely wrapt up was he in his meditations that he heard not a word of the speeches, not even the concluding remarks of the president.

Greifmann's approach roused him, and they left the hall together.

"That was ruffianly conduct, of which progress would have for ever to be ashamed," said the banker indignantly, "They bayed and yelped like a pack of hounds. At their first volley I was as embarra.s.sed and confused as a modest girl would be at the impertinence of some young scapegrace.

Fierce rage then hurried me to the platform, and my words have never done better service, for they vindicated civilization."

"I cannot conceive how a trifle could thus exasperate you."

Greifmann stood still and looked at his companion in astonishment.

"A trifle!" echoed he reproachfully. "Do you call a piece of wanton impudence, a ruffianly outrage against several hundreds of men ent.i.tled to respect, a trifle?

"I do, compared with other crimes that you have suffered to pa.s.s unheeded and uncensured," answered Gerlach. "You had not an indignant word for the unutterable meanness of those three leaders, who were immoral and unprincipled enough to invest a notorious villain with office and honors. Nor did you show any exasperation at the brutal terrorism practised by men of power in this town over their weak and unfortunate dependents."

"Take my advice, and be on your guard against erroneous and narrow-minded judgments. The leaders merely had a view to their own ends, but they in no manner sinned against propriety. The raising a man of Shund's abilities to the office of mayor is an act of prudence--by no means an offence against humanity."

"Yet it was an outrage to moral sentiment," opposed Seraphin.

"See here, Gerlach, moral sentiment is a very elastic sort of thing.

Sentiment goes for nothing in practical life, and such is the character of life in our century."

"Well, then, the mere sense of propriety is not worth a whit more."

"I ask your pardon! Propriety belongs to the realm of actualities or of practical experiences, and not to the shadowland of sentiment.

Propriety is the rule that regulates the intercourse of men, it is therefore a necessity, nothing else will serve as a subst.i.tute for it, and it must continue to be so regarded as long as a difference is recognized between rational man and the irrational brute."

"The same may be said with much more reason of morality, for it also is a rule, it regulates our actions, it determines the ethic worth or worthlessness of a man. Mere outward decorum does not necessarily argue any interior excellence. The most abandoned wretch may be distinguished for easy manners and elegant deportment, yet he is none the less a criminal. A dog may be trained to many little arts, but for all that it continues to be a dog.

"It is delightful to see you breaking through that uniform patience of yours for once and showing a little of the fire of indignation," said the banker pleasantly. "I shall tell Louise of it, I know she will be glad to learn that Seraphin too is susceptible of a human pa.s.sion. But this by the way. Now watch how I shall meet your arguments. That very moral sentiment of which you speak has caused and is still causing the most enormous crimes against humanity, and the laws of morality are as changeable as the wind. When an Indian who has not been raised from barbarism by civilization dies, the religious custom of the country requires that his wife should permit herself to be burned alive on the funeral pyre of her husband. Moral sentiment teaches the uncivilized woman that it is a horrible crime to refuse to devote herself to this cruel death. The pious Jews used to stone every woman to death who was taken in adultery--in our day, such a deed of blood would be revolting to moral sentiment, and would claim tears from the eyes of cultivated people. I could mention many other horrors that were practised more or less remotely in the past, and were sanctioned by the prevailing moral sentiment. Here is my last instance: according to laws of morality, the usurer was at one time a monster, an arch-villain--at present, he is merely a man of great enterprise. Propriety, on the other hand, enlightenment, and polish are absolute and unalterable. Whilst rudeness and impertinence will ever be looked upon as disgusting, good manners and politeness will be considered as commendable and beautiful."

Seraphin could not but admire the skill with which Greifmann jumbled together subjects of the most heterogeneous nature. But he could not, at the same time, divest himself of some alarm at the banker's declarations, for they betrayed a soul-life of little or absolutely no moral worth. Money, interest, and respectability const.i.tuted the only trinity in which the banker believed. Morality, binding the conscience of man, a true and only G.o.d, and divine revelation, were in his opinion so many worn-out and useless notions, which the progress of mankind had successfully got beyond.

"When those who hold power take advantage of it at elections, they in no manner offend against propriety," proceeded Carl. "Progress has convictions as well as ultramontanism. If the latter is active, why should not the former be so too? If, on the side of progress, the weak and dependent permit themselves to be cowed and driven, it is merely an advantage for the powerful, and for the others it is a weakness or cowardice. For this reason, the mode of electioneering pursued by Spitzkopf and his comrades amused but nowise shocked me, for they were not acting against propriety."

Seraphin saw it plainly: for Carl Greifmann there existed no distinction between good and evil; he recognized only a cold and empty system of formalities.

The two young men issued from a narrow street upon the market-place.

This was occupied by a large public building. In the open s.p.a.ce stood a group of men, among whom Flachsen appeared conspicuous. He was telling the others about Greifmann's speech at the meeting of the ultramontanes. They all manifested great astonishment that the influential moneyed prince should have appeared in such company, and, above all, should have made a speech in their behalf.

"He declared it was vulgar, impudent, ruffianly, to disturb a respectable a.s.sembly," reported Flachsen. "He said he knew some of us, and that he would have us put where the dogs would not bite us if we attempted to disturb them again. That's what he said; and I actually rubbed my eyes to be quite sure it was banker Greifmann that was speaking, and really it was he, the banker Greifmann himself, bodily, and not a mere apparition."

"I must say the banker was right, for it isn't exactly good manners to howl, stamp, and whistle to annoy one's neighbors," owned another.

"But we were paid for doing it, and we only carried out the orders given by certain gentlemen."

"To be sure! Men like us don't know what good breeding is--it's for gentlemen to understand that," maintained a third. "We do what men of good breeding hire us to do, and if it isn't proper, it matters nothing to us--let the gentlemen answer for it."

"Bravo, Stoffel, bravo!" applauded Flachsen. "Yours is the right sort of servility, Stoffel! You are a real human, servile, and genuine reactive kind of a fellow--so you are. I agree with you entirely. The gentlemen do the paying, and it is for them to answer for what happens.

We are merely servants, we are hirelings, and what need a hireling care whether that which his master commands is right or not? The master is responsible, not the hireling. What I am telling you belongs to the exact sciences, and the exact sciences are at the pinnacle of modern acquisitions. Hence a hireling who without scruple carries out the orders of his master is up to the highest point of the age--such a fellow has taken his stand on servility. Hallo! the election has commenced. Be off, every man of you, to his post. But mind you don't look too deep into the beer-pots before the election is over. Keep your heads level, be cautious, do your best for the success of the green ticket. Once the election is carried, you may swill beer till you can no longer stand. The gentlemen will foot the bill, and a.s.sume all responsibilities."

They dispersed themselves through the various drinking-shops of the neighborhood.

Near the door of the building in which the voting was to take place stood a number of progressionist gentlemen. They all wore heavy beards, smoked cigars, and peered about restlessly. To those of their party who chanced to pa.s.s they nodded and smiled knowingly, upon doubtful voters they smiled still more blandly, added some pleasant words, and pressed the acceptance of the green ticket, but for ultramontane voters they had only jeers and coa.r.s.e witticisms. As Greifmann approached they respectfully raised their hats. The banker drew Gerlach to one side, and stood to make observations.

"What swarms there are around the drinking-shops," remarked Greifmann.

"It is there that the tickets are filled under the persuasive influence of beer. The committee provide the tickets which the voters have filled with the names of the candidates by clerks who sit round the tables at the beer-shops. It is quite an ingenious arrangement, for beer will reconcile a voter to the most objectionable kind of a candidate."

A crowd of drunken citizens coming out of the nearest tavern approached. Linked arm-in-arm, they swayed about and staggered along with an unsteady pace. Green tickets bearing the names of the candidates whom progress had chosen to watch over the common weal could be seen protruding from the pockets of their waistcoats. Gerlach, seeing the drunken mob and recollecting the solemn and important nature of the occasion, was seized with loathing and horror at the corruption of social life revealed in the low means to which the party of progress had recourse to secure for its ends the votes of these besotted and ignorant men.

Presently Schwefel stepped up and saluted the young men.