George Gordon Hastings

“ To-day the New Republic has birth—a New Republic which shall give men that equality which can never be found under a monarchy and which shall be untainted, please God, from the hideous evils which fastened themselves upon the Old Republic of our forefathers—a New Republic which shall free its citizens from the bondage of industrial slavery and shall set to the world at large an example of higher economic conditions and a higher standard of human happiness. ”

“ Is it to be believed that God put the minerals, the oil, the coal into the earth for the benefit of an exclusive few, or that he put them there for the joint and common benefit of the masses of mankind? Did He make the surface of the earth fruitful and send the showers and the sunshine, which alone enable it to fructify, for the benefit of a chosen few, or for the common benefit of all? That the former was the case seems to have been the theory which prevailed under the Republic, for we find that the great bulk of the land was owned by the comparative few. ”

“ The sumptuous decorations, the masses of flowers, the resplendent uniforms, the glittering crosses and orders upon the breasts of many of the men, the Court dresses, the blaze of jewels—composed a scene of the utmost brilliancy and splendor.
And the women! American women have ever been famed for their grace, their ineffable chic and their beauty, and certainly the race, as viewed from this ball-room floor, seemed by no means to have declined. Kearns, who had been a regular attendant at the opera in the old days, considered himself quite a judge of feminine loveliness. ”

“ In theory, the power of the People is supreme; in reality, a myth. Take it during the past two thousand years. In all these centuries the great masses of the people have been poor, hardworking; their lives replete with stint and suffering. The Few have been rich, pampered, over-indulged and contented. Do you think the masses of the People were really satisfied with this order of things? Do you not believe that they, both as individuals and as a mass, would infinitely have preferred a more even distribution of the good things of this world? ”

“ Kearns, with his stronger vitality and naturally high spirits, was the quicker to recover from the shock. He glanced down at his strong, knotted arm and wrist resting on the table. Even if he had been dead to the world for all these years, even if he was over a century old, his muscles were as strong as ever and the flow of life within him apparently unimpaired. And if a man’s nerves have the courage and his heart beats strong and full as at thirty, what matter how many years have passed over his head! Such was the thought which surged through Kearns’ mind. ”

“ An air-ship coming on dark and windless nights, between moons, passing unseen the sentinels on turret and in grounds, and mooring under the windows of the King to deliver its attack. So will it come again! And it is with an air-ship, designed and built by you, that we must and can alone meet the attack. ”

“ Reared throughout his life among soldiers and statesmen possessed of aims and ambitions, himself possessed of a boundless lust for preferment and power, Lord Ashley’s tendency was to regard ambition as the all-alluring fetish, the resistless lever, with which to sway human impulse and human action. Furthermore, his actual experiences in his immediate surroundings had tended to impress him with the accuracy of this theory. What he had offered was sufficiently brilliant, as he had said, to be worthy of the acceptance of the proudest woman in the land. ”

“ Lord Ashley bowed a respectful acquiescence.
“It’s horrible—horrible!” continued the King with nervous energy. “It’s easy enough to face death in a charge against the enemy as you soldiers face it, but to wait and watch day after day, day after day, never knowing from what quarter death may be creeping upon you from some lurking assassin—ah, that’s different. It’s horrible—horrible!”
Kearns looked upon the King and a feeling akin to pity came into his heart. ”

“ When his men saw their leader fall, a howl of dismay and rage went up. There was a quick flash of leveled rifles and a volley. Captain Bingham rose to his full height and for one brief instant his form stood erect and rigid. He raised his sword high aloft and his voice broke into a great hoarse cry—the last salute of the last of the Guards to the cause he served:
“Long live the King!” ”

“ The blow was so sharp and so sudden that Henry reeled. In an instant, however, he had recovered himself and his hand flew to his sword. Mortimer drew with equal celerity.
They sprang together and their swords crossed.
Henry was an expert swordsman and was regarded among the men of the camp as an invincible champion with this weapon. He attacked with all the confidence of one who holds victory certain. ”

“ He need have an eye only to the welfare of his nation and his people. We have an aristocracy, too; also great and rich, so much so that they can well afford to lay self-interest aside and seek public life with a view solely to the greater glory of their country. There are exceptions to this, of course, but I speak of our aristocracy as a class. Then, too, our aristocrats of to-day have been aristocrats for a sufficient time to be at least free from the shortcomings, the arrogance and the vices which have ever marked the parvenu. Now let us look at the old-time Republic! ”

“ As wife of a Lord Chancellor who will know how to extend the influence and power of his high office, you will find yourself in a position of social supremacy which will place you second only to the Queen herself. At a word from you, social careers will be made or marred; at a nod of approval from you, a fashion will spring into life, or be set aside. ”

“ He who was addressed as Lieutenant looked serious.
“Your name,” he demanded of Kearns.
“Thomas Kearns,” was the answer, impressively given; “and I’m chief of detectives of the New York police.”
The Lieutenant glanced up quickly, with an astonished look.
“My name isn’t unfamiliar, perhaps,” continued Mr. Kearns with some sarcasm.
The Lieutenant laughed softly.
“Yes,” he replied, “the name is familiar to me. So is that of Captain Kidd, and other legendary heroes of the past. Thomas Kearns, eh? There isn’t a small boy in the country who doesn’t know the name and who hasn’t read of his exploits.” ”

“ But, sir, remember that I wear the uniform of an American army officer. That uniform, so far as is known, has never covered but one traitor and the world-wide obloquy and contempt which in his own period and through succeeding generations has followed the name of Benedict Arnold, should be a sufficient example and lesson for prospective traitors in all generations to come. The function of an army officer is not to delve in social economics, or meddle with political questions. ”

“ The multi-millionaires of the period aspired to a match with an English Duke or Earl; those of lesser millions were compelled to put up with a French Count, or a German Baron. No woman was too beautiful, no dot too great, provided a title were involved. No personality was too repulsive, no reputation or character too vile, provided they were gilded over by a patent of nobility. Do the chronicles that tell of these things lie, or do they record the truth?”
“The frozen truth!” answered Kearns curtly. ”

“ Before you can claim the right to cross swords as an equal, you must first clear yourself of the stigma of treason which at present defiles you!”
“You refuse!” retorted Mortimer, with a gesture of contempt. “Your refusal will avail you little. I will throttle you to death where you stand. What!” he continued, with biting sarcasm, “can it be possible that the uniform of the Guards has at one time covered the breast of a liar, a traducer and a—coward!”
As this final word left Mortimer’s lips, Lord Ashley’s face in turn became suffused with rage. ”

“ Ten days from to-day the signal to attack will flash forth—in ten days from to-day the new era will have dawned and your freedom will be near at hand. Look forward to your liberation—as tens upon tens of millions are awaiting their liberation—to the birth of the New Republic! ”

“ He is the most God-like man who has lived since the days of Washington—a leader gifted with genius for organization, a patriot who seeks nothing except for his countrymen; brave, enterprising, resourceful, merciless when the occasion demands it, yet with a heart full of love for humanity—such is our High President. ”

“ You, Captain Mortimer, with your military experience, and you, Professor Dean, with your scientific attainments, would be valuable additions to our ranks—not so much for the first attack, for all the details of that first attack are already mapped out and settled; but for the subsequent work of organization and handling great masses of men which must necessarily follow our preliminary successes. We shall first attack the palace and almost simultaneously the city of New York. We shall seize upon the persons of the King and the officers of the Government. ”

“ Henry rose to his feet, his face flushed with anger.
“You may laugh,” he cried, “but what I say is true. They’ll all be prisoners, or dead!”
Mortimer shrugged his shoulders, with the air of a man who declines to pursue an utterly nonsensical proposition further.
“Enough,” exclaimed Henry. “What I want to know is where you got that air-ship?”
“That’s for you to find out,” replied Mortimer.
“And I will,” retorted Henry, with growing anger. “That air-ship was stolen from one of our camps. There’s been a traitor somewhere and that traitor I propose to discover.” ”

“ What meant these things if not an aching and a longing for aristocracy? And you can’t very well have an aristocracy without a monarchy! It is the most natural sequence of events in the world,” continued the Colonel argumentatively; “first wealth, next luxury, then a desire to be distinguished above the common herd. After all the physical appetites are satisfied comes the craving for honors and distinction, for decorations and titles!”
“But,” interposed the Professor with a bewildered air, “how came the People—the masses of the People—to ever submit to these changes?” ”

“ The Law in its methods of procedure is a century, or more, behind the times and the learned and time-honored profession of the Law is, in reality, the profession of the modern highwayman. There is no form of modern evil which more seriously demands the application of the principles of Nihilism than the Law as it to-day exists!”
“And if your New Republic could be established,” asked Mortimer, “you would be in favor of ruthlessly despoiling all the present land owners of their holdings and escheating these holdings to the State?” ”

“ Of course, his presence in the palace would be a danger and a menace.
Kearns listened to the end. Only the august presence in which he stood prevented him from laughing outright.
“And are these the disclosures Lord Ashley made to you, Sire?” asked Kearns, with a cynical smile.
“Such is, in brief, part of the report,” said the King. “What have you to say to it?”
“Simply this, Sire,” answered Kearns; “it shows how grievously a man will blunder when he dabbles in an art he doesn’t understand.” ”

“ How am I to know what will be the effect upon the people at large?”
“It will result in widespread suffering and distress; in misery of the most dreadful kind,” said the Colonel, sadly.
“Say, if you like,” replied General Mainwarren with brutal directness, “that it will result in widespread desolation and death. You may speak out. I’m not thin-skinned and don’t mind hearing the truth. Many factories must close and tens of thousands will be thrown out of work; to say nothing of the misery and death which will ensue from actual cold. ”

“ Do you follow me?”
“Very clearly,” replied Dean, while Mortimer nodded a silent assent.
“As a soldier trained by practical experience in the art of war,” continued the High President, “I realized how utterly futile it must be to attempt to arm, drill and organize a sufficient force of men to hope to successfully cope in open warfare with the trained soldiers of the King. To achieve successfully any such result, I must discover a new means of warfare which would give my attacking force some immeasurable advantage over our opponents. Not an easy problem to work out, eh, Captain Mortimer?” ”

“ Liar!” he hissed between his set teeth.
“What!” cried Lord Ashley, his anger kindling, as fire kindles amid straw. “You dare to apply those epithets to me—the King’s Chancellor!”
“It is as man to man that we now speak,” retorted Mortimer, struggling with his rage. “Take your sword and defend your life!” He pointed across the apartment and through the open doorway of Lord Ashley’s private bureau. Against the wall, amid a panoply of arms, could be seen hanging the sword which the Chancellor had used during the earlier days of the Russian war. ”

“ But the Professor stopped abruptly, for both the Colonel and the Doctor had turned toward him with faces flushed and eager.
“Walter Stuart Dean!” repeated the Doctor.
“Walter Stuart Dean!” echoed the Colonel. “Are you the famous writer on political economy; the distinguished inventor and scientist?”
“Gentlemen,” urged the Professor deprecatingly, “I beg you not to fall into any error. There is some mistake here. It is true I wrote a work on political economy, but far from making me famous, it cost me my position as one of the Faculty at the Chicago University. ”

“ Look out, Professor, that in spite of your hundred odd years, you don’t get enmeshed. Let me see this beauty. Whew! But the man is right. Beautiful! Why, she’s a dream—a lovely dream! What eyes—what teeth!”
“Who is she?” repeated the Professor.
“That,” answered Colonel Cuming, “is the lady to whom you heard Beatrice refer—Miss Dorothy Brandon, a distant cousin of Beatrice and one of the maids of honor to Her Majesty, the Queen.”
“And are the other three ladies also maids of honor?” asked Kearns, with a sly glance at General Mainwarren. ”

“ What, then, is the view you take?”
“Sir,” said the Professor, rising, his eyes flashing in indignation and anger, “you have twice asked my opinion and I’ll give it, fully and freely, as man to man. I consider that any man who will heartlessly throw tens of thousands of working men out of employment; who will expose tens of thousands to misery and want; who will let women and children languish and die from privation and cold, is a monster in human form—a fiend incarnate! ”