Complete Works of Bram Stoker (373 page)

There is no doubt that the Vissarions are a warlike race.  As I spoke, Teuta took one of my hands and held it hard.  The old Voivode, his eyes blazing, rose and stood beside me and took the other.  The two old fighting-men of the land and the sea stood up and saluted.

This was the beginning of what ultimately became “The National Committee of Defence and Development.”

I had other, and perhaps greater, plans for the future in my mind; but the time had not come for their utterance.

To me it seems not only advisable, but necessary, that the utmost discretion be observed by all our little group, at all events for the present.  There seems to be some new uneasiness in the Blue Mountains.  There are constant meetings of members of the Council, but no formal meeting of the Council, as such, since the last one at which I was present.  There is constant coming and going amongst the mountaineers, always in groups, small or large.  Teuta and I, who have been about very much on the aeroplane, have both noticed it.  But somehow we  —  that is, the Voivode and myself  —  are left out of everything; but we have not said as yet a word on the subject to any of the others.  The Voivode notices, but he says nothing; so I am silent, and Teuta does whatever I ask.  Sir Colin does not notice anything except the work he is engaged on  —  the planning the defences of the Blue Mouth.  His old scientific training as an engineer, and his enormous experience of wars and sieges  —  for he was for nearly fifty years sent as military representative to all the great wars  —  seem to have become directed on that point.  He is certainly planning it all out in a wonderful way.  He consults Rooke almost hourly on the maritime side of the question.  The Lord High Admiral has been a watcher all his life, and very few important points have ever escaped him, so that he can add greatly to the wisdom of the defensive construction.  He notices, I think, that something is going on outside ourselves; but he keeps a resolute silence.

What the movement going on is I cannot guess.  It is not like the uneasiness that went before the abduction of Teuta and the Voivode, but it is even more pronounced.  That was an uneasiness founded on some suspicion.  This is a positive thing, and has definite meaning  —  of some sort.  We shall, I suppose, know all about it in good time.  In the meantime we go on with our work.  Happily the whole Blue Mouth and the mountains round it are on my own property, the portion acquired long ago by Uncle Roger, exclusive of the Vissarion estate.  I asked the Voivode to allow me to transfer it to him, but he sternly refused and forbade me, quite peremptorily, to ever open the subject to him again.  “You have done enough already,” he said.  “Were I to allow you to go further, I should feel mean.  And I do not think you would like your wife’s father to suffer that feeling after a long life, which he has tried to live in honour.”

I bowed, and said no more.  So there the matter rests, and I have to take my own course.  I have had a survey made, and on the head of it the Tunnel to the harbour is begun.

BOOK VIII: THE FLASHING OF THE HANDJAR

PRIVATE MEMORANDUM OF THE MEETING OF VARIOUS MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL, HELD AT THE STATE HOUSE OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS AT PLAZAC ON MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 1907.

(
Written by Cristoferos
,
Scribe of the Council
,
by instruction of those present
.)

When the private meeting of various Members of the National Council had assembled in the Council Hall of the State House at Plazac, it was as a preliminary decided unanimously that now or hereafter no names of those present were to be mentioned, and that officials appointed for the purposes of this meeting should be designated by office only, the names of all being withheld.

The proceedings assumed the shape of a general conversation, quite informal, and therefore not to be recorded.  The nett outcome was the unanimous expression of an opinion that the time, long contemplated by very many persons throughout the nation, had now come when the Constitution and machinery of the State should be changed; that the present form of ruling by an Irregular Council was not sufficient, and that a method more in accord with the spirit of the times should be adopted.  To this end Constitutional Monarchy, such as that holding in Great Britain, seemed best adapted.  Finally, it was decided that each Member of the Council should make a personal canvass of his district, talk over the matter with his electors, and bring back to another meeting  —  or, rather, as it was amended, to this meeting postponed for a week, until September 2nd  —  the opinions and wishes received.  Before separating, the individual to be appointed King, in case the new idea should prove grateful to the nation, was discussed.  The consensus of opinion was entirely to the effect that the Voivode Peter Vissarion should, if he would accept the high office, be appointed.  It was urged that, as his daughter, the Voivodin Teuta, was now married to the Englishman, Rupert Sent Leger  —  called generally by the mountaineers “the Gospodar Rupert”  —  a successor to follow the Voivode when God should call him would be at hand  —  a successor worthy in every way to succeed to so illustrious a post.  It was urged by several speakers, with general acquiescence, that already Mr. Sent Leger’s services to the State were such that he would be in himself a worthy person to begin the new Dynasty; but that, as he was now allied to the Voivode Peter Vissarion, it was becoming that the elder, born of the nation, should receive the first honour.

THE SAME  — 
Continued
.

The adjourned meeting of certain members of the National Council was resumed in the Hall of the State House at Plazac on Monday, September 2nd, 1907.  By motion the same chairman was appointed, and the rule regarding the record renewed.

Reports were made by the various members of the Council in turn, according to the State Roll.  Every district was represented.  The reports were unanimously in favour of the New Constitution, and it was reported by each and all of the Councillors that the utmost enthusiasm marked in every case the suggestion of the Voivode Peter Vissarion as the first King to be crowned under the new Constitution, and that remainder should be settled on the Gospodar Rupert (the mountaineers would only receive his lawful name as an alternative; one and all said that he would be “Rupert” to them and to the nation  —  for ever).

The above matter having been satisfactorily settled, it was decided that a formal meeting of the National Council should be held at the State House, Plazac, in one week from to-day, and that the Voivode Peter Vissarion should be asked to be in the State House in readiness to attend.  It was also decided that instruction should be given to the High Court of National Law to prepare and have ready, in skeleton form, a rescript of the New Constitution to be adopted, the same to be founded on the Constitution and Procedure of Great Britain, so far as the same may be applicable to the traditional ideas of free Government in the Land of the Blue Mountains.

By unanimous vote this private and irregular meeting of “Various National Councillors” was then dissolved.

RECORD OF THE FIRST MEETING OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE LAND OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS, HELD AT PLAZAC ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1907, TO CONSIDER THE ADOPTION OF A NEW CONSTITUTION, AND TO GIVE PERMANENT EFFECT TO THE SAME IF, AND WHEN, DECIDED UPON.

(
Kept by the Monk Cristoferos
,
Scribe to the National Council
.)

The adjourned meeting duly took place as arranged.  There was a full attendance of Members of the Council, together with the Vladika, the Archbishop, the Archimandrites of Spazac, of Ispazar, of Domitan, and Astrag; the Chancellor; the Lord of the Exchequer; the President of the High Court of National Law; the President of the Council of Justice; and such other high officials as it is customary to summon to meetings of the National Council on occasions of great importance.  The names of all present will be found in the full report, wherein are given the ipsissima verba of the various utterances made during the consideration of the questions discussed, the same having been taken down in shorthand by the humble scribe of this précis, which has been made for the convenience of Members of the Council and others.

The Voivode Peter Vissarion, obedient to the request of the Council, was in attendance at the State House, waiting in the “Chamber of the High Officers” until such time as he should be asked to come before the Council.

The President put before the National Council the matter of the new Constitution, outlining the headings of it as drawn up by the High Court of National Law, and the Constitution having been formally accepted
nem. con.
by the National Council on behalf of the people, he proposed that the Crown should be offered to the Voivode Peter Vissarion, with remainder to the “Gospodar Rupert” (legally, Rupert Sent Leger), husband of his only child, the Voivodin Teuta.  This also was received with enthusiasm, and passed
nem. con.

Thereupon the President of Council, the Archbishop, and the Vladika, acting together as a deputation, went to pray the attention of the Voivode Peter Vassarion.

When the Voivode entered, the whole Council and officials stood up, and for a few seconds waited in respectful silence with heads bowed down.  Then, as if by a common impulse  —  for no word was spoken nor any signal given  —  they all drew their handjars, and stood to attention  —  with points raised and edges of the handjars to the front.

The Voivode stood very still.  He seemed much moved, but controlled himself admirably.  The only time when be seemed to lose his self-control was when, once again with a strange simultaneity, all present raised their handjars on high, and shouted: “Hail, Peter, King!”  Then lowering their points till these almost touched the ground, they once again stood with bowed heads.

When he had quite mastered himself, the Voivode Peter Vissarion spoke:

“How can I, my brothers, sufficiently thank you, and, through you, the people of the Blue Mountains, for the honour done to me this day?  In very truth it is not possible, and therefore I pray you to consider it as done, measuring my gratitude in the greatness of your own hearts.  Such honour as you offer to me is not contemplated by any man in whose mind a wholesome sanity rules, nor is it even the dream of fervent imagination.  So great is it, that I pray you, men with hearts and minds like my own, to extend to me, as a further measure of your generosity, a little time to think it over.  I shall not want long, for even already, with the blaze of honour fresh upon me, I see the cool shadow of Duty, though his substance is yet hardly visible.  Give me but an hour of solitude  —  an hour at most  —  if it do not prolong this your session unduly.  It may be that a lesser time will serve, but in any case I promise you that, when I can see a just and fitting issue to my thought, I shall at once return.”

The President of the Council looked around him, and, seeing everywhere the bowing heads of acquiescence, spoke with a reverent gravity:

“We shall wait in patience whatsoever time you will, and may the God who rules all worthy hearts guide you to His Will!”

And so in silence the Voivode passed out of the hall.

From my seat near a window I could watch him go, as with measured steps he passed up the hill which rises behind the State House, and disappeared into the shadow of the forest.  Then my work claimed me, for I wished to record the proceedings so far whilst all was fresh in my mind.  In silence, as of the dead, the Council waited, no man challenging opinion of his neighbour even by a glance.

Almost a full hour had elapsed when the Voivode came again to the Council, moving with slow and stately gravity, as has always been his wont since age began to hamper the movement which in youth had been so notable.  The Members of the Council all stood up uncovered, and so remained while he made announcement of his conclusion.  He spoke slowly; and as his answer was to be a valued record of this Land and its Race, I wrote down every word as uttered, leaving here and there space for description or comment, which spaces I have since then filled in.

“Lords of the National Council, Archbishop, Vladika, Lords of the Council of Justice and of National Law, Archimandrites, and my brothers all, I have, since I left you, held in the solitude of the forest counsel with myself  —  and with God; and He, in His gracious wisdom, has led my thinking to that conclusion which was from the first moment of knowledge of your intent presaged in my heart.  Brothers, you know  —  or else a long life has been spent in vain  —  that my heart and mind are all for the nation  —  my experience, my life, my handjar.  And when all is for her, why should I shrink to exercise on her behalf my riper judgment though the same should have to combat my own ambition?  For ten centuries my race has not failed in its duty.  Ages ago the men of that time trusted in the hands of my ancestors the Kingship, even as now you, their children, trust me.  But to me it would be base to betray that trust, even by the smallest tittle.  That would I do were I to take the honour of the crown which you have tendered to me, so long as there is another more worthy to wear it.  Were there none other, I should place myself in your hands, and yield myself over to blind obedience of your desires.  But such an one there is; dear to you already by his own deeds, now doubly dear to me, since he is my son by my daughter’s love.  He is young, whereas I am old.  He is strong and brave and true; but my days of the usefulness of strength and bravery are over.  For myself, I have long contemplated as the crown of my later years a quiet life in one of our monasteries, where I can still watch the whirl of the world around us on your behalf, and be a counsellor of younger men of more active minds.  Brothers, we are entering on stirring times.  I can see the signs of their coming all around us.  North and South  —  the Old Order and the New, are about to clash, and we lie between the opposing forces.  True it is that the Turk, after warring for a thousand years, is fading into insignificance.  But from the North where conquests spring, have crept towards our Balkans the men of a mightier composite Power.  Their march has been steady; and as they came, they fortified every step of the way.  Now they are hard upon us, and are already beginning to swallow up the regions that we have helped to win from the dominion of Mahound.  The Austrian is at our very gates.  Beaten back by the Irredentists of Italy, she has so enmeshed herself with the Great Powers of Europe that she seems for the moment to be impregnable to a foe of our stature.  There is but one hope for us  —  the uniting of the Balkan forces to turn a masterly front to North and West as well as to South and East.  Is that a task for old hands to undertake?  No; the hands must be young and supple; and the brain subtle, as well as the heart be strong, of whomsoever would dare such an accomplishment.  Should I accept the crown, it would only postpone the doing of that which must ultimately be done.  What avail would it be if, when the darkness closes over me, my daughter should be Queen Consort to the first King of a new dynasty?  You know this man, and from your record I learn that you are already willing to have him as King to follow me.  Why not begin with him?  He comes of a great nation, wherein the principle of freedom is a vital principle that quickens all things.  That nation has more than once shown to us its friendliness; and doubtless the very fact that an Englishman would become our King, and could carry into our Government the spirit and customs which have made his own country great, would do much to restore the old friendship, and even to create a new one, which would in times of trouble bring British fleets to our waters, and British bayonets to support our own handjars.  It is within my own knowledge, though as yet unannounced to you, that Rupert Sent Leger has already obtained a patent, signed by the King of England himself, allowing him to be denaturalized in England, so that he can at once apply for naturalization here.  I know also that he has brought hither a vast fortune, by aid of which he is beginning to strengthen our hands for war, in case that sad eventuality should arise.  Witness his late ordering to be built nine other warships of the class that has already done such effective service in overthrowing the Turk  —  or the pirate, whichever he may have been.  He has undertaken the defence of the Blue Mouth at his own cost in a way which will make it stronger than Gibraltar, and secure us against whatever use to which the Austrian may apply the vast forces already gathered in the Bocche di Cattaro.  He is already founding aerial stations on our highest peaks for use of the war aeroplanes which are being built for him.  It is such a man as this who makes a nation great; and right sure I am that in his hands this splendid land and our noble, freedom-loving people will flourish and become a power in the world.  Then, brothers, let me, as one to whom this nation and its history and its future are dear, ask you to give to the husband of my daughter the honour which you would confer on me.  For her I can speak as well as for myself.  She shall suffer nothing in dignity either.  Were I indeed King, she, as my daughter, would be a Princess of the world.  As it will be, she shall be companion and Queen of a great King, and her race, which is mine, shall flourish in all the lustre of the new Dynasty.