We would not take the initiative of writing about the fact that follows but there is no reason to stop since it was published in several newspapers among which the
Opinion Nationale and the Siècle on February 22
nd, 1864 according to the
Bulletin Diplomatique.
“
A letter sent by a well-informed person reveals that recently in a private council where people discussed the Danish situation Queen Victoria declared that she would not do a thing without consulting with Prince Albert.[1] In fact after having retired for some time into her cabinet she came back saying that the Prince had pronounced against the war. That fact and other similar ones transpired and gave rise to the idea that would be appropriate to establish a regency.”
We were right when we wrote that Spiritism had followers in thrones. We could have said: even in thrones. As it can be seen, however, the sovereign themselves do not escape the qualifications given to those that believe in the communications from beyond the grave. The Spiritists should feel reassured for being in such a good company after being treated as mad people. Therefore it is too contagious and moves too far!
We are aware of a good number of foreign Princes that have that supposed weakness for some of them attend the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies. How could they wish the idea would not penetrate the whole society when it is present at all levels? From that Mr. Priest of Marmande can see that there aren’t mediums only among shoeshiners.
The following reflection follows the article in the Journal of Poitiers about the same case: “
Isn’t an abandonment of reality, the only way we have to govern the world, when we fall in the hands of the Spirits”?
We agree with the journal’s opinion but from another point of view. To them the Spirits are not reality because for certain people there is only reality in what can be seen and touched. Well, God would not be a reality then and who would dare say that God does not govern the world and that there aren’t providential events to lead to a predetermined result? Then! The Spirits are the instruments of God’s will. They inspire and incite people to do this or that despite their own will; to act in one way or another instead of a given direction and that as much in great events as in private circumstances of life. Hence we do not share the journal’s opinion about this. If the Spirits give hidden inspiration is the allow people to use their free-will and to have the responsibility of their own actions. If a person receives the inspiration of a bad Spirit that person must be certain to receive at the same time that of a good Spirit since God never leaves us defenseless against bad suggestions. Each one must ponder and decide according to their own conscience.
In ostensive mediumistic communications people must no longer abstain from using their free-will. It would be a mistake to blindly guide every step and movement based on the advice given by the Spirits because there are those that still have the ideas and prejudices of life. Only the really superior Spirits are exempt from that.
The Spirits give their advices and opinion. In case of doubt one can discuss with them as one would do when they were alive. In such a way one can assess the strength of their arguments. The truly good Spirits never refuse to do that. Those that reject such examination and that demand absolute submission demonstrate that they do not depend much on the fairness of the reasons to convince others and must be considered suspicious.
In principles the Spirits are not here to carry us along. The objective of their instructions is to make us better, to give faith to those that have none and
not to spare us the work of thinking by ourselves. That is what those that don’t believe in the relationship with beyond the grave ignore. They believe it to be absurd because they judge them according to their own ideas and not according to reality that they do not know.
Also, the manifestations must not be judged by the abuse or false applications that some people may make of them as it would not be rational to judge religion by the bad priests. Now to know if something is well or badly applied one needs to get to know it not superficially but in depth. If you go to a concert to know if the music is good or bad and if the musicians execute it well one does need to get to know the music before anything else.
That could be the basis to appreciate the fact in question. Would the Queen be reproached if she had said: “
Gentlemen, the situation is serious, allow me some privacy to ask for God’s inspiration with respect to the resolution I must make”? The Prince is not God, that is true, but since she is pious it is likely that she had asked God to inspire the Prince’s response what is the same thing. Her affection made her have him acting as an intermediary.
Things may have gone still in a different way. If the Queen would not do anything without consulting the Prince when he was alive she could wanted to ask his opinion when dead as if he would be alive and not because he is a Spirit and for her he is not dead. He is always by her side as a guide or an obliging counselor. Between them there is nothing more than a missing body. If the Prince were alive she would have done the same hence nothing changed in her way of doing things.
Now, the theory of the Spirit-Prince is good or bad? It is not up to us to judge. What we should reject is the opinion of those to whom it seems puerile, bizarre and even stupid that someone in good judgment could believe in the reality of someone that no longer has a body because they enjoy thinking that when they are dead themselves they will be nothing. To their eyes the Queen did not do anything more sensible than if she had said: “
Gentlemen I need to consult with an astrologer or the cards.”
If that alone has no consequence to politics it is not like that from a Spiritist point of view given the repercussion it had. The Queen could certainly abstain from telling the reason for her absence and from saying that such was the Prince’s advice. Saying so in such a solemn circumstance was like publically confessing her belief in the Spirits and in their manifestations and acknowledge to be a medium herself. Now, when such example comes from a crowned head that can encourage the opinion of those that are not no highly placed.
It is impossible to stop admiring the fertility of the means employed by the Spirits to oblige the skeptical to talk about Spiritism making the idea penetrate every layer of society. In this case they have to be careful with their criticism.
[1] Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the husband of Queen Victoria. He was born in the Saxon duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, to a family connected to many of Europe's ruling monarchs. Born August 26
th, 1819, Coburg, Germany and died on December 14
th, 1861,
Windsor, UK. (Wikipedia)
