Kelenburg, the 23rd day of February, in the Year Two Hundred and Five
To His Excellency the Count von Marselstef,
Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Legitimate Royal Government in Schwentzstadt
From Viscount von Ester-Klausen,
A National Gentleman of the Kingdom of Guntreland
Your Countship,
I begin my report with the intelligence most essential to our political concerns.
Her Archroyal Majesty has declared — as I informed Your Lordship in my previous urgent dispatch — that for the present she will send to our Sovereign only assistance in unarmed personnel, such as physicians and engineers, as though it were the King’s purpose to reward traitors and improve the condition of those who have earned their misery by treason, rather than to punish them; and that she shall determine concerning military aid only after she has seen, “what His Majesty is prepared to do for his people, that no further insurrections arise.”
The Arch-Chancellor Reber, who now speaks quite openly, and with no reverence for the sacred cause of the Congressional Peace, of the principle that the weakness of Guntreland and of other realms, and the wars upon their soil, constitute the strength of Sigisland — this same Reber informed me this morning (and I had already heard such proposals murmured in the Archroyal Diet), that although Her Majesty is in principle opposed to any participation of Sigislanders in foreign wars, she might nevertheless consider the matter seriously, should King Alfons swear to introduce Categorisation entirely after the Sigislandic model.
I ventured, informally, to inquire whether it might be acceptable to Her Majesty that such Categorisation be applied only to the common people — by which, indeed, the nation’s labour might thereby be improved — while allowing the Nobility and the King’s own men to retain their superior dignities. To this, the Arch-Chancellor replied that the Archroyal Majesty would assuredly deem such a proposal hypocritical, and that, once expressed, “Her favour toward the King of Guntreland would diminish yet further.”
I then reminded him that His Majesty King Alphonse, on the twenty-third of November, had given a Solemn Pledge to His Nobility and to His loyal men, that he would never institute any Categorisation that might compel a person of noble, or by the King ennobled, blood to perform any occupation unworthy or unbefitting of his rank, nor that might allow a man of base blood to attain to any station which, by its height and dignity, belongs solely to those whose blood is noble; and that His Majesty will demand, from the other Congressional Sovereigns, the unconditional fulfilment of their duties toward him. Upon this, our conversation ended.
Her Archroyal Majesty, in her most recent address to the Diet, spoke even of a supposed “duty of kings to govern in the interest of their peoples, and to heed the justified interests of the populace,”—a doctrine to be found in no article of the Congressional Compacts, and which resounds of those perilous philosophical fancies that undermine the unconditional nature of sovereign right.
In this regard, I must inform Your Lordship that yesterday, in Kelenburg, there was circulated a pamphlet entitled “On the Responsibility of the Congressional Sovereigns” (!), signed by two professors of congressional law, wherein it is asserted that only the Sovereign of Sigisland is answerable to none save his own conscience, while the remaining sovereigns are, for the “due justice and benevolence” of their reigns, allegedly answerable to the Sigislandic monarch, who may exercise “oversight” upon them, and even “determine that their sacred duties as rulers over their peoples have been violated.”
At my immediate protest in the Arch-Chancellery, wherein I demanded that this document — which interprets the Congressional Articles arbitrarily, falsely, and maliciously — be at once prohibited, I was answered coldly that “in Sigisland there is no censorship.”
Further, I report that Her Archroyal Majesty reproaches His Majesty of Guntreland particularly for maintaining a blockade upon his disobedient subjects, depriving them of the provisions necessary to life; and she spoke unfavourably, moreover, of the factories engaged in counterfeiting Guntrelandic paper currency — that same bloody currency, grounded in land seized through crime and massacre, which even the forgers themselves, long accustomed to impress upon their false money the noble likenesses of kings and sovereigns, must gaze upon with a peculiar loathing.
This kind of economic warfare, which Her Majesty had hitherto considered a commendable substitute for the true, armed conflict that she abhors, now, as reports arrive of the growing scarcities in Guntreland and the potential outbreak of famine upon the continent, she increasingly calls “inhuman”, moved as she claims to be by compassion for the “simple, innocent people”—as though the common folk could be taught obedience by any other means than the rod and the withdrawal of the carrot!
According to Archqueen Karolina-Luise’s present opinion, the embargo upon saltpetre is entirely sufficient as a measure to be employed by kings against the Guntrelandic rebels; and, concerning this as well, it is said that during a luncheon she sharply rebuked several great nobles who were jesting about the “kingless vermin” of our homeland rummaging through their cellar refuse in search of saltpetre, declaring instead that she deemed it “most admirable that they are diligent and united in the pursuit of what they require.” (!!!)
At an urgent audience which I requested immediately prior to composing these lines — and which, notably, took place not in any of the salons of Erzkoenighaus but in the Archroyal Menagerie upon Hemet Island, which Her Majesty graciously condescended to show me — I endeavoured to explain that one cannot speak of the innocence of a populace that has committed all its revolutionary treasons in the form of a mob uprising, and that does not in any way resist the usurpers of Royal authority but rather supports them in all things and fulfils their decrees.
Her Majesty nearly dismissed me by force, shouting loudly and uttering insults not only against myself but against His Majesty King Alphonse, whom she named “the starver of children.” The vehemence of her anger was such that I may count myself fortunate not to have been served as a meal to one of the exotic animals surrounding us, nor to have shared the fate of poor Lokehes’s Hemet.
While for the Most Humane of Kings Her Majesty Karolina-Luise has but words of censure, she is moved almost to tears for those vampires who are from time to time discovered in the expanse of her dominion—creatures that by day repose in graves and by night sustain their wan existence by preying upon the avarice and arrogance of certain individuals willing, in secret, to sell them their blood in exchange for the inexhaustible remnants of still-hidden vampiric gold.
And since, by the legislation of Ferdinand, such beings are forbidden to dwell upon Sigislandic soil, they are—when captured—transported by ship to the independent archipelagos; for Her Majesty has interdicted that these cases be settled by impalement, as had often been practiced, especially in the rural provinces, during the final years of the late Archking. We are left to wonder whether aught but the memory of her august predecessor (and the living authority of his name in the Sigislandic people) prevents the present Archqueen from allowing these vampires to live and roam free within her own realm.
In addition to all this, the Southern Question arises ever more openly in Sigisland. Within the Diet, certain delegates of the southern provinces have spoken—they demanded that candles be lit in honour of the anti-eugenic rebels; yet what they truly desire (as I know from a private letter delivered to me by the same delegate Talman) is nothing less than the federalisation of Sigisland after the example of Neuland.
I must also report an event that now engages the attention of all Sigisland, and which, I am certain, shall delight Your Countship, for it restores faith in the true and ancient monarchic spirit. As Your Countship is no doubt aware, upon Coronation Square in Ferdinandshafen stands a stone fountain of the era of Ferdinand-Paulus, called the Fountain of the Watery Torches; and by Sigislandic tradition, none may drink of its waters save the Sovereign alone. About a week past, a fallen student of Human Nature, whose mind had been poisoned by the revolutionary doctrines of Henscher and Schmeck, dared, in broad daylight and before the eyes of the multitude, to approach the Fountain of the Watery Torches and to drink from one of its jets issuing from the torch-shaped pillars. He drank greedily until one of the gendarmes—posted to guard the fountain, the square, and the cathedral—approached and, horrified at such blasphemy against the most sacred Archroyal traditions, with a single stroke of his sabre smote off the insolent head.
What cheers every good monarchist is that not a single voice upon Coronation Square rose either in defence of the blasphemer or in condemnation of the gendarme who, in the only honourable manner, protected the dignity of his sovereign lady.
Speaking of the Coronation Cathedral, I must also boast that during my visit to Ferdinandshafen I was granted the privilege of beholding the Crown of Torches itself—which, since the age of Eugene, has never left that sanctuary wherein it forever stands, surrounded by burning torches. The golden mitre, that peculiar feature of the Crown symbolising the supposed supreme dominion of the Archking above the kings, is divided into four panels upon which are carved in gold the representations of three historic events: the First Ferdinanding—upon whose very site the Cathedral was raised—the Battle of Ransburg, and the Congress of Elisina. The fourth panel bears no image, to signify that each new Archking or Archqueen may by his or her own deeds surpass all his predecessors, and that the Archkingdom may yet behold a day more glorious than any in its chronicles. It is whispered, however, that the Restorer intended, after the expected triumph of his Armada over the Guntrelandish rebels, to adorn that fourth panel with the scene of the Armada flying across the Old Sea.
Another tale much spoken of concerns the testimonies of peasants and fishermen from the eastern coasts of Sigisland, who claim to have seen in the heavens the Accursed Balloon—that, according to legend, is the very airship which, in the ruin of the Armada, together with its crew, passed into the realm of spirits, escaping destruction and now doomed to wander the skies until the Armada be avenged; reminding thereby the Sigislandic nation of its sacred duty of retribution, which alone shall lift the curse cast upon their people.
The stories of this Ghostly Balloon fascinate both the nobility and the citizenry of Kellenburg, though neither the Archqueen nor her ministers profess belief in them. For my part, I would not yet deny the possibility of such apparitions, being myself deeply persuaded that the fate of the world is not governed by chance, and that Destiny may grant us certain signs to recall us to our duties. Be that as it may, what matters most to us is that these beliefs direct Sigislandic public opinion toward that course which is favourable to our cause.
As for the sentiments of the Sigislandic nobility, not a day passes without my marvelling how acceptable to these people are all manner of humiliation and misfortune, provided they may interpret them as ornaments of their refined culture. Even those insulting levies imposed by the Archqueen upon every animal slain in the hunt—even when hunted in their own forests, the heritage of their forefathers—are borne with equanimity so long as they may recount in the salons of the Sigislandic capital their interwoven tales of sport, reading Guntrelandish moral fables and ever concluding each with a scene in which they themselves bring down with musket one of the fable’s chief protagonists.
Lastly, though not least, I remind Your Countship that next week marks a full year since Karolina-Luisa liberalised the laws of Archroyal subjecthood concerning Guntrelandish emigrants, abolishing, in their case alone, the mandatory examination in Sigislandic culture and history required of all other foreigners, and leaving as the sole condition (also introduced by Karolina-Luisa for all aspiring subjects) that one must have resided at least a year upon the soil of the Archkingdom and committed no offence against any Archroyal statute during that time. I would direct Your Countship’s attention to the fact that within this year a certain number of our emigrants—one group composed of enthusiastic Sigisphiles who are now prouder and more ardent archroyalists than they would have been had they flown across the sea with Ferdinand himself and just descended from his “Accursed Balloon,” naming their children after figures from Balster and Lokehes, posing for the canvases of the Purple Regiments from Hetin, and saying with particular haughtiness to those who remained our countrymen: “We extend hospitality to you”—and another group consisting of those inevitable seekers of advancement who view the change of nationality, whether in itself or as the necessary precondition for acquiring land upon Sigislandic territory, as a step toward success in their new homeland—have indeed availed themselves of this opportunity; yet the majority of our émigrés have remained faithful to our King Alphonse[1].
That the reason for such fidelity lies chiefly in their dread of the compulsory labour and responsibilities which the Crown of Torches imposes upon its subjects, and in their own abundance of gold which spares them the need of further gain, does not in the least diminish the favourable import of this fact.
Despite all the events of highest political consequence from Court and Diet—events of which it is truly difficult to say aught further—I yet find time to appear before Your Countship with a note on another subject, one of some importance for comprehending the temper of Sigislandic public opinion, and the means by which that opinion might be influenced. I refer to my recent success in establishing myself within the renowned salon of Mr. Martin Wagner, which is regularly frequented not only by Sigismund of Austenberg, but by many other figures drawn from every stratum of Sigislandic society.
Wagner holds in the highest esteem all things royal and noble; in his salon the conventions of good breeding are observed with a punctilio which, I am persuaded, yields not in strictness even to the court of our gracious Sovereign King Alphonse himself—from the manner of holding one’s silverware “after the royal fashion,” to the scratching rather than the knocking upon doors. Wagner professes admiration for the informalities of the old régime, for that social order founded upon the aleatory accidents of birth, personal charm, or the capacity to ascend the ladder of society, and he strives to preserve that spirit wholly within his salon, where public opinion alone stands as judge of a man’s worth. The reform of Karolina-Louise, which has formalised and meritocratised the whole Archkingdom, is hateful to him; he despises those whose diligence and toil have raised them to good positions, and scruples not to declare openly—whether the cause be the wine in his head or that natural boldness with which Heaven has endowed bastards, born of hazard and danger—that he laments Sigisland’s course in that direction.
Proof of my establishment there is that I am one of but five guests of Wagner’s salon who possess his own keys, enabling us to enter even while the host sleeps—which, in the case of Martin Wagner, does not always coincide with the hours of night—or when by some rare circumstance he is not at home. Among the many persons I encounter in that place, active in every sphere and circle of Sigislandic life, I shall for the present name in addition to Austenberg only Doctor of Economics Zobl, who not seldom visits Schwentstadt, so that Your Countship may one day meet him personally if you deem it expedient. I must warn you only that he will prove vulgar, as indeed anyone born in the fourth estate must be who has acquired wealth and an opinion of his own importance. Yet when I ventured a remark of this nature to the Archqueen—who herself has once received this same Zobl—Her Majesty answered me in tones almost republican, saying that those who have gained their station and fortune by labour “are not to be blamed if they have had no opportunity to learn refinement and unvulgarity, being compelled instead to work for their bread.”
All these varied individuals whom I have met at Wagner’s—each with his own position, sphere of influence, and circle of acquaintances—may prove of use in turning public sentiment toward broad and undivided support for the option of intervention, whereby the Archqueen herself might be induced to reconsider and reverse her present opinion.
Should, however, success not be achieved in that direction—which must not be deemed impossible, given all that has been here written concerning Karolina-Louise and the conviction she displays in her manner—I am of the impression that certain persons from Wagner’s circle, and the influences they command, might be serviceable in another undertaking of a somewhat different character, yet having likewise as its central object the person of the Sigislandic sovereign herself, who now appears more often a threat than a support to the legitimist order.
I therefore entreat Your Lordship to consider most seriously even now the possibility of action upon that course toward which Candle Quay points, when viewed from the Square of the Archkingdom. Yet it would be an error to suppose that among the Sigislandic nobility—even those most injured by their sovereign—it would be easy to find friends for such an enterprise as that of which I speak. The first reason is that Karolina-Louise is the last of the line of Eugene, and has no congressionally legitimate heir save one who might be chosen under her new legislation, which could raise to the throne some low-born bureaucrat yet more pernicious to the interests of noble blood.
Furthermore, the entire Sigislandic aristocracy derives its prestige and standing among the people from the authority of the Crown of Torches and the sacrosanct place it holds in the Sigislandic culture of which that people is so proud. With the destruction or even the relativising of its authority, the nobility itself would, before the populace, lose its own advocate—the interpreter and justifier of aristocratic privilege and power to that capricious multitude. Indeed, the Sigislandic nobility alone has been nurtured in the bosom of that culture whose every poem, opera, and drama proclaims that no deed is more heinous than the high treason to the Crown of Torches; yet nowhere does it proclaim (for such a premise no good monarchist could ever have permitted himself to conceive) that failure of the Crown’s bearer in his duties toward other rulers might justify his subjects in acting against him.
Because of a visit I have just received—one which may be of importance to the interests of our Kingdom—I here conclude this report. The next shall be composed within at most three days.
Honour the King, gentlemen!
With humble devotion and respect,
Ester-Klausen
[1] According to the rules of the Congress, a person who has not in the previous year entered the continent of which they are a citizen, had the right, without the consent of his current sovereign authority, to become a citizen of another sovereign continent, if the sovereign authority of that continent accepted them, under the same conditions as if they were a savage who had no sovereign continental power over them until then. The exception to this was the national gentlemen, who in any case needed the consent of their current sovereign to change their sovereign authority. In many cases, however, those who, against the will of their sovereign authority, would be abroad would not wait for a year to expire because the national gentlemen of their home country - protected by immunity from the law of the state on whose territory they were located - would deprive them of their liberty, and in some cases of their life.
