The Lady of the Shroud, Bram Stoker [most life changing books .txt] 📗
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been looking through the reports of the geological exports of the
Commission of Investigation which my husband organized soon after he
came to live here, and, according to them, our whole mountain ranges
simply teem with vast quantities of minerals, almost more precious
for industry than gold and silver are for commerce—though, indeed,
gold is not altogether lacking as a mineral. When once our work on
the harbour is done, and the place has been made secure against any
attempt at foreign aggression, we must try to find a way to bring
this wealth of woods and ores down to the sea.
“And then, perhaps, may begin the great prosperity of our Land, of
which we have all dreamt.”
She stopped, all vibrating, almost choked with emotion. We were all
moved. For myself, I was thrilled to the core. Her enthusiasm was
all-sweeping, and under its influence I found my own imagination
expanding. Out of its experiences I spoke:
“And there is a way. I can see it. Whilst our dear Voivodin was
speaking, the way seemed to clear. I saw at the back of the Blue
Mouth, where it goes deepest into the heart of the cliffs, the
opening of a great tunnel, which ran upward over a steep slope till
it debouched on the first plateau beyond the range of the
encompassing cliffs.
Thither came by various rails of steep gradient, by timber-shoots and
cable-rails, by aerial cables and precipitating tubes, wealth from
over ground and under it; for as our Land is all mountains, and as
these tower up to the clouds, transport to the sea shall be easy and
of little cost when once the machinery is established. As everything
of much weight goes downward, the cars of the main tunnel of the port
shall return upward without cost. We can have from the mountains a
head of water under good control, which will allow of endless
hydraulic power, so that the whole port and the mechanism of the town
to which it will grow can be worked by it.
“This work can be put in hand at once. So soon as the place shall be
perfectly surveyed and the engineering plans got ready, we can start
on the main tunnel, working from the sea-level up, so that the cost
of the transport of material will be almost nil. This work can go on
whilst the forts are building; no time need be lost.
“Moreover, may I add a word on National Defence? We are, though old
in honour, a young nation as to our place amongst Great Powers. And
so we must show the courage and energy of a young nation. The Empire
of the Air is not yet won. Why should not we make a bid for it? As
our mountains are lofty, so shall we have initial power of attack or
defence. We can have, in chosen spots amongst the clouds, depots of
war aeroplanes, with which we can descend and smite our enemies
quickly on land or sea. We shall hope to live for Peace; but woe to
those who drive us to War!”
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 precis, which
has
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