convict God. But the Eternal is not like them that perish. Being

absolute, he is just; and God hates the acts of kings. Oh! you take me

for an exception; but I am a symbol. Oh, all-powerful men, fools that

you are! open your eyes. I am the incarnation of All. I represent

humanity, such as its masters have made it. Mankind is mutilated. That

which has been done to me has been done to it. In it have been deformed

right, justice, truth, reason, intelligence, as eyes, nostrils, and ears

have been deformed in me; its heart has been made a sink of passion and

pain, like mine, and, like mine, its features have been hidden in a mask

of joy. Where God had placed his finger, the king set his sign-manual.

Monstrous superposition! Bishops, peers, and princes, the people is a

sea of suffering, smiling on the surface. My lords, I tell you that the

people are as I am. To-day you oppress them; to-day you hoot at me. But

the future is the ominous thaw, in which that which was as stone shall

become wave. The appearance of solidity melts into liquid. A crack in

the ice, and all is over. There will come an hour when convulsion shall

break down your oppression; when an angry roar will reply to your jeers.

Nay, that hour did come! Thou wert of it, O my father! That hour of God

did come, and was called the Republic! It was destroyed, but it will

return. Meanwhile, remember that the line of kings armed with the sword

was broken by Cromwell, armed with the axe. Tremble! Incorruptible

solutions are at hand: the talons which were cut are growing again; the

tongues which were torn out are floating away, they are turning to

tongues of fire, and, scattered by the breath of darkness, are shouting

through infinity; those who hunger are showing their idle teeth; false

heavens, built over real hells, are tottering. The people are

suffering--they are suffering; and that which is on high totters, and

862

The Man Who Laughs