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Translator: Timo Tuura

MARKIISITAR

Kertomus

Kirj.

GEORGE SAND

Ranskankiel. suom. Timo Tuura

H?meenlinnassa, Arvi A. Karisto, 1910.

O. Y. H?meenlinnan Uusi Kirjapaino.

George Sand.

Yhdeks?n vuotta kest?nyt avioliitto ei ollut onnellisimpia -- siksi olivat aviopuolisoiden sielunlahjat ja taipumukset liian erilaiset. Heill? oli kaksi lasta. Lopulta k?vi yhdysel?m? nuorelle rouvalle niin siet?m?tt?m?ksi, ett? h?n j?tti miehens? ja l?hti Pariisiin aikoen el?tt?? itsens? kirjailulla. T?m? tapahtui 1831.

K?visi liian pitk?ksi t?ss? luetella kaikkia George Sandin teoksia. Sit?paitsi on h?nen teostensa joukossa monta taiteellisesti v?hemm?n arvokastakin. Mutta on sellaisiakin, jotka yh? viel?kin tenhoavat lukijan ja -- mik? on ihmeellisemp?? -- on sellaisiakin teoksia, joissa esitetyt aatteet yh? viel? her?tt?v?t vastustusta muutamissa piireiss? -- vaikka enemm?n kuin sata vuotta on kulunut kirjoittajan syntym?st?. H?nen kirjallisen toimintansa keskeisen? problemina on kysymys miehen ja naisen suhteesta -- avioliittokysymys. H?n pohtii ja erittelee teoksissaan avioliittoa -- ja etenkin ranskalaista lemmet?nt? sovinnaisavioliittoa. Pyrint?m??r?ksi tapoja ja lakeja luovalle yhteiskunnalle h?n asettaa avioliiton, joka perustuu yksinomaan ja ainoastaan rakkauteen ja molemminpuoliseen t?ydelliseen ymm?rt?mykseen, tuomiten kaikki t?st? ihanteesta poikkeavat avioliitot ep?siveellisiksi, yksil?it? alentaviksi ja yhteiskunnalle vahingollisiksi. T?st? oli luonnollinen johtop??t?s, ettei avioliitto saanut olla purkamaton, sill? eih?n ihminen voi menn? takaukseen tunteittensa kest?v?isyydest?. P?invastoin piti George Sand paljon kokeneena naisena el?m?nkest?v?? rakkautta vain erinomaisen suotuisten olosuhteitten tuloksena. H?nelle oli rakkaus taivainen liekki, joka on l?ht?isin Jumalasta ja joka valtaa ihmisen ilman h?nen omaa syyt??n ja my?s j?tt?? h?net tahdosta riippumatta, ihmisen voimatta vangita sit? hetkeksik??n lakis??nn?ksill? tai tapojen vaatimuksilla.

Markiisitar.

T?m?n markiisittaren seura ei ollut milloinkaan tarjonnut minulle suurta vieh?tyst?. Minusta ei h?ness? ollut muuta merkillist? kuin tavaton muisti, jonka h?n oli s?ilytt?nyt nuoruutensa p?ivilt? ja miehev? selvyys, jolla h?n kertoi muistoistaan. Muuten unohti h?n, kuten kaikki vanhukset, eiliset asiat eik? v?litt?nyt muista kuin sellaisista tapahtumista, jotka suoranaisesti vaikuttivat h?nen kohtaloonsa.

H?n ei ollut tuollainen vieh?tt?v? kaunotar, jonka kauneus ei ole loistava eik? s??nn?llinen ja joka ei saata olla henkevyytt? vailla. Sellaisen naisen on pakko olla henkev? n?ytt??kseen yht? kauniilta kuin ne, jotka ovat kauniimpia. Markiisitar sit?vastoin oli onnettomuudekseen ollut kiist?m?tt?m?n kaunis. Olen n?hnyt vain yhden h?nen muotokuvansa, jonka h?n vanhojen naisten turhamaisuudella oli ripustanut huoneensa sein?lle kaikkien katseltavaksi. H?n oli kuvattu siin? mets?nhaltijattareksi, jolla oli tiikerintaljaa j?ljittelev? satiiniliivi, pitsihihat, santelipuinen jousi ja helmist? tehty puolikuu k?herretyill? hiuksilla. Se oli kaikesta huolimatta ihailtava maalaus ja etenkin ihailtava nainen: pitk?, solakka, tumma, mustasilm?inen, vakava- ja jalopiirteinen, suu punainen ja k?det sellaiset, ett? ne olivat saattaneet Lamballen ruhtinattaren ep?toivoon. Ilman pitsej?, satiinia ja puuteria olisi h?n todellakin ollut yksi noita ylpeit? ja kepeit? keijukaisia, joita kuolevaiset n?kev?t metsien k?tk?iss? ja vuorten rinteill?, tullen rakkaudesta ja kaihosta hulluiksi.

Markiisittarella ei ollut kuitenkaan ollut paljon seikkailuja. Oman tunnustuksensa mukaan oli h?nt? pidetty typer?n?. Sen ajan veltostuneet miehet rakastivat v?hemmin kauneutta sen itsens? vuoksi kuin keimailun kiihoitusten vuoksi. Monin verroin v?hemmin ihaillut naiset olivat riist?neet h?nelt? kaikki h?nen ihailijansa ja kumma kyll? ei h?n tuntunut suuresti siit? piittaavan. Siit?, mit? h?n katkonaisesti oli kertonut el?m?st??n, p??tin, ettei h?nen syd?mens? ollut milloinkaan ollut nuori ja ett? kylm? itsekk?isyys oli tukahuttanut kaikki muut sielunkyvyt. Kuitenkin n?in h?nen ymp?rill??n vanhukselle kyll?kin l?mpimi? yst?vi?: h?nen lapsenlapsensa helliv?t h?nt? ja h?n teki salaisuudessa hyv??, mutta koskei h?n kerskaillut periaatteilla ja tunnusti, ettei milloinkaan ollut rakastanut rakastajaansa kreivi de Larrieuxia, en voinut keksi? muuta selityst? h?nen luonteelleen.

Er??n? iltana n?in h?net tavallista puheliaampana. H?nen ajatuksensa olivat surunvoittoiset.

-- Rakas lapsi, sanoi h?n, kreivi de Larrieux on juuri kuollut luuvaloon. Se on suuri suru minulle, joka kuusikymment? vuotta olin h?nen yst?v?tt?rens?. Ja sitten on niin peloittavaa n?hd? kuinka ihmisi? kuolee! Eih?n se ole ihme, h?nh?n oli niin vanha!

-- Kuinka vanha h?n olikaan? kysyin min?.

-- Kahdeksankymment?nelj? vuotta. Min? olen kahdeksankymment?, -- mutta min? en ole sairaaloinen niinkuin h?n, min? saatan toivoa el?v?ni vanhemmaksi kuin h?n. Yhdentekev??, t?n? vuonna on useita yst?vi?ni mennyt manalle, ja vaikka kuvitteleekin olevansa nuorempi ja vahvempi, niin ei voi h??t?? pelkoa n?hdess??n aikalaisensa kuolevan.

-- Siis, sanoin min?, siin?k? on kaikki kaipaus, mink? te uhraatte tuolle Larrieux-raukalle, joka kuusikymment? vuotta on teit? jumaloinut, h?nelle, joka milloinkaan ei lakannut tuskittelemasta teid?n kylmyytt?nne ja joka ei milloinkaan menett?nyt rohkeuttaan. Siin? oli kerrassaan rakastajan esikuva! Sellaisia miehi? ei en?? synny.

-- Joutavia, sanoi markiisitar kylm?sti hymyillen, miesparalla oli kiihko valitella ja kuvitella itsens? onnettomaksi. H?n ei ollut sit? lainkaan, sen tiet?? jokainen.

N?hdess?ni markiisittaren olevan juttutuulella, ahdistin h?nt? kysymyksill? kreivi de Larrieuxista ja h?nest? itsest??n. T?ss? se omituinen vastaus, jonka sain:

En ole milloinkaan ollut kovin ?lyk?s -- siihen aikaan olin suorastaan typer?. Luostarikasvatus oli saanut aikaan, ett? ennest??nkin hitaat luonnonlahjani turtuivat. Min? j?tin luostarin yksinkertaisen viattomana -- ominaisuus, mik? aivan v??rin luetaan meille ansioksi ja mik? usein turmelee koko el?m?n onnen.

Kokemus, jonka sain kuusikuukautisessa avioliitossa, kohtasi todella niin kehittym?tt?m?n ?lyn, ettei siit? ollut minulle mit??n hy?ty?. Opin ep?ilem??n itse?ni -- en tuntemaan el?m??. Astuin seurael?m??n aivan nurinkurisin ajatuksin ja ennakkoluuloin, joiden vaikutusta ei koko el?m?ni ole voinut h?vitt??.

Kuudentoista ja puolen vuoden vanhana olin leski. Anoppini, joka luonteenpuutteeni vuoksi oli mieltynyt minuun, kehoitti minua menem??n uusiin naimisiin. On totta, ett? olin raskaana ja ett? mit?t?n leskiosuuteni palautuistion of immutable laws, human or divine--but an integral link in the grand progressive evolution of human society as an indissoluble whole.

The doctrine that there exists an "irrepressible conflict" between free labor and slave labor is as false as it is mischievous. Their true relation is one of beautiful interchange and eternal harmony. When each is restricted to the sphere for which God and nature designed it, they both contribute their full quotas to the physical happiness, material interests, and social and spiritual progress of the race. They will prove to be not antagonistic but complementary to each other in the great work of human civilization. From this time forth, the subjugation of tropical nature to man; the elevation and christianization of the dark races, the feeding and clothing of the world, the diminution of toil and the amelioration of all the asperities of life, the industrial prosperity and the peace of nations, and the further glorious evolutions of Art, Science, Literature and Religion, will depend upon the amicable adjustment, the co-ordination, the indissoluble compact between these two social systems, now apparently rearing their hostile fronts in the Northern and Southern sections of this country.

The only "irrepressible conflict" is between pro-slavery and anti-slavery opinion: Here indeed collision may be inconceivably disastrous, and fanaticism may thrust her sickle into the harvest of death. The pro-slavery sentiment is unconquerable. It will be more and more suspicious of encroachment and jealous of its rights. It will submit to no restriction, and scouts the possibility of any "ultimate extinction." Nothing will satisfy us but a radical change of opinion, or at least of political action on the subject of slavery throughout the Northern States. The relation of master and slave must be recognized as right and just, as national and perpetual. The Constitution must be construed in the spirit of its founders, as an instrument to protect the minority from the domination of an insolent majority. The slavery question must be eliminated forever from the political issues of the day. No party which contemplates the restriction of our system and its ultimate extinction can be tolerated for a moment. In assuming this bold attitude we simply assert our obvious rights and discharge our inevitable duty.

Now the Northern mind is equally determined and defiant. It has literally gone mad in its hostility to our institutions. The most conservative of the Republican party look forward complacently to the restriction and ultimate extinction of slavery, in other words, to the Africanization of the South and our national destruction. We will see to it that they precipitate no such calamity upon us, and we warn them to look carefully to their own fate. When a Northern Confederacy can no longer like a vampire suck the blood of the sleeping and compliant South; when agrarianism and atheism and fanaticism and socialism do their perfect work in a crowded and crowding population, will not the dark enigmas of free-labor civilization press heavily upon it, and the dread images evoked by the prophetic wisdom of Macauley arise indeed--taxation, monopoly, oppression, misery of the masses, revolution, standing armies, despotism, &c.? It may yet deserve the strange epitaph written for this nation by Elwood Fisher:

"Here lies a people, who, in attempting to liberate the negro, lost their own freedom."

If the Republican party is permitted to get into power, the Africanization of the South may be gradual, but it will be sure. Their leaders already boast to applauding multitudes that the heel of the North is at last on our necks. When the power, the patronage, the prestige of the federal government are wielded against slavery; when Southern men take office under it, and first apologize and then approve; when a free-soil sentiment gradually percolates through the South itself; when the brightness of Southern honor is tarnished, and the integrity of Southern opinion destroyed, what will be, what must be the inevitable result? Nothing hasty or violent will be attempted. The iniquity will be accomplished under the forms of the present Constitution. Remember that the coins of Nero bore the image of the Goddess of Liberty, and that a perverted Constitution is the choicest instrument of tyranny. Lulled by pleasant narcotics, we will pass from dreams of security, into the sleep of death. Or if we rouse ourselves at last, and reach out for our fallen thunderbolts, we will be found, like Sampson, blind and helpless, and they will make sport of our misery. The silken cords with which they bind us now, will change to iron fetters in our moment of revolt.

The precedent alone would be fatal. Shall we submit to an administration which received not a single vote in ten of our States? We could not be represented in its cabinet, nor in any foreign mission, for what Southern gentleman of proper sensibilities would accept office at its hands? The South would be unrepresented at home or abroad. She would have received a blow, politically, socially and morally, which would ensure her destruction. This is precisely what Seward, Beecher and Greeley are aiming at. We are to be coaxed, cheated, legislated out of our rights and liberties. What cannot be achieved by trickery, will at length be attempted by force. The most hateful feature in the despotism which threaten us is its religious element. If we are outraged because the Constitution is violated and broken, what shall we say of those hypocrites or madmen who have perverted the Word of God to the most detestable purposes of man!

The true test of statesmanship, according to Burke, is to preserve and improve, not to abolish and destroy. We apply this to the institution of slavery, and are willing to accord it to the existing Union: Have we exhausted our Constitutional remedies? Is not the Republican party powerless for injury, and may we not anticipate a thorough reversion of Northern judgment? These questions, and others like them, have been met and answered a thousand times by the able leaders of the South. Nothing but the speedy and universal uprising of the Northern people in behalf of State rights and Southern equality can preserve the Union. They have committed the aggressions, let them make the overtures. Is this miracle to be expected, and are we to await credulously its accomplishment? Compromises and compacts, the temporary make-shifts of politicians and philanthropists, will be useless. With what ingenuity the most sacred compact may be perverted, with what facility the most perfect compromise may be broken! You may put a new piece on the old garment, but the rent will be made worse.

The fact is, the Constitution is dead, for it carried with it the seeds of its own dissolution. The Union has achieved its mission; the last page of its history is written, and it may be safely deposited in the glorious archives of the past. The genius of Anglo-Saxon liberty, when she emigrated to these shores, bore twins in her bosom and not a single birth. The Northern race, bold, hardy, intelligent, proud and free, will receive into its embrace the heterogeneous spawn of European civilization, and mold it to its own shape, and prepare it for its own destiny. The Southern people are brave, courteous and gentle, credulous and forbearing--loving friends, chivalrous enemies and good masters, to whose strong and generous hands alone the Almighty would entrust the tutelage of his most helpless and degraded children.

The time for our separation has come, and let all good men unite to avert the calamity of civil war. But at all hazards the dissolution must come. The evolution of history, according to the laws of Providence, which supervise even the falling of a sparrow, necessitates it and demands it. The diversity of character, opinion, interest, climate and institutions in the two sections is beyond remedy. Each has a separate mission to fill and a glorious destiny to accomplish. In our present relations, we incommode each other, threaten the peace of the world, and retard the operations of Providence. Let us part in peace; let us have an equitable distribution of the public property and the public territory; let us have an alliance offensive and defensive; let us scorn the idea, so mournfully entertained by many, that constitutional liberty will perish because we are divorced, that representative government will prove a failure because it becomes our duty and interest to separate. Let us prove by our wisdom and our courage that those great principles are dearer and more powerful than ever. Let us emulate each other only in the arts of peace, in the cultivation of friendship and in the worship of God.

It is unfair to represent this question as one of secession or submission. The word submission, in the sense of political degredation, does not exist in the Southern vocabulary. There is no man in the South so stupid, so cowardly, so base as to be willing to live in the Union as it is. There is no difference between us as to the fanaticism and tyranny of the North, no difference as to the wrongs and injuries of the South. Some of us would secede at once, unconditionally and forever. Others would give the North a last chance to abandon her false position, to make apologies and amend, and to secure us in the strongest bonds imaginable, against not only the encroachments but the existence of the Republican party. The difference is rather nominal than real, for all the conservatives doubt and many despair of proper concessions from the North. With those concessions, disunion is probable, without them it is inevitable.

It is the business of the Cotton States to move first in this important matter. They alone are the great conservators of the institution of slavery. The people of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri are unquestionably with us in spirit and principle, but we cannot disguise the fact, that the tenure of our social system in those States is feeble and failing. Those great communities must do as in their wisdom they see best, but we cannot wait for their decision nor promise to abide by it. Whether they go with the North or declare for a separate sovereignty, the mission of the Cotton States must be equally accomplished. We cordially invite their co-operation and believe they will share largely and richly in the benefits of a Southern Confederacy, and in event of trouble, we pledge our lives and fortunes to the defence of their border.

The Republican party itself, the best and the worst of it, we charge with having outraged our feelings, violated our rights, and initiated a policy which, if carried out, will be destructive of our liberties. It is not an election but a usurpation, and if we acquiesce, we are not citizens but subjects. The forms of constitutional liberty may have been observed, but the spirit of tyrannic dictation has been the presiding genius of the day. Suppose the people of the North were to repeal their obnoxious laws, to confirm and abide by the decision of the Supreme Court, to divide the territories in an equitable manner, and to recognize the equality as well as the Union of the States, what and where would the Republican party be? Dissipated into thin air, dissolved like an empty pageant, not leaving a trace behind. With the Republican party, therefore, as it exists at this hour we have no parley. If it questions us, we have no reply, but the words of the gallant Georgian. "Argument is exhausted, we stand to our arms."

To the conservative men of the North, who sacrificed their time, treasure, interest and popularity in our behalf, and who have proffered their blood in our defence, we have no language which can truly express the gratitude of our hearts. Generous and faithful spirits! Stand bravely a little longer in the imminent deadly breach, which is yawning between the North and the South, and stay, if it yet be possible, the bloody hand of fanaticism. Raise your eloquent voices once more for equality and fraternity, for justice and union. If it prove in vain, as alas! it will, keep firm at least to your principles and your faith; work without ceasing as a leaven of good in your infatuated communities; infuse into the contest before us some chivalric element, worthy of yourselves and of us, which, if the worst comes, shall mitigate the horrors of war, and hasten the returning blessings of peace. When we think of you in the future, we will forget the violence of individuals and the disloyalty of State governments; we will forget the calumnies of Sumner and Phillips and Giddings, the blasphemies of Emerson and Cheever and Beecher, and the vile stings and insults of the aiders and abettors of thieves and assassins; we will willingly forget them all, and entwine you tenderly in our memories and affections, with the immortal friends and compatriots of our own revolutionary sires--with Otis and Warren, and Hancock and Putnam, and Wayne and Hamilton and Franklin. And in the fearful troubles which may come also upon your fragment of this dismembered nation, may the sign of our covenant be found upon every one of your door-posts, to ward off the destroying angel from your favored and happy homes!

WILLIAM H. HOLCOMBE.

Waterproof, Tensas Parish, La.

Transcriber's Notes:

The following misprints have been corrected: "opionions" corrected to "opinions" "improves" corrected to "improve"

Other than the corrections listed above, spelling has been retained from the original.

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