diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/60119-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/60119-0.txt | 5626 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 5626 deletions
diff --git a/old/60119-0.txt b/old/60119-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index bebbf25..0000000 --- a/old/60119-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5626 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Isis very much unveiled, being the story of -the great mahatma hoax, by Edmund Garrett - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Isis very much unveiled, being the story of the great mahatma hoax - -Author: Edmund Garrett - -Release Date: August 17, 2019 [EBook #60119] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISIS VERY MUCH UNVEILED *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing, deaurider, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - TOLD - FROM - SOURCES - ISIS MAINLY - VERY THEOSOPHICAL, - MUCH BY - UNVEILED, EDMUND - BEING GARRETT, - THE AUTHOR - STORY [Illustration] OF - OF “IN - THE AFRIKANDER - GREAT LAND,” - MAHATMA “IBSEN’S - HOAX. BRAND - IN - ENGLISH - VERSE,” - &c. - - - LONDON: - “WESTMINSTER GAZETTE” _All Rights Reserved._ - OFFICE, - TUDOR STREET, E.C. - - - - - INDEX. - - - PAGE. - - PART I.—THE STORY OF THE GREAT MAHATMA HOAX. - - Chapter I.— Introduction 5 - 〃 II.— No Mahatmas, no Members! 8 - 〃 III.— Mystification under Madame Blavatsky 13 - 〃 IV.— The Psychical Research Exposure 17 - 〃 V.— Mystification under Mrs. Besant 22 - 〃 VI.— Enter the Mahatma 27 - 〃 VII.— Every Man his own Mahatma 32 - 〃 VIII.— The Adventures of a Seal 36 - 〃 IX.— The Climax of Theosophic Brotherhood 42 - 〃 X.— The Mahatma Tries Threats 48 - 〃 XI.— Mrs. Besant’s _coup de main_ 55 - 〃 XII.— A Meeting of the (Theosophical) - Pickwick Club 60 - 〃 XIII.— Questions and Challenges 67 - - - PART II—ANSWERS AND THEOSOPHISTRIES. - - I.— From Officials 75 - II.— From Prominent Theosophists 80 - III.— From Private Members 93 - - - PART III.—A GENERAL REJOINDER. - - Last Shreds of the Veil of Isis 99 - - - POSTSCRIPT. - - Mr. Judge’s Mahatma at Bay 108 - L’Envoi: “The Society upon the Himalay” 117 - A Reply from Mr. W. Q. Judge 121 - An Appreciation of Mr. Judge’s “Reply” 133 - - - ILLUSTRATIONS AND FACSIMILES. - - Frontispiece, Portrait of Mme. Blavatsky 1 - Portrait of Mrs. Besant 80–81 - Portrait of Colonel Olcott 32–33 - The “Mahatma’s Seal” 28 - The Envelope Trick 35 - Facsimiles of Mahatma Missives, of Mr. Judge’s 20, 33, 37, 38, - Handwriting, &c. 50, 52, 54, 115 - Portrait Cartoon: “When Augur meets Augur” 119 - -[Illustration: - - MADAME BLAVATSKY - - (From a photograph by Messrs. Elliott & Fry, Baker-street, W.) -] - - - - - PREFACE. - - -Tourists at Pompeii are shown a temple of Isis. The impartial cinders -have preserved for us there, not only the temple, but the secret passage -which the priests used in the production of what are nowadays called -“phenomena.” - -The following pages are designed to show the secret passage in the -temple of the Theosophic Isis, the goddess of Madame Blavatsky’s “Isis -Unveiled.” - -Instead of having to wait on the pleasure of Vesuvius, I am enabled to -act as cicerone while the temple is still (for the present) a going -concern. - -The important difference between the exposure of Madame Blavatsky’s box -of tricks by the Society for Psychical Research, and the present -exposure of her successors is, that in this case we have the -high-priesthood giving evidence against itself. My own part in the -business is merely the humble one of seeing that they shall all -satisfactorily “get at” one another. In redacting, out of the mass of -various testimony which has fallen into my hands as clear and readable a -story as I could present, my main care has been to tone down the mutual -insinuations. Talk about augur meeting augur with a smile! It is the -snarl which _these_ augurs cannot disguise. - -As for myself, I have tried to render a service to truth; but I cannot -see, with some good people, that a sense of truth necessarily excludes a -sense of humour. - -Mrs. Besant is a lady whose character I have often defended in the press -though I have not always been able to accept the extremer estimates of -her intellectual power. She is about the only one of my _dramatis -personæ_ in whom the public at large (like myself) feel any personal -interest whatever. She is, therefore, the strongest buttress of a fabric -which she has now for some time known to be rotten at the base. That is -why I have dealt more seriously with her than with these Olcotts and -Judges. The President is too flabby to be worth fighting; the -Vice-President is already thrown over by all the shrewder and honester -members; even Mrs. Besant herself has now cabled her refusal to accept -his latest revelation, and discovered that his Mahatma is indeed a -fraud—when he “deposes” Mrs. Besant. - -My pity is saved for those humbler dupes of the rank-and-file who have -trusted these others not wisely but too well. From some of them I have -seen pathetic letters; and if any gall has got upon my pen, it is the -gall of the bitterness of their disillusion. They are more widely -spread, and more worth saving from the quagmire of shams than most -people suspect. - -I need hardly remark that I was never a Theosophist myself. But my -Theosophical sources of information, referred to in the course of the -story, have been growing within the Society week by week ever since the -exposure began. - -There are no signs at present of any intention on the part of the three -Theosophic chiefs to return from the various continents to which they -departed last July—departed simultaneously with the issue of that -“Report of an Inquiry” (so-called) which is the starting-point of these -chapters. Mrs. Besant has left Australia to join Colonel Olcott in -India; Mr. Judge remains just five days hence at New York. And so, -taking a cue from Mahomet and the Mountain, “Isis Very much Unveiled” -will now, in booklet form, go out to them. - - F. EDMUND GARRETT. - - - - - ISIS VERY MUCH UNVEILED. - - - - - PART I. - - THE STORY OF THE GREAT MAHATMA HOAX. - - - - - CHAPTER I. - INTRODUCTORY. - - “O my Theosophists.... What a pack of fools you are!”—MADAME - BLAVATSKY. - - -This will be one of the queerest stories ever unfolded in a newspaper. -Truth, as worshipped by the Theosophists, is indeed stranger than -fiction. But it is not here told merely for entertainment. It has also a -degree of importance and instructiveness measured by the growing wealth -and numbers of the Theosophical Society, and the personal influence of -Mrs. Besant. To-day the Theosophical Society numbers some three or four -thousand members in Europe, India, and America. It supports two or three -publishing businesses and several score of magazines in various -languages. It boasts offices and house property in London, New York, and -Adyar. It attracts donations and bequests. It numbers a title or two and -some money-bags. It consists almost entirely of educated or -semi-educated people, many of whom are intelligent, many sincere; a few -both. And it is likely, amid that debauch of sign-seeking and -marvel-mongering into which a century rationalistic in its youth has -plunged in its dotage, to captivate an increasing number of those who -are bored with the old religions and yet agog for a new. - -It is especially to these that I dedicate the singular narrative which -these articles are to unfold. It may save them betimes a painful -disillusionment, such as it will, I fear, inflict on many who are as yet -numbered among the faithful. - -What is the situation at present? - -Everybody knows that Madame Blavatsky, the original founder of the -society, supported its pretensions to an occult origin by the production -of phenomena which were pronounced by careful investigators to be due to -systematic trickery; but which are still believed by the faithful to -have been produced at Madame’s request, and in support of the Theosophic -movement, by certain Eastern sages possessed of transcendental powers -over mind and matter. - -Everybody will remember that Mrs. Besant, on whom the mantle of Madame -Blavatsky has fallen, made a sensational public assertion, some time -after her teacher’s death, to the effect that those “powers” were still -at work (they were indeed!), and that she was herself now the recipient -of similar “communications” from the “Mahatmas.” - -A few people are aware that as the result of a sort of split among -prominent members of the society, there was recently a Theosophic -meeting at which Mrs. Besant confessed to her friends that there had -been something wrong with the “communications” which she had been in -such a hurry to announce to the public; made certain Theosophically -obscure charges against a brother official of the society; but persuaded -those assembled to rest content with a general statement and not to -inquire into the facts further—in short, generally to hush the matter -up. - -This the Theosophists, being a docile folk, conscientiously did; and as -the accused proceeded with Mrs. Besant’s sanction to deny, still in -general terms, what little assertion of fact Mrs. Besant herself had -appeared to convey, after which there was an affecting reconciliation: -it is not surprising that to the outside public the mystery remains -exactly where it was. - -Even of the Theosophists themselves the full facts are only known at -present to a few of the inner ring. - -In view of what has gone before, this reticence appears misplaced; and -as circumstances have put me in possession of the facts, I propose to -give them the same publicity as was enjoyed by Mrs. Besant’s original -statement. - -I propose to show:— - -That Mrs. Besant has been bamboozled for years by bogus “communications” -of the most childish kind, and in so ludicrous a fashion as to deprive -of all value any future evidence of hers on any question calling for the -smallest exercise of observation and common sense. - -That she would in all probability be firmly believing in the bogus -documents in question to this day, but for the growing and at last -irresistible protests of some less greedily gullible Theosophists. - -That the bamboozling in question has been practised widely and -systematically, ever since Madame Blavatsky’s death, pretty much as it -used to be during her lifetime. - -That official acts of the society, as well as those of individual -members, have been guided by these bogus messages from Mahatmas. - -That the exposure of them leaves the society absolutely destitute of any -objective communication with the Mahatmas who are alleged to have -founded and to watch over it, and of all other evidence of their -existence. - -That Mrs. Besant has taken a leading part in hushing up the facts of -this exposure, and so securing the person whom she believes to have -written the bogus documents in his tenure of the highest office but one -in the society. - -And that therefore Mrs. Besant herself and all her colleagues are in so -far in the position of condoning the hoax, and are benefiting in one -sense or another by the popular delusion which they have helped to -propagate. - -I shall show, finally, that the only alternative to this set of -conclusions is another which would be even more discreditable to the -_personnel_ of the society, and even more fatal to its continued -existence on its present basis. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - NO MAHATMAS, NO MEMBERS! - - “If there are no Mahatmas the Theosophical Society is an absurdity, - and there is no use in keeping it up.”—MRS. BESANT, in _Lucifer_, - December 15, 1890. - - -Before going any further I wish to emphasise one point. This society, as -such, must stand or fall with its “Mahatmas.” It should be realised how -consistent, in one sense, this miracle-mongering side of the -Theosophical movement has been throughout the society’s history; what an -important part it has played and continues to play in attracting popular -interest; and how closely, along one of the versatile thaumaturgist’s -many lines, Madame Blavatsky has been followed by her present-day -imitator. I say this in justice to the latter, who, I think, may fairly -complain of the unkind criticisms passed on his Mahatma-missives by -colleagues who still cherish those produced under the auspices of Madame -Blavatsky. - -It is true that the society does not officially vouch for Mahatmas. It -is careful not to demand belief in them as a condition of membership; -and the shrewder members are put into a panic by anything which tends to -compromise its boasted “neutrality” on this tender subject. But we shall -soon see what this “neutrality” is worth. - -Madame Blavatsky taught that “the Masters” are certain sages, several -hundred years old or so, who by steeping themselves in the immemorial -lore of the East have attained powers transcending time, space, and the -other puny limits of Western science. By profound solitary meditation on -Things in General, these old gentlemen have arrived at a sort of Fourth -Dimension, in which a Soul and a Saucer come to very much the same -thing. Their residence was shrouded in a judicious mystery, which Madame -declared herself under a solemn oath to preserve. She at first located -them in the recesses of the Himalayas; but one of her most zealous -disciples lately stated in the _Daily Chronicle_ that “the two principal -Mahatmas now reside in an oasis of the Desert of Gobi.” At any rate, -these “adepts” prefer a sequestered spot, and remain occult in the -strictest sense of the word. - -But on some points Madame was unequivocal about them. She declared that -she had sat at the feet of one of them as his _chela_ (pupil); that the -Theosophical Society was founded under his distinct inspiration; and -that he and his brothers continued to intervene in its affairs. The -original draft of the Society’s constitution, in fact, like a more -authentic Veda straight from heaven, had been “precipitated” in New York -by an exertion of the Masters’ psychic force from Tibet. Hesitating -converts and dubious subscribers were determined by the same form of -interposition; and somebody or other has taken steps, at all times of -the society’s history, to ensure that the more faithful of the -“_chelas_” should be comforted and encouraged as need arose, by missives -from their invisible “_guru_.” (A good, imposing word, “guru.” Do you -remember the terrible old man by the road in “David Copperfield,” who -scared David almost out of his wits by running out on him, and shouting -“Guroo, guroo, guroo”?) Mrs. Besant herself has admitted that Theosophy -is to be regarded in the light of a “revelation” from these exalted -beings, as well as in that of a science or philosophy which can be -arrived at by more ordinary means. - -In a word, Theosophy without Mahatmas would be “Hamlet” without the -Prince of Denmark. “Isis Unveiled” and “The Secret Doctrine” are works -which few would be found to wade through if their verbose pages were not -lightened by associations of that White Magic which lends a creepy -interest even to such avowed works of fiction as “Zanoni” and “Mr. -Isaacs.” With belief in the Mahatmas must go any believing of “H.P.B.,” -who swore to them; and with “H.P.B.” and her authorities must go those -two volumes of solemn farrago, which remain the society’s only -contribution to philosophical knowledge. For all that is new in them, if -there _is_ anything new except the blunders, is explicitly given on the -authority of “the Masters.” - -The published “Objects” of the society run thus:— - - (1) To form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity - without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour. - - (2) To promote the study of Aryan and other Eastern literatures, - religions, and sciences. - - (3) A third object—pursued by a portion only of the members of the - Society—is to investigate unexplained laws of nature and the - psychical powers of man. - -It will thus be seen that the “phenomenal” side of the society’s -activities has all along had a place, though guardedly, even in its -published Objects. In point of fact, as I have elsewhere insisted, this -third Object is the only one in pursuit of which the society has any -substantial achievement to point to. As to the first Object, my -narrative will presently suggest the same sort of remark on the -brotherliness of the Universal Brothers as has sometimes been made by -scoffers on the sociability of Socialists. As to the second Object, it -is observed that there are people who study Oriental literatures, and -there are people who belong to the Theosophical Society; but they are -not the same people. Professor Max Müller has edited the only series of -English translations of the Sacred Books of the East with which I am -acquainted, and Professor Max Müller lately published some University -lectures under the title of Theosophy. But his preface explained that he -did so in order to rescue that respectable and ancient philosophical -term from the associations of sciolism and miracle-mongering with which -the Theosophical Society have linked it in the public mind. In point of -fact, there is no reason to believe that any member of the society in -Europe could pass an examination in any Oriental language whatever. The -third Object, on the other hand, has led to some real achievements. The -society has not, perhaps, done much in the “investigation” line itself; -but members of it have certainly supplied the most astonishing -“unexplained laws of nature” and “psychical powers” for investigation by -other people. It is this which has given it its success, its growth, its -world-wide notoriety. It is this which first attracted and convinced its -best-known converts, and it is this which has created the successive -“booms” (as they would be called in a more purely commercial connexion) -which have produced the biggest crops of entrance subscriptions from the -wonder-loving public. I lay stress on this because the Theosophists have -shown a good deal of inconstancy in their treatment of the third Object. -They have always worked a given marvel for all it was worth until it got -somehow blown upon; then they turn round and remark that mere material -phenomena are, after all, of no great importance: the thing is the study -of those great spiritual ideas which, &c., &c. In fact, they want to -have it both ways. Mr. Sinnett, however, whose “Occult World” remains -the classic description of Madame Blavatsky as a wonder-worker, -confesses candidly in a memorial sketch of her which appeared in the -_Review of Reviews_ how much stress she herself laid on such things, as -long as she could get anyone to believe in them:— - - One could no more write a memoir on trigonometry and say nothing - about triangles, than survey the strange career just concluded and - ignore the marvels coruscating through it. And at this early period - of her enterprise [he means, before the Psychical Research exposure] - she seems to have depended more on the startling effect of - surprising powers she was enabled to exhibit than on the - philosophical teaching ... which became the burden of her later - utterances. - -Just so. It is easy to hold your miracles cheap—after they have been -found out. Madame Blavatsky fell back on Object Two—when Object Three -was discredited. But the taste for such things, even when it is _de -rigueur_ to describe them as “occult applications of strictly natural -laws,” is apt to grow upon any religious sect which once dabbles in -them. Mrs. Besant, too, in due course fell a victim to the temptation to -make capital out of the marvellous; and my readers will now be prepared -to put their proper value on the deprecating expressions in this -connexion which now, on the inevitable turn of the wheel, once more -begin to be heard, and which will be redoubled, no doubt, when this -narrative is fully before the public. - - - - - CHAPTER III. - MYSTIFICATION UNDER MADAME BLAVATSKY. - - “Now, dear, let us change the programme.... He is willing - to give 10,000 rupees ... if only he saw a little - ‘phenomenon’!”—BLAVATSKY-COULOMB LETTERS. - - -It is no part of my present object to enter at length into the history -and character of the late Madame Blavatsky. But a comparison of the -earlier phase of the Theosophical Society with that of to-day is so -indispensable to the right appreciation of both, that a brief _résumé_ -(borrowed mainly from previous sketches of my own elsewhere) may be -welcome at this point, even to readers already familiar with the -subject. - -The Theosophical Society was born in America of Russo-Yankee parentage. -Helena Petrovna Blavatsky founded it at New York in 1874, with the aid -first of Colonel Olcott, then a kind of journalist, who became, and -still is, the president, and soon afterwards of William Q. Judge, then a -lawyer’s clerk in Olcott’s brother’s office, who became, and still is, -the vice-president. - -The previous career of the Foundress had been remarkable enough, if we -accept hostile accounts of it—still more remarkable if we accept her -own; but with this I am not concerned. From 1874 Madame Blavatsky’s -history and that of the Theosophical Society are one. - -In 1878 the society moved its headquarters to India, and in the -congenial atmosphere of the mysterious East launched into marvels. Eked -out by performances not unlike a drawing-room Maskelyne and Cook, -Madame’s rehash of Neo-platonist and Kabbalistic mysticism with Buddhist -terminology soon “caught on” with the impressionable natives. It had -especial attraction for the educated and ardent young Babu, that typical -product of British India whom Mr. Rudyard Kipling has so often drawn for -us. But it also carried away, thanks to Madame’s intense -personality—half repulsion, half charm—editors and officials of mark in -the sceptical circles of Anglo-India. It made Mr. A. P. Sinnett (then -editor of the _Pioneer_) turn evangelist in “The Occult World,” and Mr. -A. O. Hume (then Government Secretary) follow suit with “Hints on -Esoteric Philosophy.” And no wonder. Never was a new religion more -industriously supplied with miracles—those _coups de main célestes_, as -a witty Frenchman has defined them. Wherever Madame happened to be with -a select circle of friends, disciples, or laymen worth impressing, but -especially in and about the bungalow at Adyar, near Madras, the -society’s headquarters, the invisible Mahatmas were never tired of -exhibiting their astonishing psychic powers over ponderable matter. The -two who were especially at Madame’s disposal went by the names -(reverently breathed) of Mahatma Morya and Mahatma Koot Hoomi Lal Sing. -In the region of White Magic they could do almost anything—any feat -which an adroitly led-up conversation might happen to suggest. But the -particular lines of business (if I may be allowed the phrase) of which -they made a speciality were making objects appear and disappear: in -Madame’s jargon, integrating and disintegrating them by a psychical -command over astral vortices of atoms. Sitting in their studies 2,000 -miles away in Tibet, they could, by a mere effort of will, project an -astral epistle, or an astral body, or an astral cup and saucer, into the -middle of an applauding circle at afternoon tea or picnic in Madras or -Bombay. Showers of roses fluttered down from the ceiling. Invisible -bells tinkled from none knew where. All kinds of tricks were played with -Madame’s interminable cigarettes. Sketches and treatises were -psychically “precipitated” on to blank paper, nay, sometimes the very -stationery was created out of nothing to receive them. Such inferior -sketches, too, and such twaddling, such very twaddling, treatises! One -disciple—Damodar K. Mavalankar, a youth passionately ambitious of -fame—even advanced to the acquirement of some of these extraordinary -powers in his own person. Merely to have seen the astral body of a -Mahatma became in a manner a cheap accomplishment. Damodar boasted that -he had once or twice projected his own—slipping spook-like through a -brick wall. - -Most of these marvels, as I have hinted, required the _mise en scène_ of -the Adyar bungalow. Here Madame and the Colonel, and a few favoured -_chelas_, had apartments. “Our domestic imbeciles” and “our familiar -muffs” the latter are termed in one of the letters attributed to Madame. -Here, too, in the “Occult Room” adjoining Madame’s bed-chamber, hung the -famous “Shrine,” a sort of cupboard containing a fancy portrait in oils -of the condescending Koot. This became associated with as many marvels -as the image of a mediæval saint. Suppose you are an intending -Theosophist—a hesitating convert, especially a moneyed one, like Mr. -Jacob Sassoon. You call at headquarters. You are shown round by Damodar, -or by M. or Madame Coulomb, librarian and secretary. With natural -curiosity you ask to gaze upon the Master’s features. You are told of -his indulgent concessions to deserving neophytes seeking for a sign. -When the cupboard has been shut again, you are asked if there is -anything you particularly desire from the Master. You indicate, not -unnaturally, a message. It is about even chances whether the said -message—reading generally not unlike Mr. Martin Tupper in his more -oracular vein—is discovered in the cupboard immediately on reopening the -door, or descends from the ceiling on to the top of your head. - -The fame of these things, set out in the driest possible detail in the -pages of “The Occult World,” aroused a furore of curiosity in this -country, where people were just beginning to take a new interest in -questions of psychical research. It was about the time when family -circles played the “willing game,” and sat in the dark trying to see -purple flames coming out of a magnet. Quick to seize the psychological -moment, Madame Blavatsky came to England and “starred” London in the -season of 1884. In her train came Colonel Olcott and Mohini L. -Chatterji. Mohini, a Brahmin graduate of the University of Calcutta, -shone like Damodar with a lustre not all reflected. He, it was -whispered, was a _chela_ of some attainments. He was not to be touched. -He held his hands politely behind him when being introduced. There was a -splendour as of some astral oil about his dusky countenance and thick -black locks; while his big, dark eyes were as piercing as those of -Madame herself. Men gazed on Mohini with awe, and ladies with -enthusiasm. In the background hovered the recording Sinnett. - -In spite of the disappointing fact that the London air proved -unfavourable to miracles, the tale of the Indian ones was greedily drunk -in, and Theosophy became the fashionable fad. Society people took to -calling themselves Esoteric Buddhists: some were enrolled as _chelas_ at -short notice. The Theosophists went the round of the London -drawing-rooms, penetrated to provincial towns, were not unheard of at -the Universities. Madame rolled cigarettes and swore and talked black -magic in the rooms of well-known Cambridge dons, till the hair of -undergraduate listeners stood on end. Those were the days when a set of -enthusiastic pass-men lived “the higher life” on a course of Turkish -baths and a date diet; while three unlucky youths at Trinity nearly -poisoned themselves with hasheesh in an attempt to project their astral -bodies, and were only recovered at midnight by a relentless tutor armed -with the college authority and a stomach-pump. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - THE PSYCHICAL RESEARCH EXPOSURE. - - “Either she is a messenger from the Mahatmas or else she is a fraud. - In either case the Theosophical Society would have had no existence - without her.”—MRS. BESANT in _Lucifer_, December 15, 1890. - - -At the time of the Blavatsky season in London and Cambridge, the -lately-founded Psychical Research Society, which had close connexion -with the University town, was spoiling for something to investigate, and -it decided to investigate Madame Blavatsky. Madame and her friends were -delighted with this testimony to the stir which they had made, and -entered into the thing with every hope of converting the Researchers. -Were they not all ready to asseverate that such-and-such things had -indeed happened——in India? - -Whatever Theosophists may now say, the ‘S.P.R.’ was certainly not a -hostile tribunal. Its very existence and objects were a challenge to the -average educated prejudice which assumes that nothing can ever happen in -nature which is not accounted for in current scientific textbooks. The -society had itself vouched for “telepathy,” and coquetted with -“phantasms of the living”; it has since bestowed a statistical -respectability on the common ghost. To the miracles of Adyar some of its -members had lent a more than friendly ear. One of the most prominent had -actually been dubbed a _chela_. Dr. Hodgson (now secretary of the S.P.R. -American Branch), who conducted the Indian part of the inquiry, declared -that whatever prepossessions he may have had “were distinctly in favour -of occultism and Madame Blavatsky.” - -When Mr. Hodgson got to India he found people very much excited over -some highly suspicious and suggestive letters which had just appeared in -a Madras paper, communicated by the Madame Coulomb already spoken of, -and alleged by her to have been written by Madame Blavatsky. Mr. Hodgson -had to inquire on the spot: first, into the genuineness of these -letters; secondly, into that of the missives alleged to have been -precipitated by Mahatmas; thirdly, into the credibility of the evidence -about other marvels given before the Psychical Committee by Madame -herself, Colonel Olcott, Mr. Sinnett, and Mohini. He inquired and -investigated for three months; and his report, with copious facsimiles -and plans, is on record in Part IX. of the S.P.R. _Proceedings_ -(December, 1885). - -The allegation of the Coulombs was that the whole series of miracles had -been a matter of vulgar trickery, some of which they had been employed -to carry out for Madame. During Madame’s absence in Europe, the people -at Adyar had quarrelled with them and dismissed the pair, partly for -having at various times hinted to outsiders the secrets which they now -proceeded to make a clean breast of. The origin of their close -relationship with Madame Blavatsky is obscure. She and Madame Coulomb -had been associated at Cairo in the seventies in some “page” which the -foundress of Theosophy had expressed a wish to have “torn out of the -book of my life.” By the foundress’s own account, this torn-out page was -such as made it odd that she should pitch on the Coulombs when in want -of fit guardians for the sacred Shrine. Mrs. Besant once expounded to me -a theory that Madame did this, with the full foreknowledge that frauds -would follow and would discredit her and her Masters, partly from a -sublime benevolence towards the wicked Coulombs, partly because it was -necessary that she should herself “have her Calvary.” It was the same -combined motives, no doubt, which led Madame Blavatsky to act more than -once exactly as if Madame Coulomb had some secret hold over her. An -agitated telegram from Paris, however, failed to heal the present -rupture; and the result was the giving to the press of a long series of -letters in Madame’s hand, teeming with veiled instructions to the -Coulombs which fitted in at every point with their accounts of jugglery -at Adyar. - -The Coulomb story tallied also with equal accuracy with such outside -circumstantial evidence as happened to touch it. Did Madame Coulomb -allege that a “miracle” was worked by the substitution of one vase for -another exactly similar, the shop she named proved to have record of the -purchase of just such an exact pair just before the date of the miracle. -Did she make a similar statement about a “miraculous” shower of roses, -the like corroboration would be forthcoming. Did her husband describe -the famous “Shrine” cupboard as a trick-cabinet with three sliding -panels in the back, the panels had to be admitted, and explained by -Madame as “for convenience of packing in case of removal.” It had hung -against a hidden recess in the wall—there was the recess, the -coincidence had to be deplored as unfortunate. On the other side of that -recess, in Madame’s bedroom, the sideboard had a false back—that, too, -was to be seen, and the Theosophists must content themselves with -alleging that M. Coulomb had made it so after the miracles, and in the -nick of time for the inquiry. As for the scribbled instructions and -letters in which some of these arrangements were clearly hinted at, -Madame was driven to the peculiar course of admitting some letters and -even parts of letters and denying the rest. This, by the way, was -exactly what she had done about a similar incriminating letter on the -subject of a trick “missive,” which was planted on Mr. C. C. Massey, in -1882; the discovery of which led to the resignation of that gentleman -and others from the Society. - -As for the evidence of Madame and her friends about special “phenomena” -it had already so melted away under the application of ordinary -evidential canons as to leave the field clear for the Coulomb theory. -The “tests” with which in some cases the Mahatmas had insisted on -supplementing the credibility of their witnesses were as worthless and -disingenuous as all the rest. - -Last, what of the Mahatma missives?—precipitated from the Himalayas, -speaking in the persons and signed with the superscriptions of Mahatma -Morya and Koot Hoomi Lal Sing. These precious documents, which had been -rained among the faithful with a copiousness almost amounting to -garrulity, had been a little discredited already. The prosy and -sometimes illiterate verbiage of the Tibetan sages was a severe trial to -the enthusiasm of the more critical Theosophists even where it was -apparently original. But it was too much of a good thing when a long -doctrinal treatise, which Koot Hoomi had addressed to Mr. Sinnett, was -found to be a gross plagiarism from a lecture by an American gentleman -which had been reported in a Spiritualist paper a few months before. Nor -did it mend matters when, after considerable delay, the illustrious Koot -condescended to the newspaper arena, and wrote—we mean precipitated—an -explanation which for its evasiveness and general “thinness” is probably -unique even in the records of convicted plagiarists. - -But now came worse. For the same scrutiny which had identified Madame -Blavatsky as the writer of the unblushing letters to Madame Coulomb now -found exactly the same characteristics of expression, turns of phrase, -and solecisms in spelling in the compositions of Koot Hoomi Lal Sing. As -to handwriting, it was shown that the styles of the two august -correspondents had been evolved gradually by differentiation from -Madame’s ordinary hand. The facsimiles in the report deal only with -“K.H.” documents; but the case against those of “M.” is just as strong. -I showed a mass of “M.” script, which lies before me as I write, -belonging to the earliest period, to a Theosophist well acquainted with -Madame’s writing, and in perfect innocence he at once took it for hers. -At that time almost the only difference between the two Mahatma scripts -was that one affected red pencil or ink, and the other blue. - -[Illustration: - - FACSIMILE OF MAHATMA M.’S SIGNATURE. FROM AN EARLY BLAVATSKY MISSIVE. -] - -In a word, it was declared that Koot Hoomi Lal Sing and Mahatma Morya -were the same person, and that person Madame Blavatsky. When a missive -from the Himalayas floated down into the neophyte’s lap, it was Madame’s -own hand which had prepared it, though it was the no less useful if -humbler function of M. Coulomb to jerk it from the ceiling at the -critical moment with a string, or deftly pass it through the sliding -panel into the closed Shrine. - -Passing by the committee’s report on Madame Blavatsky herself, what of -her leading disciples? Of Colonel Olcott it was declared proven that in -a Theosophical connexion he was either unable to describe anything as he -really saw it, or else to see anything as it really was. Mohini and Mr. -Sinnett were disposed of in much the same way. Damodar—the astral -Damodar—was charged explicitly as a confederate of Madame in -missive-manufacturing. Mohini, the fascinating saint, hurried back to -India with a damaged halo. Mr. Sinnett has since sprung to fame as a -director—not of the regeneration of mankind, but of the Hansard Union. -Damodar announced that he was off to find his _guru_ in the Himalayas, -disappeared, and has not been seen since by his friends. - -William Q. Judge, having been left out in the cold when the hegira to -India took place, lived to fight another day, as we shall see. Mrs. -Besant had not yet loomed on the Theosophical horizon. Madame Blavatsky -herself left England and travelled till the storm had blown over. To the -S.P.R. Report no serious answer has ever appeared from that day to this; -and it fairly killed the miraculous phenomena. One class of them has -reappeared under the ægis of Mrs. Besant; but poor indeed, as we shall -see, is the Late Besantine period of mythological architecture beside -its gorgeous predecessor. - - - - - CHAPTER V. - MYSTIFICATION UNDER MRS. BESANT. - - “I look to possible developments of her Theosophic views with the - very gravest misgiving.”—CHARLES BRADLAUGH, _National Reformer_, - June, 1889. - - “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”—HAMLET. - - -I have said that the Psychical Research Report put a stop to most of the -Theosophic miracles. But there were obvious reasons why the Mahatmas -should continue to “precipitate” letters, even when the scoffs of a -hard, cold world drove them to restrain their wonder-working -propensities in other respects. The business was so beautifully safe and -simple. It defied “tests.” The task of proving that a scribble in red -chalk on a scrap of paper found in a disciple’s pocket is not the -authentic handwriting of an inaccessible teacher, whose devotees have -doubtless the best reason for knowing that he can never be produced as a -witness—this is a task from which the boldest sceptic might well recoil. - -But what of the actual process of “precipitation”? Alas, it appears to -be surrounded by disappointingly obscure conditions. It is not given to -see the scrap of psychically-manufactured notepaper glimmer into being -and become cream-laid out of nothing before one’s eyes, nor to watch the -mystic characters form themselves in lines along it like the writing on -Belshazzar’s wall. It is always the finished result that is discovered -ready-made, and this precisely resembles what is produced if you or I -write it in the ordinary way. The “precipitation,” in fact, is a deed of -darkness, and can only be done concealed from view, just as mediums are -wont to declare at a séance that the spirits are prevented from -manifesting themselves by the mere presence of a sceptical inquirer with -a box of wax vestas. Perhaps it is another side of the same retiring -instinct which impels the Mahatmas to live only in parts of the earth -not penetrated to by vulgar explorers. Theosophists sometimes speak as -if they had seen the actual precipitation; but cross-examine any -credible witness, and he will reluctantly admit that he has not. This is -a point to note and bear in mind. - -The Mahatma missive only becomes a matter of difficulty when it has to -be made to drop from the ceiling into the recipient’s hands, or spirited -into a cupboard found one moment before to be as empty as Mother -Hubbard’s. Those were stirring days for Theosophic neophytes when that -kind of thing was a common incident. But, ichabod! that glory is -departed! Its departure precisely synchronised with that of the -nimble-fingered Coulombs. Their graceless avowal that both special plant -and skilful confederates were required for this kind of miracle may have -been a gross calumny on their employer; but the fact remains that with -the removal of the panel-backed Shrine at Adyar and the dismissal of its -custodians, the Masters abruptly ceased to resort to these more -surprising methods of aërial post. - -Occasionally they would make the assurance of the faithful doubly sure -by artlessly “precipitating” the message inside a sealed envelope (a -species of “test” of which more anon); but for the most part they were -content to endorse letters passing through the ordinary post or -discovered by the recipient in his blotting-pad under circumstances -equally consistent with a commonplace human agency. - -Such was the state of things till Madame Blavatsky’s death. - -But then came the rub. What the Psychical Research Committee held to be -proven was that Madame had written practically the whole body of these -documents with her own hand. What, then, if after her decease in May, -1891, the same missives continued to be received? - -Before the controversy which sprang up again over her ashes had well -died down, the public was asked to believe that this was indeed the -case, on the word of a woman whom it believed incapable of making a -statement of the kind without having first proved it to the uttermost -and found it true. - -Speaking in the Hall of Science on August 30, 1891, three months after -Madame Blavatsky’s death, Mrs. Besant said:— - -“You have known me in this hall for sixteen and a half years. You have -never known me tell a lie. (‘No, never,’ and loud cheers.) I tell you -that since Madame Blavatsky left I have had letters in the same -handwriting as the letters which she received. (Sensation.) Unless you -think dead persons can write, surely that is a remarkable fact. You are -surprised; I do not ask you to believe me; but I tell you it is so. All -the evidence I had of the existence of Madame Blavatsky’s teachers of -the so-called abnormal powers came through her. It is not so now. Unless -even sense can at the same time deceive me, unless a person can at the -same time be sane and insane, I have exactly the same certainty for the -truth of the statements I have made as I know that you are here. I -refuse to be false to the knowledge of my intellect and the perceptions -of my reasoning faculties.” - -It is no wonder that the reporter had to interpolate the word -“Sensation.” The audience was one rather of Freethinkers than of -Theosophists; the hall itself was identified with previous rhetorical -successes of Mrs. Besant as the prophetess of Materialism. The thing was -dramatically done, and was well calculated to impress on the outside -public the fact that the personal reputation of Mrs. Besant for -intelligence and honesty was now pledged to the genuineness of -Theosophical wonder-working. In an interview in the _Pall Mall Gazette_ -of September 1, 1891, Mrs. Besant carried her statement still further, -and pledged herself definitely to “precipitation”:— - -“‘These letters are from a Mahatma whose pupil you are?’ - -“Mrs. Besant nodded assent. - -“‘Did they just come through the post?’ our representative asked. - -“But here he had hit the mystery. - -“‘No, I did not receive the letters through the post,’ the lady replied. -‘They did come in what some would call a miraculous fashion, though to -us Theosophists it is perfectly natural. The letters I receive from the -Mahatmas are “precipitated.”’ - -“‘How “precipitated”?’ ... - -“Mrs. Besant was quite ready to explain. - -“‘Well,’ she said, ‘you can hear voices by means of the telephone, and -receive a telegram which is actually written by the needle, not merely -indicated by its ticks. The Mahatmas go a step further. With their great -knowledge of natural laws they are able to communicate with us without -using any apparatus at all.’ - -“‘But can you give me any details of the precipitation?’ - -“‘No; the Mahatmas only communicate with pupils who will not unwisely -divulge anything. You can easily imagine the reason why this knowledge -should be kept so secret. Were it possessed by a criminal it might be -put to dreadful purposes.’ ... - -“Mrs. Besant repeated that she had made her startling statement in the -lecture deliberately, adding that there were many persons who knew her -and would accept her statements as true, but who might not believe in -Madame Blavatsky, because, Mrs. Besant was careful to add, they had not -enjoyed the advantage of knowing that lady.” - - * * * * * - -Mrs. Besant did not overrate the extent of her public credit. She _was_ -implicitly believed by many who would not have troubled their heads at -all over an assertion of Madame Blavatsky’s. A “boom” was the immediate -result—the second big boom in the society’s history. Mrs. Besant had the -satisfaction of seeing her statement honoured with a salvo of leading -articles. “Can it be,” the _Daily Chronicle_ exclaimed, “that there are -things in heaven and earth which philosophy and science have not yet -dreamed of?”—(_Daily Chronicle_, August 31.) And it opened its columns -to a flood of correspondence on Theosophy and things occult. Day after -day a crop of letters attested the public appetite for the marvellous. - -The Theosophical Society has a sort of Press department, the business of -which is to get up sham fights in newspapers in order to advertise the -society; and whenever the excitement seemed to flag some member or other -contributed a screed which revived it. The time was well chosen. It was -the “silly season,” and under cover of Mrs. Besant more cautious papers -than the _Chronicle_ were glad to let the Mahatma divide attention with -the sea-serpent and the giant gooseberry. The Theosophical Society -reaped a fine harvest; though some complaints were heard that the new -inquirers after truth addressed themselves more to the marvels which had -attracted them than to the philosophisings to which Mrs. Besant had -designed the marvels as a bait. However, if their interest was tepid on -this side of Theosophy, their curiosity on the other side achieved small -gratification. In Mrs. Besant’s words, “The Mahatmas only communicate -with pupils who will not unduly divulge anything.” - -But, as we have seen, what Mrs. Besant did divulge was enough to convey -to the public certain definite impressions: to wit, that she had -received letters in a certain handwriting, which did not come through -the post, but “in what some would call a miraculous fashion,” and that -these letters were, in fact, “precipitated” by the Mahatmas out of thin -air. Also that she had satisfied herself of the above propositions by -evidential processes as certain as the assurance of her own “sense” and -“reasoning faculty” that her audience were before her as she spoke. - -And now let us see what were the facts on the strength of which Mrs. -Besant made these astonishing statements. So far, I have been occupied -necessarily with putting on record matters of history open to any -careful student of the subject. From this point I shall be dealing with -a side of Isis which up to this moment has been kept closely veiled -indeed. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - ENTER THE MAHATMA. - - “Answer the question I’ve put you so oft.... Give us a colloquy, - something to quote. Make the world prick up its ear!”—MASTER HUGUES, - of Saxegotha. - - “Thus has a Master spoken, and ... the word of a guardian of the - Esoteric Philosophy is authoritative.”—“_Introduction to - Theosophy_,” by ANNIE BESANT. - - -Madame Blavatsky died May 8, 1891. Who was to succeed her as hierophant -of the mysteries of Tibet? There was none among her disciples who could -aspire to fill that _rôle_ with anything resembling the hierophantine -proportions of Madame herself. But Mrs. Besant, whose conversion had -been much advertised to the public, was undoubtedly more fitted to pass -muster as a prophetess than any of the others. - -The brief and late character of her acquaintance with Madame was rather -in her favour than otherwise, since it had left undisturbed in her -ardent mind a loftier conception of Madame’s ethical character than had -been affected for some time past by some who had known her longer. Mrs. -Besant was even understood to be in some sense designate for the -succession. - -Officially, however, she was subordinate to Colonel Olcott, the -president, then in India, and to Mr. William Q. Judge, vice-president, -and head of the faithful in America. - -It soon appeared that the latter gentleman, at any rate, did not mean -his claims to Theosophical prominence to be ignored. - -In reply to the announcement of “H.P.B.’s” death (Theosophists are wont -to refer to their foundress, as the ancient Hebrews to the Deity, under -the guise of initials) Mr. Judge promptly cabled to - - “_Do nothing till I come._” - -Avenue-road was at first inclined to resent this ukase. - -But Mr. Judge soon put a new face on matters when he arrived. That was a -time of sore searchings of heart. With “H.P.B.’s” death the society’s -one link with its unseen guides was broken, and “Masters” had let a -fortnight elapse without giving any sign that they survived the decease -of their high-priestess. William Q. Judge was to change all that. - -[Sidenote: =THE “CABINET” MISSIVE.=] - -On the evening of May 23 (he lost no time after his arrival), Mr. Judge -suggested to Mrs. Besant that as they were in sore need of some -assurance from Masters, they should repeat an old recipe of Madame -Blavatsky’s for bringing those august beings to a point. He proposed -that they should write a certain question on paper, put it in an -envelope, shut that into a certain cabinet in “H.P.B.’s” room at -Avenue-road, and invite the Masters to “precipitate” replies. - -Mrs. Besant agreed. Mr. Judge himself wrote the question and closed the -envelope, and put it into the cabinet. - -Mrs. Besant did not stay in the room through the process of incubation. -For “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear,” the Theosophic scripture -reads, “He that hath eyes to see, let him put his Head in a Bag.” - -After due delay, Mr. Judge took the letter out again. On his showing it -to Mrs. Besant, judge of that lady’s emotion at the discovery that at -the end of the question stood the word - - “YES” - -traced apparently in red chalk; also, a little lower down, the words - - “AND HOPE,” - -with the impression, in black carbon, of a peculiar seal, representing a -cryptograph M. (A simple way to produce this appearance is to hold a -seal in candle-smoke and impress with that.) - - [Illustration] [Illustration] - THE “MAHATMA’S SEAL.” IMPRESSION SHOWING CRYPTOGRAPH. - -What need of further witness that the thing was the result of psychic -“precipitation” from Madame Blavatsky’s “Mahatma M,” away in Tibet? If -that gentleman had not, in his communications to Madame, been observed -to use a seal, still he certainly used to scribble them in the same sort -of red chalk, and he certainly used to sign himself similarly M. - -Note one point here. It was not Mahatma M, but Mahatma K.H., who used to -be the more prolix correspondent in Madame Blavatsky’s time, and whose -handwriting appeared accordingly in copious specimens and comparisons -with her own, in the published Report of the Psychical Research -Committee. - -No specimens were there given of the writing which Madame called Mahatma -M’s: there were but a few scraps of it available. - -When, therefore, Mr. William Q. Judge conjured a letter from _him_ (I -use “conjure” in its old-fashioned sense, of course), it was not -possible for Mrs. Besant to compare it with any published specimens of -the same script (with private specimens I fancy she had never been -favoured), even if the extremely scanty and hurried nature of the -message, and the temper of Mrs. Besant’s mind had not in themselves -forbidden any such partial measure of verification. - -It is true that a few months later Mrs. Besant felt able to affirm with -the utmost confidence (as we have seen) that the handwriting was “the -same as that which Madame Blavatsky was accused of producing,” and this -at first sight appears to refer to the “K.H.” script, which afforded the -gravamen of Mr. Hodgson’s Report. In that case what Mrs. Besant asserted -was that the writing was the same as that which was not even supposed to -be by the same person. - - * * * * * - -Next morning, there was a meeting of the “Inner Group,” at which Mr. -William Q. Judge at once took up that position of Senior Chela to which -his services as postman of the Mahatmas so well entitled him. There is -some oath or other of equality with fellow-members and of obedience to -its head which members of this Esoteric Section have to take: Mr. Judge -pointed out that it was quite unnecessary for _him_ to take this oath. - -[Sidenote: =THE “NOTE THE SEAL” MISSIVE.=] - -To which end he produced not only a letter from Madame Blavatsky, but -one from Mahatma M, which he had personally received in America, he -said. Its contents he did not feel able to communicate to others who -could not yet aspire to be on corresponding terms with the Great Unseen: -what he did show was the signature and seal impression (which exactly -resembled that “precipitated” in the cabinet overnight). He specially -begged those present to take note of the seal; “for,” said Mr. Judge, -“they might have need to recognise it on some future occasion.” - -With eager eyes they all obeyed; each aspiring young _chela_ fluttered -with the hope (for Mrs. Besant had noised the cabinet business about, -and it seemed to rain missives) that he too might soon be blest with -one. - -Mr. Judge is a man of some foresight. But that was _not_ precisely what -he had in his mind when he bade them note the seal. - - * * * * * - -Three days after this (May 27) there was a meeting of the Esoteric -Section Council, to decide how the section should in future be governed, -its head being gone. - -It had been expected that Mrs. Besant, having assumed the _rôle_ of -Teacher and Expounder in succession to her friend, would succeed her -also as official head of the Esoteric Section Council. But William Q. -Judge had drafted a plan under which the Council was to dissolve, and -its powers be delegated to Mrs. Besant _and himself_ as joint “Outer -Heads”—the Inner Heads being, of course, Mr. Judge’s august -correspondents in the Himalayas. - -[Sidenote: =THE “JUDGE’S PLAN IS RIGHT” MISSIVE.=] - -Mrs. Besant, it seems, was more than content, in view of Mr. Judge’s -newly-developed occult powers, with a position of “high collateral -glory.” But it was hardly to be expected that the scheme should not be -exposed to some discussion and criticism from other members of the -Council. At any rate, the Mahatma evidently deemed the occasion to be a -_dignus vindice nodus_. For what happened? - -As Mrs. Besant, who took the chair and expounded the new scheme, was -turning over her papers on the table, there fluttered out a little slip -of paper, at which she just glanced, and was about to put it by, when -William Q. Judge pointedly asked her what it was? - -The slip of paper bore the words in red pencil— - - “JUDGE’S PLAN IS RIGHT.” - -Signature and seal as before. - - Tableau! - -Round it went from hand to hand. None questioned that paper and script -alike had just been “precipitated” into their midst by “the Master.” -Thanks to Mr. Judge’s foresight, as we have just seen, all were in a -position to recognise the seal. - -Under these circumstances discussion was obviously out of place. William -Q. Judge at once went and took his seat at Mrs. Besant’s side, and -“Judge’s plan” was unanimously adopted! - - * * * * * - -It will hardly be believed, but it is, nevertheless, a fact, which I -challenge Mrs. Besant to contradict, that when that lady, on a public -platform, pledged the evidence of her senses, her sanity, and her -reasoning faculties, &c., &c., to having received messages from the -Mahatmas—messages which, as she assured the subsequent interviewer, came -“not through the post” but by “precipitation” “in a way which some -people would call miraculous”—these two documents, produced as has been -described, and only these, were all the _pièces justificatives_ that she -had to go upon. - -But the vice-president’s Mahatma had only made a beginning. There was -more, much more, to come. It will be my privilege to present the reader, -in succeeding Chapters, with facsimiles of several of his more -interesting compositions. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - EVERY MAN HIS OWN MAHATMA. - - “The T.S. is the agency chosen by the Masters ... but They do not - directly guide, save where guidance is strenuously sought and - eagerly obeyed.”—“_Introduction to Theosophy_,” by ANNIE BESANT. - - -It was not surprising that the Vice-President, finding the Mahatma so -complaisant, should hasten to exploit him to the utmost. The resumption -of the broken communication could not fail to restore the confidence of -doubting disciples both in the society itself and in the favoured -_chela_, who could not only, Glendower-like, “call spirits from the -vasty deep,” but also, to the satisfaction of Theosophic Hotspurs, “make -them come.” Forthwith letters began to be showered about among such -persons as it was considered desirable to keep up to the mark, in which -the sentiments of William Q. Judge were endorsed by the Mahatma. Of -those two it might truly be said that “their unanimity was wonderful.” - -[Sidenote: =THE “MASTERS WATCH US” MISSIVE.=] - -One of the first recipients was Mr. Bertram Keightley, a gentleman whose -services to Theosophy have been of a material kind, and whose zeal has -been rewarded more than once by gratifying marks of approbation from -Tibet. In fact, his experience, like that of Countess Wachtmeister and -some other liberal friends of the society, suggests the formula: “Put a -donation in the slot and you will receive a revelation.” For the Mahatma -obligingly honours the bills of the society. - -[Illustration: - - COLONEL H. S. OLCOTT. - - (From a photograph by Messrs. Elliott & Fry, Baker-street, W.) -] - -Under date May 29, 1891, the Vice-President wrote to Mr. Keightley from -Avenue-road a Pauline epistle, in which he says:— - - Fear not, Bert! Masters watch us, and since May 8 have sent word - here in writing. - -Close beside the signature of “William Q. Judge” appeared in solemn -confirmation the M signature and seal impression—“precipitated,” -doubtless, during transit among Her Majesty’s mails. As the recipient -was at Adyar, Madras, and therefore, some thousands of miles nearer the -home of the Mahatmas than Mr. Judge, it will be seen to what roundabout -methods the Master was compelled in order to maintain his determination -to have his messages ushered into the world in some connexion or other -with the one favoured disciple. - - * * * * * - -[Sidenote: =THE “JUDGE IS THE FRIEND” MISSIVE.=] - -Another recipient was important for other reasons than Mr. Keightley. -Babula, a low-caste Hindu, formerly Madame Blavatsky’s personal servant, -was at this time in a position of trust at the Theosophic quarters at -Adyar. Since then he has got into trouble with his employers, like -others of Madame’s former confidants. But in July, 1891, Babula was -still in authority at Adyar, and the vice-president thought it worth -while to convince him that he, Judge, was his friend. A letter, dated -some weeks later than Mr. Keightley’s, from Avenue-road, terminated with -the signature, - - _Your friend_, - WILLIAM Q. JUDGE. - -[Illustration] - -Under the words “Your friend,” the ever-officious Mahatma has drawn a -line, at the end of which he has solemnly inscribed “YES,” and his -signature and seal. The seal is, as usual, impressed in black carbon; -the writing is in red pencil; and Judge’s signature is in ordinary ink. - -Pity that the famous Mr. Codlin had not a Mahatma to back him thus -conveniently in his asseverations that “Codlin’s the friend, not Short.” - - * * * * * - -[Sidenote: =THE “MASTER AGREES” MISSIVE.=] - -Parallel to this corroborative use of the Mahatma’s seal, though -belonging to a different period of the story, was the case of another -letter of Mr. Judge’s to a brother official, in which, after expressing -certain views, Mr. Judge used these words:— - - I believe the Master agrees with me, in which case I will ask him to - put his seal here. - -Plump on the written word came the seal. Inimitable Mahatma! - - * * * * * - -Mrs. Besant’s previous “communications,” as we have seen, did not come -through the post. But during that July Mr. Judge seems to have left Mrs. -Besant’s side for the express purpose of enabling his Mahatma to give -her an exhibition of his powers in this special line of “precipitation” -during postal transit. - -July 21, 1891, was the date of one such performance; which included -signature and seal complete. I pass over this and some equally -commonplace missives, which Mrs. Besant received at various dates, all -equally under Mr. Judge’s auspices, in order to deal more fully with one -particular one in which she was favoured with a “test condition.” - -For lo! on cutting the envelope open in the usual way, along the top -edge, Mrs. Besant observed a line or so of pencilling inside written -partly on the upper flap, partly on the under flaps, of the adhesive -part of the envelope. - -[Sidenote: =THE “ENVELOPE TRICK” MISSIVE.=] - -Here was proof indeed of powers occult! For this must obviously have -been written or “precipitated” _after the envelope was stuck up_: and -there it was _inside_! For a Mahatma, of course, it was as easy to -produce it so as in any other way. He might do it in mere artless -absence of mind. - -Ingenuous Mrs. Besant! Unfortunately for the test, the feat is equally -easy for any commonplace mortal—though in his case it would hardly be -done quite artlessly. The trick was first shown me by a student of -“occultism”—a Theosophist, in fact. But it is a very old affair, and can -be found in any book of parlour magic. It might be called “Every Man his -own Mahatma.” - -An envelope has four flaps. Three of these are stuck together in -manufacture, but with a much less adhesive sort of gum than that which -is put on the remaining flap to be stuck up by the user. - - [Illustration] [Illustration] - ENVELOPE, INSIDE VIEW. OUTSIDE VIEW, SHOWING INSERTION. - -It is generally quite easy to insert a penknife behind the bottom flap, -as in the accompanying cut, and so make entrance and exit for a slip of -paper. On this slip you write the words backwards, as they would appear -in a looking-glass, using a black pencil of the “copying” kind. You then -pass the slip in, push and shake it into the right position, press till -you feel sure the inside flaps have taken the impression, and then out -with your slip by the door it came in at. Moisten and fix the flap -again, and the “precipitation” is complete. A child can do it. - -A Mahatma, of course, produces the result by mere psychic effort. But it -is a curious coincidence that M on this occasion abandoned his usual red -pencil for the black one which you or I would use if we were playing -just the trick described. - -No doubt he felt that a more satisfactory test would have been wasted on -Mrs. Besant. - -Others, however, were a little more exacting. The story enters here on a -less smooth course. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - THE ADVENTURES OF A SEAL. - - “O that Heaven had set a seal upon _men_, that we might know them, - honest from dishonest!”—EURIPIDES. - - -From the previous record of Colonel Olcott—described by Madame Blavatsky -herself, in an epigrammatically candid moment, as “a psychologised -baby”—he is almost the last person whom one would have expected to lead -the way in any sceptical examination of “miracles.” - -And no doubt he might have been content, like Mrs. Besant, to open his -mouth and shut his eyes and take whatever Mr. Judge should send him, so -long as that gentleman’s thaumaturgy was confined to benefiting the -common cause. But it was another matter when the vice-president’s -Mahatma showed a tendency to favour the vice-president, and that at the -expense of the president himself. Had the oracle said “_Olcott’s_ plan -is right,” and declared that _Olcott_ was the “friend,” “not Lancelot -nor another”; had it made Olcott, and not Judge, Outer Head with Mrs. -Besant—the president’s ears might have been an inch longer, and the -course of Theosophic history have been changed. - -But there was, from the first, about Mr. Judge’s Mahatma a certain -crudity, a lack of tact in dissembling favouritism, which was bound, -human nature being what it is, to make enemies. - -On the decease of “H.P.B.,” President Olcott, like Vice-President Judge, -had hurried to the headquarters at Avenue-road. He had to come from -India, however, and the American disciple naturally out-ran him. When -the former arrived, the latter’s Mahatma was already in full swing. On -hearing of his performances with the seal, a look of more than usual -intelligence may have crossed the president’s mild and venerable -features; but, like Brer Rabbit, he wasn’t “sayin’ nuffin,” “he just lay -low.” - -That busy July, ’91, the period of Mahatma M’s greatest activity, was -also marked by the assembling at Avenue-road of one of the periodical -conventions of Theosophic Europe. Some conversation occurred between the -president and vice-president about the expenses of this convention, and -the former, being “H.P.B.’s” legatee, mentioned a happy thought of his, -of selling some of the jewels that lady had left behind her, and giving -the proceeds as her posthumous contribution to the expenses. - -[Sidenote: =THE “WITHOLD” MISSIVE.=] - -But here, too, Mr. Judge was prepared to “go one better,” as his -countrymen say, than the president-legatee. He responded airily that -Colonel Olcott need not trouble himself about it, as “Master” had -promised him (Judge) that the cash should be forthcoming, and also that -he would convey a “message” on the subject to Olcott himself. - -The Colonel waited for his message. None came. - -The Colonel jogged Mr. Judge’s memory. Mr. Judge said he had no more to -tell. - -But that very day, on sitting down at his writing-table, and lifting up -a piece of blotting-paper, the Colonel found under it a piece of -peculiar paper, reading as in the following facsimile (reds and blacks -as per former samples):— - -[Illustration] - -Now, Colonel Olcott thought he recognised that particular quality of -paper, and also, so far as it was legible, that seal-impression. The -facsimile here necessarily makes it much clearer. In the original the -impression was curiously faint and vague, as if the Master did not wish, -in the Colonel’s case, to burst that seal upon him all at once; but -preferred the manner of Tennyson’s Freedom, who “part by part to men -revealed The fulness of her face.” - -So Brer Rabbit continued to say nuffin’, and to lie low. - -Presently Mr. William Q. Judge left on the same writing-table the -following note (being scribbled on a torn-off scrap of paper, it also -has rather a Mahatmic look. But that is accidental):— - -[Illustration] - -“Dear Olcott” “looked” accordingly; and sure enough, in the ordinary -envelope of a letter, previously opened and put by on the table, there -was a piece of paper bearing a message with all the proper Mahatma-marks -about it. And _this_ time the Mahatma had taken heart and “precipitated” -a decently clear impression of the seal. - -And then the Colonel “smiled a sorter sickly smile.” For now he _did_ -recognise that seal. And this is its story. - - * * * * * - -Back in the palmy days of 1883, or ever the marvels of “H.P.B.” were -besmirched by slanderous tongues, the Colonel was in a certain city of -the Panjab. Passing an Urdu seal-engraver’s shop in the bazaar, he -turned in and ordered the man to make a seal bearing the cryptograph -signature which “H.P.B.” identified as that of the “Master of Wisdom,” -Mahatma Morya. - -What did the Colonel want the seal for? Let him explain himself:— - - An idea occurred to me (he writes) of sending through “H.P.B.,” as a - playful present to my Master M, a seal bearing a facsimile of his - cryptograph. - -An odd idea, this “playful present” of the Colonel’s. Had the seal been -intended for use by an ordinary person—by “H.P.B.” herself, for -instance—there would have been some sense in it. But the Mahatma, of -course, who “precipitated” his letters and his signature psychically, -might just as well “precipitate” the latter in the shape of a seal -impression as otherwise, if he wanted to; and where, then, should the -use of a brass seal come in? However, as the Colonel says, the present -was merely “playful.” - -Back went the Colonel to Madras, where Madame was, and presented the -seal to her, with a “jocular remark” (I am again quoting his own -account). Madame’s keen eye dwelt on it a moment, and then she pointed -out that the Colonel, in his jocularly playful mood, had made a slight -mistake. “The Master’s cryptograph was not correctly drawn,” according -to the pattern already familiar to recipients of his precious missives. -There was a twiddle too much, or a twiddle too little, in it. The -Colonel himself saw the blunder when it was pointed out, and he now -declares that he would know it anywhere. - -For this sufficient reason the “playful present” was not sent on to the -Himalayas (Heaven knows, by the way, by what astral form of parcels-post -service the Colonel had expected it to be sent); neither did it appear -in any of the communications vouched for by Madame. - -It went into Madame’s despatch-box, along with a lot of other mystical -odds and ends, properties of the occult stage; and among these it was -remarked, as late as 1888, by the Mr. Keightley already mentioned, who -was then living with her in Lansdowne-road. - -This gentleman asked the prophetess what the little brass seal might be? -Madame Blavatsky’s answer—a characteristically racy “fragment of her -prophet voice”—was:— - - “Oh, it’s only a flap-doodle of Olcott’s.” - -In the same year, at a time when William Q. Judge was staying with -Madame, Mr. Judge’s Mahatma evidently determined to overlook the -inaccuracy in the seal, and to make use of it for the first time to save -himself the trouble of a psychic signature. - -He did this, of course, in a letter of Mr. William Q. Judge’s own, and -in a sense endorsing Mr. William Q. Judge’s wishes—in fact, the letter -was the one recorded in the last chapter, in which the Master’s seal -came so plump upon the disciple’s prayer for a sign. - -I have not mentioned before, however, that the recipient of this ’88 -letter was Colonel Olcott. He presumably recognised, then as now, his -own “playful present,” his own “flap-doodle”; but he appears to have let -it pass in silence. - -From this date the seal seems to have disappeared from among Madame -Blavatsky’s belongings. It was, of course, intrinsically valueless. - -[Sidenote: =THE TELEGRAM MISSIVE.=] - -But in 1890 it turned up again—in New York, and in close contiguity with -Mr. Judge. Madame sent a message through Mr. Judge to a disciple, then -in America, who happened to be the Mr. Keightley who had remarked the -“flap-doodle of Olcott’s” at Lansdowne-road. The context, which is -before me as I write, shows that Madame was persuading this disciple to -take some course distasteful to him. Judge added his persuasions to -hers. But what was bound to determine the disciple was the discovery on -receiving the missive from Mr. Judge’s hands, that the Mahatma had added -_his_ vote _in transitu_ by endorsing the word “RIGHT,” in red pencil, -with cryptograph and impression of the Panjab seal. - -Mr. Keightley, too, must have recognised the “flap-doodle”; but he, too, -like Olcott, said never a word. He did, indeed, go so far as to ask -Judge if _he_ had affixed the seal? But on receiving a blandly surprised -assurance that Mr. Judge did not so much as know there _was_ a seal -affixed, he let the matter drop. - -These are, so far as I know, the only two instances in evidence of the -use of this peculiar seal in Mahatma missives _during the lifetime of -Madame Blavatsky_, and, as was to be expected from her objection to the -seal, neither missive was among those vouched for by her, for the -message from herself to New York was telegraphed, and it was the -telegraph-form at the New York end that the Mahatma endorsed. -Nevertheless, it is clear that no intimate of Madame’s would get hold of -the seal and make use of it for bogus Mahatma missives under her very -nose, unless he were under the impression either that she had it for -that purpose herself, or that she might be relied on at least not to -“peach” on a _chela_ who used it. - -But why did neither Colonel Olcott nor Mr. Keightley speak? The only -answer I can suggest is that while Madame Blavatsky was in the flesh the -faithful thought twice before they expressed a doubt about anything or -anybody. They were accustomed to take their marvels as they found them, -and be thankful. - -Otherwise, they might at least have pointed out to Mr. Judge, in order -that he might in turn apprise his Mahatma, whose supernal knowledge -seems here to have been somewhat at fault, what a fatal blunder he was -making in palming off upon the faithful a bogus edition of his own -cryptograph, known as such by three of the faithful themselves. - -However, there are the facts; and but for the Mahatma’s _trop de zéle_ -in pushing his favourite _chela’s_ occult claims immediately on Madame -Blavatsky’s decease, I fear we should never have been vouchsafed this -instructive side-light on an earlier period of the Theosophical Society. - -These Adventures of a Seal supply the clue to the great game of bluff -between the two highest Theosophical officials which must be depicted in -the next chapter. - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - THE CLIMAX OF THEOSOPHIC BROTHERHOOD. - - “To form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of - Humanity.”—THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, Object I. - - “Pestling a poisoned poison behind his crimson lights!”—“MAUD.” - - -[Sidenote: =THE “MASTER WILL PROVIDE” MISSIVE.=] - -We left the president of the Theosophical Society staring at the -impression of his own “flap-doodle” seal on that which purported to be a -missive from the Mahatma. - -The purport of the missive was precisely what the prescient Judge had -foretold. Colonel Olcott was not to sell the Blavatsky jewels, as the -money would be provided. - -Having shown it to a brother member, the Colonel replaced it in the -envelope, and went off to have a few words with Mr. William Q. Judge. - -He remarked to Judge that he had missed a certain brass seal from among -Madame Blavatsky’s relics, and described the Panjab seal and the story -of its making; not mentioning, however, the name of the exact city where -it was made. Had Judge seen the seal? - -Judge answered in the negative. Upon which the Colonel remarked -meaningly (I quote his own account) that he “hoped no scoundrel would -get possession of it, and use it to give colour to bogus Mahatma -messages,” adding that he would at once recognise an impression from the -seal. - -He did not mention that he had looked for and found the missive in the -envelope. - -After two days he looked into the envelope for that missive again. _It -was gone!_ - -Some judicious hand had removed it. “Judicious,” says the Dictionary, -“literally: of or pertaining to a Judge.” Colonel Olcott concluded with -some assurance that the hand which had removed that missive, the hand -which had put it there, and the hand which had written it, were one and -the same hand, and that hand William Q. Judge’s. That is a conclusion -which we must leave the two gentlemen to settle between them. - - * * * * * - -But note the sequel. The writer of the missive, whoever he was, was as -good as his word. - -When the Convention in due course was held, it was announced that a -donation had been contributed towards the expenses in a peculiar way. - -There had appeared to one of the brethren one afternoon a dark and -mysterious Oriental figure, who gave no name, but deposited two Bank of -England £10 notes (from Tibet?), which were backed with the familiar red -cryptograph, after which he, like Mr. Lewis Carroll’s Snark, “softly and -silently vanished away.” - -It will not surprise the astute reader to learn that the brother -favoured with this substantial spectre was William Q. Judge. - -Well, there was the £20, and the vice-president’s reputation as an -occultist stood higher than ever. There was a time, years before, when -the society had made much of a similar vision of its president’s, one -which, the Colonel used to explain, had first assured him of the truth -of Madame Blavatsky’s doctrines. On his asking for a sign, the Colonel’s -figure, which was, of course, like Mr. Judge’s, the “astral body” of a -Mahatma, had materialised its turban, and disappeared into several yards -of substantial textile fabric. “And here,” the Colonel was wont to -conclude the story, “here, you see, is the turban!”—whipping it from his -coat-tail pocket. Ah! that was in the palmy eighties. But now where was -he? What was a _chela_ who conjured up a turban beside one who could -conjure up £20 hard cash—“on the table,” as Hilda Wangel would say? - -In a word, Colonel Olcott was altogether thrown into the shade by this -bold stroke, and had not even the face to suggest that perhaps Mr. -Judge’s story was only a donor’s graceful way of conveying assistance -from his own pocket. The Colonel pulled rather a sour face, however, -over the heavy sum with which the society’s chest was debited when Mr. -Judge’s expenses at the Convention came to be paid. For, Judge having -attended in his official capacity, it was the Colonel’s treasury at -Adyar which had to foot the bill. Personally, I consider the miracles -cheap at the price. - -This reminds me of the matter of Madame Blavatsky’s Rosicrucian jewel, -in which also the Mahatma stole an amusing march on the Colonel. This -was a pendant set with gems, which had the property of changing colour -with every change in Madame’s health—so she and the faithful Olcott used -to swear. The Colonel had his own ideas about the future of this mystic -gewgaw; but what was his disgust on getting to Avenue-road to learn that -the Master had sent a message for it to be given to Judge, and that Mrs. -Besant had accordingly handed it over! Nor was the Colonel’s chagrin -lightened by the fact that the forgetful Mahatma attempted (through -Judge, of course) to put him off the track of the jewel by a message to -quite another effect—an exceedingly misleading message. - -For all I know, the gift was as valueless intrinsically as the brass -seal; but Theosophically it was a distinct score for Mr. Judge and his -Mahatma thus to amalgamate the two mystic apparatuses in one firm’s -hands, so to speak. - - * * * * * - -[Sidenote: =THE “INNER GROUP” MISSIVE.=] - -After the passages described above, Mr. Judge’s Mahatma was chary of -subjecting any more epistolary efforts to the eye of Colonel Olcott. And -he seems to have become more cautious altogether. In the following -September, however, he succumbed to the temptation of intervening again -in the administration of the society. A letter with the usual trimmings -was enclosed to the Inner Group, bearing upon its constitution and -future changes, in one of Mr. Judge’s on the same subject and in the -same sense (September 14). - -Just at this time Colonel Olcott was visiting America, _en route_ for -Japan, where he was to teach the Buddhists their own religion in a -flying visit. He took the opportunity of making some more pointed -representations to Mr. Judge on the vagaries of his Master. - -The result was prompt and significant. - -During the very next month Mrs. Besant, then preparing for her trip to -India, received a cablegram from the vice-president in America to this -effect:— - - You are desired not to go to India remain where you are grave danger - Olcott await further particulars by an early mail. - -[Sidenote: =THE “GRAVE DANGER OLCOTT” MISSIVE.=] - -At Avenue-road this mysterious telegram was at first read in the sense, -“Grave danger _to_ Olcott.” The president was just then due at Tokyo, -and there was a report of an earthquake thereabouts. For a while there -was a great flutter over this convincing case of Mahatmic prescience. -When, however, the “early mail” arrived with Mr. Judge’s explanatory -letter, quite a different complexion was put on the telegram. After -reading this letter, and one from the inevitable Mahatma which Mr. Judge -enclosed, the conclusion of the Inner Group was that the “grave danger” -against which the Master warned Mrs. Besant was “_from_ Olcott.” The -Tibetan founder of the society, in short, warned Mrs. Besant against -imperilling her safety in the neighbourhood of its president! - -The Mahatma had declared war on Colonel Olcott. - -This was the first shot in the campaign. - -But what could this danger from Colonel Olcott be? Mr. Judge and his -Mahatma left that darkly vague. Some of their friends in England dotted -the i’s and crossed the t’s for them. It is hardly credible, but the -suggestion was nothing less preposterous than that Colonel Olcott -intended to _poison_ Mrs. Besant! - -I have no great veneration for Colonel Olcott’s character, and none at -all for his intelligence; but I frankly apologise to him for having to -mention this astounding nonsense in connexion with his name. I mention -it simply in order to explain one of the documents which follow, and to -throw a light on the minds of the colleagues who made or believed the -charge; and I suppose I need scarcely add that I attach to it no other -value whatever. Colonel Olcott is about as remote as it is possible to -conceive from the sort of stuff of which murderers are made. I am sure -he never had and never will have any more intention to poison Mrs. -Besant, or anybody else, than the Man in the Moon. Having said so much -to make any misunderstanding impossible, I return to the suspicions or -pretended suspicions of the Colonel’s professed “Brothers.” - -Positively, the only material which these ladies and gentlemen had to -work on was an innocent conversation of the Colonel’s with a friend on -the subject of poisons, Indian and other, which took place at a date -when Mrs. Besant was not yet even a member of the society! The -“evidence”—save the mark!—was such as ordinary non-Theosophical folk -would not give even a dog a bad name on. But Mahatmas and their friends -are different, and Mr. Judge’s Mahatma was well served. For this trivial -episode, buzzed about from mouth to mouth in connexion with the sinister -hints of “Mahatma M,” sufficed to make this monstrous charge against -their president currently believed at Avenue-road, for some weeks at -least, by the very inmost and governing circle of his colleagues, with -Mrs. Besant at their head! - -A belief once discarded, it is easy to deny that it ever existed. But -this particular belief, or half-belief, showed itself in action. Mrs. -Besant deferred her visit to India, and to impatient Indian disciples -wrote that “Master had forbidden her to come,” and “till that order was -countermanded” she would not budge. - -Now just pause a moment, and enjoy the exquisite irony of this unique -situation. The Theosophic Society was to be “the nucleus of a Universal -Brotherhood of Mankind.” At this moment, taking the three chief -exponents of this new Brotherliness, the president believed the -vice-president to be fabricating bogus documents; the vice-president -apparently believed the president to have designs to poison the -high-priestess; and the high-priestess, having these two beliefs to -choose from, coquetted at least, as we have seen, with the more heinous -of the two. - -Other Theosophists appear from their course of action to have -accomplished the intellectual feat of believing both. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - THE MAHATMA TRIES THREATS. - - “Be these juggling fiends no more believed, that palter with us in a - double sense!”—“MACBETH.” - - “_Masters_, it is proved already that you are little better than - false knaves.”—“MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.” - - -While the Mahatma was thus stealthily undermining the president, he was -also busy strengthening his own outworks. In December one of the -doubting ones, the Mr. Keightley who had been making up his mind whether -to believe his own eyes ever since June, 1890, received in India a -letter from Mr. Judge fortifying him against the heterodox influences to -which he would be exposed on Colonel Olcott’s return to that country. - -[Sidenote: =THE “FOLLOW JUDGE AND STICK” MISSIVE.=] - -Mr. Judge warned his “dear Bert” that Olcott would try to shake his -faith in the genuineness of Mr. Judge’s Mahatma-missives; that he might -even have the baseness to suggest that they were fabricated by Mr. Judge -himself. On opening this letter, Mr. Keightley found a small slip of -peculiar paper, which turned out (on a prosaic scrutiny) to be the sort -of tissue which is used to separate the sheets of typewriting transfer -paper. On this slip appeared in Mahatmic script the words:— - - Judge leads right. Follow him _and stick_! - -There was, however, no seal impression. The Mahatma had grown chary of -using that seal. From the material of this missive we gather that the -Mahatma is not so remote from typewriters as one would expect in the -Himalayas; from its diction we learn that, whatever the failings of his -English, the august being has a racy command of Yankee. - -I may remark here that when Mahatmas “precipitate” their own notepaper, -as well as the writing upon it, it has always been the etiquette that -the former should have an Indian look about it, however European the -latter might be. Even tissue, as in this case, is considered more in -keeping than commonplace stationery, with, perhaps, the watermark of -some English firm upon it. But the “make” preferred, alike now and in -the Blavatsky days, is a peculiar sort of hand-made rice-paper, which -the Psychical Researchers had some difficulty in tracking to the -maker’s. They were not assisted by Colonel Olcott. But now, the same -mystic paper having turned up in the productions of _Mr. Judge’s_ -Mahatma (borrowed, perhaps, at the same time as the seal?) the Colonel -resolves the mystery at once. Wishing to suggest that Mr. Judge got it -ready-made from Madame Blavatsky, he mentions that Madame had gone about -with a good supply of it, adding that it was originally bought in -Cashmere. He had bought it himself at Jammos, in fact, as long ago as -1883, just as he had also been the purchaser of the brass seal; and just -as he explains that the seal was got merely as a “playful present,” so -he represents the original purpose of the Cashmere stationery as the -humble one of “packing books—it being both cheap and strong.” From -parcels post to astral notepaper is a distinct rise. But who first -promoted it? Another side-light unintentionally thrown on the old -Blavatsky days! - -But to return to Mr. Judge’s Mahatma. His last attempt to bring Colonel -Olcott to a better mind by persuasion was made that autumn. In October -he had resorted to a bold device for overcoming scepticism, which he and -Mahatma Koot Hoomi had patented in the early Blavatsky days—that of -waylaying (astrally, of course) the post-bag of some disconnected and -quite unconscious correspondent of the sceptic, and so introducing a -message through an obviously untainted channel. For instance, Mr. Hume -once “got a note from Koot Hoomi inside a letter received through the -post from a person wholly unconnected with our occult pursuits, who was -writing to him on some municipal business.” (“Occult World,” p. 21.) The -letter happened to have a large and noticeable envelope, and long after, -in the days of disillusion, Mr. Hume discovered that Madame’s servant -Babula had carried off just such a letter from the postman for Madame, -and then returned it to him with an apology for the mistake. (S. P. R. -Report, p. 275.) - -[Sidenote: =THE “JUDGE IS NOT THE FORGER” MISSIVE.=] - -In October, then, Colonel Olcott, who was just returning to India, got a -letter from a Mr. Abbott Clark, of Orange County, California, a -gentleman who was under no sort of suspicion of having anything to do -with Mahatmas. And in _this_, if you please, there had somehow found its -way into the envelope a slip of paper bearing a message in the M script, -with signature, but _with seal too blurred to distinguish_, in facsimile -as follows:— - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - -So much is in the usual red pencil; the part represented by shading -above is smudged, as is the red blotch which represents the seal, -apparently by being rubbed with the finger. Across a margin of the paper -is the following postscript, in the black carbon usually devoted to the -seal impression:— - -[Illustration] - -Rather cryptic, this missive; but the meaning seems to be this. The -Mahatma has to explain to the suspicious Colonel several things: why the -missives habitually come in letters from Mr. Judge; why, nevertheless, -Mr. Judge knows nothing of them; why he, the Master, has used a bogus -seal which bungles his own cryptograph; and, above all, why the -impressions of that seal have been illegible ever since an exposure of -it was threatened. He hints, accordingly, that he “uses” Mr. Judge to -assist in some undefined psychic way in the precipitation process; but -Judge’s part in this is unconscious—it must be “when he does not know.” -Also, the thing precipitated “fades out often”—and plump on the word -comes an illustration. - -In saying that “Judge did not write Annie” (_i.e._, Mrs. Besant, for -this spirit is a familiar one), the Master is misinformed, as we have -seen. Mr. Judge _had_ just “written Annie,” enclosing the Master’s own -warning against Colonel Olcott. Lastly, the remark about “facit per -alium” (the Mahatma can use a tag of lawyers’ Latin on occasion) seems -to mean that when Colonel Olcott had the “flap-doodle” seal made he was -unconsciously prompted by the Master himself, who had now adopted it, -overlooking the blunder in engraving. The prescience which foresaw that -the “precipitation” would give out in just this letter is no less -remarkable than that which provided for an unexpressed doubt by the -assurance, “No, it is _not_ pencil.” - -But for Colonel Olcott the gem of this letter was none of these. It was -the reference to the Panjab seal as the “_Lahore_ brass.” All that Mr. -Judge knew, as we have seen, was that the seal was made at a “certain -city in the Panjab.” Mr. Judge’s Mahatma assumes that this city was the -capital of the province. It was a likely guess—a good shot, if such a -phrase may be used of the mental processes of a Tibetan sage—and one -calculated to end the Colonel’s doubts—if correct. But that is just what -it was not. The city at which the Colonel got the seal was quite another -city; so the Mahatma, though he hints that he psychically presided over -the purchase, does not even know where that purchase took place! - -The result of this unlucky lapse of memory on the part of the Master was -that the missive made bad worse. Despite the distance of California, -where Mr. Clark’s envelope was posted, from New York, and the offices of -Mr. William Q. Judge, the Colonel suspected Mr. Judge’s hand in it. He -wrote to Mr. Clark, and discovered that Judge had spent two days in -Orange County at the very date when the Master availed himself of Mr. -Clark’s envelope. Thereupon the Colonel formed his own ideas as to how -the Master had “used” his favourite _chela_ on _that_ occasion. - -[Sidenote: =THE “POISON-THREAT” MISSIVE.=] - -Can we wonder that the Master was incensed by this incorrigible -scepticism—a spirit, as the Colonel himself had formerly taught, and as -the event was to prove but too surely—fatal to Theosophy? - -Persuasion failing, the Master resorted to threats! - -In January, 1892, the Colonel received an amicable letter from Mr. -Judge, reproaching him for not writing. On opening it, he found written -along the margin of the first page the following laconic message in -Mahatma script (signed, but again no seal: much reduced here):— - -[Illustration] - -“Him” presumably means Judge. The bearing of the threat will be -intelligible to readers of the last Chapter. Certain rumours from -Avenue-road made it intelligible also to Colonel Olcott. The Master of -Wisdom, the unapproachable sage of the Himalayas, He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed -by Mrs. Besant and the whole Theosophical Society, had thrown off the -mask of benignity. Here he was plainly adopting, as a weapon against his -own unlucky president, that impossible accusation which represents the -lowest point of ethical squalor yet touched, in this story at any rate, -by Theosophic “brotherhood”! This was miching Mallecho, thought the -Colonel; it meant mischief with a vengeance. The voice was the voice of -the Mahatma, but again the Colonel thought it the hand of Judge. So he -wrote with some natural heat to ask that gentleman what he meant by his -“base insinuation.” - -Only to receive, however, the blandly innocent reply:— - - I have puzzled my head over your reference to “poison,” as if in one - of mine; as I never referred to it I cannot catch on, and have given - it up in despair. - -After this the Colonel seems to have given the Mahatma up in despair, -too. But the Mahatma, on his part, was busily pushing up a column to -take the Colonel in the flank, and bring this story to a crisis. - -Secure in the support of Mrs. Besant, he was to make the pusillanimous -president resign his office, and to enthrone William Q. Judge in his -place! - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - MRS. BESANT’S COUP DE MAIN. - - “I did my utmost to prevent a public Committee of Enquiry of an - official character.”—MRS. BESANT at T.S. Convention, July 12, 1894. - - -How even a “psychologised baby” like Colonel Olcott came to succumb to a -movement for ousting him from office, backed by such methods as we have -examined, is to me a mystery. No doubt he had his own reasons for -avoiding a contest in disclosures with his old colleague Mr. Judge, who -knows so much about Theosophy ever since the days of its foundation. At -any rate, succumb he did. On receiving an emissary from Avenue-road, -early in 1892, he threw up the cards in the unequal game with the -Mahatma, and formally resigned his presidency. - -Then was seen a touching sight. Cæsar pushed away the crown. Mr. Judge -was loth to succeed. Who could doubt it? Why, he got a “message” -countermanding the resignation, and forwarded it to the Colonel (March, -1892), just too late to be acted on before the American Convention in -April, which, with decent reluctance, acclaimed Mr. Judge for the vacant -office. - -But now came a hitch. Colonel Olcott took the anti-resignation message -_au grand sérieux_. He forgot all his doubts about Mr. Judge’s Mahatma -missives in his simple joy at the tenor of this last one. It was but a -typed copy which Mr. Judge sent him. Never mind, it was a declaration of -peace; and if ever there was a man of peace it is the Colonel, despite -his American brevet. He could not disobey the Master; he did withdraw -his resignation. Such was his answer to Mr. Judge. - -Mr. Judge expressed his delight. But in absence of mind—possibly excess -of joy—he quite forgot to mention either the Master’s message or the -Colonel’s consent at Avenue-road when, in the following July, the time -came to make his succession to the Colonel’s office definite. - -The result was that Mr. Judge was then and there elected president for -life. Some voices were for a term; but Mrs. Besant arose in her -eloquence and “swept up the floor” (in the phrase of one Theosophic -enthusiast), and the election was “for life.” Alas! Contracts entered -into for that period are notoriously apt to give out at an earlier date. - -Perhaps one thing which explains the Colonel’s small show of fight is -the fact that he was to be consoled with an “Olcott Pension Fund.” -Unhappily the treasurer defalcated some eight or nine thousand rupees, -and then committed suicide. Ill-luck seemed to dog the vanquished -president. - -But now came the turn of the tide. - -On the announcement of Judge’s election, Colonel Olcott indignantly -wrote to Avenue-road to point out that there was no vacancy. And he -printed in the _Theosophist_ the Master’s message which had led him to -withdraw his resignation. - -He did more. The _Theosophist_, the official journal of the Indian -section, has come to be Colonel Olcott’s private property, just as -_Lucifer_ is Mrs. Besant’s, and _The Path_ Mr. William Q. Judge’s—an -illustration of the odd mixture of private and official capacities in -this society. And now the Colonel plucked up heart to publish in his -paper the first note publicly heard of criticism—yes, actual -criticism—of Mr. Judge’s Mahatma. - -Privately, there had been some troubled bleatings heard already among -some of the less docile of the Theosophic sheep. Mr. Judge had been -obliged to take up the cudgels for the merits of some of his Mahatma -missives as philosophic compositions. I find him claiming (in the true -oracular spirit) that:— - - A very truism, when uttered by a Mahatma, has a deeper meaning for - which the student must seek, but which he will lose if he stops to - criticise and weigh the words in mere ordinary scales. - -A sentiment printed with approbation in Mrs. Besant’s paper. Again, he -is parrying inquisitive questions about the Master’s seal. He “does not -know” what they mean. An inquirer sends him a sample letter with a good -impression to look at—one which had come from Mr. Judge himself, I -presume—and gets it back with the impression rubbed out (“it fades out -often,” as we have seen above), and the puzzled remark from Mr. Judge, -“Where _is_ your seal? I don’t see one.” Finally, pressed, Mr. Judge -declares that “Whether He” (the Master) “has a seal, or uses one, is -something on which I am ignorant.” - -It was on this statement—which involves a total lapse of memory on Mr. -Judge’s part of events narrated in Chapter V.—that he was challenged in -the _Theosophist_ of April, 1893, in an article signed by Messrs. W. R. -Old and S. V. Edge, both T.S. officials (secretaries, Indian section). -The article is hardly what would be called trenchant by non-Theosophical -standards. But it just pointed out that little discrepancy in a polite -foot-note; and that was enough. - -If there is one thing more than another which is deemed to be bad form -in circles Theosophical, it is to corner a Theosophist on a definite -matter of fact. Anything undraped in verbiage is considered nude, even -to indecency. The voice of questioning has to be stifled at once. - -By virtue of their joint position as Outer Heads of the Esoteric -section, to which they were elected under warrant of the very seal in -question, Mrs. Besant and Mr. Judge promptly “suspended” Messrs. Old and -Edge from their Esoteric membership. - - * * * * * - -In December, Mrs. Besant went to India. She had, therefore, thrown over -the Mahatma’s warning. But she had not thrown over the Mahatma—not a -bit. She declared that nothing on earth would induce her to give up -believing that the missives were indeed “precipitated” by Mahatma M, -unless Mahatma M in person appeared and repudiated them. If a person who -had been told that the Man in the Moon daily “precipitated” the _Times_ -leading articles should decline to be convinced of the contrary till he -heard it from the lips of the Man in the Moon himself he would probably -be “of the same opinion still” for some considerable time. - -In India, Mrs. Besant suddenly changed her mind. Had the Master indeed -appeared and fulfilled her conditions? She does not say so. Yet it can -scarcely have been on any mere, dull ground of fact and argument. She -was presented with a set of depositions establishing all of the -substantial facts of this narrative, given under the names of those -personally cognisant of them, with Colonel Olcott at their head, and -summed up in the form of certain definite charges against William Q. -Judge. But many of these facts she already knew herself, as well as -anybody, and made naught of. - -What _did_ work the miracle, then?—As far as I can make out, it was -this. Mrs. Besant sat at the feet of G. N. Chakravati. And G. N. -Chakravati just mentioned that he did not believe in Judge. - -This is the Hindu gentleman who was sent to represent the Theosophical -Society at the Chicago Parliament of Religions, at an expense of £500. -This is the teacher who has made “Annabai” so far a Hindu that she now -protests against harsh mention even of the child-widow horrors, the -12,000 temple prostitutes of Madras, and the other religious -indecencies of Hinduism. As Mr. Bradlaugh led Mrs. Besant from the -Church to Materialism, as Mr. Herbert Burrows went hand-in-hand with -her from Materialism to Madame Blavatsky, as Judge made her believe in -Judge, so she could only abandon Judge with the aid of G. N. -Chakravati. Whatever the explanation, the fact remains that, blessed -by this worthy pundit, the case formulated against Mr. Judge became -strong—convincing—irresistible. Mrs. Besant’s mind blossomed in a day -into the full-blown view that she had been deluded, that Judge had -himself written the missives to which she had pinned her faith—written -them all with his own hand. - -Appalling bathos!—and one which an Enquiry must needs result in -publishing to all the world. Yet an Enquiry there must be. The Indian -section was threatening to secede from the society if Mr. Judge’s -presidency were confirmed with the scandal unsifted. Judge himself, -offered the alternative by cablegram of resigning all his offices -quietly or facing a “full publication of the facts,” replied in a -defiant sense which showed his conviction that there were others to whom -“full publication of the facts” (which it was easy to threaten, but -which it has been left for an outsider to carry out) would be more -ungrateful even than to himself. What was Mrs. Besant to do? - -A happy thought struck her. She offered to adopt the charges, turn -prosecutor, and conduct the case against Mr. Judge herself. - -The signatories of the evidence were delighted—especially Colonel -Olcott, who got behind Mrs. Besant now with the same alacrity as -previously behind Messrs. Old and Edge. - -By this bold, yet simple stroke, the evidence, documents, and whole -control of the case passed into Mrs. Besant’s hands, where they, as she -fondly hopes, or hoped, now remain. - -Not altogether! - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - A MEETING OF THE (THEOSOPHICAL) PICKWICK CLUB. - - THE CHAIRMAN felt it his imperative duty to demand of the hon. - gentleman whether he had used the expression “a humbug” in a common - sense? - - MR. BLOTTON had no hesitation in saying that he had not—he had used - the word in its Pickwickian sense. (Hear, hear.) He was bound to - acknowledge that personally he entertained the highest esteem for - the hon. gentleman; he had merely considered him a humbug in a - Pickwickian point of view. - - MR. PICKWICK felt much gratified by the candid explanation of his - hon. friend. He begged it to be at once understood that his own - observations had been merely intended to bear a Pickwickian - construction. (Cheers.)—_The Pickwick Papers._ - - -We have now seen how, step by step, as by a resistless nemesis the rival -Theosophical leaders were led on to bring their quarrel to that which -neither of them had much stomach for—an inquiry into evidence. Bluff -meeting bluff, the thing got as far as the summoning from three -continents of a Committee of Investigation representing both parties. -“Investigating” hidden forces in nature, as we saw in Chapter II., is -one of the professed “Objects” of the Theosophical Society. The present -chapter is to show what the Theosophical idea of investigating is like. - -There lies before me a pamphlet, reprinted from _Lucifer_ of August -last, which bears the facetious title, “AN INQUIRY Into Certain Charges -against the Vice-President, Held in London, July 1894.” Anybody is at -liberty to get this publication—and make what head or tail of it he can. - -[Illustration: - - BADGE OF THE T.S. -] - -The plain matter of fact which lay behind the proceedings in question -was this. Mrs. Besant and Colonel Olcott had given away their friends -and compromised with Judge on the terms that he should give Olcott back -his presidency, Judge’s election thereto being declared null and void, -while they on their part should suppress the evidence which the Judicial -Committee had been summoned to report on. - -Mr. Judge had protested in a vehement circular, when first called on by -the President to appear before the committee, against one of his -accusers proposing to preside at his trial. There was reason in the -objection at the time. He could not foresee that the proceedings would -take the form of the presiding judge and the counsel for the prosecution -combining to prevent the case from going to the jury. - -This being the plain English of the affair, let us now see how it reads -translated into what I may call Theosophistry. - -The first part of the pamphlet consists of the Judicial Committee’s -minutes. Of this, six-sevenths is devoted to an “Address of the -President-Founder” proving that they ought to do nothing. The remaining -page is devoted to doing it. - -The “charges of misconduct preferred by Mrs. Besant against the -vice-president” are nowhere formally stated at all. They are -incidentally summarised by the president as follows:— - -“That he practised deception in sending false messages, orders, and -letters, as if sent and written by ‘Masters.’ ... That he was untruthful -in various other instances enumerated.” - -The bulk of the address is occupied in discussing with great solemnity -various reasons alleged by Mr. Judge why these charges should not be -gone into by the committee. - -One or two of these, such as the vice-president’s discovery that he had -never been really vice-president at all, and the contention that, -whichever way the decision went, it must “offend the religious feelings” -of some member or another, and that this was against the rules of the -society—these were, after the due amount of pomposity, declared against -by the president. - -But there were two other pleas of such irresistible force and weight -that the president found himself convinced by them “that this inquiry -must go no further.” Stripped of prolix circumlocutions, these may be -put as an alternative, thus:— - -Either the Mahatma missives are genuine or they are fabricated. - -(_a_) If found to be genuine, that implies the affirmation of the -existence of Mahatmas as a Theosophic dogma, and the abandonment of the -society’s precious “neutrality.” Which is unconstitutional. - -(_b_) If found to be bogus missives produced by the vice-president, then -it is obvious that he must have done it in his private capacity; the -production of bogus documents being no part of his official duties. -Therefore he cannot be tried for it by an official tribunal. - -Could anything be more delicious than this dilemma? It is worthy of a -trial scene in Gilbertian comic opera. - -Mrs. Besant, like the president, was “convinced that the point was -rightly taken.” There was nothing more to be said. - -The Judicial Committee “resolved” in the same sense, without any -inconvenient discussion, and forthwith committed hara-kiri with the -complaisance of a Chinese nobleman. Not only had they not investigated -the case, but, as far as I can make out, they had not even heard what it -was, except in the most abstract of summaries. Having gravely adjusted -the bandage over each other’s eyes, they separated with a good -conscience. For many of them—worthy investigators!—I believe I am the -first to remove the bandage, and set them blinking at the truth. - -From (_a_) it follows, as the president pointed out _en passant_ in the -course of his Address, that every Theosophist is in future free to -circulate Mahatma messages, but no Theosophist to test their -genuineness. - -From (_b_) it equally follows that no officer of the society is in -future responsible to it for any misdeed whatever, since such misdeed -cannot well be among his official duties. - - * * * * * - -Perhaps it is not very surprising that the result of the Judicial -Committee, which had been gathered to its task from the ends of the -earth, was received with disgust by the generality of members then met -in London for one of their interminable conventions. A demand was even -heard for a private jury of honour; or, failing that, for publication of -the case for both sides, the course to which one side, as we saw, had -affected to pledge itself. Mr. Judge found himself unable to refuse his -assent to the jury proposal. Again Mrs. Besant dashed in and triumphed -in the sacred cause of obscurantism. At the third session of the -convention she announced that she and Mr. Judge had agreed upon a couple -of statements representing their different points of view, and proposed -that the convention should hear these, accept them, and let the matter -drop. These two statements compose the second part of the pamphlet; and -they are at least as bewildering as the first. - -“We come to you, our brothers, to tell you what is in our hearts,” Mrs. -Besant read out. Her endeavour to “tell” fills four pages. The following -are the sentences which gyrate least round the point:— - - I do not charge, and have not charged, Mr. Judge with forgery in the - ordinary sense of the term, but with giving a misleading form to - messages received psychically from the Master in various ways.... - Personally I hold that this method is illegitimate.... I believe - that Mr. Judge wrote with his own hand, consciously or automatically - I do not know, in the script adopted as that of the Master, messages - which he received from the Master, or from _chelas_; and I know that - in my own case I believed that the messages he gave me in the - well-known script were messages directly precipitated or directly - written by the Master. When I publicly said that I had received, - after H. P. Blavatsky’s death, letters in the writing that H. P. - Blavatsky had been accused of forging, I referred to letters given - to me by Mr. Judge, and as they were in the well-known script I - never dreamt of challenging their source. I know now that they were - not written or precipitated by the Master, and that they were done - by Mr. Judge; but I also believe that the gist of these messages was - psychically received, and that Mr. Judge’s error lay in giving them - to me in a script written by himself and not saying so.... Having - been myself mistaken, I in turn misled the public. - -The rest of Mrs. Besant’s statement is easily summarised. Part is -devoted to minimising the importance of the question whether Mr. Judge -wrote, or the Mahatma precipitated, the letters, by remarking that after -all it did not matter so very much, as Mahatmas sometimes communicate -(like spiritualist “controls”) by allowing ordinary people to write for -them. “It is important,” quoth Mrs. Besant, naïvely, “that the small -part generally played by Masters in these phenomena should be -understood”—a remark with which the present writer quite agrees, and a -main object of the present narrative. But in the sense in which Mrs. -Besant meant it, it was not very relevant to an inquiry entirely dealing -with letters passed off as having been precipitated, and precipitated -without Mr. Judge’s knowledge, by the Mahatma himself. - -Beyond this, Mrs. Besant’s statement consists about equally of blame -directed at the untheosophical “vindictiveness” of Mr. Judge’s accusers -in pressing an inquiry “painful” to Mr. Judge, and of laudatory tributes -to the character and Theosophical activity of Mr. Judge himself. - -Down Mrs. Besant sat, and up rose Mr. Judge, and read _his_ statement. -It contained the following sentences:— - - I repeat my denial of the said rumoured charges of forging the said - names and handwritings of the Mahatmas, or of misusing the same.... - I admit that I have received and delivered messages from the - Mahatmas ... they were obtained through me, but as to how they were - obtained or produced I cannot state.... My own methods may disagree - from the views of others.... I willingly say that which I never - denied, that I am a human being, full of error, liable to mistake, - not infallible, but just the same as any other human being like to - myself, or of the class of human beings to which I belong. And I - freely, fully, and sincerely forgive anyone who may be thought to - have injured or tried to injure me. - -Now, so far as these sentences were an answer at all to such charges as -Mrs. Besant’s statement had allowed itself to convey, they were -certainly a flat contradiction. But that point was naturally overlooked -by eyes moist from the affecting “forgiveness” of Mr. Judge’s -peroration, and his very handsome, if somewhat tautologously expressed, -admission that he was only a “human being.” Without a word more, _nemine -contradicente_, it was - - _Resolved_: that this meeting accepts with pleasure the adjustment - arrived at by Annie Besant and William Q. Judge as a final - settlement of matters pending hitherto between them as prosecutor - and defendant, with a hope that it may be thus buried and forgotten, - and— - - _Resolved_: that we will join hands with them to further the cause - of genuine brotherhood in which we all believe. - -These resolutions were proposed by the Mr. Keightley (M.A. Cant.) whose -name has occurred so often in our story among the bamboozled ones, and -seconded by Dr. Buck, one of the nominees from Mr. Judge’s section to -the abortive committee. - -And there ends the Pamphlet—and the “Enquiry.” It has since appeared -that the “joining of hands” between Mrs. Besant and Mr. Judge was for -footlight purposes only; for no sooner was the curtain rung down than -the two joint Outer Heads found they could no longer work together, and -settled the matter by splitting the Esoteric section into independent -dominions, Mr. Judge taking America, and Mrs. Besant Europe—to which she -has since added India. - -The result is one on which Mr. William Q. Judge must be congratulated. -He retains all his offices as head of his lodge, of his section, and of -the American Esoteric section; retains his vice-presidency of the whole -society; retains the status of heir-presumptive, at least, to the -presidency; retains, also, I suppose, either he or his Mahatma, the -brass “flap-doodle,” to say nothing of the Blavatsky relic, with full -freedom to continue using the same as heretofore. - -In a word, the Theosophical Society has chosen to stand or fall with its -vice-president. - - * * * * * - -Theosophy is a religion as well as a philosophy, and the T.S. -masquerades as in some sort a Church. Imagine the situation, then, in -any other religious denomination. Suppose that the Archbishop of -Canterbury were to put forth missives which he alleged to have fluttered -down direct from St. Augustine in heaven; and suppose after Convocation -had governed the Church for years in conformity with directions so -received, the Archbishop of York were to declare at a Church Congress -his belief that his esteemed brother, whose services to the Church were -beyond all praise, had written the missives himself, an expedient “which -I personally hold to be illegitimate,” but into the details of which he -begged the Congress not to pry: suppose, then, that the Archbishop of -Canterbury on his part declared himself, like Mr. Pickwick, “much -gratified with the candid explanation of his hon. friend,” that he -“merely considered him a humbug in a Pickwickian point of -view”—supposing all this, can you imagine the Church Congress rising as -one man to “bury” the dispute, and “join hands” with the embracing -disputants? - -Probably not. But then, as Mrs. Besant remarked, the “standards of the -world” are “lower” than those of the Theosophical Society—and of the -“Pickwick Club.” - -Nevertheless, I must ask leave to break in on the harmonious scene with -a few troublesome questions. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES. - - “Hath he said anything?” - “He hath, my lord; but, be you well assured, - No more than he’ll unswear.”—“OTHELLO.” - - “Next in importance, or perhaps equal in value, to Devotion, is - Truth.”—Circular on “Occultism and Truth,” signed by H. S. OLCOTT, - ANNIE BESANT, B. KEIGHTLEY, &c., July, 1894. - - -In my first chapter I set out certain conclusions. In succeeding -chapters I have given the facts on which my conclusions were based. I -now assert that the evidence for those facts, be it good or bad, is that -of the Theosophical leaders themselves, written and signed as the case -against the Vice-President, and adopted by Mrs. Besant as true. If it be -not true, then Colonel Olcott, Mr. B. Keightley, Mr. W. R. Old, and the -other official witnesses must be guilty of a conspiracy, as I said at -the outset, “even more discreditable to the personnel of the society.” -It is not I who accuse Mr. Judge. It is Mr. Judge and his colleagues who -accuse each other. The rank-and-file of the Theosophists have paid their -money; they may now take their choice. - -The fact is, before Mrs. Besant got hold of the evidence, at least one -set of complete and duly witnessed copies had been made, together with -facsimiles of the documents. It is these which lately fell into my -hands, under circumstances which left me free to take, as I do take, the -moral and legal responsibility of that publication which the president -first promised and afterwards shirked. - - * * * * * - -In regard to Mr. William Q. Judge, vice-president, I do not feel called -on to labour any theory of my own as to that gentleman’s character and -conduct. As the Society for Psychical Research long ago remarked, the -precise line between rogue and dupe in the Theosophical Society has -never been easy to draw. On any view of Mr. Judge I have at least as -much respect for him as for his virtuously vacillating superior, whose -mind seems to have been made up for him from one stage to another by -whatever party happened to be at the moment nearest and most peremptory. -With the facts of the preceding narrative before him, the reader can -form his own opinion about both officials. - -Equally unable am I to state what Mr. Judge’s own version of Mr. Judge’s -acts may be. I have read and re-read his “statement” at the “Enquiry,” -and his circular issued just previously. In these I have groped—faint, -yet pursuing—among the mazes of that Theosophical verbiage which always -seems to be coming to the point; but for me at least it has never quite -got there. Where the denials are most explicit, the thing denied is -vaguest; where admission is most candid, the thing admitted is least -relevant to the issue. Mr. Judge admits, for instance, that he is a -“fallible human being”; he denies that he has “forged.” I, for one, -should never dream of disputing either position. The verb, to forge, -definitely connotes in English the imitation of the signature of a -person who really exists, and who has also an existent banking account. -The worst I should dream of imputing to Mr. Judge in this connexion is -the imitation of someone else’s imitation of the feigned signature of -somebody who never existed. - -Mr. Judge must see that between the mere human fallibility to which he -confesses, and the felony of which no one has accused him, it does not -need a sensitive ear to distinguish whole octaves of intervening notes. -Thanks to Mrs. Besant, he has not yet been obliged to locate himself at -any one point of the gamut. But, for all I know, he may now come forward -and twit his associates with deficient humour for not seeing that the -whole thing was just a rollicking hoax. Throwing off the _rôle_ of an -interpreter of Tibet, he may appear as William Q. Judge, the American -Humorist. He might fairly claim that many have performed under a like -title much less divertingly. He might say that the joke was so obvious -that it never struck him his colleagues would take it seriously; that -their evident determination not to spoil sport was an invitation no -joker could have resisted; and that he only kept it up so long for the -fun of seeing, through a graduated scale of absurdity, how much they -really would stand. Of course, to carry through a big practical joke one -may be excused a few taradiddles, to which the moralist might apply a -harsher name. No doubt some might question the taste of making a -friend’s funeral the starting-point of even the most innocent _mauvaise -plaisanterie_. But American humour has never spared the cemetery. - - * * * * * - -From my own position, then, and Mr. Judge’s position, I now pass to Mrs. -Besant’s. This is interesting from its bearing on the curious -psychological puzzle offered by Mrs. Besant’s own mind, to the study of -which she herself continually invites the public. Let us accept the -invitation for a moment. - -I take Mrs. Besant’s statement at the so-called “Enquiry,” that she -believed now that Judge wrote with his own hand the missives which he -had induced her, and she had induced the public, to regard as -precipitations from Tibet of the kind which “some people would call -miraculous.” - -Apparently Mrs. Besant considers that this avowal sufficed to clear her -honour towards her colleagues and the public whom she had “misled.” To -me it appears admirably calculated to mislead them again. Remember, even -those whom Mrs. Besant was addressing—much more the outside public—were -ignorant of the facts. Mrs. Besant had taken good care of that. - -_They_ did not know, as the reader does, the circumstances which -surrounded these various missives: The “Master Agrees” missive, the -Telegram missive, the Cabinet missive, the “Note the Seal,” the “Judge’s -Plan is Right,” the “Judge is the Friend,” the Envelope Trick, the -“Withold,” the “Master will Provide,” the Bank-note, the Inner Group, -the “Grave Danger Olcott,” the “Judge is not the Forger,” the “Follow -Judge and Stick,” and the Poison Threat missive—as I have severally -named them. - -Referring to those circumstances, as the reader now knows them, I ask of -what did and does Mrs. Besant mean to convict Mr. Judge? - -If Judge “wrote with his own hand” the answers got from the cabinet -oracle (May 23, 1891), did he also use sleight-of-hand or some similar -artifice to make her accept the answers as precipitated in a sealed -envelope in a closed drawer? - -If Judge “wrote,” &c., the slip “Judge’s plan is right,” the sudden -appearance of which among Mrs. Besant’s papers made her and him joint -officials on May 27, 1891—did he also place it among those papers on -purpose to be so discovered? - -If Judge “wrote” &c., Mrs. Besant’s message of July 12, 1891, which was -across the inside flaps of a closed envelope—did he also insert the -writing by the trick described in the chapter which I entitled “Every -Man his Own Mahatma”? - -If Judge “wrote,” &c., all the various letters, notes, and endorsements -to which the “Mahatma’s” signature and seal were attached, missives -backing Judge’s own views, raising Judge’s own Theosophical status, and -bluffing other “servants” of that “Master,” to whom he and they cannot -allude without capital letters—did he also “with his own hand” take and -affix the seal which he has persistently denied having ever set eyes on? - -If Mrs. Besant did _not_ mean all this, and much more which hangs by the -same logic, then her Statement grossly calumniated Mr. Judge to the few -who knew the tenor of the case against him. - -If she _did_ mean it, then her Statement completely hoodwinked her -audience and the public. - -For will anybody assert that _this_, which has just been outlined, or -anything like it, was the picture naturally called up by Mrs. Besant’s -carefully worded description of “Mr. Judge’s error” as the negative one -of “not mentioning” certain circumstances, her suggestion that personal -opinions might reasonably differ on the “legitimacy” of his methods, her -laudatory allusions to his general character and Theosophic services, -her public sanction of a statement on his part which on this theory must -have been utterly misleading, her eager lead in the attempt to cloak up -for ever the Great Mahatma Hoax, and to shield the hoaxer? - -But there is another point. Mrs. Besant professes still to cling to the -belief that the Mahatmas had something to do with the letters. Mr. Judge -wrote them, she says, but what he wrote he had first “received -psychically from the Master.” - - Faith, fanatic faith, once wedded fast - To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last. - -Nobody can prove that those missives, or, for that matter, these -articles, or Shakespeare’s plays, were not due to the Master’s -“psychical” authorship. Mr. Judge and Mrs. Besant are both quite free to -say so. But again I must point out to Mrs. Besant the logical inferences -from her position. In the attempt to hold on to one spar in the general -wreck, she just says enough to inculpate the Mahatma, and not enough to -exculpate Mr. Judge. - -For, to apply theory once more to concrete fact: Does Mrs. Besant -attribute to the Mahatma the preposterous insinuations against Colonel -Olcott? And does she mean that the Mahatma made these insinuations and -various direct false statements in order to co-operate with Mr. Judge in -shielding from discovery a prolonged use of a bogus imitation of the -Mahatma’s own seal and signature? - -In this case, we are entitled to challenge Mrs. Besant to say whether -she herself now believes that the insinuations against Colonel Olcott -were justified. If yes, then I can only leave her to settle that matter -with the Colonel. If no, then what becomes of the supernal wisdom and -lofty character of “Those Who to some of us are most sacred”? Must it -not be confessed that They have made uncommon fools of Themselves?—not -to give a stronger name to the extremely shady methods of which Tibetan -diplomacy is thus found guilty. - -The public will await satisfactory answers to these questions. It will -not, I hope, for a moment suspect Mrs. Besant of conscious fraud, or of -sordid motives. I most certainly do not. With some of the lesser fry, -who would be bankrupt in every sense if Theosophy failed them, the -consideration of pleasant board and lodging at other people’s expense -may be a governing one. With Mrs. Besant, who brings far more to the -organisation in the shape of gate-money, no doubt, than she ever -condescends to accept from it, the motives are subtler. Had she boldly -cut herself free from the rottenness at the core of the Theosophic -movement as soon as it was shown to her, she might have saved her -reputation for straightforwardness, if not for intelligence. In choosing -instead the equivocal policy of hushing up a scandal at all costs, she -doubtless convinced herself that she was acting only for the ends of -edification and the good of her church. That is the old, old story of -priestcraft, and Mrs. Besant has been playing the high priestess now for -three years. But were there not also some more personal motives at work? -There is one thing which even the most candid hate to confess—and that -is, that they have been thoroughly bamboozled. It does not improve -matters when they have themselves helped in their own bamboozlement. To -confess how recklessly inaccurate were her statements about “the same -handwriting,” the “semi-miraculous precipitation,” the absolute -assurance of her own senses, and so forth; to let the public see for -itself the childish twaddle which she accepted, and helped to force upon -others, as profound and oracular: all this would have been a sad -come-down from the Delphic tripod. I do not wonder the poor lady shrank -from it. I do wonder that Mrs. Besant cared to evade it at the expense -of a sort of confidence-trick. To this has come the woman whom we once -thought, whatever her other faults, at least fearless and open—the woman -whose epitaph, so she tells us, is to be— - - _She Sought To Follow Truth!_ - -Lastly, a few words to the rank-and-file of the Theosophical Society, a -large proportion of whom are now gathering open-mouthed at Adyar. In -Madame Blavatsky few of the better-informed of the flock nowadays affect -to believe—except in public. They cling to her gifts, perhaps; they have -thrown over her morals. For fresh evidence has been coming to light, -ever since that strange woman died, as to the tricks to which she -condescended, and encouraged her _chelas_ to condescend; and poor -Colonel Olcott, though he continues to work the old gold-mine in print, -has been driven even there to enunciate the theory that Madame Blavatsky -herself was really killed at the battle of Mentana, and her body -thereafter occupied by seven distinct spirits who, of course, are not -responsible for contradicting each other. Till May, 1891, Madame was the -principal witness to the objective existence and attributes of Mahatmas. -Since that date, the principal witness is William Q. Judge. Soon the -faithful at Adyar will be filing into the Occult Room to gaze through -peep-holes at the two August Portraits, illuminated and set off by all -the artifices associated here with exhibitions by M. Jan van Beers. Will -they dare, any of them, to ask their officials plainly what evidence -they can now offer that either of the subjects of those fancy portraits -ever existed? - -And if on this and other questions suggested by these chapters, Mrs. -Besant, President Olcott, and Vice-President Judge do not succeed in -satisfying their followers——what next? No doubt each member of the -trinity will sit secure in his or her autocracy in his or her own -continent, owning there, as I understand, the official organ and the -publishing plant which the society as a whole has built up into -prosperity. Yet something, surely, may be done by those who do not care -to remain unwilling parties to the Great Mahatma Hoax, to recover their -own self-respect, if not to save the Theosophical Society. - -It is for them to decide whether the society, on its non-fraudulent -side, is worth saving. It may be a kind of university extension for the -popularising of Eastern philosophies. Or it may be, as some rather -think, a mere smattering of catch-words out of cribs for the use of -Mutual Mystification clubs, tending to a certain indigestion in the -mental processes and a flatulent style of English composition. In either -case there is no reason why the organisation should revolve about a -vortex of tomfoolery and legerdemain into which honest members are apt -to be sucked before they realise its true nature. - - - - - PART II. - - - - - “THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE.” - LETTERS ON VARIOUS SIDES FROM THEOSOPHISTS. - - -The foregoing chapters appeared in the _Westminster Gazette_, of October -29th, and nine succeeding issues. They attracted wide notice and -comment, and were the subject of allusion in a large part of the London -and provincial press. In accordance with their usual custom, the -official Theosophists in England are said to have cabled to their -leaders abroad to know what line they should take; but, if so, they do -not appear to have got any clear answer. - -A mass of correspondence was addressed to the _Westminster Gazette_, and -to the author of the articles, some of it from officials, most of it -from private members; some admitting that “much is, and all may be -true,” others denying everything—in general terms; some throwing over -the Vice-President, others lauding him as a model of Theosophic -rectitude; some rejoicing (“in confidence”) at the “cleaning-out of this -Augean stable of trickery,” others declaring that, proved or disproved, -the charges do not matter a pin. - -In regard to the repeated accusations that the assailant of the society -“waited” till its three Theosophic chiefs were at a distance before -challenging them on their “Enquiry,” it was pointed out that they gave -nobody any chance to wait, the official Report of the Enquiry being sent -round almost on the very day that Mrs. Besant sailed for Australia. - -The following is a representative selection from the letters:— - - - - - I.—LETTERS FROM OFFICIALS. - - - FROM THE EUROPEAN SECRETARY: “DESERVING OF NO ANSWER.” - - - SIR,—I have forwarded the copies of your paper containing the series - of articles entitled “Isis Very Much Unveiled” to my friends Colonel - Olcott, Mrs. Besant, and Mr. Judge, who are respectively at their - posts and carrying out their engagements in India, Australia, and - the United States of America. - - The mass of insinuations and misrepresentations with which these - articles abound is deserving of no answer. - - I enclose you a copy of the Enquiry held in July last, to which the - full statements of Mrs. Besant and Mr. Judge are appended. This was - months ago issued to every member of the Theosophical Society and - published in full in our magazines. You can thus allow your readers - to form their own opinion, instead of relying on the insinuations of - your contributor, if you choose to do so. - - The writer of the articles has several times made reference to a - private body of students, and endeavoured to involve it in his - attack. The informant of your contributor knows that he can with - impunity make any allegation he likes against that body, and that, - although it is in a position to give, and has already given to its - own members, a denial to his allegations with regard to its council, - it must, nevertheless, remain silent in public because of - obligations of honour. - - For the rest, of the truth or falsity of the most serious - allegations I am without any knowledge, and do not propose to enter - the arena of mere opinion. - - But of this I am confident—that my friends Colonel Olcott, Mrs. - Besant, and Mr. Judge, together with the best part of the - Theosophical Society, are not only ready and glad to face any - obloquy in upholding their individual ideals, but also that they are - also willing to sacrifice everything for the cause they hold so - dear, except the privilege of working heart and soul for its final - triumph.—I am, Sir, faithfully yours, - - G. R. S. MEAD. - - 19, Avenue-road, Regent’s Park, N.W. - - [The pamphlet forwarded by Mr. Mead is the so-called “Enquiry into - Certain Charges,” which was the starting-point of our articles, and - which was very fully dealt with in the last two of the series.—ED. - _W. G._] - - - FROM THE VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPRESENTATIVES: “WE COULD AN IF WE WOULD.” - - SIR,—You appear to have expected an immediate reply to the series of - articles entitled “Isis Very Much Unveiled.” This expectation is - astonishing in view of the fact that, while the three persons mainly - attacked by you were together in London for some weeks this summer, - you waited until Mrs. Annie Besant and Colonel Olcott are now - respectively in Australia and India, and Mr. W. Q. Judge is on a - lecturing tour in the United States, as your informant knows. His - time for attack is well chosen, but no just measure of surprise can - be felt, either that their replies—should they care to make any—are - delayed, or that we should have intended originally to await the - close of your series before making our present brief remarks. - - Your informant holds the position held among Freemasons by a brother - who has broken his Masonic pledge. Those who refuse to enter further - into this subject follow the traditions of all private societies in - like circumstance. Englishmen will take at its proper valuation all - information on whatever subject from such a source. We beg to take - distinct issue with you on the point of the minor importance of - sources of information. Our whole legal system is based upon the - contrary fact. Character of witnesses has primary weight with all - civilised juries. - - The Theosophical Society has no concern with the beliefs of its - members, nor with questions of Thaumaturgy. The endeavour to spread - a contrary belief, to confuse the issue by slanders, or attacks - against individual members, to belittle and misrepresent the objects - and work of the society, must alike fail in the face of general - disproof. The society pursues its way unaffected by all such - attempts. - - The Committee of Investigation appointed to consider the charges - made against Mr. Judge threw out the indictment on the ground that - the constitution of the Theosophical Society rendered illegal all - charges involving questions of creed or belief. Mr. Judge came from - the United States in readiness for their investigation, and his - defence had to be abandoned for the preservation of the freedom of - our platform. We do not, therefore, propose to bring the case to - “trial by newspaper.” As representatives respectively of the - American Section of the T.S. and of the general secretary of that - Section on the Committee of Investigation, we are aware of the - rebuttal evidence held in readiness by Mr. Judge. He holds - affidavits from persons of unblemished reputation disproving a - number of the charges made then and now by you, of which evidence - detail is for the present reserved for the reasons above given. We - need not further emphasise the danger of conclusions formed from - “plaintiff’s evidence” only. - - In conclusion, we beg to state our long acquaintance with, and our - confidence in the integrity and standing of, Mr. Judge, a confidence - shared, to our personal knowledge, to the fullest extent by the - American Section of the T.S., as the reports of its last Convention - prove. The American is the largest and the most active of our three - Sections, one which not only carries on an enormous work, but which - also assists the other two Sections. It is in it that Mr. Judge’s - long labour and personal sacrifices have won for him the respect of - the community.—Yours very truly, - - ARCHIBALD KEIGHTLEY. - JAMES M. PRYSE. - - 30, Linden-gardens, Bayswater, W., - November 6. - - - EDITORIAL NOTE APPENDED IN _Westminster Gazette_. - -In regard to Dr. Keightley’s remarks on “the character of the -witnesses,” from which, in view of the law of libel, we have had to omit -one or two phrases, it is only fair to state that this letter was -received before it had been made clear in the articles that the chief -witnesses were, in fact, not Mr. Old, who has resigned office, but the -President and Dr. Keightley’s brother, who retain it. - - - ANOTHER AVENUE-ROAD OFFICIAL: “VOLUMINOUS LITERATURE” v. HARD FACTS. - -SIR,—Now that you have had the only answer it is possible for the -present to make in connexion with that part of your articles which -professes to disclose the affairs of a secret body, I am at liberty to -make some remarks on that part of them which deals with the public -affairs of the Theosophical Society, if you will grant me the -opportunity of reply which, as a member of an attacked society, I have -the right to demand. - -In spite of all implications and assertions to the contrary, I must -emphatically assert it as my opinion that the majority of members of the -society do _not_ join on account of phenomena; and I regard any attempt -to prove the contrary as a conscious or unconscious misrepresentation of -the actual state of affairs. A large mass of the public know well by -this time that the chief activity of the society consists in making -known and advocating a certain system of philosophy, and that appeals -are made to the judgment and intellectual sense of the people as to -whether they shall accept or reject it. I do not know whether your -intelligent readers will consider themselves flattered when they read -your contributor’s notion of the kind of procedure that is necessary to -captivate them; but I am inclined to think that most of them must have -common-sense enough to prefer judging a philosophy by its own merits to -accepting or rejecting it according to the evidence for and against -phenomena wrought in connexion with it. However, if there be any who, -indifferent to all questions of ethical and philosophical truth, choose -their faith according to its thaumaturgic properties alone, the society -will not be sorry to lose them, for such weak natures are a source of -weakness to every body in which they enrol themselves. - -While declaring here my own belief in the integrity and sincerity of the -persons attacked in your articles, and regretting my inability lo -communicate all of that faith to others, I maintain, Sir, that Theosophy -will not stand or fall by any personal scandals, whether true or false, -and that the Theosophical Society will not cease to exist in Europe so -long as there are even a few who believe as I do. - -Your contributor has sought to convey the impression that the -Theosophists, or at all events those who reside at the various -headquarters, live in an atmosphere of constant thaumaturgy and -intrigue; ever in expectation of some new wonder, ever ready to alter -their deepest convictions at a moment’s notice in accordance with some -enigmatical message or some trumpery sign. I call upon those who know -the society, are habitués at its meetings, or have lived at -headquarters, to say whether there is a grain of truth in this, or -whether, on the contrary, we are a body of earnest students, living a -prosaic life, and exhausting our energies in the endeavour to place -before others the truths we have found so helpful to ourselves. - -Your contributor makes much of his contention that the adepts were -_invented_ by Madame Blavatsky. What does he expect to gain by this? If -he can succeed in discrediting Madame Blavatsky in the eyes of a few -persons, he cannot disprove the existence of adepts for them unless he -is also prepared to discredit every one of the other sources of -information from which the evidence for the existence of such exalted -men is drawn. Madame Blavatsky has _reminded_ the world of the reality -of those beings in which the more enlightened of its denizens have -always believed. Of the few who may have accepted the belief on her -testimony alone I would say, better they had taken the trouble to -substantiate it from other sources. Whether Madame Blavatsky invented -the adepts or not, at all events I here and now advance the theory, and -refer for my evidence to the Theosophical literature on the subject, -which is plentiful. - -Let our critics, after reading it, come forward and publicly refute us. -We await their onslaught with pleasure. Many points I am obliged to -leave untouched on account of the length my letter would otherwise -assume; but I must just note the absolute futility of the statement that -“Max Müller has edited the only series of English translations of the -Sacred Books of the East with which I am acquainted,” and the complete -falsity of the statement that “there is no reason to believe that any -member of the society in Europe could pass an examination in any -Oriental language whatever.” Let these serve as samples of the quality -of the rest of the attack. - -In conclusion, sir, I would call your readers’ attention to the -fantastically absurd position of an opponent who hopes to discredit, by -his so-called “exposure” of a certain group of manifestations, the whole -sacred science of true magic. I maintain that such a science as magic -(in its true sense) exists, that it teaches the mysteries of nature and -of man, that the voice of the ages endorses it, and that it is worthy of -study to-day. I am prepared to support these contentions publicly if -called upon, and can meanwhile refer your readers to the voluminous -literature of the subject.—Yours truly, - - HENRY T. EDGE. - - 19, Avenue-road, Regent’s Park, London, N.W., November 7. - - - - - II.—LETTERS FROM PROMINENT THEOSOPHISTS. - - - FROM MR. HERBERT BURROWS: “A REPLY WE MUST HAVE, OR I LEAVE THE - SOCIETY.” - -“What do you think of THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE articles? What are the -Theosophical Society and what are its members going to do about them?” -This is the question which is asked me on all hands. I recognise that -not only my own personal friends but the public generally have a right -to ask this question, and to expect an answer, and I have asked the -permission of the Editor to give the answer from my own point of view, -without in the smallest degree pledging anyone else. Without the -smallest tinge of egotism, I may say that, next to Mrs. Besant, I am -perhaps better known to the public generally than any other English -member of the Theosophical Society. I have tried to bring a good many -people into the fold of the faith, I know intimately the currents of -thought inside the society, and while no one is responsible for the -opinions I express, I believe that they represent the feelings of a -large number of members. - - - The Old “Exposure” and the New. - -When I read Mr. Garrett’s opening chapters, I said to myself, -“Chestnuts!” We had heard it so often before. All the while Mr. Garrett -was writing about the “S.P.R.” he was probably asking himself, How is it -that this business did not kill the Theosophical Society? The answer is, -Because it was not conclusive. When Mrs. Besant and I joined the -society, apart from each other, I joining a few days before her, Madame -Blavatsky said to both of us, “You had better read what there is against -me,” and referred us to the Psychical Report. We read it separately, -analysed it, and joined. I brought to it my Civil Service training, what -business faculties I had, and a fair knowledge of the laws of evidence. -I am a sceptic by nature, and I was then a materialist, and the honest -conclusion that I came to was that the case for the prosecution was far -too weak to warrant a conviction. That opinion I still hold. If I -thought differently I should be outside the Theosophical Society instead -of in it. I suppose that nine out of ten people who talk glibly about -the report have never seen even the covers of it. - -[Illustration: - - MRS. ANNIE BESANT. - - (From a photograph by Messrs. Elliott & Fry, Baker-street, W.) -] - -But I am bound to say that as Mr. Garrett went on with this newer case -the situation altered. The details are too precise, and supported by too -much evidence, for me honestly to escape from the conclusion that, if -the facts and documents are correctly set forth, a _primâ facie_ case -has been established against Mr. Judge. - - - “If Mr. Judge declines to answer.” - -Some facts in the series of articles and many of the inferences are -wrong, as I shall have occasion to show; but enough is made clear to -imperatively demand an answer. The charge here is, of course, of no -offence known to the law; but were it otherwise, many men have been -found guilty on charges which were supported by less evidence than -these. - -I am quite aware that a goodly number of my fellow Theosophists will -blame me exceedingly for saying this, especially some of our younger -members, whose moral sense seems somehow or other to have become -confused over this matter. Let me put myself quite straight with them. -My mind is perfectly open on the subject. I have no opinion yet one way -or the other as to Mr. Judge’s conduct, for I have not heard his -defence. For aught I know he may have a crushing, triumphant reply, and -Mr. Garrett and Mr. Old (and with them Mrs. Besant!) may all have to go -down on their knees to Mr. Judge. _But that reply we must have_, and as -a member of the Theosophical Society, whose motto is, “There is no -religion higher than Truth,” and who has appealed to the public to join -it because I believed that it was founded on truth, and that its chief -officials and leaders were upright, honourable people, I mean to use -every legitimate effort to get it. If Mr. Judge declines to give it, if -he refuses to come out into the open fully and squarely, or if his reply -does not meet the case, then sadly and reluctantly I shall have to leave -the Theosophical Society, for it will be impossible any longer to remain -in an organisation whose vice-president is in such a position. - - - An Appeal to all Honest Theosophists. - -Now it depends on the members of the society as to whether Mr. Judge’s -reply shall be forthcoming. They can make such strong representations to -him as will be impossible for him to ignore, and I hold that it is their -duty to do so. Every member of the society has an indefeasible right to -know what manner of man their vice-president is, and it ought to be made -perfectly clear that the morality of the organisation is at least as -high as that of the best commercial morality, and is not based on -Jabez-Balfourism. If there is to be any talk, as there is already among -some members, of “letting by-gones be by-gones—saving the -situation—ignoring the attack for the sake of Theosophy, safeguarding -occultism,” &c., then self-respecting members will have to protest -strongly, and, if necessary, clear out. All such talk comes from mental -ostriches, and in this matter ostrich-tactics won’t work. It is not a -question of Mr. Judge, or of occultism, or the Theosophical Society, but -what is above and beyond all these, _Truth_, on which Theosophy itself -is based, as I firmly believe. If there is no religion higher than -truth, then truth must be had at all hazards. For the truth we shall -have to wait, perhaps, some months. Till we get it, minds should be -perfectly open and unbiassed. Only three people can give the truth—Mr. -Judge, Mrs. Besant, and Colonel Olcott. As far as lies in my power I -mean to see that the truth is forthcoming. - - - The Judicial Committee of Inquiry. - -Over this Mr. Garrett has floundered somewhat. I was a member of it, and -know the facts. When Mr. Garrett says in his first article that “a few -people are aware ... that there was recently a Theosophic meeting at -which Mrs. Besant confessed to her friends that there had been something -wrong with the ‘communications,’” and that she persuaded those assembled -generally to hush the matter up, he does not know his case. This is what -really happened. After Mr. Old had been some time in India he came to -the conclusion that certain charges against Mr. Judge, which up to then -had been vaguely floating about, were true, and he said so. In England -we disbelieved them, for we had no real evidence, but when Mrs. Besant -reached India, and examined the evidence, she agreed with Mr. Old. She -formally adopted and formulated the charges, and the fact that she had -done so immediately became known all over the world. There was no -hole-and-corner work about it. An official investigation committee met, -but found itself blocked by the constitutional difficulties with which -your readers are now familiar. - - - Mrs. Besant and the Deadlock. - -Then I proposed that we should resolve ourselves into a voluntary jury -of honour. Mr. Judge did not agree to this, and so there was a deadlock. -The evidence had not been heard, although Mrs. Besant was ready with it, -for the inquiry had not been made, neither had we heard Mr. Judge’s -defence. The next stage in the proceedings was the reading, to a very -full meeting of members from all parts of the world—for it was our -annual convention—of the statements by Mrs. Besant and Mr. Judge, to -which Mr. Garrett has so often referred. In her statement Mrs. Besant -said: “The vital charge is that Mr. Judge has issued letters and -messages in the script recognisable as that adopted by a Master with -whom H.P.B. was closely connected, and that these letters and messages -were neither written nor precipitated directly by the Master in whose -writing they appear.” That is pretty definite and precise. These two -statements by the accuser and the accused, together with all the -proceedings of the committee, were published in _Lucifer_ on August 15, -and they were reprinted in a pamphlet which was sent to every member of -the society, and I also know that the day before she sailed for -Australia Mrs. Besant made arrangements for that pamphlet to be sent to -all the principal papers of the United Kingdom. I have said all this at -length in order to dispel the idea that Mrs. Besant wished to bamboozle -the society or hush up charges of fraud. I know that it is asked why she -did not publish the whole of the evidence. If the official Enquiry had -been proceeded with the evidence would have been published with its -other proceedings. But Mrs. Besant felt, rightly or wrongly, that it -would be unfair of her to publish it without the defence, and this there -were no means of getting. - - - The Unsatisfactory Position of the Society. - -But now see the unsatisfactory position of the society. The most serious -charge possible had been made by its chief member against its second -official, one of its founders, the tried and trusty friend of Madame -Blavatsky. The charges were still hanging over his head, his members in -America thoroughly disbelieved them, the members in India as thoroughly -believed them, and we in Europe did not know what to think. They had -been neither proved nor disproved. Colonel Olcott was going back to -India, Mr. Judge flitted back to America, and Mrs. Besant rushed off to -Australia to fulfil lecturing engagements made a year previously, and so -far as regards the society generally Mahomet’s coffin was not in it for -“floating.” Those of us who really took the thing to heart held our -hands. We fully recognised the gravity of the whole matter, but we -determined to wait till Mrs. Besant’s return before we moved, for -without the evidence we were powerless. But we reckoned without our -WESTMINSTER! - -In concluding this article, I say frankly that THE WESTMINSTER has -really, although quite unconsciously, done Mr. Judge a good turn. I do -not for a moment flatter myself that Mr. Garrett wishes any good to -Theosophy! The tone of his articles precludes that idea. But his attack -on Mr. Judge puts the latter in this position, that if he chooses he can -defend himself without any fear whatever of pledging the Theosophical -Society to one jot or tittle of dogma with regard to Mahatmas. He is -attacked as a man, and as a man I sincerely hope that he will manfully -and satisfactorily reply. - - HERBERT BURROWS. - - - FROM MR. W. R. OLD, EX-OFFICIAL: “A THOROUGH GRIP OF THE FACTS.” - -SIR,—As my name has been publicly mentioned by Mr. Mead, general -secretary of the European T.S., in connexion with the series of articles -“Isis Very Much Unveiled,” I think it advisable to state my own position -and attitude in the matter. - -The writer of those articles has named me, quite correctly, as having -taken the first step in forcing an inquiry into the case against Mr. -Judge. For this act of mine, I was suspended from my membership in the -Esoteric Section, under the authority of the joint signatures of William -Q. Judge and Annie Besant, Outer Heads of the E.S.T., and my name was -dishonourably mentioned before the members of the E.S., among whom I -numbered many an old colleague and friend. The mandate somehow found its -way into the public Press. However, there was one advantage. After her -official action in suspending me from membership Mrs. Besant was, of -course, bound to hear my justification. This happened at Adyar in the -winter of 1893. Mrs. Besant’s first remark to me after reading the case -and examining the documents was, “You were perfectly justified by the -facts before you.” - - - THE HEAD OFFICIALS PLEDGED TO PUBLISH THE FACTS. - -In the presence of the president-founder Colonel Olcott, Mrs. Besant, -Countess Wachtmeister, Mr. E. T. Sturdy, together with Mr. Edge and -myself, it was decided that the task of officially bringing the charges -should devolve upon Mrs. Besant, and that the whole of the evidence -should be published. Consequently, the documents were handed over to -Mrs. Besant for the purpose of drawing up her charges, and the president -sent an official letter—or, as Colonel Olcott now claims, a “private -letter” in official form—dated at Agra, February 12, 1894, to Mr. Judge -as vice-president, in which he said (I re-quote from a circular issued -by Mr. Judge, March 15, 1894):—“I place before you the following -options:— - - 1. To retire from all offices held by you in the T.S., and leave me - to make a merely general public explanation; or, - - 2. To have a Judicial Committee convened ... and make public the - whole of the proceedings in detail. - - In either alternative, you will observe, a public explanation is - found necessary: in the one case, general; in the other, to be full - and covering all the details.” - -It was the second alternative which was adopted, with the abortive and -disingenuous result already known. But what of the “full publication of -all the details”? What of us Theosophists who had brought these charges -against Mr. Judge? Were we not left in the position of persons who had -brought charges without proving them? The position was one which I felt -to be intolerable. Mrs. Besant had the full evidence in her hands by -which to justify all the charges she had engaged to bring against Mr. -Judge, but for some reason best known to herself involved the whole -society in countenancing a systematic attempt to bolster up a delusion -by concealment of facts. Mrs. Besant was also in honour bound to publish -the facts, to all members of the society at least, since they were of a -nature to vitally affect the beliefs of Theosophists the world over. She -was, in short, bound to give them the same publicity as her former -professions of occult intercourse obtained. - - - “MORALLY BOUND TO GIVE PUBLICITY TO THE TRUTH.” - -The T.S. is an organised body with a wide system of propaganda, and has -taken the public into its confidence in cases where its special claims -appear to have been supported by facts, and while the public are invited -to join the society it is only right and honest that they should know -what of those claims are true and what of those “facts” have stood the -test of inquiry. This responsibility cannot be avoided, and as I have -personally been instrumental in the inquiry into these claims and facts, -I am morally bound to give what publicity I can to the truth when -arrived at. To rectify what I believed to be a fatal policy on the part -of those concerned with the charges against Mr. Judge, I resigned from -all offices held by me in the T.S., and left myself free to speak openly -of the matter whenever occasion presented itself. I do not believe that -a system of truth can be raised from a fabric of fraud. In the course of -my travels I met with my friend Mr. Garrett, to whom, upon inquiry, I -gave the reasons of my resignation from official connexion with the -society. He asked my permission to publish the facts. My reply was that -although I could not unsay what I had said, I had not intended such -publication as he contemplated, and doubted whether the case could be -put forth with sufficient clearness and fairness by a “Philistine.” I -soon found, however, that he had a thorough grip of the facts; and on -his representation, the truth of which I had to admit, that the society -had closed the inquiry, and would not open its journals to a full -discussion of the evidence, I let him take his own course. - -Certain persons, who seem unable to conceive that a man may act on -principle and without interested motives, have suggested that I was -moved by some petty personal grudge, or even by some pecuniary -inducement. I repudiate both these insinuations as lies. My independent -action in this matter has involved certain pecuniary sacrifices; I have -in no way used it, and should scorn to use it, for pecuniary gain. - - - MR. JUDGE AND MRS. BESANT. - -It will, therefore, be clear to all members of the T.S. and the public -generally that I am responsible for the facts occurring in Mr. Garrett’s -articles only so far as they apply to the charges against Mr. Judge, and -for these I have documentary evidence produced under a legal hand, and -duly witnessed. With Mr. Garrett’s method of presenting the facts I am -by no means in sympathy. I do not lose sight of the fact that, however -mistaken or misled many of the Theosophical Society may be, as regards -the traditional “Mahatmas” and their supposed “communications,” they are -nevertheless as sincere in their beliefs as many of their more orthodox -fellows, and have as much right to respectful consideration. I regret -particularly that Mrs. Besant should have been placed in this awkward -public position by the present exposure. Her intention I believe to have -been perfectly honest, but I think she made a fatal mistake in avoiding -the publication of the full facts, and in allowing the misconception to -endure concerning her own and Mr. Judge’s connexion with the Mahatmas. - - - MME. BLAVATSKY AND THE MAHATMAS. - -Of Madame Blavatsky I speak as I knew her. At the time I made her -acquaintance she had forsworn all “phenomenalism,” so that I never saw -any occult phenomena at any time. I believe that _for her_ the Mahatmas -existed, and I believe she thought them to be embodied personalities. -Colonel Olcott has another theory, and others have their own. -Personally, I believe in the extensibility of human faculty, and in the -existence of an order of intelligences higher than our own, but I do not -require that they are embodied or terrestrial in any sense of the word. -Finally, I have been through the Theosophical Society with my eyes open, -and for more than five years have been, officially and unofficially, as -fully “in the Theosophical Society” as one can well be; and while I am -certain that many are fully convinced of the truth of their own beliefs -in these matters, I am also fully assured that a large number are in the -position of persons self-deceived, who have unfortunately committed -themselves too far to review their position without almost disastrous -consequences to themselves and others. But that of which I have the -fullest conviction and the greatest amount of presentable proof is the -fact that no such thing as evidence of the existence (in an ordinary -sense) of the Mahatmas, or of their connexion with the T.S. as a body or -with its members individually, is obtainable by a person pursuing -ordinary methods of investigation. - -For those who are willing to found their beliefs upon the mere statement -of another, without question of possible interestedness on the one hand, -or self-deception on the other, the position is of course otherwise. For -such persons _proofs_ have no value whatever, what they are pleased to -call their “beliefs” and their “knowledge” being determined or -determinable from the moment they sign away their independence of -judgment and freedom of thought.—Yours sincerely, - - WALTER R. OLD. - -P.S.—One misstatement of fact appears in your issue of November 3. What -Mr. Garrett refers to as “Madame Blavatsky’s Rosicrucian signet-ring” -was not a ring, but a jewel, used as a pendant. Also, the “dark -gentleman” who delivered the two £10 notes to Mr. Judge made his call -(so we were told) in the early afternoon, not in “the evening” as stated -in Mr. Garrett’s text. I am bound to add that, whatever may be my -annoyance and regret at the tone of the articles and of some of the -inferences, as regards that part of the evidence which is known to -myself, I have noticed so far no other substantial error of _fact_. - - * * * * * - - [These slight corrections have been made in this reprint.—_F. E. G._] - - - FROM MR. A. P. SINNETT: “OCCULTISTS MAY NOT TELL FIBS.” - -SIR,—The circular bearing this title—referred to in your leading columns -yesterday—was issued last July, and directly affects some questions you -have lately been discussing. Under the circumstances, I hope you will -kindly consent to give it fuller publicity. It was addressed to students -of Occultism, and ran as follows:— - - The inevitable mystery which surrounds Occultism and the Occultist - has given rise in the minds of many to a strange confusion between - the duty of silence and the error of untruthfulness. There are many - things that the Occultist may not divulge; but equally binding is - the law that he may never speak untruth. And this obligation to - Truth is not confined to speech; he may never think untruth, nor act - untruth. A spurious Occultism dallies with truth and falsehood, and - argues that deception on the illusory physical plane is consistent - with purity on the loftier planes on which the Occultist has his - true life; it speaks contemptuously of “mere worldly morality”—a - contempt that might be justified if it raised a higher standard, but - which is out of place when the phrase is used to condone acts which - the “mere worldly morality” would disdain to practise. The doctrine - that the end justifies the means has proved in the past fruitful of - all evil; no means that are impure can bring about an end that is - good, else were the Good Law a dream and Karma a mere delusion. From - these errors flows an influence mischievous to the whole - Theosophical Society, undermining the stern and rigid morality - necessary as a foundation for Occultism of the Right Hand Path. - - Finding that this false view of Occultism is spreading in the - Theosophical Society, we desire to place on record our profound - aversion to it, and our conviction that morality of the loftiest - type must be striven after by every one who would tread in safety - the difficult ways of the Occult World. Only by rigid truthfulness - in thought, speech, and act on the planes on which works our waking - consciousness, can the student hope to evolve the intuition which - unerringly discerns between the true and the false in the - supersensuous worlds, which recognises truth at sight and so - preserves him from fatal risks in those at first confusing regions. - To cloud the delicate sense of truth here is to keep it blind there; - hence every teacher of Occultism has laid stress on truthfulness as - the most necessary equipment of the would-be disciple. To quote a - weighty utterance of a wise Indian disciple:— - - “Next in importance, or perhaps equal in value, to Devotion is - TRUTH. It is simply impossible to over-estimate the efficacy of - Truth in all its phases and bearings in helping the onward evolution - of the human soul. We must love truth, seek truth, and live truth; - and thus alone can the Divine Light which is Truth Sublime be seen - by the student of Occultism. When there is the slightest leaning - towards falsehood in any shape, there is shadow and ignorance, and - their child, pain. This leaning towards falsehood belongs to the - lower personality without doubt. It is here that our interests - clash, it is here the struggle for existence is in full swing, and - it is therefore here that cowardice and dishonesty and fraud find - any scope. The ‘signs and symptoms’ of the operations of this lower - self can never remain concealed from one who sincerely loves truth - and seeks truth.” - - To understand oneself, and so escape self-deception, Truth must be - practised; thus only can be avoided the dangers of the “conscious - and unconscious deception” against which a Master warned his pupils - in 1885. - - Virtue is the foundation of White Occultism; the Pàramitàs, six and - ten, the transcendental virtues, must be mastered, and each of the - Seven Portals on the Path is a virtue, which the Disciple must make - his own. Out of the soil of pure morality alone can grow the sacred - flower which blossoms at length into Arhatship, and those who aspire - to the blooming of the flower must begin by preparing the soil. - - H. S. OLCOTT, A. P. SINNETT, ANNIE BESANT, BERTRAM KEIGHTLEY, W. - WYNN WESTCOTT, E. T. STURDY, C. W. LEADBEATER. - -I do not propose to discuss the merits of the case against Mr. Judge, -but we who signed this paper—without prejudging in their personal aspect -accusations which it had then been found impossible to thresh out -thoroughly—conceived it desirable to remind all fellow-students of -Occultism that no beneficial results along that path could possibly be -attained except by a course of life which, whatever else it might be, -should be strictly in harmony with the dictates of ordinary morality. - -The Theosophical Society has grown in a few years to such extraordinary -proportions, and is so loosely jointed, that it cannot be correctly -thought of as a homogeneous association all parts of which are equally -represented by the officers nominally at its head. But it ought at this -crisis to be generally understood that the many persons of culture and -earnest purpose to whom spiritual progress along the original lines of -Theosophic teaching is the main object of existence are guided by -evidence concerning the possibilities of their higher evolution that is -of a kind utterly unlike that which you not unreasonably discredit. A -great block of such evidence is in our possession concerning not merely -the existence but also the attributes of the great initiates, and to -those of us in a position to appreciate this the foundations of -Theosophic knowledge are quite unshaken by such incidents as those on -which you have been commenting.—I am, Sir, yours, &c., - - A. P. SINNETT. - - November 17. - - - WHOM DID THE CIRCULAR REFER TO - - [In reference to the subject of Mr. Sinnett’s letter, the following - is an extract from the _Westminster Gazette_ under the - heading;—“More Theosophistry: A Belated Piece of Bluff.”] - -In the current number of the _Review of Reviews_ a letter appears signed -by the Dr. Keightley who lately wrote to THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE as a -professed representative of Mr. W. Q. Judge, Vice-President of the -Theosophical Society. The letter is worthy of some attention as an -illustration of the tactics of Mr. Judge’s friends, and of the line -which they were taking towards any allusion in the Press to certain -events before the appearance of the recent exposure in this journal. - -The letter is dated October 25, and was therefore written at the time -when the Theosophists still hoped to maintain the great “hush up” -inaugurated at the Convention of last July, and before they dreamed that -all London would presently be discussing the facts which had been so -industriously buried. - -The occasion of the letter appears to have been a comment of Mr. Stead’s -in the last number of the _Review_ on a circular lately issued under the -title of “Occultism and Truth.” This circular was issued just after the -so-called “Enquiry into Certain Charges against the Vice-President,” and -(to this office, at any rate) it was enclosed under one cover with the -pamphlet report of that “Enquiry.” The substance of it is an assurance -to the Theosophical world, on the part of some prominent Theosophists, -that occultists have no more right than ordinary people to fib. Coming -at the time when it did, and signed as it was by all the principal -official Theosophists, with the one exception of the vice-president, the -Editor of the _Review of Reviews_ very naturally interpreted it as -having some connexion with the charges against the last-named gentleman, -and with what his colleagues evidently felt to be their apparent -condonation of the “occult methods” ascribed to him. - -The following is the substantial passage in the letter thereupon -addressed to the _Review of Reviews_ by Mr. Judge’s representatives:— - - Allow us to make a very necessary correction.... Mrs. Besant, who - originated the circular, was asked directly whether it was connected - with the charges or whether it was in any way aimed at Mr. Judge. - She gave an emphatic denial to both questions to many who took the - same view expressed by you. - - Another fact is not generally known, and leads people—yourself among - others—into unconsciously committing an injustice. The charges - against Mr. Judge were never substantiated, and the committee - appointed to inquire into them declared that they were illegally - laid. - -(The letter then concludes with a high tribute to Mr. Judge’s character -for truthfulness and every other virtue.) - -Now, as regards the statement about the intention of the Circular, we -will only say that one co-signatory of it at least has committed himself -to the precise view of it which this letter denies. Nor is it obvious -why the heads of any society should issue a round robin to say it is -naughty to tell taradiddles, unless some current reference were intended -to the affairs of the society. - -Besides this, however, there is unmistakably conveyed the impression -that Mr. Judge’s accusers failed to substantiate their case, and that -there was something actually “illegal,” in the ordinary sense of the -word, about some part of their conduct. - -As readers of “Isis Very Much Unveiled” are aware, both these things are -absolutely untrue. The simple fact was that, owing to the objections -raised by Mr. Judge, no opportunity was given for the charges to be -either substantiated or the reverse; while the only justification for -the statement that they were “illegally laid” is such as can be squeezed -out of the fact that the Theosophical Pickwickians were persuaded by Mr. -Judge that inquiry was forbidden by the constitution of their society. - -It only remains to add, to complete the disingenuousness of this very -Theosophistical letter, that its signatories authenticate its statements -by flaunting the title of “Members of the Committee of Investigation”; -the committee referred to being the one which met only to decide that it -could not investigate, and the members of it as such having no knowledge -whatever of the evidence either on one side or the other! - - - - - III.—LETTERS FROM MINOR OFFICIALS AND PRIVATE MEMBERS. - - - What matters “Truth or Falsehood?” - -SIR,—My husband and myself are two of the officials in one of the local -branches of the Theosophical Society. I write in his name and my own to -say that we have read with some interest your voluminous attack on the -personal characters of some of our leading members. - -We were also amused by the ingenuous surprise of your reporter, that the -Blavatsky Lodge meeting in London, which he attended, was spent in -philosophic study, not in the discussion of psychic phenomena or of the -personal characters of members. - -You say (Chapter II.):—“This society as such must stand or fall with its -Mahatmas.” This is not so. The Theosophical Society is entirely neutral -on the question of the existence or non-existence of such beings, and -the reason why the charges, of which you have published a more or less -correct statement, were not gone into by the authorities of the T.S. -was, that to have done so would have entailed an infringement of that -neutrality. - -The question whether Mrs. Besant was misled when she made the statement -at the Secular Hall in 1891 has been answered by her own clear -withdrawal of that statement. - -The question as to Mr. Judge is entirely one as to his own truth or -falsehood, and may be well left to him to answer or not. It is not -necessary for the public or for the members of the Theosophic Society to -judge him.—Faithfully yours, - - SARAH CORBETT. - - Manchester, November 6. - - - A Protest against “Condoning.” - -SIR,—Having read the revelations your correspondent has been pleased to -give to the public, and _presuming them to be correct_, it seems to me -that there are now three parties at fault in place of two as I had -supposed, viz., Mr. Judge for imposing (whether consciously as a -deceiver or unconsciously) as a medium obsessed by a spirit of ambition -and the communicator of the facts (if a member of the inner circle) for -breaking his solemn pledge not to reveal or betray the affairs of that -circle. The recent correspondence now adds others as condoning the -offence of Mr. Judge—and all this has come from the love of pre-eminence -and the mere dabbling (child’s play) with the occult. Clearly, if the -offence was proved, the officers of the society were bound in truth and -honour to expel the offender, and all would then have been clear and -straight. My advice to the society would be to stick to their programme, -which is a highly laudable one, and let no word from an invisible and -unknown be taken as of any external value, but judged only by its -internal worth. - -The society, it seems to me, can no longer pretend to condemn the -communication with Spirits as a dangerous thing, nor cry out against the -occasional frauds of mediums, in conscious or unconscious state, seeing -how heavily they have fallen into the same snare, nor can they point the -finger to frauds or delusions in other bodies whether Catholic or -non-Catholic. A greater strictness and more uniform abstinence from -flesh-eating and tobacco, as well as alcohol (which last they eschew) -should be enjoined on all its members by their authorised officers, and -their own three objects steadily pursued—separating from the third _all -spurious imitations_ of magical wonders; and, above all, the spirit of -truth which accepts nothing on this or that authority without careful -verification should be cultivated. A want of bravery to do the right, to -tell the truth, and face the consequences, is the only thing that can be -laid to the charge of the presiding officers of the Indian and English -sections. Are all societies and Churches free from this? Has not a -natural tenderness from long friendship, and sympathy in noble and -useful work, been often the cause of much to be deplored? And in this -instance, is not such over-tenderness of noble, unsuspicious, and -honourable souls, worthy rather of regret than of too severe -censure.—Yours, - - A THEOSOPHIST. - - - “Abandon the T.S. in Disgust.” - -SIR,—I see Mr. Mead is reported as saying that “what the articles [in -THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE] would do, if they did anything, was to sift the -society of those who had simply joined for the sake of the marvellous.” - -This remark shows the same utter oblivion of the appreciation of truth -that has unhappily shown itself in the society’s record before. It is -not a question of phenomena; it is one of good faith; and if this is the -line taken, not the phenomena-hunters merely, but seekers for truth and -respecters of it, who expected to find it in the Theosophical Society, -will abandon that body in disgust. - -Mr. Mead continues:—“Theosophists could no more divulge secrets without -violating every sense of honour than a Mason could.” - -To compare the Theosophical Society, as at present constituted, with an -honourable body like the Masons, is an insult to the latter, -goose-guzzling and luxuriant as they may have tended to become in these -latter days. - -There is a profound difference between hiding secrets, which are -entrusted to one, and which concern certain (perhaps) important facts in -the nature of man, and taking part in proceedings to gull a number of -fellow-students and the outside public. This is practically what has -been done before, and the dissatisfied either disappeared altogether or -were well howled at as traitors to “the cause,” whereas, in verity, they -were doing their best for the disowned cause of truth; or, again, they -were coerced by the solemn warning of “your pledge, take care of your -pledge,” and thereby intimidated from seeing that they were making -themselves parties to a continuous misrepresentation of facts and a -deliberate fraud upon their less-informed fellow-members, not to mention -the public. “What have our troubles to do with the public?” has been the -question. I reply, “Everything,” for it is to the public that constant -appeal is made and amongst its ranks that proselytes are sought. - -Nothing has, so far, been exposed in these articles that any -right-thinking truth-seeker would wish to have cloaked. The public are -not being made acquainted with any arcane wisdom; but if one-third of -the statements made in THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE are supported by -documentary and other evidence, then the world certainly ought to be -warned against a society that takes as its motto, “There is no religion -higher than TRUTH” and forthwith allows its leading members to play such -antics and engage in such grotesque jugglery without bringing them -sternly to book. As for continuing to work with these people in the -establishment of a “universal brotherhood,” rather will it become a -universal imposture to expose which were a service to the glorious old -Wisdom of the Venerable East, which it dishonoured by its sham Mahatmas. - -Those who are publishing the facts, if facts they be, are doing a -service to the cause of truth, and should have the thanks and gratitude -of all of us in the Theosophical Society whose motive in being there is -to seek TRUTH, and to combat error and fraud in religion, mysticism, or -anything else.—I am, &c., - - A FELLOW OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY AND - MEMBER OF THE E.S.T. - - - “It all comes of not Sticking to Vegetables.” - -SIR,—With every word of Brother Old’s letter of to-day’s issue I beg to -express my fullest sympathy. I deprecate the tone of the “revelations,” -but of the necessity of making the public fully acquainted with the -facts I have not the least doubt. As to the existence of “Mahatmas,” I -can only say I _do_ believe in the existence on this earth of a higher -order of beings who, by total abstinence from and abhorrence of -flesh-eating, alcohol, and tobacco, and other evil and impure customs, -and by adherence to a fixed rule of life, retiring early and early -rising, with daily ablutions, and by certain studies and training of -body and mind, have acquired certain attributes and powers so far in -advance of ordinary human beings as to be regarded by them as -miraculous. Of this I have had evidence, not from Theosophists, but from -personal friends resident in India before ever they heard of the name of -Theosophy. Whether any of these have anything to do in the direction of -the Theosophical Society is quite another matter. There is Theosophy and -Theosophy, and one of these I would rather term “Theophilosophy,” -_i.e._, “the love and wisdom of God,” or “love and wisdom religion”—and -not wisdom only as is implied in the term “Theosophy.” Readers of “The -Perfect Way” and its companion volume, “Clothed with the Sun,” by that -noble woman Anna Kingsford and her colleague, will know what I mean. -Now, what about the future of the Theosophical Society? I believe its -officers may fall, but its work must endure. No doubt of that. The -founders have had their weaknesses and foibles like other mortals, but I -hope none will ever forget the gratitude they owe to Madame Blavatsky, -especially to the blessings she has conferred in founding the -Theosophical Society and giving through its means to all hungry and -thirsty souls such priceless stores of knowledge and suggestive thought -(from the Oriental religions and philosophies which have made such deep -impress on the millions of the East) as are contained in the grand -volumes of “The Secret Doctrine,” with its index and glossary, and her -other publications. None can read these volumes, but must ask -themselves, What manner of woman must she have been who devoted so many -long years of labour, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, in their production, -and that amidst incredible difficulties and opposition and worry? Nor -must we forget the debt that we owe to Colonel Olcott and Madame Besant -for having made this knowledge accessible to all minds and conditions by -their lectures and booklets. - -What can be more noble than the promotion of universal brotherhood -irrespective of sex, colour, caste, or creed, united in the study of the -ancient religions of East and West, and of all that pertains to the -hidden powers in man, and their development for the good of the race? -But these last, I say again, will not be attained in purity but by -prayer, and abstinence from flesh meal, alcohol, and tobacco, and other -evil customs of society, and the disuse of all things gotten by cruelty -to, or oppression of, our fellow-creatures the lower animals, and by -pure surroundings.—Yours, - - I. G. OUSELEY, O.G.A. and F.T.S. - - Evelyn-terrace, Brighton, - November 9. - - - “Folly and Fraud: but of such is the Kingdom.” - -SIR,—No one should blame you, or resent the publication of the facts. -_Truth_ is the first consideration, and though we who have interested -ourselves in the philosophy promulgated by the society may bitterly -regret that folly and fraud are to be found within its fold—as -elsewhere—yet we can rest assured that whatever there is in this -philosophy which appeals to the enlightened intelligence of mankind will -remain when the superstructure raised by designing intriguers or unwise -enthusiasts shall have crumbled away. It is in consequence of this -belief that the writer, with others in the society, can read with -calmness, and not without some sense of amusement, this unpleasant -disclosure; not doubting but that a great deal of it is true, and that -all may be so; and while feeling unmixed contempt for the “informer,” -can acknowledge that any editor is well within his rights, and a public -benefactor, when exposing fraud wherever it is found. - -Would that this feature were more pronounced in journalism generally, -and not indulged in only when such exposures fall in with public -prejudice! - -For several years the writer of this letter has been absent from the -Avenue-road centre: among other reasons, from a feeling of disapproval -of certain follies which may be called incipient relic worship, and -which no sensible person could tolerate for long. So it will be seen -that all Theosophists have not fallen under the spell of Mrs. Besant’s -rash enthusiasm, which has done, and is doing, so much to discredit her, -now as heretofore, in the eyes of the world. Yet, in spite of her -indiscrimination and lack of sound judgment, which has alienated many, -the writer would rather stand in the pillory of public opprobrium with -her than sit at a banquet with the “informer” and those who can rejoice -over the failings of a beautiful soul. For it may be said of her, and a -few others, “Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.” That there is to be -found even one of these among Theosophists may lead a few to suspect -that there is something more in Theosophy than can be discovered in your -articles, and that, though fraud should be proved, there may -nevertheless be real occultists and true phenomena. Thus, what at first -sight appears a serious blow to our cause will perhaps induce further -inquiry among your readers, while doing useful work in destroying errors -and growing superstition. - - F. T. S. - - - - - PART III. - - - - - LAST SHREDS OF THE VEIL OF ISIS. - - - A REVIEW OF SOME THEOSOPHISTRIES. - -As yet, “Isis Very Much Unveiled” remains very much unanswered. The -oracles are dumb. “No Dolphin rose, no Nereid stirred”; no Mahatma -“precipitated” a reply (as one of them did with such edifying results in -the case of the Kiddle plagiarism), nor disintegrated by psychic force -the damaging documents in my possession; Mrs. Besant, whose “astral -body” has flitted across oceans to visit Mr. Herbert Burrows “on -pre-arranged evenings,” gave no sign from Australia; Colonel Olcott, -president, in India, disdained the more commonplace agency of the cable; -and Mr. William Q. Judge, vice-president, whose official adytum is but -five days away at New York, neglected to avail himself of the ordinary -post, whatever he may have done about the astral one. - -Moreover, accustomed as are all these three officials to scouring the -earth, with all expenses paid, no intimation has been made public as to -the date when we may expect to receive anyone of them back from the -various regions to which they sped immediately after launching the -report of their peculiar “Enquiry.” Their colleagues in England continue -to speak as if a trip to New York carried one to the bourn from which no -traveller returns. - -But what of these colleagues themselves? Where is the “Voice of the -Silence” of Avenue-road, St. John’s Wood? At point after point, the -Story of the Great Mahatma Hoax touched matters to which one or other or -all of them must have been privy. It told of missives which they had -accepted as genuine, orders which they had acted upon, decisions in -which they had agreed, fact after fact of which they had full -cognisance. When Mr. Mead, the European secretary, gave out that he did -not reply because he was not attacked, I did my best to oblige him; I -began at the beginning, and challenged him at once as having been -present and taken part in the “Judge’s-plan-is-right” decision; and I -added that when he had denied my version of that I would supply him with -further matter for denial. Whereupon the discreet European secretary -subsided altogether. - - - The “Sacred Oath” Humbug. - -Of course, some excuse had to be offered, and we have been told that -what happens at meetings of the Esoteric Section is sacredly secret. -Now, first, that only covers a small part of my story, some of which -dealt with circumstances surrounding official acts of the society or its -three sections. Secondly, the excuse is eminently one that accuses, by -implying that what I say happened at those meetings _did_ happen; for -presumably members take no oath to keep secret what does _not_ occur? -But, thirdly, this alleged secrecy is a mere pretext; else how could -Mrs. Besant publicly refer on platforms to “supernatural” experiences at -those meetings; and Messrs. Old and Edge (the latter to this day holding -office) raise questions about one such matter in print in Colonel -Olcott’s journal; and Mrs. Besant, the Colonel, and a full council of -officials notify Mr. Judge that in a certain eventuality (which did -afterwards occur) they would make a “_full publication covering all the -details_” of that matter, and others concerning the sacred Mahatma -messages? - -Whatever may be the “quasi-Masonic oath” of which we now hear, _they_ -evidently held that it did not bind them to conceal, with their eyes -open, a fraud upon their fellow-members; and those who do so interpret -it only throw a very suggestive light on their own action in willingly -taking such an oath. Was Mrs. Besant quite right when she gave the -public what she confesses was a “misleading account” of these secrets, -and only in the wrong when, along with Colonel Olcott and the rest, she -proposed to give what she now knew to be the correct one? Is the -position that a Theosophist may “tell”—anything he likes, except the -truth? - - - A Survey of the Present Situation. - -The absence of Colonel Olcott and Mrs. Besant does not alter the fact -that he with others made, and she publicly adopted, certain charges -against Mr. Judge, vice-president. And the silence of their colleagues -in England does not disguise the fact that my account of the details has -not been challenged as to one single event, letter, or facsimile. The -published “Report of an Enquiry” cries aloud for some explanation: the -explanation of “Isis Very Much Unveiled” holds the field untouched. It -leaves the vice-president only able to exculpate himself, if at all, by -further inculpating them. The “full rebuttal evidence held in reserve,” -therefore, at which his professed representative in England hints, can -be formidable only to the Theosophical Society, not to its critics. I am -bound to say, however, that if the would-be impressive fragments of it -which have been privately adumbrated to me are fair samples of the rest, -it is not calculated to be formidable to anybody. When the “affidavits” -hinted at have been published, or otherwise submitted to examination, I -can promise them all the attention they deserve. To say that any -affidavit, until cross-examined upon, is worth exactly as much as the -paper it is written on would be an uncalled-for slight upon the -paper-maker. - - - The Excommunication of “Brother Old.” - -A word or two about the attempt to create a diversion by attacking the -character of the one Theosophical official who has had the honesty to -resign office rather than shut his eyes to a fraud on the public. The -attack on Mr. Old cannot in any case discredit the story I have -narrated. First, because the largest and most important part of that -story is from the undenied written evidence of persons still holding -office in the society, and especially of its “President-Founder.” -Secondly, because, even as regards Mr. Old’s part, the character of a -witness is only a relevant consideration where the truth of his -testimony is disputed. What I am now about to say is said, therefore, -merely in justice to Mr. Old himself. The attack on him has two lines. -It is said that he had to perjure himself to give any information -whatever. It is hinted that what information he did give was given for -money. The former charge turns entirely on the “sacred oath” humbug, -which I have discussed already. As to the latter, it is true to my -knowledge that for the part he has taken in fulfilling what he regards -as a public duty to truth, Mr. Old neither asked nor received any -consideration whatever. My own acquaintance with Mr. Old began in an odd -way, not without bearing on the question of his sincerity. At the time -of the Salvation Army riots at Eastbourne, a gallant old Englishman, who -could not bear that women, under any provocation, should be publicly -assaulted in English streets, went down there to stand up for the -“Hallelujah lasses.” He asked, through the _Pall Mall Gazette_, for five -hundred Englishmen to help. He got five. This Quixotic gentleman, this -modern Sieur de Marsac, was my friend Mr. Charles Money, of Petersfield. -I went myself to see that he did not get his head broken more than was -necessary. His company, as seedy a lot of knights-errant as ever I saw, -consisted mainly of Cockney journalists who did not believe in God. But -one—a spruce, slight youth—declared himself a Theosophist. The -adventurers spouted to a yelling mob, got off with whole skins, and by -testimony of the local police actually achieved their end. But Mr. Money -and one other were knocked about a bit in the crowd. That other—he -quitted himself like a man—was Mr. W. R. Old, Theosophist. I may be -wrong: it was but a street row; but I regard that as a more practical -service on Mr. Old’s part to the “Universal Brotherhood of Humanity” -than all the hundredweights of vapid moralising on the subject ever -vomited from “The H.P.B. Press.” - - - Stewing in the Judge Juice. - -Except Mr. Old, one prominent Theosophist, and one alone, has so far -publicly faced the facts. Mr. Herbert Burrows has had the honesty and -the courage to say out that this thing must be answered by Mr. Judge, -and fully, or he for one will quit the society. Mr. Burrows forgets that -others besides Mr. Judge have made themselves answerable. Other -correspondents, again, represented other factions, and showed how the -society is seething with distrust and shame. But the mass of the letters -only serve to prove that, whatever else the “occult powers” of the -Theosophists may be, they do not include a command either of plain -English or of straight argument. If “Isis” does not yet stand before us -absolutely like Hans Breitmann’s “maiden mit nodings on,” it is a -painfully thin fabric of Theosophistries which alone shelters her from -the cold wind of public contempt. Let us examine it. - - - The Theosophistry about Proving a Negative. - -“_After all, you have not proved that Mahatmas do not exist, nor that -occult phenomena cannot occur._” - -Certainly I have not, nor did I ever propose to try. I am quite prepared -to believe in both when evidence for them has been produced, and has -stood the test of such ordinary evidential canons as have been applied -to kindred subjects—for instance, by the Psychical Research Society. All -that I have said is that certain evidence on which the Theosophical -Society has been building proves nothing whatever, except the existence -of a hotbed of humbug within the society itself. As for the Mahatmas, -there is no difficulty about conceiving that illiterate, twaddling, and -mendacious beings of a second-rate order of intelligence, such as those -reflected in the “missives” which I have reproduced, may exist in Tibet -as they unhappily do elsewhere. But when we are told that these beings -have acquired powers which rise superior to time and space, and that -they use these for communicating “in a quasi-miraculous manner” with the -Theosophical Society, we ask for facts; and we get—such facts as were -investigated by Dr. Hodgson and his colleagues, and such facts as have -been exposed in “Isis Very Much Unveiled.” What else is there? One -Theosophist directs me to “our literature on the subject, which is -copious.” I don’t doubt it; but it is not “literature” that I am in -search of. Another declares “it does not all depend on Madame Blavatsky -and Mr. Judge; others have seen Mahatmas.” It seems that Mrs. Besant has -been telling her Australian audiences that she herself has been so -favoured (just as she told the Hall of Science audience that she had -been favoured with supernatural missives). Well, how did Mrs. Besant -know her Mahatma? By his “portrait,” I suppose, as others have done. And -how was that portrait produced? When Madame Blavatsky began to spell -spiritualism “Theosophy,” and turned her “spirit-control” “John King,” -of whom Colonel Olcott tells, into Master Koot Hoomi—whom she again -subordinated, after the Kiddle exposure, to Mahatma Morya, whom she, in -turn, after the S.P.R. Report, left over for exploitation by Mr. -Judge—when Madame started the Mahatma on this chequered career, it was -one of her earliest steps to secure a counterfeit presentment of her -creation. Various artists and amateurs were set to paint portraits under -occult inspiration. The results may all have resembled the Protean -Mahatma; some of them were strikingly unlike each other. The two best -were done by Mr. Schmiechen, now a society portrait-painter, partly out -of his head, partly from directions given by Madame, and partly from a -photograph of a typical Hindu which she gave him for the purpose. Madame -identified one as Koot and the other as Morya, and declared they were -speaking likenesses—an opinion which nobody else was in a position to -contradict. They hang to-day in the “Occult Room” at Adyar, and are -declared to have been painted from the respective “astral bodies” of -their subjects. Colonel Olcott, president, who knows their origin -perfectly well, exhibits them reverently to barefoot disciples doing -“puja.” Photographs from the fancy portrait of “M,” in locked cases, -have been distributed to the Esoteric few; Mrs. Besant always works with -one facing her; Madame Blavatsky made it part of a _chela’s_ course to -spend some time daily staring at the image, and deliberately trying to -“visualise” it in corners of the room. What wonder if some of them have -succeeded? It would have been contrary to all experience of the -phenomena of self-hypnotic hallucination if they had not. The thing only -begins to call for examination when the figure thus “visualised” leaves -something not entirely psychic behind him. The Master who left a shower -of roses once at Adyar turned out to have been M. Coulomb, eked out with -a mask, a bladder, and some white muslin; and the roses were traced -elsewhere than to Tibet. And the Master who precipitated the Judge -missives?——But perhaps the Theosophists would prefer not to put him -forward. When they have something better, I shall be glad to hear of it. - - - The Theosophistry of Throwing Over the Mahatmas. - -“_What matter even if the Mahatmas do not exist, and the phenomena are -frauds? There still remain those sublime ideas which_,” &c., &c. - -I was quite prepared for this particular Theosophistry. That was why I -started, at the very beginning of my story (Chapter II.), by showing -what an enormous practical part the Mahatmas and their miracles have -played in the movement. It is easy for this Theosophist or that to -protest that they never attracted _him_. The fact remains that the big -accessions to the society’s numbers have always followed on the miracle -“booms,” alike under Madame Blavatsky and under Mrs. Besant. Moreover, -it is not possible, even argumentatively, to dissociate “those sublime -ideas,” &c., from the Mahatmas on whose authority Madame Blavatsky gave -them out. If she spoke truth, they were the real authors of “Isis Very -Much Unveiled” and of “The Secret Doctrine.” If she lied, and the -authority for those teachings is her own, what is that lying authority -worth? I need not labour the point, as it was conclusively proved long -ago by Mrs. Besant herself. In an article in _Lucifer_ of December, -1890, addressed apparently to certain Theosophical schismatics who -showed a tendency to throw over alike their foundress and her “Masters,” -Mrs. Besant accomplished the easy task of showing that the society was -tied hand and foot to both. It was founded by _Her_ at the bidding of -“_Them_”; They have been the _deus ex machinâ_ whenever She was in a -fix, and the society has so accepted Them. It can be “neutral” about -Them, and Their miracles, and Their prophetess, only when an heir is -neutral about his own title-deeds. As Mrs. Besant puts it in a nutshell: -“If there are no Masters, then the Theosophical Society is an -absurdity.” - - - The Theosophistry of Throwing Over the “Inner Group.” - -“_The Esoteric Section is a private body, not officially connected with -the Theosophical Society; so the Society is not responsible for -miracle-mongering in the Section._” - -The so-called Esoteric Section or E.S.T. (“Eastern School of -Theosophy”), of which the High-priesters and the Vice-President are now -quarrelling for the headship, and, in the words of the latter official, -“the core of the Theosophical Society.” The Inner Group, again, is the -core of the E.S.T. Both were the special creation of the Society’s -foundress. The Group was to contain her top pupils. The members of the -group are almost to a man officials of the Society, living at the -Society’s expense. With the one exception of Colonel Olcott, practically -all the high panjandrums are included in it. Lastly, if it has been the -centre of the Mahatma communications, it is a centre that has radiated -them in all directions to the society’s circumference. The plop of a -missive sends a ripple from the Inner Group to the Esoteric Section, -from the Esoteric Section to the society at large, and from the society -to the public. - -Well, the yolk of an egg is not officially connected with the outer -portion; but when the yolk is bad, we call it a rotten egg without -further parley. - - - The Theosophistry of Throwing Over the Society’s Personnel. - -But that brings me to the most barefaced Theosophistry of all: “_Even if -all our officials be proved to have lied and cheated, there still -remains untouched their grand ethical teaching!_” - -I simply state this, and leave it. Like the coster when his barrow broke -down, “Friends, I ain’t ekal to it.” I cannot do justice to such -colossal impudence. “Truth survives all attacks”; she does; she will -even survive Theosophical defences. “The noble religions and -philosophies of the East exist”; they do, as they did long centuries -before the Theosophical Society was heard of, and will do long centuries -after it has been forgotten. But when Mahatmas, and miracles, and the -founders, and the officials, and the official acts of the Theosophical -Society are all thrown over—What remains of the society? “We have -absolutely no creed,” the European secretary told an interviewer the -other day—(all unfettered by the fact that he distributes broadcast Mrs. -Besant’s “Introduction to Theosophy” with a complete pseudo-Buddhistic -cosmology about the Seven Planes, &c., authenticated by direct reference -to the Masters, and particularising, for instance, that “Devachan” lasts -“for average persons some fifteen centuries”!)—“Absolutely no creed.” -“You would simply call yours a moral or religious society, then?” asked -the puzzled interviewer. To which Mr. Mead naïvely replies, “_I don’t -exactly know what you would call it_.”—(_Sunday Times_, Nov. 11.) - -Since scholarship has opened the stores of the East to Western culture, -there has been a natural awakening of popular interest in Eastern -directions. While that lasts, people discussing each other’s souls will -continue to sprinkle their remarks, harmlessly enough, with those -mingled jargons which make a true Orientalist smile. If “Theosophy” -means that, “Theosophy” has certainly some life before it; but as for -the Theosophical _Society_—“why cumbereth it the ground?” It is an -organised machine for taking in the Honest Enthusiast at one end, -passing him through the stages of the Willing Dupe and the Conscientious -Humbug, and turning him out at the other end at worst a conscious fraud, -at best a dreary and disillusioned cynic. - -Enough of the logical and ethical fog that Theosophy diffuses!—the -Mahatmosphere, as one might call it. It is a relief to escape from it -into the fresh air of common honesty and common sense. - - - - - POSTSCRIPT. - - - - - A MAHATMA AT BAY: - - - THE VICE-PRESIDENT’S TRUMP CARD. - -The following appeared in the _Westminster Gazette_, under the headings: -“OPEN SPLIT BETWEEN THEOSOPHICAL OFFICIALS”; “RIVAL REVELATIONS FROM THE -SAME MASTER”; “MR. JUDGE GETS A MISSIVE DEPOSING MRS. BESANT”:— - -Just as the Story of the Great Mahatma Hoax is going to press in its -collected form, just in the nick of time to be included, comes the -material for a new chapter of more extravagant humour than all the rest. -Readers of the “Isis” chapters will recall that the Theosophic embroglio -has gone through the following stages:—(1) The vice-president’s -“Mahatma” makes reflections on the president. (2) The president and -other officials make charges of “forging” Mahatma missives against the -V.P. (3) Mrs. Besant, after some vacillation, adopts these charges, and -joins with the others in offering the V.P. the choice of retiring -quietly or an exposure. (4) The V.P. bluffs them all into silence, and -they all join in inducing the “Convention” of last July to separate -without looking further into the matter. (5) Mrs. Besant and the V.P. -“join hands,” in public, on her statement that though he wrote the -alleged missives “with his own hand,” yet he had “psychically received” -their contents from the Mahatma. (6) In private, Mrs. Besant separates -herself from the V.P. by dissolving their joint headship of the Esoteric -Section (“the core of the Theosophical Society,” as Mr. Judge justly -calls it below): Mr. Judge, V.P., to retain the American section of the -section, and she herself the European, to which she has since added the -Indian. - -Now we learn Phase 7. Seven is a highly Theosophical numeral, and this -phase is certainly a rich one. Mr. Judge sends round to the Esoteric -Section a pamphlet in which he announces that Mrs. Besant is, in effect, -possessed of a devil, and that the Mahatma (under whose direction she -also professes to be acting) has ordered him to depose her altogether, -and take over the whole thing himself!! Which, in a formal “Order,” he -accordingly proceeds to do. - -The pamphlet, which among other things professes to give the Judge -version of the true inwardness of the abortive “Enquiry” in July, has -just been sent round to the Esoteric Theosophists. Copies were not sent -to some who were considered dangerous; but the recent unveiling has made -a good many so who were safe enough, from the Judge point of view, -before, and thanks to one of these who does not acknowledge any headship -of Mr. Judge over the European Esotericists since Mrs. Besant’s -dissolution thereof, it is possible to give to mankind what was meant by -Mr. Judge for a party. The following are the salient passages, followed -by the Order deposing Mrs. Besant (the titles in capitals are Mr. -Judge’s; the paragraph headings are not):— - - - BY MASTER’S DIRECTION. - - I now send you this, all of it being either direct quotations from - the messages to me, or else in substance what I am directed to say - to you, the different details and elaborations being my own.... - - We have now to deal with the E.S.T. and with our duty to it and to - each other; and among those others, to Mrs. Besant.... - - - The Greatness of Wm. Q. Judge. - - I am not a pledged member of the E.S.T., and never made a pledge in - it, as my pledges were long before to the Master direct. I was one - of its founders, with H.P.B., and she, at the beginning, made me - manager and teacher in it from the first, under her, for the - American part especially. You can remember all she said of that. I - wrote the rules of the E.S.T. myself in London in 1888 at H.P.B.’s - request, and under the direction of the Master. Those were not - altered by her, but after reading them and further consulting the - Master she added some general paragraphs. I am the only one standing - in that position. Mrs. Besant and all other members are pledged and - certified in the ordinary way.... - - An Inner Group was later on formed by H.P.B. at London, so that she - might give out teachings to be recorded by the members, and, if - possible, teach them practical Occultism. Of this Mrs. Besant, with - George Mead to help her, was made the Secretary, because she had - great ability in a literary way, was wholly devoted, and perfectly - fit for the task. But this did not make her a teacher.... - - - The Littleness of Mrs. Besant. - - The death of H.P.B. destroyed, of course, any further value in the - office of “Recorder.” - - The conversations of H.P.B. with the Inner Group were taken down in - a more or less fragmentary form by the different members, in notes, - and later Mrs. Besant and George Mead wrote them out, as - Secretaries. I have a complete copy of these, and so has each member - of the Inner Group, and those copies comprise all the “Instructions” - left in the possession of Mrs. Besant or the Inner Group. In my - possession, and within my control, is a large body of instructions - given to me all the time from 1875, which I shall give out and have - given out, as far as I am directed.... - - Mrs. Annie Besant has been but five years in this work, and not all - of that time engaged in occult study and practice.... - - Since 1889 she has done great service to the T.S. and devoted - herself to it. But all this does not prevent a sincere person from - making errors in Occultism, especially when he, as Mrs. Besant did, - tries to force himself along the path of practical work in that - field. Sincerity does not confer of itself knowledge, much less - wisdom.... - - - Singular Disinterestedness of Wm. Q. Judge. - - I wish it to be clearly understood that Mrs. Besant has had herself - no conscious evil intention: she has simply gone for awhile outside - the line of her Guru (H.P.B.), begun work with others, and fallen - under their influence. We should not push her farther down, but - neither will the true sympathy we have blind our eyes, so as to let - her go on, to the detriment of the movement. I could easily retire - from the whole T.S., but my conceptions of duty are different, - although the personal cost to myself in this work is heavy, and as I - am ordered to stay I will stay and try my best to aid her and - everyone else as much as possible. And the same authority tells me - that “could she open her eyes and see her real line of work, and - correct the present condition in herself as well as the one she has - helped to make in the T.S. and E.S.T., she would find herself in - mental, spiritual, and physical conditions of a kind much better - than ever before, for her present state is due to the attacks of the - dark powers, unconsciously to her.” - - - Black Magic and the Plot Behind the Scenes. - - And now it becomes necessary under instructions received to give the - members of the School some account of the things behind the scenes - in connexion with the recent investigation attempted at London upon - the charges against me.... - - I was made the object of an attack in the guise of an attempt to - purify the Society, and Mrs. Besant was thrown forward as the - official accuser of myself—a friend who was certified to her by - H.P.B., her teacher, well known as working for the T.S. for many - years. All this needs light, and the best interests of Mrs. Besant - and of the E.S.T. demand that some of the secret history shall be - given out, however disagreeable it may be, in order that the very - purgation which was improperly directed to the wrong quarter shall - take place now. The difficulty arose when in January or February - Annie Besant finally lent herself unconsciously to the plot which I - detail herein.... - - The plot exists among the Black Magicians, who ever war against the - White, and against those Black ones we were constantly warned by - H.P.B. This is no fiction, but a very substantial fact. I have seen - and also been shown the chief entity among those who thus work - against us.... - - - How Mr. Judge’s Master Caught Out Mrs. Besant’s Friend. - - The name of the person who was worked upon so as to, if possible, - use him as a minor agent of the Black Magicians, and for the - influencing of Mrs. Besant, is Gyanendra N. Chakravarti, a Brahman, - of Allahabad, India, who came to America on our invitation to the - Religious Parliament in 1893. He permitted ambition to take subtle - root in his heart; he is no longer in our lines. He was then a Chela - of a minor Indian Guru, and was directed to come to America by that - Guru, who had been impressed to so direct him by our Master.... - While in that relation he was telepathically impressed in Chicago - with some of the contents of a message received by me from the - Master. It corroborated outwardly what I had myself received. It - was, however, but a part, and was, moreover, deficient in matter, - Chakravarti himself being only aware of it as a mental impression, - and I am informed that at the time he was not fully aware of what he - was doing. His ability to be used as an unconscious vehicle was made - known to me when he was made to receive the message. Although he was - not fully aware of it, not only was the whole of his tour here well - guarded and arranged, but he was personally watched by the agents of - the Master’s scattered through the country unknown to him, who - reported to me. On several occasions he has taken people into his - confidence, believing that he was instructing them, when in fact - they were observing him closely from the Lodge, helping him where - right, and noting him fully, though they did not tell him so. This - was also so in those parts of his tour when he believed himself - alone or only with Mrs. Besant.... - - - “If I am a Fraud so are H.P.B. and the Masters.” - - If I was guilty of what I was accused, then Master would be shown as - conniving at forgery and lying—a most impossible thing. The only - other possibility is that Mr. Chakravarti and I “got up” the - message. But he and Mrs. Besant have admitted its genuineness, - although she is perfectly unable herself to decide on its - genuineness or falsity; but further, Mrs. Besant admitted to several - that she had seen the Master himself come and speak through my body - while I was perfectly conscious. And still further, H.P.B. gave me - in 1889 the Master’s picture, on which he put this message, “To my - dear and loyal colleague, W. Q. Judge.” - - Now, then, either I am bringing you a true message from the Master, - or the whole T.S. and E.S.T. is a lie, in the ruins of which must be - buried the names of H.P.B. and the Masters. All these stand together - as they fall together.... - - - How Mrs. Besant Privately Thinks H.P.B. a Fraud. - - As final proof of the delusions worked through this man and his - friends, I will mention this:—Many years ago—in 1881—the Masters - sent to the Allahabad Brahmans (the Prayag T.S.) a letter which was - delivered by H.P.B. to Mr. A. P. Sinnett, who handed a copy over to - them, keeping the original; it dealt very plainly with the Brahmans. - This letter the Brahmans do not like, and Mr. Chakravarti tried to - make me think it was a pious fraud by H.P.B. He succeeded with Mrs. - Besant in this, so that since she met him she has on several - occasions said she thought it was a fraud by H.P.B., made up - entirely, and not from the Master. I say now on Master’s authority - that it was from the Master, and is a right letter. Only delusion - would make Mrs. Besant take this position: deliberate intention - makes the others do it. It is an issue which may not be evaded, for - if that letter be a fraud, then all the rest sent through our old - teacher, and on which Esoteric Buddhism was made, are the same. I - shall rest on that issue: we all rest on it. - - - Mrs. Besant’s Rival Revelations. - - Mrs. Besant was then made to agree with these people under the - delusion that it was approved by the Masters. She regarded herself - as their servant. It was against the E.S.T. rules. When the rule is - broken it is one’s duty to leave the E.S.T., and when I got the - charges from her I asked her to leave it if it did not suit her. The - depth of the plot was not shown to Mrs. Besant at all, for if it had - been she would have refused. Nor was Colonel Olcott aware of it. - Mrs. Besant was put in such a frightful position that while she was - writing me most kindly and working with me she was all the time - thinking that I was a forger and that I had blasphemed the Master. - She was made to conceal from me, when here, her thoughts about the - intended charges, but was made to tell Mr. B. Keightley, in London, - and possibly few others. Nor until the time was ripe did she tell - me, in her letter, in January, from India, asking me to resign from - the E.S.T. and the T.S. offices, saying that if I did and would - confess guilt, all would be forgiven, and everyone would work with - me as usual. But I was directed differently, and fully informed. She - was induced to believe that the Master was endorsing the - prosecution, that he was ordering her to do what she did. At the - same time, I knew and told her that it was the plan there to have - Colonel Olcott resign when I had been cut off, the presidency to be - then offered to her. It was offered to her, and she was made to - believe it was the Master’s wish for her “not to oppose.” She then - waited. I did not resign, and the plot so far was spoilt for the - time.... - - She felt and expressed to me the greatest pain to have to do such - things to me. I knew she so felt, and wrote her that it was the - Black Magicians. She replied, being still under the delusion, that I - was failing to do Master’s will. - - - How Mrs. Besant Tried Witchcraft. - - Her influencers also made her try psychic experiments on me and on - two others in Europe. They failed. On me they had but a passing - effect, as I was cognisant of them; on one of the others they - reflected on health, although she did not desire any harm at all; - she was made to think it best and for my good. She then sent word to - these people that she had not succeeded. This is all the effect of - pure delusion; the variance between such things and her usual - character is shown in her all the time writing me the most kind - letters. In all this Mr. Chakravarti was her guide, with others. She - was writing him all the time about it. He went so far as to write me - on a matter he was supposed to know nothing of: “No matter what - Annie may do to you as co-head of the E.S. she means you no harm.” - - - “Every Man His Own Mahatma.” - - Informed as I was of these inside facts, I drew up under Master’s - direction my circular on the charges in March, 1894, and there - outlined what would be done. It was all done as I said, and as the - Master in March told me would be the case. The London investigation - ended as Master predicted through me in my circular, and for the - benefit of the T.S. But all that time the conspirators used all - means against me. They had all sorts of letters sent me from India - with pretended messages from the Masters asking me to resign and - confess. But Master kept me informed and told me what steps to take. - He even told me that, much as it might seem the contrary from the - official papers, Colonel Olcott would be the central figure and the - one through whom the adjustment would come. This also turned out - true. - - - Migration of Mahatmas to—New York? - - The Master says that the T.S. movement was begun by Them in the West - by western people; that cyclic law requires the work in the West for - the benefit of the world; that They do not live in India. - - They also say that Nature’s laws have set apart woe for those who - spit back in the face of their teacher, for those who try to - belittle her work, and make her out to be part good and part - fraud.... - - A distinct object H.P.B. had in view I will now, on the authority of - the Master, tell you, unrevealed before by H.P.B. to anyone else - that I know of: it is, the establishment in the West of a great seat - of learning, where shall be taught and explained and demonstrated - the great theories of man and nature which she has brought forward - to us, where Western occultism, as the essence combined out of all - others, shall be taught. - - I also state on the same authority that H.P.B. has not - reincarnated.... - - We are all, therefore, face to face with the question whether we - will abide by Masters and their Messenger on the one hand, or by the - disrupting forces that stand on the other, willing to destroy our - great mission if we will but give them the opportunity. - - - “I Declare Mrs. Besant’s Headship at an End!” - -The pamphlet closes with the following “E.S.T. ORDER,” dated November 3, -and signed in manuscript:— - - I now proceed a step further than the E.S.T. decisions of 1894, and - solely for the good of the E.S.T. I resume in the E.S.T., in full, - all the functions and powers given to me by H.P.B. and that came to - me by orderly succession after her passing from this life, and - declare myself the sole head of the E.S.T. This has been done - already in America. So far as concerns the rest of the E.S.T. I may - have to await the action of the members, but I stand ready to - exercise those functions in every part of it. Hence, under the - authority given me by the Master and H.P.B., and under Master’s - direction, I declare Mrs. Annie Besant’s headship in the E.S.T. at - an end. - -[Illustration] - -This, then, is Mr. Judge’s response to the case against him, and, as was -expected, it takes the form of attacking his colleagues, but keeps -strictly to generalities as regards the evidence against himself. The -date affixed is one when Mr. Judge had probably heard of the articles in -THE WESTMINSTER by cable, but had no idea of the detailed nature of the -attack. The parts quoted throw many interesting side-lights, but perhaps -the most delightful thing is the picture presented of all the -Theosophists playing off the Mahatma on one another: Mr. Judge, Mrs. -Besant, Mr. Chakravarti, and others, giving the most contradictory -messages from the same Tibetan source; and Mr. Judge now finally “going -one better” than all the rest, for has he not, in a very real sense, the -Mahatma in his pocket? - -At any rate, the battle has now well begun. The prophets of Baal are -cutting, not themselves as of old, but one another. More power to all -their elbows! - -Mrs. Besant was willing enough to accept Mr. Judge’s anti-Olcott -missives as “psychically” from the Mahatma; we shall now see how it -strikes her when the same weapon is turned against herself.[1] - -Footnote 1: - - We _have_ seen. _Vide_ Preface. - - [In the same issue was published a “vote of censure passed on the - President by one of the local ‘Lodges’ of the T.S. (Bournemouth), - declaring that the articles recently published in the _Westminster - Gazette_ disclose a _primâ facie_ case against the Vice-President,” - “of fraud upon his fellow Theosophists.” “The Vice-President should - not continue to lie,” the Bournemouth Lodge remarks, “under such a - charge.” Other Lodges have also taken one side or the other.] - - - - - THE SOCIETY UPON THE HIMALAY. - - (THEOSOPHICALLY ADAPTED FROM BRET HARTE.) - - - I reside at Table Mountain, and my name is Truthful James; - I am not fond of pious frauds or Oriental games; - And I’ll tell in simple language, as well as I can say, - What broke up our Society upon the Himalay. - - But first I would remark that there must needs be painful scenes - When Theosophic gents begin to give each other Beans; - And though Mahatma missives do pan out a little queer, - We should avoid disturbances in the Mahatmosphere.[2] - - Now nothing could be nicer or more full of harmony - Than the first few months that followed the decease of “H.P.B.”; - Till Judge of Calaveras produced a curious set - Of missives in red pencil what he said were from Tibet.[3] - - From these he reconstructed a Mahatma (very rare), - A Nest of that peculiar kind pertaining to a Mare; - But Mrs. Besant found a rival missive on the shelf,[4] - And said she fancied Mr. Judge had written his himself.[5] - - Then Judge’s smile took on a most unpleasant sort of curve; - He said he would not trespass so on Mrs. B.’s preserve. - He was a most resourceful man, that quiet Mr. Judge; - He got another missive saying Mrs. B.’s was fudge.[6] - - Now, it is not edifying for a Theosophic priest - To call another one a fraud—to all intents, at least; - Nor should the individual who happens to be meant - Reply by throwing things about to any great extent. - - Then Olcott, H., of Adyar, raised a point of order, when - A chunk of old red pencil took him in the abdomen;[7] - And he smiled a kind of sickly smile and curled up on the floor, - And the subsequent proceedings interested him no more.[8] - - For, in less time than I write it, all the meeting got upset - With “precipitating” missiles which did _not_ come from Tibet; - And the things they called each other in their anger were a sin— - Till the public got disgusted, and the temple roof caved in. - - And this is all I have to say of these improper games, - For I live at Table Mountain and my name is Truthful James; - And I’ve told in simple language all I know about the fray - That broke up our Society upon the Himalay. - - * * * * * -Footnote 2: - - “Any action in these controversial matters tends to set up a perfect - whirlwind on other planes.”—Mrs. Besant in _Lucifer_. - -Footnote 3: - - “Mahatma Morya affects red pencil, Koot Hoomi blue.”—“Isis Very Much - Unveiled.” - -Footnote 4: - - “She wrote ... it was Master’s wish ... that Master ordered her to do - as she did.”—Mr. Judge’s circular to the E.S.T. - -Footnote 5: - - “I now know that they were written by Mr. Judge.”—Mrs. Besant, “Report - of an Enquiry,” &c. - -Footnote 6: - - “Under Master’s direction, I declare Mrs. Besant’s headship at an - end.”—Mr. Judge’s circular to the E.S.T. - -Footnote 7: - - “Isis,” Chapters IX., X. - -Footnote 8: - - “I declare, as my opinion, that this Enquiry must go no - farther.”—Colonel Olcott, “Report of an Enquiry,” &c. - - F. E. G. - -[Illustration: - - “WHEN AUGUR MEETS AUGUR”— - - “It is rather a squalid fight between the augurs that the curtain has - been raised upon; but it has got to be fought out now before the - public, and it is in vain to try to ring the curtain down again.” -] - - - - - “ISIS VERY MUCH UNVEILED.” - - - A REPLY FROM MR. WILLIAM Q. JUDGE. - - _To the_ EDITOR _of_ THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE. - -SIR,—You have published slanderous articles against the Theosophical -Society, using me as the person; you have asked for a reply; I send it -to you and ask that it be given place in your paper.—Yours truly, - - WILLIAM Q. JUDGE. - - _Theosophical Society, American Section, - General Secretary’s Office, New York, Nov. 26._ - - - _To the_ EDITOR _of_ THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE. - -SIR,—At the time your articles directed against the Theosophical Society -under the above title were appearing, I was lecturing in the country, -and only within a few days have I seen your last numbers. Time is -required for writing on such a subject, and at this distance from London -I cannot be accused of much delay. With the greatest interest and -amusement I have read your long series of articles. The writer is an -able man, and you and he together constitute one of the advertising -agencies of the Theosophical Society. The immense range of your notices -cannot be well calculated, and very truly we could never pay for such an -advertisement. Do you mind keeping this part of my letter as all the -remuneration we can give you for the work done by you in thus -advertising the movement and bringing prominently to the notice of your -public the long-forgotten but true doctrine of the possible existence of -such beings as Professor Huxley says it would be impertinent to say -could not exist in the natural order of evolution? - -And while I look at it all as an advertisement, I cannot admire the -treason developed therein, nor the spiteful unworthy tone of it, nor the -divergence from fact in many cases when it suited the purpose, nor the -officious meddling in the private affairs of other people, nor the -ignoring and falsification in respect to possible motive, made out by -you to be gain by some of us, when the fact is that we are all losers of -money by our work. That fact a candid person would have stated, and -marvelled at it that we should be willing to slave for the Theosophical -Society, and always spend our money. Such a person would have given “the -devil his due.” You have suppressed it and lied about it, and hence it -is not admirable in you, but is quite mean and low. You advertise us and -then try to befoul us. Well, we gain by the advertisement, and the -course of time will wipe off the small stain you try to paint upon us. -When you and your ready writer are both dead and forgotten, and some of -you probably execrated for offences not as yet exposed, we will still -live as a body and be affecting the course of modern thought, as we have -been doing for nearly twenty years. - -I am the principal object of your attack, though you also cruelly abuse -a woman who has long enough fought the world of your conventional -nation, and perhaps you expect me to either rise and explain, or keep -silent. Well, I will do neither. I will speak, but cannot fully explain. -Your paper is a worldly forum, a sort of court. In it there is neither -place nor credence for explanations which must include psychic things, -facts, and laws, as well as facts and circumstances of the ordinary -sort. Were I to explain in full, no one would believe me save those -students of the occult and the psychical who know psychic law and fact. -Those who doubt and wish all to be reduced to the level of compass and -square, of eye and word of mouth, would still be doubters. Nothing would -be gained at all. That difficulty no intelligent person who has had -psychic experience can overlook. That is why you are quite safe from a -suit for libel. I assure you that had you published something not so -inextricably tangled up with psychic phenomena I should be glad to have -you in court, not to soothe wounded feelings I have not, but to show -that our faulty law and so-called justice do sometimes right some -wrongs. - -Let me first emphatically deny the inference and assertion made by you, -that I and my friends make money out of the T.S., or that the -organisation has built up something by which we profit. This is untrue, -and its untruth is known to all persons who know anything at all about -the society. No salaries are paid to our officers. We support ourselves -or privately support each other. I have never had a penny from the -society, and do not want any. The little magazine, the _Path_, which I -publish here in the interest of the society, is not supported by -subscriptions from members, but largely by others, and it is kept up at -a loss to me which will never be repaid. I publish it because I wish to, -and not for gain. Thousands of dollars are expended in the T.S. work -here each year over and above what is paid in for fees and dues. The -dues are but four shillings a year, and three times as much as that is -expended in the work. Where does it come from? Out of our private -pockets, and if I had a million I would spend it that way. My friends -and myself give our money and our time to the society without hope or -desire for any return. We may be fanatics—probably are—but it is false -and malicious to accuse us of using the society for gain. The only -payment we get is the seeing every day the wider and wider spread of -Theosophical theories of life, man, and nature. I am ready to submit all -our books and vouchers to any auditor to support these statements. And -you were in a position to find out the facts as I have given them. - -It is also absolutely untrue, as you attempt to show or infer, that the -society grows by talking of the Mahatmas or Masters, or by having -messages sent round from them. The movement here and elsewhere is pushed -along the line of philosophy, and each one is left to decide for himself -on the question of the Mahatmas. “Messages from the Masters” do not go -flying round, and the society does not flourish by any belief in those -being promulgated. Nor am I, as you hint, in the habit of sending such -messages about the society, nor of influencing the course of affairs by -using any such thing. Send out and ask all the members and you will find -I am correct. It is true that those Masters tell me personally what I am -to do, and what is the best course to take, as they have in respect to -this very letter, but that is solely my own affair. Could I be such a -fool as to tell all others to go by what I get for my own guidance, -knowing how weak, suspicious, and malicious is the human nature of -to-day? You are on the wrong tack, my friend. - -But you were right when you say that Mrs. Besant made a remarkable -change in respect to me. That is true, and Mr. Chakravarti whom you name -is, as you correctly say, the person who is responsible for it. Before -she met Chakravarti she would not have dreamed of prosecuting me. This -is a matter of regret, but while so, I fail to see how you aid your case -against me by dragging the thing in thus publicly, unless, indeed, you -intend to accuse him and her of going into a conspiracy against me. - -There are two classes of “messages from the Masters” charged to me by -you and by that small section of the T.S. members who thought of trying -me. One class consists of notes on letters of mine to various persons; -the other of messages handed to Mrs. Besant and Colonel Olcott and -enclosure found in a letter to Colonel Olcott from a man in California. - -I have never denied that I gave Mrs. Besant messages from the Masters. I -did so. They were from the Masters. She admits that, but simply takes on -herself to say that the Master did not personally write or precipitate -them. According to herself, then, she got from me genuine messages from -the Masters; but she says she did not like them to be done or made in -some form that she at first thought they were not in. I have not -admitted her contention; I have simply said they were from the Master, -and that is all I now say, for I will not tell how or by what means they -were produced. The objective form in which such a message is of no -consequence. Let it be written by your Mr. Garrett, or drop out of the -misty air, or come with a clap of thunder. All that makes no difference -save to the vulgar and the ignorant. The reality of the message is to be -tested by other means. If you have not those means you are quite at sea -as to the whole thing. And all this I thought was common knowledge in -the Theosophical world. It has long been published and explained. - -One of those messages to Mrs. Besant told her not to go to India that -year. I got it in California, and then telegraphed it to her in -substance later, sending the paper. I had no interest in not having her -go to India, but knew she would go later. The other messages were of a -personal nature. They were all true and good. At the time I gave them to -her I did not say anything. That I never denied. It was not thought by -me necessary to insult a woman of her intellectual ability, who had read -all about these things, by explaining all she was supposed to know. -Those who think those messages were not from the Master are welcome to -doubt it so far as I am concerned, for I know the naturalness of that -doubt. - -When Colonel Olcott resigned I was first willing to let him stay -resigned. But I was soon directed by another “message” to prevent it if -I could, and at once cabled that to him, and went to work to have the -American Section vote asking him to stay in office. As I was the person -mentioned to succeed him, we also, to provide for contingencies, -resolved that the choice of America was myself as successor. But when he -revoked, then my successorship was null and void until voted on at -another period not yet reached. But it is absolutely false that I sent -an emissary to him when I found he was minded to stay in office. Ask him -on this and see what he says. I leave that to him. Truly enough I made -an error of judgment in not telling the influential London members of my -message when I told Olcott. But what of that? I did not tell the -Americans, but left their action to the dictates of their sense and the -trend of friendship and loyalty to our standard-bearer. The English -voted against Olcott by doing nothing, but I asked them in the same way -as I asked the Americans to request him to revoke. They had their -chance. As India had done the same as America I saw the vote was final -as my message directed, and so I dropped it from my mind—one of my -peculiarities. I certainly did not use any pressure by way of “messages -from the Masters” on anyone as to that, save on Olcott. And he reported -a message to the same effect to himself. Did I invent that also? My -message to him was copied by me on my type-writer and sent to him. I did -it thus because I knew of spies about Olcott, of whom I had warned him -to little effect. One of those confessed and committed suicide, and the -other was found out. - -A message was found in a letter from Abbot Clark, a Californian, to -Colonel Olcott. This, you say, I made and put in the letter. I have the -affirmation of Mr. Clark on the matter, which I send you herewith to be -inserted at this place if you wish. It does not bear out your -contention, but shows the contrary. It also shows that his letter to -Colonel Olcott was opened in India by some other person before being -sent on to Colonel Olcott. You can make what inference you like from -this. - -Your statement about putting a question in a cabinet for an answer when -I stayed in the room and Mrs. Besant went out is false. No such thing -took place. I deny that there was any such thing as a reception of -“answers in a sealed envelope in a closed drawer.” That is supreme bosh -from beginning to end, and cannot be proved by anybody’s testimony, -unless you will accept perjury. - -At the same time I can now say, as the sole authority on the point, that -several of the contested messages are genuine ones, no matter what all -and every person, Theosophist or not, may say to the contrary. - -You have much talk about what you say is called the Master’s seal. You -have proved by the aid of Colonel Olcott that the latter made an -imitation in brass of the signature of the Master and gave it to H.P.B. -as a joke. You trace it to her and there you leave it, and then you -think I am obliged to prove I did not get it, to prove negatives again, -when it has never been proved that I had it. I have long ago denied all -knowledge of Master’s seal either genuine or imitated. I do not know if -he has a seal; if he has, I have not yet been informed of it; the -question of a seal owned by him as well as what is his writing or -signature are both still beclouded. None of the members who have been in -this recent trouble know what is the writing, or the seal, or the mark -of the Master. It was long ago told by H.P.B. that the so-called writing -of the Master was only an assumed hand, and no real knowledge is at hand -as to his having a seal. I have seen impressions similar to what you -have reproduced, but it is of no consequence to me. If there were a -million impressions of seals on a message said to be from the Master, it -would add nothing to the message in my eyes, as other means must be -employed for discovering what is and what is not a genuine message. -Seals and ciphers do not validate these things. Unless I can see for -myself by my inner senses that a message is genuine, I will not believe -it, be it loaded with seals I do not know. As I know the thousand and -one magical ways by which impressions of things may be put on paper, -even unconsciously to the human channel or focus, I have relied, and ask -others to rely, on their own inner knowledge and not to trust to -appearances. Others may think these little decorations of importance, -but I do not. I never asked anyone at any meeting, private or public, to -note or observe the seal-impression you give. Others may have done so, -but I did not. Others may have gone into laboured arguments to show the -value of such a thing, but I did not. The whole matter of this so-called -seal is so absurd and childish that it has made me laugh each time I -have thought of it. - -Now I can do no more than deny, as I hereby do absolutely, all the -charges you have been the means of repeating against me. I have denied -them very many times, for I have known of them for about two years and a -half. My denial is of no value to you; nor to those who think there is -no supersensual world; nor to those who think that because conjurors can -imitate any psychical phenomenon, therefore the latter has no existence; -nor to those who deny the possibility of the existence of Mahatmas or -great souls. These things are all foolishness to such persons, and I am -willing to let it stay that way. Were I to go into all the details of -all the messages you refer to, and were I to get from those who know, as -I can, the full relation of all that is involved in those messages on my -letters which I saw after the July “investigation” was ended, I would be -opening the private doors to the secret hearts of others, and that I -will not do. Already I know by means not generally accessible altogether -too much of the private hearts of many of these people, and have no -desire to know more. - -Some of the matters you cite are related to a private body, once called -the Esoteric Section, which is protected—nominally, so it seems, among -your informants—by a pledge. The breaking of that by others gives me no -right to add to their breach. I cannot, like Mr. Old and others more -prominent, violate the confidences of others. His revelations cannot be -analysed by me in public. He is in the position of those Masons who have -attempted to reveal the secrets of Masonry; and either the public has -listened to a liar or to one who has to admit that he does not regard -his solemn obligation as worth a straw when it obstructs his purposes; -in either case the information cannot be relied upon. His account and -yours contain so many misrepresentations that none [of] it has any -serious consideration from me. - -And Mr. Old’s revelations, or those of any other members, amount to -nothing. The real secrets have not been revealed, for they have not been -put in the hands of such people; they have been given only to those who -have shown through long trial and much labour that they are worthy to -have the full relation of the plans of the master-builder exposed to -their gaze. Let the dishonest, the perjured, and the vacillating go on -with their revelations; they will hurt no one but themselves. - -Now as to the Investigation at which you have laughed. I grant you it -was matter for laughter from outside to see such a lot of labour and -gathering from the four quarters to end in what you regard as smoke. -Now, my dear sir, I did not call the Inquiry Committee. I protested -against it and said from the beginning it should never have been called -at all. Must I bear the brunt of that which I did not do? Must I explain -all my life to a committee which had no right to come together, for -which there was no legal basis? It was called in order to make me give -up an official succession I did not have; months before it met I said it -would come to nothing but a declaration written by me of the -non-dogmatic character of the T.S. My Master so told me and so it turned -out. Will you give me no credit for this foreknowledge? Was it a guess, -or was it great ability, or did it come about through bribery, or what? -I was told to use the opportunity to procure an official declaration -that belief in Mahatmas or Masters was not and is not one of the T.S., -and I succeeded in so doing. I might have been accused as an individual -and not official member. But by the influence of the Mr. Chakravarti -whom you mention the whole power of the society was moved against me, so -as to try and cut me down root and branch officially and privately, so -that it might thereby be made sure that I was not successor to the -presidency. This is the fact. That is why I forgave them all; for it is -easy to forgive; in advance I forgave them since they furnished such a -splendid official opportunity for a decision we long had needed. The -odium resulting from the attempt to try occult and psychical questions -under common law rules I am strong enough to bear; and up to date I have -had a large share of that. - -I refused a committee of honour, they say. I refused the committee that -was offered as it was not of persons who could judge the matter rightly. -They would have reached no conclusion save the one I now promulgate, -which is, that the public proof regarding my real or delusive -communications from the Masters begins and ends with myself, and that -the committee could not make any decision at all, but would have to -leave all members to judge for themselves. To arrive officially at this -I would have to put many persons in positions that they could not stand, -and the result then would have been that far more bad feeling would come -to the surface. I have at least learned after twenty years that it is -fruitless to ask judges who have no psychic development to settle -questions the one half of which are in the unseen realm of the soul -where the common law of England cannot penetrate. - -The “messages from the Masters” have not ceased. They go on all the time -for those who are able and fit to have them, but no more to the doubter -and the suspicious. Even as I write they have gone to some, and in -relation to this very affair, and in relation to other revelations and -pledge-breakings. It is a fact in experience to me, and to friends of -mine who have not had messages from me, that the Masters exist and have -to do with the affairs of the world and the Theosophical movement. No -amount of argument or Maskelyneish explanation will drive out that -knowledge. It will bear all the assaults of time and foolish men. And -the only basis on which I can place the claim of communication by the -Masters to me, so far as the world is concerned, is my life and acts. If -those for the last twenty years go to prove that I cannot be in -communication with such beings, then all I may say one way or the other -must go for naught. - -Why so many educated Englishmen reject the doctrine of the -perfectibility of man, illustrated by the fact of there now existing -Masters of wisdom, passes my comprehension, unless it be true, as seems -probable, that centuries of slavery to the abominable idea of original -sin as taught by theology (and not by Jesus) has reduced them all to the -level of those who, being sure they will be damned any way, are certain -they cannot rise to a higher level, or unless the great god of -conventionality has them firmly in his grasp. I would rather think -myself a potential god and try to be, as Jesus commanded, “perfect as -the Father in heaven”—which is impossible unless in us is that Father in -essence—than to remain darkened and enslaved by the doctrine of inherent -original wickedness which demands a substitute for my salvation. And it -seems nobler to believe in that perfectibility and possible rise to the -state of the Masters than to see with science but two possible ends for -all our toil: one to be frozen up at last, and the other to be burned -up, when the sun either goes out or pulls us into his flaming -breast.—Yours truly, - - WILLIAM Q. JUDGE. - -[The following is the “affirmation” of Mr. Abbot Clark, enclosed with -the above]:— - - “San Francisco, Cal., April 21, 1894. - -“I, Abbot Clark, a member of the Theosophical Society, do hereby state -and affirm as follows: I have seen it stated in the newspapers that it -is charged that I wrote Colonel H. S. Olcott in 1891 to India, and that -in that letter was some message not known to me, and that Colonel Olcott -replied, asking where William Q. Judge was at the time, and that I -replied he was in my house. The facts are: That in 1891 W. Q. Judge was -lecturing in this State, and I was with him at Santa Ana, and that I had -no house and never had, being too poor to have one. Brother Judge -stopped at the hotel in Santa Ana, where he came from my home, my -father’s house at Orange, where he had been at dinner, and at Santa Ana -I arranged his lectures and I stayed at my aunt’s at Santa Ana; while in -the hotel a conversation arose with us, in which I spoke of Theosophical -propaganda among the Chinese on this coast, and Brother Judge suggested -that I write to Colonel Olcott, as he knew many Buddhists Theosophists, -and might arrange it better than Brother Judge; and I then myself wrote -to Colonel Olcott on the matter, showing the letter after it was done to -Brother Judge to see if it should be improved or altered, and he handed -me back the letter at once. I put it in my pocket and kept it there for -several days waiting for a chance to buy stamps for postage as I was -away from any post-office. Brother Judge left by himself the morning -after I wrote the letter and went to San Diego, and the only time I saw -him again was in the train just to speak to him on his return after -about four days, and the letter was not mentioned, thought of, nor -referred to. - -“I assert on my word of honour that Brother Judge said nothing to me -about any message pretended to be from Masters or otherwise, and so far -as any reports or statements have been made relating to me herein -different from the above they are absolutely false. - -“From India I got a reply from Adyar T.S. office from one Charlu, saying -he had opened my letter in Colonel Olcott’s absence, and had forwarded -it to him; and Dharmapala told me he had seen letters from me to Colonel -Olcott on the matter received in India away from Adyar. The said Charlu, -in reply, also asked me where Brother Judge was when the letter was -written, and I wrote that he had been at my house on that date, which is -true as above stated, Orange being only three miles from Santa Ana, as I -thought Charlu wished to have Brother Judge’s dates. But I thought also -the questions put were peculiar from such a distance. I never got any -reply to my sincere first question in that letter about propaganda from -him, and never any reply of any sort from Colonel Olcott. When -Dharmapala was here he did not bring any message in reply from Colonel -Olcott, but referred to recollecting speaking with Olcott about a -proposal from California to work with the Chinese. And Charlu did not -speak of any enclosure in said letter. A year later I again wrote on the -same matter to Colonel Olcott, which was answered by Gopala Charlu, now -dead, saying but little, if anything, would be done by him. To all this -I affirm on my honour. - - “ABBOT B. CLARK. - - “Witness: signatures: - ALLEN GRIFFITHS, E. B. RAMBO.” - - - - - THE MAHATMA OF NEW YORK. - - -An Appreciation of Mr. Judge’s “Reply,” by the Author of “Isis Very Much - Unveiled.” - -A convicted person has one last refuge. He may contrive to suggest -imbecility, and so appeal from the sense of justice to that of pity. To -the average reader it might seem that this, and this alone, could be the -real object of the astounding piece of self-revelation which I have been -privileged to extract from Mr. William Q. Judge, vice-president of the -Theosophical Society. But we must remember that with the Theosophical -reader it may be otherwise. To the Theosophical Society this “Reply” -from the man they have delighted to honour may seem, for all I know, a -model of candour, of coherence, and of cogency. That is not, I confess, -what I hear privately; but, so far as any public word goes, the good, -docile folk have evidently determined to wait till Mrs. Besant comes -home and tells them what to think, and (still more important) what to -say. For their benefit, then, and still more for the benefit of those -potential converts to Theosophy in whom the atrophy of the mental -processes is not yet complete, I will, as gravely as I can, examine the -vice-president’s utterance. - - - How Much is Admitted. - -Now, first, let us see how many of the “Mahatma missives” Mr. Judge -directly or indirectly admits. Those which I have referred to as -produced by Mr. Judge included the following:— - - The Cabinet missive. - The “Note the Seal” missive. - The “Judge’s Plan is Right” missive. - The “Masters Watch us” missive. - The “Judge is the friend” missive. - The “Master agrees” missive. - The Envelope Trick missive. - The “I withold” missive. - The Telegram missive. - The “Master will Provide” missive. - The Inner Group missive. - The “Grave Danger Olcott” missive. - The “Follow Judge and Stick” missive. - The “Judge is not the Forger” missive. - The Poison Threat missive. - -(Besides these I have referred to other Mahatma letters or endorsements -on letters, on bank-notes, &c.; but those enumerated will do for the -present.) - -Out of all these Mr. Judge disputes only two. As regards the “Note the -Seal” missive, all that he denies is the statement that it was he who -drew the special attention of the Inner Group to the seal upon it—a -denial which I shall deal with presently. He denies the whole story of -the Cabinet missive, and in regard to the “Judge is not the Forger” -missive, he denies that it was fabricated by _him_, but suggests that it -was fabricated by some other Theosophist. - -The facts about the whole of the remaining thirteen (and more) missives -he thus implicitly admits, using such general phrases as -these:—“_Several_ of the contested messages are genuine ones”; “they -were _all_ good and true”; “they were from the Master”; “I _have not -admitted_ her [Mrs. Besant’s] contention” [that they were only -psychically from the Master, and were written in Mahatmascript by -Judge]; and, finally, “I _will not tell_ how or by what means they were -produced.” The “Grave Danger Olcott” missive, by the way, he admits -explicitly. - -It is for the Theosophists, therefore, now to consider whether the -substance of these admitted missives (to say nothing of this “Reply,” in -which also Mr. Judge asserts the Master’s collaboration) squares with -their conception of “the Master of Wisdom,” that “god-like” exemplar of -“the perfectibility of man,” as his own “Messenger” describes him. - - - The Two Contested Missives. - -The reason why Mr. Judge selected just these two for denial is, no -doubt, the damaging suggestiveness of the contents of the one and of the -circumstances under which the other was produced. I for my part applaud -his choice, because it will bring him into sharp conflict, as regards -the one missive, with Mrs. Besant, and as regards the other, with -Colonel Olcott. - - - (1) The Cabinet Missive: Judge v. Besant. - -In regard to all those missives which were palmed off on Mrs. Besant -herself, my account is based, as regards generalities, on Mrs. Besant’s -own statements and Mr. Judge’s own admissions. As regards details, -however, I have had to rely on intimates and colleagues at Avenue-road, -to whom Mrs. Besant told the wondrous tale at the time. - -The story of the Cabinet missive is briefly this (see “Isis Very Much -Unveiled,” p. 28). Mr. Judge suggests to Mrs. Besant that they should -put a question to the Masters by writing it on paper, and placing this -in a certain cabinet in “H.P.B.’s” room. The result was the endorsement -of the paper with the words, “Yes,” “And hope,” in the red script used -in all these communications, and also the impression of what Madame -Blavatsky called the “flap-doodle” seal, under circumstances which -demonstrated either psychic precipitation on the part of the Master, or -else vulgar trickery on the part of Mr. Judge. - -Mr. Judge declares “no such thing took place.” - -Now, on the facts stated, it is obvious that only one person can -authoritatively contradict Mr. Judge here: to wit, Mrs. Besant. This I -am bound to suppose that she will do; for my version of the story is -that given by her on the day after the occurrence to a colleague, who -quoted it from his diary. Mrs. Besant also showed what purported to be -the missive, sealed and endorsed as described, and this to several -people. At Adyar, at the beginning of this year, when the Judge missives -were being blown upon all round, she repeated the story, with only one -correction—a notable one—that she had _not_, as she at first implied, -stayed in the room all the time during Mr. Judge’s working of the -Cabinet oracle. - -What Mr. Judge will do if Mrs. Besant sticks to her version of the story -I do not know. But he has already, in the secret circular lately -divulged, disposed of the rest of her action in this matter as due to -possession by a devil; so no doubt he will say that here, too, it was -“the Black Magicians” (_per_ Brother Chakravarti) who both imposed the -delusion and manufactured the missive to fit it. Note that he does not -appeal to Mrs. Besant to bear him out, but says: “It cannot be proved by -anybody’s testimony, _unless you will accept perjury_.” This is not the -only passage in his Reply where Mr. Judge foreshadowed his readiness to -extend his accusations of lying, pledge-breaking, &c. (as, indeed, he is -logically bound to), from Mr. Old to Mr. Old’s fellow-sinners, Mrs. -Besant and Colonel Olcott. - - - (2) The “Judge Is not the Forger” Missive: Judge v. Olcott. - -The other missive with which Mr. Judge disclaims connexion is the only -one in the whole series which was apparently not produced in immediate -juxtaposition with him, and under his personal superintendence. That, -indeed, was just the point of it; it was enclosed in a letter from -another person, with all the distance between New York and California to -prove that Mr. Judge could have had no hand in it. It was, in fact, a -last desperate attempt to lull the suspicions of the recipient, Colonel -Olcott, who, however, discovered that Mr. Judge had been in California, -and in the company of Mr. Clark, from whom the letter came, at the very -date of the letter. (“Isis,” pp. 50-52.) - -I told this story—quoting Colonel Olcott’s evidence—and forthwith was -assured, publicly, in general terms (“Isis,” p. 76), then specifically -through a private source, that Mr. Judge could annihilate it by -producing an affidavit from the Mr. Clark in question. (“Abbot -Clark”—the name comically recalls that of “Abner Dean” in Bret Harte’s -“Society upon the Stanislaus.”) I was not much perturbed by this -announcement, as the reserve evidence in my hands happened to include -the substance of a letter from Mr. Abbot Clark himself, offering -abundant material for cross-examination upon the boasted “affidavit,” if -and when this was produced. - -And lo! now we have this precious “affidavit” (which, by the way, turns -out not to be an affidavit at all), testifying—what? Why, that Mr. Judge -had abundant opportunities for inserting or getting inserted any -enclosure he wished in Mr. Clark’s letter, and that the letter which -provided the opportunity was actually written at Mr. Judge’s suggestion, -and passed once through Mr. Judge’s fingers, besides spending several -days in Mr. Clark’s coat pocket! - -The guilelessness with which Mr. Abner De—I mean Mr. Abbot Clark—adds, -among the rest of the plaintive verbiage of his statement, that “on my -word of honour Brother Judge said nothing to _me_ about any missive,” -completes the charm of this document. Ah! it would be a poor world for -the William Q. Judges if it did not contain a good percentage of Abbot -Clarks. - - - Whom does Mr. Judge Accuse? - -But now arises another point. Mr. Judge does not number this missive -among the “several genuine” ones. It was not the Mahatma’s; it was not -fabricated by Mr. Judge; therefore it must have been fabricated by -somebody else. “You can make what inference you like,” Mr. Judge -liberally remarks; but the only inferences possible from what he says -are that the guilty person is Colonel Olcott or Colonel Olcott’s manager -at the _Theosophist_ office. (The latter, by name T. Vijiaraghava -Charlu, was the person who received and forwarded the letter and -enclosure to Colonel Olcott. Mr. Judge and his satellite appear to wish -to confuse this person with another Charlu, Theosophical treasurer, who -committed suicide after peculation.) - -Now, as I have made sufficiently clear, I hold no sort of brief for any -Theosophist, and especially none for any Theosophical official. In the -past, Mr. Judge has had no monopoly of the missive-manufacturing -industry; and if he can prove that there are colleagues in the business -even now, I shall be glad to consider the evidence. But, in this -particular case, just look at the probabilities. - -First, there is the handwriting, which is apparently exactly the same in -this missive as in others of the series with which, admittedly, these -other gentlemen had nothing, and Mr. Judge had everything, to do. - -Then there are the contents. These also fit admirably into the chain. -The Master is made to declare that “Judge is not the forger”—a point of -which Mr. Judge was trying hard to convince the Colonel; also, to -provide explanations of various suspicious circumstances in other -missives which tended to show that Judge _was_ “the forger”; also to -exculpate Judge for various misstatements by suggesting that he was an -unconscious vehicle. - -Then, there is the description of the “flap-doodle” seal as “the Lahore -brass”—a bad shot at the place of origin known to Olcott, but only half -known to Judge. Attribute this to Mr. Judge trying to startle his -colleague, and it exhibits just that mixture of fatuity and cunning -which appears throughout the vice-president’s transactions. Attribute it -to Colonel Olcott manufacturing a pretended Judge forgery, and it -becomes a refinement of malignant ingenuity such as his worst enemy, I -fancy, will not suspect Colonel Olcott of compassing, either himself or -through an agent. - -It needs no Sherlock Holmes to point the bearing of these probabilities. - - - The Evidence of the Seal. - -We have it now on Mr. Judge’s authority that “the whole matter of this -so-called seal ... has made me laugh whenever I have thought of it.” If -so, it shows how much harmless mirth a trivial and apparently useless -nick-nack may be the cause of. Throughout its history this -Mahatma-signet seems to have had a magical effect on the risible -muscles. We saw how Madame Blavatsky smiled at it as “a flap-doodle of -Olcott’s”; Colonel Olcott himself has told us that he had it -manufactured in the first instance as “a playful present,” and -accompanied the gift with “a jocular remark”; and there is no doubt that -he has enjoyed many a quiet chuckle since over the unwary use of it by -his rival, who may yet prove to have sealed his own official -death-warrant in sealing the Mahatma’s “missives.” - -Well, since it is so provocative of pleasant emotions, let us look again -into this matter of the Master’s seal. For, indeed, it is only since -certain other things have been found out that Mr. Judge has discovered -how little the question of the seal’s genuineness matters either way. It -is all very well now for him to declare that internal evidence is the -only test of Mahatmic origin: that in a message, for instance, like -“Follow Judge and stick” (“Isis,” p. 48), it is the words themselves - - whose very sweetness giveth proof - That they were born for immortality. - -But that was not always Mr. Judge’s line. After all, _somebody_ must -have been at pains to see to the seal impression in those missives which -Mr. Judge vouched for—to say nothing of such other external and material -things as the texture of the paper, quite unlike any found elsewhere, -and the handwriting and signature, all of which used to be triumphantly -cited as evidence by Mr. Judge’s satellites (the present quotation is -from a pamphlet on “Mahatmas,” embellished with learned references to -“Lord Bacon,” which is by Mr. Judge’s private secretary, and bears the -imprimatur of Mr. Judge). Mr. Judge denies that it was he who called -special attention to the seal impression as authenticating his first -pioneer missive in 1891 (the “Note the Seal” missive, as I have called -it). As he does not deny my statement that he excused himself to the -others present for not showing the contents of the letter, perhaps he -will explain what it was that he did call attention to, if not the seal -and signature. But why labour the point, when there is the direct -evidence afforded by one of his own seal-bearing letters—one which he -has not denied—in which he wrote, “I believe the Master agrees with me, -_in which case I will ask him to put his seal here_”—and “plump on the -written word came the seal” (“Isis,” p. 34). In those days at any rate -Mr. Judge was of those who “think these little decorations of -importance,” as he now puts it. - -“You trace it [the seal] to her [H.P.B.], and there you leave it,” Mr. -Judge says; “and then you think I am obliged to prove I did not get -it—to prove negatives.” But I traced it rather farther than to H.P.B. I -traced the seal to Lansdowne-road in 1888 (Mr. B. Keightley’s evidence). -I traced an impression of it on a letter from _Mr. Judge_ at -Lansdowne-road in 1888 (Colonel Olcott’s evidence). I showed that when -Mr. Judge went back to America, the seal went too (telegram impression, -New York, 1890; evidence of Mr. B. Keightley). I showed that -thenceforward it appeared on missives produced by Mr. Judge, and on no -others, again and again. I showed how, in the missives planted on -Colonel Olcott, as if dubious how far the Colonel would carry on the -complaisance of Madame Blavatsky, Mr. Judge’s complete letter-writer -tried the seal on gradually; first, an illegible impression, and then a -bold one; how, when the Colonel threatened to “peach,” the latter _pièce -à conviction_ was suddenly and stealthily removed from the spot where -Mr. Judge had taught the Colonel to find it; how, after that, legible -impressions were reserved for others, and the Colonel only got illegible -ones; how, finally (this was after the Colonel had threatened to -reproduce any he saw anywhere, together with the whole story of the -seal, in the _Theosophist_), seal-impressions ceased altogether; and how -Mr. Judge erased such as he could get hold of, and began quibbling and -equivocating about the seal as he is doing up to the present moment. - -These facts, again, I leave to tell their own story; in face of which it -matters little how many “stories” Mr. Judge may tell. - - - Quibbling about the Mahatma. - -Mr. Judge’s particular version of the old Theosophistry about the small -part played by Mahatmas and their missives in the society is -conveniently adjacent in this Reply to statements of his own in the -exactly opposite sense. While in one breath he denies “influencing the -course of affairs by any such thing,” a few lines lower down he tells us -how he got a message directing him to prevent the president’s -resignation, “and at once cabled to him and went to work to have the -American section vote”; and, again, how he stopped Mrs. Besant going to -India, “under direction”; and, again, how authoritative messages are -going round “even as I write,” “and in relation to this very affair.” -Compare these, too:— - - MR. JUDGE IN HIS “REPLY.” MR. JUDGE ELSEWHERE. - - It is absolutely untrue that the I am not acting impulsively in my - society grows by talking of the many public statements as to - Mahatmas or Masters, or by having Masters.... Experience has shown - messages sent round from them. The that a springing up of interest in - movement here and elsewhere is Theosophy has followed - pushed along the line of declarations, and men’s minds are - philosophy.... Messages from the more powerfully drawn.... The - Masters do not go flying around, Masters have said, “It is easier to - and the society does not flourish help in America, because our - by any belief in those being existence has been persistently - promulgated. declared.”—(Mr. Judge, letter in - _Lucifer_, April, 1893.) - - Nor am I, as you hint, in the habit I now send you this, all of it - of sending such messages about the being either direct quotations from - society, nor of influencing the the messages to me or else in - course of affairs by using any such substance what I am directed to say - things. Could I be such a fool as to you.... We are all, therefore, - to tell all others to go by what I face to face with the question - get for my own guidance? whether we will abide by Masters - and their messenger.—(Mr. Judge, - circular to “the core of the T.S.,” - deposing Mrs. Besant, November, - 1894.) - - - What Mr. Judge Lives On. - -Mr. Judge pretends that I have said that his motive is mere pecuniary -gain. I have throughout treated the vice-president as a spiritual Jabez, -not a financial one; and I wish him joy of the distinction. But since he -has raised the question at such length, I will examine it a moment. Mr. -Judge says: “No salaries are paid to our officers. We support ourselves, -or privately support each other.” As he has elsewhere explained that he, -for one, gives his whole time to the society, it will be seen that the -Theosophical officials supply a parallel to those famous Scilly -Islanders who “eked out a precarious existence by taking in each others’ -washing.” The statement about the salaries is directly contradicted, on -turning to the 1894 Convention Report, by an extra vote of £150 for the -officials at Avenue-road. But I am well aware that the ready money of -the T.S. is drawn far more from a few individuals with means and from -special funds than from the small annual subscription, and I have said -already that the “free board and lodging” amid the temple groves at -Adyar, Avenue-road, and New York is more than their small salary to -those of “the smaller fry” to whom such things are a consideration. As -for Mr. Judge, he does not deny that it is he to whom the _Path_, and -the press and publishing business connected with it, now belong; but he -makes the curious statement that the proceeds, whatever they may be, -come out of the pockets, not of “members, but largely of others.” In -other words, it is not Theosophists, but the outside public, who support -the official organ of Theosophy! Can it be that the _Path_ is widely -taken in as a comic paper? - - - A Few Other Curiosities. - -Note the information conveyed, in this Reply and in Mr. Judge’s recent -Circular, that both Mrs. Besant and Colonel Olcott also profess to get -“messages from the Master.” “If you may get messages (he asks in effect) -why not I missives?” Why, indeed? - -Note the reproach about “abusing a woman who has long enough fought,” -&c. This from the man who has just issued a circular ordering the -deposition of the said woman for being possessed of a devil! - -Note the threat, addressed to me and the Editor of THE WESTMINSTER, that -Mr. Judge’s Master will get us “execrated for offences not yet exposed,” -and that he has already let Mr. Judge into “altogether too much of the -secret hearts” of his Theosophical colleagues. This is an old line which -Madame Blavatsky used to find very effective with weak-minded disciples. - -Note the claim to prophetic “foreknowledge,” based on the fact that Mr. -Judge said, long before the July “Enquiry,” that it would come to -nothing. It must be granted that this does imply a complete prescience -on the part of Mr. Judge—of the tactics which Mr. Judge in due course -adopted. - -Note, lastly, Mr. Judge’s plain avowal that he declines to face any -inquiry of any sort or kind. He declines the Law Courts, which, I -frankly agree, are no possible tribunal for him. He declines the -Judicial Committee of the T.S., because he, the vice-president, is a -private member. He declined a Theosophical Jury of Honour in July, which -would have tried him as a private member, because they, too, were not -occult enough for him. And he avows that he will decline everything and -anything else, because the “proof” of the New York Mahatma “begins and -ends with myself.” Need I add a word more? - - F. EDMUND GARRETT. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. - 2. Retained anachronistic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as - printed. - 3. Footnotes have been re-indexed using numbers. - 4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - 5. Enclosed bold font in =equals=. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Isis very much unveiled, being the -story of the great mahatma hoax, by Edmund Garrett - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ISIS VERY MUCH UNVEILED *** - -***** This file should be named 60119-0.txt or 60119-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/1/1/60119/ - -Produced by Richard Tonsing, deaurider, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - |