The Bronze Statue, or, The Virgin's Kiss — page 263: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE BRONZE STATUE. allowed to enjoy luxuries. work the hardest, have the ‘first claim | to fare the best, when the proper time comes to talk of anything better than a mere subsistence. But in the first in- stance all men must be ensured that subsistence, before any one soul can be permitted to demand more. “lhese are the solemn truths which | now pro- claim as the Taborite profession faith: these are the doctrines which | enunciate as a believer in the Christian system and in that Supreme Being who is the God of justice as well as the God of battles !’ Zitzka paused to gather breath, and the entire army of reformers, hitherto retained in the spell-bound silence of an intense and absorbing interest, sudden- ot ly burst forth into acclamations as full of | enthusiasm, and as unfeignedly sincere as those which had ere now welcomed the presence of their Captain-General. ‘Children of Mount Tabor,’ continu-- edthe mighty chief, when the prolong- ed plaudits had at length ceased, ‘again do Lreceive from your lips the unmis- takeable evidence that our thoughts are identical, and that you accept with una- | nimity the profession of faith which | have just proclaimed. Behold, then, my glorious army, the time for action ! The moment is arrived—the opportu- nity presents itself! The murder of John Huss shall be avenged; and even from the grave shall his spirit pursue the thronged miscreants, the mitred as- sassins. and the fiendish nobles that doomed him to the stake! I have al- ready shown too much forbearance, and the aristocracy of Bohemia have availed themselves of my mercy, to plot and conspire against our holy cause. But now, aroused from that dream of mis- taken humanity, I draw the sword, | brows. ’ 26F Those who | cheers and acclamations, as the thunder rolls over the bosom of the sounding main; ‘Children of Mount ‘Tabor,’ he repeated, slowly waving his arm to en- join silence, and in obedience to that signal every other voice was hushed in an instant, and a profound stillness fell ‘upon the army and the spectators ;— ‘Children of Mount Tabor,’ he said a third time, ‘the cause which we have in hand is twofold: it is that of true re- ligion and of political justice. We as- sert the primitive simplicity of the Christian creed, and the purity of re- publican institutions. We will restore the former and establish the latter. Our mission is one of progress, civilization and justice; but the machinations and intrigues of the enemies of all those principles, compel us to fulfil our vica- rious errand by means of the sword.— Be not therefore deterred from action when the aristocracy shall denounce you as a horde of ruffians, inciting civil war in your native land, *Tis they who have driven you to the desperation which compels you to enter upon the path of strife! *Tis they who have goaded you on to resistance. Every drop of blood which may now be shed stamps the stain of murder upon their You will be fighting in self-de- fence, against the titled few who have made you their slaves, from time im- memorial, and who seek to perpetuate your bondage unto the end. You will be warring not only for your own sakes, cast away the scabbard, and I proclaim | a war of extermination against the peo- | ple’s tyrants and oppressors *’ Again did the Taborite forces mani- fest their sympathetic feelings in pro- longed shonts of fervid enthusiasm ; and while some of the spectators joined In the applause, others exchanged amongst themselves looks of dismay. For the friends of freedom were well pleased with the resolution to which Zitzika had come ; whereas the upholders of abuses but for those of your children and your your children’s children. Arise, then, my brave and noble minded champions of truth and justice—arise, and let the standard of Mount Tabor float above the battlemented towers of every feudal for- talice in Bohemia!’ Zitzka, the One-eyed, ceased, and from the great square of Prague arose @ shont so tremendous ia its din, and so terrible in the stern resolution which it, expressed, that never did the harangue and the relatives, creatures, and depen- | dants of the aristocracy, were filled with despatr. ‘Children of, Mount ‘Tabor,’ once more spoke John Zitzka, his powertul and sonorous voice rising above the of achieftain receive a more cordial ac- claim on the part of anarmy. ‘That mighty voice, in which spoke twenty thousand daring mea, vibrated through the ambient air, and made the very ca- nopy of heaven ring; and again and again thundered the enthusiastic cheer, rising from the serried ranks as if the artillery itself were exploding, and rol ling on and on, wave upon wave of deaf- ening sound, until it seemed as if the very atmosphere had become an ocean sonorous with the billows of the storm. aV degrees that portentous expres- comicbooks.com