The revelations made to Louis XVIII by a peasant from Beauce, shortly after the second return of the Bourbons, had a great impact in that time, and even today its memory is not erased; but few people know the details of this incident, to which Spiritism alone can now give the key, as to all events of this kind. It is a subject of study, even more interesting, since the facts, almost contemporary, are of a perfect authenticity and attested by official documents. We are going to give a summary of them, but sufficient to make them appreciated.
Thomas-Ignace Martin was a small farmer from the Bourg de Gallardon, located four leagues from Chartres. Born in 1783, he was, therefore, thirty-three years old when the events that we are going to report took place. He died on May 8
th, 1834. He was married, father of four young children, and enjoyed the reputation of a perfect honest man, in his commune. Official reports paint him as a sensible man, though very naïve, owing to his ignorance of the most vulgar things; of a gentle and peaceful character, never meddled with any intrigue; of a perfect righteousness in all things, and of a complete selflessness, of which he had given numerous proofs, hence ruling out any idea of ambition on his part. So, when he returned to his village after his visit to the king, he resumed his usual occupations as if nothing had happened, even avoiding talking about what had happened to him.
When he left to Paris, the director of the Charenton home had all the trouble in the world to get him to accept 25 francs for his travel expenses. The following year, his wife being pregnant with a fifth child, a distinguished person for her position, and who was aware of their meager resources, made a proposal of 150 francs through a third party, to provide for the needs in that circumstance. Martin refused, saying: "
It can only be because of these things that have happened to me that I am offered money, because without that, they would not talk about me, they would not even know me. But since it is not from me, I must not receive anything for it. Thus, you will thank this person very much, because, although I am not rich, I do not want to receive anything.” On other occasions, he refused larger sums that you put him in a comfortable situation.
Martin was simple, but neither credulous nor superstitious; he practiced his religious duties scrupulously, but without exaggeration or ostentation, and just within the limits of what was strictly necessary, visiting his parish priest at most once a year. There was, therefore, in him neither bigotry nor religious excitement. Nothing in his habits or in his character was prone to excite his imagination. He was pleased to see the return of the Bourbons, but without being involved in politics in any way and without mingling with any party. Entirely dedicated to the work in the fields, since his childhood, he read neither books nor newspapers.
It is easy to understand the importance of this information about Martin's character in the case at hand. The moment a man is moved neither by interest, nor by ambition, nor by fanaticism, nor by superstitious credulity, he acquires serious rights of confidence. However, here is a summary of how the events happened to him.
On January 15
th, 1816, at half past two in the afternoon, he was alone, busy, spreading manure in a field three-quarters of a league from Gallardon, in a very deserted region, when suddenly a man appeared to him, of about five feet one or two inches, slender of body and face, delicate and very white, dressed in a Levite
[1] or frock coat of golden color, totally closed and hanging down to the feet, with shoes tied with cords and a round, tall hat. This man said to Martin:
“
You must go find the king, tell him that his person is in danger, as well as that of the princes; that bad people are still trying to overthrow the government; that several writings or letters have already circulated in some provinces of their states on this subject; that it is necessary that he make an accurate and general inquiry in all states, and especially in the capital; that he must also reinstate the day of the Lord, so that he may be sanctified; that this holy day is ignored by a large part of his people; that he must stop public works on those days; that he order public prayers for the conversion of the people; let him stimulate them to penance; that he abolish and annihilate all the disorders that take place in the days that precede the holy Lent: without all these things, France will fall into new misfortunes.”
Martin, a little surprised at such a sudden appearance, replied: "
But you can go and find others than me to do a commission like that. Imagine that I would speak to the king with hands like that (imprints of manure)!”- No, replied the stranger, it is you who will go. "But," resumed Martin, "since you know so much about it, you may well go and find the king yourself and tell him all this; why are you talking to a poor man like me who can't explain himself? - It will not be me who will go, said the stranger to him, it will be you; pay attention to what I tell you, and you will do whatever I command you.After these words, Martin saw him disappear more or less like this: his feet seemed to rise from the ground, his head lowered and his shrinking body finally disappeared at belt height, as if it would have evaporated in the air. Martin, more frightened of this way of disappearing than of the sudden appearance, wanted to go away, but he could not; he remained, unwillingly, and having set to work, his task, that was supposed to last two and a half hours, lasted only one hour and a half, redoubling his astonishment.
Certain recommendations that Martin had to make to the king may be found childish, especially concerning the observance of Sunday, considering the means, apparently supernatural, employed to transmit it to him, and the difficulties that such an approach was to encounter. But it is probable that this was only a sort of passport to arrive at him, for the main object of the revelation, which was of a much higher seriousness, was not to be known, as it will be seen later, but at the time of the interview. The main thing was that Martin could reach the king, and for that the intervention of some members of the high clergy was necessary; now, we know the importance that the clergy gives to the observance of Sunday; how could the sovereign not surrender when the voice of heaven was about to be heard by a miracle? It was, therefore, advisable to favor Martin, instead of discouraging him. However, things are far from having worked out on their own.
Martin hastened to tell his brother what had happened to him, and they both went to tell the parish priest, Mr. Laperruque, who tried to dissuade Martin and put it to the account of his imagination. On the 18
th, at six o'clock in the evening, Martin had gone down to the cellar to look for potatoes, when the same individual appeared to him standing, beside him, while he was on his knees, busy collecting them; terrified he left his candle there and fled. On the 18
th, a new apparition at the entrance of a fruit press, and Martin escaped in the same way.
On Sunday, January 21
st, Martin entered the church at the hour of Vespers; as he was taking the holy water, he saw the stranger who was also taking it, and followed him to the entrance up to his bench; throughout the service he was very collected and Martin noticed that he had neither a hat on his head nor in his hands. When he left the church, he followed him to his house, walking by his side, hat on his head. When they arrived at the gate, he suddenly found himself face to face with the man who said: “
Accomplish your mission, and do as I tell you; you will not be at ease until your mission is accomplished.” As soon as he said these words he disappeared, but this time Martin did not see him fainting gradually, as he did the first time, neither this time nor in the following appearances. On January 24
th, another apparition in the attic, followed by these words: “
Do what I command you, it is time."
Note these two modes of disappearance: the first, which could not be the result of a bodily being in flesh and blood, was undoubtedly intended to prove that it was a fluidic being, foreign to material humanity, something to be ratified 50 years later and explained by Spiritism, whose doctrines it confirmed, at the same time as it provided a subject for study.
We know that in recent times, incredulity has sought to explain the apparitions by optical effects, and when artificial phenomena of this kind appeared in some theaters, produced by a combination of mirrors and lights, this was a general cry in the press, saying: “
Here is finally the secret of all apparitions discovered! It is with the help of such means that this absurd belief has spread throughout time, and that credulous people have been fooled by subterfuges!”We have refuted, as it should have been, (Spiritist Review, July 1863) this strange explanation, worthy of the famous cracker muscle, of Doctor Jobert de Lamballe, who accused all Spiritists of insanity, and who has himself, unfortunately, languished for several years in a house of the mentally ill; but we ask, in the case in question here, by whom and how devices of this nature, necessarily complicated and bulky, could have been arranged and operated in a field, isolated from any house, and where Martin was absolutely alone, not noticing anything? How could these same devices, which operate in the dark, using artificial lights, produce an image in direct sunlight? How could they have been transported instantly to the cellar, to the attic, places generally not very well equipped, in a church, and from the church to follow Martin home, without anyone noticing a thing? These kinds of artificial images are seen by all spectators; how would it be that in church, and on leaving church, Martin alone saw the individual? Will it be said that he saw nothing, but that, in good faith, he was the plaything of a hallucination? This explanation is contradicted by the material fact of the revelations made to the king, and which, as we will see, could not be known beforehand to Martin. There is a positive, material result in this, that is not in the field of illusions.
The priest of Gallardon, to whom Martin faithfully gave an account of his appearances, and who took an exact note of them, thought it to be his duty to report it to his bishop in Versailles, to whom he sent a detailed letter of recommendation. There, Martin repeated everything he had seen, and, after various questions, the bishop instructed him to ask the stranger, on his part, if he appeared again, his name, who he was, who had sent him, recommending that he tell his priest everything.
A few days after Martin's return, the priest received a letter from his bishop, in which he testified to him that the man he had sent appeared to have great lucidity about the important subject in question. From this moment a constant correspondence was established between the bishop and the priest of Gallardon. For his part, Monseigneur, given the gravity of the first apparition, felt it to be his duty to make it a ministerial and police affair; consequently, he sent every report he received from the priest to Mr. Decazes, Minister of General Police.
1.On Tuesday, January 30
th, the stranger appeared to Martin again and said: “
Your mission has started well, but those who have it in their hands are not taking care of it; I was present, though invisible, when you made your statement; you were told to ask my name and where I came from; my name will remain unknown, and he who sent me (pointing to the sky) is above me.”
- “
How do you always address yourself to me, replied Martin, for a mission like this, I that am only a peasant? There are so many witty people.”
"
It is to bring down pride," said the stranger, pointing to the earth; “
for you, you should not take pride in what you have seen and heard, because pride is extremely displeasing to God; practice virtue; attend the services that are done in your parish on Sundays and holidays; Avoid cabarets and bad companies where all kinds of impurities are committed and where all kinds of bad speech are held. Do not haul on Sundays and holidays.”During the month of February, the stranger appeared several more times to Martin, and said to him, among other things, these words: - "
Persist, oh my friend, and you will succeed." You will appear before disbelief, and you will confound it; I still have something else to tell you that will convince them, and they will have nothing to answer. - Hurry up with your mission, nothing is done of everything I told you; those who have the matter in hand are intoxicated with pride; France is in a state of delirium; it will be given over to all kinds of misfortunes. - You will meet the king; you will tell him what I have announced to you; he will be able to admit his brother and his nephews with him. When you will be before the king I will reveal to you things which were secret from the time of his exile, but the knowledge of which will not be given to you until you are taken into his presence."
In the meantime, the Comte de Breteuil, Prefect of Chartres, received a letter from the Minister of General Police inviting him to verify "
whether these appearances, given as miraculous, were not rather a game of the imagination of Martin, a real illusion of his elated mind, or finally if the alleged unknown envoy, could not be Martin himself, were not to be severely examined by the police, and then handed over to the courts."
On March 5
th, Martin received a visit from his stranger who told him:
“You will soon appear before the first magistrate of your department; you must report things as they are announced to you; we must not have regard for quality or dignity."Martin had not been informed that he had to go to the Prefect; this is, therefore, no longer a simple communication on a vague thing, it is the forecast of a fact that is going to be realized. This was repeated over and over again during the course of these events; Martin was always informed by his stranger of what would happen to him, of the people in whose presence he was going to be, of the places where he would be taken. Well, this is not the result of illusion and chimerical ideas. As soon as the individual says to Martin: tomorrow you will see such and such a person, or you will be taken to such and such a place, and the thing happens, it is a positive fact that cannot come from the imagination.
The next day, March 6
th, Martin, accompanied by the priest, went to Chartres to see the Prefect. The latter spoke first, at length and in particular with the priest, then having been introduced to Martin, he said to him: "
But if I put you in the shackles and in prison for making such announcements, would you continue to say what you say? "As you wish," replied Martin, without fear; “I can only tell the truth.”
"
But," continued the Prefect, "
if you appeared before an authority superior to my own, for example, before the minister, would you sustain what you have just told me?"
“
Yes, sir,” replied Martin, “
and before the king himself.”
The prefect, surprised by so much assurance, combined with so much simplicity, and still more by the strange tales that the priest had told him, decided to send Martin to the minister. The next day, March 7
th, Martin left for Paris escorted by Mr. André, lieutenant of the gendarmery, who had orders to watch all his steps and not to leave him, day, and night. They lodged at rue Montmartre, hotel de Calais, in a room with two beds. On Friday, March 8
th, Mr. André took Martin to the headquarters of the police. Entering the courtyard, the stranger appeared to him and said: “
You are going to be questioned in several ways; have no fear or worry but tell it like it is.” After these words he disappeared.
We will not report here all the interrogations that the minister and his secretaries subjected Martin to, without allowing himself to be intimidated by threats, or disconcerted by the traps that were set for him to put him in contradiction with himself, confusing his interrogators with his answers full of meaning and composure. Having Martin described his stranger, the minister said: “
Well! you won't see him anymore, because I just had him arrested.
- “
Hey!” replied Martin, “how were you able to make him stop, since he immediately disappears like lightning?” – “
If it disappears for you, continued the Minister,
he does not disappear for everyone.” And addressing one of his secretaries:
“
Go see if that man I said to put in jail is still there."
A few moments later the secretary returned and gave this answer:
“
Monsignor, he is still there. - Well! said Martin, if you had him put in prison, you will show him to me, and I will recognize him well; I have seen him enough times for that.”
Next came a man who carefully examined Martin's head, parting his hair to the right and to the left; the minister turned them over and over again, presumably to see if he had some sign of insanity, to which Martin was content to say:
“
Look as much as you want, I've never been sick in my life.”
Returning to the hotel, in the evening, Martin said to Mr. André: "
But the minister told me that he had put the man who appeared to me in prison. So, he released him, for he appeared to me since and said: “You were questioned today, but they don't want to do what I said. The one you saw this morning wanted you to believe that I had been arrested; you can tell him that he has no power over me and that it is time for the king to be warned.” Mr. André immediately went to report to the police, while Martin, without worry, went to bed and fell asleep peacefully.
The next day, the 9th, Martin had gone downstairs to ask for the lieutenant's boots, and the stranger appeared to him in the middle of the stairs and said: "
You are going to have a visit from a doctor who is coming to see if you are struck by imagination and if you've lost your mind; but those who send it to you are crazier than you.”The same day, in fact, the famous alienist, Dr. Pinel, came to visit him, and subjected him to an interrogation appropriate to this kind of information. "
Despite his skill," the report says, "
he has been unable to acquire any improbable indication of alienation.
His research only resulted in a simple conjecture of the possibility of hallucination and intermittent mania."
It seems that, for some people, it does not take more to be accused of madness: it is enough not to think like them; that is why those who believe in something from the other world pass for fools in the eyes of those who believe in nothing.
After Dr. Pinel's visit, the stranger appeared to Martin and said: “You must go and speak to the king; when you are in his presence, I will inspire you what you have to say to him.
I am using you to break down pride and disbelief.
They are trying to dismiss the matter, but if you do not reach your goal, it will be revealed in other ways."On March 10
th, Martin was alone in his room when the stranger appeared to him and said:
“
I told you that my name would remain unknown, but considering such a great disbelief, it is necessary to have my name revealed. I am angel Raphael, a renowned angel by God. I have the power to harm France with all kinds of misfortunes.”
At these words, Martin was seized with fear and felt a kind of tension
Another day, Mr. André, having gone out with Martin, met an officer of his friends with whom he spoke for an hour, in English, that Martin naturally did not understand. The next day, the stranger, whom he now calls the angel, said to him: “Those who were with you yesterday talked about you, but you did not understand their language; they said you were coming to speak to the king, and one said that when he returned to his country, the other would give him news, to find out how things had happened. Mr. André, to whom Martin reported on all his conversations with the stranger, was very surprised to learn that what he had said in English, so as not to be understood by him, was revealed.
Although Doctor Pinel's report did not conclude for madness, but only for a possibility of hallucination, Martin was, nonetheless, taken to the mental home des fous de Charenton, where he remained from March 13
th until April 2
nd. There, he was carefully watched and subjected to special study by the specialists. They also made inquiries in his hometown, on his antecedents and those of his family, and despite all these investigations, they did not find the least appearance or predetermining cause of madness. To pay homage to the truth, it must be said that he was constantly treated there with great respect, on the part of Mr. Royer-Collard, chief director of the house, and the other doctors, and that he was not subjected to any of the treatments in use in these kinds of institutions. If he was placed there, it was much less as a measure of sequestration than to make it easier to observe his real state of mind.
During his stay at Charenton, he had fairly frequent visits from his stranger, that had no remarkable peculiarity, except the one in which he said to him: "
There will be discussions: some will say that it is an imagination, others that it is an angel of light, and others that it is an angel of darkness; I allow you to touch me. Then, said Martin, he took my right hand and squeezed it; he opened his frock coat in front, and when it was open, it seemed to me brighter than the rays of the sun, and I could not see; I was forced to put my hand in front of my eyes. When he closed his frock coat, I saw nothing shiny anymore; it seemed to me like before. This opening and closing took place without any movement on his part.”
Another time, as he was writing to his brother, he saw the stranger next to him, dictating part of his letter, recalling the predictions he had already made on the misfortunes with which France was threatened. Here Martin is then both, a clairvoyant medium and a writer.
Whatever care was taken not to publicize this affair too much, it still caused a certain sensation in the high official ranks; it is probable, however, that it would have ended, if the Archbishop of Reims, Grand Chaplain of France, then Archbishop of Paris and Cardinal of Périgord, had not been interested in it. He spoke about it to Louis XVIII and offered to receive Martin. The king told him that he had not heard of it yet, so true is it that sovereigns are often the last to know what is going on around them and what interests them the most. Accordingly, he ordered that Martin be introduced to him.
On April 2
nd, Martin was taken from Charenton to the Minister of General Police. While he was waiting for the moment to be received, his stranger appeared to him and said: “
You are going to speak to the king, and you will be alone with him; have no fear of appearing before the king; for what you have to say to him, the words will come to your mouth.” It was the last time he saw it.
The minister gave him a very warm welcome and told him that he was going to have him taken to the Tuileries.
It is generally believed that Martin came to Paris on his own, presented himself at the castle, insisting on speaking to the king; that after being rejected, he returned to the charge with such persistence that Louis XVIII, having been informed, ordered him to be admitted. Things turned out quite differently, as we can see. It was not until 1828, four years after the king's death, that he made known the secret peculiarities that were revealed to him, and that made a deep impression on him, for such was the essential purpose of that visit, and that the other alleged motives were, as we have said, only a means of arriving at him.
His stranger had him ignoring these things until the last moment, for fear that an indiscretion, wrested by the artifice of the interrogations, would cause the project to fail, which would inevitably have taken place.
After his visit to the king, Martin went to say goodbye to the director of Charenton, and left immediately for his home, where he resumed the usual course of his work, without ever taking credit for what had happened to him.
The goal we set out for ourselves in this story was to show the points by which it relates to Spiritism; since the particularities revealed to Louis XVIII are foreign to our subject, we will refrain from reporting them. We will only say that they had to do with the most private family matters; they moved the king to the point of making him cry a lot, and he later declared that what had been revealed to him was known only to God and to himself. They had the consequences of causing the coronation to be renounced, the preparations for which had already been ordered.
[2]We will only bring back, from this interview, a few passages from the account written in 1828, by dictation of Martin himself, and in which the character and simplicity of the man are depicted.
“
We arrived at the Tuileries around three o'clock, and without anyone saying anything. We got as far as Louis XVIII's first valet, to whom the letter was handed, and who, after having read it, said to me: Follow me. We stopped for a few moments because Mr. Decazes was with the king. When the minister came out, I entered, and before I said a word, the king told the valet to leave and close the doors.
The king was seated at his table, opposite to the door; there were quills, papers, and books. I greeted the king by saying: -Sire, I greet you. -The king said to me: Hello Martin. -And then I said to myself: So, he knows my name well. -You know, Sire, surely, why I am coming.-Yes, I know that you have something to tell me, and I was told that it was something that you could only say to me; sit down.-So, I sat down in an armchair that was placed opposite to the king, so that there was only the table between us. So, I asked him how he was. The king said to me:-I am a little better than in the past few days; and you, how are you?-I'm fine. What is the subject of your trip? -And I said to him: You can call, if you want, your brother and his sons. The king interrupted me by saying: -It is useless, I will tell them what you have to say to me. -After that, I told the king about all the apparitions I had had, and that are in the report.-I know all this, the Archbishop of Reims told me everything. But it seems to me that you have something to tell me, in private, and in secret.-And then I felt the words that the angel had promised me would come to my mouth, and I said to the king: The secret that I have to tell you is that ... (Details follow that like the instructions given in the continuation of the conversation, on certain measures to be taken and the manner of governing, could only be inspired at this very moment, for they are out of reach of Martin's level of education).-It was to this story that the king, struck with astonishment and deeply moved, said: “O my God! Oh my God! this is quite true; it is only God, you, and I, who know this; promise me to keep the greatest secrecy on all these communications.-And I promised him. After that I said to him: take care of not being crowned, because if you tried it, you would be struck by death in the ceremony of the coronation. At the moment, and until the end of the conversation, the king still cried.When I had finished, he told me that the angel who had appeared to me was the one who led the young Tobias to Rages and who made him marry; then he asked me which of my hands the angel had squeezed. I replied, “This one,” pointing to the right. The king took it from me, saying: "Let me touch the hand that the angel shook. Always pray for me. - "Of course, Sire, that I, my family, as well as the priest of Gallardon, have always prayed for the affair to succeed.I greeted the king, saying to him: -“I wish you good health. I have been told that once my mission to the king had been accomplished, I should ask your permission to return to my family, as it has also been announced to me that you will not refuse me, and that no pain or harm would happen to me. -Nothing will happen to you; I gave orders to send you back. The minister will give you supper and bed, and papers for your return tomorrow. -But I would be happy if I returned to Charenton to say goodbye to them and to get a shirt that I left there.-Wasn’t it a problem to be in Charenton? Were you okay there?-No problem at all; and of course, if I did not feel good there I would not ask to return. -Well, since you wish to return there, the minister will have you taken there on my behalf. I returned to join my driver that was waiting for me, and we went together to the Minister's house.Done at Gallardon, March 9th, 1828.Signed: Thomas MARTIN.Martin's interview with the king lasted at least 55 minutes.
If since his visit with the king, Martin has not seen his stranger again, the demonstrations have nonetheless continued in another form; from a clairvoyant medium, he became a hearing medium. Here are some fragments of letters he wrote to the former priest of Gallardon:
January 28th, 1821“Dear priest, I am writing to you to let you know of something that has happened to me. Last Tuesday, January 23rd, when plowing the field, I heard a voice speaking to me, without seeing anyone, and I was told: “Son of Japheth! stop and pay attention to the words addressed to you.” At the same time, my horses stopped without my having said anything, because I was very surprised. This is what I was told: “In this great region a great tree is planted, and on the same stump another is planted which is inferior to the first; the second tree has two branches, one of which was shattered, and immediately afterwards it was withered by a furious wind, and this wind did not stop blowing. In place of this branch, another branch emerged, young, tender, which replaces it; but this wind, that is always agitated, will rise one day with such uproar that… and after this appalling catastrophe, the peoples will be in the last desolation. Pray, my son, for these days to be shortened; invoke the sky that the fatal wind, blowing out of the north-west, be barred by powerful barriers, and that its progress be not untoward. These things are obscure to you, but others will easily understand them."That, sir, is what happened to me on Tuesday, around one in the afternoon; I don't understand anything about it; you will tell me if you understand something. I haven't told anyone about any of this, not even my wife, because the world is bad. I was determined to keep all this in silence; but I made up my mind to write to you today, because that night I could not sleep, and I have always kept these words in my memory, and I beg you to keep them a secret, because the world would mock them. Sir, I have been called a son of Japheth; I don't know anyone in our family who bears this name; we may well have been mistaken; I may have been taken for someone else.February 8th, 1821I had forbidden you to speak about what I had told you; I was wrong, because it cannot remain hidden. It must necessarily pass in front of the great and foremost of the State, so that they can see the danger with which they are threatened, because the wind of which I spoke to you before, is shortly going to cause terrible disasters, because this wind is always blowing around the tree; if they are not careful, it will soon be unrooted. At the same time, the other tree, with what comes out of it, will experience the same fate. Yesterday, the same voice came to speak to me, and I saw nothing.February 21st, 1821“Sir, I had a great fright this morning. It was nine o'clock; I heard a great noise near me, and I saw nothing, but I heard a voice, after the noise, and I was told, "Why were you afraid? fear not; I am not coming to do you any harm. You are surprised to hear and see nothing, do not be surprised: things must be discovered; I am using you to send you, as I am sent. The philosophers, the unbelievers, the ungodly, do not believe that we see their steps, but they must be confused ... Remain quiet, continue to be what you have been; your days are numbered, and not a single one will escape you. I forbid you to bow down to me because I am only a servant, like you. - Sir, this is what I was told; I do not know who the person speaking to me is; his voice is quite strong and very clear. I had the thought to speak, but I did not dare, because I do not see anyone.”It remains to be known what is the identity of the Spirit that has manifested; was it really the angel Raphael? There is every reason to doubt it, and there would be much to be said against that opinion; but, in our opinion, this is a very secondary question; the important fact is that of the manifestation, of which there can be no doubt, and of which all the incidents had their reason for being, for the proposed result, and today they have their instructive side.
A fact that undoubtedly has escaped no one is Martin’s word, about a sum that was offered to him:
As the thing does not come from me, he said, I should not receive anything for it. Here we then have a simple peasant, an unconscious medium, that fifty years ago, when we were far from thinking of Spiritism, has by himself the intuition of the duties imposed by mediumship, of the holiness of its mandate; his common sense, his natural loyalty, makes him understand that what comes from a celestial source, and not from him, should not be paid for.
We may be astonished at the difficulties that Martin encountered in fulfilling the task assigned to him. Why, it will be said, did the Spirits not send it directly to the king? Those difficulties, those delays, as we have seen, had their usefulness. He had to go through Charenton, where his mental health was subjected to the most rigorous investigations of official science, and a not very credulous one, so that it was found that he was neither mad nor elated. As it was seen, the Spirits succeeded over obstacles set up by men, but as men have their free will, they could not prevent them from setting obstacles.
Note, on this subject, that Martin made no effort, so to speak, to reach the king; circumstances brought him there, almost in spite of himself, and without his needing to insist much; however, these circumstances were obviously led by the Spirits, by acting on the thoughts of the incarnates, because Martin’s mission was serious and had to be accomplished.
It is the same in all analogous cases. Besides the question of prudence, it is obvious that, without the difficulties that exist to reach them, the sovereigns would be assaulted by would-be revealers.
In recent times, how many people have believed themselves to be called to such missions, that were not but the result of obsessions, in which their pride was played with, unwillingly, and that could only lead to mystifications! To all those who have sought our opinion, in such a case, we have always said, by showing them the obvious signs by which the lying Spirits betray themselves: "Be careful not to take any step that would inevitably lead to your confusion. Rest assured that if your mission is real, you will be able to accomplish it; that if you must be at a given time in a given place, you will be led there, without your knowledge, by circumstances that will appear to be the result of chance. Be assured, moreover, that when a thing is in the plans of God, it must happen, and that He does not subordinate the realization of it to the good or the bad will of men. Beware of missions assigned and advocated in advance, because they are only bait for pride; missions are revealed by facts. Also, beware of predictions at fixed days and times because they are never made by serious Spirits.” We were fortunate enough to stop more than one, in which the events gave proof of the prudence of such advices.
There is, as we see, more than one similarity between these facts and those of Joan of Arc, not that there is any comparison to be made as to the importance of the results achieved, but as to the cause of the phenomenon, which is exactly the same, and up to a point, to the purpose. Like Joan of Arc, Martin was warned by a being of the spiritual world, to speak to the king to save France from peril, and like her too, it was not without difficulties that he reached him. There is, however, between the two manifestations this difference that Joan of Arc simply heard the voices advising her, while Martin constantly saw the individual who spoke to him, not in a dream or in an ecstatic sleep, but with the appearance of a living creature, as would an “agenerate”.
[3]But from another point of view, the facts that happened to Martin, although less striking, are nonetheless of great significance, as proof of the existence of the spiritual world and of its relations with the corporeal world, and for being contemporary and of an indisputable notoriety, they cannot be placed in the rank of legendary stories. By their repercussion, they served as milestones to Spiritism that was, a few years later, to confirm their possibility by a rational explanation, and by the law that rules their occurrence, making them pass from the domain of the marvelous to those of natural phenomena. Thanks to Spiritism, there isn’t a single phase, presented by Martin’s revelation, that cannot be fully understood.
Martin was an unconscious medium, endowed with an aptitude used by the Spirits, like an instrument, to arrive at a determined result, and this result was far from being entirely in the revelation made to Louis XVIII. The Spirit that manifested to Martin, perfectly characterizes him by saying, "
I am using you to break down pride and disbelief." This mission is that of all mediums destined to prove, by facts of all kinds, the existence of the spiritual world, and of a power superior to humanity, for such is the providential goal of the manifestations. We will add that the king himself was an instrument in this case; it required a position as high as his, the difficulty of reaching him, for the affair to have repercussions, and the authority of an official thing. The minute investigations to which Martin was subjected to, could only add to the authenticity of the facts, for all these precautions would not have been taken for a private individual; the thing would have gone almost unnoticed, while it is still remembered today, and provides authentic proof in support of the Spiritist phenomena.
[1] A loose man’s garment (Wiktionary.org, T.N.)
[2] The circumstantial details and supporting evidence can be found in a book entitled: The past and the future explained by the extraordinary events that happened to Thomas Martin, plowman of Beauce. - Paris, 1832, at BRICON, bookseller, rue du Vieux-Colombier, 19; Marseille, same house, rue du Saint-Sépulcre, 17. This out-of-print work is very rare today.
[3] Not generated (T.N.)
