The Consolidator; or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World in the MoonDefoe, Daniel
Science
The Consolidator; or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World in the Moon
Defoe, Daniel
Fantasy fiction; Interplanetary voyages -- Fiction; Moon -- Fiction; Political fiction; Satire
'Then the Eagle has a Right, and under him his eldest Son; and none
of all these four will accept of the Crown; I believe all the Moon
can't find four more that would refuse it.
'Now, tho' none of these think it worth accepting themselves, yet
they fall out about the Right of giving it away. The King of
Gallunaria will not accept of it himself, but he gets a Gift from the
last Incumbent. This, says the Eagle, can't be a good Title, for the
late King had no Right to make a Deed of Gift of the Crown, since a
King is only Tennant for Life, and Succession of Crowns either must
descend by a Lineal Progression in the Right of Primogeniture, or
else they lose the Tenure, and devolve on the People.
'Now as this Argument holds good the Eagle has an undoubted Title to
the Crown of Ebronia: But then, says his Eaglish Majesty, I cannot
accept of the Crown my self for I am the Eagle, and my eldest Son has
two Kingdoms already, and is in a fair way to be Eagle after me, and
'tis not worth while for him, but I have a second Son, and we will
give it him.
'Now may the King of Gallunaria say, if one Gift is good, another is
good, and ours is the first Gift, and therefore we will keep it; and
tho' I solemnly declare I should be very sorry to see the Crown of
Ebronia rest in the House of the Gallunarian, because our Trade will
suffer exceedingly; yet if never so much damage were to come of it,
we ought to do Justice in the World; if neither the Eagle nor his
eldest Son will be King of Ebronia, but a Deed of Gift shall be made,
the first Gift has the Right, for nothing can be given away to two
People at once, and 'tis apparent that the late King had as much
Right to give it away as any Body.
'The poor Ebronians are in a fine Condition all this while, that no
Body concerns them in the Matter; neither Party has so much as
thought it worth while to ask them who they would have to Reign over
them, here has been no Assembly, no Cortez, no Meeting of the People
of Ebronia, neither Collectively or Representatively, no general
Convention of the Nobility, no House of Feathers, but Ebronia lies as
the spoil of the Victor wholly passive, and her People and Princes,
as if they were wholly unconcern'd, lie by and look on, whoever is
like to be King, they are like to suffer deeply by the Strife, and
yet neither side has thought fit to consult them about it.
'The conclusion of the whole Matter is in short this, here is
certainly a false Step taken, how it shall be rectify'd is not the
present Business, nor am I Wise enough to Prescribe. One Man may do
in a Moment what all the Lunar World cannot undo in an Age. 'Tis not
be thought the Eagle will be prevail'd on to undo it, nay he has
Sworn not to alter it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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