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
What vast Consequences, and prodigiously differing from the Design,
may Words have when mistaken and misayplyed by the Hearers. Never
were significant Expressions spoken from a sincere, honest and
generous Principle, with a single Design to ingage all the Subjects
in the Moon, to Peace and Union, so perverted, misapply'd and turn'd
by a Party, to a meaning directly contrary to the Royal Thoughts of
the Queen: For from this very Expression, most Zealous, grew all the
Divisions and Subdivisions in the Solunarian Church, to the Ruin of
their own Cause, and the vast advantage of the Crolian Interest. The
eager Men of the Church, especially those we have been talking of,
hastily catch'd at this Expression of the Queen, Most Zealous, and
Millions of fatal Constructions, and unhappy Consequences they made
of it, some of which are as follows.
1. They took it to imply that the Queen whatever she had said to the
Crolians, really design'd their Destruction, and that those that were
of that Opinion, must be meant by the Most Zealous Members of the
Solunarian Church, and they could understand Zeal no otherwise than
their own way.
2. From this Speech, and their mistaking the Words Most Zealous,
arose an unhappy Distinction among the Solunarians themselves, some
Zealous, some More Zealous, which afterwards divided them into two
most opposite Parties, being fomented by an accident of a Book
publish'd on an Occasion, of which presently.
The Consequences of this mistake, appear'd presently in the Most
Zealous, in their offering all possible Insults to the Crolian
Dissenters, Preaching them down, Printing them down, and Talking them
down, as a People not fit to be suffer'd in the Nation, and now they
thought they had the Game sure.
Down with the Crolians began to be all the Cry, and truly the
Crolians themselves began to be uneasy, and had nothing to rely upon
but the Queens Promise, which however her Majesty always made good to
them.
The other Party proceeded so far, that they begun to Insult the very
Queen her self, upon the Matter of her Word, and one of her
College-Priests told her plainly in Print, she could not be a true
Friend to the Solunarian Church, if she did not declare War against,
and root out all the Crolians in her Dominions.
But these Proceedings met with a Check, by a very odd accident: A
certain Author of those Countries, a very mean, obscure and
despicable Fellow, of no great share of Wit, but that had a very
unlucky way of telling his Story, seeing which way things were a
going, writes a Book, and Personating this high Solunarian Zeal,
musters up all their Arguments, as if they were his own, and
strenuously pretends to prove that all the Crolians ought to be
Destroy'd, Hang'd, Banish'd, and the D----l and all. As this Book was
a perfect Surprize to all the Country, so the Proceedings about it on
all sides were as extraordinary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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