Rulers of Europe and Other Lands.
Our Cousin Karl Frederick of Tradgarland had, this We acknowledge gratefully, the honesty to lead You to a copy of the Private Letter he so inelegantly comments on the Public Place. Thus, please read it and judge by Yourselves how Philosophically Correct are Our Words & Motivations.
Indeed Our very Civilization would be jeopardized by the uncontrolled introduction of ‘machines’ in everyday life, but more specially on The Fields of Mars. «Progress» lures Us with its benevolents & charming aspects (see left), but is worse than a two-edged sword: the positive edge is blunt, the negative razor-sharp.Brother Rulers, do You want Your Armies –these Mighty Forces You patiently built, Your deserved Pride– thrown down into obsolescence? Do You wish to have to spend fortunes in building War Balloons? And, in order to counter those airboats of your rivals, to stoop so low as to mount quadruple Puckle’s machine guns on fast carts as ‘Flugzeug Abwehr Maschinengewehre’? Do You wish to raze to the ground all Your forests (endangering many animal species, and depriving You of the pleasures of the Hunt), or to poison the Air, then Water and very Earth with deleterious coal smokes, merely to move Your steam-powered new frigates or cannon-armed heavy warwagons? Do You wish to see Your gallant Cavalry riding ludicrious ‘velociferes’? Do You really wish the greasy cranks & cogwheels to get the better of the chivalrous Sword?
Indeed, Brother Rulers, how far are you ready to accept the alienation of Our ‘Lace Wars’ by the mechanists and enginneers?
No intention could be more foreign to Ours than any attempt to suppress the Curiosity & Inventivity of the Human Mind –which set Us apart of all other other Creatures. All of Us, Enlightened Rulers of Our Time, are justly proud of encouraging & supporting them. But the step between single prototypes and ‘industrial’ production& use is where We put the impassable barrier.
With Our Fraternal Affection,
Louys of Monte-Cristo
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