Patrik Ouredník - The Opportune Moment, 1855

Nothing much was discussed at the meeting. We agreed that instead of singing and improvised entertainment, which there was plenty of time for during the day when we had nothing to do, the more educated settlers would hold lectures for the others, and when there was no lecture in store, the older and more experienced settlers would talk about their experiences and how they had come to their worldview. The day after tomorrow, as long as there’s nothing more important to deal with, Louis Gabat is going to tell us about the February revolution.

The meeting broke up early and Elisabetta and I went for a stroll on deck. I gave her the conch shell, but nothing came of it.

Louis Gabat comes from the southern Alps, where news of the revolution in Paris had arrived with a two-day delay. The people were happy, he said, and the newspapers wrote that the February revolution was the first step toward the renewal of humanity and the present belonged to the future now. In Digne, where Louis Gabat lived, they held a great celebration for five hundred people. There were two rows of tables with musicians in between and pyramids of rifles and revolutionary banners on either side. The citizens ate and drank and made toasts to the liberation of the world, to the triumph of the people’s rights, to putting an end to the past, to equality, to the freedom of all nations. The local priest toasted to fraternity, saying that Christ had raised up the old age into the new age as a token of love and happiness for the whole world. Both of the local newspapers changed their names, the Alpine Daily to the Socialist Daily and the Alpine Gleaner to the Alpine Republican . But a few months later, the revolutionary élan had faded away and the citizens’ trust was betrayed. The newspapers changed their names back again, the Alpine Daily even going so far as to add the subtitle Fervent friend of the nation and public order . Louis Gabat made up his mind to join the underground movement that was preparing a new revolution to protect what had been won. In June, he and his friends took over the subprefecture in Forcalquier and were making ready to move on Digne when Marseille sent out the National Guard against them. More than fifty of his companions and his best friend perished in the fratricidal battle. Gabat fled to Paris, where he hid for a while, pondering the question of why his countrymen were killing each other and arriving at the conviction that a fraternal bond was not a bond of blood but a moral one. During that same time he also made up his mind to leave Europe and go work and begin a family in some settlement overseas, where politics and tyranny had not yet come of age.

At ten-thirty this morning there was a tragic accident. One of the Negroes, while impregnating the stay lines, tumbled into the sea. The captain had a cutter put in, but it leaked from every side and he declared that to send his sailors out in it would mean their certain death. So the sailors pulled the cutter up and watched the Negro struggle in the waves until he drowned. A sadness reigned on board. The only one who showed no sign of mourning for the Negro was the first officer, who was in fact responsible for his death, since he had sent him to work even though he knew that during the night he had had a high fever. Haymard moved that at tomorrow’s meeting we speak about equality among races and the moral unacceptability of slavery and that we extend a special invitation to the two Negro sailors and the cook. The motion was accepted unanimously by those who heard it. Decio moved that we all pitch in for equipment for three people and invite the Negroes to come to the settlement with us and found a new world where it wouldn’t be important what race a person was. Zeffirino said that it was a generous motion, but one on which only the assembly could decide (Zeffirino likes to call the meetings assemblies). And that in his opinion inviting the Negroes to join the settlement was at the very least premature and could threaten the outcome of our moral and ideological investment. He said by no means did he intend to excuse the first officer, but on the other hand it was plain that the Negroes didn’t exactly break their backs at work. Decio declared that he refused to speak to such an idiot and that he firmly hoped the admission of the Negroes into the settlement would be approved tomorrow.

Samba the cook was the only one of the Negroes who turned up for the meeting that evening, despite that both of the Negro sailors had the night off. He smiled and clapped the whole time. He knew some of the Germans, so he sat with them, saying Gut, gut , when they made room for him. Haymard began talking about the origin and history of slavery, but after a few sentences Decio interrupted him and said we all knew what slavery was, old or new, the important thing was not words but deeds. And that he had come to the meeting to submit an important motion. Lecoq and another Frenchman said that there was no mention of it on the agenda and it would be nice if everyone respected the common bylaws. But we Italians began to whistle and the Germans joined in with us, though they weren’t exactly sure why, since Agottani hadn’t had time to interpret. In the end Decio was allowed to submit his motion. He said we all had plenty of money (some of the Germans cried Nein, nein !), and even if some had less than others, it wasn’t important, because in a few weeks all of it would be shared anyway, and everyone was welcome to give as much as they saw fit. And he said it would be a great symbol and a triumph of our ideals if we were to admit the scorned and downtrodden Negroes and allow them to become full-fledged members of universal human society. And he sat down. Most people clapped for him, but not everyone. After him Zeffirino got up and said the same thing as yesterday, that it was generous but premature, but he didn’t add anything else. Most people clapped for him too. After him a Frenchman got up and said he had nothing at all against Negroes but if we began to make exceptions before we even reached the settlement, it would end up in anarchy. Decio, Paolo, Amilcare, Lorenzo, Alessandro Mansueto, and a few other Italians began clapping and shouting: Long live anarchy! and others whistled and stomped their feet and for several minutes you couldn’t understand a thing. Until finally Haymard shouted everyone down and said we weren’t here to give everyone a chance to voice their political views, since soon we would all be living as a family. He said personally Decio’s motion appealed to him, and suggested we move to a vote, but first we had to be sure everyone knew what we were voting on. He said the question was: Who is in favor of admitting the three Negroes into our settlement and pitching in for their equipment, and he asked me to interpret it clearly and understandably into Italian and Agottani to interpret it clearly and understandably into German. Decio said he also wanted the part about the ideals to be translated. I said there was no point in translating it into Italian, since we had been discussing it among ourselves since morning, but Haymard declared that it had no validity. When it came time to vote, those in favor raised their hands first, and Haymard announced: 88. Then those opposed raised their hands: 20. And when Haymard counted the raised hands, he said that in view of the presence of a majority of more than half the settlers at the meeting and the outcome of the vote, Deci Boni’s motion was accepted. I, Elisabetta, Amilcare, Cursio, Egizio, Lorenzo, Umberto, Paolo, Giacomo, Domenico, Pietro Gavarri, Eugenio Grassi, both Alessandros, and the rest of the Italians voted in favor; Zeffirino, Cattina, and Rina were opposed. Samba raised his hand both times, but it didn’t matter, since he wasn’t a member of the settlement yet at the time of the vote and didn’t have voting rights.