The restoration of the Bourbons by foreign bayonets, in 1815, was a heavy blow and great discouragement, but not destructive, of the revolutionary spirit of 1789. A power had organized itself under the title of “the Holy Alliance,” consisting of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, who bound themselves by a treaty at Paris, the real object of which was to maintain despotic and arbitrary power, in church and state, and to support each other against any revolutionary movement among their own subjects. They regarded themselves as delegated by Providence to govern three branches of one and the same Christian nation, of which the Divine Being, under His three characters, was the sole real Sovereign. This was a sort of anticipatory division of the great city into three parts — Greek Catholic under Russia; Latin Catholic under Austria and the Pope; and Protestant under Prussia. Having made this arrangement, they declared their readiness to receive into their holy alliance all the powers (the Ten Horns of the Beast) who should solemnly avow what they styled, “the sacred principles” that had dictated it.f
All this was very discouraging to The Revolution, which was not dead, though dethroned, but slumbering; and gathering new explosive force for another effort against the enemy. It made itself heard and felt again in Spain and Portugal, to the great disgust of the French Bourbons. In Naples also, through the intrigues of the Carbonari[1] [2], it was giving effect to constitutional principles. This alarmed the Austrian, who dreaded the propagation of revolutionary ideas which threatened to undermine the stability of his power in Italy. In 1821, the “Holy Alliance” held a consultation upon Naples at Troppau, whence in the arrogance of power, they summoned its king to meet them at Laybach, as if he had been one of their vassals or subjects. He obeyed. They dictated the invasion of his kingdom by Austrian troops. He consented. The revolutionary parliament was dissolved, the old despotism restored, and Fer-
dinand became a mere satrap to execute the orders issued from the Viennese Mouth of the Beast.
The revolutionary condition of things in Spain and Portugal was beheld by the Russian Autocrat with disgust and indignation, and caused him to convene a congress at Verona, in which it was determined to use the French Bourbons for the restoration of the old regime in Spain. In 1832, due d’Angouleme invaded the country with 70,000 men, who took possession of Madrid, garrisoned all its principal fortresses, and virtually reduced Ferdinand to vassalage under the “Holy Alliance”.
But the artful policy of these powerful confederates against constitutional freedom, and the happiness of mankind was doomed to a rude and potent shock in 1830. In the words of Journal des Debats, “it seemed that the volcano which closed in 1815 was beginning to emit flames againf”. The first Napoleon spoke truly when he said that the princes of the House of Bourbon were all imbecilles. Their subserviency to the “Holy Alliance,” and the decline of French influence in Europe, disgusted all parties with their rule. The revolution rose against the government, and routed it at the barricades. Charles X, the representative of the Elder Branch of the Bourbons, fled to England, and Louis Phil- lippe was accepted as the “Citizen King of the French”, in his stead. But, though there was more of the principles of ’89 in this dynasty, it was still Bourbon. The fleur de lis was still the master of the situation; and, as time has proved, not the power to execute the mission of the Frogs. The younger branch of the Bourbons reigned eighteen years, in which various revolutionary attempts were made to destroy its citizen representative. In all this period the French had as much constitutional liberty, perhaps more, than they knew how to enjoy. Property was protected, life was safe, and ample scope afforded for money making, and profitable investment of capital; all of which, in all countries, affords much satisfaction to the middle classes, the bourgoisie, who imagine that the world was made for their especial profit and convenience. This, however, is a great mistake. The Bourbon kings had helped to dry up the Great River Euphrates; and the time had come in 1848 to direct French influence and power towards other objects. To elaborate these, it was necessary to remove the Bourbon Lilies, and to bring a more revolutionary agency upon the stage. The Bourbons forgot nothing and learned nothing. Their sympathies were all with the stagnant past, by
the malaria of which they had become “imbecile”. The spirit of the age is “the Spirit of life from the Deity that entered into the two unburied dead prophets” (ch. 11:9-11 — in 1789). This is a restless, revolutionary, progressive, spirit, essentially hostile to the papacy, priestcraft, and all the governments that sustain them. This spirit was widely diffused among the people of Europe in 1848§; but intensely active in France, Italy, and Germany. In France especially, the volcanic fires broke out for the third time with a fury, which all the strength and policy of half a dozen forms of government during a period of sixty years, had failed to quench. In this “wonderful year,” the throne of the “Citizen King,” which had been set up by a ruse played off by Lafayette upon the revolutionists of 1830, was leveled to the ground; and the fleur de lis indignantly trampled in the dust. There was a general rising of the people throughout Europe against the governments which oppressed them; and every throne tottered to its foundation. In France, the kingly form of government was utterly repudiated; and the Democratic and Social Republic upon the basis of “Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality, ” established in its stead. Here was a revival of the Republic of 1793, founded upon the fall of the Bourbons, and subverted, or perverted, by Napoleon I. The battle was fought by the workmen in the streets of Paris; the victory was theirs: it was the victory of the Frogs over the Fleur de Lis. The dynasty represented by this flower was abolished; and the marsh people resumed their original Westphalian right of choosing the most notable frog among them for their ruler. But for four months their government and National Assembly were only provisional. During this time, it was practically the parliament and executive of the democracy
§ 1848 is described as “the year of revolutions”. The influence of the French Revolution with its cry of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity was felt throughout all Continental nations. Rioting and revolution swept most of the main cities of Europe. In that year, Karl Marx issued his Manifesto Of The Communist Party. By voice and pen he endeavoured to stimulate the spirit of revolution. He declared that “insurrection is an art”, and taught: “The principal rule of this art is that an audacious and determined offensive must be waged... ” The national records of 1848 reveal how extensive was this effect. But it was premature; the time was not ripe according to the purpose of Yahweh, and in the main the revolutions were quelled. Only that of Garibaldi was then successful; and it resulted in the removal of the temporal power of the Papacy in 1870. However the Marxist principles of revolution erupted again in the Russian revolution of 1917. This was anticipated by John Thomas from his study of Bible prophecy. In the same year as Karl Marx wrote his Manifesto, John Thomas commenced Elpis Israel. Both expositions are revolutionary: the former aiming to overcome the tyranny of Gentile rule by the power of the flesh; the latter seeing the Spirit Word as being ultimately efficacious to that end. John Thomas clearly discerned the influence the teaching of Karl Marx would have upon the course of history. In Elpis Israel p. 373 (14th Ed.) he wrote: “Tne hopes of the democracy throughout Europe were inflamed; and ‘the earth’ began to tremble until in 1848 every throne was shaken to its foundation. The events of this wonderful year are too recent to require to be chronicled in this place. It will be enough to say that the democracy broke loose, and commenced a movement, wnich, though it has been restrained to prevent it progressing too rapidly, cannot be suppressed until.... the dominion of the ten-homed beast be taken away”. The movement stimulated by Karl Marx was repressed for the time being; but in 1917 it broke out with greater virulence in Russia to ultimately sweep the world as at present. The influence of socialism and communism today governs every government under the sun; it has brought Russia to the forefront of the nations as required by prophecy : a remarkable sign of the times — Publishers.
$ The “holy alliance” was an agreement signed by the crowned heads of Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1815. They pledged themselves to conduct policy on “Christian” principles and to uphold the existing social and territorial order in Europe, in particular the legitimacy of the Bourbons in France and Spain. Ultimately it was signed by every European prince except the prince regent, later George IV, of England (for constitutional reasons), the Pope (for religious reasons), and the sultan of Turkey (who was not a “Christian” prince). With the fall of Napoleon, the House of Bourbon through Louis XVIII was restored to the throne of France, but was later (1830) superceded by Napoleon III. The “holy alliance” became the symbol of reaction, the reaction dominated by Met- temich of Austria, by which he repressed the revolution in Italy. The “Monroe Doctrine” (the policy of President Monroe of America to keep apart from any European involvement) was, in part, an outgrowth of fear of this European reactionary behaviour. The revolutions of 1848 effectively destroyed this orgy, but the spirit of the original “holy alliance” continued as a model of conduct for the Tsars — Publishers.
[2] The Carbonari was the name adopted by secret societies in Italy. The actual name derived from the Italian carbonaro, meaning charcoal maker, in which occupation many were engaged. From this trade and also from the crucifixion of Christ, they adopted a system of mystical rites and symbolism. They were politically motivated advocating liberal, nationalist reforms. They were opposed to the conservative regimes imposed on Italy after the Council of Vienna (1815), and were a model for the Young Italy Movement. They were involved in the overthrow of French power in Naples, conspired against the Bourbon Government, stimulated the Neapolitan revolution of 1820, the disturbances in the Papal States of the same year and the Piedmontese revolution of 1821. They were finally crushed by Austria and their membership dispersed, many perishing or languishing in Austrian dungeons. There was also an active branch of the society in France, most of whom, after 1830, gave allegiance to the Government of Louise Philippe, and ceased to be of any further importance. — Publishers
t The defeat of Napoleon I in 1814 was followed by his banishment to Elba; however, in the following year he escaped and returned to France. Raising another army, Europe was again involved in war which terminated in his decisive defeat at Waterloo in June 1815. He was banished to the island of St. Helena where he died on 5th May 1821. “The volcano which closed in 1815” relates to Napoleon I. In 1848, Napoleon III was elected President of France. Care must be exercised not to confuse the two Napoleons — Publishers.
throughout Europe. Under the influence of their favor Germany, Italy, and Hungary, become insurgent. The earth shook on every side. Urged on by its democracy, Sardinia attacked the Austro-Italian element of the Little Horn; and provoked by the treachery of its Papal Eyes and Mouth, the democracy of Rome became insurrectionary, and so alarmed him, that he fled for safety to the kingdom of Naples. But Sardinia was not successful. By the defeat at Novara, the Austrian became paramount in Italy. This alarmed the Parisian Frogs, who did not wish the False Prophet to be reinstated in Rome under Austrian protection. They determined, therefore, although Rome was in possession of a sister Democratic and Social Republic, to seize upon the Seven Hills and to get the pope into their own keeping. Hence, they drove out Mazzini and Garibaldi with their adherents; abolished the Roman Republic; and reestablished the Pope. By this move, they got possession of Rome, and the Frog-power became an element in the policy of the Beast of the Earth and his Prophet; so that any spirit going forth from their Mouths would have resemblance to the Frogs, whose policy might originate, or give it shape.
SuppressiorTof theRevolutionaries in Vienna, October 1848. Cobbles hav^jeenusedtomak^he barricades. Useful because they enabled revolutionaries to create instant defences. Similar risings were suppressed in Paris, Berlin, Milan, Mantua and other prominent centres throughout Cathohc Europe.
Thus began the French occupation of Rome in 1849. They occupied it, not out of love to the Pope, but as a check upon Austria and Italy.
Austria and the Papacy, by concordat,$ are one horn with two capitals. The spiritual authority of the Pope is above the authority of the emperor in all the Austrian empire, until the concordat is repealed; and the natural ally and protector of the Pope is his Austrian “Apostolic Majesty”, f The Frog-power in Rome is a nuisance, tolerated there because it cannot be expelled. If the Frog-power had not intervened in 1849, Rome and Italy would have/been subject to the Little Horn with Eyes; and the current of events turned into a different channel. The Austro-Papal dominion would have been strong in 1867; and not as it is now, almost ready to give up the ghost. It has been the working of the Frog-power for nearly twenty years past, that has developed what we know to exist in Italy and the Roman States. The “unclean spirit going forth” from the Viennese Mouth, and the “unclean spirit going forth” from the Roman Mouth, in all that period, have been spirits in political shape “like to Frogs”.
By a vote of six millions, the plebiscite of the Frogs, the nephew of their great emperor was elected President of the Democratic and Social Republic. Having nearly served out his time, President Louis Napoleon determined to “save society” by slaying some two thousand people in the streets of Paris, sending numbers into exile, and making himself Emperor of the Frogs. Having accomplished this feat, he appealed to universal suffrage to sanctify this usurpation, and copious bloodshedding for the good of the social constitution. By aid of the machinery employed, and the prestige of his uncle’s name, the Frogs accepted him as their emperor; and he now sits among the powers, in spite of the “Holy Alliance”, and in defiance of the treaty of Vienna, as the “Mysterious Man of Destiny,” the arbiter of Europe; the smiles of whose countenance is peace, and his frowns the thundercloud of war.
In regard to the Sultan[1] [2], the revolution that placed the Frogs in power was more to his advantage than otherwise. Under Charles X and
Louis Phillippe, the French had assisted in drying him up; but since the fall of the Bourbons, the Frogs, in concert with England, had assured him of their support in case of attack from Russia; and had declared their policy in the Eastern Question to be, the integrity and independence of the Ottoman empire. In 1850,1 remarked, that “this assurance was certain, sooner or later, to bring on a war between the Porte and the Autocrat. If the Sultan had been left to himself, being weak, he would have yielded, and so have avoided the chance of war; but being energized by France and England, two strong military and naval powers, the Sultan feels himself a match for Russia, and prepared to assume a bold and warlike attitude”. And so it came to pass in 1854; when, inspired by the policy of the Frog-power, the “unclean spirit issued from” the Sultan-Mouth of the Constantinopolitan Dragon, in a declaration of war against Russia, and an attack upon Sevastopol by the French and English forces.
Thus, by the revolution began in February, 1848, the Frogs were developed, and assumed the position marked out for them in the prophecy of the Sixth Vial. They were not to stand alone. If they had been destined to operate by themselves the prophecy would probably have read, “I saw three unclean spirits like to Frogs go forth unto the kings of the earth,” and so forth. Had it read thus, our observation would have been confined to Paris, where the Frogs are imperially enthroned; and
$ Since this was written, the Concordat has been abolished.
A “Concordat” is a treaty between the Papacy and a temporal power concerning ecclesiastical affairs. In 1929 a Concordat called the Lateran Treaty, was signed between Mussolini of Italy and the Papacy. By it the temporal power of the Papacy was restored, and independence granted the Vatican. This paved the way for the international political activity of the Pope and Papacy today — Publishers.
t This refers to Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria from 1848 to 1916, and powerful supporter of the Papacy (hence the title). It was his nephew, the Achduke Ferdinand, heir to the throne, who was assassinated, with his wife, on a ceremonial visit to Sarajevo (Yugoslavia), thus commencing a chain of events which precipitated the outbreak of the First World War in July 1914. This war witnessed the fall of Jerusalem to allied forces, and the Russian Revolution: decisive prophetic anticipated events of history — Publishers.
[2] The Sultan was the leader of the Muslim community. During the continuance of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, the Sultinate was established in Constantinople. The revolution of Kemal Atat- urk following the First World War brought the Caliphate to an end, and in 1924 the office and title were abolished — Publishers.
This Diagram is from The Apocalypse and History obtainable from the office of The Christadelphian, 404 Shaftmoor Lane, Birmingham, U.K. See also The World Atlas of Revolutions, p. 48. — Publishers
we should have watched for the going forth of the three unclean spirits from that city. Or, had the words, “like to Frogs”, been omitted altogether, we should then have had no evidence to show, that the French were any more related to the “unclean spirits” than the Swedes or Hindoos. But, there the words are most ingeniously inserted; so that it may be perceived, that in the thirteenth verse, four leading political organizations, the French, the Constantinopolitan, the Viennese, and the Roman, are made the principal co-operating agencies in the work of developing the situation of the fourteenth verse. The working of these four powers, the French, Ottoman, Austrian, and Papal, in their political transactions with “the kings of the earth, and of the whole habitable, ” contemporaneously with the “dried up” condition of the Turkish power, is the Great Sign manifested in the heaven, that the Son of man is about stealthily to come in; and to resume the mission interrupted by his assumption to the right hand of Power (Matt. 24:30; Isa. 49:4-6). It is a sign of the times so manifest, that all who take interest in current events, not only can, but do see it. They see that the Ottoman Power is a Sick Man, with only two strong friends, France and England, who stand guard at the door of his house to prevent assassins from breaking in, and plundering him of all that remains of his estate. They see also, that, for the past twenty years, there has been no great political question mooted among the powers, whether in regard to Italy, the “Holy Places,” Austria, the Poles, Mexico, Rome, Denmark, or Luxenbourg, but that the French emperor has been the great agitator of the situation. All this they see, and wonder at. They term him a mysterious man, the arbiter of Europe, a man of destiny; and some regard him, ridiculously enough, as the Antichrist. Nevertheless, they fail to see the great signification of the great sign they observe; or indeed, to comprehend that it is a sign at all.
Observation and reflection during the twenty years of the development of this remarkable Frog-Sign, have confirmed me in the conviction, that the exposition I originated in my lectures in Britain in 1848-50, and afterwards in Elpis Israel, was substantially correct. It could not then be proved that the sign was to spread itself over twenty years; though it might have been conjectured, that it would continue in manifestation until the thieflike coming of the Ancient of Days. We are now at this writing, in the spring of 1868, near the last months of 1260 years, during which the saints were sentenced to involuntary subjection to the Little Horn with Eyes and Mouth; and the Frog Sign is still in manifestation. My present conviction is, that the Frogs will continue to work even after the Ancient of Days comes, and until the gathering into Armageddon; and that their working is a Providential element of the means to be
employed, in bringing the armies of the Dragon, the Beast, the Ten Horns and their False Prophets, into collision with the King of the Jews, and the kings of His rising. But this being in the near future, we shall not have long to wait to know the truth of the matter.§
The Frog-Sign, interpreted by events, divides itself into sectional developments; first, the operation of the Frogs upon the Constan- tinopolitan Dragon; then, their operation upon the Austrian Beast; and third, their operation upon the Roman Prophet. These operations began at successive periods in the order they occupy in the prophecy; but though commencing at different times, the first operation is not finished when the second begins; but the first and second in their effects continue in contemporaneous operation with the third; so that when the Ancient of Days comes, the whole three will be brought to bear against him with all their accumulated force.