NOVEL NEXT Chapter LXXVI – We the people.
55th of Summer, 5859
(Former) Mayor’s Dining Room of Azdavay, Azdavay (Azdavay)
Every politician needs to entertain their guests, and the late mayor of Azdavay was no exception. His dining room was quite a sight to behold, with a wide open space only occupied by a grand table that certainly had cost quite a lot of money. Illuminating the room would be a chandelier if not for the fact that the new occupants of this dining room didn’t know how to operate it. The former mayor would have probably died from shock instead of asphyxiation if he had seen his dining room be filled with fugitives. There was no fancy food unfortunately, save for some choosing to eat some flatbread and hardtack while listening in, but the room contained someone much more attention-grabbing than fancy dining.
“I’m glad to have you fine folk here.” Brown had found himself at a spot in the corner of the room, which had prompted the people inside the room to scoot the chairs towards his direction. The fine mahogany floors of the dining room had been ruined by all this scooting, but there was nobody around who cared about that.
Brown took a look at the crowd around him before he continued speaking. There certainly was a whole lot more people. Libertycave already had a population of more than two-hundred before they left; now some of the liberated slaves around Azdavay had joined up to swell their ranks to a thousand. The rest of the liberated slaves had either decided to take ownership of the now ownerless plantations or stay away from the military side of liberation, which them not wanting to take a risk just after getting their liberty was understandable. Still, this was a far cry from the days of yore when they were nothing but a dozen strangers escaping from Azdavay.
“We have made it far, thank the Lord for having protected us in our arduous journey. But let us not rest or idle! While celebrations have been in order, Azdavay is just the beginning of the beginning. I know not how many still toil in the fields and mines of this realm, but there are many of your brothers and sisters that await you. We must not stop here; we shall not stop here. You might have heard rumors of strife in Casamonu, and let me tell you that those rumors are true. We have been graciously spared only by the lords fighting amongst themselves. The moment they stop fighting will the moment that they come together to snuff out our spark of rebellion.”
The thought of their rebellion being snuffed out caused quite the commotion, especially amongst the new members, who definitely didn’t want to go back to their old form of employment. The older members had heard similar thoughts and speeches from Brown already, but the thought still terrified them.
Brown waited for the crowd to calm down before speaking once more. “Our enemies are currently disorganized. Yet, I’ll be honest, we are similarly disorganized to them. The ‘League of Gileadites’ is currently a concept that amounts to nothing but a vague notion of us being grouped together. This was more than enough to enter Azdavay, but will it be enough to break through the walls of Casamonu? What about all the other cities of Gemeinplatz?” He took out a particularly large roll of paper from under his coat and unfurled it. “Therefore, after long deliberation with General Tubman, we have drafted this constitution for the League of Gileadites as a starting place.” The paper was quite long, with it written in Latin script on one side and the local Gemeinplatz script on the other. It was so long in fact that Tubman was holding it on the other hand to keep it straight, not that anyone in the room could read it in the first place. “With your approval, it shall come into effect.”
Being the only person literate in Latin script, Brown was left with the task of reading the constitution out loud. “We, as members of the League of Gileadites, hereby declare that Gemeinplatz belongs to all those living in it, and that the people of Gemeinplatz have been robbed of their birthright of liberty and equality. Therefore, we have united together in this League and adopted this Provisional Constitution to protect our inalienable rights for the time being.”
Article I: All persons who of mature age, and their dependents, who agree to uphold and enforce the provisional constitution shall be accepted into the League.
Article II: Decision-making shall be done through a Council, which shall be composed of a majority of the adult members of the League and gather regularly for voting. The Council has the right to make ordinances for the general good as long as it doesn’t go against the constitution.
Article III: The Council shall elect, through a majority vote, a President whom shall faithfully execute the decisions made by the council, and a Commander-in-Chief who shall lead the League in all military affairs. They shall hold office for three years unless the Council elects to remove them through a majority vote.
Article IV: The President, with the Commander-in-Chief; shall, immediately upon entering on the duties of their office, give special attention to secure from amongst their own people, men of integrity, intelligence, and good business habits and capacity, and, above an, of first-rate moral character and influence, to act as civil officers of every description and grade, as well as teachers, priests, physicians, surgeons, mechanics, agents of every description, clerks, and messengers.
Article V: It shall be the duty of the President and Commander-in-Chief to find out (as soon as possible) the real friends as well as enemies of the League in every part of the country; to secure among them innkeepers, messengers, adventurers, otherworlders, and agents, through whom may be obtained correct and regular information constantly; recruits for the service, places of deposit and sale, together with all needed supplies; and it shall be matter of special regard to secure such facilities throughout Gemeinplatz.
Article VI: It shall be the duty of all officers of the League to name candidates of merit, for office or elevation to the Commander-in-Chief who shall be the appointing power of the army; and all commissions of military officers shall bear the signatures of the Commander in-Chief.
Article VII: All money, jewelry or other articles captured by honorable warfare, found, taken, or confiscated, belonging to the enemy, shall be held sacred to constitute a safety fund; and any person who shall improperly retain, dispose of, hide, use, or destroy such money or other article above named, contrary to the provisions and spirit of this article, shall be deemed guilty of theft, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished accordingly.
Article VIII: No person, after having surrendered himself or herself a prisoner, and who shall properly demean himself or herself as such, to any officer or private connected with this organization, shall afterward be put to death, or be subject to any corporeal punishment, without first having had the benefit of a fair and impartial trial; nor shall any prisoner be treated with any kind of cruelty, disrespect, insult, or needless severity; but it shall be the duty of all persons, male and female, connected herewith, at all times and under all circumstances, to treat all such prisoners with every degree of respect and kindness that the nature of the circumstances will admit of, and to insist on a like course of conduct from all others.
Article IX: No two of the offices specially provided for by this instrument shall be filled by the same person at the same time.
Article X: Every officer, civil or military, connected with the League shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, make solemn oath or affirmation to abide by and support this provisional constitution and these ordinances; also every citizen and soldier, before being fully recognized as such, shall do the same.
…
The president of this convention shall convene, immediately on the adoption of this instrument, a convention of all such persons as shall have given their adherence to the constitution, who shall proceed to fill, by election, all offices specially named in said constitution, the president of this convention presiding, and issuing commissions to such officers elect; all such officers being thereafter elected in the manner provided in the body of this instrument.
It took a while for Brown read all the articles. Thankfully, he had brought a big cup of water to sip when his old throat got hoarse. There were a few more minor articles, mostly minor ones delineating some separation of powers and secretaries and ministers, but Brown quickly skipped over those as to not tire out the already tired audience in the room. Their attention was grabbed once more when Brown asked the most important question of the day: “So, you have heard of the constitution. Before we move on to the voting, does anyone have any questions or proposed amendments?”
One hand was raised, that hand belonging to Watanabe. “Captain, I thought that this was supposed to be a constitution for the League. But, it sounds more like the constitution of a country.”
Brown couldn’t help but smile at the question. “Of course, that is exactly what we are achieving here. Ladies and gentlemen, all of you here, you are witnessing the birth of a new country in Gemeinplatz, no matter what its final name will take after this provisional constitution is amended.”
This caused a storm throughout the previously disinterested audience. All of them had the vague feeling that they needed to replace the Empire of Gemeinplatz with something else, but most of them had yet to consciously come to that realization. “Constitutional convention” was a term that was alien to almost all in the room.
Watanabe sat down after having his questioned answered. “Any other questions, objections, proposals?” There seemed to be none at the moment; the articles of this constitution weren’t too dissimilar to how the League already informally operated. “Then, let us move to the voting. Those who are in favor of adopting this constitution, raise your hands!”
Almost everyone in the room, aside from those very little few who wanted something like a monarchy to continue, raised their hands in approval.
Today, on 55 Summer 5859, a new republic was formed in Gemeinplatz.