crowd of curious men and women, who will stand beside him as though accidentally and will hold back the other people as though through respect for order. This example will implant an idea of self-restraint in others. If there be a person in the crowd trying to present a petition, and working his way through the ranks, the person nearest to him must take the petition and present it to the sovereign in sight of the petitioner himself, so that all may know that the petition presented has reached its destination and consequently that there exists a control of affairs on the part of the sovereign himself. The prestige of authority demands that the people should be able to say, “If only the king could know it,” or, “The king will know about this.”
With the establishment of an official police guard the mystical prestige of authority vanishes at once; with a certain amount of audacity, every one considers himself superior to authority; the assassin realizes his strength and only has to watch his opportunity to make an attempt against an official. We preached differently for the Goys, but we can see the results to which open methods of protection have led them.
We will arrest criminals upon the first more or less well-founded suspicion. Because of the fear of a possible mistake political criminals should not be given the opportunity to escape; indeed towards political crime we will show no mercy. If, in exceptional cases, it may seem possible to allow the investigation of motives which have led to ordinary criminal offences, there is no excuse for those who attempt to deal with matters which no one can understand except the government. Moreover, not even all governments are capable of understanding the right policy.
Protocol No. XIX
Though we will not allow individuals to become involved in politics, we will, on the other hand, encourage the submission for the approval of the government of all petitions and reports containing