Blessed are they that are
merry, and laugh the last.

Blessed are the proud, in that
they _have_ inherited the
earth.

Blessed are they which hunger
for unrighteousness, in
that they shall divide its
mammon.

Blessed are the merciless, for
they shall obtain money.

Blessed are the foul in heart,
for they shall see no God.

Blessed are the War-makers,
for they shall be adored by
the children of men.

180. Who are the true "Makers of War," the promoters and supports of it,
I showed long since in the note to the brief sentence of "Unto this
last." "It is entirely capitalists' (_i.e._, Usurers') wealth[135] which
supports unjust Wars." But to what extent the adoration of the Usurer,
and the slavery consequent upon it, has perverted the soul or bound the
hands of every man in Europe, I will let the reader hear, from authority
he will less doubt than mine:--

"Financiers are the mischievous feudalism of the 19th century. A handful
of men have invented distant, seductive loans, have introduced national
debts in countries happily ignorant of them, have advanced money to
unsophisticated Powers on ruinous terms, and then, by appealing to small
investors all over the world, got rid of the bonds. Furthermore, with
the difference between the advances and the sale of bonds, they caused a
fall in the securities which they had issued, and, having sold at 80,
they bought back at 10, taking advantage of the public panic. Again,
with the money thus obtained, they bought up consciences, where
consciences are marketable, and under the pretense of providing the
country thus traded upon with new means of communication, they passed
money into their own coffers. They have had pupils, imitators, and
plagiarists; and at the present moment, under different names, the
financiers rule the world, are a sore of society, and form one of the
chief causes of modern crises.

"Unlike the Nile, wherever they pass they render the soil dry and
barren. The treasures of the world flow into their cellars, and there
remain. They spend one-tenth of their revenues; the remaining
nine-tenths they hoard and divert from circulation. They distribute
favors, and are great political leaders. They have not assumed the place
of the old nobility, but have taken the latter into their service.
Princes are their chamberlains, dukes open their doors, and marquises
act as their equerries when they deign to ride.

"These new gran