Mitchell means the plan of creating the Occidental Province, but on the deeper level "Decoud's plan" is of course skepticism, and the success of that plan is eloquently set forth in this chapter, in a blandly materialist modern world devoid of saving ideology, where all human passions are forced underground. It is this meaning that causes the idealist Antonia to burst into tears.

Note that Mitchell's repetition omits the word "glorious" -- glory, like the statue of Charles IV, has been assigned to the dustbin of history.