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XLIV.

CHAP. saloons of fashion, but little likely to qualify him to sustain the conflicts of a robust democracy, in the daily conflicts in the forum.

1842.

104.

of the Min

jority in the

Chamber.

Such were the men upon whom was now to devolve a Corruption conflict, upon which the destinies of France, and with isterial ma- them, in a great degree, those of the civilised world, were to depend. But in addition to the weakness in debate, the administration of M. Guizot had to contend with two still more serious difficulties, arising from the construction of the Chambers, and the temper of the civic force upon which, in a conflict in the streets, it would have principally to depend. The first of these was the entire discredit into which the Chamber of Peers had fallen, in consequence of the loss of its hereditary character, and the absence of any great fortunes among its members, or any other qualification for admission but court favour or ministerial necessities. So powerful had these causes of degradation become, that the votes of the upper Chamber were scarcely ever thought of or inquired after in any political question; and if any one was accidentally pushed to a decision, the decision was usually 118 to.3 in favour of Ministers. Thus everything had come to depend on the Chamber of Deputies; and though the ministerial majority there was very decided, yet it was doubtful whether the influence of the Crown in the country was not rather weakened than strengthened by its composition. The needy circumstances of the greater part of the Deputies, and the universal thirst in France for official appointment, was the main cause of this discreditable state of things. Both were the direct consequences of the Revolution. The great territorial and mercantile fortunes having been destroyed by that convulsion, while at the same time the colonies and outlets in trade and manufactures had been for the most. part swept away, nothing remained for the rising youth of the country but government appointments, either in the civil or military line. To secure these for themselves,

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their relations, dependants, or constitutents, was the CHAP. chief object which men proposed to themselves by going into parliament; and the success which attended the step to several, was sufficient to excite an universal thirst for these highly advantageous situations. Before we stigmatise the French as corrupt or venal on this account, we would do well to consider the circumstances in which they were placed when it occurred, and to ask ourselves whether, if Australia, India, our foreign trade and manufactures, were swept away, less competition for office would exist in the British House of Commons and among their constituents throughout the country.

tent.

105.

But it is easier to see to what cause the corruption of the elective Chamber and universal thirst for official Its great exemployment in France was owing, than to palliate its enormity, or over-estimate its effects. These were only the greater, from all the world being so thoroughly disposed to engage in the same practices, and the fortunate intrants being the object not only of political animosity but of personal envy. The most vehement declaimers

against the corruption of the legislature, both in the press and in the Chambers, the loudest approvers of the purity of election, were themselves the most abject petitioners for favours, and not unfrequently the most successful in obtaining them. The system of buying off the Opposition by offices, as well as going into Opposition in order to be so bought off, was brought to even greater perfection on the south than it had been on the north of the Channel. One Opposition chief, who had been particularly loud in a circular to his constituents, against the traffic in places, had modestly demanded only THIRTYFIVE for himself and his brother. Another, equally virtuous and indignant against the prevailing vice, had actually solicited THREE HUNDRED AND FOUR PLACES for himself, his family, and constituents. A third deputy went still further; he had actually obtained THIRTY-FIVE places for himself and his friends, and he had the effron

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1842.

CHAP. tery to move for an electoral inquiry into the corruption practised by the Government; and on 22d February 1848 he signed the demand for a formal accusation of the Ministers from whom he had received such favours. In a word, it was difficult to say whether the King's government or the King's opposition was most thoroughly steeped in corruption, or most ready to sacrifice everything to the attainment of the grand object of universal ambition, the gaining or retaining of offices under the Ministry. The great extent to which this tendency proceeded in France, under the system of uniform suffrage which there prevailed, suggests a doubt whether it can by possibility be checked by any other mode than a representative system, based on different interests, which may set one selfish motive to counteract another.1

1 Cassagnac,

i. 97, 99;

Regnault,

ii. 47, 49.

106.

tion of the National

Guard.

The second great and serious danger which at this Demoralisa- period had come to threaten the monarchy was the demoralisation which had seized upon the great majority of the National Guard of the metropolis. If there is any one truth more than another clearly demonstrated by experience, it is the utter inadequacy of a civic guard to avert the dangers or crush the violence of a revolution. From the time of its first institution in 1789, till its final revolt against the King in 1848, it proved itself utterly inadequate to coercing the excesses of the people. United by no common bond, animated by no patriotic feeling, inspired by no generous sentiments, it yielded to every passing influence, and, instead of forming a barrier against perilous change, became the chief and most dangerous instrument by which it might be carried into effect. The deep game so long played by the Revolutionists had at length come to tell with fatal effect on its dense battalions; the Government was utterly discredited, and every act of those in power was, by ingenious sophistry, twisted into an argument against them. Was peace preserved it was the result of a base submission to England, which degraded France into the rank of a second

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1842.

rate power; were the armies victorious in Africa-they CHAP. were fighting the battles of the dynasty, not the country, and shedding their blood in a cause alien to that of their fatherland; was commerce flourishing-it was enriching the burgher aristocracy by the produce of the sweat and labour of the people. All the efforts of Louis Philippe to conciliate the burgher class, which had placed him on the throne, his support of the undiminished rentes, his resistance of all measures tending to free trade, his anxious and successful maintenance of peace, were, by the bitterness of faction, used as so many subjects of reproach against him, and considered as such by the vast majority of the citizens. Sixty thousand of these, with arms in their hands, were enrolled in the legions of the National Guard-a formidable force, not so much from its courage or discipline, as from its moral influence, and the grave doubts which existed as to whether, under any circumstances, the regular troops could be brought to act against it.

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107.

the state of

this period.

Such was the state of France, socially and politically, at this period. The peasants in the country, forming Resumé of two-thirds of the entire inhabitants of the realm, were France at ground down by the weight of debts and taxes, and not practically in the enjoyment of a third of the fruits of their labour; the bourgeois in towns, though prosperous so far as material interests went, were generally discontented, and yielding without resistance to the declamations of the Liberal press, which aimed by their means at subverting the Government; the urban working-classes were impoverished by excessive competition, and seeking refuge from their sufferings in the dreams of the Socialists; the National Guard had lost all the feelings of honour belonging to soldiers, and was rapidly turning into an armed body of janissaries, capable of controlling or overturning the throne. The finances of the nation were in extreme disorder; and Government, to give the idle and discontented bread, was obliged to

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CHAP. add every year several millions sterling to the floating debt of the State, to be expended on public works, from which no immediate return could be expected. The press had become the inveterate and envenomed enemy of the Government, and the majority of talent in the Chamber was ranged on the Liberal side. But, on the other hand, the country, generally speaking, was tranquil; external peace was preserved; the army was splendid and numerous, and had proved itself on every occasion faithful to its duty; and those formidable conspiracies which, for long after the Revolution of July, had disturbed the State, had come to an end. A decided majority in the constituencies was inclined to support the existing order of things, and they secured not only a working, but a decided majority in the Chamber, which the immense patronage at the disposal of Government enabled it to retain in willing obedience. Apparently, and so far as appearances went, everything was tranquil and prosperous; but many deep-rooted seeds of evil existed in the bosom of the State, only the more dangerous that Government, relying on the fidelity of the army, and the strength of its majority in the legislature, was ignorant of or disposed to ignore their existence.

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