XXXIII. 1836. CHAP. for a religious and moral reaction, a feeling of the necessity of order, begins to show itself; and in this mighty work of moral regeneration, society calls to its aid the support of power to shield it against the subversive influences. That is the moment to lend to it the succour of legislation. In the midst of a violent and universal crisis, the remedies suited to a period of peace and tranquillity are powerless-when calm is re-established, they are useless. It is when enlightened opinion, and the best interests of society, maintain a painful contest with the intestine passions which convulse it, that it becomes us to aid the moral travail of the world; it is then that we should cut short the pains which society, left to its own resources, would long have to endure in the midst of universal suffering, and for which no remedy could perhaps be found but in a universal overthrow, in which liberty itself would be the first to perish. 37. "Whatever may be the insolence of parties, however Continued. dangerous they may still be, they are conquered; they no longer bid us defiance, but they still subsist, and every day reveals more of the mischief which they do, and, still more, have done. Everywhere the disastrous traces of their passage are to be seen. They have thrown a poison into men's minds, which is far from being expelled. The prejudices they have diffused, the passions they have awakened, the vices they have caused, still ferment; and if at this moment the reign of insurrection has ceased, the moral revolt still subsists. An exaltation of mind without limit as without end, a mortal hatred for social order, a feverish desire to overturn at all hazards, a blind hope to succeed in the attempt, a profound irritation at failure, implacable humiliation of deceived vanity, shame at yielding, thirst of vengeance,-these are the feelings which remain in the breasts of the seditious minorities whom society has subdued, but by no means conquered. Is it not a fact imprinted in characters of blood in our streets, that under the fire of a hostile press, under the ceaseless XXXIII. 1836. action of barbarous theories and atrocious calumnies, CHAP. there has been formed in the lower strata of society-there, where meet gross passions with violent intelligences, neither of which can endure restraint-a militia of men capable of undertaking anything, at once fanatical and perverse, ready at any moment for revolt, and where political parricide finds arms with weapons in their hands at all times ready for insurrection? 38. "Revolt is the enemy which the glorious Revolution of July bore in its bosom. We have combated it under Concluded. all forms, in all fields. It began by raising in front of the tribune, rival tribunes from whence it might dictate its insolent determinations and sanguinary caprices. We have demolished these factious tribunes, we have shut up the clubs; for the first time we have muzzled the monster. Upon this it descended into the streets; you have seen it hurtle against the gates of the King's palace, with bared arms, shouting, vociferating, and hoping to domineer over all by fear. We have met it face to face, with the law in our hand; we have dispersed its assemblages, we have made it re-enter its den. Next it organised itself in secret societies, in permanent conspiracies, in living plots. With the law in our hand we have dissolved the anarchical societies, arrested their chiefs, scattered their bravoes. After having repeatedly given us battle, it has been as often defeated, dragged by the heels through the streets, despite its clamour, to receive due chastisement at the hands of justice. Now it has fled to its last refuge; it has sought an asylum in the factious press; it has sought to intrench itself behind the sacred right of discussion, which the Charter has guaranteed to all Frenchmen. It is there that like the wretch of whom history has preserved the name, who poisoned the waters of a populous city—it poisons every day the fountains of human intelligence, the channels in which truth should circulate, and pours its venom into all minds. We propose to attack it in its last asylum; we tear from its visage its last mask, and XXXIII. 1836. CHAP. after having conquered it in material strife without infringing personal liberty, we shall subdue the licentiousness without infringing on the legitimate liberty of language. Should we succeed, as succeed I trust we shall, with your assistance, come what will, we shall have discharged our duty. Should the King in his wisdom call other men to the direction of affairs; should you, from motives which we shall always respect, withdraw the confidence you have hitherto reposed in us; should we fall from our own fault, or without it, it matters not. When 1 Moniteur, the hour of our retreat has sounded, we shall carry back 1835; Ann. with us into private life the proud conviction of having 318, 319; exercised power in a conscientious and courageous spirit; we shall carry with us the consciousness of having done nothing for ourselves, but all for our country." 1 Aug. 18, Hist. xviii. Cap. viii. 221, 227. 39. M. Armand martine. 2 Ante, c. xvii. No one acquainted with the state of France at this Answer of period could deny that there was much truth in these Carrel and eloquent words. Unfortunately for the orators, however, it was exactly what had been said five years before, in the manifesto, in 1830, setting forth the reasons for the Ordonnances of the Polignac Administration, drawn by M. de Chantelauze, and for acting on which the men composing $$ 54, 56. the present government had demanded their heads.2 The orators on the other side, whether in the Chamber or at the bar (for all State trials at this period were political debates), did not fail to take advantage of this circumstance, and keenly reproached the Government for attacking a movement at the head of which they had formerly been found themselves. "The Revolution of July," said M. Armand Carrel and M. Lamartine, “has been much praised for its clemency, and certainly we are not those who would make that clemency a matter of reproach; for if we counselled vigour, we counselled at the same time humanity. But posterity will not fail to reproach it with its inconceivably infatuated trust. Hardly had it escaped from the bayonets of the Swiss, when it fell into that alliance which is now stifling it. We have had our share in the general fault, and we are now bearing the punishment of our inexperi- CHAP. What remains to us now of the victory 66 XXXIII. 1835. 40. enced courage. of July, of that immortal triumph, but the tricolor flag, which to all appearance will soon be torn from our grasp? Imprudent and young that we were the day after the victory! we had our eyes fixed on the future, and we Continued. never thought of securing our point of departure ! We advanced to new conquests, dreamt of fresh victories, and already the reforms we had gained have slipt from our hands. There is nothing they will not dare, nothing attempt. It is thus that we have seen, during the state of siege in Paris, political writers given up to police sergeants, the sanctity of domicile universally violated, secret correspondence seized and published; association, the principle of protection of the weak against the strong, the sufferers against the oppressors, denounced as a State crime. It is by these means that we have been stripped, one by one, of all our liberties, either of thought, writing, or action, and punished in our persons and our property for having wished to preserve the existence of a journal, from whence has come the first call of the house of Orléans. 41. "It is in vain that reference is made to the licentiousness of the press to justify these measures for the annihi- Continued. lation of its liberty. Freedom, difficult with it, is impossible without it. We must bear with its excesses, or abandon all hope of freedom. You must conquer it by putting it in the wrong, but it is a senseless attempt to think of extinguishing it, which cannot fail to recoil upon those who engage in it. Such an attempt leads nations back; it leads to Moscow or to Prague, by the path of blind tyranny, or by that of revolt. Look around you; where are the ruins in society of which we hear so much? The throne has been overturned; it is restored. The good citizens were scattered, and trembled after a victory which had taught the people their strength; they have been rallied under the standard of the National Guard, VOL. V. 2 Q XXXIII. 1835. CHAP. and form the redoubtable army to which the defence of order is intrusted. The army was dissolved, and now it numbers four hundred thousand men, united as one man. Property was threatened, and now property has swallowed up everything, even the electoral rights, which it is not entitled to engross exclusively. The Archbishop's palace was pillaged, and now the temples are restored, and filled with the faithful, who recognise a common origin for morality and religion. Your elections were once delivered up to the gales of extreme faction; and now all returns, from the Chamber of Deputies to the humblest magistracy, are in the hands of men of property. Revolt was once rife in the streets, and now order and propriety reign in them; and if a fearful crime has been committed, it has filled all France with horror and execration. Royalty itself, so often assailed, so often dragged in the mire by the journals, what has it lost in the strife? I ask those who have witnessed the last atrocious attempt, has not the Sovereign become aggrandised amidst dangers, and honoured the government by his sang froid in peril, and the solicitude he has evinced for others? 42. "The Polignac Ministry attempted to effect the Concluded. counter-revolution by ordonnances; you are seeking to do the same thing by laws. Is the Chamber prepared to second such an attempt? The future of the country is in your hands; with a single word you can cure the evil, and appease all disquietudes. Reject the proposed laws as unconstitutional. Overturn the Ministry which, by its own admission, has come to such a point that it cannot govern but by a violation of the constitution. Unite with us in supplicating the sovereign to choose a new Ministry among those who, better instructed in the wants of the 1 Moniteur, country, may succeed, by means of clemency and concilia1835; Ann. tion, in calming the passions; among those who, respect309, 311. ing legal right, may govern by conforming to the Charter, not violating it ;1 among those who, believing in the eter Aug. 13-17, Hist. xviii. |