XXXIII. 1836. CHAP. ther the maintenance of the right or the guarding against its abuse is most to be desired by all the real friends of freedom and humanity. If, on the one hand, it is a vast step in civilisation, to which the united efforts of all the friends of the species should be directed, to effect the abolition of the punishment of death in the case of political prisoners, and to substitute for it the milder penalty of the Athenian ostracism; on the other, it is essential to the general adoption of that modified code, that the political enemies who find a refuge in the territories of a neighbouring Power should abstain from engaging in such enterprises as may excite alarm in, or disturb the tranquillity of the adjoining States. If they do not do this if they abuse the rights of hospitality so far as to render the territory of the neutral State in which they have found an asylum a mere platform, from which, as from a besieger's battery, they may send shells at long range into the States from which they have been expelled, and thereby rekindle the flames which have been extinguished by their removal, they continue a belligerent Power, and the State which permits such use to be made of its territory loses its character of neutrality, and becomes a confederate of the belligerent refugees. No right-minded government will ever permit such an abuse of the rights of hospitality; no really independent government will feel offended at the demand for its abatement. All parties have an equal interest in insisting for such a limitation of the supposed rights of misfortune, for none can say how soon it may become their own turn to invoke them. All have in their turn insisted for such a limitation against others, however loudly they may have exclaimed against it when directed against themselves. Were it otherwise, the greatest step in the humanising of manners in recent times would be abandoned, the great lesson taught by the tragedy of the French Revolution would be lost; each party, when it became victorious, would destroy its adversaries like savages in the first ages of warfare; and the boasted improvements of civil XXXIII. isation would terminate in the general adoption of the CHAP. maxim of Barère: "Il n'a que les morts qui ne reviennent pas." 1836. This question of the expulsion of political refugees 70. and its ur question, gent dan gers. from Switzerland drew closer the bonds between France The Spanish and Austria, for they had an equal interest in demanding it. M. Thiers and Prince Metternich were quite at one on this point. But it was otherwise with the Spanish question, which had now become so alarming as to force itself upon the attention of all the adjoining States, and in an especial manner excited the solicitude of the Liberal party in France. The terrible war of succession, grafted on revolution, which had, ever since the death of Ferdinand VII., bathed the Peninsula in blood, to be recounted in a future chapter, had now arrived at such a point that the royal authority seemed on the point of being destroyed, and the kingdom exposed to the sanguinary mutual and inveterate vengeance of the Carlist and Republican parties. All the valleys of the north of Spain were in the hands of the former; nearly all the cities of the south had declared for the latter. Between the two, the authority of the Crown at Madrid was well-nigh destroyed, and the QueenRegent herself had recently been subjected to a military outrage and revolt at La Granja, which foreboded the worst horrors of the French Revolution. 71. is for in the King against it, and the for mer resigns. In these circumstances, M. Thiers, whose prepossessions were all on the side of revolution, provided it did M. Thiers not impair or endanger his own power, was decidedly in tervention, favour of an armed and prompt intervention. The British Government had already, in March 1836, sent a body of marines to co-operate with the Spanish Liberals on the coast of Biscay; but France had declined to intervene at that period; and M. Thiers himself had written a letter on 18th March declining the proposed co-operation, as perilous in the extreme, and likely to induce a European war. When the extreme revolution, however, which led to the outrage at La Granja, broke XXXIII. 1836. CHAP. out in Spain, the King consented to the formation of a corps of volunteers from the army at Pau, with a view to finally taking part in the Spanish contest. When the time for action, however, seemed to have arrived, the King, whose desire for peace amounted to an absolute passion, would not be brought to give his consent to preparations being made for entering the Peninsula, and even desired that the corps of volunteers should be disbanded. The whole Cabinet, with the exception of M. Montalivet, was of an opposite opinion; 1 Moniteur, and the consequence was that they resigned in a body, 1836; Ann. and the King sent for COUNT MOLE, who without delay 231, 233; formed a new Ministry, in which the Doctrinaires and Conservatives had the majority, and which was based on the principle of non-intervention.1* Sept. 6. Sept. 6, Hist. xix. Cap. ix. 96, 108. 72. Count Molé, who thus became Prime Minister of Character France at a comparatively early age, and held the office Molé. for two years, was in every respect the reverse of his of Count brilliant, volatile, and inconsistent predecessor. Of ancient and noble family, and the inheritor of a splendid chateau filled with historic monuments, he had all the charm of manner and elevation of mind which is often found to distinguish aristocratic descent. But he had none of the légèreté or frivolity which so frequently accompanies it, and renders even brilliant talents unavailing to the public service. Grave in manner, laborious in habit, and thoughtful in disposition, his conversation had peculiar charms for the King, who was himself well informed on historic subjects, and delighted in unbending his mind, after the fatigues of the counciltable, on the manners and incidents of the olden time. He was a judicious and sometimes powerful * The Ministry of 6th September, as finally constituted, stood as follows:President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Molé. Keeper of the Seals and Minister of Justice, M. Persil. Minister of the Interior, M. de Gasparin; of Marine, Admiral Rosamel; of Public Instruction, M. Guizot; of Finance, M. Duchatel; of War, Baron Bernard; of Commerce and Agriculture, M. Martin (du Nord).—Ann. Hist., xix. 233, 234. XXXIII. 1836. speaker, but without the eloquence or volatile talents CHAP. of M. Thiers; and on that account he had more weight in the Chamber of Peers, where he had numerous friends, and his high birth gave him eminent advantages, than in the Deputies, who were chiefly governed by economical considerations, and were never carried away but by the highest flights of popular oratory. His historical information, especially of the annals of his own country, was immense; but on that very account he was perhaps the less qualified to grapple with the difficulties of the present time: he was better acquainted with France as it had been, than as it was,— a fault common to him with many aristocratic leaders, and which has led to many of the most unfortunate steps recorded in history. With all these solid and valuable qualities, which added lustre to a character of unequivocal probity, Count Molé had some weaknesses which seriously impeded his Administration. He was not great enough to be simple; a secret vein of vanity pervaded his character; and his high position in the Chamber of Peers had given him a more lofty idea of his own importance, and the deference due to it, than was consistent either with his real abilities or the influence which any Minister resting chiefly on aristocratic influences could then obtain in France. 73. of Prince The first important step of the new Ministry was one in itself graceful and honourable, and which, without ex- Liberation citing disturbances in France, contributed to enhance the Polignac estimation in which its Government was held in foreign soners in countries. Ever since their memorable trial in December Ham. 1830, in the Luxembourg, Prince Polignac and the other Ministers of Charles X. who had signed the Ordonnances, had remained in close confinement in the citadel of Ham. The humanity of the Government had mitigated the severity of their punishment by allowing them the use of books and pen and ink; and their independence of mind, and conscious rectitude of intention, had prevented them XXXIII. 1836. CHAP. from demeaning themselves by soliciting any other indulgence. Public opinion, however, had undergone a great change within the last few years in regard to the propriety of their further detention. For the last four, the new Government had been incessantly engaged in combating insurrections and conspiracies against itself, and the peace of society had only been preserved by reenacting with additional severity the ordonnances which had occasioned the downfall of Charles X. It was evident, therefore, that they had suffered only for their foresight they had been punished, not because they had done wrong, but because they had too soon done what was right; because, with inadequate means, they had attempted prevention instead of waiting for cure. These views, long working in the public mind, had prepared them for the pardon of the prisoners in Ham, and enabled Louis Philippe, without risk, to gratify his own humane disposition by extending mercy to them. It was accordingly deemed a gracious and well-timed act when the King, on the 17th October, directed M. de Peyronnet and M. de Chantelauze to be liberated on their parole, to reside in certain places at a distance from 1 Ann. Hist. Paris; and this was soon after followed by another or258; Moni- donnance, on 23d November, which commuted the punishment of MM. de Polignac and Guernon de Ranville into banishment for twenty years from France, and in the mean time directed their liberation from their long confinement.1 Oct. 17. Nov. 23. xix. 257, teur, Oct. 17, Nov. 23, 1836; Cap. ix. 145, 151. 74. Death of Charles X. Hardly had this act of humanity been performed by the French Government, when the monarch in whose service these gallant but injudicious men had incurred the penalties they had undergone, was numbered with his fathers. Ever since his dethronement, Charles X. had led a retired domestic life, alike removed from the whirl of politics and the gaiety of courts. Regarding his fall as the punishment inflicted by Heaven for the sins which he had committed, he submitted in silent re |