XXXIV.

1840.

ties of the Conservatives, because he had brought Europe CHAP. to the edge of a general war; of the Revolutionists, because he had avoided it. It was no difficult matter, in these circumstances, to effect his downfall; and his own impatience and excitable temperament soon brought about the desired opportunity. In the midst of his warlike enthusiasm, M. Thiers had desired the early convocation of the Chambers to sanction his great expenditure, and the King had consented to it, in the hope that the pentup passions of the nation might find vent in the tribune, and the war of tongues supersede that of swords. The Chambers, accordingly, stood convoked for the 5th Nov-. ember. But an insurmountable difficulty arose in regard to the terms in which the recent events were to be alluded to in the speech from the throne. M. Thiers insisted for menacing expressions, in which the flag of defiance was still to be flung in the face of Europe. The King thought this was a senseless and perilous bravado, which might lead to the most serious dangers. He refused his consent, therefore, to the insertion of the hazardous paragraph, and the consequence was, that M. Thiers resigned 305-308; with his whole cabinet, and their resignations were at once 263. accepted.1 *

* The passage desired by M. Thiers, and objected to by the King, was as follows:-". Au moment où finissait la dernière session, un traité a été signé entre la Porte Ottomane, l'Angleterre, l'Autriche, la Prusse, et la Russie, pour régler le différend survenu entre le Sultan et le Vice-roi d'Egypte. Cet acte important accompli sans la participation de la France, et dans les vues d'une politique à laquelle elle n'a point adhéré, pouvait dans l'exécution amener de dangereuses conséquences. La France devait les prévoir, et se disposer à faire face à tous les évènemens. Mon gouvernement a pris sous sa responsabilité toutes les mesures qu'autorisaient les lois et que prescrivait sa situation nouvelle. La France, qui continue à souhaiter sincèrement la paix, demeure fidèle à la politique que vous avez plus d'une fois appuyée par d'éclatans suffrages. Jalouse d'assurer l'indépendance et l'intégrité de l'Empire Ottoman, elle les croit conciliables avec l'existence du Vice-roi d'Egypte, devenu lui-même un des élémens nécessaires à la force de cet empire. Mais les évènemens qui se passaient pourraient amener des conséquences plus graves. Les mesures prises jusq'ici par mon Gouvernement pourraient alors ne plus suffire. Il importait donc de les compléter par des mesures nouvelles, pour lesquelles le concours des deux Chambres était nécessaire. J'ai dû les convoquer. Elles penseront comme moi que la France, qui n'a pas été la première à livrer le repos du monde à la fortune des armes, doit se tenir prête à agir, le jour où elle croirait

1

Moniteur, 1840; Ann.

Oct. 27,

Hist. xxiii.

Cap. x. 261,

CHAP. XXXIV.

1840.

102.

The new Ministry. Oct. 29, 1840.

The resignation of the Minister having been foreseen, and, in fact, prepared for by the King, there was no difficulty in arranging the new Cabinet. There was no ministerial interregnum on this, as there had been on so many previous occasions, when real embarrassment had been experienced. To M. Guizot, who had been the chief instrument in its formation, naturally belonged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Marshal Soult was again prevailed on to resume the onerous duties of President of the Council. The other offices were so arranged as to show that the Doctrinaires and Conservatives had at length got entire possession of the government, and that a cabinet was formed on the basis on which the King was desirous to conduct it.* So far the task was easy; but it was by no means equally so to conduct the administration so as to calm the general effervescence, without exciting distrust and dissatisfaction in the minds of the people. So exciting had been the conduct and language of M. Thiers during the last four months, and so great 1 L. Blanc, the effervescence produced by the open encouragement Cap. x. 268, given to revolutionary ideas, and the gauntlet thrown Hist. xxiii. down to all Europe, that it was no easy matter to say Moniteur, how the nation was to be brought back to the sobriety of rational ideas, or taught wisdom without undergoing the ordeal of suffering.1

v. 392-409;

305-309;

Oct. 29,

1840.

The Chambers met, pursuant to proclamation, on the 5th November. The King was received in grave silence, l'équilibre Européen sérieusement menacé. J'aime à compter plus que jamais sur votre patriotique concours. Vous voulez comme moi que la France soit forte et grande. Aucun sacrifice ne vous coûterait pour lui conserver dans le monde le rang qui lui appartient. Elle n'en veut par déchoir. La France est fortement attachée à la paix, mais elle ne l'achèterait pas d'un prix indigne d'elle; et votre Roi, qui a mis sa gloire à la conserver au monde, veut laisser intact à son fils ce dépôt sacré d'indépendance nationale que la Révolution Française a mis dans ses mains."-CAPEFIGUE, X. 263, 264.

* Cabinet of 29th October 1840 :-Marshal Soult, President of the Council and War Minister; M. Guizot, Minister of Foreign Affairs; M. Martin (du Nord), of Public Worship and Justice; M. Duchatel, of the Interior; M. Haumann, of Finance; Admiral Duperré, of Marine; M. Cunin-Gridaine, of Commerce; M. Teste, of Public Works; M. Villemain, of Public Instruction. -Moniteur, October 29, 1840.

XXXIV.

1840.

103.

opening the

Nov. 5,

interrupted only by some faint cheers from the Centre of CHAP. the Assembly. "I have felt," said he, "the necessity of convoking you before the ordinary time when the Chamber assembles. The measures which the Emperor of Austria, King's the Queen of Great Britain, the King of Prussia, and the speech at Emperor of Russia, have adopted in concert to regulate Chambe the relations of the Sultan and the Pasha of Egypt, have 1840. imposed on me serious duties. I have the dignity of our country as much at heart as its security and repose. In persevering in that conciliatory and pacific policy, of which, during six years, we have been reaping the fruits, I have put France in a situation to make face against any events which might arise from the course of events in the East. The extraordinary credits which, with that view, have been opened, will be submitted to you; you will appreciate the motives which led to them. I still indulge the hope that the general peace will not be disturbed. It is necessary to the common welfare of Europe, to the prosperity of every nation, to the progress of civilisation. I trust to your wisdom to enable me to preserve it, as I would reckon on your patriotism, if the honour of France, and the place it occupies among nations, should demand from it fresh sacrifices. It is with no less anxiety that, for another reason, I have appealed to your loyal assistance. Impotence has not extinguished the anarchical passions. Under whatever form they may present themselves, my Government will find in the existing laws sufficient guarantees for the public safety. As to myself, in the trials which Providence imposes upon me, I feel only that I owe thanks to Heaven for the protection which it has accorded to me, and have no duty so great as to prove, Moniteur, by my assiduous attention to the interests and happiness 1856; Ann. of France, my gratitude for the affection with which I 310. am at this moment surrounded." 1

Great was the anxiety felt upon the debate on the Address, which, as usual, was an echo of the speech; for it was felt to be the turning-point of French policy, both

VOL. VI.

G

1

Nov. 6,

Hist. xxiii.

XXXIV.

1840. 104.

the Ad

dress.

CHAP. externally and internally. On it depended not merely whether peace was to be preserved, and the dogs of war kept in their leash, but whether the march of revolutionary Debate on ideas was to be stopped, and the nation retained in the unobtrusive paths of pacific industry. "France," said M. Thiers, "preferred a conference at Vienna, and demanded Egypt and Syria in hereditary right for the Pasha; while, on the other hand, the four coalesced powers insisted that he should be confined to Egypt. Such was the state of affairs when the ministry of 1st March succeeded to power. There was no longer a treaty, but an ultimatum, signified to France, and to France isolated from Europe. France alone was in presence of England, and England believed that she must yield. The cabinet of 1st March felt that France had immense interests in the East; on that point they were unanimous; but the great point was to gain time, for our military and naval preparations were not complete. England in reality was not to be feared, for she would willingly have coalesced with us, could she have found a decent pretext for doing so; so great was her dread of seeing the Russians established at Constantinople. It is true that France was desirous of entering into a direct and formal engagement with the Pasha; but that was only because it was the only means of extricating an affair otherwise insoluble.

105.

"Would you know why the treaty of 15th July was Continued. precipitated, and why it was for some days concealed from France? It was because the allies saw in the insurrection of the Druses a means of action which had not hitherto presented itself; and because they wished Admiral Stopford to stop the Turkish fleet, and take the Egyptian, before France was aware of what was going forward. Was not this act unworthy deception after ten years of alliance? France felt that affront. It is a mistake to say that I alone felt it, and that I drew my coun

XXXIV.

1840.

try after me. To do so would have been impossible; I CHAP. only followed-I could not lead it. How many came to me and said, Support the dignity of France, and an entire nation will support you.' I own I shared, as every good Frenchman should, in these sentiments, and I wished to follow out the conduct which they prescribed. The more that I examined the question, the more I reflect on what passed in my breast in those terrible days, the more strongly I felt that if France receded on this occasion, she would lose her place among nations. I knew I was about, perhaps, to make the blood of ten generations flow; but the thought always recurred, if France retires, she does so in presence of Europe-all the world will know it: the Government, the Chambers, are engaged if she retires, she loses her rank. If that monarchy which our hands have reared, to the formation of which, during ten years, we have directed all our efforts,-if it is to be found degrading the country instead of elevating it, I can no longer bear the reproach of having belonged to it. I prefer the obscurity of private life.

106.

"To go to war immediately on account of the treaty, was impossible. The great thing was to gain time in Concluded. order to complete our armaments, which had been sadly neglected during the long peace. Thence it was that the late cabinet proposed to the King to raise the army to 639,000 men, and to call into active service 300,000 national guards. Great as these forces are, they would have proved insufficient if Paris had not been fortified, and thence the proposition to do so, made not as a complaisant courtier, but as a sincere and devoted citizen. We were not in a condition to act before next May; and in the mean time the advice given to the Pasha was, not to pass the Taurus, to defend Syria, Acre, and Alexandria, but to invoke the mediation of France; and if the war continued, France, with all its forces, would support him in the following spring. I accept the responsibility of all I