"MO spectator," Capri[ 13th, 1850
FRANCE.—The Paris and Avignon Railway Bill has afforded occasion for interesting debate. The line proposed would bring London into direct communication with the Mediterranean, and shorten its communication both with all Southern Europe and with the British empire in India and the Colonial Antipodes. The contest has been, whether the state or private enterprise should undertake this great work. The Government has resolved to concede the line to a company, in consideration of a large money subsidy ; but a large party in the Assembly object to granting an undertaking of such national importance to individual enterprise. M. Grevy's amendment in this sense was supported by a remarkable speech from M. Lamartine, which traversed the field of Government duty towards the labouring classes, and vented a strong hostility to the doctrines of Communism.
" We are terrified by the alleged progress of a depraved Socialism, and by the diffusion of fantastic theories, worthy of the darkest ages, which threaten property and annihilate trade. Are statesmen to be daunted by such apparitions ? The doctrine of Communism is, in fact, composed of three distinct elements—of mere chimeras, which have been dreamed for three thousand years, but which cannot sustain three days of experiment ; of wicked and mischievous passions, which must be repressed, and the real hardships of the poor."
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