FRENCHMEN versus FRENCH FUNDS.
WE spoke last week of the Municipalities of France as exteemities of the nerves and muscles of the Central Government, and as thereby ill-adapted, in comparison with those of our own country, either to foster an independent public opinion or to give expres- sion to that which may grow up of itself. It was naturally to be anticipated that the Conseils-Generaux and the Conseils des Arron- dissements, under the influence of Prefects and Sub-Prefects ap- pointed by the President, and the Communal Councils, directed by Mayors and Adjuncts owing their position to the same source, would, in accordance with precedent and, their civic habits of obe- dience, hasten to give in their adhesion to the de facto Government of France. The anticipation was heightened by the fact of the immense patronage in the hands of the Central Executive and the comparative poverty of the French middle class, which makes small Government employments much more an object to them than to the corresponding class among ourselves. The whole experience of Louis Philippe's reign justifies the opinion, that place-hunting and its accompanying subservience to the powers that be are rooted in the French character. Yet, in spite of the construc- tion of these municipalities—in spite of the preponderance in them of the class strongly opposed to anarchy and " Socialism "—in spite of governmental influence and the inherent qualities of the French character—nothing of the sort has taken plane. Out of eighty- six departments only one Council-General has declared in favour of the President up to the time of writing, and five in Bretagne have protested against his usurpation. Yet these same Councils in the summer of the year came to an almost unenimous decision in favour of the revision of the Constitution—in other words, of the prolongation of President Bonaparte's powers. They would there- fore have been acting only in a plausibly apparent harmony with their previously expressed convictions, had they overlooked the mode of the President's act, and given their formal sanc- tion to it as a "fait accompli" in accordance with their -wishes. Similarly, out of more than thirty-seven thousand com- munes, only a few hundreds have signified their approval of the President's usurpation. The flaneur who fills the office of Minister of the Interior has indeed cavalierly given notice that he does not want the adhesion of departments or communes. But, jaunty and reckless as 3forn7 may be no man supposes him such a dolt as to decline the moral strength that his master's government would at once obtain if a large majority of the constituted bodies of France were to give their formal approval of what that master has done, and so become to the full extent of their powers participators in his act and the future responsibilities. Had the Prefects and their subordinate functionaries not felt that there was no possibility- of obtaining such approval, not a week, we may be certain, would have been allowed to elapse without a summons to the Coneeils-Generaux and the inferior councils to meet and strengthen the hands of Government. The silence, then, more marked from the slight exceptions, must be taken as
indicative of the real sentiments of the country gentlemen the farmers, the merchants, the shopkeepers, and all who have any property, in the provinces ; and those sentiments can be none other than profound disgust and indignation at the illegality and violence of the President's conduct, or disbelief in the perma- nence of his power. These, or both combined, can alone account
for the attitude of the municipal bodies. Though not generally prepared to encounter the miseries and responsibilities of civil war in the face of an overwhelming military force, they distinctly by their silence proclaim their refusal to participate in the outrage on the Constitution and the National Assembly, and protest against the military dictatorship to which France is subjected. If the funds had risen even more than they have, and if that rise indexed the genuine confidence of either great capitalists or speculators, the facts we have commented on would far outweigh the figures. The books of the agens de change may, we know, be tampered with; but any tampering with the municipal bodies would have been to induce them to give a sanction to the acts of Government in the teeth of their real disapproval, not to stand aloof in moody and ominous silence.
And what do the acts of that Government themselves say as to the real public opinion in France? Legion after legion of the National Guard is disbanded and disarmed; the gag remains upon the press, though the constant cry of the authorities is that the in- surrection is put down and "France is tranquil "; even the organs which have contented themselves with recording the facts of the day appear to have received hints that this silent reproval of the Usurpation is no longer to be tolerated ; arrests are multiplied ; spies abound; false reports of incendiary proceedings are circulated by authority, to keep up a state of prostration and alarm, and one journal is suppressed for no other reason than giving an authentic contradiction to such reports. Does all this look as if Louis Na- poleon had any confidence in public opinion ? Does it look as if "Socialism," as he impudently, considering his published opinions, delights to call anarchical democracy, were his most dreaded oppo- nent ? Does it not look, when the wholesale and gratuitous slaughter of the bourgeoisie by his ferocious and drunken. myrmi- dons is added to the account, as if what he really dreaded were the publie opinion of the intelligent, the respectable, the educated classes in France ? And well he may dread it, for sooner or later it will be too strong for him, whether it be through his ariny or in / spite of it. What has he to set in the balance against the facts alleged? The adhesion of M. Itaroche and M. Montelembert Let what weight it may deserve be given to the former fact The lat- ter would have had Eike influence had not the Illtramontane Count given his reasons for adhesion. Our readers will judge how many genuine French hearts he will carry with him, when they are told that he founds his adhesion on just those acts of the Pre- sident's career which have won for him the support of the jesuits, the pet abhorrence and bugbear of Frenchmen even more than of Englishmen,—on the support given to the Pope and the destruction of the Roman constitution ; on the transference of national educa- tion to the Jesuits ; and on the restoration of the Pantheon, where repose the ashes of Voltaire, Rousseau, and ldirabeau, to the priests. M. Montalembert had better have given a silent adhesion, and left his personal example to work. For every priest and Popish bigot he takes over with him, he alienates a hundred men of education and lovers of freedom. Yet we forgot—Louis Napoleon has with him also the notorious Bishop of Chartres, the French...Nage : but on the other hand, the excellent M. Sibour, Archbishop of Paris, is under the surveillance of the pollee. Again -we for- get—the "dames de Halle," five hundred in number, have waited on the Emperor-designate at the Flysee and presented him with their savoury homage and immense bouquets : but then we must add, that M. Larochejaquelin, whose name alone is an epic, has pub- lished a calm but high-spirited protest against the adventurer, the preux chevalier of the fishwomen. "Look on this picture and on that." On one side stands the nation—sad, silent, indignant, peni- tent may be for its past follies; on the other, this counterfeit prince, who would melt the noblest diadem in Europe into coin for his ignoble pleasures—supported on the right hand by a drunken and blood-dripping dragoon, on the left by a cold-eyed hypocritical priest—Sensuality arm in arm with Cruelty and Fraud. Can an Englishman doubt what the result of the struggle will be? For struggle there must be between a gallant people who for sixty years have made incessant and incredible sacrifices of blood, wealth, and repose, for liberty, and the man whose programme of govern- ment is, in his own or his agent's words—" The cause which has overturned everything is the predominance of Parliamentary power. The constant tendency of Royalty in France has been to subjeot everything to its direction and authority. This is the primary condition of our national existence, and must not be forgotten in our political institutions." This tendency will not, we trust, be forgotten ; nor how mischievous it has been when realized, not in the person of a selfish and dissipated dandy-brigand, but even in the princely Louis Quatorze and the sagacious Louis Philippe.
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