M. ROIIHER.
BONAPARTISM may not be over with the death of the Prince Imperial ; but there can be little doubt that M. houher's part is at an end. The "Vice-Emperor," as ho used to be called, has, to all appearance, virtually finished his poli- tical career. It has been a strange, and in fact an almost un- precedented, one. He has been the man of affairs, or "Lawyer of the Empire," as Gambetta once contemptuously styled him. In its fallen fortunes he has been its professional apologist, we had almost said its Caleb Balderstone. But he has always been the devoted retainer of only one branch of the House, and he will find it difficult, with all his suppleness, to carry his sincere alle- giance to the camp of Prince Napoleon, even if the latter cared to accept it. M. Rouher has always hitherto spoken hopefully of the prospects of his cause. He has professed his confidence that the Republic would be short-lived, and that the Empire would soon be welcomed back by a society which had begun to be sick of Republican plainness. But his hopes have been shattered, and we doubt whether he now perceives the possi- bility of any opening for himself in France, It is fair to say that in his prosperity M. Rouher did his work, such as it was, with rare skill. The Empire sorely wanted in its youth a clever advocate. The De Mornys and Fleurys and Baroches were not enough ; even the fluent, clear-headed Billault, the "speaking Minister," was not adequate to the exigencies of the time, and when he died, M. Rouher became absolutely indispensable to the Empire. It was more and more important, as the Opposition made itself heard in the country, that the new re:qinie should be no longer a dumb despotism ; that it should have a spokesman, and command the voice of some one able, in appearance at all events, to answer the piercing criticisms of M. Thiers and M. Dufaure. The situation called for an orator of a peculiar type—an orator all fluency and bounce—ready, intrepid, prepared to back up any sophism, and flood the Mon iteur with columns of gaudy rhetoric in defence of any project or event for which the Empire was re- sponsible. There was room for a clever sophist, not, over-nice as to the causes for which he was retained ; and M. Rouher came from Riom, ready-made for the duties. The French Bar has never much favoured Bonapartism. The First Napoleon was always quarrelling with the chief banisters of his time. He could not understand the liberty which they claimed ; he thought it sedition that Bonnet should dare to defend General Moreau, or Bellart Mdlle. Cic4. He is said to have once declared, "Je reux peon plisse couper la langue a un avocat qui e'en serf centre is Gouvernement." His nephew had, of course, more reason to cultivate the good opinion of the Bar, and it was all- important for him to retain some clever orator, who could give better reasons to the world than the dull conspirators and mute sharpers of December could command. Louis Napo- leon had the good-sense to see, at an early stage of his career, that he had in the fluent, supple, pushing, Auvergnat lawyer an apt instrument, who would serve him quite as well as Ney or &nit served his uncle. Ho picked him out as early as 1849, and placed him — a provincial lawyer of thirty-five—at the head of the Ministry of Justice. For a time, indeed, M. Rouher quitted the service of his master ; and it is fair always to remember that he is not directly responsible for the coup (Mat. But as soon as it was deemed expedient to make the Empire respectable, it became necessary to recall him, and to entrust him more and more with power. He had in high degree many of the virtues of his countrymen. He was laborious and patient, and not too thin-skinned. He had no embarrassing political ideals or stiff convictions, He could quickly master details, perform the routine work of a Minister of Commerce to perfection, and he could ascend the tribune, and deliver at a moment's notice a vehement speech, with an affectation of sincerity about it, in defence of some measure which bad been a few minutes before a matter of complete indifference to him. Significant beginning! The child was father to the man. Carlyle's description of Calonne—the "man of incredible facility ; facile action, facile eloquence, facile thought," lucidity, and self-possession—occurs to one in thinking of the part which M. Rouher played as Minister of State. Not oven the smooth-tongued Calonne could put a prettier gloss on un- pleasant facts than M. Itouher. The. obsequious majority in the Cows L4gislatif never failed to burst into rapturous. applause at the bravuras in his frequent eulogies of his master, his bold contempt for facts, and the semblance of passionate indignation which he could quickly simulate in cold-blood. Of course, he had humiliating work to do. Ho had often to eat his brave words. He was himself singularly destitute of political instinct, and he committed grave blunders which no rhetoric could conceal. But in justice to him, let us remember that M. Rouher could rarely choose his side, and that it was his business to defend by hook or crook whatever was done or was projected by the Empire. It is not his fault if he often said things which it must now be unpleasant for him to recall. "Jamais" was a favourite word in his vocabulary ; and how often he used it unfortunately! Never, he said, would Franco allow Italy to take possession of Rome ; never would Prussia cross the Main ; 'never would the French troops return from Mexico, until Maximilian had been firmly seated on the throne. Never, said M. Rouher, would the Empire tolerate the liberty of the Press and the right of meeting ; and within a few months of the utterance of this last " Jamais," the Emperor had intimated to his subjects his intention to grant these liberties, All these predictions were unfortunate. But blunders of this sort were nothing more than the inevitable incidents of his position, as the attorney of the Empire.
It is a curious feature of M. Rouher's career, that few asso- ciate any particular ideas or convictions with him. He has been in all things the advocate. His friends, indeed, have always pointed to his labours on behalf of Free-trade as proofs of his sagacity and public spirit. No doubt he made some excellent speeches against M. 'niers and M. Pouyer-Quortier, and his services in connection with the Treaty of 1860 were consider- able. But here, too, his sincerity is open to doubt. He was opposed in 1851 to any modifications of the tariff in favour of Free-trade. His conversion was sudden ; and it was never quite clear that in regard to this, as many other matters, he was not the merely passive instrument of the Emperor.
Since 1870, M. Manlier has been faithful to Chislehurst. He played his cards, such as they were, adroitly, and had the Prince Imperial lived and become popular, as he no doubt would,
there is no saying how much, under M. Rouher's guidance, he would have profited by the mistakes of the Republic. M. Rouher tried to preserve a spirit of discipline in the ranks of the party. He was known to look with no particular favour on the wild vagaries of Cassagnac, and he had sense enough to perceive that the fortunes of the Empire would not be improved by uproar, for which it would be held re- sponsible. His policy was to wait until the mistakes of the Republic presented an opening, to fan the discord be- tween the Republic and the Church, and to seek to
identify Imperialism with the cause of the latter. It was the only policy which was ever likely to avail the Bonapartists, and now that it becomes impossible, by the elevation of Prince Napoleon to the headship of the family, to win the confidence of the Church, M. Rouher must be pushed into the background. He does not, indeed, possess the qualities necessary to be a counsellor of Prince Napoleon. He has never shown sagacity ; he has often shown himself rash ; and Prince Napoleon is the last man in the world to commit his judgment to a statesman whose past is a record of blunders, and whose chief talent in his palmy days was the gift of bias.
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