THE LAST DAYS OF LOUIS PHILIPPE.*
To all who remember politics before 1848, that is, to all readers above forty, this book, which is a condensation of M. Guizot's Memoirs, will be one of exceeding interest. It contains the history of French diplomacy in the extraordinary intrigue known as the Spanish Marriages, in the Sonderbund War, and in Italy during the first reforms of Pius IX., M. Guizot's estimate of Louis Philippe, a chapter on "Parliamentary Govern- ment" from a somewhat novel point of view, and a few new facts as to the incidents which preceded the Revolution of 1848. It is -written throughout with that chilly lucidity, that haughty forbearance, which are peculiar to M. Guizot's writings, and which, we confess, do not please us, and full of an egotism, perhaps unavoidable, but seldom genial, or even good-natured. M. ''Guizot does not hate those who oppose him, but at heart he regards them as foolish persons, who may understand facts, but do not understand principles, and he has a way of lecturing intimate correspondents which in a less eminent person would be very • The Last Days of the Reign of Louis Philipp. By M. Quint. Bentley.
tiresome. In the whole book we have found but one good story,
and not, we think, one trace of humour ; but then it is crowded with information, with personal anecdotes, and with weighty obser- vations on men and affairs. Upon the Spanish marriages, for example, M. Guizot is highly interesting. He does not, it is clear, tell us quite all he knew, but he reveals enough to show that the affair was an intrigue in which the Great Powers of
Europe fought for influence in Spain. The Queen herself was never consulted, or her own inclination. The Austrians wanted her married to a son of Don Carlos as a new guarantee for legiti- macy; Prince Albert and King Leopold sought to insure her choice of a Coburg, as a new throne for that rising family ; the British Government tried to resist a French policy, with a side-glance to the interests of the Coburg family, and France had laid it down as a principle that the Queen must marry a Bourbon, almost threatening, if they did not indeed actually threaten, a military occupation of Spain in the event of defeat. M. Guizot affirms, indeed, that the King did not care which Bourbon the Queen mar- ried, and that Louis Philippe had no idea of acquiring profit for his family in the transaction ; but he himself admits that at one time he threatened the British Cabinet with the Due de Montpensier, that Prince was married to the Infanta, and the King's secret views may not_ have been absolutely known to his Minister. They managed foreign business somewhat oddly.
"I had placed myself on the footing of not acquainting the King and Council with the instructions I gave our agents abroad, except in cases of great importance, and when there was a new direction to be imparted to them ; but I conducted my official and private correspondence accord- ing to my own impressions. Deliberation between several persons is only useful in general and legislative questions ; beyond these, in diplo- macy as in administration, executive power, to be effective and dignified, requires unity and confiding independence. Every day, all the despatches from our foreign representatives were sent from my private cabinet to the King, who returned them with his observations ; but he had no previous knowledge of my own personal communications. I am not certain that he did not occasionally feel a little impatient at this ; he never gave me any visible indication and when in some particular case or for some private reason, ho wished to know what I had written, he asked me specially, without raising any general pretence to interfere with my diplomatic correspondence."
Consequently the King, to protect himself, kept up his private correspondence also, and as diplomatists believed that he really ruled, this was sometimes, we fancy, the more efficacious of the two. It is certain at least that the European Cabinets distrusted his plans, that the marriage of the Infanta excited all Europe, and that the most scandalous stories were believed by everybody except M. Guizot himself, who passes them over in a silence which may be the result either of prudery, of guilt, or of conscious recti- tude. The things certain are that M. Guizot did his very best to force a descendant of Philip V. on an unwilling Queen without.
reference to the wishes of Spain, to the interests of Europa, or to the inclinations of the lady herself. If she had a preference, it was for Prince Leopold, who had, moreover, her mother's somewhat.
uncertain support, and who, had he been selected, might have changed the fate of Spain, and possibly saved the dynasty now drawing, to all human appearance, so near its end.
M. Guizot's judgment of Louis Philippe is that of a self- restrained man, who had a liking for his master, but felt his vanity wounded by his proceedings. The King, he says, really believed in the necessity of constitutional government, though he saw ita immense difficulties, and the popular notion that His Majesty dic- tated his own policy was an error :—
" The contrary opinion, so commonly asserted, is not, nevertheless, one of those gratuitous and inexplicable errors which circulate and long- prevail in free countries, owing to the attacks of which power is the object in the tribune and in the journals. Pretexts are not wanting for the error I have pointed out, and King Louis Philippe furnished them himielf. He had on all subjects a superabundance of ideas, impressions, and aspirations, which he took no pains to restrain and to sift suffi- ciently ; this led him to express too much decision of opinion and incli- bation in small questions and trifling affairs which had no claim to his intervention. Indifference and silence are often useful and convenient royal qualifications : King Louie Philippe practised them too sparingly. He was, moreover, so profoundly convinced of the wisdom of his policy and the importance of its success, that he winced a little when he saw the merit entirely attributed to others ; and he could not readily resolve to renounce his share. This desire was extremely natural, and the inexhaustible fertility and vivacity of his conversation gave him the appearance of continual intervention and exclusive preponderance, which greatly exceeded the reality of his intentions and of facts, as they did also constitutional proprieties. I am convinced that his son-in-law, King Leopold, infinitely more prudent and reserved in his attitude and language, exercised in the government of Belgium, at home and abroad, more personal influence than King Louis Philippe in that of Franco;. but the one avoids with care the appearance of it, while the other always showed himself possessed l with the fear that justice would not be rendered to his intentions and efforts."
That is probably true, for unless the Belgians are strangely mis- taken, Leopold of Belgium really governed, and so, as all Frenchmen
felt assured, did Louis Philippe. Kindly and courteous in manner, well aware when it was necessary to recede, and penetrated by a secret doubt as to the justice of his own title, the King neverthe- less ruled his Cabinet, it may be, as M. Guizot says, by causing it to think that it agreed with him, but still he ruled. As soon as he became undecided, which he did in 1847, the system collapsed, and the monarchy of July came to the ground. Indeed, M. Guizot formally admits that the Government never was a consti- -tutional Monarchy in the English sense, the Sovereign being, as Mr. Bagehot lately pointed out he might become, the one per- imanent Minister in his Cabinet, with whom every politician had to reckon :- "It is vain to say, the King reigns but does not govern; the effective -consequence will never result from these words that the king who reigns is nothing in the government. However limited the attributes of Toyalty may be, however complete the responsibility of its ministers, -they will always have to discuss and treat with the royal personage to induce him to accept their ideas and resolutions, as they will have to -discuss and treat with the Chambers to obtain a majority. And in all discussion said debate, the man whose concurrence is necessary exer- cises infallibly, in the measure of his talent, character, and of -circumstances more or less favourable, a just proportion of influence. Historic facts are, on this point, fully in accord with moral probabilities ; -wherever constitutional monarchy has existed, the person of the monarch, his opinions, sentiments, and wishes, have never been inactive or indifferent, and the most independent and exacting of ministers has -always held them in high consideration."
The King, he says elsewhere, cannot be reduced to the position of a key laid on a chair ; he is, at all events, a sentient being, who discusses, opposes, or yields. Armed with this right of audience, perfectly devoted to his own policy, unscrupulous and patient, Louis Philippe exercised an ascendancy which M. Guizot for- anally denies, it is true, but incidentally admits in almost every "age of his book, and which peeps through almost all the King's motes. When the cry for Reform grew strong, M. Guizot had an interview with the King, which he reports almost verbatim, and -which, to our minds at least, shows clearly that the King was, and felt himself to be, ultimate master. Throughout he speaks of 4' my" policy and " my " Minister, not of that of the Government. in the final struggle the King threw his Minister over remorse- lessly, an act for which M. Guizot has evidently not quite for- :given his memory. The King regarded him, and with justice, as the Minister of the Conservative section of the middle class, then strongly denounced, and M. Guizot admits that this was true in fact, though not absolutely in principle, his reasoning being, A government of the middle class can alone render liberty and authority united in France; a Conservative party can alone represent the middle class; I alone can adequately lead the Con- oervative party. He was not opposed in principle to very exten- alive reforms, any more than Napoleon is, but they could be made -safely only "after the consolidation of the institutions of the country "—the regular Tory excuse. The King was not Tory or Liberal, but simply monarchical, convinced that the ascendancy .of the throne was indispensable, and prepared to make any sacri- dee to secure it. M. Guizot concludes his very favourable sketch with these remarkable words :— " Neither perseverance nor hope were extinguished in the soul of Sing Louis Philippe: either by nature, or from his experience of the 'vicissitudes and the reactions which follow each other in revolutions, he was one of those persons who think that to regain good luck and -success, it was sufficient to know how to survive and to wait. In 1848 his lassitude was extreme ; he bowed beneath his burden, and, in order to carry it still further, he required to take breath ; but I am convinced that in the midst of his disappointments and of his disconragements he was far from despairing of his own future, and that, while accepting the laws of the constitutional form of government, , he resolved upon resuming the influence which he believed to be necessary to snake the policy legally prevail which he considered indispensable to the welfare of his -country and for the safety of his crown. Men did not leave him time for this ; God did not bestow this favour upon him."
In other words, the King resolved to be absolute monarch under -constitutional forms.
We have quoted only a few broad statements, but the book is lull of details, secret letters from Envoys, judgments on indi- vviduals, gossippy details about great events. M. Guizot is too deficient in humour to be a good anecdotist, but he sees the point of a situation and describes it clearly, though with painful affec- tation of impartiality. The Queen of Spain, for example, asserted positively, giving circumstantial details, that her Minister Olozaga had forced from her a decree for the dissolution of the Cortes by actual physical violence, while M. Olozaga maintained as strongly that nothing of the kind had taken place. N. Guizot gives both stories at considerable length, without an opinion, as to which of them is true, though he must have formed a strong one, and though it would have been worth much more than his details. Still, he is clear, and, though over-reticent, accurate, and has in a remarkable degree the faculty of making us comprehend the characters of those of whom he speaks. As we have said, he tells but one good story throughout his volume :—" Do not be so anxious,' said General Narvaez to N. Bresson one day; there is a special Providence for Spain, and we shall extricate ourselves.'—' Jam not surprised,' replied M. Bresson, 'that you have a Providence to yourselves ; you give it enough to do to occupy all its time.'"
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