FRANCE SINCE 1814.* M. DE Comnene is one of the
most thoughtful and most philosophical of the younger French writers. His special subject is French political history in the nineteenth century, which he treats very effectively, not as a series of fragments, but as a whole. In his former book, The Evolution of France under the Third Republic, be made a study of the last thirty years in detail, and showed how in his view these years and their developments were simply the natural sequence of the seventy years of various government that had gone before. The Third Republic was not a state of things manufactured by revolutionists or doctrinaires ; it grew naturally, and was inevitable. He quoted M. de Pressense: "The only revolu- tions which succeed are those which are made in advance in hearts and minds and are ordered by the logic of history " ; and he placed the birth of the Third Republic in this class of revolutions. In fact he expressed, though with limitations, hie faith and hope in the Third Republic.
M. de Coubertin has a great respect for his nation. He is by no means blind to her vagaries and weak- nesses, but he regards these as mere foam on the waves. An excitable race with a foundation of good sense, given to running after ideas, but seldom too far; on the whole, a great nation advancing steadily, fighting her way through immense difficulties, subject to temporary fits of madness which never last long. Through all the hundred years since the Great Revolution, the history of which years is cleverly condensed in his present book, M. de Coubertin points out how in each change of Government that storm of revolution has been echoed, more and more faintly, in disturbances that cover each a shorter space of time. He seems to anticipate that by degrees such echoes will die out altogether, that France will find her true destiny, will choose—has chosen, perhaps—her permanent path, the way of her real and logical development. He does not venture on any confident prophecy : France is still rebuilding her house, which tumbled down about her ears in 1793: but it is obvious to him that there has never been any real stopping-place between the old Monarchy and the Republic. He is enough of an historical philosopher to see that monarchical right, with all French history behind it, was a real thing. The First Empire was merely the personal work of a genius, leaving France loaded with chains of centralised government which she has not yet shaken off; but as she steadies down and as her freedom broadens, that time may come. The Orleans kingship was a mere makeshift, with not so much raison dare as the Empire; if there was any question of personal right in the matter, Louis Napoleon had as much as Louis Philippe; the French knew this very well, and it is one of the many reasons, probably, which have made an Orleans restoration such an unlikely thing. French Royalty, after all, left France with Charles X. and died with the Comte de Chambord.
To some of ns the solidarity of modern French political history, which M. de Coubertin makes the chief point of his book, seems so deeply hidden under surface turmoil as to be almost an unreal thing. He goes far towards convincing us, however. We believe that he is right when be dwells upon the strong, the ruling under-current, to be felt and traced all through this history, caused by the existence of a France which is neither that of revolution nor that of reaction, and larger than both. This is a France which is thrifty, careful, self-preservative as to life and puree, more interested in the safety of property than in any other question, even military glory. This is the France which kept the demagogues in check in 1848, which supports the moderate politicians of the Third Republic, which probably, on the whole, and in spite of surface excitement, will keep the peace of Europe now.
She is naturally somewhat apathetic," says M. de Coubertin, " but after all, she is the true France." More power to her! we say, if this be true.
In the early chapters of France since 1814, M. de Coubertin does full justice to the wisdom and cleverness of Louis XVIII. Hindered and spoiled at the outset by the Hundred Days, the Restoration was yet full of great possibilities. The King understood his country better, perhaps, than any of her rulers
Fiance since 1814. By Caron Pierre de Coubertin. London: Chapman and Eall. [Cs.]
since. He realised the existence of that great silent France which has so often been torn to pieces and bandied hither and thither without her own consent. He meant to be her King, and for her he fought both the extremes, Royalism and Jacobinism. If he had been succeeded by a sensible man, or
even if the excellent Due d'Angouleme had taken his father's place in 1830, France might have settled down into a liberalised form of the old Monarchy ; but Charles X., though in some respects one prefers his character, was neither so clever nor so patriotic. Looking fairly at some of the laws brought forward by his more or less ultra Ministers, such as the law of sacrilege, the law for indemnifying the emigres, the droit d'ainesse, one does not, perhaps, see much harm or injustice in them. Bat they were a step backward from the Revolution, and Louis XVIII. would have been too clever to risk his popularity for them. France would very likely be no worse off if her families were not crippled by excessive division of property. The proposed (l rat d'ainesse gave the eldest son the largest share, in case the testator had left no directions to the contrary. It is hard to see with M. de Coubertin why such a law should be in itself "pernicious." However, it had a good deal to do with, though it was not altogether the cause of, Polignac's fall and that of the old Monarchy. Stupidity, obstinacy, want of tact, failure to conciliate sufficiently that France which lay behind impatient Parliaments, and which, for itself, cared little or nothing what King was on the throne : these, with the intrigues of Thiers, the family ambitions of the Duo d'Orleans, and the Republican show-off of Lafayette, were the causes of the Revolution of 1830. The people in the streets had been singing their songs for a year or two, such as- " Polignac et ses sunis-
Balayez—balayez the old Revolution spirit had been taking one of its frequent walks abroad ; but we quite believe that France as a whole wanted 1830 quite as little as she wanted 1848, and that again was in its beginning the work of a few Deputies.
M. de Conbertin gives an account of the immense advance of French prosperity in the thirty-four years from 1814 to 1848. It was hardly at all affected by political revolutions ; here again is one of his proofs that the true France, the nation itself—the peasants, the artisans, the bourgeoisie, the great crowd of " indifferents " —lies behind Kings and Emperors and Parliaments, and cares and works, not for any special Government, but for riches and stability. Its work is to restore and to keep order, when the upper, the effervescing French spirit, so much more in evidence, has upset it, and over and over again this work has been done well.
No one, we think, will read this intelligent book without feeling that he understands France better, and that her future gives less cause for alarmed foreboding than former views of her national character had suggested to him.
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