ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE FROM FRANCE.
Paris, dial August-
The principal topic for the last fortnight has been the report of the Committee of Inquiry about the causes and instigators of the events of May and June. It hung like a heavy cloud upon the whole country; but it had been so much used and abused by anticipation, that when it explo- ded it vanished in smoke. The report was generally considered as a very severe judgment passed upon the chief actors in the Revolution of Febru- ary, and upon that Revolution itself. That was in fact its true meaning and purpose; no wonder, then, that it should have thrown the Republi- cabs de la Veille in such a passion. It was a sort of retaliation of M. Odilon Barrot and his friends against MM. Ledru-Rollin and Lamartine; it went through the journees of June to the 15th of May; then to the 17th of April; then to the 16th of March; and stopped only at the 24th of Fe- bruary, but with the very manifest intention of going further. It was so evidently an act of accusation against the origin of the Republic, that the more prudent men of the Moderate party thought it rather imprudent and inopportune, and that M. Thiers himself disapproved of it, but too late. The principal topic for the last fortnight has been the report of the Committee of Inquiry about the causes and instigators of the events of May and June. It hung like a heavy cloud upon the whole country; but it had been so much used and abused by anticipation, that when it explo- ded it vanished in smoke. The report was generally considered as a very severe judgment passed upon the chief actors in the Revolution of Febru- ary, and upon that Revolution itself. That was in fact its true meaning and purpose; no wonder, then, that it should have thrown the Republi- cabs de la Veille in such a passion. It was a sort of retaliation of M. Odilon Barrot and his friends against MM. Ledru-Rollin and Lamartine; it went through the journees of June to the 15th of May; then to the 17th of April; then to the 16th of March; and stopped only at the 24th of Fe- bruary, but with the very manifest intention of going further. It was so evidently an act of accusation against the origin of the Republic, that the more prudent men of the Moderate party thought it rather imprudent and inopportune, and that M. Thiers himself disapproved of it, but too late. As the conflict could no longer be avoided, means were taken to circum- scribe it as much as possible. A kind of compromise took place, to the effect that neither Ledru-Rollin nor Lamartine should be impeached. In fact, all charges against them were anterior to the convocation of the Na- tional Assembly, when there was no lawful authority, and revolution was the rule. As to Louis Blanc and Caussidiere, they were accused of having participated in open rebellion against the sovereign—that is, the Assembly. They and their party constituted an imperium in imperio, a republic in the Republic; they were as much enemies to the established Republic as to Royalty; and as heretics are always more dangerous than infidels, they were still more hated by their late colleagues and friends than by their natural foes. Both were therefore readily given up by the Government and by the politicians of the Republic. I do not mean to say that it was the massacre of the Innocents; they richly deserved their fate. But it is an important fact, and of intense meaning, because it is the final disruption of the party which carried the Revolution in February last; it is the avowed impossibility of conciliating the two Republics, the Socialist one and the Political one; it is the end of that system of compromise between both which had been personified by Lamartine. The compromise, as I have already said, is now between the Moderate Republic and the late Dynastic Opposition. But even there the Govern- ment meets with another difficulty. General Cavaignao has boldly sepa- rated himself from the Red Republic; but he has almost as much to fear from the Tricolor Republic of MM. Thiers, Barrot, and Co. He tries now a system of bascule; you may see that in the way he deals with the press, suspending newspapers on both sides at once, only to hold the ba- lance equal.
As it always happens after a strong agitation, we are now in a lulL Paris is quiet; but there seems to be a general expectation of something else. Every one you meet will say, "It cannot last." It does last, how- ever; and perhaps it will. Paris is not so ripe for reaction as the provinces are. The fact is, that the terrible convulsion of June has perhaps more consolidated the Republican Government than anything else; not only be- cause the repression of rebellion was a proof of power, but because the oommon danger rallied round the then existing Government many classes which had hitherto kept aloof. All friends of order and property were then obliged to take arms for their own protection and security: but while protecting themselves, they were also obliged to protect the established form of government; they became all involuntary accomplices of the Republic. And it must be confessed that the Republican form was the only one at that moment which could be a centre of unity. General Cavaignac was perhaps the only man fit for the occasion, because he en- joyed the confidence of the Republicans, and because his name was a gua- rantee that victory would be used only for the Republic. If the Assembly had confided the same unlimited powers to any other general, there would have been a secession, and half of the Republican party would have taken part on the other side of the barricades. But that only concerns Paris. In the provinces, the feeling of reaction is exceedingly strong, and gains strength every day. That may be seen by the result of municipal elections, where the Monarchists, and especially the Legitimists, have carried an overwhelming majority. The Govern- ment knows it full well, and it is for that reaso_. n that it has so long de- layed the reelections to the National Assembly. These will take place in
▪ fortnight, and will present some curious rthults; at all events, an im- mense Conservative majority.
If general elections were to take place now or soon, I do believe that the Republican Government would be in jeopardy, and that civil war would become unavoidable; so strong is the reaction against Paris in al- most every part of the country. Be sure, everything will be done by the Republican party in the Assembly to postpone as long as possible an ap- pal to the people. An important question is now afloat,—namely, to decide if the Assembly will resign its constituent powers awl dissolve im- mediately after the vote upon the Constitution' or if it will remain sitting till all the organic laws shall have been framed and passed. The Moderate party is for the immediate dissolution; the more decided Republicans are for the prolongation. In the projet de Constitution, it is proposed that the President of the Republic should be elected immediately after the vote upon the Constitution. He is, you know, to be elected, not by the house, but by the universal and direct suffrage of the people. But it is also pro- posed that the same Constituent Assembly should remain to vote the or- ganic laws. The purpose of the majority of the house is to counteract by its permanent presence the feeling of reaction so general in the provinces. A double and simultaneous election, which should at once produce a President and a new Assembly, would be rather perilous. God knows what would come out of it; Prince Louis Bonaparte, the Due de Bordeaux, or the Prince de Joinvillel The Republican party wants that the first Peesident, whoever he may be, may find himself in presence of the same Auembly which has proclaimed the Republic.
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