ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE 111031 FRANCE. ,
Paris, December 28.
As I told you some Weeks ago, in France, When we merely want to change a Ministry, we change a Government; instead of setting right the coach, we upset it. So has it been with us for the last sixty yearb, and so will it be, I fear, for some time to come. What has been the ulti- mate result of our • late, I dare not say our last, revolution? Simply to bring matters to where they were in the very morning of it. On the 24th of February, M. Odilon Barrot was sent for by the King; on the 24th of December, the same M. Barrot is sent for by the President of the Republic. At first sight, therefore, it appears that ten months ago we made a. great mistake; we made a revolution, when we wanted only a reform. It was verily a surprise. Poor M. Barrot, the high priest of Reform, was quietly sitting at the banquets, complacently smiling to his.surrnunders as well as to himself, when, lo! rose behind him the Republic, which gave a kick to his chair, and to the astonishment of all took the empty place! And now he gets up again, brushes his coat, sets right his hat, and recovering his senses, gravely resumes his old place in his old chair. It seems it was only ' a dream: was it indeed? Alas! it may be that the Revolution was a mistake• it may be that no more was wanted than a timely reform; it may be that this universal cata- clysm of kings and nations falling one over the other was but an accident: but of all mistakes the most egregious and most fatal would be to think all this has been done for nothing. Such accidents do not befall nations with impunity. Do you know the true reason why sensible people almost des- pair of the final restoration of order in France? It is because they see the governing men, the still ruling class, so utterly blind and deaf to the signs of the times. An ancient monarchy has been broken into pieces; a long line of liberal and well-bred princes has been scattered to the winds like dust; a whole society has been overturned, ruin and misery have spread like cholera over a whole nation; the entire world has been shaken to its foundations; and all this was but a slight mistake! We have been per- forming Much Ado about Nothing! The old Government hackney-coach has gone too far and missed the number in the street: there it turns back again, and quietly stops at the right door; and, after so troublesome a Journey, the good people inside alight, bring down their old-fashioned luggage, and think themselves safe at home!
Would to God that it could be so! But it would be downright folly to believe it, and to act upon that innocent belief. So it is always with us— we never can stop at the right point; we go or rather run from extreme discouragement to extreme confidence. On the day it was stunned by a revolution, the Bourgeoisie gave up all self-possession and thought all was lost; today that the revolution is curbed and momentarily put down, they at once believe that all is gained, and that nothing remains but to ride again the old hobby-horse! If that feeling is not yet quite apparent in the sayings and doings of the new Government, it is in the general demeanour of the people; and if sounder judgment does not give them a better under- standing of the " condition of France " question, then indeed nothing has been done.
Not that we ought to shut our eyes to the manifest improvement of the public health. It is certainly a hopeful sight to see that poor country, after so severe a struggle, so quickly recovering, and so happy to breathe at full lungs. It has at last found what it wanted the most, a Government. For the last ten months, we have had but Governments conspiring against instead of protecting social order; and of course they could not stand, more than a house divided against itself. The great distinctive feature of the new Government is, indeed, that it will not be conspiring,—quite a new thing since the Revolution. At present it is supported by an immense ma- jority; and so it will be for a time—as long as there is any apparent danger from the Revolutionary party. To put down that party, all the different, even hostile, political opinions of the country coalesced; they will remain united as long as they have anything to fear from the common enemy. But when order—when external order shall have been reestablished, then the multifarious and heterogeneous element of which this great mass is composed will be let loose again. Bonaparte has been chosen as a rallying name, as be- ing the fittest instrument to overturn the existing state of things. But now that the Republican Government, if not the Republic itself, has been over- thrown, matters remain to be settled between the instrument and its em- ployers. As I have already suggested, it may turn out that they have overshot the mark, and made the man stronger than they thought of. It is exactly like those simpletons of National Guards, who cried " Viva la Re- forme! " and cried so loud that they had a great deal more than they wished for. Monarchists of all shades, Legitimists and Orleanists, have been crying " Viva Napoleon!" but with so much effect that they have unconsciously created a real Napoleon, and made a living creature of what they thought a puppet. Perhaps the time will come, and before long, when Bonaparte will have to seek his support in the very party he has just been overthrowing. We have already seen many wonders, but we are perhaps destined to see another wonder, greater than all—I mean a Bona- parte fighting for the Republic.
With this letter I close the series which you did me the honour to-ad- mit into your columns. Your own affairs will shortly claim all your time and space. In this eventful year, England has kept unimpaired the power of the law. She has many social evils to curc--perhapp.more than we had but she is also gifted with a great safety-vaIvp=that is Liberty. May she keep it long, and may we have it at last All "I' pansay is that after so many labours, and so many bloody paytnenta, have-certainly earned it.
Previous page
