A SECOND LETTER ON FRENCH POLITICS.
Paris, 26th March 1819. A word or two, now, upon the occurrences of the day as they arise, which it is next to impossible to interpret at a distance. You will hear criticisms upon the late conduct of the Barrot Ministry in reference to the law suppressing Political Clubs; but I much question if you will get hold of the true course which it has taken, and which I will endeavour to trace in a few lines.
This Ministry, you must always bear in mind, rests upon the " proprietaire"
for its support. Republican though its march must be under the actual regime, hi. Odilon Barret and his Cabinet aim at promoting the welfare and even the ascendancy of this class, whose very existence had been threatened under the Pro- visional Government; and their present efforts are directed accordingly towards strengthening the hands of the Executive, as a preliminary to the restoration of social order. The classes above indigence are disposed to allow them scope for these efforts, in the hope of subduing the detested tendencies of Red Republican- ism; but in order to justify the confidence of the better class of citizens, these Ministers mast show spirit and determination in dealing with the mischievous elements which trouble the coarse of political progress. Accordingly, a law for- bidding clubs was concocted in January last, which, after passing through the hands of the Commission (a form through which all laws are prepared in France) was "reported" recently, by its twenty members, in this proportion—eleven against, nine for the law. The Minister of the Interior, judging that since these nine were favourable to him he might count upon carrying the measure in the As- sembly, pressed it forward on Monday last, relying on the out-of-doors conservative feeling to sustain him against the ultra-democratic tendencies within. Moreover, the Minister set a value on obtaining the sanction of this Assembly to the mea- sure, inasmuch as it had been the creation of the Revolution, was unquestionably democratic in its character, and was nowise identified with the actual Govern- ment. To secure the adoption of even the principle of a law controlling these formidable instruments of agitation in an Assembly emanating from the great movement of February, was important. But, when the majority of the Commis- sion assailed the measure with furious invectives, some of the honest Republicans in the Assembly took fright at the imputation of "infringing liberty of discus- sion," and, consulting their instincts rather than tlneir discernment, they somewhat encouraged the Montague in their resistance. You know what ensued; but yoit not perhaps know what the special circumstance was which made M. Odilon Barrot interpose to dilute or modify the force of the bill. It was that the minority of the Coms'' ° - mission failed to stand to their own decision in its favour. When the President of c s the Council saw that his minority shrank from the reepousibility they bad ineurred,s' ss he judged it expedient to cut down the measure so as to get the principle,sas affirmed, if nothing more; and this is just what he will accomplish. Mau ask 70! why M. Leon Faucher refused to answer questions addressed to him during the Ss acrimonious debates which have arisen upon this proposition. The fact is, M. Faucher would rather have let the bill drop than cede his. positiOn; the rather,'' as checks of this sort do not involve such serious.conseqpences here as they do s-lt with English Ministries. But farther, this Chamber being, coafessedly the ex- ; o • fonent of another vein of political sentiment, the existing Cabinet does not bold itself bound either to yield to its dictates or to adopt its views. M. Faucher is a man of too inflexible a character to trim or alter his measure to snit the swallow of his auditory: he therefore left it to the President of the Council to settle it after his fashion. Heaven knows, he will need all his self-reliance to carry out the task which lies before him; but, if I mistake not, he thoroughly sees his way to so reorganizing the apparatus of government as to win a large measure of public confidence and gratitude. The mischief operated by the Ledru-Rollin clique during their brief reign, by framing the action of existing institutions seas to work in their favour, can only be countervailed by a long and assiduous course of patient and judicious administration. This may save the country, and enable the tendencies towards healthful progress, which do exist in this great people, to fructify. The one prayer of her citizens now is, "Let us alone, and let us re- cover our losses, under the safeguard of an effective security against the assailers of property:" This may be obtained; but it must be by yielding up a good por- tion of their darling illusions about liberty and equality. In the mean time, the salve for all sores seems to be the fact that Louis Philippe and Guizot are cashiered, for ever and aye.
The press teems with horrors, in the shape of anti-social doctrines; hideous
revolutionary odes, and equally revolting prose hortations to its degraded dupes to rally round the banners of spoliation and pillage. The language of the Com- munist papers is in truth frightful to read, and is almost enough to reconcile one to a positive censure over the press. One thing is consoling amid this overflow- ing of filth and blasphemy. There is very little talent enlisted in the work; nothing approaching to that which displayed itself in the Jacobinical periodicals of 1789. Still, the idle hungry ouvrier is not nice about the form of these stimu- lants, and accepts any sophistry which flatters his passions and appeases his slender conscience. I am inclined to think, however, that the disorders and up- heavings of French society rather prove that it is overcrowded than that it is essentially wicked. The acts of the surplus population must not be confounded with the habitual state of mind of the "better-off" classes; which, although it may be open to the reproach of instability, and excitable vanity, nevertheless has abundant claims to respect, and even admiration, on other grounds. But this is not the place to discuss the quality of the French mind. I shall open a different chapter shortly, in connexion with the problem of a wholesome regeneration of the provincial population, after their long corruption under Louie Philippe.
Previous page
