TOPICS OF THE DAY.

FRANCE, PAST AND PRESENT.

FRANCE, for the fifth time within little more than half a century, is engaged in the labour of trying to find out what is her govern- "ing influence. The government of a country always will be de- termined by that influence which is dominant; power will al- ways be possessed by those who beet know what is the balance of public opinion and how to use it. In the progress of nations, it happens that the influence which was once dominant ceases to be so, and is superseded by new influences; and moat revolutionary troubles arise from uncertainty. as to what is the paramount power. That influence may be in its nature permanent or tran- sitory; but one great element of endurance is the comprehensive- ness of its scope. That which is most partial in its bearing will be most liable to the broadest opposition, and can only exist by favour of a general ignorance. The Absolute Monarchy, under which the realm was a mere estate for the benefit of the Sove- reign and the favoured few, was probably less intolerable to mere flesh and blood at the end of the last century than it had been in earlier times; but it had been tolerable only to dense ignorance and brute-like supineness, and as soon as the people knew the fraud put upon their dormant strength they shook off the bur- den. The Absolute Monarchy continued to exist by favour of traditional opinion originating in the necessities of military chief- tainship; as soon as that ceased to be the dominant opinion—or rattier as soon as it was known to be no longer the dominant opi- nion—the system of government was blown to the winds. It was succeeded by a series of experimental governments, each failing because it was based on an opinion that passed away, and because it aubserved only sectional interests. The Republic, morally, socially, and politically, was based on a mere antagon- ism, bloody and fierce, and was essentially transitory. The Em- pire, based on the victories of a fortunate military commander, tended to serve his interests. The Empire failing, the nation beaten and out of heart, there was a reaction : the Restoration was effected for the good of the Bourbons, with some reluctant and formal " concessions" to a new order of opinions—it was a practical anachronism. Once more, in 1830, the nation demanded a government for itself, but acceded to the proposal that some complimentary concession should be made to the old Monarchical forms. In violation of the understanding which named him " King of the French," not "of France," Louis Philippe took ad- vantage of those concessions to use_the nation as a family estate: ttle Constitutional Monarchy was need fol. the ben,elft of Louis Philippe and-his dependents. He Went so far in this personal use of the nation as to violate the fundamental canon on which rests the safety of any constitutional throne—that the Sovereign is incapable of wrong only so long as he abstains from personal inter- ference in public affairs : he did interfere to the extent of being his own Prime Minister, and thus made himself ministerially re- sponsible. Had it not been so, the late discontent would have been satisfied by the removal of Ministers : the revolution went beyond that, and was virtually an impeachment of Louis Philippe as a Minister.

The present state of Paris exhibits the actual conflict of in- fluences each to ascertain its mastery. The progress of the con- test has wakened up sleepy politicians with surprise : those who had dozed into such reliance on the late order of affairs as to re- gard the Reform movement in the light of a wild sally, were as- tounded to see it become an insurrection—to see M. Thiers passed. over—then M. Odilon Barrot ; but the astonishment reached its climax when the general adhesion of the different classes, and of one provincial town after another to the metropolitan movement, developed the vast extension of Republican opinions. There has been what may be called a slight reaction—the same Provisional Government which acquiesced in hoisting the blood-red flag of destructive Democracy, has repudiated that piratical ensign : but the incident, trivial as it may seem, goes to show that truly Repub- lican opinions have obtained a sway among all orders of society; the flag is to be the flag of the people, the tricolor; and the Govern- ment, thoroughly Republican in its character—including among its active Secretaries, Albert, a working man—has not only re- fused to enter into any revolutionary excesses of violence, but has signalized its earliest acts by a degree of self-possession and clemency which marks a high standard both of morals and abili- ty. The denunciation of capital punishment for political offences not only relieves the actual Ministers from many odious fears of violence, so common with revolutionary bodies, and from much embarrassment in case any of the late Ministers should fall into their hands, but also in the most emphatic manner stamps the present revolution with characters the very 'oppo- site of those which distinguished the revolution of 1789. The finding employment for the destitute—an expedient of dan- gerous policy, as a mere matter of economy—for the time annuls the great source of mob power, hunger; the enrolment of those Republican "clients" into a moveable National Guard, will enable the Government hereafter to march them away to " glory," or anywhere else. Foreign countries, North and South, will think twice before they assail a Government which can thus dis- pose of its paupers. Heterogeneous as its composition appears; much as some of its minor acts infringe received political doc- trines, there is vigour, ingenuity, and business-like ability, in the new Government.

The Provisional Government professes to act "in the name of the People" ; an authority more easily invoked than identified. it is equivalent to acting in the name of everybody ; and every-

body is proverbially nobody. A nation governed by everybody

is in fact a nation without a head. A whole .people is too cum- brous a power to be brought into action for any one purpose or at any one time. No other authority would be better, but none

is more impossible to obtain for any effective object. You cannot take the sense of a nation by any but a complicated and tedious

process. And yet, for all purposes of real government, there

wants an authority that is prompt, decided, and sufficient. All nations, therefore, have adopted some institution intended to supply that active initiative organ which serves as an originator and executor of action, iu lieu of the nation itself—the vicegerent of the nation—a substitute assumed for the nation. To be com-

plete, it should tally as closely as possible with the nation in

feeling, opinion, and capacity. : in the long run, and speaking very broadly, it should respond to the mean opinions and feelings

of the people, independently of special opinions in a state of temporary excitation, of class interests, or even of the highest intellectual advancement. The expression of those partial mo- difiers may be left to the elective body ; which s/weld represent the sections of the people, their interests, feelings, and opinions, in all forms and degrees. The endeavour to supply this centre" I agent has been made in various ways—by an absolute Kingly power, by " limited Monar- chy," and by a Republican Presidency. The despotism fails on account of its strictly personal character, which makes the agency depend on individual disposition—corrupted, too, by the posses- sion of unlimited power. Perhaps no despotism ' within the range of authentic history has been more " enlightened " than that of Leopold the First of Tuscany who made surprising pro- gress for his people in every branch of government—who freed commerce, reformed the church, purified the law, revivified the administration—did everything but endow his people with the

Facet of self-government : his elevation to the Austrian throne prevented that ; and the consequence was, that as soon as he was removed from a personal superintendence of his work, the whole structure fell to pieces as if by a pantomime trick.

Perhaps the English Monarchy furnishes the nearest approach to the correct working of a national central authority. Kept by a variety of influences within the pale of what is strictly customary and decorous, denied active political exertion except through Ministers responsible to the public for their share of the action,

the English Monarchy is directed to a course corresponding with the average state of opinion—is prompt in its action within cer- tain recognized and defined limits, is neutralized heyoed those 1

limits, and by that process.of negation is constrained to act, ppon the whole, accorclineeb the feeling?, s,nd opinions cif the„peopie calculated on a brOad 'Consideration bothilf classes and.otlieriodb. The English Monarchy represents no particular class—perhaps it as little misrepresents any class. The Anglo-Americans have attempted to improve upon the English Monarchy, in the creation of a central authority directly elected by the nation : but the result is not altogether happy. The temporary duration of the Presidency in various ways tends to make the President subservient, not to the enduring opinion and universal feelings of the nation, but to the transitory opinion of each day and to the feeling of the most active classes : the consequences are, that there has been a gradual deterioration in

the Chief Magistrates of the Union, from a Washington to a Polk ; and that the central authority does not correspond to the nation of which it is the centre.

To discover a method of creating a central authority which should conform more exactly to the spirit of the nation and yet be independent of transitory passions and sectional impulses, is

still a desideratum, reserved possibly for the National Convention which is to be held by our neighbours. They possess high qua--

Iffications, in their intelligence, their disposition to theoretical exactness, and their energy. We do not at present see that they possess men adequate to the work of constructing permanent in-

stitutions; and a still more certain counteraction is the highly military genius of the people—the machinery of military power always inclining to despotic authority.

It is not as a republic, but as a nation of military spirit, that France is a doubtful neighbour. If we recognize that fact,

however, it is for the purpose of avoiding, not provoking, enmity. The inclination of the English people, we repeat again and again, is to maintain the most friendly relations with France. An ex-

traordinary number of persons in this country just now concur in the wish to see Republican institutions, if it is the will of France, fairly tried,—a few from preference ; others from a belief that France will not be satisfied without the experiment; others from curiosity. No Ministerial act has given more general sa- tisfaction in England than Lord John Russell's declaration that this country will not at all interfere in the matter. Thus far, even the present Government in Paris has been recognized as "Provisional," and England at least is prepared to recognize any form of government authorized by the French nation. For that friendly disposition France has incurred a debt of confidence, and we see no disposition to repudiate it. On our side it is most

necessary to keep on the best of terms with France. She is our nearest neighbour. We cannot fraternize with the Absolute Pow- ers of Europe, whose every act is repugnant to our political con- victions and opposed to our political conduct. Our Government dares not evince a hostile antagonism to Popular opinions which have admitted a representative of the working classes to a share

of governing power : the Chartista can be safely kept dawn in no other way than by continuing to render their intervention un- necessary. There are therefore strong guarantees for mutual peace.

But the good understanding of the two countries must not alto- gether depend on the duration of a general peace in Europe, or it would be precarious indeed. The favourite topic of the Rhenish boundary has been postponed rather than abandoned ; old ambi- tions clinging to the French in spite of their modern Liberalism. Italian sympathies may provoke hostilities on another frontier. Either may involve an infraction of the treaties of 1815 ; and Eng- land would have a cases belli—as she had in the instance of Cra- cow. She waived her right then, and can scarcely now resort to the mischievous pedantry of reviving it on the opposite side. Lord Palmerston foresaw that contingency, and recorded the warning to the Northern Powers. The treaties of 1815 are obsolete ; they do not apply to that totally new order of things which is just now opening: in that new order, national events and acts must be dealt with on their merits, and not on stipulations which have lapsed: it would, in future, be very bad statesmanship to base any large policy on the treaties of 1815.