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July 29, 1854.] THE LEADER. 713
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HISTORY OF THE REIGNS OF LOUIS XVIII. AN...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Dangers To England. Dangers To England O...
table , to chant songs of truculent fraternity at perpetual banquets of black bread and blue wine , and would compress society into a parallelogram , teaching civilisation to progress backwards . There are , too , how can we forget , who have been honoured by their friendship ? men that stand apart from the giddy crowd who gape at mountebanks ; men whose whole life is one eloquent protest against all that degrades a nation ; men who desire the wise and calm alliance of political liberty with social contentment , the realisation of every generous reform , and the tranquil progress of civilisation . But from the 24 th of February , 1848 , to the 2 nd of December , 185 ] , what folly ,
• what extravagance , what weakness was omitted that could contribute to inaugurate amidst acclamations a new despotism on the ruins of an impossible Republic ? The Provisional Government was no doubt as pure as it was incapable ; the dictatorship of General Cavaignac as arbitrary and violent in its acts as it was inconsequent in its intentions . The Presidency of the Republic was a patient and elaborate using up of all factions for the benefit and domination of the one which had every clap-trap in its favour . There is the true and faithful resume of the last essay of Erench republicanism . May the next be wiser !
The time may come when , after severe purgation , France ( we menn the heart and brain of France , not the ' interests' and the mob only ) may demand and justify the recovery of forfeited rights and abandoned liberties . Heartily shall we welcome that auspicious day . Meanwhile , we conceive all that the public writers of an allied nation have a right to desire is that France may always be in possession of a Government of Mr own choice . 'I hat choice English statesmen and English journalists will respectfully accept .
July 29, 1854.] The Leader. 713
July 29 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 713
History Of The Reigns Of Louis Xviii. An...
HISTORY OF THE REIGNS OF LOUIS XVIII . AND CHABLES X . History of the lleigiis of Louis XVIII . and Charles X . 2 Vols . By Eyre Evans Growe . Bentley . This is a book which will disappoint the expectations that were formed of it on its announcement . It was anticipated that Mr . Crowe would follow the plan of M . Guizot , whom he has always appeared to reverence both as statesman and historian , and deal with the politics of the present in recounting past events—sketching in the mistakes of Louis XVIII . the course which must not be followed in the ( we hope and believe impossible ) event of a second Bourbon restoration—and assaulting the present throiigh the first Napoleon . But Mr . Crowe has done nothing of the kind . He has written a history of-what may be regarded as contemporary politics in a perfectly historical style ; if at all startling , the surprise arising out of the absolute and cold impartiality with -which he speaks of matters that are but the news of the day .
Mr . Crowe has some great qualifications for a work such as this . In his History of France , in winch he was successful to the full measure of the demand for a separate history of a country whose annals are half our own , he prepared himself for discussing the contemporary politics of France ; and in his capacity , as a journalist , he has been at once a spectator and an actor in the period he now deals with . Thus , in this instance , in his first chapters and his last , he evidences a double quality : — the opening essay , recounting the social causes of the first Emperor ' s political fall , being a masterpiece oi historical disquisition , and the description of the three days of July being equally excellent as a narrative of the incidents of that consummate conspiracy by which the Orleans rose to the fated throne . But the defect of the work is , that the Avant of passion , of political sentiment , and the ^ absence of . moral teaching in the book , produce an impression which repels and fatigues . Calm and measured narrative , halting for a clear daguerreotype-like portrait , or a wise comment , is an
excellent thing ; but in & history which is not merely an almanack all this should have a purpose ; and we fail to detect any in Mr . Crowe ' s two volumes , which , with all their philosophy , want something more of the human interest . Why take the period of the Restoration if there is nothing to be taught out of it ? There was , perhaps , this advantage in the selection , that the many French writers who have so overdone their modern history have had less to say of the last of the Bourbon French Kings than of any of the other potentates , crowned , laurelled , or cypressed , who have reigned and passed away since Mirabcau . But we doubt whether Mr . Crowe ' s lofty impartiality of treatment and indifference to every vai'icty of horo will recommend him to French readers , who generally object to the sort of posterity represented by contemporary foreign opinion—and , more particularly , ivhen that opinion is merely—no opinion at all . English readers , on the other hand , like to choose sides ;—and there is ample selection among French partisans .
Passages will explain the tone of a book which , whatever its artistic merits , is entitled to the most respectful treatment ; and we seize at once upon the first passage about the most pronounced in the volumes , and as having the most distinct reference to present nltiurs : — " No more curious or interesting problem has arisen out of the events of modern history , than that suggested by the fiiiluro of u nation , so civilised , so spirited , so intellectual , niul eo fond of freedom , as the French , to establish and to work satisfactorily mid permanently u constitutional monarchy . No country had ever movo fearful cxporionco of extremes in government . Within tint space of little more than a quarter of a century , Franco offered the spectacle of tlio abmud pretensions and imbecile attempts to govorn of nn absoluto , hereditary , and civilian monarchy , of tlio equally hopeless and far inoro criminal efforts of a people , after deposing thojr sovereign , to suflico to tho tusk of ruling and organising thom-Belves . A senatorial government of revolutionary notablos , dethroning in turn tho sovereign l
peope , proved not more just , more eflioiont , or more reupcotublo . Every political institution and every social class having been tried , found unworthy , and swept awiiy ( parliaments and representative assemblies not oxcopted ) , there remained tho nrmy , tho solo body which was organised un < l disciplined , that could ob « y u superior , without that superior decimating it , and Julfu tho soldiers' duty of dofondlng tho country , without proscribing , sacrificing , and massacring each other . The rise of tho army in Franco , to dominate over nil other classes and institutions , cannot , bo considered as owing bo much to the ambition of its chief as to tho nocoasity oi things . Similar events will produce similar results And whenever tho people oi ii groat country refuse to obey their old masters , and fail to discover or agree upon nnv inouo ot organising themselves in a politioal system , nower must devolve upon any body or class wnloli possossos association or discipline , « n acknowledged authority , or a combined win . in many countries . « nd at several epoolis , tho clergy formed " tlio most poriect mid iormidablo associations thoy dominated in consequence . In tho present d » y . circumstance * endow tlio military with tins advantage , which is denied to nhnotst all other classes and
professions . The consequence is , that when civilian efforts fail , -when the nobles , shorn of what they consider their right , rebel against the rest of society , when the middle and lower classes the employing and employed , tall into deep and irremediable dissension , the army necessarily steps in , not to conquer or grasp the right of domination , bat to assume it as a task that cannot be declined . Military usurpations have ever been due more to the follies and foibles of those who were not soldiers , than to the ambition or audacity of tliose who were . Military domination is , however , but a temporary remedy , for military power can in reality found nothing . If , indeed , the warlike struggle be tedious and severe , if the force or the foes to overcome present obstacles which it requires years to subdue , then the conqueror may , no doubt , form military establishments , and organise th « country , as if the whole object of life was soldiering , and the only aim of mankind the science of slaughtering , pillaging , and oppressing each other . But even supposing a kingdom or country eneaered in a strue-ffle
with tne surrounding world , and sacrificing everything to soldierdom , an end must come at last . It will be attained even by victory ; for after victory will come the task of administe £ I ? P , ace both the conquering and the conquered . Bat military institutions no longer sutnee tor this , ihe sons even of the soldier who has conquered the world , must seek other means of livelihood and eminence than the sword . Commerce engages the oue : intellectual , forensic , political eminence attracts another . The rich seek to enjoy , the less rich to advance . Such a world requires freedom as the sphere of Its activity , the necessity of its development ; and a prolonged attempt to consider a country as a camp could not but ultimately fail and overwhelm the bold but silly man who persisted in it , even were he a Csesar ° i-a ? ^ P ° - A military dictatorship , therefore , however it may obviate a temporary difficulty , cannot solve the permanent problem of providing ; a government for a numerous civilised , intellectual , and physically developed people » '
That appears satisfactory and complete ; but if we read on we find that Mr . Crowe does not in the least suggest what will solve the " permanent problem . " His conclusions are all of the same character —in which nothing is concluded . Mr . Crowe sketches Napoleon as a man who succeeded not mainly even because of his military talent , but because of hi s " great good sense , the total absence from his mind of bigotry , of fanaticism , of party spirit , of hallucination , of inveteracy of any kind 5 * and that is the only sort of hero the writer seems to sympathise with—accordingly not very well defining the heroic either for individuals or nations . In this extract the Emperor ' s nephew may learn a useful lesson , though Mr . Cro-vve appears innocent of an intention to give it , and we in England may see how infirm is that " cordial alliance" on which we are staking all * —
'Such was the France that Napoleon organised into the docile instrument of his power , or tlje tacit audience and admirer of his heroic deeds . Nor were his arrangements illimagined for a reign which was to be marked by a series of victories , and which was to be but a continued fete . It is necessary , however , to provide for the storm rather than the sunshine , and to make preparation for the reverses rather than for the successes of Jife . And these had scarcely come upon Napoleon ere he had ample means of judging how perishing and flimsy were the foundations which he laid for the permanence of his imperial power . Whilst still in Moscow , the conqueror of the Russian armies , but with his communications intercepted , an adventurous officer , aided by a sergeant , undertook , and well-nigh accomplished a conspiracy for dethroning the great Emperor . At night Mallet put on a general ' s uniform , attired his attached sergeant jxs aide-de-camp , and in this garb presented himself at the barracks of several regiments in the capital , at the hotel of the Prefect , and the quarters ot tne otiicer
coramandmg- . Ihe latter he was obliged to shoot ; but all the others listened to ( and credited his plausible story , that the Emperor had been cut off in Russia , and was no more , and that ne , Mallet , was intrusted to form a Provisional Government to dispose of the future empire of France . Not a word was said of the King of Rome or of the Imperial succession . Nor do the high functionaries of Napoleon's creation and appointment display a sign that either the Imperial regime or the Imjerial dynasty was uppermost in their thoughts . The conspiracy failed through a mere chance , the escape of an officer . And Napoleon returned furious , to ask of his mystified functionaries whether the continuance of his empire depended upon his mere presence , or his name , and might be expected to disappear the moment that name and that presence were withdrawn . " We again extract an allusion to the first Napoleon ' s relations to the- press and the Church—pressing it , despite Mr . Crowe , into the service of illustrating the affairs of our own
dayi" This combat of the sensualist and spiritualist , of tho revolutionary and the monarchic , writers and thinkers , was carried on , not only in the university , but in the press , fallen and menaced as it was . The Journal des Debats was , the organ in which the Royalist contrived to fling his javelin at the Revolutionist . Napoleon 50 far permitted this , as to pay largely the editor , M . Fievee , not only for writing in moderate support of his opinions in the Debats , but for corresponding directly and secretly with himself , by which the Emperor hoped to be in possession of the secret views of a party , which he dreaded whilst he patronised . At last the Emperor saw through the full hostility- which was covered with so much talent , and such a show of moderation . " These men , said he , " are leading the > my to a monarchy , different from that which it is my intention to found . " The editorship of the Journal des Debats was accordingly taken from Fiovtie , and given to the Voltairian Etionne , whilst , not to extinguish the religious monarchists , Ihe feuiueton , or literary and critical portion of the journal , transferred to tho Journal de VEmpire , was left in tho hands of Geoffroy and tho anti-Voltairians . "
" Whilst in literature and in the university the Royalist cause was thus kept alive , it also , as may well be supposed , survived or becaiuo resuscitated amongst tho clergy . These , too , like their lay friends , wore inclined to be grateful to the French Consul and Emporor for having restored them to influence , and avenged them of tho Jacobins . Bat the occlesistical , no more than the philosophical , could bring themselves to believe in th « permaneneo of the government or the d y nasty , which seemed to place its sole intrinsic roliancei n itself and in the brute force of soldiers ^ and , making uso at tlio same time of tho republican and the Royalist , tho materialist and tho religionist , to bo the instruments and servitors of a power based upon no principle whatever , but upon force nnd the necessities of tho moment . " These are from the preliminary chapters ; when the reign of Louis XVIII . is approached , the accomplished pen of the great journalist is devoted entirely to a hard and rather statistical statement of facts—the best thing we thus get being a clear view of an anarchy . The political portraits are , many of thorn , excellent ; they are all impartial—too impartial . Here is a sketch of the founder oi' the Doctrinaire School—a school to wliich Mr . Crowe belongs : — ' ? Of all the personages who at that time took part in -politics , without being carried ifway
by them tho most revered and sagacious was Hoyer Collard . . Ho is with justice considered the founder of the Doctrinaire school , tlio first to tako a position 011 intermediate ground , in religion between tho disciples of Loyoln and those of Voltaire , in Government botwocn divine right and tho sovereignty of tho people . One of tlio wisest acts of Louis XVlll . waa tho appointment of lioyer Collard to bo President of the Council of I ' ublio Instruction , in which position ho coula hold tho balance between tho influence of the old philosophic « nd of tho now reli gious party . But lioyor Collard was also n deputy , nnrt took active part in the groat questions of tho press , of individual liberty , and of the law of elcctions ^ 'in all which his opinions wore marked liy a profundity , and pronounce ! with a precision , which rendered his works oracular and his influence potential . Tho deputies of t / 10 Centre , and more especially of tho Right Centre , rallied round him ; and with ouch supports and dicxupleo ah Camillo Jordan , tho Duo do BrogUc , Guizot , Beugnot , Ilin school of Uoyor Oollard promised for tho moment to bo as predominant iu tlio Chamber us it was in tho university . But the current of events went not to strcngthim moderat e , opinions or parties in politics . Tho ministerial patronage which Doca / . es slu < il over tho Doctrinaires , fur from strengthening them , proved a sorious cause of weakness , by compromising the young party , and rendering it rcsponttiblo for tho inevitable faults and weaknesses of ovon a well-intentioned administration . Tho main support of M . Deou / . ei » were tho ( Jovernnumt functionaries . They com-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 29, 1854, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29071854/page/17/
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