ought "not to be imputed to any lukewarmness in the affection for
Italy." The army from the Roman States, which the Pope had set on foot,
but hoped to retain as a defensive force within the northern boundary of
his dominions, numbered about sixteen thousand, of whom more than half
were volunteers. The conduct of the people of Lombardy, who though the
conflict raged on their own soil, and their own freedom was immediately
at stake, wasted their strength in quarrelling with one another instead
of succoring Charles Albert, has long been a topic of wonder and
censure. In short, all Italy did not furnish for this sacred war, so
long the object of her aspirations and her prayers, a body of volunteers
one-fourth as large as the army which the King of Sardinia brought into
the field, though it was probable that he was moved from the first only
by the hope of personal aggrandizement. He invaded Lombardy with an army
of fifty-five thousand men, expecting thereby to win, with the aid of
the national enthusiasm, the sceptre of all Italy for himself and his
descendants. A terrible disappointment awaited him; instead of glory,
shame and defeat were his portion; and having abdicated his paternal
throne in despair he died in exile, literally of a broken heart. Pius IX
was hardly more fortunate; to him also this fatal war brought dishonor
and exile, the loss of the affection of his subjects, and of the
admiration of the civilized world. The reluctance of the Pope to engage,
when unprovoked, in a war with Austria is no cause for wonder. He
earnestly desired the welfare of his people and the independence of his
native land; but all his desires were subject to the interests of the
Church, of which he was the recognized head throughout Christendom. The
republicans in his dominions, including Mazzini and his party, were
aware of this reluctance, and determined to make use of it and of the
passions of the people in order to get rid of him altogether. No
opportunity was lost to compromise him in the war, both in his temporal
and ecclesiastical character; and the misfortune of his twofold position
did not allow him to resist these machinations with success. General
Durando, the commander of the papal forces, issued a flaming
proclamation to his army when they passed the Po, announcing to them
that their swords were blessed by the venerable head of the Church, and
that they should all wear the cross on their bosoms, as beseemed those
who were engaged in a holy war. This act naturally gave great uneasiness
to the Pope, and Farini censures it as an unwise attempt to obtain the
sanctions of religion for merely political objects--the very conduct
which the Liberal party had previously censured in their opponents. If
Italian minds, he argues, "were not capable of warming with the simple
fire of patriotism for the noble and even holy enterprise of liberating
Italy from the stranger, it was vain to hope that hearts so frozen up in
indifference could kindle with religious faith." In the mean time the
Germans, who were speculating about the unity of their own stock and
nation and were straining every nerve in that difficult enterprise,
could not excuse the desire of independence in the Italians, and
contended for the boasted rights of Austria and Germany over the lands
and the coasts of Italy, with the people that inhabited them. When it
became known in Germany that the pontifical troops were hastening to the
legitimate defence of Italy it affected the public feeling generally,
and the name of Pius IX was branded with censure, not by laymen only,
but by some bishops and high ecclesiastics. Monsignor Viale, nuncio at
Vienna, and Monsignor Sacconi, nuncio at Munich, were assiduous and
eager in detailing the sinister reports touching Rome and the Pope, and
colored them in such a way as to create an apprehension of schism, the
most serious one that could rise for a pope--and that pope, too, Pius
IX. He had before this been greatly troubled by the proclamation of
General Durando; still he had hoped that the Italian League would be
shortly concluded, and that, when he had furnished the quota of troops
that might be due from him as a temporal sovereign, he would then have
been able, in the capacity of pontiff, to use those good offices which
he considered requisite to assure the consciences of Catholics.

Even the news of some reverses to the Italian arms in Lombardy failed to
awaken a proper feeling among the inhabitants of Central and Southern
Italy, and Farini thus censures the slothfulness and vanity of his
countrymen: "Few gave credit or importance at the time to this and other
sinister intelligence; the greater part of those who beheld the first
marvellous smiles of fortune relied upon the star of Italy, and thought
the Empire was dismembered. We Italians are too susceptible to the
impulses of passion, and of heat in the imagination; with a small matter
we are drunken and think to leap over the moon. Deadly intoxication,
most deadly fault, that of undervaluing an enemy, which lets our
enthusiasm too easily evaporate, and gives him every facility for
showing that he is as gallant as we are, and more resolute; that he has
much of perseverance and of discipline--qualities more effectual and
valuable than simple courage. It comes to this; we must either send
about their business the dreams of poets, and educate ourselves in
severe and masculine virtues, or must yet remain long in a position to
chant many more elegies, to assuage our sorrow, than hymns of triumph;
we must either rest assured that with the tenacious, the disciplined,
and the resolute only the tenacious, disciplined, and resolute can cope,
and must therefore leave off despising the Austrians, and imitate them
in their steadiness and their attention to the military spirit; or else
we must be doomed to the disgrace of seeing them masters of our country.
A stern truth; but the only one that an Italian freeman can utter to
Italians free in mind. He who wants compliments and adulation may fling
these warning words from him."

The Ministry at Rome, driven onward by the popular clamor, represented
to the Pope in strong terms the necessity of sending orders to his army
to take an active part in the war; for they had not yet commenced
hostilities with the Austrians. A consistory of the cardinals was to be
held on April 29th; and it was feared that Pius would take that occasion
for declaring that he was averse to the war, thus pacifying the minds of
the Catholics in Germany. The allocution of the Pope realized these
fears, though it expressed only his wish to remain neutral, "and to
embrace all kindreds, peoples, and nations with equal solicitude of
paternal affection." But the Ministry resigned in consequence, and great
disturbances arose in the city; the populace were not willing themselves
to volunteer for the war, but they were determined that the Pope should
not continue a man of peace. The Civic Guard was placed under arms, but
it was soon found that the soldiers shared the feelings of the people,
and no reliance could be placed upon them. Threats were uttered of
assassinating the cardinals, and others cried out "to make short
work--as they called it--with the government of the priests, those
traitors to Italy, and to place Rome under popular sway." To avert
bloodshed, the Pope consented to a compromise; he gave up the entire
direction of his troops to Charles Albert, and published, of his own
accord, and without the knowledge of his ministers, an affecting
remonstrance to his people.

Pius also wrote an earnest letter to the Emperor of Austria, entreating
him to put a stop to the war by acknowledging the independence of
Venetia and Lombardy. "Let not the generous German nation take it ill,"
he said, "if we invite them to lay resentment aside, and to convert into
the beneficial relations of friendly neighborhood a domination which
could never be prosperous or noble while it depended solely on the
sword." But the prayers of the Pope had now little influence either with
the Emperor or with his own subjects; he had long ago forfeited the
favor of the Absolutists by his political reforms, and he had now lost
the love of his people by his reluctance to gratify their passion for
sway.

Yet if he had basely yielded to their wishes, against his judgment and
his conscience, he would have injured only the cause of the papacy in
foreign lands, and the issue of the war would not have been changed. As
it was, his troops were actively engaged in the contest till the time of
their capture at Vicenza by the Austrians. The fatal blow was given to
the hopes of Italy by the King of Naples withdrawing his troops at a
critical moment, when their loss could not be replaced.

Their departure, and the consequent capture of the papal army under
Durando at Vicenza, enabled the Austrians to turn their whole force
against the Piedmontese, who were then defeated and driven back. The
disgraceful capitulation at Milan followed, and the cause of United
Italy was lost forever. Brilliant as its promise had been at the outset,
the Revolution of 1848 terminated as pitifully as did those of 1820 and
1831; and for its disastrous issue the Italians have none to blame but
themselves.

Misfortunes and defeat had their usual effect in inflaming the rage of
parties. The personal influence of the Pope could no longer keep the
passions of the citizens in check, and the clubs now governed Rome with
absolute sway. The party of Mazzini, bent on trying the experiment of a
republic at all hazards, began to show its head after a long period of
inefficiency and discouragement, and every day acquired new adherents
and stronger influence. One Ministry after another tried in vain to
steer the ship of state on an even course, between the opposite perils
of the domination of a mob and the rigorous enforcement of the laws. The
Pope tried for some months the experiment of a popular administration,
under Mamiani, of whom our author says, "He seemed to play the part of a
tribune of the people more than of the Pope's minister." Still he was an
honest man, opposed to violence, to tumult, and to all excesses, though
he paid too much deference to the clubs, which were now as turbulent and
mischievous as their Parisian prototypes. The acts of his Ministry were
not numerous, Farini says, for the character of the times would not
admit of dispassionate inquiries and solid reforms. In truth, the
energies of Government were exhausted in a vain attempt to keep the
peace in the city, which was now a constant scene of turbulence and
disorder. Bologna also, having successfully repelled an unauthorized
attack made upon it by the Austrians under Welden, had become a prey to
the wildest confusion, owing to the continuance there of the irregular
bands of armed men who had contributed to its defence. At the urgent
request of the Bolognese Deputies, the Ministry determined to send
thither one of their own number to aid in restoring order; and Farini
was deputed for this purpose. The following is a portion of his account
of what he saw there and what he accomplished:

"In the streets and open places of the city, for two days, the brigands
had been slaughtering every man his enemy among the Government officers,
some of them indeed disreputable and sorry fellows, others respectable.
They killed with musket-shot, and if the fallen gave signs of life they
reloaded their arms in the sight of the people and the soldiers and
fired them afresh, or else put an end to their victims with their
knives. They hunted men down like wild beasts, entered their houses, and
dragged them forth to slaughter. One Bianchi, an inspector of police,
was lying in bed, reduced to agony by consumption; they came in, set
upon him and cut his throat in the presence of his wife and children;
the corpse, a frightful spectacle, remained in the public streets. I saw
it, saw death dealt about, and the abominable chase. Cardinal Amat, who
had given notice of his arrival, came the day after; and the armed
commons escorted him to the palace at the very time when the villains
were perpetrating their murders.

"There were no longer any judges, or any officers of the police; those
who had escaped death either had fled or had hidden themselves; the
Civic Guard was disarmed, the citizens killed, the few soldiers of the
line either mixed with the insurgents or were wholly without spirit; the
carbineers and dragoons in hesitation, the volunteer legions and free
corps a support to the rioters, not to the authority of Government. We
sent to Rome for leave to declare Bologna in a state of siege; but the
answer was that the Ministry having taken the opinion of the Council of
State considered that order might be restored without recourse to this
extreme measure.

"All our best exertions were made to draw to the side of Government the
carbineers and dragoons, as also Bellezzi and the honest leaders of the
people, but with little success. It was reported that Bellezzi himself
had given leave to kill those whom they called the spies; one Masina
came before us, proposing by way of compromise to banish those whose
lives were threatened; armed men were in the very palace of government,
and we ourselves at their mercy. Accident, however, effected at a stroke
what we could have done only slowly and with difficulty. An assassin
attempted the life of a carbineer; his companions, inflamed with anger,
pursued him and caught him in a church. They then volunteered their most
resolute efforts at repression. They were ordered to sally forth, arrest
and disarm the ruffians. The dragoons seconded them; young Pepoli,
commandant of the Civic Guard, mustered a few companies; Bianchetti and
the respected citizens of the Committee of Public Safety drew close
around us, and we hurried in the Swiss from Forli. The population began
to regain its courage and to applaud the carbineers as they arrested the
assassins; the Swiss entered amid cheers."

The disturbances at Bologna were quelled; but the bonds of law and order
throughout the Papal States were now loosened, and it became evident
that a more determined minister must be placed at the helm, or the
experiment of the existing form of government must be abandoned in
despair. A republic or a return to the old principles of despotism would
then be inevitable. In this emergency the eyes of the Pope and of all
prudent persons at Rome were turned to Rossi, who, since the fall of
Louis Philippe's Government, from which he had been ambassador to the
Roman States, had resided there as a private citizen, taking no active
share in politics, but often consulted by both parties, owing to his
high reputation for sagacity and firmness. Exiled on account of his
liberal opinions by Gregory, he had laid the foundation of his fame at
Paris, where he successively became professor, peer, and ambassador, and
was highly esteemed by all parties as a writer and a statesman. Once
before, Pius had solicited him to form a ministry; but he had declined,
because conscious that the affections of the populace were not with him,
and he judged that the minds even of the better portion of the citizens
were not yet prepared for a resolute attempt to carry on a
constitutional government by firm measures.

He suggested to the Pope that he was probably odious to the court on
account of his previous employments and his writings; that some would
perhaps look very coldly on a minister who had married a Protestant
wife; and that the French Republic might be displeased if he should hold
a high post at Rome. But in the middle of September the solicitations of
the Pope and of many respectable persons in the State became so urgent
that Rossi consented to serve; the opinion was universal that no other
person possessed the requisite abilities, character, and experience to
carry on the Government at this perilous crisis; and that, if he failed,
all indeed was lost. He selected for his colleagues men of liberal
politics, but temperate in their opinions. He announced his intention to
carry into effect the Fundamental Statute, in all its parts, according
to constitutional usage; to counteract and repress both parties opposed
to that instrument; to abolish exemptions, restore the finances, and
reorganize the army; to conclude a league with Piedmont and Tuscany,
even if it should be impossible with Naples; and to fix the contingent
of troops which the Pope was to supply, so that he need not in any way
mingle in the war.

The turbulent and the presumptuous, "the magistrates accustomed to
fatten upon abuses, the Sanfedists who made a livelihood of disorder,
and the clergy, greedy of gold and honors, could ill bear that
Pellegrino Rossi should have the authority of a minister." But those who
knew the real condition of affairs, and that, unless the finances were
improved and public discipline and order restored, all would go to
wreck, counted it great gain that he should take charge of the
debilitated State. "The dissatisfied were more numerous and noisy in the
capital; the contented stronger in the Provinces, especially at Bologna,
where an educated community wished for a liberal system, with a
government strong in the strength of the law; where the recent terrible
events had filled every mind with horror; and where Rossi, the
proscribed of 1815, was dear to memory, and rooted in public esteem."

The Roman Legislature was to meet again in the middle of November, so
that the new minister was chiefly occupied with maturing the measures
which were to be laid before it for adoption. His public acts therefore
were few; but they were enough to show that new wisdom and vigor
directed the course of affairs. He obtained the Pope's consent that the
clergy should make a new contribution of two millions of crowns to the
State, on the strength of which he obtained a new loan and punctually
paid the interest on the public debt. He invited General Zucchi home
from Switzerland to take the command of the army, which rapidly improved
in discipline under his energetic guidance. He distributed medals to
those who had been wounded and to the families of the slain at Vicenza.
He established two lines of telegraph, one to Ferrara by the way of
Bologna, and another to Civita Vecchia. The negotiations with Sardinia
and Tuscany for an Italian league were advanced nearly to completion.
Chairs of political economy and commercial law were founded in the
universities at Rome and Bologna. Toward the close of October the mob
rose in Rome, on occasion of a squabble between a Jew and a Catholic,
and threatened to sack the Ghetto and maltreat its inhabitants. Rossi
hurried the Civic Guard and the carbineers to the spot, allayed the
tumult, arrested and imprisoned some of its ringleaders, and published
an energetic proclamation to warn the turbulent that the laws would be
enforced.

"All these proceedings excited the anger of Rossi's enemies, the
journalists, the captains of the people, and the Roman clubs." There was
no opprobrium that was not heaped upon him, no charge that was not
levelled at the Government. But these declamations seemed to have little
effect on the body of the people. On the morning of November 15th, when
the Legislature was to commence its session, though knots of persons
were seen talking in the streets with excited countenances, there was no
outbreak or popular tumult. Rossi had received many anonymous letters in
which his life was threatened, but he scorned to take any notice of
them. This morning one came which directly affirmed that he would be
assassinated in the course of the day; and he threw it into the fire.
The regulation of the police, now that the day of the session had
arrived, belonged to the President of the Council of Deputies; and
Rossi, punctilious in the observance of the constitution, refused to
give them any orders.

Several of his friends came and remonstrated with him against such an
exposure of his life. "To all this he answered that he had taken the
measures which he thought suitable for keeping the seditious in order,
and that he could not, on account of risk that he might personally run,
forego repairing to the Council according to his duty; that perhaps
these were idle menaces; but if anyone thirsted for his blood, he would
have the means of shedding it elsewhere on some other day, even if, on
that day, he should lose his opportunity. He would therefore go." He was
elated by the confidence which the Pope had in him, and expected both
trust and aid from the Parliament, to which he was so soon to explain
his ideas and intentions.

"When the ordinary hour of the parliamentary sitting, which was about
noon, arrived, the people began to gather in the square of the
Cancellaria, and by degrees in the courtyard and then in the public
galleries of the hall. Soon these were all full. A battalion of the
Civic Guard was drawn up in the square; in the court and hall there was
no guard greater than ordinary. There were, however, not a few
individuals, armed with their daggers, in the dress of the volunteers
returned from Vicenza, and wearing the medals with which the
municipality of Rome had decorated them. They stood together and formed
a line from the gate up to the staircase of the palace. Sullen visages
were to be seen and ferocious imprecations heard among them. During the
time when the Deputies were slowly assembling, and business could not
commence because there was not yet a quorum present, a cry for help
suddenly proceeded from the extremity of the public gallery, on which
everyone turned thither a curious eye; but nothing more was heard or
seen, and those who went to get some explanation of the circumstances
returned without success.

"In the mean time Rossi's carriage entered the court of the palace. He
sat on the right, and Righetti, Deputy Minister of Finance, on the left.
A howl was raised in the court and yard, which echoed even into the hall
of the Council. Rossi got out first, and moved briskly, as was his habit
in walking, across the short space which leads from the centre of the
court to the staircase on the left hand. Righetti, who descended after
him, remained behind, because the persons were in the way who caused the
outcry, and who, brandishing their cutlasses, had surrounded Rossi and
were loading him with opprobrium. At this moment there was seen amid the
throng the flash of a poniard, and then Rossi losing his feet and
sinking to the ground. Alas! he was spouting blood from a broad gash in
the neck. He was raised by Righetti, but could hardly hold himself up,
and did not articulate a syllable; his eyes grew clouded, and his blood
spurted forth in a copious jet. Some of those, whom I named as clad in
military uniform, were above upon the stairs; they came down, and formed
a ring about the unhappy man; and when they saw him shedding blood and
half lifeless, they all turned and rejoined their companions. He was
borne, amid his death-struggle, into the apartments of Cardinal Gazzoli,
at the head of the stairs on the left side; and there, after a few
moments, he breathed his last.

"In leaving the palace of the Cancellaria, one met some faces gleaming
with a hellish joy, others pallid with alarm; many townspeople standing
as if petrified; agitators, running this way and that, carbineers the
same; one kind of men might be heard muttering imprecations on the
assassin, but the generality faltered in broken and doubtful accents;
some, horrible to relate, cursed the murdered man. Yes, I have still
before my eyes the livid countenance of one who, as he saw me, shouted,
'So fare the betrayers of the people!' But the city was in the depths of
gloom, as under the hand of calamity and the scourge of God; and
wherever there were respectable persons, though of liberal and Italian
principles, they were horror-struck, and called for the resolute
exertions of the authorities."

When the terrible news came to the Pope, he was struck with horror and
dismay, but yet strove to rally the other members of the Government
around him and preserve the State from anarchy. But his efforts were
miserably seconded; one person after another declined taking office or
continuing in it; and even when the presidents of the two Councils were
summoned, they had little advice to give. On the morrow the tidings came
that a mob was on its way toward the Quirinal, some of the carbineers
having fraternized with them, to enforce the appointment of a democratic
ministry, and a declaration in favor of a constituent assembly for all
Italy. Only a few Swiss, the ordinary guard of honor, were on duty; but
they shut the gates of the palace, and nobly declared that their own
bodies should be piled up behind them before the rioters should enter.
Galletti, the former minister of police, acted as spokesman of the mob,
and when admitted to an audience he stated their demands. The Pope
indignantly declared that he would not yield to violence, but must
deliberate in freedom. This answer only inspired the insurgents with
fresh fury, so that they pressed forward to the gates, set one of them
on fire, and, mounting upon the roofs of the neighboring houses, opened
a fire upon the walls and windows of the Quirinal. The few Swiss fired
in return; and then the cry ran through the city that the Pope's guards
were butchering the people, and already there were many slain. Within
the palace many advised Pius to yield, a few still spoke of resistance,
and the foreign ministers, who were collected there, had no scheme to
offer. "The scuffle continues; the worthy prelate, Monsignor Palma,
falls dead by the window of his own apartment; balls reach the
ante-chamber of the Pope." At last Pius turned to the diplomatic body
who stood around him, and said: "There is no further hope in resistance.
Already a prelate is slain in my very palace, shots are aimed at it,
artillery levelled. To avoid fruitless bloodshed and increased
enormities, we give way; but it is, as you see, only to force. Therefore
we protest; let the courts, let your governments, know it. We give way
to violence alone, and all we concede is null and void."

Galletti was then asked to propose his list of ministers, from which the
Pope indignantly struck out the name of the Neapolitan Salicetti, but
admitted without a word the names of Sterbini, Lunati, and Galletti.
Their appointment was signed on the spot, and the news being told to the
insurgents "they fired muskets in token of joy, and went off with hymns
for Italy and cheers for the Italian Constituent Assembly and the
democratic Ministry."

The next day the club desired that the Swiss should be deprived of their
arms and dismissed from the Quirinal; the Pope complied. The club then
asked that Galletti should be named general of the carbineers; and he
was appointed. "Such was the poltroonery or such the depravity of
consciences that no journal would or dared denounce the murder. But why
do I speak of denouncing? The murder was honored with illuminations and
festivities in numerous cities, and not in these States only, but beyond
them, especially at Leghorn." The Councils met on the 18th and 20th, but
not a word was said of the murder, and even a proposition for giving
assurance to the Pope "of the devotion and unalterable affection of the
Deputies" was voted down. Three of the Bolognese Deputies and a few
others then indignantly resigned their seats, and assigned their reasons
for this step in addresses to their constituents.

Early on the night of the 25th the Pope secretly left the Quirinal,
entered a carriage prepared for him by the wife of the Bavarian
ambassador, and went into exile from that city which, within two years
and a half, had worshipped, scorned, and assailed him.




(1848) THE REVOLUTION OF FEBRUARY IN FRANCE, Francois P.G. Guizot and
Mme. Guizot de Witt


This outbreak marked one of the many transitions in French history,
leading to the establishment of the short-lived Second Republic, so soon
to be followed by the _coup d'etat_ of Louis Napoleon and the setting up
of the Second Empire. When France passed from the rule of the Bourbons,
represented by Charles X, to that of the Orleanists, in the hands of
Louis Philippe, the "Citizen King" (July, 1830), great hopes were
entertained by the constitutional party that this renewal of the
monarchy through the "July Revolution" would result in permanent
benefits. At first the new King enjoyed great popularity. In some
respects his government, compared with that of Charles X, was liberal,
and one of its early acts was an extension of the suffrage by decreasing
the amount of the property qualification for voters. The demand for
still further enlargement of popular rights became emphatic. The people
were divided mainly into three parties, and the difficulties confronting
the King were formidable. The Conservatives, who had placed him in
power, wished to prevent further changes in the State; the Moderates
asked for new reforms, especially for a still more extended suffrage;
the Radical party desired a republic.

The attitude of the Radicals caused Louis Philippe to halt in his
progressive policy. More than once his life was attempted, and in
consequence of such acts the liberty of the press and other privileges
were restricted. The greater part of the French people wished to have
the King intervene in behalf of Poland--which at that period was in a
state of almost chronic insurrection--as he had aided the Belgians
against Holland. In her Eastern policy France was defeated by the
Quadruple Alliance, formed by England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, and
in consequence of this failure the King's prestige suffered. But the
question of extending the suffrage was kept always before the people,
and when the King refused to go further with that reform its advocates
urged their demands more strongly than ever. Lamartine founded a journal
in which he agitated for universal suffrage, and in this agitation many
other newspapers joined. Even Thiers, the leading statesman of the
Moderate party, asked for suffrage reform. Failing to control the
Legislative Assembly, the reformers at last appealed to the people. The
King, relying on his majority in the Assembly, was undisturbed by the
popular ferment.

Guizot, whose account of the "February Revolution" is here given, was
the chief minister of Louis Philippe; and however partisan the author's
narrative may seem, it rests upon an intimate knowledge of the events
recorded.

I come with profound repugnance and sorrow to those painful days by the
faults and misfortunes of which France was launched into dangerous
enterprises, such that men of the greatest foresight could not discern
their end. Our country has paid very dearly for the fatal error which
overthrew the throne of the King who had for eighteen years governed it
with a wisdom, prudence, and moderation acknowledged even by his enemies
when attacking him.

"The Cabinet of October 29, 1847, and its political friends, had a
clearly defined idea and purpose. They aspired to bring to a close the
French era of revolutions by establishing the free government which
France had in 1789 promised herself as the consequence and political
guarantee of the social revolution which she was completing." This
policy, formerly the object of their youthful hopes, had become theirs,
whether in power or in the opposition. "It was in fact both liberal and
antirevolutionary--antirevolutionary both in home and foreign affairs,
since it wished to maintain the peace of Europe abroad, and the
constitutional monarchy at home; liberal, since it fully accepted and
respected the essential conditions of free government; the decisive
intervention of the country in its affairs, with a constant and
well-sustained discussion, in public as well as in the Chambers, of the
ideas and acts of the Government. In fact, this twofold object was
attained from 1830 to 1848.

"Abroad, peace was maintained without any loss to the influence or
reputation of France in Europe. At home, from 1830 to 1848, political
liberty was great and powerful; from 1840 to 1848, in particular, it was
displayed without any new legal limit being imposed. It was this policy
that the opposition--all the oppositions, monarchical and dynastic as
well as republican--blindly or knowingly attacked, and tried to change.
It was to change it that they demanded electoral and parliamentary
reforms. In principle, the Government had no absolute or permanent
objections whatever to such reforms; the extension of the right of
suffrage, and the incompatibility of certain functions with the office
of Deputy, might and must be the natural and legitimate consequences of
the upward movement of society and political liberty. They did not think
the reforms necessary or well-timed, and were therefore justified in
delaying them as much as possible, provided they should one day allow to
be accomplished by others what they thought themselves still strong
enough to refuse." "We have too much and too long maintained a good
policy," said Guizot afterward.

A frequent and formidable sign that men's minds are secretly agitated is
the anxiety by which they are seized with reference to intrigues and
vices which they suppose around them. It would be a serious error to see
always a symptom of moral improvement in the clamors against electoral
or parliamentary corruption. Immediately after the ministerial success
in the general elections of 1846, this precursory indication of storms
appeared on the horizon. Guizot raised the question to its proper point
of view. "Leave to countries which are not free," said he, "leave to
absolute governments, that explanation of great results by small,
feeble, or dishonorable human acts. In free countries, when great
results are produced it is from great causes that they spring. A great
fact has been shown in the elections just completed; the country has
given its adhesion, its earnest and free adhesion, to the policy
presented before it. Do not attribute this fact to several pretended
electoral manoeuvres. You have no right to come to explain, or qualify
by wretched suppositions, a grand idea of the country thus grandly and
freely manifested." The rumors of electoral corruptions were soon
followed by rumors of parliamentary corruptions; but the majority of the
Chamber declared themselves "content" with the ministerial explanations.
The "Contents" figured in the opposition attacks by the side of the
"Pritchardists."

Several improper abuses of long standing existed in certain branches of
the Administration; some posts in the Treasury had been the object of
pecuniary transactions between those who held the posts and were
resigning, and the candidates who presented themselves to replace them.
A bill proposed on January 20, 1848, by Hebert, who had become keeper of
the seals, formally forbade any such transaction, under assigned
penalties. Several months previously (June, 1847) M. Teste, formerly
Minister of Public Works, and then president of the Cour de Cassation,
was seriously compromised in the scandalous trial of General Cubieres
and Pellapra. Convicted of having received a large sum of money in
connection with the mining concession, he was brought before the Peers,
and being led from question to question and from discussion to
discussion, soon made a confession of his crime. He, as well as his
accomplices, underwent the just penalty.

"It was, on the part of the Cabinet, one of those acts the merit of
which is only perceived afterward, and in which the Government bears the
weight of the evil at the moment when it is trying most sincerely and
courageously to repress it. There were several deplorable incidents--the
shocking murder of the Duchess of Praslin, some scandalous trials and
violent deaths following hard one upon another, and aggravating the
momentary depression and the excited state of the popular imagination.
The air seemed infected with moral disorder and unlooked-for
misfortunes, coming to join in party attacks and the false accusations
which the Cabinet were subjected to. It was one of those unhealthy
hurricanes often met in the lives of governments." It was certainly
culpable on the part of the opposition to try to take advantage of this
disturbed state of men's minds to gain the end they were pursuing. Seven
times was parliamentary reform, and three times was electoral reform,
refused by the Chambers, from February 20, 1841, to April 8, 1847; the
question being then displaced, it changed its ground. The opposition
made an appeal to popular passion; and parliamentary discussions were
succeeded by the banquets.

From the close of the session of 1847 to the opening of that of 1848
they kept France in a state of constant fever--an artificial and
deceptive fever in this sense, that it was not the natural and
spontaneous result of the actual wishes and wants of the country; but
true and serious in this sense, that the political parties who took the
initiative in it found among some of the middle classes and the lower
orders a prompt and keen adhesion to their proposals. The first banquet
took place in Paris at the Chateau-Rouge Hotel on July 9, 1847.
Garnier-Pages has himself told how the Royalist opposition and the
Republican opposition concluded their alliance for that purpose. On
leaving the house of Odilon Barrot, the Radical members of the meeting
walked together for some time. On reaching that part of the Boulevard
opposite the Foreign Office, at the moment they were about to separate,
Pagnerre said: "Well, really, I did not expect for our proposals so
speedy and complete success. Do those gentlemen see what that may lead
to? For my part, I confess I do not see it clearly; but it is not for us
Radicals to be alarmed about it."

"You see that tree," replied Garnier-Pages; "engrave on its bark a mark
in memory of this day, for what we have just decided upon is a
revolution." Garnier-Pages did not foresee that the Republic of 1848, as
well as the monarchy of 1830, should in its turn speedily perish in that
revolution, so long big with so many storms.

For six months banquets were renewed in most of the departments--at
Colmar, Strasburg, St. Quentin, Lille, Avesnes, Cosne, Chalons, Macon,
Lyons, Montpellier, Rouen, etc. In many parts there was a great display
of feelings and intentions most hostile to royalty and the dynasty. On
several occasions--at Lille, for example--the keenest members of the
parliamentary opposition, Odilon Barrot and his friends, withdrew, soon
after taking their places at table, because the others absolutely
refused to dissemble their hostility to the Crown and the King. At other
banquets, notably at Dijon, the ideas and passions of 1793 unblushingly
reappeared. They defended Robespierre and the Reign of Terror. The "Red
Republic" openly flaunted its colors and hopes. The attack upon monarchy
and the dynasty ranged itself, it is true, behind the parliamentary
opposition, but like Galatea running away:

"_Et se cupit ante videri_."

It had succeeded well enough in making itself seen. The Government could
no longer shut their eyes. They had tolerated the banquets so long as
they could believe, or seem to believe, that the parliamentary
opposition directed, or at least ruled, the movement. When it became
evident that the anarchical impulse was more and more gaining upon the
parliamentary opposition, and that the latter was becoming the
instrument instead of remaining the master, then only they forbade the
banquets. It was their duty.

It was also their right, in the opinion of the most competent legal
authorities, as well as according to the recent practice of other free
governments, in presence of a situation full of certain danger. This
right, however, was disputed by the opposition. The Government, pushing
the principle of legality to its furthest limit, arranged with several
leading men of the opposition for the purpose of enabling the question
of right to be brought speedily and methodically before competent
tribunals. Just before the opening of the new session, in order to close
the campaign, a new and formal banquet was being prepared in Paris, to
which all the Deputies and Peers who had taken part in any of the
preceding banquets were to be invited. This manifestation was to take
place in the Twelfth Arrondissement of Paris. It was therefore agreed
between the opposition delegates and those of the ministerial majority
that the Deputies invited should go to the place appointed for the
meeting and take their places, so as to avoid any disturbance in the
streets or the hall, and that on the police commissary declaring that
there was an order against it the guests should protest and withdraw, to
lay the question before the tribunals. The agreement thus concluded was
communicated by Duchatel to the council, which approved of it.

Meanwhile the Chamber met, the session was opened, and from the very
first the Government could perceive a wavering in the majority. Even
among those who blamed and feared the agitation out-of-doors, several
believed in the urgent necessity of a concession to remove all pretext
for clamors and intrigues. On the ministers being informed of it Guizot
said: "Withdraw the question from the hands of those who now hold it,
and let it be brought back to the Chamber. Let the majority take a step
in the direction of the concessions indicated; however small it be, I am
certain it will be understood, and that you will have a new Cabinet,
which will do what you think necessary." It was in the same spirit that
the Ministry, during the discussion on the address, rejected an
amendment tending to impose upon them immediate engagements with
reference to reform.

"The maintenance of the unity of the Conservative party," said Guizot,
"the maintenance of conservative policy and power, will be the fixed
idea and rule of conduct in the Cabinet. They will make sincere efforts
to maintain or restore the unity of the Conservative party upon that
question, in order that it may be the Conservative party itself in its
entirety that undertakes and gives to the country its solution. If such
an operation in the midst of the Conservative party is possible, it will
take place. If that is not possible--if by the question of reforms the
Conservative party cannot succeed in making a common arrangement and
maintaining the power of the Conservative policy, the Cabinet will leave
to others the sad task of presiding over the disorganization of the
Conservative party and the ruin of its policy."

The question was not destined to be taken up again by the Chambers,
having escaped from the weak hands that aspired to direct it. The
courtesy of the Conservative reformers had no result except disquieting
the Government, a sort of precursory sign of the tempest. Even the
parliamentary opposition found themselves baffled in their prudent
efforts. A manifesto published in the _National_ newspaper organized a
noisy demonstration in the streets, though forbidden in the
banquet-hall, the National Guard being called to arms by the
insurrection, and their services arranged beforehand. The convention was
clearly violated, and the legal appeal to the tribunals therefore
abandoned: the Revolution itself declared it would decide the question.
In such a situation, sorrowfully admitted by those who had negotiated
the evening before, the Government officially forbade the banquet. The
evening papers announced that the Deputies of the opposition had given
up the intention of being present, and therefore the proposed
manifestation was deprived of all importance. The revolutionary leaders
in their turn declared that the banquet would not take place.

Disappointment increasing their irritation, the parliamentary
opposition, in a momentary resistance, employed the remainder of their
strength. On February 22d fifty-two Deputies of the Left laid before the
Chamber a bill of impeachment against the Ministry, on account of their
home and foreign policy during the whole course of their Administration.
"What would you have them do?" said to Guizot an old member of the
opposition who had no share whatever in this act. "They have just
rendered the banquet abortive by declaring they would not attend it, and
felt compelled to do something to compensate for and to some extent
redeem that refusal."

Weakness has a constraining power difficult to understand, which is not
foreseen even by those who give way to it; and of this the history of
the Revolution of 1848 offers an eloquent and melancholy example.

The King, as well as his ministers, still hoped that the crisis had
passed, and that the disorder avoided on the occasion of the banquet
should not reappear under any pretext. The display of military forces
which had been agreed upon and prepared was ordered to be suspended;
instructions to arrest the Republican leaders were issued slowly and in
but few instances. Yet a secret agitation was indicated in several parts
of the capital; there were numerous crowds; on the morning of the 23rd
several _corps-de-garde_ were attacked. As the fermentation increased,
the streets were crowded with idle workmen; people collected in knots
from curiosity, or stood at their doors. The storm was in the air,
evident both to those who dreaded it and those who were preparing to
make use of it.

Meanwhile the appeal of the revolutionary leaders to the National Guard
had been listened to. Many of the Parisian shopkeepers took part in the
"reform movement," without well understanding it, and marched under the
orders of their dangerous allies. Several detachments of the Seventh,
Third, Second, and Tenth Legions appeared in the streets, some in the
Faubourg St. Antoine, others marching to the Palais Royal, or the office
of the _National_ in the Rue le Peletier, and others in the students'
quarter shouting "Long live reform!" in every street. When General
Jacqueminot, the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard, ordered a
general muster of the legions, a large number of the guards, respectable
and law-abiding men, did not answer to the summons. They had no desire
for a revolution or reform forced from the legal powers by insurrection,
but they shrunk from entering upon a struggle with soldiers wearing
their own uniform and influenced apparently by reasonable motives. They
remained in their homes dejected and anxious.

The King was as dejected as the Parisian citizens, and still more
anxious. For several months he had frequently fallen into very low
spirits, which was attributed to his grief at the death of his only
sister, Madame Adelaide of Orleans, whose life had been always
intimately associated with his, and who had just expired (December,
1847). His most intimate friends urged him to charm away the crisis by
changing his Ministry. He still resisted, but every hour less
vigorously. The Cabinet was not even informed of his perplexities.
"Concessions forced by violence from all the legal powers are not a
means of safety," said Duchatel; "one defeat would quickly bring a
second. In the Revolution there was not much time between that of June
20th and August 10th, and to-day things advance more quickly than in
those times. Events, like travellers, now go by steam."