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Leader (1850-1860), 29th July 1854, Edition 1 of 2, Page 713

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      table , to cliant 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 , 1851 , 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 5 the dictatorship of General Cavaignac as arbitrary and Tiolent 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 French Tepublicanism . May the next be wiser ! The time may come when , after severe purgation , France ( we mean the heart and brain of France , not the ' interests ^ and the rnob 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 riglit to desire is that France may always be in possession of a Government of her own choice . 'ihat choice English statesmen and English journalists will respectfully accept .

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      IIISTOHY OF THE IlEIGNS OF LOUIS XVIII . Atfl > CHARLES X . History of ' ike Reigns of"Louis XVIII . and Charles X . 2 Vols . By Eyre Evans Cxowe . . ¦ ...- . ¦ Berkley . This is a book which will"dtsapp : Qint _ 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 al ways 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 through the first Napoleon . But Mir . 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 , tho surprise arising oaifc 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 which 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 , helms 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 of historical disquisition , and the description of the thi-ee 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 want 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 daguorreotype-like portrait , or a wise comment , is an

      excellent thing ; but in a 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 tho 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 lesa to say of the last of the Bourbon French Kings than of any of the other potentates , crowned , laurelled , or cypressed , wlio have reigned and passed away since Mirabeau . But we doubt whether Sir . Crowe ' s lofty impartiality or treatment and indifFcrcnce to every variety of hero will recommend hina to French readers , who generally object to the sort of posterity represented by contemporary foreign opinion—and , more particularly , when that opinion is merely—no opinion sit 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 < ut is tic merits , is entitled to the most respectful treatment ; and we seize at once upon tho first passago about tho most pronounced in the volumes , and as having the most distinct reforence to present affairs : — " No vnoro curious or interesting problem lms nrison out of tho events of modem history , than that suggested by tho failure of a . nation , so civilised , so spirited , so intellectual , nnd bo foncl of freedom , as tbo Frond ) ,, to establish and to work satisfactorily nnd permanently a constitutional monarchy . No country Imd ever moro fearful experience of extromes in government . Within tho space of Jittlu more than n quarter of a century , Franco o / Fewl the apoctnolo of tho abauru pretensions nnd imbccilo attempts to govern of an absolute , hereditary , and civilian monarchy , of tho equally hopeless and fur move criminal efforts of a people , nftcr deponing their sovereign , to suflieo to the task of ruling nnd organising themselves . A senatorial government of revolutionary notables , dethroning in turn th « sovereign

      jiuopio , provou jiot more just , moro elnciont , or more respectable . JCvery pohtioiu unshtntion undovory ( social clans having been tried , found unworthy , and swept away ( parliaments and representative assemblies not excepted ) , thorn ranuliuxl the army , tho solo body which was organised and disciplined , that could obey a superior , without thut , superior decimating it . nnd fulfil tho soldiers'duty of defending the country , without proscribing , sacrificing , and massacring o « cli other . The rise of tho army in France , to dominate- over nil other classes ana institutions , cannot bo considered n » owing so much to tho ambition of its chief as to tho necessity of things , Similar events ¦ will produce himiliir ruMilta And whonovoy tho people 01 a great country rofuno to obey their old maulers , and fail to discover or ngreo upon any mono ox orguiuwSng thoirMolvoH in n political system , power must devolve upon tmy body or class winch possesses association or discipline , tm acknowledged authority , or a combined fn ™; i iV ™" ^ , " ™' ) « nd « t uovornl cpoolm , tho clergy fonood tho moat porfect and toim dablo association : tl » ov dominated in consequence . In tho proiscnt day , oiroumatancoa endow Clio military with this advantage , which u denied to almost » ll other clnsavs 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 , fall into deep and irremediable dissension , the army necessarily steps in , not to conquer or grasp the right of domination , but to assume it as a task that cannot be declined . Military usurpations have ever been due more to the follies and foiblesof those who were not soldiers , than to the ambition or audacity of those who were . " Multary domination is , however , but a temporary remedv , 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 the country , as if the whole object of life -was soldiering , and the only aim of mankind tbe science of slaughtering , pillaging , and oppressing each other . But even supposing a king-dom or country eneaffed in a simple

      with tlie surrounding world , and sacrificing everything to soldierdom , an end must come at last . It will be attained even b y victory ; for after rictory will come the task of administering in peace both the conquering and the conquered . But military institutions no longer suffice tor this . The 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 wlo persisted in it , even were he a Cresar or a Napoleon . 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 no * t mainly even because of his military talent , but because of his " great good sense , the total absence from his mind of bigotry , of fanaticism , of party spirit , of hallucination , of inveteracy of any kind ; " 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 . Crowe appears innocent of an intention , to give ifc > and we in England may see how infirm is that '' cordial alliance" on which , we are stakin g all !—

      ' Such was the France that Napoleon organised into the docile instrument of his power , or the tacit audience and admirer of his heroic deeds . Nor -were his arrangements illimagined for a reign which was to be marke 6 ? fcy a series of victories , and which was to bo but a continued f&e . Ibis necessary , however , to provide for the storm rather than the sunshine , and to make preparation for the reverses rather than for the successes of life . 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 sergeantj 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 as aide-de-camp , and in this garb presented himself at ths barracks of several regiments in the capital , a : t the hotel of the Prefect , and the quarters of the officerThe latter he obli

      commanding- . was ged 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 he ,: 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 thehigh functionaries of Napoleon ' s creation and appointment display a sign that either the Imperial regime or the Imperial dynasty was uppermost in their thoughts . The conspiracy failed through a niere chance , the escape of an officer . And Napoleon returned furious , to ask of his mystified , functionaries whether the continuance oi 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 ancLthe Church — pressing it , despite Mr . Crowe , into the service of illustrating the affttfrs of our own day : —

      " This combat of the sensualist and spiritualist , of the 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 De'bats was -the organ in which the Royalist contrived to fling his javelin at the Revolutionist . Napoleon so far permitted this , as to pay largely the editor , M . Fievde , not only for writing in moderate support of his opinions in the De'bats , 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 List tho Emperor sa , w through the full liostifity which was covered with so much talent , and such a show of moderation , " These men , " said he , " are leading the way to a monarchy , different from that which it is my intention to found . " Tho editorship of tho Journal des Dibats was accordingly taken from Fievee , and Riven to the Voltairian Etienno , whilst , not to extinguish the religious monarchists , the fettilteton , or literary and critical portion of the journal , transferred to the Journal cle VEwjylre , was left in tho hands of Geoffroy and the anti-Voltairians . "

      " Whilst in literature and m the university tho Itoyalist cause was thus kept alive , it also , as may well bo supposed , survived or became resuscitated amongst tho clergy . These , too , like their lay friends , were inclinoi to be grateful to the French Consul and Emperor for having restored them to influence , and avenged them of the Jacobins . But tho ecclesistical , no more than tho philosophical , could bring themselves to believe in tho permanence of tho government or tho dynasty , whioh seemed to place its sole intrinsic reliancei n itself and in the brute force of soldiers , and , malting use at tho same time of tho republican and the Royalist , tho materialist and the religionist , to be tho instruments and servitors of a power based upon no principle whatever , but upon force mid tho necessities of tho moment . " These are from the preliminary chapters ; when the reiga of Louis XVIII . is approached , the accomplished pen of tho 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 aa anarchy . Tho political portraits are , many of them , excellent ; they arc all impartial—top impartial . Hero is a sketch of the founder of the Doctrinaire

      School—n school to which Mr . Crowe belongs : ~—" Of nil tho personages who fit that time took part in politics , without being curried nwiy by them the most rovorod and sagacious was llojor Collard . Ho is with justico considered the founder of ( ho Doctrinaires school , tho lirat to tuko a position on intermediate ground , in religion between tho disciples of JLoyolti nnd those of Voltniro , in Government betwoen divine right and tho sovereignty of the people One of the wisest nets of Louis XVlll . wan tho Appointment of Rover Oolliird to bo President of the Council of Public Instruction , in whioh position ho could hold tho balance between tho influence of the old jpliilo . iopliic and of the new roligjoua party . But Itoycr Oollurd was also a deputy , and took notivo part in the grant questions of tho press , of individual liberty , nnd of the law of dcotions , ' m all which his opinions woro marked by n [ . rofuiidit . y , and pronounced with < i precision , which rendered Ills worku oracular and his iniluunco potential . Tho deputiou of tho Centre , nnd moro especially of tho Right Oontro , rallied round him ; and with such supports « nd disciple * oh Oaiuillo Jordan , tho Duo do lirojrlio , Guizot , Houfinot , tho nchool of Koycr Collnrd promised for tho moment to bo ns predoinlmint in tho OhuniLor an it w «» 111 tho umvormty . But tho 1101 mouvmiu wjn i i mi

      ravront or events went ; 10 flircmjuicn »>«»» n «» »> "vo »• < um . > v . o . « ministerial putroiingo which Decn / . os shod ovor tho Doctrinaires , far from strengthening tlioui , proved u serious cause of weakness , by compromising tho young party , and rendering it responsible for the inevitable fimlts and woaknewaos of uvon u woll-uitontionod administration . Tho main support of AI . Docnzea went U 10 Oovcrnm « nt functionaries . They com-

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      July 29 , 1854 . j THE LEADER . 713

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 29, 1854, page 713, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2049/page/17/