BOOK their representative, and the people of France President of the Republic. This system of agitation maintains in the country mistrust and suspicion, which create misery. It must cease. It is time that good men should be reassured, and that bad men should tremble. The Republic has no more implacable enemies than those men who, by perpetuating disorder, force us to turn France into a camp, and our plans of amelioration and progress into preparations for a struggle and for defence. 'Elected by the nation, the cause that I defend is yours. It is that of your families, of your property, that of the poor as well as that of the rich-that of all civilisation. I shall leave nothing undone in order to make it succeed.' When the streets had resumed their wonted aspect, and the Mountain had been covered with ridicule, General Changarnier, in the presence of M. Odilon Barrot, said to the Prince: Here is the opportune moment. Put an end to the Republic and establish a dictatorship.' The same advice had been tendered to the President of the Republic on January 29. On both occasions he rejected it. He believed in the sincerity of the Royalist leaders, who supported his policy in the Assembly, who had conducted the recent general election, and who were still assuring him of their steadfast friendship as the only possible barrier to the advance of the Red spectre. CHAPTER VIII. THE PRESIDENT IN THE PROVINCES. VIII. THE Prince President devoted the autumn Parliamentary CHAP. recess of 1849 to a provincial progress, in the course of which he took advantage of banquets and inaugural ceremonies to make known his views on public affairs to his countrymen. Everywhere he exhorted men to practise a spirit of conciliation, and to set aside party for country. At Chartres, where he assisted at the opening of the railway from Paris, he said that it was there St. Bernard preached the second crusade, which put religious faith above material interests; and still faith was giving men strength to overcome difficulties-with conciliation it would double their material strength. At Amiens, where the Prince gave new colours to the National Guard of the Department of the Somme, he foreshadowed that Anglo-French alliance which never ceased to be the pivot of his foreign policy. I have done so little as yet,' he said, 'for my country, that I am at once proud of and perplexed by this ovation, which I attribute to my name rather than to myself. France remembered this when she gave me her suffrages, that this name represented not only conquest and war, but also order and peace. Amiens especially must have been convinced of it—Amiens, that in the midst of an European conflagration had witnessed within its walls—indeed, in the hall where we are-the signature of that famous treaty in 1802 which was to conciliate the interests of the two most civilised nations of BOOK VII. the world. The only idea of peace under the Empire will pass down to posterity with the name of the city of Amiens. It is to this remembrance that I attribute a truly triumphant reception. You desire peace-but a glorious peace-fertile in benefits at home and in influence abroad.' From Amiens the Prince went, accompanied by his oldest and staunchest friends, including his fellow-prisoner Dr. Conneau, to Ham.1 The little town threw up a triumphal arch to welcome its old prisoner, who now came as Chief of the State to visit the fortress in which he had spent six years of his life. The Prince was not surrounded with the pomp of power, but with a group of the friends of his misfortunes-with M. Vieillard, Vaudrey, Conneau, De Persigny, and Laity. The town was gay with flags, and a salute was fired from the prison-walls, whence he had escaped in a workman's blouse only three years ago. He had left many unseen friends in the town, and all the townsfolk were out to give him a hearty welcome. They covered the prison-gates with flowers, and offered him a banquet. He found the Kabyle chief Bou-Maza occupying his old rooms, and he set him at liberty. And then, at the banquet offered to him by the mayor, he delivered a courageous speech, which made a deep impression throughout France. 'I am profoundly moved,' he said, ' by the affectionate reception I have received from your fellow-citizens. But, believe me, if I have come to Ham, it is not in a spirit of pride, but of gratitude. I felt in my heart that I should thank the inhabitants of this town and neighbourhood for all the marks of sympathy which they showed me in my misfortunes. 'To-day, when elected by all France legitimate chief 1 July, 21, 1849. THE PRESIDENT IN THE PROVINCES. LIBRARY Tniversity c MICHIGAN 99 СНАР. of this great nation, I cannot take to myself glory for a captivity the cause of which was an attack on a regular Government. When I have seen how many misfortunes the justest revolutions bring in their wake, I can hardly comprehend the audacity of an endeavour to take upon myself the terrible responsibility of a change. I do not pity myself, therefore, for having expiated, by an imprisonment of six years, my temerity against the laws of my country; and it is with pleasure that, in the place where I suffered, I propose to you a toast in honour of the men who have resolved, in spite of their convictions, to respect the institutions of their country.'1 From Ham the Prince travelled to Angers to open a railway between that town and Tours, and here he interpreted the cheers of the crowd and defined his position. VIII. It is not,' he said, 'because I am the nephew of the man who put an end to all our civil dissensions that you receive me so kindly, for I cannot do for you all the Emperor did; I have neither his genius nor his power; but your acclamations are intelligible because I represent that system of moderation and conciliation inaugurated by the Republic that system which consists in planting in 1 'Monsieur le Maire,--Je suis profondément ému de la réception affectueuse que je reçois de vos concitoyens. Mais, croyez-le, si je suis venu à Ham, ce n'est pas par orgueil, c'est par reconnaissance. J'avais à cœur de remercier les habitants de cette ville et des environs de toutes les marques de sympathie qu'ils n'ont cessé de me donner pendant mes malheurs. un gouvernement régulier. Quand 'Aujourd'hui qu'élu par la France entière, je suis devenu le chef légitime de cette grande nation, je ne saurais me glorifier d'une captivité qui avait pour cause l'attaque contre BOOK VII. France not the savage liberty that permits every man to do as he pleases, but the liberty of civilised people that allows each individual to do that which is not harmful to the community. I know that under every régime there will be oppressors and oppressed; but while I remain President of the Republic there will be no oppressed party.' On the following day the Prince, speaking at Nantes, reminded his hearers that it was behind the Loire, on which he had been travelling, that the last shattered columns of the Grand Army made their stand. Speaking of the statue of Cambronne, within sight of which he stood, he observed that the enthusiasm with which the glories of the Empire were cherished by the people proved to him that if fate should bring another struggle, France would be the foremost military nation. But to-day,' he continued, we have as great a glory, that of opposing every civil and foreign war, and of growing great with the progressive development of our industry and our commerce. Behold the forest of masts that is motionless in your port; it needs but a breath to carry to the end of the world the products of our civilisation. 6 The 'Let us be united, let us forget all causes of dissension, let us remain devoted to order and to the great interests of our country, and we shall soon again be the Great Nation through the arts, industry, and commerce. city of Nantes, that has received me so well to-day, is strongly interested in this question; for it is destined, by its position, to reach the highest degree of commercial prosperity. 'I drink, then, to the future of the city of Nantes, and to its prosperity.' On the following day (July 31) the Prince was toasting the army at Saumur. On July 29 the President was at Tours. This journey was to have served as a signal for Red and Socialist disorders, |