XXIV. 1830. employment in another; but this can only be the work of CHAP. time, and of a very gradual absorption of industry under the most favourable circumstances. And in France the circumstances, so far from being favourable, were just the reverse; for the Revolution had at once destroyed the capital, swept away the colonies, and all but ruined the commerce of the country; and the various vents which might take off the displaced labour of the nation were wholly awanting. Hence the eighteen years from 1830 to 1848 were a period of almost ceaseless industrial distress in France, and the animosity of the working classes against the government of Louis Philippe was, almost from its very commencement, far greater than it had been against that of Charles X. 6. strength of ment. The same circumstances, however, which so fearfully augmented this general discontent amongst the working- Increased classes, increased in a still greater degree the strength of the Governthe Government to resist it. As long as the monarchy stood on the remnant of the nobility and the increasing Partiprêtre, as it did during the reign of Charles X., it rested ona flimsy foundation; the pyramid of society was based on its head. But when the numerous and opulent ranks of the bourgeoisie were admitted into the administration, and interested in its preservation, a very different state of things presented itself. Government now stood upon a much wider basis, and could calculate on the support of a more numerous and energetic body of men. The dense and thriving ranks of the bourgeoisie, interested in power because they shared its spoils, gave it their cordial support; their wealth was poured into its coffers; their youth filled the ranks of its National Guard; their influence gave it the command of the legislature. 7. which this But this very circumstance, while for long it secured their ascendancy, in the end exposed it to ruin. A class Dangers to of society which had come to monopolise, in return for led. its support, the whole patronage of Government, ere long became the object of envy. Louis Philippe experienced XXIV. 1830. CHAP. the truth of the old saying, that every place given away made three discontented and one ungrateful. Even the commissions in an army soon raised to 400,000 men, an expenditure increased from 900,000,000 francs (£36,000,000) to 1,500,000,000 (£60,000,000), and the 130,000 civil offices in the gift of the Tuileries, could not suffice for the wants of a nation in which Government employment had become, from the effects of the Revolution, the sole means of advancement. The rule of the bourgeoisie was overthrown in the end in France, from the same jealousy of those excluded from its emoluments which had proved fatal to that of the borough-holders in England. Influence-in other words, corruption-became the great engine of administration; M. Guizot avowed and vindicated it upon the ground that, as all other influences were gone, that of selfish motives alone remained to uphold the Government. But their mode of proceeding, however effective for a time, could not durably continue; for no system can be permanent which is founded on class influence or interest. 8. When the government of Charles X. was overthrown, The Repub- and he himself driven into exile, three parties remained licans: their in France, and divided society between them. So equally success. were they balanced, and so narrowly were the chances of each poised, that it was hard to say with whom, in the scramble for power, the supreme authority would ultimately rest. Most formidable from their resolution, and the command which physical strength gave them of the metropolis, the REPUBLICANS stood foremost on the stage, and, to all appearance, were destined to carry off the prize. They had made the Revolution; it was their spirit which had animated the masses, and thrown a hundred thousand armed workmen on the streets of Paris; to all appearance, the crown and the government were at their disposal. Perhaps, if they had possessed a leader of greater ambition or resolution, they might have secured it, and a new republic have restored, for a brief season, the reign XXIV. 1830. of anarchy in France, to be speedily supplanted by the CHAP. vigour of despotism. But great as the chances of this party were, it had to contend with as great difficulties. The recollection of the Convention, the Reign of Terror, weighed like an incubus on its energies. The working classes, especially in the great towns, were nearly unanimous in its favour; but it is not by that class alone that a change of government ever has been or ever can be effected. Leaders are required to direct its strength, capital to support its efforts, general concurrence to sanction its undertakings. These were all awanting to the Republicans of 1830. The bankers had not risked their. capital to let the fruits of the struggle be reaped by the prolétaires; the journalists were not disposed to cede their places in the cabinet to the workmen; the shopkeepers dreaded a stoppage of their sales, and the termination of the lucrative purchases of the English, from the establishment of a republic. All these classes were extremely willing to use the workmen as auxiliaries, and to take advantage of their courage and numbers to overthrow the Bourbons; and they lauded, on every occasion, their valour and patriotism to the skies; but they had no intention of sharing the fruits of victory with them. They their leonists: The next party which stood prepared to dispute the 9. palm with the Republicans was the NAPOLEONISTS; but The Napotheir chances at that period were decidedly inferior. had, indeed, in their favour the mighty name of the Em- chances. peror, and the magic of his glorious exploits; but though they spoke powerfully to the imagination of the young and ardent part of the people, their influence generally was by no means so great as it has since become. The reason was, these events were too near; distance had not "lent enchantment to the view." All men of middle age could recollect the double capture of Paris; a third visit of the Cossacks was present to every full-grown imagination. Add to this, that the King of Rome, sunk down into the modest title of Duke of Leuchtenberg, was ab VOL. IV. 2 E XXIV. 1830. CHAP. sent, under Austrian influence, in whose service he held a regiment, and no visible member of the Imperial family was at hand to direct or encourage its partisans. The party of the Republicans was based on a principle, but that of Napoleon II. was rested on a man; and without the man a personal party can seldom make any successful effort. 10. ists: their chances. If the Napoleonists wanted a head and wealth to susThe Orléan- tain their exertions, this could not be said of the ORLEANISTS, who had both the one and the other. The Duke of Orléans had obtained, from the generous munificence of Charles X., the entire restoration of the immense estates of the family, and his expenditure, though great, was still within his ample income. Throughout all the phases of the Revolution, a considerable party had adhered to this family, and it had been much increased on the Restoration, from the apparent stability of the throne, and the obvious chances of succession which they enjoyed from the precarious life of the infant Duke of Bordeaux, who alone stood between them and its acquisition. To this party the unwise proceedings of Charles X. and the Parti-prêtre had long been the subject of close observation and intense interest, and his fall seemed, as the death of the Duke of Bordeaux would have done, at once to open the crown to their ambition. The Duke himself was irresolute, and undecided between the attractions of a diadem and the perils with which it was environed. But no similar terrors or qualms of conscience paralysed his adherents, who, relieved of all responsibility consequent on the change of government, expected only to enjoy its rewards. M. Lafitte, and the chief bankers and capitalists of Paris, belonged to this party, from the very obvious reason, that, by placing the Duke of Orléans on the throne, they would be placing themselves in the administration. They had powerful support from M. Guizot, M. Thiers, and other able journalists, who also hoped to share in the spoils of victory, and, in XXIV. 1830. truth, saw no other mode of escape from the distracted CHAP. state of the country. The example of England spoke powerfully to the historic intellects of this influential class of politicians; and it seemed to them almost an indication of providential will, that, when the elder branch of the Bourbons, like the Stuarts, had lost the throne by the ambition of the Romish party, a younger branch should remain to open to France a future of freedom and prosperity. 11. of Orléans During these anxious days, big with the fate of France and of Europe, the Duke of Orléans remained in privacy The Duke and obscurity in the neighbourhood of Paris. He was remains in neither at the Tuileries, where honour and duty called retirement. him to stand by his sovereign and benefactor in the hour of danger, nor at the Hôtel de Ville, where ambition and selfishness might possibly open to him the path to a throne by the overthrow of that benefactor. Accurately informed by M. Lafitte and his other partisans of everything that was going forward in the capital, he yet kept aloof from its stirring scenes, and seemed anxious only, in his elegant retirement of Neuilly, to detach himself from the political struggles in which, more than any human being in existence, he was himself interested. In this there was no affectation; he really felt the wish to abstain from the strife which his conduct indicated. He was consumed with anxiety, fearful to take any decided step, and desirous to receive the impress of events rather than impress his signet-mark upon them. 66 12. conversa tween the Glandevès and Lafitte. On the morning of the 30th July, when the contest was obviously decided, and it was necessary to fix upon a Important government, M. Glandevès, the Governor of the Tuiler- tion be ies, waited on M. Lafitte, when the following conversa- Baron de tion took place between them. Sir," said the baron to the banker, "you have now been master of Paris for twenty-four hours-do you wish to save the monarchy ?" "Which monarchy, sir-that of 1789 or 1814?" "The constitutional monarchy." "To save it, only one way |