1848. Historical Revelations: inscribed to Lord Normanby

Preface

.* It will ever be to the glory of England, that, in the middle of the nineteenth century, she should have been the only impregnable asylum, in Europe, for the exile driven from his country by absolutism or usurpation. The indomitable energy with which the English people have maintained the right of asylum is the more honourable, as they do not espouse the opinions of those they harbour, nor think either of countenancing their views or encouraging their hopes. How imposing the spectacle of a nation, whose genius is so eminently practical, running the risk of war rather than condescend to the ignoble task of hunting down the homeless ! And not only is England a safe place of refuge for * Since this preface was written, I grieve to say that the British Government has instituted, under manifest pressure, political prosecu tions, which are looked upon with alarm by all enlightened friends of Liberty.

Still, as I believe that these prosecutions will be condemned by juries and rebuked by public opinion in this country, I suffer what I have written to stand, and I confidently hope I shall have nothing hereafter to retract. VI

PREFACE.

. every foreigner who, in his native land, has fallen a victim to civil discords, but she is, in fact, the last sanctuary, in Europe, open to the human mind itself. That Louis Bonaparte and other Continental despots should stand in fear of plots and conspiracies, is natural enough ; but it is not these that are their worst terrors. What really alarms and exasperates them, is the mere idea that there is in Europe a place where their adversaries are enabled to speak out. The conspiracy that makes them inwardly tremble is that of human thought. They know that all their armies and all their treasures are powerless against that unrelenting enemy of despotism — free speech. The attempt by Louis Bonaparte to make political capital out of assassination, and to turn Italian vengeance into a pretext for tightening his deadly grasp upon France — the finishing blow struck at the press — the obliteration of the last remaining vestiges of per sonal liberty — the retrospective scheme of persecution aimed at men already persecuted — the mockery of com pelling universal suffrage to swear fealty for ever to the Empire, by one who boasts of being emperor through universal suffrage * — the recent division of the whole * Everyone knows that it has been recently proposed that no candidate for a seat in the legislative body should be permitted to offer himself to the electors without swearing allegiance to the Imperial dynasty, which is radi cally inconsistent with the principle of universal suffrage, and a satire upon the sovereignty of the people, from which the Empire professes to derive.

PREFACE.

. VII country into five great military districts — Belgium, Piedmont, and Switzerland, placed under coercion, and the savage crusade preached against a handful of exiles — are even more than the necessary development of that war to the knife which Louis Bonaparte is doomed to wage against unfettered thought ; they are a demonstration never to be forgotten, and a desperate con fession, of his impotence. He feels that some five or six harmless refugees having nothing left on earth but their pens, and freely writing in a London garret what they hold to be true, are more powerful than he is at the head of four hundred thousand soldiers ; for he fears them, and they fear him not. Nor is it possible for him to halt in his destined track. A sinister logic goads him unmercifully on, and he cannot help going all the lengths of tyranny — servant of the very soldiers he commands, and, while striking terror into others, struck with a worse terror himself.

England, therefore, cannot expect to be pardoned by Louis Bonaparte, whatever may be her policy towards the refugees, as long as she shares their guilt, by asserting the right of free speech. Fortunately, she is strong enough to hold that sacred right against all comers. Meanwhile, it is no small honour to her that her language should be, at this moment, the vernacular of

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. VIII Liberty ; the only language in which freemen of every nation can interchange ideas, and print their thoughts with any chance of finding a public allowed to read them. These are the reasons why I publish this book in English and in England. No period in history having been so deplorably misrepresented as the Revolution of February, 1S48, more especially in this country, it was my intention to avail myself of the earliest opportunity to dispel the clouds which hang over that great event. The opportunity I was looking for, has just been afforded me by Lord Normanby's book, A Year of Revolution in Paris. When the Revolution of February broke out, Lord Normanby was in Paris, where he had been sent for the special purpose of closely watching the movements of French society. Under his eye did those prodigious events take place, which made the heart of every op pressed nation throb with hope and joy.

All around him did the air reverberate with shouts of patriotic enthusiasm, which were re-echoed from one end of the world to the other. No very strict investigation was required to be apprised of what was thundered out in each street, of what was done in the Forum by the whole people. Yet, strange to say, Lord Normanby seems to have seen nothing, to have heard nothing, to have

PREFACE.

IX known nothing. The spectacle proved, evidently, too grand for the spectator. The small talk and the second-hand calumnies which his lordship has given to the public in the shape of historical records, are by no means of a nature to call forth a minute or even a serious refutation. Can any reflecting mind lay stress upon a book which is a one sided register of idle rumours and unsifted reports ? But, unluckily, it is no easy matter for the public at large to conceive how a man of high station, who was some time the representative of a great nation abroad, an ambassador of England, could have ventured to publish a work teeming with errors about events which he was so well situated to ascertain. From the very name of Lord Normanby, and also from the position he held in France, it is natural enough to infer that he must have known something of what he relates.

Here is the danger. I take it, therefore, to be necessary to show, by opposing undeniable testimonies and documents to unsupported assertions, how little Lord Normanby is to be trusted, either in his statement of facts or his delineation of characters. Not that I intend to publish a merely polemical work, far from it ! To point out in any other way than en passant the numerous and really amazing errors the noble marquis seems to have fondly cherished, would be

PREFACE.

. X to attach to his book a degree of importance it does not deserve. I will avail myself of its appearance, only as affording me an opportunity for sketching, in their historical connection and succession, the striking and unexampled scenes I was called upon to take part in ; leaving others to expose, as far as they are individually concerned, his lordship's blunders and misrepresentations, but making it a point to repel, with the authority of one who was personally involved in the events, such false imputations as cast a blemish upon the cause I serve, or strike at the honour of my country. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. How The Provisional Government Was Established

Page " Banquet de Dij on " — The Re"forme and the National — The Republicans in Paris — Elections by the People — 24th of February, at the Palais Bourbon — Elections at the Palais Bourbon — The aspect of the Hotel de Ville — M. de Lamartine in the Salle St. Jean — First Meetiug of the Provisional Government — Lord Normanby's " Secretaries " — Real Facts of the Election — A Plea against Insults .... 1—25

Chapter II. The Republic Proclaimed

Proclamation of the Republic Discussed — Sketch of a Proclamation — The People on the Place de Greve — First Night of the Provisional Government — Passing the Barricades . . 26 — 35

Chapter III. The Republic Universally Acknowledged

Horror at the Empire — Universal Homage to the Republic — Tender of Service from the Marshals — General Changarnier — Tender of Service from Louis Bonaparte — MM. Dupin and Baroche — Funeral Service of the victims — What was the " Government of Surprise " — Republican Institutions suited to France — Louis Bonaparte — Habit of the French Mind — Logical process of the French — Monarchy impossible in France — Constitutional Monarchy, under Louis Philippe 36 — G4 CONTENTS. XII

Chapter IV. Generous Character Of The Revolution Of February

Page No Cry for vengeance — Death for political offences abolished — No more Terror— Clement Dispositions of the People — The Red Flag— A Rallying Sign— M. de Lamartine and the Red Flag— The" Drapeau de l'Ordre " 65—80

Chapter V. The

" DROIT AU TRAVAIL." Summons from the People— The " Droit au Travail " decreed — Mr. Mill on the "Droit au Travail" — Check on over-population — "Ministere du Progres " — My Resignation refused — " Government Labour Commission " appointed — The People tianquillised ......... 81 — 96

Chapter VI. The Luxembourg

— SOCIALISM IN THEORY. Visit to the Duke de Cazes — Albert — Gloomy forebodings — Appeals from Manufacturers — French Revolutionary Motto — Cautious Policy of the Luxembourg — Duty aud Right — Socialist definition of Equality — Visit to Petit Bourg — Power of Education curiously illustrated — Fetters on free choice of Vocations — The Right Man in the Right Place — Principle of Public Grants — Plan Suggested by the Luxembourg — Unique Results of Appeals to Intelligence . . . 97 — 126

Chapter VII. The Luxembourg

— SOCIALISM IN PRACTICE. Object of the "Government Labour Commission" — Address to the Working-men — Meeting of Employers at the Luxembourg — Committee of Inquiry — The "Impossible Men" — > Definition of Power — Admirable feelings of the People of Paris — The People's Love — Model Lodging-houses — An Anti-social conspiracy — Labour Registration Office — Foreign Workmen — Friendly Arbitrations — Paris saved from starvation 127 — CONTENTS. XIII

Chapter VIII. Co-operative Associations, Established By The Luxembourg

Page Abolition of Imprisonment for Debt — Bdrard, a Parisian Operative — Journeymen-Tailors' Association — System of Equal Wages — Working-men's Point of Honour — Disinterestedness of the Clichy-workmen— Saddlers' Association — Spinners' Association — The City of Paris and the Workmen — Paris Associations — Associations of Cooks — Manœuvres against the Associations — M. Proudhon — Letter to the Associations — " Union of Associations " — Correspondence with Be"rard — Success of the Associations — M. Mill on the Co-operative System . 156 — 192

Chapter IX

m. marie's "ateliers nationaux," established against the luxembourg. M.Marie's " Ateliers Nationaux " — M. Marie, Minister of Public Works — Confessions of M. Emile Thomas — M. Emile Thomas and M. Marie — Heroism of the Delegates of the Luxembourg — Confessions of M. de Lamartine — National Workshops versus Socialism 193 — 208

Chapter X. Foreign Policy Of The Provisional Government

Foreign Policy of the Provisional Government — Unnatural Alliance— Foreign Policy of the Republicans— Attacks on the Provisional Government— Treaties of 1815— M. de Lamartine's Manifesto — " Italia fara da se " — Irretrievable blunder! 209-225

Chapter XI. The Financial Crisis

M. Goudchaux— M. Goudcbaux's Resignation— M. Garnier Pages- Public Offices of Discount— The Moneyed-men Fracas— Imaginary Capital— Savings-banks' Deposits— Traits of self-sacrifice in working-men — National Loan proposed — Singular CONTENTS. XIV Page Interview with a Banker— Bank of France in extremis— -N ew Financial views— Mechanism of Banks— Real guarantee of Bank Notes— Proposed National Bank— Possible resources of a National Bank— Tax of the "45 centimes" — A Contrast 226-262

Chapter XII. Revolution In Travail

M. Cre"mieux's Administration — Lord Normanby and M. Cremieux — M. Shœlcher and the Abolition of Slavery — M. Carnot — The Priests — M. Ledru Rollin — Alleged Scene between G. Pages and L. Rollin — M. Ledru Rollin's Commissioners — M. Ledru Rollin's Opponents — M. Marc Caussidiere — M. Delessert's Letter of Thanks— M. Sobrier's garrison — M. Barbes — Procession of Students — Clubs— Liberty of the Press protected—Intellectual Effects of the Revolution . . 263—295

Chapter XIII. Solemn March Through Paris

Postponement of the Elections Proposed — Provinces not ripe for Universal Suffrage — Petition of People respecting the Elections — Characteristic of a Provisional Government — Procession of the workmen — Deputies of workmen at the Hotel de Ville— Answer to the deputies of the workmen 296 — 310

Chapter XIV. The Alarum

Influence of the 17th of March — M. de Lamartine and Lord Normanby — Problem to be Solved — Petition of the Workincmen — M. Cabet's Proclamation — M. Blanqui — The " Rappel " — Alleged conspiracy — The Hotel de Ville on the 16th of April— The "Mot d' ordre" on the 16th of April— Cry of hate— Protest of the working-men— Proclamation of the Provisional Government — M. de Lamartine andM. Blanqui 311 .340 CONTENTS. XV

Chapter XV. Calumnies

Page M. Ledru Rollin Calumniated — Accounts of the Provisional Government— Calumnies against me — Official statement — The King's carriages — The Provisional Government . . 343 — 354

Chapter XVI. The Elections

" Fete de la Fraternite"' — Military Oath — The French Army — Universal Suffrage — M. Ledru Rollin's Circular — Republicanism of dignitaries of the Empire — Electoral practices at the Hotel de Ville — Electoral Proceedings at the Luxembourg — The Delegates of the Luxembourg — M. Pierre Leroux — Manoeuvres against the Luxembourg— Elections in Paris — M. de Lamartine 355—381

Chapter XVII. Invasion Of The National Assembly

The National Constituent Assembly — Popular Ovation — Solemn Acclamation — The " Revolution de la Faim " — Alarming reports — The Assembly invaded — Speech addressed to tho crowd — "The National Assembly is dissolved" — Attempt to Assassinate me — Insults to the People of Paris . . 382 — 402

Chapter XVIII. Louis Bonaparte's Proscription Cancelled

Reaction — Leave asked to Prosecute me — Election Returns for Paris — Executive Commission and Louis Bonaparte — Inviolability of Justice, recommended by me — Should there be a President of the Republic ? 403—416

Chapter XIX. The Insurrection Of Hunger

! Proposed Dissolution of the National Workshops — Consequences of rejecting Socialism — Necessity of recurring to Socialism — Commission of the National Workshops — Working Classes' CONTENTS. Page 456 ■4S5 ■507 517 Protest against Bonapartism— The Delegates of the Luxem bourg—M. Marie and the Working-men— Lahr, a Bonapartist Agent— "Du Pain ou du Plomb" — Audacious Misrepresenta tion of Motives— The Combat in Paris— The Assembly during the Struggle— Frightful Reprisals— Generous Acts of the In surgents—False Charges — Legitimists and Bonapartists among the Insurgents — Movement of the Provinces against Paris — The Archbishop of Paris and General Brea — M. Bastide's Reputation of Lord Normanby— Blind Vengeance after the Fight ±17- 417

Chapter XX. Ostracism

The Commission of Inquiry — Proceedings of the Commission of Inquiry — Perversion of evidepce — Lord Normanby's Eight Paragraphs — Perversion of my Language — Tacking of a blunder to an interpolation — Proceedings of the Commission of Inquiry — M. Ledru Rollin and G^neVal Cavaignac — Cavaignac and the Provisional Government — My Defence in the Assembly — Sinister Aspect of the Assembly — Ostracism Revived — Generous conduct of M. d'A ragon — The High Court Instituted — Vengeance Substituted for Justice . . 457 —