History of the National constituent assembly, from May, 1848

Preface

The Author of this history had been for some months in almost daily attendance at the National Assembly, when repeated questions put to him about the style, manner, and appearance of such members as were attracting public attention, suggested the idea of writing sketches, calculated in some degree to satisfy the curiosity of friends. A consideration of persons led naturally to an expose of such subjects as had become identified with particular names ; and as the recent Revolution has had the effect of throwing down all that had been taken for granted, and of causing most political and social questions to be brought into light and examining, as if in themselves new, a Work which aimed not beyond simple portraiture, unavoidably assumed a certain politico-philosophical texture. Having, for purposes of his own, taken notes of the many speeches he had heard, the Author can truly describe this to be an original effort at painting a series of scenes, which it was given to but few of his countrymen to witness. .

IV

PREFACE.

The debates of the Assembly, from the first day of meeting to the invasion by the Clubs on the 15th of May, and from that day to the Insurrection of June, receive daily notice, for the sake of showing how far the proceedings of this body tended to bring about that terrible struggle, in which the question at stake was — civilization itself. From that period, only such debates as serve to throw light on great or interesting questions, or to bring out remarkable individuals, are at all noticed. In fine, the Assembly, chosen by Universal Suffrage, and occupied with questions of a political or social character, was composed of the most varied characters and persons. The parties known under the names of Republicans — Moderate and Hed, Socialists, Communists, Bonapartists, and Monarchists, all enter readily into the reader's classification. Then for the personnel: there were men whose names had never before been heard of, by the side of well-established reputations : there were lawyers and doctors, from town and country ; bishops, priests, friars, and pasteurs ; nobles and workmen, even to the humblest proletaire. Not the least curious part of the study opened by such various persons, was the comparative effect produced by the new lamps and the old, on an Assembly whose temper changed with its age, and was modified by the strangely shifting events with which it was bound up Before it was a fortnight old, this Assembly had to withstand an assault upon its existence ;

PREFACE. V

later, again, it had to defend society from a fearful uprising of the masses, instigated and led by perverted intelligence and corrupted talents. So far, it was triumphant ; but then it had to struggle, and in vain, against an heir of the Emperor, and it had to struggle against its ovi^n strong instinctive tendencies to become a Convention. To follow the Assembly through these struggles and efforts — to mark the men who influenced its career, for good or evil — such is the task into which the Author found himself almost insensibly drawn ; certain, at all events, that whatever may be the extent of his own failure to exhibit becomingly the drama, and the dramatis personce^ yet that, if he has succeeded in making his sketches of a suggestive character to the reader's mind, his labor will not have been thrown away, nor his reader's time lost.

Chapter I

Meeting of the National Assembly — Its Physiognomy — General Courtais* strange Proposal — Proclamation of the Repubhc from the Steps of the Chamber 13

CHAPTER 11.

First Operations — M. Buchez — Newspaper Influence — ^The Men of the " National," and the Men of the " Reforme" 25

Chapter III

The Members of the Provisional Government — Their Reports — Lamartine — Portrait of Cremieux — Of Louis Blanc — Of Camot 30

Chapter IV

Gamier Pages — Arago — Marie, the real Author of the National Ateliers — Lamartine — Beranger — A Parliamentary Hurricane — The " Mountain" and Barbes — The Histoiy of the Conspirators — The Provisional Government declared to have merited well of their Country 40

Chapter V

M. Peupin, Ouvrier — Workmen in the Assembly — M. L'Herbette — The serious Consequences of his Accusation against the Ex- King regarding the Forests of the State — Cormenin — Power of the Pamphlet — Bac — Jules Favre — Father Lacordaix-e — Odilon Ban'ot — On the Parliamentaiy Storm — The Executive Committee formed 54 viii CONTENTS.

M. Berryer — Napoleon Bonaparte, Son of Jerome ........... „.o .... . 80

Chapter IX

Petition in favor of Poland — Bad Feeling toward the National Guards— The Fete de la Fratemit6 postponed — Agitation out of Doors — Procession of the Clubs — Invasion of the Assembly — Its attempted Overthrow— Raspail, Blanqui, Huber, &c. — A Revolution of an Hour — Sobrier's Expedition — Panic in Paris — Arrest of the Conspirators — Night Scene .................................................. 83

Lugubrious Miscellanies — M. Dupin 112

Chapter XIII

Anger of the Assembly not yet appeased — Singular Debate about the Manner of wearing Scarfs — The " F^te de la Concorde" — The Parisians a theatrical People — Adaptation of Paris for Spectacles — What took place in the Day, and what at Night. 117

CONTENTS. ix

Chapter XIV

General Baragnay cl'Hilliers — Appearance of Cavaignac — The Mai-quis de la Rochejacquelin — M. de Lamartine's Speech on Italy and Poland — Absurd Resolution 122

Chapter XV

Decree banishing the Family of Louis-Philippe — Jealousy shown toward the Bonapartes — Agitation in the National Ateliers — Attempts to cure growing Abuses — How received — Disappearance of Emile Thomas, Chief Director of the Ateliers — Application to prosecute Louis Blanc 130

CHAPTER XVL

Report of the Committee on Louis Blanc — Ill-will toward the Bonapartes— The Cross of the Legion of Honor — Prosecution of Louis Blanc refused — Split between Crfemieux and Favre 186

Chapter XVII

The Chibs out of Doors — A Razzia — Law against Attroupements — Elections for vacant Seats — Curious Contrasts shown by the Returns — Defeat of the Republicans — Returns of Conservatives, Bonapartists, and Communists — The Attroupements continue — Alarm caused by the Populaiity of Louis Napoleon — Animated Debate — M. Duprat — M. Babaud-Laribi^re — New Republican Literature — General Bedeau — A Bonapartist Plot — A Decree against Louis Napoleon stopped by General Lavalet 140

Promulgation of the Constitution — General Cavaignac — ^Election for first President of the Republic 346

Chapter XLI

First Cabinet under Louis Napoleon — M. de Maleville, his successfol D€but, and immediate Retirement — Changes — M. Passy 355

CHAPTER XLH.

Movement against the Constituent Assembly — Proposition for Dissolution — Pierre Bonaparte heads the Opposition — His extraordinary Demeanor— Resolution of Odilon Barrot — Stormy Debate — Party Intrigues — Vice-President of the Republic — Impeachment of Ministers — Paris threatened with another Revolution — Assembly at length resolves its Dissolution — General Cavaignac and General Changarnier 361

Conclusion ,, = . = . 372

HISTORY

OF THE

NATIONAL CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY.

Chapter I

MEETING OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ITS PHYSIOGNOMY GEN- ERAL COURTAIS' STRANGE PROPOSAL PROCLAMATION OF THE

REPUBLIC FROM THE STEPS OF THE CHAMBER.

It was an extraordinary sight, the meeting of the French National Assembly on the 4th of May, 1848. How unlike in its composition to what is generally understood by a House of Commons, or Chamber of Deputies, returned by constituencies more or less limited, to support certain principles or political systems with clearly indicated names, and personified in tried and well known leaders. That Assembly was created by universal suffrage, its principles all to be sought after, and its leaders but dimly indicated. Principles, laws, leadership, systems, influences were to be determined by struggle. The ground was cleared of all opposing prejudices. The race was open to all. There was no established pre-eminence to frown down, sneer down, censure down, or smile down, any sort of disputant, be he whom he might ; no doctrine could startle, no language seem strange. The world expected some new unknown prophet — some one capable of reading the mystery supposed to be hidden in the great popular convulsion which had taken place. There was a religious awe over that Assembly, for it was deeply im-

14 MEETING OF THE ASSEMBLYo

pressed on the minds of many, if not of all, that Providence had not permitted so astounding a change, one threatening to be so boundless in its effects, unless for the bringing of some wonderful purpose to light, by unfamiliar instruments. The order of established parliaments was reversed, the difficulties were in the way of reputation and eminence. Ail the facilities were for the unknown.

The building in which the nine hundred representatives met, was provisional. It was run up for the occasion, slight and pretentious — a sort of well-ordered scaffolding — to facilitate the elaboration of the Constitution, and then to be thrown down. There are strange coincidences in localities. That Tennis Court at Versailles, into which the States-general, when the doors of their place of meeting were shut against them, rushed and joined in the immortal oath of the jeu de pawne, was not inappropriate. The naked and harsh simplicity of such a place was not unsuited to men sternly marching to equality of condition. The game of rude rivalry so often played there, had no unfitting associations. There must have been some harmony between the place and the actors, to have so strongly fired the genius of the artist, and to have fascinated the eyes of all who had ever seen the work, original or engraved. It was in keeping with the character of a people who reverence law, that the first battle about ship money should have been in the Court of Exchequer. The Gracchi and Tell had scenes associated with their first endeavors. Even in modern maiden parliamentary meetings, be it by accident or design, some place consecrated by the occasion will be visited in time to come ; but the great, or nionstre temporary shed, in which the National Assembly of France first met, with its pasteboard figures without, and its pasteboard presidential canopy within, its endless tri-colored flags in faisceaux, and its scenic decorations, partaking partly of the circus, and partly of the Bal Morel, will disappear like a mimic stage scene, carrying with it no unapt commentary on the no less fragile performance beneath its roof.

Let this passing reflection on ephemeral architecture be forgiven— for those who were not present on that day, can hardly estimate the feverish state of observation to which the minds of

"VIVE LA REPUBLIQUE!" 15

beholders present were raised. People looked at every one and every thing with a stranc^e inexplicable curiosity. Those who had read and heard of that mightiest event in all history, the first French Revolution, and had speculated often, wondering many a time how those who then lived had thought and felt, and how they bore the emotions which each hour awakened, and how some must have grown callous, some careless, and others mad — such persons found to their amazement that, may be, they too were destined to pass through the fiery trial of similar experience I

But the Assembly has met. How is it to be classified? What guide has the eye through that mass of nine hundred legislators ? The only thmg certain is, that all have accepted the Republic.

Although the actors were present, the drama did not properly begin until the members of the Provisional Goverimient appeared. The shout of Vive la Republique ! burst from the Assembly as they entered. It was loud, it was unanimous, and it was repeated ; yet it may be doubted if it was heartfelt. To my ear it did not sound so. I shall never forget that cry — the first audible voice of that universal-sufir age-elected body. My ear retained it well, and my mind criticised, and, as it were, handled that sound, as if it were a material substance ; but there was a something in the tone that the sure, yet impalpable test of sympathy, pronounced to be factitious. The majority who uttered that cry, did so under the fierce suspicious surveillance, not only of fellow members but of lynx eyes in the gallery. There are vehement shouts that are the act of the wdll, determined by calculation and reflection, and self-imposed ; but they do not awaken a response, like the deep heart-felt music of a holy sentiment through unmis' takable sincerity of voice.

Pwun the eye rapidly along these benches. There is the comely face of De la Pwochejacquelin, resting on an unsullied expanse of snow-white neck-cloth and waistcoat, as if he had come to a royal sitting in the time of Charles X. M. Berryer was there, the brilliant leader of the legitimist party as it had been constituted in the Chamber of Deputies. Odilon Barrot, whose last public

16 THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.

effort was in favor of the Regency, stood near to Dupin, the confidential law adviser of Louis-Philippe. Duvergier de Hauranne, Malleville, Remusat, Faucher, and many friends of M. Thiers stood there, brooding over the organized ostracism of which their brilliant leader had been made the victim, and they cried, Vive Ioj Repuhlique I

M. Dufaure, who had refused to assist at a Reform banquet ; Count Montalembert, the vigorous champion of the Swiss Jesuits ; the Abbe Lacordaire, in his white Dominican robes ; the Bishop of Orleans, the sober Abbe Fayet, from Brittany, the land of Vendeans and Chouans ; ^ the Protestant Pastor Coquerel — all joined in the cry. Is it to be wondered at, that to the watchful ear it was the harmony of science, not of soul ; the accent of resignation, not of joy ? And it was repeated again and again on the challenge of those who wished to be satisfied, that they heard a true sound, and the challenge was unblenchingly answered, by priests, lawyers, statesmen, thrown so incongruously together by an inexplicable cowp-cle-main.

The members of the Provisional Government naturally attracted the eyes of all who were present. The aged Dupont de I'Eure, bending under the weight of four-score years, leant on the arm of the boyish-looking little Louis Blanc. The burly Ledru Rollin held the arm of a mean-looking person, who was Flocon. The noble old philosopher, Arago, contrasted with the somewhat pert, theatrical looking Marrast ; and the elegant imaginative-faced Lamartine, made the little ugly Cremieux look more ugly, and the heavy Pagnerre more heavy. Garnier Pages, to whose common, yet sickly features, his locks curling to his shoulders, gave an air of coxcombry that sat ill on the Finance Minister of a country in a revolution, contrasted with the grave and truly elegant demeanor of the avocat, Marie. Carnot, the son of the ConventionaHst, called the organizer of victory, exhibited his pale, ascetic features by the side of the dogged and sinister looking Albert, the workman.

Thus, as far as appearances went, the Provisional Govern-

* Since the above was written, the Abbe Fayet fell a victim to cholera.

ITS ADDRESS TO THE ASSEMBLY. 17

ment resembled any similar number of men, showing, as it did, the average mixture of well and ill-favored countenances. But where was the pilot who was to weather the storm ? In that group there was poetry, science, heroism, with violence, ambition, and low vices ; there was noble self-deception and reckless illusion ; there was angel and devil, good and evil ; lofty aspirations and deep designs; there was the incarnation of all the sentiments, passions, aspirations, and vices of human society, but with a solemn vow to make the better triumph ; there was wanting, in each and all, political experience and political knowledge — nay, there was a contempt for both, as for a broken galley-chain, that had only served to bind mankind to systems from which he was to break forever, and launch into the unknown — believing his excited hopes to be heavenly inspirations.

The following address was read from the tribune in a weak voice by the aged Dupont de I'Eure : — " Citizens I representatives of the people I the Provisional Government of the Republic comes to incline itself before the nation, and to render conspicuous homage to the supreme power with which you are invested. Elect of the people I welcome to the great capitol where your presence excites a sentiment of happiness and hope that will not be disappointed, Depositaries of the National Sovereignty, you are about to found new institutions upon the wide basis of the democracy, and to give to France the only Constitution that is suitable to her — that of the Republic. But after having proclaimed the grand pohtical law, which is henceforth to definitively constitute the country, you will endeavor to employ the efficacious action of the Government, as far as possible, in the relations that the necessity of labor establishes among all citizens, and which ought to have for base the holy laws of Justice and Fraternity. In fine, the moment has arrived for the Provisional Government to place in your hands the unlimited power with which it was invested by the Revolution. For us, the dictatorship was only treated as a moral power in the midst of the difficult circumstances we have traversed. Faithful to our origin and our personal convictions, we have all been called to proclaim the rising Pwepublic of February. To-day we inaugurate the labors of the

LEDRU ROLLIN'S COMMISSIONERS.

Assembly, with the cry that always rallies us together, Vive la Republique /"

At the close, the shouts of Vive la Republique ! were repeated. M. Cremieux, the Minister of Justice, invited the members to enter the Bureaux, to have their elections validated, and the first scene of the great drama closed.

The verification of the elections was a simple and rapid process, limited merely to proof of identity and citizenship ; and it was well that it was so, for had a handle for litigation been offered, through complex conditions, there can be no doubt that it would have been seized hold of by the old Republican party, who had already manifested their disappointment at the character of the returns. So completely had the Revolution been the work of a party in the capital, and so little did the departments sympathize with it, that it was deemed necessary by the Minister of the Interior to send Commissioners through the provinces, to make themselves acquainted with the state of feeling, to preach up Republicanism, and to get themselves returned. As these Commissioners were indicated for the most part by the Clubs, they were animated with the violent spirit of these assemblages, and their rude bearing and subversive doctrines excited angry resistance and passionate resentment. The Commissioners were armed with unlimited power, which they exercised in the full sense of the word, displacing local authorities, overruling local councils, giving forced currency to the notes of local banks, and, in fact, ruling with dictatorial power. Their march into the departments had been heralded by a circular, which immediately acquired celebrity from the distinction that it drew between Republicai7is cle la veille and RepuUicains du lendemain, to the disadvantage of the latter.

Now, as the mass of the inhabitants of every portion of France ranged under the latter category, not only was exclusion pronounced against the majority, but as there is in every neighborhood some busy, idle, turbulent, and needy agitator, the people saw themselves threatened with that unendurable evil, their prostration at the feet of an obnoxious member ; and the consequence was distrust of the new Government, and resistance to its

THE ELECTION RETURNS. ig emissaries. In several places there were collisions, generally excited by the partisans of the Government Commissioner ; but at Rouen there was a fierce contest between the military and National Guards on the one side, and the workmen on the other. The latter threw up barricades, that had to be taken by cannon.

Generally speaking, it must be confessed, the voting went on with a degree of order that, considering the circumstances under which a whole people were called upon to exercise such a privilege as that of universal suffrage, was truly admirable ; and proved, indeed, that the Revolution ought not to have been challenged on a mere question of a moderate extension of the franchise. The returns, too, instead of marking a revolutionary disposition, were such as might have been expected under the monarchy itself, being composed of mayors, manufacturers, farmers, officers on half pay, the judges, law officers, doctors, or notaries of the locality : in a word, the notabilities of the place, or names already celebrated in the eyes of the public at large. Of course the Government Commissioners were very many of them returned, but it was evident that the Repiiblicains de la veille would form a small minority in the National Assembly.

Although the Revolutionists had relied chiefly on the sympathies of the working classes, yet very few operatives were returned, and the Assembly presented a fair image of French society, as at present constituted, which is only another way of saying that it was by its very nature Conservative. There was, indeed, a difference, amounting to a contrast between the National Assembly of 1789 and that of 1848. The first came charged with the elements of class struggles : the latter had derived, as the result of those struggles, an equahty of condition and partition of agricultural property, so that division of the soil had been pushed to such a point as to interfere with the full development of its capabilities. The latter being in this position, had nothing to gain, if not every thing to lose, by the social theories that had made cities dens of idleness and schools of civil war, and so they came to maintain, and not to overthrow.

Although it may look ]ike a paradox to assert that it was the Conservative disposition of the country that caused the Pwepublic

20 ELEMENTS OF DISTRUST.

to be so readily accepted, yet the fact is so. There had been so many changes of government in France within sixty years, that pecuhar prestige for any had long ceased. It did not follow in the minds of people, familiar alike with Republic, Directory, Consulate, Emperor, Restoration, Legitimacy, and Legitimacy set aside in 1830, that a relapse into one or other of the same phases should inevitably lead to ruin. The Republic had, like all new governments, announced that nothing would be changed — ^that the Revolution was a reaction against corruption, that was leading to financial ruin — ^that there would be fewer expenses, more economy, less taxation, and that, in fact, there was only in a monarch's overthrow a Frenchman de mains, as Louis XVIIT. had called himself a Frenchman de plus. Such was, in fact, the first language used by the Provisional Government ; for, although very soon indeed the socialist elem.ent broke out, yet there had been an interval which, short as it was, between the sudden declaration of the Republic and the Communism of Louis Blanc, was yet sufficient to enable the assent of the provinces to be obtained, on a belief in the truth of the moderate sentiments propounded, in the first instance, by the Provisional Government.

From this general view of the subject, it will be seen that at the very m.oment the National Assembly met, there was a general and common feeling of distrust. There was a still smoldering conspiracy at work on the part of the Socialist faction in conjunction with the Clubs. That conspiracy had already failed in two instances : on the 1 7th of March, when the workmen marched to the H6tel-de-Ville, and mistaking the views of their leaders, shouted for the Provisional Government, which their demonstration was, as they thought, meant to support— although their leaders contemplated its subversion, and would have overthrown it, had the chief conspirator not lost heart : and again., on the 16th of April, when a plan for destroying the same Government was defeated by the prompt and energetic conduct of General Changarnier, who called out the National Guard.

In ten days from the meeting of the National Assembly, the same conspiracy was to be directed against the Assembly itself. But we are anticipating. Was there not. let it now be asked.

DOUBLE I'LOT— OTHER ACTOES. oi

sufficient ground for trusting the evidence of the senses, that that cry of Vive la Republique ! which met the Provisional Government on its entry, was on the one side a challenge, on the other a constrained and resigned effort to disarm hostility and suspicion, and not the blended harmony of joyous and happy souls, identified in a common sympathy ?

The first inauguratory scene of the great drama of the National Assembly was, as has already been told, of short duration, nor was it particularly impressive. But there was a double plot in the piece, which was not visible to the public eye. As the representatives of the people passed from the great stage, they encountered on the way to their respective bureaux, persons whose manner and costume showed that they too had their parts assigned, and were already performing them. Men, with long beards, pointed hats, and pieces of red cloth on their arms, met the representatives, who, by the way, wore — such of them, at least, as chose to attend to a fantastical decree of the Provisional Government on the subject — pieces of red ribbon, with gold tinsel thereon, at their button-hole ; and the men of decorated arms gazed broadly on the men of decorated and undecorated coats, rudely examined their air, their features, and general appearance, accompanied them to their bureaux, and even essayed to violate the sanctuary of the committee-room.

Members complained and inquired, when they learned to their astonishment and indignation, that a deputation from the Clubs had waited on the Minister of the Interior, that they demanded that a portion of the public gallery should be assigned to Club delegates, charged with a commission to watch the proceedings of the Assembly ; and that for the more easy communication with the Clubs, arrogating to themselves, as they did, the true expression of public opinion, two bureaux should be assigned to the delegation, with pen, ink, paper, and all appliances and means to boot ; and to this imperious demand the Minister of the Interior had courteously yielded.

Thus, the representatives of the people, elected by universal suffrage, found the elements prepared for renewing the worst scenes of the first Convention. The galleries, or tribunes, as

22 ARROGANCE OF THE CLUBS— SINISTER RUMORS.

they are called, were to be brouglit to bear on the deliberations of the Assembly. The representatives were to meet under the muzzles of the sans-culotte artillery. The leaders of the Clubs, and the leaders of the Mountain, were to have their understood signals and mystic organization. While orations were uttering within, the aids-de-camp of demagogueism would be scouring through the streets, and the Assembly would find itself in the unrelaxing gripe of the mob.

A fact, coming hard and strong upon the senses, tells more than the best authenticated communications. It had been whispered, that Monsieur un tel had said, in one place, that suspected Moderates, or doubtful Republicans, would, on crossing the bridge that leads to the Chamber, be thrown into the Seine ; that officers, before they had been elected to command companies of National Guards, had had to subscribe to a declaration, that in case of a division of opinion between the people and the Assembly, they would act with the former ; that the Guard Mobile, in Clubs, had uttered their credo, as to the circumstances in which revolt would become the most sacred of duties. All this had been said in one shape or another, and had been listened to listlessly, or proudly, or contemptuously, according to the temperament ; but when the eye has to pierce into physiognomy, and read more than language can convey ; when the Club-man stands there, the representative of mysterious power, and shows by his demeanor that resolves have been made that shall be carried into execution, that there exists an illegitimate legislative and executive rival, if not master, of the constituted authority itself — it

is not permitted to the hardiest man to treat such audacity with indifference. The consequence was, that when the Assembly proceeded to regulate its internal form, a resolution was taken not to allow any interruption from the gallery, and, on a remonstrance from the members, the Clubs were deprived of their ex-officio rights within the walls.

As the several elections became verified, the Chamber filled, and on the prompting of some or other enthusiastic Republican, the shout of Vive la Republique I would be raised. This was not, however, sufficient for the most ardent. The Commander-

TROCLAMATION OF THE REPUBLIC. 23

in-Chief of the National Guards, General Courtais, a good-lookinir elderly man, with an agreeable expression of face, in whose naturally handsome features there was a mixture of audacity and levity, the latter amounting to giddiness, ascended the tribune ; and although, as he said, they had proclaimed the Republic seventeen times that day, yet the people desired that they should go outside, that all might blend their voices together. What a strange part this for the Commander of the National Guards, charged with the protection of the assembly itself, to intimate to that body a message from the sovereign people, with an implied penalty for disobedience I But there was no time for reflection at such a moment. The people had for more than two months been too much accustomed to be petted and humored to make it safe to refuse such a proposal ; so the Assembly proceeded en masse to the peristyle of the old Chamber of Deputies, and the scene that occurred was, in all external respects, of the most animated, beautiful, and — had it been sustained by moral grandeur — would have been of the most sublime kind.