w.

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
 There have been printed of this
book 14 copies on Japanese vellum^
of which 10 only are for sale.

I
 o^

THE RECOLLECTIONS OF
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
EDITED BY THE COMTE DE
TOCQUEVILLE AND NOW
FIRST TRANSLATED INTO
ENGLISH BY ALEXANDER
TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS

WITH A PORTRAIT
IN HELIOGRAVURE

LONDON H. HENRY & CO. LTD.

93 SAINT MARTIN'S LANE W.C.
MDCCCXCVI U
 PREFACE
' '
C'est tousiours plaisir de veoir les
choses escriptes par ceulx qui ont essay^
comme il les faut conduire."
Montaigne.

Alexis de Tocqueville made his entrance in poli-

tical life in 1839.^ At the outbreak of the Revolu-
tion of February he was in the prime of his age and
in the maturity of his talent. He threw himself into
the struggle, resolving to devote himself to the
interests of the country and of society, and he
was one of the among those whole-hearted,
first

single-minded men who endeavoured to keep the

Republic within a wise and moderate course by
steering clear of the two-fold perils of Csesarism on
the one hand and revolution on the other. A
dangerous and thankless enterprise, of which the
* At the age of 34. Alexis Clerel de Tocqueville was born in 1805
at Verneuil. His father was the Comte de Tocqueville, who was made
a peer of France and a prefect under the Restoration his mother, nie
;

Mile, de Rosambo, was a grand-daughter of Malesherbes. Alexis de

Tocqueville was appointed an assistant judge, and in 1831 was sent to
America, in company with G. de Beaumont to study the penal system
in that continent. On his return he published a treatise on this
subject ; and in 1835 appeared his great work on American Democracy,
which secured his election to the Academy of Moral Science in 1839
and to the French Academy in 1841. Two years earlier he had been
sent to the Chamber as deputy for the arrondissement of Valognes in
Normandy, in which the paternal property of Tocqueville was situated ;
and this seat he retained until his withdrawal from political life. He
died in 1859.— A. T. DE M.
VI PREFACE

difficulties were never hidden from a mind so clear-

sighted as his, and of which he soon foresaw the

ephemeral duration.
After the fallof his short-lived ministry, which had
been filled with so many cares and such violent agita-
tion, thinking himself removed for a time (it was to be
for ever) from the conduct of public affairs, he went
first to Normandy and then on the Bay
to Sorrento,
of Naples, in search of the peace and repose of which
he stood in need. The intellect, however, but rarely
shows itself the docile slave of the will, and his, to
which idleness was a cause of real suffering, immedi-
ately set about to seek an object worthy of its atten-
tion. This was soon found in the great drama of the
French Revolution, which attracted him irresistibly,
and which was destined to form the subject-matter
of his most perfect work.
It was at this time, while Alexis de Tocqueville

was also preoccupied by the daily increasing gravity

of the political situation at home, that he wrote the
Recollections now first published. These consisted
of mere notes jotted down at intervals on odds and
ends of paper and it was not until the close of his
;

yielding to the persuasions of his intimates,

life that,

he gave a reluctant consent to their publication. He

took a certain pleasure in thus retracing and, as it
were, re-enacting the events in which he had taken
part, the character of which seemed the more tran-
and the more important to establish definitely,
sient,
inasmuch as other events came crowding on, pre-
 PREFACE TU

cipitating the crisis and altering the aspect of affairs.

Thus those travellers who, steering their adventur-

ous course through a series of dangerous reefs, alight
upon a wild and rugged island, where they disem-
bark and live for some days, and when about
to depart for ever from its shores, throw back
upon it a long and melancholy gaze before it sinks
from their eyes in the immensity of the waves.
Already the Assembly had lost its independence the ;

reign of constitutional liberty, under which France

had lived for thirty-three years, was giving way ;

"
and, in the words of the famous phrase, The
Empire was a fact."

We are to-day well able to judge the period

described in these Recollections, a period which

seems still removed from us by the revolu-

further

tions, the
wars, and even the misfortunes which
the country has since undergone, and which now

only appears to us in that subdued light which

throws the principal outlines into especial relief, while
permitting the more observant and penetrating eye
to discover also the secondary features. Living
close enough to those times to receive evidence from
the lips of survivors, and not so close but that all

passion has become appeased and all rancour ex-

tinguished, we should be in a position to lack
neither light nor impartiality. As witness, for in-
stance, the impression retained by us of the figure
of Ledru-Rollin, which nevertheless terrified our
fathers. We live in a generation which has beheld
viii PREFACE

Raoul, Rigault and Delescluze at work. The

theories of Louis Blanc and Considerant arouse no

feeling of astonishment in these days, when their

ideas have become current coin, and when the

majority of politicians feel called upon to adopt the

badge of some socialism or other, whether we call
it Christian, State, or revolutionary socialism. Cor-
menin, Marrast and Lamartine belong to history as
much as do Sieyes, Petion or Mirabeau and we are ;

able to judge as freely of the men and the events of

1848 as of those of 1830 or 1789.

Alexis de Tocqueville had the rare merit of being
able to forestall this verdict of posterity and if we ;

endeavour to discover the secret of this prescience,

of the loftiness of sight with which he was so

specially gifted, we shall find that, belonging to no

party, he remained above all parties that, depend- ;

ing upon no leader, he kept his hands free and ;

that, possessed of no vulgar ambition, he reserved

his energies for the noble aim which he had in view
—the triumph of libertyand of the dignity of man.
Interest will doubtless be taken in the account
contained in these Recollections of the revolutionary

period, written by one of the best-informed of its

witnesses, and in the ebbs and flows of the short-
lived ministry which was conducted with so much
talent and integrity. But what will be especially wel-
come is the broad views taken by this great mind of
our collective history ;
his profound reflections upon
the future of the country and of society ;
the firm
 PREFACE ix

and conscientious opinions which he expresses upon

his contemporaries and the portraits drawn by
;

a master hand, always striking and always alive.

When reading this private record, which has been
neither revised nor corrected by its author, we seem
to approach more closely to the sentiments, the
desires, the aspirations, I was almost saying the
dreams of mind, this great heart so ardently
this rare

pursuing the chimera of absolute good that nothing

in men or institutions could succeed in satisfying it.

Years passed, and the Empire foundered amid

terrible disaster. Alexis de Tocqueville was no
more ;
and we may say that this proved at that time
an irreparable loss to his country. Who knows
what part he might have been called upon to play,
what influence he could have brought to bear to un-
mask the guilty intrigues and baffle the mean ambi-
tions under whose load, after the lapse of more than

twenty years, we are still staggering ? Enlightened

by his harsh experience of 1 848, would he have once
again tried the experiment, which can never be
more than an eternal stop-gap, of governing the
Republic with the support of the Monarchists ? Or
rather,persuaded as he was that "the republican
form of government is not the best suited to the
needs of France," that this "government without
stability always promises more, but gives less, liberty
than a Constitutional Monarchy," would he not have
appealed to the latter to protect the liberty so dear
to him ? One thing is certain, that he would never
X PREFACE

have "subordinated to the necessity of maintaining

his position that of remaining true to himself"
We have thought that the present generation,
which so rarely has the opportunity of beholding a
man of character, would take pleasure in becoming
acquainted with this great and stately figure in ;

spending some short moments in those lofty regions,

in which it
may learn a powerful lesson and find an
example of public life in its noblest form, ever faith-
ful to its
early aspirations, ever filled with two great
ideas : the cult of honour and the passion of liberty.
COMTE DE TOCQUEVILLE.
 CONTENTS
PART THE FIRST
CHAPTER I
FACE
—
Origin and Character of these Recollections General
aspect of the period preceding the revolution of
—
1848 Preliminary symptoms of the Revolution . .
3

CHAPTER II

The Banquets— Sense of security entertained by the

Arraignment of Ministers .....

Government —Anxiety of Leaders of the Opposition —
19

CHAPTER III

—
Troubles of the 22ND of February The Sitting of the
—
••....
—
23RD The New Ministry Opinions of M. Dufaure and
M. DE Beaumont 33

CHAPTER IV

The 24TH of February —The Ministers' Plan of Resistance

—The National Guard— General Bedeau . .
'44
CHAPTER V
—
L^ANS—The Provisional Government ...
The Sitting of the Chamber Madame la Duchesse D'Or-
56

PART THE SECOND

CHAPTER I

My Explanation of the 24TH of February, and my views

THE FUTUEK .
AS TO ITS effects UPON . . •79
xii CONTENTS
CHAPTER II
PAGE
Paris on the morrow of the 24TH of February and the
NEXT DAYS —ThE SOCIALISTIC CHARACTER OF THE NeW
Revolution . . . . . . . . 90

CHAPTER III

Vacillation of the Members of the Old Parliament as to

THE ATTITUDE THEY SHOULD ADOPT— MY OWN REFLECTIONS
ON MY MODE OF ACTION, AND MY RESOLVES . . . I02

CHAPTER IV

My CANDIDATURE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LA MaNCHE —ThE

ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY —
The GENERAL ELECTION . .
II4

CHAPTER V
The First Sitting of the Constituent Assembly —The
appearance of this assembly .. . . .
i29

CHAPTER VI

My RELATIONS WITH LAMARTINE — HiS SUBTERFUGES 145

The isth of May ......

1848
CHAPTER VII

156

CHAPTER VIII

The Feast
OF June ........
of Concord and the preparations for the Days
174.

The Days of June ....... CHAPTER IX

187

CHAPTER X
The Days of June —{continued) . . . .
.215
CHAPTER XI
The Committee for the Constitution .... 233
 CONTENTS xiil

PART THE THIRD

CHAPTER I

PAGE
My return to France —Formation of the Cabinet . .
263

CHAPTER II

—
Aspect of the Cabinet Its first Acts until after the
insurrectionary attempts of the 13th of june . . 278

CHAPTER III

Our domestic policy— Internal quarrels in the Cabinet —

Its difficulties in its relations with the Majority
and the President . . . . .
.301

Foreign Affairs ....... CHAPTER IV

325

APPENDIX
I

GusTAVE DE Beaumont's version of the 24TH of February .

379

II

Barrot's version of the 24TH OF February (10 October 1850) .

385

III

Some incidents of the 24TH of February 1848 . .

389

M. Dufaure's efforts to prevent the Revolution of February —

Responsibility of M. Thiers, which renders them futile .
389

Dufaure's conduct on the 24th of February 1848 • . .

392
xiv CONTENTS
IV
PAC»
MV CONVERSATION WITH BerRYER, ON THE 2IST OF JUNE, AT AN
APPOINTMENT WHICH I HAD GIVEN HIM AT MY HOUSE. WE
WERE BOTH MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE FOR THE REVISION
'

OF THE Constitution

......... 394
. . . . . .

Index 399

I
PART THE FIRST
Written in July 1850, at Tocqueville.
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

CHAPTER I

ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF THESE RECOLLECTIONS — GENERAL

ASPECT OF THE PERIOD PRECEDING THE REVOLUTION OF
1848 —PRELIMINARY SYMPTOMS OF THE REVOLUTION.

Removed for a time from the scene of public life, I

am constrained, in the midst of my solitude, to turn
my thoughts upon myself, or rather to reflect upon
contemporary events in which I have taken part
or acted as a witness. And it seems to me that
the best use I can make of my leisure is to retrace
these events, to portray the men who took part in
them under my eyes, and thus to seize and engrave,
if I can, upon my memory the confused features

which compose the disturbed physiognomy of my

time.
In taking this resolve I have taken another, to
which I shall be no less true : these recollections
shall be a relaxation of the mind rather than a
contribution to literature. I write them for myself
alone. They shall be a mirror in which I will
4 RECOLLECTIONS OF

amuse myself in contemplating my contemporaries

and myself; not a picture painted for the public.
My most intimate friends shall not see them, for I

wish to retain the liberty of depicting them as I

shall depict myself, without flattery. I wish to
arrive truly at the secret motives which have
caused them, and me, and others to act ; and, when
discovered, to reveal them here. In a word, I

wish this expression of my recollections to be a

sincere one and to effect this, it is essential that
;

it should remain absolutely secret.

I intend that my recollections shall not go farther
back than the Revolution of 1848, nor extend to
a later date than the 30th of October 1 849, the day
upon which I resigned my office. It is only within
these limits that the events which I
propose to
relate have any importance, or that my position has
enabled me to observe them well.

My life was passed, although in a comparatively

secluded fashion, in the midst of the parliamentary
world of the closing years of the Monarchy of July.
Nevertheless, it would be no easy task for me to
recall distinctly the events of a period so little

removed from the and yet leaving so

present,
confused a trace in my memory. The thread of
my recollections is lost amid the whirl of minor in-

cidents, of paltry ideas, of petty passions, of personal

views and contradictory opinions in which the life
of public men was at that time spent. All that
remains vivid in my mind is the general aspect of
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE j

the period for I often regarded it with a curiosity

;

mingled with dread, and I clearly discerned the

special features by which it was characterized.
Our history from I78£to 1830, if viewed from I

a distance and as a whole, affords as it were the

the death between the
/
picture of a struggle to
Ancien Regime, its traditions, memories, hopes, and
men, as represented by the aristocracy, and New
France under the leadership of the middle class.
The year 1830 closed the first period of our revolu- :

tions, or rather of our revolution for there is but

'
:

one, which has remained always the same in the face

of varying fortunes, of which our fathers witnessed

the commencement, and of which we, in all proba-

bility, shall not live to behold the end. In 1830 the.

triumph of the middle class had been definite and

so thorough that all political power, every franchise,
every prerogative, and the whole government was
confined and, as it were, heaped up within the
narrow limits of this one class, to the statutory
exclusion of all beneath them and the actual ex-
clusion of all above. Not only did it thus alone
rule society, but it
may be said to have formed it.

It ensconced every vacant place, prodigiously

itself in

augmented the number of places, and accustomed

itself to live almost as much upon the
Treasury
as upon its own industry.
No
sooner had the Revolution of 1830 become
an accomplished fact, than there ensued a great lull
in political passion, a sort of general subsidence,
6 RECOLLECTIONS OF

accompanied by a rapid increase in

publicthe
wealth. The particular spirit of the middle class

became the general spirit of the government; it

ruled the latter's foreign policy as well as affairs
at home an active, industrious spirit, often dis-
:

honourable, generally sober, occasionally reckless

through vanity or egoism, but timid by tempera-
ment, moderate in all things, except in its love of
ease and comfort, and wholly undistinguished. It

was a spirit which, mingled with that of the people

or of the aristocracy, can do wonders; but which,
by itself, will never produce more than a govern-
ment shorn of both virtue and greatness. Master
of everything in a manner that no aristocracy had
ever been or may ever hope to be, the middle
class, when called upon to assume the government,
took up as a trade; it entrenched itself behind
it

its power, and before long, in their egoism, each of

its members thought much more of
private his

business than of public affairs, and of his personal

enjoyment than of the greatness of the nation.

which sees none but the more dazzling
Posterity,
crimes, and which loses sight, in general, of mere
vices, will never, perhaps, know to what extent the

government of that day, towards its close, assumed

the ways of a trading company, which conducts all
its transactions with a view to the
profits accruing
to the shareholders. These vices were due to
the natural instincts of the dominant class, to the
absoluteness of its power, and also to the character
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVJLLE 7

of the time. Possibly also King Louis-Philippe had

contributed to their growth.
This Prince was a singular medley of qualities,
and one must have known him longer and more
nearly than I did to be able to portray him in
detail.

Nevertheless, although was never one of his

I

Council, I have frequently had occasion to come

into contact with him. The last time that I
spoke
to him was shortly before the catastrophe of Feb-
ruar}^ I was then director of the Academie Fran-

^aise, and I had to bring to the King's notice some

matter or other which concerned that body. After

treating the question which had brought me, I was

about to retire, when the King detained me, took a
chair, motioned me to another, and said, affably :

*'
Since you are here, Monsieur de Tocqueville,
I want to hear
let us talk ; you talk a little about
America."
I knew him well enough to know that this meant :

I shall talk about America myself. And he did

actually talk of it at great length and very search-
it was not
ingly :
possible for me, nor did I desire,
to get in a word, for he really interested me. He
described places though he saw them before
as
hin-. ;
he recalled the distinguished men whom he
had met forty years ago as though he had seen
them the day before ; he mentioned their names in
fuH, Christian name and surname, gave their ages
at the time, related their histories, their pedigrees.
8 RECOLLECTIONS OF

their posterity, with marvellous exactness and with

though in no way tedious, detail. From
infinite,

America he returned, without taking breath, to

Europe, talked of all our foreign and domestic
affairs with incredible unconstraint (for I had no
title to spoke very badly of the
his confidence),
"
Emperor of Russia, whom he called Monsieur
Nicolas," casually alluded to Lord Palmerston as
a rogue, and ended by holding forth at length on
the Spanish marriages, which had just taken place,
and the annoyances to which they subjected him on
the side of England.
"The Queen is
very angry with me," he said,
"and displays great irritation; but, after all," he
"
added, all this outcry won't keep me from driving
my own carty^
Although phrase dated back to the Old Order,
this

I felt inclined to doubt whether Louis XIV. ever

made use of iton accepting the Spanish Succession.
I believe, moreover, that Louis- Philippe was mis-
taken, and, to borrow his own language, that the
Spanish marriage helped not a little to upset his cart.
After three-quarters of an hour, the King rose,
thanked me for the pleasure my conversation had
given him (I had not spoken four words), and dis-
missed me, feeling evidently as delighted as Dne
generally is with a man before whom one thinks one
has spoken well. This was my last audience of the
King. \

^ *'
Mener nion fiacre^' : to drive my hackney-coach.
—A. T. DE ¥..
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 9

Louis-Philippe improvised all the replies which he

made, even upon the most critical occasions, to the
great State bodies ;
he was as fluent then as in his

private conversation, although not

so happy or

epigrammatic. He would suddenly become obscure,

for the reason that he boldly plunged headlong into

long sentences, of which he was not able to estimate

the extent nor perceive the end beforehand, and from
which he emerged struggling and by force,
finally

shattering the sense, and not completing the thought.

In this political world thus constituted and con-
ducted, what was most wanting, particularly towards
the end, was political life itself. It could neither
come into being nor be maintained within the legal
circle which the Constitution had traced for it : the
old aristocracy was vanquished, the people excluded.
As all business was discussed among members of one
class, in the interest and in the spirit of that class,
there was no battlefield for contending parties to
meet upon. This singular homogeneity of position,
of interests, and consequently of views, reigning in
what M. Guizot had once called the legal country,
deprived the parliamentary debates of all originality,

of all reality, and therefore of all genuine passion.

I have spent ten years of my life in the company of
truly great minds, who were in a constant state of

agitation without succeeding

in heating themselves,

and who spent all their perspicacity in vain en-

deavours to find subjects upon which they could
seriously disagree.
lo RECOLLECTIONS OF

On the other hand, the preponderating influence

which King Louis-PhiHppe had acquired in public
affairs, which never permitted the poHticians to stray

very far from that Prince's ideas, lest they should at

the same time be removed from power, reduced the
different colours of parties to the merest shades,
and debates to the splitting of straws. I doubt

whether any parliament (not excepting the Con-

stituent Assembly, I mean the true one, that of
1789) ever contained more varied and brilliant
talentsthan did ours during the closing years of
the Monarchy of July. Nevertheless, I am able
to declare that these great orators were tired to
death of listening to one another, and, what was
worse, the whole country was tired of listening to
them. grew unconsciously accustomed to look
It

upon the debates in the Chambers as exercises of

the intellect rather than as serious discussions, and

upon the differences between the various parlia-

all

—
mentary parties the majority, the left centre, or the
dynastic opposition
—
as domestic quarrels between
children of one family trying to trick one another.
A few glaring instances of corruption, discovered by
accident, led presuppose a number of hidden
it to

cases, and convinced it that the whole of the govern-

ing class was corrupt ;

whence it conceived for the
latter a silent contempt, which was generally taken
for confiding and contented submission.
The country was at that time divided into two
unequal parts, or rather zones : in the upper, which
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE ii

alone was intended to contain the whole of the

nation's political life, reigned nothing but
there

languor, impotence, stagnation, and boredom in the

;

lower, on the contrary, political life began to make

itself manifest by means of feverish and irregular

signs, of which the attentive observer was easily

able to seize the meaning.
I was one of these observers
and although I
;

was far from imagining that the catastrophe was

so near at hand and fated to be so terrible,
I a distrust springing up and insensibly grow-
felt

ing in my mind, and the idea taking root more

and more that we were making strides towards a
fresh revolution. This denoted a great change in
my thoughts since the general appeasement and
;

flatness that followed the Revolution of July had led

me to believe for a long time that I was destined to
spend my amid an enervated and peaceful
life

society. Indeed, anyone who had only examined

the inside of the governmental fabric would have
had the same conviction. Everything there seemed
combined to produce with the machinery of liberty
a preponderance of royal power which verged upon
despotism and, in fact, this result was produced
;

almost without effort by the regular and tranquil

movement of the machine. King Louis- Philippe
was persuaded that, so long as he did not himself
lay hand upon that fine instrument, and allowed it to
work according to rule, he was safe from all peril.
His only occupation was to keep it in order, and to
12 RECOLLECTIONS OF

make it work according to his own views, forgetful of

society, upon which this ingenious piece of mechanism
rested; he resembled the man who refused to believe
that his house was on fire, because he had the key in
his pocket. I had neither the same interests nor the
same cares, and this permitted me to see through
the mechanism of institutions and the agglomeration
of petty every-day facts, and to observe the state
of morals and opinions in the country. There I
clearly beheld the appearance of several of the
portents that usually denote the approach of revolu-
tions, and I
began to believe that in 1830 I had
taken for the end of the play what was nothing more
than the end of an act.

A
short unpublished document which I composed
at the time, and a speech which I delivered early in

1848, will bear witness to these pre-occupations of

my mind.
A number of my friends in Parliament met together
in October 1847, to decide upon the policy to be
adopted during the ensuing session. It was agreed

that we should issue a programme in the form of a

manifesto, and the task of drawing it

up was deputed
to me. Later, the idea of this publication was aban-
doned, but I had already written the document. I

have discovered it
among my give the
papers, and I

following extracts. After commenting on the symp-

toms of languor in Parliament, I continued :

"
The time will come when the country will
find itself once again divided between two great parties.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 13

The French Revolution, which aboh'shed all privileges and

destroyed all exclusive rights, has allowed one to remain,
that of landed property. Let not the landlords deceive
themselves as to the strength of their position, nor think
that the rights of property form an insurmountable barrier
because they have not as yet been surmounted for our ;

times are unlike any others. When the rights of property

were merely the origin and commencement of a number
of other rights, they were easily defended, or rather, they
were never attacked they then formed the surrounding
;

wall of society, of which all other rights were the out-

posts no blows reached them no serious attempt was
; ;

ever made to touch them. But to-day, when the rights

of property are nothing more than the last remnants of
an overthrown aristocratic world when they alone are ;

left intact, isolated amid the universal level-

privileges
ling of society when they are no longer protected behind
;

a number of still more controversible and odious rights,

the case is altered, and they alone are left daily to
resist the direct and unceasing shock of democratic

opinion. . . .

"... Before long, the political struggle will be re-

stricted to those who have and those who have not pro- ;

perty will form the great field of battle and the prin- ;

cipal political questions will turn upon the more or less

important modifications to be introduced into the rights of
landlords. We
then have once more among us
shall

great public agitations and great political parties.

"
How is it that these premonitory symptoms escape
the general view ? Can anyone believe that it is by ac-
cident, through some passing whim of the human brain,
that we see appearing on every side these curious doctrines,
bearing different titles, but all characterized in their essence
by their denial of the rights of property, and all tending, at
least, to limit, diminish, and weaken the exercise of these
rights } Who can fail here to recognise the final symptom
of the old democratic disease of the time, whose crisis would
"
seem to be at hand }
14 RECOLLECTIONS OF

I was still more urgent and explicit in the speech

which I delivered in the Chamber of Deputies on
the 29th of January 1848, and which appeared in
the Moniteur of the 30th.
I quote the principal passages :

"... I am told that there is no danger because

there are no riots am
told that, because there is no
;
I

visible disorder on the surface of society, there is no revolu-

tion at hand.
"Gentlemen, permit me to say that I believe you are
deceived. True, there is no actual disorder but it has
;

entered deeply into men's minds. See what is passing in

the breasts of the working classes, who, I grant, are at
present quiet. No doubt they are not disturbed by politi-
cal passion, properly so-called, to thesame extent that they
have been but can you not see that their passions, instead
;

of political, have become social ? Do you not see that there

are gradually forming in their breasts opinions and ideas
which are destined not only to upset this or that law,
ministry, or even form of government, but society itself,
until it totters upon the foundations on which it rests to-

day? Do you not listen to what they say to themselves ^1

each day } Do you not hear them repeating unceasingly 11
that all that is above them is incapable and unworthy of
governing them ; that the present distribution of goods
throughout the world is unjust ; that property rests on a
foundation which is not an equitable foundation } And do
you not realize that when such opinions take root, when
they spread in an almost universal manner, when they sink
deeply into the masses, they are bound to bring with them
sooner or later, I know not when nor how, a most formidable
revolution ?
"
This, gentlemen, is my profound conviction I believe :

that we are at this moment sleeping on a volcano. I am

profoundly convinced of it. . . .

 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 15

"... I was saying just now that this evil would ^

sooner or later, I know not how nor whence it will come,
bring with it a most serious revolution be assured that :

that is so.
"
When I come to investigate what, at different times,
in different periods, among different peoples, has been- the
effective cause that has brought about the downfall of the
governing perceive this or that event, man, or
classes, I

accidental or superficial cause but, believe me, the real ;

reason, the effective reason which causes men to lose their

power is, that they have become unworthy to retain it.
"
Think, gentlemen, of the old Monarchy it was :

stronger than you are, stronger in its origin it was able to ;

lean more than you do upon ancient customs, ancient

habits, ancient beliefs ; it was stronger than you are, and
yet it has fallen to dust. And why did it fall ? Do you
think was by some particular mischance
it Do you think .-'

it was by the act of some man, by the deficit, the oath in

the Tennis Court, La Fayette, Mirabeau ? No, gentlemen;

there was another reason the class that was then the
:

governing class had become, through its indifference, its :

selfishness and its vices, incapable and unworthy of govern-

ing the country.

^

"
That was the true reason.
"
Well, gentlemen, if it is right to have this patriotic

prejudice at all times, how much more is it not right to

have it in our own ? Do you not feel, by some intuitive
instinct which
not capable of analysis, but which is un-
is

deniable, that the earth is quaking once again in Europe .^

Do you not feel. what shall I say ? ... as it were a

. . .

gale of revolution in the air 1 This gale, no one knows

whence it springs, whence it blows, nor, believe me, whom
it will carry with it and it is in such times as these that
;

you remain calm before the degradation of public morality

— for the expression is not too strong.
"
I speak without bitterness ;
I am even addressing you
without any party spirit ; I am attacking men against
 1 6 RECOLLECTIONS OF

whom I feel no vindictiveness. But I am obliged to com-

municate to my country my firm and decided conviction.
Well then, my firm and decided conviction is this that :

public morality is being degraded, and that the degradation

of public morality will shortly, very shortly, perhaps, bring
down upon you a new revolution. Is the life of kings held
by stronger threads ? Are these more difficult to snap than
those of other men ? Can you say to-day that you are
certain of to-morrow ? Do you know what may happen
in France a year hence, or even a month or a day hence ?
You do not know but what you must know is that the
;

tempest looming on the horizon, that it is coming

is

towards us. Will you allow it to take you by surprise .<*

"
Gentlemen, I implore you not to do so. I do not ask
you, I implore you. I would gladly throw myself on my
knees before you, so strongly do I believe in the reality
and the seriousness of the danger, so convinced am I that
my warnings are no empty rhetoric. Yes, the danger is
great. Allay it while there is yet time correct the evil by ;

efficacious remedies, by attacking it not in its symptoms

but in itself.

Legislative changes have been spoken of. I am greatly

*'

disposed to think that these changes are not only very

useful, but necessary thus, I believe in the need of
;

electoral reform, in the urgency of parliamentary reform ;

but I am
not, gentlemen, so mad as not to know that
no laws can affect the destinies of nations. No, it is
not the mechanism of laws that produces great events,
gentlemen, but the inner spirit of the government. Keep
the laws as they are, if you wish. I think you would be
very wrong to do so but keep them. Keep the men, too,
;

if it gives you any pleasure. I raise no objection so far as

I am concerned. But, in God's name, change the spirit of

the government ; for, I repeat, that spirit will lead you to
^
ithe abyss."
*
This speech was delivered in the Chamber of Deputies on the 27th
of January 1848, in the debate on the Address in reply to the Speech
—
from the Throne. Cte. de T.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 17

These gloomy predictions were received with

ironical cheers from the majority. The Opposition
applauded loudly, but more from party feeling
than conviction. The truth is that no one as

yet believed seriously in the danger which I was

prophesying, although we were so near the catas-
trophe. The inveterate habit contracted by all the

politicians, during this long parliamentary farce, of

over colouring the expression of their opinions
-

and grossly exaggerating their thoughts had de-

prived them of all power of appreciating what
was real and true. For several years the majority
had every day been declaring that the Opposition
was imperilling society and the Opposition re-
;

peated incessantly that the Ministers were ruining

the Monarchy. These statements had been made
so constantly on both sides, without either side

greatly believing in them, that they ended by not

believing in them at all, at the very moment when
the event was about to justify both of them. Even
my own friends themselves thought that I had over-
shot the mark, and that my facts were a little blurred

by rhetoric.

I remember that, when I

stepped from the
tribune, Dufaure took me on one side, and said,
with that sort of parliamentary intuition which is

his only note of genius :

**
You have succeeded, but you would have suc-
ceeded much more if you had not gone so far beyond
the feeling of the Assembly and tried to frighten us."
i8 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE

And now that I am face to face with myself,

searching in my memory to discover whether I was

actually myself so much alarmed as I seemed, the
answer is no, and I readily recognise that the
event justified me more promptly and more com-
pletely than I foresaw (a thing which may sometimes
have happened to other prophets, better
political
authorized to predict than I was). No, I did not
expect such a revolution as we were destined to
have ;
and who could have expected it ? I did,
I believe,
perceive more clearly than the others the
general causes which were making for the event ;

but I did not observe the accidents which were

to precipitate it. Meantime the days which still
separated us from the catastrophe passed rapidly by.
 CHAPTER II

—
THE BANQUETS SENSE OF SECURITY ENTERTAINED BY THE
—
GOVERNMENT ANXIETY OF LEADERS OF THE OPPOSITION
ARRAIGNMENT OF MINISTERS.

I REFUSED to take part in the affair of the banquets.

I had both serious and petty reasons for abstaining.
What I call
my petty reasons I am quite willing to
describe as bad reasons, although they were con-
sistent with honour, and would have been unexcep-
tionable in a private matter. They were the irritation
and disgust aroused in me by the character and by
the tactics of the leaders of this enterprise. Never-
theless, I confess that the private prejudice which
we entertain with regard to individuals is a bad

guide in politics.

A had at that time been effected

close alliance
between M. Thiers and M. Barrot, and a real
fusion formed between the two sections of the

Opposition, which, in our parliamentary jargon, we

called the Left Centre and the Left. Almost all

the stubborn and intractable spirits which were found

in the latter party had successively been softened,

unbent, subjugated, made supple, by the promises

of place spread broadcast by M. Thiers. I believe

that even M. Barrot had for the first time allowed

himself not exactly to be won over, but surprised.

20 RECOLLECTIONS OF

by arguments of this kind. At any rate, the most

complete intimacy reigned between the two great

leaders of the Opposition, whatever was the cause
of and M. Barrot, who likes to mingle a little
it,

simplicity with his weaknesses as well as with

his virtues, exerted himself to his utmost to secure
the triumph of his ally, even at his own expense.
M. Thiers had allowed him to involve himself

banquets I even think that

in this matter of the ;

he had instigated Barrot in that direction with-

out consenting to involve himself. He was willing
to accept the results, but not the responsibilities,
of that dangerous agitation. Wherefore, surrounded

by his personal friends, he stayed mute and motion-

less in Paris, while Barrot travelled all over the

country for three months, making long speeches in

every town he stopped at, and resembling, in my

opinion, those beaters who make a great noise in
order to bring the game within easy range of the

sportsman's gun. Personally, I felt no inclination to

take part in the sport. But the principal and more
serious reason which restrained me was this and :

I
expounded it
pretty often to those who wanted
to drag me to those political meetings :

"
For the first time for eighteen years," I used
"
to tell them, you are proposing to appeal to the
people, and to seek support outside the middle
class. Ifyou fail in rousing the people (and I
think this will be the most probable result), you will
become still more odious than you already are in
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE at

the eyes of the Government and of the middle

classes, who for a great part support it. In this

way you will strengthen the administration which

you desire to upset ;on the contrary, you
while if,

succeed in rousing the people, you are no more able

than I am to foresee whither an agitation of this
kind will lead you."

In the measure that the campaign of the banquets

was prolonged, the latter hypothesis became, con-
trary to my expectation, the more probable. A
certain anxiety began oppress to the ringleaders
themselves an indefinite anxiety, passing vaguely
;

through their minds. I was told

by Beaumont, who
was at that time one of the first among them, that
the excitement occasioned in the country by the

banquets surpassed not only the hopes, but the

wishes, of those who had started it. The latter

were labouring to allay rather than increase it.

Their intention was that there should be no banquet
in and that there should be none held any-
Paris,
where after the assembling of the Chambers. The
fact is were only seeking a way out of the
that they
mischievous road which they had entered upon.
And was undoubtedly in spite of them that this
it

final banquet was resolved on they were con- ;

strained to take part in it, drawn into it their ;

vanity was compromised. The Government, by its

defiance, goaded the Opposition into adopting this

dangerous measure, thinking thus to drive it to

destruction. The Opposition let itself be caught in

 12 RECOLLECTIONS OF

a spirit of bravado, and lest should be suspected

it

of retreating ;
and thus irritating each other, spur-
ring one another on, they dragged each other
towards the common abyss, which neither of them
as yet perceived.
I remember that two days before the Revolution

of February, at the Turkish Ambassador's ball, I

met Duvergier de Hauranne. I felt for him both

friendship and esteem although he possessed very
;

nearly all the failings that arise from party spirit, he

at least joined to them the sort of disinterestedness

and sincerity which one meets with in genuine pas-

sions, two rare advantages in our day, when the

only genuine passion is that of self I said to him,

with the familiarity warranted by our relations :

"
Courage, my friend ;
you are playing a dangerous
game."
He replied gravely, but with no sign of fear :

"
Believe me, all will end well ; besides, one must
risk something. There is no free government that
has not had to go through a similar experience."
This reply perfectly describes this determined but
somewhat narrow character say, although
; narrow, I

with plenty of brain, but with the brain which, while

seeing clearly and in detail all that is on the horizon,
is incapable of
conceiving that the horizon may
change ;
scholarly, disinterested, ardent, vindictive,
sprung from that learned and sectarian race which
guides itself in politics by imitation of others and
by historical recollection, and which restricts its
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 25

thought to one sole idea, at which it warms, in

which it bHnds itself.
For the rest, the Government were even less un-

easy than the leaders of the Opposition. few days A

before the above conversation, I had had another
with Duchatel, the Minister of the Interior. I was
on good terms with this minister, although for the
last eight years I had been very boldly (even too

boldly, I confess, in the case of its foreign policy)

attacking the Cabinet of which he was one of the

principal members. I am not sure that this fault did

not even make me find favour in his eyes, for I

believe that at the bottom of his heart he had a

sneaking fondness for those who attacked his col-

league at the Foreign Office, M. Guizot. battle A

which M. Duchatel and I had fought some years
before in favour of the penitentiary system had

brought us together and given rise to a certain inti-

macy between us. This man was very unlike the
one I mentioned above he was as heavy in his
:

person and his manners as the other was meagre,

angular, and sometimes trenchant and bitter. He
was as remarkable for his scepticism as the other for
his ardent convictions, for flabby indifference as the

former for feverish activity ;

he possessed a very
supple, very quick, very subtle mind enclosed in a
massive body he understood business admirably,
;

while pretending to be above it he was thoroughly

;

acquainted with the evil passions of mankind, and

especially with the evil passions of his party, and
24 RECOLLECTIONS OF

always knew how to turn them to advantage. He

was free from all rancour and prejudice, cordial in
his address, easy of approach, obliging, whenever his
own interests were not compromised, and bore a
kindly contempt for his fellow-creatures.
I was about to say that, some days before the ca-

tastrophe, drew M. Duchitel into a corner of the con-

I

ference room, and observed to him that the Govern-

ment and the Opposition seemed to be striving in
concert to drive things to an extremity calculated to
end by damaging everybody and I asked him if he
;

saw no honest way of escape from a regrettable

position, some honourable transaction which would
permit everyone to draw back. I added that
my
friends and I would be happy to have such a way

pointed out to us, and that we would make every

exertion to persuade our colleagues in the Opposition
to accept it. He listened attentively tomy remarks,
and assured me that he understood my meaning,
although I saw clearly that he did not enter into it
for a moment.
"
Things had reached such a pitch," he said, "that
the expedient which I sought was no longer to be
found. The Government was in the right, and could
not yield. If the Opposition persisted in its course,
the result might be a combat in the streets, but this
combat had long been foreseen, and if the Govern-
ment was animated with the evil passions with which
it was credited, it would desire this
fighting rather
than dread it, being sure to triumph in the end."
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 25

He went on in his complaisant fashion to tell me in

detail of all the military precautions that had been
taken, the extent of the resources, the number of the
troops, and the quantity of ammunition. ... I took
my leave, satisfied that the Government, without
exactly striving to promote an outbreak, was far from
dreading one, and that the Ministry, in its certainty
of ultimate victory, saw in the threatening catastrophe

possibly its last means of rallying its scattered

supporters and of finally reducing its adversaries to
)Owerlessness. I confess that I thought as he did ;

his air of unfeigned assurance had proved con-

tagious.
The only really uneasy people in Paris at that mo-
ment were the Radical chiefs and the men who
were sufficiently in touch with the people and
the revolutionary party to know what was taking

place in that quarter. I have reason to believe

that most looked with dread upon the
of these
events which were ready to burst forth, whether
because they kept up the tradition of their former
passions rather than these passions themselves, or
because they had begun to grow accustomed to
a state of things in which they had taken up their

position after so many times cursing it; or again,

because they were doubtful of success or rather
;

because, being in a position to study and become well

acquainted with their allies, they were frightened at
the last moment of the victory which they expected
to gain through their aid. On the very day before the
26 RECOLLECTIONS OF

outbreak, Madame de
Lamartine betrayed extraor-
dinary anxiety when calling upon Madame de Tocque-
ville, and gave such unmistakable signs of a mind

heated and almost deranged by ominous thoughts

that the latter became alarmed, and told me of it the
same evening.
It is not one of the least curious characteristics of
this singular revolution that the incident which led to
it was brought about and almost longed for by the men
whom it eventually precipitated from power, and that
it was
only foreseen and feared by those who were to
triumph by its means.
Here let me for a moment resume the chain of

history, so that I
may the more easily attach to it the
thread of my
personal recollections.
It will be remembered that, at the opening of the

session of 1848, King Louis-Philippe, in his Speech

from the Throne, had described the authors of the
banquets as men excited by blind or hostile passions.
This was bringing Royalty into direct conflict with
more than one hundred members of the Chamber.
This which added anger to all the ambitious
insult,

passions which were already disturbing the hearts

of the majority of these men, ended by making
them lose their reason. A violent debate was ex-
pected, but did not take place at once. The earlier

discussions on the Address were calmthe majority :

and the Opposition both restrained themselves at

the commencement, like two men who feel that

they have lost their tempers, and who fear lest

 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 27

while in that condition they should perpetrate some

folly in word or deed.
But the storm of passion broke out at last, and
continued with unaccustomed violence. The extra-
ordinary heat of these debates was already redolent
of civil war for those who knew how to scent re-
volutions from afar.
The spokesmen of the moderate section of the

Opposition were led, in the heat of debate, to assert

that the right of assembling at the banquets was one
of our most undeniable and essential rights ; ^ that to

question it, was equivalent to trampling liberty itself

underfoot and to violating the Charter, and that those
who did so unconsciously made an appeal, not to

discussion, but to arms. On his side M. Ducheitel,

who ordinarily was very dexterous in debate, dis-
played in this circumstance a consummate want of
tact.
2
He absolutely denied the right
of assemblage,
and yet would not say clearly that the Government
had made up its mind to prohibit thenceforth any
manifestations of the kind. On
the contrary, he
seemed to invite the Opposition to try the experi-
ment once more, so that the question might be

1
See the of M. Duvergier de Hauranne, February 1848.
— Cte. de T.speech 7

2
The minister replied to M. Leon de Mandeville. He quoted the
laws of 1790 and 1791, which empowered the authorities to oppose any
public meetings which seemed to threaten danger to the public peace,
and he declared that the Government would be failing in its duty if it
were to give way before manifestations of any description. At the
end of his speech he again brought in the phrase "blind or hostile
passions," and endeavoured to justify it.
—
Cte. de T.
 28 RECOLLECTIONS OF

brought before the His colleague, M.

Courts.

Hubert, the Minister of Justice, was still more

tactless, but this was his habit. I have always
r
observed that lawyers never make statesmen but ;

I have never met

anyone who was less of a states-
man than M. Hebert. He remained the Public-
Prosecutor down to the marrow of his bones ;
he
had all the mental and physical characteristics of
that You must imagine a little wizened,
office.

sorry face, shrunk at the temples, with a pointed

forehead, nose and chin, cold, bright eyes, and thin,

in-drawn lips. Add to this a long quill generally
held across the mouth, and looking at a distance
and you have a por-
like a cat's bristling whiskers,
trait of a man, than whom I have never seen any-
one more resembling a carnivorous animal. At
the same time, he was neither stupid nor even ill-
natured but he was by nature hot-headed and
;

unyielding he always overshot his goal, for want

;

of knowing when to turn aside or stop still and ;

he fell into violence without intending it, and from

sheer want of discrimination. It showed how little

importance M. Guizot attached to conciliation,

that under the circumstances he sent a speaker
of this stamp into the tribune ^ his language while;

there was so outrageous and so provoking that

Barrot, quite beside himself and almost without

Replying to M. Odilon Barrot, M. Hebert maintained

^
that, since
the right of public meeting was not laid down in the Charter, it did
—
not exist. Cte. de T.
 ALEXIS BE TOCQUEVILLE 29

knowing what he was doing, exclaimed, in a voice

half stifled with rage, that the ministers of Charles

X., that Polignac and Peyronnet, had never dared

to talk like that. I remember that I shuddered

involuntarily in my seat when

heard this naturally
I

moderate man exasperated into recalling, for the

first time, the terrible memories of the Revolution

of 1830, holding it
up in some sort as an example,
and unconsciously suggesting the idea of repeating it.
The result of this heated discussion was a sort of
challenge to mortal combat exchanged between the
Government and the Opposition, the scene of the
duel to be the law-courts. It was tacitly agreed that
the challenged party should meet at one final ban-

quet that the authorities, without interfering to

;

prevent the meeting, should prosecute its organizers,

and that the courts should pronounce judgment.
The
debates on the Address were closed, if I

remember rightly, on the 12th of February, and it

is really from this moment that the revolutionary

movement burst out. The Constitutional Opposi-

tion, which had for many months been constantly

pushed on by the Radical party, was from this
time forward led and directed not so much by the
members of that party who occupied seats in the
Chamber of Deputies (the greater number of these
had become lukewarm and, as it were, enervated in
the Parliamentary atmosphere), as by the younger,
bolder,and more irresponsible men who wrote for
the democratic press. This change was especially
30 RECOLLECTIONS OF

apparent in two principal facts which had an over-

whelming influence upon events the programme of
—
the banquet and the arraignment of Ministers.
On the 20th of February, there appeared in almost
allthe Opposition newspapers, by way of programme
of the approaching banquet, what was really a pro-
clamation calling upon the entire population to join
in an immense political demonstration, convoking
the schools and inviting the National Guard itself
to attend the ceremony in a body. It read like a

decree emanating from the Provisional Government

which was to be set up three days later. The
Cabinet, which had already been blamed by many
of followers for tacitly authorising the banquet,
its

considered that it was justified in retracing its steps.

It officially announced that it forbade the banquet,
and that it would prevent it
by force.

It was this declaration of the Government which

provided the field for the battle. I am in a position

to state, although sounds hardly credible, that the

it

programme which thus suddenly turned the banquet

into an insurrection was resolved upon, drawn up
and published without the participation or the know-
ledge of the members of Parliament who considered
themselves to be still leading the movement which
they had called into existence. The programme
was the hurried work of a nocturnal oratherine of
journalists and Radicals, and the leaders of the
Dynastic Opposition heard of it at the same time as
the public, by reading it in the papers in the morning.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 31

And see how uncertain is the course of human

affairs ! M. Odilon Barrot, who disapproved of the

programme as much as anyone, dared not disclaim

it men who, till then, had
for fear of offending the

seemed to be moving with him and then, when the

;

Government, alarmed by the publication of this

document, prohibited the banquet, M. Barrot, find-
ing himself brought face to face with civil war, drew
back. He himself gave up this dangerous demon-
stration but at the same time that he was making
;

this concession to the men of moderation, he granted

to the extremists the impeachment of Ministers.
He accused the latter of violating the Constitution

by prohibiting the banquet, and thus furnished an

excuse to those who were about to take up arms in
thename of the violated Constitution,
Thus the principal leaders of the Radical Party,
who thought that a revolution would be premature,
and who did not yet desire it, had considered them-
selves obliged, in order to differentiate themselves
from their allies in the Dynastic Opposition, to make
very revolutionary speeches and fan the flame of
insurrectionary passion. On the other hand, the

Dynastic Opposition, which had had enough of the

banquets, had been forced to persevere in this bad
course so as not to present an appearance of retreat-

ing before the defiance of the Government. And

finally, the mass of the Conservatives, who believed
in the necessity of great concessions and were ready
to make them, were driven by the violence of their
32 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

adversaries and the passions of some of their chiefs

to deny even the right of meeting in private banquets
and any hopes of reform.
to refuse the country
One must have Hved long amid poHtical parties,
and in the very whirlwind in which they move, to
understand to what extent men mutually push each
other away from their respective plans, and how
the destinies of this world proceed as the result,
but often as the contrary result, of the intentions
that produce them, similarly to the kite which flies

by the antagonistic action of the wind and the cord.

 CHAPTER III

TROUBLES OF THE 2ND OF FEBRUARY — THE SITTING OF

2 THE
23RD THE NEW MINISTRY— OPINIONS OF M. DUFAURE
— AND
M. DE BEAUMONT.

I DID not perceive anything on the 22 nd of Febru-

ary calculated to give rise to serious apprehensions.
There was a crowd in the streets, but it seemed to
be composed rather of sight-seers and fault-finders
than of the seditiously inclined the soldier and the
:

townsman chaffed each other when they met, and 1

heard more jokes than cries uttered by the crowd.
I know that it is not safe to trust one's self to these

appearances. It is the street-boys of Paris who

generally commence the insurrections, and as a rule

they do so light-heartedly, like schoolboys breaking

up for the holidays.
When I returned to the Chamber, I found a
seeming listlessness reigning there, beneath which
one could perceive the inner seething of a thousand
restrained passions. was the only place in Paris
It

in which, since the early morning, I had not heard

discussed aloud what was then absorbing all France.

They were languidly discussing a bill for the creation

of a bank at Bordeaux but in reality no one, except
;

the man talking in the tribune and the man who

was to reply to him, showed any interest in the
r. 33
34 RECOLLECTIONS OF

matter. M. Duch^tel told me that all was going

well. He said this with an air of combined confidence
and nervousness which struck me as suspicious. I
noticed that he twisted his neck and shoulders (a
common trick with him) much more frequently and
violently than usual and I remember that this little
;

observation gave me more food for reflection than

all the rest.

I learnt that, as a matter of fact, there had been

serious troubles in manyparts of the town which I
had not visited ; a certain number of men had been
killed or wounded. People were no longer accus-
tomed to this sort of incident, as they had been
some years before and as they became still more a
few months later and the excitement was great. I
;

happened be invited to dine that evening at the

to
house of one of my fellow-members of Parliament
and of the Opposition, M. Paulmier, the deputy for
Calvados. I had some
difficulty in getting there

through the troops which guarded the surrounding

streets. I found my host's house in great disorder.

Madame Paulmier, who was expecting her accouche-

ment and who had been frightened by a skirmish that
had taken place beneath her windows, had gone to
bed. The dinner was magnificent, but the table
was deserted out of twenty guests invited, only
;

fivepresented themselves the others were kept ;

back either by material impediments or by the pre-

occupations of the day. We sat down with a very
thoughtful air amid all this abundance. Among the
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 35

guests was M. Sallandrouze, the inheritor of the

great business house of that name, which had made
a large fortune by its manufacture of textile fabrics.
He was one of those young Conservatives, richer in
money than in honours, who, from time to time,
made a show of opposition, or rather, of captious
criticism, mainly, I think, to give themselves a cer-
tain importance. In the course of the last debate on
the Address, M. Sallandrouze had moved an amend-
ment which would have compromised the Cabinet,
^

had it been adopted. At the time when this incident

was most occupying attention, M. Sallandrouze one
evening went to the reception at the Tuileries, hoping
that this time, at least, he would not remain unrecog-
nized in the crowd. And, in fact, no sooner had
King Louise- Philippe seen him than he came up to
him with a very assiduous mien, and solemnly took
him aside and began to talk to him eagerly, and
with a great display of interest, about the branch of
manufacture to which the young deputy owed his
fortune. The no astonishment,
latter, at first, felt

thinking that the King, who was known to be clever

at managing men's minds, had selected this little
^
M. Sallandrouze de Lamornaix' amendment proposed to modify
"
the expression blind or hostile passions," by adding the words :

"Amid these various demonstrations, your Government will know

how to recognise the real and lawful desires of the country ; it will,
we trust, take the initiative by introducing certain wise and moderate
reforms called for by public opinion, among which we must place
firstparliamentary reform. In a Constitutional Monarchy, the union
of the great powers of the State removes all danger from a progressive
policy, and allows every moral and material interest of the country to
be satisfied."— Cte. de T.
36 RECOLLECTIONS OF

private road in order to lead round to affairs of

State. But he was mistaken ;
a quarter of
for, after

an hour, the King changed not the conversation but

the person addressed, and left our friend standing

very confused amid his carpets and woollen stuffs.

M. Sallandrouze had not yet got over this trick
played upon him, but he was beginning to feel very
much afraid that he would be revenged too well. He
told us that M. Emile Girardin had said to him the
day before, "In two days, the Monarchy of July will
have ceased to exist." This seemed to all of us a
piece of journalistic hyperbole, and perhaps it was ;

but the events that followed turned it into an oracle.

On
the next day, the 23rd of February, I learnt,
on waking, that the excitement in Paris, so far from
becoming calmer, was increasing. I went early to
the Chamber silence reigned around the Assembly
; ;

battalions of infantry occupied and closed the ap-

proaches, while troops of Cuirassiers were drawn up
along the walls of the Palace. Inside, men's feelings
were excited without their quite knowing the reason.
The had been opened at the ordinary time
sitting ;

but the Assembly had not had the courage to go

through the same parliamentary comedy as on the
day before, and had suspended its labours it sat re- ;

ceiving reports from the different quarters of the town,

awaiting events and counting the hours, in a state of
feverish idleness. At a certain moment, a loud sound
of trumpets was heard outside. It appeared that

the Cuirassiers guarding the Palace were amusing

 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 37

themselves, in order to pass the time, by sounding

flourishes on their instruments. The gay, triumph-
ant tones of the trumpets contrasted in so melan-

choly a fashion with the thoughts by which all our

minds were secretly disturbed, that a message was
hurriedly sent out to stop this offensive and indis-
creet performance, which caused such painful re-
flections to all of us.

At last, it was determined to speak aloud of what

all had been discussing in whispers for several hours.
A Paris deputy, M. Vavin, commenced to question
the Cabinet upon the state of the city. At three
o'clock M. Guizot appeared at the door of the
House. He
entered with his firmest step and his
loftiest mien, silently crossed the gangway, ascended

the tribune, throwing his head almost back from his

shoulders for fear of seeming to lower it, and stated
in two words that the King had called upon M.

Mole to form a new ministry. Never did I see

such a piece of clap-trap.
The
Opposition kept their seats, most of them
uttering cries of victory and satisfied revenge the ;

leaders alone sat silent, busy in communing with

themselves upon the use they would make of their
triumph, and careful not to insult a majority of which
they might soon be called upon to make use. As to
the majority, they seemed thunderstruck by this so

unexpected blow, moved to and fro like a mass that

sways from side to side, uncertain as to which side
it shall fall on, and then descended noisily into the
38 RECOLLECTIONS OF

semi-circle. A few surrounded the ministers to ask

them for explanations or to pay them their last re-

spects, but the greater number clamoured against

"
them with noisy and insulting shouts. To throw
up office, to abandon your political friends under
"
such circumstances," they said, is a piece of gross
"
cowardice while others exclaimed that the
;
mem-
bers ought to repair to the Tuileries in a body, and
force the King to re-consider his fatal resolve.
This despair will arouse no astonishment when it

is remembered that the greater number of these

men felt themselves attacked, not only in their
political opinions, but in the most sensitive part of
their private interest. The fall of the Government
compromised the entire fortune of one, the daughter's

dowry of another, the son's career of a third. It

was by this that they were almost all held. Most

of them had not only bettered themselves by means
of their votes, but one may say that they had lived
on them. They still lived on them, and hoped to
continue to live on them for, the Ministry having
;

lasted eight years, they had accustomed themselves

to think that it would last for ever they had grown ;

attached to it with the honest, peaceful feeling of

affection which one entertains for one's fields. From
my seat, I watched this swaying crowd ;
I saw sur-

prise, anger, fear and avarice mingle their various

expressions upon those bewildered countenances ;

and I drew an involuntary comparison between all

these legislators and a pack of hounds which, with
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 39

theirjaws half filled, see the quarry withdrawn from

them.
I
grant, however, that, so far as many of the Oppo-
sition were concerned,only wanted that they should
it

be put to a similar test in order to make the same

display. If many of the Conservatives only defended

the Ministry with a view to keeping their places and

emoluments, I am bound to say that many of the
Opposition seemed to me only to attack it in order
to reap the plunder in their turn. The truth —the *\
deplorable truth
— that a taste for holding office and
is
/

a desire to live on the public money are not with us /

a disease restricted to either party, but the great, \

chronic ailment of the whole nation the result of ;

f
the democratic constitution of our society and of
the excessive centralization of our Government;
the secret malady which has undermined all former

powers, and which will undermine all powers to

come. y
At last the uproar ceased, as the nature of what
had happened became better known we learnt that :

it had been
brought about by the insurrectionary in-
clinations of a battalion of the Fifth Legion and the

applications made direct to the King by several

officers of that section of the Guard.

So soon was informed of what was going on.

as he

King Louis- Philippe, who was less prone to change

his opinions, but more ready to change his line of

conduct, than any man I ever saw, had immediately

made up his mind and after eight years of com-
;
40 RECOLLECTIONS OF

placency, the Ministry was dismissed by him in two

minutes, and without ceremony.
The Chamber rose without delay, each member
thinking only of the change of government, and for-
getting about the revolution.
went out with M. Dufaure, and soon perceived
I

that he was not only preoccupied but constrained. I

at once saw that he felt himself in the critical and

complicated position of a leader of the Opposition,
who was about to become a minister, and who, after
experiencing the use his friends could be to him, was
beginning to think of the difficulties which their pre-
tensions might well cause him.
M. Dufaure had a somewhat cunning mind, which
readily admitted such thoughts as these, and he also
possessed a sort of natural rusticity which, combined
with great integrity, but rarely permitted him to
conceal them. He was, moreover, the sincerest and
by most respectable of all those who at that
far the

moment had a chance of becoming ministers. He

believed that power was at last within his grasp, and
his ambition betrayed a passion that was the more

eager inasmuch as it was discreet and suppressed.

M. Mole in his place would have felt much greater
egoism and still more ingratitude, but he would have
been only all the more open-hearted and amiable.
I soon left him, and went to M. de Beaumont's.
There I found every heart rejoicing. I was far from
sharing this joy, and finding myself among people
with whom I could talk freely, I gave my reasons.

I
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 41

" "
The National Guard of Paris," I said, has up-
set a Cabinet ;
therefore it is
during its good pleasure
only that the new Ministers will remain at the head
of affairs. You are glad because the Government is
upset ; but do you not see that it is
authority itself
"
which is overthrown ?

This sombre view of the political situation was

not much to Beaumont's taste ;
he was carried away
by rancour and ambition.
"
You always take a gloomy view of everything,"
he said. " Let us first rejoice at the victory we can :

lament over the results later."

Madame de Beaumont, who was present at the

interview, seemed herself to share her husband's ela-
tion, and nothing ever so thoroughly proved to me the
irresistible power of party For, by nature,
feeling.
neither hatred nor self-interest had a place in the
heart of this distinguished and attractive woman, one
of the most truly and consistently virtuous that I
have met and one who best knew how to
in my life,

make virtue both touching and lovable. To the

nobility of heart of the La Fayettes she added a
mind that was witty, refined, kindly and just.
I, nevertheless, sustainedtheory against both my
him and her, arguing that upon the whole the incident
was a regrettable one, or rather that we should see
more in it than a mere incident, a great event which
was destined to change the whole aspect of affairs.
It was easy for me to philosophize thus, since I
ver}'
did not share the illusions of my friend Dufaure.
42 RECOLLECTIONS OF

The impulse given to the political machine seemed

to me to be too violent to permit of the reins of

government falling into the hands of the moderate

party to which I belonged, and I foresaw that they
would soon fall to those who were almost as ob-
noxious to me as the men from whose hands they had
slipped.
Iwas dining with another of my friends, M.
Lanjuinais, of whom I shall have to speak often
in future. The company was fairly numerous, and
embraced many shades of political opinion. Many
of the guests rejoiced at the result of the day's work,
while others expressed alarm but all thought that
;

the insurrectionary movement would stop of its own

accord, to break out again later on another occasion
and in another form. All the rumours that reached
us from the town seemed to confirm this belief ; cries
of war were replaced by cries of joy. Portalis, who
became Attorney-General of Paris a few days later,
was of our number not the :
son, but the nephew of
the Chief President of the Court of Appeal. This
Portalis had neither his uncle's rare intelligence, nor
his exemplary character, nor his solemn dulness. His
coarse, violent, perverse mind had quite naturally
entered into allthe false ideas and extreme opinions
of our times. Although he was in relation with most
of those who
are regarded as the authors and leaders
of the Revolution of 1848, I can conscientiously
declare that he did not that night expect the revolu-
tion any more than we did. I am convinced that,
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 43

even at that supreme moment, the same might have

been said of the greater number of his friends. It
would be a waste of time to try to discover what
secret conspiracies brought about events of this kind.
Revolutions accomplished by means of popular

risingsare generally longed for beforehand rather

than premeditated. Those who boast of having
contrived them have done no more than turn them
to account. They spring spontaneously into being
from a general malady of men's minds, brought
suddenly to the critical stage by some fortuitous and
\

V
unforeseen circumstance. As to the so-called
originators or leaders of these revolutions, they
originate and lead nothing only merit is
; their

identical with that of the adventurers who have

discovered most of the unknown countries. They
simply have the courage to go straight before them
as long as the wind impels them.
I took leave early, and went straight home to
my
bed. Although 1 lived close to the Foreign Office,
I did not hear the firing which so greatly influenced
our destinies, and I fell asleep without realizing that
I had seen the last day of the Monarchy of July.
 CHAPTER IV
THE 24TH OF FEBRUARY —THE MINISTERS' PLAN
OF RESISTANCE
—
THE NATIONAL GUARD—GENERAL BEDEAU.

The next morning was the 24th of February. On

leaving my bed-room, I met the cook, who had been
out the good woman was quite beside herself, and
;

poured out a sorrowing rigmarole, of which I failed

to understand a word, except that the Government
was massacring the poor people. I went downstairs
and had no sooner set foot in the
at once, street than
I breathed for the first time the atmosphere of
revolution. The roadway was empty ;
the shops
were not open there were no carriages nor pedes-
;

trians to be seen none of the ordinary hawkers'

;

cries were heard

neighbours stood talking in little
;

groups at their doors, with subdued voices, with a

frightened air every face seemed distorted with fear
;

or anger. I met a National Guard hurrying along,

gun in hand, with a tragic gait ;
I accosted him, but
could learn nothing from him, save that the Govern-
ment was massacring the people (to which he added
that the National Guard would know how to put that
right). It was the same old refrain it is easily :

understood that this explanation explained nothing.

I was too well acquainted with the vices of the Gov-
 ALEXIS DE rOCQUEVILLE 45

ernment of July not to know that cruelty was not one

of them. I considered itone of the most corrupt,
but also one of the least bloodthirsty, that had ever
existed, and
only repeat this observation in order
I

to show the sort of report that assists the progress

of revolutions.
I hastened to M. de Beaumont, who lived in the
next street. There I learnt that the King- had sent
for him during the was given
night. The same reply
to my enquiry at M. de Remusat's, where I went
next. M. de Corcelles, whom I met in the street,
gave me what was happening, but in
his account of

a very confused manner for, in a city in state of

;

revolution, as on a battle-field, each one readily

regards the incidents of which himself is a witness as

the events of the day. He told me of the firing on
the Boulevard des Capucines, the rapid and of

development of the insurrection of which this act of

unnecessary violence w^as the cause or the pretext ;

of M. Mole's refusal to take office under these cir-

cumstances ;
and lastly, of the summons to the
Palace of Messrs. Thiers, Barrot and their friends,
who were definitely charged with the formation of a
cabinet, facts too well known to permit of my lingering
over them. I asked M. de Corcelles how the ministers
proposed to set about appeasing people's minds.
"
M. de Remusat," said he, " is my authority for
to withdraw all the
saying that the plan adopted is

troops and to flood Paris with National Guards."

These were his own words.
46 RECOLLECTIONS OF

I have always observed that in politics people

were often ruined through possessing too good a
memory. The men who were now charged to put
an end to the Revolution of 1848 were exactly the
same who had made the Revolution of 1830. They
remembered that at that time the resistance of the
army had failed to stop them, and that on the other
hand the presence of the National Guard, so im-
prudently dissolved by Charles X., might have
embarrassed them greatly and prevented them from
succeeding. They took the opposite steps to those
adopted by the Government of the Elder Branch,
and arrived at the same result. So true is it that,

if humanity be always the same, the course of

history is always different, that the past is not able
to teach us much concerning the present, and that
those old pictures, when forced into new frames,
never have a good effect
After chatting for a little while on the dangerous

position of affairs, M. de Corcelles and I went to

fetch M. Lanjuinais, and all three of us went

together to M. Dufaure, who lived in the Rue Le

Peletier. The boulevard, which we followed to get
there, presented a strange spectacle. There was
hardly a soul to be seen, although it was nearly
nine o'clock in the morning, and one heard not the

slightestsound of a human voice but all the little;

sentry-boxes which stand along this endless avenue

seemed to move about and totter
upon their base,
andjrom time to time one of them would fall with
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 47

a crash, while the great trees along the curb came

tumbling down into the roadway as though of their
own accord. These acts of destruction were the
work of isolated individuals, who went about their
business silently, regularly, and hurriedly, preparing
in this way the materials for the barricades which

others were to erect. Nothing ever seemed to me

more to resemble the carrying on of an industry,
and, as a matter of fact, for the greater number of
these men it was nothing less. The instinct of dis-
order had given them the taste for it, and their

experience of so many former insurrections the

practice. do not know that during the whole
I

course of the day I was so keenly struck as in

passing through this solitude in which one saw, so

to speak, the worst passions of mankind at play,
without the good ones appearing. 1 would rather

have met in the same place a furious crowd and ;

I remember that,
calling Lanjuinais' attention to
those tottering edifices and falling trees, I gave
vent to the phrase which had long been on my lips,
and said :

"
Believe me, this time it is no longer a riot it :

is a revolution."
M. Dufaure told us all that concerned himself in
the occurrences of the preceding evening and of the

night. M. M0I6 had at first applied to him to assist

him to form thenew Cabinet; but the increasing
gravity of the situation had soon made them both
understand that the moment for their intervention
48 RECOLLECTIONS OF

had passed. M. M0I6 told the King so about mid-

night, and the King sent him to fetch M. Thiers,
who refused to accept office unless he was given
M. Barrot for a colleague. Beyond this point,
M. Dufaure knew no more than we did. We
separated without having succeeded in deciding
upon our line of action, and without coming to any
resolution beyond that of proceeding to the Chamber
so soon as it
opened.
M. Dufaure did not come, and never precisely
I

learnt why. It was certainly not from fear, for I

have since seen him very calm and very firm under
much more dangerous circumstances. I believe
that he grew alarmed for his family, and desired
to take them to a place of safety outside Paris. H is
private and his public virtues, both of which were
very great, did not keep step the first were always
:

ahead of the second, and we shall see signs of this

on more than one subsequent occasion. Nor, for
that matter, would I care to lay this to his account
as a serious charge. Virtues of any kind are too
rare to entitle us to vex those who possess them
about their character or their degree.
The time which we had
spent with M. Dufaure
had sufficed to enable the rioters to erect a large
number of barricades along the road by which we
had come they were putting the finishing touches
;

to them as we passed on our way back. These

barricades were cunningly constructed by a small
number of men, who worked very diligently not :
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 49

like guilty men hurried by the dread of being taken

in the act, but like good workmen anxious to get
their task done well and expeditiously. The public
watched them quietly, without expressing dis-
or I did not discover
approval offering assistance.

any signs of that sort of general seething which I

had witnessed in 1830, and which made me at the
time compare the whole city to a huge boiling
caldron. This time the public was not overthrow-
ing the Government it was allowing it to fall.
;

We met on the boulevard a column of infantry

back upon the Madeleine. No one addressed
falling
a word to it, and yet its retreat resembled a rout.
The ranks were broken, the soldiers marched in dis-

order, withhanging heads and an air that was both

downcast and frightened. Whenever one of them
became separated for a mere instant from the main
body, he was at once surrounded, seized, embraced,
disarmed and sent back all this was the work of a
:

moment.
Crossing the Place du Havre, I met for the first
time a battalion of that National Guard with which
Paris was to be flooded. These men marched
with a look of astonishment and an uncertain step,
surrounded by street boys shouting, " Reform for
"
ever ! to whom they replied with the same cry,
but in a smothered and somewhat constrained voice.
This battalion belonged to my neighbourhood, and
most of those who composed it knew me by sight,
although I knew hardly any of them. They sur-
D

V
50 RECOLLECTIONS OF

rounded me and greedily pressed me for news ;

I

told them that we had obtained all we wanted, that

the ministry was changed, that all the abuses com-

plained of were to be reformed, and that the only

danger we now ran was lest people should go too
far, and that it was for them to prevent it. I soon
saw that this view did not appeal to them.
" "
That's all very well, sir," said they ; the
Government has got itself into this
scrape through
its own out
fault, let it
get of it as best it can."

It was of small use my representing to them that

it was much less a question for the Government at

present than for themselves :

" If Paris is delivered to

anarchy," I said, "and
all the Kingdom is in confusion, do you think that
"
none but the King will suffer ?
It was of no avail, and all I could obtain in reply

was this astounding absurdity it was the Govern- :

ment's fault, let the Government run the danger we ;

don't want to get killed for people who have managed

their business so badly. And yet this was that
middle class which had been pampered for eighteen
years the current of public opinion had ended by
:

dragging it along, and was driving it against those

who had flattered it until it had become corrupt.
This was the occasion of a reflection which has
often since presented itself to my mind ; in France
a government always does wrong to rely solely for
support upon the exclusive interests and selfish
passions of one class. This can only Succeed with
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 51

nations more self-interested and less vain than

ours : with us, when a government established upon
this becomes unpopular, it
basis follows that the
members of the very class for whose sake it has lost

itspopularity prefer the pleasure of traducing it with

all the world to the privileges which it assures

them. The old French aristocracy, which was

more enlightened than our modern middle class and
possessed much greater esprit de corps, had already
given the same example it had ended by thinking ;

it a mark of distinction to run down its own

privi-

leges, and by thundering against the abuses upon

which it existed. That is why I think that, upon
the whole, the safest method of government for us
to adopt, in order to endure, is that of governing

well, of governing in the interest of everybody. I

am bound to confess, however, that, even when one

follows this course, it is not very certain that one
willendure for long.
soon set out to go to the Chamber, although
I

the time fixed for the opening of the sitting had not

yet come : it was, I believe, about eleven o'clock. I

found the Place Louis XV still clear of people, but

occupied by several regiments of cavalry. When

I saw all these troops drawn up in such good
order, I
began to think that they had only deserted
the streets in order to mass themselves around the
Tuileries and defend themselves there. At the foot
of the obelisk were grouped the staff, among whom,
as I drew nearer, I
recognized Bedeau, whose un-
52 RECOLLECTIONS OF

lucky star had quite recently brought him back from

Africa, in time to bury the Monarchy. I had spent a
few days with him, the year before, at Constantine,
and there had sprung up between us a sort of
intimacy which has since continued. So soon as
Bedeau caught sight of me, he sprang from his
horse, came up to me, and grasped my hand in a

way that clearly betrayed his excitement. His con-

versation gave yet stronger evidence of this, and I
was not surprised, for I have always observed that
the men who lose their heads most easily, and who
generally show themselves weakest on days of
revolution, are soldiers ; accustomed as they are
to have an organized force facing them and an
obedient force in their hands, they readily become
confused before the uproarious shouts of a mob and
inpresence of the hesitation and the occasional con-
nivance of their own men. Unquestionably, Bedeau
was confused, and everybody knows what were the
results of this confusion how the Chamber was
:

invaded by a handful of men within pistol-shot of the

squadrons protecting and how, in consequence,

it,

the fall of the Monarchy was proclaimed and the

Provisional Government elected. The part played
by Bedeau on this fatal
day was, unfortunately for
himself, of so preponderating a character that I

propose to stop a moment in order to analyze this

man and his motives for acting as he did. We have
been sufficiently intimate both before and after this
event to enable me to speak with knowledge. It is
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 53

true that he received the order not to fight ; but why

did he obey so extraordinary an order, which circum-
stances had rendered so impracticable ?
Bedeau was assuredly not timid by nature, nor
even, properly speaking, undecided ; for, when he
had once made up you saw him making for
his mind,
his goal with great firmness, coolness and courage ;

but his mind was the most methodical, the least

self-reliant, the least adventurous, and the least

adapted for unpremeditated action that can well be

imagined. He was accustomed to consider the action
which he was about to undertake in all its aspects

before setting to work, taking the worst aspects

first, and losing much precious time in diluting a
single thought in a multitude of words. For the
he was a just man, moderate, liberal-minded, as
rest,
humane as though he had not waged war in Africa
for eighteen years, modest, moral, even refined,
and religious : the kind of honest, virtuous man who
is very rarely to be met with in military circles, or,

to speak plainly, elsewhere. It was assuredly not

from want of courage that he did certain acts which
seemed to point to this defect, for he was brave
beyond measure was treachery his motive
;
still less :

although he may not have been attached to the

Orleans Family, he was as little capable of betraying
those Princes as their best friends could have been,
and much less so than their creatures eventually
were. His misfortune was that he was drawn into
events which were greater than himself, and that
54 RECOLLECTIONS OF

he had only merit where genius was needed, and

especially the genius to grapple with revolutions^
which consists principally in regulating one's actions
according to events, and in knowing how to disobey
at the right time. The remembrance of February
poisoned General Bedeau's life, and left a cruel
wound deep down in his soul, a wound whose agony
betrayed unceasingly by endless recitals and
itself

explanations of the events of that period.

While he was engaged in telling me of his per-
plexities, and in endeavouring to prove that the
duty of the Opposition was to come down to the
streets in a body and calm the popular excitement
with their speeches, a crowd of people glided in
between the trees of the Champs Elysees and came
down the main avenue towards the Place Louis XV.
Bedeau perceived these men, dragged me towards
them on foot until he was more than a hundred
paces from his cavalry, and began to harangue them,
for he was more disposed to speech-making than
any military man I have ever known.
While he was holding forth in this way, I observed
that the circle of his listeners was gradually extend-
ing itself around us, and would soon close us in ;

and through the first rank of sightseers I

clearly
caught sight of men of riotous aspect moving about,
while I heard dull murmurs in the depths of the
crowd of these dangerous words, ''It's Bugeaud."
I leant towards the general and whispered in his

ear:
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 55

"
have more experience than you of the ways
I

of the populace take my word, get back to your

;

horse at once, for if you stay here, you will be killed

or taken prisoner before five minutes are over."
He took my word for it, and it was well he did.
A few moments later, same men whom he had
these
undertaken to convert murdered the occupants of
the guard-house in the Rue des Champs-Elys^es I ;

myself had some difficulty in forcing my way through

them. One of them, a short, thick-set man, who
seemed to belong to the lower class of workmen,
asked me where I was going.
"
I
replied, To the Chamber," adding, to show
was a member of the Opposition, "
that I Reform
for ever! You know the Guizot Ministry has
been dismissed?"
"Yes, sir, I know," replied the man, jeeringly,
and pointing to the Tuileries, "but we want more
than that."
 CHAPTER V
THE SITTING OF THE CHAMBER— MADAME LA DUCHESSE d'ORL^ANS
—THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.
I ENTERED the Chamber ;
the sitting had not yet
commenced. The deputies wer^ wandering about
the lobbies like men distraught, living on rumours,
and quite without information. It was not so much
an assembly as a mob, nobody was leading it.
for
The leaders of both parties were absent the ex- :

ministers had fled, the new ones had not appeared.

Members cried loudly for the sitting to open, im-

pelled rather by a vague desire for action than by

any definite intention ; the President refused : he was
accustomed do nothing without instructions, and
to
since there was no one left to instruct him, he was
unable to make up his mind. I was begged
go to
and find him, and persuade him to take the chair,
and I did so. I found this excellent man for so —
he was, in spite of the fact that he often indulged in
well-meaning pieces of trickery, in little pious frauds,

in petty villainies, in all the venial sins which a faint

heart and a wavering mind are able to suggest to an

—
honest nature I found him, as I have said, walking
to and fro in his room, a prey to the greatest excite-
ment. M. Sauzet possessed good but not striking
56
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 57

features ; he had the dignity of a parish beadle,

a big fat body, with very short arms. At times
when he was restless and perplexed
—and he
almost always was so — he used to wave his little
arms convulsively, and move them about like a
swimmer. His demeanour during our conversation
was of the strangest he walked about, stopped still,
:

sat down with one foot underneath his clumsy frame,

as he used to moments of great excitement,
do in

stood up again, sat down anew, and came to no

decision. It was very unfortunate for the House

of Orleans that it had an honest man of this kind to

preside over the Chamber on a day like this an :

audacious rogue would have served its turn better.

M. Sauzet gave me many reasons for not opening
the sitting, but one which he did not give me con-
vinced me that he was right. Seeing him so help-
less and so incapable of adopting any resolution, I

considered that he would only confuse men's minds

the more he tried to regulate them. I therefore
left him, and thinking it more important to find
protectors for the Chamber than to open its delibera-
tions, went out, intending to proceed to the
I

Ministry of the Interior and ask for help.

As I crossed the Place du Palais- Bourbon with
saw a very mixed crowd accompanying
this object, I

two men, whom I soon recognized as Barrot and

Beaumont, with loud cheers. Both of them wore
their hats crushed down over
eyes their their ;

clothes were covered with dust, their cheeks looked

58 RECOLLECTIONS OF

hollow, their eyes weary : never were two men in

triumph so suggestive of men about

be hanged. to
I ran up to Beaumont, and asked him what was
happening. He whispered that the King had
abdicated in his presence, and had taken to flight ;
that Lamoriciere had apparently been killed when
he went out to announce the abdication to the
an aide-de-camp had come back to
rioters (in fact,

say that he had seen him at a distance fall from his

horse), that everything was going wrong, and finally,
that he and Barrot were now on their way to the

Ministry of the Interior in order to take possession

of it, and to try and establish somewhere a centre of

authority and resistance.

"
And the Chamber " ! I said.
" Have you taken
"
any precautions for the defence of the Chamber ?
Beaumont received this observation with ill-

humour, as though I had been speaking of my

own house. "Who is thinking of the Chamber.'*"
he replied brusquely. "What good or what harm
"
can it do at the present juncture ?
I
thought, and rightly, that he was wrong to
speak like this. The Chamber, it is true, was
at that moment in a curious state of powerless-
ness, majority despised, and its minority left
its

behind by public opinion. But M. de Beaumont

forgot that it is just in times of revolution that
the very least instruments of the law, and much
more outer symbols, which recall the idea of
its

the law to the minds of the people, assume the

 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 59

greatest importance for it is especially in the

;

midst of this universal anarchy and turmoil that

the need is felt of some simulacrum of authority
and tradition in order to save the remnants of a
half-destroyed constitution or to complete its over-
throw. Had the deputies been able to proclaim
the Regency, the latter might have ended by

triumphing, in spite of
the unpopularity of the

deputies; and, on the other hand, it is an un-

doubted fact that the Provisional Government owed
much to the chance which caused it to come into

being between the four walls which had so long

sheltered the representatives of the nation.
I followed my friends to the Ministry of the
Interior, where they were going. The crowd
which accompanied us entered, or rather swept in,

tumultuously, and even penetrated with us as far

as the room which M. Duchatel had just quitted.
Barrot tried to free himself and dismiss the mob,
but was unable to succeed.
These people, who held two very different sets of
opinions, as I was then enabled to observe, some
being Republicans and others Constitutionalists,

began vehemently to discuss with us and among

themselves the measures which were to be taken ;

and as we were all

squeezed together in a very
small space, the heat, dust, confusion, and uproar
soon became unbearable. Barrot, who always
launched out into long, pompous phrases at the
most critical moments, and who preserved an air
6o RECOLLECTIONS OF

of dignity, and even of mystery, in the most ludi-

crous circumstances, was holding forth at his best in

angustis. His voice occasionally rose above the

tumult, but never succeeded
quelling it. In
in

despair and disgust at so violent and ludicrous a

scene, I left this place, where they were exchanging
almost as many cuffs as arguments, and returned
to the Chamber.
I reached the entrance to the building without
suspecting what was happening inside, when I saw
people come running up, crying that Madame la

Duchesse d' Orleans, the Comte de Paris and the

Due de Nemours had just arrived. At this news,
I flew
up the stairs of the Palace, four at a time,
and rushed into the House.
I saw the three members of the
Royal Family
whom I have named, at the foot of the tribune,
facing the House. The Duchesse d'Orleans was
seated, dressed in mourning, calm and pale I could ;

see that she was greatly excited, but her excitement

seemed be that of courageous natures, more prone
to
to turn to heroism than fright.
The Comte de Paris displayed the carelessness of
his age and the precocious impassiveness of princes.

Standing by their side was the Due de Nemours,

tightly clad in his uniform
—
cold, stiff, and erect.
He was, to my mind, the only man who
ran any
real danger that day ;
and during the whole time
I saw him
that exposed to it, I constantly observed
in him the same firm and silent courage.
 JLEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 6i

Around these unhappy Princes pressed the National

Guards who had come with them, some deputies,
and a small number of the people. The galleries
were empty and closed, with the exception of the
press gallery, into which an unarmed but clamorous
crowd had forced its way. I was more struck by
the cries that issued at intervals from there than

by all else that occurred during the sitting.

Fifty years had passed since the last scene of this

kind. Since the time of the Convention, the galleries
had been silent, and the silence of the galleries had
become part of our parliamentary customs. How-
ever, if the Chamber at this moment already felt
embarrassed in its actions, it was not as yet in any
way the deputies were in considerable
constrained ;

numbers, though the party leaders were still absent.

I heard enquiries on every side for M. Thiers and
M. Barrot I did not know what had become of
;

M. Thiers, but I knew only too well what M. Barrot

was doing. I hurriedly sent one of our friends to
tell him of what was happening, and he came running

up with all speed. I can answer for that man that

his soul never knew fear.
After for a moment watching this extraordinary

sitting, I had hastened to take my usual seat on the

it has always
upper benches of the Left Centre :

been my contention that at critical moments one

should not only be present in the assembly of which
one a member, but occupy the place where one
is is

generally to be found.
62 RECOLLECTIONS OF

A sort of confused and turbulent discussion had

been opened : I heard M. Lacrosse, who since be-
came my colleague in office, cry amid the uproar :

" M. "
Dupin wishes to speak !

"No, no!"
" "
No," replied M. Dupin, I made no such re-

quest."
"
"No matter," came from every side ; speak,
"
speak !

Thus urged, M. Dupin ascended the tribune, and

proposed in two words that they should return to the

law of 1842, and proclaim the Duchesse d'Orleans
Regent. This was received with applause in the
Assembly, exclamations in the gallery, and murmurs
in the lobbies. The lobbies, which at first were
pretty clear, began to grow crowded in an alarming
manner. The people did not yet come into the
Chamber in streams, but entered little by little, one

by one each moment there appeared a new face

; ;

the Chamber grew flooded as it were by drops.

Most of the new comers belonged to the lowest
classes many of them were armed.
;

witnessed this growing invasion from a distance,

I

and I felt the danger momentarily increase with it. I

cast my eyes round the Chamber in search of the
man best able to resist the torrent saw only ;
I

Lamartine, who had the necessary position and the

requisite capacity to make the attempt I remem- ;

bered that in 1842 he was the only one who proposed

the regency of the Duchesse d'Orleans. On the
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 63

other hand, his recent speeches, and especially his

recent writings, had obtained for him the favour of
the people. His talent, moreover, was of a kind
that appeals to the popular taste. I was not aware

that, half an hour before, he had been extolling

the Republic to an assemblage of journalists and

deputies in one of the offices of the Chamber. I

saw him standing by his bench. I elbowed my way

to him, and, when I reached him :

"We shall be lost," I whispered, hurriedly :

'*
you
alone can make yourself heard at this supreme
moment go ;
to the tribune and speak."
I can see him still, as I write these lines, so struck
was with his appearance.
I I see his
long, straight,
slender figure, his eye turned towards the semi-circle,
his fixed and vacant gaze absorbed in inward con-
templation rather than in observing what was passing
around him. When he heard
speak, he did not me
turn towards me, but only stretched out his arm
towards the place where the Princes stood, and,
replying to his own thought rather than to mine,
said :

" I shall not speak so long as that woman and

that child remain where they are."
I said no more I had heard
;
enough. Returning
to my bench, I passed by the Right Centre, near
where Lanjuinais and Billault were sitting, and
asked, "Can you suggest nothing that we could
"
do ? They mournfully shook their heads, and I
continued on my way.
64 RECOLLECTIONS OF

Meantime, the crowd had accumulated to such an

extent in the semi-circle, that the Princes ran the risk
of being crushed or suffocated at any moment.
The President made vain efforts to clear the
House ;
failing in his endeavours, he begged the
Duchesse d'Orleans to withdraw. The courageous
Princess refused, whereupon her friends, with great

difficulty, extricated her from the throng, and made

her climb to the top bench of the Left Centre, where
she sat down with her son and the Due de Nemours.
Marie and Cr^mieux had just, amid the silence of
the deputies and the acclamations of the people, pro-

posed the establishment of a provisional government,

when Barrot at He was out of
last
appeared.
breath, but not alarmed. Climbing the stairs of the
tribune :

" "
Our duty lies before us," he said ;
the Crown
of July lies on the head of a child and a woman."
The Chamber, recovering its
courage, plucked
up heart to burst into acclamations, and the people
in their turn were silent. The Duchesse d'Orleans
rose from her seat, seemed to wish to speak, hesi-
tated, listened to timid counsels, and sat down again :

the last glimmer of her fortune had gone out. Barrot

finished his speech without renewing the impression
of his opening words ; nevertheless, the Chamber
had gathered strength, and the people wavered.
At that moment, the crowd filling the semi-circle
was driven back, by a stream from outside, towards
the centre benches, which were already almost de-
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 65

serted ;
it burst and spread over the benches. Of the
few deputies who still occupied them, some slipped
away and left the House, while others retreated
from bench to bench, like victims surprised by the
tide, who retreat from rock to rock always pursued

by the All this commotion was pro-

rising waters.
duced by two troops of men, for the most part armed,
which marched through the two lobbies, each with
officers of the National Guards and flags at its head.
The two officers who carried the flags, of whom one,
a swaggering individual, was, as I heard later, a
half-pay colonel called Dumoulin, ascended the tri-

bune with a theatrical air, waved their standards,

and with much skipping about and great melo-
dramatic gestures, bawled out some revolutionary
balderdash or other. The President declared the

sitting suspended, and proceeded to put on his hat, as

is customary but, since he had the knack of making
;

himself ridiculous in the most tragic situations, in his

precipitation he seized the hat of a secretary instead

of his own, and pulled it down over his eyes and
ears.

Sittings of this sort, as may be believed, are not

easily suspended, and the President's attempts only

succeeded adding to the disorder.
in

Thenceforth there was nothing but one continuous

uproar, broken by occasional moments of silence.

The speakers appeared in the tribune in groups]:

Cremieux, Ledru-Rollin, and Lamartine sprang into
it at the same time. Ledru-Rollin drove Cremieux
E
66 RECOLLECTIONS OF

out, and himself held on with his two great hands,

while Lamartine, without leaving or struggling,
waited for his colleague to finish speaking. Ledru-
Rollin began incoherently, interrupted every instant
"
by the impatience of his own friends. Finish !

"
finish ! more experienced than he,
cried Berryer,
and warier in his dynastic ill-will than was the other
in his republican passion. Ledru-Rollin ended by

demanding the appointment of a provisional govern-

ment and descended the stair.
Then Lamartine stepped forward and obtained
silence. He commenced with a splendid eulogium
on the courage of the Duchesse d'Orldans, and the
people themselves, sensible, as always, to generous
sentiments wrapped up in fine phrases, applauded.
"
The deputies breathed again. Wait," said I to my
"
neighbours, this is only the exordium." And in

before long, Lamartine tacked round and pro-

fact,

ceeded straight in the same direction as Ledru-

Rollin.
Until then, as I said, all the galleries except the
one reserved had remained empty and
for the press
closed but while Lamartine was speaking, loud
;

blows were heard at the door of one of them, and

yielding to the strain, the door burst into atoms.
In a moment the gallery was invaded by an armed
mob of men, who noisily filled it and soon after-
wards all the others. A man of the lower orders,

placing one foot on the cornice, pointed his gun

at the President and the speaker; others seemed
 ALEXIS DE rOCQUEVILLE 67

to level theirs at the assembly. The Duchesse

d'Orleans and her son were hurried out of the
Chamber by some devoted friends and into the
corridor behind the Chair. The President muttered
a few words to the effect that the sitting was ad-
journed, and stepped, or rather slid, off the plat-
form on which the chair was placed. Isaw him
passing before my eyes like a shapeless mass never
:

would I have believed that fear could have inspired

with such activity, or rather, suddenly reduced to a
sort of fluidity, so huge a body. All who had re-
mained of the Conservative members then dispersed,
and the populace sprawled over the centre benches,
" "
crying, Let us take the place of the corrupt crew !

During all the turbulent scenes which I have just

I remained motionless in
described, my seat, very
attentive, but not greatly excited and now, when
;

I ask
myself why I felt no keener emotion in pres-
ence of an event bound to exercise so great an
influence upon the France and upon
destinies of

my own, I find that the form assumed by this great

occurrence did much to diminish the impression it

made upon me.

In the course of the Revolution of February, I
was present at two or three scenes which possessed
the elements of grandeur (I shall have occasion to
describe them in their turn) but this scene lacked
;

them entirely, for the reason that there was nothing

genuine in it. We French, especially in Paris, are
prone to introduce our literary or theatrical reminis-
 68 RECOLLECTIONS OF

cences into our most serious demonstrations ;

this

often gives rise to the belief that the sentiments

we express are not genuine, whereas they are only
clumsily adorned. In this case the imitation was
» so evident that the terrible originality of the facts
remained concealed beneath it. It was a time when
every imagination was besmeared with the crude
colours with which Lamartine had been daubing
his Girondins. The men of the first Revolution
were living in every mind, their deeds and words
present to every memory. All that I saw that day

f bore the visible impress of those recollections

seemed to me throughout as though they were
it ;

engaged in acting the French Revolution, rather

than continuing it.

Despite the presence of drawn swords, bayonets

and muskets, I was unable to persuade myself for a
single instant not only that I was in danger of death,
but that anybody was, and I honestly believe that
no one really was. Bloodthirsty hatreds only showed
themselves later they had not yet had the time to
:

spring up ;
the special spirit which was to charac-
terize the Revolution of February did not yet
manifest itself. Meantime, men were fruitlessly

endeavouring to warm themselves at the

fire of

our fathers' passions, imitating their gestures and

attitudes as they had seen them represented on the

stage, but unable to imitate their enthusiasm or

to be inflamed with their fury. It was the tradition
of violent deeds that was being imitated by cold ''
 ALEXIS DE rOCQUEVILLE 69

hearts, which understood not the spirit of it.

Although I clearly saw that the catastrophe of the

piece would be a terrible one, I was never able to
take the actors very seriously, and the whole seemed
to me like a bad tragedy performed by provincial
actors.
I confess that what moved me most that day was
the sight of that woman and child, who were made
to bear the whole weight of faults that they had not
committed. I
frequently looked with compassion
towards that foreign Princess, thrown into the midst
of our civil discords and when she had fled, the
;

remembrance of the sweet, sad, firm glances which

I had seen her cast
upon the Assembly during that
long agony came back so vividly to my memory,
I so touched with pity when I thought of the
felt

perils attending her flight that, suddenly springing

from my seat, I rushed in the direction which my
knowledge of the building led me to believe that
she and her son would have taken to seek a place
of safety. In a moment I made my way through
the crowd, crossed the floor, passed out through the
cloak-room, and reached the private staircase which
leads from the entrance in the Rue de Bourgogne
to the upper floor of the Palace. A
messenger
whom I
questioned as I ran
past him told me that
I was on the track of the Royal party and, indeed,
;

I heard several persons hurriedly mounting the

upper portion of the stairs. I therefore continued
my pursuit, and reached a landing ;
the steps which
70 RECOLLECTIONS OF

preceded me had just ceased. Finding a closed door

in front of me, I knocked at it, was not opened.
but it

If princes were like God, who reads our hearts and

accepts the intention for the deed, assuredly these
would be pleased with me for what I wished to do
that day ;
but they will never know, for no one saw
me and I told no one.
I House and resumed my seat.
returned to the
Almost all the members had left the benches were ;

occupied by men of the populace. Lamartine was

still in the tribune between the two banners, con-

tinuing to address the crowd, or rather conversing

with them for there seemed to be almost as many
;

orators as listeners. The confusion was at its

height. In a moment of semi-silence, Lamartine

began to read out a list containing the names of the

different people proposed by I don't know whom to
take share in the Provisional Government that had

just been decreed, nobody knows how. Most of

these names were accepted with acclamations, some

rejected with groans, others received with jests, for

in scenes in which the people take part, as in the

plays of Shakspeare, burlesque often rubs shoulders

with tragedy, and wretched jokes sometimes come
to the relief of the ardour of revolution. When
Garnier- Pages' name was proposed, I heard a voice
"
cry, You've made a mistake, Lamartine it's the ;

dead one that's the good one ;" Garnier- Pages

having had a celebrated brother, to whom he bore

no resemblance except in name.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 71

M. de Lamartine, I think, was beg-Inning to

grow greatly embarrassed at his position for in a ;

rebelKon, as in a novel, the most difficult part to

invent is the end. When, therefore, someone took
" "
it into his head to cry, To the Hotel de Ville !

Lamartine echoed, "Yes, to the Hotel de Ville,"

and went out forthwith, taking half the crowd
with him ;
the others remained with Ledru-Rollin,
who, in order, I
suppose, to retain a leading part
for himself, felt called upon in his turn to go

through the same mock election, after which he

too set out for the Hotel de Ville. There the same
was gone through once more in con-
electoral display ;

nection with which I cannot refrain from repeating

an anecdote which I was told, a few months later, by
M. Marrast. It interrupts the thread of my story a
little, but it gives a marvellous picture of two men

who were both at that moment playing a great part,

and shows the difference, if not in their opinions, at
least in their education and habits of thought.
"
A list of candidates for the Provisional Govern-
ment," said Marrast, "had hurriedly been drawn up.
It had to be read out to the people, and I handed it

to Lamartine, asking him to read it aloud from the

'

top of the steps. I can't,' replied Lamartine, after

my name
then passed it on
'

looking at it ;
is it.' I

on to Cremieux, who, after reading it, said, You're '

making fun of me you're asking me to read out to

:

' "
the people a list which has not got my name on it !

When I saw Ledru-Rollin leave the House, where

72 RECOLLECTIONS OF

remained behind none but the sheer dregs of the

insurrection, I saw that there was nothing more to be
done there. accordingly went away, but as I did not
I

care to find myself in the middle of the mob march-

ing towards the Hotel de Ville, I took the opposite

direction, and began to go down those steep steps,
like cellar stairs, which lead to the inner yard of the
Palace. I then saw
coming towards me a column
of armed National Guards, ascending the same stair-
case at a run, with set bayonets. In front of them
were two men in civilian dress, who seemed to be
leading them, shouting at the top of their voices,
"
Long live the Duchesse d'Orleans and the Re-
"
gency ! In one
recognized General Oudinot and
I

in the other Andryane, who was imprisoned in the

Spielberg, and who wrote his Memoirs in imitation

of those of Silvio Pellico. I saw no one else, and
nothing could prove more clearly how difficult it is
for the public ever to learn the truth of events

happening amid the tumult of a revolution. I know

by Marshal Bugeaud, in
that a letter exists, written
which he relates that he succeeded in getting together
a few companies of the Tenth Legion, inspired
them in favour of the Duchesse d'Orleans, and led
them at the double through the yard of the Palais
Bourbon and to the door of the Chamber, which he
found empty. The story is true, but for the presence
of the marshal, whom
should most certainly have
I

seen had he been there but there was no one,

;

I
repeat, except General Oudinot and M. Andryane.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 73

The seeing me standing still and saying

latter,

nothing, took me sharply by the arm, exclaiming :

"
Monsieur, you must join us, to help to free
Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans and save the
Monarchy."
" "
Monsieur," I
replied, your intention is good,
but you are too late : the Duchesse d'Orleans has

disappeared, and the Chamber has risen."

Now, where was the spirited defender of the
Monarchy that evening ? The incident is worthy
of being told and noted among the many incidents
of versatility with which the history of revolutions
abounds.
M. Andryane was in the office of M. Ledru-
Rollin, officiating in the name
of the Republic as

general secretary to the Ministry of the Interior.

To return to the column which he was leading :

I
joined it, although I had no longer any hope of
success for its efforts. Mechanically obeying the
impulse communicated to it, it proceeded as far as
the doors of the Chamber. There the men who
composed it learnt what had taken place they ;

turned about for a moment, and then dispersed in

every direction. Half an hour earlier, this handful
of National Guards might (as on the ensuing 15th
of May) have changed the fortunes of France. I
allowed this new crowd to pass by me, and then,
alone and very pensive, I resumed my road home,
not without casting a last look on the Chamber, now
silent and deserted, in which, during nine years, I
74 RECOLLECTIONS OF

had listened to the sound of so many eloquent and

futile words.
M. Billault, who had Chamber a few min-
left the
utes before me by the entrance in the Rue de Bour-

gogne, told me that he met M. Barrot in this street.

"
He was walking," he said,
**
at a rapid rate, with-

out perceiving that he was hatless, and that his grey

hair,which he generally carefully brushed back
along his temples, was falling on either side and
fluttering in disorder over his shoulders ;
he seemed
beside himself"
This man had made heroic efforts all day long
to maintain the Monarchy on the declivity down
which he himself had pushed it, and he remained as
though crushed beneath its fall. I learned from
Beaumont, who had not lefthim during any part of
the day, that in the morning M. Barrot faced and
mounted twenty barricades, walking up to each un-
armed, meeting sometimes with insults, often with
shots, and always ending by overcoming with] his
words those who guarded them. His words, in
fact, were all-powerful with the multitude. He had
all that was wanted to act upon them at a given

moment : a strong voice, an inflated eloquence, and

a fearless heart.
While M. Barrot, in disorder, was leaving the
Chamber, M. Thiers, still more distraught, wandered
round Paris, not daring to venture home. He
was seen for an instant at the Assembly before the
arrival of the Duchesse d'Orl^ans, but disappeared
 ALEXIS BE TOCQUEVILLE 75

at once, giving the signal for the retreat of many-

others. The next morning, I learnt the details of
his flight through M. Talabot, who had assisted in it.
I was connected with M. Talabot by fairly intimate
party ties, and M. Thiers, I believe, by former
business relations. M. Talabot was a man full of
mental vigour and resolution, very fit for an emer-
gency of that kind. He told me as follows I be- —
lieve I have neither omitted nor added anything :

"It seems," he said, "that M. Thiers, when crossing

the Place Louis XV, had been insulted and threatened
by some of the populace. He
was greatly excited
and upset when I saw him enter the House he came ;

up to me, led me aside, and told me that he would

be murdered by the mob if I did not assist him to
escape. I took him by the arm and begged him to

go with me and fear nothing. M. Thiers wished to

avoid the Pont Louis XVI, for fear of meeting the
crowd. We went to the Pont des Invalides, but when
we got there, he thought he saw a gathering on the
other side of the river, and again refused to cross.
We then made for the Pont d'Hna, which was free,
and crossed without any difficulty.
it When we
reached the other side, M. Thiers discovered some
street-boys,shouting, on the foundations of what
was to have been the palace of the King of Rome,
and forthwith turned down the Rue d'Auteuil and
made Bois de Boulogne. There we had
for the
the good luck to find a cabman, who consented to
drive us along the outer boulevards to the neighbour-
76 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

hood of the Barriere de Clichy, through which we

were able to reach his house. During the whole
"
journey," addedJM. Talabot, and especially at the
start, M. Thiers seemed almost out of his senses,

gesticulating, sobbing, uttering incoherent phrases.

The catastrophe he had just beheld, the future of his
country, his own personal danger, all contributed to
form a chaos amid which his thoughts struggled and
strayed unceasingly."
PART THE SECOND
Everything contained in this note-book {Chapters I. to XI. in-

clusive) was written in stray moments at Sorrento, in November

and December 1850, and January, February, and March 1851.
 CHAPTER I

MY EXPLANATION OF THE 24TH OF FEBRUARY, AND MY VIEWS AS

TO ITS EFFECTS UPON THE FUTURE.

And so the Monarchy of July was fallen, fallen with-

out a struggle, and before rather than beneath the
blows of the victors, who were as astonished at their
triumph as were the vanquished at their defeat. I

have often, since the Revolution of February, heard

M. Guizot and even M. Mole and M. Thiers declare
that this event should only be attributed to a sur-

priseand regarded as a mere accident, a bold and

lucky stroke and nothing more. I have
always felt
tempted to answer them in the words which Moliere's
Misanthrope uses to Oronte :

Pour en juger ainsi, vous avez vos raisons ;

for these three men had conducted the affairs of

France, under the guidance of King Louis- Philippe,

during eighteen years, and it was difficult for them to
admit that it was the King's bad government which
had prepared the catastrophe which hurled him from
the Throne.
As for me, I have not the same motives for form-

ing an opinion, and I could hardly persuade myself

to be of theirs. I am not prepared to say that
accidents played no part in the Revolution of Feb-
 8o RECOLLECTIONS OF

ruary on the contrary, they played a great one

:
;

but they were not the only thing.

I have come across men of letters, who have
written history without taking part in public affairs,
and politicians, who have only concerned themselves
I with producing events without thinking of describ-
I have observed that the first are
j
ing them. always
I inclined to find general causes, whereas the others,

living in the midst of disconnected daily facts, are

\
prone to imagine that everything is attributable to
;

particular incidents, and that the wires which they

\ pull are the same that move the world. It is to

be presumed that both are equally deceived.

Tr For my part, I detest these absolute systems,
"^
which represent the events of history as depend-
all

ing upon great first causes linked by the chain of

fatality, and which, as it were, suppress men from
the history of the human race. They seem narrow,
to my mind, under their pretence of broadness, and
\ false beneath their air of mathematical exactness.

I believe {pace the writers who have invented these

sublime theories in order to feed their vanity and
work) that many important historical
facilitate their

facts can only be explained by accidental circum-

stances, and that many others remain totally in-

explicable. Moreover, chance, or rather that tangle

of secondary causes which we call chance, for want
of the knowledge how to unravel it, plays a great

part in all that happens on the world's stage al- ;

though I firmly believe that chance does nothing

 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 8i

that has not been prepared beforehand. Antecedent

facts, the nature of institutions, the cast of minds and
the state of morals are the materials of which are \

composed those impromptus which astonish and /

alarm us.

The
Revolution of February, in common with all
other great events of this class, sprang from general
causes, impregnated, if I am permitted the expres-
sion,by accidents ;
and it would be as superficial a
judgment to ascribe it
necessarily to the former or
exclusively to the latter.
The industrial revolution which, during the past
thirty years, had turned Paris into the principal
manufacturing city of France and attracted within
its walls an entire new
population of workmen (to
whom the works of the fortifications had added
another population of labourers at present deprived ^
of work) tended more and more to inflame this mul-
titude. Add to this the democratic disease of envy, j

which was permeating

silently it ; the economical
and which were beginning to make
political theories
their way and which strove to prove that human

misery was the work of laws and not of Pro-

vidence, and that poverty could be suppressed by
changing the conditions of society the contempt into
;

which the governing class, and especially the men

who led it, had fallen, a contempt so general and so
profound that it paralyzed the resistance even of
those who were most interested in maintaining the

power that was being overthrown ; the centralization

 «« RECOLLECTIONS OF

which reduced the whole revolutionary movement to

the overmastering of Paris and the seizing of the

machinery of government ;
and lastly, the mobility
of all things, institutions, ideas, men and customs, in
a fluctuating state of society which had, in less than
sixty years, undergone the shock of seven great
revolutions, without numbering a multitude of
smaller, secondary upheavals. These were the
general causes without which the Revolution of
February would have been impossible. The prin-
r
cipalaccidents which led to it were the passions of
the dynastic Opposition, which brought about a riot
in proposing a reform ; the suppression of this riot,
first over-violent, and then abandoned the sudden
;

disappearance of the old Ministry, unexpectedly

snapping the threads of power, which the new
ministers, in their confusion, were unable either to
seize upon or to reunite ;
the mistakes and disorder
of mind of these ministers, so powerless to re-estab-
lish that which they had been strong enough to
overthrow ;
the vacillation of the generals the ;

absence of the only Princes who possessed either

personal energy or popularity and above all, the
;

senile imbecility of King Louis- Philippe, his weak-

ness, which no one could have foreseen, and which

still remains almost incredible, after the event has

\ proved it
I have sometimes asked myself what could have

produced this sudden and unprecedented depression

in the King's mind. Louis- Philippe had spent his
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 83

the midst of revolutions, and certainly lacked

life in

neither experience, courage, nor readiness of mind,

although these qualities all failed him so completely

on that day. In my opinion, his weakness was due
to his excessive surprise ;
he was overwhelmed with
consternation before he had grasped the meaning of

things. The Revolution of February was unforeseen

by but by him more than any other he had been
all, ;

prepared for it by no warning from the outside, for

since many years his mind had withdrawn into that
sort of haughty solitude into which in the end the
intellect almost always settles down of princes who
have long lived happily, and who, mistaking luck
for genius, refuse to listen to anything, because they
think that there isnothing left for them to learn
from anybody. Besides, Louis- Philippe had been
deceived, as I have already said that his ministers

were, by the misleading light cast by antecedent facts

upon present times. One might draw a strange
picture of all the errors which have thus been
begotten, one by the other, without resembling each
other. We
see Charles I. driven to tyranny and
violence at the sight of the progress which the spirit
of opposition had made in England during the gentle

reign of his father ;

Louis XVI. determined to suffer

everything because Charles I. had perished by refus-

ing to endure anything Charles X. provoking the
;

Revolution, because he had with his own eyes

beheld the weakness of Louis XVI. and lastly, ;

Louis- Philippe, who had more perspicacity than any

84 RECOLLECTIONS OF

of them, imagining that, in order to remain on the

Throne, all he had to do was to observe the letter

of the law while violating its spirit, and that, pro-
vided he himself kept within the bounds of the
Charter, the nation would never exceed them. To
warp the spirit of the Constitution without changing
the letter to set the vices of the country in opposi-
;

tion to each other gently to drown revolutionary

;

passion in the love of material enjoyment : such was

the idea of his whole life. Little by little, it had
become, not his leading, but his sole idea. He had
wrapped himself in it, he had lived in it and when ;

he suddenly saw that it was a false idea, he became

like a man who is awakened in the night by an

earthquake, and who, feeling his house crumbling
in the darkness, and the very ground seeming to

yawn beneath his feet, remains distracted amid this

unforeseen and universal ruin.
I am
arguing very much at my ease to-day con-
cerning the causes that brought about the events of
the 24th of February but on the afternoon of that
;

day I had many other things in my head : I was

thinking of the events themselves, and sought less for
what had produced them than for what was to follow.
I returned slowly home. I
explained in a few
words to Madame de Tocqueville what I had seen,
and sat down in a corner to think. I cannot remem-

ber ever feeling my soul so full of sadness. It was

the second revolution I had seen accomplish itself,

before my eyes, within seventeen years !
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 85

On the 30th of July 1830, at daybreak, I had

met the carriages of King Charles X. on the outer
boulevards of Versailles, with damaged escutcheons,
proceeding at a foot pace, in Indian file, like a
funeral, and I was unable to restrain my tears at
the sight. This time my impressions were of another
kind, but even keener. Both revolutions had
afflicted me ;
but how much more bitter were the
I had until the end
impressions caused by the last !

felt a remnant of hereditary affection for Charles X. ;

but that King fell for having violated rights that

were dear me, and I had every hope that my
to

country's freedom would be revived rather than ex-

tinguished by his fall. But now this freedom seemed
dead ;
the Princes who were fleeing were nothing Jo^
me, but I felt that the cause I had at heart was
lost.

had spent the best days of my youth amid a

I
li^
society which seemed to increase in greatness and
prosperity as it increased in liberty I had conceived ;

the idea of a balanced, regulated liberty, held in check

by religion, custom and law the attractions of this ;

liberty had touched me ;

it had become the passion
of my life ; I felt that I could never be consoled for
its loss, and that I must renounce all hope of its

recovery.
had gained too much experience of mankind to
I

be able to content myself with empty words I knew ;

that, if one great revolution is able to establish

liberty in a country, a number of succeeding revolu-

86 RECOLLECTIONS OF

tions make all regular liberty impossible for very

many years.
could not yet know what would issue from this
I

last revolution, but I was already convinced that it

could give birth to nothing that would satisfy me ;

and I foresaw that, whatever might be the lot

reserved for our posterity, our own fate was to drag
on our lives miserably amid alternate reactions of
licence and oppression.
I
began to pass in review the history of our last

sixty years, and I smiled bitterly when I thought of

the illusions formed at the conclusion of each period

in this long revolution ;

the theories on which these
illusions had been fed ;
the sapient dreams of our his-
torians, and the ingenious and deceptive systems
all

by the aid of which it had been endeavoured to

explain a present which was still incorrectly seen,

and a future which was not seen at all.
The Monarchy had succeeded the
Constitutional
Ancien Regime the Republic, the Monarchy the
; ;

Empire, the Republic; the Restoration, the Empire;

and then came the Monarchy of July. After each
of these successive changes it was said that the
French Revolution, having accomplished what was
presumptuously called its work, was finished this had ;

been said and it had been believed. Alas I myself !

had hoped it under the Restoration, and again after

the fall of the Government of the Restoration and ;

here is the French Revolution beginning over again,

for it isstill the same one. As we go on, its end
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 87

seems farther off and shrouded in darkness.

Shall we ever —as we are assured bygreater
other prophets,

perhaps as delusive as their predecessors shall we —

ever attain a more complete and more far-reaching
social transformation than our fathers foresaw and

desired, and than we ourselves are able to foresee ;

or are we
not destined simply to end in a condition
of intermittent anarchy, the well-known chronic and
incurable complaint of old races ? As for me, I
am unable to say I do not know
; when this long
voyage will be ended ;
I am weary
of seeing the
shore in each successive mirage, and I often ask

myself whether the terra firma we are seeking does

really exist, and whether we are not doomed to rove
upon the seas for ever.
I
spent the rest of the day with Ampere, who was
my colleague at the Institute, and one of my best
friends. He came to discover what had become of
me in the affray, and to ask himself to dinner. I

wished at first to relieve myself by making him

share my vexation ;
but I soon perceived that his

[impression was not the he

same as mine, and that
looked differently upon the revolution which was in

[progress. Ampere was a man of intelligence and,

[better still,
a man full of heart, gentle in manner, and
reliable. His good-nature caused him to be liked ;

and he was popular because of his versatile, witty,

amusing, good-humoured conversation, in which he
I

imade many remarks that were at once entertaining

[and agreeable to hear, but too shallow to remember.
«8 RECOLLECTIONS OF

Unfortunately, he was inclined to carry the esprit

of the salons into literature and the esprit of
literature into politics. What I call literary esprit

in politics consists in seeking for what is novel and

ingenious rather than for what is true ;

in preferring

the showy to the useful in showing one's self very

;

sensible to the playing and elocution of the actors,

without regard to the results of the play and, lastly, ;

in
judging by impressions rather than reasons. I

need not say that this eccentricity exists among

others besides Academicians. To tell the truth, the
whole nation is a little inclined that way, and the
French Public very often takes a man-of-letters'
view of politics. Ampere held the fallen Govern-
ment in great contempt, and its last actions had
irritated him greatly. Moreover, he had witnessed
many instances of courage, disinterestedness, and
even generosity among the insurgents and he ;
had
been bitten by the popular excitement.
I saw that he not
only did not enter into my view,
but that he was disposed to take quite an opposite
one. Seeing this, I was suddenly impelled to turn

against Ampere all the feelings of indignation,

grief and anger that had been accumulating in my
heart since the morning and I spoke to him with
;

a violence of language which I have often since

recalled with a certain shame, and which none but a

friendship so sincere as his could have excused. I

remember saying to him, inter alia:

"
You understand nothing of what is
happening ;

I
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 89

you are judging like a poet or a Paris cockney. You

call this the triumph of liberty, when it is its final
defeat. I tell
you that the people which you so art-
lessly admire has just succeeded in proving that it is
unfit and unworthy to live a life of freedom.Show me
what experience has taught it ! Where are the new
virtues it has gained, the old vices it has laid aside ?

No, I tell you, it is always the same, as impatient,

as thoughtless, as contemptuous of law and order,
as easily led and as cowardly in the presence of

danger as its fathers were before it. Time has

altered it in no way, and has left it as frivolous in
serious matters as it used to be in trifles."

After much vociferation we both ended by appeal-

ing to the future, that enlightened and upright judge
who always, alas arrives too late.
!
 CHAPTER II

PARIS ON THE MORROW OF THE 24TH OF FEBRUARY AND THE

—
NEXT DAYS THE SOCIALISTIC CHARACTER OF THE NEW
REVOLUTION.

The night passed without accidents, although not

until the morning did the streets cease to resound

with cries and gun-shots ;

but these were sounds of
triumph, not of combat. So soon as it was light,
I went out to observe the appearance of the town,
and to discover what had become of my two young
nephews,^ who were being educated at the Little
Seminary. The Little Seminary was in the Rue de
Madame, back of the Luxembourg, so that
at the I

had to cross a great part of the town to reach it.

I found the streets quiet, and even half deserted,
as they usually are in Paris on a Sunday morning,
when the rich are asleep and the poor are rest-
still

ing. From time to time, along the walls, one met

the victors of the preceding day; but they were filled
with wine rather than political ardour, and were, for
the most part, making for their homes without taking
heed of the passers-by. A
few shops were open,
and one caught sight of the frightened, but still
more astonished, shopkeepers, who reminded one of
spectators witnessing the end of a play which they
*
Hubert and Rene de Tocqueville. — Cte. de T.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 91

did not quite understand. What one saw most of

in the streets deserted by the people, was soldiers ;

some walking singly, others in little groups, all

unarmed, and crossing the city on their roads home.
The defeat these men had just sustained had left
a very vivid and lasting impression of shame and

anger upon them. This was noticed later, but was

not apparent at the time the pleasure of finding
:

themselves at liberty seemed to absorb every other

feeling in these lads they walked with a careless

;

air, with a light and easy gait.

The Seminary had not been attacked nor
Little

even insulted. jM)- nephews, however, were not

there they had been sent home the evening be-
;

fore to their maternal grandmother. Accordingly,

I turned back,
taking the Rue du Bac, to find out
what had become of Lamoriciere, who was then
living in that street and it was onl)^ after re-
;

cognizing me that the servants admitted that

their master was at home, and consented to take
me to him.
I found this singular person, whom I shall have
occasion to mention more than once, stretched

upon his bed, and reduced to a state of immobility

very much opposed to his character or taste. His

head was half broken open ;
arms pierced with
his

bayonet-thrusts all his

;
limbs bruised and powerless.
For the rest, he was the same as ever, with his
bright intelligence and his indomitable heart. He
told me of all that happened to him the day before,
 s

9« RECOLLECTIONS OF

and of the thousand dangers which he had only

escaped by miracle. I
strongly advised him to rest
until he was cured, and even long after, so as not

uselessly to endanger his person and his reputation in

the chaos about to ensue :
good advice, undoubtedly,
to give to a man so enamoured of action and so
accustomed to act that, after doing what is necessary
and useful, he is always ready to undertake the in-

jurious and dangerous, rather than do nothing but ;

no more effective than all those counsels which go

against nature.
I
spent the whole afternoon in walking about
Paris. Two things in particular struck me the :

firstwas, I say the mainly, but the uniquely

will not

and exclusively popular character of the revolution

that had just taken place the omnipotence it had
;

given to the people properly so-called that is to

—
say, the classes who work with their hands
—
over all others. The second was the comparative
absence of malignant passion, or, as a matter of

fact, of any keen passion

—
an absence which at
once made it clear that the lower orders had

suddenly become masters of Paris.

Although the working classes had often played the
leading part in the events of the First Revolution,
they had never been the sole leaders and masters of
the State, either de facto or de jure ; it is doubtful
whether the Convention contained a single man of
the people it was composed of bourgeois and men
;

of letters. The war between the Mountain and the

 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 93

Girondists was conducted on both sides by members

of the middle and the triumph of the former
class,

never brought power down into the hands of the

people alone. The Revolution of July was effected i

by the people, but the middle class had stirred it

up and led it, and secured the principal fruits of
it. The Revolution of February, on the contrary,
seemed to be made entirely outside the bourgeoisie \

and against it.

In this great concussion, the two parties of which

the social body in France is mainly composed had,
in a way, been thrown more completely asunder, and
the mass of the people, which had stood alone, re-
mained in sole possession of power. Nothing more
novel had been known in our annals. Similar revolu-
tions had taken place, it is true, in other countries and
other days ;
for the history of our own times, however
new and unexpected it may seem, always belongs at
bottom to the old history of humanity, and what we
call new facts are oftenest nothing more than facts
forgotten. Florence, in particular, towards the close
of the middle ages, had presented on a small scale a

spectacle analogous to ours the noble classes had ;

firstbeen succeeded by the burgher classes, and

then one day the latter were, in their turn, expelled
from the government, and a gonfalonier was seen
marching barefoot at the head of the people, and
thus leading the Republic. But in Florence this
popular revolution was the result of transient and

special causes, while with us it was brought about by

 94 RECOLLECTIONS OF

causes very permanent and of a kind so general that,

after stirring up France, it was tobe expected that
it would excite all the rest of Europe. This time it
was not only a question of the triumph of a party ;

the aim was to establish a social science, a philo-

sophy, I might almost say a religion, fit to be

learned and followed by all mankind. This was
the really new
portion of the old picture.
Throughout this day, I did not see in Paris a single
one of the former agents of the public authority not :

a soldier, not a gendarme, not a policeman the ;

National Guard itself had disappeared. The people

alone bore arms, guarded the public buildings,
watched, gave orders, punished ;
it was an extra-

ordinary and terrible thing to see in the sole hands

of those who possessed nothing all this immense
town, so full of riches, or rather this great nation :

for, thanks to centralization, he who

reigns in Paris
i
governs France. Hence the affright of all the other
classes was extreme I doubt whether at
; any period
of the Revolution it had been so great, and I should

say that it was only to be compared to that which

the civilized cities of the Roman Empire must have
experienced when they suddenly found themselves
in the power of the Goths and Vandals. As nothing
like this had ever been seen before, many people

expected acts of unexampled violence. For my

part I did not once partake of these fears. What
I saw led me to predict strange disturbances in the
near future —singular crises. But I never believed
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 95

that the rich would be pillaged ;

I knew the men of
the people in Paris too well not to know that their
first movements in times of revolution are usually-

generous, and that they are best pleased to spend

the days immediately following their triumph in

boasting of their victory, laying down the law, and

playing at being great men. During that time it

generally happens that some government or other is

set up, the police returns to its post, and the judge
to his bench ;
and when men con-
at last our great

sent to step down known and more vul-

to the better

gar ground of petty and malicious human passion,

they are no longer able to do and are re-
so,
duced to live simply like honest men. Besides,
we have spent so many years in insurrections that
there has arisen among us a kind of morality
peculiar to times of disorder, and a special code for
days of rebellion. According to these exceptional
laws, murder is tolerated and havoc permitted, but
theft strenuously forbidden although this, what-
is ;

ever one may say, does not prevent a good deal

of robbery from occurring upon those days, for the

simple reason that society in a state of rebellion

cannot be different from that at any other time,
and it will always contain a number of rascals who,
as far as they are concerned, scorn the morality of
the main body, and despise its point of honour when

they are unobserved. What reassured me still more

was the reflection that the victors had been as much
surprised by success as their adversaries were by
96 RECOLLECTIONS OF

defeat : their passions had not had time to take fire

and become intensified in the struggle the Govern- ;

ment had fallen undefended by others, or even by

itself. It had long been attacked, or at least keenly

censured, by the very men who at heart most deeply

its fall.
regretted
For a year past the dynastic Opposition and the
republican Opposition had been living in fallacious
intimacy, acting in the same way from different
motives. The misunderstanding which had facili-
tated the revolution tended to mitigate its after
effects. Now Monarchy had disappeared,
that the
the battle-field seemed empty the people no longer
;

clearly saw what enemies remained for them to

pursue and strike down the former objects of
;

their anger, themselves, were no longer there ; the

clergy had never been completely reconciled to the

new dynasty, and witnessed its ruin without regret ;
the old nobility were delighted at it, whatever the
ultimate consequences might be : the first had
suffered through the system of intolerance of the
middle second through their pride both
classes, the :

either despised or feared their government.

For the first time in sixty years, the priests, the
old aristocracy and the people met in a common
—
sentiment a feeling of revenge, it is true, and not of
affection but even that is a great thing in politics,
;

where a community of hatred is almost always the

foundation of friendships. The real, the only van-
I
quished were the middle class ;
but even this had

I
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 97

little to fear. Its reign had been exclusive rather /

than oppressive ;
corrupt, but not violent ; it was
despised rather than hated. Moreover, the middle
class never forms a compact body in the heart of
the nation, a part very distinct from the whole it ;

always participates a little with all the others, and

in some
places merges into them. This absence of
homogeneity and of exact limits makes the govern-
ment of the middle class weak and uncertain, but
it also makes it
intangible, and, as it were, invisible
to those who desire to strike it when it is no longer
governing.
From these united causes proceeded that lan-
all

guor of the people which had struck me as much as

its omnipotence, a languor which was the more

discernible, in that it contrasted strangely with

the turgid energy of the language used and the
terrible recollections which it evoked. The luke-
warm passions of the time were made to speak in
the bombastic periods of '93, and one heard cited
at every moment the name and example of the
illustrious ruffians whom no one possessed either the
energy or even a sincere desire to resemble.
It was the Socialistic theories which I have' /

already described as the philosophy of the Revolu-

tion of February that later kindled genuine passion,
embittered jealousy, and ended by stirring up war
between the classes. If the actions at the com-

mencement were less disorderly than might have

been feared, on the very morrow of the Revolution
 98 RECOLLECTIONS OF

there was displayed an extraordinary agitation, an

unequalled disorder, in the ideas of the people.

From the 25th of February onwards, a thousand
strange systems came issuing pell-mell from the
minds of innovators, and spread among the troubled
minds of the crowd. Everything still remained
standing except Royalty and Parliament yet it ;

seemed as though the shock of the Revolution

had reduced society itself to dust, and as though
a competition had been opened for the new form
that was to be given to the edifice about to be
erected in its place. Everyone came forward with
a plan of his own : this one printed it in the papers,

that other on the placards with which the walls were

soon covered, a third proclaimed his loud-mouthed
in the open air. One aimed at destroying inequality
of fortune, another inequality of education, a third
undertook to do away with the oldest of all in-
equalities, that between man and woman. Specifics
were offered against poverty, and remedies for the
disease of work which has tortured humanity since
the first days of its existence.
These were of very varied natures, often
theories

opposed and sometimes hostile to one another but ;

all of them, aiming lower than the government and

striving to reach society itself, on which government

rests, adopted the common name of Socialism. I
Socialism will always remain the essential charac-
) teristic and the most redoubtable remembrance ofj

the Revolution of February. The Republic will

 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 99

only appear to the on-looker to have come upon

the scene as a means, not as an end.
It does not come within the scope of these
Recollections that I should seek for the causes
which gave a socialistic character to the Revolution
of February, and I will content myself with saying
that the discovery of this new facet of the French
Revolution was not of a nature to cause so great
surprise as it did. Had it not long been perceived
that the people had continually been improving and
raising its condition, that its importance, its educa-
power had been constantly in-
tion, its desires, its

creasing? Its prosperity had also grown greater, but

less rapidly, and was approaching the limit which it

hardly ever passes in old societies, where there are

many men and but few places. How should the
poor and humbler and yet powerful classes not have
dreamt of issuing from their poverty and inferiority
by means of their power, especially in an epoch
when our view into another world has become
dimmer, and the miseries of this world become more
visible and seem more intolerable ?
They had been
working to this end for the last sixty years. The
people had first endeavoured to help itself by chang- ,

ing every political institution, but after each change I

it found that its lot was in no

way improved, or was j

only improving with a slowness quite incompatible

'

with the eagerness of its desire. Inevitably, it

must sooner or later discover that that which held
it fixed in its position was not the constitution of the
 loo RECOLLECTIONS OF

government but the unalterable laws that constitute

i society itself; and it was natural that it should be
brought to ask itself if it had not both the power
and the right to alter those laws, as it had altered all

the rest. And to speak more

specially of property,
which is, as it were, the foundation of our social
order — all the privileges which covered it and
which, so to speak, concealed the privilege of pro-
perty having been destroyed, and the latter remain-
ing the principal obstacle to equality among men,
and appearing to be the only sign of inequality was —
it not necessary, I will not say that it should be
abolished in its turn, but at least that the thought of
I
abolishing it should occur to the minds of those who
did not enjoy it ?

This natural restlessness in the minds of the

people, this inevitable perturbation of its
thoughts
and its desires, these needs, these instincts of the
crowd formed in a certain sense the fabric upon
which the political innovators embroidered so many
monstrous and grotesque figures. Their work may
be regarded as ludicrous, but the material on which
they worked is the most serious that it is
possible
for philosophers and statesmen to contemplate.
Will Socialism remain buried in the disdain with
which the Socialists of 1848 are so justly covered?
I put the question without making any I do
reply.
not doubt that the laws concerning the constitution
of our modern society will in the long run undergo
modification they have already done so in many of
:
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE lOI

their principal parts. But will they ever be destroyed

and replaced by others? It seems to me to be im-
practicable. say no more, because the more I
I —
study the former condition of the world and see the
world of our own day in greater detail, the more I
consider the prodigious variety to be met with not

only in laws, but in the principles of law, and the

even now taken and retained, what-
different forms
ever one may say, by the rights of property on
this earth —the more I am tempted to believe that

what we call necessary institutions are often no more

than institutions to which we have grown accus-

tomed, and that

field
in

of possibilities
matters of social constitution the
is much more extensive than
*
men living in their various societies are ready to
imagine.
 CHAPTER III

VACILLATION OF THE MEMBERS OF THE OLD PARLIAMENT AS TO

—
THE ATTITUDE THEY SHOULD ADOPT MY OWN REFLECTIONS
ON MY MODE OF ACTION, AND MY RESOLVES.

During the days immediately follow^ing upon the

24th of February, I neither went in search of nor
fell with any of the politicians from whom the
in

events of that day had separated me. I felt no

necessity nor, to tell the truth, any inclination to do

so. a sort of instinctive repugnance to remem-
I felt

bering this wretched parliamentary world, in which

I had
spent six years of my life, and in whose midst
I had seen the Revolution sprouting up.
Moreover, at that time I saw the great vanity of
any sort of political conversation or combination.
However feeble the reasons may have been which
first movement to the mob, that move-
imparted the
ment had now become irresistible. I felt that we
were the midst of one of those great floods of
all in

democracy in which the embankments, intended to

resist individuals and even
parties, only serve to
drown those who build them, and in which, for a
time, there is nothing to be done but to study the

general character of the phenomenon. I therefore

spent all
my time in the streets with the victors, as
though I had been a worshipper of fortune. True,
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 103

I paid no homage to the new sovereign, and asked

no favours of it. I did not even address it, but con-

tented myself with listening to and observing it.

Nevertheless, after the lapse of some days, I re-
sumed relations with the vanquished I once more :

met ex-deputies, ex-peers, men of letters, men of

business and finance, land-owners, all who in the lan-

guage of the moment were commencing to be known

as the idle. I found that the aspect of the Revolution
was no less extraordinary when thus seen from above
than it had seemed to me when, at the commencement,
I viewed it from below. I encountered much fear, but
as genuine passion as I had seen in other quarters;
little

a curious feeling of resignation, no vestige of hope,

and I should alrnost say no idea of ever returning
to the Government which they had only just left.
Although the Revolution of February was the shortest
and the least bloody of all our revolutions, it had filled
men's minds and hearts with the idea of its omnipo-
tence to a much greater extent than any of its pre-
decessors. I believe this was, to a great extent, due
to the fact that these minds and hearts were void of
political faithand ardour, and that, after so many
disappointments and vain agitations, they retained
—
nothing but a taste for comfort a very tenacious and
very exclusive, but also a very agreeable feeling,
which easily accommodates itself to any form of
government, provided it be allowed to satisfy itself.
I beheld, therefore, an universal endeavour to make

the best of the new state of things and to win over

,04 RECOLLECTIONS OF

the new master. The great landlords

were glad to
remember that they had always been hostile to the
middle class and always favoured the people; the
bourgeois themselves
remembered with a certain
fathers had been working men, and
pride that their
when they were unable, owing to the inevitable
obscurity of their pedigrees, to trace
back their de-
scent to a labourer who had worked with his hands,

they at least strove to discover a plebeian ancestor

who had been the architect of his own fortune.

They took as great pains to make a

display of the
latter as, not long before, they would have taken to

conceal his existence so true is it that human vanity,

:

without changing its nature, can show itself under

the most diverse aspects. It has an obverse and a

reverse side, but it is always the same medal.

As there was no longer any genuine feeling left
save that of from breaking with those of
fear, far
his relations who had thrown themselves into the

Revolution, each strove to draw closer to them.

The time had come to try and turn to account any
scapegrace whom one had in one's family. If good
luck would have it that one had a cousin, a brother,
or a son who had become ruined by his disorderly
life, one could be sure that he was in a fair way
to succeed ; and if he had become known by the
promulgation of some extravagant theory or other,
he might hope to attain to any height. Most of the
commissaries and under-commissaries of the Govern-
ment were men of this type.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 105

As King Louis-Philippe, there was no more

to

question of him than if he had belonged to the

Merovingian Dynasty. Nothing struck me more
than the absolute silence that had suddenly sur-
rounded his name. I did not hear it pronounced a
single time, so to speak, either by the people or
by the upper class. Those former courtiersof his
whom I saw did not
speak of him, and I honestly
believe they did not think of him. The Revolution
had so completely turned their thoughts in another
direction, that they had forgotten
their Sovereign.
I
may be told that the ordinary fate of fallen
this is

kings ;
but what seems more worthy of remark, his
enemies even had forgotten him :
they no longer
feared him enough to slander him, perhaps even to
hate him, which is one of fortune's greatest, or at
least rarest, insults.

I do not wish to write the history of the Revolu-

tion of 1848, I
only wish to retrace my own actions,
ideas, and impressions during the course of this
revolution ;
and
therefore pass over the events that
I

took place during the weeks immediately following

the 24th of February, and come to the period pre-

ceding the General Election.

The time had come to decide whether one cared
merely to watch the progress of this singular revolu-

tion or to take part in events, I found the former

party leaders divided among themselves and each ;

of them, moreover, seemed divided also within him-

self, to judge by the incoherence of the language

io6 RECOLLECTIONS OF

used and the vacillation of opinion. These poli-

ticians, who had almost all
been trained to public
business amid the regulated, restrained movement of

constitutional liberty,and upon whom a great revolu-

tion had unexpectedly come, were like river oarsmen
who should suddenly find themselves called upon to

navigate their boat in mid-ocean.

The knowledge
they had acquired in their fresh water trips
would
be of more trouble than assistance to them in this

greater adventure, and they would often display

more confusion and uncertainty than the passengers
themselves.
M. Thiers frequently expressed the opinion that
they should go to the poll and get elected, and as
frequently urged that it would be wiser to stand
aside. I do not know whether his hesitation arose
from his dread of the dangers that might follow upon
the election, or his fear lest he should not be elected.
R^musat, who always sees so clearly what might,
and so dimly what should be done, set forth the
good reasons that existed for staying at home, and
the no less good reasons for going to the country.

Duvergier was distracted. The Revolution had

overthrown the system of the balance of power in
which his mind had sat motionless during so many
years, and he felt asthough he were hung up in
mid-air. As for the Due de Broglie, he had not put
his head out of his shell since the 24th of February,
and in this attitude he awaited the end of society,
which in his opinion was close at hand. M. Mold

i
 /--

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 107

alone, although he was by far the oldest of all the

former parliamentary leaders, and possibly for that

very reason, resolutely maintained the opinion that
they should take part in public affairs and try to
lead the Revolution perhaps because his longer
;

experience had taught him that in troubled times it

is
perhaps because
dangerous to play the looker-on ;

the hope of again having something to lead cheered

him and hid from him the danger of the undertak-
ing or perhaps because, after being so often bent in
;

contrary directions, under so many different rdgimeSy

hismind had become firmer as well as more supple
and more indifferent as to the kind of master it
might serve. On my side, as
imagined, may be
I very attentively considered which was the best
resolution to adopt.
should like here to inquire into the reasons
I

which determined my course of action, and having

found them, to set them down without evasion but :

how difficult it is to speak well of one's self ! I have

observed that the greater part of those who have
written their Memoirs have only well shown us their
bad actions or weaknesses when they happened
their

to have taken them for deeds of prowess or fine

a thing which often occurs. As in the case
instincts,
of the Cardinal de Retz, who, in order to be credited
with what he considers the glory of being a good

conspirator, confesses his schemes for assassinating

Richelieu, and
us of his hypocritical devotions
tells

and charities lest he should fail to be taken for a

,o8 RECOLLECTIONS OF

clever man. In such cases it is not the love of truth

that guides the pen, but the warped mind which in-

voluntarily betrays the vices of the heart.

And even when one wishes to be sincere, it is very
rarely that one succeeds in the endeavour. The
fault lies, in the first place, with the public, which

likes to see one accuse, but will not suffer him to

praise, himself; even one's friends are wont to

describe as amiable candour all the harm, and as

unbecoming vanity all the good, that he says of

himself: so that at this rate sincerity becomes a
very thankless trade, by which one has everything to
lose and nothing to gain. But the difficulty, above
all, lies with the subject himself he is too close to
:

himself to see well, and prone to lose himself amid

the views, interests., ideas, thoughts and inclinations
that have guided his actions. This net-work of
little foot-paths, which are little known even by
those who use them, prevent one from clearly
discerning the main roads followed by the will
before arriving at the most
important conclusions.
Nevertheless, I
myself amid
will try to discover
this labyrinth, for it is
only right that I should take
the same liberties with
myself which I have taken,
and shall often continue to take, with others.
Let me say, then, that when I came to search
carefully into the depths of my own heart, I dis-
covered, with some surprise, a certain sense of re-
a sort of gladness
lief,
mingled with all the griefs
and fears to which the Revolution had eiven rise. I

i
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 109

suffered from this terrible event for country, but my

clearly not for myself on the contrary, I seemed to
;

breathe more freely than before the catastrophe. I

had always felt myself stifled in the atmosphere of the

parliamentary world which had just been destroyed :

I had found it full of disappointments, both where

others and where myself was concerned
I and to ;

commence with the latter, I was not long in dis-

covering that I did not possess the necessary quali-
fications to play the brilliant role that I had
imagined : both my qualities and my defects were
impediments. had not the virtues necessary to
I

command respect, and I was too upright to stoop to

all the petty practices which were at that time essen-

tial to a speedy success. And observe that this

uprightness was irremediable for it forms so integral
;

a part both of my temperament and my principles,

that without it I am
never able to turn myself to any
account. Whenever I have, by ill-luck, been obliged
to speak in defence of a bad cause, or to assist in
bad measures, I have immediately found myself de-
prived of all talent and all ardour; and I confess that
nothing has consoled me more at the want of success
with which uprightness has often met, than the
my
certainty I have always been in that I could never
have made more than a very clumsy and mediocre
I also ended
rogue. by perceiving that I was ab-
solutely lacking in the art of grouping and leading a
large number of men. I have always been incapable
of dexterity, except in tete-a-tete, and embarrassed
no RECOLLECTIONS OF

and dumb the presence of a crowd

in I do not ;

mean to say that at a given moment I am unable to

say and do what will please it, but that is not enough :

those great occasions are very rare in parliamentary

warfare. The trick of the trade, in a party leader,
is be able to mix continually with his followers
to
and even his adversaries, to show himself, to move
about daily, toplay continually now to the boxes,
now to the gallery, so as to reach the level of

every intelligence, to discuss and argue without

end, to say the same things a thousand times
in different ways, and to be impassioned eternally
in the face of the same objects. These are all

things of which I am quite incapable. I find it

troublesome to discuss matters which interest me

little, and painful to discuss those in which I am
keenly concerned. Truth is for me so rare and

precious a thing that, once found, I do not like to

risk it on the hazard of a debate ; it is a light which
I fear to extinguish by waving it to and fro. And
as to consorting with men, could not do so in any
I

habitual and general fashion, because I never

recog-
nize more than a very few. Unless a person strikes
me by something out of the common in his intellect
or opinions, I, so to speak, do not see him. I have
always taken it for
granted that mediocrities, as well
as men of merit, had a nose, a mouth,
eyes but I ;

have never, in their case, been able to fix the

par-
ticular shape of these features in I am
my memory.
constantly inquiring the name whom
of strangers I
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE m
see every day, and as constantly forgetting them ;

and yet, I do not despise them, only I consort but

littlewith them, treating them as constant quantities.
I honour them, for the world is made up of them ;

but they weary me profoundly.

What completed my disgust was the mediocrity
and monotony of the parliamentary events of that
period, as well as the triviality of the passions and
the vulgar perversity of the men who pretended to
cause or to guide them.
I have sometimes thought that, though the habits
of different societies may differ, the morality of the

politicians at the head of affairs is everywhere the

same. What is very certain is that, in France, all the

party leaders whom I have met in my time have,

with few exceptions, appeared to me to be equally I

unworthy of holding office, some because of their lack I

of personal character or of real parts, most by their !

lack of any sort of virtue. I thus

experienced as
great a difficulty in joining with others as in being
satisfied with myself, in obeying as in acting on my

own initiative.

But that which most tormented and depressed me

during the nine years I had spent in business, and
which to this day remains my most hideous memory
of that time, is the incessant uncertainty in which I
had to live as to the best daily course to adopt. I

am inclined to think that

my uncertainty of character
arises rather from a want of clearness of idea than

from any weakness of heart, and that I never experi-

,,2 RECOLLECTIONS OF

enced either hesitation or difficulty in following the

most rugged road, when once I clearly saw where it
would lead me. But amid all these little dynastic
so little in aim, and resembling one
parties, differing
another so much in the bad methods which they put
into practice, which was the thoroughfare that led
to utility ? Where lay truth ?
visibly to honour, or even
Where falsehood ? On which side were the rogues ?

On which side the honest men was never, at

? I

that time, fully able to distinguish it, and I declare

that even now I should not well be able to do so.
Most party men allow themselves to be neither dis-
tressed nor unnerved by doubts of this kind ; many
even have never known them, or know them no
longer. They are often accused of acting without
conviction ;
but my experience has proved that this
was much less frequently the case than one might

think. Only they possess the precious and some-

times, in politics,even necessary faculty of creating
transient convictions for themselves, according to the

passions and interests of the moment, and thus they

succeed in
committing, honourably enough, actions
which in themselves are little to their credit. Un-
fortunately, could never bring myself to illuminate
I

my intelligence with these special and artificial lights,

nor so readily to convince myself that my own advan-

tage was one and the same with the general good.
It was this
parliamentary world, in which I had
suffered all the wretchedness that I have
just de-
scribed, which was broken up by the Revolution ; it
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE iij

had mingled and confounded the old parties in one

common ruin, deposed their leaders, and destroyed
their traditions and discipline. There had issued
from this, it was true, a disordered and confused
state of society, but one in which ability became less

necessary and less highly rated than courage and

disinterestedness ; in which personal character was
more important than elocution or the art of leader-

ship ; but, above all, in which there was no field left

for vacillation of mind on : this side lay the salvation

of the country ;
on that, its destruction. There was
no longer any mistake possible as to the road to
follow we were to walk in broad daylight, supported
;

and encouraged by the crowd. The road seemed

dangerous, it is true, but my mind is so constructed
that it is less afraid of danger than of doubt. I

felt,moreover, that I was still in the prime of life,

that I had few needs, and, above all, that I was able
to find at home
the support, so rare and precious in
times of revolution, of a devoted wife, whom a firm
and penetrating mind and a naturally lofty soul would
easily maintain at the level of every situation and
above every reverse.
I therefore determined to plunge boldly into the

arena, and in defence, not of any particular govern-

ment, but of the laws which constitute society itself,

to risk my fortune, my person, and my peace of mind.
The thing was to secure my election, and I left
first

speedily for Normandy in order to put myself before

the electors.
H
 CHAPTER IV

MY CANDIDATURE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LA MANCHE — THE

ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY — THE GENERAL ELECTION.

As every one knows, the Department of la Manche

is peopled almost exclusively by farmers. It con-
tainsfew large towns, few manufactures, and, with
the exception of Cherbourg, no places in which
workmen are gathered in large numbers. At first,

the Revolution was hardly noticed there. The

upper classes immediately bent beneath the blow,
and the lower classes scarcely felt it. Generally
speaking, agricultural populations are slower than
others in perceiving, and more stubborn in retaining,

political impressions they are the last to rise and

;

the last to settle down again. The steward of my

estate, himself half a peasant, describing what was
taking place in the country immediately after the
24th of February, wrote :

"
People here say that if Louis- Philippe has been
sent away, it is a
good thing, and that he deserved
it. . . ."

This was to them the whole moral of the

play.
But when they heard tell of the disorder
reigning
in Paris, of the new taxes to be imposed, and of
the general state of war that was to be feared;
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 115

when they saw commerce cease and money seem to

sink down into the ground, and when, in particular,

they learnt that the principle of property was being

attacked, they did not fail to perceive that there was

something more than Louis- Philippe in question.

Fear, which had first displayed itself in the upper
circles of society, then descended into the depths of

the people, and universal terror took possession of

the whole country. This was the condition in
which I found it when I arrived about the middle
of March. I was
once struck by a spectacle that
at

both astonished and charmed me. A certain dema-

gogic agitation reigned, it is true, among the work-
men in the towns but in the country all the landed
;

proprietors, whatever their origin, antecedents,

education or means, had come together, and seemed
to form but one class : all former political hatred and

rivalry of caste or fortune had disappeared from

view. There was no more jealousy or pride dis-
played between the peasant and the squire, the
nobleman and the commoner instead, I found ;

mutual confidence, reciprocal friendliness, and re-

gard. Property had become, with all those who
owned it, a sort of badge of fraternity. The wealthy
were the elder, the less endowed the younger
brothers ;
but all considered themselves members
of one family, having the same interest in defending
the common inheritance. As the French Revolution
had infinitely increased the number of land-owners,
the whole population seemed to belong to that vast
 ,,6 RECOLLECTIONS OF

family. had never seen anything Hke it, nor had

I

the memory of man. Ex-

anyone in France within
shown that this union was not so close
perience has
»as it and that the former parties and the
appeared,
I various classes had drawn closer rather than mingled

together ;
fear had acted upon them as a mechanical
pressure might upon very hard bodies, which are
compelled to adhere to one another
so long as the

pressure continues,
but which separate so soon as it
is relaxed.
As a matter of fact, from the first moment I saw no
trace whatever of political opinions, properly so-called.
One would have thought that the republican form
of government had suddenly become not only the
best, but the only one imaginable for France. Dy-
nastic hopes and regrets were buried so profoundly
in the souls of men that not even the place they had

/once occupied was visible. The Republic respected

j
persons and property, and it was accepted as lawful.
In the spectacle I have just described, I was most
.
struck at witnessing the universal hatred, together
with the universal terror, now for the first time
'

inspired by Paris. In France, provincials have for

Paris, and for the central power of which Paris
is the seat, feelings analogous to those which the
which they
English entertain for their aristocracy,
sometimes support with impatience and often re-
gard with jealousy, but which at bottom they love,
because they always hope to turn its privileges to
their private advantage. This time Paris and those
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 117

who spoke in its name had so greatly abused their

power, and seemed to be giving so Httle heed to the

rest of the country, that the idea of shaking off the

yoke and of acting for themselves came to many who

had never before conceived it uncertain and timid
:

desires, it is true, feeble and ephemeral passions

from which I never believed that there was much
to be either hoped or feared ;
but these new feel-

ings were then turning into electoral ardour. Every-

one clamoured for the elections for to elect the ;

enemies of the demagogues of Paris presented itself

to public opinion less as the constitutional exercise

of a right, than as the least dangerous method one
could employ of making a stand against the tyrant.
I fixed my head-quarters in the little town of
Valognes, which was the natural centre of my in-
fluence and as soon as I had ascertained the con-
;

dition of the country, I set about my candidature.

I then saw what I have often observed under
a thousand different circumstances, that nothing
makes more for success than not to desire it too

ardently. I
very much wanted toget elected ;

but in the difficult and critical condition of affairs

then reigning, I
easily reconciled myself to the idea
of being rejected ; and from this ^placid antici-

pation of a rebuff I drew a tranquillity and clear-

ness of mind, a respect for myself and a contempt

for the follies of the time, that I should perhaps

not have found in the same degree had I been

swayed only by a longing to succeed.
ii8 RECOLLECTIONS OF

The country began to fill with roving candidates,

hawking their protestations of Republicanism from

I refused to present myself
hustings to hustings.
before any other electoral body than that of the

place where I lived. Each small town had its

club,and each club questioned the candidates re-

garding their opinions and actions, and subjected
them to formulas. I refused to reply to any of
these insolent interrogatories. These refusals, which
might have seemed disdainful, appeared in the light
of dignity and independence in the face of the new
rulers, and I was more esteemed for my rebellious-
ness than the others for their obedience. I there-
fore contented myself with publishing an address
and having it posted up throughout the department.
Most of the candidates had resumed the old cus-
toms of '92. When writing to people they called
and signed themselves " fraternally
"
them Citizens,"
yours." I would never consent to adopt this revolu-
"
tionary nonsense. I headed my address, Gentle-
men," and ended by proudly declaring myself my
"
electors' very humble servant."

"
I do not come to solicit your suffrages/' I said,
"
I come only myself to place
my at the orders of

country. asked to be your representative when

I

the times were easy and

peaceful my honour forbids ;

me to refuse to be so in a period fullof agitation^

which may become full of danger. That is the first
thing I had to tell you."
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 119

I added that I had been faithful to the end to the

oath I had taken Monarchy, but that the Re-

to the

pubHc, which had been brought about without my aid,

should have my energetic support, and that I would
not only accept but assist it. Then I went on :

"
But of what Republic is it a question ? There
are some who, by a Republic, understand a dictator-

ship exercised in the name of liberty; who think that

the Republic should not only change political institu-
tions but the face of society itself. There are some
who think that the Republic should needs be of an

aggressive and propagandist kind. I am not a

Republican after this fashion. If this were your
manner of being Republicans, I could be of no
use to you, for I should not be of your opinion ;

but if you understand the Republic as I understand

it myself,
you can rely upon me to devote myself
heart and soul to the triumph of a cause which
is mine as well as yours."

Men who show no fear in times of revolution

are like princes with the they produce a great
army :

effectby very ordinary actions, because the peculiar

position which they occupy naturally places them

above the level of the crowd and brings them very
much in view. My address was so successful that
I
myself was astonished at it within a few days it
;

made me the most popular man in the department

of la Manche, and the object of universal attention.
 120 RECOLLECTIONS OF

My old political adversaries, the agents of the old

I
Government, the Conservatives themselves who had
I
so vigorously opposed me, and whom the Republic
;had overthrown, came in crowds to assure me that
they were ready not only to vote for me, but to
follow my views in everything.
In the meantime, the meeting of the electors
first

of the Arrondissement of Valognes took place. I

appeared together with the other candidates. shed A

did duty for a hall ; the chairman's platform was at
the bottom, and at the side was a professorial pulpit
which had been transformed into a tribune. The
chairman, who himself was a professor at the College
of Valognes, said to me with a loud voice and a magis-
"
terial air, but in a very respectful tone : Citizen de

Tocqueville, I
you the questions which are
will tell
"
put to you, and to which you will have to reply to ;

"
which I replied, carelessly, Mr Chairman, pray put
the questions."
A parliamentary orator, whose name I will not
mention, once said to me :

"
Look here, my dear friend, there is only one
way of speaking well from the tribune, and that is

to be fully persuaded, as that

you get into it, you
are the cleverest man in the world."
This had always appeared to me easier to say
than to do, in the presence of our great political
assemblies. But I confess that here the maxim
was easy enough to follow, and that I it
thought
a wonderfully good one. Nevertheless, I did not go
 ji LEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE iji

SO far as to convince myself that I was cleverer than

all the world but I soon saw that I was the only
;

one who was well acquainted with the facts they

brought up, and even with the political language
they wished to speak. It would be difficult to show

one's self more maladroit and more ignorant than

did my adversaries ; they overwhelmed me with
questions which they thought very close, and which
left me very free, while I on
my side made replies
which were sometimes not very brilliant, but which
always to them appeared most conclusive. The
ground on which they hoped, above all, to crush
me was that of the banquets. I had refused, as I
have already said, to take part in these dangerous
demonstrations. My political friends had found
fault with me for abandoning them in that matter,

and many continued to bear me ill-will, although

—
or perhaps because —the Revolution had proved me
to be right.
"
Why did
you part from the Opposition on the
"
occasion of the banquets ? I was asked.
I replied, boldly:
"
could easily find a pretext, but I prefer to
I

give you my real reason I did not want the ban-

:

quets because I did not want a revolution and ;

I venture to say that hardly any of those who

sat down to the banquets would have done so
had they foreseen, as I did, the events to which
these would lead. The only difference I can see
between you and myself is that I knew what you
 122 RECOLLECTIONS OF

were doing while you did not know it yourselves."

This bold profession of anti-revolutionary had been
preceded by one of republican faith the sincerity of ;

the one seemed to bear witness to that of the other ;

the meeting laughed and applauded. My adversaries

were scoffed at, and I came off triumphant.

had won the agricultural population of the de-

I

partment by my address I won the Cherbourg work-

;

men by a speech. The latter had been assembled

to the number of two thousand at a patriotic dinner.
I received a
very obliging and pressing invitation
to attend, and I did.

When I arrived, the procession was ready to start

for the banqueting-hall, with, at its head, my old

colleague Havin, who had come expressly from

Saint-L6 to take the chair. It was the first time
I had met him since the 24th of February. On
I saw him
that day,
giving his arm to the Duchesse
d'Orleans, and the next morning I heard that he
was Commissary of the Republic in the department
of la Manche. I was not surprised, for I knew
him as one of those easily bewildered, ambitious
men who had found themselves fixed for ten years
in opposition, after
thinking at first that they were
^
in it only for a little. How
many of these men have
';
I not seen around me, tortured with their own virtue,
and despairing because they saw themselves
spending
the best part of their lives in
criticizing the faults of
others without ever in some measure
realizing by
experience what were their own, and finding nothing
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 123

to feedupon but the sight of public corruption Most !

of them had contracted during this long abstinence

so great an appetite for places, honours and money
that was easy to predict that at the first oppor-
it

tunity they would throw themselves upon power with

a sort of gluttony, without taking time to choose
either the moment or the morsel. Havin was the
very type of these men. The Provisional Govern-
ment had given him as his associate, and even as his
chief,another of my former colleagues in the Chamber
of Deputies, M. Vieillard, who has since become
famous as a particular friend of Prince Louis
Napoleon's. Vieillard was entitled to serve the

Republic, since he had been one of the seven or

eight republican deputies under the Monarchy.
Moreover, he was one of the Republicans who had
passed through the salons of the Empire before
attaming demagogism. In literature he was a bigoted
classic ;
a Voltairean in religious belief ;
rather

fatuous,very kind-hearted an honest man, and ;

even an intelligent but a very fool in politics.

;

Havin had made him his tool whenever he wished :

to strike a blow at one of his own enemies, or to

reward one of his own he invariably put
friends,
forward Vieillard, who allowed him to do as he
pleased. In this manner Havin made his way
sheltered beneath the honesty and republicanism of

Vieillard, whom he always kept before him, as the

miner does his gabion.
Havin scarcely seemed to recognize me; he did
,24 RECOLLECTIONS OF

not invite me a place in the procession.

to take
of the crowd
I
modestly withdrew into the midst ;

and when we arrived at the banqueting-hall, I sat

down at one of the lower tables. We soon got to
the speeches Vieillard delivered a very proper
:

written speech, and Havin read out another written

speech, which was well received. I, too, was very

much inclined to speak, but my name was not down,

and moreover I did not quite see how I was to
begin. Aword which one of the orators (for all the I
speakers called themselves orators) dropped to the |
memory of Colonel Briqueville gave me my oppor-
tunity. I asked for
permission to speak, and the i
meeting consented. When I found myself perched
in the tribune, or rather in that pulpit placed twenty
feet above the crowd, I felt a little confused but I ;

soon recovered myself, and delivered a little piece of

oratorical fustian which I should find it impossible
to recollect to-day. I
only know that it contained
a certain appositeness, besides the warmth which
never fails to make
apparent through the
itself

disorder of an improvised speech, a merit quite suffi-

cient to succeed with a
popular assembly, or even
with an assembly of any sort ; for, it cannot be too
often repeated, speeches are made to be listened to
and not to be read, and the only good ones are those
that move the audience.
The success of mine was marked and complete, and
I confess it seemed very sweet to me to revenge
myself in this way on the manner in which my
 ALEXIS DE rOCQUEVILLE 125

former colleague had endeavoured to abuse what

he considered the favours of fortune.
If I am not mistaken, it Avas between this time
and the elections that I made my journey to Saint-
L6, as member of the Council General, The Council
had been summoned to an extraordinary sitting. It

was composed as under the Monarchy most

still :

of its members had shown themselves complaisant

towards Louis - Philippe's ministers, and may be
reckoned among those who had most contributed
to bring that Prince's government into contempt
in our country. The only thing I can recall of
the Saint-L6 journey is the singular servility of
these ex-Conservatives. Not only did they make
no opposition to Havin, who had insulted them
for the past ten years, but they became his most

attentive courtiers. They praised him with their

words, supported him with their votes, smiled
upon him approvingly they even spoke well of ;

him among themselves, for fear of indiscretion,

I have often seen greater pictures of human
baseness, but never any that was more perfect ;

and I think it deserves, despite its pettiness,

to be brought fully to light.
I will, therefore,

display the light of subsequent events, and I

it in

will add that some months later, when the turn of

the popular tide had restored them to power, they

at once set about pursuing this same Havin anew
with unheard-of violence and even injustice. All
their old hatred became visible amid the quaking
 ,26 RECOLLECTIONS O?

of their terror, and it seemed to have become still

remembrance of their temporary

greater at the
complaisance.
Meantime the general election was drawing nigh,
and each day the aspect of the future became
more sinister. All the news from Paris represented
the capital as on the point of constantly falling into
the hands of armed Socialists. It was doubted

whether these latter would allow the electors to

vote freely, or at least whether they would submit

to the National Assembly. Already

every part in

of the country the officers of the National Guard

were being made to swear that they would march
against the Assembly if a conflict arose between
that body and the people. The provinces were
R becoming more and more alarmed, but were also
I)
strengthening themselves at the sight of the danger.
spent the few days preceding the contest at my
'
I

poor, dear Tocqueville. It was the first time I had

visited it since the Revolution : was perhaps about

I

to leave it for ever ! I was seized on my arrival

with so great and uncommon a feeling of sadness
that it has left in my memory traces which have re-
mained marked and day amid all the
visible to this

vestiges of the events of that time. I was not

expected. The empty rooms, in which there was

none but my old dog to receive me, the undraped
windows, the heaped-up dusty furniture, the extinct
fires, the run-down clocks —
all seemed to point to

abandonment and to foretell ruin. This little isolated

 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 127

comer of the earth, lost, as it were, amid the fields

and hedges of our Norman coppices, which had so
often seemed to me the most charming of solitudes,
now appeared to me, in the actual state of my

thoughts, as a desolate desert but across the

;

desolation of present aspect I discovered, as

its

though from the depth of a tomb, the sweetest

and most attractive episodes of my life. I wonder
how our imagination gives so much deeper colour
and so much more attractiveness to things than
I had just witnessed the fall of the
they possess.
Monarchy; I have since been present at the most
sanguinary scenes and nevertheless I declare that
;

none of these spectacles produced in me so deep

and painful an emotion as that which I experienced
that day at the sight of the ancient abode of my
forefathers, when I thought of the peaceful days and
happy hours I had spent there without knowing
their value — I
say that it was then and there that
I best understood all the bitterness of revolutions.
The had always been well dis-
local population

posed to me but this time I found them affectionate,

;

and I was never received with more respect than

now, when all the walls were placarded with the
expression of degrading equality. were all to go We
and vote together at the borough of Saint- Pierre,
about one league away from our village. On the

morning of the election, all the voters (that is to say,

all the male population above the age of twenty)

collected together in front of the church. All these

,28 RECOLLECTIONS OF

men formed themselves in a double column, in

order. I took up my place in the

alphabetical
situationdenoted by my name, for I knew that

in democratic times and countries one must be

nominated to the head of the people, and not
place one's self there.
At the end of the long
procession, in carts
or on pack-horses, came the
sick or infirm who wished to follow us we left ;

none behind save the women and children. We

were one hundred and sixty-six all told. At the

top of the hill which commands Tocqueville there

came a halt they wished me to speak. I climbed
;

to the other side of a ditch a circle was formed ;

round me, and I

spoke a few words such as the
circumstances inspired. I reminded these
worthy
people of the gravity and importance of what they
were about to do ;
I recommended them not to
allow themselves to be accosted or turned aside by
those who, on our arrival at the borough, might seek
to deceive them, but to march on solidly and stay

together, each in his place, until they had voted.

" *'
Let no one," I said, go into a house to seek food
or shelter [it was raining] before he has done his

duty." They cried that they would do as I wished,

and they did. All the votes were given at the same
time, and I have reason to believe that they were
almost given to the same candidate.
all

After voting myself, I took

my leave of them, and
set out to return to Paris.
 CHAPTER V
THE FIRST SITTING OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY —THE
APPEARANCE OF THIS ASSEMBLY.

I STOPPED at Valognes only long enough to bid good-

bye to some of my friends. Many left me with
tears in their eyes, for there was a belief current

in the country that the representatives would be

exposed to great danger in Paris. Several of these

worthy people said to me, "If they attack the
National Assembly, we will come and defend you."
I a certain remorse at having seen only vain
feel

words in this promise at the time for, as a matter ;

of fact, they did all come, they and many more,

as I show later.
shall

It was only when I reached Paris that I learnt

that I had received 1 10,704 votes out of a possible
120,000. Most of my new colleagues belonged to
the old dynastic Opposition two only had professed
:

republican principles before the Revolution, and

were what was called in the jargon of the day
"
Republicans of yesterday." The same was the
case in most parts of France.
There have certainly been more wicked revolution-
aries than those of 1848, but I doubt if there were
ever any more stupid they neither knew how to
;
 13© RECOLLECTIONS OF

make use of universal suffrage nor how to do with-

out it. If they had held the elections immediately

after the 24th of February, while the

upper classes
I were still bewildered by the blow they had just
received, and the people more amazed than dis-
'

contented, they would perhaps have obtained an

assembly after their hearts if, on the other hand,
;

they had boldly seized the dictatorship, they might

have been able for some time to retain it. But they
trusted themselves to the nation, and at the same
time did all that was most likely to set the latter

against them they threatened it while placing them-

;

selves in its power they alarmed it by the reckless-

;

ness of their proposals and the violence of their

language, while inviting it to resistance by the

feebleness of their actions; they pretended to lay
down the law to it at the very time that they were
placing themselves at its disposal. Instead of open-
ing out their ranks after the victory, they jealously
closed them up, and seemed, in one word, to be

striving to solve this insoluble problem, namely,

how to govern through the majority and yet against
its inclination.

Following the examples of the past without under-

standing them, they foolishly imagined that to
summon the crowd to take part in political life was
sufficient to attach it and that to
to their cause;

popularize the Republic, was enough to give the

it

public rights without offering them any profits.

They forgot that their predecessors, when they*'
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 1
3 1

gave every peasant the vote, at the same time did

away with tithes, abolished statute labour and the
other seignorial privileges, and divided the property
of the nobles among the peasants whereas they were
;

not in a position to do anything of the kind. In

establishing universal suffrage they thought they

were summoning the people to the assistance of
the Revolution they were only giving them arms
:

against it. Nevertheless, I am far from believing

that it was impossible to arouse revolutionary
passions, even in the country districts, j
In France,

every agriculturist owns some portion of the soil,

and most of them are more or less involved in debt ;

it was not, therefore, the landlords that should have I

been attacked, but the creditors ;

not the abolition 1

promised of the rights of property, but the abolition

of debts, f The demagogues of 1848 did not think
of this scheme they showed themselves much
;

clumsier than their predecessors, but no less dis-

honest, for they were as violent and unjust in their
desires as the others in their acts. Only, to commit
violent and unjust acts, it is not
enough for a govern-
ment to have the will, or even the power the ;

habits, ideas, and passions of the time must lend

themselves to the committal of them.
As
the party which held the reins of government
saw its candidates rejected one after the other, it
displayed great vexation and rage, complaining
now sadly and now rudely of the electors, whom
it treated as ignorant, ungrateful blockheads, and
132
RECOLLECTIONS OF

enemies of their own good temper with

;
it lost its

the whole nation and, its impatience exhausted by

;

the latter's coldness, it seemed ready to say with

Moliere's Arnolfe, when he addresses Agnes:
"
"
Pourquoi ne m'aimer pas, madame I'impudente ?

thing was not ridiculous, but really ominous

One
and terrible and that was the appearance of Paris
;

on my return. I found in the capital a hundred

thousand armed workmen formed into regiments,
out of work, dying of hunger, but with their minds
crammed with vain theories and visionary hopes.
I saw society cut into two those who possessed
:

nothing, united in a common greed those who ;

possessed something, united in a common terror.

There were no bonds, no sympathy between these
two great sections everywhere the idea of an in-
;

evitable and immediate struggle seemed at hand.

Already the bourgeois and the peuple (for the old

nicknames had been resumed) had come to blows,
with varying fortunes, at Rouen, Limoges, Paris ;

not a day passed but the owners of property were

attacked or menaced in either their capital or
income :
they were asked to employ labour without
selling the produce they were expected to remit
;

the rents of their tenants when they themselves

possessed no other means of living. They gave

way as long as they could to this tyranny, and
endeavoured at least to turn their weakness to
account by publishing it I remember reading in
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 133

the papers of that time this advertisement, among

others, which still strikes me as a model of vanity,

poltroonery, and stupidity harmoniously mingled :

"
Mr Editor," it read, " I make use of your paper to
inform my tenants that, desiring to put into practice
in my relations with them the principles of fraternity
that should guide all true democrats, I will hand
to those of my tenants who apply for it a formal
receipt for their next quarter's rent."
Meanwhile, a gloomy despair had overspread the
middle class thus threatened and oppressed, and
imperceptibly this despair was changing into courage.
I had
always believed that it was useless to hope to
settle the movementof the Revolution of February \

peacefully and gradually, and that it could only be I

stopped suddenly, by a great battle fought in the \

streets of Paris. I had said this immediately after

the 24th of February and what I now saw per-

;

suaded me that this battle was not only inevitable

but imminent, and that it would be well to seize the

opportunity to deliver it.

first

The National Assembly met at last on the 4th of |

May it was doubtful until the last moment whether

;
/

it would meet at all. I believe, in fact, that the

more ardent of the demagogues were often tempted
to do withoutbut they dared not they remained
it, ;

crushed beneath the weight of their own dogma of

the sovereignty of the people.
I should have before
my eyes the picture which
the Assembly presented at its opening but I find, ;
,34 RECOLLECTIONS OF

on the contrary, that only a very confused recollec-

tion of it has lingered in my mind. It is a mistake to
believe that events remain present in one's memory
in proportion to their importance or their greatness

alone rather is it certain little particularities which

;

occur,and cause them to penetrate deep into the

mind, and fix them there in a lasting manner. I
"
only remember that we shouted, Long live the
Republic" fifteen times during the course of the
sitting, trying who could out-shout
the other. The
history of the Assemblies is full of parallel incidents,
and one constantly sees one party exaggerating its
feelings in order to embarrass its opponents, while
the latter feign to hold sentiments which they do
not possess, in order to avoid the trap. Both sides,
with a common effort, went either beyond, or in the

contrary direction to, the truth. Nevertheless, I

think the cry was sincere enough only it responded
;

to diverse or even contrary thoughts. All at that

time wished to preserve the Republic but some ;

wished to use it for purposes of attack, others for

purposes of defence The newspapers spoke of the
enthusiasm of the Assembly and of the public there ;

was a great deal of noise, but no enthusiasm at all.

Everyone was too greatly preoccupied with the
immediate future to allow himself to be carried
beyond that thought by sentiment of any kind. A
decree of the Provisional Government laid down
that the representatives should wear the costume of
the Conventional, and
especially the white waist-
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 135

coat with turn-down collar in which Robespierre

was always represented on the stage, I
thought
at first that this fine notion originated with Louis
Blanc or Ledru-Rollin ;
but I learned later that it

was due to the flowery and literary imagination of

Armand Marrast. No one obeyed the decree, not
even its author ; Caussidiere was the only one to

adopt the appointed disguise. This drew my atten-

tion tohim for I did not know him by sight any
;

more than most of those who were about to call

themselves the Montagnards, always with the idea
of keeping up the recollection of '93. I beheld a

very big and very heavy body, on which was placed

a sugar-loaf head, sunk deep between the two
shoulders, with a wicked, cunning eye, and an air
of general good-nature spread over the rest of his
face. In short, he was a mass of shapeless matter, in
which worked a mind sufficiently subtle to know how
to make the most of his coarseness and ignorance.
In the course of the two subsequent days, the
members of the Provisional Government, one after
the other, told us what they had done since the 24th
of February. Each said a great deal of good of him-
self,and even a certain amount of good of his col-
leagues, although it would be difficult to meet a
body of men who mutually hated one another more
sincerely than these did. Independently of the
political hatred and jealousy that divided them, they
seemed still to feel towards each other that peculiar
irritation common to travellers who have been com-
136 RECOLLECTIONS OF

pelled to live together upon the same ship during a

or under-
long and stormy passage, without suiting
I met
standing one another. At this first sitting
again almost all the members of Parliament among
whom I had lived. With the exception of M. Thiers,
who had been defeated ;
of the Due de Broglie, who
had not stood, I believe; and of Messrs Guizot
and Duchatel, who had fled, all the famous orators
and most of the better-known talkers of the political
world were there but they found themselves, as it
;

were, out of their element, they felt isolated and

suspected, they both felt and inspired fear, two con-
traries often to be met with in the political world.

As yet they possessed none of that influence which

their talents and experience were soon to restore to
them. All the remainder of the Assembly were as
much novices as though we had issued fresh from
the Ancien Regime ; for, thanks to our system of
centralization, public life had always been confined
within the limits of the Chambers, and those who
were neither peers nor deputies scarcely knew what
an Assembly was, nor how one should speak or
behave in one. They were
absolutely ignorant of
its most ordinary,
everyday habits and customs and ;

they were inattentive at decisive moments, and

listened eagerly to unimportant
things. Thus, on
the second day, they crowded round the tribune
and insisted on perfect silence in order to hear read
the minutes of the
preceding sitting, imagining that
this insignificant form was a most
important piece
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 137

of business. I am convinced that nine hundred

English or American peasants, picked at random,
would have better represented the appearance of a
great political body.
Continuing to imitate the National Convention,
the men who professed the most radical and the most

revolutionary opinions had taken their seats on the

highest benches they were very uncomfortable up
;

there but it gave them the right to call themselves

;

Montagnards, and as men always like to feed on

pleasant imaginations, these very rashly flattered
themselves that they bore a resemblance to the cele-
brated blackguards whose name they took.
The Montagnards soon divided themselves into
two distinct bands : the Revolutionaries of the old
school and the Socialists. Nevertheless, the two
shades were not sharply defined. One passed from
the one to the other by imperceptible tints the :

Montagnards proper had almost all some socialistic

ideas in their heads, and the Socialists quite approved
of the revolutionary proceedings of the others.

However, they differed sufficiently among themselves \

to prevent them from always marching in step, and |

it was this that saved us. The Socialists were the

more dangerous, because they answered more nearly
to the true character of the Revolution of February,
and to the only passions which it had aroused ; but
they were men of theory rather than action, and in
order to upset Society at their pleasure they would
have needed the practical energy and the science
 1
38 RECOLLECTIONS OF

of insurrections which only their colleagues in any

measure possessed.
From occupied it was easy for me
the seat I

to hear what was said on the benches of the Moun-

tain, and especially to see what wentThis gave on.

me the opportunity of studying pretty closely the

men sitting in that part of the Chamber. It was for
me like discovering a new world. We console our-
selves for not knowing foreign countries, with the
reflection that at least we know our own ;
but we
are wrong, for even in the latter there are always
districts which we have not visited, and races which

are new to us. I

experienced this now. It was as
though I saw these Montagnards for the first time,
so greatly did their idioms and manners surprise me.
They spoke a lingo which was not, properly speak-
ing, the French of either the ignorant or the cultured
classes, but which partook of the defects of both, for
it abounded in coarse words and ambitious phrases.
One heard issuing from the benches of the Mountain
a ceaseless torrent of insulting or jocular comments ;

j
and at the same time there was poured forth a host of
/
maxims in turns they assumed a very
quibbles and ;

humorous or a very superb tone. It was evident

that these people
belonged neither to the tavern nor
the drawing-room I think must have
they
;
polished
/
their manners in the caf6s, and fed their minds on
no literature but that of the
daily press. In any
case, it was the first time'since the commencement of
the Revolution that this type made any display in
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 139

one of our Assemblies ;

until then it had only been
represented by sporadic and unnoticed individuals,
who were more occupied in concealing than in
showing themselves.
The Constituent Assembly had two other peculi-
arities which struck me as quite as novel as this,

although very different from it. It contained an /

infinitely greater number of landlords and even of j

noblemen than any of the Chambers elected in the r~

days when it was a necessary condition, in order

to be an elector or elected, that you should have

money. And also there was a more numerous and

more powerful religious party than even under the
Restoration: Icounted three bishops, several vicars-
general, and a Dominican monk, whereas Louis
XVIII. and Charles X. had never succeeded in
securing the election of more than one single abb6.
The abolition of all which made part
quit-rents, .

of the electors dependent upon the rich, and the

danger threatening property, which led the people -^

to choose for their representatives those who were
most interested in are the principal
defending it,

reasons which explain the presence of so great a

number of landlords. The election of the ecclesi-
astics arose from similar causes, and also from
a different cause still worthier of consideration,
j

This cause was the almost general and very un- 1

'

expected return of a great part of the nation towards

the concerns of religion.
The Revolution of 1 792, when striking the upper
 14© RECOLLECTIONS OF

classes, had cured them of their irreliglousness ; it

had taught them, if not the truth, at least the social

uses of belief. This lesson was upon the lost

middle class, which remained their political heir and

their jealous rival and the latter had even become
;

more sceptical in proportion as the former seemed

I
to become more religious. The Revolution of 848 1

had just done on a small scale for our tradesmen

what that of 1 792 had done for the nobility the :

same reverses, the same terrors, the same con-

version it was
; the same picture, only painted
smaller and in less bright and, no doubt, less lasting
colours. The clergy had facilitated this conversion
by separating itself from all the old political parties,
and entering into the old, true spirit of the Catholic
clergy, which is that it should belong only to the
Church. It readily, therefore, professed republican
opinions, while at the same time it
gave to long-
established interests the guarantee of its traditions,
its customs and its
hierarchy. was accepted and It

made much of by all. The priests sent to the

Assembly were treated with very great considera-
tion, and they deserved it
through their good sense,
their moderation and their modesty. Some of
them endeavoured to speak from the tribune,
but they were never able to learn the language
of politics. They had forgotten it too long ago,
and all their speeches turned imperceptibly into
homilies.
For the rest, the universal voting had shaken the

i
 JLEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 14,

country from top to bottom without bringing to light

a single new man worthy of coming to the front.
I have always held that, whatever method be fol-

lowed in a general election, the great majority of

the exceptional men whom the nation possesses

definitively succeed in getting elected. The system

of election adopted exercises a great influence only

upon the class of ordinary individuals in the

Assembly, who form the ground-work of every
politicalbody. These belong to very different
orders and are of very diverse natures, according
to the system upon which the election has been

conducted. Nothing confirmed me in this belief

more than did the sight of the Constituent As-
sembly. Almost all the men who played the first
part in it were
already known to me, but the bulk
of the rest resembled nothing that I had seen before.

They were imbued with a new spirit and displayed

a new character and new manners.
I will say that, in my opinion, and taken all

round, this Assembly compared favourably with

those which I had seen. One met in it more
men who were sincere, disinterested, honest and,
above courageous than In the Chambers of
all,

Deputies among which I had spent my life.

The Constituent Assembly had been elected to
make a stand against civil war. This was its

principal merit ; and, in fact, so long as It was

necessary to fight, it
great, and only became
was
contemptible after the victory, and when It felt that
,42 RECOLLECTIONS OF

it was breaking up in consequence of this very

victory and under
the weight of it.
I selected my seat on the left side of the House,

on a bench from which it was easy for me to hear

the speakers and to reach the tribune when I wished
to myself.
speak A
large number of my old friends

joined me there ; Lanjuinais, Dufaure, Corcelles,

Beaumont and several others sat near me.
Let me say a word concerning the House itself,

although everybody knows it. This is necessary in

order to understand the narrative ; and, moreover,

although this monument of wood and prob- plaster is

ably destined to last longer than the Republic of

which it was the cradle, I do not think it will enjoy
a very long existence and when it is destroyed,
;

many of the events that took place in it will be

difficult to understand.
The house formed an oblong of great size.
At one end, against the wall, was the President's

platform and the tribune nine rows of benches

;

rose gradually along the three other walls. In

the middle, facing the tribune, spread a huge,
empty space, like the arena of an
amphitheatre,
with this difference, that this arena was square,
not round. The consequence was that most of
the listeners only caught a side glimpse of the

speaker, and the only ones who saw him full face
were very far away an arrangement
:
curiously
calculated to promote inattention and disorder.
For the first, who saw the speaker badly, and
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 143

were continually looking at one another, were more

engaged in threatening and apostrophizing each
other; and the others did not listen any better,
because, although able to see the occupant of the
tribune, they heard him badly.
Large windows, placed high up in the walls,

opened straight outside, and admitted air and light ;

the walls were decorated only with a few flags ; time

had, luckily, been wanting in which to add to them
all those spiritless allegories on canvas or pasteboard

with which the French love to adorn their monu-

ments, in spite of their being insipid to those who
can understand them and utterly incomprehensible
to the mass of the people. The whole bore an
aspect of immensity, together with an air that was
cold, solemn, and almost melancholy. There were
seats for nine hundred members, a larger number
than that of any of the assemblies that had sat in
France for sixty years.
I felt at once that the atmosphere of this assembly
suited me. Notwithstanding the gravity of events,
I
experienced there a sense of well-being that was
new to me. For the first time since I had entered
public life, I felt
myself caught in the current of a
majority, and following in its company the only
road which my tastes, my reason and my con-
science pointed out to me : a new and very wel-
come sensation. I
gathered that this majority
would disown the Socialists and the Montagnards,
but was sincere in its desire to maintain and organize
144 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

the Republic. I on these two leading

was with it

points : I had no monarchic faith, no affection nor

regrets for any prince ;
I felt called upon to defend
no cause save that of liberty and the dignity of man-
kind. Toprotect the ancient laws of Society against
[the innovators with the help of the new force which
the republican principle might lend to the govern-
ment; to cause the evident will of the French
people to triumph over the passions and desires
of the Paris workmen to conquer demagogism by
;

—
democracy that was my only aim. I am not sure
that the dangers to be passed through before it
could be attained did not make it still more attrac-
tive to me
for I have a natural inclination for
;

adventure, and a spice of danger has always seemed

to me the best seasoning that can be given to most
of the actions of life.
 CHAPTER VI

MY RELATIONS WITH LAMARTINE — HIS SUBTERFUGES

Lamartine was now at the climax of his fame :

to all those whom the Revolution had injured or

alarmed, that is to say, to the great majority of the
he appeared in the light of a saviour. He
nation,
had been elected to the Assembly by the city of
Paris and no fewer than eleven departments I do ;

not believe that ever anybody inspired such keen

transports as those to which he was then giving

rise;
one must have seen love thus stimulated by
fear to know with what excess of idolatry men are
capable of loving. The transcendental favour which
was shown him at this time was not to be com-
pared with anything except, perhaps, the excessive
injustice which he shortly afterwards received. All
the deputies who came to Paris with the desire to

put down the excesses of the Revolution and to

combat the demagogic party regarded him before-
hand as their only possible leader, and looked to
him unhesitatingly to place himself at their head
to attack and overthrow the Socialists and de-

magogues. They soon discovered that they were

deceived, and that Lamartine did not see the part
K '«
,46 RECOLLECTIONS OF

he was called upon to play in so simple a light. It

must be confessed that his was a very complex and
difficult position. It was forgotten at the time, but

he could not himself forget, that he had contributed

more than any other to the success of the Revolu-

tion of February. Terror effaced this remembrance

for the moment from the public mind but a general
;

feeling of security could not fail

soon to restore it
It was easy to foresee that, so soon as the current
which had brought affairs to their present pitch
was arrested, a contrary current would set in,
which would impel the nation in the opposite direc-
tion, and drive it faster and further than Lamartine
could or would go. The success of the Mon-
tagnards would involve his immediate ruin ;
but
theircomplete defeat would render him useless
and must, sooner or later, remove the government
from his hands. He saw, therefore, that for him
there was almost as much danger and loss in triumph
as in defeat.
As a matter of fact, I believe that, if Lamartine
had resolutely, from the placed himself at
first,

the head of the immense party which desired to

moderate and regulate the course of the Revolution,
and had succeeded in leading it to victory, he would
before long have been buried beneath his own
triumph he
; would not have been able to stop his
army in time, and it would have left him behind and
chosen other leaders.
I doubt whether, whatever line of conduct he had
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 147

adopted, he could have retained his power for long.

I believe only remaining chance was to be
his

gloriously defeated while saving his country. But

Lamartine was the last man to sacrifice himself in
thisway. I do not know that I have ever, in this

world of selfishness and ambition in which I lived,

met a mind so void of any thought of the public
welfare as his. I have seen a crowd of men disturb-

ing the country in order to raise themselves that is :

an everyday perversity but he is the only one who

;

seemed to me always ready to turn the world upside

down in order to divert himself. Neither have I
ever known a mind less sincere, nor one that had
a more thorough contempt for the truth. When I
say he despised it, I am wrong he did not honour
:

it
enough to heed it in any way whatever. When
speaking or writing, he spoke the truth or lied, with-
out caring which he did, occupied only with the
effecthe wished to produce at the moment.
I had not seen Lamartine since the 24th of
February. I saw him the first time on the day
before the opening of the Assembly in the new
house, where had gone to choose my seat, but
1

I did not
speak to him he was surrounded by
;

some of his new friends. The instant he saw me,

he pretended some business at the other end of the
house, and hurried away as fast as he could. He
sent me word
afterwards by Champeaux (who be-

longed to him, half as a friend and half as a servant)

that I must not take it ill of him that he avoided
,^8
RECOLLECTIONS OF

me that his position obliged him to act in this way

;

towards the members of the late parliament that ;

my place was, marked out among the future

of course,
leaders of the Republic but that we must wait till
;

the first temporary difficulties were surmounted

before coming to an agreement. Champeaux also
declared that he was instructed to ask my opinion
on the state of business ;
I
gave it him very readily,
but to very little purpose. This established certain
indirect relations between Lamartine and myself
through the intermediary of Champeaux. The latter
often came to see me, to inform me, on behalf of his

patron, of the arrangements that were being pre-

pared ;
and I sometimes went to see him in a little

room he had hired on the top floor of a house in

the Rue Saint- Honors, where he used to receive

suspicious visitors, although he had a complete set

of rooms at the Foreign Office.
I
usually found him overwhelmed with place-
hunters ; for in France
mendicancy exists
political
under every form of government. It even increases
through the very revolutions that are directed against
it, because all revolutions ruin a certain number of

men, and with us a ruined man always looks to

the State to repair his fortunes. They were of all

kinds, all attracted by the reflection of power which

Lamartine's friendship very transiently cast over
Champeaux. I remember among others a certain
cook, not particularly distinguished in his calling, as
far as I could see, who insisted
upon entering the
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 149

service of Lamartine, who had, he said, become

President of the Republic.
" "
But he's not President yet cried Champeaux.
!

"If he's not so yet, asyou say," said the man,

"'
he's going to be, and he must already be thinking
of his kitchen."
In order to rid himself of this scullion's obstinate
ambition, Champeaux promised to bring his name
before Lamartine so soon as the latter should be
President of the Republic. The poor man went
away quite satisfied, dreaming no doubt of the very
imaginary splendours of his approaching condition.
I
frequented Champeaux pretty assiduously during
that time, although he was exceedingly vain, loqua-
cious, and tedious, because, in talking with him, I
became better acquainted with Lamartine's thoughts
and projects than if 1 had been talking to the great
man himself. Lamartine's intelligence was seen

through Champeaux' folly as you see the sun

through a smoked glass, which shows you the
luminary deprived of its heat-rays, but less daz-
zling to the eye. I easily gathered that in this
world every one was feeding on pretty well the
same chimeras as the cook of whom
have just I

spoken, and that Lamartine already tasted at the

bottom of his heart the sweets of that sovereign
power which was nevertheless at that very moment
escaping from his hands. He was then following
the tortuous road that was so soon to lead him
I- to his ruin, struggling to dominate the Mountain
ISO RECOLLECTIONS OF

without overthrowing it, and to slacken the re-

volutionary fire without extinguishing it, so as to
give the country a feeling of security strong enough
for it to bless him, not strong enough to cause it
to forget him. What he dreaded above all was that
the conduct of the Assembly should be allowed to
fall into the hands of the former parliamentary
leaders. This was, I believe, at the time his dominant

passion. One
could see this during the great dis-
cussion on the constitution of the Executive Power;
never did the different parties display more visibly
the pedantic hypocrisy which induces them to con-
ceal their interests beneath their ideas an ordinary
:

spectacle enough, but more striking at this time than

usual, because the needs of the moment compelled
each party to shelter itself behind theories which
were foreign or even opposed to it. The old
royalist party maintained that the Assembly itself
should govern and choose its ministers a theory :

that was almost demagogic and the demagogues

;

declared that the Executive Power should be

entrusted to a permanent commission, which should

govern and select all the agents of the government :

a system that approached the monarchic idea. All

this verbiage
only meant that one side wished to
remove Ledru-Rollin from power, and the other to
keep him there.
The
nation saw in Ledru-Rollin the
bloody image
of the Terror ; it beheld in him the
genius of evil as
in Lamartine the genius of good, and it was mis-
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 151

taken in Ledru-RolHn was nothlnof

both cases.
more than a very sensual and sanguine heavy fellow,
quite without principles and almost without brains,
possessing no real courage of mind or heart, and
even free from malice for he naturally wished well
:

to the world, and was incapable of cutting the

all

throats of any one of his adversaries, except, per-

haps, for the sake of historical reminiscences, or to

accommodate his friends.

The result of the debate remained long doubtful :

Barrot turned it
against us by making a very fine

speech in our favour. I have witnessed many of

these unforeseen incidents in parliamentary life, and
have seen parties constantly deceived in the same
way, because they always think only of the pleasure
they themselves derive from their great orator's
words, and never of the dangerous excitement he
promotes in their opponents.
When Lamartine, who till then had kept silent
and remained, I believe, in indecision, heard, for the
first time since February, the voice of the ex-leader
of the Left resounding with brilliancy and success,
"
he suddenly made up his mind, and spoke. You
understand," said Champeaux the next day,
to me
"
that before all it was necessary to prevent the

Assembly from coming to a resolution upon Barrot's

advice." So Lamartine spoke, and, according to his
custom, spoke in brilliant fashion.
The majority, who had already adopted the course
that Barrot had urged upon them, wheeled round as
 ,52
RECOLLECTIONS OF

was more
they listened to him (for Assembly
this

credulous and more submissive than any that I had

ever seen to the wiles of eloquence it was novice :

and innocent enough to seek for reasons for their

decisions in the speeches of the orators). Thus
Lamartine won his cause, but missed his fortune;
'
for he that day gave rise to the mistrust which soon
arose and hurled him from his pinnacle of popu-

larity more quickly

than he had mounted it. Sus-

picion took a definite form the very next day,

when he was seen to patronize Ledru-Rollin and
force the hand of his own friends in order to

induce them to appoint the latter as his colleague

on the Executive Commission. At this sight there

arose in the Assembly and in the nation inexpres-
sible disappointment, terror and rage. For my part,
I
experienced these two last emotions in the highest
degree; I
clearly perceived that Lamartine was
turning out of the high-road that led us away
from anarchy, and I could not guess into what
abyss he might lead us if we followed the byways
which he was treading. How was it
possible,
indeed, to foresee how far an always exuberant
imagination might go, unrestrained by reason or
virtue } Lamartine's common-sense impressed me
no more than did his disinterestedness ; and, in

fact, believed
I him capable of everything except
cowardly behaviour or vulgar oratory.
I confess that the events of
June to a certain
extent modified the opinion I had formed of
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 153

his manner of proceeding. They showed that

our adversaries were more numerous, better organ-
ized and, above all, more determined than I had

thought.
Lamartine, who had
seen nothing but Paris during
the last two months, and who had
there, so to speak,
lived in the very heart of the revolutionary party,

exaggerated the power of the Capital and the in-

activity of the rest of France. He over-estimated
both. But I am not sure that I, on my side, did
not strain a point on the other side. The road
we ought to follow seemed to me so clearly and
visibly traced that I would not admit the possibility
of deviating from it by mistake it seemed obvious
;

to me that we should hasten to profit by the moral

force possessed by the Assembly in order to escape
from the hands of the people, seize upon the govern-
ment, and by a great effort establish it upon a solid
basis. Every delay seemed to me calculated to
diminish our power, and to strengthen the hand of
our adversaries.
It during the six months that elapsed
was, in fact, |

between the opening of the Assembly and the events [

of June that the Paris workmen grew bold, and took I

courage to resist, organized themselves, procured ^

both arms and ammunition, and made their final

preparations for the struggle. In any case, I am led
to believe that it was Lamartine's tergiversations
and his semi-connivance with the enemy that saved

us, while it ruined him. Their effect was to amuse

»54 RECOLLECTIONS OF

the leaders of the Mountain, and to divide them.

The Montagnards of. the old school, who were re-

tained in Government, separated themselves

the
from the Socialists, who were excluded from it.
Had all been united by a common interest, and
impelled by common despair before our victory,
as they became since, it is doubtful whether that
victory would have been won. When I con-
sider that we were almost effaced, although we
were opposed the revolutionary party
only by
without its
leaders, ask myself what the result
I

of the contest would have been if those leaders

had come forward, and if the insurrection had
been supported by a third of the National As-
sembly.
Lamartine saw these dangers more closely and
clearly than and
believe to-day that the fear
I, I

of arousing a mortal conflict influenced his conduct

as much as did his ambition. I
might have formed
this opinion at the time had I listened to Madame
de Lamartine, whose alarm for the safety of her
husband, and even of the Assembly, amounted to
"
extravagance. Beware," she said to me, each time
"
she met me, beware of
pushing things to extremes ;

you do not know the strength of the revolutionary

party. If we enter into conflict with it, we shall
perish." have often reproached myself for not
I

cultivating Madame de Lamartine's acquaintance,

for I have always found her to
possess real virtue,
although she added to it almost all the faults
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 155

which can cHng to virtue, and which, without im-

pairing it, render it less lovable: an imperious
temper, great personal pride, an upright but un-
yielding, and sometimes bitter, spirit so much so ;

that it was
impossible not to respect her, and
impossible to like her
 CHAPTER VII

THE 15TH OF MAY 1848.

The revolutionary party had not dared to oppose

I
the meeting of the Assembly, but it refused to be
f dominated by it. On the contrary, it well under-
^

stood how keep the Assembly in subjection, and

to
to obtain from it by constraint what it refused to

grant from sympathy. Already the clubs rang with

threats and insults against the deputies. And as
the French, in their political passions, are as argu-
mentative as they are insensible to argument, these
popular meeting-places were incessantly occupied
in manufacturing theories that formed the ground-

work of subsequent acts of violence. It was held

that the people always remained superior to its
representatives, and never completely surrendered
its will into their hands a true principle from which
:

was drawn that the Paris work-

the false conclusion
men were the French people. Since our first sitting,
a vague and widespread agitation had never ceased
to reign in the town. The mob met every day in
the streets and squares ;
it spread aimlessly, like
the swell of the waves. The approaches to the
Assembly were always filled with a gathering of
these redoubtable idlers. A demagogic party
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 157

has so many heads, chance always plays so

great, and reason so small, a part in its actions
that it is almost impossible to say, either before or
after the event, what it wants or what it wanted.
Nevertheless, opinion then was, and has since
my
remained, that the leading demagogues did not aim
at destroying the Assembly, and that, as yet, they
only sought to make use of it
by mastering it. The
attack directed against it on the 15th of May seemed
intended rather to frighten than to overthrow it it ;

was at least one of those equivocal enterprises which

so frequently occur in times of popular excitement,
in which the promoters themselves are careful not

to trace or define precisely their plan or their aim,

so as to remain free to limit themselves to a peaceful
demonstration or force on a revolution, according to
the incidents of the day.
Some attempt of this kind had been expected for
over a week but the habit of living in a continual
;

state of alarm rendering both individuals

ends in

and assemblies incapable of discerning, amid the

signs announcing the approach of danger, that which
immediately precedes it. We
only knew that there
was a question of a great popular demonstration in
favour of Poland, and we were but vaguely disturbed
at it. Doubtless the members of the Government
were better informed and more alarmed than we,
but they kept their own counsel, and I was not

sufficiently in touch with them to penetrate into

their secret thoughts.
158 RECOLLECTIONS OF

Thus happened that, on the 15th of May, I

it

reached the Assembly without foreseeing what was

going to happen. The sitting began as any other
sitting might have begun
and what was very ;

strange, twenty thousand men already surrounded

the chamber, without a single sound from the out-
side having announced their presence. Wolowski
was in the tribune he was mumbling between his
:

teeth I know
not what commonplaces about Poland,
when the mob at last betrayed its approach with a
terrible which penetrated from every side
shout,

through the upper windows, left open because of

the heat, and fell upon us as though from the sky.
Never had imagined that a number of human
I

voices could together produce so immense a volume

of sound, and the sight of the crowd itself, when it
surged into the Assembly, did not seem to me so
formidable as that first roar which it had uttered
before showing itself.
Many members, yielding to
a first
impulse of curiosity or fear, sprang to their
feet; others shouted violently, "Keep your seats!"
Everyone down again firmly on his bench, and
sat

kept silence. Wolowski resumed his speech, and

continued it for some time. It must have been the
first time in his life that he
was listened to in silence;
and even now it was not he to whom we listened,
but the crowd outside, whose murmurs grew mo-
mentarily louder and nearer.
Suddenly Degousee, one of our questors, solemnly
mounted the steps of the tribune,
silently pushed
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 159

"
Wolowski aside, and Contrary to the wishes
said,
of the questors, General Courtais has ordered
the Gardes Mobiles guarding the doors of the
Assembly to sheathe their bayonets."
After uttering these few words he stopped. This
Degousee, who was very good man, had the most
a

hang-dog look and the hollowest voice imaginable.

The news, the man and the voice combined to create
a curious impression. The Assembly was roused,
but immediately grew calm again; it was too late
to do anything the chamber was forced.
:

Lamartine, who had gone out at the first noise,

returned to the door with a disconcerted air; he
crossed the central gangway and regained his seat
with great strides, as though pursued by some enemy
invisible to us. Almost immediately, there appeared
behind him a number of men
of the people, who

stopped still on the threshold, surprised at the sight

of this immense seated assembly. At the same
moment, as on the 24th of February, the galleries
were noisily opened and invaded by a flood of
people, who filled and more than filled them.
Pressed forward by the mob who followed and
pushed them without seeing them, the first comers
climbed over the balustrades of the galleries, trust-
ing to find room in the Chamber itself, the floor
of which was not more than ten feet beneath them,

hung down along the walls,and dropped the distance

of four or five feet into the Chamber. The fall of
each of these bodies striking the floor in succession
i6d RECOLLECTIONS OF

produced a dull concussion which at first, amid the

tumult, I took for the distant sound of cannon.
While one part of the mob was thus falling into
the house, the other, composed principally of the
club-leaders, entered by every door. They carried
various emblems of the Terror, and waved flags of
which some were surmounted by a red cap.
In an instant the mob had filled the large empty

space in the centre of the Assembly ;

and finding
itself pressed for room, it climbed all the little

gangways leading to our benches, and crowded

more and more into these narrow spaces without
ceasing its agitation. Amid this tumultuous and
incessant commotion, the dust became very thick
and the heat so oppressive that perhaps I would
have gone out to breathe some fresh air, had it
been merely a question of the public interest. But
honour kept us glued to our seats.
Some
of the intruders were openly armed, others
showed glimpses of concealed weapons, but none
seemed to entertain a fixed intention of strikino-
us. Their expression was one of astonishment and
ill-will rather than enmity; with many of them a
sort of vulgar curiosity in course of gratifying itself
seemed to dominate every other sentiment for even ;

in our most sanguinary insurrections there are

always a number of people half scoundrels, half sight-

seers, who fancy themselves at the play. Moreover,
there was no common leader whom they seemed to
obey; it was a mob of men, not a troop. I saw
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE i6i

some drunken men among them, but the majority

seemed to be the prey of a feverish excitement
imparted to them by the enthusiasm and shouting
without and the stifling heat, the close packing
and general discomfort within. They dripped with
sweat, although the nature and condition of their
clothing was not calculated to make the heat very
uncomfortable for them, for several were quite
bare-breasted. There rose from this multitude a
confused noise from the midst of which one some-
times heard very threatening observations. I caught

sight of men who shook their fists at us and

called us their agents. This expression was often
repeated ; several days the ultra-democratic
for

newspapers had done nothing but call the repre-

sentatives the agents of the people, and these black-

guards had taken kindly to the idea. A moment

after, I had an opportunity of observing with what

vivacity and clearness the popular mind receives

and reflects images. I heard a man in a blouse,
"
standing next to me, say to his fellow, See that
vulture down there ? I should like to twist its
neck." I followed the movement of his arm and
his eyes and saw without difliculty that he was
speaking of Lacordaire, who was sitting in his
Dominican's frock on the top bench of the Left.
The sentiment struck me as very unhandsome, but
the comparison was admirable the priest's long,
;

bony neck issuing from its white cowl, his bald head
surrounded only with a tuft of black hair, his narrow
L
i6z RECOLLECTIONS OF

face, his hooked nose and his fixed, glittering eyes

really gave him a striking resemblance to the bird
of prey in question.

During all this disorder in its midst, the Assembly

sat passive and motionless on its benches, neither

resisting nor giving way,

silent and firm. A few
members of the Mountain fraternized with the mob,
but stealthily and in whispers. Raspail had taken
possession of the tribune and was preparing to
read the petition of the clubs a young deputy, ;

"
d'Adelsward, rose and exclaimed, By what right
"
does Citizen Raspail claim to speak here ? A
furious howling arose some men of the people
;

made a rush at d'Adelsward, but were stopped and

held back. With great Raspail obtained
difficulty,
a moment's silence from his friends, and read the
petition, or rather the orders, of the clubs, which
enjoined us to pronounce forthwith in favour of
Poland.
" "
No delay, we're waiting for the answer ! was
shouted on every side. The Assembly continued
to give no sign of life ; the mob, in its disorder and
impatience, made a horrible noise, which by itself
alone saved us from making a reply. Buchez, the
President, whom some would make out to be a rascal
and others a saint, but who undoubtedly, on that
day, was a great blockhead, rang his bell with all
his might to obtain silence, as though the silence of
that multitude was not, under the present circum-
stances, more to be dreaded than its cries.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 163

It saw appear, in his turn, in

was then that I

the tribune a man whom I have never seen since,

but the recollection of whom has always filled me
with horror and disgust. He had wan, emaciated
cheeks, white a sickly, wicked and repulsive
lips,

expression, a dirty pallor, the appearance of a mouldy

corpse he wore no visible linen
;
an old black ;

frock-coat tightly covered his lean, withered limbs ;

he seemed to have passed his life in a sewer, and to

have just left it. I was told it was
Blanqui.^
Blanqui said one word about Poland then, turn- ;

ing sharply to domestic affairs, he asked for revenge

for what he called the massacres of Rouen, recalled
with threats the wretchedness in which the people
had been left, and complained of the wrongs done
to the latter by the Assembly. After thus exciting
he returned to Poland and,
his hearers, like Raspail,

demanded an immediate vote.

The Assembly continued to sit motionless, the
people to move about and utter a thousand contra-
dictory exclamations, the President to ring his bell.
Ledru-RoUin tried to persuade the mob to with-
draw, but nobody was now able to exercise any
influence over it. Ledru-Rollin, almost hooted, left
the tribune.
The tumult was renewed, increased, multiplied
itself as it were, for the mob was no longer sufficiently
master of itself to be able even to understand the
^
Auguste Blanqui, brother to Jerome Adolphe Blanqui the econo-
mist— A. T. DE M.
,64 RECOLLECTIONS OF

self-restraint in order to
necessity for a moment's
attain the object of its passion. A
long interval
passed; at last Barbes darted up and climbed, or
rather leapt, into the tribune. He was one of those
men in the demagogue, the madman and the
whom
knight-errant are so closely intermingled that it is
not possible to say where one ends or the other

commences, and who can only make their way in a

I am inclined
society as sick and troubled as ours.
to believe that was the madman that predomi-
it

nated in him, and his madness became raging when

he heard the voice of the people. His soul boiled
as naturally amid popular passion as water does on
the fire. Since our invasion by the mob, I had not
taken my eyes from him I considered him by far the
;

most formidable of our adversaries, because he was

the most insane, the most disinterested, and the
most resolute of them all. I had seen him mount
the platform on which the President sat, and stand
for a long time motionless, only turning his agitated

gaze about the Assembly I had observed and

;

pointed out to my neighbours the distortion of his

features, his livid pallor, the convulsive excitement
which caused him each moment to twist his mous-
tache between his fingers; he stood there as the

image of irresolution, leaning already towards an

extreme side. This time, Barbes had made up
his mind ;
he proposed in some way to sum up the
passions of the people, and to make sure of victory
by stating its object in terms of precision :
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 165

"
demand," said he, in panting, jerking tones,
I
*'
that, immediately and before rising, the Assembly
shall vote the departure of an army for Poland, a
tax of a milliard upon the rich, the removal of the

troops from Paris, and shall forbid the beating to

arms ;
if not, the representatives to be declared
traitors to the country."
I believe we should have been lost if Barbes had
succeeded motion put to the vote; for if
in getting his

the Assembly had accepted it, it would have been dis-

honoured and powerless, whereas, if it had rejected
it,which was probable, we should have run the risk
of having our throats cut. But Barbes himself did
not succeed in obtaining a brief space of silence so as
to compel us to take a decision. The huge clamour
that followed his last words was not to be appeased ;

on the contrary, it continued in a thousand varied

intonations. Barbes exhausted himself in his efforts

to but in vain, although he was powerfully

still it,

aided by the President's bell, which, during all this

time, never ceased to sound, like a knell.
This extraordinary sitting had lasted since two
o'clock Assembly held out, its ears pricked up
;
the
to catch any sound from the outside, waiting for

assistance to come. But Paris seemed a dead city.

Listen as we might, we heard no rumour issue
from it.
This passive resistance irritated and incensed the
people ; a cold, even surface upon which
it was like

its fury glided without

knowing what to catch hold
1 66 RECOLLECTIONS OF

of ;struggled and writhed in vain,

it without finding

any issue to its undertaking. thousand diverse A

"
and contradictory clamours filled the air Let us :

go away," cried some. ..." The

organization of
labour. ... A ministry of labour. ... tax on A
"
the rich. . . .We want Louis Blanc cried others !
;

they ended by fighting at the foot of the tribune

to decide who should mount it ;

five or six orators

occupied it at once, and often all spoke together.

As always happens in insurrections, the terrible

was mingled with the ridiculous. The heat was

so stifling that many of the first intruders left the
Chamber they were forthwith replaced by others
;

who had been waiting at the doors to come in. In

thisway I saw a fireman in uniform making his
way down the gangway that passed along my bench.
"
We can't make them vote " they shouted to him. !

"Wait, wait," he replied, "I'll see to it, I'll give

them a piece of my mind." Thereupon he pulled
his helmet over his eyes with a determined air,
fastened the straps, squeezed through the crowd,

pushing aside all who stood in his way, and mounted

the tribune. He imagined he would be as much at
his ease there as
upon a roof, but he could not find
his words and stopped short.
people cried, The
" "
but he did not speak a word,
Speak up, fireman I

and they ended by turning him out of the tribune.

Just then a number of men of the people caught
Louis Blanc in their arms and carried him in
triumph round the Chamber. They held him by

(
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 167

his little legs above their heads ;

I saw him make
vain efforts to extricate himself: he twisted and
turned on every side without succeeding in escaping
from their hands, talking all the while in a choking,
strident voice. He reminded me of a snake having
its tail pinched. They put him down at last on
"
a bench beneath mine. I heard him cry, My
friends, the right you have just won. ..." but the
remainder of his words were lost in the din. I was

told that Sobrier was carried in the same way a

little lower down.
A
very tragic incident nearly put an end to these
saturnalia the benches at the bottom of the house
:

suddenly cracked, gave way more than a foot, and

threatened to hurl into the Chamber the crowd
which overloaded it, and which fled off in affright.

This alarming occurrence put a momentary stop

to the commotion and I then first heard, in the
;

distance, the sound of drums beating the call to

arms in Paris. The mob heard it too, and uttered a
"
long rage and terror.
yell of Why are they beat-
"
ing to arms ? exclaimed Barbes, beside himself,
"
making his way to the tribune afresh. Who is

beating to arms ? Let those who have given the order

Cries of We are betrayed, to arms
" "
be outlawed ! !

"
To the Hotel de Ville ! rose from the crowd.
The President was driven from his chair, whence,
if we are to believe
the version he since gave, he
caused himself to be driven voluntarily. club- A
leader called Huber climbed to his seat and hoisted
1 68 RECOLLECTIONS OF

a surmounted by a red cap. The man had, it

flsig

seemed, just recovered from a long epileptic swoon,

caused doubtless by the excitement and the heat ;

it was on recovering from this sort of troubled sleep

that he came forward. His clothes were still in dis-

order, his look scared and haggard. He exclaimed

twice over in a resounding voice, which, uttered from

aloft, filled the house and dominated every other

sound, "In the name of the people, betrayed by its

representatives, I declare the National Assembly

"
dissolved !

The Assembly, deprived of its President, broke

up. Barbes and the bolder of the club politicians
went out to go to the Hdtel de Ville. This con-
clusion to the affair was far from meeting the general
wishes. I heard men of the people beside me say
to each other, in an aggrieved tone, "No, no, that's
not what we want." Many sincere Republicans
were in despair. I was first accosted, amid this

tumult, by Tretat, a revolutionary of the sentimental

kind, a dreamer who had plotted in favour of the
Republic during the whole existence of the Monarchy.
Moreover, he was a physician of distinction, who
was at that time at the head of one of the principal
mad-houses in Paris,
although he was a litde cracked
himself He took my hands effusively, and with
tears in his eyes :

" "
Ah, monsieur," he what a misfortune,
said,
and how strange it is to think that it is madmen,
real madmen, who have I have
brought this about !
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 169

treated or prescribed for each one of them. Blanqui

is a madman, Barbes is a madman, Sobrier is a

madman, Huber is the greatest madman of them

all they are all madmen, monsieur, who ought to be
:

locked up at my Salpetriere instead of being here."

He would certainly have added his own name
to the list, had he known himself as well as he
knew his old friends. I have always thought that
in revolutions, especially democratic revolutions, |

madmen, not those so called by courtesy, but genuine

madmen, have played a very considerable political

part. One thing at least is certain, and that is that

a condition of semi-madness is not unbecoming at
such times, and often even leads to success.
The Assembly had dispersed, but it will be readily
believed that it did not consider itself dissolved.

Nor did it even regard itself as defeated. The

majority of the members who left the House did so
with the firm intention of soon meeting again else-
where they said so to one another, and I am con-
;

vinced that they were, in fact, quite resolved upon it.

As decided to stay behind, kept back
for myself, I

partly by the feeling of curiosity that irresistibly

retains me where anything uncommon is
in places

proceeding, and partly by the opinion which I held

then, as I did on the 24th of February, that the

strength of an assembly in a measure resides in the

hall it occupies. I therefore remained and witnessed

the grotesque and disorderly, but meaningless and

uninteresting, scenes that followed. The mob set

lyo RECOLLECTIONS OF

itself, amid a thousand disorders and a thousand

cries, to form a Provisional Government. It was a

as the 24th of
parody of the 24th of February, just
February was a parody of other revolutionary scenes.
This had lasted some time, when I thought that
among all the noise I heard an irregular sound
coming from the outside of the Palace. I have a
very quick ear, and I was not slow in distinguishing
the sound of a drum approaching and beating the
charge for in our days of civil disorder, everyone
;

has learnt to know the language of these warlike

instruments. I at once hurried to the door
by which
these new arrivals would enter.
It was, in fact, a drum preceding some forty
Gardes Mobiles. These lads pierced through the
crowd with a certain although one
air of resolution,

could not clearly say at what they proposed to

first

do. Soon they disappeared from sight and remained

as though submerged but a short distance behind
;

them marched a compact column of National Guards,

who rushed into the House with significant shouts
of "
"
Long live the
National Assembly I stuck !

my card of membership in my hat-band and entered

with them. They first cleared the platform of five
or six orators, who were at that moment speaking
at once, and flung them, with none too great cere-

mony, down the steps of the little staircase that

leads to it. At the sight of this, the insurgents at
first made as though to resist; but a
panic seized
them. Climbing over the empty benches, tumbling
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 171

over one another in the gangways, they made for the

outer lobbies and sprang into the court-yards from

every window. In a few minutes there remained only

the National Guards, whose cries of " Long live the
"
National Assembly shook the walls of the Chamber.
The Assembly itself was absent but little by ;

little the members who had dispersed in the neigh-

bourhood hastened up. They shook the hands of

the National Guards, embraced each other, and

regained their seats. The National Guards cried,

" "
Long live the National Assembly and the !

*'
members, Long live the National Guard ! and
"
long live the Republic !

No sooner was the hall recaptured, than General

Courtais, the original author of our danger, had
the incomparable impudence to present himself;
the National Guards received him with yells of

fury ;
he was seized and dragged to the foot of the
I saw him
rostrum. pass before my eyes, pale as a
dying man among the flashing swords :
thinking
they would cut his throat, I cried with all my might,
" "
Tear off his epaulettes, but don't kill him ! which
was done.
Then Lamartine I never learnt how
reappeared.
he had employed his time during the three hours
wherein we were invaded. I had caught sight of
him during the first hour : he was seated at that
moment on a bench below mine, and he was comb-
ing his hair, glued together with perspiration, with a
little comb he drew from his the crowd
pocket ;
i^j(
RECOLLECTIONS OF

formed again and I saw him no more. Apparently

he went to the inner rooms of the Palace, into which
the mob had also penetrated, with the intention
of haranguing it, and was very badly received.
I

was given, on the next day, some curious details of

this scene, which I would have related here if I had

not resolved to set down only what have myself

I

observed. They say that, subsequently, he with-

drew to the palace then being built, close at hand,
and destined the Foreign Office.
for He would
certainly have done better had he placed himself at
the head of the National Guards and come to our
release. I think he must have been seized with the
overcomes the bravest (and
faintness of heart that
he was one of these) when possessed of a restless
and lively imagination.
When he returned to the Chamber, he had re-

covered his energy and his eloquence. He told

us that his place was not in the Assembly, but in
the streets, and that he was going to march upon
the Hotel de Ville and crush the insurrection.
This was the last heard him enthusiastically
time I

cheered. True, was

itnot he alone that they ap-
plauded, but the victory those cheers and clappings
:

were but an echo of the tumultuous passions that

still
agitated every breast.Lamartine went out. The
drums, which had beat the charge half-an-hour
before, now beat the march. The National Guards
and the Gardes Mobiles, who were still with us in
crowds, formed themselves into order and followed
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 175

him. The Assembly, still very incomplete, resumed

its sitting ;
it was six o'clock.

I went home an instant some food I thento take ;

returned to the Assembly, which had declared its

sitting permanent. We soon learnt that the members

of the new Provisional Government had been ar-
rested. Barbes was impeached, as was that old
fool of a Courtais, who deserved a sound thrash-
ing and no more. Many wished to include Louis
Blanc, who, however, had pluckily undertaken to
defend himself; he had just escaped with difficulty
from the fury of the National Guards at the door,
and still wore his torn clothes, covered with dust
and all disordered. This time he did not send for

the stool on which he used to climb in order to bring

his head above the level of the rostrum balustrade
(for he was almost a dwarf) he even forgot the ;

effect he wished to produce, and thought only of

what he had to say. In spite of that, or rather

because of that, he won his case for the moment.
I never considered him to possess talent except on
that one day for I do not call talent the art of
;

polishing brilliant and hollow phrases, which are like

finely chased dishes containing nothing.
For the rest, I was so fatigued by the excitement
of the day that I have retained but a dull, indistinct
remembrance of the night sitting. I shall therefore
say no more, for I wish only to record my personal
impressions for facts in detail it is the Moniteur,
:

not I, that should be consulted.

 CHAPTER VIII

THE FEAST OF CONCORD AND THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE

DAYS OF JUNE.

The revolutionaries of 1848, unwilling or unable to

imitate the bloodthirsty follies of their predecessors,
consoled themselves by imitating their ludicrous
follies. They took it into their heads to give the
people a series of grand allegorical festivals.
Despite the terrible condition of the finances, the
Provisional Government had decided that a sum of
one or two millions should be spent upon celebrating
the Feast of Concord in the Champ-de-Mars.

According to the programme, which was published

in advance and faithfully followed out, the Champ-
de-Mars was to be filled with figures representing
all sorts of persons, virtues, political institutions, and
even public services. France, Germany and Italy,
hand hand Equality, Liberty and Fraternity,
in ;

also hand in hand Agriculture, Commerce, the

;

Army, the Navy and, above all, the Republic the ;

last of colossal dimensions. A car was to be

drawn by sixteen plough-horses " this car," said :

the programme aforesaid, " will be of a simple and

rustic shape, and will
carry three trees, an oak, a j
174 1
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 175

laurel, and an tree, olive

symbolizing strength,
honour, and plenty and, moreover, a plough in
;

the midst of a group of flowers and ears of corn.

Ploughmen and young girls dressed in white will

surround the singing patriotic hymns."
car, We
were also promised oxen with gilded horns, but did
not get them.
The National Assembly had not the smallest
desire to see all these beautiful it even
things ;

feared lest the immense gathering of people which

was sure to be occasioned should produce some
dangerous riot. Accordingly, it put the date as far
back as possible but the preparations were made,
;

there was no possibility of going back from it, and

the date was fixed for the 21st of May.
On that day I went early to the Assembly, which
was proceed on
to foot, in a body, to the Champ-de-
I had
Mars. put my pistols in my pockets, and in
talking to my colleagues I discovered that most
of them were secretly armed, like myself: one
had taken a sword-stick, another a dagger nearly ;

allcarried some weapon of defence. Edmond de

La Fayette showed me a weapon of a peculiar kind.
It was a ball of lead sewn into a short leathern
thong which could easily be fastened to the arm one :

might have called it a portable club. La Fayette

declared that this instrument was being widely
little

carried by the National Assembly, especially since

the 15th of May. It was thus that we proceeded to

this Feast of Concord.

176 RECOLLECTIONS OF

A sinister rumour ran that some great danger

awaited the Assembly when should cross through
it

the crowd of the Champ-de-Mars and take up

its place on the stage reserved for it outside the
Military College. As a matter of fact, nothing could
have been easier than to make it the object of an
unexpected attack during this progress, which it
made on foot and, so to speak, unguarded. Its real
safeguard lay in the recollection of the 15th of May,
and that sufficed. It very rarely happens, what-
ever opportunity may present itself, that a body is
affi*onted the day after Moreover, the
its triumph.
French never do two things at a time. Their minds
often change their object, but they are always de-
voted wholly to that occupying them at the moment,
and I believe there no precedent of their making
is

an insurrection in the middle of a fete or even of a

ceremony. On this day, therefore, the people seemed

to enter willingly into the fictitious idea of its happi-
ness, and for a moment to place on one side the
recollection of its miseries and its hatreds. It was
animated, without being turbulent. The programme
had stated that a " fraternal confusion " was to pre-
vail. There was, it isextreme confusion, but
true,
no disorder ; for we are strange people we cannot :

do without the police when we are orderly, and so

soon as we start a revolution, the police seem
superfluous. The sight of this popular joyfulness
enraptured the moderate and sincere Republicans,
and made them almost maudlin. Carnot observed
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 177

to me, with that silliness which the honest democrat

always mingles with his virtue :

"
Believe me, my dear colleague, one should
always trust the people."

I remember rather brusquely replying, " Ah why

!

didn't you tell me that before the 1 5th ? "

The Executive Commission occupied one half of
the immense stage had been erected along the
that

Military College, and the National Assembly the

other. There first defiled past us the different
emblems of all nations, which took an enormous
time, because of the fraternal confusion of which the
programme spoke. Then came the car, and then
the young girls dressed in white. There were at
least three hundred of them, who wore their virginal
costume in so virile a fashion that they might have
been taken for boys dressed up as girls. Each had
been given a big bouquet to carry, which they were
so gallant as to throw to us as they passed. As
these gossips were the owners of very nervous arms,
and were more accustomed, I should think, to
using
the laundress's beetle than to strewing flowers, the

bouquets fell down upon us in a very hard and

uncomfortable hail-storm.
One tall girl left her companions and, stopping
in front ofLamartine, recited an ode to his glory.
Gradually she grew excited in talking, so much so
that she pulled a terrible face and began to make
the most alarming contortions. Never had enthu-
siasm seemed to me to come so near to epilepsy.
M
178 RECOLLECTIONS OF

When she had finished, the people insisted at all

costs that Lamartine should kiss her she offered ;

him two cheeks, streaming with perspiration,

fat

which he touched with the tip of his lips and with

indifferent bad grace.
The only serious portion of the fete was the review.
I have never seen so many armed men in one spot
in my life, and I believe that few have seen more.

Apart from the innumerable crowd of sight-seers

in the Champ-de-Mars, one saw an entire people

under arms. The Moniteur estimated the number

of National Guards and soldiers of the line who
were there at three hundred thousand. This seemed
to me to be exaggerated, but I do not think that
the number could be reduced to less than two
hundred thousand.
The spectacle of those two hundred thousand
bayonets will never leave my memory. As the men
who carried them were tightly pressed against one
another, so as to be able to keep within the slopes
of the Champ-de-Mars, and as we, from our but
slighdy raised position, could only throw an almost
horizontal glance upon them,
they formed, to our
eyes, a flat and lighdy undulating surface, which
flashed in the sun and made the
Champ-de-Mars
resemble a great lake filled with liquid steel. [
All these men marched past us in succession, and
we noticed that this
army numbered many more
muskets than uniforms. Only the
legions from the
wealthier parts of the town
presented a large number

J
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 179

of National Guards clad in military uniform. They

were the first to appear, and shouted, " Long live
"
the National Assembly with much enthusiasm.
!

In the legions from the suburbs, which formed in

themselves veritable armies, one saw little but jackets
and blouses, though this did not prevent them from
marching with a very warlike aspect. Most of them,
as they passed us, were content to shout, " Long
"
live the Democratic Republic or to sing the!

Marseillaise or the song of the Girondins. Next

came the legions of the outskirts, composed of
peasants, badly equipped, badly armed, and dressed
in blouses like the workmen of the suburbs, but
filled with a very different spirit to that of the latter,
as they showed by their cries and gestures. The
battalions of the Garde Mobile uttered various ex-

clamations, which left us full of doubt and anxiety

as to the intention of these lads, or rather children,
who at that time more than any other held our
destinies in their hands.
The regiments of the line, who closed the review,
marched past in silence.

Iwitnessed this long parade with a heart filled

with sadness. Never at any time had so many
arms been placed at once into the hands of the
people. It be easily believed that I shared
will

neither the simple confidence nor the stupid happi-

ness of my friend Carnot ; I foresaw, on the con-
trary, that all the bayonets I saw glittering in the
sun would soon be raised against each other, and I

:,^
i8o RECOLLECTIONS OF

felt that I was at a review of the two armies of the

civil war that was just concluded.
In the course of
"
that day I still heard frequent shouts of Long
"
live Lamartine !
although his great popularity was
already waning. In fact, one might say it was over,
were it not that in every crowd one meets with a
large number of belated individuals who are stirred
with the enthusiasm of yesterday, like the provincials
who begin to adopt the Paris mode on the day when
the Parisians abandon it.

Lamartine hastened to withdraw from this last ray

of his sun : he retired long before the ceremony was
finished. He looked weary and care-worn. Many
members of the Assembly, also overcome with
example, and the review ended
fatigue, followed his
in front of almost empty benches. It had begun

early and ended at night-fall.

The whole time elapsing between the review of
the 2 1 St of May and the days of June was filled with
the anxiety caused by the approach of these latter
days. Every day fresh alarms came and called out
the army and the National Guard the artisans and ;

shopkeepers no longer lived at home, but in the

public places and under arms. Each one fervently
desired to avoid the necessity of a conflict, and all

vaguely felt was becoming more

that this necessity
inevitable from day to day. The National Assembly
was so constandy possessed by this thought that one
might have said that it read the words Civil War'*
**

written on the four walls of the House.

 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE i8i

On all sides great efforts of prudence and patience

were being made to prevent, or at least delay, the
crisis. Members who in their hearts were most
hostile to the revolution were careful to restrain

any expressions of sympathy or antipathy the old ;

parliamentary orators were silent, lest the sound of

their voices should give umbrage they left the ;

rostrum to the new-comers, who themselves but

rarely occupied it, for the great debates had ceased.
As is common in all assemblies, that which most
disturbed the members' minds was that of which

they spoke least, though it was proved that each

day they thought of it. All sorts of measures to

help the misery of the people were proposed and

discussed. We
even entered readily into an ex-
amination of the different socialistic systems, and \

each strove in all good faith to discover in these

something applicable to, or at least compatible with,

the ancient laws of Society.

During this time, the national workshops continued

to fill ;
their population already exceeded one hun-
dred thousand men. was felt that we could not
I It

live if they were kept on, and it was feared that we

should perish if we tried to dismiss them.' This

burning question workshops was
of the national
treated daily, but superficially and timidly it was ;

constantly touched upon, but never firmly taken in

hand.
On the other hand, it was clear that, outside the

Assembly, the different parties, while dreading the

1 82 RECOLLECTIONS OF

contest, were actively preparing for it. The wealthy-

legions of the National Guard

offered banquets to

the army and to the Garde Mobile, in which they

mutually urged each other to unite for the common

defence.
The workmen of the suburbs, on their side, were

secretly amassing that great number of cartridges

which enabled them later to sustain so long a con-
test. As to the muskets, the Provisional Govern-
ment had taken care that these should be supplied
in profusion one could safely say that there was
;

not a workman who did not possess at least one,

and sometimes several.
The danger was perceived afar off as well as near
at han^. /The provinces grew indignant and irritated
with Paris ;
time for sixty years they
for the first

ventured to entertain the idea of resisting it the ;

people armed themselves and encouraged each other

to come to the assistance of the
Assembly they ;

sent it thousands of addresses congratulating it on its

victory of the 15th of May. The ruin of commerce,

universal war, the dread of Socialism made the Re-

public more and more hateful in the eyes of the

provinces. This hatred manifested itself especially

beneath the secrecy of the ballot. The electors
were called upon to re-elect in
twenty-one depart-
ments ;
and
general they elected the men who
in
in their eyes
represented the Monarchy in some
form or other. M. Mole was elected at Bordeaux,
and M. Thiers at Rouen.
 JLEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 183

It was then that suddenly, for the first time, the

name of Louis Napoleon came into notice. The
Prince was elected at the same time in Paris and
in several departments. J Republicans, Legitimists
and demagogues gave him their votes for the ;

nation at that time was like a frightened flock of

sheep, which runs in all directions without follow-

ing any road. I little
thought, when I heard that
Louis Napoleon had been nominated, that exactly a
year later I should be his minister. I confess that

I beheld the return of the old parliamentary leaders

with considerable apprehension and regret not that ;

I failed to do justice to their talent and discretion,

but feared lest their approach should drive back
I

towards the Mountain the moderate Republicans

who were coming towards us. Moreover, I knew
them too well not to see that, so soon as they had
returned to political life, they would wish to lead it,
and that it would not suit them to save the country
unless they could govern it. Now an enterprise
of this sort seemed to me both premature and

dangerous. Our duty and theirs was to assist the

moderate Republicans to govern the Republic with-

out seeking to govern it indirectly ourselves, and

especially without appearing to have this in view. \

For my part, I never doubted but that we were

on the eve of a terrible struggle nevertheless, I ;

did not fully understand our danger until after a

conversation that I had about this time with the
celebrated Madame Sand. I met her at an English-
 ,84 RECOLLECTIONS OF

man's of my
acquaintance Milnes,^ a member of
:

Parliament, who was then in Paris. Milnes was a

clever fellow who did and, what is rarer, said many-
foolish things. What a number of those faces I

have seen in of which one can say that the

my life

two profiles are not alike men of sense on one

:

I have
side, fools on the other. always seen Milnes
infatuated with something or somebody. This time
he was smitten with Madame Sand, and notwith-
standing the seriousness of events, had insisted on
I was
giving her a literary cUjeHner, present at this
repast, and the image of the days of June, which
followed so closely after, far from effacing the
remembrance of from my
mind, recalls it.
it

The company was anything but homogeneous.

Besides Madame Sand, I met a young English lady,

very modest and very agreeable, who must have

found the company invited to meet her somewhat
singular ;
some more or less obscure writers ;
and
M6rimee. Milnes placed me next to Madame Sand.
I had never spoken to her, and I doubt whether
I had ever seen her (I had lived little in the
world of literary adventurers which she frequented).
One of my friends asked her one day what she
thought of my book on America, and she answered,
"
Monsieur, I am only accustomed to read the books
which are presented to me by their authors." I was
strongly prejudiced against Madame Sand, for I

^
The Right Honble. Monckton Milnes, the late Lord Houghton.—
A. T. DE M.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 185

loathe women who write, especially those who syste-

matically disguise the weaknesses of their sex, instead
of interesting us by displaying them in their true
character. Nevertheless, she pleased me. I thought
her features rather massive, but her expression admir-
able :her mind seemed to have taken refuge in
all

her eyes, abandoning the rest of her face to matter ;

and I was particularly struck at meeting in her with

something of the naturalness of behaviour of great
minds. She had a real simplicity of manner and
language, which she mingled, perhaps, with some
affectation of simplicity in her dress.
little I confess

that, more adorned, she would have appeared still

more simple. We talked for a whole hour of public

affairs ; it was impossible to talk of anything else
in those days. Besides, Madame Sand at that time
was a and what she said on the
sort of politician,

subject struck me greatly it was the first time that

;

I had entered into direct and familiar communication

with a person able and willing to tell me what was

happening in the camp of our adversaries. Political

parties never know each other they approach, :

touch, seize, but never see one another. Madame

Sand depicted me, in great detail and with
to

singular vivacity, the condition of the Paris work-

men, their organization, their numbers, their arms,

their preparations, their thoughts, their passions,
their terrible resolves. I
thought the picture over-
loaded, but was not, as subsequent events clearly
it

proved. She seemed to be alarmed for herself at

i86 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

the popular triumph, and to take the greatest pity

upon the fate that awaited us.

"
Try to persuade your friends, monsieur," she
"
said, not to force the people into the streets by

alarming or irritating them. I also wish that I could

instil patience into my own friends ;
for if it comes
to a fight, believe me, you will all be killed."

With these consoling words we parted, and I have

never seen her since.
 CHAPTER IX
THE DAYS OF JUNE.

I COME at last to the insurrection of June, the most

extensive and the most singular that has occurred in
our history, and perhaps in any other the most :

extensive, because, during four days, more than a

hundred thousand men were engaged in it the most ;

singular, because the insurgents fought without a

war-cry, without leaders, without flags, and yet with
a marvellous harmony and an amount of military
experience that astonished the oldest officers.

What distinguished it also, among all the events

of this kind which have succeeded one another in
France for sixty years, is
thatj it did not aim at
j

changing the form of government, but at altering j

-^
the order of society. It was not, strictly speaking, a ,

political struggle, in the sense which until then we

had given to the word, but a combat of class against ^
class, a sort of Servile War.
represented the facts
It i

of the Revolution of February in the same manner j

as the theories of Socialism represented its ideas or ; '}

rather it issued naturally from these ideas, as a son

|

loes from his mother. We behold in it

nothing more |

than a blind and rude, but powerful, effort on the

)art of the workmen to escape from the necessities
187
 1 88 RECOLLECTIONS OF

of their condition, which had been depicted to them

as one of unlawful oppression, and to open up by
main force a road towards that imaginary comfort
with which they had been deluded. It was this

mixture of greed and false theory which first gave

birth to the insurrection and then made it so
formidable. These poor people had been told that
I

the wealth of the rich was in some way the produce

of a theft practised upon themselves. They had
been assured that the inequality of fortunes was as
opposed to morality and the welfare of society as
it was to nature. Prompted by their needs and
their passions, many had believed this obscure and
erroneous notion of right, which, mingled with brute
force, imparted to the latter an energy, a tenacity
and a power which it would never have possessed
unaided.
It must be observed that /this formidable
also
, insurrection was not the enterprise of a certain
number of conspirators, but the revolt of one whole
section of the population against another. Women
took part in it as well as men. While the latter

I fought, the former prepared and carried ammunition ;

and when at last the time had come to surrender,

the women were the last to yield. These women
I
went to batde with, as it were, a
housewifely ardour :

I
they looked to victory for the comfort of their
husbands and the education of their children. They
took pleasure in this war as
they might have taken
j
pleasure in a lottery.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 189

As to the strategic science displayed by this multi-

tude, the warlike nature of the French, their long"

experience of insurrections, and particularly the

military education which the majority of the men
of the people in turn receive, suffice to explain it.
Half of the Paris workmen have served in our
armies, and they are always glad to take up arms

again. Generally speaking, old soldiers abound in

our riots. On the 24th of February, when Lamori-^
cidre was surrounded by his foes, he twice owed his
life to insurgents who had fought under him in
Africa, men in whom the recollection of their

military life had been stronger than the fury of

civil war.
As we know, it was the closing of the national
workshops that occasioned the rising. Dreading to
disband this formidable soldiery at one stroke, the
Government had tried to disperse it
by sending part
of the workmen into the country. They refused to
leave. On the 22nd of June, they marched through
Paris in troops, singing in cadence, in a monotonous
chant,
"
We
won't be sent away, we won't be sent
away ." . Their delegates waited upon the
. .

members of the Committee of the Executive Power

with a series of arrogant demands, and on meeting
with a refusal, withdrew with the announcement that
next day they would have recourse to arms. Every-
thing, indeed, tended to show that the long-expected
crisis had come.
When this news reached the Assembly it caused
190 RECOLLECTIONS OF

the greatest alarm. Nevertheless, the Assembly did

not interrupt its order of the day it continued the ;

discussion of a commercial act, and even listened to

it, despite its was a very

excited condition ; true, it

important question and a very eminent orator was

speaking. The Government had proposed to acquire
all the railways by purchase. Montalembert opposed
it his case was good,
;
but his speech was excellent I ;

do not think I ever heard him speak so well before

or since. As a matter of fact, I thought as he did,
this time ;
but I believe that, even in the eyes of
his adversaries, he surpassed himself. He made
a vigorous attack without being as peevish and out-

rageous as usual. A certain fear tempered his

natural insolence, and set a limit to his paradoxical
and querulous humour for, like so many other men
;

of words, he had more temerity of language than

stoutness of heart.
The sitting concluded without any question as to
what was occurring outside, and the Assembly
adjourned.
On the 23rd, on going to the Assembly, I saw
a large number of omnibuses grouped round the
Madeleine. This told me that they were beginning
to erect barricades in the streets; which was con-
firmed on my arrival at the Palace. Nevertheless,
a doubt was expressed whether it was seriously con-
templated to resort to arms. I resolved to
go and
assure myself of the real state of
things, and, with
Corcelles, repaired to the neighbourhood of the

I
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 191

H6tel de Ville. In all the little streets surrounding

that building, I found the people engaged in making

barricades they proceeded in their work with the
;

cunning and regularity of an engineer, not unpaving

more stones than were necessary to lay the founda-
tions of a very thick, solid and even neatly-built
wall, in which they generally left a small opening by
the side of the houses to permit of ingress and egress.

Eager for quicker information as to the state of the

town, Corcelles and I agreed to separate. He went

one way and I the other and his excursion very
;

nearly turned out badly. He told me afterwards that,

after crossing several half-built barricades without im-

pediment, he was stopped at the last one. The men

of the lower orders who were building it, seeing a
fine gentleman, in black clothes and very white linen,

quietly trotting through the dirty streets round the

Hotel de Ville and stopping before them with a
placid and inquisitive air, thought they would make
use of this suspicious onlooker. They called upon
him, in the name of the brotherhood, to assist them
in their work. Corcelles was as brave as Caesar,
but he rightly judged under these circumstances,
that,
there was nothing better to be done than to give way

quietly. See him therefore lifting paving-stones and

placingthem as neatly as possible one atop the
other. His natural awkwardness and his absent-
mindedness fortunately came to his aid and he ;

was soon sent about his business as a useless

workman.
192 RECOLLECTIONS OF

To meno such adventure happened. I

passed
through the streets of the Saint- Martin and Saint-

Denis quarters without coming across any barricades

tospeak of; but the excitement was extraordinary.
On my return I met, in the Rue des Jeiineurs, a
National Guard covered with blood and fragments
of brain. He was very pale and was going home.
I asked him what was happening ;
he told me that
his battalionhad just received the full force of a
very murderous discharge of musketry at the Porte
Saint-Denis. One of his comrades, whose name
he mentioned to me, had been killed by his side,
and he was covered with the blood and brains of
this unhappy man.

returned to the Assembly, astonished at not

I

having met a single soldier in the whole distance

which I had traversed. It was not till I came in

front of the Palais- Bourbon that I at last perceived

great columns of infantry, marching, followed by

cannon.
Lamoriciere, in full uniform and on horseback,
was at their head. I have never seen a figure more
resplendent with aggressive passion and almost with
joy and whatever may have been the natural
;

impetuosity of his humour, I doubt whether it was

that alone which urged him at that moment, and
whether there was not mingled with it an eagerness
to avenge himself for the
dangers and outrages he
had undergone.
"What are you doing?" I asked him. "They,
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 193

have already been fighting at the Porte Saint-

Denis, and barricades are being built all round the
Hotel de Ville."
" "
Patience," he replied, we are going there. Do
you think we are such fools as to scatter our soldiers
on such a day as this over the small streets of the
suburbs ? No, no ! we shall let the insurgents con-

centrate in the quarters which we can't keep them

out of, and then we will go and destroy them. They
sha'n't escape us this time."

As I reached the Assembly, a terrible storm

broke, which flooded the town. I entertained a

slight hope that this bad weather would get us out

of our difficulties for the day, and it would, indeed,
have been enough to put a stop to an ordinary riot ;

for thepeople of Paris need fine weather to fight in,

and are more afraid of rain than of grape-shot. But
I soon lost this hope each moment the news became
:

more distressing. The Assembly found difficulty in

resuming its ordinary work. Agitated, though not

overcome, by the excitement outside, it suspended
the order of the day, returned to it, and finally

suspended it for good, giving itself over to the pre-

occupations of the civil war. Different members

came and described from the rostrum what they had
seen in Paris. Others suggested various courses
of action. Falloux, In the name of the Committee
of Public Assistance, proposed a decree dissolving
the national workshops, and received applause.
Time was wasted with empty conversations, empty
N
194 RECOLLECTIONS OF

speeches. Nothing was known for certain ;

they
of the Executive
kept on calling for the attendance
Commission, to inform them of the state of Paris, but
the latter did not appear. There is nothing more piti-
ful than the spectacle of an assembly in a moment
of crisis, when the Government itself fails it ;
it re-

sembles a man of will and passion, but

still full

impotent, and tossing childishly amid the helplessness

of his limbs. At last appeared two members of the
Executive Commission they announced that affairs
;

were in a perilous condition, but that, nevertheless,

it was hoped to crush the insurrection before night.

The Assembly declared its sitting permanent, and

adjourned till the evening.
When the sitting was resumed, we learnt that
Lamartine had been received with shots at all the
barricades he attempted to approach. of our Two
colleagues, Bixio and Domes, had been mortally
wounded when trying to address the insurgents.
Bedeau had been shot through the thigh at the
entrance to the Faubourg Saint- Jacques, and a
number of officers of distinction were already killed
or dangerously wounded. One of our members,
Victor Consid6rant, spoke of making concessions to
the workmen. The Assembly, which was tumul-
tuous and disturbed, but not weak, revolted at these
words: "Order, order .'"they cried on every side,
with a sort of rage, " it will be time to talk of that
"
after the victory ! The rest of the evening and a
portion of the night were spent in vaguely talking,

li
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 195

listening, and waiting.About midnight, Cavaignac

appeared. The Executive Commission had since
that afternoon placed the whole military power in
his hands. In a hoarse and jerky voice, and in

simple and precise words, Cavaignac detailed the

principal incidents of the day. He stated that he
had given orders to all the regiments posted along
the railways to converge upon Paris, and that all
the National Guards of the outskirts had been called
out he concluded by telling us that the insurgents
;

had been beaten back to the barriers, and that

he hoped soon to have mastered the city. The
Assembly, exhausted with fatigue, left its officials

sitting in permanence, and adjourned until eight

o'clock the next morning.

When, on quitting this turbulent scene, I found

myself at one in the morning on the Pont Royal,
»and from there beheld Paris wrapped in darkness,
ind calm as a city asleep, it was with difficulty that I

[persuaded myself that all that I had seen and heard

since the morning had existed in reality and was
lot a pure creation of my brain. The streets and
squares which I crossed were absolutely deserted ;

tnot a sound, not a cry ;

one would have said that an
findustrious population, fatigued with day's work,
its

was resting before resuming the peaceful labours of

the morrow. The serenity of the night ended by
over-mastering me brought myself to believe that
;
I

we had triumphed already, and on reaching home I

went straight to sleep
 196 RECOLLECTIONS OF

woke very early in

I the morning. The sun had
risen some time before, for we were in the midst of
the longest days of the year. On opening my eyes,
I heard a sharp, metallic sound, which shook the
window-panes and immediately died out amid the
silence of Paris.
" "
What is that ? I asked.

My wife replied, "It is the cannon ;

I have heard
it for over an hour, but would not wake you, for I
knew you would want your strength during the
day."
I dressed hurriedly and went out. The drums
were beating to arms on every side the day of the :

great battle had come at last. The National Guards

left their homes under arms ;
all those I met seemed
full of energy, for the sound of cannon, which brought
the brave ones out, kept the others at home. But
they were in bad humour :/ they thought themselves
either badly commanded
or betrayed by the Execu-

;
tive Power, against which they uttered terrible impre-

i cations. This extreme distrust of its leaders on the

'

'

part of the armed seemed to me an alarming

force

symptom. Continuing on my way, at the entrance

to the Rue Saint- Honore, I met a crowd of work-
men anxiously listening to the cannon. These men
were all in blouses, which, as we know, constitute
their fighting as well as
working clothes their ;

nevertheless, they had no arms, but one could see

by their looks that they were quite ready to take
them up. They remarked, with a hardly restrained
 ALEXIS DE rOCQUEVILLE 197

joy, that the sound of the firing seemed to come

nearer, which showed that the insurrection was
gaining ground. had augured before this that the
I

whole of the working class was engaged, either in

fact or in spirit, in the struggle ;
and this confirmed
my suspicions. The spirit of insurrection circulated
from one end to the other of this immense class,
and in each of itsparts, as the blood does in the
body ;
it filled the quarters where there was no

fighting, as well as those which served as the scene

of battle ; it had penetrated into our houses, around,

above, below us. The very places in which we

thought ourselves the masters swarmed with domestic
enemies one might say that an atmosphere of civil
;

war enveloped the whole of Paris, amid which, to

whatever part we withdrew, we had to live and in ;

this connection I shall violate the law I had im-

posed upon myself never to speak upon the word

of another, and will relate a fact which I learnt a
few days later from my colleague Blanqui.^ Although
very trivial, I consider it
very characteristic of the
physiognomy of the time. Blanqui had brought up
from the country and taken into his house, as a
servant, the son of a poor man, whose wretchedness
had touched him. On the evening of the day on
which the insurrection began, he heard this lad say,
"
as he was clearing the table after dinner, Next
Sunday [it was Thursday then] we shall be eating
"
the wings of the chicken ;
to which a little girl
1
Of the Institute, a brother of Blanqui of the 15th of May.
198 RECOLLECTIONS OF
"
who worked house repHed,
in the And we shall be
wearing fine silk dresses." Could anything give a
better idea of the general state of minds than this
childish scene? And tocomplete it, Blanqui was
very careful not to seem to hear these little
It was not
monkeys they really frightened him.
:

until after the victory that he ventured to send back

the ambitious pair to their hovels.

At last I reached the Assembly. Therepresenta-
tives were gathered in crowds, although the time
appointed for the sitting was not yet come. The
sound of the cannon had attracted them. The
Palace had the appearance of a fortified town :

battalions were encamped around, and guns were

levelled at the approaches leading to it.
all

I found the Assembly very determined, but

very
ill at ease and it must be confessed there was
;

enough to make it so.perceive

/
It was easy to

through the multitude of contradictory reports that

we had to do with the most universal, the best
armed, and the most furious insurrection ever known
in Paris. The workshops and various
national

revolutionary bands that had just been disbanded

supplied it with trained and disciplined soldiers and
with leaders. It was
extending every moment, and
it was difficult to believe that it would not end
by
being victorious, when one remembered that all

the great insurrections of the last

sixty years had
triumphed. To all these enemies we were only able
to oppose the battalions of the dojii'geoisie, regiments
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 199

which had been disarmed February, and twenty

in

thousand undisciplined lads of the Garde Mobile,

who were all sons, brothers, or near relations of
insurgents, and whose dispositions were doubtful.
But what alarmed us most was our leaders. The
members of the Executive Commission filled us with

profound distrust. On this subject I encountered,

in the Assembly, the same
feelings which I had
observed among the National Guard. We doubted
the good faith of some and the capacity of others.

They were too numerous, besides, and too much

divided to be able to act in complete harmony, and

they were too much men of speech and the pen to be

able to act to good purpose under such circumstances,
even if they had agreed among themselves.
Nevertheless, we succeeded
triumphing over
in

this so formidable insurrection nay more, it was

;

just that which rendered it so terrible which saved

us. One might well apply in this case the famous

phrase of the Prince de Conde, during the wars of

religion : "We
should have been destroyed, had we
not been so near destruction." ( Had the revolt
borne a less radical character and a less ferocious

aspect, probable that the greater part of the

it is

middle class would have stayed at home France ;

would not have come to our aid ;

the National

Assembly would perhaps have yielded, or at

itself

members would have advised

least a minority of its
it and the energy of the whole body would have
;

been greatly unnerved. But the insurrection was of

200 RECOLLECTIONS OF

such a nature that any commerce with it became at

once impossible, and from the first it left us no alter-
native but to defeat or to be destroyed ourselves.
it

The same reason prevented any man of considera-

tion from placing himself at itsIn general,
head. |

insurrections— I mean even those which succeed —

begin without a leader but they always end by
;

securing one. This insurrection finished without

having found one ;
it embraced every class of the

populace, but never passed those limits. Even the

Montagnards in the Assembly did not dare pro-
nounce in its favour. Several pronounced against
it.
They not even yet despair of attaining
did
their ends by other means they feared, more-
;

over, that the triumph of the workmen would

soon prove fatal to them.
greedy, blind The
and vulgar passions which induced the populace to
take up arms alarmed them for these passions are
;

as dangerous to those who sympathize with them,

without utterly abandoning themselves to them,
as to those who reprove and combat them. The
only men who could have placed themselves at
the head of the insurgents had allowed themselves
to be prematurely taken, like fools, on the 15 th of

May ;
and they only heard the sound of the conflict

through the walls of the dungeon of Vincennes. /

Preoccupied though I was with public affairs, I
continued to be distressed with the uneasiness which
my young nephews once more caused me. They
had been sent back to the Litde Seminary, and I

%
 ji LEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 201

feared that the insurrection must come pretty near,

if it had not already reached, the place where they
lived. As their parents were not in Paris, I decided
to go and fetch them, and I accordingly again
traversed the long distance separating the Palais-
Bourbon from the Rue Notre- Dame-des-Champs. I
came across a few barricades erected
during the
night by the forlorn hope of the insurrection but ;

these had been either abandoned or captured at day-

break.
All these quarters resounded with a devilish
music, a mixture of drums and trumpets, whose
rough, discordant, savage notes were new to me.
In fact, I heard for the first time —and I have never
heard it since —the rally, which it had been decided
should never be beaten except in extreme cases
and whole population at once to arms.
to call the

Everywhere National Guards were issuing from the

houses everywhere stood groups of workmen in
;

blouses, listening with a sinister air to the rally and

the cannon. The fighting had not yet reached so
far as the Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, although
it was
very near it. I took
my nephews with me,
and returned to the Chamber.
As I approached, and when I was already in the
midst of the troops which guarded it, an old woman,
pushing a barrow full of vegetables, obstinately
barred my progress. I ended by
her pretty telling
curtly to make way. Instead of doing so, she left
her barrow and flew at me in such a frenzy that
ao2 RECOLLECTIONS OF

I had great difficulty in protecting myself. I was

horrified at the hideous and frightful expression of
her face,on which were depicted all the fury of dema-

gogic passion and the rage of civil war. I mention

this little fact because I beheld in it, and with good

cause, an important symptom. In violently critical

times, even actions which have nothing to do with
politics assume a singular character of anger and
disorder, which does not escape the attentive eye,
and which isan unfailing index of the general state
of mind. These great public excitements form a
sort of glowing atmosphere in which all private
passions seethe and bubble.
I found the Assembly agitated by a thousand
sinister reports. The insurrection
gaining was
ground every direction.
in Its head-quarters, or, so

to speak, its trunk, was behind the Hotel de Ville,

whence it stretched its
long arms further and further
to right and left into the suburbs, and threatened
soon to hug even us. The cannon was draw-
ing appreciably nearer. And to this correct news
were added a thousand lying rumours. Some said
that our troops were
running short of ammunition ;
others, that a number of them had laid down their
arms or gone over to the insurgents.
M. Thiers asked Barrot, Dufaure, Remusat, Lan-
juinaisand myself to follow him to a private room.
There he said :

"I know something of insurrections, and I tell

you this i^ the worst I have ever seen. The
 ALEXIS BE TOCQUEVILLE 20J

insurgents may be here within an hour, and we

shall be butchered one and all. Do you not think
that it would be well for us to agree to propose to
the Assembly, so soon as we think necessary and
before becomes too late,
it that it should call back
the troops around it, in order that, placed in their
midst, we may all leave Paris together and remove
the seat of the Republic to a place where we could
summon the army and all the National Guards in
"
France to our assistance ?

He said very eager tones and with a

this in

greater display of excitement than is, perhaps, advis-

able in the presence of great danger. I saw that
he was pursued by the ghost of February. Dufaure,
who had a less vivid imagination, and who, more-
over, never readily made up his mind to associate
himself with people he did not care about, even to
save himself, phlegmatically and somewhat sarcasti-

cally explained that the time had not yet come to dis-

cuss a plan of this kind that we could always talk

;

of it later on that our chances did not seem to him

;

so desperate as to oblige us to entertain so extreme a

remedy that to entertain it was to weaken ourselves.

;

He was undoubtedly right, words broke up

and his

the consultation. I at once wrote a few lines to

my wife, telling her that the danger was hourly

increasing, that Paris would perhaps end by falling

entirely into the power of the revolt, and that, in
that case, we should be obliged to leave it in order
to carry on the civil war elsewhere. I charged her
204 RECOLLECTIONS OF

to go at once to Saint- Germain by the railroad,

which was still free, and there to await my news ;

told my nephews to take the letter ;

and returned to

the Assembly. found them discussing a decree

I

to proclaim Paris in a state of siege, to abolish

the powers of the Executive Commission, and to

replace it by a military dictatorship under General

Cavaignac.
The Assembly knew precisely that this was
what it wanted. The thing was easily done it was :

urgent, and yet it was not done. Each moment

some little incident, some trivial motion inter-

rupted and turned aside the current of the general

wish for assemblies are very liable to that sort of
;

nightmare in which an unknown and invisible force

seems always at the last moment to interpose be-
tween the will and the deed and to prevent the one
from influencing the other. Who would have thought
that itwas Bastide who should eventually induce
the Assembly to make up its mind? Yet he it
was.
I had heard him say was very true —and it —
speaking of himself, that he was never able to
remember more than the first fifteen words of a
speech. But I have sometimes observed that men
who do not know how to speak produce a greater

impression, under certain circumstances, than the

finest orators. They bring forward but a single
idea, that of the moment, clothed in a single phrase,
and somehow they lay it down in the rostrum like
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 205

an inscription written in big letters, which every-

body perceives, and in which each instantly recog-
nizes his own particular thought. Bastide, then,
displayed his long, honest, melancholy face in the

tribune, and said, with a mournful air :

"
Citizens, in the name
of the country, I beseech

you to vote as quickly as possible. are told We

that perhaps within an hour the Hotel de Ville will
be taken."
These few words put an end to debate, and the
decree was voted in the twinkling of an eye.
I protested against the clause proclaiming Paris
in a state of siege I did so
; by instinct rather than
reflection. I have such a contempt and so great a
natural horror for military despotism that these feel-

ings came rising tumultuously in my breast when I

heard a state of siege suggested, and even dominated

those prompted by our peril. In this I made a
mistake in which I fortunately found few to imitate
me.
The friends of the Executive Commission have
asserted in very bitter terms that their adversaries
and the partisans of General Cavaignac spread
ominous rumours on purpose to precipitate the vote.
If the latter did really resort to this trick, I
gladly
pardon them, for the measures they caused to be
taken were indispensable to the safety of the country.
Before adopting the decree of which I have
spoken, the Assembly unanimously voted another,
which declared that the families of those who should
2o6 RECOLLECTIONS OF

fall the struggle should receive a pension from

in

the Treasury and their children be adopted by the

Republic.
It was decided that sixty members of the Chamber,

appointed by the committees, should spread them-

selves over Paris, inform the National Guards of
the different decrees issued by the Assembly, and
re-establish their confidence, which was said to be
uncertain and discouraged. In the committee to
which I belonged, instead of immediately appointing
commissioners, they began an endless discussion on
the uselessness and danger of the resolution adopted.
In this manner a great deal of time was lost. I

ended by stopping this ludicrous chatter with a

word. "Gentlemen," I said, "the Assembly may
have been mistaken but permit me to observe
;

that, having passed a two-fold resolution, it would

be a disgrace for it to draw back, and a disgrace
for us not to submit."

They voted on the spot and I was unanimously

;

elected a commissioner, as I expected. My

colleagues
were Cormenin and Cr^mieux, to whom they added
Goudchaux. The latter was then not so well known,
although in his own way he was the most original
of them all. He was at once a Radical and a banker,
a rare combination; and by dint of his business
occupations, he had succeeded by covering with a
few reasonable ideas the foundation of his mind,
which was filled with mad theories that always
ended by making their way to the top. It was
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 207

impossible to be vainer, more irascible, more

quarrelsome, petulant or excitable than he. He
was unable to discuss the difficulties of the Budget
without shedding tears ;
and yet he was one of
the valiantest little men it was
possible to meet
Thanks to the stormy discussion in our committee,
the other deputations had already left, and with
them the guides and the escort who were to have
accompanied us. Nevertheless, we set out, after
putting on our scarves, and turned our steps alone
and a little at hazard towards the interior of Paris,
along the right bank of the Seine. By that time
the insurrection had made such progress that one
could see the cannon drawn up in line and firing
between the Pont des Arts and the Pont Neuf.
The National Guards, who saw
us from the top of
the embankment, looked at us with anxiety; they

respectfully took off their hats, and said in an under-

"
tone, and with grief-stricken accents, Long live the
"
National Assembly ! No
noisy cheers uttered at
the sight of a king ever came more visibly from the
heart, or pointed to a more unfeigned sympathy.
When we had passed through the gates and were
on the Carrousel, I saw that Cormenin and Cremieux
were imperceptibly making for the Tuileries, and I
heard one of them, I forget which, say :

"
Where can we go ? And what can we do of

any use without guides ? Is it not best to content

ourselves with going through the Tuileries gardens ?
There are several battalions of the reserve stationed
 2o8 RECOLLECTIONS OF

there ;
we will inform them of the decrees of the

Assembly."
"
"
Certainly," replied the other ;
I even think we
shall be executing the Assembly's instructions better

than our colleagues for what can one say to people

;

already engaged in action? It is the reserves that

we should prepare to fall into line in their turn."

I have always thought it rather interesting to

follow the involuntary movements of fear in clever

people. Fools coarsely display their cowardice in

all its nakedness but the others are able to cover
;

it with a veil so delicate, so daintily woven with

small, plausible lies, that there is some pleasure to
be found in contemplating this ingenious work of the
brain.
As may be supposed, I was in no humour for a

stroll in the Tuileries gardens. I had set out in

none too good a temper but it was no good crying

;

over spilt milk. I therefore

pointed out to Goud-
chaux the road our colleagues had taken.
"
I know," he said,
angrily "I shall leave them ;

and I will make public the decrees of the Assembly

without them."

Together we made for the gate opposite. Cor-

menin and Cremieux soon rejoined us, a little
ashamed of their attempt. Thus we reached the
Rue Saint-Honor6, the appearance of which was
perhaps what struck me most during the days of
June. This noisy, populous street was at this
moment more deserted than I had ever seen it at
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 209

four o'clock on a winter morning. As far as the

eye could reach, we perceived not a living soul ;

the shops, doors and windows were

hermetically
closed. Nothing was visible, nothing stirred we ;

heard no sound of a wheel, no clatter of a horse,

no human footstep, but only the voice of the cannon,
which seemed to resound through an abandoned
city. Yet the houses were not empty for as we ;

walked on, we could catch glimpses at the windows

of women and children who, with their faces glued
to the panes, watched us go by with an affrighted
air.

At last, near the Palais- Royal, we met some

large bodies of National Guards, and our mission
commenced. When Cremieux saw that it was only
a question of talking, he became all ardour ;
he
told them of what had happened at the National
Assembly, and held forth to them in a little bravura
speech which was heartily applauded. We found an
escort there, and passed on. We wandered a long
time through the little streets of that district, until

we came in front of the great barricade of the Rue

Rambuteau, which was not yet taken and which
stopped our further progress. From there we came
back again through all those little streets, which
were covered with blood from the recent combats :

they were still fighting from time to time. For

it was a war of ambuscades, whose scene was not

fixed but every moment changed. When one least

expected it, one was shot at through a garret

o
310 RECOLLECTIONS OF

window ;
and on breaking into the house, one found
the gun but not the marksman the latter escaped by :

a back-door while the front-door was being battered

in. For this reason the National Guards had orders
to have all the shutters opened, and to fire on
all those who showed themselves at the windows ;

and they obeyed these orders so literally that they

narrowly escaped killing several merely inquisitive

people whom the sight of our scarves tempted to
put their noses outside.
During this walk of two or three hours, we had to
make at least thirty speeches I refer to Cremieux
;

and myself, for Goudchaux was only able to speak

on finance, and as to Cormenin, he was always as
dumb as a fish. To tell the truth, almost all the
burden of the day upon Cremieux. He filled
fell

me, I will not say with admiration, but with surprise.

"
Janvier has said of Cremieux that he was an
eloquent louse." only he could have seen him
If

that day, jaded, with uncovered breast, dripping

with perspiration and dirty with dust, wrapped in a

long scarf twisted several times in every direction

round his little body, but constantly hitting upon
new ideas, or rather new words and phrases, now
expressing gestures what he had
in
just expressed
in words, then in words what he had
just expressed
in gestures do
always eloquent, always' ardent
: ! I

not believe that anyone has ever seen, and I doubt J

whether anyone has ever imagined, a man who was
uglier or more fluent.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 211

I observed that when the National Guards were

told that Paris was in a state of siege, they were
pleased, and when one added that the Executive
Commission was overthrown, they cheered. Never
were people so delighted to be relieved of their
liberty and their government. And yet this was
what Lamartine's popularity had come to in less
than two months.
When we
had done speaking, the men surrounded
us they asked us if we were quite sure that the
;

Executive Commission had ceased to act we had ;

to show them the decree to satisfy them.

was the firm attitude of
Particularly remarkable
these men. We had come to encourage them, and
"
it was rather
they who encouraged us. Hold on
at the National Assembly," they cried, "and we'll
hold on here. Courage ! no transactions with the
insurgents We'll put an end to the revolt
! all :

will end well." I had never seen the National

Guard so resolute before, nor do I think that we
could rely upon finding it so again for its courage
;

was prompted by necessity and despair, and pro-

ceeded from circumstances which are not likely
to recur.
on that day reminded me of a city of an-
(Paris
tiquity whose citizens defended the walls like heroes,
because they knew that if the city were taken they
themselves would be dragged into slavery. As
we turned our steps back towards the Assembly,
Goudchaux left us. "Now that we have done our
212 RECOLLECTIONS OF

errand," said he, clenching his teeth, and in an

"
accent half Gascon and half Alsatian, I want to go
and fight a bit." He said this with such a martial

air, so little in harmony with his pacific appearance,

that I could not help smiling.

He go and fight, as I heard the next
did, in fact,

day, and so well that he might have had his little

paunch pierced in two or three places, had fate so
willed it. I returned from my round convinced that
we should come out victorious ;
and what I saw on
nearing the Assembly confirmed my opinion.
Thousands of men were hastening to our aid
from every part of France, and entering the city
by all the roads not commanded by the insurgents.
Thanks to the railroads, some had already come
from fifty although the fighting
leagues' distance,
had only begun the night before. On the next
and the subsequent days, they came from distances
of a hundred and two hundred leagues. These men
belonged indiscriminately to every class of society ;

among them were many peasants, many shop-

keepers, many landlords and nobles, all mingled
together in the same ranks. They were armed in
an irregular and manner, but they rushed
insufficient
into Paris with unequalled ardour a spectacle as :

strange and unprecedented in our revolutionary

annals as that offered by the insurrection itself It

was evident from that moment that we should end by

gaining the day, for the insurgents received no rein-
forcements, whereas we had all France for reserves.

A
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVJLLE 213

On the Place Louis XV., I met, surrounded by

the armed inhabitants of his canton, my kinsman
Lepelletier d'Aunay, who was Vice-President of the
Chamber of Deputies during the last days of the

Monarchy. He wore neither uniform nor musket,

but only a little silver-hilted sword which he had

slung at his side over his coat by a narrow

white linen bandolier. I was touched to tears
on seeing this venerable white-haired man thus
accoutred.
"
Won't you come and dine with us this evening? "
" "
No, no," he replied what would these good
;

folk who are with me, and who know that I have
more to lose than they by the victory of the insur-
rection— what would they say if they saw me leaving
them to take it easy ? No, I will share their repast
and sleep here at their bivouac. The only thing I
would beg you is, if possible, to hurry the despatch
of the provision of bread promised us, for we have
had no food since morning."
I returned to the Assembly, I believe at about
three, and did not go out again. The remain-
der of the day was taken up by accounts of the
fighting each moment produced its event and its
:

piece of news. The arrival of volunteers from

one of the departments was announced they were ;

bringing prisoners flags captured on the bar-

in ;

ricades were brought in. Deeds of bravery were

described, heroic words repeated each moment we;

learnt of some person of note being wounded or

J 14 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

killed. As to the final issue of the day, nothing had

yet occurred to enable us to form an opinion.
The President only called the Assembly together
at infrequent intervals and for short periods ;
and he
was right, for assemblies are like children, and idle-
ness always makes them say or do a number of
foolish things. Each time the sitting was resumed,
he himself told us all that had been learnt for certain
during the adjournment. This President, as we
know, was S6nard, a well-known Rouen advocate
and a man of courage but in his youth he had con-
;

tracted so deep-seated a theatrical habit in the daily

comedy played at the bar that he had lost the faculty

of truthfully giving his true impressions of a thing,
when by accident he happened to have any. It
seemed always necessary that he should add some
turgidity or other of his own to the feats of
courage
he described, and that he should express the emotion,
which I believe he really felt, in hollow tones, a
trembling voice, and a sort of tragic hiccough which
reminded one of an actor on the stage. Never were
the sublime and the ridiculous brought so close

together : for the facts were sublime and the nar-

rator ridiculous.
We did not adjourn till late at night to take a
little rest The fighting had stopped, to be resumed
on the morrow. The insurrection, although every-
where held in check, had as yet been stifled nowhere.
 CHAPTER X
THE DAYS OF JUNE — {continued).

The porter of the house in which we Hved in the

Rue de la Madeleine was a man of very bad reputa-
tion in the neighbourhood, an old soldier, not quite

mind, a drunkard, and a great good-for-

in his right

nothing, who spent at the wine-shop all the time

which he did not employ in beating his wife. This
man might be said to be a Socialist by birth, or
rather by temperament.
The early successes of the insurrection had brought
him to a state of exaltation, and on the morning of
the day of which speak he visited all the wine-
I

shops around, and among other mischievous remarks

of which he delivered himself, he said that he would
kill me when I came home in the evening, if I came
in at all. He even displayed a large knife which
:he intended to use for the purpose. woman A poor
who heard him ran in great alarm to tell Madame de
Tocqueville and she, before leaving Paris, sent me
;

a note in which, after telling me of the facts, she

begged me not to come in that night, but to go to
my father'shouse, which was close by, he being
away. This I determined to do but when I left;

the Assembly at midnight, I had not the energy to

MS
2i6 RECOLLECTIONS OF

I was worn out with

carry out my intention. fatigue,
and I did not know whether I should find a bed
prepared if I slept out. Besides, I had little faith in

the performance of murders proclaimed beforehand ;

and also I was under the influence of the sort of
listlessness that follows
upon any prolonged ex-
citement. I
accordingly went and knocked at my
door, only taking the precaution to load the pistols
which, in those unhappy days, it was common to
carry. My man opened the door, I entered, and
while he was carefully pushing the bolts behind me,
I asked him if all the tenants had come home. He
replied drily that they had all left Paris that morning,
and that we two were alone in the house. I should
have preferred another kind of tHe-a-tite, but it was
too late to go back I therefore looked him straight
;

in the eyes and told him to walk in front and show

a light.
He
stopped at a gate that led to the court-yard,
and told me that he heard a curious noise in the
stables which alarmed him, begging me to go with
him to see what it was. As he spoke, he turned
towards the All this began to seem very
stables.

suspicious to me, but I thought that, as I had gone

so far, it was better to go on. I accordingly followed
him, carefully watching his movements, and making
up my mind to kill him like a dog at the first sign
of treachery. As a matter of fact, we did hear a

very strange noise. It resembled the dull running

of water or the distant rumble of a carriage, although

I
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 217

itobviously came from somewhere quite near. I

never learnt what it was though it was true I did

;

not spend much time in trying to discover. I soon

returned to the house and made my companion

bring me to my threshold, keeping my eyes on him

I told him to
the whole time. open my door, and
so soon as he had done so, I took the candle from
his hand and went in. It was not until I was almost
out of his sight that he brought himself to take off
his hatand bow to me. Had the man really intended
to kill me,and seeing me on my guard, with both
hands in my pockets, did he reflect that I was better
armed than he, and that he would be well advised
to abandon his design ? I thought at the time that
the latter had never been very seriously intended,
and I think so still. In times of revolution, people
boast almost as much about the imaginary crimes

they propose to commit as in ordinary times they

do of the good intentions they pretend to entertain.
I have always believed that this wretch would only

have become dangerous if the fortunes of the fight

had seemed to turn against us but they leant, on ;

the contrary, to our side, although they were still un-

decided ;
and this was sufficient to assure my safety.
At dawn I heard some one in my room, and woke
with a start : it was my man-servant, who had let

himself in with a private key of the apartment, which

he carried. The brave lad had just left the bivouac
(Ihad supplied him at his request with a National
Guard's uniform and a good gun), and he came to
2i8 RECOLLECTIONS OF

know had come home and if his services were

if I

required. This one was certainly not a Socialist,

either in theory or temperament. He was not even
tainted in the slightest degree with the most general

malady of the age, restlessness of mind, and even in

other times than ours it would have been difficult

to find a man more contented with his position and

less sullen at his lot. Always very much satisfied
with himself, and tolerably satisfied with others, he

generally desired only that which was within his

reach, and he generally attained, or thought he
attained, all that he desired thus unwittingly follow-
;

ing the precepts which philosophers teach and never

observe, and enjoying by the gift of Nature that
happy equilibrium between faculty and desire
which alone gives the happiness which philosophy
promises us.

"Well, Eugene," I said, when I saw him, "how

"
are affairs going on ?
" "
Very well, sir, perfectly well 1

"
What do you mean by very well } I can still
"
hear the sound of cannon !

"Yes, they are still fighting," he replied, "but

every one says it will end all right."
With that he took off his uniform, cleaned
my
boots, brushed my clothes, and putting on his
uniform again :

"
If you don't require me any more, sir," said he,
"and ifyou will permit me, I will go back to the
fighting."
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 219

He pursued this two-fold calling during four days

and four nights, as simply as I cim writing it down ;

and I
experienced a sort of reposeful feeling, during
these days filled with turmoil and hate, when I looked
at the young man's peaceful and contented face.
Before going to the Assembly, where I did not
think there would be any important measures to
take, I resolved to make my way to the places where
the fighting was still going on, and where I heard
the sound of cannon. It was not that I was longing

"to go and fight a bit," like Goudchaux, but I

wanted to judge for myself as to the state of things ;

for, my complete ignorance of war, I could not

in

understand what made the struggle last so long.

Besides, shall I confess it, a keen curiosity was

piercing through all the feelings that filled my mind,

and from time to time dominated them. I went
along a great portion of the boulevard without

seeing any traces of the battle, but there were

plenty just beyond the Porte Saint-Martin one ;

stumbled over the ddbris left behind by the retreat-

ing insurrection broken windows, doors smashed
:

in, houses spotted by bullets or pierced by cannon-

balls, trees cut down, heaped-up paving-stones, straw

mixed with blood and mud. Such were these melan-
choly vestiges.
I thus reached the Chateau-d'Eau, around which

were massed a number of troops of different sorts.

At was a piece of cannon

the foot of the fountain
which was being discharged down the Rue Samson.
220 RECOLLECTIONS OF

I
thought at first that the insurgents were replying
with cannon on their side, but I ended by seeing
that was deceived by an echo which repeated with
I

a terrible crash the sound of our own gun. I have

never heard anything like it one might have thought ;

one's the midst of a great battle.

self in As a
matter of fact, the insurgents were only replying
with an infrequent but deadly musketry fire.
It was a strange combat. The Rue Samson, as
we know, is not a very long one ; at the end runs the
Canal Saint-Martin, and behind the canal is a large
house facing the street. The street was absolutely
deserted there was no barricade in sight, and the
;

gun seemed to be firing at a target only from time

;

smoke
to time a whiff of issued from a few windows,
and proclaimed the presence of an invisible enemy.
Our sharp-shooters, posted along the walls, aimed at
the windows from which they saw the shots fired.
Lamoriciere, mounted on a tall horse in full view
of the enemy, gave his commands amid the whirl
of bullets. I
thought he was more excited and
talkative than I had imagined a general ought to be
in such a juncture ;
he talked, shouted in a hoarse
voice, gesticulated in a sort of rage. It was easy to

see by the clearness of his thoughts and expressions

that amid this apparent disorder he lost none of his

presence of mind but his manner of commanding

;

might have caused others to lose theirs, and I con-

fess I should have admired his courage more if he
had kept more quiet.
 JLEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 221

This which one saw nobody before him,

conflict, in
this firing, which seemed to be aimed only at the
walls, surprisedme strangely. I should never have
pictured war to myself under this aspect. As the
boulevard seemed clear beyond the Chiteau-d'Eau,
I was unable to understand
why our columns did
not pass further, nor why, if we wanted first to seize
the large house facing the street, we did not capture it
ata run, instead of remaining so long exposed to the
deadly fire issuing from it. Yet nothing was more
easily explained the boulevard, which I thought
:

clear from the Chateau-d'Eau onwards, was not so ;

beyond the bend which it makes at this place, it was

bristling with barricades, all the way to the Bastille.
Before attacking the barricades, we wanted to be-
come masters of the streets we left behind us, and

especially to capture the house facing the street,

which, commanding the boulevard as it did, would
have impeded our communications. Finally, we
did not take the house by assault, because we were

separated from it by the canal, which I could not

see from the boulevard. We
confined ourselves,

therefore, to efforts to destroy it by cannon-shots,

or at least to render it untenable. This took a long
time to accomplish, and after being astonished in the

morning that the fighting had not finished, I now

asked myself how at this rate it could ever finish.

For what I was

witnessing at the Chiteau-d'Eau
was at the same time being repeated in other forms
in a hundred different parts of Paris.
222 RECOLLECTIONS OF

As
the insurgents had no artillery, the conflict did
not possess the horrible aspect which it must have
when the battle-field is ploughed by cannon balls.
The men who were struck down before me seemed
transfixed by an invisible shaft :
they staggered and
fellwithout one's seeing at first anything but a little
hole made in their clothes. In the cases of this kind
which I witnessed, I was struck less by the sight of
physical pain than by the picture of moral anguish.
It was indeed a strange and frightful thing to see

the sudden change of features, the quick extinction

of the light in the eyes in the terror of death.
After a certain period, I saw Lamoriciere's horse
sink to the ground, shot by a bullet it was the ;

third horse the General had had killed under him

since theday before yesterday. He sprang lightly
to the ground, and continued bellowing his raging
instructions.
I noticed that on our side the least eager were
the soldiers of the Line.They were weakened and,
as were,
it dulled by the remembrance of February,
and did not yet seem quite certain that they would
not be told the next day that they had done
wrong.
The liveliest were undoubtedly the Gardes Mobiles
of whom we had felt so uncertain and, in
spite of ;
|
the event, I maintain that we were at the time
right, ;

for it wanted but little for them to decide against

us instead of taking our side. Until the end, they
plainly showed that was the
fighting they loved
it

rather than the cause for which

they fought.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 223

All these troops were raw and very subject to

panic I myself was a judge and almost a victim of

:

this. At a street corner close to the Chateau-d'Eau

was a large house in process of building. Some insur-

gents, who doubtless entered from behind across the

court-yards, had taken up their position there, un-

known to us suddenly they appeared on the roof,
;

and fired a great volley at the troops who filled the

boulevard, and who did not expect to find the enemy
posted so close at hand. The sound of their muskets
reverberating with a great crash against the opposite
houses gave reason to dread that a surprise of the
same kind was taking place on that side. Immedi-
ately the most incredible confusion prevailed in our
column artillery, cavalry, and infantry were mingled
:

in a moment, the soldiers fired in every direction,

without knowing what they were doing, and tumul-

tuously fell back sixty paces. This retreat was so

disorderly and so impetuous that I was thrown
against the wall of the houses facing the Rue du
Faubourg-du-Temple, knocked down by the cavalry,
and so hard pressed that I left my hat on the field,
and very nearly left my body there. It was certainly
the most serious danger I ran during the days of June.
This made me think that it is not all heroism in the
game of war. have no doubt but that accidents of
I

this kind often happen to the very best troops no ;

one boasts about them, and they are not mentioned

in the despatches.

It was now that Lamoriciere became sublime. He

224 RECOLLECTIONS OF

had then kept his sword in the scabbard he now

till :

drew it, and ran up to his soldiers, his features dis-

torted with the most magnificent rage he stopped ;

them with his voice, seized them with his hands, even
struck them with the pummel of his sword, turned
them, brought them back, and, placing himself at
their head, forced them to pass at the trot through
the fire in the Rue du Faubourg-du-Temple in order
to take the house from which the firing had come.
This was done in a moment, and without striking a
blow the enemy had disappeared.
:

The combat resumed its dull aspect and lasted

some time longer, until the enemy's fire was at length
extinguished, and the street occupied. Before com-

mencing the next operation, there was a moment's

pause Lamoriciere went to his head-quarters, a
:

wine-shop on the boulevard near the Porte Saint-

Martin, and I was at last able to consult him on the
state of affairs.
" "
How long do you think," I asked, that all this
will last?"

"Why, how can I tell?" he replied. "That

depends on the enemy, not on us."
He then showed me on the map all the streets
we had already captured and were occupying, and all
those we had still to take, adding, " If the insurgents
choose to defend themselves on the ground they still
hold as they have done on that which we have won
from them, we may still have a week's fighting before
us, and our loss will be enormous, for we lose more
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 225

than they do the first side to lose

: its moral courage
will be the first to be beaten."

next reproached him with exposing himself so

I

rashly, and, as I thought, so uselessly.

" " "
What will you have me do ? said he. Tell
Cavaignac to send generals able and willing to
second me, and I will keep more in the background ;

but you always have to expose yourself when you

have only yourself to rely on."

M. Thiers came up, threw himself on

then
Lamoriciere's neck, and told him he was a hero.
I could not
help smiling at this effusion, for there was
no love lost between them but a great danger is
:

like wine, it makes men affectionate.

I left Lamoriciere in M. Thiers' arms, and returned

to the Assembly: it was growing late, and besides, I

know no greater fool than the man who gets his head
broken out of curiosity.
in battle

The rest of the day was spent as the day

before : the same anxiety in the Assembly, the same

feverish inaction, the same firmness. Volunteers
continued to enter Paris ; every moment we were
told of some tragic event or illustrious death.
These pieces of news saddened, but animated and
fortified, the Assembly. Any member who ventured
to propose to enter into negociations with the insur-

gents was met with yells of rage.

In the evening I decided to go myself to the Hotel
de Ville, in order there to obtain more certain news
of the results of the day. The insurrection, after
p
226 RECOLLECTIONS OF

alarming me by its extreme violence, now alarmed

me by its For who could foresee the
long duration.
effect which the sight of so long and uncertain a

conflict might produce in some parts of France, and

especially in the great manufacturing towns,

such as

Lyons ? As I went along the Quai de la Ferraille,

I met some National Guards from my neighbour-

hood, carrying on litters several of their comrades

and two of their officers wounded. I observed, in
talking with them, with what terrible rapidity, even
in so civilized a century as our own, the most peace-
ful minds were, into the spirit of civil war,
enter, as it

and how quick they are, in these unhappy times, to

acquire a taste for violence and a contempt for human
life. The men with whom was talking were peaceful,
I

sober artisans, whose gentle and somewhat sluggish

natures were still further removed from cruelty than
from heroism. Yet they dreamt of nothing but
massacre and destruction. They complained that
they were not allowed to use bombs, or to sap and
mine the streets held by the insurgents, and they
were determined to show no more quarter already ;

that morning I had almost seen a poor devil shot

before my eyes on the boulevards, who had been
arrested without arms in his hands, but whose mouth
and hands were blackened by a substance which they
supposed to be, and which no doubt was, powder. I

did could to calm these rabid sheep. I promised

all I

them that we should take terrible measures the next

day. Lamoricidre, in fact, had told me that morning
 JLEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 227

that he had sent for shells to hurl behind the barri-

cades ;
and I knew
that a regiment of sappers was

expected from Douai, to pierce the walls and blow

up the besieged houses with petards. I added that
they must not shoot any of their prisoners, but that
they should kill then and there anyone who made as
though to defend himself. I left my men a little

more contented, and, continuing I could

my road,
not help examining myself and feeling surprised at
the nature of the arguments I had used, and the

promptness with which, in two days, I had become

familiarized with those ideas of inexorable destruc-
tion which were naturally so foreign to my character.
As I
passed in front of the little streets at the
entrance to which, two days before, I had seen such
neat and solid barricades being built, I noticed that
the cannon had considerably upset those fine works,

although some traces remained.

I was received by Marrast, the Mayor of Paris.
He told me that the Hotel de Ville was clear for the

present, but that the insurgents might try in the

night to recapture the streets from which we had
driven them. I found him less tranquil than his
bulletins. He took me to a room in which they had
laid Bedeau, who was dangerously wounded on the
first day. This post at the Hotel de Ville was a
very fatal one for the generals who commanded there.
Bedeau almost lost his life. Duvivier and N^grier,
who succeeded him, were killed. Bedeau believed
he was but slightly hurt, and thought only of the
228 RECOLLECTIONS OF

situation of affairs : nevertheless, his activity of mind

struck me as ill-omened, and alarmed me.
Thenight was well advanced when I left the
H6tel de Ville to go to the Assembly. I was offered

an escort, which I refused, not thinking I should

require it ;
but I
regretted it more than once on the
road. In order to prevent the insurgent districts
from receiving reinforcements, provisions, or com-
munications from the other parts of the town, in
which there were so many men prepared to embrace
the same cause, it had very properly been resolved

absolutely to any of the

prohibit circulation in

streets. Everyone was stopped who left his house

without a pass or an escort. I was constantly
stopped on my way and made to show my medal.
I was aimed at more than ten times by those inex-

perienced sentries, who spoke every imaginable

brogue ;
for Paris wasfilled with provincials, who

had come from every part of the country, many of

them for the first time.
When I arrived, the sitting was over, but the
Palace was a great state of excitement.
still in A
rumour had got abroad that the workmen of the
Gros-Caillou were about to take advantage of the
darkness to seize upon the Palace itself. Thus the

Assembly, which, after three days' fighting, had

carried the conflict into the heart of the districts

occupied by its enemies, was trembling for its own

quarters. The rumour was void of foundation ;
but
nothing could better show the character of this war,
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 229

in which the enemy might always be one's own

neighbour, and in which one was never certain of
not having his house sacked while gaining a victory
at a distance. In order to secure the Palace against
all surprise, barricades were hurriedly erected at the

entrance to all the streets leading up to it. When I

saw that there was only a question of a false rumour,
I went home to bed.
I shall say no more of the June combats. The
recollections of the two last days merge into and are
lost in those of the first. As is known, the
Faubourg
Saint-Antoine, the last citadel of the civil war, did
not lay down its arms until the Monday — that is to

say, on the fourth day after the commencement of

the conflict and it was not until the morning of that
;

day that the volunteers from la Manche were able

to reach Paris. They had hurried as fast as possible,

but they had come more than eighty leagues across

a country in which there were no railways. They
were fifteen hundred in number, I was touched at j

recognizing among them many landlords, lawyers,

doctors and farmers who were my friends and

neighbours. Almost all the old nobility of the

country had taken up arms on this occasion and
formed part of the column. It was the same over
almost the whole of France. From the petty squire

squatting in his den in the country to the useless,

elegant sons of the great houses
— all had at that

moment remembered that they had once formed

part of a warlike and governing class, and on every
230 RECOLLECTIONS OF

side they gave the example of vigour and resolution :

so great the vitality of those old bodies of aristoc-

is

racy. They retain traces of themselves even when

they appear to be reduced to dust, and spring up
time after time from the shades of death before
sinking back for ever.
It was in the midst of the days of June that the

death occurred of a man who perhaps of all men in

our day best preserved the spirit of the old races :

M. de Chateaubriand, with whom I was connected

by so many family ties and childish recollections.

He had long since fallen into a sort of speechless

stupor, which made one sometimes believe that his

intelligence was extinguished. Nevertheless, while
in this condition, he heard a rumour of the Revolu-

tion of February, and desired to be told what

was happening. They informed him that Louis-
Philippe's government had been overthrown. He
said, "Well done!" and nothing more. Four
months later, the din of the days of J une reached his
ears, and again he asked what that noise was. They
answered that people were fighting in Paris, and that
it was the sound of cannon.
Thereupon he made
vain efforts to " and
rise, saying, I want to go to it,"

was then silent, this time for ever ;

for he died the
next day.
Such were the days of June, necessary and disas-
trous days. did not extinguish revolutionary
They
ardour in France, but they put a stop, at least for a
time, to what may be called the work appertaining
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 231

to the Revolution of February. They delivered the f >

nation from the tyranny of the Paris workmen and ||

restored it to possession of itself. "^

Socialistic theories continued to penetrate into

the minds of the people in the shape of envious
and greedy desires, and to sow the seed of future
revolutions ; but the socialist party itself was beaten
and powerless. The Montagnards, who did not
belong to it, feltthat they were irrevocably affected

by the blow that had struck it. The moderate

Republicans themselves did not fail to be alarmed
lest this victory had led them to a slope which might
precipitate them from the Republic, and they made
an immediate effort to stop their descent, but in
vain. Personally I detested the Mountain, and was
indifferent to the Republic but I adored Liberty,
;
I

and I conceived great apprehensions for it immedi-

ately after these days. I at once looked upon the

June fighting as a necessary crisis, after which, how-

ever, the temper of the nation would undergo a
certain change. The love of independence was to
be followed by a dread and perhaps a distaste for,
of,

free institutions after such an abuse of liberty a

;

return of this sort was inevitable. This retrograde

movement began, on the 27th of June. At
in fact,

first very slow and invisible, as it were, to the naked

eye, it
grew swifter, impetuous, irresistible. Where
will it
stop? I do not know. I believe we shall
have great difficulty in not
beyond rolling far

the point we had reached before February, and I

2$2 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
foresee that all of us, Socialists, Montagnards and
Liberal Republicans, will fall into common discredit
until the private recollections of the Revolution of
1 removed and effaced, and the general
848 are spirit
of the times shall resume its empire.
 CHAPTER XP
THE COMMITTEE FOR THE CONSTITUTION.

I NOW change my subject, and am

glad to leave
the scenes of the civil war and to return to the
recollections of my parliamentary life. I wish to
speak of what happened in the Committee for the
Constitution, of which I was a member. This will
oblige us to retrace our steps a little, for the appoint-
ment and work of this committee date back to before
the days of June but I did not mention it earlier,
;

because I did not wish to interrupt the course of

events which was leading us swiftly and directly to
those days. The nomination of the Committee for
the Constitution was commenced on the 17th of

May ;
it was a long performance, because it had been
decided that the members of the committee should
be chosen by the whole Assembly and by an abso-
I was elected at the first
lute majority of votes.
time of voting^ together with Cormenin, Marrast,
Lamennais, Vivien, and Dufaure. I do not know

how often the voting had to be repeated in order to

^
There a great hiatus in this chapter, due to my not mentioning
is

the discussions and resolutions relating to general principles. Many

of the discussions were fairly thorough, and most of the resolutions
were tolerably wise and even courageous. Most of the revolutionary
and socialistic raptures of the time were combated in them. We were
prepared and on our guard on these general questions.
*
I received 496 votes.

•33
234 RECOLLECTIONS OF

complete the list, which was to consist of eighteen

members.
Although the committee had been nominated
before the victory of June, almost all its members

belonged to the different moderate sections of the

Assembly. The Mountain had only two repre-
sentatives on it : Lamennais and Considerant ; and
even these were little worse than chimerical vision-
aries, especially Considerant, who would have de-
served to be sent to a lunatic asylum had he been
sincei:e
—but I fear he deserved more than that.

Taking the Committee as a whole, it was easy to

see that no very remarkable result was to be

expected from it. Some of its members had spent

their lives in conducting or controlling the adminis-
tration during the last
government. They had
never seen, studied, or understood anything except
the Monarchy and even then they had, for the
;

most part, applied rather than studied its principles.

They had raised themselves but little above the
practice of business. Now that they were called

upon which they had always

to realize the theories

slighted or opposed, and which had defeated with-

out convincing them, they found it difficult to apply

any but monarchical ideas to their work ; or, if they

adopted republican ideas, they did so now timidly,
now rashly, always a little at hap-hazard, like novices.
As for the Republicans proper on the Committee,
they had few ideas of any sort,except those which
they had gathered in reading or writing for the
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 235

newspapers for there were many journalists among

;

them. Marrast had edited the National for ten

years Domes was
;
at that time its editor-in-chief ;

Vaulabelle, a man of serious but coarse and even

cynical cast of mind, habitually wrote for its columns.

He was the man who, a month later, was himself
vastly astonished at becoming Minister of Public

Worship and Instruction.

All this bore very little resemblance to the men,
so certain of their objects and so well acquainted
with the measures necessary to attain them, who
sixty years before, under Washington's presidency,
so successfully drew up the American Constitution.
For that matter, even if the Committee had been
capable of doing its work well, the want of time
and the preoccupation of outside events would have
it.
prevented
There is no nation which attaches itself less to

those who govern it than the French Nation, nor

which is less able to dispense with government.
So soon as it finds itself obliged to walk alone, it

undergoes a sort of vertigo, which makes it dread

an abyss at every step. At the time I speak of,
it had a sort of frenzied desire for the work of
framing the Constitution to be completed, and for the
powers in command to be, if not solidly, at least per-

manently and regularly established. The Assembly

shared this eagerness, and never ceased urging us
on, although we
required but little urging. The
recollection of the 15th of May, the apprehensions
236 RECOLLECTIONS OF

entertained of the days of June and the sight of the

divided, enervated and incapable government at
the head of affairs were sufficient inducement to us
to hasten our labours. But what especially deprived
the Committee of freedom of thought was, it must
its

be confessed, the fear of outside matters and the

excitement of the moment. It would be difficult

to imagine the effect produced by this forcing of

revolutionary ideas upon minds so little disposed to

adopt them, and how the latter were being inces-
santly, and even almost unconsciously, impelled much
further than they wished to go, when they were
not pushed altogether out of the direction they
desired to take. Certainly, if the Committee had
met on the 27th of June instead of the i6th of May,
its work would have been
very different.
The discussion opened on the 22 nd of May. The
first question was to decide on which side we should

tackle this immense work. Lamennais proposed to

commence by regulating the state of the communes.
He had proceeded in this way himself in a proposal
for a Constitution which he had just published, so as

tomake certain of the first fruits of his discoveries.

Then he passed from the question of sequence to
that of the main point : he began to talk of adminis-
trative centralization, for his
thoughts were incapable
of sub-dividing themselves his mind was always
;

wholly occupied by a single system, and all the ideas

contained in it adhered so closely together that, so soon
as one was uttered, the others seemed necessarily to
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 237

follow. He explained that a Republic

therefore
whose citizens are not clever and experienced
enough to govern themselves was a monster not
fit to live.

Thereupon the Committee took fire Barrot, who, :

amid the clouds of his mind, always pretty clearly

perceived the necessity for local liberty, eagerly
supported Lamennais. I did same Marrast
the ;

and Vivien opposed us. Vivien was quite con-

sistent in defending centralization, for the movement
of administrative affairs was his profession, and more-
over he was quite naturally drawn towards it. He
had all the qualities of a clever legist and an excel-
lent commentator, and none of those necessary to a
legislator or statesman. The danger in which he
beheld the institutions so dear to him inflamed him ;

he grew so excited that he began to hold that the

Republic, far from restraining centralization, ought
even to increase it. One would have said that this
was the side on which the Revolution of February
pleased him.
Marrast belonged to the ordinary type of French
revolutionaries, who have always understood the

liberty of the people to mean despotism exercised in

the name of the people. This sudden harmony
between Vivien and Marrast did not, therefore, sur-

prise was used to the phenomenon, and I

me. I

-had long remarked that the only way to bring a

Conservative and a Radical together was to attack
the power of the central government, not in applica-

m.
238 RECOLLECTIONS OF

tion,but in principle. One was then sure of throw-

ing them into each other's arms.
When, people assert that nothing is
therefore,
safe from revolutions, I tell them they are wrong,
and that centralization is one of those things. In
France there is only one thing we can't set up : that

is, a free government ;

and only one institution we
can't destroy : that is, centralization. How could it

ever perish ? The enemies of government love it,

and those who govern cherish it. The latter per-
ceive, it is true, from time to time, that it exposes
them to sudden and irremediable disasters ;
but this
does not disgust them with it. The pleasure it

procures them of interfering with every one and

holding everything in their hands atones to them for

its dangers. They prefer this agreeable life to a
"
more certain and longer existence, and say, Courte
et bonne" likes the rou^s of the Regency : "A short
life and a merry one."
The question could not be decided that day but ;

it was settled in advance by the determination

arrived at that we should not first occupy ourselves
with the communal system.
Next day, Lamennaisresigned. Under the cir-
cumstances, an occurrence of this sort was annoying.
It was bound to increase and rooten the prejudices
already existing against us. We took very pressing
and even somewhat humble steps to induce Lamen-
nais to reconsider his resolve. As I had shared his

opinion, I was deputed to go and see him and press

 JLEXIS DE TOCnUEVILLK 239

him to return. I did so, had only

but in vain. He
been beaten over a formal question, but he had con-
cluded from this that he would not be the master.
That was enough to decide him to be nothing at
all. He was inflexible, in spite of all I could say-
in the interest of the very ideas which we held in

common.
One should especially consider an unfrocked priest
if one wishes to acquire a correct idea of the inde-
structible speak, infinite power which
and, so to

the clericaland method of thought wield

habit
over those who have once contracted them. It

was useless for Lamennais to sport white stock-

ings, a yellow waistcoat, a striped necktie, and a

green coat he remained a priest in character, and

:

even in appearance. He walked with short, hurried

and head or looking
discreet steps, never turning his
at anybody, and glided through the crowd with an

awkward, modest air, as though he were leaving the

sacristy. Add to this a pride great enough to walk
over the heads of kino-s and bid defiance to God.
<z>

When it was found that Lamennais' obstinacy

was not to be overcome, we proceeded with other
business and so that no more time might be lost
;

in premature discussions, a sub-committee was ap-

pointed to draw up rules for the regulation of our

labours, and to propose them to the Committee.

Unfortunately, this sub-committee was so constituted

that Cormenin, our chairman, was its master and. in

reality, substituted himself for it. The permanent

240 RECOLLECTIONS OF

power of which he thus possessed, coupled

initiative

with the conduct of the debates which belonged to

him as chairman, had the most baneful influence
upon our deliberations, and I am not sure if the faults
in our work should not be mainly attributed to him.

Like Lamennais, Cormenin had drawn up and

published a Constitution after his own idea, and
again, like the former, he expected us to adopt it.

But he did not quite know how to put it to us. As

a rule, extreme vanity makes the timidest very bold
in speaking. Cormenin's did not permit him to
open his mouth so soon as he had three listeners.
He would have liked to do as one of my neighbours
in Normandy did, a great lover of polemics, to whom
Providence had refused the capacity of disputing
viva voce.Whenever I opposed any of his opinions,
he would hurry home and write to me all that he
ought to have told me. Cormenin accordingly
despaired of convincing us, but hoped to surprise us.
He flattered himself that he would make us accept his
system gradually and, so to speak, unknown to our-
selves, by presenting a morsel to us every day. He
managed so cleverly that a general discussion could
never be held upon the Constitution as a whole, and
that even in each case it was almost impossible to
trace back and find the primitive idea. He brought
us every day five or six clauses ready drawn up, and

patiently, little by little, drew back to this little plot

of ground all those who wished to escape from it.

We resisted sometimes ;
but in the end, from sheer
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 241

weariness, we yielded to this gentle, continuous re-

straint. The influence of a chairman upon the work
of a committee is immense ;
any one who has closely
observed these little assemblies will understand what
I mean. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that if
several of us had desired to withdraw ourselves from
this tyranny, we should have ended by coming to
an understanding and succeeding. But we had no
time and no inclination for long discussions. The
vastness and complexity of the subject alarmed and
wearied the minds of the Committee beforehand the :

majority had not even attempted to study it, or had

only collected some very confused ideas and those ;

who had formed clearer ones were ill at ease at

having to expound them. They were afraid, be-

sides, lest they should enter into violent, interminable

disputes if
they endeavoured to get to the bottom of
things ;
and they preferred to appear to be in
harmony by keeping to the surface. In this way we
ambled along to the end, adopting great principles

explicitly for reasons of petty detail,

and little by
little building up the whole machinery of govern-
ment properly taking into account
without the
relative strength of the various wheels and the
manner in which they would work together.
In the moments of repose which interrupted this
fine work, Marrast, who was a Republican of the

Barras type, and who had always preferred the

pleasures of luxury, the table and women to

democ-
stories of gallantry, while
racy in rags, told us little

Q
242 RECOLLECTIONS OF

Vaulabelle made broad jests.

hope, for the honour
I

of the Committee, that no one will ever publish

the minutes(very badly done, for that matter)
which the secretary drew up of our sittings. The
sterility of the discussions
amid the exuberant
fecundity of the subject-matter would assuredly pro-
voke surprise. As for myself, I declare that I never
witnessed a more wretched display in any committee
on which I ever sat.
Nevertheless, there was one serious discussion.

It referred to the system of a single Chamber. As

a matter of fact, the two parties into which the Com-
mittee was silently divided only came to an issue on
this one occasion. It was even less a question of the

two Chambers than of the general character to be

given to the new government : Were we to per-

severe in learned and somewhat complicated

the

system of counterpoises, and place powers held in

check, and consequently prudent and moderate, at
the head of the Republic Or were we to adopt
.-*

the contrary course and accept the simpler theory,

according to which affairs are placed in the hands of

a single power, homogeneous in all its parts, uncon-
trolled, and consequently impetuous in its measures,
and irresistible ? This was the subject-matter of the
debate. This general question might have cropped
up as the result of a number of other clauses ;

but it was better contained than elsewhere in the

special question of the two Chambers.

The struggle was a long one and lasted for two
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 243

sittings. Thewas not for a moment in doubt:

result
for public opinion had pronounced
strongly in favour
of a single Chamber, not only in Paris but in
nearly
every department. Barrot was the first to speak in
favour of the two Chambers he took up
my thesis
;

and developed it with great talent, but intemperately ;

for during the Revolution of February, his mind had

lost its equilibrium and had never since been able to

recover its
supported Barrot and
self-possession. I

returned time after time to the charge. I was a

little
surprised to hear Dufaure pronouncing against
us and doing so with a certain eagerness. Lawyers
are rarely able to escape from one of two habits they :

accustom themselves either to plead what they do

not believe or to persuade themselves very easily of
what they wish to plead. Dufaure came under the
latter category. The drift of public opinion, of his
own passions or interest, would never have led him
to embrace a cause which he thought a bad one but ;

it
prompted him with a desire to think it a good
one, and that was often sufficient. His naturally
vacillating, ingenious and subtle mind turned gradu-

ally towards it ;
and he sometimes ended by adopting
it, not only with conviction but with transport. How
often have I not been amazed to see him vehe-
mently defending theories which I had seen him
adopt with infinite hesitation !

His principal reason for voting this time in favour

of a single Chamber in the Legislative Body (and it

was the best, I think, that could be found) was that,

 244 RECOLLECTIONS OF

with us, Power wielded by one man

the Executive
elected by the people would most certainly become

preponderant if there were placed beside him only a

legislative body weakened by being divided into two
branches. I remember that I replied that that might
I

!
be the case, but that one thing was quite certain, and
that was, that two great powers naturally jealous of
\
one another, and placed in an eternal tete-d-tete (that
i was the expression I
used), without ever
having re-
course to the arbitrament of a third power, would at
once be on bad terms or at war with one another,
and would constantly remain so until one had de-

stroyed the other. I added that, if it was true that a

President elected by the people, and possessing the
immense prerogatives which in France belong to the
chief of the public administration, was sometimes
able to curb a divided legislative body, a President
who should feel himself to possess this origin and
these rights would always refuse to become a simple

agent and to submit to the capricious and tyrannical

willof a single assembly.
We were both in the right. The problem, thus
propounded, was insolvable but the nation pro-
;

pounded it thus. To allow the President the same

power that theKing had enjoyed, and to have him
elected by the people, would make the Republic
impossible. As I said later, one must either in-

finitely narrow the sphere of his power, or else have

I

\ him elected by the Assembly ;

but the nation would
'
hear of neither one nor the other.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 245

Dupin completed our defeat : he defended the

single Chamber withsurprising vigour. One would
have thought that he had never held another opinion.
I
expected as much. I knew him to possess a heart
that was habitually self-interested and cowardly,
though subject at times to sudden leaps of courage
and honesty. I had seen him for ten years prowling
round every party without joining any, and attacking
all the vanquished half ape and half jackal, con-
:

stantly biting, grimacing, gambolling, and always

ready to fall upon the wretch who slipped. He
showed himself in his true colours on the Committee
of the Constitution, or rather he surpassed himself. I

perceived in him none of those sudden leaps of which

I have
just spoken he was uniformly commonplace
:

from beginning to end. He usually remained silent

while the majority were making up their minds but ;

as soon as he saw them pronounce in favour of

democratic opinions, he rushed to place himself at
their head, and often went far beyond them. Once,
he perceived, when he had gone half-way, that the
majority were not going in the direction he had
thought whereupon he immediately stopped short
;

with a prompt and nimble effort of the intelli-

gence, turned round, and hurried back at the same
run towards the opinion from which he had been

departing.
Almost all the old members of Parliament pro-
nounced in this way against the dual Chamber.
Most of them sought for more or less plausible pre-
246 RECOLLECTIONS OF

texts for their votes. Some

pretended that a Council
of State would provide the counterpoise of which

they acknowledged the necessity others puiposed

;

to subject the single assembly to forms whose slow-

ness would safeguard it against its own impulses and

against surprise ; but in the end the true reason was

always given. On the committee was a minister of

the Gospel, M. Coquerel, who, seeing that his col-

leagues of the Catholic clergy were entering the

Assembly, wanted to appear there too, and he was
wrong: from the much-admired preacher that he was,
he suddenly transformed himself into a very ridi-
culous political orator. He could hardly open his
mouth without uttering some pompous absurdity.
On this occasion he was so naive a^ to inform us
that he continued to favour the dual Chamber, but
that he would vote for the single Chamber because
public opinion was pushing him on, and he did not
wish, to use his own words, to fight against the
current. This candour greatly annoyed those who
were acting as he did, and mightily delighted Barrot
and myself; but this was the only satisfaction we
received, for, when it came to voting, there were
only three on our side.
This signal defeat disinclined me a little to con-
tinue the struggle, and threw Barrot quite out of
humour. He no longer appeared except at rare
intervals, and order to utter signs of impatience
in
or disdain rather than opinions.
We passed on to the Executive Power. In spite
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 247

of all that I have said of the circumstances of the

time and the disposition of the Committee, it will

still be believed with
difficulty that so vast, so per-
plexing, so novel a subject did not furnish the
material for a single general debate, nor for any very

profound discussion.
All were unanimous in the opinion that the Execu-
tive Power should be entrusted to one man alone. II

But what prerogatives and what agents should he be

given, what responsibilities laid upon him ? Clearly,
none of these questions could be treated in an arbi-

trary fashion ;
each of them was necessarily in con-

nection with all the others, and could, above all, be

only decided by taking into special account the habits
and customs of the country. These were old prob-
lems, no doubt but they were made young again
;

by the novelty of the circumstances.

Cormenin, according to his custom, opened the
discussion by proposing a little clause all ready
drawn up, which provided that the head of the
Executive Power, or the President, as he was thence-
forward called, should be elected directly by the
people by a relative majority, the minimum of votes

necessary to carry his election being fixed at two

millions. I believe Marrast was the only one to

oppose it he proposed that the head of the Exe-

;

cutive Power should be elected by the Assembly :

he was at that time intoxicated with his own fortune,

and flattered himself, strange though this may seem

to-day, that the choice of the Assembly would fall
 348 RECOLLECTIONS OF

upon himself. Nevertheless, the clause proposed by

Cormenin was adopted without any difficulty, so far
as I can remember and yet it must be confessed
;

that the expediency of having the President elected

by the people was not a self-evident truth, and that

the disposition to have him elected directly was as
new as it was dangerous. In a country with no

j
monarchical tradition, in which the Executive Power
has always been feeble and continues to be very
limited, nothing wiser than to charge the nation
is

with the choice of its representative. President A

who had not the strength which he could draw
from that origin would then become the plaything
of the Assemblies ;
but with us the conditions of
the problem were very different. were emerg- We
ing from the Monarchy, and the habits of the
I Republicans themselves were still monarchical.
Moreover, our system of centralization made our
position an unique one according to its principles,
:

the whole administration of the country, in matters

of the greatest and of the smallest moment, belonged
to the President the thousands of officials who held
;

the whole country in their hands were dependent

upon him alone this was so according to the laws,

;

and even the ideas, which the 24th of February

had allowed to continue in force? for we had retained
the spirit of the Monarchy, while losing the taste for
1
it. Under these conditions, what could a President
; elected by the people be other than a pretender
to the Crown 1 The office could only suit those
 ALEXIS DE rOCQUEVlLLE 249

who hoped to make use of it in order to assist in

transforming the Presidential into Royal ]3o\vers ; it

seemed clear to me then, and it seenis evident tu

me now, that if it was desired that the President
should be elected by the people without danger to

the Republic, it was necessary to limit prodii^iousK-

the circle of his prerogatives and even then, I am ;

not sure that this would have sufficed, for his sphere,

although thus confined in point of law, would, in

habit and remembrance, have preserved its former

extent. If, on the other hand, the President was
allowed to retain his power, he should not be elected

by the people. These truths were not put forward ;

I doubt whether they were even perceived in the

heart of the Committee. However, Cormenin's
clause, although adopted at first, was later made the

object of a very lively attack but it was attacked for

;

reasons different to those I have just given. It was

on the day after the 4th of June. Prince Louis

Napoleon, of whom
no one had thought a few days
before, had just been elected to the Assembly by
Paris and three departments. They began to fear
that he would be placed at the head of the Repul)lic
if the choice were left to the people. The various
pretenders and their friends grew excited, the (jues-
tion was raised afresh in tlie Committee, and the
majority persisted in its original vote.
remember that, during
I all the time lh.it the

Committee was occupied in this way, my mind w.is

labourinof to divine to which side the balance ol

250 RECOLLECTIONS OF

power would most generally lean in a Republic of the

kind which I saw they were going to make. Some-
times I thought that it would be on the side of the

Assembly, and then again on that of the elected

President and this uncertainty made me very
;

uneasy. The fact is, that it was impossible to tell

beforehand. The victory of one or other of these

two great must necessarily depend upon cir-
rivals

cumstances and the humours of the moment. There

were only two things certain the war which they :

would wage together, and the eventual ruin of the

Republic.
Of all the ideas which I have expounded, not one
was by the Committee I might even say that
sifted ;

not one was discussed. Barrot one day touched upon

them in passing, but did not linger over them. His
mind (which was sleepy rather than feeble, and
which was even able to see far ahead when it took
the trouble to look) caught a glimpse of them, as it

were, between sleeping and waking, and thought no

more of them.
I
myself only pointed them out with a certain
hesitation and reserve. My rebuff in the matter of
the dual Chamber left me heart for the fight.
little

Moreover, I confess, I was more anxious to reach a

quick decision, and place a powerful leader at the
head of the Republic, than to organize a perfect
republican Constitution. We were then under the
divided and uncertain government of the Executive
Committee, Socialism was at our gates, and we were
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 251

approaching the days of June, as we must not forget.

Later, after these days, I vigorously supported in
the Assembly the system of electing the President

by the people, and in a certain measure contributed

to its acceptance. \
The principal reason which I

gave was that, after announcing to the nation that

we would grant it that right, which it had always
ardently desired, it was no longer possible to
withhold it. This was true. Nevertheless, I regret
having spoken on this occasion.
To return to the Committee unable and even :

unwilling to oppose the adoption of the principle, I

endeavoured at least to make its application less
dangerous. I first proposed to limit in various direc-
tions the sphere of the Executive Power but 1 soon ;

saw that it was useless to attempt anything serious

on that side. I then fell back upon the method
of election itself, and raised a discussion on that
portion of Cormenin's clause which treated of it.
The clause, as I said above, laid down that the
President should be elected directly, by a relative

majority, the minimum of this majority being fixed

at two million votes. This method had several
very serious drawbacks. )

Since the President was to be elected directly by

the citizens, the enthusiasm and infatuation of the

people was very much and moreover,

to be feared ;
I

the prestige and moral power which the newly ',

elected would possess would be much greater. Since

a relative majority was to be sufficient to make the
 2 52 RECOLLECTIONS OF

election valid, it might be possible that the President

should only represent the wishes of a minority of
the nation. I asked that the President might not

be elected directly by the citizens, but that this

should be entrusted to delegates whom the people
would elect. In the second place, I proposed to
substitute an actual
a relative majority if an
for ;

absolute majority was not obtained at the first vote,

it would fall to the Assembly to make a choice.

These ideas were, I think, sound, but they were

not new ;
I had borrowed them from the American
Constitution. I doubt whether anyone would have
suspected this, had I not said so ;
so little was the
Committee prepared to play
great part. its

The first
part of my amendment was rejected. I
expected this our great men were of opinion that
:

this system was not sufficiently simple, and they con-

sidered it tainted with a touch of aristocracy. The

second was accepted, and is
part of the actual

V Constitution.

I
Beaumont proposed that the President should not

I
be re-eligiblesupported him vigorously, and the
;
I

proposal was carried. On this occasion we both fell

into a great mistake which will, I fear, lead to very
sad results. We
had always been greatly struck
with the dangers threatening liberty and public

morality at the hands of a re-eligible president, who

in order to secure his re-election would infallibly

employ beforehand the immense resources of con-

straint and corruption which our laws and customs
 JLEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 253

allow to the head of the Executive Power. Our

minds were not supple or prompt enough to turn in
time or to see that, so soon as it was decided that the
citizens themselves should directly choose the Presi-
dent, the evil was irreparable, and that it would be
only increasing it
rashly to undertake to hinder the
people in their choice. This vote, and the great
influence I
brought to bear upon it, is my most
memory of that period.
unpleasant
Each moment we came up against centralization,
and instead of removing the obstacle, we stumbled
over it. It was of the essence of the Republic that

the head of the Executive Power should be respon-

siblebut responsible for
; what, and to what extent ?
Could he be made responsible for the thousand
details of administration with which our administra-
tive legislation is overcharged, and over which it

would be impossible, and moreover dangerous, for

him to watch in person ? That would have been
unjust and ridiculous ;
and if he was not to be
responsible for the administration proper, who would
be? It was decided that the responsibility of the
President should be shared by the ministers, and that
their counter-signature should be necessary, as in the

days of the Monarchy. Thus the President was

responsible,and yet he was not entirely free in his

own actions, and he was not able to protect his

agents in agents.
We passed to the constitution of the Council of
State. Cormenin and Vivien took charge of this ;
2 54 RECOLLECTIONS OF

It
may be said that they set to work like people who
are building up a house for themselves. They did
their utmost to make the Council of State a third

power, but without success. It became something

more than an administrative council, but infinitely

less than a legislative assembly.
The only part of our work which was at all well

thought out, and arranged, as I think, with wisdom,

was that which related to justice. Here the committee
felt at home, most of its members being, or having

been, barristers. Thanks to these, we were able

to save the principle of the irremovability of the j

judges;/ as in 1830, held good against the current

it

which swept away all the rest. Those who had

been Republicans from the commencement attacked
it nevertheless, and very stupidly, in my opinion ;

for this principle is much more in favour of the

independence of one's fellow-citizens than of the

power of those who govern. The Court of Appeal
and, especially, the tribunal charged with judging
political crimes were constituted at once just as they
are to-day (185 1). Beaumont drew up most of the
articles which refer to these two great courts. What
we did in these matters is far in advance of all that
had been attempted in the same
direction during

sixty years. It is
probably the only part of the
Constitution of 1848 which will survive.
It was decided at the instance of Vivien that
the Constitution could only be revised by a Con-
stituent Assembly, which was right ;
but they added
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
^-
^ --
""5 5

that this revision could only take place if the National

Assembly demanded by an express vote, L^iven

it

three times consecutively by a majorit)- of four-fifihs.

which rendered any regular revision almost im-
possible. I took no part in this vote. I had long- been
make our go\-ern-
of opinion that, instead of aiming to
ments eternal, we should tend to make it possible to
change them in an easy and regular manner. Taken
all round, I
thought this less dangerous than the
opposite course ;
and I
thought it best to treat ilie

French people like those madmen whom one should

be careful not to bind lest they become infuriated
by the restraint,

noticed casually a number of curious opinions

I

that were emitted. Martin (of Strasburg), who.

not content with being a Republican of yesterda\-,
one day declared so absurdly in the tribune that
he was a Republican by birth, nevertheless proposed
to 'give the President the right to dissolve the As-
sembly, and failed to see that a right of this kind
would easily make him master of the RepuljHc ;

Marrast wanted a section to be added to the Council

of State charged to elaborate "new ideas," to l)e calk'd

a section of progress; Barrot proposed to lca\-e lo

a jury the decision of all civil suits, as though a
judiciary revolution of this sort could [)ossibl\- be

improvised. And Dufaure pr()])osed to prohibit

siil)-

stitution in the conscri})tion, and compel everxone

to

personally to perform his military serxice, a measure

which would have destroved all liberal eckication
256 RECOLLECTIONS OF

unless the time of service had been greatly reduced,

or have disorganized the army if this reduction had
been effected.

In this way, pressed by time and ill prepared to

treat such important subjects, we approached the
time appointed for the end of our labours. What
was said was Let us adopt, in the meantime, the
:

articles proposed to us we can afterwards retrace

;

our steps ;
we can judge from this sketch how to fix
the definitive features and to adjust the portions
among themselves. But we did not retrace our
steps, and the sketch remained the picture.
We appointed Marrast our secretary. The way in

which he acquitted himself of this important office

soon exposed the mixture of idleness, giddiness and
impudence which formed the basis of his character.
He was first several days without doing anything,
though the Assembly was constantly asking to know
the result of our deliberations, and all France was
anxiously awaiting to learn it. Then he hurriedly
wrote his report in one night immediately preced-
ing the day on which he was to communicate it
to the Assembly. In the morning, he spoke of it
to one or two of his colleagues whom he met by

chance, and then boldly appeared in the tribune and

name of the Committee, a report of which
read, in the

hardly one of its members had heard a single word.

This reading took place on the 19th of June. The

draft of the Constitution contained one hundred and
thirty-nine articles ;
it had been drawn up in less
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 257

than a month. We could not have been quicker,

but we might have done better. We had adopted
many of the little articles which Cormenin had
brought us in turns but we had rejected a yet
;

greater number, which caused their author an irrita-

tion, which was so much the greater in that he had
never had an opportunity of giving vent to it. He
turned to the public for consolation. He published,
or caused to be published, I forget which it was, in
allthe newspapers an article in which he related
what had passed in the Committee, attributing all
thegood it had done to M. de Cormenin, and all the
harm to his adversaries. A publication of this sort
displeased us greatly, as may be imagined ; and it

was decided to acquaintCormenin with the feeling

inspired by his procedure. But no one cared to be
the spokesman of the company.
We had among us a workman (for in those days

they put workmeninto everything) called Corbon, a

tolerably right-minded man of firm character. He

readily undertook the task. On the next morning,
therefore, so soon as the sitting of the Committee
had opened, Corbon stood up and, with cruel sim-
plicityand conciseness, gave Cormenin to under-
stand what we thought. Cormenin grew confused,
and cast his eyes round the table to see if anybody
would come to his aid. Nobody moved. He then
said, ina hesitating voice, "Am I to conclude from
what has just happened that the Committee wishes
me to leave it ? " We made no reply. He took his
R
258 RECOLLECTIONS OF

hat and went, without anyone interfering. Never

was so great an outrage swallowed with less effort or
I believe that, although enormously vain,
grimace.
he was not very sensitive to insults in secret and as ;

long as his self-love was well tickled in public, he

would not have made many bones about receiving a
few cuffs in private.
Many have believed that Cormenin, who from
a viscount had suddenly become a Radical, while
remaining a devout Catholic, never ceased to play
a part and to betray his opinions. I would not ven-
ture to say that this was the case, although I have
often observed strange inconsistencies between the

things he said when talking and those he wrote ;

and
to tell the truth, he always seemed to me to be more
sincere in the dread he entertained of revolutions
than in the opinions he had borrowed from them.
What always especially struck me in him was the
shortcomings of his mind. No writer ever to a
greater extent preserved in public business the
habits and peculiarities of that calling. When he
had established a agreement between the
certain
different clauses of a law and drawn it up in a
certain ingenious and striking manner, he thought
he had done all that was necessary he was
:

absorbed in questions of form, of symmetry, and

cohesion.
But what he especially sought for was novelty.
Institutions which had already been tried elsewhere
or elsewhen seemed to him as hateful as common-
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 259

places, and the first merit of a law in his eyes was to

resemble no way that which had preceded it. It
in

is known that the law laying down the Constitution

was his work. At the time of the General Election
I met him and he said, with a certain
complacency,
"
Has anything in the world ever been seen like
what seen to-day? Where is the country that
is

has gone so far as to give votes to servants, paupers

and soldiers ? Confess that no one ever thought of
it before." And rubbing his hands, he added, " It j

will be very curious to see the result." He spoke of 1

it as though it were an experiment in chemistry.

PART THE THIRD
 MV TERM OF OFFICE
This part was commenced at Versailles on the iSth of September

1851, during the prorogation of the National Assembly.

To come at once to this part of my recollections, I pass over tJie

previous period, which extends from the end of the days of June

1848 to the yd of June 1849. ^ "^^^^ return to it later if I

have time. I have thought it more important, while my recol-

lections are still fresh in my mind, to recall the five months during
which I was a member of the Government,
 CHAPTER I

MY RETURN TO FRANCE — FORMATION OF THE CABINET.

While I was thus occupied

in witnessing
upon the
private stage of Germany one act of the great drama
of the European Revolution, my attention was

suddenly drawn towards France and fixed upon

our affairs by unexpected and alarming news. I

heard of the almost incredible check received by

|

our army beneath the walls of Rome, the violent

debates which followed in the Constituent As-

sembly, the excitement produced throughout the

country by these two causes, and lastly, the
General Election, whose result deceived the ex-

pectations of both partiesand brought over one

hundred and fifty Montagnards into the new As-
sembly. However, the demagogic wind which had
suddenly blown over a part of France had not
prevailed in the Department of la Manche. All
the former members for the department who had

separated from the Conservative Party in the As-

sembly had gone under in the scrutin. Of thirteen
representatives only four had survived as for me, ;

I had received more votes than all the others,

although I was absent and silent, and although I

had openly voted for Cavaignac in the previous

363
 264 RECOLLECTIONS OF

month of December. Nevertheless, I was almost

unanimously elected, less because of my opinions
than of the great personal consideration which I
enjoyed outside politics, an honourable position no
doubt, but difficult to retain in the midst of parties,
and destined to become very precarious on the day
when the latter should themselves become exclusive
as they became violent.
I set out as soon as I received this news. At
Bonn a sudden indisposition obliged Madame de
Tocqueville to stop. She herself urged me to leave
her and to continue my journey, and I did so,

although with regret for I was leaving her alone

;

in a country still agitated by civil war and more- ;

over, it is in moments of difficulty or peril that

her courage and her great sense are so helpful
to me.
I arrived in Paris, if I am not mistaken, on the
25th of May 1849, four days before the meeting
of the Legislative, and during the last convulsions
of the Constituent, Assembly. A few weeks had
sufficed to make
the aspect of the political world

entirely unrecognizable, owing less to the changes

which had taken place in outside facts, than to the
prodigious revolution which had in a few days taken
place in men's minds.
The party which was in power at my departure
was so still, and the material result of the elections

should, I
thought, have strengthened its hands.

I
This party, composed of so many different parties,
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 26;

and wishing either to stop or drive back the Re-

volution, had obtained an enormous majijriiv in
the electoral colleges, and would ccjmmand mure
than two-thirds of the new Assembly. Neverthe-
less, I found it seized with so profound a terror thai
I can only compare it with that which followed
February: so true is it that in politics one must argue
as in war, and never forget that the effect of e\ents
should be measured less by what they are in them-
selves than by the impressions they give.
The Conservatives, who for six months had
seen the bye-elections invariably turning to their
all

advantage, who filled and dominated almost all the

local councils, had placed an almost unlimited con-
fidence in the system of universal suffrage, alter

professing unbounded distrust of it. In the Cicneral

Election which was just decided, they had expected
not only to conquer but to annihilate, so to speak,
their adversaries, and they were as much cast down
at not attaining the absolute triumph which they
had dreamt of as though they had really been beaten.
On the other hand, the Montagnards, who had
thought themselves lost, were as intoxicatc;d with
joy and mad audacity as though the elections had
assured them a majority in the new AssembK.
Why had the event thus at the same time deceived
the hopes and fears of both parties? It is ditticuk

to say for certain, for great masses of men move by

virtue of causes almost as unknown to humanity
itself as those which rule the movements ol the sea.
266 RECOLLECTIONS OF

In both cases the reasons of the phenomenon are

concealed and, in a sense, lost in the midst of its

immensity.
We are, at any rate, entitled to believe that the
Conservatives owed their rebuff mainly to the faults
which they themselves committed. Their intoler-
ance, when they thought their triumph assured, of
those who, without sharing their ideas, had assisted
them in fighting the Montagnards the violent ad-;

ministration of the new Minister of the Interior,

M. Faucher ;
and more than all, the poor success of
the Roman expedition prejudiced against them a
portion of the people who were naturally disposed to
follow them, and threw these into the arms of the

agitators.
One hundred and fifty Montagnards, as I said,
had been elected. A part of the peasantry and the
majority of the army had voted for them it was :

the two anchors of mercy which had snapped in

the midst of the tempest. Terror was universal :
it
taught anew to the various monarchical parties
the tolerance and modesty which they had practised

immediately after February, but which they had to

a great extent forgotten during the past six months.
It was recognized on every hand that there could no

longer be any question, for the present, of emerging

from the Republic, and that all that remained to be
done was to oppose the moderate Republicans to the

Montagnards.
The same ministers whom they had created and
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 267

instigated they now accused, and a modification of

the Cabinet was loudly demanded. The Cabinet
itself saw that it was insufficient, and implored to be

replaced. At the time of my departure I had seen

the committee of the Rue de Poitiers refuse to admit
the name of M. Dufaure to its lists I now saw ;

every glance directed towards M. Dufaure and his

friends, who were called upon in the most pathetic
manner to take office and save society.
On the night of my arrival, I heard that some of
my friends were dining together at a little restaurant
in the I hastened to
Champs-Elysees. join them,
and found Dufaure, Lanjuinais, Beaumont, Cor-
celles, Vivien, Lamoriciere, Bedeau, and one or two

more whose names are not so well known. I was

informed in a few words of the position of affairs.

Barrot, who had been invited by the President to

form a cabinet, had for some days been exhaust-
ing himself in vain efforts to do so. M. Thiers,
Mole and the more important of their friends
had refused to undertake the government. They
had made up their minds, nevertheless, as will be
seen, to remain its masters, but without becoming
ministers. The
uncertainty of the future, the
tM.
general instability, the difficulties and perhaps the
dangers of the moment kept them aloof They
were eager enough for power, but not for respon-

sibility. Barrot, repulsed on that side, had come to

us. He asked us, or rather he besought us, to
become his colleagues. But which among us to
268 RECOLLECTIONS OF

choose ? What ministries to allot to us ? What

colleagues to give us? What general policy to
adopt? From
these questions had arisen diffi-
all

culties in execution which, till then, seemed insur-

mountable. Already, more than once, Barrot had

returned towards the natural chiefs of the majority ;

and repelled by them, had fallen back upon us.

Time passed amid these sterile labours ;

the

dangers and difficulties increased the news became;

each day more alarming, and the Ministry were

liable at any moment to be impeached by the dying
but furious Assembly.
I returned home greatly preoccupied, as will be
believed, by what I had heard. I was convinced

that it
only depended upon the wishes of myself and
my friends to become ministers. were the We
necessary and obvious men. I knew the leaders of

the majority well enough to be sure that they would

never commit themselves to taking charge of affairs
under a government which seemed to them so epheme-
ral, and that, even if they had the disinterestedness,

they would not have the courage to do so. Their

pride and their timidity assured me of their absten-
tion. was enough for us, therefore, to stand firm
It

on our ground to compel them to come and fetch us.

But ought we to wish to become ministers ? I asked
myself this very seriously. I think I
may do myself
the justice to say that I did not indulge in the
smallest illusion respecting the true difficulties of
the enterprise, and that I looked upon the future
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 269

with a clearness of view which we rarely possess

except when we consider the past.

Everybody expected to see fighting in the streets.

I
myself regarded it as imminent ;
the furious

audacity which the result of the elections had

imparted to the Mountain and the opportunity
afforded to it by the Rome affair seemed to make
an event of this kind inevitable. I was not, how-

ever, very anxious about the issue. I was con-

vinced that, although the majority of the soldiers
had voted for the Mountain, the army would fight
against it without hesitation. The soldier who
individually votes for a candidate at an election and
the soldier acting under pressure of esprit de corps
and military discipline are two different men. The
thoughts of the one do not regulate the actions of
the other. The Paris garrison was very numerous,
well commanded, experienced and in street warfare,

still filled with the memory of the passions and

examples which had been left to it by the days of

June. I therefore felt certain of victory. But I

was very anxious as to the eventual results of this

victory :what seemed to others the end of the
difficulties I regarded as their commencement. I

considered them almost insurmountable, as I believe

they really were.

In whichever direction I looked, I saw no solid or

us.
lasting stand-point for
Public opinion looked to us, but it would have
been unsafe to rely upon it for support fear drove ;
370 RECOLLECTIONS OF

the country in our direction, but its memories, its

secret instincts, its passions could scarcely fail soon
to withdraw it from us, so soon as the fear should
liave vanished. Our object was, if
possible, to
found the Republic, or at least to maintain it for

some by governing it
time, in a regular, moderate,
conservative, and absolutely constitutional way and ;

this could not allow us to remain popular for long,

since everybody wanted to evade the Constitution.

The Mountain wanted more, the Monarchists much
less.

In the Assembly it was much worse still. The

same general causes were aggravated by a thousand
accidents arising from the interests and vanities of
the party leaders. The latter were quite content
to allow us to assume the government, but we must
not expect them to allow us to govern. So soon as
the crisis was passed, we might expect every sort of
ambush on their part.
As to the President, I did not know him yet, but
itwas evident that we could not rely upon him to
support us in his Council, except where the jealousy
and hatred were concerned with which our common
adversaries inspired him. His sympathies must
always lie in an opposite direction for our views ;

were not only different, but naturally opposed to one

another.
'

We wanted to make the Republic live :

he longed for its inheritance. We only supplied

him with ministers where he wanted accomplices.
To these difficulties, which were in a sense in-
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 271

herent to the situation and consequently permanent,

were added passing ones which it was not at all easy
to surmount the revolutionary agitation revived in
:

part of the country the spirit and habits of exclusion

;

spread and already rooted in the public administra-

tion ;
the Roman expedition, so badly conceived and
so badly conducted that it was now as difficult to

bring it to an end as to get out of it ;

in fact, the

whole legacy of mistakes committed by our prede-

cessors.
There were reasons enough for hesitation ;
and
yet I did not hesitate. idea of taking a post The
from which fear kept so many people off, and of
relieving society from the bad pass in which it had
been involved, flattered at the same time my sense
of honour and was quite aware that
my pride. I

I should
only be passing through power, and that
I should not
stay there but I hoped to stay long ;

enough to be able to render some signal service

to my country and to raise myself This was
enough to attract me.
I at once took three resolutions :

First, not to refuse office if an opportunity offered ;

Second, only to enter the Government together

with my principal friends, directing the principal
offices, so that we might always remain the masters
of the Cabinet ;

Third and last, to behave every day when in office

as though I was to be out of it the next day, that is
to say, without ever subordinating to the necessity
«72 RECOLLECTIONS OF

of maintaining my position that of remaining true to

myself.
The
next five or six days were wholly taken up
in fruitless endeavours to form a ministry. The
attempts made were so numerous, so overlapping,
—
so full of small incidents great events of one day

forgotten the next

—that I find it difficult to retrace

them in my memory, in spite of the prominent part

which I
myself played in some of them. The prob-
lem was undoubtedly a difficult one to solve under
its given conditions. The
President was willing

enough to change the appearance of his ministry,

but he was determined to retain in it the men whom
he considered his principal friends. The leaders of
the Monarchical parties refused themselves to take
the responsibility of government but they were ;

not willing either that it should be entrusted entirely

to men over whom they had no hold. If they con-

sented to admit us, it was only ina very small

number and in second-rate offices. We were looked
upon as a necessary but disagreeable remedy, which
it was
preferable only to administer in very small
doses.
Dufaure was first asked to join alone, and to be
satisfied with the Public Works. He refused, de-
manded the Interior, and two other offices for his
friends. After much difficulty they agreed to give
him the Interior, but
they refused the rest. I have

reason to believe that he was at one time on the point

of accepting this proposal and of again leaving me
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 273

in the lurch, as he had done six months ago. Not

that he was treacherous or indifferent in his friend-

ships but the sight of this important office almost

;

within reach, which he could honestly accept,

possessed a strange attraction for him. It did not

precisely cause him to abandon his friends, but it

distracted his thoughts from them, and made him
ready to forget them. He was firm, however, this
time ;
and not being able to get him by himself, they
offered to take me with him. I was most in view at
that time, because the new Legislative Assembly
had just elected me one of its vice-presidents.^ But
what office to give me ? I only thought myself
fit to fill the Ministry of Public Instruction. Un-
fortunately that was in the hands of M. de Falloux,
an indispensable man, whom
was equally important
it

to the Legitimists to retain, of whom he was one of

the leaders to the religious party, who saw in him
;

a protector ;
and finally to the President, of whom
he had become the friend. I was offered Agri-

culture, and refused it. At last, in despair, Barrot

came and asked me to accept the Foreign Office.
I
myself had made great efforts to persuade
M. de
Rdmusat to accept this office, and what happened on
this occasion between him and me is so characteristic

that it is worthy of being retold. I was very anxious

that M. de R^musat should join the ministry
with

us. He was at once a friend of M. Thiers and a

man of honour, a rather unusual combination ;
he

June 1849, by 336 votes to 261.

1
I

S
274 RECOLLECTIONS OF

alone was able to assure us, not the support, at if

least the neutrality of that statesman, without infest-

ing us with his spirit. Overcome by the insistency

of Barrot and the rest of us, Remusat one evening

yielded. He had pledged us his word, but the next

morning he came to withdraw it. I knew for certain
that he had seen M. Thiers in the interval, and
he confessed to me himself that M. Thiers, who was
then loudly proclaiming the necessity of our accept-
**
ing office, had dissuaded him from joining us. I

"
fully saw," he said, that to become your colleague
would not be to give you his assistance, but only to
expose myself to be quarrelling with him before
long." Those were the sort of men we had to
deal with.
I had never thought of the Foreign Office, and
my first impulse was to refuse it. I
thought myself
unsuited to fill an office for which nothing had
prepared me. Among my papers I have found a
trace of these hesitations, in the notes of a conversa-
tion which took place at a dinner which some of my
friends and I had at that time. . . .

I decided at however, to accept the Foreign

last,

Office, but I made it a condition that Lanjuinais

should enter the Council at the same time as my-
I had
self.
many very strong reasons for acting
as I did. In the first place, I
thought that three
ministers were indispensable to us in order to
acquire the preponderance in the Cabinet which
we needed in order to do any good. I thought,
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 275

moreover, that
Lanjuinais would be very useful
to keep Dufaure himself within the lines I wished
to follow. I did not consider
myself to have enough
hold over him. Above all, I wanted to have near
me a friend with whom
could talk openly of all
I

things a great advantage at any time, but especially

:

in such times of suspicion and variableness as

ours,
and for a work as hazardous as that which I was
undertaking.
From all these different points of view Lanjuinais
suited me admirably, although we were of
very
dissimilar natures. His humour was as calm and
placid as mine was restless and anxious. He was
methodical, slow, indolent, prudent, and even over-
scrupulous, and he was very backward to enter upon
any undertaking but having once entered upon it
;

he never drew back, and showed himself until the

end as resolved and stubborn as a Breton of the
true stamp. He was very slow in giving his opinion,
and very explicit, and even candid to the verge of

rudeness, when he did give

could not expect
it. One
from his friendship either enthusiasm, ardour, or
abandon; on the other hand, one need not dread
either faint-heartedness, treachery, or after-thoughts.
In short, he was a very safe associate, and taken all
round, the most honourable man I ever met in
public life. Of all of us, it was he who seemed to

me least to mix his private or interested views

with his love of the public good.
No one objected to the name of Lanjuinais ;
but
276 RECOLLECTIONS OF

the difficulty was to find him a portfolio. I asked

for him that of Commerce and Agriculture, which

had been held since the 20th of December by Buffel,

a friend of Falloux. The latter refused to let his

colleague go and the new Cabinet, which

;
I insisted ;

was almost complete, remained for twenty-four hours

as though dissolved. To
conquer my resolution,
Falloux attempted a direct measure he came to my :

house, where I lay confined to my bed, urged me,

begged me to give up Lanjuinais and to leave his
friend Buffel at the Ministry of Agriculture. I had
made up my mind, and I closed my ears. Falloux
was vexed, but retained his self-control and rose to
go. I
thought everything had gone wrong : on the
contrary, everything had gone right.
"
You are determined," he said, with that aristo-
cratic good grace with which he was able to cover
"
all his feelings, even the bitterest ;
you are deter-
mined, and so I must yield. It shall not be said

that a private consideration has, at so difficult and

critical a period, made me break off so
necessary a
combination. I shall remain alone in the midst of
you. But I
hope you will not forget that I shall be
"
not only your colleague but your prisoner !

One hour later the Cabinet was formed,^ and

Dufaure, who told me of it, invited me to take im-
mediate possession of the Foreign Office.
Thus was born this Ministry which was so pain-
fully and slowly formed and which was destined to
^
The Presidential decree is dated 2 June 1849.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 277

have so short an existence. During the long child-

birth that preceded it, theman who was at the
greatest trouble in France was certainly Barrot his :

sincere love for the public weal inclined him to desire

a change of cabinet, and his ambition, which was
more intimately and narrowly bound up with his
honesty than might have been believed, made him
long with unequalled ardour to remain at the head
of the new Cabinet. He therefore went incessantly
to and fro from one to the other, addressing very

pathetic and sometimes very eloquent objurations to

every one, now turning to the leaders of the majority,

now to us, now again to the new
Republicans, whom
he regarded as more moderate than the others. And
for that matter, he was equally inclined to carry
either one or the other with him ;
for in politics he
was incapable of either hatred or friendship. His
heart is an evaporating vase, in which nothing
remains.
 CHAPTER II

ASPECT OF THE CABINET ITS FIRST ACTS UNTIL AFTER THE

INSURRECTIONARY ATTEMPTS OF THE I3TH OF JUNE.

The ministry was composed as follows :

Minister of Justice and

Barrot.
President of the Councili
Finance Passy.
War . Rulhiere.

Navy .
Tracy.
Public Works Lacrosse.
Public Instruction Falloux.
Interior Dufaure.

Agriculture .
Lanjuinais.
Foreign Affairs Tocqueville.
Dufaure, Lanjuinais and I were the only new minis-
ters all the others had belonged to the previous
;

Cabinet.

Passy was a man of real merit, but not of a very

attractive merit. His mind was narrow, maladroit,
provoking, disparaging and ingenious rather than
just. Nevertheless, he was more inclined to be just
when it was really necessary to act thanwhen it was
only a question of talking for ;
he was more fond
of paradox than liable to put it into practice. I

never knew a greater talker, nor one who so easily

278
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
279

consoled himself for troublesome events

by explain-
ing the causes which had produced them and the
consequences likely to ensue. When he had finished
drawing the most sombre picture of the state of affairs,
he concluded with a smiling and placid air,
saying,
"
So that there is practically no means of
saving
ourselves, and we have only to look forward to the
total overthrow of Society." In other respects he
was a cultured and experienced minister his
courage ;

and honesty were proof against

everything and he ;

was as incapable of vacillation as of treachery. His

ideas, his feelings, his former intimacy with Dufaure
and, above all, his eager animosity
against Thiers
made us certain of him.
Rulhiere would have belonged to the monarchic
and ultra-conservative party if he had belonged to
any, and especially if Changarnier had not been in
the world but he was a soldier who only thought of
;

remaining Minister for War. We perceived at the

first glance his extreme
jealousy of the Commander-
in-Chief of the Army in Paris and the intimacy
;

between the latter and the leaders of the majority,

and his influence over the President, obliged Rul-
hiere to throw himself into our arms, and forcibly
drove him to depend upon us.
Tracy had by nature a weak character, which was,
as were, enclosed and confined in the very precise
it

and systematic theories which he owed to the ideo-

logical education he had received from his father.^

lAntoine Louis Claude Destutt de Tracy, 17 54- 1836, the celebrated

ideologist, Condillac's disciple.
—A. T. db M.
28o RECOLLECTIONS OF

But, in the end, contact with every-day events and the

shock of revolutions had worn out this rigid envelope,
and all that remained was a wavering intelligence and
a sluggish, but always honest and kindly, heart.
Lacrosse was a poor devil whose private affairs
were more or less involved. The chances of the
Revolution had driven him into office from an
obscure corner of the Opposition, and he never
grew weary of the delight of being a minister. He
gladly leant upon us, but he endeavoured at the
same time to make sure of the good-will of the
President of the Republic by rendering him all sorts
of little and small compliments. To tell the
services

truth, it would have been difficult for him to recom-

mend himself in any other way, for he was a rare
nonentity, and understood nothing about anything.
We were reproached taking office in company
for

with such incapable ministers as Tracy and Lacrosse,

and not without justice, for it was a great cause of
ruin not only because they did their work badly,
:

but because their notorious insufficiency kept their

succession always open, so to speak, and created a
sort of permanent ministerial crisis.
As to Barrot, he adhered naturally to us from feel-
ing and ideas. His old liberal associations, his
republican tastes, his Opposition memories attached
him to us. Had he been differently connected, he
might have become, however regretfully, our adver-
sary ; but, having him once among us, we were sure
of him.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 2»I

Of the Ministry, therefore, only Falloux was a

all

stranger to us by his starting-point, his engagements,

and his inclinations. He alone represented the
leaders of the majority on the Council, or rather he
seemed to represent them, for in reality, as I will
explain later, he represented, besides himself, nothing
but the Church. This isolated position, together
with the secret aims of his policy, drove him to seek

support beyond us he strove to establish it in the

;

Assembly and with the President, but discreetly and

cleverly, as he did everything.
Thus constituted, the Cabinet had one great weak-
ness : it was about
govern with the aid of a
to

composite majority, without itself being a coalition

ministry. But, on the other hand, it possessed the
very great strength which ministers derive from
uniform origin, identical instincts, old bonds of
friendship, mutual confidence, and common ends.
I shall doubtless be asked what these ends were,
where we were going, what we wanted. We live

in times so uncertain and so obscure that I should

hesitate to reply to that question in the name of my
*

colleagues but I will readily reply for myself.

;
I

did not believe then, any more than I do now, that

the republican form of government is the best ^

suited to the needs of France. What I mean when

is the
I
say the republican form of government,
elective Executive Power. With a people among
whom habit, tradition, custom have assured so great
a place to the Executive Power, its instability will
 282 RECOLLECTIONS OF

always be, in periods of excitement, a cause of

revolution, and in peaceful times, a cause of great
uneasiness. Moreover, I have always considered
the Republic an ill-balanced form of government,
which always promised more, but gave less, liberty
than the Constitutional Monarchy. And yet I

sincerely wished to maintain the Republic and ;

although there were, so to speak, no Republicans in

France, I did not look upon the maintenance of it
'

as absolutely impossible.
I wished to maintain it because Isaw nothing
ready or fit to set in its place. ) The old Dynasty
was profoundly antipathetic to the majority of the
country. Amid this flagging of all political passion,

which was the result of the fatigue of the revolutions

and their vain promises, one genuine passion re-
mained alive in France hatred of the Ancien
:

Regime and mistrust of the old privileged classes

who represented it in the eyes of the people. This I

sentiment passes through revolutions without dis-

solving in them, like the water of those marvellous
fountains which, according to the ancients, passed
across thewaves of the sea without mixing with or
disappearing in them. As to the Orleans Dynasty,
the experience the people had had of it did not par-

ticularly incline them to return to it so soon. It

was bound once more to throw into Opposition all
the upper classes and the clergy, and to separate
itself from the people, as it had done before, leaving

the cares and profits of government to those same

 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 285

middle classes whom I had already seen durino-

eighteen years so inadequate for the good govern-

ment of France. Moreover, nothing was ready for
its triumph.
Louis Napoleon alone was ready to take the place
of the Republic, because he already held the power
in his hands. But what could come of his success,

except a bastard Monarchy, despised by the enlight-

ened classes, hostile to liberty, governed by in-

triguers, adventurers, and valets ?

The
Republic was doubtless difficult to maintain ;

for those who favoured it were, for the most part,

incapable or unworthy of governing it, while those

who were fit to conduct it detested it. But it was
also rather difficult to pull down. The hatred borne
for it was an easy-going hatred, as were all the

passions which the country then entertained. Besides,

the Government was found fault with, but no other
.was loved in its place. Three mutually
parties,
irreconcilable, more hostile to one another than
either of them was to the Republic, contended with
each other for the future. As to a majority, there

was no such thing.

I
thought, therefore, that the Government of the
Republic, having existence in its favour, and having
no adversaries except minorities difficult to coalesce,
would be able to maintain its position amid the
inertia of the masses, if it was conducted with

moderation and wisdom. For this reason, I was

resolved not to lend myself to any steps that might
284 RECOLLECTIONS OF

be taken against it, but rather to defend it. Almost

all members of the Council thought as I did.
the
Dufaure believed more than I did in the soundness
of republican institutions and in their future. Barrot
was less inclined than I to keep them always re-
spected ;
but we
wished at the present time
all

firmly to maintain them. This common resolution

was our political bond and standard.
So soon
as the Ministry was formed, it repaired to
the President of the Republic to hold a Council. It

was the first time I had come into contact with him.
I had
only seen him at a distance at the time of the
Constituent Assembly. He received us with polite-
ness. was all we could expect from him, for
It

Dufaure had acted vigorously against him, and had

spoken almost outrageously of his candidature no
longer than six months ago, while both Lanjuinais
and myself had openly voted for his opponent.
Louis Napoleon plays so great a part in the rest of
my narrative that he seems to me to deserve a special
amid the host of contemporaries of
portrait whom I

have been content to sketch the features. Of all

his ministers, and perhaps of all the men who
refused to take part in his conspiracy against the

Republic, I was the one who was most advanced in

his good graces, who saw him closest, and who was
best able to judge him.
He was vastly superior to what his preceding
career and his mad enterprises might very properly
have led one to believe of him. This was my first
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 285

impression on conversing with him. In this respect

he deceived his adversaries, and perhaps still more
his friends, if this term can be applied to the poli-
ticians whopatronized his candidature. The greater
part of these, in fact, elected him, not because of his
merits, but because of his presumed mediocrity.
They expected him an instrument which
to find in

they could handle as they pleased, and which it

would always be lawful for them to break when they
wished to. In this they were greatly deceived.
As a private individual, Louis Napoleon possessed
certain attractive
qualities an easy and kindly
:

humour, a mind which was gentle, and even tender,

without being delicate, great confidence in his inter-
course, perfect simplicity, a certain personal modesty
amidst the immense pride derived from his origin.
He was capable of showing affection, and able to
inspire it in those who approached him. His conver-
sation was brief and unsuggestive. He had not the
art of drawing others out or of establishing intimate
relations with them nor any facility in expressing
;

his views. He had the writer's habit, and a certain

amount of the author's self-love. His dissimulation,
which was the deep dissimulation of a man who has
in a remarkable
spent his life in plots, was assisted
way by the immobility of his features and his want
of expression for his eyes were dull and opaque,
:

like the thick glass used to light the cabins of ships,

which admits the light but cannot be seen through.

Careless of danger, he possessed a fine, cool courage
286 RECOLLECTIONS OF

in days of crisis ;
and at the same time —a common
—
thing enough he was very vacillating in his plans.
He was often seen to change his direction, to
advance, hesitate, draw back, to his great detri-
ment for the nation had chosen him in order to
:

dare all things, and what it expected from him was

audacity and not prudence. It was said that he had

always been greatly addicted to pleasures, and not

very dainty in his choice of them. This passion
for vulgar enjoyment and this taste for luxury had
increased more with the facilities offered by his
still

position. Each day he wore out his energy in in-

dulgence, and deadened and degraded even his am-
bition. His intelligence was incoherent, confused,
with great but ill-assorted thoughts, which he
filled

borrowed now from the examples of Napoleon,

now from socialistic sometimes from re-
theories,
collections of England, where he had lived very :

different, and often very contrary, sources. These

he had laboriously collected in his solitary medita-
tions, far removed from the contact of men and
he was naturally a dreamer and a visionary.
facts, for
But when he was forced to emerge from these vague,
vast regions in order to confine his mind to the
limits of a piece of business, it showed itself
to be capable of justice, sometimes of subtlety and

compass, and even of a certain depth, but never

sure, and always prepared to place a grotesque idea

by^the side of a correct one.

Generally, it was difficult to come into long and
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 287

very close contact with him without discovering a

little vein of madness
running through his better
sense, sight of which always recalled the
the
of his youth, and served to
escapades explain them.
It may be admitted, for that matter, thatWt was

his madness rather than his reason which, thanks to

circumstances, caused his success and his force : for

the world isa strange theatre. There are moments
in it when the worst plays are those which succeed
best.
J
If Louis Napoleon had been a wise man,
or a man of genius, he would never have become
President of the Republic.
He he firmly believed himself
trusted in his star ;

to be the instrument of destiny and the necessary

man. I have always believed that he was
really con-
vinced of his right, and I doubt whether Charles X.
was ever more infatuated with his legitimism than
he with Moreover, he was quite as incapable
his.

of alleging a reason for his faith ;]for, although he

had a sort of abstract adoration for the people, he
had very little taste for liberty. The characteristic
and fundamental feature of his mind in political
matters was his hatred of and contempt for assem-
blies. The rule of the Constitutional
Monarchy
seemed him even more insupportable than that
to
of the Republic. His unlimited pride in the name
he bore, which willingly bowed before the nation,
revolted at the idea of yielding to the influence of a

parliament.
Before attaining power he had had time to
 288 RECOLLECTIONS OF

strengthen his natural taste for the footman class,

which is always displayed by mediocre princes, by
the habits of twenty years of conspiracy spent amid
low-class adventurers, men of ruined fortunes or
blemished reputations, and young debauchees, the
only persons who, during all this time, could have
consented to serve him as go-betweens or accom-^

\ plices. He himself, in spite of his good manners,

I

1 allowed a glimpse to pierce through of the adventurer

and the prince of fortune. He continued to take
pleasure in this inferior company after he was no-

longer obliged to live in believe that his difficulty

it. I

in expressing his thoughts otherwise than in writing

attached him to people who had long been familiar

with his current of thought and with his dreamings,.
and that his inferiority in conversation rendered
him generally averse to contact with clever men.
Moreover, he desired above things to meet with
all

devotion to his person and his cause, as though his

person and his cause were such as to be able ta

arouse devotion : merit annoyed him when it dis-

played ever so little independence. He wanted

believers in his star, and vulgar worshippers of his
fortune.

This was the man whom the need of a chief and

the power of a memory had placed at the head of
France, and with whom we would have to govern.
It would be difficult to
imagine a more critical
moment in which to assume the direction of affairs.

The Constituent Assembly, before ending its turbu-

 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 289

lent existence, had passed a resolution, on the 7th of

June 1849, prohibiting the Government from attack-

ing Rome. The first thing I learnt on entering the

Cabinet was that the order to attack Rome had been
sent to the army three days before. This flagrant
disobedience of the injunctions of a sovereign

Assembly, thiswar undertaken against a people in

revolution, because of its revolution, and in defiance
of the terms of the Constitution which commanded
us to respect all
foreign nationalities, made inevitable
and brought nearer the conflict which we dreaded.
What would be the issue of this new struggle } All
the letters from prefects of departments that were
laid before us, all the police reports that reached us

were calculated to throw us into great alarm. I had

seen, at the end of the Cavaignac Administration,
how a government can be supported in its visionary

hopes by the self-interested complaisance of its

agents. This time I saw, and much more closely,
how these same agents can work to increase the
terror of those who employ them contrary effects
:

produced by the same cause. Each one of them,

judging that we were uneasy, wished to signalize

himself by the discovery of new plots, and in his

turn to supply us with some fresh indication of the

conspiracy which threatened us. The more they

believed in our success, the more readily they talked
to us of our danger. For it is one of the dangerous
characteristics of this sort of information, that it

becomes rarer and less explicit in the measure that

29© RECOLLECTIONS OF

the peril increases and the need for information

becomes greater. agents The doubting in that case,

the duration of the government which employs, them,

and already fearing its successor, either scarcely
speak at all or keep absolute silence. But now they
made a great noise. To listen to them, it was im*
possible not to think that we were on the edge of
an abyss, and yet I did not believe a word of it. I
was quite convinced then, as I have been ever
since, that official correspondence and police reports,
which may be useful purposes of consultation
for

when there is question of discovering a particular

only serve to give exaggerated and incomplete
plot,
and invariably false notions when one wishes to
judge or foresee great movements of parties. In a
matter of this kind, the aspect of the whole
it is

country, the knowledge of its needs, its passions

and its ideas, that can instruct us, general data
which one can procure for one's self, and which are
never supplied by even the best placed and best
accredited agents.
The sight of these general facts had led me to
believe that at this moment no armed revolution was
to be feared : but a combat was ;
and the expectation
of civil war is
always cruel, especially when it comes
in time to join itsfury to that of pestilence. Paris
was at that time ravaged by cholera. Death struck
at all ranks. Already a large number of members
of the Constituent Assembly had succumbed ;
and
Bugeaud, whom Africa had spared, was dying.
 ALEXIS DE T0C(^UEV1LI.E 2,1

Had I entertained a moment's duuln a .0 ilie

imminence of the crisis, the aspect alnne nf :he iu-\v

Assembly would have clearly announced ii u> mc

It is not too much to say that one breathed ihc

atmosphere of civil war in its midst. Tlie spcec lies

were short, the g'estures violent, tlie words extrava-
gant, the insults outrageous and direct. W'c met
for the present in the old Chamber of Deputies.
This room, built for 460 members, liad difficult}-
in containing 750. The members, therefire, sat

touching, while detesting, each (jther ; the\" prtssc-d

one against the other in spite of the hatred

which divided them the discomfort increased dieir
;

anger. It was a duel in a barrel. How would the

Montagfnards be able to restrain themsehes ? ldie\-

saw that they were sufficiently numerous to ( iniile

them to believe themselves very strong in the country

and in the army. Yet they remained too weak in

Parliament to hope to prevail or even to cotint there.

They were offered a fine occasion of resort in.g to

force. All Europe, which was still in commotion,

misrht with one ""reat blow, struck in Paris, be
thrown into revolution anew. Idiis was more than
was necessary for men of such sa\"age temper.
It was easy to foresee that the movc-mcnt would

burst forth at the moment when it should become

known that the order been gi\en to attack
had
Rome and that the attack had taken place. .\nd
this was what in fact occurred.
The order given had remained secret. Put on
292 RECOLLECTIONS OF

the loth of June, the report of the first combat be-

came current.
On the nth, the Mountain burst into furious
speech. Ledru-Rollin made an appeal from the
tribune for civil war, saying that the Constitution had
been violated and that he and his friends were ready-
to defend by every method, including that of arms.
it

The indictment was demanded of the President of

the Republic and of the preceding Cabinet.
On
the T2th, the Committee of the Assembly, in-
structed to examine the question raised the day

before, impeachment and called upon

rejected the
the Assembly where it sat, upon the
to pronounce,
fate of the President and Ministers. The Mountain
opposed this immediate discussion and demanded that
documents should be laid before it. What was
its object in thus postponing the debate ? It was
difficult to say. Did it
hope that delay would
this

complete the general irritation, or did it in its

heart of hearts wish to give it time to calm down ?

One thing is certain, that its principal leaders,

those who were more accustomed to speaking than to
fighting, and who were passionate rather than resolute,
displayed that day, amid all the intemperance of
their language, a sort of hesitation of which they had

given no sign the day before. After half drawing

the sword from the scabbard, they appeared to wish
to replace it ;
but it was too
the signal had late,
been observed by their friends outside, and thence-
forward they no longer led, but were led in their turn.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 293

During these two days, my position was most cruel.

As I have already stated,
disapproved entirely of the
I

manner in which the Roman expedition had been un-

dertaken and conducted. Before joining the Cabinet,
I had
solemnly declared to Barrot that I declined
to take any responsibility except for the future, and
that he must himself be prepared to defend what
had up to that time been done in Italy. I had only
accepted office on this condition. I therefore kept
silentduring the discussion on the 1 1 th, and allowed
Barrot to bear the brunt of the battle alone. But
when, on the 12th, I saw my colleagues threatened
with an impeachment, I considered that I could no

longer abstain. The demand for fresh documents

gave me an opportunity to intervene, without

having to express an opinion upon the original

question. I did so vigorously, although in very

few words.
On reading over this little speech in the Moniteur,
I cannot but think it very insignificant and badly
turned. Nevertheless, I was applauded to the echo

by the majority, because in moments of crisis, when

one is in danger of civil war, it is the movement of
thought and the accent of one's words which make
an impression, rather than their value. I directly
attacked Ledru-Rollin. I accused him with violence
of only wanting troubles and of spreading lies in
order to create them. The
which impelled
feeling
me to speak was an energetic one, the tone was
determined and aggressive, and although I spoke
294 RECOLLECTIONS OF

very badly, being as yet unaccustomed to my new-

part, I met with much favour.

Ledru replied to me, and told the majority that
they were on the side of the Cossacks. They
answered that he was on the side of the plunderers
and the incendiaries. Thiers, commenting on this
thought, said that there was an intimate relation
between the man they had just listened to and the
insurgents of June. The Assembly rejected the
demand for an impeachment by a large majority, and
broke up.
Although the leaders of the Mountain continued
to be outrageous, they had not shown any great

firmness, so that we were able to flatter ourselves

that the decisive moment for the struggle had not
yet arrived. But this was a mistake. The reports
which we received during the night told us that the
people were preparing to take up arms.
On the next day, in fact, the language of the
demagogic papers proclaimed that the editors no
longer relied upon justice, but upon a revolution, ta
acquit them. All of them called either directly or
indirectly for civil war. The National Guard, the
schools, the entire population was summoned by them
to repair,
unarmed, to a certain locality, in order to
go
and present themselves in mass before the doors of
the Assembly. It was a 23rd of June which
they
wished to commence with a 1 5th of May and, in ;

fact, seven or eight thousand people did meet at

about eleven o'clock at the Chateau-d'Eau. We oa

 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 295

our side held a Council under the President of the

Republic. The was already in uniform, and
latter

prepared to go out on horseback so soon as he

should be told that the fighting had commenced.
For the rest, he had changed nothing except his
clothes. He was exactly the same man as on the
day before the same rather dejected air, his speech
:

no less slow and no less embarrassed, his eye no

less dull. He showed none of that sort of warlike
excitement and of rather feverish gaiety which the

approach of danger so often gives an attitude :

which is perhaps, after all, no more than the sign

of a mind disturbed.
We sent for Changarnier, who explained his pre-
parations to us, and guaranteed a victory. Dufaure
communicated to us the reports he had received, all
of which told of a formidable insurrection. He then
left forthe Ministry of the Interior, which was the
centre of action, and at about mid-day I repaired to
the Assembly.
The House was some time before it met, because
the President, without consulting us, had declared,
when arranging the Order of the Day on the even-
on
ing before, that there would be no public sitting
the next day, a strange blunder which would have
looked like treachery in anyone else. While mes-
sengers were being despatched to inform the members
at their own houses, I went to see the President of
the Assembly private room
in his most : of the

leaders of the majority were there before me. Every

296 RECOLLECTIONS OF

face bore traces of excitementand anxiety the con- ;

test was both feared and demanded. They began

by vehemently accusing the Ministry of slackness.
Thiers, lying back in a big arm-chair, with his legs
crossed one over the other, sat rubbing his stomach

(for he felt certain symptoms of the prevailing epi-

demic), loudly and angrily exclaiming, in his shrillest

falsetto, that it was very strange that no one seemed
to think of declaring Paris in a state of siege. I

replied gently that we had thought of it, but that

the moment had not yet come to do so, since the
Assembly had not yet met.
The members arrived from every side, attracted
less by the messages despatched to them, which

most of them had not even received, than by the

rumours prevalent in the town. The sitting was
opened at two o'clock. The benches of the majority
were well filled, but the top of the Mountain was
deserted. The gloomy silence which reigned in this

part of theHouse was more alarming than the shouts

which came from that quarter as a rule. It was a
proof that discussion had ceased, and that the civil
war was about commence.
to
At three o'clock, Dufaure came and asked that
the state of siege should be proclaimed in Paris.

Cavaignac seconded him in one of those short ad-

dresses which he sometimes delivered, and in which
his mind,which was naturally middling and confused
reached the level of his soul and approached the
sublime. Under these circumstances he became, for
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVJLLE 297

a moment, the man of the most genuine eloquence

that I have ever heard speak in our Assemblies he :

left all the mere orators far behind him.

"
You have just said," he exclaimed, addressing
the Montagnard^ who was
leaving the tribune, "that
I have fallen from power. That is not true I :

retired voluntarily. The national will does not

overthrow ;
it commands, and we obey. I add —and
I want the republican party always to be able to
say so with justice : I retired voluntarily, and, in so

doing, my conduct did honour to my republican

convictions. You said that we lived in terror :

history observing us, and will pronounce when the

is

time comes. But what I say to you myself is this,

that although you have not succeeded in inspiring
me with a feeling of terror, you have inspired me
with a feeling of profound sorrow. Shall I tell you
one thing more? You are Republicans of long
standing whereas I have not worked for the
;

Republic before its foundation, I have not suffered

for it, and I regret that this is so but I have served ;

it
faithfully, and I have done more : I have governed
it. I shall serve nothing else, understand me well !

Write down, take it down in shorthand, so that it

it

may remain engraved upon the annals of our delibera-

tions / shall serve nothing else !
: Between you and
me, I take it, it is a question as to which of us will

serve the Republic best. Well then, my regret is,

that you have served it very badly. I hope, for the

^
Pierre Leroux,
 298 RECOLLECTIONS OF

sake of my country, that it is not destined to fall ;

but if we should be condemned to undergo so great

a blow, remember — remember distinctly
— that we
shall accuse your exaggerations and your fury as

|being the cause of

it."

Shortly after the state of siege had been pro-

claimed, we learnt that the insurrection had been
extinguished. Changarnier and the President,
charging at the head of the cavalry, had cut in two
and dispersed the column which was making its
way towards the Assembly. A few newly-erected
barricades had been destroyed, without striking a
blow. The Montagnards, surrounded in the Con-
servatoire of Arts and Crafts, which they had
turned into their head-quarters, had either been
arrested or taken to flight. were the masters We
of Paris.
The same movement took place in several of
the large towns, with more vigour but no less
success. At Lyons,
the fighting lasted stubbornly
for five hours, and the victory was for a moment
in doubt. But for that matter, when we were
once victorious in Paris, we distressed ourselves

very about the provinces ;! for we knew that

little

in France, in matters both of order and of dis-

II order, Paris lays down the law.

Thus ended the second Insurrection of June, very
different to the first by the extent of its violence
and its duration, but similar in the causes which
led to its failure. .At the time of the first, the
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 299

people, carried away less their

opinions than
by
by their appetites, had fought alone, without being- \\
'

able to attract their representatives to their head. '

This time the representatives had been unable to

induce the people to follow them into battle. In
June 1848, the army had no leaders ;
in June 1849,
the leaders had no army.

They were singular personages, those Montagn-

ards : their quarrelsome nature and their self-con-
ceit were displayed even in measures which least

allowed of it. Among those who, in their news-

papers and in their own persons, had spoken most

violently in favour of civil war, and who had done
the most to cover us with insults, was Consid^rant,
the pupil and successor of Fourier, and the author
of so many socialistic dreams which would only
have been ridiculous at any other time, but which
were dangerous in ours. Considerant succeeded in

escaping with Ledru-Rollin from the Conservatoire,

and in reaching the Belgian frontier. I had formerly
had social relations with him, and when he arrived
in Brussels, he wrote to me :

•*
My dear Tocqueville,
he
(Here followed a request for a service which
asked me to do for him, and then he went on) :

"
Rely upon me at all times forany personal
service. You goodare for two or three months
follow you are
perhaps, and the pure Whites who will
good for six months at the longest.
You will both
300 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

of you, it is true, have well deserved what is infallibly

bound tohappen to you a little sooner or a little

later. But let us talk no more politics and respect
the very legal, very loyal, and very Odilon Barrot-

esque state of siege."

To this I
replied :

*'
My dear Consid^rant,
"I have done what you ask. I do not wish to
take advantage of so small a service, but I am

very pleased to ascertain, by the way, that those

odious oppressors of liberty, the Ministers, inspire
their adversaries with so much confidence that the

latter, after outlawing them, do not hesitate to apply

to them what is just. This proves that
to obtain
there is some good left in us, whatever may be
said of us. Are you quite sure that if the position
had been inverted, I should have been able to act
in the same way, I will not say towards yourself,
but towards such and such of your political friends
whom I
might mentionthink the contrary, and
? I

I
solemnly declare to you that if ever they become
the masters, I shall consider myself quite satisfied
if they only leave my head upon my shoulders, and
ready to declare that their virtue has surpassed my
greatest expectations."
 CHAPTER III
OUR DOMESTIC POLICY— INTERNAL QUARRELS IN THE CABINET —
ITSDIFFICULTIES IN ITS RELATIONS WITH THE MAJORITY
AND THE PRESIDENT.

We were victorious, but our real difficulties were

only about to commence, and I expected them. I

have always held as a maxim, moreover, that it

is after a great success that one
generally comes
across the most dangerous chances of ruin so long :

as the peril lasts, one has only his adversaries to

deal with, and he triumphs but after the victory,
;

one begins to have to reckon with himself, his

slackness, his pride, the imprudent security inspired

by victory, and he succumbs.

was not exposed to this last danger, for I never
I

imagined that we had surmounted our principal

obstacles. knew that these lay with the very men
I

with whom we would have to govern the country,

and that the rapid and signal defeat of the Montagn-
ards, instead of guaranteeing us against the ill-will
of the former, would expose us to it without delay.
We should have been much stronger if we had not
succeeded so well.
Themajority consisted in
the main, at that time,
of three parties (the President's party in Parliament
was as yet too few in number and of too evil repute
30X
302 RECOLLECTIONS OF

to count). Sixty to eighty members at the utmost

were sincerely with us in our endeavours to found a
Moderate RepubHc, and these formed the only body
we could rely upon in that huge Assembly. The
remainder of the majority consisted of Legitimists,
to the number of some one hundred and sixty, and
of old friends or supporters of the Monarchy of
July, for the most part representing those middle
classes who had governed, and above all exploited,
France during eighteen years. I felt at once that of

these two parties, that of which we could most easily

make use in our plans was the Legitimist party.
The Legitimists had been excluded from power
under the last they therefore had no
government ;

places and no salaries to regret. Moreover, being

for the most part considerable land-owners, they had
not the same need of public functions as the middle
class or, at least, custom had not taught them the
;

sweetness of place. Although in principles more j

irreconcilable to the Republic than the others,

they were better able than most to accept its dura-

tion, for it had destroyed their destroyer, and had

opened up them a prospect of power it had

to ;

served at once their ambition and their desire

for revenge and it only aroused against itself
;

their fear, which was, in truth,very great. The

old Conservatives, who formed the bulk of the
majority, were much more eager to do away with
the Republic but as the furious hatred which they
;

bore it was strongly held in check by the fear of the

 ^

ALEXIS DE rOCQUEVILLE 303

risk they would run in endeavouring prematurely to

abolish it, and as, moreover, they had long been
accustomed to follow in the wake of power, it would
have been easy for us to lead them had we been
able to obtain the support, or even the mere neu-

trality of their leaders, of whom the principal were

then, as is known, M. Thiers and M. M0I6.
Appreciating this position of affairs, I understood
that it was necessary to subordinate all
secondary
objects to the principal end in view, which was to
prevent the overthrow of the Republic and especially
to hinder the establishment of the bastard monarchy
of Louis Napoleon. This was at the time the nearest
threatening danger.
thought first of guaranteeing myself against the
I

mistakes of my friends, for I have always considered

as profoundly sensible the old Norman proverb
which says, " Lord, preserve me from my friends :

I will preserve myself from mine enemies."

At the head of our adherents in the National

Assembly was General Lamoriciere, and I

greatly
dreaded his petulancy, his imprudent observations,
and especially his idleness. I endeavoured to ap-
point him to an important and distant embassy.
Russia had spontaneously recognized the new Re-
it was proper that we should resume the
public ;

diplomatic relations with

her which had been almost

interrupted under the last

Government. I cast my

eyes upon Lamoriciere in order to entrust him

•with this extraordinary and distant mission. He
304 RECOLLECTIONS OF

was, besides, a man cut out for a post of this

kind, which few but generals,
in and celebrated
generals, succeed. I had some difficulty in per-
suading him, but the most difficult thing was to
persuade the President of the Republic. He at
first resisted, and told me on that occasion, with a
sort of simplicity which pointed less to candour than
to his difficulty in finding words in which to
express
himself (these very rarely gave utterance to his

thoughts, but sometimes permitted them to glimmer

through), thatjhe wished to be represented at the
principal Courts by ambassadors devoted to himself.
This was not my view of the matter ;
for I,who was
called upon to instruct the ambassadors, was quite
determined to devote myself only to France. I

therefore insisted, but I should have failed if I had

not summoned M. de Falloux to my aid. Falloux
was the only man in the Ministry in whom the
President at that time had confidence. He per-
suaded him with arguments, of which I do not know
the purport, and Lamoriciere left for Russia. I shall

say later what he did.

His departure reassured me as to the conduct of
our friends, and I
thought of winning or retaining
the necessary allies. Here the task was more diffi-

cult on all points ; for, outside

department, my own
I was unable to do anything without the consent of

the Cabinet, which contained a number of the most

honest minds that one could meet, but so inflexible
and narrow in matters of politics, that I have some-
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 305

times gone so far as to regret not having rather had

to do with intelligent rascals.
As to the Legitimists,
my opinion was that they
should be allowed to retain great influence in the
direction of Public Instruction. This proposal had
drawbacks, but it was the
its
only one which could
satisfy them, and which could ensure us their support
in return, whenshould become a question of re-
it

straining the President and preventing him from

upsetting the Constitution. This plan was followed.
Falloux was given a free hand in his own depart-
ment, and the Council allowed him to bring before
the Assembly the plan of Public Instruction, which
since became law on the 15th of March 1850. I

also advised my colleagues to all the extent of my

power keep up good relations individually with

to
the principal members of the Legitimist party, and
I followed this of conduct myself.
line 1 soon
became and remained, of all the members of the

Cabinet, the one who lived in the best under-

standing with them. I even ended by becoming

the sole intermediary between them and our-
selves.
It is true that my birth and the society in which I

had been brought up gave me great facilities for this

which the others did not possess for, although the ;

French nobility have ceased to be a class, they have

of which all the
yet remained a sort of freemasonry,
members continue to recognize one another through I

certain invisible whatever may be the opinions

signs,
I

u
3o6 RECOLLECTIONS OF

which make them strangers to one another, or even

adversaries.
It so
happened, therefore, that after annoying
Falloux more than anyone else had done before enter-
ing the Cabinet, Ihad no sooner joined it than I easily
became his friend. For that matter, he was a man
worth taking the trouble of coaxing. I do not think
that during my whole political career ever met any-
I

one of a rarer nature. Hepossessed the two essen-

tials necessary for good leadership an ardent
:

conviction, which constantly drove him towards his

aim without allowing be turned aside by
itself to

mortifications or dangers, and a mind which was

both firm and supple, and which applied a great
multiplicity and prodigious variety of means to
the execution of a single plan. He was sincere
in this sense, that he only considered, as he de-
clared, his cause and not his private interest ;
but
otherwise very sly, with a very uncommon and
very effective he succeeded, for the
slyness, for
time being, in mingling truth and falsehood in
his own belief, before serving up the mixture to the
minds of others. This the great secret which
is

gives falsehood all the advantages of sincerity, and

which permits its exponent to persuade to the error
which he considers beneficial those whom he works
upon or directs.

In spite of all my efforts, I was never able to

bring about, I will not say a good understanding, but

even a polite understanding between Falloux and
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 307

Dufaure. must be admitted that these two men

It

had precisely the opposite qualities and defects.

Dufaure, who in the bottom of his heart had re-
mained a good west-country bourgeois, hostile to
the nobles and the priests, was unable to put up with
either Falloux's principles or his charming, refined

manners, however agreeable they might seem to

me. I succeeded, however, with
great difficulty, in
persuading him that he must not interfere with him
in his own department but as to allowing him to
;

exercise the smallest influence upon what went on

at the Ministry of the Interior (even within the
limits where this was permissible and necessary), he
would never hear speak of it. Falloux had in
Anjou, where he came from, a prefect with whom
he had reason to find fault. He did not ask that he
should be dismissed, or even refused promotion ;

all he wanted was that he should be transferred, as

he thought his own position compromised so long
as no change took place, a change which was, more-

over, demanded by the majority of the deputies for

Maine-et-Loire. Unfortunately, this prefect was a
declared friend to theRepublic ;
and this was
enough to fill Dufaure with distrust, and to per-
suade him that Falloux's only object was to com-
promise him by making use of him to strike at those

of the Republicans whom he had not been able to

reach till then. He refused, therefore the other ;

insistedDufaure grew still more obstinate. It was

;

very amusing to watch Falloux spinning round

3o8 RECOLLECTIONS OF

Dufaure, pirouetting cleverly and gracefully, without

finding a single opening by which to penetrate into
his mind.
Dufaure let him have his say, and then confined
himself to laconically replying, without looking at him,
or only turning a dull, wry glance in his direction :

"
I should like to know why you did not take
advantage of your friend M. Faucher's period at the
Home Office to rid yourself of your prefect."
Falloux contained himself, although he was natur-
ally, I believe, of a very hasty temper he came and ;

told me his troubles, and I saw the bitterest spleen

trickling through the honey of his speech. I there-

upon intervened, and tried to make Dufaure under-

stand that this was one of those demands which one
cannot refuse a colleague unless one wishes to
quarrel with him. I
spent a month in this way,
acting as a daily intermediary between the two, and
expending more and diplomacy than I had
effort

employed, during the same period, in treating the

great affairs of Europe. The Cabinet was more
than once on the verge of breaking up over this
puny incident. Dufaure gave way at last, but with
such bad grace that it was impossible to thank him
for it so that he gave up his prefect without getting
;

Falloux in exchange.
But the most portion of our role was the
difficult

conduct which we had to display towards the old

Conservatives, who formed the bulk of the majority,
as I have already said.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 309

These had at one and the same time general

opinions which they wished to force through and a
number of private passions which they desired to
satisfy. They wanted us to re-establish order ener-
getically in this we were their men
: we wanted it
;

as much as they did, and we did it as well as

they
could wish, and better than they could have done.
We had proclaimed the state of siege in Lyons and
several of the neighbouring departments, and by
virtue of the state of siege we had suspended six Paris

revolutionary papers, cashiered the three regiments

of the Paris National Guard which had displayed
indecision on the 13th of June, arrested seven re-

presentatives on the spot, and applied for warrants

against thirty others. Analogous measures were
taken all over France. Circulars addressed to all
the agents showed them that they had to do with a
Government which knew how to make itself obeyed,
and which was determined that everything should
give way before the law. Whenever Dufaure was
attacked on account of these different acts by the

Montagnards remaining in the Assembly, he re-

and sharp-edged
plied with that masculine, nervous,
and
eloquence of which he was so great a master,
in the tone of a man who fights after burning his
boats.
The Conservatives not only wanted us to admin-
advant-
istrate with vigour they wished us to take
;

and repressive
age of our victory to pass preventive

laws. We ourselves felt the necessity of moving in

3IO RECOLLECTIONS OF

this direction, although we were not willing to go as

far as they.

For my part, I was convinced that it was both

wise and necessary to make great concessions in this
respect to the fears and the legitimate resentment of
the nation, and that the only means which remained,
after so violent a revolution, of saving liberty was to
restrict it. My colleagues were of the same opinion:
we therefore brought in successively a law to suspend
the clubs ; another to suppress, with even more

energy than had been done under the Monarchy,

the vagaries of the press ;
and a third to regulate
the state of siege.
"
You are establishing a military dictatorship,"
they cried.
" "
Yes," replied Dufaure, it is a dictatorship, but
a parliamentary dictatorship. There are no indi-
vidual rights which can prevail against the inalien-
able right of Society to protect itself. There are
imperious necessities which are the same for all
governments, whether monarchies or republics and ;

who has given rise to these necessities } To whom

do we owe the cruel experience which has given
us eighteen months of violent agitations, incessant
conspiracies, formidable insurrections ? Yes, no
doubt you are quite right when you say that, after
so many revolutions undertaken in the name of

liberty, it is
deplorable that we should be once
again compelled to veil her statue and to place
terrible weapons in the hands of the public powers.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 311

But whose fault is it, if not yours, and who is it that

serves the Republic best, those who favour insurrec-
tions, or those who, like ourselves, apply themselves
"
to suppressing them ? ji

These measures, these laws and this language j

pleased the Conservatives without satisfying them ; !

and to tell the truth, nothing would have contented !

them short of the destruction of the Republic.

Their constantly impelled them in that
instinct \

direction, although their prudence and their reason y

restrained them on the road.
But what they desired above all things was to
oust their enemies from place and to instal in their
stead their partisans or their private friends. We
were again brought face to face with all the passions
which had brought about the fall of the Monarchy of
July. The Revolution had not destroyed them, but
only made them the more greedy this was our ;

great and permanent danger. Here again, I con-

sidered that we ought to make concessions. There
were still in the public offices a very large number of
those Republicans of indifferent capacity or bad
character whom the chances of the Revolution had
driven into power. My advice was to get rid of
these at once, without waiting to be asked for their
dismissal, in sucha way as to inspire confidence in

our intentions and to acquire the right to defend all

the honest and capable Republicans ;

but I could
never induce Dufaure to consent to this. He had

already held the Ministry of the Interior under

312 RECOLLECTIONS OF

Cavaignac. Many of the public servants whom it

would be necessary to dismiss had been either
appointed or supported by him. His vanity was
involved in the question of maintaining them in their

positions, and his mistrust of their detractors would

in any event have sufficed to persuade him to oppose
their representations. He accordingly resisted. It

was, therefore, not long before he himself became the

object of all their attacks. No one dared tackle
him in the tribune, for he was too sturdy a swords-
man there ;
but he was constantly struck at from a
distance and in the shade of the lobbies, and I soon
saw a great storm gathering against him.
" "
What is it we have undertaken to do ? I
"
often asked him. To save the Republic with the
assistance of the Republicans } No, for the majority
of those who bear that name would assuredly kill us

together with it; and those who deserve to bear

the name do not number one hundred in the As-

sembly. We
have undertaken to save the Republic
with the assistance of parties which do not love it.
We can only, therefore, govern with the aid of con-
cessions ;
only, we must never yield anything sub-
stantial. In this matter, everything depends upon
the degree. The best, and perhaps the only guar-
antee which the Republic at this moment possesses
lies in our continuance in power. Every honourable
means should therefore be taken to keep us there."
To this he replied that
fighting, as he did every
day, with the greatest energy, against socialism and
 ALEXIS DE rOCQUEVILLE 313

anarchy, he must satisfy the majority as though one ;

could ever satisfy men by thinking only of their

general welfare, without taking into account their

vanity and their private interests. If even, while re-
fusing, he had been able to do so gracefully but the :

form of his refusal was still more disobliging than the

matter of it. I could never conceive how a man who
was so much the master of his words in the tribune,

so clever in the art of selecting his arguments and the

words best calculated to please, so certain of always

keeping to the expressions which would compel most

agreement with his thought, could be so embarrassed,
so sullen, and so awkward in conversation. This
came, I believe, from his original education. He
was a man of much intelligence, or rather talent
— for of intelligence properly so-called he had
hardly any— but
of no knowledge of the world.
In his youth he had led a laborious, concentrated,
and almost savage life. His entrance into political
life had not to any extent changed his habits. He
had held aloof not only from intrigues, but from
the contact of parties, assiduously occupying him-
self with affairs, but avoiding men, detesting the
movement of assemblies, and dreading the tribune,
which was his only strength. Nevertheless, he was
ambitious after his fashion, but with a measured
and somewhat inferior ambition, which aimed at the

rather than at the domination of

management
His manner, as a minister, of treating people
affairs.

was sometimes very strange. One day, General

314 RECOLLECTIONS OF

Castellane, who was then in great credit, asked for

an audience. He was received, and explained at

length his pretensions and what he called his rights.

Dufaure listened to him long and attentively and ;

then rose, led the general with many bows to the

door, left him standing aghast, without having
and
answered a single word. When I reproached him
with this conduct :

"I should only have had to say disagreeable things

to him," he replied ;
"it was more reasonable to say
"
nothing at all !

It is one rarely left a man of

easy to believe that
this kind except in a very bad temper.

Unfortunately, he had as a sort of double a per-

manent secretary who was as uncouth as himself, and
very stupid besides ;
so that when the solicitants

passed from the Minister's office into the secretary's,

in the hope of meeting with a little

comfort, they
found the same unpleasantness, minus the intelli-
gence. It was like falling from a quickset hedge on
to a bundle of thorns.
In spite of these disadvantages, Dufaure obtained
the support of the Conservatives but he was never ;

able to win over their leaders.

The latter, as I had indeed foreseen, would neither
undertake the government themselves nor allow any
one else to govern with a free hand. They were
unable to see without jealousy ministers at the head
of affairswho were not their creatures, and who
refused to be their instruments. I do not believe
 JLEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 315

that, between the 13th of June and the last debates

on the Roman question, in other words,
during
almost the whole life of the Cabinet, a single day-

passed without some ambush being laid for us.

They did not fight us in the tribune, I admit ;

but
they incessantly excited the majority secretly against
us, blamed our decisions, criticized our measures, put
unfavourable interpretations upon our speeches un- ;

able to make up their minds to overthrow us, they

arranged in such a way that, finding us wholly un-

supported, they were always in a position, with the
smallest effort, to hurl us from power. After all,
Dufaure's mistrust was not always without grounds.
The leaders of the majority wanted to make use of
us in order to take rigorous measures, and to obtain

repressive laws which would make the task of

government easy to our successors, and our Republi-
can opinions made us fitter for this, at that moment,

than the Conservatives. They did not fail to count

on soon bowing us out, and on bringing their sub-

stitutesupon the scene. Not only did they wish

us not to impress our influence upon the Assembly,
but they laboured unceasingly to prevent us from

establishing it in the mind of the President. They

Louis Napoleon was still
persisted in the delusion that
happy in their leading-strings. They continued to
beset him, therefore. We
were informed by our (

agents that most of them, but especially

M. Thiers
and M. M0I6, were constantly seeing him in private,
and urging him with all their might to overthrow, in
 3x6 RECOLLECTIONS OF

concert with them, and at their common expense and

to their common profit, the Republic. They formed,
as were, a secret ministry at the side of the respon-
it

sible Cabinet. Commencing with the 13th of June, I

lived in a state of continuous alarm, fearing every

day that they would take advantage of our victory

to drive Louis Napoleon to commit some violent

usurpation, and that one fine morning, as I said to

Barrot, the Empire should slip in between his legs.
I have since learnt that my fears were even better
founded than I at that time believed.Since leaving
the ministry, I have learnt from an undoubted source
that a plot was formed towards the month of July
1849 to alter the Constitution by force by the com-
^ bined enterprise of the President and the Assembly.
The leaders of the majority and Louis Napoleon had
come to an agreement, and the blow only failed
because Berryer, who no doubt feared lest he should
be making a fool's bargain, refused his support and
that of his followers. Nevertheless, the idea was
not renounced, but only adjourned and when I ;

think that at the time when I am writing these lines,

that is to say, two years only after the period of
which speak, the majority of these same men are
I

growing indignant at seeing the people violate the

Constitution by doing for Louis Napoleon pre-

cisely what they themselves at that time proposed

to him to do, I find it difficult to imagine a more

noteworthy example of the versatility of men and

"
of the vanity of the great words " Patriotism and
 ALEXIS DE TO CQlfE riL L K 3
1
-

"Right" beneath which petty passions art:

apt b>
cloak themselves.
We were no more certain, as has been seen, mI"

the President than of the majorit)-. In fact, Louis

Napoleon was, for ourselves as well as for the Re-

public, the greatest and the most permancni tlaiiLjcr.

I was convinced of this and yet, when
; had I

very attentively studied hini, I did not desjjair of

the possibility of establishing ourselves in his

mind, for a time at least, in a fairly solid fashion.

I soon discovered that, although he never ret used
to admit the majority leaders to his presence and to
receive their advice, which he sometimes followed,
and although he plotted with them when it suited

his purpose,he nevertheless endured their yoke with

great impatience that he felt humiliated at seem

;

ing to walk in their leading-strings

and that he ;

secretly burned to be free of them. This gave us

a point of contact with him and a hold upon his
mind; for we ourselves were ciuite resolveil to
remain independent of these great wire-pullers, and
to uphold the Executive Power against their atuu ks.
It did not seem impossible to me, moreover, tor

us to enter pardy into Louis Xai)oleon's desi-ns

without emerging from our own. What IkkI alw,i\ s

when situation ot
struck me, I reflected upon the
that extraordinary man (extraordinary,
not throu-h

his genius, but through the circumstances which

Iku!

combined to raise his mediocrity to so In-h a K acI).

was the need which existed to teed Ins mind with
3i8 RECOLLECTIONS OF

hope of some kind if we wished to keep him quiet.

That a man of this stamp could, after governing
France for four years, be dismissed into private life,
seemed very doubtful to me ;
that he would consent
to withdraw into private life, seemed very chimerical ;

that he could even be prevented, during the length of

his term of from plunging into some dangerous
office,

enterprise seemed very difficult, unless, indeed, one

were able to place before his ambition some point
of view which might, if not charm, at least restrain
him. This is to what I, for my part, applied myself
from the beginning.
" "
I will never serve I said to him, in over-
you,"
throwing the Republic ;
but I will gladly strive to

assure you a great position in it, and I believe that

all my end by entering into
friends will my plan.
The Constitution can be revised Article ; 45, which

prohibits re-election, can be changed. This is an

object which we will gladly help you to attain."
And as the chances of revision were doubtful, I

went further, and I hinted to him as to the future

that, if
governed France peacefully, wisely,
he
modestly, not aiming at more than being the first
magistrate of the nation, and not its corrupter or
itsmaster, he might possibly be re-elected at the
end of his term of office, in spite of Article 45, by
an almost unanimous vote, since the Monarchical
parties did not see the ruin of their hopes in the
limited prolongation of his power, and the Repub-
lican party itself looked upon a government such as
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEFILLE 3,9

his as the best means of accustoming the country to

the RepubHc and giving it a taste for it.

I told him all this in a tone of sincerity, because

I was sincere in saying it. What I advised him
seemed to me, in fact, and still seems to me, the
best thing to be done in the interest of the
country,
and perhaps in his own. He readily listened to me,
without giving a glimpse of the impression my lan-

guage made upon him this was his habit. The

:

words one addressed to him were like stones thrown

down a well their sound was heard, but one never
;

knew what became of them. I believe, however,

that they were not entirely lost ;
for there were two
distinctmen in him, as I was not long in discover-

ing. The first was the ex-conspirator, the fatalistic

dreamer, who thought himself called to govern
France, and through it to dominate Europe.
The other was the epicurean, who luxuriously made
the most of his new state of well-being and of the
pleasures which his present position gave him,
facile

and who did not dream of risking it in order to

ascend still higher. In any case, he seemed to like
me better and better. I admit that, in all that was
compatible with the good of the public service, I
made great efforts to please him. Whenever, by
chance, he recommended for a diplomatic appoint-
ment a capable and honest man, I showed great
alacrity in placing him.
Even when his proUgi
was not very capable, if the post was an unimportant
one, I
generally arranged to give
it him ;
but most
320 RECOLLECTIONS OF

often the President honoured with his recommenda-

tions a set of gaol-birds, who had formerly thrown
themselves in desperation into his party, not know-
ing where else to betake themselves, and to whom
he thought himself to be under obligations or ;

else he attempted to place at the principal em-

bassies those whom
he called "his own men," which
most frequently meant intriguers and rascals. In
that case I went and saw him, I explained to him
the regulations, which were opposed to his wish, and
the political reasons which prevented me from com-
I sometimes even went so far as to
plying with it.
let him see that I would rather resign than retain

officeby doing as he wished. As he was not able

to see any private reasons for my refusal, nor any

systematic desire to oppose him, he either yielded

without complaining or postponed the business.
I
cheaply with his friends.
did not get off as
These were unspeakably eager in their rush for
the spoil. They incessantly assailed me with their
demands, with so much importunity, and often im-
pertinence, that I frequently felt inclined to have
them thrown out of the window. I strove, never-
theless, to restrain myself. On one occasion, how-
ever, when one
of them, a real gallows-bird, haughtily
insisted, and said that it was very strange that the
Prince should not have the power of rewarding those
who had suffered for his cause, I replied :

"
Sir, the best thing for the President to do is to

forget that he was ever a pretender, and to remem-

A
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 321

ber that he is here to attend to the affairs of France

and not to yours."
The Roman affair, in which, as I shall explain

later, I
firmly supported his policy, until the moment
when it became extravagant and unreasonable, ended
by putting me entirely into his good graces : of this
he one day gave me a great proof. Beaumont, during
his short
embassy England in at the end of 1848,
had spoken very strongly about Louis Napoleon,
who was at that time a candidate for the Presidency.
These remarks, when repeated to the latter, had
caused him extreme irritation, I had several times

endeavoured, since I had become a minister, to re-

establish Beaumont in the President's mind ; but I

should never have ventured to propose to employ

him, capable as he was, and anxious though I was to
do so. The Vienna embassy was to be vacated in

September 1849. It was at that time one of the

most important posts in our diplomatic service,
because of the affairs of Italy and Hungary. The
President said to me of his own accord :

" the Vienna

suggest that you should give
I

had
embassy to M. de Beaumont. True, I have
but I know that he
great reason to complain of him ;

to decide me."
is
your best friend, and that is enough
I was
delighted. No one was better suited than
Beaumont for the place which had to be filled, and
me than to
nothing could be more agreeable
to

offer it him.

All my colleagues did not

imitate me in the care
322 RECOLLECTIONS OF

which I took to gain the President's good-will with-

out doing violence to my opinions and my wishes.

Dufaure, however, against every expectation, was

always just what he should be in his relations towards
him. I believe the President's simplicity of manners
had half won him over. But Passy seemed to take
pleasure in being disagreeable to him. I believe
that he considered that he had degraded himself by

becoming the minister of a man whom he looked

upon as an adventurer, and that he endeavoured to
regain his level by impertinence. He annoyed him
every day unnecessarily, rejecting all his candidates,
ill-treating his friends, and contradicting his opinions
with ill-concealed disdain. No wonder that the
President cordially detested him.
Of all the ministers, the one who was most in his
confidence was Falloux. I have always believed

that the latterhad gained him by means of some-

thing more substantial than that which any of us
were able or willing to offer him. Falloux, who was
a Legitimist by birth, by training, by society, and by
taste, if you like, belonged at bottom to none but the
Church. He did not believe in the triumph of the

Legitimism which he served, and he only sought,

amid all our revolutions, to find a road by which he
could bring back the Catholic religion to power.
He had only remained in office so that he might
watch over its interests, and, as he said to me on
the day with well-calculated frankness, by the
first

advice of his confessor. I am convinced that from

 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 323

the beginning Falloux had suspected the

advantages
to be gained from Louis Napoleon towards the

accompHshment of this design, and that, famiHarizing

himself at an early date with the idea of
seeing the
President become the heir of the Republic and the
master of France, he had only thought of utilizing
this inevitableevent in the interest of the clergy.
He had offered the support of his party without,

however, compromising himself.

From the time of our entrance into affairs until

the prorogation of the Assembly, which took place on

the 13th of August, we did not cease to gain ground
with the majority, in spite of their leaders. They
saw us every day struggling with their enemies
before their eyes and the furious attacks which the
;

latter at every moment directed against us advanced

us gradually in their good graces. But, on the other

hand, during all that time we made no progress in
the mind of the President, who used to suffer our pres-
ence in his counsels rather than to admit us to them.
Six weeks later it was just the opposite.
The
representatives had returned from
the provinces
incensed by the clamour of their friends, to whom

we had refused to hand over the control of local

affairs ;
and on the other hand, the President of the
show later
Republic had drawn closer to us ;
I shall

why. One would have said that we

had advanced
on that side in the exact proportion to that in which
we had gone back on the other.
Thus placed between two props badly jomed
 324 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

together and always tottering, the Cabinet leant

now upon one, now upon the other, and was
I always liable to tumble between the two. It was
I the Roman affair which brought about the fall.

i Such was the state of things when the parliament-

ary session was resumed on the ist of October 1849,
and when the Roman affair was handled for the
second and last time.
 CHAPTER IV

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

I DID not wish to interrupt the story of our home

misfortunes to speak of the difficuhies which we en-
countered abroad, and of which I had to bear the
brunt more than any other. I shall now retrace my
steps and return to that part of my subject.
When found myself installed at the Foreign
I

Office, and when the state of affairs had been placed

before my eyes, I was alarmed at the number and
extent of the difficulties which I
perceived. But
what caused me more anxiety than anything else

was myself.
possess a great natural distrust of self. The nine
I

in the
years which I had spent rather wretchedly
lastAssemblies of the Monarchy had tended greatly
to increase this natural infirmity, and although the
manner in whichundergone the trial of
I had just
the Revolution of February had helped to raise me
a little in my own opinion, I nevertheless accepted
this great task, at a time like the present, only after
much hesitation, and I did not enter into it
with-

out great fear.

Before long, I was able to make a certain number
of observations which tranquillized if they did not
3»5
326 RECOLLECTIONS OF

entirely reassure me. I

began by perceiving that
affairs did not always increase in difficulty as they in-
creased in as would naturally appear at a cursory
size,

glance : the contrary is rather the truth. Their

complications do not grow with their importance ;
it

even often happens that they assume a simpler aspect

in the measure that their consequences become
wider and more serious. Besides, a man whose will

influences the destiny of a whole people always finds

ready to hand more men willing to enlighten him,

to assist him, to relieve him of details, more pre-
pared to encourage, to defend him, than would be
met with in second-rate affairs or inferior positions.

And lastly, the size itself of the object pursued

stimulates all the mental forces to such an extent,

that though the taskmay be a little harder, the
workman becomes much more expert.
I should have perplexed, full of care, dis-
felt

couragement and disordered excitement, in presence

of petty responsibilities. I felt a
peace of mind and
a singular feeling of calm when brought face to face
with larger ones. The sentiment of importance
attached to the things I then did at once raised me
to their level and kept me there. The idea of a
rebuff had until then seemed insupportable to me the ;

prospect of a dazzling fall upon one of the greatest

stages in the world, on which I was mounted, did not
disconcert me; which showed that my weakness was
not timidity but pride. I also was not long before
perceiving that in politics, as in so many other
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 327

matters —perhaps in all —the vivacity of impressions

received was not in a ratio with the
importance of
the fact which produced it, but with the more or less

frequent repetition of the latter. One who grows

troubled and excited about the handling of a
trifling

piece of business, the only one which he happens

to have taken in hand, ends by recovering his self-

possession among greater ones, if

they are repeated
every day. Their frequency renders their effect,
as it were, insensible. I have related how
many
enemies I used formerly to make by holding aloof
from people who did not attract
my attention by
any merit and as people had often taken for
;

haughtiness the boredom they caused me, I strongly

dreaded this reef in the great journey I was about
to undertake. But I soon observed that, although
insolence increases with certain persons in the exact

proportion of the progress of their fortunes, it was

different with me, and that it was much easier for
me to display affability and even cordiality when I felt
myself above, than when I was one of, the common
herd. This comes from the fact that, being a
minister, no longer had the trouble of running after
I

people, nor to fear lest I

should be coldly received

by them, men making it a necessity themselves to

who occupy
posts of that sort,
and
approach those
to
being simple enough to attach great importance
their most trivial words. It comes also from this

that, as a minister, I no longer had to do only with

the ideas of fools, but also with their interests,
328 RECOLLECTIONS OF

which always supply a ready-made and easy subject

of conversation.
I saw, therefore, that was not so ill fitted as I
I .

had feared for the part I had undertaken to play.

This discovery encouraged me, not only for the
present, but for the rest of my life and should I be ;

asked what I
gained Ministry, so troubled,
in this

so thwarted, and so short that I was only able to

commence affairs in it and to finish none, I would
answer that gained one great advantage, perhaps
I

the greatest advantage in the world confidence in —

myself.
At home and abroad, our greatest obstacles came
less from the difficulty of business than from those who

had to conduct it with us. I saw this from the first.

Most of our agents were creatures of the Monarchy,

who, at the bottom of their hearts, furiously detested
the Government they served ;
and in the name of
democratic and republican France, they extolled
the restoration of the old aristocracies and secretly
worked for the re-establishment of all the absolute

monarchies of Europe. Others, on the contrary,

whom the Revolution of February had dragged
from an obscurity in which they should have al-
ways remained, clandestinely supported the dema-
gogic parties which the French Government was
combating. But the chief fault of most of them
was timidity. The greater number of our ambas-
sadors were afraid to attach themselves to any

particular policy in the countries in which they

 ALEXIS DE TOCOUEJ'ILLK ;v^

represented us, and even feared lo disphiy m ilvir

own Government opinions wliich ini^lu soonn- m-

later have been counted as a crime ai^ainsi ih-in

They therefore took care to keep ihcmsil\ -•-.

covertly concealed beneath a heap of lirdi- f.u i>

with which they crammed their corr<sp(jndi:a

(for in diplomacy you must always wriic, rww
when you know nothint;- and wish to sa\- iioiliiuL^).

and they were very careful not to ^how w'.iai iln }

thought of the events they chronicled, and ^lih U-s-^

to g-ive us anv indication as to wliai wh' were lo
conclude from them.
This condition of nullity to which our aL^cni-.

voluntarily reduced themseK'es. and which, to I'il

the truth, was in the case of most ol ihem no mor<-
than an artificial ot nature, indu' (^1
perfectionin^'
me, so soon as I had realized it, to employ mw
men at the great Courts.
I should have liked in the same \va\- lo be able

to get rid of the leaders of the majorii\- :

bwi n^i

endeaxoured or.
beintr able to do this, I U) li\'-

with and did noi e\cn

good terms them, I d(sp,iir

of pleasing them, while at the sani< time rcmainm.;

a diltuuli uiuln-
independent of their inlluencn-
:

succcedeil tor, ot ;ill

taking in which I ne\-ertheless ;

the Cabinet, I was the minister who mosi siron:.;l>

onl\ ulio
policy and
their \-et the op.<-
opposed
niu^i
retained their trood c^races. My sccrei, it I

confess their selt-c unccii vdn

it, lay in tlattering

neglecting their advice.

330 RECOLLECTIONS OF

I had made an observation in small affairs which

I deemed very applicable to greater ones : I had
found that the most advantageous negociations are
those conducted with human vanity for one often ;

obtains very substantial things from it, while giving

very little substance in return. One never does

so well when treating with ambition or cupidity.
At the same time, it is a fact that in order to deal

advantageously with the vanity of others, one must

put his own entirely on one side and think of
nothing but the success of his plans, an essential
which will always prove a difficulty in the way
of this sort of commerce. I
practised it
very
happily at this time and to my great advantage.
Three men thought themselves specially entitled
to direct our foreign policy, owing to the position

they had formerly occupied these were M. de

:

Broglie, M. Mole and M. Thiers. I overwhelmed

all three of them with deference I often sent for ;

them to see me, and sometimes called upon them

to consult them and to ask them, with a sort of

modesty, for advice which hardly ever followed.

I

But this did not prevent these great men from

displaying every satisfaction. pleased them more I

by asking their opinion without following it than

if I had followed it without
asking it. Especially
in the case of M. Thiers, this manoeuvre of mine
succeeded admirably. R6musat, who, although with-
out any personal pretentions, sincerely wished the
Cabinet to last, and who had become familiarized
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 331

through an intercourse extending over twenty-five

years with all M. Thiers' weaknesses, said to me
one day :

"
The world does not know M. Thiers well ;
he
has much more vanity than ambition and he ; pre-
fers consideration to obedience, and the appearance
of power to power itself. Consult him constantly,
and then do just as you please. He will take more
notice of your deference to him than of your actions."
This is what I did, and with great success. In
the two I had to conduct during
principal affairs that
my time of those of Piedmont and Turkey, I
office,

did precisely the opposite to what M. Thiers wished,

and, nevertheless, we remained excellent friends till

the end.
As to the President, itwas especially in the con-
duct of foreign affairs that he showed how badly
to which
prepared he still was for the great part
blind fortune had called him. I was not slow in

aimed at
perceiving that this man, whose pride
taken the smallest
leading everything, had not yet
steps to inform himself of anything.
I
proposed to
have an analysis drawn up every day of all the
Before
despatches and to submit it to his inspection.
this, he knew what happened
in the world only by

hearsay, and only knew what

the Minister for Foreign

Affairs had thought fit to tell him. The solid basis

of facts was always lacking to the operations of
his

the dreams
mind, and this was easily seen in all
with which the latter was filled. I was sometimes
 332 RECOLLECTIONS OF

frightened at perceiving how much there was in his

plans that was vast, chimerical, unscrupulous, and
confused ;
although it is true that, when explaining
the real state of things to him, I
easily made him

recognize the difficulties which they presented, for

discussion was not his strong point. He was silent,
but never yielded.
One of his myths was an alliance with one of the
two great powers of Germany, of which he proposed
to make use to alter the map of Europe and erase
the limits which the treaties of 1 815 had traced for
France. As he saw that I did not believe it
possible
to find either of these powers inclined for an alliance
of this sort, and with such an object, he undertook
himself to sound their ambassadors in Paris. One
of them came to me one day in a state of great
excitement to tell me that the President of the

Republic had asked him if, in consideration of an

equivalent, his Court would not consent to allow

France to seize Savoy. On another occasion, he
conceived the idea of sending a private agent, one
of his own men,^ as he called them, to come to a
direct understanding with the German Princes. He
chose Persigny, and asked me to give him his creden-
tials ;
and I consented, knowing well that nothing
could come of a negociation of this sort. I believe
i
that Persigny had a two-fold mission it was a :

question of facilitating the usurpation at home and

! an extension of territory abroad. He went first to
"
^
Un homvte h lui!'—^. T. DE M.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 333

Berlin and then to Vienna

expected, he was ;
as I

very well received, handsomely entertained, and

politely bowed out.

But I have spoken enough of individuals ;

let us
come to politics.
At the time when I took up office, Europe was,
as it were, on fire, although the conflagration was
already extinguished in certain countries. Sicily
was conquered and subdued ;
the Neapolitans had
returned to their obedience and even to their
servitude the battle of Novara had been fought
;

and the victorious Austrians were negociating

lost ;

with the son of Charles Albert, who had become

King of Piedmont by his father's abdication their ;

armies, issuing from the confines of Lombardy,

occupied Parma, a portion of the Papal States,

Placentia, and Tuscany, which they had entered

unasked, and in spite of the fact that the Grand
Duke had been restored by his subjects, who have
been but ill rewarded since for their zeal and fidelity.
But Venice still resisted, and Rome, after repelling

our first attack, was calling all the demagogues of

Italy to its assistance and exciting all Europe

with clamour.
its Never, perhaps, since February,
had Germany seemed more divided or disturbed.
Although the dream of German unity had been
dispelled, the reality of the old Teutonic organiza-
tion had not yet resumed place. Reduced to a its

small number of members, the National Assembly,

which had till then endeavoured to promote this
334 RECOLLECTIONS OF

unity, fled from Frankfort and hawked round the

spectacle of its impotence and its ridiculous fury.
But its fall did not restore order ;
on the contrary,
it left a freer field for anarchy.
The moderate, one may say the innocent, revolu-
tionaries, who had cherished the belief that they
would be able, peacefully, and by means of arguments
and decrees, to persuade the peoples and princes of
Germany to submit to a single government, made
way for the violent revolutionaries, who had always
maintained that Germany could only be brought to
a state of unity by the complete ruin of its old

systems of government, and the entire abolition of

the existing social order. Riots therefore followed
on every hand upon parliamentary discussion. Poli-

tical rivalries turned into a war of classes ;

the
natural hatred and jealousy entertained by the poor
for the rich developed into socialistic theories in many

quarters, but especially in the small states of Central

Germany and in the great Rhine Valley. Wurtem-
berg was in a state of agitation ; Saxony had just
experienced a terrible insurrection, which had only
been crushed with the assistance of Prussia in- ;

surrections had also occurred in Westphalia ;

the
Palatinate was in open revolt and Baden had
;

expelled Grand Duke,

its and appointed a Pro-
visional Government. And yet the final victory of
the Princes, which I had foreseen when travelling

through Germany, a month before, was no longer

in doubt ; the very violence of the insurrections
 ALEXIS DE rOCQUEriLLE .,-

hastened It. The larger m(jnarchics had ncapiui-.d

their capitals and their armies. Their hcack i.,ni
still to conquer, hut nn more daii-cr^
difficulties ;

and themselves masters, or on the point of hecDiniii:;

so, at home, they could not fail soon to triumph in

the second-rate States. B)- thus violently disturh^

ing public order, the insuri^ents ga\e them the ui-.h,

the opportunit}' and the right to interx cne.

Prussia had already connnenced to do so. Th'-

Prussians had just suppressed the Saxon insurreeiii >n

by force of arms ;
they now entered tlie l\.hin<-

Palatinate, offered their intervention to W'urtemherg.

and prepared to invade the Grand-Duchy of Baden.
thus occupying almost the whole of (ierman\- with
their soldiers or their iniluence.
Austria had emerged from the terril)le crisis which,

had threatened its existence, hut it was still in great

travail. Its armies, after conquering in lial\-, were

being defeated in Hungar)-. Desj)airing ot ma'-tci-

ing subjects unaided,

Its it had called Russia t'> ii-^

assistance, and the Tsar, in a manifesto dated 13

had announced to hi u rope that he w.i^
May,
marching against the Hungarians. The laniMr. .r
Nicholas had till then remained at rest amid lii^
uncontested might. He had \iewc(l the agitaiiMn
of the nations from afar in safet\-, but i^ )t widi

indifference. Thenceforward, he alone aiiMn- iIk

the il<l stat<-

great powers of Europe represented
1

of society and the old traditional principle .i|

He was not its representati\ <; he
authority. (jnly
336 RECOLLECTIONS OF

considered himself its champion. His political

theories, his religious belief, his ambition and his

conscience, all urged him to adopt this part. He

had, therefore, made for himself out of the cause
of authority throughout the world a second empire

yet vaster than the first. He encouraged with his

letters and rewarded with his honours all those who,
in whatever corner of Europe, gained victories over
anarchy and even over liberty, as though they were
his subjects and had contributed to strengthening
his own power. He had thus sent, to the extreme
South of Europe, one of orders to Filangieri,
his

the conqueror of the Sicilians, and had written that

general an autograph letter to show to him that

he was satisfied with his conduct. From the lofty
position which he occupied, and whence he peace-
fully watched the various incidents of the struggle
which shook Europe, the Emperor judged freely,
and followed with a certain tranquil disdain, not
only the follies of the revolutionaries whom he
pursued, but also the vices and the faults of the
partiesand princes whom he assisted. He expressed
himself on this subject simply and as the occasion

required, without showing any eagerness to disclose

his thoughts or taking any pains to conceal them.
Lamoriciere wrote to me on the 1 1 th of August
1 849, in a secret despatch :

" me this You

The Tsar said to morning,
'

believe,

general, that your dynastic parties would be capable

 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 337

of uniting with the Radicals to overthrow a

dynasty
which they disliked, in the hope of setting their own
in its place ;
and I am certain of it. Your Legitimist
Party especially would not hesitate to do so. I

have long since thought that it is the Legitimists

who make the Elder Branch of the Bourbons im-

possible. This
one of the reasons why I recog-
is

nized the Republic and also because I perceive in

;

your nation a certain common sense which is

wanting
in the Germans.'

"Later, the Emperor also said, 'The King of

Prussia, my brother-in-law, with whom I was on

very close terms of friendship, has not taken the

slightest heed of my advice. The result is that
our political relations have become remarkably cool,
to such an extent that they have affected even our

family relations. Look at the things he has done :

did he not put himself at the head of those fools

who dream of an United Germany, and now that
he has broken with the Frankfort Parliament, has he
not brought himself to the necessity of fighting the
which
troops of the Schleswig-Holstein Duchies,
were levied under his patronage ! Is it
possible to

imagine anything more disgraceful.^

And now,
knows how far he his constitu-
who will go with
tional proposals ?
'
He added,
'
Do not think that,

because I intervene in Hungary, I wish to justify

the conduct of Austria in this affair. She has heaped

one on the other, the most serious faults and the
up,
but when all is said and done, it
greatest follies;
338 RECOLLECTIONS OF

had allowed the country to be Invaded by subversive

doctrines, and the government had fallen into the
hands of disorderly persons. This was not to be
endured.'

"Speaking of the affairs of Italy, 'We others,' he

*

said, see nothing in those temporal functions ful-

filled in Rome by ecclesiastics ;
but it matters little

to us how those priests arrange things among them-

selves, provided that something is set up which will
last and that you constitute the power in such a way
"
that it can stand.'

Hereupon Lamoriciere, wounded by this super-

cilious tone, which smelt somewhat of the autocrat

and betrayed a sort of rivalry as between pope and

pope, began to defend Catholic institutions.

" '

Very well, very the Emperor, ending

well,' said
'
the conversation, let France be as Catholic as she
pleases, only let her protect herself against the insane
"
theories and passions of innovators.'

Though hard and austere in the exercise of his

power, the Tsar was simple and almost bourgeois in

his habits, keeping only the substance of sovereign

power and rejecting its pomp and worries. On the

17th of July, the French Ambassador at St Peters-

burg wrote to me :

"
The Emperor is here ;
he arrived from Warsaw
 JLEXis DR 'i'jChur.v u.i.i:

without suite of an\- kind, in an (

ordinal) ,i ,::

—
>

his carria^^^e had broke down hixiy Ira- ts ir. :n.

here — so as to be in time tor the b'^niprr^^' -..i:,' .

day, which has just taken place. 1 b- did the i..,.[-

ney with extraorchnar\- rapidiu, in iwd d.ivs ane a

half, and he leaves a^ain to inoiTow. b^\'r\ i.n-

here is touched with this contra>i jK.wcr and ^A

simplicity, with the siL;"ht of this Soverei-n whd, .:!i. r

hurling one hundred and twent\- tliousaml mm (,ii

to the battle-field, races aloni;' the road.^ hk-- .i

feld-jiiger, so as not to miss his wife'.-. s,iini\-da\ .

Nothing is more in
keeping witli tlie spirit ot ihc

Slavs, among whom one might sa\- tliat tlic prniei-

pal element of civilization is the spirit ol' lamiK.

It w^ould, in fact, ije a great mistake to tlnnh [ii.u

the Tsar's immen.^e i)o\ver was onI\ ba-^i-d np. ^n

force. It w^as founded, abo\-e all, on the wishes

and the ardent sympathies ot the Rii^slan^. b'lr tlic

principle of the sovereignt)' of ihe ju-oplc lie-. ,ii die

root of all irovernment, whate\-er ma\- be said !'> du-

contrary, and liu'ks ijeni^-ath the leasi mdcpi ndi m

institutions. The Russian nobhs had ad' 'pn d liw

principles and still more the \ ii e^ ot J'.urMpc ;

but

the people were not in toucii widi mir W'si .ipd

with the new spirit which animated n. IIh \ .iw

in the not only iheii- I.iwtuI I'rmce, iia:

Emperor ;;:e

envoy of God, and almost (iod llmselt. 1

In the midst of this b^iiroj)e which ha\ e C\^ ],n I ti d,

the position of hh-ance was one ot wiahue. .iiid

 340 RECOLLECTIONS OF

embarrassment. Nowhere had the Revolution suc-

ceeded estabHshing a regular and stable system
in

of liberty. On every side, the old powers were

up
rising again from amid the ruins which it had
made— not, it is true, the same as when they fell,
but very similar. We
could not assist the latter in

establishing themselves nor ensure their victory, for

the system which they were setting up was anti-

pathetic, I will say not only to the institutions

created by the Revolution of February, but, at the
root of our ideas, toall that was most permanent

and unconquerable in our new habits. They, on

their side, distrusted us, and rightly. The great
part of restorers of the general order in Europe
was therefore forbidden us. This part, moreover,
was already played by another : it
belonged by
right to Russia, and only the second remained for
us. As to placing France at the head of the in-

novators, this was to be still less thought of, for two

reasons :
first, that it would have been absolutely
impossible to advise these latter or to hope to lead
them, because of their extravagance and their de-
testable incapacity ; secondly, that it was not possible
j
to support them abroad without falling beneath their
blows at home. The
contact of their passions and
doctrines would have put all France in flame, revolu-
I
'

tionary doctrines at that time dominating all others.

Thus we were neither able to unite with the nations,
who accused us of urging them on and then betray-

ing them, nor with the princes, who reproached us

I ,
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 34,

with shaking their thrones. were reduced to We

accepting the sterile good-will of the English it :

was the same isolation as before February, with the

Continent more hostile to us and England more
lukewarm. It was therefore
necessary, as it had
been then, to reduce ourselves to leading a small
life, from day to day but even this was difficult
;

The French Nation, which had made and, in a

certain way, still made
so great a figure in the world,
kicked against this necessity of the time it had :

remained haughty while it ceased to be prepon-

derant ;
it feared to act and tried to talk loudly ;

and it also expected its Government to be proud,

without, however, permitting it to run the risks

which such conduct entailed.

Never had France been looked upon with more

anxiety than at the moment when the Cabinet had
just been formed. The easy and complete victory
which we had won in Paris on the 13th of June had
extraordinary rebounds throughout Europe. A new
insurrection in France was generally expected. The
revolutionaries, half destroyed, relied only upon this
occurrence to recover themselves, and they redoubled
their efforts in order to be able to take advantage
of it. The governments, half victorious, fearing to
be surprised by this crisis, stopped before striking
their final blow. The day
of the 13th of June gave
rise to cries of pain and joy from one end of the

Continent to the other. It decided fortune suddenly,

and precipitated It towards the Rhine.
342 RECOLLECTIONS OF

The
Prussian army, already master of the Pala-
tinate, at once burst into the Grand- Duchy of Baden,

dispersed the insurgents, and occupied the whole

country, with the exception of Rastadt, which held
out for a few weeks. ^
The Baden revolutionaries took refuge in Switzer-
land. Refugees were then arriving in that country
from Italy, France, and to tellthe truth, from every
corner of Europe, for all Europe, with the exception
of Russia, had undergone or was undergoing a
revolution. Their number soon amounted to ten
or twelve thousand. It was an army always ready
to fall upon the neighbouring States. All the
Cabinets were alarmed at it.
Nothing was ever more despicable than the conduct of those
1

revolutionaries. The soldiers who, at the commencement of the

insurrection, had put to flight or killed their officers, turned tail
before the Prussians.The ringleaders did nothing but dispute among
themselves and defame one another instead of defending themselves,
and took refuge in Switzerland after pillaging the public treasury
and levying contributions upon their own country.
While the struggle lasted, we took strong measures to prevent the

insurgents from receiving any assistance from France. Those among

them who crossed the Rhine, in great numbers, received asylum from
us, The victors, as it
but were disarmed and placed in confinement.
was easy to foresee, at once abused their victory. Many prisoners
were put to death, all liberty was indefinitely suspended, and even
the government which had been restored was kept in very close
tutelage. soon perceived that the French representative in the
I

Grand-Duchy of Baden not only did not strive to moderate these

violences, but thoroughly approved of them. I at once wrote to him

as follows :

"
Sir,
"
I am
informed that a number of military executions have taken
place, that many more are announced.
and I do not understand

why these facts have not been reported by you, nor why you have
not sought to prevent them, without even waiting for instructions.
 ALEXIS DE TOC^IUEVILLE
3^3

Austria and especially Prussia, which had

already
had reason to complain of the
Confederation, and
even Russia, which was in no
way concerned, spoke
of invading Swiss
territory with armed forces and
acting as a police in the name of all the governments
threatened. This we could not allow.
I endeavoured to make the Swiss listen to
first

reason, and to persuade them not to wait till

they
were threatened, but themselves to from their expel
territory, as the Law of Nations required them to do,
allthe principal ringleaders who openly threatened
neighbouring nations.
"
If you in this what they have
way anticipate
the right to ask of you," I
incessantly repeated to the
We have assisted as much as we could, without taking up arms, in
suppressing the rebellion all the more reason for
; desiring that the
victory to which we have given our aid should not be sullied by
acts of violence of which France disapproves, and which we regard
as both odious and impolitic. There is another point which causes
us much anxiety, and which does not seem to excite your solicitude
to the same degree I refer to the political institutions of the Grand-
:

Duchy. Do not forget that the object of the Government of the

Republic in that country has been to assist in putting down anarchy,
but not in destroying liberty. We can in no way lend our hand to
an anti-liberal restoration. The Constitutional Monarchy felt the need
to create or maintain free States around France. The Republic is still
more obliged to do so. The Government therefore asks and imperi-
ously insists that each of its agents shall faithfully conform to these
necessities of our situation. See the Grand Duke, and give him to
understand what are the wishes of France. We shall certainly never
allow either a Prussian province or an absolute government to b*
established on our frontier in the stead of an independent and con- .

stitutional monarchy ?"

After some time, the executions ceased. The Grand Duke protested
his attachment to constitutional forms, and his resolution to maintain
them. This was for the moment all he was able to do, for he reigned
only in name. The Prussians were the real masters.
344 RECOLLECTIONS OF

representative in Paris of the Swiss Confederation,

*'
you can rely upon France to defend you against
any unjust or exaggerated pretensions put forward
by the Courts. We will rather risk war than permit
them to oppress or humiliate you. But if
you refuse
to bring reason on your side, you must only rely
upon yourselves, and you will have to defend your-
selves against Europe."all

This language had little effect, for there is nothing

to equal the pride and conceit of the Swiss. Not
one of those peasants but believes that his country
is able to defy all the princes and all the nations of

the earth. then set to work in another way,

I

which was more successful. This was to advise

the foreign Governments (who were only too

disposed to agree) to refuse for a certain period

all amnesty to such of their subjects as had taken
refuge in Switzerland, and to deny all of them,
whatever their degree of guilt, the right to return
to their
country. On our side, we closed our
frontiers all those who, after
to taking refuge in
Switzerland, wished to cross France in order to go
to England or America, including the inoffensive
refugees as well as the ringleaders. Every outlet
being thus closed, Switzerland remained encumbered
with those ten or twelve thousand adventurers, the
most turbulent and disorderly people in all Europe.
It was necessary to feed, lodge, and even
pay them,
lestthey should levy contributions on the country.
This suddenly enlightened the Swiss as to the draw-
 ALEXIS DE rOCQUEVILLE 345

backs attendant upon the right of asylum.

They
could have made arrangements to have
kept the
illustrious chiefs for an indefinite
period, in spite of
the danger with which these menaced their
neigh-
bours but the revolutionary army was a
;
great
nuisance to them. The more radical cantons were
the first to raise a loud clamour and to ask to be rid
of these inconvenient and expensive visitors. And
as was impossible to persuade the foreign Govern-
it

ments to open their territory to the crowd of inof-

fensive refugees who were able and willing to leave

Switzerland, without first driving out the leaders

who would have liked to stay, they ended by expel-
ling these. After almost bringing all Europe down

upon them rather than remove these men from their

territory, the Swiss ended by driving them out of
their own
accord in order to avoid a temporary in-
convenience and a trifling expense. No better
example was ever given of the nature of demo-
cracies, which, as a rule, have only very confused
or very erroneous ideas on external affairs, and
internal
generally solve outside questions only by
reasons.
While these things were happening in Switzer-

land, the general aspect of affairs in Germany under-

went a change. The struggles of the nations

against the Governments were followed by quarrels

of the Princes among themselves. I followed this

new phase of the Revolution with a very attentive

gaze and a very perplexed mind.

 346 RECOLLECTIONS OF

The Revolution in Germany had

not proceeded
from a simple cause, as in the rest of Europe. It
was produced at once by the general spirit of the
time and by the unitarian ideas peculiar to the

I
Germans. The democracy was now beaten, but
I
the idea of German unity was not destroyed the ;

!
needs, the memories, the passions that had inspired
it survived. The King- of Prussia had undertaken
to appropriate it and make use of it. This Prince,
a man of intelligence but of very little sense, had
been wavering for a year between his fear of the
Revolution and his desire to turn it to account. He
struggled as much
as he could against the liberal
and democratic spirit of the age yet he favoured
;

the German unitarian spirit, a blundering game in

which, if he had dared to go to the length of his

desires, he would have risked his Crown and his
life. For, in overcome the resistance
order to

which existing institutions and the interests of the

Princes were bound to oppose to the establish-
ment of a central power, he would have had to
summon the revolutionary passions of the peoples
to his aid, and of these Frederic William could
not have made use without soon being destroyed by
them himself
So long as the Frankfort Parliament retained its
prestige and its power, the King of Prussia entreated
it kindly and strove to
get himself placed by it at
the head of the new Empire. When the Parlia-
ment fell into discredit and powerlessness, the King

I
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 347

changed his behaviour without changing his plans.

He endeavoured to obtain the legacy of this as-
sembly and to combat the Revolution by realizing
the chimera of German unity, of which the democrats
had made use to shake every throne. With this in-

tention, he invited all the German Princes to come

to an understanding with him to form a new Con-
federation, which should be closer than that of 181 5,
and to give him the government of it. In return he
undertook to establish and strengthen them in their

States. These Princes, who detested Prussia, but

who trembled before the Revolution, for the most

part accepted the usurious bargain proposed to them.

Austria, which the success of this proposal would
have driven out of Germany, protested, being not
yet in a position to do more.
The two principal
monarchies of the South, Bavaria and Wurtemberg,
example, but all North and
followed its Central

Germany entered into this ephemeral Confederation,

which was concluded on the 26th of May 1849 and
by the name of the Union
is known in history of

the Three Kings.^

Prussia then suddenly became the dominating
power a vast stretch of country, reaching from
in

Memel to Basle, and at one time saw twenty-six

or twenty-seven million Germans marching
under

its orders. All this was completed shortly after my

arrival in office.
I confess that, at the sight of this singular spectacle,
1
Of Prussia, and Hanover.— A.T. DE M.
Saxony
348 RECOLLECTIONS OF

my mind was crossed with strange ideas, and I was

for amoment tempted to believe that the President
was not so mad in his foreign policy as I had
at thought him.
first That greatunion of the
Courts of the North, which had so long weighed
heavily upon us, was broken. Two of the great
Continental monarchies, Prussia and Austria, were

quarrelling and almost at war. Had not the mo-

ment come for us to contract one of those intimate
and powerful alliances which we have been com-
pelled to forego for sixty years, and perhaps in a
measure to repair our losses of 1 8 1 5 France, .-*

by platonically assisting Frederic William in his

enterprises, which England did not oppose, could
divide Europe and bring on one of those great
crises which entail a redistribution of territory.

The time seemed so well to lend itself to these

ideas that they filled the imagination of many of the
German Princes themselves. The more powerful
among them dreamt of nothing but changes of
frontier and accessions of power at the expense of
their neighbours. The revolutionary malady of the
nations seemed to have attacked the governments.
"
There is no Confederation possible with eight and
thirty States," said the BavarianForeign Minister,
Baron von der Pfordten, to our Envoy. "It will
be necessary to mediatize a large number of them.
How, for instance, can we ever hope to re-establish
order in a country like Baden, unless we divide it
among sovereigns strong enough to make themselves
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 349

obeyed In that case," he added, " the Neckar

?

Valley would naturally fall to our share."

^

For my part, I soon dispelled from my mind, as

mere visions, all thoughts of this kind. I
quickly
was neither able nor willing to
realized that Prussia

give us anything worth having in exchange for our

good offices power over the other German
;
that its

States was very precarious, and was likely to be

ephemeral that no reliance was to be placed in its

;

King, who at the first obstacle would have failed

us and failed himself; and, above all, that such

extensive and ambitious designs were not suited
to so ill-established a state of society and to such
troubled and dangerous times as ours, nor to transient

powers such as that which chance had placed in

my hands.

put a more serious question to myself, and it

I

—
was this I recall it here because it is bound con-
Is it to the interest of
stantly to crop
up again :

France that the bonds which hold together the

German Confederation should be strengthened or
relaxed ? In other words, ought we to desire that

Germany should in a certain sense become a

nation, or that it should remain an ill-
single
joined conglomeration of
disunited peoples and
in our diplo-
princes? There is an old
tradition

macy that we should strive tokeep Germany divided

among a large number of independent powers:

and was self-evident at the time when

this, in fact,

Despatch of the 7th of September

1 1849.
3 so RECOLLECTIONS OF

there was nothing behind Germany except Poland

and a semi-savage Russia but is the case the same
;

in our days ? The

reply to this question depends
upon the reply to another What is really the peril
:

with which in our days Russia threatens the inde-

pendence of Europe ? For my part, believing as I

do that our West is threatened sooner or later to
fall under the yoke, or at least under the direct and

irresistible influence of the Tsars, I think that our

object should be to favour the union of all the

first

German races in order to oppose it to that influence.

The conditions of the world are new ;
we must
change our old maxims and not fear to strengthen
our neighbours, so that they may one day be in a
condition with us to repel the common enemy.
The Emperor of Russia, on his side, saw how
great an obstacle an United Germany would prove
in his way. Lamoriciere, in one of his private
letters, informed me that the Emperor had said to
him with his ordinary candour and arrogance :

"If the unity of Germany, which doubtless you

wish for no more than I do, ever becomes a fact,
there will be needed, in order to manage it, a man
capable of what Napoleon himself was not able to
do and if this man were found, if that armed mass
;

developed into a menace, it would then become

your affair and mine."
But when I put these questions to myself, the
time had not come to solve them nor even to discuss
them, for Germany was of its own accord irresistibly
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
35,

returning to its old constitution and to the old

anarchy of its powers. The Frankfort Parliament's
attempt in favour of unity had fallen through.
That made by the King of Prussia was destined to
meet with the same fate.
It was the dread of the Revolution which alone had

driven the German Princes into Frederic William's

arms. In the measure that, thanks to the efforts of
the Prussians, the Revolution was on all sides sup-

pressed and ceased to make itself feared, the allies

(one might almost say the new subjects) of Prussia
aimed at recovering their independence. The King
of Prussia's enterprise was of that unfortunate kind
in which success itself interferes with triumph, and

to compare large things with smaller, I would say

that his history was not unlike ours, and that, like

ourselves, he was doomed to strike upon a rock so

soon as, and for the reason that, he had re-estab-
lished The
order. princes who had adhered to

what was known as the Prussian hegemony seized

the first opportunity to renounce it. Austria supplied

this opportunity, when, after defeating the Hunga-
she was able to re-appear upon
rians, the scene of

German affairs with her material power and that of the

memories which attached to her name. This is what

happened in the course of September 1 849. When

himself face to face with
the King of Prussia found
that powerful rival, behind whom he caught sight of
as ex-
Russia, his courage suddenly failed him,
I

to his old part. The

pected, and he returned
352 RECOLLECTIONS OF

German 1815 resumed its empire,

Constitution of
the Diet its
sittings and soon, of all that great
;

movement of 1848, there remained but two traces

visible in Germany : a
greater dependence of
the small States upon the great monarchies, and
an irreparable blow struck at all that remains of
feudal institutions : consummated by the
their ruin,

nations, was sanctioned by the Princes. From one

end of Germany the perpetuity of
to the other, I

ground-rents, baronial tithes, forced labour, rights of

mutation, of hunting, of justice, which constituted a
great part of the riches of the nobility, remained
abolished.^ The Kings were restored, but the aris-
tocracies did not recover from the blow that had
been struck them.^
^Private letter from Beaumont at Vienna, lo October 1849. —
Despatch from M. Lef^bre at Munich, 23 July 1849.
^
I had foreseen from the commencement that Austria and Prussia

would soon return to their former sphere and fall back in each case
within the influence of Russia. I find this provision set forth in the
instructions whichgave to one of our ambassadors lo Germany on
I

the 24th of July, before the events which I have described had taken
place. These instructions are drawn up in my own hand, as were
all my more important despatches. I read as follows :

" know
I malady which is ravaging all the old European
that the
society is incurable, that in changing its symptoms it does not
change in character, and that all the old powers are, to a greater
or lesser extent, threatened with modification or destruction. But I
am inclined to believe that the next event will be the strengthening of
authority throughout Europe. It would not be impossible that, under
the pressure of a common instinct of defence or under the common
influence of recent occurrences, Russia should be willing and able to
bring about harmony between North and South Germany and to recon-
cile Austria and Prussia, and that all this great movement should

merely resolve itself into a new alliance of principles between the

three monarchies at the expense of the secondary governments and
the liberty of the citizens. Consider the situation from this point of
view, and give me an account of your observations."
 f^
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
353

Convinced at an early date that we had no

part
to play in this internal crisis in
Germany, I only
applied myself to living on good terms with the
several contending parties. I
especially kept up
friendly relations with Austria, whose concurrence
was necessary to us, as I will explain later, in the

Roman business. I first strove to bring to a happy

conclusion the negociations which had long been

pending between Austria and Piedmont I

put the ;

more care into this because I was persuaded that, so

long as no lasting peace was established on that side,
Europe would remain unsettled and liable at any
moment to be thrown into great danger.
Piedmont had been negociating to no purpose
since the battle of Novara. Austria at first tried to

lay down unacceptable conditions. Piedmont, on her

side,kept up pretensions which the state of her for- 7
tunes did not authorize. The negociations, several
times interrupted, had been resumed before I took
office. We had many very strong reasons to desire

that this peace should be concluded without delay.

At moment, a
any war might break out in
general
this little corner of the Continent. Piedmont, more-
over, was too near to us to permit us to allow that
she

should lose either her independence, which separated

her from Austria, or her newly-acquired constitutional
institutions, which brought her closer
to us two :

advantages which would be seriously jeopardized

if

recourse were had to arms.

I therefore interposed very eagerly, in the name
354 RECOLLECTIONS OF

of France, between the two parties, addressing to

both of them the language which I thought most
I observed to Austria how
likely to convince them.
urgent it was that the general peace of Europe
should be assured by this particular peace, and I
exerted myself to point out to her what was excessive
in her demands. To Piedmont I indicated the points

on which it seemed to me that honour and interest

would permit her to give

way. I
applied myself
especially to giving her Government in advance

clear and precise ideas as to what it might expect

from us, so that it should have no excuse to enter-
tain, or topretend to have entertained, any dangerous
illusions^ I will not
go into details of the conditions
under discussion, which are without interest to-day ;

I will content
myself with saying that at the end
they seemed prepared to come to an understanding,
1
Despatch of the 4th of July 1849 to M. de Boislecomte :

" The
conditions laid down for Piedmont by His Majesty the
Emperor of Austria are no doubt severe but, nevertheless, they do
;

not affect the integrity of the territory of the Kingdom nor her
honour. They neither take away the strength which she should pre-
serve, nor the just influence which she is called upon to exercise over
the general policy of Europe and in particular over the affairs of Italy.
The treaty which she is asked to sign is a vexatious one, no doubt but ;

it is not a disastrous one; and, after the fate of arms has been decided,
it does not exceed what was naturally to be feared.

"France has not neglected, and will not neglect, any effort to obtain
a mitigation of this proposal ; she will persist in her endeavours to obtain
from the Austrian Government the modifications which she considers
in keeping not only with the interests of Piedmont but with the easy
and lasting maintenance of the general peace and to attain this
;

result, she will employ all the means supphed to diplomacy but she will
:

not go beyond this. She does not think that, within the limits of the
question and the degree to which the interests of Piedmont are in-
 ALEXIS DE TfJChUEVIl.LE .-

and that any further delay was .hi.- ir..-:- :, •

quesdon of money. This was ili.- c .M^ii:' ;.

affairs, and Austria assured us dir.)u-ii ii.-r .\:.-.' ..

sador in Paris of her c .nciliai. ir\

.!!-[..,.;[;,,:.

already looked upon peace as e. tuIm.Ic.'. \\\:< w

unexpectedly learned thai th.- Au-.iriaii I'i-'ii:.

tentiary had suddenl\- chan-i-d lu^ ainii:.!-- ..: i :

language, had delivered on the ic^b. "t [..'ix ,, ^,..

serious ultimatum, c. duelled in cxcc.-.i;:! jl-,

;
^.- ;

terms, and had onh" L^iven four (la\s in wiii. !; v

reply to it. At the end of die^e f)ur .la\> i:,

armistice was to he raised and die war r.-uav i

Already Marshal Radetzky was c. m.-.-mraiin,, ia

army and preparinc^ to enter upon a iVc^li cain.jM:^;;.
This news, so contrary to the parifir ,i^Ma\i:K'
which we had received, was lo me a ;^i'
a: ^-ia.

of surprise and indignation. Dnnan.ls m) >-\^n-\'\\.\\.\

volved, it would be oppnnune to .1.) lUMre. li.iM;:. •.

deliberate opinion, she docs not hcMiate t.i ;_;ivi- uti' i ,11,

allow, even by her silence, a belief to ;^Min l;iiui:u1 :n exaei.

that have not been taken; to su.L;;^re'>t hope- lii.ii w r .•.:

of wishing to realize lo uri^e inciiiertly 1)\ um;,;,

;
f .1
'

which we should not think ourselves ju-tMied ;:i -

.;i;>

acts ;
in a word, to enj^ri'^e others witliMi;'. in4.i:;in_: '
.1-

consciously to en<(age ourselves in.nc d... ply than we : !. :

mean: that would be, .)n tiiejxut .if eiilici ti:e o.-..-;

private individuals, a line of on.iu.

< t wlu^h -eeii; !

prudent nor honourable.

"You can rely, .Sir, that so Ion, a^ I o^
m:;.;.
-M^ y
the President's confidence ha^ jila^
e.l m.-. th.- in-.c:-
a-nur,
Republic shall incur no su. h repi.iai h ; il will

that it will not be prepareil t.. c.iii v .lat : it \m11 1:1 .'<.<•

that it not resolved t.) keep: ami it will ..iis:.l.

is
.
;
^

point of honour to declare beforehand wh.a it i^ n t :< a.;

execute promptly and with vii;our that win. h it h.i-> -^ : :

"You will be good enouc;h to rea.i tlii-> d.-->pai( h t - M

356 RECOLLECTIONS OF

delivered in such arrogant and violent terms, seemed

to announce that peace was not Austria's only object,
but that she aimed rather at the independence of
Piedmont and perhaps at her representative institu-
tions ; long as liberty shows
for so itself in the
smallest fraction of Italy, Austria feels ill at ease in

all the rest.

I at once came to the conclusion that we must at

no price allow so near a neighbour to be oppressed,
deliver a territory which touched our frontiers to the
Austrian armies, or permit political liberty to be
abolished in the only country in which, since 1848,
it had showed itself moderate. I
thought, moreover,
that Austria's mode of procedure towards us showed
either an intention to deceive us or else a desire to

try how far our toleration would go, or, as is com-

monly said, to sound us.
I saw that this was one of those extreme circum-

stances, which I had faced beforehand, where it

became my duty to risk not only my portfolio (which,
to tell the truth, was not risking much) but the
fortunes of France. I proceeded to the Council
and explained the state of affairs.
The President and all my colleagues were unani-
mous in thinking that I
ought to act. Orders were
immediately telegraphed to concentrate the Army
of Lyons at the foot of the Alps, and so soon as I
returned home, I myself wrote (for the flaccid style
of diplomacy was not suited to the circumstances)
the following letter ^ :

^
Letter to M. de Boislecomte, 25 July 1849.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
357

*'
Should the Austrian Government persist in the
unreasonable demands mentioned in your
telegram
of yesterday, and, abandoning the limits of
diplomatic
discussion, throw up the armistice and undertake, as
it
says it will, to go and dictate peace at Turin, Pied-
mont can be assured that we should not desert her.
The situation would no longer be the same as that
in which she placed itself before the battle of Novara,
when she spontaneously resumed her arms and re-
newed the war against our advice. This time it
would be Austria which would herself take the
initiative unprovoked ;
the nature of her demands
and the violence of her proceedings would give us
reason to believe that she is not acting solely with
a view to peace, but that she is threatening the
at the very
integrity of Piedmontese territory or,
least, the independence of the Sardinian Govern-
ment.
"
We will not allow such designs as these to be
at our gates. If, under these condi-
accomplished
tions, Piedmont is attacked, we will defend her."

I moreover thought it my duty to send for the

Austrian representative (a litde diplomatist very like
a fox in appearance as well as in nature), and,
convinced that, in the attitude we were
taking up,
hastiness was identical with I took advan-
prudence,
I could not as yet be expected
tage of the fact that
to have become familiar with habits of diplomatic
and our dis-
reserve, to express to him our surprise
358 RECOLLECTIONS OF

satisfaction in terms so rude that he since admitted

to me that he had never been so received in his

Hfe.

Before the despatch of which I have quoted a

few lines had reached Turin, the two Powers had
come to an agreement. They had come to terms
on the question of money, which was arranged
practically on the conditions that had been pre-
viously by ourselves.
suggested The Austrian
Government had only desired to precipitate the

negociations by frightening the other side ;

it made
very little difficulty about the conditions.
Prince Schwarzenberg sent me all sorts of ex-

planations and excuses, and peace was definitely

signed on the 6th of August, a peace hardly hoped
for by Piedmont after so many mistakes and mis-
fortunes, since it assured her more advantages than
she had at first ventured to demand.
This affair threw into great relief the habits of

English, and particularly of Palmerstonian, diplo-

macy : the feature is worth quoting. Since the
commencement of the negociation, the British
Government had never ceased to show great
animosity against Austria, and loudly to encourage
the Piedmontese not to submit to the conditions
which she sought upon them. My first care,
to force
after taking the resolutions I have described, was to
communicate them to England, and to endeavour
to persuade her to take up the same line of conduct
I therefore sent a copy of my despatch to Drouyn
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
359

de Lhuys, who was then Ambassador in London,

and instructed him to show it to Lord
Palmerston,
and to discover that minister's intentions.
Drouyn
de Lhuys repHed :
^

"While was informing Lord Palmerston of

I

your resolutions and of the instructions you had

sent M. de Boislecomte, he listened with
every
sign of eager assent ;
but when I said,
'
You see,

my lord, how far we wish to go ;

can you tell me
how far you will go yourself?' Lord Palmerston
at once replied, '
The British Government, whose
interest in this business not equal to yours, will
is

not lend the Piedmontese Government more than a

diplomatic assistance and a moral support."

Is not this characteristic

England, protected ?

against the revolutionary sickness of nations by the

wisdom of her laws and the strength of her ancient
customs, and against the anger of princes by her
power and her isolation in the midst of us, is always
pleased to play the part of the advocate of liberty
and justice in the internal affairs of the Continent.
She likes to censure and even to insult the strong,
to justify and encourage the weak but it seems ;

that she does not care to go further than to assume

virtuous airs and discuss honourable theories.

Should her proUg^s come to need her, she offers
her moral support.
Despatches of the 25th and
1 26th of June 1849-
360 RECOLLECTIONS OF

I add, in order to finish the subject, that these

tactics succeeded remarkably well. The Piedmon-
tese remained convinced that England alone had de-
fended them, and that we had very nearly abandoned
them. She remained very popular in Turin, and
France very much suspected. For nations are like
men, they love still more that which flatters their
passions than that which serves their interests.
Hardly had we emerged from this bad pass, before
we fell into a worse one. We had witnessed with
fear and regret what was happening in Hungary.
The misfortunes of this unlucky people excited our

sympathies. The intervention of the Russians,

which for a time subordinated Austria to the
Tsar, and caused the hand of the latter to be
more and more active in the management of the
general affairs of Europe, was not calculated to
please us. But all these events happened beyond
our reach, and we were helpless.

"
I need not tell you," I wrote in the instructions
I sent Lamoriciere, "with what keen and melancholy
interest we follow events in Hungary. Unfortunately,
for the present, we can only take a passive part in
this question. The letter and spirit of the treaties

open out to us no right of intervention. Besides,

our distance from the seat of war must impose upon
present state of our affairs and of those of
us, in the

Europe, a certain reserve. Since we are not able

to speak or act to good purpose, it is due to our
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 361

dignity not to display, in respect to this question,

any sterile excitement or impotent good-feeling.
Our duty with regard to Hungarian events is to
limit ourselves to carefully observing what happens
and seeking to discover what is
likely to take place,"

Overwhelmed by numbers, the Hungarians were

either conquered or surrendering, and their principal

leaders, as well as a certain number of Polish

generals who hadjoined their cause, crossed the

Danube at the end of August, and threw themselves
into the arms of the Turks at Widdin. From
there, the two principal ones, Dembinski and Kos-
suth, wrote to our Ambassador in Constantinople.^
The habits and peculiarities of mind of these two
men were betrayed in their letters. The soldier's

was short and simple the lawyer-orator's long and

;

ornate. I remember one of his phrases, among

others, in which he said, "As
a good Christian, I
have chosen the unspeakable sorrow of exile rather
than the peacefulness of death." Both ended by

asking for the protection of France.

While the oudaws were imploring our aid, the

Austrian and Russian Ambassadors appeared before

the Divan and asked that they might be given up.
Austria based her demand upon the treaty of Bel-
her right and
grade, which in no way established
;

Russia hers upon the treaty of Kainardji (10 July

to say the least of it,
1774), of which the meaning,
1
Letters of the 22nd and 24th of August 1849.
362 RECOLLECTIONS OF

was very obscure. But at bottom they neither of

them appealed to an international right, but to a
better known and more practical right, that of the

strongest. This was made clear by their acts and

their language. The two embassies declared from
the commencement that it was a question of peace
or war. Without consenting to discuss the matter,

they insisted upon a reply of yes or no, and declared

that if this reply was they would at
in the negative,

once cease all diplomatic relations with Turkey.

To this exhibition of violence, the Turkish minis-
ters replied, with gentleness, that Turkey was a
neutral country ;
that the law of nations forbade
them to hand over outlaws who had taken refuge
on their territory and that the Austrians and
;

Russians had often quoted the same law against

them when Mussulman rebels had sought an asylum
in Hungary, Transylvania or Bessarabia. They
modestly submitted that what was permitted on
the bank of the Danube seemed as though it
left

should also be permitted on the right bank. They

ended by protesting that what they were asked to
do was opposed to their honour and their religion,
that they would gladly undertake to keep the refugees
under restraint and place them where they could do
no mischief, but that they could never consent to
deliver them to the executioner.

"The young Sultan," our ambassador wrote to me,

*'
replied yesterday to the Austrian Envoy that, while
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
363

denouncing what the Hungarian rebels had done,

he could now only regard them as
unhappy men
seeking to escape death, and that humanity forbade
him to surrender them. Rechid Pasha, on his part,
the GrandVizier," added our Minister, "said to
*

me, I shall be proud if I am driven from power

for this;' and he added, with an air of
deep con-
*
cern, In our religion, every man who asks for
"
mercy is bound to obtain it.'

This was talking like civilized people and Chris-

tians. The Ambassadors were content to reply like
real Turks, saying that they must give up the fugi-
tives or undergo the consequences of a rupture
which would probably lead to war. The Mussulman
population itself took fire ;
it
approved of and sup-
ported its Government ;
and the Mufti came to
thank our Ambassador for the support he had given
to the cause of humanity and good law.
From the commencement of the discussion, the
Divan had addressed itself to the Ambassadors of
France and England. It appealed to public opinion
in the two great countries which they represented,

asked their advice, and besought their help in the

event of the Northern Powers executing their threats.
The Ambassadors at once replied that in their opinion
Austria and Russia were exceeding their rights ;

and they encouraged the Turkish Government in

its resistance.
In the meanwhile, arrived at Constantinople an
364 RECOLLECTIONS OF

aide-de-camp of the Tsar. He brought a letter

which that Prince had taken the pains to write to
the Sultan with his own hand, asking for the ex-
tradition of the Poles who had served six months
before in the Hungarian war against the Russian

army. This step seems a very strange one when

one does not see through the particular reasons
which influenced the Tsar under the circumstance.
The following extract from a letter of Lamoriciere's
describes them with great sagacity, and shows to
what extent public opinion is dreaded at that end
of Europe, where one would think that it was neither
an organ nor a power :

"
The Hungarian war, as you know," he wrote,^
"
was embarked upon to sustain Austria, who is
hated as a people and not respected as a govern-
ment ;
and it was very unpopular. It brought
in nothing,and cost eighty-four millions of francs.
The Russians hoped to bring back Bem, Dembinski, j

and the other Poles to Poland, as the price of the |

sacrifices of the Especially in the army,

campaign.
there reigned a veritable fury against these men.
The people and soldiers were mad with longing
for this satisfaction of their somewhat barbaric
national pride. The Emperor, in spite of his

omnipotence, is obliged to attach great value to

the spirit of the masses upon whom he leans, and
who constitute his real force. It is not simply a
Despatches of the nth and 2Sth of October 1849.
^
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
365

question of individual self-love the national senti-

:

ment of the country and the army is at stake."

These were, no doubt, the considerations which

prompted the Tsar to take the dangerous step I
have mentioned. Prince Radziwill presented his
letter,but obtained nothing. He left forthwith,
haughtily refusing a second audience, which was
offered him to take his leave and the Russian
;

and Austrian Ambassadors officially declared that

all diplomatic relations had ceased between their
masters and the Divan.
The latter acted, in these critical circumstances,

with a firmness and propriety of bearing which

would have done honour to the most experienced
cabinets of Europe. At the same time that the
Sultan refused to comply with the demands, or
rather the orders, of the two Emperors, he wrote
to the Tsar to tell him that he would not discuss
with him the question of right raised by the inter-

pretation of the treaties, but that he appealed to

his friendship and to his honour, begging him to

take it in good part that the Turkish Govern-

ment refused to take a measure which would ruin

it eyes of the world.

in the He offered, moreover,
once more, himself to place the refugees in a
position in which they should
be harmless. Abdul
cleverest men
Medjid sent one of the wisest and
Empire, Fuad Effendi, to take
in his this letter

to St Petersburg. A similar letter was written to

366 RECOLLECTIONS OF

Vienna, but this was to be handed to the Emperor

of Austria by the Turkish Envoy at that Court,
thus very visibly marking the difference in the
value attached to the consent of the two Sovereigns.
This news reached me at the end of September.
My first care was to communicate it to England.
At the same time^ I wrote a private letter to our
Ambassador, in which I said :

"
The conduct England, who is more in-
of
terested in this affair than we are, and less exposed
in the conflict that may arise from it, must needs
have a great influence upon our own. The English
Cabinet must be asked clearly and categorically to
state how far it is prepared to go. I have not

forgotten the Piedmont affair. If they want us to

assist them, they must dot their i's. It is possible

that, in that case, we shall be found to be very deter-

mined ; otherwise, not. It is also very important that

you should ascertain the opinions produced by these
events upon the Tories of all shades for with a ;

government conducted on the parliamentary system,

and consequently variable, the support of the party
in power is not always a sufficient guarantee."

In spite of the gravity of the circumstances, the

English ministers, who were at that moment dis-

persed on account of the parliamentary holidays,
took a long time before meeting ;
for in that
^
Private letter, i October 1849.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 367

country, the only country in the world where the

aristocracy still carries on the government, the
majority of the ministers are both great landed
proprietors and, as a rule, great noblemen. They
were at that time on their estates, recruiting from
the fatigue and ennui of business and
they showed ;

no undue hurry to return to Town. this During

the English press, without distinction
interval, all
of party, took fire. It raged
against the two
Emperors, and inflamed public opinion in favour
of Turkey. The British Government, thus stimu-
lated, at once took up its position. This time it

did not hesitate, for it was a question, as it said

itself, not only of the Sultan, but of England's

influence in the world. ^ It therefore decided, first,

that representations should be made to Russia and

Austrian secondly, that the British Mediterranean
;

Squadron should proceed to the Dardanelles, to

give confidence to the Sultan and, if necessary,

defend Constantinople. We
were invited to do the
same, and to act in common. The same evening,
the order was despatched to the British Fleet

to sail.
The news of these decisive resolutions threw me
into great perplexity. I did not hesitate to think
that we should approve the generous conduct of
our Ambassador, and come to the aid of the
2
but as to a warlike attitude, I did not
Sultan;
1
Private letter from M. Drouyn de Lhuys, 2 October 1849.
2
Private letters to Lamorici^re and Beaumont, 5 and 9 October
1849.
368 RECOLLECTIONS OF

believe that it would as yet be wise to adopt it.

The English invited us to do as they did ;

but our position was very different from theirs.

In defending Turkey, sword in hand, England
risked her fleet ; we, our very existence. The
English Ministers could rely that, in that ex-

tremity. Parliament and the nation would support

them whereas we were almost certain to be aban-
;

doned by the Assembly, and even by the country,

if things came so far as war. For our wretchedness
and danger at home made people's minds at that
moment insensible to all beside. I was convinced,
moreover, that in this case threats, instead of

serving to forward our designs, were calculated to

frustrate them. If Russia, for it was really with

her alone that we had to do, should chance to be

disposed to open the question of the partition of
the East by invading Turkey a contingency that —
I found it difficult to believe in the sending of our —
fleets would not prevent the crisis and if it was ;

really only a question (as was probably the case) of

taking revenge upon the Poles, it would aggravate
it,by making it difficult for the Tsar to retract,
and causing his vanity to join forces with his
resentment.
I went to the meeting of the Council with these
reflections. I at once saw that the President was
already decided and even pledged, as he himself
declared to us. This resolve on his part had been in-

spired by Lord Normanby, the British Ambassador,

 ALEXIS DE TOCqUEVILLE
369

an eighteenth-century diplomatist, who had

worked
himself into a strong position in Louis
Napoleon's
good graces. . . . The
majority of my colleagues
thought as he did, that we should without hesitation
adopt the line of joint action to which the English
invited us, and like them send our fleet to the
Dardanelles.

Failing in my endeavour to have a measure

which I considered premature postponed, I asked
that at least, before it was carried out,
they should
consult Falloux, whose state of health had
compelled
him to leave Paris for a time and go to the country.

Lanjuinais went down to him for this purpose, re-

ported the affair to him, and came back and reported
to us that Falloux had without hesitation given his

opinion in favour of the despatch of the fleet. The

order was sent off at once. However, Falloux had
acted without consulting the leaders of the majority
or his friends, and even without due reflection as
to the consequences of his action he had yielded ;

to a movement of impulse, as sometimes happened

to him, for nature had made him frivolous and
light-headed before education and habit had rendered
him calculating to the pitch of duplicity. prob- It is

able that, after his conversation with Lanjuinais,

he received advice, or himself made certain reflec-
tions, opposed to the opinion he had given.
He
therefore wrote me
a very long and very involved
letter,
1
in which he pretended to have misunder-
1
Letter from Falloux, 11 October 1849.
2 A
370 RECOLLECTIONS OF

stood Lanjuinais (this was impossible, for Lanjuinais

was the clearest and most lucid of men both in
speech and action). He revoked his opinion and
sought to evade his responsibility and I replied ;

at once with this note :

**
My dear Colleague,
"
The Council has taken its resolution, and at this

late hour there is nothing to be done but await

events ; moreover, in this matter the responsibility

of the whole Council is the same. There is no

individual responsibility. I was not in favour of
the measure but now that the measure
;
is taken, I

am prepared to defend it
against all comers." ^

While giving a lesson to Falloux, I was none the

less anxious and embarrassed as to the part I was

called upon to play. I cared little for what would

happen at Vienna for in this business I credited

;

Austria merely with the position of a satellite. But

what would the Tsar do, who had involved himself
so rashly and, apparently, so irrevocably in his
relations towards the Sultan, and whose pride had
been put to so severe a test by our threats?
Fortunately I had two able agents at St. Peters-
burg and Vienna, to whom I could explain myself
without reserve.

"
Take up the business very gently," I recom-
^
Letter to Falloux, 12 October 1849.
 ALEXIS DE TOCqUEVILLE
37,

"
mended them,^ be careful not to set our adversaries'
self-esteem against us, avoid too
great and too osten-
sible an intimacy with the
English Ambassadors,
verbose Government is detested by the Court at which

you are, although nevertheless maintaining good

relations with those ambassadors. In order to attain
success, adopt a friendly tone, and do not try to frighten
people. Show our position as it is we do not want ;

war ;
we detest it we dread it but we cannot act
; ;

dishonourably. We
cannot advise the Porte, when
it comes to us for our opinion, to commit an act

of cowardice ;
and should the courage which it has

displayed, and which we have approved of, bring

it into danger, we cannot, either, refuse it the
assistance it asks of us. A way must therefore
be found out of the difficulty. Is Kossuth's skin
worth a general war ? Is it to the interest of the
Powers that the Eastern Question should be opened
at this moment and in this fashion ? Cannot a way
be found by which everybody's honour will be
saved ? What do they want, after all ? Do they
only want to have a few poor devils handed over
to them .? That is assuredly not worth so great a
quarrel ;
but if it were a pretext, if at the bottom
of this business lurked the desire, as a matter

of fact, to lay hands upon the Ottoman Empire,

then it would certainly be a general war that they
wanted for ;
we are, we should
ultra-pacific though
1
Private letters to Lamoriciere and Beaumont, 5 and 9 October

1849.
372 RECOLLECTIONS OF

never allow Constantinople to fall without striking

a blow."

The affair was happily over by the time these

instructions reached St. Petersburg. Lamoriciere
had conformed to them before he received them.
He had acted in this circumstance with an amount
of prudence and discretion which surprised those
who did not know him, but which did not astonish
me in the least. I knew that he was impetuous
by temperament, but that his mind, formed in the
school of Arabian diplomacy, the wisest of all

diplomacies, was circumspect and acute to the

pitch of artifice.
Lamoriciere, so soon as he had heard rumours
of the quarrel direct from Russia, hastened to
express, very vividly, though in an amicable tone,
that he disapproved of what had happened at Con-

stantinople ;
but he took care to make no official,

and, above all, no threatening, representations.

Although acting in concert with the British

Minister, he carefully avoided compromising him-

self with him in any joint steps and when Fuad
;

Effendi, bearing Abdul Medjid's letter, arrived, he

let him know secretly that he would not go to see

him, in order not to imperil the success of the

negociation, but that Turkey could rely upon France.
He wasadmirably assisted by this envoy from
the Seignior, who concealed a very quick
Grand
and cunning intelligence beneath his Turkish skin.
 ALEXIS DE T()CUUEriI.l.i:

Although the Sukan had appcak.-d tor ilv s-

of France and Fuad.
England, (jn
arrivip.^ ,,V

Petersburg, showed no inclination .v.n :.,

upon the representatives of these two I'(,v, -

:>.

refused to see anybody before lii-. au.ii'-n. -

.,;

Tsar, to whose free will alone, he said, li-- L ,/

for the success of his mission.

The Emperor must have exprrit-nc'- 1 a i-i

of bitter displeasure on Ijclicjldin- ili,- v.a;;t

success attending his tlireats, and tli.- ur,--. ,•,

turn that things had taken but lie had ; th-- -.if ::

to restrain himself. In his heart h(; was not d. •.;;

to open the Eastern Ouestion. even ilinn-I;.

long before, he had gone so far as lo >a\, 'I
Ottoman Empire is dead ;
we have onl\ lo .irr,;;

for its funeral."

To go to war in order to force tlx- >r.iian

violate the Law of Nations was ;i v<r\ d::is

matter. He would have been aided in this l.\

barbaric passions of his people, but r'prM\<d

the opinion of the whole ci\ili/ed world. l-- !,:: I

what was happening in l{ngland and bran.i -

.

resolved to yield before he was ihrcai-n-'l. I

great Emperor therefore drew bacl^, i" ;:;

measurable surprise of his sulijccls an 1 « \':i

foreitrners. He received fuad in au<!ii iic

withdrew the demand he had made up'on tii'- > ;.:

Austria hastened to follow his \^

exainp!'-
Lord Palmerston's note arri\-ed at St l'<'e:

all was over. The Ijcst \v()uld ]ia\i- b' • n *.

374. RECOLLECTIONS OF

nothing ;
but while we, in this business, had only
aimed at success, the British Cabinet had also

sought for noise. required it to make a response

It

to the irritation of the country. Lord Bloomfield,

the British Minister, presented himself at Count
Nesselrode's the day after the Emperor's decision
became known and was very coldly received. ^ He
;

read him the note in which Lord Palmerston asked,

in peremptory phrases, that the Sultan
polite but
should not be forced to hand over the refugees.
The Russian replied that he neither understood
the aim nor the object of this demand that the ;

affair to which he doubtless referred was arranged ;

and that, in any case, England had nothing to

say in the matter. Lord Bloomfield asked how
things stood. Count Nesselrode haughtily refused
to give him any explanation it would be
equivalent, ;

he said, to
recognizing England's right to interfere
in an affair that did not concern it. And when
the British Envoy insisted upon at any rate leaving
a copy of the note in Count Nesselrode's hands,
the latter, after first refusing, at last accepted the
document with an ill
grace and dismissed his visitor,

saying carelessly that he would reply to the note,

that it was a terribly long one, and that it would
be very tiresome. " France," added the Chancellor,
"
has already made me say the same thing but ;

she made me say it earlier and better."

^
Letter from Lamorici^re, 19 October 1849.
 ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE 375

At this moment when we learnt the end of the

dangerous quarrel, the Cabinet, after thus witnessing

a happy conclusion to the two great pieces of
foreign business that still
kept the peace of the
world in suspense, the Piedmont War and the

Hungarian War — at that moment, the Cabinet

fell.

t
¥>
APPENDIX
I HAVE recently discovered these four notes in the

charter-room at Tocqueville, where my grandfather

had carefully deposited, by the side of our most
precious family archives, all the manuscripts of
his brother that came into his possession. They
seemed to me to throw some light upon the
Revolution of February and the question of the
revision of the Constitution in 1851, and to merit

publication together with the Recollections.

CoMTE DE Tocqueville.
GUSTAVE DE BEAUMONt's VERSION OF THE
24TH OF FEBRUARY.

IHAVE to-day (24 October 1850) had a conversa-

tion withBeaumont which is worth notino-. This is
what he told me :

"
On the 24th of February, at seven o'clock in the
morning, Jules Lasteyrie and another [I have for-

gotten the name which Beaumont mentioned] came

to fetch me me
M. Thiers, where Barrot,
to take to

Duvergier, and several others were expected."

I asked him if he knew what had
passed during
the night between Thiers and the King. He
replied :

"
I was told by Thiers, and especially by Duver-
gier, who had at once taken a note of Thiers'
narrative, that Thiers had been summoned at about

one o'clock ; that he had found the King in an

undecided frame of mind ;
that he had at once
told him that he could only come in with Barrot
and Duvergier; that the King, after raising many
objections, had appeared to yield that he had put ;

off Thiers till the morning that nevertheless, as he

;

showed him to the door, he had told him that as yet

no one was bound one way or the other."
379
380 APPENDIX

Evidently the King reserved the right of attempt-

ing to form another combination before the morning.
" "
I must here," continued Beaumont, tell you a
curious anecdote. Do you know how Bugeaud was
occupied during that decisive night, at the Tuileries
itself, where he had just received the command-in-

chief? Bugeaud's hope and ambition was

Listen :

to become Minister of War when Thiers should

come into power. Things were so turning out, as
he clearly saw, as to make this appointment im-
possible but what preoccupied him was to assure
;

his preponderance at the War Office even if he was

not at the head ofit.
Consequently, on the night of
the 24th of February, or rather in the early morning,

Bugeaud with his own hand wrote to Thiers from

the Tuileries a letter of four pages, of which the
substance was :

"
I understand the difficulties which prevent you
*

from making me your Minister of War nevertheless ;

I have always liked you, and I am sure that we shall

one day govern together. However, I understand

the present reasons, and I give way before them ;

but I
beg you, at least, to give M. Magne, who is

my friend, the place of Under-Secretary of State at

"
the War Office.'

Resuming his general narrative, Beaumont con-

tinued :

"When I arrived at the Place Saint-Georges,

Thiers and his friends had already left for the
Tuileries. I
hastily followed them, and arrived at
 APPENDIX 8J

the same time as The appearance of

they did.
Paris was already
formidable; however, the
King
received us as usual, with the same
copious language
and the same mannerisms that
you know of. Before
being shown in to him [at least, I believe it was
here that Beaumont
placed this incident], we
talked about affairs
among ourselves. I insisted
*
urgently upon Bugeaud's dismissal. If you want
to oppose force to the
popular movement,' I said,
'by all means make use of Bugeaud's name and
audacity; but if
you wish to attempt conciliation
and you suspend hostilities^ . . .then Bugeaud's
name is a contradiction.' The others seconded me,
and Thiers reluctantly and with hesitation gave
way. They compromised the matter as you know :

Bugeaud nominally retained the command-in-chief,

and Lamoriciere was placed at the head of the
National Guard. Thiers and Barrot entered the

King's closet, do not know what happened

and I

there. The order had been given to the troops

everywhere to cease firing, and to fall back upon the
Palace and make way for the National Guard. I

myself, with R^musat, hurriedly drew up the pro-

clamation informing the people of these orders and

explaining them. At nine o'clock it was agreed

that Thiers and Barrot should personally attempt to
make an appeal to the people Thiers was stopped
;

on the staircase and induced to turn back, but with

^
This clearly shows, independently of what Beaumont told me posi-
tively, how absolutely the new Cabinet had made up its mind to yield.
382 APPENDIX

difficulty, I am bound to admit. Barrot set out

alone, and I followed him."
Here Beaumont's account is identical with Bar-

rot's.
" Barrot was wonderful throughout this expedi-
"
tion," said Beaumont. I had
difficulty in making
him turn back, although when we had once arrived
at the barricade at the Porte Saint- Denis, it would
have been impossible to go further. Our return
made the situation worse we brought in our wake,
:

by effecting a passage for it, a crowd more hostile

than that which we. had traversed in going by the ;

time we arrived at the Place Vendome, Barrot feared

lesthe should take the Tuileries by assault, in spite
of himself, with the multitude which followed him ;

he slipped away and returned home. I came back

to the Chateau. The situation seemed to me very
serious but far from desperate, and I was filled with

surprise on perceiving the disorder that had gained

all minds during my absence, and the terrible con-

fusion that already reigned at the Tuileries. I was

not quite able to understand what had happened,
or to learn what news they had received to turn
I was
everything topsy-turvy in this fashion. dying
of hunger and fatigue I went up to a table and
;

hurriedly took some food. Ten times, during this

meal of three or four minutes, an aide-de-camp of
the King or of one of the Princes came to look for

me, spoke to me in confused language, and left me

without properly understanding my reply. I
quickly
 APPENDIX jgj

joined Thiers, Remusat, Duvergier, and one or two

others who were to compose the new Cabinet. We
went together to the King's closet : this was the
only Council at which I was present. Thiers spoke,
and started a long homily on the duties of the
King
and the paterfamilias.
'
That is to say,you advise
me to abdicate,' said the King, who was but indiffer-
ently affected by the touching part of the speech and
came straight to the point. Thiers assented, and

gave his reasons. Duvergier supported him with great

vivacity. Knowing nothing of what had happened,
I displayed my astonishment and exclaimed that
all was not lost. Thiers seemed much annoyed at

my outburst, and could not prevent myself from

I

believing that the secret aim of Thiers and Duver-

gier had, from the first, been to get rid of the King,
on whom they could no longer rely, and to govern
in the name of the Due de Nemours or the Duchesse

d'Orleans, after forcing the King to abdicate. The

King, who had struck me as very firm up to a

certain moment, seemed towards the end to sur-

render himself entirely."

Here there is a void in my memory in Beau-

mont's account, which I will fill

up from another
conversation. I come to the scene of the abdication,

which followed :

interval, events and news growing

"During the
worse and the panic increasing, Thiers had declared
that already he was no longer possible (which
was
Barrot was scarcely so.
perhaps true), and that
384 JP PEND IX
He then disappeared — at least, I did not see him

again during the last moments which was very

—
wrong of him, for although he declined the Ministry,
he ought not, at so critical a juncture, to have
abandoned the Princes, and he should have remained
to advise them, although no longer their Minister.
I was present at the final scene of the abdication.
The Due de Montpensier begged his father to write

and urged him so eagerly that the King stopped and

said, But look here, I can't write faster.' The
'

Queen was heroical and desperate knowing that :

I had
appeared opposed to the abdication at the
Council, she took my hands and told me that such
a piece of cowardice must not be allowed to be
consummated, that we should defend ourselves, that
she would let herself be killed, before the King's
eyes, before they could reach him. The abdica-
tion was signed nevertheless, and the Due de
Nemours begged me to run and tell Marshal Gerard,
who was at the further end of the Carrousel,
that I had seen the King sign, so that he might
announce officially to the people that the King had
abdicated. I hastened there, and returned all the ;

rooms were empty. I went from room to room

without meeting a soul. I went down into the

garden I there met Barrot, who had come over

;

from the Ministry of the Interior, and was indulging

in the same useless quest. The King had escaped
by the main avenue the Duchesse d'Orl^ans seemed
;

to have gone by the underground passage to the

 APPENDIX 385

water-side. No necessity had compelled them to

leave the Chateau, which was then in perfect
safety,
and which was not invaded by the people until an
hour after it had been abandoned. Barrot was
determined at all costs to assist the Duchess. He
hurriedly had horses prepared for her, the young
Prince and ourselves, and wanted us to throw our-
selves together into the midst of the people
all —
the only chance in fact, and a feeble one at that,
that remained to us. Unable to rejoin the Duchess,
we the Ministry of the Interior.
left for You met
us on the road you know the rest."
;

II

BARROT'S version of the 24TH OF FEBRUARY.

(10 October 1850.)

"I believe that M. Mole only refused the Ministry

after the firing had commenced on the
Boulevard.
one in
Thiers told me that he had been sent for at
to appoint
the morning that he had asked the King
;

me as the necessary man that the King had at ;

first resisted and then yielded

and that at last he
;

in the
had adjourned our meeting to nine o'clock
morning at the Palace.
to
-At five o'clock Thiers came to my house
awake me ;
wehe went home, and I called
talked ;

It
for him at eight.
I found him quietly shaving.
2 B
386 APPENDIX

isa great pity that the King and M. Thiers thus

wasted the time that elapsed between one and eight
o'clock. When
he had finished shaving, we went
to the Chateau the population already was greatly
;

excited barricades were being built, and even a few

;

shots had already been fired from houses near the

Tuileries. However, we found the King still very
calm and retaining his usual manner. He addressed
me with the commonplaces which you can imagine
for yourself. At that hour, Bugeaud was still

general-in-chief. strongly persuaded Thiers not

I

to take office under the colour of that name, and

at least to by giving the command of
modify it

the National Guard to Lamoriciere, who was there.

Thiers accepted this arrangement, which was agreed
to by the King and Bugeaud himself.
"
next proposed to the King that he should
I

dissolve the Chamber of Deputies. 'Never, never!'

he said he lost his temper and left the room,
;

slamming the door in the faces of Thiers and me.

It was quite clear that he only consented to give

us office in order to save the first moment, and that

he intended, after compromising us with the people,
to throw us over with the assistance of Parliament.
Of any ordinary time, I should at once
course, at
have withdrawn but the gravity of the situation
;

made me stay, and I proposed to present myself to

the people, myself to apprise them of the formation
of the new Cabinet, and to calm them. In the im-
possibility of our having anything printed and posted
 APPENDIX 387

up in looked upon myself as a

time, I
walking
placard. must do Thiers the justice to
I
say that
he wished to accompany me, and that it was I who
refused, as dreaded the bad impression his
I
pres-
ence might make.
'•
I therefore set out I went
up to each barricade;

unarmed the muskets were lowered, the barricades

;

opened ;
there were cries of '
Reform for ever
long !

live Barrot !
'

We thus went to the Porte Saint-

Denis, where we found a barricade two stories high
and defended by men who made no sign of con-
currence in my words and betrayed no intention
of allowing us to pass the barricade. We were
therefore compelled to retrace our steps. On re-

turning, found the people more excited than when

I

I had come nevertheless, I heard not a single

;

seditious cry, nor anything that announced an im-

mediate revolution. The only word that I heard
of grave import was from Etienne Arago. He
came up to me and said,
*
If the King does not

abdicate, we shall have a revolution before eight

o'clock to-night' I thus came to the Place Ven-

dome ;
thousands of men followed me, crying,
'
To
the Tuileries ! to the Tuileries !
'

I reflected what
was the best thing to do. To go to the Tuileries

at the head of that multitude was to make myself

the absolute master of the situation, but by means
of an act which might have seemed violent and

revolutionary. Had I known what was happening

at the moment in the Tuileries, I should
not have
3«8 APPENDIX

hesitated but as yet I felt no anxiety.

; The atti-
tude of the people did not yet seem decided. I

knew that all the troops were falling back upon the
Chateau ;
that the Government was there, and the
generals could not therefore imagine the panic
;
I

which, shortly afterwards, placed it in the hands of

the mob. turned to the right and returned home
I

to take a moment's rest I had not eaten any-

;

thing yet and was utterly exhausted. After a few

minutes, Malleville sent word from the Ministry
of the Interior that it was urgent that I should
come and sign the telegrams to the departments.
I went in my carriage, and was cheered by the
people ;
from there, I set out to walk to the Palace.
I was ignorant of all that had happened. When
still

I reached the quay, opposite the garden, I saw a

regiment of Dragoons returning to barracks the ;

colonel said to me,

'
The King has abdicated ; all

the troops are withdrawing.' I hurried when I ;

reached the wicket-gates, I had great difficulty in

penetrating to the court-yard, as the troops were

crowding out through every opening. At last I
reached the yard, which I found almost empty ;

the Due de Nemours was there I entreated him ;

to tell me where the Duchesse d'Orleans was he ;

replied that he did not know, but that he believed

that at that moment she was in the pavilion at the
water-side. I hastened there I was told that the
;

Duchess was not there. I forced the door and

went through the rooms, which were, in fact, empty.
 APPENDIX 389

the Tuileries,
left
I
recommending Havin, whom I
met, not to bring the Duchess, if he found her, to
the Chamber, with which there was
nothing to be
done. My
intention had been, if I had found the
Duchess and her son, to put them on horseback and
throw myself with them among the people I had :

even had the horses got ready.

"Notfinding the Princess, I returned to the
Ministry of the Interior; I met you on the road,
you know what happened there. I was sent for
in haste to go to the Chamber. I had scarcely
arrived when the Extreme Left
leaders of the
surrounded me and dragged me almost by main
force to the first office there, they begged me to
;

propose to the Assembly the nomination of a Pro-

visional Government, of which I was to be a member.
I sent them about their business, and returned to

the Chamber. You know the rest."

Ill

SOME INCIDENTS OF THE 24TH OF FEBRUARY 1 848.

M. Dufaure's efforts to prevent the Revolution of February-

Responsibility of M. Thiers, which renders them futile.

Rivet recalled and

To-day (19 October 1850),
fixed with me the circumstances of an incident well
worth remembering.
which
In the course of the week preceding that
in
390 APPENDIX

the Monarchy was overthrown, a certain number of

Conservative deputies began to feel an anxiety which
was not shared by the Ministers and their colleagues.
They thought that it was more advisable to over-
throw the Cabinet, provided that this could be done
without violence, than to risk the adventure of the
banquets. One of them, M. Sallandrouze, made the
following proposal to M. Billault (the banquet was to
take place on Tuesday the 22nd) that on the 21st
M. Dufaure and his friends should move an urgent
order of the day, drawn up in consultation with
Sallandrouze and those in whose name he spoke,
some forty in number. The
order of the day should
be voted by them on condition that, on its side, the
Opposition should give up the banquet and restrain
the people.
On Sunday, the 20th of February, we met at
Rivet's to discuss this proposal. There were present,
as far as I am able to remember, Dufaure, Billault,

Lanjuinais, Corcelles, Ferdinand Barrot, Talabot,

Rivet, and myself.
Sallandrouze's proposal was explained to us by
Billault ;we accepted it at once, and drafted an
order of the day in consequence. I myself drafted

it, and this draft, with some modifications, was ac-

cepted by my friends. The terms in which it was

couched no longer remember them) were very
(I

moderate, but the adoption of this order of the day

would inevitably entail the resignation of the Cabinet.
There remained to be fulfilled the condition of the
 APPENDIX 391

vote of the Conservatives, the withdrawal of the

banquet. We
had had nothing to do with this
measure, and consequently we were not able to pre-
vent it. It was agreed that one of us should at once
go in search of Duvergier de Hauranne and Barrot,
and propose that they should act according to the
condition demanded. Rivet was selected for this

negociation, and we adjourned

our meeting till the

evening to know how he had succeeded.

In the evening he came and reported to us as

follows :

Barrot had eagerly entered into the opening

offered him he effusively seized Rivet's hands, and
;

declared that he was prepared to do all that he

was

asked in this sense he seemed relieved of a great

;

the of escaping from

weight on beholding possibility
the responsibility of the banquet. But he added that
and that
he was not engaged in this enterprise alone,
must come to an understanding with
his friends,
he
without whom he could do nothing. How well we

knew it !

Rivet went on to Duvergier's,

and was told that

but that he
he was at the Conservatoire of Music,
would return home before dinner. Rivet waited
Rivet told him of the proposal
Duvergier returned.
of our order of the day.
of the Conservatives and
this communication
somewhat
Duvergier received to draw
disdainfully they
had gone too far, he said
;

too late he,

back the Conservatives had repented
;

;
without losmg
his friends could not,
Duvergier, and
392 APPENDIX

their popularity and perhaps all their influence with

the masses, undertake to make the latter give up the
" "
proposed demonstration. However," he added, I
am only giving you my first and personal impression;

but I am going to dine with Thiers, and I will send

you a note this evening to let you know our final

decision."
This note came while we were there ;
it said

briefly that the opinion expressed by Duvergier

before dinner was also that of Thiers, and that the
idea which we had suggested must be abandoned.
We broke up at once the die was cast
: !

I have no doubt that, among the reasons for

Thiers' and Duvergier's refusal, the first place must
be given to this, which was not expressed that if :

the Ministry fell quietly, by the combined effect of a

part of the Conservatives and ourselves, and upon

an order of the day presented by us, we should come
into power, and not those who had built up all this

great machinery of the banquets in order to attain it.

Dufauris conduct on the 2^th of February 1848.

Rivet told me
to-day (19 October 1850) that he
had never talked with Dufaure of what happened to
him on the 24th of February ;
but that he had
gathered the following from conversation with mem-
bers of his family or of his immediate surroundings :

On the 23rd of February, at about a quarter past

 APPENDIX 3^3

six, M. Mole, after

concerting with M. de Monta-
livet, sent to beg Dufaure to come and see him.
Dufaure, on his road to M. Mole's, called on Rivet
and asked him to wait for him, because he intended
to come back on leaving M. Mole. Dufaure
to Rivet
did not return, and Rivet did not see him till some
time after, but he believed that, on
arriving at
Mole's, Dufaure had a rather long conversation with
him, and then went away, declaring that he did not
wish to join the new Cabinet, and that, in his opinion,
circumstances called for the men who had brouo^ht
about the movement, that is to say, Thiers and
Barrot
Hereturned greatly alarmed at the appearance of
Paris, found his wife and mother-in-law still more

alarmed, and, at five o'clock in the morning of the

24th, set out with them and took them to Vauves.
He himself came back ;
I saw him at about eight or

nine o'clock, and I do not remember that he told me

he had taken this
morning journey. I was calling on
him with Lanjuinais and Corcelles ;
but we soon
the Cham-
separated, arranging to meet at twelve
at

ber of Deputies. Dufaure did not come ;

it seems
that he started to do so, and in fact arrived at the
Palace of the Assembly, which had, doubdess, been

just at that moment invaded. What is certain is

that he went on and joined his family at Vauves.

394 APPENDIX

IV
MY CONVERSATION WITH BERRYER, ON THE 2 1 ST OF JUNE, AT AN
APPOINTMENT WHICH I HAD GIVEN HIM AT MY HOUSE. WE
WERE BOTH MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE FOR THE REVISION
OF THE CONSTITUTION.

I thus opened the conversation :

"
Let us leave appearances on one side, between
you and me. You are not making a revisionist but
an electoral campaign."
"
He replied, That is true ; you are quite right."
" we shall see presently if"
Very well," replied I ;

you are well advised. What I must tell you at once

is that I cannot join in a manoeuvre of which the sole
object is to save a section only of the moderate party
at the next elections, leaving out of the calculation

many others, and notably that to which I belong.

You must either give the moderate Republicans a
valid reason for voting for the Revision,by giving
ita republican character, or else expect us to do
our best to spike your guns."
He
agreed, but raised difficulties that originated
with the passions and prejudices of his party. We
discussed for some time what was to be done,
and at last we came to the policy which he was
following.
This is what I said to him on this subject, of
which I
particularly wish to retain the impression.
I said :

"
Berryer, you are dragging us all, in spite of
 APPENDIX 355

ourselves, into a plight for which you will have to

bear the sole responsibility,
you may be quite sure
of that. If the
Legitimists had those who
joined
wished to fight against the President, the fight might
still be possible. You have dragged
your party, in
spite of an opposite direction henceforth,
itself, in ;

we can no longer resist; we cannot remain alone

with the Montagnards; we must give since way,
you give way ; but what will be the consequence ?

I can see your thought, it is

quite clear: you
think that circumstances render the President's

ascendancy and the movement which

irresistible

carries the country towards him insurmountable.

Unable to fight against the current, you throw your-
selves into it, at the risk of making it more violent

still, but in the

hope land you and your
that it will

friends in the next Assembly, in addition to various

other sections of the party of order, which is not

very sympathetic with the President. There alone

you think that you will find a solid resting-place
from which to resist him, and you think that, by
working his business to-day, you will be able to
a group of
keep together, in the next Assembly,
men able to cope with him. To struggle against
the tide which carries him at this moment is to

and to
make one's self unpopular and ineligible

deliver the party to the Socialists and the Bona-

partists, neither of
whom you wish to see triumph :

well and good ! Your plan has its plausible side,

but it fails in one principal respect, which is this :
396 APPENDIX

I could understand you if the election were to

take place to-morrow, and if you were at once to

gather the of your manoeuvre, as at the

fruits

December election ; but there is nearly a year

between now and the next elections. You will not
succeed in having them held in the spring, if you
succeed in having them held at all. Between now
and then, do you imagine that the Bonapartist
movement, aided, precipitated by you, will cease?
Do you not see that, after asking you for a Revision
of the Constitution, public opinion, stirred up by
all the agents of the Executive and led by our own

weakness, will ask us for something more, and then

for something more still, until we
are driven openly
to favour the illegal re-election of the President and

purely and simply to work his business for him ?

Can you go as far as that ? Would your party be
willing to, if you are ? No You will therefore
!

come to a moment when you will have to stop short,

to stand firm on your ground, to resist the combined
effort of the nation and the Executive Power in ;

other words, on the one hand to become unpopular,

and on the other to lose that support, or at least that
electoral neutrality, of the Government which you
desire. You will have enslaved yourselves, you will
have immensely strengthened the forces opposed to
you, and that is all. I tell
you this either you will :

pass completely and for ever under the President's

yoke, or you will lose, just when it is ripe for
gathering, all the fruit of your manoeuvre, and you
 APPENDIX S97

will simply have taken upon yourself, in your own

eyes and the country's, the responsibility of having

contributed to raise this Power, which will perhaps,

in spite of the mediocrity of the man, and thanks to

the extraordinary power of circumstances, become
the heir of the Revolution and our master."
Barrot seemed to me to rest tongue-tied, and the
time having come to part, we parted.
INDEX
Many of the actors in the Revolution of 1848 are

comparatively unknown in England. I did not wish

to encumber these Recollections with foot-notes ;

and I have preferred, instead, to amplify the follow-

ing Index by giving, in the majority of cases, the full
names and titles of these participants, with the dates
of their birth and death.
A. Teixeira de Mattos.
 INDEX
Barrot, sent for by Louis-Philippe, 45.
on the Revolution, 59.
Abdul Medjid, Sultan of Turkey and the barricades, 74.
( 1 823-1861), on question of Hun- in Committee of Constitution,
garian refugees, 373. 243, 246, 250, 255.
d'Adelsward, in the National Assem- tries to form a new Cabinet,
bly, 162. 267,
Ampere, Jean Jacques (1800-1864), succeeds, 277.
character of, 87. with Beaumont, &c, 379.
Andrayne, in the Chamber of Deputies, his version of the abdication of
72. Louis-Philippe, 385.
Arago, Etienne, on the barricades, Bastide, gets the Assembly to appoint
387.. Cavaignac Military Dictator, 204.
Austria, her relations with Hungary Beaumont, Gustave dc la Bonniniere
and Russia, 335. de (1802-1866), Tocqueville's con-
Tsar's views on, 337. versation with, 41,
Austrians, in Italy, 333. is sent for by
Louis-Philippe, 45.
submits to the influence of Russia, tells Tocqueville of abdication of
352 {foot-note). Louis- Philippe, 58.
and Piedmont, 353. meets Tocqueville, 74,
demands
Hungarian refugees sits with Tocqueville in National
from Turkey, 361. Assembly, 142.
in Committee of the Constitution,
252.
B his interview with Tocquenlle
and poHtical friends, 267.
Baden, revolution put down in, 342. sent as Ambassador to Vienna,
Tocqueville interferes on behalf 321.
of the rebels {foot-note), 342. letter of Tocqueville to, on the
Banquets, the, affair of, 18. Hungarian refugees, 370.
Banquet in Paris, forbidden by Gov- his account of the abdication of
ernment, 30. Louis-Philippe, 379.
Rivet's statement in regard to, Beaumont, Madame de, notice of, 41.
390. Bedeau, General Marie Alphonse
Barbes, Armand (1810-1870), in the (1804-1863), on the Place Louis
National Assembly, 164. XV, 51.
goes to the Hotel de Ville, 168. character of, 52.

impeached by the Assembly, nearly killed in Insurrection, 237.

173- his interview with Tocqueville
Barricades, the, construction of, 47. and his political friends, 267.
Barrot, Camille Hyacinthe Odilon Berlin, Persigny sent to, 323.
( 1 79 1 1 873 ), alliance of, with Thiers,
-
Berryer, Pierre Antoine (1790-186S),
19. his discussion with Tocqueville on

replies to Hebert in Chamber of the proposed Constitution, 394.

Slarie
Deputies, 28. Billault, Auguste Adolphc
Barrot, recoils from Banquet in Paris, (1805-1863), in the Chamber of

31- Deputies 74.

c «••
4© 2 INDEX
and banquets, 390.
Billault, Changarnier, General Nicolas Anne
Blanc, Joseph Louis (181 1-
Jean Theodule (1793- 1877), Rulhiere's
1882), in the National Assembly, jealousy of, 279.
166. sent for, 295.
Blanqui, Louis Augusta (1805-1881), putsdown insurrection, 298.
in the National Assembly, 163. Champeaux, his relation with Lamar-
Blanqui, Adolphe Jerome (1798-1854), tine, 147.
anecdote of, 197. his relation with Tocqueville, 149.
Bloomfield, John Arthur Douglas Charles X., King of France and
Broomfield, Lord (1802- 1879), Navarre (1757-1836), flight of, in
British Minister at St Petersburg, 1830, 85.
374- Chateaubriand, Francois Rene, Vi-
snubbed by Nesselrode, idem. comte de (1768-1848), death of, 230.
Broglie, Achille Charles Leonce Committee for the Constitution, ap-
Victor Due de (1785-1870), his pointed, 233.
seclusion, 106. proceedings of, 235.
and foreign affairs, 330. Considerant, Victor, appointed on
Buchez, Philippe Benjamin Joseph Committee of the Constitution, 233.
(1769-1865), in the National As- escapes after insurrection, 299.
sembly, 162. Constituent Assembly, prohibits Gov-
Bugeaud, Thomas Robert Marshal, ernment from attacking Rome, 288.
Marquis de la Piconnerie, Due Coquerel, Athanase Laurent Charles
d'Isly (1784-1849), in favour of the (1795- 1875), in the Committee of the
Duchesse d'Orleans, 72. Constitution, 246.
dying of cholera, 290. Corbon, on the Committee of the
his ambition, 380. Constitution, 257.
Euffel, Minister of Agriculture, 276. Corcelles, with Lanjuinais and
Tocqueville on the boulevards, 48.
sits with Tocqueville in National

Assembly, 142.
in the Insurrection of June, 191.
Cabinet, Members of the, 278. his interview with Tocqueville
Cavaignac, General Louis Eugene and his political friends, 267.
(1802-1857), in the Insurrection of Cormenin, Louis Marie de la Haye,
June, 195. Vicomte de (1788-1868), appointed
made Military Dictator, 204. a Commissioner for Paris, 206.
Tocqueville votes for, 263. appointed on the Committee of
speech of, 297. the Constitution, 232.
Chamber of Deputies, the, state of in in the Committee of the Constitu-
1848, 10. tion, 247, 257.
Tocqueville's speech in, on 27th Council General, the, meets at Saint-
January 1848, 14. L6, 125.
Speeches in, by Hebert and Courtais, General, in the National
Barrot, 28. Assembly, 171.
state of, on 22nd February, impeached by Assembly, 173.
33- Cremieux, Isaac Adolphe (1796- 1880),
state of, on 23rd February, in the Chamber of Deputies, 65.
36. appointed a Commissioner for
Guizot in, 36. Paris, 206.
state of, on 24th February, 56. what Janvier said of him, 2IO.
Tocqueville's estimate of its

utility, 58.
Duchesse d'Orleans in, 60.
invaded by the people, 62. Degousee, in the National Assembly,
Chambers, one or two ? debate on, in 159.
the Committee of the Constitution, Dembinski, General Henry (1791-
242. 1864), flees to the Turks, 361.
 INDEX 40J

Domes, appointed on the Committee

of the Constitution, 235.
Dufaure, Jules Armand Stanislas Falloux, Alfred Frederic Pierre.
(1798-1881), Tocqueville's conver- Comte de (i8ll-i886), proposes the
sation with, 17. dissolution of the National Work-
character of, 40, shops, 193.
tells Tocqueville of his interview Minister of Public Instruction,
with Louis-Philippe, 47. 273-
sits with Tocqueville in National leader of majority in the Cabinet,
281.
Assembly, 142.
converses with Tocqueville, his influence with Louis Na-

Thiers, Barrot, Remusat, and Lan- poleon, 303.

intercourse with Tocqueville, 305.
juinais, 203.
appointed on the Committee of rupture with Dufaure, 307.
the Constitution, 233. with the President, 322.
conduct of, in the Committee, on the question of the Hungarian
refugees, ^69.
243,255..
his interview
.
.^
with
^locque- Faucher, Leon (1803- 1 854), Minister
ville and his friends, of the Interior, 266.
political
Feast of Concord, the, proposal to hold,
267.
made Minister of the Interior, and celebration of, 174-
France, state of, when Tocqueville
272,
with the President, 296. becomes Minister of Foreign Affairs,
rupture with Falloux, 307. 339-
Frederic William IV., King of Prussia
speech in Assembly, 310.
character of, 313. (1795-1861), the Tsar's opinioa of,
with the President, 322. 337.
his character and his aims for
and banquets, 390.
his conduct on 24th February Germany, 346.
his coquetting with revolt, 351.
1848, 393-
Charles
, „
Mane ^
.

Tannequi, submits to the influenceof Russia,

Duchatel,
of 352
Comte (1803-1867), Minister {foot-note).

the Interior, character of and con-

versation with, 23.
want of tact in his speech on
the banquets, 27. antecedcnu
General Election, the,
flight of, 136.
Marie Jean Jacques of, 105.
Dupin, Andre
(1783-1865), speech of,
the m new, 265.
Chamber of Deputies, 62. Germany, state of, 333.
Confederation of States in, 347.
in the Committee of the Con-
views of Baron Pfordten in regard
stitution, 243.
de Hauranne, Prosper to, 348. . . ,
Duvergier views of Tocqueville in regard
with, 22.
(1798-1881), interview
to, 349.
with Beaumont, &c., 379'
views of Tsar in regard to, 350,
compromise on
to the
refuses
it.'i.
banquet, 392. Goudchaux, Michel {1797- 1 862). ap-
Duvivier, killed in Insurrection, 227. a Commissioner for Pans,
pointed
206.
his conduct in that capacity, 213.
E Guizot, Franfois
Pierre Guillaume
of, 9-
(1 787- 1874), opinion ,
in Chamber of Deputies, 36.
estimate of
England, Tocqueville's
resigns Government, 36.
the policy of, 359. of, on the
Revolution, 79-
re- opinion
on question of Hungarian
flight of, 136.
fugees in Turkey, 366.
I
404 INDEX
H Lamartine, Madame de, notice of, 154.
Lamennais, Hugues Felicite Robert
Havin, Leonor Joseph (1799- 1868), de (1782-1855), appointed on Com-
chairs meeting for Tocqueville, 122. mittee of the Constitution, 233.
and Barrot, 389. Lamoriciere, General Christophe
Hebert, Minister of Justice, character Leon Louis Juchault de (1806-
of and speech by, 28. 1865), character of, 91.
Houghton, Richard Monckton Milnes, in Insurrection of June, 192, 220.
Lord (1809- 1885), Tocqueville his interview with Tocqueville
breakfasts with, 184. and his political friends, 267.
Huber, in National Assembly, 167, sent as Ambassadorto Russia, 303.
Hungary, revolting against Austria, letter about the Tsar of Russia,

335- 336.
Tsar's views on, 337. instructions of Tocqueville to,
Tocqueville's instructions con- 360.
cerning, 360. letter of, to Tocqueville, 364.
letter of Tocqueville to, on
Hungarian refugees, 370.
conduct of, in regard to them,

Insurrection of June, nature of 372.

narrative of, 187. Lanjuinais, Victor Ambroisede (1802-
1869), Tocqueville in company of,42.
Italy, the Tsar's views on, 338. with Tocqueville and Corcelles
on the boulevards, 46.
K sits with Tocqueville in the
National Assembly, 142.
Kossuth, Louis (1802-1894), flees to his interview with Tocqueville
the Turks, 361. and his political friends, 267.
joins the Council, 274.
on the question of the Hungarian
refugees, 369.
Lacordaire, Jean Baptiste Henri Ledru - Rollin, Alexandre Auguste
Dominique (i 802-1 861), in the (1807-1874), in the Chamber of
National Assembly, 161. Deputies, 65, 71.
Lacrosse, character of, 280. character of, 150.
La Fayette, Edmond de, and his in the National Assembly, 163.
life-preserver, 175. has to escape from the National
Lamartine, Alphonse Marie Louis Assembly, 173.
Prat de {1790- 1 869), in the Chamber demands the indictment of Louis
of Deputies, 62, 66. Napoleon, 292.
reads out the list of the Provisional escapes after the Insurrection, 299.
Government, 70. Legitimists, views and condition of, 302.
gets embarrassed in the Chamber Lepelletier d'Aunay, Tocqueville
of Deputies, 71. meets, 213.
his conduct and character, 145. Louis Napoleon, Prince President of
Tocqueville's relations with, 147. the French Republic (1808-1873),
his connexion with Champeaux, elected to the National Assembly,
147. 183.
his speech in the Assembly, 151. President of the Republic, 270.
his sudden departure from the character of, 283.
Assembly, 159. orders the attack on Rome, 289.
'
reappears in National As- attacked in Assembly, 292.
sembly, 171. Louis Napoleon, puts down Insurrec-
Lamartine, at the Feast of Concord, tion, 298.
180. intrigues with Thiers and Mol<5,
shot at in the Insurrection of 315.
June, 194. in connexion withTocqueville,3 1 7.
 INDEX
Louis Napoleon, with Beaumont, Mole, on l'..rr-n .V: a-
j

Dufaure and Passy, 321-2. '"' ""

his general ignorance, 331. '

3^5- .

wishes to take Savoy, 332. wiih l',i\r: a- !

'

Tocqueville and Berryer's dis- Mimlagnarii-, tlu- ,

cussion about the powers of, 394. scp-UMti' n

'

''., \'.

Louis-Philippe, King of the French 154-

interview cru^lifil, .:
(1773-1850), Tocqueville's
I .
;

^:rc!;-thei>.-.i ..• :.'

with, 7.
his opinion of Lord Palmerston, 263.
^upn-rlcr- -!. -'.
idem.
of the Tsar Micholas, idem.
^b)ntall.mi>erl, '\.x\
Queen Victoria, ide/n.
1
refers to .'

influence of, 10. CiJimc lie (

iSn>-i^7'
on the Banquets, 26. I'lovcninicir. -. ':.' :..

Sallandrouze, conversation with, 190.

A::'' .i!'- '
:

35- Montpens'.cr.
sends for Mole, 37. do (iS24-iS^><"' ,
.it ;:
•

sends for Beaumont, 45. Louis-rhi'i;;>i'c, ,^S.j.

abdicates, 58.
character of, and of his Govern- N
ment, 81. — IMl.;
from France, 105. N.VIIONAI, .\ V,
finally disappears
Beaumont's account of abdication 4ih of M.iy, i_vv
dc-criii'.i>
n -:. i ; ;

of, 379- ". .!.

TdCqlK-Vlilc'-
Lyons, insurrection in, 298. j

..I L,-.in.u-
j
siiecrh
I iiu'.iiid \'\ '.If II.

jM 1 break, w]'.
I'.^.

I Naiii.ii.il I I'.i-u'- ;

1 of, 170.
Manche, la, department of, 14.
a<i<lrL'--.e. fii'iu ]!
in election of, 117. j

proceedings of, I^J.

election of Tocqueville for, 263.
1

pun
and
Marrast, Armand (1780-1852), ';'••.
killed ill
iiv.!iin^
the Provisional Government, 71.
i

for National lion, 2(».

suggests costume
}

!
.
thre.^ienei'., 2::S.
Representatives, 135. i
state r.f I lie lieA
as Mayor of Paris, 227. '

on the Committee of 270, 201.

appointed '

N.ition.d .u:\rd, ( ;lie.i::,

the Constitution, 233. l''-'' '
'

party I"
i'"-
conduct of, in the Committee,
;

o'l! tlu- I'.i >i ::::..

241, 247, 255.

of the Com- Febnuiry, 44.••
appointed Secretary shou'.iir; !- : '

mittee, 256. X, n r I)et.i>)ur,rl.' t, .

Martin, on the Committee of the Con- 01.

,,f Deputu-. 7.-.
stitution, 254. - - '.
of, 5. (li,;q.i".w.i:.-
Middle Class, the, government
despair of, 133.
Comte (i7^^i- AsseniMv, 17"-
Mole, Matthieu Louis, --at be...-' -I < >•'

1855), sent for by

Louis-Phdippc, 37- •'•
^- - in Iii-ui;' .

declines office, 45. „ ^ .liMiil

'•
I.-:'.'.:
''

the Revolution, 79-

opinion of, on A->-eiiil'ly." 2>7-
on General Election, 107. '- '. v
eager p;!
elected to the National Assembly,
lion, 213.
182. .
WoUU'i' 'I '. •
'
'

refuses to take office, 267.

President, 315.
intrigues with the
 4o6 INDEX
National Guard, the, surrounded, 294. Paulmier, Tocqueville dines with, on
three regiments of, cashiered, 509. the 22nd February, 34.
National Workshops, the, create anxiety Persigny, Jean Gilbert Victor Fialin,
in the Assembly, 181. Due de (1808- 1872), sent to Berlin
Falloux proposes dissolution of, and Vienna, 323.
193- Piedmont and Austria, 353.
supply weapons to insurgents in Portalis, character of, 42.
June, 198. Presidency, condition of, discussed in
Negrier, killed in the Insurrection, 227. the Committee of the Constitution,
Nemours, Louis Charles Philippe 246.
Raphael d'Orleans, Due de (1814- Provisional Government, the, pro-
1896), thought of as Regent, 383. claimed, 59.
and Barrot, 388. Lamartine reads list of, in the
Nesselrode, Charles Robert, Count Chamber of Deputies, 70.
(1780-1862), snubs Lord Palmer- appoints a costume for National
ston, 374. Representatives, 134.
Nicholas L, Tsar of all the Russias reports its proceedings to the
(1796-1855), supports Austria against National Assembly, 135.
Hungary, 335.
his general policy, 336.
Lamoriciere's letter about, 336. R
his family affection, 339.
Radetzky, Field-Marshal Johann
the real support of his power, 339.
views of, on an United Germany, Joseph Wenzel Anton Franz Carl
Count (1766- 1858), and Piedmont,
350.
demands Hungarian refugees 355-
Radical Party, state of the, in January
from Turkey, 364.
his irritation about Hungarian 1848, 25.
Raspail, Fran9ois Vincent (1794-
refugees, 373.
1878), in the National Assembly, 1 62.
Normanby.Constantine Henry Phipps,
Revolutionaries, description of the, 137.
Marquess of (1797- 1863), Ambas- in the National Assembly, 158.
sador in Paris, 368.
Rivet, his conversation with Tocque-
Novara, Battle of, 323.
ville, 389.
consultation of, with Liberals, on
O the subject of the banquets, 390.
another conversation with
D'Orleans, Hel^ne, Duchesse (1814-
1858), in the Chamber of Deputies, Tocqueville, 392.
60.
with Mole and Dufaure, 393.
and the abdication of Louis- Rome, the French Army at, 263.
difficultiesabout, 269.
Philippe, 384.
and Barrot, 389. secret order to the army to attack,

Oudinot, General Nicolas Charles 291.

Victor, Due de Reggio (1791-1863), Rulhi^re, character of, 279.
in the Chamber of Deputies, 72.

Saint-Lo, meeting of the Council

Palmerston, Henry John Temple, General at, 125.
Viscount (1784- 1 865) on Piedmont Sallandrouze de Lamornaix meets
and Austria, 359. Tocqueville at dinner at Paulmier's,
snubbed by Nesselrode, 374. 35.
Paris, Louis Philippe d'Orleans, Comte snubbed by Louis- Philippe, idem.
de (1838-1894), in the Chamber of Sand, George (1804- 1876), Tocque-
Deputies, 60. ville's conversation with, 183.

.Passy, character of, 272. Sauzet, President of the Chamber of

with the President, 322. Deputies, 57.
 INDEX 407

Savoy, Louis Napoleon wishes to

Tocqueville, remarks on this speech
seize, 332.
by Dufaure and others, 17.
Schwarzenberg, Felix Ludwig Johann his position on the affair of the
Friedrich, Prince von (1808-1852), banquets, 19.
and Tocqueville, 358. his estimate of
Duchilel, Minis-
Senard, President of the Assembly, ter of the Interior,
23,
214. his thoughts on the
policy of the
Sicily, state of, 333, Radical party, 25.
Sobrier, in National Assembly, 167. his knowledge of how the affair
Socialism, influence of theories of, 97. of the banquets passed into an in-
Dufaure's conflict with, 312. surrection, 30.
Socialists, the, description of, 137, in the Chamber of on
Deputies
separation of, from Montagnards, 22nd and 23rd February, when the
154. ,
gloom of the Revolution began to
Switzerland, Tocqueville's correspond- gather, 33.
ence with, on the subject of his estimate of the selfishness of
the refugees, 343. both sides, 39.
private conversation with Du-
faure, 40.
private conversation with Beau-
mont, 41.
Talabot, and Thiers, 75. private conversation with Lan-
Thiers, Louis Adolphe (1797-1877), juinais, 42.
alliance of, with Barrot, 19. hears of the firing in the streets
sent for by Louis-Philippe, 45. on 24th February 1848, 44.
wandering round Paris, 74. sees preparations for barricades,
opinion of, on the Revolution, 79. 46.
on the General Election, 106. meets a defeated party of Na-
defeated at the General Election, tional Guards on the boulevards,
136. and hears shouts of " Reform," 49.
elected to the National Assembly, reflections which this occasions,
182. 50.
addresses Barrot, Dufaure, goes to Chamber of Deputies on
Remusat, Lanjuinais and Tocque- 24th February, 51.
ville in private, 202. recognises Bedeau on his way,
with Lamoriciere, 225. 52.
refuses to take office, 267. character of Bedeau and con-
with the President, 296. dition on that day, 53.
intrigues with the President, 315. appearance presented by the
on foreign affairs, 330. Chamber of Deputies, 56.
with Beaumont, &c. 379. ,
sees the Duchesse d'Orl^ans and
advises Louis-Philippe to abdi- the Comte de Paris there, 60.
cate, 383. tries to get Laraartine to speak,
his interview with Barrot, 385. 63.
refuses to compromise on the his interest in the Duchess and
banquets, 392. her son, 69.
Alexis Henri seeks to protect them, 69.
Tocqueville, Charles
Maurice Clerel de (1805-1859), his leaves the Chamber and meets
purpose in writing these memoirs, 3. Oudinot and Andryanc, 72.
his intercourse with Louis- contradicts an assertion of Mar-
shal Bugeaud, 72.
——Philippe, 7.
his estimate of the state of converses with Talabol about
France in the movements of Thiers, 75.
January 1848, 9.
the his reflections on the fate of the
picture of the state of
Chamber of Deputies in 1847, 12. Monarchy, 80.
with Ampere,
his speech in the Chamber of spends the evening
Deputies, 29th January 1848, 14. 87.
4o8 INDEX
Tocqueville, goes to inquire about his Tocqueville, as such, walks through
nephews on the 25th February, 90. Paris, 208.
walks about Paris in the after- his scene with his porter, 215.
noon, 92. his scene with his man-servant,
reflections on what he sees, 93. 217.
keeps in retirement for some in the streets in the Insurrection,
days, 102. 219.
further reflections on the Revolu- on his way to the Hotel de Ville,
tion, 103. 225.
his own individual feelings and his account of the Montagnards,
intentions, 107. Socialists, &c., 231.
resolves to seek re-election, 113. appointed on the Committee of
visits the Department of la the Constitution, 233.
Manche, 114. his narrative of its proceedings,
makes Valogneshishead-quarters, 234.
117. on the duality of the Chambers,
publishes his address to the 242.
electors, 118. on the conditions of the Presi-
meets the electors at Valognes, dency, 246.
120. re-elected for la Manche, 263.
addresses workmen at Cher- leaves his wife ill at Bonn, 264.
bourg, 122. his opinion of the new Assembly,
goes to Saint-L6 to the General 264.
Council, 125. his interview with Dufaure, &c. ,
his reflections on a visit to 267.
Tocqueville, 126. ought he to enter the Ministry? 268.
returns to Paris and finds himself accepts the Foreign Office, 273.
elected, 129. intimacy with Lanjuinais, 275.
his view of the state of politics his opinion of his colleagues, 278.
and of Paris, 130. his opinion of France and the
National Assembly meets, 133. Republic, 281,
his opinion of the Montagnards, his opinion of Louis Napoleon, 284.
138. speech in Assembly on the Roman
his estimate of the Assembly, 141. expedition, 293.
his character of Lamartine, 146. his letters to and fi-om Con-
his intercourse with Champeaux, siderant, 299.
149. his view of affairs after the
his observation of the popular Insurrection, 301.
mind, 161. sends Lamoriciere to Russia, 303.
his interview with Tretat, 168. his difficulties with Falloux and
at the Feast of Concord, 175. Dufaure, 306.
conversation with Camot, 176. his advice to Louis Napoleon, 3 17.
anticipations of the Insurrection sends Beaumont to Vienna, 321.
of June, 183. his view of Foreign and Domestic
conversation with Madame Sand, Affairs when he became Foreign
183. Minister, 325.
sees barricades of the Insurrec- his despatch to the French
tion, 190. Minister in Bavaria (foot-note), 342.
interview with Lamoriciere, 192. his dealings with Switzerland
goes about Paris in time of in- about the refugees, 344.
surrection, 197. his observations on the Revolution
describes the Assembly, 198. in Germany, 345,
writes to his wife, 203. his intervention between Austria
protests against Paris being de- and Piedmont, 353.
clared in a state of siege, 205. his interposition in support of
elected a Commissioner for Paris, Turkey on the Hungarian refugees
206. question, 361.
 INDEX 409

Tocqueville, his instruction to Lamori- Valognes, Tocqueville at, 130.

ci^reand Beaumont, 371. Vaulabelle, appointed on the Com-
narrative of Beaumont to, on the mittee of the Constitution, 235.
abdication, 379. Victor Emmanuel II., King of Pied-
narrative of Barrot to, on the mont (1820- 1878), ascends the
abdication, 385. throne on the abdication of Charles
Rivet and De Tocqueville's efforts Albert, 333.
to prevent Revolution, 389. Vieillard speaks at the meeting for
discussion of, with Berryer on the election of Tocqueville, 123.T1 (
the Constitution, 394. Vienna, Beaumont sent as Amba^ador
Tocqueville, Madame de,
n^e Mottley, to, 321.
her report of firing in Paris, 196. Persigny sent to, 323.
taken ill at Bonn, 264. Vivien appointed on the Committee of
Tocqueville, Manor of, Tocqueville the Constitution, 233.
in the Committee of Constitu-
visits, 126.
Tracy, character of, 279. tion, 253.
his interview with Tocqueville
Tretat, and Tocqueville, 168.
Turkey, refuses to surrender the
Hun- and his political friends, 267.
garian refugees, 362.
W
WOLOWSKI, Louis (1810-1876), in the

Valognes, head-quarters in
tovv-n of, National Assembly on 15th May
Tocqueville's election, 117. 158.
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Crown Svo, blue cloth, 35. 6d.

Tifflffifttfl; H. HENRY & C©., Ltb., 93 St Martin's Lane, W.C.

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