^^\^fUK'IVERr//i, .,f\r-rAn:^n~ ,\WEUNIVER% 'Juj/Mim 311' , A\^EL'NIVERy//, ,.-,-,lOSv*)!CEli 1 i 1 i •^ <^/A 'Jr '^^ii3AiKa-3t^" !-i^^ '•cJ'i ..u. y.y m jfjvsov^-'^' ""^/^diAiNfidn-' -''^^AavasiiH^^- '^217— vol. ii. SPECIFICATION OF CHIMES. i ■ C„.„V,.,: O, THE ...ECIFIEO NUMBER O, »OI.,„E»S CONDEMNS,.. ■■n'i'° DCLE FTH. .AMI i s 1 : 1 ^ CONDEMNED. 11 m 1 1 IJi 1 1i 1 -,.--" — Si 1 1 i 1 ■2 i ^ 1 } 1 ^ "■1- 1 l.s 1 ii 1 •s i 1 1 Militarj' offences (provided against by the military code.) 1. Desertion to the enemy, or in face of 92 68 4?2 16 I 56 2 3 67 339 646 ;; 7 92 68 472 7 9 9 9S 7 76 326 784 92 68 472 46 477 37 1.625 3. — to the interior by change of resolution 4. — to the interior ivith arms and uniform 4. — to the interior, not singly, but with others 6.- 10 Ihe interior singly 784 70 8,625 „ 17,070 ,',' Total of desertion 7. OffeiKe-; cki-^-ed under the heads o S. — II' ■ . '. !■ -iihiirdination., 9,-1,1 ' ■ ! ■1. ft-;, breach o um-i. .li-l, -r iii.l bribery ICi. OaeiiLTs other than tliose above speci 1,839 S73 1,266 2,033 9 299 36 91 9 462 290 117 623 1,146 1.129 1,633 = 706 369 374 399 1,939 873 1,266 2,033 199 316 726 460 666 1,839 873 1,266 1,7S3 753 1.195 1,912 3,381 4,192 6,299 6,26s 28,762 45 572 SO 24,942 10 31.146 30 Total of military offences, indusive of 6,056 ■: 16 7 'i ', 2.177 206 106 4,165 [ i 1,319 96 61 75 1,950 157 87 6 67 2,787 87 6,056 5,664 190 14 19,239 1.892 159 886 Common offences (provided against by the civil courts) 1 1 Thefts from private cilinens 12. Assassinations and assaults 13. Rapes, and offences against morals . . 14. Common offences, other than those above specified 15,167 8 '947 60 6,260 30 Grand Total. ... 6.933 106 395 .32 308 1,152 2.56 2 4,655 " 2,264 6.933 1,555 2,267 3,111 6,93 3 126 6.307 660 24,064 1156,217 97 Total of sentences declared, and of witnesses heard. m EKRATA TO VOL.. II. Page 1, line 1, /or trial reai treat. 10, „ 13, for Englishmen read Englishman. 19, „ 25, for suite of rooms you enter are fine read rooms you enter fine. 32, „ 11, /or lady with Ihree daughters rei^ bringing with them all the young men belonging to the several communes, who have completed their twentieth year; the sub-prefect, who administers in the arrondissement, having already prepared a list for that arrondissement containing the names of the young men liable to the con- scription. After the effective of the contingent is determined, and the number which each canton is to supply ascertained, the young men inscribed on the list proceed to draw lots, and the first names that come forth are those to be enrolled. A short time after this, how- ever, a council of revision is held, at which claims for exemption and other objections against the service are heard. A final list is then made out, and the individuals, whose names are found in it, are subsequently and definitively called to the ranks of the army in virtue of a royal ordonnance. The military authorities then direct the young soldiers by detachments, more or less considerable, to the corps of which they are GOVERNMENT. 203 to compose a part. Arrived at their destina- tion they are incorporated in the companies or squadrons, so as to be properly mixed with the ancient soldiers. Their uniform is given to them, and, on the first review of the regi- ment, they are brought forward to take an oath of fidelity to the King, to the country, and to the tricolored flag. The form of the oath is, " Je jure d'etre fidele au roi, a I'honneur et a la patrie, et de ne jamais abandonner les drapeaux !*" The transformation of the pea- sant, the artisan, the labourer, or the ' bour- geois' is now complete If Tlie legal duration of service in the army is seven years. :]: At the expiration of that period the soldier receives his discharge, and generally returns to his native district, and former employment. Some, however, re-en- gage in the army for two, or four years, but * I swear to be faithful to the king, to the honour of the country, and never to quit my standard. f None are admitted to the army who have been con- demned for any disgraceful offence. X About one sixth, it is calculated, re-enlist for two or four years. These receive a bounty of 22 francs, for two years, and 44 francs for four years ; besides, 8 centimes per day additional, after two years' service, and 10 cen- times after six. I speak of infantry of the line. The otiier corps receive something more. 206 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. these are generally of a class who would find it difficult to gain their livelihood in another manner. The conditions of voluntary enlistment differ in no way from the conditions imposed on the soldier by conscription. Like him, the volunteer cannot retire from the service during the period of his engagement, till he has found a proper substitute. During the times of peace the number of volunteers is small. But, in war, or at a whisper of war, the military spirit of France revives. Immediately after the revolution of July, sixty thousand rushed to the national standard.* In 1832, there were eleven thousand nine hundred and eight volun- teers, of whom, one thousand three hundred and fifty-five were from the department of the Seine. In 1833, there were but five thousand five hundred, and ninety-one — of whom, eight hun- dred and thirty-nine came from the depart- ment of the capital. The persons so engaging, in time of peace, are naturally men for the most part with- out employment, persons whose enterprizing * Most of these, on the chance of war disappearing, purchased substitutes. GOVERNMENT. 207 and adventurous character has already em- barked them in scrapes ; but sometimes young men of respectabihty, wishing to enter the mihtary career without undergoing the dis- ciphne of the mihtary schools, engage in this humble manner. The sons of the greatest and richest famihes of France, of dukes and peers, have not dis- dained to arrive at the rank of an officer, by passing through the duties of a common soldier. And this not in appearance merely, but in reality. Many are the instances that could be cited of these young gentlemen doing their duty in every respect as a private of the ranks ; supporting the severest fatigues and privations ; currying their horses, cleaning their stables, and carrying the forage on their shoulders ; nor is it extraordinary to meet in a soldier's room, the descendant of a noble family and the bearer of a great name, sharing his bed with the son of one of his domestics. These examples were frequent under the res- toration—more so immediately after its over- throw : — not so frequent at the present time. THE PAY. The pay of the army is much the same now, that it was prior to the revolution of 208 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. 1789. The necessity for a great army, and the difficulty of supporting a great expense, made this almost a matter of course ; and under these circumstances it has even required an effijrt to keep up the ancient scale. The pay then of the officer and the soldier, the former perhaps has the least to complain of, is in France as elsewhere, but a miserable pittance for the services he has to perform, and the station he ought to maintain. At the joresent moment the grade of a ' sous- lieutenant' of the line — a rank equivalent to our ensign or cornet, is 1500 francs per annum, in the foot regiments, and 1/25 francs in the cavalry. This is about the salary of a secondary merchant's junior clerk.* The pay of all the other superior officers is in the same proportion, as that of the sub- lieutenant. A colonel has 6,250 francs per annum in the infantry, and 6,875 in the cavalry. A lieutenant-colonel 5,275 in the infantry, and 5,875 in the cavalry. A chef-de-bataillon or d'escadron 4,500 in the infantry, 5,000 in the cavalry. INFANTRY. P , • 5 1st class, 3,600 francs. L^aptams. ^ ^nd class, 3,000 ditto. See Manual Legislation Militaire. GOVERNMENT. 209 Lieutenants i ^^^ ^^^^''' ^'^^^ ^''''"^^• l^ieutenants. -j ^nd class, 1,630 ditto. CAVALRY. p , . j 1st class, 3,750 francs, i^aptains. -j 2nd class, 3,450 ditto. T- ^ ^ fist class, 2,175 francs. Lieutenants, j^nd class, l^SyS ditto. A marshal of France has 40,000 francs ; a lieutenant-general, if commanding, 40,000 frs. ; if not, 15,000 in peace, and 18,750 in war; a marechal-de-camp has 10,000 frs. in peace, and 12,500 in war. It is to be remembered that commissions are not purchased, and that, therefore, the pay, such as it is, which the officer receives, is whol- ly reward for his services, and not interest for his money. As to the soldier, his cost to the state cannot perhaps be exactly calculated because his arms, accoutrements, his barrack- room, the principal part of his clothing, are furnished by the public magazines and manu- factories ; but his daily allowance will give an adequate idea, in other respects, of his situation.* It amounts, on an average to, 48 centimes, about 4 Id a day. From this pittance 10 centimes, one penny, are withheld as a provision for the linen and stockings he may * Nouveau guide des sous-officers. — (New guide for non-commissioned officers,) 210 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. require, and for the small articles necessary to his dress and cleanliness ; 30 centimes three halfpence, are kept for his food, and he is supplied with one pound and a half of tolerable bread in addition ; 8 centimes, about three farthings, are given to him for pocket money. Such is the state of the French soldier.* It will be easily believed, that with resources apparently so inadequate, it would be impos- sible for him to exist but under a system of the most rigid economy. For this purpose, a subaltern officer is charged in each company with the control of the sum appropriated for food, and is in fact the superintendant of the mess, for it is by messing the food that a sum so minute is rendered sufficient for the purpose. This officer purchases himself at market the articles necessary ; some soldiers are metamorphosed into cooks, and the dinner is divided into small tin dishes, and distributed fairly to each soldier of the company. The soldier has two meals a day, one at ten o clock, and the other at five. The first is composed of * The two flanc companies receive a halfpenny (5 cent) a day more ; and, as we have seen, those re-engaging after 8 years service, 8 cents, more. GOVERNMENT. 211 soup, and a quarter of a pound of boiled beef; the second of a small portion of vegetables, gene- rally of potatoes or beans, with a quarter of a pound of mutton or veal. The only drink given is water ; wine, brandy, or other spirits are only distributed, and then, in very small proportions, on the occasion of public re- joicings, or on a visit of the General.* PENSIONS. As some atonement for the exiguity of his pay, the soldier has the prospective of a pen- sion. * When the soldier is in the colonies a slight difference in the arrangements takes place. He has 1 lb. 9i oz. of bread, with 8i oz. of salt or fresh beef, or 7 oz. of pork daily. V/hen on the war establishment, 1 oz. of rice, or 2 oz. of peas, and half an ounce of salt. Instead of paj'ing 30 cents, for his messing, he pays only 20 in the colonies, and 14 on the war establishment. Soldiers of good conduct are sometimes allowed to absent themselves from regimental duties, and work on their own account in the towns where they are quartered. They pay, in this case five centimes per day to the mess, and six francs a month to the soldier who does their duty, and cleans their arms. They must also pay for their linen, etc. unless their stock be complete. 212 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. In time of peace this is earned by thirty years^ in time of war, by fifteen years' service.* Besides this, the orphans and widows of those who have perished in battle,t receive a portion (about one-fourth) of the pension that their husbands, or fathers would have been entitled to for retirement, whatever may have been the period of their service, in the rank they held. The widows and children of pensioners are also paid according to the same regulation ; and the pen- sion to a soldier's wife cannot be less than 100 frs. The pensions of course vary according to rank, and the following table will exhibit their rates and proportions. * Two years in the colonies are counted as three years. t There is also for the officers what is called " Traite- ment de reforme," (half-pay allowance,) in which he is in a middle state, between being in the army and out of it. Those who have served 20 years may receive this pay for ten, without being called upon to re-enter the service ; those who have six years, for three, etc., etc. The allowance for a colonel is 1,200 frs. ; for a sub-lieu- tenant, 320 frs. GOVERNMENT. 21.'{ STATEMENT OF HALF-PAY ALLOWANCES, SHEWING THE RATE ACCORDING TO RANK AND CORPS. Maximum. Minimum. Francs- Francs. General Staff . . | Lieutenant-general Marechal-de-camp 6,000 4,000 5,000 3,500 ^ Colonel 3,000 2,500 Lieutenant-colonel 2,400 2,000 Royal Staff Corps / Chief of battalion . Captain 2,200 1,600 1,800 1,200 Lieutenant . 1,200 1,000 > Sub-lieutenant 1,000 800 Military intendance | Military intendant Sub-intendant 4,000 3,000 3,500 2,500 Commandants of / Towns. 1 Colonel 3,000 2,500 Chief of battalion . 2,000 1,800 Town Adjutants . < Captain 1,500 1,200 Lieutenant . 1.200 1,000 I Sub-lieutenant 1,000 800 Board of Health . | Head surgeon 2,000 1,600 Assistant surgeon 1,000 800 r Colonel 3,000 2,500 Chief of squadron . 2,200 1,800 Captain 1,600 1,200 Gendarmerie . . *• Lieutenant . 1,200 1,000 Quarter-master 450 400 Brigadier 360 310 \ Gendarmie . 320 220 f Colonel 3,000 2,500 Lieutenant-colonel 2,400 2,000 Infantry of the Line Chief of battalion . 2,000 1,800 Captain 1,600 1,200 Light Infantry Lieutenant . 1,200 1,000 Veteran Non- com- missioned officers Sub-lieutenant 1.000 800 Adjutant non-com- missioned officer 1 600 500 Serjeant-major 500 400 Veteran Fusileers Serjeant 400 300 Corporals 350 250 Artillery . . .V Soldiers 300 200 f Colonel 3,000 2,500 Lieutenant-colonel 2,400 2,000 Chief of squadron 2,000 1,800 Cavalry . Major . 2,000 1,800 Cajjtain 1,600 1,200 Artillery . .) Lieutenant . 1,200 1,000 \ Sub -lieutenant 1,000 800 Artillery Train Adjutant 600 500 Head quarter-master 500 400 Quarter-master 400 300 Brigadier 350 250 \ Soldiers 300 200 214 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. DISCIPLINE. We now come to the discipline of the French army. ADMINISTRATION OF A REGIMENT. The administration of each regiment is con- fided to a council, composed of the colonel, a chef d' escadron or de bataillon, a major, a cap- tain, and the officer ^ dliabillement .'* All these officers are convoked by the colonel, and de- liberate, in common, on such matters as are con- nected with the administration of the regiment, excepting of course those which belong to the sovereign authority of the colonel, to whom the times of exercise, the rewards, punishments, and the general power over the troops is re- served. An account, however, is rendered by him once a week to the mar^chal de camp of all matters regarding his regiment. He cor- responds also with the minister of war, who, in very extraordinary circumstances, communi- cates his instructions directly through him. Without orders, however, he can do nothing or importance, forming merely a link in the sys- tem, which passing through the general and the intendant, centres at last in the war de- partment. * Who attends to the dress, &c. GOVERNMENT. 215 PUNISHMENTS. In every country, but in France particularly, military legislation must be severe. The principles of equality which have circulat- ed among all classes, oppose and weaken the principles of military obedience. The military code, therefore, is necessarily more terrible in its provisions and punishments than the civil code. Twenty -two cases are made punishable with death. Revolt — in- subordination, — a blow from an inferior to a superior are certain to be followed by that punishment. Theft, w^hich, by the ordinary law, is punished by imprisonment, and some- times by sohtary confinement, according to the mihtary law, subjects the offender to the gal- leys. Every enactment is in the same propor- tion : —in 1832, out of an army composed of 388,402 men, 6,858 w^ere brought up for jus- tice (proportion to the total, 1 in 70). Of this 6,858— 14 were sent before the ordinary tribunals, from the incompetence of the Council of War. 2,217 w^ere acquitted. 4,627 were condemned : 93 to death — 391 to hard labour — 130 to seclusion — 308 216 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. to the ^boulef* — 1,149 to labour on the public works — 2,556 to imprisonment. It is to be observed that 1,555 were tried in the same month as their offence — 2,267 i^i two months after their offence and 3,111 sub- sequently to that period. 24,064 witnesses were heard, and the ex- penses of the proceedings were 156,217 francs. The sentences pronounced were not all exe- cuted. Of the 4,627 condemned, 496 obtained an entire p rdon; 656 a commutation of sentence; and 13 capital sentences were alone put into execution. From the report of the minister of war we learn a very curious fact, \dz. that of the 6,858 persons tried — 2,806 were volunteers^ and 2,359 substitutes for those who had enrolled; and but 1,693 persons entering by conscrip- tion, though the great bulk of the army is com- posed of these. It also appears that in the persons tried and condemned, there were out of 17 soldiers : 7 volunteers 6 substitutes 4 conscripts * To drag the shot. GOVERNMENT. 21? This sufficiently shews the great superiority of the conscripts over the other two classes of soldiers. There M-as but one of the scholars from the military schools tried, and he was acquitted; and from the gendarmerie, a force of 15,514 men, but 15 were brought to trial. Two facts import- ant to France — as well in respect to the disci- pline of her troops as the security of her citizens. The officers of rank brought to trial, offering a total of 16,642 — 15. Of the sub-officers, of a total of 20,524— 176. Of the corporals, &c. 26,012 — 216. The annexed tables give these and other particulars. MODE OF PROCEDURE. In every division, there are established, two permanent coimcils of war, and one council of revision — which is to the military courts what the " cour de cassation," (court of cassa- tion) is to the civil. The permanent councils are formed from every rank, and contain a colonel who pre- sides, a chef-de-bataillon, two captains, one lieutenant, one sub-lieutenant, and one non- commissioned officer. The council of revision consists of five VOL. II. L 218 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. members : one general officer who presides, one colonel, one chef-de-bataillon or d'esca- dron, two captains.* The mode of proceeding is as follows : di- rectly a person, subject to military law, is accused of an offence, his commanding officer arrests him, and institutes an enquiry into his conduct. Then, if against the person accused, there appears a fair probability of guilt, he, (the commanding officer) convokes the permanent council in his division — and before this council the offender is brought. The tribunal hears the accusation, the wit- nesses on both sides, the defence, and then pronounces sentence. If three out of seven members declare the accused innocent, he is at once discharged — if five pronounce him guilty, the commissary of the King demands the apphcation of the law against him. The president reads the law, and again, if five determine on the same punishment, that * For generals-in-chief or of division, for colonels, majors, and chef-de-bataillon or d'escadron, as well as for permanent military intendants, and sub-intendants, the councils of war are rather differently composed. In besieged towns, in departments in a state of trouble or civil war, councils are formed on the same principle of the best materials that can be found. GOVERNMENT. 21 » one is adopted, if not, the opinion in favour of the mildest sentence is the one acted upon. The criminal is then told the result of his trial, and twenty-four hours allowed him for demanding his case to be brought before a council of revision. The council of revision can annul the sentence. 1. When the permanent council of war has not been formed on a legal manner. 2. When it shall have passed beyond its competence, either in respect to the criminal, or the laws. 3. When it shall have declared itself incom- petent in the case. 4. W^hen the trial has not been conducted properly. 5. When the punishment adjudged is not a legal one. Within twenty-four hours after the decision of the permanent court, if the case be not adjourned to the court of revision — and im- mediately after the judgment of the court of revision, if it be — the criminal, if sentenced to be put in irons, or to be sent to the galleys, or to proceed to a ' compagnie de discij^line,'* * There are about 2000 men in what are called the companies of discipline — to which soldiers maiming L 2 220 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. or to a military penitentiary,* is escorted by the gendarmes to his destination. Should he be condemned to death, he is taken back to his regiment, and there, unless a pardon or reprieve be anticipated, shot forthwith.f themselves to prevent serving, or of a refractory disposi- tion, are sent. In these companies, which are alv^rays in fortified towns, besides the ordinary military duties, the soldiers are emploj'ed in works of fortification, where the latter is in general very severe. * The military penitentiaries are recent and experi- mental institutions, to which soldiers, whom there may be the hope of reclaiming, are sent to instead of to the galleys. Here the prisoners are employed in difl'erent useful trades, receive the elements of instruction, and have a careful attention paid to their comparative conduct. t There are, besides the great military tribunals that I have described, two for the officers, and one for the soldiers of a secondary description. Those for the officers are called ' conseils d'enquete,' (councils of inquiry) ; and those for the soldiers ' comeils de discipline,' (councils of discipline.) The ' conseils d'enquete' are divided into ' conseils de divisions,' (councils of division,) and ' conseils tie regi- ment,' (regimental councils.) The first concerns all officers in a division as high as the rank of colonel, the second the inferior officers of a regiment. These councils take cognizance of such offences as become sufficiently serious to disturb the good order of GOVERNMENT. 221 I believ^e great severity is required in the French mihtar^' code ; it has, however, been considered unnecessarily great, and whatever might be required in time of war, it appears possible to many military men in France, to do without the punishment of death in time of peace, except in cases of murder, or perhaps treason. Acts of mere insubordination are rarely the result of calculation or delibera- tion before hand. They result in most cases from some momentary effervescence ; and then the punishment of death, or any other penalty, is never thought of or cared for by the excited soldier.* If some offences, however, are punished so severely in the French army, others receive a mild and honorable chastisement, directed es- the army, though they do not subject the offender to the military code. And they can punish by suspension of rank or employment. The ' Cornell de discipline' (councils of discipline), is for offences of the same description, and may send a soldier to the ' compagnie de discipline,' (discipline compajiy.) * It may be here worth observing that in the same year which I have been speaking of in France — as giving the result upon 388,000 men, of 6,858 committals on se- rious offences, there were within our force in Ireland and Great Britain, (about 50,000 men,) 920 soldiers in gaol, while 370 corporal punishments took place in the same year. 222 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. pecially at the mind of the soldier and that sentiment which is the basis of his service. These smaller punishments are the corvee, (excessive labour) a consigne au quartier — (con- finement to his quarter) — la salle de police, (im- prisonment,) the cachet, (dungeon) and interdic- tion to carry his sabre out of the ranks. The small faults or negligences are all punished by the corvee, or by confinement to quarters. The corvee is work imposed on the soldier, who is obliged when not on duty, to devote himself to it, and is generally both of a tiresome and fatiguing description. He is made to bring the soup into town for his comrades on guard ; to carry forage, and do any other menial offices re- quired. The punishment of confinement to his quarters in addition to his being interdicted from leaving his barracks, subjects him also to those portions of the punishment I have just described, which can be performed in quarters. He is besides placed in a corps which is desig- nated the ' peloton de panition^ which ^ peloton' is commanded by a wow-commissioned officer equally confined; and here the sergeant and soldier, if they do not pay the same attention to their duty, as in ordinary exercise, are sub- jected to a continuation of their punishment. Sometimes the nature of the offence will be printed in large letters, and the soldier made to GOVERNMENT. 223 appear with it on liis jacket turned inside out ; a punishment sufficiently humiUating to him, especially when the exercise which he is obliged to go through, is performed in some public place out of the barracks, " La salle cle police'^ includes the above pu- nishments; but the culprit, in addition, is de- prived of his room and bed, and obliged to sleep on bare plank — his duty and exercise continuing as before. The jjrison only difters from the salle de police, in this, that the oiFender is immedi- ately locked up when he has performed either his military service, or the degrading duties of the other punishments. " Le cachoi'^ is close imprisonment. The prohibition to carry his side arms when off duty, another punishment which I have mentioned, attacks the ' amour- jjropre' of the French soldier, and is invari- ably found to be equally severe and eifective. In order, indeed, to give it the appearance of great degradation, the colonel has only the power of interdicting the soldier from carry- ing his side arms for the space of sixty days ; it requires the general of the division to prolong that term. Every superior has the right to punish his inferior for any fault he may be guilty of. But 224 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. the law provides and specifies the amount of the punishment, which cannot he exceeded. From the corporal, who can inflict four days' confinement to the barracks, or two days to the ' salle de police,' up to the colonel, who can sentence to a month's confinement to the bar- racks, and fifteen days to the ' cachot f the different powers of the various ranks of officers, in everything concerning these punishments are explained and determined by miUtary regu- lations ; at the same time the colonel has, of course, the power to augment or diminish the punishment, or to pardon the offence if he thinks proper. He is entitled also to punish the superior officer who has exceeded or abused his authority in inflicting an extravagant or unmerited punishment on his inferior. The faults of the most frequent occurrence are generally the lightest, and are punished as soon as committed. But even when any of these trifling delinquencies are frequently repeated by the same individual, and when any species of in- corrigibility is exhibited, the punishment very properly becomes more severe. A non-com- missioned officer, or corporal, or soldier of the first class, is degraded. This punishment which affects the future prospects of the offen- der is, however, considered an exceedingly GOVERNMENT. 225 severe one, and but rarely inflicted, except when all other means of correction have been tried and failed. The degradation is inflicted in the French army in presence of the regiment on parade. PUNISHMENT OF OFFICERS. The severer punishments of the oflicers are regulated, of course, by the ordinary provisions of the military code : the minor punishments to which they are subjected, are, simple arrests, re- primand, close arrests, imprisonment. The simple arrests oblige the officer to confine himself to his chamber, without authority to leave it, but when called to perform his military duty, from which it would appear he is not even provisionally suspended. The reprimand, which must proceed from the colonel, or officer in command of the regiment, is given to the officer in presence of one or more of his brother officers. Close arrest does not per- mit the officer to leave his room under any pretext, nor receive any person there, but under express authorization of his commanding officer. A sentinel is generally placed at his door, and an inferior officer is sent to demand and take away his sword. Confinement in prison, is L 3 226 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. only resorted to in very serious cases. The colonel can sentence an officer to fifteen days ; — the lieutenant-general or the minister at war can only exceed that period. One peculiarity which I may notice is that, it is the duty of the officer punished, when that punishment has been undergone, to make a formal visit to the colonel or commandant by whose orders it was inflicted. He must be accompanied by an officer of his own rank, and by another of a superior grade, and the visit must be gone through with all the es- tablished forms of politeness. It will not do to leave a card at the colonel's door; the colonel takes care to inform the punished officer f the day and the hour on which he wiU have the honour of receiving him. The military ordonnance, which prescribes these details, has had in view the wish to re-establish, by the visit, the good under- standing which it supposes the punishment of the officer may have broken ; this may be a reasonable supposition, perhaps, where the fault and the punishment have been both trifling, or where the officer is conscious of his error and is glad of the opportunity to redeem it. But it too often happens that this formal visit renders more inveterate the pivate feelings GOVERNMENT. 227 of hatred that may have existed before. When an officer conceives that he has been unjustly treated, or punished ■\\dth unnecessary severity, such a visit, it may easily be imagined, can only be regarded by him as an addition to that treatment he complains of; and he can scarcely be expected to use such language, or to conduct himself so guardedly, as to fulfil the praiseworthy object for which the Aasit was ordered. It happens, therefore, but too frequently, that in place of friendship being renewed, and peace restored among the par- ties, a new and more implacable enmity commences, finally terminated by the death of one or other of the parties.* HABITS, ETC. Exercise of the person, racing, dancing, horsemanship, and all the exercises which are calculated to strengthen the constitution, and to develope address and agihty, and daring on horseback, are encouraged among the troops. Gymnasiums have been established for this purpose in the principal garrisons, where a mas- ter in each of these different sorts of exercise * In some cases, indeed, "where this visit is con- sidered too painful for the feelings of the officer forced to make it, it is dispensed with. 228 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. directs the young soldiers. In fine weather they are occupied daily in learning to swim, and in the exercise of swimming, as well as in swimming their horses across a river or a pond of sufficient depth. It is especially in the art of fencing that the soldiers are taught to excel. To be a good fencer is considered a great honor in the French army. Care is taken to give great solemnity to the competitions among the good swordsmen, so as to preserve the taste for this sort of exercise. It is easy to suppose that the practice of this art renders quarrels of very frequent occurrence — nothing, in fact, is more common than duelling among the soldiers. It might be in vain to oppose this propensity, but the chiefs of the corp^ seem rather to encourage it than otherwise, for, although they punish the offender with fifteen days' imprison- ment, if he accept a challenge, they are the first to testify their contempt, and endeavour by all means in their power to expel him the array, if he decline one. The life of the soldier in some measure resem- bles that of a monk. He passes as much time in the barrack as the monk does in the monastery. He has no connexion with the interior of a city. Scarcely has he time to make a shght acquaint- ance in the place where he is in garrison. GOVERNMENT. 229 before he receives orders to march to another quarter, where he is an utter stranger. The change of garrisons takes place very frequently, and it would seem as if the government adopted the plan for the purpose of isolating more and more the soldier, and preventing his forming too close a relationship with the people. The very ties which bind him to his family are at- tempted to l)e broken, for he is only permitted under the most pressing circumstances to visit his relations ; and to marry is altogether pro- hibited him. The officer, it is true, may marry, but only on the avithorisation of the minister of war, who never consents but in cases where the pecuniary interests of the officer are to be bene- fited. The colonel of a regiment has also the power of granting permission to the non-com- missioned officers, and even to the soldiers un- der him to marr}^ ; but it is only under very peculiar circumstances that this favour is allowed ; it occurs, therefore, but very rarely ; and, in fact, is almost entirely confined to the soldiers who wish to marry some woman who may be useful to the regiment as cantonni^re or washer woman.* * These regulations, it is to be observed, are not so severe as they may, with our own military habits, at first appear. 230 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. But while every endeavour is made to break the hnks which connect the soldier with the mass of the people, every incitement and en- couragement to maintain '''^V esprit du corps" is given. The men of the same company, or troop, live together ; they are expected to sup- port and defend each other mutually, and the chief subaltern of the party is instructed to keep up this sentiment of fraternity, by punishment, as well as by recompense. If one man conduct himself badly, it often happens that all his party come in for a share of his punishment, as if the whole company were considered responsible for the conduct of any one of its members. If, on the contrary, the man acquire merited praise, either from some act of public service or private conduct, the company again comes in for a share of the eulogy to the individual, and is recompensed in a body, by some small fa- ^'ours, as an exemption from roll-call and the like. What I have said of the company applies equally to the battalion, to the regiment, and to the brigade. It not unfrequently happens, when there is an unusual assemblage of troops, because the soldier passes merely through the army in transition, and can in a short time return to the affec- tions and habits of a civilian. GOVERNMENT. 231 that some quarrel may spring up between two regiments, and it is then observed that other regiments take part on one side or the other, as they seem to be connected with the immediate parties, in respect to their similarity of military discipline. I remember seeing a singular quar- rel of this description, which almost ended in a general battle between the infantry and cavalry at Versailles. PROMOTION. We are now^ come to the distinguishing fea- ture of the French army, the principle of which, in fact, regulates and remedies the various parts of the system we have been con- sidering. The small pay, the severe disciphne of the French soldier must have struck us on the one side, the constant appeals to his honor, and his love for his profession must also have struck us on the other. What makes this severe discipline and small pay supportable ? From what cause does the military pride which characterizes him proceed ? It is his method of promotion. The man who enters at four-pence halfpenny a day in the ranks, may become, nay, has become, one of the 232 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. highest persons in the state. " The soldier carries on his gibei'ne'' (cartouch box) said Napoleon, " the baton of a marshal of France." During the empire, the battle quickly cleared the intermediate spaces between sub- altern and superior ranks. The restoration, desirous of encouraging the young nobility to arms, would gladly have given the same celerity to favour that had attended upon peril : here, however, the nation interposed. In 1816 a law was passed regulating pro- motion; and this law anxious only to fetter the court, cramped and depressed the military ardour, which the natural spirit of the people and their long train of conquests had tended, of late more especially, to develope. By this law, no person could pass from one rank to another without four years service in the pre- ceding grade. Not the greatest favorite could obtain the rank of colonel until eighteen years had been passed in climbing the long ladder of inferior steps. Nothing was more fatal to the old monarchy than this very law ; for it drove all the nobility, and the richer and higher classes of society out of it, and thus, with the exception of a few regiments, the army in general was en- tirely democratic and easily disposed, when a GOVERNMENT. 233 contest arose to take the same views, and the same course as the people. In 1832, the new government, though com- posed of many of the men who contended for the law of 1816, presented another law en- tirely opposed to it. It is no longer, then, now, as under the restoration, an interval of four years of service in each grade, that ren- ders the officer qualified for promotion. It is sufficient that he has served two years in an inferior, or three years in a superior, to be eligible to higher rank. There is also this difference between the two laws, that the present law requires a longer service in the superior rank than in the inferior ; while the law of 1816, on the contrary, required longer service and, in consequence, more experience from the subaltern than from the superior officer, which was evidently an absurdity. This law has likewise guarded against favoritism, by being more favourable to seniority. The law of 1816 allowed only a third of the nominations to seniority, that of 1832 gives the moiety; with the exception however, of the ranks of colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and general, where age cannot reasonably be taken as the title for elevation.* * It seems sufficient for officers to arrive to the rank of major with no other title to merit than their age. 234 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. According to this new law, the time neces- sary to pass from one grade to another, is thus regulated : Six months ser\nce for a soldier to become a soldier of the first class. Six months for a soldier of the first class to become corporal, in the infantry, or brigadier in the cavalry. Six months for a corporal or briga- dier to become sergeant in the infantry, or marechal des logis, or fourrier in the ca- valry. Six months sergeant or marechal des logis, to become sergeant major, or marechal des logis chef. Six months sergeant-major, or marechal des logis chef, to become adjutant-sous-oficier. Three years service to become sous-lieute- nant — the first and lowest rank of a com- missioned ofiicer. Two years service as a sub-lieutenant, to become lieutenant. Two years lieutenant to become cajjtain. Two years captain to become chef-de-batail- lon in the infantry, or chef-d'escadron in the cavalry. Three years major, (the above ranks are equivalent to that of major in our service) to become lieutenant-colonel. GOVERNMENT. 235 Three years lieutenant-colonel to become colonel. Three years colonel to become marechal-de- camp. Three years in this last rank to become lieutenant-general ; — that grade in the mihtary hierarchy, above which the only dignity is marechal de France. It is thus seen, that the simple soldier rises as the rest, if his education and good conduct qualify him for promotion. Indeed, the law I have been quoting assigns a third of the nominations of sub-lieutenant to sol- diers rising from the ranks* — the remaining two- thirds being reserved, one for the pupils of the mihtary schools ; and the other for the particular choice of the King. Since the revolution of July, it has so hap- pened that many officers of different corps having left the service : it became necessary to raise a great number of non-commissioned officer in each regiment, to the rank of officers. This circumstance has been considered highly favorable to the good disposition of the army, and has awakened in the body of the non- * Not only docs the soldier in these cases give nothing for his commission, he is made an allowance, when he receives it, for his equipment. 236 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. commissioned officers, those hopes of distinc- tion and promotion which attached them to the empire, a circumstance of which it is im- possible to over-estimate the effects. The non-commissioned officer Hves with the soldier j and there being no aristocratic feel- ings operating against him, exercises almost an absolute authority over his inferior. A body of unruly or undisciplined non - com- missioned officers carry with them in a re- volt the entire regiment, and can equally in times of trouble secure its discipline and obedience. I have said that one third of the commis- sions are given to the military schools ; it will be interesting to say something of these. The Ecole Polytechnique (Polytechnic school) at Paris, is exclusively for artillery and en- gineers, and on quitting it, the young officer goes for two years to the Ecole d' application d'Artillerie et du Gdnie, (the school for the artillery and engineers) at Metz. The Ecole Militaire de St. Cyr, (the military school of St. Cyr) is for young officers of the line, who, if they pass an examination at the end of two years are made sub-lieutenants. The admission to this school is in itself sub- GOVERNMENT. 237 mitted to an examinatiorij and can only be the result of successful competition. On the 20th July every year this examina- tion takes place in all the principal towns in France, the names of the candidates having been previously inscribed on the 10th June. The candidates must be not less than eighteen, nor more than twenty-one years of age. The examination is in Latin, French, German, arithmetic, algebra, chemistry, geography, and history ; and after these different local examina- tions a jury at Paris, composed of three general officers, four special examiners, the commandant of the school of St. Cyr, the director of the studies of that academy, and a president, de- cides on the various claims. The pupils pay 250 francs on admission for their trousseau, and 1,800 francs per annum;* on quitting St. Cyr, some are engaged in the duties of sub-lieutenant in the infantry, and others, a privileged class, in consequence of having ob- tained the prizes at the school competitions, pass two additional years at the ^ Ecole speciale de I'etat major,' (school special for the staiF) after which they can serve in the capacity of aide-de- * One in every twenty-five is received and educated gratuitously. These must be persons in distress, and the children of officers in the armv. 238 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. camp to a general, or be employed on the staff. Some again, destined for the cavalry, are sent to the Ecole de Cavalerie de Saumur, where they are taught riding and the service of the cavalry, and there qualify themselves to take rank among the officers of the cavalry regiments. In this school, which is one of the finest establishments of the sort in Europe, three classes receive a complete military education. The first class is composed of captains, lieutenants and cor- nets of each regiment, who, at the end of two years' study, rejoin their corps and carry there, in quality of instructors, the knowledge which they have acquired during their resi- dence at Saumur. The second is formed of young officers from St. Cyr, and the third of young volunteers who at the end of two years proceed, with the rank of non-commis- sioned officers, to the regiments of cavalry, as ' marechaux des logis instructeurs,' (instruc- tors) and assist the principal instructeur (in- structor) in the education of the soldiers. The ' Ecole d'etat Major' (school for the staff) is for officers destined for that branch of service. The scholars are admitted after an examination, at which, out of 60 candidates, 22 are chosen. The candidates are of two descriptions, — 30 GOVERNMENT. 239 from the military schools, and 30 from the army. To these, three are added from the Ecole Polytechnique. The 25 entering form the first division ; the 25 who have already been a year, the second. At the end of two years the scholars leave. The military professors are : — i Professor of topography and of geodesia. i idem of geography, astronomy, and statistics. 1 idem of artillery. 1 idem of the military art, and of ser- vice of the staff-major. 1 idem of fortification, attack, and de- fence of fortresses. 1 idem of military administration. Besides, the chef de bataillon, charged with the police of the school, explains the theory of the manoeuvres of infantry, and one of the capi- taines-adjoints, the theory of cavalry manoeuvres. The civil professors are : 1 Professeur de machines, et de lavis. 1 idem of drawing landscape, shades, and perspective. 2 idem of the German language. The scholars are in barracks, but enjoy every liberty compatible with their studies. 240 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. Besides these principal schools, there are still others, called ' Ecoles regiment aires' which serve for the instruction of non-commissioned officers and soldiers ; teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, history, etc. I have now run shortly over the principal features of the French army. First, its administration which is very re- markable. Secondly, its composition and formation the striking circumstance of which, is the su- perior class of persons, which by conscription it obtains. And thirdly, its discipline sustained by the balance of severe punishment on the one side, and great encouragement on the other : but, in reference to the encouragement given to military talent I ought to say something of that institution which, though not wholly military, has been the greatest incentive to military ability, and fur- nishes at the present moment an example in every respect worthy of imitation to the rest of Europe ; — I mean " the institution of the Legion of Honour." LEGION OF HONOUR. The royal order of the Legion of Honour was instituted by the law of the 2^ flor^al, year GOVERNMENT. 241 10, to recompense military and civil virtues and services. The order is composed of : Chevaliers, of whom the number is un- limited. Officers .... 2000. Commanders . . 400. Grand officers . . J 60. Grand crosses . . 80. Neither foreigners nor Princes of the Royal Family are included in these numbers. The members swear fidelity to the King, to the charter and the laws. No one can be admitted but with the first grade as chevalier, and the ordinary regulation requires twenty-five years service during peace* in ci\al or military functions. In time of war, a brave or brilliant action, or a severe wound, are deemed sufficient authorization for admis- sion. The exception to the former rule is indeed so frequent that it is sufficient to say the King can grant the honor of the order to any per- son distinguished for his services, in the mili- tary or civil departments, or for any benefit he may have conferred upon the sciences or arts. But to rise to a superior rank, it is indispen- * A year in time of war counts to the soldier as two. VOL. II M 242 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. sable to have passed through the inferior ranks, viz : 1. For the rank of officer, it is necessary to have serA'ed four years as a chevaher. 2. For the rank of commander, — two years as an officer. 3. For the rank of grand officer, — three years as a commander. 4. For the rank of grand cross, — five years as a grand officer. When any promotions are to take place, the King determines the number of decorations of each grade — and a distribution is made by the grand chancellor of the order, in the folloA^ing proportion, 40 in 40. 2 to the Minister of Justice and Religion. 1 " Foreign Afiairs. 5 " Home Affairs. 2 " Pubhc Works. 2 " Finances. 20 " War. 5 " Marine. 1 " Pubfic Instruction. 2 " the Grand Chancellerie. 40 To every person decorated with this order certain mihtary honors are due on all public GOVERNMENT. 243 occasions, and at all times a soldier on duty presents arms on seeing the decoration. The salaries are as follows : Officers 1000 francs. Commander .... 2000 ditto. Grand Officers . . 5000 ditto. Grand Crosses. . 5000 ditto. All other members of inferior grade, 250 frs. A colonel may recommend the officers and soldiers of his regiment in the subjoined pro- portion. Infantry line. 1 Officer for the cross of officer. 6 Officers ^ R at f 3 ^ ^^^ ^^^® 3 Subaltern officers < -o f.'r s Cross of 1 ,. ) Battahons. J rn t or soldiers ( C Chevalier. 4 Officers C -n^^^ f •? ^ ^^^ *^^^ 2 Subaltern officers < -„ ?, 'r " < Cross of ij. ) Battauons. J r^•^ ^■ or soldiers ( ( Chevaher. Cavalry. 1 Officer for the Cross of Officer. 3 Officers C ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ 1 Subaltern officer j Chevalier. or soldier (, There are, besides the order of the Legion of Honour, — The Order of St. Esprit. St. Michel. M^rite Militaire. M 2 ZU MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. It is with extreme deference to military au- thorities that I venture on a few concluding remarks. What I have been saying will have struck three classes of persons, 1 imagine, in three different manners. The economist will have compared the four- pence half-penny a-week given to the French soldier, with the thirteen pence given to the British. The philanthropist will have compared the mental punishment inflicted on the French soldier, in many instances, and which raises his character, with the corporal punishment, in the same cases, inflicted on the British soldier, by which his character is degraded. And the soldier himself will have compared the facilities for attaining military distinction in the one country, and the impediments placed in the way of his attaining military distinction in the other. Exaggeration ujDon all these subjects is no doubt likely to arise. The British soldier is not paid so much more than the French soldier, when you consider, first, the different expenses of washing, and many minor necessaries in France ; especially when you see that the messing of the British GOVERNMENT. 245 soldier is eight-pence, and that of the French three-pence. Neither is the punishment so much less se- vere in the French ser\'ice than in the English, because, if the EngUsh soldier is sometimes flogged when the French soldier would not be so, the French soldier is sometimes shot where the English one would be flogged. Neither is the hardship in respect to promo- tion entirely the same, as long as the two sys- tems remain upon their present footing. The English army is recruited by volunteers from the working class of England; that is to say, it is from the most destitute of a class, the great bulk of which is in a miserable state, and removed almost altogether, as well from the habits as the feelings of their country, from rising much above their native condition. The French army, on the contrary, is re- cruited, not by volunteers of the working class, but by conscripts from every class, and the in- justice would be terrible if you forced a man of fair prospects and education, to whom all pro- fessions were open, to engage in the army, and then did not allow him any chance of advancing himself in the service into which you had com- pelled him to enter. The two armies are not to be compared as if 246 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. the state of government and the state of society were the same in the two countries ; they are to be contrasted as the results of two govern- ments and two states of society entirely different. I am painting in deplorable colours the con- dition of the British soldier. He is shewn me in the heart of Asia panting beneath a tropical sun, subjected to the lash, unvisited by any gleam of promotion ; and I am asked, is twenty- five years such service the melancholy vista through which he has to look for sixpence a day ? God knows, I think the case cruel and severe enough !* But see what his case would have been at * If any effective regulations can be made to remedy this, they might be, first, in relation to corporal punish- ment ; secondly, in respect to pensions, and time of service. Better men might possibly enter the army, if the release they expected was of shorter date ; and at all events it would be fairer and kinder to give a more frequent opinion. A scale of pensions, not dis- advantageous to the government, might easily be devised, favouring this, — allowing more than we now give after twenty-five years of service, and admitting the retire- ment on a small pension, or by purchase, at much shorter dates. GOVERNMENT. 247 home ! Would he have been happier as a Sus- sex labourer, or a handloom weaver, or even a cotton spinner, in his native country? Now starved, now intoxicated, with his chil- dren here in the workhouse, and there in the fac- tory ! the situation of the British soldier is rela- tive to the situation that he would have held if he had not been a soldier, and of this you have the best assurance in the voluntary nature of his service. His punishments, his advancement are all according to the ideas which prevail in respect to the class he belongs to, and the po- sition which, if a citizen, he would have filled. You offer him a decent maintenance ; this he expects, if he works, because, as a peasant, he can get a scanty maintenance by law, if he does not work. You subject him to a life of much hardship and much constraint ; this he submits to, if he is paid, because, as a peasant, he would have also been subjected to severe toil, and much constraint. You do not offer him much prospect of rising in the army, because he enjoyed, poor fellow, little prospect of rising in the world ! He is the creature of your laws and your habits, which declare that no man is to be compelled to any thing except by poverty, and, at the 248 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. same time, subject the great masses of society to this law of voluntary compulsion. All is liberty, if you please to call it so, and inequahty. In France it is just the reverse. In the first place, the law, by what we should call an ar- bitrary enactment, has diffused the advantages of fortune amongst all persons ; and, in the second place, it has, by another arbitrary enact- ment, forced all persons to be soldiers. You are not, then, in looking at the army, to consider merely the army, but the state of so- ciety from which the army comes. Every part of a system is much more inter- woven with the whole than we are at first sight disposed to imagine : we place property in a few hands. Our next consequence must be^ — in order to preserve property — to place power in a few hands also. What follows ? — the high ranks are for the rich, the low for the poor. — Apply this to the army ! — Your officers buy their commissions ; — your ranks are filled with the desperate and the starving. This army for a time serves the country it belongs to well, in spite of all theories to the contrary, because it reflects the society of that country where the rich are used to command and the poor to GOVERNMENT. 249 obey. But other notions in respect to society and government spring up ; we discover things which we deem ought to be remedied. The first practice in medicine and legislation is to attack symptoms ; it is not until after much experience that we really assail the disease. But the same distemper shews itself differently in different persons, and is met for a time in different ways. You wish to elevate the working classes, and you make laws against pauperism ; you wish to elevate the soldieiy, and you make regulations against flagellation. You will come at last to some fact which lies at the bottom of all this, NATIONAL GUARD. I shall now say one or two words on the ci\'il force of France, which has occupied more or less of our attention of late years. The National Guard was re-organized by a law of the 22nd March 1831. Every Frenchman, aged from twenty to sixty years, is obliged to serve in the district in which he is domiciled, with a few exceptions provided for by the law. The ser^•ice is divided into — service in the interior of the commune j and into — service by M 3 250 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. detachment out of the territory of the com- mune; i.e. the service of detached corps for the purpose of aiding the troops of the line.* There is the ordinary service, comprising all citizens who pay a personal contribution ; and there is a reserve, comprising all citizens for whom the habitual service would be too one- rous ; these latter are only called out under extraordinary circumstances. A national guard of cavalry may also be formed in any commune or canton where it may be judged useful or necessary, always pro- viding that ten persons will undertake to equip and furnish themselves with horses at their own expense. In all fortified places there are companies of artillery. There are besides, companies of sapeur-pom- piers in places where they do not exist, as belonging to the line ; and in the sea-ports, com- panies of marines are also formed. The punishments, in cases of disobedience * When the national guard furnishes detached corps on the defence of fortified towns on the frontiers, the ser- vice can only last for twelve months. In such cases, the national guard are subject to the laws of the army, and receive the same treatment and pay. GOVERNMENT. ^51 or infraction of the regulations, are applied by a council of discipline, composed of a captain, as president, a lieutenant or sub-lieutenant, a ser- geant, a corporal, and a private. The government furnishes clothing, arms, and equipment, on the demand of those who have not themselves the means to purchase their outfit. The national guards wounded in the servnce are entitled to the same indemnities as the troops of the line. The King has power to dissolve the national guard at his pleasure, either entirely or by companies in the different districts. The object of the government in respect to this force is, to have it as much a local one as possible; and its formation is subject to the regulations most likely to effect this. A commune where it is possible, furnishes a company, and the adjoining parts of it a sub- division of a company. FORMATION OF COMPANIES. SUB-DIVISION OF A COMPANY. 14 years 15 to 20 20 to 30 30 to 40 Lieutenants . 1 Sub-Lieuts. . 1 1 1 Serjeants . . . 1 1 2 2 Corporals . . 1 2 4 4 Drummers . . 1 40 to 50 1 1 3 6 1 252 MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. The ordinary force of a company is from 60 to 200 persons, according to the populousness of the locahty ; but if a commune can only furnish 50 men, that number forms a com- pany. A COMPANY CONSISTS OF 1st Captain 2nd Captain Lieutenauts Sub-Lieuts. Serj. Major Serj.Fourrier Serjeants . . Corporals . . Drummers. . 50 to 80 80 to 100 100 to 140 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 6 6 8 12 12 1 2 2 140 to 20 1 1 2 2 1 1 8 16 2 BATTALIONS. A battauon must be formed of four com- panies at least and eight at most. The staff of a battahon is as follows : — A chef de bataillon. Captain adjutant major. A standard bearer sub-lieutenant. A surgeon adjutant major. An adjutant subaltern officer, And a tambour maitre. If more than one company is formed in any commune the companies coming from the same commune cannot be allotted to different battalions. GOVERNMENT. 253 In those cantons or towns where there are two battalions of 500 men each, these may be united into a legion, and in those communes which furnish more legions than one, these may be united under a commander-in-chief — who is named by the King. All the officers up to, and including the cap tain in each company, are chosen by the per- sons designated to form it. The chef de bataillon, and standard bearer of the battalion, are chosen by the officers and non-commissioned officers of that battalion. The chefs de legion and the lieutenant-colonels are chosen by the King, out of a list of ten candidates, designated by the persons who choose the chef de bataillon. These are the principal regulations in re- spect to this municipal force intended to be at once as an aid, a check upon the army of the line, and placed under the authority of the mayors, prefects, sub-prefects, as delegates of the minister of the interior; — who is to the national guard what the minister of war is to the army. CENTRALIZATION. CHAPTER XL Concluding Remarks. I TRUST that I have not proceeded thus far, wading as a matter of necessity through many dry details, without conducting the reader, who has been patient enough to accompany me, to some knowledge of the matter we set out in quest of. I mean, the civil and military administration of France — under a system of centralization. We have seen the whole receipts and ex- penditure or t]^g government managed by one GOVERNMENT. 255 office, and the accounts of a country thus kept with the exactitude of a counting-house ; while every local budget is also brought under the eye of the executive, which learns in this manner, not only how much the state requires for its common purposes, but how much the village requires for its especial ones. We have seen all the tribunals of the law centralized in a particular court, and the ad- ministration of the laws also centralized in a particular ministry ; the one preserving a uni- versality in the decrees of justice, and the other, a universality in its motion. We have seen too, the system which de- tects or prevents the crime in harmony with that which judges the criminal; all the powers of pursuit directed by one hand, and all the duties of inspection centered in one great eye, which casts its regard over the whole empire, tracing by an especial process the footsteps of every individual, and watching with equal vigilance the petty felon who is stealing a watch, and the state criminal who is plotting a revolution. We have seen the instruction of the people as well as the prosecution of the criminal, also considered a state aifair, and entrusted to a ministry, the centre of a variety of ramifica- 256 CENTRALIZATION. tions, by which the branches of education are at once controlled and provided for We have seen even commerce and manu- factures connected by a series of links with the department which presides over their pros- perity, carried from the country to the towns — from the towns to the capital, and in the capital placed under a pul)lic functionary with whom they communicate. We have seen the administration of the interior, of the country extending like so many branches from a parent tree — which defends the region where it flourishes from many evils by the extent of its vast sha- dow — but prevents the growth of many ad- vantages, therein, by the extent of its vast roots. W"e have seen, moreover, the elements of conquest combined in the same manner as the elements of peace. The military admini s- tration conducted on the same principle as the civil ; and an immense army paid, punished, promoted, maintained, disbanded by one public officer, before whom every possible consideration is brought, and by whom every order is given. The force which is to preserve France from aggression, is framed indeed on different prin- ciples from that which is to carry out its ideas GOVERNMENT. 257 of conquest, but it has still, even in its local fractions, a connexion with the head of the state, and while the inferior officers are named by the people, its superior officers are chosen by the monarch. The system of public receipt and expendi- ture in France, such as I have described it, the result of many experiments and altera- tions, is not only good in itself, but especially excellent for the country which adopts it, where long habits of financial j)eculation ren- der it impossible to give great authority to subordinate functionaries, and yet where from the absence of local banks and the smallness of general credit, it is necessary that the go- vernment should make every effi)rt for the local receipt and payment of all monies where it is possible and for their rapid circulation where it is not. The judicial system possesses some faults doubtless, but is frequently blamed not be- cause it is bad, but because it is badly admi- nistered. There is no legal reason why the president of a ' court royal,' should assail a prisoner as if he were a prosecutor instead of judge — there is no legal reason why the judge of a court of the first instance, before whom a pri- 258 CENTRALIZATION. soner must appear within tw^enty-four hours after his capture, should keep that prisoner in confinement, if he ought to let him loose. Here we can only say that the law, though favourable to freedom, is not sufficient in many instances to counterbalance the manners which are favourable to power. But, take the judicial system as a whole — with the superb fiction of a public ministry charged with the prosecution of crimes — and which extending throughout the kingdom, has a procureur-du-roi in every arrondissement, and a procureur-gen^ral in every judicial division — with the local courts that offer such an easy access to justice, and where the govern- ment, (as is generally the case) is not con- cerned, justice is invariably dealt out — with the prompt and conciliatory process on all minor civil cases, where the judgment of the magistrate is definitive — with the clearness, simplicity and unity of the law, which is main- tained and defined by one ultimate and central court of appeal — take the judicial system as a whole, I say, and it must be admitted to contain great advantages, which might be ren- dered greater ; — but which a people may be well content to purchase with some defects. The criminal police, with its passports and GOVERNMENT. 259 gendarmerie, considered as attached to the sys- tem I have just been mentioning, might be a wise and beneficent, but is an immense exer- tion of power; such as a community accus- tomed to it might do well to continue, but which it would be fatal to transmigrate to other countries, long accustomed to pri\'ileges of individual freedom. The political jDolice is, I feel convinced, at once dangerous and useless. It sometimes creates plots, it never discovers them when they are worth discovering ; it destroys social confidence ; it creates a perpetual suspicion of the executive power, and sometimes teazes a nation into revolt when there really exists no great cause for disaffection. The ministry of instruction, -vnth that incon- gruity that pervades most of the French in- stitutions, exercises rights the most arbitrary", and aims at objects the most popular. That the government should assume to itself the power of dictating to every private establishment the course of education they should pursue, and even the ver}^ books through which they should pursue it — would be considered by a nation such as ourselves, one of the most serious infringements of social lil)erty ; on the other hand, that a state should charoe itself 2e0 CENTRALIZATION. with the careful provision of education for every one of its inhabitants, the poor as well as the rich, oftering every encouragement, whether in the military or civil service, or through literary institutions, for every success- ful exercise of talent and assiduity, is a policy so enlightened and so paternal, that it is diffi- cult to distrust the hand it proceeds from. In fact, the abuses such a ministry might be guilty of, are checked by that public opinion it must create ; but though a liberal legislator would propose such a plan without hesitation, I doubt much whether a country long accustomed to freedom would be willing to receive it. The scheme of commercial administration has many benefits. It brings the minister into direct and practical contact with all the wants and defects of industry. It presents him through the means of a small and respectable body, with the state not merely of commerce and manufactures, but of the manufacturing and commercial classes throughout the country. It affords him the opportunity of sifting state- ments, and comparing interests. In short, it gives to an able man immense facility in tho- roughly understanding that important branch of administration over which he presides. But it also gives to the interests of the jiroducer GOVERNMENT. 261 which are centrahzed and represented, a great superiority over those of the consumer, which are not so, and has, no doubt, had a sensible influence over the commercial policy which, in contradiction to our remonstrances, France still determines on pursuing. The interior administration of the country which is, in fact, the administration of the minister of the interior, though I mention it last, more especially deserves our considera- tion. Wherever the aristocracy is in England, the government is in France. The magistrates are paid by — and attached to — the government. The Lord Lieutenants are paid by — and attached to — the government. As far as this goes, there is much to say not only against but in favour of the plan. It collects power, but it collects responsibility also, round one authority. It extinguishes the influence of all petty and local passions, and it gives to the administra- tion, which is answerable for the peace of the country, a proper control over those who are appointed to preserve it. That even the mayor should be an officer appointed by the crown is defencible; for if otherwise chosen, he must in many places be an enemy of the state. 262 CENTRALIZATION. But the question most disputed and most dis- putable is the power which the government has, and which the government exercises, of interfer- ing in all those minor affairs of expenditure and improvement which it would appear that the locality itself might best decide on. Not only cannot a commune determine its own expenses without the consent of the mi- nister or one of his deputed functionaries, it cannot even erect a building, the cost of which shall have been sanctioned, without the plan being adopted by a board of public works at- tached to the central authority, and having the supervision and direction of every public l)uild- ing throughout the kingdom. The arguments in supjoort of this are many and plausible. In the first place, its advocates say, " the power of the minister is only an economic one ; he cannot compel the communes to any expense, but simply prevent or moderate the expenses they are anxious to incur. What motive can he have for exercising this authority that would make it likely that he should abuse it ? Is he not rather hkely to sanction, than to refuse an undertaking which the inhabitants of the place consent to, and which, if successful, illustrates his administration ? Is not the board of works, too, composed of GOVERNMENT. 263 skilful architects and engineers better able to furnish an elegant design, or to correct a bad one than the village mason ? Is it not in this manner, that France may be enriched, even in her remote hamlets, by the taste which presides in her capital ; and edifices, really beautiful, erected at the same, or even at a less cost, than some monstrous pile of bricks and mortar would be, if provincial bar- barism had no check put upon its inventions ?" All these are plausible arguments and easy to find, because, as there it, no good mthout its evil, so there is no evil without its good. But they disappear at once, as merely invohang small questions of detail when taking a broader view of the question, we look at human na- ture as the guide to legislation, and consi- der what breathes into a people, that spirit and that energy which are the real elements of national greatness. The Indians teach their children to swim by throwing them into the water beyond their depth. We learn most things in the same manner, by having to struggle against difficulties, and being left to our own resources. What then is the consideration of a com- mune's accidental extravagance, or a prison's 284 CENTRALIZATION. or a hospital's inelegant construction, com- pared with that habit of acting for ourselves, and thinking for ourselves, and relying upon ourselves, which gives not only to indivi- duals, but to nations, that invaluable moral property which we call " character,'^ and which never abandons us in any moment of our lives. Centralization in a government is an excel- lent thing, providing you can place a proper control upon it, where the object is general ; but it is upon the whole a foolish and an in- expedient thing where the object is local. Of the army, I have spoken at such length and in such detail, that if I jDause upon it here again, it can only be to say, that the system under which it moves, seems the best calcu- lated to give a terrible energy to this terrible force ; which strange to say, is less Ukely to be hostile to liberty from the greatest innovation of its rights ; for in forcing the citizen to become the soldier, we leave the soldier also in a great degree the citizen. A miUtia or national guard is an institution well adapted to a military people, like the Prus- sians and the French, who amused by the drum and the uniform, give up their time mthout GOVERNMENT. 265 reluctance, to bearing the duties of a soldier, while they retain all the tastes and principles of civil independence, guarding their country alike from the despotism of a native army, or the aggression of a foreign enemy. But to a nation of more commercial tastes and habits, it would be one of the greatest burthens perhaps, that could possibly be imposed. Venice, Holland, and Carthage, had in the days of their glory a mercenary force — so great, though they were brave, was their dislike to arms as a profession. And with us, who have no army to fear at home, and no aggression to apprehend from abroad, it would be difficult to find a more useless and odious, and (as it would be found to those whose time is more valuable than the pay of a soldier) a more expensive invention.* I have thus passed, perhaps too hastily, over an immense system, the axis of which turning by a regular and uniform motion, brings to the army on a certain day its soldiers, to tiie na- tional guard its officers, to the arrondisse- ments and departments their councillors, to * Colonel Davies, late M.F. for Worcester, had some idea, I believe, of making the proposition. VOL. 11. N 266 CENTRALIZATION. the communes their corporations, mayors, and adjuncts. Take to pieces the machinery of this system — you will see, in spite of the symmetry of the whole, a vast diversity in the parts; some of which are of the most democratic, some of the most monarchical description. No institution is so insignificant as not to be connected, in some way, with the crown — none so exclusive as not oflFer the highest honours to the people. The mayor of the smallest com- mune is the king's officer, and the son of a butcher, in a field marshal's uniform, is the chief officer in the royal palace. It may be all very well to say that this is the same as in Turkey ; there is as much difference between this and any thing that exists, or ever did exist in Turkey, as between any two things the most opposed : for the public spirit which prevails in France is in favour of intel- ligence and freedom, as the public spirit in Turkey is in favour of tyranny and ignorance. Besides, it is not the King who is all powerful in France, but the King's government. Here is a diffi^rence that may alter every thing — for the government is responsible before a body, which, according to the meaning of the constitution. GOVERNMENT. 267 should be popularly elected, and in spite of which it cannot exist. The improvements, indeed, that we may expect in modern legislation — lie in the proper combination of these two principles : — a great possibihty of doing good, a strong check upon the power of doing evil. It is to the chamber of deputies then that we have now to turn ; and if that chamber be not what it ought to be, there is the place where we should propose alterations. N 2 CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES CHAPTER XH. Right of Election — Mode of electing — Eligibility — Pro- ceedings of the Chamber — Laws and propositions — Constituency considered and Chamber dissected. We have been led by the last chapter to the consideration of the chamber of deputies. I shall first state its formation, attributes, and usages, and then consider it in general re- lation with the government, and the system of which it forms a part. RIGHT OF ELECTION. Every Frenchman, aged twenty-five years, enjoying his civil and pohtical rights, and pay- GOVERNMENT. 269 ing 200 frs. of direct contributions, is an elector.* The number of electors is ascertained by the following process, which answers to our regis- tration : From the first to the tenth of June the mayors of the different communes in their res- pective cantons meet in the chef-lieu of the canton, and there, with the aid of the collec- tors of the taxes, revise the list of the year preceding. This list is sent by the sub-prefect of the arrondissement with his observations to the prefect of the department before the first of July, who in his turn revises it, stating his reasons for the decisions he comes to ; the list is then jmnted, and deposed at the mayoralty of every commune by the 15 th of August; any claims then made are judged by the prefect in council, from whom there is no appeal but to a 'cour royale,' which however is obhged to de- cide the case definitively, and without expense. * Officers in the army and navy, members and cor- respondents of the Institut, need only pay 100 frs. Contributions counted as direct are the land tax, the personal and furniture tax, the door and window tax, taxes on patents, and every tax levied under the title of ' centimes adchtionnels.* 270 CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES. MODE OF ELECTING. The chamber of deputies is composed of 459 deputies,* elected by 459 electoral colleges, each electing one deputy. These colleges are convoked by the King, and in that town in the electoral arrondissement which he shall appoint ; no discussion is al- io wed. f The college elects its president and exami- ners, and the election commences. A list of the electors being fixed up in the place of elec- tion, the president calls on the electors by name and each receives from him a piece of paper open ; on this piece of paper he writes the name of the candidate he prefers, folds it up, and gives it back to the president, who puts it in a box placed by him for that purpose.! * A deputy accepting a public office at home, va- cates his seat, but not until the reunion of the electoral college, by which he is to be re-elected. A minister changing from one public office to another does not vacate his seat. f No armed force can be in the neighbourhood unless demanded by the college itself. X As the elector does this, an examiner takes down his name, as having voted. GOVERNMENT. 271 The box remains open for six hours, and is closed at 3 o'clock in the evening, when its contents are immediately examined. 1. The number of papers is compared with the number of persons who have voted. 2. An examiner opens each piece of paper, and gives it to the president, who calls out the name inscribed on it. The result is then made public, and the papers burnt. A deputy to be elected immediately, must unite one third of the total number of votes inscribed in the college, and one half of the votes taken in his favour. If the scrutiny, having once taken place, does not produce this result, the bureau de- clares the two candidates who have got the most votes, and no other can then compete with them ; the one who on the next trial has the bare majority is elected.* A college is opened for ten days ; and every matter of dispute that occurs is taken down and submitted afterwards for decision to the chamber of deputies. * Whenever there is an equal number of votes on this occasion, the eldest has the preference. 272 CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, ELIGIBILITY. To be eligible for the chamber,* the candidate must be thirty years of age, and pay 500frs. of direct taxes, (equal to an income six times the amount.) Half the deputies in a depart- ment must be chosen amongst those whose political residence is in that department.f ■ PROCEEDINGS OF THE CHAMBER. At the commencement of every session, the chamber is divided by lot into nine bureaux, composed, as much as possible, of an equal number of members. Each bureau names its president and se- er etary.| Each bureau discusses the question sent it by the chamber, and names a member to write * Neither a prefect, a sub-prefect, nor a receiver-gene- ral, or a receiver of department, can be chosen deputy by the district in which he performs his functions. Neither general officers commanding divisions, nor procureurs- du-roi, nor procureurs-generaux, nor the directors of contributions, etc. can be elected within the sphere of their authority and jurisdiction ; nor if they quit such post, can they be eligible there till six months after the time of their having done so. f Wlien the contrary occvu-s, lots are drawn among the successful candidates. X These bureaux are renewed every month. GOVERNMENT. 273 a report of its opinion. When two-thirds of the bureaux declare themselves prepared, the reporters from each meet and discuss the ques- tions amongst themselves, and then name a common reporter, who reports to the chamber twenty-four hours at least before ths general discussion begins.* For petitions there is a general commission : one member named by each bureau ; it makes its report every week, in which is included the name and habitation of the petitioners as well as the object of their request. Except in case of dissolution, the legislative measures begun in one session continue on in the stage in which they were left, to the next. The chamber is presided over by a president whom it chooses, and four vice-presidents. LAWS AND PROPOSITIONS. Every law proposed to the chamber by the * Besides these different bureaux, there are commis- sions : one for the budget, for instance, which is formed of thirty-six members, four being named by each bureau of the chamber. There will be to this commission as many reporters as there are ministers, each reporting on the expense of a particular minister. N 3 274 CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES. King or the chamber of peers, after being read to the chamber is sent to the bureaux. Every member who wishes to make a pro- position must sign and depose it on the pre- sident's table to be by him communicated to the different bureaux. If three of these are of opinion it should be developed, it will be read at the next sitting, and the deputy will fix the day when he will speak upon it. If then approved of, it will be printed and sent back again to the bureaux, which discuss and report upon it. On all laws the vote is secret, on other propositions it is open, unless members de- mand the baUot. Here then is the chamber of deputies, pro- ceeding with much clearness and regularity in its proceedings, having in many of its forms — the institution of its bureaux for instance — much that we ourselves might do well to con- sider, if not to imitate — having in the mode of its election also, the advantage of that ballot which we are here contending for, and which seems to be conducted with perfect safety and facility* — but only elected by persons, who * The small number of voters of course aids this. GOVERNMENT. 2/5 possess in property fifty pounds a year — i. e. who pay 200 francs of direct taxes — a pro- portion of about 173-4 electors, in a country containing 32,500,000 inhabitants. Whichever way we consider this, the result seems equally injudicious. In the first place, the more power you con- fide in the executive government (and in France, it appears necessary to confide a great deal of power to the executive government,) the more popular ought to be the sources from which that government rises, and the more national the control by which its abuses are to be prevented and judged. Secondly. The more places which a govern- ment has at its disposition, and the government of France has all over France places to dispose of — the wider you must extend a representation which should be beyond such influences. Tliirdly. The more property is diffused, and property is as we have seen most mdely dif- fusedin France, the more safely can you diffuse political power also. Fourthly. As is the great bulk of the people, so ought to be the majority of the repre- sentatives, and yet ])y so confined a qualifi- cation, you give the towns, about one fifth of the population, a majority in the repre- 27(5 CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES. sentation over the country where fortunes are more divided ; in short, I see no kind of reason; except the shallow, though plausible one : viz. that if there are only 173,185 electors, here are only 126,353 who present themselves tor the exercise of this right. To a chamber taken by a phrase, this reason would suffice ; but to any person at all ac- quainted with the natural consequence of res- tricted and popular institutions — the argument used to shew the inutihty of extending the suffrage demonstrates its necessity. Men act greatly by sympathy and emulation, and only take an interest in those affairs, about which they see their neighbours bestirring themselves. The more restricted, therefore, you make the right of election, the fewer wdll be the persons anxious to exercise their right of elec- tors ; and an unwarrantable apathy, in respect to public affairs, becomes the best argument against the system which produces it. What then must be the consequences of a constitution which gives the greatest cir- cumference to the government, and the nar- rowest basis to the constituency ? The following is an analysis of the existing chamber ; which represents pretty correctly its condition :— GOVERNMENT. 277 No. of votes at the last Elec- tions in favor of. 37,966 21,982 4,005 16,184 80,137 For persons not elected 4 6, 2 1 6 Total voted 126,353 Did not vote 46,832 Electors 173,185 Deputies. 216 juste-mUieu. 125 third party. 25 legitimist party. 95 extreme left (or liberal). SOCIAL POSITION OF PERSONS RETURNED ADMINISTRATION. M.\GISTRATURE. 6 Ministers. 19 Presidents. 2 Secretaires generaux. 3 Avocats generaux. 2 Directeurs or inspecteurs 5 Procnreurs generaiix. generaux. 7 Procureurs-du-roi. 39 Mayors. 26 Councillors. 1 Adjunct. 8 Judges of ci\il tribunals. 50 Named by government. 37 members of councils general 4 Justices of peace. not named by government 7 The court of accounts. 89 17 Employed in the council of state. 96 namedby the government. ITiat is, named by government : Administration 50 l Magistrature 96 / 146 278 CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES. A R M Y. 1 Marshal of France. 13 Lieutenant-generals. 5 Camp-marshals. 7 Colonels. 5 Lieutenant-colonels. 2 Chief-of-battalion. 7 Captains. 3 Military Intendants. 1 Marine Prefect. 1 Captains of corvettes. 2 Engineers. 1 146 45 more or less under go- J 45 vernment influence. 191 COURT. 4 Aides-de-camp to the King. 1 Ordonance officer to the King. 4 Servants of the crown. 9 named by government. I 200 4 Diplomacy. Named by the government. \ •204 GOVERNMENT. 279 Advocates. Doctors. Men of Letters 55 Manufacturers. Bankers. Notaries, &c 45 Persons without any particular professions 118 Not named by government. 216 Under government 204 Not under government 215 Sucli is the chamber ! Now in speaking of the places which the government had to give away, I stated them in the analysis to the first volume, at 55,000 ; this merely takes in the most considerable, since small places and large places taken to- gether, there are in the ministry of finance alone above 57,000. StiU, for every place to be given away, there are three persons at least who expect to obtain it, while there are not much more upon an average than three electors to each place : — a constituency then is easily bribed by exjjec- tations from its representative, and a repre- sentative, as we have seen, meets with his re- compense from the minister. 280 CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES. Thus the body I have been considering is not what it should be — a fair check upon the executive authority — by being a fair repre- sentation of public opinion. SUMMARY, CHAPTER XIII. Review of past work — The amalgamatioa of different effects proceeding from different causes — Modern France, the consequence of former history and recent institu- tions — Whether the equality sprung from one and coloured by the other is compatible with free govern- ment — The effects of centralization and of a small constituency — Monarchy of the middle classes as it is, as it might be. My title was ambitious ; I undertook a great task. Is it nearly completed ? — Doubtless mucb that I intended to say has l)een overlooked and forgotten ! much remains to say for which nei- ther time nor space are allowed me ! and yet, reader, cast back your eyes over the road 282 SUMMARY. we have traversed — the view is an extensive one. Behold again that Paris which we saw from yonder heights of Ph'e la Chaise crowded with bacchanahans, monks, cavahers and mobs ! — the recollections of fifteen centuries ! Behold again that people so gay, so witty, so warlike, and so vain, whose brow is chro- nicled with centuries, and whose character is still in its youth. Behold again those revolutions, amidst which passed away a solemn and brocaded court — a terrible and sanguinary republic — a glorious and conquering empire — a prosperous but misguided monarchy ■ Look at the influences which have survived ; the literature, the religion, the philosophies which exist ; the manner in which the soil of France is divided ; the social condition which the French people enjoy ; the species of go- vernment under which they are placed ! — Look, I say, at these things — and here is the point where we should regard them, not one by one, but as a whole ; — and combining the past with the present, try to comprehend a country motleyed by its manners, its laws, its history, its ideas ! We see a nation fond of change and of glory SUMMARY. 283 from characterj attached to luxury and elegance from education; a soil almost agrarianly dis- tributed — making of its cultivators a people of proprietors^ and a people of equals ; a govern- ment concentrated in the hands of an executive authority, responsible before two tribunals — of which it names one, and must find it easy, except in extraordinary crises, to corrupt the other; and a public opinion founded on ab- stract rights, and daily more and more inclin- ing towards liberal institutions. In all this we have, in much, to modify the results of one circumstance, by the results of another ! a nation fond of change may be given to violent revolutions : — but a nation of proprie- tors is hostile to \nolent revolutions. A people of equals may depress talent as a distinction, and banish elegance as a vice : but a people glorious and luxurious, honour Genius as a di\'inity, and give to Taste a temple among the Arts. A government concentrated in the hands of the executive authority, controlling the power which ought to control it, may become a des- potism : — but a public opinion favourable to libert)', if restrained for a time l^y the fear of its own excesses, can never by any species of government be ultimately crushed. How shall I descrilje the amalgamation of so many op- 284 SUMMARY. posing effects, springing from so many opposing causes ? Shall I say that we find the popular feelings of the street amidst the ancient habits of a court; — a terrible machinery for despotism amidst the modern sentiments of democracy ? — before us, perhaps, is the spectacle of a people whose manners have been formed under an absolute government, and whose opinions tend to a republican government. Indeed, in turning back once again to the vo- lumes I am concluding, their subject seems fairly enough divided, hke they themselves have been, into two parts ; — the one referring rather to the effects of nature and of former times, the other rather to the effects of recent institutions. Proceeding from the first — were those influ- ences, female, literary, and military, which have made the French frivolous, literary, warlike. Proceeding from the second is — that custom of succession, which, whether we look at litera- ture or the press addressing themselves to all classes — to the state, taking into its bosom all religions — to society possessing neither grandees nor paupers — establishes on all sides, and in all things, an equality — which imbibing the colours of preceding circumstances, makes the French people what they are. SUMMARY. 285 I say ' imbil3ing the colours of preceding circumstances/ for simply to say that France is distinguished by the equality that reigns there, would not be sufficiently characterizing this peculiar nation. That equality might exist elsewhere amongst simple tastes, as here it exists amongst ostenta- tious tastes, — or amongst peaceful desires as here amongst warlike desires — or amongst local popu- lar institutions, as here under a centralized administration — or amongst ideas favourable to despotism, as here amongst ideas bordering upon licence. Whether for good or evil — that equality must remain ; for it is based upon the two things most difficult to alter : the distribution of property and the natural affections of the human heart. It has made the French a happy people ; need it prevent them from being a free one ? I say — it need not. The centralized administration I have des- cribed may be favoured by it, but it is not caused by it. A people formed into a demo- cracy may govern in their villages as in their capital. Of this America is an example — if they do not wish to do so, it is less because they are a democracy now, than because tliey have not been a democracy long ; if they ought 286 SUMMARY. not to do so, it is not because they are equal amongst themselves, but because they are divided amongst themselves, and that a de- legated authority from the whole of the em- pire, is necessary to keep together its parts. Neither need such a system be necessarily, as I have elsewhere observed, one of despotism. If the French ministry was the result of a majority of a chamber which represented the majority of the nation — that ministry, however powerful, would be merely the most efficient organ for w^orking out the popular will. Nay more, if the French ministry are not this — the same cause which gives a danger to the tendency of centralization, places in reality, though not perhaps in appearance, a check upon its power. A strong government is not merely a strong administrative machine for governing the affairs of a people, it must be a strong admi- nistrative machine that governs the people as well as their affairs. Held and directed by the hands of one man, or of twenty men, it must descend, if I may use such comparison, into the nation, like the wheel of yonder vessel descends into the waters; there is the force of that mysterious engine — in those free and stormy waves ! A government, I say, must be popular to be SUMMARY. 287 strong, whatever the source whence that popu- larity springs. Oh ! but Bonaparte ! Bonaparte did not indeed appeal to his people, through electoral chambers, and liberal laws ; such was not the genius of the man. He did not appeal to the reason — he appealed to the passions of the French, and the drum beating, .and the tricolour flying, with victory in the van, all France followed his heels. If Bonapartes were common, charters would be waste paper. A conqueror is beloved by a vain and mar- tial race as long as he conquers ; he has little to study but the fortunes of his sword. When Kings too were anointed with a divine oil — the vice-regents of god upon earth — their au- thority was fixed in one of the deepest recesses of the human heart, and the distant barbarian worshipped the sovereign, whose sceptre was a scourge, as he did the god of the storm which devastated his plains. It is passed — all this : — the most revered raonarchs are but men ; and another Bona- parte may perchance arise in five hundred years. Besides a nation cannot always be at Avar ; and to govern an active and intelligent people 288 BUMMARY. in peace, you must give a vent to their in- telligence, a vent to their activity — that acti- vity, that intelligence should not be out of the government, or it will destroy the government — but within the government — where it will animate the government. Why is the press formidable to the existing state of things ? Because the press appeals to the whole country, and the constitution ap- peals to one person in every 1 1,850 throughout the country. Why is the police maintained ? Because it is necessary to know what the na- tion is thinking and doing — and the national chamber can hardly be said to represent the nation. The most popular institution is put down, the most unpopular presented, for the same reason. The strongest species of admi- nistration that can l>e invented is not strong, because it does not proceed from a sufficient number of those for whom it administers. In summing up the whole system, then, I stand again before that great fault — a confined representation. It relieves the government from a salutary restraint, but it exposes the govern- ment to a continual danger : it gives the govern- ment the appearance of arbitrary power, and at the same time really cripples the government with just apprehension : it exposes the people to the SUMMARY. 289 suspicion of oppression, and the state to the fear of resistance. Let us look at the restoration ! From J8J5 to 1830 the course followed was — not to choose a ministry from the majo- rity of an assembly which represented the na- tion, but to obtain a majority in that assembly for some favourite minister in spite of the nation. Thus cabinet after cabinet sustained itself. The men who had been accidentally called to power were not to be changed on any account — no; if any thing was to be altered, some fundamental part of the constitution might just be remodelled for the day, so as to disarm their opponents. The representative body be- came a mere political plaything. Mark the consequence ! M. de Villele for a long time maintained his majority. But what was that majority ? a veil between him and the nation he governed. Even he himself was actually blinded by that veil ; — for a small constituency has this double disadvantage — it is not inaccessible to public opinion while it deceives a minister as to the progress of that opinion. What is in the nation reaches it at last — VOL. II. O 290 SUMMARY. slowly, late, but it arrives. One morning the minister is in a minority in the chamber, which he has been accustomed to command ; but this does not happen till he has been for years in a minority out of doors. Who then shall be his successor ? a M. de Martignac — who can- not satisfy by concessions ? A M. de Polignac — who cannot conquer by resistance ?* Still let us not exaggerate the evils which it is a duty to point out. The monarchy of the middle classes, such as it exists in France, though susceptible of great improvements, is not a government (for the people to whom it is given) that can wisely be repudiated or justly despised. It has achieved, and if continued, will more per- fectly perjietuate, that which legislation long deemed impracticable. * But if a government is maintained by the army and the national guard ! how is a government to know that it is supported by the army and the national guard ? because they do not resist it ? but men whose duty it is to obey will not resist, except in the most urgent cases, and at the latest moment. When they resist the government, then the govern- ment cannot resist them ; and thus only learns that it is disapproved by a fortunate revolution which upsets it. Surely, the science of legislation should produce some more happy result than this. SUMMARY. 291 I mean, a constitution containing no privi- leged class, and yet, in which the monarch is not a cypher and the people are not slaves. Such is the government at present ; — if called upon to state what it might be with more advantage, I should describe something not wholly different, but which gi^'ing greater so- lidity, perhaps majesty, to the throne, would give greater power to the people, greater inde- pendence and nationality to the chamber of peers. I should say, in short, that the best govern- ment for France, without starting forth in quest of any of those extraordinary changes which are to produce theoretical perfection, would be a popular and splendid monarch]) ^ supported here by a national army, there by a citizen guard — administered by a centralized administration, and having for coadjutors — a chamber of Peers electedfrom the superiorities of the country , which vjould represent, as it were, its moral interests : and a chamber of deputies, elected by a large constituency, which would represent its material interests. Such a government would be consistent with the manners and the ideas I have des- cribed ; it would make what belongs to old times compatible with the birth of new ; and by placing despotism under the legitimate con- o 2 292 SUMMARY. trol of a democracy, which now agitates so- ciety in opposition to the law — render possible the union of free institutions, with a confi- dence in the executive power. Such a government would no doubt have its faults; but it would accord with all the predominant feelings of the French nation ; and, at such a government, if the present dynasty be not overturned by some violent shock, it will — even in spite of itself — arrive. POLICY OF PRESENT ADMINISTRATION. CHAPTER XIV. The existing government in France a government of resist- ance, and why it is so — Considered as to where it should resist, and how resist — Has resisted d^en vio- lence, popular representation and the press — How far justifiable — Recent laws against the Press — How far wrong — Character of administration — Necessary policy of government. Having spoken of the present state and pro- bable prospects of the existing monarchy, I am called to the consideration of the policy by which it is now supported. I confess that this subject is one of difficulty, and that I approach it with no common diffi- dence in my judgment — no common hesitation. 294 REVIEW OF OF POLICY. let me add, in respect to publishing my opinions — since they differ very essentially, as well from the party by whom the present French admi- nistration is attacked with unqualified violence, as from that party l)y which it is with equal violence defended. The nature of all revolutions is to beget — however necessary they have been, and how- ever sagely they may have been conducted — a tendency to revolutions ; for men always imagine they can again attempt with success, that which they have seen done in their own time with facility. It is equally certain that no country can prosper under a perpetual series of revolutions ; it follows, therefore, as a matter of course, that the ministry which succeeds a revolution, will be by duty and position, more or less a ministry of resistance ; or, as I said, nearly two years ago — " the life of a prince, sprung from a popular convul- sion will be almost always passed in struggling against popular concessions." Indeed, if we look at that revolution in England, with which the late French revolu- tion has been frequently compared — we shall find that severe laws against liberty were not wanting under the government of a monarch. REVIEW OF POLICY. 295 from whose accession to power notwithstand- ing, — our Hberties spring. It is idle then to expect what neither history warrants, nor human nature accords. Moreover, if revolutions were ever likely to have had ene- mies to oppose, and agitations to subdue, it was the revolution of July. The government founded on our revolution of 1688 rested in some sort on a religious enthusiasm ; the government founded on that revolution of 1830 had no enthusiasm in its favour. The superstitions of old times, favourable to here- ditary right, and of new times, inclined to impossible perfection, were equally against it. The present government in France then is, I repeat it, essentially and necessarily, what its defenders have frankly declared — a government of resistance. The only questions that can arise, are : where it should resist — how it should resist. Open violence must of course be met by violence ; but it is no small praise, and ought to be no small pride to the party which through different men, has almost uninter- ruptedly ruled — that as yet — five years hav- ing elapsed — three rebellions having taken place — not a single political scaffold has re- corded the triumph of a dominant faction. 296 REVIEW OF POLICY* There are not many such examples in all history ! The course of civil resistance adopted, has displayed itself on two points — a refusal to extend the elective franchise beyond its pre- sent limits — and an attempt to restrict the press within narrower bounds than it was inclined to assign itself. My own humble opinion in respect to the electoral law has been expressed, and I own that I deem a small constituency in a constitutional government, a very great danger and a very great evil, inasmuch as that it places that go- vernment in a false position, and does not afford it the warning or the assistance it would derive from the popular sentiment, having a more faithful organ of expression. I own that I think some alteration ought to take place — must at no distant time take place on this subject — still the government estabhshed in 1830, though not walking with rapidity, did make a great step even on this point beyond the government which preceded it ; and the present constituency of about 173,000, however small, is more than double the con- stituency of about 80,000 to which it succeeded. That the doctrinal administration should re- sist here for a time then — may be wrong in REVIEW OF POLICY. 297 some of our opinions — is wrong in my opinion — but it hardly affords any just ground of violent reproach : for I am willing to admit that the result of nearly all revolutions (there are some exceptions) has been lost — when lost— - by the princi^Dles on which they were founded, having been carried out too suddenly and too far ; and I also grant, that if there be any people in the world to whom freedom should be, if I may use the expression, cautiously measured out — it is that people, more than any other, volatile, capricious, prone to excess — amongst whom it is most necessary to create habits — and yet amongst whom habits are, with the most difficulty, created. I come to the press and the conduct, more especially within these few months, pursued towards it. Now as for the object which the government had in view by that conduct, it appears a legiti- mate one. The laws brought forward were pro- fessedly only aimed at these things ; — to j^re- serve the person of the sovereign from aljuse — and the principle of the monarchy from assault. A state owes it to its own dignity to preserve, if possible, its first magistrate from indecent lampoons, and it can hardly be blamed for sheltering, and, if necessary, de- o 3 298 REVIEW OF POLICY. fending — not the manner in which the go- vernment is administered, but the principle on which it is founded. Resistance to the press in both these cases then, would seem justifiable, if it were likely to attain its end by means justifiable also. Here we arrive at that question — " how should the government resist ?"" I said but a short time since, that the best defence for those who refuse to sanction im- mediate constitutional changes rests on this ground — that it is desirable above all things, for a people who, in fifty years, have never ceased changing every thing, to acquire at last, the habit, even if what exist is not the best, of conserving something. But if change be undesirable who should give the example of enduring inconvenience ? the minister who tells the people to pause be- fore attempting to make their institutions yet more liberal, ought to be most careful in shew- ing that he is as scrupulously determined not to make those institutions less liberal. The rule then which should guide any ad- ministration in their resistance to alterations in the charter is — the charter. Now there are some who think by the laws lately passed that this charter has been evaded in one REVIEW OF POLICY. 299 instance, and violated in another. The evasion they say consists in giving the appellation of * high treason' to certain offences of the press, which are thus brought before the chamber of peers (forming a court in that pe- culiar instance) whereas the offences of the press were, by the constitution, expressly assigned to a jury — the violation, they say, consists in changing the constitution of the jury itself, which jury formerly voted openly, and now votes secretly, which jury formerly condemned by a majority of four, and now condemns by a majority of one. I do not, for my own part, either adopt or defend any exaggerated party charges, still I cannot help thinking that any great fundamental alterations for a momen- tary object must be unwise ; more especially when it is wished to keep the public mind in an even course within certain constitutional channels, which channels, if you dam them up for a time, will be afterwards dangerously over- flowed. They unsettle and confound people's opinions also, and make them consider that nothing is sacred, or sujjerior to the exigencies of the hour. Besides, they have another evil ; — it is almost always necessary that they should be followed by measures of a similar nature : for they 3a;> REVIEW OF POLICY. create exaggerated suspicions which must be met by exaggerated defences and precautions, until a minister on one side, and a people on the other, are driven into a course con- trary to the inchnations, the interests, and the intentions of either.* * This is a question of policy -which should be well considered before we proceed to laws of repression. Will they protect us ? To repress the expression of opinion is not to repress opinion. There is a singular fact, to which, as it furnishes no mean argument of this, I call attention : Under the empire the secret police cost . 789,000,000 Under the restoration from 1814, to 1818 56,000,000 Afterwards, about 2,400,000 Under M. de Martignac 1,700,000 '(hus in almost an exact proportion with the silence imposed, was the watch which it was found necessary to maintain. There is another consideration not to be forgotten. A minister should well penetrate himself with the spirit, and give to himself as it were, the character and the nature of the government which he administers ! A des- potism when it is attacked, acts with sense in being despotic ; it is constituted expressly for such crisis, and has all the power that is necessary for crushing every enemy, and stifling every cry. But a government of popular forms can never long depart from the prin- ciples on which it is founded : it may exercise a power REVIEW OF POLICY. 301 It is on this account, indeed, that we should be more particularly regretful of late events ; and here I speak, not merely as a man anxious for the prosperity' of a fine and inteUigent por- tion of the human race — b\^t as an English- man also anxious for the maintenance of that friendship between two nations — first at the present epoch of the world in arts and arms — whose alliance has aiforded peace to Europe, and protection to the growth of hberal insti- tutions in both countries. That that alliance is chiefly one of opinion we well know ; and yet some English journals have been lately thought treasonable in France ! Deeply then do I regret the circumstances which have caused this. But would I say nothing disrespectful of the ministry, from whose views in some respects T differ. In those volumes pubhshed in 1834, I ob- served that this ministry would be difficult to replace ; and the short administration of three foreign to its nature for a particular time, but that temporary power, given with reluctance, is too feeble to destroy the opposition which it silences. The road of violence in such governments then is short, and they who take it are almost sure to find the hostile passions which they drive before them in their march, collected and furious — where they pause. 302 REVIEW OF POLICY. days, which made its sudden appearance, and disappearance last year, shewed I was not mis- taken. It is formed of able and intelligent, and con- scientious men, the greater part of whose lives has been passed in struggling for those princi- ples to which they now, I trust but for the mo- ment, appear opposed : — opposed, however — not, I do believe, with any evil or tyranni- cal intention, but from a disgust at absur- dities it were wiser to overlook, from a sudden dread of difficulties almost overcome, and also, perchance, from that impatience of character which they share with their countrymen in general, and which seems the national impedi- ment to freedom and repose. One there is more especially, born of the revolution of 1830, whose elevation fortune favoured, and who was endowed with many of those qualities which design the leaders for troublesome times. Assailed by the most atrocious calumnies, that private envy could suggest, his talent broke through the jealous fetters that would have depressed it, and car- ried him at once to a high position in the country, of which he had studied the history — knew the character, and possessed in his love of the arts, in his passion for glory, in his REVIEW OF POLICY. 303 native eloquence and amiability — all the means of governing with success ; surrounded by a generous youth whose hearts he might have won, and whose ardour he might have moderated, admired by a monarch whose cul- tivated tastes were in sympathy with his own, and holding out the hand of good fellowship to the people from whose ranks he had sprung — that minister, might have been — I trust may yet be — precious to his country. There are certain perils which governments, placed in a peculiar position, are forced to undergo; and the monarchy of July— chosen, in the heat of a revolution, from three par- ties — must expect the enmity of those whom it was preferred to, and of those whom it does not represent ; stiU it has one advantage : its duties are clearly pointed out; its position plain- ly determined. This monarchy has to preser^^e the honour of France with peace ; the internal tranquillity of France with constitutional go- vernment. It stands as the representative of justice, moderation, legahty, amidst the violence of contending passions and the tumult of perpe- tual crisis. Tliere is its glory, there its danger. When reproached with its moderation, its love of peace and order, it is performing the task assigned to it; — a task difficult, but honourable ; 304 REVIEW OF POLICY. and which, owing to the courage and the dis- cretion of its defenders, it seemed at one moment certain of accomphshing. But a government that wishes to perpetuate itself, must above all things be faithful to its origin ! One man wished to be an emperor among emperors — and he fell ; — for he was na- turally the popular chief among a people of soldiers. Another man wished to be absolute monarch over a nation which had received him as its constitutional king — and he fell; — for his charter was — his crown. That charter, picked up from the pavement, where it had fallen, and blessed by a new sanction, was again placed — a popular diadem — upon the head of a monarch — justly chosen for his citizen-like virtues, his probity, his firm- ness, his regard for his duties and engagements. Elected by the multitude who had conquered, he was consecrated by the press for which they had fought. His lot is to conciliate his power with the causes of his power ! that he will do so is the belief — that he may do so is the prayer of one who, no wrangler for theoretical per- fection, no advocate for successive changes, deems that having once been chosen sove- reign, the continuance of his reign is best REVIEW OF POLICY. 305 adapted to the prosperity of his country and the general interests of civiUzation and man- kind. Placed on the French throne, the head of the house of Orleans carried there many of the qualities of a great prince ; prudent, elo- quent, instructed, courageous, he has the prospect of leaving a dynasty in repose, beneath the protecting shadow of an illustrious name. Yet is there no foundation for our affairs in desperate courses. Public as well as pri- vate life has an usurious policy — Avhich, to satisfy the emergencies of the instant, borrows too largely from the times that wnll come. Let all ministers beware of this policy ! it saves for the moment — but it ruins in the end, and is equally unworthy of a people who love freedom, and of a monarchy which, with the aid of time and Providence, is well calculated to couple hberty with order. POSTSCRIPT. CHAPTER XV. Two comparisons between France and England. And now, France disappearing from our view, as I turn, not unwillingly homewards, it may not be incurious to enter, though but cursorily, into certain comparisons that this work suggests : — i. e, to consider how far England and France resemble one another at this moment ; — what period in French history admits the semblance of a parallel with that which will soon be English history, and is at this time passing before us. At the present moment there can be no doubt that it would be impossible to find POSTSCRIPT. 307 two countries, which, with institutions appa- rently similar, are so entirely different as those I have just mentioned. This is easily accounted for — the character and history of the two people are different, and the distribution of property amongst them is also totally different ; — on these three things, which fashion society, and social habits — the movement, if not the form, of government depends. There is liberty and a jsowerful aristocracy in one country — a powerful aristocracy will never submit to slavery 5 — there is equality and a democracy in the other — a democracy will never tolerate privileges. Money and birth are respected here ; power and talent there. The law does in point of fact and practice subject the poor man to the rich man in England ; the law does in point of fact and practice subject the individual to the governing authority in France. In either case the theory of the law would not do this. In France too, the lower classes have property, and are tranquil and independent ; the higher are comparatively poor and servile. Talent, whether in arms, or literature, or through the press, governs l:)oth. In England, the lower class is daring, factious, and intelligent — the higher, prejudiced but high principled, and cer- tainly not meanly avid of power — a middle 308 POSTSCRIPT. order running between them, has hitherto kept these two extremes together. In France again, you meet the government every where — the gend'arme — the prefect — the pohce. In England all your affronts and annoyances come from individuals — the great man elbows you, the pauper taxes you, the pickpocket j^lunders you. On one side of the channel the great man takes off his hat to the government, and asks for a place, but he calls his valet ' his friend,'* and would not refuse to fight a duel with his ' decorated ' coachman. On the other side of the channel, the great man snaps his fingers at the govern- ment, sends the poacher to prison for a phea- sant, and pays respect to nothing, save some greater man than he is : viz. somebody better born or wealthier. Much of this will no doubt alter with time in both countries : nor is it difficult to feel, as I write, that we breathe the quiet air of great, but healthy changes. This brings me to consider what foundation there exists for that other comparison, not rarely made, between the period in France of 1789, and that of England in 1H35. In 1789 there was in France — a nobility * " Mon ami !" POSTSCRIPT. 309 much indebted, too prone to idleness and dissipation, far alienated by haughty and ex- clusive habits from the provincial influence it had once possessed — but proud, courageous — umviUing to take a place in the new society which had grown up above it ; lower than that which its ancestors occupied in the old society they overshadowed — a nobility which in the days of its power menaced the authority — in the days of its decay lived upon the bounty — and in the hour of its unpopularity clung to the protection — of the crown. At this period also there was in France a middle class rising rich, ambitious, and disgusted at the pride of an order whose privileges had lost their charm. An active race taken from all classes, save the aristocracy, and who, eager for employment, found in the army, in the church, in the colo- nies, in politics in general, that the road was obstructed to all but the peculiar set they did not belong to. A people without property, and from a variety of circumstances (those which are operating in England, are different from those which had been operating in France) utterly \*ithout attachment to the possessors of the soil. 310 POSTSCRIPT. A church, independent of the state, with immense funds most unequally distributed — furnishing a worldly provision to the aristo- cracy, rather than a spiritual comfort to the people. Corporations that had outlived their purposes, already attacked in principle and but weakly defended, even by the patrons of existing things. A public opinion strongly in favour of changes amongst the great masses of the nation, and a public opinion as strongly against innovation amongst the fashionable circles of society. In the royal family — one prince an advocate of liberal principles (the Comte de Provence) ; another forming secret societies in the army (le Comte d'Artois). In the senate — a nobility defending itself by a distinguished and eloquent man sprung from the people (Casales) ; a people assailing that nobility, and headed by the great aristocracy of the land — (the Montmorencys, Noailles, La- fayettes, Mirabeaus, Perigords.) So far some persons might fancy they traced a likeness ; but, as we advance further, all resemblance disappears : for France had not a prudent monarch brought up in constitutional principles, nor a sober-charactered people, who POSTSCRIPT. 311 had received a long political education, nor a bold and intelligent minister, equally remarkable for the sagacity of his \dews and his frank and manly manner of carrying them into execution. Yet, if our comparisons fail, we shall have found in their pursuit two important lessons, really coinciding, if apparently opposed. The one—that no class can stand against the liberal intelligence of its time : The other — that a people adopting false and exaggerated notions of liberty may delay for a century the real enjoyment of it. APPExNDlX YUf,. 11. APPENDIX LAW CONSTITUTING THE PEERAGE OF THE MONARCHY OF THE REVOLUTION. 29th December, 1831. Louis Philippe, King of the French, to all present and to come salut ! PAGE 100. The President of the Chamber of Deputies and other legislative assemblies. ITie Deputies who shall have been named in three different Parliaments, and who shall, for si.x years, have exercised their functions. The Marshals and Admirals of France. The Lieutenants-General and Vice-Admirals of the armies of land and sea, after two years' rank. The Ministers of any Department. Ambassadors alter three years' and Ministers Plenipo- tentiaries after si.x years' functions. P 2 me APPENDIX. Councillors of State, after ten years of ordinary sendee. The Prefects of Departments or of marine situations — after six years' service. Colonial Governors after five years' exercise of their functions. The Members of General Coiincils formed by election, after three elections to the presidency. The Mayors of towns, of thirty thousand souls and above, after two elections, at least, as members of the municipal body, and after five years' performance of the functions of mayoralty. The Presidents of the Court of Cassation and of the Court of Accounts. The Procureurs-Generaux to these two courts, after five years' service in this quality. ITie counsellors of the Court of Cassation, and the conseillers-maitres of the Court of Accounts, after five years. The Avocats-Generaux to the Court of Cassation, after ten years exercise of their duties. The Premiers-Presidents of the Coui"s Royales, after five years' of magistracy in their courts. The Procureurs-Generaux to the same courts, after ten years' functions. The Presidents of the Tribunals of Commerce, in the towns of thirty thousand souls and above, after four nominations to these functions. The titular j members of four ncadcmies of the Instittit. The citizens to whom, either by any law or on account of eminent services, there shall have been given a national recomjiense. All Proprietors or Heads of any manufacture, or any APPENDIX. Sir commercial house paying 3,000 francs of direct contri- butions, either on account of their landed property during three years, or on account of their patents during five years, when they shall have belonged for six years to a chamber of commerce of a ' conseil- general.' Proprietors, manufacturers, traders, or bankers, pay- ing 3,000 francs of imposition, shall have been named Deputies of Judges of the Tribunals of Commerce, can he admitted at once as peers without any other con- dition. The Titulary who shall have successively exercised the functions above mentioned, can add up their services in all their different branches of employment, in order to complete the time necessary to their elevation. It shall be dispensed from the time of employment required by the paragraphs 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, and 17, above mentioned, the citizens who shall have been named in the year following the 30th July 1830, to the functions announced in these paragraphs, shall be disjjensed in the same manner until the 7th January 1837, from the time of employment required by the paragraphs 3, 11, 12, 21, the named or maintained since 30th July 1830, in the functions announced in these five paragraphs. These conditions of ehgibility can be modified into a law. The ordinances among peers shall be individual. The ordinances shall mention the services and state, the titles on which the nomination shall be founded. In future, no salary, no pension, no donation, shall l)e attached to the dignity of peer. The Present Law discussed, dehberated, and adopted 818 APPENDIX. by the chamber of Peers, and by that of the Deputies, and sanctioned by us this day shall be executed as a law of the State. L. Philippe. Palace of the Tuileries, 2Sth Dec. 1831. LOI SUR LA PRESSE. (1) Loi dit 17 mai 1819, art V " Quiconque, soit par des discours, des cris ou menaces profe'res dans des lieux ou reunions publics, soit par des ecrits, des im- primes, des dessins, des gravures, des peintures ou emblemes vendus ou distribues, mis en vente, ou ex- l)oses dans des lieux ou reunions publics, soit par des placards et affiches expose's aux regards du public, aura provoque I'auteur ou les auteurs de toute action qualifiee crime ou delit a la commettre, sera repute complice et puni comme tel." (2) Code penal, art. 86. " L'attentat contre la vie ou contre la personne du roi est puni de la peine du parricide. — L'attentat contre la vie ou contre la personne de.s membres de la famille royale, est puni de la peine de mort. — Toute offense commise pu])lique- ment envers la personne du roi, sera punie d'un em- prisonnement de six mois a cinq ans, et d'une amende de cinq cents francs a dix mille francs ; le coupable pourra en outre etre interdit de tout ou partie des droits mentionncs en I'article 42, pendant un temps e'gal a celui de I'emprisonnement auquel il aura ete con- damne. Ce temps courra a compter du jour oii le coupable aura subi sa peine." Art. 87. " L'attentat dont le but sera, soit de dctruire APPENDIX. 319 soit de changer le gouvernement ou I'ordre de succes- .sil>ilite au trone, soit d'exciter les citoyens ou habitans a s'arraer contre rautorite royale, sera puni de mort." (3) Lol dti 17 mai 1819, art. 9- " Quiconque par I'un des moyens enonces en I'art. l*"^ de la presente loi, se sera rendu coupable d'offenses envers la personne du roi, sera puni d'un emprisonnement qui ne pourra etre de moins de six mois, ni exccder cinq annees, et d'une amende qui ne pourra etre au-dessous de 500 francs, ni exce'der 10,000 fr. — Le coupable pourra en outre etre interdit de tout ou partie des droits men- tionnes en I'art 42 du Code penal, pendant un temps egal a celui de Femprisonnement auquel il aura ete condamne. Ce temps coiirra a compter du jour oii le coupable aura subi sa peine." Voir ci-apres (6). (4) Loi du 29 iiovemhre 1830, art. ]^' : " Toute attaque par I'un des moyens enonces en Far tide l''"" de la loi du 17 mai 1819, contre la dignite royale, ordre de successi])ilite au trone, les droits que le roi tient du voeu de la nation fran^aise, exprime dans la decla- ration du 7 aoLit 1830, et de la charte constitutionnelle, par lui acceptee et juree dans la seance du 9 aoi'it de la meme annee, son autorite constitutionnelle, I'invio- labilite' de sa personne, les droits et Fautorite des cham- bres, sera punie d'un an d'emprisonnement de trois a cinq ans, et d'une amende de trois cents francs a six mille francs." — Art. 2 : " L'article 2 de la loi du 25 mars 1822 est et demeure abroge." (3) Loi du 17 mai 1819, art. 8 : "Tout outrage a la moreile puljlique et religieuse ou aux bonnes moeurs, par Fun des moyens enonces en Fart. I", sera puni d'un emprisonnement d'un mois a un an et d'une amende de IG fr. a 500 fr." S20 APPENDIX. (6) Code penal, art, 42 : " Les tribunaux, juajeant correctionnellement, pourront, dans certains cas, in- terdire en tout ou en partie I'exercice des droits civiques, civils et de famille siiivans : 1° de vote et d'clection ; 2° d'eligibilite ; 3" d'etre appele' ou nomme aux fonc- tions de jure ou autres fonctions publiques, ou aux emplois de I'administration, ou d'exercer ces fonctions ou emplois : 4° de port d'armes ; 5° de vote et de suffrage dans les deliberations de famiUe ; 6" d'etre tuteur, curateur, si ce n'est de ses enfans, et sur I'avis seulement de la famille ; 7° d'etre expert ou employe comme temoin dans les actes ; 8° de temoignage en justice autreraent que pour y faire de simples decla- rations." (7) Loi du 9 Juin 1819, art. 9. " Les proprietaires ou edileurs responsables d'un journal ou ecrit perio- dique, ou auteur ou redacteur d'articles imprimes dans ledit journal ou ecrit, prevenus de crimes ou debts pour fait de publication, seront poursuivis et juges dans les formes et suivant les distinctions prescrites a I'egard de toutes les autres publications." Art. 10. " En cas de condamnation, les memes peines leur seront ap- pliquees : toutefois les amendes pourront etre elevees au double, et en cas de rccidive portees au quadruple sans prejudice des peines de la recidive prononcees par le Code penal." (.8) Loi die 18 juiilet 1828, art. 3 : " Seront exempts de tout cautionnement : •' 1° Les journaux ou e'crits periodiques qui ne parais- sent qu'une fois par mois ou plus rarement. " 2" Les journaux ou ecrits periodiques exclusivement consacres, soit aux sciences matliematiques, physiques, et naturelles, soit aux travaux et recherches d'erudition. APPENDIX. 321 soit aux arts mecaniques et liberaux, c'est-a-dire aux sciences et aux arts dont s'occupent les trois academies des sciences, des inscriptions et des beaux-arts de I'lns- titut royal. " 3° Les journaux ou ecrits pe'riodiques e'trangers aux matieres politiques, et exclusivement consacres aux let- tres ou d'autres branches de connaissances non specifiees precedemment, pourvu qu'ils ne paraissent au plus que deux fois par semaine. " 4° Tous les ecrits periodiques e'trangers aux ma- tieres politiques, et qui seront publics dans une autre langue que la langue frangaise. " 5° Les feuilles periodiques, exclusivement consacre's aux avis, annonces, affiches judiciaires, arrivages mari- times, mercuriales et prix courans. " Toute contravention aux dispositions du present article sera punie conformement a I'art. 6 de la loi du 9 juin 1819." (Voir note 9.) (9) Loi da 9 juin 1812, art. 6. " Quiconque publiera un journal ou ecrit periodique sans avoir satisfait aux conditions prescrites par les articles 1, 4 et 5 de la pre- sente loi, sera puni correctionnellement d'un empri- sonnement d'un mois a six mois, et d'une amende de deux cents francs a douze cent francs." (10) Lot du 18 juillet 1828, Art. 8 : " Chaque nume'ro de I'ecrit periodique sera signe en minute par le proprie- taire, s'il est unique ; ])ar I'un des gerans responsables, si I'ecric periodique est public par une societe en nom coUectif ou en commandite ; et par I'un des adminis- trateurs, s'il est public ])ar une societe anonyme. — L'exemplaire signe pour minute sera, au moment de la puljlication, depose au parcpiet du procureur du roi du lien de I'impression, ou a la mairie dans les villes ou 322 APPENDIX. il n'y a pas de tribunal de premiere instance, a peine de cinq cents francs d'amende centre les gerans. II sera donne recepisse du depot. — La signature sera im- primee au bas de tous les exeraplaires, a peine de cinq cents francs d'amende centre I'imprimeur, sans que la revocation du brevet puisse s'ensuivre. — Les signa- taires de chaqiie feuille ou livraison seront responsables de son contenu et passibles de toutes les peines portees par la roi^a raison de la publication des articles ou passages incrimines, sans prejudice de la poursuite cen- tre I'auteur ou les auteurs desdits articles ou passages, comme complices. En consequence, les poursuites judi- ciaires pourront etre dirigees, tant centre les signataires des feuilles eu livraisens, que centre I'auteur ou les au- teurs des passages incrimines, si ces auteurs peuvent etre connus ou mis en cause." (11) Loi du 25 mars 1822, art. 11 : " Les preprietaires ou editeurs de tout journal ou e'crit periodique seront tenus d'y inserer, dans les trois jours de la reception, ou dans le plus prochain numere, s'il n'en etait pas public avant I'expiration des trois jours, la reponse de toute personne nommee ou designee dans le journal ou ecrit periodique, sous peine d'une amende de 50 fr. a 500 fr. ; sans prejudice des autres peines et dommages-interets auxquels I'article incrimine pourrait donner lieu. Cette insertion sera gratuite, et la reponse pourra avoir le double de la longueur de I'article auquel elle sera faite." APPENDIX. 223 ALL PASSAGES OR WORDS NOT TRANSLATED IN THE TEXT WILL BE FOUND AMONG THE FOLLOWING : MANNERS. PAGE 7. Note. — My drawing-room again had its crowds, and I once more had the pleasure of conversation, in Paris, which I confess was ahvays, to me, the most captivating ofaU. PAGE 12. Monsieur , with much gesticulation, and utter- ing loud outcries from his bench. PAGE 13. Here the President rings his bell. — At this moment the chamber is in confusion. PAGE 19. His voice, which more than once had earned terror to the palace whence it had cast out tyranny, might carry terror also to the souls of those traitors who desired to substitute their tyranny in place of the monarchy. 324 APPENDIX. PAGE 22. Yes, a fine school of anatomy. PAGE 23. Oh ! the charming httle man, as he was ! How white his teeth, Uke pearls ; small — yes, small — delicate hands — perfumed ! How elegant the little man was — and how great an eater ! PAGE 26. At all events I can continue Julia, and my phaeton. But what is the matter with him ? He adores Adela — ^^^lat fine children ! — and why did not they tell me of it ? — She will not return again imtil it is • over — All will be soon well. PAGE 31. Poor fellow ! down he fell, dead ! PAGE 34. The poor Princess gave such fine balls. Conjugal virtue. Virtue in a married woman, is to continue attached to her lover even though he is dis- agreeable to her. YOUNG FRANCE. PAGE 56. Head of hair. SOCIAL STATE. PAGE 89, Nevertheless estates in possession, which form tlie grants for support of hereditary titles, which the Y,in- APPENDIX. 323 peror shall have made to a Prince, or to the head of a family, must be transmitted to the heir [as an entailed estate.] PAGE 96. ' We did not wish to burden the country with eighty thousand tyrants, but 6nly> three hundred individuals whom we wished to invest with high functions. That was all. PAGE 97. The gods we have at present are Science and Art ; we are excited in the theatres and the court as we once were in the churches : the heart which formerly was obedient to priests, we now consecrate entirely to philo- sophers and poets. STATE OF THE WORKING CLASSES. PAGE 110. The poor's rate was raised compulsorily. PAGE 128. That France has the blessing of not being distracted by those dissensions, which in other countries cause discord betwixt the workmen and the manufacturer who employ them. EQUALITY. PAGE 131. AU men are equal and free from their l)irth ; no one has a greater right than others to employ his natural or VOL. II. Q 324 APPENDIX. acquired talents ; this privilege partaken by all, is alone limited by the conscience of the man exercising it, which forbids him to make any use of it to the detriment of his fellow-men. THE END. LONDON : SCHULZE AND CO. 13, POLAND STREET. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. .^■^i mY2^\^m^ JAW 13 w ^"^ [D;;n U!^ W^jr^ 19811 URL ^^(\ ': ni OCT 061981) RECEIVED J UN b i30<^ 41584 IS 99 i^§l r.^.^r. "te^ v^lOSANGElfjv 3 1158 00565 5088 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACIU]j[ %a3AiNnmv' AA 000 848181 4 y^ I t- V<:. S ^ '%a3AIN(l]WV^ mc-iiircu-^ -raiBDAEVzi^ ^f-IIRRABY^y