submit the oldest dynasties of Europe to the sway of an empire hardly yet seen rising from its foundations. Lo! he wakes from his stupor. 'Vive la France! vive la grande armée!" sounds in his ear. And hark to the tramp of soldiers, and the beating of drums! and already, along the road to Germany, behold the triumphal arches, which should have been reserved for his return! And now may you see those stern and martial men, accustomed to the reception of conquerors-the head high, the step firm, the eye determined, the lip compressed. Now may you see those men men of execution men who only live in the hazards of adventurous action, brandishing their arms with a ferocious gaiety, and waiting in fixed devotion the commands of a chief, whose star has never yet paled on the field of battle. Such was the army of France under Napoléon; but the army of France under Napoléon was not the nation of France. Bonaparte reigned in an immense camp, which was guarded from the approach of the people. "La France n'est qu'un soldat," said M. de Châteaubriand, in the first of those eloquent pamphlets, which showed that his genius was not on the decline. Yes, the army of France is now the nation of France; but the nation of France is more than an army. France is not only a soldier - France is more than a soldier. But do not expect that you can at once sweep away the effects of centuries! Do not expect that you can make a nation of warriors, by the scratch of a pen, a nation of legislators: rather expect that you will give to legislation the manners of war; that, instead of transporting the city into the camp, you will transport the camp into the city. The ideas of the one will blend themselves with the institutions of the other. The feelings which Francis carried to Pavia, and which made Bonaparte refuse the peace of Chatillon- the feelings which the grand seigneur carried to Fontenoy, and the republican soldier to Marengo― these feelings you may expect to find in the cabinet of the poet, the deputy, and the journalist of the present day. The poet will fight for his verses, the grave constitutional senator for his opinions; and the * There is a little book published in France, called 'Almanach du Peuple,' and intended to make the government popular with the people; and a parallel in two columns is drawn between the Government of the Restoration and the Government of July. Here I find Sous la Restauration. Le Gouvernement de al Restauration et les armées Depuis la Révolution. Louis-Philippe a fait replacer la statue du grand time was, when we might have seen B. Constant himself, his long white hair flowing loosely over his benevolent countenance, seated calmly on a chair, a crutch in one hand, a pistol in the other, and an enemy at twelve paces. Do not laugh at this, reader, because it would be ridiculous in England. France is not England, and never can be. Besides, the threads and cords of society are so mixed and intermingled, that it is almost impossible to trace the mysterious force which each exercises over the play of the other; and perchance it is this very military spirit, which now I should like to see the government in England that, by way of making itself popular, boasted that it had doubled the army. pervades all classes and professions of French society, and which keeps men perpetually mindful of the regard that they owe to one anotherit is perchance this very military spirit which maintains order in the movement of the civil machine, shocked and deranged as it is, and as it has been; and allows a universal equality to exist, without engendering universal confusion. Be this as it may, in the various forms of society that France has yet known, that part of society governing for the moment has always been agitated by the same spirit. Even in the times of the church, we have the old distich "Un archevêque est amiral, Un gros évêque est caporal; Un autre a des troupes guerrières ; Un cardinal a des soldats." The precepts of the church did not alter the character of the people; the character of the people carried war into the peaceful bosom of the church.* * One day the Abbé Maury was followed and insulted by the mob on coming out of the Assembly. One man came up to him and said—" Maury, veux-tu que j'aille te servir la messe ?”—“ Oui,” replied Maury, showing two pocket-pistols-"Viens, voilà mes burettes." But let us draw a parallel; it will show the genius of the French, the influences and the manners of two times. In 1652 the Duc de Beaufort and Duc de Nemours met behind the Hôtel de Vendôme ; the Duc de Beaufort, accompanied by the Comte de Barry, the Duc de Nemours by the Duc de Villars. In addition to these noblemen, the princes brought each three gentlemen of their suite. They fought five to five, and the Duc de Nemours was killed. 6 This happened in 1652-now let us turn back to the literary quarrels of last year, and see the manner in which they were settled. The 'Corsaire' laughs at the Duchesse de Berri, and the editor of a legitimist paper calls out the editor of the Corsaire.' The editor of the 'Corsaire' is wounded; but, though his hand is disabled, the colour of his ink is not altered, and he very fairly says that he will have his joke for his wound. The Duchesse is still laughed at as much as before. "That will not do," says the legitimist, and he calls out the satirist again; but the latter shakes his head this time, and shows his arm in a sling." He can't always be fighting." "Ho! ho!" says M. Carrel, the warlike and elo VOL. II. I |