[The Democratic Review, January 1850]

Paris, December 20th, 1849

The great question of the day is the excise upon “potable liquors’,
now under discussion in the National Legislative Assembly. This
question is of such importance, and contains, in fact, in itself, so
much of the whole present situation, that it will not be amiss to
devote to it the whole of this letter.

The tax on potable liquors is of very old date.* It formed one of the
principal features of the financial system under the monarchy of the
eighteenth century, and one of the main grievances of the people at
the time of the first revolution. It was done away with by that
revolution. But Napoleon restored it in a somewhat modified shape
about the year 1808, at a time when, forgetting his revolutionary
origin, he made the establishment of his dynasty in the midst of the
ancient European royal families, his principal aim. The tax was so
exceedingly obnoxious to the people, that at the downfall of
Napoleon, the Bourbon family promised its immediate repeal, and
Napoleon himself, at St. Helena, declared it had been that tax more
than anything else which caused his fall, by setting against him the
whole of the South of France. The Bourbons, however, never
thought of redeeming their promise, and the tax remained as before
up to the revolution of 1830, when, again, its abolition was held out
to the country. This promise was no more fulfilled than the
preceding one; and thus the excise existed when the revolution of
1848 broke out. The provisional government,”” instead of im-
mediately repealing it and substituting for it a heavy income-tax
upon the large capitalists and landed proprietors, only promised

either its repeal, or at least its revision; the Constituent Assembly?
even went so far as to continue the tax altogether. It was only im the
last days of its existence, when royalism was rifer than ever, that the
“honest” and “moderate” members of that Assembly voted the
repeal of the tax on potable liquors, to take effect from the Ist of
January, 1850.

It is clear that the tax in question bc'ongs essenually to the
monarchical traditions of France. Repealed as soon as the mass of the
people got the upper hand, it was restored as soon as either the
aristocracy or the Bourgeoisie, represented by a Louis XVIII ora
Louis Philippe, held the reins of government. Even Napoleon,
though in many points opposed to both aristocracy and Bourgeoisie,
and overthrown by the conspiracy of both—even the great Emperor
thought himself obliged to re-establish this feature of the ancient
traditions of Monarchical France.

The tax in itself weighs very unequally upon the different classes
of the nation. It is a grievous burden upon the poor, while upon the
rich the pressure is exceedingly light. There are about twelve
millions of wine-producers in France; these pay nothing upon their
consumption of wine, it being of their own growing; there are,
further, eighteen millions of people inhabiting villages and towns
under 4,000 inhabitants, and paying a tax from 66 centimes to 1 fr.
32 centimes per 100 litres of wine; and there are, finally, some five
millions inhabiting towns of more than 4,000 inhabitants, and paying
upon their wine the droit d’octroi,”* levied at the gate of the town, and
varying in the different localities, but at all events incomparably
higher than what is paid by the preceding class. The tax, further,
falls quite as heavy upon the most inferior as upon the higher-priced
wines; the hectolitre which sells at 2, 3, 4 francs, and the one sold at
12 to 1,500 fr., both pay the same tax; and thus, while the rich
consumer of choice champagne, claret, and Burgundy, pays almost
nothing, the working man pays to the government upon his inferior
wine a tax of 50, 100, and, in some cases, 500 or 1,000 per cent upon
the original value. Of the revenue derived by this tax, 51 millions of
francs are paid by the poorer classes, and 25 millions only by the
wealthier citizens. There cannot, under such circumstances, exist the
slightest doubt that this tax is exceedingly injurious to the
production of wine in France. The principal markets for this
produce, the towns, are to the wine-producer so many foreign
‘countries where he has to pay, before bringing his produce to sale, a
regular custom-house duty of from 50 to 1,000 per cent ad valorem.

The other part of the market, the open country, is at least subject to a
duty of from 20 to 50 per cent of the original value. The inevitable
consequence of this is the ruin of the wine-growing parts of the
country. It is true the production of wine has been augmenting in
spite of the tax, but the population has outgrown this augmentation
at a far quicker rate.

Why, then, has it been possible to keep up under the middle-class
government such an obnoxious tax as this? In England, you will say,
even Cobden and Bright would have swept it away long ago. And so
they would. But in France, the manufacturers never found a Cobden
or a Bright who stood up for their interests with invincible tenacity,?
nor a Peel to give way to their claims.” The French financial system,
although so much vaunted by the majority of the Assembly, is the
most confused and artificial, mixtum compositum,” that ever was
imagined. None of the reforms carried in England since 1842 were
attempted in France under Louis Philippe. Postage Reform was
considered almost as blasphemy in the blessed time of Guizot. The
tariff was, and is now, neither a free-trade nor a mere revenue, nora
protectionist, nor a prohibitive tariff, but contains something of all,
except free-trade. Old prohibitions and high duties, that for many
years have been to no purpose, nay, that are decidedly injurious to
trade, are to be found in all parts of the tariff. Yet no one dared
touch them. Local taxation, in all towns of more than 1,000
inhabitants, is indirect, and collected upon the produce brought into
town. Thus the freedom of trade even in the interior is interrupted
every ten or fifteen miles by a sort of inland-custom-house.

This state of things, disgraceful even to a middle-class govern-
ment, remained untouched from different causes. With all this
oppressive taxation, with receipts of 1,400 or 1,500 millions of
francs, there was a deficit at the end of every year, and a loan after
every fourth or fifth year. The stockjobbers of the Paris Bourse
found an inexhaustible source of profit-making, jobbing, and
peddling in this low state of the Public Exchequer. They and their
associates formed the majority in the two Chambers, and were thus
the real dominators of the state, and always demanding fresh
supplies of money. Financial Reform, besides, could not have been
effected without sweeping measures, which would have brought the
budget to its equilibre, changed the allotment of taxes, and, besides
taxing these stockjobbers themselves, given a greater political weight
to other fractions of the middle classes. And what consequences such

a change would have had under the worm-eaten government of
Louis Philippe you may judge, from the comparatively trifling
pretext which led to the revolution of February.*°

That revolution brought into office no man able to reform the
financial system of France. The gentlemen of the National,*' who
took possession of that department, felt themselves borne down by
the weight of.the deficit. Many attempts were made at bit-by-bit
reform; all proved abortive, excepting the abolition of the tax upon
salt and the Postage Reform. At last, in a fit of despair, the
Constituent Assembly voted the repeal of the wine tax, and now the
“honest” and ‘‘moderate” men of order* in the present precious
Assembly restore it! Nay, more: the Minister* intends restoring the
salt tax, and re-augmenting the Postage; so that the old financial
system, with its eternal deficiences and difficulties, and consequent
absolute sway of the Paris Bourse, with its jobbing, peddling, and
profitmongering, will very shortly be restored in France.

The people, however, do not. seem likely to submit quietly to a
measure which restores a heavy tax upon an article of prime
necessity for the poor, while it almost exempts the rich. Social
democracy has spread wonderfully over the agricultural districts of
France; and this measure will convert the remainder of the millions
who, twelve months ago,° voted for that ambitious blockhead, Louis
Napoleon. The country once won for social democracy, there will be
very few months, nay, weeks, indeed, ere the Red Flag floats from
the Tuileries and the Elysée-National.*? Then only will it be possible
to radically upset the old, oppressive financial system, by at one
stroke doing away with the National Debt, by introducing a system of
direct, progressive taxation; and by other measures of a similarly
energetic character.‘

II

STRIKING PROOFS OF THE GLORIOUS PROGRESS
OF RED REPUBLICANISM!

[The Democratic Review, February 1850]
Paris, January 21st, 1850

A great many important events have occurred since my last, but as
the generality of readers will have been informed of them from the
daily and weekly papers, I shall refrain from going over the same
ground from beginning to end, and instead shall limit this letter to
some general observations on the state of the country.

During the last twelve or fifteen months, the revolutionary spirit
has made immense progress throughout France. A class, which by its
social position was kept apart, as much as possible in civilised society,
from taking an interest in public business, which by the old
monartchical legislation was shut out from all political rights, which
never read a newspaper, and which, nevertheless, forms the vast
majority of Frenchmen—this class, at last, is rapidly coming to its
senses. This class is the small peasantry, numbering about twenty-
eight millions of men, women, and children, counting amongst its
ranks from eight to nine millions of small landed proprietors, who
possess, in the shape of freehold * property, at least four-fifths of the
soil of France. This class has been oppressed by all governments
since 1815, not excepting the provisional government, which
imposed on it the tax of 45 additional centimes upon every franc of
the land-tax,» which in France is very heavy. This class,borne down
also by a band of usurers to whom their property almost without
exception is mortgaged at extraordinary high interest, is at last
beginning to see that no government, except one acting in the
interest of the working men of the towns, will free them from the
misery and starvation into which, notwithstanding their land-
allotments, they are falling deeper and deeper every day.* This class,

which in a great measure forced the revolution of 1789, and which
formed the basement upon which arose the vast empire of
Napoleon, has now, in its immense majority, joined the revolu-
tionary party and the working men of Paris, Lyons, Rouen, and the
other large towns of France. The tillers of the soil now see clearly
enough how they have been cheated by Louis Napoleon, to whose
presidential majority they at least furnished six millions of votes, and
who has repaid them with the re-imposition of the wine and brandy
tax. And thus, the vast majority of the French people are now united
to overthrow, as soon as a proper occasion shall present itself, the
insolent sway of the capitalist class, which, hurled down by the storm
of February, has again seized the helm of government, and exercises
its rule far more arrogantly than ever it did under its own
well-beloved Louis Philippe.

The history of the last months affords innumerable proofs of this |
most important fact. Take the circular of Minister d’Hautpoul to
the gendarmerie, by which espionage is carried into the very heart
of the most obscure village; take the law against the schoolmasters,36
who, in French villages, are generally the best expression of the
public opinion of their localities, and who are now to be placed at the
mercy of government, because they now almost all profess social-
democratic opinions; and many other facts. But one of the most
striking proofs is to be found in the election which has just taken
place in the department du Gard.3’ This department is known as the
most ancient stronghold of the “Whites”—the Legitimists.38 It was
the scene of the most horrid outrages against the republicans in 1794
and 95, after the downfall of Robespierre; it was the central seat of
the “white terrorism” in 1815, when Protestants and Liberals were
publicly murdered, and outrages of the most horrible nature were
committed on the wives, daughters, and sisters of those victims by
Legitimist mobs, headed by the renowned Trestaillon, and protected
by the government of legitimate Louis XVIII. Well, this department
had to elect a deputy, in the place of a Legitimist, deceased *; and the
result was, a great majority for a thoroughly Red candidate,” while
the two Legitimist candidates were in a signal minority.‘

Another proof of the rapid progress of this alliance of the working
men in the towns and the peasantry of the country, is the new law on
public education.** The most inveterate Voltairians of the
bourgeoisie, even M. Thiers, see there is no way left to oppose that

progress but by surrendering their old theories and principles, and
by prostrating public education at the feet of the priesthood!

Again. There is, now, a general rush of all public papers and
public characters, that are not exactly reactionaries, to claim the once
despised title of “Socialist”. The oldest enemies of Socialism now
proclaim themselves Socialists. The National, even the Siécle,
monarchist.under Louis Philippe, declare they are Socialists. Even
Marrast, the infamous traitor of 1848, now hopes, though in vain, to
get elected by proclaiming himself a Socialist. The people, however,
are not thus to be duped, and the rope to hang that vagabond is
ready, and only waiting for the occasion.

To-day they discuss in the National Assembly the law for killing
the remaining 468 prisoners of the June insurrection,” by transport-
ing them to, and setting them to work in the most unhealthy parts of
Algeria. No doubt the law will pass by an immense majority. But
before the unfortunate heroes of that grand battle of labour can
reach the shore destined to bury them, there is little doubt but
another popular storm will have swept away the voters of this law of
murder, and carry, perhaps, to that land of banishment, those of the
present majority who may have escaped a prompter, more radical,
and most righteous revenge on the part of the people.

III

SIGNS OF THE TIMES.—
THE ANTICIPATED REVOLUTION

[The Democratic Review, March 1850]
Paris, February 19th, 1850

I must limit this letter somewhat in space, but the facts which have
occurred in the course of this month are so striking, that they will
speak for themselves. The revolution is advancing so rapidly, that
every one must see its approach. In all spheres of society it is spoken
of as imminent; and all foreign papers, even if opposed to
democracy, declare it an unavoidable thing. Nay, more, you may
with almost certainty foresee, that if no unexpected events give a
turn to public affairs, the great contest between the united
Ordermongers and the vast majority of the people,can hardly be
postponed beyond the latter end of this spring. And what the result
of that contest will be, is a matter admitting of no doubt. The people
of Paris are so sure of having very shortly the most splendid case for
a revolution they ever had, that there is a general order amongst
them— “Avoid all petty squabbles, submit to anything which puts
not a vital question to you.” Thus, with all their efforts, the other
day, when the trees of liberty were cut down, the government could
not excite the working people to even a petty street-row, and the
individuals dancing round the tree at the Porte Saint-Martin, which
your London Illustrated News depicted in such a terrific manner,’
consisted of a set of police spies who lost all their day’s job through
the coolness of the people.*! Thus, in spite of what the government
papers say to the contrary, the 24th of this month will pass off very
quietly.” The government would give almost anything if they could
have a row in Paris, with some fictitious conspiracies and outbreaks

in the departments, in order to inflict the state of siege upon the
capital and those departments which, on the 10th of March, will have
to elect new deputies in lieu of the condemned of Versailles. A word
on the new system of military despotism.*2 To keep the provinces in
bondage, the government have invented the new system of
commanders-in-chief. They have united a number of the seventeen
military divisions of France into four grand districts, each of which is
to be under the command of one general, who, thus, has almost the
arbitrary power of an eastern satrap or a Roman proconsul. These
four military districts are-so arranged, that they surround Paris and
the whole centre of France, as it were, with an iron circle, in order to
keep it down. This measure, illegal as it is, has however been adopted
not only on account of the people, but on account of the Bourgeois
opposition too. The Legitimist and Orleanist* parties now see clear
enough that Louis Napoleon is serving them very badly. They
wanted him as a means to the re-establishment of monarchy, as an
instrument to be shuffled aside when worn out, and they now see
him aspiring to a throne for himself, and going a good deal faster
than they want. They know well enough that at this moment there is
no chance for monarchy, and that they must wait; and yet Louis
Napoleon does everything in his power to come to a settlement, and
to risk a revolution which may cost him his head, rather than wait his
time. They know, too, that neither party, Legitimist or Orleanist, has
gained so much ground upon the other as to make the victory of one
of the two an undeniable necessity; and as before the 10th of
December, 1848, they want another neutral man, who, while they
await the course of events, may govern according to the common
interests of both. Thus, these two parties, the only important
fractions of the Ordermongers, are now against the prolongation of
Louis Napoleon’s presidency, although four months ago they would
have done anything to carry it; they are again, for once, for the
neutral ground of the republic, with General Changarnier as president.
Changarnier seems to be in the plot; and Napoleon, who does not
trust him but dares not dismiss him from his proconsulate at Paris,
_has put the four military districts as a fetter around him. This may
explain why M. Pascal Duprat’s (a traitor of June 48, who now courts
popularity again) speech* against the new military system and
against Louis Napoleon himself, was very tolerantly listened to by the
majority. There occurred two curious incidents on this occasion.
When M. Duprat said, according to a newspaper, Louis Napoleon

had to choose between the position of his uncle,* or that of
Washington, a voice from the left shouted, “or that of the Emperor
Soulouque of Haiti”’.” A general burst of laughter hailed this
comparison of the French would-be-emperor to a personage, than
whom none offers more matter for ridicule to all the Charivaris of
Paris; and yet not even the President of the Assembly interposed.‘
You see what even this precious majority thinks of Louis Napoleon!
The Minister of War° then got up, and, turning to the left,
concluded a most violent speech with these words: “And now,
gentlemen, if you like to commence we are ready!” © This expression
of the Minister will show you more than anything, how generally a
violent struggle is expected.

In the meantime, the Social-Democratic party are actively
preparing for the elections. Although there is a chance for the
“honest and moderate”, to elect one or two of their candidates in
Paris, where some sixty thousand working men have been, under
a variety of pretexts, struck off the voting register; yet there 1s
no doubt that the socialists will have a signal triumph in the
departments. The government themselves are expecting it. They
therefore have prepared a measure for doing away with what is now
openly called the conspiracy of “Universal Suffrage”. They intend to
make the suffrage indirect; the voters to elect a limited number of
electors, who again name the representative. In this the government
are sure of the support of the majority. But as this amounts to an
open overthrow of the constitution, which cannot be revised before
1851, and by an assembly elected for the purpose, they expect violent
resistance on the part of the people. These, therefore, are to be
intimidated by the foreign armies making their appearance on the
Rhine at the time this measure is brought into the House. If this
really come to pass—and Louis Napoleon seems foolish enough to
risk such a thing—then you may expect to hear something like the
thunder of a revolution. And then, the Lord have mercy upon the
souls of all Napoleons, Changarniers, and Ordermongers!

IV

THE ELECTIONS.—GLORIOUS VICTORY OF THE REDS.—
PROLETARIAN ASCENDANCY.— DISMAY OF THE ORDERMONGERS.—
NEW SCHEMES OF REPRESSION
AND PROVOCATIONS TO REVOLUTION

[The Democratic Review, April 1850]
Paris, March 22nd, 1850

Victory! Victory! The people have spoken, and they have
spoken so loud that the artificial fabric of bourgeois rule and
bourgeois plotting has been shaken to its very foundation. Car-
not, Vidal, Deflotte, representatives of the people for Paris,
elected by from 127,000 to 132,000 votes, that is the answer of the
people to the odious provocations of the government and parliamen-
tary majority. Carnot, the only man of the “National” fraction who,
under the provisional government, instead of flattering the
bourgeoisie, brought down on his head a handsome share of its
hatred; Vidal, an openly pronounced communist of long standing;
Deflotte, vice-president of Blanqui’s club, one of the foremost, active
invaders of the Assembly on the 15th of May, 1848,* in June
following, one of the leading combatants on the _ barricades,
sentenced to transportation, and now stepping directly from the
hulks into the legislative palace—really, this composition is signifi-
cant! It shews, that if the triumph of the Red party is owing to the
union of the small trading class with the proletarians, this union is
based upon totally different terms to that momentary alliance which
brought about the overthrow of monarchy. Then, it was the small
trading class, the petty bourgeoisie, who, in the provisional
government, and still more so in the Constituent Assembly, took the
lead, and very soon set aside the influence of the proletarians. Now,
on the contrary, the working men are the leaders of the movement,
and the petty bourgeoisie, equally pressed down and ruined by
capital, and rewarded with bankruptcy for their services rendered in
June, 1848, are reduced to follow the revolutionary march of the
proletarians. The country farmers are in the same position, and thus

the whole mass of those classes that now are opposed to the
government—and they form the vast majority of Frenchmen—are
headed and led on by the proletarian class, and find themselves
obliged to rely, for their own emancipation from the pressure of
capital, upon the total and entire emancipation of the working men.?

The elections in the departments, too, have been very favourable
to the Red party. They having carried two-thirds, the Ordermongers
one-third of their candidates.

This party, or aggregation of parties, has admirably understood
the broad hint given by the people. They now see certain ruin before
their eyes if they allow the general election of 1852 both for the
Assembly and the new President to come off with the present system
of suffrage. They know, that the people are so fast rallying round the
red flag, that it will be impossible for them to carry on the
government even until that term. On one side the President and the
Assembly”; on the other, the vast mass of the people every day
organising themselves stronger and stronger into an invincible
phalanx. Thus the conflict is inevitable; and the longer the
Ordermongers wait, the greater hope there will be for the victory of
the people. They know it, and therefore they must strike the decisive
blow as soon as possible. To provoke an insurrection as soon as
possible, and to fight it to the utmost, is the only chance left for them.
The “Holy Alliance’, besides, after the elections of the 10th of
March, can have no more doubts as to the course they must pursue.
Switzerland, now, is out of the question.‘ Revolutionary France is
again standing up before them in all her terrible grandeur. France,
then, must be attacked, and as soon as possible. The “Holy Alliance”’
are getting low in cash, and there is now very little chance of getting
fresh supplies of that desirable commodity. The different armies
cannot be maintained at home much longer, they must either be
disbanded or they must be made to maintain themselves by
quartering upon the enemy. Thus, you see that, if in my last I told
you that the revolution and war were fast approaching, events are
fully bearing out my prediction.

The Ordermongers have for the moment again set aside their
party squabbles. They have re-united to attack the people. They
change the garrison of Paris, of which three-fourths voted for the
red list; and, yesterday, a law re-establishing the newspaper stamp,
another law doubling the caution money to be deposited by all

newspapers, and a third, suspending the liberty of electoral
meetings, were laid on the table of the Assembly by the government.
Other laws will follow: one to grant powers to the police to expel
from Paris any working man not born there; another, to empower
the government to transport, without judgment, to Algiers, any citizen
who shall have been convicted of being a member of a secret society, and
many more, the whole to be crowned by a more or less direct attack
upon universal suffrage. Thus, you see, they provoke revolt, by
battering down all the rights and privileges of the working classes.
Revolt will follow, and the people, united with the mass of the
national guard, will very soon hurl down that infamous class
government which, in its utter impotency to do anything but
odiously oppress, has, nevertheless, the impudence to call itself the
“Saviour of Society’!!!

V

[The Democratic Review, May 1850]
Paris, April 20th, 1850

The outbreak of the revolution, which has become inevitable since
the elections of the 10th of March, has been retarded by the
cowardice both of the government and of the men who, for the -
moment, have taken the lead of the Paris movement. The
government and the National Assembly were so terror-struck by the
vote of the 10th of March, and by the repeated proofs of mutinous
spirit in the army, that they dared not come immediately to any
conclusion. They resolved upon passing new repressive laws, a list of
which I gave you in my last; but if the ministry and some of the
leaders of the majority had confidence in these measures, the mass
of the members had not, and even the government very soon lost its
confidence again. Thus, the more stringent of these repressive laws
were not brought forward, and even those that were—the laws on
the press and on electoral meetings—met with a very doubtful
reception from the majority.

The Socialist party, on the other hand, did not profit by the victory
as it ought to have done. The reason for this is very plain. This party
consists not only of the working men, but it includes, now, the great
mass of the shopkeeping class too, a class whose socialism is indeed a
great deal tamer than that of the proletarians. The shopkeepers and
small tradesmen know very well that their own salvation from ruin is
entirely dependent upon the emancipation of the proletarians; that
their interests are indissolubly tied up with those of the working
men. But they know also, that if the proletarians conquered politica!
power by a revolution, they, the shopkeepers, would be entirely set
aside, and be reduced to accept from the hands of the working class
any thing they might give them. If the present government, on the

contrary, be overthrown by peaceful means, the shopkeepers and
small tradesnen, being the least obnoxious of the classes now in
opposition, would very quietly step in and take hold of the
government, giving, at the same time, the working people as small a
share of it as possible. The small trading class, then, were quite as
much terrified at their own victory as the government was at its own
defeat. They saw a revolution starting up before their eyes, and they
strove immediately to prevent it. There was a means for this ready at
hand. Citizen Vidal, in addition to being elected for Paris,'had been
elected for the Lower Rhine too. They managed to make him accept
for the Lower Rhine, and thus there is to be a new election in Paris.
But it is evident, that as long as there is an opportunity given to the
people to obtain peaceful victories, they will never raise their cry “to
arms”; or if, nevertheless, provoked into an émeute, they will fight
with very little chance of victory.

The new election was fixed for the 28th of this month; and the
government immediately profited by the favourable position created
by the amiable shopocracy. Ministers disinterred old police regula-
tions, in order to expel from Paris a number of working men, for the
moment without work; and showed that they could do even without
the proposed law against electoral meetings, by directly putting a
stop to all of them. The people knowing that the day before an
election, they could not fight to any advantage, submitted. The social
and democratic press, entirely in the hands of the shopocracy, of
course did every thing to keep them quiet. The behaviour of this
press has, ever since the affair of the “trees of liberty”, been most
infamous. There have been numbers of occasions for the people to
rise; but the press has always preached peace and tranquillity while
the representatives of the shopocracy in the electoral committee and
other organised bodies have always managed to lessen the chances of
a street victory, by opening peaceful outlets for the popular
exasperation.

The false position in which the Red party has been forced, and the
advantage given by the new election to the Ordermongers, is fully
shewn by the names of the two opposing candidates. The red
candidate, Eugéne Sue, is an excellent representative of that
well-meaning, “soft sawder”, sentimental shopocrat-socialism,
which, far from recognising the revolutionary mission of the
proletarians, would rather mock-emancipate them by the benevolent
patronage of the petty trading class. As a political man, Eugene Sue
is a nullity; as a demonstration, his nomination is a step backwards
from the position conquered on the 10th of March. But it must be
confessed, that if sentimental socialism is to have the honour of the

day, his name is the most popular to be put forward, and he has a
great chance to be elected.

The Ordermongers, on the other side, have so far recovered, that
they now oppose to Eugene Sue, whose name signifies nothing or
very little, a name which signifies everything—M. Leclerc,’ the
bourgeois Lacedemonian of the insurrection of June.*6 Leclerc is a
direct reply to Deflotte, and a direct provocation to the working men,
more direct than any other name could possibly be. Leclerc,
candidate for Paris—that is a repetition of the words of General
d’Hautpoul:— “Now, gentlemen, whenever you please to descend
into the streets, we are ready!””

The repeated election in Paris, as you see, offers no advantage,
but, on the contrary, has already put to a great deal of disadvantage
the proletarian party. But there is another fact to be noticed. The
election of the 10th of March was carried under the old list; that of
the 28th of April is to come off under the new revised list of voters
for 1850, which came into force on the ist of April; and in this
revised list there are from twenty to thirty thousand working men struck off
under various pretexts.

However, even if this time the Ordermongers obtain a small
majority, they will not be the gainers. The fact remains, that, with
universal suffrage, they can no longer govern France. The fact
remains, that the army is largely infected with socialism, and only
awaits an occasion for open rebellion. The fact remains, that the
working people of Paris are in better spirits than ever for putting an
end to the present state of things. Never before did they come out so
openly as they have done this time in the electoral meetings, till they
were suppressed. And the government, forced to attack universal
suffrage, will thereby give the people an occasion for a combat, in
which there is for the proletarians the certainty of victory.

VI

{The Democratic Review, June 1850]
[End of May 1850]

“If the proletarians suffer the suffrage to be taken from them,
they submit to the undoing of the Revolution of February, as far as they are
concerned, For them the republic will no longer exist. They will be
shut out from it. Will they allow this?

“The law certainly will pass. Not a tittle of it will be weakened. The
will of the majority, upon this point, has already shown itself
clearly.*8 And as matters stand to-day, no one can tell what will
follow, whether the people will rise and hurl down the government
and Assembly, or whether they will wait until another occasion. Paris
seems quiet; there is no direct sign of an approaching revolution; but
a spark will suffice to call forth a tremendous explosion.

“That explosion would have taken place before now but for the
treacherous conduct of the popular chiefs, who have been doing
nothing but preaching ‘peace’, ‘tranquillity’, and ‘majestic calm’.?
This, however, cannot last long. The situation of France is eminently
revolutionary. The Ordermongers cannot stand where they are.
They must advance a step every day in order to maintain themselves.
If this law should pass without provoking a revolution, they will come
out with fresh, more violent, and’ more direct attacks on the
constitution and the Republic. They want an émeute, and they will
have a revolution, and have it soon, too. For it must be borne in mind
that this is a question of weeks, perhaps days, not of years.”

VII

[The Democratic Review, July 1850)
Paris, June 22nd, 1850

The Electoral “Reform” Law has passed, and the people of Paris
have not moved. Universal Suffrage has been destroyed, without the
slightest attempt at disturbance or demonstration, and the working
people of France are again what they were under Louis Philippe:
political Pariahs, without recognised rights, without votes, without
muskets. |

It really is a curious fact, that Universal Suffrage in France, won
easily in 1848, has been annihilated far more easily in 1850. Such ups
and downs, however, correspond much with the French character,
and occur very often in French history. In England such a thing
would be impossible. Universal Suffrage, once established there,
would be won for ever. No government would dare to touch it. Only
think of the minister who should be foolish enough to consider
seriously re-establishing the Corn Laws. The immense laughter of
the whole nation would hurl him down.

The people of Paris have, undoubtedly, committed a serious
mistake, in not profiting of the occasion for insurrection given by the
destruction of Universal Suffrage. The army was well disposed, the
small trading class was forced to go with the people, and the
Mountain,°° nay, even the party of Cavaignac knew that in case of a
defeated insurrection they would inevitably be made to suffer for it,
whether they stood with the people or not. Thus, at least, the moral
support of the small trading class and of its parliamentary organs,
the Mountain, was sure this time, aS soon as the insurrection had
broken out; and with that the resistance of a large portion of the
army would be broken. But the occasion has been missed, partly
from the cowardice of the parliamentary chiefs and the press, partly
from the peculiar state of mind the people of Paris are in at present.

The working people of the capital are at present in a state of
transition. The different socialist systems which, up to this time, have
been discussed amongst them, no longer suffice to them; and it must
be confessed, take all French systematic Socialism together, and
there is not much in it of a very revolutionary nature. On the other
hand the people, so many times deceived by their chiefs, have such a
deep distrust towards all men who ever have acted as their
leaders—not excepting even Barbés or Blanqui5!—that they are
resolved not to make any movement in order to bring any of these
leaders into office. Thus the whole working-class movement is about
to take a different, far more revolutionary aspect. The people, once
thinking for themselves, freed from the old socialist tradition,
will soon find socialist and revolutionary formulas which shall
express their wants and interests far more clearly than anything
invented for them, by authors of systems and by declaiming leaders.
And then, arrived thus at maturity, the people will again be enabled
to avail themselves of whatever talent and courage may be found
among the old leaders, without becoming the tail of any of them.
And this state of the popular mind in Paris accounts for the
indifference displayed by the people, at the destruction of Universal
Suffrage. The great struggle is postponed for the day in which one
or both of the two rival powers of the state, the President or the
Assembly, will try to overthrow the Republic.

And this day must soon arrive. You recollect what was boasted in
all the reactionary papers, about the cordial understanding between
the President and the majority. Now, this cordial understanding has
just resolved itself into the most deadly struggle between the two
rivals. The President has been promised, as the price for his
adhesion to the Electoral Law, an annual addition to his salary of
3,000,000 fr. (£120,000), which additional pay was most awfully
wanted by the debt-ridden Louis Napoleon, besides being consid-
ered as the preliminary step to the prolongation of his presidency
for ten years. The Electoral Law was hardly passed, when the
ministers stepped in and asked for the three millions a year. But all
at once the majority got frightened. ‘They, who no longer consider
the imbecile Louis Napoleon as a serious pretender, far from being
ready to consent to the prolongation of his presidency, on the
contrary want to get rid of him as soon as possible. They name a
select committee to report on the Bill, and that committee reports
against its adoption. Great consternation at the Elysée-National.
Napoleon threatens abdication. A most serious collision between the
two powers of the state is imminent. The ministry, a lot of bankers, a
number of other “friends of order” interpose, with no result. Several

“transactions” are proposed; in vain. At last an amendment is come
to, which seems to satisfy all parties more or less. The majority, not
quite sure as to the consequences of a rupture with the President,
and having, as yet, not quite concluded the compact which is to unite
the Legitimists and Orleanists into one party, seems to recoil a little,
and to be ready to grant the money in another shape. The discussion
is to come off on Monday; what the result will be no one can say.
However, a serious rupture with Napoleon is, I think, not yet in the
line of policy of the royalist majority.

The compact which is to unite the Orleanists and Legitimists, the
younger and the elder branch of the house of Bourbon, 1s, at
present, more than ever spoken of. It is a fact that most active
negotiations are carried on with regard to this subject. The journey
of Messrs. Thiers, Guizot, and others to the death-bed of Louis
‘Philippe, at St. Leonards, had no other object than this. I shall not
repeat to you the various versions as to the state of this affair, and the
results obtained by the journey above mentioned. The daily papers
have said more than enough about that. A fact, however, it is, that
the Orleanist and Legitimist parties are in France pretty much
agreed as to the conditions, and that the only difficulty is to have
these conditions adopted by the two rival branches. Henry, Duke of
Bordeaux,’ is to be made king, and as he has no children, the
adoption of the Count of Paris, grandson of Louis Philippe, and heir
to the throne by regular succession, is a matter almost of course, and
offering no difficulties. The tricolour flag, besides, is to be
maintained. The expected death of old Louis Philippe would
facilitate this solution. He seems to have submitted to it, and the
Duke of Bordeaux, too, appears to have accepted the agreement.
The Duchess of Orleans, mother of the Count of Paris, and her
brother-in-law, Joinville, are said to be the only obstacles in the way
of a settlement. Louis Napoleon is to be paid off with ten millions of
hard cash.

There is no doubt but this, or a similar settlement, will finally be
come to; and as soon as this is done, the direct attack upon the
Republic will follow. In the meantime, a preliminary engagement is
to be commenced by the councils-general of the departments. They
have been just called together before their regular time of meeting,
and are expected to call upon the National Assembly to revise the
constitution. The same thing was considered last year, but thought
premature by the councils themselves. There is no doubt they will
show considerably more pluck this time, particularly after the

successful blow at the Suffrage. And then the occasion will come for
the people to show that if they abstained from showing their power
for a time, they are not willing to be thrust back to the most infamous
epoch of the Restoration.

P.S.—I have just read a small pamphlet sold at three sous
(halfpence) and given out gratis with the République. This pamphlet
contains the most astounding disclosures as to the plots and
conspiracies of the royalists, as far back as the spring of 1848. It is by
one Borme,” a witness examined in the trial of Barbés and Blanqui,
at Bourges.°? He confesses himself a paid royalist agent, who at that
trial committed gross perjury. He contends that the whole move-
ment of the 15th of May, 1848, originated with the royalists, and
many other things of a most curious character. There is something,
too, which regards The Times. Borme gives name and address. He
lives in Paris. The pamphlet is one which must call forth more
disclosures still. I call your most earnest attention to it.

VIII

[The Democratic Review, August 1850]
Paris, July 23, 1850

As I anticipated in my last, the dotation to Louis Bonaparte
finally passed the Assembly —in substance allowing him the sum he
wanted, in form humiliating him deeply before the eyes of all
France.** The Assembly then resumed its work of repression —tak-
ing up the press law. Atrocious as this law was when produced from
the hand of its originator, M. Baroche, it was innocent and harmless
compared with what the spite of the majority has made it. The
majority, in its furious and yet impotent hatred against the press, has
dealt out its blows almost blindfolded, not caring whether it hits the
“good” or the “bad” press. Thus the “law of hatred” has been
enacted. The caution money is raised. The stamp is re-established on
newspapers. An extra stamp is put upon the “roman-feuilleton”,
that part of the newspaper which is dedicated to the publication of
novels—a measure which would be quite incomprehensible if it was
not a reply to the election of Eugene Sue, the effect of whose socialist
novels has not yet been forgotten by the majority. All works
published in weekly numbers or monthly parts of less than a certain
size, are subjected to the stamp in the same manner as newspapers.
And lastly, every paragraph appearing in a newspaper must be
provided with the signature of the author.

This law, as the blind fury of the majority has made it, falls heavily,
not only upon the socialist and republican press, but on the
counter-revolutionary press: and perhaps far more heavily upon this
than upon the opposition press. The names of the republican writers
are pretty well known, and it matters little whether they sign their
paragraphs or not; but let the Journal des Débats, the Assemblée
nationale, the Pouvoir, the Constitutionnel, &c., be obliged to come out
with the names of their contributors, and their leaders will

immediately lose all influence even upon their class of readers. The
name of a great daily paper, particularly an old-established one, is, to
respectable people, always a respectable firm; but let these firms,
Bertin and Co., Véron and Co., Delamarre and Co., once be
dissolved into their literary components, let that mysterious “Co.”
once decompose into venal “‘penny-a-liners” of old standing, who,
for hard cash, have defended all possible causes, such as Granier de
Cassagnac, or into foolish old women calling themselves statesmen,
such as Capefigue, let all the little men who raise loud voices and
spout big articles once creep out into daylight under the new law,
and you will see what a sad figure the respectable press will make.’

It is true that, under the new law, by the enhanced price of
newspapers a very numerous class of readers will be excluded from
this mode of getting information. Both newspapers, cheap periodi-
cals, and other popular publications will be above the reach of
numerous working-men, and particularly of the majority of the
country-people. But the press was always an auxiliary means merely
to agitate the peasantry; this class being far more sensible to their
own material sufferings and to the increase of taxation than to the
declamations of the press; and as long as the present bourgeois
government cannot find out the means—which it never can—to
alleviate the weight of usury and taxation upon the peasantry, as
long will there be discontent and “revolutionary tendencies”,
manifested amongst this newly-roused class. As to the working-men
in the towns, they cannot be entirely excluded from seeing the
newspapers, and if cheap periodical publications are stopped, they
will make up for that by increasing secret societies, secret debating-
clubs, &c. But if the government, with respect to diminishing the
number of revolutionary tracts and periodicals, have obtained some
result, they have obtained it at the cost of ruining the whole of the
publishing and bookselling trades; for it is impossible that these
trades can subsist under the restrictions imposed by the new law.
And thus this is very likely to contribute much to breaking up the
party of order both in and out of the Assembly.

As soon as the law on the press was voted, the Assembly proceeded
to give Louis Napoleon another broad hint that he was not to exceed
the limits the constitution had placed him in. The Bonapartist
paper, Le Pouvoir, had an article commenting in not very favourable
terms upon the Assembly. An old law of the Restoration was dug up,
and the publisher of the Pouvoir, arraigned at the bar for breach of

privilege, and sentenced to 5,000fr. (£200) * fine, which fine was, of
course, immediately paid.** The penalty was not very severe, but the
act of the Assembly was sufficiently significant. “We strike low but we
mean to hit higher,” said a member, and was loudly applauded.

The Assembly then resolved to suspend its sitting for three
months, from the 11th of August next. As provided by the
constitution, it had to elect a commission of twenty-five members,
which is to remain at Paris during the adjournment, and to watch the
executive power.°© The chiefs of the majority, believing Louis
Napoleon to be sufficiently humiliated, drew up a list of these
candidates, including none but members of the majority, Orleanists,
Moderate Legitimists, some Bonapartists, no Republicans nor
ultra-Legitimists. But in the vote all the Bonapartists have been
thrown out, and in their stead some Moderate Republicans and
several ultra-Legitimists have been elected, thus again showing the
disposition of the Assembly to have none of the coup d’état which
Louis Napoleon is always dreaming of.°

I do not expect that there will be anything serious until the
experiment is made to upset the Republic; be it by the President, or
be it by one of the royalist factions. This would, no doubt, rouse the
people from their torpor; and this is an event which must take place
between now and May 1852, but at what precise epoch it is
impossible to predict.*”