Chapter VIII: Introduction: By Richard Davey (8)

As soon as the lecture was ended, our party proceeded to the top of the building in order to take a peep at the “Sauvage d’Aveyron.” When M. P----, the gentleman who introduced us to Abbé Sicard, made the proposal I was not aware that he was going to show us anything human. Accordingly I followed close at his heels, and after I had entered the room, perceiving only a man, a woman and a boy, I inquired for the savage. “This is he,” said M. P----, pointing to the boy, “Kiss him.” And without waiting for me to recover myself, he actually pushed me on to the lad, and in this attitude of kissing I was discovered when the ladies entered the apartment, the little savage holding me at the same time by the arms. I was not a little confused at this involuntary fraternal buss, which I was obliged to make, and which has been ever since a subject of merriment.

However, the savage no sooner saw ladies at the door than he sprang from me, went to the window, and, after looking out for a few moments, turned suddenly round and moved (for it could not be called walking) very fast up and down the room, without seeming to pay them the least attention.

I had by this time recovered myself, and grasped him firmly by the arm; but he took no manner of notice of me. He had a vacant countenance, but not an idiotic one. He broke out in a most extraordinary manner, however, a few minutes later, stamping with both his feet, rolling his body from side to side, and howling in a strange and dreadful tone.

This savage phenomenon was found in the forest of Aveyron, and here his history begins and ends. During the two years of his captivity he has not made any progress in knowledge or speech, and though in the possession of his senses he does not seem to have a human idea.

Civil society has no charm for him, and nothing has been known to attract his attention. Every effort has been made to impress him with some kind of sentiment. A good deal has been published respecting this “child of nature,” as he has been foolishly nicknamed by the Parisian wits; and the wretched condition of his mind has furnished several philosophists with arguments in which they have attempted to reason away the understanding and virtue of mankind. But this is a ridiculous mode of reasoning, and what Dr. Paley[1] has said in his _Elements of Moral Philosophy_, respecting Peter the Wild Boy of Germany, may be applied with equal force to the Wild Boy of France.

[Sidenote: RENTE VIAGÈRE]

The conversations into which I have been led in consequence of my visit to this young savage have been very interesting, chiefly because they were carried on with avowed atheists, members of the National Institute. It is really astonishing to what extremities they push their subtle sophisms; and while they affect to discard everything that is not _material_ and appurtenant to this globe, they are continually soaring _extra flammentia mœnia mundi_.

In a solemn discussion I had the other day with a man who is considered one of the first natural philosophers in the world, he told me gravely that Lagrange, Lacroix and several members of the Institute had sent a German to the interior of Africa to request he would make the experiment of uniting an ourang outang to a negro woman, and that he looked forward with eager expectation to the result of these nuptials!

Such a project is worthy of the philosophers of the National Institute.

XXXVI

ECONOMICAL ESTABLISHMENTS. PROGRESSIVE ANNUITY FUND.
SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF NATIONAL INDUSTRY

A plan is in preparation for the establishment of an annuity fund. It is to be named _Caisse des Placemens en Viager_. It is to be established at 440 Rue Saint Méry and 435 Rue du Renard Saint Méry. Its motto is _surety, stability, simplicity_. Those who hold shares are to enjoy a progressive annuity. This annuity is paid according to their ages, and not to their shares; hence all the holders of shares who have attained any particular age receive the same rate of interest whatever may have been the price of their shares. The _minimum_ of rate for the first age is six livres per share, and is assigned to the first class only; the primitive rate of the subsequent classes rises gradually to the twelfth, which comprehends the holders of shares who have attained their sixtieth year. By reckoning from the rate assigned to the first class, the annuity increases at fixed epochs, and rises by thirty-five gradations to the maximum of 5000 livres, which belongs to all the classes, and is paid to all holders of shares who have attained the age to which this last term of the progression relates. All the intermediate terms determine equally what is to be paid, without any distinction to the holders of shares in each class, in proportion as they arrive at the different ages which correspond to each rate of annuity. Those holders are divided into twelve classes, and each class into twelve series, each of which has a separate and distinct account.

At first view this plan seems to resemble a Tontine, but it is a very different thing. A Tontine divides annually amongst the survivors the shares of those deceased, but in this fund the probabilities of human life have been calculated, and by making them agree with the decrease of the capital invested, which together with their interest serve to augment the annuities, the movement of the funds and the death of the holder of shares are so combined that every holder knows at any given point the benefits he will derive at the different periods of his life.

The principle of the establishment consists “in an equality of annuities, payable to the same ages, whatever may have been the time of investment of the share, combined with an equality in the number of survivors among such holders of shares as have attained the same age, whatever may have been the time of becoming such.”

The holders have been distributed into twelve classes, the first of which has been fixed at 3200. It comprises only such individuals as are under a year old, and serves as a regulation of the decreasing numbers of each subsequent class. Thus the numbers decreasing of the shares in each class are as follows:

First 3200
Second 2400
Third 2242
Fourth 2102
Fifth 1940
Sixth 1792
Seventh 1648
Eighth 1438
Ninth 1200
Tenth 1020
Eleventh 838
Twelfth 656

[Sidenote: RENTE VIAGÈRE]

In order to make the annuities equal for all ages it has been necessary only to reproduce in each class, at the age wherein each of the subsequent classes are introduced, an operation which consists simply in dividing this capital, the same for all the classes which have attained the same ages, by the number of shares in the class in question, which number is the same as that to which all former classes are reduced.

The twelve classes comprise from one year to sixty-five years; each class contains different periods of five, six, or seven years; all the individuals comprehended under these periods are considered as being of the same age, and paid as such until the extinction of the amount to which they belong. The total number of shares cannot exceed 245,712, and the prices of shares in the respective classes are thus regulated:

PRICES OF SHARES.

Livres. Centimes.

1. Those who have not completed their first year 140 0
2. Those who have not completed their eighth year 199 75
3. From 8 to 13 years of age 223 26
4. „ 13 to 18 „ „ 242 39
5. „ 18 „ 24 „ „ 260 91
6. „ 24 „ 30 „ „ 279 98
7. „ 30 „ 36 „ „ 301 52
8. „ 36 „ 43 „ „ 335 65
9. „ 43 „ 50 „ „ 383 28
10. „ 50 „ 55 „ „ 427 27
11. „ 55 „ 60 „ „ 479 84
12. „ 60 „ 65 „ „ 552 84

These shareholders receive a progressive annuity per share as follows:

ANNUITY.

Livres. Centimes.

1. Until 8 years of age 6 0
2. From 8 to 13 years of age 8 0
3. „ 13 to 18 „ „ 10 0
4. „ 18 „ 24 „ „ 12 0
5. „ 24 „ 30 „ „ 13 0
6. „ 30 „ 36 „ „ 14 0
7. „ 36 „ 43 „ „ 16 0
8. „ 43 „ 50 „ „ 19 0
9. „ 50 „ 55 „ „ 23 0
10. „ 55 „ 60 „ „ 28 0
11. „ 60 till death 34 0

There is no limit to the number of shares a person may hold. Each class is to be closed as soon as the fixed number of shares shall have been completed.

As soon as a series of each class is closed, a new one will be opened, to be closed in its turn when the number of its shares shall be completed.

When 144 series of a class are closed, no further investments will be admitted. Besides the above annuity, the four last survivors of a class and of each series will divide between them the four-fifths of the residue of their account in proportion to the number of shares belonging to them, the remaining fifth belonging to the administration. The object of this institution, like the one I have described at Chaillot, is to make a comfortable provision for old age, by giving encouragement to a habit of economy. It is open to foreigners as well as to Frenchmen.

_The Society for the Encouragement of National Industry_ is held at the Louvre and is open to all the world. Any person may be admitted a member on being presented by a member, received by the Council of Administration, and on paying annually _at least_ a sum of thirty-six livres. The object of this society is to offer prizes for the invention, improvement and execution of machines or processes, advantageous to agriculture, arts and manufactures, to diffuse information respecting agriculture, arts and manufactures and to make experiments in order to ascertain the utility of new inventions and to afford pecuniary assistance to artists whose personal poverty prevents them being able to try the effects of their inventions.

The administration of this society is composed of men of first-rate ability, and is divided into five distinct committees: The Committee of Mechanical Arts, the Committee of Commerce, the Committee of Agriculture and those of Economical and Chemical Arts.

XXXVII

THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE SEINE.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN FRANCE

[Sidenote: AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY]

Of all the institutions in Paris, the Agricultural Society afforded me most satisfaction. It is unexceptionable and praiseworthy in a high degree, and partakes of the innocence and simplicity of rural economy. The formation of such an establishment in such a city as Paris is an anomaly in politics, and, extraordinary to say, the members are nearly all men of good character, fortune and talents.

This Society supplies the place of the old Royal Society of Agriculture. Its members are limited to sixty resident in the Department of the Seine, and not more than 150 Associates, one of whom at least is chosen from each Department. It also elects foreign Associates. The Society assembles for the present at the Préfecture de la Seine in the Place Vendôme. I was present at the last meeting, and sixteen members were there, including my excellent friend Grégoire; also François de Neufchâteau, Huzard, Parmentier, Silvestre, the Secretary and others. It was with extreme pleasure I perceived the zeal manifested by all the members of the Society for the promotion of the great and important science of agriculture. In old France the business of the husbandman was considered the lowest and most grovelling form of vassalage. The order of nature and of sound policy was thus reversed.

But agriculture in France may now be said to be progressive, and if it be allowed time and be spared from vexation it will truly enrich the Republic. When we take into consideration the immense extent of France, the variety of its climate and the fertility of its soil, together with the vast resources it contains, one cannot avoid looking with affection on an establishment so well adapted to collect into one focus the experiments, details and improvements, native and foreign, by which these natural advantages may be rendered more politically beneficial to the country.

The condition of the labouring classes of France has so far not been in the least bettered by the Revolution; they are yet in the same abject state for which they were heretofore distinguished. That mutual hatred which existed between the inhabitants of the population of town and country still prevails; notwithstanding that liberty and equality have been written in characters of blood all over France. The Agricultural Society are endeavouring to connect together the labourer and the artisan, by pointing out their reciprocal obligations to each other, and by giving rewards to such persons as shall point out the most effective methods of rendering their common exertions serviceable to the State. A variety of publications, some ingenious and lively, others grave and argumentative, have been circulated to show the immense importance of rural economy to a State, and to exalt the character of the agriculturist.

The members of the Agricultural Society are well aware of the many difficulties which they have to encounter, and the obstinate prejudices they must remove, before they can hope to bring the rural economy of France to that point of perfection of which it is susceptible. A great obstacle in the way of agricultural improvement in France is the astonishing multitude and diversity of local customs, which even the violence of the Revolution has failed to alter much less eradicate.

[Sidenote: AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY]

Upon the whole, notwithstanding the present unfavourable appearance of the general state of husbandry in the Republic, I entertain little doubt that a peace of ten years will wonderfully alter the face of things. The means of giving efficacy to the zeal and ardour of the French I am sensible are wanting, nevertheless so long as zeal prevails a well-founded hope exists that in defiance of the poverty and extravagance of the Government, much will be done by the people themselves. Unfortunately a general sentiment is at this time predominant in France that nothing can be done or undertaken without the Government. It is true the Government listens with attention to every scheme, but their interest appears to go no further. The only way to prevent all things from going to decay is by continually aiming to better them in some respect or other, and to afford an attentive ear to every project for that purpose. It must frequently happen that many of those projects will be chimerical, but men who expose themselves and desert the common and certain roads of gain in pursuit of advantages for the public and not for themselves, must necessarily have something odd and singular in their characters. It is the character of pride and laziness to reject all offers, as it is that of weakness and credulity to listen to all without distinction. Cromwell, partly from his circumstances, but more from his genius and disposition, received daily a number of proposals which were often most useful, and often remote from probability and good sense. But he made a signal use of many things of this kind.

Colbert spent much of his time in hearing every sort of scheme for the extending of commerce, the improvement of agriculture and the arts; and spared no pains or expense to put them in execution, and bountifully rewarded and encouraged their authors. By these means France advanced during the reign of Louis XIV. and under this Minister more than it had done for a couple of centuries, and by these means also in the midst of wars, which brought France and the rest of Europe almost to destruction, amidst all the faults in the royal character and many errors of his Government, a seed of industry and enterprise was sown, which on the first respite of the public calamities, and even while they oppressed the nation, rose to produce that flourishing internal and external wealth and power for which France was afterwards distinguished.

XXXVIII

THE POST OFFICE. HALLS OF THE LEGISLATIVE BODIES.
COURTS OF JUSTICE. THE JUDGMENT OF SOLOMON REVIVED

Any person who has paid a visit to our General Post Office in Lombard Street, and is acquainted with the extraordinary bustle united to the utmost precision visible there, would think, should he happen to alight on a sudden in the Rue Coqueron without knowing in what part of the world he was, that the Post Office therein was that of some small trading town, instead of the capital of the _greatest_ nation on earth.

Should he judge of the population by the revenue of each place, he would conclude Great Britain contained some 100,000,000 souls and France not above 3,000,000.

It does not require much skill in political economy to discover the causes of this disparity.

Commercial nations have a greater number of artificial wants and a most extensive circle of correspondents. To them the expense of postage is no burthen, it is a source of profit. A merchant therefore exults in the number of his letters. Hence the duties of postage are never paid with reluctance. You would never see in the General Post Office of such countries, piles of returned letters sufficient to supply a bonfire. Amsterdam, at the period of its commercial prosperity, received more letters in one day than the citizens of Paris in a week. I will now compare the London and Paris Post Offices, and this comparison is really an entertaining one.

I wrote to the Mayor of Chatillon in La Vendée an important letter, requiring a reply. Consequently I was obliged to go frequently to the General Post Office in order to make inquiries for it.

[Sidenote: IRREGULAR POSTAL SYSTEM]

Upon the first time I presented myself at the office, I inquired whether the post had arrived? “No.” “When do you expect it?” “To-day.” “But you desired me to be here at one o’clock.” “Eh, monsieur! one cannot be _so_ precise.” “When shall I call again?” “To-morrow.” On the next day I returned. “Now, what say you?” “The post is not arrived.” “When will it come?” “To-night or perhaps to-morrow.” “How do you account for this irregularity?” “Who knows? the courier may have broken his neck, one cannot be particular.” “But the post from England is regular enough!” “C’est une autre affaire, les routes de Calais à Paris sont superbes.”

The next evening the post did arrive. I asked the reason for delay, and was coolly replied: “there was none.”

If I had been a merchant what fatal consequences might have ensued from this delay had I been under the necessity of making a considerable payment!

I will relate another circumstance, sufficiently ludicrous, though a general and useful deduction may be drawn from it. My valet de chambre, who fortunately for me cannot read, brought me one afternoon a letter which, after a hundred apologies for the liberty he was taking, he begged _I_ would read to him. It came from his father, who is a well-to-do farmer near Besançon. The style of the letter was good, but the writing difficult to decypher. After the usual expressions between a parent and a son, he proceeded in the letter to ask four distinct questions, every one of which required an explicit answer. One of them, upon which he laid the greatest stress, was to inform him by its reply whether his daughter had been safely delivered. The letter, however, had a postscript: “Au Nom de Dieu ne réponds pas à cette lettre, le prix des facteurs est trop cher!”

Now without any invidious allusion to Ireland I may be permitted to observe that no so-called Irish bull was ever so simple as this remark.

No English labourer whose daughter was in a similar condition would have grudged a few sous upon such occasion, and the expense of internal postage in France is cheaper than with us.

Disinclination to correspond extends to men in better circumstances. Amidst the most sumptuous festivities and the Oriental style of living peculiar to the Consular Satrap, there is throughout the mass of the Parisians a chilling penury that would excite compassion, if we could forget that they had been the voluntary authors of their own wretchedness.

The extensive operations carried on, the numerous armies maintained on the Continent by the Republic, have rendered it extremely difficult for persons to know the destination and circumstances of their relatives.

Hence a new species of egoism has been introduced into society. The social claim is dissolved and every one lives on conjecture or only for himself. The charms and joys of friendship cannot exist in such a state.

It must be observed that trade is at a standstill; not on account of want of opportunities but for want of _means_. Property has not yet made its appearance from out the holes where the spirits of fraud, rapine and fear have deposited it. Concealment of spoil is the universal adage; for with all the fulsome panegyrics on the Central Government, which originate with its subaltern agents, and are despatched by the Prefects of the Departments, doubt and anxiety are pictured on every countenance, except the military and the immediate counsellors of the consulate authority. If a merchant be disposed to make a venture, the next moment his fears deter him. He hesitates to trust, and least of all is he inclined to trust his Government. Under such circumstances it is little wonder the General Post Office does so little business.

I have stood for hours in the courtyard in order to see the arrivals of the different couriers.

[Sidenote: POSTAL TRANSIT]

Nothing can be more ridiculous than the contrast between the English and French mail coaches. The French post waggons are huge unwieldy machines, drawn by cart horses, harnessed with ropes and moving at a slow pace, their arrival is nevertheless always announced by tremendous cracks of whips.

When this is compared with the smart dress and cheerful horns of our coachmen and guards, the elegant neatness and convenience of our mail coaches, the beauty of our horses, and the expedition with which they are received and despatched to pursue their different routes almost to a minute, it is impossible not to feel a proud opinion of the “little nation of shopkeepers” as the _Master of the Earth_ is pleased to call the inhabitants of our islands. I shall conclude this account of the Post Office with observing first, from official documents on my table, that I could sail with a light wind to Jamaica before a letter in France would arrive at some of the cross posts in the Interior.

For instance, between Bourges and Sancerre, in the Department of Cher, there is at present no communication. Between Orleans and Montargis, in the Department du Loiret, there is no established mode of correspondence. But the Prefect hopes later to accomplish the matter by putting a tax on all the inhabitants.

There is no communication between Langagne and Genvielhac, in the Department of Lozère; none between Roquefort and Bordeaux, in the Lower Pyrenees, although the merchants of Pau have proved it would be a shorter route than through Toulouse.

In the Eastern Pyrenees the correspondence of the Department with that of the Department of Aude takes up five days; it should be done in one.

The most egregious villainies having been perpetrated in the Department of the _Haut Rhin_, it has been thought _wise, prudent, and politic to suspend the postal arrangements there altogether_.

Unless letters addressed to Ministers and officers of the Government are _prepaid_, they will never reach their destination. The Ministers make an annual charge of postage, and cabbage the difference. At first sight this perquisite may seem trivial for the fingers of an officer of State. But these officers are Ministers who have their fortunes to make.

Hence every little helps.

It should seem that circumstances, times, places, persons, things are of more importance in France than elsewhere. This was a common mania under the old Government, but _it_ had the great resources of commerce, arts, and the wants of a great number of rich proprietors, who, unhappily, have now, with arts and commerce, been destroyed. Nevertheless, the opinion still prevails that the Government can command the harvest, and compel persons to sell and buy.

The business, however, of the Government is to correct itself by experience, to secure itself against the mistakes and bad measures of commercial administration. For no private industry, no knowledge of commercial affairs, can secure individuals against the folly of a bad Minister, or the pernicious effects of his administrative regulations. This reasoning has no influence in France; Government is required to invent, to build, to manufacture--in short, to do everything but consume; and yet this latter is the precise article in which the present Government excels and takes the greatest delight.

The perquisites of postage must be immense, as whenever despatch is required, a solicitation, to be successful, must be accompanied by a very considerable pecuniary compliment. Therefore, the Minister who holds the portfolio of the Postes amasses a considerable sum during his Ministry.

THE LEGISLATIVE BODY.

[Sidenote: CORPS LEGISLATIF]

This Tribunate meets in those departments of the Palais Royale which are opposite the Rue St. Thomas. A few shabby-looking individuals compose what is called their Guard of Honour. I had the honour and privilege of being admitted to one of these meetings, and I will try to describe what passed on this occasion. Having obtained an order of admittance at the door in exchange for our cards, we were ushered into a seat appropriated for the friends of the members, and just opposite to the Presidential chair. Immediately behind us were the reporters, and beyond them the place reserved for the public, who on that particular day consisted of eight persons. The room itself is small and mean, furnished with benches covered with blue cloth. After we had waited about twenty minutes, during which time two or three individuals peeped through the folding doors opposite to us, much in the same way as a head is sometimes seen through the green curtain at Drury Lane, in the act of exploring the house, a sudden crash of drums as a signal was heard, and the folding-door vanished as if touched by the wand of Harlequin. The drums then beat a salute, and the scene that opened presented us with a very fine perspective of soldiers presenting arms. In a minute or two the procession commenced, with six men in fancy dresses, whose appearance was a burlesque upon French legislation.

They were dressed in grey coats and pantaloons, with scarlet waistcoats and red half-boots. Upon their heads a round hat turned up in front with a blue feather, a red sash round the waist, and a good-sized stick in their hands.

Next followed the President, his round hat garnished with three upright tri-coloured feathers; he wore a mazarine-blue coat embroidered in silver, breeches to match, and a white silk waistcoat bound in by a silk tri-colour sash with silver fringes.

Behind followed the secretaries, and a motley group whose appearance provoked great merriment amongst us. Most of them were in full costume, like the President, but some with worsted, others with black silk, stockings. They wore pantaloons and half-boots, and several had whole boots with dirty brown tops.

Except the President and secretaries, there were but three in this crowd who wore a clean pair of shoes and looked like gentlemen. These three were Lucien Bonaparte, the First Consul’s next brother, who was not only in full uniform, but appeared in silk stockings and clean linen, and had in every respect the manners and address of a gentleman, with the countenance of an Italian Jew; Chauvelier,[7] formerly resident for the late unfortunate King of France in our country; and Carnot, the ex-Director, who was dressed in a suit of black worthy of a courtier. He seemed very surly, and during the whole sitting employed himself reading a pamphlet. All the rest looked like blackguards in masquerade. As soon as the President mounted his tribune, he rang a handbell; he then took off his hat, and remarked, “La Séance est ouverte.” The six gentlemen in grey already mentioned began to get up a hissing resembling geese. This was to obtain silence (for they were gentlemen ushers). The order of the day was then read. No debate took place. After each law proposed, every man (as his name was called) advanced to the tribune, and put the ball which recorded his vote into the urn. This ceremony was repeated a number of times, and, indeed, this figuring continued for above three hours. The President then rang his bell again, and declared, “La Séance est levée!” Instantly the folding doors disappeared once more with a crash, and exeunt President, secretaries, and tribunes to their respective dressing-rooms, where they exchanged their fine fancy clothes for their ordinary habiliments.

Having described the nature and object of this body, I shall now endeavour to do the same by that extraordinary assembly of Mutes, which goes by the name of the _Legislative Council of France_, in which 300 choice spirits are collected together to be dumb by law during four months in ever year. According to the code of “_Minos_” Bonaparte, article 34, we find: “The legislative body enacts the law by secret _scrutiny and without the least discussion on the part of its members_, upon the plans of the law debated before it, by the orators of the Tribunate and the Government.”

[Sidenote: A SILENT PARLIAMENT]

This is exquisite! Each mute is allowed the sum of £436 sterling per annum, with permission to talk during eight months of the year. Such is the best account I can give of this marvellous assembly. It is called a Legislative Council, but this designation is an improper one. In the French, as well as the English language, the word _council_, derived from the Latin _concilium_, signifies a body of men met together for the purpose of consultation. Now, except in “Dean Swift’s Voyage to Laputa,” I have never heard or read of a number of men assembled together only to _think_, not even at a Quaker meeting.

The hall where these thoughtful meetings take place was constructed during the Directorate; it is now pompously called “The Palace of the Legislative Bodies,” and it merits the name of palace, for it is one of the most elegant and beautiful rooms in Europe. It is semicircular, with benches rising one upon the other, for the convenience of members. Above the uppermost bench, and extending along the semicircle, are a number of arcades of fine marble, the capitals composed of bronze.

Within these persons who have obtained cards of admission are stationed, and considerably above them, nearly at the top of the ceiling is a gallery, for spectators. Opposite to the benches of the members, and in the middle of its diameter, is the chair of the President, a little below him the place of the secretaries and the tribune from which the orators of the Government, viz., the Council of State and those of the Tribunate harangue the assembly. These are all made of solid mahogany, inlaid with gold, and the pedestal of the tribune has a beautiful relief in marble, filched from Italy. On the right of the President there are three niches, within which are the statues of Lycurgus, Demosthenes and Solon, on the left three others, in which Brutus, Cato, and Cicero are fixed.

The floor, which forms the area between the tribune and the benches of the members, is of marble.

We were never present at the opening of the _séance_, so I cannot say whether the drums beat as at the Tribunate, but I think it likely this assembly has also a guard of honour. There is a semicircular bench on the floor opposite to the President appropriated for those tribunes and orators of the Government who are detached for the purpose of discussing the laws. They are preceded by huissiers at their entrance into the hall, and the doors are always opened as if by magic and with a crash.

The mutes wear the same uniforms as the tribunes, except that their clothing is embroidered with gold; they are by no means so slovenly in their appearance as the gentlemen of the lower chamber. A great many general officers are among their number.

The palace to which this hall is attached is the Palace Bourbon, formerly the Parisian residence of the Prince de Condé. It is situate on the other side of the Seine, opposite to the place once Place Louis XV., now Place de la Concorde, on the middle of which the unfortunate monarch of France and innumerable numbers of his former subjects were put to death.

The beautiful bridge, Pont de la Concorde, which leads to the palace, and the triumphant portal between two noble pavilions, to which it is connected by a double row of lofty columns of the Corinthian order, add to the splendour of its appearance. We must _not_ forget while admiring so many noble specimens of architecture that not _one_ of them is the work of the genius of Republican France; on the contrary, they were raised and embellished by the liberality of Princes, whose descendants an ungrateful people have driven into exile.

The only pieces of architecture produced by the Republic are several wooden houses erected upon barges on the river for shows and bagnios where the lascivious and polluted may at any hour of the day or night regale themselves with girls, liqueurs, coffee, dainties of all kinds and hot and cold baths.

[Sidenote: CRIMINAL COURT]

In the interior of the _Palais du Corps Législatif_ there are several halls dedicated to peace and victory, and to those funny divinities, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.

I will now describe the _Palais de Justice_.

This is another magnificent edifice. It is enclosed within a gate 120 feet in length, which forms the boundary of a large area. The façade presents a very dignified appearance, at the middle of which, after ascending a flight of steps, the people enter through a vast opening.

Among the different courts there is one which can never fail to attract a foreigner--the hall where the Revolutionary Tribunal assembled to murder innocents by wholesale. It is now called the Chamber of the Court of Appeal, and is completely altered since I last saw it in 1793, when a set of drunken cannibals, selected from the filthiest styes of the Metropolis, with red caps upon their heads, made human nature tremble, inundated France with blood, and caused every honest man to envy the days of Nero and Caracalla. The person who was with me gave me a very minute account of the trials of the Queen and Princess Elizabeth, where they were stationed, and how calm and dignified was their behaviour.

In the Criminal Court four young men were being tried for their lives. The room, the seats of the judges, advocates, jury and spectators, made me think I was in one of the circuit courts of our own country. Every person was uncovered. The judge politely invited us to sit within the tribunal, so we saw and heard all that passed distinctly.

There were three judges, who wore the same gowns as our Masters of Arts. The prisoners were seated on their left, attended by two _gens d’armes_ and their counsel on a seat below them; to the right the jury and public prosecutor were stationed. This latter official was habited like the judges.

One of the prisoners completely established an _alibi_, the others succeeded so far as to render the evidence against them all ambiguous, so in consequence they were acquitted.

The Revolution caused such havoc among the corps of lawyers that the profession is scarcely deemed reputable. Every advocate of the old Monarchy, who entered into the spirit of the times, is now either a member of the Tribunate or the Conservative Senate.

The most lamentable circumstance in the interests of justice is the mean salaries granted to the judges, the principal of whom do not receive more than £400 sterling a year; and when the importance of their functions and their relative rank in society are contrasted with their pay, one cannot avoid thinking that there is a deliberate intention to degrade the name of Justice in this country, by rendering it infinitely below the scale of military authority.

This opinion is corroborated by what took place a short time ago at the Tuileries, when the Civil Code was under discussion. Cambacères, the Second Consul, had actually persuaded Bonaparte that in England there were _no juries_ in _civil causes_. Upon further inquiry St. Jean d’ Angely assured him of the contrary. “How is this, Cambacères,” said the First Consul, “I am now told that the English always have juries in civil as well as criminal causes?” The latter still persisting, Blackstone was appealed to, but as no one present understood enough English to read this law book, Bonaparte extricated himself from the dilemma by saying: “Oh! as to these matters, one says one thing and another another; there appears to be no certainty at all about what is the practice in England, nor is it of any consequence whatever, but I decide there shall be no juries in France in civil causes!” _Ainsi soit-il!_

With this stupendous effort of human judgment I finish my account of the mode in which justice is administered in this enlightened Republic.

XXXIX

NEWSPAPERS. CHARACTERS OF THOSE CONCERNED IN THEM

[Sidenote: FRENCH NEWSPAPERS]

In the inaugural address pronounced by the celebrated Montesquieu on his admission to the French Academy, January 24, 1728, he said: “Talents without virtues are fatal presents, only proper to add strength to our vices and to render them more conspicuous.”

Had Montesquieu lived to this day he would have thought in the same spirit.

But he would not have survived the Revolutionary storm unless he had taken refuge in exile.

I well remember a rebuke I once received from Robespierre when I extolled “The Spirit of Laws.”

“The Spirit of Laws,” said he, “is the production of a fanatic and weak mind (_imbécile_), replete with dogma and prejudice; if Montesquieu were now alive he would very soon be less by a head, _car il était un parlementaire, non pas un bon Republicain_.” The word _parlementaire_ means, strictly speaking, a Roundhead or a Whig; but such a person was not sufficiently divested of prejudice to be a good Republican in the eyes of Robespierre; besides, as the tyrant continued, “being a member of the ancient parliament of France (he was president of that at Bordeaux) he was _necessarily_ an enemy of Republican Government, for which reason, notwithstanding his dogmas and prejudices in favour of public liberty, he was without doubt worthy of death as an aristocrat and a conspirator.”

When I heard that Montesquieu would have been less by a head had he fallen into Robespierre’s hands, I felt an unpleasant sensation in my throat, and I therefore was immediately _convinced_ that the tyrant’s arguments were correct; but knowing that extremes of servility and opposition were alike obnoxious to him, I endeavoured to appease him with observing that it was very true, the author of “The Spirit of Laws” groped in darkness, especially in the article in which he treats of Influence of Climate, as it was now _clear_ that the enlightened principles of the Revolution were equally applicable to the whole race of man, and that there would probably be a National Convention very soon in China; but still that I could not avoid considering Montesquieu, as well as Machiavel, in the light of a pioneer of liberty! “Machiavel, the pioneer of liberty!” he cried (giving me a fixed look with his two large tigerish eyes and clenching his fists, the usual preliminaries of a warrant of arrest), “you are not acquainted with the true principles, the doctrines of Machiavel established tyranny over the whole of Europe.” Every one who has read Machiavel with attention, which I am persuaded Robespierre never did, if he read him at all, must be satisfied that his book “The Prince,” was written solely to expose the machinations of tyrants, and caution the people of free States against their intrigues.

I have been led to these remarks in order to expose the worthlessness of the literary claims of those _political_ writers and orators who affect a great deal of information when they possess none. No people possess greater facility than the French in persuading the world that they know everything, when in fact they know little or nothing.

When I was about to depart for France I was requested by the proprietors of a long-established daily paper in London to procure if possible some intelligent person in whom they might confide to act as a proper correspondent, to give them authentic information of what was passing in France. When I arrived in Paris I therefore addressed myself to men of approved talents in science, and, as I had been informed, of knowledge in politics.

[Sidenote: FRENCH NEWSPAPERS]

The sum I was empowered to offer was sufficiently captivating, and they buzzed about me in consequence like so many paupers round the overseer of a parish in the act of distributing bread. With respect to operas, plays, masquerades, concerts, balls and all the other equipage of folly and pleasure, information respecting them was none of my object. I wanted such communications as should prove useful to men of understanding, to the politician, the manufacturer and the merchant; I did not care to learn whether the First Consul slept at Malmaison or the Tuileries. The points upon which accurate information might be of incalculable advantage to the British public were, who was the last person robbed, banished, poisoned, or otherwise murdered by the order of the chief of the State, what measures were in agitation to sap the foundations of any kingdom, and what independent community was next to be overthrown and enslaved.

Accordingly I stated distinctly to my would-be correspondents that we required _facts_ and _facts only_. Politics were the principal topics of conversation during our interviews, and I was utterly astonished to discover the profound ignorance my new acquaintances displayed.

None of them seemed to have any just notion either of the state of Europe or their own country. After a short intercourse I discovered that with the little information I had gained I already knew more of the affairs of France than they did.

However, that I might not be led away by my own opinions, I suggested to five of those gentlemen, who I selected from the crowd owing to their distinguished credentials, that they should take up their pens and give a specimen of their manner of treating things, that I might forward such writings immediately to the two gentlemen in England who had commissioned me to seek for correspondents. I told this to each applicant separately, and requested he should choose his subject for himself. Two of those individuals were members of the National Institute, one a very celebrated Professor, and the two others distinguished and respected _savans_! Five hours after the conversation I received an _estafette_ from one of the Institute men, and before two days had elapsed despatches arrived from all the rest. After having read them all over with repeated attention, I decided, for the sake of my own credit, to send none of them to England. They were so puerile that I will stake my honour upon a boy at Eton or Westminster writing more and better to the purpose.

They were full of flowers, tropes and metaphors, but contained nothing solid; and all overflowed with the commonplace metaphysics of the new Philosophy. My embarrassments now increased, for the Club of Sages, whom the report of my commission collected round me, besieged my lodgings day after day, like suitors in the ante-chamber of Talleyrand; and notwithstanding their courteous carriage and apparent indifference they all asked me anxiously what news I had received by the post. The awkward situation in which I found myself compelled me eventually to say that my colleagues had altered their plans and determined to confide their correspondence to an English gentleman now in Paris--_i.e._, _myself_.

But although these philosophers did not obtain any ulterior benefit from my offer, I was enabled by my intercourse with them to obtain considerable information respecting the state of the Press in Paris at the present time, and I here give the result of my inquiries.

Newspapers in France are under the immediate control of the police, and are principally edited by those illuminated children of science, better known under the title of the National Institute.

The _Moniteur_ is the first in order in baseness and infamy. It is considered the official paper of the Government. As all its papers are under the superintendence of the police, they are _all_ official. Its nominal proprietors are Messrs. Roederer[1] and Hautrive,[1] but the profits belong to a club consisting of five Ministers, those of Finance, Interior, Foreign Affairs, War and Police. Roederer receives a stipend of £800 a year (which, with his income of a Councillor of State, gives him £3500 to spend) as a salary for editing the paper, for which he is of course considered the responsible person. All the expenses of paper, printing and publishing, are defrayed by the Treasury.

[Sidenote: CHARACTERS OF EDITORS]

Hautrive is not a stipendiary or responsible editor, but he writes in the _Moniteur_, and his articles are well paid. The Decemvir Barrère receives £1000 per annum for his literary assistance, but he is really acting as a private spy for the First Consul, on the operations of the Jacobins. He is likewise engaged as spy upon the Grand Spy, Fouché, Minister of Police.

The different Ministers frequently employ the pens of their subalterns in office. You cannot be mistaken respecting the authors of the articles, as their style convicts them. The following may, however, serve as general rules for the discovery of the distinguished literati engaged.

_Ferocious and blustering passages on the power of the Republic, in the style of epic prose._--Treilhard,[1] ex-Avocat, ex-Director, ex-Negotiator, and Councillor of State.

_Religious homilies and pious incantations, with much whining about the restoration of the Catholic Faith, but written in good style._--Portales,[1] the Elder Councillor of State, who from a professed atheist, having read the Bible over and over again, as he says, during his exile at Homburgh, has found himself converted, and on his return converted Bonaparte to believe what he believes, and is now a saint as well as his disciple.

_Gasconades, calembours, bombast, apostrophes to nature, mothers with infants at their breasts. Hard-hearted men who never had children, heaving bosoms of humanity, all the impure verbiage of the Tribunal of the National Convention._--Barrère, ex-member of the Council of Public Safety. Practical reporter of all its atrocities, who signed the death warrants of about 40,000 of his countrymen, avowing in the Committee that dead men tell no tales; afterwards sentenced to transportation; turned Christian in jail, won the good opinion of his jailer, at whose table he said grace before and after meals. Escaped from prison and secreted himself till Bonaparte attained supreme power, to whom he sent a fulsome address, declaring _he_ was the reporter who made known to astonished Europe the exploits of the hero of Italy; liberated by the commiseration and sympathy of his master, he now licks his feet and is his humble servant; though retired (as his profession requires) he lives in good style, near my lodgings, keeps a girl of his own and is allowed by the First Consul to share in the profits of a house of ill fame which he founded.

_Comparisons between Great Britain and the great nations; between porter and burgundy, coals and wood, roast beef and bouillie._--Chaptal,[1] the chemist, Minister of the Interior, one of the basest of slaves.

_Surly remarks on the tyrants of the ocean, the insolence and intrigues of British Government, the cravings and jealous disposition of the Nation of Shopkeepers, the National Debt of England, its exhausted resources, bad faith and sincere integrity of France._--Roederer, Councillor of State, member of the National Institute, ex-avocat, has always sided with every party in order to illustrate practically his valuable treatise on making loans and on solving the question whether the State should pay its debts. He was Procureur-General, Syndic of the Department of Paris, during the expiring moments of the Monarchy.

_The same in more fluent and easy language._--Hautrive,[1] a pensioner of the Consul and nominal sub-editor of the paper.

_Sallies respecting Malta and hints respecting Egypt and the Mediterranean._--Regnault de St. Jean d’Angely, Councillor of State, in great favour with Bonaparte, formerly an avocat of Saintogne, a furious royalist as long as Louis XVI. continued to fee him. Intrepid royalist, editor of the _Journal de Paris_ in 1791; violent Jacobinist, editor of the _Gazette de Milan_ under the auspices of Bonaparte in 1796. Member of the Constituent Assembly, in which capacity he was pensioned by the Order of Malta to plead on behalf of its rights; in return for which he betrayed his clients, went to the island as the Commissary of the Directory, and superintended the administration of the plunder. Completely sacked the Palace of the Grand Master, Baron de Homfesch, pilfered all the plate and money he could lay his hands on, composed a Revolutionary Gazette for the Islands of the Archipelago, and returned to France laden with an immense booty, is a member of the National Institute in the class of Political Economy; is a married man with a family, keeps a girl, but is saving and takes care of the main chance.

[Sidenote: FALSE NEWS]

_Barefaced lies and swindling propositions._--Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, ex-Bishop of Autun; renounced Christianity and his Order, went to England, 1793, to assist Chauvelin and Moret in lulling the English Government. Trembling for his head remained there after the war broke out. Took lodgings at Mr. Colpus’s, near Highgate Pond, during which time he made a point of eating boiled beef on Fridays, departed for America, whence he humbly sued for permission to return to France. The Directorate, being in want of a dexterous rascal to manage the pillage, sequestration of the German abbeys, and other ecclesiastical possessions, permitted him to return home, and gave him the portfolio of Charles de la Croix; since which he has been actively engaged in the decomposition of Europe and in converting the German Empire into a State Lottery for himself and his masters--takes bribes from all and cheats all, with placid composure. Feels a great reluctance to enter into negotiation without a preliminary douceur (the American commissioners to wit); the greatest swindler in Europe. Rich as Lucullus, has lately resumed Christianity and sent to request the Pope will unfrock him and give him absolution for his past sins. The First Consul has promised to make it his care that his Holiness shall execute this request, and in return for which special grace Talleyrand will richly reward the Pontifical Ambassador for the expenses incurred in negotiating the business.--Keeps Madame Grand, of Indian fame, at the hotel of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she acts in every way as if she were his lawful wife. He also keeps a young tit at a little château where he transacts private business.

Is a man of rank, education and princely birth, possesses transcendent abilities, and perhaps is the greatest living rogue and liar in Christendom.

_Sensible data on the public law in Europe, afforded though not written for publication, but digested by Roederer for the Press._--Rosensthiel, formerly principal Secretary of Legation to the French Ministers at the farcical congress of Radstadt in 1799, the pupil and friend of Pfeffer, long employed in the diplomatic department under the old Monarchy; devotedly attached to his King, detesting the Revolution, on that account dismissed by Dumouriez, when Minister of Foreign Affairs; having been imprisoned, proscribed and ruined. Father of a large family, he was constrained from the necessity of his circumstances to accept the Consulship of Elsineur in 1796, whence, being the only Frenchman profoundly versed in the history and practice of public law, he was again transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Modest, mild, virtuous and learned, he is therefore _not_ a member of the National Institute.

These are the principal workmen who furnish the _Moniteur_ with leading articles, most of which are a vehicle for blustering and imposture.

The next Parisian newspaper in rank and circulation to the Moniteur is the _Journal des Défenseurs de la Patrie_. In this paper there are often good articles and useful literary criticisms. But all political reflection is, for obvious reasons, banished from its pages.

One, Joseph la Vallée, without appearing ostensibly to take any interest in this paper, is really paid £260 sterling by the Government for watching its concerns.

I have seen a great deal of la Vallée; he is endowed with great intellectual acquirements. He is a modest, inoffensive man, extremely anxious to oblige, not loquacious, but interesting in conversation.